REPOST. November 20, 2006.
Harry woke up with a groan, his head throbbing slightly. He turned, feeling strangely comfortable as his body stretched itself out on the spacious bed…
Wait, spacious? Finally opening his eyes, he looked around, taking in the mahogany desk in the corner and the dorm-like bed he was occupying.
Nope, he definitely wasn't with the Dursleys.
He sat up, brain suddenly clearing as the events from the day before flooded his mind. The fire, Oryx, ending up in Snape Manor…
It wasn't until he'd stood up that Harry found the lack of pain in his actions strange. Pulling up his sleeves, he realized that all of his bruises he'd had had strangely disappeared. His shoulder still tingled unpleasantly, but it was nothing compared to the mind-numbing pain the day before.
Snape must have somehow healed him. He felt slightly strange to think that his Potions Professor had performed magic on him without his realizing.
His stomach growled in hunger, yet as Harry approached the door to leave the room, he suddenly recalled a small detail he'd somehow managed to forget. A small but significant detail.
The nightmare.
And all of a sudden, the feeling was back - the suffocating darkness that had seemed to engulf him from all sides. He shuddered as he recalled the dream. Having to relive both Cedric and Sirius' deaths and having them blame him for their death had been a reoccurring nightmare ever since Sirius had gone. Each time, he would chase his father-figure to the edge of the veil, watching the man disappear from sight as Voldemort's chilling voice would ring out.
Kill the spare.
Harry shuddered involuntarily. It was as if Cedric had meant nothing – as if the Hufflepuff was nothing but an inconvenience; someone with no purpose in the greater scheme of things. He hated yet embraced the fact that each morning, he woke up feeling his guilt renewed, because he knew that in honesty, he deserved every bit of the guilt.
But what he couldn't stand was the thought that Snape had seen him. The Potions Master had seen him squirm in his dreams, seen his weaknesses and heard him scream and cry. The very idea made his stomach drop.
The clock chimed for breakfast, but Harry pointedly ignored it. He may have been hungry, but he didn't want to eat, didn't want to face Snape.
Hoping against hope that the Snape would not come and retrieve him, he decided he needed something to occupy his tie. Fortunately, several bookshelves lined the edge of his room. Walking up to the shelves and peering at the covers, he saw one which read, "The Art of Potions Brewing". The irony of him sitting in the Potions Master's manor and reading about potions did not slip by him.
"Accio, Potions book!"
About a dozen different books landed in front of him. Picking up a specific one, Harry banished the rest of the books back across the room without at thought.
He'd flipped open the first book and was halfway through the first page when he suddenly froze.
Not only had he used a spell during the summer, he'd somehow done it without his wand.
Gathering his strength, he decided to try again. "Accio, parchment!"
The piece of spare parchment flew into his waiting hand. Harry stared at it disbelievingly. What on earth was going on here?
He tried a different spell, this time, a "Wingardium Leviosa" aimed at a book. The book lifted up slightly, before falling to the table again with a groan.
He tried again, then again, until slowly but steadily, the book rose and remained in the air. Wondering how on earth he'd managed to miraculously gain the ability to do wandless magic, he went back to his potions book, his mind whirling.
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Later in the day, Severus was waiting patiently for Albus to arrive. He'd owled the Headmaster but the mysterious appearance of Sebastien, and Albus had agreed to meet him.
And speaking of Sebastien – Severus had to admit that he was slightly worried about the boy. It was almost dinner time, and the teen hadn't come down for breakfast or lunch.
Before his thoughts could take him too far, however, there was a loud bang, and Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace, his bright purple robes flowing majestically.
"Ah, good evening, Severus. How nice to see you."
"Good evening, Headmaster," Severus growled, annoyed by Dumbledore's eternal optimism. Couldn't they just get down to business for once?
To his relief, Albus nodded and continued. "I received your owl about Sebastien. May I see him?"
"Of course."
Ringing a bell, Severus sent a house elf to retrieve the boy. He watched as Sebastien came into the room a minute later. For a second, surprised flashed across the boy's features, but they were gone, as quickly as they'd appeared.
Severus wondered if he hadn't imagined the expression. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he motioned towards Dumbledore.
"Sebastien. This is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I trust you've heard of him?"
"I have, actually." Sebastien gave a small smile. "Good evening, Professor."
Severus was suddenly hit by the intonation of those words. There was something familiar about the tone that rang a bell, but try as he might, he couldn't pinpoint it. Seeing that the conversation was already moving on, he concentrated on Albus' voice.
There was something about the voice, the tone, that sounded utterly familiar. Shaking his head, Severus concentrated on Albus' voice.
"... I will have to ask you a few questions. Please answer them if you can." Dumbledore was saying.
"I can do that, sir." Sebastien gave a small nod.
"My name is Sebastien," the boy replied. "I'm believe I'm an orphan. I don't remember who I was raised by, therefore I don't know my last name."
"And what age are you?"
"Sixteen, sir."
"And I suppose you have no idea how you ended up in Snape Manor?" The Headmaster's eyes twinkled merrily.
"None at all, sir." A small smile.
"Very well. For now, you'll have to stay with Severus, until we find some other arrangement. School will be starting in several weeks, so I believe it would be bested if you attended Hogwarts as a sixth year. You have until the beginning of term to think of a suitable last name for yourself." The Headmaster didn't add anything else, but the dismissal was clear in his tone.
"Thank you, sir." Sebastien turned and left the room.
"Severus," Dumbledore said when the boy was gone. "You must be careful of what you say and do around Sebastien. He is perhaps more than he seems."
"As in a spy from Voldemort?"
"Perhaps not in that sense. But he has many scars, both physical and mental, and you mustn't be too harsh with him." Those blue eyes twinkled. "And it would be best if you could give him some lessons on various school subjects until September, just to see if he needs to catch up on anything." Taking out a small, silver watch, Albus glanced at it. "I must run for now, but be sure to contact me if anything else comes up."
Taking a handful of Floo Powder, the Headmaster stepped into the fire and disappeared.
With a small sigh, Severus went back to marking papers.
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Around seven o'clock, Harry was starting to feel more than just slightly hungry. Deciding he couldn't delay it any longer, he went downstairs for food.
After dinner, he was about to go back to his room when Snape spoke up. "Sebastien, I wish to talk to you."
"Yes, sir," he replied, trying to keep his voice calm and emotionless even as anxiety bubbled inside him. What did the man want now?"
He was surprised at how soft the Potions Master's voice was when he responded. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but how did you get those scars? Sebastien, I must know in order to help you."
Of all the questions he'd expected, this hadn't been one of them. Harry froze at the question, panic rising in his chest as images of Uncle Vernon came into mind: the sharp kitchen knife, cutting into this shoulder; the look of cruel delight on Vernon's face; the swishing of the whip…
"Sebastien?" Snape's voice had an irritated edge in it.
Harry winced at the voice, the tone reminding him of his uncle's. He almost raised his arms to shield his face out of habit, before he realized where he was and who was talking to him.
Wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of there, Harry simply turned tail and ran.
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"I know you don't want to talk about it, but how did you get those scars? Sebastien, I must know in order to help you."
Severus tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. Conversations like this really wasn't his forte, but it wasn't as if he had much choice.
Waiting for a few minutes and still not receiving an answer, the Potions Master began tofeel annoyed. "Sebastien?" Why on earth was the blasted boy ignoring him?
The boy immediately stiffed, his arms half lifting before dropping again. His face was blank, but Severus could see that his hands were trembling. He cursed himself; hadn't Albus just told him to be careful of upsetting the other?
"Sebastien, are you alright?" He tried to keep his voice soft and soothing, careful to leave out the usual tone of menace.
The boy did not seem to hear him. Suddenly, the child bolted up and ran out of the room.
Not seeing any other choice, Severus followed.
He found the boy sitting at the windows in the library, looking outside. Sebastien looked almost calm, but Severus wasn't fooled. He could see the boy's shoulders trembling visibly.
"Sebastien." Severus reached up and put his hand uncertainly on the boy's shoulders.
The boy flinched at the touch, leaning away. His posture was tense, as if waiting for an attack.
With a sigh, Severus went to his rooms and brought back a bottle of Calming Draught. As he rushed back to the library however, he saw a strange sight. The boy was surrounded by a blue light.
Unsure of how to react, he began to step into the room, only to be thrown back against the wall. The blue light started circling around the boy, picking up speed, faster and faster…
Severus could do nothing as he was held against the wall. The light was almost blinding, and the Potions Master shut his eyes to try and block out the illumination.
By the time he looked up again, the blue light had faded and there was nothing in the spot the boy had been sitting. Sebastien was gone.
End of Chapter.
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A/N: A few people have confused about which parts I've rewritten and which parts I haven't, so I thought I'd clarify here. The answer is simple – all rewritten chapters have a bolded date at the beginning of the chapter, while old chapters have none. Hopefully, that helps you keep track of what's going on. Also, I'm planning on changing a few details in this rewritten version, including names, events, and etc. You might have some problems connecting the rewritten version with the regular version at the moment, but it should all make sense at the end. Also, someone asked the first time round whether Harry actually remembers who he is. Since that's a valid question, I figured I'd leave it up here. The answer is that yes, he does remember who he is. The whole obliviation was just an excuse so that he wouldn't have to answer too many questions. Thanks for reading, everyone.