Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews, and sorry about the inconsistent paragraphing in the previous chapter. Hopefully this one will be all right.
Chapter 18
Detention with Dad
As Harry had suspected, he had no more dreams about Voldemort the following nights, but he still didn't sleep well. He felt guilty about the Shield that the Order had obviously been forced to construct for him, since he hadn't bothered to learn Occlumency properly last year. This had, admittedly, been Snape's fault too, seeing as he had been both hostile and reluctant to explain the correct method to Harry, but still, Harry knew that had he made an effort and practised regularly, he would in all likelihood have been able to master it.
At the same time he couldn't forget the look Snape had given him when Malfoy had come into his office – it was that old look of hatred that Snape had always worn when Harry was around, but Harry had got used to not seeing it anymore this year. That look had made him terribly uneasy. He realised, of course, that Snape would probably have to act differently towards Harry whenever someone connected to the Death Eaters was around, but that still didn't explain that look of pure venom. Theodore Nott, whose father was also a Death Eater, was still in Harry's Potions class, and although Snape always acted very coldly towards the Gryffindors, he had changed remarkably since last year, under Nott's very nose.
Now it seemed to be going the other way, however. In the Potions classes following their discussion about Harry's dream, Snape seemed colder and more distant than ever. Sometimes, Harry found it hard to believe that this was the same man who had asked if he could call him by his first name, and as they hadn't been alone since that day, Snape had never had the opportunity to do so. Instead, he had begun to be more strict towards the Gryffindors again, taking points much more frequently than he had during the winter.
Although he still spent a lot of time correcting essays during class, he now always made sure he had time to sweep about the classroom, criticising everyone's potion except Nott's, and giving the Gryffindors snide remarks. So far Harry had been spared the worst of this, but it was still unnerving to see his father treat his best friends this way.
Thus it was with unease that Harry went to his Potions class together with Hermione and Neville on a sunny morning at the beginning of March. As it turned out, however, Snape didn't seem to have time to sweep about the room, much to Harry's relief. Harry was just finishing his potion, thinking he had done quite a good job, when suddenly he noticed a shadow looming over him.
'What's this supposed to be, Potter?' Snape said coldly.
Harry looked up at him in confusion.
'You were supposed to let your potion stew for seven and a half minutes,' Snape went on. 'This is far too runny; it needs at least two more minutes. Look at Nott's potion – that's how it's supposed to be.'
Harry glanced at Nott, then looked at Snape in disbelief.
'But sir, I haven't finished stewing it yet,' he said quietly.
'Are you contradicting me, Potter?' Snape snarled.
'No sir, but –'
'Twenty points from Gryffindor!' Snape snapped. 'And detention, Potter. Tomorrow night in my office, at eight o'clock. Don't be late.' He waved his wand at Harry's cauldron. 'Evanesco!' The potion was gone. Snape turned on his heel, and left Harry standing behind his empty cauldron, the whole class looking at him.
Tomorrow night was Quidditch practice, and Harry knew that Katie Bell, the captain of the Gryffindor team, would be furious with him for missing it. But that didn't really bother him very much at the moment. There were a good five minutes to go before the end of class – Harry could easily have finished his potion. Why, why had Snape done this to him? Harry had been under the impression that Snape was making an effort to establish some sort of friendly relationship between them, but obviously he had been wrong.
When the lesson ended, Harry rushed out of the classroom without giving Snape another look. All evening he thought about what he would tell Snape if he ever called him Harry again, or tried to give him some other precious family heirloom, and seriously debated taking the chess set with him to detention in order to return it. In the end, however, he decided that he liked the chess set far too much to part with it, and it had after all belonged to Phineas Nigellus, who was related to Sirius.
He did his best to avoid Neville and Hermione that night. He didn't want to discuss Snape with anyone, nor did he want to be pitied, and he certainly didn't want to admit that perhaps Ron and Ginny had been right about Snape at Christmas when they said that he hadn't changed.
The following evening Harry knocked on the door to Snape's office at eight o'clock sharp. The door was opened by Snape himself, and Harry walked past him into the room without acknowledging him in any way. He noticed, however, that a fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace and the room seemed unusually cosy and comfortable.
'Sit down,' Snape said calmly.
Harry sat down on the chair in front of the desk and crossed his arms defiantly. Snape sat down on the other side of the desk and waved his wand at the door. Harry could hear a click as the lock snapped shut.
'Don't want Malfoy bursting in again, do we?' Snape said casually. 'May I offer you a cup of tea?'
Harry stared at him for a moment. This was detention – why would Snape offer him tea?
'No thanks,' he said shortly. 'I'd rather get this over with if you don't mind.'
'As you wish,' said Snape, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a large envelope as he spoke.
'So? What am I to do, sir?' said Harry.
Snape gave him a discerning look. 'You are to listen ... very carefully.' He opened the envelope and started taking out various items from it.
'I am going on a mission for the Order tomorrow, and there are certain things you should know, in case I don't ... well, just in case.' He showed Harry a key, which looked very familiar to him. 'This is the key to my Gringott's vault,' Snape went on. 'It's number 793. And this is a copy of my will.' He put a large piece of parchment on the desk in front of Harry, though not close enough for Harry to see what was written on it. 'I had it changed a few months ago. I leave everything to you, of course.' He then produced another key, rather large and rusty. This one did not look familiar to Harry. 'This key goes to my flat in Knockturn Alley. I rarely use it, but you never know when it may come in handy.'
Harry stared at Snape in utter disbelief. So this was why he had been given detention ... He didn't know what to think about all this information.
'But ... why are you telling me all this now?' he stammered.
'As I said: I'm going on a mission. You should know these things in case something happens to me. Are you sure you wouldn't like a cup of tea?'
'Oh ... well, I suppose ...' Harry said. Snape obviously took this to mean yes, because he waved his wand to produce two large steaming cups. 'When will you be back?' Harry went on, taking one of the cups.
'Provided everything goes well I'll be here in time for your Potions lesson on Monday morning.'
'What if it doesn't go well?' Harry said, putting his cup back on the desk without having drunk.
'I have no reason to believe it won't,' Snape said smoothly. 'You would have had to know all this sooner or later anyway. I thought this would be as good a time as any to tell you. Oh, and by the way – I'm sorry about your Quidditch practice. I have reason to believe that the Slytherins think I've been too tolerant towards the Gryffindors lately, so I thought I'd allay their suspicions by giving you detention.'
'Oh, that's all right!' Harry said quickly.
'I'm glad you think so, because I might have to do it again to keep up appearances,' Snape said, 'although I'll try not to interfere with your Quidditch practice every time. And I'm sure you realise that there was nothing wrong with your potion. Outstanding, in fact, if it had been allowed to stew for two more minutes.'
Harry hesitated for a moment. 'You know, sir, you might have told me you had to give me detention before you did it.'
'Yes, perhaps I should have,' Snape said shortly. 'Now you know, anyway. And as I said before, Harry, there's no need to call me sir.'
'All right then, I'll remember not to do it next time I have detention.' Harry took a sip of his tea. This detention had turned out completely differently from what he'd expected. He looked at Snape, feeling a bit awkward. What was he supposed to do now? What were they to talk about? He couldn't wait to get back to Gryffindor Tower in order to think things over, to figure out what the things he'd been told really meant.
'Well, Harry ... I have a lot to do before I leave tomorrow, so I am going to let you go early. If anyone asks, you have been disembowelling frogs.' Snape waved his wand at Harry's hands, and he suddenly noticed that he had frogspawn under his fingernails.
'Don't worry,' said Snape, 'it will go away with a bit of Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess-Remover.'
Harry got up. Did Snape really have something to do, or had he performed Legilimency on Harry and realised that he wanted to leave? 'Well ... good-bye, then,' he said. 'And ... good luck on your mission.'
Snape looked at Harry for a second, his cold, black eyes as inscrutable as ever.
'Thank you Harry,' he said. 'I'll see you on Monday.'
Harry walked swiftly out of the room, his robes billowing behind him.
Chapter 18
Detention with Dad
As Harry had suspected, he had no more dreams about Voldemort the following nights, but he still didn't sleep well. He felt guilty about the Shield that the Order had obviously been forced to construct for him, since he hadn't bothered to learn Occlumency properly last year. This had, admittedly, been Snape's fault too, seeing as he had been both hostile and reluctant to explain the correct method to Harry, but still, Harry knew that had he made an effort and practised regularly, he would in all likelihood have been able to master it.
At the same time he couldn't forget the look Snape had given him when Malfoy had come into his office – it was that old look of hatred that Snape had always worn when Harry was around, but Harry had got used to not seeing it anymore this year. That look had made him terribly uneasy. He realised, of course, that Snape would probably have to act differently towards Harry whenever someone connected to the Death Eaters was around, but that still didn't explain that look of pure venom. Theodore Nott, whose father was also a Death Eater, was still in Harry's Potions class, and although Snape always acted very coldly towards the Gryffindors, he had changed remarkably since last year, under Nott's very nose.
Now it seemed to be going the other way, however. In the Potions classes following their discussion about Harry's dream, Snape seemed colder and more distant than ever. Sometimes, Harry found it hard to believe that this was the same man who had asked if he could call him by his first name, and as they hadn't been alone since that day, Snape had never had the opportunity to do so. Instead, he had begun to be more strict towards the Gryffindors again, taking points much more frequently than he had during the winter.
Although he still spent a lot of time correcting essays during class, he now always made sure he had time to sweep about the classroom, criticising everyone's potion except Nott's, and giving the Gryffindors snide remarks. So far Harry had been spared the worst of this, but it was still unnerving to see his father treat his best friends this way.
Thus it was with unease that Harry went to his Potions class together with Hermione and Neville on a sunny morning at the beginning of March. As it turned out, however, Snape didn't seem to have time to sweep about the room, much to Harry's relief. Harry was just finishing his potion, thinking he had done quite a good job, when suddenly he noticed a shadow looming over him.
'What's this supposed to be, Potter?' Snape said coldly.
Harry looked up at him in confusion.
'You were supposed to let your potion stew for seven and a half minutes,' Snape went on. 'This is far too runny; it needs at least two more minutes. Look at Nott's potion – that's how it's supposed to be.'
Harry glanced at Nott, then looked at Snape in disbelief.
'But sir, I haven't finished stewing it yet,' he said quietly.
'Are you contradicting me, Potter?' Snape snarled.
'No sir, but –'
'Twenty points from Gryffindor!' Snape snapped. 'And detention, Potter. Tomorrow night in my office, at eight o'clock. Don't be late.' He waved his wand at Harry's cauldron. 'Evanesco!' The potion was gone. Snape turned on his heel, and left Harry standing behind his empty cauldron, the whole class looking at him.
Tomorrow night was Quidditch practice, and Harry knew that Katie Bell, the captain of the Gryffindor team, would be furious with him for missing it. But that didn't really bother him very much at the moment. There were a good five minutes to go before the end of class – Harry could easily have finished his potion. Why, why had Snape done this to him? Harry had been under the impression that Snape was making an effort to establish some sort of friendly relationship between them, but obviously he had been wrong.
When the lesson ended, Harry rushed out of the classroom without giving Snape another look. All evening he thought about what he would tell Snape if he ever called him Harry again, or tried to give him some other precious family heirloom, and seriously debated taking the chess set with him to detention in order to return it. In the end, however, he decided that he liked the chess set far too much to part with it, and it had after all belonged to Phineas Nigellus, who was related to Sirius.
He did his best to avoid Neville and Hermione that night. He didn't want to discuss Snape with anyone, nor did he want to be pitied, and he certainly didn't want to admit that perhaps Ron and Ginny had been right about Snape at Christmas when they said that he hadn't changed.
The following evening Harry knocked on the door to Snape's office at eight o'clock sharp. The door was opened by Snape himself, and Harry walked past him into the room without acknowledging him in any way. He noticed, however, that a fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace and the room seemed unusually cosy and comfortable.
'Sit down,' Snape said calmly.
Harry sat down on the chair in front of the desk and crossed his arms defiantly. Snape sat down on the other side of the desk and waved his wand at the door. Harry could hear a click as the lock snapped shut.
'Don't want Malfoy bursting in again, do we?' Snape said casually. 'May I offer you a cup of tea?'
Harry stared at him for a moment. This was detention – why would Snape offer him tea?
'No thanks,' he said shortly. 'I'd rather get this over with if you don't mind.'
'As you wish,' said Snape, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a large envelope as he spoke.
'So? What am I to do, sir?' said Harry.
Snape gave him a discerning look. 'You are to listen ... very carefully.' He opened the envelope and started taking out various items from it.
'I am going on a mission for the Order tomorrow, and there are certain things you should know, in case I don't ... well, just in case.' He showed Harry a key, which looked very familiar to him. 'This is the key to my Gringott's vault,' Snape went on. 'It's number 793. And this is a copy of my will.' He put a large piece of parchment on the desk in front of Harry, though not close enough for Harry to see what was written on it. 'I had it changed a few months ago. I leave everything to you, of course.' He then produced another key, rather large and rusty. This one did not look familiar to Harry. 'This key goes to my flat in Knockturn Alley. I rarely use it, but you never know when it may come in handy.'
Harry stared at Snape in utter disbelief. So this was why he had been given detention ... He didn't know what to think about all this information.
'But ... why are you telling me all this now?' he stammered.
'As I said: I'm going on a mission. You should know these things in case something happens to me. Are you sure you wouldn't like a cup of tea?'
'Oh ... well, I suppose ...' Harry said. Snape obviously took this to mean yes, because he waved his wand to produce two large steaming cups. 'When will you be back?' Harry went on, taking one of the cups.
'Provided everything goes well I'll be here in time for your Potions lesson on Monday morning.'
'What if it doesn't go well?' Harry said, putting his cup back on the desk without having drunk.
'I have no reason to believe it won't,' Snape said smoothly. 'You would have had to know all this sooner or later anyway. I thought this would be as good a time as any to tell you. Oh, and by the way – I'm sorry about your Quidditch practice. I have reason to believe that the Slytherins think I've been too tolerant towards the Gryffindors lately, so I thought I'd allay their suspicions by giving you detention.'
'Oh, that's all right!' Harry said quickly.
'I'm glad you think so, because I might have to do it again to keep up appearances,' Snape said, 'although I'll try not to interfere with your Quidditch practice every time. And I'm sure you realise that there was nothing wrong with your potion. Outstanding, in fact, if it had been allowed to stew for two more minutes.'
Harry hesitated for a moment. 'You know, sir, you might have told me you had to give me detention before you did it.'
'Yes, perhaps I should have,' Snape said shortly. 'Now you know, anyway. And as I said before, Harry, there's no need to call me sir.'
'All right then, I'll remember not to do it next time I have detention.' Harry took a sip of his tea. This detention had turned out completely differently from what he'd expected. He looked at Snape, feeling a bit awkward. What was he supposed to do now? What were they to talk about? He couldn't wait to get back to Gryffindor Tower in order to think things over, to figure out what the things he'd been told really meant.
'Well, Harry ... I have a lot to do before I leave tomorrow, so I am going to let you go early. If anyone asks, you have been disembowelling frogs.' Snape waved his wand at Harry's hands, and he suddenly noticed that he had frogspawn under his fingernails.
'Don't worry,' said Snape, 'it will go away with a bit of Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess-Remover.'
Harry got up. Did Snape really have something to do, or had he performed Legilimency on Harry and realised that he wanted to leave? 'Well ... good-bye, then,' he said. 'And ... good luck on your mission.'
Snape looked at Harry for a second, his cold, black eyes as inscrutable as ever.
'Thank you Harry,' he said. 'I'll see you on Monday.'
Harry walked swiftly out of the room, his robes billowing behind him.