Surreality

By Perse

Chapter 3

oOo

Harry wandered into the kitchen after a fairly sleepless night. He had been kept awake by thuds and barks and howls emanating from their basement. He didn't mind. It was only one night a month. And it was really rather fascinating to think that there was a werewolf in his basement playing with two Animagi.

He was standing at the refrigerator, searching for the milk, when he heard a clomping sound behind him. He turned, stared for a moment, then turned towards the hallway and called, "Mum, there's a deer in the kitchen again!"

But when he turned back, it was no longer a deer. "I prefer stag, thank you!" James proclaimed before he pounced. Shortly, they were a tangled mess of limbs wrestling on the kitchen floor.

"James, you are not fifteen anymore! Get off the floor!" Lily exclaimed as she entered the battle zone. "Honestly, you've been up all night. Where do you find this energy?"

He hauled himself off of Harry and sidled up to her. "I may not be fifteen anymore, but I do have the body of a twenty-five year old."

She gave him a playful shove backwards. "See, you're so tired you're delirious!" she said, patting his cheek.

"Well, that contradicts what you said a few nights ago."

"Oh, far too much information," Harry moaned before she could respond, hands covering his ears. "There is a child in the room, you know."

His father turned back towards him with a look that clearly said he was in for it now. Luckily, he was saved by the appearance of his godfather and his 'uncle.'

Sirius made his way into the kitchen supporting Remus. Harry jumped up from the floor to pull out a chair for him, and Remus cast him a grateful smile as he eased down into it.

"How are you feeling this morning, Remus?" Lily asked in concern.

"All right. Though I must admit, I'm exhausted. These two run me ragged."

Sirius sputtered, "Us? Like Moony isn't the instigator!"

"You are the leader of the pack, you know," James added affectionately.

Remus gave him a half-smile. "That may be true. But I'll have you know that I've managed a couple of nice, calm full moons when you two weren't around."

"Listen to him, blaming everything on us!" Sirius complained, nevertheless getting him a glass of juice and taking up a position behind him so he could rub sore shoulders.

Remus thanked him for the actions, but then continued as if he hadn't said anything. "Of course, that's all due to the potion. Whatever else you may say about Snape, I will always be grateful for the wolfsbane potion."

"And I am happy for you, Remus, though I doubt helping you was his goal. For Harry's sake, I wish the greasy git was far from Hogwarts."

"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed, clearly not wanting him referred to in that way in front of Harry.

Harry spoke up, "Mum, it's all right. You really think I haven't heard him called worse?"

"You had better not be the one doing the calling, young man," she said warningly.

Harry managed a contrite, "Yes, Ma'am," which wasn't exactly lying. Because really, he was just acknowledging her statement, not attesting to things he might have done in the past.

No one in the room seemed to buy that, however. Sirius was smirking. "Oh, leave him alone, Lily. You remember what a git Snape could be. And I stand by what I've told you since first year, Harry. If he gets too bad, you tell me. I'll take care of it."

"I seriously doubt that would make things better," Lily put in sternly.

"I already tried," James admitted in a low tone.

Harry made a strangled noise. He hadn't known that. No wonder Snape had been even more ornery lately; he hated James. He probably thought Harry had gone running to him for help. He could only imagine the reaction the Potions Master would have to Sirius showing up in his defense.

His Mum patted him on the back, apparently thinking he had choked on his juice, then she voiced his thoughts. "You should just leave it alone; you only make it worse. There is a reason he is so difficult on Harry, you know." She gave each of them a pointed look.

This was obviously an argument they'd had before. And Harry had tried to keep most of his encounters with Snape from them. "I think Mum's right," he asserted, getting all of their attention. "And really, It's not that bad. I can handle Snape."

oOo

"Harry," Ron was hissing as he shook his shoulder.

Stiff from his sleeping position, Harry slowly raised his head. He found himself staring into Snape's dark, stormy eyes. 'Oh, the irony,' he thought briefly as he tried to sit up and get his bearings. Now he remembered…he was sitting in Potions class. He must have fallen asleep.

Snape did not look pleased.

"Late night, Mr. Potter?" Snape's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Obviously you found something more important than class. Perhaps you would like to share?"

Harry took a quick glance at the rest of the class. The Gryffindors looked sorry for him, yet very glad not to be in his place. The Slytherins were practically salivating in anticipation of his punishment.

Harry, however, felt only one emotion. The discomfort he had felt the night before at dinner was gone now that the situation was more familiar.

Nobody was here to even offer to stand up for him. He would have to take care of himself. But that was okay—he wasn't afraid of Snape. He wasn't intimidated, he wasn't worried about the punishment that could be heaped upon him.

He was simply angry.

So he opened his mouth and responded, "It's nothing, really. I just found some people actually worth listening to."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron's jaw drop. Then his friend shifted away slightly, probably trying to get out of the path of Snape's impending wrath.

Sure enough, Snape's face twisted into a most unpleasant sneer. "Perhaps if you listened, you would not be so terribly hopeless with your studies. Enough hard work can, on occasion, make up for a lack of natural intelligence."

A sense of self-preservation should have kicked in then and told Harry to let it go and seethe in silence. That sense was strangely absent.

"Maybe I think it more important to apply my 'natural intelligence' and my studying to classes that are more useful and less tedious and pointless."

"If you expect to be an auror," Snape paused, expression letting everyone know just how unlikely he thought that was, "You will require my 'pointless' and 'tedious' course."

Harry fumed, wondering how he had learned that. Over Snape's shoulder, he could see Draco and his friends snickering at the possibility. With cold anger in his voice he turned his attention back to Snape and said, "I have talked about being an auror. I'll make you a deal. You keep pretending you care what I might do with my life, and I'll keep pretending I expect to live that long."

Snape drew back slightly at that, expression becoming unreadable. After a moment of dead silence he said, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for your attitude. And you will see me after class, Mr. Potter. We will schedule the wealth of detention you have just earned." With that he spun and walked back to the front of the room, robes billowing in his wake.

Harry scowled at his back. Draco was smirking at him; Harry shot him a murderous glare that was so intense the smirk actually faltered before Malfoy turned back around.

Ron cautiously shifted closer to him again. It was somewhat sobering that his best friend seemed a bit leery of him. He kept throwing concerned glances Harry's way for the rest of the hour.

Snape, luckily, avoided another direct confrontation with Harry until after class.

Ron and Hermione were dawdling in their worry, but after Snape took ten points from each of them for loitering they filed out after the other students and Snape returned to his office. Harry was already slumped in the chair before his desk, wishing he had never gotten out of bed that morning. He came to with a snap when Snape slammed the door and strode to his chair. "You owe me an apology, Mr. Potter."

Harry stared at him for a beat, then said snidely and entirely insincerely, "Sorry."

Snape's dark eyes flashed. "You also owe me respect."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir."

Snape glared at him. "You will give me an explanation for your behavior, or you will be out of this course. I will not put up with it."

Harry was silent for a bit, studying him, debating the merits of ticking him off further with a flippant response. As there were no longer witnesses to discourage some unpleasant curse, he decided against it. "I've been very tired lately," he confessed sullenly. "I'm sleeping a lot."

Snape looked at him sharply. "Are you having dreams?" he demanded.

Harry merely shifted uncomfortably, but apparently that was enough of an answer.

"And I don't suppose you've been occluding your mind? Really, Potter. After what happened to Black, I would think you'd have learned your lesson about leaving your mind open."

Harry glared at him, furious that he had brought up Sirius. "These dreams are not from Voldemort," he stated with certainty.

Snape flinched. "Potter, do not say—"

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!" he exclaimed, louder each time, and rather relishing the winces on Snape's part. "He's possessed me, I think we should be on a first name basis!"

There was a moment then where the expression on Snape's face gave him cause to worry about what he was about to do to him. But it passed, and then the anger was restricted to his eyes. He didn't even address Harry's outburst. Instead he declared, "We shall begin Occlumency again. You will meet me here Monday night at 6."

Harry felt a sudden stab of panic as things spun out of his control. "Wait, what? I thought you refused to teach me that anymore." And surely his behavior today should have convinced Snape that he'd made the right decision there.

"I did. But Professor Dumbledore has requested that we begin again. You will keep away from my pensieve. You will show much more respect than you have demonstrated today. And you will follow my instruction without question. Do we understand each other?"

"What if I don't?" he dared to ask.

Snape's gaze caught his. "Then I've no doubt that you will soon be sending your friends after your godfather, if you manage to avoid following his fate yourself."

Harry stared at him silently, anger boiling. But at the same time he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, because though it had been callously stated it was true. While he seriously doubted that these particular dreams were Voldemort's doing, he had no doubt that he would try to get into his mind again at some point. And if Harry couldn't prevent it, someone else could die.

And if Dumbledore had ordered this, then he clearly still did not want to be teaching Harry himself. That left him with only one option.

So through his anger and his sense of doom, Harry managed to say, "I'll be here."

oOo

to be continued

Thanks to my reviewers! Please keep them coming!