Chapter 11-Breaking the Ice



Disclaimer-Don't own Harry Potter.



"You know what?" Harry looked up from his transfiguration work.

"What?" he asked, obviously supposed to take the bait. Severus sighed and drew away from the desk.

"You have spent too much time in this castle lately. You're young, you need fresh air once in a while. Plus if you don't get some sun soon you're going to be as pale as me," he proclaimed. Harry raised an eyebrow at the man.

"So what do you want to do about it? You must have some suggestion otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it." Severus pulled up a chair and sat across from him.

"I say we take the day off and go for a swim in the lake," he proposed. Harry's eyes widened.

"But I'm taking my O.W.L.'s at the end of the month, I can't take any time off," he argued, trying to hide the real reason he didn't want to do it. Severus sensed something more than the drive of the bet was behind this.

"Harry, we need to give it a rest or your brain is going to fry from the strain. And if your's doesn't mine will. It's just one day, we can make it up. We've been at this for two weeks." Harry bit his lip, Severus wasn't going to give him the graceful way out of this one, he had to think of something.

"But...." he trailed off, unable to think of a reason to avoid a trip to the lake.

"Harry is something wrong, you know you can tell me," Severus nudged, hoping to find out why he was trying to get out of this. Harry sighed in defeat and hung his head.

"I can't swim," he said quietly. To his surprise Severus laughed. Harry's head snapped up and he stared at him in confusion.

"Is that all? We can fix that, don't worry. /I'll/ teach you," Severus offered with a smile. Was that all that was bothering him about this?

"You'd teach me?" Harry repeated, slightly stunned. Severus nodded, stood up and went into his room. He emerged a few minutes later carrying two pairs of swimming trunks. He held out a pair to Harry.

"Change into these, grab a towel from the bathroom and a shirt and let's go," he said. Harry grabbed the trunks with a grateful smile and ran to change. He joined the Potions Master not five minutes later at the door.





"Okay now hold your breath and I'm going to put you under again" Severus instructed. Harry did as he was told, preparing himself for the dive. Severus lowered him down until his head was completely submerged. The water was perfect, not too hot and not too cold, but just right. Harry allowed the sensation of serenity that he found in the water to wash over him, blocking everything else out. It only lasted a few seconds before Severus drew him out of the water.

"Now that I know you can float and stay under water with no problem I want you to swim to me." Severus moved away from him with a few easy strokes. He stopped about ten feet away and motioned for the boy to come to him. Harry took a deep breath and began to kick toward him.

'Left, right, left, right,' he mentally kept track of which arm was supposed to go next. Before he knew it, he swam right into awaiting arms.

"You did it!" Severus crowed happily, lifting him in the air. Harry laughed delightedly. He hadn't felt this carefree since before the Triwizard Tournament.

"Ready to try some longer distances?" Severus asked as he lowered him back in to the water. Harry nodded eagerly and waited while again Severus swam away from him. After another deep breath he surged forward, this time with greater ease than before. After another hour of this water game, Severus professed he was tired and needed a rest. Harry readily agreed for he to was tired, not used to doing this kind of activity. They stumbled out of the lake and towards a towering oak tree where they had left their towels. As they dried them selves off, Severus produced a picnic basket.

"Hungry?" He waved a sandwich in front of Harry, who immediately snatched it from him and began to devour it.

"I'll take that as a yes," Severus chuckled before attacking his own.

"You think of everything, thank you," Harry managed between bites.

"You're welcome, here," he held out a flask of pumpkin juice. Harry accepted it gratefully and took a long, satisfying drink. With a contented sigh he leaned back against the ancient tree.

"You were right, I needed to get out of the castle," he admitted, eyes half closed. Severus nodded and laid back too, finding a comfortable nook between two sets of roots. His eyes settled on the boy who dosed beside him. His hair had grown out yet he had not asked if he could get it cut and Severus was willing to bet that by the end of the month it would be at his shoulders. He'd gotten considerably taller too, he was now only a half-a-head shorter than Severus. He was still too skinny for his liking but he couldn't say anything; Albus was always getting onto him about not eating enough. Pale skin, though not as pale as his own. What bothered Severus the most were the scars that marred the otherwise flawless skin. There were many, some old, some new and too numerous to count.

"How did you get those scars Harry?" he asked quietly. He waited, and when the boy didn't reply, he thought maybe he'd gone to sleep.

"The Dursleys mostly, some are from Quidditch though," the voice was flat and monotonous which made Severus immediately begin to worry. He'd realized something had been bothering Harry before but had been afraid to broach the subject, unwilling to hurt the tentative friendship. Of course what he /hadn't/ realized was that it really wasn't that fragile.

"It's disgusting the way they treated you," he said, making sure /his/ disgust was evident in his tone.

"Sometimes I think I deserve what they did to me." came the quiet reply. Severus sat up and grabbed Harry's shoulders.

"Don't you ever EVER think that again, do you hear me? No child deserves to be treated like that, least of all you," he squeezed the boy's shoulders tightly before releasing him and leaning back against the tree. Harry blinked for a moment, not moving from his now upright position. He turned his dumbfounded gaze towards Severus who was watching him just as intently. With another sigh, he laid back against the tree, turning himself so he faced the Potions Master.

"What about you, where did you get your scars?" Harry gestured towards Severus' chest. It was the man's turn to sigh as he ran an idle finger over the crisscrossing lines.

"I think most of these are pretty recent, though I'm not really sure, I never exactly kept track of them. A lot of them are from my time as a Death Eater I know that much, a few are from Quidditch...." Harry interrupted him, by holding up a hand.

"Wait a minute, wait just one minute. You're telling me that /you/ used to play /Quidditch/," Harry smirked teasingly. Severus grabbed a handful of grass and threw it at him.

"Yes mister know-it-all, I did play Quidditch thank you very much. And damn good at it too! Gave your father a run for his money as a chaser," he grinned proudly. Harry raised an eyebrow but let the matter drop. His expression became sober once again.

"Where did you get the last few, like this one," he pointed to a coiled serpent on Severus' side.

"My dad gave me that one, right before I came to Hogwarts. Took a hot poker and branded the son of a bitch into me! If the pain hadn't had me in tears I would have tried to hurt him. But I couldn't, I never could. I was always being punished for something. I was a bad child, a very bad child," Severus' eyes glazed over and he continued to rattle on. Harry, alarmed, grabbed his hand and sent a flood of comfort to him. Severus slammed back into a reality with an almost audible 'snap'. He looked around wildly, almost as if he was expecting to see his father leaning over him with another hot poker. Harry spoke softly, rubbing his hand and arm to keep his attention. Finally Severus seemed to shake the demons that were haunting him, at least for now.

"God I hate when that happens," Severus put his head in his hands and leaned fully on the tree. Harry scooted closer, till their shoulders touched, and offered his support.

"Why do I get the feeling that's not the only thing he's ever done to you?" he asked softly, still gripping the other's hand. Severus rubbed his eyes as if trying to rub away the memories.

"Because it's not. My father, hell if I going to call him my father! /Salazar/ gave me this little brand the day before I went to Hogwarts to remind me that I was to go to the Slytherin house. My entire family had been Slytherins, it was a tradition. I didn't want to be there, that was common knowledge," he grimaced at the memory.

"What house did you want to be in?" Harry asked curiously.

"Gryffindor," he answered truthfully, "that was the house my favorite cousin had been in. Salazar had two sisters, Dahlia and Raye. Raye married and had two sons, Lance and Reese. Reese and I got along the second we met. He was always up for an adventure and never afraid of what was ahead, a true Gryffindor at heart. Lance, the older one, was totally the opposite. He was mean and ruthless, always trying to get us into trouble, the perfect Slytherin. Both Reese and I hated him, but Salazar adored his nephew and always tried to get us to play together, separating Reese and me because he thought he was a bad influence. Of course that didn't stop us and I incurred Salazar's wrath more than once. I was overjoyed when I got my letter to Hogwarts because then I could join my cousin and Salazar couldn't interfere. See Reese was only a year a head of me. Unfortunately Salazar had other plans. He took me aside the night I was supposed to go and beat it into my head, literally, that if I didn't get into the Slytherin house he'd make sure my life was a living nightmare. Of course it was most of the time any way but I didn't want to make it any worse. When McGonagall put that hat on my head I was screaming inside my mind to be put in Slytherin and I was. I know Reese was disappointed but I caught his eye just as I sat down and mouthed I was sorry," Severus stopped and took a drink of pumpkin juice. Harry leaned back and went over everything Severus had told him. No wonder he hated the Gryffindors! He'd wanted to be one but had never been given that opportunity. He was also touched and proud that Severus felt he could confide in him, like a friend or maybe a best friend. He continued to mull over their conversation, absentmindedly rubbing the other's hand, when a cry jolted him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What?" he looked around for the cause of the shout.

"I just realized that I went and poured my heart out to you and I brought you out here to find out what was wrong with /you/ not me! You went and turned the tables on me; very clever childing, very clever. Are you sure you're not supposed to be in Slytherin?" Severus looked at him, eyes narrowed in mock annoyance. Harry grinned in return.

"Actually, and I've never told Ron and Hermione this, but the Sorting Hat did want to put me in Slytherin. 'You could be great, it's all here in your head and Slytherin could help you on your way to greatness.' By then I'd heard enough about that house not to want to be in it. I kept repeating 'not Slytherin, not Slytherin' over and over in my head so the hat decided to put me in Gryffindor," Harry stopped to see the other's reaction. Severus had almost done a lovely imitation of a fountain when he heard this but managed to stop himself, barely.

"It bothered me a lot in my second year when everyone thought /I/ was the heir of Slytherin because I could speak parsletongue," Harry admitted. Severus put an arm around his shoulders causing Harry to let go of his hand.

"And I guess that is partly my fault. If I hadn't told that Malfoy brat to produce a snake then you wouldn't have had to go through that, sorry," he apologized. Harry laid his head against the man's shoulder and shrugged.

"If I hadn't found out, then we wouldn't have been able to figure out what was going on and Ginny would be dead right now. You have nothing to be sorry for, it all worked out in the end," he assured. Severus chuckled.

"The more you talk childing, the more wise you seem. You certainly have more sense than any one else your age and I'm beginning to think you have more than me."

"Oh really," Harry teased, poking him in the side. Severus squirmed away.

"Don't do that," he whined pathetically. Harry grinned maliciously and began to furiously poke and tickle the poor man next to him, laughing hard when the man tried to get away. He finally fell back on the ground, clutching his sides in pain from laughing.

"You think you can get away with this fireling, think again!" Severus attacked Harry, tickling the boy to tears.

"Okay, okay! I give!" he wheezed Severus ceased his attack and rolled away from him, trying desperately to catch his own breath. After a few minutes they pulled themselves against the tree.

"Well....I don't think I've done that.....ever," Harry admitted after his breathing had returned to normal.

"Me neither." They laid against the tree for a long while, just enjoying each others company.

"Well, you've told me about you're second year, I think you're getting ahead of yourself. Why not start with your first and go from there," Severus suggested. Harry scooted over to him again. Severus responded by putting his arm around his shoulders. Harry went on to explain what had happened to him, from the time he got on the train up to the point that he fought Voldemort.

"So it was Granger who figured out my little puzzle, I always wondered which one of you it was," Severus said thoughtfully. Harry grinned.

"Well it certainly wasn't me," he said. Severus ruffled his now dry hair.

"You had enough on your plate dealing with Quirrell," Severus clenched his fist, "If that fight with you hadn't stopped him I most likely would have killed the little bastard myself." Harry smirked.

"Language, Severus, language," he admonished playfully Severus blushed slightly, which only made Harry laugh.

"What I want to know is why you were with the Weasleys during your second year." Severus tactfully changed the subject which made Harry smirk again but he went along.

"They busted me out of the Dursleys, they had locked me in the upstairs room and put bars on my window."

"What!?!" Severus gawked down at him.

"Whatever for?" Harry told him what happened with the dinner party and found him self again telling about his whole year, even about the Polyjuice.

"So you snuck into the Slytherin dormitories using polyjuice, huh? I'll ask you again, are you sure not supposed to be a Slytherin." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yes Severus I'm sure. Or weren't you listening to the fact that I pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Hat?" It was Severus' turn to roll his eyes.

"Yes I was listening. So what's next? Third year? Do tell," he prompted. Harry again launched into another story, going from the time he blew up his Aunt Marge to when he and Hermione had used the Time-Turner. Severus nodded.

"So that's how Black got away, on the back of a Hippogriff. Now I get to be mean to Albus about doing that, thanks Harry." Harry just snorted and began telling about his fourth year, all through the first and second task, but he found he couldn't finish the third.

"What happened Harry?" Severus encouraged, knowing that finishing would do the boy some good. The little nudging, and support that Severus offered was all Harry needed. He spilled the whole tale, telling how Wormtail had taken his blood and his duel with Voldemort. When he finished Severus felt a great rush of pride from the boy's actions. Albus had been right, he had shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found himself equal to it. But as he looked down at the frail boy in his arms he realized Harry had never allowed himself the chance to grieve Cedric's death and it was eating him up inside with guilt.

"It's okay," he drew the boy fully into his arms and Harry allowed the tears that had been building up to flow out, not ashamed of their passage.

"Kill the spare, that's what he said, kill the spare," he choked out. Severus stroked his hair soothingly.

"Harry it's in the past, there's nothing you can do to change it. You tried everything in your power to prevent it from happening, there's nothing more you could have done. /Let it go/," Severus soothed. Harry's tears had played out but he continued to lay against the older man's chest, soaking in the loving contact he'd had so little of in his life.

"Thank you for listening to me," Harry said quietly.

"I'm glad you feel you can talk to me Harry, that's thanks enough." Harry pulled back from him, but snuggled down in his side and Severus draped his arm back around his shoulders.





-*(Elsewhere)*-



"See Fawkes, I /told/ you it would work." Dumbledore was standing by the window of his bedroom that over looked the school grounds and, consequently, gave him a bird's eye view of Severus and Harry. Fawkes ruffled his feathers as if to say 'Yes well, quit gloating.' Dumbledore smirked at him and went back to watching the two with his omninoculars.





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