Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Web of Lies: Revelations.

Severus watched with a frown as the Creevey girl once again saved the potion she was brewing with Alec. The teen was completely distracted, trying to add ingredients out of time or stirring the wrong way. For once, he was happy that the girl had some kind of talent for potions else the whole potion would have been completely ruined long before they reached the second step. Finally, when Alec was about to throw a few dragon scales into the potion, which would have ruined the whole thing, Severus stepped in and quickly took his hand in his before Lan had the chance to interfere.

Harry was startled out of his confused thoughts when a strong hand closed around his own. Looking up, he winced as he met his uncle's stern face. The man was not happy with him.

"My office, now."

Sullenly, Alec made his way to the room, ignoring the curious glances that were being thrown his way. Severus continued with the lesson as if the young teen wasn't waiting in his office. Once the period was finished, he watched as the Ravenclaws tidied the room and gave him their finished potions. When Lan went to deliver the potion, he looked at her intently. "Five points to Ravenclaw for managing to keep your partner in check."

The girl looked up at him surprised; even if he wasn't really mean to them, he rarely gave them points. When the students had left the room, Severus closed the door after them and finally went to his office. Alec seemed to be lost in thought, sitting in one of the chairs looking at the table absentmindedly.

"Alexander?"

The teen jumped up at hearing his full name and looked at the man, inwardly flinching at the stern look in the man's eyes. It had been a while since his uncle had uttered his full name, and he knew he was in trouble.

"Yes, Uncle Severus?"

The man sat down behind his desk. "What's wrong? If Miss Creevey hadn't been paying so much attention to you, you would have botched that potion at least seven times."

The teen stared sullenly to the ground; he didn't want to talk about it. "It's nothing."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Nothing? Don't give me that crap, something is bothering you, and I want to know what it is."

Something snapped inside him, and Alec jumped out of his seat. "It's none of you business!"

He knew he had put his foot into it when the older man's face closed off completely. Before he had the chance to apologise, the man spoke again. "Detention at eight."

Taking a deep breath, knowing he had earned it, Alec only nodded in acceptance and left the room, ignoring the inquisitive eyes that followed him.

Instead of heading to his next class, he went down to the Chamber of Secrets; it was not like him to skip lessons, even if he knew everything they were teaching in there, but right now, he wasn't in the mood, and he probably would end up earning more detentions. Once he got down to the chamber, Salazar was once again working on something. Remembering the cold reception he had received the day before, Harry simply went to sit on one side of the chamber and summoned his books from the ghost's office. Silently, he started to work on his project, trying to figure out how to remove the Dark Mark was everything but easy.

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Severus walked to the Great Hall at lunch; Alec's behaviour still bothered him. Without a word, he took the place next to the headmaster. He noticed that Minerva was frowning lightly, speaking in hushed voices with the old man. Knowing that Alec had Transfiguration after Potions, he started to pay attention to what they were saying.

"Are you sure he'll be ok, Albus? Alec isn't here, and he didn't come to transfiguration."

Severus raised an eyebrow, a worried glint starting to shine in his eyes. "He didn't go to class?"

Both teachers looked at him a bit startled, it seemed they hadn't seen him enter. Minerva relaxed when she recognised him while shaking her head lightly. "No, he didn't; I asked the other students, and they said you had asked him to stay behind."

Hearing the implied question, he cocked his head slightly. "He was completely distracted; he nearly blew up his potion seven times, and if it hadn't been for Miss Creevey, it would have been a disaster. I asked him to go to my office when it was obvious he didn't have his mind on the potion. Once the lesson was over, I talked with him briefly, but it didn't go too well."

Dumbledore frowned. "What do you mean?"

Severus shrugged. "I asked what was wrong, he said nothing, of course. When I pressed a bit, he blew up at me and I gave him detention; then he left." Looking at the older wizard, he tried to determine if he knew something. "Do you have an idea what could be wrong? I'm not sure I did the right thing by giving him detention."

Dumbledore placed a hand on his arm reassuringly. "Severus, if you think Alec earned that detention then you shouldn't doubt in giving it out. Just because you like the kid, it doesn't mean you should allow him to misbehave, else he'll end up being a spoiled brat, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Minerva gave out a short laugh. "I somehow doubt he would end up being spoiled, Albus, but I agree with you on the matter of the detention. Yet, you didn't answer Severus' other question, do you know what is going on with Alec?"

Sipping on his drink, Albus nodded thoughtfully. "It probably has to do with the letter he received this morning."

Severus frowned. "I didn't notice him receiving a letter; do you know who it was from?"

Albus shrugged a bit. "Probably from my niece; she said she was going to write him soon."

Minerva blinked. "Your niece? You mean, Alec's mother? I would have thought he would be happy to receive word from her, especially when he probably hasn't heard from her in a while."

Dumbledore's frown darkened looking over at the Ravenclaw table where Alec should be sitting. "They aren't exactly on good terms."

Without another word, Dumbledore stood up and left the room, leaving two surprised teachers behind. Severus and Minerva exchanged a glance over the empty seat. "I can't imagine anyone having trouble getting along with Alec, he's such a sweet child."

Remembering the angry retort from a few hours before, Severus shrugged. Personally, he thought that neither Minerva nor him knew Alec as well as they would like to believe, after all, they had only seen the nice part of the child, and while they had heard him argue a few times with Dumbledore, it had never been too bad.

When Alec didn't appear at dinner that evening and Flitwick reported that he had attended neither Charms nor History of Magic, they really started to worry. While Minerva was all for starting to search for him at once, Dumbledore decided to wait till eight. If Alec didn't go to Severus' office for detention that evening, they would start the search. Neither teacher was very happy with that, but seeing the determined glint in the old man's eyes, they didn't argue, thinking that the man was probably pretty sure that the teen was still in the castle. Around seven, Severus stood up from his seat and went to go to his office when the headmaster stopped him.

"Severus."

The younger man turned around lightly. "Yes, Albus?"

Dumbledore looked at him seriously. "When you've finished your detention with Alec, bring him to my office, I think I need to have a chat with him."

Without a word, the wizard nodded and left the room, already thinking on what he should do for Alec's detention. At first, he had thought he would just force him to remake his potion, but after missing the whole day of lessons, something a bit harsher might be in order.

Harry had been working non-stop without much luck; he had even skipped his evening lessons with Rowena to try to figure it out but to no avail. When Salazar had finally noticed him sitting there, he had been fairly upset; he hadn't meant for the kid to think he wasn't welcome down there. The ghost noticed that the teen hadn't his full mind on the matter but when he had tried to talk about it, Alec had just glared at him and continued with his work. Not used to this temperamental teen, the ghost had decided to leave him alone, not even mentioning that he was skipping lunch and dinner on top of his lessons. Finally, at a quarter to eight, Alec sighed and stood up. He knew he would be in trouble for skipping the whole day; his grandfather would probably be pretty angry, and there was no need to get the Potions Master even more cross at him than he probably was. Suddenly feeling a bit depressed, he softly bid Salazar goodbye and left the chamber.

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my beta-reader, Vinnie.