Colt

Chapter 10

Hermione only paused for a moment before she opened the door and stepped inside. Harry followed, then Ron, and lastly Neville.

"Maybe it's a storeroom…" Ron suggested, not able to see anything in the semi-darkness. Neville pulled his wand and lit it.

As if it had been timed, the four of them let out a long, synchronized scream.

A giant, three-headed dog began to bark and froth at the mouth, lunging forward with all its jaws gaping. Harry felt for the doorknob, turned it with a jerk, and the group fell backwards into the hall. Harry kicked the door shut behind them. Without pausing for breath, they all jumped to their feet and ran back down the hallway. Only when they were safely riding the stairs away from the monster did they all resume breathing.

"What was that?" Ron wheezed. Hermione rolled her eyes at him in a vaguely irritated sort of way.

"I should think the fact that it was a three-headed dog was rather obvious. The question is what is it doing in a school filled with children?" Hermione retorted.

"Why would Severus tell me the school was safe with monsters like that hiding in empty classrooms?" Harry huffed angrily, stomping a back foot in irritation and swaying his tail from side to side. With a pensive look on his still deathly pale face, Neville asked a question of his own.

"I wonder what it was guarding?"

Their irritation and fear forgotten, the group exchanged a speculative look.

HPSS

For Harry, soon his life fell into two distinct categories. There was the time he spent with Severus, and the time he didn't.

When he was with Severus, he was a centaur. They groomed, read, studied the stars, talked by the fire, and slept increasingly closer together. Harry wanted to learn more about Severus's past – about why he had lived all alone in the Forbidden Forest. After many enquiries that were refused in about all the ways Severus could think of, he finally relented. It had been after a particularly long bath, and they were curled up in front of the fireplace.

"Tell me something about your past…anything. I just want to know you better," Harry pleaded softly. He was playing idly with the hairs on Severus's back, tracing his spine with his fingers until hair merged into pale skin. The older centaur sighed heavily, similarly to the way he had sighed when Harry had mentioned the three-headed dog. He'd been told then to mind his own business, and not go poking about in places he shouldn't. Now, Severus seemed more inclined to talk.

"I did not leave my herd willingly – though I disliked them all enough. I was ran off."

Harry froze. Centaurs weren't banished for small offenses. Realizing he would have to admit his crime, Severus buried his face in his hands, knowing what he said next could very well frighten Harry away from him for good.

"I was charged with murder."

Harry didn't run away. He was still for a long time, but eventually he resumed his gentle stroking. He never asked questions about Severus's past again. They had gone on in the same way they had before, as if the darkness of Severus's past had never been revealed.

When Harry wasn't with Severus, he was exploring Hogwarts with Neville, Ron, and Hermione. His fear of humans diminished greatly each day until, about two weeks after the incident with the monster in the corridor, he was comfortable eating in the Great Hall and socializing with the students. He was so engaged with life at Hogwarts that he forgot all about sending his letter to Sirius. It remained half hidden under a bookshelf, where it had been pushed accidentally after Severus had returned and distracted him from mailing it.

HPSS

It was during dinner nearly a month later that Harry happened to see an article in the Daily Prophet that caught his eye. He was sitting at the very end of Gryffindor table (the only place he could sit comfortably) enjoying listening to his friends chatter. Hermione was absent, and hadn't been spending as much time with their group as she usually did. It seemed there was a rift of sorts between Hermione and Ron. Neville had told Harry earlier that she was in the girl's bathroom, crying because of something Ron had said during their class before dinner.

"This article says the goblins at Gringotts discovered a break-in," Harry commented. Neville leaned over, scanning the article.

"Hey! That's the vault Hagrid went to! He took me to Diagon Alley because my grandmother was really sick and I had no one to take me. I went to get some money out of my gran's vault, and Hagrid took something out while we were there. It was a small thing, all wrapped up. He was being very secretive about it – said it was Hogwarts business."

"Do you think…I mean…I wonder if what that dog is guarding…"

"…is the same thing Hagrid brought to the school?" Neville finished for Harry, rolling up the paper and tucking it in his bag. "It was so little, barely two inches wide. Other than that, I don't know anything about it or how valuable it is."

"Still seems crazy that they're keeping that monster in the school, even if it is guarding something!" Ron exclaimed before promptly stuffing food in his mouth.

Just then, Severus entered the Great Hall and briskly walked past their table. Harry smiled at him brightly, but Severus only had eyes for Neville. He glared heatedly at the wizard, pausing to dock points because Neville's shirt wasn't tucked in. Harry's smile immediately vanished, but he knew better than to challenge Severus in front of his students. Once he was out of earshot, Ron immediately began whining.

"He wasn't so bad in the beginning. Just because Neville is a walking disaster in potions, he treats us all like he can't stand us!"

"That's not true," Harry felt obligated to say half-heartedly. "He treats Hermione just the same."

"Yeah, but even you have to admit he's really hard on Neville – it goes way beyond not liking him as a student. Hannah Abbot is crap with potions, but you don't see Snape harassing her about her robes not being pressed!"

Despite his growing friendship with Harry, Neville had grown to really dislike Snape. Though they didn't talk about it for Harry's sake, the only reason all the students hadn't decided centaurs were the most miserly, irritable, foul-tempered creatures on earth was because Harry was there to counter-balance Severus. Once over his initial fear, Harry was happy to talk with students who wanted to admire him, to answer their questions and tell them about his herd. It was often a shocking reminder to the students to see the two centaurs strolling around the edge of the grounds, walking so closely that their sides brushed, their tails swishing together. Everyone had come to think of Harry as just another first year, so it was hard for them to acknowledge what he so obviously was – Snape's much younger mate. It was especially hard for Ron, who was always making some rude comment about Snape that Harry had to defend against. Thankfully, the constant attacks against Severus didn't make Harry angry. Harry saw how Severus treated the students, and he had to admit the comments were deserved. He wished they could all see Severus as he saw him, but a part of him liked the fact that Severus's affection belonged clearly to him alone. It was becoming easier and easier to think of his time with Severus and his time with his friends as two entirely different worlds.

Harry's musing was interrupted when Professor McNair, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, came bursting into the Great Hall.

"There's a troll! It's in the dungeons!"

Harry immediately looked to find Severus, only to realize that he was no longer at the head table. Frightened, not only for himself, but for Severus as well, Harry got swept up into the general chaos the announcement created. There was a loud bang from Dumbledore's wand, and everyone froze.

"Please! There is no need to panic! Prefects, direct your house members to their dormitories. Teachers, we will head to the dungeons."

The crowd of anxiously twittering students filed out of the Great Hall. Harry went with the Gryffindors, knowing Severus would be angry if he went to their dungeon quarters alone knowing a troll was wandering about. Neville, however, stopped them.

"Hermione doesn't know about the troll. We have to go get her!" Looking a little pale, Ron hurriedly took off down the opposite hallway. Being more careful to avoid the notice of the prefects, Harry and Neville slipped away as well. They had just spotted the girl's bathroom when they saw the troll lumber inside, obviously no longer in the dungeons.

Immediately, Harry galloped down the hall, leaving the others to run at a much slower speed behind him. Inside the restroom, Harry was just in time to shout at Hermione to duck before a huge club went swinging past the spot her head had just been occupying. Not knowing what else to do, Harry began to dart in and kick the troll, then dodging the club as it came hurtling after him. Harry was too quick and nimble for the troll's lumbering swings however, and Ron and Neville soon arrived. The troll took out some of the sinks, and then got lucky and managed to get a hold of Harry's tail end. His filthy nails dug into Harry's flank, leaving bloody gouges. Panicked for his friend, Ron raised his wand and said the first spell that came to mind. The troll was levitated into the air, along with Harry. In his enthusiasm, Ron put a bit too much into the spell. The troll's head hit the stone ceiling with a loud crack and plummeted back to the ground. A levitation spell of Neville's was the only thing that kept Harry from falling just as hard. Instead, he landed gently, the felled troll slobbering harmlessly on the floor.

It was just then that Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared, followed by a breathless Remus Lupin (who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts) and a hobbling Snape. Immediately, though Snape usually didn't show any kind of public affection, he pushed past the other teachers and pulled Harry away from the fallen troll, his hands moving to the shallow cuts on Harry's flank. Harry twisted awkwardly to assess the damage for himself, letting out a moan when he realized a good chunk of his tail had been removed.

"The cuts aren't deep, thank Reiki. What where you doing down here?" Severus asked, running his hands over the cuts and then glaring at Neville and Ron. "I'd bet anything that this is his bad influence!" The glare he gave Neville could have pierced steel. Hermione, however, rushed to Neville's defense before Harry could.

"No, sir, this was all my fault!" She glanced at Ron, who looked at her incredulously. "I…read about trolls, and I thought I could handle it. If Ron, Neville and Harry hadn't come for me, I would probably be dead right now."

McGonagall proceeded to take points from Hermione and berate her lapse in judgment. Much to Harry's surprise, Severus continued to stand right beside him, almost as if he were blocking him off from the others. He actually was, as his frame was so much bigger than Harry's. Harry recognized the action even if the others didn't. Centaurs were protective of their mates. If one of them was harmed, the other would defend them and protect them until they were well again.

Harry suddenly knew, without a doubt, how Severus felt about him. It was strange and abnormal for the two of them to be mates, but that was what they had become. Unnoticed by the others, Harry slipped his hand into Severus's. The older centaur glanced at him, his eyes softening ever so slightly, before he was once again glaring at Neville and Ron, and occasionally at Lupin and McNair, both teachers he seemed to particularly hate.

The students were told to leave the bathroom, and Severus escorted Harry back to their cave. Once inside, he gruffly told Harry to get situated in front of the fire, and the proceeded to lecture him for the next hour about foolish, reckless behavior. Again, Harry found himself being doctored by Severus. So distracted by the pain in his posterior and the lecture he was getting, Harry completely forgot to ask why Severus was limping so badly.

A/N: I know. It's been FOREVER. I don't abandon fics, though! I might take months and months and months, but I will update eventually! So there were a lot of things in this chapter you probably expected – Fluffy, the Stone, and the troll to name a few, but I bet none of you anticipated Remus being a teacher. You'll hear more about him in the next chapter. And finally Harry realizes that he and Severus aren't just really really good friends. Now I just hope Severus has reached the same conclusion Harry has, or that could lead to some awkward moments in the future…

A/N Part II: I am SO sorry! I made a really stupid mistake, completely not thinking, and had Quirrell in here as a teacher even though he's dead. Meant to say McNair, really really sorry! I changed it, and re-loaded this chapter. Thanks to Sunshine for pointing that out. I finished this chapter at like, midnight last night, and my brain wasn't turned on. (I was actually thinking to myself, "I need to check my outline and re-read the other chapters…but bed is so soft…shouldn't update then…but so tired…want to be done…") Which is what temporarily lead to Quirrell being brought back from the dead. And McNair is such an important character, too! (Did I give you all a hint? Oops…nah.)