DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended
a/n: I want to remind the readers that Severus Snape is still a mean, snarky #$#$. The way he doles out discipline may be different than what we would expect.
a/n: this is where the plot turns somewhat from the original, (which is why it took me longer to edit and reupload it). The rest of the children will not yet be joining Harry, there will some rearranging of events, and Sirius' memorial and Umbridge's trial will occur before Snape brings the rest of the students to his house.
Chapter 11
Thursday, July 11, 1996
It was now two days later. Harry had gotten into a routine. He would eat breakfast and then go flying for a while. When he returned he would go over his potions essay. He brought the essay to Snape at lunch each day, only to have it returned covered in red marks. This was the third time he had written the essay, and he was getting angry. What in the world did Snape want? Snape had told him he would continue to redo the essay until it was outstanding. After getting his daily occlumency lesson and lecture from Snape about his incompetence, he would storm to his room and rant about Snape to Lupin. Afterwards, he would sit down and work on some of his other homework until dinnertime. After dinner he would play chess or gobstones with Lupin until bedtime.
He continued having nightmares, but had no further visions from Voldemort. He practiced clearing his mind every night before going to bed. When he had a nightmare, he would wake up to Lupin sitting next to his bed. Lupin always offered Harry the chance to talk. At first Harry was reluctant, but after the first nightmare he began to tell Lupin about them. And it had helped. Lupin always had a glass of warm milk, laced with cinnamon and sugar, for him so he could get back to sleep. Harry found himself becoming closer to his father's friend. It felt good to know that if he had a nightmare, someone would be there to comfort him. It was a new sensation to Harry and he found that he enjoyed the feeling.
Harry looked over his essay one last time, and couldn't find anything else to say. He decided to ask Lupin to look over it before giving it to Snape. He loaded his bag with the parchment, his potions tomes, and his Occlumency book and went into the sitting room. Lupin was sitting there, having a discussion with Snape. Harry waited for a halt in the conversation and said, "Remus, can I talk with you?"
Snape got up and left the room, and Remus said, "What is it, Harry?"
Harry got the parchment out and said, "I was hoping you would look at this before I handed it in to Snape this afternoon."
Remus took the parchment and read it while Harry sat down and waited. Remus said, "It sounds good to me, Harry, but I'm not a potions expert."
Harry said, "I hope it's good enough this time. I don't know what I'm going to do if he rejects it again."
Harry was livid. Snape still was not satisfied. He wasn't really sure what Snape wanted him to say, and had found himself on his feet screaming at the man, "Why are you being such a snarky git?"
Snape responded in barely controlled fury, "You will control your temper, Mr. Potter. Go to your room until you can calm down."
Harry was shaking with anger. He couldn't believe it. He was being told to go to his room like a naughty child. He continued to stand there, his trembling increasing as the anger took over and all the glass in the room began to burst.
Snape said, "I will not tell you again, Potter. Go. To. Your. Room."
Harry looked defiantly at Snape and didn't move.
Snape pulled out his wand and although Harry never heard the professor utter a sound, he found himself in a full body bind. Harry was aware of his body being levitated but had no idea where he was being taken. It was when he felt the familiar softness of the bed and heard the soft hissing of Calypso that he knew where he was. Snape loomed over him and said in a clipped voice, "You will remain here for the next 30 minutes. I suggest you meditate and get a handle on your anger. When you have calmed down, we will talk." Then he heard Snape leave the room.
Harry couldn't believe it. Snape had lied to him! This was not loss of priviliges or detention, or even an essay. This was not fair! Harry struggled to get free of the spell for some time before finally giving up. He wasn't quite sure how long he had been there when he heard someone come in the room. The friendly face of Remus swam into view. Harry saw a flash of red light, and then he could move again. He pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was about to launch into a tirade about Snape when Remus held up a hand and said in a stern voice, "I don't want to hear it."
He leveled a hard look at Harry, and said, "Severus told me exactly what you said to him. He also informed me that he gave you a chance to come to your room willingly and you refused. You are restricted to your room for 25 more minutes, after which I will gladly discuss this with you. Understand?"
Harry nodded in shock. Remus was siding with Snape! Harry huffed around for a few more minutes, before forcing himself to begin his breathing and meditation. By the time Remus came to tell him his time was up, he was calmer, although he was still feeling pretty angry.
He followed his father's friend to the sitting room and said, "Do you know what Snape did to me?"
Remus said, "Yes, Harry. He told me. I thought it was a bit harsh, but he wasn't trying to harm you." He motioned for Harry to sit down.
Harry sat in the chair across from Remus and said, "Could've fooled me."
"Did he cause you any pain?"
"Well, no, but..."
"But nothing, Harry. He was restraining you, not harming you."
Harry sat back in the chair, crossed his arms and said, "Fine."
"Harry, you have to get a handle on your temper. As I already told you, Severus told me what you said to him. You know that he has a temper as well. It took a great deal of restraint on his part to choose to act in a way that did you no harm."
When Harry didn't respond, Remus continued, "Now I want you to tell me how you could have handled the situation differently."
Harry sighed and said, "I shouldn't have yelled at him."
Remus said, "That would be a good start. What you said was quite disrespectful. What else could you have done?"
Harry said in a dejected voice, "I should have gone to my room when he told me to."
"That brings me to the next point. Severus and I have decided that each and every time you lose your temper, you will receive a 30 minute time out in your room. In addition, if you find yourself getting angry, you can tell us you need a break and come to your room to meditate. I'm hoping the day will come that you will recognize you are out of control before acting on it. OK?"
Harry reluctantly nodded.
Remus continued, "Now, you have a sitting room to clean. Since it is glass we are going to let you use your wand under my supervision. Follow me."
Remus got up and Harry followed him to the sitting room. Remus gave Harry his wand and Harry repaired all the glass he had broken. It wasn't until he was finished that he thought about the law restricting magic since he was underage. When he asked Remus about it, Remus explained that the ministry couldn't actually tell the difference when adult wizards were around, so the law was only truly enforceable for muggleborn students. Harry thought that sounded pretty unfair.
Then Remus took back his wand and said, "Severus is waiting for you in his lab. Are you calm enough to talk to him now?"
Harry nodded and left to find the potions master.
Snape seemed to be quite involved in whatever potion he was making, so Harry stood at the door and waited to be recognized. "Come in Potter, and sit at the desk with all the tomes."
Once Severus reached a stopping point, he went over to Harry's desk. After calming down from his desire to throttle the boy he had decided that Potter's problem was that he didn't know how to correctly research a potion. So instead of marking his essay and telling him to do it again, he was going to teach him how to successfully research the potion. He handed a book to Harry and said, "This is an ingredients journal. Note the alphabetical tabs. I want you to look up each ingredient in the Veritaserum potion and enter it into this journal, with its description, attributes, and uses. When you have finished, let me know."
Harry nodded and began researching. An hour later, he told Snape he was finished. Snape came over and checked his work, then said, "Do you know what is missing from your essay now?"
Harry sheepishly said, "Yes sir. I didn't describe how the ingredients act upon one another."
"Very good, Mr. Potter. If you will follow this procedure every time, you will write better essays. In addition you will have a reference of potions ingredients and will end up spending less time having to research ingredients you have already used. Now, we still have several hours before dinner, so you are going to brew this potion. Get your ingredients and set up at the next table."
Harry obeyed, and then Severus told him to place the ingredients in the order of use. Severus explained that if he placed the ingredients this way, it was harder to get lost in what he was doing or put the wrong ingredients in. Afterwards, Snape lit a fire under his cauldron since Harry's wand had again been confiscated and left him to brew the potion. Harry found Snape was much nicer when it was just him. Harry finished the potion and it was actually the correct color and consistency. Harry was really proud of himself, and felt even better when Snape declared that his potion was acceptable and that he expected the same caliber of work the rest of the summer.
There was still some time before dinner, so Harry sat down and rewrote the essay with the missing information included. He took it to Snape and waited anxiously for Snape to read it. Snape declared it acceptable. Finally, he had written a good essay without Hermione's help. He was now feeling quite guilty about the words he had used earlier. Before leaving the lab, he turned to face the professor, and looking directly in his eyes, he said, "I want to apologize, sir. I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did."
"No," agreed Snape, "You shouldn't have." He leveled a stern gaze at Harry and said, "and if it happens again, you will spending every bit of your free time for the foreseeable time writing sentences describing how you will change your behaviour. Have I made myself very clear, Potter?"
Harry mumbled a very embarrassed, "Yes, sir," before leaving the room.
Harry was informed when he woke the next day that Snape had been called to testify to the fact that Wormtail was indeed alive and well. Remus declared it a holiday on homework, but Harry's joy at the news abated when he found out that he would be meeting his counselor for the first time that day. In spite of the news, he still spent an enjoyable morning outside, flying to his heart's content.
After lunch he heard the sirens announcing that someone was just outside the wards. As Remus left to greet their guest, Harry began to feel very nervous. He had no idea what he was going to be expected to tell a counselor. The woman who entered the dining room with Remus was tall with short blonde hair.
Harry was ushered into the downstairs sitting room, and then left with the woman. She said, "Hello, you must be Harry. My name is Nancy Goldman." She held out her hand for Harry to shake.
She motioned to some chairs and said, "Today I will just be basically getting a history, and then next week we will sit down and make some goals. Is that ok with you?"
"Yeah, I guess."
So began Harry's first therapy session. The therapist asked him questions about his childhood, along with questions about his treatment under his current guardians. At the end of the session, she asked for Remus and Snape to come in. Harry told her that he would go and find Remus, but that Snape wasn't home today.
Unbeknownst to Harry, Severus had returned while he had been talking to the counselor. He walked in the dining room to find him talking to Lupin. In an angry voice the potions master said, "The man is an absolute moron. They would not accept that I would take veritaserum willingly, suggesting that I would just turn it into another potion before it reached my stomach. In the end, I had to use a pensieve. Even then, Fudge tried to say that I had altered the memories. Albus had to explain to the man that it was impossible to do such a thing several times. Then, because of the content of the memories he accused me again of still being a death eater. If the headmaster had not been there I would be sitting in Azkaban right now."
It seemed the professor was taking a breath before continuing his diatribe so Harry interjected, "Excuse me,"
Snape rounded on him. "How long have you been eavesdropping?" he demanded as he angrily strode towards him. Harry's eyes widened, and he took a few involuntary steps backward.
Severus stopped immediately when he saw the look on the boy's face. He took a deep breath and willed his emotions away. He would not take his anger at incompetent ministry officials out on his charge. He said in as calm of a voice as he could muster, "It was my understanding that you were speaking with your new therapist."
Although Snape seemed calmer, Harry was still wary of him. "She wanted to speak with you, sir."
"Just me?"
Harry shook his head and Snape motioned for him to lead the way. Harry led them back into the sitting room, where all three of them took seats. Harry noticed Snape seemed to be as uncomfortable around the woman as he was. After introductions, she said, "Mr. Lupin, it seems that your relationship with Harry is developing very nicely, but Mr. Snape I am quite concerned about yours. I would like for you to set some time each day to just talk to Harry. It seems you two need to get to know each other better."
Snape glowered at her, but agreed to the request. She then turned to Harry, "I think you should also spend some time with Mrs. Weasley this week. Do you think you can do that?"
Harry said, "I don't know."
Snape interjected then, "I will see to it that the boy has access to Molly."
Harry wondered how Snape was going to do that, but chose to keep silent. But the therapist seemed pleased. "Good, then I will see you next week." She shook Harry's hand again, before leaving with Remus. Snape rose and announced that he would be in his lab and that Harry was not to bother him unless he would like to end up doing the most vile chores the potions master could think of.
Harry wisely chose to just wait for Remus to return. When he did, Harry said, "Why does he always do that?"
"Do what, Harry?"
"Go to his lab when..."
"When he's angry?" offered Remus.
"Yeah."
"As unrealistic as it sounds to you and me, making potions calms him. I would say that potion-making to Severus is like flying to you."
"Oh," said Harry.
Remus then changed the subject, and suggested that Harry find something to occupy himself until dinner. With nothing else to do, Harry decided to engage in his favorite stress reliever, flying. He came in hours later, red-faced and happy.
