Interlude: Severus
His master was changing, he thought as he watched the wolf in sheep's skin sit and laugh with his new chosen 'inner circle.'
The Dark Lord as he'd known him had been impatient, violent, and unstable. Playing the role of a student - and a Gryffindor one at that - would have been impossible for the man he'd served during the last war. According to the Headmaster, the Dark Lord had once been capable of such patience and subterfuge - had managed to fool most of the wizarding world for over a decade, in fact - but that person had long since disappeared.
Albus theorized that the dark rituals Tom Riddle performed damaged his soul, and that was what turned him into the Dark Lord Severus knew. Originally, Severus had taken that as nothing more than Light-side bias. He had performed a fair number of dark rituals himself, and Severus certainly hadn't become a psychopath. However, if the Headmaster was aware that Tom had made horcruxes… Severus didn't know if the horcruxes were the original problem or not, but before him was a revived Tom Riddle, and all it had taken was sticking him in Harry Potter's body. Was it something about the boy's magic? His mind? Or was it entirely unrelated? Had the decade and a half this soul shard had spent in close proximity to another soul managed to heal some of the damage done to it?
Whatever the cause, his master was changing. Severus had kept a figurative eye on their bond since it'd formed, entirely expecting to witness a disaster as the cognitive dissonance from being Tom Riddle but being treated, and having to act, as Harry Potter increased day by day. Somehow, though, the young Dark Lord had avoided it once by bonding with Miss Granger, then again and again through a variety of small coincidences Severus couldn't even begin to fathom.
Then came the moment Severus had been dreading. Miss Granger had, for whatever insane reason, thrown herself at the boy with typical Gryffindorish exuberance. His master had, for a moment, reacted as a normal teenage boy.
Then he'd realized what he was feeling, caught sight of the changes occurring, and Severus had gasped in near-physical pain at the ragefeardisgust that shot through the bond for a split second before his master shut down, emotionally.
He'd fully expected the castle to be in ruins by morning. He later learned Miss Lovegood had somehow not only headed off that disaster, but even induced guilt in a man who had never before felt the emotion. And on top of that, informing his master of that fact hadn't caused a relapse to the state he'd fallen into the night before. It was, without doubt, a miracle.
Severus wondered if someone had started supplying the student population with Felix Felicis, because surely this amount of luck couldn't be natural. Nor could it last. Nothing good ever could.
"Severus? Are you quite alright, my boy?"
He glared half-heartedly at the Headmaster, as was expected, and stood. "I must prepare for today's lessons," he told the older wizard.
Given that the fifth year Gryffindors had his class today, said preparations included checking the wards on his classroom, refreshing his stock of emergency supplies, downing a Calming Draught or five, and taking time to relax before his blood pressure and students conspired to kill him.
When he reached his private rooms, however, he found Miss Lovegood standing outside reading a very familiar book. Logically Harry Potter would still be Tom Riddle even if Severus hadn't been bonded to him, and it would most likely be just as stressful wondering what the boy was feeling as it was knowing. Still. He glared at the book and the girl holding it. "Is there a reason you chose to stand here in particular, Miss Lovegood?"
The blonde looked up innocently. "Of course, Professor. I needed to talk to you about the next step. I think you'll have to take it soon, and it would be best if you knew what you were doing. I'd tell Tom, but I don't think he'd take it nearly as well." She held the book open and indicated a page titled 'Part II: An Act of Trust.'
Severus stared at her, feeling a migraine forming already, as always happened when dealing with this particular student. He sighed and gave up all hope of relaxing before classes began. "Come in, Miss Lovegood."
