CHAPTER 8: A Moment at Midnight

Snape marched down the has with his typical flair, cloak billowing behind him. True, darkness had fallen over Hogwarts, so he didn't have his usual audience. But he hadn't gained a reputation for 'swooping down' for nothing. As he turned the corner to spot a slightly ajar door he stopped and sneered gleefully. there must be windows or a balcony behind it. The full moon was casting a beam of moonlight into the normal dark hallways. Severus stepped forward and pushed open the door. He opened his mouth to reprimand the student but froze. Harry Potter was sitting on the stone railing, feet dangling over the edge. The drop below was dizzying, leading into the gorge.

"Potter." He muttered quietly. Harry didn't turn, just sighed.

"Professor." He muttered. Snape frowned and took a step forward.

"You do realize it is nearly midnight." He drawled.

"Couldn't sleep," Harry muttered. Then he grimaced and dug into his pocket and shook two pills out of a prescription bottle. Snape rose an eyebrow "I uh… ended up going to see that psychiatrist you threatened to drag me to." Harry admitted with a chuckle before he shook the bottle. "Antidepressants. Stop panic attacks and 'dissociative episodes' whatever that means." Harry muttered, "mostly just keep me from throwing myself off a tower or biting my mates' heads off."

"And yet you're sitting on the railing of the highest balcony in Hogwarts," Snape muttered. Harry shrugged. Snape frowned before crossing his arms. "Come down."

"I was just joking professor I'm not-"

"Come. Down." Snape drawled slowly. Harry groaned but turned himself and got off the railing. Snape looked at him then sighed. "Sit."

"Sir?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Sit, Mr. Potter," Snape said. Harry looked at his professor as if he'd just offered him a lemon drop but complied, sliding down the railing until he was sitting on the cold stone floor. Then Harry's eyes bugged out as Snape sat down settling against the wall across from him. His long legs crossed the small space of the balcony, even as he crossed his ankles. Harry continued to stare at him while Snape folded his hands in his lap and gave his hated student a nebulous look. "I read about what your uncle did to you in the paper." Harry blushed and looked away.

"Yeah." He finally said before he looked down and started picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Aunt Petunia made sure I was okay with it before she told Pike but…"

"You regret your decision." Snape reasoned.

"No?" Harry asked with a frown "I dunno. I know it's probably done some good. I mean I heard about that kid in Hufflepuff who came clean about her parents. But I just…"

"Letting go of a secret when it's been kept for so long can be difficult." Snape sympathized. Harry shrugged. Then his eye filled with tears.

"I mean… I didn't really expect anything to ever get better you know?" He said with a wobbly smile "It always been that way… even before he started hitting me." He was tearing a hole into his hoodie, his hands shaking as he did "but I guess… I don't know. Reading about it in the paper just made it… more real." Harry admitted before he rubbed his face. Then he laughed. "I dunno why I'm telling you all this."

"I know what it's like," Snape said plainly. Harry scoffed in anger.

"No offence professor but you have no fucking clue." Harry snapped, then he looked away again, a scowl on his face "Sirius says that too. Says that he's been through it all and that he knows it can get better. But he didn't have his life dragged through the press. He didn't have people talking about him behind his back, talking about how damaged he must be, or how sorry you feel for him, or whether he's making it all up for attention!" Harry ranted angrily, furiously rubbing his face. Snape was very quiet for a few moments then he took a deep breath.

"When I was twelve, your mother came to visit me at my house." Snape began. Harry's face snapped up and he stared at Snape in wonder "My father as I've told you before, was a World War II veteran with severe PTSD. He had become addicted to alcohol as a means of self-medication. In public, he could be kind as a saint. At church, in particular, he was seen as a model citizen. But behind closed doors, he was a terror. Nearly anything could set him off. On that particular day, I had upset him, by accident, by dropping a plate. He was in a very foul mood. When Lily knocked on the door my father had started having flashbacks, believing the Nazis were coming to kill him. My mother tried to calm him but he lashed out. Lily heard the screaming and she ran away. A few days later Jane Evans took my mother out to lunch while Lily and I went to the park. I don't know what they talked about, but my mother came to pick me up after that. When we arrived at home my father was gone, likely down at the workman's hall, hoping to get money for an odd job. She told me to pack something into my little rucksack, just enough for a few days, and hide it. The next day, around noon, my father was home, drowning his sorrows when Roseline and Patrick showed up. Patrick informed my father that he was taking me and my mother away. My father did not like that, he tried to come at my mother and me. That was of course when Roseline infamously beat him back with her slipper. My mother cried tears of joy that entire car ride over to the Evans place. It was the first time she'd had true freedom in decades."

Harry was hanging off his professor's every word, eyes wide.

"But." Snape said, shifting slightly "in order to get us away from him for good, my mother needed to press charges. Jane was a lawyer, who had been advocating for changes to the battery and assault laws to including domestic violence for years. She was determined to get my mother away from my father for good. But that meant airing out our dirty laundry so to speak." Snapes scowled "For weeks the people of the neighbourhood accused my mother of making it all up. Of dragging me into her sick ploy to steal my saintly father's money. Using me, a known trouble maker, and trying to recast me as a victim. I was beaten up by one of my father's bar friends once. He called me a pansy punk who couldn't take a punch. On a separate occasion a child, goaded on by their father, threw a rock at my head. I still have the scar as a trophy." Snape admitted before he turned the back of his head to Harry and lifted a patch of hair, revealing the jagged scar.

"What happened to your dad?" Harry asked quietly.

"Once the evidence was collected, Photographs of the various bruises he'd given us, and Roseline and Patrick's eyewitness accounts of him trying to attack us, my mother won the case. At the time it was considered a great leap forward. Before that, domestic violence was swept under the rug or ignored. Considered 'a private matter'. Jane considered it her greatest victory. My father received ten years for battery, assault, negligence, and child abuse." Snape snorted " Of course he only served two years."

"What?!"Harry demanded in horror "After all that they let him go after two years?!"

"No." Snape said with a shake of his head "He was killed by one of his fellow inmates. Apparently, he'd gotten on someone's bad side. Or perhaps they didn't like that he had no qualms about beating his own wife and son. If he thought they deserved it."

"What happened to your mother?" Harry asked quietly.

"She lives in York." Snape said plainly "Runs an apothecary off the high street. Does quite well in fact."

"She's still alive?" Harry asked in confusion. Snape chuckled.

"She's a witch, Mr. Potter. She'll probably live for quite a while."

"But after all that…" Harry said quietly. Snape snorted

"My mother is far from weak. She wouldn't let something like that stop her." Harry frowned as took down at his torn sleeve.

"I don't think I can do what she did," Harry admitted quietly.

"You can." Snape insisted. Harry looked away with a worried frown and the potions master huffed before he grabbed Harry's hand. The teen turned to him and looked into his professor's eyes, looking so lost and afraid. "Harry you've beaten the dark lord himself! On more than one occasion. And I doubt even my mother could manage that. If you can survive that, you can survive this."

"How?" Harry asked anxiously. Snape smiled.

"My mother and I stayed with the Evans' for a whole year while my father's case was brought to court. Every day Lily would come to tell me she was on my side. You have people on your side too. Tell them how you're feeling." Snape insisted before he released his hand "You will be stronger with your friends, no matter what you face." Harry looked at his professor, then he thought about the story Sirius had told over the summer. He gave his professor a hard look.

"Sir… did you really all my mother a mudblood?" He asked. Snape's face dropped in shock. Then he took a deep breath and leaned back.

"Yes." He admitted "Much to my great personal shame I did. It was the greatest mistake of my life."

"What happened that day?" Harry asked with a frown. Snape's face soured slightly

"I'm sure Black told you everything you needed to hear." he griped. Harry shrugged.

"Sirius is biased."

"Nice of you to finally realize," Snape muttered darkly. Harry just levelled him with a look. Snapes shifted slightly.

"Your father and godfather tormented me endlessly. It wasn't remarkable what they did that day. But…" Snape swallowed "I had started to receive similar… attention from members of my own house."

"Other Slytherins?" Harry asked in confusion. "Why?"

"My association with your mother was considered… unacceptable."

"But you were like siblings!" Harry countered. "Don't they care about family?!"

"Only when the family is considered acceptable. Or have you forgotten the fact that your own godfather was disowned for being a Gryffindor?" Snape countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh…" Harry murmured "yeah… I had forgotten about that."

"I was delivered an ultimatum," Snape muttered. "Sever all ties with Lily, or they would start directing their displeasure at her." Snape sighed as he looked through the decorative banister to the peaceful night. "I knew how to defend myself against the darker curses. Lily would have been a sitting duck."

"So you were just trying to protect her," Harry said with a sad look.

"As is the cruel irony of the universe, yes," Snape murmured. But Harry could see the shadows in the man's face and eyes. He was starting to think this was about much more than a bit of schoolyard taunting. "Now. On the subject of your punishment."

"Punishment?" Harry squeaked with a blink.

"For being out after curfew of course." Snape insisted as he gracefully stood. Harry groaned and scrambled to his feet. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"Yes sir." Harry said with drooping shoulders

"And!" Snape muttered before he withdrew two slips of parchment from his cloak. "You are to use the hall pass to avoid further run-ins with Filch or the other professors." Harry blinked and looked down at the top slip of paper.

May the bearer of this Hall pass be exempt from curfew related punishments

As authorized by

Severus T. Snape, P.M.

"Er… thanks?" Harry said in confusion. Snape sniffed.

"Furthermore." he began with a sneer. Harry winced and prepared for the other shoe to drop. "You are to use the absence note for your first class tomorrow to get some actual sleep."

"What?" Harry said before he looks at the other slip of paper.

This students absence is to be waived

As authorized by

Severus T. Snape, P.M.

"Another five points from Gryffindor for poor manners." Snape snapped. Harry blinked. "Now run along Potter."

"Sir?" Harry questioned. Snape huffed before tapping his wrist as if to remind Harry that time was of the essence. Harry nodded dumbly before walking out the door. Snape followed him, closing the door to the balcony and plunging the hall into complete darkness.

"As you were Mr. Potter." Snape sneered before stomping away, boots clicking just as ominously as before. Harry blinked before wandering in the direction of Gryffindor tower, a little dazed.

Harry settled into his seat for defence class with a cheerful grin. He was nicely refreshed after sleeping in through his first class. Professors McGonagall's eyebrows had skyrocketed when Harry presented his absence note to her at lunch. But she hadn't made any comment. He was ready for anything.

"Today we shall be practicing silent shield charms, then we shall have a lecture about the benefits of certain charms over others." Snape drawled before waving his wand and creating a space at the back of the room. Everyone was already up. Harry smiled. He loved practicals! And he had to admit, Snape taught in a style very similar to his own, providing the level of feedback he deemed necessary for each student. Harry was really starting to get that hand of this silent thing. "Weasley!"

"Yes sir?" Ron asked with feigned innocence.

"I can see your lips moving from a mile away." the man drawled. Then he sniffed. "Since you cannot be trusted to follow instructions when working with friends… Nott! Zabini! Separate and partner with Weasley and Potter."

"I'm not working with spazzy McGee!" Nott cried "What if he has a fit and starts cursing people left and right!"

"You Take that back!" Ron shouted angrily.

"Yeah well what if his mad-dog attacks me!" Zabini argued. Snuffles was standing behind Harry. Nearly everyone knew about how the dog growled when Snape walked past. Most people ignored it by now.

"Snuffles won't attack you unless you give him a reason." Hermione pointed out tersely.

"Shut up Granger! No one needs the advice of a filthy mudblood." Zabini snarled under his breath. Harry saw red and whipped out his wand to hex the boy. Zabini instantly countered it and the pair began shooting spells back and forth while everyone else yelped and dove for cover.

"ENOUGH!" Snape roared furiously. "Detention Mr. Potter and Mr. Zabini! Tomorrow! My office!" Harry's stomach filled with dread.

"Erm…" Harry began "professor I…"

"Look at me, not your navel!" Snape growled. Harry looked up with a wince.

"I can't go to a detention tomorrow," Harry said quietly.

" Why. Not." Snape demanded shortly.

"I er…" Harry rubbed the back of his neck "I have appointments with my psychiatrist Thursday evenings."

"Psychiatrist?" Zabini cried incredulously before a cruel smirk bloomed across his face "isn't that like a muggle mind healer?" he laughed "I guess the prophet was right last year after all! You really are barmy!" Blaise snickered. The Slytherins were all joining in giving Harry cruel grins. Harry felt a bit queasy even as the Gryffindors clustered around him and gave the Slytherins angrily glares.

"Fifteen points from Slytherin." Snape suddenly called out flatly. The entire class froze and looked up to their defence professor in shock and horror. Snape never took points from Slytherin. Ever. "It takes far greater strength to seek out help for one's problems, rather than remain as you are, refusing to grow. Do not be so quick to judge Mr. Zabini. Mr. Potter has shown more courage today than I do believe YOU ever will. On that note Mr. Potter, we shall reschedule your detention for Friday. And furthermore, might I say I am flattered that you took my advice to receive the therapy you sorely needed." Snape replied smoothly. That shut up Blaise immediately. In fact, his mouth was hanging open a bit before he closed it with a quiet snap. The Slytherin half of the class was now avoiding Harry's eyes, some blushing, some stoic. Harry looked up at his professor. Then he smiled. Snape didn't smile back, merely nodded and cleared his throat before instructing the class to return to their desks for the lecture. Harry didn't thank him. But on some level, he realized he didn't have to. "Mr. Zabini! Don't forget, tomorrow evening, my office at 8. Potter, I expect you to be at my office Friday evening at 7:30." Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. But somehow, the extra time didn't feel as annoying as it used to

"Yes sir." Harry agreed. Then Snape dismissed them. As Harry left he gave his professor one last look. Snape eyed him before he tapped his bare wrist. It was a familiar gesture to Harry and he couldn't help but smile again.

Maybe this year wouldn't be a total mess after all.

A/N: WHY HELLO MY LEARNED AND ASTONISHINGLY WELL-READ PEOPLE!

IT'S SPOOKY DAY!

And as a gift for such a wonderful day, I have posted 2 chapters for the price of 1!

A back-to-back.

A double-feature if you will.

*Rocky Horror music intensifies*

But in all seriousness,

First, an entire chapter dedicated to angsty teenagers and their feelings,

And then a chapter about Snape being a *shudders violently* decent human being?!

I've got this horror thing down to a science!

James Birdsong and ILoveGeorgeEads: Thanks a bunch!

bahnannah: Now to be fair to Hermione, Harry wasn't really learning anything when he first started using the book. He was just copying what someone else had figured out. Eventually, he does gain a better understanding of potions through the book. At which point Hermione stops caring. At the end of the day, yes, she was very jealous because she was used to being at the top of the class. But I think the part that really irked her was that Harry had managed to beat her with no effort at all. He didn't know why what he was doing was better. Once he does she has no problem with the book.

At first.

But that is treading painfully close to spoiler territory.

Happy Halloween All!

See you next week!

Don't forget to keep on reading!

-TTC