Chapter 13 Plots Within Plots

Shadow changed into the pajamas that Dumbledore had bought for him earlier that day and climbed into the bed even though he didn't feel tired. Too many things had happened today to make rest easy tonight or at least that's what Shadow thought before he fell asleep. That was of course what Dumbledore had been waiting for so that he could finish the work he had started on the boy. Albus cast a sleep spell on the already sleeping boy to prevent him from waking up before he was finished. After casting two more spells on the boy he once again pried open the boys mouth and poured another potion in and caused Shadow to swallow. Finished. Now the boy belonged to him both physically and legally. To make matters even better as time passed and the magic was allowed to work the boy would even forget his past as his trust developed for the headmaster. It had been a good day's work and Albus went to his bedroom and made ready for bed. He needed his rest too because getting the boy started in his classes and deflecting questions was going to be tiring work tomorrow.

In the morning Albus woke Shadow up and told him his breakfast would be served in about 30 minutes.

Shadow showered and dressed then sat down and ate breakfast. After he was finished he was escorted down to the basement (Did this place have a basement or would that be cellar or even a dungeon?) by Albus who explained that this morning he would be taking potions from Professor Snape who would be assessing his academic level to see if he would need to be tutored to bring him up to the speed that his classmates were at.

Shadow rolled his eyes at that but truth be told he was looking forward to this class. He needed to talk to Mr. Snape and he had not had a chance yesterday. Well, he HAD a chance but he wanted this conversation to be private between the two of them instead of being overheard by the rest of the teachers and the headmaster.

Albus opened a door and gently pushed Shadow into the room. "Ah professor, I'm sorry we are late this morning. I know how you dislike having your classes disrupted so I am sure now that Harry knows his way I will not cause him to be late again."

Snape nodded his head and said. "I will excuse it this morning but after this I will take points if he is tardy again." Snape then turned to Shadow and said "Wait here. I need to get the rest of the class started then I need to spend a little time finding out what you know about potions. Headmaster, I would like to have a meeting with you this evening after dinner. We can discuses what I find out about Harry's training in potions."

Snape set the rest of the class to reading a chapter in their books and then told them to write 10 inches on the difference between the two potions mentioned in that chapter. He then escorted Shadow to his office and warded the room for silence before casting several spells on the quiet boy. Snape looked shocked after the last spell was cast. He motioned Shadow to a chair and then asked him if he had recognized the spells he had just used.

"Silencing, privacy, one to detect spells used within the last 72 hours, one to identify any spells used and one I think reads magical auras but I'm not to sure about that one." Shadow said. "I can tell by your face that you found something but I don't know what it is."

Snape started nodding his head as Shadow listed the spells that had been cast and when Shadow finished Snape said. "What I found is that you have been subjected to a very tightly controlled cutting curse, multiple petrificus totalus, a blood ward which I cannot identify, multiple sleep spells, your magic is suppressed, you have a very slow acting memory modifier placed on you, a tracking spell, a glammor and a spell that is most often used on very young children. A monitoring spell." Snape looked angry, "You have also ingested a stemma -atis potion and a potion that makes eyes water as well as one that I cannot identify."

As Snape talked Shadow's face lost all expression. He was pissed. "Can you remove them? The blood ward, the suppression on my magic, and the rest?"

"You understand who did this to you do you not?" Shadow nodded. "Then you will also understand why I will not remove those that I can. If I did when he found out we will have lost the element of surprise. I need to get someone in here to look at the blood ward and the binding on your magic. I can sense the binding but I cannot break it and I have no clue what the blood ward does. The memory charm is another one I don't have the skill to break. Shadow, he is dangerous. When I got back here I confronted him about some information your father had given me to see what his reaction would be and if I had not been prepared in advance I would have been obliviated. As it is the headmaster thinks I don't remember that conversation with your father. My memories as far as he is concerned is of an enjoyable holiday spent trying to convince your father to return to the order."

"So what do I do now? I don't like the feeling that someone is trying to control me." Shadow said.

"What you do now is act. Hopefully you're a good enough actor that he will not feel it is necessary to use legilimency on you. I will inform the headmaster that you need to be tutored in potions to bring you up to your year mates. That will allow me to spend unsupervised time with you. I will also inform your family as to your whereabouts and as I said before I will bring in an expert to look at what has been done to you. I'll need a few days to get everything done so please, please don't do anything rash. You do not need him to take any corrective actions against you. I don't know what that could lead to but I suspect that after having seen what he will do to try and control you that it would not be good."

"I'll behave myself. With my magic blocked and my staff missing I can't do much about anything right now except mouth off and I think your right about that. It would only cause more trouble for me." Shadow looked directly into Snapes eyes. "Check my shields for me. I can't feel them right now and I need to make sure they are still up."

"And if they aren't what do you want me to do?" Snape asked.

"Mom taught you how to use legilimency and occlumency. She taught me too so you should be able to help me rebuild my shields if they need it." Shadow answered.

Snape took out his wand and pointed it at Shadow and quickly cast a legilimency on him then using the time in Shadows mind he inspected the shields the boy had up. He strengthened them in several places before gently leaving. "That will hold off any except a very determined attack and I don't think Dumbledore wants to do that. He seems to be trying to make you think he is your friend. I think you're safe for now."

The two of them went back to the classroom and Snape told the boy to read the chapter and try to finish the assignment before class was over.

After potions Snape had one of the other students escort Shadow to muggle studies. Whoever thought up that class should have been obliviated before he decided to inflict it on other students Shadow thought. Boring and beyond boring. Next was ancient runes which was fairly interesting although below the level he was studying at home. Shadow kept his knowledge of the subject to himself and placed his work around average with the rest of the class.

Lunch was next on the agenda and when he got to the great hall he sat down at one end of the Ravenclaw table to eat. Several students sat with him and he spent the entire lunch time answering questions that he thought were safe to answer.

The afternoon was more classes including charms which he did horrible at. He just couldn't get use to a wand and accessing his magic was extremely difficult with the blocks in place. His charms professor was not pleased with his work at all and told him he would need some special tutoring to bring him up to the level of his age mates. Noting surprising for Shadow there.

After his last class of the day was over Shadow decided to go outside and look around. When he approached the doors he found that he could only get about a foot away from them before he ran into an invisible barrier. Fuck, was he not even allowed to go outside? Apparently not because no matter how hard he pushed he could move no closer than he was now.

That was how Dumbledore found him. Albus directed him to return to their quarters to eat and when he was finished he was told to do some studying before bed. "I will try to return to our rooms early tonight but I have meetings with several professors tonight so if I'm not back before you go to bed, sleep well my boy."

"When you get back tonight will you answer some questions for me?" Shadow asked.

With a smile Albus agreed.

Shadow ate his dinner, then took out the notes he had made before and started adding what he had learned today.

1. The woman who had shot him in the neck. Who the hell were those two and why did they shoot him like that. Why wasn't he dead or even injured from that?

2. Loo – bathroom? Where was he anyway? The man talked with a British accent so was he even in America now? Scotland. Snape had answered that question for him.

3. What happened to his staff?

4. Wait a minute; Dumbledore had said something last night about sleep spells that kept him out for over 20 hours? Who would do something like that to a kid? Also with 20 plus hours of sleep and this being morning had he been missing for two days?

5. Who brought him here in the first place? He said something about protective custody yesterday. Protective custody sounded like something the FBI would do or perhaps even the police. Was he in some sort of trouble with the law? Dumbledore had arranged it somehow but how did he do it without me sensing the magic of the women who kidnapped me and what was with the gun?

6.He said that dad had kidnapped him. Was dad in trouble with the law?

7. Why would a headmaster have custody of him? Also if he did why did he send him away before? If he thought he had good reason then he still should have checked on him sometime.

8. He said his parents were murdered. Who did it and why? According to Snape and Dumbledore it was some turkey named Voldermort and as for why? Snape said it had to do with a proficy.

9.Stemma –atis. He made me drink some sort of potion to make my family tree. Could that have been what made him so confused when he woke up? Note to self, check into potion effects and side effects.

10. Twinkling eyes. A sign of a very powerful Occlumency shield or maybe something else I don't know about but for now I'll go with Occlumency unless I learn otherwise. Why would he shield like that with me?

11. Hogwarts…Wasn't that where Mr. Snape teaches? A friend here would be a great help.

12. Dumbledore was not a friend. He bound my magic and cast some sort of blood ward on me.

13. He is keeping me on a tight leash. I can't go outside.

14. Wands suck.

15. Snape seems like an ally but can I trust him? I think so. I need someone to trust.

After Shadow was finished updating his list he took a shower then studied charms till he felt sleepy. Dumbledore had not come back yet so Shadow went to bed.

Dumbledore, Snape and Flitwick were having a meeting to discuss Harry's skills in potions and charms. Both professors told Albus that the boy was behind his class mates and need to be tutored to catch up with his age group. It was decided that Snape would tutor him from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Mondays and Flitwick do the same on Tuesdays.

"What are we going to do about his dorm?" Flitwick asked. "I mean he is a Ravenclaw but he's also Hufflepuff so where will the boy be sleeping at night or do we double up his things so he can have robes and a bed in both dorms?"

"For the time being the boy will stay in my rooms to keep him safe. He has several people looking for him and none of them mean him well. That is why he is also restricted to the castle unless I give permission and he has guards with him. I have high hopes that some of the people after him can be brought to justice soon and I will be able to loosen up some of the restrictions that bind him but till that time it is for his own best interest that he be kept close at hand." Albus explained.

Flitwick shuddered, "I can imagine. Death eaters, He Who Must Not Be Named and Merlin knows who else. Very well, we can talk about where he sleeps after it becomes an issue." With that professor Flitwick excused himself and left the meeting to Snape and Dumbledore.

"Now Severus, what did you wish to talk to me about tonight?" Albus asked.

"To be blunt Albus, I want to know where the scar came from. It was not there when I visited his family two weeks ago and the second thing I want to know is how you got permission from Chandos to have him here at the school." Snape said.

"The first is an easy question to answer. He always had it. It was hidden under a very powerful glammor. As for the second…I did not ask. He was rescued by ministry officials and brought here. Childrens services are investigating Chandos to insure that he is the best possible guardian for such an important and endangered boy. I have nothing to do with it other than to agree to keep him here and safe till their investigation is finished. Understand Severus, I am telling you this in the strictest of confidences and nothing of what has passed between us here is to go any further till the investigation is finished. Please respect this." Albus said.

Snape bowed his head in acknowledgement of what was asked of him then said. "I agree." With that he excused himself from the meeting.