Unspoken
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

In the middle of May, the Ravenclaws ended their match against Gryffindor with another victory.

While Harry was glad that he had been able to catch the Snitch in every match he had played, assuring the Quidditch cup for Ravenclaw, he felt sorry for his Slytherin housemates.

From Daphne and Ronald, both first-year classmates in Slytherin, he heard that the Quidditch team had given the professor a hard time, stating that it was his fault that they had made the last place, because he had not allowed Harry to play.

"He's probably just waiting for you to make a mistake," Draco warned Harry after the house meeting on Sunday evening.

"I think so, too," Harry agreed, resolving to be especially careful during his Potions classes. 'The potions we're brewing a very easy anyway, compared to the ones I have to brew for the potions mastery,' he thought, actually not feeling very worried about his first-year classes.

However, during one of their lessons at the end of May, they had to brew the salve for sunburn. The potion per se was easy to brew; however, at one stage, they had to stir three and a half times counter clockwise. If stirred in the opposite direction, the potion would turn into a poisonous liquid that would give anyone, who came into touch with it, second-degree burns.

While he carefully brewed his concoction, his thoughts drifted off to the summer holidays and the question how to proceed in his research about finding a way to give Connie and his mother magic. Almost too late did he realise that Neville, who was sitting on his right side, stirred into the wrong direction, and the concoction already let out a hiss.

With a flick of his hand, he cast the Evanesco spell at Neville's cauldron banishing the faulty potion that was just about to explode.

"Potter!" The professor suddenly towered over him in apparent rage. "What do you think you're doing?"

'Stay calm,' Harry told himself, before he informed his friend, 'You just stirred into the wrong direction, and your potion was about to explode.'

"Thanks Harry." Neville let out a relieved sigh. "Sorry, Professor, it was my fault. I stirred into the wrong direction."

"Detention with me every evening until the end of the school year." Snape's voice was icy, as he addressed Harry, completely ignoring Neville's timid voice.

"Excuse me, sir, should I have allowed the potion to explode all over Neville?" Harry did not care that he sounded as upset as he felt.

"I believe that I am still more competent to assess a student's concoction than a mere first-year," the professor sneered.

Hermione calmly laid a hand on Harry's left arm. "Don't say anything else. He won't listen anyway."

Harry nodded; however, Snape apparently had good ears and hissed, "Granger, ten points from Ravenclaw for your insolence."

HP

During the remaining weeks until the summer holidays, Harry used his time sliding abilities on a daily basis. Every evening, he showed himself in the Potions classroom at seven o'clock and cleaned huge piles of dirty cauldrons the muggle way. To his regret, the professor supervised each of his detention, so that Harry did not have the opportunity to simply clean the cauldrons with magic and time slide forward. When he was finished cleaning, the professor returned his wand without a word, and Harry left, time sliding back to the beginning of his detention to spend the evening with his friends.

"Why do you even attend the detention?" Connie asked one day. "Wouldn't you get out of your potions class if you showed the headmaster your OWL and NEWT certificates?"

Harry glanced at Neville and Draco, who stared at him, wide-eyed.

"You've already taken your NEWTs?"

Harry nodded at Draco. "Only in Potions." He let out a deep sigh. "I just don't want anyone to know, because I'm supposed to leave the headmaster in the dark."

"Still, this is getting ridiculous." Hermione shook her head in apparent annoyance.

Harry shrugged. "Believe me, if I wasn't able to time slide and still spend the evening with all of you, I would. But cleaning cauldrons is so stupid that it allows me to think about my own research and how to proceed best. I can't wait for the summer holidays to begin."

Hermione nodded in apparent understanding. "They're only a little more than two weeks away, and it's just one week before the beginning of the test week. Will you still have to serve detention during the test week?"

Harry sighed. "Of course, but frankly speaking, I don't care. It's just a bit annoying, but that's all."

HP

It was during the evening before the leaving feast, when Harry was wondering if he would still have to serve detention during the leaving feast, that Madam Pomfrey bustled into the Potions classroom.

"Ah, thank Merlin that you're here, too, Harry."

Harry looked up from his work in surprise at the healer's voice.

"One of the Hufflepuff fifth-years has come down with the unicorn measles, and I urgently need one of you to brew the potion for it, preferably a large batch, as it is highly contagious and I expect more cases before tomorrow night. I also need the other to brew the preventive potion for everyone else to be added to breakfast tomorrow. Otherwise, we can't allow the students to return home on the day after tomorrow. We'd have to quarantine everyone."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Sure. If you have the recipe."

"Poppy, Mr. Potter is a first-year in case you haven't noticed."

"Severus, do you have anyone more competent than Mr. Potter and willing to assist tonight? As you know, the potion for the unicorn measles will take six hours to brew and the preventive potion another five hours. Considering that the whole student body and staff need the preventive potion, you'll have to brew three batches. I suggest letting Harry brew two batches of the preventive potion, while you brew the third and the actual remedy. I hope that one batch of it will suffice."

Harry nodded in understanding and set up his cauldron a few workspaces beside the professor's, before he took a look at the recipe and began to gather his ingredients.

"Please call me if you encounter any problems."

Harry merely smiled at the healer, before he concentrated on the task ahead, glad that the professor completely ignored him. At least, he did not make any nasty comment.

'Connie, sorry, I won't be able to join you tonight, as I need to brew some urgent potion for the hospital wing, which is going to take ten hours.'

'That's fine. Don't time slide, and be careful. I'll see you tomorrow then.'

Feeling very much reassured, Harry concentrated on his potion, unaware that the professor was watching his every move from the corner of his eyes.

They quietly brewed next to each other, and to Harry's surprise, he did not mind the professor's presence. It was almost as if he was brewing together with Lily, Rebecca or Artemis. Around midnight, he finished his first batch and bottled the potion, before he readied himself for the next.

"Potter, do you need Pepperup potion?" Snape's voice was void of any malice, causing Harry to look up, startled.

"No, thank you, sir." Without as much as a break, he began to brew his second batch and was almost finished, when Madam Pomfrey returned to the classroom at five o'clock in the morning.

She profusely thanked him and awarded 100 points to Slytherin and Ravenclaw, causing Harry to inwardly grin. 'That's going to bring Slytherin up to the top,' he thought, feeling very happy at the idea that Slytherin was at least going to win the house cup, even if Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch cup.

"Harry, you're exempt from classes today. Please get some sleep," the healer advised him, and Harry knew better than to contradict, even if he was not going to follow her advice. 'I just need a dose of my fresh-and-go potion,' he thought in amusement. "Just make sure that you attend breakfast to get your share of the preventive potion."

"Potter, consider your detention for tonight as already served."

Harry looked at Snape in surprise. "Thank you, Professor."

HP

At breakfast, the sudden change of the house point score was the main topic at all house tables and even at the high table.

Harry listened in amusement, when Madam Pomfrey told her colleagues how he had earned the house points.

"Severus, I hope you're slowly beginning to realise how stupid you were to let Harry clean cauldrons in his detentions instead of having him assist with Poppy's stock for the hospital wing."

'Go, Granny Minerva, go,' Harry thought, inwardly grinning at his surrogate grandmother's words.

Snape's response came as a hiss. "Why in the world would I ask a first-year to assist brewing potions for the hospital wing?"

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Perhaps, because you must have noticed by now how competent he is."

"Of course, he's almighty Potter. Sorry that I didn't realise it. Why don't you make him head boy next school year?"

"Now now, Severus." The headmaster's voice was calm. "Minerva, you must understand that it is unsettling why the boy is so competent at brewing, considering that he grew up in the muggle world."

Minerva shrugged. "Have you ever asked him?"

Snape glared daggers at his older colleague. "Of course, a saint as he is, he would tell us nothing but the truth."

Minerva shook her head, letting out a deep sigh.

'Thank Merlin the summer holidays are going to begin tomorrow,' Harry thought in relief. 'Two months without having to see Snape are going to be a relief.'

HP

"I am going to have a word or two with Severus." Lily shook her head in apparent annoyance upon hearing about Harry's detentions in the Potions classroom and their reason.

"Lily on the war path," James commented, pleasantly, when Lily left the room, probably to use the portrait of James' parents that was decorating their bedroom to travel to Hogwarts. "I wished I had not become a stag Animagus but a fly. I'd love to play a fly on the wall in Snievelus office."

"I am sure Lily will show us the memory later on." Regina smiled at the Marauder.

"I will go and watch," Harry decided and donned his Unspeakable robes, before he turned invisible. 'Am I invisible?'

'Yes dear. Be careful,' Connie instructed him, receiving a soothing promise in return.

Harry popped right into Snape's office, where Lily had already arrived in the painting of an old wizard. 'I wonder who that is?' he thought, as he stood as far as possible from where Snape was sitting behind his desk.

HP

"It might have slipped your mind that Harry is my son as well."

"It hasn't, but he looks and behaves like your husband."

"I disagree. During our own time at Hogwarts, James has never been as caring and gentle to everyone as Harry is. Has Harry ever pranked anyone like the Marauders did almost on a daily basis?"

"No." Snape sighed, as he acknowledged the truth.

"Did you really assign Harry detention for saving Neville from receiving second-degree burns from a faulty potion?"

Snape sighed again. "He's only a first-year. How can I trust that he knows if something is wrong with Longbottom's potion? I can't have first-years evanesco their classmates' potions without obvious reason."

Lily let out a snort. "Harry is a Slytherin and at the same time a Ravenclaw. Shall I tell you why?"

Snape merely quirked an eyebrow in silent question.

"He is a Ravenclaw, because he has studied more in his short life than I ever did during mine, although the Sorting Hat wanted to sort me into Ravenclaw as well."

"Where in the world did he study? Did he not grow up with Petunia?"

Lily all but growled, as the volume of her voice increased. "Yes, because Dumbledore saw fit to do what fit best his own agenda. Has no one ever bothered to read our will? You were one of the persons named in the will as possible guardians for Harry, you, Minerva, Amelia and Remus, in case Sirius and Alice were unavailable. But no one has ever doubted Dumbledore's words."

Snape let out a deep sigh. "I am sorry, Lily, but I owe Dumbledore…"

"Rubbish. Will you swear me a wizard's oath to keep everything I tell you now secret and also keep Harry's secrets if he ever agrees to tell you any?"

Snape nodded, seemingly tired, as he drew his wand. "I swear on my magic to keep Lily's and Harry Potter's secrets. So mote it be."

A strong glow surrounded the Potions professor, and Harry inwardly sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Severus. Harry was badly neglected and abused at Petunia's home, and two Unspeakables took him away from there at the age of five. Ever since then, he has found his own family and has been studying and working as a Mini Unspeakable. Now, that explains his affiliation to Ravenclaw, and he is in Slytherin for hiding it so well."

Snape listened quietly.

"Apparently, you complain that he's an attention seeking brat."

Snape nodded.

"Do you know why he is taking your classes?"

"Because it's one of the core subjects that every student has to take."

"No. Harry has already passed his Potions OWL and NEWT years ago and is going to take the mastery exam at the end of August. Are you sure that his behaviour is that of an attention seeking brat?"

"I had no idea," Snape breathed. "Why did he never tell me?"

Lily let out a snort. "Did you ever give him a chance? From his first Potions class onwards, you've been harassing him. Oh well, this is the only of his secrets that I will tell you. If you want to know more about him, you'll have to ask him yourself. I will only add that I am extremely proud of my son."

"Thanks for telling me about his Potions studies. That explains why he is so proficient at brewing. The Unspeakables must have taught him well. Unfortunately, he won't trust me enough to tell me anything else."

Lily shrugged. "Gain his trust. Let him assist you. Allow him to play on the house team. Hear him out instead of complaining about a miniature type of his father, as Harry is not that person. He is completely different."

Snape nodded. "Thanks, Lily. I wished you were still alive."

Lily smiled. "And what would that change? James is still my husband."

Snape shrugged. "Perhaps, we could at least be friends. Oh well, at least we can talk like this. Thank you for coming to speak with me. I appreciate it."

"All right, Sev, have a good summer." With that, Lily vanished from the portrait, and Harry popped away quickly.

HP

During the following two months, Severus thrived on his conversation with Lily. 'Why did she not come to see me sooner?' he wondered.

"Severus, are you all right?" Minerva cast him a look of obvious concern.

Severus nodded. "Yes, of course. I am enjoying the castle without the insufferable know-it-alls and dunderheads for a change."

Minerva let out a snort, before everyone's attention was drawn to Rolanda.

"Awww, Paws and Turtle did it again. They brought out a family broom with a baby seat between the two adult brooms as well as a baby broom for children from the age of 12 months onwards."

"Eh, Rolanda, did we miss anything? What did you not tell us?" Minerva smirked.

"Ah, nothing of course. Oh well, I guess we don't need either of them." Rolanda sounded remorseful. "Too bad that we don't have any young couples here."

'Perhaps, Albus should put more effort into the search for a better Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, preferable one of my age,' Severus thought, when the headmaster suddenly let out a gasp.

"Unspeakable Paws has passed the Potions mastery exam as the youngest person to have ever achieved this," Albus read from the Daily Prophet. "Minerva, are you sure that you are unaware of Unspeakable Paws' identity? He or she must be an extremely interesting person."

"What?" Minerva replied, unintelligently, causing Severus' thoughts to run haywire.

'Of course,' he moaned, 'it's Potter. Lily said that he was going to take his mastery exam soon, and he also excels at Quidditch. He hasn't lost one match so far.'

"Severus, are you all right?" Minerva eyed him, worriedly.

Severus gave her a sharp nod, resolving to try making up with Potter before the beginning of the new school year.

HP

For July 31, Harry had invited his best friends for a party together with his enlarged family to celebrate not only his twelfth birthday but also the successful completion of his Potions mastery as well as Neville's birthday, as the boy had turned twelve on the previous day.

Harry, Connie, Hermione, Draco and Neville had much fun and decided to head to Diagon Alley together to buy their school supplies the following morning.

"Are you sure that you wish to go in such a large group?" Remus warned them, knowing that the Cox and the Grangers loved to accompany them to Diagon Alley.

In the end, they decided that only Rebecca and Artemis should take the group shopping along with Mr. Malfoy, who insisted on accompanying Draco.

When they entered Flourish and Blotts at the agreed time to meet Draco and his father, the bookshop was even more crowded than usual, and the friends let out a collective groan, when the reason became clear. Gilderoy Lockhart was holding a book presentation.

Considering that Lockhart was going to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts for the upcoming school year, the extended family including Hermione had discussed his persona as well as his books, which the Unspeakables deemed to be complete rubbish, in extenso, and neither of them were happy to see the man.

"Isn't it bad enough that we have to buy his books without even having to meet the monkey here?" Harry whispered, when he suddenly found himself slide into the centre of attention.

"Harry Potter!" The imbecile approached him grinning like an idiot.

Harry efficiently tried to ignore the man by talking to Connie; however, when the older wizard tried to pull him up to where he was giving out signatures for his fans in front of a group of journalists, Harry had enough. Not caring about the reporters' cameras or anything else, he simply popped away, turning himself invisible, as he came to stand right behind Connie.

Just then, Draco and Mr. Malfoy approached them, and Harry slowly made himself visible again, before Draco introduced his friends as well as Rebecca and Artemis to his father.

"We know each other from the Wizengamot meetings." Rebecca smiled, even if Harry knew that she could not stand the blond wizard.

"Muggleborn?" Malfoy addressed Hermione and Connie, wearing an expression of obvious disgust. "But still the best of the class after Mr. Potter Draco told me." With that, he pulled the books out of Connie's basket and gave them a critical look, before he returned them.

'What a jerk,' Connie thought to him, and Harry full-heartedly agreed.

'Absolutely. Thank Merlin Draco is completely different from his father.'

'I'm just glad that he doesn't know that I am not exactly muggleborn.'

'True. He might really be dangerous. Didn't they say that he was one of the Death Eaters in the war?'

'Yes, but he escaped Azkaban, because he pretended that he was under the Imperius curse, when he took the Dark Mark.'

Harry inwardly shook his head in annoyance. To his relief, however, Mr. Malfoy behaved during the rest of their visit to Diagon Alley and did not make any further comment about Hermione or Connie.

HP

At breakfast the following morning, Regina eyed Harry in apparent amusement. Usually, he headed to the Unspeakables' office long before breakfast, often enough before she was even awake. However, right after his mastery exam, Croaker had informed him that he and Connie were going to take a week off and were under no means to set a foot into the Unspeakables' office if not for an emergency.

Lily had already left for the Unspeakables' office and Remus and James for their shop.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Harry smiled at his mother's kind voice and shrugged.

"I suppose that we're going to take turns flying and studying our new books. I'd rather study with Nix though. I mean, it's not even four weeks, before I'll have to go back to Hogwarts. Perhaps, we should spend some time in the shop and ask the customers if they have requests for improvement of one or the other broom."

They both looked towards the window upon hearing a sharp knock, only to realise that a raven was sitting outside on the windowsill. It seemed to be carrying a letter.

"Wow. Who uses a raven instead of an owl? That's cool," Harry commented, while Regina went to let the bird in, knowing that the owls used to come in for some water or bird treats.

The raven hopped onto the table in front of Harry and held out his foot to him.

"Is that for me?" Harry was surprised, as he had seen each of his friends during the last two days and knew that the Unspeakables would usually send a Patronus if not a telepathic message. He carefully took the parchment from the raven, and, before he could even thank the bird, the raven flapped its wings and took off.

Harry looked after it in surprise, before he opened the parchment with curiosity.

'Mr. Potter,…'

Harry skimmed the letter for the name of the sender, only to find it at the bottom: 'S. Snape.'

"It's from Professor Snape. I wonder what he wants."

'Mr. Potter,

Congratulations to your Potions mastery. Passing the mastery as an eleven-year-old is an achievement that is commendable and even explains your Sorting.

I wish to apologize to you. As you might have heard from others, your father and I were not exactly friends, and due to your uncanny resemblance to your father, I have mistaken you to be like him. Only recently, I have realised that you resemble your mother much more in everything but your outer appearance.
Please accept my apology concerning my treatment of you during the last school year.

I believe that it will not make much sense for you to attend the second-year Potions class, considering that you are a potions master yourself. However, I am not in a position to exempt you from your classes. You would need to show your certificates to the headmaster to receive permission to skip my classes. If you decide to let him know about it, I will offer you the position as my student assistant; however, I understand if you do not wish Professor Dumbledore to know the truth, considering that he still insists that you have to return to the Dursleys ever summer. Please consider the matter and inform me of your decision. I would appreciate if we could discuss this in private; however, I am not privy to your place of residence during the holidays apart from the fact that you are not living with your horrible Aunt Petunia anymore. Does anyone else at Hogwarts know the truth about you? Perhaps Professor McGonagall? She might be a valuable ally.

I look forward to having you play on the Slytherin house team from September onwards.

Best regards

Severus Snape'

"Cool." Harry stared at the parchment in surprise, before he handed it over to Regina. "Please tell me what you think."

While Regina engrossed herself in her reading, Connie's voice penetrated his mind.

'Harry, sorry, I'll be late. I only just got up. You know, among the books we bought yesterday was a diary, and I decided to write into it first thing this morning. You won't believe it, but it replies.' While Harry listened in bewilderment, she sounded excited. 'A boy called Tom replies, and he told me that he was a Slytherin prefect and even head boy. Whatever I asked him, he could answer all my questions. It was cool. I told him that I was going to be a second-year soon, because who knows if he's going to tell me anything if he knows that I'm a muggle. But, sorry, I'm going to get ready now and have breakfast, and then I'll be over in an hour at the latest. All right?'

'All right,' Harry thought back, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"It seems as if Professor Snape really regretted what he did to you. Why don't you go and visit him at Hogwarts?"

Harry nodded. "I think I'm going to do that right away. Considering that he swore Lily an oath to keep my secrets, I can tell him anything anyway, and Connie just informed me that she'll only be over in about an hour." Turning to his familiar, he explained, "Lulu, I'm going to pop over to see Professor Snape at Hogwarts for a moment. Will you come with me?"

The canine, who had been asleep on his feet, jumped onto her paws waggling her tail. =Of course, I'll go with you,= she informed him, sounding indignant.

"We'll go invisible at first though," Harry warned her, before he said good-bye to Regina, pulled Lucy close, turned invisible and popped away.