All Harry seemed to do outside class was read. Everybody at Sunnydale High knew that on some level. That's the way he had been since he moved here. While some people were still curious about him, they didn't want to interact with him due to the majority of the school population looking down on ever having to read a book that wasn't assigned. Being ignored by the majority of the school didn't really bother him though. He had Giles, Severus, and the library.
He loved the library. With not being able to explore or hang out with anybody (sans Giles and Severus, along with everybody back in Europe), the only activity he found enjoyment in was reading. It took him away from his thoughts and memories. And now that he had found his new freedom in the art of the written word, he read fast. Probably faster than Hermione, yet he still managed to retain all of the information. Severus thought it was a late manifestation of eidetic memory (1).
Harry had finished the Vampyre book he got yesterday, and wanted to get a similar one for tonight. So after morning classes were done he made his way to the library. He didn't bring anything for lunch anyway, so there was no point to sitting at a table when no one would talk to you. The way to the library was much smoother sailing than the day before. The blond girl was conspicuously absent from the halls, which left him safe from flying doors.
He pulled open the library doors, and struggled to get himself inside. He froze inside the door. There was Giles, the school's red-headed bookworm, and the class clown huddled around the blonde new girl who sat at a computer screen. There was a short-lived staring contest between all of them, until Giles broke the silence.
"Harry! How are you doing? Have you finished that book already?" Harry nodded, looking back and forth between Giles and his classmates. He dug the book out of his back and handed it to the older man.
"I was wondering if you had anything similar? It was fascinating, and I wanted to cross-reference with the books Severus has. I want to see what similarities and differences American vampire lore and British vampire lore have." Harry caught the look passed between his three classmates and his second favourite person. Something was going on.
Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them on the hem of his shirt. "Oh, w-well. Um, let's see. I have this one volume, bit of romance in it-"
"Are you having a go at me? If so, good one Mr. Giles. I want the fact-based ones if you please. Like the one I just read, but slightly more in-depth." Giles sighed, but went behind the desk and got a few novels out.
"This one is about the uh, living arrangements they have, and this one is about the appearances they take." He gave both to the boy in the wheelchair, knowing he would get at least one back at the end of the school day. After all, they were smaller volumes than the first one. "Now, Harry. I uh, hate to rush you out from the library, but unfortunately I'm helping these students with a project, and they don't have a lot of time left to finish. But uh, I will still be here after school until Severus swings by to pick you up."
Harry was surprised. He had never been blown off by Giles like that before. He wondered if Severus knew anything about it. He would call later and see.
"Well, alright. I'll uh, see you later. I guess." Harry wheeled out of the library, and decided to wait outside his first afternoon class; Junior level English. A full year ahead of his classmates.
While he was waiting he decided to start reading one of the books he got; The Many Faces of the Undead. He barely got started before he got interrupted. It was the read-headed junior who was in a band or something. Harry wasn't sure what his name was. He thought it was something out of a movie or show.
"Hey, it's Harry right? We're in English together. I'm Oz. I was wondering if you had a partner for our 1984 project yet? I was away when we got to pick partners, so I'm not sure who is or isn't available." Harry stared at him. After all nobody has ever wanted to work together with him, his partners were always assigned by the teacher after a certain amount of time had passed. Eventually he realized that Oz was still waiting for an answer.
"Oh, um, I-I don't have a partner yet. Isn't there someone else you'd rather work with?"
"One of my philosophies is to meet new people and have as many experiences as possible. You just so happen to fit both parts of that philosophy." Harry flashed him a smile and tucked his book into his bag. He didn't think he would be able to get much more reading done before class as it didn't look like Oz was going anywhere anytime soon.
"Then I guess it would be my pleasure to be your partner. What kind of project were you thinking of doing?"
"I'm not sure yet, but it's not due for another two weeks, why don't we meet sometime outside class and get cracking on it then?" Oz winked and leaned against the wall. "The only thing is that I'm in a band, so I have gigs some nights, usually weekends. Once in a while I have a gig during the week. But that doesn't happen too often. What times are you free?"
"Well, I usually stay in the library at school until 5-5:30. That's when my guardian picks me up. And I usually stay at home during the weekends. Not many places to go when you can't walk, is there?" Oz got a weird look on his face, seemingly uncomfortable with the turn in conversation.
"Uh, right. Well, why don't we work on it sometime after school then. Hey, uh, what was that book you were reading? You looked pretty invested."
Harry told him what the book was about and how he got to reading it in the first place (The muggle friendly version at least). Oz listened to what Harry said, paying close attention and even asking questions. "So the reason you got interested in vampires is because you thought your old chemistry teacher was one? And you wanted to find legitimate proof? Man, you were invested."
"I know, I know. Turns out he wasn't though. Actually a rather decent fellow. He's my guardian now. But since I've gotten to the states my interest has been rekindled, if you will. Now I want to find out the differences between the two country's lore. And if anything, my guardian has actually encouraged my interest." Harry laughed.
He hadn't had such a good time like this with anyone since he left England. Maybe even before then really. Sure there were moments that almost made him feel like this with Severus, Giles, and Hermione and Ron to some extent, but none made him feel like this moment made him feel. There was something… special about Oz. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but he liked it nonetheless.
"Man, that is way more interesting than 1984. Maybe we should do our project on that instead."
"I would like that too, but I don't think we would get a very good grade on it. And speaking of our project, I believe the periods are going to change over any minute, let's get ready to go in, shall we?" As soon as Harry finished speaking, the bell rang, and when the rest of the students from the previous class left, Harry and Oz had first pick of where to sit, and chose to sit next to each other, as they would for every class following. They had even exchanged phone numbers!
The rest of the day Harry kept a slight smile on his face. His mind never straying far from the interaction before English class. He was still able to do all his work perfectly in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology, but his mind was not 100% involved in what was going on. It was weird to Harry. He had never experienced something that could distract him from anything for so long before.
Before he knew it, three o'clock came around and the mass exodus of the school began. There were some stragglers, as there were at any high school. And they all ignored him, as per usual. After all, if you associate yourself with someone who is invisible, eventually you become invisible yourself, right? Teenagers, and to many extents the adults they surround themselves with, judge people before they get to know them, without any regard for the person they are judging.
Ooh boy, got a bit too real for a sec yeah? Well, at the end of the school day, Harry made his way to his favoured haunt, ready to chat with his favourite teacher and finish the rest of his first book. Giles was in the library reading as usual, and there were no other students in the library. Everything was as it should be.
Except that Giles seemed preoccupied. So preoccupied in fact that he didn't notice Harry coming into the library, or that he hadn't finished one of the books given to him earlier in the day. Were this any other day of the week Giles would have noticed for sure. After all, Buffy was trying to stop the Harvest from happening and she needed his help. So he researched, basically ignoring Harry without even realizing it.
They continued in silence for hours. Giles was too absorbed in his research to notice Harry, and Harry was steadily working his way through both books, not wanting to speak up in case Giles was somehow mad at him. The only interruption in the library was at 5:15 (2) when someone enters and Giles addresses them.
"Buffy?" Harry looked up, he wasn't sure why Giles was so excited for Buffy to show up, but completely ignore him for the entire time he had been there.
"It's just me. Oh! You have company. I didn't realize. I'm Willow, what's your name?" She was relatively pretty, Harry thought. Long red hair and a lopsided grin. She also dressed rather conservatively.
"Uh, Harry. Harry Peters." Harry was lying through his teeth. He knew his name was Harry Potter, but Severus told him that he had to use a different last name while in the states to avoid being found by either Dumbledore or Voldemort. Which made sense. After all, how many people were named Harry Peters? Possibly hundreds. He had also noticed how surprised Giles looked when he heard Willow address him.
Willow shook his hand decisively. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Harry. I would like to suggest that we be friends! But we don't have you if you don't want to." She nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But that's not to say that I don't want to, I was the one to suggest it after all." She made a weird noise, almost a mixture of clearing her throat and laughing.
"P-pleasure to meet you too Willow. And uh- I think I might like being your friend too, if you truly were sincere about your offer."
"Oh I was. Absolutely!" Realization dawned on the redhead, "But um, if you don't mind, I just need to have a quick chat with Giles." Harry gestured for her to go ahead, and went back to 'reading' his book. He was eavesdropping on them, wanting to know what Giles was hiding. Well, that and he had finished both books about 10 minutes ago.
"So there's no word?" They were whispering, trying not to be overheard by the wheelchair-bound boy.
"Ah, not as of yet, no." Giles kept glancing back at Harry, feeling guilty that he hadn't noticed his favorite student.
"Well, I-I'm sure they're… great." Willow looked really worried, and that made Harry all the more curious.
"Did you find anything of interest?" Harry thought this conversation was of interest.
"I think, maybe… I surfed through the old newspapers around the time of that big earthquake back in '37? And for several months before there were a rash of murders." She handed Giles some printouts that Harry hadn't noticed before, and from the look on Giles' face, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was on them. Harry would have continued to listen to them if another person hadn't entered the library when they did.
It was Severus. And the look on his face made him hasten to gather his books and other belongings in short order. He wasn't sure what got his guardian into such a mood, but he did not want that ire reflected back onto himself. He wheeled himself over to his guardian once his bag was re-packed, and he left his two books on the front counter for Giles to return to his shelves.
"Hey Sebastian. I think I'm ready to leave." Severus gave him a slight glare at the use of his cover name. He really didn't like it, but knew he had to live with it. Severus was also confused about why Harry wanted to leave so quickly. Usually he was so absorbed in his books that he didn't notice him for at least five minutes, if not more. He was also curious about why Rupert hadn't greeted him yet, but the curiosity was minutely sated when he noticed the teenage girl, who was looking at him.
For half a moment he saw Lily Potter, but the red hair was where the similarities ended and reality came back to him. Nobody looked like Lily Potter except the dead woman herself. His gaze shifted from the girl to Rupert, who had taken his glasses off and was cleaning them on his shirt while staring back at him.
"Ah! Sebastian. Is it that time already?" He slipped the glasses back on his face, then checked his watch for the time. "I'm, uh, sorry Harry. I guess I was too involved in my own little world to properly spend time with you, or even notice you come in, today. I apologize profusely. I do hope you can, uh, forgive me?" Severus frowned. Usually Giles would put those he cared about above any research he was doing. Severus also knew this affected Harry more than the boy himself cared to admit. He would be having a chat with Giles about this later. But for now he just wanted to go home.
"Uh, yeah. No-no problem Giles. See you later, I guess." Harry turned to look at Willow and nodded, "Willow." He then looked up at Severus and turned himself toward the door, hoping his guardian would leave it alone.
"Rupert. We will talk later." He kept his voice void of emotion, but maybe that clued those around him to his hidden emotions. Though he no longer wore his cloak, his presence bore the same remarkability as it had in the Wizarding World.
"Y-yes. I shall see you later Sebastian (3)." By the time he finished speaking, Severus was already leaving, the door swinging shut behind him. Willow cleared her throat to get rid of the silence. "Right. Well, let's get started."
Severus Snape knew how to drive. When he was a teenager his father thought that being taught how to drive would make him more 'normal'. As if it would magically get rid of his magic. Ironic, right? But the ride home from Sunnydale High to their house was silent, as they were both lost in thought.
When he parked in the driveway, he turned to Harry, who was staring out the window aimlessly. "Want to divulge to me what happened earlier in the library? You are not usually so morose after spending time with Rupert."
Harry scoffed, "As if you could call that 'spending time' with him. Sure we were in the same room, but he didn't even look up from his fucking book until Willow got there. And he barely said 'Hi' before wanting me to fuck off earlier. Something is wrong, Severus. I want to know what it is. It has something to do with the new girl. There's something … off about her. Something magic I think."
Severus was startled. He didn't think there were any open magical communities left in America. Everything magical in the US was under heavy wards and only disclosed to a chosen few. It is frowned upon in the states, bordering on illegal, to show anyone not of magical descent any trace of magic.
"I shall look into it. Anything else?"
"Yeah. What made you look like someone slipped a dungbomb under your door earlier? Don't think that I didn't notice that." Severus was silent for a moment, then sighed.
"I've been trying to figure out a way to speed up the process to make the ain-paralysis potion. I thought I was making progress until today. I have one potion in the works that is being made by the exact standards, and a few in a separate room that I have been experimenting with. The most promising of them exploded, hence my less than stellar attitude." He changed topics before Harry had the chance to comment. "Let's get inside. I think it might rain tonight."
The rest of the night continued like normal. First was supper, followed by Harry's physical therapy for an hour, to try to keep the blood flowing to his legs until he had access to the potion that would make the temporary paralysis go away. For now, he had to take daily potions including a mild muscle relaxant, a blood circulation promoter, and nutrient potions to help combat his lifelong abuse and malnutrition.
Harry still hated the potions, but he knew that Severus put a lot of effort into making these for him, so he never complained. Not that he would anyway, he tried hard to not complain about things he had no control over. But that didn't mean it worked all the time.
After the physical therapy came an hour of review, seeing as how all his homework was already done, bar the partner project.
By the time he was done reviewing, it was 8:30. The potions he was taking required him to get between 5-10 hours of consecutive sleep in order to be effective, however, the recommended was eight hours. Seeing as how he wasn't tired yet, he decided to join Severus in the sitting room that doubled as a library. Severus was writing down notes in one of his many notebooks, so Harry went to the bookshelf and grabbed a book at random, seeing as how he didn't get one from the library earlier.
They did their own separate things for an hour, Harry attempting to find what he was reading, and Severus getting all his thoughts and ideas out of his head and onto the page.
They exchanged idle chit-chat for another hour, before they both decided they needed sleep.
Harry was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, dreaming about a nice future where everything was right in his world.
Saturday passed by in a very boring manner of reading and physical therapy. Not much else to do, seeing as they don't own a tv, and he can't walk yet.
Sunday seemed to pass by in a similar fashion, until a peculiar sound echoed around the house. It was ringing. Both Harry and Severus looked confused for a moment, before going over to the landline on the wall of the kitchen. They shared a glance before Severus picked up the phone.
"Hello?" He drawled, and he waited for the other person to answer, "It's for you." Harry looked even more confused, but he took the phone from his guardian.
"Uh, h-hello? This is Harry."
"Harry? Hey, it's Oz! I wanted to see if you were free tonight. My band is playing a gig at The Bronze at seven, thought I'd see if you would come." Hary bit his lip, while he would like to go, he wasn't quite sure it was his scene, especially with his wheelchair. Not a lot of people liked to move out of the way for others who take up more space than necessary.
"Oh, I don't know Oz. Clubs aren't really my… thing." Harry was looking at Severus as he answered, which prompted Severus to grab the phone from his grip and start talking to the teenager on the other line.
"Harry will be there at 6:45 and not a moment sooner. I will be picking him up not a second later than 9:30. Goodbye." With his piece said, he hung up the receiver, only to come face-to-face with his gaping ward, who was at a loss for words.
Eventually, he managed to get out, "S-Severus, how could you do that? I just said I didn't want to go."
"And I made the decision for you in this case to get you to be more social around those in your age group." Harry sighed. He had found out in the time he spent with Severus that once he made up his mind about something, nothing could change his mind. He was just as stubborn as Harry, if not more so.
"And what about my wheelchair? It can't exactly manoeuvre easily in such a cramped space. Not to mention everyone would be looking at me because I don't really blend in all too well. I don't like the attention." Harry has never liked attention. He was so used to trying to make himself unnoticed that when attention was forced onto him (by the whole magical community really), he mentally shut down and had a had time communicating. This was one of the problems that Severus was trying to help Harry with. By getting him out and about with others his age, Severus was hoping that it would build his self confidence.
"I know. That is why we can cast a very weak notice-me-not spell upon you. If people know who you are and are looking for you, they will notice you, if they are not, you will fade into the background. I believe this might be the best solution. Your… friend, Oz, will notice you as he had originally invited you, but you can still evade most of the attention." Harry liked this idea. He still didn't want to go, but it was a reasonable compromise.
When 6:45 came, Harry and Severus were parked in front of The Bronze. Severus grabbed the wheelchair out of the trunk, then helped Harry into it.
"Alright. I will be back at 9:30. If you want to come home sooner, just call the house. We wouldn't want the muggles to get suspicious if you used the mirror (4). Have fun, alright? I'll see you later tonight." Harry bid his guardian farewell, and started to head over to the door to enter.
The bouncer at the door was checking ID's. Even though this club allowed both adults and minors, they needed a way to separate the two groups. All the minors had to get their hand stamped to indicate that they were not allowed alcohol. Harry knew that the notice-me-not charm was already in effect, but he made sure to capture the bouncer's attention by tapping him on the arm to show him his ID. He didn't really want Oz to question why he did not have the stamp on his hand. When Harry entered the club, he immediately began looking for Oz. He was the one to invite him after all.
A song was playing, but it wasn't from a live band. The lyrics were about fighting, and how fighting wore people down, it hit a little too close to home for Harry to be comfortable, but he ignored the song, and instead focused on finding the only person he knew in the crowded space.
"Harry! Glad you could come man!" Oz was pushing his way over to him through the crowd of dancers. "And didn't your guardian say 6:30 on the dot? It's 6:32 man." Oz laughed at his joke, "Come on, I'll get you a space closer to the stage, so you can see me in all my awesomeness!"
Harry laughed, amused at the way the older boy was trying to build himself up. "You know, it does take a minute or two to get through the bouncer and the crowd right. Just have to make sure we leave a minute before Sebastian gets here later. He hates people who aren't punctual."
As they were making their way over to the stage, screams began to fill the air. Everybody was rushing to the edges of the room, away from the door where a scene was going on. Harry couldn't make anything out, the only thing he saw was people's backs. Even Oz couldn't really tell what was going on, and he told Harry such when he was asked. From what they could tell by the voices, the pretentious popular girl from Sunnydale High, Cordelia, was part of the scene playing out, and apparently something made her scared, because she screamed, which set off a chain reaction of more people gasping and screaming in response.
Harry knew he needed to contact Severus, but he doubted he could use a phone. He would have to take a chance with the mirror. He pulled it out and said Severus' name, and quickly tapped out a message on the mirror. One of the first things Severus taught him was that he needed to learn morse code, for when he was ever in a situation he felt like he couldn't talk. This being one of those times. He didn't know what was happening, but other than the screams and gasps that filled the air, silence was precedent throughout the crowd.
There was fighting. He could tell by the sounds of people fighting other people, and people smashing against the walls. Then he noticed the crowd beginning to thin. They were all funnelling behind the bar, presumably to the back door. How it got open, he wasn't sure, but he wanted to stay a little longer to see what was actually happening. He had a feeling that it was magical in nature.
Oz took the decision away from him, quickly trying to get through to the back with him so he wouldn't be pushed to the back in his wheelchair. Harry swivelled his head back, looking through the masses to the fight. What he saw shocked him. Grotesque, twisted faces with large fangs was what he saw. He needed to tell Severus.
While he was being pushed through the back of the bar and out the door, he locked gazes with Willow, closely followed by Giles. He was too shocked to say anything, and he could tell Giles was too. Giles looked away guiltily, and Harry felt betrayal from those actions towards him.
When he got outside, Severus was running towards him, with concern on his face. When he kneeled next to Harry, Harry whispered a single word that had Severus running inside, "Vampires."
"Lumos solem!" The spell shot from Severus' wand, burning all the vampires in the building instantly. The blond teenage girl froze, staring at Severus in shock. Giles had rushed in right behind Severus, trying to stop him from dying at the hands of a vampire, but he too could do nothing but stand and stare at the man.
Buffy snapped out of her shock, rushing to Severus with her stake at the ready. "Petrificus totalus! That is enough. I am of no danger to you or anyone else in this room. I will explain everything Monday night at my place of residence at 5pm sharp. Do not be late. I'll answer all your questions then. You'll be unfrozen when I am at a safe distance away. Goodbye."
Severus turned and exited the club, and as soon as the door closed behind him, Buffy became unfrozen.
Outside, Harry and Oz were the only people still present. "Mr. Osbourne, I will be taking Harry home now. If you would like, you can visit tomorrow. Here is the address. Feel free to drop by at any time." Severus handed Oz a slip of paper with his address written on it. "Please get home safely." With those words, Severus guided Harry to the car.
"Oh, um. Alright. See you tomorrow Harry!"
When they got home, the two wizards had a talk.
"I think I want to tell Oz about magic. I know I don't know him too well, but there's this… connection I feel with him. I can't explain it though." Severus looked deep in thought. He knew sometimes there were magical bonds formed under strenuous circumstances. That was probably what happened with the two teenagers.
"Alright. We can tell him tomorrow. We should probably get a secrecy oath from him though. Speaking of telling people of magic, we need to tell Giles, and those three teenagers that were with him at the nightclub. I set up a meeting with them on Monday after school. Let's hope they are just as forthcoming with their information. But let's worry about that later. For now it's time to turn in."
The two bid each other goodnight, both wondering how the upcoming conversations were going to affect their lives here in Sunnydale.
A/N: Sorry, end of the chapter was kinda rushed.
(1) Not sure if this is actually possible
(2) Improvised a time, wasn't sure of the episode's timeline
(3) Giles won't know about their true identities until the rest of the Scoobies do, or until I decide Severus wants to tell him
(4) The two way mirror from the books
