Chapter 5
Changing plans
00:01 pm 25th of December, room of requirements, Hogwarts.
It was Christmas Eve, he didn't care about that, just like everything else, but he had heard a few things that were particularly concerning, he had overheard Granger, Weasley, and, Longbottom talking about how Dumbledore was keeping the Philosopher's Stone hidden in the forbidden 3rd floor corridor. Though the philosopher's stone could be quite useful for his plans, that wasn't what concerned him, it was the fact that they thought that Voldemort was after it, he hadn't considered the possibility that he was alive after all if he was where is he? Why isn't he doing whatever it is dark lords did generally? Was he simply too injured from all those years ago and needed the stone to heal himself? Though it made sense, why now? After all these years? There were too many questions and few answers, not to mention that the answers he had could be wrong because they were assumptions, at best, at worst….
He needed information, not to mention that he also should add some offensive spells in his assortment, the ones he had right now were acceptable but they were only ones that could be learned at Hogwarts, even some of the obscure ones which he filched from either the library or found in the room of requirements, it was a real pity none of the spells were what could be called arcane magic. Well he'd deal with this little problem too somehow, after all his goals did require him to have powerful magic and inhumane control over magic.
'Well better get started, the night has only began and it's not like i need to sleep, haven't for the past 6 years' he thought as he started to rearrange his earlier plans.
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He could keep his patience, he had for the past 10 years what was a few days more or less, he was lord Voldemort, 'ever since i went after that blasted boy he has been the reason for my misery' he thought bitterly 'whether i like it or not i will have to be cautious right now, without my full power i cannot do anything to either one of those brats nor the potter boy nor the-boy-who-lived, especially not only when that old fool is near but i also don't know what the power to defeat me is, last time i went against it, whole and strong, yet i was defeated, and if that happens again i don't know if even my horcruxes will be able to keep me alive, no the risks far outweigh the gains, for now'. He had been in a bad mood as of late, not only had his ploy to check out the security of the 3rd floor failed, but both the herpo-be-damned boys faced the troll and came out unscathed. 'The Longbottom brat was simply lucky, but the Potter brat was turning out to be, troublesome, not only had he broken such a prestigious record, he was proving to be every bit as prodigious as thought to be, if he couldn't be allied with he had to be neutralized as soon as possible'
Yes, some of his old plans would need to be altered and some new plans to be formulated, but it was doable.
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Severus Snape the potions master of Hogwarts was all alone in his dungeons, nothing new about that, he was thinking deeply about something, again nothing new, he was thinking about the Potter brat, a somewhat recent development but quite frequent, what was new was that he wasn't fuming venomously or cursing the potter line, he was rationally thinking about, thinking about his interactions with him, 'no matter how much i hate to, i have to admit it the the boy is nothing like his father except for appearance.' he contemplated 'nor is he like his mother, she was so full of life and energy, like the season of spring, and he is so…. Cold, not unlike the chills of winter, but, but, not unlike is not the same as like, minerva was right there is something about him that even i couldn't put my finger on and that is making me uneasy, i can't even risk legilimency with him.' No matter how implausible, even the slight possibility of him have any occlumency shields stopped him from even thinking about attempting, if caught the whole community regardless of pureblood or muggleborn would come together to crucify him.
And then there was their first encounter.
Flashback start
(General pov)
All the students had entered the class and took their seats, it was the first potions lesson of the year and on one wanted to anger the professor who was known for being strict, even within the slytherin house it was known that while he may favour them within the snake pit he wasn't above taking them up to task if they were messing in his class, and as usual just at the last second, harry potter had strode in and took his seat next to Fay Dunbar, who had been sitting in the back of the class and hadn't been partnered with anyone else. While professor snape had seen all this he hadn't said anything, and then he began the attendance, he stopped once at Neville Longbottom, gave him a hard stare, and continued, then when he came to Harry Potter, he stopped yet again, and then commented, "Our Latest Celebrity", when there was no forthcoming reaction, or any at all, from the boy in question he continued and finished the rest of it as soon as he could.
Then he gave a short introduction to potions, their uses and dangers in a what one might call dramatic speech, as soon as it was over, he once again looked at harry and in a loud voice asked, "Potter, what would i get if i mixed an infusion of wormwood with Asphodel?" there came no reply from him, he was as many had noticed, when not reading a book, with an absolutely blank look on his face, "Alright, lets try this one, Potter!, what's the difference between Wolfsbane and Aconite?" once again there was no reply from the child, now the other children in the class had started to wonder if the boy had ran out of steam in his prodigious talent or was he simply so abysmal at subjects that didn't need wands.
Given they had barely started to get practical in Herbology, and no one cared about History of Magic.
Now snape was sneering at the boy, "clearly, fame isn't everything" he commented, and then he asked once again this time slowly, "Potter, what's the use of a bezoar and where would i find one?" everyone had been waiting for a reply which didn't came, after waiting for 30 seconds, snape had deducted 30 points from gryffindor for not reading ahead and being dunderheads, this was shocking to the rest of them as they had gained many points courtesy of the green eyed enigma. Then he told them the answers to his questions, and instructed them to begin taking down the notes, as this was a double class the first half was to get them to write down the theory, after which he flicked his wand towards the blank board that had been kept at the front of the classroom and suddenly there were some instructions scrawled all over it, "we'll be making the boil cure potion today, the brief instructions are on the board and the detailed ones in your book, you'll find the necessary ingredients in the cupboards" at this he pointed at the four different cupboards located at the four corners of the room, "your time begins… now"
Fay, poor Fay, when she came to hogwarts she was so excited to learn magic and make friends, when she had gone through the books she understood little of magic theory, though practical came easier to her, she had at the beginning itself found out that she wasn't good at potions, remembering all the ingredients and their reactions was tough for her, so when she realized at the beginning of the class that she had been paired with the prodigy Potter as some had been calling him she was really thankful, now though, even though she didn't grudge him for being bad at potions she just wished it wasn't her who was paired with him, everyone was going to laugh at their failure, snapping out of her thoughts she rushed to the nearest cupboard and brought back the required ingredients, she hadn't read the list but had seen what and how much her classmates were taking.
When she returned to her desk, she was treated to another bizarre sight, courtesy of her enigmatic partner of course, he was holding the potions book at eye level and flipping through it at a really fast pace as if he could absorb it, then he set the book down and closed his eyes, she thought that he was done doing whatever it was he was attempting and had given up and she was about to ask him to help her begin with the potion so that they could at least try their probable failure but then all of a sudden he opened his eyes and then turned to her, met her eyes, then looked at the ingredients in her hand and then once again met her eyes, nodded at her once and then proceeded to take her load off her hands and haphazardly pile it up on the table, again as she was about to ask him to begin he grabbed her by the shoulder and made her sit on her seat looked her in in the eyes again and then nodded again, something which made little sense to her unless he was trying to say that he'll take care of their predicament, they had come to expect the unexpected from him, but what he did next threw everyone for a loop, he just picked up their sacks of potions kit which held all of their instruments from their cauldrons, and knives to weights and vials, and then in a mad dash like a man possessed he ran out of the class, and all everyone could do was stare for the first few seconds no one reacted, then professor snape ran out of the class and presumably didn't find him as he bellowed "Potter! Detention for a week! And 200 points from gryffindor for being an arrogant miscreant who thinks he can get away with anything."
No one moved, not even the slytherins who wanted to laugh, or Hermione who wanted to give that boy a piece of her mind for disturbing the class like this, though a small part of her was really happy that he was bad at something, though she'd deny it for the life of her, as professor Snape strolled back into the class he started to glare at everyone and then groundout "what are all of you looking for, begin making your potions now!" That got the whole class moving again, all fay could do was sit down and stare at the table, she felt like crying, and right now she really was angry with him, unlike the beginning of the class.
Ten minutes had passed since the beginning of the class, and while everyone was busy chopping ingredients or minding their cauldron Fay was still sitting at her place and sniffing slightly, Neville had sneaked a few glances at her and a part of him wanted to call her to the table he shared with Hermione but he wasn't able to gather up the courage.
Then all of a sudden Harry simply rushed back into the class just like he had at the beginning and took his seat again, everyone was staring at him, he looked a little drenched but otherwise fine, then as professor snape, and fay, who looked angry, were about to say something to him he removed their potions kit from their respective sacks and placed all the right things on the table, it looked like he was about to start making the potion, it was useless, it took good coordination between 2 people to make this potion in around 40 minutes and they had only 30 minutes and both of them weren't good at potions, not to mention that any possibility of cooperation between them had been squashed by the boy's earlier actions, and then all of a sudden he started to pour the water into the cauldron and set it on medium heat at the stove, Fay took a deep breath and was about to help him out with whatever craziness he was about to do but he just turned towards her as if he had read her mind, which was impossible, right?, then he placed his right hand on her shoulder and looked her into the eyes and then gave her another one of his infernal nods once again, exhausted and out if patience she just let him do as he wished to, which he did.
He took the mortar and pestle and threw some ingredients in them, and began ground them with his left hand, simultaneously he began chopping some other ingredients, and as soon as he was done chopping those he slid them aside and began chopping some others, then he starred pouring those ingredients into the cauldron at a fast pace, while most of his actions had made little to no sense to others, Snape, Hermione, and Tracey understood what he was doing, he was following the instructions in the book in a modified manner, first of all those instructions were made while keeping 2 first year students in mind so they were made to be easy, secondly it was to teach them while making possible mistakes, but what he was doing left no room for mistakes to be made, if he messed up the potion would be a soggy mess.
Fay again couldn't understand what her partner was doing, but she understood this much whatever it was he was doing it correctly, she saw how professor Snape made no move to stop him and was carefully observing him. Then all of a sudden he started pouring ingredients in the cauldron and after every ingredient or two he would stir the potion, clockwise, and soon he had exhausted all the ingredients available to him, then he simply stopped for a few seconds and waited for something to happen, then he once again took the stirring rod in his hand and started stirring the potion in an anticlockwise direction at a quick pace, this baffled everyone, especially the professor who looked a bit alarmed because stirring in the wrong direction usually caused the potion to explode otherwise turn into a soggy mess, given that there was no explosion and had professor his wand ready to presumably vanish the potion as she had heard about him being known for doing, but when nothing happened and Harry slowed down the stirring gradually, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in.
Soon he bottled up required amount of potion for the class assignment and proceeded to place it on the professor's desk, and just in time, as when he turned back to walk back to their table the bell signifying the end of the class rang, and a few things happened, first, the rest of the students realized that they had been so busy in observing him that they forgot to make their own assigned potion, secondly, Harry waved his wand in his table's general direction and all of his and Fay's instruments started to go into their respective sacks, and as he was about to presumably vanish the potion, professor Snape called out, "wait Potter! Leave your cauldron as it is." Then he looked him in his eyes for a few seconds and continued "your detention and point deductions still stand." To which he received a nod, and then Harry nodded to Fay once again and left the class, it's occupants flabbergasted, then professor Snape went back to his desk and ordered "the rest of you pack up your things and leave, you'll be doing your practical work next time".
Everyone hastily complied with to the orders issued by the strict man. And that was one potions class the whole of hogwarts would be taking for quite a few days to come.
Flashback end
The potion he had made that day was almost flawless compared to the one made by any other first year student till date, of course compared to a potions master it was little more than good enough, not perfect by any standard but better than any expected of an eleven year old child. The boy had realized that the standard kit he had was usually a little unrefined, just like everyone else, the knife a little dull and their other instruments needed to be washed before their first use, the children were informed about this little fact in their third year because it acted like a test for any who wished to become a potioneer, situational awareness was as important as any other factor if not more, just because you understand the formula for any Potion easily didn't made you a potioneer, it made you a theorist, of course honourable exceptions were made in case of those people who were unable to brew potions due to physical disabilities, coming back to the boy, he had his knives sharpened by the help of the kitchen elves it seemed and had washed the utensils himself.
Then he had also attended the detentions, 'James Potter would've never done that.' he had made him clean his spare potions kits, under his observation of course, the boy had done an immaculate job of it. I suppose that the best i can do is to wait and watch, and my only hope is that i don't come to regret it. 'Lily i hope you're guiding him from wherever you are.'
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07:00 am 25th December, Entrance to the headmaster's office.
This wasn't the first time Minerva was preparing for the conversation that waited for her, each time she prayed it was her last but it seemed none of the deities were listening to her pleas, but first she had to inform albus, hence why she was waiting for him to open his doors for today.
She didn't have to wait for long as he opened up soon, "Albus, i have some really important matters to discuss with you." She began without preamble as soon as she had entered the room without even taking a seat, and Dumbledore having known her for as long as he did knew whatever it was, was important, for her to throw out all her usual tact and manners out of the window, even if it was only the two of them. He always said that she was too strict for anyone's good, alas he began, "What seems to be the problem Minerva? You know my position on the stone, and i know that you know that i wouldn't change my mind until there is a definitely better proposition so you won't waste your time and efforts trying to change my mind, also by the lack of other staff i presume this is about one of your lions." "Yes, Albus right on all counts, it's about mr Potter." In response he only blinked once and steepled his hands, "very well, continue." "Albus… i, he…" she took a deep breath to compose herself, and at this alone albus guessed the possible cause for her behavior. "A few days ago i had sent a letter to mr Potter's family, it was regarding my concerns about his behavior, when the letter returned unopened i didn't think much of it and decided to visit them personally, and i did so on the 23rd". She again took a deep breath and then continued, "Much to my shock i found that all three of them passed away this past Halloween in a car accident".
Albus said nothing for a few moments, then he began "i see, do you plan to inform him soon?" "yes, tomorrow " "Very well, i shall begin making appropriate arrangements for him." Albus as the headmaster and the chief warlock could easily arrange placements for orphaned children, as the wizarding world didn't have a child protection service system, the orphans were usually taken in by god parents or other relatives and no one in their right mind would harm their child if out of the sheer possibility of harming their magic.
Both were settled in their own thoughts, preferring the silence that had shouded them in the office. If it were anyone else albus would've offered to break the news to the boy himself, but he knew his deputy, she wouldn't shrink from her duties just because it broke her heart, she had done this many times during the war, much to their mutual dismay.
"How about we proceed to the breakfast for the day?" Albus began again after having glanced at the clock which displayed the current time being 07:30, snapping out of her thoughts it took her a second to register what albus said, and more specifically why, "very well, on that note i believe that, as it it Christmas, i thinks you're due to give me a gift.", this made Albus wary, really wary, it wasn't normal for the head of the lions to indulge in such frivolities, "very well Minerva, is there anything peculiar that you would like?" he asked her as he began to leave his office with her trailing behind him, it wasn't that he hadn't already bought a gift for her, but if his friend had anything she needed and only he could procure it, then why not?, within reason of course, "hmm.." The way her expression turned to the likeness of a cat who ate the canary made Albus feel like he had walked into a trap, "how about you promise me to eventually give up those lemon drops?" he turned to her with an incredulous expression on his face, "Minerva you might as well ask me to shave my beard off and start wearing those infernal standard plain black teacher's robes" her eyes were filled with mirth and she was sporting a small smile on her face, even though he didn't show it he was quite pleased about it, "whatever tickles your fancy albus, whatever tickles your fancy."
And that was the scene everyone witnessed, a Christmas miracle if you will, their usually strict teacher was outright beaming, relatively speaking, and their usually jovial headmaster looked quite downtrodden.
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10:05 am 26th December, Mcgonagall's office.
She had one of the elves call mr Potter to her office, he entered her office at 10:00 as usual donning that expressionless mask on his face which kept others from reading him, and then he took a seat, there was an awkwardness in the air which made things quite difficult for Minerva, so at last she began, "mr Potter, i am sorry to inform you but your family was in a car accident this past Halloween and unfortunately all of them met their demise." At first she didn't receive any reaction, she waited for her message to sink in, and then much to her surprise he tilted his head towards right, she got the distinct impression that he was asking her "and? Your point?", and that more than anything else about his behavior terrified her, the possibilities it left to interpret were grim at best, "would you like to visit them? Their last rites were carried out in a cemetery near your home." To this he simply shook his head and met her eyes as if asking "is that all?", " Yes" She replied, her voice working before her brain, "i mean for now, while you can stay at hogwarts till the beginning of the summer vacations, in the meanwhile headmaster is arranging alternative guardians for you, just a bit of time is required." She added as soon as she saw him get up to leave, as soon as he had reached the door she called out once again.
"mr Potter" He turned to meet her eyes, "did you not get along with your family?" she asked the question that had been brewing inside her since the Halloween incident, to which she only received the usual blank expression and unyielding silence. "Very well mr Potter you may leave". 'Merlin, what happened to the child to make him to cavalier even about death of his family.' now she had a new question to haunt her.
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Complicated. That's what the situation was, there were too many unpredictable and unknown variables and arising sets of challenges with them, he tried to make the best of the situation by scraping whatever benefit he could out of it. He didn't care about what happened to the Dursleys, he had no reason to, and reasons would matter if he were capable of caring in the first place, there was but only his objective and things affecting it, the new guardians were an unknown variable,they could either prove to be an asset or hinder him, of course there was the possibility that they would remain a neutral variable, neither be of help nor create problems. That was a matter to be dealt in future when the full scope would be in view, but for now Voldemort was a problem, even the possibility that he was alive was dangerous after all, it wouldn't do to bring back his parents back to life with the murderer still around to potentially harm them again, not that he would allow something like that, ever.
A/n : That's it for today folks, for those of you about to point out that the golden trio didn't found out about the stone until after Christmas remember this is an au, secondly I'll jump the paces asap, i want to go through the first and second year fast. And lastly yes harry is a complex he's not exactly robotic and does have some human traits but they're highly repressed.
Thanks for reading.
