I just want to thank the kind people that have been leaving comments so far. Y'all rock.
Severus Snape usually considered himself a patient man. He had to, in order to suffer through the never-ending stream of dunderheads that passed through his class each year and to be the Head of the most hated House in Hogwarts history. But Harry Potter drove him up the walls on a daily basis and the school year had only started two weeks ago.
Harry, unlike his twin, took far more after their father for Severus' comfort. It was obvious the boy was under the terrible influence of his father and Severus was only waiting to hear the first reports of bullying to give him detention for the rest of his years at Hogwarts.
How nobody could see through the boy's obvious cheating Severus could still not figure out. It was very simple, no child could ever be that smart and magically adept at that age, no matter who their twin brother was or who people thought they might become in the future.
Perfect marks in all his classes? Perfecting each spell on the first try? Answering every question perfectly? For Merlin's sake, the boy was obviously cheating and badly to top it off.
If only Dumbledore could start seeing that and stop sweating bullets literally every time Harry's perfect record got mentioned.
To correct all these misunderstandings Severus had called the younger Potter twin into his office and was planning to grill him until he cracked under the pressure and admitted to all his cheating.
There came the knocking sound at his door and Severus took one last opportunity to survey the essay he was grading before setting it aside. This task would need his full attention.
"Enter."
Potter opened the door and grinned at him, insufferably happy like always, "Good afternoon Professor Snape!"
"Sit", Severus commanded as he pointed at the seat in front of him.
"Sure", chirped Potter happily and sat down, "What can I help you with, Sir?"
How insufferably helpful.
"You are going to explain to me how you've been cheating in all your classes", Severus sneered. If there was one thing that bothered him most about this whole ordeal it was that no matter how hard he'd tried and how many impossible questions he'd asked Potter, he'd always answered them correctly.
Potter's left eye twitched.
"I'm not cheating sir", he said, insufferably calm.
"Don't lie to me Mr. Potter!", seethed Severus.
"I'm not-"
"I've been following your progress in all your classes, you've done perfectly in every single one of them. Too perfectly."
"It's not my fault if everything's so easy", Potter was finally looking a bit upset by this conversation.
"At yesterday's class I slipped you a list of questions I normally ask the students in preparation for their NEWTs and you answered them all perfectly", Severus said in a more calm tone, knowing there was no denying this.
Potter blinked at him a few times. His left eye twitched again.
"Oh. That's, um, uh", Potter swallowed, his left eye twitched again, "Something."
"Something", echoed Severus in a deadpan, "Is that what they call cheating nowadays?"
Potter was now staring at Severus in such a way that made him almost feel like he wasn't looking at him at all. No matter, Severus could outwait any cheating student, no matter how long it would take.
It almost took ten full minutes of Potter simply staring at him, but eventually he sighed and looked down at his lap.
Ah, here it comes. The confession. Severus barely stopped himself from smiling in victory.
"Sir, I'm not a cheater-", Potter started and Severus could feel his nostrils flaring and was ready to ream Potter a new one when he continued hastily, "-but I can explain what has been happening! Just, please listen to my full story before you decide what to do."
Severus narrowed his eyes at Potter, pursed his lips and nodded stiffly, "This better be worth it Potter, or you'll be in a world of trouble, more so than you already are."
Potter winced slightly, "Okay", he took a deep breath, "So I don't know how much of my story you've heard? About how I got separated from my parents?"
The sympathy angle? How unoriginal.
"Yes, the Dark Lord attacked your home, you and your brother were separated while your parents were comatose. You went missing a few years later because the Ministry stopped keeping track of you", said Severus, barely containing his eye roll.
Potter nodded, "Almost, but not quite", Potter took another deep breath, "I was sent to my mother's sister when I was a baby-"
TO PETUNIA?! Severus suddenly sat up straighter in his seat. Who in their right mind would do that?
"-and she and her husband really didn't like anything weird happening in their house. Thing is, they got angry over anything and everything, so I was scared most of the time, which meant that a lot of the time weird stuff happened."
Merlin, was he saying what Severus thought he was saying? But what did this have to do-?
"And with time it only got worse, you know? I'd completely lose control and then one day I accidentally trashed my cu-um, my bedroom, uh, very badly. My Uncle was so angry he started to scream he never wanted to see me again and get rid of me so my Aunt suggested he take me to some small church in London. So he, uh, did that", Potter looked at his lap again and fidgeted with his fingers.
Merlin, was all Severus could think at that moment as he looked at the boy with wide eyes.
"B-but that's not where things ended see, I got taken in by an orphanage where they gave me a new last name cause I didn't know my real one, so I got registered as Harold Green and that's how I got lost from the Ministry. Anyways, that's not my point here, my point is when I was at the orphanage I got to calm down a lot, but I now knew I wasn't normal see, so I tried to do stuff I knew I was capable of and-"
"So you're telling me you've been doing magic since you were, what? Six? And without a wand? Don't take me for an idiot Potter", Severus sneered. He was already evaluating how much of Potter's story was true and how much the boy had made up when Potter pointed his finger at the stack of essays on Severus' desk and they suddenly started to float.
"I can do much more than that", said Potter after Severus had been staring at the floating parchment rolls for more than a minute.
"How are you doing this?", asked Severus, not taking his eyes of the essays and refusing to admit the implications of what he was seeing.
"Magic Professor", said Potter as he lowered the stack of essays to be exactly like they were before. And then he turned the essay on the top of the stack into a chinchilla.
"Merlin!", Severus shouted and stood up so fast from his chair that it fell backwards.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!", Potter quickly reversed the effects and in some distant part of Severus' brain that wasn't screaming he had to admit that it was an excellent transfiguration. Many adult wizards would even struggle to keep any fur off the essay upon turning it back.
Severus covered his face in his hands and deep a couple of deep breathes, "Who else knows about this?", he asked through his fingers.
"Uh, a couple of the kids at the orphanage knew what I can do, but they'd never tell anybody."
Severus tried not to think about what the Ministry would do with that type of information.
"Please don't expel me", said Potter in a soft voice, "This is the most fun I've had in ages. I love learning about magic and everything just comes to me so easy that all I have to do sometimes is looks at something and I'll understand it."
Taking another deep breath Severus finally lowered his hands. This was worse than what Dumbledore feared. So much worse. Except, well, Potter wasn't evil. One look at Potter's bright green eyes was enough to tell Severus that Potter wasn't about to start the next Wizarding war.
"I'm not going to expel you, foolish child", muttered Severus as he took out his wand and levitated his chair back into place. Severus sat down heavily on his chair once it was upright again and proceeded to stare at Potter for several long minutes, till the boy started to fidget and look quite nervous.
"Do you have any idea what the Wizarding World would say if they knew what you are capable of?", he asked finally after collecting his thoughts.
"Um. That its, um, really weird?"
Severus couldn't stop himself from snorting, "'Weird' is putting it mildly Mr. Potter, they'd brand you the next Dark Lord. Some have already done so like I imagine you've noticed."
"Yeah", said Potter, not looking too happy about it, "People are really stupid sometimes."
Severus hummed, "So I take it you understand that the current state of affairs can't keep going the way it has up till now."
Potter sighed, "Is it really necessary? I'm not even doing things wandlessly, I'm doing everything the way the teachers are showing the rest of the students."
"Yet here we are. How long do you think it would take for the rest of your teachers to become concerned about you? To compare you to the Dark Lord?", Severus didn't mention that Dumbledore was already doing so and it wouldn't be long before the rest of the teachers started to listen to him.
Potter pouted. Here Severus was worrying for his safety and Potter was pouting.
"You will seize this immediately, I am trying to look out for your future. You can show your true talents to close friends and allies and when I mean true talents I am exclusively referring to your talents with a wand. I don't believe it wise to show any other person your wandless abilities. In fact, this knowledge should stay inside the walls of this office and go no further, not until you are ready to for it", Severus laid out, if Potter was to ever have even a semblance of a normal life in was imperative this was kept a secret.
Potter blew out a heavy breath, "Fine. I suppose you are right", the insufferable brat allowed, "Its just going to be really boring in class now."
"I suggest you get used to it", said Severus and stood up.
"I-", he paused for a second, and then decided to plough on, "I thank you for confiding this in me", he felt it was necessary to say, especially since if he had understood right Potter hadn't even told his own parents about this.
Potter smiled at him as he got up from his own chair, "I knew I could trust you Sir!"
Severus nodded, not sure how he felt about that, "You are dismissed."
"Have a nice evening Sir", Potter chirped and left.
Left wondering why Potter would trust him over his own parents Severus despaired for about an hour where he allowed himself to indulge in his favourite Firewhiskey brand before he went back to grading.
Not even a full week later and Severus was once again despairing about Potter and was forced to call him back into his office.
"I won't ask if you are an idiot since you've shown clear evidence of the contrary, but I still have to ask what in Merlin's name possessed you to do this?!", Severus raged.
Potter cocked his head to the side, his left eye twitched, "Do what Sir?"
Done with beating around the bush Severus shouted, "Failing all your classes!", he pointed an accusatory finger at Potter, "You've been failing so spectacularly in all of your classes this week that I've had basically all your teachers talk to me about it!"
Filius especially was distraught over what had happened with his best student ever.
"But you said I should keep it a secret!", Potter had the gall to argue with and look upset.
"Not like this you imbecile!", he shouted and saw Potter's left eye twitch.
"Then how?!", Potter shouted, but then immediately reigned in his emotions, it almost gave Severus whiplash.
"I'm sorry Sir, but how did you mean then?"
Severus had to blink at the abrupt mood swing, but quickly focused back on the problem at hand.
"Obviously by acting like your fellow peers to stop standing out among them, not stand out even more than before!", spat Severus.
Potter's eyebrows were all drawn up in confusion, "But-I", he bit his lower lip, "I don't really get it. I'm sorry."
Feeling a headache coming on Severus took a deep breath and settled back into his seat, "What do you mean you 'don't get it'?"
"The other children. They're all so-", Potter winced, "I'm sorry, but they're so stupid."
"They're children", said Severus, expecting his words to be self-explanatory.
Potter sighed, "I know, I know! But back at the orphanage I always got along with the older kids and I got bumped up two grades at the school and two of the families that adopted me gave me back because they said there was no way I was a real child."
What.
"What?", Severus couldn't help but blurt, "You were adopted? Twice?", and got returned on both occasions? Severus didn't even want to think what kind of damage that would do-
"Five times actually. It never stuck. Personally I always preferred the orphanage. Miss Jacobs – our caretaker – was way more understanding of me than any of them ever were."
Sweet Merlin.
"To be honest, I tried to copy Granger, but even she fails sometimes when casting a spell and I'll be honest with you, I've never failed any spell I've tried to do. Ever. It boggles my mind that you even can fail."
If Severus was to be honest he was still stuck on the fact that Potter was a child with serious underlying social relations issues.
He settled on, "I – see", after several minutes of trying to process and failing how he was supposed to help this child to learn relate socially to his peer group.
Potter grinned at him, "I knew you'd get it Sir!", he chirped.
Merlin help him.
"I'll think on how to help you", said Severus, massaging his temples, "Come back tomorrow this hour, in the meantime continue as you are doing. Dismissed."
"See you tomorrow Professor!", Potter said way too cheerfully as he exited the office.
Once he was sure he was alone Severus allowed his head to thunk against his desk.
One full bottle of Firewhiskey and a sleepless night later Severus could finally say he had a semblance of a plan.
"Potter", he greeted when he opened the door for the boy, allowing him to skip into his office.
"Good afternoon Professor!", Potter chirped, cheerful as ever.
"Hm", Severus grunted absentmindedly and took his usual seat, "I've thought long and hard about this Potter and I've come up with a plan which might help. Mind, it'll take an almost daily effort from both our parts."
"Oh?", Potter cocked his head in curiosity, his left eye twitched.
"I'm going to teach you how to fake being a normal student", said Severus, crossing his fingers and putting them on the desk in front of him.
Potter pulled a face.
"This is not only essential for your years at Hogwarts, but will teach you valuable lessons that will serve you for the rest of your life", Severus explained, "I'll be teavhing you for at least three days each week how to do this. Out cover story will be that I've placed you under detention for having caught you cheating. If anybody asked why you were such a prodigy on your first weeks at Hogwarts you will say you were cheating."
Potter's left eye twitched, "I-", he paused and looked away, made a face and then looked back at Severus after a while, "I think its for the best."
Severus raised an eyebrow. That was not the answer he was expecting, nevertheless, "Good. I'm glad that we can agree on this."
Potter's left eye twitched again, yet Severus could hear the sincerity in his next words, "Absolutely Sir."
For a moment Severus was tempted to try unravel this mystery, but reminded himself that he had bigger fish to fry, "Excellent, we'll start immediately. Take out your homework and I'll help you."
Potter looked confused, "But-"
"Help you make it look normal, Potter."
"Oh!", Potter exclaimed, understanding blossoming on his face as he upturned his bag on Severus' desk without any regard for the contents.
Severus sighed. He had a feeling he'd be doing a lot of that for the foreseeable future, "Let's start with how to take care properly of one's school materials."
"But I've been doing this since forever!"
"Don't your things break?"
"Well, yeah, but I just fix them when nobody's watching", Potter shrugged.
He really had his work cut out for him, didn't he?
All comments are welcome, I'm writing as fast as I can so you might spot some grammar errors. Please don't hesitate to tell me! :)
Also, this is still under its working title, any and all suggestions for a new name are welcome