A/N: Yay finally an update for this story. I have to apologise that it took so long, but this chapter fought against being written out…however in the end, I was victorious though I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned but I hope you like it nonetheless.
Chapter 19: Who is Gabriel Winchester?
The next day was the first for Sam to attend classes and he was extremely excited about it. Sure, Harry and Sirius already taught him bits and pieces of magic, but this was something entirely else. The first lesson was Transfiguration, and Sam had to admit that while Professor McGonagall was a stern teacher, she was also excellent and fair. She told him that he should try to follow and not hesitate to ask questions and questions he asked, actually so many and so in depth that McGonagall at some point said that if he really wanted to know all that she would gladly answer them outside of class. Though not knowing that Sam already read the entire book for that year plus some he got while staying at the Rabbit Hole, she wondered how he knew so much.
Once Transfiguration was over Hermione came running over and started to talk with Sam over the theory behind the subject much to the amusement of Harry, Neville and Loki. The entire way to History, they discussed whether the wand movement was that important, or if the imagination of the caster was the more important part. Sam quickly gave proof to his statement that it was mostly imagination by taking out some wrapping paper he had in his pocket and transfigured it into a small, simple box by concentrating on it. Hermione's eyes nearly bulged out by this offhanded display of wandless magic. Sam only shrugged but had to admit, that ever since Loki freed his core magic came to him much more natural than before. When he displayed his wandless magic in front of Crowley, it took a lot out of him, but now it was easier and less draining.
Shortly later, they arrived at the History classroom and watched how everyone else wondered who this Gabriel Winchester was and how his lessons would be. To their utter surprise, Loki stood up and walked to the front of the classroom.
"Where is Professor Winchester?" someone asked.
"Grading the fourth year's homework," Loki snickered.
Everyone bar Harry and Sam who knew what was going on looked confused. Harry slid down in his seat and tried unsuccessfully to hide his laughter upon seeing that. When Loki threw him a glare, he couldn't hold it anymore and laughed uproariously. All the others looked at him as if he finally lost it.
"You don't get it, do you?" he teased. "We are talking about Loki…"
After thinking that statement through quite a few Ravenclaws and even some of the Gryffindors let their heads sink onto the table. Loki who up to that point accusingly stared at Harry for spoiling his fun now also laughed upon that display. The only one in the end who didn't get what was going on was Ron.
"What has that to do with Professor Winchester?" he asked dumbly, but no one thought about telling him what was going on. When he was such an idiot as not to notice the obvious, it wasn't their problems.
This lesson Loki continued his lecture about Supernatural beings, this time lecturing about Tengu, Japanese demon spirits. Especially Sam was taking detailed notes for should they ever have the unfortunate luck of running into one.
Over lunch then he again talked with Hermione about what they learned and got into a more in-depth discussion of the difference between focus-based magic and mind magic and which of them was harder to perform.
Harry, Neville, the twins and Loki, on the other hand, talked about what they had done over the holidays. That was when Loki made a particular face that they all knew meant nothing good.
"I'm bored," he said before his face lightened up.
"Oh no, what are you up to now?" Neville questioned with a worried face actually edging a few inches away from the trickster.
"Why do you assume I'm up to something?" Loki retorted with a devious grin before snapping with his fingers.
Suddenly every table and bench in the great hall started to float. Several people yelped in surprise before looking accusingly at Loki who was utterly unimpressed by it. With another snap of his fingers, every bench and table split up so that each student floated around separately with their part of the table in front of them while the chairs of the teachers were transfigured into bench parts too. Loki flicked with his hand, and it was as if a wind blew through the hall whirling everything before it settled again. After the last snap from Loki, all parts rearranged themselves again and got together to full benches and tables once more. Though no one sat where he or she sat before. So sat Slytherins between Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws with teachers in between. Dumbledore now sat where the former Slytherin table was next to a 6th year Hufflepuff and a 3rd year Gryffindor, while an irritated Snape sat between the Weasley twins at the Hufflepuff table. The probably worst combination, however, was Ron who had the unfortunate luck to end up opposite of Malfoy. It didn't take long for the two to engage themselves in a shouting match before Ron left the great hall with a huff. Everyone else however quickly got over their new sitting arrangement and started to talk to those who now sat in their vicinity.
Sam who had ended up next to McGonagall to his own fortune, took this as an opportunity to ask her a few more questions while Harry instantly started to think about retaliation for being dumped between Crab and Goyle.
"I have to admit that this new sitting arrangement has merit," Flitwick who sat opposite of Loki mused.
"You're right; the students surely should mingle more often. All this house rivalry isn't good for them especially the ongoing feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Only because of one black sheep they are labelled dark or even evil," Loki shook his head. "As if there were no dark witches or wizards in the other houses."
"I remember your statement on Halloween. It is nice to see someone as open-minded as you are, this is a rare occurrence nowadays."
That made Loki snicker. "I would be a hypocrite would I judge someone over being labelled dark or light. Those who know me know that I'm no saint myself so why should I care whether someone else is?" he retorted.
"Well spoken, Mr Laufeyson," Flitwick replied with a smile.
The rest of lunch was quite unspectacular, and soon Harry, Neville, Loki and Sam found themselves waiting in front of the potions classroom for Snape to call them in. However, as soon as the door opened and they took their usual seats it became apparent, that something was different. This became even more prominent as the lesson went on. Snape while not outright hostile towards Harry was at least more reserved, not giving advice as usual and he also didn't comment on his work.
"Is he always this cold?" Sam asked confused.
Harry threw Loki a wary look having a pretty good idea for why the Professor acted as he did. "Normally not, no" he drawled out. "I gave him something together with my Christmas present for him, and it seems that it wasn't as well accepted as I hoped."
His fear was confirmed once the Lesson finished.
"Mr Potter, stay behind," Snape stated in a cold voice.
Harry did as he was asked and stayed behind Loki standing right next to him. Sam looked unsure about whether he should stay or not but Harry made the decision for him.
"Sam, please wait outside. This is a sensitive topic we have to discuss, and I doubt Snape will allow you to stay anyway," Harry explained.
Sam looked back and forth between Harry, Loki and Snape but in the end came to a conclusion, that Loki would protect Harry should anything be and so he even if reluctantly left the potions classroom.
Snape looked at Loki obviously not wanting to say what he wanted in front of him but nonetheless picked up two pieces of parchment from his desk. Harry fearfully looked at the man. Snape had done precisely what he had feared, thought this was an elaborate hoax, and now he would lose him as a friend. How could he explain to the man that the letters were real? That Loki took him to see his parents?
Once the door shut firmly behind Sam and he had erected some privacy spells, he wanted to speak up but didn't even get to it because Loki held his hand up to hinder him. He threw Loki a glare for that, but the pagan was utterly unimpressed.
Loki gave Harry a reassuring smile before he spoke up. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I didn't stop you because I didn't want you to say what you wanted. Well, that was only half-true, I just don't want you to say something you would regret later because you didn't know every fact and jumped to conclusions. When you promise me to let me explain everything to you I promise you not to stop you again," Loki said in a tentative voice.
Snape narrowed his eyes at him but in the end, nodded curtly.
"I assume that your problem lies within the letters Harry gave you…they are real," Loki sighed before he continued. "As a Christmas present I took Harry to see his parents," he admitted, and he could only hope that this wouldn't blow up in his face.
On the other hand, he wanted to protect Harry as well as making him happy, and when that meant that he had to tell the man Harry liked, about what he had done, so mote it be.
Snape eyed Loki critically trying to ascertain whether the pagan was lying or not. Knowing who and what Loki was he didn't doubt a second that he might be able to sneak into heaven or wherever souls go to when someone dies. Then there was the fact that he didn't peg Loki for a liar when it came to such a thing considering what a risk he would have taken to get Harry to see his parents and seeing the expression on the boy's face…no it must be the truth. So consequently, the letters were authentic too.
He slumped against the teacher desk in front of which he stood. That the letters were real was all that he could think about.
The letters were real!
Looking at the missives, he saw that his hand was slightly trembling. Lily truly forgave him for what he considered his biggest mistake in his life even before joining that idiot Riddle. Not only that but James Potter, the bane of his existence apologised for everything he had done to him. No wonder that he had trouble accepting that the letters were real.
The three of them stayed in silence for several minutes when Snape suddenly spoke up.
"Would it…could you…" he stuttered, and it was a contribution to how much all this affected him, that he was unable to articulate what he wanted. In the end, he shook his head and looked at the letters again.
"What is it, Severus?" Loki asked in a soft voice having an inkling about what the man wanted, but he needed to be sure.
"No, it is too much to ask," Snape replied again shaking his head.
"Please leave it to me to decide whether your request is too much or not," Loki said with a smile.
Snape looked up and straight at Loki. He swallowed before he spoke up again.
"Could you bring me to them?" he finally asked.
The smile of Loki broadened. "See, wasn't so hard was it?"
He didn't do this to taunt the man but to show him that there was nothing wrong in asking for things.
"I can bring you to them, but unfortunately we'll have to wait for a month or two because out little visit at Christmas didn't go unnoticed and I want things to settle down before I go there again. On my honour as the trickster god Loki I swear that I'll take you as soon as possible," a golden hue engulfed Loki and settled down sealing his oath.
Snape stared at him in open disbelieve not trusting his ears. Loki honestly would take him to visit Lily? He would be able to tell the woman he had loved – and still loved would he be truthful – that he was genuinely sorry for what had happened between them.
"Thank you," was all Snape could say to that.
"Very well, we'll leave you to it then because it is time for dinner. I'll let you know when it will be safe to visit them," Loki replied with another smile before turning towards Harry. "Come on, let's go! I'm quite hungry."
That made Harry who up to now had watched the conversation between Snape and Loki with fear at first and interest later, laugh.
"You're always hungry…especially when it is for sweats," he snickered. "Professor," he added dipping his head in respect.
They both turned and walked towards the door when Snape spoke up.
"Mr Potter, please accept my sincere apology," the man said with a slightly pained look in his eyes.
"Professor, you don't have to apologise. It was only natural to think that the letters were faked. I mean even I couldn't believe it at first, and I have been there," Harry replied with a soft smile before turning around again and finally leaving the potions classroom.
Outside they found a worried Sam leaning against the wall opposite the classroom door. He was apparently concerned about why they had taken so long.
"Thank god, I was worried that you were in trouble. Is everything alright?" he questioned pushing off the wall and walking over to them.
"Everything's all right," Harry replied without elaborating what had happened in the potions classroom. He would never betray Snape's feelings and trust by telling anyone private things about him.
"If you're sure…let's go to the great hall, dinner started already and shouldn't we get there soon I fear we'll don't get anything to eat."
Together they went to dinner talking about the day now. After dinner they made themselves comfortable in the common room, Harry and Neville engaging themselves in a game of chess in which Neville bet Harry. Sam sat in an armchair in front of the fire reading while the twins and surprisingly Hermione were suspiciously absent. It was some time after ten o'clock that they stopped for the day and went to sleep. Sam was content with how his first day at Hogwarts had gone by, eagerly awaiting the next day.
A/N: So let me know what you think! Next chapter will be darker because certain things are going to happen…Harry will also stumble across a certain mirror. What will he see? His parents as some people might think or something entirely different? Wait and see (hopefully not again 4 months….). 'til next chapter!