Harry woke up the next morning in a surprisingly good mood. He was still going to give Pansy a hard time for running her big mouth, but the conversation he had overheard yesterday seemed to finally bring some kind of closure he hadn't realised he needed. He felt slightly guilty about the schadenfreude he experienced listening to Hannah tearing Neville a new one, but it was overall an immensely cathartic experience.
Harry had got over his feelings for Neville a long time ago and had no desire to follow Pansy's example and turn Hannah into some kind of domestic animal every time he set his foot into the Leaky Cauldron. Yet hearing her talk about blaming herself and then realising it's not her fault in a strange way reassured Harry in his own choices. He felt that after all these years, he could finally let go of that lingering hurt that still constricted his chest and made him question himself every time he saw Neville. That page of his life was closed for good.
The staff table was once again mostly empty, as Harry now suspected was usual for a Monday, but he was delighted to see the Astronomy Professor there.
"Aurora! How's Persy, still exploring?" Harry asked, remembering his encounter with her son. It made him miss his godson Teddy, whom he usually visited at least once a week, even more.
"Like you cannot believe!" Aurora laughed. "Luckily, my husband is finally home from training camp, so it's easier to keep an eye on the little scamp for now. Nearly got to one of John's brooms yesterday. He's still sulking that we didn't let him go on a search for a yeti."
Harry laughed. Teddy was also fascinated with all kinds of magical creatures. Since he had heard that his friend Victoire's uncle worked in the dragon sanctuary, he'd been pestering Harry and Andromeda to take him there.
Aurora downed the last of her coffee and rose reluctantly. "I really need to go talk to my Slytherins right now, before the first lessons start, but please come visit us at the Tower! My quarters are almost at the top, behind the portrait of Ptolemy."
"I'll be glad to."
Just as Aurora was leaving the table, Neville appeared and sat down on the other side of Harry. Glancing at his drawn face, Harry waited for the usual bitterness to appear. It seemed his morning's revelations were no fluke; he felt nothing.
"Hello," Neville said, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. "I'm Neville Longbottom, Herbology Professor."
"Polyidus Thompson, but you can call me Paul." Harry smiled, and it wasn't even strained.
"So, how do you find Hogwarts so far?"
"Oh, very exciting. Since I've come here, my Third Eye is on overload. And certain parts of the castle are simply a gold mine for—Anyway, if only the students wouldn't get underfoot!"
"Those pesky students." Neville chuckled. "I would often lose track of time in one of my greenhouses only to realise regretfully that I've got a lesson in five minutes!"
"Actually, you reminded me. I wanted to ask you something, Neville."
"Oh? What is it?" Neville leaned forward.
Harry held back incredulous laughter. Wouldn't it be hysterical if Neville decided to follow his wife's advice with him?
"I've met one of my students—a sixth-year Gryffindor, Mr. Talbott—near your greenhouses this Saturday evening. He had a shovel in his hand and looked really put out to meet me, although he said that you know about him there."
"Right, Cal." Neville smiled. "Didn't know he took Divination. Yes, he comes to help out in the greenhouses from time to time. Replanting Venomous Tentacula seedlings that day. Although I understand why you would think he's up to some mischief. He's got, shall I say... a reputation."
"He's a cocky little shite, you mean."
"You said it. But he is a good kid, and he likes plants. I suspect he's a little embarrassed about that, though; hence the sneaking. Tries to look all macho for the girls, you see. Hope he'll grow out of it. He's got some real talent."
"Yeah, some boys his age don't understand that Herbology doesn't make you any less manly." And not only boys, and not only his age. Harry knew that it was a point Augusta Longbottom brought up regularly.
"And Divination either." Neville gave him another earnest smile.
"And Divination either." Harry felt it was high time to wind down the conversation. He glanced at the clock. "Look at the time! I need to be in my classroom in fifteen minutes. I still can't get there without getting lost half of the time!" He stood up and offered his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Neville."
"You too, Paul. Come visit the greenhouses at any time." Neville's hand lingered just this side of proper.
Harry fled.
The lessons went much more smoothly this second week, although Harry doubted he managed to impart much Divination knowledge to the students. Instead, he sat everybody in a circle with their cups of tea. They spent the class first drinking it leisurely with biscuits the house-elves were happy to provide, and then analyzing the shapes in the tea leaves. Harry didn't want to dominate the conversation and let the students come up with their own ideas, no matter how wild.
"This looks a bit like an owl," said a third-year Slytherin girl, frowning into her cup. "But if I turn it... If I turn the cup like that, it looks more like an angry wizard in a robe. What do you think it means, Professor Thompson?"
"What do you think, Miss Pierce?" Harry asked.
"Erm... My owl is secretly an animagus?"
The students snickered.
"Actually, this happened to a friend of mine once, so I wouldn't discard the possibility completely. Does anyone have other suggestions?"
Interpreting images in tea leaves reminded Harry of Muggle therapy sessions Hermione made him go to after the war. The first time he went there, his therapist gave him those cards with inkblots and asked what he saw. Harry stopped going eventually because there were just too many issues he couldn't discuss without mentioning magic, but trying to find a Mind Healer in the Wizarding world resulted in the appointment leaking to the Prophet even before the first session.
After his last class had finally left, Harry decided to take Aurora up on her invitation and made his way to the Astronomy Tower. When he arrived, she already had another guest.
"Come in, come in." Aurora ushered Harry inside. "It seems that I'm really popular today."
To Harry's surprise, he found Snape sitting in the living room with a toddler on his lap. The girl was laughing and babbling animatedly, little hands clutching a purple squid toy. Two pink spots bloomed on Snape's cheeks.
"Oh, don't be embarrassed, Severus." Aurora laughed, scooping the girl into her arms. She turned to Harry. "Despite his numerous protests, our Severus does have a heart."
"I have no doubt in it." Harry sent Snape a good-natured grin.
He looked around curiously. The living room was bigger than his or Snape's and cluttered to the brim with toys, baby things, books and parchments. A delicate model of the solar system was squeezed on the shelf between a tin of broom polish and the already familiar dragon plushy. The ceiling had a lifelike painting of the Milky Way shining softly.
"Would you like a cup of tea? I've just made some."
"I've probably drunk a gallon of that stuff today with all my classes." Harry let out a put-upon sigh belied by a smile.
"Coffee, then. House-elves here in Hogwarts just cannot make it right, so here is my grandmother's special blend. And you are going to love these scones!"
"Look, mum, look!" Aurora's son burst into the room, followed by a tall man with broad shoulders and an affable smile. "We flew over Hagrid's hut and the lake, and then played in the snow! Daddy says I can fly on my own in the spring already! Oh, hullo Uncle Sev'rus!"
The boy noticed Harry and hid behind his father shyly.
"We'll see about that, Persy," Aurora said, drying the water dripping from the boy's cloak and helping to take it off. "Say hello to Professor Thompson and go start on your homework as you've promised."
"Hello," Persy mumbled and scooted to one of the doors.
Aurora introduced Harry to her husband, John Whitsby, coach of Wimbourne Wasps. Harry drew himself up at the name of the team.
"As a Muggleborn, I've always found Divination too out there, even by magical world standards. Trelawney certainly didn't help, and her predecessor in my time wasn't much better," John said with a chuckle. "I didn't take Divination myself, but there was one year when Sprout went on sabbatical, and old Lenormand was temporarily our Head of House. Completely bonkers, he was. Probably those mushrooms he used to burn."
"Didn't he set the Hufflepuff common room on fire with them that year?" Snape interjected.
"He did!" John laughed. "All the Hufflepuffs had hallucinations for a week afterwards, especially the younger years. I hope you don't follow his footsteps, Paul." He wagged his finger at Harry jokingly.
"No mushrooms for me!" Harry put up his hands in surrender.
A steamy cup of coffee flew over to him, obeying the wave of Aurora's wand. Harry took it out of the air and sipped the fragrant drink. It was really excellent, especially compared to the instant swill they used to drink with Pansy.
John finished his own tea and looked challengingly at Harry. "How about a little demonstration?"
"Oh, Paul, don't let John bother you!" Aurora exclaimed. "I understand you get that a lot of that, but you absolutely don't have to."
Snape looked up at Harry expectantly with a hint of mockery in his dark eyes.
"Even though reading tea leaves is not my primary area of expertise, it would be my pleasure." With a deep breath, he took the proffered cup and peered into it. "I see… I see a thief." From the corner of his eyes, Harry noticed John's eyes widening. "Something work-related. Somebody is stealing your Quidditch equipment?"
John grew serious. "Yes, somebody's been stealing players' uniforms. A Beater's bat and two Quaffles are still missing too. At first, we'd thought it was some crazy fan. But we've tightened security, and it still keeps happening," he said, his voice growing more and more agitated. "Somebody has stolen a Snitch today! You know that nobody is allowed to touch it before the game."
Harry nodded.
"We are in the lead for the first time in five years, and against the Arrows no less! I don't want to lose that over accusations of tampering!"
Snape shifted his gaze from John and met Harry's eyes for a moment. Harry gave him a minuscule nod and peered into the cup again.
"I see greed in this thief of yours. He might be more dangerous than you think, so be careful."
"I can help you with ward if you'd like, John," Snape offered. Harry looked at him, surprised. He didn't remember Snape to be so obliging. He was starting to realise there were much more to his former Potions Professor than he'd known.
"I think our family has monopolized enough of your time, Severus," said Aurora. "It's so unfair that the Board won't put you back as Head of Slytherin officially. Minerva should've pushed harder."
"It's a moot point," Snape said with a blank expression on his face.
"It's certainly not! After everything you've done for us, you deserve better!"
"Aurora is right, Severus." John nodded in agreement.
Harry looked at them curiously.
"Severus saved my life," John explained.
"I did not," Snape said in a clipped voice. He took a scone off the plate but made no motion to eat it. Harry tried not to stare at his long fingers stained with potion ingredients.
"He did," Aurora interjected. "You see, Johnny is my second husband. We met that horrible year of You-Know-Who's reign. I'd known who John Whitsby was before, of course. Who didn't? The most famous Appleby Arrow's beater—"
"I don't know about the most famous, but famously Muggleborn, that's for sure," John interjected. "Everybody knew that about me, so pretending to be someone's cousin wasn't an option. An old teammate of mine had ratted me out, so I was on the run from the Snatchers." His face darkened.
Reaching out, Aurora squeezed his hand.
"I ran into Aurora, quite literally. She simply shrunk me and put me in her pocket; can you believe it? Then lied to the Snatchers—boldly to their faces. Never play poker with that witch." John shook his head with a smile. "She then brought me to Hogwarts, and I hid right here, in the Astronomy Tower."
"I first suspected you knew when you didn't let the Carrows inspect my quarters, Severus," Aurora said quietly. "And then I fell pregnant with Perseus and you got me all those potions and fended off those awful twins from me. Let them think it's your child so they wouldn't question how I ended up pregnant in the castle I shouldn't have been able to leave, even though the faculty became even more horrible to you after that. You are a noble man, Severus."
"Hardly," Snape said, though his cheeks were faintly pink again. The scone in is his hands was half-crumbs at this point. He flushed further and put it down. "You exaggerate my part, Aurora."
"She does not. I'll be honest, mate, if I didn't know you're beating firmly for the other team, I'd be jealous."
Harry drew a sharp breath. Could it be true? But what about his Mum?
"What, Thompson? Would it be a problem?" Snape looked Harry straight in the eyes challengingly.
"No, not at all. After all, it would be hypocritical of me," Harry sent him a small smile.
Aurora beamed and winked at Harry. He got a sudden suspicion of why exactly she had invited him today of all days. Judging by Snape's sour face, the man had similar thoughts.
All in all, Harry had an altogether pleasant evening and didn't begrudge Aurora her attempts at matchmaking too much. His mind was on Severus, who stayed behind to discuss some House matters with Aurora. Harry caught himself thinking about him by his first name. When did that happen? Probably during John's story. He was still reeling at that. How could everyone still treat Severus like shit while praising scumbags like Richardson at the same time?
Harry blushed at the thoughts of this softer side of Severus, him spending time with his friends and playing with a toddler on his lap. This wasn't something Harry imagined Severus ever doing before. He sure would never show this part of his life to Harry if he knew his true identity.
This sobered Harry immediately. Despite his awkward flirting, he didn't want to mislead Severus and try to start anything as Polyidus Thompson. Yet there was no chance in hell Severus would ever look that way at Harry Potter.
With a sigh, Harry looked around. While he was deep in thoughts, his feet brought him to the seventh floor. He stared at the familiar tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Neville, who had returned to repeat his seventh year, once told him that the Fiendfyre had raged inside the Room of Requirement even a year after the Battle of Hogwarts.
What was there now? Harry stood across the tapestry for a moment, contemplating. He needed to know, needed to see with his own eyes again. Nodding to himself, he made a decision and started pacing.
On his third turn, a door appeared. Harry put his left hand on the handle carefully, while gripping his wand tightly in his right.
Inside, the room was much smaller than it used to be, less than a third of the size of his classroom. The walls were covered with scorch marks, and there were piles of ashes on the floor. A handful of things seemed to survive the flames: some half-melted coins, a blade of a dagger, a rose in a glass dome covered in soot, but otherwise undamaged. But the most curious thing was standing by the wall near the door. It was a student trunk, one that looked somehow familiar.
Harry cast a couple of detection spells and opened the trunk. Inside, there was a mess of clothes and books and quills thrown together haphazardly. Harry took a battered Advanced Transfiguration. 'Property of Alexander Rowle,' it said on the front page.