Hello all you lovely readers! Its been a short while, departing the route for this chapter... Anyway here it is and enjoy!

Thank you to all you readers for the support and reading of this story.

Not Beta'd as of yet my darlings! You have been warned, but I have done my best.

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. Belongs to WB and the lovely J K Rowling.

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Chapter Five: Painkiller

Severus sighed deeply, pinching the the top of his crooked nose. He could feel the starting signs of migraine coming along, his right eye twitching as little sparks of pain started to stab at his eyeball. The silence of the room would of been helpful, but the tapping of his lovers foot didn't help matters. He knew the silence was making Lucius mad, but he had nothing else to say on the matters of this morning. Severus wouldn't have given in to such a display of anger, but he was alone in what happened to his son.

He needed some sort of pain killing potion right now.

"Well, this is... cozy I must say." Lucius said to himself quietly, running a hand through his platinum golden locks.

Severus ignored the remark, staring blankly at the picture of Hogwarts above the fireplace in the living room of the Noble House of Black. There was no doubt about it that the picture was beautiful and a lovely piece of art work to look at, but he could say that the picture didn't belong in this dark house, after all the Black family started to hate Hogwarts around the nineteenth century.

He snapped his gaze quickly to Lucius who stood up and walked to the fireplace, his anger sparking at the older mans gloomy face.

"After all this time I have never thought that you might of blamed me?" Lucius said, disrupting the silence between them. His grey eyes searched the painting his lover was interested in.

"Not here Lucius!" Severus hissed, jumping up from the sofa. Now needing to get away and to find Potter, who was irritating him with the more deafening silence of hiding somewhere. He needed to get away from this and inflict his terror on the Gryffindor brat.

Lucius was quick to act as he shot across the room, grabbing Severus's arm and forcing him to look at him. His grey eyes searched the dark pools of his lover, wanting to know the emotions the potions master was feeling and hiding behind his Occlumency wall.

"Answer me!"

"No Lucius, I have never blamed you, nor will I." He said quietly, looking at Lucius with no expression. His hand came up to caress the blondes face, a finger lightly touching his lips.

Lucius did note the last bit was said with a lot more sadness than what he even intended. He knew that his lover was the one to hurt the most, he remembered Severus specifically saying that he would only half hurt because he still had Draco after loosing Xeryus.

"Let it go Lucius," Severus said sharply, trying to get out if the room.

"No! I need the truth. All I ask is that," Lucius growled into his lovers ear, his arm going around the mans waist. "Had I detected any sign that you blamed me right after Xeryus's disappearance... I would of tried harder for you, for us. Don't forget I was the one to carry him, I wanted him as badly as you did!"

"I'm very aware that you carried our son Lucius," Severus whispered, his head dropping so that his hair covered his face. "Are you going to argue with me here in this very house where we should not be talking about this, or are we going to look for Potter?" Severus said as he fought to maintain the hidden emotion behind his mask as he removed himself from his lovers hold, straightening himself out. Severus knew Lucius had tried hard to find their son, but he couldn't see that through his mental brake down at the time. He knew it was hard for his lover to accept the change in him, at what he had become when they realised that nothing could be done.

A bitter cold man.

"This isn't over," Lucius demanded as he followed the man out of the living room. Severus snapped his wand out, he couldn't be bothered to look in every room of the damned house for Potter.

"It never will be over," Severus muttered as he looked up the staircase. "Point me Harry Potter." His wand lit up automatically, a small trail leading to the basement stairs. He walked down to the bottom floor, his lover behind him taking in the new decor. It was like you were in a different house altogether.

The light red trail ended at the third door, sounds of bubbling liquid could be heard as they got closer. They gave each other a look of confusion as Severus opened the dark coloured door, a staircase meeting his feet.

His eyes widened at the sight, never before knowing that this house even had a potions lab. He was always forced to do potions in the room he was appointed too.

"I thought Potter was inadequate in potion making?" Lucius whispered, his eyes watching the boy closely. Severus ignored his lover, his eyes widening to examine what was going on right before his eyes.

"Potter!" Snape snapped from the other side of the room, making Harry jump. He dropped his knife on the chopping bored, snapping his head up to see both Snape and Malfoy standing in his potions lab. Harry's hand remained steady as he picked up his knife again, chopping at the mint leaves again.

"Hello Professor Snape, Mr Malfoy." Harry said in a calm tone, not bothering to look at them as both came down the spiral staircase.

"May I ask why your brewing on your own with no adult supervision?"

"Maybe because I am now independent Sir, from certain situations that have happened to me." He said truthfully, putting a handful of chopped mint leaves to his cauldron. He stirred the potion anti clockwise, snapping his fingers twice to lower the heat of the fire that was making the cauldron bubble. Harry could feel that his apparent composure served only to irritate the man now towering over him.

Snape peered down into the cauldron, his hooked nose flaring to smell the cauldrons contents. "What in Merlin's name, do you call this Potter?"

"I think you know what it is Sir," Harry closed his mouth with an audible snap, clenching his jaw.

"Why Potter is it that your brewing Dreamless Sleep, a potion that needs delicate care to brew whereas you couldn't brew a simple Cure for Boils in my class?"

"Nothing is as it seems is it? There are things you don't even no about, I'm surprised Dumbledore hasn't told you yet." Harry said in a playful tone, his hand tracing his Owl results. He picked them up, handing the parchment over to Snape with his eyebrow raised and a smirk of knowing that a certain result my just make the mans life blow up around him.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr Potter." Lucius warned as he went to stand close too Severus who snapped the parchment out of Harrys hand, holding back his anger as his dark eyes went to that so important mark.

"O*, pray to tell me how you even achieved this? Did you bribe one of the examiners Potter?" Severus spat out, turning his head to look at Lucius's surprised face, the blonde raised an eyebrow impressed by all marks on the parchment as he took it from Severus.

"Haven't you always wondered what was the reason for me to act up in your class? We all have appearances Sir, don't we?" Harry eyed them both, moving around the work station and past them to the wall of ingredients. He started to go up the ladder, reaching the top shelf. He looked down at the spies, eyeing them seriously.

"No one but Headmaster Dumbledore knew this, but with certain situations that were happening in my third year I took into consideration to take private lessons in my spare time after classes and weekends, making sure it didn't interfere too much. I needed to prepare myself for the future."

"Haven't you always been getting into trouble Mr Potter? From what Draco has told me your always messing about around the castle with your friends." Lucius raised his eyebrows at the young man, not knowing what to think of this different Potter.

"Of course your precious son is right, that was my duplicate," Harry laughed as he picked up the spare jar of Gillyweed, making his way down the ladders.

"Duplication of ones self? The only spell I know of that type is..." Lucius paused as he felt Severus stiffen up beside him. He looked down to notice the mans hands in tight fists.

"Oh come on Mr Malfoy, I think both of you know which one I'm on about."

"You've been using a spell that comes under the dark arts Potter in Hogwarts and the Headmaster knew about this?" Severus watched the boy closely, trying to puzzle everything together that he was learning from this darker person standing very near him. This was not the boy he had first laid eyes on five years ago, a boy so like his dead father.

"Ingeminatio Geminum is not classed as dark actually Professor, nor is it classed as light magic either. It's one of those spells that you can get away with." Harry shot both of them a dark look as he got off the ladders, holding onto the jar tightly.

"Is it true then Mr Potter that you cast the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix LeStrange, or was that your duplicate?" Harry's eyes widened at the unexpected question, his face loosing all emotion as he closed his eyes. Lucius and Severus knew the whole tale of the night in the Ministry if Magic, but Lucius wanted to hear it out of the boys mouth. He was a Slytherin after all, throwing a question that would put the boy off.

"I believe that is none of your concern is it Mr Malfoy," Harry said through gritted teeth, breathing in deeply at the mention of that name. "After all... You were there." Harry stopped there, he could go on about that night but he had to keep his anger tame and not let it explode in the recently new spy's face.

"I'm not as innocent as everybody thinks. My duplicate is, because I created myself like that. It's like every time I got caught by you Professor Snape, that was indeed my duplicate. I just watched through the spells eyes what was happening around it," Harry started to walk near them both. "I believe I owe you this. Before you rant, I did not steal this from you. Dobby borrowed it. I replaced the gilly weed I took." Harry handed it to the potions master, who was looking at him in a new light.

"Dobby the house elf you took from me?" Lucius asked, his hands clasping behind his back tightly.

"Yes, that very one that saved me from your nearly cast killing curse." Severus snapped his head around to Lucius, his eyes asking him questions that would be answered later. He did not know that his lover did that.

Harry glared at the blonde man for a moment as he made his way to his cauldron. He vanished the fire from underneath the cauldron with a swift movement from his hand, starting to bottle the shimmering green potion into little bottles for his own personal use. He got his wand out and tapped each bottle, each and everyone on of them vanishing up to his bathroom. He set a self cleaning spell in the black pewter cauldron.

"If you need to use my laboratory, you are both free to use it whenever you wish too. Now if you both excuse me, I am in need to study a bit more for both of your classes Mr Malfoy, or should I say Professor Malfoy?" Harry said in a amused tone as he bowed his head to both if them, making a swift and fast exit from the room.

"Well that was very interesting Severus, don't you think?"

"Indeed. Lupin must of told Potter that your teaching at Hogwarts." Severus said as he started to walk around the lab, eyeing rare ingredients and expensive cauldrons.

"Something on your mind that you would like to share Severus?" Lucius asked, he could feel his magic itching at his finger tips. Something was off with either the house or Potter.

"That isn't the boy I have taught for the past five years, he has fooled me. Potter has fooled us all. There is more to this, I can sense it." Lucius nodded at the mans words, agreeing something wasn't right.

"There is something off about the boy, but that is not our concern Severus. Let it be."

"So you nearly casted the killing curse on a twelve year old Potter?" Severus asked, eyeing his lover sternly as he started to pace around the room.

"He freed my house elf, my best one too! That ungrateful elf blasted me off my feet before I said it anyway." Lucius said in a bitter tone, still embarrassed that he got blasted of his feet by a house elf.

"Hmm." Severus stopped in front of the middle shelf near to the spiral staircase, his eyes watching the framed picture that sat between two jars of rose petals. Lily was dancing with a baby Potter around a small baby clad room, both of them smiling. His heart started to ache with the loss of his best friend and also the loss of his son that was meant to be the same age as her son.

He shook his head as he headed up the stairs, ignoring the sound of his name being called as he shut the door.

It seemed like the day had went by like a hurricane in the eyes of Severus as he trudged his way upto the second floor, his migraine worse for ware. It took a lot for Lucius to irritate him, but he was glad that he was going to sort his relationship with his son. Meaning his lover was finally out of the house and not under his foot.

He stopped next to the bedroom he was assigned to every time he was here. His eyes searching the darkened hallway, his hearing picking up the faint sound of music. Severus moved slowly and lightly away from his room, going past two closed doors until the music got louder from the end room.

He moved snake like, noticing the door was slightly open. He was a Slytherin after all so he slowly opened the door with his hand.

Severus froze at the sight.

The smell of blood hit his nose instantly, his eyes following the tiny spots of blood on the floor that lead to a chair. Potter was straddling the chair in front of a very old desk, his back on show with many red fading marks, one long one slowly bleeding which went from the right shoulder to the boys belt.

Severus gulped, never expecting this situation.

He moved forward slowly, the wooden floor under his right foot creaking loudly as he moved. He turned into a statue, freezing instantly at the sound he had made. The music stopping instantly.

Harry turned his head slowly, his eyes finding Snape standing in his door way. He wetted his dry lips, his arms tightening around the back of the chair. He closed his eyes as the stinging on his back increased again, gritting his teeth.

"Like what you see Snape?" Harry gritted out in slight pain, turning his head back and resting his chin on the chair and closing his eyes. Snape ignored the comment and thought of what to do. He walked to Potter, examining his back closely.

"How long Potter?" Severus asked as he quickly knelt in front of Harry, looking at the wounds in disgust. His finger traced the faded lines of old scars, his hand snapping back when the boy flinched at his touch.

"Like you truly care." Harry muttered darkly, opening his eyes to look out of the window.

Severus felt sick to the stomach. He should have seen the signs! Those blasted occlumency lessons hinted this and he pushed it to the side, ignoring it. He watched as Potter got from the chair and snatched the red shirt he was wearing earlier from today from the bed in the room.

"Do you think you can just go wandering around my house now Snape that your bored with baby sitting Harry Potter? Did I ask you to come in my room?" Harry stated in a angry tone. He needed to get Dobby to re-apply the special cream Madame Pomfrey had given him to heal the bleeding wound which he knocked by accident A couple of minutes ago.

"Potter you are hurt you silly child, I can heal your wound."

"I. Am. Not. A. Child! I've been hurting nearly all my life Snape. This has been happening since I can bloody remember. I needed some sort of painkiller years ago. Just get out."

"I can help..." Severus said in a low tone, knowing what it was like to be abused by your own family.

"GET OUT!" Harry shouted, his magic blasting the potions master out of his room and into his arse in the door way, the digit slamming shut. Severus groaned as he picked himself up from the wooden floor, straightening himself out. The music returned even louder making Severus grit his teeth. He was going to have to tell Lucius about this.

So what do you guys think? Better chapter, is it telling you more? Love to hear and read you reviews. Open to suggestions, criticism and the good stuff.

Severus has emotional scars, deeper than Lucius's. He's watched for the last fifth-teen years the love of his life be a father to someone else's child. He didn't get to say sorry to his childhood best friend...which so thing about that will be revealed.

From

Puzzle Me This

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