Pale in the Shadows
Part II Unfortunate Spell – Chapter 12 A Rocky Slope
Note: Sorry it took me so long to post again. I will just say I was in a bad situation where writing was the last thing I could do and only recently got out of it. I apologize for the potential shortness of this chapter as well, but I hope to get back to writing this and posting every other day.
He knew he should probably go back to the professor's rooms, but the summer air was too refreshing as he rested in the cooling breeze, soaking up the sun. Hogwarts itself was nice, but sometimes stifling and confusing. The professor had recently allowed him leave to go to the library or even outside, but there were trick staircases with steps that would vanish or lead him a completely different direction on a Tuesday than on a Wednesday.
When he had asked the professor about it, the man had said, 'It's because of all the loose magick. Thousands of students have attended this school and all the magick they throw off and radiate must go somewhere. It's changed the school. We're also in the midst of a magickal forest warped and manipulated with old wild magick.'
'The forest? Is it safe then?' Harry found himself asking. Some part of him had ached to go into the woods to explore—the magick in the air calling to him, tugging and pulling him in.
The professor had paused for a minute in his meal, chewing his food slowly. 'It's wild, Harry. Animals anywhere are dangerous unless they're tame. Imagine if they had magick, poisons man has never seen, teeth and claws, and whatever else the imagination can create. Is it safe? The question is do you dare find out how 'safe' the forest is.'
This brought Harry to staring at the forest he could see on the opposite end of the lake. If he relaxed his vision, he could see a wispy white haze much like a bubble curling up and back towards the castle. He had come to learn it was a barrier of magick surrounding the castle, keeping the forest back and helping to protect the students.
A throat clearing was all Harry got for warning. The boy jerked up to his feet, his magick snapping to his body in defense as he stared up at an elderly man with a white beard that spilled out to mid-navel. Perched on the man's thin nose were a pair of half-moon glasses. He wore a set of spangled maroon robes and a matching pointed hat.
'Sorry to have startled you, dear boy. I haven't had the opportunity to make your acquaintance with all that went on concerning your circumstances. I'm Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.' The man held out a hand in greeting, but Harry just looked at it.
He scares me, he realized suddenly. Despite the kindness that radiated off the man, there was a pressure beyond that of Harry's magick. It's his magick. All I can feel is the force of it against my own, grating. I feel like I'm about to explode. This made the boy feel a trickle of icy anger towards the old man.
'Yes sir. I have to be going,' he said impolitely, giving the man a nod. 'Professor Snape is expecting me.'
The old man chuckled, and waved his wand, which he had pulled from a pocket at his side, at the ground. Harry watched in shock as grass and earth billowed up becoming two chairs. He motioned at the one closest to Harry and the boy realized he had no choice but to sit and stay. Harry did his best to focus the growing maelstrom of pressure into the well he felt was his heart. It physically hurt to do so, but he dumped the feelings in with his rage.
'I really do need to be having a chat with you, young Potter. Sit down, then.' Dumbledore took a seat and snapped his fingers, a creature with purplish skin suddenly appeared with the sound of rushing water. The being's eyes were huge with large lashes. A beak of a nose perched over plush lips. The creature glanced at Harry and nodded before looking back to the old wizard.
'Yes Headmaster?'
Dumbledore sipped at the tea the house elf had returned with, staring at Harry. He could feel the boy's magick like a cat's claws against a screen. The boy's distrust of adults was especially alarming, the man realized. To even see me as a threat, but then again he's probably never met someone as magically powerful as I am. With that the man put up more barriers against his magick and noticed the boy's body relax a bit more.
'I would first like to apologize for and about Hagrid. He should not have been drinking while having you under his charge. However, I understand that you met a witch and her son—the Malfoys?'
Harry merely nodded, his lips growing tight.
'Yes, it's good of them to contact the governors and have you sent here. The abuse you must have been enduring with your and uncle—it must have been horrible. I'm sorry about that, too. Had I knowledge of your circumstances, I would have remedied them immediately.'
The boy suddenly became still and he met Dumbledore's eyes, but his mind was impossible to enter, a strong barricade of magick preventing him.
What is it? Dumbledore wondered. I intended to coax him. Shouldn't he be welcoming to a grandfatherly figure? Someone who will hold his hand after all these years. Just like that, the man realized the ignorance of this idea. Already the boy had spent a majority of the summer corresponding with the Malfoy boy and had made ties with Severus—outstretched hands he had chosen to take.
'I assume you are enjoying spending time with Severus Snape?'
'Yes, sir.'
'And what is Professor Snape teaching you?'
The boy turned his eyes to lake and said quietly, 'He leaves me alone for the most part. I eat dinner with him and that is all.'
'I see. It's good he agreed to watch you, then.' Perhaps the best way to gain his trust is to shake his trust in the people he's forming relationships with. He needs to understand that Severus has his role to play, too, and this is not it.
Harry tried his best to not make eye contact with the man again. The first time he had done it defiantly, feeling the man's mind and magick trying to find entry past his own magick, which seemed to have a mind of its own, refusing the wizard entry. Already the professor had warned him about occlumency and legilimency . His words echoed in Harry's mind as the boy spoke with the headmaster.
'Harry, whatever you do, do not make eye contact with Dumbledore. Already you have done it with me, and I was able to glimpse at your immediate memories and thoughts before your magick pushed me out, but Dumbledore is another wizard capable mind magick. Right now your mind and magick are delicate and any probing would be disastrous.'
'I'm grateful to Professor Snape for watching over me until school starts,' the boy confessed.
'Yes, he really didn't have to. I could have watched you just as easily despite my obligations; however, you must understand that Severus has a debt to your father.' Dumbledore gave him an apologetic smile, sipping his tea. 'With your father no longer being among us, the debt can no longer be returned to him, so I believe Severus is returning this debt by watching over you. I realize you might not understand, but he owed your father a life debt—old magick. A life debt is…'
'My father saved Professor Snape's life,' Harry said bluntly, cutting off the man.
Dumbledore wore a look of surprise, which quickly faded. 'Y-yes. Really, I'm grateful to him for helping you out; however, I think there is more that you should know about the condition of your father's and Severus's relationship. When they were boys, James and Severus were enemies if you will. Often times they were seen in the office for disciplinary action.'
'One bullied the other and the other retaliated.' The boy vaguely knew that something had happened from something Draco had written him over the summer. 'I know that Professor Snape has no love for me, and I'm simply glad to be away from the Dursleys. I would, after all, hate to kill my only family.' With that the boy rose, bowing. 'And, sir? I hate to be rude, but I really must be getting back.'
Dumbledore sighed as he watched the boy hurry for the castle. He really needed to find a way to get him back on the path he was supposed to be on. It doesn't help that I scared him, though. He hadn't realized how skittish the boy was, and it was only natural to have a deep mistrust of adults in general. That's the way it was supposed to have been. To come to Hogwarts as the hero he was meant to be would require the ability to sacrifice without hesitation—an inability for close ties or trust.
Harry was going to be something a little trickier than he imagined. The only hope that Dumbledore really had was to ensure the house that the boy would be placed into. Lily and James were in Gryffindor, and the chances that Harry, too, be in the same house are high. So long as I can get him away from Severus and the Malfoys. Then again, he realized, I cannot be certain I didn't miscalculate his character either.
Playing with the ends of his beard, the man closed his eyes in exhaustion. Albus, you've certainly gotten complacent these past eleven years. How could you have let this part spin out of control?
Severus knew the second that Harry had come back into the suite when his wards tripped. The boy's magick, though, was what brought his head up from the book he was reading. Something has happened. When the boy came into the room, he reminded the professor of a wild beast trying to escape captivity. Harry turned to him, a panicked look in his eye, before closing the door to the living area quietly behind him.
'Where were you today?'
'Out by the lake,' the boy said quietly. 'Headmaster Dumbledore introduced himself to me.'
Raising an eyebrow, the older man placed a bookmark in the tome, setting it down. 'Indeed.'
'Sir, Draco wrote to me about the life debt that you owed my father. I don't mind if it's true, but is that the reason that you—you are kind to me?'
If Harry had looked at him with anything but empty curiosity, Severus would have sneered at the child. And still I look for Potter where I should be looking for a child who never knew his father. I need to tread carefully or I'll set the boy back weeks.
'Yes, Harry. I hated—and I still hate—your parents for reasons that are longwinded, drawn out, and, for lack of a better word, childish,' he said, sickened by his own admission. 'If it is one thing I have learned over this summer with you, though, it's that the child is most certainly not the parent. I am most certainly not watching you because of a life debt. Such a debt was never passed on to you, nor should it have ever been passed on to you. That debt was for a man no longer part of this world.'
The boy stared at him for a moment and smiled. Severus hoped to never see a smile like that ever again.
'I see.'
'Certainly that can put your mind at ease?'
Harry had already head for his room, the door closing behind him, though. His words almost muffled the click of it shutting. 'In a way yes. In a way no.'
Damned irritating. Too blasted Slytherin for his own good.
Severus watched the door a few more moments before closing his eyes tight with anxiety. The Potter boy had been pushed and fortunately not too much; however, he couldn't deny that Dumbledore was purposely meddling. What plots are you aiming for, old friend? What have you done and what are you planning on doing? I never thought the day would come I would be forced to doubt the man that saved me from damnation.
