A Second Chance
By S.L
Chapter Nine: All About Snape
Hermione had met Harry in the Great Hall as promised and shown him the much familiar route down to the Potions classroom in the dungeon. Perhaps Harry would have appreciated it more if he had been able to stop thinking about Ginny, but for some reason he was having a hard time accepting her into the map of this world he was creating in his mind. She just didn't seem to fit.
As it was, Harry and Hermione just managed to make it into the classroom before the late bell rang and took a seat near the front of the classroom just as Snape swirled into the room in a cloud of black and slammed the door shut.
Harry wanted to have the chance to evaluate the changes in this Snape, but his gaze drifted over to where surprisingly enough, Ginny was sharing a desk with Malfoy across the room.
"Some of the ninth years are allowed to take their N.E.W.T level classes a year early with one of their free spaces, if they don't want to take the full tenth-year course load," Hermione whispered into his ear as she noticed Harry turn his gaze to the rest of the room and take in some of the out of place faces. Ginny wasn't the only ninth year there, as well there were several tenth years missing from the crowd. Neville and Ron were both missing, and Colin Creevy was present with the other Gryffindor's.
"Why didn't you take it last year?" Harry whispered back. If there was a class you could take early, it would be unusual for Hermione not to jump at the chance.
"I took Transfiguration and Ancient Runes instead," she whispered, her voice barely auditable. "I wanted to save Potions for when I could devote my entire attention."
Snape strolled out of his office with his arms full of vials and slammed them down on his desk. "Miss Granger, and the new Mr. Potter, would you care to share with us all what you find so interesting?" Snape sneered at them both.
Harry felt a smile tug at his lips. It was good to see that Snape hadn't changed.
"Well, sir," Hermione squeaked. "Harry's new, and he has a few questions about things and…"
"And?" Snape snapped. "Our Head Girl has been assigned to baby-sit him has she?" His gaze shifted to Harry and Snape gave an evil sort of smile that made Harry want to cringe. "Do you need a babysitter, Mr. Potter?" There was a snicker from the Slytherin side of the room, but Harry stared back at the Potions Master levelly. These people didn't know how awful Snape could get, Harry did. His usual classroom rant wouldn't be enough to scare him this time around.
"Well, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked again, and motioned to the rest of the classroom. "Do you think just because the Headmaster has made the extraordinary exception of allowing you into this school so late in the term, and put the Head Girl at your service that you can keep up? Do you think for one moment that you deserve to be here on your own merits? In my N.E.W.T. level course?" He leaned down on Harry's desk and placed his face right in front of Harry's own. "No proper schooling, no proper reports, no proper grades…" His voice trailed on. "No," he finished and pushed away from the desk and stood to address the entire class. "You're just lucky to be here aren't you Mr. Potter," then he spun around and got in Harry's face again.
"But if you think for even one second that I wanted to let you into my class, you're dead wrong. If you think that I'm going to make this easy for you, you're dead wrong again, and if you think I'm going to baby you along like the rest of the staff… guess what- you'd be wrong again. That's three wrongs isn't it Mr. Potter." He stretched out Harry's name with a hiss. "I call that an failure in this class, Mr. Potter; poor… dreadful… troll." He ended his rant, pushed himself away from the desk and strode to the head of the classroom again.
"I won't waste the class' time any long with our newest student," Snape snapped. "Today we shall be working Befuddlement Draughts. If you turn to page 332, you will find a list of the usual potions and draughts that fall under this category. You may chose from any of those listed there. You have one hour and a half to have a completed potion on my desk. Begin."
Shooting one last hate filled look at Harry, Snape turned and took a seat behind his desk and started grading papers.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione hissed while everyone began busying themselves with the new potion.
Harry shrugged. "He doesn't seem like the type of man who appreciates back talk," Harry supplied, which was true.
Actually though, he wanted some more time to observe Snape before he decided on how to react to him. If he was going to do what he had been thinking about, then he was going to need the Potion Master's help, and didn't want to give him a reason to hate any more than the obvious ones, like being a Potter and a Gryffindor. First thing first was that Harry had to figure out what side Snape was on. Voldemort's or Dumbeldore's? He knew Snape's background and knew that it would have been a very delicate balance on what side Snape would have turned out on, and he didn't want to involved any guess work with this one. He would need to know for sure before he continued with his plans.
"You're right about that, how about the Confusing Concoction?" Hermione asked as she flicked through the pages of their potions book. "We'll need to get some sneezewort from the ingredient's cabinet.
Harry looked over to the corner where the ingredient's cabinet was located and saw Ginny standing in the throng of students gathered around it, waiting for their turn to get supplies. "I'll get it," Harry offered and jumped out of his chair before Hermione had the chance to say anything.
Ginny seemed to be watching as he approached, with an amused smile playing on her lips. "So," she drooled in a hushed voice as he approached. "Hermione Granger is what does it for you?"
"I beg your pardon?" Harry asked, a little taken aback. This Ginny was unusually forward.
"I'm sure that you do," she whispered, still smiling, and turned back to the face the ingredients cabinet.
Though Harry had hoped for a little more interaction with Ginny in the potions class, he found himself disappointed. After the short exchange at the ingredients cabinet, Ginny had retreated back to Malfoy to work on their potion and Harry returned to Hermione so they could finish up theirs.
It had been three years since Harry had been in school, and unfortunately his potions skills had not improved. However, he had managed to pick up a few tricks of the trade from Snape over that time, when they had grown closer and been forced to work with one another. Snape had made it very clear that while he thought Harry hopeless at Potions, he did expect him to at least be able to manage some more useful draughts. Of course if Harry had the Half-Blood Prince's copy of the text he was spectacular at potions. Unfortunately Harry only had the copy that applied to sixth-year, and N.E.W.T. level Potions was beyond anything that would be in it.
So, rather than embarrass himself Harry mostly let Hermione work on the potion, though he did supply help and listened as Hermione talked him through the entire process.
Finally, when Harry couldn't resist it any longer he finally decided to ask Hermione something he had been thinking about all morning.
"That uh- that girl over there," Harry said, jerking his head in Ginny's direction. "She looks a lot like Ron, are they related?"
Hermione spared Ginny a sour look before her eyes twitched back to Harry. "Yeah, there's a whole flock of Weasleys. You should have seen it when all 7 were here at once. Ron and Ginny are the youngest though, and Ginny is the only Slytherin of the whole lot of them, the rest are pure Gryffindor."
"That's strange," Harry said, sparing a moment to think about what Hogwarts must have been like with all 7 Weasleys. It was both a frightening and exciting thought. "How come she ended up with the Slytherins?"
"Well," Hermione said as if trying to decide if she wanted to go on. "I was never friends with any of the other Weasley's, but Ginny's situation is common knowledge. Apparently around the time her oldest brother Bill started at Hogwarts she became close to one of her uncles who was reputed for having a lot of involvement with Dark Magic," she said in a hushed tone, looking around to make sure no one could hear her. "By the time Ron started at Hogwarts she ran away to live with her uncle and became very closely associated with many Dark Wizards. No one in her family speaks with her anymore, especially after she became a Slytherin. When her brothers were here, they barely even looked at her."
"Wow," Harry said, trying to digest all of this. Ginny associated with Dark Magic? Did he really want to get to know her after all? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Of course he did, she was still Ginny, wasn't she? Just because she was in Slytherin didn't mean she wasn't still a basically good person. Besides he himself had been associated with Dark Magic in different times of his life, he could hardly blame someone else for making mistakes.
"Yeah, I know," Hermione said, now bottling a sample of their potion in a tall vial. "She's horrible, I can't stand her," she finished up, shooting Ginny a hateful glare. "ever since she started dating Malfoy she's become more unbearable than ever."
At this Harry really did choke, and had to slow his breathing to regain control again. When he had finally regained use of his voice again and Hermione had satisfied to herself that he was alright he voiced the question. "I'm sorry, who did you say she was dating?"
Hermione looked apologetic. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you're new. Draco Malfoy, he's in our year, that blond boy that she's sitting with over there. Trust me, he's as bad as they come," she shivered as if remembering something. "I'd stay away from him if I were you Harry."
But by then Harry wasn't listening, his gaze had drifted back to where Ginny and Malfoy were sharing a lab bench. She was lazily stroking the hair back from his face as she read a passage from the text, while he stirred their cauldron.
It was almost the worst news that finding out that Voldemort was still alive in this world. Ginny with Malfoy, Merlin how could it get any worse than this?
XXX
Lunch was entirely uneventful, Harry sat with Ron and his friends as they talked about the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, without really listening.
Then after lunch they all packed up their things and headed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was something Harry had been particularly looking forward to, he wanted to see how James compared as a teacher. Though after everything he had learned so far that day, he knew he wouldn't be able to fully appreciate it.
"Come on, hurry up guys," James called to the group of tenth-year boys as they approached. He was standing outside hid classroom in long dark-blue robes, greeting his students as they arrived. "Hey Harry," he commented, and gave Harry a small smile. Harry smiled back, glad that James was warming up to him, even if it was only a little bit at a time. Right now he would take what he could get.
Harry entered the classroom with the group of Gryffindor boys, and took a seat near the window next to Ron this time, Hermione was already sitting with another girl Harry didn't know. It seemed that this class was exclusively Gryffindors though, so Harry thought that maybe she was a ninth-year.
"Today," James said striding to the head of the classroom and leaning back on his desk so he could have a good view of his students. "I thought we would veer off our curriculum for a bit and learn about the Patronus Charm."
Harry swallowed heavily, and tried to remain very still. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the reactions of his fellow students, without trying to obviously look like he was doing so. No one seemed to have any reaction to the news at all, except for Hermione who was flicking through a book and looking concerned. She was probably afraid of being unprepared for the class.
Since James' eyes then flickered over to meet Harry's, he thought that there was perhaps a definite hidden agenda to today's class. Quickly Harry skimmed through every talk he had had so far with James, Lily, Sirius, Dumbledore, Remus or his siblings to see if he might have mentioned anything about his Patronus or anything that could be linked to it. He couldn't remember saying anything that would have gotten back to James, so what was all this about? What had he said? He knew this was about him, he was sure of it, James was testing him somehow.
Deciding on a course of action, Harry straightened in his chair and forced himself to be ready to expect anything out of this class. If this was what it was going to take to earn James' trust and respect, then he was going to do it. No matter what that meant.
"Can anyone tell me what a Patronus is?" James asked the class.
Hermione's hand shot in to the air, Harry watched it with a small twinge of a smile. Strangely enough, it was nice to see that again.
"Yes, Hermione," James said, pointing to her and jumping up so he was sitting on top of his desk now.
"The Patronus Charm is used to conjure up the spirit of a Patronus which is a sort patron to the witch or wizard who conjurer's it. The spell can be helpful in many ways, it can be directed by the castor to do certain tasks, depending it's shape, and it can deliver messages. It must be remembered that the Patronus has no actual mass, it is perhaps most like a ghost. Also it is most commonly used against Dementors, as it is the only thing that can successfully fight them."
James nodded, impressed. "Very good Hermione, five points to Gryffindor for that. It was a very through definition." James turned his attention back to the rest of his students and let his gaze roam around the room. "Has anyone here ever successfully produced a Patronus?"
Once again Harry felt James' eyes fall on him, and he was faced with a choice. For some reason James wanted for him to admit that he could produce a Patronus, and perhaps do so, but what would that prove? Why on earth would James want to see Harry's Patronus if he didn't know what it was. So did he raise his hand and admit it? Or did he wait it out and see if James outright called him out on his ability? Which was worse?
Once again Hermione's arm short into the air, thought this time with a slight air of uncertainty. Both James and Harry turned their surprised attention on her, neither one of them predicted this.
James looked confused, obviously he had not expected anyone to know the spell. It wasn't one that was usually taught in school as so few wizards and witches usually needed it. The few who ever bothered to learn it were generally those who trained to be an Auror, or who worked on the island of Azkaban and therefore needed to know how to control the Dementors.
The timing however, only surprised Harry, not that Hermione knew how to conjure a Patronus. After all in another world, at another time, he had taught her how.
Next to him, Ron snorted. "Figures," he whispered to Harry as they watched James jump off his desk and approach Hermione.
"Really Hermione?" James said, intrigued. "Do you think you can?"
"Well," Hermione hesitated. "I've tried a few times, though I can't make it last for very long, and I'm not sure it's very strong."
James gave her a long look and then he slowly nodded. "Very well, if you can produce a Patronus for us, I will give Gryffindor twenty points for your effort." The class muttered at this, twenty points was a lot to gain for one spell. Hermione glanced around her nervously, now there were so many interested eyes on her, but strode to the front of the class.
Under the table Harry was crossing his fingers that she would succeed. Maybe if James had someone else produce a Patronus he would lose his excuse to call on Harry, as he knew he wanted to do.
Unfortunately this was not to be so, as Hermione pulled out her wand, she composed herself and muttered the spell in a very soft tone. Even from here Harry could tell that Hermione hadn't said it clearly enough, that she was not feeling confident enough, and that it was unlikely she was able to pull a good enough feeling memory to the front of her mind. Though she did manage to produce a long silver sort of mist that briefly seemed to take a lumpy form on the floor before dissipating completely.
James strode forward again and put a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder and pushed her back in the direction of her chair. "Very nice attempt Hermione, very good indeed. I'll give you ten points for it, it's more than most could produce at your age." His eyes shifted back to Harry.
Biting down on the inside of his cheek Harry met the gaze, pleading with James not to call him on him. Something must have been transmitted through the look and James' eyes suddenly slid past Harry.
After that, class was nothing too spectacular. James continued lecturing about the Patronus Charm, and called on several students, none of which were Harry, to answer questions. Then he assigned everyone to at least try the charm out sometime in their free time, though they would not be expected anyone to demonstrate it in class, as he was sure that very few would even manage the wisps of smoke that Hermione had achieved.
The rest of the afternoon was free for the tenth-years, so as Harry was leaving with the rest of his fellow students, he was surprised that James pulled him out of the crowd and asked him to hold back.
When the rest of the students had left James shut the door behind them solidly and leaned his back against it. "So," he said simply, as if expecting Harry to continue.
Harry wanted to, but didn't respond with "so, what?" Instead he sighed and decided to get this over with. "What exactly is it that you want me to admit here?" He asked.
"I want to see you conjure a Patronus," James said simply and nodded his head to the open teaching space at the front of the classroom.
Drudging up a happy memory of one of his last summer afternoon's with Ginny, Harry pointed his wand at the far wall and said in a clear, level, almost lazy tone; "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag erupted from his wand immediately, and since there was no obvious threat available it turned its head and looked back at Harry and James and stomped it's hooves.
Harry turned back and gave James a glare. "Is this what you wanted to see then?" He asked.
Instead of answering James strode forward, pass Harry and to the stag. He reached his hand out for the silvery spirit to sniff, then his hand leaned forward a little more and the stag evaporated. James was silent with his back turned to Harry for a few moments, then he pivoted on his heels.
"I just had to be sure," James said. "That, and I wanted to know if you would admit it."
"Admit what?" Harry asked, really confused now.
"Why is that stag your patron?"
Harry blinked. "I thought that much was obvious, it's your animungus form," he finished. "I didn't know it at the time, Remus had to point it out to me later."
"So," James said slowly. "You didn't even know that was my form when you first managed a Patronus?"
"Nope," Harry said, which was true. He hadn't even known about the true identities of the Marauders at all, at that point.
"Okay," James said, and took a step forward, he seemed to be thinking about something very quickly. "Aren't you curious as to why I wanted to know about your Patronus?"
Harry's eyes widened as if this was an obvious question. "Yes, I'm a bit confused about that actually, it's not terribly unexpected that my form should have turned out to be that of my dead father's animungus form is it?" And here he had thought that they had been starting to get along.
This occurred to James as well, who winced at Harry's tone. "No, that wasn't what I was testing for, though I do admit I was very curious. You conjured a Patronus when you were still knocked out from coming to this world," he said as if admitting something very secret. "We all saw it, Dumbledore, Lily, Sirius and I. One second you were dead asleep and then you just sat up and boom."
Harry's face screwed up in real confusion. He didn't remember that bit at all, though it certainly explained some of the caution that James had used with him and some of the insight that Dumbledore seemed to have on Harry. Producing powerful and full Patronus while dead unconscious and supposedly magically drained would be a rare feat indeed. Well, he had been drained, but he hadn't told anyone that he had not been entirely whipped out. His magic levels were high enough to have reserves others wouldn't be able to know about, and he was able to regain magic very quickly. Though in all honesty the process was still slow, it had been almost three weeks and he still had a bit of room for magic to fill.
"I did?" He voiced.
James just nodded. "Yes, you did. I've been thinking about it ever since."
Something else popped into Harry's mind. "As long as we're sharing then," Harry said, thinking quickly. "I've got a question for you too."
"Yes?" James asked.
"Is Severus Snape a Death Eater or a member of the Order of the Phoenix?"
Rather than answer him immediately James' mouth just opened a little and his head tilted back in surprise, obviously it wasn't the question he was expecting. "That is usually privileged information."
"Oh come on," Harry argued seriously. "Let's just pretend that I'm more astute than the ordinary Hogwarts student."
"You asked the Headmaster about Snape, too, didn't you?" James said in response. "He told Lily and I so the day we first came to the castle to speak with you."
"Yes, I did and I'd really like to know what side he stands on here," was Harry's answer.
"He's not with the Order," James admitted. "Though that is all I know for certain," he glanced down quickly as if deciding on whether or not to continue. "It is my belief that Dumbledore has hired him on as Potions Master all these years in order to keep an eye on him, though he has never confirmed my suspicions. Snape is not a pleasant man, but he is highly intelligent and would be a great source of talent to whoever would be able to have access to it."
Harry nodded in understanding. "So Dumbledore wants him where he can see him, hmm?" He looked James up and down. "You think he is a Death Eater though don't you?" He asked.
Rather than answer, James just nodded. "May I ask why you are so interested in him?"
Deciding to go out on a limb and answer the question, Harry nodded. "I need to know where he stands in this war, because I may need to ask for his help."