AN: If I had a dollar for every person who has supported this story then I'd be much richer than I am now! Which isn't saying much considering I'm pretty much broke, but anyway thanks so much! Your reviews, follows, and favorites mean a lot to me:). And I take every review into account while I write, so look forward to having some of your questions answered in the near future.
Chapter 12- A Lesson of Sorts
At 8:00 precisely the next morning Severus apparated directly into a room in John Tucker's house and realized immediately why Albus had landed them so far away. They appeared with sirens blaring and all the doors slamming around them. They were trapped.
"What the-" Severus started when he heard a hissing sound. He sniffed the air and the last thing he thought before he passed out was that he did not have time for this.
Severus groggily awoke to the sounds of someone singing a popular wizarding song at the top of their lungs. He opened his eyes, finding himself in an armchair in Tuck's kitchen. His memories came rushing back to him.
"Jonathan Tucker," he growled, "Explain why you drugged us with sleeping gas when we arrived here for our planned lesson."
Tuck appeared from the next room, today wearing a yellow robe with purple poke-a-dots that gave Snape a headache. "Ah, sorry about that." He smiled sheepishly. "You can never be too careful."
He looked over at Harry who was slumped over in an armchair next to Severus. "He should be waking up any moment now."
Harry's eyes suddenly snapped open and he quickly threw his magic everywhere until he got his bearings. Tuck blocked each burst without blinking and said cheerfully to Harry, "Good morning, kiddo. Sorry about putting you to sleep when you got here. Well at least you'll be nice and refreshed for your lesson."
"You can leave now," he said to Snape without missing a beat.
Severus raised his eyebrows, "Excuse me?"
"There's no need for you to be here. Go do… Whatever you aurors do." Tuck waved his hand in the air as if that explained exactly what aurors do.
Severus just stared at him. If he really thought he was going to trust him with Harry he was clearly out of his mind. "We'll be fine," Tuck said, not reassuring Severus at all. "If you stay you'll just be in the way."
Severus glowered at Tucker but he continued cheerfully. "Come back in three hours. I promise there won't be a repeat of this morning's rather unfortunate event."
Severus stood up, uncertain, frowning deeply. Harry gave him a reassuring smile, "He has good magic," he told Snape as if that explained everything.
Severus sighed. "I will be here at 11:00 sharp." He disappeared with a purposely dramatic flip of his cloak.
After Severus disappeared Tucker just stared at Harry for a moment before he noticed he was making Harry uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, kiddo," he said mildly, "it's just so weird to see you. You're famous you know that right?"
Harry gave him a look that told Tucker he did not at all know that he was famous. "It's cause of the, you know." Tuck made a zigzag motion across his forehead. "Anyway, kiddo I'll do my best not to gape or ask for any autographs. Now let's start with your lesson."
Harry followed him through a few more rooms until they walked into one that Harry noticed the floor felt different. Almost squishy. He looked down to find the floor covered entirely in soft sand. Harry couldn't help but giggle. "Why do you have sand for a floor?"
Tucker grinned, "Why don't you, kiddo? Now here is where your first task is gonna be. I want you to make a sand castle with your mind." He tapped his head with his index finger. "While you do that I'm going to go make some tea."
With that he left Harry alone, staring at the sand rather doubtfully. Then again, Harry had done plenty of things already with magic that he hadn't thought possible so he set to work.
Harry concentrated as hard as he could, picturing a sand castle in his mind and then pushing his magic out into the room. The only thing he accomplished was blowing the sand around after letting out a particularly strong burst of magic.
Harry tried everything, even muttering "sandcastleo formo," under his breath but nothing worked. He didn't even notice when Tucker joined him, leaning against the doorframe with two glasses of steaming green tea deluded in sugar. His eyes watched Harry carefully, his mind noting every action. Harry realized he was there when he let out a burst of frustrated energy and Tucker silently calmed it before it could blow the sand around anymore.
Harry looked back at him, startled, and he walked calmly across the room handing Harry one of the mugs. "Sit with me," Tuck said softly and slid his back against the opposite wall, his legs sprawling out before him in the sand. Harry slid down next to him, cradling his cup of tea.
He sipped it quietly as Tucker talked. "When I was a boy my father used to make me spend time in this very room. Just like you, I had more magic than I could handle and I was willing to do anything to just be normal like my brothers. Every day, I would come in here for hours on end, and let my power surge through until I was so exhausted that I couldn't hurt anyone anymore."
"You see Harry; the walls of this room used to be made entirely of windows so that my parents could look in and make sure I wasn't injuring myself. The windows were gone within the first week and my father had to put up these walls because it was the only thing that could hold me in."
Tucker ran a hand over the thick oak wood, with a distant look on his face. "I ground up those glass shards so much that they turned into sand." Tuck picked up a handful of the fine sand and let it slip through his fingers.
"And for a while I just kept throwing the sand around like you did, letting my power destroy and rage and grow dark. But then one day, I decided why not try to create instead of destroy? Why not make something of all the time I spent in here, something beautiful? So I decided to make a sand castle. Do you wanna know how long it took me to build even the most basic of castles?"
Harry nodded, placing down his now empty tea cup. "Three years." Tucker grinned at the memory, "Man was I excited when I finally did it. I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. Now I can do it like this."
Tucker snapped his fingers and in mere seconds Harry felt the cool magic rush over him and suddenly they were sitting in front of a ginormous sand castle. It was full of intricate details, windows lining each of the finely carved towers, flags adjourning the top, a full draw bridge and moat surrounding it. Tucker smiled at the sand castle and then pulled his magic back in, allowing the sand to collapse to the ground leaving only a small lump.
He straightened up, "I think you'll find in life that destroying is always easier than creating, that dark is always easier than light, but just because it is easy doesn't mean it is right, remember that kiddo." Tucker picked up both of the mugs and then shot them away without a wand. "Keep practicing, I know you'll get there."
Tucker disappeared into another room and Harry turned thoughtfully back to the sand. At least he knew it was possible now. When Severus found him an hour later he still hadn't succeeded in doing much more than staring at the sand and willing a castle to form but he was in high spirits nevertheless.
"How were your lessons?" Severus asked Harry once they had returned home and had settled into a healthy lunch (Harry still had to make up for years of malnutrition and Snape had every intention of teaching the boy healthy habits before Albus ruined him with his lemon drops).
"Good!" Harry said, beaming in a way that almost looked painful to Severus. Severus thought that Tucker and Albus were having a bad influence on the boy. "I got to make sand castles!"
"Sand castles?" Severus frowned.
"Yeah! Although I wasn't actually able to. But Mr. Tuck said it took him three years to make one so I'm not worried."
Severus forced a smile on his face, "That sounds… Interesting." What he really wanted to ask is what the heck had taken John Tucker three years to build a bloody sandcastle but he decided it was probably best if he didn't ask questions. As long as Tucker taught Potter how to reign in his power, Severus would let him build as many sand castles as he liked.
"Mr. Snape?"
"Yes Harry?" Severus frowned at how tentative the question had sounded.
"Who gave me my scar? And why am I famous for it? It's just that the Dursleys said that my parents had died in a car crash…"
Sometimes Severus forgot how little the boy knew. He sighed, "The Dark Lord gave you that scar." Harry shivered at the name; apparently it had triggered a few memories from Snape that were less than pleasant. "He killed your parents and then turned on you. That scar is the mark of the killing curse, a spell no wizard or witch had ever survived, until you. The spell rebounded and the Dark Lord disappeared that day. That's why you're famous; you destroyed the darkest, most powerful wizard our world has ever known."
"But he's not gone."
"No." Severus watched the boy carefully as he took a bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.
After a moment Harry stated, "Well then that's a rather silly thing to be famous for."
Severus let out a snort. How different could Potter have possibly been from the boy he had expected him to be- rich and spoiled just like his father? "It gave our world ten years of peace. That, to many people, was invaluable."
Harry gave a small smile, but Severus didn't even need Legilemens to know what he was thinking. To Harry, it had not been 11 years of peace. He had sacrificed more than just his parent's on that day- he had given his entire childhood and any chance at a normal life.
At the end of the meal, when Harry took his potions, Severus made sure he gave him an extra big piece of chocolate.
