Disclaimer: All recognized characters and elements goes to J.K Rowling
Yes! Another chapter up. This won't be lasting long since break is almost over though.
Italics is Parseltongue, a spell, flashback/memory, and emphasis on word. THis depends on the context in which the word/phrase/paragraph is used. Normal during a flashback/memory is equivalent to the italics of normal writing.
Severus Snape swept out of the Headmaster's office with barely contained disgust. Exactly how desperate is that old coot? He thought as he headed in the direction of his quarters in the dungeons. The man suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when he felt the slight burn of the strip dragonhide tied around his right wrist.
He felt a sharp pang of worry shoot through him as the recognized the heat that's appearing more and more frequently ever since the brat had accepted his lordship over the summer.
Cursing under his breath, the man lengthened his strides and arrived in a more sparse part of the dungeons within a few minutes. Not bothering to check for anyone that's passing by, Severus strode up to the painting of a field of bright cheery sunflowers. He chose this painting because no one would suspect that such a painting is the entrance to the potion master's quarters.
"Aconite." He said and continued forwards when the painting opened and allowed him to enter.
The man took out his wand and waved it in a few practiced motions and watched as a few specific potion vials flew from the many shelves and settled onto the table next to him. Shrinking the vials, Severus carefully placed them in the inside pocket of his robes before turning and heading for the second floor girls lavatory.
"Harry? Oh it's you."
Severus ignored the ghost's comment and instead turned his sights to the sink farthest away from the door, "How long has he been there?"
Moaning Myrtle glared at him, "Around thirty minutes."
Not bothering to thank the ghost, Severus took out a small glass orb from his robe pocket. He placed the orb next to the small engraving of the snake, Severus then tapped the orb with his wand, "Repeto Open." He intoned and watched as an eerie hissing sound emitted from the orb.
The Head of Slytherin took a step back and watched as the entrance to the hidden chamber appeared. Tapping the orb with his wand again, he said another spell, "Repeto Stairs."
After the orb released another hissing sound, the man picked it up and carefully stored it into his pocket. Severus descended down the stairs with his wand lit to show his surroundings.
"Insolent brat." Severus muttered when he spotted the crumpled form of a person lying a few feet away from where the stairs had ended; the light from the tip of his wand reflected the prominent red and gold color of the tie as it stood out from the basic black Hogwarts robes that all students were required to wear.
He knelt down next to the fifth year Gryffindor and set to work, pouring multiple healing potions down his throat.
The first thing that Harry noticed was the fact that he was definitely not in the Chamber of Secrets anymore. Not daring to open his eyes, the boy tried to assess the situation.
Not in the chamber. Where am I? A bed. Huh. Magic? In control good. Now I just need to find a way to-
"I know you're awake brat."
Harry froze then relaxed as he slowly opened his eyes, "Severus"
He made a move to sit up but was instead met with resistance when the potions master pushed him back down, "Don't move."
Harry sighed, "What time is it?"
"Four in the morning." came the curt reply, "You are lucky that it is a Hogsmeade weekend."
A thick silence settled between the two.
"It's getting worse." Harry whispered at last.
He heard shuffling to his right as the man moved around, no doubt getting more potions.
"It is getting worse." Harry repeated, "The last time was only two weeks ago."
The mouth of a vial was pressed to his lips; reflexively Harry opened his mouth and allowed the thick odorous potion into his mouth and to slide down his throat. Having been doing this since first year, Harry had no problem swallowing the foul mixture, but he still wrinkled his nose at the after taste it left in his mouth.
"Idiotic brat. I told you there will be consequences for accepting the lordship." The professor said as he vanished the empty vials.
"I didn't think-"
"-Of course you didn't," the potions master sneered, "The goblin told you that your magic would be affected if you accepted the lordship, you knew the risk and you still did it."
Harry didn't respond and the two sat in silence.
"The Headmaster has decided that you are not the person in which the prophecy speaks of." Severus said at last.
"Good." Harry said after a brief pause.
He suddenly found himself staring into coal black eyes shining dangerously, "Good? Is that all you can say?"
Harry looked away, "How does Dumbledore expect me to defeat him? I can barely keep my own magic from killing myself."
He felt Severus sit back in his chair, "You are afraid."
Harry felt a flash of anger shoot through him, "Of course I am afraid! I don't want this. I don't want any of this."
"So you pretend? You lead everyone on?"
Harry struggled to sit up and glare at his mentor, "You don't understand!-"
"-I do understand." Severus' voice suddenly became cold and sharp, "I understand that you are a poor little orphan boy who got the short end of the stick. I understand and I helped you. I have been patient but enough is enough. You are scared, you have always been scared."
"I-"
"-Because you are scared, you try to cover it up by being arrogant, conceited, and dare I say lazy?"* the former Slytherin continued ruthlessly.
Harry flinched at the description though deep down he knew those words were true.
"You are afraid, I understand, no one should carry the burden that you have. But you are using this weak persona of yours to hide-"
"-I am not." Harry demanded as his emerald eyes narrowed, "I didn't know of the dammed prophecy until you told me okay? Your theory has flaws, I've been doing this for more than ten years-
"-Because you are afraid. You feared being abused by your relatives so you pretended to be weak. You fear what you have to face with the Dark Lord so you continue to be weak." Severus cut in sharply.
The man's voice softened slightly when he noticed the look in the boy's eyes, "You are allowed to fear Harry. It's natural. But you are taking this to a whole new level. You are allowing this fear to guide you. Your life rotates around your fear. You're arrogant to think that you can get away with your little games, you're conceited for thinking that you own amusement is more important than everyone else's well being-"
"-How is what I'm doing conceited?" Harry interrupted hotly, "I'm trying to protect myself! And fine, maybe I am somewhat conceited, but I'm doing it for self preservation! At least I'm not selfish like everyone else-"
"-There is a fine line between self preservation and selfishness."
Harry growled, "Does it matter? Everyone is trying to make me do everything-"
"-Make you do everything?" Severus snapped, "No one is making you do everything. This is a group effort-"
"-You sound like a Hufflepuff-"
"-everyone is willing to help if you make the first move. Stop being lazy-"
"-You see?!" Harry said, his voice rising, "You too! You! You want me to make the first move! I thought you would understand! Even you want me to embrace this, this destiny of mine! I don't want-"
"-It's not a matter of you wanting or not." The man stood up, his voice thunderous.
Harry stiffened and moved away from the potions professor.
"It's a sacrifice Harry. I know it's a sacrifice." Severus said quietly as his shoulders slumped, all the fight seems to escape him at once. Harry couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched his mentor –the only parental figure he had since… well, ever- become weighed down by the stress that has been piling on him ever since he was branded with the Dark Mark.
"Why do I have to make the first move? Why do I have to be the one that sacrifices?" Harry asked as he closed his eyes, his voice shook from anger, sadness, guilt, and grudging acceptance.
"In time everyone does." Was the heavy response he received.
Harry felt a cool hand rest on the crown of his head briefly, in a rare show of affection from his mentor, before hearing shuffling and the smooth swishing of robes. The door connecting the guest room to the rest of Severus' quarters closed with a click, soon he was left alone in the dark.
Harry shifted to his side and stared blankly at the wall as his eyes adjusted to the shadows. Not for the first time he wondered why he hid behind this mask, was it really because he was afraid?
Severus swirled the glass of firewhiskey in his hand as he watched the fire crackle. Not for the first time he wondered why his mind had chosen to view Harry Potter as: not Potter's spawn, but Lily's son…
Severus watched, his face devoid of any emotion, as McGonagall led the first years to the front of the Great Hall, towards the Sorting Hat. His eyes scanned over the tiny eleven year olds and stopped briefly on a shiny head of platinum blond hair. He allowed his features to soften slightly as he looked at his godson. Tearing his gaze away from Draco Malfoy, Severus continued to study the group and scowled darkly when a boy with gingery red hair caught his eye. Not another one… Severus thought darkly as his eyes flicked to the matching faces of the Terrible Two sitting at the Gryffindor Table, not even ten minutes into the school year and they are already causing trouble.
Severus withheld a frown when he didn't find what, or more specifically, who he was looking for. He blinked when he spot a flash of messy raven hair trailing behind the clump of students. There. Potter's spawn. Severus thought as his eyes zeroed in on the hunched form of the boy.
There was a reason that he was the head of Slytherin House. There was a reason why, even as a halfblood and fresh out of Hogwarts, he was a part of the Dark Lord's Inner Circle during the War. There was a reason why he, near the end of the War, had agreed to spy for Dumbledore against the Dark Lord. Severus Snape was not just a Slytherin, he was -is- the Slytherin. Because of that, it's not surprising that the moment the man laid eyes on Harry Potter, he was on guard.
Something about the boy was off. That's the only thing Severus could surmise as he studied the form of the boy-who-lived.
Distantly his mind processed McGonagall's voice, "Potter, Harry." She said and the Great Hall suddenly became eerily quiet as every eye in the room focused on the first year that is now moving towards the Sorting Hat.
Severus felt his eyebrows rise in incredulity when the boy stumbled and fell when he was a mere three feet away from the enchanted hat. The Great Hall exploded in snickers and beside him; he could hear Flitwick tell Sprout that he wasn't exactly surprised at the tripping accident.
Right, he and McGonagall were the ones that introduced the boy. Severus thought as that piece of information surfaced in his well organized mind.
While everyone was busy laughing or shooting Potter pity looks, Severus was busy studying said boy. Severus was honestly surprised. How did he fall? He asked himself. The boy may walk with his head lowered and body slumped but nonetheless, his movements are coordinated and graceful, it reminded Severus of a trained athlete. The slight contradiction in the boy's movement was hard to spot, but Severus was a spy. Being a spy doesn't just include being observant, a spy has to be the most observant.
When the Sorting Hat finally called out "GRYFFINDOR!" after ten long minutes, Severus was once again surprised for the second time this evening. For a moment he had expected the brat to be placed in Slytherin.
After all, Slytherin House is where the cunning, the ambitious, and the mask wearers go. Severus has been around mask wearers for years. He himself was an expert at wearing masks. But that's not what sets him and all the others apart, he wasn't just good at wearing masks, he was even better at spotting masks than at wearing them.
And the mask that Harry Potter wore... It was good. Extremely good. In fact Severus has no doubt that if the boy played it right, he would be able to trick Dumbledore, seeing as the old man has a tendency to ignore the cold hard truths in favor of seeing the "light" in everyone.*
But Severus would not be fooled. It is obvious that the brat has been wearing the mask for some time now. Perhaps even years… the question was, why?
Coming up next: Golden Trio & DA
It seems like this story is slowly mutating into a Severus + Harry mentor fic... honestly I didn't expect it to turn out like this.
I have no intention of turning this into a sappy romance, so not to worry even if a pairing appears. So far I'm getting mostly Harry/Luna or no pairing. Harry/Ginny is a definite NO so don't fret.
1st *: This Harry isn't supposed to wake up one day and turn into a hero. The words Severus uses to describe Harry (arrogant, conceited, lazy) is inspired by reviewer Jharry1960.
2nd *: Dumbledore is smart so of course he'll be able to see through the mask, but because he wants to see the good in everyone, he ignores the hints that Harry is wearing a mask. He prefers to think of Harry as weak than a sneaky liar.
So after all that... Review! :)
xoxlollipopxox