Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, though I wish I did.

Chapter Four: Cole's

Severus left the Grangers in a worse mood than he's anticipated. They had been easy to convince, which was good, but they were over eager. He would have almost prefered voilent confrontation. Almost.

As soon as he was out of the door, he did a quick check of the street. Finding it empty, he turned on the spot, and dissaperated to The Leaky Cauldron. Party becauce it was away from prying Muggle eyes, and mainly because he needed another drink.

Not a head turned when Severus appeared in the dingy little pub, though people did not often apparate in. Tom the bar man gave him a little wave as he sat down at the bar.

"Firewhiskey, Severus?" asked Tom. Over the years, Tom had grown used to what people wanted by the expressions on their face.

Snape nodded. Tom poured him a generious measure, and Snape downed it in one.

"Thanks," Snape mutterd. The thought of where he was headed next did nothing to improve his mood.

He dropped the coinage on the table and walked out into the Muggle street. Trying to remember exactly where the orphanage was, he set off down the sidewalk at a quick clip.

"Just get it over and done with, try not to shout," he said to himself. In truth, he almost despised the boy as much as where he had ended up. James Potter's son.

'And Lilly's,' said a voice in the back of his head, to which he clung. "Yes, Lilly's son," he said to himself.

He was so deep in thought, he missed a turn and had to double back. Between this and muttering to himself, he had gained a few stares from some of the Muggle's who weren't wrapped up in their own little worlds.

It took fifteen minutes for him to find the orphanage, and another five spent at the gate, willing himself forward. He finally pushed the gate open and walkied in.

The ten-odd steps to the door seemed the longest of his life.

Once he reached it, to buy time, he did an inconspicious breath-freshening charm to remove the smell of alcohol. The Grangers might not have noticed, but any Orphanage proprietress worth her salt could smell alcohol on a person from a mile away. He didn't want to risk it.

He reached forward to knock, but the door was suddenly opened by a short, plump woman. She was well into old age. Iron-grey hair in a fly-away poof over a lined, just as grey face.

"Hello," Snape said as she looked up at him. "My name is Severus Snape; I'm here to speak with Mr. Potter about his education." He said all of this in a clean, crisp voice, standing nearly at attention. He looked the part of a Muggle business man, so he might as well act the part.

The woman, who he assumed was Mrs. Cole, looked up at him, frowning. "All of the children here attend school," she said, shortly.

Snape raised his hand, in case she was about to shut him out. "Mr. Potter has been accepted to a boarding school."

She didn't lose the edge in her voice when she asked "Well who put him down for it, then?" Thinking quickly, Snape said "His parent, shortly before their demise."

Mrs. Cole didn't miss a beat. "Seems an aufully early time to put down a child for higher education."

Snape nodded. "It is, indeed, however this school requires early admission."

Mrs. Cole looked as though she was about to retort with something nasty and cornering when a much younger woman came around the door, behind her.

"Mom, who is this?" she asked, looking up at Snape as well.

"He claims to be one Mr. Snape," she said, not taking her eyes off of him. Instead of further scrutiny, which he expected, the younger woman bustled past her mother and smiled.

"Mr. Snape, do come in, I've been expecting you."

Snape's look of surprise rivalled her mothers, though it dissapeared almost as suddenly as it had come. "Of course," he said, playing by ear. The edlerly woman stood aside to let Snape in.

He looked around as he stepped inside. It was even more drab than the outside had led him to believe.

"Come into my office, won't you?" asked the younger woman.

"Mrs. Cole, I presume?" he asked as he was led into a small office just inside the door.

"Ms. Cole," she corrected him. "Mrs. Cole is my mother. She let me on as the proprietress when she felt she could no-longer take care of the children, given her age." Snape nodded knowledgably.

"She still takes care of minor odds and ends, and do forgive her. She is very protective of the children," added Ms. Cole.

Snape took a seat and nodded again. He didn 't want to speak until he figured out how she knew he was coming.

"Anyway, I recieved your letter the other day. I can say that I'm very excited for Harry to have the chance at an education such as this." She pulled out a letter in normal, Muggle papper and read "Mr. Potter has been accepted to Hogwarts School of the Fine Arts." She smiled up at him. "When I told harry, he was very excited, I can tell you."

'I wonder how excited he will be to learn where he is really going,' Snape thought without humor. A little kid bouncing off the walls was something he didn't need.

He should have had another drink.

"I'm sure he was," he said with a small smile. "May I speak to him?"

She nodded and stood up. "You know, when I heard about your arrival, Ii thought I saw something familair with the headmasters name," she said, leading him up the stairs.

"Oh,' he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, so I looked him up. Seems he's been here before, in person. Talked to a Mr. Tom M. Riddle." Snape blinked, but didn't show any surprise outwardly. However, he had completely stopped breathing.

.

"Yeah," she said, with the calmness of any muggle discussing someone with such a comon sounding name. "Lived in the same room, even," she said, motioning to the door with a tarnished 8 on it."

Snape nodded as though he found the coincedence amusing as opposed to frightening. She laughed. "Maybe it's something about the room," she joked.

Snape laughed, but it was hollow sounding.

She didn't seem to notice and knocked on the door. There was a slight scuffling inside beofre the door opened. A small, pale boy stood there. Even the excited flush in his cheeks could do little to warm his pale face. He looked as though they kept him locked in closet or something.

He backed up to let Snape in. Ms. Cole was about to enter when Snape said, "In private, please." She nodded graciously, and went about other business.

Snape looked about the room. It was sparsely decorated. A few photo's adorned the wall next to his meger bed, and a few interesting rocks sat on his window sill. The light that filtered in was as grey as the building, even though it fast approaching noon.

Snape looked to Harry, whose exited blush had turned into one of enbarassment from having a stranger look over his room.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. My name is Severus Snape."

Harry nodded excitedly. "Ms. Cole said you were coming. Please, call me Harry." Snape was half amused, half amazed at this attempt at maturity. He had expected a miniature James.

"Alright. Now, Harry," Snape said, sitting in a tiny little chair from the reading desk. He felt slightly absurd.

Harry sat down on the bed, though he looked like he'd much rather be juming up and down.

"I have some good news, and some bad news," said Snape. He hadn't expected his arrival to be foreknown.

Harry looked much the same as the Grangers had when he informed them that she would not be going to a school that had excepted her purely on intelligence.

"What's the bad news?" asked harry, dully, as though he had known it was to good to be true.

Snape took a deep breath. The look of hurt on the boy's face was nearly heart-breaking. "You will not be attending Hogwarts school of the Fine Arts."

Harry flinched slightly. His shoulders slumped down and he stared at Snape's feet.

Snape rubbed his eyes tiredly. "You will be attending Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Harry looked up suddenly. His mouth framed the words 'Witchcraft and Wizardry.' "What do you mean?" Harry asked, canting his head to one side.

Snape leaned forward. "You can do things, can't you Harry? Things none of the other children can do?"

Harry shrugged. "I suppose. There was the time I accidently made all the glass in the reptile House at the zoo dissapear." He looked hopeful that this might have been what Snape was looking for, as though his attendance at Hogwarts was determined by how magical they deemed him.

Snape nodded, "That was in the news," he said.

Harry blushed. "They didn't know how it happened." Harry said, as though thinking he would be in trouble.

"I meant our news," Snape said.

Harry raised his eyebrow. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"We have our own news. Wizards, I mean," explained Snape

Harry looked even more saddened by the fact. "D-do I still get to go?" Harry asked.

It was Snape's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"To Hogwarts. I didn't mean to do it. The animals just looked so sad there. And there was a Boa Constricter who hadn't even seen Brazzil!" Harry said all of this very fast, as though if he could explain properly, he wouldn't get in any trouble.

"Of course you still get to go to Hogwarts. You'd know if you were in any trouble." Snape found himself talking in a comforting voice, to James Potter's son of all people.

"However, once you go to Hogwarts, you except that you belong to our world. If you do any more magic once you have your wand," at this, Harry looked as though he might interupt. "You will not be able to do any more magic outside of school, until you graduate."

Harry nodded emphatically. "Yes sir. Do I really get a wand?" Snape nodded.

"Do you have a wand?" Harry asked, looking him over as though he would see it already in his hand. Snape nodded again, and pulled it out.

Harry looked slightly dissapointed as he looked over the thin stick.

"I've seen a magic wand before. That just looks like a bit of wood."

Snape, slightly offended at having his wand called 'a bit of wood,' flicked it at the row of rocks on Harry's window sill, which hovered in the air and rotated in a circle like a ferris wheel. Harry's eyes lit up and he looked back and forth from the wand to the rocks as though trying to see the magic.

Snape gently set the rocks back down with his wand and put it away. "Muggles have a very different view of what Wands look like." Before Harry could ask, he added. "Muggles are people who can't do Magic."

Harry took this in and nodded.

"I'm getting ahead of myself," Snape said, pulling out the second letter. He handed it to Harry, who opened it excitedly and started reading.

Snape watched as Harry's smile grew. He found himself smiling as well. When Harry's smile dropped, so did his.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sounding more like a concerned parent than an aloof teacher.

Harry seemed to pick up on this and blushed. "Well, sir, I haven't got any money for supplies. I don't think the Orphanage would pay, either."

Snape smiled again, the second time in a rather long time. "You've got pleanty of money in our world. Your parents were quite well off." His smile became pained, though he tried to keep the venom out of his voice for the boy's sake.

Harry seemed to stiffen at the mention of his parents. "Sir," he asked, as though unable to continue. "Did you know my parents?"

Snape looked taken aback by the sudden change in topic "Yes, I went to school with them." Harry looked up from his letter. "Did they go to Howarts as well?"

Snape nodded. "Almost every Wizard and Witch in Engalnd goes to Hogwarts."

Harry smiled slightly, then frowned. "H-how did they..."

Snape caught on, and shook his head. "Later," he said. "When I can explain things better."

Harry half-nodded before a thought struck him. "Uh, sir, what do you mean, 'later?'" Snape, who had expected to take Harry shopping in Diagon Alley without actually making the concious decision.

"Well, I teach at Hogwarts," he said, steering away from the idea.

Harry chewed his lip. "Would you take me to get my things?" he asked, voice barely a whisper. Snape realized Dumbledore had probably intended him to, as there would be no one else to do it.

"Sure," said Snape, looking at Harry's eyes. The rest of him was too James-like to make such a promise to.

Snape stood up and motioned for Harry to follow. He walked down the stairs and knocked on Ms. Cole's office door. She opened it and smiled.

"I'm taking Mr. Potter to get his required reading matterial," Snape said. Ms. Cole looked slightly worried, but it passed and she smiled brightly. Harry didn't see Snape's hand twitch breifly

"Have fun, Harry." Harry nodded, and stepped away with Snape, out of the Orphanage.

"Harry," said Snape, as a thought struck him. "How did you know the Boa Consricter had never been to Brazzil?"

Harry smiled and said "He told me. I can talk to snakes, you know. Can't everyone in our world?"

Snape's heart had stopped beating, it seemed. "Not exactly," he said, not showing how frightened he had become. "Shall we go on, then?"

Harry nodded, unaware of how this news had affected Snape.

AN: Looky looky, this chapter is even longer! As you can see, some of the elements came from Tommy's Interview with Dumble's, but for the most part, I tried to keep it origioanl. Next chapter it up tomorrow, as usual. I hope I can hold onto this 'long chapter' streak as long as possible. Maybe I will be able to, mayb I won't. Either way, was it good for you? -Puff puff, hack wheeze- Hasty Banana's people. This Chapter has been retrofitted to fit later chapters.