Trustworthy

Chapter 4: Addressing the Issue

First of all, I apologize, a million times over, for being so slow getting this out. I also realize this is a slightly shorter chapter than some of the others. If it is any consolation, the next chapter is basically already ready to go, and so you will not have to wait for that chapter like you have for this.

Not much of an excuse, but I've been focusing on writing another SSHP non-slash HP story, Embrace What Fate Hands You, so if you have time, check it out! Parallel Universe travelling, etc...Please excuse the SHAMELESS PLUG!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

Harry Potter belongs to J.K.

Please R&R~! Thanks so much!

o O o O o

At 7'o clock sharp that night, Severus looked up, face set in a scowl, and growled "Enter" at the tentative knock on his office door.

Clearly none-too-pleased with their predicaments, his two wayward Snakes shuffled in slowly. A blank look was plastered on Goyle's face as he seemed to stare at nothing, and Draco's expression showed equal parts resentment and anxiety. On a second glance, Severus confirmed the very slightest hint of more honest resignation to his situation and, he noticed with a fleeting touch of satisfaction, some guilt.

"Sit," he bit out, and the two young men hastily made to sit down. Severus allowed himself a slight smirk at witnessing, once again, the fruit of his years of practiced intimidation. Severus regarded the two in silence over his steepled fingers for several minutes, enjoying the feel of the thick, murky tension brewing in the room. In this particular case, he was honestly playing more for show. Already privy to the specifics of the boys' actions and their various roles in last night's debacle, he was more concerned with maintaining his reputation as Slytherin House's strict, fear-inspiring Head to keep these two in line than really enforcing much bite on these two at the moment. They were simply part of his act, this evening.

And if he were to be accused of using a little too much Slytherin manipulation, er, cunning… on the boys, well, who could say he wasn't fulfilling his role as head of a house priding itself on such traits?

Severus' mouth twisted into a farce of a smile at the slightly impudent knock which sounded on his door several minutes later.

He did not respond immediately, savoring the silence, before hissing "Enter!" to the closed door.

Crabbe stepped in then, and regarded Draco and Goyle in surprise which he quickly schooled. Severus fixed a glare on him which could have made plenty of students cry before saying, in a deadly whisper, "So, I see you've deigned to drop in on us, have you, Crabbe? Tell me," he sneered, his tone taking on a dangerously silky timbre, "Is it simply idiocy that would lead you to assume it would be permissible to arrive late for a meeting with your Head of House? Or did you consider my request so beneath you that you thought, perhaps, you could just wander in at the tail end?"

"N-no, sir," he muttered, his face scrunching up in confusion, "But I didn't think I was late, sir. The note said to get here at 7:15-"

"Are you suggesting that I am the one misinformed of the time of our meeting then, boy?" Severus' voice was thick with biting sarcasm and menace, and Crabbe gulped, but did his best to look defiantly into his head of House's harsh glare (which he was only successful in doing for two seconds).

"Well…no, sir, but…"

"But?" He hissed. "Well, then, out with it. You must have the note still. Show it to me."

"Er…"

"Pathetic. Can't say I'm surprised. Well?" He then barked, "What are you waiting for? Summon it, then!"

Fumbling with his wand, Crabbe nodded after a moment of hesitation and murmured the incantation to summon the parchment which flew into his outstretched hand several minutes later.

"Well?" Severus' tone suggested genuine curiosity, though inside he was smirking at the look of confusion and disappointment on Crabbe's face as he read the missive.

Smirk pulling at his lips now, Severus held out a hand for the missive which Crabbe reluctantly handed over. Eyebrow raised, Snape feigned shock as he flapped the parchment before all three boys, sneering, "What do you know? 7:00 is written here, as plain as I can see. Perhaps you'd best ask Potter to borrow those obnoxious glasses of his?" He suggested, tone light.

Crabbe grimaced, his face no longer a wall of indifference, and Severus smirked inwardly. His plan to break the brat's composure was well underway.

With a deep scowl, he ordered Crabbe to sit in the only remaining chair, which was significantly shorter than the others in the room, leaving him to have to look up slightly to see the twin shards of black ice piercing him from the Potion Master's face.

"So," Severus finally began, in a low, threatening voice. "Would any of you care to explain, in detail, what you were doing last night, after curfew, wandering around the 7th floor corridor?"

As expected, all three remained silent, though Goyle was squirming slightly, Crabbe was avoiding eye contact, and Draco was eying him in confusion and suspicion (which he hid almost as quickly as the expressions had formed).

"You wouldn't happen to have seen anyone else out of bed? A student perhaps?"

All three remained silent, though Draco's eyes didn't leave his professor's for an instant, as if attempting to see through to his intentions.

"For you see…I am curious as to know how Potter wound up under a very specific curse in that very hallway. Anyone? For one does not cast such a spell on oneself, I can assure you." He cast a long, slow, damning glance on all three boys and held it for a time.

"We don't know anything about it, Professor!" Crabbe finally burst out, "And if Potter told you something like that, he's just trying to get back at us for being Snakes!"

"Oh, really, Crabbe? Well, I hate to inform you, but Potter told me no such thing. Nor did I have any other such informant…" Draco blinked at him at that, relief washing over him that the Professor didn't seem to be planning on selling him out in front of his housemates.

"No," Severus continued, "My methods are much more…full-proof than mere supposition from the lips of a 16-year-old boy. And might I remind you all," he then said in a low tone as he let his gaze wash over the three again, "that I do not permit shows of such weakness and cowardice as attacking another student who is so vastly outnumbered. That is the kind of behavior I have come to expect from other houses, yes, but from Slytherin? I must admit…I'm not…inclined…to be lenient."

They all gulped, and Severus clucked his tongue. "Loathe as I am to deduct points from my house, Mr. Crabbe, I fear myself pushed to do so for your blatantly un-Slytherin behavior," he hissed. "Let your dormmates remember this!" Swallowing a lump in his throat and gritting his teeth, he spat out, "25 points from Slytherin for your arrogance and lack of forethought! Your stupidity has earned these two," he jerked his head at Draco and Goyle, "a week, each, of detentions." He leveled a glare at them. "See that you choose your acquaintances more wisely if they only serve to drag you down. Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Goyle, you are dismissed. Malfoy, be at my office at 7 tomorrow night. Goyle, report to Filch at the same time. You two are dismissed."

After shooting a glare at Crabbe, both left the room.

Severus aimed his wand at the door, silencing and locking it. "And now, we're alone, Mr. Crabbe," he said softly, eyes glinting with malevolence. Despite himself, Crabbe gulped nervously.

o O o O o

"Harry!"

"You alright, mate?"

Harry groaned at the enthusiastic voices of his two best friends as they wrenched him from his state of half-sleep. Through blurry eyes, he noticed a mop of brown fuzziness and a lot of freckly red staring down at him.

"Ron? Mione?" He yawned. "What time is it?" He grasped for his glasses, which Hermione proceeded to grab and fix to his face. He shot her a look of feigned annoyance, but she simply huffed before her expression turned to one of concern.

"Harry, we were so worried! You were gone this morning and Ron said your invisibility cloak was missing, too, and…then finally Professor McGonagall told us you were in the hospital wing, but she wouldn't give us any details! What happened, Harry? You didn't get in a fight, did you?" She asked, nervously examing him to make sure he wasn't missing any limbs.

"Er, well…yeah, kind of, but…it's not such a big deal, Hermione."

"Bollocks, Harry," Ron cut in. "Mate, you've gotta watch out for yourself alone like that! Why didn't you wake me up if you were going out last night? Was it Malfoy and his goons?" His voice suddenly turned harsh and angry.

Looking around to make sure they were alone, Harry cast a quick muffliato and said, "Yeah, well…it was them, actually, but," he grabbed Ron's wrist as the boy immediately turned, looking as if he were about to storm off, "It wasn't actually Malfoy this time. Apparently Crabbe hit me with something bad…like, well…something dark," he admitted.

At this, Ron and Hermione exchanged horrified glances, but when they looked back at Harry, they were shocked to see the faint smile on his face.

"Um, Harry? You okay, there? Last time I checked, being cursed by dark magic wasn't exactly something to smile about…"

"Oh," Harry blinked, chuckling slightly at himself, "I wasn't smiling about that it's just…it's the weirdest thing, too, but, er…you'll never believe who helped me…"

"Dumbledore?"

"Oh, Ron, that wouldn't be surprising," Hermione countered him gently as his ears turned slightly pink. She studied Harry for a long moment before saying, "Was it Professor Snape, Harry?"

"Oh come on, Hermione!" Ron groaned. "That greasy git hates Harry! And he's been even worse ever since he messed him up with the Occlumency crap! Why are you so bloody nice about him? He treats you like rubbish, too, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione was opening her mouth to retort, when Harry said, "Yeah, actually. It was Professor Snape."

Ron gaped at him, and Hermione rolled her eyes at the taller young man. "Oh, come on, Ronald. You know as well as we do that Professor Snape has saved Harry before, and you know he's on our side, now! Yes, he knows his fair share of dark magic, but he doesn't use it anymore, and that just makes it even more clear why he would be the perfect one to help Harry get rid of some dark magic curse!"

Ron grunted reluctantly in partial acknowledgement of her words, but then turned an accusing glare on Harry, "But then why does he look so bloody smug about it? Harry, this is Snape! You know he only helps you so Dumbledore won't kick him out on the street! It isn't like he gives a bloody damn!"

An unexpected wave of anger and hurt rose in Harry's chest at Ron's words, and he found himself sitting up and glaring at his best friend so fiercely that the red-head took a step back in shock. "You're wrong," he hissed. "You don't know what you're talking about, Ron!"

A very awkward silence followed this outburst, with Ron looking a mixture of outraged, shocked and hurt, and Hermione looking as if she were trying to figure out a particularly interesting puzzle. Harry blushed when he realized what he'd just said, and how he'd said it. He didn't really regret his words, exactly. They were the truth after all. Ron did have a tendency to be judgmental and extremely stubborn about certain people, particularly Slytherins, and Harry just wasn't in the mood for it.

But to be fair, Ron didn't know the facts, so Harry bit his lip and his expression softened. "Hey, sorry mate. I didn't mean for it to come out that way, I just-"

"You just what?" Ron spat, his face red, "You're going to tell me you're all buddy-buddy with Snape now? What's next, you and Malfoy going to be best mates? Planning on asking for a resorting, are you?"

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, and she tugged at his arm, but he just shook her off, glare fixed on Harry.

Harry was glaring back so fiercely, he would have done the object of the current conversation justice, and this fact seemed to enrage Ron even more.

Fists bunched, he took a step closer to the hospital bed, but Harry was beyond livid now. "Look, Weasley, I don't know about you, but I always thought one important aspect of friendship was that you actually trust your friends! How the hell could you even say crap like that to me? If you would just give me one BLOODY second to explain!"

Ron looked to be fighting some internal battle. He still had the same stubborn scowl on his face, but it was cracking slightly, and finally, after a few deep breaths and much coaxing from Hermione, he sat down in a hospital chair, looking sullen.

Harry scowled at him, and when he spoke he addressed Hermione, avoiding looking at Ron at all. "Thank you. Well, to be honest, it's all very shaky still…you see, I checked the maruaders' map and noticed Malfoy and his goons had disappeared again, so I decided to see if I could catch them coming out of the Room of Requirement…"

"Oh, Harry," Hermione groaned, "What have I told you? I knew your paranoia was going to get you in trouble!"

Harry had the grace to look slightly abashed, but then said, "But Hermione, Malfoy didn't actually hex me…weird as it is, I vaguely remember him trying to convince Crabbe to leave me be…but, er…anyway, so he cast this curse on me, and the next thing I know I'm in the hospital wing and uh…Professor Snape was here and he explained," he gulped. "Well, he said Crabbe had hit me with some curse that can turn you insane if it goes for too long and so…I don't know really. He found me under it so I really can't say what happened between us. It's all a big blank, really…I just have images, and feelings. It must have been really disturbing, though, because Snape actually looked worried about me when I woke up!"

Ron looked like a gaping fish at the last, but Harry ignored him.

"What kind of images, Harry?" Hermione asked softly, eyes wide in horror.

"Well, mostly scenes from my past. A lot of stuff with the Dursleys. I feel like I was trapped in my nightmares or something. It's really confusing, because I think some of what I remember really happened, but the stuff that was just in my head feels just as real. It's…disturbing."

"That sounds just awful, Harry."

"Yeah, but to be honest, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Like, I don't know how to explain it, Hermione, but Snape just kind of…grounded me. He brought me back somehow and was really cool about it. Then, when I woke up, he didn't push me to explain anything, but just gave me potions for my pain and made me eat breakfast, and made sure I got enough rest and…" Harry trailed off, blushing fiercely.

"That's bloody mental!" Ron said, but this time, he seemed more amused and confused that indignant. "I mean…sounds like Snape was acting like a bloody nursemaid! Are you sure that wasn't an imposter? Or Snape's nice twin?"

Harry grinned slightly. "I actually wondered that same thing, Ron. "But no. Only Snape can pull off snarkiness like that…" he smiled, almost fondly.

Ron watched him incredulously, but bit his tongue to stop himself saying anything else. Harry had, after all, clearly had an awful night, and he probably didn't need any more arguments any time soon. Looking at his shoes, Ron said, "Er, Harry…sorry, mate, for going off on you. That sounds like a pretty bad spell and all and uh, I'm glad you were cured in time, even if it was Snape who did it, so…uh, I guess I can understand your appreciating his help, but…what I mean to say is…"

Harry and Hermione laughed at their red-faced, red-haired, very flustered friend. Harry appreciated the sentiment, despite its awkward presentation, and so he simply smiled and said, "Thanks, Ron."

Ron nodded. "You're not going to be friends with Malfoy, though, are you?"

"Ron, just because I may not think Snape is a totally evil git anymore doesn't mean I'm planning on signing up for Slytherin anytime soon," he said, amusement lacing his voice. "But seriously, don't you think we should try to see past the whole house rivalry thing? I mean, not all Slytherins are the same. They can't all be bad."

Ron raised an eyebrow and looked at him doubtfully, and Harry laughed, shaking his head. Ron could be a pig-headed prat at times, and Slytherins were perhaps his most pig-headed topic, but he was still his best friend, and as long as he wasn't blatantly offending anyone he liked, Harry found the boy's childish stubbornness almost endearing.

"Oh, Harry, before I forget!" Hermione said, suddenly perking up. "Here are all of the notes and homework you missed!"

Harry groaned and tried to pull the covers up over his head, made more difficult by Hermione sitting on said covers.

"I feel for you, mate," Ron laughed, his mood of earlier totally vanishing in the familiar banter of Hermione's homework-fetish.

At that point, the three looked up to see a very annoyed-looking Madame Pomfrey, glaring at the three students who were clearly having a conversation under the radar. Glaring and pointing to her ears, Harry flushed and released the Half-Blood Prince's spell.

Several hours later, he was dismissed from the hospital wing feeling much more rested than he had in a while. Thoughts of class the next day, even with the largish amount of homework he still had left to do, were less unappealing than usual.

He had actually found it almost enjoyable to work on his homework this afternoon, for some reason. It couldn't have been Snape's somewhat gentle warning that he'd best be prepared for next class, could it have? Harry had afterall, never before, had anyone who cared whether he kept up in classes or not. No one had ever really inquired, and no one who cared had ever been responsible for him…at the Durselys, of course, he would be punished for out-performing Dudley.

But Snape didn't really care, did he? Just because he'd told him to be prepared for class...that didn't mean he was really expecting much, right? He was probably just saying that so he wouldn't have to waste as much red pen...

The idea that maybe it was more than that seemed too absurd, and too terrifying in its novelty, and Harry's mind was still feeling a little too jumbled to really consider it. Unconsciously, however, he felt a little warm surge of happiness at the thought that he might be able to impress the harsh Potions Master and current Defense teacher… or was he only fooling himself?

He pushed his way through the portrait hole, smiling softly while clutching his defense book.

o O o O o

Crabbe left Snape's office feeling thoroughly chastised and wronged. Not only had his quidditch privileges been taken away for the rest of the year, not only was he suspended from classes and confined to a private room in the dungeons for the next week, but he was in detention at least until the holidays…half with Filch and half with Snape…oh, and then the bloody bastard had threatened to write a note home to his father!

Well, Crabbe had thought at first, let him do that. Father will be only too pleased to hear what curse I've used on Potter…but as soon as the thought occurred to him, it left him just as quickly as Draco's words came back to him. Would the Dark Lord appreciate his actions? Or would he see him as stealing his glory or damaging his target? These doubts froze Crabbe's tongue, but they didn't stop a seed of suspicion from festering in his chest.

Why had Snape been so hard on him for something so inconsequential? It's not as if Potter was permanently damaged from the sound of it, so what gives? And what was that bull about Potter not telling him it was us who cursed him? Of course Potter would tell on us…It's almost as if Snape were protecting him.

As this thought rooted in his chest, Crabbe felt suspicions directed at his head of house mingle with anger at the man's obvious attempts to sabotage his relationship with his housemates and turn them against him. He'd even taken points away from Slytherin, and explained it away with some weak story about how Slytherins shouldn't show cowardice…In Crabbe's experience, Slytherins just understood survival of the fittest, and if to be fittest, you needed a larger group and more powerful spells, then fine!

No, something was definitely off about their Head of House, and he was determined to figure out just what… and just where the man's true loyalties lay.

Sorry for the lack of Harry/Sev interaction! I can promise there will be plenty in the next few chapters, so fear not! I hope you enjoyed this chapter nevertheless...more details on Draco's/Crabbe's punishments later...and, of course, I had to put in the Ron-being-a-stubborn-arse-about-Snape scene.

Again, thanks for your patience, and please drop a review!

tess4aria