Harry wished Ardila were yet her inattentive self when she at last stared at him. (Her placid bearing was easier to endure.) Her eyes seemed to gaze into his soul and scan it, unveiling any kind of deception. No mental barrier of his could withstand the cold, impassive assessment. The brief duration felt like an eternity to him.
Thus he could only gawk incomprehensibly at her when a tendril of her awareness caressed the deepest part of his being with empathic tenderness. He supposed she knew everything about him by now; but he had never expected this intimate sympathy.
`No, Harry, I do not know everything about you. My talent does not work like that, and it is not entirely controllable anyway.`
It was the lengthiest description of herself that he had ever heard her talk about. He soon forgot it though, as she then projected a life-like image into his mind. The photograph George Senior had shown him paled compared to this representation of his parents. They were so warm and sincere, cooing lovingly at his baby self. In a heart-beat they would look up and see him …
But his father had been a bully, and his mother a prat.
The image dissolved into a field of bleak grey.
`Don't hate them, Harry. They were just normal children, normal teenagers, and normal adults. Normal people do that sometimes,` Ana at last murmured into the awkward stillness. `They loved you so much regardless. Father said they'd grown up well in the end.`
`In the end,` repeated Harry woodenly, and he let out a heavy sigh. Normal children indeed; but that also put a wider gap between his parents and him. That would also mean that he had more in common with Severus Snape than he had previously thought or believed. Ironic, really.
Before he could dig more into the lives of his parents, however, another awareness enveloped the three of them, exuding exasperation, annoyance, and a good deal of worry. `Jerry,` Ardila murmured, radiating amusement. They had been found at last.
`You go down first, Harry,` Ana smiled. Harry obeyed reluctantly.
And Severus Snape met him on the base of the tree. Harry winced. Seeing Severus again after all the revelation was awkward, to say the least. The man seemed to notice his discomfort too, lifting his eyebrows, but thankfully he said nothing.
The Ar's shimmied down the tree a moment afterwards, and they walked in silence. Harry hated it, but he could do nothing about it. What should he say to Severus for what his parents had done to the man? Was it his place to do so? What would Severus say to that, after their own strained beginning of relationship? Would Harry end up like his parents himself?
No, no, no, no. – Looking up, he met Severus' eyes squarely as his hand squeezed the man's in a brief, odd, but sincere handshake. Afterwards, he ran away straight into his sanctuary, his bedroom, feeling embarrassed but strangely satisfied.