Author: Raven
Disclaimer: If it were mine, man I'd be flying high.
Summary: OOTP spoilers…Severus becomes Dudley Dursley's and Harry's tutor for the rest of the summer after the end of 5th year. What secrets are revealed?
Chapter 21
Harry was one of the last ones to enter the Potions classroom. It was a relatively small class: only six people, besides him. He was the only Gryffindor, and there were no Hufflepuffs. There were four Ravenclaws: Padma Patil, Melissa Moon, Terry Boot, and Belle Lavoisier. The last two people in the class were Slytherins: Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini.
Harry watched Draco talking quietly to the Slytherin girl. The blond Slytherin's features sharply contrasted with Blaise Zabini's long thick black hair and onyx eyes. The Gryffindor studied Draco's face while he was distracted by his conversation. He looked different- older, more mature. He did have a summer without his father, Harry recollected.
After a moment Draco looked up, and his eyes were locked with Harry's. He seemed ready to make a snide remark, but hesitated. After a moment, he nodded to Harry instead. Harry nodded back. Maybe it was time to make peace with his Slytherin rival. At least Harry could give Draco a chance. But if he so much as looked at Hermione or Ginny the wrong way, the truce was over.
The door swung open and Draco looked away. It was Professor Snape. He glared at the students, a sneer on his face, as usual. Severus' roaming gaze paused for a moment on Harry's face. Harry thought he was a bit of worry in Sev's haughty expression. Harry nodded to the professor, trying to reassure him, or somehow tell him that he was alright. Severus didn't acknowledge Harry's response, just looked away.
Harry sighed. He wanted to speak with the man now, not wait an hour or so longer. Fifty-nine minutes later, he was writing sloppy notes while Snape went on and on in his lecture. One dredging minute longer, and the class was finally over…
When the bell rang to dismiss class, Harry was purposely slow in clearing away his inky notes and gathering his books into his bag. He carefully paced his actions so that by the time he had finished, the last straggling Ravenclaw had left the classroom.
Severus was sitting at his desk in the front of the room, looking through some of the sixth year summer work for Potions. After a moment, he pulled out a sheaf of parchment and handed it to Harry. It was his summer assignment. It had an O for Outstanding on the top.
"Thank you," Harry said, tucking the work into his bag.
Severus nodded his acknowledgement.
Harry rolled his eyes as Snape started to check Hermione's work. "We need to talk," Harry said.
Severus shoved some papers towards Harry. "You have twenty minutes break until you have to go to the stupid study group Dumbledore's planned for all the sixth years every Monday and Saturday. If we must talk, at least make yourself useful."
Harry smirked and pulled out a quill. Severus nudged the bottle of ink in between their stacks.
"So," Severus said in a grumpy voice. "You know then. Do you hate me?"
Harry sighed. "That depends. When did you know?"
"I always did. So did Lily, and James."
Harry tensed.
Severus recognized the warning sign and quickly moved to explain. "James knew Lily and I were in love. But he also knew that I was a Death Eater. Contrary to popular belief, James and I were friends- only tentatively, of course, and only because of Lily. We all decided that Lily could pretend to fall in love with James and fake a marriage and a child with him for safety reasons. Lily didn't want to ruin the perfect cover story while the Dark Lord was still at large. You would be raised knowing me as a dear uncle, and when you were old enough, or when the Dark Lord was defeated, we would tell you the truth. Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew were never told, nor were they ever given any reason to suspect. I would have told you earlier, but there was the threat of the Dark Lord returning. And then Black came back and I figured it would just be an intrusion on my part since you seemed so happy."
Severus abruptly ended his speech as he marked a slashing red "X" across one of Hermione's answers. He glanced back to see how many she had gotten wrong before marking an "E" on the top of the parchment.
"You did better than she did," Severus observed.
Harry smirked. "Well, I did kind of have a Potions master go over my work."
Severus sneered in a mocking manner. "My son deserves the best," he said in a parody of Lucius Malfoy.
Harry chuckled before looking down at the paper he was grading and putting a D for Dreadful on the top.
"I suppose your logic forgives you these five years of lies. But don't think that you're absolved that easily. You owe me, big time."
Severus flinched at Harry's evil smirk.
"Umm, are you sure that potion was correct?"
Harry grinned. "I am your son."
Severus took another paper and began reading the student's work. "You seem to be accepting this quite easily," he pointed out.
Harry shrugged and dipped his quill into the blood red ink that Severus graded with. "Would you rather me be screaming at you about how much of a bastard you were? Because I can do that too. No, seriously, you should have seen me when I first read the potion results. I went out cold. Ron and Hermione woke me up, and then I told Remus and Mione and Ron overheard. Ron was pissed- excuse me: is pissed."
Harry's mouth tightened slightly and he ran a hand through his hair.
Severus nodded with a slight sneer. "No wonder Lupin looked at me so oddly when I saw him yesterday. Who else knows?"
"Ginny, Fred, George. They all took it in a stride."
"I had noticed that Ginny had replaced her brother at your side last night."
Harry nodded. "She's got a level head on her shoulders. She has most of the ideal Gryffindor qualities, but a touch of the Slytherin quick wit. I think she picked up some of the Slytherin character from that diary in her first year."
Severus frowned. "Quite likely." He looked to be considering it.
"Now what did you mean that you saw Remus yesterday? Wasn't it full moon?"
Severus nodded. "Yes, it was. I had to give him his Wolfsbane potion. You notice that the spot of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher wasn't filled last night? Lupin shall be taking it."
Harry looked positively gleeful as he said, "Oh, good, anything's better than Umbridge, but Remus will be fantastic."
Severus just nodded, hiding a small smile, as he said, "You need to go now if you want to make it to your study group. Its location should be on your schedule, now go."
Harry stood, and was at the door when Severus called, "My classroom tonight at 7:00. Just because you're back at Hogwarts doesn't mean the lessons end."
Harry shot a wide grin back at Severus and slipped out the door.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for the delay; I was planning on getting this chapter out earlier: I was actually hoping for last weekend. Unfortunately, my Uncle Bob died suddenly of a heart attack on Tuesday, February 22 2005. It was very surprising, as my uncle was very healthy and was only 52. I attended the funeral yesterday. I also apologize for the shortness of the chapter; I already had this written, so I merely typed all that I had, not feeling up to writing more. Please review; I will try to update soon.
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