Title:
The boy that forgot to die

Author:
evil minded

Date:
November, 17th 2011

Timeframe:
Second year at Hogwarts

Summary:
AU / Harry Potter comes back for his second year at Hogwarts, but something is not the way it should be, and Severus Snape seems the only one able to help the boy that forgot to die … will he manage to really help the Gryffindor before it is too late?

Disclaimer:
I don't really care about Lockhart, Quirrel or Umbridge, nor about most of the other characters in HP … I, however, would like to own one particular Severus Snape – regrettably I do not, Rowling does … but well – I'm borrowing him for a while … just to torture him a bit … I am evil minded after all …

Rating:
M – Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16

Author's Notes:
Uhm … alright … I have to admit … English is not my language by birth … so … please do not kill me while reading … neither for the – perhaps – sad language, nor for the subject of my writing …
Also, this is a story written for NaNo, a story written within thirty days only and even though I go over the chapters before uploading them – I do apologize if it might not have the same quality at one point or another than those stories of mine you are used to by now … thank you …

Warning:
Story contains bad language and swearing.
Don't ever use such, it's neither good manners nor proper use of language and never mind how 'cool' it might sound, it surely isn't a sign of intelligence. It won't get you anywhere and people will think less of you if you are unable articulating properly.
Story contains references to child neglect.
Child neglect is a really, really serious thing, and there are a lot of children in our world that are neglected, children that lack food, clothing, often love, and perhaps even a roof over their head – and closing our eyes, and pretending it does not exist – is no solution …
Story contains references to child abuse.
Child abuse is one of the most evil things, and there are a lot of children in our world that really would need help but have to live without hope – and again, closing our eyes and pretending it does not exist – is no solution … instead show sympathy, and understanding … and handle people, children as well as adults, which are showing any signs – whichever – of once having been abused … with understanding and with help …
What does not mean I am not as evil as I pretend to be … ^.~ … believe me – I am …

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

Previously in "The boy that forgot to die"
"Mr. Nott." He then waved the boy over to his desk, reaching him the vial with the potion Theodore had been brewing during their last potions class. "A sip if you please."
And the boy obeyed, took a sip, looking at him in a mixture of relief and fear still. Relief after the easy question he had asked of Draco and fear because he still feared he might go not as easy on him as he had on his godson.
"Very well, Mr. Nott." He then said, leaning against his desk. "Would you please tell me what the house elves had served for breakfast today?"
"Uhm … it's been oatmeal, pancakes, strawberries and bananas." The boy said, answering his question. "Together with tea and orange juice."
"Thank you, Mr. Nott." He then said, offering the vial with the counter potion to that boy as well, to take a sip.

The boy that forgot to die
Chapter seventeen
How would you feel?
Or a word please

He'd had all the Slytherins at the front and all of them had gotten easy questions from him, having their fun even at his questions that surely never would have qualified as questions for testing a truth serum to begin with, seeing as anyone knew the answers to them anyway. He then had called Harry to his desk.

Flashback

"Harry, you are next, come here please." He said, intentionally calling the boy by his given name to not only make his point, but also to take some tension from the small ghost form that seemed to snap into half at any moment. And nevertheless, the boy was looking more than just scared while slowly he came to the front of the classroom, barely able to keep his composure and self-control, barely able to keep his feet in contact with the floor, nearly floating to the front, but well, he had known that the boy would be scared to death.

"Just trust me." He softly said after Harry had taken the vial with the potion he had brewed a few days before, the small and ghostlike fingers trembling, but not taking a sip of it, looking up at him pleadingly instead. "I won't hurt you." He then added quietly, and taking a deep breath, the boy took a sip of the potion.

"Well done, Harry." He said so softly, that at the best one of his Slytherins might have heard his comment, and he dared a small smile at his son. "Now, would you please tell me, if your owl has white or black plumage?" He then asked, his voice back to normal so that he was well heard in the classroom.

"It has white plumage, sir." The boy answered, his voice trembling but looking very relieved and he smiled at the boy, ignoring the Slytherins' chuckling and the Gryffindors' gasps.

"I do thank you, Harry." He then said, offering the counter potion to his son, who by that actually smiled up at him.

End flashback

Of course, he had heard the boy's quiet "thank you, sir" when Harry had gone back to his seat and he had inclined his head, knowing that his Slytherins – and Draco especially – were watching him very close by now.

He then had called over Miss Patil, had asked her what her eye colour was, and the girl answered with a "brown, Professor". Well, neither Miss Patil nor Mr. Longbottom had been with the crowd listening to Granger's reading nor had they bullied Harry so far. He didn't see a reason to punish them or to teach them a lesson.

Longbottom, he had asked of the name of his grandmother and like expected – the boy had answered truthfully with an "Augusta Longbottom, sir", and he had inclined his head, given the boy the counter potion and then send him back to his seat.

The next he had called to the front had been Miss Brown and he had asked her a more difficult question – as to why she would listen to someone's privacy being read in the common room – a question that not only had her squirming uncomfortably but some other Gryffindors as well.

With a very red face the girl had answered that she had wanted to know what was being read so that she wouldn't be the only one left out.

The next and surely more difficult part had been – Granger.

Flashback

"Miss Granger, if you would come here, please." He called the Gryffindor girl to the forefront and even if he knew that the girl was not entirely against Harry being a ghost but only – scared of some sort – he wouldn't allow her to invade anyone's privacy in a way she had done and had she been in his house – well, she surely wouldn't have gotten away so easily.

The girl – after Miss Brown's question – already knowing that hers surely wouldn't be as easy as had been Harry's or the Slytherins' either, looked up at him as if to ask him to go easy on her, and for a moment she seemed to refuse the potion she had brewed during the last lesson.

"The potion, Miss Granger, I do mean it." He drawled, not pulling his hand that held the vial back, and finally the girl took the vial and took a sip of her truth serum.

"Seeing that you seem to regret your own actions later – I will go easy on you and only ask of you: why have you read Mr. Potter's private thoughts to the entire common room two weeks ago?" He then asked, sure that Granger would call this question anything but "going easy", but he wanted to make her realizing what her actions had done to Harry – and there were a few questions he could have asked that surely were worse than this one was.

"I don't know." The girl quietly answered, and he lifted his eyebrow at her. "I just didn't think! And I've been so angry, and startled, and I wanted to know what the others thought. and I wanted to know what had happened, and what Harry had to say, and there were so many things, and I just didn't think of it, I just wanted Harry to feel bad because he had made me feeling bad."

"How would Mr. Potter have made you feeling bad, Miss Granger, seeing that he had done nothing to you except of – suddenly having died and being a ghost?" He wanted to know, not really understanding.

"Because just that!" The girl then said. "We've been friends! And we've been always together and done things together and suddenly … I just didn't understand and … and I still don't understand it! How could that … and what will happen now? What will happen to Harry and what will happen to our friendship and what … I just … and I didn't want to hurt him, and I'm really sorry but I … I just don't understand it, and I don't know what …"

Unable to go on the girl stopped, sobbing and with a deep sigh he pulled the girl's trembling form close for a moment, startling not only the girl with his actions but causing the Gryffindors to gasp in shock as well, before reaching a vial with a calming potion and then the counter potion towards her, the girl obediently taking both.

"I do understand your fears and insecurity, Miss Granger, but I do not understand your need to hurt your friend only because you have been hurt as it has not been Mr. Potter who has hurt you but – simply fate." He then said, trying to sound calm. "Mr. Potter has done nothing to you personally, he has done nothing to anyone in fact. He simply has – died in some ways, surely nothing he is to be blamed for. I am sure that – if you ask him, then he surely will tell you that he has not been planning on dying and startling you, or frightening you, but that he has been startled just as much and that he himself is scared just as much. Anyone would be. Imagine you awake one morning and realize that you are dead, suddenly. Imagine you are one day feeling your ghost leaving your body, and imagine you in your ghost form, having to watch your dead body – or your body dying. How would you feel?"

He took a deep breath and then cast a long look at Harry, the boy sitting there in the back of the class, pale and rigid, his green eyes larger than they normally were and his fingers trembling. A glance at his Slytherins told him that they were startled, that they were shocked at the thought, knowing what exactly his words meant as they – not being strangers to the subject of abuse – surely had noticed the bruises on Harry's translucent face and neck. And they could add one and two together. A glance at the remaining Gryffindors he had not questioned now showed – Thomas and Finnigan were casting questioning glances at Weasley who looked defiantly and so they imitated him, apparently Weasley being their 'leader'.

"As for what will happen now, Miss Granger – this is up to you." He then said. "You may continue with avoiding Harry, what surely will destroy the last remnants of your friendship, or you might try to overcome the - 'creepy feeling' – and try to make the best of the situation in simply – approaching a ghost child. Think of how you would feel, and I am sure you will manage. You may go back to your seat. Misters Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas please." He then called the three boys to the front of the classroom, and he got off his desk, meeting them in his usual Snape-like stance, towering over them.

"A sip please, each of you." He said, holding out three vials with the truth serum. For a moment Finnigan and Thomas looked as if they might refuse, but then they followed Weasleys example – who had downed his potion in one go, defiantly looking up at him and even his stance showed that – he wouldn't give in. Foolish boy!

"Hmm." He made, clearly amused and lifting his eyebrow. "A sip clearly would have been enough, but well, the entire vial won't harm you either. It will just increase the time and will take effect for longer than the hour a truth serum normally works for – two or three days, I suppose. But be it. So – how is it, that three pre-teenagers at the age of twelve years feel the need of – urinating on the bed of one of their classmates?" He then asked, not impressed at the shocked faces of the three boys who surely had not thought of him asking this particular question. Those idiot boys surely had thought that he would question them on their misuse of privacy like he had done with Brown and Granger only.

"Ron told us to." Finnigan answered, his face as red as a tomato and his look went from the class to Harry, back to the class, and then back to him, Snape while Weasley hissed an angry "shut up, you idiot" at the boy. "He'd said, that a ghost wouldn't sleep in a bed anyway and that he wanted to know if a ghost would mind a wet bed to begin with. I'm sorry, really, I've only thought about it later, when Harry had been laying on the floor beside the bed, to sleep on the floor. I didn't want that, but … what should I have done? I …"

"For once, you could have shown this Gryffindor bravery you are so well known for, and you could have gone against Mr. Weasley's – 'order' – as not only is it revolting and sickening, urinating on someone else's bed, and such a behaviour with twelve years of age! You should be ashamed of yourselves! All of you three! I definitely am ashamed of such beastly imbeciles as you are, and were you in my house, be assured that you would have been punished in a more severe way than you already are. Your actions towards one of your own classmates are unspeakable!"

"So what!" Weasley had the nerve to shout, the truth serum taking over, together with his anger. "What's it to you? You're not our head of house!"

"No, I am not, Mr. Weasley, luckily for you." He drawled at the boy. "And nevertheless, I am a teacher here at Hogwarts and so you are a student of mine as well as is Mr. Potter, and as your teacher it is in my hand to punish you as well, as it is in my hand to protect Mr. Potter from further abuse and bullying his own house is bestowing upon him. But if you are so sure that you have done nothing wrong – we could also address your mother with what you have done, Mr. Weasley, I am sure that Molly will be very pleased with your actions, do you not think so?"

"So what?" The boy screamed at him. "I don't care! I …"

"You better keep a grip …"

"Please …"

"Uncle Severus …"

Looking up at Draco who had called him, and who had called him with 'uncle Severus', and in class so, openly, something he never had done before, well he noticed the boy looking between him, Snape, and Harry who had uttered the small 'please' and upon taking in the deathly pale face, the tears and the boy's trembling form – he took a deep breath.

"Seeing that you foolishly have emptied the entire vial with your truth serum – well, it will last for three days, and I am sure that many of the other students will ask you very awkward questions during this time, Mr. Weasley. What you have done is not only disgusting, but gruesome as well. You are dismissed. The entire class is dismissed."

"Uhm … the counter potion, sir?" Finnigan asked, looking at him with large eyes and he lifted his eyebrow at the boy – together with another vial that was empty by now, the one with the counter potion.

"I am so sorry to tell you – it is empty." He smirked at the three boys, condemning them to three days of being unable to tell anything than the truth and he knew that his Slytherins would make sure that the other students would learn of it, too.

End flashback

The classroom had been empty within the minute and he had kept holding the small ghost for several minutes until the rocking and trembling form had calmed down enough to be reasonable and to understand – he was alone in the classroom with him, Snape, his father.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

After that Harry had been really clingy for at least two days, the small ghost form barely leaving his side and he had been lucky that it had been the last class of the week before the weekend, so that he had been able keeping the boy close in the privacy of their quarters. Of course, he would have liked watching Weasley being questioned by other students, knowing that exactly that would happen, but Harry had been more important to him than Weasley's humiliation, even back then already, and he huffed at himself while he watched Harry going over to Draco, giving the blond a shy smile.

He could hear Draco growling a "let's get out of here, it's weekend now" and he was glad that at least this part of Harry being a ghost, his son and re-sorted, had gone well, Harry having found very protective friends in Slytherin and his Slytherins having found a very damaged, but a very kind and loyal friend as well in this small ghost.

It hadn't taken him much to convince his snakes, Draco as well as the other second year Slytherins and his prefects having already noticed some strange changes in not only Harry Potter – except that one big change of him being a ghost now – and his behaviour lately, but in him, Snape and his new closeness to the Gryffindor boy as well. They rather quickly had accepted Harry in their midst then. It had been a different story with Harry, however, and he wasn't even able to blame the boy for it.

Flashback

"Do I really have to, sir?" The boy asked and he placed his hand on the still so bony shoulder to reassure his son.

"You are a part of this house and so – yes, you do have to." He answered, trying to sound as calm as possible and as reassuring as possible.

Of course, he knew that none of his Slytherins would try anything, that they neither would bully Harry nor that they would hurt him physically. On the contrary – he had seen the curious looks Draco had thrown at him every now and then lately, and he had noticed the whispers amongst his Slytherins just as well. They were not stupid, after all, and they knew that something was going on – and that it concerned their head of house and the boy ghost that suddenly was – handled differently by him, Snape.

Well, they would get their answers tonight.

"'M scared." The boy admitted and for a moment he frowned. To his knowledge Harry bloody Potter never had been scared and especially not of facing some Slytherins, neither alone nor in the presence of others. "They won't accept me and they … dunno …"

Turning he stepped in front of Harry, startling the boy in the process but for now he ignored the flinch the small ghost gave away before he knelt onto one knee in front of his son, grabbing the pale face at the chin so the boy had to look at him.

"Listen to me." He then said. "I do know that you are scared, and I do understand your reasoning perfectly. You have been known as a Gryffindor only so far, and my Slytherins haven't made it easy for you either. But you are a part of this house, and I can promise you – my snakes will give you a chance – if you do give them one as well. Will you do that?"

There was no verbal answer, but the boy nodded at him, even if those green eyes still held doubt and even fear.

"I do thank you for at least trying." He said and a moment later he stood and continued leading the boy to the Slytherin common room.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

He gave the password openly for Harry to hear and then he entered, leading his son inside, his dark eyes immediately surveying the room and the situation. Some of the second years were sitting near the fireplace, playing a game of gobstones or 'sorry', the fourth years were sitting over at the tables, writing on an essay and the seventh years – including his prefects – were sitting in another corner, discussing. The third year students were scattered around the common room, reading or whispering to each other, enjoying their time before curfew.

His fifth years were on their yearly outing with Poppy at the present time and the sixth years were in herbology to study night active plants. The firsties were already in bed, sent in early by him due to them trying to leave their dormitory last night.

In other words – those students he wanted here, were here, namely the second, and third year students who – except for the first years – would have the most contact with the boy, and his first year students, he would have a word with them separately tomorrow. He also wanted the seventh years, including his prefects here at the present time, seeing that they were his oldest and therefore would keep an eye on any future situation to prevent anything that might arose during the next few days, until Harry and his snakes had gotten used to each other, while at the same time not all his students were present so that the common room wasn't crowded but rather comfortable at the moment.

"A word please." He quietly said, while leading Harry over to the second year students near the fire and waving the other present Slytherins, the third and seventh years over.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

To be continued

Next time in "The boy that forgot to die"
Come here, Harry

Added author's note
thank you for reading - and yes, I would appreciate it if you took the time to review this chapter too … thank you …

House Cup:
At the present time it looks like this:
38 Points - Slytherin
07 Points - Gryffindor
27 Points - Ravenclaw
07 Points – Hufflepuff