Part I : Stick and Stone
Chapter Four
of Separation and Introduction
The rest of the day went out in a confused haze for Hermione. The facts and events were all jumbled up. Her mind, still safely hidden behind her angel's magical wall, seemed less capable of grasping the reality around her since the ministry's spell.
The ministry left barely half an hour before nanny Faith was back. She'd explained having forgotten something in her room to Hermione's still slightly stunned parentbefore taking the opportunity to have her planned talk with them. Hermione wasn't sure what it was about anymore. She wasn't even sure her confused parents knew what it was about either. They talked for a while, she made them sign a few documents before leaving again but Hermione didn't particularly care. Her mind remained calm.
By the end of the day, her parents had returned to their normal happy selves and they kept going on and on about their next trip. A trip that would keep them away from England until the new year. It was far removed from the conversation she'd had with them that morning where they had expressed the wish to spend more time at home with her. But they had forgotten all about that conversation and their new resolutions. If anything they seem more reserved than normal. Hermione did not feel perturbed by any of it, her calmness of spirit remained.
After dinner, she hid a plate outside for Harry, in case he'd be back that evening. The Dursleys had been back since the end of the afternoon, but Harry had not been with them. She knew she should be worried about his absence, but that, as well as everything else, was relegated to the back of her mind, in a place that did not touch her.
Even that evening, when she saw Harry walking in the Dursley's home from her bedroom window, a big trunk and caged howl behind him, she did not feel intrigued or even relieved. She felt nothing.
It was way past the time she'd normally fallen asleep, but Hermione was still wide awake in her bed, staring at the white ceiling of her room. She wasn't thinking of anything, she was just there. She didn't even feel tired.
" You're not sleeping . "
She did not jump at hearing her angel's voice.
"I don't feel tired." She turned to the side and looked at her angel, his clothes mixing with the darkness of the room.
" I was waiting outside to see if you would look through your window and come and join me, but you never came."
" I did not think of it."
She did not feel anything at seeing him.
" Yes, that tends to happen when your mind is in that kind of state, especially if you are not used to it."
" Did you fly up the window, Angel?"
He had flown her through her window yesterday, with his invisible wings, she couldn't remember but she was sure of it.
"No, I apparated a few streets away, walked over and entered through the back door."
Hermione did not understand what that meant, but she did not particularly care to know. He came closer to the bed and she sat up while he crouched down to be at her level.
" Look at me."
Her eyes met his black one.
Warmth enveloped her, it felt like someone was hugging her mind. Her vision became blurry and it was only when he broke eye contact that she realised she was crying. The moment her mind caught up to what her body was already feeling, the immense fear, anger and grief she had felt throughout the last days events came crashing down. A large sob escaped and she started crying in earnest.
SS-SS-SS
Severus watched the girl cracking under the pressure of her repressed emotions. A large part of him wanted to go and leave her there, he had done what he came to do; saved her memory, saved her mind.
But really he wanted to leave because he didn't know how to help.
Suddenly, a memory came back to him.
He saw himself at ten years old, crying and Lily holding him to comfort him. He remembered that it had been the first time he had felt so comforted. Before that, his mother had been the only person to hug him and those hugs had felt like stolen moments, the possibility of getting caught and displeasing his father always outweighing the comfort they provided. Being hugged by Lily had been a revelation. Before, in their friendship, he had always been very reticent to any physical contact. That hug had changed everything.
He remembered that a few days later, while talking about the magical world and all they would do once they were at Hogwarts, Lily had brought up the subject of soulmates again. It was a subject that absolutely fascinated her and Severus had already told her everything he knew about the Soulmate Decree.
It was a subject that always made Severus quite anxious. Growing up, his mother would tell him beautiful stories of fated love that made the world feel brighter, but Severus could only think of the possibility that he would be like his mother. He, like her, would be one of the few who would not receive a mark. He knew that it would only mean that his destined soul was a muggle, but the idea that he could have no way of identifying them had terrified him. If he didn't receive a mark, he would have no way to know if he'd made a mistake and given his heart to the wrong person like he was convinced his mother had. He was quite certain that his father hadn't been the muggle destined for his mother. That possibility had kept him from dreaming of his soulmate before.
His interest for the subject had been reignited by Lily's fascination and he could not help but be swept in Lily's fanciful dreams where they would both meet their soulmates at Hogwarts and all be the best of friends. His vision of someone he could talk to about magic and books for hours, that would always be there of him, had been a powerful fantasy. He had promised himself that he would always be there for his soulmate as well.
This promise had pushed him to ask Lily if he could hug her. She had been very surprised because he normally was not really one for physical contact. He had answered her questioning look, with a quiet:
" I want to practise so I can give very good hugs to my soulmate."
Lily had laughed but she had happily indulged him.
She had been the only one to ever benefit from his hugs.
Now would have been the time to use his knowledge of hugs. But the years passed since that time had left him emotionally closed off and the age difference between him and his soulmate left his corrupted mind with the idea that any of his actions would be viewed as either perverted or paternal. Both possibilities maintained him in perfect immobility next to the crying girl.
He had been lost in thoughts so long that he hadn't realised that she had stopped crying and was now observing him quietly.
" How is it, Hogwarts?"
He looked at her for a moment. He wasn't sure what to answer. Seeing her curious face made him remember Lily again and the conversations they would have about the school. This was different of course, this girl would never see the castle while crossing on the boat with the other first years, she would never stand under the sorting hat waiting to see under which House she would spend the rest of her education. It made him sad. He cleared his throat.
" I don't think we should talk about that. It will only make you more sad to talk about what you will be missing out on." He told her, his voice a little gruff.
" Is there no way I could learn magic without going to school?" She asked. "I could do classes through the mail."
She looked hopeful and Severus felt uncomfortable at having to dash her hopes again.
" No, not until you are at least seventeen. Then, you probably could take a correspondence course ."
She looked devastated and about to ask another question when he interrupted her before she could continue; better to tell her all the bad news in one go.
" We need to talk about your use of magic."
She looked at him surprised. He raised an eyebrow at her.
" I saw your fire show a few years ago. Remember?" He told her, thinking of her blue lit hands.
She blushed but, seeing his sardonic expression, she lifted her chin in defiance.
" I thought it was a rather effective defence."
He scoffed and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"It is." She assured him, then added rather snappish. "The last person I used it on disappeared for five years, after all."
She gave him a victorious look. He had disappeared for five years, that was true, however the flames had nothing to do with it.
" Yes, well, if you use it again, you would not see anything disappear. On the contrary, you would see a few ministry officials apparating in your house and be very shocked that your memory is still intact. The ministry has a way of tracking magic done by and around underage school aged kids. Let me make this very clear. If you do any magic, any magic at all, they will know and your secret will be revealed. You would be obliviated immediately and there would be nothing I could do. Do you understand? Do not do magic anymore."
She looked mutinous. He frowned. She needed to understand how dangerous it would be for her to do magic. He himself had not done any magic since coming close to her that evening so the ministry wouldn't pick up on it. He had apparated sufficiently far away for it to remain undetected. He had put on a disillusionment charm there ( she could see through it anyway) and had refrained from doing any magic since. The ministry detected magic that was being cast, not magic that had already been cast, which meant that if he entered the house with already activated spells they would not be detected. The magic at that point being more passive. His disillusionment charms as well as the monitoring spells he had cast on small beads a few days ago and had hidden around the house, would also remain undetected. Those beads would alert him of any physical violence going on in their vicinity.
The same principle applied to the occlumency wall he had just deactivated. The ministry probably would have detected the use of legilimency through a spell, but the connection that had been built between their minds the last time he had been inside, had meant that the use of the actual spell had been unnecessary for him to actually enter the girl's mind.
Anxious for her to understand, he took his " evil teacher " voice.
" Promise me. If you want your mind to stay sane, it is essential that you listen to me and refrain from doing any magic."
She deflated.
" Okay, I promised."
They stayed silent for a moment, Severus was trying to make sure he did not forget any important information she would need to know.
" You should tell Mr. Potter that, if he wants to write some letters to you while he is at Hogwarts, he should refer to you as a half-blood friend who is homeschooled. This way, no one will suspect that you are a muggleborn that, while not at Hogwarts, still knows about magic."
She nodded her head, but he saw new tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. He stayed silent, letting her gather her thoughts. When she did speak, her words shook him.
" I've taken good care of Harry, you know… like I promised. All those years, I made sure he was fed every day,... and I helped him with his homework… and I gave him hugs when he was sad. Like a good guardian angel and a good friend."
" I know."
He felt strange thinking that she had taken on a duty that should have been his. As a child she had felt responsible for Potter's care because he had failed at his own mission. He should have been the one taking care of his best friend's son. But he wasn't able to. All because of his vow to Dumbledore who had ordered him not to interfere with the boy's life before he came to Hogwarts. He wondered if his duty to protect the boy was somehow imprinted on his soul and shared with his soulmate.
" But, he'll be all alone at Hogwarts, with no one to take care of him… without me."
He didn't know if she was sadder over not being there or Potter being there alone. Since he couldn't say anything about the former, he could at least try to reassure her about the latter.
" The teacher and staff at Hogwarts will take good care of him."
She looked at him curiously.
" How do you know?"
He didn't want to tell her that he worked at the school. He wasn't sure which type of role he would have to play for Harry Potter at school but, even if he was his normal stern and despised teaching self, he didn't want reports of his actions to be brought back to his soulmate without him being able to explain everything . So he told her another truth.
"I went there as a child and the staff hasn't changed much."
" So they took good care of you while you were there as a child?"
The innocent question was like a punch to the guts, because they hadn't. They had ignored his bullying situation as well as his parents' situation. He briefly wondered how many children he himself had failed in his willful ignorance, how many requests for help had he never heard because Dumbledore had encouraged him to give a certain impression to the student body and because he was used to letting other people dictate his actions.
He did not know.
"He will be perfectly fine." Severus felt uncomfortable when the sentence came out sounding like another promise to his ears. Like the one he had made ten years ago. He rose from the ground. "I have to go."
" Now?" The girl rose from her bed as well, looking alarmed. " But, I have so many questions! When will I see you again?"
He turned away from her.
" I don't know."
He went to the door. He had stayed longer than he should have. He had done what he had come to do, now he could leave.
" Wait! I don't even know your name or who you are or how come you put spells on the Dursleys' house!"
He looked at her one last time, her face full of questions he definitely didn't want to answer.
" I think I will keep on being your "angel" for now. As for what I am doing, I am doing what guardian angels do best…" He smirked in a way he knew made him look more like a demon than an angel. " Guarding."
With that he stepped out of her room.
HG-HG-HG
Hermione was fussing over Harry. She knew she was. He knew she was as well, but he was indulging her and her bossiness with the patience of someone that was used to it.
She had already asked for the third time if he had packed the new pairs of socks she had given him, when Harry shushed her by enveloping her into a long hug.
Hermione felt tears stung her eyes. She hugged him hard as well. It was nearly nine o'clock on the first of September and it would be the last time they saw each other before Christmas or maybe, even, before the school year ended. Harry wasn't certain he would be back for Christmas.
When they had been able to talk after each receiving their Hogwarts letters, they each had unbelievable stories to tell. Hermione believed that her tale of being submitted to a somehow botched memory spell, she hadn't wanted to tell Harry about the angel, would be better than Harry's, but his incredible journey with a giant man, the tale of his parents' death and the discovery of his status in the magical world had by far eclipsed her own adventure.
They had spent the rest of the summer pouring over Harry's new books. Together they had read each one of them multiple times and, while Hermione had memorised nearly every information in them, Harry was not far behind.
" What if nobody likes me?"
Hermione knew Harry had waited to ask that question for a moment where she could not see his face. She tried to let him go so she could look at him properly, but he held her tighter. She knew he feared rejection. She knew because she always felt the same when meeting new people, except that she would not have the chance to start somewhere new, instead she would be back to the same school as ever.
" I don't see why anyone would not like you, now that Dudley won't be there to scare them into submission."
She felt him nodding his head but he didn't let go of her.
" Remember everything we read about in the book." She told him.
Harry's worry that he wouldn't be able to make any friends at his new school was not new. Since she had never had any friends of her own except for Harry himself, Hermione had not been able to give him any advice on the subject. However, still wanting to help, she had the brilliant idea to try and find answers at the library. She did not understand why she had never thought to look there before, since making friends was not a new issue for her. She really should have thought of finding a solution to that problem in a book before. It turned out that the local library did not have a big section on how to make friends. Hermione had finally chosen a book called How to make friends and influence people. She and Harry read it together. Harry was skeptical about it but Hermione thought that since someone had taken the time to write the book there must be something useful inside. Hermione tried to remember all the lessons inside to give Harry a point by point last minute resume when he interrupted her train of thoughts.
" What if they expect me to be this powerful wizard and they realise that I'm just not."
" I think you should concentrate on being Harry Potter, the amazing boy I know."
" I don't want to be welcomed like a celebrity, everyone wanting to shake my hand and see my scar, like at the Leaky Cauldron."
Hermione managed to disentangle herself from him and flatten his hair to his forehead.
" There, now nobody will be able to see your scar and you don't have to show it to anyone if you don't want to."
" I'm going to miss you."
" I'm going to miss you too, so much. You should go. Before your aunt and uncle notice you're gone. Today would not be the best day to make them mad."
"Ok"
" And remember what to do if someone is trying to mess with you."
Hardy smiled cockily at her.
" I know, I put on the flames and then I go tell a teacher."
She had taught Harry how to make flames appear around his hands when they were younger. It hadn't been easy, Harry's magic was much more intuitive than hers, always manifesting randomly but hers had only ever appeared as blue flames since the first time she had knowingly tried to use it. As a child, it had been simple for her to visualise magic as a flame, something with strength, energy and warmth, and she hadn't been able to coax it in any other form since then. Even her magical outburst at the realisation she would not be allowed to go to Hogwarts had been mostly fire. While Harry was capable of coaxing flames out of his magic as well, his were an unnatural red, his magic still kept on acting out in different forms. She guessed that by the time he came back, his magic would be able to do lots of more interesting things and her little flames would become irrelevant.
They separated and Harry crossed the fence. Suddenly, Hermione could not let him go and she threw herself at him, hugging him like she would never see him again.
" I'll write to you every week."
Hermione nodded, incapable of voicing anything, she forced herself to let him go.
She watched him go, dressed in his cousin's too big clothes. They had tried to adjust them for the occasion and she and Harry had used some thread and needles to hem the pants and adjust his shirt so he could make a good first impression. The result was not very good, none of them were particularly talented seamstresses.
When Harry disappeared inside the house, Hermione felt hollow and full in a way she had never felt before at the same time. She wanted to yell at Harry in despair to come back and not to leave her alone. She wanted to yell at him in anger, why was he allowed to go where she couldn't. She wanted to stay silent in grief for a life that would never be hers.
Hermione took the plate with which she had fed Harry this morning and returned inside her house. Worst of all, Hermione felt jealous, so jealous that a part of her wanted to prevent Harry from going. She wanted him to stay with her. She hates that part of herself.
When she reached the sink her confused feelings could not be held in any longer and she threw the plate into the sink letting out a violent cry of frustration. She felt a bit better.
That sentiment did not last long, when the nanny entered the room with a reproachful expression.
" Now, I'll have none of your temper tantrum young lady."
Hermione was still so furious that she just growled again.
" Now, that's enough, to your corner, immediately."
Hermione felt confused just for a second before she remembered the new rules that her parents had apparently discussed with the nanny. The nanny had asked if as a way to discipline Hermione she could send her somewhere other than her bedroom, arguing that sending her to her bedroom where she had access to all her things, was hardly a punishment. Her parents who had always used such a way to punish her before had agreed and the nanny had suggested that the new location should be a closet close to the backyard door. Hermione did not understand why her parents had agreed to such a change but they were already gone by the time she had been made aware of the change.
" I heard your friend was going away to boarding school today. How sad that he will leave you here all alone."
Hermione whimpered and the nanny took her by the arm and guided her to the wardrobe where they kept most of their winter apparels. Without another word, she shoved her inside.
There was very little place and it was dark and full, the winter coats were heavy and stifling, occupying most of the space. Only by crouching down amongst the boots there, did she find a little space to breathe.
She heard the door close behind her and the lock lock into place. There was a lock on the wardrobe because they put the ice skates in there and her parents did not want her to get in there when she was younger and inadvertently hurt herself with the blades.
Now it seemed they didn't mind her being locked in to be punished, blades or not. She was so mad at them, she felt like she could hate them, an emotion that was far easier when they were gone. Frustrated, Hermione took a boot and threw it at the door. Only silence answered her. She was all alone, Harry was gone.
She thumped her head against the back of the wardrobe. If only she could walk through the winter coats and travel to a magical world like in Narnia, but that was impossible and Hermione had gotten her own opportunity to get to a magical world only for her parents to forbid her from going. And now Harry had left her to go on some magical adventure with the new magical friends he would make at his new magical school where everyone would love him because he was a magical hero. And he would forget all about her, his old, bossy, boring, not so magical anymore friend.
Rage was coursing through her, she threw another boot trying to lessen the feeling but it wasn't working. She felt the emotion raging against her skin and it did not take long before she realised that what she was feeling was her magic coursing along her skin, trying to get out, agitated beyond belief by the furor burning inside of her.
Hermione bit her lip anxiously trying to contain it all inside. She tried to breathe deeply to calm herself but the air was so humid and hot that she felt like she was choking on it. She tucked herself in a small ball, her arms locked around her knee, her chin between them, trying to physically contain what wanted to come out. No magic, she kept repeating it to herself as her magic violently fought her from the inside trying to get out, No magic. No magic. No magic. The word took on her angel's voice. No magic, promise me.
For the first time, Hermione thought back with envy to the way she felt when all of her thoughts and emotions were behind her angel's magical wall. She wanted to go back to feeling nothing, being nothing. She longed for that oblivion and her mind seemed to be searching for it, trying to find a trace of it inside, but it couldn't find anything. All traces of the angel, gone.
She was all alone.
The angel was gone.
Harry was gone.
He had left his cupboard and now she was the one lock in a wardrobe and a part of her hated him for it, even as she loved him for everything else.
MW-MW-MW
Mrs Weasley was hoarding her family around Kings Cross station for the third time. Her group of children was not particularly inconspicuous and she had tried to dress particularly outlandishly for this outing. Suffice to say, they were attracting a lot of attention.
It was the third time they were going around the station and her oldest, Percy, was looking at her like she was losing her mind. The twins were too busy with their usual antics to notice anything amiss and the new first year, Ron, was too nervous to do more than follow her anxiously around. Her youngest, Ginny, was starting to get tired and to drag her feet behind. She was not happy about being the only one not going to Hogwarts this year.
Seeing the time, Mrs Weasley resolved to finally lead the children to the platform. She had promised Arthur that she would try and she had. Trying one last time, she talked really loudly.
" This place is absolutely packed with Muggles. It is worse than Diagon Alley during the sales."
Percy was looking at her absolutely scandalised. Molly dearly hoped that the boy's superior attitude was just a phase and not a permanent trait of his character. Unfortunately, it didn't look like it was and, not for the first time, she wondered if her constant praising of his character in the hope that the twin would learn some responsibility from him had not backfired completely. Well, she would need to talk with Arthur about it .
Arthur had told her that Harry Potter would be coming to Hogwarts this year and that his muggle family, with which he had grown up, did not know anything about magic. Apparently, Arthur suspected that they were not very nice people either and he had asked her to see if she could spot him at the station and help while reporting what she thought of his family. Apparently, he had gone to Dumbledore with this information but the man had not been very bothered by his fears.
They stopped in front of platform 9 and Ginny started to fuss again. In an attempt to keep Ginny involved with their surrounding, Molly ask in the faux questioning tone known to all mothers:
"Now, what's the platform number?"
"Nine and three-quarters!" Ginny piped in, happy to know the answer. But she also restarted her whole litanie of the morning:
"Mum, can't I go . . ."
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
Mrs Weasley ushered her children one at a time, she let the twins play their usual prank. They still believed they could fool her, but of course none of her children were interchangeable. Still, it was by far their least invasive prank so she let them do it, it made them happy and did not create a mess, for the twins that was a win.
She was about to encourage Ron to go through when she heard a small voice from behind.
"Excuse me?"
Molly turned around and immediately she knew. This was Harry Potter, he looked just like his father, if James Potter would have ever looked shy.
Molly gave him a once over and was very sad to realise that it was as Arthur had feared, the boy was very clearly not well taken care of. His clothes were not fitting him well even if Molly could see that someone, maybe Harry himself, had tried to mend them. She immediately felt furious at Dumbledore. He would hear about this, loudly and very recurrently, until he did something about it. It would be a warm day in Azkaban before Molly Weasley let any child be mistreated under her nose.
Looking at the small boy, she bend toward him and asked in her most motherly voice:
"Hello, dear. First time at Hogwarts?"
HP-HP-HP
Harry dashed into the train after the twins helped him put his luggage into the train.
He touched his hairs nervously, making sure that his scar was still covered. He took a seat in an empty compartment, excited to leave the platform and make his way to Hogwarts.
When the red headed boy from the station took a seat on the opposite side of the compartment, Harry took a deep breath and decided to introduce himself. He could do this, he thought. He could make friends.
" Hi! I'm Harry Potter."
The boy's eyes turned big.
" Are you really?"
Harry nodded uncertainly.
" Do you have the… you know, the scar,. They say HE gave you one somewhere before you, you know."
Harry wanted to say that he didn't have one. Apparently, the location of his scar wasn't common knowledge. Even though at the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirell had seemed to know exactly where it was situated. Still, he didn't want to start what could be a new friendship with a lie.
" I do." He answered warily.
The boy looked at him intrigued, but Harry did not feel comfortable indulging his curiosity.
" And you are?"
" Ronald, Ronald Weasley."
It took a moment for Harry to make the connection. But when he did, he could not help himself from exclaiming enthusiastically.
" You're Ron Weasley! Your dad works for the ministry."
Ron seemed very surprised at the exclamation.
" Yes?"
Harry was fascinated, Hermione had drawn quite a colourful picture of Mr Weasley and Harry wanted to know more.
" That is so cool! Are all of your family wizards?"
Ron, who had never been called cool a day in his life, was full of pride while he told Harry Potter all about his Family.
DM-DM-DM
Draco Malfoy did not want to shake hands with Harry Potter. But there were certain things that were expected of a Malfoy that could not be avoided. Malfoys were the best and were treated as such, which meant that he needed to establish his superiority before he even set foot at Hogwarts.
He already knew all of the other purebloods in his years and they were all aware of his position in the pecking order. They had all come to his house before and had been gently reminded of their place by a Malfoy show of riches and political clout. The only pureblood families he hadn't met were those blood traitors that had fallen so far from pureblood traditions that they were not even worth considering.
Half-bloods were also underneath his notice and mudbloods should not even be mentioned. The only exception was Harry Potter. Draco had, of course, heard all about his defeat of the Dark Lord and someone with so much power as a child could not be dismissed. Harry Potter needed to be put in his place.
So Draco had taken Crabb and Goyle with him and had hunted down the half-blood through the train. He knew what Harry Potter looked like, of course, since he had met the wizard at Madam Malkin's in Diagon Alley. At the time, he hadn't been aware of the other wizard's identity, but once his father had come back from some personal business in Knockturn Alley and told him and his mother about the famous wizard's presence in Diagon Alley in the company of a half-giant, it hadn't been very hard to connect the dots.
So when he took a look through the third compartment of the sixth wagon and spotted the same wizard's from Diagon Alley, he knew he had found his target. Taking a deep breath and fixing his superior smile to his lips, he opened the door.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
The dark haired boy looked at him with recognition while the red head stared at him, mouth full of candy. He smirked at that. Malfoys knew how to make an entrance. Now he only needed to ascertain his superiority.
"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle," he said carelessly, keeping the best for last. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
And to finish the effect, he presented his hand. He had seen his father do it multiple times, each time the Minister of magic came around for dinner his father extended his hand always to great effect. The minister always ended up answering the handshake, the expression of pure discomfort on his face, the ultimate proof of his father's power. As the Minister of Magic, he could not refuse the handshake, proving that he was afraid of what the other could do to him, but many other men had refused to touch the Malfoy patriarch. Of course they had every reason to be wary. The Wizarding tradition of avoiding skin to skin contact no doubt came from old families like the Malfoys who, historically, had used a lot of wandless contact curses to get rid of their enemies.
So Draco expected no other reaction than utter discomfort from Harry Potter. He certainly got the reaction he expected from Crabb and Goyle, they gasped and snickered, their pureblood education obviously having included a section on this type of power move.
The ginger boy, no doubt a Weasley, who had started laughing at his introduction was now staring at him with an horrified expression that would have made his father proud. Despite them being purebloods, he had never met a Weasleys even though he knew what they look like. They were blood traitors of the worst sort and putting that reaction on one of their faces while using pure Wizarding power tactics was sweet.
The tactic, however, was not having the desired effect on Harry Potter. Instead of looking sufficiently impressed and fearful, the other boy was looking at him with a large happy smile. His right hand was extended toward his, visibly intending on shaking it. Draco felt himself freeze, staring as the hand moved toward his own like it was under a slow motion spell. This was not supposed to happen. The Boy-who-lived was supposed to fear the idea of touching him skin to skin for fear that a powerful Malfoy curse would render him incapacitated. He was not supposed to shake his hand.
Draco Malfoy did not want to touch Harry Potter, the boy had killed the most powerful wizard in decades as a baby. Who knew what type of things he could do to Draco if they touched. Draco wanted to remove his own hand to avoid any actual contact. He had never shaken hands with anyone before. As the hand came closer, he could feel the power emanating from it. He felt the energy sizzling between their hands. Suddenly, the power did not seem so scary anymore, more enticing and before he could comprehend what he was doing, he reached out. But before their hand could touch, the door to the compartment opened again.
Distracted, Potter let his hand fall back down, looking over Draco's shoulder to the open compartment door. Draco felt like he was out of the trance-like stupor that had taken control of his mind for a moment.
"Sorry," said a voice coming from the compartment's door, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
He looked behind him to see the round tearful face of Neville Longbottom in the doorway. He knew the Longbottoms, the only reasons they were not considered blood traitors was that they were rich and still politically relevant. Still, he had seen Neville Longbottom at a few of the parties he got to attend and the wizard was a poor excuse of a pureblood.
When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
Draco sneered at the display.
" How to make friends and influence people: be helpful, Harry. Come on, Harry." He heard the murmur behind him and he turned just in time to see Harry Potter sporting a new big warm smile that wasn't directed at Draco anymore and looked at Longbottom.
" We'll help you look!"
He walked across the compartment to the overly thankful Longbottom. Wesley rose from his seat and followed goodnaturedly, a candy still in his hands. They both ignored his presence as they went to the hallway. Just before exiting the compartment Potter turned back around to him.
" Are you coming to help?" He asked with a smile. A smile identical to the one he had given Longbottom. Like Draco wasn't the only one deserving of that smile, like even as a Malfoy he would be treated just like everyone else, like he was nothing special. Draco sneered.
" While some people spend their time in the dirt looking for toads, Potter, Malfoys make the world hop around. Remember that."
With that took out his wand, accioed the toad that came flying to his hand from a nearby compartment.
He dropped the disgusting creature in Potter's hand. Before turning around and walking back to his own compartment. Malfoys also knew how to make an exit.
SS-SS-SS
Severus entered the Headmaster's office shortly after the end of the welcoming feast. He'd barely had time to exchange a few jabs with the other head of house about their new crop of students before he'd been summoned away from the teacher's lounge by a conspicuously absent Dumbledore. Minerva had barely started gloating over her acquisition of Weasley, Longbottom, Patil and of course Potter.
The office was in a worse state than usual, books and papers were scattered all around and the door to the Headmaster's private study was open. The Headmaster was inside looking under piles of unidentified rubbish. Severus waited a few seconds for Dumbledore to acknowledge his presence, but of course the man did not.
"You wanted to see me."
"Yes, yes…"
The man turned toward him, still distracted, and Severus was horrified to see that the headmaster was wearing a horrid, frilly, canary yellow, muggle apron .
"What are you wearing?" He asked, baffled.
" I was just doing a few experiments." Dumbledore answered looking perplexed at a purple vial.
Severus entered the adjoining study with surprise and indeed the study looked more like a laboratory full of research and experiments, Alchemical if he had to guess, than a private office.
"Experiments? What kind of experiments?" Severus felt immediately curious.
"Oh you know…" Dumbledore batted his question away with a dismissive gesture. "Life, death, love… nothing too complicated."
Severus huffed in annoyance.
"I see… and you needed me for this, because…" He let his question hang, trying his best to keep his anger in check. He was tired and stressed out from setting eyes on Harry Potter for the very first time ever.
"No no no!" The headmaster turned his back to him again, bent in two and started rummaging in the boxes on the ground. " I need you to help me hide the philosopher's stone. You are aware, of course, of the attempted Gringotts robbery."
Severus was fully annoyed now, Dumbledore was ignoring him while asking for his help as always.
"I see.." The old wizard still had his head in a box and his arse in the air and Severus was rapidly loosing patience. Finaly, he snapped. "Why not eat it. I have a few potions that would make sure it would never come out the other end. I'm quite certain nobody would go looking for it up your arse." He finished more savagely than he should.
Dumbledore stopped what he was doing an instant and looked up at him, considering, before shaking his head.
"I was looking for a solution a little more… exuberant. A little more showy."
" Well, large scale, epically designed obstacle courses, with the accompanying treasure map marked by a big red X, have been quite popular in the past to hide important things with little success."
Dumbledore perked up at that, smiling broadly at him, making Severus scowl in response.
"Yes yes, exactly… perfect. This is why I always take your advice, my boy. I think I should ask a few teachers to participate and create a few obstacles."
"Great, this is turning into a school fair."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at him.
"I can count on you to design an obstacle of course."
" How could I resist participating in such an interesting faculty team building exercise? Of course, we could just drop the stone in a tub of fast acting poison full of poisoned apples and make the tub unspillable. The obstacle would be to dunk your head in and try to catch the stone with your teeth without drinking any poison. That should guarantee some entertainment."
Dumbledore smiled at him.
" I knew you would get into the spirit of things, but I was thinking of something a little more achievable."
Severus crossed his arm and frowned.
"Do you want the stone to be stolen?"
"Oh no…" He answered lightly. " I'd rather not."
Severus was losing his patience and he knew that Dumbledore was playing with him.
"Then why even make the obstacles achievable."
Dumbledore twinkled even more if possible.
"I want it to be so over the top, that nobody looking for the stone would take the time to look for it elsewhere."
Everything became clear suddenly.
" A decoy." He said with confidence. Dumbledore nodded. "And where will you keep the real stone?"
" Here, of course."
Severus looked around.
" Here?"
"Yes, I believe it is somewhere in here. I just can't remember where I've put it."
Dumbledore started looking around again, resuming his search. Severus was alarmed.
"You've lost the stone!"
Severus left his spot, leaning against the wall, to start looking around as well. Dumbledore was looking at a large vial full of thick brown liquid.
"It would seem so. Things tend to get lost when you experiment, as you know."
Severus raised an eyebrow at that.
"You're experimenting with the stone?"
"What else would I need it for?" He was still looking at the vial, a bit perplexed. " I think I left it at the bottom of this vial." He fished out a small round object from the bottom of the vial and inspected it. " Oh no, that's just a lemon drop." He proceeded to eat the candy.
"That's disgusting…" Severus was interrupted by an owl at the window. Dumbledore waved his hand and the window opened, letting the rather clumsy owl drop a red envelope on the Headmaster's desk. It took no time to explode. The shrill voice of a wrathful Grynffidor resounding in the empty office:
ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE,
HOW COULD YOU TELL ARTHUR NOT TO WORRY. I'VE SEEN THE BOY. HE IS VERY WELL TAKEN CARED OF, YOU SAID. WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CONSIDER WELL TAKEN CARED OF, I THINK SOMEONE SHOULD START WORRYING ABOUT THAT FIREBIRD YOU LIKE TO CARRY AROUND. REALLY, HAVE YOU SEEN THE POOR BOY, ALBUS. HIS CLOTHES ARE WORSE THAN THE RAGS I GET RID OFF AFTER SIX BOYS HAVE PASS THROUGH THEM. HIS GLASSES WERE BROKEN AND THEY DON'T EVEN SEEM TO FIT WELL. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. HE IS NOT GOING BACK TO THOSE MUGGLES NEXT SUMMER. YOU WILL TAKE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES, ALBUS OR I'LL MAKE SURE THAT SOMEONE ELSE DOES.
The letter burst into flames. Severus smirked at Dumbledore, it wasn't like he hadn't raised some concerns about the Dursley himself before. Dumbledore rubbed his tired face and exhaled.
" Arthur had a... conversation with Harry's neighbours about a month ago and got the idea that he wasn't treated very well in his family. They are very cross with me."
The man looked positively exhausted, but Severus felt no empathy.
"And you did not consider that they may have a point and that, maybe, the boy should not be sent back to Petunia?"
Dumbledore removed his glasses for a moment to clean them.
"Yes, well, it gave me no pleasure to leave the boy there, I assure you, but, maybe, he won't have to go back next summer." He put his glasses back and started searching the laboratory again. " If only I could remember where I put the stone…"
Severus started searching as well, trying not to touch the more suspect concoctions.
"Now that the boy is a Gryffindor, he'll have ample time to befriend a bunch of Weasleys and they'll officially adopt him. I guess things could be worse. He could be in Slytherin and befriend the Malfoys, then I'd have to suffer his presence for at least part of the summer while visiting the Manor and that would be a tragedy."
"Yes, very fortunate, better Gryffindor than Slytherin or Ravenclaw, still ,it would have been even better if he had been a Hufflepuff…" Dumbledore was distracted again.
"Harry Potter a Hufflepuff!" Severus huffed in disbelief. " Every Potter would have been turning over in their grave."
"Yes, well, we're going to have to keep a close eye on him. There is still a chance that… but no, Hogwarts would have felt it…" Dumbledore suddenly stopped moving and seemed to listen to something only he could hear. " But you do feel something, you know he's here, you're just not too sure how in control he is…" He looked at Severus suddenly, eyes no longer twinkling. " You are going to have to watch him closely, Severus and report anything abnormal to me, anything. I have lots of experiments to do and I do not anticipate having enough time to be extra vigilant."
Severus felt a chill run down his spine, the Headmaster definitely knew something he didn't. It was something to consider in the future. For now, he nodded gravely.
"I'll keep an eye on Potter."
SS-SS-SS
Severus started this class like he started every single one of them, but he knew this one was different. He needed to establish his role the way they had talked about with Dumbledore many times before. From this day forward, no one would doubt an instant that if left to his own devices, Severus Snape was not on Harry Potter's side.
He had seen the boy for the first time at the welcoming feast the day before. He looked just like his father, so it wouldn't be such a hardship to make him feel as small and powerless as James Potter had made him feel.
A part of him would even relish in this revenge.
He read the list of names and finally reached the name he had been waiting for. He paused.
" Ah, yes," he said softly, his eyes searching for Potter in the room. "Harry Potter,..."
He was about to continue with a cutting disdainful comment when a sight stopped him. Next to the boy, on his desk, was the small figurine of a red snake. The boy of course would not have known that he could see it, since the figurine was invisible to everyone else.
He would not have known that the figurine like its brother currently residing with a curly haired witch at number 6 Privet Drive, had been a gift from Severus.
So he closed his mouth a moment, his emotions a jumbled mess and he immediately started occluding. His gaze, he knew was now cold and empty, left the boy while he continued calling the next name down the list.
He had just failed Dumbledore, his role as a spy, maybe even his promise to Lily, but a small part of him thought that maybe he hadn't betrayed the hope of an eleven years old girl, who wanted her best friend to be well taken care of at Hogwarts.
AN: Hey! It's been a while. Thank you for all of your reviews! If you recognise any line of dialogue, it's from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. I hope you all like this new chapter, it's the longest yet, more than 8500 words! Hopefully most of those are interesting! Thank you reading!