Title:
Twenty-one days

Prequel to:
A few days more

Author:
evil minded

Date:
November, 8th 2009

Timeframe:
Fourth year at Hogwarts

Summary:
AU / Death Eaters besiege Hogwarts. A spell from Dumbledore is going astray. A cauldron explodes during potions class. And the old castle enfolds its own magic. Can some students survive for the next twenty-one days?

Disclaimer:
Did you see Severus alive at the end of 'The deathly hallows'? no?

Do you think I would have had him died if I had written those books? no?

Then you know that 'Harry Potter' does not belong to me … nor does Severus … regrettably …

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 twenty-one days
He got to his feet and pulled the teenager with him before he led him back towards the classroom, towards the mattress that was the boy's, and where he pushed him down until the teenager lay flat. He threw the blanket over the small form, casting a quick glance towards Theodore, Draco, and then over the other students that watched him, again wondering how long the boy would make it. He watched him for a few minutes more until sleep had claimed the teen and then he left the mattress and went back to his desk. Theodore and Harry both were sleeping, resting from their emotional stress. They would be fine in the end, he promised.

Chapter eight
Day four - Thursday, fifth of September
Or – kitchen duties and interviews

Well, the moment had come, and there was no cataneo root left. So, he had – well, in lack of a better word – brewed a kind of – again in lack of a better word – soup with some other plants and roots he held down here and he would be able to do so for at least tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Perhaps even until Sunday. After that – it would go downhill, and he would have to use more dangerous ingredients.

But well, he was a Potions Master, wasn't he? He would manage. Somehow.

He had fixed a few parchments to the blackboard earlier, plans for some duties, one list for kitchen duties, one for classroom duties, and one for bathroom duties. There wasn't much to do, really. It was just washing up the bowls they used for their – well, soup. Again, he snorted at the term. It was keeping the classroom tidy, what wasn't much of a task as there wasn't much they had brought down here anyway, and it was keeping the bathroom clean. And he did not intend to force any of them to take on a task. They could enlist themselves into the plans to earn points if they so wished, but he would not force them.

It was rather something he gave them to keep themselves occupied, nothing more. But he had already noticed that the list for tidying up the classroom was more interesting for them than kitchen or bathroom duties. Well, it had to be expected and he would just do it himself later while the brats were sleeping.

What had been a surprise had been Potter – Harry, he corrected himself mentally – enlisting his name into the plan for kitchen duties. He guessed that the boy would be used to such tasks after living with the Dursleys and he growled darkly at the reminder of what those monsters had done to the boy.

Honestly, he himself knew best how much he had loathed that boy. But not even he would have mistreated a child, any child, in such a way. And honestly, recent events simply made it impossible to do so anymore, to loath that boy anymore.

Not only had that boy acted more reasonably than even some of his Slytherins, considering Crabbe's actions yesterday, asking a fellow student for food they all needed right now, but the boy actually had tried to be of real help. And considering the fact of how unwell he was, it was just the more a reason for him to let loose of his loathing and seeing reason for himself. The boy had done his best in the worst of situations and under the worst of conditions - just as he, perhaps, always had. If the boy had come back to Hogwarts in such a condition this year, then surely, he had come back in such a condition last year too, and probably each year before. So, the boy had been unwell and nevertheless he had done his best – and successfully, so.

And that the boy had been unwell, still was unwell, that much was obvious.

Again, he snorted while he cast a look into the direction of the kitchen, where Harry and Theodore right now were in.

Harry might have been used to pain, to hunger, to tiredness and to exhaustion, to fear and to feeling out of control due to his life with the Dursleys, but that didn't mean that he did not feel the effects anyway. He felt the effects as much as any of the other children. And he himself, he had to admit. But Harry did feel them even more as he was already afflicted by earlier beatings and starvations he had suffered from, during the holidays.

Running his hand over his face Snape sighed. No, there really was no reason for him to still loath that boy. He was not that spoiled prince that he always had accused him of being. He was not more selfish than any of his Slytherins.

Again, he snorted. That was an understatement.

The boy wasn't selfish at all and right now in this very situation they were in, he was about to learn that Potter would give the shirt off his back if necessary – or the very last cataneo root for that matter. The boy rather tried to please, than to annoy, and he had just never seen it that way, had been annoyed by the boy's antics.

Well, he would allow the boy to brew the first batch of nutrient potion.

The young Gryffindor was right after all in what he had said to Weasley yesterday morning – learning would help to distract them. So, he would allow them to brew potions.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

'… istry of magic has decided that this special department will be established until October the first. Many witches and wizards have already expressed their anger at the minister's decision, but Cornelius Fudge refused to step back from his choice of the head of the new department. According to the minister, Clark Henson will be the best man for the job, never mind what the rest of the wizarding world thinks.'

"What did he decide now?" Harry asked with a shaking of his head.

"Dunno." Theodore answered, shaking his head, too, and looking at the wireless wizarding radio that stood on the sideboard, the drying cloth held loosely in his hands. "But I'm sure it is as spectacular as everything else he came up with."

"And as dangerous." Harry huffed. "Really, and people say that Hagrid is dangerous."

"You have a point, Potter." Theodore, too, huffed, but then he grew serious. "Harry, I meant. If you don't mind."

"I don't." Harry shrugged his shoulders. "As long as you don't mind me using Theodore instead of Nott."

"Say Theo." The other boy shrugged, too. "That's what Draco and Blaise call me."

"'k …" Harry agreed, turning his face back towards the source of the news.

'Hogsmeade, England.

Five days after the tragic incidents at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, which had led to the castle's shutdown of some parts of the dungeons, the seventeen students and one teacher, Severus Snape, Potions Master and head of Slytherin house of Hogwarts, are still missing. The fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins had been in the potions classroom the moment the attack had happened and since then headmaster Albus Dumbledore has been unable to find a way to undo the castle's wards.'

Theodore and Harry exchanged a quick glance, and both stopped in their work again, giving their attention entirely to the news that rang out from the magical device on the counter.

'We have no information as to how those seventeen children and one adult are doing or if they are still alive, as every way of communication with them is cut off from the wizarding world. The rumours that had swept throughout the wizarding world that they might have already died during the attack on September the second, due to a potions accident during class, has never been proven correct. In fact, headmaster Albus Dumbledore has informed us that Professor Snape has been talking to the picture of Marlow Venenatus only hours after the incident.

Since then, however, Venenatus has not been able to settle back into his own frame that is guarding the Professor's quarters and has found refuge in a picture in the hospital wing instead, so we have no further word of what happened in the dungeon classroom since September the second.

The castle had been attacked by Death Eaters in the morning hours of the first day of classes, and one of the stray spells had – so the headmaster – intermixed with an exploding cauldron in the potions classroom, what had caused the castle to shut down this area in the first place.

Each attempt to get the students out, or food down into the dungeons has failed, and already the rumours are spread throughout the wizarding world that they might be starved to death, already. We hear Professor Doctor Zaid Arcata who is our guest today. Good morning, Professor Arcata.'

'Good morning, Mr. Allison.'

'What would you say, Professor, do those students have a chance of being still alive? After four days of imprisonment in the dungeons without food?'

'If they have survived the accident in the first place, what is proven correctly as Professor Snape has been conversing with the picture of Venenatus, then they still will be alive. A human being can go without food for at least two weeks if water is available what – if I take Professor Dumbledore's words correctly – is the fact. And as they are locked in the potions classroom, their chances of surviving even longer than those two weeks are even higher than if they were locked in any other classroom. Professor Snape will be able to brew at least nutrient potions. I, however, believe that there might be a few more edible things in a potions laboratory, and thus the Professor might be able to keep them alive for longer than that.'

'So, they won't die at all due to those nutrient potions?'

'Nutrient potions need a basis they can work with and even then, they will keep a human being alive only that long. In other words, of course, they will die eventually, but their chances of surviving much longer are much higher than if they were imprisoned in – let me say in the charms classroom, or in the transfiguration classroom, for example. But, nevertheless, those potions will not keep them alive forever.'

'How will the imprisonment affect those students? And how will it affect Professor Snape?'

'Well, concerning Professor Snape, he will have to deal with seventeen students who are hungry, frightened and soon physically and mentally exhausted. He, however, is not only an adult and a Potions Master, but he is a teacher and a head of a house, no less. He is a professional and he will be able to deal with the panic attacks the students already might have fallen into. The students themselves, as I said … well, they will be hungry, scared and exhausted. How scared and exhausted, that surely will differ from student to student, depending on the level of their individual strength. Some might be more scared than others, and some might be weaker than others by now. It really is not possible to say. What I, however, can say is, that they all have surely had a really hard time up to now and it will get harder with each day they are locked down there.'

'What would you say will happen if they are not freed anytime soon?'

'Well, as I said, they will be able to survive for maybe two weeks more. But, of course, they will get weaker and weaker with each day. If Professor Snape is able to get them sleeping as much as possible, then he might be able to keep them relatively calm for some time more. But that, too, will change eventually and before they might be too weak to do much, there will surely be a lot of panic attacks to be dealt with. Not to mention the fact that some of the children might try to find something that would seem edible to them what – in a potions laboratory – might be, however, dangerous, poisonous and deadly. Otherwise, some of them surely will begin to fight each other, and there is no way to say how far those fights will go. On the other hand, it even might be possible that they come closer and form friendships where before had been the distance between the two houses. It is really not possible to say what will happen in such a situation.'

'You mentioned the potions laboratory, Professor, but they are locked in the potions classroom. Is it the same, then?'

'No, it is not the same. As I am informed however, the potions laboratory is attached to the potions classroom as Hogwarts is a practical wizarding school and not only a theoretical. The students actually are brewing potions, and thus they need a separate laboratory. What actually is fortunate in that case, as safety regulations say that each potions laboratory needs at least a bathroom, a small kitchenette and a rest room attached to the laboratory in case of an emergency. And as it is a school laboratory, I guess there will be the Professor's office, too, so they actually have a small – let us call it 'flat' down there.'

'So those missing children will be able to at least take a shower and have a relatively normal way of living, am I right?'

'Relatively spoken, yes. But we have to remember that those children are just that – children. And children need not only food and a shower or a bathroom where they can care for their needs. They need fresh air and sun, not to mention freedom. And being locked in a dungeon will only get them depressed and miserable. Not to mention the pain hunger will soon cause and the tiredness, the exhaustion and the fear they might feel. So no, I would not say that they have a relatively normal way of living right now.'

'I might have chosen my words wrongly a bit. Of course, we all know how hard this might be for them, but I just wanted to know if they are able to use at least a bathroom to care for their needs.'

'That they are.'

'We have been informed by headmaster Dumbledore that right now they are not able to use magic down in the dungeons. So how do you think they will manage to sleep on the floor without beds? And staying warm without warming charms?'

'Well, magic that is drained does not stop at once. It stops slowly and we can just hope that they had been able to transform the desks or chairs from the classroom into beds before that had happened so they are, at least, off the floor for sleeping, even if it surely will be far away from being comfortable during the night, actually. Sleeping in such a situation might be very important to give not only the body but the mind as well some much needed rest, but at the same time it will be rather difficult. The children's minds will be occupied with worry and with thoughts about the situation, about their future. And, of course, there is the fact that they are old enough to know that maybe they actually might die. Then there will be the question as to who will be the first one to die, and how they will react to it. They are young teenagers, and they will think about such things.'

'Not a comforting thought, I guess.'

'No, surely not. Concerning the lack of warmth, well, this will be an added problem for them. Even if it is not winter yet, the dungeons will be rather cold, especially during the nights. But if they are freezing, then their bodies will work. Their muscles will tremble in order to get them warm. But that on the other hand will take energy away, energy their bodies would need to survive. So yes, they actually do have a problem with not being able to cast spells.'

'You mentioned that they might think of dying, Professor, and who of them might die at first. With the list of the students we have, which of them, would you say, have the best chances to survive and who might be the first to die?'

'I really cannot, and surely do not want to give such a predicament away. Not only because it is nearly impossible to say so, but because I do not want to crash any hopes some parents, siblings, friends – or the students themselves might have.'

'The students themselves? Do you actually think of those seventeen students who are locked in the dungeon?'

'Yes, it actually might be possible that they have a way of hearing these news, and to predict anything would only crush their hopes and destroy their spirits.'

'That might be true, and I apologize for my thoughtless words. We say thank you for your information, Professor Arcata, and go back to our regular program. We will, however, hear more of those tragic happenings at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, that have the entire wizarding world in a breathless grip, and we say hold on to those seventeen students and Professor Snape. You are not forgotten, and each academic institution is looking for a solution to rescue you. This was Dung Allison with the newest reports of the tragedy of Hogwarts.'

Again, Harry and Theodore shared a surprised look, just as they had done a few times during the news report, but then they went back to their work. It wasn't much, really, eighteen bowls, a few glasses, spoons and the pot Snape had used, and the cooking utensils, a knife, the cutting board and the ladle, but Snape had ordered them to work slowly and to take a rest whenever needed. And so, they did, no one could say that they were not obedient students, after all.

"This guy said two weeks." Theodore finally said, breaking the silence they had worked in for a few minutes. "But you have not eaten for ages, I guess. Have you?"

"No." Harry simply answered, ignoring the other boy for a few moments more. But then he turned and lowered his head to one side, his eyes on the Slytherin that wasn't a Slytherin anymore.

Theodore Nott had the same nightmares as had he. And Theodore looked as tired, and as scared, as he was, and as battered up. So – maybe he had been through the same as he had been.

"It's crap." He finally said. "What this guy said, about two weeks. It's absolute crap."

"How so?" Theodore asked, setting the bowels away onto a shelf above the counter.

"Because one can go without food for much longer if water is available." Harry answered. "That and a slice of bread or a soup from time to time. So, stop worrying, we will survive much longer."

"But you haven't eaten anything close to a meal for ages, I guess, the way you look like."

"That might be, but listen, Theo, I've lived with the Dursleys my entire life and each summer I have to go back there. So, I do know. I've managed months without a real meal."

"But you won't manage as long as the rest of us, will you?" Theodore asked, looking aside. He had asked a question he had not wanted to ask. The smaller Gryffindor might come to the conclusion that he might be the first one to die. And he did not want that. But he just wondered. He wondered since this report, since what this doctor professor, or whatever he was, had said. Potter might be Potter. And Potter might be a Gryffindor, or a former Gryffindor, whatever. But Potter was not that bad, and they shared the abuse they both went through each summer.

And now they shared being imprisoned in the dungeons, too.

The other boy, however, gave a small laugh away.

"You forget that I'm used to." He said. "I won't die so soon, so stop worrying. I do believe what Professor Snape said earlier. We will make it out of this mess alive. Somehow."

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

Snape lifted his head from the book he was reading the moment Harry and Theodore entered the classroom, and he watched them sitting at a desk together, still conversing with each other. A fact that actually made him feeling pleased.

Draco got up from his mattress and went over to the two, as did Longbottom. Neville! He mentally corrected himself. Both, Draco and Neville, took a seat at the same table, Draco beside Harry and Neville beside Theodore.

He cast a quick glance over the other students, judging their reaction at that, but he found nothing that was cause to worry. Only Weasley – yes, try it as he might, he just couldn't bring himself to call the other boy by his given name in his mind yet – looked disappointed, as if he felt betrayed.

"Finished?" Draco asked while he leaned back in his chair until the furniture's front legs hung in the air.

"Yap." Theodore answered, grinning, and Snape lifted his eyebrow. The boy looked much more relaxed than he had done before he had accompanied Harry into the kitchen. "And you should see Harry dancing one day."

"Dancing?" Draco gave a snorting laugher. "You're not serious!"

Harry, too, smiled at that, but he gave a gentle shove at Theodore's shoulder.

"Telltale!" He accused, but still with a smile on his face.

"Well, it's true." Theodore said, laughing now. "You should have seen yourself."

"Why did you dance, Harry?" Longbottom – Neville, asked curiously.

"I didn't dance!" Harry defended himself. "We were listening to the radio, and I just moved to the music, that's all. It surely wasn't dancing! But maybe next time Theo will do so."

"Sure!" The other boy laughed. "If you lead, Potter!"

"Believe me, Nott, you wouldn't like that."

"Probably not." Theodore admitted. "But listen, there was a professor on the radio who talked about the … what did he call it?"

"The tragedy of Hogwarts." Harry answered with another snort.

"Yes." Theodore huffed. "And this guy said that we could survive two weeks down here without food."

Draco and Neville both looked from Harry to Theodore and then at each other before they looked back at the other two.

"But … but four days are already over." Neville quietly said. "So, we have only …"

"Listen, Neville." Harry said. "We won't die in a week! Professor Snape said so and we should trust him. I do trust him!"

"But Professor Snape won't be able to keep us alive forever." Neville quietly said, so quietly that he, Snape, nearly missed it.

Well, perhaps it was time to interfere, and he started to rise from his chair. Damn those idiots from the Daily Wireless News! How could they give such a predicament away on radio if the children that were in that very situation just might be able to hear it? Did they have no sense at all? He actually was having trouble keeping his seething anger under control.

"Maybe he won't." Theodore said. "But Harry is right, Longbottom. We should trust Professor Snape. He will find a solution. Either a way out of here or to get something to eat down here. So, stop worrying."

"Exactly." Potter smiled, ripping parchments into small pieces. "Just write numbers onto those pieces so we can play a game of seven lost."

"Alright." Draco said, taking Harry's book bag and looking for ink and quill, and Theodore followed suit, taking another parchment and ripping it in into half.

Snape sat back down with a sigh of relief. Again Potter – Harry, damn! – had proven to be able to distract the other children by simply … furrowing his brows he tried to remember what in Merlin's name 'seven lost' was.

"Ok, and what exactly is 'seven lost'?" Draco asked.

"Dunno." The smaller of the four shrugged his shoulders.

"Uhm … Potter …" Draco shook his head. "So, what exactly do I have to write on those cards?"

"Those are no cards, Malf- … Draco." Neville said. "Those are parchments."

"Well, just use the numbers from exploding snap, Malf-Draco, I guess that will do." Harry smirked and Draco shook his head, sighing in played exasperation, while Neville looked from the black haired boy to the blond and back to the black haired, not grasping the funny part in it.

"However, Pot-Harry." Draco smirked, causing Theodore and Harry to start laughing while Neville still blinked in confusion at them. "Next time you have kitchen duty – what will be tomorrow if I read the plan correctly, then I will accompany you. It seems to be rather funny."

"You can read, Draco?" Blaise asked, coming over to them, attracted by their laughter.

"Of course, Zab-Blaise." Draco still laughed. "Or how do you think I always managed to cheat by copying from you during tests?"

"Idiot!" Blaise shook his head and sat at the table too. "You're not even near me, in classes, Draco. sorry, Malf-Draco, I meant. What are you playing though?"

"Seven lost." Harry answered, still grinning. "Whatever it is."

"Hey, it is you who made the suggestion." Neville shoved the other Gryffindor.

"So?" Harry asked, looking with an innocent blink at the other boy.

"Do you even know how it is played?"

"Seeing as I invented the game just a minute ago – no, not yet." Harry answered, causing the other boy's to snicker, too, and luring more of the Slytherins and Granger over to them. "But I guess we'll find out eventually how it's played."

"Well then – deal out the cards."

The smaller Gryffindor didn't even ask who would play but dealt out their – well 'cards' – to everyone present at the table, and again Snape actually was pleased with the teen's behaviour. He included all of them, without questions and without hesitation, and never mind what house they came from, or what background they came from.

"Uhm, seven cards, do you think it will be enough?" Harry asked, his brows furrowed.

"Guess." Blaise answered. "You called it 'seven lost' so I guess seven cards will fit."

"What with the rest of the cards?" Neville asked.

"How many do you have anyway?" Hermione inquired.

"Well, we got eight parchments into eight pieces each, so we have sixty-four cards now." Theodore answered.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, placed the remainder of their 'cards' – that wasn't much really – in the middle of the table. He turned one and then played one of those he held in his hand.

"And now?" Draco asked, looking curiously at the Gryffindor.

Harry blinked in concentration at the open card that lay on the table. A thing that actually caused Snape to hide the grin that threatened to creep upon his face, that particular boy, and a look of concentration, something he had thought would not be possible.

"Well …" He slowly said. "It's a five. So, Neville has to play a six or a four."

Neville nodded and then placed a card atop Harry's.

"Uhm …" Blaise made. "So, I guess I will have to play a seven or a five."

"I guess so." Harry answered. "But if you play a seven, then you will have to take the entire pack of cards that is already played out except for the one you played."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Blaise whined. "You just made it up and I don't have a five."

"Of course, I made it up." Harry grinned at him and with an exaggerated sigh as if he was about to die. The other boy played out his seven and took the cards Neville and Harry had already played, including the one that Harry had turned over in the first place.

"What's with the other cards?" Theodore wanted to know.

Again, Harry furrowed his brows for a moment before answering.

"Guess you take a card from there if you can't play one." He then said.

"So, I could have taken one instead of playing the seven!" Blaise called out. "I wouldn't have had to take yours and Neville's then."

"No." Harry said. "If you have to play a five or a seven and you have a seven but not a five, then you have to play the seven. There wouldn't be fun in it otherwise."

It went on, the game, and Snape watched them, actually wondering if it was Potter's skills in distracting them or if it was the carelessness of youth in general that caused them to forget, to laugh, to joke and to behave as if nothing were amiss, as if they were not imprisoned in the dungeons classroom without food for four days now.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

It was a few hours later when all the students slept and Snape looked over at Harry who was bent over another piece of parchment, scribbling on it and for a moment the Potions Master grimaced at the thought of the messy writing the boy always did his essays he handed in with – barely readable.

He had handed the dreamless sleep potion Harry and Theodore could use tonight, over to both of them, and Theodore soon after had fallen asleep, but Harry was still awake. The vial with the dreamless sleep potion still standing on the table in front of him, and he wondered what the boy was doing. Surely, he wasn't working on the potions essay he had given them earlier in the week, on Monday, shortly before all of this had started. Aside from Theodore during his first night no one had done that essay.

Slowly and quietly, he got up from his desk and went over to the teenager.

"Harry?" He asked, quietly, but loud enough so the messy head snapped up to look at him, and Snape took another step closer. "Are you not able to sleep? I wondered what you are doing still awake."

Harry shook his head, his heart beating slightly faster at the shock the Potions Master had given him. The man stood beside him, dark and imposing as always, but even now he could see some of the harsh lines in the man's face soften slightly.

"I'm sorry." He replied. "I thought you were asleep, too."

"Clearly not." Snape growled, his left hand coming to rest on the boy's shoulder. "I do not tend to falling asleep on my desk. Why are you not asleep, Harry? You do need as much rest as possible."

The boy bit his lower lip nervously, and for a moment Snape was tempted to pull it out from between the Gryffindor's teeth. But then the teen sighed and released it, placed the quill atop the parchment that lay on the table.

"I don't know." He then said quietly. "Maybe I was just too confused to, I had a few things to think through. I just couldn't settle."

Severus gave away a soft chuckle, startling the teenager in the act.

"A recent development, Mr. Potter. You used to be unable to think properly in the past." He said.

"You … you laughed!" The boy gasped at him before he realized what he had blurted out and blushed a red that would make Ronald Weasley's hair jealous.

"Contrary to popular believe I am a living human being and therefore, I am, indeed, able to produce such a thing as a laugh, as shocking as it might seem to you." Snape lifted his eyebrow, rather confused by himself. Again, he had insulted the boy, probably out of habit, and surely in a much gentler way than he normally did, in a nearly teasing, joking way, but he had done so nevertheless. Harry, however, had not taken it as an insult as it seemed.

"May I take a seat?" He then asked, apparently startling the teen again with his question as the boy first blinked at him and then quickly nodded.

"Of course, sir."

"What exactly are you working at?" Snape then asked, not understanding why he bothered in the first place. Neither was he a conversional type in the first place, nor had he ever sought out conversations with the students in general. "I do not believe that it might be the essay I gave you earlier in the week. Aside from Theodore no one has done that assignment yet. They all seem to be under the misconception that I might forget about it due to the strange circumstances we are in at the present time."

"Uhm … well …" The boy made, blushing again. "Actually, I have done it already. As has Hermione."

"I should have known that Miss Granger would not miss working on the essay." Snape nodded, taking in the tense shoulders, the tense face and the fingers that were held stiffly. "I am, however, surprised that you, too, have done the assignment yet. May I have a look?"

Did the boy feel that unwell in his presence? He thought back to a few minutes earlier, while Harry nodded at him and then bent over to retrieve the essay from his book bag. No. the boy had been tense before, while scribbling on the parchment, and again he wondered what it was, Harry had been working on.

The teen handed the parchment with the essay over to him and Snape took it, read it through, while Harry watched him nervously, his lower lip between his teeth again.

After a few minutes Snape looked up, and lifting his eyebrow, he reached over – and this time he actually pulled the teen's lower lip from between his teeth.

"I think your body has been damaged enough, Mr. Potter, so you do not have to add injury to it yourself." He said. "I cannot fail noticing however, that this essay is beyond what you normally are handing in, Harry. It seems you have actually given the task some consideration this time."

"I did." The boy said quietly, blushing again and looking aside, but nevertheless Snape had been able to see the glimpse of a happy gleam in the green eyes.

"You might be careful, Mr. Potter." He couldn't help teasing, his voice a deep and low threat, and his eyebrow sarcastically lifted. "I might take this work as a new standard when it comes to your essays in future time."

The teen looked over at him with a small grin on his face and his eyes seemed to say 'try me' for a moment, but the boy didn't answer to that.

"What are you working at, though?" He then asked, nodding at the parchment that still lay in front of the boy.

"Uhm … well …" Harry made and Snape had the impression that he didn't really want to tell him. But then, with a small sigh, the teen slumped his shoulders and the tension was released by resigned weakness. "I'm just writing down a few thoughts."

"And you are worried about the near future." Snape stated, inclining his head to one side while watching the child in front of him close. "Or why are you so afraid of telling me about this work of yours?"

"Actually, no." The teen answered. "Well, yes. I am worried, I would be stupid if I weren't. But I do believe what I said earlier. I do trust you. And besides, well, I guess death wouldn't be that much of a problem. Everyone has to die one day, and Professor Dumbledore said, that death only is a step into the next adventure, or something like that."

"So?" Snape asked, lifting his eyebrow, not only out of curiosity but because of the fact that this thought, the thought of dying, didn't seem to startle the boy. Was he beyond of caring if he lived or died already? Was he even …

"Well … none of the others do that." Harry said quietly, pointing at the parchment in front of him. "I mean … well … getting sentimental and such …"

"I see." Snape still fixed him with his harsh black eyes that somehow seemed not so harsh anymore, as they had been in the past. "And you think a boy your age should not do such a thing as – writing down some thoughts."

"Well, Hermione surely would if she weren't afraid of thinking about what might happen. And the other girls probably, too. They are girls after all."

"What do you think, Harry, how so many male authors managed to write great novels if they wouldn't – get sentimental – as you so eloquently put it, from time to time?" Snape asked, lifting his eyebrow again. "To think about things, and to write down one's thoughts, is not something only girls do. Neither is it something dependent on age. Perhaps it might calm you to know that I, too, started writing down not only the happenings during the past days but my thoughts as well , Mr. Potter. So, may I make a suggestion?"

The green eyes were watching him for a few moments with apprehension before Harry nodded, slowly and unsurely.

"Continue with your work." Snape said. "If you so wish, and if it does not upset you but helps you dealing with everything. But do so without fearing you would do something that is – 'wrong' or something that would not be 'appropriate' for a boy your age. Because it is perfectly appropriate what you are doing."

The teen nodded at him with a confused and thoughtful expression on his face, clearly still not used to this new Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, and he knew that the boy had every reason to be confused. He had never given Harry any reason to trust him as much as he already did. He had never given him a reason to actually try and do as he expected of the student, and he never had given him a reason to act considerable and respectful towards him.

That would change, Snape swore to himself. He had promised he would care for this child, and he would do so. He knew that the teen would need time to get used to it, but he would care for the boy. He had failed him often enough.

He had failed him during his first year when he had come to Hogwarts – and right now Snape, again, remembered the tiny, scrawny and bruised first year standing in front of the head table and waiting to be sorted. He remembered the boy being at least a head smaller than the other first years. He remembered Theodore standing not far away, tired and bruised as well. He mentally had seen the other child in his house already, had seen the abuse that had been visible in Theodore's bruises. But he had not seen it with Harry.

And he had failed Harry in his second year, the moment he had heard him talking parseltongue. He should have acted then, at the latest, he should have taken the small Gryffindor aside and he should have talked to him. But he hadn't.

And he had failed him in third year again. He should have seen the signs in third year at the very, very latest. They had been there even more clearly back then. The boy had been a walking skeleton after the summer holidays, with dark circles underneath his eyes in a pale face and with hands that were bruised, covered with cuts and burns. He had seen the boy's hands during potions of course, but he had never reacted.

Not to mention that Harry had been the one who had hexed him in the shrieking shack. And he would have had the best excuse to talk to the boy then. Because – a student hexing his teacher, there just had to be a reason for such. No student of Hogwarts would risk expulsion without a damn good reason. But again, he hadn't. If he had, he might have learned about the boy's needs to keep his godfather safe, never mind the costs, a man he had just moments ago learned to know, just so that he could stay with him instead of with the Dursleys – and that would have told him enough.

So yes, he had failed one of his students. And never mind what house Harry was in, he – Snape – was a teacher at Hogwarts. And therefore, the boy was one of his students. He had a responsibility over them, over all of them, Harry included.

"I would, however, appreciate it, if you took your rest soon, Mr. Potter." He said sternly, sharp black eyes locking into tired green ones. "You will be able to work on this tomorrow, but right now I expect you to at least rest if you cannot sleep. Your body needs rest as well as your mind and you, yourself. It is important for your survival, and I am sure you do already know that for yourself."

"Yes, sir." The boy answered obediently. "I just will finish this sentence."

Snape nodded curtly and then left the teen, went back to his own desk. He himself would finish the page he was reading, and then he would try to sleep, too. The next days would be strenuous enough, he guessed – if they were not rescued by then.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

To be continued

Next time in "twenty-one days"
disaccharide and monosaccharide

Added author's note
thank you for reading - and yes, I would be glad if you took the time to review this chapter, thank you
also, like on ff, I'll install the house cup – with each review, please state your house, so that your house can get a point. There won't be loss of points, only gains … may the best house with the most reviews win …

House Cup:
At the present time it looks like this:

38 Points - Slytherin
07 Points - Gryffindor
27 Points - Ravenclaw
07 Points – Hufflepuff