Chapter 31

Severus' new life was extremely stressful and challenging.

As if it had not been nerve-wrecking enough the possibility of being summoned by the Dark Lord any day to be questioned about his role as Potter's protector, now he was also always fearing that Dumbledore would summon him to his office any day with a similar inquiry. It also worried him that Moody might suspect that Severus was now truly working behind Dumbledore's back and that he might take the matter into his own hands without even consulting the old man.

None of those concerns even remotely compared to those related to the Unbreakable Vow that he had sworn, however. He was constantly worried that he might drop dead at any moment for neglecting to keep some of those awfully unspecific clauses, and also that whatever loop-hole he had managed to create by swearing the Vow would not be enough to keep Lily's son alive through the rest of the Tournament.

After all, despite Severus' painful protection, Potter had almost died in the first task. It had only been luck or some weird dark miracle that the boy had had the idea of trying the Killing Curse and that he had been able to cast it and that he had somehow proved himself powerful enough to kill a bloody dragon with it. The whole thing might be impressive, but Severus was convinced that it could have easily gone very wrong.

He was also almost certain that Potter would refuse to use the Killing Curse ever again. However he had managed to cast it, it was obvious that doing so had had a deep negative effect on the boy. Only Gryffindors could be hypocrite enough as to slay a basilisk with a sword without showing remorse but be horrified at painlessly slaying a dragon with the Killing Curse. Being harshly scolded by the judges had also likely ensured that the boy would not dare killing anything else ever even if it was the only way to survive. Damned Dumbledore!

Severus still wasn't sure what to think about the affair, to be honest. It was almost physically impossible for him to admit that the brat might not be completely useless. Even harder was to consider the possibility that Harry Potter might be intrinsically more powerful than Severus. Perhaps even more than the Dark Lord and Albus Dumbledore.

Not that intrinsic power counted for anything if one didn't know how to use that power, of course. According to Filius, it had taken Potter more than a month to master the Summoning Charm. Definitely not a magical prodigy. It was actually more infuriating to know that the brat had so much raw power and yet he continued being rubbish in most areas. Even worse that Severus couldn't train that potential to help both of them survive this nightmarish year.

Severus' new life was beyond frustrating.

Some days he hated himself for having come up with the Unbreakable Vow idea, and for having insisted so much on it. Minerva had tried to dissuade him of the suicidal attempt, to no avail. Even bloody Potter had tried to give him a way out, unbelievable and unbearable as that was.

No one, probably not even Lily, would have expected him to go to such extreme. She had always said that he was stubborn beyond common sense, after all, and had often tried to convince him of letting go of things that weren't good for him.

Of course, Lily had always failed in that.

The way he saw it, it was only right that the same stubbornness that had led him to get Lily killed should be used to keep her son alive.

He could hardly believe that he was in this situation by his own choice. Although he hadn't really had a choice regarding the Vow, just as he hadn't really had a choice thirteen years ago when he had agreed to dedicate his life to protect the brat.

The choice that had condemned him to be in this hellish situation had been the one he had made on his knees before the Dark Lord, so many years ago. The day when he had willingly taken the Dark Mark.

"You're late, Potter," snapped Severus the instant that the brat crossed the doorway. "You will stay one extra minute for each second you made me sit here with nothing to supervise."

Anger and alarm flashed through the boy's infuriating eyes, only increasing when he mentally calculated how much his delay would cost him. He had arrived only two minutes late, but it would mean two extra hours in detention. That should teach him punctuality.

Of course Severus didn't receive a 'Sorry, sir' or an "It won't happen again, Professor'. Just an insolent glare. Potter had no manners whatsoever and probably would rather die than show him some respect.

Although he had seemed to be able to at least pretend to be civil the night of the Vow...

He dispelled those disturbing memories from his mind and focused on the insolent brat that he had in front of him. The Potter of the Vow had only existed briefly and was forever gone. This was the normal Potter and the one Severus had to deal with.

Before he could begin his weekly round of insults, however, the boy made an angry announcement.

"I already have a date for that stupid ball," he said. "So no need to insult me about that today, Professor."

Severus hesitated. He had intended to call him a coward and a stubborn idiot first thing today, with the Yule Ball approaching so fast, but if the boy had truly taken care of that issue he didn't know what to insult him about.

"Language, Mr. Potter," he said at last. "Only I get to call things or people stupid, I believe failing to understand that is what landed you in detention. Now sit down and start your lines, today you will write 'I must not stupidly leave everything until the last minute'. With two extra hours the message ought to at least graze your thick skull."

Severus wasn't very hopeful in that regard. Potter was more likely to do the exact opposite of whatever advice he gave him, if only to spite him. But one never knew. Perhaps with enough reiteration the words would get through and it would occur to the boy to start working on his golden egg. Severus was certain that the brat hadn't even tried to crack the clue yet. He probably had thrown the egg into his trunk and forgotten all about it.

Not that he had such a great chance of cracking the clue on his own, of course. Severus already knew that the eggs shrieked loudly when they were opened, and Pomona was certain that it was Mermish. According to her, even Diggory was at a lost, and Irma said that both Krum and Delacour were anxiously researching eggs and loud sounds without seeming to get any results. Potter of course hadn't withdrawn any book related to the subject.

Even if it occurred to some of the champions to submerge their eggs, trying to hear the clue would likely be lethal. The Goblet of Fire was a really twisted entity, it didn't seem as if it intended for anyone to reach the second task alive or prepared.

Severus had considered to temporarily steal the egg to solve the clue himself and then try to insult it into Potter, but Pomona had mentioned that no one but Diggory could touch his egg or even levitate it, so perhaps the Goblet was somehow charming them so they could only be cracked by the champions. Just great.

He also couldn't advise him to carefully open the egg under water, no matter how creative his insults.

As Potter got started with his lines with a sullen attitude, Severus pretended to continue with his grading, but he was actually deep in thought.

Just as he had feared, vowing to let Potter know whenever he was being stupid had taken all the fun out of the hobby. It had also made their interactions very confusing for Severus, since now he was never entirely sure why he was insulting the boy. Was it because he wanted to? Or because he had to keep the 'stupid' clause? Or because he needed to use the Vow against the Goblet? He would have never thought he could grow weary of insulting Harry Potter, but the whole thing was exhausting. And so demanding that he had pretty much given up on his recreational insulting, reserving the material for when it was really crucial to insult the brat.

It was also irritating to have to be so wary of any injury the boy might suffer, no matter how insignificant. He knew he was probably becoming obsessively overprotective, but Unbreakable Vows were tricky things so he would rather not take any risks. That's why he had finally decided to give Potter lines as a detention instead of the usual manual work. Students often ended up with raw hands after scrubbing cauldrons for hours, or they hurt their hands some other way preparing disgusting ingredients. Of course those were minor lacerations easily dealt with, but just in case they were a breach to the 'good health' clause Severus would avoid it.

Writing lines the boy could at most cramp his hand, and Severus had already verified that that would not kill him as long as he took care of it afterwards (not that he intended to massage the brat's hand ever again, he had already brewed a muscle relaxant for that).

The lines were also useful to sneak in advice under cover of insults.

Of course, for the Bat of the Dungeon to give any Gryffindor and especially Harry Potter such a tame detention as simple lines was highly suspicious. He could only hope that the brat would focus more on the insulting part than on the detention itself when telling his nasty little friends. He also hoped his pride would prevent him from sharing the exact content of the lines, particularly with Granger, since the Know-It-All was too clever for her own good and would probably guess what Severus was doing in less than five minutes.

He heard the boy huff again, and felt a dark pleasure mixed with satisfaction. It had not been easy to come up with that line. Contrary to what Minerva probably thought, the 'constructive insults' required a lot of creativity. Severus might have sworn to tell Potter when and how he was being stupid, but the Goblet was still exerting its evil power over the brat so most of Severus' helpful insults couldn't pass his lips. He had to choose the words very carefully, testing inside him how they felt, whether they would be pronounceable. And of course he had to make sure that his intention was malevolous rather than helpful.

All that practice insulting Potter over the last four years was really coming in handy.

When he had decreed the two-hours extension for lateness, Severus had expected to have to use the time insulting the boy into getting himself a date for the Yule Ball. He had been mocking him about it in class too, hoping that the Slytherins' laughs would contribute to the humiliation and result in Potter surviving Christmas. Now that that was taken care of, however, he had to think of a new topic or else resign himself to a silent detention.

For once, he chose silence. Not very often did he let an opportunity to insult Harry Potter pass, but Severus really was exhausted. And the boy had gotten himself a date, so perhaps a bit of positive reinforcement was called for. Let him see that if he heeded Severus' harsh advices he might win a reprieve, however brief.

"Do I have to come next Saturday?" asked Potter when the detention was finally over.

He took a brief moment to consider the question. It seemed a bit cruel to make the boy come for detention on Christmas Day. Besides, Severus would be busy with Christmas decorations (damned cat!), and likely the brat would be too distracted with the upcoming ball so as to pay much attention to any insults.

"You do not," he said finally. "Unfortunately, the Headmaster is too soft and doesn't think students ought to spend Christmas on detention. Disrespect me again, however, and we will resume on Boxing Day."

Potter nodded and wisely hurried off before he could do anything disrespectful, like glaring at his most hated Professor. Severus was left torn between hoping the boy would not provoke him anymore and hoping he would. Irritating as it was having to spend his Saturdays supervising such stressful detentions, it was a great opportunity to keep an eye on Potter and to introduce necessary insults.

To his deep disbelief and disappointment, however, the brat had apologized for his rudeness the day of the flying incident as soon as he had walked in for his first detention. Of course it had not been a sincere apology, nothing like the night of the Vow, but he had swallowed his pride and said the words so Severus had had no choice but to lift his Easter threat.

Now he would have to find another legitimate excuse to give Potter detention, and that was annoying. Severus usually didn't need to have any good excuse to do whatever he wanted, since Dumbledore turned a blind eye to his treatment of students and at this point his colleagues rarely complained. As a general rule, only the Know-It-All, and now Longbottom too, were strongly protected.

The Goblet of Fire didn't allow him to give Potter unwarranted detentions, however. It had only been lucky that Dumbledore had given his bless to Severus to take care of the punishment together with Minerva.

That damned thing was really messing with Severus' life.

Severus took a deep breath and braced himself for the next task on his carefully planned Saturday, still incredulous that he seriously intended to do it.

Today was the day when he would try to buy a Christmas present for Harry Potter.

If the workings of Potter's unhelpability were perplexing to say the least, the workings of whatever loop-hole Severus had managed to create by swearing his Vow were even more unfathomable. He could imagine Magic itself highly confused and working overtime to try to figure out what it could allow or not in Severus' very unique case. The result seemed completely whimsical, although he suspected there was a mysterious underlying pattern.

So far he had managed to sacrifice his own health to protect the boy from the dragon, and also to insult him in several different ways. It was annoying not to be able to use offensive magic to keep the brat alive, and his insults were irritatingly constrained (which really frustrated him, since he wasn't used to have limitations in that area), but at least he had been able to use those two clauses to help somehow.

The clause about providing Potter with whatever he lacked was proving to be much more troublesome, however. Despite being the 'good health' clause the one that would most likely get him killed, Severus was actually more afraid of the 'provision' one. Probably because it was much more unspecific than the others. His intention when swearing it had been to use it to give the brat defence books or some other material resources that might come in handy for his training or for use during the tasks, but such intention had not been clearly stated in the formulation. As a result, the clause could mean anything, it was frighteningly open to interpretation.

Severus did his best not to think too much about it.

So far, he had only been able to use that clause to give Potter Dreamless Sleep. And also that pain reliever the night of the Vow. Although, considering that those actions had been health-related, he probably had been using the 'good health' clause.

"Will you, Severus Snape, provide me with whatever I seem to be lacking, for as long as I am underage?"

He was convinced that Potter was currently lacking a good book on Merpeople, but Severus had not been able to provide him with one. Neither had he been able to provide him with any other sort of book. The owls simply refused to take flight if he tied one to their legs and sent them to Harry Potter. His hands refused to slip the books into the brat's schoolbag or to leave them lying around Gryffindor tower. He had also, of course, been unable to imply what he wanted to give him in some part of his insulting job.

All he could think of at this point was to try to provide him with a useful Christmas present. Not that such a pampered brat was likely to lack Christmas presents, of course, but he had a feeling that the clause might refer to these sort of normal things. He even feared it might be a requirement of the Vow, so just in case he would try and get him something, and if possible he would use the opportunity to make that something a book on Merpeople.

Potter didn't need to ever know. No one needed to ever know.

He had already changed his mind about this six times, hating the idea of spending a single Knut on Harry Potter.

It wasn't about the money, not at all. His life and that of Lily's son certainly were worth every last coin inside his Vault. It was just that Potter was... Potter. James Potter's spawn. How many times James Potter had mocked him for having second hand robes and ugly Muggle clothes? How many times he had showed off his candy or his new brooms? He had never lacked anything, and in the end he had also gotten the girl. It wasn't fair that now Severus should give anything to Potter's son, especially considering that the boy had a Vault full of gold.

But he was being stupid, of course. What wasn't fair was that Lily wasn't alive to buy Christmas presents for her son herself. The very least that Severus deserved was to have to provide James Potter's brat with gifts.

And a few books would cost next to nothing, in any case. Even if he had to pay a thousand galleons, he would pay them if that meant he could give the boy information about the second task.

Having talked himself into the idea once more, Severus didn't waste any time in Apparating to Diagon Alley before he could change his mind again.

Three weeks trying to figure out what he could or couldn't do with his Vow had at least served for him to learn how to quickly determine whether he would be able to do something or not. If whatever he intended required hard mentalization to even begin doing it, then it was pointless to keep trying.

So the fact that he had been able to Apparate to Diagon Alley with the express purpose of buying and sending a Christmas present for a champion was definitely encouraging. It was also good that he had been able to enter Flourish Blotts without need of any mentalization.

He grunted in frustration when he couldn't even approach the section of subaquatic creatures and half-breeds, though. Damn.

The entire section of defensive magic was also out of his reach.

He tried the section of History of Magic, thinking that he might at least be able to buy a copy of Hogwarts: A History, where Merpeople were mentioned (not that he had any hope that the brat would ever read through such a thick book willingly). The section was approachable, but not that book and neither many other books which, he guessed, must mention Merpeople too. Damned Goblet!

It was interesting the fact that he could touch certain books, however, even if they were useless. It must be possible to send some sort of gift to the boy, then.

Severus spent over an hour in the bookshop, carefully assessing which sections and books he could touch and trying to figure out the pattern.

He almost set the shop on fire when he realized that he could touch children's books, just not any that had tales on Merpeople. How did the cursed object do this? What sort of magic could have such a massive and terribly specific effect?

Finally Severus gave up on Flourish Blotts and even on Diagon Alley and made an angry stop at Spinner's End to change into Muggle clothes before tackling next Muggle London.

He would find a way to give the boy something at least remotely useful!