Chapter 12: Snape Statue

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Time went on as it usually did, and Harry was doing well in all his classes, underplaying his intelligence. It was both easy and hard. He found himself having to redo his homework many times because he added things that weren't taught for a few years yet. That was the hard part. The teachers were still giving him weird looks, like he was overachieving. His class rank was higher this year than it had been in years past. Oh well, at least he had not surpassed Hermione. That would have been a dead giveaway.

It came time for the Hogsmeade weekend and Harry snuck out to meet Croaker. Neville was covering for him in the village, so he didn't have to worry about that. He went to the edge of town and simply Apparated with Isobel. No invisibility cloak needed. Magicals were so unobservant. Isobel hated it when they did that, but there was little he could do about it. There was no time for the Knight Bus, and he didn't want witnesses.

They met in the town of Little Hangleton. Croaker had given Harry the coordinates. Harry had never been to this particular part of that town in either life. He did vaguely remember it from the memories Dumbledore made him watch. They were so unclear, though, that he simply remembered the shack and the family speaking parseltongue. The little shack looked like it could be blown down at any minute by a stiff wind. Magic must be holding it up.

"So, this is where the Horcrux is," he said, gazing at the ramshackle house. Figures that Riddle would hide it here, at his mum's childhood home.

"Yes," said Croaker, standing next to him still garbed in his red hooded robe. "It's being guarded by the snake nailed to the door." He gestured to said snake that was both dead and alive.

Harry cast a few spells from his curse breaker days and decided that the wards on the outside were formidable. But the Unspeakables probably already knew that, as they had dismantled quite a few of them. He broke the few that were left down that required a parselmouth, and they made their way to the front door.

On the crumbling wooden door was nailed a small dark green snake. The door itself was blue and faded, the paint was just a memory, as in you could see that it was blue once, but all the paint itself was gone.

The snake hissed at Harry, who had Isobel draped on his shoulders.

"Who dares try to enter this house?" hissed the nailed snake, its beady eyes trained on Harry.

"Pathetic," said Isobel, who didn't feel sorry for the snake. For all she knew the snake asked for its fate. "You should be fucking dead," she added to the zombie snake. She could sense it was alive, but dead. There was magic keeping it ticking.

"I dare," said Harry, laying a calming hand on Isobel.

"You are not my master," said the snake, still staring him down. "You cannot enter." The snake seemed to either not hear Isobel or was ignoring her.

"Don't ignore me, you zombie bastard," Isobel stated, getting in its face.

"Isobel, leave it," Harry said, then turned to the nailed snake. "I seek what is inside," he said, trying to reason with it. "I will see the end of your master and free you from this lonely existence."

Isobel backed down but was grumbling under her breath about stick-in-the-mud friends and such rot.

"Only my master can enter this house," said the snake. "I survive only to serve my master," it insisted. It was becoming agitated and squirming on its nail, like it would jump off and attack at any moment.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Harry cast his spells on the snake to see if there were any ways to get it off the door. There were not. He could yank the nail out, but that would cause an explosion. He also cast a password spell; however, it revealed nothing. It was too well warded. He cast a few more curse breaking spells and found that the only way was to break down the door unless you had Riddle's magical signature.

"Looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way," he said to Croaker, gearing up to do just that.

"And what's the hard way?" asked the head Unspeakable, already moving away. He had worked with curse breakers before, and if they said the hard way, you ran the other direction.

"I'm going to have to break the door down. I'm going to need you and yours to step back because this is going to get messy," the man/teen said, moving away from the door. He put Isobel on the ground, when he got about 10 paces, and sent bombardment, after bombardment, after bombardment onto the door in parseltongue.

The snake on the door screeched in pain as the door splintered into pieces and it flew off the frame. However, it did work, and the door was no longer. In its place was an empty doorway that just beckoned for them to enter. The dark space behind the doorway was not as welcoming.

"I wouldn't just go charging in there if I were you," said Harry, as the Unspeakables stepped forward.

"We're not stupid," said Croaker, holding up his hands to stop his subordinates. "We'll take precautions." He moved forward with his wand raised and stepped carefully on to the front steps.

Harry stayed back and let them put their lives in danger. He wasn't going to. If they needed him, they'd call him. He just sat on the ground and talked to Isobel and let them do their thing. He was in a 15-year-old body. He was in no shape to go crawling through any sort of dungeon.

He heard quite a few explosions and spells being cast in the little hut. That poor shack didn't look like it should be standing up to the abuse that it was taking. But stood it did. It did rattle and shake, but the bones must be good because it did not fall.

"Why didn't you let me kill the zombie snake?" Isobel wanted to know.

"It wouldn't have done any good. The door would have still remained closed," answered Harry.

"But I would have had some fun," whinged the snake.

"You are such a baby sometimes," Harry said, tapping her on the nose.

"Fuck you," she stated, turning her head away. The two of them continued to banter while the Unspeakables searched for the Horcrux.

About 10 minutes later, the Unspeakables came pouring out of the shack. Smoke came billowing out after them. They must have set off a trap. They were coughing and putting their heads in their arms.

Croaker came up to Harry with the lead box and handed it to him. "Put this with the rest of them," he said, his voice was hoarse with the smoke.

"That would be all of them," said Harry, beaming at him. It was one step further to ending the war. "We're so close to making him mortal now." That was great news to him. He was so done with it all.

"Except for the one in your head," reminded Croaker, glancing at the teen's forehead. He glanced around to make sure no one heard him. They hadn't. He had kept that news to himself, none of the other Unspeakables knew about it. The only other people that knew were Bones, Black and Skeeter. And for some reason the reporter was keeping that to herself.

"Shite," Harry said, echoed by Isobel. He had forgotten about that again. He had also forgotten Skeeter.

"Forgot about that one again, did you?" Croaker asked with a chuckle.

"Have you come up with any way to get it out of my head?" asked Harry. He had been so busy playing teenager, that he had put it out of his mind. Again. He really needed to get his priorities straight. To the library it was.

"I'm working on it with your godfather. We think we've come up with a way, but we want to do a little more research first," the head Unspeakable said, giving him a measured look. Not that Harry could see it, but he could feel the weight of it.

"Well, that's always good to know," said Harry. He'd have to talk to Sirius about that tonight when they conversed over the mirror.

"Can we go?" said Isobel. "It's getting cold out here," she whinged. Even with her bauble, it was still a bitch fighting against the cold of the British morning in the fall.

"I should get back before I missed," said Harry, ignoring Isobel for the moment. He'd get her inside soon enough.

"Well, your support was invaluable, and I thank you for coming," Croaker stated, looking at the box in Harry's hand.

"No, thank you for doing this for me," Harry said, tucking the box in his robe. He'd give it to Dobby when he got back to the village. "We're all working towards the same goal." With that, Harry spun on his heels and Disapparated back to the outskirts of Hogsmeade. "Dobby!" he called as soon as he reappeared there.

"Dobby is here," the elf said as he appeared in his colorful clothes. This time he was wearing a ski suit that would look good on a toddler. It was bright blue with little snowmen on it.

"Here's another one," Harry told the elf. He handed him the box.

"Dobby wills be taking this to yours dogfather," Dobby said, taking the box and holding it like it was a poisonous frog.

"Tell Sirius I'll talk to him tonight," the man/teen said, patting Dobby on the shoulder. "Nice outfit," he told him, chuckling at the clothes the elf was sporting. He loved that Dobby put his money to good use, though he did wonder how he went shopping.

"I will, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby bes liking his outfit," Dobby said with a beaming smile. He pirouetted to show it off and then popped away.

Harry shook his head at the elf's antics and then he and Isobel went to the Three Broomsticks and found Neville there holding a table for them. "Thanks for covering for me, Neville," he said, sitting at the table. "You're a great mate." He knew that Ron would have done the same at one time, but the other boy would not have kept it quiet.

"Sure, but are you going to tell me what you were doing?" the not so shy boy asked, waving at the butterbeer he had ordered for him.

"Just doing something to get rid of the Dark Lord," Harry said, picking up the butterbeer and taking a swig. He loved the stuff and savored the butterscotch flavor of it. It was like candy in the mouth. He never had candy as a kid, and now relished any type of candy when he indulged.

"Why do you call him that when everybody else calls him You-Know-Who? And didn't you used to call him Vold… Volde… you know?" the other boy asked, waving his hand in Harry's direction, not quite getting the Dark Lord's name out, but getting his point across.

"I don't know," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders. "It's better than calling him by his made-up name. Someone pointed out that in the last war he tabooed the Voldy name. So, I won't call him that anyway," he added, taking another pull from his bottle.

"Yeah, but only his followers call him the Dark Lord," Neville pointed out, looking around and seeing that it was getting late. He finished his butterbeer, put his bottle on the table, and stood up. He started towards the doors of the Three Broomsticks to the outside.

"Well, if it upsets you, I'll just call him Riddle from now on," Harry said, taking his butterbeer bottle with him when he stood. He made sure Isobel was on his shoulders firmly and followed Neville out of the pub.

"Why would you call him Riddle?" was the next confused question.

"That's his birth name."

"And how do you know that?" the other teen asked, shocked at that answer. His voice squeaked a bit, and his eyes were blown wide. He looked around to see if anyone had heard him, but they were alone on the road. Well, there were people in front of them and behind them, but they were not within hearing distance.

"I'll tell you all about my second year when we're alone," Harry said, not wanting to get into it on the walk back. He was unuse to explaining these things. He was so used to those around him already knowing them. They had been there, or their family had. He had no way of knowing that the twins didn't know either. He thought Ron had told the whole family the entire story, or Ginny had.

"I'm not sure if I want to hear about that," said Neville. He had heard the rumors, and they were scary enough. He was disconcerted as to what the truth might be. He didn't want to learn that his friend might have been in mortal danger. Again. If what the papers had said this summer were true, than it had happened every year these past four years.

"Well, let's just suffice it to say he's the one who told me," Harry said, looking both ways to see if they were being listened to. He was getting paranoid. He still had to find Skeeter and talk to her. He didn't see any bugs around, but then again, she was so tiny, he might not see her. She could hide anywhere, even in the pockets of robes or the cuffs of trousers.

"Oh, okay," Neville said, walking along. That was scary enough in and of itself.

"So, tell me about your day," said Harry, finishing off his butterbeer and tucking the empty bottle in his robe to be disposed of later.

And then the two of them got to talking about the joys of Hogsmeade and how boring it truly is. Because once you've seen the stores, there really wasn't much else to see. But it was a satisfying break to get away from the castle. At least there were things to spend money on and there was candy and such that one could indulge in, which the boy did do. They stocked up for the next month or so, even though it might not last that long.

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Harry did talk to Sirius, but there was no news on that front. Sirius told him that he and Croaker were working on a way to get the Horcrux out of Harry's scar, but they hadn't come up with a concrete way yet.

"How's your lawsuit coming?" Harry asked, changing the subject. He was glad they had something to start with but wanted to do some research of his own as well. He was a curse-breaker, and he had a few ideas that he wanted to get on parchment, so to speak.

"It's going well," Sirius said, grinning like a fool. "I have a good chance of winning. My solicitor says that it's an ironclad case." He was ecstatic about it. Fudge was trying to get it thrown out but was being thwarted every turn. The more he tried, the better Sirius's case was. That and Fudge kept trying to discredit him in the papers, which was hurting the other man's case.

"That's good to hear. How much are you suing for?" he asked, never having gotten an answer to that.

"10 million galleons. I was going for more, but I was told it would bankrupt the government," his godfather answered. There was a vicious smile on the dogman's face.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to do that," Harry said, sarcastically. He didn't see a problem with that. It was less that went into corrupt government officials' pockets.

"Actually, I wouldn't. Then Amelia wouldn't get paid," Sirius said, seriously. There was a glimmer in his eyes when he said her name that had never been there before. Maybe there was more at play here than just comrades in a lawsuit.

"Oh, she's Amelia now, is she?" Harry asked, playfully.

"Well, you didn't see her light into Fudge," the dogman said, dreamily. That had been a sight to see. She had gone down on him like a ton of bricks.

"I wish I could have," Harry said, wondering if he was going to witness her fight with Dumbledore, or if she'd already had it and he had missed it. That would be a shame. He really wanted to see that.

"Anyway, you'd better get to bed. You have classes in the morning," Sirius said, grinning like an idiot. He did so love to tease the time traveler.

"Tomorrow's Sunday," Harry deadpanned.

"Goodnight, Harry."

"Goodnight, arsehole."

Sirius just laughed and disconnected the mirror. Harry admitted to himself he was tired and went to sleep with Isobel wrapped around him.

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It finally happened in Potions. One day Snape was looking at Harry and he tried to read his mind for some unknown reason. Harry's mind was airtight though. Snape frowned and tried harder. Harry just looked at him, which caused Snape to frown harder and try even more to get into his mind.

Harry smiled. "Isobel," he said quietly in English. "Snape is trying to read my mind. Would you be so kind as to just freeze him for me."

"My fucking pleasure," she said. And with that, she got in between them and petrified Snape. "Asshole," she said to the frozen man.

The class gasped in shock. Which they really shouldn't have been surprised by now. Not after what happened to Umbridge, but it had been a month or so since Isobel had frozen anybody. They were warming up to the snake and thought that Harry was keeping a tight rein on her. Then again, he had asked her to do this. They had all heard him, he had spoken in English.

"Well, looks like class is over. Finish up what you're doing to the point where it won't explode and leave," said Harry cheerfully. He looked around the room and gauged the reaction to what he had just done. It was a mixed bag.

"Who the hell do you think you are, telling us what to do?" said somebody on the Ravenclaw side. It was Michael Corner. He was a bit of a stuck-up git.

"Well, do what you want, I'm done," said Harry, which was true. He was at a point in his potion where he could leave without it exploding. With that, he put his utensils away, put his potion in stasis and left without another word.

The rest of the class murmured and talked about what they should do about their frozen Potions Master. Hermione decided for the rest of the class that they should go get Madam Pomfrey to come and unfreeze him.

Harry braced himself for another stimulating talk with Albus Dumbledore. This time, unlike Umbridge, he did have a valid and legitimate excuse for freezing the teacher. Legilimency was illegal. To use it on a student was even more so. The problem was proving it. There was no spell in the world that could prove that somebody had tried to enter your mind. It was your word against theirs.

Still, he could say Snape tried to enter his mind and he felt he was being violated, therefore had the need to freeze him. That's all he needed to say.

He had some free time, so he went to the Room of Requirements and spent some time there looking for treasures. He found a few gems and a couple of magical items, but nothing was over exciting.

Isobel had fun weaving her way through the stacks of junk, looking for things that could be of use to her or Harry. She would call him over whenever she found something. But there were times she could get into spaces there was no way Harry could get into, so she would have to drag it out as best she could. Or Harry would just have to wait until the piles got smaller.

They went about this for a good half an hour to 45 minutes until the next class started. Then Harry made his way to Herbology. He was halfway to class when he got the message that Dumbledore wanted to see him. He fluctuated on going to class or going up to see the headmaster, and decided he was going to go to class. The headmaster could wait.

After Herbology, he went to the headmaster's because it was right before dinner, and he had an hour to kill. He went to the office to find the headmaster there and Snape lurking in the corner.

"I want him expelled," Snape was saying with great menace in that silky voice of his. He was pacing around the office, like he had been building up some steam the entire time Harry had been making them wait.

"You know that is not going to happen, Severus," said Dumbledore sighing. He seemed to be doing a lot of that this year.

"Oh, and why is that, Headmaster?" said Harry as he came through the door, Isobel draped on his shoulders.

"Assholes," she hissed, staring straight at Snape.

"Harry, my boy. Come in, come in. Have a seat," the headmaster said, waving the teen in and gesturing to the chair that Harry usually sat in. His voice was jovial as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"I want to know why you're not going to expel me," the man/teen said, very interested in this tidbit of information. It sounded like Harry could murder someone and get away with it. Which he had, but that was a different story. Albus Dumbledore didn't know that. Well, he couldn't prove it.

"Because I know that you probably have a good reason for what you did," covered the old man, his eyes twinkling like they did when he was withholding information for someone's own good.

"Oh, so I have a good reason for petrifying Snape, but I didn't have a good reason for petrifying Umbridge. You really need to make up your mind, Dumbledore," Harry said, sardonically.

"Do not speak to the headmaster this way, child," said Snape, his tone threatening, yet he never raised it.

"Whatever. You wanted to speak to me, Headmaster," said Harry, dismissing the Potions Master.

"I want to know what went on in the potions classroom that you decided that Professor Snape needed to be petrified," Albus said, folding his hands in front of him and placing them on his desk in an authoritative manner. He looked like the headmaster at that moment.

"Oh, that's easy," Harry said, glancing at the dour man in the corner. "He decided he wanted to use Legilimency on me."

"Is this true, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, turning to look at the man in question. He wasn't shocked that the man did it, just that he got caught.

"That brat is hiding something, and I want to know what it is," Snape said, not bothering to hide it.

"You know it is against the rules, Severus, never mind the law," Albus stated, still looking at one of his youngest teachers. "We are to never use Legilimency on the children."

"Two months ago, he was an open book and now he has an airtight barrier on his mind. That is not normal. Something is going on and I want to know what it is," said the Potions Master hotly.

"That's none of your damn business, Snape," Harry said, just as heatedly.

"Now, my boys, there is no need for anybody to argue. I've already had this discussion with Harry, and he has explained it to my satisfaction," Dumbledore said, raising his hands to ward off anymore arguments.

"Headmaster, you can't possibly believe anything this boy has to say," Severus said, pushing himself off the wall and looking at Albus in shock.

"I said, it has been satisfactorily explained to me," reiterated the old man in a firm tone.

"Yeah, Snape, he said he gets it. So, you stay the hell out of my head or Isobel's going to keep turning you into a statue," Harry said, smiling all the while.

"If I find you have petrified me again, I am going to turn your snake into potion ingredients," threatened the greasy-haired git.

"I could fucking do it now," Isobel stated, only to be stopped by a hand on her head. Damn Harry for making her promise to behave during this meeting.

"You touch my snake and I guarantee you you'll find out her true nature," the time traveler stated, the very air around him changing into a 'don't fuck with me' field. It was as if magic herself agreed with him.

"I already know her true nature, you stupid child," Snape said, though he did step back from the aura that the boy was radiating.

"Then why, in Merlin's name, are you even threatening me?" Harry asked, honestly confused.

"Let me kill him," Isobel said from his shoulder, but Harry ignored her. Ever since Umbridge she had been a bit bloodthirsty.

"Because I'm not going to let some stupid child threaten me," Snape said, sounding braver than he felt at the moment. His Slytherin side was telling him to shut up and leave the boy alone, but his hatred of all things Potter wasn't letting him.

"That will be enough threatening from both of you," the headmaster finally stepped in. "This is a school, and you will act like a teacher, Severus, and you will act like a student, Harry. There will be no more Legilimency, and there will be no more petrifications."

"Then tell your pet Death Eater to leave me the hell alone. I've said it time and time again. You leave me alone, and I and Isobel will leave you the hell alone," Harry said, making a slashing movement with his hands like he was done with the whole thing.

"I find, in this case, that you are blameless, Harry. You may leave," the old man said, sighing again and waving the teen to leave.

"Thank you ever so much, Headmaster," said Harry sarcastically as he got up to leave.

"Motherfucking assholes," Isobel said, still staring at Snape like she had the whole time she'd been there.

"You're just going to let him go without any punishment?" Snape was saying as Harry went out the door.

"You are the one who is out of line this time, Severus," Dumbledore stated.

Harry didn't even hear the argument as he closed the door and walked away. He made his way back to the common room. He heard Isobel hiss in his ear. "Harry, there is a bug on the hem of your robe. Do you want me to eat it?"

"No, don't eat it. We're going to capture it," he said with a wicked grin.

He turned away from the common room and decided to go to the Room of Requirements. He made it there in record time and searched around the piles of junk for anything he could capture the bug with. He came upon a potion's vial with a cap. He hoped there wasn't any poisonous vapor in there. It was big enough for a large beetle. He nonchalantly took off his robes, put them on a busted-up chair, and just as the beetle was about to fly away, he captured her.

"Well, well, well, Ms. Skeeter. Whatever are we to do with you?"