Lucius was annoyed. It had been about a week since their meeting with Potter and he had already found himself reaching for parchment several times, only to realize he could no longer write to Lord Black. It had been a shock to all of them when Potter had revealed that he was Lord Black. Lucius would also blame the revelation for the fact that it took them until Severus had already left for them to fully process the other titles. Sophia had sparked the realization when she had spoken up just as Severus stepped through the floo and stopped everyone in their tracks.
"Did he say he was the Grand Duke of Morsgrave?" They had all heard him explain his titles to them, yet only an hour after the fact did it truly sink in just how much power the boy held. At first Lucius had thought it was ridiculous to have a mere child hold so many titles, but then as the week went on, he kept wanting to ask Lord Black for his opinion on things. Every time he reached for parchment he remembered that he was looking for the advice of a child. He had re-read all of his correspondence with Lord Black and had realized something very important.
This was not a child. Yes he may be young but he had had to grow up far too fast and that showed in everything he did. From the way he handled situations to the way he wrote letters, and wasn't that a shock when he noticed. He had wondered why he hadn't connected Lord Black to Potter through their writing until he looked at it side by side. The writing looked like it had been done by two different people. The boy had thought of everything. It was impressive. Lucius had decided that he would not disrespect or discount the boy for his age. His perspective on some of the more recent bills and legislation was thorough and insightful. Now if only the bloody child would contact him so they could continue their correspondence.
Lucius also needed to know how Potter got out of Malfoy Manor without Lucius receiving even a nudge from the wards telling him someone was leaving. It was a form of magic that Lucius had never heard of before. He had been looking through the library in Ithnion castle but found very little. The closest thing he could find was a small note in one of the books on necromancy. It was about how one of his ancestors fought a true necromancer and was sure they could wield shadows like a weapon. It had no real information at all but the description was the closest thing he could find and that just brought up a whole other series of questions.
He dropped his head into his hands, scrubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes when he heard the floo flair. He looked up to find Severus stepping out of the fire and making his way straight to his Liquor cabinet. He poured himself a glass of fire whiskey before downing it and pouring another. He then turned to Lucius and spoke.
"I fucked up." Lucius quirked an eyebrow and Severus took another swig of his drink. "I forced Potter's hand when I brought him here and let's just say, he was irritated, then I opened my mouth and now he is pissed." Lucius smiled knowing Severus had a particular talent for pissing people off.
"I can't help you unless I know exactly what happened." Severus knocked back the rest of his drink and scrubbed a hand over his face.
"He was upset that I treated him like a child in front of all of you. I proceeded to tell him that he was a child and well, that didn't exactly go over very well." Lucius winced. He could imagine Potter taking exception to that. "He told me that I went against decorum and informed me that in societal terms that I am at the bottom and had no right to speak to him how I did."
"Yeah, you fucked up, and he isnt exactly wrong. You shouldn't have done what you did. You have that kind of conversation in private, not in front of a group of highly influential Lords and Ladies." Severus groaned, rubbing at his temples.
"I know, but I just keep making the situation worse." Lucius sighed.
"What exactly did he say? Your occlumency is exceptional. I know you can remember it word for word. If you really want my help then tell me."
"I said that he was a child and that's something he seemed to have forgotten. His response was, and I quote. 'NO! I am the most politically important person in the entirety of wizarding Britain and maybe a few other places too considering the power the Peverell name holds. You can't treat me like a child in front of other high ranking political figures the way you did. you went completely against decorum. Do I need to remind you that in the eyes of politics you are just a Barron. You are at the bottom. Even Lucius isn't permitted to talk to me like that in public. You single handedly ruined any positive reputation that I have been building with them in that one interaction. I haven't received a single letter from any of them since that meeting. Did you know that? Honestly right now I was going to give you a chance, but you once again are treating me like I have no clue what I am doing. Like I wasn't the one who organized all of this. Like I'm not the one who has been dealing with all of this far longer than you have even known about it. I allowed you this information. I could have easily shut down and ignored you and your concerns. I don't need YOU. or your help. You are a decade too late to start treating me like a child." Now that was interesting.
"I'm not entirely sure that he is that angry at you. Don't get me wrong he is angry but. It sounds like he's stressed more than anything. He talked about him being the one to organize everything and deal with it. Have you offered him any help? And I mean specific help with anything he is currently working on. Not just you expecting him to ask or go to you. Have you helped him at all?" he looked towards his friend who seemed to be going through another crisis and sighed. By the expression on his face Lucius guessed that, no, he hadn't offered any real help. Lucius got up from his desk and collected a glass of elvish wine on his way to sit opposite severus in the sitting area.
"He specified that he didn't need you or your help, that you are too late to treat him like a child. He may not hold your past actions against you but it's clear he hasn't forgotten them. You suddenly treating him like something fragile has upset him, and though he may not need your help, I think he wants it. He just doesn't know what you could help with. Also it might be good to inform him that he needs to be the one to contact us first since it is clear that that is something he is unaware of. I think he is truly angry at the thought that he has lost the respect he had gained from us. A good way for you to reach out to him would be to inform him that despite us knowing his age, all of us still respect him and do not view him differently." Severus sighed, slumping in his seat.
"I also recommend you tell him what the curse actually did to you. It's obvious to me that you are having a hard time controlling the newly heightened emotions, causing your outbursts and erratic behavior." Severus nodded in the way Lucius knew meant he was thinking and not really listening anymore so he left him to think over what he had said.
It was the Saturday of the first weekend that he would be living three times over. the day after his argument with Snape and subsequent breakdown. He had gone through the first two relives of the day, avoiding Neville and Snape as much as possible. It seemed that both wanted to talk to him but he just wasn't ready. By Tomorrow he would have had three days to calm down and he would be talking to Neville. he worked in the greenhouses on Sundays so it would be a good time to speak to him as well as a good way to avoid tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber.
Now though it was time for his third Loop of the day. He had decided to go through the paperwork for his properties starting with Peverell. He had been hoping to get a general idea of each property before deciding if he should visit or not. What he really wanted was the ancestral properties that had any kind of library. The overviews detailed the properties size, including both buildings and land, as well as key points of a property, and a general description. It also specified any house elves that are bonded to the properties. Hadrian had assumed there would be no house elves for most of his properties considering the amount of time that had gone by since anyone had claimed most of his titles. Other than Black, Potter, and Sayer it had been over two hundred years since the last Lord died.
He pulled out the stack of parchment that consisted of all the Peverell property details. there had been a lot to go through and there seemed to be no reason for the order they were placed in so far. He was only on the third property though, not able to simply move on to the next property after he had read the description. Morsegrave Tower. It was a Peverell property and when looking into the details he had on it, it basically told him it was a library. A ten story, 18 hundred year old library. He hadn't needed to continue looking for more after that.
He pulled out the Peverell portkey box admiring the Ebony box covered in intricate swirls of gold and silver filigree. After a moment he opened the box and froze. He knew Goruk said that everyone had their own portkey tradition but he didnt know how to feel about this. The inside of the box was lined in black velvet but the stark white against the black material only made the portkeys that much more prominent. They were bones. All of them were bones. A few were skulls, some were teeth, and others were almost cartoonish in their appearance but all of them gave him shivers. Upon closer inspection each one was covered in tiny runes etched into the surface of the bones.
He noticed a small book held in the lid of the box by black satin ribbon and took it out. It detailed each of the bones' origin, why it was chosen, and where the rest of the creature had been buried within the property grounds. as a connection point it was important to know the location. Reading it made Harry realize that this was originally how portkeys were created around two thousand years ago. He remembered reading something about how Merlin had updated the creation of portkeys but he hadn't thought about what they had been before. It seemed that even after the update the Peverell's decided to continue using the old method out of tradition.
His hand moved towards the large fang that would take him to Morsegrave tower. He had purposefully not looked up what creature it came from. He didn't want to know. He spoke the activation phrase and before he knew it he was stepping forward on to a smooth marble stone floor. He was now confused. He hadn't felt the same discomfort he usually did with portkeys, not even a little bit. No pull at his stomach. No disorientation. No nausea. He was just there. As much as he wasn't all that happy about the old Portkey methods of sacrificing a living being, they were most definitely effective.
Shaking off the thought he looked up and his jaw dropped. In front of him was not just a tower. It was multiple towers, all connected with bridges at varying heights. The whole thing was a brilliant white marble. Not a single speck of dirt in sight. All the towers were covered in carved pillars and between each were large stained glass windows. All the towers were topped with a peaked roof covered in dark black slate tiles. The central tower was by far the largest at double the width of the others and two stories taller than the tallest side tower.
There were numerous trees scattered around the towers all contrasting against the white with their autumn colors of reds, oranges, and yellows. It took his breath away. It looked like something out of a fairytale. He started walking up to the main tower. The door he came to was large and made of a black ebony, with decorative hinges that were a striking pale silver against the dark wood. They spread out across the entire door like the branches of a tree.
Once he was close enough the doors swung open and a gust of magic heavy wind rushed over him. It prickled at his skin and he felt his own magic rise to meet it. The building he was now standing in was ancient and Magic poured from every stone, every crack, and every corner. He could feel it buzzing in the air and resonating with the magics in his core. He looked around, the entrance had an atrium spanning the full ten floors with balcony railings for each floor. The atrium ceiling appeared to have the same enchantments as the great hall in Hogwarts, revealing a perfectly clear blue sky. On the ground floor in the very center of the massive space was a dais holding a gold ornate lectern, with a large black leather bound book resting atop it. Throughout the massive space there were floating balls of light ranging in colors of soft yellows, oranges, and white. It was breathtaking.
He stepped onto the dais, and walked up to the lectern before looking through the massive book. It appeared to be a full index of what the library held and where you could find what you're looking for. Without a real thought of what to search for he decided to just look through the front of the book. It had categories of magic written out in alphabetical order. He continued going through it until he got to S and saw it. Soul Magic. It was written in loopy gold ink just like every other word in the book but it stood out to him. This library has an entire section on soul magic like it isn't completely illegal. Quickly he flipped to the pages indicated and read. Once again he stopped at H because sitting innocently on the page was Horcruxes. Apparently that section was on the seventh floor in row 26 case 19. He made his way there gawking at the sheer size of the library as he went.
It took him some time to get there but when he finally did he found several thick tomes on the subject. It bothered him to see just how many books there were in the soul magic section. In a way he wanted to destroy the knowledge so no one could use it again, but he knew that would be stupid. Educating people on why these magics are dangerous would be more effective than hiding the information. If this stuff was common knowledge, with all of the down sides included, it would be unlikely that anyone would use it. He sighed, pulling off the first book and placing it on the table at the end of the shelves.
He wondered if this was once a public library with the way it had been set up. Between the end of the shelves and the balustrade overlooking the atrium, were tables with six chairs around each. Every floor seemed to have around five tables evenly spread out between the shelves. It seemed as though it was designed to be visited by a large number of people. He would have loved to open the library to the public if the ministry wouldn't confiscate over half of the tomes currently here. The book he was currently holding was most definitely illegal as was a lot of the magics in the index. He sighed as he settled in to read.
Harry had been quietly reading for about an hour when someone knocked on his table and he startled. He looked up to see a woman with short fluffy auburn hair. He blinked at her dumbly for a moment. Before noticing the feathers around her hairline. He looked down towards the hand that had knocked on the table to find something that looked somewhere between hands and talons. Auburn feathers covered her lower arms and dotted up the start of her upper arm.
" Um.. what are you doing here? " he asked the woman. Eyeing her cautiously. Her eyebrows raised into her hairline as she visibly looked him over.
" I believe I should be the one asking you that, stranger. "
" Um.. I own this library. " He tilted his head to the side and her eyes widened.
" You are the new Lord Peverell. My apologies I didn't realize. " suddenly wings stretched out behind her, then the right one swept forward in front of her as she bowed.
" I am Melia, the head Librarian of Alexia's great Library ." she rose from her bow and gestured to the seat opposite him, asking for permission to sit. Which he granted with a nod of his head.
" I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that there were librarians here. "
" What exactly are you? " They both spoke at the same time and Melia covered her mouth with her hands. Did she just ask him what he was?
" What do you mean, what am I? " she lowered her head in embarrassment as a blush rose to her cheeks.
" I mean, you speak to me in Harpish." damn it he really needed to watch out for that. He kept speaking languages he shouldn't know. "and I feel a magical presence from you. Though it might be more accurate to say that it feels like a magical pressure telling me to bow. " she lowered her head further. He felt stupid. of course she could feel it. She was a creature, a Harpy if he was correct, it must be how the goblins instantly knew when they saw him. He released his hold on his creature attributes, allowing his ears and tails out and her eyes snapped back to him.
" My name is Hadrian Potter-Black. I am a High Fay, and I am Prince of the Seligen Court. " Her eyes widened at the information.
" Our Suzerain is the left wing for our Queen within the court. Being the only English Harpy Clan there is, as well as being the keepers of knowledge our Clan leader was invited to the Court. " Harry blinked, trying to process that.
" Your Clan leader, the Suzerain, is part of the Harpy representation in the Seligen court? " She nodded. " Would I be able to meet her? " Melia bit her lip.
" She is currently under an emergency summons from the court and won't be back for another week. " He smiled and nodded. It wasn't her fault she wasn't there.
" Alright then. You said your clan are the keepers of the library? " she nodded, her crown feathers fluffing up in her excitement.
" Yes. Our clan helped Alexia Peverell build the library, as well as maintain it. In return, the librarians, of which there can only be twenty at any one time, are allowed to read the books and pass on the knowledge we learn to the rest of our kind. Alexia Peverell extended the wards of the property to engulf our canyon, granting us the protection of the wards that encompass this land. The canyon is where the rest of our clan live. It is located just behind the towers. The tower closest to the canyon is the living quarters for the librarians. " Harry nodded. With there not being a Peverell Lord for the last two hundred years, he had been surprised by the immaculate state of the library, but to know there are librarians makes sense.
" It is likely that I will be coming here daily for the next few weeks. I hope this won't cause any problems for you. " she shook her head
" It's been around eighty years since the last of mother magics devoted was here but we used to get a lot. " Harry raised an eyebrow and she continued. " People who led the 'old ways'. Performing the rituals for others and large groups were often given access to the library. The last one with the permission to enter died eighty years ago. So there were no more who were able to visit. " her melancholy went away as she shook her head. " I will leave you to your research. Once our Suzerain is back, I will inform her about you and arrange a meeting. " She bowed again before walking over to the balcony and giving Harry a heart attack by jumping off, before he realized that, duh, she has wings and he went back to his reading.
It was now Sunday and Harry was making his way down to the greenhouses for his talk with Neville. Letting his magic uncoil and probe his surroundings, he felt it mingle with Hogwarts magics. Slowly it began to pull him towards greenhouse four, where he found a scowling Neville, elbow deep in an empty bed of soil. He looked frustrated, ripping up soil and pulling at thin wiry webs of roots, dumping them in a container next to him. Harry walked over to the other boy and sat opposite him on the other side of the bed. Neville looked up, slightly startled.
"Hey Nev, you alright? You seem a little upset." Neville gave a small smile, looking back down at his work.
"Yeah , I'm good. Just Weasley and Granger." Harry frowned at that.
"What did they do?" Neville scoffed before taking his hands out of the dirt and sitting back on his ankles, looking at harry.
"Nothing to me." he sighed. "Harry, the way they treat you isn't how friends treat each other." Harry was trying to think back to what happened today but nothing stood out to him. This seemed to annoy the other boy further. "You tried to do something without them and they pulled out every guilt trip I have ever seen before you backed down, then once they got what they wanted they proceeded to ignore you and bicker with each other. I'm guessing that you were able to come here by sneaking away?" Harry nodded and Neville sighed again. He looked back at Harry before looking towards the door.
"You know, no one comes down here. You can be comfortable with me, if you want." Harry was a little confused until Nevill gestured to his head. "You know the ears and stuff. I heard it's taxing keeping them hidden." Harry's eyes widened as they flicked towards the door.
"You're sure no one will see? What about Sprout, or someone else?" Neville shook his head.
"I've been coming here for the last two years every Sunday and no one has interrupted me yet." he paused. "Other than you." Harry bit his lip. He trusted Neville and he was here to talk about it anyway. After a moment he pulled the ring off, allowing his true appearance to be seen. A few seconds later he allowed his creature attributes to show and Neville smiled at him softly, before focusing back on the soil he was derooting.
"I said I wouldn't ask but I'm curious, how did you get your creature inheritance? It normally comes with your magical majority at seventeen or if the connection is strong enough, it will come with your semblance at fifteen. Never before..." he trailed off, looked up at Harry before his eyes widened and he hurried to continue. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just…"Harry cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Nev, I don't mind, it's just, maybe not the best place to start with… well, everything." he rubbed the back of his neck. He doubted Neville knew anything about the Selegen court and coming out with everything would probably be a bit overwhelming. After a few minutes of silence Neville spoke again.
"So would talking about Dumbledore be an easier place to start?" that brought Harry out of his musings. Was Dumbledore easier to talk about? Not really. Everything was just so complicated and tied together that it was hard to detangle it all. He decided to start with something Neville already knows about and was involved with.
" I have been removing proxies from him. It's been fun seeing him flounder." Neville chuckled.
"Yes, he wasn't too pleased when the Gryffindor seat was taken away." Harry felt a shit-eating grin spread across his face.
"That wasn't the only one. I'm the one who took Black, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin away also." Neville gaped before bursting out in full blown laughter.
"Oh, he fucked up making an enemy out of you. Merlin, I want to be there when he finds out." Harry smiled at his friend's outburst. It was nice to see Neville like this. His smile slowly dropped as he remembered that he needed to continue.
"Neville, he blocked my family magic, kept me from knowing anything about my heritage, and stole from me. I'm just glad that he only had access to my Potter trust vault. The maximum he was able to remove was two thousand Galleons a month. I earn more than that from my investments in the potter accounts alone anyway." Neville was suddenly very serious as he looked at harry.
"He blocked your family magic." it wasn't a question and Neville didn't give him time to answer anyway. "That is so many kinds of illegal that it's not even funny." Harry grimaced.
"But can you tell me that he wouldn't be able to twist it in some way to make it sound like something that had to be done for mine or others safety." Neville pulled a face like he had swallowed a lemon.
"I really don't like him.'' Harry smirked.
"Join the club." Harry paused. That was a good point. He grinned at neville. "Join our club. The 'we hate Albus Dumbledore club' meets during divination and muggle studies. I can ask if you can join us if you want?" Neville looked at him in shock.
"That's not really a thing, right?" Harry giggled.
"No it's not an actual club, but it might as well be. I um…" he suddenly didn't know if this was a good idea now that he thought about it. "I meet with the Slytherins in our year. They've been teaching me things I should know as a noble, since, you know, I didn't learn this stuff when I was growing up like I was supposed to." Neville nodded.
"I get along with Greg. He likes herbology. I wouldn't mind joining you all, if they dont mind." Harry beamed at him.
"I'll ask."
The next day was the first Slytherin meeting he was bringing Neville to and Harry was excited. Yesterday he had managed to ask them if he could bring Neville and to his surprise and delight, all of them seemed happy to add him to the group. Especially after Harry had called it the 'we hate Albus Dumbledore club' to their faces. It seemed to put their minds at ease, knowing Neville wasn't a sycophant like most of Gryffindor.
Now it was their second period and he was pulling Neville through the passage that led to what he had dubbed Slytherin hall. Neville had a soft little smile watching Harry excitedly pull him down the corridor until they got to the doors and walked in. It was the first time Harry hadn't been there before the Slytherins. It made him feel a little off balance and using the door didn't help the feeling. He wasn't used to walking here like a normal person. Despite that, he moved forward, taking his usual seat.
After formal introductions were made, a stiff conversation started up, with the Slytherins probing at Neville trying to find his boundaries until a pointed question from Theo made Harry choke on his tea.
"So Heir Gryffindor, is it true that founders Heirs can feel the castle? We were brought up on rumors that Hogwarts magic is almost sentient to its Heirs. Is it true?" Before the question even registered in Harry's head, Neville had already answered with a confused frown.
"I wouldn't know." immediately Neville's face drained of color while Harry attempted to clear his airways of the tea he had just inhaled. Pansy sat forward with a predatory grin that made Harry shrink in his seat.
"Hadrian, Darling, is there something that you want to maybe tell us?" Every pair of eyes were flicking between him and Neville. Harry placed his cup on the coffee table and wiped at his face with a napkin Kreacher handed him. Looking around the room, determined not to look at any of them, he spoke slowly and quietly.
"In my defense, I was under the impression that anything I said to you would get back to your parents and vice versa. So I assumed you already knew. I wasn't specifically withholding it from you." and that was the truth. He had assumed that their parents would have told them the list of titles he held so none of them made any kind of mistake but apparently not.
"Harry approached me…'' Neville was interrupted with a glare from Draco.
"Don't call him that. He doesn't like it." Neville looked a little bewildered, turning to Harry for an explanation. He suddenly realized that Neville and the Slytherins had two different sets of knowledge. It's not that he was hiding anything, well, he was, but not the point. He just hadn't gotten round to telling them everything he wanted to.
"He can call me harry. It's fine." Both Neville and Draco scowled at him before he received two answers.
"So HE can call you Harry, but not us?"
"If you don't like it you need to tell me." he scrubbed at his face then held up a hand.
"Dray it's not that i let him call me that because we are closer or anything, and Nev it isn't about me just putting up with it." he sighed. "I don't really like being called Harry because 'Harry Potter is the boy who lived' it's a brand. Not me. Not a person. I am Hadrian Potter-Black, that's my name, but I don't want you or me to get used to you calling me Hadrian when you will need to call me Harry around everyone else."
"All of this just so he won't use a name in front of weasel and the shrew. What does it even matter if they hear him call you Hadrian." he sighed.
"It matters a lot actually. If they hear it they will tell the headmaster and that one piece of information will lead to him knowing that I know more than I should, then he will look closer to find discrepancies and ruin everything. You can't just scream and shout at the public that he's a bad man or they will turn on you. It doesn't matter what proof you have there will always be people who think it's fabricated. So first you remove a good chunk of his power. Power he doesn't technically have a right to, so no one can dispute it. As soon as he makes a move to regain some semblance of power, remove more and allow his own actions to cause suspicion. Little hit after hit will cause enough damage to eventually remove all trust the public ever had in him. As long as its handled correctly that is." he looked up from where he was twisting his hand in his lap to find everyone staring at him in shock. Daphney was the first to speak up.
"You're actively trying to destroy dumbledore? Not just remove a bit of his influence. you're calculating his complete downfall." Harry smirked at the hint of awe on her face before nodding.
"So about the whole Heir Gryffindor thing." pansy cut in still smiling viciously at him. He smirked back.
"It's lord Griffindor actually."
The next day after DADA he stayed behind after class to talk to Moony about what Snape had said. Remus hadn't been happy that Harry had joined him during the full moon, especially since he never asked or spoke to him beforehand. He had explained that he was afraid that he would hurt Harry and would feel more comfortable if he didn't join him. Harry had argued and maybe, possibly, guilt tripped him into agreeing to allow him to join the older man during full moons. He left the classroom feeling happy and accomplished.
By the end of the day he thought it was about time that he spoke to Snape. Pushing his magic into the walls of the castle asking where the man was, he was met with an image of Snape marking papers in his private office. He felt Hogwarts magic wrap around his wrist and tug him towards the dungeons, leading him all the way to the potion master's office. He took a deep breath before knocking and waiting. It didn't take long for the door to open and he stepped in. Snape looked up from his grading and paused, clearly not expecting to see Harry standing there. Snape quickly stood and gestured over to a small sitting area consisting of a loveseat and two squishy looking armchairs. He took a seat in one of the armchairs and waited. To his surprise Snape also waited for him to start, something he wouldn't normally do. He was allowing Harry to control the direction that the conversation went in. He took a deep breath.
"I may have overreacted the last time we spoke. I'm not sorry and honestly I'm still mad at you. But I am aware that I was already running close to my limits on bullshit for that day and maybe didn't handle it the best I could have. It's just, I don't know if you realize just how much I am doing. How much I have to do, and then you have a go at me for not telling you things that are quite frankly not your business. Not only that but you decide to interrogate and yell at me in front of people who, not only do I not know but are the very people I have been trying to ingratiate myself to. Now, all they'll see is a child. I worked hard as Lord Black to make sure that when they did find out my age they would still hold some measure of respect for me. But that plan is now gone before it could even start." At some point he had gotten up and started pacing the length of the room. with every pass of the fire it would flare before settling only to flare a few seconds later on his way back.
"I guess what I'm really mad at is that I know you're better than this. I can't help but feel you... I don't know. Did it on purpose. But I don't actually think you would do it on purpose. It's just… so frustrating." he stopped his pacing as he felt himself being pressed into a firm chest. Only now did he feel the sting in his eyes and the lump in his throat. To his mortification he was unable to stop the sob that passed his lips or the tears that soaked into the man's robes.
"I'm sorry. I betrayed the trust you put in me and for that I am sorry. I allowed my emotions to overwhelm me and I shouldn't have. I spoke to Lucius after you left that day and he made me realize a rather large mistake I made." At that he pulled away from the hug to look at the potions master. "I withheld information from you that I shouldn't have. The curse I was under, the one I said made me hate things I dislike. Well, it does do that but it also dampens other emotions. Now that it's gone I'm attempting to regulate emotions I haven't had in over a decade. To say that I'm struggling would be a kind way to phrase it. Pulling you to the manor that day was a lack of rational judgment on my part." That actually made him feel better. The man had been a double agent for both Dumbledore and Voldemort in the last timeline and without that knowledge, him making this kind of mistake seemed intentional.
"Also during the conversation with Lucius it was revealed to me that the Lords and Ladies who witnessed our interaction thought little of it and it bore no impact on their assessment of you. In fact I would say Lucius holds you in rather high regard and would appreciate your continued correspondence." Harry felt himself sag in relief. He hadn't realized how much this whole thing had been weighing on him. Though now with everything laid out, he felt a little bad for his outburst.
"I'm sorr…"
"Do not apologize. There is nothing you should apologize for. I was out of line and had anyone else been there it most definitely would have impacted their opinion of you. We were lucky that they knew me so well and saw it impact me more than you. I would appreciate it if we could draw a line under this whole thing and move forward." Harry nodded. The only thing he was trying to apologize for was the way he had handled the situation, nothing else and he could accept Snape's apology. He was pretty sure he was the first adult to ever apologize to him. He moved back over to the armchair and sat down. "If you are willing, I would like to know what you are currently doing since you emphasized the amount you currently had to do." Harry sunk back into the seat.
"right now I need to look over my properties, continue my research on horcruxes, rituals, the Selegen court, the old ways, and what I need to know about being the head of the Emris family. I also have my lessons with Salazar for occlumency, Rowina for Divination, and my Etiquette lessons with the Slytherins, along with all the supplemental reading I'm doing, and my homework for my actual classes." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Oh right. I need to start writing back to Lucius as well as a few other Lords and Ladies. That's what I can think of right now. Oh, and that's not including the fact that I have to do this out of sight of Weasley and Granger." Severus just gaped at him.
"That's a lot." Harry nodded. " There is little you could delegate also since most of this is to improve your own knowledge, but if you need a hand in occlumency I would be happy to help." Harry smiled.
"Help with occlumency would be nice." there was only so much Salazar could do when instructing from a painting. Sometimes you need someone to physically test your barriers. "Once a week after potions on either Wednesday or Friday? You can just give me detention." Snape quirked a small smile and nodded. "I should be getting back to the idiots before they get suspicious.