Blood Magic by GatewayGirl
Summary: Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry safe, but his relatives are expendable. Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry looking like his adoptive father, but it's wearing off. Blood is a bond, but so is the memory of hate -- or love.
Categories: Parental Snape > Biological Father Snape > Severitus Challenge Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Hermione, Remus
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama
Media Type: None
Tags: Slytherin!Harry, Snape-meets-Dursleys
Takes Place: 6th summer
Warnings: Alcohol Use, Drug use, Neglect, Profanity, Romance/Het, Romance/Slash, Torture, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: Blood Magic Universe
Chapters: 84 Completed: Yes Word count: 337748 Read: 759848 Published: 14 Dec 2009 Updated: 14 Jan 2010
Points of View by GatewayGirl

Harry did go to see Madam Pomfrey, who tutted over him, healed the hand, and then immobilized it again.

"See me before classes tomorrow morning, and I'll tell you if that's ready to be used, yet."

Relieved that he was not being kept in the hospital wing, Harry hurried back to Gryffindor. He knew he couldn't avoid Draco indefinitely, but he hoped to delay their next private encounter until after he had decided what to say.

He entered the Gryffindor common room to the sound of an annoyed huff from Lavender.

"Colin, I do not care! Get this through your head: I won't go to the Halloween Ball with you. You are a pathetic, obsessive, useless annoyance! Go away."

Harry saw Colin press forward and saw Lavender slap him. The fifth-year froze, raised his hand to his reddened cheek, and then suddenly turned and fled. His camera bumped against his chest as he scrambled through the portrait hole and into the hallway.

Lavender looked around the silent room and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. He wouldn't take anything less."

A few people nodded acknowledgment, and the pretty girl went back to her homework. Harry, who felt sorry for Colin, but also knew how Lavender felt, crossed the room and headed up to the sixth-year boys' dormitory.


Ron was in the room. Harry wasn't sure if anything had improved between them or not. When Ron didn't say anything, he decided not. Sighing, Harry dropped his bag by his bed and went to say hello to his foster-pet.

The cage was empty. Harry looked frantically in the little house, all the corners, and places not half big enough to hide a young ferret.

"Shadow's missing!" he said finally, more from the need to voice his distress than from any hope of assistance.

"Hermione took him," Ron said, after a few seconds of silence, but as casually as if he had spoken immediately.

"Oh." Harry stood and turned around. Ron was staring intently at his Charms text. "Why?"

"She wanted to do some experiments."

"Oh." Harry felt lost.

"I think she went to the Room of Requirement. You could probably catch her up." Ron turned a page.

"Oh." Harry realized he had said that several times. He picked up his school bag. Perhaps he'd have time to do some of his neglected homework. "All right. Thanks, Ron."

Ron ignored him. Harry, feeling awkward, but somewhat hopeful, left in silence.

When he got to the fifth floor corridor, the door was already there. That, Harry knew, meant that someone had summoned a room. He tried the door cautiously, and found it unlocked. He went in.

Hermione was lying on her stomach on a carpeted floor. Shadow was humping around in circles and swerves. When Harry entered, Shadow ran, first away from him, then back to investigate. He arched his back and began to jump back and forth, making a soft chuckling sound. Harry plopped down on the floor and held out his hand.

"Hey, little one," Harry murmured, letting the ferret run frantically onto his legs, then off again. "Thought I'd lost you."

"Har-ree," Hermione managed. Harry stiffened. He looked over at her. She was still lying on her stomach, with her head raised, but her eyes closed. "Odd smells. No green."

Harry studied her for a moment. Ron said she was going to experiment with Shadow. He looked at Shadow. He didn't know much about ferrets, but the ferret was clearly in a far more normal state than Hermione. As casually as possible, he said, "I've been in the potions lab."

Hermione squirmed a few inches forward on her elbows, then stopped.

"Hermione," Harry asked cautiously. "You there?"

"Here!" she chirped.

"Ah." He was unnerved by her blank face and placidly closed eyes. Sedative? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was easier to think when he didn't have to see her. It's some sort of magical accident or side effect. She was experimenting with the ferret. The ferret, unconcerned, climbed him and burrowed under the hair that covered the back of his neck. Harry was glad he was wearing a thick jumper under his robe.

"And where is 'here,' exactly?"

Hermione's face scrunched up, as if she was trying to picture something. Harry sighed and crawled the few feet to where she lay, causing Shadow to jump from his lurching back. He reached out a hand, but froze with it a few inches above her. Perhaps he shouldn't touch. He leaned forward and blew softly on the side of her face. "Hermione."

She shivered. "Off."

Harry, abandoning caution, grabbed her shoulder. "Hermione!"

"Ah!" With a frightened cry, Hermione rolled to her back, her arms and legs curling in. She saw Harry, and tried to straighten. "Oh!" He pulled her to a sitting position, but she lost her balance and fell into him. "Oh."

"Are you here?" Harry asked again. He could feel his heart hammering wildly, but his voice sounded calm and steady. Hermione swallowed and nodded. He kept his arms around her and he held on tight.

What the hell were you doing? he wanted to scream, but he restrained himself. She would tell him, if he let her. When he thought she had caught her breath, he spoke. "Good thing I came in, I suppose."

"Sorry. I was trying a spell to see through Shadow's eyes." She bit her lip. "I didn't think I'd get lost."

Harry wanted to shake her and yell. Perception spells, as Flitwick and Lupin had both made clear, were nothing to play with. He managed to just roll his eyes. "You're our cautious scholar, Hermione. I'm the one who's supposed to do stupid, dangerous things."

"It worked!" she retorted.

"Starting it worked! Could you have stopped it? You should have had someone down here with you. You know that! Next time you plan to try something new, get me or Ron to come watch, okay?"

"I couldn't find you. And Ron was busy."

Harry felt a flash of anger. How could Ron think anything was more important than-- He caught himself. "Did you tell Ron you needed him?"

Hermione hesitated. "Well, no."

"Hermione!"

"He had to finish his Charms reading."

"Which he could bloody well have done here!"

"Oh. I suppose."

Harry pulled her close, and for good measure, kissed the top of her head. "Don't do that again."

"All right," she agreed, but squirmed away, obviously out of sorts. Harry couldn't help thinking that her reaction had a bit of the animal to it. He looked for Shadow. The ferret had dragged a quill out of his school bag and was happily and repeatedly killing it. Harry sighed. The quill was probably done for, by now. He pulled out his wand and cleaned up the spattered ink, and let the ferret continue to chew and kick at the feather.

"So, what's it like?"

Hermione frowned. "Everything is a long way up and very blurry. And the things he notices are different. The charm was actually quite easy -- I got it on the first try. Learning how to interpret what he sees and hears is going to be difficult, and I'm not sure I'll ever manage to understand the smells."

"Oh, just keep at it," Harry said. He glared at her. "With a partner."

"Fine! You're right, and I'll bring one of you next time. Now stop nagging!"

Harry nodded. "Fair enough." He grinned. "You need an observer, anyway. Do you know what you said when I came in, and Shadow ran across my lap?"

"I said something?"

"It was creepy, really. You were on your stomach with your head raised, like a snake, and you said my name, then 'Odd smells. No green.'"

"Well, I saw it was you."

"No green?"

"Your eyes were just medium-dark. He doesn't see much color."

"Ah."

Hermione leaned forward and sniffed experimentally at Harry. "And you do smell odd. Not bad, just odd. Like Potions --" She stopped, her eyes widening.

"I was in the lab, watching him brew."

"Not helping?"

"Draco had stepped on my hand." At Hermione's curious look, Harry shook his head. "It's all right now. Pomfrey fixed it. And he didn't mean to; I was invisible, and trying to hide."

"Oh." Hermione looked down. "When did you come back?"

"About an hour ago. Why?"

"I, um...." Hermione cringed slightly. "Harry, don't be angry."

Harry found his temper rising in anticipation. "What?"

"I sent him an owl. Telling him you were smoking."

With an explosive sigh, Harry threw himself down on the rug. He picked at the soft wool pile.

"Look, just stay out of it, can't you?"

"It isn't that I want to get you in trouble--"

"Then why tell him? He's still Snape. He's still Head of Slytherin."

Hermione pushed her hair back over her shoulder. Her face tightened. "But he hates it. And I hate it too."

Harry closed his eyes. "Ah." He shrugged. "Well, I can't have any more, so it's moot, except for getting punished. And he'd already found out, because Fred underestimated the significance of something he said." Harry scowled. "Prat." He wondered if Ron had talked to her about the Weasley family conference yet. If not, he should do it soon.

Hermione's mouth quirked. "But such a brilliant one."

"Much like you." Harry gave her a conspiratorial smile. "And me, I suppose. Want to do another round with Shadow? I brought my books."


Hermione gave herself a one-hour time limit, and recast the charm. Harry tried to ignore her occasional odd vocalizations. She had wanted him to check that Shadow was acting normally, and he tried, but it was odd playing with the ferret when he knew Hermione was seeing out of its eyes. Fortunately, the Room had provided a lot of things for the ferret to climb on and through, although not anything for it to play with. Harry couldn't concentrate enough to work. While Shadow scrambled around, he took out the still-shrunk bundle from the bookstore, expanded it, and started a children's chapter book titled My Own Owl. A rather cute tawny owl flew showily in and out of the cover illustration.

He was halfway through Chapter Three (eleven-year-old Ethie was trying to persuade her cousin to let her send a letter to her parents) when the ferret came back and started bouncing and chuckling again. Harry tried offering it the remains of the quill. Shadow played with that for a minute, then returned. A bit of crumpled parchment amused him for much longer, however, and the emptied school bag turned out to be a great way for him to wrestle Harry's hand without drawing blood. Eventually, Shadow wore himself out, and curled up in a little ball on top of the bag.

Harry glanced over at Hermione, but she didn't show any sign of returning to normal awareness. He checked the time. When he saw that she only had five minutes until her alarm went off, he went back to his book. When Hermione's alarm sounded, Harry stopped reading and watched her to see if she would notice. Hermione twitched. She had left instructions for Harry to wait until the alarm repeated before intervening. When it did, Hermione opened her eyes on her own.

"Time?"

"Yes. Your alarm just went off the second time."

Hermione pushed up on her hands, then sat up fully. She looked disoriented, again.

"I think that's enough for the night," Harry said mildly. "I like you as a girl."

"I'm not ... not in his mind, or anything."

"Still. You're not yourself, yet." Harry bit his lip. "Take it easy, all right?"

Hermione rubbed at her face like a tired child. She looked around. "I s'pose." She seemed to be struggling for words for a moment. Harry found that more disconcerting than anything that had gone before. Finally, she focused on his hands. "What are you reading?"

"Wizarding children's book." Harry held up My Own Owl. "It's sort of a growing up story, I suppose. She's already got her Hogwarts letter, but it's still summer. She's staying with her cousins. Her father wants her to get a rat, and she's pleading with her mother for an owl."

Hermione laughed. "Why are you reading that?"

"I'm trying to figure out wizarding assumptions. Someone suggested I read fiction, especially children's and classics."

Hermione frowned. "Let me guess -- Snape."

She sounded almost like herself, again, but Harry still felt annoyed. "Lupin, actually."

"Oh."

Harry packed as many of the books as would fit into his bag, then tucked the remaining four under his arm. "Ready to go?"

"I guess so."

"Let's, then."


When they got back to Gryffindor, Harry went straight up to his room to put away the books and Shadow, who was riding in his bag on top of them. Ron was there, glowering at a mostly-blank parchment. Harry coaxed the ferret into his cage, then knelt at his trunk and began to put away his books. He found himself doing it carefully and quietly, as if it would be dangerous for Ron to notice his presence.

"Found her, did you?"

Harry nearly dropped the book his was holding. He was very glad that he was facing away from Ron, so his shock didn't show.

He tried to speak casually, but his voice came out too loud as he answered:

"Yeah, no problem." He wondered whether to leave it at that. It would be safer, but he decided Ron should know. "She was doing an experimental charm by herself. I got her back."

"What!"

Harry shut the trunk. "She'd used a charm to see through the ferret's eyes, and she was stuck."

Ron drew his breath in with a shaky hiss. "Doesn't she know how dangerous that is?"

"Apparently not." Harry let out a held breath. "Or she thinks she's too clever to have trouble. So, find out what she's asking, when she asks you if you're busy."

"I had no idea she --"

"I know." Harry collapsed down on his bed, laced his fingers behind his head, and stared at the canopy. For a while, Ron was silent. Harry hoped he wasn't offended.

"So, Harry...."

Harry hoped the angle was wrong for Ron to see the silly grin that spread across his face just at hearing Ron say his name like they were friends.

"Yeah?"

"You reckon I might have a chance, asking Lavender to the Halloween Ball?"

Harry shrugged. "You might. You're not Colin."

"Not a bit."

Harry thought. "If you can ask her sometime when he's there and she's trying to get rid of him, that will give you the best shot. But she's going to want someone soon, if only to keep him off, so don't wait too long."

Ron was silent for a minute. "Reckon you're right," he said finally.

Harry made a non-committal sound.

Ron stood up. "I should work on this in the common room, then."

"That's right. Stake her out."

"Er... yeah. G'night."

With that, Ron left. Harry stayed smiling up at the canopy until his cheeks hurt.


On Monday morning, Ron sat near Harry at breakfast. He didn't speak to him much, but he didn't ignore him. Neither acknowledged that anything had changed. Harry would have been happy, if his next class were not Potions. He knew he could not avoid Draco there without blatantly snubbing him.

Draco, like Ron, seemed to be pretending nothing had happened. He made sly, cutting remarks about the other students, staying just a tad short of the sort of nastiness Harry would feel obliged to counter. Severus glared at them every time Draco whispered, and snapped when Harry choked back a laugh.

"Potter!"

"Sorry."

"You certainly will be. Detention -- immediately after dinner tonight."

Draco did not intervene, but he did send Harry a sympathetic look. He even stopped being entertaining.


Harry was not surprised when Draco caught at his sleeve as he was packing his school bag at the end of class.

"Hang back. We need to talk."

Harry tensed, but nodded. Either they talked, or he gave up on improved relations with Draco right now. He was aware of Severus glaring as Draco, with deliberate slowness, put away the last of his books.

"Are you intending to stay for the first-year's class, Potter?" Severus sneered. "Of course, the review might help you."

Draco's grey eyes flashed up. "I asked him to wait, sir." He shouldered his bag. "Come along, Harry."

Harry tried not to bristle at Draco's casual authority; he couldn't reasonably stay behind. He avoided looking back at his father as he left the room at Draco's side.

Draco waited until they were a long corridor away from the Potions classroom before starting to talk, and he kept his voice quiet. "I must say -- you were the last person I ever expected to find in Snape's private rooms. Only a few of the his own students ever see them."

Harry shrugged. He had spent much of the previous night trying to plan how to respond when Draco brought this up. At some point in this conversation, he would need to improvise, but he had his answer for this one ready.

"He's one of my project advisors, and I saw a lot of him when I was staying here this summer. We get along all right in private."

"You shouldn't trust him."

Harry had expected a challenge about Severus's public hostility towards him, not this sort of warning. He tried to look unconcerned. "Oh, trust is a bit much. I like him, but I don't trust him."

Draco stopped in the middle of a long corridor. Pale eyes studied Harry thoughtfully. "He seems to think you do."

Harry shrugged. "I nod and smile a lot. Honestly, I don't know why people assume I'm gullible. I'd be dead a dozen times over if I was, wouldn't I?"

"People assume you're gullible because you're in Gryffindor."

"No, no, that's Hufflepuff." Harry decided to derail the conversation. "Besides, I'm only in Gryffindor because I wouldn't let the Hat put me in Slytherin."

"What?" Draco stopped in his tracks and stared.

Harry smirked. That should distract him for a bit. He found he didn't want to admit he had been afraid. "Well honestly," he said airily, "it looks so suspicious, being a Slytherin. As a Gryffindor, my motives are assumed to be of the best." He took pity on Draco's look of utter shock. "And they usually are, really," he added, with a wink.

Draco took his wand out, fiddled with it for a moment, then put it back again. "Harry ... may I ask you a question that might be considered offensive?"

"I don't see that it would make any difference." At Draco's serious look, Harry shrugged. "Go ahead."

Draco nodded. He glanced up and down the empty corridor, then looked solidly at Harry.

"Are you letting Snape bugger you for favors, or something?"

"What?!" Harry yelped.

Draco smirked. "I'll take that as a 'no.'" He sighed. "And there goes my simplest theory." He kicked gently at the stone wall, then frowned and charmed the scuff mark off the toe of his shoe.

"Why would you think that?"

Draco sent him an incredulous look. "Well, it would seem you have the password to his private rooms. I don't even have that, and I'm his house favorite. And there was the time you were both locked in his lab for more than an hour. Reputedly, you are not good at Potions, so I don't think he'd have you helping him, but he'd have no reason to ward a lesson. Also, reputedly, you are not good at Potions, but he admitted you to his sixth-year class. He doesn't appear to like you, whatever you say, so there must be some sort of deal involved."

Harry snorted. "Perhaps there is. Or perhaps I'm better at Potions than we let on. I promise you though, it's not sex." He hesitated. "Thank you for asking, though."

"Pardon?" Draco cocked his head in confused amusement.

"Someone else thought that, too, and didn't ask. That caused trouble."

Draco snorted. "Granger?"

"No. Another professor. Over the summer."

Draco's eyes widened. "Trouble."

"Yeah. But it's sorted, now."

"Hunh." Draco raised one pale eyebrow. Quite conversationally, he said:

"So he's teaching you Dark Arts, then?"

Harry froze. The sudden change of tack, as Draco had no doubt intended, had taken him by surprise. Remembering Severus's words at yesterday's meeting, he carefully schooled his face into the faintly querulous expression that Severus had said he used only when lying.

"No," he said.

Draco studied him for a moment. "Come on then," he said blandly. "We'll be late for Defense Against Snape's Library."


When Harry and Draco arrived at the classroom, the door was closed. They looked at each other briefly before Harry eased it open. Professor Lupin stopped his lecture and watched with displeasure as they entered.

"You are ten minutes late. Have you anything to say for yourselves?"

Harry reddened and shook his head. Draco looked haughty.

"Ten points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin, then." Lupin said coldly. "An important ten minutes. You will both stay after class for a summary."

Harry swallowed. "I ... I can't, sir."

"Why not?"

Harry's mouth felt dry. Surely Remus must know. Hadn't he thought what he was asking? "I can't," he repeated.

Lupin's angry look became grimmer. "I see. I am not responsible for your ignorance, then. Perhaps Miss Granger will show you enough of what you missed."

Harry nodded miserably and walked quickly to the nearest seat. They had just finished a subject, so today's lecture was probably the basis for the next week or two weeks. He hoped he could pick it up quickly.

The spell under discussion seemed to be Terminio, a spell to restrict the duration of a companion charm or hex. Harry knew he'd need to get the theory from Hermione later, but he was relieved to find the practical use came easily. They divided into pairs, and practiced it in combination with a harmless marker spell -- one that caused the target to glow slightly -- casting it to last for a set number of seconds.

Not really harmless, Harry thought to himself as he waited for his partner's luminescence to fade. I wouldn't want it cast on me in a night battle.

After class, Harry waited for Ron and Hermione. Remus, answering questions for Justin, never glanced in his direction. His friends, when they were ready, accepted his presence, but they did not ask any questions as he walked down the stairs with them.

Ron continued to be quiet during lunch, but he did sit on the other side of Hermione. A moment after Hermione ran off to the library, Ron stood and said, "I'd like an early start, I think. Harry?"

Harry, startled, scrambled to his feet. "Er ... of course. I'm done here."

He felt rather awkward as he followed Ron from the Great Hall.


Ron led the way outside. It was a cool day, but sunny and still. Harry felt warm enough with his robes closed. Ron, who despite Harry's growth spurt had remained much taller, walked with long, swift strides that had Harry straining not to break into a trot. He stopped abruptly at the water's edge.

"They let you stay at the meeting, yesterday."

He sounded bitter. Harry made his voice as mild as possible. "For most of it. I think Professor Dumbledore has decided to let me know what they're planning for me, now. Mostly, anyway."

"That's good, I suppose." Ron frowned. "I wish they'd let me stay."

Harry shrugged. "It's not your custody hearing." He looked around. "We shouldn't talk about this here. Tonight, my lounge?"

Ron shook his head. He pulled out his wand, and gestured in a circle around them. "Include." A blue circle flared from the grass around them, and rose to a pale blue dome above. Harry looked the transparent barrier.

"What's that do?"

"Keeps pretty much anything -- including sound -- from getting in or out. Can't keep it up too long, or you run out of air." Ron took an audible breath. "By tonight I'll have lost my nerve." He looked deeply unhappy. "About ... Professor Snape."

"Yeah?"

"It was strange watching you ... watching you talk to him like that. You ... like you know each other."

Harry nodded shakily. "He knows me very well, now. I lived in his rooms--"

"You what?" Ron yelled in shock.

Harry shifted nervously. "When the Dursleys died, and I was here -- Dumbledore made him take me in."

"That must have been a horror."

"Well, no, that's the thing. It wasn't. The first week was rather rough, but ... we had things to talk about. He let me help him in the lab. We had meals together, sometimes. My mum's letter to him asked him to take care of me, and he did." Harry smiled a little. "Not something he knows how to do, really, but he tried, even when he said he wouldn't." Ron didn't look angry, just unsettled, so Harry continued. "By the beginning of term, I didn't want to move back to Gryffindor, and I especially didn't want to have to pretend we still hated each other. Sometimes I wish I could just go down to the dungeons to hide in my own room, where I don't need to pretend anything."

"You have a room there?"

Harry smiled wistfully. "Yeah. Dumbledore added a magic window that shows the view from Gryffindor tower, somewhere, so it doesn't seem like being underground. It has a window seat that's perfect for reading in, or just sitting and thinking. If I leave the door open, I can see when Severus comes into the kitchen." He stopped and bit his lip. Ron was staring at him with wide blue eyes.

"It's not that I don't like Gryffindor," Harry tried. "I love my house. But I need to be so many things, there. I need to be the hero. I need to be the Quidditch captain. I need to be one of the more spectacular older students, but approachable." He trailed off. "I just wish I could leave it all, now and then."

"But none of us can, mate," Ron argued readily. "We're staying here. Our families are other places. During term, Gryffindor is our home."

Harry nodded. "That's true. But I've never had a real home, before, not with anyone who cared about me. Less than four weeks isn't enough, really."

"You think he cares about you, then, do you?"

Harry fixed Ron with an evaluating stare. "Do you?"

Ron's lip twitched as he caught his first reply. He stood silently for a moment, then swallowed. "Reckon he does," he admitted. His thin-set lips twisted with anger. "To the extent he knows how." The anger took over and he scowled at Harry. "Slimy, murdering, Death Eater ..." he flailed for a minute -- "bastard!"

Harry clenched his jaw. "I'm not going to claim he's kind, Ron," he said coldly. "He's not. And yes, he has killed -- and switched sides. He is deceitful, yes. That's what he does for us, now."

Ron pushed a hand through his hair. "I just don't understand."

Harry sighed. "I don't either, really. Just believe me, please? He isn't secretly messing me up, or anything."

"You've been acting pretty messed up."

"But that's not him. It's because of how things are, that's all."

Ron nodded and squared his shoulders. "Look ... I'll try, all right?"

"Thanks."

Ron, scowling, pulled out his wand. "I'm just glad I'm not in Potions, anymore. I'd scream out something, eventually." He flicked his wand at the blue dome. It wavered and reset. He tried again. On the third effort, he managed to dispel it. "Let's go see Hagrid, then."

The End.


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=2025