Skipping Stones

Severus Snape would never go so far as to welcome the first few rays of sunshine that braved the Scottish spring but he permitted himself a contented sigh of appreciation when he left the castle for a brisk walk along the lake. Halfway through the Easter holidays he had no schoolwork left, Madam Pomfrey had enough potions for next term and the four Slytherins staying over the holidays were safely ensconed in their common room. The temperature was still rather cold but the air was fresh and the sun was gaining strength fast. The Potions master was walking slightly above the right-hand shore of the Black Lake. He planned to circumvent the little copse of trees that prevented most of Hogwarts pupils – and teachers – to walk further. Which was a good thing because the small cove just beyond the little wood was known only to a few. Lily and he would meet there when they were children and still on speaking terms. Severus resolutely shoved away all thoughts about his friend and his thoughts turned to her son.

He was not happy with how he’d treated the boy. Part of it had been necessary for all the fledgling Death Eaters in Hogwarts but he had hoped to be able to fulfil his promise to Lily better. An added difficulty was both Harry’s looks and disposition. The boy looked just like his father, only his eyes were his mother’s. And he seemed not to be able to read between lines at all, taking every insult to heart but not hearing the message behind it.
The Potions master took the last bend and was prepared to climb down to the cove when something made him stop. The first year who’d just occupied his thoughts was kneeling at the shore, nose nearly to the ground. It seemed he was looking for something. His glasses must be really bad which might account for his poor performance in school and his terrible writing.

Harry took a small flat stone and tried to let it skip across the water. And tried and tried until all his stones were gone. Dressed in a Weasley sweater, ragged rolled-up jeans and ratty trainers three sizes too big, he looked atrocious. Severus understood the concept of play-clothes but something in him rebelled against seeing the child like this on Good Friday. But then he couldn’t remember ever seeing Potter in anything other than his school clothes, which were getting too short already. That was not a bad thing per se as the boy was small for an eleven year old, considering the height of his parents. And if he didn’t go home during holidays his aunt could not buy him new ones. Past experiences with his little snakes had told Snape that young children rarely noticed the state of their clothes.

Thinking of Lily’s sourly sister led to a new train of thought. Somehow Severus could not picture Petunia as particularly caring. Maybe he should not put so much into Dumbledore’s assurances that the boy was well cared for. That he was no pampered prince seemed obvious. Having met Vernon Dursley once he also didn’t think it likely that Harry’s uncle had ever taught his nephew how to skip stones. Snape made his way down to the cove where the child was still oblivious to another’s presence.

“Potter.”

“Professor Snape!” The boy looked up, squinting against the sun.

“It’s the wrist movement. Watch.”
Severus threw a stone which skipped at least five times.

“Wow. You make it look so easy. I’ve been trying for an hour.”

“Try again.”

The boy did but fared not better than before.

“Do you remember the stirring pattern for the Stomach draught, where you have to flex your wrist at the end? You did all right on that potion, if I remember correctly.”

“But you said it was slop when I handed it in!”

Reigning in his temper Severus answered, “I put it down as adequate in my marking, however. Or how did you think you got a passing grade in Potions at mid-term?”

“But why?”

The Potions master sighed. He would have to spell it out for the child.

“Potter, you know that the headmaster thinks that the Dark Lord will come back eventually?”

Harry nodded.

“If, or rather when, that happens he will call his former followers, many of whom have children here at Hogwarts. I cannot be seen coddling the Boy-Who-Lived.”

“Oh.” The child creased his brow, thinking, before a hesitant smile spread over his face. He looked nothing like James Potter right then, that expression was pure Lily.

“So you pretend to be mean to me because the Death Eater – children need to trust you? You do not hate me?”

“I am deliberately mean to you, yes, but I do not hate you.”

The green eyes grew suspiciously moist, but mere moments later Harry’s mien grew first pensive and then suspicious.

“What do you want now? Why are you being nice to me now?”

“No one is here to see. And no one will believe you if you told your friends that Professor Snape taught you to skip stones over Easter.” The last line was delivered with a slight smile, before he said, “That line of thought was positively Slytherin for a Gryffindor poster child.”

“The Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. I refused because Draco was mean to Ron in the Hogwarts Express.”

“Having Draco Malfoy as an ally and house-mate might have made your life at Hogwarts easier but not necessarily less complicated in the long run. You do know that students can ask any professor at Hogwarts for assistance, no matter from what House they are?”

“So I go down to your office and you yell at me because of my atrocious potions work?” That line was said with his head turn to the side and a calculating mien.

“Exactly. At least as long as anyone could hear me. – Now let’s get your stones skipping.”



Fin