Chills part II: Chills of a doom. by Henna Hypsch
Summary: Entry for the Winter Fic Fest as part of the series "Chills". Both Harry and Snape can put two and two together.
Categories: Teacher Snape > Professor Snape Main Characters: None
Snape Flavour: Snape Comforts
Genres: Angst
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 7th Year
Warnings: None
Prompts: One Shot Season
Challenges: One Shot Season
Series: Chills
Chapters: 5 Completed: Yes Word count: 6109 Read: 14373 Published: 01 Feb 2015 Updated: 01 Feb 2015
Chapter 4 by Henna Hypsch

Snape blanched and stared at Harry.

 

”I don’t want you to send a message or anything,” Harry hastened to add. ”If you do, I’m out of here in two seconds. I only want to see it’s shape.” Harry knew with certainty that they were at present outside the Non-Apparition zone because he had deliberately chosen the location to be able to Apparate away quickly if something happened.

 

”How did you know?” asked Snape in a coarse whisper. ”No one recognises my Patronus.” 

 

Harry frowned. He did not know at all, acted all on instincts, but Snape’s reaction seemed to imply that he might be right in his guesses. He decided not to let his guard down before anything was proven, though. With tension in his voice he repeated:

 

”Show me, please!”

 

Snape lifted his wand slowly, to the side, so that it would not point at Harry. The spell was barely audible but a silvery magic mass sorted promptly from the tip of the wand and formed into a gracious, nervously trampling animal, the same silvery doe that had led Harry to the pond with the sunken sword a few nights ago. The beautiful animal walked the circle of the glade before it dissolved.

 

Harry lowered his wand and shook his head, staring at the evaporating silvery fog. 

 

”It was you,” he said. ”It was you.”

 

”How…” Snape began to say again, but Harry interrupted him, stepping forward with his green eyes intently fixed on his former teacher’s face.

 

”Did he ask you to do it? The curse… the curse in his hand… Dumbledore was condemned, wasn’t he? He knew he was going to die and he had asked you to… The pleading in his voice, it was not to prevent you… It was to beg you to go ahead and not loose courage… Heavens, I called you a coward after that… no wonder you lost your temper with me and…” Harry rumbled on as if surprised and overwhelmed at the same time by seeing all his loose ends tie up together. 

 

”Please, Potter…” said Snape and lifted a hand to stop the torrent of words, but Harry could not yet halt himself.

 

”How could he do that? How could he possibly ask you to do that?” Harry said indignantly. ”Now everyone believes you’re a murderer. No one in the Order will think you’re on our side, they’ll never consider the possibility that…”

 

”Please!” said Snape sharply. ”I did kill him.” Snape’s black eyes met Harry’s steadily and the young man finally fell silent. ”What’s more interesting,” continued Snape, ”is how you came to the conclusion that I’m not a true murderer? Just because I gave you the sword of Gryffindor does not mean that I’m on your side. Have you considered the possibility that it was a ruse? How can you possibly know that I’m still not an evil Death Eater? By Merlin, where are your infamous self-preservation instincts?”

 

Instead of answering, Harry turned his head away, as if embarrassed. He busied himself with lighting a fire in the middle of the glade, then picked up two dried pieces of wood that he swiftly transfigured into some sort of gingerly seats that you could fold out. Harry gestured for Snape to sit down in front of the fire. Snape viewed the small, Muggle-inspired chairs with suspicion, but the construction was surprisingly strong and held his weight. Snape too put his wand away. Harry was already seated, looking deep into the fire.

 

”Your Patronus…” he said. ”… is a doe.”

 

”Undeniably…” snorted Snape.

 

”Did you…? Did you know Lily Evans?” asked Harry quickly, turning his head to look directly at Snape. The black eyes widened slightly but was quickly schooled back into blankness.

 

”Of course, I did. You know very well, Potter, that I was in the same year at Hogwarts as both of your parents,” said Snape. Harry kept looking at him.

 

”You loved her, didn’t you?” he suddenly said. 

 

”What…? No! What do you mean?” croaked Snape, unable to check himself, but realising  that there was no way out. His breathing all of a sudden became quick and shallow as if he had run himself breathless.

 

”My mother’s Patronus was a doe,” Harry said quietly. ”Dead people don’t cast spells though. A person’s Patronus might take the form of a loved one. And there was something that aunt Petunia said before I left this summer…”

 

Snape jerked his head up and stared at Harry.

 

”…about a boy in the neighbourhood where Lily and she were children, who was a wizard and who made friends with my mother. It was obvious my aunt didn’t like him, but her description reminded me of… er… what I have occasionally had a glimpse of during our Occlumency lessons.”

 

Snape shook his head. 

 

”And then there was the Prince’s book of Advanced Potions. In addition to the clever spells and the modifications to the potion recipes, there were lines written in another hand… Small endearing scribblings about nothing…”

 

A shadow of a smile appeared on Snape’s lips and his eyes softened. 

 

”Ginny did that to me last year… Some of my schoolbooks are full of them… I saw that handwriting again, this fall, in a letter from Lily to Sirius and it took me some time to put it all together, because it was all so improbable… But then you sent your Patronus and the sword and the only thing that made sense was that you were on our side, because of her… because you loved her back then… maybe still does, since the doe has stayed with you…”

 

Snape’s head was bent forward and hidden behind a curtain of black hair so that Harry could no longer see Snape’s face.

 

”And then I remembered Dumbledore’s hand… His extreme weakness after our trip to the cave… and I… had to find out… I knew there was a Death Eaters meeting tonight. I waited for you at the gates. I needed to know. There are too many things unsolved, too many mysteries. I couldn’t take it any longer.” 

 

Harry’s voice had a note of desperation. Snape looked up at him again and met the green eyes. 

 

”That book… I really admired the Half-blood Prince… I must acknowledge that I… at the time… was hoping it would turn out to be my father’s…” said Harry.

 

Snape lifted his eyebrows in surprise. 

 

”Because it was really smart and inventive… well, except for the Sectumsempra which had me petrified with horror… really stupid of me to try it out like that… Anyway… I wanted to tell you that you have all my respect, Professor… I realise that you and James were rivals, in several ways… But if we could just  look past that part… It’s sort of obvious that Lily liked you too…” 

 

”Really…” added Harry when Snape turned away in embarrassment. The young wizard spontaneously placed a hand on the older wizard’s arm. ”We just cannot afford to let the awkwardness keep us from becoming allies. I’m ready to just accept it. At this stage of the war, we need all the support we can get. You must understand that the fact that you loved my mother doesn’t repulse me, on the contrary, it convinces me that I can really trust you… This autumn has been so terribly lonely, you cannot imagine… If we could just be frank with each other, maybe we could, at least, you know, cooperate, don’t you think so, please?” Harry’s voice was persuasive and pleading and he was looking at Snape with apprehension. Snape had to clear his throat several times before he could speak. 

 

”Those words from you, Mr Potter,” he said slowly, ”stun me…”

 

Harry paled.

 

”…with their inherent forgiveness. I have done nothing to deserve that from you. Surely you must long ago have come to the conclusion that I am a cruel and disagreeable person?” continued Snape.

 

”I… I was a child. I sensed and reacted to your prejudices against me, I think. I realise I must be a painful reminder of James. It’s understandable that you treated me as you did… As a near adult I realise that the greater part of your behaviour must have been an act. You needed to hate me to play your roll convincingly with Voldemort,” said Harry. 

 

”Your forgiving disposition reminds me of Lily,” said Snape softly. ”You are indeed her son. I think… that I might be done… with James. You’re right, let’s leave it.” Harry nodded. 

 

”What about Voldemort, though?” he said. ”Will he be able to detect that you are… more friendly disposed towards me? Do we need to go back hating each other again after tonight?”

 

”I don’t think so,” said Snape. ”My Occlumency shields are so well developed by now that it almost goes by itself. And Voldemort seems preoccupied by other things, right now. He announced at the meeting tonight that he will be gone for a while. He’s looking for something… I just cannot seem to figure out what.”

 

”He’s looking for a wand that is suitable to kill me with,” said Harry drily. Snape arched an eyebrow.

 

”Indeed. And how do you know that?” he said. Harry squirmed uncomfortably. 

 

”I’ve seen it in his mind. There is… a connection… between us,” said Harry. Snape looked grave.

 

”Yes, I’m aware of that since our Occlumency lessons. However, I’d like to know…” Snape said cautiously, but Harry lifted a hand to stop him and stood up abruptly.

 

”Please, I don’t want to talk about it,” he said in a voice tense with anguish and turned away.

 

”Fine… fine…” said Snape and rose as well. ”Let’s talk about your mission then. How many horcruxes are still to be found and destroyed?” 


The End.


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