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Severus Snape sat quietly marking 6th year essays. Since he required an “O” on the owls to join this class, these essays were much easier to grade than the lower years. Although there was precious little creativity or love of potions, at least the spelling and grammar were readable. The term was almost over, and since Albus had cancelled final exams, Severus had increased the essay length, and would, next week, assign the summer projects for all his classes.
A knock on his door so soft he almost missed it pulled him out of his thoughts. “Enter” he snapped.
Harry Potter squared his shoulders and walked into the office hoping he showed less fear than he felt.
“Good evening, professor.”
“What do you want, Mr. Potter?”
“I’ve come to offer you a deal, sir. I’m told that Slytherins like to make deals.”
His interest piqued, Severus asked “What sort of deal, Mr. Potter?”
“The kind where you get something you want, and I get something I need, sir.”
“Potter, you have nothing I want, and what you most need is a trip across my knee.”
Reaching into his bag Harry said “I’d like the chance to talk you out of that, sir, and I really do have something you want. Several things, actually.” As he said this he pulled some sort of skin from the bag and laid it in a heap on the desk.
“The monster in the chamber of secrets sir. It was a basilisk. This is a piece of shed skin. There’s lots more, and the whole carcass of the creature itself. 50 to 60 feet of it. And that’s not all.”
As Severus ran the skin through his hands his head was spinning with thoughts of potions not made in generations. To be that large the beast must truly have been Salazar Slytherin’s own familiar. It would have taken most of a millennium to grow that big. Potions that used snake skin would be many times stronger with the skin of an ancient basilisk. And the rest of the beast. Blood, fangs, organs, VENOM, and bones waiting to be harvested. He knew how he wanted to spend his summer. Clearly Potter had no idea what he had. He wondered what Potter wanted.
“So Mr. Potter, what is it that you would like to trade for this skin? What do you think you need?”
“I need a new guardian sir. I want you to adopt me.”
Only Severus’ many years experience as a spy allowed him to keep his expression passive as he processed this statement.
“Is the golden boy getting tired of mere muggle family? Are they not exciting enough for you? And why me of all people?”
“Several reasons sir, although some I doubt you’ll believe. Let’s just say that as much as I don’t like you, and as much as you hate me, I’d still rather live with you than with my relatives. That should tell you all you need to know about them. Look, I know that this is a really big ask, but there is more than just the creature in the chamber. Salazar Slytherin had a potions lab down there, which include his potions journals - written in parselscript. I can translate them for you. And his personal library. It looks to be perfectly preserved.”
“I know that the headmaster won’t let me leave my aunt and uncle’s house easily. But everybody says that if somebody is having trouble at home they should come to you. That you help kids. I know I won’t be allowed to go to the Weasly’s, and that I need somebody strong and magically powerful. The only things I have to trade would only be of interest to a Slytherin potions master. You’re the only one I know,…sir.”
“I’m afraid, Mr. Potter, that you are going to need to be much more specific about the “trouble” you are having at home, but if you can supply verifiable details of abuse, something can be worked out. Let me speak with the headmaster and get back to you. Think very hard about this Mr. Potter. I am not an easy man to live with, and will be no less strict as a guardian than as a teacher. But I do not hate you, and perhaps you are not as much like your father as I thought. I find it most disturbing that you feel like you need to buy your way into a home.”
“I’m willing to bet that if I cook all the meals, you’ll let me eat at least once or twice a day. That puts you ahead of my aunt already sir.”
“I still think you need discipline Mr. Potter.”
“And I think that as long as that doesn’t involve me having to heal the belt cuts on my back I’m still trading up. As to the rest, I’ll take my chances. Gryffindor bravery and all.”
“Go to bed you cheeky brat. It’s almost curfew and I must call the headmaster.”
As he walked toward the door of the office, Harry said over his shoulder, “Good night sir, keep the skin piece as a sign of good faith.”
Casting one last glance to the pile of skin on his desk, Severus turned toward the Floo. “Albus!…”
A deal indeed.
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