Hogwarts: Slytherin Dungeons: Professor Snape’s Quarters

Upon waking up in the morning Harry could not tell what time it was. Gone was the usual stream of light that crept through the curtains surrounding his bed. Wherever he was now, there were no curtains drawn around, there was, however a soft flicker of light emanating from a lamp on the wall. Rubbing his eyes, Harry reached over to the bedside table on the left to grab his glasses. 

“Ah!!” Harry said out loud. He fell back onto his bed and threw his quilt cover above his head. He remembered everything now! How he had fought with his friends, then yelled at the professor…his dad. And most importantly, how he refused to sleep in the Gryffindor dorms; only wanting to spend the night in his room here. There was a faint knock on the door, which was slightly muffled as Harry was under the covers; “Harry” he could faintly hear.

“Mhmmm What?”. He found his covers being lifted unceremoniously to the side.

“Now, that is not a good tone to have in the morning” the Professor smirked whilst scowling; if that was possible. Although it seemed as if the Professor realised his tone, because he laid the quilt back onto the boy, then retreated to sit in the chair opposite the bed.  

“What happened last night Harry?” the Professor asked. He watched as Harry groaned, then threw his quilt again over his head. The Professor sighed, once again getting up to slide the quilt down, in order to see the boy’s face. 

“It was awful! They are so stupid, I hate them; can’t they just be happy for me?!”. Harry spoke brokenly as he developed hiccups whilst crying. Wiping his tears onto the quilt (which left Snape cringing), Harry stated that he wanted to be left alone and that he was not leaving his bedroom.

Severus, wanting to leave the boy to stew, left him with his thoughts. 

The Professor had been sending food to the boy’s room the whole Saturday, yet Harry never left his room longer than to use the toilet. And when Sunday came, the boy did the same. Never leaving his room, until it reached 4pm; the professor had had enough. He had stormed into the boy’s room and demanded that he stop with his sooky behaviour.

‘Are you a 5-year-old? No, I thought not. Get out of bed this instance! Have a nice long bath, then we will have an early dinner together’. 

The professor had yanked the covers off, then stormed out of the room. He waited on the couch, grinding his teeth; however finally the boy had stepped out of his room. Relaxing now, the Professor went to the fireplace and floo’d the kitchens. 

Once the boy was out of the shower, the table was made; and they began to eat. All that could be heard was cutlery clinking, Harry was still silent. However, the Professor was having none of it.

“So, I saw your little group of friends in the corridor earlier today” The Professor stated. He was satisfied when he realised that this had provoked a response from Harry.

“What?! What did they say” Harry stated frantically.

Severus, however took his time to reply. Firstly, he ate a piece of bread with his food. Then taking a rather large gulp of water. 

“Well, they were both lurking outside of my office, and I told them to leave of course (Taking another long sip of water). They wanted to see you and to apologise…” Harry interrupted.

“Well I don’t want their stupid apology, they hurt me, and I don’t want to see them”. Severus was surprised that Harry had stated that out loud. He felt sorry for the boy, all this drama was all his fault. If he had never had his memories taken away, then he would have raised Harry; and his friends would know no different…

“Well, you will have to see them unfortunately, you do go to the same school, and live in the same tower. Now I know what you’re thinking Harry, whilst it was very nicehaving you sulking around here this weekend. You cannot permanently live down here. Others will become suspicious when they see that you have stopped living in Gryffindor’s tower. You may, however frequent down here if you wish. Maybe sleeping down here on Friday nights, you could tell your housemates that you were needed by your aunt and uncle. However, I wouldn’t advise it. It is best that you speak to your friends, get everything off of your chest; if you haven’t already done so. If you wish to no longer be friends with them, that is fine; just know that you may one day regret having them out of your life.” The professor looked off into the distance lost in thought. 

The night went by quietly. They both sat on the couch reading, the Professor marking whilst Harry completed his homework. When Harry was in his bedroom that night, he looked around and sighed in content. He had his uniform on the back of his chair, and he wondered if this is what it was like for muggle children. Laying their clothes on their chairs in their homes, then walking to school. It was funny, Harry thought whilst he slithered into bed, he really liked staying down here.

The next day Harry walked very early to the great hall for breakfast, as to avoid being seen by any Slytherins. He kept his distance from his friends that whole day, then the next, then the day after. Until it had been a whole week and Harry had not spoken to neither Ron or Hermione. Harry chose to sit with Neville, or alone; and if he was honest, he didn’t mind the peace and quiet. He took time to focus on his studies, as his father had wanted. However, he had chosen to not take his father’s advice of talking to his friends. 

On Friday night, Harry was on the quidditch pitch practicing for Gryffindors game on Saturday. He let all of his frustrations out on the field during practice, yelling when his teammates did anything wrong. He was in a particularly sour mood and chose not to speak to Ron unless completely necessary. Harry thought that if Ron did horribly tomorrow, he could always put McLagan in the role instead; he smirked at that thought (it would fix everything). Little known to Harry, his father was sitting in the stands watching the whole practice. 

Severus Snape sat there quietly shaking his head in sadness. How much his son resembled him, he thought sadly. His son was supposed to take on the good characteristics not the bad ones. As he watched his son get angry and scream at all of his players, he realised just how stressful this whole situation must be for the boy. When practice had ended Severus lingered on the stands still in thought. When the wind had just become chilly the professor stood up ready to return to the castle; when he jumped in fright.

“Merlin Harry you scared me!” Snape said clutching his chest.

“You know, I saw you sitting in the stands for a while now. If anyone saw you, they will think that your spying for Slytherin, in order to gain insight into our strategies.”

“The only thing that I am spying on is my son and wanting to know whether he is alright. Although from your display tonight; screaming at your team-mates; you clearly are not alright. 

At this, Harry sighed. He looked around the pitch one more time before sitting down. He patted the bench next to him; waiting for his father to sit. 

“I couldn’t stand watching Ron out there, I just felt so angry. He’s been trying to catch me in the hallways; the same with Hermione. I just need them to understand that I just want to be left alone.”

“Why Harry, we have had this conversation time and time again. Build a bridge, and move on, there is no need to be this petty. They want to make things right, and if you don’t want to speak to them ever again; have the decency to tell them.” Snape said whilst looking into the distance.

Harry looked back and forth from his father and the quidditch pitch. He kept opening his mouth, wanting to speak but did not know how to convey what he was feeling. The professor stood up and told Harry to follow him back to the castle. However, Harry quickly shot out his arm to stop his father from leaving.

“Wait! Do you think they would make me choose?” Harry asked nervously.

“Choose, choose what?” Severus asked confused.

“Make me choose between them or you? Because I don’t think I would choose them” Harry said, with a tight-lipped smile.

Severus at hearing this could not help but to give his son a hug. He could not believe that in such a short time, this boy had come to care for him so much. Whilst patting his sons head, there was a rustling sound nearby. At hearing this, they both sprang apart, Severus whipping out his wand and illuminating the area. Moving his wand from left to right, they both relaxed after seeing that no one was there. Not wanting to jinx themselves they both walked back to the castle. 

After saying goodnight to his father, Harry walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Upon arriving Harry’s eyes darted around, trying to see if he needed to dodge his two friends again. Seeing that the coast was clear he walked briskly to his room, grabbed his pyjamas and toiletry bag. After a long shower, Harry headed straight to bed knowing that he would have his work cut out for him tomorrow. 

Great Hall - Quidditch Match

Chanting could be heard coming from the great hall on Saturday morning. It was Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw, and there was definite animosity between the two teams. Gryffindor could be seen throwing quaffles to each other. Harry instead opted to have a big breakfast and catch up on some reading for school. 

‘I really need to stop arguing with Ron and Hermione, I’ve fallen behind in my work’ Harry thought to himself as he chewed on a piece of raisin toast. Whilst he continued to read chapter 39 in his charm’s textbook, out of the corner of his eye he could tell Hermione was looking at him. As they made eye contact, Hermione got up from her spot on the bench and started walking over to Harry. At seeing this, he quickly made a grab for two more slices of toast and closed his book with a snap. He all but ran the other direction, and out of the great hall away from Hermione. Not seeing any point in going back to the common room, Harry made his way down to the quidditch pitch, to the changing rooms.

After an hour, the other Gryffindor quidditch players made their way into the tent. Harry made sure to give a thorough speech on what he expected from each and every player.

“I know it’s raining, and two of our team members had to pull out due to the flu; but I still think we have a chance at winning. We need to not only play like we did during practice, but also use the other teams’ weaknesses against them. All chasers make sure that within the first 20 minutes of the game you get as many goals as possible. Then only then will I really go after the snitch. In the meantime, I’ll try to distract Cho; and chase the ‘snitch’. All right let’s go!”. The others cheered with Harry.

As they made it onto the pitch the weather only worsened. What started off as a few sprinkles of rain, had now turned into a torrential downpour. This however did not stop the Gryffindor team from winning 5 goals within the first 15 minutes. Harry had successfully distracted Cho, and was flying around like a maniac, pretending that the snitch was only a few meters from his fingers. 

“And another 10 points to Gryffindor” Screamed the new commentator.

At hearing this, Harry performed the hand gesture that the Gryffindor team knew to be the signal. With having scored now 9 goals in total, Harry had stopped flying and was now squinting, trying to spot a tiny spot of gold. One minute later to Harry’s relief he spotted the Golden Snitch flying just over the Slytherin stands. Flying as quick as possible, Harry zoomed past all other quidditch players, dodging each of them. Cho, at this point had figured out what was about to happen. She pushed on as quick as she could, knowing that if she did not catch the snitch, Ravenclaw was out of the draw to win the quidditch house cup. 

There was a stroke of lightening, which made Cho briefly close her eyes. However, when she opened them, she was only a few meters from the Slytherin stand, and riding straight toward Draco Malfoy. Looking at his dumb struck face, Cho quickly swerved to avoid the blonde, which found her crashing into the green and silver tarp. She tumbled, and eventually lost balance on her broom. Falling onto the sandy ground, she barely could stand up. As Madam Hooch came rushing onto the field with Madam Pomfrey, Cho looked up to see all the Gryffindors cheering. The last thing she saw before she blacked out, was Harry holding the Golden Snitch in the air, whilst being lifted on top of his team player’s shoulders.

Gryffindor Common Room – After Party

After being carried back into the castle, Harry made a beeline for the showers; not wanting to attend the party. However, there was not much to do to avoid the celebrations. As soon as Harry exited the showers, he walked into his dorm room, only to have Dean loudly cheering and congratulating him... Pushing him to come outside and drink some butterbeer, or firewisky with everyone; Harry of coarse declined. Closing the drapes around his bed, Harry took out his transfiguration textbook and began reading. Looking up from his book, Harry was struggling to deal with the noise. He took his pillow and scrunched it over his ears and rocked back and forth; trying to block the noise.

Not able to concentrate, Harry put his book down on the side table and fell onto his back with a thump. Staring up at the ceiling Harry zoned out for about 30 minutes. Without realising, the seeker had drifted off into sleep, when he was rudely awakened by a crash; then laughter. As he was jolted awake, Harry’s heart thumped in pain; growling in for being shocked awake. Harry sat up quickly, wanting to go downstairs and reprimand everyone. But the second he thought about his future actions, it made him laugh. 

“Aghh I’m turning into my dad” Harry thought in amusement. His amusement then turned to disbelief. Hadn’t his father told him that he could stay in his room no questions asked. Harry smiled like a Cheshire cat, knowing that in a short 10-minute walk, he would be sleeping in a nice quite environment. 

Grabbing his invisibility cloak, which he had gotten back from his dad; he wrapped it around his now tall frame. Just as he smothered himself with the cloak, and opened the dorm’s door; Ron walked in.

“Whaaa?” Ron said to an empty room. He looked around, knowing that he felt a tug on the door, pulling it open with more force than he gave to open it.

He peered at Harry’s now messy bed, knowing that Harry was under his invisibility cloak.

“Come on mate, come out from under there. I know it’s you Harry” Ron said in an exasperated tone.

Harry poked only his head out from under the invisibility cloak.

“Look, I just want to get out of here for a while; get some peace and quiet”.

And with that being said, Harry pulled the material over his head, and pushed past Ron, running down the stairs. Harry was unaware that Ron was on his heels with Hermione in tow. Once the Gryffindor Common Rooms entrance had opened, Ron and Hermione jumped out and pounced on Harry; tugging the cloak off.

“Oy!” Harry yelled, snatching his cloak back from Hermione’s hands.

“Can’t you both just leave me alone. I just want some peace and quiet, I just want to RELAX!” Harry yelled at them.

“We just want to talk; you have been dodging us for too long. After speaking to Professor Snape, we felt so bad. Please, let’s just put all this behind us. Ron doesn’t even care that the Professor is your father. Do you Ron?” Hermione nudged Ron, trying to quickly brush the tears away that had fallen onto her cheeks. 

“Eh, yeah mate. It’s ok, I mean. At least your dad’s not You Know Who, ay?” Ron said nervously. 

Harry breathed in and out, this helped in calming him down. Looking at both of his distraught friends, Harry could not take it any longer.

“Look I’m sorry guys. This has all just been too much for me. I just need space; I’m only just getting to know my dad. I want to spend as much time with him and get to know him. And for the first time ever, someone wants to get to know me. And I know what you’re going to say Hermione, but Sirius doesn’t count. He wants to see James in me… 

You said that you guys wanted to be there for me the other day. Well you can, once I get a letter back from Sirius. I finally told him you know, that Snape’s my dad. He probably is going to hate me; which is really going to hurt. But I know Sna… my dad’s there for me you know; it’s a good feeling” Harry said drifting off in thought.

He stepped forward and firstly hugged Hermione, then Ron. 

“Oh Harry, of course we will be there for you. And I think you will be surprised, Sirius will still love you, no matter who your father is.” Hermione said. Ron was shaking his head in agreeance, however his facial features leaked uncertainty.  

“Well eh. Have fun, or eh, have a good night’s rest at your... dads.” Ron said nervously, reminding Harry of Neville. 

“Yes Harry, and we will speak to you tomorrow” Hermione said smiling.

“Yeh, and I can’t wait for you to tell us what it’s like sleeping in a coffin” Ron smirked, then jabbed Harry in the shoulder playfully.

Ron’s jab, however, was more like a push. Harry saw both of his friends faces, quickly morphing from happy to shock; then fear. He could feel it at his navel, a tug. He was falling, tumbling down the moving stairs. The only relief he received was that final fall, accompanied by a crack; then everything went black. 

Grimmauld Place

Sirius Black could be seen yelling and throwing furniture back and forth. Remus looked on in shock, concern; then sadness. Sirius yelled the same thing over and over again, ‘Why, I hate him, I’m going to kill him’. Remus attempted to calm down Harry’s godfather however, nothing would stop Sirius’ hysterics that night. His anger turned to sadness, Sirius finally broke down and sat on the staircase crying; clutching Harry’s letter in his right hand.

Hogwarts Hospital Wing

Upon waking up, Harry’s vision was blurred. Leaning over he grabbed his glasses and put them on his face slowly. He had an intense pain on the side of his head, and the light from the room was not helping. Looking around the hospital wing, Harry saw that on the left-hand side Cho was sleeping in the hospital bed close to the window. Cracking his neck, Harry leaned over to his right side. Sitting in the chair to his right was Professor Snape, the man sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

Harry looked at the Professor then scrunched up his eyebrows. 

‘What the hell is Snape doing sleeping next to my bed’ Harry thought.

Madam Pomfrey was in her office analysing the piece of paper in front of her. They were the results she had collected from Harry earlier. She looked at the paper and felt a twinge of sadness at the results. The two words written under diagnoses, was bound to tear Severus apart.

Harry Potter – Medical Examination

Day

Monday

Time of Diagnoses

10:58pm

Diagnoses

-      Muscle damage

-      Bruising

-       Memory Loss