‘No, I haven’t.’ Harry replied in alarm.

‘Don’t you dare to lie to me at this moment!’ Snape thundered back at him, his eyes narrowed into black slits of fury and Harry was reminded once again of how intimidating he’d always found the man in the past.

‘I didn’t! Honestly.’

Snape glared back at him, completely unconvinced.

Harry gulped. ‘Ok, ok. I tried to use it at lunchtime... but nothing happened. I wasn’t going to hurt him... I just wanted to see if it would work...’

‘And I am to assume that the unfortunate intended victim of your grossly foolish venture was...?’

‘Malfoy.’ Harry admitted in a small voice.

For a moment there was a deadly silence between them and all that they could both hear was the sound of students milling about outside the room. Then there was a sudden scuffle and a first year burst into the room. ‘Sorry Sir.’ She said apologetically, almost quaking under the Professor’s furious gaze as she retrieved her forgotten Potions Textbook.

Snape grabbed Harry’s arm, drawing a sharp intake of breath from the boy at his painfully tight grip, and dragged him out the potions lab towards the entrance to Slytherin house.        

 ‘That hurts.’ Harry protested, vainly attempting to prise Snape’s fingers away with his own.

‘Good.’ Snape replied shortly, although the crushing grip relented somewhat.

They stepped through the entrance together. Luckily for Harry there were only half a dozen students in the common room, the rest had already headed down to the great hall for dinner. Those who were present seemed to know better than to show any interest in their Head of House hauling a student into the house or perhaps it was just the waves of fury which were streaming off  him which made them back off.

‘Get in there.’ Snape had opened the door to his office and gave Harry a not-too-gentle push towards it.

Harry walked in, his head hanging. He didn’t even dare to look at his Professor who had now closed the door. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this angry with him- even the times he’d thrown things at him or tried to hex him didn’t come close...

‘Do you have any idea of the gravity of what you attempted?’ Snape spat at him, forcing himself to try and calm down.

Harry stared at his shoes, he was beginning to.

 ‘I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted to get back at him for Neville.’ Harry said feeling a lump building at the back of his throat, ‘I’m sorry.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ‘Not g 'Not good enough. Need I spell it out to you that we only have your incompetence in casting to thank for the fact that you didn’t use that spell on Draco? The spell which I specifically told you was dangerous and potentially deadly?’

Harry paled as the implications sunk in. ‘I didn’t think about that. I thought I’d just experiment and only use it a little bit, just for a few seconds to see if it’d work...’

‘Because wizards can always control the force with which they cast new, complex spells?’ Snape asked sarcastically. ‘It’s not like you come to school to learn about such things in a controlled environment for the safety of all concerned? To think I’d begun to reassess my opinion of you, Potter- when you clearly are as arrogant, unthinking and idiotic as I’d always imagined.’

Harry was surprised to find tears prickling in his eyes and quickly turned his face aside.

‘You will stay here and not move a muscle. I’m going to check on Draco and will be back to deal with you presently. You’d better hope for your own sake that he is unharmed.’ And with those discomforting words Snape was gone.

Snape did go to the Great Hall to check on Draco, although he’d been fairly certain that if Harry had cast the spell it would have been brought to his attention long before now. In part his fury with the boy boiled down to disappointment. He was appalled at what Harry had unthinkingly tried to do and forcibly reminded once more of the impulsive, less positive traits in the boy’s personality. The fact that his target had been Draco also didn’t exactly help his case. Although Severus was less immune to his Godson’s faults than many thought, he would still protect the child fiercely when the need arose. Severus was well aware that matters with Draco were fast approaching a cusp and that each day it looked more likely that he would follow in his father’s footsteps, but he hadn’t given up on the boy yet. 

Feeling Severus’s dour gaze fall upon him from across the room Draco looked up questioningly from his meal. At his Godfather gestured irritably for him to turn and continue eating, he thought little of it. He was used to Severus’ moods and knew the man would send for him if he wanted to speak.

Severus hesitated, he had no real reason to linger but was loath to go back and deal with Harry for a while yet. It would be better for him to get a grip on his temper first.

‘Problems, Severus?’

He turned towards the headmaster, who only needed one glance at his face, to see how ill-tempered his potions master was. Dumbledore sighed. He didn’t need to ask who it was, there was only one student who seemed to be capable of enraging his Potions Master to this degree. ‘What has he done?’

Severus cast a quick spell so they could not be overheard. ‘Only tried to do a wandless Titan Navitas  on Draco.’

Dumbledore gave a look of dismay.

‘Apparently he thought it would be an effective attack move to try out.’ Snape spat out. ‘Thankfully it didn’t take effect.  I believe the foolish brat didn’t mean to cause any lasting harm, but it seems his idiocy truly knows no bounds.’

Dumbledore seems to consider this for a moment before replying.

‘And yet, perhaps Harry has struck upon a valid plan, even if he has gone about attempting it in quite the wrong way.’

‘You think... I should train him in this?’ Snape asked incredulously. ‘It is outside my expertise; in fact it is outside everyone’s expertise. You think we should encourage him despite that?’

Dumbledore looked him straight in the eye. ‘Powers the Dark Lord knows not.’ He reminded him. ‘This was never going to be easy.’

‘Oh and Severus?’ He added gently. ‘Much as I’m sure Harry’s rash behaviour warrants some sanctions perhaps you could bear in mind that if you come down too hard on him now it might be counterproductive. After all, we wouldn’t want him to feel unable to confide in you would we?’  

‘You need not concern yourself.’ Severus replied grimly. ‘I will have him talk to me whether he wishes it or not.’

As the office door swung open silently Severus noted that Harry was stood awkwardly precisely on the spot where he’d left him. He appeared to be frozen in time apart from one hand which absentmindedly rubbed his arm.

‘Right Potter.’

Harry jumped and turned to face him.

‘It appears that Draco has escaped unscathed, no thanks to you. If you ever... and I mean ever pull a stunt like that on a student here again...’

‘I won’t.’ Harry hastily assured him.

Snape nodded slowly and then asked abruptly.

‘Does it still hurt?’

‘What?’

‘Your arm.’ The professor replied impatiently. ‘You keep rubbing it.’

‘Oh. No, it’s fine.’

‘Let me see.’

Reluctantly Harry allowed Snape to pull his sleeve back and looked away as the older wizard examined the bruise which was already beginning to form.

 ‘It’s ok.’ Harry hastily pulled his sleeve down.

‘Wait there, Potter.’

This time Snape only disappeared for a minute before returning with a pot of bruise balm. With a stony face he held it out to Harry who took the jar but didn’t open it.

‘Now I have no idea what was going through your head, when you made that ill-thought out attempt but believe me we will be addressing this over the days to come. You’re in detention for the rest of the week and you will also complete five hundred lines stating ‘In the future I will attempt to engage my brain before I act.’

Harry nodded.

‘In addition I want it understood that you will not hex or jinx any Slytherins. I will not stand for it. If you do, I will restrict you to your dormitory and only allow you to have your wand for lessons.’

Harry shoulders had slumped even further. Snape hesitated for a moment more before saying:

‘Harry, it was not my intention to hurt you. I don’t want you to think I would ever physically chastise you.’

Harry looked up, his face a mixture of shame and embarrassment.

‘It’s ok. I know you didn’t mean to.’  He mumbled, unscrewing the jar and smearing on some bruise balm.

Snape nodded.

‘You’d better go, dinner’s nearly over.’

After all the stress over Malfoy, Harry had decided that he couldn’t bear it if Snape found out about him going behind his back for the dreamless sleep. And he probably would find out... eventually anyway. This morning that hadn’t seemed like such a big deal but now he’d decided he’d prefer to just give them back, rather than have it hanging over him.

Snape raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

Harry reached into his bag and mutely pulled out the three bottles. Neither of them said anything for a moment and Harry began to worry that he’d miscalculated, perhaps coming clean on top of everything which had happened was a bad idea.

‘Where did you get these from?’ Snape asked at last. ‘My private store?’

‘No! Madam Pomfrey gave them to me but... I kind of implied you thought it would be alright.’ He admitted in a small voice.

‘Quite a day you’ve had isn’t it?’ Snape remarked drily. ‘Tell me. Is it really that important to you that you have the dreamless sleep?’

Harry nodded.

‘Why?’

‘Theodore Nott saw me having a nightmare last night, I don’t want everyone to know.’

‘Mr Nott is the least likely person to gossip.’ Snape said dismissively.

‘I still don’t want him seeing me like that. I... I tried to explain all this to you but you wouldn’t even listen to me. And I really hate the nightmares. You know what they do to me.’

 ‘Indeed, yet becoming addicted to a potion in order to function doesn’t strike me as a satisfying outcome.’ Snape replied bitingly before relenting slightly. ‘Take the potions, use them sparingly. You may ask me if you require more and we will discuss it fully. But I won’t necessarily agree and you certainly won’t be using them every night.’

‘Yes Sir, and I’m sorry... about going to Madam Pomfrey like that.’

‘Which you do realise I would have found out about? Who do you think brews the schools supplies of dreamless sleep in any case?’ Snape asked icily. ‘Incidentally I did not refuse you the potions to be difficult; I genuinely believe they could become more trouble than they’re worth.’ He added in slightly less cold tones.

‘Yes, Sir.’ Harry reached for the door.

Snape sighed. ‘What I’m trying to get across to you, Harry, is that the potions are a last resort. I would rather that you came to me, to talk or work on occlumency, rather than becoming accustomed to taking them. You may wake me if you need to- it does not concern me if it is late.’

‘Thanks ...I... well...I’ll see how it goes.’ Harry mumbled awkwardly as he slipped away.  

***

Heading back through the common room towards the hall for dinner, lost in thought, Harry found himself at the exit just as Malfoy was coming thorough from the opposite direction.

‘Well, look who it is.’ Draco said softly, his eyes glinting maliciously. ‘The little Gryffindor who’s trying to pass himself off as a Slytherin.’

‘Let me out.’ Harry said evenly. He wasn’t going to rise to the bait, considering everything which had already happened today all he wanted was a peaceful evening without any more trouble. But Draco continued to stand directly in his path blocking the entrance and causing a crowd to build up in each direction. Behind him he was flanked by his ever present sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle.

‘Why don’t you get back to your little mudblood friends, Potter?’ Draco sneered inching further forward into Harry’s personal space, Harry felt himself forced to take a step backwards.

‘Oh sorry, did you want to get out?’ Draco asked with faux manners. ‘Let me help you.’

He shoved Harry into the wall beside the entrance.

Harry’s hand tightened on his wand.

‘Malfoy, Potter, that’s enough. Get out the way of the door.’ Lysander ordered sharply, heading towards them from the side of the room.

Sneering slightly Malfoy stepped minimally to one side still surrounded by his flunkies.

‘You alright Potter?’ Lysander asked.

‘Fine.’ Harry replied through gritted teeth.

Jasper walked up to them, glancing cautiously from person to person.

 ‘Um, I’m just going up to the owlery.’ he said to Harry. ‘Do you want to come and see if you’ve got any post?’

Not much point when there’s no one to write to me, Harry thought bleakly. Suddenly he felt utterly exhausted, his disturbed sleep from the night before catching up with him, all he wanted to do was go and chuck himself on his bed. Sod Malfoy, let him think he’d won.

‘No thanks. I think I’m just going to go to our dorm for a bit.’ Giving up on dinner and backing off from the doorway he slipped away to the sound of Malfoy demanding to know what Jasper was doing talking to Gryffindor scum.

Ten minutes later, sprawled on his bed, Harry was at least thankful that Snape had put him in a dorm where he was left alone. He’d decided that Jasper wasn’t too bad, for a Slytherin and Theodore was too introverted to cause him any problems. He still hadn’t made his mind up about Connor, he knew Ron thought he was funny- just because he wound up the Slytherins and Professors in equal measure, but Hermione was convinced he was secretly devastated to be sent abroad to school and acting up accordingly.

Jasper came into the dorm after a few more minutes carrying a various parchments.

‘Here you go, Connor.’ He said chucking a letter at Connor and dumping another on Theodore’s bed before tearing open his own post.

Harry watched as Connor picked up his letter, opened it and barely glanced at the contents before screwing it up into a ball.

‘Was it from your family?’ Jasper asked curiously, glancing up.

‘Family.’ Connor scoffed. ‘What family?’

‘Well,’ Jasper sounded unsure of himself. ‘You’ve got parents and a little sister, right? I mean everyone knows ‘cause stuff about your Dad gets mentioned in the papers sometimes.’

‘They’re no family of mine.’ Connor replied his voice sounding utterly serious just for a moment. ‘So next time don’t bother with the letters, ok? Saves me binning them.’

Harry couldn’t stop himself interrupting incredulously. ‘You’ve got parents and a kid sister that you won’t even write to? What’s your problem?’

‘What’s your problem?’ Connor’s serious tone had vanished as quickly as it appeared and he was back to sounding casual and slightly mocking. ‘Every family set ups different right? You don’t know what I have to put up with, it’s nothing to do with you.’

Harry shrugged. ‘It’s nothing to do with me if you’re a selfish, spoilt prat. It’s just that if you really  didn’t have a family you’d know better, that’s all.’

‘You’ve got your Godfather though haven’t you, Harry?’ Jasper asked. ‘The Prophet said he was starting adoption procedures?’

‘Well that might be a bit difficult seeing as how he’s dead.’ Harry replied flatly before he could stop himself. Then he felt a flush spreading over his face. What had he said that for? He didn’t want to discuss Sirius with anyone apart from Ron and Hermione... well and possibly Snape. He made a hasty attempt to change the subject. ‘What is it with you and the papers anyway? Do you spend all day reading up on us or something?’

‘I...I’m sorry... I didn’t know....about your Godfather. I... well ... you’re pretty famous and Connor’s dad is quite high profile, I wasn’t trying to snoop...’ Jasper sounded extremely uncomfortable and was obviously relieved when Theodore came in and interrupted the topic.

‘Finch was looking for you.’ He said conversationally to Connor as he stowed his bag beside his bed and kicked off his shoes.

Jasper’s  eyes widened. ‘You skipped his detention? After everything Snape said to you earlier? You’re going to be in so much trouble, Connor. Seriously you carry on like this and you’re probably end up getting expelled or something.’

‘That’s clearly what he’s banking on.’ Theodore remarked in a bored voice. ‘So why worry?’

Jasper looked up at Connor in surprise.

‘Is that what you’re doing skiving class and skipping detention- trying to get sent home?’

Connor gave his usual careless grin. ‘No. Just because I don’t want to be here doesn’t mean I want to get sent back there either. I didn’t come to class because I was walking around the place getting to know my way around. I probably should have gone to detention. I’ll go tomorrow.’

‘You’ve got them all week?’

‘And then some.’ Connor didn’t seem at all bothered by the predicament he found himself in and lounged back on his bed.

Theodore glanced up from the book he was now reading. ‘You spent all morning walking around the castle and no one noticed that you should have been in class?’ He asked slowly. ‘You sure you weren’t hiding somewhere? Three hours is a long time to be skiving and not get caught, especially after Dumbledore asked the portraits to look out for you.’

‘I was wandering round outside.’ Connor replied easily. ‘I knew I’d be able to have some time on my own out there.’

***

That night, after much deliberation, Harry spent some time practising his occlumency before eventually weakening and taking a bottle of dreamless sleep anyway. Lulled into a deep sleep, Harry slept soundly until morning when he jolted awake all of a sudden in the midst of a dream about a crow  flying around him. Then as he was getting dressed just for a second he was sure he saw the movement of wings again out of the corner of his eye and looked around with his heart thumping. Maybe Snape was right and the potions were a bad idea. After all seeing stuff when you’re awake really isn’t a good sign.  Shoving the remaining bottles of dreamless sleep under his bed, he reached a decision: he was going to follow Snape’s advise and concentrate solely on occluding. If that meant that he had to pester the Professor for help with occlumency or calming himself down, he’d just have to swallow his pride and take him up on his offer. 

***