Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Chapter 10
They were about to return to Gryffindor tower when Harry suddenly remembered something.”Wait ... why don’t we go visit Hagrid?” Finally, they were, once again, free to go where they wanted. And they still hadn’t made any progress on finding out who Rose’s mother really was.

And if she was Harry’s mother, too.

Hagrid was delighted to see them. Only when he was about to brew them a cup of tea did he suddenly hesitate. “Are yeh allowed to leave the castle on yer own? What with that monster on the loose?”

“Ginny killed the monster”, Ron said, as proudly as if he had done it himself.

“Yer having me on!”

Hermione explained what had happened, and Hagrid frowned. “That was dangerous! Ya shouldn’t have!”

“We had to help Luna!” Ginny cried out. “It was all my fault anyway!”

Hagrid patted her shoulder, a bit too hard judging by the face she made.“Yer a good kid. But it’s no use blaming yerself. It’s You-Know-How, yeh couldn’t have stood a chance.”

He went back to making tea, and to Harry’s relief forgot to offer them his rock cakes.

“So, how was the holidays? Hope the muggles weren’t too bad, Harry?”

“I didn’t stay with them, actually.”

“He went with us”, Hermione explained. “My parents decided to go to France in the easter holidays instead of the summer. Less crowded. France has such an interesting magical history, I learnt tons of new things!”

“We saw the Eiffel tower”, Harry added. The thing that had stuck in his memory most was meeting Snape, but it wouldn’t be wise to mention that, Hagrid couldn’t keep a secret. “How were your holidays, Ginny? You didn’t take that cursed diary back home with you, did you?”

“No, I had already thrown it away by then”, she confirmed.

“Mum was worried Ginny might be ill”, Ron recalled. “But after a couple days at home, she was back to normal. If we’d known it was that damn diary ...”

Hermione nodded. “It seems to have harmed Luna more, though. Wonder why that is. Professor Snape didn’t explain much. He just said it was because of bullying ...” She frowned. “Oh, Hagrid, you must have known Professor Snape back when he was a student, right?”

“Known him, not really. Seen him around, more like. Kept to himself, he did. Except ...”

“Yes?”

“He spent a lot of time with yer mum, Harry.”

For a moment, Harry heard nothing but the beating of his own heart resounding in his ears. That couldn’t be true! It just couldn’t!

“First year, when they arrived at Hogwarts, they took a boat together, I remember that. Drove yer dad mad with jealousy.”

“They were a couple?” Hermione asked.

“Nothing like that. They were kids, an’ anyway, Hermione, yeh should know girls and boys can just be friends.”

“Of course. I just wondered. Professor Snape seems to hate Harry’s dad, and I thought, if he was jealous ...”

“James was jealous alright. Was a bit mean to Professor Snape because of it. That’s your reason there.”

“Snape isn’t on any of the photos you gave me”, Harry realized.

“But he is!” Hagrid refilled their teacups. “Of course, he would look very different. Dark haired little bloke? Clothes too large for him, just like yours, Harry? He must be on one of the first photos of your mum at Hogwarts. They had some falling out later on, I don’t know about what, and I figure they never reconciled. A pity, it is.”

“Bet he found out she was muggleborn”, Ron said. “He’s ... just like Malfoy.”

“Don’t be silly. She wouldn’t have been able to pretend her parents are magical. I read everything I could, and I still didn’t know everything.”

Harry was pretty sure Hermione had actually known enough to pretend to have magical parents. But she hadn’t tried. “Why would my mum not have told him she’s muggleborn? She wouldn’t even have known there’s people who are, like, you know, racists about it.”

“Your mum never was ashamed of being muggleborn, Harry. Everyone knew. And Professor Snape wouldn’t ever ... see, I know he’s strict an’ all, but he sure isn’t so shallow as that. And I didn’t say it was he who didn’t want nothing to do with Lily anymore. Could have been the other way round.”


When they made their way back to the castle, Ron speculated: “Perhaps your mum didn’t want to talk to him anymore when he stopped washing his hair. That would explain it.”

“Or perhaps she noticed boys are stupid”, Ginny grumbled.

“Hey, I heard that!”

“Stop fighting, please?” Perhaps it was normal for siblings, but Harry found it rather tiresome.

“She started it!”

“Oh, stop it!” Hermione seemed rather fed up, too. “Ron, how about being serious about this, for once? We are talking about Harry’s mum here. If she had a falling out with someone, it would have been something more important than ... than ... hair care!”


At lunch, Dumbledore announced that, since the monster had been defeated, Hogwarts would not be closed, but all lessons until the end of year would be cancelled to let everyone recover from the attacks, and so that those who wished to could attend Lockhart’s funeral in Hogsmeade.

“Those who are to take their OWLs or NEWTs this year likely have enough knowledge squeezed into their heads already, but for those of you who prefer to learn everything shortly before exams and promptly empty their heads of it after, your lessons will be replaced by study time and your professors will be there so that you can ask them questions.”

As with most of Dumbledore’s slightly crazy speeches, this one got a lot of applause, too.


Those who hadn’t known any student who had been attacked by the basilisk were ecstatic, the others rather less so – and a lot of girls looked like they really mourned Lockhart.

Harry felt rather conflicted about it. On one hand, he had not liked the man at all. On the other ... you just didn’t expect that someone was killed by a monster. That was not supposed to happen.

Hermione seemed to feel the same, judging from the thoughtful look on her face.

When she announced she would go to the library, Ron told her she must be mad. “We don’t have any more lessons! Our exams don’t matter!”

“There is always next year. Better to get ahead of my studies, now. I only have access to the standard school books and the ones I can afford to buy over the summer holidays, in case you have forgotten.”

“No worries, Ron. I’ll go with her and make sure she doesn’t forget dinner”, Harry said, joining her.

And he really would do that. Of course. So it wasn’t lying, was it?

Still, there was a reason he went with her – the library was a good place to talk, as there wouldn’t be anyone there other than them and a few Ravenclaws, and Madam Pince would shush them if they talked loud enough to be overheard, so they’d not accidentally talk too loudly.

“My hope of Rose’s mum not being my mum is pretty small, now, isn’t it?” Harry whispered to Hermione when they were hidden behind a bookshelf as far away from Madam Pince’s desk as possible.

“Very”, Hermione agreed. “I just wonder ... Hagrid mentioned they had a falling out, and that must have been before Rose ... if they were just friends before, then made up and suddenly saw each other differently?”

“But she still married my dad.”

“A second falling out? You don’t know what would have happened if, you know, You-Know-Who hadn’t happened ... perhaps your mum couldn’t decide.”

“I don’t know how that’s possible.” His dad looked really nice and handsome, and then ... then there was Snape. Really, it was impossible to imagine that a girl would not know which one to pick.

“Well, I don’t think we can find out anymore without asking him. It seems to have been all hushed up ... of course you could also ask your aunt, she’d know, wouldn’t she?”

Ask Aunt Petunia?

Harry shuddered. The way she reacted when he asked any questions about his parents at all ... “No way, she’d murder me and bury me in her flowerbeds, for sure.”

“Really?” Hermione looked as if she wasn’t sure if he was serious.

“No, not really, probably they’d just lock me in my room for the whole summer or something.

“Just because you asked a question?”

Harry shrugged. “She hates magic, she hates my mum, and she hates women who get pregnant out of wedlock, too. Even if I’m lucky and don’t get punished, I’ll not get any answers out of her, that’s for sure.”

“That’s horrible. Harry, I haven’t gotten around to telling you, with the basilisk and all that, but ... my parents would take you over the summer.”

“Really?”

“Really. I can show you the letter. Just got it yesterday. Professor Dumbledore refused to arrange for it, and they haven’t tried contacting your relatives yet, but I’m sure if we go to Professor Dumbledore and you tell him the truth about everything, he’ll see reason.”

“Dumbledore knows how they are”, Harry said suddenly. He wasn’t sure where that came from. Dumbledore was kind and wise and surely wouldn’t ... but the cupboard had been on his Hogwarts letter.

“Oh, Harry”, Hermione cried out, so loudly Madam Pince shushed them. “Of course you must think it is obvious”, she continued, whispering. “But it isn’t. It took me a while to figure out, and I didn’t even guess at how bad it was before last summer. You are – well, you are just too normal, no one would suspect a thing if they didn’t know you well.”

Normal? He? Harry smiled. “Thanks. But – seriously, Hermione, he must know. Hagrid came to fetch me, and he got so angry at Uncle Vernon he - ” No, he couldn’t risk anyone overhearing the tale of Dudley’s pig tail. Hagrid had said he wasn’t supposed to do that, after all. “Well, he saw them pretty much at their worst, and he wouldn’t hear a word against Dumbledore, of course he would have told him everything.”

Hermione shook her head, her curly hair flying in all directions. “Professor Dumbledore can’t know. He wouldn’t have left you there if he did. Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him – you know how he is – must have slipped his mind.”

“Go and ask him if you have to”, Harry snapped. “He knows!”


When Hermione had left in a huff. Harry just curled up in one of the library’s armchairs and tried to forget he existed.

How could he have been so mean to her? She just wanted to help.

But Dumbledore must know. Everyone always said how wise he was and how he knew nearly everything, and there was the Hogwarts letter, and Hagrid knew, and it just was impossible to imagine that Dumbledore did not know.

Still, after having had some time to calm down, Harry allowed himself to hope. The Dursleys didn’t want him anyway. If he got Hermione to tell them he’d been killed by the basilisk, they’d be overjoyed.

Did they really need Dumbledore’s help? Sure, it might be difficult to take him out of the country, they had needed all those documents that Dumbledore must have gotten them with magic, but they could always leave him at the Burrow for a couple weeks ... and one of the Weasley parents might be able to do the magic to get his documents? Mr. Weasley didn’t seem to have a problem with using some loopholes in the laws ...


“Oh Harry, I’m so sorry.”

He started. “Hermione? What happened?”

“Come outside, I have to yell for a bit.” Her voice was just a bit too loud for the library.

Harry got up and followed her out. “He does know, right?”

“Oh, I just can’t believe the nerve of him!” Hermione raged. “I told him about your cousin feeding you rat poison and how your relatives never talk about your parents and how they locked you in your room and all – and he said – he said –” Hermione took a deep breath. “They’re Harrys only living family, and I am sure, deep down, they love him very much”, she continued, in a mocking, sugary-sweet voice. “How can he? After all you have done for the world – including him! Without you, he couldn’t sit there and munch lemon drops, the stupid old - ” Hermione interrupted herself. “Anyway, I haven’t given up.”

“Yeah, I can put on my invisibility cloak at King’s Cross, and you tell the Dursleys the basilisk offed me. They’ll be happy, and I can go where I want.”

“No, that won’t work. Dumbledore admitted, sort of, that he’s keeping track of you. He said it to get me to shut up, I think. Said there’s someone who’d inform him if you were in any grave danger. And I – oh Harry, I’m so sorry, but I actually didn’t even yell at him! I just ... I couldn’t ...”

“Couldn’t bring yourself to yell at the headmaster?” Of course, she was still Hermione. That she was raging against Dumbledore now was more than he had expected. “It’s okay. You tried.”



“No, it is not, at all, okay. I need some time to make a new plan, but I will think of something.”

They went back to the Gryffindor common room, and Hermione told Ron what she had tried to do, and the both of them spent all the time until dinner complaining about Dumbledore.

Harry knew he would have to go back to the Dursleys – if Dumbledore wanted it, there was no way to change it – but at least, until then, he had great friends to spend his time with.
Chapter End Notes:
I just had to make Dumbledore a bit saner (because really, he can't just cancel the OWL and NEWT exams!), hope that isn't too OOC.

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