Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

The Aurors' Visit

~~~~SS~~~~

Saturday, 6th September 1997

Severus's eyes were closed when his feet landed in the wispy field located in the middle of some obscure countryside. It had been years since he'd been as nervous to apparate as he had that morning and wouldn't deny his relief when he realized he had not splinched even a hair from his body. Apparating to the specific coordinates laid out by the MLD booklet, when also surrounded by extremely heavy wards, could be exceedingly dangerous to the most skilled wizard, which Severus categorized himself.

The first week of classes had gone far better than Severus had expected, especially given how rough his first day had been. Defense lessons with Harry on Wednesday and Friday were oddly casual, with the young wizard paying attention to the lectures; far more than the professor had anticipated given they were starting with theoretical revisions before moving into practical revisions next week. On Wednesday, he'd asked Harry to stay after class. No matter how much Severus told himself he would leave the first move up to the Gryffindor, he knew he'd give into his anxiety the second the young wizard walked into his classroom. Their conversation was quick, but effective; long enough to ease his mind about Harry's adjustment, yet short enough not to feel too invasive on the young wizard's privacy. Trying to take the impromptu meeting at face value, the teen appeared to be handling his unique classroom situation well and, for what it was worth, looked happy. They were still a little too early on in the school year to make any determinations on Harry's health, and the Gryffindor promised to come to him if things became too difficult; like if he found himself forgetting to take any of his tablets on a regular basis. Harry's excitement over his magic's cooperation during his first Charms class was almost infectious, leaving Severus with hope - a word he'd found himself using more and more - that this retraining would actually work out for the Gryffindor.

It took him until Thursday night to find the time to floo back to Spinner's End and call Mae. She'd had her own rough week, and while obviously she couldn't give him any details about it, he knew enough to be able to make assumptions of what had happened. The phone call lasted until almost ten at night, but he arrived back in his quarters with a new energy he could hardly recognize. Ultimately, if he wanted to continue this with Mae, he'd need to find a way to still stay available to his prefects, should anything happen. As far as Severus knew there wasn't anything stating he had to be available one-hundred percent of the time, but with his house in its current state of flux, he couldn't be gone for any major amount of time without having some way for them to get a hold of him. With his luck, the aurors would show up during one of his absences.

Friday brought the reinstated weekly tea with Minerva after dinner, and Severus found the normalcy inviting, especially after the first week of classes. About halfway through their tea, Severus came to the realization that the other professor had been doing for him what he'd been trying to do for Harry: be a consistent support and confidant. He couldn't deny every time he spoke with Minerva he felt lighter and could focus more clearly on the challenges facing him. They mostly talked about Harry, and how his adjustment back into the school had been received internally and from his fellow classmates. Socially, as far as she could tell - Severus resisted the urge to question her level of supervision on her house - there hadn't been any issues within the house. They both agreed Harry hadn't been eating nearly as much as he should be, and Minerva took on the task of setting up a rotation of healthy snacks available to him in his dorm and common room - to be emphatically replenished by Dobby - and keep a close eye on the young wizard while Severus worked away from the castle. Even if he could have done without the Transfiguration Professor's insistence about his romantic interest in Mae, it had been a perfect end of the week and exactly what he needed to stay focused on his first day at the MLD.

"I told Narcissa you had this under control," the smooth voice of Lucius Malfoy came from behind Severus, "but of course she refused to take my word on your abilities and instead insisted that leaving one of our top Potions Masters splinched in the middle of the field would reflect negatively on the laboratory overall."

"How endearing," Severus responded, not nearly as amused as the blonde across from him. "Will I be able to pass onto the warded path?" He asked motioning to the dirt path Lucius currently stood on which would, presumably, take him to the laboratory.

"Did you read the booklet?"

"Would I be here in one piece if I hadn't?"

"Then you'll be fine."

Not wishing to end up in any of the dozen ways the Malfoy Enterprises could have set up their privacy wards to protect against accidental intruders, Severus carefully took a step towards the path. When his left foot hit the dirt, he let out the breath he'd been holding and finished crossing into the protective bubble to the MLD. Based on the large open space he apparated into, the professor expected a decent walk ahead of him to the building housing the research center, but once he completely crossed the wards, the grassy field transformed into a campus - for lack of a better word - consisting of two large grey stoned buildings at the end the winding stone walkway. A small pond with a walking path around the perimeter, reminding Severus of the area behind the hospital in Surrey, spanned between the two buildings, with picnic tables on the lush garden surrounding it. On a Saturday morning, the campus was quiet and serene, but he could imagine during the week when the full staff occupied the buildings, witches and wizards would be buzzing around the area, desperate for a break from their tedious bench work.

"What's the other building for?" Severus asked, only half expecting a truthful answer.

"Originally," Lucius began, walking beside the professor on their way up the now stone pathway and pointing to the building to the right of the one they were headed towards, "that one solely housed the offices for all of Malfoy Enterprises. As I'm sure you can imagine, it takes a lot of people in the background to make sure things run smoothly in all of our market reaches. Recently, most of those offices have been relocated to an equally secured location closer to London, as they'll support the new infrastructure for our Medical Center wing off St Mungo's. That project, realistically, is still several years away, however we need to start the process now.

"The rest of the departments relating specifically to the Research Center were all moved to the top floor of the building to make way for the new Training Center."

Without meaning to, Severus stopped his trek up to the laboratory.

"A training center for whom?"

Doubling back so he faced the professor, Lucius gave a half smile and challenged, "Who do you think will be running the Medical Center? Certainly not magical-only healers from St Mungo's? While I'm still working on the right enticement to secure Nadine Walker, she can hardly be expected to be responsible for every patient who requires - or requests - a combination of muggle and magical treatment."

"I suppose not," Severus agreed. He thought back to his old reality and how lucky they'd been to have Healer Walker on staff when Harry had gone in with his bloody nose and bruising. Any other healer would have treated his symptoms and sent them away having had nothing coming back on the diagnostic scans, simply because they did not know any better. The protocol at the time was not to check for Muggle illnesses in the magical population.

"We're making history, Severus," the blonde continued, "changing the entire medical system, and that will require a new training program to encompass both magical and muggle methods. That is our next and final step… to give new healers in training a path to dual certification in muggle and magical medicine. I imagine Harry's first healer had to take two separate training courses?"

"He did," the professor confirmed on behalf of Alton.

"Well, here we're going to find a way for the two separate entities to work with each other, remove any redundancies, to make it feasible… perhaps even beneficial, to pick up the dual curriculum. We're not only focusing on muggle disease, but using muggle methods to cure magical ones as well. As you'll see should we ever make it into the laboratory, we have a whole pod dedicated to studying the muggle Chicken Pox vaccination in hopes of replicating it against Dragon Pox."

It made sense, and had Severus been speaking to anyone else, he might have been impressed by the multitude of planning that had gone into this single market. However, taking a simple idea and expanding it into a business venture was how the Malfoys made their billions. What started as "helping to give the magical community more options to treat muggle diseases" was now growing into changing the landscape of magical medicine overall regardless of the disease.

"And where does Draco fall within this plan?" asked Severus, hoping the Malfoy patriarch had taken into consideration his own son's desire to become a healer.

Lucius smirked, "This is, more or less, his endeavor. He's decided to specialize in muggle diseases, similar to Healer Walker, and will help develop the curriculum to the training center."

Now that news did impress him. The fact Draco thought about going a step further in his desire to heal, meant he, too, had started to heal himself. And to pick something so personal to Hermione, Severus, and even Harry, showed the young Slytherin's ability to connect with the people around him. While Harry looked happy on the outside, a vast improvement from his outlook on life earlier in the summer, Severus suspected he still hadn't opened the letters from Draco, a very clear sign he had some way to go in healing.

If possible, the inside of the Medical Research Center was more impressive than even the Ministry of Magic. The large, spanning atrium had a cascading waterfall in the center which could only work with the help of magic pulling the water at odd angles - reminding Severus of the one at Malfoy Manor causing him to wonder if Narcissa had her hand in helping to design the campus - surrounded by a garden filled with enough plants to rival the Hogwarts gardens. The atrium itself was rectangular, reached three stories high showcasing the different floors, and completely surrounded in optically clear glass. The walls surrounding each floor were so clear, Severus almost questioned if the ceilings were held by magic until he reached out to touch one. Light poured in from the windows facing the front where they had just entered, in addition to the large chandelier lanterns charmed to burn with white flames, as opposed to the typical yellow or orange, creating a very aseptic atmosphere to the space; unique to the wizarding world, but not unlike the hospital and chemotherapy center in Surrey.

The first part of the tour brought him straight through the atrium out to the back of the campus where a large glass greenhouse - bigger than any Severus had seen, including Hogwarts' - sat directly connected to the left side of the building. A cobblestone walkway led from the back of the atrium through the side of the greenhouse, straight to a door leading, the professor assumed, directly into the laboratory. Whereas the Hogwarts greenhouses had a wide variety of magical plants to aid in the different levels of education, with a separate section maintained for the Potions Class and Infirmary, the Malfoy Research Center had rows and rows of the same plants and herbs - magical and muggle alike - they would be using in their research procedure.

"Does this supply the manufacturing of the potions," asked Severus, walking through the aisles, giving a nod to the herbologist caring for the plentiful plants, "or are these for research use only?"

"This lot," Lucius swept his hand across the entire greenhouse, "is research-grade only. We keep another, larger, greenhouse on the same site as the manufacturing facility. I've found compartmentalization is the key to keeping my Enterprise's assets as secure as possible. It's also why we try to keep everything on property as much as we can, only bringing in pre-prepared ingredients under the more dire circumstances. This way, we can attest to their purity and authenticity."

Severus nodded, understanding the underlying meaning of the statement. Under no circumstances did they want to be responsible for ill-prepared potions because they ordered powdered Fluxweed and received Henbane instead. Keeping everything in house did not account for human error, of course, however, a set of stringent requirements for employment would help keep only those with the highest plant knowledge on staff.

"And the non-plant ingredients?" The professor questioned. They'd made their way back inside and into where he assumed he would be working for the remainder of the day.

"We outsource what we must," Lucius gave a low tsk of disappointment, "but each year my team overseeing inventory management tells me we're making strides in becoming fully self-sustained."

Images of a Flubberworm breeding site flashed through Severus's mind. It would be the dream career for someone with an aptitude in Care of Magical Creatures, though definitely not something the former spy would be volunteering for anytime soon. Again, even if becoming one hundred percent self-sustained was doubtful, the benefits of being as close to that as possible would outweigh any of the potential downfalls - which was mostly the cost.

Before heading into the space Severus would be stationed at, Lucius brought him to the lower level, where a fully operational cafeteria was located with seating both inside as well as out by the lake, accessible through a set of french glass doors on the side of the room.

Then they took the lift up to the top floor where a corridor of offices were located allowing Lucius - and later Draco, though his healing career choice would alter those plans slightly - to work when in the building. The entrepreneur casually let slip that each of their buildings had identical workspaces for the executive employees, so they could stay abreast with whichever specific aspect of the business they chose to visit. The office, or more like the entire floor based on its size, had the only frosted glass in the building along the inside walls, and the outside overlooked the lake. It was stunning, and held the look of power one would expect for Lucius Malfoy.

Finally, they made their way down to the second floor where the main research laboratory was located. The laboratory looked like a large - and even that adjective didn't fully do the expansive room justice - version of his old potions classroom. The main difference, and one he welcomed whole heatedly, was instead of the dark and dreary walls and floor of the dungeons, they had white tiled floors and the same optically clear glass walls. Four long potions benches sat facing one another in "pods" as Lucius had previously alluded to, with cauldrons sitting across each station- some boiling over fires, others waiting under a stasis spell for their Potioneer's return on Monday morning - ingredients brining in jars on the desk tops and books of parchment opened to their latest work - each with a privacy spell on them allowing only the user access to their work. While they were clearly running on a weekend skeleton crew, in Severus's mind, he could feel the buzz of excitement as each team, or pod, worked through their latest conundrum. In a quick sweep of the room while they made their way towards the back, Severus counted about fifteen pods; far exceeding his expectations as to how far Lucius's reach went in potions research overall.

The far two corners of the room had doors, each with a large piece of parchment on the front, which he instantly identified as the ingredients cupboards. A long white countertop lined the walls right outside of the two cupboards with several workstations consisting of tools such as a scale, cutting board, knives of various sizes, spatulas, phials, and a mortar and pestle. There were four employees - a witch and three wizards - sitting at different stations preparing the ingredients that would be stored in the cupboard. Watching them work as he passed by, he could imagine the range of ingredients lining the shelves of the cupboards, and he found himself anxious to get started on whatever project he'd be assigned.

"Here we are," Lucius announced as they stood in front of a pod of eight benches rather than the typical four in the other areas, where a brown haired wizard about Severus's age sat behind a boiling cauldron, pretending - though as a former spy, Severus knew better - he didn't notice their arrival. Raising a single eyebrow at the different configuration, Lucius added, "When I assigned the second project, naturally the team needed to expand. Otherwise I'd never make any headway on either project."

The statement wasn't said in a manner to show his kindness, it very boldly stated how deep the Malfoys' pockets could go when they needed to be stretched. The blonde Slytherin would know Severus had his fill of grunt work as he worked his way - quicker than any other applicants at the time - through his apprenticeship. During his time on the bench, he had become intimately aware that more work never equated to more hands on the bench; only that the hands already working there needed to work faster or work longer. The offer to double the team with a second project highlighted a difference that came when choosing to work with the Malfoys.

"How very liberal of you," Severus retorted, then pointed at a completely cleared out space, "I take it, that's my area."

"You would be correct," stated the other Slytherin. "Mr Clagg, here, will assist you with the in's and out's of your workspace and projects. I'll leave the division of projects between you, however, Mr Clagg, I will point out we are fortunate to have Severus on board with us. Do keep that in mind."

To his credit, the other Potioneer took the warning from Lucius with a grain of salt and didn't appear to hold any animosity towards Severus for possible nepotism. Severus eventually learned Arlie Clagg was a Half-Blood wizard in his early-forties who went to school at Durmstrang - explaining why Severus hadn't come across the man in the potions circles to date - and had been working for the Malfoys for the last five years. Before this position, he worked in Russia for a small apothecary while finishing his apprenticeship, then moved to Hungary where he did research for potions manufacturing at Gyógyít Apothecary; a major competitor in the continental potions market and quite an impressive position for as young of a wizard as he'd have been at the time.

Clagg walked Severus through the work their pod had been doing, along with the plentiful of obstacles they ran into along the way; the major one being their overall lack of knowledge on muggle biochemistry. In addition to the two of them, there were four other wizards and two witches and some combination would be working on the weekends with him, depending on where their individual progress fell during the week. Severus's work would be starting out piggybacking off of the week day's work, until he could figure out his own schedule and get into a good working rhythm on the weekends he came into the lab. Ultimately, he would need to find a way to balance his multiple jobs - parenting Harry, obviously taking the top priority. It wouldn't be that simple though. Unfortunately, with Harry's illness as random as it was, if the young wizard woke up sick on a morning he needed to be in the lab, the professor would need to make the difficult decision on how to handle the division of his attention. The spectrum of how sick Harry ended up, combined with his other support systems, would help him choose which way to go, but it wouldn't be easy by any means. If Lucius or his pod-mates didn't understand, he would have to walk away.

Severus spent most of his first day reviewing his pod's notes about the chemotherapy potions, as that project made the most sense to him, to familiarize himself with the work they'd done and where they were headed. The sheer mountain of journals to review would take him a few weeks to get through before he could light his first cauldron, and he questioned if Lucius would allow him to take any of them off-site for reading as he could between classes. Suddenly, refusing the position when it had first been offered back in June seemed like a bad idea. He'd do it though, because Harry was worth every second of his time spent here. Even if the young wizard wouldn't be able to use the potions in lieu of chemotherapy, he could benefit from any of the other parts they'd be working on, and for that reason, he'd do whatever it took.

~~~~HP~~~~

Harry spent most of the Sunday before the second week of classes in and out of the library with his friends studying, even though the homework in his classes - Potions and Herbology the only notable exceptions - was easier than the first time he took the classes. It reminded him of Hermione's comment about wishing she could retake classes… something about retaining information better the second time, he didn't exactly pay attention to her sentiment at the time. But he continued to work diligently through the theory lessons because it was expected of him and he'd rather spend time with his friends studying than alone in his dorm, then every couple of nights they'd all go to the Room of Requirement to help Harry with his practical work. So far, his accidental magic had, more or less, stayed under control and he anxiously awaited his next magical testing with Alton on Thursday; before his next chemotherapy treatment.

The first week of school healed a wound in the young wizard he hadn't realized had been there since Voldemort's return and his friends seemingly abandoned him between the summer of fourth and fifth year - at least until he'd been brought to the Order's headquarters. Having his friends around him made his life feel more normal, only now it was even better because he had a parental figure too. While he hadn't seen Snape nearly as much as he did last year, there were little things done throughout the week to let him know of his mentor's presence. The most prominent being when a basket of snacks showed up on his bedside table yesterday morning and he was more excited than he should have been to be able to avoid eating a large meal. Then of course, he had dinner with the professor the previous night where he learned about - or as much as Snape was permitted to say - his new position at the Malfoys Research Center. While most of the limited information went above Harry's level of knowledge in Potions, he could tell Snape felt satisfied and happy with the decision to start working there part-time. Hopefully once he had his magic retrained, Snape could move to a full-time position where the young wizard had no doubt the man would be happier than teaching.

Sunday night, Harry ended up back in the library with Ron and Hermione - Lavender had to serve detention after McGonagall overheard her calling Professor Sprout an old hag and Dudley was off spending time with Susan Bones - after dinner in the Great Hall. The trio sat at the end of a long table with a scattering of students - mostly fifth years - along the rest of it, everyone already deep into their studying as they frantically tried to finish assignments procrastinated from the week.

"How do we have this much work after only the first week?" Ron complained, letting his head fall onto the books in front of him. Harry had to admit, N.E.W.T.s. classes looked awful and he had his doubts on if he'd be able to catch up with such a long gap after his fifth year and his strange sixth year. But he figured he'd have plenty of time to figure all of that out, and refused to let the negativity bring him down.

"How else do you expect them to make sure we're ready for our careers?" Hermione predictably lectured.

Ron snapped his head up so quickly, Harry thought he heard his neck crack several times. He couldn't help laughing at the repulsive look upon his friend's freckled face.

"I don't know what you're planning on doing," Ron started out a little too loud, so Harry elbowed him in the side reminding him to quiet down, "but I'm not taking a job that has me doing five courses at the same time. I don't think this is real-world experience… especially if I end up working with Fred and George anyway."

"Well," huffed the Gryffindor witch, "you're… probably right."

"Mark the calendar, Harry," Ron chuckled, "'Mione said I'm right 'bout something."

Watching Hermione's reaction, Harry couldn't help noticing how frazzled, and torn, she appeared with her books scattered across the table. Even in their deepest study sessions for the O.W.L.s, she had more poise and self-assurance than one week into her N.E.W.T. courses.

"You alright, Hermione?" Harry softly asked.

"Yeah," answered the witch, sounding almost defeated. Living with Snape for as long as he had, Harry learned if he stayed quiet when the awkward silence encapsulated them, he could gain more information than trying to fill in that space. He was rewarded when she continued, barely looking up at them as she spoke, "It's just… all of my life I wanted to do something important after Hogwarts… Work at the Ministry, fight for equal rights, explore and catalog missing dark artefacts…"

"Ok?" Harry prompted when she trailed off and didn't continue, "I'm sure any of those would be perfect jobs for you. Let's be honest, you could probably be Minister for Magic if you wanted to, so what's the problem?"

"The problem," she answered exasperatedly, "is that I don't think that's what I want to do anymore."

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance between each other. Never had they seen their friend so unsure about herself and it broke Harry's heart. Hermione was confident, brave, and hard-working, yet deep down she had the same insecurities as they all did. Harry could relate to her, but didn't dare say so; no one wanted to hear about someone else's problem while they were struggling. He knew it didn't help one bit at making things better.

"So then what do you want to do?" Ron asked the question as if it were the easiest thing in the world. As if this type of revelation, especially while she started her final year, wouldn't completely unravel her.

She took a deep breath.

"I want to open a paper," she finally looked up, and when her brown eyes met Harry's he could see a passion in them that he'd never seen before. "I want to give the Magical Community a source of information they can trust, something that's not biased, or more concerned about their ratings."

"There's the Quibbler," Ron offered, to which Hermione just glared at him.

"So, what's the problem?" Harry closed his book, more interested in helping Hermione than writing about poisonous plants for the second time. "Sounds like you know exactly what you want to do. I mean, it won't happen overnight… and you'll probably need to start with working at a paper first, but-"

"-I hardly think I need Arithmancy," she interrupted, tossing that text book over to him, "Or Herbology? Or Ancient Runes?! Half the classes I'm taking I don't need anymore."

Shhhhhh! Was said to them from the other side of the table.

"Listen to me, 'Mione," Harry reached over and held her hand, "no matter what career you pick, you'll be better off with the knowledge you have from these classes. Sure, you might not need Herbology to be a journalist, or an editor, but think about how much better your writing will be because you understand the topics you're writing about. And it will give your readers confidence in what you have to say. Trust me, do what makes you happy… life is too short to do what you think others expect you to."

He hadn't meant to say the last part, and the wetness of Hermione's eyes told him she understood the meaning behind it.

"Thank you," she choked out, as a flash of blonde crossed by their table and stopped sheepishly in front of them.

At the sight of Draco standing by their table, Harry's heart instantly started beating against his chest, trying to escape, and his hands began to sweat. He averted his eyes anywhere he could besides the grey ones watching over their table.

"Hey Weasley-," the Slytherin greeted without his usual sneer, "-Potter."

That single word. Potter. Held more meaning to it that Harry was prepared to rationalize. Unable to find his own voice, Harry nodded a quick greeting in response.

Turning to Hermione, Draco confidently said, "I was hoping I could borrow your Ancient Runes notes. Mine seem to have had an… accident with a water goblet on my desk."

Hermione flushed until her cheeks matched the color of Ron's hair. Swiftly, she started packing up her school bag. "Of course. They're back in my room, though. I finished Ancient Runes this morning."

An almost imperceptible nod came from Draco as he watched her packing up, clearly knowing that making any attempt to help and potentially ruining her unique organizational system would not end well for any of them. Once she finished packing her school bag, she told Ron and Harry, "I'll see you guys tomorrow," then left with her hand clasped in Draco's.

"They're going to snog, y'know?" Ron chuckled once the couple had completely left the library.

"I have a feeling that's not all they're doing," Harry added with a smirk, thinking back on the witch's embarrassment and Lavender's comments the other day. Suddenly, Harry's watch began to vibrate, causing him to jump a little. "Let's head back to the Tower, I need to take my medicine."

Three hours later, Harry was laying in his bed completely wrapped up in his yellow blanket from Mrs Weasley and his thick crimson Gryffindor comforter, wondering how the Tower almost felt colder than the dungeons. Staring up at the top of his bed, he could hear the wind outside angrily whipping passed the windows of their dorm. When he packed up his trunk to come back to school, Snape had mentioned something about living in a castle in Northern Scotland and it being cold. Until he arrived at the castle his first year, he didn't know what to expect about the school. When muggleborns were delivered their letter, were they told about Hogwarts being in a castle or were they instructed to read Hogwarts: A History before showing up to King's Cross Station? It would definitely explain why Hermione had been so emphatic about the text.

"Did Malfoy seem different to you tonight?" Ron's voice broke through Harry's random thoughts. "And can she really bring a bloke back to her room?"

"What do you mean by different? All he said was Weasley and Potter," Harry furrowed his brows as he tried to find any hidden meaning behind the encounter. "How had he been in classes?"

"Rather quiet, now that I think about it," the red-head almost mumbled. "He really just does his work and that's it… doesn't even answer questions."

"I can't imagine it's easy living back with the Slytherins," said Harry. He hadn't considered that before, but while he'd been welcomed back into the Tower and Gryffindor with open arms, the other wizard definitely wouldn't be with the Slytherins.

"I think Hermione's really in love with him-" Ron started, and Harry had to resist the urge to say he'd hope so, since they'd been dating for almost a year, "- I'm trying to give him a chance… for her sake." He paused and then quickly, and in almost a whisper, asked, "What was it like living with him?"

The raven-haired wizard smiled as a series of scenes from Transfiguration Roulette flooded his vision, specifically the half clock, half rabbit creature Snape had to fix for them. This was quickly followed by the time Snape caught them helping each other out on their assignments; Draco with Defense and Harry's Charms. Then images of dueling in the Room of Requirement broke in, followed by their time in the Celestial Room. Harry shook his head to clear it.

"I'd be lying if I said it was all bad," Harry admitted. "Not counting when we were… y'know…"

Ron sat up onto his side so he faced Harry. Their other dormmates were there, but none of them paid the two best friends any attention. Dean and Seamus were arguing about which dark creature they thought they could successfully battle, while Neville looked to be engrossed in one of his textbooks- Harry would bet some advanced Herbology.

"If you ever need to… talk… 'bout anything that happened there,'' Ron told him, sheepishly. "I know mum had a real hard time even after we got home from school. She still cried a lot, but wouldn't tell me or Ginny anything about what happened-"

"I'm not going to gossip about it if that's what you're thinking," Harry argued, turning onto his side to face Ron, as he propped himself up on his forearm.

"No, it's not that," his friend blurted out. He sat up on his bed with his elbows on his thighs facing Harry and he could see the struggle in Ron's eyes as he fought for the right words to explain what he meant. "I want to help you… if… you need it. We weren't really there for you much last year and… I want to be now."

Exhaling a shaky breath, Harry forced himself to calm down. What Ron was saying had to be one of the more mature things to come from the red-head. In fact, when Harry looked back on several of their more recent conversations, he couldn't help question when he'd missed his friend's growth.

Then he looked around the room when he realized how quiet the space around him had gotten. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were all watching the two of them, and Harry found himself once again filled with gratitude over having friends standing - for the most part - by his side.

Biting his lower lip, Harry closed his eyes and without really thinking about it, started talking. At first he couldn't look at any of the other wizards as he explained how his relationship with Snape changed throughout the course of the year - without any details of different realities - starting from their time at his relatives and the Privet Drive attack. It got easier the longer he spoke, and before he knew it, he'd gone over the details of why Dean had to sanitize the room every night, what chemotherapy was like - even showing them his port, which Dean had wanted to ask about but didn't feel comfortable - and how come he always felt cold. He struggled through the magical theory parts, not because he didn't understand, but because he wasn't sure what he could tell them. In the end, he kept it high-level; that his magic hadn't reacted well with the chemotherapy and at one point had almost completely burned out by the end of last year. Finally, he confided in them about how unsure he felt with his future, both magically and physically.

They all got a good laugh when he explained Transfiguration Roulette and took bets on if McGonagall knew about the game, all agreeing that if so, she'd probably be very good at it. Ron commented how fortunate they were that the twins didn't know about it, and Seamus vowed to start it as a new Gryffindor tradition; something Harry shook his head over. He didn't mention how Draco told him the Slytherins played the game often, it seemed too cruel to ruin their devious plans.

When it came to the part about his own kidnapping, Harry's voice caught. At first he didn't think he'd be able to continue and he gave the lame excuse about it getting late. As the good friend he was - or trying to be - Ron brought him a goblet of water and sat beside him on his bed. When none of the other boys made a move to go to sleep, Harry gave a small nod and started to talk about his time at Malfoy Manor the best he could. It helped that he'd already gone through a lot of the stories with Snape, so his mind had time to come to terms with his own feelings on the events. This time he tried to focus the story on Malfoy Manor as a whole, rather than the people inside of it. He told them about the gardens with the hedge maze they couldn't get anywhere near, the library almost rivalling Hogwarts, and so many rooms - each with a unique name based on the theme - he couldn't imagine having them all filled at once. Given the audience, they were all as in as much awe over the structure as Harry had secretly been when he'd first seen the Manor, and if any of them wondered why he chose not to mention anything about Draco, the Death Eaters, or Voldemort, they never asked. Eventually, Harry walked them through the tunnels, where Neville shuddered over the ghost story, and how he tried to work through an escape plan using them. He made sure to tell them he'd been physically alright, and he left out everything about Draco's Ritual.

The story finally turned to the night of the rescue and again Harry didn't know if he wanted to explain it all. For one, he barely understood what happened, then of course he'd basically have to relive it. Thankfully, most of those details had been in the Daily Prophet's almost constant stream of news articles about Snape, Harry, and the defeat of Voldemort. After everything Harry had gone through, he felt validated to know his friends understood why he threw himself in front of the killing curse for the professor they had once collectively hated. There was no mention about the Order, or about Harry continuing to live with Snape over the summer. They had questions: why Harry's magic needed to be retrained, if they needed to do anything besides Dean continuing to sanitize the room, and how he felt about Draco - the last one strangely from Neville.

It was almost two in the morning by the time they dimmed the lanterns and the seventh year boys were all in their beds. Dawn - along with Harry's morning run - would come way too quickly, but Harry didn't care about it one bit because he felt closer to his friends and lighter with each passing day.

~~~~SS~~~~

Wednesday, 10 September 1997

The irony of having Harry's third year class on the same days - Wednesdays and Fridays - as the seventh year wasn't lost on Severus. Wednesdays in particular were enlightening because the two classes straddled the lunch hour, third year directly before and seventh year directly afterwards, reminding the professor of where Harry was compared to where he should be.

"Take your seats," he called to the seventh years as they entered, still distracted and loud from their lunch break. Generally speaking, he used the first class of the week as lecture and the second class as practical work, however he made exceptions for the lessons directly after lunch. He learned early on in his teaching career trying to lecture to any level of students post lunch ended in disaster and half the class asleep. In the case of this class, they were also challenged with being the last class of the week, but Severus prioritized the lunch coma over the end of week jitters, meaning their first class for the week generally focused on the practical lesson - dueling revision specifically on today's agenda - as opposed to a theory lecture.

He sat at his desk watching his students file in, still impressed with the high number who qualified to take the course. It had been Harry's extra defense lessons in his fifth year that created a wave of students not only able to pass the O.W.L. but who were also interested enough in the course to continue to the N.E.W.T. level. As much as Severus, himself, hated teaching, with the Auror program no longer in the cards for Harry's future career, he thought the young wizard should consider teaching; either at Hogwarts or as a private tutor. He had the patience and discipline needed to deal with young kids - two characteristics Severus generally did not possess - and if it weren't something he legitimately enjoyed, there wouldn't be so many students currently excelling in Defense Against the Dark Arts from only a year of clandestine tutoring. A battle and a conversation for another day, possibly with Minerva first, but as Harry continued to thrive through his chemotherapy, at some point his future career plans would need to be discussed.

The students seemed to only get louder as they filed into the classroom and to their seats; generally speaking, a negative sign for the class overall. Luckily, with six years of classes behind them, everyone had enough sense to be seated before the bell rang - the only notable exception being Lavender Brown's empty seat, an interesting observation as her boyfriend was in attendance beside her usual spot - and he stood from his desk to signal the start of class.

"Today," he started, his deep voice echoing on the stone walls and immediately ceasing all the lingering talking, "we'll be reviewing the defensive strategies you should have mastered at the end of last year and you will find to be a focus on your N.E.W.T. exam at-"

The door in the back of the room opened up and in walked the missing Gryffindor witch. Her cheeks flushed as the entire classroom turned to watch her approach her usual seat in the third row.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Brown," Severus announced, refusing to allow her tardiness to go unpunished. "That will be ten points from Gryffindor for your lack of presence when the lesson began. Unless of course, you have a logical explanation for being late to my class when you've just come from lunch."

He lifted his eyebrows and held out his hands, challenging her to continue. Any other student wouldn't take the bait and instead would choose to sit down and focus on their work. Nonetheless, this particular student always had been different from her peers.

"Oh," she said with a giggle, "I had to stop by the lavatory to freshen up before class. You'd be surprised how much lipstick comes off while eating lunch, and by the end, I looked absolutely ghastly!"

The Gryffindor witch slowly took her seat, while the entire room sat still in silence as the ridiculousness of her answer hung heavy in the air. Choosing to not validate her need for grooming over being in class on time, he let the points stand and continued with his lesson for the day.

For the most part, the rest of class went relatively easy. The professor first had the students team up in pairs, having to hide his surprise when Draco chose Blaise - Hermione turned the blonde down, stating that putting them together wouldn't be a fair team - and then he assigned two-on-two duels staggered throughout the classroom. Given how quickly the spells started flying, he immediately regretted the decision not to take this class outside, and silently gave Tonks more credit for seeing the class to the end last term. Clearly the Hufflepuff managed to hold her own against students practically her own age and this year he looked forward to starting his courses with a more well rounded batch of students than following Umbridge's reign of terror during his first term teaching Defense.

Draco and Blaise were paired against Hermione and Parvati, who Severus hoped would provide Draco a decent opponent while still challenging his loyalty towards his girlfriend. While he no longer had to prepare the young Slytherin to be a spy, he always liked to put those with close relations against one another to help hone their ability to focus when faced with an opponent they may not want to duel. As expected, the boys took the upper hand early on, fighting both more aggressively as well as a bit more underhanded than Severus would have liked to see in a classroom setting. Draco refrained from any harmful hexes - as they'd planned, just in case his wand were randomly inspected - however his ability to turn even the most mundane spells into an attack or defense was notable and remarkable. Blaise also seemed to have become more confident in his spellwork - from the repertoire of the spells he used to his accuracy of them - since the last class Severus had taught. To say he was impressed with the pair of wizards would be an understatement, and if he'd made a wager on the winner of the duel based on their ferocity at the start, he doubted the girls stood a chance.

Against all odds, the foursome outlasted every other group in the class, but unfortunately, the Slytherins' overall lack of communication cost them the duel in the end, and rather quickly he noted. Where Hermione and Parvati looked as if they could practically read each other's minds while they ducked and crouched between the desks around the perimeter of the room, taking open shots almost in a synchronized manner, Blaise and Draco failed to coordinate their attacks the longer the duel continued. As their arena grew from the other students' fights ending, the pair of wizards found themselves further away from one another, and losing that visual caused them to forget to work as a team - out of sight, out of mind really was a phrase to remember in almost any magical discipline. Not coordinating their attacks and defenses meant when the boys both went to hit Parvati - Draco with incarcerous and Blaise with stupefy, both blocked with ease - neither were prepared for Hermione's sneak attack on Draco from behind; ironically also with incarcerous. From there, the two-on-one duel didn't take long for Blaise to fall and the classroom, all of whom had been silently watching them, erupted in cheering.

Bested by his girlfriend, Draco's face turned a bright red when Hermione walked over and cut off the ropes detaining him. Even more surprising to Severus than Zabini and Draco's choice to pair up was when the olive skinned wizard held out his hand to help Draco up from the floor.

"We'll get 'em next time," he heard Zabini tell the blonde as they walked back to their newly placed desks.

Returning to the front of the classroom, the students quieted down almost autonomously, "Based on the performances I saw today, I don't feel the need to spend an exorbitant amount of time on revision from last term." He waved his wand and small, folded pieces of parchment raced from his desk and landed specifically in front of the respective student.

"You'll find the parchment before you contains two spells, one offensive and one defensive," he clasped his hands behind his back as he paced the front, "These are unique to you, as they are spells which I've identified during this lesson as potential weaknesses. I've provided you with an example of your downfall in using the incantation, and I expect a scroll of parchment per spell on how the spells should be performed and how you expect to improve upon them throughout the year.

"This will be part of a term-long project where we'll have similar bimonthly duels - though the next may be outdoors - and I will continue to provide you with a detailed list of improvements. While today's list is inclusive of spells only, that will not always be the case. Things like teamwork-," he looked towards Ron and Neville, "- a wider variation of spells, and communication-" a sideways glance at Draco and Blaise, "-may also be included. The partner you chose today will be your partner through the end of term, and I highly encourage you to study, practice, and learn how your individual style can help you grow stronger as a team. As N.E.W.T. students, seventy percent of your final grade will be your practical examinations, so heed my warning to take these exercises seriously."

The faces of the students staring back at him had a satisfying combination of terror, excitement, and dread. All a sure sign he'd done his job well. As if on cue, the bell rang signalling the end of class right as he finished speaking his last word and the students filtered out of the room rapidly talking about this unique assignment.


"How did you feel tonight went?" Severus asked Harry while the young wizard assisted in setting the table for a late dinner in their quarters the next night.

The pair of wizards had just completed Harry's magical testing in the Room of Requirement less than an hour ago. Alton ran Harry through the same tests he did before school started, and while the young wizard's magic didn't react any different than during his baseline testing, according to Alton's magical readouts there was no indication of any negative impact from the retraining process. Unsurprisingly, no matter how many different ways Severus asked the question, Alton couldn't - or wouldn't - give any information on if it had been beneficial at reducing his accidental magic. The professor understood they simply didn't have enough data yet, but the healer's claim over the fact Harry had not experienced any accidental magic being a good sign didn't exactly do much to ease his mind.

The testing ended up going well past dinner time, and therefore Severus invited Harry to dinner in their quarters, excited to have some good time with the young wizard he thought of as his son.

Severus watched Harry from the corner of his eye, reach up to pull down two white plates - similar to their home in Spinner's End - from the kitchen shelf and went to set them down at their usual seats. The act, so normal and carefree, pulled at Severus's heart simultaneously; aching and comforting him.

No matter how much he tried to deny it, Severus missed Harry this year. Never would he wish to go back to the life of intensive chemotherapy - where Harry's own life sat previously in the balance - but without the young wizard living with him daily, the professor often found himself worrying over Harry's wellbeing. Most mornings, he struggled with waking up not knowing which reality he lived in, and more importantly, if Harry was alive and safely sleeping upstairs in the Tower. While the anxiety and confusion usually dissipated relatively quickly, occasionally it took until he saw the Gryffindor in the Great Hall during breakfast - happily chatting with his friends and eating what would be considered a decent breakfast given his past struggles - for Severus's mind to accept that all was well.

Unfortunately, that morning, on top of his usual panic, the former spy woke up feeling something bad was going to happen. His intuition forced his eyes open before dawn to the crackling of his fireplace in the otherwise dark and silent bedroom; unable to shake the feeling of impending disaster. Naturally, he first checked the sphere by his bed, which had been quiet since their return to the castle, and thinking back at this month between Harry's treatments, it had been oddly uneventful in regards to the good and bad days. Harry had been taking his medications - Severus occasionally verified this after their Defense class - and yet they were now two days away from his next chemotherapy appointment and the young wizard hadn't had any lingering side effects from the tablets. No matter how much Severus wanted to believe Harry's body had fully adjusted to the medications and they'd seen the last of his "bad days", he knew better. Dr Swanson's message to them both had been crystal clear: they should expect Harry to experience varying reactions throughout Maintenance, even though he took the same medications for years. Basically, they needed to enjoy the good days when they came, and get through the bad ones as best they could. As their first month of all good days, though, Severus found it difficult not to hope it stayed this way forever.

"I think it went well," the Gryffindor told him, as he sat down and took a sip of his pumpkin juice. "I mean, my magic isn't getting worse and I haven't had any accidental magic, so what else could I ask for? And once I start mastering some of these spells, maybe things will pick up?"

Severus uncharacteristically plopped himself down at the other place settings and started serving out the Shepard's Pie - one of Harry's favorites - served from the House Elves. "You also haven't had any rough days this month, which incidentally, is when you typically saw the accidental magic attacks."

"Sure," Harry smirked, "go ahead and jinx it, why don't you?"

Severus watched the teen until he took a tentative bite of his food, "All I'm saying is to keep your expectations-"

"-leveled," Harry interrupted, his smirk turned into a frown. "You say that a lot… too much, even. Can't you just let me enjoy the normal month I've had? If you think I don't know what's coming up, you need to take a good look at which one of us is actually going through this."

He deserved it. He knew his anxious mood fueled his comment towards the young wizard and although it had come from a place of concern for the teen, it clearly didn't come across that way to Harry.

Waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Weren't those the words Dr Snyder had told Harry at his first appointment? Hadn't Severus, himself, told the young wizard not to live for what might happen? Again, he questioned why his own advice - especially the positive type - never seemed to apply for him.

"You have my sincerest apologies," Severus's low, baritone voice rang across the tiny kitchen. In response, Harry lifted his head just enough for his emerald eyes to meet the professor's over his wire-rimmed glasses. The pain in those eyes, aided by being caused from his own words, cut into him like a knife."If I could switch places with you, I wouldn't think twice."

The air around them became heavy with grief and regret. Harry looked back down at his plate, swirling his food until it made a sloppy paste. Severus knew hearing a declaration like that one made Harry uncomfortable, but he needed to hear it. He needed to understand what it meant.

When the silence became too much to bear and Harry started to shift in his chair - likely feeling scrutinized - the Gryffindor dropped his fork and, with a face filled with consternation, demanded, "Why do you say things like that?"

Severus watched Harry fiddle with his watch, a sign demonstrating he understood the reason, but had a hard time accepting it.

"Because I care about you, Harry," Severus sadly answered, "and it hurts me to see you in the pain you've had to experience. Something no one should ever have to go through, yet it would hurt me less to do it myself than how I feel watching you continue to suffer and know there's nothing I can do to make it go away."

Harry's extremely small, yet still there, smile calmed his nerves and right about the time Severus thought perhaps his instincts over something bad happening that day were wrong, a piece of parchment popped up in front of his face - the signal someone had approached his door - and a loud, frantic banging came from the entrance. Confidently, Severus picked up the parchment and at the sight of the name written in a golden script, all of the air from his lungs immediately emptied. Hermione Granger. The muggleborn's name, combined with her frantic pound at his door, brought the professor back to the day which forever changed their lives: the day Harry had the vision about his role with the prophecy.

Without saying a word, Severus rushed from the table to the door, hearing Harry follow behind him.

"Professor Snape," Hermione's exasperated voice called out to him from behind the door at the exact moment he opened it. The Gryffindor witch, still in her school robes, was bent over with her hands firmly on her knees trying to catch her breath. Regardless of where she'd been - most likely the library - when she decided to race to the dungeons, it appeared she hadn't slowed for a second until she reached his door.

"Miss Granger-"

"They took him!" She called out almost hysterically. "They just stormed into the library, disarmed him, and grabbed him. Can they do that?!"

"Who did?" Severus asked, assuming whatever she'd just described happened to Draco.

"The Aurors!" She yelled at him.

"Dammit!" Severus cursed, grabbing his teaching robes to throw over his casual Oxford white shirt and black trousers, in hopes to intimidate Williamson at least a little bit. Through gritted teeth, and more to himself than the two students, he muttered, "What do they expect to find at almost nine o'clock at night?!"

"Sir?" Harry's quiet voice came from behind him. "What's going on?"

"I have to go to the Headmaster's office," he said to Harry, lifting his hand to stop the upcoming interruption. "I can't explain it now, but feel free to stay as long as you'd like… finish your dinner."

"But-"

"Do as I say, Harry," the professor demanded.

Satisfied with the small nod from Harry, Severus stormed out the door hoping to relieve his pent up tension on an overzealous auror.

Chapter End Notes:
Coming Up Next: Magical Core

You must login (register) to review.
[Report This]


Disclaimer Charm: Harry Potter and all related works including movie stills belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Bros, and Bloomsbury. Used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made off of this site. All fanfiction and fanart are the property of the individual writers and artists represented on this site and do not represent the views and opinions of the Webmistress.

Powered by eFiction 3.5