Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Author's Chapter Notes:
This Chapter: Can't really think of something to sum all this up, I'll just say that it's definitely a shocker.
Hey, Who's That?

Snape was leading Harry down a flight of stairs when Harry suddenly stumbled and landed hard on the stairs. Harry shook his head, trying to rid himself of the strange disorientation that had come over him. He blinked his eyes and tried to focus on Snape, who was now sitting on the stairs beside him.

“Harry, are you all right?” asked Snape.

“I don’t know,” said Harry and shook his head again.

“Do you think you can make it to my office?” Snape questioned.

“Yeah,” said Harry. His vision had cleared, though he still felt disoriented. Snape helped him to his feet and they continued downstairs. When they were nearly to his office, Snape stopped abruptly and spun Harry to face him.

“Look at me,” he commanded. Harry did so, feeling curious as to what Snape was up to.

“What?” he asked. Snape ran a thumb along Harry’s jaw line.

“Your face, it’s different,” started Snape, then swore.

“What?” asked Harry, louder than before.

“The Glamour Charm is wearing off. We’ll need to have Dumbledore reapply it.”

“No,” said Harry immediately. He had had enough of hiding his true self. Everyone knew about him being a Snape, they might as well see him for who he was. This time it was Snape’s turn to stare in confusion.

“Don’t you want the charm reapplied?” asked Snape.

“No, I don’t,” said Harry firmly. “Everyone’s read that article by now, and now, I want them to see the real me.”

“Very mature, Harry,” said Snape with a touch of pride in his voice. “Let’s just go down to my office, then.”

They made it to Snape’s office with no further interruptions or distractions. Snape directed Harry to a chair, and instead of sitting behind his desk, took the chair beside Harry and turned it to face him.

“Your impressions of me as of late have been rather distorted,” began Snape. Harry looked down at his knees, certain he was about to be lectured.

Snape’s hand under his chin brought them back eye to eye. Harry stared into Snape’s black-eyed gaze, unable to look away. He had the feeling that he was being Leglimized. Seconds later, the spell was broken, and Snape’s hand dropped back into his own lap.

“I must admit, I was quite shocked when you accused me of being a traitor,” said Snape. “I want to assure you, that no matter what, my first priority is you and that I would not abandon you for anything. Understand?”

Harry nodded silently. He couldn’t believe that he had thought so ill of Snape. Harry fidgeted slightly in his chair. He was sure that Snape would be angry about what he’d said.

“Harry, I don’t blame you for what you said. I know you have problems with trusting people, especially adults, but we can move past this and keep work on it. No other families are perfect, and neither are we. You are perfect just the way you are. Your imperfections do not make me love you any less.”

Harry was stunned by Snape’s confession. Had Snape really said that he loved him? He couldn’t recall anyone ever saying that to him before, at least, not in the way that Snape had meant it.

But, did he have to say it back now? Would Snape take it back if he didn’t?

Snape must have gotten some impression of his thoughts, because he leaned forward and said, “You don’t have to do or say anything you’re not comfortable with yet.”

“Are you sure?” asked Harry uncertainly. Snape’s deep laugh filled the room.

“Of course I’m sure, Harry,” he assured him.

Harry realized at that point that Snape truly cared about him. That was why he had had Ron and Hermione watch him. He wanted Harry to be safe when he wasn’t around to do so himself.

“Thanks dad, for everything,” he said quietly.

Snape patted his knees and said, “Come on, you’d better get back to Gryffindor Tower.” They both stood and Snape walked Harry back to the Tower.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, in class,” said Snape as Harry climbed through the portrait hole.

“Time for a shocker,” said Harry back and stepped into the Common Room. A collective gasp resounded through the room.

He distinctly heart someone whisper, “Who’s that?” The whispers grew louder and the stares more pointed until Harry felt like crawling back through, but he knew he needed to get this over with.

He walked confidently over to Ginny and sat down next to her. The girl gave a small sound of surprise, then peered closely at his face. Her lips formed into a silent, “oh.”

Harry leaned close to her and whispered, “Don’t let on that you know.” She nodded. Harry smirked and looked at the Gryffindors, who quickly looked back to whatever they had been doing. This was much more amusing than telling them the truth outright.

“I think you’re scaring them,” said Ginny quietly.

Harry shrugged. It didn’t bother him. He was used to staring and whispering. There was something else bothering him though, and that was the matter of Ron and Hermione.

He needed to have words with them. They needed to understand that he didn’t need to be watched constantly. He could take care of himself. And he could most definitely take care of Malfoy.

He had been beaten the last time he’d dueled Malfoy, but this time, he would be ready. All he needed was a few late-night trips to the Restricted Section. He’d make Malfoy pay, as long as Ron and Hermione stayed out of his way.

They better, he thought. He wasn’t going to lose his chance to get back at that little ferret.

Harry spotted Ron and Hermione entering the Common Room from the portrait hole and stood up. They met in the center of the Common Room and both Ron and Hermione’s eyes widened in shock.

“Aren’t you having the Glamour put back on, Harry?” asked Hermione. More whispers filled the room.

“That’s Harry?”

“No, it can’t be.”

“But he looks just like Snape!”

“Ignore them,” said Harry. “No, I’m not having it put back on. I’m tired of living a lie. I want everyone to see who I really am.”

“Oh, Harry,” said Hermione and started to throw her arms around him, but Harry pushed her back.

“There’s something I need to talk to the two of you about,” he said shortly. “Alone.”

“Okay,” said Ron. “The boy’s dormitory okay?”

“As long as no one else is in there,” said Harry and headed for the stairs. Inside the dormitory, with the door warded for sound, Harry confronted his two best friends.

“Why were you following me around?” asked Harry.

“Snape asked us to. He wants to keep you safe, and so do we. He explained what Malfoy did to you, and why you have to be watched,” said Hermione.

“Did you even think about the fact that I don’t want or need a babysitter?” asked Harry. “I’m not two, I know how to defend myself from arrogant little Slytherins.”

“But you can’t be safe all by yourself,” said Ron.

“Yes, I can,” said Harry firmly. “I’ll make a deal with you both, though.”

“Okay,” said Hermione uncertainly.

“I will walk with you to and from classes, but if I go off by myself, I don’t want to be followed,” said Harry. “Is that a deal?”

Ron and Hermione both gave him their affirmation.

“Good,” said Harry as he removed the silencing spell. “You can go or stay or whatever.”

He didn’t care what they did, so long as they weren’t bothering him. He was still annoyed with them. He knelt down beside his trunk and opened it.

Harry quickly rummaged though it and found several books he’d never seen before. His brow furrowed as he wondered where they had come from.

He checked the covers and saw that the books didn’t belong to Hogwarts. His own name was messily scratched into the inside covers.

The curse. He must have bough them while under the curse. Perfect reading material for getting back at Malfoy. Perhaps he wouldn’t need to visit the Restricted Section.

He looked up and discovered that Ron and Hermione were gone. That was good for him. He didn’t need them looking at these books, especially with Hermione’s thing for instantly reading any new books she came across.

He got comfortable on his bed and began to look through the books. The books didn’t tell much in the way of casting the spells, but they did have a number of spells that he would have to do further research on.

He grew horrified as he delved further into the first books and found little notes scratched into the margins.

'This would be great to use on the Ravenclaws and perhaps this could be used on Luna?' were just two of them. The notes were beside some of the worst spells he found in the book.

He wrote down the spells names on a scrap of parchment and headed to the next book. By the time he had gotten through all of them, he was fairly sickened, but resolute. If Dumbledore wasn’t going to take care of the Malfoy problem, then he would have to do it. And if he had to use a few, well, borderline Dark Arts spells; then he would have to do it.

Fight fire with fire, Dark Arts with Darks Arts. There was no way around it; otherwise he might end up worse off than the last time. He didn’t need that to happen.

He continued reading for a while, then, when it began to grow dark, he put the books back in his trunk and got out the dagger, the Marauder’s Map, and his Invisibility Cloak. He tucked them carefully under his pillow and settled down to pretend to be asleep.

He heard the other boys come in and concentrated on feigning sleep. He heard Ron call his name softly. Later, once everyone had settled into bed and the sounds of deep breathing and Neville’s snores filled the room, Harry carefully got up, collected his things, and quietly crept out, covered by the cloak.

He went through the deserted Common Room and out through the portrait hole. After a surprisingly easy trip downstairs, he arrived at the library.

He opened the door and slipped inside the moonlit library. He lit his wand and went inside the Restricted Section. He set his cloak and the map down on a table and began wandering through the bookshelves, searching for promising books.

He found several that he liked the looks of and took them back to the table. He soon realized though that there was no way he would have enough time to look them over thoroughly. He would have to take them back to his dormitory. If he read them here, there was a good chance of getting caught.

He glanced quickly at the empty spaces on the shelves and then at his wand. An illusion charm ought to make it appear as though the books were really there. He quickly cast the spell for each book, and then went over to the table to gather his things.

He draped the cloak over himself and picked up the books. He headed upstairs, keeping an eye on the map. On the sixth floor, he spotted Snape’s dot heading down the hallway.

‘Shite!’ his mind screamed. He pressed against the wall, biting his lip to keep from making any sounds. Thankfully, Snape passed by without even a glance in his direction. Once he had passed well out of hearing range, Harry let out a sigh of relied and continued on his way.

He finally made it up to the seventh floor and Gryffindor Tower. Once safely inside the curtains on his bed, he pulled out the books and began reading them. A little past one o’ clock, he was starting to fight the effects of no sleep.

He rubbed tiredly at his eyes and marked his page in the book he was currently reading. He put the books under his pillow and settled in to sleep. Despite being so tired, it took him a long time to actually fall asleep.

In the morning, he woke up still feeling tired. He dragged himself out of bed and threw on some robes, then headed down to breakfast. Eating perked him up, but not much.

He glanced up at the Head Table as he idly poked at the remains on his plate, waiting for Ron and Hermione to be done so they could leave together. Snape was watching him with a critical look on his face. Harry looked away and began to glance around at the rest of the Hall. Most of the Gryffindors had finally calmed down and stopped staring at him. Either that, or they were doing their talking when he wasn’t around him.

Many of the other students were staring or quietly whispering to their housemates. Harry didn’t have the energy left to toy with them like he had done with his fellow Gryffindors. He just rested his chin in his hands and watched them watch him. Ron’s voice finally broke him out of his musings.

“Ready to go mate?” asked Ron.

“Yeah,” said Harry as he bent down and grabbed his bag. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and followed Ron out of the Hall, with Hermione behind him.

The morning was a blur of tiredness and, at lunch, he rested his head in his hands again, too tired to eat.

‘Too much activity in one morning,’ thought Harry tiredly.

He closed his eyes halfway and kicked idly at his bag on the floor. It didn’t help that everyone had grown bolder and were just staring at him outright and were talking loudly about him.

“Harry, are you all right?” asked Hermione concernedly. Harry opened his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied.

“Are you sure?” she pressed.

“Yes,” said Harry firmly.

“Well, if you’re sure,” she said uncertainly. “We’d better get to class.”

Harry followed them out of the Great Hall and down to their last class of the day, Potions. He could feel Snape’s eyes on him the whole way out. Down in the dungeons, they settled down on the floor by the door to wait for Snape and the rest of the class to arrive. Harry pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his cheek on them. He would rest his eyes for only a minute……

The next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake. Harry raised his head and blinked tired eyes at his friends.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s time to go in,” said Hermione. Harry scooped up his bag and rose to his feet. They walked the few feet into the classroom and took their usual seats.

Harry watched Snape enter with his head propped up in his hands. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t stay up so late again. He would only look at a few spells tonight.

“Mr. Potter, if your mind would deign to join us, we could begin class,” said Snape near his ear. Harry jumped and nearly fell out of his chair.

“Much better. You will see me after class. Now, today we will be studying the properties of sleeping draughts. Who can tell me the main ingredient of most sleeping---”

Harry found his mind wandering again, to a lace where sleep was not required and he didn’t have to listen to teachers drone on and on about things he didn’t understand.

“The instructions are on the board. Begin now.”

‘Uh-oh’, thought Harry. What had he missed? Obviously, they were supposed to be starting a potion, but which one?

In the midst of his confusion, Harry felt something tiny and cool slipped into his hand. When he looked up, there was no one near him.

Snape was peering at someone’s cauldron, but he could swear Snape gave a tiny nod of his head. He quickly uncorked it and drank the liquid it contained. He instantly felt more awake and alert.

“Get to work, Mr. Potter,” said Snape.

Harry hurriedly gathered the ingredients for whatever potion they were supposed to be making and began to make it. At the end of class, Harry waited until everyone had left, then made his way up to Snape’s desk.

“That potion will wear off in another twenty minutes. Go back to your dormitory and take a nap before dinner,” said Snape.

“Okay,” said Harry and started for the door.

“And Harry?” Harry stopped and half-turned.

“Do be sure and get more rest tonight. I really shouldn’t be dosing you with potions like this when you’re in classes.”

“I will,” said Harry. It was a lie, he knew, but at night was the only time he would have to study the books and not get caught.

Harry headed upstairs to the Tower. When he arrived at the Tower, he was already growing tired again. He rubbed at his eyes and gave the password, then went up to his dormitory. He changed his clothes and lay down for a nap.

Harry sat, stroking his long fingers along the smooth head of Nagini. Harry was thoroughly disgusted by touching the giant snake, but he had no control over his actions.

Shite, I’m in Voldemort’s head again, thought Harry. He looked around at the Death Eaters that circled around him. Several smaller figures in black stood in the circle.

His newest recruits.

“Come forward, my new followers,” said Voldemort softly. The smaller figures stepped towards him in the center of the circle.

“You have all been successful with your missions. Some more so than others,” he said with pride. “Remove your masks and hoods. I want you to see each other for who you truly are.”

Nine hoods and masks were taken off and nine young faces were bared for all to see. Some he knew, most he didn’t.

Harry’s stomach lurched as his eyes fell upon a certain blonde-haired boy, even as Voldemort was feeling pride for him.

“Come here, Draco,” said Voldemort. “Be the first of your fellows to earn the reward of being one of my Death Eaters.” Malfoy came over to Voldemort, his mouth set in a self-satisfied smirk.

“Roll up your sleeve,” commanded Voldemort.

Malfoy glanced quickly to the side, where he received a slight nod from one of the black-cloaked figures, and began to roll up his left sleeve. Voldemort pulled out his wand and touched the tip of it to Malfoy’s forearm.

“Draco Malfoy, do you pledge to be my faithful servant for all of your life?” asked Voldemort.

“Yes,” said Malfoy firmly.

Voldemort murmured a spell, and a faint black outline of the Dark Mark appeared on Malfoy’s arm and smoked slightly. Malfoy gasped quietly, but didn’t move.

“Do you promise to do all you can to further a pureblood only world?”

“Yes,” replied Malfoy, his voice wavering slightly.

“Then so be it. Morsmordre!”

Green light shot out of his wand and attached itself to the black lines. Malfoy screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his arm and convulsing. Harry screamed with him, his own arm burning fiercely.

Harry woke up clutching his left arm. He rubbed at it as he sat up in bed. He waited until his breathing slowed down and the rolled up his pajama sleeve.

He gasped as he found the faint black tracing of the Dark Mark on his arm. He rubbed at it, hoping it would fade. He heard the dormitory door open and quickly yanked his sleeve down.

“What were you looking at?” came the voice of Hermione.

“Nothing,” said Harry quickly.

“You missed dinner, so we brought you something to eat,” interrupted Ron before a confrontation could erupt.

“Thanks,” said Harry as he accepted the napkin of food.

After eating, Harry attempted some of the homework they’d been assigned, but quickly gave up on it. He had no idea how to do an animal to animal transfiguration, let alone explain what properties allowed one to do so. He put his books aside and headed back up to the dormitory.

He pulled out the books and the Marauder’s Map and tucked them under his pillow. He then lay down to feign sleep. He was feeling quite wide awake now, even after his disrupted nap. He suspected it had something to do with the potion Snape had given him.

Oh well. At least he wouldn’t be falling asleep while trying to read those books.

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep, Harry pulled out the books again and recommenced his reading. He smiled thoughtfully as he read a passage on the Bone Shattering Curse.

Malfoy could certainly use a few shattered bones, he thought spitefully. After what he’d been doing in his vision, definitely. And perhaps a good dose of Cruciatus.

He couldn’t do it to Bellatrix, but he was certain he could use it upon Malfoy. With the amount of things that that little shite had put him through, he could certainly take it upon himself to cast the Cruciatus Curse.

Chapter End Notes:
Next Chapter: Chapter 18: Here's to the Night

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