Finding You Again by jjjm0808

September 1, 1991

Harry and the Weasley gang were standing on the platform giving their goodbyes to each other. Molly kissed each of her children goodbye, but then pointed a finger at the twins. “Fred, George,” she began “I know I say this every year, but if you two don’t shape up this year your father and I will not be happy!” Fred and George looked at each other then back at their mum “We won’t mum! Promise!” They both exclaimed at the same time. Arthur stepped in and placed a hand on both boys’ shoulders “please just refrain from blowing up your dorm again. And please try and keep the pranks on Percy to a minimum,” Arthur told the two. Fred and George smiled while they heard a “Hey! There shouldn’t be any!” coming from Percy.

Arthur then turned to Harry and bent down a little to look him in the eyes. “Alright Harry?” Harry nodded and gave a shy smile “Yeah, I’ll be alright. Thank you for the past month and for helping me with the chest, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.” Molly grabbed him and hugged him tightly “of course dearie. Let us know if you need anything else, don’t be a stranger.” Harry nodded and followed the rest of the Weasley gang onto the Hogwarts Express.

He and Ron found a compartment and settled in. Harry slumped against the seat and closed his eyes. He was extremely nervous to arrive at Hogwarts. He couldn’t believe he was going to see his father! He would never have to go back to the Dursleys again! He smiled and opened his eyes when he heard the trolley come around. He and Ron divulged in the lot and were talking about quidditch when there was a knock on the trolley door. Standing in the doorway there was a bushy-haired girl and another boy with a round face. “Have you seen a frog by chance?” the boy asked. He and Ron shook their heads and the boy groaned “Grans gonna kill me! I’m gonna go look for Trevor. Thanks for the help” he told the bushy-haired girl. The girl smiled and stood in the doorway a moment longer.

“You’re Harry Potter, aren’t you?” she asked noticing the scar on his head. Harry just shook his head and reached for the scar tracing it with his long, thin finger. The girl introduced herself as ‘Hermione Granger, muggle born’ and invited herself in. Ron shot his friend a look, but Harry just shrugged.

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door to their compartment. All three turned and saw a tall, husky-looking boy, a short and stubby-looking boy, and an obnoxiously blond boy standing in the doorway. The blond boy took a step forward “I’m Malfoy, Draco Malfoy” he said presenting himself. He looked at the three in the compartment and immediately caught sight of the flaming red hair “you must be a Weasley” he said with a sneer. Ron glared at him, but before he could say anything he looked to the other boy. “Well… you must be Harry Potter,” Draco said emphatically. “Why are you wasting your time in here with Weasley and…” he looked over in Hermione’s direction and sneered again “this mudblood,” he spat.

Hermione gasped and Ron immediately stood up and “Oi!” he shouted, “take that back, you bloody bastard!” Ron pulled out his wand but before he could do anything the twins appeared behind the other boys in the door. “You alright little brother?” George asked. Fred looked into the compartment and saw the girl with tears in her eyes. “Oi, George, you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked turning to his twin. George smirked and nodded and they both pulled out their wands and gave all three boys a pig nose, pig ears, and a pigtail.

Fred, George, Ron, Harry, and even Hermione let out a loud laugh as the boys started squealing like pigs and ran down the hall. “Right well we better go…” George began, “before we get caught!” Fred finished.

After calming down from the laughter, Harry turned to Hermione. “Hermione, what did he call you?” he asked. Hermione looked away and a few more tears fell out of her eyes. “It’s a foul word for muggle borns,” explained Ron. Harry nodded and felt there needed to be a change in topic to lighten the mood. Harry brought up his first time in Diagon Alley with Hagrid and told them the funny stories he had about the giant. He also mentioned how Dumbledore told Hagrid to get a package from a vault in 713 and then acted weird about it. Hermione told him it was probably nothing weird and to just forget it.

They spent the rest of the train ride talking about all things in the wizarding and muggle world.

****

Severus groaned as he got out of bed. He cast a tempus charm and saw it was 3:30 pm. “Shit,” he said. He didn’t mean to sleep for that long, let alone drink half a bottle of firewhiskey. He immediately downed a headache reliving potion and took a hot shower. He figured he better get the last few preparations ready before the brats arrive.

After what seemed like 30 minutes, turned into 3 hours and he heard Dumbledore’s voice coming from outside his office. Severus stood up and opened the door seeing Dumbledore in the hallway with his twinkly eyes gazing at him over his half-moon spectacles. “Ah Severus my boy, the children are due at the castle any minute now. I will be expecting you in the Great Hall.” Severus nodded “I was just getting ready to head up there Albus,” he said summoning his dressing robe.

“Why don’t we head up together my boy. We haven’t had the chance to talk in the past week. How are you doing?” asked the headmaster. The potions professor followed the headmaster on the trek to the Great Hall and stiffened slightly, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He knew the real reason why the headmaster was asking him this question. He took a deep breath “just fine Albus. Busy is all.” Dumbledore turned his head and looked at him while stroking his long, white beard. “Ah,” he began “so you have not been stressing over a young Harry Potter’s arrival this evening?” he asked. Snape swallowed. “No,” he simply replied and let the subject drop as they reached the great hall and headed for their seats.

After all the students, aside from the first years, filtered in, Severus stared at the door to the Great Hall finding himself feeling apprehensive at this one boy’s arrival. After all the first years filtered through and the ceremony began, he paid no interest until the name he dreaded hearing was finally called.

McGonagall looked up from her paper as she saw the name on her list. “Potter, Harry.” She said firmly. She scanned the rest of the unsorted first years until one small, dark-haired boy with emerald eyes stepped forward. Harry swallowed and sat on the stool as she placed the sorting hat on his head.

“Ahh I’m having trouble with you,” claimed the sorting hat. “Very interesting you are. I see many qualities in you. You would do well in any of the houses,” the hat continued. Harry whispered “not Slytherin, not Slytherin” to himself. Meeting the pretentious bastard Malfoy put a bad taste in his mouth for Slytherin. He also had hoped to be in the same house as his mom and James; he wanted to make them proud. He wasn’t sure which house his father was in, he never thought to ask, but he was hoping he would be proud of him either way. After what seemed like an eternity the sorting hat shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” and the entirety of the Great Hall erupted into a loud cheer.

Harry ran down the steps towards the Gryffindor table; he was so incredibly happy. He sat next to the twins with Hermione sitting across from him. They all patiently waited for Ron to be sorted and clapped loudly for him when the hat placed him in Gryffindor. Harry felt a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders since his friend was now in the same house as him. Harry and Ron started a conversation with the other first years in Gryffindor, not even noticing the pair of dark obsidian eyes seemingly burning a hole right through him.

Up at the head table, Severus sat with his eyes going wide as he heard Potter’s name called. A very thin and tiny boy emerged from the mass of first years. He swallowed hard when he realized the boy was not a replica of James. Sure, he looked like him a little bit with that wild black hair and round framed lenses, but he realized he reminded him of someone else. He just couldn’t think of who.

Severus was not at all surprised though when the hat put him in Gryffindor. “Go figures,” he muttered under his breath. He knew Lily would be so happy if she knew her son was in Gryffindor, but then again, he internally groaned when he realized he vowed to protect this boy, and already thought of all the trouble his ‘Gryffindor courage’ was going to cause him.

He didn’t even realize that he was staring at the boy until a pair of bright emerald eyes met his. The boy furrowed his brows and stared back. Snape immediately snapped his head away and looked down at the rest of the staff table. He realized he was not the only one staring at him, but rather a man that put a bad taste in his mouth. Quirinus Quirrell was too.