Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Author's Chapter Notes:
Only ten Chapters Left my pretties.

I've decided to take another break, during which time I'm going to try and work with Books to get everything edited.

In addition, I'm going to be writing an original novel for nano this year, which maybe (maybe) might be actually published someday. (*shrug* fingers crossed I guess. And who knows, maybe someday people will be writing fanfiction. How crazy would that be?)

After nano, the hope is that I can post the next few chapters around Christmas. And then start the new year off posting things more regularly.

I know that's a long time.

In the meantime, I'm hopefully going to be working on... other things.

Things that I have neglected.

*sweats as a corner eye Just One Year and Unlocking Time*

Anyway, I'll see you all after the break!

-TheTransfiguredCanary
Chapter 18 - A Chasm of Broken Trust

Emmeline smiled as her class quietly finished their test on the magical push for Scottish independence. It was an interesting divide really. While the muggles had nominal separation, the magical community had successfully lobbied for more complete separation in the 1800s. Of course, the magical economy being what it was, there wasn't as much logistics to work on. After the founding of the international confederation of wizards, all member countries had agreed to use the same gold galleons, though a few places in remote China still accepted old iron coins called Cuòshī. Scotland didn't have its own minister for magic, but it did have its own ministry offices in Edinburgh, and a chief Administrator who did everything Cornelius Fudge did without the title. Next year the students would learn more about the current push from the Scottish magical community to separate completely, and the role Hogwarts played in that struggle. Emmeline watched her hourglass trickle out.

“Time!” she cried. “Please bring your tests forward. By next week I want you to review the first half of chapter 10. With the holiday fast approaching we have just a few more things to cover, then we'll be starting the second half when you come back.” Emmeline explained. “We’ll be doing another relay next week, so you had better come prepared!” Emmeline said, smiling as the class sprouted massive grins. The relays were their absolute favourite challenges. Emmeline would divide the classes into houses, and they would stand in a line facing the board. Then she would ask a question. The front students would then have to race to the board and write down the answers. The first correct answer would gain their team a point. The students did have options to skip their turn and move to the back of their line, but each second could mean the difference between winning and losing. 

While it didn't exactly lead to a particularly… calm classroom environment the students often walked away having retained a lot more information than if Emmeline had simply lectured at them, or given them a written test or reading assignment. 

That's not to say she didn't ask for such things, she assigned essays and gave out tests the same as any professor, but many of her students found her group activities and re-enactments refreshing after years of listening to Cuthbert drone. 

Harry was the first to hand in his test, rushing up to her and dashing back to pack his bag and then out the door. Emmeline blinked.

“Harry seems in a rush?” Emmeline remarked to Hermione as she handed in her test.

“He's getting private lessons with professor Lupin during the first half of lunch,” Hermione explained with a smile. Emmeline rose an eyebrow.

“Oh? Whatever for?”

“Professor Lupin is teaching Harry how to fight dementors.” Emmeline's eyebrows shot up.

“That is very advanced magic,” she remarked. Hermione nodded.

“Harry said as much, though apparently he's making decent progress. He said he managed to create a wisp for more than a minute a few days ago… whatever that means.”

“That is very impressive for a thirteen-year-old!” Emmeline said with a smile. Hermione smiled. 

“Harry really has taken a proactive stance on his studies this year. He's been working on his midterm project for ancient runes for months now! I think my advice about studying has finally gotten through to him!” Hermione said with a bit of pride in her chest. Emmeline chuckled indulgently. 

She didn't have the heart to tell the girl that it was probably more to do with Severus standing over Harry with a firm expression all summer that encouraged him to be a bit more studious. She was still smiling as she stepped into the staff room and poured herself a midday coffee. She’d noticed Remus's absence from their little pre-lunch tete de tetes lately. Knowing why made her less concerned and happier. A dark shadow stalked into the room.

“Good day Severus!” she said happily. The man turned to her with a slight scowl before his expression softened the way it always did. His eyes flicked around the room.

“Lupin is still avoiding you?” he offered blandly. Emmeline took a deep levelling breath. Wouldn't do to fly off the handle at him over one little remark, even if it was irritating .

“He's giving Harry private lessons,” she said plainly. The man spewed out his black coffee and began loudly hacking up a lung. So much so that Filius and Pomona both looked up from their respective marking with alarm and a touch of worry.

“Are you alright Severus?” Pomona asked.

“Since when?!” Severus cried around his hoarseness. Emmeline rolled her eyes at his display.

“Probably since the match. He's teaching Harry the Patronus charm.”

“He what?!” Severus added with a wheeze. “The boy is thirteen!”

“He has been attacked by dementors twice now,” Filius remarked. “Makes sense the boy would look into defending himself. Lupin is the defence against the dark arts professor. It's all very logical.”

“Logical?!” Severus snapped angrily at his colleague. “The boy is THIRTEEN!”

“Oh, really Severus don’t be so dramatic,'' Pomona said with a bat of her hand. “It's not as if he expects Harry to produce anything corporeal, I'm sure. But even a wisp is helpful when you think about biding your time until someone more powerful can help you.”

“I think its wonderful that Remus agreed to help Harry,” Emmeline said into her coffee. Severus' sneer could curdle milk.

“Of course you are." Severus spat "you seem to forget that Lupin has fangs!"

"One night a month!" Emmeline shouted in frustration. "All other times of the year he is as gentle as a mouse!"

"Rodents are just as bitey! If not more so!" Severus argued angrily. Emmeline ground her palms into her eyes.

"Why do you hate this man so much Severus, what has he ever done to you?!" Emmeline demanded. Instantly Severus straightened up. His face went a bit sallow and Emmeline blinked in confusion.

"Is this a bad time?" Remus asked from the door. Emmeline sighed. Severus seemed to twitch away from the man ever so slightly. Emmeline looked between them and huffed.

"Severus was just leaving." Emmeline offered. The man gave her a look somewhere between a disdainful glare and relief before he swirled out of the room.

"Who spilled coffee all over the table?" Was the last thing he heard as the door closed behind him.


Harry cleared away the scraps from his and Ron's potion. Ron had really improved after Harry explained the steps for making a stew to him. It was really quite simple once you took all the complicated bits out. Ron was carefully portioning it out into vials. Both boys were excited to use the samples that professor Snape had agreed to let the class keep. It was a colour-coding potion that would automatically highlight the important parts of a book or notes. Harry wanted to use it on his ancient runes notebook. That would be perfect for the end-of-term review Professor Sinistra kept hinting at.

"Mr. Potter," Severus suddenly barked from his desk. "Please stay behind after class."

"What did you do now?" Ron asked wearily. Harry had to agree that Severus looked decidedly put out. 

"Dunno." He whispered back nervously. He waited patiently as everyone filtered out before approaching the man's desk, where he was waiting stoically. "You wanted to see me, professor."

"I heard a rumour," Severus began, steepling his fingers, "that professor Lupin has been teaching you the Patronus charm." Harry smiled.

"Yeah, he has! It's been brilliant! I managed to make a shield last week! Only for about a second, plus I'm only practicing on a boggart, but professor Lupin said that even that is impressive for a thirteen-year-old. He says that most people don't even learn it for their newts anymore. Which sounds a bit weird, at least to me, because if there are things like dementors around wouldn't the ministry want people to be able to fight them off? Well, I guess since they're prison guards maybe not, but what about innocent people-"

"Harry!" Severus said firmly, lips quirked. The boy really was an awful lot like Lily. She was also prone to going off on over-excited tangents with no end in sight. But he was getting sidetracked. "I wanted to talk to you about these lessons. I do not think they should continue."

"What? Why not?" Harry asked in shock. Did he not think Harry should learn this stuff? He'd already been attacked by a dementor twice! He didn't want to be defenceless if they tried again.

"Because I do not trust Lupin," Severus said plainly. "I have very vivid memories  of just what the man is capable of and I do not want you to get caught up in the inevitable crossfire."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked in confusion. "You mean in the first war?"

"Before actually, " Severus muttered tiredly. "Lupin and I went to school together, we were in the same year."

"Oh! So that means he was in the same year as mum and dad too!" Harry remarked with a grin. He'd have to ask the man about them as well. Though it'd probably be more of the same. 'oh your mum was so clever. But your dad was just like you.'

"And Sirius Black." Severus reminded Harry coldly. Harry instantly froze.

"He… he was in Gryffindor with Black and my dad?" He asked worriedly.

"Yes," Severus admitted. "The three of them were… sort of like the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. Only worse." Severus recalled with scathing disdain. "While your father could be pretentious and generally mean-spirited, Sirius Black was cruel. He seemed to revel in causing people anguish and drew particularly sadistic glee from causing others humiliation and shame.  Remus Lupin trailed after the pair of them. And while on occasion he did try to reign in Black's more… violent urges, he more often than not pretended as though he could not see what was happening. Even though he was a prefect, he almost never tried anything more than a cough or a half-hearted rebuke." Severus suddenly grew contemplative. "There was a long-standing rumour when we were in school that Remus and Black were in a relationship." Harry blinked. "Now I have nothing against this. But I cannot help but wonder if Remus Lupin still harbours some of those feelings for Black. And if so, he may try to contact the man, if only to see if he could try to bring him back onto the path of light, though I personally don't think he was ever on it." Harry stared at the man with a pained expression suddenly feeling so conflicted. "All this to say, I think it would be best to put a bit of distance between you and Lupin. I can admit that he is a skilled wizard, but he is also deeply naive. And I would not put it past Black to manipulate Lupin's feelings in order to get to you." Harry felt his stomach roil as Severus said that. 

He kenw Black was evil, but that was a whole other level.

And why hadn't Remus told him?! 

"If you still want training, I can teach you if you like." Severus offered. Harry winced.

"Er… well I actually basically have it. Professor Lupin said I just needed to practice." Harry muttered. Though of course now all of Remus' advice sounded like cold poison to his heart. What else had the man lied about? What else was he hiding? Severus nodded.

"Regardless, I'd love to see what you've managed." His face grew calculating, "It's very advanced stuff I'm sure you know. Not usually taught until N.E.W.T.S, and only to those who are specializing in defence."

"Yeah " Harry agreed. "It was tough at first. But I think I've got the hang of it. He shrugged. “Honestly the hardest part was finding a strong enough memory."

"Indeed," Severus muttered. It didn't take a genius to figure out why that was the case. He cursed Albus Dumbledore for the thousandth time. 

"Do you want to hear it?"

"No!" Severus cried in horror before he cleared his throat. "Sorry Harry it's just," he shook his head. "Many witches and wizards consider the memories they use to summon their Patronus to be a private thing. They are very…personal." Severus explained. Then his face went rather scathing. "I take it Remus did not tell you this."

"Er… no. But I think he only asked because I was having so much trouble at first." Harry admitted with a wince. "I tried the first time I rode a broom first." Severus hummed.

"Yes. Well in the future it would be better not to share those things with others. And it's considered rather bad form to ask."

"Right," Harry said. But Severus could see the glint in the boy's eyes. So Severus sighed and looked skyward.

"The first dinner which Emmeline and I shared in our flat." He muttered. Harry blinked. 

"What?"

"The memory which I use is the memory of the first dinner Emmeline and I shared upon moving into the flat we lived in for a year after Emmeline graduated," Severus explained. "It was an absolutely terrible plate of Indian takeaway. We could barely stand it. But it was ours." His words trailed off as he became absorbed into everything that memory had meant: freedom, independence, stability. And always Emmeline's giggling after each of his grimaces even if she'd agreed it was foul. It felt like a balm of his soul, to know that once, someone had loved him, truly and deeply, for no other reason than that he was himself. Harry had a grin on his face when Severus finally returned to earth. Something about it set the man on edge. "You ought to get moving or you'll be late for your next class." He barked snappishly.

"You're my last class of the day, sir," Harry remarked, still smirking. "It's almost dinnertime," Severus growled.

"Well then hurry off to dinner!" He ordered. Harry did, snickering behind his hand. 


Emmeline watched Harry pack his things away with a frown. Just last week he'd left in a mad dash. Now he was trailing behind with Ronald, happily chatting obviously in no rush at all. 

"Miss. Granger!" Emmeline suddenly called. "Might I speak with you a moment?"

"Yes, professor?" Hermione asked with a concerned frown. Emmeline could see the girl internally reviewing her entire behaviour since September trying to figure out what she'd done wrong.

"Is Harry no longer attending lessons with professor Lupin?" Emmeline asked casually. Hermione's face fell.

"No. He told professor Lupin he wanted to focus on our ancient runes review. But I don't think that's true. To be perfectly honest, Harry has been acting a bit strange around professor Lupin lately. Ever since professor Snape held him back last Thursday." Emmeline froze and her expression immediately darkened.

"I see." She said with tight lips. She took a deep fortifying breath before giving Hermione a strained smile. "Thank you, miss. Granger. Off to lunch with you." Hermione winced. 

"I hope I haven't gotten professor Snape into too much trouble." She muttered quietly. Emmeline scoffed.

"Oh, he got into trouble all on his own," Emmeline assured her with a scowl. Hermione had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she retreated out from under the history professor's ire.


Severus poured himself a measure of brandy as he leaned back with a releived sigh. He really needed to start assigning fewer essays. There was only so much written stupidity he could stand. Especially the second years. Some of them were worse than Longbottom! There was a sharp rap at the door which made Severus frown. It didn't sound like one of his students, and certainly not like any of the prefects. His first thought was an angry parent, but he couldn't think of any student he'd recently punished who would have dared try and get him in hot water with their family. 

"Enter." He beckoned. Then the door opened, nearly as dramatically as he flung it open for his first years. His shoulders sunk.

Emmeline.

"What did you say to Harry?" She demanded angrily before slamming the door closed behind her.

"About what?" Severus demanded tiredly.

"You know perfectly well about what!" Emmeline snarled. Severus huffed.

"Enlighten me."

"Remus you obtuse prat!" Emmeline growled. Severus face tightened into a scowl.

"I simply told Harry that I felt like Remus' past association with Black could lead him into danger." Emmeline gave him a look of horror.

"Oh, Severus how could you say such a thing!" She cried with a whine. Severus rolled his eyes.

"I only told the truth."

"The truth as you know it from rumours!" Emmeline snapped. Then her expression darkened. "Harry has had precious few people whom he could trust in his life. Remus was one of them. Your rumor-mongering and misguided hatred will only succeed in making him even less likely to rely on adults!" Severus paused. He hadn't thought of that.

"Well, then Remus shouldn't have been so ommissive."

"What has Remus Lupin ever done to you!" Emmeline huffed angrily. "I don't recall him ever being anything but polite to you."

"After fifth year." Severus agreed with a sneer. "But only because I knew his secret."

"That he was a werewolf?" Emmeline asked with a raised eyebrow. "How did you find out about that?"

"Because Sirius Black thought it would be hilarious to send me off to meet up with his little pet on a full moon." Severus sneered. Emmeline blinked.

"Oh god that was how he tried to kill you?!" Emmeline demanded in horror. "Poor Remus!"

"Poor Remus?!" Severus growled in rage. "He wasn't the one who was almost mauled to death! If Potter hadn't come along…" he trailed off, eye drifting closed. He still remembered the look of panic on James Potter's face. And horror in his eyes. But as soon as they were back to safety James pushed him up against a wall and swore him to secrecy. Severus never told. But Remus had been unnaturally polite for the rest of their time at Hogwarts.

"Can you imagine how guilty Remus would have felt if anything happened?" Emmeline demanded. "The man feels bad when he pours the wrong amount of cream into someone's coffee. If he had hurt or god forbid bitten you, the guilt would've killed him."

"So I'm supposed to feel bad for him?!" Severus demanded angrily.

"You're supposed to try and feel a bit of empathy!" Emmeline snarled. Severus huffed.

"I can feel a bit of empathy for the guilt which Remus would have felt. But nothing happened." Aside from a monumentally bruised ego. "Instead, I can be angry at him for trusting Black to be mature. And I can be appauled by the utter lack of consequences Remus foisted upon him. Not even a cold shoulder! They were laughing and thick as thieves the next fucking day!" Severus took a deep breath. "I can feel angry about the fact that even after all that, Black was still the golden boy who could do no wrong." Emmeline looked at him, biting her lip. Then she sighed.

"You can't fault him for being fooled the same as the rest of us, Severus. I didn't think Black was all that bad either."

"Yes but Remus did!" Severus snarled, slaming his fist on the desk, upending his ink vial which splattered across the desk. "He fucking knew! James too! And they still fucking trusted him! And what did that get him hmm? A fucking grave! I will not stand here and let that happen again! Albus thinks that Remus would never, but Black has made his heinous actions dissappeared before the fool's eyes before. I will not let Harry be the next Potter to be betrayed by that bastard!" Severus snarled around a lump in his throat. 

There was silence as Emmeline stared at Severus, a look of concern and understanding on her face.

"I am afraid for Harry too." She whispered. "I am fearful every day I read of Black's supposed sightings. And it is true that Remus is slow to judge and quick to forgive. But it is only because he has spent 3 decades of his life being vilified and treated like dirt because of something he has no control over. It's not as if he chose to become a werewolf. He didn't choose to be targeted. But despite all the abuse and insults and angry letters from parents calling him an animal or saying he should be exterminated, Remus always strives to be the bigger man." She gave Severus a firm look. "You'd think after everything you've been through, the things you've done, that you could be one as well." 

"And if Black returns?" Severus demanded. "If he is once again laughing alongside Remus like a dear old friend while he butchers Harry? Will 'being the bigger man' save him?"

"Perhaps." Emmeline argued with a smile. "because perhaps if you are kinder, Remus will be less inclined to latch onto an old familiar, albeit flawed, face." Severus looked skeptical, but also so tired that he just didn't feel up to fighting anymore. He pressed his palms into his eyes, propped up by the elbows on his desk. Emmeline's hands were on his shoulders. He sighed and lowered his hands. 

"Why did things have to get so complicated this year?" He complained quietly. Emmeline smiled.

"It's part of life I'm afraid." Her hands withdrew, which made Severus realize how much their absence truly had affected him all these years. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go find Harry and fix your mess."

"Fine." Severus assented with a grunt. "And I'll try to be… better… around Remus." He offered. Emmeline huffed. It wasn't really what she wanted but it was a start.


Remus burst out laughing.

"Really?!" He cried, still grinning widely. "That was a rumour? Sirius and I were a couple?" He started laughing again. Harry was slowly smiling himself. Obviously, that was one of the wild Hogwarts rumours that weren't actually true, like everyone insisting Oliver wood had a tattoo of the Puddlemere United logo on his butt or that professor Vector was part of the Irish mafia. Eventually, Remus's laughter died down. "Rest assured Harry, I harbour no feelings of the sort for Sirius Black." His eyes drifted closed. "I will admit… I spent many days wishing that it was all a lie, that Sirius was innocent, and I even debated visiting him once or twice, at particularly bad times. But I never did. I have no doubt about Sirius's guilt. And if that is why Severus encouraged you to stop these lessons, I will assure him that there are no such risks." Remus sighed. "It's not going to be an easy task mind you."

"A bit of advice?" Harry offered, which Remus quirked a questioning brow at. "Don't try it during your lunches with Emmeline. Professor Snape really likes Emmeline, and when he sees you with her he gets really jealous." Remus chuckled.

"The more things change." He muttered. "He was the same with the library study group, you know. He used to hang around just to serendipitously put his arm around her whenever I told her a joke to silently remind me she was 'taken'." Harry chuckled. That did sound like something professor Snape would do. "But thank you, Harry, I shall take your advice into council… and now that that has been settled, are we going to continue with the lessons?"

"Yes please!" Harry said with a grin. Remus chuckled. 

"You better be glad I hadn't gotten rid of the boggart yet." He said before his tone went scathing. "Especially after it broke out last week and I had to chase it all over my office for 3 hours." Harry winced and gave the man an apologetic smile.


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