If one thing was for certain, it was that Harry knew what it was like to be taken advantage of.
Whether or not he was capable of seeing the signs of it remained to be seen.
Harry was never particularly wary of anyone, and there was a debate on whether or not that was a good or a bad thing. He strived to see the best in people, and despite previous horrible experiences and having an actual caring adult in his life now, perhaps he still had some of that desperation for affection running through his veins.
It was sad and pathetic, and the number one reason why he wore yellow robes and the children wearing green found him to be an easy target, but it couldn’t be changed.
Even with all of that going against him, Harry found that he did feel just a bit wary when it came to Professor Lockhart.
For one thing, the man seemed to be entirely fake, and Harry didn’t really understand why so many of his classmates didn’t seem to get that. He desperately wished that he would focus his attention on one of those students rather than him, but then again, maybe they would be at higher risk for being hurt by him should Harry’s uneasiness prove to hold reason, seeing as he’d already been through this before.
Still, it was really annoying to be treated like a celebrity by a celebrity who insisted that he shouldn’t be treated like a celebrity. The mixed signals were exhausting and Harry just wanted to do his DADA work without being bothered for once in his Hogwarts career. It was only his second year and he already didn’t have high hopes for that particular class.
***
“Severus?” Harry inquired quietly. They were in the living room of Severus’ quarters, the professor sitting on the sofa reading some boring book that probably only he could understand while Harry sat on the floor, schoolbooks spewed across the coffee table. He was giving off the impression of doing his homework when in reality he was simply making doodles on his scrap parchment.
“Mm?”
“Do you like Professor Lockhart?”
Professor Snape snorted, though he tried to cover it up with a cough as Harry sometimes attempted to do with his giggles. He would take that as a no, then.
“Why do you ask?”
Harry shrugged, though Severus still hadn’t looked up from his book as far as he could tell, so he wouldn’t have seen it. “He just seems kind of weird to me.”
“I imagine that most people not lacking any well-functioning brain cells would describe him as such.” He seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing a marker in the book and setting it aside. “Is there a particular reason why you feel so, however?”
Harry bit his lip, looking back down at his silly sketches. He’d drawn a kitten chasing after a ball of yarn, though Mrs. Figg had a lot of cats and he’d never seen any of them doing that. She hadn’t even mentioned them doing anything like that and he was pretty certain that she had told him every story involving her cats at least once.
“I dunno. He calls me out in class a lot, and like no one else ever gets called. He’s had me stay after to talk to me about the misfortunes of fame and not let it all get to my head, which seems a little biased coming from him…” Harry shrugged again. “He’s annoying, but I guess at the same time he seems a little too friendly or something.”
“It’s a difficult thing to judge,” Professor Snape admitted. “On one hand, no, he hasn’t done anything concretely wrong, but on the other, he makes you uncomfortable, yes?”
Harry nodded. “Y-yeah. It’s just like, I don’t know, a bad feeling. And he gives me so much attention compared to all of the other students, and that’s not really fair, is it? Then again, I guess you kind of do that with me too, even before the whole adoption thing.”
Severus seemed to consider this. “That is true. But do you remember how I told you that I was friends with your mother?”
“Well, yeah.” Harry obviously wasn’t going to forget about something like that.
The professor nodded before seeming to grimace a little. “Yes, well… I made something of a promise to her, your mother that is, vowing that I would protect you to the best of my abilities. I feel that I was a bit late in many ways… But my vow remains the same. I’m invested in your well-being, always. I suppose that’s why I have always viewed you differently than the other students. Everyone’s motives are different, however. It sounds to me like Professor Lockhart is more interested in exploiting your fame rather than in you as a person.”
“Sometimes it seems like he’s still way too interested in me as a person, though,” said Harry. “Like, I… I don’t know. At first, it was like he wanted to be seen with me, but there are situations where we’re alone, like in detention or after class, and it’s just weird.”
“What kind of weird?” the professor asked sharply.
“You know what kind of weird,” Harry muttered, feeling ashamed for it.
“Has he done anything to you?” Severus asked tensely.
“No! I know now that’s… I’d tell you if he did, he hasn’t. But I still just… he makes me uncomfortable is all.”
Severus sighed, though he did seem relieved to hear that Professor Lockhart hadn’t molested him or anything like that. Harry was relieved that he believed him, as there had been a time when Harry would have lied about things like that. “It’s all very complicated, to be completely honest with you, Harry. It is nearly impossible to correctly assume someone’s intentions when they are not completely clear, and even then it could still all be an effort to manipulate you, some people are very good at that. But we continue to circle back around to the fact that Professor Lockhart simply makes you feel uncomfortable, and you shouldn’t have to feel that way.”
“Okay… so what should I do about it?”
“You? Nothing, your job is done.”
Harry furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean? I haven't done anything yet.”
“Yes, you did. You came to me, an adult that you trust, and so now I will take care of it.”
“Ohh,” Harry hummed. “Cool. Are you going to like, take care of it, or… take care of it?”
Severus stared blankly at him. “Whatever do you mean?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Like, are you just going to talk to him or are you going to beat him up?”
“I do not beat people up,” Professor Snape huffed, though something like intuition told Harry that the statement couldn’t be entirely true. “I will first discuss with the headmaster that my ward is not to be left alone with someone who makes him feel uncomfortable, and recommend the possibility of other students being offered the same courtesy, whether or not they bring up their own possible uneasiness to the staff themselves.”
Severus sighed again. “Unfortunately, as I said before, without anything concrete, there’s not really much else we can do… It would be unethical to sack him when he technically hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Harry hesitated. “Yeah, I get all of that, but… Don’t you normally just kind of screw around with people like him for the heck of it?”
Harry could definitely see the moment that Professor Snape’s lips twitched, but he kept a stoic composure. “Did you really just say what I think you just said?”
Harry’s eyes widened ever so slightly, playing with the clueless innocence look for as long as he could get away with it. “No, sir, I can’t be certain, but I don’t think so.”
The actual Slytherin rolled his eyes, but let it slide. “Either way, I’m sure that you will find my plans for Professor Lockhart to your satisfaction.”
“Now,” Severus continued before Harry could give voice to his confusion, “do you need help with your homework or are you planning on spending all evening doodling kittens?”
Harry flushed, smiling sheepishly as he picked up his potions book and brought it over to Professor Snape to ask a few questions. And later that night, if he left his doodle of the kittens in a basket on the professor’s coffee table before he left for the Hufflepuff common room, well, unlike when he lived with the Dursleys, he knew that it wouldn’t end up in the trash.
***
The next day, when Harry saw the sign-up sheets for Professors Lockhart and Snape’s dueling club, he understood his guardian’s grand schemes entirely.
Boundaries
The End.