Light the candle

~Two~

"In short, the reason the Chamber of Secrets was reopened was because of Lord Malfoy. He slipped a book belonging to his master into Ginevra Weasley's belongings. The book possessed her and opened the Chamber of Secrets for the Basilisk to attack all Muggle-borns and Half-bloods." Potter looks at him to see his reaction but his mask is still in place. How does he know about Malfoy being involved? Does he know what truly are those things?

▬♣▬

"Dobby." Severus Snape raises an eyebrow. The house elf appears with a tray and floats it up to Severus then disappears. The tray levitates in front of him.

"I promised you your favourite dessert. I'm sorry you didn't get it yesterday, I didn't have time to make it." He looks at Potter suspiciously. Did he really cook them himself? How does he know how to cook? And why can't he do a potion properly? Naturally, he inspects the tea and cake. He thought he saw a playful gleam in Potter's eyes. Then Potter's head lolled back slightly, his eyes closed.

"So Weasley dragged me off to save his sister..." The young man tells him about his discussion with Tom, aka the Dark Lord. Then how he fought the basilisk and died because of the serpent venom, only to be brought back to life by Fawkes' tears. He listened to Potter while enjoying his dessert and his favourite tea. So the Basilic's venom is useful.

"However, I was not immediately taken back to the infirmary with Fawkes. The fact that I was there for a few seconds activated Tom's horcrux in me. I was recognised as Lord Slytherin by Salazar, who gave me full access to the Chamber. In addition, the fact that I killed his familiar and eliminated the horcrux in the diary awakened the master of the house." The Potion Master has been here for nearly an hour and it's his second Victoria Sponge. He listens carefully to the young man. He detects no variation in his voice to indicate that he is lying. He has to admit he wasn't expecting that. So the brat hid his true potential. Appearance? How many secrets? Wait! In him? There is a horcrux in him for Salazar's sake! He swallows his cake with difficulty. Albus didn't motion this. It's normal that the boy has troubles with occlumency. But then...how can he survive in this war? I made a vow I-I can't fail Lily again. I can't.

"And since then, under the guidance of Salazar Slytherin, he's been educating me in magic. And I've been practising duelling thanks to the room he magically programmed." The older man didn't realise that the Gryffindor was out of the water until he was in front of him. He frowned when he saw white lines on the young man's torso and upper thighs. He checks that his mask is firmly in place and that his occlumency is still strongly active. The house elf returns with a dressing gown and hands it to his master.

"Thank you, Dobby." Harry says when he puts on the dressing gown.

"Anything for Master Harry." The elf bows excitedly. 'Pop'

"Oh, and that's Hel, my familiar." Potter says, pointing at the reptile.

"Thank you for listening, Professeur. You can still get Victoria Sponge if you ask Dobby." The Potion Master nods. Despite his story, he found Potter even more mysterious. His spy instincts told him something big was lurking behind the troublemaker.

"The letters?" Harry gave him a wicked grin.

"Magic. A magician never reveals his secrets." Severus narrows his eyes and scoffs. He really gave me that muggle reference. Hughs! He's more Slytherin than I think. He winces mentally. I can't believe I just admitted that. The cake must be poisoned.

"Professor." The old man looks up to the emerald-green eyes.

"You're one of the bravest, most intelligent, most powerful and dignified wizards I know, and that's one of the reasons I'm writing to you. People don't see the sacrifices you are making for this war." Severus looks away, feeling the atmosphere becoming too sentimental. He can no longer hold the gaze of the young man he has inherited from his dear mother.