Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 6. setting in ( 2 September to 20 December 1991 )

~Severus~

Severus didn’t know what to think as Harry Potter entered the Great Hall but by the end of the feast, he was firmly resolved to find out more about the boy. He had been hovering in the background as he watched the boy’s confrontation with Dumbledore, and though most of him were happy that he seemed to be smart enough to avoid the old man’s manipulations, it didn’t bode well as it was the perfect indication that the boy hadn’t been as pampered and protected as Dumbledore had stated…Harry’s own dig at ‘bad people’ also didn’t go unnoticed.

He gave his normal speech in the common room before asking the boy to stay behind. He could see the boy was nervous, but from what he’d seen so far, they needed to have their talk before school started.

He led the boy to his office where he closed the door before making them both some tea. He held a vial and showed it to the boy before pouring it into his cup, “This is a calming draught, you look like you’re ready to run through a wall to escape at any moment.”

He was relieved when Harry gave him a grin and a laugh before taking a sip of the tea, and Severus was glad that Harry still seemed to trust him, even if it was unconsciously. He’d constantly visited the Potter family after Harry was born. At first, he’d been reluctant but Lily had forgiven him for his mistake and James and Sirius had both apologized to him. Then Lily made him one of Harry’s Godfathers and he couldn’t find it in himself to avoid them after that.

It had been hard to stay away from Harry like Dumbledore had ordered him to afterward, and he constantly cursed himself for not fighting harder. Now Harry was here, and he’d been sorted into his house.

Severus promised himself that he wouldn’t allow Dumbledore to ruin his Godson’s life, but to do that, he was going to have to tell the boy the truth about everything, even the plans that Dumbledore had made so far.

~Harry~

Harry found himself relaxing as the draught worked. Severus had been right, he’d needed that. But he didn’t expect the tale that Severus told him after the draught kicked in.

He already knew most of the plans, but he hadn’t expected Severus to outright tell him about everything, even the fact that he was Harry’s godfather, as well as Draco’s. That kinda made them brothers, didn’t it? And Severus wasn’t finished, he told Harry about his part in all of it, how Voldemort had asked him to play along when Dumbledore started sprouting strange ideas so that he could warn everyone, but something happened to Voldemort.

Harry was surprised to learn that Voldemort hadn’t been planning on going after the Potters that night, but something happened during one of their meetings that made the man constantly angry and irritable. It didn’t take much to put two and two together.

Harry grimaced as he took it all in. This Severus wasn’t acting like the Severus he knew in the past and he wondered what the man wanted from him by revealing all of this to him, but the man seemed to be unsure on how to bring it up. “I understand what you told me, but what do you want to know Professor?”

He could see the dark-haired man momentarily fighting for words before he sighed and sat back in his chair. “You may call me Severus when we are alone or with Draco. As for what I want to know…I want to know about the people that hurt you, and I want to know who your guardian is so that I can visit him to make sure he can protect you.”

Harry sat frozen in his place as he tried to understand why Severus was being so open with him. In the past, he only managed it after years of wearing the man down. He felt bad, but he didn’t trust it completely.

“I’m sorry, si-Severus, I know I need to talk about it but I’m not ready yet.” The man gave him a tense nod in understanding and Harry noticed that the man didn’t press any further like people normally would, and he was grateful for it.

He excused himself and Severus allowed it, but Harry hesitated at the door before turning around and he didn’t like seeing the other man look so tense so he decided to at least do something to slightly ease the other man’s worry.

“I could ask my guardian if you could visit us during the Christmas holidays if you’d like to?”

Severus eagerly nodded and Harry was relieved to receive a small smile before he turned and left the room. He easily found the first-year rooms and noticed that only he and Draco had been allocated to it, leaving the room looking more spacious than what he was used to.

That night he slept better than he had in a long time and he was eager to see what the next few days would bring.

Turns out that Dumbledore didn’t know when to give up and Harry had to constantly evade him, which would have been amusing if the situation didn’t clearly scream, ‘OBSESSION!!!’

Even the other houses noticed Dumbledore’s strange behavior and most of the students did their best to hide the 11-year-old whenever the headmaster was prowling about. In fact, without knowing it, many of the students started working together without realizing it, and soon you could see multiple students sitting at other tables when eating.

Dumbledore still seemed completely oblivious to it though and Harry was happy when the holidays finally started on the 20th of December. Dumbledore tried to keep him in the castle, but Harry refused, and afterward, he could practically feel the man following him, trying to catch a glimpse of his ‘guardian’.

Luckily he managed to evade him and Mina apparated him home as soon as he called for her. He collapsed onto his bed, intent on sleeping for as long as it would take his stressed body to recover. He smiled as he heard Mina slightly curse as she removed a spell from him, one that was there to track him and Harry fought with his anger before finally falling into an exhausted sleep.