A new beginning

Meeting the Potion's Master again

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Snape's fingers drummed on the table as he looked at the small clock by the fireplace mantle. The first potion class of the year was to begin in no more than forty minutes, which meant he had no reason to panic. But he did. He had heard the rumours. It was not a surprise, however. It was bound to happen. Potter was in the school.

Nearly ten years ago, he had made the decision to give Potter back to his relatives. Dumbledore had trusted him with raising the child. No, he had been forced. Forced to follow a promise he had made while his heart was shattered, his soul ripped to pieces as he held the trembling hand of Lily Potter. A few hours before the Dark Lord had barged into their home, leaving two cold, unmoving bodies behind, he had rushed to that same place to warn his only friend, his one love, of her imminent death. He had long ago vowed to never have contact with the Potter household again. But the fear of losing her once again had forced reason into his mind and led him to stand in front of her and make the one promise he never imagined he would make.

I will protect him.

But he couldn't. He had tried. He had endured a few days with the then one-year-old Potter. But it was too much. He had her eyes. The eyes that every time they looked at him made him go back to the first time he saw Lily. Eyes that whenever they filled with tears, reflected the same fear and pain Lily's did when he told her the danger awaiting her, torturing his soul over and over again as he relived the last moments when he held her frozen body as he wept as he had never done before, for his reason to be had vanished from this earth, leaving him alone.

He had given Potter up. But now, in no more than ten minutes, he would have to face the child again. He would see those eyes that tormented him, and pretend as if those few days had never occurred. He would treat Potter as if he was any other student.

....

As Harry and Ron climbed up the steps out of the dungeon as soon as Potion's class was over, Harry's mind continued to race as if to make up for his low spirits. He was still in shock that he had somehow managed to lose two points for Gryffindor in the very first week of class. True, one of them could be attributed to his lack of knowledge, even if it was not a good reason nonetheless; the second, however, was not his fault at all. Snape had simply taken the point off because he hated him. Who in his right mind would take a point off simply because he did not warn Neville from using the wrong ingredient when he barely even knew which one was the correct one?

And there was also Snape's eyes. His eyes were black as coals, however, nowhere near as warm. As he stared into the Professor's eyes, he could not help feeling a bit sad. He did not know why or how he knew this, but behind them, there was a pain so deep that any glimmer of happiness had been pushed down, drowned under the dark waters of the pair of endless pits.

"Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?" said Ron, snapping Harry back to the present. With no strength to respond, Harry simply nodded his head and attempted a weak smile in the direction of his redheaded friend.

Making a shortstop in the Gryffindor Tower to leave their books, the two boys began the trip to Hagrid's small wooden home at around five to three. The walk across the grounds helped Harry clear his head from the fog that had spread after Potion's class. The short grass reminded Harry of the life he always wished he had instead of the one he was stuck with. He often imagined that he grew up with his parents, in a home with a big yard in the back, where he would be able to take long walks without worrying if Dudley and friends were following him, and he would be able to sit outside at sunset and simply observe the sun as it travelled down without the constant nagging voice of her aunt Petunia telling him to go inside and wash the dishes. A bit too soon for Harry's liking, they made it to where Hagrid lived and raising his hand, Harry knocked on the thick wooden door.

The noise was soon followed by a loud screeching of a chair and a low bark. Immediately after, Hagrid's hairy face appeared behind a small opening that soon after turned into a broad gesture to let them in.

...

The meeting with Hagrid had turned out to be longer than they had anticipated. By the time both Ron and Harry looked out the window the sky had turned completely dark, the only things lighting the way back to the castle were the moon and stars. So saying their goodbyes, Harry left his last rock cake on the plate and took Ron with him.

"We better hurry Harry," said Ron. "I bet it is well past curfew and if anyone was to catch us out...well" Ron broke off, as he took a look at Harry. Harry was staring at the forest near Hagrid's house, or more specifically at the person coming out of it. Snape.

"Come, this way" whispered Harry as he pulled on his friend's arm. There was a chance that Snape had not noticed them yet, as he was currently shaking something off his robes. So the two boys quickly ducked around Hagrid's hut in an attempt to hide out of the Professor's sight.

Harry and Ron held their breath as they observed the Professor tug on the end of his sleeves in order to return them to their impeccable and straight state.

....

Pulling onto his sleeves in order to straighten them, Snape considered what to do. Of course, he had seen Potter and Weasley come out of Hagrid's hut and duck out of sight as soon as they had spotted him. Clearly, they thought him to be foolish if they doubted for one second if he had managed to see them.

It was a given that he would somehow educate them on that little fact, as well as impress on them the importance of adhering to the rules. Nothing said, however, that he could not have a bit of fun. He could always walk back into the forest, only to come out and creep behind both unsuspecting boys, imparting on them a lesson they would not be soon to forget.

Sharply turning around, Snape walked back into the forest through the same path he had gone out. Pushing branches aside, he slowly made his way to the back of the wooden hut but continued to observe the two clueless boys. Obviously thinking that the danger had passed, they stood up from their hiding spot, shook a few pieces of grass off of their trouser legs and began to walk once again towards the castle.

Both children tore glances at the forest as if they expected Snape to come out again, which he supposed was quite correct. Fact is, he had already done it. He was a few steps behind them, and in a few seconds, he would be close enough to clamp them on the shoulders.

Snap!

A small twig snapped under his foot, startling both children and causing them to turn around in horror at the realization that they were not alone. The Weasley child was the first one to realize just who was following them. His face contorting in a look of pure and utter terror. Potter, on the other hand, was able to control his facial expression more. A small glimmer of surprise passed those green eyes, only to be immediately replaced by anger. Anger that hit him so hard, as if Lily herself was standing in front of him, claiming her anger at being shoved aside as he brooded in his own despair.

"Weasley and Potter." Exclaimed Snape. " Could not even wait to break the rules?"

Weasley's fear was still extremely visible as he forcefully gulped as he talked. Potter, on the other hand, remained as enraged as before. Looking down at the child's hands, which were now made into tight fists that shook slightly as ressent flowed through the Golden Boy's body, and raising an eyebrow he continued: "Have you both any idea how dangerous it is to be out after curfew, or do you believe that the rules do not apply to you, Mr. Potter? After all, you are the new celebrity."

Narrowing his sight in order to meet the angry stare of the same child he had held almost ten years ago, he straightened his cuffs once again. "Mr. Weasley, you will report immediately to your dormitory, where you will soon find a letter you will take to Mr. Filch tomorrow morning in order to serve your detention with him. And you Mr. Potter, will come with me." His hand latched onto the boy's arm as he spun and dragged him along with him to the dungeons. It appeared as though Potter and he would be meeting once again.