A Second Soul

Chapter 5~in which~ Not Much Happens

Harry, confusion obvious in his twisted expression, sat in a large chair, the cushions of which were a shimmering opal studded with real pearls and the legs of which were a white-ish silver. In fact, the entirety of his surroundings seemed just as luxurious and pure as the well-stuffed art piece his arse currently inhabited. 

The color scheme was breathtaking, as it should have been impossible for the fabric to shine like luminescent pearls or to contain so many wondrous flecks of opalescent color. In fact, the only darkness in the room came from 2 young wizards- both robed in black, as was demanded by Hogwart's dress code, both with long, pitch black hair- one an unkempt, unruly mess, the other, pin straight and so shiny it almost reminded Harry of an oil slick as he stared directly at the unconscious boy, and one with intelligent, dark eyes, currently hidden behind almost sickly pale lids. The other, of course, had bright, emerald green irises (which, unbeknownst to anyone in his current dimensional residence, were an exact match for Harry's, er- Evan's, mother's eyes and which would bring about many curious students wondering if Evan could somehow be related to a current student- Lilly Evans, perhaps siblings? Maybe a distant cousin? Possibly even a far off relation through a twice divorced troll ancestor?)

The green eyed boy was currently having a hard time processing both the manner in which he had treated Snape since introducing himself at the Slytherin table and also the manner in which Snape had treated him in return. There was no Malice, no snide comments, no underhanded, sarcastic jabs. The future potions master more closely resembled a frightened bunny rabbit than the harsh, evil professor Harry had come to think of him as. It was as if the constant bullying and abuse hadn't started to turn him hard and cynical yet. Harry would have thought that by this point, Severus would have already joined Voldemort's army, already been a cruel, shrunken man demanding respect but never giving any back. Maybe this is what his mother had meant when she said the other dimensions were almost exact copies of theirs. 

 Evan thought back to what his mother had said about needing to change the course of history. Maybe this was a start. He was surprised with himself that he felt no negativity towards this Snape. While now harboring immense respect for his late professor, Harry still burned with anger thinking back to the torment he had endured at the hands of the sallow, sharp-tongued bat. Yet it was easy to see that this Severus was not yet the same man, and our young hero did not seem to be able to view him as though he were. Everything that had happened from the moment Evan sat down at the Slytherin house table had happened naturally, he had not purposely defended Snape because he hoped to undermine Voldemort, it had just felt like what he was meant to do. He couldn't help but feel a kindred spirit in the fragile, jumpy boy.

Severus's eyes snapped open and wildly took in the bright surroundings. "What is this?"

"This is my new dorm. You can stay here too if you'd like."

"But...how?"

Evan explained how the room of requirements worked, recalling fondly how Dobby had once described it as "the Come and Go Room".  The thought of Dobby left him feeling a bit empty, but he ignored the pang of guilt and painful twist of his gut as he was currently attempting to help Snape come to grips with the fact that a boy had essentially asked the castle to build him an entire house... and it had.

"How did you even know about this room if you're supposed to be new to Hogwart's?"

Harry should have expected this, it was an obvious question that he, more than likely, would be asked many more times by many more people, and yet he was wholly unprepared to answer.