A Second Soul

Chapter 6~in which~Harry Gains an Uncle

"Well?" Snape looked expectant. "This is my sixth year at Hogwarts, I've wondered these halls hundreds of times over and had no clue this place existed. You haven't been here 24 hours, how did you know?"

"Umm...well..." Evan stuttered, eyes wide and skin paling. "D-Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore. Showed me." He flushed slightly and averted his eyes, the molten silver cloth hanging from the crystal coffee table suddenly becoming much more interesting than it had been only a second ago.

"Dumbledore? Why would Dumbledore show you such a huge secret about the castle?"

"Because...um...cause...because he's my uncle?" It ended as more a question than a statement.

Snape snorted in an indecent manner, unable to control his amusement. "Albus Dumbledore is your uncle?"

"Y-yeah." Evan cleared his throat. "Yes."

"OK." Severus turned thoughtful. "What's his favorite candy?"

"Lemon drops."

"What's his phoenix's name?"

"Fawkes."

"What's his full name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." Even if Harry wasn't truly related to the batty headmaster, he had known the man for years. He respected the wizard and truly did view him as family.  He shifted his eyes to lock them in a steady gaze with the suspicious obsidian of Severus Snape's. 

A slight bit of skepticism draining from his tense frame, Severus continued, "If Dumbledore's really your uncle, why are you just now transferring to Hogwarts? Shouldn't you have been attending since first year with the rest of us?"

"Oh...Well..." Evan tried to consider how he could be as honest as possible without giving himself away. He didn't want to spin so big a web that he got lost in it- it's easier to twist the truth than construct an elaborate lie. He also didn't feel right lying to Snape, though he couldn't understand why. "See...my parents passed away...and I've been having a rough go of it for a few years now... and recently I found myself with no one else to turn to, and Uncle Albus took me in and enrolled me and, well, here I am."

"Oh." Snape cast his eyes away, almost shamefully. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"It's ok." Harry shrugged sadly. "I never really got to know them that well."

Severus appeared as though he wished to question this 'Why wouldn't you know your parents?' but Harry was relieved when the boy seemed to think better of it and instead began to look around the new dorm.

"This place is actually really beautiful."

"Yeah, even I'm surprised by how nice it is, and I'm the one that asked for everything."

"You'd really let me stay here?"

"Well yeah. If we're gonna be friends, I don't want to force you back to the dungeons to deal with all those snakes." Harry made a face as he finished his statement.

"You're one of those snakes too, you know." Severus was slightly agitated, after all, they  were both Slytherins, did Evan think he was somehow above their house mates? Above him?

Evan took a deep breath, closing his eyes and slowly released the lungful of air. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. There's just a lot of stereotypes and stuff about slytherins, a lot of which is true, but not for every member."

Snape softened slightly. "You mean like all that stuff with 'the dark lord' and whatnot?"

"Yeah, exactly." Harry replied darkly, you could almost see his anger, like a heavy aura, filling the air around them.

"You know, I've heard he isn't all that bad. Lucius keeps trying to get me to join the movement and all. He keeps talking about how he's going to get the mark, whatever that is. But he said it'll help him become really strong and powerful and he really feels like he could make a difference."

"Yeah. He's not all that bad, and rattlesnakes aren't all that poisonous." Harry bit out louder than he meant to.

Severus just looked at him, slightly hurt, wondering if maybe this guy wasn't as nice as he first thought. Maybe he had made a mistake and should just go apologize to Lucius.

"Look, I'm sorry." Evan looked slightly abashed."That wasn't directed towards you, its just...Voldemort really is all that bad, in fact he's worse than anything you've ever heard, I can tell you that from firsthand experience. I just don't really like talking about him, but that's not an excuse to take my anger out on you. Friends?"  Evan hopefully held his hand out and, for a brief moment, thought he had been rejected as Snape made no move to reply, but instead just stood there, thinking. Just as Harry began to pull away,  Severus reached out his hand, much more confident than earlier in the night.

"Friends." He agreed, shaking Evan's hand.