Benign

Chapter 4: The Self-Writing Quill

Severus's POV:

After the feast, Severus went to his office to finish up some things before classes. But, as he started the prepare the lesson for the next day, his thoughts strayed back to a curious James Potter look-alike.

Dumbledore had said the boy was deaf, but he seemed to converse easily with his new friends. Though, he had learned not to trust Dumbledore. Not only that, but he was sorted into Slytherin of all places. Severus had originally expected him to be an exact copy of his father, all arrogance and foolishness. But, it was beginning to dawn on him that that was not the case, and he was wrong to have judged him without having met him first.

He mentally chastised himself for foolishly not considering that he may have inherited Lily's traits. Lily was the boys mother, and though he may look like James, he did have her eyes.

Severus wasn't entirely going to rule out him still having some of Potter Sr.'s... oh so charming qualities, however, and planned to keep on his guard around Lily's son until he was positive that wasn't the case. He had a hunch that it wasn't, and his hunches usually weren't wrong.

There was something unusual about the boy though, besides the obvious. He had noticed at dinner that the boy was shocked when the food had appeared. Not only that, but he had to be seemingly coaxed into eating when he was clearly starving. If Severus didn't know any better, he would question what kind of home life the boy had.

Putting that thought aside (for now at least), he wanted to anonymously give him something as an apology for judging him too soon, even though he didn't know he had. Severus had had a particular item for a while, and thought that the boy would have a good use for it.

He wrapped it up, deciding to include a small anonymous note. He then gave it to a house elf, telling it to set it at the foot of the young Potter's bed.

With a sigh, Severus set his things to the side once the house elf had disappeared and decided to head to his rooms. He'd had plenty of revelations for one day.

***

Harry and Draco's POV:

Harry and Draco didn't go to bed right away once they reached their dorm room. They'd found out that because of Slytherin's smaller amount of people than the rest of the houses, that there would be two people per dorm room, and that he and Draco were sharing a room. They also found out that Blaise was rooming with Theodore Nott and that Pansy was rooming with Millicent Bulstrode.

But, finding all of this out wasn't why Harry and Draco didn't go to bed right away. Harry made sure to ask Draco about everything he had missed the adults saying and for explanations of certain things.

In turn, Draco tentatively asked him why he didn't have any school things, other than his wand. Harry had turned him down politely at his question, and told him that he didn't want to talk about it yet. Draco reluctantly accepted this, and let the subject drop for now. He would get him to tell him eventually, when he trusted him more. He wanted to do what he could to help him.

They went to bed after that, because Harry's denial of answering his question had left a slight awkwardness in the conversation and before they knew it, it was morning.

Harry got up, and then was devastatingly reminded of the fact that he didn't have a toothbrush or a fresh change of clothes. He sighed, and just picked the robes Draco lent him back up and put them on, figuring that he wouldn't mind if he wore them again. He then, as disgusting as it was, washed his mouth out with soap and water in the bathroom sink, before going back out to see Draco was mostly ready as well.

"Morning Draco." He greeted shyly.

"Good morning." Draco greeted back, smiling.

Draco made a face like he was about to say something else, but before he could, something out of the corner of Harry's eye caught his attention.

There was a fairly small box sitting at the end of his bed with nothing on the outside, save for a small green bow on top. Harry frowned and walked over an picked it up,thinking that it surely wasn't for him. He figured he would open it to see if it had a note inside saying who it was for so he could be sure that they got it. There was a note, so he scanned it for a name, and was in complete shock when he found his own. There was no way someone had gotten him something, was there? And if they had, who would give him anything. Before he questioned any further, he wanted to fully read through the note.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I thought maybe this might be of good use for you, so you could understand your lessons-- considering the circumstances.

Use it well.

Harry couldn't believe someone would give him anything. He had to force back his tears of joy so that he could actually see what the gift was.

Inside of the box, was a quill and a piece of parchment. He picked them both up and found another note underneath, with the words 'self-writing quill' written on it.

That was the moment the tears finally fell. This was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him, and he couldn't even thank them because they hadn't left a name.

Through the whole interaction with the box, Harry hadn't noticed Draco watching him. So, when he started crying Draco was alarmed and came over and tapped Harry on the shoulder.

Harry quickly turned his head to look at him and quickly wiped away his tears. "Sorry," Harry started worriedly, "I know boys aren't supposed to cry, Uncle Vernon says so. It won't happen again."

Draco's eyes widen slightly. He may be 11, but he knows that this is not normal behavior and that something is very wrong with Harry's homelife. "No, no Harry, it's okay. You can cry if you want to cry, whatever your uncle said is wrong. I just wanted to know if you were okay, and what made you so upset, I was never going to yell at you."

Harry frowned. If his uncle was wrong about this, then what else was he wrong about? Instead of questioning Draco further, he mentally reminded himself of the gift he received, and decided show it to him.

"The note I got says it says it's a self writing quill. I assume it reacts to voices so then it will write down what people say so I can understand my lessons." He explained when Draco gave him a questioning look, enthusiasm clear in his ever quiet voice.

Draco gave him a small smile. "Does it say who it's from?"

Harry frowned. "No, it's anonymous. I wish I knew who it was so I could thank them."

Draco frowned, slightly suspicious now. "Can I see the notes?"

Harry frowned at the look on his face, before silently grabbing the notes and handing them to him.

Draco took them, and quickly skimmed through them. He raised his eyebrows as he recognized the handwriting. He would recognize the flowing handwriting anywhere from the many letters his godfather had sent him over the years.

He looked back to Harry, giving him a bright smile. "I know who sent you that."

Harry looked at him like he had just told him the single most important thing in the world. "Who?"

Draco chuckled slightly at his enthusiasm. "My godfather and our head of house, Severus Snape."

Harry continued to smile at him. "Do you think you can bring me to him soon so I can thank him? I've only gotten one gift in my life and I-" He broke off, a pained expression taking over his face. "Let's just say that didn't end well for me. I want to make sure this one does."

Draco was growing more and more worried about Harry and his home life the more he found out about him. He decided right then that he was going to express his concerns to his godfather after their first potions class. "Of course I will, I can take you to him before he leaves the Great Hall after breakfast."

Harry smiled at him again. "Thank you."

"Your welcome, it's really no problem." Draco gave a gesture of waving away his thanks. "Speaking of breakfast though, we need to go before it ends."

Harry nodded, so Draco gathered his things and they left.