Reversed

27| Why?

~Harry

I cringed at the wand directed at me. I saw the spell take shape on Snape's lips but then Draco shouted something.

"Before you do any of this, please, just tell us why!"

Snape froze and lowered his wand a fraction.
I held my breath, not daring to release the tension in my shoulders.

"Please," Draco repeated.

Hesitation was painted over his face, making me feel lightheaded.

"I..." his voice wavered.

I'd never seen Snape at a loss for words.

I glanced over to Draco to make sure he was seeing this too and that I wasn't already passed out.

Draco stood tall and looked defiantly at Snape. Despite the circumstances that we were under, I felt a surge of pride at the sight of him standing up for himself. Well, himself and me.

"I cannot divulge that information," Snape said finally.

There was something behind Snape's eyes that looked almost... guilty?
The menace on his face was a thin film that was attempting to mask something beneath the surface.

"Who's making you do this?" I asked, finally able to speak.

"Stop stalling!" He shouted, "I just want to get this over with!"

"Don't you want to relish in my pain?" I glared, "don't you want  take pride in watching Draco suffer? Your only godson?"

"Silence!"

"Why don't you do it then Snape? You can make us suffer all you want," I taunted him.

Snape's hands were shaking furiously now.

"You foolish boy how dare you speak to me like that! You are just like your father," he said bitterly.

"I know that this has nothing to do with my dad," I shot back.

He lowered his wand completely at this, allowing me to step out of the line of fire.

Draco came up behind me and gripped me tightly.

"It's about Draco's father," Snape said finally.

"What about my father?" Draco asked cautiously.

It was an unnerving sight to see Snape lean back casually on a desk and shift his hair back into place.

"You know how Lucius is, with wanting to uphold the Malfoy name," he began, "he wants Draco to follow his exact footsteps and I mean exact. Draco has to be top of his classes, be on the quidditch team, be surrounded by friends, and most importantly- have a girlfriend from a prominent family,"

I furrowed my brow, not quite grasping at what Snape was trying to get at.

Snape continued, "Lucius made me promise to him that as Draco's godfather I'd keep his only son on the path that had been drawn out. So I kept a watchful eye over Draco for all these years and made sure he stayed steady. Then Harry Potter came along and suddenly Draco had veered off that path,"

The room was silent, as if it had emptied itself to hold the weight of Snape's confession.

"But I was also entrusted with protecting Potter-,"

"-What?" I inhaled sharply.

"That's right, I had to protect you as well," he said, "I knew I had to, you were the last piece of Lilly left,"

His voice cracked and I felt uncomfortable. Possibly more uncomfortable than when I was faced with his fury.

"I tried to keep you two from crossing each other, knowing that would make my job harder but somehow it never worked, you always intersected at some point and eventually I laid off, thought nothing of it. That is, until I noticed things, different behaviors and such. I followed my suspicions to the both of you-well... I think you know,"

I was overwhelmed to say the very least. I felt violated that Snape had been interfering with us for so long. Something about it made it feel like my life was... artificial.

I looked to Draco to gauge his reaction.

His fists were balled up tightly and his face had the most color I'd ever seen on it; it was bright, bright red.

"You didn't have to listen to Father," he growled.

"Oh but I did, Draco," Snape said.

"Why?" Draco's voice was pure venom.

"He would hurt you if he knew and he would hurt Harry as well," he replied simply.

"So what now?" I hashed out the looming question.

"I have to wipe your minds, I have to," Snape insisted.

"No!" I shouted.

"You haven't explained the whole thing!" Draco shouted at the same time as me.

It was Snape's turn to be confused.

"Yes I have,"

"Why did you give us that potion?" Draco demanded.

"You're making no sense at all," Snape muttered.

"The potion that switched our bodies!" Draco yelled.

Snape cocked his head at him like he was speaking in tongues.

"It'll be quick," he raised his wand again, this time at Draco.

As a last ditch attempt at anything, I threw myself into the way. This way Draco maybe had a chance to get away.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Another voice screamed.

Like in slow motion, Snape sailed backwards and plowed into the nearby tables. The sound was deafening.

And in the doorway stood Hermione.

I was trying to write Lucius's name but I was struggling and it kept coming out as 'Luscious' and I almost left it like that :/