Torn - Has Moved

TITLE: Torn
AUTHOR: Ravenkiss
STATUS/PART: 2/?
EMAIL: Ravenkiss2000@yahoo.com
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: SS/??, SS/RH, SS/RL
SPOILERS: OOP
WARNINGS: AU, M/M Slash, Mpreg, Non-con, Hurt Comfort.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, JKR owns all the characters, no money is being made.
SUMMARY: Pranks against Snape start out as an annoyance, and get worse.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Just remember nothing is ever what it seems. Or is it?
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ravenkiss_/
http://borgin.thegoblet.net/disclaimer.php?
http://inkstain.inkquill.net/
http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/authors.php?no=1296774773
Beta: The Goblet and Tall oaks


Part - 2


Harry Potter gulped as the voice in the darkness chuckled evilly.

The sound was almost malevolent and more than a little frightening. "Come

on Harry, you know you want to."


"Well, I guess it would be funny," Harry said softly, as if he feared that

Ron might hear them even with the silencing charm. His friend had as usual

crept into his dorm room in the middle of the night. He never came in the

daytime. That would draw too much attention and he had become a bit

paranoid about people. He was not even comfortable around Ron, Hermione,

Remus, or even Dumbledore.


Only Harry.


The actual prank would be small, but it would be in front of the entire

student body. His friend had been adamant about that. Snape had to be

humiliated in public. The slimy Slytherin snake had to suffer for all of

the things he had done to Harry. He had to suffer for all of the things

that he had done to every Gryffindor for the past seventeen years. He had

to suffer for the crime of existing. Harry cringed at the thought, but

really could not argue.


No matter how you looked at it, Snape did deserve it. In the end, Harry once again reluctantly agreed. "OK, just this once, then let Snape alone."


Even Harry did not believe that anymore. Every time was supposed to be the

last time. Every trick was to be the last trick he would play, then he would promise to leave Snape alone. But his friend had already tormented the git with joke exploding quills, and vials that leaked leaving pink trails all over his robes. His friend had cast glowing letters over the door of the Potions classroom which read 'Bat Cave'.

The synchronized enchanted whoopie cushions had been brilliant!

It had been a laugh pranking the git, and they were all just harmless tricks. Nothing that was really bad or dangerous.


Harry sighed. Well, it was not as if anyone would get hurt. Right? After all, it was just Snape...


---

The two conspirators decided that breakfast was the perfect time to do the

deed. The Slytherin always arrived late for breakfast so everyone would be

there to see it. His normal routine was to swoop in, robes flaring

dramatically in their bat-like glory, quickly devour a piece of toast and

gulp down his coffee, then he would rush back down to his classroom.


---


Breakfast had always been Severus Snape's least favorite meal of the day.

Not that he liked any meal. He did not actually want to even attend

breakfast. He hated that meal more then any other. It always came much

too early for his taste and the students and staff were way too cheerful

for the hour.


He despised morning people.


The only reason he came in the first place was that Dumbledore had made it

a 'not quite order' that he show up for at least two meals a day.

Breakfast being one of them. He could choose the other at his discretion.

According to the old man, he was much too thin after all he had been

through in the war.


So Snape swooped in and before he had even sat down to eat his breakfast

grabbed the carafe of coffee that always appeared by his plate in the

morning so that he could pour himself a tall steaming cup. This was his

only real compensation for enduring the torture that was breakfast.


A thrill ran through him as he breathed in the heady aroma of the imported

Swiss Mocha coffee. The coffee had been a gift from Albus. It was a far

cry from the turpentine that had been served when he first arrived at

Hogwarts. That stuff could be used to polish cauldrons.


Severus lifted the pot and poured into his cup that most potent of

potions. He savored the scent of the true Elixir Vitae, nectar of the

goddess Java.


Yes, the true meaning of existence, coffee!


To defile this, the nearly perfect sustenance seemed almost blasphemy. But

Severus still added a spoon full of sugar and a touch of cream. Then, he

brought it to his lips, to at last taste the sweet ambrosia.


This was one of the few things that made life worth living.


He took one sip, then spit it out with a look of disgust. "Salt?" He

glared around the table for the jokester that had replaced his sugar and

ruined the one decent moment of his meal.

Specifically he glared at Remus Lupin.


The Once and Future Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was two seats

down, beside Flitwick and looked just as surprised as the rest of the

staff. He did not trust Lupin, the werewolf, along with his friends had a

long history of pulling pranks against him. The Slytherin frowned, though

he bit his tongue and said nothing. Albus always gave him that disappointed

look when he voiced any suspicions of his Gryffindors.


Lupin, like the rest of the staff only stare at him with obvious confusion.



Severus tried his best to ignore the stifled giggles. But it was a

loosing battle. Angrily he slammed the cup down and growled, then seated

himself with the intent of getting a new cup of coffee and eating his

breakfast in peace.


A hope that was utterly shattered as the chair collapsed beneath his

weight.


Laughter erupted from the student body and more then a few snorts of

laughter were heard from the staff. Especially when Hagrid rushed over

before anyone else could recover from his or her laughter and attempted to

help him up. "I got yeh 'fessor!" The half-giant's massive hands caught the

stunned Snape up and lifted him like a child to his chest. "Hagrid, I am

NOT injured!" Snape growled and pushed away.


Hagrid was startled and lost his grip on Snape's head and shoulder, so that

the Potions Master found himself dangling by his legs in Hagrid's arms.

Some of the students fell out of their chairs they were laughing so hard.

A flabbergasted Hagrid attempted to right his fellow staff member, only to

end up tearing his teaching robe completely off and dropping him on the

hard stone floor.


The entire hall braved themselves. An explosion seemed imminent.


"Severus." Dumbledore was completely composed as he offered his hand.

Slowly, red faced and fuming, Severus Snape managed to stand. "Sorry

Professor," Hagrid said sheepishly holding out his destroyed robe.


"So, someone thinks that this is funny!" Snape's voice went low as his

hands brushed the dirt from his long black frock coat. The hall went so

quiet that you could hear a pin drop. "Who is responsible for this childish

display?"


Not surprisingly, there was no answer to his question.


"Someone thought it would be amusing to humiliate me. Who was it?" Still

no one would admit to the trick.


Before he could say anything more, Dumbledore motioned him out the side

door, with a frown Snape followed. When it closed behind them he glared at

Dumbledore. "You are not going to punish anyone," he said flatly.


"I shall investigate the matter of course Severus," said Dumbledore

quietly with a hand on his Potions Master's shoulder. "But there can be no

punishment because I have no idea who should be punish."


"You will investigate," he growled with a sneer. "This is not the first

trick Headmaster, and they are getting out of hand. Any respect that the

students or staff ever had for me is evaporating. I have heard the other

professors in the staff room betting on what humiliation I will be subjected to next! You should give out a collective punishment. Cancel the Hogsmeade weekend until someone confesses."


"Come now, I cannot punish the entire school for the actions of one."


"No, of course not. We would not want to deprive anyone of their amusement

on my account."


"Severus, you are a very good teacher, and also a war hero. Everyone in the school respects you. A few juvenile pranks will not lessen anyone's regard for you."


'Regard my arse. I should have resigned after the war.' Severus thought

dejectedly. 'But where would I go?' He looked at the other man still struggling to keep his mask firmly in place. "Will anyone have any regard left for me if this is allowed to continue?" With that he clutched his ruined robes to his chest with as much dignity as he could muster and stalked down the corridor.


Poor Severus, the man simply had no sense of humor. If only he could learn

to laugh at himself instead of always taking such things to heart, he would

be a much happier man. As well as a much less attractive target for pranksters.


The Headmaster of Hogwarts felt a deep sadness as he watched his friend

retreating towards the safety of his dungeons.


Albus did not believe in collective punishment, that is true. He did however, believe that there was something that he could do to stop the pranks. While Dumbledore was not quite the all knowing, all powerful wizard that the students believed, he did have a few thoughts on the source of the mischief.


Albus was sure that if he were to drop a strong hint when the right person

was within earshot that the jokes cease. In a few weeks, everyone would

forget that any of this unpleasantness had ever happened.


----

Back in the Great Hall, Harry listened to the laughter of his classmates

but found that he was not really in the mood to join them. The prank had

been funny at first, but he hoped that his friend was finally satisfied. Snape could have actually been hurt this time. If not by the prank then by Hagrid's well meaning, if somewhat clumsy intervention. And while he had

laughed a little at first, Harry had been humiliated enough in his lifetime

to feel some empathy for the man.


Well, a little empathy... but not that much, he was more concerned for his

friend.


This obsession with Snape was getting out of hand.


tbc