What the Devil Wants

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Harry breezed down to breakfast the next morning with a slightly devious spring in his step. None of his friends had come back to the dorm last night and Harry had spent most of the earlier hours plotting to find out what Neville had that he didn’t. What ever Neville had done to fit the criteria of the secret class, he would have had to have done it in the last few days between the last rendezvous and this one.

”Morning Harry,” Ignoring Ron and Hermione’s bright good morning Harry passed by his usual seat next to Ron before pushing his way in between Neville and a sixth year girl. Neville looked up a little stunned from his scrambled eggs, and smiled around his mouthful at Harry.

“Hey Neville, how was last night?” Harry saw the awkward fear flicker into the podgy boys brown eyes, as he glanced up the table towards Hermione and Ron. “The dance how was it?” After letting his first statement hang awkward in the air for a moment Harry clarified himself. Relief swept over Neville’s expression as the boy swallowed his mouthful of eggs and smiled coyly up the table at Luna who was blushing an unattractive pink shade.

“Really good, I enjoyed myself. I didn’t see you.” Neville sipped from his pumpkin juice as he loaded his fork with another helping of scrambled eggs.

“Nah, decided I’d rather have Snape holding my hand while I took a shit.” Harry snapped, purposefully ignoring the stunned and confused glances that everyone who had heard his comment threw in his direction. “So you and Luna get some action?” Harry knew he was being rude and that most of the Gryfindor table could hear him, along with the closer Ravenclaws. Neville reddened almost to a shade of scarlet as he glanced up the table at Luna who had practically choked on her orange juice. Harry smiled inwardly to himself having created such awkwardness. “I only say that because I didn’t hear you come back to the dorm last night? You sly dog you.” Harry hit Neville harder than was necessary on the arm in a mock show of affection. Neville however knew otherwise as he slowly looked up at Harry his eyes wide with fear. “Oh don’t worry Neville, your secrets safe with me.” Harry breathed out coldly as he leaned in close to his friend, his voice just loud enough for Neville to hear and no one else. “Well don’t want to be late for Potions.” With a fake smile at the confused expressions on his friends faces, Harry stood up abruptly from the table and having stolen two pieces of toast strode from the great hall, not even sparing a glance at the strange looks he was receiving.

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Harry stared down at the bag sitting carelessly abandoned at the foot of Draco Malfoy’s stool. There was nothing special about the bag, a simple leather satchel with Draco’s initials inlayed in silver on the green leather front. It was admittedly more expensive than his own leather bag but it was nothing out of the ordinary. What had caught Harry’s eye however was the contents of the bag or more specifically the red leather bound diary that was just sticking out from between a Transfiguration text and a roll of spare parchment. Harry had seen two of the diaries before, once in the brief moment it had been on the floor before Ron had squirreled it away, and once just before class today tucked into Neville Longbottom’s tight bundle of Herbology books as the boy had scurried off to the greenhouses. It couldn’t just be a coincidence and Harry was willing to bet this special extra credit class extended far beyond just his Gryfindor friends.

“Potter! Are you listening to me or are you too enraptured by Mr. Malfoy’s legs!” Harry snapped his attention up immediately but not before noticing that Snape’s foot brushed imperceptibly past Draco’s bag, flipping the front buckle back over and concealing the red leather diary from view. Harry stared at Snape the sudden realization that the potions master knew what Harry had been looking at making Harry’s intrigue deepen. For the briefest of moments Snape met Harry’s questioning gaze head on, almost daring the boy to question him about the item in Draco’s bag but before Harry could say anything the blonde had interrupted them.

“Dirty, queer, pervert!” Draco barked as he tucked his legs under the bench having swapped places with Grabbe. Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to glare at Snape but the potion’s professor was already striding back to the front of the class.

“Ten points from Gryfindor for not paying attention.” There was a muttering of curses from the Gryfindor side of the class before everyone fell back into preparing their potions. Harry did nothing of the sort and instead watched Snape’s every move for the rest of class.

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Detention. Not a new concept for Harry having spent a good proportion of his school years in some form or another serving punishment. This evening though Harry had found himself rather enthusiastic about attending Snape’s detention, if not for the verbal sparing match that would inevitably ensue but rather the interrogation he was going to give the professor in regards to a certain red book and secret classes.

Harry had arrived on time to find Snape’s classroom empty. It wasn’t unusual for Snape to be late for a scheduled detention and so Harry dumped his things on a nearby desk and wandered over to the pile of dirty cauldrons that were already waiting for him beside the overly large sink in the corner of the classroom. Rolling up his sleeves to his elbows and casting a skin protection spell on his hands Harry set to work filling the sink and scraping the cauldrons clean of loose material.

Harry was ahead five cauldrons by the time the door to the classroom flung open and Snape stalked inside, in his usual foul manner. “I do not reward initiative in my classroom Potter, it spells accidents and loss of limbs.” Snape barked irritably as he strode up to his desk and sat down behind it having placed a very large bundle of student parchments on top of it.

“I figured I’d be here most of the night anyway I might as well get a head start.” Harry snapped just as irritably as he watched Snape drag a bottle of whisky and a chipped crystal glass out from one of the draws in his desk. Snape poured a liberal amount of the amber liquid into the glass before downing it in one go and pouring himself another. Harry rose an eyebrow in surprise at his professors drinking style but obediently turned back to scrubbing cauldrons when Snape glared at him from over the rim of his glass.

Harry continued scrubbing cauldrons in silence for a good hour or so listening to the scratch of Snape’s quill as he marked the parchments with his usual scathing reviews. He’d run out of steel wool by his third last cauldron and having found none on the sink headed for the storage cupboard. It was then that something caught his eye and reminded him quickly of what he’d intended for the evening. Beneath the scattered parchments, inkwells, blotting pages and textbooks on Snape’s desk Harry spotted a red leather bound diary confirming acutely what Harry had surmised in potions that morning. Snape was involved somehow with these classes, and Harry had the perfect opportunity to find out what they were.

“You’re a hypocrite you know that don’t you.” Harry suddenly empowered by his thirst for knowledge boldly approached Snape’s desk, his cauldron’s forgotten.

“The cauldron’s won’t scrub themselves Potter.” Snape didn’t even bother looking up from his marking as he continued to scrawl in red ink across a particularly unfortunate students work.

“You say you’re a teacher but what teacher deprives a student of knowledge just on a basis of specific selection criteria?” Harry was going out on a limb in assuming Snape was the professor who taught the secret classes, with no firm evidence however it was a flimsy premise that was likely to blow up in Harry’s face. After finishing a swirling signature at the bottom of the students parchment Snape finally looked up from his desk and narrowed his gaze dangerously at Harry who stood defiantly in front of his desk.

“Is it even possible for you to articulate what nonsense your babbling about? If you have something to say Mr. Potter, get on with it.” Snape’s cold mask fell into place as he leaned back in his chair and waited for Harry to continue. Harry wasn’t backing down and reached across Snape’s desk to grab the red diary buried beneath the parchment. No sooner had Harry’s hand touched the book than Snape’s had come slamming down on top of his making Harry gasp and squirm in pain. “It’s not polite to touch other peoples things Potter.” Snape growled as he snatched the book out from under Harry’s grasp and with a flick of his wand made it disappear. Harry was furious and slammed his fists down onto the table, not realizing that he was acting like a spoilt child.

“This is bullshit!” Harry shouted loudly as he began slamming about the classroom finally venting his frustration from the last few months. “You know where my friends are going, and even though I can’t prove it I bet Draco’s going to the same place. I thought it was just some dumb club but then Neville starts going too. How else am I supposed to take it, when my friends are keeping secrets from me? It’s bad enough the order keep me in the dark without having my friends going behind my back too!” Harry threw the box of new cloths across the room before spinning around to glare at Snape his arms folded childishly across his chest. Snape was unmoved by Harry’s angry display and merely stared at Harry in silence for an extended pause, making the boy feel thoroughly humiliated.

“Are you finished?” Snape inquired coolly the corner of his lip curling up in distaste. Harry chose not to answer and instead scowled harder at the professor across the room. “While this may come as a shock to you Potter, just because you’re the boy who lived, doesn’t mean you should be privy to everything that goes on in this world. So I suggest you get over this ridiculous paranoid notion of conspiracy and leave what you think is going on, well alone.” Snape snapped angrily as he rose from the desk and leaned forward a little so that his eyelevel met Harry’s. “Now if you’ve finished your tantrum I suggest you get scrubbing or we’re going to be here all night.” Snape pointed at the cauldrons still sitting by the sink and Harry took a brief moment to sneer at Snape before obediently returning to his task to seethe silently for the rest of his detention.

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TBC>>>>>>>>>>