Walking In His Shoes

Walking In His Shoes
Chapter 4
By ResQgal

Previously:
\"I don\'t know, Potter, let\'s go see the Headmaster.\" Severus couldn\'t
help asking himself what else could go wrong.

Harry, in Severus\' body, led the way towards the headmaster\'s office.
His thoughts were racing with what they should do about their current predicament.
Hermione Granger is not easy to fool. Snape, who was trying to get his
attention, brought him from his thoughts.

\"What is it Potter?\"

Severus leaned forward and whispered quickly. \"You need to walk faster.
Your robes aren\'t billowing enough.\"

Harry nodded curtly and glared before picking up his pace a bit. He
was rewarded with his robes billowing out perfectly behind him. \'So
that\'s how he does it.\' He glanced back to see his professor struggling
to keep up in the shorter body. A smirk graced his lips. As they approached
the gargoyle Harry muttered the password and glared at Snape. \"Hurry up
Potter, I don\'t have all day.\" They exchanged dirty looks as they ascended
to the headmaster\'s office. Of course, he was waiting for them on the other
side with that damned twinkle in his eyes.

\"Have a seat my boys. I\'m pretty sure I know why you\'re both here. Tea?\"

They both muttered a \'No.\' Severus glared through Harry\'s green eyes.
\"Can we make this quick, Albus? I have homework to do if Potter is to pass
any of his classes. What should I do about Miss Granger?\"

Albus clasped his hands and smiled. \"Well that\'s simple. When you get
back you\'ll just have to start calling him Voldemort. Find some reason
to say it when you get back. Oh, and Harry, try not to be nice to Professor
Snape\'s owl. Tomorrow morning just take the letter and glare at it till
it flies off. Good day.\"

Snape, in Harry\'s body, stood up enraged. \"Albus, you know I can\'t say
his name!\"

\"Severus, you will say it. Good-bye.\"

Severus practically growled as he left. It was an odd sound to hear
coming from Harry\'s body. \'That infuriating, meddling man.\'

Harry headed out to prowoundound the grounds, looking for rule breakers.
He knew he couldn\'t take points from Slytherin and he didn\'t want to take
points from Gryffindor, so he headed to areas of the grounds where the
Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs normally relaxed. He was rewarded with two sixth
year Ravenclaws that were a little too involved under a tree. \"Ten points
from Ravenclaw. I\'m sure you can figure out why.\"

As he stormed away he heard the boy mutter, \"The old git\'s probably
never been laid. Lot of nerve he has.\" Harry cursed under his breath, but
didn\'t turn around. Is this the sort of thing Snape heard everyday? Harry
kept his face blank but inside he felt like cursing the insufferable brats.
\'Did he just think that?\' He decided to take his rage out oners ers
as he continued stalking around looking for someone to take points from.
To his surprise he heard Hermione and Ron talking behind a bush.

\"Something isn\'t right with Harry. I\'m not even sure that it is Harry
so don\'t tell him anything important Ron.\"

\"But, why? He seemed fine to me.\"

\"Last night he said Dark Lord instead of V .. Voldemort. And this morning
Hedwig seemed uncomfortable around him. Owls are incredibly smart.\"

Harry looked around to make sure that no one saw him spying on the Gryffindors.
The only person he saw was his body containing Snape who was also listening.
Harry motioned for Severus to walk away and he stayed there waiting for
the pair to emerge from the bush.

\"Weasley, Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor. Don\'t think I don\'t know
what you were doing back there.\"

Of course Ron started to argue. \"No we weren\'t. We were just ...\"

\"That\'s enough,\" Harry said in a stern whisper. \"I heard what you said
about Mister Potter. I have instructed him to call the Dark Lord that while
in my presence and he must have slipped around you. Don\'t start off on
some Gryffindor goose chase. If I see you back here again you\'ll have detention.\"

He stormed off, thoroughly pleased with himself, heading for the dungeons.

Meanwhile, Severus, in y\'sy\'s body, wittiitting under a tree by the
lake. It was something that he had noticed Potter doing before so it seemed
appropriate. At first he couldn\'t understand why the boy would sit here
like this. But, as his thoughts started to wander and he took in the sounds
around him, he decided that it was a great place to think. He was used
to the silence and comfort of his private rooms, but the noises permeating
the outdoors seemed to ease and open his mind as well.

He was interrupted from his musings when he felt something, a stick
perhaps, hit him in the back. He turned his head to see a pair of grinning
Gryffindors, Granger and Weasley.

\"Hey Harry, whatcha doing?\" Came Weasley\'s oh so intelligent question.

Severus just shook his head. \"I don\'t want to talk about it.\"

Hermione, with a strange glint in her eye asked, \"Is it about You-Know-Who?\"

Severus nibbled his lower lip as he\'d seen the boy do on occasion. \"Isn\'t
everything to do with me about Voldemort?\" Severus felt he deserved a pat
on the back for using the Dark Lord\'s name for the first time in twenty
years. He felt oddly liberated. He was also pleased to notice Granger relax
slightly, but he could tell that she was going to be keeping a close eye
on him. He decided that it might be good to ramble on some more. \"With
everything that\'s been going on they have me spending way too much time
with Sn He\ He\'s impossible to work with.\"

Hermione smiled and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. \"I know,
it must be tough.\"

Severus had to use all of his willpower to keep from flinching at the
touch. It had been a while since anyone had tried to comfort him. It was
... nice. He figured that this is what it was like to have real friends.
Not just acquaintances.

\"Hey guys, ferret alert.\" Ron whispered. Severus looked up to see Draco,
Vincent, and Gregory coming towards them. He figured the best way to deal
with this situation is to envision them as being the marauders from his
time. He instantly drew his wand.

The blonde Slytherin approached with a sneer permanently fixed on his
face. \"If it isn\'t Potty and his pet mudblood and weasel.\"
Severus aimed his wand at Malfoy. \"You have a lot of nerve Malfoy. Go
find a rock to crawl under.\"

The Slytherin pointed his wand at Harry and muttered a curse that Snape
knew was a dark curse, but he easily blocked it and sent a cheering charm
at Malfoy. Draco suddenly got a grin on his face and reached for Ron\'s
hand.

\"Great day, is it not? Much nicer than usual. Well I will be on my way.\"

Ron and Hermione stared on in disbelief as Malfoy harassed his goons
into skipping stones with him.

Ron turned to Harry. \"What\'d you do that for? I know you\'ve learned
some nasty hexes lately.\"

Severus sighed. \"What he used was a dark curse. Snape\'s been telling
me about them so I can defend against them. I didn\'t want to escalate the
situation. Malfoy is better off cheery. I hope he\'s stuck like that for
a while.\"

Ron rolled his eyes. He had hoped for a bloodier retaliation. Hermione
looked proud though.

Severus mentally rolled his eyes. \"Why don\'t we go in? I don\'t want
to be around when Malfoy realizes he shook your hand, Ron.\"

The three of them walked back to Gryffindor tower in peace.

Severus just hoped that Potter wasn\'t getting in trouble with his body.
These games that the headmaster insist that he play in, he hated with every
fiber of his being. Because he didn\'t like his life being messed with and
turned around. And tomorrow was another day to struggle through, as he
was honestly not looking forward to sitting through all of Harry\'s classes.
He\'d done that already, he was a teacher now. Plus, now he was angry with
himself for starting to understand Potter, and to think of him as another
human being. But above all else, he now realized what he had taken for
granted. He missed being able to have a glass of firewhisky at night before
bed. He also missed his large private bath. There was one thing he was
not missing; he didn\'t miss those aging bones of his.
~tbc~