A Chance at Life
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
15
Views:
13,612
Reviews:
76
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
15
Views:
13,612
Reviews:
76
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter; None of the original stories and/or characters are mine in any way nor do I make any money from these writings.
Ch 7: A Misunderstanding
A Chance at Life
Chapter 7: A Misunderstanding
January 24, 1968
“Are we still going to Honeydukes today?” Was Severus' greeting that morning.
“Good morning to you as well,” Eileen said dryly while Harry laughed.
“Of course, just like I promised. We’ll go after I get back.” Harry assured him as Severus spread ketchup over his omelet.
Harry saw Severus’ frown at this answer, but figured that he was simply unhappy about having to wait until later. In truth, however, this was not the case at all. It was true that Severus had never been promised enough candy to last a week before but he knew how to wait. The problem came from Severus’ feelings of insecurity.
By this time their household had been more or less fully established. Severus had read both volumes of Born a Human-Vampire: A Guide and Eileen had read the Parent's Guide in depth. Both had their questions answered by Harry when they didn't understand something, that had been one of the first things they had taken care of. Severus had been especially happy to know that all vampires were legal adults at 15, when they were able to recognize their mates. He wasn’t too crazy about the whole having a mate thing but Harry told him that he would see things differently when he grew up.
In the house, the potions lab had also been fully stocked and available for lessons, including actual potion making. Harry had made sure that they had every potion’s ingredients imaginable, so now Eileen could teach Severus whatever she wanted without being limited by time or available ingredients.
They also made Harry’s blood replenishing and nutrition potions. An arrangement that came to be after Severus’ first full out temper tantrum.
It had all begun with Harry making a simple, innocent comment:
“I’ll be going to the apothecary today, do you need anything?” Harry asked Eileen and Severus on his way out, who were working on basic arithmetic in the sitting room.
“No thank you, we are fully stocked.” Eileen answered with an appreciative smile.
“What do you need from the apothecary? We almost bought the place out the last time we went.” Severus asked in curiosity.
“I’m out of blood replenishing and nutrition potions. I need to arrange for weekly deliveries…”
“NO.” Severus said firmly, throwing his quill on the writing table and standing up to pull Harry completely into the sitting room.
“Sev?” Harry asked in complete bewilderment, but not wanting to further intensify Severus’ obvious discontent.
“Mom can make you any potion could ever need.” Severus said with confidence and started pulling off Harry’s scarf and winter coat after making him sit on the couch.
“Severus,” Harry said in as calming a tone as he could manage. “I don’t doubt your mother’s competence, but these potions are time consuming. It’s more practical to have them delivered.” He told him while taking Severus’ hands in his own, trying to stop the tugging at his clothes.
Out of everything that could have happened, what did happen next took everyone by surprise.
Severus’ black eyes narrowed and his whole face contorted into a mask of fury. He lost control of his fangs and his canines elongated to their full extent.
“NO!” He hissed at Harry through bared teeth. Eileen was rooted to her seat, muted by fascination.
“NO!” Severus screamed and stomped his foot when he saw Harry about to speak again. “You are not drinking potions made by some filthy old fool that probably barely passed his potions O.W.L with an Acceptable! If it’s too much for mother then I can do them as well.”
“Severus, honey, you don’t know those potions yet.” Eileen reminded him. He glared at her so hard Harry flinched in sympathy.
Severus pulled his hands away from Harry and grabbed him by a wrist instead; making sure that Harry couldn’t go anywhere.
After that, it took Harry and Eileen another ten minutes to calm him down. In the end Harry and Eileen had to give in; neither able to make Severus give in to the idea.
Severus knew that Harry and his mother didn’t understand why he couldn’t allow Harry to drink potions made by someone he didn’t trust. The only people he trusted were Harry and his mother. Something inside him reveled against such an idea. If his mother could make the potions they need then why risk taking someone else’s? It was very simple to him; his family didn’t have to submit itself to possibly improperly prepared potions, so why should they want to?
This event however, marked a change in Harry’s daily routine. Until then, Harry had spent every moment with them, unless he was sleeping or making those awful blood bags. The day after his outburst, Harry offered to start training Severus for dueling, well, Harry called it training, Severus just called it fun.
It consisted on charming the sitting room (after Noodle had cleared it off obviously) to fire little paint balls at them at random. Their goal was to spend an hour in there without getting hit. So far, Severus was horrible at it but it was really something to come out of there covered in all the colors of the rainbow and then see Harry walk off completely clean. Severus had never seen anyone move so gracefully before, Harry made it look so easy when it was anything but. According to Harry they were barely on the first level, with three more to go before taking it on blindfolded!
Severus couldn’t picture himself every becoming that good but Harry had faith in him being ready by the time he starts Hogwarts.
All in all those lessons were not the trouble, but Harry’s disappearances were. Their dueling training always takes place after dinner. However, ever since they started, Harry begun leaving the house after breakfast and coming back a few hours before dinner. If he comes back in time for lunch he shuts himself in his bedroom until dinnertime. It was very frustrating for Severus.
At first, Severus didn’t really mind it much. But as the days went by he started worrying about why Harry had started separate himself from them. The only thing that came to mind was that perhaps Harry didn’t like him anymore. The day he had grabbed Harry to him from the apothecary he had hurt him. Severus had not noticed but his grip was stronger that that of a regular child. When he had let go he had seen the bruises his hand had made and apologized.
Harry had laughed it off and told him to take it as a good sign that he was growing into a healthy vampire. Severus had sworn right there and then that he would be more careful from then on. He didn’t ever want to hurt Harry again, or his mother. But the more Harry kept away the more doubts Severus kept having about Harry’s fondness for him.
So, a couple of days ago Severus had sneaked into Harry’s room in search of a clue about where he was going everyday. He kept having nightmares about Harry leaving him because he had hurt him again; or telling him that he really was a monster and was going to find a normal child to help and live with. Harry had not changed the way he treated Severus or Eileen in any way, but Severus knew Harry well enough by now to reason that even if Harry disliked him he wasn’t the type to be mean about it.
In the end, what he found in Harry’s room was even worse than what he had thought. First, he had seen a journal on his bed but the repelling charm on it had been too strong for him to ignore. Then, he had found pieces of wood in different sizes and three small toys, seeming already carved from the same kind of wood. The toys were simple figurines: a centaur, a unicorn, and a tree. Severus knew they weren’t for him. Harry had offered to buy him toys before but he had always refused, saying he was too old for toys and that he didn’t even like them.
Perhaps that was the problem. Severus knew he was not a cute child, nor did he act very childish. Perhaps Harry had found someone else, a child that needed him and wasn’t a vampire. The more Severus thought about it the more he feared Harry will leave him to live with a nice child, one that was actually childlike.
Severus refused to let that happen.
He figured that if he could show Harry that he wouldn’t hurt him again and that he did like childish things, like candy, then he would forget about the other child and want to stay with him once more; thus, his request to go to Honeydukes.
“Can’t you stay home today? We can go to Honeydukes and maybe walk around town afterward.” Severus tried to convince Harry not to leave again.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay today, but I’ll try to come back early.” Harry told him as he finished his breakfast tea.
But Severus was not going to give up today. As soon as Harry left the table Severus left to get dressed and sneaked into his mother’s room to borrow her spare wand for a minute. He left a note on her bed telling her he was going to be following Harry. He then cast a silencing charm on his boots and a chameleon charm on himself (charms his mother had taught him to hide from Tobias) before returning the wand.
As soon as he heard the front door close he slipped out the back door and followed Harry down the path with every single ounce of stealth he possessed. They walked for about 15 or 20 minutes until they were standing in front of some very scary looking trees. Severus then saw Harry removed his cloak and drop it off the path, just out of sight, before taking his wand from his holster and stepping into what Severus was fairly sure was the Forbidden Forest.
He was scared, but he was not about to go back empty handed and get punished for nothing, so he followed about ten feet behind, using the trees to hide as much as possible. He saw Harry walk on ahead, picking up fallen tree limbs and then throwing them back down again. After an hour of the same thing, Severus got bored, so he started looking around, glancing back to Harry every few minutes. If this truly was the Forbidden Forest, it was really overrated for such a boring place, in his opinion. And as he looked back to keep following Harry after watching something that had looked like a walking twig, he realized he was alone.
He spun around in a circle in panic, trying to figure out which direction Harry had gone but it all looked the same to him. He was surrounded by trees…….and eyes. That’s when he noticed the giant spiders looking at him. He didn’t know how they knew he was there, even with the chameleon charm, but whatever it was there was no mistaking the fact they had surrounded him.
Without a second thought Severus looked for the clearest path and ran.
Suddenly, a spider fell down from the trees in front of him, but Severus was running too fast to stop and he ran right between its hairy legs and into its huge swollen body. Both went tumbling down together, right through a hedge and down a small hill.
When Severus finally stopped, he was face down on the ground with his breath knocked out of him. He groaned in pain but quickly sat up when he heard the rustling sounds that surrounded him.
He was terrified and couldn’t think of a single thing to do. Then he felt it……A sharp, burning pain spreading through his right arm.
“Harry!”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: Sorry it’s such a short chapter this time, but don’t worry the next one won’t be. Promise! The interlude that goes with this chapter kinda makes up for it a bit…I hope…
Also, remember that Harry has gotten used to keeping his Occlumency shields to his highest capacity because of Severus, thus he was unable to sense Severus following him (and he was distracted, thinking, you'll see in the next chapter). =)
Chapter 7: A Misunderstanding
January 24, 1968
“Are we still going to Honeydukes today?” Was Severus' greeting that morning.
“Good morning to you as well,” Eileen said dryly while Harry laughed.
“Of course, just like I promised. We’ll go after I get back.” Harry assured him as Severus spread ketchup over his omelet.
Harry saw Severus’ frown at this answer, but figured that he was simply unhappy about having to wait until later. In truth, however, this was not the case at all. It was true that Severus had never been promised enough candy to last a week before but he knew how to wait. The problem came from Severus’ feelings of insecurity.
By this time their household had been more or less fully established. Severus had read both volumes of Born a Human-Vampire: A Guide and Eileen had read the Parent's Guide in depth. Both had their questions answered by Harry when they didn't understand something, that had been one of the first things they had taken care of. Severus had been especially happy to know that all vampires were legal adults at 15, when they were able to recognize their mates. He wasn’t too crazy about the whole having a mate thing but Harry told him that he would see things differently when he grew up.
In the house, the potions lab had also been fully stocked and available for lessons, including actual potion making. Harry had made sure that they had every potion’s ingredients imaginable, so now Eileen could teach Severus whatever she wanted without being limited by time or available ingredients.
They also made Harry’s blood replenishing and nutrition potions. An arrangement that came to be after Severus’ first full out temper tantrum.
It had all begun with Harry making a simple, innocent comment:
“I’ll be going to the apothecary today, do you need anything?” Harry asked Eileen and Severus on his way out, who were working on basic arithmetic in the sitting room.
“No thank you, we are fully stocked.” Eileen answered with an appreciative smile.
“What do you need from the apothecary? We almost bought the place out the last time we went.” Severus asked in curiosity.
“I’m out of blood replenishing and nutrition potions. I need to arrange for weekly deliveries…”
“NO.” Severus said firmly, throwing his quill on the writing table and standing up to pull Harry completely into the sitting room.
“Sev?” Harry asked in complete bewilderment, but not wanting to further intensify Severus’ obvious discontent.
“Mom can make you any potion could ever need.” Severus said with confidence and started pulling off Harry’s scarf and winter coat after making him sit on the couch.
“Severus,” Harry said in as calming a tone as he could manage. “I don’t doubt your mother’s competence, but these potions are time consuming. It’s more practical to have them delivered.” He told him while taking Severus’ hands in his own, trying to stop the tugging at his clothes.
Out of everything that could have happened, what did happen next took everyone by surprise.
Severus’ black eyes narrowed and his whole face contorted into a mask of fury. He lost control of his fangs and his canines elongated to their full extent.
“NO!” He hissed at Harry through bared teeth. Eileen was rooted to her seat, muted by fascination.
“NO!” Severus screamed and stomped his foot when he saw Harry about to speak again. “You are not drinking potions made by some filthy old fool that probably barely passed his potions O.W.L with an Acceptable! If it’s too much for mother then I can do them as well.”
“Severus, honey, you don’t know those potions yet.” Eileen reminded him. He glared at her so hard Harry flinched in sympathy.
Severus pulled his hands away from Harry and grabbed him by a wrist instead; making sure that Harry couldn’t go anywhere.
After that, it took Harry and Eileen another ten minutes to calm him down. In the end Harry and Eileen had to give in; neither able to make Severus give in to the idea.
Severus knew that Harry and his mother didn’t understand why he couldn’t allow Harry to drink potions made by someone he didn’t trust. The only people he trusted were Harry and his mother. Something inside him reveled against such an idea. If his mother could make the potions they need then why risk taking someone else’s? It was very simple to him; his family didn’t have to submit itself to possibly improperly prepared potions, so why should they want to?
This event however, marked a change in Harry’s daily routine. Until then, Harry had spent every moment with them, unless he was sleeping or making those awful blood bags. The day after his outburst, Harry offered to start training Severus for dueling, well, Harry called it training, Severus just called it fun.
It consisted on charming the sitting room (after Noodle had cleared it off obviously) to fire little paint balls at them at random. Their goal was to spend an hour in there without getting hit. So far, Severus was horrible at it but it was really something to come out of there covered in all the colors of the rainbow and then see Harry walk off completely clean. Severus had never seen anyone move so gracefully before, Harry made it look so easy when it was anything but. According to Harry they were barely on the first level, with three more to go before taking it on blindfolded!
Severus couldn’t picture himself every becoming that good but Harry had faith in him being ready by the time he starts Hogwarts.
All in all those lessons were not the trouble, but Harry’s disappearances were. Their dueling training always takes place after dinner. However, ever since they started, Harry begun leaving the house after breakfast and coming back a few hours before dinner. If he comes back in time for lunch he shuts himself in his bedroom until dinnertime. It was very frustrating for Severus.
At first, Severus didn’t really mind it much. But as the days went by he started worrying about why Harry had started separate himself from them. The only thing that came to mind was that perhaps Harry didn’t like him anymore. The day he had grabbed Harry to him from the apothecary he had hurt him. Severus had not noticed but his grip was stronger that that of a regular child. When he had let go he had seen the bruises his hand had made and apologized.
Harry had laughed it off and told him to take it as a good sign that he was growing into a healthy vampire. Severus had sworn right there and then that he would be more careful from then on. He didn’t ever want to hurt Harry again, or his mother. But the more Harry kept away the more doubts Severus kept having about Harry’s fondness for him.
So, a couple of days ago Severus had sneaked into Harry’s room in search of a clue about where he was going everyday. He kept having nightmares about Harry leaving him because he had hurt him again; or telling him that he really was a monster and was going to find a normal child to help and live with. Harry had not changed the way he treated Severus or Eileen in any way, but Severus knew Harry well enough by now to reason that even if Harry disliked him he wasn’t the type to be mean about it.
In the end, what he found in Harry’s room was even worse than what he had thought. First, he had seen a journal on his bed but the repelling charm on it had been too strong for him to ignore. Then, he had found pieces of wood in different sizes and three small toys, seeming already carved from the same kind of wood. The toys were simple figurines: a centaur, a unicorn, and a tree. Severus knew they weren’t for him. Harry had offered to buy him toys before but he had always refused, saying he was too old for toys and that he didn’t even like them.
Perhaps that was the problem. Severus knew he was not a cute child, nor did he act very childish. Perhaps Harry had found someone else, a child that needed him and wasn’t a vampire. The more Severus thought about it the more he feared Harry will leave him to live with a nice child, one that was actually childlike.
Severus refused to let that happen.
He figured that if he could show Harry that he wouldn’t hurt him again and that he did like childish things, like candy, then he would forget about the other child and want to stay with him once more; thus, his request to go to Honeydukes.
“Can’t you stay home today? We can go to Honeydukes and maybe walk around town afterward.” Severus tried to convince Harry not to leave again.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay today, but I’ll try to come back early.” Harry told him as he finished his breakfast tea.
But Severus was not going to give up today. As soon as Harry left the table Severus left to get dressed and sneaked into his mother’s room to borrow her spare wand for a minute. He left a note on her bed telling her he was going to be following Harry. He then cast a silencing charm on his boots and a chameleon charm on himself (charms his mother had taught him to hide from Tobias) before returning the wand.
As soon as he heard the front door close he slipped out the back door and followed Harry down the path with every single ounce of stealth he possessed. They walked for about 15 or 20 minutes until they were standing in front of some very scary looking trees. Severus then saw Harry removed his cloak and drop it off the path, just out of sight, before taking his wand from his holster and stepping into what Severus was fairly sure was the Forbidden Forest.
He was scared, but he was not about to go back empty handed and get punished for nothing, so he followed about ten feet behind, using the trees to hide as much as possible. He saw Harry walk on ahead, picking up fallen tree limbs and then throwing them back down again. After an hour of the same thing, Severus got bored, so he started looking around, glancing back to Harry every few minutes. If this truly was the Forbidden Forest, it was really overrated for such a boring place, in his opinion. And as he looked back to keep following Harry after watching something that had looked like a walking twig, he realized he was alone.
He spun around in a circle in panic, trying to figure out which direction Harry had gone but it all looked the same to him. He was surrounded by trees…….and eyes. That’s when he noticed the giant spiders looking at him. He didn’t know how they knew he was there, even with the chameleon charm, but whatever it was there was no mistaking the fact they had surrounded him.
Without a second thought Severus looked for the clearest path and ran.
Suddenly, a spider fell down from the trees in front of him, but Severus was running too fast to stop and he ran right between its hairy legs and into its huge swollen body. Both went tumbling down together, right through a hedge and down a small hill.
When Severus finally stopped, he was face down on the ground with his breath knocked out of him. He groaned in pain but quickly sat up when he heard the rustling sounds that surrounded him.
He was terrified and couldn’t think of a single thing to do. Then he felt it……A sharp, burning pain spreading through his right arm.
“Harry!”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: Sorry it’s such a short chapter this time, but don’t worry the next one won’t be. Promise! The interlude that goes with this chapter kinda makes up for it a bit…I hope…
Also, remember that Harry has gotten used to keeping his Occlumency shields to his highest capacity because of Severus, thus he was unable to sense Severus following him (and he was distracted, thinking, you'll see in the next chapter). =)