Leaving Behind

Chapter 8

Pairing: Harry/Severus
Rating: Strong R/NC-17
Beta: Rini the wonderful person she is.
Spoilers: All Books if you have not read all of the books don’t read this.
Warning: Cussing, Slight Beatings, SLASH! Lemon later on.
Summary: Harry goes back to the Dursleys after 5th year. He learns some new things and runs away from the Dursleys. When goes back to school only to push the only friends he has ever known way. Can Severus being back the Harry they all once knew or is he lost forever.

A/N: This chapter is going to for the rest of Summer Vacation. So it will skip around days and stuff.

A/N 2: School just started back and Chapter 9 is with my beta now…. I am still working on chapter 10 though so that will take longer now that classes are back to get out… sorry… life gets in the way of everything… *sigh*


Last Chapter:

“Subsequently, that’s my report, Albus. The only thing I can assume is that no one could give me his address; it could be the reason that the boy has cast the Fidelius Charm on himself and is his own secret keeper. Which, you know what means. Now Albus, if you have no more need for me, I am going to need my overdue-sleep.”
“No, that’s all. Thank you, Severus, my dear boy,” Severus left and went down to his rooms. After he changed into his cloths more suited for sleeping and fell asleep immediately when he hit the sheets.

---

Days have passed by like they were mere minutes to Harry. He would start his days early in the day, before it was even light outside. Now though, Harry started to wake up at four in the morning so that he could run an extra hour in of running, totaling two hours before breakfast. He had also brewed the Hair Growth Potion. Consequently, his hair was now just down past his shoulder blades. Which he had kept in a low pony tail most of the time with a piece of black leather strip at the nape of his neck.

When he let it down, his hair was much more manageable, as the hair was somewhat wavy. His hair also fell around and framed his face. The only thing that he had somewhat kept was his bangs which now hid half of his face. The only good thing about his bangs was that it covered his famous scar on his forehead. He didn’t really care about the scar or the annoying bangs that he had learned overtime to look through his hair and not let them get in his way.

His house elf, Sunny, had to practically force him to eat nowadays, since he would be wrapped up in what he was doing, he would forget to eat sometimes. He remembered the first few days of his rigorous training schedule. He had, by the end of the day, drag himself into the library and fall onto the couch as if he only made it that far as though it had depended on his life, and sleep. Sometimes though, he would just fall over on the floor and snooze. Looking back, he would often laugh about how ‘weak’ he had been at the beginning.

When his body rose itself at four to go running, he found out that he loved to run. It was like soaring through the air on his broom and keeping his feet on the ground at the same time. He could easily just relax and let his feet take him were he needed to go. He had all ready worn out his pair of running shoes. With that, he went back to the store and bought ten pairs of running shoes to keep on hand for future uses.

Today, he had sat a little time set aside to work on his school work that he had not finished yet. He found that all of his homework to be easy for him so he breezed through the four different essays he had to write. While he was thinking about his school, it just occurred to him that he could not get his O.W.L.s results because the owls would not be able to find him, he quickly called for Hedwig.

“Hey Girl,” he had not seen her as of late, yes, she was here now but she had been off with his new owl, Sal more lately. People would be watching the owls outside; the pair would seem to hate each other. Though, Harry knew better, he had seen them flying together, hunting. He quickly wrote a note about his O.W.L.s and sent the letter out with Hedwig. Harry had not used Hedwig very often as of late. He had only owled Snape once, last time. Right now though, he was working on a Potion and needed to know something about the potion; so who better to ask then a Potions Master.


Hedwig tapped on the highest window at Hogwarts with her beak. The window opened and she flew in. White owl landed on a desk of a very astonished looking Headmaster. Hedwig then stuck out her talon for Albus Dumbledore to take the note and waited.

Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,

It has just come to my attention that I have not received my O.W.L. results. So I have sent Hedwig to collect them since no other owl can find me. I daresay that you do not try and put a tracking spell on her, it won’t work. I gave you my fair warning. I only want my O.W.LS. outcome. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Harry James Potter

Albus set the letter down on his desk, after finish reading Harry’s short note. He found Harry’s results to his left on the desk, eyes twinkling, he picked up the thick package and gave to her. Hedwig then took flight and flew out the window.

‘That was most unusual yet I expected something like this…’ he looked down at the letter on his desk to find that the note was not there anymore. Blinking as he searched for the note and leaned back, ‘Certainly different.’ With that thought in mind, he went back to his paper work.


Harry waited for his owl to return in the den with one of his books opened on his lap, lounging comfortably on his La-z-boy chair. He was very interested in the current book, Harry was now reading on elemental magic. He had been working with elementals for a few days now. Right now, he had only had Air magic down and that obviously meant that he can control wind. He had also found out that he could move as a wind. It was a bit like apparating, but the advantage were that you could go to places that have anti-apparating wards up.

He had tried the Air elemental and ended up in Gryffindor Tower, though he had to bend the wards to do it. He had found rare books on the wards of the school by the founders, allowing him to have the ability to bend the wards. Right now though, he was working with the highly temperamental element, Fire Magic. So far, he had a lot of burns except that he was getting the hang of it, slowly. Next he would be working on Earth Magic. Then, after that, all he had left to study was Water Magic. In which he could move great amounts of water or even in some cases, people in water if needed; he would also make it so that he could breathe under water if he did the Water magic correctly.

He also would set some time aside everyday to talk to his Runespoor snake that he had gotten with the black owl, Sal. The snake, he had ended up naming Cliodna for the Celtic Irish goddess of Beauty, for a Runespoor was exceptionally beautiful but incredibly poisonous. Runespoor was a very smart snake that has three different heads. One head was the planner, then the dreamer, and then the critic.

The most useful thing about them is the eggs that they lay with their mouths. Harry used to be quick to get the eggs because once they would lay eggs, another head would eat it if you were not fast enough to grab it and they were very poisonous. There were no cure for there venom because people who had tried to get some of the venom from one of the heads, they were bitten by one of the other heads. Harry had already collected some of the venom in a little vial he was planning to send it off to the only person he trusted with it.

He had put the book on Earth Magic down and at the moment, talking to Cliodna when Hedwig flew in the window with a letter tied to her talons. She landed on his shoulder, hooting softly. He untied the letter and took it off before he opened his mail.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Congratulations, it is my duty to inform you of your O.W.L.S results of your Fifth year this past June. You have received six Outstanding’s, two Acceptable’s, and one Troll. Also, because of your extra credit, the Patronus Charm, you have also received one N.E.W.T.s. At the bottom of this Page is a break down of your grades.

Astronomy- Acceptable

Care of Magical Creatures- Outstanding

Charms- Outstanding

Defense Against the Dark Arts- Outstanding along with one Point towards N.E.W.T.s

Divination-Troll

Herbology- Outstanding

History of Magic- Acceptable

Potions-Outstanding (This was a great Surprise to him.)

Transfiguration- Outstanding

Sincerely,

Timothy Benton
Head of the Department of Education

To say Harry is shocked is an understatement of the century. He had thought he had done ok on the examinations, because of Hermione; making Ron and Harry study in every free time they had. He had never thought he did as well as he did. There was no real shock about the Troll mark in Divination. But the Outstanding in Potions was the thing that shocked him the most. ‘I guess when you don’t have someone breathing down you neck every minute, then your scores were better.’ Well that means when he goes back to school, he will be in Six N.E.W.T.s Classes. No more Trelawney telling him he was going to die anymore or Binns droning on and on in a soporific, monotonous voice that made you want to fall asleep and never wake up again.

With that out of the way, he went back to talking to Cliodna to finish the conversation he was having. Then he turned to Hedwig, to ask for a favor that he knew Hedwig will be able to do.

“Hedwig, can you take something back to Severus,” Harry had started calling the man by his name as time went on, he found that Potions Master had astounding intelligence. Severus was also a genius when it came to Potions and the Dark Arts. No wonder why Professor Snape was always so mad when they did something stupid with there potion or when they (Dumbledore) were hiring idiots to teach them DADA.

Harry wrote a quick note to go with the venom he had collected in a vial from the Runespoor and sent it off but he could easily get more Runespoor’s toxin. He would just have to ask Cliodna for some more. After Hedwig left, Harry told Cliodna that he was going to go back to reading elementals and then practice them. After that, Harry gave Cliodna some more mice to eat, and then Harry left the room.


Severus sat in his chair in front of the fire, reading yet another Potions book when he heard a tapping at his window. Sighing irritably, he got up from his chair and went open the window. He knew by now to have some owl treats by just in case he had unexpected owls drop in. Professor Snape had also gotten a perch for owls to sit on when they waited for Severus to finish with his mail business. Hedwig landed on the perch with one talon sticking out for Severus to take the items.

“Hello Hedwig,” He took the vile off and looked at it, his left eyebrow arching before he opened the note. “What’s this?” he murmured quietly to himself, “I don’t think I have ever seen this before,” the fluid in the vile was a milky creamy red color as Severus studied the contents in the vial. He finally opened the note and read.

Severus,

This is the venom that I have gotten from my Runespoor. I know that you would like to do some testing and experiments, along with finding an antidote have not been found for the venom so I taken the liberty of having send you some so you can find any uses out of it and any other things you wish to do. If you will need more, just send Hedwig back with a note telling me so. You are the only person I trust with this. I know you may all ready know that you are careful—but please, do be careful.

Don’t send me a different owl since I am undetectable and the only two ways you can contact me is by Hedwig. I am going to be providing a parchment using with the piece of parchment. The parchment I would like, it is something that you can write on the paper and it will come up on the other piece of parchment. So, you won’t have to send owls to me when you need something. May things be good with you.

HP

Severus was shocked by the letter. Stunned was not even in the same category as this, it was far beyond his comprehension, grasp and thinking. Runespoor’s venom was next to impossible to find, or to even find a supplier for the venom. There is not that many of them, Runespoor, left in the world and when they were seen, they would only kill people when they try to get the venom. So they haven’t got that much opportunity in testing with it, let alone in potions. From this letter onwards, Potter may have just opened up a whole new line of potions with this single ingredient. Since the boy was a Parseltongue, he could safely get the venom without getting bitten. Sometimes, how Severus wished he had that gift.

It was true that most people didn’t know that the Snape’s line had come from a branch of Salazar Slytherin family, also his family line had crossed with Hufflepuff but he would never tell a soul about that. So he was the last heir of the two lines to the Hufflepuff and Slytherin; it was the only other heir to the Slytherin was the Dark Lord. Even if Potter—Harry did have something that only the heirs of Slytherin have, he had received the power when the Dark Lord tried to kill him when he was a baby. So Severus penned back a quick response and sent it with Hedwig. He then got up and started to work on that antidote for the venom.


Harry was in the room he had now come to call The Dark Arts Room. Right now, he was practicing the elemental Fire Magic. He was standing in the middle of a white barren place; it looked like it stretched out forever around him. His hands stretched out before him, sweat trickling down his face as he concentrated on the space between his hands. Slowly, dreadfully slowly, a ball of fire started to form. It was just a flicker, like a match. Then the fire was bright white, growing bigger and slowly changing to a blue color. The more the fire grew, the harder it was to control; soon it got at big as a baseball before he threw it.

‘That was a bit better. It still takes to long to do,’ He used the power of Wind Magic to cool himself off. Presently, he was learning to control Fire Magic with two hands and once he got it down it was time to go to one hand then on to forming two fire balls, one in each hand at the same time. He had read also that if he got to where he could control to the point that he could make it so that people or animals in a large group to catch on fire.

If he could get that good, then they might have a chance to win when it comes to the final battle, when he has to face all of the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself. He was going to try to see if he could even go beyond that point, though he had to be careful and try not to get himself killed. Elemental Magic was a lot different then any magic he had been taught in school. The Elements deserved respect to be of use, because one wrong thing and you could be awfully injured.

Add to the fact that he was working with real raw magic, pure raw as it was ever going to get, so it was erratic and could change and backfire. Therefore he had to be very careful what Harry did and how he did it. Fire Magic was the hardest of all the Elemental Magic’s; it was the one that most Elemental Magicians didn’t do. The Elemental Magicians usually stayed in one element. They rarely did not do all of them or they might have known an extra element, albeit weaker. Though, it was Harry’s goal to know and master all four. It took a very powerful wizard/mage to be able to do any of the Elemental Magic. He had read in the book he had about them, the last known user was Albus Dumbledore and he knew Earth Magic.

At the same time, Harry was learning to become an Animagi. Harry had a theory that if a person was powerful enough, they could have more then one form and also become a magical creature which has never been heard of. Harry knew he had a lot of goals, but he was willing to achieve them all. In his mind, failure was not an option. He had even gone as far as to make a list of his goals and then spell it up on the wall of his office.

Harry Potter’s Goals in Life

1. Defeat the snake-faced bastard, Voldemort
2. Have more then one Animagi form
3. Learn all of the Elemental Magic’s
4. Travel the world with some one I love
5. Find real Love then settle down and have some children
6. Die of old age.

He did not have that many goals so far; he hoped that over the years, he could add more onto the list. The traveling part was included because he never has seen anything past England or Scotland, or even the majority of England. The Dursleys hadn’t exactly taken him anywhere. Also with all the money he had, he could easily travel forever and still have some money left over, provided with interest. Harry heard something, sound of scratching at the trunk. Harry stopped practicing his fire and stepped out of the trunk, his body covered in sweat and his shirt sticking to him. He pulled the drenched shirt over his head and dropped it on the ground by his feet.

Just by looking at him, you could tell that he had changed in many ways. He was still shorter then he should be, due to years of malnutrition and sleeping under the stairs. He had found something to solve that particular problem, which he was currently brewing, it took three days to make the potion. He was on the second day of brewing. So early tomorrow, it would be done. The only side effects it had, it was going to hurt and it would put him out for the rest of the day. The potion puts your body in some kind of sleep as your body grows.

His chest was filling out, and he was still slim and thin but he had some new muscles. His whole body was a nice golden brown color because he spent time out doors just lying out in the sun with a book, sometimes with no clothing on at all. His hair had grown a bit more, but not all that much. He had found a spell that would keep his hair the way it was like a gel, until he wanted it a different way. Harry had no chest hair, he only had a trail of dark hair that disappeared into his pants. Of course, he wasn’t vain about the way he looked, but he hat to admit that he did look good.

People could no longer say that he looked like James Potter anymore because he didn’t. Yes, some could still see it but now you could also see the mother’s features in him and he only knew that because he had looked into some pictures. He had his fathers face shape, his chin, cheek bones, but he had his mother nose, mouth, and eyes.

He reached out a hand and ran it through his owl’s long feathers. She cooed her response to his touch and held out her foot form him to take the small note. He knew Severus was going to want some more venom but read the note anyways.

Harry,

Yes, please do send additional venom. I am going to go create the antidote now. Bye

Severus

P.S. When did I give you permission to call me Severus?

The note was obviously finished in a hurry. He laughed a little; he had forgotten that he wrote out Severus and not Professor Snape. He also smiled at the slip that the Professor had done calling him Harry as well. It was the first time and for some reason it made his stomach flop. He shook off the feeling, telling himself he must have eaten something that caused to do that.

Harry then called Cliodna to him, and began to fill vials of the venom. He did collect some venom each day. He was up to about sixteen vials full, which he planned to send back with Hedwig and Sal, after all, Severus had yet to meet Sal. For the most part, Sal kept to himself but he was seen often with Hedwig. Mostly, he was used to get potions ingredients or other needs that Harry needed to be kept secret. This would be the first time he would ever send Sal to someone he actually knew. Of course, it was not like they could trace him anyway.

Plus, with every note he sent out, he put a very helpful yet, careful spell on them so that the person who got the letter could not tell anyone else about it. So even though, Severus had been getting Owls from Harry a lot over the summer; he could not tell the headmaster and if he tried he would get a feeling like he was going to get sick. Very helpful, indeed it was. Harry had sent Sal out with the vials along with a note to Severus so Severus could get in touch with him if he needed more of the venom.

Harry would take venom from one head at a time, putting the toxin of each head in separate vials and labeling them as such with which head they came from. He did not know if there was a difference, but he still did it.

Sal came flying back, carrying two pieces of parchment with him. The parchment that he had requested was with Sal, enchanted so if you wrote on one it would show up on the other parchment it was kind of like Riddle’s Diary. Harry sent Sal and Hedwig off with a note to tell him how to use the parchment (if he didn’t know how, that is) and also the other vials of Runespoor’s venom.

He then went on to studying Animagi, so far he had gotten to the point where his body would grow black fur and his eye got an eerie glow to them when the light hit them just right and his pupils seemed to elongated, almost forming slits, he was sure they would if he transformed further. Right now, Harry was only focusing on his normal transformation then he would try out his theory of having several different forms.

Then something alerted to him of the enchanted parchment, the words that was writing themselves on the paper.

S- Potter. This will be very practical for me to create the antidote. I am pleased to see that you are using the damned brain of to a good use.

H- Hello Severus.

Harry ginned.

S- I really don’t think I ever gave you the permission to call me by my given name and I really don’t think you should be. I am your Professor and as such should be shown respect.

H- Sorry sir, it is just that I have been thinking of your given name for sometime now and it’s rather hard to break. It seems to me that we had become somewhat friends and I would have thought friend call each other by their given names. You called me Harry in the last letter.

‘Damn, he had forgotten that he had done that,’ thought Severus irritably.

S- Ok, fine. Just make sure that when school starts up again, you are not to call me by my given name. Even, if we are alone in an office together.

H- All right, thanks Severus. So how is the experimenting going?

S- Quite well. I have all ready found the antidote to the venom. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to find a solution. Right now, I am working to see if Runespoor’s venom will improve newer potions or the older ones. So far things, look to be very… good, rather interesting too. One of the potions I’m working on, is an Anti-Poison Potion. However, I do not have high hopes for that. I have been working on that for sometime now. The Anti-poising potion makes it so that drinker will never have to worry about being poisoned again. Even if there was a poison in the food that the dunderheads would consume a fatal poison, the poisoning would not matter because the potion would not allow the poison to permeate the body.

H- How do you test if it works?

S- Well, I have to take some type of poison and see if it will work or not.

H- That is really dangerous, Severus!

The thought of the other man intentionally poising himself sent a panic feeling threw Harry’s body.

S- I am fine, you Gryffindor-idiot. I test with a slow working poison and I work with authentic antidote close by. Do you really think I would be a fool to kill myself with needless experimentations? I did say I don’t have high hopes for this anti-poisoning Potion. Though, I wager that it may work.

Deep inside himself, he was needlessly shocked to think that Harry cared enough about him.

H- I have to go now, Sunny, my House-elf, is here with my dinner and if I don’t eat… Well, he might tie me to the chair and force me to eat. Anyway, there is one week, as I’m sure you know, before the term starts. I shall send you more venom if you need to, write a message and when I check I will have them sent to you, ASAP.

S- Very well, Harry. Oh by the way, your black owl is very interesting, heyou’re your white owl, Hedwig, are complete opposites.

H- Yes they are, but I think they are in love with each other. Just don’t tell them that you know because I think they will deny it. Silly lovers, them Sal and Hedwig. Talk to you some other time, I am getting reprimanded at by my house elf.

—Couple of Days Later—

Harry had been off and on writing to Severus over the piece of parchment they had, what’s more, they had formed a stronger friendship bond. At one point, when Severus inquired about Harry’s life before Hogwarts. Harry had somewhat reluctant to tell him but he told him eventually about his growing up at the Dursleys. How he did not know that he was a Wizard until Hagrid had told him himself on his eleventh birthday. In turn Severus had told him a little bit about his growing up as a trade-off, how his parents fought all the time and his mother loved him and his father hated the sight of him. Other then that, the Potions Master had not heard much about the man, but the fact remained that was more then most people would ever know about Severus’s father.

One late evening, Harry was in a fitful slumber as his dream whirled around in his sub-consciousness. Then Harry woke with a start and set up in bed, breathing heavily. He had the same dream for the past few nights and it only confused him even more when he tried to think about the dream.

He was lying on a bed somewhere and the room was very dark. There were a pair of hands running along his body, caressing it, rubbing the body all over and setting Harry figuratively on fire. He could see the hands in the dark as they were outlining his body then ran up his thighs toward his arousal. Where the long fingers wrapped around him and pumped him up and down. Making soft moans and his head fell back down to the pillow behind him. He did not abate his screams when someone’s mouth swallowed him whole as the hands of who ever was doing this, kept roaming his body.

Fingers finding its way into an opening, and then starts to make its way into his body. He cums while looking to where the person head should be, and to find dark eyes looking back him; with amusement clearly evident and thin lips stretched in a small smile as its tongue quickly dart out to lick the manhood. As the man above him, he was, by now, prepared Harry and starts to slid something longer and harder into him. Then Harry wakes.

Hastily, he realized that he was hard, as he always had after the dreams. He took a hold of the aching member and finishes the dream in his mind. Moaning softly, he cummed, and with a shout shortly thereafter. Lying back on the bed, he was drenched in sweat and semen. He got up to take a shower to start the day. He only had a couple of days left for his freedom; before he had to go back to school. The place that he would be looked at, stared at, and talked about, rumors spreading and generally, bad things happen.

This time though he was not going to deal with it; he had done enough as it is, in the recent years because this year he was different and he was going to make sure people knew that.

The last two days of his vacation Harry did not give up on his studies. In fact, he only studied harder. He even missed his nightly talk with Severus because of his studying and working on his second Animagus form. The first form of his Animagus is that of a black panther. He had come to name the form, Shadow. His scar still shows up in his panther form. It was just not as noticeable in the form; it was a lighter shade of grey then his jet black coat.

He had to admit that his first Animagus form had a beautiful pair of bright green eyes and long length body that just screamed power and might. Large paws that had razor sharp claws that looked like they could kill with a single swipe. His favorite part of his panther form was when he opened his mouth, his very sharp teeth that looked like they could rip a man or animal to pieces in a matter of moments. He growled and then purred softly.

The second form was coming a bit faster than the last because he knew what to expect and on how to transform. He had figured out one thing, his was some kind of a reptile; since his form had scales. By the end of the day, he had his reptilian form down. He was a four foot long black snake with green eyes and a small silver lighting bolt on its forehead; he bared his fangs that seemed to drip in fatal type of poison. He turned back into his own normal self, after that, he went down to his office to write to Severus.

H- Hey, you there yet?

S- Yes, Gryffindor. Where were you yesterday? I had wasted five minutes, waiting! I could have gotten another potion to experiment.

H- Sorry Severus, I was studying.

Of course, he had lied. He wasn’t about to let him know that he had two Animagus forms down.

S- Don’t tell me… are you just getting around to your homework? The train is tomorrow, Harry.

H- Oh no, I did those ages ago. I was just doing some basic studying for school.

S- Ah... Yes. So are you anticipating in playing Quidditch again this year?

H- No, I am not doing it this year. I am going to devote all my time into studying and protecting myself from Voldemort. You know, so I can be prepared when he does his usual attacks that he does every year. I mean, honestly, you can almost set your own bloody watch on it.

S- Ha, ha. Yeah I suppose. So you’re not doing Quidditch. Your house will be mad at you, not that I would even advice on that. At least my house will have a chance.

H- Very funny, Severus… Oh well, they are really none of my concern anyways. I mean, it is just a stupid game anyway. It is not as if it is life or death or anything.

S- …I think you have finally grown up.

H- Git.

S- Brat.

Their conversations went on like this for about an hour longer until they decided they were tired. They said their good night’s and went to bed. Harry and Snape were getting their minds ready for the day ahead and the start of a new school year.