Standing Against the Tides

Last time I looked at my driver’s license, it did not say J. K. Rowling. Yep, it’s just me, an unpaid and unknown aspiring writer. The characters of the Potterverse do not belong to me and I am making no money from this endeavor.

A/N: Spoilers through OotP. As I am still in denial, I refuse to acknowledge the events of HBP or DH at this point.

Unbeta’d as BabyGurl is busy with her own life.


Chapter 6 Turning of the Tides

The two men did indeed spend much time that day discussing what each knew of the many machinations of the Headmaster. By comparing notes, both were forced to come to the unsettling conclusion that over the years they had both been manipulated quite masterly by the old wizard.

During that day Harry quietly assisted the Potions master as the man was still feeling the effects of his meeting the night before. Severus spent time perusing an ancient, thick potions tome in hopes of narrowing down the possible potions that might have been used while Harry poured over a text of obscure mind-controlling spells.

After a bit of heated discussion during lunch, Harry worked on convincing his professor that he should confront Dumbledore about a few things. Both had to concede that the old wizard would realize that they had begun to put two and two together and that he could possibly become even more dangerous. Harry was sure that while the Headmaster still needed him, the old man would likely think that the Potions master was expendable. As such, the young idealistic Gryffindor was determined to do everything within his power to protect Snape. And while both would have preferred that they had more hard evidence before they faced Albus Dumbledore, they both knew that their time was running out.

Harry was startled when Dobby popped back into the room later that evening. “Oh, Harry Potter, sir. The Headmaster is being looking for the both of you. He is now thinking that you is down here and is on his way here now,” the house-elf quickly informed his benefactor.

Trading a glance with his professor, Harry stood. “All right, Dobby. I will take care of Professor Dumbledore. If you would, could you bring a bit of dinner for Professor Snape and myself?”

The eager house-elf nodded and Harry turned to go. Stopping, he added as an afterthought, “Oh, and Dobby, don’t let the Headmaster see that you have been here.”

“Mr. Potter,” Severus called to his student, “what exactly are you planning to say to the Headmaster?”

Harry paused at the doorway. “I intend to tell him where to go, sir,” Harry answered tersely. “I will not allow him to harm either of us again. I know that we are not yet ready to confront him, but I also don’t think he needs to have the chance to do anything more to either of us.”

“I am still not certain saying anything would be wise at this point, Mr. Potter,” the older man tiredly warned.

“Perhaps not, sir, but I think that we both know that he will use every opportunity to manipulate us. That being the case then, we just won’t give him the chance. And if that means I have to hole up here with you until we can figure out just what he has done and what he is up to, then so be it,” Harry finished, his eyes blazing with determination. With that statement, Harry turned and securely closed and warded the bedroom door behind him. Dumbledore would not be getting to the Potions master if he had anything to say about it.

As Dobby had warned, Harry waited only a few minutes before the Headmaster dismantled the wards on Severus Snape’s outer chamber door. The old wizard stormed into the room, the air crackling with the intensity of his anger. Seeing the young wizard standing in the center of the room, arms akimbo, Albus pulled up short and attempted to pull his magic back in and regain his usual benign mask. “Ah, Harry, my dear boy. I must say I have been worried about you. I am so glad to see that you are indeed safe and sound. But I must see Professor Snape now, if you don’t mind, so why don’t you run on up to your dorm room and see your friends?”

Scowling at the older man, Harry stood his ground. “No, Professor. I don’t think so. You see, I have been tending to Professor Snape’s injuries since I found him after he returned from that Death Eater meeting and I have no intention of leaving until he has healed completely.”

“Now, my dear boy. If Professor Snape is injured then Madame Pomfrey should be looking after him.” Albus gave his best I-know-more-about-this-than-you-do-so-just-listen-to-me look, but Harry refused to fall for that old ploy. Now that he and Snape had talked, he had begun to see just how manipulative the old bastard really was. At this point, Harry wasn’t sure that the man had a sincere bone in his entire body. And if Dumbledore was orchestrating so much with him and Snape, how much had he done with others? Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. There would be plenty of time later to ponder such questions.

Feeling more than ever the rightness of what he had decided, Harry stood straight and glared at the older wizard. “Professor Snape is now under my care and I will do everything within my power to protect him,” Harry snarled. “You have allowed, no demanded, that he return time and again to Voldemort to be abused and hurt. That stops now. Professor Snape will not be returning to his duties as your spy.”

Ice blue eyes flashed at the audacity of the young man before him. “That is not for you to say, Mr. Potter. Severus Snape made his choice years ago and he knows fully well the price he must pay. You must not interfere with his decision. Now, I will ask you once more, Harry. Please leave and allow me to deal with Professor Snape.”

The air picked up and began to swirl around the irate young wizard. “No, I will not,” he ground out. “Say what you will, but you and I both know that Professor Snape would never say no to you. You have made sure that he feels he doesn’t have that option. So I think that it is you who should leave!”

With that firm statement, the Headmaster suddenly found himself back out in the corridor outside of a now non-existent door. Frowning, he went forward to inspect the wall, but could find no evidence that a door to the Potions master’s chambers ever existed. The now angry wizard spent several fruitless minutes trying every revealing and canceling spell he could think of before conceding temporary defeat. Muttering under his breath, Albus Dumbledore quickly left the scene of his humiliation, all the while plotting his revenge against one Harry Potter.

Harry stood dumbfounded as he took in the empty room before him. One minute he was telling off the Headmaster, and the next the man was simply gone. And not only that, but the door to the Potions master’s chambers had also disappeared. Oh, Snape would not be happy about that, Harry thought rather hysterically. Taking a deep breath, Harry managed to get a hold of himself. How had he done that and how had he made the door simply disappear? One more mystery to be solved, he thought tiredly as he turned back to the Potions master’s bedroom and prepared to face yet another powerful and possibly irate wizard. After all, it wasn’t every day that the door to your chambers simply disappears.