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Harry Potter and the Expert Potions Master	By : SickPuppy Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 21304 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe. I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter 9 - A Warm Welcome

The following day Harry had spoken to Kingsley and explained what he wanted to do. The older wizard had smiled and been only too pleased to allow Harry to continue his studies. All Kingsley had asked was that Harry would 'pop in' to the Ministry at least once a week, just to keep reinforcing the moral support Harry was so willing to offer. Privately, Harry had felt a little bit of a failure, as there had been several Aurors he had just not been able to trace.

So, with that hurdle down he had spent time in Diagon Alley getting the books recommended by his subject teachers and re-stocking his basic potion ingredients. What with one thing and another, he hadn't had an opportunity to harass Snape with potion related questions and knew he was just going to have to accept Slughorn being disappointed in him.

The reply he had received from Snape had made him disproportionately happy:

Evans,

The owl seems perfectly efficient. As the weather is turning distinctly unpleasant, I have offered the bird a perch for the night.

As for your letter of Christmas Day, if you are no longer staying with the Weasleys, I would assume that you came to the sensible decision to get out of an untenable situation.

I would hardly like to criticise ...

Here Harry had snorted. Snape liked nothing better than to criticise.

… but if the person you are with disregards your wishes and expressly ignores them, it is practically assault. Just for one moment, imagine it had been you pressurising your then girlfriend – she had made clear that she didn't want to have sex, yet you manipulated her. Is that not rather too uncomfortably close to rape? It is, as I wrote above, almost sexual assault. And violent tendencies like these do not diminish, rather they only increase with time.

Given the circumstance, I cannot pretend any great sadness that you are once again alone. No doubt any number of blank-eyed, brainless witches have hurled themselves at you, or will do so once the news of your single status becomes common knowledge. I would advise that you not date casually, as too many will have ideas of permanency. Also, at this time you are just beginning to find your place in the world. The past seven years have been focused on one thing only – destroying the Dark Lord – now it is time for you to discover what it is you are interested in.

I have heard via the school grapevine that Hogwarts has been repaired and NEWTs courses will be offered before the official re-opening of the school in September. Have you considered gaining some qualifications? Perhaps even do some OWLs in subjects you did not study whilst at school? Even if you do not pass, you will have widened your knowledge base (which can only be a good thing) and may find something which awakens your interest.

Whatever it is you do, do it because it is what you want. Your life has been about the Bigger Picture for too long.

Happy New Year,

Snape

With that subtle urging, Harry had felt vindicated in his decision to go back to school. More though, as he read again Snape's words regarding Ginny's behaviour, he was shocked to discover that the older man was right, Ginny had assaulted him. He felt his face burn; he had been aroused, so did that make a difference? Was he doing her a grave injustice by thinking that had she been a man, he would have been been screaming rape?

If I was going to have sex with a man, it wouldn't be with a male Ginny. The thought crossed Harry's mind and was gone, but Harry felt a little ill even at the thought. Why did he keep thinking these deviant things?!

Harry arrived at Hogwarts on January 3^rd. He was joined by a number of Muggle born and half blood witches and wizards from his year and the year below. Also in the crowd was Ginny, but neither of them acknowledged the other's existence. It was only now that he saw the full contingent of students that he realised Ron hadn't taken the opportunity to get his NEWTs. Harry couldn't imagine Mrs Weasley or Hermione were too pleased about that.

The Hogwarts Express had been laid on and they had been transported from Hogsmeade station to the school in the thestral-drawn carriages he knew so well. On the train, Harry had been surprised and relieved to see Luna and had quickly sat in her compartment, much to the interest of those who had known about Harry and Ginny's relationship in his sixth year.

In the Great Hall the usual four House tables had not been set up. Instead only two long tables had been made available. Flitwick stood at the door directing people to the correct table, although, because he was so small, a great number of students hadn't realised and had had to be pointed to the correct place by others. Finally, after much noise and scraping, everyone was sitting.

“Welcome!” Professor Mcgonagall had got her tartan robes on and was smiling. “As we're not at Hogwarts properly, I thought we'd dispense with the House tables. I imagine most of you will choose to sleep in your own dormitories, but that is not a hard and fast rule. I will make clear, here and now, that while you are here you are to behave in a manner fitting for Hogwarts students, regardless of your age.”

A few people had muttered at that. It was Luna who said dreamily, “Oh, stop being silly. She's just saying that we shouldn't go and have sex.”

There was an outbreak of nervous giggles from those who had heard Luna, which was quickly stifled.

“You are separated according to which examinations you have chosen to study for – here on what is normally the Ravenclaw table is where anyone planning on taking OWLs should be. Over on the Gryffindor table is where NEWTs students should be.”

During the pause a few people got up and moved to the opposite table, looking embarrassed.

“As you're not in Houses, there will be no House points; however, anyone misbehaving will be asked to leave. The staff are giving up time they could have spent in numerous more relaxing ways, and I will not have them treated with disrespect.”

Piles of timetables suddenly appeared on the tables.

“We have tried to simplify the courses as much as possible, and made it possible for anyone to gain at least five qualifications during this time. You can, of course, attempt more, but there is a significant amount of private study required from you to get through the material. We have restructured the day to give you large chunks of time to focus on each subject. With a few exceptions due to time constraints, each subject has been allocated three hours. This has meant the school day has been extended to 4pm, and there is only a break for lunch. I would recommend that you have a good breakfast and bring a drink of water to your lessons. There will be fruit available at breakfast for you to take and eat later should you need it, and should your teacher think it is an appropriate time. Please do not assume that eating in lessons is being allowed. Your subject teacher will make clear to you when it is suitable to consume your snack.

“As the courses have been condensed and there is no differentiation between those sitting the first year of the course and those on the second, there are a number of classrooms available when you are not being taught where you can work in silence. A list of classrooms and their availability is pinned up outside this hall, and in the House dormitories.

“The rest of today is for you to settle and make sure that you have enrolled for the courses you wish to take, and add yourself to any course that you have now decided to attempt. Please take a timetable and familiarise yourself with the timings and the rooms, as we have changed some rooms to reduce the amount of travel needed around the building.”

There was a scramble for a timetable – it was amazing how quickly even wizarding heroes regressed when back at school – and there was silence for a few minutes as people digested the information, then a growing buzz as neighbours shared their choices and discussed alternatives.

Harry stood up and made his way to a large table at the back of the room that had sign up sheets on it. He saw his name already on the two NEWT level subjects he had wanted to take, and strolled along the table looking for the OWL subjects. Following the advice in Snape's letter, Harry had decided to try some subjects he didn't know. He scrawled his name on the sheets for Muggle Studies (Mcgonagall must have found a teacher, he thought), Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. He weighed up adding his name to Astronomy as well, but decided against it eventually. Taking three OWLs, two NEWTs, plus nipping into the Ministry once a week was going to be quite enough to be going on with.

Luna drifted past, her name already on the subject sheets.

“Hello Harry,” she said in her dreamy voice.

“Hi. Erm, Luna, could I ask a favour?” He dragged her away from the milling crowds at the sign up sheets and dropped his voice, “Could I sleep in the Ravenclaw dormitory, do you think, or would that be weird?”

Luna considered, her light grey eyes seeming to roam around the hall. “It is a little strange, but I have no objection. Will there be any space for you, though?”

She indicated the Ravenclaw sixth and seventh years, all of whom were present, even those who had been pure bloods and had attended Hogwarts.

“Damn,” Harry said softly. It was perfectly possible for him to sleep in a lower year's bed, he knew, but seeing so many Ravenclaws was a little unsettling. He had hoped for something a bit quieter. “Okay, Luna, never mind.”

He looked about the hall for a Hufflepuff he recognised. Spotting Susan Bones, he made for her.

“Hey, Susan,” he greeted when she looked up for a course sheet.

“Harry,” she smiled at him, “how are you?”

He didn't answer that. “Is there any chance I could stay in the Hufflepuff dormitories while I'm here?” he asked, eyes seeing Ginny's long red hair, stomach clenching.

She gaped at him. “Well, yes, I don't see why not. Our House can be a bit difficult to get into, but as Mcgonagall said people could sleep wherever, she must have lifted the enchantment,” She scanned the crowd. “Us Hufflepuffs seem a bit under-represented. Those damned Ravenclaws have all gone mental at the thought of extra lessons.”

Harry grinned. “There are still more of you than Slytherin!”

Mcgonagall raised her voice, “One final thing, the passwords for the Houses have been set to their founder's name. Now, I would suggest you put your things in your rooms and come back here, where the welcoming feast will be waiting for you!”

Susan said, “Shall we?”

“You'll need to lead,” Harry admitted, “Hufflepuff is the one House I've never been into.”

The Hufflepuff woman gave a cheeky grin. “Of course not, Hufflepuff protects its own!”

The entrance to the dormitory was down a corridor in the basement of the castle. Susan stopped when she saw the door. “Oh. Usually there are barrels here that you have to tap in just the right place to get in. But I guess not at the moment.” Confidently, she walked up to the wood and called out Helga Hufflepuff's name. The door swung in and Harry saw the large, cosy Hufflepuff common room. Flowers hung from hanging baskets, and sat on window sills high up at what must have just about been ground level. The whole room had the feeling of being under the earth, not in an oppressive way, but felt nurturing and welcoming.

“It's great!” Harry said honestly. It felt far more comfortable than he had expected it to, especially after six years amongst the scarlet and gold of Gryffindor. The walls had the House badge covering them, the bright yellow preventing the room from seeming claustrophobic.

Susan walked in and pointed to a round door in the wall of the common room. “That leads to the boys' dormitories. I've seen Liam from the year below us and Ernie from our year about, but they won't bother you too much.”

Feeling such gratitude at Hufflepuff's easy acceptance of outsiders, Harry felt a little weak-kneed. He muttered almost incoherent thanks to Susan and clambered through the door.

A short corridor greeted him with a spiralling staircase at its end. A door on either side of the hallway clearly led to a bedroom. These two were labelled “First years” and “Second years”. He assumed that seventh would be on the fourth floor, but really couldn't be bothered to clamber up all those flights of stairs. One thing he had always been irritated with was the sheer flights of stairs he had had to climb up and down to get to or from anywhere using Gryffindor as his base.

Harry pushed open the door marked “First years” and looked in. Four beds lined one wall, with plenty of space in between. Copper bed warmers hung on the walls between the beds and gave off gentle heat. The lights were copper too, giving the room a relaxing atmosphere.

Checking each bed, Harry found the one he preferred and dumped his bag on it. He hadn't brought his trunk, favouring travelling light. He had used Hermione's trick and extended a bag to carry all his books and clothes. Trouble was off delivering a letter to Teddy's grandmother, but would be coming to Hogwarts and staying in the Owlery.

Now he quickly unpacked. His clothes went into the chest of drawers at his bedside, and the books were neatly stacked on top. Parchment, quill, ink, a comb and a glass finished his task. He tugged the comb through his messy black hair and then left, feeling settled and ready for a good feed.

Kreacher had been told what Harry was doing, and had been asked to relax and enjoy himself. Of course the house elf had ignored the request, wanting only to be told what to do. Finally Harry had had to snap at him, “Go and enjoy yourself! That's an order.” before he had left to ensure the elf didn't spend the next six months just wandering around the house.

Back in the Great Hall, Harry slid onto a bench next to Luna and greeted Liam when he sat down.

“Susan says you've joined us for the next few months. Didn't notice your things in the dormitory. I'm sharing the seventh year room with Ernie.”

“No,” Harry admitted, “I was too lazy to walk up to the seventh year's dorm, so I'm in the first year one.”

“Oh, that explains it.” Liam seemed thoughtful. “You may have a point. We don't need to be in the seventh year rooms, do we?”

Harry could see his solitary sleeping arrangement vanishing and wondered how to talk Liam into remaining without sounding like he was doing just that.

“Ernie!” Liam waved him over. “Harry is with us. First year dorms. Shall we join him?”

“I've just unpacked!” Ernie whinged, which Harry silently cheered. “Sorry, Harry, I'm staying put.”

Harry was so pleased, but struggled to hide it, feeling it wouldn't be tactful. “No, don't apologise, I've butted in on you. You do what you feel is right. I'll just try and not cause a problem.”

Whilst they had been talking, the feast had arrived. Now Harry grabbed food: roast chicken, crispy roast potatoes, sweetcorn, runner beans, peas, carrots, gravy and even some stuffing made it very quickly onto his plate before being transferred into his mouth.

When the puddings appeared, Harry helped himself to far too much again and thoroughly enjoyed pigging out. All around him, young adults were stuffing their faces, smiling and laughing, relaxing over that most simple of things: a shared meal.

He snagged a few grapes as he got up and staggered across the hall. All that food had made him dopey and he wanted nothing more than to snuggle into his bed and sleep. Behind him, Liam and Ernie followed, making occasional remarks, although they too sounded tired.

In the bedroom, he sat on the mattress and tugged off trainers, socks and began undoing his jeans. These slithered off and he roughly swiped them off the floor and threw them in the general direction of the foot of his bed. He grabbed a pair of pyjama bottoms and laid them ready, then removed his boxers. The change into night clothes didn't take long, even when half-asleep already. As he moved he saw again in his mind's eye the teachers' table at the top of the hall, it had seemed so very strange not to see Dumbledore and Snape there. He wondered idly what Snape was up to at that moment.

It was only when he was under the blankets and yawning that he noticed he had an erection.

Not here. Not now. He begged his body.
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Harry Potter and the Expert Potions Master