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Resistance	By : danniperson Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 44505 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I did not create the Harry Potter stories or universe and I do not make any money from this

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
CHAPTER TWELVE

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Grace had spent the day with Ginny doing their best to eavesdrop on the meeting since they were both too young to be part of the Order. She had no idea what she was going to do when Ginny turned seventeen! They hadn’t been able to overhear much of the meeting, though part of the drama that happened leaked when everyone began filing out. Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus all look

ing incredibly furious. Arthur and Molly stood in the doorway, glancing sympathetically to the group, whispering to themselves as they waited for Ginny to stand up and bid Grace goodbye. Grace watched them leave and glanced to her family curiously.

“I can’t believe this,” James was ranting.

“If Snivellus touches one hair on that boy’s head…” Sirius was going on.

“I know it’s not the ideal situation,” Remus said, no more pleased than anyone else about it, though he certainly seemed the calmest.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Lily said dryly, green eyes glancing over her daughter. “Gracie, go wait for your brother. Tell him to come in here when he’s done with Professor Dumbledore.”

“What’s going on?” Grace asked.

“Now, Grace,” Lily snapped.

Grace jumped. She wanted to argue because she wanted to know what was going on but knew better than to think she would win this one. Besides, it seemed to have something to do with Harry so she figured she’d find out before too long anyway. Grace dutifully waited for a few minutes before the door opened and Snape stepped out. He gave her a nasty look that she returned. Stupid git. Sirius had mentioned him. He must have done something. Greasy bastard, he was! Always giving her and Harry dirty looks! No one liked him much, did they? If he stopped being such a huge arsehole, maybe he would actually have friends and stop acting like such a jerk!

It was several more minutes before Harry walked out and Grace jumped up eagerly. “Mum wants to see you! She’s in the living room. Are you in trouble? What happened?”

“What?” Harry asked distractedly. Dumbledore had given him a lot to think about. They discussed the Horcruxes a bit and how the headmaster believed he knew where another one was. Harry confessed his thoughts of dropping out of school seventh year to dedicate more time to the war effort. Dumbledore allowed that Harry could do as he wished, since he was seventeen, but reminded him of his bond with Snape and how he had performed the Soul Bond to help make him stronger. Sticking around to be near Snape and actually working on the bond was the best way of going about doing things. If he just up and left, that would mean he had gone through this whole thing for no reason! At the same time, he didn’t want to sit around and wait for everyone else to do everything. He had a lot to think about and a very big decision to make by the end of the month. He was so worried about the war now that he had completely forgotten about the anger of his parents.

“Mum wants to see you,” Grace repeated. “Though, if you run out now, I won’t stop you. I’ll have to tell Mum but I’ll wait until you can manage to escape.” Their parents did seem very upset at the moment. She didn’t envy Harry at all. However, she made sure to glance towards the living room to ensure sure no one overheard her offer. Seeing other people get in trouble was fun, especially Harry, but that was usually over silly things. Sibling rivalry sort of things. Whatever this was seemed sort of serious and Harry was acting so strangely now that it worried Grace. Not that she’d ever admit that.

“What?” Harry asked again, shaking his head to try to focus on his little sister. “Oh,” he said when he remembered what she had said. Damn it. He thought about taking Neville up on his offer. Augusta Longbottom would be better to deal with right now than his parents would. He’d have to face the music eventually, though. Might as well get it over with now. “Eh…Thanks, Grace. I better go in, though.”

Harry took a deep breath and walked into the living room with Grace right behind him. All heated conversation stopped the moment he entered. Harry had been the recipient of many a harsh look before but never had he been given then by so many of the people he cared about. It hurt and Harry glanced away, unable to meet their accusing gazes.

“Harry James Potter, how could you?” Lily demanded.

“I’m going to kill that bastard, I hope you realize that,” James spat.

“You knew we didn’t want this for you!” Lily went on.

“Do you have any idea what you did, Harry?” Sirius demanded furiously. “You bound yourself to Severus Snape! He’s a Death Eater!”

“He’s a spy,” Remus said, though his voice was quiet and unheard over the racket the others were making.

“Yeah? Well, you’re an arse!” Harry snapped, glaring at him. Sirius blinked at him in surprise. “The Death Eater jokes are really getting old, Sirius. I may not like him, but he’s not evil!”

“How can you know that?” James demanded. “You don’t even know him!”

“Neither do you!” Harry snapped. “Look, this was my decision, not yours!”

“We’re your parents!” Lily cried.

“I’m seventeen!” Harry reminded her.

Lily snorted. “Seventeen might make you a legal adult but that doesn’t mean you are mature enough to make such big decisions! You can drink, have sex with whoever you want, perform magic whenever you want but, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should! I really don’t think you thought this through, Harry! You’re seventeen, yes, but you’re only seventeen!”

“You and Dad were engaged at seventeen,” Harry reminded her heatedly. “Married at eighteen, pregnant at nineteen, and parents at twenty! That turned out just fine, didn’t it?”

“Merlin, don’t tell us you married the git!” Sirius said.

“Shite! No!” Harry yelled in frustration. This was getting very old very fast. He knew they would react badly but that didn’t mean he was fully prepared for it. “I’m just saying! If they can make a decision like that at this age then why can’t I decide if I want to bond with someone?”

“Well, to be fair, you bonded with Snape,” Grace joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. “Can’t help but question anyone’s sanity with that one.”

“Shut up, Grace!” Harry snapped. “You are not helping!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think anything’s going to help your case here,” Grace said defensively.

“Grace, stay out of this,” Lily said. “Harry, I just don’t understand…“

“You don’t have to understand! And you don’t have to argue with me. Nothing can undo this stupid bond anyway, so you’ll just have to get over it!” Harry snapped.

“Don’t talk to your mother that way,” James said sternly.

“In what way? Everyone’s sitting here attacking me over this, why can’t I fight back?” Harry asked in agitation.

“Completely unreasonable,” Sirius muttered.

“You don’t even know what you’ve gotten yourself into, Harry!” Lily exclaimed.

“I bet Sniv forced him into this,” James stated.

“Oh, James, stop it,” Lily sighed. “You know Harry wanted to do this from the start! Although we told him we didn’t want him jumping into things.” She said this with a sharp look to her son.

“Well there’s not much you can do about it now, so why don’t you all just drop it?” Harry snapped.

“I’m not just going to step back and pretend this is okay, Harry, because it’s not!” Lily retorted.

“Would it have been better if it wasn’t Snape?” Harry demanded.

“No!” Lily cried out immediately.

“Yes,” James and Sirius agreed in unison.

Lily glared at them. “No! He shouldn’t have done this whether it was Severus, Hermione or even if it was anyone else we like or trust! He’s seventeen years old, that’s too young to be making such big life decisions! You don’t even know how strong this bond is or what it will do to you! No matter what the book says, it’s a commitment! You have tied yourself to Severus as completely as anyone can tie themselves to anyone else! This is a big thing and it creates a very intimate feeling because of it! The book can say all it wants about the bond not requiring love or sex and, maybe it doesn’t, but you should at least know a person better, understand the bond better, or something! There should be some foundation there, a somewhat civil interaction between two people! I don’t care if he’s your soul mate or not, Harry, you weren’t ready for this!”

For a long moment, everyone just gaped at Lily as she blinked tears from her eyes, having worked herself up during her tirade. Maybe his mother was right in some sense of things. He hadn’t thought about the bond itself the past few weeks so much as he thought about how much he wanted to do it and was determined to do it no matter what. Harry knew he probably should have looked into it more and asked more questions about it. He should have talked to his parents or Sirius and Remus to see how the bond was affecting them, even if they would get suspicious over why he wanted to know. The words about how much of himself he had tied to Snape made him want to cringe but he tried not to think of it like that. They were connected now on a very intimate level. It was hard to think of it in that light and not feel nauseous. Harry forced himself to return his focus to the fact that the bond was going to make him stronger. He didn’t feel much different other than some strange connection to Snape but he supposed it would all come in time. He couldn’t afford to lose his sanity over thinking the situation.

“It doesn’t matter,” Harry said quietly. “Dumbledore brought this up because he thought that the people who did it…he thought that it could help us win this war! You told us that! I’m just doing my part.”

“You shouldn’t be part of this, Harry! You’re a child!” Lily exclaimed.

“Think that all you want!” Harry snapped. “I’ve dealt with a hell of a lot more than most children do. I’m ready for this! I’ve survived everything the world had thrown my way my whole life! I can do this. I have to do this! The prophecy…“

“Fuck the prophecy, Harry!” Lily shrieked. Harry blinked in surprise. Lily didn’t curse all that much and certainly not in front of her children and especially not such a strong word. “Forget it! It doesn’t mean anything! They are just words that Sybill Trelawney spewed to get a bloody job! Just because everyone else is convinced it’s real…Just…No! No, no, no, Harry! Prophecies don’t have to be real if you don’t believe in them, so just…don’t trust in it! The fate of the world is not on your shoulders!”

“It is!” Harry argued.

“Don’t be stupid, Harry!” Sirius cried.

“I’m not being stupid! It’s the truth!” Harry argued. “I have to do this.”

“You do not! And you will not!” Lily snapped. “You get that out of your head right now! I knew that was what this was all about! Some stupid war! You’re going to ruin your life putting so much responsibility onto yourself! This isn’t up to you. There are bigger people, Harry, who will fight this war. People with more experience, more power and more everything. I think it’s very brave and noble for you to want to help the cause but you are only a child so I don’t want you involved in this.”

“It isn’t your choice,” Harry growled.

“James! I told you! I fucking told you it would come to this!” Lily snapped, rounding on her husband.

“What are you yelling at me for?” James demanded in surprise.

“You let them do whatever the bloody hell they want!” Lily cried. Her face was red and her green eyes raged fiercely in her anger. “You told me it would be okay! You said it would be okay if Harry helped with the Horcruxes. That it would be good for him to feel useful! You said all along that he would be okay and that we shouldn’t worry so much! That he was just getting in over his head but he would never actually…We know him better than that, James! We should have never let it get this far! You shouldn’t have…You! This is your fault!”

“This isn’t my fault!” James retorted.

“Would you get off his case?” Harry snapped. “Whether you ‘allowed’ me to do anything or not hasn’t changed anything! I would still be doing this if you had bloody locked me up until my seventeenth birthday!”

“Probably not if they kept you there longer than that,” Sirius muttered.

“Don’t you say that!” Lily snapped, whirling back around to Harry, her eyes wide in horror. “Harry…We would never…”

“I know,” Harry said, surprised. He hadn’t meant for her to take it so seriously or so personally.

“I think we should all just take a deep breath and take a break from each other to cool down,” Remus suggested quietly.

“I don’t need to calm down,” Lily said through gritted teeth. “I need for my son to realize what a mistake he’s making. I need for him to see the reality of things. I need for him to understand that there are so many people willing to help and fight. That he isn’t going to do this alone and that he doesn’t have to do this at all. He isn’t ready for this! He isn’t going into this! He is my son and I…I forbid it!”

“Lily…” James said sadly.

Lily Potter looked mad right about now. Her face was red and she was breathing heavily. Her eyes looked wide and frightened as they filled with tears she seemed unwilling to shed. Lily shook her head rapidly and cleared her throat. “No, James. Harry, that is final! You will not…will not do this.”

“Y…No…No, you can’t stop me,” Harry denied, shaking his head. He didn’t like seeing his mother in such a state but the guilt wasn’t enough to completely override his irritation. He didn’t understand why she was being like this. He knew she wouldn’t like him wanting to join the war efforts this way but she hadn’t had too much of a problem with him doing little things before.

“Don’t test me, Harry James Potter!” Lily cried. “I have nearly lost you too many times in my life and I will not let you or anyone else put me through that again! We’ve been lucky to stay alive and keep this family together but that luck will only last us so long! A lot of that was out of my hands, but this? This I can control and I will. Harry…“

“This might not be the best time to discuss this,” Remus intervened.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed awkwardly. “We need to continue our plans for killing Snivellus.”

Remus sighed heavily and looked impatiently at his soul mate. “We are not killing Severus.”

“Maybe you aren’t,” James snorted, seemingly eager to latch onto this new topic. He was a bit surprised by how much thought his wife had put into all of this just like everyone else.

“I can’t,…” Lily began miserably, spinning around with her glare set on Remus.

Remus glanced up at Harry and walked closer to Lily. He spoke quietly, though Harry was able to overhear it and he had a feeling he was supposed to. “You’re only upsetting him, Lily. If you want to get through to him, you should do so once you’re both calm and thinking rationally. If you keep this up, he won’t listen to you at all, understand? He might be willing to make some sort of compromise if…”

“I don’t want a compromise!” Lily hissed.

“…you speak to him like an adult,” Remus said, resting his hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s hard, Lily. Just give it some time. We’ll all make sure Harry doesn’t run off to do something stupid before you get the chance to have a more reasonable discussion.”

Remus’s eyes flickered up to Harry who hesitated before giving a short nod. He could afford to wait until September rolled around before running off. No matter what anyone said, he knew what he wanted. Besides, he was at least now considering staying at Hogwarts for his seventh year. He was tempted to tell his mother that story to see how close she had had come to facing worse. Somehow, Harry didn’t think it would work quite as well as he imagined.

“Let’s just go home,” Lily said quietly.

“I’m going out for a while,” Harry said in response, recalling Neville’s earlier words of letting him stay at his house if things went badly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with Augusta Longbottom breathing down his neck though. If Hermione was still around, Harry figured he could take her somewhere. They hadn’t spent much time together lately and he did have to talk with her about the bond.

Lily looked ready to protest but Remus put a hand on her arm and she closed her mouth, turning away from Harry. Harry frowned deeply and hesitated in the doorway. He didn’t want to leave his family upset right now but he knew it was probably better for everyone if they had a bit of space. “Try to cheer her up, alright?” Harry whispered to Grace.

“Alright,” Grace agreed readily then gave him a quick hug before skipping over to their mother with a bright grin and way too much enthusiasm. Harry wasn’t sure that was exactly the right tactic. He would want to hit someone who came over looking so happy when he was so miserable. If nothing else, Grace would at least make her mad and Harry figured his mother fussing at Grace was better than her being so sad because of him.

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His gran wanted to celebrate his joining the Order of the Phoenix but Neville wasn’t much in the mood to celebrate. Augusta had cared for him most of his life and he loved her but she was one of the last people he wanted to deal with when he was feeling this way. He had completely forgotten about his offer to Harry about staying with them after the meeting. He had chosen to walk around for a bit to clear his head and, in the end decided, that the place he most wanted to visit was St. Mungo’s.

He wasn’t entirely sure why he wanted to be there. After all, visiting his parents is hardly a happy affair. He loved them dearly, which is why he visited as often as he did, but it was always hard. They never recognized him. Only when his mother gave him her candy wrappers did he feel anything close to real happiness around them. It was always bittersweet.

It wasn’t as if they would be able to help him with his new problem.

He had a soul mate! Everyone did, apparently. It was just very strange thinking of his. Neville had known he was gay almost his whole life or, at least, had understood that something about him was very different before he even knew anything about sexuality. While homophobia was not as rampant as the prejudice involving blood purity, it was still a cause of problems to some people and not something Neville was ready to deal with at this point in life. Part of him had half hoped his soul mate was a female. Maybe then he could have worked through what he believed was a problem. But no! His soul mate ended up being Cedric Diggory, an incredibly handsome, very kind, loyal, and talented wizard three years older than Neville as well as being the first boy Neville had ever had a crush on! Cedric was too kind to be mean to him, Neville firmly believed that, but he had no idea how he would face telling the other wizard about all of this.

“…So Hermione told me all about the soul mate…finder thing? I really don’t know what you’d call it,” Neville was telling his parents. Maybe they didn’t know him and maybe they didn’t have a great hold on reality but he at least felt a little normal talking to them this way. They usually just let him talk without interruption. It was easy to forget they had problems when he did this. “Only Snape found a way for people to learn the name of their soul mate, you know? Weird that he, of all people, would be the one to do that. Anyway, Hermione told me all about soul mates, the Soul Bond, and how everything worked. When we were at the meeting, I just decided to go for it. Turns out my soul mate is…Well, the parchment at least said that my soul mate is Cedric Diggory! I dunno if you remember, but…Well, I’ve talked about him before,” Neville finished lamely, blushing a bit. The one time he had told anyone of his crush on Cedric had been to his parents on one of the visits when Augusta was arguing with the healers and he was able to spend a few minutes alone with them. That was enough for Neville, who wasn’t sure he would ever confess anything of his sexuality to anyone ever again.

“Eh…Ahem,” someone cleared their throat.

Neville felt his heart freeze as he spun around, blue eyes growing impossibly wide at the sight of Cedric Diggory standing there wearing an uncomfortable smile, standing beside a grinning Gilderoy Lockhart. He had all sorts of pamphlets and flyers from various places around the hospital and was furiously scribbling over them before handing them to Cedric.

Dear. Sweet. Merlin.

Cedric?! Of all people to walk in right now it had to be the person he was talking about? Fate was cruel. Neville slowly turned back to face his parents. Frank was staring at the nearest wall with a look of concentration, reaching out to lightly scratch the wallpaper. Alice was reclining in her bed, grinning at the ceiling and barely concealing her laughter. Anything was better than facing Cedric. Hopefully the other wizard hadn’t been standing there for too long.

“Here! Here, this one is for Marcia Kent! Remember that! I wouldn’t want to disappoint that sweet young witch. Very lovely, isn’t she?” Gilderoy was saying.

“Y…Yes, very,” Cedric agreed easily.

“Ah! You there!” Gilderoy was calling out, marching over to Frank. “What is your name?”

“That’s Frank, Gilderoy,” Cedric said. Neville could hear the smile in his voice.

“Right, right!” Gilderoy said, scribbling his autograph on a pink pamphlet. Neville had seen it before. It was full of tips for how to become pregnant if you wanted to expand your family. Neville made himself smile at the antics he was well used to by now.

“Ahh…Neville?” Cedric asked. Neville could feel the other wizard approach him slowly.

“Uhh…Yeah?” Neville said, turning reluctantly to the other.

“I don’t want to seem like I was eavesdropping, but…We couldn’t help but overhear what you were talking to your parents about,” Cedric explained with an apologetic smile. “Would you mind telling me about this…soul mate thing you were talking about?”

“Er…Why are you here anyway?” Neville blurted out. He hadn’t seen Cedric around here before and didn’t think he had been very close with Gilderoy Lockhart.

“Training,” Cedric explained with a patient smile, holding out his arms to draw attention to the robes he was wearing. They were an awful pale orange-yellow color with the St. Mungo’s logo in the lime green of healer’s robes on the right sleeve. Neville then noticed Cedric’s name embroidered in the material. “It’s my third year in training. Only one or two years left.”

“Oh, well, that’s neat,” Neville said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Cedric said with a smile. “You helped me a ton, you know? With studying for my NEWTs that year. Between that and the Tri-Wizard Tournament it was a tough year and I needed all the help I could get. You were only a fourth year then too, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Neville replied, ducking his head in embarrassment. “I was always really good with Herbology, I guess.”

“You were. I told Professor Sprout you were helping me, you know. And she raved about you. Said you were the best Herbologist she had seen in years,” Cedric replied.

“Did she?” Neville asked, unable to stop himself from smiling. He really did love Herbology. He was never very arrogant about his skills, though it always did please him to hear others praise his talent in the area. It was especially wonderful hearing from Professor Sprout herself how good he was since she was a very gifted witch in that area herself.

“Mhm,” Cedric said. “Anyway, for my training, they want me in this ward for the next month or so, to get a feel of the different levels and such.”

“Makes sense,” Neville said.

The two fell into silence. Frank seemed annoyed by Gilderoy who turned his attentions to Alice. She took all of his autographs very graciously, and seemed not to notice how many she was receiving. Gilderoy even sneaked over to sign Frank’s pillowcase before going off to hound another patient. Neville tried focusing on his parents but it was very hard to focus on anything but Cedric’s nearness and thinking about the other’s question.

“Snape invented a way of people finding their soul mates,” Neville finally said.

“So I heard,” Cedric said with a teasing smile. “I do agree that it is strange that he would be the one to do it. Doesn’t seem like him much to care about something like soul mates.”

“Probably because of the Soul Bond. Do you know anything about that?” Neville asked.

“No, not really. What is it?” Cedric asked curiously.

“Hermione told me about it. Hermione Granger, that is,” Neville said. “It’s some bond only soul mates can do. It got kind of confusing but it’s supposed to bind you to your soul mate in all sorts of ways. It’s supposed to make you better, I think. Like with your magic…It’s supposed to stabilize it or something. Not sure how that works. But you’re also supposed to be able to…understand each other better or something? Very odd stuff, that. But I know of a handful of people doing it to become more powerful. Because of You Know Who and all. I’m sure that’s why he did it. To be stronger.”

“That makes more sense,” Cedric said with a small laugh. Neville liked the sound of it a lot and was a bit embarrassed by the way his heart skipped a beat at the sound of it. He hadn’t seen the bloke in almost three years! Shouldn’t this stupid crush have gone away by now? “Are you sure he didn’t rig it or anything? To screw with people?”

“I dunno,” Neville said. “A few people did get odd results.” He was tempted to tell him, but Neville wasn’t about to gossip or anything. He didn’t think Cedric would go around blabbing, but it still felt like some betrayal to go around spouting things that were no one’s business without anyone’s permission to do so.

“Well, There is a way to test if you are soul mates,” Cedric said. “Not many people use it, because it’s so rare people think it’s useless these days to even try.”

“Do you want to test it?” Neville asked incredulously.

Cedric shrugged. “Well I’m curious now, honestly. Would that be a problem?”

“N-no…Not at all,” Neville replied, swallowing.

Fifteen minutes later, Neville stood in a nearby room with Cedric and newly instated healer Penelope Clearwater. The three stared in complete shock at the joined arms of Neville and Cedric, their bodies glowing in the distinctive silvery-purple color that signified soul mates. If they hadn’t been, they would have still been glowing their own individual colors, Neville a pale orange and Cedric a bright aqua.

“I’ve never actually seen it work like that before,” Penelope said in a quiet voice. Neville had heard from Ron a few days ago about how Penelope and Percy had broken up when they discovered they weren’t soul mates. A year later, they had just recently decided to give their relationship another go. The witch shook her head and looked between the two wizards curiously. “So are you two…?”

“Together?” Neville all but squeaked. “Merlin, no!”

“Then why did you want to test it?” Penelope asked as Neville quickly pulled his arms away from Cedric’s. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. Your sexual orientation is your business. I only don’t understand why anyone would want to see if their soul mate was anyone but the person they were with.”

“Umm,” said Neville. He wasn’t entirely sure he should go around telling everyone of Snape’s accomplishment.

“Neville was telling me how he had been learning about soul mates for a paper he intends to write this year,” Cedric replied, seeming to sense Neville’s hesitance. “I thought it might be interesting if we saw how the charm worked. I don’t think we really expected it to show those results.”

“Right,” Penelope said, seeming to accept this answer. “That is so…That’s just amazing, I think,” she said with a smile. “Not many people are so lucky. I do need to get back to my rounds but you should find me later, Cedric. This is very interesting and I would love to discuss it! You can bring Neville too, if you’d like.”

“We’ll see,” Cedric replied with a small smile. Though he seemed mostly calm, Cedric could still see it in his bright grey eyes how stunned he still was. “I…er…I should probably get back to work, too. Would you…would you mind if I owl you sometime? So we can talk?”

“Yeah, sure,” Neville said weakly, still trying to process all of this. It was one thing to see it on the parchment that Cedric was his soul mate, but having the confirmation now made it all the more real and surprising. At least Cedric was being a good sport about it all. He even wanted to talk to him! Neville blew out a breath when Cedric walked out.

Mind full of nothing but Cedric and the new situation, Neville eventually made his way home.

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Harry and Hermione traveled silently to Godric’s Hollow, avoiding his house and, instead, going to the local park then straight towards the playground area. Harry sat down on the edge of a merry-go-round and Hermione sat beside him, looping her arms through two of the bars. She looked at him in mild concern while Harry began to turn the merry-go-round back and forth with his feet pressed firmly in the dirt. She had been politely waiting upstairs in Grimmauld Place when Harry went to go find her. He had his suspicions that she had heard the fight play out and he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to talk about it yet.

“Are you alright, Harry?” she asked quietly.

“No, I’m not,” he replied stiffly.

“I know it was probably hard for you,” Hermione said uncertainly. “But they are your parents. They aren’t going to be happy about you putting your life at risk.”

“I’m not asking them to be happy. I just don’t want to be treated like a child,” Harry said.

“I know,” Hermione said with a sigh. “It’s just…” She frowned when Harry shot her a glare, but only paused, momentarily, before continuing. “After all, you’ve been through, you and your family, you can’t blame them too much for being more…paranoid, I suppose, about everything. I’m sure it must be frightening. Imagine how hard it is for us when people we care about are in danger. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a parent. That’s why my parents haven’t been told much of anything about all of this.” She laughed quietly, though her dark brown eyes were wise and full of sympathy as she gazed at her best friend.

Harry sighed heavily. “Right,” he said. Maybe they did have good reasons for being upset but he didn’t have to enjoy it. He had nearly been killed when he was only one year old and his parents had been in a Death Eater prison for the following seven years. They had to spend the year following their escape in a mental ward while Grace had her memory completely wiped and re-wired per request of their parents to avoid her dealing with long-term issues. She had only been four or five at the time and it was easier to manipulate her memory that way. There had been therapy sessions after their release, dealing with the Dursleys and their poor treatment of Harry, then all of his adventure-filled years at Hogwarts. Harry couldn’t picture what it all must be like for his parents and, honestly, wasn’t sure he wanted to.

“I didn’t want to talk about that though,” Harry said, shaking his head. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Hermione blinked in surprise. “Yes?”

“More of a warning, actually. Dumbledore wanted me to tell you,” Harry said. He wished he could tell Hermione this without revealing particular details. There was no real way around it. Hermione would ask questions and, really, Harry supposed it would be good to talk to someone about it. Hermione looked a bit alarmed and Harry took a deep breath before launching into the story. “Snape and I had sex after the bond…”

“You did what?” Hermione shrieked, slapping her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide enough that they reminded Harry of Dobby.

Harry blushed furiously as he continued. “…and Dumbledore thinks it’s because we hate each other. We think the Soul Bond made us…shag because we don’t get along well. The bond wants to make us close or something. He said he hopes it’s a onetime thing but he still wants me and Snape to try to get along. I dunno, but…Well, since you and Malfoy are about as in love as Snape and me, the bond might try the same thing with you two. So if you do bond, you might want to have more people there. That might stop it. Maybe only people you really trust though, in case the audience doesn’t put a stop to it. Like I wouldn’t think badly of you and I could pull you off of Malfoy if you jump him or something.” He couldn’t help but grin teasingly at her and laughed quietly as Hermione’s face burned bright pink.

“I would never!” Hermione exclaimed. “Leave that to your sister!”

“Oi! Let’s not talk about my sister jumping anyone, let alone a Malfoy,” Harry grumbled, kicking the dirt. “I reckon she fancies him sometimes.”

“I doubt it’s that,” Hermione sighed. “She just thinks he’s shaggable.”

“Hermione!” Harry exclaimed, stretching his leg over to lightly kick her.

“Come on, Harry! Grace has a filthier mind than any boy your age!” Hermione giggled.

“Agh! I do not need those sorts of thoughts, Mione!” Harry groaned. “Just say you’ll be careful!”

“Alright, I’ll be careful,” Hermione said. Her teasing smile faded and she seemed hesitant when she spoke again. “So…You and Snape?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it, Hermione,” Harry said, sighing heavily.

Hermione pursed her lips, not sure she was willing to drop it. “It’s just…a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Harry replied stiffly. “But it won’t happen again. It’s not as if either of us is at fault. It’s just something that happened.”

“Hmmm…Alright,” Hermione said, though Harry didn’t think this was the end of the conversation. At least not for good. They were silent for a few moments while Harry looked all around the playground. When he turned back to Hermione, she looked to be fighting a grin.

Harry sighed. “What is it?”

“Oh, nothing,” Hermione said with false innocence. “Just thinking.”

“Nothing new there,” Harry teased.

“Thinking about Grace and Malfoy,” Hermione giggled.

“Mione!” Harry laughed. He jumped to his feet and glared at her mockingly. “You asked for it!”

Grabbing the nearest bars, he began running, laughing when he heard Hermione squeak and grab onto the bars more securely. He didn’t feel as carefree as he might have liked. Too many things still weighed heavily in his mind. At least for now he could pretend while he spun the merry-go-round faster and faster with Hermione shouting profanities at him in a whimpering, pathetic voice. When it was spinning fast enough, he quickly jumped on, the shoe of his left foot slipping and nearly falling off, his knee hit the bar a bit too hard. He cringed in pain but righted himself and held on tightly for the ride. He hoped his mind would spin just as fast and scatter his worries away to far corners of his mind where they could stay for at least a few hours.

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When he heard banging on his door, Severus already knew he didn’t want to answer it. After the display of the Potters at the meeting, he didn’t doubt he’d be dealing with a mangy mutt and his filthy, beastly friends before long. Even with this in mind, he still felt some small bout of surprise at actually seeing Potter and Black standing outside of his door. Both looked furious, their eyes narrowed at him, wands out and clenched in tight fists. Severus calmly raised an eyebrow while everything else inside of him froze. It had been a long time since he had dealt with these two bullies alone. He was better now, he reminded himself. Stronger. He had been with the Dark Lord and suffered his wrath numerous times. Anything these two pulled out would be child’s play.

“My, my, what a pleasant surprise,” Severus drawled sarcastically.

“Stay away from my son, Snape. This is the only warning I’m going to give you,” Potter spat.

“I fucked your precious son, Potter,” Severus wanted to say. “I fucked him into the carpet. Did you see the bruises? The rug burn? Did you see his blood or my semen trailing down his backside? Was he limping? That was all me, Potter, and I enjoyed every last second of deflowering the arrogant little snot. I daresay he enjoyed it just as much. He was very vocal. Begging me for more. You should have heard the little slut. You would have been very proud.”

“I desire…nothing less,” Severus said, struggling to keep the preferred words to himself, more for the sake of not wanting Lily to know than anything else, “than to be in your insolent spawn’s presence any more than I need to be.”

“You don’t have to like me, Snape, but you won’t take it out on him!” Potter snarled. “He’s done nothing to you! I don’t want to hear one more nasty name for my son come from your filthy mouth!”

“Don’t touch one hair on his head,” Black added just as venomously.

“I touched a lot more than just that,” Severus imagined himself saying.

“I assure you, nothing would disgust me more than to touch that little cretin,” Severus assured them with a sneer.

“Why you little…” Potter began, raising his wand arm. Black reached out to hold him back, though he looked like he might want to pulverize Severus himself. “You know what? No. I won’t. We aren’t in school anymore.”

“Trying to remind yourself of that fact, are you?” Severus said.

“Shut it, Snape,” Black snapped.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing at but I don’t trust you,” Potter warned. “I never have and never will. Maybe I was a prat in school, but you? You were…are…a Death Eater! You never let go of those old grudges. Because of things that happened years ago, you treat my children like shite! Maybe Lily doesn’t want to see all of that, but I do. Harry might think he’s ready for this but he doesn’t know you, Snape. I do. I know what sort of resentful, malicious, self-serving bastard you are. I will be keeping an eye on things. And if I even suspect you are doing anything to my son you will be seeing me again. And you won’t like it.”

“You say that as if I enjoy this,” Severus remarked sarcastically. He felt old anger well up at being referred to as a Death Eater but he had heard it enough to learn to control the more tempting responses to it. All he really wanted was for these two to leave. He was too exhausted to put up with a fight.

“He won’t be alone, Snape,” Black reminded him. He then grinned. “I don’t think Lily would like it very much.”

How could anyone like these pricks? Severus glowered at them, feeling a very uncomfortable, painful twisting in his stomach at the mention of Lily. He wasn’t sure if it had more to do with the actual thought of her or the fact that she was a known weakness of his that really bothered him. “I believe you can thank her for being the reason those two arrogant, insufferable, talentless brats are still alive.”

With that, he slammed the door in their faces.

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Author’s Note: Big thanks to my reviewers! unneeded, Kuragari, and Sabelsilverrain! You guys make me smile :)

Next up: Harry has a dream, Sirius and Remus interactions, and interrogation of the Malfoys!

Big thanks to Dani for being an awesome beta!
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Resistance