Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Emancipation	By : BadGirlgoesworse Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 14093 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Anything recognisable does not belong to me. Story is based on the books by JKR and inspired by other writers of this genre. I do not make any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
START OF TERM
Hermione returned to their compartment ten minutes before they were due to arrive looking no different from when she had left, except for the distinctively brighter mood, to be met with all too knowing smiles.
“That good?” Ginny asked laughing at her reddening complexion.
“You would like to know now, wouldn’t you?” she turned her nose up and sat down with a secretive smile playing on her lips.
“Er... Neville and I would rather pass, thank you very much,” Harry spoke up looking slightly uncomfortable. “But we do want to know if you are planning to bring him into the fold anytime soon.”
“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s too early to say for sure.”
Finally arriving at Hogsmeade Station they slowly made their way towards the carriages, greeting their year-mates and former DA members and even stopping to say hello to Hagrid, who was calling out for first-years in his usual booming voice. They split up to only four per carriage, because anything else would have been simply unreasonable at this point and reached the castle without incident. Entering the fortunately Peeves-free Entrance Hall they followed the stream of bodies to take their customary seats at the Gryffindor table.
The Great Hall was as magnificent as ever, yet Harry couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was missing. He looked over to the head table counting the familiar faces plus a new one, which he supposed belonged to one Professor Slughorn. Hagrid and Professor McGonagall were elsewhere of course, so nothing strange there.
He furrowed his brows in confusion. What the hell was it? Then it hit him. No blinding flashes of light, no annoying high-pitched voices. He looked up and down the Gryffindor table seeing neither Colin nor Dennis Creevey at it.
“Fuck!”
A sudden feeling of dread began spreading through his gut, while the sixth year Gryffindors sitting around him turned towards him in question.
“Where are the Creevey brothers?”
Everyone blinked once before starting to look all around the hall.
“Alice Mitchley, third-year and Robin Walter, seventh-year are missing as well,” Hermione informed him unable to hide the slight trembling in her voice.
“Muggleborn?”
She nodded confirming his suspicion. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“There are more people missing than there have been attacks, Harry,” Neville tried to ease his mind, “concerned parents preferring to leave their children at home rather than sending them to Hogwarts.”
He nodded seeing the point, but couldn’t get rid of this sudden feeling of guilt deep inside, no matter how irrational it was. A remnant of the Dursley legacy he assumed, anything bad happening had been always his fault, beaten into him to a point where he began actually believing it.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath emptying his mind and began searching his memory for anything that might help. ‘It’s not your fault!’ echoed through his head uttered by many familiar and loved faces, not having any effect though. ‘Some things are simply beyond our control’ Hermione had once said, but the knot in his midsection lingered still. Then a tall, black-robed figure appeared sneering at him down its large nose. ‘As hard as it is for your inflated ego to believe, Potter, the world does not revolve around you!’
To his amazement he felt the knot of guilt unwind and disappear and opened his eyes to take in the concerned faces watching him.
“I’m alright,” he reassured them turning his attention towards the line of first-years following Professor McGonagall to the front of the hall.
Who would have thought that one day Snape’s insults would be the only words I could trust unconditionally?
His gaze landed on the Defence Professor, who seemed to be too busy sizing up this year’s haul to notice it.
How on earth has it come to this?
xxxoooxxx
Severus ate with his customary slowness, which gave him the opportunity to keep an eye on the entire hall, his own house table in particular. There were quite a few people absent from the ranks of the student body he could tell, and not only due to the recent wave of attacks. Honestly, he could not understand some parents’ stupidity, as if keeping them close by would make their children safer than here at Hogwarts.
His eyes travelled along his seventh-years. Many of them were going to be marked this upcoming winter solstice, some were more than eager, others definitely less so. He would need to act quickly there. Potter had promised him funds for safe houses and false identities, if he needed to bring them out of the country, though he had failed to mention were the hell he was going to get them from, with him still underage. Severus made a mental note to ask, he would need the money as soon as possible, although he didn’t worry too much about it, Potter was not someone to make empty promises after all.
His gaze went further down the table. Draco seemed quite subdued and understandably so after the summer he had. He only hoped that it had been enough to open his eyes to the reality of things, and that he wasn’t too stubborn to ask for help. Nott was sitting more or less alone as he was wont, eyes down and hunched over his plate. Clever boy!
“I was meaning to ask you, Severus,” Slughorn leaned over to him. “What can you tell me about our young Mr. Potter?”
Severus snorted schooling his face into a mask of distaste. “Why, Horace, haven’t the others sung his praise enough yet for you to form an opinion?”
Slughorn chuckled patting him on the shoulder, ignoring the glare sent his way.
“Ah, my boy, Minerva has warned me that you might be not entirely reasonable in that quarter, but still.”
“Well, he is definitely not the best of Potions students,” Severus sneered condescendingly. “How he has managed to scrap an E on his O.W.L. is beyond me to be honest. Must be Ms. Granger’s doing.”
“Ah, another bright mind I have heard much about,” Slughorn continued unfazed, “and very much look forward to become acquainted with.”
“You are reopening the Slug Club then I assume?”
“Of course!” Slughorn straightened pompously. “What a better way to forward house unity? Albus has given his permission immediately.”
“Indeed,” Severus bit back a sarcastic response or two taking a sip from his goblet instead.
Seeing that he was not going to get more out of him, Slughorn had thankfully returned his attention to Flitwick sitting on his other side.
Potter. He refrained from looking in the direction of the Gryffindor table, having noticed that he was doing so uncommonly often. The young Gryffindor had been occupying his thoughts regularly as of late, it was true. There was something different about him drawing Severus’ interest almost without conscious thought. Something he was dreading to examine closely, if he was honest with himself, and thusly had pushed away into the far corners of his mind to be ignored.
Some things were better left alone. No one knew that better than Severus Snape.
xxxoooxxx
Harry woke up early the next morning, did his exercises and headed towards the showers just when the others began to stir. He was quite proud to have managed twenty press-ups today, it was twice as many than only last week after all. The potions obviously did their work, even though they made him feel as if he was hungry all the time. No wonder Ron made such a fuss about attending meals punctually and never missed an opportunity to make a trip to the kitchens at any time of day or night. Harry smirked to himself washing his hair. In that regard he definitely shouldn’t have given up his prefect badge so eagerly, having no permission to be out after curfew anymore. He was still getting used to the fact that Ron no longer belonged to the circle of his closest friends. It didn’t mean that he would lend him the cloak or the map anytime soon though.
He dressed and went down to the common room to wait for Hermione, Ginny and Neville, the items in question shrunk and put away securely in his pockets. He had decided to have them and his broom on him at all times from now on, with his list of enemies one couldn’t be too careful.
The girls and Neville appeared soon enough and they made their way towards the Great Hall together ignoring the pointing and the whispers, which seemed to follow them wherever they went ever since last year.
“Any plans concerning the Order?” Neville asked softly.
“Nothing specific at this point,” Harry watched their surroundings carefully. “Keep an eye open for new recruits I’d say. If you have names already, make a list and give it to me. Beyond that, you’ll need to make an appointment with Snape to discuss your training. I’ll inform him about your status via owl sometime today.”
“He’s going to train us individually?” Neville sounded surprised.
“It’s less conspicuous this way, or so he says,” Harry nodded turning to him with an innocent smile. “But don’t worry, I’m pretty positive those vampire rumours aren’t true, so he won’t bite.”
“Ha, ha, Harry,” he grimaced seemingly unconvinced.
Hermione and Ginny could only roll their eyes following close behind them.
Breakfast was a noisy affair, as always on the first day of school. McGonagall passed them their schedules and the Head Girl followed up with their patrol schedules. Harry looked his over pleased to notice that he would have quite a bit of free time this year, only to remember a moment later that there were his extracurricular commitments as well. Damn! He believed he could really hate Dumbledore sometimes!
Dutifully, he made a copy and passed it over to Hermione, who was in charge of his non-combat related education. Merlin, this year was going to be hell! His only consolation was that he would be spitting into Dumbledore’s soup with every book he went through and every new bit of information he committed to memory.
The owl post arrived bringing him his paper and a letter from Remus, which he put away to read in a more private place. There seemed to have been no new attacks or disappearances since yesterday, so he pursued the statistics for the upcoming election at leisure. Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office, was still a top candidate according to the survey held in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley this weekend. Seeing as the election was only two weeks away Harry decided it was time to have a look into the man’s public records, as well as any others he might find access to, and gain a better understanding of who he would be dealing with when the time came. He had no illusions as to what the new Minister’s first political move was going to be.
Finishing their breakfast they went back to the Gryffindor tower to fetch their bags and the books they would need today. Harry had Transfiguration first, then Ancient Runes with the third-years after lunch. He did look forward to the subject, but most certainly not to the attention he would be receiving. It wasn’t everyday that a sixth-year chose an entirely new elective after all, and if he hadn’t needed this one very badly, he’d have preferred to study it on his own.
Why? Why did I listen to Ron all those years back? Divination? Honestly, I should have dropped it after the very first lesson!
Making a detour into the loo he opened the letter and applied the password to reveal the hidden content.
Dear Prongs Junior,
Dumbledore has approached me yesterday asking after the extent of your knowledge of the wizarding world. To be honest it came as a shock to me that he has actually confessed to my face that he has been trying to limit it since your childhood. If only Sirius had known...
But no matter, cub, I have told him that I have no idea what he was talking about and the ruddy bastard seemed to have swallowed that. It might be reasonable to assume that he is going to approach people close to you with the same question in the near future.
Take care,
Moony.
Harry burned the letter and vanished the ashes before leaving the loo and making his way down to the common room. He had been expecting this ever since the reading of Sirius’ will, but had yet to decide what to do about it exactly. It was a bit late for feigning ignorance, the only other option would be therefore pretending to know everything. He would have to instruct the New Order accordingly and see what Dumbledore was going to come up with to counteract this. Whatever it was, it was unlikely to be truly harmful, but without doubt very annoying.
Then he remembered Ron and grimaced inside. Knowing him he would spill without second thought, maybe even more than willingly in the hopes to gain standing with the Headmaster.
Ah, fuck! Your worst enemies are your best friends they say. How bloody true!
He began seriously contemplating obliviating him when a brilliant idea struck his mind. He could simply say that he had been only pretending to not know anything, because of Ron’s jealousy. He had been upset enough about his trust vault, just imagine how he would have reacted, if Harry had began flaunting his inheritance in his face.
Perfect!
Harry met up with his friends a smug little smile playing around the corners of his lips.
“Later,” he assured them seeing their questioning looks. “There’s a bit of trouble on the horizon, but I have a plan.”
xxxoooxxx
The day flew by far too fast for Draco’s tastes and he was still unsure how to proceed. Should he start working on Blaise and Daphne or should he secure Potter’s support first to have a better bargaining position. And what in Merlin’s name could he offer Potter in the first place? Not to mention how to convince him to listen him out, much less to believe him?
He truly should discuss this with his godfather first he knew, Severus would certainly be able to help him. And if not for the topic of this conversation, he would have approached him immediately. However, with Severus and Potter being a volatile combination at best of times, he had every reason to tread carefully.
Setting aside his half-finished Transfiguration essay long after dinner he decided he’d better get it over with and go see Severus. He had to talk about his loyalties with him at some point in the near future anyway, so now would be as good a time as any. Arriving at the door he nearly raised his fist to knock, only to remember suddenly that the Potions Professor’s quarters weren’t his godfather’s anymore, so he turned and made his way towards the first floor cursing under his breath.
Knocking on the right door this time and more aware than ever before that he won’t have the luxury of turning to an adult for advise this easily in just a year’s time, Draco felt his insides clench unpleasantly. Yes, this uncertainty was very unsettling indeed! Everything had been so simple and clear only three months ago, now though he didn’t know all that well what to think, much less what to do.
The door opened revealing Severus’ harsh profile, which softened somewhat as it always did when seeing him. The summer seemed to have done him good, his frame had lost its gaunt appearance, as well as the tenseness present almost constantly these past couple of years.
“Good evening, Severus, am I intruding?”
“Not at all, Draco, come in,” he stepped back and gestured towards his couches. “Have a seat. Tea?”
Draco nodded sitting down on the simple, yet fine and elegant piece of furniture, which he sincerely doubted had been part of the inventory when Severus moved in. As a matter of fact, the only items in this room looking remotely used were his books arranged neatly on the fine mahogany shelves.
“I have taken the liberty to refurnish my rooms after my own liking,” Severus informed him haughtily obviously having followed his gaze. “Their original state has been simply unacceptable.”
A house-elf wrapped in a slivery silk scarf, pinned in place with a golden brooch, appeared with a soft pop and disposed a tea tray on the small table between them, displaying a pride and grace he had never seen in these creatures before.
“Thank you, Winky,” Severus dismissed her and she bowed and left almost inaudibly.
Draco could not help but stare openly. Pouring out two cups Severus put his before him and began fixing his own clearly amused.
“I do understand that a decently treated house-elf must be a novelty to you, Draco, but your tea is getting cold.”
Draco’s eyes became wider if possible, looking at his godfather as if he had sprouted a second head instead of making a joke at his cost. Fixing his tea on automatic and taking a sip he regarded the man sitting opposite to him almost warily. This Severus seemed to be more relaxed, more outspoken and definitely less afraid.
What gave him such confidence?
“The knowledge to have made the right choices for once in my life,” Severus answered enigmatically having read the question in his mind.
Feeling his face heat up slightly Draco took another sip of his tea, pondering the meaning of these words. Though unable to decipher them on so little information, he gave up filing them away for later references and concentrated on the reason of his visit instead.
“I don’t want to serve Him.”
Severus regarded him for a couple of moments as if gauging his sincerity, then smiled approvingly, making him feel lighter at once.
“I for my part am glad to hear it, Draco. Your relatives on the other hand, might not be as pleased.”
He snorted in amusement. That would be the understatement of the century.
“To be honest, I’m more afraid for my mother than for myself,” he answered becoming serious again. “I’m more or less safe here at Hogwarts. And as soon as I turn seventeen I’m going to be free to do whatever turns out to be the best in the summer before seventh year, having unrestricted access to money and all our property. In the meantime though, she would be exposed to any cruelty father and the others might come up with.”
Severus nodded deep in thought. “You could try and arrange for her safety with a third party,” he suggested after a while.
“Who? Dumbledore?” he sneered derisively.
“No,” Severus sneered in return. “The Headmaster has little interest in the safety of Slytherins, much less Malfoys, not to mention that his protection never comes without strings attached.”
Draco blinked surprised, never having heard his godfather talk about Dumbledore that way before.
“There is another powerful and influential party around,” Severus continued refilling their empty cups. “Have you not kept up with the news this summer, Draco? Surely, it could not have slipped your notice, who the late Lord Black has left his House to.”
Of course! Merlin, I’m an idiot! Draco could have slapped himself for sheer stupidity. The answer to his problems was sitting before his very nose all along!
“Though still underage, the Heir of the House Potter and Black is most certainly not without ways and means, as you can well think. And as long as she has done nothing to dishonour the House Black, Narcissa Black Malfoy is his responsibility, no matter her affiliations. In that regard I sincerely doubt he would refuse an official request on your side.”
Draco nodded distractedly in agreement plans already forming in his mind, not noticing the smug smirk pass across his godfathers lips, before he took another sip.
- 14
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Emancipation