Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Marriage of Convenience	By : NinaSweets Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 159377 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 45
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters and places all belong to JK Rowling this is a not for profit story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
It was my birthday this past Sunday yay! I was trying to get the chapter up in time for it but I got distracted by cake, sorry, but here it is so enjoy, Nina

Chapter Seventeen
The news of the body in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom had spread like wild fire. Students were all finding reasons to be in that particular hallway trying to catch a glimpse of the Ministry’s Aurors at work.
Professor Trelawney, the dotty Divination teacher had emerged from her tower to stalk the castle offering cleansing aura baths to anyone who needed one, especially to Professor Lupin.
“Your aura is very clouded my dear it will do wonders for you,” the woman was insisting over breakfast Thursday morning. “Do you have some creature blood in you dear?”
“Er...” Lupin said uncomfortably shifting away from her.
Harry and Ron were watching the scene with amusement from the Gryffindor table, Hermione sat opposite them reading a book and nibbling at the corner of some toast.
“On a planet of her own that one,” Ron sniggered watching the Divination teacher turn to Snape waving some incense sticks in his face.
“This will end well,” Harry said watching his enraged husband try to ignore the woman.
“Breakfast and a show,” Ron said with a grin.
They didn’t get to see Snape blow up in her face though because at that moment Professor Dumbledore came striding toward them with the Minister of Magic.
“Good morning Harry, Ron and Hermione, how are we all this morning?” Dumbledore asked.
The three students mumbled some variation of ‘good’ back at the headmaster. Ron and Hermione had never met the Minister before and appeared to be a little shocked by his presence. Harry was just worried he was somehow in trouble again.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast but I was wondering if you three would follow me for a quick chat,” Dumbledore said.
“Of course sir,” Hermione said immediately abandoning her breakfast to follow the headmaster.
Ron and Harry were a little slower but eventually the odd little group made their way to Dumbledore’s office.
Dumbledore took a seat behind his desk and began to offer tea and sweets while Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down on the couch by the fire place, leaving the seat in front of the headmaster’s desk free for Minister Fudge.
Fudge did not sit down and instead chose to stand beside the chair instead, warily watching Fawkes the phoenix who was bouncing up and down excitedly on Dumbledore’s desk.
There was an uneasy silence while Dumbledore made some tea for himself and picked out a few sweets from the small dish in front of him.
“Good afternoon Harry,” Fudge greeted and Harry smiled and gave the man a nod.
“Minister,” Harry replied.
“Won’t you introduce me?” Fudge asked, Harry glanced at Dumbledore who wasn’t looking at him but was patiently petting Fawkes.
“Of course, this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger,” Harry said indicating who was who with a hand wave.
“Nice to meet you,” his friends muttered awkwardly at Harry’s introduction.
“Weasley? Arthur Weasley’s boy?” Fudge asked looking Ron up and down.
“One of them,” Ron said and Fudge smiled a very large smile.
“I don’t believe I’ve heard of the Grangers,” he turned to Hermione and spoke politely. Hermione drew herself up proudly and met his gaze.
“My parents are Muggles sir.”
“Well how lovely,” Fudge said.
There was silence and Fudge looked a little uncomfortable as the conversation stalled. He began to twist his lime green bowler hat in his hands.
Harry shot Hermione a glance but her face was fixed into a polite smile.
“I must say this is an incredible honour but I find myself curious as to why you would want to meet us,” Hermione said her voice was soft, polite but Harry could tell she was wary of Fudge. She didn’t know him well and was keeping her guard up until she could properly work him out. Ron was simply glancing between everyone, taking everything in quietly.
“Oh well we just wanted to tell you the second task for the Tournament,” Fudge said, he glanced to Dumbledore who was chewing on a lemon drop, happily letting them carry on the conversation themselves.
Fudge sighed at Dumbledore’s silence and continued on, “We needed something that would challenge the champions but not something that would take a terribly long time to set up. Professor Dumbledore has suggested we use the third floor corridor and the various traps set up that were safe guarding the Philosophers Stone,”
Hermione sucked in a sharp breath but other than that had no reaction to Fudge’s words.
“They are already set up and Ministry approved. We just need to make sure you don’t let the champions know what to expect, can’t give anyone an unfair advantage now can we?” Fudge said smiling at them all. They nodded in agreement.
“Good, the task will be held on Saturday morning so you won’t have to keep the secret very long,” Fudge said,
“I’m sorry sir,” Hermione said softly, “but if some eleven year olds could work it out I can’t imagine it would be very difficult for a group of seventeen year olds,”
“Well to be fair Hermione the champions won’t have you down there,” Harry said before Fudge could speak. Hermione blushed lightly and shot Harry a small smile.
“The champions will be going through one at a time,” Fudge said explained.
“I’d like to see Krum try work out that chessboard,” Ron sniggered and Hermione shot him a dark look.
“He’s very clever I’m sure he’ll complete it easily. I feel the only thing any of the champions will struggle with is Professor Snape’s riddle,” Hermione said.
“The troll will probably be awake too, that’ll slow them down. We were lucky we didn’t have to fight that thing again,” Harry said and Hermione nodded in agreement.
“Wonder how Fleur will go with Fluffy, she doesn’t seem to have much luck with animals,” Hermione said and Harry shrugged,
“Well the only reason we knew what we were doing was because Hagrid told us. The champions do have a challenge ahead of them if they’re going in blind,” Harry said.
“That is the idea, yes,” Fudge said drawing the trio’s attention back to him, “I again must stress how important it is that you not tell anyone,”
“Of course Minister,” the three of them said together.
“If Professor Karkaroff comes to you I want you to report it straight to me,” Dumbledore said, speaking for the first time since they had entered the office. He was looking at Harry in particular. Harry gave a short nod,
“Madame Maxime as well,” Fudge added and the group nodded to him.
“All right then, that will be all children, thank you very much,” Fudge said politely,
“It was nice to meet you,” Hermione said brightly and then led the way of the office, Harry and Ron hurrying behind her.
“Nice to meet you,” Ron mocked and Hermione slapped his arm.
“It’s the Minister of Magic, I’m sorry but I don’t know any fourteen year old that gets to just talk to him like that,” Hermione said.
They made their way to their morning class, taking a longer route around to talk quietly amongst themselves.
“What was he doing here?” Hermione asked leading the way down the corridor.
“Investigating the murder,” Ron said.
“No, he was here before they even found Mr Crouch, besides he’s not an Auror what help would he be? He came up through the Department of Magical International Co-Operation, practically useless for solving murders,”
“Trying to work out a new task, he’s here to replace Crouch right?” Harry guessed.
“Well Mr Bagman wasn’t here every day, why would Minister Fudge need to be? Surely he has more important things to do then hang around here,”
“Probably doesn’t want to be doing them, it’s a pretty dodgy time to be Minister,” Ron muttered.
“Why?” Harry asked
“Er... with You-Know-Who coming back I’m sure his plates pretty full,” Ron said giving Harry a look of surprise.
“But the Ministry is pretending it didn’t happen remember, I’m the only one who was there and no one believes me.”
“I think he’s here to keep an eye on you,” Hermione said quietly and Harry turned to her.
“Me? Why?”
“That whole You-Know-Who thing, a few whispered words into the right person’s ear and you could completely ruin the Minister and the Ministry for that matter,” Hermione said.
“What?”
“Harry I don’t think you realise how important you really are, it’s wonderful and refreshing and actually one of the reasons I love being your friend,” Hermione said, “When you got rid of him the first time you didn’t just save some wizards. You saved the world,”
Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief but Hermione shook her head.
“I know you don’t get it and you won’t, you can only ever see yourself as just Harry and you hate the Boy-Who-Lived and all the madness that goes along with it. You can use it to your advantage if you want to,” Hermione insisted.
“How?”
“Just by being you, a young boy in love with his potions teacher who keeps getting trapped in awful situations. At the second task don’t avoid the reporters there, speak with them and be yourself. Let them bring up You-Know-Who, answer honestly but shortly, talk more about your grades and how much you love and enjoy being with Professor Snape,”
“I’m not in love with Snape,” Harry said and Hermione smiled at him.
“Okay,”
“I’m not!”
“All right, I believe you,” she insisted.
Harry nodded firmly and led the way to class, not noticing the amused look Ron and Hermione exchanged behind him.

Harry sat with Snape at the teachers table on Saturday morning. It was the day of the second task and the way Snape was glaring at anyone who dared approach them the first try of this task was still fresh in his mind.
The three champions were already waiting at the third floor corridor; Ludo Bagman was with them, presumably giving them a last minute pep talk before the task began.
The judges were sitting in the Great Hall, along with the rest of the students from the three schools, preparing to watch a live feed. The judges couldn’t really follow the champions through the task and had no way of knowing how they performed each challenge. The students were excited because it was promising to be more exciting than watching the lake for an hour.
Ludo Bagman waltzed into the Great Hall and sat down at the judges table ready to start commentating. Their live feed started showing the three champions waiting in the corridor beside the door Harry knew Fluffy the three headed dog was behind.
“Ladies and gentlemen welcome again to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament,” Bagman began with a laugh. “Today we have a special treat; you will all get to watch every inch of the task on this lovely projection over on this wall here. This will help our judges keep track of our champions and also ensure that you’ve all got the very best seats for all this exciting action. First up is Viktor Krum of Durmstrang!” Bagman cried.
The champions all exchanged a nervous glance before Krum nodded. He turned to the door and swiftly headed through it, leaving Fleur and Cedric on their own.
The room was dark as Krum entered so the crowd couldn’t see anything. Krum lit his wand and held it in front of him shining it around the room. There was nothing in there. He headed to the wall first walking all the way around, running his hand along it. He was looking for switches or something to that effect. He walked around the whole room, winding up back at the door with a frown on his face. He then began to carefully walk up and down the room his wand shining on the floor. He stopped in the middle when he found the trap door. With a roll of his eyes at something so obvious he pulled it open and held his wand high to shine light down the hole. He flicked his wand sharply and a ball of light fell down the hole showing just how deep it was.
Krum frowned; the light seemed to just disappear. There was no way to really tell what was at the bottom so Krum simply jumped down.
“Ugh!” he said when he landed.
The landing was softened by Devils Snare, a plant with long thick vines that would squeeze anything when the plant felt threatened.
The long vines immediately began to wrap around Krum who cursed in Bulgarian. It obviously wasn’t a very nice word judging by some of the Durmstrang student’s reactions.
Krum was muttering under his breath obviously thinking through spells. Krum eventually just decided on setting the plant on fire and it let go flailing wildly, hitting itself to put out the flames.
“Oh now really!” Professor Sprout said sounding completely horrified.
Krum hurried to the wall away from the plant as quickly as he could turning back to watch the plant coiling away from the flames. He then held his wand in front of him, the tip of it lit up shining the light around the room. He found an open passageway and quickly began to head down it.
He arrived in a large chamber with a ceiling three stories high. There were lots of oddly shaped birds with a rainbow of colours for wings.
Krum ignored them and headed to the door directly opposite. He pulled on the handle but it was locked. Frowning in thought he pulled out his wand and began to cast a variety of unlocking spells on the door. Not one of them worked. He then turned and looked up at the birds, his eyes widening when he realised they were not birds they were keys. He glanced around quickly and spotted a very old worn looking broom in the corner. He headed for it immediately and picked it up with distaste. It was obviously a very crappy broom and for an international Quidditch star it was almost insulting. The broom looked more like a cleaning broom then one for flying but it was all there was. Krum sighed and held it out allowing it to float gently beside him for a moment before climbing on it. He did a few practise laps of the room first, getting the feel for the broom before heading back to the door to study the lock.

He turned back to the keys studying them quietly and intently. He simply sat, just watching, for nearly ten minutes. Then, suddenly, he shot straight upward; hand outstretched and captured one of the keys. He landed gracefully and shoved the winged key into the lock. It worked and he grinned at the key, gently releasing it back to its fellows.
He walked through the door into a completely darkened room. He looked around lighting the tip of his wand once more trying to work out what was hiding in the dark.
He took a step forward and torches flared to life along the walls. Before him was a giant chess board and he simply groaned at the sight of it. It was clear from the human sized pieces that he would have to play as a piece himself. He looked at each piece carefully before deciding to be a knight. He played the game pretty badly, loosing most of his pieces in the first dozen or so moves. He was trying to rush and it was costing him dearly. He groaned again and commanded his bishop forward in Bulgarian. It took him over half an hour to play through the board. When he won he gave a small cheer of joy and sprinted from the room. He was very happy to put that room behind him. He entered the next room where the smile slipped from his face. Putting a hand over his mouth he cast the light around the room. The wand light picked up something wet and slimy. There were bones in the wet and slimy thing. Krum flinched away from it and quickly hurried past; still covering his mouth from what was a truly horrible stench.
He hurried into the next chamber and found the passage back was now blocked by purple flames. The way forward was blocked with black flames. In the middle of the room was a small table where seven potions sat along with a note.
Krum picked it up; it was in Bulgarian for him so he quickly read the note. His head dropped down with a sigh of confusion. He sat down on the floor in front of the table reading over the note again and again. He stared at the bottles and then back at the note. It was a solid twenty minutes before he stood back up and picked up one of the vials. He drank it quickly and headed for the black flames. He didn’t make it very far, half way across the room he fell down holding a hand to his chest gasping desperately. He had drunk the poison by mistake.
A side door opened and three ministry officials were sprinting into the room.
The projection went black and the crowd of students in the great hall all began to chatter immediately about what they’d just witnessed.
“Mr Krum has accidentally poisoned himself, so he unfortunately cannot finish,” Bagman called.
The students from Durmstrang were all watching in shock while Beauxbatons and Hogwarts gave polite applause for Krum’s efforts.
“The judges will tally up his results and he can see them and watch the other champion’s progress from the champions viewing room,” Bagman continued.
The crowd turned to the judges who were all chatting away with one another. Finally it was time for scores and Dumbledore went first. He gave Krum a 9, Karkaroff gave a 10, Maxime gave a 6 and Fudge gave an 8.
“Thank you very much judges,” Bagman said.
The projection came back and showed Cedric and Fleur waiting in the hallway patiently.
“Our next contestant, from Hogwarts, Mr Cedric Diggory,”
Cedric entered the first room. He lit his wand, shining it around the room curiously. He didn’t take nearly as long as Krum to find the trap door. That was only because as he was walking across the room he tripped over the handle. Turning abruptly he hauled the trap door open and jumped down the hole without a second thought.
He landed with a soft thump and gasped as the Devil’s Snare began to wind around him. He was quicker then that though and managed to pull free before it got a good hold of him. He made it to the wall and through the passage in record time.
He came into the room of winged keys and glanced around in confusion. He spotted the door and tried to open it with magic. Turning with a sigh he spotted the winged keys above him for the first time and his eyebrows rose. He looked around and found the rickety old broom Krum had left by the door. He flew up on the broom studying the keys. There were several dozen keys that matched the lock in both colour and size. Cedric studied those keys carefully before just grabbing one and trying it. When it didn’t work he flew back up, hovering carefully, studying the keys once more. He flew forward, grabbing another one from the air swiftly. He tried it but it also didn’t work, he sighed in frustration turning back to stare at the keys again. It took him eight more tries to finally get the correct key and he hurried through the door.
Torches along the wall burst into light as Cedric stepped into the next room. It was the chessboard and Cedric, like Krum, groaned at the sight of it.
He walked across the board, hoping he wouldn’t have to play but the white pieces blocked his path. He turned back and headed over to his black pieces taking place of the bishop. Cedric was not a very good chess player. He spent most of the game in check and then after only ten minutes was check-mated.
The chess board wasn’t ordinary; it was a wizard’s chess board. That meant simply being check-mated wasn’t enough, each piece destroyed the other. Cedric steeled himself for the blow and was knocked clear across the room by the white king.
The Great Hall was silent as the crowd waited to see if Cedric would get back up.
He didn’t and the Ministry healers came hurrying into the room to levitate him onto a stretcher.
The projection went black and Bagman was again addressing the crowd.
“While we leave Mr Diggory in the capable hands of our healers let’s see what the judges thought of his performance,” Bagman said turning to the judges table.
Dumbledore gave a 7, Karkaroff a 4, Maxime a 5 and Fudge awarded another 5.
“Some harsh scores from our judges there for the Hogwarts champion but this is a competition after all,” Bagman said.
The projection turned back on and showed Fleur standing in the hallway alone singing softly to herself under her breath.
“Last, but certainly not least, from Beauxbatons, Miss Fleur Delacour!” Bagman announced.
Fleur hurried forward and through the door in front of her. She stopped in the darkened room holding her lit wand in front of her. She took a cautious approach like Krum, heading around the walls first, her hand trailing along it feeling for trick stones or hidden alcoves. Once she had done a few laps she crouched down on the floor and began to carefully crawl up and down the room just as Krum had done. She found the trap door and hauled it open quickly. Unable to see anything she flicked her wand in an up-down circular motion and the Lumos spell lighting her wand fell off and down the hall. She watched it fall and fall, giving no real indication on how deep the tunnel was. She sighed softly and began to carefully lower herself down into the hole. She turned, holding onto the edge with one hand and attempted to reach the wall opposite. She wasn’t quite tall enough, she had been attempting to gently crab-jump her way down but the hole was too large. She breathed in and out sharply a few times before letting go of the edge. She let out a squeal of surprise as she fell and landed with a sharp hiss of pain.
Unlike Cedric she didn’t catch on to the Devil’s Snare until it was too late. It had wrapped around her slowly and she only noticed when it began to strangle her. She gasped and jabbed at the vine around her neck sharply with her wand. The plant simply tightened around her making her choke. She waved her wand again this time shooting flames at the plant. It released her immediately and she scrambled away from it gasping softly.
She turned and made her way down the passage to the room with the winged keys. Like Krum and Cedric before her she ignored the keys and headed straight to the door trying to open it with magic. She turned and leant against the door in frustration when her spells didn’t work. She looked up at the birds and realised they were keys.
She turned and found the broom, carefully climbing astride it to study the keys more closely. It took her about thirty different keys to find the right one as she kept getting frustrated and just grabbing random ones.
When she got through and entered the next room with the human chessboard she gasped. She looked around for the door and saw it on the other side of the board; she said something in French, a curse of some kind judging by her facial expression. She shook her head her ponytail swishing as she did so. She then turned and began to pace behind her chess pieces talking to herself in French. She had done several laps before she turned to the board with a look of grim determination. She took place of the queen. Fleur wasn’t a very good chess player but she was careful and cautious. She took her time with the game, thinking every move through very carefully and speaking to herself under her breath. It took her forty-five minutes to play across the board and she finally got to checkmate the king. The pieces bowed to her for a game well played and she beamed giving a curtsey in return. She hurried through the door the pieces had been guarding and stopped.
“Eugh!” she coughed. She waved her wand and the room lit up. Cedric hadn’t made it this far and Krum had simply passed through with only the light of his wand. Now with the room lit up they could see what was causing the awful stench. It was a mountain troll and it was dead. Trolls didn’t smell all that great when they were alive and judging by Fleur’s reaction they weren’t all that better dead. She turned and threw up next to the door way, gasping softly. She sprinted past the troll with her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes from the stench. She hurried through the door near the troll and slammed the door shut behind her. There was the table with the seven bottles on it. As Fleur stepped toward it purple flames sprang up behind her and black flames blocked the way forward. She turned to the table and found the note with the riddle in French for her. She read it quickly and then looked down at the bottles studying them carefully. She picked each one up and swirled it around gently in its bottle while reciting the note under her breath as she did so. Eventually she picked up a small vial and drained it in one gulp. She ran forward and passed through the black flames unharmed.
The chamber she entered was empty for all except one thing, a mirror. Fleur headed toward it carefully. Her reflection smiled and waved beckoning her forward. She came closer and stopped before it but her reflection simply smiled and waved her closer. Fleur stepped forward and raised her hands to the glass. She gasped as her reflection leant forward and pulled her through.
The projection went black and Bagman smiled to the crowd. He pointed to the door behind the staff table where the champions had gone when they’d been chosen on Halloween night. The door opened and Fleur walked out looking a little confused but mostly happy. Her fellow students all cheered and began to run over to her all shouting excitedly in French.
“Miss Delacour,” Bagman called and Fleur quickly shushed the students around her turning to the man with a smile, “You are the only champion to complete today’s tasks successfully, let’s see what the judges make of that,”
Dumbledore smiled and gave her a 9, Karkaroff a 6, Maxime gave a 10 and Fudge gave a 9. The Beauxbatons students cheered in excitement and Fleur smiled thanking the judges politely.
Harry turned to Snape to find the man watching him with his face blank.
“Go chat with your friends,” Snape said, “I know you’re just dying to compare notes on your rule breaking experience compared to the champions,”
Harry smiled and gave the man a quick kiss. He turned ready to head off in search of his friends and nearly crashed into Fudge. If it wasn’t for Snape’s steadying hand on his shoulder he would have smacked right into the Minister of Magic.
“Good afternoon,” Fudge greeted,
“Good afternoon Minister,” Harry replied, Snape didn’t bother saying anything. He simply stood towering over Harry and keeping his hand possessively on Harry’s shoulder.
“I was hoping that we might all have a little chat,” Fudge said
“Why certainly Cornelius,” Dumbledore said brightly. He seemed to have appeared from nowhere and by the look of Fudge’s face he was certainly not welcome.
“Oh Albus I meant just with the Snape’s here,” Fudge said
“Well the more the merrier as they say, come along, we’ll use my office,” Dumbledore insisted.
“My husband has studies he must attend to, I’m sure you understand,” Snape said smoothly.
“Of course,” Fudge said, “Perhaps later today then,”
“Oh I’m afraid not,” Snape said and Fudge raised an eyebrow, “Remedial Potions lesson,”
“I see,”
“I’m sure we can still have a pleasant afternoon without Harry,” Dumbledore said giving Harry a small smile.
The two professors led the Minister out of the rapidly clearing hall leaving Harry to frown after them in curiosity. He put that aside for the moment and headed off in search of his friends. He found them waiting for him outside in the entrance hall and together they headed up to the Gryffindor common room.
“I think Viktor did really well,” Hermione said as they settled down into the squishy red chairs, in what they had dubbed ‘their corner’ of the Gryffindor common room.
“Except for the part where he accidentally poisoned himself,” Ron said
“An easy mistake,” Hermione said dismissively.
“And Diggory, with that chess board!” Ron laughed. He fell back against the couch with a grin on his face feeling very smug indeed.
“Well if you were doing it alone you wouldn’t have made it past the Devils Snare,” Hermione said glaring at him.
“We were eleven, if I was doing it at seventeen like the other champions I would have,” Ron said and Hermione shook her head.
“You didn’t pay any attention in Herbology then and you certainly don’t now,”
“Hermione I think we can all agree Ron and I wouldn’t have made it far in life let alone that stupid task without your help,” Harry said and Hermione glanced at him.
“Don’t be silly, your both brilliant in your own ways,” Hermione said sternly. There was a silence while Ron watched Hermione with a frown of confusion. Hermione wasn’t looking at him she was watching Harry instead with a reassuring smile.
“Fleur was the unexpected one in that task though,” Ron offered quietly.
“I think she’s an intelligent witch,” Hermione agreed, “She seems to have very poor luck when animals are involved, I suspect it’s her Veela blood,”
“She’s a Veela?” Ron and Harry asked together and Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Part Veela, her grandmother was one. She was bragging about it at the Yule Ball all through dinner.”
Veela were very beautiful female creatures, who had a very powerful thrall they could use on men by turning on their charm or performing a special dance. When they were enraged their features distorted into the pointed face of bird like beings and they could throw fire.
“How did Snape find the task Harry?” Hermione asked and Harry frowned.
“Dunno, we didn’t really talk a lot, Fudge pounced on us as soon as Fleur won.”
“Really? What did he want?”
“Just to chat apparently, Snape said I had school work and shooed me away,”
“Odd,” Hermione said
“Frees me up to spend time with you two,” Harry said and Hermione smiled
“Want to play chess?” Ron interrupted and Harry laughed.
“You mean do I want to lose at chess?” Harry asked.
“Come on Harry,” Ron begged
“We’ll play as a team, I think the two of us together can beat you,” Hermione said and Ron grinned,
“Challenge accepted.”
It turns out even with Hermione’s superior logic they could not beat Ron at chess. He was just too good, although to be fair Hermione had only played Muggle chess a handful of times and Harry hadn’t played it all.
Harry stayed in the common room until it was almost curfew he then bid goodbye to his friends making his way back down to his rooms.
Snape was standing in front of a blackboard, he had written all over it in his tiny writing. There were equations on it and he’d written sideways in places to fit it all on the board.
“New potion?” Harry guessed. Snape grunted in response and Harry rolled his eyes.
“Well I’m going to bed, don’t stay up to late,” Harry said and headed off to the bedroom.
He fell into an easy sleep and woke up feeling very well rested on Sunday morning. He had plans to spend the day with Ron and Hermione as Ron needed her help with his Potions homework and Harry was hoping she’d proof read his Charms essay.
There was no sign of Snape in the bedroom so Harry assumed he was already up and terrifying first years for running in the halls or something. He changed quickly into some jeans and a jumper eager to have a relaxing lazy breakfast while he waited for his friends to get up.
He came into the living room to find Snape standing there still staring at his blackboard. He’d conjured two other boards now and they were all covered in writing. He hadn’t bothered erasing some of his work he just wrote over the top of it.
Snape had his head resting against one of the blackboards there was chalk all over his face and hands and he was breathing heavily. A sure sign he was immensely frustrated.
“Morning,” Harry offered hesitantly.
Snape didn’t lift his head, he just mumbled into the chalkboard, “Is it morning?”
“Yes,”
“Damn.”
“Are you all right?”
“Probably,”
Harry stared at him and frowned.
“Er... did you want me to get you something?”
“No, just go, I need to think,”
“I think you’ve thought enough, your brain is fried. This part doesn’t even have ingredients on it; it just says ‘DIE BLACK DIE’,” Harry said.
“That’s a very important ingredient!” Snape snapped and Harry stared at him sternly.
“You need to go to bed,” Harry said
“No! I’m nearly done!”
“Professor-” Harry started but Snape shook his head.
“You don’t understand, well of course you don’t, no one tells you anything then again I can’t tell you anything either, this is a cycle, an endless cycle and I have to fix it but my brain isn’t working and I don’t have enough time...” he continued on this way muttering to himself.
“Tipple,” Harry called. The house elf appeared immediately and looked at Harry.
“What does Mistress Harry be needing?”
“How many times have – look, never mind that now, there’s something wrong with Snape,”
“Oh no Miss, this is just how Master Severus thinks. Normally he is in his lab so you don’t get disturbed by his mutterings,” Tipple said “I shall put him in his lab,”
“No, it’s fine, I’m going out anyway... just make sure he’s okay,”
“Of course,” Tipple said.
Harry reluctantly headed off to breakfast.
As he entered the Great Hall he nearly crashed into Fudge who was leaving.
“Ah Harry, just the boy I wanted to see,” Fudge said beaming happily.
“Oh... good morning Minister,” Harry said politely. “Er... what did you want to talk about?”
“Cornelius!” Dumbledore seemed to appear out of nowhere just like yesterday. The man obviously didn’t want the Minister chatting with Harry and Harry was absolutely fine with that.
“I wanted to discuss that proposal you had for more Ministerial involvement at Hogwarts, I think it’s very important for the government to be supporting all areas of magical education,” Dumbledore said and then started as if he’d just noticed Harry. “Good morning Harry,”
“Headmaster,”
“I’m sure you don’t want to listen to two old men prattle on, why not go and get your breakfast?”
“Er... sure, it was nice seeing you again Minister,” Harry said and then hurried to the Gryffindor table.
Ron and Hermione came in only a few minutes later and Harry spoke to them about Snape and Fudge. Ron was frowning in thought while Hermione bit her lip with worry as they processed this information.
“I wouldn’t worry about Snape so much, dads always muttering to himself when he’s tinkering in his garage,” Ron said and Hermione nodded in agreement.
“I would worry about Fudge though, I can’t imagine what he wants to talk to you about but I doubt its good,” Hermione said.
“Well it’s either Voldemort or Snape, possibly both. Dumbledore keeps heading him off,” Harry said
“Maybe Snape knows,” Ron said around a mouthful of toast. Hermione threw him a disgusted look but was ignored.
“Snape isn’t up for talking right now. If he can’t solve... whatever it is he’s trying to solve he’s going to be in a really bad mood for a while,”
Harry was correct on that. Tipple had managed to force Snape to leave his rooms but all he did was shout at students and hand out detentions. It was a record loss for house points that afternoon and Professor Dumbledore had spent the better part of the afternoon re-awarding the house points and comforting terrified first years. Dumbledore, with the help of Tipple, managed to drag Snape back to his rooms and the school was safe again.
Hermione was insistent that he go and talk to Snape.
“That behaviour is completely unacceptable,” Hermione said as she and Ron pushed Harry along the corridor forcing him in the direction of his rooms.
“I’m sure that’s why Dumbledore is with him,” Harry had protested.
Ron stopped pushing and Harry turned to him gratefully. Hermione was strong but the only reason she’d gotten Harry moving was with the red head boys help.
“I have to agree with Harry on that one,”
“Well maybe Harry can help you with your potions assignment then,” Hermione said and Ron sighed.
“Sorry Harry,” Ron said and resumed pushing a very reluctant Harry down the corridor.
“You’re very mean friends,” Harry complained when they were standing in front of the doorway to his rooms.
“If he kills you, you can tell me ‘I told you so’,” Hermione promised with a smile.
“Thanks,” Harry muttered and headed inside. He closed the door with a snap on Hermione’s smug face vowing to get her back with one of Fred and George’s joke shop prototypes.
Snape and Dumbledore were sitting on the couch. Snape was reading from a notebook and Dumbledore had been trying to help. They both stopped and turned to him though as he entered.
“Ah Harry, come in, come in,” Dumbledore said waving the boy forward. Harry smiled, he loved how the man made himself at home, inviting Harry into his own rooms.
“Tea?”
“No thank you,” Harry said walking over to take a seat beside Snape.
Dumbledore watched him and waited till he was settled before conjuring up a tea set and serving himself a cup of steaming tea. There was silence and Harry frowned, waiting for someone to talk.
Dumbledore seemed to be waiting too and eventually settled for giving Snape a small kick. Harry assumed he hadn’t meant to see that but it was hard when Snape jolted so violently and glared at the Headmaster.
Snape sighed and turned to Harry,
“Potter,”
“Harry,” Dumbledore mumbled into his tea.
“Harry,” Snape corrected, “We need to talk.”

Sorry but that’s where it’s got to end. I’m writing the next chapter right this minute so I hope I can get it up soon for you guys.
Also I’m just curious would you like me to continue on with this through Harry’s final years at Hogwarts or would you prefer it as separate stories. I’m leaning more toward the flowing right on through and turning this into a long chaptered story. It’ll mean more time jumps and I won’t have to rewrite chapters of the books when I want things to be the same, I can just sum it up and continue on with what I’ve changed. Let me know what you’d prefer.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time, Nina
- 16
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A Marriage of Convenience