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The first years fell silent as the formidable figure of Severus Snape swept into the room, his first words echoing around the eerie dungeon.
“In this class, there will be no silly wand waving. I will be teaching you how to brew fame, bottle glory, and put a stopper in death.” The Gryffindor and Slytherins watched in a combination of fear and awe as the potions teacher held their attention captive. The teacher had made his way to the front of the class, his back turned to them.
“Mr Potter” The class jumped at the sudden change of tone, and the flap of the cloak as Snape snapped around to face the small boy. “I hope that you are aware, that any ‘special circumstances’ you happen to have will not grant you an easy pass in my subject.” The famous wizard in question nodded attentively in agreement. There was a hush in the following silence, as if the teacher was about to do something drastic.
“Good.” The collective breath was let out in a rush, “Now, everybody open your books to page 10, today we will be brewing a draught of tranquility. You will learn how to weigh, slice and crush the ingredients properly. This will provide the basis for the rest of your schooling.” The flurry of books and quills being pulled out of bags almost drowned out the end of the Professor’s sentence.
“How rude was Snape to you just then.” Ron whispered to Harry. At the start of the lesson, the redhead had shoved and elbowed his way past his peers to land the table directly next to the boy who lived. Harry just shrugged, sliding the powdered wormwood root into the cauldron on his table. Ron huffed at Harry’s lack of an answer.
“I mean, he really didn’t have to single you out like that, he’s probably just jealous.” Ron was hanging out of his seat at this point, most of his body in the isle, his face uncomfortably close to Harry’s own, causing him to recoil slightly in distaste. Harry sent a furtive glance around for the room, searching for his blonde companion who had left to retrieve ingredients.
Ron almost slipped out of his chair, managing to bump his own table, causing his partner to send a glare towards him. Glare gone by unnoticed, Ron continued his whining.
“Come on mate, I know you’re trying to be mysterious and everything, but you can talk to me you know. It’s getting a bit weird to be honest.” Harry sent him a scathing look, and passed Ron the same piece of paper he had passed him the day before, explaining that Harry does not talk. The Gryffindor had just opened his mouth to complain again, but Harry was saved by a familiar presence over his own shoulder.
“I’m pretty sure you were not working with Harry this lesson, in fact, I believe he chose to be my partner.” Draco Malfoy drawled. Ron’s face went red at the sight of him.
“Why the hell would he want to be partners with you?” The red head sneered, “Everyone knows that your father was one of the ones who is responsible for his parents’ deaths.”
Harry raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, well in case you hadn’t noticed Weasley, I am not my father. Whatever my father did or didn’t contribute to the deaths of James and Lily Potter, is relevant to our partnership in potions.” It was at this point that Harry put a discrete hand on the arm of Draco, who was beginning to get riled up. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we must get back to the work that was set for us.”
Draco dumped the pile of ingredients that he had collected on the table in front of the two, and they both pointedly turned away from Ron. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to be deterred so easily.
“You may not be your father, but everyone knows you’re going to be exactly like him.” Beside Harry, Draco stiffened. Weasley had accidentally stumbled into one of the blonde’s deepest insecurities. Oblivious, Ron went on.
“I mean look at you, you’ve been sorted into slytherin with all the other death eater’s, you even look like him, it’s only a matter of time…” He was cut off as Draco stood up abruptly from his seat, sending the wooden chair cluttering to the ground, drawing the attention of the groups around them. His face had gone stony, chin held high, and Harry knew that the next words that would come out of his mouth would be scathing.
Casting a look around, Harry noticed that Snape, on the other side of the room, was yet to notice the commotion. He briefly wondered whether it would be worth running over know to grab his attention, before it could escalate further.
“Yes, well at least my father notices me. I can’t imagine your parents have any reason to pay any attention to you, just another red head running around their feet, nothing special to take note of.” Harry regretted not running over to his guardian sooner, as Ron saw red, forgoing words, and instead launching himself across Harry, in an attempt to get to Draco.
Harry found himself knocked to the side, an elbow to the gut, then his head to the side of the table. Ron had made his way across Harry and towards Draco, who was on his back on the ground, trying to scramble away from the angry boy. A flailing leg from someone got caught on the leg of the table, shoving it over, upending the contents of the table onto the floor, right onto Harry.
“BOYS!” A sharp cry rung out above the chaos, and Ron found himself wrenched back from the blonde by the back of his collar. “WHAT IN MERLIN’S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING. THIS IS HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND…” Snape’s enraged tirade was cut of as he heard a whimper behind him. Whirling around, his heart skipped a beat.
Harry was curled up on the floor, cradling his arm to his chest, the skin on his arm bubbling slightly from where the unfinished potion had mixed with other ingredients and falled on him. There was a split second of silence before Snape jumped into action.
“Everybody out.” He hissed, running forwards to carefully scoop Harry off the floor and into his arms. “Malfoy, Weasley, with me.”
Students scrambled to follow his instructions, fleeing the room as he swept out with the young boy curled into his chest, two other boys behind him, having to run to keep pace with him.
Slamming through the doors to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey came rushing out of her office to greet them.
“Oh Severus, an incident already?” She tutted, indicating a bed to set the boy on. Snape grunted.
“It’s worse than it looks.” He said, “I believe it was an inactive, strengthened boils potion. They were in the process of tranquility. It’s more the shock of the fighting than anything.” He sent a slight glare behind him with this.
The two boys were standing by watching. Draco was fiddling with his fingers in worry for his friend, and Severus could see tears slightly welling in the eyes of the sensitive boy. Ron, however, appeared seemingly indifferent, but Snape could see a slight fear in his eyes. Good.
“I’ve got it Severus, if you need to deal with the boys.” Pomfrey murmured to him, and he reluctantly removed himself from the bedside of the now sleeping boy.
“Come.” He said, swirling out of the room. The hurried footsteps behind him told him that they were following behind him. They eventually reached McGonagall’s office. Strictly speaking, the issue could have easily been taken to the headmaster, but Snape didn’t trust an unbiased opinion. Ironically the head of Gryffindor would be less biased than the headmaster.
After knocking, the three of them walked into the office.
“Professor Snape, Mister Malfoy and Mister Weasley. What can I do for you three today.” Snape took a seat in front of the desk.
“I came regarding punishment for one of your students.” He sneered. McGonagall raised an eyebrow. Usually teachers were perfectly capable of dishing out punishments in their own classroom. “Mister Weasley instigated a physical fight in the middle of one of my classes. Mr Malfoy was not completely free of blame, I believe he had a few particularly cruel words to say to Mr Weasley, however it is Mr Weasley who launched himself physically across the room, causing a the contents of a cauldron to splash onto, and cause some harm to, one of my other students.” McGonagall’s stony glare was levelled at Ron, who lowered his gaze to the ground in front of him.
“Thank you Professor. I will ensure he is suitably punished.” Said Mcgonagall. The two teachers exchanged a few more words before Snape left, Draco trailing behind him. The raised voice of McGonagall berating Ron fading as they walked down the corridor.
“I’m so sorry Sev.” Draco whispered when they were far enough away. Severus looked down at the blonde, who was clearly struggling to keep it together, and pulled them both into an empty classroom.
“I know I shouldn’t have said anything, but he told me I would be exactly like father, and then I just got so angry, and I didn’t think he would actually go for me, and then Harry…” Draco was fully crying now. Seveus just sighed and tugged Draco into a hug, letting him cry for a few minutes, reassuring him gently. Eventually, Draco’s sobs receded, and his grip on the back of his godfather’s robes lessened. When he had composed himself, Severus spoke.
“I don’t think you need me to tell you what you did wrong. And while I am sure you have learned your lesson as more than you would have through any detention, I do still have to give you detention.” Draco nodded. “However, we will sort that out later. Now, you have a class to get ready for, and I have a son to see.”
“Can I see…” Draco said hopefully. Snape shook his head.
“No. You can see him at lunch, maybe. He will be OK though, the potion won’t have done any damage, but he will be tired out by the shock of the fighting I imagine. Off to class now” Daco looked disappointed but complied. Taking a deep breath, Severus followed him out the door.
“How is he?” Madame Pomfrey was just packing up the final things from Harry’s bedside.
“All better now. The boils have almost gone, give them another half an hour or so. He’s tired though, the poor thing. Best to let him rest.” Severus gently ran his hands through Harry’s unruly hair as he watched the boy sleep.
“Day one.” He muttered to himself, feeling a wave of worry rise up inside him. “I couldn’t even protect him in my own class, on the first day of school.” Poppy’s hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his daze.
“He’s a kid, Severus. As much as we want to wrap them up in cotton wool and protect them completely from the world around us, we have to stand by at some point and watch them get hurt. Especially this kid.” As much as he hated it, Severus knew that Poppy was right.
“Keep an eye on him please.” He said, glancing once more at the sleeping boy as he turned away.
“Have fun with that headmaster.” Said Poppy dryly. Snap just growled slightly, a shadow passing over his face at the mention of the meddling fool.
“If he wakes up…”
“I’ll tell him you love him and will be back soon. Gon on now, the sooner you go, the sooner you can get back.”