Chapter Text
Into his second year teaching Dazai Osamu, Severus finds it difficult to tell whether he knows any more about the boy than he had the day he met him.
Objectively, he does. He's had quite a bit of time to watch over him, to observe his many behaviours and quirks. He’s spoken to Poppy about her discoveries regarding the boy's physical health, the myriad of scars, a telling story of self-mutilation. Severus himself hasn’t had the opportunity to view the injuries, but he’s received a secondhand description from their resident matron. He trusts her judgement on these matters, and so has no reason to doubt what she has seen.
According to her, Dazai has shredded his body rather thoroughly. A cutter, she’d said. It’s a chilling thought, and something that Severus had never imagined needing to handle as a teacher. The scars, some a faded white, while others an agitated pink, apparently cover the span of his forearms. Poppy hadn’t checked below the rest of his bandages– they’re wound around his neck too, and she said she thought she felt some beneath his uniform top as well. How much of his body is swaddled in cotton, neither of them are sure quite yet.
Dazai Osamu is a boy in tatters, and Severus is the only adult (aside from Poppy) who seems to care in the least. A child slated for death, dropped into his hands with no instruction as to how to proceed.
The newspapers paint pictures of Dazai that are wholly inaccurate, and Severus wants little more than to correct the record. As much as the boy acts unaffected by the general aura of hatred pointed his way, he doesn’t believe it for a second. Dazai had trailed behind Malfoy for the better part of last year, all praise and manipulation. He teased the other boy when he deemed appropriate, and doused him in faux flattery when he wanted something. As much as Malfoy would have denied it, they were most certainly friends .
Now, Malfoy won’t even acknowledge the other child, all but ignoring his very existence. Dazai had smothered the look quickly, that first day back on campus, but Severus had seen the confusion and hurt.
… He’d wanted to have a word with Malfoy over it, but Albus had warned otherwise. In the end, Severus cannot force the other boy to be friends with him, and he’s sure Dazai would take offence to his nosiness.
Zabini still keeps him company, though. He continues to herd their little black sheep, passing him food and forcing him to eat it in front of him. He escorts him between classes, for fear of the other becoming hopelessly lost once again. That in particular is a blessing– Severus isn’t sure they’d ever find him again if Dazai was left to navigate the castle all on his own. Slytherins aren’t known for their loyalty, but that is a trait Zabini has seemed to pick up when it comes to Dazai. Even if that association brings trouble his way.
As the head teacher of Slytherin, he tries to intervene when the other students make pointed remarks about Zabini’s involvement with Dazai. He fears that as time passes, he’ll become sick of the jabs on the subject, as well as the isolation, and abandon the boy. Dazai needs at least one friend within his own house– otherwise, it will be him against all those surrounding him.
Severus sighs, listening to the stuttered, insistent tic of the common room grandfather clock. The rest of his snakes are surprisingly quiet this afternoon. The boy is late for their remedial lesson, and he isn’t sure whether he should be angry or concerned by it. He’s overcome with the overwhelming urge to do something , to clean or work, anything to occupy himself with as he waits. He’s pretty sure if he doesn’t find something to keep him busy, he’ll well and truly go mad.
Standing from his chair with a flourish, Severus bustles amidst his office, picking his way through its organised chaos. There’s no reason he cannot do some… tidying while he waits, he supposes.
Minerva is an intelligent woman, Severus knows. He’s worked with her for many years now, and she cares deeply for the students. He knows he can trust Dazai in her hands, that she will refrain from passing too many unfair judgements, especially since she seems to understand his more personal concerns about the boy, but… It’s still difficult. He’s frustrated and weary, and it feels like no one is in his corner. No one who can truly make a difference, at least. Especially what with their most recent… incident .
He’d debated showing her the letter he’d found in Dazai’s room. Whether he’ll actually do so is up in the air at the moment– it’s highly dependent on how her investigation will be progressing. Will Albus decide to do something if Minerva grows particularly concerned for Dazai’s welfare too? Will he finally take a break from the bigger picture to show concern for one measly student?
Severus isn’t sure.
The little, half-burned note from… someone , has been a thing of much concern in his mind. Severus has long since memorised the words, its contents constantly at the back of his mind. Those few sentences taunt him so often, niggling in his brain like an insistent parasite he can’t quite seem to expel.
“After all I’ve given you, it would be such a bother for you to fail me now. This is no longer a request, Dazai. Neither your father nor I will tolerate failure. You won’t be returning home if you don’t do this, understand? Not in one piece, at least, and that wouldn’t be cute at all.”
What does it mean? Who holds these hefty expectations of the boy, and of what? Grades? Social status? If it’s either of those things, Dazai is right screwed. The boy cares little for academics, and his reputation is dead in the water. Only one of those things is salvageable, and Severus doubts the boy cares enough to study.
… Though, the child is far from unintelligent. That’s what he’d thought at first– that Dazai is compensating for his idiocy with comedy. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d seen a student do so in his time, though admittedly, being on the other end of their trickery is certainly new. But no, Dazai is no imbecile. He’s proven himself exceptionally cunning, and with the memory to match. He can recite entire pages from books after only the briefest of read throughs. Why the boy doesn’t commit even the smallest bit of energy to his studies, Severus can’t say. He could have fairly impressive grades in certain subjects if he tried, and that would only prove beneficial to him. Sure, it would require more effort than the napping and horrendous experiments he runs, but Merlin, has he not tired of those two particular activities yet?
Clearly not.
Severus had thought he’d seen every single way in which a person could mess up a potion. Then he met Dazai Osamu, and learned that when one puts their mind to it, they can achieve anything. Unfortunately, the boy puts said dedication towards being as troublesome as humanly possible.
Once, Dazai had said something about his father finding his backtalk cute. He wonders if his impish behaviour was birthed through his fathers encouragement. Though… Why did the boy dread him so badly if that’s the case?
That does bring the second legible portion of the note to mind. The part which imbued him with the most dread.
“It’s a bit too large for Elise, but that’s what I have you for. You always have looked adorable in white. You’re not pure like that at all.”
Severus dislikes every single part of it. He has no context, and so he cannot truly pass any accurate judgements on its meaning, but it causes a cold, heavy pit to form within his intestines. Every single part of it screams wrong , that it is sinister in nature. Perhaps he’s read too far into it, and his mind has run wild with unreasonable theories, but… But he’s worried .
Unless this note was penned by two different individuals, then the one to write this wasn’t Mori Ougai. Dazai’s father is spoken of in a way that implies it was authored by an outside source. So who was it? A tutor? He was able to dig up very little about Dazai Osamu and Mori Ougai, but from what he did manage to find, he knows he was homeschooled previous to Hogwarts. Could Mori Ougai be innocent of Severus’ many theories, and instead this possible tutor bears blame? Are they both guilty? Was there ever any tutor to begin with? Could the author be another family member? A family friend? Could he get a straight damn answer for once in his life?
“Ah, Professor Snape is very busy. Has he finally realised how messy his office is?”
Severus startles, whipping around to look at whoever had so suddenly broken the silence of his office. Standing in the doorway stands the star of his thoughts, a bright grin tugging at his lips, eyes twinkling with amusement.
… What a brat.
“Mr. Dazai, it seems you’ve decided to grace me with your presence during class.”
The boy chuckles as he steps further into the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
“That’s very rude. I got hopelessly lost again– would it have killed you all to have fixed staircases like the rest of the world?”
“... Your penchant for getting lost remains baffling. No matter how many times it is explained to you, you fail to actually keep those instructions in mind while you wander aimlessly.” Severus knows for a fact that Granger, Zabini and Malfoy have done their absolute best to teach their friend how to navigate the school's halls with no success. It’s not even a matter of being muggleborn– Granger is also a muggleborn, and she has long since memorised the school's layout and come to understand its many quirks. For whatever reason, Dazai just can’t remember where anything is.
It’s just one of those Dazai things. He has a sharp, near photographic memory for some things, and is utterly useless with directions.
With a pout, Dazai says, “Mean. Professor Snape is bullying me again. Don’t I get enough of that from Professor Lockhart?”
Severus clicks his tongue, the mere thought of Lockhart making him twitch with annoyance.
“... You’ll quite survive, Mr. Dazai. Now sit down.”
“Fine, fine…”
After these last few weeks, Severus thinks he can finally say without a shadow of a doubt that he hates Gilderoy Lockhart. Aside from being a cowardly fraud, he’s now even stooped so low as to take up a position at Hogwarts simply to target a student. Albus hadn’t even had the decency to have found some way to keep him and Dazai separated from one another either.
“I’d give you the texts on Motus Subtilis , but you won’t be making any use of them, will you?” He asks pointedly. Dazai simply shrugs and smiles. Severus glowers down at him in return. As he’d expected, the boy doesn’t look even the slightest bit cowed.
Sighing, Severus resigns himself to his fate. He knows he’ll be getting very little grading done in favour of keeping a close eye on his student. As bright and cunning as the boy appears to be, he can be quite dense sometimes.
Dazai plops himself into the chair across from Severus and looks toward the broken clock. Once again, he does not retrieve his wand.
“Motus Subtilis.”
Tick.
The boy smiles, pleased with himself. Severus gathers some of his third year students' essays and prepares his quill.
“Motus Subtilis.”
Tick.
Severus will have more than enough time to stew on his thoughts later. Right now, he has a problem child to take care of. All he can do is pray that the boy will not make this class too troublesome.
… Not that he’s banking on that.