Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 45: Snape Is Back
"Urgg… this sucks." Ron leaned back in the chair.
They were in the middle of class, but no one seemed to care about his outbursts, even though it was the fourth one in the last hour.
It was History class, and their professor was a ghost they called Professor Binns. This one would rarely get distracted from his lessons, even if his students were doing anything except paying attention to what he was saying.
"And then, on July fifth of eighteen seventy-two, Urg the Unclean launched an assault on…" he continued reading from the book in front of him.
"I know, mate. Last week of school, we're done with our tests, and now we can't go anywhere to have some fun," Seamus said with annoyance.
"There are Aurors everywhere. But no one will tell us what really happened," Neville commented.
"Do any of you know who that Slytherin boy was? The one who died?" Ron asked.
"No idea," said Seamus.
"I know about the house. The Mulcibers are a very old wizard family… very dark as well," Neville told them.
Ron shrugged. "Bah… one less dirty snake. I honestly couldn't care less about that guy. It is a shame about Cho Chang, though… the girl was hot…"
"Ron! That is so inappropriate!" Neville scolded him.
"He is right, though." Seamus chuckled. "She also had a great ass."
"Seamus, for Merlin's sake…" Neville couldn't believe that these two were his only friends now that he didn't speak with Harry any longer.
"Speaking of great ass… has Hermione said anything to you since… you know." Seamus looked at Ron for a moment before turning his attention to the front row, where Harry was sitting next to Hermione.
The two of them were not paying any attention in class, just like everyone else, and appeared to be having a pleasant conversation.
"Tsk… no." Ron sat back with arms crossed, while giving Harry the sticky eye. "What does she see in that arrogant brat? I still think he did something to her. And now he is also hanging out with that Loony?"
"Just let it go, Ron. The professors already looked into it and found nothing. If you keep pushing it…" Neville didn't want to admit it, but he was more afraid of angering Harry than getting detention from Professor McGonagall.
"Nev is right. Forget about her. The school is filled with nice girls. Have you seen Susan Bones lately? She has really 'grown up…' if you know what I mean." Seamus gave Ron a wink.
"And when am I going to talk with one of those girls? We can't even hang around anymore after classes… we are supposed to go directly to our common room," Ron complained.
The Headmaster had set in place several restricting rules after the two incidents involving students.
Now they could go to their common rooms, the Great Hall for their meals, and to class. Every other part of the castle had become forbidden to walk around.
Dumbledore had set these strict rules in place to hopefully prevent any more tragedies.
"Well… there's only a week. Then we can go home and enjoy the summer," Seamus reminded him. "And when we return here, it will be as fifth-year students. Almost seniors already!"
"Right! We are almost seniors." This did cheer Ron up a little bit. "I bet next year is going to be awesome!"
<><><><><><><><><><><>
Dumbledore was taking some notes on a piece of parchment when he heard the gargoyle guarding the entrance to his office becoming active.
He scolded himself for not paying attention, as he hadn't even noticed someone approaching.
At first, he assumed it was Professor McGonagall coming back to give her daily report, as he had instructed her to do.
But much to his shock, the one who entered the office was someone else.
"Severus!"
The Potions professor looked extremely tired as he opened the door and walked inside. "Headmaster… I'm back."
Dumbledore hurried off his chair and went to check on him. "Severus, it's been a week since you left. I was fearing the worst already…"
Snape lifted his head to glance at him. "And you were almost right."
Dumbledore helped him up so he could sit on a nearby couch, as the man appeared to be ready to collapse on the floor of his office.
"What happened to you? You look awful… should I call Madame Pomfrey?"
"I already took some potions to calm down the pain…" he groaned as he leaned back on the couch. "But mostly I am tired. I have barely slept in this past week."
"Have you been with Him… all this time?" Dumbledore asked. The last time he saw Snape was when he got ready to return to Voldemort's side after being summoned.
"The Dark Lord was not happy with my delay in responding and made an example out of me. He would have just killed me if he hadn't found me useful for something…"
"And what would that be?" Dumbledore asked.
"To spy on you, and… Potter."
"He asked you to spy on Harry?" Dumbledore was not surprised to hear the first part, as it had been the idea from the beginning. But he had not been expecting Voldemort to be so concerned with Harry Potter, now that the boy had essentially fulfilled his main purpose.
'Is he still worried about the prophecy?' Dumbledore wondered about it. He also thought that it would be a good idea to pay the Room of
Prophecies a visit in the near future. He needed to check if that particular one was still active.
"Something strange happened that night at the cemetery… he told me about it," Snape said in a grave tone.
"The night of his resurrection? Did he tell you how Harry managed to escape from his grasp?"
This was something that Dumbledore couldn't understand yet. And he got no answers from the boy himself, who didn't appear to recall anything useful.
"He did…" Snape locked his eyes onto Dumbledore's. He wanted the other man to be sure he was telling the truth.
"Dementors rescued Harry Potter."
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find characters images to view for free in Collections/Beneath the Skin Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix