kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Harry didn't wait for a second invitation. He scooted out of his bed and over into his professor's before the man could reconsider. He snuggled against his professor who was, for once, not dressed in his usual black. Like Harry, Snape was in standard hospital pyjamas, though his had a little Slytherin crest on the chest.

Harry hugged his professor hard, laying his head on the man's chest and letting the sound of his heartbeat calm him. He felt a powerful rush of love as Snape's arms encircled his shoulders and held him close.

Snape kept a firm hold on the little creature. He wasn't about to let Harry take off and hide like a frightened animal. Better to hold him tightly until he realized that struggling to escape was useless. It had nothing whatever to do with reassuring the brat or being all sentimental. It was merely that Snape had no intention of having to traipse all over the castle looking for wherever a traumatized first year might hole up or, like last time, having to drag him out from underneath the hospital bed.

"Really, Potter," Snape scolded, once the brat had stopped trembling. "I don't expect you to be articulate, but simple answers should not be beyond you. Are you in pain?"

"No, sir," Harry answered obediently. He was so lucky! His professor took such good care of him.

"Are you frightened?"

Harry squirmed. "A little," he admitted.

Snape sighed. It was unfortunate that the boy had to learn at such an early age about the threat Voldemort posed to him, but there was no way around it. No use sugar coating the truth. "It is true that the Dark Lord is a powerful adversary, Potter," he finally said, choosing his words with care. "But he is gone for now and you saw with your own eyes that he is in a weak and incorporeal state. You need not fear for your safety here and now."

" 'S not that," Harry said, twisting to look up at his professor with surprise. "I know you'll keep me safe."

"And so I will," Snape agreed, doing his best to ignore the warm feeling of pride that the boy's foolish comment had triggered. "But then what are you frightened of?"

"Me," Harry admitted. "I think I'm gonna grow up to be like Him."

Snape could hear the upper case letter. "Like the Dark Lord? Why on earth would you think that?"

" 'Cause I'm a murderer, just like him," Harry whispered, burying his face into Snape's chest. "I killed him! Well, Quirrell anyway."

"Potter!" Snape's voice was trembling with fury, and Harry looked up in dread. Would his professor kick him out now that he knew what Harry had done? "I recognize you are a Gryffindor, but kindly do not be any more moronic than you can help! Surely even you can recognize the fallacious nature of the moral equivalency argument?"

Harry just blinked at him, mouth open. Snape sighed again. Gryffindors, Severus. Remember what Gryffindors are like. "Potter, don't you understand the difference between killing and murder?"

"UmmmтАж." Harry screwed up his face in thought. "In murder you mean to make 'em dead, but in killing, you don't necessarily mean it. Like if you accidentally hit someone with a car?"

"A Muggle example but one that is reasonable," Snape allowed.

"But I meant to kill him, Pr'fessor," Harry argued unhappily. "I wanted him to die. An' I don't even feel bad about it."

"Idiot." Snape scowled. What does McGonagall teach them in that House? "Of course you wanted him dead, Potter. Quirrell was a willing stooge of the Dark Lord. I assume he was trying to harm you and your friends?" At Harry's nod, he continued, "Then you can imagine my reaction if you hadn't tried to kill him. What did I tell you about defending yourself?"

"Th-that I should," Harry acknowledged. "But that doesn't mean I had to kill him."

"Potter, you are an 11 year old child. You were battling a fully grown wizard who was not only a DADA instructor in his own right but also had some sort of link with the most powerful Dark Lord in the last half-century. In a situation like that, you do not seek to wound or capture. You kill before you are killed."

"B-but that's murder," Harry sniffled.

Snape sat up and tugged the boy until Harry was sitting up, face to face with him. "Potter, this is important, so mind me well. That is not murder. Murder is the deliberate killing of an innocent who means you no harm. You did not murder anyone, though you did in fact kill." Harry's lip started to quiver again, and Snape glared. "Potter. You have no reason to be upset. Now listen closely. There is a Muggle saying that I expect you to remember: 'If someone is coming to kill you, rise early and kill him first.'" Harry blinked in surprise, his lip stilling. "Now, what does it mean?"

"It тАУ it means that if you know someone is trying to hurt you, then you should get out of bed and get him before he gets you?"

"Exactly. It means that if you know that someone intends to do you grievous harm, you have an obligation to protect yourself. You are not to sit in bed and cower and moan and hope that something happens to dissuade him. You are not to wait to see if he has a last minute change of heart because the odds are excellent that he won't. You are to rise and take action before the other person can harm you." Snape gave him a very stern look. "This does not mean that if you think someone might hurt you, you then have permission to harm him. It does mean that if you have evidence that someone is actively trying to kill you, you should remove that threat before you тАУ or others тАУ can be harmed."

Harry sniffled. "But if I want to kill Him like He wants to kill me, doesn't that make me as bad as Him?"

"There is no moral equivalence between the two actions, Potter." At the boy's blank look, Snape rephrased. "It's not at all the same thing. The Dark Lord is seeking to kill a child for his own purpose and pleasure. He murdered your parents on the off chance that you might one day fulfil a prophecy. He tortures and kills people because of who their parents were or what beliefs they hold. He is a despicable and evil creature who enjoys creating pain and terror in others. You are seeking to kill him to protect yourself and others from the very real threat of the Dark Lord's violence. There is nothing equal about your motivation.

"Voldemort used to go to Muggle villages just to kill people. He sought to hurt as many people as possible. He targeted men, women, and children indiscriminately. He made no distinction between Auror and civilian. He wanted a high body count and when attacked, he would use Muggles as shields. It is never acceptable to deliberately kill people who mean you no harm and who are innocently going about their daily business."

"Aurors, by contrast, may kill in the line of duty, yet they do it to protect civilians. In the war, they did not deliberately target the children of Death Eaters, while the Dark Lord and his followers attacked many families just as he did yours. It is ridiculous to say that any death is a tragedy or that all deaths are morally equivalent. There are people who, by their own actions, deserve to die, and killing someone in order to protect yourself or the innocent, is not murder."

Harry took a deep breath. His professor's words made sense. Maybe he wouldn't grow up to be a Dark Lord after all. "So you're not mad at me?" he asked cautiously.

"For killing Quirrell? Of course not." Snape gave the boy a menacing glower. "What do you expect I will do to you if you ever fail to protect yourself as vigorously as you did yesterday?"

Harry's lips quirked into a smile. He just loved it when his professor got all fierce and protective. "You'll whack me."

"Precisely."

"SoтАж if I hadn't killed Professor Quirrell, you would have spanked me?" Harry asked mischievously.

"Quite."

"Then do I get a chocolate frog for defendin' myself properly?"