kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Fudge's jaw dropped, and Lucius' eyebrows soared to his hairline. Amelia Bones lost her monocle. Minerva choked and Albus looked very, very grim. The Weasleys were both hugging Ron, their faces pale, while the Grangers, despite their quite obvious confusion, picked up on the atmosphere in the room and grasped Hermione's hands tightly.

Harry glanced nervously up at Professor Snape. The man's face was a severe mask, as always, so it was a surprise when his strong arms reached out and pulled Harry onto his lap.

After the initial shock тАУ and the relief that he wasn't being pulled across the man's lap for a public walloping тАУ Harry relaxed and leaned back against his professor's chest. He was surprised to feel the man's heart hammering away. Could his professor actually be worried or upset?

"Pr'fessor?" he asked, wide eyed.

"Foolish child!" Snape snapped automatically, tightening his grasp around Harry until it rivaled the Weasleys' hold on Ron. In all his worst imaginings, he had never, ever thought of this. Possession? Partial corporeal manifestation? No wonder the boy's scar had prickled whenever Quirrell had walked by! And what immense power it must have taken to maintain the two souls in one body тАУ to say nothing of shielding the Dark Lord's aura from the school's wards.

Poppy shuddered. "Now I understand why his body was consuming itself. To think that тАУ that abomination was working here, walking the halls, teaching the children!" She wrapped her arms around herself, as if suddenly chilled, and Minerva placed a comforting arm about her shoulders. "He wouldn't let me touch his turban, but I just assumed it was some fetish or that he was going bald!" Poppy wailed. "I never guessed..."

"There, there, Poppy," McGonagall soothed. "It's just as well you don't remember anything."

Poppy shook her head. "Not a thing from the moment I left Hagrid's hut until I woke up with the St Mungo's staff around my bed," she explained, sniffling, to the others.

"It тАУ it was pretty awful," Hermione spoke up. "We had all just seen V-Voldemort, and Madame Pomfrey, that's when you walked in with a big pumpkin that you said Hagrid had sent to Professor Quirrell."

"Ah, Hagrid тАУ always so thoughtful," Dumbledore said fondly, oblivious to the impatient glare Lucius sent his way.

"Yeah, Madame тАУ you were sayin' something to the professor as you came in the door, and your hands were full, and as soon as he saw you, he тАУ well, they тАУ cast a spell at you," Ron explained. "Blimey! It was this awful black light coming straight at you!"

"He said 'Duro'," Hermione put in, and Poppy turned grey.

"He was trying to kill me then," Pomfrey whispered, half to herself. "I didn't really believe itтАж"

Snape huffed. Na├пve nitwit. Voldemort was a Dark Lord. Did she really think someone earned that title by just being unpunctual or inconsiderate? Dear Association of Dark Lords, I would like to apply for membership. Please advise as to your entry criteria. Do you actually need to murder scores of people, or can you just use a really nasty stinging hex on them? Is 'Crucio' an absolute requirement, or could I get by with insulting someone's parentage and telling them that their taste in clothes leaves much to be desired? I also make a point of picking out the good Bott's beans and leaving all the bogey- and vomit-flavored ones for other people. I have invented a curse that gives someone several painful paper cuts тАУ do I get credit for that?

"Yeah, it was a good thing you were holdin' that pumpkin," Ron chimed in. "The curse hit that and turned it to stone, but the power of the curse was still strong enough to knock you flying. You smashed some chairs an' everything."

"And then Quirrell said some nasty things to us, and Voldemort тАУ" Hermione ignored how most in the room flinched at the name "- was talking to Harry, and Harry said something that made him really angry."

Now all eyes were back to Harry. "I тАУ er тАУ I тАУ " he stammered to a halt, embarrassed.

An awful suspicion blossomed in Snape's mind, and he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand. "You called him Lord Vol-au-vent, didn't you?" he asked resignedly.

Lucius audibly choked, while Bones fought back a grin.

"Er, yeah," Harry admitted.

Fudge seemed torn between horror and reluctant admiration, while Skeeter was actually squirming in her chair with glee. "Harry Potter Refers to Dark Lord as Flaky Pastry. Hero of the Light Sneers in the Face of Death."

Albus' eyes were madly twinkling. "And then?"

Hermione spoke up before Harry could. "Ron was ever so brave!" she exclaimed. "While You Know Who was distracted, he tried to fight him."

Molly whimpered and clutched Ron tighter.

"But Quirrell threw him against the ceiling and then let him fall. That's how he got hurt," Hermione finished, sending Ron a look that left him blushing. The redhead could be a bit of a prat sometimes, she thought, but he really was a true Gryffindor.

Snape narrowed his eyes. Taking on not one but two Dark wizards armed with nothing but a new wand and insane bravado? The boy was indeed a true Gryffindor.

"And then?"

"I was too scared to move for a few seconds, and Voldemort kept talking to Harry. It looked like he was hypnotized or something."

Harry nodded. "He did something and I felt awful. All alone and hopeless an' I knew he was gonna kill me. But then he said something else an' I got mad."

Now all the adults (except the Grangers) were staring at him in astonishment. The boy had thrown off Voldemort's mind control? Grown wizards, including trained Aurors, had not been capable of such a feat!

"What did he say that made you angry?" Snape managed to ask, his voice stilted. Just how much power did this child have? He caught Lucius giving him an assessing look. Potter could hold his own against Voldemort himself, and here was Snape, oh-so-blithely scolding him and smacking his bum?

Harry looked awkward. "He тАУ he said something mean about my parents. But that made me think about you an' then I din' feel alone anymore," he admitted his voice dropping so that only Snape caught his last words.

Snape swallowed hard and forced his expression to remain unchanged, but Harry could feel his arms tighten protectively, and the warm feeling blossomed in his chest again. However mad his professor might be, and however much he might scold, Harry knew that he still loved him, and the hug just proved it. Professor Snape was acting just like Ron's and Hermione's parents, as Harry's sharp eyes could attest.

For the first time in his life, Harry didn't have to watch his classmates be cuddled by their parents and feel alone and left out. In fact, Professor Snape was even better than Ron and Hermione's folks тАУ hadn't he stayed in the Infirmary with Harry?

"So then he used some 'secum' thingy on me," Harry continued at the headmaster's gentle prompt.

Snape went rigid. "Sectumsempra?" he asked, his voice wavering just a little.

"Yeah, that's it!" Harry was impressed. His professor knew everything!

Snape shut his eyes, using his Occlumency to force away the unwanted image of what that spell тАУ his spell! тАУ might have done to Harry.

"But see, I was mad then, so I pulled my wand тАУ those holsters are great, Pr'fessor! тАУ an' used Protego."

"Your shield charm withstood the Dark Lord's Sectumsempra?" Lucius gasped. Skeeter shuddered in ecstacy and whispered to her quill.

"Yeah. Erm, I mean, yes sir, Mr Malfoy," Harry quickly corrected himself, not wanting to appear ill-mannered in front of Draco's dad. Draco said his father was a real stickler for that sort of thing. "And then he said some rude things, so I was rude back, an' he told Professor Quirrell to grab me so he could take me to some chamber and тАУ"