kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Abruptly the door flew open and a red haired blur burst in. Students yelped in surprise and dropped ingredients and stirring rods at the intrusion, and Snape rose from his desk, determined to eviscerate the little wretch for his sheer effrontery.

"Uncle Sev!" Ron panted. "Read this!" He thrust a crumpled parchment at the Potion Master and, too surprised to object, Snape complied. An instant later he had evanesco'd every brewing potion in the classroom. "You're dismissed!" he snapped over his shoulder as he rushed out the doorway, leaving behind an astonished class and a breathless first year.

TBCтАж

*Chapter 45*: Chapter 45

A/N: I'm sorry for the evil cliffie - hopefully this rapid update will make up for it?

Harry shoved the last of the food into his bookbag and slung the strap over his shoulder. He hadn't wanted to raise the elves' suspicions by asking for too much or for food that was obviously intended for something other than dormitory snacking, but he'd still gotten enough that тАУ once he went back on his Dursely-era diet тАУ it would last him for quite a while. He figured he'd hide out in the Forest until the initial search died down, and then figure out a way to get himself to the city. Hopefully it wouldn't take more than a week or two.

He gulped as he remembered some of the stories the older kids told about the Forest, but then he reassured himself with Padfoot's memories. Hadn't his godfather and the others played in the Forest every full moon? How dangerous could it be? And everyone knew that there was no such thing as a spider as big as a car. The twins were just making them up to scare Ron. Harry remembered a nature program he had once overheard on the telly; it had said that wild animals are much more scared of you than you are of them, so unless you gave them a reason to attack, like trying to pet them or something stupid like that, they'd just leave you alone. That's how Harry would handle the Forest creatures: he'd leave them alone, and they'd leave him alone.

Harry hurried along the hall. It couldn't be that much longer to the end of class, and he needed to get away while the corridors were still deserted.

He had just reached the main doors and was pushing them open when they swung shut on him with a resounding bang. Harry jumped in surprise and alarm, but before he could try to open them again, he heard his name. "HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Snape shouted furiously, emerging from the stairwell.

Harry tensed to flee but at a quick spell from Snape, a blue tendril of magic coiled itself around him and then he was sailing backwards to meet his father. He was deposited, none too gently, on his feet, and then two hard hands descended on his shoulders. "What do you think you're doing?" Snape demanded.

Harry gulped, keeping his head down. What was he supposed to say? If he told his da and the man believed him, he'd fight with the Headmaster and at the very least lose his job. Maybe the Headmaster could even do something worse, like having his da sent to Izkibibble! But what if his da didn't believe him and thought he really was a dirty lying cheat? Then he might not interfere with the Headmaster's plans to send Harry back to the Dursleys, and that was an even worse outcome. Harry didn't think he could survive seeing his father's countenance grow grim with disdain and condemnation.

"I - I've got to go," he blurted, trying to pull free.

"Oh, no, young man. I think not." The bell rang and Snape glanced around, then quickly pulled Harry into a nearby unused classroom. "Now. The full story, Mr Potter, and be quick about it."

Harry still stood, mute, and Snape's patience evaporated. "I see, you wish to play charades. Very well. Let's see what we have here." He pulled off Harry's hat and relieved him of first his bookbag and then his cloak. "So. We have a naughty child who is dressed in his warmest clothes with тАУ " a quick glance in the satchel " тАУ a supply of food. Could you beтАж planning to run away?" he cooed sarcastically.

Harry gulped and managed a tiny nod.

"And where exactly were you planning to go, you idiot child?"

"I тАУ I w's gonna hide in the Forbidden Forest," Hary admitted, his voice nothing but a whisper.

"WHAT!"

He recoiled at the sheer outrage in the man's voice and cowered in fear despite himself.

Snape forced himself to calm down. From the moment he'd read Weasley's note and realized Harry was planning to leave Hogwarts, he'd been frantic he wouldn't find the boy in time. Catching him literally on the threshold of the castle had been bad enough, but then to realize that the little dunderhead had been planning to calmly stroll into the Forbidden Forest as if it weren't filled with hungry man-eating Dark creaturesтАж His fingers itched to slap some sense into the boy, but he took several deep breaths instead. "And why," he finally was composed enough to ask, "did you feel this was necessary?"

Harry's eyes filled with tears. He couldn't tell his father! He couldn't!

"Harry. You will tell me THIS INSTANT." Snape's tone left no room for refusal, and, choking with tears, Harry obeyed.

" 'M gonna be expelled an' I din't want to go back to the Dursleys, so I тАУ I was gonna hide in the Forest an' тАУ an' then run away to London," Harry whimpered.

Snape blinked rapidly. There was just too much in that statement to process. Expelled? Returned to the Muggles? Run away? The Forest? London?

What in Merlin's name was going on? He'd last seen the boy at breakfast, and everything had been fine!

"Start at the beginning," he commanded firmly.

Harry struggled to get his tears under control. What was wrong with him? He had to show more courage than this! How was he expecting to survive on the streets if he was such a crybaby? "P-Professor Umbridge," he started, and Snape swallowed an oath. The Pink Toad! He should have known.

"What about Professor Umbridge?" he asked, forcing his voice to remain relatively calm. "Did she put the notion of expulsion into your head?"

Harry nodded miserably. "She said I cheated, an' Professor Dumbledore would expel me for sure."

Snape closed his eyes. He would strangle that woman with her own entrails. "Why did she say that you cheated?" he asked, opening his eyes and focusing his intense gaze on Harry.

" 'C-cause her test notes were in my bookbag. But I didn't take them! I swear!" Harry protested tearfully, his tone frantic. "I wouldn't! Even Ron thinks I did as a prank, but I didn't! I didn't even know we were having a test today! An' I don't know where she keeps her papers. I didn't тАУ"

Snape gestured the boy to silence. He had interrogated many students over the years and he knew sincerity when he heard it. Not that Harry would be the first child to make a foolish mistake, but he would never risk such a punishment, nor did he care enough about grades to want to cheat. It was very early in the term, so Harry was in no jeopardy of failing, and while Snape demanded that the child do his best, Harry knew full well he would not be punished for poor grades. So what possible motivation could he have to cheat? No, it was more likely that someone else was trying to make mischief for HarryтАж and had succeeded.

Not that that settled matters. "All right," he interrupted the boy's pleas to be believed. "But whatever Professor Umbridge may have said, why were you about to run away? Surely you don't take anything that mor- person says at face value?"

Harry sniffled. At least his da hadn't тАУ yet тАУ abandoned him in disgust. "You told me that Professor Dumbledore dealt with cheating," he reminded Snape. "An' Professor Umbridge said that it was too serious for points or detention, so since students don't get whipped anymore, the Headmaster would expel me."

"And the thought of having to leave Hogwarts was so distressing that you immediately made plans to leave Hogwarts?" Snape snapped.