12

CHAPTER TWELVE:

The next day Harry had 'Remedial Potions', and as he made his way down to the dungeons he considered the previous evening's happenings. He had barely been able to think of anything else all day, and he felt the only reason why Hermione didn't scold him for his inattention was that she was preoccupied with it, too.

Knocking on the heavy wood door, he waited until the harsh voice called "Enter," before opening it. To his surprise, Professor Dumbledore was there, apparently having a conversation with the Potions Master.

"Ah, Harry," he said benevolently, and Harry gave a wan smile.

"How are you, Professor?" he asked civilly, noting that the Headmaster's eyes were twinkling and looking away to meet dark eyes instead. "Professor Snape," he greeted, jerkily inclining his head to the professor. "Am I early?" He knew full well that he wasn't, and hoped that Snape would take the opening – and he did.

"I doubt that you are even capable of arriving early to an appointment, Potter," the man sneered. "We will begin our lesson as soon as the Headmaster leaves. I suggest you sit and read chapter ten of this book," Snape said curtly, levitating a book onto a chair along the wall. "You were saying, Headmaster?"

Harry set his bag down beside the chair and picked up the book, reading the title as he sat down. It was a book on meditation and mental health. Opening it to chapter ten, Harry pretended to focus on the description of mind palaces while trying to listen in on the professors' conversation. They seemed to be discussing potions for the infirmary, and Harry was surprised to discover that Snape brewed almost the entire stock. His respect for the man went up when he realized that all the potions Madam Pompfrey had given him over the years had been brewed by this surly man. Eventually he decided that the conversation wasn't important and focused fully on the text, fully expecting Snape to quiz him on it afterwards. To his surprise, it turned out to be rather interesting, and Harry was soon immersed in the book, only occasionally listening in to the conversation to make sure that they weren't discussing anything important.

It didn't take much longer for Dumbledore to leave – though not before asking Harry a question or two while holding twinkling eye contact – and then Harry was alone with Snape.

An awkward silence fell while the two sized each other up, each finding that the other seemed different now.

"Can I speak freely, sir?" Harry asked, willfully suppressing the 'uh...' that had wanted to escape in front of his question.

Snape flicked his wrist once, then said, "You may." His expression didn't betray any of his thoughts, and suddenly instead of finding that hateful Harry found it admirable. Here was a man with full control over what he revealed to others.

"Ron, Hermione and I talked to my future self last night," he said promptly, "and he removed the spells from us." Harry hesitated, then ploughed on, "I wanted to apologize for the past few years, sir."

Snape's face remained perfectly expressionless for a full minute, during which Harry forced himself not to fidget – and then he smirked. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when a Potter apologizes to me," he drawled, his eyes intent. "The apology is accepted; although I have been led to believe that it is another who should apologize in your stead."

Harry's face darkened. "He has a lot to answer for," he said as levelly as he could. He had decided to show this man that he was not just the Gryffindor Golden Boy, who let his emotions dominate his actions, but also a Slytherin capable of keeping his emotions in check.

"Indeed." Although the word was spoken mildly, Harry thought he saw a glint of something dangerous in the Potions Master's eyes before the man turned away. "We will start from the beginning. I have here a set of books that I suggest you and the rest of the Golden Trio," he sneered the term, "read thoroughly." Pushing the set of books forward, the Potions Master fixed him with a fathomless look. "I would apologize for my treatment of you, but as in your case, another was responsible for my actions. Besides," he smirked, "you will learn that a Slytherin never apologizes."

"Yes, sir," Harry said, unable to keep a grin from his face. Grabbing his bag and the book Snape had given him to read, he moved forward to the desk. "Ron was wondering whether you'd be interested in a round of Veritaserum with our esteemed Headmaster," he said mildly as he set down his things; when he looked up he saw a satisfied smirk on the Potions Master's face.

"I may be," he replied just as mildly, and Harry smiled mischievously as they settled down for their first real lesson.

Meanwhile, another Harry was considering how to get at the Horcruxes. Hufflepuff's Cup was in the Lestrange vault, and as their closest relatives were the Blacks, the vault would go to the House of Black after their deaths. They would be the first Death Eaters to die when the Order started picking off the Inner Circle, Harry decided.

Then, there was the ring that had sped Dumbledore towards death in the other timeline. The question was whether to let Dumbledore fall for it again or whether to deal with it himself... He'd deal with that when he discussed the Horcruxes with the Headmaster; if he insisted to tag along then Harry wouldn't try hard to persuade him otherwise, and if he ended up putting on the ring again, well, Harry tried to persuade him not to join him... Harry grinned and moved on to the next one.

Nagini. Truth was that Severus would not be able to remain a spy for much longer if they were going to start picking off Death Eaters, and if Harry went back it would be to kill Snake Face, not to play the faithful follower. If he could deal with the remaining Horcruxes and as many Death Eaters as possible before he and Severus were summoned, then they could possibly deal with both Nagini and Snake Face at the same time... It would be an awfully close time frame to get that all done before Friday, though, seeing as it was already Tuesday evening... Harry grimaced. Okay; hold off on Death Eater assassinations until after the next summons. Focus on the Horcruxes; bargain with the goblins to get the Cup if necessary. After next summons, kill as many Death Eaters as possible as quickly as possible, and deal with snake and Snake Face at following summons. He couldn't help but feel that he was missing something, however, and it was with a heavy heart that he admitted to himself what it was that gave him pause.

Standing and walking into his bedroom, Harry crouched to rifle through the suitcase Dobby had brought him from the Black vault. He was sure that the scroll had been there in the other timeline...

A quarter hour later he had found the scroll he needed - the one with a spell that indicated whether an object was a Horcrux or not. Practicing until he was fairly sure that he had it right, Harry took a deep breath. Here goes nothing... Casting the spell at his head, Harry held his breath – and cursed violently when a red light flashed.