– – – – – Rebirth Chapter 14 – – – – –

By the fourth week of school, all of the Ravenclaws seemed to have accepted and stopped caring that Harry tended to socialize with a number of Slytherins in classes and in the library, and the Slytherins that Harry socialized with had long given up the notion that they were tricking naïve little Harry Potter into liking them. No – they knew just how secretly devious Harry was, and Daphne Greengrass, and Blaise Zabini – another Slytherin that Harry had spent some time with in classes – had both remarked their surprise that the hat hadn't sorted Harry straight into Slytherin. He had responded by smirking and asking them what made them think that it hadn't wanted to? Draco had then commented that it took the most cunning Slytherin to dodge suspicion by intentionally getting himself sorted into the wrong house.

Blaise pointed out that if Harry wanted to completely dodge suspicion, he probably shouldn't be hanging out with Slytherins at all, but Harry said that he refused to spend all of his time with only the other Ravenclaws, and if anyone ever confronted him on his socializing with Snakes, he could claim he was being open-minded and refused to judge people by the actions of their parents.

Most of Slytherin house were still under the impression that Harry really was some naïve kid and Draco was just using him for his name and his fame, and also because Draco's father had told him to. Harry was fine with people believing that. It helped give him an extra layer of deniability should anyone question his motives. He had no problem pretending to actually be naïve and unaware if it would benefit him. Promoting this misconception also helped Draco since it gave him more to boast about inside Slytherin house – manipulating and deceiving the Boy-Who-Lived – and having bragging rights was always very important in the snake's constant, unending game of one-upsmanship. Harry had given him permission to continue to propagate the idea to those outside of Harry's trusted circle of Slytherins.

Harry still spent plenty of time with his fellow Ravenclaws, though. Meals were, of course, spent in their company, and he had continued to alternate who he sat with, becoming companionable acquaintances with all of his year mates. He was seen as friendly with all, but close-friends with none. He had also continued to occasionally join the muggleborns at meals and acted friendly and helpful enough in classes.

Harry had very little that he could connect with any of these children on an emotional level since they were all children, and he was not. As such, when he spoke with them, it was almost always in reference of classwork, and since he honestly knew so damn much more than any of them, he had the tendency to slip into a bit of a teacher mode.

He tried to stop himself from doing it too often, but it always sort of slipped out despite himself. It really was the only way he knew how to be nice to any of these people, and he knew he needed to play nice if he was going to avoid suspicion from Dumbledore and the other teachers.

While most all of the students that Harry tried to help were grateful for it, oddly enough, Hermione Granger was not. If anything, whenever he tried to help her with something, she would get annoyed with him. Not outwardly, but he could see the anger in her eyes. Frustration and irritation would turn her cheeks pink, and he would swear that in those moments her hair actually became frizzier.

Harry quickly realized that Hermione was not accustomed to being second best at anything. Even given the academic nature of most Ravenclaws, Hermione Granger was still easily the top in the class... second to Harry.

She had continued to be rather cold to Harry even as he repeatedly sat with her and the other two muggleborns and kept all of his conversations friendly and light. He had wondered for a while what her problem was since his charms were working perfectly on everyone else. But Harry finally determined that it was probably just academic jealousy. At least, that was the best he could figure. She was always giving him these calculating looks and these carefully concealed glares.

And yet it was still preferable to the openly hostile glares that he was often receiving from the Gryffindors in his year. Most of them had seemed confused by him for the first few weeks, but by the third week, they began to look at him with hateful glares, and he wasn't really sure what exactly had brought it on.

Harry certainly wasn't a stranger to having Gryffindors glare hatefully at him, but he wondered what exactly could have caused the shift from confusion to open disdain, and also wondered if he needed to do any damage control before something he didn't approve of reached the wrong ears.

–

In addition to his continued social interactions with his peers, he had also taken up a habit of spending some of his afternoons in Remus' office. In the beginning, they just talked about Harry's parents, and their school years, but eventually Harry offered to assist Remus with some of his grading work. Remus was hesitant, but allowed Harry to help grade some of the multiple-choice worksheets he had the second and third year students doing.

Harry found he was really enjoying his time with Remus. The man was extremely smart, and had a quiet yet quick wit to his subtle humor that Harry could really appreciate. It was also nice to actually spend some time in the company of an adult, rather than nothing but eleven-year-old children.

An additional bonus was all the information about, not only his parents, but some of the wizarding world's more notable events from during the time that Harry had been dead. He had first introduced the subject by complaining to Remus about how worthless his history class was, thanks entirely to Binns, but also complaining about how none of the recent history books gave any decent information on the war that Harry's parents had died in. Remus had been hesitant to talk about the wizarding war, since it was such a heavy and touchy subject, but Harry had finally started to get some information out of him.

Between talk of the war, and talk of 'the Marauder's' school days, Harry had learned quite a lot of interesting information. Especially in regards to his Potions professor. But Harry hadn't let any of his knowledge show in the man's presence. Remus had asked him not to, and Harry wasn't going to betray that trust.

–

It was Tuesday afternoon. Harry had been in his Ravenclaw/Slytherin study group that afternoon since both houses had a free period during their last class block of the day. The Ravenclaws had left the study group a little earlier than usual because that day was the first practice for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and they had wanted to watch. Harry may have now had a new appreciation for flying, but he still didn't give a damn about the sport, so he stayed behind with Draco, Daphne, and Theo.

They chatted easily for another thirty minutes before the Slytherins had to pack up and head down to the dungeons to prepare for dinner in a half hour. Harry sat there for another five minutes before stretching his arms over his head and packing up his books. He had no need to go back to the common room before heading to dinner and figured he could take advantage of this time to slip into an alcove, throw up a disillusionment spell, and scope out the third-floor corridor again.

He'd been making regular trips to the area over the last week. The teachers rotated patrols to guard it, but most of the time, during the days, it was left solely up to Filch to guard it, since the professors were busy teaching their classes. This was obviously a flawed plan since Filch was a squib, and he was only one man. He was the caretaker of the whole bloody school, and even with the assistance of his creepy-ass cat, he still couldn't watch the whole school all the time and watch the third floor corridor.

The man had some magical detectors hidden around the third floor though, that notified him if anyone approached it. Harry could see them with his Black Sight and they were easy enough to get around. Harry had identified the door at the end of the third-floor corridor as obviously being what was being guarded. He remembered it from he and Tom's search of the school during his first youth. If it was the same as before, the room itself would look like any other boring room, except it would have a trap door in the floor. Immediately below the trap door was a long corridor that tilted downwards. After it was a large room, then another small hall that continued downwards, then another large room... it continued on like that. He and Tom had never figured out what the hell had been intended when the space had originally been built into the castle. When they'd gone exploring it in their third year it had been full of junk.

Harry suspected that there was more than junk there now, but hadn't yet ventured past the first door to check for himself.

Harry left the library and instantly became aware that someone was trying to follow him. He continued down the corridor, pretending he hadn't noticed and turned a corner leading towards a part of the castle that held class rooms that would be empty this time of day. He caught sight in the reflection of a suit of armor as three small boys tried to scurry from one alcove, or statue, to the next, as they attempted to follow him. Harry's eyes narrowed as he spotted an obvious mop of red hair on one of the three boys.

Harry turned into an empty classroom and shuffled to the side, slightly behind the partially opened door. The three boys poked their heads through and instantly felt themselves pulled inside. They crumpled into a heap on the floor and heard the door close before any of them could manage to stand back up.

Once they did, they found Harry Potter standing there, looking at them through narrowed, suspicious eyes, with his wand drawn in one hand and... three other wands clutched in his other hand?

"Hey, my wand!" Weasley bellowed as he suddenly began to pat down his robes, to confirm that his wand truly was not where it was supposed to be. The other two boys quickly made similar confirmations. The other boys, in question, were Seamus Finnigan and, surprisingly enough, Neville Longbottom. All Gryffindors.

"Why were you following me?" Harry asked.

"Give me back my wand!" Weasley demanded.

"Answer my question," Harry retorted right back.

Weasley's face went red and he scowled at Harry, angrily. After a moment he looked down to scowl at his feet instead and grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that? Couldn't quite hear that." Harry said, coldly.

"We were spying on you, okay?" Weasley spat.

"Why?"

"I wanted to know what you were up to!"

Harry gave him a flat, disbelievingly annoyed look. "What? Why? I was working on my homework. What the hell do you think I'm 'up to' that warrants me being spied on?"

"I don't know what you're up to, but I'm sure you're up to something! You're always hanging out with those slimy Slytherins in the library! You've turned your back on the Light! You were supposed to be a Gryffindor! Not some snooty Ravenclaw that's always hanging out with snakes!"

Harry gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious? Do you even realize how utterly ridiculous you sound?"

"I'm not ridiculous! There's something wrong with you! You're evil!"

Harry burst out into laughter and had to clutch at his side with the hand holding onto their wands. His laughter subsided into chuckles and he wiped away a tear from one of his eyes as he gave an amused sigh. "Oh, that's funny... you really think..." Harry snorted, rolled his eyes.

"Shut up!" Weasley yelled indignantly.

"Okay, well, maybe what Ron said was stupid... we're not all saying that we think you're evil," Finnigan said, earning a scowl from Weasley. "But maybe they've got you under a spell or something. You should have professor Dumbledore look you over to make sure. My cousin was hit with this really powerful Confudus spell once..."

Harry shook his head in amusement and tossed the wands onto the floor so they could roll towards the boys. "Look, I'll be friendly with whomever I want to be friendly with. Spending time with some kids who just happened to get sorted into Slytherin house by a bloody talking hat is not a sign that I've been imperio'd or that I'm actually evil incarnate disguised as a child. I judge people on their actions towards me, not what their parents may or may not have done a decade ago, and not by whatever political affiliation their family stems from. I don't care about that shit right now. They are their own people. They're not defined by what house they got sorted into. Besides, we're all only eleven years old."

Harry turned on the spot and opened the door. Just before stepping through it he turned to look over his shoulder. "Oh, and Weasley?"

Weasley looked up at him, looking annoyed and embarrassed. "Yeah? Whut is it?" he spat.

"I don't like being ambushed. Try it again and I'll string you up by your ankles and dye your hair green for a week."

With that he turned and slammed the door shut behind him.

– –

That Friday, Harry entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to find an unwelcome surprise. Severus Snape was sitting at the head of the classroom, glowering out over the room with a rather smug look on his face. Harry frowned and his pace slowed as his mind tried to whirl over what reasons there could possibly be fore Snape to be there instead of Remus.

The class gathered and settled down after Snape snapped at them all for dallying. Snape instructed them to jump forward to chapter ten in their text book. Hermione's hand instantly was in the air and before he had even called on her, she was informing him that Professor Lupin had only just assigned the class chapter three. Snape sneered at her and ignored her comment, instead reiterating that they should turn to page four hundred and seven.

Harry opened his book and instantly knew why Remus was absent.

The chapter was on werewolves. The previous night must have been the full moon!

Snape went on to quiz them all on werewolves, even though none of them, save Hermione, of course, had even read that far ahead in the text book. Snape also covered, in depth, what exactly a person needed to look for to spot a werewolf. Harry gave Snape a deeply hateful glare, which was far more expression than Snape had ever gotten out of Harry before that.

The contrast in intensity caught the man off his guard when he met Harry's gaze at one point. Snape pulled himself together an instant later and continued on with his lecture. At the end of the class he assigned them all a two foot essay on werewolves and dismissed them. Harry lingered behind, waiting for the room to clear.

Snape was gathering some things off of the desk into his arms and turned to find Harry still standing there, much to his surprise.

"What do you want, Potter?" Snape asked sharply.

"Do you intend to do that in all of his classes that you sub for?"

"What are you blathering on about, brat? What makes you think you have the right to question me? Fifteen points from Ravenclaw, Potter. Now get out of here."

Harry held his ground and his icy glare only intensified. "I'm aware that you and my father had a shit history together. I get that you feel the need to vent the frustrations of your miserable youth on me because I'm his son and you hated him. I'm the personification of your shitty school years. The boy that pranked and humiliated you, and ended up getting the girl you fancied. Fine. Take your misery out on me. Whatever. But from what I've gathered, the only bad thing Remus ever did to you, was stand aside and let my father and Black make you miserable. Sure, he should have stopped them, but he didn't exactly have a lot of friends he could rely on given his unfortunate situation. Why the fuck do you think it's okay for you to try and pull this immature bullshit on a professional colleague?"

"Why, you impertinent little BRAT! HOW DARE YOU!" Snape bellowed, as he set his books and papers back down on the desk with a thundering clap and began to stalk over to Harry in what was probably a rather intimidating display to anyone that wasn't Harry.

"No, how dare you!" Harry shot back, striding forward angrily and coming within inches of the dark wizard who was considerably taller, and now towering over him. Harry's hand was up and his index finger was extended as he jabbed it forcefully into Snape's chest. "You're just hoping that one of these thick-headed little dunderheads will put two and two together and send a letter home to mummy and daddy complaining about their halfbreed teacher. You're intentionally trying to get him sacked!"

"Of course I am! He has no right being here! He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children!"

"And neither should you, you bloody Death Eater! How many people have you killed? I bet you've killed more than he has! Hell, Remus probably hasn't killed anyone, ever! Can you claim such a clean record?"

Snape jumped back as if he'd been hit. His face was deathly pale and slacked in shock. "How do you know about that?" he whispered.

"I know for a fact that you're at least indirectly responsible for two deaths, and almost mine! You and that bloody prophecy! Fucking arse!" Harry continued on, not missing a beat and totally ignoring Snape in his stunned state. "If you hadn't repeated that stupid fucking thing to the Dark Lord he'd still be here, and my parents wouldn't be dead! And I wouldn't have been left in the care of muggles who got their jollies off by beating on a five-year old!"

"How do you know this!" Snape yelled, but his voice wasn't filled so much fury as it was fear.

"I know a lot of things, Severus Snape. I told you already, remember? Eidetic memory. I remember everything. From the day I was born, I remember every thing I've ever witnessed or overheard. I remember Dumbledore coming to visit my parents. I remember my mum holding me in her arms and rocking me, thinking I was asleep, while she and my dad discussed that damned bloody prophecy."

"The headmaster never told them that it was me. He wouldn't have told them that it was I who..." Snape's voice was back to being weak and unsure and Harry could see confusion and disbelief in the man's eyes.

"Can you really be so sure about that? Why? Just because he told you that he hadn't told them? I already know for a fact that Albus Dumbledore is a filthy bloody liar with his own motives and his own twisted little agenda. That man was the one who cast the fidelius charm over my parents house when we went into hiding, and he knows that the one that he designated as the secret keeper was not Sirius Black, and yet he's allowed my godfather to get sent to Azkaban without a trial and has left him there to rot! Why? Because with Sirius in prison, Dumbledore retained magical control and guardianship over me. Power and control! He's driving all of this from the shadows, and I don't trust that bastard one tiny bit!"

Harry stopped to catch his breath. He realized that he was panting, he was so upset. His emotions were unstable and he knew he was going to regret some of the stuff he was saying, but he was just so angry.

"And I don't trust you," Harry finally hissed out in a deathly quiet voice. "I don't know what the hell Dumbledore thinks he's doing having you here. A Death Eater in a school, teaching children! I don't know whose side you're really on. Dumbledore's side, the Dark Lord's side, or maybe you're just on your side, and simply teetering on the edge, ready to slide down one side or the other once it becomes clear which side has the better chance of winning. And while I can't disagree with that ideology, I can't stand for it in this case. Self-preservation is one thing, but loyalty..." Harry ground out through his clenched teeth, but stopped himself from saying what he really wanted to.

Snape was standing stock still, looking down at Harry with a stunned expression, still clearly unsure what to do or say.

Harry pulled in a slow breath, trying to calm his racing heart. Finally, his head rose and his cold green eyes met Snape's with a piercing intensity that caused the man to flinch.

"I've grown quite fond of Remus Lupin. If your actions result in him getting sacked, you will regret it."

Anger returned to Snape's eyes. "You would dare to threaten me, you little whelp?"

Harry's hand fisted around the collar of Snape's robes and he yanked down with a surprising amount of force for someone so small. The force, combined with the powerful magical well that erupted around the pair of them sent shock and fear back into Snape's eyes. Harry's teeth were clenched tightly and he sneered dangerously up at the man.

"You'd better believe that I would dare to threaten you. You do not know what you are dealing with, Severus Snape. Use some of the Slytherin self-preservation and change your fucking lesson plan, or you're going to find yourself deeply regretting your choices."

"And what exactly could a child like you hope to do against me," Snape bit out through clenched teeth of his own as he tried to mask the fear that was welling up inside him.

"Dumbledore may have kept things quiet and protected you from Azkaban ten years ago, but do you think he could do that again if you had the Boy-Who-Lived calling for your case to be re-opened? Or exposing your participation in the prophecy thing? The Potter's death? And what about the parent outcry? What would the parents of the students think if they knew that they had a marked Death Eater teaching their children? Even Lucius won't protect you if I ask him not to. You'll be gone from this school so fast..."

Snape barked out an incredulous laugh and sneered down at Harry as he pulled himself free and stood up.

"You honestly think you'd have any influence over the Malfoy's? You are being played, Potter. They merely want you for your name and your influence! Draco is not your friend, his father is simply having him get close to you because he wants your trust!"

"And which one of the two of us has more influence and power, hmm? Which one of us would be more valuable to Lucius in the long run? The Boy-Who-Lived, or the Death Eater who turned spy for Dumbledore? When the Dark Lord returns, and your questionable loyalties and potential spying for the Order comes to light, which do you think the Dark Lord would approve of more, as far as Lucius is concerned? Earning the trust of the Boy-Who-Lived, or staying true to a turn-coat and a spy? Lucius will turn against you without a moments hesitation because that is what would please his Lord. Do you think that Dumbledore would stay true to you if he thought he could earn my trust if he turned on you? Which one of us do you think is more important to him? His spy, or his weapon? He could get another spy, and he'll have to since the Dark Lord will never really trust you again, but I'm the only one prophecised to vanquish the Dark Lord."

Snape's eyes widened and he looked at Harry with a mixture of dawning horror, and intense confusion.

"Right now, the worst I can do is crush you, but someday I'll be in a position to do much, much worse," Harry said in a deathly quiet whisper. "If you value your life, I recommend you try to redeem yourself in my eyes, Severus Snape, because right now? I really don't like you."

With that Harry spun on the spot and stalked out the door, still fuming.

Harry skivved off History of Magic to spend the afternoon with Remus in the hospital wing. The matron, Madam Pomfrey, had been surprised to see Harry there, and was even more surprised when it became clear that Harry was in-the-know about Remus' 'furry little problem'.

Harry was still angry from his confrontation with Snape. He didn't mention it to Remus though. He wasn't sure exactly what sort of fallout there would be from the encounter. It was entirely possible that Snape would go straight to Dumbledore and Harry would have to scramble to redo all his plans. If that happened, then he'd deal with it. It wasn't like he hadn't known everything could blow up in his face at any minute. Part of him probably hoped it would all blow up so he would have a valid excuse to get the hell out of that damned school and all of the children in it. Maybe if he wasn't restrained by trying to stay under Dumbledore's radar he could just leave the country and start a legitimate search for Tom. Because at this point he was almost positive that Tom was abroad. He wasn't even sure why he was so convinced of such a thing, he just was.

But he still wanted the Stone. Maybe if things blew up, he could just tear through the protections – he was fairly sure he could manage it, no matter what the hell was in there – and then take off. Leave Britain and start looking for Tom...

Harry shook his head of such daydreams as Remus asked him some question, worrying about Harry missing a class. Harry dismissed his concerns, reminding him that he was missing Binns' class, and it was unlikely that the dead teacher would even notice. He never took roll anyway.

Despite his concerns, Harry honestly doubted that Snape would run to Dumbledore with what had happened. He knew he'd gotten to the man with that bit about which of the two of them was more valuable to Dumbledore. He was also fairly sure he was right about Snape being on 'Snape's side' and not really being on anyone else's side. The man would wait until it was clear who was winning before he actually picked a side. The quintessential Slytherin, just like Harry had first pegged him.

Harry hadn't come out and said it, but Snape would have to be an idiot to not wonder about where exactly Harry's loyalties would lie in the coming conflict. If The-Boy-Who-Lived abandoned the Light, they were doomed, according to that stupid worthless prophecy, and it seemed that Dumbledore was putting a lot of his energy behind it. If Snape was smart, he would keep what he'd learned today to himself until he was better able to piece things together and make some sense of things.

Harry would just have to wait and watch. See where things went from there.

Harry turned his attention back on Remus. The man was pretty torn up, but his wounds were healing quickly and would be gone by the end of the day. Werewolves without a pack tended to tear themselves up pretty bad during the actual transformation. Fortunately the day of, and the day after the transformation they had an accelerated healing factor.

"Hey Remus?" Harry asked after a lull in their conversation.

"Yes, Harry?"

"You mentioned that my dad, Sirius, and Peter – they became animagi so that they could keep you company in the shack during full moons, right?"

"That's right."

"How long did it take them? I mean, it took a while before they figured out about your problem, and then they still had to learn the transfiguration – which is supposed to take years even under the guidance of a transfiguration master. When were they finally able to start keeping you company?"

"Ah... it wasn't until sixth year that they perfected their transformations. You're right – it did take them quite a while, but they did it impressively fast considering they were doing it without proper instruction. They started trying to learn it in third year."

Harry nodded his head thoughtfully. Part of him actually wanted to be able to offer the same assistance to Remus, that his father and friends had offered. But Harry hadn't even attempted to do an animagus transformation yet in this life. He had seriously doubted that his body could handle it. You weren't supposed to even attempt it until you'd already reached your magical maturity since it caused a tremendous magical strain and required a lot of magic to perform and maintain.

Then again, he'd already pushed his body much further and forced it to adjust to magic far beyond what a normal eleven-year-old body could usually do. It was possible that his body could handle it. But would he have to learn it all over again? Would it actually take him a full two years to master it again, or would he be able to do it faster since he already knew how, he'd just have to learn his new form... assuming it was even different...

"Was there something else, Harry?" Remus asked, pulling Harry from his thoughts.

Harry looked at Remus for a moment, debating. The only person who had ever known he'd become an animagus was Tom, and Harry was the only one who had known of Tom's form in return. They had become animagus together in their early thirties mostly to see if they could. One of Tom's followers was an animagus and the man's skill had been extremely beneficial on several occasions. It had taken the two of them just under two years to master their transformations. Tom had actually been rather annoyed at that. It was slightly shorter than most, but Tom would only have been happy had he done it in less than one. He was a magical prodigy after all – he should have been able to do it faster than that.

Harry had snickered at Tom at the time. Teasing his lover by pointing out that he was 'pouting'. It had gotten the response he'd expected. Tom had been furious at the mere suggestion that he had 'pouted' in response to anything, ever.

Harry squashed the smile at the memory and shrugged at Remus. "Nothing really. Just wondering, was all."

"Harry, I think I see what you might be thinking about but you shouldn't even try it. You're too young to become an animagus. I really appreciate the thought, but I'm fine on my own for the full moons."

Harry smiled at Remus and shrugged. "I didn't say anything."

"Right..." Remus responded in a slightly disbelieving tone.

– –

That weekend Harry called Dobby to him and told the elf to go to the apothecary in Diagon Alley and purchase a list of ingredients for him. The elf returned twenty minutes later with everything he had asked for and Harry thanked him before sending him back to Godric's Hollow. Harry then made his way to the Room of Hidden Things and asked for a space to brew a potion.

Before he could even consider relearning his animagus form, he needed to know if his animal form had changed at all, and in order to learn that, he needed to brew the animagi revilium potion.

Brewing took about three hours, but when it was done Harry was very satisfied with his efforts. The potion had turned out perfectly. He bottled as much as he would need and asked the room for a large pillow-cushion on the floor. He sat down, cross-legged, slowed his breathing and cleared his mind before downing the potion.

The potion would put the imbiber into a trance where they would have a vision of themselves in their animal form. They were to memorize what it felt like. How their animal moved, breathed, felt, saw, etc. How their mind worked as their animal form. When an animagus was in their animal form, their thoughts and reactions lowered a bit closer the more instinctive nature of the animal they assumed, but they still maintained their own intelligence and consciousness for the most part.

The room remained completely silent for several long minutes while Harry sat there, seemingly doing nothing. Suddenly he gasped and his eyes flew open as he woke from the trance.

A wide, feral grin spread across his lips. It hadn't changed. His form was the exact same as it had been in his previous life.

Brilliant. Now to see if I can even still do it.

– –

Severus Snape was still shaken by his encounter with Harry Potter even a day later as he reluctantly made his way to the teachers conference room for the first staff meeting of the school year. It was the end of September and the time of year that they always gathered to discuss the little runts that were left in their charge ten months out of the year.

Severus had not yet told anyone about his encounter the previous day and wasn't sure he would – at least not any time soon. The boy had given him too much to think about. Too many puzzle pieces that didn't match up. Potter was a conundrum wrapped inside a riddle. Harry Potter had been anything but what Severus had expected since the day he had arrived.

The first shock had come when Potter was sorted into Ravenclaw. Severus had honestly expected the boy to go straight to Gryffindor where his father and every other blasted Potter before him had gone. But he had instead been sorted in with the Ravenclaws.

The second surprise had come when he first saw the boy socializing with several of his Slytherins in the halls and in the library. The third shock had come with his first class teaching the little brat. His inexplicable knowledge had been bewildering, but the boy being a book worm did at least explain how he'd ended up in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. But it also seemed that it was impossible to get under Potter's skin, no matter what buttons Severus tried to push.

But far more confusing and shocking was what Severus encountered when he'd tried to slip inside Potter's mind and found absolutely nothing there. Severus had seen a great many mental defenses before, but never before had he encountered someone's conscious mindscape that was so utterly devoid of anything. He had no idea what to make of it. It should have been impossible. No one could blank their mind that much. Potter had to have been hiding his mind somehow, but to accomplish such a thing so perfectly he would have to be a master Occlumens. And still it should have been impossible!

An additionally infuriating aspect to the boy's bizarre perfect recall was that it came with perfect potions performance. He couldn't even dock the boy for poor brewing. He hadn't messed up a single potion. He'd even taken numerous extra intricate steps that only an experienced brewer would know to take, in order to ensure his potions were perfect. It was infuriating.

He had continued to hear tales of a few of his Slytherins socializing with Potter, but the majority of the house saw it for what it obviously was – a power play. Draco was no doubt under orders form his father to befriend Potter and gain his trust. The fact that Draco and some of his friends had accomplished it so easily without Potter suspecting it, only seemed to confirm to Severus that Potter was still a gullible, naïve little boy, after all...

But all of Severus' preconceived notions and beliefs revolving around the boy were blown away by one altercation with him that day covering for that blasted wolf. One confrontation with Potter, that had shattered every assumption he had ever made of him.

Severus didn't even know where to start. Potter clearly wasn't simply being used by Draco. He even seemed to have some sort of relationship or understanding with Lucius. Had Potter met Lucius? It seemed that, not only was he not being used by Draco, he might even be the one doing the using.

And what was with Potter calling the Dark Lord... The Dark Lord? It was entirely odd. Only followers of the Dark Lord ever called him by his proper title. Everyone else used one of those ridiculous hyphenated monikers, except for Dumbledore who was the only one with the audacity to speak the name Voldemort.

Learning that Potter's bizarre perfect memory stemmed all the way back to his infancy was also a huge shock. Was that even possible? Well obviously it was, because there was no other explanation for how Potter could possibly know what he knew. In any case, he knew far more than anyone would have ever expected, and far more than he should in regards to Snape, Dumbledore and the prophecy.

Did Dumbledore have any idea that Potter knew about the prophecy already?

Severus deeply doubted it. And he wasn't even presently inclined to fill the man in on that little tidbit. He felt far more inclined to sit back and observe things a bit longer. He knew the Dark Lord was coming back. He'd known it ever since his mark had started to clear up two summers ago. He'd been expecting to be summoned at any time ever since his mark had burned so fiercely that Halloween night... but nothing. Nothing had happened since then and it left him a bit bewildered.

Lucius had claimed that he'd heard nothing since, either, but could he be lying?

Of course he could be, but Severus doubted he was. He was sure that the Dark Lord would call him, when he chose to finally make himself known to the other Death Eaters. Severus had wormed his way into Dumbledore's trust and he would be valuable to the Dark Lord there. He was convinced that he could work the situation to his advantage no matter how things turned out... or at least, he had been sure until Harry Potter had been introduced into the equation.

Now he really didn't know what was going on.

Severus entered the staff room and sat down in his usual seat at the large rectangular table between Minerva and Filius. Lupin entered a minute later with a small limp and looking haggard.

That was another thing to think about. Potter's connection to the wolf. For a month he had tried to push Potter's buttons in class. Trying to get some reaction out of the boy; searching for one good reason to give the little bastard a detention, or a worthy point reduction; but nothing. He never got a real reaction out of Potter until yesterday. It seemed that Potter didn't care if he was personally attacked, but the moment Severus had done something to threaten Lupin, Potter had struck like a venomous snake, hidden in the reeds.

The fact that Potter already knew that Lupin was a werewolf seemed like a near meaningless revelation now, in light of everything else he'd discovered Potter knew.

"Ah, good. It looks like we're all here now," Dumbledore said genially as he smiled at everyone from his spot at the head of the table. "Lets begin with the reports from the heads of the four houses. How are your new first years adjusting to school life?"

Minerva started and Severus mostly tuned her out. They were all petty concerns. Homesick students, trouble-makers, the standard one or two kids who came in illiterate because their parents couldn't afford a private tutor, nor spare the time to personally home school them, and yet also refused to send them to a muggle primary school.

Severus kept his report standard and short. He rarely shared much information on his snakes in these meetings. If there were problems within Slytherin house, they were dealt with behind closed doors. Slytherins did not air their dirty laundry in front of others – least of all Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs.

Discussion shifted to the first years class performance. Who was having the most trouble, who was excelling, etc.

Potter's name came up a lot here. They had all noticed his advanced intelligence. The other teachers had only glowing praise to say about the boy. He was smart, kind, charming, helpful... always eager to assist his fellow students if they were having trouble with a spell. Dreadfully bright, but also modest. Always gets his practical spells within the first few tries and often spends the rest of the lesson helping his classmates, no matter if they're in his house or not.

It was as if Severus seen an entirely different person then they had.

When Severus was asked his opinion of the boy, he kept his comments to a minimum and grudgingly admitted that his potions were passable.

Lupin informed the group that Potter had been in a program for the gifted at his muggle primary school and that he had an eidetic memory. Dumbledore seemed shocked to learn all this. Hadn't the man been keeping tabs on the boy? His precious chosen-one? Surely he had some idea... but maybe he didn't. Potter had clearly managed to hide his less public-friendly persona from all of the rest of them. Even Lupin seemed ignorant to Potter's darker side.

It seemed that once discussion on Potter had started that none of them could quite shut up about him – a fact that Severus found entirely irritating.

It was pointed out by Madam Pince, the librarian, that Potter had been spending a awful lot of time in the company of Malfoy and Nott, which brought about a number of quiet, concerned, murmurs from the teachers and several loaded looks between McGonagall and Dumbledore. The headmaster was frowning and nodded his head slowly. He noted that he was aware of Potter's study-group and was keeping an eye on it. That it did concern him some, but that it seemed entirely innocent so far.

Everyone at the table knew that both Malfoy's and Nott's fathers were Death Eaters. Both had managed to escape Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius curse when they were marked, but none present at this meeting were stupid enough to believe such an excuse.

Lupin came to Potter's defense then, no doubt repeating something that Potter himself had said to the wolf. Claiming that Potter refused to judge eleven-year-old children by the supposed actions of their parents a decade ago. That he would judge the kids on their own merits, not who their parents or family were.

Severus had to fight off the urge to scoff, loudly. It was such an obvious and ridiculous lie, but Dumbledore smiled brightly and nodded in approval at the remark. Severus wanted to roll his eyes. The man was such a gullible old fool sometimes. Always wanting to see the best in people.

But then again, if it weren't for that quality, Severus himself would be in Azkaban right then, so he couldn't exactly be upset with the man for it.

Finally discussion moved onto other subjects and Severus felt he could relax a little.

He would have to continue to remain vigilant and keep his eyes open and trained on Potter. He also thought it might be a good idea to get in contact with Lucius again and find out if he'd had any contact with Potter outside of Draco. He would floo his old friend that afternoon.

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