"Snape? Can I come in?"
Severus looked up from his desk and rolled his once he saw that Potter was already inside his office.
"No," he quipped.
Potter looked momentarily caught off guard before he recognized Severus' sarcasm and grinned sheepishly as he moved towards his seat.
"Shame," he said, "because I need your help."
Which was a sentence that any time Potter uttered- it meant nothing but chaos for Severus.
"What now?" Severus sighed. "There are still six weeks until the third task, and two before you even find out what it is. What possible chaos could you be causing in the meantime?"
"Hey, I am not causing chaos," Potter looked offended, which was rich because the child's given name may as well be 'Chaos'. "I'm helping Neville. And I need your help to do it."
"You could evict me from our home and I would still never agree to tutor that dunderhead," Severus drawled. "Longbottom is a hopeless brewer and I look forward to his sixth year when he is no longer able to take my class."
"Would you just listen?" Potter asked. "God, I've got a headache. It's been a long day and you're talking crazy."
Severus snorted and summoned a pain reliever.
"Drink," he said. "And tell me about your long day."
"Wellll, I can't tell you everything," Potter said evasively after finishing the potion. "But I do have a question for you. Maybe more than one."
Severus simply sat back and waited for the oh so important questions Potter had for him.
"Barty Crouch was your friend, yeah?"
Again with Barty Crouch?
Severus truly was beginning to grow concerned over Potter's continued obsession with the Crouches.
"He was."
"Why'd he torture Neville's parents?"
Severus steepled his hands together and studied his nails as he spoke.
"I believe Bellatrix, in her utter madness, was under the impression that Frank and Alice would have information of the Dark Lord's downfall," he said carefully. "As they were high ranking Auror's at the time, she thought they would know something more than what was being published in the news. Though there was a possibility that the prophecy you have in your possession could have referred to Mister Longbottom as well. I do not believe the Dark Lord shared this with his followers though. If he had, I'm certain that they would have targeted Mister Longbottom himself."
"Wait-" Potter blinked owlishly at him, clearly surprised by that bit of information. "Neville could be the one with the power the Dark Lord knows not?!"
"No, 'the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,'" Severus recited from memory. "I had wondered, before you foolishly played the prophecy for your guests at your thirteenth birthday party, if it was possible Mister Longbottom was the prophesied child. His parents had evaded the Dark Lord thrice, and he was born as the seventh month died. But the Dark Lord had been certain it was you, and he fulfilled the part of the prophecy when he marked you as his equal the night of your parents' deaths."
Potter squinted his eyes in a way that Severus was certain could not be healthy for his already poor eyesight as he processed this new information.
"'But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not'," Potter said slowly. "So... so it's definitely me, right? Or... or do you reckon Neville's hiding some sort of power stronger than I have?"
Severus scoffed at Potter's never ending arrogance. Tell the child you care for him and he develops a stutter. Have his partner call him attractive and he believes it to be a cruel prank.
But imply that another student could possibly carry more magical power than Potter does? And suddenly he is equal parts defensive and suspicious.
James Potter himself may never have carried such grandiose ideas of self-importance, Severus thought to himself before immediately disagreeing with that statement.
This Potter was actually incredibly important- in many various ways, the least of which being his role in defeating the Dark Lord in Severus' opinion.
"Mister Longbottom was not marked by the Dark Lord. Rest easy Harry, you are the child with the power the Dark Lord knows not," Severus said in a dry tone.
"Good," Potter nodded. "'Kay, so, back to my problem: Bellatrix was crazy and wanted to torture Nev's parents for information. But why did Barty go? Is he mad too? Like Bellatrix?"
Severus looked up and frowned at Potter's intense gaze.
"Was," he corrected him. "As Barty is quite dead, the correct tense would be was. And no, I do not believe so."
"Was then," Potter said with an indecipherable smirk. "So if he wasn't mad, why would he go? Why torture Neville's parents?"
"You are placing me in a delicate position here," Severus said truthfully. "As I was not there, anything I have to say on the matter is pure speculation."
"Speculate away," Potter leaned back and waved one hand airily. "You knew him best, yeah? Why do you think he went if he wasn't mad?"
Severus hummed as he thought Potter's odd question through. As little as it mattered now, he would attempt to answer honestly.
"Barty, Regulus, and I joined the Death Eaters together," Severus said, his eyes trained firmly on his own hands. "By the time the Dark Lord fell; I was hidden behind Albus' protection, and Regulus had already been dead for a year after attempting to flee from the Dark Lord. Barty had to witness his two closest friends turn away from a cause that we had all but convinced him to join. Barty... Barty was not self reliant, not like you and Theodore are. He stood strongest when he was being given orders and guidance, which is not an uncommon reaction to children of chronic abuse. And, my pure speculation, is that with myself and Regulus gone, he was easy prey to the Lestrange's influence."
"What do you mean me and Theodore?" Potter asked sharply. "Draco's self reliant too, why not say Theo and Draco?"
It took Severus a long moment to realize Potter's sudden irritation.
How could he forget the child's insistence that he was not a victim of abuse?
"Such as Theodore and Draco then," Severus said evenly. He could make Potter see the truth another time, for now he wanted to understand Potter's current obsession with the Death Eaters. Particularly, his obsession with the deceased Barty Crouch.
Potter huffed and crossed his arms, but began his questions again.
"So he was 'under their influence', do you think Barty was under the imperious curse when they attacked Nev's parents?"
"I do not," Severus said. "I believe Barty simply was a reluctant, but voluntary, participant in his effort to find a new guiding figure in his life."
"Damn," Potter mumbled. "So he did curse them then?"
"Hmm," Severus hummed thoughtfully as he thought back on the brilliant blonde haired young man he had once considered to be one of his closest, and most true, out of his few friends. "I am unsure if Barty was ever able to cast an Unforgiveable. This may come as a surprise to you, but a person has to truly mean it when they cast, and while Barty dedicated himself fully to the Dark Lord, he never relished in causing pain to others."
"For arguments sake, let's say that I'm 100% positive that Barty can cast all three unforgivables," Potter spoke very slowly, as if choosing his words with extreme caution. "Do you think he cast any of the curses that night?"
"I do not know," Severus snapped, frustrated by Potter's nonsensical questions and his own inability to decipher Potter's current scheme. "If you are assisting Mister Longbottom in seeking revenge, I recommend you focus on the ones who definitively cursed his parents and who are still alive."
"This is such a nightmare," Potter sighed and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses wearily. "Nobody has the answers I need."
"Perhaps this is due to the convoluted questions you are asking," Severus said as evenly as he could, given his own mounting frustration. "Why not explicitly tell me what it is you wish to know?"
"I told you!" Potter cried, slamming his hand on Severus' desk. "I need to know if Barty cursed Neville's parents or not!"
"You cannot exonerate a dead man!" Severus said sharply. "Why does this matter so much to you?"
"I can't tell you," Potter grit out. "Not yet. But it's fuckin' important Snape."
"I am afraid there is no one who can help you," Severus told him. "Anyone who would have a definite answer is indefinitely unavailable."
"Damn it," Potter moaned, rubbing his eyes once more. Severus watched his ward with concern, why was this so important to Potter that it was causing him to become so visibly stressed?
Severus mentally calculated and reassured himself that it had been seven weeks since Potter first took his potion, and three weeks since his second. Surely this obsessive behavior was not a latent side effect? Perhaps Potter was stressed about the final task and it was manifesting through unsolvable mysteries? Potter did have a penchant for sticking his nose in situations it scarcely belonged.
"Harry, talk to me," Severus said gently. "You and I have never carried secrets from each other. Will we begin now?"
"No," Potter said quickly. He looked up at Severus and his eyes were pleading. "It's not me keeping a secret, not really. I'll tell you as soon as I can, but I can't yet."
Last time Potter had kept another's secret, and refused to share it with Severus, it ended with the murder of Theodore's father.
"If someone is requesting you keep a secret from me, does it not occur to you that it is precisely the type of secret I should be aware of?" Severus asked him.
"Probably," Potter admitted. "But I still can't tell you. Not yet. I promise I will when I can."
Severus ground his back teeth together so hard he felt one of them actually chip off.
Trust Potter to cause him to develop both a neurological deficit and a broken tooth.
Being a double agent during the last few months of the war had been less stress than being Harry Potter's guardian was.
"Do you believe in second chances?"
"Pardon?" Severus had been caught up in a fantasy of the ease of which he will live once Potter graduates and begins his world tour as a professional seeker.
"I said, do you believe in second chances?" Potter asked.
"I suppose it depends on the initial transgression that caused the second chance to be required," Severus said. "Albus is fond of second chances, I typically am not."
Which was quite hypocritical of him, considering he was only free of Azkaban for his crimes due to Albus' fondness of second chances.
"I'm not either," Potter said with a frown. "But... but I might really need someone to get a second chance. How do I convince someone else to give that person a second chance?"
Severus tried to imagine how this tied to Potter's questions surrounding Barty. Either this was an entirely new topic of conversation, or Potter wanted to know if one of the three still living Wixen involved in the Longbottom torture was worthy of a second chance.
"You cannot," Severus told him. "You cannot dictate whether a person has the capacity to forgive another."
"That's not helpful either," Potter snarled.
Severus smiled serenely.
"Neither is you keeping secrets from me, yet here we are."
"Here we are," Potter agreed with a roll of his eyes.
The two of them stared at each other for a minute as Potter's thoughts practically whirled behind his eyes.
"Okay, how about this," Potter said. "If you have two friends, and they don't get along, yeah? What do you do?"
"Because one friend has wronged the other and you do not believe they will give them a second chance?" Severus guessed shrewdly based on the information Potter has shared thus far.
"Yeah."
Severus could easily admit that Potter had finally lost him in his efforts to piece together the peculiar questions he was asking. Because Severus could hardly, logically, tie together Potter's current scheme that somehow involved Death Eaters, Barty Crouch, Bellatrix Lestrange, the Lestrange brothers, Mister Longbottom, second chances, and having two friends not getting along.
Severus thanked Merlin that the three Lestrange's were all securely still in Azkaban, if not he would fear that Potter was attempting to add one of them to his alliance.
Perhaps the child had simply compiled a list of topics he wished to speak to Severus about, and was unleashing them all now.
Any sentence involving Potter's intentions or actions and the word 'simply', or any variation of the word, is a fools statement.
"Hmm, if you are unwilling to end your relationship with either friend, I would minimize their opportunities to be together and stay out of their conflict," Severus told him. He had not noticed any of Potter's group having any disagreements, they all still came together every other Thursday for dueling lessons.
Perhaps Potter was debating on bringing another student in to his gang of misfits?
"And if one friend wants to kill the other?" Potter asked him.
A secluded island, perhaps? Impenetrable and inaccessible to visitors? Severus imagined the perfect getaway once his obligations to Potter were completed.
"Dissuade your acquaintances from committing murder," Severus said tersely.
"You aren't helping!" Potter groaned, leaning forward to cradle his head in his hands as he gripped at his hair. "There's gotta be an answer here somewhere- I know it."
"What is truly on your mind child?" Severus asked, feeling badly that his ward is so stressed over...
... well, Severus truly had no idea what had his ward stressed so badly. But something was going on with him.
"I've already told you," Potter mumbled, his face still buried in his hands. "It's not my fault you aren't listening."
Severus sighed and counted to ten very slowly...
Twice...
Before speaking again.
"Harry, perhaps we can use plain terms then and I could understand better," he said calmly. "Which friends of yours are having conflicts?"
"None, yet," Potter said. "But if I add someone that I really, really, want to be in the gang then Nev is gonna be pissed and Nev was here first."
"I find it difficult to imagine Mister Longbottom being 'pissed' at you," Severus said. "But if you believe the new friend will cause conflicts within your 'gang' then perhaps it would be best to not add them?"
"But they're brilliant," Potter said, lowering his hands and looking at Severus earnestly. "A genius Snape. And I want them to be on my side. But..."
"But adding this genius will upset Mister Longbottom," Severus finished the thought for him. "Loathe as I am to say this, I am unsure that Longbottom would stay mad at you, I believe he is rather loyal to you to the point that he had even formally allied himself to you."
"Oh he'll be mad," Potter said darkly. "He'll be pissed as hell. Which... which is probably fair. Because this person screwed him over, badly. But his problems don't have to be mine, right?"
"Not necessarily," Severus said delicately. "Though I believe Mister Longbottom has proven himself to be a good friend to you, and it would be an incredibly poor way to repay him if you ignored something that caused him significant distress."
"Yeah..." Potter slumped down in his seat and appeared dejected. "I knew that. I just wish I could find a way to make it work."
"If anyone can find a solution to an impossible situation, it is you," Severus told him.
"There's no good answer here," Potter said. "Either I add the new guy and Neville hates me, or I don't add the new guy and I have to kill him instead."
"Or you do not add the new guy and you leave him alone," Severus said sternly. "Have we not discussed many times the multiple varied and severe repercussions of murder?"
Potter rolled his eyes and got to his feet.
"You don't understand," he said, sounding much like a petulant teenager. "You'll get it later. But I gotta go think. I'll talk to you later."
Severus furrowed his brows as he watched Potter leave the office with his head hung low.
What on Earth was going on with his ward?
***
Severus kept a close eye on Potter in the following days and kept track of his odd behavior.
Potter was becoming obsessed with Mister Longbottom it seemed.
During meals Severus watched as Potter would abruptly turn to Longbottom and ask him something, and whatever Longbottom responded typically caused Potter to either pull at his hair or scowl heavily. The two boys seemed to be at odds more often than not in the two days that followed Potter's peculiar questions to Severus.
And much as he tried, Severus truly could find no logical explanation for any of it.
Severus began careful research in to obsessive or stress related disorders.
***
Severus, I thought you may be interested to know that I received a request for the court transcripts of the Lestrange/Crouch trial from 1980 regarding the Longbottom case from your child. He didn't explain why he needed it- he just submitted an official form that I wouldn't doubt he had Malfoy draft for him. Or perhaps Miss Granger. I had no legal, ethical, or moral issue with sending along a copy of the official pensieve memory. I did believe you may want to know about it though.
All the luck,
Amelia
***
Abruptly, four days after Potter interrogated Severus, and two days after Amelia sent Potter the memory of the Lestrange/Crouch trial- Potter and Longbottom were no longer at odds.
In fact, they appeared to be closer than ever.
"You shouldn't get so involved in Harry's relationships," Minerva scolded him gently when he discussed it with her during their weekly tea. "If you weren't a professor here then you would have no ability to become so involved, just like every other parent of these students. Kids quarrel and then they make up, it's a fact of life. Harry will doubtlessly get in arguments with all of his friends multiple times, but he needs to learn to sort it out himself."
"Harry is a menace who is unable to understand what it takes to maintain relationships," Severus said, nodding gratefully as Minerva refilled his glass of bourbon.
"He's a teenage boy, they're all emotionally stunted," Minerva chuckled. "He'll grow out of it eventually. You did after all."
Severus grunted in to his drink, an undignified acknowledgment to an accurate reminder of his own difficulties with maintaining friendships.
"Plus I've been impressed with Harry's overall maturity recently," Minerva said warmly. "Just yesterday he jinxed a student who had been spreading rumors about Miss Delacour."
"Harry jinxing a student was somehow proof of his maturity?" Severus asked her incredulously. "I was not informed of Harry receiving any detentions."
"I believe Mister Chessman was saying things quite vile about Miss Delacour's body," Minerva said. "Harry jinxed him. And I pretended to not notice that. Instead I saw that his tie was excellently tied that morning and I awarded him thirty points. I think your child may be a budding feminist," she added with a doting smile.
Severus snorted at that.
"With Bones being his closest friend, I hardly see how he could be anything but," Severus said, shaking his head at the ease of which Potter charms others. "Though he is quite fond of Lovegood, Granger, and Delacour as well."
"Here's to indiscriminate feminism then," Minerva chucked and raised her glass to Severus.
Severus chuckled and clinked his glass to hers.
Minerva had a well-appreciated ability to see the best in the students...
Now that she no longer believed Potter to be a future Dark Lord anyway.
***
A week after Potter first asked his inane questions- the child returned to his office shortly after curfew with nothing less than a triumphant gleam in his eyes.
"I figured it all out," he declared with his chest puffed out with pride.
"Oh?" Severus raised a brow, curious as to what could have his ward so jubilantly victorious. "And what precisely did you figure out?"
"Barty Crouch Junior," Potter said. "I've just made him swear himself to me and my causes. He's in the gang."