"Oh sure, Remus'll be glad to pal around with me," Harry volunteered. "I know he was my professor and all, but we're actually pretty good mates."
"We're not talking about that mangy werewolf actually being responsible for your safety, Potter--"
"Why not? He saved my life third year. If not for teaching me that Patronus charm, the Dementors would have got me for sure--"
"Yes, you and Black," Snape grated.
"Well, he was innocent, you know! I know you know!"
Snape made a visible effort to get the conversation back on track. "We're talking about Polyjuice Potion, Potter. I'll look like Lupin, but I'll be the one with you at all times. At all times, is that clear?"
"You! You can't," Harry sputtered. "I mean, what about Voldemort--"
"Call him the Dark Lord!" Snape snapped.
Harry went right on. "Listen, being seen protecting me isn't going to do your standing among the Death Eaters any good--"
"Hence the Polyjuice Potion," Snape explained in that voice he reserved for first years. "Assuming your dear beloved werewolf will donate a few shards of hair."
"No," Harry protested, only to stop at Dumbledore's raised hand.
"It really is the best solution, Harry. Severus alone is in a position to know Voldemort's plans and intentions regarding you, therefore, he's the only one equipped to truly protect you. As well, I might add, Professor Snape is the foremost expert available on defensive spells, not to mention battle tactics. You'll be in good hands."
"If he's so good at defence, how come you never give him the job?" Harry sniped.
"That is really a matter between Severus and myself," the headmaster lightly chastised. "You go back to your dormitory and pack whatever you might need, while we contact Remus Lupin to ask for his help. Oh, but Harry? Need I mention that you must at all costs stick to the cover story we have devised? You're going to visit your relatives, and Lupin will accompany you. I wouldn't even mention to anyone that your aunt is ill. We don't want to give Voldemort any ideas about how those wards might have been constructed."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. Of course Ron and Hermione would never betray him, he was sure of that, but try convincing Snape of the fact. He couldn't help but ask, though, "How's it going to be such a good cover story if Professor Snape disappears from Hogwarts just the same time I do?"
"But he won't," the headmaster assured him. "I'll use the Polyjuice, too, and take charge of his classes, assuming you're still away on Monday, of course."
So much for that idea. Harry tried another. "But we can't leave now," he pointed out. "Polyjuice takes a month to make. And by then, my aunt could well be dead, sir."
"You really think I don't keep essential potions on hand at all times, Potter?" Snape inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Won't Remus' hair turn you into a werewolf, though?" he wondered out loud, the danger just occurring to him.
"If you paid the slightest attention in Potions class, Mr Potter," Snape sneered, looking down his long nose as though at some particularly gruesome species of slug, "you would know the answer to that. No, it won't change me, unless I happen to take animal hair for my resolvent. And who, pray tell, would be such a blithering idiot as all that?"
He sounded exactly like he knew about Hermione and the cat hair. Harry gulped. "Well, all right then. I'll just go pack like the headmaster said."
"Bring something to study. I recommend your Potions text," Snape abruptly instructed. "Unless, of course, you've changed your mind about wanting another test?"
"No, I think you'll enjoy writing it," Harry shot back, headed out the door.
"I think I shall," Snape agreed, a dark laugh rumbling up from his chest. "I knew you were stupid, Potter, but this is a new low even for you. To demand another potions test? From me? Oh yes, it will be great fun devising questions especially for you."
Harry froze, realizing that he really should have thought of that, sooner.
Snape stepped closer, his dark cloak swirling around him before it settled into folds that swept the stone floor. "But something else shall be even more fun," he whispered against Harry's ear. "Watching you with your cousin. Watching you beg. It isn't just for your protection that I accompany you, Potter. I want to be sure you do it. I want to see it." All at once he stepped back, his demeanour completely different. "Now, get out so the adults can get some work done!"
"Go, Harry," Dumbledore said, more softly. And Harry did. As the door was closing, he heard a chiding, "Severus, you really do need to get your temper under control. He's just a boy--"
"He's a spoiled, selfish, Gryffindor brat who can't see beyond the end of his own nose."
Then the revolving staircase swept him around and down, and Harry turned his footsteps toward the path that led to Gryffindor tower.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other:
Five: Remus?
~
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight
Chapter 5: Remus?
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=5
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Five: Remus?
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There was something altogether creepy, Harry decided, about looking at an exact replica of Remus Lupin and knowing that someone like Snape was lurking inside. Actually, just looking made his head ache. He supposed it was the horrible juxtaposition of friendship and malice.
He trusted Remus, after all. Really, Remus was the only adult he did trust. When he was younger, he could have said that of Dumbledore, too, but no longer. The headmaster knew too much about Harry, things he refused to speak of with Harry, though he apparently felt free to give Order members all sorts of information.
And now he was staring up at Remus' friendly features, remembering how his defence teacher had looked while talking to him of his parents. At the time, he'd been gasping for an image of them . . . an image besides the one the Dementors had plagued him with, the one of his mother screaming as she died. Remus had given him that image, and more. Remus had been there for him, had tutored him, had cared.
Harry wanted to throw himself at that beloved figure, and hug him tight, and thank him, and say that he was so, so sorry about Sirius . . .
But he couldn't. The man standing with Dumbledore wasn't Remus, no matter how convincing the evidence before his eyes. Snape's habitual sneer wasn't even possible on Remus' face, and though his mannerisms weren't entirely what he would call Lupinesque, they certainly didn't call Snape to mind, either. Harry supposed that the Potion Master's normal hostile bearing just wasn't quite possible, not now that he was wearing a body conditioned to hold itself differently.
Not Remus, he said to himself, hating the feeling that he was going to have to repeat it quite a lot. This is not Remus.
At that moment, Snape said something to the headmaster, something quiet that Harry didn't even catch, but it came out in Remus' voice. Polyjuice potion would do that, of course; Harry knew it would. Hadn't he and Ron sounded exactly like Crabbe and Goyle as they'd questioned Malfoy about the heir of Slytherin? Harry forgot about all that, though, in the rush of happiness that drenched him just hearing that voice again.