J-Chan here with yet another fic. I couldn't help it. I had to write this.
It has been stuck in my head forever. I will get to the other stories, but
I sort of have selective writers block. I can't think of what to do with
those yet.
I'll get to all of them with good time.
This is my first attempt at a Severitus challenge fic. Don't like it; don't read it. Simple as that.
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you've guessed, I like many others here, do not own Harry Potter. Thank god too. If I did it wouldn't be nearly as great as it is now considering my poor writing skills.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
"I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?" I am the wind blowing through your hair. I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright." The words were sung with an eerily cheerful tone by a lithe figure that walked down the street. Harry Potter was far from your normal teenager. It could be the scar on his forehead that condemned him to a life of death and despair, the fact that he was known to the entire wizarding world, or that he was a wizard himself. Whatever the reason this boy was not normal by anyone's standards, and he looked frightfully sinister.
Once unruly short black hair was now fell to his shoulders in silken strands, his eyes still the vivid emerald green like the killing curse under long, thick black lashes, his skin a deathly pale, and the black clothing he wore added to the dark look despite the fact that they were much to big for him. He had grown taller over the summer as well, and because of the lack of food he was thin enough to count his ribs with ease. If he was bothered at all by the new Snape-like appearance he didn't attempt to change it.
"Life's no fun without a good scare." He hissed as he neared Dudley. His oaf of a cousin jumped and immediately turned to swing at him. Harry simply laughed and dodged the attack. "What's wrong Big D? The freak scares you?" Harry smirked. He no longer cared what his Aunt and Uncle said; Harry would do what he pleased. He had been ordered around for far to long, and wasn't going to take it anymore.
"Finally admitting to yourself you're a freak? God. Next you'll be telling us you're a fag. I wouldn't be surprised. Last summer you were moaning Cedric, and this year you call to some guy named Sirius." Dudley countered, trying to mask how nervous he was. Harry's grin faded and he glared at his cousin menacingly.
"Don't you dare talk about Sirius." He hissed. "He was my godfather, and the closest thing to family I have ever known. My parents are dead, and now so is my godfather. Do you know what that is like?" Harry all but growled at the larger boy. Dudley shook his head, though he was taller and much larger then his cousin, it didn't make the small boy look any less frightening. "Don't mention Sirius or Cedric EVER again, or I'll make sure that your next home is the London Orphanage." The furious young wizard stalked off. Dudley had struck a nerve, and it was very obvious. Harry all but slammed the door shut when he reentered Number 4, startling his Aunt and Uncle.
"Boy! What the hell do you think you are doing making so much noise?" Vernon yelled as he leapt to his feet.
"I was shutting the door, Uncle Vernon." Vernon looked as if he were going to yell more, but his face became a dark shade of purple, and Aunt Petunia screamed when a large snake slid in through the window behind Harry. The serpent, unlike most, was thin but as long as Harry's leg, it's eyes silver, and it's scales pure black with a emerald diamond pattern down it's long, narrow form.
"Oh. I apologize Nyx. I didn't mean to ssshut you out." Harry said to the snake in Parseltongue.
"It issss okay young masssster. Are thessse people bothering you?" Nyx slithered over to Vernon and Petunia, snapping at their feet in warning.
"No, pleassse wait for me upsssstairs." Harry watched as the serpent snapped once more and then slipped upstairs. The serpent, whom Harry had named Nyx (Night), had become Harry's friend a few days after he arrived back for the summer. Nyx had been injured by one of the neighbor's dogs, and Harry had snuck him in and cared for the creature. Nyx had vowed to stay with Harry after that, and the serpent had proved to be a better friend then anyone Harry had known.
"How – How dare you use that f-freak language in my home!" Vernon spat at his nephew.
"Bugger off, or I'll have Nyx bite you." Harry retorted and then headed upstairs before anything more could be said.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
The-Boy-Who-Lived now stood in his small pathetic excuse for a bedroom, and looked at his reflection in the full-length mirror. God he looked different. He had decided to let his hair grow when summer first started so the length wasn't all that surprising, but there were a few changes that he found very unusual; his height, which had grown about three or four inches, his skin had paled dramatically since his birthday when he was nicely tanned, and along with a few other changes he looked remarkably like Snape. The changes, Harry decided, had started on his sixteenth birthday, and became more and more obvious with the passing weeks. Though it strange: Harry felt like this was how he was meant to look. Only now that he had changed had he grasped how awkward his other appearance had been, but he didn't realize then because he believe that was simply how he looked. Nonetheless, he was confused to no end as to why he had transformed like this. He had told no one though. With a sigh he lay down on his bed and looked to his desk. Unlike the previous summers, it was empty, not a single letter from Hermione or Ron had come at all. Harry was too tired to think about it though.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
When the young teen awoke it was to a burning sensation, not in his scar as he was accustomed to, but on his back. He bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain, and he only acknowledged the metallic taste of blood in his mouth after the pain subsided. He stumbled out of the bed and changed before heading downstairs. It was still dark, but he managed to get into the kitchen where he got a glass of water and sat at the kitchen table. He wasn't surprised to find his oversized cousin sitting across from him eating chocolate.
"I thought you were on a diet?" Harry asked quietly.
"Piers gave it to me. You better not tell mum." Dudley said as he bit off another piece.
"Nah. As far as I'm concerned we are both asleep. Deal?" Harry was not in the mood to argue with Dudley, and luckily his cousin wasn't either so they nodded, both silently agreeing to pretend this meeting never happened. However, it wouldn't remain secret for much longer. Vernon Dursley stumbled into the house smelling strongly of alcohol, and both boys made a move to hide. Harry had found that his Uncle had taken a liking to the drink while he was gone, and it wasn't rare to find the great lump passed out on the floor or couch in the mornings with a whisky bottle in hand. Everyone had avoided Vernon when he drunk, because he would get very violent, as Harry found out the hard way. His second week back Vernon was intoxicated and had thrown Harry so hard across the room that when he awoke (which was two days later according to Dudley) even Aunt Petunia was worried and tending to the wound on his head. The boys immediately dived under the table, any quarrels between the two forgotten now that they shared the same goal; be invisible. The large man had seen them though, or Harry that is.
"Boy! What are you doing?" Vernon growled, his words slurred together as he spoke. "Using my k-k-glass! Drinking my water!" Vernon's fist flew through the air, connecting with Harry's stomach, knocking the table over in the process. Harry doubled over in pain, and fell to the ground, looking up at his cousin for a moment before a hand wrapped around his ankle and threw him into the wall. Vernon was now yelling a list of things Harry had done to deserve every bit of pain he was getting. The list consisted of only something a drunken man like Vernon could come up with.
"Wasting my air! Glaring at m- Get that smile off your face boy!" Vernon boomed, oblivious to the fact that Harry was far from smiling. Harry prepared himself for the next blow, only to find that it didn't come. Instead Vernon yelled in pain. Nyx sat poised at Harry's feet, ready to attack again. Harry took his chance and ran up to his room, nearly knocking over his Aunt on the way. He threw open his trunk and shoved all his stuff in it and then dragged it down the stairs. Nyx still had Vernon trapped in the kitchen.
"Aunt Petunia," Harry said quietly to his aunt as he thrust a vial into the woman's shaking hands. "Antidote. Nyx. Bite. Vernon. Drink it." Harry choked out as he ran from the house. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and thrust it into the air. He felt Nyx curl around his leg moments afterward, and Vernon storming to the door, going as fast as he could, and wavering from side to side drunkenly. The Knight Bus arrived, and Harry was able to leap on before his Uncle caught him. The bus was off, and Harry was to relieved to be safe to care about the pain as he flew backwards from the sudden burst of speed. A few minutes later, once Harry had settled on one of the beds, Stan came over to him.
"Where you headed?" Stan questioned. Harry thought for a moment while digging through his trunk.
"The Leaky Cauldron." He said finally, shoving some gold into Stan's hand. "Can I have some hot cocoa too?"
"Yeah." Stan vanished then returned with two steaming mugs, handing one to Harry before sitting down on one of the beds himself. "Yer the only one we've seen tonight. Was' yer name?"
"Nikolas Snape." Harry said quickly, the name being the first to come to mind. He surprised himself the moment he realized what he had said though. Nikolas was understandable because he had been reading a book earlier and Nikolas was a character, but Snape, he wasn't so sure as to why he said that. Maybe it was the thought of how similar he looked to the potions master now, or the fact that he had just remembered that his entire five- foot long potions essay was still at Number 4. (Not that he was going to go back and get it.)
"Ah! I knew ye looked familiar. You related to the professor? We see 'im often. Doesn't much like to apperate long distances he says." Stan nodded, looking Harry over for a moment. "Ye could pass as his son."
"Err...Not his son, I'm his nephew" Harry replied. It was better then nothing he thought to himself, and he wasn't about to call himself Neville again. The rest of the trip was in silence, but the trip wasn't long to begin with so it wasn't as if there was a lot of time to talk. A mere twenty minutes later and Harry already sat in his own room at the Leaky Cauldron under the name of Nikolas Snape. He had decided to adopt the name seeing as he figured it was as good as any, and the only things that could prove that he was otherwise was if Snape himself showed up or if someone saw his scar, which was hidden under his hair.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
The next day Harry, or Nikolas now, wandered through Diagon Ally. He had gone to Gringotts first and grabbed a pouch of gold, deciding to by himself a few birthday gifts. First came robes; after being measured for new school robes, he moved on to ones he could wear any other time. By the time he left there were several small boxes in his pocket that Madam Malkin had shrunken for him that contained his school robes, an emerald green robe, a black one with gold trim, a deep red, and one velvet black robe. Throughout the course of the day he had bought a Quidditch book, a book or two on the Dark Arts, wand polish, plenty of candy, owl and snake food, a few miscellaneous items, and an extra book on Potions. The last item was one he had gotten because according to his O.W.Ls he had passed Potions and would be taking it again this year, and he needed to pass to become an Auror.
After he finished his shopping he stopped at the ice cream parlor, sitting at one of the outdoor tables to enjoy the nice day, and started his potions essay while drinking a vanilla milkshake. Occasionally he would look up and spot someone he recognized from school, but he didn't dare go up to them. He had decided when he awoke that he would tell no one who he really was unless it was absolutely necessary. The rest of his day was enjoyable, and when he went back to the Leaky Cauldron he was more then happy to have some nice warm soup and go to bed.
I'll get to all of them with good time.
This is my first attempt at a Severitus challenge fic. Don't like it; don't read it. Simple as that.
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you've guessed, I like many others here, do not own Harry Potter. Thank god too. If I did it wouldn't be nearly as great as it is now considering my poor writing skills.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
"I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?" I am the wind blowing through your hair. I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright." The words were sung with an eerily cheerful tone by a lithe figure that walked down the street. Harry Potter was far from your normal teenager. It could be the scar on his forehead that condemned him to a life of death and despair, the fact that he was known to the entire wizarding world, or that he was a wizard himself. Whatever the reason this boy was not normal by anyone's standards, and he looked frightfully sinister.
Once unruly short black hair was now fell to his shoulders in silken strands, his eyes still the vivid emerald green like the killing curse under long, thick black lashes, his skin a deathly pale, and the black clothing he wore added to the dark look despite the fact that they were much to big for him. He had grown taller over the summer as well, and because of the lack of food he was thin enough to count his ribs with ease. If he was bothered at all by the new Snape-like appearance he didn't attempt to change it.
"Life's no fun without a good scare." He hissed as he neared Dudley. His oaf of a cousin jumped and immediately turned to swing at him. Harry simply laughed and dodged the attack. "What's wrong Big D? The freak scares you?" Harry smirked. He no longer cared what his Aunt and Uncle said; Harry would do what he pleased. He had been ordered around for far to long, and wasn't going to take it anymore.
"Finally admitting to yourself you're a freak? God. Next you'll be telling us you're a fag. I wouldn't be surprised. Last summer you were moaning Cedric, and this year you call to some guy named Sirius." Dudley countered, trying to mask how nervous he was. Harry's grin faded and he glared at his cousin menacingly.
"Don't you dare talk about Sirius." He hissed. "He was my godfather, and the closest thing to family I have ever known. My parents are dead, and now so is my godfather. Do you know what that is like?" Harry all but growled at the larger boy. Dudley shook his head, though he was taller and much larger then his cousin, it didn't make the small boy look any less frightening. "Don't mention Sirius or Cedric EVER again, or I'll make sure that your next home is the London Orphanage." The furious young wizard stalked off. Dudley had struck a nerve, and it was very obvious. Harry all but slammed the door shut when he reentered Number 4, startling his Aunt and Uncle.
"Boy! What the hell do you think you are doing making so much noise?" Vernon yelled as he leapt to his feet.
"I was shutting the door, Uncle Vernon." Vernon looked as if he were going to yell more, but his face became a dark shade of purple, and Aunt Petunia screamed when a large snake slid in through the window behind Harry. The serpent, unlike most, was thin but as long as Harry's leg, it's eyes silver, and it's scales pure black with a emerald diamond pattern down it's long, narrow form.
"Oh. I apologize Nyx. I didn't mean to ssshut you out." Harry said to the snake in Parseltongue.
"It issss okay young masssster. Are thessse people bothering you?" Nyx slithered over to Vernon and Petunia, snapping at their feet in warning.
"No, pleassse wait for me upsssstairs." Harry watched as the serpent snapped once more and then slipped upstairs. The serpent, whom Harry had named Nyx (Night), had become Harry's friend a few days after he arrived back for the summer. Nyx had been injured by one of the neighbor's dogs, and Harry had snuck him in and cared for the creature. Nyx had vowed to stay with Harry after that, and the serpent had proved to be a better friend then anyone Harry had known.
"How – How dare you use that f-freak language in my home!" Vernon spat at his nephew.
"Bugger off, or I'll have Nyx bite you." Harry retorted and then headed upstairs before anything more could be said.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
The-Boy-Who-Lived now stood in his small pathetic excuse for a bedroom, and looked at his reflection in the full-length mirror. God he looked different. He had decided to let his hair grow when summer first started so the length wasn't all that surprising, but there were a few changes that he found very unusual; his height, which had grown about three or four inches, his skin had paled dramatically since his birthday when he was nicely tanned, and along with a few other changes he looked remarkably like Snape. The changes, Harry decided, had started on his sixteenth birthday, and became more and more obvious with the passing weeks. Though it strange: Harry felt like this was how he was meant to look. Only now that he had changed had he grasped how awkward his other appearance had been, but he didn't realize then because he believe that was simply how he looked. Nonetheless, he was confused to no end as to why he had transformed like this. He had told no one though. With a sigh he lay down on his bed and looked to his desk. Unlike the previous summers, it was empty, not a single letter from Hermione or Ron had come at all. Harry was too tired to think about it though.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
When the young teen awoke it was to a burning sensation, not in his scar as he was accustomed to, but on his back. He bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain, and he only acknowledged the metallic taste of blood in his mouth after the pain subsided. He stumbled out of the bed and changed before heading downstairs. It was still dark, but he managed to get into the kitchen where he got a glass of water and sat at the kitchen table. He wasn't surprised to find his oversized cousin sitting across from him eating chocolate.
"I thought you were on a diet?" Harry asked quietly.
"Piers gave it to me. You better not tell mum." Dudley said as he bit off another piece.
"Nah. As far as I'm concerned we are both asleep. Deal?" Harry was not in the mood to argue with Dudley, and luckily his cousin wasn't either so they nodded, both silently agreeing to pretend this meeting never happened. However, it wouldn't remain secret for much longer. Vernon Dursley stumbled into the house smelling strongly of alcohol, and both boys made a move to hide. Harry had found that his Uncle had taken a liking to the drink while he was gone, and it wasn't rare to find the great lump passed out on the floor or couch in the mornings with a whisky bottle in hand. Everyone had avoided Vernon when he drunk, because he would get very violent, as Harry found out the hard way. His second week back Vernon was intoxicated and had thrown Harry so hard across the room that when he awoke (which was two days later according to Dudley) even Aunt Petunia was worried and tending to the wound on his head. The boys immediately dived under the table, any quarrels between the two forgotten now that they shared the same goal; be invisible. The large man had seen them though, or Harry that is.
"Boy! What are you doing?" Vernon growled, his words slurred together as he spoke. "Using my k-k-glass! Drinking my water!" Vernon's fist flew through the air, connecting with Harry's stomach, knocking the table over in the process. Harry doubled over in pain, and fell to the ground, looking up at his cousin for a moment before a hand wrapped around his ankle and threw him into the wall. Vernon was now yelling a list of things Harry had done to deserve every bit of pain he was getting. The list consisted of only something a drunken man like Vernon could come up with.
"Wasting my air! Glaring at m- Get that smile off your face boy!" Vernon boomed, oblivious to the fact that Harry was far from smiling. Harry prepared himself for the next blow, only to find that it didn't come. Instead Vernon yelled in pain. Nyx sat poised at Harry's feet, ready to attack again. Harry took his chance and ran up to his room, nearly knocking over his Aunt on the way. He threw open his trunk and shoved all his stuff in it and then dragged it down the stairs. Nyx still had Vernon trapped in the kitchen.
"Aunt Petunia," Harry said quietly to his aunt as he thrust a vial into the woman's shaking hands. "Antidote. Nyx. Bite. Vernon. Drink it." Harry choked out as he ran from the house. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and thrust it into the air. He felt Nyx curl around his leg moments afterward, and Vernon storming to the door, going as fast as he could, and wavering from side to side drunkenly. The Knight Bus arrived, and Harry was able to leap on before his Uncle caught him. The bus was off, and Harry was to relieved to be safe to care about the pain as he flew backwards from the sudden burst of speed. A few minutes later, once Harry had settled on one of the beds, Stan came over to him.
"Where you headed?" Stan questioned. Harry thought for a moment while digging through his trunk.
"The Leaky Cauldron." He said finally, shoving some gold into Stan's hand. "Can I have some hot cocoa too?"
"Yeah." Stan vanished then returned with two steaming mugs, handing one to Harry before sitting down on one of the beds himself. "Yer the only one we've seen tonight. Was' yer name?"
"Nikolas Snape." Harry said quickly, the name being the first to come to mind. He surprised himself the moment he realized what he had said though. Nikolas was understandable because he had been reading a book earlier and Nikolas was a character, but Snape, he wasn't so sure as to why he said that. Maybe it was the thought of how similar he looked to the potions master now, or the fact that he had just remembered that his entire five- foot long potions essay was still at Number 4. (Not that he was going to go back and get it.)
"Ah! I knew ye looked familiar. You related to the professor? We see 'im often. Doesn't much like to apperate long distances he says." Stan nodded, looking Harry over for a moment. "Ye could pass as his son."
"Err...Not his son, I'm his nephew" Harry replied. It was better then nothing he thought to himself, and he wasn't about to call himself Neville again. The rest of the trip was in silence, but the trip wasn't long to begin with so it wasn't as if there was a lot of time to talk. A mere twenty minutes later and Harry already sat in his own room at the Leaky Cauldron under the name of Nikolas Snape. He had decided to adopt the name seeing as he figured it was as good as any, and the only things that could prove that he was otherwise was if Snape himself showed up or if someone saw his scar, which was hidden under his hair.
.::_::. .::_::. .::_::. .::_::.
The next day Harry, or Nikolas now, wandered through Diagon Ally. He had gone to Gringotts first and grabbed a pouch of gold, deciding to by himself a few birthday gifts. First came robes; after being measured for new school robes, he moved on to ones he could wear any other time. By the time he left there were several small boxes in his pocket that Madam Malkin had shrunken for him that contained his school robes, an emerald green robe, a black one with gold trim, a deep red, and one velvet black robe. Throughout the course of the day he had bought a Quidditch book, a book or two on the Dark Arts, wand polish, plenty of candy, owl and snake food, a few miscellaneous items, and an extra book on Potions. The last item was one he had gotten because according to his O.W.Ls he had passed Potions and would be taking it again this year, and he needed to pass to become an Auror.
After he finished his shopping he stopped at the ice cream parlor, sitting at one of the outdoor tables to enjoy the nice day, and started his potions essay while drinking a vanilla milkshake. Occasionally he would look up and spot someone he recognized from school, but he didn't dare go up to them. He had decided when he awoke that he would tell no one who he really was unless it was absolutely necessary. The rest of his day was enjoyable, and when he went back to the Leaky Cauldron he was more then happy to have some nice warm soup and go to bed.