Title: A Technicality In His Sins

Author: Gold-Snitcher

Chapter Six: Never is a Promise

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Desperate ills need desperate remedies.

Agatha Christie, 'The Mystery of the Blue Train'

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He waited until midnight before walking the now familiar route through the dungeon hallways, stopping at the painting of the path and the cat. He knocked on the edge of the frame, bargained with the black cat that watched him with only vague interest from the corner of the road in the painting, and called several times to the room's occupant. In the end, Severus -- as was becoming usual -- returned to his chambers and sat by the fire, nursing a glass of whisky and trying to think of something he could do to help.

Just like the nights preceding this one, Severus fell asleep in the wingback chair in front of the fire, clutching an empty whisky glass, ensconced in a dark melancholy that came from not knowing how to help the young abandoned fledge.

………………

Sol Mantic sat on the coffee table in the headmaster's office ignoring the disapproving looks from his colleagues. Really, there were no other chairs for him, and he was tired after a long day of classes, followed by marking and several detentions. He really didn't feel like 'drawing a chair', though he suspected his colleagues might have preferred him to do so.

"He has not been to any of his classes," Remus said, recalling the few looks that had skittered Sol's way.

"He's grieving," Pomona Sprout justified.

"It is one thing to grieve – but he's locked himself away," Minerva countered. "I could not break through the wards that have been put up around his rooms. He is isolating himself."

"I am concerned for young Harry," Albus agreed.

"Short of appealing to the castle to allow us entry into those chambers, I cannot see how we can reach him," Pomona said.

"Perhaps he just needs some time," Sol offered. "The bond between a fledge and his sire is a great one. For a fledge to lose his sire so early – especially given how isolated Potter's been since the beginning of year –"

"Which is exactly why he shouldn't be allowed to brood as he is," Minerva said.

"So, if you managed to break-down his considerable wards, you're saying you want to go barging into a distraught fledge's lair? He'll be Raging! And that will be the least of your troubles!" Sol huffed.

"Silence," Albus said, and was immediately granted his wish. "For now, I think that professor Mantic is correct. Harry simply needs some time."

"It's been nearly four weeks," Remus Lupin spoke from where he was seated, on the outskirts of the group, his worry eating at him little by little.

"I do not wish to pressure him," Albus said in a defeated sigh. "I do not wish to push him away."

The rest of the staff eventually agreed to allow Harry more time. Severus remained silent throughout the meeting. "Very well," Minerva said when most everyone was agreed. "But I think this is a mistake." Severus thought bitterly that it certainly wouldn't be the first one.

…………………….

Draco Malfoy eyed his potion's master and Head of House critically as he put away his supplies. He had, since the start of term, been allowed to make use of the potions lab after dinner for extra work. Draco found brewing potions to be restful, and it also cleared his mind. He had been making use of his Head of House's offer almost every night since Snape had told him.

Snape was looking quite exhausted and not at all well, but Draco did not know the reason for it. He had heard in a letter from his father, that a vampire – Harry Potter's own sire – had been killed in an attack at the school several weeks ago. As far as Draco knew however, that was no reason for professor Snape to look as he did.

A soft hissing filled the room as Draco put away the sylfloan root that he had not used and when he turned from the cabinet to inform his Head of House that he had finished for the night, Severus was staring down at an oddly colored snake on his desk with a surprised look.

"Sir, I'm finished," Draco repeated when Snape didn't react to him the first time.

"Yes of course," Severus said distractedly. "Good-night, Mr. Malfoy."

"Sir," Draco said as he nodded and turned. Before he closed the door he looked back where snake and man were still eyeing each other. Draco shook his head, convinced he would never understand the Head of Slytherin, and closed the door, heading back to his dorms.

……………………..

Severus knew the snake that was on his desk. Fais was a mostly black snake with purple striping whom, when light hit him just so, appeared darkly blue or green. He had seen the serpent before – this one, one of several of the magical snakes Harry owned – was quite fond of twining itself around his young master's neck, and also took a liking to creeping up the pant legs of any visitors that came to Harry's room in order to startle them. Seeing the blasted serpent on his desk was certainly unexpected, especially since Severus had not seen a single one of Harry's snakes since Harry himself had retreated to his rooms.

Fais was hissing quite emphatically and bobbing his head from side to side. If Severus spoke Parseltongue he would likely be getting quite an earful. As it was, he stared quite stupidly down at the serpent and actually found himself asking, "Is it Harry? Is he alright?" But Fais could not answer that question – or he could, but it was just a bunch of hissing and bobbing.

Finally, the snake slithered off the end of the desk and dropped on the floor. Still hissing, though it had ceased bobbing now, it moved towards the door that Malfoy had just retreated from. "You want me to follow?" Severus asked. More hissing, so he followed the snake.

He followed the snake all the way to the familiar painting. "I know," Severus huffed. "But I can't get through the door, it's warded." Fais seemed quite frustrated with him and slithered up his leg until his considerable body was wrapped entirely along Severus' right arm. Fais proceeded to tighten and loosen his body until Severus was very certain that the thing wanted him to use his arm for something.

When the snake had shifted his body from his arm to his shoulders, Severus thoughtfully pulled up his sleeve and looked at the tattoo Gaedrian had left on his skin. Was it some sort of key? If so, how did he work it?

He had only a few moments to wonder before Fais launched forward with a startling hiss and sunk his fangs into the head of the inked serpent of Severus' arm.

It burned – hotter than the dark mark – but oddly the pain did not feel as sharp. After a moment, Fais yanked his fangs free and dropped down to the floor where he disappeared through the small gap in the stone that Harry had created for his snakes to come and go as they pleased.

Severus stood gasping as his head spun. Slowly, however, his vision was clearing and the ache in his arm lessened until he felt nothing strange at all. He looked back towards the portrait hesitantly, unsure how to proceed. "Harry?" he called, and knocked on the frame. Nothing happened. He was surprised, because he had actually expected something would. "Potter, what are you doing in there?" he sighed to himself.

He pressed his hand against the canvas of the painting and felt a tingling in his palm that ran up the length of his arm. When he stepped back the cat in the painting was looking at him with its head tilted to one side, as if listening. "I need to get inside," Severus spoke to the cat. "It is very important." The cat paced back-and-forth along the path and then sat down again, one paw scraping at the dirt before it looked back at him, his head cocked to the side.

"I refuse to perform for you like a monkey. If you decide you will allow me entry then do so, if not, stop wasting my time!" Severus snapped at the cat. The cat mewed at him, a long yowl of a cry, and then turned around and presented Severus with its backside.

But the painting clicked open just the same.

It was the hitching gasp that caught his attention. He could hear it quite distinctly above the hissing of the panicked snakes in the room. Severus let the portrait close behind him and he stepped carefully, aware of the twisting twining bodies of the serpents that cluttered the floor. He moved quickly into the dimly lit room, only to be frozen by the vision that confronted him.

"Ssseverusss," Harry spoke in a near hiss. "Sssseveruss, pleasssse."

The young fledge lay on the bed. He was clothed in soft black pajamas; the shirt had become partially unbuttoned and had fallen open, exposing pale skin and a brown nipple. Harry was arching up in bed, his bare feet visible where they had kicked off the blanket. His hands grasped at something he could not reach, stretching up above his head as he writhed, slow as a serpent. He moaned – a sound that was ripped out of the boy, soaked with wanting – it hit Severus like a hex. He was frozen in place with the extent of his lust.

Severus knew what was happening. He knew these effects, knew what it meant, what had to be done. It made him ache for the boy on the bed, knowing how much pain Harry must have been suffering to get to this point. "Ssssev," Harry gasped, his hips rising from the bed, exposing more pale flesh as the movement caused the shirt to slip further off Harry's slim body.

Severus shook himself from his trance. "I'm here, Harry. Hush," he said, and he climbed on to the bed beside the boy, leaning over the young vampire, bracing the boy's head in one hand and bringing it close to the wrist of his other arm. "I'm here now," Severus said. "Easy, easy," he coaxed, as Harry's lips parted and the fledge whimpered piteously.

It was not like Severus had imagined it might be. He knew books on the subject were biased but he had always been hard-pressed to imagine how a vampire's bite could be pleasurable. It was, though. Oh, sweet Merlin it was. Severus found his eyes falling closed as Harry's fangs bit into his wrist. His mouth dropped open and he couldn't quite breathe as he felt Harry drink. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. More intimate than any of the sex he had enjoyed before. "That's it," Severus soothed, trying to control his startling reaction. "Easy now, there you are." It brought him to a high he had never quite imagined, but just when he thought he might be swallowed up by the pleasure, overwhelmed and lost in it – Harry pulled back.

"Severus," Harry whispered, and Severus sat back enough to see the young vampire pass into sleep. For a moment, Severus thought he might have been too late and Harry had slipped away despite his effort, but Harry had color in his cheeks once more, and that meant Harry was still with him.

"What are we to do with you?" Severus asked. He rubbed his brow and couldn't quite find the strength to move. With a defeated sigh, he dropped his head to Harry's breastbone. "What am I to do?"

……………………..

Harry was aware first of warmth all around him, and in him. He could feel arms around his back and the chest he was resting his cheek against, and could smell the soothing scent of sandalwood and smoke. When he opened his eyes, he was not surprised to see Severus Snape lying there but he felt sleep-dulled, with a strange sense of closeness to the man who held him, and that caused him some concern.

"You are awake," Severus pointed out.

"What happened?" Harry asked, shifting up a bit so he could rub at his eyes. "I don't remember anything."

"Don't you?" Severus drawled. "Not warding your rooms so that even your snakes were hard-pressed to leave your chambers? Not starving yourself?"

"What?" Harry said.

"You did all those things," Severus continued. "And are lucky that I was able to find my way in despite the trouble you went to in order to prevent that."

"I feel fine," Harry said, somewhat hesitantly.

"If you are wondering why you are not comatose –" Severus trailed off and looked away.

"Did you?" Harry asked.

"There were not many options available at that point, I apologize," Severus said.

"You apologize?" Harry questioned. "Why?"

"For whatever aspect of the news has you so distraught."

"No part," Harry said. "Except that you didn't have a choice in it. I should be sorry for that. For putting you in a position where you felt you didn't –"

"Stop it," Severus ordered, he shoved Harry further off his body and rose from the bed. "It was not unpleasant in any way and I have recovered. You seem to be fully with us, a step up, I'm sure. What concerns me is keeping you that way."

"I won't do it again," Harry said. "I'll take better care of myself."

"You are a Fledge. They are notorious for being unable to look after themselves. No," Severus continued. He was pacing, his teaching robes billowing behind him as he walked and the serpents that still littered the floor darting so as to avoid being trod underfoot. "You will take up joining us for nightly meals in the hall, and will continue with your lessons. If you fail to arrive at the appropriate time, we shall know there is a problem. It is very close to sunrise, and I have lessons to arrange. Good evening." He bowed slightly and turned on his heel.

"Severus!" Harry called, still too groggy to move at all quickly, but he scrambled to the edge of the bed. Severus halted his progress and turned slightly. "I'm sorry."

"You have done nothing wrong, Harry," Severus said, his voice softer, but then he continued on his way, and Harry heard his door shut behind the man.

……………

Remus Lupin was not a fool. He trusted Albus Dumbledore, but he would he lying if he said that following Albus' last order had been easy. The wolf in Remus knew all too well the pain that Harry was experiencing. Losing a member of the pack was very hard, but Harry was a member of Remus' pack and Albus was asking him to step aside and leave the young fledge to grieve.

Things were different though, since Harry had emerged from his self-imposed solitude, and Remus was not idiot enough to miss what was really happening. From the head table in the Great Hall, Remus watched the young man sip at a goblet and feign interest in his friends' chatter.

"Blood serum?" Remus asked softly of the dour man sitting on his left.

"Naturally," Severus replied.

"Was he doing so poorly?" Remus asked.

"Worse," Severus answered. "But he is, as you can see, improving."

"Dobby is your accomplice, no doubt," Remus mused.

"He was most willing to assist Harry Potter, and seemed to know I was serious when I advised him caution."

"Isn't Harry hunting?" Remus asked.

"No, and I thought it cruel to coral him into it. But he cannot resist the smell if it is presented to him, and so I take every opportunity to make sure that it is."

"I don't know if bringing him to the hall for dinners was a wise idea," Remus said. Half the student population looked as if they wanted to leap over the tables and rip Harry apart, and the other half looked as if they'd rather be running screaming. It was the same every night. Gaedrian's presence had offered Harry a certain amount of security. Now, with the older vampire gone and his protection no longer existing, many of the students did not think twice about harassing Harry.

"There was no other solution, since the idiot boy no longer trusts the professors' private dining room," Severus said.

"And who's to blame him, after the stunt You-Know-Who pulled the last time he dined there. Not to mention memories of Gaedrian," Remus said.

"Precisely why I did not argue and simply ordered him here," Severus said.

"I don't know what I should do," Remus sighed.

"Must something be done?" Severus asked. "You take him for his Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching, you speak with him nightly. You make every effort to be available for him, and he appreciates that. But grief is a very private business, Lupin. You of all people should know."

"There's too much that's wrong," Remus said.

"And you cannot possibly make it right," Severus said. He excused himself and rose from his chair, and left Remus to wonder when the quiet head of Slytherin House had taken to giving advice to Gryffindors.

………………..

"Are you sure that these are his rooms?" the Slytherin whispered, and Zacharias nodded with absolute certainty.

"Come on," he ordered. "We can't loiter around or people will get suspicious."

"What people?" Sean asked, he was a close friend of Zacharias and from the same house. "Everyone's still in class, and the only professor who teaches on this floor is Snape, and he's lecturing sixth years."

"Well, hurry up any way," Zacharias ordered. "I'm not getting caught because you were making eyes at a cat in a painting," he said, smacking one of the Slytherin boys in the head, he had been teasing the cat in the painting.

"How come it's not locked or anything?" one of the others wondered.

"Potter went mental after that other vampire died, and the professors have been keeping an eye on him," Zacharias explained. They pushed through the entrance into Harry's room to find the floor writhing with snakes.

"What the hell?" Sean whispered.

"Shut up and work fast," Zacharias ordered, pulling his wand from his robe.

……………………

Draco could have heard the screams from the Slytherin dormitory, he was certain. As it was, he was walking through the halls of the dungeons using his free period to clear his head before tackling his arithmancy essay. He would know Potter's voice anywhere, and if in the past they had been rivals, Draco was unnerved by the agony in the voice, and didn't for a moment stop to entertain the notion of simply ignoring the other boy's distress.

Draco was tall and he covered the ground quickly, stopping by the portrait of the black cat on the path that Draco knew from overhearing Snape and Lupin talking, led to Harry's rooms. The screams were louder, but when Draco tried to push passed the portrait, he was brought to an immediate halt. "This is not a time to be warding your damn door, Potter!" Draco cursed under his breath, drawing his wand to ascertain the spells.

The wards didn't belong to Harry. There were seven difference magical signatures, none of them of Potter's power or a professor's skill, but seven different wards was too many for Draco to break. He had no idea where to begin. "Shit, shit," Draco cursed as the screams continued, broken by sobs and muffled whimpers. "Holy shit!" Draco cursed when a fat snake slithered out from hidden spot in the wall. Another snake dropped out after it. He wracked his brain for a spell to cast to break the wards, but five spells later, he wasn't making any progress.

"Snape!" Draco said, and took off in a mad sprint to find his Head of House. It didn't occur to Draco that he should likely knock on the door, that Severus Snape was in the middle of a class and not only was it poor manners to barge in, but it was also dangerous depending on what potion was being brewed. He burst threw the door, startling all the students who had previously been bent over their desks taking notes, but before Snape could bite-off a stinging comment, Draco shared his news. "Potter's in trouble!"

"The class is dismissed for the day, pack up your things and get out!" Snape drawled, already striding purposefully to the door. "Come with me," he said, taking Draco by the arm and turning him around.

"I was on my way to the library," Draco explained as he and his head of house rushed through the halls. "I heard screaming, and I could tell it was Potter. I followed the sound and found his room, but when I tried to go in, it was warded."

"Damn the boy," Severus cursed to himself.

"Sir, I don't think they're Potter's wards. There were seven different magical signatures, but I couldn't break-through them." They arrived at the painting of the cat, and Severus drew his wand.

"Seven students," Severus said, then began casting spells quietly under his breath and flicking his wand. The wards were all down in a matter of moments, and Severus pushed open the door.

Draco paused, realizing that the snakes that he had originally seen coming from the room had followed him, and were in the process of slithering back inside. "Draco!" Severus called, and Draco stepped into the room.

Draco had never seen the other rooms in the dungeons before. Most were locked, some warded, most all of them were guarded by uncooperative paintings. Of the few rooms he had seen, none of them were equipped with windows. It took a moment for him to realize that the windows were spelled into place, and that they were leaking sunlight onto the bed where Harry Potter had been sleeping. The screams were Harry's as the young fledge had awoken to find himself tied and spelled to the bed, and the sun rising in the sky – the light creeping up the bed on which he could not move from.

Severus had placed himself between Harry and the light; he'd spread his dark cloak over the vampire and had freed Harry from the spells and bindings that had prevented his movement. As Draco stepped further into the room Severus gestured towards the windows, and Draco quietly set about casting the spells to remove them.

"The light is gone," Severus said quietly, and try as he might, Draco could not bring himself to ignore his professor's voice. He had never heard Severus Snape sound so calming, so caring. Harry Potter lay in the Head of Slytherin's arms, shaking and shivering, and clinging as if his very life depended on it. "Hush now, you are safe." Harry seemed to settle, and Severus turned to face Draco once again. "Fetch three of the blue vials on the third shelf by my bookcase. They are the burn salves, but make certain you take the blue vials. Bring them back here as quickly as you can."

Draco nodded, but Severus had already turned away. Without wasting any time, Draco once again ran through the halls of the dungeons, quickly finding the requested salves and thinking enough to bring a calming draught and an all's well potion, he hurried back.

When Draco presented his Head of House with the retrieved items, Severus did not acknowledge the extra potions, but administered both immediately. When Harry had passed into sleep, Severus ordered Draco to help apply the salve to the burns on Harry's legs and feet.

"Will this actually heal him?" Draco asked quietly.

"I brewed these myself," Severus said, sounding distracted rather than offended. "The sunlight was not very bright nor was it entirely direct. This particular potion was brewed with the vampire physique in mind."

"You've been experimenting?" Draco asked, genuinely curious.

"Not on Potter," Severus snapped. "But yes, I thought given the circumstances, it was prudent to prepare should Potter's vampiric weaknesses be exploited." Draco knew immediately what Snape was talking about. It would stand to reason that the Dark Lord would do anything he could to take advantage of his enemy's weaknesses.

With the salve applied and no other task to distract him, Draco realized he was in a dark room with a vampire, surrounded by snakes the majority of which he could recognize as poisonous. "Uhm," he said, rather ineloquently.

"They are quite safe," Severus said, with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Why wouldn't they have attacked the students who did this?" Draco asked, eyeing a particularly large serpent that was wending its way up one of the posts of the four-poster.

"I imagine they did bite," Severus said. "The spells were likely cast close to the door, however, and the perpetrators probably ran as quickly as they could. They certainly had the incentive. I expect to receive a summons from Poppy."

"Do you think it's okay to leave him?" Draco asked, gesturing to the bed on which Potter was sleeping.

"I will set wards on the door, he should be safe until I return," Severus said, rising after resettling Harry on the bed. Severus turned to Draco and gestured him to precede him out the door.

"Will you speak with the headmaster about it?" Draco asked after Severus had settled the wards around the room and secured the painting.

"I will follow the appropriate procedure regarding such incidents, but there is little that can be done. Potter is a vampire and afforded little by way of rights."

"I'd be happy to help you in any way I can," Draco said, stopping Severus who had been about to leave him and head up the stairs to the headmaster and the infirmary.

"I can't imagine to what you are referring," Severus drawled, but he nodded his head slightly and Draco knew that if his Head of House could, he would involve Draco in whatever punishment he had planned for Harry Potter's attackers.

…………….

"Snake bite," Poppy diagnosed, then tsked and shook her head. "I suppose you should administer the cure."

"I should administer it?" Severus asked. Poppy looked distastefully at the four boys who were lying on cots in the infirmary, each suffering from a manner of snakebite, some more severe than others. "Do you, a vaunted medi-witch, have a conflict of interest?" Severus teased.

"Shut up and hand me the antidotes as I call for them, then," Poppy snapped.

"The headmaster is prepared to question each of them regarding their curious afflictions as soon as they are healed," Severus said as he handed over one of the cures for the snakebite.

"I suppose the best he'll get out of them is a promise not to pursue seeking retribution for the snakebites they each received as a result of Potter being unable to control his snakes," she said scornfully. Severus was surprised Poppy felt so strongly on the topic. Granted, he knew that with the amount of time Harry spent in the nurse's care, she had grown fond of the boy, but he had never seen Poppy Pomfrey so animated before.

"Perhaps we can obliviate them," Severus said. Poppy chuckled and shook her head.

"I hope you have some better security around that boy's rooms now," Poppy said, moving to the next cot and the next patient.

"Potter is moving into my rooms," Severus said. "Into the extra room that I have not found a use for."

"Until now, I suppose," Poppy said. "Albus had a hand in that, no doubt." Severus did not say that it had been his suggestion, merely played along and pretended to be quite putout. Poppy knew enough to know that Severus was merely putting on an act. Most of the staff knew that the potions master had grown fond of the young fledge, and most had grown accustomed to bowing to Severus' knowledge on vampire handling, even if Severus did not know that much more than they themselves did.

"If we are done healing, I should return and make certain the wolf hasn't manage to destroy my rooms."

"You left him in charge of settling Harry?" Poppy asked. "My, my, Severus. You've become so trusting." She managed to smother her amused grin at the sneer Severus answered her statement with.

………………….

Unlike the other professors' rooms, Severus Snape's private chambers linked to his personal office, which linked in turn to his classroom and private lab. His rooms were no bigger or smaller than any of the other professors' rooms, but hallways that led to the doors that linked the rooms served to make his space appear much larger.

After leaving Poppy, Severus stopped first at his lab where he returned the unused potions to their locked shelves, and then he set in the direction of his private rooms and more specifically, the extra room he'd previously been using to store books and items that could not fit on his already full shelves. Now the room had morphed into a fine bedroom and housed a young fledge and his harem of serpents some of which Severus tripped over while passing through his sitting area.

"He's settled?" Severus asked as he stepped into the new bedroom and found Remus Lupin sitting on the four-poster watching Harry sleep.

"We sedated him for the trip over, but I don't see how it could have made much of a difference. He was fast asleep anyway," Remus replied, he smoothed the blankets that covered Harry before reluctantly leaving the room.

"Vampires are light sleepers," Severus said.

"He's completely healed," Remus said, ignoring Severus' statement.

"You expected less?" Severus drawled.

"What does Albus intend to do about this?" Remus asked.

"I do not know. He has yet to question the boys who were sent to infirmary for snakebite. No doubt they will reveal the others. Beyond that, I cannot tell how things will be handled, though I do not see much by way of punishment."

"I don't understand how Harry could have let it happen," Remus said.

"You think he wanted to be trapped on his bed as the sun burned him?"

"No. Not for a moment. But he's so fast. And you've said he's a light sleeper. I don't understand how he could have failed to retaliate."

"When you were bitten and realized what you'd become, how easily did you embrace your new condition?" Severus asked. "The most important task a sire has is to smooth their fledge's transition. To teach them how to protect themselves. It is the very reason vampires still flourish despite the fact the entire wizarding world is against them. They are beyond the wizarding world."

"Harry's trapped between worlds. The Wizarding World still needs him," Remus said.

"But they do not want him. And he has been robbed of he person who could have helped him."

"Gaedrian was never the only person working to help Harry," Remus said.

"Yes, you are doing marvellously, Lupin," Severus sneered.

"You too," Remus answered honestly. Severus ignored the statement and shuffled through some papers on his desk. "Thank-you for protecting him, Severus. Harry will be safe here." Remus left quietly, relaxing a little as he felt the powerful wards settle behind him as he closed the door. As he began the walk back to the tower in which his rooms were located, Remus idly scratched at the inked marking on his skin, and considered at what Severus had said about vampires. He wondered if he would ever understand what Gaedrian had meant when he'd given Remus the marking. He wondered if Harry would ever truly be safe in their world.

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End Chapter Six:

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