Turning Time

It was relatively awkward in the hallways with the other students. It was quiet, and Harry couldn’t help but believe he was the reason why. From time to time Narcissa gave him attempted comforting nods and polite smiles to make up for it, but the unreadable, most likely glaring looks of Bellatrix crumbled down any confidence he was getting from the older girls kindness.

Severus sighed grumpily about something, but it was Lucius who proved to be the only one unaware of the uncomfort most were feeling. In fact he was so unaware of it he looked somewhat like a proud peacock. A giant smirk plastered on his face, he was a relatively tall teen, so with his perfect posture and raised chin…yeah, Harry could see where Draco got it.

Lucius was also walking weird, as if he was—

“Will you stop showing him off like a prized pig, Lucius?” Snape finally grumbled, “You are drawing too much attention.”

“Aw, c’mon Sevvy~” Bellatrix started in with a playful tone, a devilish smirk growing on her features. Apparently with Severus’s unintentional efforts, he broke some of the uncomfort. “The attention is sooo much better than being nobodies.”

“We have never been nobodies, Bella. We are hated by anyone who isn’t a pureblood. It’s simply different.” Narcissa explained with displeasure, knowing that sometimes her barely younger sister got easily confused.

“Yeah, aren’t you guys like royalty or something?” Harry asked dumbly, so used to being able to ask Hermione foolish questions that he had a lack of shame. Even when Severus snorted mockingly and rolled his eyes. Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Lucius were all sharing thoughtful looks. Though instead of answering him, Narcissa asked him a question instead.

“Harry…were you raised by muggles?” She asked carefully, which brought his attention back to her.

“How did you know?” He asked quickly, not thinking it through.

“Well you compared purebloods to royalty. Wizards and witches raised in this world tend to see us how muggles see their rich. Not as royalty. Though I suppose it can get a little confusing for those raised by muggles—” She stopped herself from rambling. In fact Narcissa was starting to remind him a lot of Hermione with how much she seemed to know, and how perceptive she was. “I just mean…we aren’t royalty. We are just long lines of witches and wizards, descendants from the original magic bearers. We tend to have money, influence, and the such because it gets passed down through the ages. We are like…” She thought for a moment, a long moment, and after some time Harry started to believe she wouldn’t speak up again. “Celebrities, I believe thats what muggle-borns—”

“I’m not muggle born.” Harry blurted out quickly. He didn’t mean to be so crass about it, he just didn’t like when people were wrong about him. Narcissa’s eyes widened slightly as they continued on their walk through the slowly filling halls, but eventually she nodded in acceptance.

“Muggle-raised then.” It was odd to see her so lacking of judgement. Hell, it explained why Draco would talk so highly of his parents. If she was like this as an acquaintance, she must be wonderful to be close to. “It is something similar to that.”

“On the contrary,” Snape would cut in, ignoring Harry’s presence, and instead talking to Narcissa. “Rather it is close to being a politician, but since birth. It’s being a politician for all your life.”

“Oh, thats terrible.” Harry blurted out, getting a few looks of mixed entertainment and surprise, of course then there was Bellatrix tilting her head like a curious dog, and Snape not even trying to hide the roll of his eyes. “I just mean…politicians can be easily hated by most, but worshiped by some. To have to do that since birth, then for the rest of your life must be very…lonely.” He’d finally say, turning a little red at his embarrassing words. It was like being around three Hermione’s, and the girl version of Fred & George and also a bit of Luna all at once. It was so familiar but so different.

“It can be.” Lucius admitted, seeming upset by the fact. Though Harry wasn’t the reason for his upset nature, and instead it was the truthfulness of the topic. “That’s why purebloods tend to be so—uh, so—Narccy, help me out.” The jockish man asked after a bit of struggle.

“So tight knit, and exclusive.” She added for him, a soft smile forming as she looked at the embarrassed blonde with silent admiration. “For instance, Lucius and I have been arranged to be married since birth.” She shared, looking quizzically at Harry to see his reaction to the matter. She was still testing out his waters to see if he really was someone they would be willing to accompany themselves with. So far he was passing, even if just barely.

“Yeah! And Narccy used to absolutely hate him.” Bellatrix shared excitedly as if she held onto information not everyone knew. She must have too because Lucius seemed to be surprised by that.

“Bella!” Narcissa hissed her complaint, so it was certainly information she would’ve had rather not shared.

“Oops, I wasn’t supposed to say that…was I?” Bella asked in a puppyish way, seeming disappointed with herself that she had upset her dear older sister. She had hints of Dobby in that sense.

“No, you definitely weren’t.” Severus answered her with a soft smirk on his lips. Harry found himself staring at it. Why? Well because Severus Snape had never smiled, let alone smirked, without malice in all of Harry’s school years. Severus stopped smirking when he noticed Harry was staring, and instead scowled at the red cloaked teen. There it was again…oh well, surely Harry will learn more soon enough. It wouldn’t hurt to stay a bit longer to find out more about his teacher.

Suddenly the group of teens stopped in front of a door, opening it to reveal the current potions class. It must’ve changed at some point throughout the years, because this one had two small windows letting the natural light flood in, and wasn’t in the dungeons. They all walked in save for Bella which confused Harry, but just as he turned to look for her, he was pushed inside the room, being stared at quizzically by the girl standing over him. It hadn’t registered to him that Bella just pushed him so he’d fall until he looked down at his stone-imprinted hands. He was slightly offended, but he didn’t react in any way. He was still processing what had happened.

“He’s slow.” Severus told the girl, and she lit up as if he had just given her the word she was looking for.

“Thanks Sevvy!” She cheered and went to go plop herself next to a gryffindor girl that she grinned at with wide eyes, making the red-cloak shiver, and scoot away from her while Bella hardly processed why. That is until she did, frowning, and snarling at the girl making her scream in terror. Harry watched all of this with great curiosity, having forgotten all about the impatient Slytherin boy standing near him at a desk.

“Are you going to sit on the floor the entire day or get up?” The boy hissed grudgingly, glaring at Harry who appeared like he was lounging on the stone, even though he had in fact been pushed. Not that Harry was all that mad about it, Bellatrix had an air of innocence to her that was both odd and amusing.

“I, uh—”

“Ah, you must be the newest student! Or rather, we like to believe you’re knew, when you could be far from it—” The fizzy, bubbly voice of Horace Slughorn bounded through the air, making Harry rush to turn and stand around to face the man. He looked so much younger here, it almost seemed unreal. “Well, do find a seat. We had partnered up yesterday, but I’m sure we could find you—” The friendly eyes of the professor wandered the classroom in search for a group Harry could be with until they landed on his partner-less neighbor, Severus Snape. He didn’t have a partner just yet, or maybe that was on purpose. “Ah, very good, well, apologies Mr. Snape, I know you like working alone, but,” Harry could feel the poisonous glare of the teen puncturing his soul. “Our dear Mr. Granger here will need to work with you.”

“I, uhm,” Harry didn’t want to upset Snape, because he was terribly positive that without the professional rules of not killing children in the way, Severus wouldn’t hesitate. “I apologize sir, but it turns out I don’t have any school things with me. Hardly anything for potions either—”

“I’m sure some of your house-mates would be willing to share.” That was that, and Slughorn started to walk back to his desk to start class. Only, none of the Gryffindors would be willing to share, in fact they were all glaring at him too. Defeated, he went to simply stand by Severus, glancing hesitantly at the raven-haired boy whose eyes were nothing but forward during the instructions. Harry had a feeling it was because he was there that the boy was pretending to pay so much attention to the lesson and example given. Something told Harry that with the tired black eyes of Snape’s, he had stayed up late studying todays lesson.

Harry didn’t pay attention at all.

If he wasn’t glancing at Severus to try and read what the boy was likely thinking, he was looking over at Narcissa and Lucius who seemed to be subtly flirting, or checking in on Bellatrix with her frightened Gryffindor partner. Looking at them made it easier to ignore the predatory staring of his young father, and the unbothered yet intrigued eyes of Remus Lupin. Not to forget the animalistic glare of Sirius Black, or the slightly pathetic yet equally as rage-filled eyes of Peter Pettigrew who had likely been filled in at some point. Peter particularly made him shudder.

That is of course until he noticed a certain, familiar looking red-head with wavy hair that reached her mid back, and similar ivy eyes…was that his mom? She was so naturally beautiful, and clearly studious as she was taking notes. Her eyes never left the teacher except when she was scribbling something down. He really did have her eyes.

She seemed so relaxed compared to his dad it seemed almost unreal.

Suddenly it hit Harry that even if he didn’t plan on returning to his time-line so soon, he still needed to find that time-turner before he was trapped here forever. Then again, thus far, it had been surprisingly normal. It wasn’t as if he and Draco hadn’t gotten into similar fights that he and James were doing so far, so that in and of itself was typical. All the bad parts (save for his dad reminding him too much of Draco Malfoy) were gone.

There were no unruly expectations put on him, no assumptions that he could kill a man, no matter how monstrous he was. Not even a slightest wonder from a stranger about if he would be anything like his parents. Hell, no one knew who his parents were! If they did, they’d likely call him a liar anyways. It wasn’t as if time-turners were all that common, and who would believe a teenage boy saying he was the prophesied savior? Doubtfully anyone. As far as he was concerned he was comfortable, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a safety net to rely on.

The sounds of chopping, and smashing took Harry out of his trance, looking at where the sounds were coming from, he saw Severus working on some herbs on the meant-to-be shared cutting board. Harry wasn’t complaining.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll just stay out of your way.”

There wasn’t an answer, just a soft huff to signify he was heard. At least Harry had something else to watch now that Snape was doing something. Even if it was incredibly boring.

“So…do you play any sports? Like Quidditch or something?” Harry asked quizzically, he really did want to learn about his most-hated professors teen years, and now he had the source to learn it from without him even knowing! Except for the fact that at both ages Snape was rather closed off, and instead of answering, he side eyed the boy with a heavy sneer. “Okay, so I’ll take that as a no.” Chuckling softly to himself, it was all rather amusing, this situation. It was as if his potions professor was just in puberty, him still being relatively the same man, though likely more arrogant. “What about hobbies? Got any of those? You know, except potions.”

“What is it to you, Granger?” The boy growled, tearing up some purple leaves and sprinkling it into the cauldron.

“Geez, I can’t get to know you a little?” Harry retorted, having had to recover from the realization that here he was Harry Granger, not Harry Potter, and Severus was talking to him—not Hermione. Rubbing the back of his neck, he found a stool to sit on, but otherwise stopped asking questions as he watched Severus do the work. Not that Harry had ever paid attention in his classes, but now he was seeing up close how skilled Severus really was, even at this age.

Silence passed for several moments, Snape focussed solely on the assignment until he finally said; “I read.” Now, Harry was never all that quick when he got distracted, and he definitely was in this moment after having gotten entranced with the fluid hand motions of the teen, as if Snape had made this potion a hundred times over. Right, right, Severus said something—oh, an answer. He got an answer!

Maybe being Granger instead of Potter really did have it’s perks. Though since Harry hardly read himself, he wasn’t sure how to respond, so he did his best.

“Like uh, about history, or spells, or something?”

“Sometimes.” It didn’t take as long to answer as the first time, but it wasn’t quick either. The talking didn’t seem all that helpful for Severus, but Harry could care less. He was learning, whether the other teen realized as such or not.

“And other times?”

“Fiction.” Well, Snape really wasn’t making this easy on him, but it was at least surprising.

“What kind of fiction?” At this question, black voids raised to peer into Harry as if he was reading the most uninteresting tales ever written. Obviously he wasn’t continuing this conversation, because now the boy really didn’t respond. Though Harry caught the hesitant flicker of the Slytherin to someone behind him, and naturally he turned in his seat to see Lily, his mother, looking over at them. Interesting.

What happened there? Harry wasn’t sure, but he definitely wanted to find out.

He was thinking of more questions to ask when Bellatrix hippity-hopped over. Her curly hair bouncing up and around her shoulders, she came to peer into the cauldron, but before she leaned over too far, Severus put his arm up to gently push her back.

“Whatcha makin’?” She asked Severus, tilting her head so much so as she bent over to see the onyx eyes of the focussed teen.

“The same thing as you.” Severus answered smoothly, as if the question hadn’t been stupid. Now that was interesting, and Harry was transfixed. What kind of relationship did those two have for Snape not to insult her over every little thing? He desperately wanted to find out.

“Really?” Bella asked with an air of excitement, hopping up to sit on the edge of the desk. “You’re not like, making whispering death, or that lovey-dovey thing, or that other lovey-dovey thing but deadly, or—”

“No, just the same as you.” He answered bluntly again, starting to stir the cauldron in a counter clockwise movement. Then Bella’s dark eyes shot over to Harry, squinting as if he was a puzzle she couldn’t piece together just yet. She was definitely starting to put him on edge with all of her unpredictability. Bella had jumped down from where she sat, walking around Severus and tilting her head as she stared at Harry. Almost as if she saw right through him.

“How did you brew it?” She asked cryptically, getting Harry to furrow his brows, but Severus seemed to have his attention piqued by the way he looked from the corner of his eye. It was starting to feel as if Bellatrix was his attack dog of sorts, and that was even more terrifying.

“What?”

“The potion you told everyone you brewed, how did you do it?” She asked him again, she knew it. He had the sinking feeling that she really did know, and that was even worse. She seemed so harmless and innocent, but here she was backing Harry up into a corner.

“I, well, I—” He was slowly starting to give up before an idea hit him, and a realization close to follow. “It was just a rumor, an assumption, that I brewed it, really. It was an heirloom from my parents, I…well I’m an orphan. I just got tired, okay? Tired of being that.” It flowed from his mouth like water. He couldn’t believe himself with how easily he was mixing half truths with mostly lies. What was he doing to himself? Lying just so he could be at peace a bit longer? Wasn’t that wrong? But wasn’t it, in a way, also true? The potion was just a placement for the time-turner. He had the same reasoning, and that reasoning caused tears to prick in the corner of his eyes. He really wished he wasn’t an orphan, that he wasn’t the Chosen-One, and that more importantly he could’ve just had a loving family, and a loving life to go with. Bellatrix seemed convinced, her eyes softening, and a pout starting to form.

“Awww, that’s so sad!” She seemed terribly genuine as she pulled him into a forced embrace. “It’s okay, I’ll adopt you.”

It was adorably charming, that Harry smiled and hugged her back. Of course it wasn’t possible for her to adopt him, but he enjoyed the attempt nonetheless. It was a cute sight for those eavesdropping, and unknowingly to all else in that classroom, a soft tug formed at the corner of Severus’s lips, busying himself as he half-listened and half-watched it all play out. Bellatrix really did cause the most unpredictable things to occur.