Harry coldly looked at the kneeling figure of the man who was screaming in pain from the effects of one of the forbidden curses. "I don't know what you have against me, but I'm not letting you fuck everything up by getting me caught."
After letting the man endure the pain of the curse for a while, Harry cast another spell, "Imperio," He whisperedas the man suddenly lost control of his body, unable to defend himself against Harry's spell. Considering the man's prowess with Legilimency, he should have been, at the very least, an accomplished Occlumens, which also implied a baseline high willpower — strong enough to resist Harry's Imperius curse. However, with the effects of the Cruciatus curse on the man, his mentality was undoubtedly weakened enough for Harry to be able to take control of him at least for a while.
"What's your name?" Harry asked coldly while calming his inner panic. His actions were all completely done on instinct without thinking too far ahead. Now, he needed to deal with the aftermath of his actions, which was going to be much worse than dealing with the headache that he would've had if he'd just defended against the Legilimency and gone on with his day, 'At least I cast the curses through the sword … even if they checked my wand, there shouldn't be any problems.'
"Severus Snape," The man spoke, surprising Harry enough that he froze in his place, dropping the sword that was in his hand. Instead of clanking on the ground, it disappeared on its own along with the scabbard that had previously appeared on Harry's thigh. He didn't care about the disappearance, he was just too occupied with the shock of the answer to even notice it. And considering that the sword appeared once, it would probably appear again as long as he needed it.
"Mum is going to kill me," Harry was panicking now, "I just used two Unforgivable Curses on her childhood best friend." His instinct was to quickly free Uncle Severus from the curse and apologize. But then he remembered the malicious look that definitely had some history behind it, which made him hesitate, 'Not to mention that he just tried to read my memories,' Harry thought to himself.
He decided to confirm some things, "Are you Severus Snape, Lily Evans' childhood friend?" He asked.
"Yes," The man answered without hesitation.
"Yep," Harry pressed his lips together, "He's the guy," He said with difficulty as if someone had just punched him in the gut, 'Sorry, Mum … ' He felt shitty about what had just happened.
Feeling himself spiraling out of control, Harry decided something, 'Think this through, Harry … Fleur. I need to talk to her.'
"Expecto Patronum," Harry whispered to himself as a formless mass of white escaped his wand before taking the form of a small lizard that spouted wings before growing in size, slowly turning into a small dragon. "Fleur, I need you to initiate our telepathic connection," Harry said before sending the message along with his draconic Patronus.
Just as he sent his patronus with the instruction to be discrete in its delivery, Harry heard footsteps approaching him, "Just my fucking luck…" He cursed as he entered the Potions classroom with Snape before casting another spell at the window.
"Accio Invisibility Cloak," He cast while inwardly thinking, 'I know I prepared for a scenario where I might need to summon it to myself, but really? The first stroll that I take through the school?' He was full of complaints about the shitty Professor who tried to read his mind without any prior hostility.
He felt his heart racing as he thought of the current situation. He wasn't on home ground and had just committed a crime that could possibly send him to Azkaban.
'These spells may have been legalized with the current state of the country, but not enough that I would be able to get away with doing this to a Professor …'
He knew it would be impossible for things to go that bad with his mother in the picture — He was confident that she would break him out in the worst-case scenario, but a man can spiral into a negative imagination.
For a moment, Harry reached out to the ring on the middle finger of his left hand. He grasped it with his thumb and index finger before twisting it around while thinking, 'Should I go home?' He had the fleeting thought of using his emergency Portkey that could break through any spatial blockade to take him home. 'No,' He dismissed the thought with a light self-mocking laugh, 'You're better than that, Potter. Stop relying on your mother for everything,' He let go of the ring and brought it back to its original position.
'Since it's my fuck up, I'll fix it myself,' He decided as he waited for his cloak to arrive. He had a bit of a game plan in mind, but it needed Fleur to help him process things.
Just as he was coming up with more ideas to deal with the situation, he heard a knock on the classroom door before hearing a familiar voice, "Professor Snape?" It was Hermione, "I have that paper that you referred to me."
Harry let out a tired breath, 'How does she even know this guy's here … ' He grabbed the ledge of the window and sat on a desk tiredly. He sighed and told Snape to send her away.
"Come back during a working day, Miss Granger," Snape said, "I would like to have my peace during the weekend."
"Is everything okay, Professor?" Hermione asked, "I just need you to help me cite one of the sources for this paper, sir," She didn't wait for his reply and turned the handle, opening the door. She entered the classroom with a set of books held under her arm and looked at Professor Snape who was looking out of the window.
'This nosy fucking bookworm,' Harry cursed under his breath as he barely had the time to wrap himself under his Invisibility Cloak. His subtle concealment charms didn't work very well on Hermione due to her higher willpower, causing him even more stress about the situation.
"There you are, Professor," Hermione, seemingly oblivious to the Professor's unwillingness to talk, approached the man, "I just need you to cite some of my sources," Her one citation request had already become some as she put the books under her arm on the table beside Snape, "These are the books, as long as you can sign off on them, I'll submit my paper to Professor Slughorn."
Snape slowly turned to look at Hermione, "Miss Granger," He spoke, "What part of my refusal would you like me to repeat? Please leave, I have things to do." Snape turned around and walked toward the exit, "Your citations will be verified tomorrow, or not at all." He opened the door and gestured for her to leave.
Seeing his reaction, Hermione mumbled under her breath, "Damnit, he's in a good mood right now," She whispered to herself, "I can't let go of this opportunity," She quickly approached the professor with a plea, leaving Harry, who was hidden under his cloak of invisibility, extremely confused.
'If this is a good mood then what the hell is bad?' Harry couldn't believe what a hateful person his mother's childhood friend seemed to be. Harry made Snape act even worse to Hermione just to get rid of the troublesome woman quickly.
"Last warning, Miss Granger," Snape said, "Or detention." He blatantly threatened, making Hermione freeze in her place.
Just as Harry heaved a sigh of relief, hoping for her to leave, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Snape, "You're not Professor Snape …" She said with narrowed eyes, "But it has to be him …" She mumbled to herself with surety before her eyes widened, "The Imperius Cruse!" She quickly pulled out her wand and spoke out to the air while keeping it pointed at the man, "You have to know that Professor Snape would first deduct points from Gryffindor before threatening me with detention. He would never miss a chance to bring Slytherin higher up. Do your research correctly," She took an admonishing tone halfway through her monologue.
'You couldn't have told me that before!?' Harry felt like crying as he thought of ways to make her go away without hexing her.
"With zero points for the houses, deducting them seems a little moot, don't you think?" Snape asked Hermione in Harry's last-ditch attempt to not take things too far.
"The gig's up, whoever you are," Hermione got ready to cast a spell, "You have five seconds to show yourself."
"Five … Four … Thr—" Hermione couldn't complete her countdown as multiple stunning spells hit her from the back along with a sleeping spell and even more binding charms for safety purposes. Before being able to cast a single spell, Hermione fell back on the floor which Harry had softened so that she wouldn't get hurt, too much. The spells were strong enough to leave her with a sore back for days.
He sighed tiredly while still under the invisibility cloak as he looked down at Hermione's unconscious form, 'What a troublesome woman,' His gaze couldn't help but linger on the almost peaceful expression on her face for a few seconds, 'She is cute, not gonna lie … '
''Arry!' Harry couldn't help but jump when he heard Fleur's voice in his head.
'Oh, hi, Fleur … ' He chuckled nervously as he greeted her telepathically. From what he knew, this was a Veela thing that they could do with their life-bound partner, whatever that meant. That connection was what allowed Fleur to establish a telepathic channel with Harry right now.
Fleur spoke in Harry's head, 'You were thinking about someone other than me.' Harry could almost imagine the cute pout on her face.
'Yeah,' Harry rolled his eyes, 'I don't just have a professor to deal with, but also a student now,' With his words, Harry decided to take care of Hermione first. She hadn't seen him, so he could just play the ignorant card with her and that would be the end of that. He didn't want to risk her having some kind of recording device for when he came out from under his cloak, so he levitated her before stuffing her into the closet that contained most of the potion-making materials for the class. He then closed the door and locked it with multiple anti-locking charms. Even if she woke up, Hermione would need at least an hour to break through the charms.
'What do you think we should do, Fleur?' Harry asked Fleur while leaning back on the bench tiredly, "At least she didn't see me, unlike this douche. Not to mention the unforgivable curse … es" He mumbled to himself tiredly.
'Explain the situation to me clearly, 'Arry,' Fleur said. Harry could feel her frown through their telepathic connection, 'I need the full facts to be able to talk to you on the same level about this.'
…
"How about we just bury him?" Harry asked Fleur as he paced through the small living room of their assigned dorm while Fleur sat on the single-person couch with one leg crossed over the other as she tapped her foot on the ground repeatedly.
"'Arry, you know we can't do that," She said.
"It's better than burying my body," Harry said. As he saw Fleur's look of outrage at his words, he raised his hands in defense, "You know I'm right, Mum's going to kill me when she realizes that I used two Unforgivable curses, not to mention on her childhood friend."
Fleur took a breath to calm herself, "Just … talk to her. She will scold you and probably punish you when we get back home, but she's the best option. You know it."
Harry looked at Fleur with an unwilling look, but soon he sighed in defeat, "Fine..." He said, "First day in Hogwarts and I've already put a Professor out of commission. And poor Hermione. She was just there to get some citations and got blasted with enough spells to leave her with a sore back for days."
"So she's the one you were thinking about when I felt you having impure thoughts," Fleur teased him, "I perfectly have your type of woman down, don't I?" She asked.
Her words served to lighten the atmosphere as Harry smiled with a shake of his head, "You know that I only have one type, Fleur. And that's you." He said, "The others are like artworks that I can occasionally appreciate, but you're the only artist for me."
Fleur giggled at his words, "Is that some kind of baby momma innuendo that you messed up?" She asked, "I'm too young to get pregnant." She laughed with schadenfreude as she saw his twitchy expression.
"Help me set up a call with Mum," Harry said tiredly, though with a much lighter weight on his shoulders than what he was carrying before. As weird as Fleur's teasing got, it did its job of helping him calm down.
"Let me get the materials," Fleur said, "Take a seat, calm your nerves."
"Yeah," Harry walked to the couch that Fleur was sitting on as she got up. She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it before moving into their bedroom to grab some things from their luggage. As Harry slumped down on the couch, he felt that he heard the use of a very violent, very dangerous spell.
"Bombarda Maxima!" A huge explosion ensued the spell as the door and its surrounding wall burst open, revealing a panting Hermione Granger. She didn't waste any time staying in the potions classroom and quickly made her way out of the dungeon after collecting her books and materials.
"That girl has just as impatient of a trigger finger as I do," Harry mumbled to himself as he saw the view before it dissipated once Hermione left the classroom. Harry thought of the way she flinched when he'd previously grabbed her shoulder and knew that there was probably some history behind her over-the-top actions.
When Fleur returned with the materials, she didn't waste any time dallying before setting up the ritual. She created a floating screen in front of Harry while placing the materials for the ritual in their correct spot underneath the screen. When she started chanting, Harry gulped as he saw the screen in front of him wiggle as it slowly formed the view of his mother.
Lily Potter didn't look to be a day older than when she'd given birth to Harry. With her red hair tied up in a ponytail, she was wearing a casual outfit with overalls as she seemed to be focused on something. She looked to be merely in her mid-twenties.
"Mum," Harry called, but Lily seemed to ignore his call, "Mum," He called again but she ignored him again.
"I must be missing him," She mumbled to herself, "I should write him a letter," She thought as Harry let out a helpless laugh.
"Mum, it's me," Harry said, "I need to talk to you."
Lily seemed to come back to reality as she turned to look at the screen and looked into Harry's eyes with an intense look, "Harry?" She asked, a hint of panic escaping her tone, "What happened? I said to use this ritual only in a time of emergency."
"We're fine," Harry said hesitantly, "It's not really an emergency. But well, it kinda is as well … "
"Stop wasting time," Lily frowned, "What happened? Come home right now, if you think things are dangerous, I'll set up the Portkey for you to go back to Hogwarts later."
"No, it–it's not that bad." Harry said, "Still pretty bad though."
Seeing Harry's calm state, Lily understood that there wasn't any immediate danger, "What happened?" She asked with a sigh as a worried frown marred her ageless face.
"It's better if I just show you," Harry said before turning his face to the side, "Come here." Lily was confused for a moment but then her eyes widened when she saw a familiar face appearing from thin air as Snape took off the invisibility cloak to just show his head.
Lily was stunned for a few seconds and felt that she had to confirm, "Is he … " She trailed off, wanting Harry to clarify her thoughts.
"This is Professor Snape. Your … old friend." Harry said, "And he's currently under the Imperius Curse."
"Hm, I see," Lily nodded casually at Harry's words as a cold light passed her eyes, "How has he been treating—" She choked midway through her words as Harry's words completely settled in. "What do you mean he's under the Imperius Curse?" She asked with disbelief.
"Exactly that," Harry said, "He tried to —" Harry couldn't finish before Lily interrupted him.
"Harry!" Lily had a look of anger on her face, her thoughts about her old friend completely forgotten, "How could you use an Unforgivable Curse? It's the one thing that I taught you never to cast. We already had the conversation when you looked through Beauxbatons' library and learned the curses by yourself. These spells should never be … " Lily spent the next minute or so lecturing Harry about the dangers of the Forbidden curses and how they could completely pollute the mind of a person, destroying them from the inside.
When Harry finally got the chance to speak, he explained, "Mum, he tried to read my mind," He said hurriedly, "I felt an unfamiliar wave of hatred at that time that was probably caused by his Legilimency probe. I couldn't help but use the Cruciatus Curse on him to get him to stop."
"But still Harry —" Lily stopped midway, "Cruciatus?" She asked, "You used two forbidden curses?" Harry looked at the frown on his mother's face and felt his heart clenching.
"Y-yes," He nodded with a guilty look.
"Come home," Lily said.
"What?" Harry asked with horror, "I-I can't … "
"Just," Lily's expression showed that denial wasn't an option. She would drag Harry home if needed, "Come home. Bring Severus with you. I'll send you back to Hogwarts tomorrow morning."
Harry's shoulders slumped in defeat while Lily turned to Fleur, "Fleur honey, I'm sorry I'm taking Harry from you for the night."
"It's okay, Mum," Fleur said, the hint of sadness in her tone unmistakable. She didn't want to sleep by herself.
"If anything happens, honey," Lily said to Fleur with a gentle smile, "Use your Portkey and trigger Gabi's Portkey too. I don't want anything to happen to either of you."
"And you are coming home right now, young man," Lily said sternly to Harry before the screen dimmed and fell to the ground.
"I love you, Fleur," Harry looked at Fleur with a weak smile, "I'm going to miss you. Take care of Gabi for me."
"You're not dying, dumbass," Fleur laughed with amusement, "Your Mum's just going to scold you a little and then coddle you like she always does."
Harry smiled lightly, "Yeah," He stood up from his seat and said, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Take care of yourself."
Fleur nodded with a sad expression, "My body pillow … "
Harry smiled and gave Fleur a light peck on her cheek, "I'm going to miss my body pillow too," He said, "Here, keep this in case of an emergency." Harry gave Fleur his cloak of invisibility before grabbing Snape's shoulder.
"You know, this whole thing threw a wrench into my plan of messing up the Goblet of Fire and the tournament," Harry said.
"You can still do it when you get back." Fleur said, "You'll have time tomorrow."
"Yeah, but it's going to be difficult to do it when it's not the night," Harry said as he kept lingering.
"Stop delaying, you big baby, and go." Fleur said, "I know what you're doing."
"Fine," Harry sighed annoyedly and triggered the ring on his finger, "See you," With his words, he disappeared with a crackle along with Snape.
…
With a loud crackling sound, Harry appeared on the porch of his house. Just as he appeared, the front door opened and he saw a glimpse of beautiful red hair in his view before he fell into his mother's embrace, "My son," Lily tightly hugged Harry with all her strength.
"Hey, Mum," Harry hugged her back with a wry smile on his face, "Sorry for worrying you," He rested his face on her shoulder, enjoying the familiar comfort of her hug.
"You should be," She said, tightening her hug even more, "How could you use those curses despite my warnings?" She pulled back from him and held his face between both her hands. She started looking over him, examining for any injuries that he may have had.
"I'm fine, Mum," Harry smiled, "There wasn't any duel. I blocked his probe with my Occlumency before casting the Cruciatus on him before he could react."
"I'll deal with him later," Lily gave Snape a cold look before pointing her wand at him and silently casting something. Harry didn't know what she did, but he found his control over Snape slipping away as his Imperius got dispelled. Treating it as a commonplace occurrence, he didn't react. He then saw Snape turning away from him and walking in the opposite direction of their house, down the mountain that their house was situated on top of, "Come in," Lily said, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him into the house.
Harry quietly followed Lily in, not making a peep. He didn't want her to explode on him with another lecture.
She led him to the cozy living room where a small fire was already lit. Although their current location high up in the mountains wasn't as cold as Hogwarts, it was still chilly. Lily pulled Harry down with herself to sit on the couch.
"Come here," Lily patted her lap. Harry didn't say anything and obediently lay his head on his mother's lap as his legs hung down from the side of the couch. He brought one of them up on the couch and made himself somewhat comfortable as his tense state seemed to calm down somewhat. Especially so when he felt his mother's fingers running through his hair, "Tell me, Harry," Lily said, "Do you know what you did wrong?" She asked.
"I cast an Unforgivable curse when a simple stunning spell would've been sufficient." He said with a guilty face as he turned his head to the side to look at the fireplace. Even though he was, by all means, a full-grown adult now, he still felt like a child in front of his mother.
"Well yes," Lily smiled as she rested one of her hands on Harry's chest while continuing to caress his hair with her other hand, "But you're missing the crux of the problem."
"That so?" Harry asked.
"Mhm…" Lily massaged the left side of Harry's chest, right above his heart, "You let someone else's emotions get to you."
Harry felt even more guilty at Lily's words and couldn't find the words to refute her claim.
"You know the negative effects of the Unforgivable curses on the caster too, right?" She asked.
"They taint the soul," Harry said, "They come from a place of immense negativity, and when cast, their effects linger more on the mind of the caster than the victim."
"Exactly," Lily said. Harry didn't notice it, but Lily's hands that were moving around Harry's head and chest were slowly pulling out a faint black gas from his body that dissipated into the air, "When you cast the Crutiatus curse, you had nothing but hatred in your heart, didn't you?" She asked him, "The only thoughts in your mind were to kill Severus for what he's done, right?"
"Yes," Harry nodded.
"Those thoughts weren't your own," Lily told him, "When Severus attempted to invade your mind, you were affected by what he sent through his probe. Although you stopped him from reading your memories, you were unable to completely block his influence."
"I know, Mum," Harry said, "That's why the first spell that I cast on him was the Crutiatus curse."
"You know what to do for that, right?" Lily said with a much lighter tone than before.
"More Occlumency training," Harry sighed tiredly.
She laughed lightly, "Correct," She said, "But that's going to be on your own time. For now, I'm not letting you out of my sight for a moment." Lily bent over and hugged Harry tightly, smothering him.
"Mum!" Harry's voice came out as muffled as he tried to push Lily away but the position was too difficult for him to push her away, not to mention he couldn't use too much strength, not wanting to hurt her.
Lily just laughed as she messed with Harry for almost a minute, barely letting him breathe before letting go. Harry quickly sat up, giving her an annoyed look as he caught his breath, "You always do this."
Lily giggled, "What can I say?" She shrugged, "I missed my baby boy." She approached him as Harry recoiled a little. Uncaring of his resistance, Lily hugged his arm and pulled him close to herself, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Harry wanted to push her away once again, but sighed defeatedly and shook his head, "I missed you too, Mum," Harry said and kissed the top of Lily's head.
"Liar," She said accusatorily, "Don't you have my daughter-in-law taking care of you? You don't even write to me every week anymore."
Harry laughed without saying anything as he let his mother lean on him, making sure that she would be comfortable.
"Tell me about school," Lily said, "What have you been up to for this month."
"How about you tell me what you've been up to during this month that I was gone, first," Harry said.
"My work efficiency has undoubtedly taken a dive after the loss of my assistant," Lily said with a light laugh, "I can't boss you around to relieve my boredom anymore."
Harry laughed helplessly, "Entertainment at my expense. Both you and Fleur seem to love that."
"But we love you with everything we have too, don't we?" Lily asked him, "I only have you in my life, Harry. If I can't mess with you, then who do I mess with? My books?"
Feeling the sense of desolation in Lily's words, Harry couldn't help but hug her, "You can mess with me as much as you want, Mum."
"Fleur has it even worse than me," Lily said, smiling as she enjoyed how Harry tried to act like an adult with her, "That poor girl has been smitten with you for years, going as far as to do that life-bound Veela ritual with you. It's literally impossible for her to romantically love anyone other than you."
"She gets more than enough perks out of that though," Harry said as he thought of Fleur's ability to establish a telepathic connection with him on command. He was sure there were more abilities she got from that ritual that he didn't know about.
"She trusted you with her everything, for it, Harry," Lily said, "She literally can't survive without you. That girl has physically handed her heart to you."
"I know, I know," Harry said with a frustrated tone, "You've explained this to me a hundred times. I love her back as much as she loves me. I won't hurt her."
"And I'll tell you about the weight of her actions as many times as I get the chance to," Lily said, "You aren't allowed to take that girl's love for you for granted."
Harry nodded at her words before bringing her back to the topic he wanted to know about, "Before I left, we were working on creating an enchantment that could positively affect the soul of the wizard, what's your progress with that?"
Lily smiled as she told him about her progress and they exchanged ideas about how they could make it a viable enchantment.
'I wouldn't mind hiding under this Fidelius until I grow old and work with him on our little projects,' Lily had a stray thought that she quickly dismissed.
***
If you like the story, follow it and leave a review and whatever else, it motivates me a lot. I try not to leave any mistakes in the chapters, but if you find something glaring, let me know, and I'll try to fix it.
If you want to support me, check out my Patréon. I post advanced chapters there and do weekly polls to decide the stories that I will be posting for the week. No pressure though, I'm eventually going to post my content publicly regardless.
www.patrèon.com/addyctive
(Replace the è with e)