6

Chapter Six - Detention

Severus Snape paced both angrily and uneasily in his office. He should not be there, but he was so very angry with his son that he was afraid that the spirit of his abusive father might appear within him and hurt Harry. What was worse, Harry had done something so very stupid and so terribly dangerous that Severus could not be a good father if he did not punish the child. He really had not punished Harry before, beyond raising his voice, since the boy had been so very good. Now he had no choice and he had absolutely no idea what to do!

Finally he decided that he must speak to Albus. He made a quick Floo call to Dumbledore's retirement home in Wales, and stepped through to talk to the old man. Albus listened as the Potions Master paced back and forth as he related what had happened.

It was a Saturday morning and Severus was busy aiding Minerva and Filius in taking care of requisition paperwork for Hogwarts. Regrettably it interfered with plans Severus had made with Harry to visit Hogsmeade for the day. Harry had predictably pouted through breakfast, but the child seemed to recover his spirits and politely said goodbye to his father just as Draco arrived to take care of him for the day.

Draco decided that Harry needed some fresh air so they had gone to go watch the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws play a practice match. Unfortunately, Draco had become too drawn into analysing his opponents. Halfway through the game he realised that Harry was nowhere to be seen. His heart plummeted to his toes as he imagined Professor Snape cursing him in the worst way. He was just about to desert the stands when he caught sight of a new flyer intruding upon the game.

It was Harry Potter.

Draco's heart couldn't plummet any further, but it was ready to completely stop. Draco shouted at the little boy who flew high above the pitch with total abandon. The Gryffindor team tried to keep up with Harry in hopes of protecting him.

The worst did not happen, though. Some good sense crawled into the six year old's brain and he sailed on down to the ground where he was met by a very distraught and angry Draco.

"What do I do, Albus?" asked an anguished father as he paced in Dumbledore's bright living room. "I cannot even begin to think where he came up with such a bloody stupid idea... and I am mad at Draco, too, but I know I really cannot blame him. He is just as angry as I am. Dammit!" The man snapped and dropped into a far too cushiony chair.

"Are you that afraid of losing Harry that you're afraid to punish him, Severus?"

"Afraid?" Severus looked away, not daring to let the old man's gaze settle on his. Yes. He was afraid of losing Harry. He was also afraid of becoming his father who had never been able to control his temper when it came to dealing with his son.

"What do you feel would be appropriate, Severus? Step outside yourself and become an observer. What punishment would impress upon the child that he mustn't repeat such a dangerous stunt ever again?"

Viewing the problem in that manner was simple and Severus answered readily. "A spanking and a lecture."

"That sounds quite reasonable to me, my boy. Just remind yourself to never hit in anger and neither to overdo it. A few swats is enough to bring repentant tears and to impress upon the child's mind the seriousness of his actions."

"He will not hate me?" Severus asked softly.

Albus smiled and rose carefully from his chair. He leaned upon an ivory cane and placed his hand upon the younger wizard's shoulder. "You need not worry, ever, about becoming Tobias, my boy. Your love for Harry runs strong and deep. He will understand that you're only doing what is necessary to keep him safe."

Severus rose to his feet and looked down upon his old mentor for the first time ever. Dumbledore's once straight spine was now bent. His skin was like fine, parchment. Yet, within his blue eyes there was the youth he had once been. Putting a supporting arm at the old wizard's back, he helped Dumbledore back to his chair. He spread out a small quilt over the man's lap.

"Would you like a visit from Harry tomorrow, Albus?" asked Severus. It was his way of showing his gratitude.

Albus smiled and those blue eyes twinkled brightly. "I would very much enjoy a visit, Severus. Come by for afternoon tea."

"We shall visit then."

It was only five swats, but it was enough to cause a flood storm of sobbing. Harry muttered a few times, but his face was pressed against his father's shoulder as he held onto the older man. Severus's arms were around his son, holding him in his lap as he patted the child's back and whispered soothing nonsense words in his ear.

After what felt like an eternity, but was only a few minutes, Harry's tears began to abate and he slid out of the tight embrace to nestle against his father's side. Severus' arm draped protectively over his son.

"I'm s-s-s-sorry, Daddy," stuttered Harry.

Severus cast a cleansing spell on his robes and then conjured a handkerchief for Harry. "Blow your nose or you shall be congested tonight, child." Harry obediently did so and gave the now dirty handkerchief back to his father. Severus vanished it and then put a finger to the little boy's chin and tipped his head gently.

"I want you to apologise to Draco later today, child. You terrified him disappearing like that."

"I will."

"I want you to understand, Harry, that Draco was responsible for you. How do you think he would have felt if you had gotten hurt, or worse, killed?"

"Really bad?" Harry replied softly.

"Draco would have been devastated and he would have felt terribly guilty. How awful do you think I would feel if I had lost you to such a foolish stunt?"

Harry sniffled and swiped at the fresh tears. "I won't ever do it again," he gasped and then gulped.

"I should hope not. You were very, very lucky. As it is, you are not going to get to watch the next Quidditch game and I certainly will not be taking you flying until after the holidays." Harry's jaw dropped in horror. He loved Quidditch! "Furthermore, young man, Ronald Weasley has a detention with me on Monday scrubbing cauldrons. I think you should assist him."

"That's not fair," grumbled Harry, crossing his arms over his chest.

Severus frowned down at the small show of defiance. "Punishment is not supposed to be fair, my boy. Now, you missed your nap this afternoon, so even if you don't feel tired, I want you to go to your room and climb into bed."

"Yes, sir." Harry slid off the sofa and made his way to his bedroom door. His hand on the doorknob, he paused and asked, "Daddy? Do you still love me?"

"I'll never stop loving you, Harry."

Harry allowed himself a small smile before disappearing into his room. Fifteen minutes later, just as he was about to drop off to sleep, he was happy to see his father come into his room and tuck him in. Severus then leaned over and kissed Harry's brow.

"Sleep well, child."

Harry Potter loved the castle of Hogwarts. He couldn't think of a more fascinating place to grow up. The only problem was that he was often so busy with Molly during the day, learning to read and write in the early evening with Hermione, and spending time with his father, he did not get to spend the time he wanted exploring the castle.

Draco was very good about taking him exploring, but his time with his bodyguard was usually erratic and not always long enough for a good exploration.

On his very first ever detention (Draco was certain Harry had broken some sort of record for being the youngest person to ever get a detention) Harry was actually looking forward to cleaning cauldrons with Ron. Harry was very sure that Ron had done some exploring of Hogwarts and he was going to ask him for some stories.

Unfortunately, what he did not know was that he and Ron had once been very fast and close best friends. Just when Ron had gotten used to the idea of Harry being a little kid again, he saw Harry with the worst gitty Slytherin next to Severus; Malfoy. Moreso, little Harry practically appeared to worship Draco and this jealousy had wormed its way like rot into Ron's heart.

When Ron arrived right after his last class of the day for detention with Severus, he was not at all pleased to see Harry sitting, of all places, at the desk he, Hermione and Harry used to share. Ron immediately sat as far away from the little boy as possible.

Harry had intended to greet Ron politely as he recalled the wonderful day he had spent at the Burrow and the chess game he and Ron had played. He liked Ron. Unfortunately, the scowling look sent his way by the redhead almost felt like a physical rebuff. Just in case his perception might be wrong, he smiled tentatively at Ron.

"What are you doing here, you prat?" snarled Ron.

"I got detention for flying," replied Harry cautiously.

Ron snorted, "Great so I'm babysitting you?"

Before Harry could reply Severus emerged from the supply closet. "On the contrary, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter will be your assistant as you scrub cauldrons. You know how this goes, so begin. Take Mr. Potter in hand and show him what needs to be done."

Now, Ron really was not a bad person, but sometimes he just did not think things through and that, more than anything else, is what caused him the most trouble. He was just about to make his life a hundred times more unpleasant as he showed Harry how to scrub the cauldrons and purposely neglected to tell the child to wear the pair of dragon hide gloves next to the sink. There were caustic substances in many of the cauldrons and no one, not even Severus, was dumb enough to clean a cauldron without a good pair of dragon hide gloves.

Harry did wonder why Ron put on a pair of gloves, but he did not ask. Although he had figured out that Ron was annoyed with him, he had no reason to think the older boy would be mad enough at him to hurt him. He began scrubbing cauldrons and at first he ignored the weird tingling on the skin of his hands.

Ron's conscience, trying to do its best to get Ron to fix things before it was really too late nearly kept his tongue quiet a minute too long. One second before Harry was about to stick his unprotected hand with the scrubber into a cauldron that had some yellowish and greenish gloppy substance in it, Ron's conscience won and he snatched the cauldron out of the boy's hands.

Ron knew he did not completely escape trouble, though, because some of that icky glop had been smeared on the outside of the cauldron. Before Harry could even start to cry out, Ron shouted for the Potions Master, grasped Harry's little hands, and shoved them under now cold water.

Despite the cold water, the tingling escalated into an itchy, painfully sharp burning that hurt a LOT! Harry cried out and tried to wrestle his hands from the older boy's grip, but Ron's fingers were wrapped tightly around his wrists as his hands were being doused by the cold water. His arms were just short, little six-year old arms, so the edge of the sink was digging painfully into his ribs.

"DADDY!" screeched Harry, and Ron knew that scream to be his death knell.

The little kid within Ron advised him to run and get the hell out of there, but Ron did not listen to that little kid anymore. He knew enough to keep Harry's hands under the cold water before the pain turned into something very ugly and scarring.

Severus, heart in his throat at hearing his son's scream, dashed back into the classroom and to the sinks at the rear of the room. His eyes had only a moment to assess the problem and he had his wand out and cast a spell over Harry's hands to stop the physical damage before it got started. A second's glance into the older boy's eyes told him precisely that the Weasley boy had neglected to instruct Harry to wear his dragon hide gloves on purpose.

The damage was averted, but the pain was still there and Harry was crying profusely now. Severus picked his son up and levelled what his Slytherins called his 'Death Eater glare' upon Ron. "Get to the Headmistress' office and wait for me there, Mr. Weasley. This does not bode well for you."

Severus swept out of the Potions classroom like some great black bird protecting its young. As Ron trudged up to the office of the Headmistress, he fully expected that black bird with his great beak to eviscerate him. In other words, he was dead.

Ron waited and waited and waited some more until the Floo in Headmistress McGonagall's office flared to life, depositing the dark figure of Severus onto the hearth. Severus automatically cleaned away the soot, glanced at the rigid Headmistress and then pierced the redhead with a deadly look.

Ron should have died, but thankfully looks that could kill was a magic Severus did not possess. Even so, Ron gulped audibly and his voice squeaked, "How's Harry?"

Severus bent over and leaned in so close to Ron that his nose was almost touching Ron's own freckled nose. "Perhaps you would rather like to first explain your abominable actions towards my son, Mr. Weasley? At the moment, I do not believe you care one whit about his welfare, so prove it."

Severus rose to his full height and glared dangerously down at the quivering teenager. "Severus, I do believe you're not allowed to kill any of the children for their wretched behavior anymore. The new minister, Arthur Weasley, tends to frown upon such medieval actions."

"Pity," sighed Severus in mock disappointment and without removing his glittering black eyes from Ron's, he continued his questions, "An explanation, Mr. Weasley. Why did you neglect to warn a six year old child about what was needed to handle filthy cauldrons coated with dangerous substances?"

"I...!" Ron bit down, literally, on his tongue to stop the lie that was about to shoot out of his mouth. Knowing that despite the Headmistress' warning, he was a dead man, he figured the embarrassment the truth would cause was a minor thing. So, with some reluctance, he explained.

"Ah," Severus began tersely as he swept like a predator back and forth in front of the Gryffindor. "Since Harry has shown affection towards Draco Malfoy, one of my Slytherins, you thought to punish him for disloyalty towards you and Gryffindor House."

Ron knew he had not quite said things that way, but it was, more or less, what he had done. "I suppose I'm expelled now," he rasped, half looking at McGonagall and half looking at Severus.

"Severus?" questioned Minerva. He stopped his pacing to give her his attention. "I leave Mr. Weasley's punishment up to you." She rose to her feet and stepped away from her desk. "I trust you to do the right thing." The stately woman then left her office for the inner sanctum of her private quarters above her office.

Ron's heart tightened in his chest as McGonagall left. Now he knew for sure he was dead and Severus could very easily dispose of his body and no one would be the wiser.

"Much as I would like to do what you are thinking, Mr. Weasley, your death would hardly teach you anything, and before you sigh with relief, you will be getting a detention, a week's worth. That and I will be sending a letter home to your parents explaining everything, so I am certain your mother's eventual Howler will make a most indelible impression upon your mind."

Ron sagged. Molly's Howlers were worse than death.

Severus then sat down across from the redhead and to Ron's surprise, the anger was gone from the depthless black eyes. If he was not mistaken, there seemed to be a tiny glimmer of concern. He blinked rapidly. That couldn't be.

"Mr. Weasley... Ronald, I know that you and Harry were the best of friends from the day the two of you met. With the exception of that one day at the Burrow, you have purposely kept your distance from Harry and there is not a day that goes by that I catch you throwing rather sad and wistful looks in Harry's direction. Why?"

Ron bit the inside of his cheek at the tears that were hot behind his eyes. "I lost my best friend, Professor. Harry only thought about himself when he took that de-aging potion. He never once thought of what him being a little kid was going to do to those he left behind. He doesn't remember anything!" A tear did escape and before he could wipe it away with his hand, Severus had pressed a clean handkerchief into his fist.

"All the talks we had, the things we did. Studying, riding on the train together, talking about girls, flying... he doesn't remember any of it. Professor Snape, I feel like Harry Potter died. That day at the Burrow, though, I saw a little bit of my best friend in Harry and I sort of thought, if I just waited for him to grow up a little, I'd have him back. And then..."

"Then you saw Harry with Draco, your sworn enemy," Severus concluded.

"Yeah, but not just that! Harry was having fun with Malfoy! Didn't he remember all the times that git sabotaged his potions, or hexed him in the corridors, or pelted him with snowballs that were icy? Malfoy's dad nearly killed Harry when his trick with You-Know-Who's diary didn't kill Ginny! How can he LIKE Draco?" Ron's voice had steadily risen until he was shouting at the Potions Master.

"Harry cannot go back to who he was, Ronald. There is no way to reverse the potion he took, so, in a way, I do understand the loss you are feeling for your best friend. Harry has a new life now. One in which he gets to be the happy little boy that he always wished to be without the Boy-Who-Lived's celebrity. He is going to make new friends and he did want to be your friend, again. He told me, before term began, that he was looking forward to seeing you again because you were the first person, older than him that did not treat him like he was 'a cute, little baby'."

Ron crushed the handkerchief in his hands and slumped in the chair. "Well I've bollixed things up now. After what I did, he isn't going to want to come near me."

Severus huffed. "Actually, you are quite wrong. Once Madame Pomfrey was able to stop the pain in his hands, Harry was quite worried that I might... 'smush you to death'." Severus sneered. "My son made me swear to keep from doing so, so alas, I can only punish you, not kill you. That, and Harry hopes you'll visit him in the Infirmary. He loathes it there."

Ron lightly smiled at that. "Yeah, Harry never did like the Infirmary. Madame Pomfrey has a bad habit of hovering."

"Hm. That she does." Severus rose to his feet and moved his chair back to where it had been. "Detention will be delayed until Saturday morning, Mr. Weasley." He started to turn away, but then stopped. "Oh yes, I very nearly forgot. Harry wanted to give you a punishment as well."

Ron's jaw dropped in indignation at the Potions Master's son giving him a punishment. "Wh-what would that be?"

"Harry would like for you to write him a story about Hogwarts. He specifically requested that there be a monster in it. It will be due on Friday." Severus had risen to his feet, and was about to leave with a declarative flourish but he remained where he was. "If it is any consequence, Mr. Weasley, Potter, your friend, kept a journal. You were referenced a time or two, and he wrote that he regretted leaving his friend behind."

Severus was gone before he saw the slight grin on Ron's face.

Ron did write a story, and had it finished by Wednesday. He could not give it to Harry, yet, though. He had to make sure Severus approved of it. Ron had given his teacher the story after Potions class and had been waiting as patiently as possible while Severus read it. Finally, Severus put the parchment down and eyed Ron.

"The troll incident from your first year?" Ron nodded as Severus glanced back down at the parchment. "I do not believe I was apprised of the full details of this incident. Very interesting." He drummed his fingers thoughtfully on the parchment. "So, you think this is an appropriate story for my son?"

"Well, sir, I did overhear you telling my dad that someday you'd tell Harry about him having grown up and killing Vol... er... Him. I thought, maybe, if you did that it wouldn't be so bad for him to read this story and someday, if he finds out it was real, he might think it was kind of cool that he stuck his wand up a troll's nose."

Severus grimaced. He had wondered what had damaged the troll's sinuses. That troll had a perpetually runny nose after that.

"Madame Pomfrey is letting Harry out of the Infirmary today. Take the story up to him and then escort him to lunch. Let him know, though, if you would, that he can join me at the staff table, if he wishes." Severus handed over the parchment with a sharp gesture that snapped the paper. "Very good job, Mr. Weasley. You might try inserting some of that creativity into the dry prose of your Potions essays. It would make them much more entertaining to read."

Ron smirked. "Yes, sir. Thanks!"

Harry was a tiny bit disappointed that his father had not come to pick him up at the Infirmary, but the story Ron gave him mollified his mood greatly. The two boys sat together on a stone bench outside the Great Hall as Ron read the story to him.

Harry was delighted to know that he was one of the heroes in the story and he laughed heartily when Ron read the part where he jammed his wand up the troll's nose and got troll boogers all over it.

When Ron finished the story, he folded the parchment and gave it to Harry. Harry tucked it away in his robe pocket knowing that he would ask Hermione later to teach him to read it so he could read it himself over and over again.

For a brief moment there was an uncomfortable silence between the two and then Harry spoke up, "Do you still hate me, Ron?"

Ron was appalled. "I don't hate you!"

"But, you..." he didn't want to finish the accusation.

Ron's shoulders sagged. "I did that not because I hate you, Harry, but because I was a stupid, jealous prat. I saw you with Malfoy and you were having such fun with him, that I thought you didn't want to be my friend anymore."

"Can't you both be my friends?" he asked sincerely.

"Well, sure we can, but you should know that me and Malfoy never really got along well. Slytherins don't like Gryffindors, that... sort of thing." Harry's own shoulders drooped sadly. "But, hey, that's just school stuff and really doesn't mean all that much. You can be friends with both of us. I don't mind." Ron smiled.

Harry grinned happily. "Great! Thanks for the neat story, Ron. Can I show it to Draco?"

Ron coloured slightly, but nodded. "Yeah, but later. Let's go get some lunch."