Day 27: Library
Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be. Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information. Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.
For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet? They'd all been fairly close ( Read more... )
For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet? They'd all been fairly close ( Read more... )
If he really was written about in a book then he wanted to know what exactly people knew about him. One of the people had mentioned Cho, and just the thought that people only had to read a book to find out some of the most embarrassing moments in Harry's life mortified him.
It felt a little weird to be looking for his own name in a title of a book. He knew (thanks to Hermione) that he was in a couple of Wizarding recent history books, but he had never bothered to read them, and there was a whole chapter dedicated about him in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore but the thought of that book made his stomach clench. This, however, this was different. He wasn't looking for a book about how he had stopped Voldemort as a baby, he was looking for a book about how he had grown up, how he had been awkward and unhappy, how he had come to love Hogwarts, how he had met the people he cared most about.
He couldn't find his name or anything that hinted towards him inside of a book anywhere. He couldn't find anything called 'Goblet of Fire' which was the name that had been dropped for the book about his fourth year.
He wanted to know what people knew about him! But this library was completely unhelpful. That wasn't entirely surprising, but it was extremely frustrating.
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That seemed really appealing right now, actually. Maybe he'd to that.
The Host wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going, and ended up bumping into a guy about his height with unruly black hair, glasses...and an extremely famous scar.
"...You've got to be kidding." First anime and video game characters (and members of the Shinsengumi), now this?!
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When Severus entered the library, he felt his stomach drop and his heart clench in both anger and fear. What in Slytherin's name was Lily's boy doing in this wretched place. He couldn't help what came next, too many years having ingrained a certain set of responses to Potter's presence.
"POTTER!" He stalked over to the boy, looming as best he could in his ridiculous uniform.
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He turned to the visage of the professor that had taught him for so many years. Anger flooded him. Snape couldn't really be there. That was impossible.
"Who are you?!" he demanded, close to yelling. His hand twitched to reach his wand but it didn't move. He reminded himself that it wasn't there, but hopefully the movement would just look like he thought better of it because of the nurses around.
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"Harry Potter's" question caught him off-guard. So...it wasn't Snape, then?
And what the hell was going on?
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In a cold and furious voice he addresses Potter, completely disregarding the other boy.
"I have been your professor for five years, over which time you have repeatedly disregarded all the rules of Hogwarts and invaded my privacy and you dare to question me? 20 points from Gryffindor! Now what are you doing here you impudent whelp!?"
He couldn't think about how silly it was to be taking points when he was not even sure where they were. But the situation had just gotten a lot more stressful, more so than he could fully comprehend at this point.
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The imposter's attempt on acting like the professor turned Headmaster only made Harry see more red. He couldn't believe that this person, whoever they were, would honestly think that bringing up the house points would fool Harry. It made him even angrier because it was said so much like Snape had said it so many times before.
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But angry Snape was scary. He had a feeling that if he spoke up at all, he might die.
Then Harry started to go on about Snape being dead, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Dumbledore was dead. Snape wasn't.
...As far as he knew, anyway.
Well, he wasn't going to stick around and find out.
"I'll just...be going now. You two have fun."
[ooc: Hikaru goes zoom!]
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He sputtered, for a second unable to respond. "I am not dead! Obviously, and you - " He leaned down to get into Harry's face then stopped, noticing something he had not before. It was times like these that he wished it was safe enough to bring his wand out with him during the day. In a quiet voice, almost to himself, Severus continued. "You can't be Potter, you're older than he is."
Glare intensifying he stood tall and took a step back. "You are not Potter! Potter is an annoying 5th year. You, whoever you are, are at least a 7th year or older. Who are you and what are you doing here!"
Sadly, Severus was too flustered and angry to notice how the two of them had just switched positions, so to speak.
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"I am Harry Potter!" he yelled at the Snape impostor, stepping closer as the man stepped back. "I dropped out seventh year to do what Dumbledore asked me to do and find a way to kill Voldemort. You can't be Snape. I saw him die. Voldemort killed him. If you think this is some kind of joke it's not funny."
Snape had given up so much and risked so much to help Dumbledore and protect Harry. He couldn't allow someone to walk around wearing his face.
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Somewhere in the back of his mind, his Slytherin side that had kept him alive for so long was screaming at him to back down and think rationally. But this time, it wasn't doing any good.
"You think I'm a joke? A JOKE!? One minute I am trying to keep Bellatrix Lestrange from turning me in as a traitor to the dark lord, sealing my own doom in the process and the next moment I wake up here. And for Merlin knows how long I have been trying to figure out how to warn Dumbledore of what I have done, hoping that he has the right potions for his hand, and for some unknown reason hoping your - excuse me - Harry Potter's sorry Gryffindor self is still alive, and you dare to come in here and call me a joke?"
His fists clenched, and swirls of red lights spotted his vision. This was not going well. If he did not get out of here soon he was going to lose control.
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"If you're really Severus Snape..." Harry began, thinking wildly. The trick was supposed to be to ask a question that only the real person would know, at least that's what the Order had done. He got a slightly victorious expression, thinking that he had come up with a question that was sure to trick a fake. "Then tell me what the first potion is we worked on in my Remedial Potions class." It was trick question, of course, because Snape hadn't been teaching him potions at all those times. If this was the real Snape, bringing up the place where Harry had spotted his 'worst memory' would probably not be the best idea, but the real Snape had given Harry far many more memories than just that one.
He wasn't thinking that the Occlumency lessons might be in the 'books' that everyone was talking about. The thought of them couldn't even enter his mind while he was so angry.
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"I never taught you Remedial Potions you dolt," he whispered furiously. "What I tried to teach you was Occlumency, but you never studied, never listened, looked into my pensieve and failed!"
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He stared at the man in front of him. Harry realized that he managed to seem imposing even as he wore the uniform of the hospital instead of his dark cloak. Harry frowned, it was the right answer of course.
"Alright," he said. "You ask me something then," he said, crossing his arms. He had to think of this rationally, the question that Snape asked him, or if he even did at all, might tell Harry a bit more about if this was the real man or not.
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Severus leaned in close. "But if I find, come this next academic year, that you have spread your father's" - he made the word sound almost like a curse - "unfortunate nickname for a certain Slytherin, I will personally turn you into potions ingredients."
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For a second he seemed stunned by Snape's words, then his anger caught up with him. "I wouldn't do that," he said indignantly.
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