eccedentesiast || severitus

chapter seventeen | mistakes

*If you wanted to skip this chapter, and just read the last few paragraphs, starting from "the boy stopped talking" be my guest because reading the whole thing might just be too confusing for you to understand lmao.

see my authors note at the end to understand why.*

October 21, 1991

That following evening, Severus sat at his desk, awaiting the arrival of not one, not two, but five idiotic Gryffindors. They were told to arrive at 8:00 sharp, and it was currently 7:45.

Lord help them should they arrive later than 7:55...

While he sat waiting, he took the time to reflect on the past few days—hell the past few weeks. Every notion that Severus had of the golden Gryffindor boy, had been completely and utterly uprooted. Harry was no closer to being anything like James Potter than Professor Sprout was to the Dark Lord.

Harry was his own separate person now in Severus' mind—though he would never dare to admit that—and he's quite a frequent thought in his head. Hard as he tries to put the boy out of his thoughts, they always return to him. 

Severus, for the life of him, could not get the image of that small child, completely terrified of his abusers, and fully rooted in the belief that adults were bad. That adults that should have protected him from the start, wouldn't. He'll never get over the fact that he let down Lily's son like this. The boy that she had given her life for.

A slip of paper stating the names Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom alerted him to the five children currently standing outside of his office. Sighing, which seemed to be the only thing he does anymore, he prayed one last time to the gods that they would cooperate with him tonight. He didn't want them in his presence any longer than necessary and he'd like to visit Harry before the night is over. He was beginning to regret assigning them these "detentions".

Waving his hand, the door to his office flung open, revealing the young Gryffindors. Although the only one who seemed to live up to their house name was Ms. Granger. She stood upright and in front of the four boys behind her. Mr. Weasley was doing his best to not meet his potions professors eyes, most likely remembering their previous conversation, and Mr. Thomas and Mr. Finnegan seemed to have a particular interest in the ground below them. Longbottom looked seconds away from face planting into said ground.

Standing from his desk, Severus sneered at the children before him. "Well are you going to stand there and waste my time or are you going to come into my office? I haven't got all night."

All five children immediately sprang into action and all but ran into the room. Severus rolled his eyes at the actions of the Gryffindors and waved a hand to slam the door shut, casting a locking and silencing spell. What he was about to say was something that he did not want to risk being heard.

The man moved to his desk, eyeing the children until they each sat in a chair surrounding him. He usually didn't hold detentions this big all at once, which meant he had to add two extra chairs. But desperate times called for desperate measures and what not.

"Before any of you dunderheads can speak, I would like all of your attention on me." When he made sure that five pairs of eyes were watching him, he continued. "I am sure by now you all have realized that the reasons for your individual detentions are rather, for lack of a better word, foolish. Please note that that was done on purpose, and that this detention will not go down on your personal records as such because it is not."

The shocked faces staring back at him gave him an uneasy feeling of deja vu, their faces being similar to the one that Harry had made when Severus told him he wanted to help. These children will never understand how much help they are about to be to Severus. As well as Harry, whom they have most likely noticed odd or concerning quirks about. The man hopes that by the end of the night, he has all the information required to help Harry to the best of his ability.  He needs to earn their trust first, however.