the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 7 - The Binds that Tie

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table the following morning with a beginning potions book propped open before him. He'd found it in the library early that morning - something set aside for first years since it was no more than basics. Sure enough there was a whole section in there that spoke of the necessity of chopping verses dicing - and while it did mention the change these things had in the properties of the ingredients in question, it was couched in vague references that a Muggle-born probably would not recognize.

"Oh, God, it's finally happened!" Seamus groaned in horror. Harry looked up in surprise as his fellow Gryffindors joined him. "Harry's reading a potions book!"

Harry flushed under the looks his friends were giving him, especially Ron. "Oh, knock it off," he told them. "It isn't that bad. I'm just trying to make certain I don't flunk potions." He turned the book around and shoved it across the table toward Hermione. "Did you know that there is an actual difference between dicing and chopping ingredients in the outcome of the potions."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, what about it?"

"I didn't know," Harry told her pointedly. "Don't recall it ever being mentioned in class. And while I've been assured that this is something most wizard-born children learn by the age of five, it isn't something a Muggle-born would know. How is it you know?"

"I read about it of course," she pointed to the book. "It says right there in plain English."

"It says right there in very vague English," Harry informed her. "There is nothing plain about it."

"Then how did you figure it out?" Hermione asked.

"Professor Snape told me," he explained.

"Oh God, Harry!" Neville moaned. "He's forcing you to study potions in your free time now?"

Harry frowned at Neville. "No, not really. We were just talking." Though he had to admit that sounded weird too. And judging by the looks on his friends' faces they all thought so as well.

"You were talking?" Ron demanded. "To Snape? Just chatting? About what? Quidditch?"

"Potions," Harry sighed. "It's not like I can avoid talking to the man." And if he was truthful with himself, he was beginning to admit he almost enjoyed the conversations.

"That must be bloody awful!" Seamus exclaimed.

"It's not that bad," Harry informed them all. "He's not. . .he isn't. . ." He just sighed and shrugged. "It's not that bad. Believe it or not, I actually get away with calling him names right to his face."

That shocked them all. Hermione looked utterly amazed. "Are you telling me that he doesn't take away house points when you call him names?"

Harry shook his head. "Not outside of school hours. I can tell he thinks about it, but he never actually does it. I guess he doesn't think it would be fair."

"Snape doing something to be fair?" Ron snorted in disbelief. "That will be the day."

"Do you ever call him by his name?" Dean asked curiously.

Harry frowned perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's kind of weird you calling your bond-mate Professor Snape," he pointed out.

"What else am I supposed to call him? He still calls me Mr. Potter."

"Not all the time," Neville told him. "He called you Harry when he made you go to Hogsmeade with him. Remember?"

Harry did remember and he frowned. He'd vaguely remembered him calling him Harry before that too - in bed if he remembered correctly, though he wasn't about to share that piece of information with his friends. "Would feel weird calling him anything other than Snape," he told them with a dismissive shrug.