the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chap 14 Returning to Normal

Remus returned with their evening meal and the two men ate dinner with Harry, chatting quietly about school and Quidditch. Harry watched in amusement as his godfather flirted more openly with Remus, apparently more at ease now that he knew Harry didn't mind. Remus endured it all with good humor, seeming at once both annoyed and amused but generally unoffended. He did not however flirt back.

Eventually Madam Pomfrey kicked them out, insisting that Harry get more rest. The Mediwitch checked his wounds one last time, assuring him that they were healing up quite nicely, and that he could go back to his own room in the morning. Then she too bid him good night.

A moment later Snape slipped into the room, moving silently across the ward, black robes billowing about him. "Is she gone?" he asked, his resonate voice making Harry shiver for some reason.

Harry glanced toward the door Madam Pomfrey had just disappeared through. "Went to bed, I think," he informed the Potions Master.

"Good," Snape sat down in the chair beside Harry. "Last thing I need is another scolding from her. Kicking Black out is one thing, but calling me an idiot. . .the nerve of her!"

It almost sounded like Snape was making a joke, and Harry gave him a hesitant smile, unsure of how he should respond. "I'm sure, sir," he agreed neutrally.

Snape raised one dark eyebrow, a mocking gleam in his eyes, but he let the comment pass. "I trust you're feeling better?"

"Yes, sir," Harry told him. "Madam Pomfrey said I can leave tomorrow morning."

"Excellent," Snape said dryly, though Harry guessed he probably would have preferred to have his place to himself for a few more days. Couldn't imagine that the man would be happy to have him back. "Wouldn't want you missing classes, now would we?"

"No, sir," Harry agreed, then remembered something. "Though. . .I didn't exactly get my potions homework finished. I was going to work on it after I got back from Hogsmeade." He supposed that was going to cost Gryffindor a few dozen points. Snape had never been forgiving of late homework, no matter what the excuse.

"Perhaps you should have finished your homework before you went to Hogsmeade," Snape suggested, and Harry recognized that gleam in his eyes. He was already calculating how many points he could take away, triple if Ron and Hermione had failed to finish as well.

"Yes, sir," Harry glared at him, trying to focus all his attention on those soon to be lost points, but feeling something in his mind slipping instead. Because Snape's words had sparked another thought in his mind, an unintended thought, one he was desperately trying not to think about.

He tried with all his might to hold onto those missing points, tried to picture the tally in McGonagall office, but it was all slipping away - because it was dark in here, and the candlelight was casting shadows on the old stone walls, and some how Snape's words always struck deeper and truer than anyone else's. And the other thought, the terrible thought, was roaring to life inside him, consuming him. A direct question from Ron had not done this to him, nor the worried gaze of Sirius. But one mocking insult from Snape broke down a wall he hadn't even been aware he'd erected.

He squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to see Snape's amusement, then turned away from him, rolling onto his side, unwilling to let Snape see his pain. His breath caught in his throat, a single sob escaping him before he strangled it back, hands fisted in his bed sheets.

Because of course Snape was right, damn him. He should have done something as simple as finish his homework - then it wouldn't have happened. The Death Eaters would have been gone from the weapons shop by the time Harry had gotten there; they wouldn't have seen him, wouldn't have attacked. Just a short delay was all it would have taken. Then those villagers wouldn't have died, and Harry wouldn't have killed those three men whose faces he could now see joining the ranks of the other dead in his mind. And the thought was a cold, hard emptiness inside him, hurting and aching and bitter.