Of Badly Hidden Lies (and figuring out cool magic shit)

I'll miss the playgrounds, and the animals and digging up worms

"I asked, Potter, what are you doing here? Or has your place on this filthy floor made you lose brain cells?" Harry flushed. The floor wasn't filthy; he had been cleaning it for a long time, damn it!

"Now, Severus, don't be distracting my workers! You can talk after he gets off." Tom interjected from his place behind the counter. Snape sneered.

"I'll see you then, Potter." Harry sent the potion master a murderous glare, before turning around and heading to the kitchen. He'd take his anger out on the onions.

Work was tense, to put it lightly. Every time he went out to serve a customer, something he greatly enjoyed, Snape's eyes would instantly snap to him and follow him until he went back behind the counter. What the hell did he want? What was so detrimental that Snape decided to stay and watch him was worth it? Harry didn't know and didn't plan to find out.

As the customers started trickling in a lot slower, Harry got to cleaning the kitchen. Dinner was served forty-five minutes ago and would be out for another hour or so. Tom always did the dinner clean-up so Harry could get a little work done before heading to bed. Sticking his head out, Harry noticed Snape wasn't in his usual spot.

Chancing it, Harry said night to Tom and damn near bolted up the stairs to his room. However, he soon found out why Snape wasn't in his spot. He was in front of Harry's bloody door.

"I figured you would try and hide up here," Snape sneered. "Now, care to explain what you're doing here instead of your Aunt and Uncles?"

"Not to you." Harry snapped. "Just get out of my way, you're not my professor for another two months." Snape glared at him.

"I'll have you know, boy, that Albus is out there looking for you at this very moment. So, unless you want me to take you to him and have you carted back, you better explain."

Harry felt his blood run cold. He couldn't go back there. Not while he looked, well, like himself. The look on Petunias' face was enough to hold him back from even thinking that. You look just like them she had yelled. Like who? Maybe Petunia had known his sperm donor, as Grungewhipper had called him. Thinking "dad" felt weird. James was his Dad. Harry cracked his knuckles in his palm.

"Move out the way, I'll explain."

With Snape in and waiting in his "library" area, Harry stared at himself in the bathroom. His face, glistening with water, was paler than normal. Or, his new normal. 'Probably because of Snape' Harry thought to himself. Harry ran a hand through his curls, pushing back the soft front pieces he used to cover his scar. His forehead wasn't fully covered, like Lavender Browns' bangs, but it was covered enough that people didn't immediately recognise him as Harry Potter. The back of his hair, after growing out a little, began to softly curl at the ends, offering differing sections of curls around his head.

"I don't have all day Potter " He heard. Steeling himself, Harry pulled the door open and went to the plush brown chair by his stack of books. It seems Snape had conjured a chair to not take Harry's. 'Git' thought Harry.

Snape gave him a look that practically screamed "Get on with it". Harry stared at him for a few seconds, taking in his hair. It wasn't greasy today, meaning Snape hadn't been brewing or had showered.

"Basically, long story short, I woke up looking like my mum, my aunt kicked me out, and I got a job here." Snape blinked and let out a derisive snort. Harry found himself feeling pilloried by it but forced himself to speak up rather than hide away. "Fine, if you don't believe me, I have nothing left to say. Get out."

"You have no proof, boy. I might as well send Dumbledore to you right now." Snape growled. Harry's insides burned. This bloody fucking-

"If you want, proof, here!" Harry stomped to his bedside table and pulled out the paper Grungewhipper had given him and slapped it into the professor's chest. Snape read it, and it was like watching a man die. His pupils went through meiosis (a word he learned from Hermione) and his skin turned a pale shade of grey.