Beneath the Surface

Chapter 12: Mended Hearts

Notes:

And here we go, the reconciliation! As I said, this is probably one of my favourite moments of the entire story so far. Let's go!

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The castle was eerily silent at this hour. Not even the staircases seemed to move and creak in the dead of night. Harry walked through the corridors with silent steps, letting his feet guide him to wherever they wanted to go, his mind deep in thought.

After he'd left the Hospital Wing, Harry had barricaded himself in the Gryffindor common room and refused to go for lunch or even dinner. Kreacher had attempted to coax him to the Great Hall, saying that the Professors might miss him, but Harry knew they wouldn't. He'd spent days eating at the common room and not seeing the Professors, they would assume he was just busy or didn't feel like coming down.

Now, with the darkness enveloping him and sure that he wouldn't encounter anyone, Harry walked around the Hogwarts corridors. His steps were mostly silent but to Harry's ears, they almost echoed in the silence of the castle.

He knew he wasn't breaking any school rules. It was late at night but there was no curfew to speak of during the summer - and if there was, nobody had cared to tell him. Besides, he was 17, almost 18 years old. And he had defeated the most horrible dark wizard of his time, for crying out loud! He had a right to walk around the school at night.

He knew this kind of thinking would bring him trouble during the school year, and he bowed to himself to stick to the rules this time round.

But this time, at least today, he needed the solitude and the corridors to clear his head.

He'd spent all day replaying the scene in his head, thinking what had gone wrong, what he could've said or done differently. He knew he'd given in to his anger, but why had Snape reacted like that? He couldn't say. He had no idea what had happened to him.

The day before he had been okay. Snape had even told him he'd listened to his advice and accepted the post as Potions Master, leaving McGonagall to take the post as Headmistress. They had even discussed books, and how he'd asked Slughorn to stay for a few months, to help him until he was completely recovered.

For Merlin's sake, Snape had even told Harry about the day he received his first Hogwarts letter. He'd told him about his family, and about Lily! It was the first time ever that Snape had opened up to Harry and openly discussed anything related to his mum. He still could feel his heart flutter at Snape's words, how he described the Lily that he knew and remembered. Harry had taken a lot after her, it seemed, though he'd never known that.

So, Snape had been fine the day before. There had to be something else going on.

During the entire day, Harry had had to fight against his instincts, his desire to just run to the Hospital Wing and put some sense into Snape. What the hell had happened? One day Snape was great, almost unrecognisable, opening up to him, talking and even teasing him. And the next one, he was cold, hateful and spitting venom?

Maybe he thought he'd opened up too much. After all, Snape was probably not used to speaking about personal matters, and much less with a Potter.

Perhaps he thought I'd betray him or I'd divulge whatever he told me, Harry thought to himself.

He sighed and shook his head, his feet taking him to the third floor. The stone torches lit up as he walked through, and he wrapped his cloak a bit more around himself, the nights cooler in the Scottish highlands.

But then, that grimace of pain made Harry stop dead in his tracks, grabbing onto one of the stone torches for support.

Harry had mentioned he would visit him that evening, after Diagon Alley, but he never showed, and Snape had reproached him for it. Harry had thought he was blowing it way out of proportion, he was just too tired to see him that evening, what was wrong with that?