Unlocking Harry Potter

Chapter: Twenty-One

Unlocking Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty-One

-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Severus kept a close eye on Harry in the first months of classes. Though the Gryffindor would never admit it the increasing pain from the connection with the Dark Lord was obvious to anyone who knew what to look for. More and more frequently Severus saw Harry rubbing his forehead or pausing in the corridors as though he was feeling a dizzy spell. His Slytherins were making sly comments constantly that Harry just didn't notice.

When the quidditch season started he was tempted, as was most of the 'Harry Circle', to forbid his son from playing. Harry had Minerva and Fred and George Weasley, who had recently been admitted to the Order, to thank for his continued play. Severus made sure to watch the Gryffindor practices discreetly and found he had little to fear.

Ron Weasley, who had been elected Captain with his sister as his assistant, kept an eagle eye on Harry during practices and always had his wand out. He noticed that the Gryffindor team had a full roster of backups, probably due to the disaster of the previous year, who also kept more of an eye on Harry than the practice, most likely at Weasley's command.

Lupin had started Harry's extra lessons again. Despite the magical outburst in the hospital wing Harry was showing no more power than in previous years. The general consensus was that the pain from his scar was distracting Harry enough so that he could not tap into his increasing power. After participating in some of the lessons Severus was convinced that something else was wrong, though Albus was the only one he shared his concern with. It was clear that Harry was trying, and becoming more and more frustrated as time went by.

The DA had started meeting again, under the direction of Granger and Ginny Weasley. Harry went to some of the meetings, but from what Severus could gather he did not take a leadership role unless Granger or the female Weasley encouraged him and often sat out and did homework or just watched and rested. There were some things that only Harry could teach the rest of the students, as he was the top Defense Against the Dark Arts student in the school.

In a compromise the fireplace in the sixth year Gryffindor boys' room was connected to the fireplace in Severus's quarters for emergency use. If Harry had a particularly bad nightmare or flare up of his connection with Voldemort, Ron Weasley had permission to Floo Severus. The fireplaces were flaring with bright green more frequently than Severus was comfortable with.

The first quidditch game of the season was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Severus watched Harry more closely than he had since the game he refereed the boy's first year. The skill he showed was amazing. He would not be at all surprised if Harry was recruited to play professionally in another year once he was of age. After Gryffindor won with a score of 270 - 40 he stalked back to his quarters, seemingly annoyed at the outcome. Once there he wrote a quick congratulatory note, Flooed to Gryffindor Tower, and left the note on Harry's bed. The next morning the boy had been grinning at the staff table, ostensibly at Lupin but had made brief eye contact with Severus.

"He's turning you soft," Lupin whispered with a silly grin on his face.

Severus scowled at the werewolf but his tone of voice betrayed his true feelings, "James turned me soft. Harry just reminded me."

-oOo-

Severus paced nervously in the Head Boy's room under the invisibility cloak. That had been one of the absolute worst quidditch injuries he had ever seen. All he was able to do was sit and laugh, actually laugh, with all the other Death Eater-to-be Slytherins when what he wanted to do was run onto the field and confirm for himself that James would be okay. The dichotomy of his life was infuriating.