The Boy: Brandon Dursely

Chapter 18: Hols

They had swore to never mention the troll incident to anyone.

Bran swore to never tell anyone about the headaches and the nightmares. He swore to kill whoever was making his head hurt. He read a lot, and he knew what that somebody was doing to him. He had read something called Legilimency- a way of entering the mind. He had a hunch that maybe somebody was trying to enter his mind and was the one who made him see those horrifying images of an almost nose-less, pale man, resembling a snake, hissing lowly to him. The man was telling - no, hissing at him, that he would kill him. He would come back. The man (or is it really supposed to be called a man at all?) would make him die just like what he did with his beloved parents, and his family.

It made him shiver but to his wonderment, he was not feeling fear towards the stranger who was clearly a madman - what he felt was anger. Why not? The man admitted to killing his parents and his family who loved him. The man had taken away everything he had cared for, took away the people who cared for him.

During this episodes, he would grasp the dark, warm sheets of his bed and try to fight the oppressing force that was trying to consume him. He would bolt awake, eyes almost diluted and throat raw from keeping his mouth clamped in order to avoid disturbance. He never could sleep again and he would tiptoe his way down the stairs towards the Common Room and make a small fire the Muggle way. He would crouch in front of the fire and watch the flames dance. He would think of all those people; James and Lily Potter, Petunia, Vernon, Dudely, but he did not cry for them. He was long done with crying and he knew he had no more tears to spare.

More than a few times did his thoughts wander to his Head of House. For some reason, he was enamored by the man. Snape was graceful, enigmatic, witty and dangerous. And for some reason, he kept digging into his mind as to where he had met the man. He could swear that he never knew Snape's existence before the Apothecary incident, but there was always a feeling that he had known him even before he could speak.

At around three in the morning, he would creep back up his dorm and that was the only time that he slept. After two hours, he would awaken again, ready to attend classes and face the world.

----

It has been two days since that dreadful night, and Dumbledore was worried that he might not make a good take on it, but Severus Snape was weighing all the options.

Snape was almost delirious. The parchment was still there; solid and real. For the umpeeth time that he took a good look, there was still the same words and the same names. His name was still in same paragraph and the Potter boy was still as silent as ever.

Snape was sure that he will never take the boy- never! Never in any cicumstance but the McGonagall woman was now sneering at him every time she would catch him looking at her or vice versa, and he can't stand it! Dumbledore was adamant for him to make his decision, but he knew that once he would reject the boy, Death Eaters would die just so they could give the boy to their Master, who, in Snape's opinion, would arise again, one of these days.

Should he agree, he would face the consequences and that would mean losing to James Potter again. The man was dead, but in every way he can, he still comes back and haunts Snape to his sanity's end.

He was a man who reveled in the glory of victory, after all.

So, here he was, trying to bore a hole onto his carpet in his personal quarters. His mind was tired of thinking about the parchment, Dumbledore, McGonagall and the blasted boy! When will he ever get some peace?!

But he is also Lily's son!

He was horrified when Minerva McGonagall appeared out of nowhere, her eyes flashing with determination and screaming that the brat was also his mother's son.