Wrong, All Wrong

Part title

Chapter 12: Minuscule Vines of Color
Minuscule Vines of Color

The scratching of a quill on parchment normally annoyed most wizards, yet for Severus it grounded his thoughts as he watched Harry fill out his latest quiz. That hectic day when Sirius took the disillusionment spell off the twins, Severus reacted the same way any man who ever met and feared the Dark Lord would have once that red serpentine eye came into view; ice gripped his heart, his Occlumency shields snapped up higher, and he made sure his wand was in reach. The only difference this time was that there was now a flame burning in his soul. Death was no longer acceptable despite his blackened conscience. Damn mutt changing his life.

Severus also reluctantly admitted that the near-Polyjuice resemblance to James threw him into prejudiced irritation at first glance at the twins. Such a prejudice reinforced his presumption that Harry's eye was an ill omen and that Aster's playfulness was a sign of a future prankster. It was a fond pastime of the mutt to remind Severus of his tendency to stereotype and judge others, however oftentimes the Potions Master would remain stubborn in his believed-accurate assessment of them.

The twins' interactions with each other thankfully righted his misconceptions. Attested by Sirius' laughter, the pair of boys sounded much like how he and Lily used to banter in their childhood days. In an enlightening moment, Severus thought he caught a glimpse of what others saw in him as a child by watching Harry's calm, analytical demeanor at his age. Instead of a boy possessed by an adult megalomaniac Severus saw a wary, quiet, hurt child forced to see the dark reality past all of the fairytales all too soon. Part of him wanted to maintain skepticism over the boy's experiences however many orphanages in Britain were overlooked, disregarded, and often left without proper maintenance or surveillance.

A soft hissing caught Severus' attention and he caught sight of Saphyr slithering across Harry's shoulders. The Jeweled Aqua was an interesting creature as a wizard's pet. Their scales were useful in potions meant to allow borrowing another animal's abilities: for example the night-vision of an owl or the hearing of a bat. There were also recent reports on successful research for human-to-animal communication as well. Overall, however, the species tended to avoid humans and successfully evade most attempts to seek them out. Most encounters with a Jeweled Aqua happened where the snake approached the wizard, or the wizard happened upon one by accident. By all documented accounts, once a Jeweled Aqua contacted a witch or wizard, it never left.

The thought caused Severus' heart to clench. Not in jealousy as it would have in his foolish youth, but in concern. Surprised, he pondered over the instinctual reaction. His thoughts travelled back to his school days and what happened to those sorted into Slytherin or associated with its members. The harsh words of childish prejudices never bothered him but with sharp clarity he remembered the teasing Lily suffered for befriending a 'slimy snake'. Severus stopped his train of thought before his irritation built into anger.

Harry's chair scraped against the floor as the boy gathered his materials and brought the finished quiz to Severus' desk. The Potions Master only needed to glance at the sheet to see it would require few corrections however he still looked it over to honestly give Harry a nod. If living with Sirius taught him anything, it was that children required obvious acknowledgement. "Adequate work once again," he said, tapping the parchment with his wand to dry the ink. "I'm also glad to see you are becoming more familiar with writing with a quill."

"Thank you, sir."

The response made Severus glance up at Harry to see a blank expression on the boy's face. His students commonly addressed him as 'sir', and Harry picked up on that soon after Aster first left, however following the flying incident the elder Potter child called Severus 'Uncle' for the first time since the twins' separation. He had not realized how much the title affected him these past couple of months until the 'Uncle' switched back to 'sir'.