Raspberry Jam-Drarry

Chapter 15 - Sunday, 20 October 1996 and Epilogue

"Might you tell me where you were this past week that you could not be found?" Severus asked mildly, cutting a piece of sausage.

"Perhaps. Are you truly interested in such a small thing?" Harry asked casually, leaning back from the dining table and swirling his breakfast tea. Draco watched the interchange silently and ate his eggs.

Severus blinked, then blinked again, then raised his eyebrows, unable to completely hide his astonishment at Harry's question. "Why, Mister Potter, what a positively Slytherin question," he said.

And it was. The "perhaps" said that Harry was willing to trust him with the information. The "truly interested" was essentially asking him if he would be willing and able to keep the answer to himself. The "small thing" told Severus that wherever they had gone was quite secure and there was no need for him to be worried should the two boys decide to return there upon occasion. It was an entire conversation in less than a dozen words. He was impressed.

Harry smirked. "Thank you."

Severus sat back in his armchair and chewed his bit of sausage, considering the real questions he had been asked and studying the young man across from him. The young man unabashedly studied him back; he was quiet, calmly waiting for a response.

Severus mused that he was having a much easier time with Potter's presence than he thought he would. The young man across from him was just that: a man. Replacing the arrogant and brash boy was a man who held himself with quiet confidence. Replacing the abysmal and uncaring student was a man with intelligent and calculating eyes. Replacing the foolhardy Gryffindor was a cunning Slytherin. There was no James Potter in the man sitting across the table from him. Severus wondered when and how this had happened. He wondered how long this man had been deliberately hiding underneath the boy.

Finally, Severus nodded slowly, looking Harry in the eyes. "Yes," he said, "I am truly interested."

Harry smirked at his professor; he couldn't wait for the reaction! In the back of his mind he felt an equally wicked anticipation from Draco. "We were in the Founder's Quarters. Specifically, we were in the master suite of Salazar Slytherin's Quarters."

Severus face slackened in astonishment. The Founder's Quarters! It was rumored that the Founders had their own library, comprehensive of their day, within the confines of their Quarters, safe from unworthy students. How he would love to see it! Imagine all the lost knowledge it might contain! Severus frowned then. What about the Dark Lord? Surely if Potter had found and could access Salazar's Quarters then so could the Dark Lord. But, no; Harry had, well, not-said, that the place was safe from intruders. How could this be?

"I presume the Dark Lord would be denied entrance?" he asked blandly, seeking a confirmation of Potter's previous statement.

Harry took a sip of tea and watched his professor. Even though the reaction had been less than another might show, seeing the small signs of the tightly controlled man's astonishment had been quite satisfying. Harry wondered how the professor would react to his next statement. "Tom Riddle is no heir of Salazar," he said casually.

Severus eyebrows rose once again. Glancing at Draco's bland face and back to Potter's apparently unconcerned countenance, Severus said mildly, "Indeed." Taking another bit of sausage, Severus considered what information that statement imparted.

It seemed Potter had access to something of Salazar's. Given Draco's expression it was probably a painting, and one that Draco had met. The familiarity of the first name suggested that Potter knew Salazar's painting quite well and, therefore, had been to the Founder's Quarters on a fairly regular basis. Severus wondered how Potter managed that without anyone catching on and then remembered the time turner. Of course. Potter could spend whole days with Salazar and not seem to go missing. And it seemed Salazar's painting did not approve of the Dark Lord's actions so was likely helping to train Potter to defeat him.