Harry Potter and the Wizard's Debt

Chapter 4

"Come on mum, why can't we stay with Harry?" Ron pleaded with his mother.

"Harry went missing for a month, Ron. What happens if you and Hermione do the same?"

Dumbledore looked at Molly. At times, she could be very controlling when it came to one of her own; but right now, Harry really needed his friends.

"It won't happen again Molly. I found out where Harry was, and the situation is fully under control."

"Why can't Harry come here?"

"You know why Molly." Dumbledore's usual, even voice showed a hint of sadness. "It wouldn't be fair to Harry to face something he isn't ready to face yet. And this house would remind him only of Sirius, he wants to stay where he's at Molly."

"Where is he? Do you expect me to send my child some place that I can't even get into."

Ron watched them going back and forth. He was hoping against hope that he and Hermione could leave and be with Harry. He liked being around the action, but he really wanted to find out where Harry had been for a full month, where nobody could find him. Even Hermione was watching the fray.

She leaned over and whispered to Ron. "If you can't go, I'm still going, she isn't my mum."

Ron glared at Hermione. Harry was his best friend, and he did not want either Harry or Hermione to do stuff without him. It would not be fair; they were all three a team.

"Molly I can't tell you were the house is. But I can promise you that they'll be fine. Remus and Frost will be with them."

Molly glared over at Remus, who was smirking. "He's a werewolf, not that I don't like Remus, and not to mention her, who's a shapeshifter! Can't we have a normal wizard there, at least one to make sure things are under control?"

"Who do you suggest then?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Mundungus...no that wouldn't do, he's worse, he left Harry to face dementors." Molly plodded along her line of thought. "Moody needs to stay here, and Tonks is way to clumsy, she'd probably destroy the house they are in." Molly went down the list only to find something wrong with everybody she mentioned.

"Might I make a suggestion Molly?" Dumbledore finally interrupted.

"Who?"

"How about Professor Snape? He's very capable of handling anything that should come up," Dumbledore said with a sure voice and sound reasoning.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Ron did not know about Hermione, but he would ten times rather have Professor Lupin and a shapeshifter than Professor Snape.

"Okay, I'll agree to it."

Ron couldn't believe his mum was actually agreeing with this. But, if he wanted to stay with Harry for the rest of the summer, he had no choice but to agree.

"Good. Frost and Remus are still going to be with them though, it's the only way they can get into the house Molly."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Harry had promised he would not go digging anything else up, but temptation was too strong. He began digging at the foot of another statue, this time it was the Centaur. He did not have Ron and Hermione to keep him occupied yet, and so he needed to do something to pass the time. He found another box, this one without any weird writings, and he pulled it out of the whole he had dug. Inside the box were the diaries he had been looking for. So Godric was right, they were buried under a statue. Despite this new find, his mind wandered back over to the other box he knew was there.

He wished Dumbledore had taken the orbs with him. At least that way they would not have been such a strong temptation. Dusting himself off, he re-filled the whole and took the prize box of diaries to his room. Sitting on his bed re read through the diaries, all the way up to the sixth year. Dinner would be served soon, and he would have his friends back with him. I'm going to have a pretty good summer, he thought to himself.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby said as he came into the room. "Harry Potter has visitors sir!"

Harry got off his bed and followed Dobby out into the living room of the house. Ron, Hermione, Professor Lupin and Frost were there. But in addition to them, the one person he was hoping not to have to see until the following year at school, was Professor Snape.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked vehemently.

"It wasn't my choice, Potter," Snape spat at him.

"Good, then you won't mind leaving, I don't want you here."

"I would if I could, but since I can't get back through that blasted wall without help, it doesn't look like it's going to happen."

Ron and Hermione were too busy looking around the house to notice the spat that had just taken place. "Bloody Hell! They need to move the Order here, this beats Sirius's house by long shot!" Ron whistled under his breath.

"Dobby, let's show Ron and Hermione to their rooms, Winky can help the others," Harry said. Winky appeared and took Snape's bag. Snape followed Winky out of the room. Harry did not like him being there, though he was quite glad to have Ron and Hermione.

Snape discharged the house-elf quickly, loathed with the idea that it was Potter's. Dumbledore asked him, no ordered him to come here. He had relented only after he found out the house had every amenity for potion-making -- this had intrigued him somewhat.

Coming back out of the bedroom, he found himself in the one room he would not mind being in. True to his word, Dumbledore was correct yet ever again -- the house had a potion room. Good the thing the house-elf gave him the very room he would rather stay and lock himself away in.

"Dinner is ready."

Snape turned to see Winky back. Dinner with Potter! This should be interesting. Snape followed Winky back to the dinning room to find Frost was in her wolf form, Remus sitting at the end of the table, Potter sitting to his right, and Weasley to his left with Granger sitting on the other side of Potter. There was one plate at the other end of the table, which is where Snape decided to sit.

Let the show begin.

Remus cleared his throat.

"Winky, could you set another plate on the table please."

Snape watched as Potter looked at Remus oddly. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry.

This is going to be so much fun.

"Who's the other plate for?" Harry asked.

"For the wolf, Potter." Snape snarled. He saw Potter look at him oddly.

"Don't look at me that way, how else is your Godmother supposed to eat?" His voice dripped with disdain.

Satisfaction at last, the look on his face was well worth dropping this bomb on him. No one told him that he ever had a Godmother. Albus is a fool sometimes.

"Snape you idiot!" Remus growled at him.

Now everyone at the table was glaring at him - everybody all but Potter who still had not found that tongue of his. He saw Frost standing beside Remus glaring at him; Potter had not even turned to look at her yet.

"Yes Lupin, like I'm the damn idiot here. Did it ever occur to you to tell him he had a Godmother? Granted she's supposed to be dead..."

He watched Potter turn, and look toward Lupin. Lupin remained silent. I've been telling Albus all along to tell Potter all of this. Potter needs to find all the bones in his closet instead of being hit up side the head with them. Maybe that would change that spoiled brat attitude he has.

Frost was looking at Harry, Remus was looking at both of them. "Harry, this is your Godmother, her name is Fuscienne Thomyris."

"Harry say something," Frost stated.

"You're my...what?" Harry asked.

"I'm your Godmother, didn't you find the diaries? No...of course not, leave it to Godric to tell you go digging under the wrong statue."

Diaries? What I wouldn't give to read those. Maybe I could find out where the hell I went wrong with you.

Harry looked at her.

"Where have you been, if you're my Godmother? If you've been alive this whole time and not on the run like...like...Sirius was."

"That wasn't my choice. I couldn't take you at the time." Frost turned to Snape. "You just couldn't keep your damn mouth shut could you." Harry stood quickly, making his chair fall back.

"Professor Snape may be git, but at least he's never lied to me."

I'm shocked, Potter might have a brain after all.

"What's the point in treating you differently, so you could only turn out like your father? You both know how James Potter was treated in school. Don't look at me like that Remus, it's true and you know it."

"Why didn't you tell me Professor Lupin?"

"Harry, everyone thought she was dead, no one knew up until a month or so go. Headmaster Dumbledore sent me after her."

"Dumbledore knew? He knew all along, and never told me? What else is everyone hiding from me?" He glared at Remus.

Remus looked like a mouse caught in a trap. Frost probably hadn't hidden anything from Harry, she hasn't been around to hide anything. Albus is the one with all the answers. It is so nice to not be on the receiving end of Potter's wrath.

"I'm not hiding anything, Harry, honestly," Remus said. "I assure you, the reason why I haven't said anything about Frost is because I thought she was dead." Harry looked at Snape.

"Is this true?"

Potter wanting confirmation from me? He's shocked me once, why not again?

"Yes, it's true. You can thank Dumbledore for that one." He let the sarcasm drip when he said Dumbledore. Frost spoke up.

"Harry, I'm not an animagus, I'm a shapeshifter of sorts. Those things you found control my shifting."

"See I told you she wasn't an animagus, or a shapeshifter," Hermione said to Ron.

Things? How is she controlling it? I knew she wasn't an animagus, but she's not a true shapeshifter? Oh this woman really needs to talk. Leave it to Granger to figure that out.

Snape gave a snort. Frost turned to him.

"And does he know your little secret Severus?"

That is hitting below the belt. And just when I gave you the benefit of the doubt.

"Potter already knows I'm a Death Eater, although I'm Dumbledore's spy." Frost put her hands on her hips.

"Not that one, you idiot."

Oh, that was what she was getting at.

"Yeah, Snape. What about it? Are you going to tell him that one? You told everyone I was a werewolf, it's only befitting he should know."

I am not doing this in front of Granger and Weasley. He took it bad enough he had a Godmother.

"This is not the time for that." He looked over to Potter, and Harry looked at him.

"Not the time for what? What secret are they talking about?"

Severus watched Harry for a moment. This was not how I wanted to bring this topic up. Mentally, he cursed Remus and Frost for bringing this about. He had agreed not to interfere, and now he was.

"If you must know, then I will tell you; but not here."

Harry looked at Frost and Remus. From the way they were eying Snape, this had to be something important. Ron and Hermione were looking at Harry. Their heads had been going back and forth just as his had, but his heart started racing -- he felt like everything was caving in on him, but he had to know.

"Where then?" His voice was shaky; he knew how it must have sounded but he did not care.

"If you are that concerned about my non important information, then worry all you want," Snape snarled. How the hell did this boy manage to be treated differently? And what will it come down to when Harry finds out my secret? I would have told him in his first year, had he been sorted into Slytherin.

"My room!" he said, turning on his heels he walked out of the room

Harry followed him. When they got to his room, Harry looked around a little bit. He had not been to this part of the house before, and he did not know that it had a potion room. He swallowed the lump of fear that was been in his throat.

"Why..." he started, "why do I get the feeling that your secret is more important?"

"Think what you want Potter," Snape said as he turned to look at Harry. He was angry - this much Harry was certain of. But he was mad at himself, and he knew that this would only mean Harry would remain begrudging of him.

Harry backed up. He looks just like he looked the night I saw him in his pensieve. The night he had things thrown at me. Maybe this had to do with my father? But Snape had told him how my father had been. I've seen it in the pensieve. Taking a deep breath, he said.

"Does this have to do with my father?"

"Partially," Snape replied. "More with your mother, actually."

Harry blinked; he was not expecting this. Snape has never talked about my mother before. But he remembers my mum defending him, that she liked him - or felt sorry for him.

"What about my mum?"

God this was hard; I never expected it to be this hard.

"Well, she did a good job making sure you never found out the truth, that's for sure. Had she screwed up at least once on her charms, you'd know the truth by now!" Snape snarled out of frustration.

"Her charms?" Harry looked confused. "Ollivander told me my mum's wand was good for charm work, and that my father's was good for transfiguration." Snape drew his wand and pointed it at Harry, muttering a spell to release Harry from the spell Lily and James had put him under.

"Look in the mirror."

Harry went over to the mirror Snape had pointed at. Who the hell was he looking at? He still had the same green eyes and the scar on his forehead, but his hair wasn't unruly anymore, it hung down to his shoulders, just like Snape's. His nose looked like Snape's; his skin tone was a mixture, not as light as Snape's but closer to it than it was before. What had they done to me?

"Has everything been one big lie?" He couldn't look away from his reflection, it was mesmerizing, but how?

"A lie, no. A truth hidden for 16 years, yes." Snape stood behind him. "Your mother, James and me agreed to keep it from you. It was dangerous at the time, and we didn't want anything to happen. James loved your mother, while I..."

The truth, I'm staring at the truth, no wonder the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I had thought all along it was because of my connection to Voldemort. Dumbledore had said I had traits that came from Voldemort. He never told me about Sna...my father, my real father. Harry looked at his father's eyes. He never lied to me, he never lied to me even when I looked into his pensieve. What did he say, James loved my mother, while he what? Oh, he loved Fuscienne, I need to finish reading those diaries.

"You were in love with Fuscienne. How did I come about if you and my mum weren't together? Why did I have to live with the Muggles? Was that your idea too? So I wouldn't know the truth?" He ignored the pounding in his heart, the rushing of the blood going to his head, and the small roar that had started in his ears.

How did one go about telling their son that they were an accident? That they weren't planned for, especially on their birthday.

"You went to live with the Muggles because Dumbledore thought you would be safe there. You have been, have you not?" The truth was out, but it only left for answers to every question Potter had. "Your mother and I were, if you would consider it at all, friends. When Fuscienne left, I turned to her. She wasn't married at the time. When she died and Dumbledore took you to the Muggles, I had tried to get you. I had tried to convince Dumbledore that you would be better off with your father, but do you think he listened to me at all? And then you came to Hogwarts and I knew that you looked like James, acted like James, especially around Malfoy, but you weren't even James' son."

Safe with the Muggles? How did he define safe? He has so much hate in his eyes when he says 'Dumbledore'. So all of this was because of Dumbledore, because Dumbledore hadn't told me everything. He didn't tell me about the prophecy, or about my real dad, only about...James. I don't like calling him that, I want to call him dad!

"Now I understand why Dumbledore won't listen to me, or ever answer my questions. He always went around it. But I'm older now and he's still not telling me." Harry turned around now and looked up at his father. "How do you define safe? Being treated like a house-elf, starved, made to live in cupboard, you call that safe? Then forced to go back every year! I thought this house was trick, but I figured Dobby would tell me if it was. So Fuscienne left you? I haven't got that far in her diaries."

How many times in one day can this boy be shocked? Where's the angry little boy I saw last year? The one who stood shouting at his friends every chance he got? The one who yelled at the Headmaster at the end of the year, the one that was so furious when Black died that he took off to find Voldemort? Where's the anger? Anger is easier to deal with than this sudden calm that's washed over Harry.

"You'll know more about why she left if you read her diaries, but that is not for me to tell you. Safe was away from anything and anyone associated with the Dark Lord. Could you imagine what would have happened should Voldemort have found out that I had fathered the child that would in the end, bring his death? Or perhaps just perhaps, you might understand that you're not the only one that was deprived of a family. James had that family, the Dursley's had that family. You're my son, and I only get to see you, pretend, and know that one day, maybe, you'll learn the truth." Snape was snarling. He was not just upset, but he was bitter, and cold hearted to the situation.

What if I had been sorted into Slytherin? Like the hat wanted to do? Would it have been any different?

"The Dursley's a family." Harry walked away from his father. He felt like tearing the place apart. "Please, I was their whipping boy, something to toss about, something to blame everything on. I didn't have a family until I came to Hogwarts, that's where I call home. But yes, I can understand how it would look for me to be your son, but I should have been told the truth. Told the truth the first year I came to Hogwarts."

Here's the boy I know; the one that would challenge my authority.

"You expect a lot from people, Potter." He cringed. Harry knew the truth, knew now how much he despised the fact that he was never given the chance to be a father. "You were eleven, how would you have liked to know then that your father was me, and that you would still be sent back to your relatives. Elven might be the right age to come to Hogwarts, but you're still a child! Does everything always have to be about Harry Potter! You've been at Hogwarts five years, and how many times do you think I've thought to tell you? How many nights have I had to sit in my office marking papers, and being specifically harder on YOU because I know you can do better than what you're putting forth. Had I been allowed to father you, as I had wanted, you wouldn't be where you are now. But I would be just as hard on you at School, because I have to be. Because I AM your father, whether you want it or not."

"Great, now I can mark another person on my list of people who's expectations I've got to live up to, but can't." Harry turned his back on his father and started studying an empty beaker. "I'm some damn puppet on a string. Dumbledore is pulling me one way, Voldemort is pulling me another, I have this damn prophecy I have to live up too. What is it that everyone sees in me that I can't?" Harry turned around. "I can't fight like Dumbledore does, I don't see how everyone expects me to defeat Voldemort when I can't even do half of what he can. I'm dead where I stand; I'd rather at least you kill me than him."

"Then die!" Snape had followed Harry with his eyes, and was more than aggravated with his behavior. "Either way, die fighting. Just remember that I wasn't the one that kept things from you for your own safety. Dumbledore is an over-protective and over-bearing GIT. You would have known sooner, and if I could have, I would have taken you from the Dursleys and raised you myself. Just remember that however you die, you'll still die MY son. Nothing more, nothing less. Not the boy who lived, not the boy who let the wizarding world down. Just my son!" His voice was calm, yet held a deadly edge to it.

Just my son, just my son. Harry slumped down against the wall with his knees up with his arms around them and he put his head in hands. That feels a damn lot better than the boy who lived. I can die either way and doesn't matter to him, because I'm his son.

"I think I found one thing I can agree with you on. Dumbledore is an over-bearing, protective GIT." Harry looked up at him. "Can you really teach Defense Against the Dark Arts? I heard you wanted that job and if I'm ever going to have a chance to defeat Voldemort, I need someone who at least knows how he thinks to help me. How I'm supposed to do this on my own is so stupid when you consider the teaching base we had at school the last five years. Although Professor Lupin isn't that bad, I just can't see what else I can learn from him."

Snape looked at Harry. He wasn't just asking ME, Snape, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts was he? "I've known more about the Dark Arts then most of your Professors, including Umbridge. Now, if you're willing to suffer through Occlumency and Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons in private, I'm sure we can come to an agreement. However, That means you'll have to WORK at it this time, not like last year." Snape look at him sternly. Father or not, I'm still a Professor and he still had standards to face. "You cannot return to Hogwarts like that either. Whether you tell Granger and Weasley about this is your business. Just remember that we can not risk Voldemort finding out, or we're both in trouble."

"I don't think Ron would understand this. Hermione might, but Ron, I don't think he'd be able to get past this. Ron can be a real GIT at times. I won't say anything, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't want Dumbledore finding out that I know." Harry stood up, "I'll WORK. At least now I have a reason too."

A reason, exactly what reason have I managed to give to Harry in the time we were alone?

"And exactly WHAT is this reason?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It was what you said, I'm your son. I'd rather die knowing that than never knowing the truth. I never liked being the boy who lived, it never felt right." He watched his father. It's weird. I always thought I got that brave nerve from the Potter side, but I don't even have Potter blood in me. It must have come from my mother, but do I have that steel nerve I saw everyday in class for the last five years? How do I tap into it? I need bravery, but having nerves of steel would help too. "And since I'm your son, I don't need Potter's bravery. That comes from my mother. I need your steel nerve, the only way I'm going to learn that is from you." Snape stared at Harry for a moment.

"You need nothing from me but guidance," he began. "Believe me, I never had nerves of steel when I was your age. You know that well enough when you looked into my pensieve last year. You have faced the Dark Lord more times than many who oppose him, and have survived. I am the traitor remember. I will always be that. Do not think that just because you know now, that I will become soft towards you. You will not bear my sir name. You will always have James'."

I never thought to ask him for his name; he must really despise me if he isn't willing to give it to me. "Fine, then I guess I'll eat humble pie. I need all the guidance I can get, Dumbledore sure isn't giving it to me." He spat out Dumbledore's name like it was moldy bread he had to clean out of the cabinets one day last summer when Dudley hadn't found it to eat. Snape sighed. This was not exactly going the way he wanted. And he had definitely not meant for Harry to become defensive over his last name. "Might you think about why I won't give you my last name? Or will you continue to jump to conclusions without figuring out the reasons?" Snape growled.

I shouldn't have spat at him, this is not good. He's the only person who's actually telling me the truth and I'm even screwing this up. Harry made his voice as calm as he could get it. "Do you think I'm foolish enough that I want it now? I'd be dead within a week, I'm not that stupid. I took it that you meant never, or was I right to assume that?"

"If I had meant never, I would have said never. Am I so indirect in speaking that you cannot find the simplest meanings? I thought you had some brains to you, unless I miss-credited you on that." Snape was becoming agitated, and it wasn't like he truly meant to belittle his son, as he had for the last five years, but it had become second nature to him. It would take time to forget that Harry had not known the truth for so long, and now stood before him accepting him as the father he never had. But was Snape really ready for showing compassion in any shape or form? Probably not.

Harry looked down. Great. I'm still stupid; I can see now I'm going to have to analyze every word he says, and quit assuming things. Can't he see that for once I want to feel like I belong to someone? I have him right here in front of me and I can't even have it now. What did you expect Harry? It's not like you can ask him to not go at you, you've both been at war with each other for the last five years. "I'm sorry. Next time I'll think before I speak."

"How are you going to learn nerves of steel if you can't even stand up to me? No Death Eater will pause to think about killing you. Your life will fade away at the drop of a dime if you can't stand up for yourself. You use that brain of yours and you'll get along fine. Don't presume that everyone knows what you're thinking, don't think I'm going to speak with some coded message. I mean what I say, it's as simple as that." Harry looked back up and judged what he was going to say very carefully.

"If I stand up to you now, you're going to start jumping down my throat, we have that down. We've had enough practice at that for the last five years. I'm well aware of the Death Eaters not pausing in wanting to kill me, it's not like all of them are willing to taunt me first. Even though that does give me a little time to think when they do that. From now on I'll take you at your word and try to not read anything into what you might be trying to say to me." That actually didn't sound half-bad. Let's see how he rips it up now, it wouldn't surprise me.

"If you think five years of practice has you qualified to deal with taunting, and you've gained nerves of steel, why bother asking for guidance?" Snape questioned. The tone in his voice wasn't demeaning, or angry, but skeptical.

Why am I asking? Because you're my father. Dumbledore didn't allow you to be my father even when you asked. Can't he see I'm trying to give him a way in? God I must be really desperate if I'm willing to take Snape! I've been desperate all my life for someone to take me and accept me for who I am. "Because I need you and because I'm not denying what is rightfully yours to guide."

"Tell me, how long will you be able to keep up the act before you slip up? Before Weasley, Granger, Malfoy, even Dumbledore find out that you know the truth? What then? I can simply tell Dumbledore that you asked to continue Occlumency, I can even say that you wanted to learn how to defend yourself against a Death Eater and came to me for that help."

I don't see why I can't keep it up, it's not like I tell everyone anything anyway. Besides Dumbledore will ask and that's easy to deal with, tell him I'm not ready to talk yet, it's worked every time. I've never told Ron or Hermione that the sorting hat wanted me to go in Slytherin. Draco is a git, it wouldn't be like I would tell him anyway. I never told him about Occlumency though I was sorely tempted. I don't see how I can't keep it up, if it means I can have him then. I'll do it or die trying. Like I'm going to tell anyone the boy who lived already feels like he's the boy who's going to die. I don't show everyone when I'm depressed, I know how to act and put a pretty damn good front. "I don't tell everyone everything, I've stopped telling Dumbledore stuff a couple of years ago. It's not like I can't act, I've been acting for the last three years, no one knows the real me." Snape looked down at Harry. So he has been hiding behind that wall of security, he thought to himself.

"If you say so. But be aware of those who like to look deeper than the front you display. Dumbledore is no fool...not completely anyway. He will see through it, I am sure he already has." Dumbledore doesn't know everything. If he did, his father wouldn't be talking to him right now.

"I know Dumbledore isn't a fool. He wouldn't have sent you here to look after me. He sent you here for something else, probably because I was gone for a month, even though I didn't know it. If he suspected anything, he would have asked me a long time ago about the Dursley's and he never has."

"I'm not here as your father, nor as your guardian or your mentor. As for the Dursley's, Dumbledore believes you safe there. How, I don't know. You would have been safer with the enemy than them." Snape paused a moment. A month? He'd been missing for a month and no one saw fit to tell him? More secrets, more lies, how many more were being kept, not just from Harry, but from himself? "You were gone for a month, and didn't realize it? Exactly how do you explain that?"

Dumbledore didn't tell him, this is interesting. "I found a box, that had these orbs. I'm curious, always have been. I picked up the silver one and went inside it for a month. I didn't come back out of it until today. That was when he said someone would come and stay, it was only supposed to be Professor Lupin, Frost, Ron, and Hermione. You weren't supposed to be here, or he would have said something."

So Harry didn't know I was coming. What the heck was Dumbledore thinking this time? "I was asked to come, and begrudgingly I did." Asked? More like ordered, he thought. "Now where did you find these orbs? And did you ever think to ask before you touched some unknown object? Of all the foolish things you have done."

Foolish, well that was true. Looking inside his father's pensieve, looking inside Dumbledore's, going inside the Ministry of Magic. Everything he had done in the last five years had been foolish, he was surprised he was still alive. He had stumbled over so much that he never really understood because no one ever really told him.

"I'll tell you, but everything is so weird. When I got home this summer Dobby was in my bedroom. He tells me I have this house, and that I can get to it through my closet. I could, so I come here. While I was here I found a diary, I started reading it. Then I wanted to find more of them. The painting of Godric told me they were buried under a statue in the atrium. I went and picked one, he didn't tell me which one, I dug up a box under the statue of the elf. It had the orbs in it. Who was I supposed to ask? I was the only one here. Frost said something, she said the things I found control her shifting. Those where the only things I found. I told this to Dumbledore, he only laughed, and then told me to not touch them again, and made me put them back."

"So you found these orbs, and you never once thought to owl anyone about them? It never crossed your mind that they could be dangerous?" Snape asked as he glared at his son.

"How can I send an owl when there's that invisible shield around the house, that even Hedwig can't fly out of?" Harry said confrontationally. I was cut off from everyone while in here.

"You were in this house. That doesn't mean there aren't other ways to get here. Think about it. Ron, Hermione, Myself, Remus, Frost we're all here. Whether you want to believe it or not. You were not cut off from everyone." Snape snarled. My son can be completely mindless sometimes.

"Then how did you get past the invisible thing to get here?"

"Does it matter? We're here now."

Harry turned around in frustration. Okay, the portal to my room has closed and there's this invisible shield is around the house. What other way is there to get out? Harry hung his head when the answer came to him. Dobby. Dobby could Apparate out of Hogwarts, if Dobby can do that, Dobby can go anywhere. Dobby could have gotten him out of the house if he needed to. "Dobby could have apparated to Dumbledore," Harry said, keeping his back turned.

"So instead you took matters into your own hands and went missing for a month. You took no consideration into what could be going on with others. Did you think at all what people would feel if you never returned? Or were you just pleased to be rid of this world, of the people that cared for you?"

The orb was amazing, he'd almost give anything to go back into it. There was no way he could tell that to his father. There wasn't any evil in there, it was something he created inside it. But what if it really was supposed to be his? What if this was something Dumbledore had wanted him to find? But no, Dumbledore said he couldn't have it. "I wasn't thinking. I react before I think. I never thought anything like that would happen."

"That's the point. I thought you would have learned after the Triwizard Tournament, Harry. An unknown object can be used against you. Just think about it. If someone can turn the Goblet into a portkey, then someone can easily plant objects for you to find. Whether they can get in here or not is not the issue. You didn't think; you were impulsive, and didn't think about what could have happened."

"Can you put that charm back on me now so I can leave? I have a lot of thinking I need to do. I learned a lesson, one I won't forget." Harry turned back to his father, praying that Snape could see that he could not take anymore, at least not that night. Snape waved his wand, restoring the charm.

"It will not last as long as the one James and Lily put on you. You'll have to return every few days for it to be re-done."

Every few days?

"Yes sir." Harry turned and walked out.

I like the first paragraph better...but this one's good too so whichever you pick will work.