Rating:
R
House:
Schnoogle
Characters:
Draco Malfoy Harry Potter Hermione Granger Severus Snape
Genres:
Drama Slash
Era:
The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire
Stats:
Published: 07/17/2003
Updated: 08/11/2003
Words: 114,996
Chapters: 43
Hits: 388,758

Snakes and Lions

GatewayGirl

Story Summary:
When Ron and Hermione get together, they notice only each other. A nightmare prompts Harry to return alone to the empty Chamber of Secrets, and leads to a new look at an old enemy. Harry enjoys the company, but with Bellatrix LeStrange actively hunting him, how far can he trust a Death Eater's son? (H/D -- mostly friendship, progressing to mild slash) Sixth year. Rated R for unseemly behavior (drinking, stealing, and Dark Arts), occasional cursing (the non-magical sort), and off-screen violence.
Read Story On:

Chapter 30 - The Imperius Curse

Chapter Summary:
Snape tutors Harry in a proscribed subject, they reach a greater understanding.
Posted:
07/31/2003
Hits:
7,184



The Imperius Curse


At Potions lab, Draco leaned closer than usual and whispered more quietly than usual to ask:

"Why is Hermione helping me?"

"It's a Gryffindor thing," Harry whispered back. "You need help to do something she believes you should do. She can help you, therefore, she will."

"But I've always been horrible to her. She's heard me wishing she would be killed!" Draco realized his voice had risen and brought it down again. "She should at least force some concessions out of me."

"Gryffindors don't do that. If we think we should help you, we will do it for free."


Draco left the Potions lab when explicitly dismissed. Professor Snape locked and guarded the door as soon as he was gone. Harry met him up at the front of the room.

"Well?" Snape asked.

Harry's heart was beating wildly, but he responded with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "You're right. I'd feel a bit of an idiot if I discovered I couldn't actually do it."

"Agreed. Accio Serpent. Accio Block." A immature adder and a small wooden block flew to Snape's hands. Snape put the snake in a box on the table, and set the block on its long edge. "The same procedure as before. The motion for Imperio is a direct point, usually with the wrist tilted slightly down, but that is just a mental aid." He demonstrated. "Concentrate on being undeniable."

Harry nodded and took out his wand. He turned his attention to the table. Snape tipped the box, and the snake slithered out. It began frantically searching for a way off the table. Harry felt rather sorry for it.

"Any time, Mr. Potter," Snape said dryly.

Harry pointed his wand at the snake. His mouth felt dry. He had to wet his lips to manage the incantation. "Imperio." The word came out shakily, and he could immediately tell nothing had happened. "Sorry." He concentrated on the memory of casting Umbram Jubo. His will was like a missile from the wand.... "Imperio!" A flicker of feeling, then nothing.

"Try again."

Harry tried a third time, then a fourth. Nothing. "I can't --" He bit back his frustration. "What am I missing, sir? This is... Nothing's happening."

Snape dropped the snake back in the box, and pushed it to the side. "You say you have done one bit of Dark Arts before." The professor steepled his fingers and leaned forward. "What, Mr. Potter?"

"Umbr-- Command Spirit, sir."

A flicker of surprise on Snape's face was quickly replaced by a frown. "Hm.... Not helpful, in this case."

"I'd think it would be similar."

Snape shook his head.

"The Command Spirit Curse is very concise, and aggressively direct. It is piercing, but not maintainable. The Imperius Curse is more subtle and overwhelming .... You have been on the receiving end of it several times, have you not, Potter?"

"Yes, but ... but I've always overcome it, sir."

"Nonetheless. How did it feel?"

Harry remembered the false Moody, telling him to jump on the table, Voldemort attempting to make him bow. He couldn't repress a thought of Draco and the Muggle child. He shivered.

"As if I could relax, professor," he said miserably. "It would be ...pleasant, to do as I was told."

"Precisely." Snape toyed with his wand as he regarded Harry thoughtfully over it. "It surprises me you have trouble. All that is needed for Imperius is to believe that you are right in all things, and the world would be better if you ran it." He sneered. "With your natural arrogance --"

"I am not arrogant!" Harry snapped. The amused rise of Snape's eyebrows angered him yet further, and he shouted:

"I don't believe the world would be better if I ran it -- the world would be an utter mess, if I ran it, just a different one! I'm not brilliant, or powerful, like anyone thinks, I'm just lucky enough and protected enough, and stubborn enough to live! The only thing I get credit for that's actually me is Quidditch."

Snape continued to look amused. "That is not quite how I see it, Mr. Potter," he said.

"Yes, well I know about you! You seem to think I have some sort of life outside of Hogwarts. You expect me to act like a wizarding child --"

"You are a wizarding child. You are a Potter, and your mother was the same sort of Muggle-born genius as that Granger girl, but with a modicum of grace."

"But I was raised by Muggles. Muggles who hate wizards and despise me, and treated me as badly as they legally could." Harry stopped. He doubted it was actually legal to lock a child in an unlit cupboard on a regular basis. Quietly, he amended. "Worse, actually. But they not so they'd get in trouble, unless I say something."

"Then why don't you?" Snape inquired.

Harry looked down. "Because that would be worse," he whispered.

For a minute, Snape was silent. Harry could not bring himself to look up. He almost wanted the Potions master to start deriding him. It would be familiar. After a time, Snape asked:

"Did Draco show you anything else?"

Harry looked up and nodded. They were to pretend he hadn't said anything personal then. That was fine. "The Bone Burning Curse," he answered.

Snape's eyes widened. "And you are still speaking to him?! On what, Potter?"

"Oh -- just bones. We found an abandoned lair of some predator and were cleaning it up. He burned all the old bones."

"Ah." Snape relaxed. "How ... oddly harmless." He stood, and went to the small fireplace behind his desk. Snape tossed a bit of powder onto the low flames. "Kitchens."

The head of a house elf appeared in the flames.

"Yes, Professor Snape, sir?"

"I would like a whole chicken. It does not matter whether or not it is cooked, or even edible, but it should be dead and plucked."

If the house elf thought this was a strange request, he did not say so. He bobbed up and down and said "Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

Snape extinguished the fire.

"A warning, Potter, while we are waiting. Tomorrow, in class, I will give you a detention. Don't make it difficult. I will keep you after class to tell you when and what. You may tell anybody when you are serving your detention. Tell Draco, and only Draco, that you will be spending it with me, in the Forbidden Forest, gathering a potions component which grows there."

"This is your test?"

"Yes."

"Will we spend my detention in the Forbidden Forest?"

"No. The headmaster will, of course, forbid it, much to Lucius's disappointment."

"You're getting ahead of yourself, professor."

"And you are displaying that arrogance you deny."

Harry shrugged. He was spared from the necessity of any further reply by the appearance of a covered silver tray on Professor Snape's desk.

"Absurd," Snape muttered. He lifted the lid. A raw, trussed chicken was arranged on the tray beneath. With a dry chuckle, Snape picked up one of the leaves arrayed artfully around the bird.

"Sir?"

"Hazelwort leaves, Potter. A dangerous emetic. Apparently, some house elf has both intelligence and a sense of humor. Astonishing." With a quick "Leviosa," Snape moved the chicken to the first lab table. He gestured to it. "The Bone Burning Curse, Mr. Potter."

"Er ... why?"

"It is simpler than the Imperius Curse, and I would like to see if you can do it."

Harry felt like this situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. "Is it relevant?" he demanded.

"Quite."

Harry bit his lip and studied the dead chicken. Honestly, it was just a dead chicken, and it would not actually do any harm to burn it, whereas coercing some kidnapped snake was unkind, at least. He looked back at Professor Snape, who was regarding him with amused disdain, and shrugged. He pointed his wand at the chicken, and tried to recall Draco's gesture and manner as best he could. He filled his mind with fire, momentarily blocking out all doubt.

"Osum Crema!"

Red fire shot from him to the bird in a palpable release. The chicken swelled, then ruptured in several places, blue flames bursting from the tears. Harry laughed.

"Good," Snape said softly. "Now, cast Imperius on that dull little snake."

He spilled the snake back out of the box, and it began to writhe in foolish panic about the narrow table, searching for a way down or up. Harry fixed his wand on it.

"Imperio."

Instantly, the snake's mind was under his, accessible, malleable ... it was a cool, simple mind. Controlling it was like caressing a smooth stone. Pleased, Harry slowed the snake to a graceful, back and forth slide, then suddenly sent it racing from one end of the table to another. He had it stop, then spiral in on itself, until it could move no further.

"The block, Potter."

Harry had forgotten about the block -- indeed, about Professor Snape. He re-orientated himself, located the object on the table, and sent the snake over to it. Having the snake knock over the block with its tail took a few seconds -- the movement was not natural to the snake, and Harry had to think about the specifics of it more than he had for the other motions.

"Good. Now release it."

Harry found the professor and blinked at him. Release?

"Harry. 'Finite Incantantum.'"

Oh. Harry pointed his wand at the immobile snake. "Finite Incantantum."

The smooth thing that was the snake's mind was gone. Harry could feel its frustration, slightly, in its wordless hiss, but the feeling was distant -- no more than he usually got from snakes. Harry stared at it. He couldn't seem to think beyond the memory of its mind.

"Good god," he whispered.

"Are you back, Potter?" asked an amused voice.

Harry followed the voice back. Snape. He focused quickly. "What do other things feel like?" he asked. The question suddenly raced through him like a flame through paper. The snake's mind was cool and smooth. What do other things feel like? He desperately wanted to know. What does a mouse feel like? A cat? A hippogriff? A person?

"Other things?"

"Other than snakes. It was cool. Uncluttered. Would a mammal feel different?"

"Ah. I'm afraid I can't say, in general. Until the snake last week, I had cast the Imperius Curse only on people. They are far more complex."

Harry badly wanted to try the Imperius Curse on Snape, just to find out what he felt like. He gripped his wand tightly in an effort to keep it still.

"Do not attempt it, Mr. Potter. You would not like the result."

Harry managed a nod.

"Currently, while you have done things you may be punished for, you have done nothing that mandates punishment. I suggest we keep it that way."

Harry nodded again. "Yes," he said quickly. He found he couldn't manage a "sir," with that. The mere thought was absurd.

"We have fifteen minutes. I suggest a short break before you attempt to counter again." Snape looked disdainfully at him. "As a first step, attempt to speak in actual sentences."

Harry restrained a nod. He tried to think of something to say. "You are not interested in corrupting me." Heard, the statement sounded absurd. He laughed.

"Excuse me?"

"You could have let me do it," Harry explained. Let me cast it on you.

"Ah. Yes. I am not interested in corrupting you, in itself."

The words were connecting him back to the outer world. Harry searched for another subject. "I need to do that again."

"Why?"

Harry thought of the delay of getting the snake to use its tail as a weapon. "It was clumsy," he explained. "Too slow."

Snape nodded. "Again," he agreed. "But not tonight. Tonight, you will attempt more countering, and see if it is any more effective." For a moment, he closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead with his fingertips. He sighed and looked up. "That feeling," he said. "That power. Remember that. You should not require a sacrificial chicken."

It took a moment for Harry to make the connection, but when he did, he laughed.

"That was why!"

"It seemed the quickest way to induce the necessary arrogance." Snape smirked. Without preamble, he asked:

"What have your guardians done to you that was illegal?"

Harry hesitated. He did not answer questions of that sort. He knew that, though he couldn't really feel it, at the moment.

"Just curious," Snape said idly. "Anything creative?"

Harry laughed. "Not really. They locked me in a storage cupboard under the stairs, every night and sometimes during the day, until my Hogwarts letter came addressed to 'the cupboard under the stairs.' That frightened them enough that I'm in a bedroom now, but it has padlocks on the door, and one year they had bars on the windows, which must be illegal, because I couldn't have got out if there was a fire. Except I probably could. I'd do that panic magic thing, like I did as a child, and apparate into the tree outside, or something. So it's just a nuisance."

"Are you harmed?"

"Not really. Uncle Vernon has hit me occasionally, but nothing serious. Usually, if they want to hurt me they will arrange for it to happen indirectly -- Aunt Petunia is creative, I suppose. She'll give me jobs that keep me in the sun until I'm burned, then make me work in the heat the next day, or in long sleeves. And they won't feed me much. Or buy me clothes that fit -- I get Dudley's, though they don't." Harry laughed again, more harshly now. "I'm not worth wasting food on."

Professor Snape's voice was soft and expressionless. "Are you not?"

Harry shrugged. "That's what they say. Of course, I don't think much of things they think are worthwhile, so that's all right." He felt a twitch of curiosity and looked at the Portions master. "Why do you ask? You don't care."

"I," Snape answered distantly, "am supposed to be an effective schemer, someone who has things under control. Most of the students can be ignored, but I knew you should not be. Therefore, I should have collected accurate information on you, but instead I took an emotional response as intuition." He scowled. "I dislike stupidity in anyone. I detest it in myself." He drummed his fingers on the desktop. "I want you to be unimportant, Potter. Unfortunately, that doesn't make you unimportant."

Harry smiled dreamily. "Wish it did."




Chapter 31 -- Harry has a revelation, and Draco's assumptions are shattered (again)