Marked Men

Marked Men

Set In The Order of the Phoenix during Chapter Thirty-Eight when Harry is sitting by the lake thinking of Sirius.

The imbecile had been sitting out there by the lake for hours now and Severus had half a mind to go out there to drag him inside by the ear. It would serve him right if he ended up with a cold tomorrow, he thought gruffly, though not as gruffly as he wanted. As it was, he was having a bloody hard time trying to hate the boy as much as before. He had been a little more than shocked at what had transpired during the Occlumency lessons; namely, he had gained a sort of understanding pertaining to the boy. Harry was not the spoiled, overly self-confident prat that Severus had believed him to be.

And it was driving him insane.

In fact, Harry was the opposite of his father, a fact that Severus had an extremely difficult time assimilating into his opinion of the boy. Harry was sitting out there, broken-hearted, avoiding people as much as possible. Severus hadn't truly allowed himself to feel anything in years. He still clearly remembered what he had said to Harry during their first Occlumency lesson:

"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily - weak people, in other words - they stand no chance against his powers!"

Severus had meant it; he rarely said things he did not mean. And here was Harry, sitting out by the lake wallowing, probably freezing to death, doing exactly what Severus himself wished he could do. (Just because he was a heartless bastard didn't mean he liked it as much as he made others believe.)

He was fighting with himself, thinking of going outside to talk to Harry, thinking that maybe he could rouse up some emotion other than depression in the boy. It was well known how much Harry despised him, not as if he did anything to dispel those thoughts. However, those who knew Severus, namely Albus, understood that he did not hate Harry. Albus knew that if Severus had truly hated Harry, he would have murdered him for looking in the Pensieve without a second thought. No, he couldn't hate the boy but that didn't mean he was going to invite him over for tea and biscuits.

Severus turned quickly and made his way outside, this had been going on long enough, and the boy should get inside before it got dark out.

"Potter, it would be in the wizarding world's best interest if you did not allow yourself to freeze to death."

Harry turned, and to Severus' surprise, there was no anger, there were tears in his eyes.

"Not now. I can't put up with you being mean to me right now."

Severus almost opened his mouth to blurt out another scathing remark but he held back. Well, he more than held back, he actually sat down next to the boy. And by the time his intellect had gone into red alert, he was already sitting down and really couldn't jump up again.

Harry looked at him, eyes guarded, "What?"

"I..." he took a deep breath, "really would rather be inside, warm, but I think I should say something to you."

"Oh," Harry said simply and looked out over the lake. The giant squid swam by leaving behind little ripples that Harry watched, still as a stone.

Severus had to hold back the urge to run his hands over his face before he began, "You know by now, I know you do, that I have the Dark Mark. Meaning, at one point in time I was loyal to The Dark Lord..."

He rolled up his sleeve, jaw firmly set, eyes shrouded. Harry looked over at his exposed forearm.

"Now, I..." he resumed. However, Harry interrupted him.

"Marked," he said. Severus didn't know exactly what he meant. "We're marked, you and I, by Voldemort. I have this," he touched his scar, "and you have that." Severus almost sighed in relief that the boy had not touched the mark.

"Mine is a symbol of his hatred, yours of his...acceptance, I guess is the best term. Either way, he's made both of us miserable. He kills, or is involved with killing every family member I have. I don't know what he does to you, I'm not sure I want to, but it's not good. You're just as miserable as I am but you hide it behind all that anger."

Harry sat silent, apparently in deep thought. Severus was silent, but because he was in shock. Since when was Harry perceptive? He had missed that little transformation.

"I'm going to mark him too...make him as miserable as we are...he won't know what's coming." Harry looked more world-weary than Severus thought it possible to be at sixteen. He stared down at the water, jaw stubbornly set, a tiny furrow between his eyebrows.

Severus studied Harry's face for a long moment before realizing that's all Harry was going to say for now.

"And I will do whatever I can to help you..." With that, he stood up and walked briskly back to the castle. Not understanding what exactly had just happened other than the fact that he had just sworn allegiance to Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived-Only-To-Suffer.