Free Will and Fate

The moment he walked into the Great Hall, Harry felt of a sense of déjà vu he could've done without. As he crossed the room, the eyes of nearly every student turned to him. Most looked and then quickly turned away, whispering as he went past. A few stared, openly wondering a number of things about the Deputy Headmaster's stepson. He heard a few traces of conversation as he headed to the Gryffindor table. Rumors ranged from an in-class battle that had ended with he and Neville nearly dead to Professor Lestrange allowing students to test potions on each other--with one of them slipping in a poison. By the time he reached the end of the long table where Hermione waited, Harry was reminiscing about the simple days when Rita Skeeter was openly speculating about his love life. At least those rumors were mildly laughable.

Hermione pushed a full plate in front of him the minute he sat down. Harry smiled at her and looked around, not surprised to see the eyes of the most of the Gryffindor table straining to see him in the corner. Neville stopped eating and offered Harry a faint smile.

"See you're getting the special treatment too," Neville said. "Thought it would just be me."

Harry nodded and began eating his breakfast. He couldn't imagine what Neville was thinking. He'd gotten used to being stared at for one reason or another after he'd come to Hogwarts, but Neville probably hadn't seen even half the attention he had, even being The Boy Who Lived. Harry reasoned it was easier being orphaned by Voldemort if your scar wasn't in an obvious place and nothing unusual happened around you--like professors attempting to kill you. More than once. Harry looked up and a few people at the Hufflepuff table turned away, whispering as they leaned over their breakfast plates.

"It's really rude," Ron said over the quiet table. Harry looked across the table in surprise. Ron had hardly eaten anything this morning and he was picking at the food in front of him like it might be poisoned. "No one knows what happened and everyone's saying you might have tried to kill each other. Stupid, really."

"Of course it's stupid," Hermione said. She rubbed Harry's back in support. "They were both just--" She broke off and caught Harry's eyes, silently asking him what she should say.

"They were both just what?" Lavender asked. She reached for Neville's hand on the table and entwined her fingers with his. "One minute Neville was fine and the next he was screaming on the floor. Harry collapsed after that, right?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well then, what happened? I was sitting next to him and I didn't feel anything. There wasn't a spell shot past me, not that I could see."

"You believe someone could've sent a spell that would do that?" Parvati asked from Hermione's other side. "Who was in the room that would have done that?"

"What other explanation is there?" Lavender asked. "What do you two know that we don't? You spent most of last night in Professor McGonagall's office. Did you get in trouble for it?"

"For what?" Harry asked.

Neville shot her a stricken look. "Harry did not attack me. He was hurt too. He spent almost as much time in the hospital wing as I did."

"Yes, but he recovered a lot sooner. Maybe it was something he's used to." Lavender frowned at Harry and jabbed her fork at her plate.

Harry almost choked on his next bite of food at this. For someone who was speculating out of nowhere, she'd guessed pretty close to the truth. Then again, what had happened the morning before wasn't something that had happened too often, scar or no. If Voldemort had temporarily possessed them both, it was a relatively new experience.

"I don't really know what happened," Harry began. He lowered his voice when he realized a few people further down the table had quieted down as he began to speak. "We weren't in Professor McGonagall's office for that. She's punishing us for sneaking off at night."

Ron chuckled. "You two still getting in trouble for that? You're lucky she hasn't expelled you."

"She won't," Hermione said. "We haven't done anything wrong." She pushed her empty plate to the center of the table and picked up her glass of juice. "She's just making an example of us. Honestly! All because we don't like to study in the noisy common room."

Parvati laughed, quickly joined by Lavender. "Come off it, Hermione. You two have a history. She has a right to be concerned. I'm surprised your parents didn't pull you out of school after what happened last spring."

Hermione put down her glass hard enough to splash some of the contents onto the table. "Because we didn't do anything wrong then or now." She put a hand on Harry's back again. "After meeting Harry, they understood that."

"It didn't hurt that Harry's mom wrote to them," Parvati added, still smiling.

"I still don't understand what happened yesterday," Ron said. "You were both screaming loud enough to wake the dead and Neville was shaking and--"

"And you both were bloody," Lavender said. "Neville's scar has never bothered him before." She reached up a hand to trace the jagged edge of skin along his jaw, just beneath his right ear. "Out of nowhere, it starts gushing blood and gives him a headache that lasts half the night. Madam Pomfrey said she's never seen anything like it.." She turned and peered at Harry, seeming to notice something different for the first time. "Harry, when did you get a scar? What is it from?"

The eyes of several students in the vicinity turned to him and Harry felt his face flush with warmth when he realized everyone was now staring at his scar. "I got into it with someone over the summer. A pretty bad curse gave me this." He bit into a piece of toast.

"I figured as much or it would've healed by now," Lavender said. "What happened? What kind of curse was it?"

"The kind he doesn't want to talk about," Hermione said. "It has nothing to do with what happened in class."

Harry swallowed his food, amazed at Hermione's ability to lie without breaking a sweat. He knew they couldn't tell anyone, not even their roommates, what was going on with Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange, but it was hard for him to not tell Neville the truth when the attack had affected him so badly. He knew how scared Neville would have to be after what happened. He also knew what it felt like to have the person who knew the most about what was going on keeping him in the dark. Harry felt guilty about that, but he also knew that telling Neville, or anyone else, any part of the truth could put them both in even more danger. That was another thing he had to worry about now. How Voldemort coming back might affect The Boy Who Lived and how to protect him from something he would never see coming. How was it all connected?

"Harry, what do you know?" Lavender pressed. He heard Hermione sigh next to him. "Professor McGonagall was really upset yesterday, but she said there was nothing for any of us to worry about. I think she's hiding something." She paused. "So are you."

"Lavender," Neville started. He put his fork down and frowned at her. "Harry is my friend. If there was something going on, he'd tell me." He looked across the table at Harry. "Right?"

"Yeah, of course." Harry looked away quickly and started swirling his fork through the scrambled eggs on his plate.

"I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem like a good enough explanation. There's got to be more--"

"Lavender, please," Neville said. "You don't have to be worried about me all the time. It's bad enough Gran threatened to walk me to all of my classes to make sure I stay safe."

Ron almost choked on his mouthful of food. Harry was glad to see he'd started eating. There was definitely something off about Ron sitting with a mostly untouched plate of food in front of him. Ron mumbled something through the scrambled eggs stuffed into his mouth.

"Chew and swallow," Parvati said, rolling her eyes.

Ron chewed hard for a few seconds and then swallowed. His eyes were wide as he turned to Neville. "You didn't tell me that's what her letter said. Just that she wanted to help them investigate."

"She wants to do more than that," Neville said. "She wants to personally inspect everyone in our class, and their wands." He shook his head. "It's like without my parents around, she feels like she has to do both their jobs, and help the teachers and half the Ministry if anything goes wrong. She didn't get this upset when I broke my leg. It's not like Professor McGonagall is going to let anything happen to us."

"Tell her not to worry," Harry said. Several pair of eyes whipped over to him again. He felt the urge to move his hair in front of his scar. "Ms. Diggory told me there was nothing suspicious about the class and no trace of a curse on either of us."

"That's the woman from the Improper Use of Magic office, right?" Neville asked. Harry nodded.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "She looks like she's barely out of school herself. How do we know she's even doing a thorough job? What we need is an Auror."

"What we need is to stop acting like it's the end of the world," Hermione said. Lavender turned a glare on her. "Whatever happened is obviously over and they're both fine. Why can't we leave it at that?"

"What if it happens again?" she asked.

"Then you have my permission to debate every possible scenario and worry Neville to death instead of being grateful he lived through it," Hermione responded.

Lavender's mouth dropped open. "So you admit it could've been something life-threatening? I knew one of you knew more than you were saying. If you don't--"

Neville clapped one hand over her mouth and held it there, calmly reaching for a piece of toast with his other hand. "So, you're feeling all right, Harry?"

Harry nodded. He was trying not to smile, but the sight of Lavender being forcibly kept silent--something he'd been tempted to do a couple of times himself--was remarkably funny. Ron had no such qualms about laughing at the sight. "I don't think we're ever going to hear a reasonable explanation for it," Harry said. "If they didn't figure it out by last night, that's probably the last we've heard of it."

Neville nodded. "I figured the same thing." Noticing she had stopped attempting to yell, he released Lavender. "If it was something that randomly hit two students, it probably wasn't even in the class. That would explain why no one else got hurt."

"That, and what you have in common," Parvati said. Harry turned to her. She looked nervous about what she was going to say next.

"What is that?" Hermione asked.

"They both--well, I think they're the only ones in our class who have scars from a curse. Most curses don't leave a mark at all," she said. "But both of you have one that hasn't healed. We know how Neville got his." Parvati stopped and looked at Harry, leaving him an opening to tell everyone the origin of his scar.

He looked down at his empty plate.

"Maybe there was something going on that only affects people with--people who have had curses put on them." Parvati looked around as she finished. Everyone seemed to be watching either Harry or Neville to see how they would react to this suggestion.

"I still think it's nothing to be concerned about," Hermione said. She leaned her head onto Harry's shoulder. "As long as they're both fine and nothing else happens to them, I don't care about yesterday."

Lavender nodded, speechless for once, and smiled as Neville put an arm around her.

"Oh my, isn't this cozy?" Harry felt Hermione stiffen against his side and pull her arm tighter around his waist as Snape came up behind him. "I see you're keeping it toned down with others in the room."

Harry closed his eyes briefly before looking over his shoulder. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Snape glared down at him. "Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. You can tell me why you're determined to hurt your mother. She was already worried about whatever you were up to in class that got another student hurt, and now you've gotten yourself into a punishment I personally wouldn't have granted you." He moved his eyes briefly to include Hermione. "With the way you two have been going, you're lucky you're still at Hogwarts." Before Harry could open his mouth to respond, Snape added, "You had better be careful. I warned you last week to stay in line, but it appears you did not heed my advice. Perhaps I should have a discussion with the Headmistress about going so easy on you. Maybe I should take over your punishment myself."

Without thinking, Harry rose up from the table and moved close enough to make his stepfather take a step back. A few students turned around to watch the confrontation. "I think being related to you in any way is punishment enough," Harry said. There was a gasp from the table behind him, but Harry ignored it. Hermione tugged at his hand, trying to get him to sit again.

Snape's eyes narrowed on his face and he grabbed the front of Harry's robes. "That's enough to get you sent home to mommy, Potter. Now would be a good time for you to get upstairs and pack." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You'll definitely be safer out of my way."

Harry pulled his robes out of Snape's hands, sending the wizard stumbling back a step. "I'm not going anywhere, especially not because of you," he said, not caring that he was loud enough for half the Great Hall to hear him.

"Harry!"

He ignored Hermione. "It's driving you crazy, isn't it? You can't push me around here or anywhere else and you can't stand it," Harry said. "You're a bully to me because you can't get over what happened with my dad when you were kids. It's kind of pathetic, really. You could hardly defend yourself then, and you've resorted to picking on schoolchildren now."

Snape grabbed his robes again and pulled him forward; Harry's heels lifted from the ground as he twisted from side to side to get away. "Oh, you're proud of the kind of boy your father was? Is that why you want to be just like him, you delinquent little--"

"Severus!" Professor McGonagall walked briskly down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, wand pointed at the two of them. "Put him down now."

Reluctantly, Snape let Harry go, but not before giving him one last glare. When she reached them, he said, "The boy is an insubordinate monster, not to mention--"

"I don't care if he lit his common room on fire, there is no excuse for manhandling a student, relative or no." She turned to Harry. "You know better than to provoke an argument with anyone, particularly with the trouble you're already in."

"But Professor, he--"

"Not another word, Mr. Potter. I may have to add another week to your punishment and prevent you from attending breakfast with everyone as well if you cannot at least be civilized the few minutes a day you're allowed to socialize."

Harry frowned and nodded, not wanting to argue back anymore. It was pointless anyway. She was just trying to keep Snape from killing him in full view of the rest of the school.

McGonagall pointed at Harry and Hermione. "Both of you to my office, now," she said. "The portraits will report to me if you stop at any point along the way or get into any trouble. Move." McGonagall turned back to Snape, not watching to see if Hermione and Harry obeyed.

"I know you know better, Severus." She lowered her voice, cognizant of the students who remained glued to that morning's entertainment. "If you have an issue with your stepson, I strongly suggest you handle it through me from now on. I do not want a repeat of what happened this morning."

"I understand, Minerva," he said, his voice calmer than it had been only moments before. "I just wished to address the boy's punishment." He looked over her shoulder as Harry and Hermione joined hands and began walking out, Hermione tugging Harry out of earshot until he went willingly. "As his only parent in the school, I need to deal with his disciplinary problems before they get out of hand. There's a great deal I must get through to that boy, the sooner, the better." He took a step towards the door.

"I am dealing with them both, Severus," McGonagall said, standing in his way as Harry and Hermione left the Great Hall. "Unless you don't feel I'm capable of handling a matter of student discipline."

"No, I--of course you can handle it," he responded.

"Then do not interfere," she said. "I am controlling everything that goes on around Harry for the time being. As his parent, you may have trouble being objective about his discipline. I have no such issues. Don't concern yourself with him." McGonagall turned and followed the two students then, missing the look of curious surprise that briefly crossed Snape's face before he renewed his normal apathetic expression.