~The Apprentice~

Harry Potter, during the summer prior to sixth year, finds himself acting as Professor Snape's "apprentice", a position created because Harry needs to learn more to beat Lord Voldemort. He is to be called Snape's "apprentice" because, as the story goes, Snape is developing a new potion and he needs an assistant, and as Harry only got an E on his OWL, it will allow him to gain the necessary experience to take the NEWT class.

Neither are very happy about the arrangement, but Harry has resigned himself to the fact that he does, in fact, need to learn so that nobody else dies because of him. He is still torn up over the death of his godfather, Sirius Black. Severus Snape doesn't particularly want to teach the boy after the incident with his pensieve, but he knows he must do what Headmaster Dumbledore instructs him to do.

This will be an interesting summer for both of them.

A summer with Professor Snape, opposed to a summer at home, with his cousin, and his horrible Aunt and Uncle. He wasn’t sure which would be worse, though he was assuming the summer with Snape would be, and he found himself actually wanting to be with his cousin and them. But he knew he had no choice but to do it, after all it was Dumbledore who requested it and he couldn’t go against what he asked. As much as he didn’t like Snape, he knew there was a lot he could learn from him, and with Voldemort being back like he was, he couldn’t afford to skip on the chance to learn anything new. And he knew Professor Snape was probably one of the best teachers they had, and one of the best to learn from after Dumbledore, that was.

Well, he was about to find out what his summer was going to be like, it was almost time to meet up with Professor Snape. He thought about not going at all, but he knew he had to, and knew in a sense he had to face the music. He looked around the meeting place, in till he spotted the familiar tall, dark haired man, which he had never gotten along with. In fact he couldn’t even remember one nice word, or moment that had passed between them. It made sense though, Snape was head of Slytherin and Harry was part of the rival house. He took in a deep breath as he walked over to him “Professor Snape” he said as he looked at him, not sure what else there was to say. At least he had been on time, and couldn’t be chewed out for being late or something like that.

A summer with Potter, as opposed to a summer by himself, without any annoying children around, was his fate, it seemed. He would not admit that he was ever-so-slightly lonely at times, by himself, but he knew for a fact that he'd rather be lonely than spend any more time than necessary with the Potter spawn. "Ah, well, it is not as if I have much choice," he thought, replaying the conversation he had previously held with Albus.

"But Headmaster, you cannot seriously think that I would consent to spending another three months with the boy?" he had protested.
"You do not have a choice in this matter, Severus," Albus had replied, calmly, "the boy needs to learn and you are the only person able to teach him at this point. I have my own part to play at this time; I must amass information."
"Have I not done enough?" Severus had bit out, immensely disliking the situation and almost believing he had actually done enough. Nothing would be enough, but that didn't mean he wanted to spend time with Potter.
"Oh, Severus, you know I would not ask you if there were any other means for the boy to learn. He needs to learn, though, and you must teach him. There will be no arguing," Albus had replied, effectively stopping Severus's tirade.

That was how he found himself picking the boy up at the Order headquarters. He presumed that the Weasleys had brought him here. He looked around for a moment, then spotted the boy standing, ready and waiting, in the hall, which was to be their meeting place. "Potter," he answered. "You are ready to leave, then," he asked, though in a tone of voice that implied the question was rhetorical and that if the boy wasn't ready to go, Severus wasn't going to wait for him.

Harry forced back a rude response to him asking if he was ready to leave. If he wasn’t ready to leave then he wouldn’t be standing there right now. He could already tell this summer was going to be hell; they both didn’t want to spend it with each other. And on top of Snape’s lessons he still had to do all his school homework, if he even had any time to do any extra work. “Yes, I’m ready sir” he finally said, once he had forced back the words he actually wanted to say. If he was rude or even the slightest bit mean, summer would be even harder then it needed to be.

He almost asked where they were going, but didn’t, he didn’t want to talk to him unless he had to. He waited for Snape to start moving, he had no idea where they were going but he had no choice but to follow after him, and let him lead the way, joy. Well at least, he could hope for one thing, that summer would fly by, and go by a lot faster than it had the years before.

"Wonderful," Severus stated sarcastically. He hoped that the boy knew how much he absolutely did not want him intruding on his summer. He'd thought about where he should bring the boy, and after a discussion with the Headmaster, knew that Hogwarts was not the place to be due to the fact that the wards had to be reset every year, making it vulnerable to attack. The only other place which Severus could even think to take the boy would be his house in Spinner's End. He detested the house almost as much as Potter, but he had nowhere else to go. At least he would have the opportunity to belittle Potter without anyone around to bother him about how unjust it was. Unjust, his arse. Potter deserved it for being such an insufferable brat.

"Follow, Potter," he bit out, walking out of the house and not intending on telling the boy where they were headed until they got to his house. "We shall be doing a Side-Along Apparition," he explained without emotion. "Have you any idea how that works?"

‘You could at least pretend like having to spend the summer with me, is worse than the death sentence’ he thought to himself. He really had no idea what he had done to Snape to make him dislike him so much, sure he broke rules and stuff, but that wasn’t even HIS problem that was Professor McGonagall’s problem. The more he thought about it, the less reasons he could come up with, besides the fact he was in the rival house, but that was a pretty stupid reason to hate him, and treat him like he did. Why couldn't Dumbledore have picked another teacher for him to do work with? There had to be some other teacher, which could teach everything Snape could and was a hell of a lot nicer. It was too late to look back now, he had to face the music and deal with it.

Harry nodded and followed after him, he didn’t exactly like how Snape talked to him but there was nothing he could do about it, he had no choice. “Yes, I know how it works” He said. He honestly wasn’t that stupid, well sometimes he wasn’t, and he was glad he knew how this worked. He didn’t really want to hold on to Snape’s arm but he had no choice, he reached out and took a hold of it, waiting for him to kill him with a look for just touching him.

((I tend to think that Harry was pretty aware that Snape hated his father (due to barbs and Occlumency lessons), and that a lot of the hate Snape had for Harry was predisposed because of it. That's just my thoughts on the issue, though. xD ))

Severus felt like shuddering now that the boy's hand was on his arm. Potter's hand felt warm even through Severus's layers of clothing. If he didn't know that this was the least amount of contact they could have while performing a Side-Along Apparition, he'd be angry beyond belief. As it was, he wanted to glare at Potter, but he wanted to get out of the area more, so he Apparated them both to an alleyway near his house that nobody ever used. "My house is down the street," he told the boy, somewhat quietly as to not draw attention from anyone else. "Follow me," he ordered, striding towards his house--it wasn't his home; he hated the place, and that was probably why he didn't further object to bringing Potter there. He went as fast as he dared; if Potter didn't keep up, that wasn't his problem. The boy could do whatever he wanted, for the most part; all Severus had to do was teach him more DADA material and have him assist in potions work occasionally--very occasionally. The boy was horrid in his class. He never did anything correctly, which, if it were any other student, Severus might ponder why, but it was Potter and as such he did not care one bit.

When he touched other people, it felt warm, but he felt nothing but coldness when he touched Snape. He made a mental note to avoid touching Snape as much as he could; it was almost like there was no happiness or love in him, like he was just a living breathing statue. That wasn’t the first time he had Apparated, he had done it once before with Dumbledore, the feeling however didn’t get much better, it was an odd sort of feeling really. “Were going to your house?” He asked. Great he had to live in his lair of evilness, just what he needed, to live in Snapes house all summer, Oh the friken joy. He debated for a moment before he followed after Snape, he would rather get lost and wonder the streets for a few years, then spend the summer in his house, right now anything sounded better then what his future was. He followed after Snape carefully, so he didn’t get lost, him getting lost would just give him a reason to say something snide like he always did.

[[Lol, I forgot about that]]

[[It's all good. xD]]

Severus glanced back, seeing Harry hesitate. "Potter, this neighborhood is not one in which you'd want to get lost," he whispered haltingly. Good, the boy was following him. Really, the boy acted as if Severus only wanted to reprimand him for something, anything, everything. Oh, wait, that's right, he did. Didn't he? Of course he did. He glanced back at the boy, who was now following him at a good pace. Damn, he couldn't find anything for which to reproach the boy. Then he decided he'd spent much too much time even thinking about it, which was actually very unusual. Usually, he'd just notice something for which to make a snide remark and do it, rather than it being a conscious effort. He forced himself to think about the new article in Potions Quarterly about dandelion roots and what he would have done to improve it.

Soon enough, of course, they were at his house. He hated the thing. "Here, Potter, is my house. This is where you will be spending your summer," he told the boy in an annoyed tone.

Was there any neighborhood you really wanted to get lost in? You never wanted to get lost, but he understood that certain areas were worse than others. But he had a feeling that getting lost might be better then what ever was waiting for him at Professor Snape’s house. Well it wasn’t so bad; he hadn’t really said anything snide to him yet and had simply leaded him to where they were going. Maybe they would be able to get along after all, although he doubted that. He would have to make sure to keep Ron and Hermione informed, after all he had promised them he would, if he was allowed to. He was going to have to ask about that one a little later, if he didn’t forget. Honestly he was afraid to ask, because he was expecting Snape to tell him no he couldn’t just to be mean and urk him. “You… have a nice house, Sir” He said. It wasn’t that bad, not what he had been expecting him to live in, a coffin would have been more appropriate for someone so cold hearted.

Severus snorted. "Potter, you can tell me the truth. I am aware that this bloody house is an eyesore. I personally loathe it," he told the boy. He quickly did a spell that would allow Potter to enter the house; although it was in a Muggle area, he had warded it in case anyone wanted to snoop around, so he had to add Potter to the wards.

"Come inside, Potter," he ordered, opening the door and walking into the house. Ah, dreary as always. There was a layer of dust on everything that came from not giving a shit regarding cleaning it, despite the fact that it would've only been a matter of minutes--maybe hours. There was not much furniture, and what was there was not very pretty. There was a shabby couch, some very scratched endtables...everything in the house was like that, except the beds, which weren't so old and shabby. That's not to say they were wonderful and new, but they were simply not as bad.

Also, Severus had a television in his room, which was a secret. He routinely Disillusioned it unless he wanted to use it, but now it seemed as though he wouldn't get a chance because Potter was around. He didn't want to admit it, ever, but he really did enjoy some Muggle movies, and he'd miss the opportunity to watch them. He figured Potter was familiar with television, but he didn't want even Potter to know that he had one. Especially not after he'd seen him call Lily a--that nasty term that he had used without thought. It disgusted him to think about it--he disgusted himself, so he tried not to think of the incident, but Potter had made that quite difficult. "Damned boy," he thought to himself, scowling.

Harry was a bit dumbfounded and wasn’t sure what to say to his comment. He wasn’t expecting a thank you, but he wasn’t really expecting him to tell him it was an eyesore. He figured he was better off keeping his mouth shut, because if he agreed with him, he might yell at him or something, he wasn’t going to slip up and risk giving him the chance to say something to him, he would be careful, and hopefully stay on Snape’s good side the whole summer.

With a small nod, Harry acknowledged and followed Snape inside. It certainly didn’t look like it was well lived it, or well cleaned. The furniture looked like they had been through hell and back; it certainly wasn’t as nice on the inside as he had originally thought. At least he only had to spend a summer here, and then he would never have to step bad into his house “I had a question to ask you Sir” He said. He knew if he didn’t ask it now, he probably wouldn’t get up the nerve to ask him later. In fact he wasn’t even sure how he had got the nerve to ask now, but keeping in touch with his friends would probably be the only thing that kept him sane this summer “Am, I allowed to keep in touch with my friends?” He asked softly.

Severus saw Potter eying the furniture distastefully. "Not what you're used to, is it, Potter?" He remarked snidely. Of course, snatches of memories he'd seen in Occlumency lessons revealed that it wasn't. The house Potter lived in was apparently rather neat and clean. "You may clean it if you wish, but I find that it just reminds me of my hate for the place," he explained.

He nodded to signify that he'd heard Potter's request and would listen. As Potter asked if he could keep in touch with his friends, Severus almost spat "NO!" but...he remembered that not being allowed to be in contact with Lily, his best friend, had been painful. He was many things, but he wasn't a monster and this wasn't truly a punishment. In any event, Potter had just inadvertently caused the death of his dogfather, so he was probably grieving; Severus did not want to have to deal with that. Let his friends deal with it.

"Yes, Potter, you will be permitted to keep in contact with your friends. In fact, if you are doing well in your lessons, I will allow you to spend a few days with them--but, ah, not here," he told the boy, who would probably be extremely surprised at this concession. Really, though, it was just so that he would be spared some of the boy's grief. He'd hear no end of it if the Headmaster found out he'd somehow accidentally hurt the Boy-Who-Lived emotionally to the point where he did something stupid. Severus had a lot invested in Potter, since he wanted his Lord destroyed as much as--or more than--the rest of them.

“I think you misunderstand, just because something looks nice on the outside, does not mean it really is” He said. He was used to things like this, after all he did used to live in a closet under the stairwell, where saw dust would end up on his head, and his brother would torture him. Sure his aunt and uncles house was spotless, but he would have probably lived in a straw house with dirt everywhere, that would have indeed been better.

Harry watched him nervously, waiting for his answer, which every second that past convinced him more and more that it would be a big fat no. He needed someone to talk to though, and Snape wouldn’t listen to him, wouldn’t tell him what he needed to hear. Plus if he didn’t contact Ron and Hermione they would probably come looking for him because they thought he was dead or something. “Uh” He said a bit blankly when he finally answered. For a moment he thought he had heard him wrong, that was the only conclusion he could think of, unless he had actually said something nice, which it seemed like he had “Thank you” He finally said.

Potter was correct, for once, and Severus did not, of course, wish to admit it, so he merely hmph-ed and nodded once. "People...have the tendency to desire what they do not possess," he mused softly. He had always wished to live in a beautiful house--that was something for which he envied Potter, though he'd never admit it.

Then the boy showed his usual incoherency, to which Severus could better respond. "Eloquent as always, Potter," he sneered, mostly dismissing Potter's thank you. As he was unused to getting thank-yous, especially from the Gryffindor Golden Boy himself, he was not certain as to how to react, so he settled for a glance at the boy and then walked off to his room. Speaking of rooms, he realized that he hadn't told Potter where to sleep--that could prove to be extremely annoying, as Potter would probably interrupt him during something rather important--as Potter, the annoying, spoiled child, usually did. He stopped, but didn't turn back, and started to speak. "Potter," he instructed, "your room is there." He pointed to the door to the room that was to be Potter's. "Do not bother me with nonsense, but do not hesitate to inform me if you have a vision. Do not. If you do not, and I find out..." he trailed off, finding himself becoming angry. "Ah, my room, which is that one"--here, he pointed to it--"is also off-limits, as well as the basement where my Potions Laboratory is located. You may find yourself food or eat with me, whichever you prefer--but I have no House-Elf and as I'm sure your cooking skills are every bit as bad as your Potions proficiency, I shall inform you of mealtimes.

“But that’s often, because they want a better life” he said. He had desired things he didn’t possess, like a family who loved him, and he got that when he meet Ron and Hermione. He wanted his parents back, but he couldn’t have that, he wanted a lot of things that he couldn’t have. But a lot of people wanted things they couldn’t have, his were just simpler, then most, like a simple life, a mother and father that were his, to not be famous. Harry turned and glanced at the door to the room that was ‘his’. He had never really had a room he could call his, but for the summer that was his room. Back at his ‘real’ home, his room was his cousins old room and they constantly reminded him of that, nothing was his in the house, he was the freak that shouldn’t even be there. “Don’t worry, if I have a vision, I’ll tell you” he said honestly. Those visions weren’t something he would hid, after all who knew what could happen if he did. “I’ll keep out of them” He added. He didn’t want to get in trouble, besides he didn’t even want to step foot into such places that were Snape’s. “If you do not mind, Sir, I would rather, eat with you, after all I am a guest and it would be rude to do otherwise, Sir” He said. Even though he didn’t really want to eat with him, it would be rude not to, after all he was staying and intruding in his house.

Severus merely grunted. He knew what it was like to wish for a better life, of course, but why would Potter understand that? Did he want to know? Yes, he found that he did what to know what Saint Potter wanted to be better. "And what, Mister Potter, do you so badly want?" he asked quietly but in a snide tone.

As the boy told him, in what seemed like a rather honest tone, that he'd tell him of any visions, he merely nodded. Whether or not the boy was honest didn't matter terribly; all he cared about was the boy's part in the war. He did have a huge part, of cousre, but as long as he could somehow fulfill his...destiny, nothing else really mattered in Severus's eyes.

"That is fine, if you wish, but do not let the fact that you perceive it as rude be any sort of hindrance. I do not care, honestly, Potter," he told the boy. He wasn't lying, either. He wouldn't die before sharing a meal with Potter or any such rot, but neither did he specifically want to do so. No, he'd be perfectly happy cooking for himself as usual, and leaving leftovers for Potter if he wanted them.

Harry glanced over at him “What do I want?” He asked. There were a lot of things he wanted, but there was really only one thing he wanted, and that was his family back “What I want, I can’t ever have” He said finally. He could never have his mother and father back, so telling him he wanted that, served no purpose “What I really want, is for my Aunt and Uncle to treat me differently, or to get away from them” He said. Either or worked, Snape was probably just going to think he was being ungrateful or something, but he wasn’t, living in that house was torture.

Harry didn’t bother saying much to that, he didn’t particularly want to eat with Snape but he didn’t want to be rude either, after all he was going to have to survive the summer with him, so getting on his good side (if there was one) was the best possible option. He wanted to make sure this summer went by as fast and as easily as it possibly could.

Severus frowned, wondering if there was something serious behind Potter's wants; annoying as he was, Severus would've thought he'd want a wife and children or something of the sort, more than his guardians changing their treatment of him.

"Do they not treat you enough like a hero for your tastes?" he asked, with a touch of biting annoyance--and also a touch of curiousity which he'd deny emphatically if questioned.

Potter didn't seem to understand that he truly did not wish to eat with him. "Potter, I truly do not particularly wish to eat with you, and I shall not call you rude if you do not wish to do so. If you do wish me to be subjected to your company, I shan't complain, but that is all. If I had not shared my lack of opinion on the matter, I possibly might have, but it would be idiotic of me to disparage you based on something I've told you," he told the boy expressly, muttering under his breath, "Merlin knows, there is enough that I don't have to, anyway."

“I never asked to be treated like a hero, Professor, and I don’t remember asking for my parents to die so I could be treated like one” He said a bit harshly. He hadn’t meant for it to come out in that tone, but he hated when people compared him to a hero, he lost his parents that night, that was something he could never get back. “My Aunt and Uncle treat me, like I’m not even human” he said. That was the best way he could think of to describe it, because the truth was, that was how the treated him, like he wasn’t human “I’m the freak, they’d rather not have around” he said.

He had no idea why he was even telling Snape all this, although he had asked he probably didn’t care, and he had probably given him a much longer answer then he wanted “Fine I won’t eat with you then” he said. It didn’t really matter to him, if he ate with him, he was just trying to be nice and respectful but it didn’t seem like Snape cared much.

Severus frowned, hating the words coming from the boy's mouth. To acknowledge them as unbiased truth would uproot everything he ever knew about the boy. To blow them off as fiction could...destroy him; that wasn't acceptable as the boy had a part to play in the war--a big part.

Severus chose to simply say, "Don't use that tone with me." Then, he gave the boy a look which would hopefully convey that he'd heard him, and swept off to his room.

Once in there he sank down onto his small, semi-comfortable bed--the bedrooms were clean, lest Potter moan about the disgusting state of his room. Then again...maybe he wouldn't, if he were to be taken seriously about his Muggle relations. Did Severus even want to think about that? It seemed to parallel his own childhood in some sense--to Tobias Snape, Severus was as freaky as they came.

It also seemed as if the boy did not enjoy fame, which couldn't be true. He acted so arrogant and self-absorbed; he must love fame. It made sense in Severus's mind. Annoyed, he decided to stop thinking about the imbecile and pull out a book.

Harry didn't say anything he simply nodded and watched him walk towards his bedroom. Once Snape was out of sight he headed into the room that he was told was 'his'. Well it was better then his room at home. He was almost surprised Snape hadn't come up with some snide comment about what he said, it was just the thing he would do. Say he was making it up, or over reacting, because his life was perfect and he was famous. He never asked the world to be famous, he would much rather still have his parents. Sure fame could be a good thing, but it depended on what you gave up to get it.

He sighed some as he glanced around the room, it wasn't the cleanest but it didn't bother him, it was nice in an odd sort of way. He had a feeling this summer was going to be deathly boring, at least though it seemed like he would be left alone for the most part and he wouldn't have to put up with his Cousin. His cousin treated him worse then his aunt and uncle combined together. He sighed as he walked over to the window and looked out of it, maybe something would make this summer interesting, just maybe.

After not being able to concentrate on his book, which he should've known since he was terribly distracted by Potter's casually uttered words that suggested such suffering. Since Potter would not leave his mind, despite his best control, which should not have failed, he decided to start thinking about lesson plans for the boy.

He and Potter would have to duel, and he vaguely remembered Potter's large, oversized clothing might not and hoped Potter wouldn't be stupid enough to wear something that didn't fit decently when dueling. Surely he must own some clothes that fit, but maybe he preferred wearing extremely loose clothing? That sounded stupid, when Severus thought of it like that, but he couldn't think of any other reason.

“My aunt and uncle treat me like I’m not even human,” flitted through his mind. He frowned, remembering snatches of an extremely large boy in Potter's memories. His cousin?

Why was he still thinking about this? Noticing the time, Severus decided to go find something to eat. The refrigerator was adequately stocked, so he decided to go make some stew.

Harry sighed as he cleaned up some of the dust around the room that had clearly become pretty bad because of the room not being used. Although he didn’t really mind, it was fine with him, he could clean it up and make it better, and even dirty it was still nicer than his room back as his aunt’s house. Although that room was cleaner, he had to live being reminded every day that he only got that room because of his cousin and he should be grateful that they gave it to him at all. He would’ve rather been living under the staircase still, then dealing with them using it as some sort of leverage.

Once the finished cleaning the room some, he found himself rather hungry, so he walked into the kitchen. But once he got there he saw Snape was there, and Snape had made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to eat with him “I’ll just come back later” He muttered softly and turned and went back to his room. He could always waste time writing Ron and Hermione, but there wasn’t much to tell them yet.

Severus looked up at Potter, who had walked into the kitchen but was now turning around. "Potter, you may stay if you wish to eat," he said, not terribly unkindly, but rather offhand because he was busy making food. When he was making potions or cooking, he was usually extremely focused and rarely put as much vitriol into anything he said.

Anyway, Potter hadn't done anything completely imbecilic so far, and Severus wanted to find something about Potter about which he could be angry rather than admit that Potter wasn't actually so bad.

He sighed, imperceptibly, for reasons unbeknownst even to himself. Annoyance at this situation, most probably, it was. "I'm preparing stew," he intoned, in case Potter was still standing there, but did not turn around to check. When he'd finished getting everything in the pot, it'd have to cook for another fifteen minutes, at which time he would probably read a book. Potter could do whatever his little heart desired, really.