Snape stood taut, as if he was forcing himself not to flinch, but he merely shrugged. "I did not realize who it would target," he said, and went on before Harry could say that it was terrible anyway, even if it turned not to be Harry. "So, I stayed on as Potions master at Hogwarts, in a position that I am sure you have noticed I hated and nearly no one else wanted me in, either, because I wished to atone. I thought that guarding you and spying on the Dark Lord when he returned would be enough to do that."
"But then you discovered that the boy you vowed to protect never existed at all," Harry murmured.
"Yes. If I made the Vow in your name, or in the name of 'the only survivor of that Halloween night' or something similar, it would still hold. But I made it in the name of 'Lily Potter's son.'" Snape shook his head, a weird expression creeping over his face. It took Harry longer than it should have to recognize it as a smile. "And so, I have recently determined that the Vow no longer binds me."
Harry gave him a nervous smile. He would have liked to go somewhere and think about all this, instead of sitting there. "All right. So you're leaving, sir? Resigning, you said?"
"Yes." Snape bent over and shut a small leather case Harry hadn't noticed sitting on the floor beside him with a snap. "I thought at first that I might offer you copies of some photographs I still have of Lily, but I fear that would be—inappropriate."
Harry nodded. Part of him would still have liked to have them, but, well, he had the photo album of the Potters Hagrid had given him, even if he had hidden it carefully in the bottom of his trunk and never took it out when his parents or Draco were around. And he wasn't sure what he would feel staring at the face of a woman who had loved him and kidnapped him and died for him and caused his parents misery for twelve years.
"I hope you have a good holiday, sir," Harry said, because it was the only thing he could think of to say, and then added, "Do you know who Professor Dumbledore is getting in as the next Potions professor?"
"I have no idea." Snape looked so happy when he was saying it that Harry ducked his head to hide his grin.
"All right. I—thanks for telling me the truth." Harry had thought of saying something like, "Thanks for guarding me," but Snape hadn't had any choice in that, and he was really happy to be free and not doing it anymore, so Harry thought he wouldn't. And he couldn't really thank Snape for the other information he had talked about.
Even if it's better to know it than not know it.
"A word of advice," Snape said, and pinned Harry in place with his gaze. Harry held his breath, wondering if it would be about the prophecy or Voldemort. But Snape said, "Make your slices smaller when cutting up ingredients such as horned slugs. If you do not, you will never be as good at Potions as your twin."
"Er," Harry said, stunned. "Thank you. Sir."
Snape nodded and gestured out the door with one billowing sleeve, and Harry went out, shaking his head. He sighed when he found Draco in the corridor. Draco had given up following him everywhere all the time every day, but he still took his "protective big brother" act too seriously for Harry's liking.
"You could have waited for me," Draco grumbled, falling into step beside him.
"Yeah, but Snape wanted to talk to me, and I don't think he would have if you were there."
Draco gave a long sigh that seemed to use up half the air in his body, but shook his head in a way that felt more like accepting what Harry had said than disagreeing with it. "What did he want to tell you?"
"That he's leaving. Resigning. And he thought I deserved to know about that Vow he made, which doesn't bind him anymore because he vowed to protect Lily Potter's son, who doesn't exist." Harry was going to keep the bit about Snape being the one to carry the prophecy to Voldemort to himself until he figured out how he felt about it.
Well, and because he came from a vengeance-happy family. It was entirely possible that Mother or Father or Draco would want to hunt down Snape, even though he hadn't had anything to do with the kidnapping, because he was part of the reason Voldemort had targeted Harry.
"What!" Draco exclaimed, coming to a dead stop.
Harry turned to him and nodded. "I know. It's kind of weird he talked about it when he was avoiding talking about it to me all year—"
"Not that!" Draco folded his arms and huffed dramatically. "He can't just leave! He's the Potions Professor! He's Slytherin's Head of House! Who are they going to have in to replace him?"
Harry blinked, then chuckled. He hadn't even thought about the fact that Snape's leaving would mean the Slytherins needed a new Head of House, but then, it wasn't his House. "I don't know. Maybe the person who taught Potions before Snape? And maybe one of the other professors was a Slytherin and could take over those Head duties?"
"This is not fair!" Draco declared, and turned around as if he was going to march right after Snape and make him explain himself. But when Harry looked around, Snape had already disappeared. If he'd really hated being here, Harry supposed he couldn't blame him.
"It is not fair!" Draco repeated, turning around and fuming at Harry. "I suppose you don't care, because you never liked him! But I care!"
"Well, try to find him and talk to him about it," Harry suggested, and Draco gave him a determined nod before turning and running off. Harry shook his head and went back to Gryffindor Tower, where he was sure that Ron and Hermione would be waiting for him.
Later, he found out that Draco had sent off an owl to their parents with a long rant in it. Harry was just as glad that he hadn't had to listen to more of it, but he did wish he could have been there to see their parents' faces when they got it.
....
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