"Um," a thought struck Harry and he glanced over at his professor nervously. "You're not still mad at my professor, are you?" he asked Sirius. "I mean, I know there are a lot of people you're probably still mad at for believing you did all those things the Ministry said you did, but Pr'fessor Snape's not one of them, right?" Becoming an animagus sounded hard and maybe a bit dangerous, and if his godfather was still annoyed with his guardianтАж
Sirius stared at Harry. "You mean he didn't tell you?" he gasped. Snape's head came up, but he wasn't in time to prevent Black's next words. "Snape's the one who broke me out!"
Harry's eyes bugged. Professor Snape?? His guardian had been the one to smuggle his godfather out of that prison that everyone said was impossible to escape? His guardian had been the one to break the rules like that? "But тАУ but why?" he gulped, staring at Snape.
Snape's hands itched to strangle the mutt. Black had the restraint of a kumquat! Was there anything he didn't spill on the spot? How could Lily have ever thought of using this idiot as their SECRET keeper?
"Now, Severus," Remus said, correctly interpreting Snape's rage, "we're all in this together. Keeping secrets among the four of us isn't really necessary, now is it?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Lupin, Harry is eleven years old," Snape spat. "He is a child. He is not to be burdened with keeping adults' secrets for them! He has enough to worry about without taking on additional concerns that are well beyond his power to control and equally beyond his maturity to consider rationally!"
"I am so mature enough!" Harry protested.
"No, you are not," Snape shot back. "While I do not dispute that you are at least as mature as Black, that is still not saying very much."
"Oi!" Black exclaimed, but Snape ignored him.
"He is a child, Lupin, not a co-conspirator. While there is no value in keeping him wholly ignorant of matters which affect him, it is equally dangerous to treat him as if he were a fully grown wizard with an adult's experience and judgment. I will decide what he is told, when and how. That is what I am here for." At least until Black replaces me, he added silently.
Harry started to pout, but then remembered he had even more interesting news to ask about. "Why did you help Sirius to escape?" he demanded, tugging on his guardian's sleeve. "I thought you didn't like him."
"I don't," Snape said shortly. Sirius rolled his eyes.
Harry frowned in thought. "When did you help him?"
"What difference does it make?" Snape snapped at the boy, hoping to head off the line of inquiry. Of all the times for Harry to finally be perceptive, this was definitely the most awkward!
"Was it before or after you said you'd take care of me?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"I can answer that," Sirius said sweetly, ignoring Snape's "SHUT UP, MUTT!". "It was just afterwards."
Snape slumped. This was what he got for hanging around with Gryffindors. Sure enough, the brat had put the pieces together and was staring at him with unabashed adoration. "You did it for me?" he squeaked. "You got my godfather back for me?"
Snape grumbled and muttered as the boy тАУ naturally тАУ hurled himself against him, further bruising his sternum and getting his robes all snotty. Black and Lupin looked on, beaming proudly at the mess they had created.
"All right, all right," Snape growled, finally pulling the boy away from him and mopping up all the splooge with a handkerchief. Did all children leak from happiness the way this brat did? "Now mark me well, Potter, you are not to mention your godfather's escape nor my part in it to anyone. That includes any of the Weasleys, Granger, the Headmaster, or anyone else. Do you understand?" Harry nodded vigorously. "You are also not to breathe a word about your idiot godfather's animagus form, the fact that Lupin is a werewolf, or that you are a parselmouth тАУ that you can speak with snakes. Do you understand? If you do тАУ"
"I know," Harry grinned through his tears, "you'll smack me."
"No, Mr Potter. You will put all of us тАУ and all of your friends тАУ in jeopardy from the Dark Lord." Harry lost his grin. "This knowledge is not being held secret out of a puerile sense of adventure. Rather, it is information that can assist us in the fight against You Know Who. If you reveal it, it will put people's lives at risk and impair our ability to prosecute our campaign against Him. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded soberly. "I won't tell. Honest. I'm good at keeping secrets."
That Snape didn't doubt. Harry had kept the secrets of those bastard Muggles all too well. "Very well. Then we will say no more about it."
"Hold on," Sirius butted in. "What does Harry mean, you'll smack him? Have you laid a hand on my godson? After what you said those fucking Muggles did to him?"
Harry's eyes widened. Oooooh, his godfather swore! And right in front of him!
"Padfoot!" Remus rebuked. "Language!"
"Moony! He hit Harry!"
Remus sighed. "Did you deserve it?" he asked quietly, bending down to look Harry in the eye.
Harry nodded.
"How long before you could sit down?"
Harry blushed. "Er, maybe a minute or two," he exaggerated, worried that his professor would look bad otherwise.
Remus blinked. "Is that all?"
"ErrrтАж could have been three or four," Harry offered.
"So it doesn't sound as if it was a very hard walloping?"
Harry shook his head. "He's not really good at smacking, to tell you the truth. He doesn't like to hit, and he doesn't know how. Mostly he just scolds and has me write essays or lines, but he doesn't even make me do that very much. He тАУ he's really nice to me. Nicer than Mr Weasley even!"
"And he just swats your bum, right? With his hand?"
Harry nodded.
"He doesn't hit your face or anything else?"
Harry shook his head.
"He doesn't use his wand?"
Harry frowned, perplexed. "Y'mean to hit me with?"
Remus fought back a smile. "No, to hex you."
"Oh, we haven't started duellin'. Pr'fessor Snape says I'm not ready yet."
"No, no. I meant does he hex you for punishment?"
Harry's eyes widened. "You mean using magic to hurt me?" At Remus' nod, he huffed in outrage. "Pr'fessor!" he turned to Snape, scandalized. "Remus is asking if you ever hex me for punishment! Do people - I mean wizards - really do that?"
Part of Snape тАУ the part that wasn't busy exchanging loud insults with Sirius тАУ felt a glow of pride and triumph that he was the one Harry trusted. The brat still didn't trust the werewolf's word. No, it was Snape, the nasty Slytherin, who'd won his loyalty first.
Unfortunately, the little voice in his head pointed out this would hardly be the case much longer, and the sweetness turned to ashes. "Yes, yes, Potter," he said testily. "Some wizarding families do use magic to discipline their offspring. I'm sure some of your classmates are very familiar with the practice."
"Huh." Harry folded his arms across his chest and glowered at Remus. "That's disgusting."
Remus decided he didn't need to bother asking whether Snape had ever used any Dark curses on the child. "What did you get your last smacking for?"
Harry squirmed, his embarrassment returning. "There was this DADA professor at schoolтАж"
Remus blinked. "You mean Quirrell?"
Harry looked surprised. "Yeah! You heard about that?"