Chapter Seven of 'Practicing Liars'- Spying Missions Successful and Unsuccessful

[lomonaaeren]

Title: Practicing Liars (7/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Summary: AU of HBP. Harry found out that he was Snape’s son two years ago, and he’s carefully concealed it. But now Snape is his Defense teacher, and Draco Malfoy is up to something, and Dumbledore is dying, and the final battle is coming up, and everything is getting very, very complicated.
Pairings: Background Ron/Hermione and Ron/Lavender. Harry and Draco have a ‘complicated friendship’ which will become a preslash relationship. For obvious reasons, Snape/Lily is mentioned.
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence (lots of violence), profanity, angst, character death (not Snape, Harry, or Draco), slash and het hints.
Author’s Notes: While I’m hoping to make this plot at least somewhat original, I know that I’m treading on well-covered ground. I don’t know yet how long the story will be, except that it will be novel-length. Practicing Liars is being written for my dear soft2smooth2000, who has helped me wonderfully with keeping track of and linking to my fics on LJ.

Chapter One.

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Seven—Spying Missions Successful and Unsuccessful

“Expelliarmus!”

Harry spun around in surprise. He’d been talking to Ginny and hadn’t watched what was happening next to him. And sure, maybe he’d been holding onto his wand a little more loosely than usual, but if he couldn’t relax in the middle of Dumbledore’s Army with all his friends around him, where could he do it?

His wand flew away from him and into the middle of Edgar Buttons’s hand. Buttons looked as shocked as anyone else that it had worked, but after a minute, he started grinning. He marched up to hand the wand back to Harry, his grin growing larger.

“I tried,” he said happily. “I didn’t think it would work, but I tried, just to see what would happen, and it worked!”

Harry could feel the eyes of the watchers fixed on him, wondering what would happen next. Ron was leaning forwards with a frown, as if he thought Harry should punish Buttons for doing something like that. Hermione had her hand to her mouth, covering up her smile. Ginny blinked a few times and then grinned back at Buttons.

They would take their cue from him, Harry knew. He cleared his throat and nodded to Buttons. “Good for you,” he said. “And thanks for the reminder that I should really strap my wand to my wrist!” He took it back.

A few people laughed. Buttons bowed to him, the full formal duelist’s bow that Harry had been trying to teach them for a while. Hermione was one of the people laughing, but Harry bowed back to Buttons and did his best to smile.

*

Severus drew in a soft, vast, irritated breath. How was Potter to become a competent duelist if he let a younger student steal his wand without a fight?

Severus stood under a Disillusionment Charm in the corner of the room nearest the door. It had been easy to slip in behind the younger students, who, Potter’s teaching of constant vigilance or not, did not pay nearly enough attention to what was going on around them. Severus found it harder to forgive the older students, such as Potter himself, their lapse of concern.

He had watched many of the students spar, sneering to see that they made more of an effort here than they did in Defense, but also making note of their strengths. His new class stood in danger of becoming far more boring to teach than Potions. Potions required a certain level of awareness even when it was going well, because many recipes could change quickly and disastrously with the addition of a single wrong ingredient (and expecting his students to add only the right ingredients was like expecting Albus to stop offering people lemon drops). If Severus knew more about the way these students evidently liked to learn and what they were good at, then he could try to provoke the same responses from them in class.

But his eyes returned again and again to Potter, who was, after all, Severus’s main reason for attending these training sessions in the first place. He watched the way he interacted with others, the spells he chose to teach, the encouragement he offered, and the spells he cast. The more he watched, the more his disgust deepened. Potter could be doing better than he was on every level—not simply in the speed with which he hurled his magic, but in the force and finesse that he put behind it. It was evident that Potter’s holding back had caused Severus to mistake his strength, as well.

But he could not help watching with wonder, too.

This little “army” had been good for more than simply teaching Potter how to teach. They had taught Potter speed and skill and fighting in company. Severus had recognized the tactics Potter used in the last duel against him in class, once he had time to watch a Pensieve memory of the fight and isolate the individual movements from one another. Potter fought as though several people were confronting him at once, a situation Severus had watched him training with in Dumbledore’s Army several times now.

That was the source of his brilliance. Potter was training to take on multiple opponents without even thinking about it. Naturally, he appeared overwhelming and a genius against a single one.

Some of it was likely natural talent, as well; in the same way that the boy had inherited the ability to maneuver skillfully on a broom from his bloody father despite no prior training, he appeared to have inherited the ability to dodge and roll out of the way, and thus buy himself the time for his slower mind to put spells together and decide on the next defense. It was a talent of the body, not intelligence. But Severus thought most of it was due to that unconscious training.

And that meant that he needed to encourage Potter to make it more conscious. Doubtless Potter would slow down a bit at first; he would have to think more, and that would interfere with the blinding speed with which he could layer spells and evasive movements together. But Severus had watched Potions students progress through unconscious, unschooled raw talent to conscious and somewhat floundering skill to conscious and polished mastery, and he was confident that Potter could take the same route.

Now. I am confident now.

Observing the boy without Potter’s knowing he was there had changed Severus’s perception in astounding ways. When the brat was not insulting him, he had no temptation to think of insults that he could hurl in return. When Potter was not determined to show Severus up, Severus could think more rationally about what he had done and planned to do.

He did not like the thought, because it suggested some uncomfortable truths about the limitations of his own perceptions down the years, but he would rather face an uncomfortable truth than deny it.

At least, once it has come to my attention.

His gaze went back to Potter, and he frowned. Potter had moved away from Buttons the wand-stealer and was standing still in the center of the room, his eyes fastened on the far wall. His breathing had become very fast, though Severus thought he was the only one who had noticed in the center of that room full of shouts and the loud crack of misfired spells. His wand rose once, then fell down to his side and hung there, wavering.

Severus followed the motion. There was nothing there. He whispered a small spell that would allow him to detect the Dark Arts, in case someone outside the room was attempting to use them and Potter had felt it. Nothing.

Potter shut his eyes and shivered. Then he pressed one hand to his scar and turned abruptly away from the wall as someone from a second group called his name.

Severus narrowed his eyes, knowing he must contrive a new meeting with Potter sometime in the next few days if the boy did not come to him.

*

Harry looked at the faces of the people opposite him, and tried not to think of the white Dementors he had clearly seen gliding across the room.

Behind me now.

His shoulders seized up as he thought of them sweeping through the room, seizing and eating people’s souls, and how few students here would be able to stop them because not many people could actually produce a Patronus Charm—

Then Harry released a shaky breath and stepped back a few paces so he could hold a Shield Charm against the Blasting Curse that Sita Landers, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, was going to try and cast.

I’m here. I held off a hundred Dementors with my Patronus once. I can do it again if they’re really here and if they start hurting people.

This time, though, the white Dementors had seemed more ghostly; Harry had seen them dip in and out of the walls. He had done his best to remember Dumbledore’s suspicion that he was seeing something through his connection with Voldemort, and even though his scar hadn’t burned when he touched it, he didn’t see what else it could be, since no one else was reacting the way they would have to a ghost.

Turning his back on them was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he managed to do it, and then he could even act and talk to people like he was normal. He wondered if he would have been able to do that if more people saw the white Dementors or if someone had asked him about them, but since they didn’t—

“Reducto!”

Harry barely snapped himself out of his trance in time to lift the Shield Charm. More than one person gasped or cheered as the Blasting Curse snapped back across the room, and some of them ducked. Harry smiled and glanced over his shoulder once. The white Dementors were gone.

And his scar still hadn’t burned.

Harry swallowed. Maybe it was time to think about those Occlumency lessons that Dumbledore had recommended.

*

Draco shut his burning eyes and rubbed hard at them. No matter how long he spent on the various Dark Arts books that he had wrangled from other Slytherins, or the one he had got from Professor Snape, or the ones he had located in the library that talked about Dark Arts in a theoretical way, no solution offered itself.

The problem was the bloody Vanishing Cabinet. It just ate magic that Draco sent at it the way it seemed to eat people. It had rents and cracks and holes that ought to have been simple enough to repair, but instead the rents and cracks gobbled down his spells and then sat there silently laughing at him.

Cabinets can’t laugh, Draco. His mother would have said that in her cool, soothing voice if she was here, Draco thought, rubbing harder at his eyes. It is time to go to bed when you begin thinking that they do.

“Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco yelped and flopped back in his chair, then scrambled to cover up the title of the book he was reading. No, it wasn’t a very evil book, and he hadn’t got it from the Restricted Section, but if someone saw it and then started putting the pieces together…if someone had followed him when he went to the Room of Hidden Things…

The cold silence next to the table told him who it must be before he looked up. But he did look up, and tried to meet Professor Snape’s gaze with some semblance of composure. If someone had to catch him, he would rather it be Snape, because the professor had given him that Dark Arts book in the first place and that gave Draco a tiny bit of power over him. “Sir,” he said, gracefully inclining his head.

“What are you doing?” Professor Snape’s eyes flicked from the book to his face, as if he could see the contents printed on Draco’s cheeks. Draco had to stop himself from reaching up to make sure that that hadn’t happened. He’d come close to falling asleep on the book a few times, though not tonight.

“Studying, sir.” It didn’t take much effort for Draco to add a sneer to his voice. “No matter how I study, Professor Slughorn still plays favorites and gives Potter higher marks than I get, even though I’m the better natural talent!” It was the kind of thing that Professor Snape would expect to hear him complaining about, so it was the strongest lie.

The professor sat down in the chair across from him. Draco kept himself from gaping, but it was hard. He looked down at his book and tried to pretend that he didn’t feel that burning stare from less than two feet away.

“Draco.” The professor’s voice was heavy, soft, and slow, and he traced the grain of the wood in the table with one finger, as though he was finding a new Potions recipe by following it. “I want you to consider, carefully, where you should spend your effort. Some things are worth the striving, and other things are not.” He leaned back in his chair and gave Draco the kind of cool, open stare that Draco remembered from long nights of brewing potions for extra practice in his private office.

Draco tugged at his collar. He felt as though his robes were stuck to him, and realized a moment later that he was sweating like a Muggle. He hoped Professor Snape hadn’t noticed it, and then got rid of that hope. Of course Professor Snape had noticed it. He noticed everything like that, and there wasn’t much that Draco could do about it.

“A-are you saying that I shouldn’t spend as much time trying to pull up my Potions marks, sir?” His voice came out smaller and shakier than he would have liked. Draco looked down at the table and told himself that was only because it was so unexpected for Professor Snape not to care about Potions, but he knew better.

“Did I say anything about marks? No. Only about effort.” Professor Snape’s voice had become even heavier. “I depended on you for years to see where your true interest lies, Draco, and thus what efforts you should engage in to promote yourself. You cannot do everything. What would you choose, did you have to? What would bring you the most satisfaction, the most fulfillment of your ambitions, the most praise and adulation in after life?”

Draco stared up at him. He wanted to spill out the whole story, given the way that Professor Snape looked back at him. He wanted to cry, given the burning of his eyes—though he hastily told himself that that wasn’t really true, it was just the way things felt, with everything so overwhelming right now.

He couldn’t remember the last time someone had told him to consider what he wanted, instead of implying that he had to do everything because of loyalty to the Dark Lord or loyalty to his parents.

Where does my own interest lie?

But then he remembered why he couldn’t exactly listen to Professor Snape’s advice on this. He had to repair the Vanishing Cabinet and serve the Dark Lord to save the lives of his parents. Professor Snape wouldn’t really understand that because he didn’t have a family. He couldn’t understand how important that was to someone who was raised to think of himself as a Malfoy first and his own good only second, if at all.

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow and walked away before he could reply. Draco swallowed again and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. That was an acceptable gesture. Someone who saw him would just think that he was tired from studying.

It’s hard, I don’t want to do it, but I have to go ahead. Because it’s my family, and no one else is ever going to help me. Or us.

*

Harry took several deep breaths. He could do this. He had to do this. He didn’t need to feel as though someone was going to eat his skull off if he did it.

But for all that, he stood there, frozen, for ticking second after ticking second, until he finally forced himself to reach up and knock firmly on the door to Professor Snape’s office.

It opened at once. Snape stood behind it, staring down at him with dark eyes that made Harry want to look away. But he took another deep breath and met them and said as politely as he could, “I was thinking that maybe I could train with you. If you still want to train with me. And Occlumency lessons, like Dumbledore asked.” He paused, thinking that something was missing, and saw the way that Snape’s mouth was a little tight, like Uncle Vernon’s before he would start yelling, and realized what was missing. He added quickly, “Sir.”

Snape stood there staring at him for so long that Harry was sure he was going to say no. He nodded and started to turn away, telling himself that he would just have to find a way to deal with the white Dementors on his own. Maybe they weren’t even real, and if he could remember that and just ignore them when they tried to appear, then maybe he could—

“I did not dismiss you, Mr. Potter.”

Harry stopped with a hiss. He hated when Snape did that. Here Harry was trying to do something good, something that Snape seemed to want him to do sometimes, and he was making a big stupid thing out of it. He turned his head around and scowled at Snape, not caring if it would get points taken off.

Snape continued watching him, and then asked, “Are you doing this because you wish to please the Headmaster, or are you doing this with the intention of becoming skilled in Occlumency and the other skills I can teach you?”

Harry blinked and turned to face him again. Snape had sounded almost—nice when he said that. Or, well, not as much like a bastard as he generally did, anyway.

“I’m doing it because he suggested it,” Harry said. “And because I think that Voldemort—” Snape winced, but Harry just went on talking before he could say something about calling him the Dark Lord instead “—is sending me visions through my scar. I saw the white Dementors again today. I don’t know why he wants me to see them, but that’s the only thing I can figure out. And I want them to stop, and I want to get better at all those skills so that I can keep people safe.”

Snape lowered his eyelids across half his eyes. Harry scowled at him. He didn’t know what that meant, but he hated it when Snape did it. And he seemed to do it all the time, so it probably meant something important. But Harry had never been that good at reading people’s faces.

Finally Snape said, quietly, as if he was talking to someone else and Harry just happened to be listening in, “Have you considered bettering your skills so that you can become a better fighter, not simply a better fighter against the Dark Lord?”

“Well—yeah,” Harry said, uncertain where Snape was going with this. “Of course, sir. I want to be an Auror eventually.” But I won’t if you don’t let me pass Defense, he thought, but swallowed the words. He didn’t want to start an argument about that with Snape right now. He did wonder what Snape would say if he knew that Harry was doing better in Potions because of the Half-Blood Prince’s book, and not because he had some kind of natural talent for it. “Is that what you’re talking about?”

“Not quite,” breathed Snape. “What would you do if you became an Auror, Mister Potter?”

Harry narrowed his eyes. What is this? He has to want to know this because he’s going to use it against me somehow, but he’s asking questions that are so weird that I don’t understand how he’s going to use them.

Snape was starting to look impatient, so Harry rushed into his answer. “Protect people, and chase Dark wizards,” he said. He was trying to think of other things Aurors did, because talking too much about the ones he knew personally would reveal information about the Order of the Phoenix, and there were probably Slytherins hiding in the dungeons and trying to listen for that. See, Sirius? I am trying to do better so that other people don’t die. I promise. “And work for the Ministry,” he added. “And train.” Snape’s face steadily darkened, and Harry said in some desperation, “What do you want, sir?”

“I want you to consider how your skills could matter to you,” Snape said, his voice guttural, but not, Harry thought, with anger. “How they could serve to advance your goals and make you a better wizard.”

Harry wanted to sneer. All Slytherins think about is ambition, all the time. But it probably wouldn’t be smart to say that to someone he was hoping would teach him. He nodded slowly instead and pretended to have a lot of deep thoughts about it, the way he’d sometimes pretended to listen to the Dursleys when they lectured him about manners. “Yeah, sir. I haven’t thought about that, but that could happen.”

Snape gave him a thin smile. “Then I agree to teach you, Mister Potter, as long as you conduct yourself as a model of respectability, responsibility, and studious zeal by arriving on time, attending to my instructions, and completing the extra homework that I give you. Our sessions will be twice weekly at first, once on Tuesday evenings for Occlumency and once on Thursday evenings for Defense.”

Harry wanted to groan. Extra homework?? But Snape was just waiting for something like that, so he nodded and said, “I understand, sir. Thank you,” and then turned and hurried away up the corridor.

He had the feeling that Snape was standing there and watching him go, but he didn’t want to glance over his shoulder and see. He had more important things to do, like starting his first spying mission on Malfoy.

*

Draco thought of something that would cheer him up before he began work on the Vanishing Cabinet that evening. Dumbledore had tried to cast a spell on his food at dinner that evening, and the spell had failed. That meant the rumors his Aunt Bellatrix had hinted at were true: the old barmy fool was losing his magic, and so their Lord’s triumph couldn’t be far away.

With a smile on his face, Draco lifted his wand and tried the first of the spells he had learned from his latest theoretical book in the library. It was a spell that was supposed to make an inanimate object “remember” what it was like when it was whole, and so bring it back to that state.

“Tene memoriam!”

Tiny white starbursts took their places on the outside of the Cabinet. Draco held his breath. That was what the book had said was supposed to happen! The spell was going to work!

Then the starbursts faded, and Draco was left staring at a Vanishing Cabinet that looked exactly the same as before. He wanted to howl in frustration, but he settled for kicking a stupid diadem that lay near his feet instead. It sailed into the rubbish, and Draco turned back to the Cabinet and prepared to try the second spell he’d picked up, though with less hope.

Then he cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. There was a rustling sound behind him—a sound that made him think…

Without giving himself time to really think about it, he whirled around and leaped on the rustling noise. It meant that he sprawled painfully across several stacks of books and broken furniture, but it was worth it, because his hands closed on something silky that suddenly became visible and a startled, squeaking person who tried to jab a wand into his throat.

Draco batted the hand and the wand away, because his was already drawn, and jammed his wand into the other person’s throat instead. The person tried to hide his face underneath the cloth that Draco could clearly see was an Invisibility Cloak, but Draco twitched it aside and found himself staring into…

Potter’s eyes.

Draco reacted without thinking again. He dug his wand in further and whispered in a tone he hoped was dangerous, “You have two seconds to tell me what you’re doing here, Potter, and if I don’t like it, you’re going to end up as Dark toast.”

Potter’s eyes widened, and Draco felt a surge of vicious triumph. He was in control for the first time since he’d stepped on Potter’s nose in the Hogwarts Express.

“I’m waiting,” he whispered, and shoved the wand in until he thought he could almost feel Potter’s windpipe crumple beneath it.

He won’t get away with this. I won’t let him.

Dizzy with joy, Draco wondered what the Dark Lord would give him if he was the one to destroy the Boy-Who-Lived. His parents might be safe after all.

Chapter Eight.

Comments

[la-mariane.livejournal.com]

Ahh! That's a mean cliff-hanger!

I really liked Snape's thoughts when he spied on Harry teaching the DA. And I'm curious about the "white Dementors".

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Sorry!

The white Dementors will be explained in more detail later, but several other things have to happen first.

[critterel.livejournal.com]

Oooo this is different! I do hope they start working together! Poor baby Draco needs a friend! And Harry can be such a good friend to Draco! And he's sorta cute too... : ) Looking forward to seeing how THIS works out!

Clare

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We'll see if Draco is willing to accept Harry's friendship later, or is too ashamed to let him close.

[firedraygon97.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I was wondering how the title of the chapter would fit. Very nice work. Poor Harry, he really needs to stop relying so much on his invisibility cloak, especially after it failed him that time on the Hogwarts Express. Nice chapter, please write more soon!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Harry is probably all the more fiercely attached to it because it belonged to James, and he still wants to think of himself as James's son.

[jtsbbsps-dk.livejournal.com]

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!! What a cliffhanger!!! O.O
You've totally saved my evening! Now I'm in a cheerful mood to tackle my homework from doom! XD

HARRY AND SNAPE IS WIN!!! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE PRIVATE LESSONS!!! ♥!!!

the ability to maneuver skillfully on a broom from his bloody father despite no prior training, Lol, yeah right- his Father *sniggers* Damn, I can't wait for Severus to figure out XD Although I know I'll have to wait quite a number of chapers...

He couldn’t remember the last time someone had told him to consider what he wanted, instead of implying that he had to do everything because of loyalty to the Dark Lord or loyalty to his parents. AaaaW! Draco! *huggles him* He's not going to have it easy in this fic, is he?

like starting his first spying mission on Malfoy. LOL! Harry is the awesome! And look how well that went! XP Your chapter title is SO appropriate! XD

kicking a stupid diadem that lay near his feet instead LOOOL!!! I love you! Hahahahaa! Random Horcrux is random and AWESOME! XDDD

I LOVE THIS!!!
♥

[jtsbbsps-dk.livejournal.com]

HARRY AND SNAPE IS WIN!!! See? You got me so excited I forgot basic grammar!!! They ARE win! A LOT of WIN! (It's not like that's correct either, but fuck it, it's fandom slang! xb)

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Snape is going to be baffled, among many other things, by the fact that he will have to re-evaluated where many of Harry's character traits came from, if he didn't inherit anything from James.

Draco will have it hard, but that's partially because he has to grow up first, and accept that he's not alone.

I'm really glad you like this so much!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, the irony of the comments Severus makes about Harry's inherited broom skills from his 'bloody father'. Now that I think about it, we've had absolutely no thoughts from Severus about Harry's other parent in this story. On purpose, I take it? I imagine it will take a lot before Severus allows himself to see any of Lily in Harry, or to think about her in general.

Draco seems to miss the fact that Severus is almost obstusively sticking his hand under Draco's nose and waving it around, waiting for Draco to take it and accept some help. Then again, he's a bit distracted, and full of uber Malfoy pride. It just seems (from beyond the fourth wall, anyway) that he's subconciously trying to avoid getting help, even though he claims to want it. Secret inner desire for success/proving his worth? Or am I just grasping at story straws?

Can't wait to see what in the world you do with the current Harry-Draco standoff. And the Horcrux made a cameo. It was cute.
-Jolene

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I forgot. "Dark toast." I normally like my toast golden brown, but if it involves Harry, I'll take mine crispy around the edges! Hee, I loved that line.
-Jolene

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

I think Severus in general doesn't think a lot about Lily when Harry is around. It would be too painful to remember constantly that he's the reason she's dead and Harry is alive but an orphan (well, one of the reasons).

Draco is already committed to the idea that he will have to act alone (or he was). He does want help, but then he decides that he can't accept it because people don't understand, etc. It's really for the best that Harry forced the matter and made him accept help.

Thank you!

[shini-tenshi.livejournal.com]

I had to smile at Draco's threat. I know it's not a good thing that Harry's been caught... but then again, he's acting like a jackass in this fic so maybe between Snape and Draco they can take him down a notch.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Really? Why do you think he's acting like a jackass? (I certainly don't think he's an angel, but I've tried to make his destruction of Severus's letter and his actions in hiding the secret as rational as possible).

[shini-tenshi.livejournal.com]

To me, he's all 'woe is me, the only person's feelings that matter is mine', et. al. I'm not talking so much the secret-keeping, more of how he acts toward Snape, Malfoy, and others who aren't the Golden Trio.
I know that they have also acted antagonistic towards him since day one *and I know this is fiction based on fiction*, but I always feel that Harry brought a lot of hard feelings and actions on himself in canon by only looking at one side of whatever situation he is in. Except for Voldemort, he always took the first option and never thought things through.

Anyways, I guess the main thing is that I'm looking at it from an adult point-of-view and need to think like an angsty teen instead :)
Also, I tend to like Draco more no matter what fic I read. I have a bias for Draco :D

[soft2smooth2000.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! *cries*

^_^

--so apart from the part where you're this medieval torturer type for leaving us with that cliffie, oh LOVE the dialogue in this chapter....

“I want you to consider how your skills could matter to you,” Snape said, his voice guttural, but not, Harry thought, with anger. “How they could serve to advance your goals and make you a better wizard.” Oh. My. YES. Harry can you not see the light yet?

and,

“Draco.” The professor’s voice was heavy, soft, and slow, and he traced the grain of the wood in the table with one finger, as though he was finding a new Potions recipe by following it. “I want you to consider, carefully, where you should spend your effort. Some things are worth the striving, and other things are not.” He leaned back in his chair and gave Draco the kind of cool, open stare that Draco remembered from long nights of brewing potions for extra practice in his private office.

gutted me. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Love, love how Severus is reaching out to both boys albeit in different ways.

also the added supposedly through ins like Harry's flying and the kicking of The diadem.... and hah, love the fact that both father and son are on spying missions!!! Hieee. :)

-sorry. again, not coherent, but my GOD this fic is positively endorphin-inducing! *giddy grin*

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Harry sees ambition as a Slytherin "thing." He thinks that wanting to be a hero just to be a hero would be a stupid thing to do, since, in part, it would prove all those tales that people have told about him being an attention-seeker.

[in-praesenti.livejournal.com]

Woah, I agree with everyone, that's one hell of a cliffhanger!
In the last part, since it's from Draco's point of view, it seems like Harry is at disadvantage. Somehow I have this feeling that Draco's being a bit overconfident there, though... Can't wait to see what happens next!

You know, with the way you've portrayed these characters in this story, I keep on thinking, 'No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong!' Since it seems to me that there is no understanding at all between everyone (It's a good thing - it's one of the things that makes this story absolutely awesome, IMO :D) I'm looking forward to the point where they at least start to understand each other a bit better (where not everything is based on assumptions alone).

Can't say which story I'm loving more at the moment, Soldier's Welcome or this one :D

Just wondering, the 'lots of violence' in your header, is that still coming? Because I can't say there has been much up 'till now.

because it suggested some uncomfortable truths about the limitations of his own perceptions down the years
That is so canon, except for the part where Snape realises it...

To be honest, I wasn't that interested in this story in the beginning because about every story I've tried to read before that concerns a non-canon parentage were - I'm sorry to the authors out there - pretty close to awful. I like it very much that it started with such a simple and human mistake (comfort seeking drunken Lily, etc.).

[in-praesenti.livejournal.com]

Oops, third line paragraph was supposed to be at the end. My comment looks rather awkward now... Sorry for that.

[in-praesenti.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I feel like I'm spamming your journal :(

Just wanted to point out a minor typo in the chapter title >>> you missed a 'c' there.

By the way, did I ever mention that I like that you always give cool titles to your chapters? Well, I do :D

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Draco was seriously overconfident. He forgot that surprising Harry once doesn't mean he'll always have the upper hand in the confrontation.

Harry starts understanding Draco first, and then Snape moves a little closer to understanding Harry (though he still can't understand everything as long as he doesn't know the secret that Harry's taking such pains to keep).

Yes, there will be some violence in the future, particularly because there is a possible raid on Malfoy Manor coming up.

And no problems. I've read a lot of Severitus stories that were pretty bad; I rarely read one all the way through, despite its being a genre I like.

[marionquixote.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how much I love Practicing Liars. I love how Harry is so dedicated to his study of DADA, and although he's a natural at it, it's not pure talent. I also like how you have Snape changing his mind about Harry; it's at a believable pace, a lot different from many fics that feature suddenly-Harry's-mentor!Snape.

I'm glad that you're switching when Snape's paternity will be revealed. So much more drama is possible if it's in the middle, and then they can develop the father/son aspect of their relationship before Harry has to face Voldemort. I'm a sucker for stories that include "Oh no! My loved one is dead! Oh woe!...wait...my loved one is not dead! Oh joy!" situations.

I'm so excited!!!!!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Snape only started getting interested in the first place because Dumbledore told him to, basically. But now he'll have no choice except to investigate further and further, compelled by his own curiosity.

Yeah, in this case I think it would be a mistake to wait until the end. Way too little room for development of the relationship, I think.

Practicing Liar

[gomenace.livejournal.com]

Geez, now I have to follow this story as well! You are really making me spend some time each day returning to LJ. Then again, I can't fault you, since your stories are to very well written.

I don't know, how you do it, but I am quite amazed with all your interesting plots.

I look forward to reading the next chapter.

Sincerely,
Sofie.

Re: Practicing Liar

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying them.