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We won't?" The boy asked, confusion etched on his face.
"I stay at Sev's over the holidays. Well, I stay at Sev's for much longer than the holidays but… Look, I promise I'll explain everything." Harry stopped and took a deep breath. "Remember how I said that there were a few things about me that I couldn't share?" Neville nodded. "I think it's time I did."
"And not staying at the manor has something to do with that, correct?" Neville asked, showcasing the same depth of perception Harry had witnessed during the past year. The teen looked confused but not wary and the raven haired wizard took that as a good sign to proceed.
"Yes. It has everything to do with that." Harry admitted, his voice ringing steady and much more firm than he presently felt.
"We'll have to use the floo network once more, if you don't mind." Severus offered, speeding up the process. "I'll go first, you'll go second and Harry will follow after you." The boy nodded in understanding, blanching just a bit but overall reacting better than he had last Christmas when they had ventured to Diagon Alley for his new wand; he hadn't forgotten it seemed and in that very moment Severus understood why Harry had chosen to trust him with his secret. With all the loyalty burning inside the young Longbottom heir, the boy could just as well have been a Hufflepuff and Severus meant that as the best of compliments. "You have nothing to fear, I assure you." Neville took one look at his friend's hopeful eyes and nodded firmly, his mind made up.
"Lead the way then, professor." Severus smiled at the boy -who seemed more shocked at that simple gesture than he had been at the whole conversation so far- and stepped into the once again green flames.
"Silbreith!" He pronounced and he was gone in burst of emerald, leaving Harry and Neville alone for a few moments.
"Just enter the fireplace and say "Silbreith", okay?" Harry questioned.
"Silbreith, got it." Neville stated, nodding once more.
"And I promise Nev, I'll explain everything." Green eyes lowered to stare at the floor for a few moments. "Just, please, once we get there, let me get everything out of my chest before you ask any questions; I'll answer everything, I swear, just…" He stared into his best friend's brown eyes beseechingly. "It's going to be a little difficult for me, laying everything out in the open."
"Okay then." Neville agreed, walking towards the fireplace. "I trust you, Harry, you know that." Then he turned around, a handful of floo powder in his grasp and a slight smirk on his face. "Just cut it with the prologues, if you would; it doesn't take much for my imagination to come up with the worst case scenario." He frowned slightly. "You're not dying from some rare disease and professor Snape is the only one capable of producing the counter-potion, right?" Harry just stared blankly at his friend, blinking once, twice, before dissolving into laughter.
"No, nothing like that." He assured him, wiping the tears off his face.
"Okay then." Neville repeated, throwing the powder at the flames and clearly pronouncing the name of his destination. The moment the fire returned to normal, Harry took a deep, calming breath and followed his best friend home, trying not to think too much on what he was about to do. By the time he stepped out of the fireplace in Silbreith -now surrounded by the welcome familiarity of home and his father's secure presence- he had half convinced himself he could do this. Neville was his friend and his brother in all that counted; he owed him his trust and his honesty. Speaking of Neville, the teen seemed completely awed by his surroundings. Harry had never, not for a single moment in his life, stopped appreciating the beauty of Silbreith, but that first jaw-dropping wonder of living in a castle had worn off, giving its place to the much deeper and warmer sense of simply being home. His best friend's reaction however was completely understandable.
"Is this Hogwarts?" Neville asked, looking around carefully.
"No." Severus explained.
"But it is a castle." The boy stated, his eyes roaming from the high, arched ceiling all the way down to the hardwood floors and everything in between.
"It is." Harry assured him, making his presence known to his distracted friend.
"It's called Silbreith and it's located in Scotland, a bit further to the north than Hogwarts." Severus provided, ever helpful. "Harry and I however, simply call it home." Neville's eyes immediately widened at that proclamation, as his attention focused on his best friend and his potions' professor.
"I… what?" Harry smiled softly.
"Would you like to take this to the library? It would be much more comfortable than just standing here." Trying not to ponder much on the fact that Severus Snape's home -and Harry's too?- not only was a castle but also had its own library, Neville nodded numbly following his friend's lead. The corridors and stairwells passed them by as they walked in silence, Neville trying to take everything in. So, professor Snape lived in a castle. Huh. From all the things he had expected when Harry had told him that there was more to the potions master than what he let on, him being a castle owner wasn't even in the list. After walking down an imposing gallery -the portraits seemed just as shocked to see him, Neville thought, as he was to find himself in a castle- they reached a set of grand double doors that must have been the ones leading to the library, the teen concluded, as they stopped in front of them. Harry smiled encouragingly at his friend before stepping forward and pushing the doors open.
It was the library, Neville realised as he stared away slack-jawed, the rays of the morning sun seeping in through the stained glass covering the largest part of the wall opposite to him bathing the two floors filled with books in colourful light. Someone cleared his throat behind him and Neville turned around to gawk at one professor Snape; the man in question was bestowing him the same reassuring smile his best friend had a few moments before, stunning him once more to silence.
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