A School Run By Voldemort by thegoldenfirebolt
Summary: Voldemort comes back into his power well before Harry starts at Hogwarts, and brings with him quite significant changes.
Join Harry as he starts Hogwarts and navigates a new world. Snape is just trying to do his job.
Categories: Teacher Snape > Professor Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Voldemort
Snape Flavour: Snape Disciplines , Snape is Angry, Snape is Controlling, Snape is Mean, Snape is Stern
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, General
Media Type: Story
Tags: Alternate Universe, Hufflepuff!Harry, Kidnapped
Takes Place: 1st summer before Hogwarts, 1st Year
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 2 Completed: No Word count: 7098 Read: 1109 Published: 03 Sep 2023 Updated: 18 May 2024
Explanations by thegoldenfirebolt

 

The bus was both horrible and exhilarating. Harry laughed nervously as the seats he and Snape were sitting on spun around the inside of the bus, attached only at the top, by a pole with a bell on it. Just as fast as it had accelerated, the bus stopped dead, and the seat tipped dangerously forwards. Snape’s wand was already in his hand, and the man dragged it through the air to create a kind of gloop which stuck the chair in place.

Harry thought that would just mean all of the other chairs would crash into them, now that they weren’t a moving target. The conductor announced that they had arrived in Kent, and an elderly couple climbed aboard carefully, heading for a cluster of armchairs.

 

“Can I get you sirs a drink?” The conductor asked Harry and Snape, walking over without holding onto anything as the bus lurched into motion. He reached into a bag by his side and pulled out two large mugs, one of tea, and the other piled high with whipped cream.

 

“No.” Snape said flatly, looking unimpressed.

 

Harry watched as the man put them both back in the bag, without spilling a single drop. The conductor moved on to the couple who had just got on, and started sorting out their tickets.

 

“Don’t we need tickets, professor?” Harry asked cautiously.

 

Snape cast his eyes upwards, but Harry didn’t think he was looking at the chandelier over their heads. “Not today. The ministry arranges free transport for teachers accompanying minors to Hogwarts.”

 

“Do you need to fetch all the students?”

 

“All those from non-magical families.”

 

Harry thought about this for a minute. So you had families who had magic, and then people who didn’t, but were wizards anyway. He wondered if his Mum and Dad might have lived if they had been magical. Maybe there wouldn’t have been a car for them to crash, if wizards took the bus everywhere. Although the bus didn’t seem particularly safe.

 

“Does everyone take the bus to How- Ho… The school?”

 

“Hogwarts.” Snape corrected shortly. “No.”

 

“Oh.” Harry knew that Snape didn’t want him to ask any more questions, so he tried to be quiet. But he had so many questions to ask, that one burst out of him, not even ten seconds later. “How-“

“There is a train.” Snape cut him off. “I take it you would prefer to be silent by choice, Potter?”

 

Harry huffed, and looked out of the window at the countryside speeding past. The bus stopped in a tiny country lane in Wales (based on the wild spelling of the road signs), then almost instantly at the side of a motorway in York.

Harry thought that Snape was a strange kind of teacher to send out to find students for a school, but held his tongue on the subject, lest the man take more direct steps to ward off questions. The bus stopped in London again, outside of a grimy looking pub on what looked like a pedestrian street, about six people got on there. A family, and a man by himself.

 

The family had a little baby with them who wailed as the bus sped along. The baby had two older brothers, a little younger than Harry by the look of it, who peered curiously at him from their sofa, and gaped at the ropes holding him in his seat. After a couple of minutes, they seemed to get bored of whispering and started talking about racing brooms instead. Harry’s ears perked up, interested. Snape telling him that he could learn to fly had been one of the most interesting parts of what he had said about magic.

 

The bus ground to a halt reasonably slowly for once, and Snape released Harry from his seat. Harry felt a bit sick as he stood up- from all of the stopping and starting and being thrown about in his seat. The conductor shouted “Hogsmeade” from somewhere, and appeared from the deck above. He took Harry’s case out for them, dropping it to the ground next to the grim professor.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

They had come to a stop in an old-fashioned looking village of squat stone houses. It was still early morning, but there were a few people wandering around in strange colourful clothes and tall hats like the people on the bus.

Even stranger were the birds which were flying along the street. Harry blinked at them, confused, were they all owls? Some of them even looked like they were carrying newspapers, or letters, in their claws.

Harry picked up his case, noticing that Snape was looking impatient again. The man was looking down a path leading out of town, then he turned to look at the village they were on the edge of. He nodded to himself, glancing down at his charge.

“Come.” He said, walking towards the houses.

 

Harry followed, struggling a little with the unwieldly case. It was a bit cumbersome, when a backpack would have contained Harry’s meagre belongings. 

They walked past a few quiet shops, and a relatively bustling post office (which also seemed to be selling owls, to Harry’s confusion), turning down a side street as they went. Harry kept his eyes peeled for the school, but none of the buildings was much larger than a house. Snape led him to a shop with a peeling sign, with a gruesome picture of a bloody pig’s head swinging in a light wind.

 

Coming in the door, Harry could smell the sweet smell of warm, spilled beer, and Harry realised that the shop was actually a pub. There was only one person there this early in the day, a bearded old man with bright eyes who standing behind the bar and wiping at the counter top half-heartedly with an already grimy looking cloth.

 

“Snape.” The man said gruffly. “Why do I have the misfortune of seeing you this early in the morning? And with some little brat too.”

 

Harry wondered if that meant the two men got on.

 

“I need a place to speak with the boy before I bring him up to the school.” Snape explained. “We will take a black coffee and a tea.”

“Only got goat milk for the tea at any rate, so you will just have to put up with that.”

 

“Fine.” Snape said dismissively. Harry wrinkled his nose.

 

“Who is the lad anyway?” The man squinted at Harry, “Someone important? They usually come in on the train though. And they like to get all the muggleborns to the school as fast as they can to save them vanishing again.”

 

“He isn’t important.” Snape said flatly. “But you will know of him. Aberforth, this is Harry Potter.”

 

The old man blinked slowly, staring at Harry, who looked back with interest. Why would this old man know who Harry was.

 

“Good morning Mister...” Harry trailed off as he realised he didn’t know the man’s surname. “Sir.”

 

“Mr Sir, is it?” He snorted. “I’m not a mister anything, Potter. You call me Aberforth, if you have to. Not that you’ll be back in here until you’re of age, if you’ve any brains.”

 

“We require a table, and some privacy.” Snape said pointedly.

 

“Yes, yes.” The old man waved them away.

 

Snape led them to a table away from the roaring fireplace, and the bar. “There is always someone listening through the fire.” He said, as if that made any sense, sitting himself down. Two greasy looking mugs appeared on the table.

 

Harry’s jaw dropped, and he sat down quickly, taking the mug closest to him and tapping it to see if it was real. It was totally solid! He tried the tea inside quickly and scalded his tongue on the boiling drink. He couldn’t taste it because it was so hot, but he thought he could smell the goat milk. 

 

Snape waved his wand in a circle around them, and Harry was aware of a slight buzzing noise. He saw Aberforth by the bar put a finger in one ear and twist it about, before glaring at Snape, irritated.

 

“He cannot hear us now.” Snape said. “Shut up and listen now, Potter, or I will make you shut up. What I am about to tell you is highly sensitive information, which most of your classmates will know of already. It concerns you, and you would be wise to pay attention.”

 

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it and nodded instead. Snape had had no problem using magic to keep the Dursleys quiet, Harry really didn’t want that to happen to him.

 

“As I told you, you are a wizard. Your relatives, obviously, are not magical. However, your mother and father were a witch and wizard.”

Harry’s jaw dropped again, and only Snape’s hand still being on his wand kept him from speaking.

 

“Your parents were… rebels of a sort. Vigilantes, fighting against a political movement which they disagreed with. There was one man in particular – we refer to him as our Lord- whom they targeted. There was a fight in their home when you were little over a year old, your parents both perished, and a curse struck you. This curse reflected and caused the temporary destruction of this Lord.”

 

“…” Harry gaped. How could destruction of a person be temporary? And his parents were killed in their own house? What kind of fight was that?

 

“The world carried on for a few years, and there were a few struggles in that time. The then headmaster of Hogwarts placed you with your muggle family, against the wishes of the people, and took control of the government. But our Lord was restored to himself, and freed the people from this Headmaster.”

 

Harry frowned why would a teacher of a school take charge of a country? And why would he have anything to do with what happened to Harry?

 

“Our Lord was later elected as our minister for magic – like the muggle prime minister. There is a new headmaster at Hogwarts, and the school is run a little differently to how it was in the past. Do you understand all of that?”

 

Harry blinked, assuming this was permission to ask questions, “My parents were killed by this man who’s now in charge of the country? Because they fought along with some other person who broke the law?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And I got hit by a spell that somehow killed the prime minister, but it’s okay, because he’s alive again?”

 

Snape picked at his nails carefully, not looking at Harry. “Minister for magic. You still have the scar, if you require proof.”

 

Harry’s hand went to his forehead, and the lightning bolt scar that he had had for as long as he could remember. He thought hard for a minute.

 

“So does this Minister guy hate me then? Is that why you’re warning me?”

 

Snape frowned, scraping away at a particularly yellow fingernail. “He is allowing you to come to Hogwarts to be educated. I do not believe he would allow that if he thought you were a threat to him.”

 

Harry couldn’t imagine that a scrawny ten year old would be much of a threat to a grown man who knew magic. He certainly hadn’t been much of a match for Snape this morning.

 

“However, it is true that some of the Minister’s supporters do some animosity towards you due to the roughly four years he was gone. There are also rebels, more like terrorists, who disagree with the minister’s views, who might be looking to have you as a figurehead for their efforts.”

 

Harry was speechless.

 

“I should warn you of course, that any attempts on your behalf to make contact with these rebels might alter the Minister’s assessment of the threat you pose to the country.  I wouldn’t count on your continued education if that were to occur.”

 

Harry nodded carefully, privately concerned about his continued existence if he pissed off this minister guy.

 

“However, if you prove to be studious, I expect you are likely to do as well as any other child from a non-magical family. Your parents were… not unintelligent at school. I suspect they were corrupted by our previous Headmaster.”

 

“What were they called?” Harry asked. Snape raised an eyebrow, and Harry knew he thought he was asking about his parents “No – I mean, this minister, and this headmaster.”

 

“We do not speak their names.” Snape said firmly.

 

“Why?” Harry scrunched up his nose, “That sounds stupid.”

 

Snape frowned, “We do not use the minister’s name out of respect. The Headmaster’s name is banned, as an effort to discourage rebellion. Using either name will get you in trouble – with the teachers at Hogwarts, or with Aurors’ assistants if you are in public.”

 

Snape pulled a sheet of curled up paper from the pocket of his coat, and what looked like a short, battered feather. He wrote down three words. Two names, by the look of it.

 

“Do not read these aloud. I will be unimpressed if you call the Aurors’ Assistants here,” Snape warned, pushing the paper across the table to Harry.

 

Voldemort

Albus Dumbledore

 

 “Which one’s which?” Harry asked.

 

“The first is the minister – Our Lord. The second is that old headmaster. I should tell you that we are currently in the company of his brother.”

 

Harry’s eyes widened in surprise, spinning in his seat to look for the barkeeper. He seemed to have left the room, however. “So that’s why he only has one name? Because nobody can say his surname?”

 

The professor nodded.

 

“That’s got to be really…”

 

“Inconvenient?” Snape suggested, “Undoubtedly so. However, everyone knows he is the Headmaster’s brother- the wizarding world is a small, albeit growing community. Everyone knows that he is simply ‘Aberforth’, and why. I imagine it was more inconvenient for those who had to change their first name.”

 

“Can you tell me about the school?” Harry asked, “You said it was different now? How is it different?”

 

“You have been assigned a student mentor, who will be able to explain all of this to you when we arrive at the castle. Besides which, it shall not be different to you, as you have no expectations for it. We had best be moving on. I must return to my other duties.”

 

“You mean getting more students?”

 

“No.” Snape waved his wand, and the faint buzzing disappeared. “You are the only student I am assigned to collect. I am the depute headmaster of Hogwarts, and as such shall co-ordinate the efforts of the other professors today. And manage any complications.”

 

“Oh.” So Snape had come out specially to drag Harry from his cupboard. Harry wondered whether this ‘Voldemort’ had sent him himself.  And Snape was the depute headmaster? He hadn’t mentioned that before.

 

They left the pub without seeing Aberforth again, but Snape left a few oddly shaped coins on top of the bar for their drinks.

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

They walked along the path where they had been dropped off the bus, Harry digesting all of the new information he had swirling around in his head, and Snape probably pretending that he didn’t have Harry trailing along just behind him, struggling with his case.

 

“You need to be careful.” Snape said, in such a sudden way that Harry stopped walking, thinking there was an imminent hazard. When nothing happened, Harry felt like an idiot and had to jog a few steps to catch up with Snape, who hadn’t waited for him.

 

“Careful how? Sir?”

 

“Careful at school, careful around wizards. Careful about what you say and what you do, and how you do it.” Snape folded his arms, not slowing down. “And never assume that the Dark Lord is unaware of what you do. He has, and will continue to take a special interest in you, and you would do well to be cautious around him.”

 

Harry was confused, “But what shouldn’t I do? Or say? I won’t ever see him, will I?”

 

“He comes to the Hogwarts gauntlet, annually.” Snape said. “I doubt He will seek you out then, but you should do your best to not stand out. Be mediocre without being hopeless, or else you must be brilliant and be perfect. Having met you, I suspect you should aim for mediocre. More generally, you should not misbehave, or say anything seditious.”

 

“Sedi-what?”

 

“Treasonous.” Snape said shortly. “Even in jest.”

 

Harry contemplated this, looking around at the path they were taking. They were walking along a shelf of a hill, which led up into a forest on one side, and a long drop to a lake on the other. There were strange noises coming from the forest, which looked like it got much thicker and darker as it went on. Thankfully, the path stayed quite close to the lake’s shore.

 

He caught a glimpse of brickwork far in the distance. “Is that it?”

Harry was quite excited in a way – if incredibly nervous – to see this new school where he would be spending the next year of his life.

 

Snape glanced in the direction he was pointing. “That’s the west wall, I think. You will see it properly in a minute if you stop dawdling and get a move on.”

 

Harry practically ran around the corner of the path, feeling Snape’s disapproving eyes on his back all the while. Then he saw it.

 

The castle was huge! Much bigger than Harry had expected. It rose up taller than any flats Harry had ever seen. Like a huge cathedral Harry had been to on a free school trip once. But it took up so much more space too, sprawling out, bigger than any building Harry had ever seen.

 

Snape caught up to Harry and kept going, still at that same pace. Harry remembered to breathe, and stumbled after him, down the path. They lost sight of all but some of the tallest towers as they went down the hill, the big castle walls blocking them from sight.

 

They came to some gates, which looked too heavy for any one person to move, but some tapping from Snape’s wand was all that was needed for them to swing obligingly open by themselves.

 

Harry got an even better view walking along the path up to the castle. The forest was shut out by the walls, and Harry was able to see the whole building. Now it was clear that there were also greenhouses, and a building by the lake, and some sort of stadium off in the distance.

 

It was in the direction of this stadium that they headed now, away from what looked like the main doors of the castle. As they got closer, Harry saw it was actually a tent, in yellow and orange stripes. Like a big version of the drawings Harry had seen of medieval jousting events. Harry mentioned this to Snape.

 

“An old duelling tent.” Snape said briefly, “During the summer term, we use the tent for tournament duels. Or else the quidditch pitch, or Great Hall, or shore of the lake, and suchlike.”

 

“Quidditch?”

 

“An inane sport those children were prattling about on the Knight Bus. A ball game played on brooms with unnecessarily complex rules. The matter at hand, however is what we use this tent for in the summer.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yes.” Snape’s face was blank. “You will have this explained to you shortly, but before term starts, you will stay in this tent. You will have a mentor, who will attempt to educate you on certain aspects of magic, in preparation for running the gauntlet- a task you must undertake to be admitted to Hogwarts.”

 

“A task? But you wanted me to come? Why bother to collect everyone if you’re gonna send loads of us away again?”

 

“We only want the best students attending Hogwarts. If you are not capable of a simple task, then you do not deserve to be here.” Snape said nastily.

 

“Will I have to do magic for this thing?” Harry asked, nervous. He had never cast magic on purpose in his life.

 

“It is usually not necessary at this stage. However, most gauntlets require at the very least an understanding of the very basics of magical theory. Inside now.”

 

Snape reached out, and pulled aside the flap of the tent, gesturing for Harry to precede him.

 

To be continued...


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=3889