Author's Note: I know this isn't my usual sort of thing, but a Severitus is
something that I feel I should have a go at. I'm hoping that this will
have a lot of new ideas coming up in it later on. Please R + R and tell me
what you think about it.
What were the ingredients for a Deathless Sleep potion, Harry thought desperately, working hard at his potions essay. No, he couldn't remember. He'd have to owl Her. . .
CRACK!!!!
Harry automatically whipped out his want like a shot and spun round to face the intruder.
"Stupefy!" he called, thanking the gods for the abandonment of the ban on underage wizardry now that the Ministry had acknowledged Voldemort's return. The intruder slumped to the floor. Harry rolled her over, recognizing the bubble gum pink hair. Checking for further identification, he found an Auror's pass card for the Ministry. It was Tonks.
"Enervate," he whispered. Tonks's eyes opened, but she still looked a bit disorientated.
"Wotcher Harry. Is that how you say hi to all of your guests these days? Mad Eye would be proud of you, he's always saying that you have sense."
"Sorry," said Harry guiltily.
"Don't be. I should have warned you I was coming, but I really didn't have time. You know what the powers that be are like if you start running late. Anyway, Gramps wants you at Hogwarts. He's had some private news that I think only he knows so far, but I think its gonna come as a shock to you."
"How do you know? And who's Gramps?"
"I always read his mail before I give it to him, its one advantage of being told off as post collector. Gramps is Dumbledore, he's my grandfather, you see. My dad changed his name when he discovered for sure that he was a Squib. I use Tonks all the time, always have. Anyway, Nymphadora Andromeda Dumbledore is even worse that N. Tonks, don't you think?"
"Uh yes, I guess."
"I'm just confusing you now. I do that to people a lot, I'm afraid. I've set up a portkey to take you straight to Hogwarts, activating inn 5-4- 3-2-1. . ."
Harry felt the now familiar jerk as he appeared in Dumbledore's office. The man himself was sitting at his desk, a bedraggled, tearstained letter in his hands.
"Harry, take a seat. You too, Nymphadora, since this concerns you also."
"Tonks please, or I'll start calling you Gramps in front of the others!!!"
"Okay, okay. I'll concede you the victory for now. It's your birthday today, isn't it Harry?"
"Yes," Harry answered cautiously, not knowing where this could be leading.
"And you're sixteen years old."
"Yes."
"I received a letter this morning. Here, I'll read it to you. Listen carefully."
Dear Gramps,
I hope you've got this letter on time, cos if its late, its pretty much completely worthless. If you're reading it, it means that I'm dead, the charms on my son have held up until now and today is his sixteenth birthday. If this is true read on. The boy, who I'm sure you know under a false name, will be brought up by my best friend and her husband. I know that I'm high on the Death Eater blacklist, so I had to come up with this for the baby's sake, however hard it's been for me. I'm not stupid enough to put names in a letter that might fall into the wrong hands, but there ought to be enough clues for you to work everything out.
He has been charmed to resemble his adoptive parents, and it took me all of two weeks to complete the charms so they'd better have lasted. My best friend helped me. Now that he is sixteen, they will gradually fade over the next month, until, on the last day of August, he is in his natural form.
His biological father I hope is still alive. Before you start accusing him of negligence HE DOES NOT KNOW THERE WAS A CHILD. We had a relationship, but there was no way we could marry with the current political situation, as I'm sure you will see when you figure it all out. You can trust him with your life, I know I did, even if he is a greasy furred rat instead of a griff. As to his identity, let's see. Do you remember the Hallowe'en ball that was held during my seventh year at Hogwarts? He was the boy that you caught me kissing then. You then 'ported me to your study and proceeded to deliver a sex ed lecture that I'd already been given three times. Still, it was funny, because you were blushing furiously the whole way through. Come to think of it, I'm sure that my boyfriend will definitely remember the incident - I doubt having a girl vanish in the middle of a kiss is a particularly forgettable event!
If you choose not to renew the appearance charms, my son will need a name. I'm fully aware that there's nothing I can do about it, but I'd like to suggest that he's named after my favourite brother. It's a common enough name, so no harm done. The rest is completely up to 'Ratty', so long as you can get him to wash his fur.
All of my love to you, my son, Ratty, Ted, the kid and my fav brother, and to the 'mudblood' if she's still around. I know my son's in the best hands possible with you around.
Loving you always
Buzz
There was silence for a moment, as Harry and Tonks looked at each other. Neither of them had understood more than one in three of the sentences, but they were reluctant to admit it.
"Sir, what does it mean?" Harry asked bluntly at last, seeing that it was up to him. Dumbledore sighed, and began to explain, looking heartbroken.
"The letter is from my granddaughter, Alba. She was killed just a month before Lily and James. Alba was special. She was the Auror commander at jus twenty-four, and amazingly powerful. Her best friend was Lily Evans."
"So, she was my mum?" Harry asked curiously, although he felt like a stranger, a bystander, like it wasn't really happening to him at all, it couldn't be.
"Apparently so, Harry. If it is correct, I'm sure that we will see it. She did love you, before you start to disbelieve that, else she wouldn't have given you to Lily. Alba was obsessive about keeping those she loved safe, a bit like you are sometimes. She even requested that Nymphadora, the 'kid' mentioned, came to Hogwarts a year early because she thought that anyone she was related to be would be a target. He favourite brother was Marc; they were as close as say Fred and George Weasley are. You couldn't imagine one without the other. He was killed at the same time as her. They took twenty-five Death Eaters with them into death."
Harry thought for a moment, then,
"So who's my father?" he said, not really sure that he wanted to hear the answer.
"That took me longer to discover. Alba was too clever for her own good. All that talk of Ratty misled me into thinking of Pettigrew, until I asked Remus. He told me that she'd taken to calling Gryffindors 'griffs' and Slytherins 'rats' while they were at school, however illogical it sounded. That meant that your father was a Slytherin while he was at school."
"I've guessed," Harry said dully. "It's Snape, isn't it. The greasy haired git's my dad."
"He's actually quite presentable cleaned up, as I remember," Dumbledore protested. "I told him this morning, and he was shocked. I suppose going for five years hating a boy because of who his father was, then discovering he's your son must be a bit upsetting. He had a hard time thinking of Alba. They soul bonded, I'm sure of it, although she wouldn't begrudge him his present happiness. I sent him home to recover, and to give you some time to let it sink in. For the meantime, I have arranged for a room here in the castle for you to have. I hope you like it."
"Thank you sir."
"Tonks will show it to you. Think it over for me. I'd rather you didn't' write to your friends, but Remus is here if you need him."
What were the ingredients for a Deathless Sleep potion, Harry thought desperately, working hard at his potions essay. No, he couldn't remember. He'd have to owl Her. . .
CRACK!!!!
Harry automatically whipped out his want like a shot and spun round to face the intruder.
"Stupefy!" he called, thanking the gods for the abandonment of the ban on underage wizardry now that the Ministry had acknowledged Voldemort's return. The intruder slumped to the floor. Harry rolled her over, recognizing the bubble gum pink hair. Checking for further identification, he found an Auror's pass card for the Ministry. It was Tonks.
"Enervate," he whispered. Tonks's eyes opened, but she still looked a bit disorientated.
"Wotcher Harry. Is that how you say hi to all of your guests these days? Mad Eye would be proud of you, he's always saying that you have sense."
"Sorry," said Harry guiltily.
"Don't be. I should have warned you I was coming, but I really didn't have time. You know what the powers that be are like if you start running late. Anyway, Gramps wants you at Hogwarts. He's had some private news that I think only he knows so far, but I think its gonna come as a shock to you."
"How do you know? And who's Gramps?"
"I always read his mail before I give it to him, its one advantage of being told off as post collector. Gramps is Dumbledore, he's my grandfather, you see. My dad changed his name when he discovered for sure that he was a Squib. I use Tonks all the time, always have. Anyway, Nymphadora Andromeda Dumbledore is even worse that N. Tonks, don't you think?"
"Uh yes, I guess."
"I'm just confusing you now. I do that to people a lot, I'm afraid. I've set up a portkey to take you straight to Hogwarts, activating inn 5-4- 3-2-1. . ."
Harry felt the now familiar jerk as he appeared in Dumbledore's office. The man himself was sitting at his desk, a bedraggled, tearstained letter in his hands.
"Harry, take a seat. You too, Nymphadora, since this concerns you also."
"Tonks please, or I'll start calling you Gramps in front of the others!!!"
"Okay, okay. I'll concede you the victory for now. It's your birthday today, isn't it Harry?"
"Yes," Harry answered cautiously, not knowing where this could be leading.
"And you're sixteen years old."
"Yes."
"I received a letter this morning. Here, I'll read it to you. Listen carefully."
Dear Gramps,
I hope you've got this letter on time, cos if its late, its pretty much completely worthless. If you're reading it, it means that I'm dead, the charms on my son have held up until now and today is his sixteenth birthday. If this is true read on. The boy, who I'm sure you know under a false name, will be brought up by my best friend and her husband. I know that I'm high on the Death Eater blacklist, so I had to come up with this for the baby's sake, however hard it's been for me. I'm not stupid enough to put names in a letter that might fall into the wrong hands, but there ought to be enough clues for you to work everything out.
He has been charmed to resemble his adoptive parents, and it took me all of two weeks to complete the charms so they'd better have lasted. My best friend helped me. Now that he is sixteen, they will gradually fade over the next month, until, on the last day of August, he is in his natural form.
His biological father I hope is still alive. Before you start accusing him of negligence HE DOES NOT KNOW THERE WAS A CHILD. We had a relationship, but there was no way we could marry with the current political situation, as I'm sure you will see when you figure it all out. You can trust him with your life, I know I did, even if he is a greasy furred rat instead of a griff. As to his identity, let's see. Do you remember the Hallowe'en ball that was held during my seventh year at Hogwarts? He was the boy that you caught me kissing then. You then 'ported me to your study and proceeded to deliver a sex ed lecture that I'd already been given three times. Still, it was funny, because you were blushing furiously the whole way through. Come to think of it, I'm sure that my boyfriend will definitely remember the incident - I doubt having a girl vanish in the middle of a kiss is a particularly forgettable event!
If you choose not to renew the appearance charms, my son will need a name. I'm fully aware that there's nothing I can do about it, but I'd like to suggest that he's named after my favourite brother. It's a common enough name, so no harm done. The rest is completely up to 'Ratty', so long as you can get him to wash his fur.
All of my love to you, my son, Ratty, Ted, the kid and my fav brother, and to the 'mudblood' if she's still around. I know my son's in the best hands possible with you around.
Loving you always
Buzz
There was silence for a moment, as Harry and Tonks looked at each other. Neither of them had understood more than one in three of the sentences, but they were reluctant to admit it.
"Sir, what does it mean?" Harry asked bluntly at last, seeing that it was up to him. Dumbledore sighed, and began to explain, looking heartbroken.
"The letter is from my granddaughter, Alba. She was killed just a month before Lily and James. Alba was special. She was the Auror commander at jus twenty-four, and amazingly powerful. Her best friend was Lily Evans."
"So, she was my mum?" Harry asked curiously, although he felt like a stranger, a bystander, like it wasn't really happening to him at all, it couldn't be.
"Apparently so, Harry. If it is correct, I'm sure that we will see it. She did love you, before you start to disbelieve that, else she wouldn't have given you to Lily. Alba was obsessive about keeping those she loved safe, a bit like you are sometimes. She even requested that Nymphadora, the 'kid' mentioned, came to Hogwarts a year early because she thought that anyone she was related to be would be a target. He favourite brother was Marc; they were as close as say Fred and George Weasley are. You couldn't imagine one without the other. He was killed at the same time as her. They took twenty-five Death Eaters with them into death."
Harry thought for a moment, then,
"So who's my father?" he said, not really sure that he wanted to hear the answer.
"That took me longer to discover. Alba was too clever for her own good. All that talk of Ratty misled me into thinking of Pettigrew, until I asked Remus. He told me that she'd taken to calling Gryffindors 'griffs' and Slytherins 'rats' while they were at school, however illogical it sounded. That meant that your father was a Slytherin while he was at school."
"I've guessed," Harry said dully. "It's Snape, isn't it. The greasy haired git's my dad."
"He's actually quite presentable cleaned up, as I remember," Dumbledore protested. "I told him this morning, and he was shocked. I suppose going for five years hating a boy because of who his father was, then discovering he's your son must be a bit upsetting. He had a hard time thinking of Alba. They soul bonded, I'm sure of it, although she wouldn't begrudge him his present happiness. I sent him home to recover, and to give you some time to let it sink in. For the meantime, I have arranged for a room here in the castle for you to have. I hope you like it."
"Thank you sir."
"Tonks will show it to you. Think it over for me. I'd rather you didn't' write to your friends, but Remus is here if you need him."
