Title: Waiting for the World to End 2
Author: Jendra
E-mail:
Archive: probably, list archives and my list
.com/group/Jendrafic
Pairing: Implied JP/SS
Rating: PG? Something like that
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, slavery is wrong g (well,
except under certain circumstances)
Warning: Implied (or stated right out loud) mpreg and slash, AU
Summary: Harry Potter is waiting for the world to end
Author's notes: This is the sequel to Waiting for the World to End, which was written quite a long time ago. It takes place in the middle of the summer after Fifth Year, a couple of days after Harry's birthday. I wouldn't expect any more of this.
Waiting for the World to End 2
by Jendra
Harry Potter was waiting for the world to end. Surely it was going to happen. The just turned sixteen year old boy couldn't think of any other reason for the conversation he had just heard and the only thing it could mean.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. There were other things that could be happening. Perhaps Snape had made him drink a potion in class. That was certainly possible. After all, even though he was a Slytherin, it was no secret that he was one of his Head of House's least favorite people. Well, no secret within his House. Snape was always finding awful things for him to do, since he refused to take points from his own House unless it was really bad. It wouldn't be the first time he'd had to test potions as a punishment. Sometimes it seemed as if Snape couldn't even bear to look at him, always complaining how like his father he was. Of course, the conversation he'd just overheard... no, he wasn't thinking of that.
Perhaps he'd been knocked on the head? Or maybe one of his cuts had become infected. Either was certainly possible. Vernon had lost his job and seemed determined to blame it on Harry. He had gotten back from his Fifth Year to find himself back in the cupboard which was *much* smaller than it had been when he lived there full time. And while Vernon had never had a problem showing Harry the back of his hand when he did something wrong, he hadn't ever really *beat* him before... well, not like he had started doing within days of his returning to the house. And Dudley was still using him as a punching bag, meaning there were very few minutes in which he wasn't hurt in some way or other. Yes, maybe this was all a fevered delusion.
Maybe his mind had just cracked under the strain of being the Boy-Who-Lived. Especially the Boy-Who-Lived-in-Slytherin. He sometimes wondered what would have happened if he'd ended up in another house. Maybe half the world wouldn't be convinced that he was trying to become the next Dark Lord. The fact that his two best friends were Ravenclaws should have helped his reputation, but the fact that one of them was Draco Malfoy pretty much ruined that.
Any of those could have explained the conversation he just heard, and he sincerely hoped that it had. As much as he didn't want to, he thought back over what had just happened.
*/flashback/*
He'd woken up to the feel of someone gently petting his hair. He stayed still, making sure he was breathing evenly, not wanting them to know he was awake until he figured out who was there and where he was. He recognized the voice as soon as it started to speak.
"How could this have happened Remus?" Albus Dumbledore murmured softly, his voice sad.
"What do you mean, Headmaster?" Remus asked from the other side of Harry's bed.
"This!" Albus responded. "Harry was supposed to be safe at the Dursleys. The wards should have made sure of it! They were created not just to keep him safe from people outside the house, but from inside as well. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make the Dursleys love him, but they should have found it impossible to harm him in any way." He stopped and took hold of Harry's hand. "And how long has this been going on, how long have I been ignoring it, convinced of his safety and well-being simply because the wards were still up?"
"I don't think it has ever been this bad before," Remus said softly. "I'm sure he would have told someone. If things had been this bad, he never would have been able to hide it. As for why the wards didn't work, I believe I know the answer to that."
"Indeed?"
"The wards were based off of the blood relationship between Harry and Petunia Dursley, correct?"
"That's right. Those kinds of blood links give a protection nothing else could have."
"What if Harry wasn't Lily's?" Remus asked softly.
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore's voice was more intent than Harry had ever heard it.
"I found a letter while going through Sirius' house. As far as I can tell, it had been delivered soon after James' death, however, since Sirius wasn't there, no one had ever read it. It explained a lot. Truthfully, we had always wondered why James married Lily."
"I was under the impression that Lily was pregnant and that's why they married so quickly. Of course, it wasn't a surprise, since the two had been dating for years."
Remus laughed. "You mean they even managed to fool you? James and Lily were best friends, more like brother and sister. Their *dating* kept people from realizing that James was gay. He had dated Sirius for a bit in Sixth Year, but in Seventh he had another boyfriend. One he wouldn't talk about. We figured out it was a Slytherin, but that's all we knew. When they got married, and Lily turned out to be pregnant, we figured that she had gotten in trouble, and her boyfriend wouldn't marry her, so James did."
Albus was silent, and Harry wanted to open his eyes to see what expression was on his face, but even more, he wished to figure out what was going on. First, Remus said that Lily wasn't related to him, but now he seemed to be saying that James wasn't. Which was it?
"It turns out, we were right, and wrong. Lily was a genius at Charms, you remember? It seems she was especially good at glamour charms. After all, making herself seem to be pregnant, while making James look as if he wasn't, couldn't have been easy."
Albus' hand tightened around Harry's. "Are you saying *James* was Harry's mother?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Remus agreed, and by now Harry was too shocked to open his eyes even if he wanted to.
"There hasn't been a male pregnancy in centuries," Albus said softly.
"James never did do things normally. Harry takes after him that way."
"It does explain why Harry looks so much like him. If I remember correctly, children of male pregnancies tended to look like almost exact copies of their bearers."
"James' letter said that Harry had his father's eyes and Lily had put on a charm to make them look like hers, and they thought that might have something to do with his bad eyesight, but that was the only change that was made."
"Why the elaborate ruse?"
"Turns out, he *had* been dating a Slytherin. When he went to tell him about his pregnancy, he saw the Dark Mark."
'So not only was Lily not his mother, but his father was a Death Eater? How much worse could his life get?' Harry thought angrily.
"Instead of telling him about Harry, he broke up with him. He went to Lily and told her everything, and together they decided to create the ruse."
"And no one knew?"
"No, no one knew."
"So who is Harry's father?"
Remus was silent.
"Whoever it is could be used against him if it was found out, we need to know."
After another few minutes of silence, Remus finally spoke. "Severus Snape."
*/End Flashback/*
Surely that was a sign of the Apocalypse. It couldn't be true. And yet, it explained the one thing that had caused the last beating, the one that had brought the Order by to take him out of the house. Harry opened eyes that had been emerald green and weak. Now, however, he could see clearly out of eyes that were obsidian pools.
Harry Potter was waiting for the world to end. Because he wasn't too sure he wanted to live in this one.
