Untold Secrets of Life
Harry lay on his bed, to weak to move, and listening to the footsteps getting closer in the hallway, wincing as he heard the many locks being opened. His eyes searched out the face of the man who walked into the room, then the belt n his hand, and whispered, "Please. Uncle Vernon, what have I ever done to you?"
The fat man's face turned purple with rage, and he spat out, "You have polluted my house with your freakishness. You will pay, you worthless piece of shit,"
Harry lay curled up in a ball, not moving as the man whipped him viciously with whatever he could get his hands on. The man seemed to not get full satisfaction from beating him, this time, and Harry hoped that he would give up and go away. Instead, Vernon grinned evilly as a thought came to him, and slowly began undoing his trousers.
Harry whimpered pitifully as his uncle pulled his pants and underwear off as well, and flipped him over. He closed his eyes against the blood and pain as his uncle thrust himself violently into the frail, undernourished body.
Finally, Vernon left, zipping his pants back up, and Harry curled back into a ball, naked skin covered in his own blood.
It continued, every day getting worse, for Vernon had always whipped him and punched and kicked him, but now he seemed to take pleasure in raping his nephew. If that wasn't enough, Harry did all the chores, cooking the meals, cleaning the house, and did the laundry while his aunt and uncle showered money on Dudley. His only comfort during those long first four weeks of summer was counting down the days until he would return to his fourth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.
On his birthday, July 31, there had been a particularly horrible beating and Vernon had just left his room when the doorbell rang. Harry, blissfully unconscious, was unaware of the man at the door saying that he was there to collect Harry Potter on Dumbledore's orders. When Petunia protested that they knew no Harry Potter, the man quickly grew annoyed, and pushed past them up the staircase to the room that he had been told Harry was staying in.
When he saw the locks on the doors, he was immensely surprised, but opened them with a quiet 'Alohomora'. He stopped short inside the door, unreadable eyes taking in the thin teen on the bed. The sheets were drenched in blood, and the boy covered in it.
It was obvious where it came from, as the boy was nude, and whip marks stood out clearly all over his body. He strode over to the bed angrily, taking off his cloak. He wrapped Harry in it gently, the boy moaning whenever he moved him, and picked him up carefully in his arms, shocked at how light he was.
The thin woman still stood in her living room, now joined by a very fat man. He said icily, power laced in his voice, "You will be punished, filthy muggles, for what you have done," Petunia hid behind Vernon as the man strode out the back door, and disappeared with a pop once he was outside.
Severus Snape appeared at the Hogwarts gates, and took off at a dead run for the castle, not stopping once he got inside until he reached the Hospital Wing. He threw open the door, and yelled, "Poppy, come quickly!"
The plump woman rushed out of her office, and gasped when she saw the bloody bundle in his arms. She said, "Put him on a bed, and hurry. He looks like he's lost a lot of blood,"
Severus did so carefully, unwrapping the cloak as Poppy hissed in shock. She asked, "How did this happen to him?"
Severus straightened, a cold glint in his eyes, and said, "The muggles who were supposed to be protecting him,"
Poppy grimaced, and rolled up her sleeves. She said, "I'm going to need your help. I know you have medical training, and I don't have the power to heal him properly,"
Severus nodded, rolling up his sleeves as well, leaving bloody streaks on his arms. For the next half hour, their magic poured out of them from their wands, sinking into Harry to make the most serious injuries disappear and the bleeding stop.
Finally, they stood back, covered in Harry's blood themselves now, and exhausted. They rested a few minutes in chairs, then Severus pulled himself upright, swaying slightly, and said, "We have to tell Dumbledore," He walked to the fireplace, and threw a handful of floo powder in, along with his head.
Severus had said only a few words to Dumbledore when the man walked through the connection himself. He looked sadly down at Harry for a few moments, the turned to Severus, a confused look in his eyes. He said, "Severus?"
Severus sighed, and sat back down. He said, "It is Harry's birthday today, and I was going to tell him. He is not Lily and James' son, but James and mine.
I knew that I would probably not make it through the war, and so asked James to carry my child, and heir to the Snape line, and the Potter line a well, as Lily could not bear children. James had Lily had long been my close friends, and agreed, knowing my role as a spy.
You know the potion, Albus, which creates a makeshift womb so that a man may bear children by another man. It is very common, and becoming increasingly more so.
I watched my son as he grew up, and was distraught when I heard news of Voldemort's plans for Lily and James, although I could not warn them. The day that I learned he had miraculously survived was one of the happiest of my life, but I knew I must not tell anyone about his heritage.
That time is over, and my son may return to me, under his true name. We further hid his identity when he was born by creating a fake birth certificate with the name Harry Potter on it. His true name, in the ages old pureblood tradition, is Stephan Severus Ignatius James Godric Potter Snape.
It is time to tell him because the appearance charm will wear off exactly a day after his fourteenth birthday, which was yesterday at midnight. In a few hours, we will see truly what Stephen Snape looks like.
There is another issue, also. Once the spell disappears, another will come into being, changing his personality to what it would have been if he had lived with James and myself for his entire life, with possibly a little bit of Lily mixed in.
This requires that he be resorted. As you know, I was a Slytherin, but what you don't know is that the hat wanted to put James in Slytherin as well. I can imagine which house he will be placed in. I know for sure now that it will not put him back in Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw and Slytherin remain as possibilities.
And, we must ask him where he prefers to stay this summer, as the Dursley household is out of the question,"
For the first time in Poppy's memory, the formidable man let down his mask, and rubbed his hands over his face tiredly. He said, "I think I'll stay here for a while, and explain the rest to him. You can stop pretending to be asleep now, boy,"
Harry's eyes opened, and he looked at Severus shakily. As Albus and Poppy slipped out the door, he asked quietly, "You are my father, and James is my… father as well? This is strange. I had always been told that you hated each other,"
Severus sat back down in his chair, and said, "It was necessary to pretend to despise each other. My parents were supporters of the Dark Lord, and the Potters were obviously light wizards, along with the fact that James had muggleborn friends. We were forced to keep our friendship secret, and not even Remus, Sirius, and Peter knew how close we were. I helped them with their map, so I was included in their group, but James and myself made another map, one that took much longer, and told much more power.
We decided that there was a chance that something would happen to it, so we made two. I always carry one with me. Would you like to see it? Tap it, and say, 'Salazar Slytherin, I must see,"
Harry took the green parchment he offered with trembling hands, and repeated Severus' instructions. It unfolded, and elegant writing in dark ink appeared. It said, "We present to you, from three years of labour, the Slytherin guide to everything you could possibly need in Hogwarts," Two names appeared; Sev and James. Another piece of writing appeared, saying, "Choose that which you would like to see. People and magical beings, shortcuts, missing items, potions ingredients, or a certain book you wish to find. Ask, and the map will deliver. Tap me with your hands, and state your question,"
Harry tapped the map again, and said, "Show me living beings," Ink spread across the piece of parchment, which expanded to huge proportions, showing the castle, the grounds, and Hogsmead village.
Harry tapped it again, and said, "Main floor of the castle," It zoomed in, enough that he could see Poppy and Dumbledore standing about ten metres down the hallway, and two dots in the Hospital wing. The map zoomed in, seemingly reading his thoughts, and he saw two labels, one reading Severus Snape, and the other reading Stephan Snape.
Harry put the map down on his lap, and closed his eyes, exhausted. The last thing he said was, "The map is not easily fooled, I see,"
Severus smiled to himself, and stroked his fringe of black hair, turning serious when the barely conscious boy flinched at the contact.
His head fell into his hands, and he muttered to the man who had just walked up behind him, "Whatever shall I do, Albus? I'm not made for fathering, and my position as a spy will be compromised. At best, we will lose me as a spy, and at worst, Stephen will have to join the death eaters as a spy also. He's not strong enough for that, and we can't afford to lose a spy.
I have a bit of leeway with the Dark Lord, so perhaps I can convince him not to mark Stephen until he is sixteen, the normal age. By then, hopefully he will be prepared, or this whole god-cursed war will be over,"
Dumbledore patted the man's shoulder comfortingly, but said nothing, knowing that nothing could be said in the situation as the truth of the statement hung over them forebodingly.