AN: Response to the Severitus Challenge WARNING – Dumbledork bashing, Anti-James, LilyXSeverus, HarryXHermione
NO FLAMES – U don't like, U don't read… I don't flame you so don't flame me… h8rs can kiss my $$
On Angel Wings
Chapter One
Severus Snape sat in his quarters reading a very worn copy of "Great Expectations". It was his favorite book, given to him by the one person who had warmed his heart as a teen, the woman he loved with all his heart. Lily Evans.
He wasn't reading the book mind you, he was reading the note she had written to him for his sixteenth birthday on the inside of the front cover.
In Lily's beautifully looping and slanting handwriting were the words:
Severus,
I thought that you would enjoy this, it's my favorite. Happy Birthday!
Love,
Lily Evans
Gently, he brushed his thumb over the note, as if silently begging it to say more. He admitted it now… he loved Lily… he always had and always would. He loved her with his entire being… but…she had left him… she had left him for Potter. Obviously she hadn't felt the same… their marriage had been nothing to her…he wished he knew why she had left.
Behind him there was a soft fluttering of wings… but how… owls couldn't get down here!
'Severus' a quiet feminine whisper sounded in his ear.
"Lily? Is that you?" his panicked voice sounded strange in his dungeon quarters, bouncing off the walls.
'Sev… I haven't got much time… I brought you something… a package… I wanted to give it to you tonight… It's important…save him, please, Sev… save him tonight…If you don't he won't make it…' her strained voice whispered urgently.
"Who? Lily, tell me please!" Severus stood looking around him trying to pinpoint her voice. He felt a brief caress on his cheek.
'Our son, please hurry Sev! He's with Petunia and her husband… He isn't safe there…Dumbledore was wrong… I love you… Take care… be a good father…He needs you to guide him… I have to go… goodbye…' A soft flutter of wings and she was gone.
"Lily… I'm sorry…" he murmured, touching his cheek where he had felt the kiss his beloved had bestowed upon him… even in death her touch warmed him. He knew she had been there.
Then in the corner of the room something caught his eye. It was simply a box, plain white in color, with only a red bow on it. In Lily's script, though, were the words:
To My Dearest Severus
He opened the box, wanting to know what she could have gifted him in death. At the top of the box was a birth certificate:
Name: Silvanis Severiun Snape
Father: Severus Tobias Snape
Mother: Lily Rose Snape
Gender: Male
Length: 22 in.
Weight: 6 lbs. 4 oz.
Severus couldn't believe it… Lily had bore his child… and now that child is in danger because Dumbledore was an idiot and didn't check the home his son would be living in.
Under the birth certificate was a letter to Severus in that same looped scrawl.
My Dearest Severus,
Let me start by apologizing, if you have received this it means I am gone, and I have failed. Sev, I love you, I love you with all my heart, always. The night I left I was so scared. Think back, the night I left was the night you came home with the Dark Mark. I now know that Dumbledore told you to become what you are. Sev, Dumbledore made you join so I would leave you and you would be free to do as you were told. I was so afraid for you, for me, and for the baby I carried. I hadn't told you yet because I wanted it to be a Christmas surprise. You joined a week before Christmas. I went to Dumbledore that day and he told me to hide the child by being with James.
I hated EVERY second with James. It was like living with a toddler. He couldn't cook, he had never cleaned anything in his life, and I was getting larger by the day. By the end of the pregnancy it was like his intelligence had regressed to infancy and he refused to do anything for me. If I wanted something done, I had to either do it myself or get Moony to do it. HE at least helped me… Aside from the monthly lycanthropy he was a much better caretaker for me when I was "Approaching the size of a whale" as James put it.
The birth was even worse because I had to have Moony floo me to St. Mungo's. That and James was being a baby about it. Afterwards he had the audacity to ask me to name Silvanis after HIM. I laughed in James face and as you saw on the Birth Certificate I named him after YOU.
I asked Dumbledore to give Harry to you should I die, and not Petunia. He wouldn't give me his word though, so I have a feeling that that is where he will go.
Petunia knows that eleven is the age at which we are invited to Hogwarts. And I know that her husband is cruel and will try to do awful things to my little boy. Knowing Vernon he won't live past the day he receives his letter. He lives at Number 4 Privet Drive in Surrey. Dumbledore will use Harry James Potter as his name because that is what James wanted and God knows that James is perfect (note the sarcasm).
Save our son, Sev. I know you will be a good daddy. I love you, always.
Truly, utterly, completely yours,
Lily Rose Snape
Severus looked at the clock. There was still time. The owls had already left, but they would not be there yet. He would save his son. Silvanis Snape would have a family. Lily wanted him to raise Silvanis and that is what he would do.
He grabbed his broom and bolted for the doors outside. When he got there he got on and flew to the borders of the barrier. He landed and apparated to Privet Drive and went to the appropriate house. He reached up and snatched the letter from the delivery owl and stowed it in his robes after seeing it addressed toThe Cupboard Under the Stairs.
He knocked on the door and a horse-faced woman appeared at the door.
"Hello?" said the woman, obviously Petunia.
"Hello, is Harry Potter here?" he asked, resisting a sneer at the name James had chosen.
"I don't know anyone by that name," Petunia spat out as she paled.
"Oh come now Petunia, I know when you are lying, you never have been very good at it," Severus commented.
"S-Severus!" Petunia gasped.
"Yes, now be a good little muggle and let me inside to see him," Severus commanded imperiously.
Petunia nodded meekly and let him in. "Boy!" she called hoarsely "Get out here! Now!"
A small boy in torn baggy clothes ran into the room. "Yes Aunt Petunia?" he said, eyes widening as he took in the sight of Severus.
"Well Petunia? Invite me in," Severus sneered at her.
"Come on," she croaked, leading them into the dining room where a fat man and equally fat boy sat in chairs much too small for them.
"Who's this Petunia?" slurred the obese man, obviously Vernon.
"One of Lily's friends," Petunia ground out. The man turned an interesting shade of purple, while Silvanis looked at Severus in awe, this man had been friends with his mum?
"GET OUT!" shouted Vernon angrily.
"NOT without Harry," growled Severus, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Vernon, who paled and backed off but remained still an interesting color.
"Boy, get your things! Go!" Vernon grumbled. Silvanis grabbed a plastic grocery bag and ran from the room, only to be back three minutes later, bag half full, with a pair of oversized pants and two shirts and a pair of socks, he was wearing his only underpants.
Severus saw this and his eyes narrowed at Vernon. Clenching his teeth he ground out "Is that all of your things?"
His son nodded. If looks could kill Vernon Dursley would have died a hundred times over. He looked at Petunia. "So this is how you honor the death of your sister, Petunia? She gives her life to protect him and you treat him like a house elf? Like your personal slave to dress in rags?"
"It's not MY idea of a perfect time either! Raising PERFECT LILY'S son! HA! So it's MY job to make sure he has a perfect life because she and Potter got themselves BLOWN UP?" Petunia growled at him.
"Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" Silvanis shouted at his aunt.
"Car crash?" Severus asked dangerously, his eyes flashing, "A car crash killed LILY? HOW DARE YOU?" he thundered at the Dursleys. "As for your father, Harry, he's still very much alive, he just didn't know you were his. I'm your father."
Silvanis's eyes widened. He had a father? And his father was angry at the Dursleys because they treated him poorly? Was this a dream?
"Come Harry, we are going to go shopping for you, you are going to a private school this year, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Severus said, turning and putting a hand on Silvanis's shoulder to lead him toward the door.
"Ahh!" Silvanis cried out in pain. Vernon's eyes widened. Severus' eyes narrowed as he took his hand off of his son.
"Harry, take your shirt off, I believe you have injuries," Severus said glaring at Vernon.
Silvanis hesitated, but did what he was bid. Severus's eyes widened in horror. Across Silvanis's back were gashes, half healed cuts, and bruises the size of Vernon's fist. The shoulder Severus had touched was covered in a new bruise.
Severus was enraged. "VERNON DURSLEY! HOW DARE YOU? THIS ABUSE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!" Severus boomed, incensed that his son would be forced to endure such physical abuse. He waved his wand at Vernon and a rash of zits spelled out across his forehead ABUSIVE, with Petunia he did the same, but for Dudley he used the word PIG. He would be back later. That was a promise.
He then healed Silvanis's wounds and bruises. When the last one was gone, Silvanis sighed, wobbled on his legs and almost fell. Severus caught him, turned to the Dursleys and said "We are not done here. I will be back. You can be sure of that."
He then apparated to the Leaky Cauldron to let his son rest.
At the sound of his apparation, several heads turned, including Tom, the manager of the Leaky.
"'Allo Professor! Who's this you've got?" Tom asked him, raising a single eyebrow.
"My son, Silvanis and I need a room Tom," Severus said in a monotone that suggested he did NOT wish to talk to anyone about this situation.
"Yes sir, room 337, third floor, 'ers your key, though I have to 'dmit I've never 'eard of you 'aving a son," Tom replied, offering the appropriate key to the Potions Master, either not understanding, or not caring about his tone, more than likely the latter.
Severus took the key from Tom's hand and walked up the stairs. When he got to the room, he laid Silvanis on the bed and went down again to get some bowls of stew, mostly for Silvanis, who was much to skinny. He went back upstairs to find Silvanis awake again and sitting up in bed. He transfigured a chair into a tray for his son to eat off of.
"Eat," Severus said to his son "You look like you haven't had a meal in years." Silvanis looked down and then nodded and started eating. Within minutes the bowl was clean and Severus put the second bowl down in front of his son, who ate slower this time. While Silvanis was eating the second bowl, Severus refilled the first. On the third bowl his son looked very full and much happier.
"Is…is it true? Are you really my father?" Harry asked cautiously.
Severus sighed "Yes, I am, and I'm sorry you had to put up with them doing things like that to you all your life… If I had known about you… you would have never been there… You would have had me instead of those abusive idiots… Your mother would have been appalled at the conditions you lived in… I'm so sorry," Severus said.
"So what should I call you? Father or Dad or…" Silvanis left the question open.
"Whatever you would like to call me is fine," Severus said, "If you want you can call me Severus."
"Alright, Severus, you called me something other than Harry downstairs I think. What was it?" Silvanis asked.
"Your true name, the one your mother gave you, Silvanis Severiun Snape, Harry Potter is the name James picked out for you," Severus said.
"Oh," Silvanis said, "Can we shorten it? Would mum be okay with that?"
"I'm sure she would be Silvanis. How about Silv?" Severus suggested.
"I like that, it has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Silv said smiling.
"It does, now I think that we should get a bit of shopping done before the day is out, I have your acceptance letter here, let me do something and then you can have it." He took out the letter and his wand and waved it over the letter, changing the address to where they were just then and what Silv accepted his name to be, it was only an illusion, he wanted proof against Albus bloody Dumbledore, but it wouldn't wear off for hours yet, and he would let his son have a different copy if he really wanted one. He then handed the letter to Silv.
Silv then read it aloud:
"Silvanis Snape
Room 337
The Leaky Cauldron
London, England
Dear Mr. Snape,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed are the list of books and required items for this year and your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. Term starts September First, please notify us as to whether you will be attending this year. We will accept your owl no later than August Twenty-fifth.
Signed,
Deputy Head-Mistress
Minerva McGonagall" Silv finished sounding enthused. He couldn't wait. Severus found his excitement refreshing, and he looked forward to his being able to introduce his son into the wide, and very wonderful world of magic.
"Well then, shall we go get your things?" Severus asked. Silv nodded and stood. They were soon in an old alleyway looking at a brick wall.
UPDATE AN: Well, this is the new edited version of chapter one. I was kind of disgusted with my shoddy writing skills for some of this, along with my lack of research which has been rectified. If you spot anything that needs corrected, please comment on it for me.
