What's in a Name?
WARNING: Contains DH spoilers. I do not own Harry and his posse, JKR does.
Requested by mkyla.
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The little boy panted as he raced after his brother who was riding a broom barely six feet off the ground.
"Hey Al, bet you'll never be able to do this!" The older boy turned a few loops in the air then righted himself to face his brother.
"James Sirius Potter get down here right now or I'll…" Al trailed off, looking up at James who was in the air laughing.
"Or you'll what? Get a few of your Slytherin buddies to screw me over? Been chumming with the Malfoy boy, have you?" Al's face turned red and he whipped out wand from his robes.
"Don't talk about Scorpius like that. You're always making a fool of yourself James, always getting into trouble. Professor Longbottom has kept you in detention three times already, and it's only thee first month of school."
"Aw…is the pathetic little Slytherin defending his equally pathetic snake-friends? I'd extend an apology to any sorry piece of filth of decent blood who ended up in that house." The end of Al's wand exploded at the last words, sending a blast of green light in James's direction. The boy fell on his broom and landed on the ground with a thud.
"Mr. Potter? What on earth prompted you to attack your brother?" Al turned around to see the hurried form of Professor Lovegood comeing towards him.
"He called me a pathetic Slytherin snake, sir. I did what I though was right to defend my house." Xenophilius Lovegood frowned at the boy in front of him.
"Even though your intentions were seemingly noble, I'll still have to send you to the Headmaster's Office." The professor was helping James up, and when James got a glimpse of Al's face, he stuck his tongue out at him maliciously.
"Come on boy, let's get you to the hospital wing. Al, the headmaster will be expecting you. Password's Snargaluff." Al looked on as James was hoisted up by the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and helped towards the castle.
Al knew he didn't have to go, but he could be in bigger trouble and be sent home before he even completed his first year at Hogwarts. Slowly he trudged towards the griffon adorned office and possibly his doom.
After uttering the password at the entrance and stepping in, he was greeted with a large circular room. The walls were lined with portraits of old men and women, all of whom seemed to be dozing. All that is, save one. A sallow faced man with a hooked nose peered out at Al from a frame at the bottom corner. Their eyes met and the man in portrait sniffed and stalked angrily out of his portrait to the left.
There was a banging behind Al as the door closed. The boy whirled around to see the imposing figure of a tall professor over him. And then the excuses all came out in a rush.
"Professor, I didn't mean to hurt my brother, he insulted me and my house! Don't send me home, Dad will be so upset, and Mum will never forgive me, I've always wanted to come here, all my brothers and cousins are going here, please don't send me away!" The man laughed a deep throaty laugh, and then motioned to Al to sit in the chair opposite his desk. Al sat down wearily, and then cast his eyes around the room. The sallow-faced man in the portrait had returned.
"Albus Severus Potter, you've done nothing wrong. At Hogwarts we teach young wizards to control their magic and make sure things like this don't happen again." Albus breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, sir." The headmaster smiled and turned towards the door.
"You may see yourself out Albus." The door closed and Al slumped in relief against his chair. He had been let off with one small rap across the palms for attacking his brother. He knew it had been the wrong thing to do, but what his brother had said just made his blood boil…
"You're Potter's son aren't you?" Al looked up to see the sallow-faced portrait looking at him intently.
"Yeah, I am." Al looked down uncomfortably under the glare of the man. He heard the portraits rustle around him at this news, and then he looked up again. All the portraits were now wide-awake, listening intently. The wizened old man in the portrait next to the sallow-faced one smiled kindly down at Al, and he felt a rush of warmth envelop him.
"You have your grandmother's eyes." The old man had spoken to him kindly, and Al wondered where he had heard the voice before. It sounded horribly familiar and very soothing to the ears.
"Yeah, I get that a lot from the people who actually remember her." The old man smiled.
"I remember her quite well. I remember your grandmothers, as well as your grandfathers, your aunts, uncles, and any distant relations you may care to name. My name, Mr. Potter, is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I remember when your father first stepped into this room, as scared as you were, ready to be punished and then let off lightly." Al stared in shock. Here was the man his father had idolized so much to name him after. Here was the man named the most influential wizard of the age, and he was sitting there talking to him.
"I also remember your grandparents." The sallow-faced man had finally choked some words out. His face was drawn in an expression of pain, yet his voice was calm.
"I bet your father doesn't tell you much about them. How James Potter was an arrogant boy who stalked the halls, cursing every living thing in his sight he didn't like the look of. And your grandmother, how she…" But here the man stopped, as if he was swallowing his own words. Albus Dumbledore smiled kindly at little Al, who looked in shock at what the sallow-faced man had said.
"I think that is enough for today. You may go Mr. Potter, but if I were you, I would apologize to your brother and try and show him the true meaning of Slytherin." Al took this to be an exit and scurried out of the room. There was a silence as all the other portraits feigned sleep again, knowing the two most recent portraits had much to discuss.
"Potter named the boy after us. He would name the boy after you, but to name him after me is something else." Dumbledore smiled at Snape knowingly.
"If the boy was named after you, then you know you did the right thing at the end. Harry accepted who you were, and he valued you enough to think of you when naming his child."
"That child had Lily's eyes. He did it on purpose."
"Then he really understood you to do that. Severus Snape, you may have loved, but you have only fleetingly known love from another. Do not push it away from you." Snape sighed and sat back down in the chair in the portrait.
"Albus, to have loved Lily is one thing, but to have protected her son is something I did for you. This grandchild of hers is a true gem who knows nothing of pettiness but only of love and honor."
"In which case Severus, let's try to keep it that way."
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A/N: I had a lot of trouble with Dumbledore, as I usually don't write him. Feel free to review or point out inaccuracies. The headmaster remains unnamed, but I like to think of him as Kingsley.
My goal is currently to do one one-shot per weekday this week. For Wednesday I've lined up a story about Snape living and Thursday is one examining Harry, Ron and Hermione's reactions to his death. If you have a good idea for Friday, feel free to drop a review.
To all my readers of Snape's Last Memory the character of Potter at the end can be interpreted in different ways.