Name: Graceful
Summary: Two year old Julian was declare the Boy Who Lived, while his older twin Harry was abandoned only to be adopted by our favorite potion professor. Now with his adopted father and family he's more then anyone could have ever imagined. R/H/N/G Bashing. H/?
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, only the character you don't recognize and the plot.
(A/N): - I haven't been speaking English for that long so please excuse the errors. I well try my best to catch and fix them before I update:-
(A/N): - I only have a few chapters written so I'll be writing as the story progresses. To be truthful I don't know how far I'll be able to take it but I'll try my best to see it to the end. Hope you can join me. If you have any suggestions for the story, feel free to send me a PM or leave it in the review.
Chapter One: The Baby In My Arms
James increased his speed as the baby in his arm started to stir. He released the breath he didn't know he was holding as reached the front door. A board hung near the door and 'Silver Shrine Orphanage' was written on it in silver. The building it self seemed old and broken down. The wood porch creaked and the paint of the door and walls where chipped. Broken toys were left unchecked out in the yard full of over grown weed.
The child in his arm stirred once again. Quickly James put the child down in front of the door with a note and knocked. This woke the child and cries filled the early morning air. James turned and walked of as fast as he could without once looking behind him. He disappeared with a pop as he reached the safe distance never registering what was happening behind him.
Amber eyes watched as James disappeared before glancing at the young child left on the porch never blinking once. Curiosity was shining bright in those Amber eyes. They disappeared but no long after reappeared with a four paws and a tail near the child. The black cat cautiously approached covered baby. Green eyes of the child met the Amber of the black cat and the child stopped crying. The eyes of the cat's were brighter then normal but he was to young to know. It was a creature unlike him and it fascinated him.
The door suddenly opened with a loud creaking sound and the eye contacted was broken. The child started to cry once again while the cat hissed at the plump woman that stood at the door.
"Victoria we get another one!" She screamed behind her shoulder. "Shoo, Shoo kitty." The black cat hissed again but moved away from the child and into the bushes near by.
The woman picked up the crying baby and shut the door behind her with a loud thug sound.
Severus was working in the potions lab when he heard the glass break across the large lab. A glass vial lay shattered on the floor. He eyes met the cat's currently sitting on the top self where the shattered vial once stood in one piece. The unusually black cat hissed showing her sharp teeth. Her amber eyes sparkled dangerously.
Severus had yet to figure this cat out. He had gotten her from his uncle almost a year ago in his will along with the rest of his property and money. Many weren't happy for too many reasons. It had come as a shock when he was invited to the reading of the will let alone receiving most of his rich uncle's positions. She had sat through the will reading as a queen to her throne on her previous owner's desk watching everyone carefully with her sharp eyes.
Severus wasn't the only one shocked with the Severus' inheritance, in fact the only person that didn't look as he he had sucked on a sour lemon was the lawyer. He had re-read the contents again upon screeching and howler he received from the family members while Severus sat silent lost in his own thoughts after what he had heard. The Lawyer had explained the contents clearly stating that Elbert Luther, his great uncle on his mother's side -his great aunt who had run away and gotten married to a muggle who just happened to be rich though the rest of the family hadn't known until few years later- had left everything to Severus besides a few things that were left to other family members though nothing that came any where close to what he had left to Severus, his sister-in-law's grandson whom he had met only once.
The cat had come along without any trouble. She stayed out of his way as long as he stayed out of hers. Although she would barely leave his sight until as of late. Few days ago Severus had felt odd, as if something was amiss. It hadn't come fast but he did figure out that the pair of amber eyes that watched him often was missing. Severus had become quite accustom to having the cat near him at all times and felt out of place with her disappearance, though he would never admit it to anyone.
The cat hissed and pawed another vial, this one contained a dirt brown potion.
"Stop that Sapphire." Severus commanded expecting her to follow but it only seem to make her more mad. She pawed the vial harder causing it to tipped over and shatter like the previous glass on the ground. The dirt brown potion oozed out and started to sizzle on tile floor as it dissolved away while smoke slowly excepted from the violent reaction beneath it.
"Sapphire!" Severus retrieved his wand from his robes and muttered a quick clean up spell and safely deposed the potion. Sapphire begin pawing another potion. 'I don't know why I try, she never listens to me anyway.' Severus sighed and tried to grab the cat, he soon realized it was the wrong thing to do. The wind was knocked out of his stomach and the room started to spin out of control. Seconds felt like hours but his feet finally they landed on the ground. Severus took a while to catch his breath and stop the nausea that was trying to show it's ugly face.
The cat hissed. Severus rolled his eyes wanting to make a rude remark when he noticed the hiss hadn't meant for him but something else. He followed her direction and was shocked at what he saw. 'Ho..how...?' He couldn't seem to come up with the right words let alone speak them. They no longer stood in his lab back home but a quite village house broken down and in desperate need of a serious renovation. He looked back at the black cat who hadn't stopped hissing. Feeling his eyes on her, Sapphire turned to connect their eyes. Severus didn't know what was going on just that Sapphire brought him there and seem to want to show him something. Against the voice in his head that told him he should return and forget anything happened, he decided to see this through. He could after all return if the need arise. Sapphire headed towards the old house and Severus with all his logical sense out the window, followed her. She stopped right at the door and looked at it as if expecting something. He looked towards the wooden board near the door. 'Orphanage?'
Sapphire meowed at him encouragingly. This shocked Severus even more. Sapphire had never meowed in his company before only hissed if he got too close or did something wrong with his potions. He snapped out of the shocked and composed himself, he was Severus Snape for Merlin's sakes. He gave the black cat one more look before knocking hard on the door.
Finally after five minutes of standing out side waiting, the wooden door opened and a plumed old woman poked her head out. She had a cheap smile on her face when she saw him standing there.
"Ah, Come in, come in Mr.?." Her high pitched voice made his ears hurt. Looking at Sapphire, he felt sorry. The cat was hissing was barely audible but he knew she was.
"Snape." He answered.
"Mr. Snape. I'm Ruth. Came to see a child have we?" She inquired. She seem to be trying her best to flirt.
"It is an orphanage." Severus snapped. 'She as smart as she looks.' He thought smirking to himself.
"Oh you again." The woman grabbed a broom near by and pulled it behind. Severus without thinking took a hold of the boom.
"She's with me." His voice was low but quite frighting.
"My apologies Mr. Snape." She laughed nervously. Sapphire taking her chance made her way to the hallway to a near by rooms. Stopped before ever room she listened to the sounds. Severus followed behind her waiting patiently. Reaching the third door, Sapphire meowed and clawed the brown broken door. Severus grabbed the handle and opened the door before the woman could say anything.
Inside were four broken wooden cribs but only one was occupied. The cat squeezed her way in through the bars and gently made her way to were the baby could see her.
Severus waited a few minutes to soak in what was happening.
Slowly he waked to the crib while the woman behind her ranted about one thing or another. The child's faces was stained with dry tears and he was hiccuping as an aftermath. Upon sighting the cat the child giggled through the hiccups. Severus eyes fell upon the scar on the his head. Nothing seem different until it hit Severus who this child was. He also had quite a few fading bruises and minor cuts on him.
"...He's not trained yet..."
"Trained." Severus caught the woman's last sentence.
"Yes, like I was saying; the other children have manners they have been through upon coming here. This child has only been here for two hours and he's only cried since coming. The letter wrote by his father started he was a ill mannered child and need a the kind of care that he and his wife could not give him. Something about having another child with needs." She stated not knowing how red Severus had gotten. Anger and sadness he had buried long ago after his abusive fathers death came rushing back in. He looked at the child again, his lips curled into a light smile seeing the small child laugh and tried to wiggle away as Sapphire licked his cheek. The child gave a high pitch laugh and a light bulb near by shattered. The child looked as if he was going start crying but the expression changed as Sapphire begin to lick him again.
"Things keep shattering today around that child" She spat the last word.
"I like to take him with me." Severus shocked himself as he realized what he had said.
"but.."
"Now!" He turned to her "Bring the papers I need to sign." He commanded. The woman froze for a few minutes but snapping out she hurried to gather the papers. Severus looked at the child and wonder what he had just done but the thoughts quickly went out the window as the child started to cough. Rather then panicking like he would have thought, Severus bent over picked up the small boy up carefully so not to hurt the already injured child and rubbed his back in circles. It seem to help. He looked at the child's bright light green eyes and despite himself smiled. The child too smiled and reached up to grab his nose.
"I..I've get the pap.." The old woman stood at the door shocked. The child hadn't let anyone hold him. He had screamed and kicked until he was put down. She shook her head as the strange but handsome young man came close holding the giggling baby in his arm and the black cat strolling behind him. 'Who keeps a black cat with them when going to an orphanage.' She thought. Cute but strange that man.
"Follow me and we'll...we'll..." Severus smirked but followed her. The child in his arm seem very curious with what was happening around him. He wrinkled his face and Severus agreed with him. The place smelled horrible. He was thankful when they entered the room that was suppose to be the office. The windows were open and the breeze outside was wonderful that morning.
The signing of the papers had taken an hour. While he went over the papers, the little boy played with the black cat until he had fallen asleep on the floor. Severus had gently put the sleeping child on his lap before continuing. 'I hope I'm doing the right thing Sara.'
As he was leaving, Severus turned around to face the lady again. He retrieved his wand from his robes without letting the woman see and before she knew what was happening, he call out "Obliviate" soon after disappearing with a pop holding his baby boy tight and the cat on his open shoulder.
The plump woman shook her head and stared out the open door before coming to her senses and shutting it loudly. She regretted that immediately as the children starting cry with the sudden loud noise. She stopped as she passed the room with an four empty cribs. "I could have sworn I saw a strange black cat around." She mumbled before attending to the children.
Two days later the child protective services had raided the house and shut down the orphanage. The children were taken to another orphanages that were well maintained and owners of Silver Shrine Orphanage were sentenced to 30 years in prison charged with negligence and abuse to children. The record where filed away for later reference, though one of Harry James Potter was nowhere to be found as if he was never left there.