Celebwen Telcontar: Newest fic. Harry has a new power that's growing with his Animagus form. What is it? You'll just have to read!
Balrog: Ohhh! Why make us wait in suspense?
Celebwen Telcontar: It's fun! And this is a light LOTR/HP crossover, but also has a new power that you've never seen before! Or maybe you have. I don't know!
Balrog: Just get to the point. And do you own anything here?
Celebwen Telcontar: Not a thing. Aside from the Red Mountain Gryphon. I own nothing else. LOTR belongs to JRR Tolkien, HP to JK Rowling, and the Earth to herself. That's all people! Please read and please review! Reviews are my lifeblood! I need them!
Hagrid had called for the class to be prepared to turn in a one-foot essay on the Red Mountain Gryphon by next class.
The Red Mountain Gryphon
"The Red Mountain Gryphon is a mythical creature claimed to be seen by sixteenth century wizards and witches in high mountainous climates. It is said to be over five feet tall at the shoulder, red of plumage. That much we know, but everything else is sheer speculation. The only known expert on the Red Mountain Gryphon, Lord Gaius Helton, describes the Red Mountain Gryphon such:
'Firebird, also called the Red Mountain Gryphon, the Volcano Cat, and the Fire Gryphon for its uncanny ability to rule the land is a beast fierce and loyal, the plumage as red as flame, the talons and beak gold. It is a beast able to control the very volcanic forces of the land. The Firebird is a strong beast, and able to bear a human into battle. The sharp talons are capable of rending steel like water, and the body is impervious to all spells. It is a master of the Healing arts, far more so than even a Unicorn. What a beast would we dare to capture. What a clever and cunning creature. It has a hypnotizing gaze that is impossible to overthrow, and whatever the beast wants one under its gaze to do, thou shall certainly do it. Its will cannot be broken, not with the strongest wizard or spell.'
"The Red Mountain Gryphon, alas, is a mythic beast, and as such not in any way alive. Were it alive, it would be a finding of great magnitude."
Harry closed his book and began to write his essay.
"Harry, we have Transfiguration next! Do you have the phial of Animagus potion?" Ron called. "We're supposed to take it within the next hour."
"I've got it. Yours and mine."
"Good. Give me mine." Ron downed his greenish brown potion, and arched an eyebrow.
Harry downed his bright red potion, and shuddered. Then, he picked up his pack, and walked out of the portrait hole with Ron in tow.
"Now students, I want you to point your wands at your partners and say the spell."
"Transferus Animagus!" Harry cried. He pointed his wand at Ron, who transformed into a large green cicada. Then, Ron, chirping, hopped over to Professor McGonnagal.
"Alright, Weasley. Go over and help Mr. Potter." He said the incantation at Harry, and he felt like a flame was enveloping him. He felt as if he was melting into a river of lava, and he felt some of the lava was burning him.
Harry couldn't think; the pain was too great. Ron was trying to say something, but he couldn't understand. Harry couldn't even scream. He just stood there; flattening his ears, trying for some semblance of peace, and then fluffed his wings.
He dove down into the earth with his consciousness, leaving his body behind and found a pool of magma, which he readily immersed himself into.
The burning heat felt good, and he let it seep into his every corner of himself. The cramped cavern soon drove him to find an outlet, and he found one; then he leapt for joy. He felt so exuberant that he danced about, singing.
Caterina DeLuca looked up as the volcano gave two sharp bangs. An arm of smoke was punching its way upward, and people were panicking. Mt. Vesuvius was erupting again, and this time hundreds of thousands of people were caught in the wake.
Professor McGonnagal looked at the red and gold Gryphon that had been Harry Potter. He was lying on his side, looking asleep.
"Harry?" Ron asked.
"He can't be..." Hermione whispered.
"What?" Professor McGonnagal asked.
"A Red Mountain Gryphon," Hermione breathed.
"Miss Granger, will you and Mr. Weasley find both Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid?" Professor McGonnagal asked.
"I'll get Dumbledore," Hermione declared.
Harry danced and leapt, the lava swirling about him in blots and fountains. Ash and rocks rained down from a black sky as Harry jubilantly danced.
Once he was tired, he sped back to his body, leaving a trail of energy back to the mantle. When he got back, he hurt far less than he did before, and he sighed in appreciation of the soft bed.
He recognized that he was in Hagrid's cabin, and ruffled his wings.
"Hullo, 'Ary!"
"Hagrrrid. How arrrre you?" Harry asked, trilling the 'R''s through his beak.
"Yeh... yeh can talk!"
"Aparrrrenly sssssso, Hagrrrid. Sssso, what am I?"
"I think yer a Red Moun'ain Gryphon."
"That would make sssssenssse, ssssseeing assss I manipulated lava and dansssed with it."
"Merlin, 'Arry!"
"Harry, can you turn back?" Hermione asked.
"Perrrrrrhapsssss. I shall trrrrrry." He thought of his human life, and felt a tearing, burning pain. "Did I change back?" he asked.
"Nope. Yer still a Firebird."
"Merrrrlin."
"Try again." Harry did, and the agony ripped through again. He kept at it, until a dull pop was heard, and all went black.
Harry awoke in the Hospital wing, fully human. He felt like something was missing from his life.
"Mr. Potter. You've gotten into the Hospital wing every year. This time, your friend Hagrid said that you changed into a human from your Animagus form of a Red Mountain Gryphon, and fainted after. I don't believe the story. So what's the real truth?" Madam Pomphry asked. "The Red Mountain Gryphon doesn't exist. It'd be the greatest medical miracle since the practice of magical healing was invented." Harry reached down with his consciousness, and touched the mantle. As he did, he felt his body change, and looked up. He lifted his crest, clicked his beak, and Madam Pomphry jumped back. "It's true... the Firebird is real... you're a Firebird... a Red Mountain Gryphon..."
"Yes, Poppy, he is. Hello, Harry. Well, what can you do?"
"Well, Prrrofesssorrr Dumbledorrre, I can manipulate the worrrld arrrround me. Esssspecially the lava."
"Dear Merlin! You can talk vocally!"
"Yesss, I can. May I pleassse ssssee my wand?"
"Alright. What are you going to do?"
"Wingarrrdium Leviosssa!" Harry cried. The vase he had pointed his wand at jumped to the ceiling, shattering on the tiles. "Rrreparrro!" The vase repaired itself, so much that it shattered itself with the power that it repaired it with. Professor Dumbledore brought forth a Slytherin boy.
"Can you control this boy's mind? He's in a detention, and he is one of the best at throwing off the Imperious curse." Harry did what was instinct to him, and willed the boy to do a triple back flip then jump over a bed. The boy did so without reservation. "Excellent, Harry, excellent! Now, I am adept at throwing the Imperious curse. Do the mind-control on me." Harry sighed, and locked eyes with the Headmaster. He pictured the stately and venerable old wizard telling every detail of his last twenty-four hours. Madam Pomphry left within the first two minutes of the play-by-play, especially when Dumbledore explained, in great detail, exactly what the relationship between himself and Professor McGonnagal was. By the end of the narrative, Harry's nares were scarlet and his body was puffed up with embarrassment at having to witness this outpouring of love and affection that the Headmaster had for the Transfiguration professor.
Said professor came in within a moment, and Harry's body puffed up even more with embarrassment, then he ducked his head and slipped as well as he could onto the floor and tried to walk out, looking ludicrous.
"Potter, why are you trying to walk out, in the form of a Red Mountain Gryphon?" Professor McGonnagal asked.
"Prrrrrofessssorrrr McGonnagal, Ma'am, I'm trrrrying to essssscape embarrrrrassssssssment."
"Good Merlin. You can speak vocally?"
"I can."
"What happened to make you embarassed?"
"Minerva, I thought I could throw off Harry's version of the Imperious Curse. I was wrong. Harry had me recount every minute of the last twenty-four hours."
"Albus..."
"Do not worrrrrry, Prrrrrofessssorrrrr McGonnagal. I won't ssssspill thissss inforrrrrmation to anyone, not even if they assssk."
"Thank you, Potter."
"No worrrries, Prrrrrofessssorrrrr."
"Well, now that we got that done, let me turn you back into a human." She gave him a spell, and he shifted into a human.
As he morphed back into his human form, he felt cold and barren. He voiced this to the Mediwitch, who expressed concern and looked over him.
"There's nothing physically wrong with you, Potter, so I'd say that it's something from your Animagus form. Though nothing like this has ever been seen before."
"You said that you danced with lava, so could it be that you can't psychically reach the Earth's mantle in your human form?"
"Perhaps. I managed to touch it in my human form, but changed into a Firebird right after."
"That's the reason then. You're a Firebird at heart, since you are uncomfortable not touching the Earth's mantle. Come right to me if anything happens during your sleep."
"As is, Potter, you'll need to watch your transformations, and visit Professor Hagrid to learn how birds and hippogriffs fly in order to learn how to fly yourself."
"Alright. Well, where's my wand?" He picked it up, grabbed his bag, and trotted down to his Potions class, not looking forward to the Professor's class at all.
The classes came and went, and soon the last class of the day heralded the beginning of Christmas break. As Harry dozed in his bed, he relaxed, and as he did he felt warmth in his chest, then his back felt strange so he rolled onto his chest, folding his forepaws beneath him. Then, he rested his head on the pillow, resettled his wings, and fell asleep to dreams of lava and dancing with volcanoes.
Harry awoke the next morning to Neville gasping.
"Harry, you're your bird self!"
"Grrrreat. I'm a Rrrrred Mountain Gryphon now. I cannot ssssleap without turning into my Animagus forrrrrm, can I?" He changed, with difficulty, back into his human self, and went up to Professor Dumbledore's office.
"Harry, I'm sorry to have to say this," Professor Dumbledore said, "But you can't remain in Human form during periods of relaxation and being away from your mind."
"So what should I do? Especially during Professor Binns and Professor Trelawney's classes?"
"Simple. Attend in your Gryphon form."
"And what if I transform in periods of heightened stress as well?"
"Try to hold onto yourself then, and if that is the case, transform for Professor Snape's classes as well."
"Okay... well, here goes. Do you have a Bogart someplace that I can practice on?"
"In this cabinet. Wand at the ready..." Harry lifted his wand, summoned up the best memory he could find, and got ready. When the dementor came out, he felt something hot break free of himself.
"Expecto Patrrronum!" Harry trilled, and then saw an enormous silver stag not just run down the Dementor, but puncture the robes and make it explode in a cloud of sulfuric smelling grey smoke.
"Well, I take it you cannot handle tough situations without turning into a Gryphon. But your Gryphon form maximizes your spells and makes them twice as powerful. I would hate to see a Reducto curse used on someone's heart in your Gryphon form. It would blow up their chest!" Harry nodded in reverence for Professor Dumbledore, and changed back into his Human form.
"I like that form better."
"Good. That's very good, Harry." Harry left Professor Dumbledore's office, and went in search of Ron and Hermione to wait out the coming of Christmas.
Severus Snape was looking through his private library, and found the dusty tome he wanted. It was a very thick book, probably around two thousand pages, and on one subject: the mythical creature known as the Red Mountain Gryphon. He recalled that Harry was not only James' son, but also Lily's. It had been Lily, who had first reached out to him, Lily, who always defended him against James. Lily, who was the first person he ever loved. The only person, to some point. He still loved her so much that it hurt. And now she was gone. He felt terrible, that he had judged Harry. He only had to look into those eyes, into Lily's eyes, and he would see that the father and the son were profoundly different. He ran to his family tree, and remembered that his ancestor, Gaius Helton, had started a line of Squibs.
"Now, Family Tree, show me the last living descendants of Gaius Helton!" A flash of light was seen as his wand fired a spell at the tree, which burned with blue light until a set of images appeared. The youngest was a boy who looked more like a beached whale. His mother looked quite ugly with her long neck, bony face, and horsy front teeth. Then, he saw a boy. He was black haired, rather short, and had vibrant green eyes. They were Lily's eyes. He was being beaten by a dark haired beefy man with a face like unmixed currant ice cream. He was dressed in clothes far too big for him, and was scrawny and underfed. Severus' blood boiled. He clasped the book in one hand, gave it a very good cleaning charm, and wrapped the new-looking book in brown paper, a note written in his best handwriting clinging to the paper.
"Harry, I have found that you and I are related by your mother's side. Please come up to Professor Dumbledore's office at three PM on the twenty-seventh of December. I know you stay over during the Christmas holidays, and would like to talk to you, much like father to son, over a game of chess."
Severus then Portkeyed to his Potions room and called for a House Elf to take the present up to Harry's bed. He then went up to Professor Dumbledore's office, and yelled at him for a good five minutes on how the Dursley's treated Harry. Then, he asked the Headmaster if he could possibly adopt Harry, seeing as he was related to Lily, if distantly.
Harry awoke slowly, stretching every muscle in his sore body. He always was sore after a night of dancing with a volcano, and now he had been dancing with Mount Denali. He rubbed his head with a paw, and preened a wing feather into place. Then, he turned in his bed and saw a pile of presents by the foot of his bed. He took a talon and carefully slitted open a present, and found that it was a box of dead ferrets and other forest loam creatures that Hagrid had sent to him. He dug into a ferret, and looked over his other presents. Then, he spotted himself in a large mirror. His eyes were all that remained of him, as they were the same vibrant green as they always were. But his pupils were slitted like a cat's, and he had a pair of tufts that he supposed were his ears. His beak was shaped like a golden eagle's, and was as gold as a galleon. His neck was long and the feathers a dark wine-like red, almost like his mother's hair. His paws were flexible like an eagle's, but had the retractable claws and fur of a cat's. He stretched out his wings as far as they would go, and reckoned them to be about a good twenty feet wide each. He then looked at his hindquarters, and saw that they were like a cat's, but his tail was flatter and more feathered then a wildcat's. He swallowed the ferrit sticking out of his beak, and tore open the Dursley's present, which was a gun. Shoot yourself now, and be gone from us! the note read. Harry couldn't control a wild shriek of rage from exploding from his chest. The boy's dorm jumped about half yard into the air, and the girl's came racing up to see what the matter was. Hermione took one look at the "present" and magically placed it into a sealed plastic bag, then told Harry to take it up to Professor Dumbledore.
Harry opened a brown paper present next, and read the card before opening the present in and of itself. Harry, I have found that your mother's side relates you and me. Please come up to Professor Dumbledore's office at three PM on the twenty-seventh of December. I know you stay over during the Christmas holidays, and would like to talk to you, much like father to son, over a game of chess. the note read. Harry took one look, and small diamond tear fell from his eye, clattering to the ground. He then opened the package, and Hermione squealed in appreciation.
"That's the book by Gaius Helton! The only one in the world!" she cried. Harry turned back into a human, and immersed himself in it.
"Wow! This has some stuff that I never even dreamed I could do! All this on a mythical creature now found to be real. What a marvelous book!" Harry cried. He kept reading, and Hermione had to prod him to open his next packages. An anonymous sender had sent him a ruby encrusted sword and the matching sheath to place around his waist. "This one has to be from Dumbledore. Only he has Gryphindor's sword." He then opened Ron's gift and found some real frogs and some chocolate ones.
"The real ones are for your Firebird form."
"Thanks, Ron," Harry said, transforming back into a Gryphon and eating a frog, to everyone's disgust. "Delicioussss. Absssssolutely delectable. Thank you, my frrriend."
"Any time, mate," Ron replied. Then, Harry opened his gift from Mrs. Weasley, and found the traditional box of homemade fudge and the sweater, not the green one with an H on it, but a black one with a Firebird in flight on the front. Harry looked closer and found that it looked like it had been made from feathers in and of itself. He put it on when he had transformed back into a human, and then he noticed the time.
"We should be getting down breakfasting," Harry said, running for the bathroom with his clothes.
On the twenty-seventh, at three pm on the dot, Harry was shifting his paws in nervousness, as he stood in Dumbledore's office, unable to remain a human in this time of stress. Not that he hadn't tried, it was just impossible. Today he might be getting a new family. Less than a minute later, the office door opened, and Professor Snape entered. He looked as nervous as Harry felt, and Harry surmised that Professor Snape might be the one who wanted to adopt him. Harry sat down; the only part of him not still was his tail, flicking about in a fit of nerves.
"Po—Harry, I'm the one who sent you the book. I'd like you to have a few days to get used to the idea of me adopting you."
"Prrrrofesssor Sssssnape, I…"
"You don't have to answer now, but I know how your relatives treat you, and I also need a blood relative able to inherit. You fit the description, possibly the only blood relative I have left save the abhorrent woman who calls herself your aunt."
"How clossse of relatives arrrre we?" Harry asked, trying to cut down the hissing and trilling that naturally happened when he spoke in his Gryphon form.
"Cousins. My great-great-grandfather, Gaius Helton, yes the author of the book on the Red Mountain Gryphon, started a line of squbs with his firstborn child. His second born, my great-grandmother, cut ties with the squibs. The squbs eventually had a witch in the family, your mother. We're still related by blood, so I can offer you the protection that you need, and you can be the Heir that I need in order to keep the Snape family artifacts from falling into the Dark Lord's hands."
"I… I'll need to think about thisss a bit. I will have that chesss match with you."
"Good. Do you want to go down to my office and have it now?"
"That would be a good idea. Much appreciated, Prrofesssorr Sssnape. Thank you forr the offerr." Harry gryph-grinned, and Professor Dumbledore, having witnessed the whole exchange from his desk, smiled in hope for this to work. Merlin knew that Harry needed a good family, and that Severus was far too lonely. This would work, he prayed.
Harry, now back in human form, pondered Severus' latest move. His queen was in danger, and he had lost over half of his pieces, including knights, one bishop, most of his pawns, and a rook.
"Queen to B5. Take his knight," Harry declaired. The queen didn't move.
"You'd be putting your king in check if you did that."
"My king's already in check; from your knight."
"But capturing my knight would open the space for my rook to take your king."
"Uhh… Rook to B5." The Rook moved, and took the knight.
"Rook to D3. Take his queen," Severus said, and the Rook did as told.
"Bishop to B3. Protect my King."
"Rook to B3. Take his Bishop."
"Rook to B2, take his pawn."
"Rook to A3, take his King."
"Excellent game, Professor."
"Good game to you too. If you ever need help on anything, or just someone to talk to, you know where my office is."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, his voice almost choked. "I know what you went through with… James. My cousin, Dudley, gave me the same treatment," Harry said quietly. Severus looked at him closely, then quietly reached over and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry looked up, slightly startled, and Severus gave him a slight smile: one of two survivors of the same kind of tyranny. Harry felt a strange welling up of emotion, and knew what his answer to Severus' question would be. But he had to sleep on it to solidify the decision, to keep himself from acting too rashly. "Thank you," he whispered. "For everything."
Harry knew that he had to get out, or risk bursting into tears before the Potions master, and so he gave a smile, and left. As he reached the Gryphindor hall, the threatening outpouring of tears came, and Harry had to sob the password to a sympathetic Fat Lady.
He paced the dormitories as a Firebird, mulling over the pros and cons. Eventually, he settled onto the hearthrug, gazing into the flames. Crookshanks came up, purring, and settled into the hollow between his wings, then slowly fell asleep, letting Harry think on his decision. Eventually, Harry fell asleep, his mind bogged down with an emotional onslaught.
His dreams were confusing at best, with Harry flying through his life with the Dursleys at warp sped, seemingly being in several places at once. Then, his Uncle Vernon tied him to the bed and poured acid into his eyes and collapsed on the couch, drop dead drunk.
After that nightmare, he saw his life as it could be with Severus. He lived in a mansion, had several house-elves, and had an unbreakable father-son relationship with Severus. The best part was the fact that he knew, instinctively, that Severus cared for him simply for that reason, because he cared, not because Harry was the Boy Who Lived, or that he was an orphan in need of a better home. The house may have been cold on the outside, but all the trust and joy between Severus and Harry brightened the halls, made the grounds far less forbidding, and gave the estate a sense of home. When he awoke, he knew his decision was now unshakable. Even unofficially, he now had a real family, one that cared for him. He couldn't wait to go down to breakfast and say good morning to the person he now thought of as a father figure.
Harry awoke to a burning pain behind his eyes and a sense that he needed to get down to Severus' chambers as soon as possible. With a shriek of pain, he catapulted down the hallway, then literally took flight and glided down the steps down to the Great Hall, cutting his travel time nicely. When he reached the Great Hall, he was molting with terror. He would not loose another person in his ill-ly put together 'family'. Somehow he knew that Severus had been found out and was in dire need of a Healer but couldn't make it to one.
"What's the password?" the painting of Salazar Slytherin asked.
"Just let me in, I've got talonsss and I know how to usssse them," Harry hissed, unsheathing his golden claws.
"Go in, go in! I don't want to be demolished!" Salazar said quickly. Harry rushed through the portrait hole, still molting.
He found Severus in his living room, blood pouring off of his face. His limbs still twitched from having too much of the Cruciatus curse placed on him. His hair was a pale grey, and his face nearly transparent. Harry knew that he had been hit with too many Cruciatus curses, and that he was insane with it. Just like the Longbottoms. Harry let loose a keening wail, and something broke inside of him. He reared on his hind paws, then splayed his fore talons, and gave a falconine screech of loss, his feathers standing on end. He didn't know how Severus had gotten back, but he would do his best to bring the Potions Master back to sanity.
Harry fell to all four paws, and felt some diamond tears drop off of his face and clatter to the floor. Something appeared in his mouth, hard and round. He knew what he must do. He opened the insane man's mouth and pushed the little sphere onto his tongue.
"Sssswallow, Fatherrrr…" Harry whispered, not even sure of what he was saying. Severus managed to swallow the pill, and Harry breathed on his face. The combination soon worked: Severus lost the trembling, he lost the blank look in his eyes, and he gasped in recognition.
"Harry…"
"Jussst ssstay ssstill. I don't know how long it will take to worrrrk." As Harry spoke, he realized that Severus' hair wasn't turning back to its normal black, and that he had only healed his mind. Madam Pomphry would do the rest.
"I need to talk to Dumbledore."
"Jussst ssstay therrre. Acsssico Dumbledorrrre! Acsssico Madam Pomphrrrry!" Harry screeched; his wand outstretched.
"You really think like a Slytherin at times," Severus whispered.
"The hat seriously considered making me a Slytherin; I managed to talk it out of it."
"You talked the Sorting Hat out of putting you in Slytherin! That's impossible!" At that moment, they heard Salazar cry out in horror and swing open hurriedly. Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomphry flew in, and were deposited at Harry's feet.
"Harry, you really must not… Severus, is that you?"
"Yes. The Dark Lord tortured me into insanity because he had found out about me being a spy. He was going to kill me, and the next thing I knew I was here. Harry is responsible for me being able to talk and not babbling all over the place."
"Well, Potter, you did what no living person has ever done before. I commend you for it!" Madam Pomphry exclaimed. She began the physical healing, as Severus could not be moved, or he would risk having internal damage.
"Headmaster, the Dark Lord is creating new creatures. They are like dragons, only with two legs and have gargantuan heads that are nothing like a Dragon; he sacrificed orc, and used the blood of an Elf. He is also trying to find the bones of Morgoth."
"Morrrrgoth! No, he cannot be rrrresssssurrrrecting Ssssaurrrrron the Abhorrrrred!" Harry cried, trilling and hissing in his disbelief and terror. "Now that I think about it, Worrrmtail and Worrrmtongue ssssssound alike. I would sssssurrrrmissssse that He Who Musssst Not Be Named issss Sssarrrruman."
"Harry, do you know of the book the Lord of the Rings!" Severus cried. Harry transformed into his human self.
"I read it enough to know Elvish fluently. I know the storyline by heart, and where some people get the characters so mixed up that they're hopeless, I could tell you where each character was in his or her element."
"Severus, what else is the Voldemort planning?"
"From what I could gather, Headmaster, he is trying to find and use the Silmarils in the war."
"The what?"
"The three great jewels of Feanor. Eärendil the Mariner in his celestial journey uses one as a lamp, we see it as Venus, one was thrown into the seas and the last was thrown into a mighty cleft. Saruman, or He Who Must Not Be Named here and now, is unable to get to any of them. Eärendil starts his journey from Valinor, and ends there as well."
"Interesting, Harry. But what are the powers of the Silmarils?"
"Only Feanor, who crafted them, knows of their powers now."
"Could Sauromen find the other two?"
"No. They are too deep in the sea and too deep in the earth to find. And his name is Saruman, not Sauromen. He's trying to resurrect Sauron the Deceiver, known in Sindarin as Gorthaur."
"Okay…"
"Read the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, and books one and two of the Lost Tales. It will make more sense if you do."
"I'll do that…" Dumbledore muttered, confused to say the least. Madam Pomphry was completely befuddled, and had already left after making sure that Severus was well again. Then, the Headmaster left, leaving Harry and Severus alone.
"Harry, before I was well in mind, I thought I heard you call me Father…" Severus whispered.
"I did. I've made my choice, Father." Harry smiled through the emotional tears that were tracing their way down his cheeks. Severus stood from the couch and enfolded Harry in a powerful, swift hug. Harry started laughing with his joy. "I have a family… I have a family!" Harry was joyous, and soon had Severus laughing as well.
Professor Dumbledore sat behind his desk, looking at Harry over his half-moon glasses.
"Harry, do you know why you were able to talk the hat out of putting you in Slytherin?"
"Why?"
"Because you are Gryffindor's Heir. One other, only one other, student was able to talk the hat out of putting them in the House they belong in. An orphan, brought up as a Muggle, belonged in Hufflepuff, but he decided that he didn't like Hufflepuffs early on. So the Hat decided to put him in his ancestor's house, Slytherin. Yes, Tom Riddle is a Hufflepuff at heart. You have many of Slytherin's most prized qualities, including his gift of Parseltongue. You were born a Slytherin at heart, but you talked the hat out of putting you in Slytherin so it put you in your ancestor's house of Gryffindor."
"So you lied to me. You lied to me about Voldemort having transferred powers to me!" Harry roared.
"Harry, I had to keep you safe! And you knowing that you are Gryffindor's heir is hardly keeping you safe!"
"You…you… are there any more secrets you're keeping from me? I'm sixteen!"
"No more. But the Hat might know some." Dumbledore handed Harry the hat as Severus stepped in.
"Albus, what is going on here?"
"Only Gryffindor's Heir could have pulled his sword from the hat. Harry did that in Second year—"
There was a triple thud and Harry swayed on his feet, to be caught by Severus. The Potions Master ripped off the Sorting Hat and flung it at Dumbledore. Three swords fell from the hat: one bearing the ledger "Helga Hufflepuff," one bearing "Rowena Ravenclaw," and the last bearing the name "Salazar Slytherin". Severus glared at Dumbledore as Harry transformed.
"I see."
"You had better do more than just 'see', you git. You've knocked him unconscious!"
"Oh, dear. I had no idea that he was the Heir of all four Founders, just that he was Gryffindor's Heir!"
"You'd better pray that he has your goodwill at heart, otherwise I will assist him in deposting you from the school. Do you understand, Dumbledore?" Severus hissed.
Celebwen Telcontar: I don't know if Morgoth is Sauron's father, but I didn't know who else to put in!
Balrog: Am I in this?
Celebwen Telcontar: Maybe later. Please review people. And if you're very good, I'll update. With an interesting trio of characters in America someplace, probably Yellowstone or some other highly volcanic place.