A Bond of Blood
A/N- Wow! This fic really exploded in popularity, far, far beyond what I had expected. I can only be grateful (as always) to my readers, for their attention and encouragement. My apologies for the wait- I have been writing two rather lengthy chapters simultaneously to make sure that they sync up. Great from a narrative perspective, but it does take a little bit more time/effort.
Anyway, on with the show.
-GM
Chapter Two- Pursuing Potter
…
Summer, Hogwarts
Never in living memory had anyone seen Albus Dumbledore so mad that he could spit; normally the possessor of a cool and calculated logic in the face of adversity, his eyes currently flashed with unconcealed rage as he read over the report from Tonks, crushing the parchment in his hand.
"You're certain nothing was planned for his return to Surrey, Severus?" he asked, far more sharply than he had intended of the man across from him.
Severus Snape, a man far braver than the average wizard, merely curled his lip and snorted before responding, "Not bloody likely..." he trailed off, his voice losing a touch of its malice, "Unless the Dark Lord knows far more about me than I would like to assume." He hated to sound so weak, especially in front of Dumbledore, but the possibility was an uncomfortably realistic one.
At that, the older man softened.
"My boy," he said, laying a wizened old hand over the thin, elegant one belonging to the younger wizard. Dumbledore certainly wasn't foolish enough to bother with empty promises and meaningless platitudes- not with the shrewd Potions Master. The truly uncomfortable fact was that there was a distinct possibility that Voldemort might hide a plan to kidnap Dumbledore's Golden Boy from Severus.
"You have heard nothing, though?" asked Dumbledore again, far more gently.
"Nothing," rasped Severus as he fell back into one of Dumbledore's plethora of squashy armchairs, looking drained, "May I?" he asked, outstretching a potions-stained palm for the crumpled piece of parchment.
Dumbledore sighed and handed the scrap of parchment that bore Tonks' frantic scribbles; she had sent a Patronus ahead, of course, but Albus had the presence of mind to coax the Auror into making a full report at Hogwarts. Severus scanned the paper intently, his eyebrows slowly rising into his hairline.
"Albus," he said cautiously, "Did you see this?" he handed the paper back to the Headmaster, pointing at a sentence somewhere in the middle of the page. He handed off the page, allowing the Headmaster to bring it closer to his face. His eyebrows rose as well.
"My, my…well, Severus. This is," he let out a long-suffering breath, "Interesting."
Severus snorted, "Interesting? It's more than that, old man. It's proof. Those muggles would have been used as playthings by any of the Dark Lord's followers."
Dumbledore closed his eyes and nodded solemnly. It did not appear to comfort him that the only logical explanation to his problem appeared to have been disproven.
Severus rose from his seat, his robes billowing slightly about his boots, "I will Floo the woman across the way from his relatives…what's her name? Figg?"
Dumbledore simply nodded and waved a hand towards his own Floo.
Severus tossed in the sparkling powder and stuck his head into the green flames. He was deposited in the rather fussy home of an old widow who was currently surrounded by several cats. The woman jumped rather badly upon his appearance, upsetting her tea.
"Severus!" she exclaimed, recovering herself, "You'll have to excuse me. I never really get many people coming through that blasted thing…"
"Yes, yes…" he said, trying to wave off the squib as best he could with only his voice, "Albus has sent me to ask if you've seen the Dursleys about of late."
The old woman looked bemused, "Yes," she replied, thinking carefully, "I saw Vernon leave to get Harry from King's Cross yesterday, but I didn't watch too carefully for his return. He was a bit later than I would have expected him to be, though- they're usually back by 5 or so, but I didn't see Vernon's car in the drive until about 7. I didn't see him get out," she snapped, cutting him off before he could ask, "Had to feed the cats, you know," she said, making a sweeping gesture towards the ugly cat-Kneazle hybrids she bred.
Severus made a disgruntled face, Stupid woman, he thought (and several other uncomplimentary terms besides), "You haven't seen the Potter boy?" he asked, though he knew what her answer would be.
She shook her head, tutting in a disgustingly sentimental fashion, "No, no…But it's to be expected, now, isn't it? With what's happened at the Ministry? Besides, his relatives usually keep him rather busy with the gardening, at least for the first week back or so."
Severus nodded curtly- so that was why the mad old bint hadn't bothered to send word to Albus.
"He's missing," he told the woman sharply, "The Auror we put on him never saw him come home, just the uncle," Severus said, taking quite a bit of pleasure in her startled gasp. Served the old biddy right. She had one bloody job…
Having what he needed, he didn't bother with the social niceties of good-byes; he simply pulled his head out of the fire and stood, rather annoyed, in Dumbledore's office.
"The Figg woman's seen the Dusleys out and about, alright," he muttered, throwing himself down, "Only thing she's noticed out of the ordinary was the time the uncle returned- two hours later than he usually does, but she didn't see him pull in the drive. She was," Severus's lip curled impressively, "feeding her cats at the time."
Dumbledore nodded solemnly, "Well, Severus…I suppose that you and I shall be making a small visit to Privet Drive."
Snape could feel a raging headache coming on.
…
Summer, Privet Drive
Late that evening, under cover of nightfall, two strangers appeared on Privet Drive, the former home of one Harry Potter. The light of the streetlamps was harsh against their skin and made the older man's flowing, aubergine robes stand out starkly next to the conservative black of his younger companion. The younger man looked around the islands of light provided by the street lamps shiftily; to anyone watching (although no one was, the denizens of this particular town having gone to their beds long ago) he would appear to be looking for prospective enemies to materialize at any point.
That hypothetical observer would be quite on point.
The older man was seemingly unfazed and withdrew from a pocket deep within his curious garment an elaborate cigarette lighter. His more cautious companion did not look in the least concerned that his cohort appeared to be interested in nothing more than a good smoke.
The younger man, in fact, snorted, "Really, Albus?" he asked, "That thing? A simple Nox would do just as well, you know."
Albus' smile was a bit wicked, as he clucked, "It breaks my heart, Severus, that young people," shaking his head in mock remorse, "Show no appreciation for showmanship."
Severus simply snorted again.
Albus clicked the lighter once, and a light at the end of the street went out. Again, and the next light went with it. Again and again until the only light still on was the one buzzing above their heads.
"Are you ready, my boy?" asked Dumbledore cheerfully.
"As ever, Albus," he replied, no longer much affected by the Headmaster's antics. Dumbledore nodded and clicked the lighter a final time, causing a ball of light to be sucked from the light above into his contraption.
Severus would never admit it, but he sometimes rather admired Albus' style.
The two men walked in determined silence down the pitch dark street. Dumbledore threw out a hand to stop Severus when they arrived at number four.
"Here we are, my boy…Shall we?"
"After you, Headmaster," Severus responded, opening the gate so that his colleague might go ahead.
Dumbledore walked ahead and rapped purposefully on the door, just below the gold-plated number four that shone with a dull gleam beneath the porch light. The door was flung open, revealing two furious looking individuals- Vernon Dursley, with his incredible bulk and thick moustache, and Petunia Dursley, a thin, horse-faced woman.
Albus greeted the pair congenially, as if he hadn't just woken them at two in the morning, "Good evening, Petunia. Vernon," he said, nodding to each in turn, as he expertly ignored Vernon's infuriated blustering, "No time to dither, I'm afraid, rather important business to discuss," he said, pushing past them into their sitting room. Severus could follow quietly and watch with a smile.
"Now," said Dumbledore waving his wand so that the couch came forward and knocked out both of the Dursley's feet from under them, "We've been having a real devil of a time tracking down your nephew- I'm sure that you are just as worried as we are-"
Vernon interrupted the old wizard, seemingly the minute the powers of speech returned to him, "The boy isn't our problem anymore," he said with a self-satisfied smirk, "Never should have been in the first place, at that."
The glint in Dumbledore's eyes grew hard…if he hadn't been such an idiot, Severus might have deigned to feel pity for the man across from him.
"You will tell me what has happened to Mr. Potter," there was no hint of a request in the Headmaster's tone.
The simpleton on the couch still didn't seem to get it. He snorted before replying, "Fine. Sent the bloody nuisance off to live with his father. Not our blood, not our problem," even Severus was shocked by the simple callousness of the statement.
If Albus had been mad before, now he was furious. He barely whispered as he said, "Harry's parents have been dead for the better part of two decades."
Another snort (by Severus' estimation, the man truly had no sense of self-preservation), "Apparently not- the boy was adopted. The father agreed to take him back and we were rather pleased to get him off our hands…Isn't that right, love?" he asked, off-hand. Petunia did not respond, apparently not sharing in her husband's casual underestimation of their unwelcome visitors.
Severus couldn't resist, "Is it indeed, Petunia?" he asked in a low, silky whisper. Her shocked jump was incredibly satisfying. She had apparently been so absorbed by Albus that she had failed to take in his lurking presence in the entryway. Silly chit. He could have killed her several times over by now.
"S-Severus Snape," she stammered. He saw calculation fly through her eyes before she rose and quickly wrote an address down on a scrap of paper, handing it to him.
"Take it," she whispered hoarsely, "Take it and go."
He let a single delicate eyebrow rise as he looked Petunia in the eye. Slowly, agonizingly so, he unfolded the paper and read what she had scrawled there. He blanched.
"You have no idea," he rasped, "No idea what you have done."
And with that, he quickly apparated away, not bothering with waiting for the headmaster.
Albus looked at both Petunia and Vernon in turn, piercing them with a look, "This has not finished," he intoned, returning to the school, intent upon finding Severus.
…
Summer, Hogwarts
Eventually, Albus made his way to his own office, quietly closing the door behind him when he saw his normally stalwart Potions Master sitting before his desk cradling his face in his palms.
"Severus, my boy," he said, he voice soft, "What-"
Before he could even ask, the younger man thrust the crumpled piece of paper at the Headmaster. The man smoothed it out and felt his face fall as he recognized the address.
"Your-"
"Yes," Severus replied, his voice carefully devoid of feeling, "My father's home."
"Forgive me, Severus," replied the Headmaster solemnly, "I didn't know that Mr. Potter was adopted…and I certainly did not know that he was your-"
Severus simply waved off the older man, "Your apologies are unnecessary, Albus," he responded formally, "You know as well as I do how infertility is regarded amongst those who were raised…traditionally."
The Headmaster nodded, exhausted, returning to the seat behind his desk. While Lily Potter had been Muggleborn, her husband had been from a long line of Purebloods; even for the more modern, sterility was met with pity and seen as a deep personal embarrassment.
"I suppose that Lily was glamoured…" Severus thought aloud, rubbing at his temples, recalling having seen the vibrant redhead heavy with pregnancy in one or two pictures.
"It is not uncommon," replied the Headmaster gently, which was the truth. The handful of adoption agencies that serviced Wizarding Britain would often provide long-term glamours for the adoptive mother and boast of their discreet service, profiting off of archaic values.
"We have to get him away from there," said the dark-haired man bluntly, eyes still shut as he fought off what promised to be a massive headache.
"Of course," said Dumbledore seriously, "He is completely exposed there. Were Tom to find-"
Severus cut him off, his black eyes snapped open, glinting dangerously, "That's not what I meant, old man, and you know it."
Dumbledore sighed, "I know. However, there is precious little we can do about it tonight."
Severus grunted his agreement, "Tomorrow, then? I wouldn't leave anyone with that bastard for too long…even if it is Potter."
…
Summer, Spinner's End
…
A/N- I hope that you enjoyed! Please leave a review. I'm particularly interested to know if the non-traditional structure is throwing anyone off…I don't find it difficult to follow, but, then I'm a bit biased.
Entirely off topic, but if you ever want to cry yourself silly over an HP fanfic, I would heartily recommend 'Chaos is Come Again'. It's a really narratively gratifying, heart-breaking, HG/SS modified Marriage Law. Google it. Seriously.