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SEVERUS SNAPE POV

As he stepped out of the Floo with the child cradled in his arms. A comfortable weight that made his heart ache for what he'd always desired. For one brief instance the image of what he'd seen in the mirror of Erised when he'd stood before it just last year flashed in his mind. Lily standing proud by his side her vibrant green eyes alive with life and love as she held a tiny bundle in her arms. Severus stood at her side a slightly bigger child in his arms and two older children standing beside them. The family he'd always desired with her. The last words she'd spoken to him before walking out of their shared apartment into the dawn echoed in his mind. 'How could anyone love you, you're a Death Eater, already corrupted by evil. I hate you Severus, I hate you for making me live a lie all these years! How could you!' The slamming of the door still resounded and threatened to break his mind apart again. He could feel the tears threatening to fall as emotions overwhelmed him.

Occluding his mind until no emotion remained, until his mind was an empty blackness he set the child down. Meeting Lucius's gaze as surprise and joy welled up inside of him. Lucius was his brother in all but blood. To know he wasn't loyal to the Dark Lord was enough to cause relief to flood his body. However, what really made Severus pause were Lucius's words that were spoken at the end of their quick conversation. 'He should have been yours.'

That is what caused Severus to lapse into silence and thought as he regarded the child in the chair next to him. The letter that James had sent him a week after the wedding; his final act of cruelty was still engraved in his mind. 'I promised you that you would live to regret taking Lily away from me. Well now you shall, see Snivellous I slipped Lily a very potent love potion and because of that she's mine. She's pregnant with my child Snivy. You see even before we were married and even though the love potion had worn off when she found out our one night got her with child she came back to me.'

Severus's eyes looked up to meet Lucius's searching gaze and he whispered out, "I need your help in order to set up protection for Harry."

"I require a private word with Severus," Lucius said turning away from Severus's gaze to look at Albus.

HARRY POTTER POV

Harry was overwhelmed to say the least. Looking at Lucius Malfoy he felt his whole world tilt. This man was nothing like Draco. Well he looked a heck of a lot like Draco, and his words sounded a lot like Draco's forms of speech. His actions bled aristocratic upbringing just like Draco's did, but the platinum eyes held none of the condemnation Draco's held. There was no malice in Lucius's actions or words. Harry felt confused by what was being said around him. He'd figured out what Lucius had meant with his statement barely a moment before Severus spoke. It startled Harry to the core of his being, the raw concern that crossed Lucius's face.

What could Lucius mean that Harry should have been Severus's. Did that mean what Harry thought it did? Could it mean that? Was there something between Severus and his mom? Now that Harry thought about it the only comment Severus had ever made was that he had his mother's eyes. Beyond that he'd not commented on his mother. He'd said plenty about his 'good for nothing father' as Severus called him and the way that Lucius acted it seemed like James might not have been quite the hero everyone told him he was. Could his dad really have been the bully that Severus had claimed?

Harry was jarred from his thoughts by Lucius's statement. Staring open mouthed at the man Harry cast a look to Severus and froze. The man's eyes were shiny with tears, the only outward sign that something was wrong. What in the world? Harry wondered. Lost in his own thoughts he'd not noticed the change. Severus was tense. His gaze focused on a point clearly lost in a time that wasn't the here and now. What startled Harry even more was Dumbledore's next words.

"Of course, I have a few things for Harry upstairs in my library, maybe you'd like to accompany me Harry?" Albus asked him rising smoothly from his chair. Harry nodded mutely not knowing what to say or do. He followed Albus up a winding staircase to a door that the elder man pushed open. Following him down the hall and to a beautiful library that was far smaller than Severus's library it surprised Harry. Albus led him to a table and there sitting on its surface were four leather bound notebooks. Harry tentatively reached out for one and opened it. Staring in awe at his mother's writing.

"These were my mom's?" Harry asked, needing to know his assumption was correct.

"They are, but they are incomplete Harry, these first three are from her time in Hogwarts and that last one there is from your birth. Everything that followed her sixth year are missing. I recovered these from your home," Albus explained seating himself across from Harry, his eyes meeting Harry's. "Before I leave you to your reading Harry there is something you need to understand, that missing timeframe." Albus stopped talking and suddenly Harry realized he looked much older as he looked absently at the book in Harry's hand.

"Does it have something to do with why Snape is upset? He knew my mom didn't he?" Harry pressed. Knowing that Albus knew more than he was letting on and desperately wanting to know.

"Yes Harry he did. From their seventh year until a few months before your parents wedding, Severus and Lily dated. I don't know what happened Harry, but I do know this Lily loved you very much and so did your father. James was a good man Harry, regardless of what Severus might have said. He's was a good man who made some bad choices. In the end he gave his life for you and our cause," Albus explained gently. Harry was beginning to wonder why Albus felt the need to tell him his dad was a good person. Something didn't add up and then it dawned on him.

"He hurt him didn't he?" Harry inquired already knowing the answer.

"It was a very complicated situation Harry," Albus hedged. In that moment Harry knew the old man was hiding something from him. The way Lucius had been speaking, the way that Severus had looked, the hatred Severus bore the name Potter. There was something more to this and it wasn't just a complicated situation. In that moment Harry vowed to find out what.

"Well my boy I'm going to leave you here to read, I have a few reports to finish, Severus will come get you when they're finished," Albus said rising and leaving the room. Harry put the notebook that held the details of his birth and first year of life in it down and took up the first notebook from when his mom was a little girl. He began reading in silence.

LUCIUS MALFOY POV

Lucius didn't move as he watched Albus leading Harry away. His gaze had returned to Severus's and the haunted look in the other's gaze hit him like a punch to the guts. There were unshed tears in his eyes and Lucius knew he was remembering her.

"Why do you want me to help you protect that child?" Lucius asked. He needed to understand why Severus would even look at the boy, much less talk to him. By all rights he should hate the child. Until a few moments ago, he himself had hated the boy for what he represented in all of this.

"The one innocent person in all this is Harry, Lucius," Severus said softly. Lucius felt his anger rise and he opened his mouth to speak, but Severus cut him off, "No Lucius, listen, Harry didn't ask for any of this and his life hasn't been the sheltered upbringing we both thought he'd have with Lily's parents. He was sent to live with Lily's muggle sister; a woman who absolutely loathes all magic. Her sister was horrible as a child and from what I've seen she's worse as an adult and she married an even more cruel muggle."

"You legilimised the child?" Lucius asked curious.

"Yes," Severus said gently, "and he's lived the same life I had under my father's roof."

Those words stunned Lucius to the core. He knew just a barest hint of the true horror that was Severus's childhood. To think that Harry had suffered what Severus had. It made Lucius want to go and kill the muggles. A feeling he knew Severus shared. Shaking his head he had to know, "all of it?"

"No, he was spared that particular horror," Severus stated in a deadpan voice. Refusing to even think of those horrors, he looked away. Drew in a deep breath and pushed on, "when I thought he was just like James I could hate him. It was easy, but since he clung to me in that chamber I've been unable to see James in the child. Instead I see a mix of Lily and myself. How I was at his age. Hurt, lost, confused, defiant. How Lily always was, strong, kind, loving. He's many things, but he is not James."

"You are a better man than most Severus," Lucius said sighing heavily. "I will help you, but it will take me a while to be able to accept the child Severus. He reminds me too much of James and what that monster did to you, to Lily. What he cost you. Severus you are my brother I could never stand by and watch you get hurt like that and do nothing. Had they not gone into hiding I would have killed him myself. You know that."

"I know Lucius, I would have done no less myself. I hate James, even now, but Harry isn't James. He's innocent in this and it has taken me eleven years to see that," Severus admitted.

"Draco will be hard pressed to accept the child, especially with how publicly the child denounced his offer of friendship," Lucius stated.

"Give him a chance Lucius, Draco is a remarkable young man, he never ceases to amaze me and he has a lot more of Narcissa in him then I'd like to admit," Severus replied.

"Well she's the only one you don't have to worry about accepting the child. Seeing as she has always wanted more of them. Narcissa treasures children, no matter who's they are," Lucius stated matter of fact.

"She always was your better half," Severus teased.

"What do you need me to do?" Lucius inquired. Not wanting to dwell on how right Severus was.

"When Lily went into hiding with Harry she asked me to set up the blood wards for her, knowing I was both skilled enough in the mental magic and knowledgeable in the darker arts. Now that Harry is to live with me he will need the protection of another bloodline. Something I cannot do on my own. The spell needs a living being to tie into and that person needs an existing family in order for the full protection to be in place," Severus reluctantly explained and watched as Lucius's face turned ashen.

Lucius was left at a complete loss as the full realization of what Severus was telling him hit him like a pile of bricks. Lucius knew that the Potters had gone into hiding under very strong and multilayered protective wards from several unknown sources. He's suspected that Albus had a hand to play in the majority of those, maybe a few of the stronger Auror's. Never in his wildest imaginings had he even considered Severus having a hand in the warding's. He knew from personal experience that Severus's knowledge of wards was only rivalled by the power of the old pureblood families. Even then Severus understood that power better than anyone Lucius knew. Half or more of his own updated wards were thanks to Severus's knowledge and skills in teaching Lucius what he'd learned from the Prince, Malfoy and Black libraries he'd had access to. Severus was incredibly brilliant for a wizard and it never failed to impress Lucius whenever he found more evidence of the quiet and unsuspected intelligence his friend held. Most suspected Severus to be just a potions master and not interested in anything else. They would be incredibly wrong. Few could best him in a duel and few still could best him in defence. Lucius was one of the few people that knew that the only reason Severus was so drawn to the dark arts was their ever changing form and the true challenge they posed in learning, understand and mastery. Severus wasn't drawn to the dark arts for their dark power, but for their intellectual challenge and the basic fact Severus had to master everything he put his mind to. No matter how long it took.

Gazing at Severus now, he realized that the protection that had allowed Lily to die as a martyr for her son giving the strongest protection any wizarding child had had in recorded history, was due to a spell Severus had discovered and mastered. That Lily had met all the requirements of that spell and therefore in her undying love for her son had allowed Harry to do what no one else could and put a stop to the tyranny for now, if not for good, Astounded Lucius into speechlessness.

What hit perhaps hardest of all was that Severus was asking him to take on that same spell. Asking him to open his home and family to Severus and Harry. Harry, a child who had cost Severus everything and yet even then Severus was willing to cast a spell that would insure he could never again be anything more than a friend to Lily. The layers of care behind those actions, of unselfishness that lay at the heart of a man he barely even knew, he realized now, for all the years they had been friends, Lucius realized he didn't know Severus at all.

"I want to know more about this spell Severus," Lucius finally stated. Looking at his friend with a mixture of awe and sadness. How could he have never realized the true depth of Severus's love for Lily?

First I want to say thank you to all of those who reviewed my story you are all amazing. I have and will respond to you all via messages as it will be much easier for you all instead of having a long wall of replies here. I'm sorry for taking so long in replying to your reviews. Your input is very welcomed and very appreciated thank you all so much!.

GuestI think you are referring to the line 'was there from the beginning'? If I'm not mistaken. I can see where this might confuse you slightly. All that this means is that Severus was a spy from the time he joined the death eaters. I'm not saying he joined before Lucius turned spy. Sorry for the confusion that may have caused. So yes Lucius was a spy longer than Severus