Thanks to JAWorley for betareading :) And for justusia7850
Chapter 1
Surprise
Friday, June thirtieth 1995
"Fred, come here a moment."
Fred tugged on George's sleeve and followed Harry back into an empty train compartment as the throng of students exited around them.
"Bit suspicious," George said jokingly as he closed the door. "Do you think he intends on making us return to Hogwarts for the summer?"
Fred laughed at his brother's joke, but turned serious when he saw Harry holding out what looked like a full money pouch.
"Here, take it," Harry said. "Don't say where it came from."
"That looks an awful lot like your winnings Harry," George said, staring at the pouch. "You might not want to tempt us two jokesters with that."
"It's yours, go on."
"We can't take that Harry! You're the one that won the tournament."
"And you might have if you'd been allowed to enter. I'm telling you to take it. I don't want it. Go and start your business with it, and while I'm thinking of it, buy your brother some dress robes so he doesn't smell like mothballs next time he needs it."
"Harry, this is a lot of money."
"Yes and I'm giving it to you. You can take it or I'll toss it out the window into the crowd."
Fred reached out and took the money bag then, not daring to peer inside and believe his luck.
"You're sure about this?"
"Positive."
Then, as an afterthought, Harry withdrew a second, much lighter pouch and held it out to the twins. "Would you be able to exchange this for Muggle money and send it to me by owl?" he asked. Still looking a little shocked, George nodded and Harry hastily left the compartment before they could say another word.
Beyond the barrier to the magical platform, Uncle Vernon waited with an irritated look on his face, perhaps because Mrs. Weasley was hovering close by. When Harry got near, she hugged him tightly and pulled him close to whisper into his ear, "Dumbledore may let you stay with us later in the summer. Write and let us know how you're doing dear."
Harry nodded, but didn't say anything as Ron approached saying, "See you Harry," as he clapped him on the back.
"Bye, Harry!" Feeling overwhelmed suddenly, Harry turned to find Hermione, and turned red as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, something that hadn't happened before.
Taking a few steps back, Harry nearly bumped into George, who leaned in and said, "Harry… thanks, and we'll try to send it to you as soon as possible.
"What are you going to send?" asked Mrs. Weasley curiously, who had stepped closer to hear what George had muttered.
"Goodies for Hedwig," Harry said quickly with a wink at the twins, and then he turned to Uncle Vernon and followed him silently from the station.
xxx
With a lot of effort the skinny teenager put his trunk in the car's boot outside King's Cross Station.
"Don't dawdle! Get in boy! I don't have time for this rubbish!" shouted Uncle Vernon sitting behind the wheel.
"'m sorry" Harry answered mindlessly.
Sweaty, and finally seated in the passenger seat, his uncle shoved a stiff piece of paper at him and snapped, "Here, read it!"
Harry's eyes began to scan down the page, but then Vernon growled, "Out loud boy," and Harry started again out loud.
"Adoption Papers
Name: Harry James Potter.
Birthday: 31st July, 1980
Birthplace: Guildford.
Mother's name: Eileen Snape, nee Prince.
Father's name: Tobias Jacob Snape.
Adopted 31st July, 1980 by Lily Rose Potter, nee Evans and James Harold Potter.
Guardians from 1st, November 1981 to 13th June, 1995 Petunia Ivy Dursley, nee Evans and Vernon Marc Dursley.
At the request of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley since 13th June, 1995, custody of Harry James Potter is given to birth father of the child: Tobias Jacob Snape."
By the time he'd finished, Harry had gone pale, and his voice was little more than a whisper.
"It's some kind of joke… you're lying!"
"No," Vernon said, gleeful. "Petunia did cleaning in the attic and found your birth certificate. She once lived near the Snape's. We went there and it turns out that your real mother is dead, but at least your father agreed to take you. We took care of formalities and we don't have to quarrel with you anymore," finished Vernon with nasty smile. "And to think that we could have gotten rid of you so many years earlier! I just have to bring you to him."
Uncle Vernon had never allowed Harry to speak unless told to, so the journey was silent. The silence didn't annoy Harry since the overflow his emotions was causing him a headache. He was sure that it was some trick the Dursleys had devised to finally throw him out. After all, his resemblance to James and Lily was incontestable… everyone told him so.
As if the whole lie wasn't incredulous enough, it was harder still to believe that nobody knew about the supposed adoption. From what he could remember, a pregnancy lasted for almost a year didn't it? Unfortunately he wasn't sure because when it had been taught in primary school, he had often had to spend his time in his cupboard as punishment instead of doing homework, and his science textbook had been used as material for paper airplanes and then thrown into the rubbish bin. Even onlookers would know his mum was pregnant from the huge stomach. It seemed an impossibility for friends of his parents, such as Sirius and Lupin to not notice that Lily who hadn't been pregnant would just one day show up with a baby. They would have told him if he was adopted, wouldn't they?
As they drove closer to his supposed true father's house, Harry was surprised suddenly by a sorrowful feeling emanating from his stomach. His own family really did hate him, didn't they? He had known they weren't affectionate towards him, but deep inside he'd always wanted them to accept him. For most of his life he'd dreamt of being taken from that house. Sometimes he had been of the opinion that he would feel better in the orphanage, but all of this didn't change the fact that he was simply sorry.
At the moment, he couldn't do anything about it. When they got there, he would decide what to do next. For now, he could only pray, that this Snape didn't have anything in common with the Potions Master that despised him so heartily.
xxx
After driving for nearly two hours they reached Guildford. According to the piece of paper he was holding in his hand, it was his birth place. The surroundings were pretty. There were sprawling green parks beyond the windows of the car. Despite his poor eyesight, in the distance he saw colorful playgrounds and sandbox for children. At his left, there were beautiful houses, much nicer and some more modern than what the Dursleys lived in. Each of them showcased the high standard of life their occupants lived. They drove on however, and the surroundings grew dimmer. The houses grew uglier and less colorful, and even the park gave the impression that it was bleaker.
Uncle Vernon stopped the car by a gray, two story building. The windows were old, and from behind the glass there were dusty curtains.
"Well, boy! Get out of here and take your things with you!" Vernon ordered him with a smile of bliss on his face. Vernon hurried out of the car and went to the front door to ring the bell.
The door was opened by a tall, broad-shouldered man with scruffy gray hair, black eyes and large nose. He was wearing a creased flannel shirt from under which, stuck out a yellowing undershirt. Harry groaned internally. There was no way he wasn't related to that Snape. It must be nightmare, he thought.
"I brought the boy. That's all from me. And I wish not see either of you again!" laughed Vernon, not even glancing back at his nephew, who had now struggled to pull his trunk out of the rear of the car and finally succeeded. Vernon got into the car and left, leaving Harry standing on the side of the road staring after him. And despite that Harry was aware that his uncle had never liked him, the rejection hurt even more then when they were traveling. What had he really anticipated though? Certainty not a tearful and soggy goodbye.
"Hello, Harry. I'm Tobias." When the man spoke up with a low, hoarse voice, Harry could smell alcohol off him.
Not a good sign, thought Harry, but as Tobias looked calm and relaxed, it didn't bother him much. He was used to reading body language, and currently he didn't feel threatened.
"Good morning," Harry said tentatively.
"Come along, I'll show you over, and then you're gonna unpack your things in your room."
The man turned around and went into the house, Harry following after him with Hedwig in her cage in one hand, and dragging his trunk with the other. They found themselves in rather cramped, dark hall, where Harry left his baggage. Directly opposite of him was a staircase leading to the second floor, and on the left was a door probably leading to the basement.
"There's the loo," His hypothetical father said as he pointed the door at his right.
Between the staircase and loo was access to the kitchen, and it was necessary to walk through it to get to the living room. In the middle of the kitchen stood a table covered with a white and red checker tablecloth, and around it were four chairs. Three of them had thin pillows on the seat but they looked as if they hadn't been laundered for a long time. The last chair was empty, but there was piece of red tape knotted over the backrest, which told Harry that it wasn't always like that.
To the right, under the windows there were cupboards a brown cooker, a fridge and a sink. Everything was equally battered and haven't been replaced or seen any repair at least for a dozen years. An annoying buzzing came from the low, yellow fridge, which had a lot of colorful beer magnets stuck to it.
When Harry glanced to his right, he cringed. There was a door to a cupboard under the stairs. Thankfully they didn't stop there however, and they continued on into the living room, which just like the rest of house, could be described as dirty and unkempt. On the left side of entrance there was an old wooden Welsh dresser, and on the right side, just under the window there was a telly, possibly the only thing in the entire house that didn't look like it would remember World War Two. A muddy couch and two armchairs were standing like a half circle with a coffee table in between. On the wall across from kitchen, there was a door that leads to a small, bushy garden.
Afterwards, the man showed Harry the upstairs, which consisted of a narrow hall, two bedrooms and a small bathroom. His room was the same size as at the Dursleys. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a desk and a bookcase. Everything was old and shabby. The room was secondhand, just like he was used to growing up with the Dursleys.
"Are you hungry?" asked Tobias. "Of course, you are. You look like they were starving you in that school of yours. When you finish unpacking, come to the kitchen. I'll make a supper in the meantime." Not waiting for the response, he went down the stairs.
Harry followed after him once again to get his trunk, which was sill near the front door. With a lot of effort he dragged it upstairs and placed it between his bed and the desk and then returned for the cage with Hedwig and put it on top of the chest of drawers. He pulled his clothes from his trunk and untidily threw them into the wardrobe.
Throwing himself on the bed Harry started to think. Feeling drained, Harry wished he didn't feel bad about the Dursleys kicking him out. With the way they had treated him over the years, he didn't know why he was feeling bad. After all, he really didn't want to live with them and he was sure that anywhere would be better than at Privet Drive. He hoped that this man wasn't going to keep him in the cupboard without food as a punishment, let alone aiming at his head with frying pan, because in comparison to his aunt, Tobias was really very muscular. Provided he didn't miss, he could seriously injure Harry.
So far though, Tobias had welcomed him more than the Dursleys ever had, and at this moment was even making him supper. He didn't want to let his mind wander into darker thoughts of what life might be like here if Tobias were mean.
One more positive aspect of this situation was that he was going to start anew. Nobody knew him here. He didn't reckon that his assumed father would make everyone believe that he was going to St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. Besides there wasn't Dudley, so he was able to make some friends. And of course the twins had promised to send him money. Either way he was going to buy himself some new clothing if he were allowed. If he had still been at the Dursleys he would have told them that Sirius had given him the new clothes, but here perhaps he wouldn't have to lie.
For the time being, there was only one flaw besides the state of the house - Severus Snape. Harry didn't even want to think that he could potentially be somehow related to the dungeon bat. Notwithstanding, he was going to get a chance to become a normal teenager and he was going to use it.
xxx
"Harry, supper's ready! You can finish unpacking later!" Harry's thoughts were broken by Tobias' voice. He got up and made his way to the kitchen.
"Sit down and eat, Harry." After Tobias gave him a plate with roast, they ate in awkward silence, neither of them feeling comfortable in presence of the other yet. One would think they would have an endless number of topics to discuss, not really knowing anything about the other, but neither of them knew how to start. After the meal, Tobias got up and negligently did the dishes then made the tea for Harry and sat in one of the chairs with a bottle of beer in hand.
"What should I call you?" asked Harry.
"For the time being, Tobias, until we got to know each other better."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a builder, so most of the day I won't be at home. You'll have to occupy yourself until five o'clock, because then you'll have training. I enrolled you in a football team. You'll start on Monday."
"Yeah? What's this team?" Pity that you didn't ask me, I think I have something to say about it, Harry thought, angrily that once again somebody decided for him.
"The Mayor organized a competition. The Guildford Cup for teenagers." Tobias answered. "You know, different companies collect members of teams, usually they're worker's kids, and they sponsor the matches. Thanks for that, they get promotion and some benefits, and kids have fun. You have to try to be the best. I don't want to be ashamed of you. Sons of my pals are playing there too. I'll be coming to your matches."
Despite his irritation that Tobias had made the decision for him (without ever having met him really), Harry had to smile. It was nice to have an adult who cared enough to think of him, that he might have some fun, and Tobias, for now, gave that impression. How many times as a child had he dreamed that his aunt or uncle would give him this sort of attention? Vernon had always been at Dudley's every contest, but had never thought of Harry's interests.
"But I haven't played football for couple of years, and I don't know if I'm fit for it," hesitated Harry who liked more and more the prospect of living here.
"I'm sure you'll manage. After all, you are my son. You look like your mother, so you must have something of me."
"My mother?" wondered Harry. Everyone had told him repeatedly that he was carbon copy of James, so how was it possible that suddenly he looked like Eileen Snape? Something was very wrong in here, and he had to find out what was going on.
"Yes, after all, you don't look like the postman, although with her, we may never know. Nose, mouth, chin, and cheekbones you have after Eileen. Shape of eyes and eyelashes after me. She didn't tell me anything about you. Even that she was pregnant!" grunted an irritated Tobias.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know either," said Harry, despite that he still wasn't sure about any of this.
"It's not your fault, kid. Okay, go to bed, I'm going to. I've got work in the morning."
"Night."
"Goodnight, Harry."
xxx
Harry entered his room and opened Hedwig's cage.
"Hey, girl. Do you want to fly a little?" he murmured, letting her out.
Harry went to bed and rolled back and forth because he couldn't fall asleep. Today he had been overwhelmed with too much emotion, and besides that, too many questions still went without answers. Did he really look like Eileen Snape? Tobias seemed to be okay, Harry thought. So far he'd behaved nicely… much better than the Dursleys. He'd acted just like father should, hadn't he? And what about Professor Snape? Were they related? Had he known all the time and that's why he'd hated him so much? He had in fact continuously repeated to Harry that he was just like his father. Had he meant James or Tobias?