Title: Death is Mine
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own Harry Potter and all characters from the series. Any characters I make are completely fictional and neither belongs in the original Harry Potter series nor in real life. I am writing this for fun, not profit.
Pairings: TR(LV)/HP, Post HP/GW
Rating: R (may or may not change rating at a later time)
Warnings: Um… pretty much anything my twisted can come up with that I think will suit the story?... So yeah, BEWARE! Also, extremely slow updates. (What can I say? It took me months to get the first two chapters written…) Slash, Bashing (of multiple characters), Gender-bending, AU, Time-Travel,
Summary: When Harry is thrown back in time after an extended stay in Azkaban, Harry finds out new things he didn't know in his previous life. And it quickly changes how he does things.
Chapter 2 ~ Changes
It took over an hour to figure out whom he was paying for what and to stop payments for anything ridiculous. (Like Dumbledore's Fashion Fund, which was a ridiculous monthly payment of 500 galleons. How someone could spend that much on just clothes, Harry had no idea.) By the time they were done, Harry was angry, hungry, and feeling kind of betrayed (after all, with it being 8 years since his parents death he should have had well over 550,000 galleons in savings plus anything from before their deaths, but he now had less than 80,000 galleons in his vaults)… making for a very irritable nine year old. Though, since his emotions and attention span was based off of his nine year old body, he didn't linger on Dumbledore's thievery long. He'd deal with it later.
"Now, Lord Potter, I believe that it would be a good time for a lunch break. Would you like to continue this meeting in two hours?"
Harry grunted an affirmative as he pushed himself up out of the chair and stretched, hearing a few bones pop from sitting still for so long.
XxXxXxXx
After the lunch break, the rest of the day was spent getting the Potter accounts in order, destroying a marriage contract that Dumbledore had started but had never been official due to his previous status being a Custodian and not a Guardian, and starting a process to recoup at least some of his losses. It was four in the evening before Harry was able to leave Gringotts, carrying a copy of his mother's will and the little box left for Snape. Diagon Alley was nearly deserted by this point, so Harry quickly made his way through the Alley and through the Leaky Cauldron into Muggle London.
Now that he was there, however, he realized that he had no idea how to call the Knight Bus without a wand. With a sigh and a quick, if not entirely thought-out, plan Harry wandered back into the Leaky Cauldron and up to the bar. He had to climb on a stool to be tall enough to be seen, but Harry figured it would help with his cute and helpless act anyway.
"Hello ."
The old bartender blinked at the tired looking boy and wondered what such a young child was doing there with, seemingly, no adult.
"… Hello? And who are you? Where are your parents little one?"
"I'm Ha-...Hadrian. Hadrian Prince. Papa is at home and Mama's in heaven. Could you help me call the Knight Bus please?"
Tom, though a perpetual bachelor, was worried about the fact that a seemingly four or five year old child was wandering around London, but he nodded and walked around the bar, helped Harry off the stool, and started walking him out to Muggle London, a protective hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Why didn't your Papa come with you?"
Harry adopted a sheepish face and showed Tom the box he held.
"I wanted to get a birthday present for Papa without him knowing… You won't tell him, will you?"
Harry let his eyes go wide, the perfect picture of a young child who was anxious about a surprise being ruined. Tom chuckled at him and patted him on the head.
"No, I won't tell him. But you promise me that as soon as you're on the Knight Bus, you go straight home, ok? Do you have money for the fare?"
Harry nodded, an innocent happy smile on his face, which seemed to satisfy the old bartender. The man glanced around real quick, before pulling out his wand and calling the Knight Bus.
Within minutes, a black-haired boy going by Hadrian Prince was holding on for dear life as the Knight Bus hurtled towards Spinner's End, no-one the wiser of the whereabouts of Harry Potter.
XxXxXxXx
Soon enough, Harry was standing outside a worn looking house and couldn't help but hesitate to knock. But has Harry remembered Snape's last moments, he gathered his Gryffindor courage and knocked.
There was complete silence for so long that Harry started to wonder if maybe Snape was not home. But just as Harry was about to turn to leave, the door opened to reveal a tall, sallow man in all black. Putting back on the mask of innocent child, Harry smiled up at the man that would be and had been his Potions teacher.
"Severus Snape?"
The man didn't react for a few moments and Harry had just started shifting nervously, when the man finally nodded. Nearly sighing in relief, Harry pulled his mother's Will out of his bag and handed it to Snape.
The man glanced at the title, then paled and beckoned Harry inside. Knowing it would annoy Snape, which was fun even if he did respect the man, Harry skipped inside, careful not to drop the box. The door was slammed shut behind him and Snape briskly lead the way to a comfortable sitting room, sitting in a nice leather armchair and started to read the Will, without a glance at Harry.
"It says that there is a box for me?"
Harry, startled at the sudden question from the previously silent man, jumped but quickly recovered and handed over the pretty green and silver box. Snape held it gently, his face unreadable before he set it on the side table and went back to reading the Will. It didn't take long for his face to pale, from panic or anger Harry couldn't tell.
"You're Harry?"
"Yes sir."
"And I suppose you want me to be your... guardian?" His lip curled as he said the last word with a sneer.
"Actually, no sir. The goblins helped me get emancipated today before the reading of the Will, or else I wouldn't have even known about it. I just wanted to meet one of my mother's friends."
Snape raised an eyebrow and Harry nearly flinched when he realized the he'd only mentioned his mother. Even though it was his mother's Will, the choices of potential guardians was usually done by both parents so most people who were smart enough or old enough to be emancipated would have assumed that Snape was a friend of both Potters unless said person knew of their History. Though, Harry supposed with a mental shrug, the goblin had mentioned how James Potter had referred to the man and if questioned about it, he could easily use that.
Snape, however, said nothing as he continued to study Harry. Harry made sure not to look the man in the eyes since he still sucked at Occlumency and he wasn't sure how the man would react to a time-traveling de-aged Harry… But he figured probably not well.
"So, I'm going to assume that since you are legally an adult, you will not be returning to your previous accommodations?"
Harry shuddered at the thought of returning to the orphanage, though it was still better then the Dursleys. Luckily, they were still in prison.
"… Have you decided where you will stay?"
"Well, the Will said something about house - elves so..."
"So you figured you'd call them and have them take you to whatever home they think would be best for you? Unfortunately, the majority of the Potter house elves are dead and the rest are currently loaned out to Hogwarts, as per orders of your... previous custodian of affairs."
Harry scowled and furrowed his brow in thought until he heard a sigh. Looking up, he saw Snape's dark eyes watching him.
"Until you are able to find suitable accommodations... If you so desire, you may stay here. I just require that you do not go by the name Potter while here, that you perform some chores, keep yourself and the room you stay in clean."
Harry hesitated but nodded, at which point Snape swept out of his chair and strode purposefully towards the stairs. Harry jumped up and followed him quickly. The house was small, but in fair shape. Snape showed him to a small room, not much bigger than the Dursley's smallest bedroom, but it already had a bed, desk, and wardrobe in it. The room was layered in dust, as if it hadn't been entered for years.
"You'll need to clean it, but you may use this room for however long you are to stay with me. I would, however, appreciate if you found your new home before the start of the school term."
Harry nodded and after a quick glance at the boy, Snape strode away.
XxXxXxXx
It took only a few hours to clean the room, a few days to sort through his affairs, and a few weeks to decide what to do. Then it took about 2 more weeks to gather the things he needed. The first day of his metamorphosis, as he secretly called it, got a raise of eyebrows from his future Potions Professor. His previously shoulder length hair had grown overnight, a potion that Harry had brewed himself, and was now so long that three feet of it trailed along on the floor. Of course, when Harry stepped on the long tresses, causing him to trip and fall on his face, he got a smirk from the potions master and the boy glared at him with a ferocity that Severus secretly likened to a kitten.
The second day, Harry was able to walk around Spinners End, free of glasses. This caused the first wave of concern that Severus Snape felt for the boy, as he knew how difficult the potion was to brew and how dangerous it could be if brewed wrong.
The third day, Severus paled when Harry sat at the breakfast table and the man noticed that the boy's face looked decidedly more feminine. Changes to bone structure were extremely dangerous for anyone, especially a person performing the ritual by themselves. For a child, they should be impossible. Not to mention how extremely painful it was.
The fourth day, Severus didn't wait for Harry to show up at the table. He didn't even wait for the dawn sun to finishing it's rise of the horizon. He quickly made his way into Harry's room and very nearly died of a heart attack at the sight before him.
Laying on the floor, on top of a series of runes, transmutation circles, and blood, was a very naked, very female, Harry Potter.
It took hours for Severus to clean the child and the room up, in the process he found the stones that held the silencing wards in place. Also, during the process to heal the child, his spells found the evidence of the past abuse the child had suffered.
When Harry finally woke up on the fifth day, he was treated to, decidedly, the scariest side of Severus Snape he'd ever seen.
"WHAT IN BLASTED HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Harry shrunk back into his pillow as his eyes grew wide, taking in the form of the furious man before him.
"DO YOU NOT REALIZE YOU COULD HAVE DIED?! NOT ONLY WERE YOU BREWING POTIONS BEYOND ANY LEVEL OF HOGWARTS SCHOOLING BUT YOU WERE ALSO PERFORMING RITUALS THAT, IN THE CASE OF THE CHANGE TO YOUR BONE STRUCTURE, ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AT LEAST THREE RITUAL MASTERS, ONE MASTER HEALER, AND THREE INITIATES OF EITHER PROFESSION TO PERFORM IT AND IN THE CASE OF YOUR CHANGE OF GENDER REQUIRES AT LEAST FOUR RITUAL MASTERS, THREE HEALERS, AND SEVEN POTIONS MADE BY AT LEAST ONE CERTIFIED POTIONS MASTER! AND WITH A PAST HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ABUSE AND STARVATION! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED YOURSELF! NOT ONLY THAT, YOU COULD HAVE DRAINED ANY MAGICAL PERSON OR CREATURE WITHIN A SEVEN KILOMETER RADIUS OF YOURSELF!"
Harry flinched at the thought but looked Snape squarely in the eye with no sign of backing down.
"I'm sorry I worried you, but I knew I could do it. I've done the same thing once before, for a friend, and I prepared and powered everything myself. And I have a very good reason for doing things this way."
Harry could see that the man had trouble keeping his temper at bay,in fact he scoffed at the child, but after Harry's gaze remained steady and confident, the potions master finally sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Harry with a demand for an explanation blazing in his black eyes.
"Well, I'm sure that, by now, it is known by certain people that I am emancipated, no longer with my family, and, as far as anyone knows, missing. So plenty of people will be looking for The-Boy-Who-Lived… So, I figured… The easiest way to not be found is to not be a boy at all. They won't give a girl a second glance. And a glamour is out of the question because certain people can see right through them."
"Just because you change your gender-"
"I know! I know! A change in gender isn't all. A name change is required as well. And I know that this won't fool everyone forever… but it will fool everyone just long enough for me to make sure that certain things stay the way they are and other things get changed the way they need to be before I turn eleven and start school."
"...You seem to have thought this through to some extent. However, the risk you took to perform those magicks when you are still malnourished and underweight shows me that you're not entirely capable of looking after yourself like an adult. Therefore, we will be going to Gringotts and annulling your emancipation-"
"NO! THAT WOULD RUIN EVERYTHING I'VE WORKED FOR UP UNTIL NOW!"
"What do you propose?! I can't, in good conscience, sit by and watch you harm yourself!"
"A… A contract! Between us! I won't give you guardianship of me, but I will sign a contract with you so that you and a few others, a council of advisers if you will, have a certain amount of say in what I do, in how I live."
Severus stared at Harry for awhile before he sighed and looked away.
"Who else do you want on this council?"
"Remus Lupin-", Snape humorlessly snorted at that, not surprised at all, "Rubeus Hagrid-", This did earn a VERY surprised look from Severus, "Narcissa Malfoy-", Severus nearly choked as he stared at the child in front of him, "Andromeda Tonks", a raised eyebrow, "Sirius Black-" "He's in Azakaban." "I'll fix that later" another snort, this time with a mumbled phrase that Harry didn't catch "Poppy Pomphrey, you, and… Evelyn Rosier." Severus gapped at Harry as Lady Rosier, Evan Rosier's mother, was a VERY intimidating old woman and was very much a blood purist. She'd never been a Death Eater, like either her husband or son, but she was a very strong, very strict old woman. Even Narcissa Malfoy hated to be around the woman because Evelyn Rosier had the ability to make ANYONE feel like a child. However, Severus also knew that Lady Rosier, though strict and harsh, was also very well known for being a VERY good, though hated, governess.
"And your name? It must be changed quickly, or those that I suspect you wish to keep the secret from will be notified before the week is up."
Harry looked bashfully down as that was one of the things he, now she, hadn't completely decided on yet. Severus sneered, secretly glad that his apparent child hadn't thought of everything.
"Well, I do remember hearing a rumor that Lily, if she'd had a girl, was going to name the child Sera, or Seraphina."
"Sera?... Yeah, Seraphina, Sera for short, Jet… That sounds good!"
"Are you forgetting, Harry James Potter, that Sera Jet will need a middle name?"
Harry blushed and looked down at her hands as she tried to think of a good name for herself.
"By the way, where did you come up with the last name of Jet?"
"Oh, well, my hair is Jet Black and I can't really change my last name to Black without suspicion to I thought Jet would be okay…"
"Well, I personally think your hair is more Onyx or Obsidian rather then Jet for one. Onyx is no better of a last name then Jet is and while Obsidian is longer, Seraphina Obsidian doesn't roll off the tongue well."
Harry wilted a bit, he'd never really been very good with names. It'd taken him months, and a lot of arguing with Ginny, to name each of his children after all. Severus watched the boy for a moment before he sighed, rubbing the bridge between his eyes as he spoke.
"You'll want a common name."
The look Harry shot Snape had the man almost chuckling.
"Yes, I know, 'how dull'. But a common name is a good choice, you're more likely to be over-looked with something along the lines of, say, Sera Green, than Seraphina Jet. And now that I think about it, since this plan of yours is something no one will think of, Albus Dumbledore may suspect it. As he is whom I assume you're hiding from for some reason, he may suspect the name Seraphina or any form of it. Just as he would suspect any names similar to Harry, James, Lily, Evans, or Potter."
After hours of deliberation, and Severus refusing any floral names, the two finally agreed on one, though Harry was still not happy. However, the decision was made and she'd already performed the ritual, with Severus' help this time.
In Gringotts, an owl flew above Ragnuk's head and the goblin grinned. He'd already transferred almost all of the contents of the Potter vaults into identical vaults and had just been waiting for the name. The Potter vaults, of course, had just enough in them to remain open, but no one would be the wiser for where the rest of it went. Picking up the scroll, Ragnuk unfurled it to see the three words written on it in the child's blood.
Trinity Merilyn Reade
*Author's Note*
To All My Dear Readers,
Yes, I know, this chapter was quite a bit shorter than the first one, but it seemed like the perfect point to stop at. I don't know, maybe I've already written something that all of you will despise, but I don't really care… Although, I do sometimes wonder if I should get a beta reader to tell me when I ramble too much… I'm sure I do it, I just can't exactly tell where… Well, my dears, read and review, I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I am able.
Very sincerely yours,
Lady Lace Black