disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
warnings: angrst, mentions of mpreg
Hello all! I am happy with the reviews I have gotten so far with this story. I am pleasantly surprised that I am posting a new chapter for this already because I have no clear direction of where I want this story to go. If you have any ideas or thoughts of what you might like to happy, please share them!
"Teddy!" Andromeda called for her grandson. It was her great-niece's birthday today and they needed to go find a present for her. She put on her cloak as she waited for Teddy to come downstairs.
"I'm here Grandma," Teddy said as he walked to where Andromeda was standing by the door, nose buried in a book. She shook her head at her grandson as he seemed to be able to navigate through the house without having to look up when he was reading. He may have her daughter's abilities, but he had Remus's thirst for knowledge. Not that she would ever deny him. Andromeda almost laughed out loud when his hair suddenly became hot pink, indicating he had just been surprised.
"Oh what happened now?" Teddy looked up from his book at his grandmother's question before he looked to the mirror next to the door and saw his hair bright pink.
"Something totally unexpected just happened!" he said excitedly. She pulled out his travelling cloak and handed it to him while he continued to talk about the story he was currently reading.
"Sounds exciting. Are you ready now? We have to pick up a gift for Athene. Her, Harry and Draco will be coming over tomorrow for dinner."
"Yes! I almost forgot that Uncle Harry and Draco were coming!" Teddy punched a fist in the air to show his enthusiasm about Harry and Draco coming over. His hair turning black and his eyes changing from amber to blue-grey. However, his excitement was stopped short when they heard someone landing in the sitting room. He groaned as he followed Andromeda to see who it was.
"Harry? Draco? What are you three doing here?" Andromeda asks when she spots the small family in her sitting room. She is shocked when Draco quickly conjures a basin in time for Harry as he becomes ill. She summons a glass of water and hands it to Draco, who gives a nod in appreciation.
"Thank you Andy. Athene go upstairs with Teddy please?" His daughter is too shocked from all that has happened to give any protest and begins heading for the stairs. Noticing that something was wrong with his cousin, Teddy carefully follows her. Draco helps Harry to drink the glass of water before they move to one of the sofas.
"Something had happened," Andromeda stated bluntly. She knew that the boys would be spending today with their daughter, so if they were here today it meant something was wrong.
"We've been found," Draco says, watching as his aunt gasped in surprise before sitting down without much grace. "We packed up as soon as we could and came here. We're not exactly sure what is going on, but we need to talk to Severus."
"Of course, I will send for him. Who was it that found you?" she asked while summoning a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing a short note to have Severus come to her house.
"Lucius," Harry winced as he said the name and heard Andromeda curse.
"Then we cannot wait for an owl. Dipsy!" she called out and turned to the house elf when it popped into the room. She did most of the house work herself, but raising her grandson she accepted her husband's suggestion in keeping one house elf around. "Take this to Severus Snape at Hogwarts immediately. Make sure he reads it and wait for a reply if he cannot leave right away. Do not mention who is here around anyone. Is that understood?"
"Yes mistress," the little house elf said taking the letter in hand and popping away. Andy gestured for the two men to follow her into the kitchen. She fixed a few cups of tea and grabbed a bottle of calming draught.
"Here is some tea and calming draught," Andromeda watched as Harry seemed to be asking Draco a question silently, who nodded. Only then did Harry reach for the draught and swallowed a small amount. When it seemed that Harry had finally calmed down slightly, Andromeda spoke. "So tell me what has happened."
Severus Snape stormed into his office after another long day of useless professor meetings that McGonagall had insisted they hold. It was long days like these that he wished he could just quit his teaching career finally and leave the country all together. But alas, he was stuck here because of probation set upon him to keep him out of prison. He was grateful that the headmistress had vouched for him and gave him a place to stay and a job, but it did not mean he had to enjoy his only option. He summoned a bottle of wine and a glass to him before settling down to begin finalizing the course outlines for the upcoming year. Severus had just pulled out the first one when a house-elf popped into his office. He watched with a sneer as the small creature looked around the office before addressing him.
"Dipsy being sorrys sir, but I had to check to see if you's being alone," explained the house-elf. Immediately the potions master was on alert. Someone was contacting him and asked the elf to ensure he was alone and that did not always bode well for him.
"Who sent you?" Severus asked casting his most deadliest glare at the small creature. He almost lost his composure however when the elf did not seemed fazed by the look. Maybe he was loosing his touch? No, it couldn't be, thought Severus. He had even caused Minerva to flinch away from him earlier today. This elf obviously belonged to someone who must have been just as harsh as himself and that raised his suspicions even more.
"My mistress, Andromeda Tonks, sir. She has sent this and asks for you to come with Dipsy," the elf supplied before handing over a small folded piece of parchment.
'Come with Dipsy, Severus. You will be greatly surprised by who has returned.'
Severus's interests were definitely peaked. There was only one person who he wished would return to him and a large amount of people who he wished would not make a reappearance. Though judging that it was Andromeda Tonks, there were only two people who he could would contact her to contact him and it almost brought a smile to his face. He looked up at the elf and gave a nod. Dipsy walked over to the potions master and gripped his robes before popping away back to the Tonks' residence. Severus was greeted by the proud woman standing outside of her door with an unreadable expression present on her face.
"Madam Tonks," Severus said as he bowed his head to her.
"Severus, please call me Andromeda. Before I let inside, however I need your oath not to betray the secret that resides inside," Andromeda said. The boys had asked her to gain the man's oath not to betray them to ensure that their daughter was protected. Andromeda could only agree because of how precious her great-niece was. A squib could discover how powerful she was and knew if people of the wrong kind became interested in her, it could be devastating. It already was, thanks to the threat her brother-in-law posed.
"Of course," Severus said before pulling his wand out and presenting it to Andromeda. "I, Severus Snape, give this oath of my magic to not betray what is to be revealed upon myself." There was a flare of white as Andromeda accepted the oath given by the potions maters. She then turned to the door and went inside, waving a hand for Severus to follow.
"They are in the parlor," Andromeda said as she lead the way. She smirked at the gasp she heard from behind her when Severus heard the murmurs coming from the doorway. She stepped aside as the man rushed into the room.
"Draco?" Severus whispered. He stared wide eyed, dropping his mask at the shock of seeing his godson after seven years. He never knew what happened to the young man, who he cared about as much as a son. Ignoring everyone around him, Severus pulled up the blond and pulled him into a hug to familiarize himself with the young man. He had missed Draco very much and had only imagined horrific ideas of what happened to his godson. Regaining his composure, Severus pulled away from Draco. He gave a small twitch of his lips in a smile when he saw Draco smile. Severus lifted his hand and cuffed the blond on the side of the head. "Where do you get off scarring people that care about you? Did you not give a thought to myself how I would handle loosing you? Of course not! Why would you ever care about the person who helped raise you!"
"Are you quite done Severus?" Draco asked as he rubbed the spot where Severus had hit him.
"Yes, and you better have a good explanation," Severus sighed as he lowered his arms from their place on his hips.
"Please meet my family," Draco turned to wear Harry was standing in front of their daughter, protecting her in case the dark-haired man did something he did not want their child seeing. "My husband you know, Harry Potter-Malfoy."
"Professor," Harry gave a curt nod, not moving away from standing in font of his daughter.
"Potter! This was all your plan wasn't it? Just have to take anything that pleases you? What, are you done with my godson and are returning him to me?" Severus shouted as he stepped closer to the shorter raven-haired man. He stopped short when two hands grabbed his shoulders and when he heard a whimper come from behind Potter.
"Uncle Severus, please calm down," Draco pleaded. This was not how he had planned this meeting going. He could feel the rowing magic in the air as both Harry's and Athene's magic reacted to the hostility of his godfather. "We have had a very trying day."
"Explain," Severus demanded as he turned back to Draco. He shook off Andromeda's hand that was still clenching around his bony shoulder hard.
"Harry?" Draco turned towards his husband. He saw the uncertainty in Harry's face and tried to give his husband a reassuring look. He looked down to where Athene was hiding behind Harry. Harry moved aside and pulled his daughter in front of him so Severus could see her. He grimaced as Athene pulled him into her thoughts, letting him know she was scared of Severus. Draco placed a reassuring hand on his daughter's head and brushed back a few strands of her hair. "This is our daughter Athene."
"Daughter?" Severus asked shocked. He looked down to the small girl who could be no more than five or six. The first thing that caught his attention were her eyes. They seemed to lack any color, leaving only a dark grey ring and the black pupil to indicate any type of color. They stood out even more due to the raven-black eyelashes that framed her eyes against the pale skin she inherited from Draco. Under his scrutiny, the small girl turned away from him and wrapped her arms around Potter. He watched as Potter gave him a sharp glare before bending down and picking up the child.
"Harry do you want me to take her?" Draco asked. He did not want his husband to be exerting himself in his condition.
"No, I'm fine. I can carry our daughter, we will be in the kitchen," Harry said in a clipped tone before exiting the room. Draco let out a sigh in frustration as he watched his husband. Hopefully he would give Athene some more calming draught after witnessing Severus's outburst. Thinking of the man, Draco turned back to Severus and fixed him with his traditional Malfoy sneer.
"Thank you so much for your outburst! Both Harry and Athene have been shook to their core thanks to the one person we never wanted to see ever again and here you thinking you are so high and mighty above Harry. Harry is my husband, which I introduced you as such and you have the nerve to say he has only been using me! I was the one who asked him to run away with me, if I can get over my petty schoolboy rivalry, then surely you can get over your schoolboy grudge over a man Harry has never met in his life!" Draco stood toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye with Severus who was stunned into silence by the outburst. Draco had certainly changed and had overcome his upbringing as a Malfoy heir.
"Draco, maybe it would be best to begin with the night following the battle," Andromeda said. She was holding her wand loosely in her hand just as precaution. She saw Teddy stand in the doorway and shook her head and gestured for her grandson to leave the room.
"You're right Andy," Draco sighed and sat down heavily onto the sofa. "I found Harry in the astronomy tower the night after the battle in such despair that both Harry and I are sure he would have committed suicide had I stopped him. He was saying about leaving and so I offered to leave with him and we decided to run to the muggle world, France to be precise. We left in confidence of our plans to Andromeda and communicated with over the years to keep tabs here. We helped heal each other over the years, but not before we fell in love. On this day in 1999, Harry gave birth to our daughter Athene Gemma. I had taken her to her favorite park to play as Harry made a cake at home, but as I was unloading the car Athene had apparated away. Thankfully I have a watch similar to clocks that show whether your family is home or hurt or something. When I got home, Harry was comforting Athene and had seen what had scared her so badly," this is where Draco paused. He was unsure of how Severus would react to learning of his daughter's power and of Lucius's plans.
"Continue," Severus had many questions so far, but had the manners to wait until Draco was done with his story.
"You have to understand, Athene has great power. None of which even compares to Harry's. She is a natural telepath, but Harry and I have worked hard to help her block her mind from the invading thoughts of everyday people. But on occasion someone's thoughts can get through her defenses. Somehow a man from our past had found us and she heard his thoughts of her being powerful enough to bring back the Dark Lord and then she felt his disgust over her blood purity."
"Who was it Draco?" Severus asked.
"Lucius," Draco responded, fixing his godfather with a scared look. The only person to see him this scared was Harry and the last time he ever was scared was two years ago when an old neighbor had wanted to kidnap his daughter. He watched as Severus's face completely dropped its mask yet again that day as he digested what name Draco had said. Draco shook his head before glancing back up to Severus. "Now, I would you like to properly meet my family again and this time please be accepting of them. And try not to rile Harry up, he can not have his blood pressure rise."
"Alright," Severus said as he followed Draco into the kitchen with Andromeda following them. In the kitchen, Harry was seated in one of the tall chairs placed at the center bar with Athene in his lap coloring in a book while Teddy was sitting across from them with his nose in another book.
"Harry?" Draco asked. All three looked up at the voice and instantly tensed.
"Should I go to my room?" Teddy asked.
"No, you can stay. You're part of the family also," Draco said and smiled as he watched his cousin's hair change to the same color as his own and sported Harry's emerald green eyes. Suddenly Draco became lost in the thought of hoping their newest child would have those exact features. Shaking himself of those thoughts, he turned to Severus. "Severus this is my family. My husband Harry, my daughter Athene Gemma, my cousin Teddy Lupin, and my Aunt Andromeda. Everyone this is Severus my godfather, but in the future he is for all intents and purposes my father."
"Hello," Severus said, his voice full of emotion as the declaration Draco gave accepting him as a father while calling his biological one Lucius. He only hoped that Narcissa would be more accepting of the title change.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, but of course I would enjoy it because I'm the writer. As Always R&R