Father and Son
Almost ten years had passed since that happy yet dreadful Halloween night. Kane had been sent to live with his blood adoption father – his biological mother deemed incapable of raising him alone and actually forbidden of contacting his son until he was considered an adult by the Ministry of Magic – and he thought himself very lucky, considering all that could have happened, especially when he was six. But that was in the past, what mattered was the present and right now he had missed the train to Hogwarts.
"Ssss!" He cursed when he saw what time it was. The train had probably done a third of the way already. He tried to get out of bed but during the night he had tangled himself in the sheets in such a way that he ended up landing painfully on the floor. "Ssss ss s sssss!"
"Watch your language. I would hate to have you facing the wall so soon after you've awakened." A tall man with a hooked nose and black eyes and hair which was already a bit greasy from the fumes of the potions he had been working with, wearing black robes entered Kane's room.
"Couldn't you have wakened me before you went to the lab?"
"Trust me, I tried, but you know you're simply impossible to wake. You almost cursed me in your sleep, again."
"Really? Sorry, papa." Kane apologized sheepishly. "I probably don't want to know it but… how bad was it this time?"
"Nothing serious, just a silencing spell before you created a shield around the bed. I was actually surprised by how unharmful it was, seeing how close I've been of being castrated. Why did you want me to wake you up anyway?"
"I wanted to meet progslet on the train. He's starting his first year today and I haven't seen him yet. Mind you, I still don't get why grandpa didn't let me see him before." He explained has he struggled to untangle the sheets. "Gah! I don't suppose you could give me a hand?"
"Thanks for reminding me Potter's brat's starting this year." Replied his papa, the Potion's Master and Professor of Hogwarts Severus Snape looking has if he had just swollen a lemon as he helped Kane up. "You remember him?"
"Both Grandpa and the Ladies showed me memories of the two of us. It looked like we got along and we kind of are brothers and… aren't brothers supposed to at least know each other?"
Severus was spared answering his son by the loud crack of Dipsy, Kane's personal house elf, appearing in the bedroom.
"Master Severus, young Kane, the headmaster asked me to remind you he would like all the teachers to have lunch in the Great Hall." Both men groaned as they heard the message, their previous conversation forgotten.
"Can't I pretend I'm sick? Merlin knows it's not unusual."
"No, you cannot. Now get ready. I'll be waiting for you in the living room."
"Yes, papa." Said Kane resigned to his fate as his papa left the bedroom. Merlin, he hated when grandpa convoked all of Hogwarts staff for a meal, sure most of the teachers were like family to him but some *cough*Sybil *cough* were just creepy, not to mention they made him dizzy and sneeze, his poor little nose just to sensitive to be near them.
"Do you need my help, young Kane?"
"Hum?" Dipsy's words brought him back to reality. "Oh! No, I… Actually, how's the weather?"
"Would you rather wear wizard or muggle clothes?" She asked with a sigh.
Lunch hadn't been too bad, Dumbledore simply wanted to have them all together for one last "family" meal before the school year started, although Quirinus – the defense against the dark arts teacher – seemed to feel and smell a bit different from what Kane was used to. Oh, well, he was probably using new cologne.
Night time came quickly and soon Kane was seated at the high table of the Great Hall next to his papa. He was wearing a white shirt with black cargo pants, his hair tied into a ponytail and his staff in its pendent form (a crescent moon with a round grayish gemstone) was being used as a simple necklace making him look very handsome according to Dipsy.
The sorting went well despite being a bit predictable – Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle became Slytherins while Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were sorted into Gryffindor.
The food was wonderful as always, the noise in the hall increasing as the students finished the main course as Kane noticed amused, not that he was any different, happily savoring the extremely rare beef the elves had prepared just for him. Only when dessert was served did he try to focus his hearing on the Gryffindor table, eager to know a bit more about Harry, though not before he treated himself to a large piece of cherry chocolate cake.
The newest male students were talking about their families while the girl next to Harry which had bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth – Hermione Granger if Kane remembered correctly – was discussing her future classes with Percy Weasley, a tall fifth year prefect with flaming red hair that despite always asking Kane to proofread his essays didn't like the mitrandian teen as he did not have to follow the school rules or even the country's laws. Kane almost choked on the pumpkin juice when he heard Percy describing him as the only blue skinned student when telling the young girl whom she should ask for help if she ever needed advice on her homework, not sure if he should be amused or offended – sure, it was a foolproof description but couldn't he have said something else, like how all animals seemed to be drawn to him or was almost always nibbling something sugary? Really, to simply tell her the potions teacher's son was the blue kid? Had it been someone else and he wouldn't have been upset but be truly believed Percy incapable of being so blunt!
When Kane finally finished his internal rant Percy was talking to Harry, their topic being how it was comprehensible for Professor Quirrel to look so nervous as he was talking with Professor Snape who everybody knew wanted Quirrel's job. Humph! That was only because the man, though a very nice person, was afraid of his own shadow, not to mention it was impossible to understand him!
He served himself another piece of cake, needing it to calm down – Seriously! The nerve of some people! His papa was a great person! – and was in the middle of chocolate induced near heaven experience (Dipsy had picked up his mood and added extra frosting in his piece between mouthfuls when it became clear the "normal" dose wasn't enough) when he felt being observed and true to his felling, Harry had finally moved his eyes from his papa to look at him instead but broke eye contact as soon as Kane waved cheerfully.
Felling a bit disappointed, for it seemed like the raven haired child didn't remember him, though he did feel a bit stupid for having truly believed Harry would remember him from when he was a one year old infant, Kane focused his attention on his dessert despite it not tasting as sweet as it had just a few seconds ago.
Finally the desserts disappeared, though Kane knew he would have some questions to answer as he did not finish his, something that only happened when he was truly feeling down and even if his papa hadn't noticed the elves would.
He barely heard his grandpa telling the students the Forbidden Forests was forbidden as well as the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side and reminding them of the no magic on the corridors rule. He did, however, heard him tell the students to sing the school song along with the staff before retiring to their dorms and immediately strained his ears to see if he could tell which voice belonged to which person but ended focusing on Fred and George' s voices who had decided to sing with a very slow funeral march.
Like Kane had guessed, the moment he and his papa arrived their quarters in the dungeons the honey eyed house elf appeared asking what had happened that made him angry and then depressed.
"It was nothing, Dipsy, I just…" he was stopped by his papa.
"Don't lie. Dipsy obviously thinks something's wrong with you and I trust her judgment, so unless you want me to go get a sample of veritaserum you will tell her the truth. Now!"
"Thank you, master Severus."
"You're welcomed. Start talking."
Kane sighed before telling his papa and elf sheepishly how Percy and Harry's talk got him a bit upset – he knew he shouldn't be bothered by this after all it's was only natural for the students to speak ill of their teachers – but when he started to say it looked like Harry didn't remember him he broke down and started crying – he had been so certain his "brother" would remember him.
Severus hugged his son, trying to calm him. He had been afraid this would happen and he was sure the headmaster had guessed it too, reason he had not let Kane meet Harry before. There had been a time when Kane would have shrugged it off and made it his top priority for Harry to get to know and love him but since his time with Aguras he wasn't so forth going as he used to be, unless it was to help someone else, reason he helped all the students that wished him to but rarely, if ever, took the first step to approached new ones.
Kane eventually fell asleep in his arms, something rather usual as his body was too weak to support all his power and any less cheerful emotion left him exhausted. Severus changed Kane into soft blue silk pajamas before putting him to bed, Dipsy handing him Kane's plush wolf so Severus could free himself from Kane's grasp.
Both Dipsy and Severus smiled sadly at their little one sleeping with his nose buried in the charmed toy before retiring to their own bedrooms.
*LunaYue*
R&R
