Chapter 4: Sight

Harry refused to talk about the visit to his relatives beyond telling his worried friends that it had gone fine, he'd gotten what he wanted and there truly was no need for them to worry. He spent the rest of the day reading Minerva's Guide to Victory, and more specifically the newly revealed knowledge about seeing magic. According to the text you could see through near all types of invisibility and disillusionment, see the magic cast on items, wards and even learn discern the exact nature of a person by the look of their magical aura, to be able to see with a glance whether a person was magical or not, a vampire, werewolf or possibly something of a mixed heritage. Little could be hidden from an eyesight like that.

Harry wasn't sure why Minerva saw the information necessary for him to know, but obviously there was some reason she was sharing this with him. All the knowledge that had appeared in the book so far had been of great value to him. There was no reason to believe this was any different. So he read everything there was to read with real focus. Like his life depended on it.

Once he thought he had the theoretical side down, he began to practice. The first step was meditation of a kind, trying to feel his magic and direct it to a specific body part, in this case to his eyes. He quickly came to realize this wouldn't be as easy and quick as he had expected. This could take a while.

When Severus came to the Headquarters the next day, he found Sirius and the two youngest Weasleys peeking into the library. "What in the name of Merlin are you fools doing?" He asked.

All three shushed him. Him!

"He's been constantly doing that since yesterday evening", Sirius explained in hushed tone, gesturing towards the library.

Severus looked inside and saw Harry sitting in an arm chair boneless and looking like he was dead to the world. "Sleeping?"

"Meditating!" Sirius corrected. "He gets real irritated whenever he's interrupted."

"Why would he be meditating?" Severus frowned.

"He refuses to share", Ron pouted, "First he read that book of his for hours and then he started doing that."

"I see", Severus said, walked into the library and closed the door with a slam before warding it for privacy. When he turned back to look at Harry, he found the boy glaring at him.

"I was in the middle of something", Harry pointedly informed.

"You can get back to it once I leave."

Harry sighed tiredly, "Of course, Your Highness."

"Don't take that tone with me", Severus snarled, "You're the one who got us into this mess to begin with."

"I didn't have a choice!" Harry yelled rising to his feet in anger, "You know I didn't, and don't pretend there's nothing for you to gain from this!"

"What? The reputation of a pedophile and traitor!?"

"Well getting rid of the irremovable Mark for one!" Harry snapped. Suddenly his expression turned from angry to that of realization and he sank back down to the armchair behind him. "That's what this is for..." He breathed out.

"Explain", Severus demanded.

Harry ignored the unpleasant tone and wording, as he knew he would have to learn to do if he wanted to successfully coexist with the man, and simply answered: "The whole meditation thing, it's part of what I need to learn so that I can remove your Mark. I didn't know what it was for but since it was in the book I figured it had to be worth learning." He then turned his impossibly green eyes to Severus and asked: "I have to be able to do it by the time of the wedding, don't I? Otherwise He'll use the Mark to attack you."

For a moment Severus felt speechless. He hadn't actually realized how serious the boy was about removing the Mark. He hadn't expected it to matter much to the boy in the grand scheme of things. He was proven wrong by the very tone the boy used when speaking of it. "It would be preferable, yes, if you were able to remove it before or immediately after the wedding. Preferably before I'm revealed as a traitor."

"I swear I'll try my best", and Harry meant it. A part of him felt guilty for forcing the man into this mess. He didn't want to be the reason behind the suffering the man would go through if the Mark was still there when Voldemort found out Severus wasn't faithful to him.

Severus nodded. He sat down and after a moment of solemn silence asked: "How do you think you did in the OWLs?"

An amused, and slightly pleased, smile tugged at Harry's lips and then he launched into a long explanation about how he thought he'd done and he was happy to find Severus patiently listening, only occasionally offering a comment on something or the other.

O O O

Harry woke up to a sudden pain in his scar, it burned. Then he found himself gasping for breath when everything suddenly went white and he heard a heart-stopping shriek of agony. The sound wasn't coming from outside, but from inside his head. Suddenly sight returned to him and slowly the burning in his scar lessened. He sat up and leaned his back to the wall. The wall felt pleasantly cold and solid. As his brain began to stitch together what had happened he began to chuckle, his chuckling slowly turning into full blown mad laughter.

Ron, who slept on the bed on the other side of the room, woke to the unusual sound and turned his bleary eyes to his laughing friend, "Harry?"

Harry couldn't stop laughing for a good two minutes. When he finally had his breath back enough to speak, he said: "Just a funny dream, Ron. Go back to sleep."

Half-asleep as he was, Ron saw no problem with that and promptly fell back asleep.

Harry dressed himself and began making his way down to the library. There was no way he could sleep while he felt so... gleeful. He knew he wouldn't have to fear Voldemort invading his thoughts again or possessing him. He had tried and he'd found a nasty surprise waiting for him, judging by the obvious sound of agony. He very much doubted Voldemort would try that again. Harry was beginning to see a pattern here. He couldn't share the name of Minerva nor very much about her at all. When Severus had tried to have a look with Legilimency he had only seen white. Voldemort had tried to look with more force and determination and he'd obviously found something painful. Harry was no Occlumens but Minerva knew how to protect her secrets and no one would get them out of Harry no matter the method.

O O O

In the early July the much awaited OWL results arrived. Harry was rather satisfied with the grades he got, despite the fact that he had failed Divination and History of Magic. Whole lot of Es and an O from DADA. He would have felt more disappointment about the Potion E had he actually needed an O from it to attend the Potions class. Seeing as how he wasn't attending anyway... E was pretty good for someone who had no real talent for the subject.

Severus walked into the kitchen shortly after the letters arrived and rudely looked over Harry's shoulder to see the grades he'd gotten. The fact that he showed interest in Harry's grades got curious looks from those not in the know but he ignored them in the favor of giving Harry, who had turned to look at him questioningly, a raised eyebrow. Harry tapped the Potion's E on his result sheet and asked expectantly: "Well?"

"Fine", Snape huffed and took a seat while pouring himself a cup of coffee with a lazy wave of his wand. They had discussed the matter of Harry learning Potions briefly during one of their near daily discussions and Severus had agreed to teach him if he had done well enough in his OWLs and if he promised to put some serious effort into learning. They hadn't exactly agreed on what would be considered a sufficient grade, but an Exceeds Expectations certainly wasn't bad, despite the fact that Severus didn't normally accept anyone below Outstanding to his NEWT level class.

Harry grinned happily drawing even more attention to their interaction.

"Harry?" Sirius said hesitantly.

"Yes beloved godfather of mine?" Harry replied cheerfully.

The man sighed, "Never mind." Perhaps he should just be happy that Harry was happy, even if he didn't know why.

O O O

It was early afternoon when Harry made his way to the library again, planning on spending a few hours meditating. He didn't have the chance, however, as as soon as he took his usual seat, Molly and Arthur joined him and sat down on the nearby couch looking at him nervously.

Harry returned the stare expectantly.

"Harry dear", Molly began hesitantly, obviously having trouble finding the right words, "You're making us worried", And by 'us' she meant mostly herself. Arthur was only there as her mental support. "It seems to us that you're spending all your time either alone or in the company of Professor Snape. That can't be healthy for a boy your age."

I rather expected this was coming, Harry thought suppressing a smile. "I spend time with Ron and Ginny as well whenever I have the time", he defended himself, "I can't really help it that the project takes so much of my time but it's necessary. Professor Snape has been helping me. We're getting along surprisingly well, actually." He painted a wistful smile on his face. He hadn't actually lied, though maybe he had bent the truth a little. He and Severus had been getting along rather well... In between loud arguments. Just the other day they had argued about the wedding invitations, more specifically about when they should be sent and whether they should include a secrecy charm to prevent the recipients from talking about the invites with those uninvited. Had Harry been allowed to use magic during the summer some hexes would have doubtlessly been flying from both of them.

"What is this project we keep hearing about?" Arthur asked leaning forward in his seat. He was inherently a very curious person.

"Top secret but not too dangerous is all I can say", Harry answered with an apologetic shrug. Project? There was none, except for him and Severus to get to know each other but as far as the Order members would know, there was indeed a project and while working on it, they had found love. Sappy, yes, but hey, that's the kind of fairy tale people like to believe in.

"Will you be working on it all summer?" Molly asked.

"Probably. It's really important." And that was that.

O O O

By the time his birthday rolled around, Harry had a pretty good grasp at the directing his magic to his eyes. He had been delighted to find this fixed his eyesight and he was able to stop using his glasses altogether. He was now in the process of learning to sustain a constant flow of magic to his eyes for longer periods of time. That required a butt load of focus but it was getting easier. He had also begun to try and learn to interpret what he saw. Different kinds of magic looked different. He had spent hours staring at charmed object, the wards around the house, the people living in it or visiting... Everything that had even a trace of magic in it. Everyone was curious to know what he was doing but after a few times they had stopped asking about it.

Harry's birthday party was great, Molly had put a lot of effort into making it special. It would have been better without the grim news Remus brought with him about Death Eater activity.

The high point of the day, if you asked Harry, was when Severus seemingly casually walked into the kitchen where the party was held and dropped a small green and gold wrapped box on the table in front of Harry, patted his shoulder and then walked out with only a nod of greeting to the other people present. The incredulous faces, that was the best, Harry enjoyed them immensely. Even the ones who knew that the two of them were to be married soon (and why) looked dumbfounded. Harry hadn't been surprised to receive a present from Severus but he did feel slightly surprised when he opened the box and found jewelry, a silver pendant of an owl attached to a long silver chain. There was a note as well telling him that the pendant was charmed to be a portkey and would with the phrase "Owl me home" transport Harry home (which Harry took to mean Severus' quarters, which were soon to be his as well but it wasn't something you should write in a note, not yet anyway). The present was a lot more thoughtful than he'd expected and actually showed the man knew him, or at least something rather private about him, that Hedwig was a dear friend, not just a pet.

"Snape gave you jewelry", Ron wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"It's pretty", Hermione commented and then gave Harry a suspicious glance. You didn't give pretty jewelry to people you didn't care about.

"It's a portkey", Harry explained as he put it on. This seemed to make most of them less suspicious. If it was a portkey then it was a safety measure. That's like part of the war effort, right? Right. Mystery solved.

"It's a pendant. A pretty pendant." Ron said the obvious, tone making his opinion on the matter more than clear.

"Yes yes", Harry waved his hand dismissively while smiling happily.

O O O

It wasn't exactly an Order meeting but all the residents of Headquarters and several other Order members were present, including Albus Dumbledore, to discuss the inevitable trip the children needed to have to Diagon Alley. They were discussing the matter of who would accompany them as guards when Severus uncharacteristically volunteered: "I have nothing planned for tomorrow so I shall be coming with."

This had Harry rising angrily from his seat, "Are nuts!? Or just suicidal? He'll kill you when he hears you've had such a perfect chance to deliver me to him and hadn't taken it!"

"I've talked myself out of worse accusations. He won't kill me without proper proof of betrayal. I'm much too valuable to him", Severus sniffed.

"There's absolutely no reason for you to take a risk like that!" Harry growled, "We've got all these other Order members, I'm sure we're not that short on volunteers!"

"It's not a matter of numbers", Severus retorted, "It's a matter of who can protect your ungrateful ass the best and I am the obvious choice if battle skills are taken into consideration."

"Who's going to protect your suicidal ass?" Harry snapped, his glare getting more and more toxic. Their captivated audience staring at the two of them shouting at each other from across the table was ignored by both of them.

"You disrespectful, arrogant little brat – ", Severus rose to his feet, his volume was rising as well.

"Yeah I'm a brat, what's your excuse?" Harry asked cruelly.

"I think we should all – ", Albus tried to intervene but was cut off by angry shouts from both arguing parties: "Stay out of it!"

Then they went back to verbally attacking each other.

"You're screwed if he finds out your true leanings", Harry growled with an angry wave of his hand.

"He won't find out. I've successfully fooled him this long, I think it's safe to say I'm rather good at it", Severus pointed out icily.

"I need you alive and you know it. It's not just your life you're risking", Harry ran an irritated hand through his hair.

"I'm well aware."

And then both of them sat back down, calm and looking like nothing had happened at all. After a moment of stunned silence, Harry shot an expectant look at the Headmaster: "Well? Weren't we in the middle of something?"

O O O

The trip to Diagon Alley was uneventful, outright boring, so let's not talk about that. Well, it might be worth mentioning that the trip included a couple of rather loud arguments between Severus and Harry which garnered a lot of attention. The Order crew was careful to never leave Severus alone with any of the youngsters so that the man could honestly report to his Lord that he hadn't gotten a chance to kidnap anyone. And so that no one could claim otherwise.

A couple of weeks later, on Tuesday twentieth of August Harry and Severus sent out the invitations to the Wedding that was to be held on the following Sunday. The shrieks of shock were like music to Harry's ears. His inner prankster was enjoying this immensely. The two of them were calmly drinking tea in the library when the door was slammed open and Molly ran into the room breathing heavily. She thrust out the invite and shrilly screamed: "What in the name of Merlin is this!?"

Harry thought it a good sign that she hadn't gone straight to Fred and George for an explanation. "We're getting married", Harry figured simplicity and bluntness was called for in a situation like this. He sipped his tea.

"This is a joke. Must be a joke", Molly muttered loudly and then pleaded: "Please tell me this is a joke?"

"I'm afraid not", Severus calmly replied, "The wedding is on Sunday, as the invitation states."

"Why!?"

"Why do people get married?" Harry mused.

"Albus won't stand for this!"

"Already gave us his blessing", Harry corrected.

"There will be a public outrage!"

"Oh I have no doubt about that, but this isn't a decision for the public. This is my life and my decision and this is what I've decided", Harry explained.

"You two don't even like each other!"

Harry chuckled, "You can't say you haven't noticed our relationship changing. We – ."

"There is no relationship!" Molly shouted her denial.

This didn't sit well with Harry. He scowled darkly. "It is not your place to decide whether there is or isn't one."

"This is insanity", She moaned slumping against the couch.

And then Minerva McGonagall walked in. "Severus...!" Her tone was that of impending doom. "What have you done to my cub!?"

Severus shot a glance at Harry, silently requesting aid.

"You're on your own with that one", Harry smirked and received a glare for it, one that promised retribution.

"I assure you, Minerva, I have done nothing inappropriate to your beloved golden boy", Severus said (and ignored Harry's muttered "Could have done without the name calling"). "In fact, the whole marriage matter is all due to our wish to keep things appropriate."

"He's barely sixteen years old!"

"And rather mature for my age, let's keep that in mind", Harry pitched in, tone riddled with thinly veiled irritation for practically being called a child.

"He's a student!"

"But not mine, not anymore, as you surely have realized", Severus calmly replied.

"The hate between the two of you is legendary!" Minerva protested and then weakly asked: "How could this happen?"

"He's a mean, sharp tongued bastard", Harry shrugged.

"And he's got thick skin", Severus further explained.

"I don't get too offended and I know how to respond in kind."

"He's not as arrogant as I thought."

"And he actually has a sense of humor, twisted as it is."

"We share a common goal, a common enemy."

"He knows how to defend himself and he has Slytherin self-preservation, I can trust him to not end up dead too easily."

"He – "

"Enough!" Minerva almost sobbed. She turned her almost teary eyes to Severus, "You know I've always hoped you would find someone to love. I simply never thought it might be a student of mine. And a Potter to boot..."

"Please don't remind me", Snape groaned.

"Oh my God", Harry gasped and then turned to the two ladies present: "If you would excuse us, we need to have an argument now." He then waved at them to leave the library and they obeyed the implied order without thought only to snap out of it finding themselves outside the library and a firmly locked and warded door before them.

"What are we going to do about the surnames?" Harry asked, "Do I have to take Snape or – "

"There would be even more of a public outcry if you, the boy hero, changed your name, the name of a prominent wizarding family for a muggle one", Snape sighed.

"Wait, you're muggleborn?" Harry asked gaping.

"No, you dimwit!" Severus growled, "A half-blood. My father was a muggle and my mother a witch from a respected pureblood family, the Prince family."

"Oh", Harry said, feeling rather stupid for that option to not even cross his mind. "I can't really imagine you going for Potter and having different surnames isn't very romantic."

"Obviously we'll be going either for Potter-Snape or Snape-Potter", Severus sneered.

"Little less venom would be nice", Harry calmly commented and then mused, "Potter-Snape doesn't sound too bad, kind of rolls off your tongue, doesn't it?" As Severus' opinion on the matter was quite clear from the expression of disgust he wore on his face, Harry continued: "You can always ask your students to keep calling you Professor Snape."

"Oh that I will, that I will", Severus assured, an evil smirk gracing his lips.

"Perhaps we should let Mrs Weasley and Professor McGonagall back in", Harry suggested and Severus removed the wards with a flick.

"I'm surprised to find you both unhexed", the Professor said as she entered.

"I'm not allowed to use magic during the summer", Harry pointed out. "I'm sure hexes will enter our arguments when we're on more even ground."

"What was your argument about, if I may ask?"

"Surnames", Severus grumpily answered, "We settled on Potter-Snape."

"Lovely", Minerva said dryly and then asked: "Have you agreed on color schemes and such for the wedding?"

Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "You're suddenly being awfully helpful."

"I'm hoping you'll realize what a huge mistake this is as you argue over the littlest things", She bluntly explained herself.

"Ah", Harry breathed out, "He always wears black so the color of his dress robes is fairly obvious. For myself I'm thinking red..." He saw the glare Severus was shooting at him and chuckled, "Fine, fine, perhaps something more neutral... Gray, dark purple or blue, haven't decided yet. We'll get creative with the decorations on Sunday, no point planning before hand when we can just transfigure what suits our mood. And no, darling, we're not going with all black and green and silver. Something more cheerful for such a joyous day." He rather liked the twitch he could just barely see near Severus' eye when he called the man 'darling'. There would definitely be more of that, he decided.

"I can't believe you're serious about this", She muttered and then left the library muttering to herself something about needing a stiff drink. Badly.

Fred and George cornered him to congratulate him for a brilliant prank. They gaped when he told them it wasn't a prank, that he was truly marrying 'the Greasy Git'.

O O O

- - I guess I ought to thank you, Tom. Because it all became so clear to me when I nearly lost it all. I had never seen so clearly, working towards a goal had never been this easy. That one moment was enough to open my eyes and make me resolute: I would do anything, anything to make sure something similar would never happen again. I would lie, cheat, fake, fight, kill, die, anything, anything. Watch me, Tom. Watch and cower, this is who you made me. - -

O O O

AN: Many many many thank yous for all the lovely reviews I've received and favorites and alerts and goodness it's nice to know people are liking this well enough! :) -rrenvy

Posted Febuary 27th 2013