Self destruction
Harry was called to Dumbledore's office the day before the end of term; Harry had a really bad feeling heading up the spiral staircase, surely with Voldemort gone he wouldn't be sent back to the Dursley's. What followed left Harry furious. Dumbledore was sending Harry back to his relatives, he wouldn't allow him to leave with Sev, as legally he was not yet an adult, as his Magical Guardian it was up to him to place Harry, and the Dursley's were still his legal guardians until he came of age on the 31 of July. Until that time he would stay with his family. This was ridiculous; many children went on holidays to their friends' homes, not going directly to their legal guardians, how many other kids had to wait till they were seventeen before they could set foot outside of their homes except for a once yearly trip to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies and one trip to catch the train? None, yet Harry knew that he didn't have a hope in hell, but he tried none the less, what was stopping him from staying at school then, with Dumbledore; his Magical Guardian? He received the same reply he'd gotten each year he'd asked, a firm "NO" the wards were worked on over the summer months, leaving the Castle open to attack, and if any stray Death Eaters knew that Harry was there, he wouldn't be safe, no Privet Drive was for the best, the Blood Wards still protected him there.
12 Grimmauld place was also unavailable to him, although under the Fidelius charm, Harry could not stay without a guardian, and the Order was still using it as Headquarters rounding up the missing Death Eaters. Harry was refused even a small break with the Weasley's, times were hard financially now that Arthur was gone, the family was still mourning their losses and learning to cope with Percy's handicap, having to take in Harry would put too much strain on the family. So every option that had once been open to Harry was firmly closed By Dumbledore, Harry wondered if he should laugh or cry, the Hero of the Magical World would once again be going home to get beaten and starved by the Muggles with no Magical way to defend himself. As per usual no one would be sent to keep an eye on him, after all; he was in security was he not?
Sev's letters were the only thing that kept Harry going, he'd be here tomorrow now to rescue Harry on his seventeenth birthday, at the stroke of midnight he'd come to get his lover. Harry could truly say that the Fates had not been kind to him, the only good thing in his life was his Sev, but even that was about to change. An unknown owl slipped in between the bars at the open window of his "room"; a missive attached to its leg. Harry unrolled the letter and scanned directly to the bottom to see who had written to him, it was signed "your loving mother; Lily Evans Potter". Harry dropped the missive running to his bucket in the far corner of his room to be violently sick, the letter was dated from yesterday, she was alive all this time while he suffered the martyr at the hands of her family? Did Dumbledore know?
Harry was retching bile, had it been four or five days already since he'd been allowed to eat one mouldy slice of bread? Never mind, he had nothing to sick up so the retching was extremely painful. Tears were streaming down his now hollowed cheeks. Once he managed to calm himself, he went back to the letter, reading it carefully, slowly filling with horror as more and more details ripped apart his soul.
My dear son Harry,
Firstly let me tell you that yes, James and I are both alive, you have two younger brothers, Samuel who is now fourteen and Ethan who is ten.
I know that this must be extremely difficult for you to accept, I couldn't just turn up on your doorstep and expect you to welcome me with open arms after all this time, but I love you so very much my Harry, your absence in my life has left a hole in my heart that only you could fill.
I need you to understand why we decided to leave you, but first know that I was not given a choice in this matter, the decision was made by James and Dumbledore, both of whom I hate for what they have done to our family. There is no love lost between myself and James, I'm going to get a divorce as quickly as possible to get him out of my life for good, by choice you would have been my only beloved child and we would always have been together.
For you to understand, I need to do a lot of explaining, I know that you knew of the prophesy with Voldemort for a year before you fulfilled it, but I am sure that the Dumbledore that I know, would never have told you the second prophesy.
The lines of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw extinguished forever
Those who fought for the Order
No time to savour their victory
Death will take the green eyed child
The last chance for the Founders descendants
The parents happily reunited only in their death
If the Fates so decide; the parents will return in times of peace
Dumbledore tried to cheat this prophesy, he needed you alive to fulfil the first prophesy, James and I having fought for the Order, couldn't savour your victory because we were "happily reunited in our fake deaths" only to return to you in times of peace, Dumbledore and James thought the plan brilliant, you wouldn't die as you were still protected by my blood in Petunia.
James was more than happy to abandon you to my detestable Muggle family, one of the reasons I hate him so, he'd convinced himself that since you were destined to die by this prophesy, he'd rather not have you around to get attached to before losing you, how selfish is that? With us holding two of the Founders bloodlines he said we just needed to have more children, to ensure that the Potters lived on, he cared little if the Slytherin line died out, the Potters must remain. Yes you can surely tell, I'm bitter, James forced himself upon me to get his heirs, he broke me.
I want my heart to be mended, having you in my arms again will be our first step together to recovery, the second and final step will be for us to reunite with the only man who truly loved me, the father you should have known from the start, Severus Snape. He is a very good man as I'm sure you already know as he helped you fight against Voldemort, I can't wait for us to finally be together as the real family we were meant to be. I'll be coming to pick you up tomorrow, if I receive no owl from you before then, wait for me at midday.
Your loving mother; Lily Evans Potter
Harry laid down the letter, the features of his face gave away no emotions, it was completely blank, but inside Harry was in emotional turmoil. His mother was alive, she had always loved him, wanted him, his father; No; James; refused to love him, forcing other children on his mother to give him heirs, Dumbledore had done this, manoeuvred his family, destroyed his life from childhood, and now his mother destroyed his sanity, his wonderful Sev wasn't supposed to be his lover but his father, for months Harry and Sev had been in an incestuous relationship, Merlin, he was going to be sick again. All of Harry's insecurities came welling to the surface, yes Vernon was right, as was Petunia and anyone else who had put him down, he was sick, perverted, a freak, not worth the food he was given, why couldn't he just roll over and die, the world would be a finer place without a misfit like him sullying it's soil.
Harry found a parchment and carefully wrote out his thoughts, joining with them Lily's letter, destined for Dumbledore, he copied both, they were destined for the Prophet, he then dictated and then wrote another letter, this time destined for Gringotts; he sent them off with Hedwig, the Gringotts letter to be the first delivered . No one would see Harry Potter alive again, no one would miss him, even Sev wouldn't, he'd be disgusted with himself and with Harry of course, he'd probably return to hating Harry as he had before, but he'd recover, he'd fall back into the arms of his Lily, they'd be happier without him around to remind them that he'd committed incest with his father, Lily could never love him now, what was there left for him here? He'd lost everyone he'd ever really cared for, the Weasley's were still there but struggling, he loved Fred and George as brothers, but it wasn't enough, he had a few friends he could count on, Draco, Luna and Neville, but that's all they were, friends, nothing could pull Harry from this downward spiral his short life had taken. Harry would fulfil that prophesy to the full, Green eyes would die, and his parents would reunite in times of peace.
Harry knew that now that he had sent off his missives, he had to act quickly, before Dumbledore could meddle in his death as he had in his life. Harry cast a wandless silencing charm, then shattered his window, he'd be long dead before anyone thought to check on him, with a dagger shaped shard of glass, Harry sectioned the veins in his wrists, then he lay down on the bare floor and cut into his femoral artery to let his life force seep out from his emaciated body. At precisely 11:59pm on the 30 of July 1997 the last of Harry's life force left him, Harry Potter was no more, it wasn't Voldemort (flight of death) that had killed him, but life itself, how ironic, were Harry's last conscious thoughts. Harry Potter died a child, a short minute from adulthood, the prophesy had been fulfilled.
A horrendous alarm could be heard screaming throughout the Castle. Severus who was stocking potions for the new school year for Poppy rushed to Dumbledore's office. On his arrival, Albus was making a fire call to Poppy demanding her presence, no soon had she stepped through that she was followed by two adults thought dead by all and two boys. James and Lily Potter followed by their sons. The alarms still screaming all turned to Albus for an explanation; he quickly stopped the alarms, then explained that they announced the death of Harry. Lily collapsed to the floor whilst Severus became livid, what did the old fool mean, that he had alarms to announce Harry's death but not to keep an eye on his health, what was the point? Albus quite calmly stated that had Harry died before he could fulfil the prophesy, he would have taken James and Lily's next in line to fulfil it, sharing the same blood, it could have worked. James lost his cool, Albus was prepared to sacrifice more of his children to meet his needs, Lily was reduced to sobbing on the floor Samuel and Ethan were in shock, the big brother they so wanted to meet was gone. Severus could feel his heart growing colder by the minute; never again would he allow himself to love, if this pain was all he would receive in return. Albus was lost in thought, how could this happen now, both of the prophesies had played out, except for Harry's death that is until now.
Poppy, professional as ever kept her head and insisted that they leave together without the children to recuperate Harry's body, someone had to establish his death certificate. That was it, Severus cracked, he fell into a chair his soul crying out for the loss of his love; tears streamed down his face, Lily was surprised by such a show of emotion from him for her son, James ever the cynic demanded to know what right Snivellus had to mourn his son. Severus being in no state to answer; Albus replied that Harry and Severus had been a couple for nearly a year and that it was their unbridled love for the other that had defeated Voldemort. James went berserk, that filthy, slimy, greasy Death Eater had dared to touch his son, and before anyone could stop him he landed a well aimed Avada Kedavra. Severus' body slumped into his chair, all life had left him.
Lily was close to a catatonic state at this point, all of hers plans had fallen by the wayside, the son she wanted back was dead, her husband had just killed in front of their children the one man that she was sure would love her forever, but he didn't love her anymore, he had loved her dead son.
James was quickly disarmed as he too was going into shock, what had he done?
Albus made a fire call to Shacklebot, demanding that he step through immediately to guard over the Potters whilst he and Poppy left to bring Harry home to rest with his lover under his favourite tree down by the lakeside. Harry's Muggle family slept on as Albus and Poppy reached Harry's bolted door. The two rushed into what should have resembled a teenager's bedroom, only to find what could have been a cell in Azkaban; bare floors and walls, bars at the broken window letting in the fresh night air, a dirty mattress in one corner of the room with no pillow sheets or blanket and a filthy bucket in the corner farthest from the bed. Nowhere to be seen were Harry's belongings, no trunk, no clothes, no books, just a few scrolls of parchment a bottle of ink and a quill. And there in the middle of the floor lay Harry, his emaciated face covered in dried tear tracks, his hair as the rest of his body was covered in congealed blood that had left his body through the deep cuts in his wrists and his thigh; in his hands, he held onto his glass dagger.
Poppy set to work to establish the death certificate, suicide of course, but she could only be thorough. Harry's body was covered in contusions, cuts and burns, he had been suffering from starvation before he took his life, Poppy was outraged, was this how Albus left poor Harry each summer when he all but begged to stay anywhere else but here? Poppy had to set her mind at ease; she could never live with herself if ever she thought that the poor boy had been violated by his family on top of all the rest. As her wand lowered over his abdomen, a soft flickering blue glow indicated a failing pregnancy, before she could verify Harry's body for rape, the soft light flickered out. Poppy sadly continued on, Harry hadn't been raped, thank Merlin, but he had been terrible mistreated by his family. They would pay, even if she had to see to it herself. Poppy established that Harry had died from blood loss at 11:59 pm on the 30th of July 1997; he had never made it to adulthood.
Poppy decided to scan the foetus, a boy, Harry had been carrying a boy. She next scanned for the parentage; the baby was Harry's and Severus'.
Albus then knew that he'd totally misread the second prophesy, Harry had been carrying the descendant of the four Founders, now lost. Those having fought with the Order were Harry and Severus, not James and Lily as he had understood at the time, death taking the green eyed child, was of course Harry, but not as a baby, just one minute shy of adulthood and carrying the descendant of the four. If he was to continue to believe this prophesy the three, were finally happily reunited in their death. That was one line he never could quite understand, he had thought that perhaps James and Lily wouldn't survive Voldemort and Harry would finally be happy with them when he died. Then when peace on earth was assured they would rise again. But then that meant that Harry, Severus and their son could come back, but when?
Merlin he had completely misread the prophesy, Harry had lived with abusive relatives for years instead of being happy with the family that he dad hidden from him.
Albus still needed answers, what had these atrocious Muggles done to Harry? Why oh why did Harry take his own life when he had so much to live for now, his one love, a future child and his true family reunited, what had seemed so desperate to Harry that he couldn't go on? Why would he have left Severus behind? Albus was convinced that they were soul mates, never to be separated even in death.
Poppy and Albus brought Harry back to Hogwarts, Harry and Severus were laid out together in the infirmary by two very distraught House Elves, Dobby and Winky insisted upon laying out their friend Harry and his companion, no one dared to refuse them.
Poppy having signed the death certificates for the two National Heroes, had hastily sent them off to the Births and Deaths Registration Department at the Ministry of Magic. It may have been the early hours of the morning, but this office always had ongoing business. The office clerk who picked them up wailed in distress; bringing two other co workers to her side. Harry Potter had committed suicide one minute before midnight at his home in Surrey; he'd been carrying the unborn child of Severus Snape; who had been murdered a mere six minutes later at Hogwarts.
Albus made his way back up to his office where Shacklebot awaited orders. He demanded that James be put under house arrest in the castle until after the funeral; Lily Samuel and Ethan would stay as well. Finally Albus had the last piece of the puzzle when Hedwig flew into his office the next morning carrying a scroll from Harry. After reading the two missives by himself he broke down crying silently, had he wanted to win the war so badly that any means were to be used to win? Yes he had, what sort of person was he to have destroyed Harry and his family so completely?
Albus called James Lily and the children back to his office, he would read them the missives, although the children wouldn't hear the contents, this was going to be hard enough without the children being shocked any further.
Lily was gripping the morning edition of the Prophet, the headlines spoke for themselves.
"Suicide in Surrey – Harry Potter and his unborn child dead"
"Murder at Hogwarts – Severus Snape dead"
"Lily and James Potter alive"
"James potter under house arrest at Hogwarts for murder"
Cover to cover the special edition was full of Magical photos of Harry and Severus, one small photo of Lily and James during their Hogwarts years appeared under the headline that they were in fact alive. The only article newsworthy was the publication of the two death certificates and the footnote asking readers to stay tuned to read fuller details as they appeared. Other articles were pure speculation on the how and why this had happened.
Albus set to reading Harry's letter.