A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Shadow
Warnings: Read in previous chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own the HP Cast. All things that you recognize from the books belong to Ms. JKR. Other wise they belong to me, unless I borrowed it without realizing from someone else.
Pairings: main: SS/HP like a brotherly relationship I think, SS/RL might be similar, RW/HG HP/?? In later chapters
A/N - this one had trouble traveling on my memory stick; like going on a roller coaster right after having lunch. It kept splurging on everything on the file and puking up some kinda messed up languages but I managed it to get it on my desktop. yay!
A/N 2 - Edited so that the Dream part is clearer.
Enjoy Peoples!
OxoXoxO
"The Great Lake is the very big pool of water outside. We can show you sometime, maybe on the weekend if the weather's nice."
"That's a great idea, Ginny! We could have a picnic, too." Hermione looked thrilled at the suggestion and everyone could see the wheels already turning in her head, planning the day out and making alternatives and back ups in case anything went wrong.
"We could take our brooms and go flying too. What do you think, Harry?" Ron beamed at the idea.
"I wanna fy too! I wanna fy too!" Severus was sat on Ron's stomach so he got the wind knocked out of him when the kid started to bounce in excitement. "Ok, Ok! Stop!" He stopped.
"We'll see, Severus, ok sweetie? We have to make sure you don't get hurt or fall off or anything, of course." Hermione added the last quickly so as not to upset him. Kids can start to cry very easily.
"Sure, Sev. You can ride on my broom with me; I'll make sure you won't fall off." Harry smiled and Severus grinned back.
The other three stared at him as if he'd grown an extra head, faces flushing brighter than the fire in the hearth.
"What?" Harry looked between the three of them, confused.
Sometimes that boy was just too innocent for his own good.
OxoXoxO
"But I'm not seepy."
"I don't care if you're not sleepy, Severus, you will go to bed."
"But wha' bout monsters, Hawwy?"
"What about monsters, Sev?" He could hardly tell him they weren't real as that would be lying.
"They might twy to eat me! I dunna be eated Hawwy!"
"They can't eat you, Sev, because there are no monsters in this castle."
"You not say is no such fing as monsters yike you 'posed to!"
"Where does it say we're supposed to do that?"
"Ron, that's not how you comfort a child. You are so tactless!"
"But Hermione I always left this part to mum or dad!"
Hermione huffed and picked Severus up, rocking him in her arms and mumbling little comforts to him. After fifteen minutes not only wasn't he asleep but now he was sitting and crying on his bed while the two girls and Ron were in a heated whispered argument. Harry meanwhile was looking through the trunk of stuffed animals in the nursery next door and came back to the room with a soft green and brown patterned snake and a small brown teddy bear.
"What happened this time?" He asked, walking to the group beside the bed.
"We can't get him to sleep. We tried singing to him, Harry; singing!" Ron ears were red which meant that he was under lots of stress. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if he got white hair by the end of the week.
"Did you give him some warm milk?" the youngest of the trio asked as he held the toddler and rocked him, still crying in his lap but now cuddling the bear.
"Ah, that's what we were missing! I'll go get it." Hermione exclaimed and hurried out of the room toward the kitchen area.
The redheads sat down on either side of the pair as Severus snuggled closer to the raven-haired teen, his pale skin standing out magnificently against the black pyjamas he wore, a long sleeved thick cotton shirt, and trousers with green hems and dancing dragons on each.
Hermione came back moments later looking incredulous. "I think the kitchen is just for appearances or something because there is nothing in cupboards or refrigerator!"
"Ok, we can probably stock them later on, but right now how about an easier way to get the milk?" Harry said.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Dobby!" He called the last part.
Pop
"Mister Harry Potter, sirs! What is sirs and misses needs from Dobby?"
"Damn, I should have thought of that…" Hermione cursed under her breath so that Severus didn't hear, which was a good idea because the boy had sat up and stopped crying once he saw the odd unfamiliar little creature. He got down on the floor and stepped closer to inspect him. He was barely the same height compared to the elf and with his skinny little frame he looked quite small too.
He wiped the tears away and leaned closer but ran back into Harry's legs when Dobby moved toward him slightly. Harry picked the boy up and directed a request to the elf.
"We'd like a sippy cup full of warm milk for Little Sev here, please, Dobby."
"Yes Mister Harry Potter, sirs." He disappeared with another pop and returned minutes later with the desired sippy-cup. "Is there anything else, sirs and misses?"
"No, we're fine thank you Dobby." Ginny dismissed him politely and he left, for the kitchens presumably.
After that no body talked so that they didn't keep him awake but watched the little boy's eyelids lower and his breathing even out. The left quietly as Harry gently put him in his crib and followed.
"Now that our little boy is sleeping, we can make a start on our homework." Harry and Ron groaned as Hermione retrieved her bag from her room and sent the boys to get theirs. Ginny left for the Common room down the hall and returned with hers.
They sat on the thick deep red carpet around the large coffee table and got everything spread out. Soon the only sounds were of the wood splitting and the fire crackling in the fireplace and quills scratching parchment. Three of them sometimes asked Hermione a question on a particular area of a subject and she would give a full text-book style answer and explanation. She had to repeat it twice for them to get it down in their own words and when the rolls of parchment were given in they would receive a high mark and maybe twenty points to Gryffindor each.
Sometime in the middle of the working silence there was a loud shuffling noise and whimpering behind the door to Severus' room, making the group jump to their feet and rush to the door. Harry and Ginny stood by the door as Hermione took away the blanket and picked him up, holding him close. Ron made shushing sounds and rubbed soothing circles into his back as his girlfriend swept a hand through his silky jet black hair.
Deciding the 'parents' had it under control the younger two friends made their way back to the table and their work. They could still hear Severus sniffling and Ron was whispering to him.
"It must be a nightmare." Ginny sounded sympathetic when she looked toward the door.
"I'm sure the guys can handle it. They wouldn't have rushed in there like that if they couldn't." Harry was confident and had complete faith in his friends.
They were both only older than him by a few months, were his best friends since first year together and he always went to them if he had a problem he knew he couldn't solve on his own without getting hurt or hurting them, but sometimes he felt like they were not just being there for him, but also looking after him; caring for him the way loving older siblings did. Indeed at times they did sound, feel, talk to him like an older brother or sister would.
He knew they would be great parents when they were older, together, or apart.
"Yeah, that's probably true. They're kinda acting like parents." Ginny laughed a soft melodious sound. Like wind chimes in a gentle breeze.
"Then wouldn't that make us the brother and sister?" Harry was kind of confused; if Ron was the dad then that would make Ginny the auntie, and he would be like his best friends' son. Sure it could happen but for them all to be about the same age too would just be really uncomfortable.
"No Harry that would make us his aunt and uncle. Anything otherwise would be creepy and awkward." Ginny looked perplexed and disturbed with her friend's logic.
Harry was relieved. It must have showed own his face because Ginny giggled, then did something she must not have thought to do before doing it. She kissed him.
It was a chaste kiss, a mere pressing of the lips but it sped up their hearts and they pulled back blushing down to their necks and up to their hairlines. Of course that's when the other two walked in and stopped after one look at their faces.
"What happened?" Ron sounded as though he didn't know what to feel at the sight of them looking like they both did something shameful and awful; which in his book they did, even though he kissed Hermione all the time when he thought no one was watching.
"Did you two kiss?" Hermione looked content with this observation. She had noticed the way Harry looked at her for longer than necessary sometimes, and had known of Ginny's obvious crush on since Second year, many people had, and she had wondered when they would discover the well-known secret for themselves.
The two in question blushed even harder, if possible, and looked away from each other, before the older boy looked to Ron.
"Ron. It's not what it looked like, I swear I didn't mean for it to happen and…"- He managed before being interrupted by Ginny.
"No. It's my fault, Harry didn't do anything-"
"No, it wasn't, but-"
"Guys, stop ok?" Hermione stopped the competitive argument between them, smiling before continuing. "I'm guessing neither of you prompted it. It just happened right?"
They nodded hesitantly.
"Then it's not your fault and it's ok. Don't dwell on it for too long." Hermione pulled Ron by the arm toward the sofa before he could say anything and sat. That was when Harry finally noticed Severus in her lap, one hand clutching the back of her sweater while the other had a choke-hold on the bear on the thumb of the hand in his little mouth.
The rest of the night was spent with attempts at sending the child off to Nod Land. Lullabies didn't work; neither did bedtime stories, more milk, even in a bottle, rocking, crying only made him huddle closer and little toys that magically sang slow soothing tunes didn't succeed either.
Curfew came and went, Ginny left and it was long past Little Sev's bedtime. They decided he would have to sleep with one of the boys tonight, he might feel better being close to somebody's body heat.
Though they took turns changing into their pyjamas as one of them had to hold the kid, the nightly ablutions and everything else went quickly and smoothly. Neither talked but three heads landed on the pillows gratefully, tired and ready for sleep to take them.
OxoXoxO
At first he thought he was still awake. Ron was snoring in the bed on his left and Severus breathing quietly beside him but it didn't feel like he was really there. He left the bed carefully for the boy not to realize he'd left, and followed the stairs. Instead of stepping onto plush carpeting he felt cold stone beneath his bare feet, and the place of the common room was occupied by a large dungeon that led to a hallway at the other end of the room.
There was nothing of interest in the dungeon but for the fact that there was a faint smell of something familiar, so he dismissed it and strode toward the corridor, painted white so that it looked longer than it actually was.
There was a door on either side of the wall that clicked but did not open as he turned each of the handles. This was the same for every one but the last, facing the other end of the corridor. It clicked and opened outward, revealing more stone and the cold air of a frosty winter morning. Harry only now realized that he hadn't thought to get his robe first.
This round room was also strangely familiar, but he couldn't place a name to it. It was larger than the Great Hall, maybe even the Quidditch pitch, and there were stone levels around the room, like humongous stairs from the walls to just miles from the centre; smaller stairs led from the door to the bottom. Situated in the middle there was a wide circular raised platform, and on this stood a tall rectangular shaped object under a large white sheet that fell to the floor around the object like a woman's dress.
Harry moved down the frost laden steps, closer, and saw the edges of the cloth mildly swaying to the breeze. But as he continued he realized there was no breeze in this area of the cathedral sized room. The cloth was moving by itself. That was when he heard the voices.
They weren't really voices, though. More like the muffled whispers of angels, beckoning him closer. He was entranced; those unusual beautiful melodies called him closer, promised him beautiful, wondrous, empty things. His parents, Cedric, eternal pleasure, sweet death t soothe the numbness...
Before he knew it he was standing in front of it, reaching to grab the soft slippery fabric. This close up it looked like a thick opaque liquid mist, swirling and dancing, seducing.
A voice from behind suddenly called for him to stop but by that time it was too late. His hand had already pulled and the feel of strange velvety satin caressed and then slipped from his fingers, and then he was looking at a person. A boy.
But it wasn't just any boy; this boy was gauntly and thin, malnourished to the point of being nearly skeletal. His clothes were too large on him and his bird's nest of deep black hair fell into his bespectacled eyes. The right hand by his side had a squiggle of white lines on the back, scorn from hatred of lies that were truths and truths that were lies.
There on his forehead, on oddity. A lightning bolt shaped scar, the memory of a car crash that never happened. And most precious of all, most beautiful, and sad, the most incapacitating yet unremarkable part of him. Emerald almond shaped eyes that shined with inimitable light and hope. They were known to most of the wizarding world, especially those who knew her more personally, as Lily Potter's eyes. Though continuously hurt and verbally abused by his closest living relatives in the past, these orbs were open and trusting, only the smallest of shadows to indicate the pain of being unloved.
There was movement in the mirror, behind the reflection. There was someone in the doorway at the top of the stairs, but swirling in place, in an almost pirouette, to look up he saw no one. He looked around, the vast cavern was empty; but now that he looked it was pretty high up. He took a moment to wonder how hadn't he realized the short journey but waved it away. He had more important things.
But looking back into the mirror Harry gasped sharply. The boy once standing there had vanished. His place now held a scene of horror, chaos and destruction. It was a solid ocean fluctuating in an invisible breath of wind with large red melting lumps on the surface of it, fires spread on or around the lumps.
There were two people standing facing each other in the middle of this anarchy but the screams of pain and fear were not coming from them. They were silent and still as they faced the other down, standing near ten feet away from the other. One was the boy from before, only older and taller, wiser, stronger.
The other was what looked like a man and probably was once upon a time but his features were distorted into ugly shapes, animalistic and feral. His eyes were slanted and glowed red through slitted pupils. Where there was no nose there were but two slits in the skin. The mouth was wide in a maniacal grin; teeth sharpened into fangs, for intimidation or otherwise was not clear. This man was mad.
Then the duel began. This was no practice and there were no Seconds. This was a fight to the death in which only one would survive, even if it took decades. If it took that long Time would preserve them for this was history in the making. This would determine the future of the Wizarding and the Muggle worlds alike, for better or for worse.
The younger began with a simple disarming hex. It missed as the other dodged and countered with a curse. The boy had put up a strong shield but the curse just passed through as if it were water. He dodged just in time and stood with only a bloody arm, had it been later and it would have cut straight through his left shoulder. They traded jinxes, hexes and curses, the Unforgivables occasionally added into the mix, dodging them if they were particularly strong and broke through the shield.
After a lucky dive the man finally spoke.
"You have improved, Potter," His voice was hoarse and throaty as if he had been screaming for hours on end. "But you are hardly Dumbledore." And he laughed, a hair raising, rattling sound.
The boy, Potter, ignored him and didn't speak but he tightened the grip on his wand at mention of the name. He fired off another curse which was deflected and then his best. The Expelliarmus spell and Avada Kadavra curse joined in Priori Incantatem once more, as it had in the graveyard of Little Hangleton. The green Light pulsed with the faith and power Potter put into it despite the others efforts pushing the ball of energy toward the other and soon won the duel. He used the elder's curse against him and finally snuffed out the life of the most powerful Dark Wizard alive.
The Light side had won.
After moments of silence and nothingness pale luminescent figures began to leave the bodies of the warriors who had fought bravely for their cause. Among them were a group of redheads, whose hair shone bright red still, ghostly as they were. The youngest of them, a girl, floated to the boy and kissed his cheek as farewell. Her tears were crystalline against her pale freckled face as she smiled at him, the tears dropping with the action. He smiled back to her, a sad movement and his eyes dark with remorse.
More people joined the large congregation, a great many waving back to him before they were absorbed into the rays of sun from the partings in the clouds brightening the sky and with a flash of pure blinding white and they were gone. The fires spread to the corpses and incinerated them, letting the wind spread the ashes to the four corners of the Earth.
He stood there doing nothing for a while, and then turned to face the younger version of himself in front of the mirror. His eyes were ancient where his body wasn't, full of a dark, terrible knowledge and experience no person his age should have had and his smile was weighted with a great destiny. Then the image faded to black and returned to the room with the boy from before but now something was different. There was somebody there.
A girl and a boy. Siblings by the look of them, side by side and holding hands behind him. He turned around to check for another presence but once again there was nobody there. They were inside the mirror.
He narrowed his eyes and looked closer at them and managed to make out some of the major features; they were both blonde and had perfect features, had the same height and build. They maybe even had the same eye colour but that was where the similarities ended; the only way to tell them apart was their length of hair and clothes. Both had similar clothes, a simple white dress shirt and trousers for the boy, a white short-sleeved knee length dress for the girl.
They were beautiful, it was true, but of different kinds. The boy used his to get away with lies and tricks, Dark Magic was his calling card and it suited him. But his face was empty, indifferent, closed off and cold and it didn't befit him but made him more beautiful all the same, that much was obvious. He was staring at the raven-haired teen with what looked to him like disgust and contempt but also with wonder and curiosity.
The girl was the Yang to her twins Yin. She was a kind and compassionate child, caring for people all. She helped others any time and put their needs before her own, and this suited her well, too, but with all of that emotion and allure in her aura and person the pain and fear in her eyes was gone unnoticed to most. Harry saw it though and sympathized with her. He knew how it felt.
They walked slowly forward toward him and stood behind him, each clasping a shoulder. They stood that way for a while before he asked them who they were. The boy answered that that question was not necessary as he already knew them both. He realized that they looked familiar to him as well but his memory seemed to evade him in this surreal environment. He couldn't place it but he knew he had spoken to them just hours before, he just didn't see them separately.
He thought about this and decided he would decipher it more closely later and asked them where they were. They didn't answer but dropped hands and stepped to each side of him. Behind him a woman appeared. Gaunt face, heavily lidded eyes and wild black hair, beauty and sanity had been stripped form her in Azkaban, the Wizard Prison. Bellatrix LeStrange stood in the mirror.
That answered his question and he looked around him with widened eyes. It couldn't be; wasn't possible. But it was the dream world and in that mysterious place anything and everything was possible.
He was in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.
Harry tried to step away from her despite the fact that she wasn't actually there, not out of fear but of revulsion and hate. She was remorseless and though this wasn't real, only a dream, he didn't want to give her a reason to find out if death was possible here.
She wasn't able to hurt him physically, but he, and Bellatrix, found the Mirror allowed her to inflict damage on his reflection and it appeared on him. It was as if the world had gone backward as it moved forward.
Deciding that this was enough, he dodged the other attacks and ran for the door, not seeing the twins fade away after the girl gave him a sad smile.
She was only feet away from him before he slammed the door and leaned against it. It clicked and he waited but no sounds came through. There was no bang of collision or smacking of fists. Just silence.
He resolved to himself that he wouldn't take any chances for more attacks and made his way back to the Common room at the end. He didn't see the faint identical pairs of eyes from the sofa in front of the hearth, the fire out but the embers still burning bright.
What he found in the dormitory though was not the way he left it. Ron was on his bed trying to calm the hysterical person in the sheets that swallowed them like water, shouting and sobbing. They were fighting an invisible enemy and Ron was only in the way. He looked around and found Hermione with her head down tightly holding a tearful Little Severus, who must have been woken up by the screams; they were standing against the wall next to the stairs.
Harry instinctively knew what to do. He didn't yell or shout as it would do nothing to help the situation. When he paced to the four-poster and pulled, the sheets fell from the form instantly, without drag, and he stared. It was him that Ron was trying to wake, shaking and yelling loud enough to burst the ear drums but still it went on, the sleeping Harry thrashing and shouting and crying, eyes closed tight but the tears leaked anyway.
While watching this episode an unusual but interesting thought blinked into his mind, like a light it did. Comically a shining light bulb appeared over his head, he waved it away and it wisped away like smoke.
He inched forward, though careful as he was he discovered that 'his' limbs went right through him; no wonder they couldn't see him. He waited for the perfect moment to appear as to do as he needed the body had to be still.
Minutes crawled by and still he writhed and jerked, when finally after little more than thirty minutes had passed, Ron managed a safe hold on his friend. He took this chance to descend himself inside the body, aligning himself in the same way and places but it was awkward. It was like swimming around in thin diluted jelly or something equally slimy and resilient.
He got it eventually and the atmosphere settled down. The redhead held him closely as if he were a young fragile child and spoke nonsensical soothing things into his ear, but he didn't open his eyes. The only other sounds were of Severus' breathing calming down, along with his own harsh pants trickling to soft puffs.
He finally opened his eyes to find that he was in the same position; nothing seemed to have changed.
"Ron?" His voice was harsh and his throat felt torn as he sat up but didn't try to get out of the hold.
"Harry, you're awake! Thank Merlin, we were so worried when you didn't hear us and you still didn't open your eyes after a whole two hours…" Ron enveloped him in a fierce hug, almost leaving him no room to breathe.
"Ron, I need oxygen to live, thanks." Harry squeezed out. The red head loosened up, looking worried and apologized. "What happened?" He asked when he was comfortable again. Hermione had approached after he had woke up and hugged him gently, while Severus had also ran to hug him and now sat on the floor in front of them and held one of hands.
Ron answered in a grave voice, reminiscent of Dumbledore when he sensed there was danger ahead.
"Severus woke me up a few hours ago and told me there was something wrong with you. I went to check and you were mumbling something that I couldn't make out and it looked like you were having a seizure or something; you were all pale and your skin was cold and clammy. I tried to wake you up but then you started thrashing about. You only just woke up now."
The dark haired teen shivered causing Hermione to reach over to the bed to grab a blanket and wind it around him, as an afterthought she grabbed her boyfriend's wand and weaved in a warming charm and a charm to monitor the younger boy's temperature.
"So how long was I like that?" Harry leaned into his friend's chest and breathing slowly and deeply. His throat was very sore and his voice was scratchy.
"About four hours, I think. It's five in the morning. How about some hot chocolate or something to help you throat?" Ron called Dobby and ordered three mugs and a sippy-cup of the warm chocolate drink with marshmallows.
They stayed like that until Little Severus fell asleep in Hermione's lap so she put him in Ron's bed and sat back down; they didn't move until the first signs of day break were floating through the window.
It was soon almost time for the castle to wake up for the day so the trio went to their bathrooms and showered, went through their morning ablutions and breakfasted in the dorm with a freshly woken Severus. They decided they wouldn't eat in the Hall but go down anyway, maybe for the Daily Prophet and to talk the Headmaster about Harry's nightmare. What they didn't count on was some news from a surprise source.
OxoXoxO
A/N I've been thinking. If Astrology is about the stars, planets, sun and moon affecting the affairs of humans why is the Astronomy Tower named so? And what's the difference?
I've been reading the dictionary/thesaurus a lot for past weeks for help with this story, but it didn't help much with this.
This part I want to ask you readers because I can't think of a way to go about it. Basically by how much do you think Little Sevvie should age, how often and by what method?
2 years every month? That would take him 22 by June the next year and I'll make him say...36, he would be his rightful age in the January of Harry's Seventh Year. He would remember everything that happened and sometimes get certain memories from his 'past' life. He would also mistake some people for who they looked like at his then age. For example, Draco for Lucius etc. etc. He would also have time to get to know Harry more in his own age and stuffs.
4 years every maybe...four months? He would end up 16 by September of next year. Or maybe every three months? By my calculations (I hate maths and it seems to hate me, so I'm very sorry if my calculations are wrong and tell me where if you see a mistake) that would make him his age when Harry is going on 18 so that's out of the question; there would be no time for any real bonding, if at all.
And the method? I think I already wrote here that Dear Professor Slughorn gives them an Aging Potion for him. That could work until the darker forces in the story come into play. After that there may be some kind of change, so there's such thing as too many options.
Oh I also forgot to mention that their will be an OC for that years DADA teacher. I have no plans for her yet but she will teach them everything Snape taught in HBP. Once I get my hands on a flippin' copy of it...
Anyway Reviews are appreciated, Constructive Criticism is greatly acknowledged and Flames are welcomed with open arms. Any questions and/or suggestions will be fine, too.
Thank You
xx Shadow xx