Soon the summer was over and Harry was on the Hogwarts Express, ready to start his sixth year. With Voldemort now on the loose, there was no way this year would be peaceful.
Harry was slightly changing, he was afraid of not being able to recognize himself at one point. Harry was now six feet tall and his hair was behaving more. His hands resembled those of the Potions Master's and his hair was darker now, instead of a dark brown it was now jet-black.
Harry had resolved to speak with Dumbledore as soon as he saw him. There was no way that he was not going to keep changing and it would be dangerous with Voldemort on the loose. After seeing some of Snape's memories and the photo albums his mother had left him, he was now not so ill-disposed towards the man.
After the Sorting Harry parted ways with his friends and went directly to the Headmaster's office.
"Cockroach Clusters. Canary Creams. Licorice Whips. Puking Pastilles." He guessed and was surprised when the gargoyle moved aside for the last one. "Professor Dumbledore, can I ask you something?"
"Seeing as you have already asked a question, you may ask another." He said, eyes twinkling madly.
"Well, I…um…I received one of the time-delayed letters from my mother this summer." Harry started, unsure as to whether or not he should tell Dumbledore.
"If this is about Severus being your father, Harry, I already know. You cannot stay as Harry Potter this year, and so you will have to act the part of a Death Eater's son. I have asked your father to brew a Paterno Potion, it will reveal whether or not you and Severus are related." Dumbledore said as there was a knock on the door. "Ah, come in, my boy, come in."
"Headmaster. Potter. I have the potion you wished me to brew for you." He said, levitating the cauldron onto Dumbledore's desk.
"Harry, you will need to make a small incision under your thumb and let three drops of blood drop into the cauldron. Severus you will need to do the same." Dumbledore said.
Harry winced as he watched Snape-no, his father- cut along his thumb with a pocketknife and let the three drops fall. Harry did the same, wincing as he cut along his thumb. Dumbledore performed a whispered spell and both cuts sealed up immediately.
"It will turn red if it is a father-son relationship, pink if it is a close family relationship, blue if it is a distant familial relationship and black if the two are not related." Severus said, watching the potion intently.
In a few moments the potion turned red and Harry bolted from the room, not wanting to be near the irritable Potions Master when he exploded.
Meanwhile, back in Dumbledore's office Severus was fuming.
"How could you not tell me, Albus? You should have shown me immediately! Potter is my son for Merlin's sake! How can this be?" Severus asked, dropping into one of the armchairs.
"Severus, you and Lily were married, you were very close and she was pregnant with your child. Alexander Romulus Snape. You should probably go fetch Harry, he is changing more and more every day and it cannot be known that you are father and son. He will have to be re-sorted and have a new identity, whilst here at Hogwarts."
"I know, Albus. The boy will have to be in Slytherin as it will be suspicious otherwise."
"Yes, he must. He must act the part of a Death Eater's son, he cannot be seen with his usual friends and they cannot know."
"I will go and find the boy." Severus said, getting up and walking towards Gryffindor Tower. Half-way there he saw Harry going up to the Astronomy Tower."
"Potter! Get down here at once! The Headmaster wants to speak with you and I must take you to his office."
"Yes, sir." Harry said, walking behind Severus very dejectedly.
When they got to Dumbledore's office, Harry entered and sat down, sullenly while Dumbledore and Snape exchanged looks.
"Harry, you must understand that you cannot tell anyone about this. I will cast a charm on you that will remove the charms originally applied and it may hurt a bit. Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, sir." Harry responded again, really not caring about the pain as long as he was no longer hiding behind a mask.
"Aparencia Revelio Distintus!" Dumbledore said, waving his wand over Harry in complicated motions and muttering a few other words in Latin as well.
Harry gave a small cry as he felt white hot pain searing through his muscles, after a few moments it was all over.
"Well, my boy, you look remarkably like your father." Dumbledore said, smiling cheerfully as he handed Harry a mirror.
Harry let out an audible gasp of surprise when he saw himself. His eyes were still the emerald green but now brighter than ever and his hair was board-straight with slight red streaks when the light hit it right and it now reached his waist. He had his mother's nose, thankfully, but the rest of him was exactly like Snape.
"Severus, do take care not to let anyone see him until next Monday, I will announce that Harry Potter is going somewhere on a special training program tomorrow and I will then announce that your son, Alexander, will be coming from Canada where he was raised by your wife who passed away two years ago. I will also add that upon receiving knowledge that you had a son and he was in an orphanage currently you immediately brought him with you to Hogwarts. Does that cover all of it?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.
"Yes, Albus, it does. The Dark Lord will have to be informed soon so you will have to announce my son's arrival the day he is sorted. I will not risk that Dark Lord finding out the truth. He will, no doubt, summon me before Monday." Severus said, running a hand through his hair.
"Well, my boys, I will let you two get settled in the dungeons. Your trunk is waiting in Severus' guest room, as is your owl." Dumbledore said, smiling at them again.
Severus merely nodded, indicating that Harry was to follow him, and left. They walked deep down into the dungeons and stopped at a door around a mile from the Slytherin common room.
After saying a complicated password and tapping several random crevices in the wall, Severus let Harry walk by him and he closed the door/wall behind them, flicking his wand to light several torches as well.
Harry let out a gasp of shock at seeing the living room neatly done in greens and blues with ebony side tables and a matching coffee table. There was a large fireplace with an ornate mantle in front of the sofa and the walls were still their original dungeon colors.
"Your room is through here." Severus said, feeling uncomfortable with the new revelation and yet, not able to bring himself to loathe the boy he thought he had loathed for years.
Harry followed him into a small hallway on the left and noticed there were several doors and a few decorations.
"Your room is the second one on the right and it has a lavatory inside. My room is the fourth one on the left and the other hallway we passed is only used for storing potions and their ingredients, my lab is also there as well. Let me know if you do not find the room to your satisfaction." Severus said, watching the boy intently.
"Yes, sir." Harry said, entering the room.
He barely managed to close the door before his mouth dropped open in shock. The room he expected to be either all black or in Slytherin colors, was instead done in very tasteful shades of blue with some silver décor. 'I guess Snape isn't really that bad, come to think of it he didn't say a sarcastic, mean, or insulting thing all the way down here or when I was gaping like an idiot. Oh, well, I'm willing to try as long as he does.' Harry thought, barely managing to change before drifting into a deep, dreamless sleep.
A/N:
Sorry it took so long to update, I promise the next chapter will be up soon. This was one of the hardest chapters for me to write.
I am going to be answering questions in these Authors Notes from now on, so please check back
soon :)
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