Chapter 7: My Son Is Not Evil

Edited on 5/30/16, this one changed a lot. I made the scene between the men a bit longer, and made the boys less crybabies. I hope you like this new chapter, let me know via reviews. My goal is to get this story on the 1,000 reviews community. It is a simple goal, but hey if you can help, you have my thanks. Even if it is to tell me that you have stopped reading for some reason or another.

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September 9, 1985 (while the kids were in school)

James, Sirius, Remus and Severus had come together for a long day of yelling accusations and apologizing. With the tension that was in the air, Lily was glad she took their wands. The shouting and fist fighting was enough. She had to intervene on many occasions and point out that they were all being stupid, except Remus, and that they needed to work together. She yelled, screamed, hexed, and cajoled until they finally came to a very terse understanding.

The men would have no contact with each other, unless it was necessary for the downfall of Voldemort. Lily made no such promise; she and Severus would start a cautious friendship. It was only cautious because Severus had become quite bitter over the years, not that he wasn't in childhood, but he was more so now. That and he was firmly in Dumbledore's pocket. She was going to try and get him to see that he was his own man and not indebted to the Headmaster. Sure Albus testified that he was a spy, but he should have done it because it was the right thing to do, and not to hold over Snape's head.

Lily now understood where her friend's bitterness came from after finally hearing that Sirius had almost killed Severus by sending him to Remus on the full moon. She was pissed at learning that Dumbledore just sweep it under the rug. It was no wonder that the men in her life were so arrogant when they were teens, except Remus, they could get away with attempted murder. She scolded the two responsible, not the innocent werewolf, and she apologized to Severus for not seeing that something had happened that year. Her husband could be said to be innocent as well, but for the fact that he and Sirius had never once let up on Severus, making as though it was quite okay to lead a man to his death.

James agreed to not prevent or even comment on their friendship, well not to her anyway. What he said to his mates was his business. He knew there were going to be many sessions at the pub when he would bellyache about his wife's friend; there was just too much history for it not to happen. He also knew that Sirius would be on his side.

All of the men agreed that if they had to be in the same room together, they wouldn't antagonize each other. There would be no snide comments or pranks. Oh, they knew that they wouldn't even speak to each other unless they had to, since none of them were known for their control, except Remus.

Severus agreed that he would not demean the boys too much when they attended Hogwarts. However, he couldn't be seen giving them any special attention and would more than likely make snide comments on their brewing skills no matter how good they were. Unless they were sorted into his House. He had to make sure that the Death Eater families thought he was still a spy for Voldemort. He told them how he had kept in contact with some of those families to spread that lie; telling them he had used Dumbledore's policy for second chances to keep himself out of Azkaban.

Snape left the meeting feeling a tad better at getting most of his old emotions out in the open and off his chest. The right hook he threw at Sirius Black helped that immensely, it was something he dreamed of for years. However, he kept his darkest secret to himself, praying they never found out that he was the one who told the Dark Lord the prophecy. It was the only reason he bowed to Lily's pleas for this meeting. If their friendship grew to what it was in their youth, or perhaps stronger, then he would tell her, but right now there was too much going on. If she left him again, then he would not blame her, for he blamed himself. This time he would leave Britain and go abroad, Dumbledore be damned.

Unknown to everyone, even himself, Severus toned down his habit of belittling his students, now he simply snapped at them if they mess up, instead of bemoaning them as morons and dunderheads. His lesson plans even changed, so that more theory was taught. The students noticed, but they weren't going to tell.

Because of his dark mark, the Potions Master would be better equipped than the werewolf for getting things in Knockturn Alley. Plus, that might give him an edge to the Death Eaters thinking he was trying to find a way to get his false master back. So, Lily asked him to get her some more research material and to not tell Dumbledore. If the Headmaster knew she was looking into some of the Dark Arts, to find out why Voldemort was still around, he might go to the Wizengamot and tell them she was a Dark Witch and try and take her children. That was something that she could not afford, with her being muggleborn, well who knew how that would play out.

December 24, 1985

Since it was so close to Christmas and the boys had worked hard in school, Lily and James decided to take the twins, Sirius, Remus and the Longbottoms to the London Zoo. It was a common trip for them, since before the boys turned five they were still mobbed in the magical world. They would use the non-magical world as a means to escape the manor and had a great time exploring London and other sights in England. They made sure to drag their friends along whenever they were off work. Remus, who was always between jobs until they hired him, came with them often. They usually went to theme parks. The look on all the pure-bloods faces the first time was hysterical. Sirius, being the speed junky he is, loved the rides.

This time however they were going to the zoo. Harry had seen the advert that there were new animals housed, including some snakes from Africa, and he and Gary wanted to go. Since it was Christmas Eve, everyone was off work, so they decided today was a good day. As a group they met at the entrance and each got tickets, and made sure they had non-magical money.

The zoo was lit up with fairy lights and there was Christmas music filling the air. The workers were decked out in costumes and the whole place was like a winter wonderland. The kids loved it and the adults thought it was well done. They went to all the shows, had some lunch and picked up many souvenirs for all their friends from school.

"Well, where should we go now?" Lily asked, it was getting close to closing time, which was early given the day, but they had an hour to see one more exhibit.

"I want to go and see the snakes, please. There is supposed to be that one from Africa that is new, I think it's called the Black Spitting Cobra, and it looked cool, please," Harry said almost pleadingly. He had heard the snakes talking on the Internet and they were funny. They complained about everything, and they did it in such a way that made the young boy laugh.

They had learned a month ago that Harry could talk to snakes, but Sally told them not to tell anyone, because they would think that Harry was a bad wizard. She said the reason for that was because the bad man that had hurt them could talk to snakes and he would tell the snakes to hurt people. She made sure to tell the boys that Harry was not a dark wizard, and the people who thought that were stupid. Their invisible friend was also coaching Harry on how to use parseltongue for his magic. It was slightly stronger than Latin and quicker too. The boys felt bad for not telling their parents, but they didn't want them to think that Harry was evil.

Gary was a bit jealous that he couldn't talk to snakes; however, he knew Harry was special, so he let it go and supported his brother in learning this new magic. If the Wizarding World ever found out that Harry could talk to snakes and called him a bad wizard, well… then Gary would yell at them and call them stupid, even if his mummy would punish him for it. He would stand by his brother.

"Okay, sweetie. Is that okay with everyone else?" Lily asked as she looked at everyone to see if they were in agreement. Everyone nodded their heads or gave verbal confirmation. So they headed to the reptile house.

There were snakes and lizards of all kinds in glass displays. When they got into the exhibit Harry started giggling. Gary leaned to his twin and said, "What are they saying, Harry?"

"They're complaining that they're not getting enough to eat, and they're making fun of all the people staring at them," Harry whispered back. He pointed to a snake that was coiled like it was going to strike and said, "See that snake over there? The big green and black one? He just called the fat man in front of him a walking walrus with a mustache." He giggled again and shared a look with his brother, who was trying to hide his laughter. The man did look like a walrus with a mustache, much like the one he'd seen on the telly in that cartoon about the girl who fell through the mirror. That walrus looked just like this man.

"Boys, why are you laughing? Did you see something funny?" Lily asked, looking around to see if there was something going on, when she didn't see anything she sighed. She had a feeling that Harry was a parselmouth, she had hoped she was wrong, but if they were laughing at nothing than it was more than likely that she was correct. She had listened to Harry giggle and whisper to his brother when they were doing a research project for school. It was on the habits of reptiles and when the snakes hissed and Harry chuckled, well… it was an easy conclusion to come to.

She was going to tell her husband, but wanted to do some research first. Maybe she could ask Severus to get some books on it next time he was in Knockturn Alley. She would tell him she was still doing research on Voldemort. This was not information she wanted to get to the Headmaster, and since Sev was still in the man's pocket, she was going to lie. She would use whatever he could find and gather up all the history on parselmouths and present it to the Marauders. That way she would have solid evidence that her son was not evil.

'Hopefully. Not everyone who could speak to snakes had to be evil. Right?' she tried to convince herself.

"I just heard something funny, Mummy," Harry said, breaking her from her thoughts. "Someone said that man over there looked like a walrus," he whispered with a small chuckle, trying to get over the guilt of sorta lying to his mum.

"Okay, sweetie," Lily said, looking at the man and doing a double-take. He looked just like Petunia's husband, only not quite a fat. She was absentmindedly patting her son on the head, and going over her thoughts on how to handle this situation. She would have to talk to Harry in private later to see if he would tell her the truth. "Let's go see the snakes. I think the one you wanted to see it having a show in about five minutes so we better hurry," she said, taking the boys hands and leading the way. "Try not to laugh when someone is making fun of someone else. It is not nice," she reprimanded. She didn't want her boys to think that was proper behavior.

The show was great and Harry giggled the whole time they were there. The cobra was just so funny and he was angry that he was lazy enough to get captured. The threats he made were funny and some were cringe worthy. Though, Harry did take his mum's word to heart and tried not to laugh when the cobra cut down someone, like calling his handler a walking monkey that was too skinny to eat. But the snake was creative in his rude suggestions that it was hard not to laugh.

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Later that evening when the men were outside flying in the snow, and the Longbottoms had gone home, Lily took the boys to the entertainment room. She sat them down and looked at them for a minute. "Boys, is there something you want to tell me?" she asked with a stern mum look.

The boys looked a little guilty staring at their feet. They really wanted to tell their mummy.

Sally whispered behind them, "I think she already suspects so it's okay, you can tell her about the snakes, but not about me."

Harry looked at his mummy, afraid she would think he was a bad wizard, but felt guilty that he didn't tell her sooner. He sat close to Gary for comfort and courage. "I can talk to snakes," he whispered as Gary put his arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. The younger twin sent his brother love through the bond to let him know that he was there for him. If his mummy called Harry bad, then Gary was going to yell at her.

"How long have you known you can talk to snakes, sweetie? And why didn't you tell me? I hope you know you can tell me anything," Lily asked gently, not wanting to make Harry anymore afraid than he already was. It broke her heart that he felt he couldn't trust her.

"We knew in November when we were doing that project for school. We were going to tell you, but we had heard Daddy say that it was evil to talk to snakes and we didn't want you to think that Harry was an dark wizard," Gary said as he glared at his mum, just daring her to make a big deal out of it.

"Oh, sweeties, Mummy will never think you are evil wizards. I raised you to be good boys. And even if you ever did go bad… well, I'd still love you. That's what mums are for," Lily said, getting up from the sofa and giving her boys a big hug to make sure they knew she loved them. "I'm going to tell your daddy —later. I don't want you to tell him. Let Mummy make sure he understands. Okay?" she said decisively with a firm nod of her head.

"Okay, Mummy," both boys intoned, just happy that at least one parent was on their side. They were also glad their mum said she would always love them, even if they were bad, which made them feel much better.

"Okay, why don't you boys go and get ready for bed? Santa is coming tonight and you need to be asleep, or he won't leave you presents," Lily said, giving them a gentle push out the room, frantically going over in her mind how she was going to tell James.

"Okay, Mummy. We love you," the boys said, again together, both feeling lighter now that one of their secrets was revealed. They were going to have to talk to Sally about their other secrets. If their mum didn't think Harry was bad, then she would accept that the embodiment of Death was friends with her sons, probably.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth and wash your hands and face. When you are done getting ready come back down and say good night," Lily called to them as they ran up the stairs. "And quit running in the house."

"Okay, Mummy" they said, slowing down, but walking very fast.

"It's kind of creepy when they do that," Lily said to herself as she got off the couch and went to find the men. She shook her head at the fact that they thought it was fun to fly in the snow. But, boys will be boys, even when they are men.

Her thoughts went back the twin-speak. She remembered the talk she had with Molly, when she found out that it was normal for twins talk together. The Weasley mother said they'll start finishing each other's sentences soon. That just showed they had a really strong bond. The other woman told her that the reason one boy had more magic than the other, thinking Lily was talking about Gary, was because magic was more like souls than anything else.

The boys looked alike and sounded alike, but they each had different souls, and magical cores. She pointed out that George and Fred might be pranksters, but it was George that made the plans and Fred that carried them out, and that Fred's magic was just a little stronger than George's. Not by much, but enough that when he stole her wand it worked better for him. Her brothers had been the same way. So it was normal that 'Gary' was more powerful than 'Harry'. She said as they grow older and the bond firmed, then they would share magic and it would make them both powerful, though 'Gary' would always be more powerful than 'Harry'.

Lily decided that she had better write Severus tomorrow and see if he can help with books on parselmagic. Since Harry had this skill, she would try and train it as best she could, she didn't know that he already had a trainer. If her friend figures out why she really needs those books, well she hoped he would keep it to himself. Now all she had to do is figure out how to tell James. She took herself outdoors to call the men in so the boys could say goodnight, then let them know she was going to go and research something. She kissed her husband and promised him that if he was good, then she would treat him well that night.

January 20, 1986

Less than a month had passed, but Lily had been very busy. Severus had come through with the books and she spent most of her free time researching. She was very happy with what she found and knew that she would prove that her boy was a good child. With that in mind, she sent the boys to go and play with their friends in the entertainment room when they got home from school.

She then went and gathered her notes from the library; she had as much information that was available. She took a deep breath, now was the time. When she was done getting her things, she asked a house elf to go and get the men, and tell them that she needed them in the sitting room on the east side of the manor. She didn't want to take the chance that Harry and Gary's friends would overhear. She set another house elf to watch them and let her know if any of the kids left the room. She settled on one of the couches and waited. It was about ten minutes later when the men entered the sitting room.

"What's up Lily, you look serious," James said as he sat down next to her taking her hand in his. He knew she was frantic over something, but she would just smile and say she would tell him later when he asked. Now it looked like the time for that secret to be shared was here. He was a bit nervous as to what could make his wife so uncomfortable.

"Oi, she is not me," Sirius exclaimed, sitting on the other sofa next to Remus. Everyone groaned at the old joke, though it did lighten the atmosphere.

"That joke is getting old, Sirius," Remus said, shaking his head as he nudged his friend's shoulder.

"I've something very serious to talk to you all about. I need you to listen to me before you start exploding. I have done a lot of research on this so I know what I'm talking about." Lily straightened her papers, took a very deep breath and looked her husband dead in the eye. He frowned and nodded for her to continue. "Harry is a parselmouth," she said succinctly.

"My son is not an evil snake-talker," James said as he jerked away from his wife. That caused her to glare at him and take his arm and shake it.

"You will listen to me!" she yelled, giving her husband's arm another shake before dropping it. "You will pay attention to what I have to say, or I will make you sorry you ever said anything bad about my son," she hissed, making them go quiet.

They all dropped their heads, a bit shamed that they would even for a second think that the kind boy they all loved was evil.

Lily gave a nod of her head. "Now I know what you all are thinking. Harry is not evil. I think he got this from Voldemort," she said, ignoring the flinches. "I don't know how, but I'm pretty sure that is what happened or Gary would have it too. I've done some research and found that there were many grey and light wizards who could talk to snakes. There are some countries than respect and admire parselmouths. The only reason we don't is because of Salazar Slytherin and Voldemort. But I have found some parselmouths in British history that were never dark.

"This one in your Chocolate Frog card collection; *'Phillipus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493—1541), more commonly known as Paracelsus, was a secretive alchemist about whom very little is known. He also contributed to the field of medicine, having been a notable physician. Paracelsus's bold theories challenged medieval thought. Paracelsus was credited with the discovery of parseltongue.*" She flipped through her notebook, determined to make these guys understand that her son was not evil. So she started her lecture, not once pausing until she was done.

James opened his mouth to stop her. He would take her word for it, but she glared at him, so he sat back and let her go on.

"Then there's, Jordan Tomlinson, who lived in 1658, who helped keep the snakes from his home village. There was a forest that held poisonous snakes and he helped them stay away from the village and also collected their venom for the local potion master. He was considered a Grey wizard.

"And also, Joel Coxhead, who lived in 1759, who was also a collector of venom for potion masters. He made his living doing that and as a traveling healer. He was considered a Light wizard.

"There are many more, I listed them in this research, and you can look them up yourselves. I want you to know I will stand by Harry no matter what. I want all of you to do the same. You need to read the research I've collected before you go off halfcocked. Don't you love Harry as much as I do? Don't you want to protect him from anything that will come his way? He is just a little boy. He is terrified that you will all think he is evil and hurt him. Or worse leave him or take Gary away from him. Do you really want that?" Lily asked sternly. She would make these pure-bloods understand if she had to beat it into their heads.

"Lily can I see the research you've done?" Remus asked, holding out his hand. "I want to be prepared to defend Harry if this somehow reaches the public. They might not listen to me because I'm a werewolf, but if we all have the same facts and stand together then it might work," he said, with some admiration in his voice for the well thought-out lecture. He was firmly on her side from the beginning, and he would do anything to protect his godson. That and the Potters, and Sirius, were the first to accept him as he was. They had hired him to teach the twins, and all their friends, theory magic so he could afford to pay his rent, knowing that he would never accept charity.

Lily handed the papers to her quiet friend, and he and Sirius started to read them over. James reached over and brought his tense wife into a hug. "Lily, why didn't you trust me enough to tell me sooner?" he asked, he could sort of understand, but he wanted hear her reason.

"Oh James, I wanted to, but I've heard what you've said about parselmouths and I didn't want you to shun Harry or think he was evil. You said that snake-talkers were evil, when I first brought it up. Can you imagine what it would have been like if he had been in the room?" she asked with tears in her eyes at that thought. It would have been a nightmare, if Harry and Gary had been there.

That caused the man to flinch; it had been a kneejerk reaction. Now he was sorry he let his mouth get ahead of his brain. "Yeah, I can just imagine," he stated, knowing that it would have deeply impacted his son, in a bad way.

"You didn't see the fear in his eyes when he told me about talking to snakes. He was terrified. I needed to make sure you all understood that the public opinion on parselmouths was wrong," his wife cried, feeling bad that she didn't trust her husband, but her boys came first.

"It's okay, Lily-flower, I mostly understand. I've said some pretty hateful things about parselmouths so I get where you're coming from," James said, hugging her tighter.

"I'm sorry, James," she said, leaning into his shoulder, "its human nature to fear the unknown. I didn't know how you would react after everything you said. And judging from your initial reaction, well…" Lily said, drying her tears. "Let's just say that I'm now happy that you listened to me and are taking this well."

"We stand together, no matter what. As long as you don't cheat on me, you can tell me anything. That is what family is for," he said, kissing her on the top of her head and holding her close. What he said was true, he could forgive anything, except disloyalty.

"Hear, hear," Sirius said after reading the papers. Those had been an eye-opener, he now knew that everything he had been taught was wrong. "We stand together."

"Okay," Lily said as she sat up, wiped her eyes, and beamed when she saw the acceptance in their faces. "We'll sit the boys down after supper, and tell him that we're all on the same page and that we love him no matter what."

That night they did sit the boys down and explain it to them. The relief in Harry's eyes was enough to know that he had been really scared. The month of waiting for the shoe to drop hadn't helped his nerves at all. Sally and Gary tried to tell him that family would stick together, but the memory of the venom in his dad's voice gave him nightmares. He never wanted that kind of negative feelings to be directed at him, not by his dad. The rest of the world could feel what they want, but family and friends needed to stick by each other.

The adults did remind the boys that the public will think he was an evil wizard, and that he needed to keep this a secret. He couldn't tell is friends, yet. Maybe when they were older and could understand better. That was the conclusion they had already come to, so the twins just nodded their heads and agreed to keep it a secret for now.

The boys were really happy and felt safe in the knowledge that they were loved. However, they were feeling guilty that they couldn't tell them about Sally. They would talk to her tonight, or tomorrow, and plead with her to let them tell their family.

After all she had been wrong about this.