Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the parts of this story affiliated with the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling. As such, I do not receive any payment for publishing these works.

Chapter 7: The Boy who Lived

Genre: AU/Family/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 1,717

Content Rating: PG-13

Italics: 'Thoughts' or "letters" or stressed words

Bold: Important information

Underline: Titles

"" - Character speaking

Horizontal lines: A break in time or scene

A/N: Sorry for the delay. The past few chapters have been a challenge to write.


The two males sulked as they followed Hazel upstairs. She couldn't help, but glance back every few seconds to try and understand what their issue was. Harry seemed quiet and disturbed while his counterpart looked scarily blank. She peered into Professor Snape's eyes – they looked like dark black tunnels and frankly it freaked her out.

'What happened in that cupboard?' The young female Dursley wondered. She raised a hand planning to grab Harry back as the Professor swept by them, but the determined look in her cousin's eyes stopped her. Harry looked at her frozen hand questioningly and Hazel just smiled and played it off by brushing her long red hair over one shoulder. If her cousin questioned her action any further Hazel certainly couldn't tell as he headed into her room.

She followed and was met by an amusing sight of the stern transfiguration mistress sitting upon a small pink chair. Hazel noted that Professor Snape's mask of blankness had been replaced by a quiet annoyance. She couldn't blame him, her room was quite atrocious. Her mother had decorated it when Hazel had been about four.

"Hazel dear, I'm going to the store to pick out furniture and colors for your big girl room!" Petunia said with a daughter, "What do you want precious?"

"Green." Hazel chirped and her mother frowned.

"That's not a color for a girl, darling." Petunia reminded, "How about yellow?"

"Blech!" Hazel exclaimed with a small scowl.

"Now listen here, girls like colors like yellows, pinks, and reds. Boys like Duddems like blues, greens, and greys. As girls we have to be more delicate with our palate than boys since we have to bring taste and style into a home when we are married." Petunia explained with her brow furrowed. Why couldn't her daughter just be normal?

"I want green! Like the forest." Hazel whined.

"You stop that whining right now." Petunia growled, "You will be staying with the boy at Mrs. Figg's house while I take your brother with me. Perhaps when you understand better what girls should do I will take you with me."

Hazel smiled internally at the memory; she had never gone to the store with her mother since that day. Some might consider it petty, but it was Hazel's quiet rebellion against her mother to be as unusual as possible without catching the attention of her father. It was a dangerous game, but luckily her father was quite oblivious to anything involving his own children's naughty behaviors. Other than her pink frilly room Hazel had yet to suffer any consequences in the house of no nonsense.

"Professor McGonagall," Harry finally spoke up breaking the silence. "How did my parents die?"

"Why, child, I thought Professor Snape was explaining this to you downstairs?" McGonagall scolded lightly.

"I found you would be better suited at this task." Professor Snape said shooting a sharp look at the older woman. McGonagall just smiled in response, obviously used to the potion professor's snarky behavior.

"Well Harry what do you know?" She asked and Harry looked away at the floor obviously ashamed. Minerva frowned and looked to Hazel for an explanation.

"Mum and Da told him that they died in a car crash because they were drunks." Hazel said rolling her eyes, "Obviously it's a load of rubbish, but it is all we know."

Both Minerva and Severus frowned visibly while Harry remained staring at the floor. Hazel slipped her small pale hand into Harry's. Her cousin looked up and finally smiled a little as Minerva began to speak.

"There was once a dark wizard who we call He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. You-Know-Who believed that anyone of mixed magical blood or less should be eliminated and kept from tainting those who he considered pure and more powerful," Here, McGonagall audibly scoffed, "Despite the ridiculous notion there were some who joined his ranks seeing only power before them; as his ranks grew so did his action and we could no longer ignore him. Headmaster Dumbledore formed an army and along with the ministry they began to take action – two of this army's members were your parents, Harry." She paused again as Harry and Hazel hung on to her every word eagerly, "Lily and James were quite a powerful force and before you were even thought of they had foiled You-Know-Who's plans three times. When your mother became pregnant with you however, they withdrew back into planning rather than action. After you were born they continued to help plan as You-Know-Who's army grew ever stronger. Nearly a year had passed when our headquarters received news that You-Know-Who was planning an attack on two of our members' families, the Potters and the Longbottoms. Initially, your parents rejected the idea of going into hiding, but as the war grew ever larger and darker they agreed. You were all placed under the most powerful charms known for protection including the Fidelus charm." Seeing their confused faces Minerva explained, "The Fidelus charm hides a location from anybody not given the address by the secret keeper, but somehow he found you. On October, 31 He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named raided your house along with a few death eaters. Your father fought them off downstairs managing to get at least the death eaters down when You-Know-Who killed him." The stern witch fought off tears as she choked out the story sadly, it had been eight years, but these things never got any easier, "He then headed upstairs towards your room where your mother stood protecting you. She fought valiantly, but in the end she was no match for You-Know-Who. Finally, that monster turned his wand at you and uttered the killing curse, but something strange happened. Instead of dying you somehow managed to deflect the curse back at him – killing him instead. After that night the war was over and you were known as the Boy-who-lived, savior of the wizarding world."

Harry looked blankly at the wall for a few moments when a gentle squeeze from Hazel brought him back. It was a lot for the two nine year olds to take in.

'I always knew they weren't drunks!' Hazel thought angrily, 'How could they tell us they were when they were really heroes!'

She scowled darkly at the plush pink carpet and Harry walked towards McGonagall.

"How did he find them?" He asked simply and Minerva sighed, feeling overwhelmed. This time Severus spoke,

"They put their trust in the wrong person, Potter." He said with a growl.

Harry nodded sadly and sat on the floor weakly. They had lied to him all along. He wasn't the spawn of two worthless drunks – he was the child of two war heroes. He knew he should feel better, but he couldn't help feeling guilty. If it hadn't been for him maybe they would have won the war sooner, maybe Voldemort wouldn't have killed them, maybe… Harry couldn't hold it back any longer and began to weep. Minerva held him tightly trying to hush away his sadness when a loud slam startled the group.

"Hazel!" A loud deep voice boomed. Hazel gulped and looked at Severus, "That would be my father." Severus sneered in response.

"Stay with the boy, Minerva. I'll talk to the father." Professor Snape said uncharacteristically quietly. Hazel thought it made him sound much more dangerous than her father's yelling. The two headed downstairs where a red faced Vernon Dursley met them.

"Who is this?" Vernon demanded.

"He told me he was from a secondary school," Hazel said with a non-committal shrug, "He only arrived a few minutes ago and I decided to give him a tour of the house while we waited for you or Mum to get home."

Severus looked blank as ever while Vernon blubbered confusedly. Hazel smiled sweetly at her father as Severus spoke up.

"May we talk in your kitchen, sir?" He said dully.

Vernon just grunted and led the wizard into the kitchen where he shut the doors in Hazel's face. Hazel frowned she had so wanted to see the look on her father's face. She stuck her ear to the keyhole and listened carefully.

"Listen, I don't know what kind of freak you are, but you can't just barge into respectable people's houses and accost their daughters." Vernon said.

"Here," The sound of something hitting the table drifted through the keyhole.

"I will not have one of your kind in my house!" He yelled.

"Well then you better get your daughter to pack her things," Severus said bitingly.

"What? No, Hazel is a respectable normal young lady. She is not one of you I made sure I raised her right." Vernon argued.

"Dursley, you know as well as I do that upbringing has nothing to do with it." Snape replied, "Hazel is a witch and Harry a wizard and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Get out!" Vernon shouted and soon enough Severus brushed through the door looking annoyed.

Vernon looked at his daughter, "To your room now!" he growled.

Hazel squeaked and ran upstairs; she had never seen her father so livid. He looked like a too ripe plum about to burst. In her room Minerva was standing with her wand at the ready.

"You better go, he isn't happy." Hazel said sadly and Minerva nodded. The elder witch looked at Harry sweetly,

"I will be in touch soon, little one." She patted his sticking up black hair and with a poof she turned into a cat and ran out of the Dursley abode.

"Did she just…" Harry said awed.

"I think so." Hazel said unsurely.

"Awesome!" He replied and headed to the door to peak out. "Looks like Uncle Vernon locked himself in the living room. Mind putting me in my cupboard?"

They both grimaced, but she nodded and headed with him down to the cupboard under the stairs. How wrong Harry was, at the cupboard hammering the door shut with boards sat Uncle Vernon who turned an ugly shade of blue at the sight of the two.

"You're supposed to be in there." He growled and grabbed both the children dragging them outside. "In the shed, now." He commanded and they went in quietly clinging to one another. Soon enough they heard the click of a padlock and despite Harry's kicks at the door they realized they were stuck in the dark cluttered shed.