Harry's Head of House
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Chapter 10
'Sirius Black,' Harry thought, trying not to panic. 'Salazar will never let him get to me,' he consoled himself, listening in confusion, when the man continued to speak.
"I need to get that rat of the Weasley boy. He is not a rat; he is an Animagus. It's Peter Pettigrew, the one who performed all the murders, for which I was sent to Azkaban. I need him to prove my innocence."
Harry slowly scrambled out of his bed and dragged himself into the professor's office. "Professor Slytherin," he addressed the portrait as loud as he could. "Please tell Mr. Black to wait. I will send Cicero to fetch the professor." 'I hope that he heard me and understands that it's not a plot against him,' he mused as he returned to the living room. 'Severus must come here and not to his office. If he saw Black, he would hand him to the Dementors without even hearing him out,' he thought and called Cicero. "Cicero, please fetch Severus as quickly as you can."
Ten minutes later, Severus stormed into his private quarters. "Harry, what is wrong?" he asked sternly, casting the boy a disapproving yet concerned look.
"Sirius Black is outside. He is talking to Salazar. Apparently, he is innocent. I'd like to hear him out, but I was afraid to speak with him alone. I'm sorry for disturbing you at the feast," Harry blurted out quickly, ending up in a coughing fit.
"Go back to bed this instant," Severus said sternly and strode into his office, firmly shutting the door behind him.
However, Harry let himself sink onto the sofa, eagerly listening to the sounds coming from the professor's office.
"Ah, Black, willing to let yourself being kissed by the Dementors?" Severus sneered, and Harry imagined how his guardian stood behind his desk with his wand trained at the other wizard.
"Snape," he heard Black reply. "As I told your portrait, I am innocent." He repeated his earlier explanation about Peter Pettigrew until Severus interrupted him rudely.
"Pettigrew is dead. Tell that fairy tale to your grandmother, not to me," he sneered.
"Snape, you're the Potions Master here, aren't you? And my godson's guardian as well as I've heard. Do you have Veritaserum, so that you can prove that I'm telling the truth?"
"You're willing to take Veritaserum?" Severus queried, his voice laced with suspicion. "How can I be sure that you didn't take the antidote in advance?"
The other voice laughed nervously, and Harry rolled his eyes. 'Where would he get that? Everyone is looking for him,' he thought, grinning inwardly when the man asked the same question.
"Very well then, Cicero, fetch the Headmaster," Severus instructed his elf.
The office remained quiet for a few minutes, before the fireplace flared, and Harry could hear that Dumbledore had joined the meeting. The Headmaster began to interrogate Black, and Harry listened with interest. Finally, Dumbledore motioned for Black to accompany him to his office and for Severus to head to Gryffindor and fetch the rat.
Suddenly noticing that he felt worse than before, Harry dragged himself back to bed, pondering everything that he had heard during the adults' conversation as he slowly drifted back to sleep.
HP
When Harry woke up in the morning, Severus told him that Sirius Black was innocent and that indeed Ron's rat had been an Animagus and the one, who had betrayed his parents.
"Where is he now?" Harry asked anxiously, unconsciously letting his eyes wander around the room as if he expected the rat to sit in a corner and listen.
"He was taken to Azkaban and received the kiss last night," Severus told him with an indifferent expression on his face. "As to Mr. Black, he is in Madam Pomfrey's care at the moment and will have a trial at the Ministry in a few days' time."
"Severus," Harry said hopefully, "does that mean that I can attend the Hogsmeade visit on Saturday? I'd love to finally be able to go to Hogsmeade together with Hermione and Neville."
"Only if you're completely back to health," Severus replied sternly, handing Harry a phial. While he observed the boy drink the potion with an expression of disgust, he said hesitantly, "Mr. Black told the Headmaster that he wants to become your guardian."
Harry nearly choked on the last sip of his potion, casting the professor a horrified look. "Please sir, tell me that this is not true. I know that I'm a burden, especially since I get sick so often, but I'm so happy to have you as my guardian. Does he really have to become my guardian?"
Severus stared at the boy in disbelief. "You prefer to stay with me?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow. He let out a long sigh. "Well, if you still tell me so, when you have met him and are not feverish anymore, I'll believe it," he said, smirking. "However, I can't promise anything, because as your godfather he might be able to override my guardianship." Noticing that Harry's breathing became laboured as the boy began to panic, he said in a soothing voice, "Don't worry about that now. We'll find a way and if it is that I adopt you, if you really want to remain with me."
HP
Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, Harry was still not well enough to accompany his friends to Hogsmeade. However, he was allowed to meet with Sirius Black in the Headmaster's office, while Severus chaperoned the Hogsmeade visit.
Harry liked the man immediately. He was very friendly and funny. However, he seemed more like a friend than like a father-figure to Harry, and when his godfather asked if he wanted to come and live with him during the holidays, Harry politely declined.
"No, thank you, sir," he said firmly. "I'd like to meet you if that's possible; however, I'm very happy living together with Professor Snape. He is like the father I never had."
"You had a father, Harry," Sirius replied, sounding terrified. "Snape was his worst enemy; didn't Remus Lupin tell you that?"
"Professor Snape told me when he explained about you and my father, and Professor Lupin told me a lot about my parents, too; however, I have never known my real father, and I'm very grateful that Professor Snape took me in after spending ten years with my horrible relatives. I chose him, and I'm glad that I made the right decision."
Sirius was just about to return something nasty, if Harry interpreted his expression correctly; however, the Headmaster interrupted him, reminding Harry that he had an appointment with Madam Pomfrey a few minutes later.
Harry gratefully used the opportunity to leave the unpleasant conversation and absentmindedly walked to the hospital wing. 'I must speak with Severus. He promised that he'd do something to keep me,' he thought.
HP
To Harry's relief, he noticed that a small smile stole itself on the professor's face as he hesitantly addressed the matter. "Very well, Harry, if you're really sure that you want me to remain your guardian, I will adopt you," Severus replied slowly. "After our last conversation about this, I spoke with the Headmaster, and he agreed and already prepared the necessary parchments." He pulled a rolled up parchment out of his robe pocket and took a quill in his hands, before he gave Harry a sharp look. "Harry, are you really sure?"
"Yes sir," Harry replied, smiling. "I am sure. Thank you very much, sir."
"Very well then," Severus said and placed his elegant signature under the parchment.
To Harry's surprise, the parchment rolled up by itself and vanished into thin air. A few hours later, the confirmation arrived in a similar way. It suddenly appeared out of nothing in front of Harry and Severus, who were brewing together in Severus' private lab.
'Harry Potter-Snape,' Harry read in amazement. 'This is too cool,' he thought as his eyes fell on the line that stated, 'Godfather: Sirius Black'. "Severus," he asked hesitantly, "Mr. Black can't force me to live with him anymore, is that sure?"
Severus looked up in surprise. "Of course not, Harry. You're my son now, and he can't take you away. Also, if you read ahead, you will notice that I made Professor McGonagall your second godmother, just in case something happens to me. She already is your second guardian anyway."
Harry let out a relieved sigh. "I know that. Thank you, sir."
HP
To Harry's relief, Sirius Black resumed his position as Auror at the Ministry of Magic and did not bother him further about the holidays. However, he came to watch every Quidditch match that Gryffindor had to play and often met him at Hogsmeade for lunch during their Hogsmeade visits. He even invited Hermione and Neville to have lunch together with them, and Harry was delighted. 'It's great to have a real father, but having a godfather in addition is not bad,' he thought happily as he trailed behind his friends back to the castle.
It was at the beginning of Harry's fourth Hogwarts year that he for the first time regretted to have a father.
At the Welcoming Feast, Dumbledore had announced that they were going to hold a Trimagical Tournament, and everyone was very excited and couldn't wait for the visiting schools to arrive.
However, when Harry woke up in the morning of the big day, he noticed immediately that he was getting sick. His chest hurt each time he swallowed, and he had a terrible headache. 'I don't have breathing problems, so it won't be so bad. I'll try to hide it, because I don't want to miss the arrival of the other schools tonight,' he resolved and chose not to see his father in order to receive a potion before breakfast like he was instructed to do as soon as he noticed that he was under the weather. Unaware of the concerned looks he received from Hermione and Neville, Harry struggled through his classes, glad that everyone seemed too excited and preoccupied with the upcoming events to take notice of him.
However, Severus knew his son better than Harry thought and realised five minutes into the Potions class that the boy was feeling unwell. "Mr. Potter-Snape, please remain for a moment," he called out to him, dismissing everyone else.
"Go ahead; I'll catch up with you in the Great Hall," Harry quietly told his friends, not feeling very eager to eat lunch anyway.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Severus enquired as he laid his arm around the boy's shoulder and led him into his office.
"Nothing," Harry replied in surprise, averting his eyes to the floor, ridiculously hoping that his adoptive father would buy the lie.
Severus raised an eyebrow, sighing at the lack of response. In spite of having felt the heat that his son radiated at his earlier touch, he carefully placed an ice-cold hand on Harry's forehead. "Do you need me to perform a full check-up?" he asked sternly.
"I just caught a bit of a cold," Harry replied, shivering at the cold touch. "It's not bad though."
"I doubt that, but we can try if a Pepperup potion helps," Severus replied, ushering Harry into his own room with the instruction to rest for a while.
Unfortunately, the Pepperup potion did not help, and when Severus checked on the boy before the beginning of the afternoon classes, he was running a moderate fever. "Stay in bed. I'll check on you again after my first afternoon class," he said in a voice that allowed no protest.
However, when Harry's condition remained unchanged in the early evening, Harry begged his guardian to let him go just for a few minutes in order to see the guests arrive. "Please Severus, let me go. I promise to come back here immediately afterwards, and I'll try to not come near anyone, so they won't catch it from me."
"No Harry, you're ill and belong into bed, and that's my last word," Severus replied sternly and left the room.
'It's a nightmare to have a parent at Hogwarts; if he wasn't my guardian, no one would care if I was a bit sick,' Harry thought angrily. He pointed his wand at himself, trying to cast the invisibility charm on himself, which he had practised secretly together with Hermione and Neville, when his two friends had visited him for a week during the summer holidays. Confirming with a look into the mirror that the charm worked, he silently left the quarters and headed out to the grounds to search for Hermione and Neville.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Harry, Cicero had once been instructed by Severus to keep an eye on Harry and inform him if he did something that he was not supposed to do. Harry was just standing between his two best friends, observing the guests from Beauxbatons arrive on the grounds, when Severus approached the trio. "Mr. Potter-Snape," he addressed the barely visible boy, "get back into your room this instant. We shall speak about this later on." With that he turned on his heels, leaving Harry in shock.
"You better go back, Harry. I'll come with you," Hermione offered, and under huge protests from Harry that they should stay and watch the events, Hermione and Neville accompanied Harry back to his room.
Harry unconsciously let out a relieved sigh as he lay down. "It's great to have a father," he said in annoyance, "but does he have to be around the whole year?"
Neville chuckled, while Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can be glad that he didn't take House points."
However, Severus was not pleased with Harry's behaviour to say the least. Harry was still quietly talking with his friends, when Severus entered his room, quirking an eyebrow at the two guests, before he spoke up in a strict voice.
"Harry, I do not tolerate this behaviour. You may choose if you want me to take one hundred points off Gryffindor or ground you for a month," he said, taking in that Harry looked worse than before. "If I forbid you to leave your bed, it is for a reason," he continued, glaring at the boy.
"I know, sir. I'm sorry, sir," Harry replied, unconsciously rubbing his forehead. "Ground me please, sir."
"Very well then; you will only attend classes and the meals in the Great Hall. At all other times, you will be in our quarters," Severus said sternly, before he turned to Hermione and Neville. "Since you missed dinner, you may eat here together with Harry. However, this will be an exception. While he is grounded, I will not allow any visitors."
"Thank you, sir," Hermione replied softly, and Neville nodded his agreement.
An instant later, dinner for the three students appeared on Harry's night table. "I'm not hungry," Harry whispered as soon as Severus had left the room. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep in spite of feeling worse by the hour. 'I don't mind being grounded, especially since I'm stuck in bed for the time being anyway,' he thought as he finally drifted off to sleep.
Apparently, Severus' concern had been for a valid reason, and Harry aggravated his condition so much that what he had begun as a light lung infection turned into pneumonia. Only ten days later, he was finally allowed out of bed, and Severus grudgingly agreed when Harry begged him if he could attend dinner in the Great Hall.
When Harry entered the Great Hall, he remembered that Severus had told him about the Goblet of Fire. 'Wow, this is cool,' he thought as he took his seat between Hermione and Neville, eyeing the goblet with interest.
"Tonight, the Goblet will announce the participants of the Triwizard Tournament," Hermione informed him, sounding as excited as everyone else. "I hope it's going to be Cedric from the Hufflepuff. He seems to be the nicest of all."
"Who are these?" Harry whispered, looking at a group of unknown people at the edge of the Head table.
"The one next to Professor Snape is Professor Karakoff from Durmstrang, and the group over there are a few Aurors, who are going to stay at Hogwarts during the Tournament," Hermione explained patiently.
"Nymphadora Tonks, Mad Eye Moody and Mr. Shacklebolt," Neville added, sighing. "It's good to have you back, mate."
Before Harry could reply, the ceremony began. Everyone cheered as Cedric's name was announced. 'He is a good choice,' Harry thought. 'I like him, and he is a good Quidditch player as well. Too bad that we can't play Quidditch this year. On the other hand, would I be able to play at all while I'm grounded?' he mused. He was only brought back to reality when the Goblet suddenly threw out a fourth small parchment and the Headmaster called, "Harry Potter."
tbc...
Thank you so much for your kind comments that fed my muse!