Lost and Found

Chapter Nine: Little Brother

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter it would probably be available in the adult section of the book store as a better written homoerotic alternative to fifty shades of grey. As that's not where you would find it it only stands to reason that I don't own it.

Author notes: Thank you to all my lovely reviewers. It's so encouraging.

MyLifeAsSlytherin thank you so much. I'm positively flattered.

oXCrystelAngelXo you'll just need to keep reading and find out. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no spoilers here!

Arwengeld how are you able to read my mind? This is awesome and yet so perplexing. XD thank you for the encouraging reviews.

"Okay. You wait by the door." Sirius says and points his wand at the lock, afraid of what he may find. "Alohamora!"

When Sirius looked in the closet he schooled his features so he wasn't showing his godson how pissed off he was. Instead he gets into the closet next to him. "Hello Harry. I'm your godfather. I've come to take you away from your mean aunt and uncle and you can stay with me." He says to the child, who was very small for his age, wearing threadbare clothing that was 4 sizes too big, filthy, and was squinting his green eyes in order to see him. He would definitely need glasses. As he tries to look at him he processes the information and asks, "If your my godfather where have you been since my parents accident?" He asks. "What do you mean by accident Harry?" He asks. "They were driving drunk." He says as if it were obvious. Sirius shakes his head and looks to Harry. "Your parents did nothing of the sort. They were murdered by a very wicked man when you were a year old. I tried to go after that man but everyone thought I did it and I went to jail without a trial. Today I was proven innocent and I came to get you." He explains.

"My aunt and uncle lied to me?" He asks. Sirius nods his head. "I'm so sorry. I know they don't treat you right because your different from them. Lilly's sister wasn't nice to her either. Your mom could do things too." He says, patting his head. "You know I can do things?" He asks, eyes growing wide. They looked so much like his mother's. His whole face was his mothers. With a nostalgic smile Sirius nods. "Yes. Your mother could do them, your father could, I can. The people who came with me today can. The man who killed your parents can. Harry, your a wizard. And I know that must sound crazy to you, but look at this. I'll prove that magic is real." He says, pulling out his wand and a couple sickles. "Creare Vitra." He says, transfiguring the coins into glasses and putting them on Harry's face. "That better?" He asks.

Harry's jaw went slack as he nodded his head. "So do you believe me?" He asks, offering a smile. The 7 year old nods his head. "Good. Now I have someone who would really like to meet you. You have a big brother who's a wizard too." He says, standing up and offering his hand so that he could help the child up. Harry grabs his hand and pulls himself to his feet, a weight that Sirius hardly felt. He was only glad there were no bruises and he didn't show any signs of being in pain. "My Mom and Dad had another kid before me?" Asks Harry. "No. Your big brother has a different mother. But half or full brother he's still your brother." He says as they round the corner and meet up with Severus, Canan and Lucius. Having heard the tail end of the conversation, Severus was unimpressed. "Mother Sirius? You've got a lot of nerve." Sirius breaks into a grin. "Well you are scary like a mom. You've practically perfected 'the mom look.' Not even my mother could do it as good as you can." Lucius and Canan were doing their best not to laugh and the blonde turns to Sirius. "Though your spot on with your observation, may I remind you there's a time and a place. We should be heading back to the manor for Christmas dinner."

Severus takes Canan's hand and leads him to the edge of the wards, then making sure the others followed, casts a notice me not charm and apparited back to the apparition border where the carriage was waiting. Not even seconds later, the other three appeared before him. "Okay. Let's get back to the manor and get you taken care of Harry. A nice hot bath, clean clothes that fit you, and a wonderful dinner sounds nice doesn't it?" Sirius asks, climbing into the carriage. Harry nods and Severus picks him up and hands him to Sirius, who casts a warming charm over him and sits him on the bench. Next Severus passes Canan up to Sirius, and Canan sat down next to Harry. Sirius sits on the same bench on the other side of Harry as Severus and Lucius climb in with Severus across from his son and Lucius across from Sirius.

Harry looks up at Severus and appears thoughtful. Like he's trying to figure out to ask something. "What's the matter Mr. Potter?" He asks. "Um, your a boy. So how did you have a baby?" He asks, eyes turning to his big brother in fascination. "Well a person's magic is tied to their soul Mr. Potter. That means their magic lives inside them. That sometimes leads magic to doing things inside or outside of someone's body that they don't expect. But the unexpected isn't always a bad thing." He says, keeping the explanation appropriate for a seven year old while smiling at his son. "So wizarding pregnancies are like accidental magic?" Asks Canan. "I wouldn't call it that. It's something that requires a lot more precision than the typical bursts of power that come with accidental magic, and there are plenty of wizards who have children this way knowing it could happen. It was more like magic doing what it naturally does while I was unaware of what could happen. Which lead to the most wonderful surprise of my life." He explains, not finding it at all odd he was having to explain this without proper introductions yet being made. Harry was 7 after all, and 7 year olds had a tendency to question the unknown.

There's a short pause before Lucius smiles at Harry. "I think introductions are in order Harry. My name is Lucius Malfoy," he pauses and gestures to Snape. "And this is my good friend Severus and his son Canan, your brother." He finishes and Harry smiles Shyly at them. "And I'm Harry Potter." He says, stating his name to be polite even though they know it already. "It's nice to meet you Harry!" Canan says with a grin, smiling at his little brother. "I'm so excited to have a brother! We can have so much fun together and when you turn eleven we can explore my wizard school together! It's in a castle and it's called Hogwarts." Harry's eyes widen. "A castle! That's so cool! I can't wait to be 11! But you'll be 15 if I can't go to school until I'm 11." He says and Canan shakes his head. "I had to go to Hogwarts early. I'm only 9, but the ministry of magic said I had to go early because my magic was dangerous." He explained. "Dangerous? What happened?" He asks, eyes wide, which looked a bit funny in his Coke bottle glasses. "I kept getting stuck on my ceiling for hours on end or my bed would shake, one time I went from my bed and when I woke up I was on the ledge of a cliff by the sea." He says to name a few examples. Severus shudders a bit. "I wish I had never known about that last one. That's too scary." Canan smiles a guilty smile and looks up at Severus. "Sorry Dad. I didn't mean to worry you." He says as they pull up to the French double doors of Malfoy manner.

"Now Harry, a few things need to happen when we go inside. We need to talk to an auror. That's like a police officer for wizards. They'll have a healer with them to make sure your aunt and uncle didn't hurt you and they'll collect any evidence if they did. Then you can go get cleaned up and we can have dinner." Sirius explained. "Why?" Harry inquires, looking up at the man apprehensively. "Well for starts so I can prove I had a very good reason to go to their house and take you away from them, and the other reason is so that your aunt and uncle go to jail for what they did to you." He explains, knowing honesty would mean more to this child than making up excuses to spare his feelings. "If they go to jail, what will happen to my cousin, Dudley?" Was the immediate question that followed. Harry didn't like Dudley, but he knew Dudley didn't know any better than what his parents taught him. "He'll be somewhere safe. They'll look with the family to see if there's anyone who can raise him, and if they can't find a suitable guardian, then they'll find him a family who wants to take care of him and protect him. And He'll be better off for it." Lucius explained. He knew how both the muggle and magic courts of law worked. "And if you want I'll personally see to it that he gets a very nice family." He finished with a promise. Harry nods his head, and with his acceptance, he opens the door of the carriage and Sirius and Severus step out first, and Lucius passes a child down to each one of them. Canan to Severus and Harry to Sirius.

Canan walked inside holding Severus' hand, but Sirius carries Harry since the lad hadn't a pair of shoes on and they walked through the double doors to find Poppy and Allistor Moody waiting for them, along with Narcessia and Draco. Severus was a bit worried. They just had to send mad eye for dealing with a child? What dunderheaded idiot that worked at the ministry thought sending him would be a good idea? But Harry didn't look scared of the man. He was more curious about him than anything. Only a foolish Griffindor could look at the battle hardened auror and not feel the slightest bit of apprehension. Oh boy! This meant his son was related to a lion! Mind you James had been a lion as well however Severus often chose to ignore that inconvenient fact. But Allistor smiled, seeing the lad wasn't afraid of him. "Hello Harry." He says in that gravely voice of his, offering him a smile that Severus decided looked particularly unpleasant on his burley mug. "I'm just here to ask you a couple questions. Fair warning though, you may find a few of them hard to answer but Sirius will remain with you." He says. "First Poppy is going to check you out. Severus, if you'll go with them? Poppy may need you to brew some potions.

Severus nods. "Canan why don't you go to the kitchen and decorate a special cookie for your brother with Draco. We'll be out soon." He says, hoping that the younger Slytherin would be excited for that and not start asking questions. He was relying on the fact that he was nine years old and would be excited to do something for his brother. Thankfully it worked. After Canan ran off Sirius, Poppy, Allistor, Lucius, Severus, and of course Harry make their way into a spare bedroom off to the side for a bit more privacy. The one Severus normally stayed in when he was visiting. Allistor was there to document any evidence Poppy found in her examination. Lucius was there as Sirius' and by extension Harry's lawyer. It made them both more comfortable. And of course Severus was there, setting up the cauldron he kept there and laying out ingredients. Poppy begins by casting a spell. "He's only half his ideal weight. He's going to need your strongest nutrient potion for a while." She informed Severus, who promptly began crushing and slicing ingredients and throwing them in the cauldron at the appropriate time before transfiguring another cauldron from Lucius's hat. It was the most cauldron like object in the room and Severus knew he would probably need more potions.

"All right dear. If you'll just take off your shirt we'll make sure you don't have any bumps or bruises." She tells Harry. He nods and takes it off and sets it on the bed. There was a healing burn on one of his shoulders and Allistor looks it over as Poppy cleans it. "What happened here Harry?" He asks, noting the burn location on a chart of the body. "I got hit with a frying pan." He says. Severus takes a deep breath to steady himself and starts on a burn salve as Allistor takes a photograph of the burn. "Okay dear. Well we'll get that fixed right up for you." She says with a comforting smile. "Now I need you to take off your trousers but you can leave your underdrawers on." He looks at Sirius to express discomfort and Sirius squeezes his hand. "She's a healer Harry. She just needs to make sure your not hurt. I know it's embarrassing in front of so many people, but it will be over before you know it. And I promise you can have a cookie when we're done." He says. "Okay." Harry replies and removed his pants. There were a couple bruises on his shins from being pushed on the stairs by his uncle and cousin, but there wasn't any evidence of being physically assaulted by the over grown muggles save from the frying pan. It was probably because Harry was much quicker than them due to their massive size. Abuse was abuse and it had taken place regardless, as they had uncovered by the end of the examination and questioning, but it seemed that the neglect had a much greater impact on his physical health than any assault had done. And sure enough at the end of the exam, Sirius rewarded Harry with a well deserved Christmas cookie.

When he was finished, he was allowed to go to the ensuite bathroom and have a nice hot bath, and Narcessia drops off some of Draco's old clothes that would fit Harry, taking the muggle clothing to the fire place to be burnt. Lucius left the room to see Poppy and Allistor to the floo. So when Narcessia left, Severus and Sirius were alone, with Severus tending to the potions as Sirius took a deep breath and sunk into the bed. Severus wouldn't have been a Slytherin if he hadn't been clever enough to read people and right now Sirius was an open book. "I know it's difficult to see all this. Be there for him to talk to, let him open up to you, and be honest. Give him plenty of love and support and he'll flourish." He offers with a sad smile. "How can you know this when you haven't been through it?" Sirius barks, mostly out of distress. Severus adds powdered unicorn horn to the healing salve and stirs the cauldron counterclockwise three times before allowing it to simmer, putting the spoon down, and closing the door. "Sirius I know more than you think I know. I was abused by more than one person before beginning my adult life. I know from experience. My own son was adopted by muggles who thought he was possessed by the devil. When I told you earlier that I found out he was my son during a potions accident I didn't tell you the nature of the injury. It was self inflicted. His emotional baggage was so extensive that he felt the need to carve his own flesh before he reached his first decade on this planet. I've provided him with love and stability and he's doing much better now. He's nearly stopped having those compulsions now, and when he does have them he talks to me. I know your upset, but don't judge that I don't know what I'm talking about until you listen to me." Scolds the younger and shorter of the two, looking into Sirius' eyes with a fire in them that made him slightly intimidating in spite of his smaller stature and younger age.

Sirius looks at Severus, thoroughly put back in place, with a look of bewilderment on his face. "How do you do it Severus? How do you get over that? How do you help someone who's been through that? And how are you still alive after all the shit you've been through?" Severus charms the burner under the nutrient potion to extinguish and a ladle to portion it into dose sized bottles before turning back to Sirius, running his hands through his hair as he thought about how to answer his questions. "Well as for your first question, getting over it takes time. Someone who has been abused first needs to heal physically, then they need time to understand what happened. After understanding someone needs time to process and rationalize what happened to them, and then they need the opportunity to grow and through that realize things can and will get better outside of that environment. To help them you need to provide them with the chance to do these things on their own time. Recovery from abuse can't be forced, though you can certainly help speed it along with love, support, and just as importantly patients. If you ever need help figuring out how to help with Harry you can talk to me. I've been through it with my son and I've had to go through the process myself." Sirius noticed Severus' avoidance of the word victim. Having admitted he had been through it was one thing, but Severus didn't want to use that word where he was related. Then he takes a deep breath before answering the last question. "And as per your last question I really don't know how to answer that. I don't know how I survived to make it to 26. My family was very poor growing up and that was one strike for me, my father was a violent drunk who hated magic, so that was one of many people who was physical with me, and I don't know how I survived when I was too young to defend myself, I had a child when I was still just a child myself, and lost that same child the same day after my parents died in a murder suicide only months before. I wasn't upset about losing my father, but my mother had been my only support. The only reason I'm here to be strong for my son, who I couldn't spare the same miserable childhood as my own, is because I was too weak afterwards to end my own misery. Now that I have my son back that's something I'm grateful for. And because I had the support of Lucius and Narcessia who I've always looked up to as an older brother and sister. It wasn't easy Sirius. But living was worth it." He answers honestly. For Harry's sake he had to be honest. It wasn't easy to talk to someone who had a hand in the abuse he had suffered, but now another young life was recovering from the same horror he had experienced. And no child deserved that. Not even the son of the man who abused him the most. To say that would be the same as saying Harry's older brother deserved it. So Harry deserved it no more than Canan did.

Sirius sits silently next to Snape for a minuet, for once, lost for words, noting the nervous way the younger played with his sleeves. "Severus I'm sorry for how I treated you. I only made your life worse. I had no idea what you were going through at home. And weather or not I knew that shouldn't have made a difference. I was young, but I should have known better to be a bully. And thank you for your honesty. What you told me was really personal. But it's because you made it out alive three lives were saved this year." He says, putting his hands pointedly on Severus's forearms to draw his attention away from his nerves. Their eyes met for a moment and Sirius gives him a comforting smile. "You saved your son. You saved me from Azkaban, where I surely would have been killed. You saved my godson." Severus shakes his head. "I didn't save you or Harry. It was because of my son_." Sirius cut him off. "It was because of you that your son found that diary entry. It was because you did something about it that I was freed. It's because of you helping an enemy that a child was saved. So I think this puts the past behind us. If your willing to forgive me, Friends?" He asks, offering a hand. Severus looks at his face for a moment, gauging his sincerity, before accepting, shaking Sirius's hand. "Friends." He confirms, causing the tension between the two of them to melt.

It was none too soon, because a moment later the timer for the burn salve went off and Severus got up to remove the cauldron from the heat, casting the required cooling charm on the potion for it to have the soothing effect on the burnt area. Once he transferred the thick, green, gel like potion into a container where it could be retrieved with an applicator, Harry stepped out of the bathroom, looking like a new child. His hair was unruly, but it was clean and no longer matted. He smelled and looked cleaner, and he was wearing clothes that weren't swallowing him. "Harry, could I have you sit on the bed next to Sirius? I'm going to show him how to apply the burn salve and wrap your burn properly." He requests. After administering the proper dose of potions, Harry was escorted to the dining room where he had his first Christmas dinner. He got on well with Canan and Draco, and the three eventually fell asleep in the living room in a heap together, using each other as pillows.

Squirrel note: so I forgot this in the last chapter, but reviews are like a nut falling on my head. They give me ideas and inspiration. Please leave one. ^u^