Thank you to Pandora Jonet who was my hundredth reviewer and thank you to everyone who helped me get 104 reviews. The next chapter shall be the last chapter of this story, if this one isn't, and shall include a brief summary of the sequel.
Ten
Guardian
Severus knelt down beside Lucius, being one of the first three Death Eaters to arrive almost as soon as Voldemort called. Naturally, Bellatrix was the first one to arrive and was practically salivating at the dark lord's feet. Before long, several Death Eaters arrived in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor and knelt down before the snake eyed dark lord.
"Welcome my loyal servants," Voldemort purred. "We have much we need to get done. First of all, I wish an update on several things. Lucius!"
"Yes my lord?" Lucius asked moving forward to kneel down in front of the dark lord.
"How are things at the Ministry?"
"Going well, my lord. Minister Fudge is getting more paranoid with each passing day. It would appear that he believes Dumbledore created the tale of your return to steal power away from him. He is also taking steps to try to get the Boy-Who-Lived expelled from Hogwarts or worse."
"That must not happen," Voldemort growled. "Make sure that does not happen, Lucus."
"Yes my lord."
"Severus!"
"Yes my lord."
"What is the news on Dumbledore?"
"Nothing much, my lord. Dumbledore is still pushing for a trial for Black but since they cannot find Pettigrew, the Ministry will not let Black have a trial. Dumbledore is also looking for a more suitable guardian for the Potter brat but has not yet found someone willing so he is still the brat's guardian," Severus replied.
"Who are the candidates?"
"The Weasleys are one but it seems unlikely because of how many children they have to take care of," Severus replied. He had to be careful with who he named because he knew that if Voldemort decided that one of the families he named was harboring Harr…er Potter then he would attack them.
"Very well. Keep an eye out and find out where Potter is being held," Voldemort hissed twirling his wand around before he turned his gaze to Wormtail who was cowering nearby.
"There are very important missions I shall have for all of you soon," Voldemort stated. "For now, however, I must get my facts straight before I order a certain mission. You are all dismissed." And with that, he turned around and walked away as he could not apparate within Malfoy Manor. Severus resisted the urge to sigh with relief; that meant that Grayback hadn't had a chance to report to Voldemort about the attack within the forest near the cottage.
The Death Eaters stood up before making their way either to the floo or toward the door. Severus watched them leave before, keeping an eye out for Lucius or Narcissa, made his way toward the staircase. When he was positive nobody was watching, he cast a disillusionment charm and made his way swiftly and quietly upstairs. On the second floor of the manor, Severus made his way into his godson's room before gazing around until he spotted his godson's wand, lying in its sheath on his bedside table. He reached for it before lifting the hawthorn wand and its sheath into his hands and hiding it within his Death Eater robe.
Making sure no one was nearby, he gazed around for anything Draco might need before he spotted his godson's pack and the books he would need to finish his summer assignments as well as his clothes. Working quickly to avoid suspicion, Severus gathered as much of his godson's clothes together before shrinking them and placing them within his pack along with his shrunken books and shrunk the pack. He stuck it into his robes alongside Draco's wand before he turned around and slowly made his way out of the room, making sure the disillusionment charm was still cast.
When he reached the first floor of the manor, he canceled the charm, as he couldn't floo with it, and made his way toward the floo.
"What are you still doing here, Severus?" Lucius asked walking into the Great Hall to observe his friend.
Severus raised his eyebrows. "I thought I was welcomed to stay here for a while even when we were not in a meeting," he said smoothly.
Lucius blinked. "I did not expect you to stay behind," he admitted finally. "Would you care for a cup of tea then?"
Severus decided that if he was to get out of there without causing Lucius to become suspicious then he would have to take his old time friend on his offer. Severus was unsure of how to proceed around the blonde wizard; Lucius had been his best friend all throughout his years at Hogwarts, helped him whenever he had a particularly rough summer with his muggle father and was there for him most of the time when the Marauders were picking on him.
And yet, Lucius was also the one that brought Severus before the dark lord on the day Severus took the mark.
Severus pushed those thoughts away; he could not afford to get sidetracked on any different topic. He had to focus on getting out of the manor without causing Lucius to become suspicious that he may have stayed behind for another reason other than because Lucius was his friend, at least at one time.
After having a cup of tea with Lucius, Severus said his goodbyes to Lucius, Narcissa and Bellatrix before floo traveling back to Prince Cottage.
He noticed Ha…Potter and Draco were sitting on the couch in the living room with the wolf curled up in front of them. The headmaster was reclining in a chair near the fireplace and stood up as Severus banished his Death Eater robes and mask, sending Draco's wand and shrunken pack to his room as he did so.
"What happened?" Albus asked.
Severus briefly explained the meeting, keeping his voice low to avoid his words reaching his soon-to-be ward and his godson. "After that, he said he might have very important missions for us once he makes sure his facts are straight," he finished.
Albus nodded. "Tonks and Lupin are making sure the Dursleys return to their home before we go visit them. Strangely enough, they are actually happy to be back in England although they were not to happy when we told them that Harry would be returning to them."
Severus narrowed his eyes.
"Rest assured, I only said that to see their reaction. It is obvious they do not care for Harry just by the way they looked when I mentioned his name," Albus assured the master spy before he could reply.
"When shall we go?" Severus asked.
"Tomorrow. I shall leave it up to you to decide whether or not Harry should come with us. Also, Shacklebolt and Bones are drawing up the final draft of the adoption papers. They are going to file them discreetly so people like Malfoy or Umbridge will be unable to discover them but you shall be Harry's guardian legally and they can say nothing about it."
Severus nodded.
"With that done, I shall be getting back to Hogwarts now." With that, the headmaster turned around before floo traveling away and Severus waited until the fire died down before he turned his attention to Draco.
"Your stuff is in your room," he said. "I managed to grab your wand, some of your clothes and all of your books and school supplies."
"Thank you, Uncle," Draco said getting to his feet before he walked toward his room and reappeared a moment later strapping the sheath that carried his wand to his arm.
Nova woke up at that moment before stretching and barking loudly. Harry glanced at the wolf. "Maybe Sirius should have stayed 'cause I have no idea what he's trying to tell me," he commented.
Severus snorted. "The mangy mutt is probably hungry," he said ignoring the growl Nova directed at him for calling him a mangy mutt.
"I think he is. Uh, what do wolves eat?"
"Meat, of course Harry. Don't you know anything?" Draco said snidely.
"There was no need to be mean, Draco," Harry retorted getting to his feet.
"Feed him outside," Severus added as Harry led Nova toward the kitchen and Draco, with a sigh, followed him.
"Nova sure does have a lot of energy," Draco commented watching Nova run back and forth through the forest although he noticed that the wolf was unconsciously staying within the wards.
"He's a wolf. Sirius said that dogs have a lot of energy, especially after they heat," Harry replied.
Draco was silent for a long moment as he observed Nova before he turned his gaze to the boy who had been one of his enemies until recently. Now, Draco wasn't entirely sure as to what they were but it certainly wasn't enemies. He figured that the only reason why he and Harry didn't get along was because he always thought Harry was conceited and thought himself better than him and Harry probably thought the same about Draco. Now that Draco knew his assumptions weren't correct, he wondered if he and Harry could be friends.
Nova barked happily before springing at them and Draco quickly leapt out of the way to avoid getting knocked down by the overenthusiastic wolf and Harry laughed as he was knocked down easily. Draco noticed that Harry was too small to be almost fifteen years old and he figured it was because of his good for nothing relatives.
Speaking of Harry's relatives, Draco wondered if his godfather would get mad if he decided to go with them if Snape decided to take Harry.
"Will you get off me, Nova?" Harry laughed struggling to push the silver-furred wolf off of him.
Nova barked happily before leaping off of Harry and starting to walk around him as if he was circling prey.
Draco smirked. "He seems to like to use you as a pillow," he said. "Although I don't see why considering you're half his size."
"Oh ha, ha, very funny," Harry said rolling his eyes before he gently scratched Nova's ears. "I wonder if Professor Snape will let me take Nova with me."
"I don't think he has decided whether or not to take you with him," Draco replied with a shrug.
"True enough. I guess I can ask him. Well, if he's going to be my guardian then I may as well try to get along with him better."
"The truce seems to be holding though."
"We've come close to breaking it though. I wonder if the truce will hold when Professor Snape becomes my guardian," Harry mused.
Draco shrugged. "Who knows?"
The following day, Draco woke up bright and early and gazed around his room. The evening before, he had organized his room and, while it will never be quite like his old room, he was comfortable with it. He got to his feet before walking over to his dresser and, after he took a shower and changed, he attached his wand to his arm and walked out of the room.
Harry was up, yawning and eating breakfast by the time Draco entered the dining room/kitchen and Snape was sitting at the head of the table reading the Daily Prophet while sipping at a cup of steaming tea.
Harry glanced up. "Good morning, Draco," he greeted the blonde wizard politely.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Good morning, Harry," he replied equally politely as he took a seat at the table and Snape waved a wand, without taking his gaze off of the paper, and a plate of food appeared before him.
Draco started eating although he noticed Harry was pushing the food around on his plate and there was a nervous gleam in his eyes. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. He hadn't meant to make his words sound rude but the way Harry glared at him told him that he had asked the question rather rudely.
Before he could apologize though, apologies never came easy to a Malfoy, Harry looked back at the food on his plate. "Snape, er Professor Snape, said that I could come with him to the Dursleys and, well, I'm nervous," he admitted.
"Why are you nervous?"
"'Cause they'll be mad that I told."
"So? What can they do with…how many people are going with you?"
Harry pursed his lips together in thought. "Professor Lupin, Professor Dumbledore, someone called Tonks, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall," he said. "So five."
"You really think those five will let the Dursleys do anything to you?"
"Well…no I guess not."
"Then why are you suddenly so nervous?"
Harry sighed. "I dunno. I guess, I'm just not used to getting help. The last time I went to a teacher for help, the teacher called my aunt and, well, let's just say I wasn't too…er…comfortable afterwards."
"Well that won't happen this time. Uncle Severus will make sure of that," Draco declared firmly.
"Yeah and if not then I can always go back and set Nova on them."
Draco laughed. "Just tell him to avoid eating your cousin or he will get sick," he said.
Harry, who had been taking a sip of a glass of orange juice, spit it out and laughed. Snape glanced up with a raised eyebrow but Harry and Draco were laughing so hard that they didn't notice.
"And what is so funny?" Snape asked when the two young wizards finally managed to get their laughter under control.
"Sorry, Uncle Severus, we were talking about warning Nova to not eat Harry's cousin," Draco said, which, naturally, caused the two wizards to start chuckling again.
"We are leaving soon, Ha…Potter," Snape said.
Draco noticed his godfather's near slip of the tongue and he could tell by the look in Harry's eyes that he also noticed it. Did Uncle Severus almost call Harry by his first name rather than his last? He wondered silently.
"All right, Professor." Harry went back to eating before wiping the orange juice he had spilled away with his napkin and tossing the napkin away.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just banish the juice?" he asked.
"I thought we weren't allowed to do magic outside of school during summer."
"We can so long as we aren't in front of muggles."
"Technically speaking, you are only supposed to use magic when you really need it," Snape said pointedly folding the paper before placing it on the table.
"That's not what my father said."
Snape, apparently, decided not to reply to that. "Come," he said. "We are leaving now. Draco, make sure the mangy mutt does not destroy the cottage."
Nova, who was lying next to the door that lead into the backyard, growled angrily at that.
"I will, Uncle Severus," Draco replied. Well, hopefully Nova will listen to me and stay in the backyard 'till I get back 'cause I want to see how this will play out, he added silently but didn't dare repeat his thought out loud.
Harry walked beside Snape through Ms. Figg's house, feeling nervousness well up inside of him again and he quickly pushed it down. Like Draco said, he didn't have to feel nervous. Nothing would happen to him while he had three full grown wizards and two full grown witches with him.
Speaking of Draco, Harry found himself wondering if he could call the blonde young wizard a friend. They weren't rivals or enemies anymore, that much was for sure, but Harry couldn't help but wonder if he could call Draco a friend yet. He knew that Ron will probably have a heart attack if Harry tells him that he was on speaking terms with Draco Malfoy. Hermione might understand but Draco did insult her quite a bit by calling her a 'mudblood' while they were at Hogwarts the last four years so she might not forgive him so easily.
Dumbledore walked in front of them with McGonagall at his side while Lupin and Tonks were bringing up the rear of the group. Snape and Harry stayed in the middle of the group as they neared Number 4, all of them were sporting muggle attire to not attract notice.
Dumbledore raised a hand and rang the doorbell. The door opened and Harry watched as the familiar chubby face of his cousin Dudley appeared before them. Widening his eyes, Dudley quickly slammed the door and rushed away yelling that the "freaks were back".
Harry flinched while Snape's eyes flashed.
The door opened again and Petunia glared out of it. "Come in, all of you," she spat. "We don't want the neighborhood to see us."
Snape sneered but otherwise stayed silent as the six wizards walked into the room.
"You brought us back to England and then you threaten to return the brat to our care so what do you want?" Vernon growled angrily.
"Threaten?" Tonks echoed. "He is your nephew."
"We never wanted that unnatural freak," Petunia spat her eyes flashing with hatred.
"I see that your hatred of your sister has passed down to your nephew, didn't it, Tuney?" Snape sneered.
Petunia's eyes flashed to Snape immediately. "Severus," she growled angrily.
Harry was about to ask how Snape knew Petunia until he remembered that Snape knew his mother and so it was likely that he would know his aunt.
"You have not changed a bit, Tuney," Snape said.
"So what do you want?" Vernon demanded.
"Simple, we want the truth out of you."
"Whatever the boy told you, he lied."
"You see? I told you he would say that," Harry whispered to Lupin.
Tonks chuckled softly.
"We know the truth, Dursley," Snape said coolly. "Harry did not lie to us."
Harry felt surprise well up inside, replacing his nervousness. Did Snape just call me by my first name? he thought. He could tell by the surprise in Lupin's and Tonks's eyes as well as that odd twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes that they were surprised as well.
Petunia sneered at him. "The boy is a good for nothing liar and ungrateful little urchin," she sneered.
"We want the truth," Dumbledore said. "And you will tell us everything. We will know if you are lying."
"We will tell you nothing now get out of our house," Vernon spat.
"Sit down," Dumbledore said quietly but with a firm tone that had the Dursleys complying immediately. Dumbledore and Lupin sat down while Tonks hopped into the chair across from where Vernon was sitting and Petunia sat beside him. Dudley was standing near the backdoor as if he was about ready to bolt.
Harry glanced at him while Snape drifted over to stand on the other side of Dumbledore's seat on the couch.
"Now then," Dumbledore said calmly, "you shall tell us the whole truth."
Both Dursleys stubbornly remained silent.
"This is a waste of time, Albus," Snape said coolly. "It would be better if I just used legilimens on them."
"Yes but there is no telling if the Ministry will believe that. It would be better if they spoke of it and we had witnesses to what is being said."
Harry moved to stand beside Dudley causing his cousin to pale and glared angrily at him. "Get away from me, freak," he snapped.
"I am away from you," Harry replied and he was, technically, right. There was about a meter of space between them.
While Snape and the others interrogated the Dursleys, Dudley included, Harry half-heartedly listened to the excuses his aunt and uncle came up with. It wasn't long before Snape started pacing, either deep in thought or trying to refrain from hexing the Dursleys. Lupin was growling angrily, golden eyes flashing with fury, McGonagall looked like she wanted to rip the Dursleys' heads off their shoulders and Tonks's hair was flaring an angry reddish color.
The only wizard in the room that wasn't about ready to hex the Dursleys was Dumbledore.
"Is that all?" he asked calmly.
"Yes," Vernon growled angrily although Harry noticed he left out what happened when Harry's Hogwarts letter arrived when he was eleven.
Snape raised his eyebrows. "You have not told us everything," he said.
The two Dursleys glared at Snape who merely gazed impassively back at them before he went back to pacing.
Slowly, the Dursleys finished their story and, by the time they were done, Lupin had gotten up and was pacing while McGonagall and Tonks looked about ready to team up to rip Vernon and Petunia's heads off their bodies.
Dumbledore was about to reply when Snape suddenly hissed in pain and clasped his forearm, obsidian eyes narrowed with fury and disbelief. "Now?" he hissed speaking to no one. "Of all times, now?"
"Go, Severus, we shall finish things up here," Dumbledore said.
Snape nodded before he dashed past a startled Dudley and apparated away the instant he was out of the house. Harry watched him go wondering why Voldemort was calling Snape so soon after the last time he called him.
"You have done a horrendous crime, Dursley," Dumbledore said returning his blue gaze to the Dursleys. "Now then, since it is obvious you are unfit guardians for Harry considering you abandoned him, you will sign these guardianship papers."
"Who would want to be the guardian of the freak?" Dudley asked.
Harry noticed that a familiar kestrel had flown into the room through the door Snape had left ajar when he left an he wondered if Flight would attack Dudley for that statement. Based on the furious look in the kestrel's gray eyes, Harry had a feeling Flight really wanted to.
"Severus would, actually," Dumbledore said.
Petunia sneered at the mention of Snape's name before she grabbed the papers and signed them before handing them to Vernon who was more than happy to sign them. "It was because of Severus that my sister grew up to be a freak and get herself blown up by another freak," she spat angrily.
At that very moment, a ghostly silver doe appeared in the center of the house. "Get the Dursleys and get out!" was the short message the doe spoke in Snape's voice before the Patronus was gone.
Dumbledore swore and leapt to his feet. "Remus, take Harry to Grimmauld's Place for the time being. Tonks, you, Minerva and I will take the Dursleys. Quickly."
"I am not going anywhere until I know what the bloody hell is going on," Vernon growled.
An explosion sounded outside.
Harry let out a cry of pain and grabbed his scar while Lupin quickly ran to his side. Dumbledore glanced at him in concern as another explosion sounded and Harry's scream grew louder.
"Get him out of here, Remus," he said firmly.
Lupin nodded before grabbing Harry's arm, turning on the spot and disapparating with a sharp crack that distilled the air.
"Wait, what about the others?" Harry protested as they reappeared just beyond the wards of Grimmauld's Place. His thoughts drifted to Flight and he hoped the kestrel had thought to leave the instant the Death Eaters and Voldemort arrived.
"They will be fine, Harry," Lupin said leading the way into the apartment building before calling, "Sirius!"
A moment later, Sirius appeared and immediately ran to Harry's side. "Are you all right? What happened?" he asked.
"We went to the Dursleys," Harry said. "They signed away custody of me and Snape's my guardian now."
That, in itself, caused Sirius to narrow his eyes.
"But then the Death Eaters arrived and Voldemort was with them," Harry finished.
Sirius's eyes filled with concern. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you something to eat and drink."
Harry nodded before he and Lupin followed Sirius up the steps and deeper into Grimmauld's Place.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: and that was chapter 10
Darth: that's cool
Blaze: yup it is
Darth: so what's going to happen in the last chapter?
Blaze: (purses lips together in thought) the aftermath of the failed attack on Number 4 Privet Drive, Sirius's reaction to Severus being Harry's guardian, Lucius giving custody of Draco to Draco's godfather and more shall happen in the very last chapter of this story. So please review and I shall post the last chapter as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it'll be anytime soo