Double digits! Chapter ten! WOO! Even if you don't share my happiness at this, BE HAPPY FOR ME. Or at least pretend to be. :D Haven't done Harry point of view in awhile….I'll be honest, I was avoiding it. Annnnnd here we go!
Harry POV
"Where is Sev'rus going?" I asked Willow, frowning as my tall dark man left the room in a whoosh of his robes.
"He probably going to talk to Master Dumbelydore he is, Master Harry." The house elf answered, smiling at me. I couldn't help by smile back. Willow was a funny lookin creature, but I still liked her.
"But why? He said we were going to play today…"my heart dropped back into my stomach. Willow tilted her head to the side, concerned.
"Master Harry, Master Severus working hard. Sees, Dumbelydore is a bads man!" the elf whispered to me. I leaned forward and her big ears wiggled as she did the same. "He be sending Master Severus on deadly tasks that are most almost impossibles, and he be the one sending poor Master Harry to his bad bad relatives."
"Why does he do that?" I asked. This Dumbelydore sounded like someone I didn't wanna meet.
"Willow doesn't know Master Harry. Willow just knows that Master Severus has been suffering at the hands of both Master Dumbelydore and the Dark Lord for years. Now that the Dark Lord is being gone, only Master Dumbelydore hurts Master Severus." She said, her huge blue eyes shifting side to side before she continued. "Willow has listened to Master Severus talking to Master Malfoy at nights when Master Harry is in bed asleepy. They be worried that Master Dumbelydore will take you away if he finds out you be here before they is ready for him to."
"No!" I cried out, looking at Willow is horror. They couldn't take me away from Sev'rus!
"You need not be worryings Master Harry." Willow said, patting my arm comfortingly. "Master Severus and Willow is not letting them be taking you anywhere. Neither would Master Malfoy or Master Wolf. Master Harry is being safe here."
The elf moved away from me, coming back with more of those oddly shaped colored blocks.
"What should we be buildings, Master Harry?" she asked, dumping them on the floor inbetween us and sitting across from me. I bit my lip.
"We could…build Dumbleydores house and then knock it down?" I suggested. Willow beamed.
"That be sounding like a great idea young Master Harry."
Severus POV
Stalking down the street, I glared at the houses that were carbon copies of each other. Wasting my time looking for a child who was at home happily playing with my house elf was not something I enjoyed. Especially when I had promised him that I would spend time with Willow and himself not that very morning.
Growling under my breath I glanced down at my watch. Fifteen minutes until my 'Search for Potter' shift was over. My eyes moving back up to scan Little Whinging for any sign of the 'missing' child, I attempted to ignore the impatience pulling at my conscious.
Would anyone really notice if I just left Surry early? I mean, it's not as if I was being monitored.
Sick of wandering around aimlessly pretending to search for my own ward, I appaerated back to the cottage. If anyone asked why I had left fifteen minutes early, I would say a potion I had on a status spell exploded and my wards alerted me.
Striding out of my study, a smiled tugged at my lips as Harry squealed and jumped up, running to my legs and hugging them tightly.
"Hello Harry. Did you enjoy your time with Willow?" I asked when the boy released me, moving to my chair and placing my current potions book on my lap as he sat back down with Willow and his blocks.
"Yeah! We build Dumbelydore's house, and then we knockeded it down!" the tiny child exclaimed, emerald eyes shining with joy.
"Knocked it down Harry, not knockeded." I corrected him, smirking. I really should tell him not to do such things…but if knocking down 'Dumbleydores' house made him this happy, who was I to deny him that?
"Sev'rus, where do you keep going all the time?" Harry asked me, frowning.
"Dumbledore is having us all look for you, as you are still…missing." I told him, crossing my legs and opening my book on my knee.
"But I right here! So why can't you stay?" Harry asking, giving me that heartbreaking look that only children can manage.
"No one else except for Lucius and Remus know that you are currently residing with me Harry." I said softly. Willow wrung her hands, frowning at both of us. "Everyone thinks that you are dead somewhere near your relatives house, so Dumbledore has all of us looking for you."
"Why doesn't he just do it himself?" asked Harry, face scrunching up in confusion.
"If only the members of the order were as smart as you Harry." I chuckled, ruffling his hair slightly. The child sighed, obviously not understand what I had said, and turned back to Willow and the blocks.
"Willow, let's build…um…Sev'rus, what should we build?" both looked at me with ridclously big eyes, waiting for my input.
"The batcave." I deadpanned, hardly glancing up from my book. Harry looked ecstatic and Willow looked intrigued as Harry began to rapidly explain to her what the batcave apparently looked like. Smirking, I turned my attention back to my book, knowing this would keep them occupied for quite some time.
"Master Severus, the floo be going off." I looked up as Willow informed me of this. Listening closely, I indeed heard the buzzing that normally informed me of a floo call.
"If its Albus, I am not answering that, no matter how long the bloody thing goes off." I muttered, carefully maneuvering myself around Willow and Harry's half finished batcave creation. "Harry, don't move, and don't be loud. If I'm needed, Willow, come get me, and blame it on some potions problem in my lab, understood?"
"Yes Sev'rus…"
"Of course Master Severus."
Satisfied with that, I gave a sharp nod and made my way into my study, looking at the picture frame that told me exactly who it was that was deciding to bother me. When my eyes landed on it, I blinked, unfamiliar with the same written there…being there at all.
Why was Arthur Weasley floo calling me?
Curious, I pointed my wand at the fire place, allowing him through. The red headed man's head appeared in my fire. He looked a bit nervous as he looked around my study in interest, then seemed to remember why he was calling when his eyes landed on me.
"Severus! You answered!" he exclaimed. I felt slightly guilty that he had simply expected me not to, but smothered the feeling, quirking my eyebrow at the man in my fire place.
"Yes, now what do you require of me Arthur?" I asked, forcing myself to be polite and not horribly rude as I wished to be so I could speed this us and get back to my new family of sorts in my sitting room.
"Molly and I…well…Albus isn't doing enough to find Harry. He just has us wandering around Surrey, and it's become rather pointless. We've been over the area countless times, what are we going to find that we haven't already found? So Molly and I are going to search for Harry on our own. We figured that, as he is your ward, we should see if you would like to join us."
If this didn't make me feel horrible about hiding Harry from the Weasleys, I wouldn't be able to say with confidence that I had a soul. They genuinely cared for Harry, unlike the rest of the order, and were doing everything in their power to find and help the child.
"Arthur, excuse me for just one moment." I murmured, striding out into the hall once the head of the Weasley family nodded.
Pacing, I once more found myself making a pros con list in my head. It felt wrong to keep the Weasleys in the dark any longer; as they had expressed their support for my guardianship and their frantic searching for the boy proved that they wanted nothing more than to help him.
Gritting my teeth together, I walked back into the sitting room.
"Harry, would you like to meet some friends of Remus and mine? They are very amiable people who would like very much to speak to you." I can't believe I was getting the abused six year old to make this decision for me.
The child faltered, looking up at me questioningly.
"They friends with you? Are they nice, like Remoose?" internally I snorted at the mispronunciation of Remus's name, and eternally nodded with a serious expression.
"Molly and Arthur Weasley are their names. They have a son your age Harry, as well as a younger daughter, and five older sons." I told him, thinking maybe if he knew how many children the family had he might warm up to the parents more. It worked, and Harry looked a bit more relaxed and interested.
"Ok Sev'rus." He said quietly. "You be there da whole time, right?"
"Of course child." I said, offering a hand to pull him up. A trusting look on his face, Harry accepted my hand and allowed me to pull him to his feet, steadying him with my other hand.
I led him to my study door, then stopped him.
"Wait out here until I come to fetch you, alright Harry?" he nodded, and I walked back into my study. "Arthur, could you and Molly come through?"
Arthur looked at me, completely shocked by my out of character attitude.
"Um…yeah, yes, of course Severus, I'll just…I'll just go fetch Molly then…" he stuttered, giving me an odd look before vanishing. Seconds later the floo flared and Arthur stepped through, closely followed Molly. The latte looked around my study, having never seen it even in its original location.
"Why did you ask us to come through Severus?" she asked once she had given the room a onceover.
"I…" there is nothing I hate more than being at a loss for words. "There is something I need to tell the both of you. I feel that you have…earned…the right to know." I said slowly. Both Weasleys looked at me in confusion.
"Severus, what are you getting at here? What do you want to tell us?" Arthur asked.
"The day after we asked Albus if he was checking up on Harry, I went to the Dursleys." I revealed.
"Oh no. Was he…was he gone then to?" asked Molly, looking very upset.
"No. He…he was there." I said, angry with myself for being so weak. Why couldn't I just spit it out? It was the Weasleys, why would I care what they think? "Harry was locked in a cupboard under the stairs. He didn't know his own name, and was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. His clothes were rags, and he was-is- so thin that he is not unlike a skeleton with skin stretched over it. I couldn't leave him there; it would have been inhumanly cruel."
"Are you telling us that you have Harry Potter here already?" Arthur asked, looking at me in shock. Holding back a sigh, I nodded, and strode back towards the door, opening it slightly and sticking my head out.
Harry looked up at me, his head tilted to the side in confusion. I offered him my hand, and he took it, beaming.
When I led him into the room, both Molly and Arthur gasped. With a small 'eep' Harry hid behind my legs, looking up as the two new adults from safely behind my long robes, hiding most of his body.
"Molly, Arthur, I would like you to meet Harry Potter. Harry, this is Arthur Weasley, and his wife Molly Weasley." I introduced lamely, wishing I had somehow gone about this in a better fashion.
"He looks barely four, not nearly seven!" Molly said, looking at me with a horrified expression. Arthur said nothing, instead just studying the boy with a sad expression.
Apparently meeting these new people qualified standing behind me as not enough protection, as Harry yanked on my robes and then lifted his arms, a hopeful and fearful expression on his face. Knowing if I refused it would set us back once more, I obliged, lifted the small boy into my arms. His own arms latched around my neck, and he looked at the Weasleys curiously from his new perch on my hip, clinging to me with all of him strength as if scare I might want to put him back down.
"Hi." He said so softly I was almost surprise that Molly and Arthur heard him. Molly beamed and bustled over, ignoring how Harry leaned away, although she did stop about five feet away, which I had never known Molly Weasley to do.
"Hello sweetheart." She said in the motherly tone I had only ever heard Molly Weasley manage without the sickly sweet half of the tone. "I have a son your age you know. His name is Ronald."
"That's cool Ma'am." Harry said, looking from me to her unsurely. Molly just smiled.
"He's not nearly as polite as you though, sadly." She said a slight teasing tone to her voice. Harry giggled, then slapped his hands over his mouth.
"I think that you would like my twin boys more than little Ronnie though, you seem like you like to laugh. The twins are ten, off to Hogwarts next year. Silly little pranksters would have given Severus a good laugh during the numerous detentions they will be sure to get…" she mused, ignoring his reaction to his giggle.
"Why will they get detention?" asked Harry. I, on the other hand, was very impressed with Molly's ability to get him to talk to her. It has taken Remus more than a few hours to get Harry to say a full sentence.
"Extreme pranksters those two." She said fondly, shaking her head. "My bet is that they will get to the point where every prank in the school is blamed on them, whether they did it or not. Chances are they'll only deny it if they don't like the prank."
Molly spent the next half hour telling Harry about all of her children, with Arthur adding things here and there. The conversation ended abruptly when my floo flared up.
"Severus, are you-" Lucius froze as he spotted the two Weasleys, who both stiffened. "Oh for the love of Merlin. First the werewolf and now the Weasleys?" the blonde complained. Arthur opened his mouth, but my old friend cut him off as he turned to Harry. "You young man, are lucky that you are so cute, otherwise I don't know that I could put up with this!"
"I'm not cute!" Harry exclaimed, looking affronted.
"Why, sure you are!" Lucius said good naturedly, grinning at the pouting child in my arms.
"Nuh uh!" argued Harry, folding his arms.
"Very well young sir, I will take your word for it. But if you're not cute, then why am I here?" Lucius folded his arms, mimicking Harry. The raven haired boys' eyebrow quirked in the exact fashion mine did, almost making me choke. He was already picking up my mannerisms?
"Cause you're best friends with Sev'rus and you like me?" Harry said, sounding a little less sure of himself at the last part. Lucius sighed dramatically.
"I suppose you're correct Mr. Potter." He said. "My wife is quite upset she hasn't met you yet though, so it may not be safe for me to return home quite yet."
"Still?" I asked, amused.
"I love her, but that woman will be the death of me, I am positive Severus." The blonde said seriously. "Actually tried to follow me here…apparently, it's the couch for me tonight." Harry giggled into his hand at Lucius's pained look. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered something, feeling the front of his robes. "Where in merlins name did I put it…" he muttered to himself. I rolled my eyes at my hyper seeming friend, who was very successful at making my ward laugh with his ridiculous antics.
The Weasleys, having never seen Lucius Malfoy like this, or anything other than cold and hostile, stared at the man with eyes the size of saucers.
"What you looking for Lu'ci'us?" Harry asked, still struggling with the mans name.
"Narcissa gave me something to give you, if I could just remember where I put it…I was dodging a tracing hex while leaving you see…" he mumbled, still searching his pockets. "Ah-ha! Found it!"
Pulling out a black stuffed animal, Lucius presented it to Harry, giving me a smug look. When I saw what it was, my eyes narrowed, and I began to mentally list exactly what curses I was going to use on my friend once Harry was out of the room.
In Lucius's hand was a stuff animal panther…with bat-like wings.
Harry looked at it in awe, and hesitantly reached out for it, before snatching his hand back. I hated Lucius even more for making me have to reassure Harry he could have the stuffed animal I already hated.
"It's alright Harry, it's for you." I said, urging him to take the horrific beast. Slowly, the boy reached out and took it, before snatching it close to his chest and holding it tightly.
"Why does it have wings?" I heard Molly quietly ask her husband, who shrugged.
"Really Lucius?" I said drily when my ward was obviously distracted with the toy. "You got a custom made stuffed animal for him, and you got him THAT?"
"Cissa and I figured it would make him feel the safest." Lucius said innocently, trying to hide his smirk and failing miserably to do so.
"What are you really here for Lucius?" I nearly growled.
"I wanted to ask if you were ready to announce that you have Harry." Lucius informed me, switching to serious like there was a switch in his brain.
My brain moved to my mental to-do list. I had got the public to doubt Dumbledore, and to acknowledge the fact that I wasn't so bad...I had people on my side of things…Harry was a lot more calm around people now, he was doing a bit better. My wards were sufficient; all I had left to do was give Remus and Molly my floo password…
"Yes." I said, meeting Lucius's gaze. "We are ready."
Alright then, author note time! A lot of you had some good comments about Severus having a relationship, but not yet. I agree 100%, having him dating someone now would not be good, it would take away from the rest of the story. I meant later in the story, so I can start foreshadowing about it and all that jazz English teachers rant about. :D
Other things in my reviews- a lot of people want Severus to stay single, and a lot of people want him with Remus. I haven't decided yet, but I don't have to for awhile, Sev has too much going on without a relationship, he hasn't the time for such nonsense. :D Also, I do like Lucius, blondie is a term of love with me, you can ask my cousin, that's what I call him…it just entertains me. :-)