Chapter 10

Saturday morning saw the Malfoys and Harry headed into Hogsmade to upgrade Harry's 'despicable wardrobe'. Harry, who had never gone clothes shopping except for robes from Madam Malkins readily agreed to his mates father purchasing 'what was needed', on the proviso that he paid him back next time they went to Gringotts.

Four hours, and massive amounts of cloth, later Harry was bitterly regretting ever agreeing to anything…he was sick of being a dress up doll, he wanted to move. Now.

"And you'll need cloak, to go with the formal ensemble, of course…" Lucius turned to the clothier,

"No!" snapped out Harry.

"I beg your pardon?" He raised an elegant blond eyebrow, and Draco, whose head had been buried in colour swaths, came up behind Harry,

"What's wrong?" he rubbed strong hands up and down Harry's tense arms

"I have a cloak…You've ordered at least three more… I don't need another…"

"Harry…"

"No!"

"Alright," said Lucius, "I guess we're done here."

"Yes, finally," Harry jumped down. It was the work of moments (and a couple spells) to have the pre-made items bagged and for Lucius to pay. Harry grabbed his share of the shrunken bags and took of towards the door.

"Race you back!" he called over his shoulder, and, with a wicked grin at his shocked mate, began to run.

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Harry burst through the door, miles in front of Draco. He came to a screeching stop as he observed the potions master fast asleep on the couch. Placing the bags by the door, he walked closer to investigate.

He caught a whiff of something sweet on the air and drew a deeper breath. It was coming from the half full goblet in front of Severus. Picking it up to investigate, he once again couldn't help the tongue that darted forward to lap at the liquid.

The taste exploded on his tongue and he melted to the floor in front of the couch, purring loudly. It was almost as good as milk.

His eyes popped open at the sudden idea. He could add milk. Harry's eyes found his mate…who was eyeing him with shock.

"Draco? What's wrong?" Draco sat on the couch above him as he went back to lapping at the sweet liquid until he couldn't get his tongue far enough into the goblet to get more. He didn't even think to tilt it. Seeing his dilemma, Draco removed the goblet from his hands. He sniffed the liquid and pulled a face.

"Draco?" Harry looked up over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Sev's blood."

"WHAT!" Harry screeched, jumping to his feet. Snape awoke with a snort. He blinked at the two boys, before turning to his godson.

"What are you doing with my goblet?"

"Harry was drinking it."

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, sir," Harry blushed bright red. "It tasted nice…not like the milk though."

"That's quite alright, P-Harry," Snape said, obviously trying to be nice. "But I think you definitely need to take the blood trait potion, and soon." (Beta's Note: And the understatement of the century goes to...) He stood up in a billow of robes. "Coincidentally, I have just brewed a fresh batch," he said, sarcasm lacing his voice. "Come down to my office once your father returns."

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The original blood trait potion, as invented by Rowena Ravenclaw, actually did very little, merely classing a person as muggle or magical. It was improved upon by Salazar Slytherin's grandson in an attempt to make a potion that showed how magical a person was. For its purpose it was a failure. What it did however was project a misty grey circle above the cauldron, filled with a white light. It was latter shown that the amount of white light showed exactly how much 'being' blood a person had flowing through their veins. Thus, the four people surrounding the cauldron could do little more than blink as the grey circle filled rapidly with white light.

"100%," Draco breathed. "That's…unexpected." He sat closer to his shell-shocked mate. Snape added the next potion to the mix and two glowing globes separated, one a blood red and the larger the same jade green as Harry's eyes.

"A 65-35 split, I do believe," said Snape. "The red is Vampyre, obviously, and the green is…" Harry leaned forward to catch the name of his other being, but he merely trailed off, staring into space.

"Merlin!" exclaimed Lucius in shock, "This'll turn have everyone in a mess."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Evan's wasn't muggle born…it's impossible," Harry starred in shock at the elder Malfoy,

"Father's right Harry, she'd have to have some magical being blood for you to be blooded…"

"Oh!"

"She was a red head yes?" Harry nodded in reply, "Was she good at any one subject, Herbology perhaps?"

"Charms, my mum was best at charms."

"Hmm…I don't know…well she obviously wasn't a Vampyre…"

"So, James Potter" interjected Draco, "was a Vampyre and Lily –"

"James Potter wasn't a Vampyre." Snape interrupted harshly, his hand ghosted over the green blob. "I am."

"What?"

"James was my mate." His other hand cupped at the red blob. "He left me, right after mating season. Next thing I knew he was with Lily Evans. Nine months later you were born." He looked Harry in the eye. "Nine months after the wedding. Eleven months after mating season." His onyx eyes stared hard at the red blob. "You're part Vampyre," he looked to Harry again. "You're mine." A single tear rolled down his cheek. Harry fell to the floor.

"Y-your-rs?"

"Mine. My son." He grabbed Harry into a rough embrace. "I don't know why I can't smell it."

Harry froze. He was being hugged by his professor. His professor who hated him. His father. Harry's arms wrapped around Snape of there own accord.

After a few minutes they pulled apart and Harry returned to his seat. Draco squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I think you need to start from the beginning."

Snape nodded and sat back down on the floor. After a deep breath, he began.

"It was during a potions class in sixth year. The potion called for human tears. James and Black were stuffing around and they dropped the bottle of tears, the professor cast the lacrima charm on James to refill the supply. The smell was intoxicating, so I tasted it. When a Vampyre finds its mate it's like coming alive, every sense focuses on them. I couldn't smell anything but his scent, and all I could hear was his heart beating like a drum, ma-te, ma-te, ma-te over and over again.

"I confronted them after class, in the corridor…just me, James and Black. They laughed, hard, and Black began to tease. I snapped, grabbed James, pushed his back to the wall and kissed him, hard. After that, there was no denying I was his mate.

"We had to hide though. There was a war going on, we were on opposite sides. I was already marked; the Potters were high on the Dark Lords kill list, so we dated in secret. Only Black knew, no one else.

"After Hogwarts, I convinced the Dark Lord that I needed peace to complete my mastery in potions. We bought a pair of flats on Morgan Way, side by side, and replaced the connecting wall with an illusion. If you knew we lived together you could see what really was—one large flat—otherwise it was two flats.

"Everything went well, we were happy, and then – mating season. I still do not know what happened.

"Vampyres...Vampyres are fertile only once every two years, for a period of thirty six hours. After that a Vampyre turns to – well – stone and hibernates for a day.

"When I woke up, your father was gone; all his stuff had been taken, no indication of where or why he went. It was a month before anyone heard about him again. It was during that month that Black and I truly began to hate each other. Your father had not contacted him and he was convinced I had done something to James. He visited daily to blame and accuse – and help me find James.

"I once again became an active Death Eater, fearful that the Dark Lord would find him first, and Black, an Auror, did not arrest me, though he had proof – for James' sake. It was Black who first found him again…he left me a note.

"'October 2nd 1979 – James Charlus Potter graduated third from Auror academy.'

"That was all it said. You have to understand, James didn't want to be an Auror. Black was the Auror, Lupin was saving up to go to law school, become a barrister. And James, James was studying magical medicine – he was going to be a healer. He used to joke that between the three of them they had everything covered. 'Sirius'll catch the crooks, Moony'll put them away, and I'll clean up after' – that's what he'd always say.

"Not three days later there was an announcement in the Daily Prophet as to the up-coming nuptials of James Potter and Lily Evans. They were married on the fifteenth of October and nine months later you were born Harry James Potter. I hated you for that…the fact that you were a Potter—something you should never have been. You should have been Harold James Snape…that's what we were going to call our firstborn boy, Harold Potter was your grandfather… he and your grandmother had died just before our graduation. James wanted to remember them in your name…according to the tradition."

"Tradition?" asked Harry, interrupting for the first time, trying to stave away the shock.

"Pureblood naming traditions for when there are two fathers," answered Lucius, "middle name is the first name of the primary father – the birthing father—and last name is the same as the dominant father."

"Oh."

"Between a witch and a wizard, the first name is agreed upon, the middle name is solely at the discretion of the mother, and the last name is the same as the fathers."

"Right…Sooooo…You just went on ignoring them and hating me?"

"I tried – ignoring James I mean…hating the issue of Lily Evans was easy…especially one who bore the name Potter. I couldn't. I dreamed of him every night. I relived our every moment together. I tried to figure out how… how he could leave me, how he could marry Lily…how he could lie and claim to have dated her in school.

"But life went on, and so did the war…and I played my part like a good little Death Eater, though it made me sick. But I stayed…there was nowhere else to go, and no real reason to leave. Until I overheard details of a plan to attack the Potters – that was when I turned spy for Dumbledore. I could not allow harm to come to my mate. You were just over four months old. Less than a year later and I'd failed; sure Voldemort was gone, but so was my mate. I thought I had nothing left." He reached a hand up, cupping Harry's cheek. "But I was wrong. You're my son."

"What form of being was James Potter, Sev? What is my mate?"

"He…he was..." He closed his eyes and placed his head in his hands. "Not now Draco."

"But…"

"Severus is right, my dragon, tonight has already been too long. We will address this in the morning." The last said to Snape, who nodded absently. The three got up and began to head from the room.

"Harry…I'm going to register this at the ministry. You're my son; you'll no longer have to live with those muggles."

"I – thank you."

"The registry building is attached to the ministry. While I'm there…I mean…would you do me the honour of taking my last name? It is yours to use."

"I don't want to lose my last name."

"Perhaps Potter-Snape? If you would like."

"I'd like that."

"Severus," called Lucius once the boys were in the hall. "I've already filed for custody of Harry on the grounds that he is Draco's submissive mate."

"And I'll not contest that. I just wish him to have my name, as he should have."

"Good. You know I'll never lock you out of his life."

"I know Lucius, I trust you. Now, go. Look after him, this has been a big a shock to him as to me, I'm sure."

Lucius gave a sharp nod and left the man on the floor to his contemplation.