Ooooooooh, hows the world gonna take it? Severus Snape, guardian of the boy who lived, rescuer of the boy who lived…DUN DUN DUN. :P I enjoy being me….
No POV
Boy Who Lived, Safe in the Arms of Ex-Death Eater
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has been missing, as all of you know. Today, Severus Snape has come forward, and revealed that his Godson is in fact safe; in his manor.
Turns out that a day before Albus Dumbledore sent his scout to the residence of Harry Potter's relatives (on Severus Snapes request) Professor Snape decided to go and check on his godson himself. When he found Harry, covered in bruises and cuts and malnourished living under a staircase, he took him out of the muggles care and brought him back to his own manor. Knowing that people swarming the house because they did not approve of him as the Boy Who Lived's guardian, he kept it a secret. He turned in leave for four years from Hogwarts, obviously to take the time to focus on his new ward before Mr. Potter starts school.
"Severus is perfect for this; he will be good for Harry." Molly Weasley tells the Daily Prophet. Ministry worker Lucius Malfoy said…
Severus POV
My floo bell was ringing like crazy, Albus's name flashing almost angrily up at me. I smirked, flicking my wand to block any calls from Albus and anyone else who didn't have the floo password. With the large article that was front page of the Prophet, I no longer felt then need to respond to Albus at all. Chances were he aimed only to take Harry from me, to convince me of what a terrible guardian I was going to be; which was unacceptable.
"Sev'rus!" my legs were tackled by the small six year old child as I walked back into the sitting room. I ceased walking to stop the boy from taking both of us down.
"Hello Harry." I greeted, my heart feeling elated at the sparkling, practically glowing green eyes that looked up at me. So different from the haunted fearful eyes I have become use to in the past month and a half.
"No more meetings?" he asked, looking hopeful as I took his hand and led him back over to the couches of the sitting room.
"No more meetings." I agreed, smirking. "For now, it is just you, me, and those dunderheads we made the mistake of giving our floo password to."
"You're silly." Harry informed me as he picked up his winged panther, who had been dibbed 'Batcat'. I had forgotten just how uncreative six year olds were when it came to naming pets and toys. At least he hadn't chosen something far more ridiculous, like 'Batty'.
"I am no such thing." I sniffed. Harry only grinned, and I suppressed a smile. My actions that had students running for any sort of cover available had no effect what-so-ever on Harry.
"Can we go 'side today Sev?" asked Harry, clutching Batcat and nuzzling the toys neck while looking up at me.
"What would you like to do outside?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. When Harry mimicked my expression almost precisely, I mentally winced. Perhaps I should stop doing that while the child is still so impressionable.
"I dunno. Can we?"
"Say 'I don't know' Harry. Don't slur your words; you are not an uneducated hooligan are you?" I corrected instantly. Harry pouted, and I sneered at the window.
"Very well, we will go outside." I decided, grabbing my book from the coffee table, resigning to my fate. Harry let out a loud cheer and began to run in circles around me as I led the way to the front door. As happy as I was that Harry was not half as timid around me as he was everyone else, sometimes I did wish he did not maintain such a high level of energy. "Don't see why you want to go outside…" I muttered under my breath as Harry darted out into the courtyard.
Settling down in a chair carefully placed in the shade, I opened my book while watching Harry out of the corner of my eye. The child was perfectly happy entertaining himself, and I had a suspicion that it derived from spending so much time alone for the first six, nearly seven years of his life.
A smirk graced my features and my eyes stopped following the script on the pages of my book as my mind wander elsewhere.
I had still not decided what I was going to do about the Dursleys. Curse them, yes, but I had to think of something perfect, something painful, something horrible…something with absolutely no evidence.
First things first, I needed to find someone to leave Harry with that was not Willow while I went to do with. He needed to get use to being around more than just a snarky potions master and a house elf with an attitude. He loved Lucius, and if he had no abusive past with an Uncle he would most likely refer to Lucius as such. Narcissa and Draco he had yet to meet though, as I was unsure of how my Godson would react to my son. Would he be civil, or would he cruel, as many pureblooded children can be? I was rather hesitant to find out.
As much as I trusted both Molly and Arthur, leaving Harry with them was out of the question. With seven other children, they couldn't be an adequate eye on Harry, and who knows what would happen will all of those brats.
Remus of course, had left town once more, and although he flooed over once a week to talk to Harry, he was a very busy werewolf, working on his kinds rights within the Wizarding society in Norway, were restrictions were beginning to lessen.
My best bet would be the Malfoy's, after I had them over to monitor how Draco acted with Harry of course…
"Sev'rus!" I looked up, to see Harry trying to frantically wave me over. Standing, I placed my book on my chair, and then strode over to where my charge was, the raven haired nearly bouncing in excitement.
"What is it?' I inquired when I reached him.
"Well, I was thinking, how nice and stuff it would be to be Batcat and run around all over super fast. And then I was thinking about how I wish I could ride Batcat, and then I was thinking-"
"Absolutely not." I cut in, knowing exactly what he was going to ask.
"But…I didn't even ask yet." Harry looked at me, frowning.
"You were about to inquire if I would transform into my animagius self and allow you to ride around on my back." I said flatly. Harry looked up at me sheepishly and nodded. "My answer remains absolutely not."
Harry pouted for a second before brightening up and tearing off again, leaving me to shake my head and wonder what in Merlin's name I was in for.
"When are they going to be here?"
"Soon Harry."
"What if they don't like me?" Internally banging my head on a wall, I turned to Harry, who had been following me around wringing his hands and babbling insecurities for the past two hours; the reason being that I had told him not only was Lucius coming to dinner, but Narcissa and Draco as well. At first he was excited…then worry over took him.
Getting down on one knee so I could look Harry in the eyes directly, I took hold of his shoulders.
"Little one, listen to me. They will like you. Draco is not Dudley, he will not play Harry Hunting," what the bloody hell kind of game was that anyway? How did no muggles spot the abuse? All their children played Harry Hunting! "Narcissa is not your aunt, she is a very nice woman, she's a little like Molly."
When I compared Narcissa to Molly, which I hope Harry never repeated as Narcissa would hex me, the child seemed to relax, as he did when I used the nickname I had given him the day I took him from the cupboard.
"But Draco won't like me." Harry told me sadly. "Other kids never like me."
"Was that not because your cousin frightened them away?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. The child nodded. "Well, there is no Dudley to scare Draco away, although I'm not sure he could if he tried." Harry's say snapped up from where he had been studying his shoes to look at me in confusion.
"Draco is bigger than Dudley?" he exclaimed, looking shocked.
"Merlin no Harry!" I exclaimed. "Draco is just very stubborn, very stubborn indeed. Little one, I don't think anyone at the age of six can be bigger than your disgusting cousin and still manage to be alive with a functioning body."
"What?" Harry asked, tilting his head to one side. I smirked. He was spending far too much time with Willow and I, he had adopted a few of my facial expressions and her habit of tilting their head to the side when unsure of something.
"Harry, your cousin is the size of a young whale, which is not normal for even adults." I said, smirking. Finally, a smile broke over the boys face.
"It makes him look funny." He said quietly, still unsure if he should be insulting his cousin. I snorted and scooped the child up into my arms.
"Funny? I find it quite frightening. The poor floor, what did it ever do to deserve being walked on by Dudley Dursley?" When Harry relaxed in my arms, I congratulated myself. I was getting better at lifting the mood of the child.
"Maybe it tripped somebody important?" Harry suggested as I carried him off to the kitchen.
"A floor that tripped Merlin himself would not deserve such a horrendous fate!"
"Hor-end-dis? That's a funny word…what's it mean?"
Harry stiffened as the floo in the sitting room activated. Nervously he hid behind me, one hand clutching mine for dear life and the other fisted in my robes.
Lucius came out first, stepping out gracefully, followed by Narcissa, and then Draco, who managed to accomplish using the floo just and regally as his parents.
"Hello Harry." Lucius greeted, grinning at the boy who was still hiding behind me.
"Hi…" Harry said timidly, looking from Narcissa to Draco and back again before shrinking farther behind me. I bit back a sigh, hoping that the entire night would not be like this.
"Why is he hiding behind Uncle Severus like that Mother?" I heard Draco ask, attempting to be quiet.
"Because he's scared Dragon." Narcissa answered. Harry watched their conversation with narrowed eyes, while Lucius and I shared a look before turning our gaze back to Narcissa, who unlike her son knew we could hear them perfectly well.
"Of what?" Draco looked completely bewildered.
"Of us."
"What?" Draco, ignoring his mother's sound of protest, walked over to me and peered around me to look at Harry, who tried to hide himself in my robes. The blonde boy observed the raven haired boy hiding behind me with a calculating expression. "Your tiny." He said conclusively. "Are you sure your nearly seven? I just turned seven, and I'm lot taller then you."
"I assure you Draco, Harry is nearly seven." I said when it became clear Harry wasn't going to respond himself.
"Oh." Draco stepped closer, frowning when Harry pressed himself even further into the back of my legs. I locked my knees to keep from falling over, wondering if I should just pick Harry up and place him in front of me. He would have to get use to some people other than the Weasleys and Remus. I had expected him not to be receptive, but he seemed excited enough for them to come, I thought he would at least talk with them, even if he was hiding behind me while doing so.
"Harry…" Lucius was ignored, as Harry's eyes were glued on his approaching son. Draco got close enough to touch Harry, then stuck out his hand, looking confused at Harry's violent flinch.
"I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy." He introduced himself politely, waiting patiently for Harry to do the same and shake his hand.
Harry stared at him with wide eyes that went from his face to his hand and back again. Then, slowly, he released his grip on my robes, tightening his hold on my hand. With his now free hand, he shakily reached out for Draco's hand, flinching but not pulling back when the young Malfoy grasped his hand.
"Harry…Harry Potter…" he whispered. Draco heard him, and smiled. Harry looked shocked, then tentatively smiled back.
"What are you scared of Harry?" Draco asked Harry, who looked embarrassed.
"My…my cousin…"Harry said slowly, looking at Draco as if he expected him to suddenly glare at him and call him names. Which, sadly, knowing Harry, he did. The very thought made me furious, and I had to thrust it from my mind, knowing if I looked angry Harry would assume I was upset with him, and that could lead to another episode.
"Is he here?" Asked Draco, looking around to see if anyone was going to pop out. When he didn't see anyone, he looked back to Harry.
"No." Harry said nearly inaudibly.
"What's his name?" Draco demanded.
"Dudley." Harry said his cousins' name with wide eyes, like he was waiting for Draco to recognize it and leave him. My stomach twisted. How many times had that exact thing happened to my youngest godson?
"That's a stupid name." Draco scoffed. Harry stared at him, confused. "Who in Merlin's name calls their kid 'Dudley'? It sounds ridiculous. They are muggles aren't they? No self respecting wizard would have a name like that." Harry moved a little bit away from the safety of my legs.
"He's a…muggle." Harry still felt odd using that word, and screwed up his face when he said it. "You aren't scared?"
"Scared?" Draco looked offended. "Of a muggle? Why would I be scared of a muggle? I can just hex him, show him who is boss." The blonde looked quite smug about this.
"He's huge." Harry said quietly.
"So? I'll call him fatso and then hex him." Draco declared. Narcissa bit her lip to keep in her giggles, Lucius coughed to cover up a laugh, and I smirked. Harry brightened up, deciding that no matter what his cousin did he would not be able to scared Draco away.
"Ok." Harry said happily, stepping away from my robes and a bit towards Draco, who grinned.
"Hey Harry, guess what?" the young blonde said, grinning at Harry. Harry's smile faltered a bit, but he kept it up.
"What?" he asked quietly.
"You're Uncle Severus's Godson. Well, I'm also Uncle Severus's Godson! And, since we are both his Godsons, that must make us Godbrothers!" exclaimed Draco, getting more and more excited as he walked Harry through his logic. "And I'm older then you…so that makes you my little brother, and I'm your older brother!"
"Older brother?" Harry looked amazed as Draco nodded happily. "What do older brothers and younger brothers do?"
"Silly, that means that we do everything together and I have to protect you and stuff. It works because you're so much smaller than me, even though we are only…" Draco bit his lip as he counted in his head. "…twenty….twenty…um…twenty six days apart!" He slung his arm around Harry's shoulders, smiling down at the much frailer child.
"Lucius, I think your son just adopted my ward." I said as Draco led Harry off, the younger of the two looking back at me anxiously only once before the older demanded his attention once more. Lucius and Narcissa looked just as surprised by these events as I was.
"I am unsure if this is a good thing or a bad thing." Lucius mused. Narcissa opened her mouth, ready to chew her husband out. I jumped in, getting a grateful look from my friend as I began speaking.
"Agreed, considering Harry is going to meet the Weasley clan at Molly's insistence. Draco will want to be here when that happens, and from the tales Molly has told Harry about her children, I feel our lives will no longer have quiet. Ever."
"What? If Draco becomes friends with Weasleys, I'm going to have to invite them over to my house! My home Severus, my home!" Lucius looked positively horrified. "I'll have to put on my 'I'm a Malfoy fear me' face to keep them away!"
"You do that and Harry will never talk to you again Lucius, I hope you realize this." I pointed out, frowning at the blonde.
"Severus, they are Weasleys. It's wonderful you have support from them, but must we really socialize with them?" he complained, looking to where Harry and Draco were playing with Willow. "You already have my son playing with house elves, why Weasleys as well?"
"Lucius!" Narcissa hissed, smacking her husband on the arm. I snarled at her and whipped around; making sure Harry hadn't seen that. Seeing him fairly relaxed sitting next to Draco and Willow, I released a breath I hadn't been aware I had been holding. Turning back to the Malfoy couple, I put on my best sneer.
"What were you thinking? You don't lift your hand to someone in the presence of a heavily abused child!" I hissed angrily, keeping my voice low so Harry didn't over hear me.
"Surely he isn't that jumpy." Narcissa said, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
"He is that jumpy." Lucius informed his wife softly. "It took him a week to stop throwing himself off whatever furniture he was on when I entered the room, and he only stopped flinched away maybe a week and a half ago." Narcissa's hand flew up to her mouth as it dropped open.
"It…it was that bad?" she asked, looking between Lucius and myself.
"If Harry had seen you hit Lucius, it would be more than a few months before he'd let you anywhere near him." I told her, looking to Lucius. "I thought you told her about all of this?"
"He did." Narcissa said when Lucius opened his mouth to defend himself. "I thought he was just exaggerating though."
"I assure you Narcissa; he was not exaggerating, not in the least. If anything I can see him toning it down a bit for you." One look at Lucius's guilty look told me that I was right about that. "The only type of abuse I found no evidence of was sexual abuse. He has been lashed, beaten to a pulp, been the object of a game the cruel muggle children called 'Harry hunting', starved, burned, forced to work until he passed out from dehydration and then beaten for not finishing a list of chores that would be impossible for anyone to finish, let alone a six year old. He did know his name until he came here, he lived in a cupboard under the stairs, and I am still trying to make him understand that here, he is allowed to sit on the furniture. He thought his name was freak, and that freaks like him didn't deserve food, water, a room, clothes, or toys. Do you understand exactly what I am dealing with here Narcissa? I have to teach him how to go about life, because right now, he is fairly clueless." My frustration with the woman grew as I spoke.
"Who would treat a child like that?" Narcissa looked sick to her stomach, her eyes flitting to Harry's small malnourished form.
"A muggle family whose fear of magic was so great they tried to beat it out of the child so they wouldn't have to deal with the truth. It happens to muggleborns quite often, names vanish from the Hogwarts list. Families fear their children, and what they can do, and it drives them to do awful things. Some beat their magical children, ignore them, dump them at an orphanage, dump them in the middle of nowhere…"
"Impossible!" Narcissa exclaimed.
"Apparently there are many things Albus manages to hide from the rest of the world, because this has been happening since I took my job at Hogwarts. Albus insists that all the children just move into different schools jurisdiction. Some of them, sure, but only a fool would think that every single one of those muggle families accepts a magical child with open arms." I growled, extremely frustrated with the disbelief I saw in Narcissa's eyes.
"That is preposterous Severus, Lucius would have done something about that!" she exclaimed, her haughty attitude showing its face as she looked at Severus.
"Cissa, it's true." Lucius sounded tired. "We've tried to do something, more than once, but Albus insists that he has checked up on them and that the muggles would not do anything like that to their own blood. Half the board takes his word for it, and leaves it be, because the leader of the light could do no wrong."
"That's something Voldemort got right." I growled. "Magical children's families should be evaluated, and if they aren't fit to take care of their child or don't want to, then they should be put in a magical orphanage, not a muggle one."
"Far too many things are wrong with our world the way that it currently works." Lucius pointed out, leaning back in his chair. "I joined Voldemort because I knew this. What I didn't know is that the man was losing his mind. For some reason, when he created the mark, I didn't question it. Now I realize my mistake."
"No one except Tom Riddle was capable of taking on Dumbledore. He went insane and tried to kill an innocent infant, so I believe it is safe to say that we are on our own here." I said, trying not to explode at the thought of more children going through what my Harry went through, but without anyone to come rescue them.
"Tom Riddle? You got to meet him as Tom Riddle, not just Lord Voldemort?" Narcissa asked, sounding a bit jealous. Forcing myself not to roll my eyes at her tone, I nodded.
"When I was in fourth year, he came to my house during the holidays. The man radiated power, and even though he was nearly fifty at the time he didn't look any older than thirty. He talked with both my father and I, then tried to get me to admit to the abuse, and tried to get my father to sign custody of me over to him. My father refused, and I was far too scared to admit anything. When he left, he swore to me he would be back, and to owl him if I ever needed to." I sighed and shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Dumbledore did something to him to make him go insane. I don't know what, but he did something to Tom to make him lose his mind, because nothing of the Dark Lord we saw was anything like Tom."
"I knew Dumbledore was not to be trusted, but all of this…" Lucius shook his head. "This is insane. How could he get away with all of this?"
"Once he defeated Grindwald, the public and the government didn't see why they should question anything he said. So, they didn't. When he figured this out…I suppose greed for power engulfed him. The man practically runs the wizarding world." I commented.
"For now there is nothing we can do." Lucius said decisively, straitening up from where he had slouched in his chair. "We will just keep doing what we have been doing, and hopefully we will actually get somewhere."
Narcissa looked pleased with this, but as I shared a look with my old friend I knew he was thinking exactly what I was. Nothing we did was going to change the way things were…any time soon.
Harry POV
"You play with your house elf?" Draco asked me, looking at Willow with his eyebrows up. I looked at him in confusion.
"Willow and I play together all the time." I said quietly, still not sure about this blonde boy. He seemed pretty nice, and he said we were brothers, but he was still a lot bigger then me. I didn't wanna make him mad.
"Oh." Draco looked at Willow, who folded her arms.
"Master Malfoy, you is needing to not stares." Willow said, frowning at Draco. Draco's eyes widened for some reason, and he quickly averted his eyes from Willow.
"Whats wrong Draco?" I asked, moving a bit away from him when he looked up, just in case he was upset enough to start hitting me.
"None of our house elves talk like that; I was surprised is all." Draco said, sitting down on the ground next to Willow and I. "I'm sorry for staring."
"Tis alright Master Malfoy." Willow said, waving her hand at him.
"What are we going to do with these?" Draco asked, pointing to my blocks.
"Master Harry and I were going to build Hogwarts today." Willow said when I gave her a panicked look. Draco looked at me for a second, making me squirm, then he smiled.
"That sounds awesome! I know all about Hogwarts. I guess I know more than you, because you just came here from muggles. So in Hogwarts, the coolest school in the whole world, there are these four houses, right, because there were four founders. Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff were the founders, and they built-" Draco went on and on about Hogwarts as we began to build it with my blocks, Willow making the blocks all tan because apparently that's what color the stones Hogwarts got built with are. He told me about all the houses, how Slytherins were smart and sly, Ravenclaws were smart and love books, Gryffindors were brave but Sev'rus called them 'dunderheads' whatever that meant. Hufflepuffs, apparently, didn't really have a purpose in Draco opinion.
"I'm going to be a Slytherin, just like dad and Uncle Severus!" Draco exclaimed, smiling as Willow changed the shape of one of the blocks in his hand so they would fit in the tower he was building. "What house do you think you are going to be in?"
"Probably Hufflepuff." I said, looking at my hands as I stacked up a wall.
"A Hufflepuff?" Draco stopped building, and looked at me, looking like I had insulted him. "No brother of mine will be a Hufflepuff! No, you will be in one of the other houses. You're not boring enough for Hufflepuff! You can be in Slytherin with me."
"Doing the sorting hats job for it Draco?" I looked up to see Sev'rus standing over us, looking down at Draco with one of his eyebrow's up.
"Uncle Sev, tell Harry he won't be a Hufflepuff." Draco whined. I looked back down at my hands. Draco had said Hufflepuffs didn't matter, which would make me a Hufflepuff. Would he not want to talk to me once I was a Hufflepuff?
"Of course he won't be a Hufflepuff." Sev'rus scoffed. "Not with having parents like his and being raised by me, with the influence of Malfoys and Weasleys. No, Harry, you will either be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, perhaps a Ravenclaw. I highly doubt that you will become a Hufflepuff." So when I became a Hufflepuff Sev'rus wouldn't wanna talk to me either. I didn't look back up, only looked at the block I was tossing around in my hand. "But if you are a Hufflepuff, we will just have to work harder to convert you to one of our two sides, wont we?" my head snapped up, and I looked at Sev'rus with wide eyes. Had he read my mind?
"He won't be a Hufflepuff!" Draco exclaimed, as if him saying so made it true. "He will be with me in Slytherin."
"He could also be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw Draco, you cannot force him to be in Slytherin." When Draco opened his mouth, probably to argue, Sev'rus continued. "It is time for you to leave Draco; your parents wish to return home."
"Okay." Draco sighed, standing up and brushing something I couldn't see off of his pants. I scrambled to my feet, standing in front of Draco. I flinched back and gasped when he pulled me into his arms. "Calm down little brother, I'm not going to hurt you." Draco said, pulling back to hold me at an arm's length with a frown.
"Good by Harry." Luc'i'us said as he walked up behind his son, putting his hands on Draco's shoulders. "We will see you next week when the Weasleys come, yes?" Sev'rus nodded, and the blonde family went back into the green flames in the fire place. I shuddered, hoping that Sev'rus would never make me go into the weird green fire.
"So how do you like Draco Harry?" Sev'rus asked me.
"He's nice." I muttered, trying to stop a yawn. When I opened my mouth to ask what was going on next week, it came out. I rubbed my eyes and looked up at Sev'rus, who was now a bit blurry.
"It would seem that all this excitement has exhausted you." Sev'rus said. I made a 'hmmm' sound and yawned again.
"Can I go to bed?" I asked. Then I let out an 'eep' as Sev'rus picked me up.
Severus POV
He made a small sound of surprise when I lifted him up and cradled him against my chest. Looking up at me with eyes that looked like they weren't quite seeing, he opened his mouth but cut himself off with a yawn before he could actually talk.
"I'm carrying you up to bed, because it looks to me like you won't make it up the stairs. I do not wish to find you halfway up the stairs asleep when I retire in a few hours." I said, assuming he was going to ask what I was doing. He made a small sound before snuggling into my chest. I chuckled softly at his antics, then began to carry him up to his room.
As I had predicted, he fell asleep half way up the stairs. I tucked the sleeping child into his bed, his winged panther toy next to him. With a small sigh he snuggled into his pillow, pulling the soft stuffed animal to his chest. Brushing his hair out of his face, I turned and walked from the room.
Life with Harry complicated everything…but I realize that…I wouldn't want to change it for the world.
SO! I finished this…Thrusday. But as I am not at home and I can't get to Fanfiction from work, you'll all get this tomorrow, because I won't be home tonight. No, tonight, I will be at the Harry Potter midnight release movie, dressed as a Slytherin student and waving a wand around while I try to make my robe billow like Severus. All of you who are going (went I suppose…) to the midnight showings…cheers to nerd-ness. All of you that aren't (didn't?)… it really sucks to be you. :D
