Chapter 13: Together in Misery
Severus was close to drifting off to sleep with Harry's head on his lap when the fire burst to life and Alastor Moody stepped out. The potion's master was on his feet immediately and shooting Dumbledore a nervous message with his eyes. Dumbledore nodded recognition of his need for secrecy and crossed the room to the old Auror, "Moody." He held out a gnarled hand and shook Moody's scarred one. The Auror's new spinning eye was already scanning the room. It landed on him for a moment and kept going.
"I see Severus and the child are both here." He acknowledged.
"Ah yes. While Harry was getting some well-deserved sleep Severus and I were going over lesson plans for the second year Hufflepuffs."
Moody made a disinterested noise in the back of his throat and hobbled the rest of the way into the office. "I suppose I should thank you for your capture of Lupin." Moody nodded to Severus, "The department owes you."
"You can repay him by not asking where he found him." Dumbledore cut in, and when Moody looked over his shoulder at the Headmaster, Severus could tell Dumbledore had guessed the auror's next question.
"Very well." Moody moved on to his next topic. "The boy seems fine. Have you spoken with Petunia yet?" Severus's heart jolted into his ribcage. Were they still discussing Petunia? He looked down at Harry who was now drooling into a pile of blankets instead of his black robes and a small amount of panic engulfed him.
"I was waiting until daylight. They're a muggle family after all. Possibly not accustomed to midnight visits, and then Harry fell asleep, and it seemed cruel to move him." Dumbledore rattled on.
Moody made a noncommittal noise and slumped into one of Dumbledore's guest chairs. Severus expected Dumbledore to offer the new arrival a lemon drop as he would any unruly student sent to his office, but the two men knew each other too well to play pleasant games. Dumbledore walked around his desk and sat in his own chair without a word.
"How is Lupin?" Dumbledore eventually wondered.
"He's fine. I had to fight like a dog to keep him out of the teeth of the Werewolf capture unit." The admittance surprised Severus, but he remained silent. If he didn't move maybe, they wouldn't kick him out of the conversation. "Carrow won't have the chance to touch Lupin." Moody promised. "I may be suspicious of Lupin, but I know Carrow is a dirty rotten Death Eater. The only reason he was in that interrogation room was because of a directive from the head of the auror department. I know Carrow's a nasty bag of -"
"Alastor." Dumbledore chastised before Moody could cuss up a storm.
"We fought him in the war Albus. I'm not handing Lupin to him."
"I appreciate that." Dumbledore said, "Will there be a trial?"
Moody shrugged and gave Dumbledore a meaningful look. "It's out of my hands." He said. So they had already turned Lupin over to another auror's caseload. That hadn't taken long. Dumbledore looked disappointed, and Severus knew why. Dumbledore wouldn't have nearly as much control over one of his favorite Gryffindors fate if he was no longer Moody's problem.
"And what is to become of Tyler?" Dumbledore wondered.
Both of Moody's eyes moved to Severus indicating he didn't want to discuss Tyler in front of anyone but Dumbledore.
"He's alright." Dumbledore said lightly, "He works with me on protecting Harry and should likely be involved in this discussion anyway.
"The idiot's a werewolf." Moody stated as if scolding another raining day.
Severus glared. He could feel anger rising in himself. Moody didn't have the right to call- Severus calmed himself- "idiot" was just a word, and a word he used to describe Tyler every time he saw him. He shouldn't be annoyed if Moody used it.
"Is he?" Dumbledore feigned surprise.
Moody wasn't impressed, "I understand you overlooking a lot of things Dumbledore, but I do not understand this."
"You understood when I invited Lupin into the Order-"
"And you see how that went!" Moody snapped, "You've knowingly endangered The-Boy-Who-Lived!"
Dumbledore glowered, "I do not believe Remus Lupin to be guilty, as I do not believe Tyler Even capable of hurting a hair on Harry's head."
That was an understatement. Severus scoffed inwardly. There was no one, no one, on the planet better suited to raise Harry James Potter than Tyler. Severus balked at himself. Had he really grown so found of the pair that he was prepared to defend them, even in his own mind? He shook the thoughts out of his mind and tried to calmly follow the conversation at hand.
"Even if Tyler couldn't hurt a flobberworm, the wolf certainly will. I know Lupin was in control of the darkness in him most days of the month. But we're talking about a muggle alone in that muggle world of his. That was reckless of you."
"And still-" Dumbledore pointed out, "a year later and we have a well fed, happy two-year-old who would do anything to stay with the only father he can remember." Dumbledore challenged Moody with his piercing eyes.
"You cannot convince me that it was the right choice." Moody grumbled.
"I don't need to. I am in charge of the boy's placement."
"And I'm in charge or whether or not to turn Tyler into the werewolf registry." Moody reminded. His wild eye stopped before he said, "I don't want to turn him in. You know that. I saw what it did to Lupin during the war. I'm not an advocate for the registry, but Harry's a baby, and I think we all swore to protect him." Moody stared down Dumbledore, asking the Headmaster to dredge up the sincere promises made during the war.
"I understand, Moody. It would be in poor taste if I went against the auror department's wishes. Are you releasing Tyler then?"
"In a few hours. I have to go through paperwork, see if we need to get him obliviated."
"Really?" Dumbledore sounded surprised, "He's already aware of us. Why deny him this fine memory of the wizarding world?"
Moody caught the Headmaster's sarcasm and glared, "I wouldn't." He rose to his feet and crossed the room. "I want the boy at his Aunt's by noon." He scanned the room one last time then turned and stepped into the floo. "Auror offices room 246."
He disappeared in a fiery tornado of green and Severus stayed glued to the spot watching until the flames flicked back to orange.
Once he was gone for certain Severus turned to Dumbledore,"What do I have to do to make sure Harry stays with Tyler?"
Dumbledore's eyes glittered as he looked up and into his eyes. Severus immediately put up a wall to keep any wayward thoughts from the hands of the Headmaster.
"Are you asking for Tyler or are you asking so you can continue to be a part of Harry's life?"
Severus was taken aback by the question.
He was asking-
He was asking in order to keep Harry from Petunia. Certainly, that was the reason. He took a step back and watched Dumbledore carefully, "For Harry." He decided though he couldn't quite be certain if that was true. "He would be happier with Tyler." Severus said as simply and as emotionless as possible.
"But will he be safer?" Dumbledore genuinely wondered.
Severus couldn't help but think back to his own childhood. He was safe, he was in a solid house, with protective wards and wizard parents. No outside threat could have gotten to them. But Lily was happy. Lily was loved. He wondered now that she was dead and he was miserable who had had the better life. What life would he choose for Harry, happiness or safety?
Lily would have voted for happiness. Lily would have voted for love. Severus couldn't bring himself to say that outlaid, though. He was too afraid to admit that he wanted Harry to be loved, loved by Tyler's inhuman ferocity. The boy had that flair of love that he remembered Lily having, and every part of him wanted Harry to have that too. He didn't answer Dumbledore, but the Headmaster must have guessed at what he was thinking because he nodded and said simply, "I will do what I can."
"Okay, you have to take a card."
"What? No way?" Severus protested.
"Yes, way!" Lily countered. She pushed the pile of cards closer to Severus. He groaned and picked one of the cards from the pile. "This isn't fair, you know. You and Moss have been playing this game forever. I'm new to it."
"This is a game of luck, and it is fair because you're doing a spectacular job of defying rookie luck."
"Rookie luck?"
"Yeah, it's when you win because you've never played before."
"Moss's not even playing correctly. Some of his cards are backward." Severus pointed out.
"Go fish!" Tyler piped up.
"Not your turn" Severus grumbled.
Tyler wasn't dissuaded, "Go fish" He repeated happily. He reached out and added an 8 of hearts, backward, to his hand.
"That has to be cheating." Severus deadpanned at Lily.
Lily shrugged and continued with her turn, "Do you have any 3's?"
Severus looked down at his handful of cards and found a red three. With despair, he handed it over, "You must be a legilimens."
"Nope." Lily smiled. She slipped her own three out of her hand and placed the pair in from of her. "How about a 4?"
Severus beamed, "Nope." He heard an echo as he said, "Go Fish." He looked over and saw Tyler had said the phrase with him.
Severus and Lily turned their attention to Tyler, "Your turn T." Lily reminded. Tyler squinted at his handful of cards and a considered his next move. "Lily do you have any of these?" He held up five fingers." Lily smiled and shook her head. "Go fish." Despite losing Tyler delightedly picked up another card to add to his already full hand. The cards were barely clasped between his tiny fingers. Severus felt slightly better now that he wasn't the only one losing horribly.
It was back around to his turn but before he could play the stairs began to squeak, "Hey kids. Coming down for dinner?" Lily and Tyler perked up. Severus watched them. Their twin green eyes lit up.
Severus had never been invited to stay for dinner at Lily's house. They usually met at the park, and when he did come over, he never stayed long enough to eat a meal with them.
"You're staying, right?" Lily asked Severus, "Mom makes the best shepherd's pie! Tyler get that card out of your mouth." Tyler spat an ace of clubs out of his mouth and started gathering up the rest of the deck.
"I- um-" Severus fumbled for words.
"Stay." Lily insisted, and Severus knew he couldn't say "no" to her, or her invitation. Honestly, he was excited about a good meal, even if he was nervous about eating it with the Evans' family. He rose to his feet with Lily and Tyler and realized they probably ate dinner as a family. They probably ate gathered around a large wooden table while their parents asked about their day and chatted about the neighborhood. Severus was unsure about how to conduct himself in such a situation and therefore fell behind as Tyler and Lily rushed out of the room and down the stairs.
Severus was the last to enter the dining room, and his fears were immediately realized. The oak table was set with six places. A steaming casserole dish sat in the middle alongside a small vase of flowers. Petunia was helping Mrs. Evan's put out cloth napkins while Mr. Evan's poured glasses of lemonade from a pitcher. "Severus, why don't you sit next to Lils?" The old man suggested. Severus thought about answering, but he didn't need to, Lily took his hand and led him around the table and into a wooden chair with a soft cloth seat.
There it was. Right in front of him was everything Severus could have hoped for in one picture. A family of people who loved each other laughing, talking and eating together. There was food always warm and ready for you, and a place at the table. Severus had the sinking realization that his trepidation about eating with them wasn't about fitting in, most of the Evan's already liked him. His fear was that once he experienced it, he would never be that happy again. Tyler clumsily passed him a lemonade across the table, and he realized he didn't want to leave. He never wanted to leave, but another quieter part of himself whispered back, "This isn't for you."
It was week since Harry's placement with Petunia before Severus could bring himself to floo to Tyler's house. He knew he had to, in the same way he knew he had to take him in the night his mother passed away, and the day he said "yes" to watching Harry during the full moon. Still he stood by the floo nervously for several moments before he could toss in the powder. He stepped in and spoke the address, but went nowhere. After a few second orange flames began to lick at his robes and he stepped back into his own living room.
He shook out the ashes from his clothes and repaired the singed fabric. Tyler's floo had been disconnected, clearly. Severus suspected Dumbledore had set it up and kept it connected. Now that Harry was not longer there, 146 Ash Drive was just another muggle home. The truth hit Severus like a wave. Tyler was just another muggle.
Tyler was just a muggle.
His every connection to the wizarding world had been taken from him. "Tyler's just a muggle." Severus said to himself. In the back of his mind he could hear the Death Eaters telling him that Tyler was now worthless. Tyler wasn't worth Severus's time. He wasn't worth a second thought. Just a muggle.
He shook his head and suddenly a vision of Lily rose up from among the dark whispers. She making sure Tyler had all of his homework in his bag before they left for school, and making sure he had someone to play cards with and laughing at his horrible magic tricks. Lily was asking Severus to lie to him, and to be his friend even when they couldn't be.
Lily won. Lily always won.
Severus immediately appareled into Tyler's back yard. He trudged through the slightly overgrown thicket and to the backdoor. It felt intrusive to knock (he was already in Tyler's backyard) but he didn't want to walk around the house in wizard garb, and he didn't much care about pleasantries at this point. He knocked at the back door, and when there was no answer he unlocked the simple twist lock and entered the house.
The first thing he noticed was the overwhelming cent of cinnamon and sugar. The house smelled like the inside of a gingerbread house. It was warm, but not from summer heat or family cheer. A heavy feeling of baking cookies overlayed the entire space. Severus looked around. The upturned coffee table had been righted, and the chess table had been replaced at the end, but the pieces were all neatly in their correct places. No tiny fingers had stolen away with a knight, or moved a pawn across the board. In fact the entire room appeared to be devoid of the usual disarray of Tyler's life. There was an emptiness to the decor that took Severus a few moments to find the source of. When he did it was obvious. Harry's belongings were no where to be found. His quaffle wasn't haphazardly thrown on the floor. There were no quidditch figurines on the ground, no small blankets across the couch. His clothes weren't everywhere and there was no vague scent of diapers hanging in the air. That wasn't all though. Severus looked around the room and saw that the family pictures that were usually displayed with pride had been taken from the walls and every surface. Severus did a double take. Had Tyler moved? This seemed like the home of complete stranger, and if it weren't for his favorite ugly lamp on the counter Severus might have believed it was.
"Moss!?" There was no reply, but a few moments later Severus heard a soft clattering of dishes in the kitchen and then the radio was cranked up. It was a muggle rock station. He didn't recognize the words of the song, but Tyler must have because he heard his voice crack as he sang the words as loud as he could.
Severus felt like he was stepping into a wound. After a year Severus could stomach the deep red cuts he found on Tyler every month. It was awful to see him so physically broken and in pain, but he could do it. This however was something different. He faltered as he neared the kitchen. He didn't know if he could step into this particular injury. It cut way deeper than any other. Tyler wasn't crying, or trying ineffectually to get drunk. He was shutting down.
He stepped up to the corner, and then around it and finally got his first look at Tyler since the brief encounter in the interrogation room, and his first good look him since he had dropped Harry at his feet for calling him, "Dad". That felt so long ago now. Like it was a different life lived across a vast ocean.
Tyler was still singing as loud as he could to some muggle song about walking on sunshine. His hair was neatly combed, his face was washed and he was wearing a button down shirt Severus knew was one of his own and not a hand-me-down band t-shirt of James's that a week ago he was so fond of. There were a few racks of cookies already set on the counter and something was bubbling on the stove.
"Moss!" Severus said again, making his voice loud enough to be heard over the radio. Tyler adamantly ignored him. Severus looked back the way he had come, then wearily crossed the room and put a hand on Tyler's shoulder. Tyler shivered at the touch then jerked away. As soon as he was out of Severus's grasp he went directly back to cooking, and ignoring. He was resolute. Severus put his hands into his pockets and considered his next steps.
"Moss are you ignoring me for a reason?"
As if to answer him Tyler didn't respond. The silence sunk in Severus's heart worse than he had anticipated. Tyler talked. When he was mad he talked, when he was afraid he talked, when he was happy, sad, tired, he talked. Severus didn't know what to make of a silent Tyler.
"Are you okay? Just nod." Severus demanded. Tyler pulled a tray of cookies out of the oven and placed them far too lightly on the counter. There was no malice in the action, it was like he existed in a separate world. Severus didn't need this. This wasn't his problem, it shouldn't be his concern, but somehow he couldn't help it. He was being sucked in.
Severus expected Tyler to be distraught about losing Harry, but he wouldn't be ignoring him because of that. In contrast Severus had imagined they would be miserable together one more time, just like they had during every other Evans funeral. But here he was, silent as the grave. Severus wracked his brain then guessed, "Are you angry at me for turning in Lupin?" Tyler didn't react, but Severus continued. "I had to do it. It got you out of the Auror office. It saved you." But it didn't get you Harry back he acknowledged.
Tyler's demeanor changed just a bit. Severus barely noticed it but when Tyler dropped a cookie on the cooling rack with just a bit more enthusiasm than Severus anticipated he caught on. Maybe he was getting somewhere, "There is no way Lupin is innocent. Even if he is he was part of the reason you're a werewolf. He deserves to pay for that if nothing else. I had to turn hi-"
"No you didn't." Tyler snapped. Severus was relieved to finally hear Tyler speak. Somehow the silent treatment from him was worse than a fight.
"Was there another way to protect you?" Severus pressed.
Tyler didn't answer for a long time. He finished taking the cookies off of the baking sheet before admitting quietly, "I don't know."
"They would have kept you indefinitely. They would have figured out you're a werewolf and… I couldn't leave you in the hands of the Werewolf Capture Unit."
"But you could leave Lupin there." Tyler countered.
"Yes. If it meant saving you."
"That's not right. It's not good." Tyler met his eyes with a steady stare.
Severus returned the look, confused. What should "good" have to do with Tyler's anger at him? Severus had made a straight trade, a guilty man for an innocent one and now Tyler was free. Tyler broke eye contact and Severus watched as he continued to do menial tasks around the kitchen. He wiped down a counter, moved a baking tray, and washed a wooden spoon before it dawned on Severus, Tyler had never seen him be a Death Eater. Lily and James and others had seen it first hand. Dumbledore had seen it done knowing it was for the greater good but Tyler had always been purposefully left in the dark by both his sister and James's motley crew. Tyler's anger about Lupin was just the momentary expression of a wider problem. Tyler hated that Severus had to make the hard decisions. Severus spent so much time in his own head, weighing the pros and cons and making specific calculations that he forgot that from the outside, his actions looked callous, "Moss. You know I have to be the bad guy, right?"
"I'm. I'm- I don't want you to have to be the bad guy!" Tyler's wavering eyes finally, sorrowfully met Severus's, "You're a good guy." Tyler told him. His sincerity took the breath from Severus's lungs. He forced his face to stay neutral.
"I'm not." Severus insisted. "I'm not a good guy Moss, You need to understan-"
Tyler didn't let him finish the sentence, he groaned and pulled at fistfuls of his hair in frustration. At the sudden movement Severus could see tears dislodge from his eyes and run down the dark circles under his eyes.
"Tyler. I am only useful to Dumbledore as a spy. I am only good to this world because I can play both sides."
"I thought the war was over." Tyler reminded.
"Not for everyone." Severus said.
Tyler turned away from him and mumbled something at the ceiling, "Moss!" Severus wasn't sure he could regain the boy's attention. He was staring up and away as Severus said, "Sometimes I have to do bad things to keep face with worse people. That's how it is. Someday the world is going to get ugly again. Horrible things will happen again, and I will have to do horrible things… Moss!" Severus reached out and spun Tyler back around to face him. He was openly sobbing now, his hands still tangled in his black hair.
"No." Tyler repeated. It sounded like a plea, but also a resignation. Severus was getting to him, and it was killing him. If he knew this truth would have affected Tyler in this way, maybe he would have made a different decision. Maybe he would have tried to keep his turning in Lupin a secret. Tyler didn't need to know every horrible thing Severus had ever done. He didn't need to be the nail in the coffin of Tyler's innocence. He had never wanted to be that.
"I'm sorry, Tyler."
"No."
"It's how it has to be." Severus continued to insist.
"No. You're good. You're good. You're good." Tyler repeated until he wore out the words, until they were just whispers of a prayer on his lips, "You're good." He said one more time at the ceiling.
Severus waited until Tyler's arms dropped to his sides and his will to fight had drained, "I will always fight for you and Harry." Severus said as clearly as possible. He took a step closer to Tyler and made sure the boy heard him, "I've screwed up enough to be able to promise that."
"Why can't you promise to fight for everyone?" Tyler sniffed.
Severus paused then answered sincerely, "I couldn't protect you if I did."
Tyler stuffed his hands into his jean pockets and a considered the answer. It wasn't what he wanted, Severus knew that. Tyler wanted heroes and idols. He wanted everything to be either right or wrong. But Severus also knew that somewhere deep down Tyler had to be able to understand grey areas, and Severus was a giant grey area. "I don't know what to do with that." Tyler finally said. He rocked back and forth on his heals and tried to come up with something.
"You don't need to do anything with it." Severus said calmly. "It's not your job." Severus watched Tyler's face scrunch up. He was desperately trying to comprehend the truth Severus had revealed.
"So you have to pretend to be a bad guy…to do good things?"
It wasn't an eloquent or nuanced explanation, but Severus suspected it was the best he was going to get out of Tyler. "Yes." He shrugged wearily.
"You're a spy" He clarified.
"Yes."
"I knew this already. I just didn't realize it." Tyler reminded himself, "I even said as much last year. I just didn't." Tyler tried to pull words out of the sky. "I didn't get it." He looked around his kitchen, to his piles of cookies and breads, then pressed his hands into his eyes. He stood that way for several moments, and Severus was beginning to wonder what was going on in his broken brain when he finally dropped his hands and exhaled, "I need to get out of this house. It's making me crazy."
Severus fumbled on Tyler's sentence. He knew Tyler was going nuts in his house. The place was sterile clean and uncomfortably organized. Tyler didn't need a drink, he needed a keg and a tornado to rip through his house. Severus had neither, but somehow, once more in his life he found himself doing what he least expected from himself, "How about we have some beers at my place?" Severus could have kicked himself for suggesting it, but if history had taught him nothing else it was that he could never say "no" to Tyler's sad face.
"Real beer?" Tyler asked, surely thinking that Severus would trick him again with Butterbeer.
"Real beer." Severus agreed, wanting a drink himself.
"All in." Tyler threw down the towel that was tucked into the waistband of his jeans and pushed up the sleeves of his fancy muggle shirt. He followed Severus into the garden to apparate to Spinner's End.
Dumbledore sat back in his chair. It had been a busy week. Harry had been moved, Lupin had been sent to Azkaban and Dumbledore had found himself at the ministry fighting for a trial almost every day. When he wasn't there he was doing his best to keep Hogwarts running smoothly. He hadn't had a chance to think, and now that he did his mind wandered back to Severus's words, "What do I have to do to make sure Harry stays with Tyler?" He wasn't sure what either of them could do. Or if they should do anything at all.
In truth Dumbledore was a little shocked to see how attached Severus had become to the child. He worried that that attachment would cause problems down the line. There was something about Harry that connected him to Voldemort, and the prophesy didn't bode well for him, "Neither can live while the other survives." The words had rung in Dumbledore's head as he watched Severus leave his office. A man so attached to a child would never let the boy die to save the wizarding world, and Dumbledore couldn't risk the alternative.
Or could he?
Love had saved Harry Potter's life before, who was he to say it couldn't do it again? Dumbledore steepled his knobby fingers before his lips and pondered the decision. Petunia would love Harry, of course she would, in her own way, but Tyler and Severus, they could protect him, give him everything he needed plus some. Perhaps it would be good to foster that type of relationship? Perhaps…
Tyler and Severus were only a few beers in before they found themselves on Severus's kitchen floor playing go fish with a deck of exploding snap cards. They were the only cards in Severus's house and Tyler was instantly intrigued with the idea of a magical deck so they spread them out and each took a handful. The game had dissolved quickly, but they still each had a handful of the magical cards and were dubiously studying them in-between sips on strong wizard ale. Their conversations had been light. Tyler talked about food. He had made a lot of food in the last couple of days. They talked about muggle construction and wizard plants. Tyler had cracked up over the idea of Mandrakes. It took a while before anything with substance rose back to the surface.
"I applied for a job at the corner store." Tyler hiccuped as he took another drink and handed over a jack of clubs to Severus.
Severus felt the conversation bump against the edge of seriousness, to the edge of "I have nothing to do now that I'm not raising my nephew." He didn't know if he should foster that type of conversation, but found himself asking, "Why don't you just go back to school?" Severus slurred, "Weren't you going to be a healer?"
"Meh…Maybe I'll go back in a few years? I've been thinking about life a lot lately. I dunno what to do about it."
"No one does." Severus said, then grumbled, "Don't become a teacher. I suggest you do not become a teacher. Little heathens."
Tyler squinted toward the ceiling and Severus amended his statement, "Fine. You might actually be a good professor. You like kids. You act like kids."
"Your turn." Tyler reminded.
"Your turn."
"No you go again because you guessed right."
"I hate this game." Severus mumbled as he tried to get his focus to zoom back in on his cards. They were frustratingly blurry, "Do you have any eights?"
"No…Go fish!" Tyler said just as excitedly as he had at age four.
"You know what I was thinking about Sev?"
Severus humored him again, at least Tyler was talking, and pleasantly at that, "What?"
"Moss…is a good name for me."
Severus didn't speak, but granted Tyler an unimpressed stare.
"I grow on you." Tyler smirked, then snorted, then burst out laughing as if he were the funniest person on earth. Severus really wanted to hex him, a feeling that only intensified when he felt the corner of his mouth fight its way up.
"Oh my god did you just try to smile?" Tyler over to look up at Severus and his eyes grew wide with glee, "I haven't seen you smile since Petunia shot milk out her nose at Christmas dinner that one time!"
"Shut up." Severus tried to cover a growing grin on his face- damn alcohol- before the old memory could force a laugh out of him.
"Oh my god. You'r thinking about it." Tyler giggled, "You're thinking about Petunia laughing so hard at a pun that she shot milk out her nose." Tyler rolled back onto the ground giggling and Severus could feel himself losing the fight. A second later he felt a chuckle force it's way past his chest and out of his mouth. The feeling was so shocking he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Somehow it hurt, or was that not pain, was that happiness? In lieu of sitting there confused he reached out and playfully punched Tyler in the leg for making fun of him.
"Ouch, meanie." Tyler rolled over onto his back and proceeded to grin at Severus as the wizard tried to cover his amusement by finishing off another beer.
"We should stop drinking." Severus suggested after setting down the bottle. He realized he hadn't had this much to drink in a long time.
"I should stop drinking. You should keep drinking forever if it makes you uninhibited enough to actually laugh." Tyler decided. He leaned up on his elbows and stared at his old friend.
Severus tried his best to ignore him.
"Okay. Have you heard the one about the three guys who walk into a bar?" Tyler asked falling onto his back once more and trying to come up with another joke, anything just to witness another smile wrinkle Severus's face, "No it was two guys. Two guys walked into a bar."
Severus didn't have a chance to tell Tyler to shut up- something rumbled in the living room and then he heard the tell-tale sound of a fire roaring to life. Someone was flooing in. Severus grabbed his wand and prepared for the worst.
"Severus?"
Severus's brain overloaded. Dumbledore was in his living room and he was drunk on his kitchen floor with Tyler Evans.
He cussed and looked over at Tyler, "It's my boss!" He hissed.
Tyler's mouth made a giant "O" shape before he blathered, "What'd'we'do?" In one breath. Severus froze and then decided they would have to fake sobriety. He was usually much better at making plans. Much better at thinking through… oh the alcohol was destroying him.
"Severus!" The voice was getting closer to their position. Severus rose unsteadily to his feet before he remembered he had a spell for this situation. With a wave of his wand and a whisper he managed to slightly douse his obvious inebriation. He shot the same spell at Tyler and pulled the muggle to his feet. They were both looking slightly more respectable by the time Dumbledore rounded the corner into the kitchen. "Ah there you are." He said with an air of delight, "and with Tyler as well. Well that makes my job simpler doesn't it?"
"Sure does, professor." Tyler slurred. Severus elbow him in the chest and to his surprise Tyler immediately stopped talking.
Dumbledore's blue eyes searched them over his half moon spectacles but he didn't comment on their current state, "I have news."
Severus didn't want to get his hopes up. He didn't want them to be crushed, so he said as few words as possible to get the Headmaster to continue with his announcement, "Okay sir. What is it?"
"I've spoken with Alastor Moody after receiving several letters from a one Petunia Dursley, who is rather confused about Harry's sudden arrival at her house." Severus wanted to scream at Dumbledore to get on with it, but he held his tongue as he tried to glare the next words out of the Headmaster's mouth. Dumbledore breathed and finally said, "I have worked out a way for Harry to be returned into Tyler's custody."
All air was expelled out of Severus's lungs in disbelief. He stared in shock until he could felt Tyler fumbl then almost fall to the floor behind him. He turned quickly to keep the unsteady muggle on his feet. Tyler proceeded to hold a wad of his robes in his hands like a lifeline. Severus snapped his attention back to Dumbledore, "How?" He managed.
"At this time only Moody knows of Tyler's condition. He wants it to stay that way, but he also worries about Harry being in the same home as Tyler during his transformations. I just need to give him assurances that he won't be." Dumbledore gave them both a stare that said "I assume you already have this worked out?"
"Assureded." Tyler slurred and then bumped Severus so he would agree.
"Yes, certainly Headmaster. He won't be near Tyler."
"Totally far away and safe." Tyler added with several overenthusiastic nods. Severus shot him another glare to get him to stay quiet but Tyler just continued nodding until Dumbledore said,
"There is some paperwork to figure out, but I expect Harry will be back with you by tomorrow." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Do you think you'll be fit to take him by then?"
Tyler raised a hand to his forehead in a crooked salute, "Yessir."
Dumbledore seemed less certain than Tyler felt, "Very well then. I should be off."
Dumbledore left them wavering on their feet in the kitchen. Severus couldn't believe his ears. He wondered if he had fallen into an alcohol-induced stupor and this was all a cruel dream. Tyler had the same look on his face.
"Did that just happen?" Tyler asked.
Severus had to admit, "It think that just happened."
"What do I do now?" Tyler swayed.
"How about we put your place back the way it belongs?" Severus suggested, "The lack of pictures was unsettling."
"I put all of them in Lily and James's old room. I don't want to go in there." Tyler frowned.
"We're going to have to do it at some point." Severus felt Tyler's grip on his robes tighten. They would have to do it eventually.