Survival

Chapter 21

Making A Decision

Narcissa and Lucius sat deep in thought, mulling over everything Severus had said to them. Thinking of everything that poor eleven year old had been through. They could hardly believe that this boy, this child had been though so much and survived. Harry Potter's thirst for survival was heartbreaking and utterly gob smacking. Lucius sat thinking of what it would mean for his child and wife, meanwhile Narcissa was thinking about if it would be right for the child to come into their home. Unfortunately they couldn't be warm and loving outside their manor - and would have to teach the child that. Of course considering the fact the child had pulled of being a man perhaps it would work.

"I think it might be best to ask the child what he prefers" said Lucius eventually.

"I think he will jump at the chance of a family Lucius," sighed Severus finishing off yet another whiskey.

"We will take him, if he says yes then we will perform the blood adoption tonight" said Narcissa. She knew her son would be ecstatic to have a younger brother, just wait till he got home. Unfortunately they hadn't been blessed with another child; it didn't seem like their luck.

"He won't wake for a while, I gave him a dreamless sleeping potion" revealed Severus softly.

"Then let's get him to sleep, you can both go up to the room you use when you sleep here. I will have Dobby come up with some nightclothes for him to get changed into" said Lucius quietly.

"Very well Lucius," nodded Severus, lifting the small eleven years old into his arms he took off towards the room he used. It was a king size room, and beautiful for a guest room. Dobby popped in and gave them their nightclothes, Harry's were Draco's old clothes and Severus' ones were a pair of Lucius' nightclothes. He quickly floo'ed his new apprentice. Let him know he would be staying out that night, if he could to either have his class brew their intended potion or to read from page from their potion book. Frazier was happy about that, finally freedom, independence and proper work it was more than he could have dreamed off. As soon as Severus had left the floo network Frazier had headed for bed and created his alarm for tomorrow morning.

X.X.X

Severus slept in the same bed as the eleven year old, feeling decidedly uncomfortable about it. Thankfully there was more than enough room to get comfortable without touching him. He still wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that he had been duped. He felt like getting hysterical, he had accused Harry Potter the boy who lived, the boy who had brought down Voldemort of being the man's son. It was something he was deeply ashamed off no matter how likely the assumption had seemed.

He felt like cursing himself for not figuring it out sooner, Abeo had told him he was kept in a cupboard. Hadn't it just been earlier on in the year he had been told the exact same thing by Vernon Dursley. Speaking of which his apprentice had no idea that they had been sentenced to Azkaban, he would need to speak to him about that soon.

He soon fell asleep with restless thoughts.

As usual Severus was up early, drinking his large black coffee and already dressed. The house elves had obviously taken the clothes from the room and cleaned them. Harry's now too big clothes were also on the bed, folded, cleaned and ironed.

Finally at nine o'clock the child on the bed began stirring, Severus walked around the bed and waited patiently on the child wakening properly.

"Severus? Where I am?" asked Harry groggily, not recognizing the room. He knew it wasn't Hogwarts, wasn't Snape manor and it certainly wasn't his home either. It was more extravagant than his modest manor; it was pretty much the same as Snape Manor. The candlesticks on the opposite side of the room had M's on them decorated with someone's coat of arms on them.

"Malfoy Manor" explained Severus rubbing soothing circles on Harry's back without even thinking.

"Why?" asked the eleven year old looking upset and more than a little lost.

"Come, let's go see them" said Severus, putting his hand out for the boy to accept.

"Are we ok?" asked Harry his voice very low.

"We are, now come" said Severus a little impatient.

Harry followed Severus out of the rooms, after Severus had made a pair of slippers for him. It took them about ten minutes to make their way down all the stairs, especially with Harry stopping every so often to look at something. Severus indulged the child, knowing he had done the same thing when he first came to Malfoy Manor. Some of the pieces they had were gorgeous, paintings, vases busts everything.

"Ah Severus I expected you some time ago! I know you always wake early everything alright?" asked Lucius smoothly, impeccably dressed sitting at the kitchen table. Which would seat four, the dining room was in a different room when they had company. No need to use a table that sat forty people when there was only four.

"I simply decided to wait on Harry wakening up" said Severus smoothly, noticing Harry flinching when he said his name.

"My name is Abeo" whispered Harry painfully; he obviously preferred his other name.

"If that's what you wish to be named we can make that arrangement" said Lucius smoothly he rather liked the name better than Harry anyway.

"Sit down sweetheart" said Narcissa kindly, both Severus and Abeo as he wanted to be called sat down. Harry smiled kindly at the woman who was being nice to him. He still wasn't used to people being overly friendly with him, apart from his Chinese friend and Severus.

"We decided to wait until you were awake to discuss this, we would like to adopt you if you are amendable to the idea" said Lucius.

Narcissa tutted at the fact Lucius was using such big words in front of a little boy.

"I'd be happy indeed, but can I ask why you want to?" asked Harry, even if he looked like a little boy he responded like an adult. It seemed to please Lucius to no end; his own son was like that. Lucius couldn't stand ill mannered or ill educated children. Sure he had let his son off with it as a little boy but he was eleven now and he was the heir to the Malfoy name. He had a reputation to keep and as much as it pained him he had made sure Draco could speak properly.

"We always wanted another child, but we have thus far been unable to have another. Don't get us wrong we are happy with just Draco but we have always wanted another child" said Narcissa honestly and openly.

"Why me?" asked Abeo once again. "Is it because I used to be Harry Potter?" a sneer broke out on the eleven year olds face.

"Not all of us are like Albus Dumbledore…we want to take you on because you are a wizard and because you don't have a family. Plus Severus is one of our closest friends and would do it for him alone. Which we are not, you will not be keeping the Potter name should you be blood adopted by us" said Lucius smoothly.

That made Abeo smirk, good he didn't want to be Harry Potter anyway. Now for the negotiation before he agreed, he began wondering which to ask first. Lucius, Severus and Narcissa just silently waited on him deciding what he wanted to do. Severus couldn't help but hope Abeo said yes, he needed a family and Severus didn't know any other family who could take Abeo in. not one that he could trust anyway, and then he began thinking about what Abeo would look like after the blood adoption was complete.

"What would my name be?" asked Abeo.

"Well you seem to prefer Abeo so Abeo Abraxas Malfoy it would be" said Lucius. Abeo for what he wanted to be called, Abraxas after Lucius' father and his supposed grandfather. Severus and Narcissa nodded in agreement it was a very good name.

"How would you punish me?" asked Abeo his eyes narrowed.

"Same as our son, have your allowance stopped, or perhaps your property taken from you. Our son usually has his broom taken from him if he's badly behaved. If it's bad enough then you would be sent to stay in your room especially if it was in front of company" said Lucius thoughtfully.

"We do not raise our hand to our son; no child should be touched in such a way. You do not have to fear such a thing from us" said Narcissa sadly. She knew why he was asking, and was glad for it so the child didn't have to live in fear. If he hadn't brought it up her and Lucius would have explained.

"I suppose I could live with that…but what about my manor?" asked Abeo.

"Do not worry about it; the house elf will take proper care of it for you until you are ready to move in. If you ever want to that is but it's safe and no one can take it from you" said Severus softly.

Abeo relaxed at that, so they weren't going to try and take his manor for payment for adopting him. It was good to know, they seemed to be a decent couple but only time would truly tell if they would keep to their word.

"You will if you like take a de-aging potion just a year mind, and join our son at Hogwarts when the New Year starts. Draco will be in his second year, you your first. It's not because we don't think you could join him in second year that you don't know enough magic - far from it we just want to avoid suspicion. If you do not want Dumbledore to know who you are then this is for the best but it's entirely up to you" said Lucius smoothly.

"What do you think Sev?" asked Abeo cautiously.

"It was me who made the suggestion H…Abeo; Dumbledore might dig into information that doesn't concern him. He thinks badly of the Malfoy's he has no idea they are spies, only a very select few in the Ministry know" said Severus.

"And before you go to Hogwarts, you will need to be taught everything you need to survive. Such as Occlumency - an art to closing your mind. Albus Dumbledore is very good at it and so was the Dark Lord and when he comes back we must be prepared" said Lucius.

"I already know it" said Abeo.

"We know but just to be sure we will be brining in someone to teach you completely" said Lucius, the same one that had taught Draco.

"Very well, I agree and accept" said Abeo nodding curtly.

"Good, then we shall proceed to do the blood adoption, and then give you the de-aging potion if it's needed. Then we shall get a tailor in and have you measured for your new wardrobe" said Lucius.

"How long is Sev going to stay?" asked Abeo warily.

"Just for the rest of the day, then I must return to Hogwarts…we cannot have Dumbledore know something is going on" said Severus reluctantly, he wasn't happy about leaving Abeo to fend for himself. He trusted his friends to make this as easy as they could for him.

"I understand" nodded Abeo reluctantly.

"Good" said Severus curtly.

"Come, let's get to the room" said Lucius; it was going to take a lot out of the child. Blood adoption was rather painful, they had no doubt Abeo knew - after all he had been an apprentice and knew the potion well.

Severus already had the potion; he was rather looking forward to see what Abeo looked like afterwards.

"Here drink it all, we will give you a pain reliever afterwards but we cannot give you it before - no potion can be in your system when this is given" said Severus softly.

"I know" smirked Abeo amused.

Severus just smirked back; Abeo chucked back the potion grimacing at the taste but said nothing. The blood of Narcissa and Lucius was already in the potion so now they watched. Severus half expected Abeo's hair to begin changing colour but if anything it went dark. He was getting the hair of Narcissa's side of the family the Black's were all dark haired apart from Narcissa herself.

His face became more defined instead of round like the Potter's faces were known to have. His body got longer the Malfoy's were tall after all, but not too tall actually they would have no problem passing him off as an new eleven year old instead of the nearly twelve year old he was.

When he finally opened his eyes, they were ice green instead of the emerald green they had been before. They would be hard pressed to explain that, all Malfoy's had ice blue eyes; it was just the way it had been for years.

"How do I look?" asked Abeo his voice more of a drawl than ever before.

"Good" beamed Narcissa happily.

"Drink" said Severus handing the boy a potion to help with the pain. He hadn't even screamed once, he had to have been in a great deal of pain. It truly hit home how badly the boy had been treated, and how badly everyone around him had failed continuously including him.

Once that was done, a tailor had indeed been summoned and he was measured. Once it was once the man left for Gladrags Wizardwear and began making a wardrobe fit for a Malfoy for the Malfoy he hadn't been aware existed. He never even thought for a minute that he could be adopted, after all everyone knew the Malfoy's wouldn't do such a thing. Plus it wasn't any of his business anyway.

"I have something to discuss before I leave" said Severus sitting down on the sofa, it wasn't often the Malfoy's had lunch casually but the child looked exhausted so they made an exception. Abeo practically inhaled the food, he hadn't been eating much the past few months, he had been in too much pain. Plus the food was brilliant, even better than Hogwarts meals if it was possible.

"What is it?" asked Abeo frowning.

"You asked me not to return you to the Dursley's last night" said Severus, unable to believe it had just been last night, so much had been revealed it seemed like days ago.

"I did" said Abeo stiffening cautiously.

"It wouldn't have been possible, Fudge that is the Minister of Magic had them imprisoned in Azkaban with a quick hasty trial for your abuse" said Severus softly.

"The first Muggles to be sentenced? Why hasn't it been published?" asked Abeo taken aback and quite shocked. Not only has the Dursley's been sentenced but White too. Harry was only eleven years old but had managed to imprison three people. If they knew it was him the punishment would have been even more sever. The Dursley's they had wanted kissed but they hadn't wanted them off too lightly. The Wizengamont had decided they would serve life in Azkaban prison - they weren't getting out of there alive. They had abused and lost Harry Potter after all, he was a hero; he had defeated Voldemort when no wizard or witch alive had been able to. White had been sentenced to fifteen years in Azkaban, he was an older man and he might not be able to handle Azkaban. It was nothing more than he deserved and all Severus could hope was that he died inside.

"They are keeping it quiet; they are looking for you quite adamantly. Fudge isn't happy, Dumbledore ensured you were put at the Dursley's - Fudge wanted you brought up in the wizarding world. Sure he had his own agenda probably giving you to a Ministry working family so you would grow up loving the Ministry" said Severus "If not he just wanted you to grow up like the hero you were, either way it doesn't matter, Dumbledore got his way and he's slowly loosing control of the Ministry and his popularity"

"How can he loose popularity if no one knows?" frowned Abeo.

Severus smirked in amusement "The ministry families are obviously spreading the story. Or what they can of the story after all they cannot outright tell anyone - but they can say that Dumbledore left someone to be abused. It's just your name they cannot mention, it went around like wild fire in the Auror families and Wizengamont families most people now know including students at school…it's the worst kept secret. Once they do know it was you Dumbledore will loose all credibility. He has lost nearly everything including his headship at the Wizengamont. He's hanging on to his headmastership by the tip of his fingers. If he does anything else wrong he will be sentenced to Azkaban. No doubt Dumbledore will be as bad as ever once he gets out of Azkaban tomorrow. He had better watch what he is doing, the fact he's the only one Voldemort fears can only do so much"

"Brilliant" smirked Abeo wickedly.

"Indeed" smirked Severus just as amused.

"I'm just glad they know what kind of man he is" said Abeo.

"Yes, well they know now" said Severus dryly.

"I guess you have to go?" sighed Abeo; Severus had been a constant in his life for months now. He wasn't sure how he liked it, being left with these two people.

"I do, do not worry I shall visit as often as I am able, I just as that you try and be a child that you are. Remember that you are only eleven not my age, be a child, have fun, play games. When you do get to my age all you will want to do is be a child again trust me" said Severus softly, his hands on Harry's upper arms.

"I'll try" swallowed Abeo, it's all he wanted but he just wasn't sure how.

"Good, take care I'll see you soon" said Severus softly, ruffling Abeo's now black hair instead of brown he floo'ed out. Leaving Abeo alone with two new people that he didn't know all that well. All Abeo could hope now was that they did care for him and it wasn't a trick. If they hit him once he was away, he refused to stay somewhere he could be hurt.

Will Harry be betrothed to Severus when he comes of age just as Draco is with another pureblood? or will harry chose to be with severus? how will i have this story continue? im at a siff end will i just have his years written out until he is off age and voldemort come back? or will i show harrys years over the chapters warning though it wont be the same...the chamber wont be opening after all Harry can control the basilisk ... he is controlling it so tom wont get it doing what he wants! so what would you like to see happen?will i begin it during harrys fifth year? dracos sixth? what would you like to see happen becuase i really dont know what to do with the story! R&R please