Disclaimer: See prologue.
Guide: "Speech", Thoughts, ~letters and other written things~, "Parseltongue"
Beta: cuter-than-a-guinea-pig. All remaining errors are my own.
AN: Enjoy the second part of the very Skeeter-heavy chapter. Because chapter 17 is getting longer and longer, there will be a third part.
-~-~- Verbuar -~-~-
-~-~-by StillWatersAreDeep-~-~-
-~-~- Chapter 17 – Part II-~-~-
4th November 1981
Tom and Severus were emotionally exhausted from the events of the previous day as they sat down for breakfast. The latter was immensely grateful that Tom had been the one to show my mother's dead body to me. Being the one to explain that my parents were dead had been hard enough for him.
I had been able to find some rest after I laid my head on Severus' chest, hearing and feeling his heart beat under my ear reassuring me that Severus was still alive and here with me. Severus, though, was so unused to sharing his bed with another person that he had trouble falling asleep. Add to it that I was a restless sleeper as a child and that my new fascination for having to feel or hear other people's heart beat made him worry for my mental health.
"It will pass," Tom told Severus as I sat in Lord Slytherin's lap, wanting to hear his heartbeat. "He's just getting used to the concept of death and is holding on to your explanation of a beating heart to distinguish between life and death. Once he realizes that neither of us will die any time soon and leave him all alone, he'll stop."
"We can only hope so," was Severus' tired reply. He motioned for Tom to hand him today's issue of the Prophet. Merlin knew what they were writing today.
"After yesterday's article I need the public to have some good news for a change," Tom explained as he passed the newspaper to Severus.
~Fenrir Greyback Finally Killed!
An article by Rita Skeeter
My Dear Readers,
Some good news at last! The feared rogue werewolves, Fenrir Greyback and his beta, were finally killed. Not two days ago I reported to you how Fenrir Greyback and some of his pack members attacked the Potters' home, resulting in the death of Lily Potter and the hospitalization of Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom. Today, I can finally tell you that they were punished for the crimes against the British Wizarding World they committed during the last three years.
The Auror Office still does not want to reveal all the details. (Don't worry, I'll get them to tell me everything.) So far, it was leaked that in the early hours of the morning on the 1st of November a group of Aurors attacked the camp of Fenrir Greyback. It was hinted that James Potter was the Auror who led the attack in retaliation of the attack on his home some hours prior.
The officials did not want to confirm, however my source inside the Auror department told me that it was James Potter who killed the beta who had killed his wife. So far, the Auror Office only stated that many of the Aurors who went on the mission were injured, and one was killed. Who lost his life to protect the Wizarding World from these horrible werewolves is still unclear as of now. But at least we now can all sleep more easily, not fearing our children being kidnapped and infected with lycanthropy in the middle of the night. The threat of Fenrir Greyback and his pack of rogue werewolves is over now!
Yours faithful,
Rita Skeeter
Read 'How to identify a werewolf' on page 5. Read about Fenrir Greyback's crimes on page 2.~
In Severus' opinion Skeeter's writing style was getting worse each day, but apparently the dunderheads of the Wizarding World loved her way of writing. If it went on, he would stop reading the Prophet.
"Can I see mummy today?" I asked, when I finished eating my porridge. "I want to show her Pwetty."
"Hmm," Severus hummed, undecided. He did not want me to come attached to my mother's corpse.
"Come, Pretty. We're going to visit my mummy. She is not in the earth yet, so she cannot go and visit us. We have to go to her instead," I said.
"It's okay, Severus," Tom said after he heard my explanation. "Harry just wants to go to her because she cannot travel to him yet. She is not buried yet, you know?" he finished in a teasing voice in the hope to lighten the mood. I enthusiastically nodded in agreement, only stopping when Severus took hold of my hand.
"Don't forget to take Pretty with you," Tom added, enjoying how Severus was unnerved by his snake, especially since Nagini had to coil around Severus to be Apparated with us. So with Nagini coiled around him, me in his arms and my lion plushy hanging from his shoulder, Severus Apparated us to the room where my mother's body lay for the time being. Since Severus would be living here for the next few years, Tom had included him into the wards, allowing him to Apparate freely inside the manor.
Severus and I had not left the table for long when Remus arrived at Slytherin Manor. "Good morning, my Lord," Remus greeted Tom when a house-elf showed him into the dining room.
"Good morning, Remus," Tom greeted back, motioning with his hands for Remus to take a seat at the table and serve himself if he wanted.
"Thank you. What is this urgent matter you wanted to talk to me about?" Remus asked as he filled his teacup, very curious about why he was here. It was extremely unusual for him to be called back home while he was on an ambassador mission. Before Tom could answer, Remus spotted the Prophet Severus left. "Greyback is dead?"
"He is," Tom answered. "Read the article, I'll explain the details afterwards."
"James' house was attacked?" Remus asked in surprise. Tom did not comment, letting Remus read on, waiting for the really bad news to hit him. "Lily's dead?" he asked, shocked. "I need to be there for James. And poor Harry," he said, laying the newspaper down, not wanting to believe what he just read.
"Please continue," Tom said softly, laying a comforting hand on Remus' elbow. "There is more."
"More?" Remus asked, hardly believing that there could be more. Wasn't it bad enough that Lily was dead? "Frank and Alicehospitalized?" he mumbled under his breath. It was getting worse and worse. "Who was killed?" he asked cautiously, as he laid down the paper. "It was not Sirius, was it?" he feared for the worse now.
Tom took a moment to consider his options. Shall I first tell him about James' death or about Sirius being in a coma? Coming to a decision, he said, "Sirius is not dead." Remus let out a sigh of relief. "However, he is one of the Aurors who was seriously injured. He's currently in St Mungo's. You can see him as soon as we're done here. But Sirius' injuries were not the reason why I called you back," Tom began, then paused. "It's not Lily's death either." Again he paused. "You've read that James led the attack on Greyback. The truth is that it was not a planned ambushed on Greyback's camp. James was so distressed by Lily's death that he left in the middle of the night, collected Sirius and they both went on a suicide mission to Greyback's camp. When Severus found James' note in the morning, he immediately informed the Auror Office. I'm sorry, Remus, by the time I arrived James was already dead."
"No!" Remus exclaimed, shaking his head in denial. "This cannot be true! I was only gone for two weeks and both James and Lily are dead and Sirius, Alice and Frank are in St Mungo's? No."
"I know that it's shocking. And I'm even sorrier that this is not the worst."
"What else can there be?" Remus asked, desperate, not even noticing the hand Tom placed on his shoulder.
"I really would like to not overwhelm you with all of it at once. However, the news got out and I do not want you to be unprepared. When Greyback and his pack attacked James' house, their intended targets were the Longbottoms, not the Potters. So the obvious question is how Greyback knew that they would be there? Luckily Lucius was able to capture one of the werewolves. Least to say that none of us liked what he revealed."
"Out with it," Remus barked. All the suspension was making him even more anxious.
Complying with Remus' wish, Tom said, "Peter Pettigrew was the one that told Greyback where the Longbottoms would be on Halloween."
"Peter?" Remus asked in disbelieve. "He would never have willingly betrayed any of us!"
"But he did," Tom calmly answered, standing up from his seat. "However, this was not the part that angered us most," he continued, pacing behind Remus' chair. "The one thing that really made us furious was the fact that Peter was released before the attack happened. And do you know what he did?" Tom asked rhetorically, standing still for a moment. "He wrote James a note, apologising that he caught a cold and would not be coming to the Halloween party so as not to infect the children," Tom's voice raised as his anger increased. "He should have warned them of the attack, informed the Auror Office so that Greyback could have been captured in this perfect ambush opportunity."
Getting himself back under control, Tom retook his abandoned seat. "I know that this is just too much to take all of it in now. So take your time, read the Prophet articles of the last days, ask me or Lucius any questions you may have and just take some time off duty to let it all sink in and visit Sirius in the hospital. And when you're ready, we can sit down next week and discuss what to do about the current Prophet articles that show werewolves in a bad light," Tom suggested.
"No, I'll need something to distract me. Just give me today to see Sirius and get up-to-date with the articles and we can discuss it tomorrow," Remus said. He was overwhelmed by all the things he'd just learned and still had trouble believing any of it had happened. A definite goal and something normal like again working for werewolf rights would keep him grounded and sane until his brain caught up with all the unreal events that had happened during his two week absence.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
5th November 1981
Tom and Severus were surprised when they read the newspaper the following morning. As they planned to withhold the information of my father's death for some more days, they had hoped that Skeeter would not have anything newsworthy to write about. However, they were proved wrong.
~Sirius Black in Coma
An article by Rita Skeeter
My Dear Readers,
The Auror Office still does not want to reveal who lost his life during the ambush on Fenrir Greyback's camp. However, I still have important news on the attack for you. While the majority of the injured Aurors could be swiftly healed by our expert Healers in St Mungo's, there is one patient who is still in a critical condition.
The person I'm talking about is Auror Sirius Black. He was unconscious and gravely injured when he was brought into St Mungo's four days ago. The Healers have been able to stabilize him and nearly all of his wounds are completely healed by now. However, for reasons currently unknown, the Healers are unable to wake Mr Black. "We are doing everything in our power to wake Mr Black from his coma," the Healer-in-charge stated. "We have our best researchers looking for possible solutions and are preparing to try Muggle methods to wake him up."
With Sirius Black in a coma, it is no wonder that I could not reach him for a statement about his former friend's, Peter Pettigrew, betrayal. But I would not be Rita Skeeter without getting you another statement instead. Yesterday, our ambassador Remus Lupin returned to our lovely country and on the very same evening I was able to schedule an interview with him.~
Did Lupin reveal the news about Black's coma? Severus wondered. Usually the Healers at St Mungo's took the patient's confidence very seriously, and only would reveal something to the newspaper if the patient, or in Sirius' case, Remus as the emergency contact person, had given their expressive permission. To Severus it seemed like every Marauder had suddenly gone insane.
~How awful must it be for our Ambassador to come back home from his mission aboard and find that everything has changed overnight. His lover in a coma, and the wife of his best friend dead. When asked about Peter Pettigrew's betrayal, Mr Lupin tried to evade the question. He stated that he just arrived and had not the time yet to further investigate my claims. When I assured him that Pettigrew indeed did betray his friend James Potter, he told me, "Until I have the chance to ask Peter about it myself, he'll remain innocent in my eyes." I can only hope that Peter Pettigrew is quickly arrested, so that Mr Lupin can take off the blinding glasses of friendship.
Of course, talking about Pettigrew also brought us to the death of Fenrir Greyback. On this topic, Mr Lupin was very talkative. As a werewolf himself, he has an inside view. "I'm as relieved as any other witch or wizard that Fenrir Greyback has finally been killed," he told me. "You do not know how strongly I detest Greyback and his pack of rogue werewolves. Often I've tried to at least make the members of his pack see reason and return to the right path. But I think we all know how hard is it to talk sense into a gang of criminals. That's what they were. Not werewolves, but the worst kind of CRIMINALS!" he stressed. It was obvious how this matter got to his heart.
"I hope that the witches and wizards of our country are all wise enough to not let the actions of some scum make them fear werewolves in general and be prejudiced against them. Because it is not the lynathropy that makes them kill and maim. Just think back and remembered what good people with lynathropy have done for our country. There's Isolde Skycloud who makes the most delicious cakes, pies and pastries you can find in Diagon Alley. What would a wedding or birthday be without one of her cakes?" he asked. "And there's Maximilian Mintfrog, one of the best children Healers in St Mungo's."
"And there is you," I reminded Mr Lupin. "I still remember that the public was at first very sceptical when Lord Slytherin named you as his prime ambassador. But during the last years, you've proven that you are very talented. In six months you got the Norwegian Minister of Magic to sign the agreement on the trade of local dragon potion ingredients. Something your predecessor was unable to achieve in five years," I pointed out, making Mr Lupin blush furiously. He seemed rather uncomfortable with so much praise, even if I find it is truly deserved.
But I think, my dear readers, that even without my help, Mr Lupin was able to demonstrate that even though they change into furry beasts once a month, werewolves play a very important and positive role in our society. And more importantly they should not be judged by the behaviour of some rogue werewolves that in no way represent the majority of werewolves in Britain.
Yours faithful,
Rita Skeeter~
At least this solves my problems from yesterday, Tom thought as he finished reading. While he greatly disliked that the news of Sirius' coma had been leaked, by Remus none the less, he was happy to read the last half of the front page article that showed werewolves in an as much positive light as possible.
When Remus arrived at the manor some hours later, Tom told him as much. It soon became very clear to Tom that Remus felt guilty and blamed himself for my parents' deaths and also for Sirius' coma. "If I had been there, I would have been able to stop them from blindly running into Greyback's camp," he told Tom.
"You would not," Tom said. "You should know from experience that when James and Sirius have something in their head, there is nothing that will stop them from going through with it."
"I would have been able to make them see reason," Remus said adamantly. It was obvious that he was desperate, even though it was too late to change anything now anyways.
"You wouldn't," Tom calmly answered. "They went on this suicide mission just because Greyback's beta killed Lily. They did not wait long enough to hear that Pettigrew betrayed them. Do you really believed that you would have been able to stop them when they knew all this?" Tom questioned.
Remus did not answer. Deep in his heart he knew that Sirius and James would have left. The only question would have been if he went with them or not.
"I know that you and Severus are not the best of friends, but he lost his best friend to death just like you. If you need to talk to someone that understands what you're going through, he won't push you away," Tom said, hoping that his words were true and Severus would at least take the time to listen to Remus. With Severus and the Marauders one never knew, especially since Lily was no longer there to mediate. But out of the Marauders, Remus was the one whose relationship with Severus was the least strained.
Hoping that it will help ease Remus' undeserved guilt, Tom asked," Would you mind to finish the rest of the funeral preparations for Lily and James? I already have the bodies prepared for burial, but the whole festive around it still needs to be prepared. Cards must be sent, the headstones chosen and the flowers and food ordered."
Remus accepted quickly. Seeing Sirius totally unresponsive in the hospital bed had shocked him, add all the deaths and Peter's betrayal and he was in a desperate need to feel useful. "Can I see their bodies?" he asked. He did not think that Lord Slytherin would lie about his best friend being dead, but the irrational part of his mind did not want to believe it before he saw the body.
"I'll Apparate you there," Tom offered, thankful that the restoration of James' body had been finished that morning.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
In the morning, Bellatrix had visited me with the Lestrange brothers. While the latter two were giving me a very strange look when I asked to hear their heartbeats, Bellatrix readily cuddled me to her chest and pressed my ear against her bosom so that I could listen to her heart beat. After she gave her husband and brother-in-law a stern look, they also complied with my demand and let me press my ear against their chests.
While I happily played with the Lestranges, Severus asked Bellatrix for a short private talk. When she too assured him that my newly developed fascination of listening to other people's heartbeat would vanish in due time, Severus could watch my new behaviour more carefree. When Bellatrix also promised to sit down with Draco and Narcissa to explain my parents' death to Draco, Severus was even more grateful for her.
The hard part came when Draco came over for the promised play-date in the afternoon. It was breaking all of the adult's hearts when I asked Severus if I and Draco could go and visit my mother so that I could show my friend that her heart was not beating any longer. What seemed so natural to us two children was very creepy in the eyes of the adults. A fifteen and seventeen month old child visiting and touching a corpse?
"Mummy?" Draco asked, sounding afraid, "Your heart will not stop beating if you come with us, will it?"
"It won't, my little dragon," Narcissa calmly reassured him. She deeply hoped that Draco would not get any nightmares from this.
"Promise?" he asked, still unsure. He loved his mummy very much, he did not want to lose her.
"I promise," Narcissa answered, holding out her little pinky finger, which Draco enclosed with his much smaller hand. While I had been the one who lost both of his parents, Draco seemed to be the one more scared of the concept of death.
Luckily, Draco and I did not spend more than ten minutes in the presence of my mother's corpse. It took a mere minute for me to show Draco that there was no heartbeat to be found in my mother's dead body, and Draco to point out how cold her body was before the blond cuddled into his mother's chest, being comforted by the warmth her body radiated and the heartbeat he could feel underneath his hand.
While Narcissa comforted her son, Severus stayed close by my side as we paid our respects to my mother and one more time said goodbye to the warm smile that she always readily gave to either of us. "Will you build a castle ffith I and Dwaco?" I suddenly asked Severus.
"It's me. Build a castle with me and Draco," Severus softly corrected my grammar. "And yes, I'll happily play with you."
"Can I help you build the castle?" Narcissa asked, once we were back in the living room.
"No," Draco and I said in unison. "The pretty princes cannot help build the castle," Draco clarified, melting his mother's heart with his childish sweetness.
This was the first day I did not ask about my father. I did not even use the word 'dad' except for when I was telling Draco about my parents' death. I would still be asking about him in the weeks to come, but to everyone's relief it was not on a daily basis. However, I was still asking for my mother daily, which hurt Severus more than my father's death.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
6th November 1981
"Harry, what do you think about a shopping trip?" Severus asked me the next morning. "We can buy you some new toys?" he suggested.
"Toys?" I asked.
"Yes," Severus confirmed. "Would you like to have something new to play with?"
"Yes!" I happily answered.
"He'll also need new robes," Tom pointed out. "Remus wrote me that the funeral will be the day after tomorrow."
"Mummy and Daddy will go to ffe offew wowld soon?" I asked.
"Yes, they'll soon be able to go to the other world, Harry," Severus said, keeping to the explanation from two days ago. "Two more days and they can finally cross the barrier when we lay their bodies in the ground during their funeral."
"Mummy and Daddy will be happy?" I asked, clutching my lion plush toy close to me.
"They'll miss you terribly, but they will be happy together and will always keep a watchful eye over you."
"And maybe we can look for something that they can take with them?" Tom asked.
"You can still draw a picture," Severus reminded me.
"We can buy you new crayons. I don't think your green one is the right colour for your mother's eyes," Tom said.
"Kay," I said. "Can I have mowe juice?" I asked.
"Of course," Severus answered.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
When we entered Diagon Alley we were the centre of attention. While some of it was from me and Severus being escorted by Tom and Nagini, the major reason was the front-page article Rita Skeeter published that day.
~James Potter DEAD!
An article by Rita Skeeter
My Dear Readers,
I promised you that I would not give up until I could bring the whole truth to you. With my insistent questioning and my womanly charms, I got the Auror Office to finally reveal the causality of the attack on Fenrir Greyback's camp. I can tell you, my beloved readers, that the person that sacrificed his life could not have been anyone less deserving of death.
Some of you may already have a good guess of whom I am speaking of. I'm very sadden to report to you that none-other than Auror James Potter lost his life during the fight against Greyback and his pack. Poor, little Harry Potter is now an orphan at the tender age of one! How horrible it must be for the young child to lose both of his parents in two days. And as if this is not bad enough, Sirius Black, one of Harry's two godfathers, is currently in St Mungo's lying in a coma. At least poor Harry still has his remaining godfather, Severus Snape, to take care of him. We can only hope that he is not too affected by the deaths of James and Lily Potter to take proper care of young Harry.
I strongly suspect that James Potter only went on his final mission to kill the murderer of his beloved wife. How grief-stricken must he have been to fight to the death instead of Apparating away to the safety of St Mungo's when his injuries became too life-threatening? But maybe it was his aim to be reunited with his wife and he just wanted to take as many of the bad guys with him as possible? We'll never know as the dead cannot answer questions.
We at the Daily Prophet wish young Harry all the best for his future and hope that all the tragedy of his life has already past.
Yours faithful,
Rita Skeeter~
To my great dislike, our first stop was the robe shop. Severus and I were in need of a pair of funeral robes and Tom insisted that I also get some new winter clothes. With the promise of some sweets I more or less compliantly let myself be measured and changed into different clothes for half an hour. While the seamstress was not finished with my clothes by then, even the promise of sweets did not keep me still any longer.
After we went to the sweet shop, we all popped into various shops up and down the alley searching for mementos I could put into my parents' coffins or just something Severus and Tom hopped would distract me from their deaths. When the staring eyes became too much, Tom and Severus decided to continue our shopping trip in the Muggle world to Nagini's great dismay. The snake wanted to come with us, saying that it was fun to accompany me.
"You know very well that the Muggles will go into hysterics if they see you coiled around me. And we both know that you hate it when I cast the Shrinking Charm on you so that you can fit into my pocket or coil around my under arm. And don't let me start on the Disillusion Charm which makes you itchy for days," Tom reminded her.
"I want Pretty to come with us," I added my two Knuts.
"Is there a problem?" Severus asked.
"Nagini wants to come to Muggle London with us, however she hates the Shrinking Charms and is allergic to the Disillusion Charm."
"What if we let her appear to be plush toy?" Severus suggested. "Maybe we can put her in a shopping bag and cast the spell on the bag, rather than on the snake itself."
"Pretty is coming with us?" I asked. I did not understand what Severus had said, but knowing my godfather I was hopeful that what he said was in my favour.
"Yes, she is," Tom answered and then quickly explained Severus' suggestion to Nagini who agreed to try out the new method. Five minutes later, we walked out of the Leaky Cauldron with Nagini in a transfigured and strengthened 'Toys "R" Us' bag. A Lightweight Spell was also cast on the bag so that Tom could carry her around without his arm falling off. It was amusing to Nagini and the two adult wizards how the middle aged Muggle women found it cute that I 'tried' to talk to my new plush snake by hissing at it.
Our first stop was a small café Severus liked where we had some sandwiches for lunch. From there, we went to an art shop where they bought new crayons, a colouring book and other drawing materials for me. When we walked passed a window displaying family pictures, I told Nagini, "I want such a thing for Mummy and Daddy, Pretty."
"What do you want?" Tom asked as we stopped in front of the shop.
"Ffis," I said, pointing at one of the displayed photos.
"A photo of you and your parents?" he asked.
"Yes," I cried joyfully. "And wiff Sev fow Mummy. And fow Daddy with Wemus and Siwiwus
"We can certainly make a photo of you and Severus for your mother," Tom said, but hesitated when it came to one with Sirius. "I have a camera at home. We'll take a picture once we return. Okay?" he asked.
"Okay," I answered, cuddling closer to Severus' chest. It was way past my usual nap time and I was getting tired.
"Let's return home, you can have a nap and then we'll take the pictures for your parents," Severus said and looked for an abandoned alley from which we could Apparate back.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
While I was sleeping, Lucius visited Tom and Severus.
"You look like you didn't sleep at all," Severus pointed out.
"Really?" Lucius asked sarcastically. "Draco was so scared by the thought of either I or Narcissa dying that he woke up screaming for us at around ten yesterday evening. Least to say, he didn't want to go back into his own bed, so Narcissa had to retire early. By the time I wanted to go to sleep, Draco had already made himself comfortable on my pillow and did not want to move over."
"And you do not have like ten empty guest rooms you could have slept in instead?" Tom asked.
"I will not be forced out of my own bed in my own house. Not even by my own son," was all Lucius said.
Stubborn fool, Severus thought, but let the matter rest. "Any news on Pettigrew?" he asked instead.
"Unfortunately not," Lucius admitted. "For all we know, he could have gotten on a ship in his rat form and left for the continent. And while we all would like to catch him, we cannot spare more than the Lestranges for the search. The rest have to take care of the remaining rogue werewolves before they can regroup and wreak havoc again."
"Great," Severus groaned.
"But at least Harry seemed to handle the topic of death better than Draco," Lucius pointed out. While Severus looked slightly tired, he did not have dark circles underneath his eyes like Lucius.
"Yeah, and you do not know how grateful I am that just listening to or feeling a heartbeat is all he needs to feel secure. But most surprising is the ease with which he accepted his parents' death," Severus told his friend.
"You remember that Narcissa watched after the boys when we were attacked?" Lucius asked. "She told me that opposed to Draco and Neville, Harry remained unnervingly calm in the playpen."
"I wonder if his current acceptance will change after the funeral," Tom told them. "Right now, he still can ask one of us to bring him to his parents' bodies if he wants to see them, but once we bury them, there will only be cold gravestones."
"He'll see how they get lowered into the ground and with our explanation that the bodies have to be beneath the earth to pass to the other world, I believe—or just foolishly hope—that Harry can accept that the bodies are beneath the graves," Severus said, hoping for the best.
"One can only hope," Lucius commented.
"Which reminds me," Tom interrupted. "We still haven't decided if Harry should see Sirius."
Lucius arched an eyebrow in question, which prompted Severus to explain the matter to his friend. "We suggested that Harry put something into the caskets as a final gift to his parents. Harry told us that he would like to give them a photo of himself and their friends. He especially asked for Sirius and Remus."
"If you ask me, Harry seems emotionally stable enough to visit Sirius. With your explanation of a beating heart, he should be able to understand that Sirius is not dead but just sleeping for some days."
"If not weeks or months." Tom tried to be realistic. If even Bellatrix did not know how to wake her cousin up, then it could be some time before a cure could be found.
"Maybe we can read Sleeping Beauty to him first?" Severus suggested.
"It's a good idea," Tom agreed. "Though we'll need to explain to him that unlike Aurora Sirius cannot be woken up by a kiss."
"Have they tried it?" Severus asked. "Who knows what curses the werewolves have come up with?"And it would be perfect teasing material, he thought.
Just then, Nagini entered the room. "Harry is awake," she informed Tom.
"I'll pick Harry up," Tom said and Apparated to what was now officially my room.
"Tom," I happily greeted him, holding out my hands for him to pick me up from my crib. Once I was in his arms, Tom brought me back to the living room, this time choosing to walk instead of Apparating.
After I drank some juice and Severus read Sleeping Beauty for me, he explained, with Tom's help, Sirius' current situation. I asked some questions for clarification, but in the end they decided that me seeing Sirius would be the best way to answer all my remaining questions.
"Wemus," I joyfully greeted, waving my plush lion around when I saw Remus inside Sirius' hospital room. "You awe visiting Siwius too?" I asked.
"Yes, Harry, I am. Do you want to greet Sirius?" he asked, moving away from the bed to make some room for me. I nodded in agreement. "Sirius is sleeping, so don't be mad if he does not react to you," he advised me.
"Don't worry, we already explained the situation to Harry before coming here," Severus informed Remus and then moved his attention to me. "See, Harry, Sirius' heart is still beating. Just like mine and yours."
"And he'll wake up again?" I asked, unsure. I was lying with me head on his chest, comforted by hearing his heart beat, as well as by the warmth his body radiated, but my Sirius lying so still was completely new and worried me.
"He will. We just need to figure out what the good fairy said would wake him from his sleep."
"Huwwy up!" I demanded.
"Shall we take the photos you wanted?" Tom asked softly, holding out the camera. Severus stepped back from the bed to make room for Remus. Once Remus sat on the edge of the bed, he took me onto his lap, holding me close.
"Smile fow Daddy," I demanded of both Sirius as Remus, even though only Remus could comply with my wish. Seeing that I was still happy and carefree was enough to make the adults smile.
"Now fow Mummy," I said, once Tom showed us the picture he'd taken and I nodded my head in approval.
"I think at the window would be a good place," Tom suggested. "Your mother will like the tree in the background."
Soon, I was in Severus' arms, the two of us standing in front of the enchanted window and Tom took a photo. When he showed it to me, I shook my head, not liking it. Not seeing what was wrong with the photo, Tom humoured me and took a second one. When he showed the new one to me again, it still felt wrong to me but at least this time I knew what was missing.
"Tom too," I said. "And Pretty," I added.
"Remus," Tom asked, "will you take a photo of us?"
"Sure," he said, taking the camera from Tom. "This will be your first family photo," he joked as he took he picture.
When Remus showed the photo to me, I finally nodded my head in acceptance. "Mummy will like it."
When my new family was about to step out of the hospital room, Remus asked, "Severus, do you have a few minutes?"
Having the feeling that Remus finally wanted to talk with Severus about the pain the deaths of their best friends had created, Tom said, "I'll take Harry home with me. Take your time. I'm sure I and Nagini can entertain Harry just fine."
And as if on cue, I said, "Play wiff Pwetty!" as Severus moved me from his arms to Tom's, nearly dropping my plush lion in my excitement.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Verbuar―Blinded-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
AN: The third and (hopefully) final part will be updated around X-mas and New Year.