Raising Harry

PetuniaxSeverus, Harry

Rated T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling

Raising Harry

Chapter 25: Severus and Harry say Goodbye to Petunia & Harry faces the First Task

Severus had woken up at five-thirty the following morning, his internal clock programmed to wake him at that time. However he did not start moving around as he usually did. No, instead he lay next to his lover and watched her continue to sleep peacefully, her head resting on his chest, her blonde hair splayed out. Her bed sheets were covering their waists, exposing their bare upper bodies to the slightly cool air of the house, though Severus felt nothing but warmth from Petunia. Merlin, he was going to miss her over the next weeks. He wasn't sure when she and Black were going to actively start searching for the Horcruxes within the week, but knew it would be soon, most likely today since Albus suggested they start this week.

He continued to lay there in silence, the room beginning to light as the morning sun peaked over the horizon through her window. Five minutes before the hour Petunia moaned softly as she woke up, her blue eyes blurrily opening before locking on the strong, bare chest covered in (what she thought) the perfect amount of chest hair; it was very much attractive along with the muscles adorning the man's body (1). Severus probably wasn't even aware of how sexy and ripped his physique was. Speaking of Severus, Petunia lifted her head to gaze up into black eyes looking down at her, the dark orbs shining with the love they held for her.

"Good morning," Petunia whispered as she smiled at Severus.

"Good morning," Severus replied softly, his hand sliding up her bare back, causing her to shiver slightly.

Petunia moved so that she was sitting up a bit, but not enough to break contact with the wizard before asking, "What time do you have to take Harry back?"

Severus turned his head to look at the clock on the woman's nightstand and saw that it read six o' clock AM. Doing some quick thinking in his head he answered, "Eight o' clock, eight-thirty at the latest. The First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament doesn't start until after lunch at one, not to mention who knows how long it will take for all four champions to get through the task."

Nodding Petunia sighed and said sadly, "And I suppose I won't see him for Christmas then. I probably won't see you either."

"I'm sorry." His voice was soft as he caressed Petunia's hair soothingly.

The blonde witch sniffled a bit as tears formed in her eyes before hugging her lover close, burying her face in his neck. Her tears fell down her cheeks as she whispered, "I'm so scared. I'm so scared for Harry, afraid he's going to get hurt. I'm scared I'm going to lose him because of this stupid tournament. I'm also afraid of going out to look for these pieces of soul. I know I won't be alone, but I don't know what to do; I have no idea what I'll be facing. I just…I just…"

Petunia's speech broke off into a sob, causing Severus to sit up completely as he held his love, allowing her to cry while his own chest constricted in pain. He didn't like any of this either, nor the fact that he too was afraid for what could happen to the two most important people in his life. Harry was, starting today, facing the toughest thing yet in his life as a Hogwarts student while Petunia, a newfound witch and found to be so powerful as to rival Merlin himself, was being sent by a manipulative old fool to find Horcruxes with the very little training and knowledge she had. He could kill Albus for allowing either of these things to happen. Damn him, the Ministry, and whatever else he could think of at the moment.

When Petunia seemed to be getting better control of herself, he slightly pulled away from her and gently cupped her face. Looking into her blue eyes he said, "I'm afraid too, but we have to be strong throughout all of this. And I promise to look after Harry throughout all of this. Petunia, I know you can do this assignment Albus has given you. Of course we both know he's doing it to keep you away from Harry so he can get a better hold on him, but I won't let him. But for now, just concentrate on what needs to be done. After all, you're doing this for Harry, and I can't wait for the day you come back to me."

Petunia gave Severus a loving smile and wiped her tears before pressing her lips against his in a love filled kiss. When she pulled away she said, "I love you, Severus."

Severus smiled and kissed her forehead before replying, "I love you, too."

By seven-thirty Petunia, Harry, and Severus had all eaten a breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, fruit, and orange juice; Severus had his usual black coffee. None of them spoke about the fact that Harry was to take on his first challenge as a Tri-Wizard Champion, nor did Severus or Petunia bring up the fact that she would be out hunting Horcruxes with Sirius. They kept talk peaceful and light until breakfast was over, to which Petunia sent Harry upstairs to shower. She and Severus had shared a shower together before getting dressed and waking up the Fourth Year Ravenclaw.

When the clock struck eight, Severus cleared his throat and said, "Harry, it's time to return to Hogwarts."

Harry gave the Potions Master a sad look and asked, "Do I have to go back?"

"I'm afraid so. You're expected for the First Task."

"I don't want to do it."

Petunia gave her nephew a sad smile before walking over to him and wrapping him in a warm hug. As she held him close she said, "I don't want you to leave either, but I know you can do it, sweetheart. You're so much stronger and braver than you think. And though I hate to think about it, you've faced three-headed dogs, a corrupted professor, giant spiders, giant snakes, Dementors, and werewolves and came out alright, if not scathed. Harry, I believe in you and I know you can tackle this stupid tournament like you did everything else your first three years at Hogwarts. Just have faith in yourself and know that I'm rooting for you, even if I'm not there. And don't forget that Severus and your friends are there for you as well."

Harry nodded and hugged his aunt, softly thanking her for her reassurance. He too knew he probably wouldn't see her for a few months as long as this tournament went on, not to mention he'd miss Christmas with her next month because of the Yule Ball (something Hermione told him about). Therefore he was glad that he got to spend this time with her, despite how brief it was.

Severus summoned Harry's school bag and books from his room upstairs, watching as how his bag came down along with his books, quill, closed ink pot, and parchment paper came down and into his bag. He caught one of the pieces of parchment, noticing that it was the boy's Potions report. Deciding not to read it just yet, he looked at the length and noticed that Harry still needed two more feet before it was ready for submission. Putting it into his bag he said, "Time to go, Harry."

The fourteen year old nodded and pulled away from Petunia, taking his bag from the older wizard. Just as they were headed towards the back door, a knock on the front caught their attention. Frowning Petunia went to it and opened it, her frown turning into a scowl at seeing the one person she loathed to see on her doorstep.

"Odette," Petunia said in annoyance.

"Petunia, good morning," Odette Gibbons replied in that annoying, snooty way of hers.

"It was."

"Don't be like that, Petunia." Odette brushed past Petunia into her home before speaking again. "I just came to remind you about the singles party the HOA is hosting. Maybe we'll actually see you there, for once of course."

Petunia's eye twitched as she said evenly, "Actually no, I won't be attending. I'm not single anymore, and haven't been for nearly three years now."

Odette's eyes widened momentarily before she laughed and said, "Oh, that was a good one. I almost bought it, Petunia. But seriously though, we hope to see you there."

Before Petunia could reply, her lover's deep baritone spoke up saying, "I believe she told you she wouldn't be attending."

Petunia looked back to see that both Severus and Harry had shown up behind the annoying bitch, Severus' voice startling the woman and causing her to turn around. His black eyes glared down at the overly tanned Muggle, causing her to take a step back in fear as he stood menacingly behind her. Odette looked back at Petunia before asking, "Who is this man?"

"My lover, Severus Snape. Severus, this is the bane of my existence, Odette Gibbons."

Severus looked at the intruding woman before saying curtly, "Pleasure."

"L-Likewise," Odette stammered. Seeing that her presence was no longer needed, nor wanted, she quickly cleared her throat and headed towards the still open front door. She had wanted to come and embarrass her rival, rubbing it in her face that she could get no man with her plain looks and such, especially with a child; she loved sticking it to Petunia when she could, despite the blonde woman giving back as good as she got, if not worse. But she wasn't expecting her to actually have someone, not to mention he was tall and ruggedly handsome. Hell, even she could see his muscles through that strange garb he was wearing! Clearing her throat again she turned to Petunia and said, "Well, I suppose I'll be going now. It was lovely speaking with you, Petunia."

"I wish I could say the same," Petunia replied.

Harry grinned and said, "You might want to touch up your roots again, Ms. Gibbons. I can see your green."

Odette gave a horrified gasp before placing her hand on top of her head right over her roots. She glared at Harry and gave Petunia a hateful look as the other woman smirked at her before she stomped away, hurrying to get into her car. As she drove off Severus asked, "Green?"

Petunia closed her front door and chuckled before answering, "Back when Dumbledore first brought Harry to live with me and after he got accustomed to staying with me, I encountered Odette at the store while I was buying baby supplied. She decided to give a few jabs about me having another child to fill the void of losing Dudley and Vernon so soon. She pissed me off and I brought up the fact she couldn't have any children to her to get her out of my face. Harry caught on to my foul mood due to Odette and thus used accidental magic, on purpose, to turn her hair green. It hasn't turned back to its original color in thirteen years."

Severus raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry who grinned up at him proudly. Shaking his head he murmured, "At just one, you were already into trouble." Ignoring Harry's chuckle he beckoned the boy to follow him to the backyard. The three of them exited the house and Harry gave Petunia one more hug, holding her close as he said, "Goodbye, mum. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, my love. You take care of yourself," Petunia replied before kissing him on his forehead. When Harry let go, Severus stepped up to her. Black eyes looked into blue before he said, "I'll watch out for him, and you promise to take care of yourself."

Nodding the blonde replied, "I will, Severus."

She wrapped her arms around the younger man and held him close, reveling in the feel of his body against her own. He too wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his body and savoring the feel of her, engraving it into his mind knowing he wouldn't see her for who knew how long. Pulling away he dropped a passion filled kiss to her lips. Breaking the kiss he whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Severus pressed something into her hand before turning and walking over to Harry and taking his arm. The two of them looked at Petunia and gave her sad smiles before Side-Apparating away, leaving Petunia by herself. Petunia swallowed the lump in her throat as tears threatened to fill her eyes and spill over. Blinking them away she looked down into her hand to see what Severus had given her and found a piece of folded paper. Wondering what it could be she unfolded it and read the written words upon it.

To destroy the Horcruxes, use Basilisk venom or Fiendfyre. Ask Black about the last option.

It was five minutes to one, and Harry stood nervously in the tent with the other three champions as they waited for the First Task to begin. He was already informed by Hagrid that he would be facing off against a dragon, to which he shared this information with Cedric Diggory. Hermione had stopped by to give him some encouragement, to which led to a surprise hug, followed by Rita Skeeter taking a picture of it and claiming it to be "young love". He rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the statement from the Daily Prophet writer that twisted facts to her liking. She even wrote that he was tweleve—tweleve!—when he specifically told her several times he was fourteen.

Barty Crouch had already told them what they were to do, which was retrieve a golden egg from the dragon of their choosing for the task to be completed. And it literally was their choosing, for he had them pull miniature versions of four dragons out of a bag. There was a Chinese Fireball, a Swedish Short-Snout, and Common Green Welsh, and a Hungarian Horntail, the worst of the four. And just his luck, Harry pulled that one.

Before they knew it, they could hear Professor Dumbledore welcoming everyone to the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, explaining to the crowd what each champion would have to do as they faced off against a dragon, as well as telling them that Cedric would be the first of the four to go first. As Cedric walked out of the tent to the cheering of the crowd, a hand placed itself on his shoulder. Startled Harry looked up into the piercing brown eyes of Viktor Krum.

"V-Viktor," Harry said surprised.

Viktor looked down at Harry for a moment before giving him a reassuring smile and saying, "Fear not, Harry. You vill do vell, you vill see."

Harry gave the Bulgarian a smile before thanking him. He hadn't really spoken to the Durmstrang champion, if at all, and was surprised that he had spoken to him first. He supposed it didn't matter, though. Even if they were going against each other to come out on top, they were in it together. After listening to the crowd gasp and cheer, and listening to the dragon roar and snap at Cedric from inside the tent for a while, Viktor spoke again.

"You friends with Her-Herm-Her…"

"Hermione," Harry gave, pitying the older wizard. He knew saying his friend's name was probably hard on him, especially with his accent.

Nodding Viktor said, "Yes her. She is your friend, yes?" When Harry nodded he continued. "She is single, yes?"

Harry looked flabbergasted at Viktor, shocked he had asked him that. Opening his mouth he began uncomfortably, "Uh, well she-"

He was cut off as the crowd outside erupted into a loud cheer, followed by Cedric running inside the tent with a golden egg in his hands, as well as burns on his face. He was quickly rushed away to see Madame Pompfrey in the Hospital Wing who was waiting for them in the event they were injured as Fleur exited the tent into the arena after she was announced to face her dragon. Once she was gone and it was obvious she had started the First Task, Viktor turned back to Harry to await his answer about Hermione.

"Hermione…well, you see…she's not really…I mean, she's not s-seeing anyone…just yet." Gosh, he felt so uncomfortable talking about Hermione's non-existent love life. And especially to someone obviously into her if he's asking whether she was single or not.

Viktor nodded and said, "So she single. She tell me she fifteen but Fourth Year."

Nodding Harry replied, "Yeah, she's one of the oldest of our class.

"Smart vitch, too."

"Very. She's top of our class, along with our friend Draco."

"You mean little vhite haired vizard that stick vith you and Herm…Hermy. Is he interested in her or just friend?"

Again, Harry was baffled by the question, considering he too knew the answer to this one as well. However, or luckily if he thought about it, Fleur walked inside the tent with her egg and her skirt torched, signaling Viktor to go and face off against his pulled dragon. As soon as he was gone, Harry gave a sigh of relief. He really hadn't wanted to think about any of that, especially before facing off against the Hungarian Horntail.

Time passed and before Harry knew it, Viktor had reentered the tent and soon his name was being called as the last champion to face a dragon. Taking a deep breath he walked out of the tent to the cheering crowd in the stands overlooking the arena. Looking around he spotted Draco, Hermione, Gregory, Vincent, Susan, and Neville all seated together and cheering for him, though Hermione's face was etched in worry. He looked around again and spotted Severus who was looking down at him with his usual hard expression, but he could tell his eyes were also filled with worry. Before he could look around more, a loud snarl met his ears.

Whirling around Harry came face to face with the Hungarian Horntail, the large dragon glaring and snapping at him while chained by the neck. And just underneath it was the golden egg he was meant to retrieve. Holding his wand tightly in his grip, Harry began to edge around the arena, keeping a close eye on the Horntail while also trying to figure out what he should do to get the egg. Deciding to do something, he threw a Stunning Spell at the dragon, hitting it in its side. The Hungarian Horntail roared before swinging its tail at Harry, Harry dodging it and running to hide behind a large boulder. The dragon then breathed fire at the boulder, engulfing it for the most part. The crowd gasped in horror, none of them really able to see Harry behind the burning boulder.

Hermione grabbed Draco's arm tightly, holding onto it as she shook in fear. Draco's grey eyes watched the scene in front of them, his free hand patting Hermione's comfortingly, though he too was afraid for Harry. When Hermione's grip on him tightened as the Horntail continued to breathe fire at the rock Harry was hiding behind, he looked down at her and said, "He'll be alright, you'll see."

"Y-Yeah, of course," Hermione replied, laying her head over on his shoulder while still staring into the arena.

Beside them Susan was holding tightly to Gregory's hand as they watched what was happening. Vincent and Neville were also worried about their friend, but at the vantage point they were at, they could perfectly see Harry and could see that he was alright. In fact, he was casting the Aguamenti Spell to counter the fire being breathed at him, causing steam to roll up. So much steam was created that it was actually beginning to get hard for them to see anything.

Harry saw opportunity and summoned his Firebolt, using the created steam as a cover. Hearing it coming, he looked up and saw his broomstick coming his way and ran through the steam and jumped up, landing on his broom and flying up into the air. The crowd cheered, Hermione and Susan jumping up and down happily to see that he was alright. Harry flew above the arena, eyeing the dragon's large body as it finally stopped breathing fire and began searching for him through the steam. Harry knew he couldn't swoop down and get the golden egg, not with the Horntail that close. Wracking his brain for an appropriate spell to distract the dragon, he finally thought of one and pointed his wand at the large creature that finally spotted him.

"Obscuro!" Harry encanted, a large blindfold wrapping around the Horntail's head and over his eyes. The Hungarian Horntail roar loudly and began thrashing around wildly, its tail hitting the walls of the arena. Knowing his time was limited Harry flew down towards it and threw another spell at it shouting, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The Hungarian Horntail's entire body began to freeze right where it was before ultimately falling over onto its side, the Full Body-Bind Curse taking over its body. The crowd below him cheered as Harry gave a sigh of relief before flying down to the egg and grabbing it up in his hand. He flew around showing the people that he got the egg, the onlookers cheering loudly at his accomplishment. Seeing his friends he flew over to them and jumped off of his broom right to them, landing between Hermione and Draco. His friends wrapped their arms around him in congratulations and elation, Gregory, Vincent, Susan, and Neville doing the same, all of them happy that their friend made it out alive. Their group hug however was interrupted when Dumbledore's voice, by use of the Sonorus Charm, spoke, "Congratulations, Mr. Potter! But you must come down now!"

Harry's friends let him go before Vincent said, "Harry, we've got to celebrate."

"Sure, that sounds great," Harry replied with a smile.

Hermione hugged Harry once more and kissed his cheek before Draco gave him a pat on his shoulder. Harry then jumped back out onto his broom that was still hovering next to them and flew down into the tent where Severus was waiting. Getting off of his Firebolt he grinned up at Severus and said happily, "I did it!"

The Potions Master bestowed upon him one of his rare, public smiles and ruffled his hair affectionately. Taking the boy's broom he said, "Congratulations. I know you're eager to see your friends, as I'm sure they are waiting to celebrate your accomplishment. But don't think you will go to them just yet. You need to be looked over by Madame Pompfrey before you can do anything."

"But I feel fine."

Severus raised an eyebrow before waving his wand over the Ravenclaw student, a roll of parchment unraveling before him. Blinking Harry asked, "What's that?"

"Your diagnostic." Black eyes looked over it before looking down to see green ones looking up at him. "You've got first, going on second degree burns on your back and the back of your arms. Go see Madame Pompfrey so she can heal you so as to not cause any scarring."

Harry nodded replied, "Yes sir."

The dark haired wizard watched the boy walk away with his golden egg before shaking his head. He had to admit to himself that he was very worried about what would happen to Harry against that Horntail, but he didn't once believe he wouldn't be able to get that egg. He was proud of him and knew Petunia would be as well.

Author's Note: (1) For Severus' body, I referenced the hell out of Hugh Jackman's body, especially as Wolverine from the X-Men series (insert dreamy sigh). Thanks to everyone that reads this chapter and has been reading, and I hope you like it and stay tuned for what's next. See you guys next chapter! XOXO, SehunsBae37.