Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.
It was just after New Year's when Severus and Remus found themselves standing outside number 4 Privet Drive, a house that looked like every single other house on the block. "Are you getting a creepy feeling from this place? It's making my skin crawl and Moony is getting restless," Remus said, eyes darting up and down the street.
"I feel it too," Snape said quietly, staring at the front door and not willing to walk any farther. "You sure about this?"
"No," Remus sighed. "I think we have to though. Just remember, I'm here with you. You're not alone."
"Thanks Remus," Snape squeezed his hand and took a deep breath before striding towards the door. "I think I'd rather be heading to a meeting of the Dark Lord's inner circle than entering this house. If we must though…"
Snape knocked on the door and they both held their breaths waiting. Just a minute later, the door swung open as Petunia Dursley stared at them with narrowed eyes. "What are you two doing here? We were told the freak offed himself. We shouldn't see any of your kind anymore."
"Hi Tuney, long time no see," Snape growled at her words.
"Leave my lawn at once!" She snapped.
"Stupify!" Remus called as Snape levitated her body inside the house before she could hit the ground.
Two more stunners were thrown out by Remus as Dudley and Vernon both hit the floor of the sitting room where Snape deposited Petunia. "Who first?" Remus asked.
"I'll start with Lily's sister, though I doubt there is any love for her nephew by our reception at the door," Snape snarled. "Legilimens!" He called as he stared into Petunia's stunned eyes.
Several minutes later, Snape stumbled back and grabbed onto the end table covered in garish doilies to steady himself. "Bad?" Remus asked.
"Bad," Snape said simply. "I'll do the boy next. From what I saw in her mind, I think the uncle is going to be the worst."
Dudley Dursley had Snape clutching at his sides and gasping for air. "What did you see?!" Remus asked, putting an arm around Snape to steady him.
"That boy! That monster! Is a sociopath! He's well on his way to becoming the worst of our society. He has all the marks of a future murderer or even serial killer. He hurts without remorse, kills small animals, and feels no love or empathy towards anyone."
"Merlin! Has he killed a person yet?" Remus gasped.
"No, but he needs mental health intervention or he will definitely be heading in that direction," Snape explained. "He's done enough to Harry and others to send him to prison, even if he hasn't killed anyone yet.
"Hopefully the uncle is better then," Remus tried to help as he kept one eye on the teenager.
"From what I saw in Petunia's head, I doubt it," Snape hesitantly walked over to Vernon. This time he really did collapse on the floor, tears streaming down his face.
"Tell me, what happened?" Remus asked.
Snape shook his head. "No, Moony can't know!" Snape said vehemently. "You can't know."
"Is it that bad? Merlin, obviously it's that bad," Remus growled in frustration.
"It could be worse, but it's bad enough," Snape shook his head, trying to dispel the images of his son being beaten and starved and told he was worthless every day of his life. How did he survive so long under this roof? Snape asked himself.
"I can't believe we just left him here!" Remus wrung his hands in frustration.
"Remus, if I asked you to return to Hogwarts and mention to several people that I was brewing in the dungeons, would you do that for me?" Snape asked calmly with a pleading look in his eyes.
"You're asking me to give you an alibi," Remus said slowly, no question in the statement.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking…" Snape looked into the werewolf's eyes with conviction.
Remus looked around the immaculate house and the monsters stunned on the sitting room floor. "I would," he told Snape with a nod. "I want you to really consider this though. You have Harry and Castor to think about now. How would this affect them? What if you are caught? Any alibi I give will be suspect because I'm who would be assumed to have the most motive to hurt or kill them. Would Harry want you to do this? Are you sure you can't tell me what they did?"
"You would kill them without question," Snape nodded to Lupin. "I know how much control you have; I'm not saying anything against you, but Harry is Moony's cub. I wouldn't blame him for a second if he wanted to come out and play; hell, I'd help him."
Remus nodded, his face extremely pale. "Can we turn them over to the authorities, either magical or muggle?"
Snape thought for a minute. "Maybe, but Harry's guardians weren't listed on any official documents to keep him safer from the Dark Lord, so no one really knows who they are, and definitely not where they live. Neither of us can go to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement without them asking how we know this information. I have no reason to know, and it would be odd for you to have just found out months after Harry disappeared. Besides, it would get back to Dumbledore cause even more problems."
Lupin pinned him with a look. "You're the spy and a Slytherin. Is there a more subtle way of getting the information to the DMLE?"
Snape rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration. Sometimes he really just wanted to take the easy way out and kill the bastards. "Yes, probably."
"And, what do you believe Harry would want? Would hurting them help him or betray him?" Remus asked, genuinely not sure about the answer to the question but willing to go with whatever Severus said.
"Fine," Snape growled. "I've been around Harry too long. I hear his voice in my head now. Things were so much easier before people counted on me; you know."
"Easier, not better," Remus gave him a sad smile.
Snape straightened and pointed his wand at each muggle saying, "Obliviate."
Remus cancelled his stunning curses as they closed the door behind themselves. "What will they remember?"
"Nothing, I erased everything since right before we knocked."
Remus looked down the street. "Did Harry ever say which house was Castor's original family's?"
Snape followed his eyes. "No. I wish he had though. That's another house I'd like to visit."
"So, what next?" Remus asked.
"We need to go see a couple teenagers," Snape growled. Severus apparated both of them to Hogsmeade and angrily trudged towards the castle. Remus recognized his need for silence and followed along behind him until they reached the Slytherin common room. "Wait for a moment."
Snape disappeared into the dorms and returned after a minute with Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini.
"I thought you both left for the holiday?" Remus asked in confusion.
"We just got back, my mum had some international business the last few days of break," Blaise explained.
"What's going on?" Draco asked as Snape led them all to his office.
Before he answered, Snape threw up some seriously high-level locking and silencing charms. "I need to ask something of you that is highly inappropriate for me to ask," Snape warned them. "If you say no, then I won't think any less of either of you. Please consider the consequences of what I'm asking you before you decide."
Blaise and Draco looked between Snape and Lupin with twin looks of concern and also determination. "What is it, Uncle Sev?" Draco spoke up for them both.
"I'm asking you both to have a conversation. This conversation needs to within hearing of Ms. Susan Bones," Snape said with a telling raise of his eyebrow.
"Of course," Blaise nodded, understanding exactly what he was asking. "What would you like Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE, to know?"
Snape nodded in approval of Blaise's understanding. "Draco, you remember what the headmaster told you about the late Mr. Potter?"
Blaise gasped. "It's true? He's dead?"
Snape glanced at Remus who seemed to have the same thought. They hadn't caught it before, but Harry had distanced himself mentally so much from his former life with the Dursleys, that yes, it really was true that the Harry Potter from Privet Drive no longer existed. He couldn't function at the level he was if not. "It's true," Snape said, believing it to actually be the truth in that moment.
Draco's face hardened with conviction, looking very Gryffindor. "How can we help?"
"Mr. Potter's former address, and where his relatives currently live, is number 4 Privet Drive in Surrey," Snape informed them.
"Draco, mate, I think I would like to discuss a conversation I accidentally overheard between Dumbledore and McGonagall. Once that had some wonderfully juicy gossip about our missing Golden Boy, maybe in the library," Blaise smiled at his friend. "I think Ms. Bones got back early as well and was there studying when I went by earlier to pick up a book."
"In this conversation, feel free to make up whatever horrors you can imagine that relates to child abuse," Snape gave them a pointed look. "Make it bad enough that she would pass on the information and that her aunt would find it shocking enough to investigate."
"Merlin," Draco shook his head sadly.
"You sure you don't want this conversation to happen in front of Theodore Nott?" Blaise asked. "I think justice might move a little faster."
"I vote with Blaise," Draco agreed.
Snape looked to Lupin almost pleadingly. "Boys," Lupin looked over at them with a sigh. "I don't think Harry would want us to turn his relatives over to the Dark Lord to be tortured and killed. Severus won't tell me exactly what he learned about the situation, but I'm just going by what I know of Harry."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, that would be very Gryffindor of him."
"If Susan doesn't go to her aunt, then can we tell the Dark Lord?" Blaise asked hopefully.
"I would support that," Snape agreed.
"Sure," Lupin shrugged. "As long as someone handles them and soon."
"Thank you," Snape gave them both a tight smile. "Keep this between us as much as you can, ok? Also, let's keep up the pretense that Potter is in training if at all possible for now."
Blaise snorted, "We're Slytherin, did you think you were talking to Gryffindors?"
"Of course not," Snape smirked.
After Blaise and Draco left to plan their conversation, Severus owled the twins an explanation of their plan. The return letter was steeped in foul language that boiled down to the twins agreeing with the teenagers. They gave the DMLE plan one week, and if nothing had been done, they vowed to find the nearest Death Eater and pass on all the information they could about the Dursleys and imply the muggles knew more information about the war than they actually did to ensure the Dark Lord's attention. Severus passed the letter to Remus who smirked a very Snape-like smirk at the twins' plan.
"James would really like those boys," Remus said. He looked over at Severus before he got an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, I forget sometimes."
Snape shook his head. "No, you were friends. I know that my experiences with him were bad, but he did eventually grow up. And, I truly believe he would have cared for my son as his own. At least better than those people."
"That's for sure," Remus said, pulling Severus into his arms. "Well, hopefully they enjoy their one week, because one way or another, that's all they have left of their freedom."
The first day back in classes after break was a long day with Potions at the end. Harry was tired, Castor was tired, everyone was tired. Luckily, Castor had fallen asleep when Harry placed him in the play area behind the chalkboard. He just hoped the baby slept through the entire class. Snape had the class brewing a blood replenishing potion that was highly complicated. Harry had been working with Draco since Hermione had rushed to ask Pansy before Draco could. Draco was grumbling over some complicated ingredient that just wasn't being cooperative as he tried to juice it while Harry stirred continuously. Halfway through stirring, the baby monitor started vibrating.
Harry looked up, but Snape was on the other side of the room either making fun of or trying to salvage Ron and Seamus's potion, he wasn't sure which. He tried to ignore the monitor while finishing the last 20 stirs, then he could check on Castor. 17, 18, 19, 20…right, now…(POP!). As Harry, turned to check on the baby, a loud pop sounded in the room, and Harry was holding an armful of laughing baby.
Snape whipped his head around, as well as most of the class. "Did he just apparate?" Draco gaped at the baby.
"You can't apparate within Hogwarts?" Hermione said, exasperatedly.
"Then what do you call what just happened?!" Draco turned to her.
Harry took a breath. This was an important moment, he acknowledged to himself. It was Castor's first accidental magic. He would not react in anger or fear like his relatives had. He had to be better than them. He had to let his son know it was ok. He took a breath and smiled at the baby. "I'm so proud of you!" He hugged Castor. "You're such a good boy, coming to find me! I love you so much!" Harry kissed his head and his cheeks and his nose, causing Castor to laugh and clap more.
Snape cleared his throat, finally accepting what happened. He walked over as Harry looked at his father with scared eyes. He didn't know how Snape would react. He hoped he had reacted ok. "Good boy, Castor!" Snape smiled and rubbed Castor's back, also planting a kiss on his head. "That was some impressive, accidental magic."
The class devolved into chaos as the rest of the students figured out that it must have been Castor's first accidental magic. They all forgot their potions and started patting him on his back and telling him how smart he was. It seemed that house rivalry disappeared in the face of cute babies and their scared parent and grandparent as both Slytherins and Gryffindors supported him, or maybe it was just the Selkie aura taking effect. Harry smiled over Castor's head at Ron who gave him a nod, knowing how Harry's relatives had reacted to his accidental magic and supporting his friend in how he handled his own son's. Snape ended up dismissing the class early as every single potion was ruined, and he couldn't bring himself to even be angry at that fact.
The next morning after Castor's Selkie version of apparition, the baby proved that it wasn't that accidental. He popped into his father's arms no less than three times as Harry was trying to get ready for class. Having missed breakfast because of the delay in getting ready, Harry ended up having to call Dobby to feed and take care of Castor during his first class. As he was grabbing his bag to leave, Castor, who was at the table eating porridge with Dobby, turned and reached out to him one more time. "Da, da, da," Castor smiled and waved his tiny hand.
Harry immediately dropped his bag and ran over to his son. Forget Transfiguration, it was worth being late for his son's first word. "You called me Dada! Cas, you're the smartest baby in the whole wide world. I love you so much; Dada loves you so much!" Several minutes later, Harry didn't notice or care about the porridge handprints on his robes as he dazedly headed to class very late.
Harry detoured by his dad's chambers, knowing he and Remus both had a free period that morning, and pushed open the portrait. He stuck his head in to see the two men reading on the couch. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Snape asked with a concerned look.
"Castor said Dada this morning! His first word! His first word was my name!" With that, Harry closed the portrait hole, smirking from his gloating when he finally did walk towards Transfiguration and, probably, an angry McGonagall.
Snape leaned over to Lupin, "Yesterday evening he said Gee-Pa," Snape smiled. "Which is obviously Grandpa. I win, he said my name first, but don't tell Harry."
Lupin kissed him and then leaned back to his reading, but this time with a very sly look on his face. He knew that yesterday morning Castor had said "Moo," when Remus held him. So, obviously, Moony was his first word, but he could keep that to himself.
It was almost a week since the trip to Privet Drive. Remus searched the castle looking for the potions master. He wasn't in his rooms, the potions lab, or the Great Hall. The werewolf finally found his partner out by the lake, bundled up and watching the giant squid try to break the ice. "What're you doing out here in the cold?" Lupin said as he scooted closer to Snape who cast a warming charm on them both.
"Just thinking about what happens after this year. Arcturus will graduate, we'll probably be leaving, and well, everything will change," Snape shrugged. "I've gotten used to being here. It might not have been my first choice for a career, but I've gotten comfortable."
"So, you don't know if you are excited or sad to leave," Remus agreed with the emotion. "You've been here much longer than me, but I know the feeling."
"Yes," Snape looked around and, not seeing any students, put his arm around the DADA professor. "Was there anything you came to find me for specifically or did you just want company?"
"Ah, actually yes," Remus said, sitting up more and looking at Snape. "Kingsley Shacklebolt reached out because he thought I would want to know. The Dursley's have been arrested by the muggle police. He said the aurors were tipped off by a rumor, which we know where that came from, and they went to investigate. They confirmed the rumors and turned the evidence over to muggle law enforcement. Nothing is in the papers yet, and probably won't be until they're sentenced since it's being handled in the muggle courts, but at least it's moving forward."
Snape frowned at him and looked across the lake pensively. "Isn't this what we wanted?" Lupin asked him, concerned at the look. "They've been arrested."
Snape shrugged. "They deserve Azkaban, the uncle anyway, not some cushy muggle prison."
Lupin sighed. "They've been arrested now; will you tell me what all they did? I know you feel that it's betraying Harry, but it's obviously eating you up inside. Let me share the burden."
And, so, Severus did. He told Lupin everything he saw in the Dursley's minds. The werewolf listened quietly and held onto the other man's arm the whole time. Snape looked at him as he was finishing and trying to blink away the tears. He looked into the glowing, amber eyes of a werewolf, gone was Remus Lupin, Moony was looking out at him. "They deserve the dementors," the werewolf growled.
Up Next: Moony's turn...
