Chapter 9: Stranger In The Midst
Strange Bedroom,The Potter Residence, The Burrows, Wizarding World...
Gasping for breath, Regulus Snape awoke to find himself in the center of a large four poster bed with soft covers and plush pillows. The last thing he recalled had been jumping between a pasty red head and her little boy with strangely familiar green eyes. He found that he had been shirtless, a possible method in a bid to heal him properly and that his shirt right along with his jeans had been in the chair on the opposite side of the room. He had felt no residual pain from the hex or whatever it had been but the force of it knocked him out cold.
The raven haired wizard slicked his hair back from his face, a seemingly compulsive gesture on his part given how much he resembled his late father. He moved rather slowly finding his muscles had been more than a little stiff from his involuntary nap courtesy of some robed idiot. As he sat up in a bid to get up off the bed, the bedroom door opened to find a familiar sight before him.
Amber eyes met those of obsidian as Hermione Granger-Weasley entered the room with a bowl of hot soup and crackers. Regulus smiled a bit when he saw her recognizing the beautiful witch instantly.
"Well...well..." he said pleased to see her. "We ought to stop meeting like this, you barging through doors and me naked...well half naked in this case...and it's good that you've brought food instead of painful hexes."
Hermione shook her head.
"Of all the people for my sister in law to bring home she picks up the cheeky American stray that looks a lot like my former Potions Professor." she countered.
"So she has an impressive wit to go along with the gorgeous body." said Regulus arching his eyebrows in a rather suggestive manner.
"Stop it git, I happen to be a married woman you know." she said setting the tray containing his would be supper on the end table beside the bed.
Regulus looked over at the door, noting that it had been half closed and with speed and grace reminiscent of the late Potions Professor, he pulled Hermione to him once her hands were free of the tray.
"I noticed that you didn't say that you were happily married." he said with an arched brow as he held her close to his bare chest.
"If you don't want to be the victim of another painful hex, you will let me go." she said in warning.
Regulus did as she requested having had his fill of her wrath for now.
"As you wish." he said letting her step back from him.
The apparent heat behind his obsidian eyes seemed to make her all the more nervous. Hermione made her way to the door trying her best to suppress the images of their first encounter where she walked in on him bedding a common whore with a degree of sexual prowess she had never witnessed before.
"Thanks for the grub." he said letting the sheet that covered him drop and causing her to gasp in the assumption that he had been as naked as before.
He had been wearing a pair of boxer shorts but the outline of his impressive appendage could still be seen no matter how hard the amber eyed witch tried to unsee it.
Regulus chuckled rather darkly and turned his attention to the bowl of warm soup. He had not been hungry when he awoke but seeing it seemed to stimulate his dormant appetite. He sat on the edge of the bed and began to shovel spoonfuls of the mixed vegetables into his mouth.
Ordinarily, Hermione would have been put off by someone eating like they had little to no formal training in terms of manners but this strange American seemed to make rushed eating into an art form. He clearly put Ron to shame finishing in record time and drinking down the glass of iced tea she had set aside from him while he polished off the crackers.
Before leaving, the married witch wondered how long it had been since the poor wizard actually had a meal, let alone a hot one.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The Kitchen, The Potter Residence, Wizarding World...
Harry James Potter had been finishing off the last of his coffee when Hermione came into the kitchen. She had seemed a bit shaken but quickly came to her senses as she sat down in an empty chair and shifted her focus to her best friend.
"Are you alright Mione?" asked Harry inquisitively.
"I-I'm fine Harry." replied the amber eyed witch. "That strange bloke is awake in case you are interested."
"The American bloke that saved Ginny and Sev?" asked the green eyed wizard. "Excellent."
"I don't see what's so excellent about it?" asked Hermione annoyed by his enthusiasm. "He's bloody rude and arrogant...and pushy."
"I know." replied Harry with a sigh. "I believed that too the first time I met him but he saved my life during a fight with one of those strange new cult wizards...and today he shows up just in time to save my wife and son."
"Apparently his little fan club is growing." muttered Hermione.
"Don't be like that Mione." said the green eyed wizard in a charming tone. "I'm sure he's just feeling a bit out of place given that he's in a new country and all that...maybe he isn't a bad as you think."
"And maybe he is." replied Hermione with a sigh. "Ever since Professor Snape died you've gone out of your way to see good in people and the truth still remains that it's not always possible to tell the difference, Harry."
"I-I made a mistake with Professor Snape." said the green eyed wizard softly. "I don't intend to do that with this bloke."
"Just be careful Harry." said Hermione being cautious. "There has to be a reason why everyone seems to run into him whenever those robed wizards attack."
"Or it could just be due to everyone ending up in Knockturn Alley where he seems to frequent." said Harry set his coffee mug onto the counter. "Perhaps he has a reason to go there so often and it's lucky for us that he does."
Hermione's cheeks reddened when he said this.
"Mione?" asked Harry studying his best friend. "Do you know something?"
"W-Well I..." she began.
"She kinda met me at a brothel looking for her bone head husband to be with one of the girls." said the voice of Regulus Snape as he entered the kitchen with his accumulated dishes.
He had finished his meal and had been feeling up to moving about so he decided to bring them down personally.
"She wasn't very happy to see me if you know what I mean, but I was more or less too busy to properly introduce myself." continued Regulus. "So doll face, you've got geek boy here and red riding hood I assume is your sister in law?"
"Harry and I are simply friends." said Hermione not at all wishing to be labeled as being her best friend's wife. "Well, in-laws sort of given our respective spouses."
"Harry?" asked Regulus thinking the name needed work.
"As in Harry James Potter." said Hermione noting the sour expression on the American bloke's sallow pale face.
"So you're the dude everyone goes on and on about?" said Regulus seemingly surprised. "You look kinda small for a "Hero of the Wizarding World."
Harry sighed.
He had tried his hardest to live a normal life and put all that Voldemort had done behind him. It seemed his reputation had reached the shores of the new world as well.
"T-That's the first time I've heard that." he said refilling his coffee cup. "And since we are making introductions, what might your name be?"
"My friends call me Reg." said Regulus not at all wishing to discuss himself.
"Reg?" asked Hermione with a sour expression on her face as she tried to imagine why anyone would name their child "Reg."
The tall raven haired wizard sighed reading her expression loud and clear.
"It's short for Regulus." he admitted. "You know like the constellation, I'm it's suppose to mean "Little Prince or petty king" or some crap like that."
Harry Potter's green eyes widened as he looked upon the strange American known as Regulus.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The Snape Residence, North America...(1978)
Severus Snape slowly walked a very pregnant Elaine Hillar into what had been a very spacious would be sitting room. She had a warm smile on her face as they stood in the large empty room and attempted to come up with a plain for it's decor.
"I think I could get use to this place." said Elaine with the same warm smile.
She had only been sixteen and had spent a good deal of time flying about with her lover as she stared down at her brand new wedding and engagement rings.
"I think I could get use to being a wife too." she continued meeting his obsidian gaze.
"Can you?" he asked looking down at her from his impressive height.
They shared a few passionate kisses and Snape placed his rather large pale hand, not yet calloused by his years of potions work, across her slightly bulging belly. He had only been eighteen years old and he had managed to impregnate the poor girl on the first encounter.
"Can you feel your son moving about inside me?" asked Elaine enjoying the feeling of being so close to the wizard that had changed her life.
Snape smirked wondering if it had indeed been a son given that she had only been three months pregnant and quite new to motherhood to say the least.
"It it is indeed a boy what shall we name him?" he asked.
"I'd consider naming him for his father, as is tradition." said Elaine.
"Impossible given how many enemies I have in both worlds, the last thing I wish is for them to trace him back to me and use him for revenge." said Snape in a serious tone.
"Then you name him." said Elaine softly. "Give your son a name befitting a wizard like his father."
Snape sighed as he tried to get passed his young wife's apparent admiration for him.
"There is but one name befitting a wizard that he is to become." he said meaningfully. "It is the name of my former brother in darkness, but unlike me he recognized what was to become of our little social club and attempted to do something about it...it cost him, his life but he had succeeded in planting the seeds of rebellion."
"What was his name?" asked the future Potions Professor's wife.
"Regulus." replied Snape with a small smile. "A name befitting a little prince."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The Kitchen, The Potter Residence, Wizarding World...
Harry Potter had been found himself in the wake of concerned stares from both Hermione and the American Regulus. He looked over the strange wizard once more and had been convinced that this Regulus, whom carried a strong resemblance to his former Potions Professor had been the very same Regulus from his strange visions.
"R-Regulus." said the green eyed wizard as if stunned by the revelation of his vision. "Regulus S. Snape...that's your name."
Regulus arched an eyebrow at geek boy feeling he might have had a few sips too many in terms of coffee.
"Oh Merlin!" shouted Hermione suddenly feeling it all click. "It's you...you're Professor Snape's long lost son."
Regulus had not known why these strange people were so interested in him or his father but he didn't feel the need to stick around.
The raven haired wizard simply walked out of the kitchen with all intense and purpose of walking out the front door just as easily.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The Sitting Room, The Potter Residence, Wizarding World...
Just when Regulus got to the front door, a small voice had gotten his attention. It seemed to cut through him like a hot knife through butter as he turned to find the source.
"Please don't go." it had said.
Regulus sighed hearing the words he had said to his father time and time again when the elder wizard made for the door following the end of their visit. Obsidian eyes met those of familiar emerald green as Albus Severus Potter made his presence known to the aloft American wizard.
"W-What do you want from me kid?" he asked not comfortable being put on the spot as he felt he was. "Isn't your old man in the kitchen?"
Albus Severus didn't say another word as he slowly made his way over toward the American wizard.
"Stay." he said it had been more of a command than a request.
Regulus sighed.
"I don't see what good it will do." he said annoyed. "I'm going to leave eventually."
The eleven year old boy simply took him by the hand and led him toward the sofa. Regulus sat down and Albus Severus sat beside him. The raven haired wizard thought it strange that he had felt more at peace in the presence of this little boy than he had in years.
"Let them help you." said Albus Severus in a seemingly emotionless tone.
Harry came out of the kitchen to find his youngest son sitting beside the son of his former Potions Professor.
"Albus Severus seems to have taken a liking to him." he said as Hermione joined him.
"Should we tell him that you named him after his father?"she asked.
"Not yet." replied Harry seemingly pleased that his son had gotten their new friend to stay. "You know I've never seen him respond to anyone before."
"Neither have I." replied Hermione observing the two sitting on the sofa staring as if the far wall had been a long and engaging television program. "But I still think he's a git."
"Of course." replied the green eyed wizard. "You may recall whom his father was."