Disclaimer: I own the plot line, I own Alexander Snape, Moira Snape, Rose
(Moon) Snape, Lillianna McGonagall, and anything unfamiliar. JKR owns the
rest including the Characters not listed above.
Spoilers: All four books, don't read this if you haven't read the others, it's assumed you already know.
A/N: This is a response to the "Snape's really Harry's Dad" Challenge (in a round about way that is), including my own version of what would happen should for some unearthly reason Albus Dumbledore decide to re-sort the students of Hogwarts. Both events are highly unlikely, but in my opinion make for an interesting story. This story WILL have slash in it (All my stories do) Tied into all this mess, new family members, new powers, new friendships and possibly an end to the war. I hope you enjoy it.
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A Very, Very Tangled Web
Chapter Two: Summer Fun!
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Harry Potter had been having a very, very boring summer this year. When he got home he point blank told the Dursleys that if they chose to upset him this summer it would be their own heads because he would write to his Godfather and his Headmaster, both of which had easy access to things like Dragons, Werewolves, Hags, Hippogriffs, and Vampires if they were needed to sedate the Dursleys.
Needless to say they hadn't bothered him once, and had willingly allowed him however much food he wanted. Excited by the change, the second evening he was home from school he took the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley. He roomed at the Leaky Cauldron for a night, before heading into Gringotts and exchanging a good amount of his Wizarding money into Muggle money, and keeping some in Wizarding money as well for next years school supplies as well as a few extra things he might want to buy.
That day he spent wandering around in Muggle London. The first thing he'd done was clothes shopping. Determined to brighten his thoughts and not think about Cedric, he spent nearly a thousand pounds on new clothes and shoes. He went to an eyeglass store that had hour-long service before the frames were ready. He ordered contacts and picked out a new pair of silver framed lightweight glasses.
After changing into a new outfit that he'd bought, he threw away the old clothes he'd used to get to the store. Once he'd done that he decided to get a new haircut, tired of being told constantly that he looked 'just like James'. The hair dresser had spiked his hair slightly, and done blond highlights to the ends of his hair a bit making him look, according to the hair dresser, 'delicious'.
Harry had his ear pierced next, his left one, just a small stud. After that Harry picked up his glasses and contacts, putting in his new contacts right away. Satisfied with his new looks, and wishing he could shrink the bags into one, he struggled through to an exit before leaving for Diagon Alley.
When he got back to the Leaky Cauldron, he politely asked Tom to put a few featherweight charms on the bags for him. Tom had happily obliged, and then Harry went back into Diagon Alley. He picked up several books at the bookstore on Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Dueling, Wandless Magic, Charms, Hexes, Elven Magic, Goblin Magic, and Animagi. The storekeeper had looked at him oddly, but didn't commented on the purchase of the eighteen books.
Harry stopped by the Robe shop, and bought a few every-day robes, along with a new dress robe, two new cloaks and then asked the shop owner to discretely accept payment for Fred, George, Ron and Ginny's school robes this year, along with new dress robes for Ginny. The shop owner had readily agreed when Harry explained he wanted to make sure they all had new robes for a change, and even offered to extend an invitation to try on some of the new robes telling them theirs were already paid for in full.
Pleased with himself, Harry went to the Apothecary, buying a medium sized selection of nearly everything in the store to ensure himself he had a good enough supply. He had a mission, and was determined to be completely immune to Veritaserum and any other kind of truth serum by the time school started. Smiling and with a new bounce in his step, he found a new tattoo parlor just on the edge of Knockturn Alley.
Smiling broadly, forty minutes later, Harry emerged from the parlor with four new tattoos. One of a large Gryffin, which flew around on his upper right chest, roaring and purring quietly. One of a Serpent wrapped around his right bicep that slithered around and hissed quietly. On his left shoulder blade he had one of a wolf, stag and shaggy black dog playing together under the light of a full moon. The final tattoo was on his left upper chest, a Phoenix that sung, cried, chirped, flew around a bit flapping his wings and once a day would burn, and grow anew.
Happy with his new look and determined to grow muscles more than what he had, and get a decent tan, he was going to make sure his godfather and Remus Lupin saw the one on his shoulder blade. Once done there he quickly made his way to the pet store, determined to find himself a nice snake to sneak into school with him. He smiled as he walked into the store and started to look around at the various animals.
Deciding to do something else nice for the Weasley family, he picked out a young, but proud and dignified dark brown barn owl for them. He asked the owner of the store to shrink a cage, a thing of owl treats and a few packages of owl food as it was a gift for a Wizarding family. He had the owner write a quick note to them as well, telling them that it was a gift and that her name was Athena.
Once that was done and Athena had gone off to the Weasleys, Harry continued looking for himself. He smiled at all the snakes, none of them saying anything but staring at him. There was one snake that stood out among the others, it was a foot long baby, he could just tell it would become quite a bit larger, and coral in color with dark onyx eyes. The small sign said it was a Taipan, native to Australia, and highly poisonous.
He grinned and asked quietly in Parseltongue, "Hello, I'd like to take you home with me. Do you have a name?"
The snake blinked at him and replied, "I have no name. Are you to be my Master then?"
Harry frowned and said, "Well, yes. But call me Harry, please."
The snake seemed to think it over and then asked, "What will you call me then, Harry?"
Harry thought for a moment and then said, "Are you male or female?"
The snake replied simply, "Female."
Harry nodded and then thought a bit more before saying, "How does Jewels sound?"
"Jewels is my name then, Harry."
Harry smiled and quickly told the storeowner he would take her, and paid for her and a two-week supply of fresh mice. He decided she would be able to hunt as well, especially once at Hogwarts. Having Jewels slide under his clothes and wrap around his arm, he quickly left Diagon Alley after getting a subscription to the Daily Prophet to keep up on the news in the Wizarding World.
He had taken a cab to the Dursleys that night, and explained his change in appearance, his new clothes, all the shopping bags, and the new pet snake as the result of shopping all day with his godfather who felt it in his rights to spoil him. He spent the next few weeks reading the eighteen books, practicing the potions and slowly making himself immune to Veritaserum, three different poisons, and a potion that induced Cruciatus like pains on the drinker.
He made himself several supplies of numerous healing potions, and sleeping potions. He started working out every day at a local gym, and had quite the six-pack on his stomach for all his hard work. Along with those, his shoulders had broadened, and his arms bulked only slightly showing he had very strong muscles. He had grown slightly as a result, he was sure, of actually getting both enough food and exercise for a change and was now standing proudly at 5'8" and still growing.
He had a dark tan now, as he had taken to sitting outside in only a pair of very short shorts while reading all the books he'd purchased. He had nearly perfected wandless magic, and was beginning to wonder just why in the world it was so easy for him when really, according to the book, he shouldn't have been able to at all. He curiously wondered just how powerful he was on his own, but pushed it aside to talk to Professor Dumbledore about when he got back to school.
He was determined not to let the third task get to him, and had purchased a set of weights to use when he needed to work off adrenaline from waking up with his scar hurting in the middle of the night. Harry constantly wrote the Headmaster, sometimes three times a week, from waking up with his scar hurting from Voldemort's activities.
He had only seen two meetings, the first being Professor Snape's welcome back to the Death Eaters, from which Harry had merely sent his Potions Master a letter saying that he would never tell anyone what he had witnessed and offered the help of his invisibility cloak for the Professor when he needed it. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew that the Potions Master likely had to do a lot of sneaking around, and that the cloak would be helpful in ensuring that he wasn't caught by the Ministry or Voldemort when spying.
The second meeting he'd seen had involved talk of attacking Hermione and Ron, to lure Harry out of Privet Drive. Professor Snape hadn't been at that meeting, so Harry wrote to the Headmaster immediately. Action had been quickly taken, wards placed around Hermione's Muggle home and Hermione's parents' Dental office so strong only Dumbledore could break them with the help of several other Wizards or Witches.
Ron's family had already put up wards, but added several others to the house as well. The entire Weasley family and Hermione themselves had protection spells placed on them at Harry's request, along with tracking spells should there ever be a reason they needed to be found, dead or alive. His request had shocked the Weasley family, but Hermione had understood why Harry felt the need to do so.
Jewels and Hedwig were learning to co-exist happily with one another, and the Dursley's utterly refused to admit Harry even existed. After reading months, and months of cover-ups from the Ministry on the attacks that were happening, with the Minister still refusing to believe Voldemort had risen, Harry sent Hedwig to Hermione with a very interesting letter.
"Hermione,
I don't know if you still have our favorite little beetle locked up in that jar or not, but if you do, would you please send her by owl to me? I would like to ask her to print an exclusive interview from myself regarding the third task. It's high time someone told people the truth so that they are prepared. If you don't, I'll just contact another reporter to be given the interview, just let me know.
Thanks,
Harry"
Not even a full day later Hedwig came back with a bottled up beetle and a letter from Hermione.
"Harry,
I don't want to know. I really don't want to know. Here she is. I'll read the interview myself, just don't tell me. How has your summer been Harry? I'm anxious to find out if I'm a Prefect or not, though I doubt I am due to all the adventures you, Ron and I have had over our time at Hogwarts. I've just returned from a weekend in Bulgaria with Viktor, my parents went with me and it was simply wonderful. Write back soon.
Love always,
Hermione"
Harry chuckled over that and then picked up the beetle in the jar and said quietly, "Hello Rita. I've decided to give you an interview. Before I do though, I'm going to ask that you use one of my own quills, and that I pre- approve the article. If it's printed any differently you won't have a job anywhere ever again, or I'll sue the paper that allows you to continue to publish lies and trash for the world to read. It's up to you, really. You can agree, or I can feed you to Jewels, my new very poisonous pet snake. Now I'm going to let you out of the jar, and I wouldn't try leaving the room as Jewels is instructed to bite you if you try to."
He opened the jar and the beetle flew over to his bed before transforming into the Witch form of Rita Skeeter. Rita nodded and said, "Hello Harry. Quite frankly I'm rather floored at how Slytherin this is of you and that the Minister refuses to believe both you and Albus Dumbledore. I'll help you in any way I can Harry. Just tell me what you want to write."
Half an hour later they had the perfect article. It shed doubt on Sirius Black's guilt, it told the tale of the third task, it shed doubt on the allegiances of the Minister himself, it told the Wizarding World of the silver pawed rat they should all look for and send to Azkaban and most importantly, it told that Cedric Diggory died at the hand of Voldemort himself.
Harry had in return for printing the article completely to his whims, promised to continue to only do exclusive interviews for Rita herself and keep her illegal animagus form to himself. She vowed not to tell a soul of Sirius Black's form, or that Severus Snape was spying once again, and agreed to go into hiding so she could not be questioned under Veritaserum by either the Ministry or the Death Eaters.
Rita left quickly, in beetle form, and shortly after she left a Hogwarts owl came in the window. Harry frowned at the contents of the letter from Professor Dumbledore, but nevertheless quickly went about packing all of his belongings up. Half an hour later, all of his new things, all of his previous years textbooks, his broom, his robes and his pets' food were all in his trunk.
He quickly told his Aunt that he would never be back, and thanked her for her kindness over the summer. He sent the full container of floo powder the Headmaster had sent, with a note explaining why he wasn't going to use it or need it to the Weasleys via Hedwig. Jewels wrapped herself around Harry's arm and neck before Harry picked up his trunk, weighted down by all the books, new clothes, shoes, things and the weights, grabbed Hedwig's cage, and took the portkey with his other hand.
Harry landed in the middle of what appeared to be a meeting in Albus Dumbledore's office, and almost immediately was looking at the end of twenty-four wands. Blinking Harry said, "Uh, Hello."
Albus laughed and said, "Hello Harry! Don't mind them, they're all a little tense. I'm sure you remember your Professors, godfather and former Professor. You know the Weasleys, and Oliver Wood. I'm sure you remember Amos and Matilda Diggory. The rest are Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Alastor Moody, Arianna Longbottom, Aramis and Pandora Delacour, and of course you remember their daughter Fleur."
Harry, rather shocked said, "Of course, Headmaster."
Albus then smiled and said to everyone else, "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave, we'll continue later. Sirius, Severus, Remus and Minerva stay behind please."
A minute later the room had cleared out and Harry was putting his trunk and owl cage down so that they could be taken to his rooms. Sirius and Remus warmly greeted Harry with hugs before Sirius asked, "So, what's with the new look Harry?"
Harry blushed and smiled a bit before saying, "Just had a lot to make sure I didn't think about I guess."
Albus smiled at Harry and said, "How has your summer been Harry?"
Everyone took seats and Harry answered, "Good actually. The Dursleys appear to be quite, uh, intimidated by Sirius's name. It's amazing; I mention my godfather and they pretend I don't exist for the rest of the day or week. They didn't take kindly too Jewels here, or the sudden changes in my appearance."
Albus nodded, and before anyone could say anything else Harry continued, "Headmaster I need to speak with you in private about a few things."
Albus raised an eyebrow, but asked the rest to stay where they were before showing him into a private library through a side door of the Headmaster's office. Albus smiled and asked, "What did you need to speak with me about Harry?"
Rather then answering, Harry simply started performing wandless magic. He cast a levitation spell, lit a fireplace, summoned a few books, and performed a silencing charm on the room wandless. Albus's eyes sparkled as he said, "Ah. You seem to be able to do that without even working up a sweat, may I ask how?"
Harry shrugged and said, "I was going to ask you the same thing. I've only read two books on wandless magic this summer and it seems to come to me as easily as breathing does. I rather don't understand how it is that I'm able to do that."
Albus frowned and said, "Well, you and I will have to work together this year to train you with that. Not many Wizards or Witches has the ability Harry. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg with your abilities, you have the beginnings of a Mage in you. We'll see with time though. Now, let's get back in the other room with everyone else, shall we?"
Harry nodded and they went back in to find two more people standing in the room. Another boy who looked nearly identical to Harry, and a girl with flowing curly red hair and deep green eyes. Harry raised an eyebrow and sat down in the only open chair, between Severus and Sirius. The boy, he realized looked like an odd mix of Potter, Snape and Riddle. The girl however looked strikingly like the pictures he had of his Mum. Both the boy and the girl were looking at him with the same curiosity.
Albus started with, "Well there aren't many easy ways to go about this discussion. Let's start with the basics, your mothers, Lily Potter and Rose Snape, were twin sisters separated at birth and hidden to protect them from their father. They had two other sisters, Petunia Dursley and surprisingly Narcissa Malfoy. All four of the girls were hidden from birth, not even known to their grandmother. I myself knew none of this until yesterday. In the letter Rose sent me, it says that Rose and Lily destroyed all the files that held any evidence of the truth at both the Ministry and their own homes."
Taking a breath and pausing slightly he continued watching them all carefully, "Narcissa, Lily and Rose were Witches, while Petunia was Squib- born. I rather suspect that's why she disliked Lily so much. Narcissa was told, but due to her husbands high ranks within Lord Voldemort's circle of Death Eaters, quite literally has her hands tied as far as her family is concerned until Lucius is either in Azkaban or dead. If Voldemort found out, her son Draco would be as good as dead, and likely you three as well."
At this point, the three seemed to have figured out that this meant not only were they cousins, but that they had an Aunt that cared about them. Albus continued carefully, "Draco, Harry and Alexander had spells placed on them when Lily and Rose discovered their heritage. The moment they told Narcissa, she insisted for your own safety it be done. There was an incredibly Dark and illegal spell to repress your Parseltongue abilities, three different spells to repress your magical powers, and two on Harry and Alexander to hide your true identities. After Moira was born, Rose placed those spells on her as well."
Letting that sink in a bit he then said, "I want you both, Harry and Alexander, to know that there was no one who knew about this prior to when I received the letter from Rose marked to be delivered upon her death. Severus didn't even know Moira existed until we received the letter from Rose. Lily and Rose, upon leaving the small meeting with Narcissa and Draco, decided to take your protection a step further than they had. Lily went home with Alexander that day, and Rose took Harry into hiding, not knowing she was pregnant with Moira. They never switched back the babies, and so in reality, Alexander Snape is the Boy Who Lived, while Harry Potter is merely Harry."
Harry and Alexander's jaws dropped in unison. Harry hoarsely asked, "Are you trying to tell me that James and Lily Potter aren't my parents? That they're my Aunt and Uncle? That my Father has been inside this school within my reach every time I've wished for a parent and no one cared to tell me?"
Albus looked at the boy sadly and said, "If I'd known I would have told Severus, who in turn would have told you Harry. And he most certainly would not have allowed you to go back to your Muggle relatives over the school holidays. I hope that you take advantage of this, you have a Father, and a sister. Alexander I don't know what I can tell you to comfort you, you still have family that loves you, and I daresay Severus would most likely want you to remain a Snape as well."
Severus nodded and said, "I know you're not my son, but you've been raised as such and if you'd like to, I would like to adopt you."
Sirius put a hand on Harry's shoulder where Jewel's tail was flicking softly, and said calmly, "Severus has agreed I will remain godfather to both of you, neither of you are going to be allowed to be hurt more than you already have in this."
Harry looked up at Sirius and smiled and said, "Thank you."
Sirius just nodded and Albus continued, "For the safety of all three of you, I'm going to remove the locks placed on your abilities. I will not remove those that hide your identities until the war is over it is prudent that everyone merely believe that the three of you are triplets, separated at birth to protect you from Voldemort. You will no longer be housed in Gryffindor Harry, I'll not allow anyone but the three of you to have access to one another. I've set up a private suite for the three of you that has a few hidden passages in it, one to my office, one to your Father's chambers, one to Remus's chambers and one to the hospital wing."
Glancing at all three he continued, "If it's alright I'd like to undo the spells myself right now."
All three exchanged a glance before nodding their consent. Albus muttered the counter curses at Harry first, followed by Alexander and then Moira. All three, upon the end of the counter curse had sunk to their knees at the weight of the magic that flowed through them suddenly, Harry much less then the other two had. Sirius helped Harry, while Remus helped Alexander and Severus helped Moira.
Harry and Alexander announced that they would keep the names they'd been raised with, but that Harry would add a Snape to his last name and Alexander would put a Potter in front of the Snape in his last name. Of course the paperwork regarding the name changes and the adoption papers wouldn't be filed until after the war was over.
Moira, in a move to fully support her now brothers, announced that she too would add the Potter name to her last name. When all was said and done, the Boy Who Lived was now Harry James Severus Potter-Snape, who had a brother named Alexander Severus James Potter-Snape and a sister named Moira Rose Potter-Snape. Sirius was named Alexander and Moira's legal godfather, and guardian to all three should something happen to Severus.
Once that was done, Harry remembered his interview that morning and said, "Uh, Headmaster this morning I gave Rita Skeeter an interview and, uh, well I guess you could say I assisted her with writing the story."
Sirius and Remus blinked at Harry and Albus raised an eyebrow before saying, "Oh?"
Harry said cautiously, "The uh, Minister's allegiances may have been questioned regarding his blatant denial and cover up of Voldemort's return. I may have allowed her to print a slightly exaggerated version of the third task, and she may have suggested that perhaps Sirius should have a trial to ensure Peter's actually what they call 'dead' and that if the Ministry is so sure of themselves, it shouldn't be an issue unless they're trying to cover up locking an innocent man in Azkaban for twelve years."
Albus, Minerva, Severus, Sirius and Remus stared at Harry in shock. Harry went on to say, "If you'd like I can have her add on a paragraph about my being delighted to be reunited with my sister and brother, whom until recently were hidden for their own safety since birth. Or that could be an article for say next week when the press is done wrecking havoc at the Ministry?"
Albus grinned and said, "I hope this works Harry. I think I can finally see why the Sorting Hat wanted you in Slytherin. Harry I was wondering if you would be willing to put some of your memories of your encounters with Voldemort into a pensieve and allow them to be viewed by the entire school so they can witness the event for themselves."
Harry thought it over and said, "I think that would be a very good idea. Let them see for themselves what happened. I'll put the entire third task in it, as well as what happened afterwards, stopping before we met Sirius in your office and starting up again when I confronted the Minister. I think it would do them all well to see the incident in the Shrieking Shack when Pettigrew was forced to come out of his rat form, and then Fudge's reluctance to offer Veritaserum to Sirius afterwards. Quite frankly, I wonder about his allegiances myself, he acts as though he has something to hide."
Albus nodded and said, "While I don't think he's actually a follower of Voldemort, he is not acting the way someone with nothing to hide would act. Good, and may I ask how you got her to tell the truth about all this?"
Harry smiled brightly before looking anywhere but at the other occupants of the room and said, "I uh, might have convinced her to."
Albus leveled a look at Harry that plainly said he'd best tell the truth before saying, "And how did you do that?"
Harry sighed and said, "She might have been blackmailed."
Albus raised an eyebrow and motioned for Harry to keep talking. Harry merely grinned and said, "Oh no, if I tell you all then I won't have anything to hold over her head and use to keep her in line."
That being said, the group turned the discussion with Moira speaking up for the first time asking, "Professor Dumbledore, I mean no disrespect, but who are our grandparents that we have to be hidden from them?"
Albus frowned and said, "I'm not so sure I should tell you."
Minerva stepped in this time and said, "Albus if you won't Severus and I will."
Harry shot a quizzical look at his Head of House before Alexander said, "It can't be that bad."
Albus looked between the three cousins, now siblings, and Minerva before saying, "Perhaps you should tell them Minerva."
She nodded and said, "This isn't going to be easy to understand for any of you. My daughter, Lillianna, went to school with Tom Riddle. They are your grandparents. Lillianna entered Hogwarts in Tom's sixth year. He pursued her during her sixth year. I knew about Petunia, though I didn't know she was the same Petunia that was Harry's Aunt. She had Petunia during her seventh year, and gave her up. Tom knew about Petunia as well, but not her name nor where she was placed."
Harry, Alexander and Moira stared at her for a moment, letting the information sink in that their grandfather was an insane mass murderer, and that their great-grandmother was teaching Transfiguration at the school they all now went to. Harry then asked, "Is someone going to tell Draco about all of this?"
Albus shook his head and said, "He already knows. When he comes to Hogwarts this year he'll be joining you three in your rooms and not be going home again. Narcissa tricked Lucius into signing away his rights as far as Draco's concerned, she in turn quickly signed him over to Minerva. The papers won't be filed until Draco is in Hogwarts where his Father can't gain access to him."
Harry nodded, and shortly after that Harry, Alexander and Moira left for their rooms still talking with one another slipping into Parseltongue without realizing it. The three started to talk about anything and everything, from friends, family, Voldemort, the War, and School to how they were going to handle being siblings now on top of everything else.
The next morning Harry, Alexander and Moira entered the Great Hall for breakfast where Sirius, Severus, Remus, Minerva, Albus and half the Order of the Phoenix were having breakfast. Moira was standing between the two boys, who had been completely stripped of their identity charms and had then replaced Harry's that morning so they would be stronger.
At the sight of two nearly identical boys and a red head that reminded the room of Lily Potter, everyone was slightly confused. The three, deciding to play with the fire a bit playfully rushed up to Severus and kissed him on his cheeks before saying loudly, "Good morning Daddy."
Severus, flushed and slightly irritated that his children had just announced to the entire Order that he was their Father, scowled at them before saying, "Good morning Harry, Alexander and Moira."
The entire room found Severus's face simply delightful and Charlie Weasley called out, "Oy! Snape! When did you have kids that looked just like the Potters?"
Severus sneered at Charlie, "They are Potters, with a Snape at the end of their last name as they are my adopted children as of yesterday afternoon, Weasley."
The entire Order was suddenly laughing hysterically. Things were being said along the lines of, 'Potter-Snape? Never thought I'd see the day!' and 'Albus! What did you to do him?' quickly followed by, 'Merlin help Harry, Alexander and Moira!'
Then the owl post came in. Harry, Alexander and Moira crowded around Harry's version of the paper to read the article Harry and Rita had written together. Finding it, they read it together with large smiles on their faces. Harry was extremely proud of the article, and hoped it would do some good.
You-know-who has risen again!
Written by: Rita Skeeter, with direct quotes from Harry Potter.
I must first say that I do not write this article to cause a panic, merely to unveil the truth that the Ministry has been refusing to acknowledge since the event occurred. During the final of the three tasks of the Tri- Wizard tournament, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory assisted one another several times throughout the task to get to the end of the tournament. At the end of the tournament, they argued over who should take the cup, neither feeling they deserved it.
Harry, just wanting the task to be done with suggested they both take the cup, a suggestion he regrets with every inch of his being. The cup was a portkey, which took them to Little Hangleton, more specifically, the Riddle Mansion. Cedric was almost immediately murdered by none other than Peter Pettigrew, believed to be dead at the hand of Sirius Black.
When Harry told me this, I had to stop and find out why on earth a supposedly DEAD man had killed Cedric Diggory. Harry's quote is this, "That is yet another subject that the Minister refuses to see the truth on. Sirius Black never murdered Pettigrew. Sirius Black never betrayed my family, and he did not blow up a street full of Muggles.
My godfather, Sirius, was set up by Pettigrew, who is an illegal animagus with the form of a rat. Pettigrew was my family's Secret Keeper, a plan that was set up by Sirius, to help keep the location of my family better hidden. Would have worked perfectly had Pettigrew not been a Death Eater."
The poor boy was nearly sobbing with grief at the thought of an innocent man being locked in Azkaban for twelve years without a trial. He went on to tell me that Pettigrew had cut off his own finger before blowing the street apart-down to the sewers-turned to his rat form and escaped threw the sewers. When I questioned Harry as to why his supposedly innocent godfather was laughing when arrested, Harry had an interesting response.
"Think about it. His two best friends had just been murdered; he'd been denied custody of their son, and his godson. Furthermore, Minister Cornelius Fudge was forcing his godson into a home that hated magic. To top it off, everyone thought he was responsible because no one else knew about the Secret Keeper change. My parents, Sirius and Pettigrew never even told Headmaster Dumbledore.
No one would believe he wasn't a Death Eater. Then Pettigrew got away with murdering a group of Muggles and faking his own death. He knew then no one would believe him. My guess is that he realized he was going to be blamed for everything, and cracked under the pressure like any normal person would."
I questioned Sirius's escape from Azkaban only to find out that not only had Harry talked to Minister Fudge regarding the issue, but when Harry had witnessed Peter Pettigrew being forced out of rat form and into human form by a spell said by Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, the Minister refused to even question Sirius under Veritaserum. Why would it bother the Minister so much to ask a few questions under Veritaserum, to a man that could be innocent and never received a trial? Does he have something to hide?
After our discussion revolving around the Pettigrew-Black mystery, Harry continued with the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Harry had a very hard time discussing the rest of the events. He was stunned after Cedric's murder, and eventually came to only to find that he was tied to You-know- who's father's headstone. Pettigrew then forced Harry to watch as a Dark Arts potion/spell occurred, bringing You-know-who back to life. The potion used materials such as a bone from You-know-who's father, a hand from Pettigrew, and blood forcefully taken from his fatal enemy, Harry himself.
As you may have guessed, You-know-who was not happy at all about Harry's almost defeat of him as a child. Though Harry insists that in this article, that small triumph is given to his mother, Lily Potter, as it was her love and sacrifice for Harry that allowed him to survive the attack. Harry watched, stunned and horribly terrified, as You-know-who summoned his Death Eaters and gave Pettigrew a silver hand.
After witnessing one of You-know-who's Death Eaters be tortured under the Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Daniel Avery. He watched as Lucius Malfoy pathetically begged forgiveness, Walden McNair promised better victims to murder than the dangerous beasts he currently destroys for the Ministry, Gordon Goyle and Camion Crabbe were both welcomed back and told to do better this time around, while the same was expected of Nathaniel Nott, and Lucifer and Francesca Lestrange were promised to be honored upon their release from Azkaban when You-know-who takes over the prison, and the Dementors guarding it.
You-know-who briefly discussed six remaining Death Eaters, three dead, one too cowardly to return, another that he'd feared had forever strayed, and a final Death Eater stationed at Hogwarts. After a brief forced duel with You- know-who, resulting in the discovery of what happens when two wands are brothers meet (they don't function, and Priori Incantatem occurs), Harry was able to escape by running to Cedric's body, holding onto it and summoning the cup.
During his time with You-know-who he underwent the Cruciatus Curse, and threw off the Imperius Curse. During the Priori Incantatem that occurred, Harry witnessed past spells that had been put into effect from You-know- who's wand. Including the silver-hand that he had just made for Peter Pettigrew, and the echo's of those he had murdered, Cedric Diggory, an Old Male Muggle, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's own parents, Lily and James Potter.
It was not the first time he had heard Lily and James speak to him, as he hears them plead for their lives and his every time he is approached by a Dementor. The situation was obviously quite emotionally traumatizing for the boy, who has now sworn to help in the fight against You-know-who any way he possibly can. Upon his arrival back at Hogwarts, he was greeted by Albus Dumbledore himself.
After a brief moment, Harry was escorted, against Albus Dumbledore's orders, to one of his Professor's offices, only to come face to face with the Death Eater at Hogwarts. Amazingly, the thought-dead son of Barty Crouch, Barty Crouch Jr. was the Death Eater. He was under disguise as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Harry was then graced with witnessing just WHY it is that You-know-who fears the Headmaster as he dealt with the imposter.
The Minister, Cornelius Fudge, foolishly allowed the boy to be Kissed by a Dementor before being questioned for the public to hear. When Harry gave the Minister the names of the Death Eaters present that night Harry was called, along with Albus Dumbledore, "Insane". Both look perfectly sane to me if I say so myself, not to mention quite powerful hero's of our community.
The Minister was more concerned with keeping his office than taking the necessary means to ensure the Wizarding World's safety, as he refuses to even consider removing the Dementors from Azkaban, or contacting the Giants with a peace treaty to ensure they will not be involved with You-know-who. I, myself, am disgusted by the Minister's behavior, ignoring the advice of Albus Dumbledore.
Even if this tale proves to be completely ridiculous and full of lies, what would a vial of Veritaserum towards all those mentioned hurt? I, for one, believe he should question Sirius Black, and the accused Death Eaters listed in this article under the truth serum, and find out what's really going on before someone else gets killed. Let us not allow Cedric Diggory's death to have been in vain.
I end with a little piece of advice that Harry offers the Wizarding World, "Shun me, Hate me, put me in Azkaban if you like. But don't turn a blind eye to this any longer, the Wizarding World is NOT safe, and I myself wonder which side of the fight Minister Fudge is on, perhaps we should check him for a Dark Mark? Why else would someone cover up for Lord ********* (He used the Dark Lord's name)?
If we allow him to blindly lead us, we are asking for our own deaths. I, for one, will not stand by and let the creature that has killed my parents, Cedric, and so many others, win this war. Cedric died a true Hufflepuff, but with a tinge of Gryffindor in him as he faced death. I extend my deepest condolences to Cedric's loved ones, he was truly a great loss to his friends, family and the Wizarding World.
In order to defeat him properly, we need to band together and continue the fight my parents, my godfather, and so many of you fought nearly fourteen years ago. I myself have the privilege of being able to have survived four encounters with the Dark Lord himself, I can only hope that I have another, that ends in his permanent defeat, and the end of his reign.
I offer you the words of a great man, one who is brave enough to see the truth for what it is, 'What's coming, will come, and we'll meet it when it does.' The same man who said this to me shortly before I left Hogwarts and the Wizarding World for the summer, is most definitely not Albus Dumbledore, but in my opinion just as wise, feel free to ask me who he is if you ever see me in person, I won't bite I promise. Do well, and heed his advice. Let us not sit idly by while Death Eaters re-group, band together and destroy our lives, our homes, our families, our children, and our futures."
Alexander, Moira and Harry grinned at one another before looking up to see the reactions of those in the Order who read the article. Most were staring at Harry with various degrees of shock, awe, and respect. Someone Harry didn't recognize called out, "Hey Harry! Where's the quote at the end come from?"
Harry grinned and said, "Hagrid!"
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Spoilers: All four books, don't read this if you haven't read the others, it's assumed you already know.
A/N: This is a response to the "Snape's really Harry's Dad" Challenge (in a round about way that is), including my own version of what would happen should for some unearthly reason Albus Dumbledore decide to re-sort the students of Hogwarts. Both events are highly unlikely, but in my opinion make for an interesting story. This story WILL have slash in it (All my stories do) Tied into all this mess, new family members, new powers, new friendships and possibly an end to the war. I hope you enjoy it.
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A Very, Very Tangled Web
Chapter Two: Summer Fun!
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Harry Potter had been having a very, very boring summer this year. When he got home he point blank told the Dursleys that if they chose to upset him this summer it would be their own heads because he would write to his Godfather and his Headmaster, both of which had easy access to things like Dragons, Werewolves, Hags, Hippogriffs, and Vampires if they were needed to sedate the Dursleys.
Needless to say they hadn't bothered him once, and had willingly allowed him however much food he wanted. Excited by the change, the second evening he was home from school he took the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley. He roomed at the Leaky Cauldron for a night, before heading into Gringotts and exchanging a good amount of his Wizarding money into Muggle money, and keeping some in Wizarding money as well for next years school supplies as well as a few extra things he might want to buy.
That day he spent wandering around in Muggle London. The first thing he'd done was clothes shopping. Determined to brighten his thoughts and not think about Cedric, he spent nearly a thousand pounds on new clothes and shoes. He went to an eyeglass store that had hour-long service before the frames were ready. He ordered contacts and picked out a new pair of silver framed lightweight glasses.
After changing into a new outfit that he'd bought, he threw away the old clothes he'd used to get to the store. Once he'd done that he decided to get a new haircut, tired of being told constantly that he looked 'just like James'. The hair dresser had spiked his hair slightly, and done blond highlights to the ends of his hair a bit making him look, according to the hair dresser, 'delicious'.
Harry had his ear pierced next, his left one, just a small stud. After that Harry picked up his glasses and contacts, putting in his new contacts right away. Satisfied with his new looks, and wishing he could shrink the bags into one, he struggled through to an exit before leaving for Diagon Alley.
When he got back to the Leaky Cauldron, he politely asked Tom to put a few featherweight charms on the bags for him. Tom had happily obliged, and then Harry went back into Diagon Alley. He picked up several books at the bookstore on Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Dueling, Wandless Magic, Charms, Hexes, Elven Magic, Goblin Magic, and Animagi. The storekeeper had looked at him oddly, but didn't commented on the purchase of the eighteen books.
Harry stopped by the Robe shop, and bought a few every-day robes, along with a new dress robe, two new cloaks and then asked the shop owner to discretely accept payment for Fred, George, Ron and Ginny's school robes this year, along with new dress robes for Ginny. The shop owner had readily agreed when Harry explained he wanted to make sure they all had new robes for a change, and even offered to extend an invitation to try on some of the new robes telling them theirs were already paid for in full.
Pleased with himself, Harry went to the Apothecary, buying a medium sized selection of nearly everything in the store to ensure himself he had a good enough supply. He had a mission, and was determined to be completely immune to Veritaserum and any other kind of truth serum by the time school started. Smiling and with a new bounce in his step, he found a new tattoo parlor just on the edge of Knockturn Alley.
Smiling broadly, forty minutes later, Harry emerged from the parlor with four new tattoos. One of a large Gryffin, which flew around on his upper right chest, roaring and purring quietly. One of a Serpent wrapped around his right bicep that slithered around and hissed quietly. On his left shoulder blade he had one of a wolf, stag and shaggy black dog playing together under the light of a full moon. The final tattoo was on his left upper chest, a Phoenix that sung, cried, chirped, flew around a bit flapping his wings and once a day would burn, and grow anew.
Happy with his new look and determined to grow muscles more than what he had, and get a decent tan, he was going to make sure his godfather and Remus Lupin saw the one on his shoulder blade. Once done there he quickly made his way to the pet store, determined to find himself a nice snake to sneak into school with him. He smiled as he walked into the store and started to look around at the various animals.
Deciding to do something else nice for the Weasley family, he picked out a young, but proud and dignified dark brown barn owl for them. He asked the owner of the store to shrink a cage, a thing of owl treats and a few packages of owl food as it was a gift for a Wizarding family. He had the owner write a quick note to them as well, telling them that it was a gift and that her name was Athena.
Once that was done and Athena had gone off to the Weasleys, Harry continued looking for himself. He smiled at all the snakes, none of them saying anything but staring at him. There was one snake that stood out among the others, it was a foot long baby, he could just tell it would become quite a bit larger, and coral in color with dark onyx eyes. The small sign said it was a Taipan, native to Australia, and highly poisonous.
He grinned and asked quietly in Parseltongue, "Hello, I'd like to take you home with me. Do you have a name?"
The snake blinked at him and replied, "I have no name. Are you to be my Master then?"
Harry frowned and said, "Well, yes. But call me Harry, please."
The snake seemed to think it over and then asked, "What will you call me then, Harry?"
Harry thought for a moment and then said, "Are you male or female?"
The snake replied simply, "Female."
Harry nodded and then thought a bit more before saying, "How does Jewels sound?"
"Jewels is my name then, Harry."
Harry smiled and quickly told the storeowner he would take her, and paid for her and a two-week supply of fresh mice. He decided she would be able to hunt as well, especially once at Hogwarts. Having Jewels slide under his clothes and wrap around his arm, he quickly left Diagon Alley after getting a subscription to the Daily Prophet to keep up on the news in the Wizarding World.
He had taken a cab to the Dursleys that night, and explained his change in appearance, his new clothes, all the shopping bags, and the new pet snake as the result of shopping all day with his godfather who felt it in his rights to spoil him. He spent the next few weeks reading the eighteen books, practicing the potions and slowly making himself immune to Veritaserum, three different poisons, and a potion that induced Cruciatus like pains on the drinker.
He made himself several supplies of numerous healing potions, and sleeping potions. He started working out every day at a local gym, and had quite the six-pack on his stomach for all his hard work. Along with those, his shoulders had broadened, and his arms bulked only slightly showing he had very strong muscles. He had grown slightly as a result, he was sure, of actually getting both enough food and exercise for a change and was now standing proudly at 5'8" and still growing.
He had a dark tan now, as he had taken to sitting outside in only a pair of very short shorts while reading all the books he'd purchased. He had nearly perfected wandless magic, and was beginning to wonder just why in the world it was so easy for him when really, according to the book, he shouldn't have been able to at all. He curiously wondered just how powerful he was on his own, but pushed it aside to talk to Professor Dumbledore about when he got back to school.
He was determined not to let the third task get to him, and had purchased a set of weights to use when he needed to work off adrenaline from waking up with his scar hurting in the middle of the night. Harry constantly wrote the Headmaster, sometimes three times a week, from waking up with his scar hurting from Voldemort's activities.
He had only seen two meetings, the first being Professor Snape's welcome back to the Death Eaters, from which Harry had merely sent his Potions Master a letter saying that he would never tell anyone what he had witnessed and offered the help of his invisibility cloak for the Professor when he needed it. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew that the Potions Master likely had to do a lot of sneaking around, and that the cloak would be helpful in ensuring that he wasn't caught by the Ministry or Voldemort when spying.
The second meeting he'd seen had involved talk of attacking Hermione and Ron, to lure Harry out of Privet Drive. Professor Snape hadn't been at that meeting, so Harry wrote to the Headmaster immediately. Action had been quickly taken, wards placed around Hermione's Muggle home and Hermione's parents' Dental office so strong only Dumbledore could break them with the help of several other Wizards or Witches.
Ron's family had already put up wards, but added several others to the house as well. The entire Weasley family and Hermione themselves had protection spells placed on them at Harry's request, along with tracking spells should there ever be a reason they needed to be found, dead or alive. His request had shocked the Weasley family, but Hermione had understood why Harry felt the need to do so.
Jewels and Hedwig were learning to co-exist happily with one another, and the Dursley's utterly refused to admit Harry even existed. After reading months, and months of cover-ups from the Ministry on the attacks that were happening, with the Minister still refusing to believe Voldemort had risen, Harry sent Hedwig to Hermione with a very interesting letter.
"Hermione,
I don't know if you still have our favorite little beetle locked up in that jar or not, but if you do, would you please send her by owl to me? I would like to ask her to print an exclusive interview from myself regarding the third task. It's high time someone told people the truth so that they are prepared. If you don't, I'll just contact another reporter to be given the interview, just let me know.
Thanks,
Harry"
Not even a full day later Hedwig came back with a bottled up beetle and a letter from Hermione.
"Harry,
I don't want to know. I really don't want to know. Here she is. I'll read the interview myself, just don't tell me. How has your summer been Harry? I'm anxious to find out if I'm a Prefect or not, though I doubt I am due to all the adventures you, Ron and I have had over our time at Hogwarts. I've just returned from a weekend in Bulgaria with Viktor, my parents went with me and it was simply wonderful. Write back soon.
Love always,
Hermione"
Harry chuckled over that and then picked up the beetle in the jar and said quietly, "Hello Rita. I've decided to give you an interview. Before I do though, I'm going to ask that you use one of my own quills, and that I pre- approve the article. If it's printed any differently you won't have a job anywhere ever again, or I'll sue the paper that allows you to continue to publish lies and trash for the world to read. It's up to you, really. You can agree, or I can feed you to Jewels, my new very poisonous pet snake. Now I'm going to let you out of the jar, and I wouldn't try leaving the room as Jewels is instructed to bite you if you try to."
He opened the jar and the beetle flew over to his bed before transforming into the Witch form of Rita Skeeter. Rita nodded and said, "Hello Harry. Quite frankly I'm rather floored at how Slytherin this is of you and that the Minister refuses to believe both you and Albus Dumbledore. I'll help you in any way I can Harry. Just tell me what you want to write."
Half an hour later they had the perfect article. It shed doubt on Sirius Black's guilt, it told the tale of the third task, it shed doubt on the allegiances of the Minister himself, it told the Wizarding World of the silver pawed rat they should all look for and send to Azkaban and most importantly, it told that Cedric Diggory died at the hand of Voldemort himself.
Harry had in return for printing the article completely to his whims, promised to continue to only do exclusive interviews for Rita herself and keep her illegal animagus form to himself. She vowed not to tell a soul of Sirius Black's form, or that Severus Snape was spying once again, and agreed to go into hiding so she could not be questioned under Veritaserum by either the Ministry or the Death Eaters.
Rita left quickly, in beetle form, and shortly after she left a Hogwarts owl came in the window. Harry frowned at the contents of the letter from Professor Dumbledore, but nevertheless quickly went about packing all of his belongings up. Half an hour later, all of his new things, all of his previous years textbooks, his broom, his robes and his pets' food were all in his trunk.
He quickly told his Aunt that he would never be back, and thanked her for her kindness over the summer. He sent the full container of floo powder the Headmaster had sent, with a note explaining why he wasn't going to use it or need it to the Weasleys via Hedwig. Jewels wrapped herself around Harry's arm and neck before Harry picked up his trunk, weighted down by all the books, new clothes, shoes, things and the weights, grabbed Hedwig's cage, and took the portkey with his other hand.
Harry landed in the middle of what appeared to be a meeting in Albus Dumbledore's office, and almost immediately was looking at the end of twenty-four wands. Blinking Harry said, "Uh, Hello."
Albus laughed and said, "Hello Harry! Don't mind them, they're all a little tense. I'm sure you remember your Professors, godfather and former Professor. You know the Weasleys, and Oliver Wood. I'm sure you remember Amos and Matilda Diggory. The rest are Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Alastor Moody, Arianna Longbottom, Aramis and Pandora Delacour, and of course you remember their daughter Fleur."
Harry, rather shocked said, "Of course, Headmaster."
Albus then smiled and said to everyone else, "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave, we'll continue later. Sirius, Severus, Remus and Minerva stay behind please."
A minute later the room had cleared out and Harry was putting his trunk and owl cage down so that they could be taken to his rooms. Sirius and Remus warmly greeted Harry with hugs before Sirius asked, "So, what's with the new look Harry?"
Harry blushed and smiled a bit before saying, "Just had a lot to make sure I didn't think about I guess."
Albus smiled at Harry and said, "How has your summer been Harry?"
Everyone took seats and Harry answered, "Good actually. The Dursleys appear to be quite, uh, intimidated by Sirius's name. It's amazing; I mention my godfather and they pretend I don't exist for the rest of the day or week. They didn't take kindly too Jewels here, or the sudden changes in my appearance."
Albus nodded, and before anyone could say anything else Harry continued, "Headmaster I need to speak with you in private about a few things."
Albus raised an eyebrow, but asked the rest to stay where they were before showing him into a private library through a side door of the Headmaster's office. Albus smiled and asked, "What did you need to speak with me about Harry?"
Rather then answering, Harry simply started performing wandless magic. He cast a levitation spell, lit a fireplace, summoned a few books, and performed a silencing charm on the room wandless. Albus's eyes sparkled as he said, "Ah. You seem to be able to do that without even working up a sweat, may I ask how?"
Harry shrugged and said, "I was going to ask you the same thing. I've only read two books on wandless magic this summer and it seems to come to me as easily as breathing does. I rather don't understand how it is that I'm able to do that."
Albus frowned and said, "Well, you and I will have to work together this year to train you with that. Not many Wizards or Witches has the ability Harry. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg with your abilities, you have the beginnings of a Mage in you. We'll see with time though. Now, let's get back in the other room with everyone else, shall we?"
Harry nodded and they went back in to find two more people standing in the room. Another boy who looked nearly identical to Harry, and a girl with flowing curly red hair and deep green eyes. Harry raised an eyebrow and sat down in the only open chair, between Severus and Sirius. The boy, he realized looked like an odd mix of Potter, Snape and Riddle. The girl however looked strikingly like the pictures he had of his Mum. Both the boy and the girl were looking at him with the same curiosity.
Albus started with, "Well there aren't many easy ways to go about this discussion. Let's start with the basics, your mothers, Lily Potter and Rose Snape, were twin sisters separated at birth and hidden to protect them from their father. They had two other sisters, Petunia Dursley and surprisingly Narcissa Malfoy. All four of the girls were hidden from birth, not even known to their grandmother. I myself knew none of this until yesterday. In the letter Rose sent me, it says that Rose and Lily destroyed all the files that held any evidence of the truth at both the Ministry and their own homes."
Taking a breath and pausing slightly he continued watching them all carefully, "Narcissa, Lily and Rose were Witches, while Petunia was Squib- born. I rather suspect that's why she disliked Lily so much. Narcissa was told, but due to her husbands high ranks within Lord Voldemort's circle of Death Eaters, quite literally has her hands tied as far as her family is concerned until Lucius is either in Azkaban or dead. If Voldemort found out, her son Draco would be as good as dead, and likely you three as well."
At this point, the three seemed to have figured out that this meant not only were they cousins, but that they had an Aunt that cared about them. Albus continued carefully, "Draco, Harry and Alexander had spells placed on them when Lily and Rose discovered their heritage. The moment they told Narcissa, she insisted for your own safety it be done. There was an incredibly Dark and illegal spell to repress your Parseltongue abilities, three different spells to repress your magical powers, and two on Harry and Alexander to hide your true identities. After Moira was born, Rose placed those spells on her as well."
Letting that sink in a bit he then said, "I want you both, Harry and Alexander, to know that there was no one who knew about this prior to when I received the letter from Rose marked to be delivered upon her death. Severus didn't even know Moira existed until we received the letter from Rose. Lily and Rose, upon leaving the small meeting with Narcissa and Draco, decided to take your protection a step further than they had. Lily went home with Alexander that day, and Rose took Harry into hiding, not knowing she was pregnant with Moira. They never switched back the babies, and so in reality, Alexander Snape is the Boy Who Lived, while Harry Potter is merely Harry."
Harry and Alexander's jaws dropped in unison. Harry hoarsely asked, "Are you trying to tell me that James and Lily Potter aren't my parents? That they're my Aunt and Uncle? That my Father has been inside this school within my reach every time I've wished for a parent and no one cared to tell me?"
Albus looked at the boy sadly and said, "If I'd known I would have told Severus, who in turn would have told you Harry. And he most certainly would not have allowed you to go back to your Muggle relatives over the school holidays. I hope that you take advantage of this, you have a Father, and a sister. Alexander I don't know what I can tell you to comfort you, you still have family that loves you, and I daresay Severus would most likely want you to remain a Snape as well."
Severus nodded and said, "I know you're not my son, but you've been raised as such and if you'd like to, I would like to adopt you."
Sirius put a hand on Harry's shoulder where Jewel's tail was flicking softly, and said calmly, "Severus has agreed I will remain godfather to both of you, neither of you are going to be allowed to be hurt more than you already have in this."
Harry looked up at Sirius and smiled and said, "Thank you."
Sirius just nodded and Albus continued, "For the safety of all three of you, I'm going to remove the locks placed on your abilities. I will not remove those that hide your identities until the war is over it is prudent that everyone merely believe that the three of you are triplets, separated at birth to protect you from Voldemort. You will no longer be housed in Gryffindor Harry, I'll not allow anyone but the three of you to have access to one another. I've set up a private suite for the three of you that has a few hidden passages in it, one to my office, one to your Father's chambers, one to Remus's chambers and one to the hospital wing."
Glancing at all three he continued, "If it's alright I'd like to undo the spells myself right now."
All three exchanged a glance before nodding their consent. Albus muttered the counter curses at Harry first, followed by Alexander and then Moira. All three, upon the end of the counter curse had sunk to their knees at the weight of the magic that flowed through them suddenly, Harry much less then the other two had. Sirius helped Harry, while Remus helped Alexander and Severus helped Moira.
Harry and Alexander announced that they would keep the names they'd been raised with, but that Harry would add a Snape to his last name and Alexander would put a Potter in front of the Snape in his last name. Of course the paperwork regarding the name changes and the adoption papers wouldn't be filed until after the war was over.
Moira, in a move to fully support her now brothers, announced that she too would add the Potter name to her last name. When all was said and done, the Boy Who Lived was now Harry James Severus Potter-Snape, who had a brother named Alexander Severus James Potter-Snape and a sister named Moira Rose Potter-Snape. Sirius was named Alexander and Moira's legal godfather, and guardian to all three should something happen to Severus.
Once that was done, Harry remembered his interview that morning and said, "Uh, Headmaster this morning I gave Rita Skeeter an interview and, uh, well I guess you could say I assisted her with writing the story."
Sirius and Remus blinked at Harry and Albus raised an eyebrow before saying, "Oh?"
Harry said cautiously, "The uh, Minister's allegiances may have been questioned regarding his blatant denial and cover up of Voldemort's return. I may have allowed her to print a slightly exaggerated version of the third task, and she may have suggested that perhaps Sirius should have a trial to ensure Peter's actually what they call 'dead' and that if the Ministry is so sure of themselves, it shouldn't be an issue unless they're trying to cover up locking an innocent man in Azkaban for twelve years."
Albus, Minerva, Severus, Sirius and Remus stared at Harry in shock. Harry went on to say, "If you'd like I can have her add on a paragraph about my being delighted to be reunited with my sister and brother, whom until recently were hidden for their own safety since birth. Or that could be an article for say next week when the press is done wrecking havoc at the Ministry?"
Albus grinned and said, "I hope this works Harry. I think I can finally see why the Sorting Hat wanted you in Slytherin. Harry I was wondering if you would be willing to put some of your memories of your encounters with Voldemort into a pensieve and allow them to be viewed by the entire school so they can witness the event for themselves."
Harry thought it over and said, "I think that would be a very good idea. Let them see for themselves what happened. I'll put the entire third task in it, as well as what happened afterwards, stopping before we met Sirius in your office and starting up again when I confronted the Minister. I think it would do them all well to see the incident in the Shrieking Shack when Pettigrew was forced to come out of his rat form, and then Fudge's reluctance to offer Veritaserum to Sirius afterwards. Quite frankly, I wonder about his allegiances myself, he acts as though he has something to hide."
Albus nodded and said, "While I don't think he's actually a follower of Voldemort, he is not acting the way someone with nothing to hide would act. Good, and may I ask how you got her to tell the truth about all this?"
Harry smiled brightly before looking anywhere but at the other occupants of the room and said, "I uh, might have convinced her to."
Albus leveled a look at Harry that plainly said he'd best tell the truth before saying, "And how did you do that?"
Harry sighed and said, "She might have been blackmailed."
Albus raised an eyebrow and motioned for Harry to keep talking. Harry merely grinned and said, "Oh no, if I tell you all then I won't have anything to hold over her head and use to keep her in line."
That being said, the group turned the discussion with Moira speaking up for the first time asking, "Professor Dumbledore, I mean no disrespect, but who are our grandparents that we have to be hidden from them?"
Albus frowned and said, "I'm not so sure I should tell you."
Minerva stepped in this time and said, "Albus if you won't Severus and I will."
Harry shot a quizzical look at his Head of House before Alexander said, "It can't be that bad."
Albus looked between the three cousins, now siblings, and Minerva before saying, "Perhaps you should tell them Minerva."
She nodded and said, "This isn't going to be easy to understand for any of you. My daughter, Lillianna, went to school with Tom Riddle. They are your grandparents. Lillianna entered Hogwarts in Tom's sixth year. He pursued her during her sixth year. I knew about Petunia, though I didn't know she was the same Petunia that was Harry's Aunt. She had Petunia during her seventh year, and gave her up. Tom knew about Petunia as well, but not her name nor where she was placed."
Harry, Alexander and Moira stared at her for a moment, letting the information sink in that their grandfather was an insane mass murderer, and that their great-grandmother was teaching Transfiguration at the school they all now went to. Harry then asked, "Is someone going to tell Draco about all of this?"
Albus shook his head and said, "He already knows. When he comes to Hogwarts this year he'll be joining you three in your rooms and not be going home again. Narcissa tricked Lucius into signing away his rights as far as Draco's concerned, she in turn quickly signed him over to Minerva. The papers won't be filed until Draco is in Hogwarts where his Father can't gain access to him."
Harry nodded, and shortly after that Harry, Alexander and Moira left for their rooms still talking with one another slipping into Parseltongue without realizing it. The three started to talk about anything and everything, from friends, family, Voldemort, the War, and School to how they were going to handle being siblings now on top of everything else.
The next morning Harry, Alexander and Moira entered the Great Hall for breakfast where Sirius, Severus, Remus, Minerva, Albus and half the Order of the Phoenix were having breakfast. Moira was standing between the two boys, who had been completely stripped of their identity charms and had then replaced Harry's that morning so they would be stronger.
At the sight of two nearly identical boys and a red head that reminded the room of Lily Potter, everyone was slightly confused. The three, deciding to play with the fire a bit playfully rushed up to Severus and kissed him on his cheeks before saying loudly, "Good morning Daddy."
Severus, flushed and slightly irritated that his children had just announced to the entire Order that he was their Father, scowled at them before saying, "Good morning Harry, Alexander and Moira."
The entire room found Severus's face simply delightful and Charlie Weasley called out, "Oy! Snape! When did you have kids that looked just like the Potters?"
Severus sneered at Charlie, "They are Potters, with a Snape at the end of their last name as they are my adopted children as of yesterday afternoon, Weasley."
The entire Order was suddenly laughing hysterically. Things were being said along the lines of, 'Potter-Snape? Never thought I'd see the day!' and 'Albus! What did you to do him?' quickly followed by, 'Merlin help Harry, Alexander and Moira!'
Then the owl post came in. Harry, Alexander and Moira crowded around Harry's version of the paper to read the article Harry and Rita had written together. Finding it, they read it together with large smiles on their faces. Harry was extremely proud of the article, and hoped it would do some good.
You-know-who has risen again!
Written by: Rita Skeeter, with direct quotes from Harry Potter.
I must first say that I do not write this article to cause a panic, merely to unveil the truth that the Ministry has been refusing to acknowledge since the event occurred. During the final of the three tasks of the Tri- Wizard tournament, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory assisted one another several times throughout the task to get to the end of the tournament. At the end of the tournament, they argued over who should take the cup, neither feeling they deserved it.
Harry, just wanting the task to be done with suggested they both take the cup, a suggestion he regrets with every inch of his being. The cup was a portkey, which took them to Little Hangleton, more specifically, the Riddle Mansion. Cedric was almost immediately murdered by none other than Peter Pettigrew, believed to be dead at the hand of Sirius Black.
When Harry told me this, I had to stop and find out why on earth a supposedly DEAD man had killed Cedric Diggory. Harry's quote is this, "That is yet another subject that the Minister refuses to see the truth on. Sirius Black never murdered Pettigrew. Sirius Black never betrayed my family, and he did not blow up a street full of Muggles.
My godfather, Sirius, was set up by Pettigrew, who is an illegal animagus with the form of a rat. Pettigrew was my family's Secret Keeper, a plan that was set up by Sirius, to help keep the location of my family better hidden. Would have worked perfectly had Pettigrew not been a Death Eater."
The poor boy was nearly sobbing with grief at the thought of an innocent man being locked in Azkaban for twelve years without a trial. He went on to tell me that Pettigrew had cut off his own finger before blowing the street apart-down to the sewers-turned to his rat form and escaped threw the sewers. When I questioned Harry as to why his supposedly innocent godfather was laughing when arrested, Harry had an interesting response.
"Think about it. His two best friends had just been murdered; he'd been denied custody of their son, and his godson. Furthermore, Minister Cornelius Fudge was forcing his godson into a home that hated magic. To top it off, everyone thought he was responsible because no one else knew about the Secret Keeper change. My parents, Sirius and Pettigrew never even told Headmaster Dumbledore.
No one would believe he wasn't a Death Eater. Then Pettigrew got away with murdering a group of Muggles and faking his own death. He knew then no one would believe him. My guess is that he realized he was going to be blamed for everything, and cracked under the pressure like any normal person would."
I questioned Sirius's escape from Azkaban only to find out that not only had Harry talked to Minister Fudge regarding the issue, but when Harry had witnessed Peter Pettigrew being forced out of rat form and into human form by a spell said by Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, the Minister refused to even question Sirius under Veritaserum. Why would it bother the Minister so much to ask a few questions under Veritaserum, to a man that could be innocent and never received a trial? Does he have something to hide?
After our discussion revolving around the Pettigrew-Black mystery, Harry continued with the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Harry had a very hard time discussing the rest of the events. He was stunned after Cedric's murder, and eventually came to only to find that he was tied to You-know- who's father's headstone. Pettigrew then forced Harry to watch as a Dark Arts potion/spell occurred, bringing You-know-who back to life. The potion used materials such as a bone from You-know-who's father, a hand from Pettigrew, and blood forcefully taken from his fatal enemy, Harry himself.
As you may have guessed, You-know-who was not happy at all about Harry's almost defeat of him as a child. Though Harry insists that in this article, that small triumph is given to his mother, Lily Potter, as it was her love and sacrifice for Harry that allowed him to survive the attack. Harry watched, stunned and horribly terrified, as You-know-who summoned his Death Eaters and gave Pettigrew a silver hand.
After witnessing one of You-know-who's Death Eaters be tortured under the Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Daniel Avery. He watched as Lucius Malfoy pathetically begged forgiveness, Walden McNair promised better victims to murder than the dangerous beasts he currently destroys for the Ministry, Gordon Goyle and Camion Crabbe were both welcomed back and told to do better this time around, while the same was expected of Nathaniel Nott, and Lucifer and Francesca Lestrange were promised to be honored upon their release from Azkaban when You-know-who takes over the prison, and the Dementors guarding it.
You-know-who briefly discussed six remaining Death Eaters, three dead, one too cowardly to return, another that he'd feared had forever strayed, and a final Death Eater stationed at Hogwarts. After a brief forced duel with You- know-who, resulting in the discovery of what happens when two wands are brothers meet (they don't function, and Priori Incantatem occurs), Harry was able to escape by running to Cedric's body, holding onto it and summoning the cup.
During his time with You-know-who he underwent the Cruciatus Curse, and threw off the Imperius Curse. During the Priori Incantatem that occurred, Harry witnessed past spells that had been put into effect from You-know- who's wand. Including the silver-hand that he had just made for Peter Pettigrew, and the echo's of those he had murdered, Cedric Diggory, an Old Male Muggle, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's own parents, Lily and James Potter.
It was not the first time he had heard Lily and James speak to him, as he hears them plead for their lives and his every time he is approached by a Dementor. The situation was obviously quite emotionally traumatizing for the boy, who has now sworn to help in the fight against You-know-who any way he possibly can. Upon his arrival back at Hogwarts, he was greeted by Albus Dumbledore himself.
After a brief moment, Harry was escorted, against Albus Dumbledore's orders, to one of his Professor's offices, only to come face to face with the Death Eater at Hogwarts. Amazingly, the thought-dead son of Barty Crouch, Barty Crouch Jr. was the Death Eater. He was under disguise as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Harry was then graced with witnessing just WHY it is that You-know-who fears the Headmaster as he dealt with the imposter.
The Minister, Cornelius Fudge, foolishly allowed the boy to be Kissed by a Dementor before being questioned for the public to hear. When Harry gave the Minister the names of the Death Eaters present that night Harry was called, along with Albus Dumbledore, "Insane". Both look perfectly sane to me if I say so myself, not to mention quite powerful hero's of our community.
The Minister was more concerned with keeping his office than taking the necessary means to ensure the Wizarding World's safety, as he refuses to even consider removing the Dementors from Azkaban, or contacting the Giants with a peace treaty to ensure they will not be involved with You-know-who. I, myself, am disgusted by the Minister's behavior, ignoring the advice of Albus Dumbledore.
Even if this tale proves to be completely ridiculous and full of lies, what would a vial of Veritaserum towards all those mentioned hurt? I, for one, believe he should question Sirius Black, and the accused Death Eaters listed in this article under the truth serum, and find out what's really going on before someone else gets killed. Let us not allow Cedric Diggory's death to have been in vain.
I end with a little piece of advice that Harry offers the Wizarding World, "Shun me, Hate me, put me in Azkaban if you like. But don't turn a blind eye to this any longer, the Wizarding World is NOT safe, and I myself wonder which side of the fight Minister Fudge is on, perhaps we should check him for a Dark Mark? Why else would someone cover up for Lord ********* (He used the Dark Lord's name)?
If we allow him to blindly lead us, we are asking for our own deaths. I, for one, will not stand by and let the creature that has killed my parents, Cedric, and so many others, win this war. Cedric died a true Hufflepuff, but with a tinge of Gryffindor in him as he faced death. I extend my deepest condolences to Cedric's loved ones, he was truly a great loss to his friends, family and the Wizarding World.
In order to defeat him properly, we need to band together and continue the fight my parents, my godfather, and so many of you fought nearly fourteen years ago. I myself have the privilege of being able to have survived four encounters with the Dark Lord himself, I can only hope that I have another, that ends in his permanent defeat, and the end of his reign.
I offer you the words of a great man, one who is brave enough to see the truth for what it is, 'What's coming, will come, and we'll meet it when it does.' The same man who said this to me shortly before I left Hogwarts and the Wizarding World for the summer, is most definitely not Albus Dumbledore, but in my opinion just as wise, feel free to ask me who he is if you ever see me in person, I won't bite I promise. Do well, and heed his advice. Let us not sit idly by while Death Eaters re-group, band together and destroy our lives, our homes, our families, our children, and our futures."
Alexander, Moira and Harry grinned at one another before looking up to see the reactions of those in the Order who read the article. Most were staring at Harry with various degrees of shock, awe, and respect. Someone Harry didn't recognize called out, "Hey Harry! Where's the quote at the end come from?"
Harry grinned and said, "Hagrid!"
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