CHAPTER 2: FANGS
"Where is my father?" Harry queried nervously, he was not looking forward to meeting his father. There would be too many awkward questions on both sides. It was only then that he realised he'd referred to Snape as his father fro the past ten minutes. For some reason it seemed natural. He didn't have much time to reflect on this though as James' answer was followed by the opening of one of the doors leading deeper into the potions master's domain
A tall man stood in the doorway. He had a hooked nose, pale skin and cold black eyes. The resemblance between him and the fake Snape, James Potter had been projecting was remarkable. Yet there two key differences, the first was the hair. It was just as long as James had made it, but it was clean, giving it a healthy almost silky look. It wasn't the cleanliness that was the difference, it was the fact it was tied back in a ponytail, rather like the long red of Bill Weasley, and it suited him far more than the style James had used. The other was the slight grin that he had, Harry suspected that was the Snape equivalent of a broad smile, and again it made him look something other than the epitome of evil.
"Hello Seb." he said, his voice wasn't identical to the one James used in class, but it was similar enough not to be commented on. Harry only noticed because he recognised the voice from elsewhere.
"Fangs." he gasped, "You're Fangs!"
The grin turned into a smirk. "You honestly think I wouldn't look after you, Seb. I may not be nice but you're still family."
Harry leapt up from his seat and ran over to the newcomer, hugging him tightly. "I've dreamed of this. Of you taking me away from the Dursley's telling me you were my Uncle or something." If Harry could smile any wider his face would break in half. "I modelled myself on you, you know. Even after I left Tollgate and came to Hogwarts. I would still do whatever you suggested." Tears were beginning to run down the raven-haired boy's face, "I don't where what I'd be without you. Dead, probably, or evil."
"I couldn't acknowledge you as my son, Seb. You were too young to understand. But you were always my son. I really wanted to tell you the truth but I was scared it would drive you away from me."
"And you were always my father, even if I never knew it. I always used to wonder what having a loving father was like when I was little, and when I met you I knew what it would be like."
"Don't be so damned sentimental, Seb." Severus said sternly, it was a manner Harry knew well from his time at Tollgate Primary School, where 'Fangs' as Harry had affectingly nicknamed him, or Mr Evans as he was supposed to be known had taught him for two years. Everyone except Harry had hated him, for being too strict. It had been with great sadness that Harry had moved onto Mrs Curtis' class for the final two years of Primary School and even then Harry had spent as much time as he could with his former teacher.
"Yes, Father." he said. Tears began to flow as he realised what those two words meant. He had a father, it didn't matter that it wasn't James Potter, but he had a family. A real family and that was all that mattered. They remained like that for what seemed like hours. Locked in an embrace with Harry crying tears of joy. In reality it only lasted about thirty minutes, until they were interrupted by another voice.
"How could I have been so stupid." they heard James whisper his voice full of self-loathing, "How? You look so happy, and I stole that from you."
Harry turned and faced him. "Look up, James." he said sternly, in the same tone his father had used minutes before. James looked up and saw two identical glares, and two virtually identical faces. It was remarkable, now that the charm was beginning to wear off, how similar the two looked. The only differences being in height, eye colour and nose, as well as the hair style. "You did an evil deed, nothing can deny that, you tried to murder two people, two innocents out of jealousy." Harry said his tone full of the authority, he had inherited from both of his parents. "But you are not evil yourself. You have repented and because of that I am willing to forgive you." James looked surprised. "Provided you do as I ask."
"Why?" James croaked looking up at Harry "Why do you forgive me?"
"You're a good man, James, who let bad emotions consume you. I almost did the same over the summer. It was only Fangs here that stopped me. You know you made a mistake, but you refuse to forgive yourself. If I don't forgive you, no one will. You won't let the same mistake happen again." Harry released himself from his father's grip and walked up to him placing his hand on the Marauders shoulder. "You're a good man, James. You shouldn't have to have me remind you." He gave a reassuring smile and removed his hand .
"How can you two forgive me so easily?" he answered meekly
It was Snape who replied this time. "A true death eater does not feel guilt when their loved one's are killed. You've spent the past fourteen years hiding away and destroying yourself. If you weren't a good man that wouldn't be the case."
"That doesn't make what I did any better." he pleaded
"No, It does not." Annoyance began to creep into Snape's voice, and he adopted that familiar sneering tone that James had used during classes. "You know what you did was wrong, James. When are you going to get a grip and actually begin to live a life. You're acting like a pathetic fool and start acting like a Gryffindor rather than a pathetic Hufflepuff reject." He snapped
"I have to be punished for what I did."
"You've been punished enough, now it's time to redeem yourself. You made a mistake. Stop dwelling on it and get over it, and that is what I'm going to tell you how to do." Harry argued in a tone which prevented a reply. "You are going to go to Dumbledore and you will tell him everything, you will also tell both Sirius and Remus everything and they will forgive you. Together we will devise a plan which ensures that Sirius is cleared of all charges without revealing the truth about my parentage. You will also go the ministry and tell them a story which informs that you were a Death Eater, and that you were involved in the plot that killed Lilly." Harry continued in an authoritative tone. "Understood?"
"Yes." James replied dejectedly. He didn't move. "Well come on then. We should see him now."
"Aren't you in detention, Seb." Snape commented dryly, as he stepped from the doorway.
Harry gave a wry grin, "Are you sure it's me in detention. Considering I seem to be the one in control around here."
"Yes." Severus replied with a smirk "I should know, seeing as I'm the one who gave you the detention."
Harry looked at him curiously. If Fangs had been taking the potions classes today, Harry thought that he would have noticed, considering the man had a slightly different teaching style from James, but then Fangs may have moderating his vindictiveness considering he was teaching 7-9 year olds at Tollgate. "You were teaching Potions today not James! I didn't notice any difference" he exclaimed.
"Good. If I can fool you I can fool anyone, provided they accept the different hairstyle. After all you're the only kid in Hogwarts that I've taught previously." He gave a triumphant smirk.
"How the hell did you know everyone's names? Especially Hermione's and Dean's?"
"The Marauders Map." James intervened, he still sounded depressed. "I stole it back from Crouch after the third task, before Moody could get to it." There was a pause.
"There's still one question you haven't asked?" Snape said haughtily.
Harry looked confused , and thought deeply for a few minutes while several questions popped into his head before asking the first, "What is my real name?"
"Not the question I was thinking of but Lilly and I decided on Sebastian Harold Snape."
"Bloody Hell, that's a coincidence." Harry exclaimed, "So that explains why you insist on calling me Seb eight years after the Shipwreck Project. Not that I object, I've never really liked the name Harry, it's too ordinary."
"What's a coincidence?" James asked, with a little curiosity hidden amidst the gloom in his voice.
"At the end of year 3, we did a class project where we had to pretend we were a group of shipwreck survivors. We each had to come up with a name for our characters. I named him Sebastian Snape."
"That's scary." James commented, he seemed slightly surprised.
"Yes. I was extremely surprised by the choice, not to mention delighted. It was almost as if you knew it was your name as you were among the first to create a character. Naturally, I decided to use your real name after that. I never really liked the name Harry either, that was Lilly's idea, as it was her fathers name. I wanted to name you 'Sebastian James' after Prongs."
"So having James as my false middle name was your idea?" Harry was slightly surprised
"Hey, don't be so surprised. I'm not that big-headed." James cried with some annoyance.
"No, but you were bloody good at pretending to be an egoistic prat." Severus replied in a demeaning tone. "But then you chose the boy with the biggest ego in the whole school to be your best friend." He continued with venom, it was clear that Severus did not like Sirius.
The tone was matched by James' defence of his former lover, "You should learn to tell impulsiveness and big-headedness apart, Sev. You of all people should be able to tell the difference, Slytherin's full of egoistic bastards."
"Love clouds your judgement, James. It always does." Severus replied despairingly
Sensing an argument was brewing. Harry interrupted James reply by asking his next question. "How did you two meet up again?"
"That's the question I wanted you to ask." Severus replied. "I came looking for James. I arrived at Hogwarts around lunchtime two days ago and came straight here to see James. I exacted my revenge on him, forgave him and then we talked and came to an agreement. I would teach potions whilst James concentrated on winning the war, on condition that we told both you and Dumbledore the truth. I didn't tell you the truth before because I didn't think you were mature enough to handle it." Harry looked slightly offended. "Come on. Would you have forgiven James before the events of the third task?" Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"I wasn't mature enough to handle the truth until the third task, either. I still hated Harry, remember." James added.
Severus sighed, "I wish it wouldn't take the death of an innocent to make people see the truth. But at least some good has come of Diggory's death." he said philosophically. "Come on." he added sternly before anyone else could comment "I thought we had agreed to see, Dumbledore."
"Now? You want to see Albus now?" James exclaimed nervously, it was obvious he did not want to have a meeting with the headmaster.
"Yes." Snape said commandingly "Now." James stood up reluctantly and dragged himself out of the Potions Masters quarters. Snape swept behind in the dramatic fashion that most students would associate with the Potions Master. Harry followed walking alongside his father.
Does anyone think I've made Sev a little too nice or sentimental? The real Sev isn't as sour as the one we know, but I'm worried I've made him too OOC. The James-in-disguise Snape and the real Snape are supposed to have the same character. I need feedback!