Bring Me To Life : A Continuation
by I Got Tired of Waiting

Part I : The Past to the Present
Intermission One : Merely This, and Nothing More

Right after they started extending the Hogwarts wards over the outskirts of Hogsmeade, Remus and Ron had come to the school with two other Aurors, bearing some daunting news. The moment they'd imparted it to Severus, he'd growled and then, saying something about needing Harry, stalked away with his usual speed and grace. Following him, the four Aurors stopped in a colonnade near the Quidditch Pitch; they didn't want to alarm the students with their presence.

Harry had been up on his broom watching some First Years try their brooms out for the first time. Severus stood by the side a few moments admiring his skill--arms crossed, alertly watching the neophytes while nonchalantly hovering a few feet off the ground; his legs gripping the broom were all that kept him aloft.

Severus knew what those legs could do--how strong they were. Not now, Severus. Shaking his head at this interruption to his purpose, he strode across the pitch and called out to Harry.

Ever aware of Severus' scrutiny, Harry took one look at the stern face and called the students back to the ground, dismissing them to their common rooms until their next class. Once the disappointed First Years were well on their way back to the castle, Harry touched down and followed Severus, his custom broom thrown over his shoulder.

They stopped at the colonnade where Ron, James Boll (know as Jims), Patricia Parker (called Pat), and Remus impatiently waited. Once the introductions had been made, Severus was succinct in his explanation. "Ron has come with the news that six children have been taken from Hogsmeade out of the Primary School, their teacher dead. They're asking us to join them because of the shielding spell we've been developing. They'll escort us out of there; our job is to protect the children."

He looked significantly at Harry. One of them is Colin.

Oh, fuck!

My thoughts exactly. We must get him out of there safely, or all of this--all of this will have been for nothing.

I know, I know. We'll get him, promise!

There you go, making promises I may have to keep. Damn you, he thought without rancour.

Harry nodded, then asked, "Do we know where they've been taken?"

As Ron's talent was the ability to focus his powers like a divining rod to find missing wizards and witches, he'd already pin-pointed the children's location.

Remus briefed them. "Of course, we know it's a trap. The Muggles have no need for them; they're too young and untrained," he explained. "The children are being held on the outskirts of London in the European Command Base. It's obvious they're using the children as bait to lure adult rescuers." He growled. "Sodding cowards."

Jims, a recent recruit grinned and said with youthful enthusiasm, "Instead, they'll get us!"

Pat, a veteran Auror, said nothing but rolled her eyes and gave Jims the same look she would have to a puppy who'd wet the floor.

The plan was fairly simple as plans went--they would Apparate in, go invisible, find the children, and collect them. Severus and Harry would shield the children during the search. Once clear of the base and its anti-Apparation wards cast by the turncoat Mudbloods, they would return to Hogsmeade proper.

After first changing into their fighting gear and notifying Poppy and the stand-in Headmaster, Sinistra, of their mission, they set the plan in motion. The six Apparated about two kilometres away from their goal in an old alley. Donning invisibility cloaks and illusion spells, they crept out of the safety of the alley and ran at a ground-eating pace the remaining distance to the installation. Creeping through the check-point at the entrance gate, they made their way inside.

The problem with invisibility cloaks and spells is they only hide the wearer or caster from visual detection; however, they're vulnerable to touch and, as they would soon find out, infrared. The Base Commandant followed their progress with satisfaction and no small measure of respect for the courage these wizards exhibited in the first place. Of course, children were children regardless of race; had it been his stolen, he would have done the same thing. He'd counted on it, in fact.

He patiently waited until they had five of the children and were near the sixth before springing his trap. He'd no intentions of letting any of them go; the six brats were useful as leverage (no one liked to see a child tortured) but, if the adults proved stubborn, were a reasonable sacrifice to get his hands on six of their Aurors, for that was what he supposed he had.

Which was just too damn bad for him.

"Harry, watch out!" Severus cried, ducking to the side as a group of Muggle soldiers rounded the corner, dart guns in hand. Busy maintaining the shield around him and the children, Harry instantly moved behind them and kept them moving even as he extended the shield to cover Severus as well.

"Don't worry about us," Ron called to them as he dodged another dart and sent one of the Muggles flying into the wall. "Just find the last one and get the hell out of here. We'll watch your backs."

Worried, but knowing Ron was right, Harry followed Severus as they cautiously shepherded the little ones ahead while Remus, walking backwards, took the rear. They reached the last cell. While Severus busied himself with the lock, Harry concentrated on holding the shield. The spell was only designed to hold two adults in relative safety against the darts not two adults and five children. He didn't know how much longer he could hold it with Severus unable to help him maintain it, spending his energy instead on a stubborn Muggle lock.

Ron rounded the corner, nearly stumbling into Remus. His face was grim. "We lost Pat and Jims," he told Remus in an undertone, but Harry heard anyway. "There's about a dozen more coming." Calling over to Severus, he shouted, "Just shoot the damn thing, we don't have time!"

Hating the firearm, Severus nevertheless pulled it out of his holster and, taking careful aim, shot the lock out of the door. With the deafening after-echoes ringing in their ears, one of the children panicked, running out of the protection of the shield.

Harry wasn't quick enough to grab him. Dropping the shield long enough to send a retrieving spell after him, he hauled the boy back into the group. Severus, in the meantime, had grabbed the last child; as he straightened after putting her down with the others, three holes blossomed bright red in his chest, trails running black down his dark robes. Spinning in place, he fell without a sound.

The terrible sound of gunfire coming around the corner was deafening. The Muggles had thrown away their dart guns for real ones once they'd realised the invading wizards were armed.

"SEVERUS!" he shouted even as he staggered, the weakness flooding him from Severus' injury. He went down on one knee, desperately trying to re-establish the shield but was unable to see past the white-hot pain behind his eyes. Dropping down, though, saved his life as the bullets meant for him spun Ron around--two rounds in his shoulder, another to his gut.

Harry later reflected that it only takes an instant to go from sane to berserk. Intimately he knew how it felt to lose his control, to draw in the tremendous power, fuelled by his weakness, his fear, and his all-consuming, righteous rage, and then to release it with uncontrolled, thoughtless, violent savagery. Remus would later tell him he'd shone bright with his power.

Streaks of orange energy flew out of Harry's arms and hands, immolating the entire contingent of Muggles racing towards them. Large enough to encompass them all, the shield resumed, glowing a bright orange. The sparks shooting off it singed the walls around them.

Then, doing the impossible, Harry Apparated them, six children and four adults, to the safety of the Hogwarts' infirmary. Through the Muggle shielding, through the Hogwarts wards, through the very stone of the castle itself, Harry brought them home.

Small wonder he'd been unconscious for days.

Harry awoke to the sound of crying. Cocooned in warmth, the press of warm bodies was soothing, but the firm mattress and the memories of too much time spent previously in such a bed, told him he was in the infirmary--again.

Bodies? He opened an eye. With what he saw, he opened the other one for good measure to make certain he wasn't seeing things.

There was more than one person in the bed. In fact, there were three people in the bed--two big, one very small.

Severus lay on his side facing him, his face haggard but alive. Usually when they woke like this, he and Severus were draped over each other, the contact speeding their healing. But now?

Now there was a little girl kneeling on the bed between them and it was her soft crying which had awakened him. He studied her closely, very confused as to why she was here. She can't be more than four, he thought. Her face was hauntingly familiar.

With a jolt, he realised she was the last girl Severus had rescued from the Muggles.

When Severus got shot.

The little girl kept touching Severus' face with her tiny hand, all the while crying and saying, "Wake up. Wake up, please," over and over.

She'd obviously been doing it for a while, hence the tears. She looked frightened and Harry wracked his brains trying to figure out how to stop her and get her off the bed before Severus, notoriously bad with small children, woke up and really scared her.

He hesitantly reached out a hand, ruefully admitting to himself that he wasn't much better with really young ones than Severus was. He touched her arm.

She jerked back her hand and stared at him, terror in her eyes. Harry smiled at her, trying to ease her fears. She stopped and tilted her head at him, a million questions in her eyes.

"Why won't he wake up?" she asked quite reasonably for someone who was snuffling loudly.

"He's very tired," Harry replied.

"Why is he so tired?" she asked.

Harry considered her a moment and realised he'd no idea how to do this. "He's hurt," he finally said.

"I know, he was standing next to me and then he fell. Why did he fall?"

"Because of the hurt."

She considered this a moment and then asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Harry."

"Why are you in the same bed?"

Well, hell, he thought, uncertain how to reply. He decided the simple truth might be easier. "I'm here because Severus is my husband."

She paused, seeming to accept his explanation at face value. "His name is Sezruth?"

He chuckled. "Close enough."

"You have a nice laugh and a nice face."

"Why thank you," he said seriously. "You have a nice face, too," he added lamely. "What's your name?"

"Lenore. My Mum named me after a poem," she added and then burst into tears.

Harry struggled to sit up and, without thinking, opened his arms to her. Without any hesitation, she crawled into his lap and nestled in his arms against his chest, the sobs shaking her small body.

Harry sat very still, not certain what to do. He decided he'd act like it was Hermione the few times she'd cried. So he held her firmly, but not so firm she'd feel trapped. He stroked her hair, rocked her a bit, and little by little her sobs subsided into little hiccups. She buried her face and rubbed it against his vest. He loosened the hug, letting her pull back, her face all blotchy and pink.

"Are you all right?" he asked her gently.

"My m-mu-mum's in the Hinterlands now. I want my mum back," she snuffled.

Shit. Now what? The great and wise Harry Potter, 67 years-old had absolutely no idea what to say. So he rocked her a bit and then it came to him.

"My mum's there, too. I expect they'll be friends."

Her face brightened. "Oh, do you really think so?" she asked.

"Yes, I really think so. My mum likes to meet new people, I'm certain she'd like your mum."

About this time, Harry began to hear the first rumblings that were Severus coming awake. Not wanting him to scare her, he thought Severus, are you awake?

I am thinking, therefore I must be awake.

How are you feeling, love?

Like I mis-stepped in front of the Hogwarts Express--while it was moving.

Harry chuckled out loud.

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

What the hell is that? Severus asked.

Without thinking he replied, "Severus is waking up."

Why is it here?

Good question. I don't know, but I'll ask. Oh, by the by, it's the little girl you rescued last; her name is Lenore.

"If he's waking up, why aren't his eyes opening?" she asked.

"Because he's lazy and doesn't want to get up yet. He wants to know why you're here."

"How can you know that? He hasn't said anything!"

Yes Harry, how can you know that? Severus mimicked in a high little mental voice. And I am not lazy, my head hurts abominably.

"Stop that, Severus; it's annoying," he said out loud. To her he replied, "Severus and I can talk in our heads. He says his head hurts."

She moved out of his lap and back onto the bed and then put her face very close to Severus'. At the same time, he opened his eyes. The two of them stared at each other, a few inches apart, dark eyes to Delft. Glaring, he reared his head back, startling her. She fell back on the bed and, crawling over to Harry, wrapped her arms around him and started to cry again.

At a loss, Harry glared at Severus. That was bloody brilliant.

Double damn. Why is the creature wailing and, more important, when will it shut up?

He cradled her. "Hush now, it's all right," he murmured into her hair.

Nice work, Severus.

I didn't do anything! he protested.

Uh-huh, and I suppose it was your brilliant wit and charm that overcame her.

She startled me, that's all, he sent sullenly.

Gods, don't you start too. That all I need, two of you snuffling.

"Hush now, you scared him. That's all, no need to cry now is there?"

Severus snorted. She did not scare me, he sent vehemently.

She sniffled, wiping her face on his vest, which was by now quite soggy. "I scared him?" she asked.

"Yup. That's why he pulled back. You were ferocious."

She giggled and crawled out of his lap to face Severus again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said quite contritely.

Severus, behave!

"It's all right," he croaked, his voice unused for several days. "Apology accepted."

Magnanimous of you...

Don't start. My head hurts too much to argue with you.

Ah, you're only saying that because you know I'm right.

Harry, please understand I have only your best intentions in mind when I say--SOD OFF!

Harry laughed out loud again. Lenore looked askance at him and then looked at Severus, his eyes closed, a wave of pain running across his face.

"Why are you laughing at him? He hurts." she asked suspiciously.

"I'm sorry. He said something funny."

"What?"

Yes, Harry, tell the little girl what I said.

Prat!

Harry turned beet red. "Uh, well, it was something grown-ups say to each other." He held his breath, hoping she wouldn't ask for further explanation and released it on a sigh; she seemed to accept it at face value.

"Why are you here, little one?" Severus asked uncomfortably, but gently, after clearing his throat.

He was always surprising Harry.

"I wanted to thank you and tell you I was really sorry. I'm supposed to be asleep, but I heard Uncle George tell Aunt Aggie that you were hurt bad and that it was all my fault." She started crying softly again.

What the hell is she talking about? Severus asked.

She was the last girl you rescued right before-- he couldn't finish the thought.

Before what? He eyed Harry suspiciously.

Before you were shot.

Severus chuckled. Oh, is that why my chest feels like I have Hagrid sitting on it? I remember her. Spunky little thing--she wanted to know what took us so long. His face fell as he suddenly remembered. Colin?

Safe, Severus. Colin is safe.

Oh, thank the gods.

Severus opened his eyes and said to Lenore, "It was not your fault. I was stupid to get in the way."

After a moment's serious consideration, she bent closer and kissed his cheek. Carefully placing her tiny hand where she'd kissed him, she patted and pressed her fingers lightly into his rough beard, her concentration on the sharp prickles such she never noticed the dark bemused eyes following her every movement.

Severus cleared his throat. "And you are most welcome. It was my pleasure to rescue you... even if we did take too long."

Oh, very well done, Severus!

Shut up.

"Really?" she asked.

Solemnly, he raised his hand in promise. "Really," Severus said softly. It seemed a natural progression for that hand to gently push the tangled hair away from her face. "You have pretty eyes."

"Thank-you-very-much. Mum says they're the colour of blue pansies. What's a pansy?"

"Hmmm. It's a flower; they don't grow here, though, it's too cold, but they do in other places and she's right, some of them are that colour." His eyes started to close. "I'm sorry," he said to her, his voice slurring, "I'm very tired. I need to go to sleep."

Are you all right? Harry asked him.

I will be. I just hurt.

I know, I can feel it.

Yes. Annoying isn't it?

If you're feeling pain, you're alive, and right now that's more than enough for me.

Severus briefly opened his eyes, gazing longingly at Harry. Lifting his hand, he ran it down Harry's cheek. Mindful of Lenore, Harry leant closer and cupped Severus' face with his hand as he very gently kissed him on the lips, lingering there perhaps a few seconds more than was necessary. He pulled back a bit and stared into his eyes, green to black.

Lids drooping shut, Severus sighed contentedly as he fell asleep.

Harry looked at him a few seconds more, memorising his face, and then turned back to Lenore.

She was staring first at Harry and then at Severus and back again, an oddly mature expression on her face. "You look at each other the way my dad and mum looked at each other... before he went away."

Harry was shocked. She'd lost both parents?

"Well, um, I love him," he said simply, "and I'm very glad he's here. I would've been very sad had he gone away."

"My mum was sad. Now, I'm sad. When are they coming back?"

Harry said the first thing that came into his head. "Oh baby, they're not coming back. Someday, you'll have to go to them. I miss my mum and dad, too. I was very little when they went away. It's easier if you think about where they've gone. I've heard it's very nice there. And they won't be lonely."

"But I'm lonely."

"Well, you've Uncle George and Aunt Aggie," he hesitated a moment, "and you've me and Severus. How's that?"

"I like that," she said, giving him a big hug.

About this time, George's wife, Aggie, ran into the room.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "We've been looking for you everywhere." Taking an unrepentant Lenore under the arms, she picked her up off of the bed. "I'm so sorry, Harry; she won't bother you again."

"No, please, Aggie, she hasn't been a bother and I think Severus rather likes her. I know I do." He winked at Lenore who giggled.

Aggie raised an eyebrow; when it came to small children, Severus' reputation preceded him.

Making certain he had her attention, Harry said quietly, "Everyone gets a second chance and everyone has a soft spot. I think she found his."

Aggie nodded. Putting the child down, she took Lenore by the hand, saying, "Let's let Uncle Harry rest now, all right? He's still not feeling well and needs to sleep. You can see him tomorrow if Uncle Seth says it's all right."

Lenore pulled away from Aggie and ran back to the bed. She quickly clambered to the top and, throwing her arms around his neck, gave him a big hug and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.

"G'night, Uncle Harry," she said as she slid off the bed.

"G'night, Lenore," he called, grinning when she waved at him before leaving with Aggie.

Sliding under the covers and snuggling close to Severus had never felt this good. He put his arm across the narrow waist, grateful Severus was there for him to do so.

His last thoughts before unconsciousness took him was he rather liked being called Uncle Harry.

The next morning, Seth looked in on them and saw a deeply sleeping Harry loosely holding an also-sleeping Severus, the small child stretched out peacefully between them, her hand raised to Severus' face. He smiled and made a mental note to tell Aggie she was safe here; he'd let her know when she could come pick the child up.

Closing the door on their slumber, he reckoned that healing came in many forms and these three looked well on their way.

Severus signed the parchment with a flourish. He handed the quill over to Harry while George and Aggie, standing nearby with Arthur Weasley and The Trio, beamed at them both. Ignoring the sour Director standing off to the side, Harry looked over at the little girl, now almost six, bouncing on her toes in excitement and, sticking his tongue out her as he winked, he turned back to the parchment and signed his name to it.

Lenore Snape-Potter (Bloodline Villins) adopted daughter of Severus Snape-Potter and Harry James Snape-Potter. Custos Morum: George and Agatha Weasley, the parchment read. Harry frowned at the last bit; the humiliating clause resulting from their fight with the Director of the Board of Governors over the adoption still rankled. Custos Morum--moral custodians--his arse. He sighed and put aside the lingering anger; they'd won, Peabody had lost, and that was all that mattered.

"It's done," he said, looking at Severus' happy face. Strange thing, that. He'd seen Severus with just about every face there was, but this pure, quiet happiness was new, and all the more cherished for it.

All restraint gone, Lenore ran over to Severus and literally jumped into his arms, giving him a huge bear hug. Reaching over, she grabbed Harry's robes and pulled him over so she could hug them both. "You're my Daddies now, right?"

"Right," they said together and the assembled laughed.

"So if you're my Daddies, how come he says I can't live with you?" she asked, her eyes darting to the man standing stiffly behind them.

"Now, Lenore," Harry said loudly, "you know what Mr Peabody said. You have to live with other children in a 'proper family'. And since we're all in the castle together, we can see each other as often as we like." He bent close to her ear and whispered, "You remember our secret, right? The other door?" She nodded solemnly. "Good girl," he said with approval.

She scowled over Severus' shoulder, her intent eyes following the Director who, with a disdainful sniff, made his way to the door. "Good. He's going. He's a bad man," she said quietly, "I don't like him." She blew a raspberry as the door slammed shut behind him.

"Lenore..." Harry began, trying unsuccessfully to hide his laughter.

Redirecting her attention, Severus tickled her sides. As she giggled, he said with mock sternness, "Young lady, I believe you've something for us?"

Not fooled for a minute by him, she wriggled her way down to the floor and stood before them, her hands behind her back. With a look of fierce concentration, she began to recite:

Deep into that darkness peering,
Long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams
No mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken,
And the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken
Was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo
Murmured back the word, "Lenore!"-
Merely this, and nothing more.

All the remaining adults clapped vigorously when she curtsied at the end of her recitation, the lines a fragment of the poem her deceased father and mother, the teacher killed in the abduction, had used in her naming.

Now she had 'two' families. Severus and Harry as her adopted parents, a precedent Arthur Weasley had seen to personally as Minister, and her Custos Morum, George and Agatha Weasley with whom she would ostensibly live. Harry and Severus exchanged a smile with Arthur and George; no one but their two families need know that the door into her room from the Weasleys' side was a Wizarding space sham to satisfy those nosy enough to check. Proper family, indeed: Lenore would live with them.

It would be many years before Lenore knew what those words 'proper family' really meant and when she did, she would tell Severus and Harry (with some heated outrage at how they'd been regarded), that while Uncle George and Aunt Aggie were dear to her, Severus and Harry were her only 'proper family'.

In the meantime on this fine day, her adoption day, Severus happily swung her around in the air in a big circle, the dancing light in his eyes new, the joyous laughter at her squeals of delight a blessing as their daughter laughed with her new fathers.

Excerpt from "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe

TBC