Telling Him II
The Dawn of realisation/Birthday presents
I'm re-posting the earlier chapters with italics and the new title. There are some minor alterations to the text as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. You know that and I know that but I still have to write the disclaimer. I have read a lot of fanfictions and consequently may have "borrowed" other people's ideas so if you recognise something it probably isn't mine. Finally if I am aware that I have taken somebody's idea I will put their pen name in brackets after it or acknowledge them at the end of the appropriate chapter this is only if I know the name. If you recognize something of yours that has not been acknowledged, tell me and I will acknowledge it. I am not making any money out of this so don't sue. I don't know why I bothered to write this as no one reads these anyway.
Thank you so much to my reviewers, the reviews make me so happy. (Hint to other readers and potential reviewers)!
Jj
Snape's letter was delayed because it was meant to be. I (or rather someone else who I can't remember the name of, if it was you, TELL me) thought that if muggles can have delayed post, wizards/witches could too.
Can't tell you how Petunia, Lily and Narcissa fit together yet. It will come up later in the story.
Kateri
No, he doesn't have much luck. It will just depend on who is the /worst/
cousin.
Silvertiger
Glad you like the Malfoy/Dursley thing. There will be more!
Tamara
what makes you think that Snape has a Manor? Of course, he /might/, but I
haven't decided yet.
#Parseltongue#
And so onto the next chapter-
He woke up in the chair he had fallen asleep in, still clutching the letter that had been delivered the previous evening. After a few moments the contents of that letter came back to him. They hadn't betrayed him! Why had he been so quick to accept what he had thought were the facts? OK it was because he thought they were the facts, but still Lily and James had always been close- more like siblings than he and James had ever been certainly.
He thought through the events of 15 years ago, as he now knew them to be:
Voldemort told him that he was to break contact with the mudblood or he would kill her.
That night he had told Lily. They had both ended up in tears. They spent that night together (guess). She left before he woke so they didn't have to 'say good bye'.
She went to stay with her friend Selena (Sirius' girlfriend in this fic!) But then found that she was pregnant and knew that if Voldemort found out then he would kill her, her unborn child and, probably, Severus the child's father. So she staged a relationship with James, they were 'married', except the wedding never happened, and went the child was born a fake birth certificate was produced stating James as the father, as well as the genuine one. Both he had found in the envelope.
The child had been sent to Lily's sister's home and been brought up there. By a muggle! And her muggle family.
The child, his child had then come to Hogwarts and he had given him hell.
This whole thing, to his mind, did not bode well. And, for the first time in ages he felt that he needed to talk to someone. Usually it was Albus, who, if he thought that Severus looked distracted, summoned Severus to his office and made him talk. Normally, by simply looking at him. However, he did not want to talk to Albus. He would get much more out of his depth than he already was.
The only other person he could possibly talk to about this was Remus Lupin who had been asked to return to his post as DADA professor this year, regardless of the fact that he is a werewolf, in fact it had been something to do with this whole 'messy' business with Lily that they had fallen out. However, he could never admit to being wrong to the werewolf, but there was another way…
(Narcissa visiting Petunia was on the 30th of July. I'm not writing the separate events in perfect chronological order)
Harry woke up aching all over. He tried to remember what had happened the previous day that could have caused every bone and muscle in his body to hurt so much. No answers came to him. Unless you count the fact that when he sat up he caught his head on the slope of his cupboard 'roof'. He knew that most people had major growth spurts at his age, but surely not 5 inches overnight?
He had no time to dwell on this as he remembered why he had set his alarm to go off at midnight. It was his birthday and he needed to intercept the owls. Before the Dursleys woke up.
Moving as quietly as he could he approached the kitchen and opened the door without making a sound; then stifled the sigh of relief that rose through him at having made it. Until he saw his Aunt in the far corner, looking straight at him.
"I thought you would come here." Petunia said. It was a simple statement and told Harry absolutely nothing more about his position.
A moment later several owls flew through the window.
Petunia simply watched as Harry approached the owls nervously, repeatedly turning his head towards her, and relieved them of their various burdens.
Then, to Harry's complete surprise, she let out a long breath and told him to take them upstairs with the rest of his belongings.
He had his room back.
Vaguely muttering a thank you he took the gifts and letters to his room and opened the window. Some of the owls flew in.
There was a very large box that had been carried by two owls from Sirius and Remus, a sack with something alive in it from Ron and Hermione, A box with another, smaller one attached from Fred and George and Ginny, respectively. There was another box from someone called Arabella and another selection of Hagdrid's culinary delights. His Hogwarts letter had arrived too.
Harry didn't notice the cardboard box next to his desk.
He opened the sack with the alive thing in it first. It said #hello#, it was, in fact, a Boa Constrictor and was called Insigna. It was also, apparently, female. The letter from Ron and Hermione, who was staying there, had got him a snake so that he had 'someone' to talk to. And Harry was glad of this; not being able to talk to anyone was starting to get at him.
Fred and George had sent him an array of their latest inventions and Ginny had sent him a watch.
Warily Harry opened then paper surrounding Sirius and Remus' present. It turned out to be a chest with 5 locks. To see if it was what he thought it was he opened the first lock, with one of the keys in the envelope that had come with it, and put a piece of paper with '1' on it inside. He did the same for the others. There were five compartments; it was a magic chest.
Harry stowed Hagrid's gift under the loose floorboard and put his cards on his desk. He read through each of the letters twice- everyone was well; Ron hoped that he'd be allowed to stay in a few weeks and Sirius said that he hoped to see him soon. Remus apparently had been given the DADA job back, which Harry thought was great since Remus was the best DADA professor they had had and this year he knew he would have to learn as much as possible. He had already learnt and written notes on all the extra books he'd bought in Hogsmeade before the holidays.
He wanted to open the Hogwarts letter later.
The other package still lay on the floor. Harry wasn't sure if he should open it; it didn't look threatening, but…
Curiosity won and inside he found a set of Quidditch balls and a letter. Harry then remembered that Arabella Figg was one of the 'old crowd' and it seemed that she was also a friend of his mother.
Finally he opened the, heavier than usual, letter from Hogwarts. There was a book list, a letter and, to his complete surprise, a prefects badge. The letter confirmed that he was a prefect. Hermione was the other Gryffindor prefect. Harry wondered how Ron had reacted with a smile.
Then he realised how strange his Aunts behaviour had been. He wondered whether Narcissa's visit had anything to do with it, before he laid down on the old camp bed and pulled the threadbare sheet over him and fell into, for the first time since the end of the Triwizard Tournament, a dreamless sleep.
Another letter arrived only moments later and the clumsy owl took of f with as little grace as it had landed causing the letter it had delivered to settle behind the desk it had been dropped on. But, oblivious to this, Harry slept.
I don't know what Harry's 'other' first name is going to be, I've already decided that he is going to have Severus as his middle name and the surname is obviously Snape. I'd appreciate suggestions!
Thank you for reading, hope you liked it. Please Review!
