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Six Feet and Falling

by Saerry Snape

Chapter 18 :: November 29, 1995 :: Hogwarts – Night

"SHE'S BEEN WHAT?!"

Dumbledore found it very unnerving to be facing a very, very furious Harry and a deeply distraught Severus.  If anything, he'd been expecting their moods to be opposite.

Harry kicked a chair in rage and spat, "How the hell did anyone get on the grounds to kidnap her?  I thought there'd been precautions since what happened last year!"  He glared at Dumbledore here.

"Harry, I assure you that there were precautions…"

Harry, eyes blazing brightly, snarled, "Then how the bloody fricking hell did a Death Eater get on the grounds and kidnap Sheyne!"

"Harry, calm down," said Severus softly.  "We have to think about this…"

Harry whirled on the man that had been revealed to be his father only a few days ago.

"How can you be so calm?  This is Sheyne, we're talking about!  Voldemort could put her under Imperious and control her Shifting.  She'd be the best damn Death Eater he'd have!"

"You think I don't know that?" roared Severus, rising out of his seat to glare at his son.  The boy stared back defiantly, his height matching his father's exactly.  "I know what will happen to her!  But its you I'm more worried about!"

"I'm not the one they kidnapped!"

"Harry, Severus…" said Dumbledore, trying to bring peace before the battling father and son tore his office apart.

"And you'd better be glad of it!"

"What's so special about me?" spat Harry.  "Why does Voldemort want me so badly?"

Severus snarled, "You really want to know why?"

Dumbledore sprang out of his seat, blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"Severus!"

Severus snapped without turning his head towards the Headmaster, "He's got to know sometime, Albus."

"Now is not the time, Severus!"

"I can't think of a better one!" replied the Potions Master.

"Just tell me!" bellowed Harry.

"Your Slytherin's Heir!" screamed Severus.  As Harry immediately turned pale, he continued in a softer tone, "Your mother was the niece of Tom Riddle.  His father remarried after leaving Riddle's mother, not knowing his new wife was the sister of his last wife and a witch as well.  Their daughter, Evelyn, was a Squib and married – ironically – another Squib, Samuel Evans."

Harry's breath came faster as he gasped, "I – I'm related to that…that monster!"

Severus grabbed his son's shoulders and shook them.  The boy gasped and looked at him, eyes wide with disbelief and shock.

"No.  Never think like that.  Your related to Tom Riddle, who was nothing like Voldemort until his fifth year.  Your nothing like him!"

Harry gasped, "That's why…that's why he wanted to kill me."

"Yes," said Dumbledore, eying Severus distastefully.  "He wanted to rid himself of his only competition, his only still living relative.  A relative he believed to be of Slytherin and Gryffindor blood."  The blue eyes flicked to Severus as he added, "Which we now know is not true."

Harry shook violently before he looked up at the Headmaster and hissed, "I've been lied to all my life.  About my family, about everything!"

"Harry," said Dumbledore.

"No!" bellowed the teen, leaping out of his seat, eyes blazing with otherworldly fury.  "I won't hear it.  That – that – creature has my sister and we're sitting here doing nothing!"

"If you fall…"

"I don't give shit if I fall into Voldemort's hands!"  Harry clenched his fists and said in a very soft voice, "I just want Shey back."  He then glared at the two other men and fled the room.

"Well," said Dumbledore without a trace of amusement.  "That went well."

Severus promptly scowled at him.

* * *

Harry stalked into the Great Hall a few moments later, everything about him screaming 'Pissed off'.  Not even the twins attempted to do anything when he sat down across from Ron and Hermione and began to eat.

"Harry?"

"What?" snapped Harry, scowling at Hermione.  Generally, he wouldn't have done that as the girl could easily figure out whom he looked like from it.  But as he was in a blind fury, he really didn't care if the whole world found out.  And by the way things were going, he wouldn't have been surprised if the entire world didn't already know everything about him and he was the only one it was being kept secret from.

"I – I was just wondering if you were okay.  You were out for two days."

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine."

Ron suddenly snapped, "What's your problem?"

Harry snarled right back, "My problem?  What's your problem, Ron?  What do you have against Sheyne?"

"She's a Snape!"

Harry rose from his seat and in one fluid motion drove his fork deep into the table, the tongs landing right inbetween the ring and middle fingers of the Ron's right hand.  He then bellowed, for all to hear and damn the consequences, "SO AM I!!"

With that he turned and stormed out, robes billowing behind him in a style that matched the Potion Master's exactly.  The silence in the Hall after his statement was short-lived as everyone immediately began to talk.  Hermione quickly ran out after her friend, followed hurriedly by Ron.

* * *

They found him at the top of the Astronomy Tower leaning on the stone railing, his hair and robes whipped every which way by the fierce winds that seemed to be becoming a trend during the winter.

"Harry?" said Hermione, rather unwilling to leave the shelter provided by the doorway.

He turned towards them, his eyes seeming to glow in the dark.  A sneer crossed his features and he snapped, "Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because we're your friends," replied Hermione, pulling her cloak tightly about her and stepping into the wind.

Harry snorted, closing his eyes.

"Ah, yes.  My friends.  Well, friends of mine, how do you feel about being friends with a Snape and – let's not forget – Slytherin's Heir?"

Hermione's jaw dropped and so did Ron's.  The ginger-haired boy gasped, "Wha – what?"

"Yes," said Harry, drawing out the 's' like a snake's hiss.  "It seems I'm the great-nephew of one Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, Scourge of Existence."  He laughed harshly and added, "Isn't it grand?"

"I hope that was sarcasm."

Harry turned to smile grimly at Hermione.

"Oh, believe me, it was.  I get no joy from being related to him.  None at all.  I get the same amount of joy from being related to him as I get from being stared at when people realize who I am."  He laughed again.  "Ah, if Skeeter could hear this now.  What a story that'd be."

"How can you joke about this?" screamed Hermione.

"Being as joking about it is the only thing keeping me from going and kill the bastard for kidnapping Sheyne, I find I can do it pretty well," replied Harry.  He then looked at Ron and said, "Nothing to say, Ron?"

The ginger-haired boy shook his head then snapped, "You should have been put in Slytherin."

As he turned and began to head down the spiral staircase, Harry strode to the door and yelled after him, "Or perhaps that would be you!"  Ron made no remark, just kept walking.

"He's an idiot," said Hermione as Harry leaned against the doorframe, his pale cheeks flushed from the wind.  She walked over to him and gently pushed him inside, pulling the heavy door to the outside closed.  Then, linking her arm in his, she began to lead him down the stairs.

"He's always been an idiot, Herm," said Harry, sighing heavily.  He rubbed his eyes then asked, "What have I just done?"

"Besides revealing yourself to be Voldemort's great-nephew to me and Ron?"

"Yes, besides that very sickening fact."

"Told the entire school Snape's your father."

"Ah," said Harry, tilting his head slightly.  "Yes, I remember now.  What, may I ask, was the general reaction?"

"Surprise."

"And?"

"Disbelief.  I think the twins think it's a big joke."

Harry laughed.

"Oh, won't they be surprised."

"What happened to Sheyne?"

Harry sobered immediately at that question and replied, "Apparently Colin was taking a picture of the grounds out one of the windows in the tower and saw a Death Eater walking across the grounds with a bound panther floating behind him.  Of course, Snape immediately knew it was Malfoy and we knew that the panther was Sheyne."

"Hold on, hold on.  The panther was Sheyne?"

Harry groaned, "Oh, I have a lot of explaining to do, don't I?"

"You can bet your life on it."

"I'd rather not bet my life on anything right about now.  I might need it soon."

"Doing what?"

Harry gave his friend a tight-lipped smile.

"Saving my sister.  What else?"