(A/N: I absolutely refuse to have anything pertaining to rape in this story. Especially when it comes to how Harry came about. As I've seen with other Severitus challenge stories, rape generally is an easy way to explain it. I flat out refuse to do that. Along with child abuse. Sorry. Nope, not gonna do it. Slash for that matter either....
RandiWeasley: Yay! A fan! Of course I'll continue.
lucidity: Oh yea, Severitus challenge stories really do grow on you. ;;
Cyre: Bah! Starting a story off without a bash, ain't no fun if you ask me!
Alarase: Whoot! My English actually made sense for a change!
leggylover03: Muhahaha! Another fan! Your will is my command!
Oh yah, I kinda did something screwy with the middle of this chapter so well, it will be explained at the end of the installment so don't be too freaked out. Now, on with the story! R/R as usual!)
Harry's irritation grew as he found himself tucked in bed, surrounded by heavy black blankets. Now what did I do? He thought, feeling rather sadistic. He'd remembered brewing the potion, but other than that, everything was a blur and utterly impossible. A dark shape entered the room, Harry instantly knowing it was his potions master strutting around.
"Now what did I do?" Harry spat, rubbing his head gingerly as the side of it was hurting badly. He pulled his hand away and saw a trickle of blood had been present in his still rather greasy hair. He wrinkled his nose in distaste of the red blood, having witnessed enough shed in his rather short lifetime.
"You were brewing the Lineage Potion and seemed to have passed out and smacked your head into a rather sharp corner."
Alerting him immediately, Harry remembered what had happened last night and the paper he'd had which was nowhere in sight. Having seen no one else come back last night, he assumed that Snape had found him along with the bloody paper. Damn! Harry scowled, Why did it have to be him of all people?! He rolled his eyes and looked back at the man.
"So you know?" Harry sneered, still rather impressive for his lack of experience.
Severus gazed out the window for a moment and tried to avoid Harry's glaring eyes. Lily's eyes. He was hurting inside from the truth of it all, especially since last night when he'd found Harry passed out and suffering from blood loss, with that piece of paper in his hand. Both their existences had been completely shattered by that bloody parchment.
"Yes Harry, I know." Was all he could say.
"How did this come about?"
"Your mother and I...were very close in our seventh year. She always did consider James more of a friend rather than actually loving him. Anyhow, I proposed to Lily on Graduation Day and gave her that ring you saw last night. My father found out and threatened to murder her since she was a "mudblood," and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I not done anything. We were married though, in secret by Dumbledore no less, and the bloody coot came up with some story about how she's actually married James and well, I don't rightly know what other charms he used to keep us safe. Of course James was well aware of all this, nor could he deny that you were my son when you were born. Although this I was never aware of...Lily had been rather devastated when she'd found out my Death Eater status with Albus and spent her time with her 'husband' and soon I found out they had been truthfully married later on. The time occurrence of your birth though had never been brought to my attention though. Besides, you look so much like that intolerable man..."
Harry's eyes were shooting daggers to say the least. Scowling darkly, he stalked out of the room and down into the kitchen. He had been on better terms with Snape, but this was just, well, too surreal for his tastes. And frankly, coming from nowhere, he didn't want to be at Grimmauld Place at the moment.
A fire blazed in the living room and suddenly Albus's head appeared, calling Harry over. "Harry, I need you to find Severus for me. There is some, rather, unfortunate news."
Snarling, damn, that had to be genetic; Harry grumped, and found his ...father in the library. "Professor Dumbledore wants to see you."
"Ahh, Severus, there you are. I wish this was going to be on more pleasant terms, but I'm afraid it's not. The mission had some rather ...unexpected happenings and your watch over young Mr. Potter is going to have to continue for the while being. If you prefer, the Snape Manor is well protected from Death Eaters as I'm sure you're well aware of," The old coot chuckled, that twinkling radiating from his eye again. "Especially since it now has a blood protection charm on it."
Bloody crazy coot! Severus swore, rather annoyed that the headmaster had already figured out things. He waved him off; perfectly understanding what he was expected to do now. His famous sneer was right back on his face as he gathered his belongings and shrunk them enough to fit in his pocket.
"Harry, we're leaving."
The boy didn't put up a fuss, and Severus assumed he didn't want to be in his late Godfather's house anyhow. Either that or he was just too angry, upset, confused or hurt by what he'd found out last night. Most likely the two of them combined though.
Severus grabbed his hand and forced him outside the house and into a dark alleyway. It was the only place he could think of to Apparate from without too many muggles noticing. They landed well outside the Snape Manor and Severus briskly motioned Harry up towards the house incase there was a random Death Eater stalking about. Once they got inside, Snape realized he'd better lay down some rules.
"It seems we shall be spending the rest of the time here, so I need to set a few rules. First, you will not leave the house without me since Death Eaters have been known to watch these grounds. Meals will be served at 9, 2 and again at 7 so be prompt unless you'd rather not eat for the day. Stay out of the dungeons as I have no desire to look for you down there as it contains rather nasty hexes just waiting to be set off. Lastly, you are allowed to use magic here since you are under the eye of a professor and the house is equipped with sensor wards. This includes making those potions you'd come across yesterday if you are so inclined."
Harry's eyes darted around the large manor, decorated in a rather earthy way unlike how he'd pictured it previously.
"Where am I to stay?"
Snape smacked himself for forgetting that piece of information. "Your quarters are next to mine incase you have another episode with the dreams. The house elf, Trekni, will be able to assist you incase I am not readily found. She is rather fond of guests, I daresay."
Harry just nodded, still not comfortable with the man and their newfound relation to each other. For now he just decided to be polite instead of a prat he knew he was at times. Trekni tottered into the room, those huge bat ears and tennis ball eyes gleaming at him. Yep, Severus was right, and rather unfortunately she's a lot like Dobby. Harry groaned, hoping this elf didn't think it was necessary to save his life by attempting to kill him. She grabbed the boy's hand and nearly dragged him up towards his room and opened the door.
"Master is to stay here at night and Trekni is now supposed to show Young Master around the house." The little elf squeaked. Harry conceded, guessing it was a better idea to look around the house if he was going to be here. After all, it was only the third week of July. It reminded him though that his birthday was next week and he'd finally hear from his friends, well, he hoped anyhow.
The house itself wasn't as big as it could've been for a manor; Harry guessed it had been enhanced on the outside to appear so. There were mainly just a few rooms he was to stay out of, that being the dungeons and his father's private offices. He did love the extensive library though, seeming almost as large as the one at Hogwarts, but with books he'd rarely find. But for the moment he wanted to attempt that potion he'd found the other night with the Animagus form.
As he started it, it was definitely more complex than he'd previously done but for some reason it seemed to start coming naturally to him. Hmph, he snorted, Old git is useful for something anyhow. There were ingredients that weren't in his current supply and as much as he knew Snape wasn't going to kill him, asking for semi-illegal ingredients didn't sound all that pleasing. Finally Trekni stitched the ones he needed from his father's stash and if he asked, he'd said the house elf took them without his permission. Yeah, like he'll believe that.
For awhile nothing seemed to be going out of the ordinary, just brewing a potion during the summer time in Snape's Manor and actually getting it right. Oh yea, that's ordinary. Harry shook his head, surprised at his thoughts. Since when was he so sarcastic? Not being aware at the moment during his ponderings, he didn't notice that the little house elf had unknowingly added too much knotweed to his potion. At the end though, it still looked and felt like the consistency that the book gave so he'd never thought anything went wrong. And as the book had stated before, make the potion wrong and have dire consequences.
He drank the potion quickly as the taste was horrid. The room suddenly began to spin endlessly as it took effect and threw him into a deep sleep. For the moment he didn't seem to think anything was wrong in his potion as it was doing exactly what it was supposed to- sleep and dream. The dream came, rather oddly though as he was walking through a dark forest and saw two gleaming eyes staring at him. Huh, I wonder what it is. Peering into the shadows, he was able to make out a rather large form staring back at him. His jaw dropped, finally figuring out what exactly it was. A unicorn, a flaming unicorn! He couldn't believe it.
A loud cry came that sounded like it was from a different realm. Then again, it was a different realm as Harry was in the dream world at the moment. He crawled towards it, feeling rather sluggish and a fever starting. His eyes fluttered open and saw his father starring at him with a look of utter terror on his face. Harry grimaced, knowing something must be wrong if he got a look like that out of the Impenetrable Mask of Severus Snape.
"Harry, Harry, can you hear me?"
"I'm alright, I think" He asked, stopping suddenly at the sound of his voice. "What's going on...?"
"Harry, I'm not entirely sure how to tell you this...Erm, maybe I'd better just show you."
Severus conjured a mirror and placed it in Harry's hand. Once again he passed out, terrified at the sight. Snape couldn't blame him though, seeing that sight in a mirror was enough to knock anyone out. Disgusting! How on earth had Harry managed to concoct the potion to do that?! He swore loudly, realizing he now had no clue how to deal with his son... or at the moment, his daughter.
That blasted house-elf had come running to him right away after Harry had taken the potion and saw him...her writhing in pain on the ground. The transformation took place right in front of his eyes, watching as that blasted carbon copied James look melted into one that mixed Lily's and his own features in to one. Her hair had grown out, reaching to about the bottom of his shoulders and was rather wavy with brilliant red highlights peeking through. The eyes stayed the same emerald green as they always were. The face rearranged, cheekbones set higher as her eyebrows became a bit more pronounced, but in a feminine way. The length of her face stretched too, leaving his ...daughter with a rather pretty face. The body changed accordingly to the new gender.
Snape was in shock to say the least when he first saw. He'd about taken Trekni's neck off for her carelessness in helping Harry with the potion since she'd admitted to placing the knotweed into the mixture without his son...daughter's approval. Smacking his head into the wall felt rather good to say the least, he didn't want to have to explain this one, but knew it was inevitable. Not to mention he now had to come up with a blasted antidote somehow. He thought it wasn't permanent, well, he hoped not anyhow.
The thin girl stirred on the bed, opening those big green eyes again and starring across the room in shock. "Please tell me that blasted elf didn't put the wrong amount of knotweed in..." She moaned, rubbing her forehead with a delicate hand. A strong hand was placed on her shoulder and she looked up at her father looking down at her with great concern.
"Unfortunately, she did, though I wish I could say otherwise."
Harry gave a short laugh. "Well, this is ironic. You find out you have a son and then next day you end up with a daughter."
Severus couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, don't worry. It shouldn't be too hard to find a reversal to the damage as we know what it was that made it go wrong. ...I am curious though, what will your Animagus form be?"
The girl gave a wide smile, a rather fetching one and he knew he'd have a problem if he didn't get this straightened out before the term started. "A unicorn! A bloody unicorn. I didn't even know they could be considered for a form." She wrinkled her nose for a moment, not being accustomed to the sound of her high voice. Harry did a double-take and realized that she wasn't wearing her glasses and could see perfectly well. "Uhhh, how is it that I now have perfect vision?"
Snape coughed, not wanting to explain the other changes that were now present as well. "Erm, it seems that the effects of the potion were enough to negate the one that your mother had given you when you were born. That particular one was only to last so long anyhow and well, the Animagus Potion cleared the rest of it away in one shot. You look rather a bit like your mum and myself..." Not sure as to how Harry would take this.
"Can I have the mirror again?"
The man handed it to her and watched as she inspected the damage. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Especially since my mum's features are more prominent than yours...sorry, didn't mean it that way. I meant for once term has started."
Severus sighed, "That could be a problem you know. You look rather like your mother instead of me with the exception of the black hair, but when I find the reversal potion, you may very well look quite a bit like I do..."
Harry perked her eyes towards him. "That's bound to raise questions."
"Yes it is."
"Questions that might lead to you being my father as well as Voldemort then knowing."
"Yes."
"So what's going to happen?"
He took a long breath. "You know, this accidental potion could be the solution. As I'm thinking about it, you wouldn't be questioned about your parentage so easily, but if it were to be found out on a large scale and Voldemort found out... There would be a problem with him trying to recruit you. If you didn't notice, none of the Death Eaters are female."
"Interesting proposition you bring up here. Believe me; I'll have to think about this before agreeing to anything, especially staying female."
"Of course, I'm not asking you to rush in to anything here as it is still the holidays. But I do wonder though, what you're going to tell your friends next week."
Harry blinked. "Next week?"
"Oh, surely you didn't forget your birthday so easily. I took the chance to invite a few of your friends for a party as I've heard you grew up without one. Believe me; I shall have a few choice words for those Dursleys before long. As for now, I'd expect you to be fairly hungry after not eating much over the time you were brewing that blasted potion for."
He helped the girl to her feet, noticing just how tall she was now. She had to be at least about 5'9" and couldn't think how tall Harry would actually be if she was still male at the moment. Severus couldn't help but laugh as his ...daughter wrinkled her nose at the excessive amount of hair she now had.
"Well, I've always had short, messy hair, never long and wavy before," Harry grumped, scowling as she moved out of the room.
The kitchen was light with the sparkling sunlight and seemed to really brighten up the day. Trekni had already finished setting breakfast out for them, including Harry's favorite, toast. The girl plopped down on the seat and began picking at her food and hoped her father would get his butt down to the lab and created that blasted concoction before long. Even if what Severus said had been true, Harry had no intention of staying female.
She was already irritated with the bloody emotions swirling around in her head. Those flaming things seemed to have it in for her as they danced about with the relationship between parent and child. While male, Harry couldn't comprehend the delicate mental state Severus was in, but with that famous female intuition, she was able to see past what had been done and why she was never told. It did seem rather unfortunate she'd had to be unaware all those years. If she hadn't, perhaps her life wouldn't have been so out of the ordinary.
"Umm, dad?" She said quietly, not sure yet if that was an appropriate title for him. "Are you going to work on that blooming potion or am I going to have to go down there myself?"
"I take it you have no desire to be female?"
"Uhh, no. Definitely not. Only thing I can say about it is that it's helped me understand the situation better and accept our relationship."
Severus's face brightened, perhaps there was a reason for the accident to happen after all...
"Of course I can start work on it, but I was hoping you'd accompany me to Diagon Alley today. You wouldn't be likely recognized as you are currently female and look rather like Lily than a certain James Potter."
Diagon Alley? It did seem unlikely that Snape would've agreed to that normally, so she took advantage of the situation and agreed. He was right though, she thought, it would be rather hard to mistake her for 'Harry Potter' at the moment. And the long hair easily covered the famous scar...
"So when do we leave?"
Snape grinned, "As soon as you get dressed. And you'll find Trekni supplied you with a wardrobe to use for the time being." He smirked as he watched Harry grumble something incoherent and storm out of the room.
The girl glowered at the walls intensely; being female was one thing, but wearing that dratted female attire was another thing entirely. Stripping the nightclothes off, she realized though, that it would be necessary. "Umm, Trekni?" She summoned the elf. "Would it be possible to show me ...uh, how to umm..." The elf sniggered in an amused tone and understood perfectly.
"Of course young Mistress."
Trekni had Harry ready to be out in the town in a matter of moments, sporting a rather pretty pale green robes set that matched her eyes and braided the hair back to keep it out of her face with the exception of a small patch that still covered the scar. Once the elf was satisfied, she escorted Harry back down towards the kitchen were Severus already sat and was ready to go.
He smiled lightly at how pretty Harry was as a female. To him, he really would've preferred a daughter to a son. It just brought him closer to Lily somehow. Not to mention he'd noticed that many of the girls he'd encountered were much more logical at times than the boys. And the fact that Voldemort couldn't take Harry as a Death Eater if she was female...
Severus shook it off and led his child out the door without a word and into the area that was allocated for Apparating. With a pop, the two landed right outside the Apothecary that was of course Snape's preferred store. In a few moments, he'd restocked all the necessary ingredients that might be required to remove the potions effects and walked back out on to the busy street.
"Well, any place specific you'd enjoy going?" Severus asked, looking at his daughter playing with the braid in her hair.
"Umm, well, kinda. When Hedwig had returned from taking the letter to the Order, my Uncle couldn't put up with her infernal hooting and shot her." Harry's eyes started tearing up as she thought of her beloved companion. "I don't really want another owl, but a pet of some kind I would..."
Severus tentatively wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder, careful to make sure there wasn't any flinching to let him know otherwise. "I'm sorry." Was all he could muster. He'd known Hedwig had been Harry's pet since she'd first found out about the wizarding world and also the first present she'd ever received on her birthday. They made their way towards The Magical Menagerie with a quick stop to Gringotts beforehand. Harry wandered slowly around the creatures, looking at them and wondering just might be a nice pet to have. At that point, the decision was made for her as a small charcoal kitten pawed at Harry's leg, mewing to be picked up. A cat hadn't really been on her top list, but seeing the small ball of fluff changed her mind. Smiling, she grabbed the kitten and held it gently, tickling the tiny paws. "Well, looks like I got a new pet after all..."
Harry strolled over towards the counter where her father was talking to the clerk and haggling about something or other. "Umm, excuse me. I just wanted to pay for this kitten that seems to have attached itself to me," She giggled, the claws definitely clinging to the robes and not letting go.
"Ah, Severus, who is this? A face I don't recognize at all."
"Allow me to introduce my daughter, Hazel Shara Snape," The tall man said, a bit of pride gleamed in his eyes.
"Of course, I see the resemblance now that you mention it," the woman said with a smile, motioning for the girl to come closer. "Nothing but the best for you, no doubt. The kitten was just placed here yesterday and already its found a home. Beautiful cat she'll make when fully grown I don't doubt."
Harry went to take the money out to pay for her new companion, but was stopped by a gentle hand. "Nope, my responsibility," Severus said, pulling out the necessary galleons needed. Needless to say, Harry was rather surprised at this action, having never had someone to pay for something of hers. A grinned crept on to that pretty face while cradling the kitten close to her chest.
As soon as they had left the store, Harry tackled Severus with a large bear hug, "Thanks dad!" It was rather amusing to see the look on the man's face when presented with a hug, but grinned lopsidedly and patting the girl on the back hesitantly. She blinked, "Sorry...got carried away. Damn these female emotions!"
This time Severus couldn't help but laugh, hearing the famous Harry Potter talking about female emotions was enough to crack even the sourest of faces. "C'mon, I think there might be time for ice cream before heading home," He smirked, yanking Harry into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
It had been a pleasant day, Harry mused, I mean, I could've done worse for a father. Could've been someone like Malfoy or MacNair... She trotted behind the man's long strides as they left the Parlor and went to a place to be able to Apparate back to the Manor. Raven, as she decided to call the kitten, was curled up and ready to fall asleep at any given point.
Harry turned towards her father, "Thanks dad, I really did enjoy today. I guess we'd better spend more time together if we're going to learn more about each other..."
Severus smiled gently and patted Harry's shoulder, "I don't doubt we will..."
(Okay! Another Author Note:
Hazel Shara Snape- Hazel of course of the eyes and Shara means Beloved/dearest in French. I thought it was rather fitting.
On another side, I don't intend on leaving Harry female. It just kinda work it's way into the story and it did make it easier to have the two bond. My feelings really are that a girl would more readily accept something like this, considering personal experience on the matter. Not directly, but with family problems and such.
Anyhow, unless people like seeing a female Harry, he will be changed back, oh, probably somewhere after the first term begins. I mean, come on! So many possibilities on how to create havoc with that.)
RandiWeasley: Yay! A fan! Of course I'll continue.
lucidity: Oh yea, Severitus challenge stories really do grow on you. ;;
Cyre: Bah! Starting a story off without a bash, ain't no fun if you ask me!
Alarase: Whoot! My English actually made sense for a change!
leggylover03: Muhahaha! Another fan! Your will is my command!
Oh yah, I kinda did something screwy with the middle of this chapter so well, it will be explained at the end of the installment so don't be too freaked out. Now, on with the story! R/R as usual!)
Harry's irritation grew as he found himself tucked in bed, surrounded by heavy black blankets. Now what did I do? He thought, feeling rather sadistic. He'd remembered brewing the potion, but other than that, everything was a blur and utterly impossible. A dark shape entered the room, Harry instantly knowing it was his potions master strutting around.
"Now what did I do?" Harry spat, rubbing his head gingerly as the side of it was hurting badly. He pulled his hand away and saw a trickle of blood had been present in his still rather greasy hair. He wrinkled his nose in distaste of the red blood, having witnessed enough shed in his rather short lifetime.
"You were brewing the Lineage Potion and seemed to have passed out and smacked your head into a rather sharp corner."
Alerting him immediately, Harry remembered what had happened last night and the paper he'd had which was nowhere in sight. Having seen no one else come back last night, he assumed that Snape had found him along with the bloody paper. Damn! Harry scowled, Why did it have to be him of all people?! He rolled his eyes and looked back at the man.
"So you know?" Harry sneered, still rather impressive for his lack of experience.
Severus gazed out the window for a moment and tried to avoid Harry's glaring eyes. Lily's eyes. He was hurting inside from the truth of it all, especially since last night when he'd found Harry passed out and suffering from blood loss, with that piece of paper in his hand. Both their existences had been completely shattered by that bloody parchment.
"Yes Harry, I know." Was all he could say.
"How did this come about?"
"Your mother and I...were very close in our seventh year. She always did consider James more of a friend rather than actually loving him. Anyhow, I proposed to Lily on Graduation Day and gave her that ring you saw last night. My father found out and threatened to murder her since she was a "mudblood," and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I not done anything. We were married though, in secret by Dumbledore no less, and the bloody coot came up with some story about how she's actually married James and well, I don't rightly know what other charms he used to keep us safe. Of course James was well aware of all this, nor could he deny that you were my son when you were born. Although this I was never aware of...Lily had been rather devastated when she'd found out my Death Eater status with Albus and spent her time with her 'husband' and soon I found out they had been truthfully married later on. The time occurrence of your birth though had never been brought to my attention though. Besides, you look so much like that intolerable man..."
Harry's eyes were shooting daggers to say the least. Scowling darkly, he stalked out of the room and down into the kitchen. He had been on better terms with Snape, but this was just, well, too surreal for his tastes. And frankly, coming from nowhere, he didn't want to be at Grimmauld Place at the moment.
A fire blazed in the living room and suddenly Albus's head appeared, calling Harry over. "Harry, I need you to find Severus for me. There is some, rather, unfortunate news."
Snarling, damn, that had to be genetic; Harry grumped, and found his ...father in the library. "Professor Dumbledore wants to see you."
"Ahh, Severus, there you are. I wish this was going to be on more pleasant terms, but I'm afraid it's not. The mission had some rather ...unexpected happenings and your watch over young Mr. Potter is going to have to continue for the while being. If you prefer, the Snape Manor is well protected from Death Eaters as I'm sure you're well aware of," The old coot chuckled, that twinkling radiating from his eye again. "Especially since it now has a blood protection charm on it."
Bloody crazy coot! Severus swore, rather annoyed that the headmaster had already figured out things. He waved him off; perfectly understanding what he was expected to do now. His famous sneer was right back on his face as he gathered his belongings and shrunk them enough to fit in his pocket.
"Harry, we're leaving."
The boy didn't put up a fuss, and Severus assumed he didn't want to be in his late Godfather's house anyhow. Either that or he was just too angry, upset, confused or hurt by what he'd found out last night. Most likely the two of them combined though.
Severus grabbed his hand and forced him outside the house and into a dark alleyway. It was the only place he could think of to Apparate from without too many muggles noticing. They landed well outside the Snape Manor and Severus briskly motioned Harry up towards the house incase there was a random Death Eater stalking about. Once they got inside, Snape realized he'd better lay down some rules.
"It seems we shall be spending the rest of the time here, so I need to set a few rules. First, you will not leave the house without me since Death Eaters have been known to watch these grounds. Meals will be served at 9, 2 and again at 7 so be prompt unless you'd rather not eat for the day. Stay out of the dungeons as I have no desire to look for you down there as it contains rather nasty hexes just waiting to be set off. Lastly, you are allowed to use magic here since you are under the eye of a professor and the house is equipped with sensor wards. This includes making those potions you'd come across yesterday if you are so inclined."
Harry's eyes darted around the large manor, decorated in a rather earthy way unlike how he'd pictured it previously.
"Where am I to stay?"
Snape smacked himself for forgetting that piece of information. "Your quarters are next to mine incase you have another episode with the dreams. The house elf, Trekni, will be able to assist you incase I am not readily found. She is rather fond of guests, I daresay."
Harry just nodded, still not comfortable with the man and their newfound relation to each other. For now he just decided to be polite instead of a prat he knew he was at times. Trekni tottered into the room, those huge bat ears and tennis ball eyes gleaming at him. Yep, Severus was right, and rather unfortunately she's a lot like Dobby. Harry groaned, hoping this elf didn't think it was necessary to save his life by attempting to kill him. She grabbed the boy's hand and nearly dragged him up towards his room and opened the door.
"Master is to stay here at night and Trekni is now supposed to show Young Master around the house." The little elf squeaked. Harry conceded, guessing it was a better idea to look around the house if he was going to be here. After all, it was only the third week of July. It reminded him though that his birthday was next week and he'd finally hear from his friends, well, he hoped anyhow.
The house itself wasn't as big as it could've been for a manor; Harry guessed it had been enhanced on the outside to appear so. There were mainly just a few rooms he was to stay out of, that being the dungeons and his father's private offices. He did love the extensive library though, seeming almost as large as the one at Hogwarts, but with books he'd rarely find. But for the moment he wanted to attempt that potion he'd found the other night with the Animagus form.
As he started it, it was definitely more complex than he'd previously done but for some reason it seemed to start coming naturally to him. Hmph, he snorted, Old git is useful for something anyhow. There were ingredients that weren't in his current supply and as much as he knew Snape wasn't going to kill him, asking for semi-illegal ingredients didn't sound all that pleasing. Finally Trekni stitched the ones he needed from his father's stash and if he asked, he'd said the house elf took them without his permission. Yeah, like he'll believe that.
For awhile nothing seemed to be going out of the ordinary, just brewing a potion during the summer time in Snape's Manor and actually getting it right. Oh yea, that's ordinary. Harry shook his head, surprised at his thoughts. Since when was he so sarcastic? Not being aware at the moment during his ponderings, he didn't notice that the little house elf had unknowingly added too much knotweed to his potion. At the end though, it still looked and felt like the consistency that the book gave so he'd never thought anything went wrong. And as the book had stated before, make the potion wrong and have dire consequences.
He drank the potion quickly as the taste was horrid. The room suddenly began to spin endlessly as it took effect and threw him into a deep sleep. For the moment he didn't seem to think anything was wrong in his potion as it was doing exactly what it was supposed to- sleep and dream. The dream came, rather oddly though as he was walking through a dark forest and saw two gleaming eyes staring at him. Huh, I wonder what it is. Peering into the shadows, he was able to make out a rather large form staring back at him. His jaw dropped, finally figuring out what exactly it was. A unicorn, a flaming unicorn! He couldn't believe it.
A loud cry came that sounded like it was from a different realm. Then again, it was a different realm as Harry was in the dream world at the moment. He crawled towards it, feeling rather sluggish and a fever starting. His eyes fluttered open and saw his father starring at him with a look of utter terror on his face. Harry grimaced, knowing something must be wrong if he got a look like that out of the Impenetrable Mask of Severus Snape.
"Harry, Harry, can you hear me?"
"I'm alright, I think" He asked, stopping suddenly at the sound of his voice. "What's going on...?"
"Harry, I'm not entirely sure how to tell you this...Erm, maybe I'd better just show you."
Severus conjured a mirror and placed it in Harry's hand. Once again he passed out, terrified at the sight. Snape couldn't blame him though, seeing that sight in a mirror was enough to knock anyone out. Disgusting! How on earth had Harry managed to concoct the potion to do that?! He swore loudly, realizing he now had no clue how to deal with his son... or at the moment, his daughter.
That blasted house-elf had come running to him right away after Harry had taken the potion and saw him...her writhing in pain on the ground. The transformation took place right in front of his eyes, watching as that blasted carbon copied James look melted into one that mixed Lily's and his own features in to one. Her hair had grown out, reaching to about the bottom of his shoulders and was rather wavy with brilliant red highlights peeking through. The eyes stayed the same emerald green as they always were. The face rearranged, cheekbones set higher as her eyebrows became a bit more pronounced, but in a feminine way. The length of her face stretched too, leaving his ...daughter with a rather pretty face. The body changed accordingly to the new gender.
Snape was in shock to say the least when he first saw. He'd about taken Trekni's neck off for her carelessness in helping Harry with the potion since she'd admitted to placing the knotweed into the mixture without his son...daughter's approval. Smacking his head into the wall felt rather good to say the least, he didn't want to have to explain this one, but knew it was inevitable. Not to mention he now had to come up with a blasted antidote somehow. He thought it wasn't permanent, well, he hoped not anyhow.
The thin girl stirred on the bed, opening those big green eyes again and starring across the room in shock. "Please tell me that blasted elf didn't put the wrong amount of knotweed in..." She moaned, rubbing her forehead with a delicate hand. A strong hand was placed on her shoulder and she looked up at her father looking down at her with great concern.
"Unfortunately, she did, though I wish I could say otherwise."
Harry gave a short laugh. "Well, this is ironic. You find out you have a son and then next day you end up with a daughter."
Severus couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, don't worry. It shouldn't be too hard to find a reversal to the damage as we know what it was that made it go wrong. ...I am curious though, what will your Animagus form be?"
The girl gave a wide smile, a rather fetching one and he knew he'd have a problem if he didn't get this straightened out before the term started. "A unicorn! A bloody unicorn. I didn't even know they could be considered for a form." She wrinkled her nose for a moment, not being accustomed to the sound of her high voice. Harry did a double-take and realized that she wasn't wearing her glasses and could see perfectly well. "Uhhh, how is it that I now have perfect vision?"
Snape coughed, not wanting to explain the other changes that were now present as well. "Erm, it seems that the effects of the potion were enough to negate the one that your mother had given you when you were born. That particular one was only to last so long anyhow and well, the Animagus Potion cleared the rest of it away in one shot. You look rather a bit like your mum and myself..." Not sure as to how Harry would take this.
"Can I have the mirror again?"
The man handed it to her and watched as she inspected the damage. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Especially since my mum's features are more prominent than yours...sorry, didn't mean it that way. I meant for once term has started."
Severus sighed, "That could be a problem you know. You look rather like your mother instead of me with the exception of the black hair, but when I find the reversal potion, you may very well look quite a bit like I do..."
Harry perked her eyes towards him. "That's bound to raise questions."
"Yes it is."
"Questions that might lead to you being my father as well as Voldemort then knowing."
"Yes."
"So what's going to happen?"
He took a long breath. "You know, this accidental potion could be the solution. As I'm thinking about it, you wouldn't be questioned about your parentage so easily, but if it were to be found out on a large scale and Voldemort found out... There would be a problem with him trying to recruit you. If you didn't notice, none of the Death Eaters are female."
"Interesting proposition you bring up here. Believe me; I'll have to think about this before agreeing to anything, especially staying female."
"Of course, I'm not asking you to rush in to anything here as it is still the holidays. But I do wonder though, what you're going to tell your friends next week."
Harry blinked. "Next week?"
"Oh, surely you didn't forget your birthday so easily. I took the chance to invite a few of your friends for a party as I've heard you grew up without one. Believe me; I shall have a few choice words for those Dursleys before long. As for now, I'd expect you to be fairly hungry after not eating much over the time you were brewing that blasted potion for."
He helped the girl to her feet, noticing just how tall she was now. She had to be at least about 5'9" and couldn't think how tall Harry would actually be if she was still male at the moment. Severus couldn't help but laugh as his ...daughter wrinkled her nose at the excessive amount of hair she now had.
"Well, I've always had short, messy hair, never long and wavy before," Harry grumped, scowling as she moved out of the room.
The kitchen was light with the sparkling sunlight and seemed to really brighten up the day. Trekni had already finished setting breakfast out for them, including Harry's favorite, toast. The girl plopped down on the seat and began picking at her food and hoped her father would get his butt down to the lab and created that blasted concoction before long. Even if what Severus said had been true, Harry had no intention of staying female.
She was already irritated with the bloody emotions swirling around in her head. Those flaming things seemed to have it in for her as they danced about with the relationship between parent and child. While male, Harry couldn't comprehend the delicate mental state Severus was in, but with that famous female intuition, she was able to see past what had been done and why she was never told. It did seem rather unfortunate she'd had to be unaware all those years. If she hadn't, perhaps her life wouldn't have been so out of the ordinary.
"Umm, dad?" She said quietly, not sure yet if that was an appropriate title for him. "Are you going to work on that blooming potion or am I going to have to go down there myself?"
"I take it you have no desire to be female?"
"Uhh, no. Definitely not. Only thing I can say about it is that it's helped me understand the situation better and accept our relationship."
Severus's face brightened, perhaps there was a reason for the accident to happen after all...
"Of course I can start work on it, but I was hoping you'd accompany me to Diagon Alley today. You wouldn't be likely recognized as you are currently female and look rather like Lily than a certain James Potter."
Diagon Alley? It did seem unlikely that Snape would've agreed to that normally, so she took advantage of the situation and agreed. He was right though, she thought, it would be rather hard to mistake her for 'Harry Potter' at the moment. And the long hair easily covered the famous scar...
"So when do we leave?"
Snape grinned, "As soon as you get dressed. And you'll find Trekni supplied you with a wardrobe to use for the time being." He smirked as he watched Harry grumble something incoherent and storm out of the room.
The girl glowered at the walls intensely; being female was one thing, but wearing that dratted female attire was another thing entirely. Stripping the nightclothes off, she realized though, that it would be necessary. "Umm, Trekni?" She summoned the elf. "Would it be possible to show me ...uh, how to umm..." The elf sniggered in an amused tone and understood perfectly.
"Of course young Mistress."
Trekni had Harry ready to be out in the town in a matter of moments, sporting a rather pretty pale green robes set that matched her eyes and braided the hair back to keep it out of her face with the exception of a small patch that still covered the scar. Once the elf was satisfied, she escorted Harry back down towards the kitchen were Severus already sat and was ready to go.
He smiled lightly at how pretty Harry was as a female. To him, he really would've preferred a daughter to a son. It just brought him closer to Lily somehow. Not to mention he'd noticed that many of the girls he'd encountered were much more logical at times than the boys. And the fact that Voldemort couldn't take Harry as a Death Eater if she was female...
Severus shook it off and led his child out the door without a word and into the area that was allocated for Apparating. With a pop, the two landed right outside the Apothecary that was of course Snape's preferred store. In a few moments, he'd restocked all the necessary ingredients that might be required to remove the potions effects and walked back out on to the busy street.
"Well, any place specific you'd enjoy going?" Severus asked, looking at his daughter playing with the braid in her hair.
"Umm, well, kinda. When Hedwig had returned from taking the letter to the Order, my Uncle couldn't put up with her infernal hooting and shot her." Harry's eyes started tearing up as she thought of her beloved companion. "I don't really want another owl, but a pet of some kind I would..."
Severus tentatively wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder, careful to make sure there wasn't any flinching to let him know otherwise. "I'm sorry." Was all he could muster. He'd known Hedwig had been Harry's pet since she'd first found out about the wizarding world and also the first present she'd ever received on her birthday. They made their way towards The Magical Menagerie with a quick stop to Gringotts beforehand. Harry wandered slowly around the creatures, looking at them and wondering just might be a nice pet to have. At that point, the decision was made for her as a small charcoal kitten pawed at Harry's leg, mewing to be picked up. A cat hadn't really been on her top list, but seeing the small ball of fluff changed her mind. Smiling, she grabbed the kitten and held it gently, tickling the tiny paws. "Well, looks like I got a new pet after all..."
Harry strolled over towards the counter where her father was talking to the clerk and haggling about something or other. "Umm, excuse me. I just wanted to pay for this kitten that seems to have attached itself to me," She giggled, the claws definitely clinging to the robes and not letting go.
"Ah, Severus, who is this? A face I don't recognize at all."
"Allow me to introduce my daughter, Hazel Shara Snape," The tall man said, a bit of pride gleamed in his eyes.
"Of course, I see the resemblance now that you mention it," the woman said with a smile, motioning for the girl to come closer. "Nothing but the best for you, no doubt. The kitten was just placed here yesterday and already its found a home. Beautiful cat she'll make when fully grown I don't doubt."
Harry went to take the money out to pay for her new companion, but was stopped by a gentle hand. "Nope, my responsibility," Severus said, pulling out the necessary galleons needed. Needless to say, Harry was rather surprised at this action, having never had someone to pay for something of hers. A grinned crept on to that pretty face while cradling the kitten close to her chest.
As soon as they had left the store, Harry tackled Severus with a large bear hug, "Thanks dad!" It was rather amusing to see the look on the man's face when presented with a hug, but grinned lopsidedly and patting the girl on the back hesitantly. She blinked, "Sorry...got carried away. Damn these female emotions!"
This time Severus couldn't help but laugh, hearing the famous Harry Potter talking about female emotions was enough to crack even the sourest of faces. "C'mon, I think there might be time for ice cream before heading home," He smirked, yanking Harry into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
It had been a pleasant day, Harry mused, I mean, I could've done worse for a father. Could've been someone like Malfoy or MacNair... She trotted behind the man's long strides as they left the Parlor and went to a place to be able to Apparate back to the Manor. Raven, as she decided to call the kitten, was curled up and ready to fall asleep at any given point.
Harry turned towards her father, "Thanks dad, I really did enjoy today. I guess we'd better spend more time together if we're going to learn more about each other..."
Severus smiled gently and patted Harry's shoulder, "I don't doubt we will..."
(Okay! Another Author Note:
Hazel Shara Snape- Hazel of course of the eyes and Shara means Beloved/dearest in French. I thought it was rather fitting.
On another side, I don't intend on leaving Harry female. It just kinda work it's way into the story and it did make it easier to have the two bond. My feelings really are that a girl would more readily accept something like this, considering personal experience on the matter. Not directly, but with family problems and such.
Anyhow, unless people like seeing a female Harry, he will be changed back, oh, probably somewhere after the first term begins. I mean, come on! So many possibilities on how to create havoc with that.)