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Harry Potter
And the
Green Flame Torch

"The legend of the torch is just that a legend. However the torch is supposed to give all who hold it the promise of immortality, but only after they prove themselves worthy to the guardian of the torch by doing some kind of noble or heroic deed of her choosing." Severus said frowning as he tried to recall the legend of the torch from his childhood days, when he still believed in fairy tales and happily ever afters.

"I assure you Professor that the torch is not a legend and is very real." Harry sighed as he sat back and took in the look of disbelief on Severus' face.

"Alright, so what does that have to do with anything?" Severus finally asked once the reality that the torch was a real object.

"Obviously it has nothing to do with Voldemort, as even if he had it, he would be unable to use it. Besides Voldemort is busy gathering more followers at the moment, and I have it on good authority that it will be quite sometime before he does anything more than random attacks on muggles." Harry explained basing his words on an earlier prediction made by Rowena only a few days before.

"Do you know what this is?" Harry asked as he removed a stone from his pocket, and held it in the palm of his hand for Severus to look at.

Severus picked up the smooth stone and turned it over several times; each time a different ruin appeared, until with a gasp he dropped it back in the palm of Harry's hand.

"Where did you get that?" Severus asked as he struggled to calm his sudden nervousness.

"From the Elven King Losbrethil, It is a seer's stone that holds a vision made two centuries ago, from the oldest seer just before she passed away almost twenty years ago. Until a few weeks ago, no one had been able to figure out whom or exactly what it applied too, until I picked up it by accident and it revealed itself to me." Harry explained as he rose to his feet.

"Watch." Harry instructed as he waved his wand and the room went into complete darkness as images contained within the stone, flashed on the wall.

Severus sat in silence as he watched the images flash before him, trying desperately to capture the smallest of details as he watched the seer's prediction of the future unfold before him. At first he truly did not feel threatened by what he was seeing until the last images appeared and then he could not contain his gasp of shock and horror.

"Professor that torch was not meant to be used in this war. If Albus or my dad attempt to do so, anything Voldemort might be able to do would seem like a Sunday stroll in the park." Harry stated as he placed the stone back in his pocket and turned to face his professor.

"I need your help with this; Albus has warded the school so that the moment I return he will know. For reasons I can't go into right now, it would not be beneficial to you nor I either one for Albus to know who I am or that I have returned." Harry explained hoping that Severus would help him figure out a way to return to the school without any one knowing he was there.

Severus sat back in his chair and closed his eyes in an attempt to figure out how he could possibly help Harry. The question of to help or not to help was not an issue, as he had seen first hand what would happen if Albus or James either one attempted to approach the guardian of the torch. Unfortunately before he could think of anything, someone knocked on the door and alerted Harry that he only had ten minutes before he had to be on stage.

Harry swore softly beneath his breath as he glanced at his watch to find that several hours had passed and he was no where near finished talking to Severus.

"I know you probably need to get back." Harry began but only to find that Severus was shaking his head.

"Not on your life am I going to let you out of my sight now that I have found you." Severus protested.

"Alright, I will return with you tonight after the concert if you think of a good story for Albus." Harry said as another knock and a voice shouting he had less than two minutes to get on stage came from the door.

"I will think of something." Severus said as he watched Harry leave the room and head for the stage. After withdrawing a piece of parchment from his pocket, and scrawling a quick note, Severus followed Harry toward the stage.

Sirius Black sighed tiredly as he took a seat between Remus and his fiancé Alex, slowing looking around the room and nodding to each member that had come for the meeting that Albus had called. It seemed as if almost every member was present with the notable exception of Snape, Sirius thought to himself as Albus finally called the meeting to order and one by one every gave a report on the various duties they had been assigned.

For the next several hours Sirius had to forcibly make him self remain awake and was more than a bit disappointed when Albus requested that he along with James, Lily and Alex remain behind.

"I asked you four to remain behind because I was wondering if any of you had heard from Harry recently." Albus asked as he sat down behind his desk.

"Albus, no one has heard from Harry for almost a year, why would you think any of us would have heard from him?" Alex asked as she barely controlled her anger at the thoughtlessness of the headmaster's question.

"I asked because I strongly believe that Harry may have been present in Diagon Alley when Voldemort attacked." Albus said wondering who of the four in front of him might be hiding information from him.

"Don't you think if we had heard anything about Harry, we would have informed you immediately?" Sirius asked.

"Not if he requested that you not do so." Albus stated bluntly.

"Neither Lilly nor I have heard anything." James stated as he fought to control the sense of loss that always seemed to overwhelm him whenever someone mentioned anything to do with his son.

"Nor have Sirius or I." Alex stated as she gripped Sirius's hand tightly within her own.

"Very well." Albus stated as he reached for a pile of letters on his desk, effectively dismissing them all as if they were children.

It wasn't until they arrived back at Remus' house and Sirius slumped into a chair with his head in his hands that Alex knew something was terribly wrong.

"Sirius what's wrong?" Alex asked as she sat on the arm of the chair and drew him close.

"I don't know how much more of all of this I can take." Sirius whispered as thoughts of Harry flooded through his mind. He knew without doubt that any child he might have of his own would never come close to touching him in the way that Harry had and the fact that if he had just went with Harry when he had asked that the feeling of betrayal that had settled so deep within his soul would not be there.

"I feel like I have lost a vital part of me that will never come back. First Harry, then James and Lilly and now Severus, I have lost them all." Sirius cried.

"Is that what this is about, Severus?" Alex asked as she forced his head up to look deeply into his eyes.

"Alex, Sev has never since joining the order missed a meeting." Sirius said as he wiped at his eyes.

"Oh honey, I am so sorry." Alex said as she jumped to her feet and began to fumble around in the pockets of her robes.

"This came for you just before we left for the meeting. We were in such a rush I forgot all about it." Alex said as she with drew a letter and gave it to Sirius.

Sirius,

I will not be at the meeting tonight, as I have received a very important letter that I must follow up on. Please make my excuses if necessary. I will return by morning.

Severus Snape

Sirius sat back in his chair, taking several deep breaths as he tried to calm his nerves. Normally the absence of Severus would not have such an impact on him; however the thought that Voldemort might have somehow gotten his hands on him was more than he could take at the moment, Sirius thought to himself as he allowed Alex to lead him upstairs and help him into bed.

However, even after Alex had fallen asleep, Sirius found him self unable to do anything but think of how his relationship with Severus had changed. He literally owed Severus his life. If it had not been for Severus, Sirius would never have been able to remain in his right mind during his years in prison, nor would he have had the strength to escape.

"Be safe." Sirius whispered softly to the darkened room as the need to sleep finally caught up with him and he closed his eyes with a soft sigh.

Severus watched in fascinated silence as Harry preformed for the crowd of muggles. At times screaming at the words at the top of his lungs and at others the words coming out so softly if not for the huge speakers no one he was sure would have been able to hear him. But no matter whether it was rock, pop, soul, country or just a medley of several songs, Harry preformed each and every one flawlessly and after performing for almost three hours straight had eventually left the crowd screaming for more. The kid had a talent for what he was doing that no one Severus had ever heard of before could even come close to matching Severus thought as Harry finally left the stage and came to stand at his side.

"Well what did you think?" Harry asked as he took a towel from a nearby assistant and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Not bad." Severus smirked as they made their way out the back and climbed into a black limousine.

"So come up with anything?" Harry asked as he opened a small refrigerator and removed a bottle of water.

"Maybe." Severus said as he helped himself to a glass of scotch as the limo moved down the streets, taking several turns that led them almost back to where they had started from, finally pulling to a stop next to a black SUV, where the exited the limo and he watched as Harry remove a set of keys from his pocket and unlock the car.

"Trust me, its better this way." Harry said as he climbed behind the wheel and started the car. Waiting until Severus had buckled his seatbelt before pulling away from the curb. "So what's this plan?" Harry asked as he braked to a stop at a red light.

"I can't tell you just yet, I need to speak to someone first." Severus explained hoping that his wife still lived in the area as he begin to give Harry driving instructions to the home that she hopefully still lived in.

"Wait here." Severus instructed after he had Harry pull up in front of a small house just on the outskirts of Austin.

Of all the people that Melena Snape had thought might be at her door at almost two in the morning, not once had she ever imagined that it would be a husband that she had not seen in more than years than she cared to remember. Giving herself a mental shake as a warm tingling ran down her spine, she silently stepped aside to allow him entry into her, no their small home. Melena corrected herself, thinking it was after all Severus that had paid for the house.

"Melena I don't have a lot of time, but there is something very important that I need for you to do for me." Severus blurted out in an attempt not to pull her into his arms.

"No. Whatever it is, the answer is no." Melena said as she turned away and headed into the small kitchen.

Severus first thought was to simply leave. But after all he had done, and all the promises he had made and broken over the years, he knew that if he did he would certainly loose the one person he loved more than anything in the world for ever.

"I know that you have every right to throw me out of here, but will you please listen." Severus pleaded softly as he made up his mind that he was not going to loose the only thing that kept him going.

"Melena, I know that I have hurt you more than I can say, but there are things that I need you to understand and as I said I don't have a lot time, so will you give me a chance to explain?" Severus asked as he watched her move around the kitchen in an attempt to ignore him.

Melena knew as she sat the kettle on the stove that if Severus, the man she knew to be her soul mate left, then she would never see him again and their son would never know his father at all. So against her better judgment she took two cups from the shelf above her and after preparing a cup for them both, sat down across from him at the table.

"I will listen to you Severus Snape, but know one thing right now, I will know if you lie to me and you had better tell me everything." Melena stated as her eyes met his.

Severus took one glance into the depth of blue eyes and knew that nothing less than the absolute truth about everything would due and so with that thought in mind he began to come clean about a life she knew nothing about.

It was nearly three hours later when Harry was awoken from a fitful sleep by two things, the first his cell phone ringing and the second Severus tapping softly on the window.

Reaching for his phone and telling the caller in a gruff tone to hold on without knowing who it was, Harry climbed out of the car and rounded the vehicle to face not one, but three people.

"They will be coming with us." Severus stated as he begin to load several pieces of luggage into the SUV without bothering to explain anything further.

"Hi, I'm Harry." Harry said as he extended his hand toward Melena.

"Melena." Melena said as she took Harry's hand and then introduced her son.

"And this is Jack." She said as she nudged her son forward.

"Hi there Jack." Harry said as he knelt down to the young boys level and smiled warmly, taking in the fact that he looked remarkably like Severus.

"Have you ever ridden in a plane before?" Harry asked the obviously shy boy, who simply shook his head before hiding behind his mother again.

"Is there an airport near here?" Harry asked, directing his question toward Melena.

"A small one about half an hours ride from here." Melena said as she helped her son into the back seat.

"Thanks." Harry said as he turned his attention to the person on the phone, who luckily turned out to be his assistant. After instructing his assistant to have his plane meet them at the airport nearby, Harry climbed back behind the wheel and started the engine after exchanging a questioning glance at Severus, whose only response was a slight shake of his head and the promise that he would explain everything later.

It wasn't until they had all settled in for the long flight to London, that an opportunity arose for Severus to talk with Harry and when Harry went toward the back of the plane and settled in with his laptop that Severus took advantage of the fact that Melena and Jake had dozed off and followed.

"So Professor, care to tell me what's going on?" Harry asked as Severus sat down beside him and Harry put his laptop away.

"Melena is my wife, we were married the summer after I graduated from Hogwart's when Voldemort sent me here to gather follower's for him during the first war. Jake is my son." Severus stated not really wanting to go into more detail about how neglectful of his wife he had been and definitely not wanting to explain how he had son that he had just learned about a few hours earlier.

"So what's the plan?" Harry said deciding if Severus wanted to tell him more about his family he would, but until he brought it up himself he would not push the man.

"I think the best way to get you back into Hogwart's is for you to play the part of my son as well. An older son obviously, your hair is long enough and with the contacts we can pick up in London, they will hide the true color of your eyes without the use of magic that might be detected with some of the new wards Albus has recently placed around the school. We can say that I kept you all hidden from Voldemort and that he has just found out about you all, so I am bringing you all back to keep you safe. Plus Jake received his Hogwart's letter a few weeks ago, so that will help. There is only one potential problem that I can think of at the moment." Severus explained softly.

"I am almost afraid of what it is." Harry said as he struggled to get his mind around the fact that he would have to play the part of Severus's son.

"Melena is a muggle." Severus said so quietly that Harry almost missed what he was saying.

"Oh my." Harry laughed softly as the implications of Melena being a muggle sifted through his mind.