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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and his world, anything you don't recognised belongs to me, I'm not making any money out of this, just the simple joy of writing. *whew!*
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Claimer: Original Plot Aspects.
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A/N: Wow! This took a little longer than I had originally planned to put up because I've been at a birthday slumber party for the past two days and, hence, haven't been able to type anything until now and with Xmas a few days away, it's not been easy.
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Thanks to all who reviewed and voted, responses to the reviews at the bottom of the page. ;)
This chapter is dedicated to Liv, who has been a loyal reader and shed her opinion and helped me to take in the reader's perspective, thankyou!
*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*
---Chapter Five: A Birthday Party Surprise---
At the end of the week, on the 31st of July, Severus Snape still hadn't seen or spoken to anyone since the day Lupin discovered Lily's letter. That 'walk alone' had been 12 hours long, mostly due to him being so completely absorbed in his thoughts to give time much notice at all.
His thoughts and information had circled inside his head, racing through is brain like wildfire and he had battled the torment of his confusion about the boy-who-lived.
Once thought to be a spoiled and pampered like a prince on a throne having anything and everything brought to him on his beckon call. Relishing in his fame and milking it for all it was worth, his arrogance and showing off, among other things he had once thought about the boy gone in only a few moments only to be replaced by the cold hard truth. And it was this truth that angered him, that frightened him, that had shown himself to be devastatingly wrong.
And not only that.
But the boy has suffered more than anyone in ten lifetimes should have to. And discovering that this incredible, strong, brave boy was in fact, his.
Then of course came the guilt, sour, bitter guilt and sorrow washing over him, through him and consuming his senses when he reflected on how he had treated this boy, his son, over the past four years. Such phrases as 'kicking a dog when it's down' resounded through his head and he hid his face in shame at realising what the boy had gone through only to have Snape rub it in his face afterward.
Severus wasn't stupid, he knew Harry hated him, regardless of what Dumbledore thought or said. He held great respect for the man no matter what Severus said to him and Dumbledore knew it and understood what the man was truly saying or thinking depending on what he said and how sarcastic he said it. But he honestly and confidently thought that Dumbledore was wrong in this instance. Pott… Harry hated him, and that was that.
He realised of course that it was his fault that Harry presumably felt this way as he had portrayed hating the boy himself in class. Then the whole guilt thing rushed over him again and he slowly picked his way through it all over again before asking himself a question.
Why? Why did he treat the boy this way?
Pondering on that vital question he gave in to the grief of long ago and explored it searching for a plausible answer no matter how painful it was. Wallowing in grief that had remained unshed was unbearable, but in doing so lead him to the full answer.
Lily and James. He always saw Harry as the cruel result of a cold-hearted betrayal and he hated him because he saw him as the walking, living proof around everyday forcing him to remember it all, remember the pain.
Looking back now he realised how foolish he was. How could he hate him if he didn't even know him? The truth was he didn't hate him, he didn't know him at all. In fact, he should have been kinder for the fact it was Lily's child, but the pain of the 'betrayal' had left him blinded and watching the son-he-never-had and the son that was supposed to be his was unbearable.
Indeed, after his assumption of the betrayal he had locked himself into his shell and refused to come out. Lily had been his life. But now it had changed. Harry wasn't the son he never had. He was the son he never knew he had. And he would be damned if he would let anyone try to interfere.
Harry was his son. His. With a pang in his heart that he could suddenly feel beating again he realised. Why had he gone through all that? All that grief and pain of just thinking about it?
Before now he would have thought the idea of Potter being his son would be enough to make his skin crawl. But when it actually happened he felt things he hadn't felt in a long time. Going through all that made him realised. He cared.
He cared if Harry hated him. He cared if Black tried to take him away. He cared about… about Harry. With another shock he realised he had been calling him Harry all that time.
Then there was of course the biggest obstacle of them all.
Voldemort.
The deatheater's children were in his house. He couldn't just change overnight in an attempt to get to know his son. Deatheater kids or not, people would get suspicious, either:
1) (the deatheater children) he was a traitor
OR
2) (the lightside, gryffindors, etc.) he was a spy for the darkside.
Either one marked him as good as dead. Well, in a lot of trouble at least.
Now came the big question:
How/When or should I tell him?
Well he had to tell him, he was not going to let him suffer anymore torment from the Dursleys. Whether he wanted to tell him or not, his conscience would not let Harry remain with his 'relatives.'
When? He was at the Weasleys, maybe if he sent it by owl…NO! Too many things could go wrong! Go to the blasted Weasleys himself? Definitely not. Ronald Weasley or one of the twins would probably curse him (or in the twins' case, prank) before he dared try to explain. Maybe ambush him when he went to Diagon Alley? Pretend he was getting rare Potion ingredients down at Knockturn Alley? No, Harry would probably run off, get kidnapped by some Deatheater, that is if he didn't try to hex himself first. Indeed, Hogwarts seemed the safest place… but who knew? If there was to be an opportunity…
But he lost that train of thought by a sharp rap on the door.
"Come in," he grunted, he hadn't used his voice for a week. Dumbledore strode in gracefully smiling in a fatherly way down at him.
"I was worried and I came to see if you had starved yourself yet."
Snape grunted again, clearing his throat. "I went to the kitchens, helped myself."
"Oh," answered Dumbledore.
"What day is it?" asked Snape absently.
"Friday"
"Oh," replied Snape. Then his eyes snapped into focus. "The 31st?"
"Yes," replied Dumbledore somewhat surprised.
Severus swore silently under his breath and strode out, black robes billowing out after him before Dumbledore could ask any questions. Little did he know that Dumbledore was smiling a very knowing smile. One that usually infuriated anyone who wanted to know the secret and knew that he would not tell.
*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Harreeeeeey, happy Birthday to you! HIP HIP Hooray! HIP HIP hooray! HIP HIP HOORAAY!!! Woooo!"
Everyone clapped as Harry stared at his birthday cake, eyes alit with happiness and with one breath he blew out his fifteen candles having another round of applause following.
"And to think I'm usually embarrassed by candles and singing!" chortled Ron loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Well Harry has never experienced it before!" pointed out Hermione with smoke drifting above her. "What did you wish for Harry?" asked Hermione enthusiastically.
"Can't tell, it won't come true otherwise!" grinned Harry mysteriously.
"Ohhh! Come on!" pouted Hermione.
"My money's on Sirius' freedom!" said Ron.
"Ronald Weasley! Absolutely NO gambling!" came Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"It's just an expression mum!" complained Ron. Harry bent low to whisper to them privately.
"No need to wish for that, he will be free!" confirmed Harry determinedly.
"how do you figure that?" asked Ron curiously. Harry glanced around before answering "I'll tell you both later."
In truth, half of him wanted to show them the letter while the other half of him didn't. It was his sent by his mother. Something that was quite personal. So he decided just to tell them. He would show them the letter another time when it made more sense and after he had gone to the vault himself. And so, he got stuck into his cake.
*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*
Sirius' tongue lolled out of his mouth limply. It was dry and scratchy and is throat tightly parched it felt as if it would split in two. He badly needed a drink. His shaggy coat was ratty and knotted with sweat and his paws were swollen painfully from pounding across the earth.
Stumbling exhaustedly around another bend in the forest path he spotted a wooden trench filled with rainwater just beyond a patch of colourful wildflowers. It stood bathed in sunlight in a clearing between the trees. Sauntering down over to it, the tree branches' silhouettes flashing past he was grateful for the sudden lush, green grass that cushioned his aching paws.
Enthusiastically dunking his whole of his furry head in, he lapped up the water greedily, relishing every drop. His reflection in the water was wavering as the movement disturbed the water, making ripples and from the corner of his eye he suddenly spotted a new reflection appearing. With a yelp of surprise he felt the wooden tip of a wand dig in through the mass of fur to the side of his neck.
A deep chuckle escaped the owner as he set the wand back into his belt.
"You always were easy to scare, Sirius," said a highly amused voice. "You do realise that water is for the Pedimonks?" (Which are Illegal in Britain,) noted Sirius.
Quick as lightning Sirius transformed.
"Fletcher! Don't do that!" exclaimed Sirius rubbing his neck. "You scared the shit out of me!"
Mundungus Fletcher grinned. "Just like old times, eh? Now, why don't you come inside? Maybe you can explain that gobbledegook Albus was going on about!" he gestured Sirius to follow and he led him out of the clearing past a few trees and up the backyard of a cobble-stone hut that was impressively large.
Glancing around in interest, Sirius didn't seem to find the vast number of illegal objects cluttered around at all astonishing. Flying carpets, bewitched muggle mail boxes and teacup sets. Cursed necklaces and rings, jinxed muggle bicycles and more.
Arthur Weasley would have a field day, thought Sirius. I guess some things never do change. After assuring the teacup Mundungus handed him wasn't hexed, cursed or otherwise, Sirius proceeded to fill him in on the happenings of the last two months.
*O~O*O~O*O~O*O~O*
Everyone gathered in the Weasley's living room, the scrubbed wooden coffee table heavily laden with Birthday gifts. Glancing over them excitedly Harry picked up a small but heavy shaped object and sat down to unwrap it.
To his surprise, it was a muggle snow globe. The clear crystal ball sat on a silver stand about 1cm thick and four little feet stuck out from the edges of it. He didn't pay much attention to the stand itself but looked at it long enough to see about a dozen lilies on a vine engraved on it, encircling the base. It was real silver.
Peering through the crystal what he saw amazed him and convinced him that this was no ordinary muggle toy. The ground was filled all the way up to the edges of the dome with tiny, miniature lilies. They looked immensely realistic and they lay perfectly still.
Harry couldn't see anything but the lilies but on an impulse, he shook the globe gently anyway. Strange little bits of silvery glitter floated down for what seemed ages and the lilies seemed to be wavering as if something crawled within them. And then, to Harry's absolute astonishment, he realised something was moving under the flowery heads. Something was slithering through the hidden stalks of the flowers. And that something made itself known as it slithered around a stalk coming out onto the bed of petals.
It was a tiny, green snake. It had black glinting eyes that seemed strangely real. All of a sudden the lilies started whipping around at the other end of the snowglobe. Something was darting towards the snake and then… a handsome stag with strong, dangerous antlers sailed over it and galloped back under the petals obscuring it from view, only to be followed by a large, black shaggy dog and werewolf who seemed to be chasing it. There was no rat.
As the last of the 'glitter' fell the animals all disappeared out of sight and the lilies became still once more.
Harry stared at it speechless for a long time. His throat had constricted and he could only look at the precious globe in his hands unmoving.
"It's… it's…" Harry was lost for words, he payed no heed to what the snake was. The people who knew Harry really well, those he trusted knew how much it meant for him to have some kind of memory of his parents. Anything to know more about them.
"It's beautiful, thankyou er…" he rummaged through the wrappings in a daze, there was no note.
"Who is it from?" asked Hermione in a hushed voice, she and Ron knew some of what Harry must be feeling.
"There was no note," replied Harry somewhat disappointed, he wanted to thank this person dearly. He carefully set the globe down out of harm's way. Hermione started chewing her bottom lip, a sure sign she was doing some serious thinking as Harry reached into his pile for another present.
This package was extremely lumpy and he had no doubt it was from the Weasleys. Sure enough an emerald jumper with a gold 'H' emblazoned on the front and a golden lion on the black tumbled out as well as some homemade fudge and toffee.
The note read:
Our dearest Harry,
Happy 15th Birthday! All our love in the world,
The Weasleys.
"Thankyou Mr and Mrs. Weasley," grinned Harry.
"Oh, you're welcome dear! Go on and try on your jumper! I've never had a chance before!" said Mrs. Weasley.
Harry slipped the thick, woolly jumper over his head and pulled his arms through the sleeves. It was lovely and warm.
"Oh, my you look handsome in it!"
Harry blushed embarrassed as the girls began to silently laugh behind their hands at his redness.
"Oh just stunning Harry!" said Fred in a mock-posh voice.
"You'll make the cover of Witch Weekly!" chimed in George resting his chin on his hands and pretending to swoon. That's when Fred pretended to drool and Ginny choked on the laugh that she was straining to keep back. She completely lost the plot though as did Hermione and Ron as they rolled on the floor at the twins' antics.
Percy straightened himself up importantly.
"Really Frederick, George," he began in a dignified, haughty voice. "What kind of example are you setting? They should really go to their rooms' mother! They're ruining the entire evening!"
That sent more gales of laughter across the room.
"Stop this ridiculous manner! Have you all gone mad?" Percy was beginning to get flustered by their behaviour. It was all too obvious Percy was simply too serious to take a joke, let alone understand one when it slapped him in the face.
Suddenly something like realisation and mild horror settled in his eyes behind the horn-rimmed glasses and he shifted further away from Fred and George as if afraid of catching something. Once everyone had calmed down a bit, Harry opened the rest of his presents.
He received a new watch from Hermione as his had stopped working during his time spent in the lake at the second task and it didn't just tell the time but lunar data and the orbit of the planets and their moons and such. Harry didn't understand much of it, but knew he would eventually and that it would help tremendously in his Astronomy homework. From Sirius and Remus he received a leather belt, which had a holder for his wand, a sword sheath, a knife sheath including a dagger as well as some holders for potion vials. It was, as Ron put it; cool! From Ron he received his usual supply of chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts every flavour beans, as well as some things from Honeydukes like Fizzing Whizbees = levitating sherbet balls, Drooble's best blowing gum = to fill a room with colourful bubbles and more of the sort.
"Thanks Ron!" said Harry, eyeing the sweets, his mouth beginning to water already.
From Ginny (to his surprise, for he had never received a gift from her before) gave him a brooch of a golden phoenix perched on a golden branch and his wings arched up as if ready to take flight. It had emeralds cut into it for eyes; indeed it matched his jumper that Mrs. Weasley had made. It was beautiful.
"Thanks Gin!" admonished Harry sincerely.
Ginny blushed at the nickname he had given her and the fact that he'd liked her gift. That was the last present (the twins had given him samples.) Gazing at his small array of presents, he picked half of them up carefully and went upstairs with Ron helping him carry the rest of them to put them away safely in his trunk.
The girls cleaned up all the wrappings, which Harry had strangely not ripped off but had taken each one off carefully not unlike someone who saved the paper. Of course, it was still strewn all over the place in a right old mess and Molly, Hermione and Ginny cleaned it all up again so that it was spotless.
"Boys!' muttered Hermione.
----------end of chapter----------
A/N: Once again, I apologise for taking so long to post this, I know I said I would do it Sunday, but with Christmas and two birthday parties and part-time work it has been really hard!
As you can see it is H/Hr as I've been hinting last chapter (anon- see? :P) But please don't let that put anyone off! Thankyou to all who voted and for those of you who like H/G R/Hr, then watch out for my 'Harry's 5th year' thingo, HP and the Order of Phoenix because that will be the pairings although I won't be posting that for a while.
---Review Responses---
anon- Thankyou for the review and I like your idea for figuring out who for Ron, but I've already chosen someone! Hope you like!
No-name- Grrr! I need a name! Hehehe… anyway, I totally agree on your point of JKR's books, but it can be done. I do hope you keep reading none-the-less of the pairings.
Sina- Thanx for the review! I'm glad you weren't too lazy this time! lol. Well, this is important for the plot, so Harry has to be with someone in this instance. It is a major focus of the story, so hopefully it won't become too boring. It will pickup a bit more soon, but every story needs some slow points otherwise they're won't be any fast points.
Rickmans-Girl- Here ya go! ;) I hope you like this chapter although I thought it might be a little bit boring. I thought it necessary to have Sev's reaction and thoughts.Jimmy- Thanx! Yep, I emailed ya ;) Review response in there!
Iris- LMAO! You made me laugh so much I was almost tempted to have Harry with the Giant Squid just for the hell of it!! Nope, no Cho. I personally think it would be too awkward after the whole Cedirc thing.
Kateydidnt- Yep, I like that bnest too. Oh well. I totally agree with you on slash pairings. It just wouldn't happen. Some of the pairings are way OOC!
Selke- I hope you're not too disappointed and that you liked Snape again this chapter! Thankyou for the review!
AcGirl- Thanx! Sorry for the wait, trying to get on this computer is a nightmare! I hope you like this chapter!
JUDGEMENT- Hey, thankyou! Here's next chapter.
Liv- Hehehe, thankyou so much. I've dedicated this chapter to you, so I hope you like it! I know it's a little slow/weak but it will pick up again!
JeZeBeL- Thanks and NO!!! Definitely NOT!!! By 'depending on reviews' I meant that if people were saying H/Hr or H/G, because if I got H/G then it would take longer and I would have to re-do last chapter so it wouldn't come out by Sunday. Not that it did anyway *sigh*
I truly hope you don't think that's why I am writing, I hate it when people say that because I LOVE writing no matter if people like the plot or not!! I'm writing for me and if I take to long it's because I'm not happy with it.
A/N: Because I took longer than expected to post here's a little hint. Next chapter will be called… GRINGOTTS. Tee-hee!
~Lisa~