Who Are You To Me?

Chapter Eight

A/N – thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter-

HecateDeMort – thanks!

Leggylover03- thanks!

Phoenix 5 – thanks! And your English is very good!

ShadowedHand- thank you so much for reviewing each chapter individually!

Okay, so I have reposted the previous chapters of this story, and I believe I have addressed the two problems people mentioned in reviews: the owl post being intercepted, and Harry wondering why he looks like James. Thanks to people who pointed these out. Please let me know what you all think, and if there is anything else I need to reconsider.

Harry wrote two letters on Monday night, one to Ron, and one to Severus.

Ron,

Will see you tomorrow at 11, outside Gringotts? I'm unable to come and stay I'm afraid, I'll explain tomorrow. Say hi to Hermione for me.

Harry

Harry felt nervous about telling his best friends his news. Hermione would probably be shocked, but then understanding, but Ron could be a bit hotheaded at times, and Harry had visions of Ron storming off when he heard what Harry had to say. But he decided to leave his fears for a while, and reply to his father.

Severus

I'm planning to tell Ron and Hermione tomorrow, I'm really nervous about their reactions. I think Hermione will be ok after the initial shock, but I'm not so sure about Ron. I think the thing is, we've never been fans of...well, you, for the past 5 years, and they both might have trouble with the news. I hope they'll be ok though.

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about the charm, I don't have any books with that charm in, I've checked.

Anyway, I will see you tomorrow, at 4:30.

Harry.

Harry was very excited, he tried to sleep, but was unable to. He didn't want to put any music on and disturb his family; he didn't want to spoil what had been his best summer so far by making anyone mad.

Harry lay awake until about 2am, just thinking about his summer. He couldn't believe what had happened to him in the past few weeks. He started to get butterflies in his stomach; tomorrow he would get to meet his real father for the first time. The past 5 years didn't really count, as he didn't know that Severus was his father. And they'd pushed all grudges aside now, they could start again. Harry wondered what he should do when they met the next day? Hug? Shake hands? Just stand there? Harry slowly started to doze off, these thoughts still running round in his head.

Severus was thinking about these things as well before he went to bed on Monday. He was nervous about the meeting, and having his son in the house for the first time. He'd had a room for Harry ever since he'd been born, hoping that Lily would tell James the truth, and that she and Harry would come to live with him. Somewhere inside him, deep down, he'd known it wasn't possible, but he'd always silenced that voice, telling him it would never happen.

He'd had to change the room around somewhat though. He now had to have a room suitable for a teenager, not a baby. He had many things in the room that he hoped Harry would like, a lot of them muggle. He lived in the Muggle world for many reasons; electricity had been one of them. Also the fact that he could still do magic, because most muggles were too self absorbed to notice, whereas Muggle items wouldn't work in the Wizarding world.

Severus sat in bed, and tried to take his mind off the events that the following day held by reading. When that didn't work, he just closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

Neither Harry nor Severus got a lot of sleep that night, both were nervous, Harry was excited as well. Severus was also a little excited, but he was damned if anyone would find that out.

Harry arrived, laden with his trunk, and other belongings, outside the Leaky Cauldron, shortly before 11am the next morning. Tom met him inside, and told him where to store his things. Harry did so, and then went outside to gain access to Diagon Alley.

The first thing he had to do was to go to Gringotts, to meet his friends, and take some money from his vault.

Harry was close to the wizarding bank when he saw a blur of a person running towards him, before Hermione threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her back; he always loved these moments when he saw his friends for the first time after a long summer. Ron hugged him after Hermione had done so, and then punched him, in a friendly way, on the arm.

The trio spent a couple of hours shopping, and then they went for lunch, with the rest of the Weasley's, which was, as usual, a memorable event.

When Harry, Ron and Hermione had finished, Harry led them to a quiet spot in Diagon Alley, he had to tell them his news, it was now or....well, not never, but he had to do it now.

"Um.... I said I'd tell you why I couldn't stay for the next couple of weeks, and I will." Harry paused, trying to think of the best way to tell them. "Well, I'm actually going to stay with someone else; I'm meeting them this afternoon."

Hermione looked at him, a worried look on her face, before quietly speaking. "Who are you staying with?"

"Um.... my.... father." Harry looked at his two best friends, almost knowing what they were going to say.

"Harry, mate," Ron paused, looking at Harry like he was stupid, "I hate to break it to you, but your father's gone."

Harry looked at Ron, then Hermione, who looked confused. "No, James Potter is gone, my actual father is alive. My mum had an affair with someone else she knew, but she didn't want James to know."

"But," Ron looked baffled by the revelation, "How come you look so much like James?"

"A spell. A spell called 'Dissimulare'. That would ensure I looked like James for ever, it can't be reversed."

Hermione was the first to speak. "So, Harry, who is your father then?"

"Well, I don't know how to tell you guys this, it's...well, it'll be a bit weird at first. But...." He paused, and took a deep breath, before lowering his voice. "My real father is...Snape." There, he'd said it. He looked at two of the most important people in his life, gauging their reactions.

Ron looked disgusted, and Hermione's hand flew to her mouth. He had anticipated this, and just sat quietly, waiting for one of them to speak.

"That's..." Ron looked lost for words.

"Just remember it was my mother's decision to be with him. I couldn't exactly choose my father. Please don't judge me." Harry's voice was quiet, almost apologetic.

"Why didn't you say anything to us before?" Hermione sounded slightly confused, but she seemed to be taking the news better than Ron, who was now pale, and looked like he would be sick.

"Because I only just found out myself recently. There are only five living people who know about this. Me, Severus, Dumbledore, and you two. And you're not to say a word to anyone, ok?" Harry knew they wouldn't tell anyone, but he just had to reiterate the point.

He continued. "I received some diaries that my mother kept between her leaving school and being killed. The Dursleys gave them to me for my birthday. It was all in there. She was so scared that I wasn't James' son, she had to do the spell on me the moment she was alone with me after I was born. She spent seven and a half months worrying about whose baby I was. She knew the moment I was born."

Hermione looked very interested in his story, and Ron's cheeks were returning to their normal colour, he didn't look quite so ill now.

"So, is that it?" Ron sounded slightly angry. "You're just going to forgive him and go and stay with him for two weeks? Harry, this is Snape we're talking about. You know, your enemy? Our enemy? He's hated us for five years."

Harry grew slightly impatient. He had to try to stay calm; he couldn't lose his best friend. "He only acted like he hated me. He told me that himself. I don't know how he feels about you two, but if it's any consolation, he did use your first names in a letter to me the other day. I don't think he hates any of us; it's just a front he has to put up. Would you rather he acted like our best friend, and raise everyone's suspicions?"

"Harry, please be careful." Hermione's voice was pleading. "How do you know it's not a trap?"

Harry was confused. It wasn't like Hermione to be cautious like this. "Hermione, he doesn't work for Voldemort, you know that. Why would it be a trap? Look, if it'll make you feel better, if anything doesn't feel right when I get there, I'll leave."

His friends still didn't seem too satisfied with his answers, but they had to accept that he was old enough to know when he was walking into danger. He looked at his watch, they'd been there longer than he'd thought; it was 3pm. Only an hour and a half to go. His butterflies had butterflies. He was so nervous.

The trio decided to shop again for an hour, they had to meet the rest of the Weasley family at four. Harry knew he then had to explain to Mrs Weasley why he wasn't able to stay with them. Molly would probably want to meet his 'second cousin', to check him out. It annoyed Harry sometimes how she was so protective of him, then again, most of the time it was nice.

Harry grew more nervous as 4:30 approached. They met up with the rest of the group, and Mrs Weasley said something to Harry about was he ready?

"I'm, um, not coming to stay with you Mrs Weasley, although I'm grateful for your offer."

"Oh." Molly sounded a bit put out. "You're not staying with that...family of yours are you?"

"No. I found out a few weeks ago I had a second cousin, living in Australia. He's moving back to this country, and he wanted to meet me, so he invited me to go and stay with him for the last two weeks of the holidays. I'm meeting him in about 20 minutes."

"Well, do you mind if I come to meet him with you?" Molly sounded incredibly worried. "You don't know anything about this man, he could be anyone. I won't bring everyone with me dear, I just want to check that you'll be okay."

Harry felt exasperated. "Okay, but really, I'm sure he's fine. He sounded nice from his letters."

"What's his name? How old is he?"

"I think he's mid to late thirties." Harry needed to stall; he hadn't thought she'd want to know his name. "His name is Sam Naples." He was proud of his quick thinking. Hermione and Ron looked as though they might burst into giggles at any time. Molly looked satisfied at his answer though.

4:30 rolled around faster then Harry had expected, and he and Molly made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry saw Severus (or, at least, a disguised Severus) the moment he entered the pub, and called to him.

"Sam?" He looked at Severus and winked. He made his way over to a confused Severus, and made introductions.

"Sam, this is Molly Weasley, my best friend's mother. Mrs Weasley, this is Sam Naples, my second cousin from Australia. Mrs Weasley just wanted to come and meet you."

Molly smiled at 'Sam' and he tried to smile back. He knew the woman felt that she had to act like Harry's mother, but did she have to take it this far? Molly left about five minutes after that, with promises to see Harry on September 1st.

Harry and Severus were then left to get to know each other as father and son.