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Opal: PIMS, those little biscuit with jam and chocolate things have alcohol?
Chapter 6: Looking at pictures and Dad's new girlfriend
"All packed?"
"Yes, father." Harry sighed as he took a seat on top of his trunk, a slightly crestfallen look upon his face.
Severus took a seat next to his son and placed a gentle hand on Harry's shoulder. "Is everything alright? Is it Draco? You know you can tell me anything, Harry."
"No, it's not Draco. It's nothing, just…teen stuff." Harry shrunk the trunk down and handed it to his father. "Where's Hedwig?" He asked, searching for his beloved bird.
"I sent her home this morning. She'll be there before us. Let's go." Harry nodded and went to go find Ron and Hermione.
Hermione and Ron flanked Harry as they followed Severus to the vintage Bentley and black limousine parked outside the school. His two friends stood gaping at the sight that stood before them. "If you two are quite done gawking, I'd like to get a move on it and return home."
Ron turned to Harry and asked, "He owns a shirt that isn't black?"
Harry laughed glanced over to his father who stood next to the high polished car in a muted, red shirt and grey coat. "He doesn't want to ride in the same car as, and I quote, 'loud, obnoxious, bratty, hormonal teenagers.'" Hermione handed her trunk to Ron who placed his and his girlfriend's trunks in the boot of the limo. Harry slid in, followed by Hermione then Ron. The limo followed the Bentley away from the school and towards their professor's and Harry's home.
"I never thought Snape, of all people, would own something so…muggle, like a car." Hermione said as she snooped around the inside of the vehicle. "So how long is the ride from the school to your house?" She asked.
"Four hours, give or take a half an hour." Harry replied, munching on a pecan turtle.
In the year and a half, almost two years, that Harry had been living with his biological father, his friends had never dropped by to visit him at his new home. Harry had begged his father to let his friends come over for a few days during the winter holidays so he wouldn't be completely bored to death. He had also promised that the three of them wouldn't be in his way for the duration of their visit. It took four days for Severus to give in and let his son's friends stay over.
Harry rested his head against the window and sighed in relief as the cold from outside cooled the glass which in turn cooled his over heated body. He shifted on the leather seat until he found a suitable position and drifted off to sleep with his hand resting on his round belly.
A soft, slim hand rested on his stomach, feeling where the baby was. The hand gently moved in soothing circular motions and a pair of soft, moist lips pressed lightly below his ear.
"We're home, love."
"Hmm?" Harry turned to face the speaker but couldn't see him clearly enough. 'Where are my glasses?' He thought. The blurry figure was blonde and male, that he could tell. He could tell the person's had either short hair that had been combed back, or had his hair in a tight ponytail. Draco usually wore t-shirts when he wasn't in his uniform; this person had on a mandarin collared dress shirt. Lucius.
"We're home, Harry. Wake up." The soft voice gradually changed into that of his father's.
His eyes blinked open and adjusted to the sunlight pouring in through the car door. Just a dream; it was only a dream. He mentally slapped himself for dreaming about his ex-boyfriend's father. Your ex-boyfriend's incredibly gorgeous, sexy, devoted, intelligent, surprisingly funny, sexy father. He mentally kicked himself this time and got out of the car.
Harry slid out and was followed by his friends. "Wicked!" Ron watched as the front doors were opened by a man who looked to be in his early sixties wearing a crisp, black and grey uniform with white gloves.
"Harry, this place is gorgeous!" Hermione squealed getting out of the car and moving around to the boot to help Ron get their trunks out.
"Allow me, miss." The chauffer lifted the trunks out and carried them into the house.
"It's kinda cold out here. Let's get inside before I freeze." Harry called as he walked up the three steps to the front door. The inside of the house was decked out in Christmas decorations. All the decorations were muted, understated and classically elegant. Mistletoe adorned many doorways; something that Ron and Hermione were bound to take advantage of.
"Welcome back, young master Henry." The butler greeted Harry as he walked in the house. "Putting on a little weight there, eh Harry?" He joked.
"Hello, Francis and I'm pregnant." He grinned introduced him to his friends. "Francis, this Hermione and the one fascinated with the plant is Ron. Ron, Hermione, this is our butler, Francis."
"Your plant tried to bite me."
"It's a Venus Fly Trap, Ron. Did you stick your finger in it?"
"Yes and you should have told me." The redhead joined his friends in the centre of the atrium and looked around in awe.
"Welcome to Raven's Hollow." Harry led the way through the foyer and up the curved, granite staircase that lead to the second floor. "I'll show you to your rooms then introduce you to everyone. "This is me," he pushed open a door then walked down the hall to the next room. "Ron, this is your room." He pointed to a door to their right, "Bathroom is through there. Dad's not stupid enough to put you two in the same room but he is stupid enough to put you in adjoining rooms." He walked across the room to the armoire. "Just slide this out of the way and push." He slid the armoire over and pushed against the white wall panel. The door opened on the other side behind a tapestry. "Hermione, as you can guess, this will be your room. The nightstand works the same way the Room of Requirement works. Just think about what you want and open the drawer. Your bathroom is through there." He indicated a door on the other side of the room.
The trio sat in the den watching television and chatting and laughing until dinner. A house elf in a little blue dress popped in and informed them that they were to dress for dinner and that Severus had company. They went back to their rooms and put on something presentable and Harry showed them to the dining room which looked like a smaller, informal version of the dining hall. Harry breath caught in his throat as he saw who the guest was. Stay calm. Just stay calm. This became Harry mantra as he took his seat beside his father, his friends sitting beside him. He dared not look Lucius in the eye for fear of turning 12 shades of red.
"Mister Weasley, Miss Granger, do you like your rooms?" Severus asked as he picked up his glass of wine. Ron simply nodded while chewing on his food.
"My room is lovely, professor. Thank you very much for letting us come visit Harry."
"Harry insisted that you two stay over for a few days and he would not give up his pleading until I relented and said both of you could visit. As Harry has probably told you, I have many rules in this house. One of which is that there is to be no sharing of rooms." Harry rolled his eyes as his father rattled off a long list of rules that had to be followed while they were under his roof.
"Harry, are you going to tell us what dinner was all about?" Ron asked.
"My father has a lot of rules." He shrugged as they sat around the fire in the parlour.
"I still can't get over that your father has such a huge library!" Hermione nearly sighed. She got up and went over to the small bookcase in the corner of the room. The shelves held a few picture frames and the odd book or two but it was mostly there for aesthetic purposes than functional purposes. She picked up a large, leather-bound album and sat on the other side of Harry. Her fingers ran over the smooth leather and gilded lettering on the front: S. A. E. S. IX. "What's this?" She asked, placing it on Harry's lap.
"Hmm, must be my grandfather's, Severus Arwyn Emrys Snape, IX, if my father is the tenth. I was the first not to bear the name Severus." He opened the album to the first page. "You are cordially invited to the marriage of Severus Arwyn Emrys Snape, IX, son of Severus Arwyn Emrys Snape IIX and Lorelei Rose Weasley, and Camilla Rhiannon Lupin, daughter of Gabriel Christian Harrison Lupin and Rebecca Maeve Potter, on 10 May, nineteen fifty-nine at two o'clock in the afternoon at Castlewood manor." Harry read from the invitation attached to the front page.
"So, Harry, that would make you, what, like my third cousin or something, right?" Ron asked.
"Yep." He turned to the next page where a young bride and groom waved happily at the camera. "All the pure blood families are all interrelated." He said to no one in particular. The next picture was a picture of his grandparents holding his father as an infant followed by a picture of his grandfather and his father as a toddler. Young Severus was smiling and holding a teddy bear.
"Harry, isn't that the bear on your bed?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, my dad gave him to me last year when I moved in. Dad kept my room exactly how it was when I was a baby. When my mum moved in with James, the bear was here in the basinet on the third floor. After mum and James died, dad refused to change anything and kept my room the way it was until he was able to get custody of me."
"Why did your mother move out?" Hermione asked, turning so her knee was on the couch.
"My dad was suspected of being one of Voldemort's followers and it wasn't safe for her to be around. She moved in with James a few days before they died. After they died, dad sealed the room he and mum shared and moved into the room he's in now. By the way, my father's room is down the hall from ours if I didn't mention it before."
Most of the pictures had Harry's father in them. They ranged from family picnics and pictures of him and his horse, to large family gatherings. "Look, it's Professor Lupin and my dad." Ron said, pointing at various people in a large group photograph.
"You never answered my question before, Harry." Hermione poked Harry in the arm.
"I don't understand."
"Harry, why was Mr. Malfoy staring at you all through dinner?" She asked. She noticed her friend pale completely then turn a shade of red that rivalled her boyfriend's hair.
"I don't know what you're talking about. He wasn't staring at me. He was probably just making sure I was eating enough considering I am carrying his grandchild." He went through every excuse he could think of and of them, playing the grandchild card was the best option.
The flipped through another few pages and came across pictures of his father in his quidditch robes at school before a game and a picture of a young Severus and a young Lucius who could pass for Draco at the same age. "Mum." He whispered, looking at the next picture.
"Severus and Lillian, Hogwarts Commencement Ceremony, June 1977." Hermione read the caption under the picture. Lily's hair blew gently in an unseen breeze as she held onto her future husband. Every now and then, the two figures in the picture would kiss. Below that, was a picture that looked to have been taken on the same day. The picture was of Severus, down on one knee, proposing to Lily. "Severus proposes to Lillian, June 1977, Castlewood manor." Hermione nearly cooed as the large ring was slipped on Lily's finger and threw her arms around her fiancée's neck.
"Your father looks so different then." Ron commented. "You do look like him, Harry."
"I know but I also look like my mum." Harry felt his eyes water and quickly blinked away any tears that threatened to fall. He hated how easily he cried these days but it was to be expected. He felt Hermione turn the page then heard Ron start to laugh. Ron was pointing to the bottom picture on the next page while Hermione gushed over his parents' wedding photo.
Harry smiled at the picture from his parents' wedding. Lily's family and friends were off to the left while Severus' were off to the right. Beneath that was another picture of the wedding of the Bride and Groom with their parents.
Hermione looked over to the picture Ron had been laughing at and found herself laughing as well. "What is so funny about this picture?" Harry asked without actually looking at it. His eyes drifted down and saw why they were laughing. A tiny, newborn Harry with his hair sticking straight up with a tiny little sneer as his grandfather held him.
"You look downright evil here." Ron laughed. The caption underneath it read 'Henry James Lucian Snape, 4 August 1980.'
The grandfather clock in the foyer chimed 11pm. Harry yawned and told his friends he was heading up to bed. He made sure to remind them about the drawer in Hermione's room and walked up to his father's study and knocked on the door. "It's open." He father called.
"I just came by to tell you I'll be going to bed now. Goodnight, dad. Goodnight, Mr. Malfoy." He closed the door and headed up to his room.
It was nearly one o'clock and Harry had just been violently sick. He looked in the cabinet for a potion but found none. Sighing, he opened his door and walked down to his father's room. He could see light around the bottom of the door so he assumed his father must be awake. The sight that greeted him when he opened the door to his father's bedroom suite was one that every child hopes they won't see. "Harry?!" Severus shrieked as he, and his bed partner, scrambled for something to cover them.
Harry stood wide-eyed in shock. His mouth opened and closed but no words came out. He closed to door and leaned against the wall trying to forget what he had just witnessed. My dad's fucking Tonks. He heard his father accio his clothing and the door open again.
"Sev, maybe I should just leave. You and Harry obviously need to discuss some things."
"No, stay, it's about time I told him."
"You still didn't tell him about us?" Nymphadora Tonks yelled, batting him with an accent pillow.
"Shh, his friends are right down the hall." He said trying to calm down the young witch.
Several doors down, Ron poked his dishevelled head out of his door. "Everything alright, mate?" He called. Harry mouthed something that looked like 'I'll talk to you later.' Ron nodded and ducked back inside.
"Harry, please come in here a minute." His father called.
Tonks and his father were fully dress and sitting in an arm chair. Well, Severus was sitting in the chair while the now brunette witch was perched on the armrest.
"I wanted to tell you earlier, Harry but I didn't know how."
"Were you going to tell me when she came down to breakfast one morning?" Harry's arms crossed over his chest as best he could. "How long have you two been together?"
"Six months." Tonks replied, fiddling with the tie on the hood of her sweatshirt.
"Is there a reason why you didn't tell me, father?" He asked bitterly.
"I didn't know how you would react."
"What does it matter? It's your sex life."
"Why does it matter? WHY DOES IT MATTER? It matters because I love her. That's why it matters, Henry Snape." His father bellowed. She knew Severus had a temper and her hand shot out to grab his shoulder in an attempt to restrain him. For such a petite woman, she was freakishly strong and her nails dug into his shoulder, no doubt leaving a mark through his shirt. "Was there a reason why you barged into my room before?"
"I need an anti-nausea potion, I ran out." Harry replied meekly. Severus got up and took a vile from a rack on the bookshelf and handed it to his son.
"Take that and go to sleep. I'll brew another batch tomorrow. Now, if you don't mind, we'd like to get some sleep."
Harry scowled and walked out and down the hall toward Ron's room.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" She whispered as the headed towards the large bed.
"He'll be fine. I think he's just worried that you're going to try to take his mother's place."
"Oh. I know how much she meant to you and still does. And I know she will always be a part of you and that you love her more than you will ever love me. I'll never take her place and I wouldn't want to, Sev." She paused and rested her head on his chest. "You really love me?"
Severus cracked a small, sweet smile and brushed a long lock of brown hair from her eyes. "Yes, I love you."
"I love you, too, Severus" She said softly, her eyes brimming with tears as she wrapped her arms around his waist and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him full on the lips.
A/N: Review and I'll give you an update.