Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything else you recognize from that books, is owned by JKR and Warner Brothers and so on. I do not own anything and so I believe it's perfectly legal to borrow the characters, surroundings, etc. Only the plot of the story is mostly mine. Well, we all are affected by our environment and I'm not capable to tell you everyone who affected me to write what I wrote.
But Isabeau certainly is mine! She is mine and always will be. Bloody hell, I spend two Latin lessons to invent her character and needed one physics lesson to figure out about her looks! (To check them out, visit my webpage: http:www.creepydungeons.de.vu)
A/N: Well, this chapter is longer. I promise Hermione and Ron will have a larger part in the next chapter as the next chapter already is almost finished.
The answers to the reviews can be found at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 07 - Preparing
Another meeting took place two weeks later.
"Have you thought of a name?"
"Well..." Harry looked at the floor. Severus smiled at Harry.
They had thought about it, they had discussed for hours and hours and finally Severus had told Harry to make the decision.
"I'm not sure about a name... but I made a decision..."
Dumbledore looked at Severus with surprise. No one would have imagined that Severus Snape would have left his son to decide about his new name.
"I decided that my son is old enough to pick a name himself," explained the potions master. He had a bad feeling about this. He had given so many examples and had uttered so many wishes. But after all Harry/Sheldon had such a strong will.
"Yes and I tried to deserve this trust. I made my decision." Harry breathed deeply. "I want to be Avenarius Sapiens Snape."
Harry had thought about this very long and had respected his father's wishes. He often considered to disregarding his father's plea to not pick 'Severus' as second forename, though.
"That's a sophisticated name," annotated Dumbledore.
Severus would have smiled from one ear to another if this wouldn't have been unsuitable for him.
"Are you serious?" asked Harry insecurely. "I'm not sure about my second forename. F-f... father asked me to not pick 'Severus' and although I would have fancied that very much, I agreed."
"I just didn't want you to feel beholden to pick it. But I will agree if it is your true wish," professed Snape. He had to fight to not to show his pride.
Harry smiled at him. "It would be an honour."
"I guess it is 'Avenarius Severus Snape then'?" asked the headmaster and father and son nodded.
Harry shuddered at the thought of his angry father hissing 'Avenarius Severus Snape'. Yes, it was a good choice. This name suited him perfectly.
"So we will reveal your true identity on Hallowe'en, Avenarius."
"The short form is Aven," stated Severus helpfully.
"Wow, that sounds good," said Aven and looked quite surprised.
"We have the basics now. Do you have any other questions or remarks?" asked Dumbledore.
"My scar. I tried to hide it the last month but the glamouries wore off very soon. Why is it so hard to hide the scar?"
Snape cleared his throat and began to speak.
"That's rather easy to explain. Of course you know that it is a very strong magic mark and thus it refuses to be hidden by magic. You might have recognised that your scar seems to have faded. It's paler than it used to be."
Aven looked at his father with surprise..
"Your scar would have been hidden by your mother's spell if it wasn't so strong. It fought back and was even more visible than it really was."
"That's very interesting but I fear it does not provide any solution. And still I cannot run around with the scar on my forehead!"
"Perhaps you should try it the muggle way," suggested Dumbledore.
"I beg you pardon?" asked Severus. This old man confused him at least once a day.
"Muggle makeup has a quite good effect on magical and not-magical scars. I've seen many muggleborns using it until the scars were removed."
Aven nodded. "That's so simple I could have thought of it!"
"If this was everything you are dismissed," said Dumbledore and the two Snapes left the office. Severus cleared his throat.
"Would you mind if we had early lunch together in my chambers? I suppose you are hungry, since you missed breakfast."
"No... I mean yes... I would not mind that at all," answered Aven a little bit bewildered. "But I don't want to argue again."
"No, I don't want that either. Let's try to not solve all the problems at once."
"Well, lead the way!" quipped the young Snape and followed his amused father.
"What would you like to eat?"
"I'm fine with anything," answered the young man.
Severus nodded and summoned a house elf when they reached the living area in the dungeons. Aven sat down on the couch and stared at a large album laid down on the side table. Severus crossed the room and sat down besides his son.
"Interested in it?"
Aven looked at his father constrained.
"Well, you might be interested in it!" said Severus and placed the album on his lap. "Open it whenever you are ready to open it."
"These are pictures of...?"
Aven sighed but opened the album. He gasped when he saw the first picture.
"My Mum? You collected pictures of my mum?"
Aven didn't wait for the answer but stared at the picture of a twenty year old Lily Evans.
"Not only of her. I also collected pictures of you. I felt beholden to Lily."
In this moment the house elf arrived with the food.
"Me has brought the food, Masters can eat now!" twittered the elf.
"I... I think... probably we should eat first?" asked Aven. He had a bad feeling in his stomach. "I... am not sure whether I'm ready to look at them."
"Take your time!" said Severus endearing. He wasn't sure whether he was ready to answer his son's questions.
The both sat down at the dining table.
"What's this?" asked Aven.
"Greek food."
Aven raised an eyebrow.
"My grandmother is from Greece."
"I didn't know that," explained Aven.
Severus obliged himself to at least look at his plate. Why did he always have to glare at the people annoying him?
"I spend most of my summer holidays with my grandmother in Greece."
"At least you had someone to spend your holidays with," muttered Aven and when he recalled his life as Harry Potter.
"Do you think it was fun to be gone most of the summer? Do you think it was fun to not be allowed to go home until later on in the summer?" Severus tried to keep his composure.
Aven jumped up and tried to suppress the tears with screaming.
"At least you had everything you could only wish for. I was used as a cheap servant!"
"I never had anything I wished for! All I wanted were parents who loved me!" bellowed the potions master.
Suddenly everything was quiet. Aven stared at his father's face but what he saw wasn't the angry grimace he expected. He saw a sad boy's expression.
Sudden memories crossed Aven's mind. A boy crying while his parents argued, a bored youth in his room, a lanky teen was laughed at by a group of other teens.
Likewise Severus recalled some memories he had seen during Occlumency lessons with Potter, humiliating scenes from a childhood that hadn't been any better than Severus.' The teacher realised that everything he wanted was to prevent his son from having a youth full of hate and aversion like he had experienced it 23 years ago.
Aven stared at the wall behind his father and Severus stared at his plate.
Aven bit on his lip. He had to do something, he had to say something.
Severus heart beat so hard in his chest, the words he wanted to say echoed in his mind so loud he couldn't think of anything else.
"I'm sorry!" they mumbled in unison and went silent again.
But suddenly relieved laughter filled the dungeons. Severus joined his son's laughter and watched the young man.
Aven was so relieved when his father started to laugh. But Aven also had tears in his eyes. He had a hard time understanding why his aunt didn't like him, so it was even more unbelievable for him that Severus wasn't loved by his parents.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Severus.
"I'm wondering about your parents." Aven sat down again. "How could they possibly not love you?"
Severus' face softened unexpectedly. "It's easy to explain it now. They didn't love each other, how could anyone expect them to really love the product of their forced matrimony? But still I cannot forgive and forget the lack of affection."
Severus lowered his head and hoped that his hair which fell into his face would conceal his faintly blushed cheeks. He never before had revealed this much of his youth.
Hell, this is Potter! Or is he my son? Both I guess. Why did I talk about it? Now he will laugh about his pathetic professor. What a stupid fool you are, Severus!
Aven didn't laugh. Severus looked up and his features hardened.
Even worse, now he will pity me like a little child who lost his stuffed animal!
But Aven only smiled. It wasn't a scornful smile, or even pitying smile. Aven smiled with sympathy, sadness and acknowledgment.
"I don't know what to say, but I think that I -- I don't know what to say. Certainly I never would have wanted anyone to pity me for my lack of a proper family." Aven closed his eyes for a minute or so and then everything broke out. "Hell, why do we have to argue nearly every time we meet? I don't want that, I hate it! Shit, that's going to be a bloody problem someday, isn't it?"
He did not stop then.
"Why does this happen all the time? Why are there children who do not experience love in their childhood? Why do they have to live with parents who do not really care about them? It's unfair, I hate that. I can't stand it! I never want to go back and go on like that."
"God - I hate it! This has to stop. I don't want it back, I don't want the life I used to have," shouted Aven. Severus lowered his head once again.
"Harry..."
"Aven," amended Aven.
"Aven, there will be some things I have to take care of. I will go and see the Dark Lord this evening. I will inform him about your 'true' identity and present him some weird story. I will tell him that I already found you and brought you to Hogwarts this year to keep an eye on you. I will tell him that I mistrusted some of the other Death Eaters and so I felt I had to cover up your true identity."
"Do you think he will buy this?"
Severus looked up and nodded.
"I will try to flatter his vanity. I will survive and I will come back."
"You better would," quibbled Aven with tears in his eyes. "I don't want to lose you!"
-
Aven watched the old grandfather clock in the living room. It was past three in the morning when he finally heard irregular footsteps echoing in the corridor. He jumped up when his father entered the room, weary, worn out, but still alive.
"I'm so glad you are back!"
Aven slowed down and slowly walked over to his father. Severus forced himself to look right in his son's eyes and hugged him tightly.
"Oh son... I have forsaken all hope for a better future for you!"
Aven laid his arms around his father. He had known that being a Death Eater's heir wouldn't be a pleasing thought. But now he actually knew how disgusting it felt.
"Now I know how you must have felt during the past years," admitted Aven.
Severus let go of Aven and was very unwilling when his son tried to help him to the couch. But finally he had to give in when his legs almost refused to carry him any longer.
"Was he very angry?" asked Aven.
Severus nodded. "Could you fetch some painkiller from my office?"
"Sure, I'll be back in a minute!"
"The third shelf..." called Snape weakly but Aven didn't hear him.
When the young man returned Severus had closed his eyes. Aven watched him for some time. His skin was pale and sunken, his eyes wearily closed. His hair was wet with rainwater and sweat.
"Here!"
Severus long pale fingers tried to catch hold of the frail vial, but they were trembling and too weak to hold it. He closed his eyes and felt disgusted when Aven pushed the opened vial against his lips. He didn't want any assistance, and he didn't want to need assistance. He gulped the faint blue liquid and sunk back against the couch again.
Aven felt helpless. He never had seen anyone in such a bad condition, apart perhaps from Barty Crouch who had appeared to the grounds in a very bad condition during Aven's fourth year.
"Should I go for help? Madam Pomfrey or Dumbledore or anyone?"
Severus shook his head slightly. "Need to rest. Will be fine."
Aven highly doubted his father's statement. No one would be really fine after this anymore. He sat down on his father's right side and tears began to well in his eyes. He swallowed hard, trying to suppress them and hid his face with his hands.
I'm to blame. If it wasn't for me he wouldn't suffer. What a fool I am! I should leave him NOW! I'm going to kill him. I'll kill him like I killed Sirius... and James... and Mum! Oh my god!
Aven felt a surprising warmth creeping through his body when a hand laid on his left shoulder and softly stroked it.
"Don't cry. Can't stand to see someone cry," asked Severus hoarsely. "Never could see your Mum cry." Aven felt the hot tears in his cheeks and his hands. What had happened to him? He never had been this weak, he hadn't even cried for Sirius.
Sirius. Mum. Father. Don't leave, just don't leave.
Severus put great effort in laying his arm around his son's shoulders and dragged him closer. When Aven eventually rested against his father's side, one lean arm wrapped around him, Severus soon fell asleep and Aven did as well.
xXxXx
Aven had been very nervous all the days since they had decided to introduce him as Snape's son. And now it was the day he had waited for.
"What do you think, girl?" Aven smiled at Hedwig. The owl looked at him and turned away. "Hey, it can't be that bad?"
He had put on some of his new school robes he had reserved for special events like feasts and his hair was bound to a loose ponytail.
"Well, I'll go then and see my father before the feast."
Harry knocked on the door of Snape's private chambers.
The door opened immediately and Harry found himself in the huge living room again.
"Ah, it is you. Are you ready?"
Harry nodded.
"I'm glad to... hear that. I have something for you. Perhaps you could consider wearing this for today?" Severus asked tentatively.
Harry took the small black jewellery case. It seemed to be old. "We will see. See you later at the feast."
athenakitty -
1. Would you be amused if you found out that your father isn't your father?
2. As I said above Isabeau is mine. I don't think that there is a real Isabeau Corva attending Hogwarts.
rosiegirl - Bad news? Maybe, perhaps, someday? I know but I won't tell you by now. ;)
Kaleena Mason - I hope you got around when you re-read it!
Jade Sierra Snape - Thanks!
Tabitha78 - Oh, thank you! bearhugging I don't really care if there are some mistakes left. They can't be too bad, can they?
Shadowed Hand - Yeah, they will have some hard time until they really get along well.
What's on in the next chapter: False friends and difficulties ahead...