Disclaimer: I do not own HP & Co.
A/N: Honestly now, if you were Harry or Snape (especially Snape), would you really suspect that the other was your father/son in this story (if you only knew what each individual know, not the fact that you know both sides, so to speak)? If yes, I would love to hear the reason(s) why-a nice debate is always good for the soul.
Yes, communication is the key. Snape, up till now, had no idea that Harry was adopted (I don't worry about ruining the story, since I made a reference in the second Chapter that Sev knows HP was adopted by the Potter's). Coincidentally, Harry's appearance didn't really start to change until the week the two began to work on the appearance altering potion (brilliant of me, BTW). Snape has no reason to believe that Harry might be his son. Maybe if Harry looked like his wife (and yes, Harry is almost the spitting image-where did that phrase come from anyways?-of Snape's late wife) without knowing what she looked like, he might be more curious. Snape, used to being teased & tormented by a Potter, naturally assumed that this was the case. He honestly believed that his children are gone. Harry, however, does know that Snape had kids, but remember, as far as he knows Snape's kids are dead. Besides, as we all know, Harry can be pretty clueless. Hermione might piece it together, but that death thing, (Harry does remember that Snape mentioned a body), can be kind of hard to get over-after all, even Dumbledore said death was permanent. He figures some things out in this chapter on his own, but also has some help.
SHADOWEDHAND: Meant to thank you again for your suggestion of 'Mock Locks', but I forgot last chapter, forgive me?
Chapter 26 cognatus lamia lector
After Harry left detention Thursday evening, Severus remained seated at his desk, shaking his head. Just when he thought that there was more to the boy-who-lived, he had to go and pull a stunt like this. Well, one thing was for sure, James Potter would be proud that his son was carrying on with the Marauder's task of tormenting him.
Honestly, did the boy really think that Snape would let him get away with this? The two might have unofficially declared a truce over the summer holidays, but Snape wouldn't let anyone mock his pain like this. A fact that Potter would soon realize. If he doesn't stop his charade and confess, the boy will be in detention until he graduates, and maybe even longer if Snape could find a way to make it happen.
Snape wasn't happy when he saw Potter at breakfast last Wednesday, with his wavy cinnamon brown hair, but he let it pass, since almost every Gryffindor had a different hair color that day. However, when everyone else had returned to normal, Harry's hair was still the lighter color. Fine, he thought, maybe the boy just used more potion or set it to last longer. At that time, he had no reason to believe that the result was deliberate. He even tried legilimens on the boy to see what was in his mind. Unfortunately, Harry was aware of this and defended his mind.
On Thursday Harry's hair was the same light brown. Snape couldn't take it anymore, he had kept an eye on Potter during breakfast and lunch and when the boy made no attempt to change the color of his hair, Snape finally decided that it was time for action. He cornered Potter and Weasley as they were on their way to Quidditch practice. After Potter refused to answer his questions regarding his change of appearance, he quickly assigned the boy a detention for that evening. His only regret was that he didn't deduct points as well.
Friday, though, Friday was even worse. Not only was his hair still cinnamon in color, but the eyes were changed as well. The two together reminded him so much of Sonja, that for a moment, he felt faint and almost whispered her name, before he remembered where he was. By the time class ended, he had regained his composure, at least enough of it to assign Potter another detention.
Still, Potter kept the charade up for the last week; even go so far as to say that it wasn't a joke. Regardless of the points deducted, the detentions assigned or the questions asked, Potter never admitted what he was up to. Snape was the only one bothered by Potter's refusal to change his hair color back to normal, of course, at this point, Snape wouldn't have minded if he turned his hair Weasley red, as long as it no longer resembled his wife's. Most of the other professors were relieved that the boy-who-lived wasn't in his room crying over his mutt of a godfather. They put the change in the boy's appearance down to either a lost bet, a dare from a friend, or most likely a Weasley prank gone wrong. But Severus knew differently. He was convinced that Harry deliberately changed his appearance and that he used the information to entertain himself and his friends.
Out of all the people to find out about his past, it had to be the son of one of the men who hated him most. Snape couldn't believe that he was almost believed that the boy was more like Lily than James, one thing Harry's recent actions showed Snape was that the boy was more like James than Severus ever thought, and obviously three years around his godmutt was enough for Harry to emulate Black's attitudes. Only a marauder would think a joke like this would be funny. Although he was right, it wasn't a joke. It was cruel. Soon the boy would find out just how cruel Snape could be in return, thanks to those occlumency, Potter wasn't the only person who learned some things this summer.
The potion master stood up to leave the classroom when he noticed a book on the floor. He stopped to pick it up.
"Stupid boy, to leave his journal out like this. Even if the know-it-all did put protective charms on it," Snape mumbled to himself as he recognized the book.
Severus decided to stay in the classroom a little longer to wait for Potter to return to claim his book. Surely, it wouldn't take long before he realized it's gone. Especially since he should be writing in it every night before he goes to sleep.
Severus soon realized that an hour had passed since the Golden-boy left the dungeons. He came to the conclusion that Harry hadn't even noticed the missing journal yet. Not too observant, Snape snorted. He would definitely have to teach the boy a lesson about losing something so valuable. Out of boredom, Severus started thumbing through the pages. The minute he opened the journal he realized that he could read it. So much for the know-it-all's skills, Severus smirked. If the charm isn't set right, it won't work. Even a first year knows to check a spell after it is applied. But apparently two members of the Gryffindor Trio, think themselves infallible. The arrogant fools, not to check the journal before they leave the dorms, how idiotic could they be? Do they even realize what this information would to the light do if placed in the wrong hands?
The wrong hands. Now that it was in his hands, should he read it? Tempting, very tempting, Severus thought as he placed the books with his other materials and brought them back to his rooms. He will have to see if Harry notices the missing journal in class tomorrow.
"Potter, that is pitiful, even for you." Snape smirked as he hovered over Harry's shoulder, watching as he sliced his ingredients. "Perhaps you should see about adopting a new technique."
Instinctively, Harry paled at his professor's reference to adoption, even if it was in a different context.
Harry took a deep breath and imagined himself writing in his journal. He was pretty sure that Snape wouldn't let him write in the real thing during class. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he jumped when Hannah Abbot dropped her quill on the floor. Unfortunately, as he jumped, his hand knocked over a jar of powdered graphorn.
"Potter! You really shouldn't leave things lying around. You never know how dangerous it might be." Snape leaned in closer so that only Harry could hear him, "Now go to the cupboard and get some items to clean up this mess."
Harry hands shook as he cleaned up the powdered graphorn. Once more he imagined himself writing in his journal as he ignored his professor's remarks and went back to work.
As the bell rang, Harry brought his bottled potion up to the desk, thankful that it was Friday and that this class was now over until Monday. Unfortunately, Snape had a few more things to say.
"Potter, I don't know what type of mark you think you will get on this potion, but be assured that it won't be equal to your previous ones." And with those words, Snape turned around, and went into his office, his robes billowing behind him.
Friday night Harry knocked on Snape's door ready to serve his detention. Overall, the detentions hadn't been that bad. Last week he helped Snape prepare the Wolfbane potion for Remus, although Harry was puzzled why Snape needed three cauldrons of it. Other than that, most of the detention he spent cleaning. He never thought he would be grateful for the Dursley's, but the one thing he learned there was how to clean. Snape couldn't possibly find anything wrong with his cleaning skills. Of course, the funniest thing about his detentions was the way Snape tried to reverse Harry's appearance. Having a professor walking behind you shouting spells as you clean desks or mopped floors wasn't normal, not even for Harry.
"Potter. Come in."
Once Harry entered the classroom, Snape immediately started in on him again. "Your attempts at potion makingare pathetic. You should think about abandoning it before you get someone killed."
Even though Harry knew that his teacher was most likely referring to a situation where a cauldron exploded or Harry accidentally poisoning someone, he still couldn't help but grow pale at those words as the images of Cedric and Sirius flew to the front of his mind. No, he thought, not my fault. Let it go. Slowly, Harry imagined all the feelings associated with those two disappearing as he gained control over his emotions.
"For detention tonight, you will remake this morning's potion successfully or die trying."
Most of the weekend passed in a similar fashion. Snape, when in his rooms could often be found by the fireplace reading Harry's journal. When he wasn't in his rooms, Snape could be seen skulking about the castle looking for a student to terrorize. What a coincidence that his steps often led him to the boy-who-lived, of course, he did have a little help from a location spell. How he enjoyed watching Potter squirm at his innocent use of words. Who knew that some words, such as 'cupboard', 'defy', 'vanquish', 'mark', 'equal', 'serious', 'adopt', 'dog', 'blame', and 'profit' could have such a dramatic effect on a teenager?
At first he did this to drop hints to Harry to see if this sparked the boy's memory of his misplaced journal, but after seeing his reaction, Snape realized that this was quite fun. Okay, so maybe this wasn't something a teacher should do to a student; then again, a student shouldn't take what they know regarding a professor's personal life, combine it with what they learned from that same professor and mock his pain in such a way. Snape, unfortunately, was blinded by his need for revenge. He had no pity for the boy, not after the boy so callously tormented him by deliberately changing his appearance.
Sunday evening Severus entered his room after tormenting Gryffindor's golden boy. He opened up the journal and started reading. "That little-" Snape mumbled, staring at what he just read. Oh how he wanted to enter the Gryffindor tower and drag Harry Potter out of his dorm room by his ears. How dare he write about his past for anyone to read.
At breakfast on Monday morning, Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table laughing and talking with his friends when he realized that the great hall had suddenly gone unnaturally quiet. He then noticed that most of the students were staring at something behind him. Before he had a chance to turn around, a hand gripped his shoulder and he heard, "Potter, come with me. NOW!" His shoulder was released and the shadow turned and headed out of the great hall, with Harry following not far behind.
Harry followed his professor to the potion's classroom., leaving a concerned Hermione behind The minute they were in the classroom, Snape said, "Potter, are you missing something?"
"Excuse me, sir?"
"I asked if anything is missing."
"Er, um, not that I know of."
"That does not make me feel secure at all," Snape replied sarcastically. "If the Savior of the wizarding world doesn't even notice when something important has been lost."
"Um, excuse me, sir, can you please explain what this is about?"
Without a word, Severus took the journal out of his robes and placed it on the workbench. "This was left in my classroom Thursday night after your detention. I thought that you would be back for it once you realized it was missing. Imagine my surprise when you went the entire weekend not knowing that it was missing. I thought you were writing in the journal every night, how could you be doing that if you don't even have the journal?"
"Actually sir, I am writing in a journal every night, just not that journal. That is one of the first ones that I had. I brought it to dinner with me that night to share some things with Remus. I don't use that journal every night which is why I didn't notice that I didn't have it with me."
"You should know better than to leave your personal belongings lying around. Do you know what this information could do if found in the wrong hands?"
"Um, not much, sir. They are protected."
"Are you sure of that, Potter?"
"Yes, sir." Harry said confidently, remembering the charms that were set on all of his journals.
"Are you willing to bet your life on it? Are you willing to bet your friends life on it? What about my life? Because that is exactly what you are doing."
Harry was silent, not sure how to respond. Yes, it was irresponsible of him to leave the journal laying around where anyone could find it, but if they couldn't read it, then how much help would it be?
"If the Dark Lord found your journal, he could easily read about how you feel about the prophecy, not to mention figure out exactly what the prophecy is! If he or one of his loyal Death Eaters discovered how much you really cared about the Weasleys, Lupin, Granger, or any of your other little friends, you could kiss them goodbye. If someone found out about the feelings you had towards the headmaster at the beginning of the summer, they could use those feelings to create discord for this side of the war. Not too mention the information you shared regarding my personal life and my past. If any of the students came across that…"
Snape was cut off as a pale Harry interrupted, "No! They couldn't find out. The journal's charmed! No one can read it except -"
"Except who, Potter? Anyone who picks it up off the floor?" Snape asked as Hermione walked through the door, hearing their last exchange.
After Harry left the Great Hall with Snape, Hermione had been worried about her friend, she had never seen Professor Snape so upset. She finished breakfast quickly and as soon as she could she escaped Ron and headed to the Dungeons, not noticing a grey-eyed blonde doing the same thing.
The minute Harry saw Hermione, he grabbed the journal from Snape's hands and shoved it under her nose. "Read this!" He yelled.
"Harry, you know, I can't. We charmed it."
"Oh, please, Potter. Of course your friend is going to lie to protect you. Ten points from Gryffindor." At that moment, Draco Malfoy walked in.
Harry glared at Snape and pushed the book into Malfoy's hands, telling him to read it, and ignoring the glare that Snape returned at him.
"Potter, that's just being foolish. Bring it back over here." Snape said, a little worry creeping into his voice. If Draco read what Harry wrote was in the journal and told his father…Snape shuddered at the ramifications.
"Malfoy, ignore Snape and just read it," Harry said,
"Read what, Potter? There's nothing on here," snarled Draco as he turned page after page looking for something to read.
At Draco's words, Snape looked from a very pale Harry to a paling Hermione to a puzzled Draco. Snape knew that Draco had his faults, but lying wasn't one of them, especially lying to protect the-boy-who-lived.
Before he could say another word, Harry grabbed his journal and his bag and ran out of the classroom. "Potter, get back here. You still have class. Twenty points from Gryffindor if you aren't in class when the bell rings." Snape yelled down the hall towards Harry's back.
"Professor," Hermione asked, ignoring Draco. "What was that about? Could you really read the journal?"
"Draco, out" As Draco left the room, closing the door behind him, Snape answered, "Of course I could read it, Miss Granger. Somehow your charms failed. I was able to read every page, I do not know what charm the two of you used, but I strongly suggest you use a stronger one, one that won't leave room for errors." Snape indicated that this conversation was over as he then went back to the door and opened it, letting the students into classroom.
Hermione stood where she was for a moment, growing paler by the second. Suddenly she made up her mind as she grabbed her books and ran out the door.
"Granger! Granger! Where are you going? Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention."
Hermione just ignored him; she knew that she had to find Harry.
"Harry," Hermione said, "Are you okay?"
"Merlin, Hermione, I don't think so." Harry said as he lifted his head up from his knees to look at her. "Maybe he was right and the journal wasn't charmed properly. But we tested it! We had to have done it incorrectly on that first journal or maybe we missed something. We had to have missed something, right? Perhaps this charm only works if performed during the full moon or if you are facing north. There has to be something like that we forgot about! Or maybe the charm just wore off; perhaps the charm only works for a certain amount of time before you need to reapply it? Could that be what happened? Or maybe he couldn't really read the journal and it was just a new way for him to torment me, making me think that someone could read it. Merlin knows I would go insane if I actually thought that he or anyone else read it. Perhaps he was just guessing about what I wrote in there about everyone. I mean, it is kind of obvious what I am feeling at times. Anyone could take a guess and win a prize." Harry didn't notice or care that his ramblings weren't even making any sense. All he knew was that he had to find a way to explain what just happened. Well, any explanation except the truth, of course.
Hermione listed as Harry continued to rant, she never knew that he had such a creative imagination. Honestly, she thought, the things he could come up with just to avoid the truth.
"We know that it was done correctly, we even asked others to read it and no one could, so why HIM?There has to be some kind of explanation." Harry concluded.
Hermione hesitated a moment before speaking. She knew that Harry was aware of the only possible reason that Snape was able to read the journal. He just didn't want to admit it. Hermione realized that the sooner he did acknowledge it, the easier it would be for everyone involved. "Harry, do you remember what I told you about the charm when we placed it on the first journal?"
"Yeah," Harry said as he thought back to the conversation the two of them shared had as they walked back to Harry's room from the library on his birthday to look at the potion books.
FLASHBACK
"Harry, I know of a few spells that can offer you the security and the privacy you are looking for to protect the journals. I would suggest the 'Cognatus Lamia Lector' charm. With this charm, no one can read the book if they are not connected to you by blood."
"But wh-" Harry started to say.
"Oh, I meant to say no witch or wizard could read it, unless they share your blood. Even though your aunt & cousin share your blood, they won't be able to read it, since they are not wizards."
"But wh-" Harry started to ask again, not really worried about the Dursleys, since he knew that he wasn't related to them by blood..
"Oh, and Vol-" Hermione paused, took a deep breath and continued, "Voldemort can't read it, because even though he has your blood, he isn't related to you, the spell requires a deeper blood connection than the one between you and him. It is only your immediately family that would be able to read the journal once this charm is applied."
END FLASHBACK
Immediate Family. Who qualifies as immediate family, again? Harry wondered, sincerely hoping that distant cousins were in there somewhere.
"Hermione, I don't suppose that in the wizarding world, 'immediate family' includes distant cousins, does it?"
"No, Harry, it doesn't." Hermione said with a gentle/sympathetic look on her face.
"So that means…"
"Yes."
"NO! There has to be some other explanation. Couldn't he be my uncle? That's it! He's my uncle?" Harry exclaimed with a smile on his face. Even though he wasn't exactly pleased to have Snape as an uncle, it had to be better than the alternative.
"No, Harry, he's not."
"Why are you so sure? Aunts and Uncles are considered immediate family."
"Yes. But Professor Snape is an only child."
"How do you know?"
"I read his biography in "Hogwarts Today". It includes a biography on all the members of the staff."
Trust Hermione to know something like that. Harry sat silently, the last of his hopes dashed.
"The million galleon question is 'did Professor Snape know that he had a child out there'?" Hermione pondered out loud, meaning the question to be rhetorical. She believed that if their professor wasn't aware that a possibility existed that he had a child it would be that much more difficult for him to accept that Harry most likely was that child.
"Yes, he did. Actually, he had two." Harry replied quietly, while thinking that apparently 'Hogwarts Today' doesn't know everything.
"Two? How do you know?"
"That's what I was referring to in my letter when I mentioned that I had learned some things about our professor. Snape was married, his wife died in childbirth the day their twins were born."
"Wow. So what happened to the twins? Did he give them up for adoption?" Hermione again wondered out loud. Somehow that scenario didn't coincide with what they had garnered from Cybelle's journal, she was pretty sure that Harry's adoption by Cybelle wasn't legal.
"Actually, no. He returned home one day about five weeks after his wife's death to find his children gone."
Harry was so involved in recalling the details about the kidnapping that Snape shared with him, that he didn't notice the looks that flashed upon Hermione's face. Sympathy for their professor at what he went through; then a glow of enlightenment as she realized what probably occurred 16 years ago.
"They searched for them for a while, but couldn't locate them. Slowly, aurors were pulled off the case to work on capturing Voldemort instead."
When Harry paused to take a deep breath, Hermione chimed in with her thoughts on the matter. "This all makes sense. Remember how I told you that some auror's went after Death Eaters or suspected Death Eaters a bit more personally? There were many cases where children disappeared. Once the adoption spell was done, of course, they couldn't locate you. It was as if you no longer existed or were de-"
Harry cut Hermione off in mid-sentence as her words reminded him of the conclusion to Snape's tale. "Hey! I can't be Snape's son."
"Why not?" Hermione asked, shaking her head, as she realized that Harry was determined to find another explanation for everything that has happened.
"His children are dead. A few months after they went missing, a body was found and identified as Snape's kid. A double funeral was held right around Christmas."
"Hmm." Hermione said. A little perplexed by this last tidbit of information, the remainder still fitted in well with the information she had from Cybelle's journal. Maybe Harry was mistaken about the death of Snape's kids.
"Harry, how did you find out this information?"
"Some of it I saw in Snape's memories, and some of it he told me."
"He told you?" Shock and disbelief evident on her face and in her voice. She couldn't imagine her professor willingly sharing information about his personal life.
"Yeah. I had already saw most of it, his wedding, his wife's pregnancy, his wife's funeral, him with the twins, then the twins funeral, when I got trapped in his mind. Then one day during an occlumency lesson he lost his temper and said something, I got scared and ran. He followed me to explain what he meant by what he said. This is when he told me about his family."
"What did he say that got you scared?"
"He said that he hated me for the same reason that Voldemort hated me."
Harry heard Hermione take a deep breath. "Yeah, that was my reaction to, I thought that maybe he was a double agent and was still loyal to Voldemort after all. Anyways, he hated me because I was the-boy-who-lived, not because Voldemort couldn't kill me. No, it was much simpler and much more complex than that. He hated me because I lived year after year, despite numerous deadly attacks, while his children didn't live to see their first Christmas. He hated me even more because we were born on the same day."
"Harry, you knew that you were born on the same day as his kids? That is too much of a coincidence; you have to be his son."
"Why? People share birthdays all the time."
"Perhaps, but for him to be able to read the journal, for you to be adopted, for Cybelle's journal to vaguely hint that you were 'taken' away from your father because of who or what he was, for Professor Snape's sons to disappear from his house. Harry, it all adds up."
"Son and daughter."
What?" Hermione asked, clearly puzzled over Harry's response.
"Son and daughter," Harry repeated. "The twins were fraternal. I can't remember their names, though, just that they both began with an 'S'."
"HA!" Hermione exclaimed triumphantly. "That makes it fit even more. Cybelle mentioned that you had a sister, remember? We just thought it was an older sister since you were a new born. Cybelle was probably talking about your twin. No wonder the two of you were so upset when you were separated. It was probably the first time that you had been apart. Anyways, Harry, you have to admit that it is too much of a coincidence."
Harry remained silent. He would need a lot more proof before he admitted to anything.
"You said you saw his wife during your lessons, right? Well, what did she look like?"
"I don't know, pretty I guess."
"Come on, Harry. Remember!"
"Why, what does it matter?"
"Well, over the summer how the two of you were getting along, right? I mean, you said he wasn't exactly nice or pleasant, but for the most part, civil. Plus, he helped you with the appearance potions, even though he didn't know why you wanted to know about them. And he let you into his NEWT class without the necessary OWLS. I also know that you began to respect him as well, which makes sense, with what you just shared. Plus, the first weeks of classes, he didn't go out of his way to torment you, for the most part he treated you like any other student, well," Hermione qualified, "any non-Slytherin student. He yelled at you in class at times, but he didn't search for reasons or ways to make you miserable."
"Yeah, at least not until these last few weeks."
"Exactly!"
"Huh?"
"Harry, he didn't start tormenting you until your appearance started to change. The more you changed and the longer you refused to reverse it, the crueler he was. Now, what did his wife look like?"
"I don't know." Harry said as he closed his eyes, trying to remember what she looked like. "I remember thinking that she had green eyes, similar to mine & Lily's in color. Her hair was a med/light brown, kind of wavy and about the same lengths as Snape's. She was smaller in build, but height wise, reached about his shoulder. Why?"
"Harry, look." Hermione said as she handed him a mirror she conjured.
"Do you know that you are the second person to do that to me in as many months." Harry said as he took the mirror.
"Just look and tell me what you see."
Harry help the mirror up to his face and looked. A second later, you could hear the mirror fall on the floor in front of him. "Merlin! I think I need to lie down."
"Harry? What did you see?"
"Hermione, you knew exactly what I would see. I pretty much look just like her, except for the fact that my hair is straighter, more like Sna-" Harry broke the sentence off, shaking his head. He was not about to admit that he might look a bit like him. "Merlin! I look like Snape's wife. I kept thinking that I looked familiar, but I couldn't place remember who I reminded me of. No wonder he kept on asking me what I was up to and gave me detention until either my appearance changed back or I 'confessed'. I guess I really can't blame him, I mean, what he must have thought of me. He had to think that I was doing in deliberately, since it's something that James probably would have done. God! He must really hate me now. Merlin! Why did I have to get trapped in his mind during occlumency anyways? Not only did he have to share his past with me, but he thinks I've been playing a cruel joke on him all these weeks. And it is all because I learned some personal information about him. That's it. Next time someone wants to tell me something personal, I'm going to say 'No Way'. It just gets me into too much trouble." Once more Harry didn't care if he no longer made any sense. All he could think about was that their was no way his fath-,er Snape was going to forgive him for this.
"Harry," Hermione said, as if she had read his mind. She awkwardly rubbed her hand on his back trying to calm him down before he became hysterical. "All you have to do is tell him that it wasn't deliberate."
Harry sat there thinking a moment about what Hermione just said.
"Hermione."
"Yes, Harry?"
"Now the million galleon question is 'How do I tell him?'. I can't even be in the same room as him without him deducting points. The minute I tell him that I think that he's my, uh, anyways, the minute I tell him, he's probably going to deduct a hundred points."
Hermione just sat there shaking her head. If Harry couldn't even say it to her, how was he going to talk to Professor Snape about this?
End Chapter 26 cognatus lamia lector
Well, it's finally out there. Now Harry just has to decide if & how to tell Snape.
I REALLY want to know how you feel about how Harry found out & such. I thought it was pretty cool, but hey, it's my story, so I guess I'm allowed.
I know there was a lot of rambling (both myself, Harry & w/ Snape's actions,), but hopefully the point got across. Now if only I knew what that point was
Upcoming: Chapter 27 telling secrets
-will probably be postedin about a week.
Special a/n after thanking reviewers.
Cognatus-connected by blood
Lamia-witch
Lector-reader
Thanks Reviewers!!!! I love & appreciate all the reviews, here are a few quick comments to some:
Jaypallas: Hmm, good idea about Ron, definitely an idea for a future fic; GreenPanther: Thank you for those wonderful words, only hope your faith in me is not misplaced. Gotta blush, though-I embarrass so easily. Felinity: I actually haven't tho't about the impact this would have on the map…hmm. harry-draco: Snape's reaction, coming up soon, it will be as complicated as he is (I think/hope). HP-Scriptor: Thanks for calling me talented, looked at the sight yesterday, cool! Risi: You were right about Sev's reaction. In my mind, Cybelle did not know all the details of Harry's background-she knew he was a widower & that he was a DE, but not that he was forcibly kidnapped, now, she probably suspected it, she was smart, however, she was also very caught up in her own tragedy and at times, wasn't think about things clearly (now, not sure if this is entirely possible, but a) it's my story so why not & b) when my dad died when I was 11, I remember nothing-absolutely nothing-of the six months that followed, have a few vague memories of things between 6-12 months, but that's about it. Grief is an amazing thing, especially how you survive it.
MANY PEOPLE ASKED ABOUT SNAPE'S DAUGHTER/HARRY'S SISTER. IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, DON'T READ FURTHER.
12/2/04
LAST WARNING
DAUGHTER INFO
Okay, here it is. At the beginning I thought about having Seren be alive in Harry's life. If she was going to be involved, I thought about having it be Hermione, since she did fit a bit of the physical description, but then would have to explain the whole adopted by muggle thing & such. Not to mention that I wanted this story to focus on Harry. I mean, I have sister's (they are for sale if anyone wants one), so I know the attention that they can get. This way, It is only Harry going through this turbulent time. Plus once the truth does come out, he will be the main focus of Snape's attention (be it good or bad). I also think that having Seren die (yes, she is definitely dead, unless I get loads of hate mail/reviews asking her to come back), backs up Sev's belief that his son is also dead.
12/2/2004