Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor anything otherwise related. I do, however, make claim on NM Harry's personality as well as those of all the other canon characters and my original chars.
Time passes like a flash.
One minute it's there,
then gone in the aftermath.
People you love die,
but their memory lives on;
Until it seems
that they live again.
"Remembrance" by Anastasia Snape-Vickers, in memoriam of Severus Jardin Snape (2001-2156)
Chapter 2
Gone in the Aftermath
"Why did you bring me back?"
Violet looked up into her great-great grandfather's emerald eyes then quickly looked away.
"We need your help."
Harry narrowed his eyes and spat, "With what? A blood feud? Teaching you how to duel?"
Adam shook his head and replied, "To survive."
Emerald eyes blinked in surprise at that and Harry looked between his two descendants.
"A Dark Wizard?"
"He's calling himself the Dark Lord," explained Violet. "We don't know his real name but he's been devastating our world for four years now."
"The Auror's can't stand against him. His men, maybe, but not him," added Adam.
Harry scowled and looked up at Erik, snarling, "And who are you?"
The Russian wizard blinked then replied, "Violet's husband. Erik Romaniv."
"I see." He leaned back in his chair in the kitchen and scowled at the top of the table for a moment. "And what year is this?"
"2163," offered Adam.
"So I've been dead for over a hundred years."
"A hundred thirteen to be exact," said Erik. He then shook his head and added, "You look exactly like your portrait."
Harry frowned and growled, "I don't doubt it since Hermione painted it." He then looked at Adam and Violet and asked, "And how many more of you are there? I can't remember much now from when I was dead but I do remember that my son had three children after I died."
"I'm Anastasia's granddaughter," said Violet. "And Adam here is Ulric's."
"I have a twin named Arthur, as well," added Adam.
Harry nodded then asked, "And does the Snape name still exist?"
Both of them nodded in response and Violet replied, "Great-uncle Morgan's line carries the name. There have been son's for three generations now in his."
"Good. The name still lives. Who is the Head of the Line?"
"My father Jacob technically is," said Violet. "But since Cousin Patrick is the eldest living with the Snape name he has the title."
"He's not the eldest living Snape, cousin," murmured Adam.
Harry frowned at him and asked, "What do you mean?"
Adam opened his mouth to answer but didn't get a chance as from the door came a shocked gasp.
"Dear sweet mother of Merlin…"
Harry spun in his chair and gasped, "Uncle Eti!"
Etienne Daladier, now just a hair over the age of two hundred, stared blankly at his half-nephew.
"H-Harry?"
He then looked at Violet and Adam and snarled, "You two! You actually performed the spell?"
"What other choice did we have?" cried Violet. "We need him!"
"You had no need to pull him from the afterlife, foolish girl!" Etienne then took a nervous step towards his nephew and began, "Harry, lad, I…"
His voice was cut off as a suddenly upright Harry unexpectedly tugged him into a bear hug. The cloak wrapped about the ex-dead man slipped slightly and Etienne caught it, tugging it back into place.
"I'm glad you're still alive, old man," whispered Harry feverishly into his half-uncle's ear. "All of this is getting to me."
"I'm not certain whether to be happy you're alive or to beat your great-great grandchildren over my knee for bringing you back," growled Etienne, pulling back to look into the emerald eyes.
Harry chuckled and said, "We'll kill them later. Right now I want to ask you to do something, Uncle."
"What?"
"Catch me."
"Wha…Harry!"
Etienne barely caught the descending weight of his nephew and tugged his suddenly slack body against his chest, which was an awkward position as the younger man was a good seven inches taller than him now since he'd shrunk slightly with age.
"Adam, Erik, give an old man a hand, would you?"
His snapped words caused the two younger men to spring into action and they took Harry from him, bundling him into the cloak as they eased him back into his chair.
"Are you really mad at us, Uncle?" asked Violet meekly. "Would you not have brought him back if you knew how?"
Etienne looked at her for a long moment then at the unconscious face of his nephew. Even after more than a hundred years dead, he still looked like he was struggling with something in his sleep.
"You don't truly know what he went through, child," he said softly. "Not even me telling you can give you the slightest idea. To bring him back from where he was…it was one of the worst things you could have done."
Tears gathered in Violet's eyes at his words and he brushed them away, shaking his head.
"Don't cry, child. You did what you thought was right and I cannot fault you for that. I did the same once. Because of that, we'll speak no more of this." He looked towards Harry's unconscious form and continued, "Now we'll just figure out where to go from here. Alright?"
"M'kay," murmured Violet, reminding Etienne of when she was six and he's scolded her. Then he'd given her a piece of candy despite her mother's rule of "No Candy Before Dinner" and sent her on her way with a promise to wait till after dinner to eat it.
Etienne nodded then turned towards Adam and Erik, saying, "Let's get him upstairs. Violet, you know where the old clothes and such are stored, don't you?"
"Yes, Uncle. Sam and I got into Great Grandmother Janella's things once. Aunt Rebecca scolded us horribly for it."
"Good. Go and find a trunk with the initials 'HJP' on the lock."
Violet frowned and asked, "Shouldn't it be 'HJS,' Uncle?"
Etienne shook his silver head and smiled slightly.
"Harry never changed the final initial on his trunk even after everyone found out he was a Snape. The war with Voldemort took up most of the time then and after that he was out of school so I suppose he never saw a point. Now move, girl."
She nodded and left the kitchen, leaving the three men to frown at Harry's unconscious form. Erik then looked at Adam and asked, "You want the head or the feet?"
"I'll take the head," replied Adam. "I'm stronger than you and he's mostly muscle."
"Ow, my man feelings."
"Shut up and get his feet, prat."
Etienne shook his head at the two men's banter – which they'd done since Violet had married the Russian – and led the way upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms. After they'd settled Harry on the bed and the younger men had left the room, Violet appeared with a bundle of clothes that consisted of dark pants and a faded green shirt that Etienne recognized. It was the shirt that Ginny had made for Harry and Niamh with their school nicknames on them.
He took the clothes from her and set them on the bedside table where Harry would see them when he awoke before he ushered Violet out. Then he tugged the blankets up over his nephew, drawing the cloak carefully out from under him once he was covered up.
"Forgive them," he whispered to his nephew as he pulled a sheet over his scarred chest. "They only know you as a warrior and a powerful wizard. Not as I do."
He then slowly left the room, murmuring to the spirits that he knew lingered about the Snape family, "And forgive your great-great grandchildren for taking him from you, Niamh."
They could have asked first, he heard the fiery woman growl faintly.
He allowed himself a chuckle at that then retreated to his rooms to wonder what he was going to do with a suddenly alive nephew.
Author's NoteYep, Etienne's still alive. It's cause I like him. Have since I wrote his entrance to Ashdeir Fierion in Brother Mine. He was such a cute, nervous kiddy. cuddles little Eti
And, yes, to anyone that has played Knights of the Old Republic I, one of Erik's comments is a blatant reference.