Disclaimer: I don't own anything you've seen elsewhere, not even Severus Snape, a fact that makes me cry my pillow into a soggy mess every night. The real stuff belongs to JK "The Goddess" Rowling.
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Chapter 7
Harry watched the woman seated across from him as she silently examined her menu. Her eyes were narrowed slightly as they followed her finger down a list of the Leaky Cauldron's breakfast choices, and she absently chewed a strand of hair that had found its way to the corner or her mouth. She glanced up and caught Harry's eye.
"See something you like, handsome?" she asked in a deep, husky voice, tilting her head to the side in a flirtatious manner.
Harry flushed and ducked his head behind his own menu, mortified beyond belief. To his surprise and relief, he heard his aunt let out and astonishingly undignified snort of laughter.
"I'm sorry, luv," she said as she coaxed her nephew out from behind his menu, "I didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable. You were just staring at me so intently, I couldn't resist!" She smiled at the fidgeting boy, and added, "Do you mind telling me what you find so interesting about your dowdy old aunt?"
"Dowdy?" Harry spluttered, "You're not dowdy, you're beautiful! I was just…" He trailed off, horrified at how idiotic he sounded. "I mean…I was just wondering how on earth you could possibly be related to someone as disgusting as…" Harry clapped a hand over his mouth, closed his eyes and groaned.
"I have really got to learn how to keep my mouth closed," he mumbled as he buried his face in his menu again.
Adara laughed and reached out, plucking the menu from Harry's hands. "And deprive the world of your delightful conversation? Never! Besides, Harry, I'm afraid that speaking before thinking is somewhat of a Snape family trait."
Seeing Harry's skeptically raised eyebrow, Adara grinned and explained, "Honestly! All of that forbidding, glowering stoicism that my brothers exhibit is cultivated, not natural! In their younger years, Severus and Atticus each got into their fair share of trouble thanks to their mouths, believe me!"
Harry shrugged, not quite ready to believe that his sneering, unpleasant, greasy father had ever been anything other than a sneering, unpleasant, greasy child.
Adara seemed to have read her nephew's mind. "Honestly, he can be quite engaging if you only talk to him…and he does have a range of interests that are entirely exclusive of potions."
She was back to casually perusing her menu, but glanced over the edge, studying Harry's reaction to her words. Harry saw this, and narrowed his eyes.
"Is this what today is about?" he asked, feeling his ire rising, "You want to tell me about how great Sna…my father is?" he spat out the word as if it tasted foul. "You want to tell me that beneath his vindictive, malicious…asshole exterior hides a perfect, loving father who's just dying to come out? That if I only give him a chance, he'll be helping me with my homework and coming to watch my quidditch practices? Because if that's what you think, you're dead wrong, and I don't want to hear it. If I wanted to hear lies, I could have made a lunch date with Dumbledore."
Harry sat fuming, glaring at his aunt, who sighed before tossing her menu aside.
"Look, Harry…I know better than almost anyone what my brother can be like…no, listen to me, please…" she said as Harry rolled his eyes in disgust, " I know what he's been like to you these past years at Hogwarts. I'm not going to lie to you…I've had to endure many a family dinner listening to one tirade or another about what a terrible child you were…that you were arrogant, had a total disregard for the rules, had no respect for authority…"
She shook her head and eyed the scowling boy with sympathy. "None of us believed it, of course. We all know Severus'…history with James Potter. It was obvious that this made him completely irrational when it came to you. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. Nobody can change the past, Harry…"
"But I can change the future, yes, yes, I know…" said Harry in mock sweetness, "and as soon as I can crack his shell and get to his gooey, sugar-floss centre…"
"Harry!," Adara interrupted, frowning slightly, "I'm not pretending that Severus is going to be a candidate for the Daily Prophet's "Father of the Year" competition anytime soon…or ever, in all likely hood," she added wryly, "but he really does have more to him than the evil, dungeon-dwelling Potions Master persona you've assigned him. I'd just like you to get to know him a little better, and allow him to do the same with you. You're only fourteen, Harry. The next five years will pass a little more pleasantly if you two can manage more than snide comments and glares."
Harry, though still slightly disgruntled at having been "tricked", had to grudgingly agree that she had a good point. He shrugged again, and picked up his discarded menu.
"Fine," he said, keeping his eyes away from his aunt's, "whatever. I don't care." He was aware that he was sulking, but he didn't care. He would play along with his aunt's plan, but it didn't mean he had to be pleasant about it.
Adara breathed a sigh of relief, and waved over a waiter. After placing their orders, the two sat in awkward silence. The wizard who had taken their orders had collected their menus, leaving them with nothing to hide behind. After a few moments of feigned interest in a knot in the table top, Harry looked up, propped his chin in his hand, and said,
"Let's get on with it, then. What sort of revelations do you have for me about my dear father?"
Adara scowled a bit at her nephew's obvious sarcasm, then reached inside her robe, withdrew a shallow, lidded bowl and placed it on the table between them. Harry glanced at the bowl, then at his aunt, eyebrows raised.
"It's a Penseive," Adara offered as an explanation. "It holds a person's memories."
"Really?" asked Harry, studying the object more closely, "I've never seen one so small…Dumbledore showed me his, once," he explained when he saw his aunt's puzzled expression.
"Ah, I see," said Adara, "I imagine Albus Dumbledore's would be slightly more impressive than this one; this holds a smaller volume of memories, and is used sometimes to send only a few memories to someone else. Obviously, it travels more easily than the larger versions."
Harry nodded that he understood, and watched as his aunt removed the lid to reveal the familiar silvery substance. He was hesitant when the bowl was pushed toward him, but Adara smiled encouragingly.
"It works the same way as the Headmaster's. Just lean forward into the bowl, and you'll be inside my memories." Seeing Harry's reluctance, she smiled encouragingly. "I've put in a few memories of Severus…when he was younger. Nothing too personal, you understand…but I think it may help. Go on…it will be fine, I promise."
Harry was still not entirely sure he wanted to see anything even remotely personal about the man, but his aunt's warm smile was too hard to resist. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and dove into the penseive, and into a different time.
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Harry found himself standing in a dark, stone-walled corridor that he recognized as being inside his father's manor. He looked around, marveling at how little had changed from whatever time he was in to the present. He was startled from his musings by a dark-haired girl of about twelve walking past him, swinging a flower from her hand and humming absently. The quick glance Harry got of her face was enough to tell him that this was Adara, and he swiftly fell in step behind her, knowing that whatever he was meant to see would happen around her.
They turned a corner, and Harry had to grab the wall to stop himself from bumping into his guide as she stopped abruptly. He knew that she wouldn't feel anything if he did, but the thought of passing like a ghost through the younger version of his aunt wasn't a pleasant one. Harry peered past Adara's shoulder. She was pressed against the wall, and was staring intently at a door that stood ajar a few feet from where she stood, concern etched on her face.
Crouched next to the door, his back to them, was a small black-haired boy who was clearly trying to over-hear what was being said inside the room. Adara strode forward and reached down to touch the boy on the collar, who spun around with a startled yelp. The face that looked up at them was that of a younger Atticus Snape, no more than eight or nine years old. His face showed clear signs that he had recently been crying, and tears welled up again as he looked into his sister's frowning face.
"Atticus!" she whispered fiercely, "What are you doing, listening at father's study? You know he'll be cross if he finds out you've been eavesdropping!"
Atticus hiccoughed, and swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "He has Severus up there, and he's really mad. He's yelling a lot…" he trailed off into a sob, wadding his robe up in his hands and burying his face in it.
Adara moved to shush her brother, and glanced nervously through the doorway and up the stairs that lay behind. It was then that Harry recognized this as the entrance to the tower study. It made sense, he supposed, that generations of Snape patriarchs had used the same room as their private domain. Any audience held there automatically put the visitor in a disadvantaged position. Harry stepped closer along with the two Snape children, straining to hear the voices that traveled down the stairs.
"…brawling like some common Muggle! And in a house in which you were a guest, no less! I could have died of shame when Mrs. Black fire-called me. I have never been so ashamed of you in my life, Severus!"
"But father, I swear, I didn't mean to, and Sirius was…" the voice was tearful and frantic, but was immediately cut off by the elder Snape.
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I am tired of listening to your whining about how you were teased, or how the other boys started it. You are the heir of a major pureblood family, Severus, not some bare-footed Hogsmeade urchin, and it is about time you started to act the part! You have a year before you go to Hogwarts, and this behaviour had better stop before then, or so help me…" the voice paused for a second, as the younger Severus choked out,
"I'm sorry, father, I'm sorry! I'll be better…"
"Oh, stop your crying, you sniveling little dunderhead! You're ten years old, not an infant! Over the desk, now! NOW, Severus!"
Adara's voice startled Harry, as she whispered to Atticus, white-faced,
"Come on…I don't think Severus would like it if he knew we were here for this…let's go down to the kitchens, Atty...I'll bet the house-elves have some delicious pasties. We can get some to sneak to Severus later, alright? How does that sound?"
Harry watched as Adara placed an arm around her brother's shoulders and led him away. As she passed down the corridor the scene around him blurred, but not before he heard the first sickening CRACK coming from the tower.
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Harry blinked as his surroundings came into focus, and nearly suffered heart-failure as a result. He was suspended at least forty feet in the air, without so much as a broom between himself and the rose bushes below. He thrashed about for a moment, flapping his arms like a bird, before he realized that he wasn't, in fact, about to plummet to his untimely, thorny, rose-scented death. Growing accustomed to this strange new sensation of un-assisted flying, Harry glanced about him in wonder.
It was fantastic! He felt completely weightless—how he imagined astronauts must feel in orbit around the earth. He twisted his body around to test out his mobility, then swung himself into a somersault, tucking his legs in tight to his body. He righted himself, grinning like an idiot, and narrowly missed having his head taken off by a figure speeding by on a broom.
Harry let out a yelp, then ducked as two more figures sped by, in hot pursuit of the first.
"Adara, pass it here!"
Harry lifted his face from where he was cradling it in his arms, and stared at the speaker. It was his father. The young boy had the prominent hooked nose that Harry knew so well, and the wind-whipped hair looked as greasy as usual. His face, however, was not at all how Harry remembered it. Instead of a scowl or sneer, his expression was one of excitement and joy, and the sallow skin was flushed from exertion.
Adara, the rider who had nearly decapitated Harry, pulled her broom into a quick turn and threw the quaffle she was holding at Severus, only to have it intercepted by the third rider, who swooped in at the last second and took off, laughing at the shocked look on his brother's face.
"Atticus! I'm going to get you!" shouted Severus in mock fury as he chased after the other boy. Adara joined, and they were soon engaged in a friendly battle for possession of the ball. Harry noticed, with a casual eye, that none of the Snape children were excellent flyers, and they fumbled the ball more often than not. Despite their lack of flying expertise, it was plain from the broad grins and laughing voices that they loved the game.
Severus finally succeeded in wresting the Quaffle away from his siblings and waved his hand, gasping for breath, signaling a rest. The other two sat back on their brooms and paused to catch their breath.
After a few moments of contented silence, Atticus said,
"Are you going to play Quidditch next year, Severus?"
Severus wiped the sweat from his brow and scowled, staring at the red ball in his hands.
"I don't know…I was thinking of trying out for Chaser, maybe…but…no, I don't think so…" he fell silent, picking at the stitches in the red leather of the Quaffle.
"Oh, come on, Severus!" Atticus said eagerly, "I'll bet you could even be Seeker! You're the best flyer I know!"
The elder boy snorted, then pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. "Oh, am I indeed? Of the scores of people you know, I'm the best? You've barely been off the manor grounds, Atty, you don't know anything." He finished bitterly.
"Severus!" admonished Adara, shooting a glare his way, "Don't be mean. Atticus was just being nice, there's no need to be like that!"
Severus' scowl only deepened. "Well, it's true! I'm not a very good flyer, at least not good enough to make the team." He paused, and glanced at his brother, who had lost all of his earlier smile, "Sorry Atty…It would be great if I did make the team, you know, but…well, second year is still really early to make a house team…hardly anybody gets picked before third or fourth." He finished in a rush, then flashed a quick grin at his siblings.
"I suppose anything is possible though, right? Who knows…maybe next year we'll all make the team! Atty, you could be the youngest player in Hogwarts history! We could be the "Unstoppable Snape Line" and stomp those mincing Gryffindors into the dirt!"
Atticus' face lit up and he whooped enthusiastically, then took off to do some unsteady loops around a stand of nearby trees.
Severus watched him for a moment, his smile fading.
"You know, he's still going to think you're the greatest think on two legs even if you never make the team, right Severus?" Adara spoke softly, keeping her eye on her youngest brother, wincing every time he turned too late and smacked his face on a branch…which was often.
"Yeah…" said Severus, shifting his gaze again to the Quaffle, "I know…It's just that, here, it's fine to pretend that we can actually play…to pretend that we aren't complete rubbish, but when he goes to Hogwarts in September…"he sighed, then looked up at his sister.
"If he shows up there and starts going on with all this nonsense about me being as good as Hamish MacFarlan, and how someday I'm going to be recruited to play for the Magpies…"Severus coloured and savagely gripped the ball as if it were something he could choke the life out of.
"I know, Sev…" Adara said, but was cut off.
"No, you don't know!" Severus snapped, "All I need is for James bloody Potter or…" His mouth twisted in distaste, "Sirius Black to hear something like that! They'd have a jolly good time with the idea that Snivellus's little brother thinks he's a quidditch star. I'm sure nothing would give them more pleasure than to disillusion him."
Adara moved a little closer on her broom, "You know, you could always go to professor Dumbledore…I'm sure he'd do something to make them stop…" she cut herself off at a scathing glare from her brother, "…or, I could maybe…" she stopped, then looked over to where Atticus had last been flying. "Oh, blast! He's gotten himself tangled again. Come on, we've got to go help him…I think there's a squirrel after him."
As Adara moved toward the trees, Severus muttered, perhaps to himself, "Everyone says James is going to make seeker this year…they had him out practicing with them on the pitch all last year…" He shook himself slightly, then steered his broom after his sister.
As the scene once again faded, Harry saw the youth let the Quaffle drop, and watched it fall to the ground.
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Harry wished he had some time to consider what he'd seen, but before he could formulate any thoughts he found himself in yet another memory.
"…so then, Professor Crowley asked if there was anyone who could think of any reasons why they shouldn't pass the law to restrict potions ingredients," Severus was talking animatedly, wildly gesticulating with his utensils, too into his discussion to eat.
Harry saw, to his disgust, that he was seated at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Adara was to his right, and sitting directly opposite was Severus. This time he looked lankier; he was clearly in an awkward phase of adolescence, with the look of someone who'd recently had a growth spurt. Adara was eating calmly and smiling slightly at her brother as he rambled, as if bemused.
"Of course, Potter made some sort of stupid comment about how some of the restricted ingredients were "crucial to the manufacture of various 'recreational substances'" that it would be inhuman to deprive the wizarding world of. All of the dunderheads in class laughed, of course. Professor Crowley took a point of, thank Merlin! You'd think OWLS weren't coming up, they way they all act."
Severus paused to spear a potato, then continued,
"Then I said that the reason they shouldn't restrict potions ingredients is that it seriously hampers potions research. How can researchers follow all available leads if they don't have access to some of the most crucial and fundamental ingredients? Did you know that they're moving to restrict Dragon's Blood? Dragon's Blood, for Merlin's sake! I mean, aside from the twelve main uses, you have to take into consideration its effects when used in dilutions of other substances. Take Nightshade, for example…"
Harry tuned out Severus' words and glanced around him. He saw nobody he recognized as his eyes swept the other tables. He wasn't sure who he was looking for until he heard a voice behind him, and he whipped around, as did the seventeen year-old Adara. Severus suddenly stopped talking.
"Honestly, Snivellus," said a dark-haired figure flanked by three other boys, "people are eating. Do you think they really want to hear your oily voice? I mean, it's bad enough they have to sit near enough to see you." Sirius shuddered dramatically.
James casually leaned his elbow on Sirius' shoulder, arms crossed.
"Oh, I don't know, Pads, having a walking grease ball around might come in handy on occasion. Imagine…it's supper, the table's busy, you can't catch hold of the butter dish…All you need do is rub Sniv's head in your peas, and voila!"
"Genius idea, James! And it wouldn't stop there! Think of the applications! You could keep him round the house, for whenever you need to grease a hinge or something. Come on, Snivellus, be a sport…why don't you go bash your head into some doors. We'd be happy to help!" Sirius grinned and looked behind him, where an audience was gathering. His most enthusiastic supporter was a short, somewhat lumpy boy with dirty blonde hair who was howling with laughter as if the two boys had just told the most hilarious joke he'd ever heard.
Encouraged by Peter's laughter, and always ready to please a crowd, James and Sirius again rounded on Severus, who sat scowling at his plate. Before they could resume their taunting, however, Adara stood up gracefully and turned to face the boys.
"Hello, boys," she said, with sweetness so false it made Harry shudder. "Can we help with you with something?" Harry notices suddenly that she wore a Head Girl's badge.
Not intimidated in the least, Sirius' grin became even wider. "Well, now that you mention it, Adara, I have been having trouble sleeping lately. Remus thinks it might be due to too much pent-up energy, don't you Remy?" Behind him, Remus blushed and shuffled his feet. Harry noticed that his laughing at James and Sirius' jokes had seemed forced.
Sirius ran his hand through his hair and grinned wolfishly, "If you wanted to, you know, help me burn off some of that energy…the astronomy tower's usually empty just before my bedtime…"
Peter was again howling with mirth at Sirius' 'cleverness', and James was grinning like a mad idiot, along with most of the boys watching the scene.
Adara just smiled, and took a step toward the boys, motioning for Severus, who had risen angrily from his seat, wand drawn, to stay where he was.
"You're right, Sirius," she said, voice soft and low, "in fact, why not tonight? I think we'd have time in between the third and fourth year astronomy lessons, don't you think? I believe there's a one and a half minute window between classes. That'd be about long enough for you, don't you think?" She smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the suddenly red-faced Sirius, amidst howls and delighted "ooooooh!"s from the assembled students.
Remus stepped up to his fuming friends and tugged them toward the exit. "Come on mates…let's go."
Sirius shrugged off his hand and snarled at Adara, then shot Severus a death glare before slouching off. James headed after his friend, but not before a parting shot at Severus.
"See you later, Snivellus," he sneered, with an expression of such hatred that it scared Harry, "we'll talk about that hinge problem again later…when your sister's not around."
"Oh, James?" said Adara, grinning innocently, "I almost forgot…At the last prefects' meeting, Lily Evans mentioned that some of her knickers were missing…she asked that you don't bother returning them once you're done wanking with them."
James flushed even redder than Sirius, and the two boys stormed out, followed by a confused Peter, and quietly amused Remus.
Harry stared at his aunt in awe as she re-took her seat on the bench. Where had that come from? Harry wasn't the only one; Severus was looking at his sister as if he expected to see the glow of a halo around her head.
"You know they'll just have it in for me even worse now, you know…" he said in a slightly bemused tone.
"Sigh, I know, Sev, I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. They are so arrogant—and when Black said that…how could I not run with that? Do you forgive me?" Her face adopted such a pitiful expression that Severus actually laughed.
"Oh, goody!" said Adara, picking up her fork and starting again on her salad, "Now…what were you saying before? Something about potions research…"
Severus shook his head at his sister in amusement before continuing on his topic.
"Yes…well, basically I concluded by saying that without complete freedom of experimentation, we'd all be reduced to a bunch of hopped-up Muggles with chemistry sets, and Professor Crowly said that…"
The scene shifted, and Harry was pulled away from the table.
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Harry was expecting another memory, and was unprepared to find himself once again sitting in the Leaky Cauldron. He blinked a few times, and it took him a few moments to realize that he was in the present, and that the vision of Adara sitting across from him was aware of his presence. Adara smiled at her disoriented nephew and gave him a little wave.
"Welcome back," she said. She pointed at the table in front of him. "Breakfast."
Harry looked down at the plate of Belgian waffles in front of him. He had been famished when he'd ordered, but now found he had no appetite. He picked up his fork and poked a bit at a strawberry, then looked up through his fringe at his aunt who was eating her omelet while keeping an eye on him.
"What…" he began, then fell silent. Adara did not answer, just let him quietly formulate his thoughts.
"That last one…" he continued finally, making tracks in his whipped cream with his fork, "was that…was that normal? Did that happen often, I mean?"
Adara took a sip of her tea, and regarded Harry over the rim of the cup. "I assume you're referring to that unpleasant little scene in the Great Hall?" at Harry's nod, still directed at his waffles, she continued. "Unfortunately, yes. Severus never really…got on with those boys. Even before Hogwarts, Sirius seemed to have some sort of irrational hatred of Severus. He always got a sort of perverse joy out of tormenting him. James, I don't know…"
Harry looked up then, and there must have been something desperate in his expression, because Adara heaved a deep sigh before continuing,
"I don't know about James…I think he may just have been following Sirius' lead. From what I could see, there was nothing one of them did that the other didn't. They were so alike…I suppose it was only natural for James to adopt Sirius' hatred as his own."
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "It's just…hard…to think of my dad…I mean James like that. I mean, after what happened a couple of weeks ago, I've sort of accepted that Sirius was, well, a bastard, but I hadn't thought about James being like that too…" He trailed off, and absently began chewing his lip. "I mean, I know that he's not my dad anymore…that he never really was my dad, and I never really knew him, but still…"
Adara reached across the table and touched his hand, concern on her face. "I know it's hard, and nobody expects you to accept all of this right away…I'm sorry I showed you that, but you had to know exactly why your connection to James had such an effect on Severus all those years. Yes, it was irrational, and yes, it was misplaced, but it was not entirely without basis. Even after Hogwarts, if they encountered one another in public…you could nearly taste the hostility in the air! Once, more than a year after they graduated, I heard James call Severus Snivellus. My brother wasn't the only one incapable of letting go schoolboy rivalries, Harry."
Harry remembered back to the meeting in Dumbledore's office. "Sirius called him that name after the battle. He called him some names back, though…was it always like that? Them tormenting him? I mean, were they always the ones at fault?"
Adara smiled wryly, "Well, not exactly. I'd like to say that my little brother was a completely innocent victim in all of this, but unfortunately that's not the case. He got pretty good at getting them in trouble, or playing pranks on them. Especially after he got better at potions." She paused for a moment, frowning,
"You have to remember, though, that they had the advantage of numbers, where Severus was for the most part alone."
"What," said Harry, smirking slightly, "didn't he have any friends?"
Adara sighed, "Severus has never been the most personable person, Harry, even when he was a boy. He wasn't necessarily unfriendly, he just liked his privacy, and he never had much patience for things he considered immature or a waste of time. This, combined with the fact that two of the most popular boys in his year and their little gang of lackeys hated him, discouraged too many students from trying very hard to gain his friendship. You'd be surprised how many kids will go along with a bully to avoid trouble."
"Yeah," said Harry, thinking bitterly of Dudley and his gang, and how they'd prevented Harry from ever making any friends in school. "Kids can be stupid that way."
They ate in silence for a while, then Adara asked, "Do you have any more questions?"
Harry thought for a moment. Of course he had questions! He had a thousand questions, all buzzing around in his head, each one burning to be asked. The trouble was deciding which ones to ask. Harry decided to start with an easy one.
"Did any of you ever make the Quidditch team?"
Adara laughed, throwing her head back and tossing her hair. She looked at Harry, her black eyes sparkling.
"You were there, Harry! You saw us fly, what do you think?"
Harry grinned, blushing a little. "I didn't think so…No offense, but you lot…well, I don't think I'd even wish you on the Slytherin Quidditch team! Nobody deserves even one player that bad, let alone three!"
Adara feigned shock, clapping a hand to her breast as if scandalized, doing a fair impression of Calliste. "Well, never in my life have I ever been so insulted!" She laughed again, its infectious noise drawing a chuckle form Harry. "And by the way, it would've been only two players on the team, not three. Atticus was in Ravenclaw. Once he got to Hogwarts, it became pretty clear that he was more of a studious type."
Harry grinned, "Well, sports definitely weren't his "thing"." He smiled to himself, then continued, "I could tell you all really liked playing, though…Did you keep on with it? Even though you weren't on a real team?"
"Oh, yes!" answered Adara, "we always used to play over holiday…in fact," she whispered, leaning in conspiratorially, "We never really stopped. You should see if you can get your father on a broom. He's still not Magpies caliber, but 40 feet above the ground is about the only place I ever see Severus really smile any more."
Harry shrugged, doubtful that he would be spending any "quality time" with his father on a broomstick anytime soon. He took a bite of his waffle, then tilted his head to the side and looked at his aunt with suspicion.
"Why did you put that first one in? Don't you think that was a little…personal?" Harry wondered exactly how much Adara knew of what had gone on in the manor the other day, and whether she was trying to justify his father's actions.
Adara quirked a little smile, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.
"It was a little personal, yes…and I imagine you've already got an idea of why I included that particular memory. I don't know what exactly happened when you got home after dinner last night, Harry…or what's happened any other time since you arrived, but I can guess…I don't know how it is in the Muggle world, Harry, but in our world, at least in more traditional families, people don't see anything wrong with using corporal punishment on their children. For the most part, anyway," she added, twisting her mouth.
"I'm not saying that I approve of these methods myself, but I just wanted to attempt to explain why your father may or may not…?" she raised her eyebrows at Harry, who blushed and squirmed in his seat, "…have used such methods on you. He didn't do it out of some sadistic streak he has, or a particular desire to cause you pain. It's the way he was raised. It's the way we were all raised. All right?"
Harry nodded his understanding.
Adara smiled, "Anything else?" she asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Harry was still curious about what he'd seen, but decided that he'd had just about all the serious conversation he could handle for the moment, and besides, his waffles were getting cold. He shook his head "no", and tucked into his meal. A few bites in, however, he paused and looked slyly at his aunt.
"How could you wash out Myles' mouth with soap, after what I heard you say to James and Sirius in that last memory? Wanking?"
Adara grinned in response, and sent her smirking nephew a sly wink. "That stays between you and I, agreed?"
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As the day drew to a close, Harry was more content than he'd been in weeks. The rest of the day had been spent in a peaceful meandering from store to store in Diagon Alley. They had no specific itinerary, so they simply allowed themselves to be drawn into whichever shops or displays caught their eye or interest. They spent a relaxing hour browsing through the stacks of Flourish and Blott's, and stopped twice in Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The first was as a simple treat, and the second was to "refuel" Harry after he'd been forced into "Chadwick's Charming Chambers", a home decorating store which turned out to be an ulterior motive for Adara's choice of locale.
"I know my brother," she'd said, as she dragged Harry into the store. "I'm sure that whichever room he's stuck you in is about as warm and inviting as a pit full of disgruntled Hinky-Punks. We," she said, rubbing her hands together, eyes glinting, "are going to remedy that."
For all his reluctance, Harry couldn't help but be swept up in her enthusiasm. This was his room they were talking about, after all. If he had the chance to make it just how he wanted, who was he to argue? Nearly three hours of endless debating about fabrics, paints, and things Harry didn't even know were necessary in a bedroom, Harry staggered out of the store behind his aunt in a daze, with a very happy Chadwick waving goodbye, promising to have their purchases sent to the manor straight away.
The rest of they day held no more surprises for Harry, except for one that came as a great shock to Harry, and amused Adara to no end.
While flipping through a stand of Wizarding Newspapers and magazines, Harry's eye fell casually on a copy of Teen Witch Weekly. He wouldn't have given it a second glance, had it not been for the headline, which flashed in pink and purple letters, "The Boy Who Lived's Family Drama: How Will He Cope, and Who's Shoulder Will He Cry On? Could It Be YOURS?"
"What in bloody hell is this?" gasped Harry, his voice strangely high-pitched. Adara craned her neck to see what he was reading, and burst out laughing. The witch minding the stall gave them a stern look and returned to her knitting, watching them suspiciously over her needles.
Ignoring his aunt's laughter, Harry frantically flipped through the pages to the article about him.
"Harry WHO?"
Teen Witch Weekly was shocked to learn, through confidential yet strongly reliable sources within the Ministry of Magic, that teen heart-breaker Harry Potter was no more. No, no harm has befallen our beloved boy wonder (in fact, eye-witness accounts report that he has yet again escaped a situation which placed him in mortal peril!)It seems that Harry Potter is indeed Heroditus Severus Snape, son of infamous Hogwarts potions Professor Severus Snape. While the details of how this came to be are not yet clear, rumours are flying, with theories suggesting everything from a secret love-affair to dark magic. Harry himself has yet to comment on these recent revelations, but Teen Witch Weekly has taken the issue to the street, to find out what you think. Here are some testimonials from young Harry fans:
Melanie Widdershins, age 13
"I don't think that this is true! It can't be! Harry does NOT look like Professor Snape! Not at ALL! I can't believe this!"
Arista Medias, age 16
"I don't care WHO his father is! He could be the son of the giant squid, for all I care! He's still HOT! I'd give him my shoulder anytime! I'd give him my entire body, for that matter!"
Hermione Granger, 14
"What are you talking about? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Where on earth are you getting your information? If this were true, Harry would have mentioned something to me! Haven't you people ever heard of fact checking your sources? There is such a thing as journalistic integrity, you know!"
Harry looked up from the paper, his breath coming in short little gasps. What the hell was this about? Heart-breaker? Beloved Boy-Wonder? This was the most ludicrous thing he'd ever read! And how on earth had the press found out so fast? He was puzzled and pleased for a moment as he considered the fact that a sixteen year-old was willing to offer him her entire body before the last "testimonial" sunk in.
"Oh, bloody hell!" he shrieked, startling his aunt.
"Harry," she admonished, frowning slightly, "I may not be as stern as your father, but I really don't approve of that sort of language…"
"Sorry," stammered Harry, "but…oh, Merlin, no! This is so bad! I let my friends find out about this from the papers? This is not good! How could they know about this so fast? It only happened yesterday morning!" He looked at Adara, and was slightly annoyed to find her so amused.
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry, but this was to be expected! You're always in those magazines about something or other! Philomena's bedroom is plastered with photos of you that she's torn from them."
"Excuse me?" asked Harry, eyes wide, "Photographs? What on earth? I've never posed for any photographs, aside from the ones for the Tri-Wizard Tournament! When do these photos get taken?"
"Oh, any time you're out in public, I suppose," answered Adara, unconcerned, "There are always photographers about, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous, or something for the society pages…" she looked around, "I wouldn't be surprised if one had caught a picture or two of us today."
Harry spun around, eyes raking through the crowds, trying to find someone that looked like the might be a lurking photographer. "This is so weird," he muttered. "And this had been going on how long? Why didn't I know about this?"
"Well," said Adara, "you've been in the media all your life, really, but much more often after you started Hogwarts, and entered the Wizarding world. And as for why you didn't know…well, I suppose it's just because you aren't really very immersed in Wizarding culture." She shrugged, as if that explained everything and made it okay.
Harry, however, felt suddenly ill. "Aunt Adara? I think we should maybe go now…"
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Severus greeted his sister and son as they stepped through the floo connection from the Leaky Cauldron. He watched as the glassy-eyed boy mechanically thanked Adara and bade them both good evening, then excused himself to his room without being requested to do so. Severus stared after him for a moment, then raised a questioning eyebrow at his grinning sister, who said nothing, but handed him a magazine.
Frowning at her suspiciously, Severus glanced in distaste at the magazine in his hand. "Teen Witch Weekly? What on earth…" His eyes fell on the headline, and he fell silent. "Ah. I see. The boy has seen this, then? That's just what he needs—something else to swell his head even further…"
"Severus!" interrupted Adara, crossing her arms, "Stop that! I know what you always say, but…Severus, he had no idea! When he saw that magazine he was completely dumbfounded! He had no clue that he's been in the media so much…he thought that all that attention last year was due only to the Tournament!"
Severus scowled, "That is preposterous! How on earth could he not know? He'd have to be completely blind…"
"Think of it, Severus! He spent the first eleven years of his life not even knowing that the Wizarding World existed, and since then his time has been spent almost exclusively with his Muggle relatives or at Hogwarts. Unless one of the other children specifically showed him one of these magazines, where would he get one? He was completely shocked, and I think a little frightened, at the idea that he's been photographed without his knowledge. He's not the boy you thought he was, Severus."
As Adara bade her brother farewell and returned home, she smiled softly to herself and hummed absently. 'Not bad for the first day,' she thought. And Harry had said she didn't strike him as a Slytherin! Well, it took a true Slytherin to manipulate Severus Snape, and Adara had definitely planted a doubt in her brother's mind, and perhaps shifted his image of his son, if only slightly.
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Okay…so this chapter ended up waaaaaaaaay longer than I originally intended, but it just refused to end! I would love to end this chapter with a promise to update again in a few days…but we all know what happens when I do that! So, I'm not going to make any promises I can't keep, but I WILL promise that I will FOR SURE update waaaaaaay earlier than I did this time. Even I agree that 3 months is a ridiculously long time. Forgive me! I'll try to get back on my schedule of a chapter every 1-2 weeks.
To all of my wonderful reviewers: Thank-you! You guys blow me away! Your wonderful comments just light me up inside when I read them, and I appreciate them so much! Thanks also to all of the people who wrote, encouraging me to continue. Those meant so much, you can't even imagine! I can't thank you all individually, so this goes out to all of you.
Let me know what you thought of the chapter…the good, the bad, the annoying…let me have it!