See disclaimer at the first chapter
A/N: ok, so, I'm sooooo Sooooorrryyy for the delay, between my mom coming to visit, final exams and then graduation it was all a mess, then I left for a vacation in NY (so cool) and just when I thought hey I can finish this by the end of the week, I even sent an email to some reviewers and bam! I get a job for a week that had me working from 8 am to 2 am sometimes. That was this week.
To top it off, this was such a hard chapter to write; it didn't want to be written! I had half the chapter done over a month ago and then nothing, nada. I knew what I wanted to write and how to write it but it just refused to be written. Now it's done, I hope you all enjoy it and I do have some reviews to answer but maybe when I post the beta'd version because this is just the first draft. But since I don't want to be maimed by angry readers for taking so long, here it is…
THIS IS THE BETA'D VERSION thanks to Erieverde for that
Last chapter on Life Out of Balance:
"Don't you see, Ron - Malfoy is a leader in Slytherin. If he comes to our side or even if he declares himself neutral, others will follow, and we will have at least the possibility of a new spy. In the end, it would mean fewer people joining Voldemort and fewer familiar faces we'll have to fight, and possibly kill, on the battlefield."
Ron had nothing to say to that. After a while they walked in silence to the dorm and fell asleep during the last few hours before sunrise.
Chapter 12: "Daddy kissed Harry…"
The next day Harry wrote to Mrs. Weasley asking for advice on the Evan situation. Two days later he received an answer while eating breakfast in the Great Hall.
Harry dear,
How nice of you to write. It's very good of you to remember this old woman in your hour of need. It is certain my own children won't even write just to say hello, but that's neither here nor there. Now, on to your little dilemma, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the two young Snapes in question, therefore I cannot say what is or is not normal. You must also understand that each child is his or her own universe they each have little personalities. I should know: from Bill to Ginny one could not be more different from the next. Even the twins, as alike as they would like you to think they are, certainly are not; they have subtle, but different things that mark them apart. Let me tell you a secret, Harry. It is an old game of theirs to try to confuse me by dressing alike and telling me one is the other but between the two of us, I could tell which one is which with my eyes blindfolded. But I digress once again. As I said, I would have to meet the young boy in question to assess the problem; therefore, I would like you, Professor Snape and the children to spend Yule holidays with the Weasley Family at HQ's. I will not take no for an answer.
Also, my dear, eat up-- you're as thin as a stick,
Love
Molly Weasley.
Harry groaned. He loved Mrs. Weasley to pieces but now he would have to tell Snape of this and if he knew his professor at all, he would not be happy about this. Harry groaned and let his head fall on top of the table. When Hermione and Ron asked what was wrong, he showed them the letter and after a moment, he felt a pat on his back.
"I feel for you, mate, I feel for you. Ow! Hermione, I'm just trying to be supportive here!"
Hermione gave him a You're not exactly helping look and turned to Harry.
"Look at it this way, Harry, now you get to spend the holidays with all the people you care about, Remus is going to be there, Tonks, and even Hermione is going to spend New Years with us."
Harry let out another groan and received another pat for it.
"Have you heard the latest?"
"No, what?"
"Harry Potter dumped Anthony Goldstein for Ron Weasley; they were seen outside the Gryffindor Common Room late last night. I wonder what Hermione Granger has to say about that…"
Rumors are very nasty little plagues that spread poison in the minds of people, and in a boarding school full of children with nothing better to do, rumors can be very, very damaging.
Just look at Harry Potter: at any given time there could be anywhere from five to seven to a million rumors going on about him, on everything from his temperament to who he was dating. This had been a common occurrence since he had first stepped foot in Hogwarts. The rumors had ranged in topic from the accusation of being conceited in his first year to the heir of Slytherin in second to an attention seeking cheater in fourth and (his friends often felt) the best one, a homicidal maniac in fifth. These rumors had all floated around as well as many, many, many others regarding, most of all, his love life, which his friends knew was completely null.
Still, Anthony Goldstein has always believed every single rumor and lie passed around school about Harry Potter and his feeling towards The Boy Who Lived were as changing as the tides of the sea. The latest rumor was that he, Anthony, was completely in love with Harry and as this was true, Anthony was convinced that the rest of the latest rumor also had to be true, that evil Ron Weasley had used his closeness to Anthony's Harry to tear them apart and now had seduced the helpless Hero. Well, he, Anthony, wasn't going to stand for it, and that is how, at the beginning of History of Magic, Anthony Goldstein stopped Ron Weasley with the intention of confronting him. What was said in that meeting is unknown to outsiders (though Hermione coaxed them out of Ron later) but words were exchanged and they were not pretty. All this took place without the presence of Harry or Hermione, who had both been late to class because of an accident with some first years that's neither here nor there.
At the end of the afore-mentioned History of Magic class, as they were all heading out, Harry was surprised to see Anthony practically shoving Ron with his shoulder without saying sorry.
"What was that all about," Harry asked.
Ron kept on walking and kind of sulked a little while mumbling, "Nothing…"
Ok, now I know there's something going on here!
"Ron, what is the thing I hate most in the world?"
"Hm… when people call you the Boy Who Lived?"
At this, there was an impatient tap of feet and crossing of arms here as well as the snickering of a bushy haired girl.
"Well, I do hate that but I hate something else way more."
The response was a little voice and big toe scuffing on the floor.
"You hate when people keep things from you?" Ron said in the little voice, with a sheepish look.
"Right. So tell me!"
"Ah, Harry, you're not going to like this but there's this rumor that you and I are, you know, more than friends, so Anthony kind of believed it and walked up to me before you guys came to class and we kind of fought but not really and well, I might have said that you had made the right choice by dumping him because he was an arse so he kind of got offended and in the end I think that might have confirmed the rumor instead of proving that it's a lie although I did say it was a lie…"
"Ron, shut up." Harry finally snapped making Ron flinch.
"Ok, Harry."
"I'm sorry, mate, I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"No, I'm sorry, I should have told you right away. I just know how you hate the talking and stuff, and there I go babbling again…"
Hermione couldn't keep still anymore--indeed, she had only done so thus far because the issue had been something the boys needed to resolve by themselves and for the first time she felt no need to interfere (ah the her kids were growing up) --so she grabbed them both into a big hug, taking them by surprise and making all three fall onto the ground.
"Oomph!"
"Hermione!"
"I love you both so much! I can't believe how much you've grown! Harry, let me help you with those glasses…"
"Great, Hermione! Now instead of rumors of a romance between Harry and me there will be rumors of a threesome!"
They burst into laughter while they righted themselves and then started walking towards their next class, still giggling and in a general good mood. Just before they entered the classroom behind Hermione, Ron turned to Harry and said,
"Barmy, that one."
By the end of the week, rumors had been forgotten, classes were grueling and free time was scarce. Harry hadn't had time to talk to Snape about the whole Christmas with the Weasleys deal, but he felt pretty confident about what Snape's reaction would be – first denial, then anger and then acceptance - the four stages of Severus Snape. That is, the first three stages; acceptance would come reluctantly and only because it would be in the best interests of Evan. Snape would mope and be grouchy the entire time there, but in the end he would have a pretty ok time, not that he would admit it, ever.
It was Friday night and Harry had not seen the Snapes in the last three days, as Julian had had a bit of the flu and Snape hadn't wanted Harry to go down there and get sick and then get everyone in the Tower sick. The Potions Master and his children had been quarantined for an unlimited time but today Severus was needed for a top-secret meeting at the Order's Headquarters, so the Headmaster had asked Harry to look after Julian and Evan.
When he arrived at the Snapes' chambers, Harry was surprised to find it in the state of utter disaster it was in when the teen arrived. Clothes were thrown all over the floor (obviously from Julian having a tantrum about what to wear--or in his case what not to wear--and by the look of the ill-fitting lime green robe he was wearing, he had won), Severus' clothes were rumpled and decorated with stains of spit and snot obviously belonging to the sick child on the couch. Severus was trying to feed a hyperactive Julian, but in true toddler fashion Julian wasn't having any of it, opting instead to jump around the room using his green robe as a cape and yelling something about being Smelly Frog, the superhero of the Wizarding world…though it might have been something else, Harry wasn't really sure.
Evan, a usually manageable kid, was cranky and acting like a bit of an ogre. There was no denying who his father was, when it came to drinking his flu potion. At least his sickness had brought something good; a sign that Evan hadn't withdrawn into his shell completely since his mother died.
Still, what was worst to see was Snape's face, he was truly sick and it showed. His large nose looked even larger than usual and was also bright red and he was sniffling (Me? Sniffle? You must be out of your mind, Potter, though I always knew you would lose it at some point or another, he would state later). It was all so undignified; his cheeks were pink (a traitorous thought came into Harry's brain, It takes illness for his shallow face to take some color. It looks nice, but better not say that, though), most likely from high fever. He had a nasty cough and his normally sexy voice (at least that's what the seventh year girls had been discussing in the library the other day before Madam Pince threw them out) was not up to its usual scalding tone.
All in all his feared Potions professor, the greasy git and absolute terror of Hogwarts, didn't look that intimidating and Harry nearly felt like mothering him. He wanted to make Snape lie down and drink some flu potions and maybe some chicken soup like Harry had seen his aunt Petunia do for Dudley whenever he was sick. It was a good thing, Harry realized, that he never got sick because he didn't think Aunt Petunia would do any of that for him.
All these thoughts spurred Harry into action, and he went into child-minder and what goes where mode. He took out a new robe for Snape, picked up and changed Julian with only a minor amount of fuss and then fed him, covered up Evan and got him a new book with larger letters to make it easy on the child's puffy eyes.
Harry was like a soothing balm to the Snape family nerves; the room seemed to get calmer by the second and then it was time for Severus to leave, to do some job for the Order, though Harry wondered what the hell he could possibly do in that state. Nonetheless, he lined the children by the door so that they could say goodbye to their father. Evan first, standing beside Harry bundled in quilts and resting his head on Harry's hip, and Julian was in Harry's arms, giggling while the teen tickled him.
Severus was obviously distracted when he knelt and gave Evan a kiss on his snotty nose, making him giggle quietly, then patted on Julian's head and gave him a peck and finally turned to Harry and gave him a kiss on his scar…
Time froze for Harry; he was wide eyed when Severus stepped back. The professor hadn't realized yet what he had done, until he saw the look on Harry's face, and to add insult to injury, Albus Dumbledore decided to step into Severus' quarters at that exact instant, eyes twinkling like crazy.
The moment was broken when the child in Harry's arms spotted the headmaster and with a squeal started chanting,
"Uncle Ambus, Uncle Ambus, Daddy kissed Harry, Daddy kissed Harry…"
AN: thanks for all the reviews
relative1983, Teen Prodigy of Ravenclaw, purplepaper, skinnyrita, adge9631, Tinkering, zafaran: to tell you the truth I have no idea who Lois McMaster Bujold is. I did goggle it and found that it's an author but didn't know to what exactly you were referring to, send me an email, let's talk about it. Waj: thanks for the data and the review. Constance Truggle: glad you did like it, I'm surprised people like it. BabeGia103, Kylie: there's your update sweetie, don't cry, I promise to try to update sooner. The Wyrd Sister, Shattered Diamond USA-Jeanette, juliedecarson: Ahh I really like detailed reviews, they are my favorites, Shadowed Rains: don't worry, that was the point, to get the most obnoxious song I could find, it seems to me it worked. Jutta: sorry about that, but you read the unbetaed chapter, the mistake has been fixed. Kuramalovergirl Nikki: Harry/Ron? (shudders) nope no Harry/Ron, Harry/Snape all the way, Amanda Saitou: I'm so glad someone understand my need to involve Draco in the story, SutekhSnape: it is a hard balance to have but I try. willowtree16, Crys Skywalker, lady sakura cosmos, insanechildfanfic, kirrdis, Beth5572, Barbarataku: aww you made me blushhhhh, jewel29, Anarane Anwamane, Hyouden, Azura-Fei-Long, Legobaustein, CrimsonTearsOfPain, Pure Black: I don't know about Lucius, we don't want all the bad guys to go good do we? Strega: it's not teenage angst it's more like he's withdrawing since the death of his mother, he's not sulking just sad and full of fear. Remember his mother died in front of him, and now he's living in a strange environment with a father he barely knows. Raclswt, Cressida ALiora, Mara: thanks but had you read the AN you World hae seen that this was just the unbetaed version and now the beta'd version is up. ShAdOwAdRiA, missfictionlover, Dragon Smile, Obi-wan's lover, athenakitty, Yana5