Letterorum Incedet

By Angelis Sensei

Chapter 3:

FInding out the Truth...

After confronting the other Gryffindors, Harry stalked down to the library. He was becoming more studious and, amazingly, he liked it.

There was something about sitting down in a comfortable chair and relaxing with a good book to read. Especially a potions book... those were getting to be his favourites. Harry was beginning to suspect that these changes in his mind were also to be contributed to what his Mother's letter was discussing.

Professor Snape did mention something about getting a copy from her as well. What did he say?

He flushed uncomfortably, shifting slightly in his chair a bit as he thought back to what had happened when he was in the Potions classroom talking to the professor. Had it already gotten around the school? What had the potions master meant by that?

Did his teacher like him in a way that was forbidden by every law out there? Or was it that it was because he was Lily's son? It was apparent that Professor Snape might have liked Lily Evans, since he got his own version of the letter he had received from the very woman. That had to be it… or was it more complicated than that?

Harry scowled, heading down to the dungeons after checking out the potions book that he had picked out. Soon enough, he was at the door to the classroom that he had just come out of earlier, but this time he was prepared for whatever the other might tell him, or so he thought.

As a rush of heat shot through his body, he knocked on the door, gritting his teeth, hissing at the pain the heat raked up in its path. When the wooden door was opened to reveal a somewhat surprised potions master, he looked slightly up into the other's deep, black eyes.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, professor, but I wanted to ask you about the letter?" Harry managed, the pain still flowing through his form.

"Ah… Go ahead and come in then. We'll go to my office to discuss this. Follow me," the teacher swept across his classroom into his office that Harry was all too familiar with since last year's Occlumency lessons.

?Harry wondered why he had made it so horrible for Snape to pry into some of his memories during those sessions, due to a weak mind shield and then he had the gall to not even practice it, even after numerous times Professor Snape had told him to. What an idiot he had been last year!

"Harry.. I…" he stopped, eyeing the shorter boy a little. The obsidian eyed man decided to approach this a bit differently. "I see that you're beginning to look quite a bit different than you were last year. You look even more different than you did earlier in my class, now…" He trailed off, letting Harry catch on.

It didn't take too long for the younger man to do so. "Ah, yes," Harry looked directly into Severus' eyes, a slight blush flutter across his now pale cheeks. There was still a slight bit of pain in his eyes, but ignored it in favour of answering. "I have been changing, but I have no idea why. Since I came to school, it seems to have accelerated… and I tend to notice the change happen the most after the days when I have your class, sir." He shifted on his feet. "Hermione says that it might because of the potions' effects."

"That's not the reason," Severus replied, fingering a piece of paper on his desk, not wanting to meet eye-to-eye with his student yet. "The reason is because you're around me." He sighed, then continued, "The changes you're going through are because of me as well. To put it bluntly, you've had blood magic placed upon you. Due to the nature of it, when you turned sixteen the magic began to wear off. It was rooted into your very structure of your body-- your genes." He paused to look up into the boy's eyes.

He was a bit started to see his own eyes stare back at him, albeit these showed more emotion than his. The change the boy was going to be greatly affected by this information, he knew it. And after a couple days, the boy might be totally finished with the transformation. Severus watched the other as he cringed, feeling the heat radiate off of his body.

"Professor… do you know what these heat waves are from? Are they from the blood magic wearing off?" he hissed through his clenched teeth, his jaw in pain, his eyes beginning to water.

"It is. But, there is one thing that I must tell you." He gulped, pushing down all emotion, keeping his face as still as possible. "The letter your mother sent us. It was to explain your change and why you're changing. There was something that she kept from me.

"Lily, your mother, was engaged to me for a short time. When she found out that I was to become a spy for the Order, she thought that it was best for us to separate. I was terribly saddened by Lily's choice, but it was for the best. Even Dumbledore agreed with her here.

"I didn't find out why it was the supposed "best choice" until I got that letter from her." Severus prepared for the worst, gripping the chair he was sitting in. "She sent it to me because, well… I'm your father."

Harry's thoughts froze over, his brain initially rejecting the information. What about him protecting you? He protected you, didn't he? There's no other explanation, is there… It was obvious that he was your father... you were so alike, so stubborn, so hot- tempered, that you couldn't see it.

He relaxed slightly. It was nice to know that he had someone to be there for him. After Sirius had fallen, he had felt that he didn't have anyone left. This proved his own thought wrong, he did have someone left to care of him. He was there this whole time, but the wrapper of his other supposed "father" had gotten in the way, hadn't it?

"It makes sense," Harry uttered, his eyes staring into his father's. "It explains a lot, doesn't it?"

Severus grinned, desperately trying to keep a straight face, but failed, bursting out with deep, silky laughter. He gripped the chair, covering his embracement with a hand, his face slightly red. Harry joined in a short while later, relieved that he wasn't going to be secluded from the other man because of their past.

"You're a smart child, son," Severus admitted, finally calming himself enough to state it. "I'm proud to have you as my son. The boy.. No, young man who defeated the great Dark Lord." He grinned at the teen appraisingly.

"I guess it's a good thing that I defeated him, too. Since it would have been so hard to let anyone else find out that you were my father," Harry swallowed, "Since you were a... a Death Eater."

"Yes, it would have, hadn't it? I guess you only defeated the bastard because of the…" The potions master didn't know weather he could talk about this yet with Harry.

"You can say it. I wasn't around him long enough to really know him that well. I saw him maybe ten times all together? I'm over it. Especially now that I have you to look out for me, right?"

"Correct. But there is something that you need to know as well. Your mother and I always wanted a child. When we were discussing this, we wanted to name that child, if it was a boy, mind you, Lucius Marcus," Severus managed a sly grin. "If you would like, you can adopt that name with the Snape family name as well."

"I.. I would love to! Do you know how hard it is to have the name of Harry Potter? Ugh. I'd be glad to take any name besides that one." The teen's face twisted into a scowl, making him look extraordinarily like his new-found father.

(AN: Lucius can be pronounced two different ways. The Latin way, and the American way. I'm using the Latin, which would be pronounced "Luke"-ius, not to be confused with Lucius. I'll make sure he has a nickname.. Don't worry!)

He was about to open his mouth again to continue, but a knock at the door sounded, then immediately, the person at the door stepped into the room.

"Potter! What are you doing here!" Draco Malfoy spat. "In trouble again?" he then laughed, not noticing his godfather's glare. "…Wait, you're not Potter… not with…" the blond aristocrat looked at Severus then at the other person in the room. "Uncle, who is this? Why does he look so much like you?"

Fuit continuit…

To be Continued…