Harry woke in the middle of the night. Sitting up straight, he wondered briefly what had disturbed his sleep. Until a whimper from the other bed caught his attention.
Severus was tossing and turning, clearly in the throws of a nightmare. Tears ran down his face, and he tried to curl up like Harry had seen Sevvy do on numerous occasions.
Slipping out of bed, Harry sat on the edge of the bed.
"Severus, wake up. It's just a nightmare. Come on, wake up."
He hesitated. Yes, the man reminded him of Sevvy, but he also reminded him of the Potions Master who loathed him.
"Severus isn't the only one who is confused about how he feels," he thought with an inward sigh.
But you are his brother, a voice in the back of his mind said, and you promised him you'd be exactly that, no matter what.
Severus sobbed, interrupting Harry's thoughts.
"It's ok, I'm here," he whispered, taking one of the trembling hands and stroking the dark hair, "you're safe now. No one can hurt you."
The whimpering slowly stopped, the breathing lengthened out a bit, and the dark eyes opened slightly.
"You were gone," the older man said quietly, not really awake, "you and Daddy were gone. You left me."
Harry gently ran his hand over the shaking back. "They took you away from us," he said, "but we came to get you. I'm here, I'm really here."
The hand in his own tightened a bit, the Potions Master was clinging to him as if to reassure himself that it was true, that Harry hadn't lied. Then the eyes closed and Severus slipped into an easy sleep.
"Which is great, Sev, but you are still squashing my hand," Harry muttered, trying to carefully retrieve his hand.
No such luck. The fingers weren't lax enough in sleep to release him.
"He must be so frightened," the teen mused, "it would have been hard enough to cope with the strange memories in the safety of Hogwarts, let alone after being thrown into Azkaban and then on the run again."
He pulled the blankets up a bit higher and tucked the edges around the sleeping man.
"I wish Salvatore was here," he sighed for the tenth time that day alone.
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"Dumbledore will give us trouble," Fudge complained, "and that Potter brat too. They are too influential.Who knew they would care for that Death Eater? I thought the public would love it if I locked him away, but if both Dumbledore and Potter will testify for him at his trial…"
The toadlike woman next to him smiled. "This isn't a setback, Cornelius, it's an advantage! Can you imagine the Daily Prophet headlines? 'Boy Who Lived Going Dark: Harry Potter protects known Death Eaters!' Postpone the trial as long as possible. The longer Potter and the Death Eater are in hiding, the better. People forget quickly. Out of sight, out of mind. Along with some articles in the most important papers – Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly…"
"Witch Weekly?" Fudge frowned.
Umbridge nodded. "It's garbage, true, but you have no idea how many women believe every word in that magazine."
"Like that time you bathed in an extract of Bubotuber puss and Bundimun secretion because that magazine claimed it would remove all wrinkles? Well, it did do that, of course, only it took two weeks for the healers at St. Mungo's to regrow your skin."
Umbridge ignored him.
"I'll contact the Daily Prophet, Cornelius, you just delay that trial for as long as you can."
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"Hi, Harry," Luna Lovegood said as the young man suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Do sit down. I was just finishing up this piece about Lord Voldemort's familiar, Nagini. Did you know he got her from a Wizard in South America, who conducted experiments with mutated Flobberworms? What happened to her, anyway?"
"With Voldemort dead, she is a normal snake now. We had a chat and she agreed to be given to a Zoo, as she wouldn't be able to cope in the wild. Do keep that out of the paper, please, Luna. I don't want people tormenting her. Voldemort had her under the snake-equivalent of the Imperius curse. It wasn't really her fault."
"Would that be the same Zoo that you stole those snakes from last year?"
Harry's eyes opened wide in shock. "How do you know about that?"
Luna just smiled.
"Which reminds me," Harry mused when he had recovered, "I should find a way to pick up Circe from Hogwarts. Seeing her might help Severus."
"I'd be happy to pick her up for you," Luna offered, "I'll be interviewing the Headmaster soon anyway. Umbridge upset Daddy when she told him…"
"UMBRIDGE!" Harry yelled.
"Yes," Luna replied calmly, "She is getting all papers to print ridiculous stories about you. She contacted Daddy too, but he says the Quibbler will never join in a hate campaign against you."
Harry paced the room.
"Fudge! That means the Prophet will soon start writing nonsense about me. What can I do about that, Luna?" he asked helplessly.
"Well, you could buy the paper," Luna said, "but that doesn't guarantee anything. It needs a new editor, one that isn't a lackey of the Ministry."
Harry stroked his chin in thought.
"Anyway, Harry, I thought you came here to be interviewed. So, here goes. How are you doing, what with being a fugitive from the law and all?"
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Later that day, Umbridge entered the office of the Chief Editor of the Daily Prophet, only to see her packing.
"Eve! Where are you going?"
"Home."
"But why?"
The other woman turned around. "I'm retiring. I got an offer to sell the paper. It was such a good deal that I'd have been crazy not to take it."
"But…but…who owns the paper now?" Umbridge stuttered.
"I don't know," Eve replied, "the goblins handled the transaction. I don't think whoever it is will take over my job personally, though."
"Then who…"
"Hello ladies," a cheerful voice came, "May I introduce myself? The name is Lovegood."
Dolores Umbridge stormed out of the building in the foulest mood she'd ever been in.
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Harry Potter Tells All!
True allegiances revealed in the aftermath of battle.
Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, Vanquisher of Voldemort, Savior of the Wizarding World, has not been seen since the interview he gave shortly after his defeat of Voldemort.
In that interview he had some shocking revelations to share; especially his claiming Severus Snape as his brother.
Now, Harry Potter, Hero, Savior, and fugitive, explains why.
"Severus saved my life many, many times, but I never gave him credit for it," the young Vanquisher confesses, his face slightly tainted pink as he remembers his ingratitude.
"Severus spied for the Order of the Phoenix. He never really was a Death Eater, and he was horrified when he realized what taking the Dark Mark meant. Without his efforts, for which he risked his life, the Order of the Phoenix would have been powerless, and thousands of people would have died."
For long years, the animosity between Severus Snape and Harry Potter was almost as famous as his scar. When did that change, and how?
"Well, once I knew what he did for our side, I started to respect him. Not like him, mind you, but I did respect him. He was horrible to me in school, and truth be told, I did nothing to change his image of me as a copy of James Potter either. But then, last summer, Voldemort found out he was a spy. Instead of killing him, he changed him into a six year old boy and sent him back to Hogwarts, hoping we would treat him horribly – remember that Voldemort, who was once Tom Riddle, didn't have much reason to think we would not; his own experiences taught him that much – and that when Voldemort changed him back, he would see how wrong he was to aid our side and become a Death Eater once more. Severus didn't want that. He ran away. That's how I met him. He was just a little boy in a lot of danger that I started to care for; he became my brother. Now that he is an adult again, he will remain my brother. Nothing can change that."
So, for a whole year, Severus Snape lived as a boy at Hogwarts, taking classes, enjoying the company of his father and brother, and even playing Quidditch. Severus was the reason Harry decided to set up Hogwarts's first Little League.
(Editors note: I promised Harry I wouldn't tell anyone that the Little League bested Gryffindor in a Quidditch match. I won't, but I still think it is quite admirable.)
Was there no spell to change him back? Hogwarts holds some of the finest and most skilled witches and wizards after all.
"Yes, we could have changed him back. Sevvy chose not to. He had a very unhappy childhood – a very unhappy life, in fact – and wanted to remain a child. He would have grown up again at a normal rate if the spell hadn't dissipated upon Voldermort's death. Right now, he is trying to integrate the memories. You can imagine it's quite confusing to suddenly have two sets of childhood memories and an adult set missing for one year. It wouldn't have been so bad, if we had been at Hogwarts where our father and trusted friend Brother Salvatore (editor: The Fat Friar, Hufflepuff Ghost) could help him. But instead…well."
Yes, a week after his already legendary defeat of Voldemort, the two heroes of this war, accompanied by five of their most trusted friends, are hiding.
"Cornelius Fudge threw Severus in Azkaban. He plans to execute him. He does not like me or Albus Dumbledore, and he knows that taking Severus means hitting us where it hurts most. I never wanted to be in this war, I didn't want any of this attention, and I never wanted to kill. Fudge things I'm in it all for the honor and glory. It's not like that; war is not like that. He doesn't understand that, he wasn't there…"
Yes, that is very true. The information regarding the place of the final battle was known beforehand. The Order of the Phoenix was ready, but the Minister once again refused to act, just as he ignored Voldemort's return for over a year. Harry Potter saved our lives while the Minister sat idle. Harry Potter has been ridiculed as a liar before when he spoke simple truth. Shouldn't we assume he speaks the truth this time as well?
On page 5: The Lost Year: Ministry in Denial.
On page 9: What DID Umbridge do to our children?
Pages 11-15: Complete Bio's of Harry Potter, Severus Snape and friends, the heroes of this war.
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"I don't care how!" The Minister threw the newspaper on the desk.
"People have been sending me Howlers, I get angry firecalls, I'm sick of it."
He nodded with satisfaction at the eight blackclad, skilled men before him.
"You are the best of the best. Find them, wherever they are, and shut them up. For good."