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A/N: Look! Another update!
Chapter REWRITTEN.
Fathers and Sons
Chapter 5:
No Looking Back
Michael sighed as he once again glanced into the mirror. He did not like these changes, not at all. Not only was his hair by now almost completely golden brown instead of its former ebony shade, his eyes were now clearly a dark green. He doubted they would stop at that. Never mind that his nose had started to grow. He could swear it was now clearly bigger than it had been that morning. His other facial features were changing, too, generally becoming sharper and narrower, but the nose was what disturbed him most.
Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he traced a line across the reflection's face with his finger. The said finger was long and slender. Both Lupin and Snape had long, fine fingers.
Both of his fathers.
His musings were interrupted as he heard a loud crash from downstairs, followed by a scream. Apparently his fathers had arrived.
Leaving his room, he walked slowly down the stairs. The noise was coming from the kitchen he noted, sneaking to the kitchen door. Pushing the door ajar, he peered inside.
"Get out of my house, you freaks!" Vernon yelled, his face red with rage. "The boy is all right, I can assure you. Now LEAVE!"
"Not without our son," Lupin said calmly, not batting an eyelid. He reached out his hand for Snape, and they twined their fingers together. Michael grinned inwardly as he saw this. If there was anything in the world that Vernon hated more than wizards, it was homosexuals. His parents seemed to understand this from the Muggle's suddenly even more anger-flushed face since Snape stepped purposefully nearer to Lupin and rested his free hand on the werewolf's shoulder.
"He's not your son!" said Petunia with a high-pitched voice. "He cannot be both of yours! That's unnatural - impossible!"
"As we're wizards, it is indeed very much possible," said Snape coolly. "Would you like a thorough explanation as of how male pregnancies develop, or will you be satisfied simply with the knowledge that they are indeed possible in our world?"
At this point, Michael decided that it was the time to make his presence known. "I'm here," he said, and stepped inside to the kitchen.
For a moment there was an absolute silence. Everybody stared at him, studying his changed appearance. Their reactions varied -- Vernon seemed both furious and shocked, while Dudley was almost scared. Snape studied him closely like he were filing away the details in his mind, Lupin's expression was a mix of hope and longing, while Petunia seemed almost sad after her initial shock.
It was Lupin who finally broke the silence. "Michael," he said softly, "I --"
Michael, however, interrupted him with a wave of his hand. "We can talk later," he said curtly. "Right now I simply want to get out of here, all right?"
The werewolf nodded, seeming almost relieved as the inevitable talk was postponed. "Let's go to get your things, then."
Shrugging, Michael turned around to show the way. Lupin followed him, although first he placed a small kiss on Snape's cheek. This was undoubtedly meant to aggravate the Dursleys, as neither of the men seemed the type to usually display their affection publicly. Not sure how to react to seeing such a thing, Michael tried not to look. He would have to face the fact that he had two male parents sometime. However, that time wasn't now.
"Don't let them cause any problems," Lupin said quietly, ignoring the shocked expressions of the Dursley's. "I'm sure you can handle them."
"Do not worry," Snape said, smirking threateningly at the Muggles. "They will behave, I assure you." At this, he gave the Dursleys a glare instead of a smirk. Michael knew that glare -- it was known to make even some of the teachers in Hogwarts shiver, leave alone students, or already shocked Muggles.
"Just make sure they all stay in one piece," the werewolf advised. "It might be too difficult to explain to Albus if you caused any permanent harm to them."
"Don't worry. I can cause quite a lot of harm that is not permanent."
Walking away with Lupin following him, Michael knew with absolute certainty that the Dursleys wouldn't as much as breathe too loudly.
Some time later Michael found himself back downstairs with both his trunk and his fathers. "Let us go, then," Snape said calmly. "I have a Portkey that will take us to our destination."
"And where exactly are we going?" asked Michael. He may have trusted them enough to follow them, but he wasn't about to blindly go wherever he was led.
"The Snape Manor," replied his Potions Master. "It is the last place anybody will look for you at. Dumbledore will be there to cast the protective wards as we arrive."
Michael nodded, approving this. The Headmaster wouldn't be involved in the plan if he thought it too unsafe. As he was about to get out of the house along with his fathers so that the Portkey could be activated, however, somebody grasped on his arm.
"Harry?" asked Petunia quietly. As he shook his head, she bit her lip. "Look, how did you look like Lily's son? Why did everyone think that you were hers? And why do you look like this now?"
"I was adopted as soon as I was born," Michael explained calmly. "They used a charm to make me appear like my adoptive parents' son. However, now the charm has lost its effect, and I am thus returning to my true parents."
He wanted to say something nasty, to pay back for all the horrible years he had been under her and her husband's care, but he didn't. Something in her voice and expression stopped him. And, the more he examined his own feelings, the more he found himself unable to purposefully hurt her simply for petty vengeance.
Seemingly he was already showing traits he had inherited from his biological parents. This time from the one who'd carried him.
"I see." She was quiet for a moment, backing away a bit, then reached her other hand out to him. Previously clutching some small object tightly, the hand was now open, offering the object to him. "This -- this belonged to her. Even if you aren't her biological son, I suppose that she really loved you. It's better that you have it than I."
Michael took the object. It was a simple necklace, a thin golden chain with an oval-shaped pendant. As he snapped it open, he saw a photograph of three people inside -- himself, as a tiny baby Harry, and Lily and James Potter. On the other side he saw three locks of hair; one of them was coppery red, the two others midnight black.
"Thank you," he said, snapping the pendant closed and putting it in his pocket. "This means much to me." And with that, he turned around, and left the house he'd been forced to call home for fifteen years, never looking back.
Next chapter: Settling In
Arriving to the Snape Manor.