A/N: I am beyond ecstatic about the amount of love I am receiving on this story. I cherish each review, favorite, and follower of my stories. It humbles me to know that many of you await my next chapter and that you thoroughly enjoy the story as a whole.

Unfortunately, I have received some heavy backlash in some reviews and it saddens me to know that instead of just not saying anything and/or not continuing to read my story/stories, some feel the need to be cruel and make it known for specific reasons why you do not like my writing and will not continue to read my story/stories. While I do welcome some criticism, I do not appreciate the downright cruelty of some. Please learn to keep your negative comments to yourself as they are hurtful and I am just writing for myself and no one else.

And to the guest reviews, while a lot of them are wonderful to read and please keep them up, there are some that are included in my above statement. If you feel the need to write such cruelty, at least do it under a pen-name. Otherwise, you're just showing everyone what a coward you are and don't want to be called out for such cruelty and instead decide to use a guest review as your security blanket. If you feel the need to be cruel though, just know that I will continue writing regardless of what you say. I write for my enjoyment and mine alone.

And to the guest review I got from my last chapter- the summary is as followed: "Harry was cursed in the final battle with a slow killing curse. He attempts to befriend Snape, who his father but does not know it, and it doesn't go as planned and he never gets the chance to tell him until the reading of his Will. How will this new knowledge change Snape? How will it change Harry even though it is too late. Will they ever have a relationship? Rated T for now."- this clearly states that Harry dies. And nowhere in this summary does it state that Harry is not a part of this story. So please do me the favor and tell me where I lied? I have never felt the need to call out a reviewer before, but this one in particular called me a liar. Said my summaries were lies and that no one would read my stories because of that. I mean, I could put all the plot in the summary but what's the fun in that?

I do sincerely apologize for this rant, but I could not let this go anymore. I hope I haven't alienated anyone from this story or from reviewing this story or any of my other stories. I'm not a professional writer, as many on this site are not, but I'm trying to put a story out there that people will enjoy as much as I enjoy writing it.

I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. I'm so excited for this story and the chapters are just spilling out of me now. I love sharing with everyone on here, so please keep reviewing, as they do empower me and encourage me to keep posting.

I don't own Harry Potter.

Third Times a Son

Chapter 5

Severus sat before the fire for a long time re-reading the letter over and over again. Harry was his son...and Harry's gone now. A sob escaped him before he found himself crying into his hands. Why did he have to be so ugly to the boy?

He wiped his face with both hands and conjured a tissue to blow his nose. A glass of water appeared on the table next to him and he didn't question it, he just took it and drank it down. After the glass was emptied he realized there was a calming drought in it but couldn't find it in him to be mad. Did Harry have anything to do with that? Probably. With that thought, he felt the tears swelling in his eyes again but he wouldn't let them fall this time. He needed to get himself together to leave this room, he took several deep breaths and conjured a washcloth to clean his face. When he felt he was ready, he collected his inheritance into the folder and went to the door.

When he left the room, he was met with Ron and Hermione waiting for him. The room was emptying out and he knew they were waiting for him. Damn. Severus looked to Hermione, trying to read her expression but not having any luck. She looked just as sad as he felt and that tore at his heart more.

"Did you know?" He should have been angry with her because he knew the answer before she nodded, but he couldn't. It's his fault he never found out. The boy tried to befriend him, possibly to tell him the truth but he was too hateful and pigheaded to allow it.

He followed as the couple led him back out into the room where he received his envelope. As the three of them stood at the front of the room, Severus worked his own envelope in his hands in agitation. He felt wretched. Why did he have to find out now? Why couldn't Potter just take it with him and leave him clueless? This must be payback for how he treated the boy over the years and especially for how he treated him since the war ended. He could be such an arse.

"Professor." Came the soft voice of the girl. "Are you alright?"

He swallowed and nodded. His voice left him.

"I'm sorry." She continued. "Harry didn't want you to learn this way but he wanted you to know. He struggled with this for months before he died. I want you to know that he died happy with the people he loved by his side. He enjoyed his life and all the gifts that graced him for the last five years. He understood you better than I think you understand yourself. He knew you weren't ready to be anything to him and he accepted that as who you are." She said in a somber tone.

"Yeah, it was right annoying sometimes the way he would defend your treatment of him. I wanted to bash your skull in most the time, but he's my best mate, so I had to honor his wishes." Weasley stated factly while Hermione nudged him slightly.

Severus huffed, he wanted to sneer at the boy and scream 'he should have tried harder,' but he knew it wouldn't have made a difference. He told himself to keep his distance from the boy and he did. Very well in fact that he didn't even know the boy was sick. How was it that the Savior of the Wizarding World was inflicted with this curse and no one knew?

"Why?" Was all he could say. Words escaped him and that one syllable was all he could muster. Harry Potter was his son and not James Potter's. He felt empty when he thought about it.

"Why what, Professor?" Ron sneered back. "Why did he tell you now? Why did he tell you at all? Why what!? What do you want to know!" Ron tried to yell and at the same time keeping it quiet enough for no one to hear and Severus couldn't help but flinch at the harshness of it.

"Ron" His fiancé chided softly. Severus looked to them both and could see the pain. They loved him. He hated himself a little bit more because he denied himself the opportunity to feel that love for the boy. Oh, how he wished he could go back and tell himself to stop being a prick, stop being an arsehole and let the boy in his life...in his heart.

"Why did no one know how sick he was? Why wasn't there more done to help him - to save him! Why did he give up on me?" That last question wasn't meant to be said out loud, but slipped out in his pain. He couldn't take the pity on the girl's face and turned away.

"Professor, would you like to come to dinner tonight? I think you need to be with family and I'm sure you have questions for us. We want you to know that we're here for you. Harry made it quite clear that no matter our personal feelings, we were to be here for you in anyway we can. I aim to keep my promise. Please say you'll come." Hermione spoke calmly.

"Thank you, Miss Granger, I don't deserve your kindness." Ron snorted at that and Hermione slapped his arm. "You're right about having questions, however, I have much to sort through. How about I come tomorrow for tea? That would give me some time to sort this out before…" he choked out, but couldn't finish.

"Okay, Professor, why don't you come over around 3pm."

"Fine, thank you. I'll be there." He said.

Hermione took Ron's arm and led him out of the room as Severus watched them go. Did he get any of the 'trio' right? Were they the people he should have tolerated and gotten to know? Part of him is saying 'yes' because then he would have known Potter better, but the other part of him is saying "you could have never stood to know them then". The latter probably more the truth then he wanted to acknowledge.

XxxX

Once home, Severus locked himself away in his rooms and finished off a bottle of fire whiskey. Losing himself in self pity was a pastime of his and one he was proficient at. After getting a decent buzz going, he opened his envelope and spread the contents around the table. He picked each item up once, feeling them out for any charms or spells but nothing.

Touching a vault key, he picked it up and looked at it carefully. The number on it said seventy nine. Such a low number indicates an old vault. It was probably an original Potter vault. There could be endless treasures in there. He replaced it and picked up the next key. This key is darker in color and has the number four hundred and five inscribed on it. It's hard to tell who owned this vault by the key, guess he'll be asking Gringotts. Putting that one down and grabbing the last key, he examined it thoroughly. It was silver in color and heavier than the others. There's no number on it but there's some type of symbol on the hilt. A triangle encasing a circle speared with a line. Interesting, he thought, but what vault is it to? Does it even open a vault or maybe it opens something entirely different. He sets that key aside from the others and scoops up the deeds.

There are four deeds all together. By the looks of them, they are fairly new. So no ancestral homes but homes none the less. All four are located in different continents. A quaint cottage on twenty acres of land, a townhome in Brussels, a horse ranch in Australia, and a home in London on five acres of prime real estate. Why would Potter give him these homes? What's the significance of them? His fuzzy brain just couldn't fathom all this. He put the deeds down and went to pick up the vial of memories. He stared blankly at it as he slowly turned it over in his fingers. This is Harry's memories of that night in the shack. He gently placed it on another table to view at another time. One where he isn't intoxicated. Wanting achingly to see his Lily again but also wanting to savor the experience.

He moved to the wand. His hand hovering just over it, hesitant to pick it up. He recognized it. How could he not, Albus was his best friend and confidant. Gently he caressed the wand before gathering the courage to pick it up. His hand was shaking with the weight of his guilt. A sob escaped his mouth. How is it even here? He was under the impression the boy put the wand back where it belonged. But if the stories were to be believed, he guessed the wand belonged to Potter now. There was a rumour that he snapped the wand in two, but obviously that was just a rumor. So he's had the wand this whole time? Then why did he continue to use his Holly wand? He touched the wand with both hands, sliding his fingers up and down the wood feeling the bumps and crannies. Just when he was about to place it carefully back down, his thumb brushed over an indentation on the end of the wand. He looked at it closely and drew in a breath. What the hell? It's the same mark as on the silver key; a triangle encompassing a circle speared by a line.

Okay, now he was intrigued. What the hell was the boy trying to tell him?

He placed the wand next to the silver key to examine later. Looking back over the other objects, he picked up the snitch. It's an ordinary snitch. It looks used but not overly so. He twirled it around, looking for the mark but there isn't one and he deflated in anticipation. The only thing on the outside is the sentence I open at the close, in cursive. Odd. Whatever does that mean and who put it there? He's thinking too much, must be the liquor. Leaning over the table to place it near the top of the pile, it slips from his grasp and lands with a loud thump on some papers. What got the Professor's attention was the clinking sound coming from the snitch as it fell, like something moving around inside.

Surprised at the notion of something inside the snitch, he picked it up and gently shook it. The noise was unmistakable, there was something inside.

These items were making him curious. What does this all mean? What exactly is Potter trying to tell him because the boy is definitely trying to say something.

He adds the snitch to the other pile and eyed the cloak on the table. This cloak, this irritating thing that allowed his tormentor free reign around the school and then his son...no - not his son - my son, to do the same. Did Potter Senior know Harry wasn't his? A part of Severus hoped he didn't but a small part hoped he did...and loved him regardless.

Severus started laughing. A maniacal laugh that bounced off the walls. Potter couldn't have known because Lily had been obliviated. She didn't even know herself! Then the sadness of that thought sobered him quickly. Lily didn't know either. Severus choked out a sob and wept into his hands. His love...she didn't remember their love or that Harry was a product of that love. The pain in his chest at the thought of what they both lost was unbearable. Who could do such a thing? Who would do such a thing?

The only thing missing from his pile was the letter Lily wrote. A letter she wrote to him; the last love letter she ever wrote to him. Thinking of Lily always put him in a funk; hence the drinking. He loved her so much. He never knew he could love someone so completely until her. She was his everything, his soul, his saving grace. He should have fought harder for her but he was a coward, afraid that he couldn't take her total rejection.

He shook his head, "Coward. You were a coward!" He tried to shout as he stood up quickly. "You should have fought for her. You could have loved her...could have saved her!" He choked out those last words with a heart wrenching sob. Could he have? Saved her? He threw his glass at the fire hard and it shattered into tiny glass shards. His face a mess of tears and snot with his hair clinging to its sides as he stood there just staring at the place he threw his drink.

"I love you, Lils. I always have and I always will." He said between sobs and hiccups.

He wiped his hand down his face and for the second time today, wiped away the mess of his grief. He sat back down and gathered the cloak off the table. He fanned it out over his legs, enjoying the silky feel of it beneath his fingers. His face hurt and his eyes were puffy and tired but he needed to keep going. Caressing the cloak he wondered what the "trio" got up to under this cloak? Severus could only imagine.

He leaned back in the chair and covered himself with the cloak; like a blanket. Watching as his body disappeared under its charms. His eyes became heavy with tiredness from the events of the day and all these unexpected emotions. Deciding to just rest for a minute he allowed his eyes to shut and relaxed under the cloak. Before he realized what was happening, he fell into a deep sleep.

He dreamt of dark cloaked figures, cold breath, bone chilling voices and green eyes. Whispers of dad in surprise and you're so close in a voice that sent cold shivers down his spine. Many words spoken from figures he couldn't see but all the while he felt safe. He felt a touch on his arm and he immediately was filled with love. Tears came to his eyes. You're so close.

Severus woke with a start, his dream falling away and looked around the room confused as to where he was. He sat up quickly making the cloak bunch at his waist. What day is it? Seeing the items on the table he remembered today was Potter's Will reading and he was going through his inheritance. The feelings of a powerful hangover had begun to wrack his skinny form, he drank too much as usual and passed out. That's so like him.

Severus grabbed the cloak in his left hand and said a soft lumos to light the room with his right. He began to rise and the part of the cloak bunched on the floor started glowing and it caught the potion master's eye. He didn't realize the cloak glowed. That makes no sense. He knew the boy used this cloak at night, surely he would have been spotted if it glowed.

Moving his wand over the cloak to see it better the cloak returned to normal; no glowing. Curious he moved his right hand further away creating as little light as possible to fall on the cloak and he watched the cloak began to glow again. Studying the glowing design he realized that as it was bunched together a pattern was forming but when he started to spread it out - to smooth it out the glowing almost disappeared along with the design he saw earlier. Getting an idea he began to scrunch up the cloak on the floor to allow the glowing design to take shape. He stared in disbelief when it finally became whole. He couldn't believe his eyes. There in the folds of the cloak was the same symbol; the triangle encompassing a circle speared with a line.

What the bloody hell is going on here? What is this symbol? What does it mean?

Severus sat there thinking about all he's learned today. One thing is for sure, he didn't know Potter as well as he thought he did. Talking to Granger and Wesley looked like the plan all along, "How very Slytherin of you, Potter." He whispered.

XxxX

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