The Vow And It's Consequences

Chapter 29

Talking Sense Into Sirius Black

To say breakfast was a tense affair was putting things lightly, and it was a testament to how far Harry was coming that he wasn't affected by the tense silence. He continued to munch on his breakfast just enjoying it for what it was; he had gotten his wish, at least one of them. Harry adored pancakes, something he hadn't tried before, which went for most things he got at Prince Hall. Although waffles and pancakes were definitely his all time favourites, and would have them every day if he could. Severus didn't allow it, wanting Harry to have a very wide variety but it couldn't have escaped Harry's notice that they had pancakes at least two or three times a week.

"Now can I know?" asked Sirius, his stomach felt fit to burst, he wasn't used to large meals anymore. They barely fed him in Azkaban, it was little wonder he'd lost so much weight. It ached to move, his bones felt brittle and he tired so very easily, and his emotions were all over the place. Now that the Dementor went there sucking everything away, he was being forced to deal with them. It wasn't an easy feat, since his mind and body kept going through so many emotions he'd never had to deal with for years. Thankfully Snape had known to give him a stomach soother so he didn't expel the lovely food he'd eaten. Although there was still another one looming there, taunting him. He did notice Harry had an empty vial at his own plate, why would he need to take potions? Was he sick? Suffering some sort of illness? Was his placement with Snape only temporarily? He could dream right?

"Take the other potion." stated Severus, before completely ignoring Black as he finished his coffee, which had a few drops of calming draught in it. He needed to keep his cool with the insipid fool, as nauseating as that was; he had to do it for Harry. He had to set a good example for him, otherwise he'd raise a child who thinks it's alright to say what he liked when he liked. He was five years old and extremely impressionable, hopefully between himself, Minerva and Lucius he would turn out to be a well mannered, young man. Severus chuckled wryly at his own thoughts, he'd barely had him a few months and here he was thinking of him grown up.

"What is it?" scowled Sirius, glaring at the damn thing hoping it would explode.

Severus' face tensed, his eye twitched as he tried to keep control of his anger. Why did the bloody idiot continue to fight him every five seconds? Why was he doing this again? Oh yes, to get one over Dumbledore and stopping the old fool from getting his hands on his son. Even with the potion, the Wizengamot could take him if they felt like it, the things he had to do to keep Harry safe.

"Alright, alright," said Sirius, taking the potion, Snape looked really to kick him out and it was the last thing he wanted. He was desperate to get to know his godson, and why he'd ended up in Snape's care. Why Dumbledore had been so furious that they had disappeared, what had happened in the few years he'd been in Azkaban? It had been hell on earth for him…but he'd expected the world to continue on…which it didn't seem to have. Everything had gone topsy-turvy. Grimacing at the taste, gagging, wiggling his tongue to try and get the taste away. His eyes turned to Harry when he heard him giggling behind his hand. Harry stopped abruptly when he noticed him watching, sighing softly, and wondering if Harry would ever be carefree with him.

"If you are done acting like a two year old," said Severus arching an eyebrow Black's way, not even Harry acted so immaturely, admittedly there may be a reason for that.

Sirius flushed red, but couldn't bring himself to get worked up as the calming draught kept him from becoming hysterical.

"Thank you, Flippy." said Harry as the elf removed everyone's dishes. He still wasn't used to someone doing everything for him. It was usually him doing everything for everyone else…or rather everything for the Dursley's. So he always made sure to say thank you, its something nobody had ever said to him.

"Young master is welcome," said Flippy, smiling at the little boy before he disappeared to do the washing up.

Sirius stared at Harry, barely able to believe his ears; he was thanking a House-Elf? A bloody House-Elf? That's what they were there for; his lip almost curled just thinking about the one he owned, Kreacher the disgusting thing. It was horrible, parroted everything his mother said and adored the ground they had walked on. He would probably give it clothes; he certainly didn't want anything to do with it.

"Harry?" called Minerva.

"Yes Minnie?" asked Harry turning to face her.

Sirius' lips disappeared, watching both of them interact, the weirdest thing of all was that Minerva didn't seem to care what Harry was calling her. He could have imagined a scenario where he got blasted for that! Or if he was in Hogwarts detention for an entire year. It boggled his mind, even after working with her in the Order over the years until Voldemort was defeated. It was a new side to the stern teacher he'd known, and he wasn't sure what to make of it if he was completely honest.

"I have a book here would you like to look at it?" asked Minerva bringing out the magical educational book. Opening it wide, Harry slid of the chair and wandered over, still slightly weary but not as bad as he used to be. Minerva touched it, and 'Red' was magically spoken over the colour. Minerva then touched a different colour, and it said the word 'Blue'. It didn't just have colours, but Quidditch pictures, basic numbers, alphabet and other things notably magical in nature that Harry might not know yet.

"Do you like it?" asked Minerva, her lips curling barely smiling but Harry didn't seem to mind, he just beamed at her as if she'd just handed him something rare and precious.

"I do!" said Harry, touching it and listening to the words, he knew some colours, but others he didn't. It wasn't as if the Dursley's had taught him, it's only what he heard them say while he was out of his cupboard. His new daddy always seemed proud of anything he did, and he strove to always see it.

"Go on then, Harry, go play." said Severus; the entire right side of the living room was Harry's to play with. He had all manner of toys, tables and books in which he could look at. He was by no means spoiled, but well looked after which was what Severus wanted, difficult to balance especially knowing Harry had been abused but he was trying.

Harry looked at them all, mostly Severus and Black cautiously.

"I am not going anywhere, we are remaining right here." stated Severus firmly, as always able to understand Harry's fear in a way nobody else could.

Harry nodded before walking over to his colourful desk, and opened the book from the beginning. His sharp green eyes looked at everything, touching it to see what it was and if he was right. His green eyes would light up with every new thing he learned. He had been looking forward to going to school, since the Dursley's had signed him up for it. She'd even made his uniform, Harry had through it horrible, but the prospect and relief of getting away from them had been much greater. Now he didn't just have to wish for school, he had a new daddy that loved him and would always look after him. He had promised, and so far he'd always kept his promises to him.

"Muffliato!" muttered Severus, surrounding the area with the spell, his own invention and he was rather proud of it. Back then he hadn't realized just how handy it would be, and it had indeed been just that. He didn't want Harry hearing even a sentence of what they were saying. Thankfully he was used to magic now, and wouldn't be alarmed if he couldn't hear what they were saying. It reminded him of the first time he'd cast a silencing spell, Harry had saw their lips moving but heard nothing, he'd rubbed at his ears terrified at the loss of sound.

"Dumbledore had already ordered Hagrid to take Harry to the Dursley's before Sirius was implicated." said Minerva immediately.

"Yes, we already knew that," said Severus, staring at Minerva curiously, perhaps she was using it as way to begin the conversation perhaps.

"Dumbledore? Why would you call him that? Why did he look so angry? What's going on? Why do you have Harry, Snape?" asked Sirius irritated beyond belief.

"Remember, Black you are here on my say so, it can just as easily be rectified." said Severus narrowing his eyes at the idiotic rambling.

"Please…I just…I want to know what's happened to my godson," said Sirius tiredly, staring at both of them just feeling drained.

"Unvarnished truth or one that will make you bear the burden easier?" questioned Severus impassively.

Sirius stared at Snape blankly, since when did he hold anything back? He never had before, which actually made his stomach twist uncomfortably. Was it really that bad he was asking him what he wanted? He turned to Minerva and saw she was just as grim as Severus was. Unsurprising really since she rarely showed emotion, she had to be really wound up to get any glimpse of feelings. He opened and closed his mouth, before snapping it with a final move with a click.

"I returned home to Spinners End for the summer holidays, as I normally do. The first few weeks were normal, and then I came across something that concerned me a great deal. It appeared to be two five year old boys bullying a three year old who had clothes that looked like rags and were ten times too big for him. They shoved him so badly his head cracked on the pavement, all he did was curl up against any oncoming punches or kicks. I scared them off, but when I tried to help the child he flinched away from me, I tried to reassure him of course but he grew terrified and ran off. I cast a locating spell on him as he ran, deciding to check upon him. I suspected abuse, but I had no way of knowing of course…and since he was magical I had to be sure. You know as well as I do, why it's so wrong to abuse a magical child, the magic defends its host, and well sooner or later something would have happened. It didn't help that his magic was so advanced, he looked three but the magic was that of a fourteen year old." said Severus pausing to let it sink into the mutts head.

Minerva stared at the floor; she'd only ever received cursory visions of the tale, not the real unvarnished truth. Unlike Sirius she already knew it was Harry he was talking about, Black just stared at them curiously.

Sirius wondered briefly if Snape had had Harry since he was three years old, his godson had been bullied? James would be rolling in his grave…it was funny though, they had been the bullies and now it was his godsons turn to suffer…maybe the saying was right - Karma was a bitch, Merlin Harry was paying for what they did. No, it must be someone else, Petunia didn't live in Spinners End, Lily and she had when they were children but they'd all moved out of the area hadn't they?

"I went and did my shopping before returning home; unfortunately my conscience wouldn't let me rest. So I cast the spell and found the boy, he was in a hotel in Cokeworth, he was alone, and injured simply put I was infuriated. Getting inside I checked the child over, and found out he wasn't three years old…but five. He needed a healer, I was about to take him to St. Mungo's for aid when his guardians came back." said Severus pausing once again.

Sirius' heart sank, there was no way he would be talking about someone else…it had to be Harry. Unless it was his cousin? Could it be? No the child Snape spoke about had magic…but for all he knew the cousin could have magic. He knew he was just being ridiculous but this was his godson they were talking about. It might have been the past, but to him…it felt as if it was happening to him right now. He could see even Minerva was uncomfortable, why though? This was all so strange to him. He was tempted to believe he'd ended up in a parallel world.

"I knew who it was as soon as I saw her, she had a child with her…it was her son that much I deduced. I quickly joined the dots and realized the child I had just run a diagnostic on…the boy who was near death was in fact Harry Potter." said Severus grimly, waiting for the inevitable explosion. Instead all he saw was tears running down Black's face…out of all the scenarios that had played in his head; this had not been one of them.

"I could have patched up a scrape, fever or cold…or any minor ailment but I was in no way qualified to help a child that was dying. Not only was he still bleeding from the crater in his head…but he was injured all over, bruised and broken boned." said Severus, not sparing Black's feelings the slightly, he had to know how bad it was. "I knew if I took him to St. Mungo's I wouldn't get near him, and there could be a chance of him being returned right back to the Dursley's."

"Why would they take him back?! They wouldn't do that!" said Sirius loudly, how bad did Snape think the wizarding world was? He could barley believe it.

"Quiet." said Minerva her tone clipped and angry.

"Poppy would have healed him, but she has an obligation to tell the proper authorities especially on cases as bad as this was." said Severus, Merlin he could remember just how powerless he felt, not a feeling he liked at all. "I went to Lucius; he was the only one I could turn to."

"DO NOT START," snarled Severus, when Sirius looking cross between horrified and furious red in the face and about to open his mouth. "He was the one that saved Harry's life."

Leaning back, eyeing Snape warily, still aware he didn't have any means of protecting himself against the infuriated wizard. It was hard to believe that the Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater had saved his godsons life. You would think he'd do a dance if he was dying, after all Harry defeated Voldemort.

"When the healer did a full scan, he found it to be the worst case of abuse he'd come across in his profession as a healer. Nearly every bone in his body had at one point or another been broken, magic of course tried to heal it, but it does so incorrectly. He deduced it was Muggles, after all we have spells that can do the damage done but there wasn't one. Once he was healed as much as possible, he immediately asked me what happened the night the Dark Lord was defeated." said Severus, looking over at Harry, unconsciously a small smile stole over his face, his son, Merlin he never thought he'd have one.

"If he wasn't a healer, I would have assumed he just wanted to know for the sake of it. I knew there was a reason for asking, so I told him what I knew. That is when he informed me that seventy five percent of Harry's magic had been blocked since that faithful Halloween night." said Severus.

"Why would Voldemort bind his magic?! He tried to kill him!" said Sirius baffled to the core of his being.

"Or more specifically the morning after it happened, since it was a brand new day. There was the thought that you could have done it Black, but we really quite quickly it wasn't possible. There is only one person with enough power to bind seventy five percent of Harry's magic." said Severus, knowing Black wasn't going to believe or like this, the slightly.

"Who? Pettigrew?" asked Sirius doubtfully.

Severus snorted; the thought of that disgusting thing having enough power to do anything actually amused him. He wasn't a total idiot like he had assumed, he'd managed not only to fool Potter and Black, but the entire wizarding world on a whole. "No, Black. It was Dumbledore." replied Severus, staring intently at him, getting some perverse pleasure out of blowing all his preconceived notions to hell.

"He wouldn't, he couldn't do something like that! You lie Snape!" said Black defensively, standing up only to be spelled back on the couch by Minerva. He realized he couldn't get back up but could move they'd blued his backside to the chair.

"I wish I were, but that wasn't the worst of it all Black." said Severus, sighing tiredly, extremely weary at bringing all this badness back up.

Black gulped, Minerva wouldn't go along with Snape's madness…not unless she had irrefutable proof surely? She'd known Dumbledore a long time…which meant what Snape was saying could actually be true. His stomach felt like vomiting everything he'd eaten but the potion prevented it from reappearing.

"Harry would not have survived another week in his aunts care…he wouldn't have made it to Hogwarts for anyone to become aware of what was happening should I have not intervened." said Severus, his sorrow making its way through his shields.

"Dear Merlin!" murmured Minerva; she had preferred the cursory version.

"Lucius went to the Dursley's to get custody of the child for me, he knew if I went that I would kill them." said Severus a vicious glint in his eyes showing the seriousness of his words.

"Where are they?" demanded Sirius coldly, the first thing he was going to do was buy a wand in Knockturn Alley and then he was going to kill them slowly, torture them until they were completely insane. No one was going to get away with hurting his godson.

"Trust me, Sirius, they are paying for what they did." said Minerva feeling vindictively amused.

"Before I tell you the rest I need a vow sworn from you Black." said Severus gravely.

"Why?" Sirius asked confused.

"Because I said," stated Severus grimly.

"Severus, your son wants you," said Minerva noticing him coming over.

Removing the spell temporarily, he gestured to Harry to sit on his knee, the picture of calmness. Harry immediately ran over, and climbed on his daddy's knee, and cuddled in. He was tired, yawning sleepily; he burrowed in more firmly and was content to just feel the gentle thumping of his heart as it drifted him to sleep.

Sirius felt jealousy stab him in the heart that should be him who Harry trusted above all others. Yet all he got was stared of wariness and fear. He didn't understand it either; it wasn't as if Snape had him long enough to turn Harry against him surely? But no, he knew why he was scared now, he closed his eyes, abused, his little godson had been beaten and abused for four years nearly. Merlin he hoped whatever they did would last for thousands of years, they deserved no less. Would Harry ever trust him? Or had the abuse left a mark that would never ever leave him? That thought left him cold all over, the great big what if.

Severus rocked Harry gently, as he absently retrieved the throw from the back of his couch. He didn't normally sleep in the morning, not anymore. He would need to get him out of the habit of it, since he would be learning every morning from Minerva. That was only until Hogwarts started up, which was right around the corner making it more urgent to get someone. Once he was sure Harry was soundly asleep, he stood up keeping a firm grip of the child and placed him on the couch, head on the pillow and the throw wrapped around him.

Minerva cast a silencing spell around Harry; instead of them this time as Severus retook his seat.

"The Vow." stated Severus calmly.

"Alright," grumbled Sirius, reluctantly as he removed his wand which had been returned to him straight after the trial. He hadn't had a chance to use it, and the first time he did it was for a bloody Vow of all things.

Three minutes later the vow was cast and accepted, the barbed wire looking fire sank into their bodies binding them to their word. The Vow was the most important and binding of all magical oaths, it didn't just cause you to lose your magic, but killed you if you even thought of breaking your word.

"Harry and I moved here, I couldn't raise him in Spinners End, it wasn't protected enough. Once he was recovered at least partially, I took him to Gringotts so they could remove the bindings on his magic. I found out there just how the Dark Lord succeeded in surviving that night." said Severus.

"Surviving? He's dead! I saw it Snape, I saw his remains, he was nothing but ash!" said Sirius, wide eyed quite understandably shaken by the wizards words.

"No, all the Death Eaters and Dumbledore know he's not dead…the mark endured, faded for sure but still his spirit and magic endured." said Severus dourly. "Nobody understood, at least I assumed so but I fear Dumbledore found out…it may explain his actions after that night."

"NOTHING absolutely NOTHING gave him the right to do what he did!" shrieked Sirius beyond infuriated.

"I did not say otherwise." stated Severus still calm, "The goblins did not just remove the bindings on Harry's magic, but also a shard of the Dark Lord's soul…"

Sirius gulped, "His soul?" he asked weakly, why would Dumbledore even contemplate keeping the soul piece in Harry? Surely he could have had the goblins remove it? He didn't know what to think anymore.

"Tom Riddle created Horcruxes, which are basically rituals that rip away pieces of your soul to keep in containers so you could have ties to this earth should your body die…a way of cheating death and achieving immortality." said Minerva, pitching in.

"Tom Riddle?" asked Sirius feeling like laughing that was Voldemort's name? Tom Riddle? How boring did that sound…but he wanted blood purity! Riddle was not a pureblood name, he should know he'd been weaned on all pureblood names and if they were 'proper' to talk to and not blood traitors or Mudblood's.

"The Dark Lord's true name," said Severus, not amused like Sirius was, but Severus could see it had a hysterical edge to it. He was glad he'd given the man a calming draught, otherwise he dreaded to think how he'd have reacted to everything that "When I found out the steps he'd taken, Lucius, Minerva and myself snapped into action…hunting down what Horcruxes we could find."

"How many times can you split your soul?" asked Sirius woefully ignorant.

"Nobody has dared to create more than one," said Minerva, truth be told she was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened over the past few weeks. "But back to our original topic, we went to the social services, it's a place that protects children…and found out people had visited Privet Drive because others had called about the Abuse."

"Why would he still be there then?" asked Sirius, closing his eyes, defeat thrumming through him, he'd caused this…he'd given Harry to Hagrid. "Don't tell me he did this…please don't."

"He Obliviated them," said Severus disgust coating his voice. "Also gave the Dursley's forgetfulness potion in a way he was worse than the Dursley's…or anything the Dark Lord did."

"I'm going to kill him, I don't care if I end up back in Azkaban!" snarled Sirius, fury rolling off him in waves. James would be rolling in his grave at what Dumbledore had done, lets not forget Lily! Perhaps them not letting Dumbledore be the secret keeper had been a good one…he didn't even want to imagine what the old bastard would have done otherwise.

"Yes because you haven't already let Harry down, you just have to go out and do it again," said Severus sarcastically, his black eyes glinting in rage.

"He can't get away with it!" cried Sirius furiously.

"Do you think we are going to?" said Severus all emotion shutting off his face.

"You mean he's going to be caught?" said Sirius taken aback, his tone of voice returning to normal.

"Eventually, yes," said Severus bluntly, he wasn't going to let Harry attend Hogwarts with Dumbledore as Headmaster he would rather teach Harry at home.

"Can I help?" asked Sirius, his haunted blue eyes beseeching Snape's begging for something to do - anything to help his godson…hell he'd get down on all fours and kiss the hem of his robes, apologize for everything he did…take Veritaserum…let Snape use him as a punching bag…or hexing dummy anything just to see his godson.

Will Dumbledore be imprisoned before its time for Harry to attend Hogwarts? will he even be arrested or will the evidence they have not be enough to see him brought before the wizengamot? or will he try something at Hogwarts while harry is there and be found out only then imprisoned? will Remus be brought in to tutor Harry or will we see a different character brought in? or have him learn with Draco who's learning from Gavin? who would you like to see harry befriend? I want it to be different than the norm but I don't think its going to be easy...since its obvious Draco and Harry will get along having their fathers being each of their godfathers...R&R PLEASE!