The Vow and its Consequences
Chapter 40
Three month had passed since Albus Dumbledore had been sentenced to Azkaban prison. Unsurprisingly life went on, people forgot about Dumbledore for most part. When he was remembered it was with disgust and horror, as far as everyone was concerned Dumbledore had killed their hero, a young boy who had defeated the darkest wizard the magical world had ever known. There were two or three people who continued on in their belief that Albus was only doing what was right, that he was innocent, but those people did not speak up regarding it, for anyone who tried to defend Dumbledore became outcasts, treated as though they were Dumbledore himself. In other words they were hexed and cursed, and conveniently there were never any witnesses who saw what happened.
What had everyone talking were the actions of one Lord Lucius Abraxas Malfoy. Despite the fact he had been declared not guilty for his association with 'You-Know-Who' the majority of the magical world had been furious over him getting off scot-free. They had believed he was a Death Eater, and an evil wizard who was just waiting on the Dark Lord returning. All the while climbing the ladder within the Ministry by lining people's pockets.
That was until a few months ago, when word began to get out about his latest project. Even more surprising was the vocal support of Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. It was during that time they began to wonder, was it possible he had been under the Imperius Curse all along? Creating a children's shelter wasn't something an evil wizard would do after all…and in the name of Harry Potter too. Lucius had said for the paper that he believed if such a shelter had existed…perhaps Harry would still be alive. The child had saved him, saved his family, and so Lucius vowed that nobody else magical would suffer. He even went as far as stating that all magical children would be welcomed in the children's shelter, Pureblood's, Half-Blood's and Muggle-born's.
Lucius had bought both the grounds around Riddle Mansion, the Gaunt lands which he had used to built the children's shelter but after careful tracking to find out who owned the building, which was used as tax purposes he realized, he had bought it from them, using means the Muggle-loving light wizards wouldn't…quite approve of. Not that Lucius cared, once he had the mansion he had considered redoing it, giving himself another property to rent out but it was far too Muggle for his tastes, he absolutely refused to have the thing in his name the way it was. So it had been demolished and a new building would be built in its place, in fact Narcissa had taken part in that, designing the building and telling the builders what to do and such. His wife would never admit it but she was extremely bored while Draco was being tutored in all things essential until his Hogwarts letter came.
Severus had been handed his nullified contract, Minerva had informed him that his expertise was no longer needed and that he no longer was considered the Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Dumbledore had been put in Azkaban. Severus had accepted it with a smirk on his face, glad at last that he no longer had to teach dunderheads the subtle arts of potions making. Due to Lucius' advice, Minerva had indeed quickly found two professors who fitted in rather well, even if they were younger than most of the other professors - the students seemed to like them.
Severus spent most of his time with his son, just enjoying the freedom to do whatever he wished. Subtly the 'reason' for Severus quitting Hogwarts had gotten around, not getting to spend time with his 'son' and wishing to do so before he began his education at Hogwarts or whichever school he sent his son to. Ingraining it in peoples mind subconsciously that Severus had had a son all along, so no question of his paternity would be raised. Fortunately the adoption potion had changed Harry enough that nobody in their right mind could honestly say that Harry Snape was or had ever been Harry Potter. He had too many Prince Characteristics; nothing in James Potter had remained in Harry. That and Severus was a known recluse, he rarely ventured outside, preferring to stay out the spotlight. Those in the Ministry though thought they knew the real reason for Severus' insistent on his son being hidden, for they knew he had been a spy for Albus Dumbledore and the proof had been immense so much so that it couldn't be denied. Unbreakable Vows and the like, so yes, his loyalties had most definitely been for the light side - and this they believed despite not knowing exactly what the Vows promised.
Today was a special day, it was Harry's first Yule at Prince hall, and the first time he was getting to celebrate the holiday. Yet when he had woken up at seven and Harry was still in bed it had surprised him. The presents under the tree were still untouched, and exactly where he had put them last night - without anything out of place - he hadn't even snuck down and tried to guess what was in them.
Severus stared at the tree, his black eyes filled with resigned understanding. Despite his reassurances, Harry still assumed he wouldn't receive anything. The Muggle world had their children believing in a mythical being called Santa Clause, but the wizarding world did not do that. No, they celebrated by having the entire family around, having a meal and exchanging gifts, back in the day wizards had hunted for the beast they'd put on the table during the evening meal before they paid homage to the gods. Some families still did it, in fact it was something of a tradition he and his mother had after his father was completely out of it, due to his drinking.
He had of course, informed Harry that 'Santa' didn't exist, but it had been for naught since Harry was already aware. He had observed Vernon and Petunia buying the items and also bringing them down the stairs after Dudley had gone to bed for years now. Harry due to the fact he'd slept in a cupboard under the stairs, and the weight of Vernon, he'd been woken the second he lumbered down. Part of him was relieved that he didn't need to tear away any innocence Harry still had after living with those wretched people.
Perhaps in a few years Harry would be comfortable and more secure in his new life and would no doubt have him up extraordinary early wishing to open presents. Which was what Lucius and Narcissa were probably going through right now with his godson he thought with amusement. It was one of the few days where Draco was allowed to be himself without being expected to be a pureblood heir. Not that Draco suffered from it, he was a spoiled little boy but he had limitations to it and that was a very good thing.
He would be seeing his godson in a matter of hours, not just Draco but his home was going to be quite full today, fuller than he wanted to deal with but he wanted to make this day memorable for Harry. He had invited Minerva expecting and understanding if she couldn't come, she was a Headmistress and sometimes a lot of students remained for the holidays than go home. Ironically it was mostly those who would have to return to the Muggle world that remained, each year all his Slytherin's returned home for the holidays. He would always think of his students whom he'd taught as his Slytherins. He had taken his duty as a guardian of sorts extremely seriously.
"Does Master Severus want breakfast?" Flippy asked, popping next to his Master who was now awake, he had been up earlier expecting young master to be awake already and had the fires going so the manor was nice and warm for his Master and young master.
"Just a coffee for the moment," Severus informed Flippy, moving away from the doorway which he had been standing at for a good ten minutes. He claimed his usual seat, Harry would be joining him sooner or later, the smell of food usually did the trick, but obviously not today since the smell of dinner (which was just in its beginning stages) was already wafting from the kitchen permeating the manor. A few moments later Flippy returned with his coffee before leaving without another word, between cleaning and cooking they'd be very busy.
Flicking his wand, he summoned a black bound book before holstering his wand again, and opening to the last page before immersing himself in it. It was a book he used to write down his ideas, both spells and potions; he had long ago stopped using his school books for such a thing. A great deal of them remained unfinished; others he was successfully able to get from theory to creation were published. Now that he wasn't constantly busy (with only the summer holidays to do as he pleased) with homework, essays, creating quizzes for the students, brewing potions for Poppy and overseeing the students brewing he had time now to devote to both his potions and more importantly his son.
To the world Harry was his son, and nobody would be able to accidentally figure out the truth. Lucius had successfully removed the copy the Ministry had of Harry's birth certificate, including the adoption certificate which updated automatically, it was used to prevent anyone from kidnapping a child and using the adoption potion and getting away with it. Which he was, thanks to the fact Lucius had ties within the Ministry. If they discovered it missing he was sure they would blame Dumbledore, but considering everything he doubted they'd even look, after all everyone truly believed Harry Potter was dead. He had all the documents safely squared away, it wasn't his intention to keep it hidden from Harry not forever, and he would be told - if he didn't already know - he certainly wasn't going to remind him. He wanted Harry to have a normal life and he was going to do his damn best to ensure it.
Shaking off his lingering thoughts, his gaze roaming over the page and like lightening an epiphany struck, of course, why hadn't he thought of that before? Phoenix tears, it would bind the potion together and also have the added benefit of healing further. The question remained where to put it, he didn't want an exploding potion after all now that would be no good to anyone. Piercing eyes thought on each scenario, regretfully each scenario played out with an explosion. He needed to add a potion that wasn't corrosive with phoenix tears.
This little project he had been working on for five years, regretfully he had lost hope that he'd ever be able to invent it. Sana Mente he had coined it, with all his troubles and duties he'd never been able to concentrate on it as much as he wanted to. During the summers he would try and brew it a few times, but he'd known even then he was missing something and each experiment he had worked on amounted to nothing but wasted hours. The margin at the side was a testament to how many times he had tried various ingredients.
Phoenix tears…he had nothing of the sort available to him; it was expensive, around a thousand galleons for a quarter vial. Which would allow him to do three or four experiments, if he was lucky. Summoning his owl order catalogues, from various different apothecaries from all around the UK. He liked to grab bargains on his potions ingredients, only the best of course, and it was why he had only five owl order catalogues for potions, when there were around fifteen shops that sell and deliver potions, but he found most inadequate.
Picking up the Finnegan Apothecary, where he got the majority of his stock, which was located in Ireland, by a prominent Irish Wizarding Pureblood family all of whom were Potion Masters themselves or married to one. Even as he browsed through it, new items were being put up for sale, and others disappearing after a red sign blazoned across it 'sold out' which didn't happen unless there was a mad rush, such as during late August and the start of September before the schools started up. After getting to the 'P' section he found there was no phoenix tears only ashes, a thoughtful frown worked its way onto his face, ash did have healing properties, and it might be useful to obtain some.
Standing up he retrieved one of his self-inking quills and returned to his seat, filling the order in which was at the back, knowing it probably wouldn't be delivered for at least three days. Placing the magazine aside, he moved on to the others, and found what he was looking for in Stone Apothecary, filling that in as well, having ended up buying more than he intended but no matter, they would be used regardless. Potion ingredients did not get wasted with him.
Once finished he used a spell to return them to his desk, quill and all. Prince Hall was completely decked with Christmas decorations. Severus had never celebrated Christmas, not even putting a tree up the few times he had returned to Spinners End. He'd never had a reason to, and also declined to attend any functions or dinners, not even the ones Lucius all but begged him to attend - which he would deny since Malfoy's never begged of course. During those years he never thought for a second he'd be the one doing the inviting, taking Harry in and adopting him had irrevocably changed his life. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. What he did know for certainty was that he loved Harry, the little boy had wormed his way into his heart and he would do anything for him. Even sacrifice his life for him if the need arose.
The sound of footsteps ceased Severus ruminating, catching movement off to the side, he watched the child from the corner of his eyes, as he stood at the door unsurely. It hurt his heart to see Harry suddenly so unsure of himself, he had come out of his shell so much in the past months, Draco had helped a great deal, gave Harry normalcy, a sense of belonging he hadn't experienced before. Or perhaps he just helped Harry forget, maybe both things, either way; he hoped Harry wouldn't remain so unsure all day.
"Good morning, Harry, did you have a good rest?" Severus enquired, as he did every morning, silently gesturing for the child to come to him, which Harry gladly did. Severus patted Harry's back as Harry hugged him, needing to feel secure no doubt or maybe just shy. "Flippy?" Severus called out to his House-elf.
"Yes Master Severus?" Flippy asked, completely covered in flour but answering the call.
"We'll have breakfast now, and bring through another coffee for me and a hot chocolate with cream in it cool enough to drink for Harry." Severus asked politely, "We'll have it here." with that he stood up, carefully manoeuvring Harry onto his hip as he approached the massive tree that Harry had gazed at for a whole half hour when he saw it for the first time on the first of December when the tree first got put up. Summoning a few pillows he put Harry on one of them, and sat himself down as well. It was very uncomfortable; he didn't think he'd sat on the floor for coming close to a decade. He awkwardly tried to get comfortable but he was a tall composed man, there was no getting comfortable.
"Go on then," Severus prodded Harry, watching as those green eyes which had black flecks in them widen before turning to him again unsurely. "The ones with Harry on them are for you," he once again prodded the child softly; he could recognize his own name obviously and write it perfectly with a quill. Severus picked one from under the tree seeing that Harry was overwhelmed and placed it on his lap. Once Harry was happy enough to open them then he'd go back to his seat, which he hoped was soon his knees were beginning to ache.
Harry unwrapped the present carefully, his green eyes glimmering happily, opening the box he found two sacks of stones much like marbles. In each sack was thirty Gobstones - not that Harry knew this, under the sacks was a square piece of wood, with four circles drawn out inside it, not including the black circle in the centre.
"The game is called Gobstones, I'll teach you tomorrow unless you'd like Draco to show you, he's coming over later," Severus said softly, brushing his hand through Harry's hair, Harry deserved the entire world after what he'd been through. He appreciated everything, even the damn paper that he'd used to wrap the presents.
That one gift seemed to break the dam and Harry quickly plucked another gift from the pile, Severus noticed that Harry made sure it was for him before he opened it. He beamed in delight, over a simple pack of new exploding Snap playing cards. Draco and Harry had more than worn out their current packs, and probably lost a few as well, not that it mattered.
Once he was sure Harry was quite happily digging into his presents, Severus stood up, stretched out before moving to sit in his usual seat, Harry watched him go and a nod from Severus he turned back, positively exuding excitement. The chess set was unveiled next, Harry hadn't played yet, but Severus wanted to start him on it, it was a very educational game and one played very often at school, the sooner he learnt the more proficient he would be.
Flippy popped back in with breakfast, placing the platter which was bigger than him on the table after clicking his fingers and making the cup Severus had been using disappear. Picking up his coffee, Severus began drinking his second cup for the day; he would definitely need it since he was going to be enduring Black in his home all day. Admittedly things between them had thawed a little, but Severus would never forgive Black for his actions against him. Sure for most part he gave as good as he got, but he'd never actually tried to kill Black whereas Black had tried to kill him by sending him after a damn werewolf. They were somewhat cordial with each other, but they never discussed anything other than Harry or the Death Eaters and Voldemort.
Black had gone to work as an Auror, the Ministry all too happy to help him due to their mess up by sending him to Azkaban without a trial. Admittedly he had ulterior motives, the Ministry had strengthened up and Sirius hadn't been able to get the information he wanted. Those Black had known were no longer Auror's and even Moody had retired, he hadn't been seen once since Dumbledore's arrest. The letters he wrote the old Auror came back unopened, wherever he was hiding must have very strong wards - that surprised nobody the old man was paranoid - but to stop owls? The paranoia was worse than any of them could have anticipated. While he was not on call, investigating or writing up reports he was searching the basement for any information pertaining to investigating Voldemort after the night James and Lily died. Considering they will have covered it up, the information probably wouldn't be buried the year it happened, they will have buried it where they thought nobody would ever think to look - at least that was their thoughts on the matter.
Remus of course, had a job teaching Harry, with him pre-approving everything Remus wished to teach Harry. He got paid of course, he was absent for three days during the full moon each month and during that time Severus taught Harry himself. Usually in potions, teaching him how to properly prepare the ingredients, the small children's levelled potions kits had been completed months ago, but he had bought Harry new ones which were wrapped up under the tree - it would give them more things to brew. Honestly though, he couldn't wait until he could brew a proper potion with him. If he continued well with the children's potions then he definitely wanted to try, it was his passion and something he honestly wanted to pass on to Harry, something they could do together, something that was just theirs. Having a regular job worked wonders on the werewolf; he was actually wearing decent clothes for Merlin's sake. Or it might have something to do with getting his life back, after scurrying away like a rat on a burning ship the night James and Lily died and Sirius was arrested.
"This is for you daddy!" Harry said, panting out of breath, holding out a Christmas bag (with a moving snowman) a parcel inside that looked…well as if…there was no word that came to mind for Severus as he stared at it. Harry had done his best, and it was the thought that counted - although Severus hadn't realized Harry got him anything…Lucius had taken Draco and Harry out to let Draco get a gift for his mother.
"Thank you, Harry," Severus said, giving him a hug feeling extremely emotional all of a sudden, normally he only received a few gifts, one from Lucius and Narcissa as well as a bag of sweets from Dumbledore and perhaps a bottle of whiskey or some such from Minerva, two he had considered just obligations Lucius and Narcissa usually gave him a card and a voucher for the apothecaries.
Harry stood watching him with those wide green eyes, they were observing him.
Severus removed the parcel and found a card on top, hand made, with 'Happy Yule' written on it, Remus had given Harry a lesson on traditions the wizarding world had observed, even if they had tapered off due to the influx of Muggle-born's or Muggle raised wizards and witches. A hand drawn picture of the manor and a few trees on front and inside Harry's scrawl the words 'To Daddy love Harry' were written in ink. A small smile wormed its way onto his face, standing up; placing the parcel to the side he put the card in a proud place in the centre of the mantel.
Harry looked extremely pleased if the wide smile on his face was anything to go by.
Returning to his seat he unwrapped the messily wrapped present and unveiled the gift Harry had decided to get him. Inside was a figurine, a doe, it was white and almost wispy just like his patronus, just like Lily's patronus. The doe was also something Harry strongly represented with safety as he had placed a variation of the patronus into a globe for Harry who had been scared of the dark; the patronus had been visible even from the globe. He noticed Harry watching, biting his lip repeatedly obviously worried that he wouldn't like it.
"This is the most thoughtful gift I've ever received, thank you Harry," Severus said, wrapping Harry up in a warm embrace. "I love it." Harry had chosen it himself, that made it even more precious to him, while he liked potions, receiving vouchers for ingredients or the ingredients themselves just felt…expected. This hadn't been, it meant something to Harry, and now it meant something to him too. "Why don't you open the rest of your gifts before everyone gets here?" he suggested.
"Can I have breakfast first?" Harry asked much to Severus immense surprise. Children usually wanted to open gifts first, and even after that they rarely ate breakfast too wound up, they just wanted to play with their gifts. He'd assumed Harry would be like that. A lot of his assumptions about today had already been proven wrong, why not this one too?
"Of course," Severus replied, as if his stomach was shouting its agreement, it grumbled. "Go on, sit down, I'll bring it over," he informed him, picking up the hot chocolate and his breakfast he carefully placed the cup on the table next to the couch and placed the plate in his lap.
To his immense surprise the Floo flared to life, twice in the space of a few moments.
"I was not expecting either of you until later," Severus said unimpressed, was time alone with his son on Christmas morning too much to ask?
"Sorry, Severus, I tried to convince him to wait a few hours," Remus said softly, as always playing the peace keeper between both men.
"I found it," Sirius stated, he'd found the evidence that the Ministry had been looking into Voldemort's disappearance despite the fact they said he had been killed that night. "I stayed all night getting the documents, they're only copies but I didn't want to risk that the real ones were charmed to let someone know if they were removed." he had taken the night shift because he wanted to spend some time with Harry on Christmas day. He didn't care that he was tired, Harry was finally accepting him, and by Merlin, he wanted to be part of Harry's life and he was finally getting to. So when he got the invite he made sure he was down for night shift the day before Christmas.
"Not today," Severus said adamantly, "We'll look them over tomorrow at earliest," he wasn't going to sully Harry's first Christmas with whatever was in that damn folder.
"I agree," Remus said vehemently.
"Of course," Sirius nodded his agreement, handing over the folder.
"Happy Yule, Severus, Harry," Remus said handing over a black gift bag; two gifts were stored inside from both himself and Sirius. "These are for you; Sirius has the ones for Harry."
"Have either of you eaten?" Severus asked resignedly, he wasn't going to get rid of them now. Sirius had already wandered over to Harry and sat down beside him, the large bag of gifts next to the tree.
"No, Sirius was adamant about coming right over as soon as he got home, I managed to get him to shower and change but that was it," Remus said in amusement. Smiling at Harry who said Happy Yule back, with a small wave in welcome to both him and Sirius.
"Flippy?" Severus called, once the elf appeared, "Please make two more breakfasts for our guests," the House-elves already knew what Sirius and Remus drank due to their frequency in the manor.
"Why aren't you opening presents?" Sirius asked looking over the gifts Harry had already opened.
"I'm hungry," Harry said plainly as if it made all the sense in the world - which it did to him.
Sirius nodded solemnly, when there was food about Harry was right at it, every time, he didn't play about. Sirius understood that part of Harry probably feared unconsciously that he wouldn't get more so always ate it as soon as it was there. The only time he could seem to forget about it was when he was playing with Draco, but when they were called in Harry went immediately even now. It hit him harder today, since he usually ripped open all his presents as a kid, forgetting about food, and his parents as harsh as they normally were let them enjoy Yule without the ridge pureblood policy coming out to play.
"Excuse me a moment," Severus said, he was going to put the folder in his office, so that he wasn't tempted to peak at it, ensuring Harry knew he would be back, yes despite the fact three months had gone by Harry still constantly looked for him. After his lessons with Remus he always tore through the manor looking for him. It was now that reason that Severus always made sure he was in the living room in time for his 'class' finishing. He had almost had a panic attack when he hadn't been there one day, he'd looked everywhere other than the potions lab he'd been in.
"It does look lovely," Sirius said with a grin, which wiped away seeing Harry grip his food tightly in his hand, eyeing him suspiciously. He'd taken one sweet from him! One sweet! An earwax Berty Bott at that! He hadn't expected him to hoard his food whenever he was around because of it. Sirius raised his hand to declare defeat; he wasn't going to steal his food.
Severus returned quite quickly, placing the gift Harry had got him safely back in the box, not wishing for anything to happen to it despite the fact it could be repaired - nothing looked quite the same when it was repaired magically. He walked over and placed it on his writing desk where it definitely wouldn't be disturbed. He was in fact contemplating on putting it there; he did spend quite a bit of time on this desk after all.
"When will Draco get here, Dad?" Harry asked as he slid off the couch plate in hand, "Flippy?"
"Yes, young master what can Flippy be doing for you?" Flippy asked, gazing adoringly at his young master.
"Here you go, Flippy, thank you!" Harry said, "Happy Yule!"
Flippy's eyes filled with tears, "Happy Yule to you too young Master Harry," he said taking the plate before disappearing with a pop not wishing to make young master think he'd done something wrong so he thought it best to disappear before the tears sprang out. He was never treated like an equal, not in any family he had served, but Harry did all the time.
"Draco will be here in a few hours, before lunch," Severus informed him, "He will be opening and playing with some of his toys and eating breakfast like you." both Draco and Harry thought of each other as 'best friends' Draco didn't need to wear his 'mask' while playing with Harry, and Harry didn't make him feel the need to act superior. If anything the first few months had brought out a fierce protector in Draco, he had learned to care, learned to control his temper after seeing what it did to Harry. He didn't want to lose his friend after all, and Narcissa and Lucius were in awe of the side that Harry brought out in Draco. Harry was good for him, just as Draco's confidence was good for Harry.
Harry nodded eagerly before he sat down again right in the same spot, and began to open the rest of his presents.
I am so sorry for the long wait, truth be told I though the muse for this one had dried up, i feared I'd never finish it - and I hate that thought! I never - ever want to abandon any story of mine so when I have it a try I was surprised by how easily the chapter came - more hope for the muse than I first thought, it's almost finished too, this was always going to be a short story with Harry in his childhood, perhaps one day there will be a sequel but it would be boring i mean it would just be Harry at Hogwarts with Draco probably in Slytherin with barely any troubles...I mean Voldemort is all but taken care of...only his main soul piece remains :) I mean is that something you'd want to read? even Dumbledores going to be in azkaban...what do you think? R&R please