Lost and Found
Chapter 10: Old Habits New Storms
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I would be a millionaire instead of crying because I'm so happy I had actual meat and not the stuff from a can. I only own an actual cat named Evan who's actually pretty giant and actually has tea parties with me when I'm lonely and pathetic like a proper gentleman. And Canan, he's mine too. Also I own Zannie. Who is Zannie? Read and find out! Everything else belongs to J.K Rowling.
Authors notes:
Arwengeld I love your reviews. This chapter was very important to me too. All four of them need to rebuild their lives and I feel like the four of them together can help each other out. I don't think it would be fair to any of them to recover without a support system. I've always felt the same way about Dumbledore. I found his character to be far too manipulative for my liking when Severus found out that Dumbledore kept him alive "like a pig for slaughter" it turned my view of who was really darkest in this story on its head. I can't look at him as just a wise old man. And with his quest to be a master over death well... Let's just say interesting things are in store. What happens to the Dursulys and Dudley will be covered in this chapter so keep reading to find out. I haven't quite decided what to do with Harry when it comes time for Hogwarts just yet. Not in any sort of detail any way. But I don't think Neville, my sweet little cupcake blossom, will be in Gryffindor or Slytherin. I will give that away.
KlaineDrarry21 I'm happy to hear that you love it. I've worked very hard on this story, so everyone's positive feedback on this story means a lot to me. Reviews telling me that they love this story are nothing short of heartwarming. :)
oXCrystelAngelXo he will meet Draco, but I apologize because I just got your review as I was about to post this chapter and I didn't write them meeting each other. I'm sorry!
Also: WARNING BLOOD IN THIS CHAPTER
The days turned to weeks. The weeks turned to months. The blood wards were erected. The Fidelius charm had been cast at the cabin. Dumbledore had been frantic when he found out Sirius had been released and claimed custody of Harry and had been searching for them tirelessly. Some quick spell work on the Dursleys, who were currently serving a very lengthy sentence, ensured that they couldn't speak of who had come with Sirius to retrieve Harry Potter and barriers that prevented Dumbledore from delving into their mind were placed. Dudley, who as it turned out, either had very weak magic ability or was a squib, ended up having the same charms placed on him, as did his new guardian, Arabella Figg. It turned out that Lilly Evans was not a muggle born, but a half blood as her great grandmother had been a witch and the family hadn't known it due to the statues of secrecy. It had skipped two generations when it first showed itself in Lilly. None the less, Dudley Dursley was now safe and getting a healthy dose of reality with Arabella. Severus turned 27. Canan, Harry and Draco had become as thick as thieves. Severus' tentative friendship with Sirius had been slowly growing closer. There were still days Severus couldn't stand the man but they had grown less and less over the months. It was now early April and the snow had melted and the leaves on the trees began to bud and the first spring blossoms were beginning to bloom. It was on the ninth of April, when Severus had brought Canan home to Spinner's End for the weekend, when the boy reached the next big milestone. Severus had been preparing lunch when Canan came into the kitchen, Evan following close behind, with his hand in his pocket. "Dad, I um, have something I was hoping you could help me with."
Severus puts down the knife he had been using to cut the vegetables for the soup and turns to his son. "You know I'll help you with whatever you need sweetheart. Is this something that will take a moment or is this something we should sit down to talk about?" He asks. "This is something we should talk about." He says, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Evan hopped into the seat next to him as if he were expecting a cup of tea to be served to him, and Severus takes the seat on his other side. "So um, I was hoping you could charm something for me." He says, hazel eyes looking uncertainty into his black ones. "I would be happy to charm something for you Canan, so long as that charm doesn't harm you. Now what is it you want?" Canan takes his scissors out of his pocket and sets them on the table. "I was hoping you could charm them so that they can't cut flesh and so that only you can remove the charm. I don't want to hurt myself ever again." He explains, bringing a smile to Severus, but at the same time he had to make sure Canan understood. "I would love nothing more than to do this for you but I want to make sure you know what your asking first. Your asking me to take control of what's been your coping mechanism for a while. This is the only thing you had control over until you came to Hogwarts. This is a big step for you, and I'm proud of how far you've come with talking to me about it and coming to me when you do hurt yourself to make sure it's treated correctly. I just want to make sure your ready for this." Severus says, searching Canan's face. "I know dad. I'm ready for it." Severus pats his cheek. "Why is it you want to stop now?" He asks, hoping Canan would give him all the right reasons. "For myself to begin with. I don't want to rely on bad habits forever because they feel bad when their done feeling good. But I also don't want Harry to copy me, and I don't want you to worry. I love both of you too much to make you go through that." He says. Severus felt a tear in his eye. "Those are all the right reasons and I'm so proud of you Canan. Is this the only thing you've been using?" Canan nods. "I learned not to use my potions knife after you told me what could happen if I'm cutting poisonous ingredients." He explains.
"All right. If you start feeling like it's too much, come get me. I don't care if I'm in the middle of a potion or a class." He says, casting a non verbal spell over the scissors and giving them back to his son. "I'm proud of you Canan. This was a huge step. Now if you want to stay in the kitchen and give your Panther a cup of cat nip tea your more than welcome. Lunch is nearly ready." He says and Canan grabs a vile of cat nip extract and puts some of it in a tea cup and fills it with water. "He's not a panther dad." He giggles and places the 'tea' before the animal who starts lapping it up, but keeping his paws off the table like a proper gentleman. "The size of him could have fooled me." He returns as he adds the tomatoes he had been cutting into the soup.
Just as the lid was placed on the soup, Sirius's face appeared in the fire place. "Severus, I need you to bring some groceries by later. And I need to talk to you about something important." He says. Severus rolls his eyes. "On a scale of Filch falling for a Weasley prank to Dumbledore how important is it?" He asks, setting the table for lunch. "Somewhere between Voldemort and Dumbledore." Sirius replies. "Okay. Canan and I will have a quick lunch then go to the market and bring you a few things." He says, grabbing the bread from the oven and putting a slice with both their soup bowls. "Okay. And bring some of that bread with you. Whenever I try and make it it's hard as a rock." Severus chuckles. "Duly noted. Do you have a grocery list?" The head in the fire place nods. "I'll send it through right now." He says and the fire flares green and a parchment flies into his hand. "Okay. Expect us in an hour and a half to two hours." He says, glancing at the list, wondering if he should get the man a house elf to do the cooking for him. Everything on the list was either frozen, ready to eat or canned. This wouldn't do and it wasn't good for Harry.
After ladling his and Canan's soup into bowls and sitting at the table, he pours them both a goblet of pumpkin juice. "Do you want to come with me to the cabin and see your brother?" He asks. Canan nods his head excitedly. "Can we play in the cellar again?" He asks excitedly. "I think that's a wonderful idea. We're going to go to the market real quick first and then we'll floo directly there with groceries for him and Sirius." He explains. Canan went on to list all the things he wanted to do with his brother excitedly as they are their lunch, cleaned up, and went to the floo. He stopped just long enough to grab his Dad's arm and for him to call their location. A wizarding farmers market.
After looking around a moment, he spots a house elf sitting in an alcove wearing a little hat and crying with a bottle of fire whisky. Severus walked over to the elf. "What's troubling you elf?" He asks. "Master gave Zannie a hat. Zannie loves working for his master, but master thinks house elves should be free. Zannie wants to work for master though." He sobs. "Well Zannie, I'm in need of an elf to take care of a couple friends of mine. Their staying in a protected location, and the man doesn't even know how to cook for his charge. I don't know about you, but I think such a thing is unacceptable." He informs the elf. "Zannie agrees. Zannie will bond with new master and watch over his friends!" Says the determined little creature who reminded him of the Malfoy elf. "Very good. Thank you very much Zannie." He says. "What is Master's name?" The elf asks, looking up at the wizard with his huge eyes. "Severus Snape." He answers and feels the elf bond to him. "What should Zannie be doing for master?" He asks, taking Severus' shopping basket. "You can begin with carrying this and point out anything you may need in addition to what I get." He says, walking out of the alcove to the stalls and grabs Canan's hand. "Stay close to me." He orders and starts grabbing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables before turning down another row of stalls and gets a bag of flour, yeast, oats, sugar, milk, butter, honey, salt, cheese, and spices. The next row he buys beef, chicken, pork, lamb and quail. "Is there anything else you need Zannie?" He asks the elf, who nods his head. "Will Master's friends be needing anything to drink?" He asks. "I have stuff I can bring them at my home." He replies. "Okay. I will bring the stuff to Master's home and we be going to where Master's friends now?" He asks. "That is correct. Canan take my arm. We'll see you when we get there." Severus says, holding his arm out to Canan. The elf disappeared with a crack and Severus appeared in his home seconds later.
He floo calls Sirius to tell the man that they were on their way and grabs a loaf of bread before stepping into the fireplace with Canan. "Snape Cottage." He calls and their sucked through the floo to find Harry and Sirius waiting for them on the other side. The two boys were immediately embracing each other and whispering, decidedly up to no good. "Zannie!" He calls so the elf would know where to come and the elf was there in a crack with the basket of food. "Daddy, Harry and I are going to the cellar to play!" Calls Canan as Harry grabs his hand and drags him to the cellar as the elf puts the basket of food down. Sirius raises an eyebrow at his presence. "I deduced from your grocery list that you can't cook Sirius. I can't believe Lucius and Narcessia would let you feed Harry muggle TV dinners all the time. I found Zannie at the market and he was in need of a new master, as his old one thought himself something of a humanitarian, and he bonded himself to me. He'll be making sure both you and Harry get proper meals." He says as the elf starts putting things away. "And you won't be fully reliant on the Malfoy's and I for your food, should you find yourselves in a situation where we're not available." Sirius nods his head. "Thank you Severus. Now care for a drink while we talk?" He asks.
"I'm fine." He says, going to the sitting room and taking a seat in one of the plush chairs as Sirius pours himself two fingers of fire whiskey. When he joins Severus he takes a seat in the chair next to his. "So I had the goblin in charge of the Black vaults placed as the manager of the Potter and Evans vaults." He says, taking a sip of his liquor and placing it at the table. "And I asked for statements on both accounts. I found that Lilly had never claimed the Evans vault. She hadn't been aware of it's existence. Two large sums of money were transferred to the Gaunt and Lestrange vaults on Halloween of 1981. What happened to the Potters, and Alice and Frank Longbottom was a hit. Someone payed Voldemort and Bellatrix off to get them out of the way, and it was someone who knew about the prophecy. That's only a handful of people." Severus was silent for a minuet. "Do you know who it was?" He finally asks when his shock finally leaves him. "That someone would have had to have been related to Lilly on their maternal line. I requested a copy of the Evans family tree." He says and hands it to him.
Severus looks at the tree, searching for a link to anyone who knew. Any members of the order. He sees a link to the Weasley family that was 600 years old. That must have been where Lilly got her red hair from. "It was Author?" Asks Severus. Sirius shakes his head. "Keep going. It was a different branch of the Weasley family. There's a more recent one." He says, taking another sip. Severus traveled up the family tree, starting with Lilly, going to her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, who had been the last witch or wizard to carry the name Evans. He travels up to her father, Lilly's great great grandfather, up to his father, and his eyes settle on the man's sister. Lilly's great great great aunt had been married to a member of the Dumbledore family. The same branch as Lilly, who got her red hair from the Weasely family had also given Albus his red hair before it turned white. In fact, the great great great aunt was Albus Dumbledore's maternal grandmother. "I think it's safe to say we know who did it. It's common knowledge that Albus controls the Dumbledore vaults and seats on the Wizengamot because his brother is a recluse."
"What could Dumbledore have to gain from killing members of his own order?" Severus asks as Sirius takes another sip. "I don't know, but he left a paper trail. Maybe the Longbottoms and Potters were in his way. Maybe he wanted to be the one to defeat Voldemort. It's been a long time since Grindelwald. But that's only conjecture." He murmurs, pouring another drink after finishing the first one. "I guess the why isn't so important. We know our doubts were founded." He says, looking at his shoes. "What if he's dark? What if he's only after glory? So many what if's. I don't think that's as important as what he is. And in a word, he's dangerous." He continued, playing with his sleeves. The both of them stare into the fire. "Have you told Lucius yet?" He asks. Sirius nods his head. "I have. He's asked Allistor to look into it, but there's no telling how long it will take. A paper trail is a paper trail. Nothing more than a lead. And with a man with that kind of power, you need all the cards in your hands in order to nail him." Sirius says, downing the glass.
Severus watches him pour another drink, starting to grow a bit nervous as he smelled the drink. "Sirius don't you think you've had quite enough? That's some very strong liquor." He says, pulling on the buttons on his cuffs. "I'm fine Severus." He assures him, but a popping behind them startles the man into dropping the glass, which promptly shatters on the ground. Twin giggles could be heard as two black haired brothers run outside, cackling at their mischief. "I'm so sorry. Let me clean this up!" Severus says quickly, getting out of his chair and scooping the glass up in his hands. "Severus what are you doing!?" Sirius asks, banishing the glass from his hands. The younger man's behavior was beyond odd.
When the glass was gone from his hands, blood was coating the palms and running down his forearms instead of off his fingers due to the position his hands were at. Severus hadn't answered his question. He was just staring at his hands wide eyed. "Severus?" Sirius asks softer this time. He still didn't respond. "Zannie!" He calls and the elf appears with a crack. "What happened to Master?" He asks, seeing the blood and the far off look on his face. "I'm trying to figure that out. I need you to make sure the boys don't come in and see this. I'll take care of him." Says Sirius, taking Severus to the nearest sink and grabbing the first aid kit. "Shit! What do I do?" He asks himself, turning on the faucet to clean the cuts. He casts a quick charm to stop the bleeding and takes a few deep breaths. So far so good. The next thing he does is rolls up Severus' sleeves to clean the blood off. It was a pretty hopeless situation. He would keep getting blood all over his skin unless he changed him to a dry shirt. He quickly runs to the closet in his bedroom and grabs the first clean shirt he could find. "Severus snap out of it." He says, grabbing a couple wash cloths and having him sit down. Severus blinks after a moment and looks over at Sirius, then at his hands. He didn't say a word, but the older man could tell that he had snapped out of what's did trance he had been in. It had only been about a minuet and a half but it had still scared the hell out of Sirius.
"Severus, what just happened?" He asks, wetting one of the wash cloths. "Sirius I told you about my father and how he was a violent man. I would rather not elaborate further." He explains. Sirius nods understandingly. "Okay. I won't make you talk about it but if you ever want to I'm here for you. Now get the bloody shirt off so I can clean the blood off you." He orders. Severus pulls off his button down shirt but shakes his head. "I can clean it myself Black." He protests. "Not with your hands in that kind of shape." He replies, taking one of his forearms and wiping the blood off, moving to his hand where the actual cuts were. "This may sting a bit." He says, dabbing away the blood gently before moving onto the next arm as Severus bit his lip to keep from making a sound. After a minuet he finished with the other hand and carefully dried then off before pouring some wound cleaning potion onto the other wash cloth. "I'm not going to lie. This one will sting like a bitch." He says, dabbing it around and into the cuts. Severus closed his eyes and hissed in pain as the potion cleansed the cuts of bacteria. "Okay. Let's get those bandaged up." He says and pulls a roll of gauze out of the first aid kit and wraps it around his hands, wisely choosing not to comment on anything else he saw.
"Okay. Here's one of my shirts. I'll have this one washed." He says, handing Severus a long sleeved black V neck shirt. It would be big on him, but if would still serve the function of clothing the man and he puts it on. The shirt sleeves covered half his hands and reached down to his thighs, but Severus couldn't deny that it was comfortable. "I'll start brewing a potion to mend the cuts." Severus murmurs and Sirius shakes his head. "You tell me what to do. Your hands are too mangled." He says, walking out of the bathroom with Severus following. "Okay. Thank you for helping me with this." Says Severus, offering a modest smile. "It's no trouble. Now what do you say we let the boys in. Their a bit freaked out no doubt." Sirius suggests and Severus nods his head. "Canan's probably blaming himself. That can't be allowed to continue." He says and walks to the door, banishing any blood he saw with his wand. "Your son has a kind heart. Let's make sure he's calm and have Zannie start on dinner. I'll brew that potion for your hands and you two stay for dinner. Deal?" He asks. "Deal." Severus agrees, allowing Sirius to open the door so as to not reopen his cuts.
"Canan, Harry, you can come in now." Severus calls, immediately finding himself with two armfuls of children. "I'm sorry Daddy." He says, clinging to his shirt like a limpet. Severus gets down on his knees to get on Canan's level. "I accept your apology Canan. Sirius and I were just a bit surprised by your prank. You couldn't foresee the consequences and you didn't intend to do any harm. Neither Sirius nor I are mad at either of you. And what happened isn't your fault. It's nobody's fault. So don't blame yourself." He says, hugging the child close to him and kissing the top of his head. "Thanks Daddy!" He sobs, burying his face against his chest. "It's nothing sweet heart. Now dry those tears. Sirius and I will make a potion that will have my hands taken care of by the end of the week, and he invited us to stay for dinner. Doesn't that sound nice?" He asks. Canan nods his head and wipes his eyes with the back of his hands. "That's much better. Now let's go inside." He says, kissing the top of his head again and standing up. "Okay." He says, clinging to his arm and taking him inside.
Sirius couldn't help but smile at the sight of him with his son. He really brought Severus out of his stony shell. Before their seventh year at Hogwarts, he hadn't seen the man as human, but when he ran into him after the year ended, after losing his child, something about the boy had seemed so broken. But they weren't boys now. They were men, and Severus had his son back. And Severus would probably hex him into eternity if he said it, but he was a natural mother. He was nurturing, patient, kind, over protective to a touch, and empathetic. He couldn't help but see the man in a new light. The man had allowed himself to be vulnerable to an old enemy to help the child of a man who had hurt him unforgivably. He had opened up to him and had allowed Sirius go take care of him just now. And it felt nice to him. People said a lot of things about Severus. That he was an ugly git, that he was a bastard. But Sirius saw who he really was. He was far from ugly. He didn't put a whole lot of effort into his appearance mind you, but that being said he looked much better than most people who just rolled out of bed, showered, shaved, and brushed their hair and teeth. Yes the man could be cold, but the people who called him a bastard didn't know the first thing about what he has been through. It was then, as they were walking inside, Sirius realized that his feelings for the man had somehow changed. As he was brewing the potions for his hands, he couldn't for the life of him figure out how.
Squirrel note: please review. I'll love you forever.
