Chance Meeting at the Ink Pot
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse.
The three adults exchanged a pointed look, before Severus stood up and strode to the fireplace. "Albus, Minerva is here with me. Something happened to my former wife, and I had to take my seven-year-old son in at short notice. Minerva and Poppy are joining us for dinner to help us adjust to the situation. Either Minerva or I will be in your office in ten minutes."
"Thank you, Severus. Are you going to bring your son to Hogwarts tomorrow?" the headmaster queried, gently.
"Yes, I'm afraid I don't have a choice," Severus replied calmly and cut off the Floo connection, sighing. 'Thank Merlin I brought him here and only left a copy at the Dursleys,' he thought in relief.
"I'll go," Minerva spoke up and rose from her seat. "Thank Merlin you brought Sirius here on time, so that he's safe and sound."
"Exactly," Severus agreed sternly and turned to his son, while Minerva headed to the fireplace. "Sirius, I don't have to tell you that you must never tell anyone about your previous identity, your former life or the fact that I adopted you today. Everyone has to believe that you have grown up with your mother and came to live with me when she died."
"Yes sir, I know that, and my name is Sirius Snape. I like the name," Harry replied, smiling. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts tomorrow."
"Oh Severus," Poppy suddenly threw in. "What day did you choose for Sirius' birthday? I suppose you changed it to a different date, didn't you?"
"Oh right," Severus remembered. "I changed your birthday to the 25th of March, 1980. This makes you four months older than you are in fact, but I thought it would be better to have the date as different as possible from the real date."
"So far, I didn't have a birthday anyway," Harry mumbled in a small voice and hesitantly told the adults about his uncle's reaction of his question if he had a birthday.
"Oh, Sirius, I promise that you're going to have a birthday this year," Severus said softly. "By the way, I made Aunt Poppy and Aunt Minerva your godmothers. If you ever need me and I'm unavailable for some reason, you can go to either of them. Both of them know everything about you."
"Thank you," Harry said gratefully, feeling very reassured.
They were just about to finish their dessert, when Minerva returned. She stepped over to Harry and pulled him into a bear hug, causing Harry to look at her in surprise. "Thank Merlin you're here, Sirius," she said sombrely. "Sirius, the copy that Severus made, has been injured badly. He is in a coma."
"What happened?" Severus queried, raising an eyebrow at his colleague.
"Albus didn't say," Minerva lied, not wanting to repeat what she had heard in front of the child. "Well, I need to return to Hogwarts. Poppy, will you come with me? When are you going to arrive tomorrow, Severus and Sirius?"
Severus sighed. "In the early afternoon I suppose. I'd appreciate if you could join us in the Headmaster's office when I have to introduce Sirius to him."
"Of course, Severus," Minerva replied gently. "Give me a Floo call, before you leave your quarters. Now, are we going to cast the spell on Sirius' scar now?"
"I believe that would be for the best," Severus agreed and explained to his son, "Sirius, the three of us are going to cast a concealment charm on your scar, which is going to make it invisible to everyone. We'll probably have to renew the charm every few weeks, but it's the only method to hide the scar that we can think of."
"Okay," Harry agreed and anxiously looked at the three adults, who were standing in front of him.
"Don't worry, Sirius. It won't hurt at all," Poppy said soothingly, before Severus counted to three and they simultaneously cast the spell.
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
Harry could barely sleep that night. 'I'm going to go to Hogwarts tomorrow, and I'm going as Sirius, Severus' son. I have a real father now. It will be so cool to live at Hogwarts. I just hope the headmaster won't find out who I am. But what happened to the copy of me they spoke about? Did Uncle Vernon try to kill me?' he could not help wondering.
"Sirius, are you still awake?" he suddenly heard his father's voice.
Severus frowned. Unbeknownst to Sirius, he had looked in on the child every thirty minutes, but the boy still was not sleeping.
"I'm sorry," Harry said in a small voice, looking up at his adoptive father. "Um... What am I supposed to call you, sir?"
Severus remained thoughtful for a moment. "Sirius, you can either continue calling me by my given name, or you can call me father if you feel comfortable enough with it. Sir or Professor wouldn't be very adequate I believe."
"Okay... Severus," Harry replied softly. "I hope the headmaster won't recognise me and send me back."
"Sirius," Severus said soothingly, gently laying his hand on the boy's. "You're my son now, you look very much like me, and you have a completely different name, birthday etc. Not even your scar is visible anymore." 'I hope Albus won't be able to see through our charm, but since we cast it with three persons, it should be all right,' he thought as he continued, "The headmaster won't know, and in the worst case, if he becomes suspicious for some reason, which I cannot imagine at the moment, we'll just leave Hogwarts. Whatever happens, I'm going to be with you. You will not be alone anymore. I promise."
Seeing a smile spread over Sirius' face, Severus added in a soft but firm voice, "And now you're going to sleep, son." He carefully tucked the child in and brushed a kiss on his forehead. As he crossed the room, nox-ing out the single torch he had lit earlier, he unobtrusively spelled a light sleeping potion into the boy's system, smirking as he heard his breathing become more regular before he had even left the room.
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
It was nearly lunchtime, when Harry woke up from a deep sleep, feeling very refreshed. "Good morning," he whispered softly as not to disturb Severus, who was sitting on a chair next to his bed, deeply engrossed in a Potions journal.
"Good morning, Sirius," Severus said in his soft, baritone voice. "I suggest that you take a shower and get dressed. I'd like to leave for Hogwarts right after lunch, so that I have time to show you around the castle before the students are going to come back in the evening."
"Yes sir, err... Severus," Harry replied, suddenly becoming very excited. 'We're going to Hogwarts. I just hope I'll be able to behave as Severus expects it from me.' He hurriedly scrambled out of bed and went to take a shower, gratefully noticing that either Severus or Cicero had already laid out fresh clothes for him.
An hour later, they stepped into the fireplace together, and Harry observed in awe as Severus threw the Floo powder in and shouted, "Severus Snape's quarters, Hogwarts."
When the travel ended and Severus had pulled him out of the fireplace where they had arrived, Harry found himself in a huge but comfortable looking living room. It was round and built around the fireplace. Bookshelves covered every inch of the stone walls that were surrounding the room, only interrupted by a few magical windows that caused the weak rays of the early January sun to turn the room a slightly yellowish colour. A single opening facilitated the view into a short, narrow corridor.
Suddenly, Cicero appeared in front of them. "Master Severus, Master Sirius, welcome back to Hogwarts. The room next to the Master bedroom is prepared for Master Sirius."
"Thank you, Cicero," Severus replied and began to show his son around his quarters.
Harry observed in absolute amazement as the professor touched a book on the fifth row of the shelf in front of them, which caused one part of the shelf to pivot by ninety degrees, revealing another room behind it.
"This is my office," Severus explained gently. "You may only enter my office if the door is open or if it's an emergency."
"Yes sir," the boy replied automatically.
"The same goes for my bedroom, which is the room with the black door," Severus continued, leading Harry back through the living room into the small corridor he had seen earlier, "and my private potions lab, which is behind the silver door. The room with the blue door is your room, and the one with the green door the bathroom. The brown door at the end of the hall leads into a small herb garden, where I grow special ingredients I need for my potions. I'll show you the garden later on."
"Wow, this looks like my room at home," Harry blurted out happily as he stepped into the room with the blue door behind Severus.
"Indeed." Severus smirked. "Do you need me to change the colours in order for you to know if you're at home or here, Sirius?" He raised an eyebrow at the child in amusement.
"No thank you," Harry laughed. "I'm sure I'll be able to remember where I am, and I just love this room as it is. Apart from that, the view from the window is different. Even if it shows a lake like at home, the lake here is larger, and I can see a village at the far end. There is also not such a big fish in the lake at Prince Manor."
"That's not a fish, it's a squid," Severus corrected him, following Harry's eyes out to the lake, where the Giant Squid was playing in the sunshine. "Very well, Sirius; are you ready to pay the headmaster a visit?"
Harry threw his adoptive father a frightened look, but nodded, reminding himself that he was not alone. "Sirius, before we leave, I want to give you something," Severus suddenly said. He pulled something out of his robe pocket, showing it to the boy. "This is a family heirloom of the Prince family. This pendant, of which I have the equivalent on a chain around my neck, will inform me whenever you're in danger, and through my own pendant I'll be able to get to you wherever you are within seconds."
Harry looked at the pendant, on which an animal that he couldn't recognise was moving around. "What kind of animal is this?" he asked softly, handing the pendant back to his father.
"That's a lynx, Sirius. It's the family animal of the Prince family," Severus explained gently. He carefully fastened the silver necklace around his son's neck. "Never take it off, Sirius. It might save your life one day, and more importantly, it will protect you from a form of magic called Legilimency."
"Yes... Father," Harry replied in a hardly audible whisper.
Severus leaned over to his son and carefully lifted the boy's fringe to make sure that the scar wasn't visible at all. "Very well then, let's go."
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
Together, the two Snapes headed to the headmaster's office. It took them a while to walk through the empty halls of the slumbering castle, because Harry looked at each of the moving pictures in absolute amazement, and the witches in the pictures couldn't refrain from cooing over the sweet little boy. By the time they finally reached the gargoyle, Severus was torn between annoyance and amusement.
"Jumping chocolate frogs," he gave the password and quietly led his son up to the office.
Both Snapes inwardly sighed in relief as they saw that Minerva was with the headmaster, playing wizard's chess.
"Minerva, Albus," Severus greeted his colleagues. "Albus, this is my son Sirius."
Dumbledore looked up in surprise. "Sirius?" he queried, glancing at Harry with interest.
Before Harry could reply, Severus spoke up. "My wife and I parted on somewhat unfriendly terms, before the boy was born, and knowing my dislike of a certain mutt she decided on the name to get back at me. But it could have been worse; I praise Merlin that I was not on bad terms with Xenophilius Lovegood."
"Hello Professor, hello Aunt Minerva," Harry said softly, causing the Headmaster to frown.
"Aunt Minerva?"
Severus let out a long sigh. 'Things can't get worse now, can they?' he thought as he explained, "Sirius' mother was a Muggle. Therefore, he was not registered with the Ministry of Magic, and since neither he nor I knew his former godparents, I made Minerva and Poppy his godmothers."
"I see," Dumbledore replied gently and offered Sirius a lemon drop, which the boy politely declined.
"How do you like Hogwarts so far, Sirius?" Minerva asked gently.
"I love it," Harry blurted out. "Severus' quarters have books everywhere, and I also love the moving pictures in the halls. The people in the pictures are very nice."
"How old are you, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked friendly, absentmindedly unwrapping a lemon drop.
"I'm seven," Harry replied anxiously, throwing his father an unsure look.
"He'll be eight on the twenty-fifth of March," Severus supplied helpfully.
"Oh right; let's see if he has an entry in the register of magical children," the Headmaster suddenly remembered and fetched an old tome from his shelf. "Ah, here he is. 'Sirius Severus Snape, March 25th, 1980'. Very well, Sirius, then you'll be a student here in three and a half years."
"Yes sir," Harry replied softly, glancing at the enormous book with interest.
'Sirius would prefer to become a student right away,' Severus thought, taking in his son's slightly disappointed expression.
"Severus, what are you going to do with him at Hogwarts during the day?" Dumbledore asked. "Did Sirius attend a Muggle primary school so far?"
"Yes sir."
"I intend to home school the boy," Severus replied slowly. "Cicero and I will take turns teaching Sirius. Cicero will teach him and watch him do his assignments, while I'm in class, and afterwards I'll teach him myself. I'm even considering taking him to class with me, at least to the lower classes. Sirius is very fond of books. During the week he has been staying with me, he has already read all the Hogwarts first year school books."
"Very well," Dumbledore agreed. "If you need any help, come to me and we'll see what we can do."
'That's a little late, Albus,' Severus mused as he slightly inclined his head and thanked the headmaster.
"Sirius, the same goes for you. Come to see me at any time, and please join your father for the meals in the Great Hall. You may either sit at the head table with your father and the other teachers or at one of the house tables with the students."
"Yes sir. Thank you sir," Harry replied politely, curiously letting his eyes wander around the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm glad Sirius at least has a father. Did Minerva tell you what happened to Harry Potter last night?"
"No," Severus replied in confusion. "Why would I care what happened to a 'Potter'?" he asked, spitting the last word in disgust. 'Don't worry, Sirius; you know that I'm only feigning,' he quickly thought to his son.
"He was hit by a car, driven by his own uncle," Dumbledore explained gravely. "He is in a coma. Maybe I shouldn't have left him with Muggles but raised him at Hogwarts. He's about the same age as Sirius. If he recovers, I'll think about bringing Harry here at least for a few hours each day. He could have private classes together with Sirius."
"No Albus," Severus replied vehemently. "I will not have my son grow up together with a Potter." At the same time, his thoughts went haywire. 'The copy is going to vanish some time during the next few months, and none of us wants to be nearby when it happens.'
The Headmaster let out a long sigh. "Oh Severus, my boy, are you still bearing grudges? So many years have passed since your own Hogwarts days."
"Not enough," Severus growled, inwardly sighing in annoyance.
"Albus, leave Severus and Sirius in peace," Minerva added causing Harry to throw her a grateful look. The professor had been so quiet that he had nearly forgotten that she was present.
"Very well, Minerva. We'll still think about what to do with Harry, provided that he wakes up from his coma any time soon. By the way, Severus, why didn't you take the opportunity to change your son's name, when you registered him with the Ministry, if you don't mind me asking?" Dumbledore asked softly. "I'm sure that name holds at least as many bad memories for you as James Potter's."
Severus sighed, realising that his son was looking at the Headmaster in shock.
tbc...
Thank you so much for your kind comments!