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Chapter 22Harry stretched lithely in his bed, glorying in the soft sheets and comfortable mattress. He had never slept in a bed as comfortable as the beds at Snape manor before he came here. He had never known that such beds existed. As he registered the presence of his lover next to him he nearly purred in delight. He tugged the sheets further down, discovering a deliciously naked Bill waiting for him to devour. Harry moved further down on the bed and began lightly stroking his lover's semi hard member, coaxing him to readiness. Within moments he was fully hard and Harry bent down to take him in his mouth.
Bill shot awake at this new sensation, finally aware that this was not, in fact, a dream. "Good morning, love" he whispered in a sleep gravely voice. Harry didn't pause his ministrations but simply smiled as much as he could around the rather large cock that filled his mouth and reached down to stroke himself. Bill twisted his hands in Harry's hair to hold him closer and groaned as Harry took him in deeper. Before long Harry could sense that Bill was getting close. He redoubled his efforts and twisted his other hand up to massage Bill's balls lightly, swallowing around the twitching cock. Within moments Bill had shouted his way to completion and lay gasping on the bed, Harry quickly following.
Harry sat up, smirking. "Enjoy your wake up call?"
"Mmm. Very nice. Now go away you little pest and let me sleep." Bill tried to roll over onto his stomach but Harry lay down in front of him, right where he wanted to lay. Bill rolled his eyes and stayed on his side, pulling Harry in closer to him, tucking Harry's head under his chin and throwing a leg over Harry's thighs. "Sleepy. Go 'way."
"I can't very well go away when you're holding me down" Harry said lightly. He was silent for a few moments before he continued; this time much more quietly. "Today's the day that Severus is going to the Dursleys. I can't sleep."
Bill heard the barely masked terror in Harry's voice and stopped feigning sleep. "Severus will never give you up, Harry. He will do whatever it takes to get them to sign the papers. I have full faith in him. He will never let the muggles near you again."
Harry looked him in the eyes, trying to see if Bill was merely placating him. When he was finally convinced that Bill was speaking from the heart he gave a small, jerky nod.
"Let's go get some breakfast, love. If you are determined to be up this early then I need some coffee." Bill rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the wardrobe to pull out some sleep pants. Harry smiled a bit at the sight of his exhausted lover and went over to walk with him downstairs, not bothering to put on real clothes either. As they opened the door they saw Hermione's door open as well. Hermione, of course, was already fully dressed and ready for the day. She rolled her eyes at the boys' sleep mussed hair and Bill's semi-clad state and joined them for the short walk to the balcony for breakfast.
Bill was slightly surprised to see a wide-awake Severus Snape sitting on the balcony but he covered his shock quickly. He didn't know how he himself was awake and functioning after the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, much less Severus. Severus drank nearly twice what any of the Weasleys had drank and had done so twice as quickly. Clearly, the man could hold him liquor.
"Good morning" Severus said with considerably less snark than usual. He was still somewhat subdued by the events of the evening before as well as nervous about how to present the custody papers to Harry.
"Morning" Harry muttered while Bill merely grunted. He was entirely too hung over to make coherent conversation without some coffee. His earlier romp in the bed had been a miracle of epic proportions. Only Harry would have been able to coax any sort of response out of him after the previous night's binge. Merlin's balls, he hadn't even gone to bed until around 3 a.m. Waking up at 7, regardless of how wonderful the blowjob had been, was not an experience he hoped to ever relive.
Hermione, much more awake and always more aware of her manners than the two boys, greeted the potions master properly as the three sat down. Harry grabbed a small muffin and put it on his plate and then stared into his coffee cup as if he expected it to give him the answers to life. When Bill nudged him to start eating he finally picked up the muffin but he only proceeded to tear it into little pieces, none of which actually made it into his mouth.
Bill entered a glaring contest of sorts with Severus before he finally won. Severus cleared his throat. "Harry…Tallis." Merlin, he didn't know how to do this. He didn't want to have Harry upset at him for having lied to him the day before. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? Beads of sweat started forming as he frantically tried to think of a good way to ease into this conversation. "I have obtained custody of you." Hmm. Well, perhaps that didn't so much ease into the conversation as it did simply throw Harry into the middle of it.
Harry blinked twice, completely shocked. He sat in silence for a moment, not daring to believe that he had heard his father correctly. Severus was growing more and more nervous, uncertain exactly what Harry's reaction was. Was Harry mad at him for doing this without him?
Finally, Harry looked up at him. "It's done?"
Severus stood and walked over to his son's seat, pulling out a copy of the signed papers as he went. He laid them in front of his son, allowing him to see for himself.
Harry carefully read through the documents, checking every word. He stood abruptly and he craned his head back to look into his father's eyes. "It's really true. You're really my father now? You won't give me back?"
"Never, Harry. Even without the papers I wouldn't have given you back to them. Now I am just certain that no one could take you away from me."
Harry gave his father a shaky smile and he peeled his shirt off. Severus looked confused but he didn't say anything. His son was eccentric at the best of times. He tried not to comment anymore on his strange behavior. Harry reached out and grabbed his right wrist, pulling his hand towards him without actually touching him. He grabbed a sharp knife from the table and sliced his father's hand open, allowing the blood to run freely. Severus still didn't say anything, although he was starting to get an idea of what was happening.
Harry pulled his father's bleeding hand toward him and placed it in the center of the large circle of runes on his chest. As soon as the blood touched his skin the runes started to glow a pulsing platinum. Harry began to hiss softly in parseltongue, a long and unintelligible chant. When he finished he let go of his father's hand and touched the blood that had dripped down his chest and stomach and collected some on his fingers to brush over the bands on his wrists and ankles. He repeated a shorter but similar chant with each new band. He finally turned his back to his father for the first time in Severus' memory.
Somehow, Severus knew exactly what his son wanted him to do. He reached for the knife again and made an identical cut on his left hand and then placed his cut hand on top of the last circle of runes that filled the middle of his son's back. When he touched it all of the runes began to glow a deep, burnished gold. Hermione gasped quietly and Bill looked surprised but remained silent. Finally, the runes returned to their original black and Harry turned back to his father.
"May I touch you now?" Severus asked softly, almost fearing the response.
Harry gave a jerky nod.
Severus reached out and pulled his son into his arms, clasping him tightly to his chest. The two men hugged each other, completely ignoring the blood that covered Harry's chest and back as well as the blood that still fell from Severus' hands.
"Why now? Why not before? I was still your father before I had the papers."
"I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure you wouldn't get tired of me and give me away. I wasn't sure you wanted me" Harry said softly, muffled against his father's chest.
Severus sighed and hugged Harry tighter. "Of course I wanted you Harry. I could never give my son away. You'll always be my son."
Ron walked in, ignoring the Potions Master and his friend and took Harry's empty seat next to Bill. He downed Harry's extremely sweet coffee, grimaced, and poured a second cup as he tore into Harry's shredded muffin. When he finished that and was piling Harry's plate high with more food he finally noticed everyone staring at him.
"What?"
"Didn't you notice anything, Ronald?" Hermione asked tartly.
"Mmm…Harry's about three seconds away from giving up any pretence of being a boy and is going to turn into a girl? Honestly, mate, sometimes I worry about you. I can't take this much lovey dovey schlock this early in the morning. Least you're covered in blood though…that's kind of manly. But truly, it's taken my appetite clean away." Harry looked pointedly at Ron plate that was overflowing with food. "Well…at least wait 'til lunch next time. A bloke's gotta get in a good breakfast." Harry laughed and sat down on Bill's lap to continue with breakfast. "Good job though mate," he said quietly to Harry, although the others caught his softly spoken words.
Bill smiled lightly at his brother's words and Harry reached over to punch Ron hard in the arm. "Oi! What the hell was that for Potter?"
"Just clarifying my sexual identity for you. Any questions?"
"Very macho, Harry" Hermione observed factually as she spread more marmalade on her toast.
"You know, you would have been a bit more convincing in your macho display had you not been sitting on my brother's lap."
Severus gave a small smile and began his breakfast with much greater enthusiasm than he had before now that he was no longer nervous. Who knew the youngest Weasley could be funny? He would never admit to thinking such a thing but there had been a few times that he had to catch himself from laughing at something Weasley had said.
Bill absently cast a cleaning spell on his lover to remove the excess blood as Harry started to add absurd quantities of sugar and milk to Bill's coffee to make it the way he liked it. Bill rolled his eyes. Looks like he would have to drink his coffee Harry-style today.
"So what the hell was all that anyway? Or do I not want to know?"
"My father got custody of me this morning" Harry announced proudly. Severus' head shot up at Harry's words: this was the first time he had called him "father." Harry looked at him nervously, awaiting a judgement. Severus smiled at his son and continued his meal.
"So Harry, or I suppose it should be Tallis now, shouldn't it?" Harry nodded quickly. He was eager to put Harry Potter behind him and start life as Tallis Snape. "Can we use the lab today to work on the potion? I'm not certain about a few steps and maybe the three of us can work it out" Hermione said, also looking to the Professor for affirmation. She hoped that he would be working with them. As good as she and Harry were it could never hurt to have a master help them.
"That would probably be a good idea."
"Oi Mione! What about me and Bill?"
"I'm going to work today. I can't call off forever. Some of us have jobs, you know."
"What about me then? I can help too."
"No!" Hermione and Harry shouted at the same time. Severus smirked. He was glad he didn't have to be the one to turn the Gryffindor down. The boy was truly wretched at potions. Ron didn't look terribly surprised, just resigned to his fate. Clearly, it was rare for his son and Granger to allow Weasley to help them with experimental potions.
"So what am I going to be doing?"
"Do you know what a focus stone looks like?" Severus asked suddenly.
"Yes, why?"
"I believe we have found something for you to do" he said, smirking evilly at Bill. Bill realized what Ron would be doing and looked relieved that he wouldn't have to do it himself. "You may go to the Snape vaults at Gringotts and find the Snape focus stone and bring it back. I'm not entirely certain where it is. It may be in vault 276 but it could be in any number of other vaults in my wing." Ron looked a bit put out at the goose chase he was about to begin. "While you are there you may look through anything you find to see if anything may be of use for us later. I will send Tayle with you to ensure that you don't stumble upon anything particularly dark."
Ron perked up a bit at hearing this. Focus stones were rare but not enough so that it would be terribly exciting to look for one. Being allowed to look through centuries of Snape artifacts though, would be incredible. They were an incredibly wealthy family with powerful contacts. They were sure to have some fascinating relics in the vaults as well as some useful books and scrolls. Maybe he could find something to help his friend out in the war.
"I'll come help you when I have breaks and I'll meet you for lunch" Bill said, knowing how lonely it could get in those enormous vaults when you had to spend the entire day there. Ron looked a bit relieved at this.
"When you are ready to come home you may take your portkey back here. I will make you a more permanent one than your letter later on but for now, please simply reuse that." Everyone continued their breakfast quietly for a moment, enjoying the lovely morning.
"Were you able to get any of my things when you went by the Dursley's?" Harry asked hesitantly. He didn't particularly want to bring up his muggle relatives but he wanted his books and photo album, at the very least. When he had run away he had only had time to pack a small satchel of clothes and his invisibility cloak. Everything else had had to stay there.
Severus looked startled. "I'm sorry, Tallis. I didn't think of it. I can go get them immediately if you wish. Or perhaps the Weasleys can go by there on their way to or from Gringotts." He noticed that his son seemed to think that he had simply "dropped by" the Dursleys this morning, handed them the paper and then promptly left. He decided to leave him with the delusion. He knew that no matter how richly the wretched creature had deserved what he had done to him that Tallis would object to the punishment. He never saw himself as worthy of anyone's defense or protection. They still needed to work on his self-esteem.
"No. It's not that important. I don't want them to go there." Harry wanted to sink into the ground. He never wanted them to see exactly how bad the Dursleys were. He had kept a lot from them over the years. He was also terrified that his uncle would hurt them. He couldn't live with himself if his uncle did something to either of the Weasley boys. While they were both too large for his uncle to accost sexually he would not put it past Uncle Vernon to try to hit them.
"Its nothing Har…Tallis. I don't mind going. It won't take but a few moments. Everything is in your room, right?" Ron said, trying to calm his friend down. After having seen the muggles last night he now understood why Harry was getting so worked up over the mere idea of his friend entering their home. They were worse than he had ever imagined. He had long known that Harry wasn't telling them even a fraction of what happened in that home but even with that knowledge he had found himself shocked.
"I don't know. I don't think you should go."
"I'll be with him, love. Not to mention Ron's already had his birthday so he can use magic if he needs to. We'll be fine." Bill also knew that they would be fine since Vernon was likely still completely incapacitated from the events of the evening before but he was not likely to tell Harry as much.
"I don't know. I…I guess you could maybe go. Uncle Vernon should be at work by now, I think. I guess…I…if you don't mind going by then that would be good. My trunk is probably locked in the attic or else my cupboard. I have a few things under the loose floorboard near my bed, if you don't mind getting that as well. I guess that's it."
"It will be fine. The muggles won't even know I'm there. I'll take your cloak if you want and then they really won't know we're there. We can use magic to undo the locks on the front door and the attic so I won't actually need to talk to any of the muggles at all."
Harry looked slightly calmer upon hearing this revelation. "I'll give it to you when we go upstairs. Thanks. You don't have to do this" he reassured them again.
"It'll take like ten minutes. Its fine." Ron knew that this was a big deal to his friend for a variety of reasons, not least of which was his genuine terror of his uncle. For Harry it really was a big deal to simply walk into the house, much less to try to talk to anyone in it.
Severus nodded his approval of the plan and quickly made another portkey to take them to Privet Drive, giving them quick reminders to use as little magic as possible and not to use any on the muggles which pleased Harry, albeit for different reasons that Severus had originally suggested it. Everyone quickly finished and returned to their respective rooms to prepare for the day, eager to see what they could find.
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A/N: From here on out I will call Harry by his new name, Tallis, except when people slip. When it is in third person though it will always be Tallis. Just trying to avoid confusion.