Also, I am trying to keep my quick update schedule since I know that so many of you really like that. I always hate it when stories I am reading are updated on a really slow schedule. Anyhow, enjoy!
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Chapter 23Tallis and his father stood in the lab, working steadily through the long list of potions that Poppy needed for the school year. They had worked together nearly every day since Tallis had arrived at the manor. It gave them a chance to get to know each other while having the distraction of potions to keep things relatively calm and to allow escapes when needed. Tallis wasn't the only one who had a painful past, although Severus had his pain originate more through acquaintances than family.
Their work had also given them time for what Tallis referred to as his "Slytherin lessons" which were detailed lessons on everything that a pureblood would have been brought up knowing. At times Tallis wanted to curse all purebloods for learning such useless garbage but for the large part he found the information fascinating. He had to learn all of the family trees as well as how to behave in any given situation.
Severus did not pound the proper behavior lessons into his son's mind as much as the family tree lessons since he knew that Snapes could always get away with acting differently than expected. The entire Snape clan was known to be a bit eccentric. His son could do whatever the hell he wanted and no one would really be terribly shocked. Severus sure as hell did. He never bothered with the fawning friendship that most purebloods pretended with each other. He loathed a great deal of them and they all knew it. The social elite of the purebloods found it eccentric and endearing. Severus, in turn, ignored them.
Tallis had also learned a bit about his father's school years and his days as a Death Eater through their conversations. Severus had a decent childhood compared to what many would have believed. His father had been strict and certainly yelled and lectured a lot but was by no means physically abusive. It was all bluster and Severus had always known that. As he had said before, Snapes always stood together. No true Snape would ever hurt another, especially a child. Tallis had been rather surprised to learn that his grandfather had never hit his father. When he had first learned that bit of information he had worked in silence for four hours as he thought about what a powerful statement that was. Severus allowed him the time to think things through. He knew that he had, once again, turned his son's world on its end. Harry had never really thought that anyone aside from the Weasley family enjoyed an entirely abuse-free childhood. He was starting to understand that the Dursleys were the ones on the far, far extreme rather than the Weasleys.
Bill continued to stay at the manor during the nights. Severus thought momentarily about objecting but soon gave up. It made both of them happy to be together and (as much as it horrified Severus to admit it) he liked Bill's company as well. The three spent quiet evenings together playing chess or cards or simply reading. Since that emotional day on the balcony when Tallis gave his father permission to touch him the three had grown much closer. It was clear that Tallis was still holding back a bit but he was almost a completely different young man since he had arrived.
Harry pulled his stool out to be able to reach the counter a bit better. The contractor had been able to lower the ingredient racks and rearrange much of the lab but he had not been able to do much about the counters. Although it seemed that they would have been the easiest to fix they were, in fact, the most difficult. The counters were composed of thick layers of marble and granite, inter-layered with protective spells and strengthening spells to keep the lab safe. Potion explosions were likely when working with experimental potions which Severus enjoyed doing in his free time. They couldn't simply lower the counters by the requisite eight or so inches; they would need to be completely rebuilt from the bottom up. He and Tallis had finally decided to leave the counters as they were and for Tallis to continue using the stool.
"The professors were all extremely impressed with your practicals. How did you feel that the written exams went?"
"Pretty well. There wasn't anything that I had no clue on. There were a few herbology questions that pulled me up a bit as well as astronomy. I don't think I did poorly on any of them though."
"I'm sure you did well. Your examiners in DADA and charms told me that they believed your work to be at the mastery level most of the time and the potions examiner told me that were it not for the mandatory years of work he would be ready to award you a potions mastery based on what he saw today. Quite impressive."
Tallis blushed and looked down to focus on his potion. "I doubt they were that good. Maybe they just like you and so they wanted me to do well."
Severus snorted loudly. His son clearly had a warped view of the world if he thought that the examiners liked him. "Tallis, I somehow doubt that they liked me at all, much less enough so that they would embellish my son's scores. You earned their praise. You are quite talented. Classes must have been painfully boring for you these last few years."
Harry nodded but changed the subject. He hated hearing praise. He never felt that he deserved it and it embarrassed him. "Are we still planning on testing the potion and spellwork tonight?"
"It would be prudent to do so. Your birthday is only a week and a half away. We need to have everything prepared to put into action on the day after your birthday to give us as much time as possible. If there are any problems with tonight's run then we will have the next ten days to correct it."
"Have you and Ron decided who we should test it on?"
Severus sighed. He really didn't like the answer to this question. Frankly, he didn't want any of them testing an unknown substance tied so closely with an unknown spell. And unfortunately, it couldn't be tested in any other way than actually giving it a go. He personally would have wanted to test it first on a house elf and even if that hadn't provoked violent reactions from Granger and his son they couldn't have done it. The potion and spell would only work on humans. Fully magical creatures were completely immune to its effects, at least in theory.
"It appears that Mr. Weasley will be undergoing the treatment this evening, much to my disapproval."
"Who better to do it? I would suggest myself but since the Imperius curse doesn't work on me I'm not entirely certain that this one will either. Mione wouldn't be bad but if something is wrong then we'll desperately need her help to fix it. Bill would be a bad choice because if anything bad happened and he was out of it for a day or two he would be missed at work and people would be alerted that something was wrong. You have to be the one actually performing the spell. You're the strongest one of us, well at least that's of age, and we need to get an accurate reading of it so it will compare for when I do it. Ron'll be perfect, trust me. He can also take the chance to test for himself the weak points of the spell. He's truly the best one."
Tallis now knew that he was stronger than any of the others. They had used the focus stone a few weeks ago to test his strength. The stone was spelled so that it would not allow the ministry to be alerted to underage magic use so that parents could test their children. Tallis had tested as a light silvery white—the nest to highest color. Severus believed his son would test pure white when he came into his majority on his birthday.
Severus sighed and continued stirring his wildly bubbling potion. Perhaps the Gryffindors were right. It was damned frustrating though. He spelled down the flame under his potion and removed the cauldron to start decanting the potion. Harry had already finished his and was already straightening up his section.
"Who is expected to dinner tonight? We need to warn the house elves."
"I already spoke to them this morning when I got my coffee. They're all coming because they want to see how everything works. Bill might be a bit late though but asked me to hold work on the spell 'til he gets here."
"Have you decided what the release words will be?"
"I'm not certain. Hermione thought they should be in parseltongue for safety's sake but I argued against it for the same reason. What if I die and no one can ever release them from the spell?"
"You will not die. I won't allow it." Severus said quietly but intensely. He knew he was being completely irrational but the pain he felt when he thought of potentially losing his son was intense. Tallis stepped over to his side and started helping him clean up.
"I'm not planning on dying, but it is a distinct possibility with the number of people I have who have listed me as number one on their To-Kill list. I'm just trying to be rational" Tallis said softly while scrubbing out his father's cauldron.
Severus wanted to yell back that he'd damn well better stay alive but he thought better of it and simply turned away to store the potions. Being a father was so much harder than he had ever thought it would be. He decided to shelve the conversation for the time being.
"Shall we go upstairs and see it your friends have arrived yet?" Severus motioned Harry out of the lab toward the hall. The two Snapes walked quickly to the sitting room where all of the portkeys now dropped guests. Hermione and Ron were already there, curled up on chairs in front of a small fire.
"How were the tests? Were they really hard? Did you study enough? Oh Merlin, I'm going to fail them, aren't I? Was it absolutely miserable? Should I revise my study plans? I know I haven't scheduled enough review time for potions or astronomy."
"Hermione, Hermione, breathe! The tests were fine. Easy, in fact. I'm sure you'll ace them when the time comes. If you revise that damn study plan one more time I believe I'll burn it."
Ron started laughing but Hermione looked horrified at the thought of losing her beloved and much-revised study plan. "Only you would think the NEWTs were easy, mate."
"They really aren't that bad Ron. I'm sure you'll do well."
"Shall we move on to the dining room? Bill may be late so he requested that we begin without him" Severus said in response to Hermione's questioning look. The four set out for the dining room, eager to begin their trial run of the spell.
"We'll need to double our study time this year with the NEWTs approaching, Ron" Hermione informed him factually. Ron didn't even attempt to stifle his groan.
"Where exactly is it that you three study, if I may inquire?"
"Um…" Harry looked nervously at his friends. No matter how many times he revealed information about his life to his father he still got nervous that this time, this information would be the bit to push his father over the edge and decide not to keep him. "Well, we wanted somewhere private, where people couldn't get to us. And we wanted somewhere that we could store things if we wanted to, that no one could reach. And it needed to be somewhere that even Dumbledore couldn't get to." Severus nodded, trying to encourage his son to continue in a more timely fashion.
"Well…wesortofcleanedupandtransformedtheChamberofSecrets" he mumbled quickly, waiting for his father to start yelling.
"Excuse me, I don't believe I heard you correctly. What did you say?" Severus said, blinking. He couldn't have possibly heard his son right. There was no way that the Gryffindors, no matter how foolhardy they were, would have ventured down into Slytherin's chambers on a regular basis. For Merlin's sake, there was a basilisk down there! Who knew if there were other, more dangerous creatures?
Tallis blushed lightly. "We use the Chamber of Secrets."
"It's quite lovely now" Hermione filled in helpfully. "We moved the basilisk into a side hallway and sealed it off to preserve it and we got rid of all the standing water."
"Yeah, and Dobby helped us to find some old furniture and rugs and things to make it better. It's great. And it seems to be unplottable since it's not on the map or anything. Not to mention that even if Dumbledore does know that we go down there he couldn't possibly follow us. Harry…sorry, Tallis opens it for us and then we go down and then Tallis starts to close it just before he steps in. And there are multiple passageways that are also controlled by Parseltongue passwords. We are perfectly secure down there." Ron finished, thinking he might have calmed his friend's volatile father down.
Unfortunately, this proved to be the wrong thing to say. "You were perfectly secure in a chamber that is known to house basilisks?" his voice had started out low and strained but was nearing a hysterical screech by the end. "You purposefully locked yourselves tightly into a set of chambers that has served as a home for dark creatures for hundreds if years? A room that no one else beside the Dark Lord himself could open up to give assistance were it needed? Have you all gone completely mad? What is wrong with you three?"
"Erm…well, it seemed to be a good plan at the time. We already looked around for other snake nests but we didn't find any. And we've sealed off any passageways that we don't use. We can reopen them with a password that is in French so that a snake doesn't accidentally open it. Trust me, its fine down there. You can even come see when we get back to school." Tallis put in, trying to placate his father.
"You will not enter that chamber again without me with you" Severus said hoarsely. "Once I am certain that it is safe you may continue to use it. I suppose it might be useful to have a safe haven within the castle itself that Dumbledore cannot reach us at. But you do realize, I hope, how incredibly and dangerously rash your actions were?" he said, clearly still furious with them. The three Gryffindors nodded furiously, trying to calm him down.
They spoke lightly of what the three students hoped to have happen after they finished their schooling. Granger of course wanted to continue her education at the university level. She wasn't certain of what field she wanted to apprentice in yet since she loved them all so much so she decided to complete the three years of wizard university before she made up her mind. Weasley hoped to work for the Unspeakable department. With his skills with strategy he just might have a chance. The boy was clearly intelligent, if a bit impetuous.
Bill rushed in just as they finished dinner, bending to give Tallis a quick kiss on his soft hair as he sat down beside him. "Sorry I'm late. Things are crazy at Gringotts right now."
"What is happening that you are busier than usual?" Severus asked quietly.
"Someone tried to break into some vaults. We're not quite sure who yet; we're still testing the remains." Tallis and Hermione shuddered at that statement.
"Whose vault was the target?" Ron asked.
Bill looked nervously around the table. "We believe that it was one of the Potter vaults."
"Excuse me?" Tallis looked startled. "There's only one Potter vault and it doesn't have enough security around it to kill someone. Not to mention that there are surely better targets out there. I have a lot of gold in the vault but nothing nearing most of the pureblood families."
Severus set down his goblet and cleared his throat. "I'm not certain where you got your information from, Tallis, but the Potters were an old pureblood family. They had acquired a fortune nearly as large as the Snape fortune before you were born. It might even be larger by now, with interest added."
"No. I have one vault. I went to it before my first year. It had lots of gold though."
"No Tallis. I thought you knew or else I would have told you long ago. That is just your inheritance vault intended to support you through Hogwarts. You have an entire hall of vaults as well. How could you not know?"
"How the hell could I know Bill? Who was there to tell me? My loving relatives?" Tallis' voice was thick with sarcasm. He was growing angry…he hated it when other people knew more about him than he did, and it seemed like he couldn't escape it. Even worse than them simply knowing these details though, they always reproached him when he didn't know them.
"I didn't mean it like that love. I just…I thought everyone knew. I was certain that you did. I'm sorry."
"Tallis, no one means to attack you on this, we're just surprised. Didn't you realize when you read the will that that amount of money couldn't possibly be in your vault?" Severus stepped in.
"What will? Will someone start talking about something I've at least heard of before?"
"You have read your parents…I mean, your mum's will, haven't you?" Hermione's concern shone through. She felt bad for her friend but she also knew that he was nearing his breaking point. The air was growing thick with his anger. Severus looked down in alarm as he felt the table tremble slightly.
"They never wrote a will, or if they did then I never saw it" Tallis growled.
"But surely…surely Dumbledore showed it to you when you arrived at Hogwarts. Even I knew that he was supposed to do that. Legally, he was forced to do so if he had not done so before. I don't know what to say, Tallis." Severus tried desperately to placate his son while he tried to work out exactly how this had happened. More accurately, since he knew how it had happened he wanted to discover what the purpose of withholding such information had been.
The table started shaking violently as did the rest of the furniture in the room. The air was shimmering lightly, as if Tallis' magic was so potent that it had become visible even though no spell had been used. Bill noticed this and he pulled Tallis into his arms, knocking his chair over in the process. Bill held Tallis firmly with one arm as he pulled Tallis close to him, forcing him to look directly into his eyes. He started breathing deeply, encouraging Tallis to do the same, as he ran his hands firmly over his shaking lover. No words were spoken as Bill continued to help Tallis regain control.
Severus was shocked. He had never experienced anything remotely like this. He was also insanely grateful that the Gryffindors were present for this conversation. He wouldn't have had any idea how to calm his son and if he had made the wrong move Tallis could well have leveled the manor without a thought.
Ron and Hermione looked on sadly. They had witnessed their friend lose control a few times and the results were never pretty. Luckily, Hermione and Bill were able to help him regain control most of the time before it got too out of hand. Ron had never been able to calm him quickly enough but he had gotten close. It had been a while since Tallis had last lost it this badly.
Finally, Tallis took a deep shuddering breath and began to actively reign his magic in on his own. He shuddered one last time and then slumped against his lover. Bill cradled him closely as he hung limp in his arms and stood up. "I'll take him up to bed. We can discuss everything with him in the morning." Ron and Hermione nodded solemnly and watched sadly as Bill left the room with his lover in his arms.
"What just happened?"
"Sometimes Har…Tallis losses control a bit. Bill was helping him regain control. As we saw when he tested with the focus stone, Tallis is incredibly powerful. At times it feels as though he has too much power to be contained in a single human body. When he loses his temper like that he lets loose such immense amounts of magical energy when it is over he loses consciousness…or awareness perhaps is a better word since he is not actually unconscious. He simply loses the energy to actively move or speak resulting in a sleep-like state. He'll be out for the night, at least" Hermione quickly explained.
"This happens often?" Severus prayed silently to the gods that it was a rare occurrence but he knew within himself that it wouldn't matter either way. No matter what, Tallis was his son and nothing could ruin that for him. Nothing could take his son away or make him regret having claimed him.
"Not really, no. Hasn't happened for what, Mione, four months?"
"Five."
"Yes, that's right. Five months. It probably only happened two or three times a year."
Severus nodded and stared blankly at his goblet. Ron and Hermione conversed quietly as they waited for Bill to come back down. After about ten minutes he reappeared and picked up Tallis' still overturned chair before sitting down himself. "He's still out. He didn't even stir when I changed his clothes."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. Tallis was never out of it enough to allow such a thing. He must feel truly safe here to have let his guard down that much. Severus didn't even have the energy to look irritated by Bill stripping his son naked and then telling him about it. "Is everyone staying the night? We can perform the test in the morning, if that works for everyone."
"I have nowhere to be."
"Me neither" Ron said around his enormous bite of cake.
Bill rolled his eyes at his brother. Nothing could possibly make him lose his appetite. Bill picked up his goblet and sighed. "I have to be at Gringotts by seven to check and see how far the night workers got on ID'ing the body. If they still don't know who it was then I'll need to stay at work. The earliest I can be here will probably be one or so."
Severus nodded. "Perhaps we can wait until after our luncheon to try everything. I would like to have all of you here for observation. The more eyes watching the better."
They all nodded. The Professor was right. "If I'm home earlier then we can do it then…assuming Tallis is up by then."
"Of course. I wish to go look in on my son. He is decent, isn't he Weasley?"
Bill smirked but gave in and stopped the torment. "Of course he is. I put some sleep pants on him."
Severus turned around and quickly left to go check Harry. The three Gryffindors quickly finished their desert and then left to go to the library to look over the spell information one last time.