Tallis yawned as he felt himself slowly wake up. He blinked slowly, trying to remember exactly how he had gotten back to his room and changed into pajama pants. Before he could figure it out though, he heard a rustle a few feet away from him. He shot up in bed, instantly remembering past lessons he had learned from the Dursleys. Hermione's soothing voice quickly filled the room. "Shh…Harry. It's just me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you."
Harry's brow wrinkled. "What are you doing here Mione?"
"I was worried about you after last night so I came in here to read and watch over you" she said as she hurriedly shuffled her pile of books bad papers into some semblance of order.
The events came flashing back in rapid succession. The extra Potter vaults. The money he didn't know he had. The potential family heirlooms he had never seen. The will he had heard of before. His eyes flashed dangerously. Hermione instantly tried to calm him down. "Har…damn it, Tallis. You need to stay calm about this long enough for us to figure out exactly what is going on. Bill is trying to get a copy of the will from Gringotts today but it is difficult to do so secretly. He's trying to pull a few strings to get it done off the record. As long as they'll give it up without recording that he took a copy of it out of the bank then we are safe. Even if all the goblins know about him taking it they would never tell any other wizards about it since they like to stay out of wizarding affairs. We just need to talk them into doing it without making any notes that could ever potentially become public domain."
Tallis nodded briefly, trying to calm down. He supposed that made sense. Bill would do what he could at work and his father would help him to sort it all out once they had a copy of the will. He didn't give a damn about the money but the fact that yet another secret had been kept from him was eating away at him. There was also the possibility of family heirlooms that interested him. His father had told him that most of the wealthy pureblood families had a few vaults of valuable (and sometimes not-so-valuable but certainly memorable) heirlooms. It was tradition that each member of the family place items within the vaults when they came of age and throughout their lives. Perhaps his parents left something in there for him!
"I'm sorry. About yesterday. I didn't mean to."
"Tallis, we all understand. It was a lot to learn about and not a good way to learn it. But don't worry, we're taking care of everything. Bill will get a copy of the will for you and you can go see your vaults someday. And it was actually good, in some ways, that it happened." Tallis looked up quizzically. "Well, if it had happened for the first time when you were alone with Severus he might not have known what to do. This way he could understand."
"I'm a freak." Tallis whispered. He hadn't yet thought about the fact that his father had never witnessed him doing that before. Maybe he would get rid of him now! Severus had been excited when he had tested his power and the test had shown how incredibly strong he was but now that he knew what came with it he wouldn't be so happy. But no, Father had told him that he would never give him away. He needed to remember that. Tallis quietly began to repeat the mantra My Father will never give me away in his mind to calm himself.
"Oh no, Tallie, you're not. You are very powerful. From what I can tell it is relatively common for people as powerful as you to struggle to control it occasionally." Tallis perked up a bit at this but still looked a bit groggy. "Come on, let's get some breakfast. It's a bit late but no doubt Ron's still eating."
"You two stayed the night again?" Merlin, he was feeling out of it. He usually slept longer after such an episode and he could only blame his completely incoherent state on his early wake up.
"Yes dear. We decided it would be best. And Bill hopes to be home from work around one."
Tallis felt terrible. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make everyone change all their plans. I'm so sorry" he repeated.
Hermione put her arm around Tallis' shoulders. She smiled softly. She couldn't imagine him being taller than her. He had always felt like her baby brother and it just seemed wrong to her to imagine a tall Tallis. She knew he wished he was taller but she loved him exactly as he was. "Tallis, none of us minded. You know we love being here. We'd just move in if we didn't think it would drive the poor professor insane."
"Tell you the truth, I think he rather likes you both. Not that you'll ever hear him say that, mind."
Hermione made a rather unladylike snort. "Tolerate, maybe. Only for your sake. Trust me, Severus Snape would never willingly spend time around a bunch of Gryffindors." The two reached the breakfast room and ended their conversation for a bit. It had rained early this morning so they had to eat inside. The elves had offered to spell the balcony so that the rain couldn't fall on it but everyone had decided to simply stay inside and spare the elves the extra work.
"Morning mate. 'Bout time you got your lazy arse out of bed."
Tallis smirked and started putting some fresh fruit on his plate. Once the elves had realized what his tastes were they had gone out of their way to supply a wide variety of the summer's best fruits for him. As he grabbed the spoon to dish out some blueberries Ron glanced down at his hand.
"What are you going to do about that?"
"What?" Tallis looked down, confused. What was wrong with his hand? It looked fine to him.
"The scar from your Umbridge detentions. You'll need to be doing something about that. I'd rather not risk your safety to something as uncertain as a glamour. I know it is a small scar but a few people know about it and it would be too easy to uncover you. Glamours are too quickly undone unless you can figure out whatever the hell your mum did all those years ago to make hers last for bloody forever and while staying completely undetectable."
Tallis looked to Hermione who shook her head. "I've been reading up a bit on long term glamours since this all happened and I'm no closer to cracking anything than I was before. The woman must have been a bloody genius" she said in amazement.
"Another tattoo?" Tallis asked, uncertain how else to permanently cover part of his skin.
"Looks like it mate. What do you think you'll get this time?"
"I'm not sure. I'm going to go tell my father that we need to go get a new tattoo today. Maybe my father will come with us. We can go before Bill gets off work. Might as well fill the morning with something useful." Ron and Hermione smiled at Tallis' slightly conspicuous use of the word "father." It was all so new and special to him. They had never experienced as much pleasure out of a simple word as Tallis could. They had always known their parents. They perhaps appreciated their luck in the wonderful families that they had more now that they knew exactly how bad it could be through some of Tallis' stories but they still would never take as much joy in saying the words as Tallis did.
"I believe I'll come with you. I'd love to see his face when you tell him you need another tattoo." Ron quickly swallowed the rest of the food on his plate and carried it over to the side table for the house elves to clean. He said a few words of thanks to the elves that were in the room with them for their breakfast. While he didn't really agree with Hermione's old crusade to free the house elves he had learned that he should be kinder to them. They worked incredibly hard and often received few thanks.
Tallis rolled his eyes at his friend's answer. "Honestly, you act like he'll throw a fit or something. Why would he care if I got another tattoo? It will be pretty small anyhow," he said, looking down at his small hands, trying to imagine what would look good there.
"I believe I'll join you as well" Hermione said in amusement. Tallis was clearly not aware of the typical parental reaction to tattoos. Having never had a parent who cared what he did with his body it had never occurred to him in all the years of working on his plans that most parents would have vetoed such a plan from the very beginning. Not many parents would happily see their young children covered head to toe in body art.
She also couldn't wait to see the hoops the Professor was willing to jump through to be able to express his dissatisfaction without raising his voice or alarming his son. That should be interesting. She had noticed long ago how hard the Professor worked to keep from snapping at his son or frightening him in any way. She knew it must be difficult for the surly professor. His snarkiness in the classroom was only partly created to protect his role as a spy. A great deal of it was simply his sense of humor and his personality.
The trio walked down the hallway looking for Severus. They found him in his study, pouring over some documents. "May I help you?" he asked dryly.
"I need to go get another tattoo this morning. Do you want to come?" Tallis asked, blissfully unaware of the potentially explosive response such a question could evoke.
Severus' mouth actually dropped open in shock. He sat there, gaping at his son for a full thirty seconds before he could collect himself. "Why exactly do you need another tattoo?" he asked in a strained voice, trying to remain calm.
"To cover up my Umbridge scar."
"Your what? Start explaining, now." Impatience started bleeding into his tone and he couldn't do much to keep it out.
Tallis began to get a bit fidgety, his first sign that he was getting nervous. "Umbridge gave me a lot of detention" he explained. Severus nodded tightly at this, motioning for him to go on. It was clear that he did not understand what that implied. "She assigned me lines, lots of lines." Again, this statement was met with a nod and a blank stare. "She made me use a blood quill."
Severus cursed violently and stood abruptly from his desk, his chair flipping over. Tallis backed away from him quickly and bumped into Ron's lanky form before he seemed to recollect who he was backing away from and he bravely stood his ground. He may not be able to control his instinctive responses but he could damn well stop cowering when he knew there was no need. He knew that his father wouldn't hurt him. He wasn't entirely sure how he knew but he knew, deep within himself, that Severus would never lay a hand on him in anger. He had known that even before he had found out that Severus was his father. He had always felt safe around the professor, even when the Potions Master was yelling at him during class.
"Let me see the scar" he barked out impatiently. He was clearly holding back the larger part of his anger in an effort to not terrify his son. Even in his anger he had seen his son's initial reaction and had known that he needed to calm down.
Tallis took a hesitant step forward and when he realized that he was safe he continued until he stood only a few feet from his father. He held out his right hand that bore a light scar reading "I must not tell lies" in his own sloppy handwriting. Severus bit back a growl as he lightly touched his son's scarred hand.
"Why did you not tell anyone?"
Tallis shrugged his shoulders and didn't respond. Severus figured the answer was self-explanatory. What adult would Tallis have trusted enough to tell? Black, perhaps, but he was a criminal on the run from damn near everyone in the wizarding and muggle world alike. The headmaster had already proven himself untrustworthy many times over. His head of house often ignored his needs, as she had done since his first year. Of course he hadn't told anyone. Severus took a few, deep breaths to calm himself. How dare that cow harm his son. His poor boy truly wasn't safe anywhere.
"What were you thinking of getting?" he asked lightly. This time Hermione and Ron's jaws dropped. Whatever they had been expecting, this was not it. Hermione soon realized that the Professor's anger at Umbridge and the outrage that his son had endured while supposedly safe at school far outweighed any irritation at another tattoo.
"I don't know. Any ideas?"
Ron suddenly spoke up. "I know! When I was little I once saw a pureblood guy with his family crest tattooed on his hand. He had it on his right hand so whenever he shook hands with anyone they instantly knew who they were dealing with. Why not get the Snape crest? It'd be wicked cool."
Tallis looked hesitantly at his father. He liked the idea but he wasn't certain if his father would. This would rather loudly announce to the world that Severus had a son.
Severus looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "I believe that would suit. Do you have anywhere in particular you wish to go to get it done?"
"If we go to a muggle shop then they'll think I'm rather crazy…but I don't mind that. There's a good shop in London, not more than a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron."
"Are there any wizard tattoo shops you would like to go to?" Severus asked.
"Well, there's also a wizard shop I've wanted to try for a while in Diagon Alley. If we go there though then you will be announcing to the world, today, that you have a son. Are…are you ready to do that?" he finished nervously. He knew that his father intended to eventually announce it but he probably had some sort of schedule worked out in his mind for when things should happen. He didn't want to mess it all up or force him to do it before he was ready.
Severus looked pensive for a moment. "I believe that would be an excellent idea. I prefer to do everything on our own schedule without any possible interference from the old man. If we wait until September 1 to announce you then there is always the possibility that he will do something to thwart our plans. This way we announce it on our own terms. It will be in the papers tomorrow and then there is nothing he can do. Yes, I think that this is actually going to help us immensely."
"That's true. Once you announce him to the world as your son Dumbledore can do nothing to stop anything. He can't prevent you from accepting an apprentice when you see fit and he can't separate you from your apprentice. You two will be safe, or at least as safe as you can be with You Know Who after both of you" Ron reasoned out.
"How will you two disguise yourselves?" Tallis asked his friends. After all, not just anyone could be seen with the Snape heir upon his unveiling to the world.
Both Ron and Hermione turned to their professor. "Any ideas?"
"Well…the idea has occurred to me that you could just be yourselves." All of the students let out shocked exclamations at this statement. "No, listen. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now. What if Bill had met Tallis while he was visiting some cousins at the school? They started dating soon after and have now dated for two years." He brushed Tallis' objections to the word dating aside. "If you are no longer The Boy Who Lived then it will finally be safe for you to have a relatively normal life. A life that includes dating who you want." Tallis nodded reluctantly.
Severus turned to Ron. "If your brother had been dating someone for two years it seems rather likely that he would have introduced his family to his boyfriend at some point in time. Tallis is very close in age to his youngest brother so it would not seem abnormal for the two of you to become friends."
"But how will we deal with potential Harry Potter sightings?" Hermione asked nervously. "People will probably assume that Tallis is Harry if they spot the two of us by his side. They'll clearly see that he is not after they look for longer than a second but it will already be established in their minds that Harry Potter and Tallis Snape are very similar.
Ron started getting involved in the plan. "I have a better idea. Do you have any Polyjuice potion on hand?" Severus nodded. "How about if we wait for Bill to get home. Bill and I accompany him as ourselves. We'll need Bill there to make everything convincing since he is the one dating Tallis. And Mione can become Harry Potter for a few hours to dispel any possible connections. We can meet "Harry Potter" while we are in Diagon Alley shopping and we can all greet each other. Maybe we could all even go out to a meal or something."
"It's not too likely that my father would ever take Harry Potter out to a meal" Tallis pointed out.
"Perhaps all of the Gryffindors can go out together for ice cream while I visit a few shops in Knocturn Alley. Do you believe, Miss Granger, that you can be a convincing Harry Potter?"
"Of course, professor. He's been my best friend for six years. I know his habits better than he does. It will take a while to get used to being so short though."
"Hey!" Tallis yelled indignantly, shoving her away from him. "Its not my fault that you are abnormally tall!" Everyone smiled at his definition of "abnormally" tall. 5'7" was not considered to be particularly tall by anyone else.
"Let's go get ready. I will fetch the Polyjuice potion from my stores. We will do that and then layer it with some heavy duty glamour spells, I suppose. I know it can be a bit risky but I don't know what else we can do." Everyone nodded. They well knew the dangers of a canceled glamour spell but there wasn't much choice in the matter. At least this way if something happened she would be exposed as Tallis Snape and not Hermione Granger. It would confuse the hell out of everyone but they would be ok.
Everyone went to their rooms for quick showers. Tallis stepped out of his room thirty minutes later with slightly damp hair and a nervous smile. He was going to get to tell the world who his father was! He tugged down his white short sleeved T-shirt impatiently. He was wearing a pair of dusky, aged blue jeans that his father had specially ordered for him when he had inquired about the muggle clothing. His T-shirt was tight and occasionally rode up a bit, exposing his Parseltongue tattoo between his hipbones.
Ron was already waiting for him, dressed in his typical Weasley fare. "Good choice for your shirt." Tallis looked down, somewhat confused. "You can tell that you have tattoos on your chest but you can't tell exactly what they are. You can just see the shadow of them." Tallis nodded. He had rather hoped that you could see a bit. "What are you going to do about hurting people if they touch you?"
Tallis looked up nervously at his friend. "I turned it down for the afternoon. If someone brushed against me they'll feel static electricity but nothing more." Ron looked floored that his friend had done such a thing on his own. Tallis rushed to explain. "I didn't want to but I know that I'll need to be meeting people today as the Snape heir and so I will need to be shaking hands with them. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to embarrass my father by wearing gloves and everything. It's the middle of summer for Merlin's sake! People will think I'm insane!"
"I doubt he would care. You know he just wants you to be comfortable."
"I'll be fine as long as I have you three with me. If Bill has to leave my side at all will you help me?" Ron nodded. He knew how difficult this would be for his friend. He was frankly surprised that Tallis wasn't shaking in fear. He knew that his friend truly was terrified, even if he was trying to play it off as light nerves.
Bill came up the steps then and saw Tallis and his brother standing in the hallway talking. "What's going on?"
"We're going to Diagon Alley to get a new tattoo." Bill raised an eyebrow at this statement. "To cover the Umbridge scar." Bill nodded his understanding. He had been concerned about that as well for quite a while but had wanted to wait a bit for things to settle down before he sprang that on Tallis. The time seemed to be right for it now though, and Tallis seemed happy about getting a new tattoo.
"Are we going to get to come with you?"
"I'll explain while you dress" Ron offered to Bill. "Tallis needs to go with the Professor and Mione to get her ready." The two Weasleys disappeared into Tallis and Bill's room, Ron already talking quickly to fill him in on everything that had happened that morning.
Hermione stepped out dressed in some of Harry's old clothing, drowning in the enormous cast-offs. "Honestly Tallis, I don't understand how you ever wore these things. They're huge on me and I'm a lot bigger than you!"
Tallis rolled his eyes and they waited impatiently for his father to come out of his room. He finally did and he motioned to the two Gryffindors to follow him. They quickly walked to the study while Tallis hesitantly explained what he had done with his tattoos to his father. He finally finished the explanation in the study, nervously wringing his hands on the hem of his T-shirt. Severus grabbed his hands to stop them from tearing his clothing to pieces. "I think that it is a wonderful idea, Tallis. I was hoping to suggest such a thing to you sometime in the future. Let's see how today goes and then we can work from there. Don't worry, Bill and I won't be more than a few steps away from you at any point today. If you start to get nervous then you can use your portkey to come back here."
"What portkey?" Tallis asked, confused.
"The family ring that I gave you is actually a portkey. Twist it so that the stone faces your palm and say Snape Manor and it will drop you right on the doorstep. If you feel at all threatened or even if you just can't handle being out anymore you should use that immediately."
Tallis nodded his understanding and looked down at the ring on his right hand. It was a rather large platinum ring with an onyx stone in the center. The onyx had been engraved with an elaborate 'S' and was inlaid with platinum. His father had given it to him a few weeks ago, explaining that the Snape heir always wore it. He loved it, more so because it was given to him by his father than because of the immense monetary value of the ancient ring. He had received few presents in his life so he always valued each one highly.
Severus reached out and cut a small piece of his son's hair to place in the vial that contained the Polyjuice potion for Hermione. He swirled it a few times and then passed it to the girl who looked at it warily. "I suppose there's nothing for it. Oh Merlin, help me to keep this down" she whispered as she hesitantly drank the disgusting potion. She gagged for a moment but successfully kept the potion in her stomach. Her body underwent the rapid change to turn her into a perfect image of Tallis. "Wow…it feels strange to be a boy" she said, and then squeaked at how deep her voice suddenly was.
Severus hid a smile by turning away from the young lady-turned-man. Tallis laughed. "No peeking, mind." Hermione glared her answer to that comment and then looked down to readjust her clothing.
"Honestly, how did you deal with clothes this large Tallie? I just don't get it. The pants are falling off of me!"
Tallis laughed lightly and then pulled her shirt up to help her with the pants. "Hey!" she squealed indignantly, trying to cover her chest up.
"You do realize that this is my body, don't you?" Tallis said dryly. "Its not like I'll see anything new here." Hermione blushed lightly. It was hard to remember that she wasn't a girl right now. She allowed him to tighten the ancient and fraying belt around her (his?) slim hips. The pants still felt as if they would fall at any given moment.
Bill and Ron entered the study and laughed at the sight of Tallis readjusting clothing on what seemed to be his identical twin. Severus pulled out his wand and motioned his son away from Hermione. He incanted a number of spells quickly, casting numerous glamours and protection charms on her. She looked surprised at the spells that he had cast. "You need to remember, Miss Granger, that you are now the Boy Who Lived. You are not safe, even in Diagon Alley. Perhaps Mr. Weasley should accompany you and then we can all meet up outside the tattoo shop. If you feel at all in danger then you must take your portkey out of there immediately. I have readjusted the password to be 'protect me' in order to preserve the identity of the location you are going to." He clasped a small and unobtrusive necklace around her neck and she immediately tucked it into her shirt.
"Are we all ready?" Bill asked and everyone nodded. "Does everyone have their portkey?" Again, everyone nodded the affirmative. "Let's go then."
"We'll go through first by floo. You two are to take that portkey that is sitting on the desk to get there. Wait at least ten minutes. It will drop you off outside the Leaky Cauldron, near the door. Be careful, and be aware of your surroundings at all times. I know you are accustomed to being near the Boy Who Lived and so are aware of the heightened security that you must have but you are not accustomed to actually being him. Never assume that anyone is safe or trustworthy. Only go into shops that you have been into before. Do not ever leave each other, not even for a moment." Ron and Hermione/Harry nodded solemnly. They would have found his instructions irritating a year or so ago but now they knew that he was just trying to keep them safe. They also now knew that he was completely right in his warnings. They knew better than to brush aside such advice.
Severus, Bill and Tallis turned to the fireplace and Severus threw the floo powder into the fire, saying the password that would allow them to floo out of the manor. He stepped through first, followed by Bill. Tallis went through last. They had been worried that if both Snapes went through first then Bill would be stuck at the manor. Ron and Hermione/Harry looked at each other nervously. Everything needed to go right today. If it did then the school year would be made much easier. Tallis would be more secure in his position and they would be able to be near their friend more often than they had ever dared to hope. After a bit more then ten minutes passed they took a deep breath almost in unison. Hermione gave Ron a shaky smile and they both reached out for the piece of blank parchment that would take both of them to the Alley.