I apologize for the incredibly long wait. School is finally wrapping up. My last day is this Monday, thank God, so I'll have more time to write!

So thank you all for being so patient and, as always, thanks to my beta, Badbugz.

Chapter twenty eight- Offensive Instinct

"Hey, are you alright?" Hermione whispered as he entered the greenhouse.

"Hello, Mr. Snape, you can join Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley on repotting the Venomous Tentaculous plants," Professor Sprout called from beside her own plant.

"Yeah," Darian answered, sitting on the stool beside hers.

"Are you sure? You were really angry," Hermione said. "Does have anything to do with…." She trailed off.

Darian smiled and nodded. It suddenly occurred to him just how little of his personal life he didn't share with her. "I'm fine."

Hermione met his gaze and they stared at each other for a long while before she blushed and looked back to the hissing plant she was holding.

Darian resisted the urge to lean closer and inhale her scent over the overpowering smell of fertilizer and earth. Instead, he grasped the plant's roots as they transferred it to a bigger pot.

"Hey, mate," Ron said as they piled dirt into the pot that was as tall as their knees. "I'm really sorry about what I said. I didn't mean anything by it, you know."

"I do," Darian interrupted. "I know, Ron. It wasn't your fault; it was mine. Things have been very…confusing lately. I'm sorry I took it out on you. Just ignore some of the things I do." He grinned apologetically at his friend.

Ron returned the grin, though his was a little sheepish. "You just scared me a bit, mate. I've never seen you so angry, not even when you thought Snuffles was dead."

"I know," Darian said quietly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Ron about his and Hermione's bond. He had been hiding quite a bit of things from his redhead friend all year.

As Herbology ended, Darian began to dread dinner. He knew Hermione would drag him to the library, or maybe they would just stay outside and demand to know what was wrong. Ron would also probably hang around as well.

True to his thought, Hermione led them instead to the Beech tree they often sat under during the summer to do homework. She settled herself against the trunk and Darian automatically sat next to her. Ron sat across from them.

"What's up?" Hermione asked seriously.

"Hold on," Darian said and stood up, casting a Silencing Charm so they wouldn't be overheard.

"Well?" Ron prodded.

Darian slowly sat down again. He looked at his two best friends….well, he supposed it was actually his best friend and his mate now. Even thinkg that word still made him flush.

"I found out why I was so angry," he said, trying to stall.

"Darian, you're stalling," Hermione said his exact thoughts. He smiled softly at her.

"It….well…it's because…..Hermione did you know werewolves have mates?" he blurted out. "They aren't really 'mates' per say, more like something akin to a girlfriend or boyfriend in the Wizarding World except a little deeper than that."

"Yeah," Hermione answered, looking confused. "All magical creatures have mates."

"I read about them too," Ron said, making his two friends look at him in shock. "What?" he defended. "I told you I had to do that stupid essay by myself!"

"Well," Darian hesitated. "I found a mate here."

Ron's eyes widened. He clamped his jaw tightly on his hand to stop himself from blurting something out. Hermione still looked confused.

"Really?"

Ron slapped himself on the forehead. "You want me to leave?" he asked quietly.

Darian looked up at him. "Yeah, thanks," he said gratefully.

Ron nodded and stood up, leaving for the Great Hall.

Hermione frowned after him. "Why is he leaving?"

Darian sighed. "Hermione…..I've been really protective over you for a little while now, especially in Charms class."

Hermione nodded, looking confused. "Yeah."

"And," Darian struggled to find the right words. "And, well, werewolves are very protective over their mates."

For a moment, Hermione continued to look bemused before realization slowly sank in.

Her eyes grew large.

"W-what? You…you don't mean….?"

Darian bit his lip, looking at the ground. "If you don't want…" he trailed off, unable to put into words exactly what it was that she might not want. Love? Protection? He didn't know. "Then it…it's okay, but I can't stop protecting you."

They were silent. The only sound was the wind blowing through the trees. Hermione was staring at the ground. Darian could practically see the gears in her head turning.

A leaf floated down to the ground and landed on his lap. He stared at the pattern of its spine and traced it with his finger. Hermione shivered. Without thinking, he took off his outer robe and put it snugly over her shoulders.

Hermione stared at him blankly.

Darian cleared his throat. "Well….I'll just give you time to…um…think." He stood up and quickly left, glancing back once at her silhouette in the distance before entering Hogwarts.

"Hey, mate, how'd it go?" Ron asked as he slid into the seat beside his friend.

"I dunno. I left to give her time to think," Darian murmured, sounding miserable as he picked at his potatoes.

Ron shrugged. "She just needs time. I'm sure she'll come around. You know Hermione, she'll probably be fascinated by the whole thing."

Darian smiled weakly at the redhead's attempt to cheer him up though he dropped his gaze back to the tasteless potatoes on his fork.

"Mr. Snape?"

Darian turned to his father.

"I need to speak with you in my office," his father said.

Darian exchanged glances with Ron, sighed, and stood up, following the man out.

"We had assigned an Occulmency lesson tonight, did you remember?" Severus asked once they were in his classroom.

"No, I didn't," Darian said quietly. "I just…"

"It's alright," Severus interrupted, taking his wand out. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Darian whispered, his mind still on Hermione.

Snape frowned and lowered his wand. "No, you aren't. Clear your mind, Darian, you know how to do this."

Darian looked almost pleadingly up at his father.

The man's eyes softened ever so slightly.

Severus sighed and sat down in one of the many chairs. "Sit down," he commanded gently.

Darian sat.

"We cannot practice until your mind is clear, which obviously isn't going to be happening any time soon," Snape said, frowning.

"I'm sorry," Darian whispered, looking at his hands. "I just don't know what to do. I'm so confused." He bit his lip and chanced a glance at his father.

Snape shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He had no idea as to how to approach this. The one time Darian actually needed his advice, he didn't know what to say. This was a werewolf thing, something that Severus had absolutely no idea about, though he'd rather bite his tongue off then direct the boy to Lupin for advice.

Not that Lupin had actually helped very much when Darian had come to him earlier that day. Perhaps that was the only reason why Darian was willing to talk to him about this.

"I wish I knew what to say," he said finally. "Unfortunately, this…..really isn't my specialty."

Darian smiled weakly. He shifted uncomfortably. They sat in awkward silence for a long moment.

"I have a question," Darian said cautiously.

Severus waited for him to continue.

"Er…what---what was….my mother like?" Darian asked quietly, looking down at the floor.

Severus sat back heavily. "She was a wonderful person," he said after another long silence. "Compassionate, accepting…"

"Yeah, I know that," Darian said, looking back up at him. "Everyone has always told me about her characteristics but what was she like? You know…..did she have a good sense of humor? Tell me about your schooldays together."

Snape avoided his son's gaze.

"If that's okay with you," Darian added quickly.

He smiled wanly at Darian. "She was your mother. You have every right to ask these things about her. It is just….painful."

Darian bit his lip and looked down. "If you don't want to…" he began but Severus waved him off.

"We didn't really become friends until the last few years of Hogwarts," Severus started uncertainly. Darian was immediately at attention.

"She was….a lot like you, actually." He paused to think about it, realizing, perhaps for the first time, that Darian was almost exactly like Lily had been in her schooldays.

"How did you guys finally become friends?"

Severus thought for a moment before smiling wistfully. "I suppose you could say we weren't the best of friends at first, of course, her being a muggle-born and I coming from a family where purity of blood mattered more than a person's characteristics."

Darian nodded in understanding, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, I suppose I finally began to soften up around her when we were about-"

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Master Snape," Peppy, his house elf, squeaked. "Somebody is here to see you, Master Snape sir!"

Severus looked up from the page he had been staring at for the last two hours. He was still on the same paragraph he had started on though he had yet to make any sense of it.

"Well," he said in a raspy voice, before clearing his suddenly dry throat. "Bring---bring him in, Peppy."

"Yes, Master Snape, sir!"

Severus carefully set the book down. He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself before standing up shakily. He made his way to the doorway Peppy had just left and waited quietly, folding his arms and drumming his fingers the other arm. He looked down accusingly at his fingers before mentally commanding them to stop.

He took another breath, trying to calm himself as he heard the soft padding of footsteps.

A boy looking to be about four stepped nervously into the doorway. Severus recognized his green eyes immediately, thanking God that the boy inherited Lily's eyes as well as her nose.

Severus nodded formally to the little boy. "Hello."

Nervous eyes stared at the floor. "Hi."

Severus shifted uncertainly. What was he supposed to do now? He had never been good with children!

"You must be Harry," he said, finally finding his voice.

Harry nodded jerkily, chancing a peek up at him. "And you…are you really my Daddy?"

Severus blinked at the boldness of the statement. "Father," he corrected after a few moments. "I refuse to be called 'Daddy'. You will address me as 'Father' for the time being, understood?"

Harry looked down at the floor again; Severus could feel the boy closing off to him. "Yes, Father," he murmured properly.

"Sit down," Severus said, after a few moments. Harry sat, staring with wide eyes around the large sitting room.

"Harry," Severus said, and the boy's attention snapped to him. "This is a big change for you, you must have a lot of questions."

Harry bit his lip, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. "Are you really my Da…Father?"

Severus arched an eyebrow at the repeated question. "Yes, I am. Why is that so hard to understand?"

Harry looked down at the floor again. "Then…then why was I livin' with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?"

Severus opened his mouth, unsure of how to answer the question. "I was not aware of you until a few days ago."

Harry looked at him. "Why?"

"Your mother did not tell me about your birth."

"Why?"

"Because," Severus struggled. How could you explain this to a four year-old? "Because she thought you would be safer with your step-father," he said finally.

"But, why?"

Severus took a breath. "Why must you always answer with 'why', Harry?"

Harry looked down at the floor again, fiddling with his sleeve. "'M sorry," he whispered. "Is my mommy still alive?"

It was Severus's turn to look down. "No," he whispered quietly.

"Oh," Harry said, sounding sad. He looked up at Severus. "I wish she was," he said at Severus's forlorn expression.

Severus looked back at the boy. "Me too." He smiled slightly. "But you have me now don't you?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

Harry shrugged one shoulder, scoffing a worn sneaker against the carpet.

"You're pretty unsure for a four-year old," Severus said, tilting his head to meet the little boy's eyes.

Harry's head snapped up and he glared at him heatedly. "I'm five and a half!" his little voice stated loudly.

Severus snorted and noticed that Harry was fiddling with a rather odd-looking action figure.

"Who is that?" he asked, nodding to the figurine.

Harry glanced down at the plastic man dressed in a brightly colored suit before proceeding to tell Severus who Superman was.

Severus felt his smile grow as he listened to his son, gazing in over exaggerated interest at the obviously hand-me-down toy.

"Apparently you haven't met Merlin then," Severus said when Harry took a breath.

Harry stared up at him with wide eyes. "You said a bad word!" he whispered in a horrified voice.

Severus scowled. "Bad word? No, Harry. Merlin was the first wizard there ever was, the first man to do magic. He wasn't anything bad."

Harry bit his lip. "You said the 'M' word too!"

Severus felt his eyes narrow. "Is that what those muggles…I mean, your Aunt and Uncle told you?"

Harry nodded, clutching the Superman doll to him.

Severus shook his head, standing up. He held out his hand. "Come here, Harry. Let me show you who Merlin was and you will see that he wasn't bad."

Harry looked at the hand cautiously before slowly grasping his father's big hand in his tiny one and allowing Severus to lead him through his new home…

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Professor! Wake up! Please wake up!" a frantic voice was calling him and he felt someone shaking his shoulders. He mentally groaned, feeling his head pound.

"Professor, wake up!"

Severus felt indescribably comfortable and felt no need to open his eyes. He settled back into the fuzzy warmth of his mind.

"Get up! Please, Father!"

Severus's eyes shot open.

"Father," he corrected after a few moments. "I refuse to be called 'Daddy'. You will address me as 'Father' for the time being, understood?"

His head jerked up and he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.

Darian was staring at him with wide eyes. He had a hand over his mouth, looking as if he couldn't believe his own boldness.

"I'm...I'm sorry!" he said quickly. "I didn't mean to…I'll…I'll just go now."

Severus sat up. "Don't you dare leave, Mr. Snape, we haven't even began our Occlumency lessons!" he shouted the first thing that came to mind.

Darian froze at the doorway and slowly turned to look at him.

"You passed out," he said quietly. "You were talking one minute and then you passed out…..and had another dream didn't you?"

Severus nodded wordlessly, avoiding the boy's gaze.

Darian slumped on the doorway, looking at him wearily.

"What was it about?" he asked after a few moments.

Severus hesitated, closing his eyes briefly before looking up at Darian. "I suppose it was about what would have happened had I known you were my son when you were four….I mean….five and a half…."

Darian looked at him curiously when Severus smiled slightly at the memory of the dream.

"It's not real," he said bluntly.

Severus looked up at him calmly. "I know it's not."

Darian shook his head slowly. "That's just it though: I don't think you do know. I think that you think that that dream would have been real had you actually known about me when I was four."

"Five and a half," Severus corrected absently.

"Shut up!" Darian snapped, furious all of the sudden. "Do you think it honestly matters if a pretend child in your dream was four or five and a half? What is it with you that you never appreciate what you have!"

Severus's brow dipped in anger. He stood up. "Do not speak to me like that," he hissed coldly, looming over the boy.

"Why not?" Darian challenged.

"Because I am your father!" Severus retorted.

"Yeah? Well you sure as hell have a hard time acting like it!" Darian said, sitting down and folding his arms, looking like a pouting child.

Snape was quiet, staring off into space, obviously having forgotten about the argument.

Darian gritted his teeth furiously. Lately, his temper had been terribly short and he wasn't about to let someone ignore him.

"You really don't want them, do you?" Darian had asked.

"No," his father had answered. "I have…realized that I am happy with what I have here."

"Is that so?" he whispered harshly out loud.

Snape looked at him blankly. "What?"

Darian pointed his wand at the man. "Legilimens!" he roared, bracing himself as his vision blurred and he found himself before hundreds upon millions of different memories.

'What am I doing?' he asked himself, staring at each memory as they flew by him. He spotted a particular one that had obviously been one of Snape's dreams. It was a dream of Darian himself holding a wand to his father's crumpled form and gleefully shouting "Crucio!"

Darian felt his insides turn to ice as he watched himself torture his father. Determination, however, won out and, without any thought as to what he was doing, he dove for the memory.

The entire dream surfaced to his, as well as his father's, mind. He saw his father walking into the Grimmauld Place, his mother running up to throw her arms around him. He saw Dumbledore tell his father in a sad voice that the Half-Blood Prince had orchestrated an attack on Diagon Alley. He heard his father's thoughts on exactly who the Half-Blood Prince really was….

At that moment, Snape finally decided to fight back. With an alarming amount of force, the man shoved violently at Darian.

Darian held his ground, though he had no idea how he was doing so. 'How can I intrude on his mind when I can barely even defend my own?'

He searched the ribbon of memories again, finally coming upon the one he was looking for. He felt himself enter the memory, surprised at the depth of feeling that his father obviously felt for the memory…..

He couldn't hate Darian because Darian gave Severus the same feeling that Lily had always given him: he was needed; someone needed him and depended on him. Someone didn't hate him; someone cared about him even. It scared him that someone could place that much trust in him once again.

'Love?'

It scared him that he could care so much about Darian as he did. As if Lily was back in his life, he once again had a purpose. He had a person that was his, someone who had broken through the walls he had put around his heart. A son….

'Love…'

Darian's eyes widened at the extremity of emotions in that one memory.

Snape pushed against him, harder this time, almost as if warning him to get out immediately.

Darian barely managed to push back before he entered another memory….

He turned back to see his son coming out of Dumbledore's office.

He hesitated. "Are you alright?" he asked finally. "This has to be overwhelming for you."

Darian looked up at him and smiled slightly. "I'll be okay. Thank you."

He nodded. "If you need……anything, you know where my office is." He squeezed his son's shoulder briefly as if to emphasize the point, feeling a warm glow at the relief in his son's green eyes…

A force struck Darian hard in chest and Darian felt his breath leave his body before realizing that he was back in Snape's office again. He collapsed to his knees, coughing and choking as his chest ached.

"You idiot! Do you not realize what you could have done!" Severus roared furiously.

Darian coughed. "But I didn't."

"How dare you invade my personal thoughts!"

"You do it all the time to me," Darian rasped, massaging his chest. "I was merely returning the favor as you so obviously needed to be taught something."

Snape glared daggers at him, fury and hatred etched on his face. "Those were my personal dreams!"

"Don't you see it, though? Don't you see how these dreams are affecting you?" Darian yelled back. "Everything was fine and then you have one good dream about a reality that could never happen and—"

"You may know about them but they are meant for my access only!" Severus interrupted coldly.

Darian exploded. "Why am I not good enough for you?" he screamed desperately. "Why do you always want them? What is wrong with me? The only time I'm ever good enough for you is when you have the bad dreams. You said you were happy with what you have here so why do you forget about me whenever you have the good ones?"

He collapsed onto his knees. "What do you want from me?" he whispered, wrapping his arms around himself and looking down from his father's furious gaze. "Just tell me so I can do it and you'll stop looking at me like that." He looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Snape was staring at him blankly. His lips moved wordlessly as if he was unsure of what to say.

"Darian…" Severus began, sounding uncertain.

Darian didn't move. He was staring at his father, waiting expectantly for the man to apologize, to tell him that he did care for Darian very much.

Severus hesitated, but didn't say anything else.

Darian sighed quietly and bent down so his forehead was barely touching the stone floor, his arms rapped around his middle, looking as if he were bowing.

"Darian," Severus said unsurely, bending down to Darian's level. "I don't----"

"Then why do you want those dreams so much?" Darian whispered, staring at the floor. "Why do you—"

"Darian," Severus interrupted. "Wouldn't you at least be curious if you had a dream of Lily and I?"

Darian took a breath. "Yes, but—"

"You are my son, not them. They will never be you nor will I ever wish that they were," Severus said softly. "I told you that. You have to trust me, Darian. I will never intentionally hurt you. What can I do to make you believe that?"

Darian squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "It's hard to….I'm just so used to being…..disappointed." His voice faltered.

"I know," Severus said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It is not surprising in your position. I suppose I haven't really been any help to that either…."

Darian smiled weakly.

"What I don't understand," the man went on, helping him up. "Is how you can be such a good Legilimens when you are an incompetent dunderhead when it comes to Occlumency."

Darian shrugged. "I guess I have more of an offensive than defensive instinct."

There was a knock on the door.

His father growled quietly, moving to fling open the door imposingly. He probably would have shouted at the unsuspecting student as well if it hadn't been who it was.

"Hello Professor," Hermione Granger said quietly. "Is….is Darian in there?" She looked behind him and spotted the boy.

"Hermione," Darian breathed, brightening instantly.

"Can I…er…talk to you?" Hermione asked, looking uncertainly at their Professor.

"Yeah, sure," Darian said nervously, giving his father a look as if daring the man to stop him from seeing his mate.

Severus merely moved aside, however, giving him a slight nod.

Darian felt relieved as Hermione took his hand awkwardly in hers before leading him down the hall.

A/N- Hmmm...not sure about this one...