A New Beginning

~Fire Tiger Ki~

Chapter 3

Albus pulled out his wand and cast a 'Petrificus Totalus!' on the person trying to hide. He then heard hurried footsteps coming from the bedroom, Severus stood at the door between the two chambers, wand in hand.

"Albus, what the Bloody hell are you doing!" demanded Severus, as he made his way over to the pair, positioning himself between Albus and his son.

"It seems there was a misunderstanding, Severus" replied Albus as he muttered the counter for the binding curse he had cast. The boy felt light as the invisible bonds fell away from him, he was free but he was unsure of what he should do. He was trapped in the strange place with these strange people, the old one he did not trust. The first thought that came to his mind was to run, so he got to his feet and bolted towards the bedroom.

Once inside the room he frantically searched for something that he could push in front of the door to keep the others out, and give him time to figure out how to escape. Tears began to threaten to spill over his lashes as he became frustrated at the situation. He imagined that the door was closed and focused on the task at hand, focus has kept him out of getting caught thus far.

Albus watched as the child ran into the bedroom, not daring to move towards Severus or the bedroom to inquire, while Severus' attention and wand remained on the headmaster.

SLAM!

"A misunderstanding? You attacked my son, in my private quarters. Get out!" Severus spoke in a low voice. Albus opened his mouth to say something more but then closed it again after he noticed the expression on the dark haired man in front of him. After retrieving some dust for the fireplace and tossing said dust into the flames the headmaster spoke his destination and then left the chambers.


Severus lowered his wand only after the flames returned to normal. Muttering various obscenities under his breath he sheaths his wand and makes his way toward the door to the bed room. Severus made mental note to address Albus about this incident later.

Knock Knock

"Open the door" Severus spoke in his typical velvety voice. He tried to open the door manually but he couldn't. He decided opening the door via magic would probably scare the child even more than he already is.

"Where am I? What do you want from me?" Came a reply from the other side of the heavy wooden door. Harry was really scared and had no clue what was happening, he had so many questions and he was starting to get hungry. He was not sure how long he was sleeping so he had no way of telling how long ago that last apple was.

"You are safe now, and I want nothing more than to tell you the truth and get to know you. Harry? Open the door" Severus knocked again and soon found himself the object of attention of a single curious emerald eye from the crack that had been opened by the boy.

"How do you know my name. Did my whale of a relative send you to capture me? Can't imagine why he would though, they never liked me there..." Severus studied his son, what he could see of the child, as his spoke, debating on where to start his tale.

"Can you come out here and sit with me? I have a lot of information to tell you, about everything, and I will not pass it through a crack in the door" Severus waited a moment and then turned towards the Plush black leather couch. He made his way over to the couch, picking up the letter from Lily, before settling down on one side of the couch.

'This person knows me, or at least knows more than I do...' Harry thought to himself debating on if he could trust this person enough to come sit with him. 'He did call me by my name and he did make that mean old guy go away...' The bedroom door opened little by little until Harry could pass through the opening and make his way towards the couch. He sat down on the end opposite of Severus, holding the man in his questioning gaze.

"Before you will understand what I am going to tell you, I ask that you listen with an open mind." Severus paused long enough to see the child nod. "First I would like to know what you know already about your history, parents etc. That would give me a notion on where I should start."

"As far back as I can remember I've lived with my Aunt and 'Uncle', if you really can call that man a relative, until about 4 years ago. I think I remember them telling me that my parents were 'Good for Nothing Bums who went and got themselves killed and passed their offspring on Good People'. Their words not mine. Other than that I've been living on my own, stealing food when I need it... sleeping where I can. And of course waking up in a very strange stone room and being attacked by an old man that just came out of the fireplace." Harry spoke being vague but still providing small details.

Already Severus could see that this would be a long day, not only did he have to explain the fact that they were related but he had to explain to him that he was a wizard in general.

"I am going to start at the very basics. I will answer any and all questions after I have said everything, please do not interrupt. You are a Wizard, like your parents, you can do magic and you have potential for great things. Now about 10 years ago a wizard, a dark evil man, began to gain supporters and rose in power. He killed untold numbers of those who went against him, that was until he met you. You were a year old and your mother, Lily, had gone into hiding. Voldemort found her and murdered her and her best friend, James, and then tried to kill you." Severus paused to make sure that Harry was still with him.

"Why didn't I die? You said James was my Mum's best friend? Where is my father and is he still alive?" Harry took the pause to mean it was okay to ask questions.

"Well you didn't died because of Lily's Love for you, Her sacrificing her life saved yours. James, Lily and myself all attended Hogwarts, which is where you are right now, together. James loved your mother and I think that is why he pretended to be her husband and your father days before going into hiding. To protect the both of you." Severus was about to continue when he noticed that Harry looked upset.

"So they both died... I have no one left... Wait, pretended to be my father and her husband?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Actually your mother never told your father about you, at least not while she was alive. She wrote him a letter explaining that she did what she did to protect him. You see your father was a Spy, a dangerous position but a necessary one, and through his spying he was able to pass information along to protect people. He was the one who suggested that your mother go into hiding." Severus' voice seemed distant now, as opposed to when he began this story.

"So who are you and where do you fit into things?" Harry questioned.

"I am Severus Tobias Snape, Potions Master here at Hogwarts..." Severus stated. And then followed it with another statement, this one much much softer. "And I am your father."

"What? You're my who?" Replied Harry.

"I'm your father. Your Mum never told me that you were mine, until I received this letter from her. We secretly dated through our school years and up until shortly before you were born. She told me that your real name is Salazar Alexander Snape." Severus answered

"Salazar, that is a weird name, but I guess so is 'Severus' and 'Hogwarts'. Why am I at Hogwarts now?" The boy fired question after question in his attempt to find out as much as he could.

"I will answer more questions for you tomorrow, I will not beat around the bush in saying you require a bath and a change of clothes. Come, follow me." Severus pushed himself up and walked towards the bathroom. Harry, or Salazar as he recently learned to be his real name, mimicked the movements of his 'father.' He was not quite sure that everything had sunk in yet, there was a lot of information he just received.

"Inside you will find anything that you may need. I will see about finding you more acceptable clothing." Severus assured the boy as he opened the door to the bathroom, activating the illumination charm placed over the room. Salazar moved into the bathroom and promptly closed the door behind him.

The bathroom itself was unlike anything he had seen, being divided into two separate rooms, and quite roomy. The first room was rectangular in shape with black marble counter tops, with deep sinks and fancy looking faucets. A large ornate mirror hung over the counter. A stack of big fluffy towels were stacked on a shelf near the door leading to what he could only assume was the bath.

He made his way to the interior door and pushed it open, only after reaching up to touch one of the inky colored plush towels. The fact that the towel was warm to the touch surprised him at first but he merely shrugged it off as he remembered that magic was real and he should have an open mind about things. He hugged the towel to him allowing it to warm him as he walked into the next room, closing that door behind him as well.

When you think about a bath tub you hardly expect a rectangular tub, set in the floor itself, that reminded him more of a small swimming pool. Along one side of the bath was a large faucet, he was unsure how a single faucet would fill the tub up in any normal amount of time He approached the faucet and turned both knobs, water came from the faucet as well as hundreds of jets that covered the sides of the tub.

He watched as the water level rose steadily. Moving away from the tub he laid his towel on the black marble counter top nearest to the door. Quietly undressing the sudden lack of falling water caused him to turn around quickly, the bath was full and the water was off now. Another shrug and he made his way towards the stone steps leading into the bathtub.

'This feels so good' were the first words that came to his mind as he allowed the warm water to wash away everything. After washing his hair, which seemed to have grown longer than he remembered, he sat down on the steps he came down and allowed his mind to roam.


As the exterior bathroom door closed in his face, Severus headed into his bedroom to see about finding clothing for his son. Of course anything he found would have to be shrunk to fit the lad, an easy task. Searching through his wardrobe, he pulled out a deep forest green pullover sweater and a pair of black trousers.

He also pulled out a lightweight set of everyday robes, These would have to do until they could go to Diagon Alley. After shrinking the clothes to a guesstimated fit for the boy Severus gathered up the clothes and headed back to the bathroom door. He knocked lightly and then opened the door after hearing no reply from the boy. He noticed the other door was closed so he assumed that Salazar had figured out about the bath. Leaving the clothes on the counter he decided that the both of them could do with some food.

A light pop of displaced air announced the arrival of a house elf in the, otherwise unoccupied, sitting area. Severus asked that two meals be brought down to his chambers, as the staff were probably in the Great Hall for dinner. The small creature nodded and then popped out of existence to retrieve their food. Severus walked over to the fireplace mantle, barren except for a single moving picture and the ornate container that contained Floo powder.

Severus picked up the picture, a beautiful redheaded woman and a younger version of himself, his free hand came up to gently touch the picture where the woman was. His mind being elsewhere he had not heard the door open from the bathroom, nor had he heard the light footsteps of her son, their son, making their way towards him.

"That's my mum, isn't it? I can tell, you must have really loved her" Salazar spoke softly to the his father, whose back was still to him.

"Yes this is your mother, Lily..." He trailed off as a light pop of displaced air announced the arrival of their dinner. "Come now, let us eat."

Dinner came and went, rather uneventfully one might say. Severus started over to the couch, Salazar watched him cautiously before following him over to the couch.

"Will you tell me about her? My mother.." His voice came out barely above a whisper.

Severus nodded and then began his story, starting from when they first met. As he told story after story about Lily, the gap between the two grew smaller and smaller, until Salazar was leaning against his father. He became aware of his son's failed battle against sleep, but was not willing to move in case the movement woke him up. Severus cast a summoning spell and soon a blanket came hovering from his bed room chamber, landing over the pair.

"I miss you so much Lily." He spoke to no one in particular, but he felt like she would hear him. Moments before he drifted off to sleep his attention turned to the sleeping form huddled at his side.

"Sleep well, little one. Tomorrow shall be a long day indeed."


A/N: Ok so I have noticed that I am really ADHD while I write. I'll work on about 3 things at once while listening to music and work randomly. For example, just now:

I wrote a little bit of the story
then went to check my facebook
which lead me to look at some pictures of my friend's from last year's Renaissance Faire
which started me on my planning for my costume
which then took me back to writing more story.
All the while Listening to Korn's New CD.

Anywho. Thank you to those who have reviewed. And Thank you to those of your who read this even if you don't review I know you are there. ^_^

Also I don't own Harry Potter, just the things that are changed. :)

And lastly I know this chapter took a little longer to get out to you, but it is also longer. ^_^