The One With Dumbledore and Veritaserum
Harry had a difficult time keeping up with Snape's furious strides; the man must have been at least a head taller than Harry. They seemed to be making their way to Dumbledore's office, which made sense to Harry because if anyone would know what had happened, it would be the leader of the light.
Harry had never trusted Snape, but he knew Dumbledore respected the man and trusted him with Harry's life. This had been proven time and again.
Harry could feel the rage pouring off the man as he practically marched through the corridors of Hogwarts. Never had Harry seen him this angry before, a thought which worried him a little bit. Someone was going to get hurt, he could feel it.
Harry's mind refused to think further on the most recent revelation. At the moment he seemed to be running on adrenalin and curiosity. Curiosity as to why Snape was so angry and how the hell this had happened. The professor was acting like the most important thing in the world had been stolen from him.
Harry wondered if that was the case. He would not think on it too much, but a small part him was hoping that it was so. He had never felt wanted before; he'd never been loved unconditionally like a parent automatically loved their child.
Harry had to remind himself that this was Snape. Evil, Death Eating, Potions Extraordinaire with a nasty temper and bad personal hygiene. He hated Harry.
Snape hated Harry.
They had arrived at Dumbledore's office, the Veela shouting out a password so fast Harry barely caught it, as distracted as he was. Snape practically ran up the stairs, and barged into Dumbledore's office without knocking.
Harry ran after him, following closely. Dumbledore was sat behind his desk, head snapping up to look at them when they barged into his domain. He actually looked surprised to see them. Harry wondered if the surprise was caused by their entrance or the fact that they were together and not yelling obscenely at each other.
Snape stopped in front of the Headmaster's desk and stared down at the man in what Harry could only describe as disgust and fury.
Why was Snape angry with Dumbledore of all people?
Dumbledore eyed Snape and Harry, looking wary. Snape pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, which Harry recognised as the parchment with his potion results on. He watched as Snape calmly passed the letter to Dumbledore. Dumbledore took it, looking at it curiously before unfolding it and reading the contents.
He paled quite drastically, and the look of guilt on his face made Harry feel sick. What had Dumbledore done?
He could not meet Snape's eyes. Looking anywhere but at the man, or even Harry, Dumbledore shakily stated, "you told me that potion was taken off the syllabus, Severus."
Harry could feel the Professor trembling in rage beside him and unconsciously took a step back.
"There are a lot of things I tell you that aren't true, Albus. Apparently, you are not a stranger to such acts. Tell me, have you told any little white lies lately?" Snape looked a little bit psychotic right now, Harry noted.
Harry watched Dumbledore take a large sigh. He suddenly looked every bit of his one hundred plus years, and resigned to whatever Snape was going to throw at him.
"I see. And your sixth year potions class have all taken this test today?"
Snape merely sneered. Harry wondered if he was resisting the urge to reply with some sarcastic comment along the lines of, "no I just picked Harry out as I hate him so much and wanted to cause him pain by forcing him to stab himself", but figured the situation was too serious. Snape certainly seemed deathly serious, and seriously enraged.
"Did anyone else see the results?"
"Why does that matter, Albus? Are you planning on Obliviating us now?" Snape had bent down and snarled in the Headmaster's face. Harry was glad he had never made the man this angry – he was scary right now. The potions professor stood up straight hissing, "The entire class saw the results, old man."
Dumbledore nodded slightly, still staring at the parchment in his hands with the two names in black swirly writing.
There was silence for a while. Harry just stared at Snape, then Dumbledore, then back at Snape until someone made a move.
It was Dumbledore – "Severus-"
"Do not feed me lies, Albus. I want the truth. If you even think to avoid this, I swear I will force Veritaserum down your throat." Snape snarled, glaring fiercely at the Headmaster and Harry knew the professor was deadly serious.
Dumbledore seemed unable to talk, however. It was as though he had been hit with a Silencio.
Snape quickly lost his temper. Harry watched in horror as the man walked around the desk, grabbed Dumbledore by the neck and forced his mouth open. Snape took a small potion vial out of his pocket – what looked like the potion he had threatened Dumbledore with – and poured a small amount down the old man's throat. Harry wondered why Dumbledore had let that happen. The man was the most powerful light wizard in the world – he should have stopped Snape, so why didn't he?
Snape stared at him until it was obvious the potion had taken effect. Voice vibrating with barely contained fury, he snarled in a deathly calm voice, "You told me he died." Snape stood up straight and screamed, "You told me my son was dead! I saw him!"
Dumbledore was fighting the potion, but a reluctant, "yes" was forced out of him.
"You lied! My son is very much alive, standing in this room, under the alias of one of my former enemies!"
Harry shuffled on the spot, wanting the floor to swallow him alive. Hearing those words from Snape's mouth had sent shivers down his spine and reality came crashing back with a sickening thud. Dumbledore had caused this. Dumbledore had taken him from Snape when he was a baby, and he had somehow ended up with the Potters.
Had they known who he was and that he had been kidnapped from his family?
Snape took a deep breath, attempting to clear his head of the rage clouding his thoughts enough to ask questions that would get an actual answer.
"What happened after I fell asleep?" Even calm, Snape still looked furious. Harry, who had backed away during Snape's furious yells, stepped forward to hear the answers Dumbledore would be forced to tell.
"Lily's baby was stillborn. James and Lily were inconsolable – furious that the Medi-witches had not been able to save him. Furious that Voldemort's tyranny had caused so much stress. I could not allow Harry to grow up with you and Lucius, knowing how powerful he would be, when you were both on his side. I suggested a swap, pointing out the obvious truths behind having someone so powerful on the light side and Lily and James easily agreed to it. While you were asleep after giving birth, I snuck in with the Potter's dead baby and swapped him over with yours. You had been so exhausted by the birth that you were practically delirious. No one noticed."
Harry felt every ounce of rage Snape had. Dumbledore had lied, and tricked Harry into trusting him. The one man who had consistently lied to him his whole life.
"Why does he look like James Potter?"
"I used an adoption potion with James and Lily's blood in. It gave Harry the dominate characteristics of James with a few qualities of Lily. We charmed his eyes the same emerald green as Lily."
"And his Veela? How did you suppress his Veela instincts?"
"A potion."
"Which one, Albus?" Snape was furious again and Harry had to wonder if there was a potion that could have harmed him, hence setting off the maternal instincts of the Veela.
"Inhibitus. Completely reversible and painless."
"I'm aware of what it does, Dumbledore. Why did you do this to me?" Snape looked pained, glaring at Dumbledore, face twisted in agony.
"There was a Prophecy concerning Harry and the Dark Lord. It stated that with the Veela on the Dark side, they would prevail and the light would perish. I could not let that happen, Severus."
"Do not twist this around Albus. You stole my child from me. There is no condoning that, good intentions or not! You have no right to force somebody to another side of a war!"
"Severus, my boy, I am sorry. I did regret what I was forced to do but please understand I had no choice. You have to forgive me for this." Dumbledore pleaded, and Harry just stared at him, wondering if he'd lost his mind. He was under the potion, so we obviously meant what he said. Harry knew Snape would never forgive the man for this, and Harry knew that he himself would never willingly set eyes on the man again, let alone forgive him.
Harry had been forced to stay with the Dursley's. Dumbledore knew he hated them, but he'd stated blood wards were protecting him. Harry snarled, unable to stop himself. Harry had no relation to Petunia Dursley what-so-ever. He had been treated like a house else and abused for nothing. Harry felt a whole different wave of hate.
Before Snape could reply to the Headmaster's insane rambling, Harry questioned, "And the Dursley's? What was your reason for keeping me with them when you knew they hated me, when you knew I hated them? How many times did I ask to stay with the Weasley's, who were more than happy to have me there? They loved me like another son, but you still forced me to remain with the Dursley's! My so-call 'blood' relatives!"
Again, Dumbledore didn't seem to want answer this question. He wrestled with the potion for longer this time, and Harry knew he would not like the answer.
Bowing his head, eyes closing, Dumbledore answered, "You asked me multiple times, every summer. But I could not allow you to know the love of a family. Knowing only dislike and disgust at home meant that Hogwarts became the only happiness you knew. The magical world would become your home, and you would need to protect it."
Something in Snape seemed to break. Before Harry could blink, the old man was screaming in agony on the floor. Harry looked wide-eyed at Dumbledore, then over to Snape who was holding a fist in mid-air, a look of pure agony and rage on his face. Harry felt a slight pain in his chest at the look.
Snape kept him under the spell for a few seconds before releasing the man.
Dumbledore attempted to sit up, panting heavily. "Severus, you must understand-"
"I will never understand! You took away the one thing that should have given me some happiness in my life. You turned my own son against me by giving him to the people who tortured me in school. You destroyed my life when I trusted you! I turned away from the Dark Lord because you were the only person to show me any kindness, and I have loved you like a father since! How dare you sit there and try to rationalise what you did! You are the reason for the past 16 years of pain I have survived. I trusted you and I loved you! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU?"
Snape's hand came up again, but this time it was open. Harry watched as it slowly started to close before he heard a choking sound and turned to see Dumbledore clutching his throat. Harry looked at the man in horror before turning to Snape to see tears pooling in his eyes, face pale and twisted in agony still. He realised that Snape was going to kill Dumbledore, and then he would probably be sent to Azkaban.
The thought had Harry screaming before he could stop himself.
"No! Stop! Please, stop!" He grabbed hold of Snape's arm and tried to push his hand down, staring at his father head on to try and knock some sense in to him. "Please stop, you're no good to me in Azkaban!" Harry started to panic when Snape didn't seem to hear him. Tears had started running down his cheeks as well.
Harry turned to look at Dumbledore, who was still clutching his neck and looking at Snape with pleading in his eyes.
"Don't look at me like that! Stop looking at me as though I am the one betraying you! I have every right to do this. You stole a Veela baby from it's mother! I have every right! I have every right."
Snape's protests trailed off at the end. Harry realised Snape did not have it in him to kill the man he had considered a father for 16 years, kidnapping or no.
Snape's hand loosened, and then finally fell limply at his side. Harry felt relief wash through him and turned to look his father in the eye again. Snape was still watching Dumbledore, then his eyes turned to look at Harry and he felt his breath hitch and the pain in the Potion's Master's eyes.
Harry couldn't speak under Snape's intent gaze. He shifted a little, feeling uncomfortable.
Snape frowned. "This feels wrong. You feel wrong."
Harry hadn't realised how much hope he had been feeling until that comment and then everything went cold. Snape was rejecting him. Harry froze in his devastation, unable to move for seconds before backing away from the man, head bowed. He should have known this would happen. He had been right – the man hated him. Not even this most recent revelation could change that fact, obviously.
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up at the man in front of him.
"Your Veela has been suppressed. The Veela in me is distressed because it cannot sense a connection. Do not doubt that the human side of me feels the same way, Harry. You are my son now and forever. That will not change." He took a deep breath, and Harry nodded feeling relief wash through him again, even as he frowned at the name 'Harry'.
This had been a long day.
"We need to reverse the potion suppressing your instincts. " Snape seemed to have run out of rage. His voice was soft and flat, and Harry noticed he looked even paler than before.
"OK, how do we do that?"
"There is only one person powerful enough, besides Dumbledore," the name was growled, Harry was glad to notice, "that has the knowledge and ability to reverse the affects of a potion given to you at birth, Harry. We are going to need to visit the Dark Lord."
"What? He'll kill me before we even get to explain!" Harry suddenly realised Voldemort had killed the people who had kidnapped him. Even so, he had been the reason Dumbledore had left him at the Dursley's.
He certainly felt no want to fight him, though. Harry felt no loyalty to the light as it was now. With Dumbledore leading them, Harry would never be able to fight for them again. He was not a dark wizard, however, and he would not become a Death Eater.
"He most certainly will not. I will not let that happen – I would stand in front of any curse he throws at you before losing you again. However, he no longer wants you dead, Harry. He wants you on his side. He will not automatically attack, which will give me a chance to explain."
"I will not become a Death Eater, Snape! Why would he want to help us if I will not join him! Once he knows, he'll just kill us both and be done with it!"
"Your low opinion of the Dark Lord is understandable, Harry. Please know that I feel the same way about Tom Riddle as I did about Albus Dumbledore. I have never been sided with one as it was not possible to choose between them. They are the only people who have ever shown me kindness, aside from Lucius. I have been betrayed by Albus in the worst possible way. If I felt that you would be in danger, I would not take you. Trust that."
Harry had trusted Snape with his life before he found out that man was his father. He now trusted Snape completely. After all that had occurred in the short time in Dumbledore's office, Harry knew Snape would never betray or hurt him.
Besides, there was no one else who could reverse the potion and Harry knew he had to know what it was like to be loved completely. Harry could not stand the idea of his father's Veela disliking him.
Harry nodded, resigned to the fact that his life had taken a drastic u-turn. "You told Dumbledore that you turned against the Dark Lord, though."
Snape shook his head. "I turned away. I was completely loyal, enthralled, until you 'died' and Dumbledore supported me through the loss. He showed me nothing but affection, which I fell for easily." He seemed disgusted with himself. Harry wanted to show him that he shouldn't be, but couldn't bring himself to move towards the Professor. "I was essentially a spy for both sides."
Harry knew it. He had never believed Snape was a spy for the light.
Snape shook himself, and then turned to Harry. "Pack your trunk. We may be gone a while."
A/N If at any point this gets sappy or fluffy, please let me know. I will need to include some kind of torture to even it out.
Thanks to those who reviewed. It's nice to know people are excited about the same things I am ;)