Thanks to all those who reviewed, appreciate it as always!

Wow, I'm so excited, this chapter equals double figures! Who knew when I randomly started writing this that it would still be flowing so readily! Oh, I am back at uni as of tomorrow though and so updates may become sporadic as the workload picks up, but they will definitely still come, just maybe not with the regularity they have so far!

Chapter Ten

Harry's portkey dropped him in the entrance hall at 10 minutes past 1. He had told Snape and Co that he would back in time for lunch, and he knew that they lunched at 1 o'clock; they had merely held lunch for him that first day. Harry didn't even bother to drop off his bag upstairs before heading to the back deck where he hoped the others were. He was in luck, they looked like they had just sat down to lunch, Cassi was only just beginning to fill Tainen's plate.

She looked up and saw him walking toward them. "Harry, you made it! We were just about to have lunch, we didn't know if we should hold it for you of what." She seemed relieved that he was back, something Harry didn't particularly understand, but he went with it.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. I had to run an errand while I was in London and that took a little longer then I thought it would." Pulling a funny face at Tainen that made him giggle crazily, Harry sat down and tucked into what appeared to be BLT on toasted bread-roll today.

"So, how was the concert? Was it the best birthday party type thing ever or what?"

"Well since I've never actually had a birthday party before it was brilliant. We talked for a while after we met up, discussed current points of contention etc. and then we went out to dinner at this nice little restaurant, then onto the concert. 2 sets and 3 encores! And they played new and old stuff. Then we headed over to a little blues bar so I could show them two totally different types of muggle music in one night. We headed back to the hotel fairly early and were asleep around 3 or so. Didn't wake up till a little after 11 so I feel great! And then after breakfast we headed out to Diagon Alley so I could run an errand and went our separate ways!"

Harry knew he was volunteering information, which went against his general policy in life but he figured it was nothing too note worthy, and he was really starting to think maybe he and Cassi could at least be, well not friends but, close acquaintances.

"Sounds fantastic! What were you doing down on Diagon? It's not time to pick up the new school things already is it? Seems far to soon."

"Oh no, haven't even gotten my results yet so I don't even know what I'll be taking. I was starting to run low on cash so I stopped by Gringotts, relieved the Goblins of some of my gold, changed it into pounds and I am set for the muggle world again."

Cassi wanted to say something like he should have just asked for some spending money or something but she knew he would see that as crossing a line. He was so blasted independent, not even needing a parental unit for money, she knew he had lived in a hotel before 3rd year so he could live alone, and she didn't doubt he knew how to feed himself too, be it take-out or actually cooking. He was an adult at 15, and despite the fact that half the time she didn't really know what to do about suddenly inheriting a full-grown 'son', or if she even liked the idea, she wished he needed them, or at the very least would unpack his gods forsaken trunk instead of making his room look and feel like a guest room.

"So, what did everyone else do after I left yesterday?" And the rest of lunch was filled with random chatter about inconsequential things. After everyone had finished eating but before the talk had a chance to focus on plans for the rest of the day Harry turned to Snape, looking unsure and like he really didn't want to have to do this. "I was wondering if you had a little bit of time this afternoon at some point so we could talk? Yesterday gave me the opportunity to break everything down with my friends and I have some questions…"

Snape looked surprised for a moment before he managed to get it under control. He knew Harry knew better then to be spouting the information concerning his paternity to random people, so he must trust these 3 people implicitly. Snape assumed 2 of them were the other parts of the Golden Trio but he couldn't for the life of him guess who else Harry was that close too. The papers hadn't said anything. And his son had just asked to talk with him, granted it was to gain information about events very much concerning him but still, for the first time ever his son was voluntarily seeking him out to talk. He agreed readily, saying he had nothing planned right then if now was a good time. Cassi sent them off with a soft smile and assurances that she and Tainen would be fine without them for a while.

They headed inside and Snape lead Harry to a room he had never been in before. It was a study, with dark wood furniture and deep green leather chairs, matching the deep green carpet. Like most rooms in the manor is seemed to be designed so at least one wall was on the outside of the house, and that wall was floor to ceiling glass panels with a glass door set into it. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books on subjects Harry wasn't prepared to hazard a guess at. Snape indicated the sofa set in one corner of the room and then took the armchair facing it.

With a small smile Snape made it clear Harry had the floor. Deciding to dive right in Harry asked his first question. It was by no means the most important but he figured they could build up to that one.

"It is a well established fact that you were a Death Eater, I also know that you now work as a spy for Dumbledore. You have said that you believed in the cause when you join after Hogwarts. What happened? When did your allegiances, as it were, change?"

Snape was actually surprised Harry hadn't asked this earlier. He always assumed that he would eventually have to answer these questions. "It was after your mother came to see me. After she left that day I got to thinking, I knew we were over, that if I ever saw her again we would at best be acquaintances, but probably not even that because of the war. I started to think about what the war had cost me. It wasn't just losing your mother, when I signed up it was for a political cause that had become militant to achieve it's aims. I'm not sure any of us really knew what he was like. I mean, well, you know what he's like, tortures his followers just as much as his enemies, takes sadistic pleasure in killing the most non-threatening muggles. Muggle children tortured and killed because they lack magic."

"She was right all along, you know, after she left I got to thinking about all that he was, thinking about every point of argument your mother used when she was trying to convince me the Dark Lord was wrong. And I realized she was right. That she wasn't the single exception to the rule, she was the rule."

"I went to Dumbledore, and well you know what came of that. During the first war no one knew who Dumbledore's spy was. The stupid, bloody tragedy of all of this is that by the time you were born, by the time they hid you from me in order to protect you I wasn't a threat. But they had no way of knowing that, and I had no way of knowing that I needed them to know."

Harry just nodded, it sucked but he was used to that in life, there was no one he could really rage at over it, no one he could blame. A series of unfortunate events as it were. He really only needed one more thing he guessed, the most important piece of information out there.

"After last year I doubt there is any player in this whole thing who hasn't heard of the prophecy. What do you know about it?"

"I know that it isn't something you need to be concerning yourself with." Snape assured Harry, with raised eyebrows that suggested he thought Harry was a child sticking his nose in where it wasn't his business.

"So you know no more then most people. That's okay; I can still work with that. Did you ever wonder why dear Tommy Boy went after my parents? Why even after they were dead he tried to kill me? And even now, years later, he still hasn't quite managed to get over it?"

Snape was somewhat surprised when Harry implied that it was he who was out of the loop and not the other way around but he went with it. He wasn't sure if Harry was looking for an answer but he felt he needed to give one anyway. Even though, from what Harry was implying, he was going to answer wrongly.

"I assumed like most people that it was because James and Lily were such powerful light supporters. And the subsequent attacks were personal because you defeated him as a baby."

"Most people do. But no, when Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow that night it was with the intention of killing me. My parents knew that he was coming for me, that's why they went into hiding. When he came, James told my mum to take me and run while he stayed to fight him. But he died for us, for me, before she had a chance to get me out. Voldemort even told my mum that he would let her live if she handed me over, but she refused, actually she begged. Not for her own life, but for mine. 'Take me, kill me instead.' He told her she was a silly girl and then she died screaming. And then everyone knows what happens next, with nothing else between him and me he turned the killing curse on me, etcetera etcetera."

Snape was shocked. Did Harry really remember that night? He was recounting the events as if he knew them either first hand or from someone who had been there, that meant either he remembered or the Dark Lord had told him about it, and couldn't see the Dark Lord doing something like that, maybe the 'died screaming' part but telling him the rest? Not likely. He was too shocked to speak, luckily Harry didn't seem to need a response to his little revelation.

"You see, shortly before my birth there was a prophecy made. 2 lines of that prophecy are fairly well known, Tommy already knows them so it's nothing for me to tell you now. They reveal two of the identifying factors of the prophesized child. The other factors and the prophecy itself are reported to have been lost at the DoM, but that is neither here nor there. The two lines state that a child with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born at the end of July, to parents who have defied the man 3 times."

"There were two children born then, who fit the second criteria as well. Tom always assumed it was me, and since he never received the rest of the prophecy well, lets not get into all that. The point it, that if James wasn't my father, do I still fit one of the two most basic requirements of the prophecy that has controlled my life since before I was born? The one that has already set out the events of my life, and gods all hate me, but my death as well, or well, I might survive, but smart money says not in my opinion?"

Severus was beyond shocked. A state he figured he really should be getting familiar with since he found out he had another son. His son's life and DEATH was prophesized, well, gee, he might live? He really needed to know more about this, needed answers now.

"WHAT?" okay, maybe not the best way to ask but the word seemed to explode from his mouth before he had a chance to figure out how to phrase it better.

"Like I said, stupid little prophecy, the details are a) not important and b) maybe not the best thing to be randomly giving out. But, lets try to focus here please sir; this is my future we're chatting about. At the time of my birth, think carefully, could you have been classified as having 'thrice defied' Voldemort?"

Severus knew he wouldn't get an answer, not today, he hadn't gained his son's trust enough for such secrets. So instead he did as he was asked. Thinking back, trying to recall the months between Lily's visit and Harry's birth he tried to decide if he could be classified as having defied the Dark Lord 3 times. Firstly he went to Dumbledore, agreeing to spy. Secondly, just after that, there was a raid which Severus had helped turn into an ambush against the Dark Lord, and then there was the potion he had made wrong, killing the victims quickly instead of giving them a slow lingering death while they talked under the effects of a truth serum. Three times, he had defied him three times. Oh Circe, help his son.

"Yes, Harry. At the time of your birth I had defied him 3 times." He watched as his son seemed to deflate momentarily, fall in on himself and close his eyes in what looked like agony. It only lasted a moment though before Harry took a deep breath, opened his eyes and nodded.

"So, my destiny is still on track then. Well, I never was one to believe in serendipity. Thank-you for answering my questions sir, I'm gonna head upstairs and unpack now." Harry left through the same door they entered through, not even noticing his father's eyes following him, or the fact that Severus could not seem to move beyond that.

Cassi found her husband there almost three hours later, still sitting in the same position. She held him for about 15minutes before reminding him that the kids would be waiting dinner for them. It wasn't until later that night that he had a chance to tell her all he had learned. And it really didn't surprise him when she cried just as much as he did over their son's fate.

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