Warning- there is an instance of super super OOC Sev ahead (you'll know it when you read it) and if you don't find it OOC for the Severus i have written until now please leave that in a comment for me. just know either way it was so much fun to write.
Without further ado i present chapter seven.
It was a week before Christmas when finally, the students left to go home or to another relative's house for the holidays. For the first time in years all, the students had left the castle. Hermione was going to Egypt with her folks and Ron and his family was going to Romania. Harry of course was staying at Hogwarts though this year it was because that was where his Papa was spending the winter hols himself.
However, the novelty of having a parent at Christmas wasn't the only thing that had Harry excited. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, and Sirius were spending the winter holidays at the castle too and although they didn't quite come out and say it in as many words, he knew that they were staying because he and his Papa were.
Severus for his part would never admit, even under torture, that he was as excited as Harry was about Christmas this year. The winter holidays had never been a source of great enjoyment for the man even when he was younger. However, this year he had a son and a father not to mention that his old enemies turned colleagues were, if not his friends, at least pleasant acquaintances.
On the night before Christmas though, Harry hit a bit of a rough patch.
Severus was still awake, since Harry had decided that he wanted to bed early after they had returned from visiting Freya, so he got up from the couch the instant that he heard the muffled screams coming from Harry's bedroom. Without any hesitation whatsoever he ran to the boy's room so that he could wake him up.
Like the first time Harry woke the instant that his hand came in contact with him. Unlike last time, though Harry woke up and began to sob. Severus did the only thing that he could. He pulled his boy from the bed and hugged him as he murmured reassurances softly to child. He didn't know what he had dreamt of but whatever it was had to be bad to have made Harry act like this and Severus had a strong suspicion that the dream had something to do with either Voldemort or the boy's miserable excuse for relatives.
"It's okay. I'm here," Severus said softly to Harry. The irony that his presence should be comforting to any child let alone Harry Potter did not escape him.
"You gone and den Volly was dere and uncle and and," Harry sobbed into Severus's chest. The nightmare was so vivid and scary. But Harry knew first hand that Severus could be very scary and he wondered if Severus was scary enough to scare away a nightmare.
"Can you repeat that in English?" Severus asked pleased that the child was even willing to share the details of the nightmare in the first place.
Harry took a deep breath and pulled his head away from Severus's chest. "Was speaking in English." He murmured.
Severus rolled his eyes. "I meant that you should speak understandably."
In a slightly better mood now, Harry decided to play a bit. After all, his Papa just said that he wanted him to speak understandably but he didn't say that it had to be in English. Therefore, Harry used Parseltongue instead. At least he was going to but Severus anticipated this.
"English, you little brat."
"I dreamt that somebody took me away from you and I was sent back to my uncle. He was beating me and then Voldy came out of nowhere and suddenly my uncle was able to become a Death Eater and somehow he was able to do magic and both he and Voldy started using crucio on me at the same time. Then they were laughing at me and saying that nobody could ever love me and that I was better off dead and that if I was never born my Mum and my Dad would still be alive because it's my fault that they are dead in the first place." Harry said and then he thrust his face back into Severus's chest crying again now that the images were fresher from the retelling of the nightmare.
Severus didn't know what to say to comfort the boy. Surely saying that he wished to torture Vernon Dursley in ways that would make Voldemort himself afraid, that was assuming that the monster had enough human in him, of course, to feel fear, would be the wrong thing to say. The boy knew that he wanted Voldemort re-killed as well so that probably wasn't the proper thing to use as reassurance either.
"I had an awful nightmare a few nights ago myself so I know how bad they can be."
Harry pulled away from him just a little bit so that he could look at him again. "What was yours about Papa?" he asked.
Severus pulled the boy close again more for his own comfort than for Harry's. Then he rested his chin on the mess of hair covering Harry's head. "You were stolen from me by other wizards because they felt that I couldn't be a proper guardian for you and then I was fed to the Dark Lord's snake after several rounds of being crucio'd." Severus whispered a bit shocked that he was confiding this to the boy.
Harry said nothing but snuggled deeper into Severus's hold. After a while, the man figured that the child had fallen back asleep. At least he had thought so until Harry quietly said, "Stay."
Severus, being the softy that he had become, could hardly refuse that and lay with the young Gryffindor. Ten minutes later they were both asleep and neither of them had a nightmare.
/
When Severus woke up, he found that Harry was still asleep unlike the last time that they had spent a night in this way. Knowing that this would most likely be a rare thing, since the boy usually woke before he did, which was a bit alarming because he usually woke at six, and the fact that the boy hardly reached out for comfort except in times of extreme distress, he took the opportunity to study his sleeping son up close.
His child looked even younger in sleep and that was saying something because even when Harry was doing schoolwork he barely managed to look like he was in fact twelve and a half. Nevertheless, Severus found that watching his boy sleeping and knowing that Harry was totally at ease being next to a man that used to be a human embodiment of rage and hatred in his eyes was the most satisfying feeling that he had ever had in his lifetime.
When Harry finally woke up, he saw that his Papa was looking at him. He rubbed his eyes and then he remembered what day it was. "Happy Christmas," he said excitedly.
"Happy Christmas brat," Severus replied lips pulled up into his signature smirk.
"Git," Harry countered before he had a chance to think about it.
Severus had a full-blown smile now. So the boy did have some fight in him did he? "Moronic dunderhead."
"Sarcastic jerk,"
"Gutless Gryffindor,"
"Stupid snake,"
"You little twat,
"Sugary sweet softy snaky Snape," Harry said in a voice that was drenched in so much sweetness that it practically gave Snape a cavity.
"That's it! You're going to pay for that Potter."
"In your dreams Snape." Harry replied hopping out of the bed and running away. Severus was startled for a second but almost immediately got up to chase the boy. Later he would, of course, blame such childishness on not being in his right mind since it was so early in the morning.
"That's 'Professor Snape' to you." The man growled.
"Not my Professor right now." Harry retorted not slowing down one bit.
Soon Harry was outside of their shared quarters still running. Chancing a glace back, he saw that Snape was right behind him and he tried to coax more speed from his legs. He only managed to postpone his inevitable capture though because a few minutes later he was panting and laughing on the stone floor of the castle as an also laughing Severus Snape was tickling him into submission.
Seeing the usually stoic, Severus Snape laughing so hard that his, normally pale, skin held a very warm blush, made Harry laugh even harder than he already was. This in turn caused Severus to laugh even harder as well.
"What is going on here?" an amused voice asked from above the two of them.
Harry and Severus looked at each other. Both of them were clad only in pajamas (Harry's had animated Hippogriffs on them and Severus was in a set that were white with green exploding cauldrons on them yet another gift from Dumbledore) and they were both barefooted. Then before either of them could say anything at all, they both burst out laughing again.
Less than two minutes later, the remaining Hogwarts Professors were watching them. Minerva looked somewhat shocked. Albus still looked all smiley and twinkly-eyed, Remus and Sirius looked torn between amusement and confusion at the sight.
Harry and Severus were still laughing. It had gotten so bad that there were tears raining down in rivers from their eyes but they just couldn't stop even with the audience and every time that they were almost able to calm down they made the mistake of glancing over at one another and that set them off once again.
A minute and more than a few deep breaths later, they could finally talk again.
"He started an argument," Harry said as though that would explain everything that had happened.
"He assaulted me with a very insulting and quite embarrassing alliteration." Severus tried to defend himself.
"Then he decided that it would be acceptable to get revenge by chasing me all over the castle barefooted so that he could pin me down and tickle me to death." He looked at the other adults with his green eyes as wide and innocent as a doe are all the while weaving the tale to make Severus seem like the bad guy.
'The boy would have made a good Slytherin' Severus thought. However, he was not the head of Slytherin House for nothing.
With a small shake of his head, his hair fell and covered his face. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at the others through his hair. This made him appear both meek and innocent. It was a struggle not to laugh at the look that the others gave him.
I didn't mean for it to end up this way." He said softly wrapping himself in a loose hug and shivering a bit at first it was for effect but then he realized that he actually was quite cold. Then he looked upwards and that made his hair fall away from his face allowing him to be able to gaze at his colleagues with almost pleading eyes. It also helped that his face was still a bit wet from when he had be crying from laughing too hard since it gave him the appearance of honesty, repentance, and a slight bit of fearfulness.
"You can pull that off!" Sirius said shocked that a man as creepy and odd-looking as Severus Snape was, could pull off such a convincing 'it's not really my fault' act. He just hadn't thought that it was possible and he would not believe it if he hadn't seen it for himself. Seriously, the only thing that was missing was a pink background with bubbles floating about. It also didn't help matters that Harry had done such a convincing act too and had held his doe-like expression all the way through Severus's act.
All in all it made all of them want to squeal like excited fan girls because it was impossibly cute and the act just made you want to cuddle them both and hug them as hard as you possibly could to infuse them with love.
Albus sighed.
"Headmaster?" Severus asked in his soft 'comfort me, comfort me' tone of voice.
"I'm just thinking about all the things that you will weasel yourself out of via that expression."
Severus smiled a genuine smile at his father and then pulled himself to his feet, brushed the dirt on his clothes off with his hands, and then he walked over to Harry. "Let's go home so that we can get ready for the Christmas Feast alright."
Harry nodded and stood up wincing a bit, as his whole foot touched the cold stone of the floor. Severus sighed and plucked the boy up into his arms. "I'll see you all in a bit," he said to the other Professors and then he preceded walk down to his room. Once there Harry practically leapt from his arms.
"What's wrong?" he asked a bit saddened by Harry's action.
"Nothing, it's just that I gotta go to the bathroom really bad cause I didn't go when I woke up and then I forgot after that."
After Harry said that Severus realized that he had to go to and he wondered how he had failed to notice it before and it was all he could do to keep from embarrassing himself once he did notice that he had to.
Choosing lesser of two embarrassments Severus rushed off to his own bathroom. Half an hour later Severus had washed and wrapped himself in a Slytherin, green towel then he pulled out what he was going to wear to the feast.
He had just pulled on his pants when there was a knock on his door.
"Come in,"
At that, Harry came in. He was wearing a pair of dark blue Muggle jeans and a brown button down shirt with two vertical lines of white embroidered design on it. His hair was less messy than usual since it was still slightly damp and he only had socks on his feet.
"I just wanted to see if you were ready yet because I just got word that the feast is ready. So what you were going to wear to the…" Harry trailed off as he saw the black teaching robes that Severus had laid out for himself. Harry shook his head and pulled out his wand to accio'd some blocks, put them into the shape of a tombstone, and affixed a piece of parchment to it.
Severus glanced over to read the paper. Here lies the fashion sense of Severus Snape. Dead before it had a chance to live. May it rest in peace.
While Severus was distracted, Harry wandered over to the man's still open closet to see what he had in there. He was not surprised at all to see all the black clothing. Luckily, he had planned for this. Sure, he wasn't that much of a fashion follower but even he knew that black attire all the time wasn't going to do it. He had also suspected that Severus had nothing else in his closet besides black clothing except where pajamas were concerned and that was only because Dumbledore had bought them. Someday Harry would ask why Severus wore them when he knew the man had black ones. So Harry had asked Dumbledore to help him out and the old wizard had come through for him without his Papa being aware of the conspiracy. All that was left was to get his Papa to do what he wanted and he knew just how to do that.
/
"Come on Papa it's not that bad and you know it."
"No way you devious little brat."
Everyone that was in the Great Hall for the Christmas feast looked at one another a little amused and slightly alarmed as they heard Harry's and Severus's voices outside the door.
"Don't make me go and get Sirius."
"What would that mangy mutt do?" Severus scoffed.
"He is not a mutt and he would drag you inside and you know he could do it."
"You wouldn't dare sic him on me."
"How sure are you about that?"
"Sirius!" Harry called loudly.
"Stop!"
"Okay then walk inside o' great king of the serpents."
There was a loud huff and then Severus walked into the Hall. He had on midnight blue jeans. A button up white shirt with golden threads weaved in an intricate pattern around the collar. His shoulder-length hair had been combed and pulled back into a ponytail with a midnight blue tie and he had on a pair of black shoes.
Personally, the other thought that it was quite a good look for him but they all thought it wise not to say anything about his current state of dress less they aggravate him even more than he already was at present.
Harry and Severus walked toward the small table to the seats that had been set up for them. McGonagall was sitting next to Dumbledore. On Dumbledore's other side was Sirius. On the other side of the table, two seats were empty and Remus sat across from Sirius in the third seat on that side.
Once Severus and Harry had reached their seats, Harry took the middle one leaving Severus the seat that was across the table from Minerva, the food was already out. "Sorry we were late," Harry said helping himself to a small portion on turkey and mashed potatoes, which was promptly doubled in size by Severus the moment he turned his head, "Someone was taking forever to get dressed."
"I was not," Severus muttered to his plate. It was Harry's fault for forcing him into this ridiculous outfit. If he had just been able to wear his teaching robes like he was going to this never would have taken so long. However, the brat had threatened to tell about how he had almost had an accident earlier. Severus had countered by saying that Harry had almost had one too. But the boy had been one step ahead of him and replied that it would be worse for him because he was a fully capable adult whereas he was a young child that had been through so many traumatic ordeals in his short life that it would be the least of his worries if he actually did have an accident. That was the end of that and Severus had put on the outfit that the boy had laid out for him.
But Severus would get his revenge on the boy somehow and he didn't care how petty that sentiment made him. In his mind, he was justified. Maybe he could transfigure all of the boy's pants into nappies since the boy was always going on about how he was no longer a little kid. Alternatively, he could make the boy's hair turn multiple colors. 'No the boy would probably like that' he thought.
His evil musings- yes evil- was stopped when he realized that someone was trying to take to him. Yet another thing that Severus could blame on the boy. He had never spaced out in public before Harry had wormed his way into his heart. Even if he had, he never would have spaced out to plot such childish schemes.
"Severus, are you okay?" McGonagall asked. "You seem to be quite distracted."
"I'm fine." Severus said quietly so that he didn't attract the attention of the others at the table.
"Are you sure?" She asked. "You were smiling, quite creepily, during your little space out."
"Was I," He stated hoping that she would let the matter drop since it didn't seem like a good idea to tell her that he was trying to think of a way to get back at a twelve year old that just happened to be one of her favorite little lions.
A few minutes later they were on desert when Severus heard Sirius say, "So Pup, are you ready to go get started on opening your presents?"
"I get presents!?" Harry asked with surprise. He knew that he might get something from the Weasley's since Ron was his friend after all and by later today Hermione would owl over her gift since he had sent Hedwig to her with hers a few days ago but from the rest of them he hadn't expected to receive anything.
"Of course you do. I have it on good authority that even our resident Potions Master got you something."
"Really!?" Harry exclaimed turning his head in Severus's direction.
"Of course you little idiot. Why wouldn't I get you something?" Severus sneered.
Predictably, Harry threw himself into Severus's arms at that gazing at the man with so much happiness that Severus began to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Severus had, had more happiness in the last four months than he had ever had in the rest of his life combined. Surely so much happiness in such a small amount of time had to be a crime or at the very least an illness of some sort. His heart was beating so rapidly that it felt as though it might take a running leap and launch itself right out of his chest as though shot from a cannon.
As if that betrayal of his body were not enough, he also felt his eyes starting to get a bit moist. That was something that he couldn't believe he had never before cried tears of joy and he would let that start now. He gently pushed the boy off him and stood.
"I tire of this pointless meal," He said failing to achieve his usual snarl, "You all can join me in the dungeons when you are done here." With that, he quickly walked out of the room and went to his rooms so that he could pull himself together before they all came down.
For the sake of convenience, they had decided that they would have the 'party' down in Severus's rooms because Harry could be more easily carried off to bed because he knew the boy would stay up for as long as he could and end up falling asleep wherever he was.
Less than twenty minutes later, the whole group was gathered about the Christmas tree that he and Harry had put up. Of course, Severus had hidden the presents with a canceling charm that he had removed when he had come back from the Hall.
Harry looked at the tree in amazement. Most of the presents underneath it were his. He had at least twice as many gifts as everyone else.
"Aren't you going to start Pup?" Sirius asked.
"Wait!" Harry suddenly exclaimed and then he ran into his room only to emerge a few minutes later with three gifts. The adults were startled because the boy had not been allowed out of the castle since Voldemort's return and he had not had any of them act as a proxy for his gift shopping. That explained why the presents were wrapped in colored parchment that was held together with a simple sticking charm.
"I'm ready now," Harry said a little nervously since his present were so sloppily wrapped in comparison to the ones that they had gotten him. In addition, he was a little worried about if they would like their presents since he had such a limited practice of gift giving.
Harry opened the first gift because they wouldn't let it be otherwise. It was from his Head of House and it was a Muggle video player that was enhanced with magic along with a few videos.
He ended up having to open quite a few gifts before anyone else would touch any of theirs but eventually he was feed up with it and he crossed his arms and said that he wasn't opening anything else until someone opened something.
After that, presents were opened left and right until the only ones left were a present from Severus to Harry and Harry's gifts to all of them. They decided that they would open Harry's presents before he opened his last one.
Severus went first. He disabled the sticking charm on the paper and he saw that there were two books there. They were very old but well taken care of. He opened one and he saw that it was an old and very rare potions text. Flipping through a few pages, he saw the boy had written a few notes in the book.
"How long have you had these?" He asked astounded. He had never thought that he would see these books outside of a private collection.
"Over the summer I snuck out when they were gone and I found those and bought them for myself. Oddly enough, they were in a half-priced bookstore priced at a couple of pounds each. I think it was because they didn't know what they were."
Severus could say nothing to that because he was too engrossed in the text already. He reluctantly stopped though when a pillow from the couch hit him in the head.
Next was McGonagall. She pulled off the paper and found a large blue cube with a small door that wouldn't open.
Harry laughed at her confusion, went up to her, and whispered something. A few minutes later, the stern Gryffindor was a tabby cat. The door opened and for more than a few minutes she was inside. When she came back out and transformed she was in shock.
"It's amazing," she said to them. "It's bigger on the inside and it is like a feline place inside." She turned to Harry. "How did you make this?" She knew that he had made it because she could sense his magical signature on it.
"I read a few books to get the spells right. It took a while though."
"How long is a while?" Severus asked shocked at the level of control that he had over his magic.
Harry shrugged. "I started on it about a year ago when I found out that the Professor was an animagus I didn't know if I could do it though because it seemed really hard that was why I didn't tell anyone about it because I never thought that I would finish with it. But I did a few days ago and it seemed like the perfect gift.
Before anyone could respond to that they heard the portrait open.
Suddenly Draco came racing into the living quarters. His hair and pajamas were in complete disarray.
"Uncle Sev you have to come quickly it's my Mum and Dad they need you," Draco said. The tone of voice was very urgent but he was so out of breath that he could not get enough air to make his voice loud.
"What happened?" Severus asked.
"They had a meeting …something went very wrong. They won't tell me what …but they told me to get you. They're in the common room now."
"Harry will you look after Draco for me?"
Harry nodded knowing that his Papa wouldn't ask unless he had to. It was no secret that Harry did not like Draco. The boy was a prat and he acted like one. Papa had asked it of him so he would help the Malfoy offspring. In addition, Draco had been through quite an ordeal tonight and as much as he wanted to deny it, he could not help but feel sympathy towards the boy that was sitting almost cationic in the place that he had been standing a few minutes ago.
When all the adults had poured through the portrait hole racing towards the Slytherin common room Harry walked over to the blond-haired boy.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
Draco nodded and stood up wobbling a bit.
Harry offered a hand to steady the older male and to his surprise, Draco took it. Harry led him to his bathroom and started a bath for the other boy. Draco probably had taken one earlier like he had, but he had gotten a bit dirty somehow and the warm water might sooth his shattered nerves in any case.
Once the bath was ready Harry help Draco undress since the boy seemed unable to do it himself and then he helped him into the bath letting the pale boy sink himself all the way to his neck beneath the bubbles.
Once Harry was sure that Draco wouldn't drown if he left him alone for a few moments he went back into his room to retrieved one of his larger sets of pajamas because he was not that much smaller than Draco was so they should fit the other boy quite decently.
When Harry arrived back in the bathroom, Draco turned his head to look at him. "Why are you being nice to me?" He asked with an air of suspicion.
"You didn't look too well and I have always been too soft for my own good. Also Papa asked me to and I couldn't refuse that."
Draco startled at Harry's casual usage of the word 'Papa'. He wondered if he would ever grow used to that. There had been rumors that Snape had taken to the Gryffindor but there was no proof because unless they were alone Harry's behavior towards Snape had been somewhat the same as before. Well maybe it was a little less strained but Draco hadn't wanted to see that. "He's my Godfather. Did you know that?"
Harry shook his head. "He'll expect us to get along now that your parents have lost old Voldy's trust won't he?"
It was Draco's turn to nod.
Harry sighed. Could he really learn to like Draco or even to accept him in any way? "Will you stop messing with my friends and calling them names?"
"Yes." Draco said. He was being honest about that. He really didn't like have to be such a jerk but it was what had been expected of him so he had done his part and played the role that he had been assigned.
After a moment Harry said, "I'll try then to give you another chance. But I'm telling you right now Draco that if you act like you did before I won't have anything to do with you." Harry didn't say it but he could tell that Draco could see how that would affect his relationship with his Godfather.
Draco did not want that because he had already had decreased time with his Godfather because of the fact that Severus had betrayed Voldemort. Now that his parents had escaped Voldemort's clutches, he no longer had to abide by the 'child of a loyal Death Eater handbook' and was free to proceed as he wished. Many of the Slytherins would detest him though. Some because they would be envious that Draco's parents had gotten away alive and that he was free from having to go into the service. Others would hate him because he and his parents were no longer allied with their Dark Lord and savor of all that was pure in their eyes. Befriending Potter would offer a sort of protection from that.
That was what he would tell those who asked why he would cultivate a relationship with Harry. Hopefully no one would ask because he really didn't want to tell that lie. Truthfully, he wanted a bit what Potter, Granger, and the Weasel had not that he would ever admit that. Imaging that he was jealous of something the Weasel had was one of the things that he had never wanted to do.
"Thank you Potter,' Draco said hardly believing that he was saying those words.
Harry caught the undercurrent of relief that came with the expression of gratitude and wondered how much of the Draco he knew was an act. "My name is Harry,"
"Thank you Harry,' Draco said
"You're welcome Draco." Harry replied. "Are you finished in the bath?"
Draco nodded and Harry handed him a green towel to use and stepped out of the bathroom so that Draco could dress himself.
A few moments later Draco came out of the bathroom dressed in the pajamas that Harry had laid out for him. Harry saw that he was unsure of what to do now so he invited him to sit on the bed with him to await the return of the adults.
"I'm an animagus," the blonde said unexpectedly.
"Why tell me that?" Harry asked. He of course knew already that Draco was an animagus because he could feel his magic tug gently at him letting him know that, if he so chose, he could help him into his second form. However, it was the fact that Draco was telling him that, which shocked him since he was certain that not many people knew that he was an animagus.
"You don't trust me. I don't blame you, but you don't. So I told you a large secret so that you can be sure that I am not as much of a prat as I had to pretend to be."
Harry could understand that and he was amazed that Draco had trusted him with such a secret. "Well what are you then?"
Suddenly a silver-clawed, very dark green, midsized dragon was sitting next to Harry on his bed when Draco had been. Harry shook his head he should have expected as much. Why wouldn't Draco be a dragon? He considered for a bit and then he transformed himself. As a dragon, he was smaller and about two shades lighter than Draco was. He saw Draco's silver eyes widen in surprise.
"Cool," Draco said with a smile that was a little smile that was somewhat scary because of all the sharp dragon's teeth.
"You can't tell anyone about this. The Professors that were here before know but I don't want everyone to know."
"What about your friends. Haven't you told them?"
"Of course. But we don't talk about it much because we don't want to risk being overheard. Harry didn't add that part of it was about how Ron and Hermione weren't able to transform yet. They had to wait because while Harry's transformation was due to distress they had to learn the old-fashioned way and that would take a few years.
He hadn't confided the bit about second forms though. He could feel the slight pull of potential that would increase once they became animagus's but since they lacked a first form, he couldn't let them chose if they wanted him to help them yet.
Should Draco prove that he was actually a decent human being he just might ask his Papa if he should offer to help him reach his second form. But that would take some time.
"Can you breathe fire yet?" Draco asked.
"Almost but not quite." By the lack of smugness Harry would guess that Draco couldn't yet either.
/
The adults ran to the Slytherin common room. Narcissa and Lucius were lying on the sofas and they looked bad. Had it been any worse Severus wasn't sure that they would have survived. As it were, it had almost been impossible for him to rouse them long enough for them to take the potions that they needed. Once they ascertained that the Malfoys would be fine Sirius and Remus removed themselves and headed toward their quarters since it was pretty late.
He was so busy with that, that Minerva noticed something very interesting before he did.
"Albus look at their Dark Marks. They are fading."
Severus looked at them and it was indeed true that the Marks were fading.
"How!?" Severus asked.
"Don't you know Severus?" Albus asked with twinkly eyes and a smile as well as an air of surprise.
"Of course I don't know how it would happen. Would I really ask if I did?"
"Look at your Mark Severus." Albus instructed.
Deciding to see what the old man was on about Severus dramatically pushed up his sleeve and to his amazement he saw that his Mark had nearly completely faded away. "How!?" Severus asked unable to remove his eyes from his arm.
"Love," the old wizard replied with a smile.
Severus sighed. He would never hear the end of the old man ramblings about respecting the power of love now.
"Once Voldemort relinquished his hold on you, you were no longer tainted with having his power over you. Not only that, but you yourself rejected your ties with him. He does not understand love and so he continually underestimates the power that it can hold and that is his weakness and will prove to be his undoing. The Mark is an extension of him so it makes sense that it would have the same weakness. All three of you have rejected him and have those who love you unconditionally. They have Draco and you have both Harry and me."
'Never going to hear the end of it' Severus thought again. The man sighed and looked over the Malfoys once again. "They'll sleep for a while. I'm going to go check on the boys."
When Severus arrived in his quarters, he saw that his rooms were still intact and took that as a good omen. But he couldn't hear any sounds and that was most definitely a bad omen with boys that were as smart as they were. Taking a breath, he looked into his son's room and he had to stop himself from laughing in relief.
Harry and Draco both had remained in their dragon forms and were fast asleep on the bed side by side. Walking with steps so silent that a ninja would be jealous he moved to the bed so that he could cover them with a blanket. Then he left the room as silently as he had entered it.
After that he went and rechecked the wards on the entrance to his quarters again. After straightening up the presents that had been hastily moved when Draco had rushed in with his news Severus went to his own room so that he could get ready for bed. Once he was comfortable under the sheets he pulled on of the books that Harry had given him from the nightstand and read until he fell asleep.
In the morning Severus woke first and he was surprised that Harry was still asleep since the boy was such an early riser usually. Severus took the time that he suddenly had on his hands to go and give the presents to their recipients. he had a hard time containing a smile when he saw how happy Minerva was to have her 'kitten palace' in her he went to check on the adult Malfoys. They were still asleep and would sleep a bit longer. After they recovered somewhat they would be sent off to live with one of the Order members since the manor was sure to be monitored and anywhere without protection would be far to risky. There was certain to be mistrust between whoever would be there temporary hosts so it was decided that they would use Unbreakables to seal the pact.
When he was done he went back to his quarters and found that the boys were still asleep and he had been gone for over a half an hour. Finding nothing better to do, he decided that he would make breakfast.
It took him about a half an hour to cook the food and then he set out three spots hoping that whatever truce had led to the boys revealing their animagus forms was still in effect for today as well he could use a relaxing day.
Sometime since he had checked on them less than an hour before both boys had reverted to their human selves. They were still asleep though so he gently shook them both to wake them up. Sleepily the two of them trudged to the table to eat.
"Why are you so sleepy?" Severus asked.
Both of them shrugged. They had no idea while they were so tired perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they feel asleep in dragon form.
After breakfast they were more energetic and oddly enough, at least to Severus it was odd, they didn't start to argue. After the boys were dressed Draco went to the Slytherin common room so that he could see his parents.
Severus made harry stay back though. "Last night you didn't get to open this with all that had happened," Severus said handing Harry a box with a slightly shaking hand.
Harry wondered what could be inside that would make Severus feel anxious. He opened it and found that there were adoption forms inside. All that was lacking before they could be filed with the Ministry was his own signature.
"Will my name have to change if I accept?" Harry asked.
"Not unless you want it to." Severus didn't care about that bit he just wanted it to be official.
"I want to think about it." Harry said. He was shocked that Severus' face fell as he took it the wrong way thinking that Harry was talking about the adoption itself. Harry wondered what in the world the man had in his past that made him so insecure. "No, no," Harry hurried to reassure him. "I really want this and I have for a long time. It's just that I'm not sure what name I want because Potter is one of the last things that I have from my parents but I wouldn't mind taking your last name either so I don't know what to do."
"There is no reason that you can't have both of them. Why not simply hyphenate it." Severus said happy that Harry did in fact want to keep him in such a permanent way.
"Harry James Potter-Snape," Harry said. "It does have quite a ring to it."
"Technically it would be Harry James Potter-Snape Dumbledore," Or some such variation."
"Will all that fit on the line?" Harry asked.
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This was the place. The Speaker that their mother had sent them to find was here in this castle they could taste his scent on the air. Slowly the two humongous snakes slithered into Hogwarts to find Harry Potter.
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A/N Alright here I am again. Sorry it took so long. School got in the way and I got stuck more times in this chapter than I really care to admit. After the next one there will be maybe two more chapters. Sorry for redeeming everyone in this I just can't see to make people bad and it's so easy to do since I stared in Harry's second year. Does anybody care to know what Harry made the other Professors for Christmas? If so I will add it in the next chapter I just thought it was more jarring if I left some of them unopened when Draco burst in.
R and R.
Until next time.