Disclaimer: I own nothing.

To Die for Rebirth

Chapter 3

Reactions, Responses, and Waking Up

While a certain young wizard was sleeping soundly under the supervision of Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape was about to have a quiet conversation in the lounge area. The younger of the two had remained by his son's side until Dumbledore came back and dragged him away to the lounge. The headmaster had literally led him and had to push him down to get him to sit.

Severus was having the weirdest day of his life. Who would have thought that Harry Potter was abused? Obviously no one had ever considered that possibility. How could the savior of Wizarding World be in the mercy of a pitiful muggle! Who would have thought that Harry Potter had always been his son? They were not alike in anything. In fact, Severus would say that both of them are like polar opposites, bare the fact that both of them had been abused. Who would have thought that Lily Potter was capable of hiding things of this magnitude from everyone else? He couldn't believe his eyes when he read that he had been obliviated because even when he was young his Occlumency abilities had been quite strong. Lily also had enough guts making his son another birth certificate and naming Sebastian after him. Her blasted Gryffindor quality. Severus could not help but felt thankful to her though.

Dumbledore cut his musing short. The old man had been calling his name for a while but he only registered it when he felt a pat on his right knee. Severus jerked lightly and turned towards the headmaster with a confused look. He was certain that he had not moved to the lounge area.

"Finally, Severus! I've been trying to get you back to earth for quite some time. You didn't even realize when I guided you to the seating area, dear boy," said Albus with a hint of mirth dancing in his eyes, although grave was more apt in describing the elder wizard's eyes.

"I… I still couldn't believe all this, Albus!" he started. "How could Lily hide this matter from everyone else? And I can't even begin to think of the implication. A son! I have a son. And it's the boy-wonder no less!" After his outburst he continued in a sadder tone, "You know how I've been treating him for the last five years. It's incorrigible to think that I have added in to the pressure on that child… And after the last treatment Dursley gave him I won't be surprised that he will break down at some point of time. How am I supposed to care for my son if he doesn't even trust me, Albus?" Severus hid his face in his palms in exasperation.

Albus Dumbledore sighed and reached out to bring Severus' hands down. He held both hands together and reassured the stoic mine. He noticed no evident of tears on his face but from years of experience he could tell that the man he loved as his own son was deeply troubled. "Severus, this is truly unexpected. I am at fault for placing Harry with his relatives. At that point of time I thought that was the best alternative. Admittedly, that was one of my worst mistakes in life," he shook his head lightly and smiled sadly. Finally successful in catching his Potions Master's eyes, Dumbledore said, "Being a parent might be new to you, but I know you are capable of being a good father. The future won't be easy for you and Sebastian but I'm confident that the two of you will manage. I will be there for the two of you to redeem myself for the mistakes I have made in the past."

Dumbledore patted Severus' hands lightly and dropped them. "Now, in a lighter mood, let me tell you what will happen to the Dursleys! I don't think Vernon deserved to be remembered at all, so I transfigured him into a suckling pig and set the house on fire. Knowing Harry, or should I say Sebastian, he wouldn't want to have anything to do with Vernon ever again. I saw the house burned down to the ground personally. My sources found out that Petunia and Dudley were away for vacation in France so I left them alone for the time being. They will suffer the consequences as well though. Apparently when Vernon got fired from his job, he had little savings left after almost completely spending his money on the vacation he had given his wife and son. The 4 Privet Drive land deed had always been under Lily's name and with the house burned, they have nowhere else to stay. The muggles won't even know that Vernon has died either."

The complete recap almost cheered up the troubled Potions Master but it was still not enough to make him rebound to his usual self. "Thank you, Headmaster. I'm glad to hear that they did not get away lightly. Please excuse me, I'm going to check on Sebastian."

The Headmaster watched Severus Snape's retreating figure with a sad smile. The man just reconfirmed his earlier belief that he will be a good father to Sebastian.

Harry Potter was floating peacefully. He had to admit that this was the best feeling he had ever experienced. His surroundings were bright and he felt as light as a feather. That brought him to wonder if he had transcended to another realm. The light-weight feeling seemed to last forever and Harry was perfectly content being there. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain emitting from his back. Slowly his vision darkened and the pain spread out, engulfing him excruciatingly. He was forced to jerk up and his sight changed again. The familiar whiteness of hospital wing welcomed Harry. Sadly the painless and feather-light feeling did not accompany the similar brightness. He could feel that he was sore all over.

Harry could not really see clearly because he did not have his spectacles with him. He tried extending his arm to the end table with the hope of finding his spectacles but it was futile. Even the slight gesture seemed to send thousands of needles piercing his nerves, causing him to let out an ouch. His small movement and soft sound triggered a jerking response from a black shadow sitting not too far away from his bed. He could see that the person had stood up and made his way to him. In panic Harry tried to move further to his left to curl up but he was frozen in place because of the tremendous pain involved.

"Relax. It's me," the distinctive silky smooth voice of Professor Snape reached his ears. "I'll go get Madam Pomfrey. Stay where you are and try not to move so much." He then left to find the matron in her office.

His professor's voice had been impassive as usual but he had used a much gentler tone. Harry knew he should have been ashamed of being caught in such situation by his Potions professor but somehow he couldn't care less. He was just glad that someone had saved him from that hell hole. That simple line of thought brought Vernon back to the front of his mind and he couldn't help but shudder, not noticing that the professor was back with the nurse. Harry just lay stiff on the bed, not registering anything when Madam Pomfrey ran different diagnostics charm over him.

Severus watched his son in concern while the nurse ran the checks. "Try to bring him back, Severus. I'm going to prepare some potions he'd need to take," the matron told him softly after she was done checking on Sebastian's condition and left.

"Potter. Earth to Potter."

The boy made no acknowledgement of hearing him.

"Potter. Potter," he whispered, not wanting the boy to retreat from the use of loud voice. He knew how sensitive abused children were to shouting and harsh voices.

On his mind, Harry was replaying the scene where Vernon murdered Hedwig just to provoke him. That uncle of his was evil. He hated his uncle with passion. If Harry was asked to rank his most hated person list, he might even put Vernon Dursley on top of Voldemort. Harry was lost in the memories of the horrendous things that Vernon had done to him and nausea took him by stride.

"…ry. Harry. Harry Potter!" he heard someone called his name. He deeply appreciated the fact that the person had spoken to him softly. Harry opened his mouth to greet and thank the person but instead he had a coughing fit and threw up. Luckily, Severus was quick to respond and shoved a basin in front of Harry. The younger of the two tried to throw up for a while but nothing could come since he had not eaten anything for days. He froze momentarily when he felt big hands rubbing his back. However, he soon gave in because the rubbing movement actually calmed him down. It did not feel wrong like it was with Vernon. After he calmed down he managed to croak out, "Thank you, Sir."

Harry could see Severus' nod and gladly take the glass of water he was given. He gulped greedily but slowed down after he was reminded not to drink too fast. The water felt like a long-awaited Oasis to Harry and he returned the glass gratefully after finishing it. Feeling confident that he could speak with better voice after the rehydration, Harry asked the ultimate and obvious question, "What happened, Professor Snape?"

The father was taken aback by the question. His son was handling things quite well. He was glad that the boy still had his mind intact after the traumatic experience. However it held double meaning to Severus. It was quite sad that his son was able to do that as it showed that he had suffered worse or equally bad things. "I checked on you on the night of your birthday, Potter. You have not been writing to the Order to update us with your predicaments," he said softly, erasing traces of concern and the pang he felt when calling his own son Potter. Severus knew that he could not possibly dump the reality that he was the boy's father then because of the current pressures occupying his son's mind.

"I have to… apologize," he paused, not sure of how to tell his son of his regrets. "I have to apologize for treating you like a pampered brat, Potter. I had the image that your relatives worshipped the ground you were standing. I was… wrong," he ended softly with tinge of regrets lacing his voice.

The-boy-who-lived was stunned. His stoic and arrogant potions master just apologized to him so sincerely. Of course Harry would not forget the five years of slandering and mistreatment he had received but the apology had made him view his professor from a new light. Here was someone who was not afraid of admitting his mistakes and had the courage to apologize. His only father figure, Sirius, was far from that picture. Sirius had been childish, snobbish and could be downright cruel at times. He recalled seeing Snape's memories about their last OWLs day where Sirius and James Potter had humiliated the man in front of everybody.

The uncomfortable silence was thankfully broken by Madam Pomfrey who had managed to prepare all the potions he needed to take. He looked aghast at the arrays of Potions that he would need to drink. Harry gave the matron a begging look but she was unrelenting and she started shoving potions after potions under his nose.

Harry welcomed the last potion which he identified as Dreamless Sleep. Finishing his last gulp, his head hit the pillow. Before slipping into the sleep he had looked forward to, he caught his Professor's eyes and gave him a small nod. Apology accepted.

He missed the slightly watery and proud eyes of the Potions Master at his response.

To be continued…

Note: I uploaded this chapter yesterday but it won't show up. So I deleted it and re-add the chapter. Hopefully FFNet will cooperate!

A/N: Third chapter! Not much action but I hope the characters' reactions were realistic and believable. Harry will learn the truth in the next chapter!

Anyway, I am still rooting for Sebastian skipping his sixth year for training and adjustments. However, regarding his coming back to Hogwarts I have two conflicting choices. Should Sebastian repeat sixth year together with Luna/Ginny etc., or should he still be a seventh year? Should it ever be known publicly that Sebastian used to be Harry Potter? Should there be horcruxes and Deathly Hallows? So many ideas that can go to different directions! Let me know what you think!

Also, thank you for the reviews, story alerts and favs (also to those reading the story anonymously). Looking at the story stats is very addictive! So please keep them coming! :) Reviews help me to make improvements. I'm also open to critics and suggestions!

Review. Review. Review. ~Stressed out Jollybird due to school stuffs piling up. (2 Feb 2012)