Magic On Strike
After the firework show, everyone went back inside Harry's home and went home. Well, those who didn't live there. Dobby and Kreacher did the honors of all that, and Harry only said he'd see Hermione, Ron, and Remus later on when they all woke up and decided to figure out the truth of the letter Sirius wrote Severus. When everyone left, Harry got to work cleaning up from the party. The others tried to help, but Harry said he had it under control because he wasn't tired yet and it would wear him down to go to sleep. Harry gave Draco a goodnight kiss and waved the rest of them off, once they were gone upstairs; Harry began to put away all the food properly. Harry did dishes, wiped down his counters and tables. It took him until about 2:00 am. Harry wasn't tired still, so he decided to pull the Christmas boxes out of the closet, then begin putting away the ornaments from the tree. Next was the garland and lights. When the tree had been stripped, Harry got it loosened in the base and pulled it out, then quietly took it outside with the garbage bag. Harry returned inside and put away the tree skirt, and base. Harry cleaned up the area, then got to work on putting away inside decorations.
It took until 3:45 am, and Harry still wasn't ready to sleep, so he moved outside and began to take down the lights and decorations there too. Of course, he had to be quiet or risk waking everyone, but he managed to pull everything down and put it away. Around 5:00 am, Harry was done and got back inside to warm up by the fire. Harry made sure the living room was rearranged back to normal and he finally just made sure everything was locked and went to his library. Harry sat at his desk quietly with a drink in hand. It wasn't anything super hard, but he needed to relax and slow down his mind to be able to sleep. Much to Harry's dismay; the teenager didn't sleep a wink. Harry was up all night, his mind going over how the hell Severus could be his father. Harry knew the answers would come later, but that didn't matter to him. The fact that it was a possibility to keep his mind actively thinking about all the ways it would ever be possible. Harry stayed in his library the rest of the time, reading. It was something to do since he couldn't sleep.
By 8:15 am, Harry heard movement around and knew the others had to be awake and finally coming downstairs for normal tea and coffee, which Harry already had set up for them. Harry remained in his library to finish the book he was reading until 9:45 am. Based on the sounds he heard, he realizing that Bellatrix had slept in until 9:00 am and Draco had been up around that time too. Harry finally put the book back on the shelf and stood from his sofa to stretch his everything before moving to the door and walking out to join everyone in the main room.
"Figures you're the last one up," Draco teased his boyfriend. "You stayed up late cleaning from the party, didn't you?"
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked as he made himself a cup of coffee.
"You're the last one to wake, Harry. You should have let us help you clean up from the party, so you didn't have to stay up too late." Narcissa informed.
Harry walked into the main room from the kitchen, then sat down in his chair. "I'm not the last one up." He informed. "In fact, I never went to bed. I didn't come down from the stairs, I was in the library." The teenager sipped his coffee a bit before putting it down on his end table.
"You…Never went to sleep?" Draco inquired. Harry shook his head to his boyfriend. "Why would you stay up all night?"
"Couldn't sleep, and kept finding things to clean." Harry mentioned.
"What else could you find to clean that early in the morning?" Lucius wondered.
"It's obviously escaped your notice that all the Christmas decorations have been put away and the tree isn't in the living room anymore. Plus the living room arrangement is back to what it was when you first moved in here." Harry remarked.
"Oh…" The others realized now.
"Well, we'll help you with outside." Narcissa offered.
"Already done." Harry told her.
"You put away everything outside too?" Tom blinked. "Hadn't you needed more than one to put it up?"
"I let you help me put it all up for the sake of not making you feel left out of muggle Christmas preparations/festivities/traditions. But no, I didn't need help putting it up or taking it down. I'm quite capable on my own, as I've done most everything while growing up." Harry grabbed his coffee again. "I did it for years at the Dursley's." He added. "So I cleaned up from the party until 2 am, put all this stuff away inside until 3:45. Did outside until 5:15, rearranged the living room back to normal and got warm by the fire. I spent the rest of the time until coming back out here reading in the library." Harry explained.
"You should have slept," Severus commented.
"You act like I stay up all the time." Harry replied. "I just said I didn't stay up by choice; I couldn't sleep. Cleaning everything was an attempt to get tired and rest, didn't happen. I'm fine. I'm still not tired and I'm sure, later on, it'll come back to bite me in the ass. When that happens, I'll sleep. For now, I'm good."
"As long as you're sure." Draco smiled.
Harry nodded as he continued to drink his coffee, and watch the news on TV. When everyone woke up more, he would make breakfast and once that was cleaned from; it would likely be time to go over that reveal. Harry wanted to know, even if he also felt like he wasn't sure he was ready to know. It might not change his life a whole lot, but it would change the truth he believed all these years.
. . .
Harry sent Dobby to grab Hermione, Ron, and Remus at 12:45 pm; the elf was happy to be of assistance. It was decided to wait until after lunch, Severus hadn't been ready either and Harry saw that, so at 10:30 when breakfast was over and cleaned up, Harry made it seem like he had something to do to waste time for the man. Truthfully, Harry hadn't been ready yet. The fatigue was setting in from the all-nighter, Harry needed a pick-me-up, which was a Red Bull from the store. It had been his excuse out of the house, grabbing a couple things to get through a couple days until he went shopping again. But now, it needed to happen; anticipation was winning over sleepiness. Harry had to know.
"I suppose it's time to talk about the letter I got from Black." Severus muttered.
"Not yet." Harry told him.
"Harry, we already put it off last night-," Severus began.
"And I'm not putting it off longer than today. I'm just telling you to wait until Dobby gets back." Harry stated. As if on cue, Dobby appeared in the room with Remus, Hermione, and Ron.
"Why are they here?" Severus inquired.
"I asked them to be. Remus is basically my uncle, Hermione and Ron are my best friends." Harry informed. "Plus…It's my house. I don't need anyone's consent to invite people over."
"Geeze, you're grumpy when you don't sleep…" Severus rolled his eyes.
"And you're grumpy all the time. Sorry, if I stayed up all night. I had a lot on my mind after I learned last night that my dad might not actually be my dad and my godfather has apparently known the past sixteen years, only revealing it from beyond the grave. I have a reason…What's your excuse?" Harry retorted.
"He's got you there, Uncle Sev." Draco shrugged.
"Alright, why don't we all sit down and relax?" Narcissa suggested gently. Ron, Remus, and Hermione sat close to Harry and everyone attempted to relax. "Severus. We know what was said. When Harry asked you what Sirius had to say, you informed that Sirius said you are Harry's father…" She began. "You have the letter, you need to tell us what was said officially to back up the statement."
"In not so many words, Black said that Harry was not James's son, rather, mine." Severus started. "According to Sirius, there was a night in November 1979 where Lily and James broke up, and she found me at the pub. We drank, talked, ended up in bed together. The next morning, I was gone and she worked things out with James, so they got back together."
"And that was all Sirius said?" Remus pushed.
"No, he added that Lily came to see him about the night with me…And Sirius told her that since she and James were broken up, at the time, she didn't do anything wrong and there was no reason to bring it up to James. So the two went on to get married a short time afterwards." Severus continued. "And all was well until Lily learned she was pregnant, and the timing dictates there's no way the baby, or as he is now, Harry, could be James's."
"So…Could Sirius prove the timing?" Bellatrix inquired.
"Black didn't go into details of the timing, just said Lily knew that the baby was mine." Severus remarked.
"Was there anything else, perhaps a reason why Lily did not tell you? Sure, she stayed married to James…But did she tell James the truth? Why didn't she ever tell you, even if you weren't together?" Lucius questioned.
"According to Sirius, he told Lily that she couldn't hide it from James, and with his support, told him the truth. It was initially agreed, they would stay together and James could be a stepfather to the baby. And Lily wanted to tell me, but they didn't know where I was until Dumbledore informed the Potter's they needed to go into hiding because I told Voldemort the prophecy. Black said Lily didn't want me to know and get killed by Voldemort, if he ended up learning that we shared a night and she was pregnant with my child."
"Okay, but back on the timing thing…Is there no way to know for sure? I mean…Harry looks dead on like James. It's never been disputed, even by you, Professor." Hermione interjected.
"Black explained why Harry looks like James. Lily, as I've said before, was extraordinarily gifted with potions…And she brewed a very old, and complicated one. Blood Adoption." Severus explained.
"Blood Adoption?" Ron wondered.
"It's Blood Magic, Weasley." Draco informed calmly. "It's what it says it is. Adoption, through blood. It's the same kind of magic Dumbledore erected the Blood Wards on Harry's muggle relatives home to keep him safe all those years."
"I'd go with kept prisoner, but whatever." Harry folded his arms.
"Blood wards did not protect you from your relatives, no, Harry…But they were built to keep you safe from all intended harm outside of them, and they did do that…" Lucius told the teenager calmly. "You were safe from all those intending you harm outside the wards as long as you called your aunt family, and their house, your home. That ritual is called Bond of Blood, Lily's familial connection to her sister."
"I'm aware of how the blood wards work, Lucius…Dumbledore explained them years ago to me. And that was fine, I just wanted him to know that I was being abused and starved there and he claimed I was just fine…" Harry revealed. "Moving on…Blood Adoption, I assume, is some form of blood magic via a potion to connect two people through adoption? Make them family?"
"Blood Adoption does do that, and when the belief is strong enough; it's far more affective." Severus explained. "It quite literally makes you their child."
"Is there anything else, Severus, that Sirius said in the letter?" Narcissa asked.
"Sirius said only three people knew the truth. Lily, James, and himself…" Severus stated. "Black said Lily swore him to secrecy, with an unbreakable vow. Black also mentioned that it was in Lily and James's wills, that if something happened to them; Harry went to Sirius, but if something happened to Sirius; I was to receive a letter telling me I'm Harry's real father and I would take him in." The man added. "Sirius also added that I should have gotten Harry when Black went to Azkaban, and he knows it never happened. That's why he had this second letter written to inform me, shortly after Harry started getting the visions in fifth year."
"That all?" Harry wondered now.
"He also said he was sorry for the past, how he treated me wasn't right and won't ask my forgiveness. But, he stands by his warning that if I hurt you; he'll haunt me from the grave." Severus mumbled. "It has to be a joke, doesn't it? Even for a blood adoption, Harry, you look like your father did when he was a teenager. Is Sirius messed up enough to pull this kind of a prank."
"Seems a little too serious to be a prank, Severus. Even for Sirius…" Remus said. "There's a lot of fine-tuned details I doubt he could have conjured up on his own."
"But…The timing still fits, doesn't it?" Narcissa looked at the others. "Harry was born July 31st, 1980. If you backtrack that nine months, Lily got pregnant in November 1979."
"That doesn't mean she didn't sleep with James before the fight." Severus argued.
"And we don't have Sirius to ask." Lucius mentioned.
"We don't need him, it's simple math." Hermione stated calmly. "Pregnancy is forty weeks, so if you take Harry's birthday and subtract, you get a conception date of early November 1979. Doctors use first day of last period, so in this case…" She paused a moment.
"I know how it works, Miss. Granger. Thank you." Snape snapped.
"Well it had to have happened, or this whole situation wouldn't have been brought up. Like Narcissa said, the timing would fit. I have mum and dad's wedding album, they were married November 23rd, 1979. It was a Friday afternoon. At that point, mum would have already missed her period, probably didn't think about it until after the wedding." Harry said.
"That doesn't prove you're my kid." Severus scoffed. "It's just your godfather trying to get a rise out of me."
"Oh my-," Harry sighed heavily. "Give me his letter. Now." Severus dug it out of his pocket and passed it over to Harry. The teenager read over it silently, but not skipping anything. "For starters, this letter is signed with the Black Family insignia, That means Sirius not only wrote it himself, but used his Black ring to seal it. Sirius told me about the ring, it's used for official documents. The only people allowed to use the rings are those to the head of the family or the heir. It's a pure blood thing." He remarked. "Second of all, you clearly left parts out because the first paragraph says that my mum found out she was pregnant in early December and the last time she had sex with my father was mid-October."
"That doesn't mean anything." Severus attempted.
"Are you that much in denial that it could be true you can't do simple math, Severus?" Harry narrowed his eyes. "The letter just backs up all the information! You and mum obviously had sex in early November. Okay? That means the last time she and dad did anything before the fight was Mid-October. My guess, right before she started her period. The next time they probably did anything was during the honeymoon. Now, you tell me how, when most women have to miss a period to learn they're pregnant, my mom got pregnant by my dad in one whole week when it takes the entire female population four weeks to miss a period!?" The potions master sighed. "It's not feasibly possible that if the last time my mum and dad had sex in the middle of October, and didn't have sex again until the honeymoon, which was November 23rd to December 2nd," There was a pause. "Mom found out she pregnant with me in December, when they got back from the honeymoon. There is no physical way that she got pregnant on the honeymoon, you fool."
Harry took a breath. "She was already pregnant, before the wedding. Already four weeks along, meaning one month along. It's basic math, Severus. Doctors count from the last period a woman has to figure out due dates. Off the top of my head, based on my birthday…That means mum's last period before getting pregnant was October 26th." Harry told him. "Okay, that week of bleeding is five days, that makes week one. The whole ovulation thing, that happens day fourteen. Women usually have a fertility window after their periods. It's about five days long…Mum's would have been from November 5th to November 9th. That day fourteen would have been November 8th. All that is week two and three. The fertilization and implantation. Week four, Severus, is the missed period." Harry explained. "So you explain to me, in all of your older years and wisdom how, with all that information, you wanna sit here and tell me it's not possible?" Harry asked.
"You are the only person she slept with in November, Severus." Harry said to him. "There is no possible way that James Potter can be my dad…Sirius isn't lying. He never would, not about something like this. No matter how much he may have not liked you. Regardless of that, he apologized. Remember that you knew him as a kid…I knew him as an adult. He grew up and let the past go. Maybe you should do the same. Furthermore…The timing matches up. You are my father." Severus stiffened as the facts were all laid out right there. "When you've accepted that, then we can talk more. But it's pointless to continue this beyond this point because reality that it's true just struck. Congratulations, Severus. You're now a father to a teenaged boy." Harry set the paper down before he got up and walked away, likely back to his library.
"So…We gonna figure out why it went so long without Severus knowing?" Lucius wondered.
"I think it's best right now to allow both Harry and Severus their time to sit with the information. For Severus, he clearly never knew and can't remember the event. For Harry, he just learned that the man he's believed is his father for the last sixteen years is not his father at all." Remus stated. "I'm confident that in some days, both will return to tackle the…New situation." He offered.
There was nothing more anyone could do. Regardless of how angry Harry seemed, he was just trying to process things. The same with Severus. Both of them needed time to sit with the information, process and accept it before they spoke again. This would be it for today, everyone somehow knew that without it being said.