Disclaimer: I do not own own Harry potter
Chapter 10
Over the next week, Harry, Severus, and Lucius were in the common room a lot. The three boys were playing chess, when they heard a knock on the common room door.
"I'll see who it is." Harry said, leaving the two to their game. Harry opened the common room door and saw James standing there. "Hello, James." Harry said.
"Hi, can I come in?" James asked.
"Sure." Harry said.
"Why have I only seen you guys during lessons, mealtimes, and during our animagus training?" James asked.
"Lucius declared a chess battle against Severus." Harry answered.
"Why?" James asked.
"Lucius is determined to beat Severus at chess." Harry answered.
"Oh." James said. Harry and James walked to where Lucius and Severus were playing chess.
"Hey, James." Severus said.
"Hey, I hear that Lucius declared a chess war on you." James said.
"Yeah, but he will never win." Severus said, smiling.
"Oh, we will see about that." Lucius said, determined to beat Severus. Harry and James went to talk about quidditch, while Severus and Lucius played chess, Lucius still losing badly. A few hours later Harry checked the clock and it was dinner time, so the four friends went to dinner, ate, and walked back to the Slytherin common room. James eventually had to go back to his common room.
"Bye, see you tomorrow." James said.
"Bye." Harry said, watching James walk out the door. Harry turned back to Lucius and Severus playing chess and sighed loudly.
"What was that for?" Lucius asked.
"You are going to keep going on like this aren't you?" Harry asked.
"Playing chess till I win at least one game?" Lucius answered.
"Yeah." Harry said.
"Then, yes I will." Lucius said.
"You will never win." Harry said.
"Why not?" Lucius asked.
"I played chess against Severus plenty of times and lost all except one." Harry said, smiling.
"How did you win that one game?" Lucius asked, curious.
"I kept distracting Sev." Harry answered.
"So that's what you were doing!" Severus said.
"You were easy to distract." Harry said.
"How old were you when you won that chess game?" Lucius asked.
"We were seven." Severus answered.
"I'm surprised that you didn't notice he was distracting you." Lucius said.
"I was seven!" Severus shouted.
"I know, but I'm also surprised that Harry didn't continue using that tactic, if it worked so easily." Lucius said.
"He would have found out eventually and I only wanted to win once." Harry said.
"Will it work now?" Lucius asked.
"No, it won't, because I'm sure Sev knows better now." Harry answered.
"Yeah and the fact that told me your secret on how you won." Severus said.
"Darn, but why tell me this anyway?" Lucius asked.
"I'm telling you because you will never win, no matter how hard you try." Harry answered.
"That is why you keep trying until you do." Lucius said.
"Let's get ready for bed." Harry said.
"Alright." The other two boys said. The three boys got ready for bed and played one more game of chess before going to bed. The three boys wondered what would happen this summer, because their house was still not livable yet. The last two months of school went by quickly and the group of friends were talking and waiting for the train.
"Lily, we will try to come and see you this summer, but dad said no friends over for a while." Severus said.
"Oh, its alright." Lily said.
"Harry, Severus could you come over to my house for awhile?" James asked.
"No, dad said we have help with rebuilding the house." Harry answered.
"That sucks." James said.
"Not really, its like my family is getting a fresh new start and all the bad memories from our home are gone." Harry said.
"Alright, well lets get on the train before we miss it." James said, walking towards the train. Once on the train the group talked and a few fell asleep.
"Hey, Harry." Sirius said.
"Yeah?" Harry said.
"Severus is sleeping, do you want to wake him up?" Sirius asked.
"No, let him sleep," Harry answered, then looked at James and Lucius. "wake James if you want or Lucius."
"I think I'd better not, they would have my head if I did, especially Lucius." Sirius said.
"You got that right." Harry said.
"So how completed is your home?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know, all I know is that it is not livable yet." Harry answered.
"Remus, Lily, do you think you could come over to my house sometime this summer?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know and I don't think Remus is going to answered you." Lily answered.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"He fell asleep." Lily answered.
"What is it with people falling asleep right now?" Sirius asked.
"Its been a tough year." Harry answered.
"But we are only second years!" Sirius shouted.
"No, we are third years now and we are still young." Lily said.
"Yeah and don't shout, you could wake someone." Harry said. The train finally came to stop and Harry, Sirius, and Lily woke up their sleeping friends.
"Wake up, its time to get off the train." Sirius said. The Lucius and James slowly woke up, but Severus stayed asleep.
"What do we do about Sev?" Harry asked.
"I will carry him and you will get his trunk." Lucius answered, picking up the sleeping form of Severus. Abraxas picked Harry, Severus and Lucius up and took them to the manor. Once at the manor they unpacked. Lucius and Severus went immediately to the chess board, only to be stopped by Tobias.
"What do you need dad?" Severus asked.
"You three are going to help rebuild our house." Tobias answered.
"Alright, I guess the chess battle can wait." Severus said, following his father. The five people apparated to the Snapes home and looked at the part that was completed.
"We still have a lot of work to do, don't we?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, but if you want you can visit your mum's grave." Tobias answered.
"Alright." Harry and Severus said at the same time. Harry and Severus walked to their mother's grave and sat by it.
"Mum, I know you can't hear this, but I hope you are happy in the place you are at now and I want you know that dad as changed." Harry said, a few tears falling down his face.
"I want you know that we are rebuilding our home that got burned down by deatheaters and we are living with the Malfoys now. Lucius is the best friend one could ask for. I miss you and so does dad and if I could go back and change the past, I would, but I can't." Severus said tears spilling.
"Lets go, Sev." Harry said.
"Alright." Severus said. following his brother to the broken down house. When they got back, the two boys were sent to find any thing still usable. Harry and Severus looked everywhere and they only found non-usable items.
"This is not looking good, at all." Harry said.
"Yeah, all I see is ash." Severus said. The two boys walked around a little bit more and found themselves by the stairs that were still a little intact.
"Hey, you think we should go up there?" Harry asked.
"Maybe some of our potions journals are usable." Severus answered and walked up the rickety stairs.
"I'll take that as a yes." Harry said and followed his brother. When Harry and Severus got to the top they walked to their bedroom and found all of their potions books still intact.
"I wonder if mum did this?" Severus said.
"Yeah, she did, take a look at this note." Harry said. Severus looked at the note and read out loud.
"Dear Harry and Severus, if you are reading this it means I am dead and you either live your father or one of your friends. I protected your potion books so you could still use them and so you wouldn't have to buy more. I cast a simple spell on them so they wouldn't get burned in the fire. I wish I could have lived long enough to see you graduate, get married and have chance to be a grandma, but I won't. You are good kids, Harry and Severus and I hope you live long happy lives Your mother, Eileen." Severus finished with tears in eyes.
"Lets take the books and get downstairs before the floor breaks through." Harry said picking half the stack.
"Alright." Severus said, picking up the other half of the books and following his brother. Once the two boys made it down the stairs and outside, they quickly went to their father.
"Dad, we found some usable items." Harry said.
"What did you find?" Tobias asked.
"All of our potion books and a note from mum." Harry answered.
"The books were all in perfect condition too." Severus said. Tobias looked at the books and took the note that was sitting on top.
"How are the books in perfect condition?" Lucius asked.
"Mum, she cast a spell to protect them." Severus answered.
"How did you get to them?" Tobias asked.
"We went up the rickety stairs." Harry answered.
"Why? You could have gotten hurt by being up there." Tobias asked.
"You told us to look for usable items and we did." Severus answered.
"I did and this all you found?" Tobias asked.
"Yeah, the rest is all ashes." Harry answered.
"Alright, then I think we have done enough for today, lets go home." Tobias said.
"Yeah, lets go home." Harry said. Abraxas told them to hold on to each other as they apparated back to Malfoy manor. Once they got back, Severus and Lucius went to the chess board, with Harry following right behind them.
"You are never going to beat him." Harry said.
"Yeah, just watch me." Lucius told Harry.
"Alright, but I'm warning you now, you are never going to beat him." Harry said. Lucius and Severus played chess, but in the end it was Severus who was winning, but Lucius was getting closer. "Just pay closer attention to his moves, Lucius." Harry whispered to his friend.
"Okay." Lucius said.
"Plotting against me now, are we?" Severus said.
"Nope, we did no such thing." Harry told his brother.
"Lets just get back to the game, Sev." Lucius said.
"Alright." Severus said. Lucius was paying closer attention to Severus' moves and found the game easier to play against his friend. The game was longer than the other chess games that they played. When the game finally came to an end, Lucius was the winner.
"I won, I won!" Lucius shouted.
"Yeah, after how many games?" Harry said with a smile on his face.
"A lot of games, but I finally beat your brother!" Lucius shouted.
"I knew you two were planning against me!" Severus said.
"I only told him to pay closer attention to your moves." Harry said.
"That is why I lost." Severus stated.
"Yeah, but he deserved to win at least once and the chess war is over." Harry said.
"Yeah, what do you want top do now?" Lucius asked.
"I don't know, we could go flying." Severus suggested.
"Or we could go camping again." Harry said.
"Those sound like wonderful ideas." Lucius said.
"So which should we do?" Harry asked.
"Lets go flying." Lucius answered.
"Alright." Harry and Severus said at the same time. The three boys grabbed their brooms and went outside, but as soon as they got outside it started raining.
"Dratted rain." Harry said.
"Yeah, now we have to go back inside." Severus said following the other two boys back inside. After Lucius cast a drying spell, the three boys went and sat by the fireplace.
"I'm going to get a couple pieces of parchment to draw on, I'll be right back." Harry said and walked to his room to grab some of his parchment. Harry walked back to the living room and sat down. The three friends sat in silence, with only the sound of quills and colored pencils on parchment. Severus decided to break the silence.
"Harry, what are you drawing?" Severus asked.
"Our new family." Harry replied.
"Oh, can I see it?" Severus asked.
"When it is done." Harry answered.
"Alright." Severus said.
"Severus want to play another game of chess?" Lucius asked.
"Sure." Severus answered. Lucius and Severus went to the chess board and played a few games before dinner and a few after dinner. Harry was done with his picture before bed.
"Sev, you can see my picture now." Harry said.
"Okay." Severus said. Severus took the picture from his brother's hand and look at it. The picture had him, Harry and Lucius standing in front of their father and Abraxas. They were in front of their home in spinners end, all smiling and happy and above them in the sky was their mother Eileen watching them from above. "I love it, Harry!" Severus said.
"Yeah, I planned on framing it and hanging in our home when it is finished." Harry said.
"Cool, I suppose we should go to bed, now." Severus said.
"Yeah, lets go to bed." Harry said, walking to his room. Severus followed and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep. The two boys were dreaming about their home that was getting rebuilt.