-1Disclaimer: I neither own the characters, nor make a profit from this.
Warning: See Chapter 1-22 (Extra warnings will sometimes be added)
A/N 1: SORRY GUYS! I tried to upload this last weekend, but Fanfiction wouldn't let me O.o
A/N: Ok, this was longer than I was going to make it so count yourself lucky! (spent the whole day writing and re-writing, coz if you think the start of the chapter sucks now, you should've read it when I first wrote it O.o)
This is a nice easy chapter to take some pressure off, and I want Harry learning a little bit about his mum, coz I hate everyone always saying how much Harry is like James .
He's Lilly's son too damn it!
And she sacrificed herself for him (sound like any scar faced boy we know?)
Chapter 23
HP
There was the familiar sound, the drone of magic, loud in the silence he had just woken from.
"Gods."
Harry frowned at the word, tried to piece it together before fingers suddenly trailed through his hair. He held his breath for a second as he felt magic hum over him. He could almost feel his whole body cringe at the substance, having been brimming with power only moments before.
Time was fragmented in the darkness behinds his eye lids.
He tried to open his eyes but knew the struggle would be useless, knew that even a small movement would sap him of his energy, but that didn't stop him from trying. He needed to know where he was, who had found him, why they were talking in soft voices with softer touches.
His mind revolted against the questions, the growing worry and collapsed back into darkness. He didn't have the energy to fight it.
SS
Severus woke to darkness, his eyes closed but his senses flaring. He shifted minutely and listened to the steady flow of breath, two people, one was sleeping.
Opening his eyes a fraction, allowing them to get used to the dim room he watched and waited. So the mediwitch had put Granger and Draco in charge as guards. He observed the situation, Draco was sleeping his head resting on the girls shoulder, while she read something occasionally jotting down notes.
What had happened? His mind shifting back, before he almost sprang out of bed.
Harry.
Harry was still there…
With the Dark Lord
And the Dark Lord knew.
He had to go back, had to go rescue the boy, the brat who always fell head first into trouble, the one with the annoying tendency to place others before himself. Stupid, foolish boy and his hero complex!
The anxiety and fear for the boy suddenly caught up with him and Severus frowned.
Of course he only wanted to save the boy to return the favour to the boy and to fulfil his dept to James Potter, as well as to stop the wizarding world from utter collapse and chaos, and he couldn't forget that he wanted to avoid Dumbledore's disappointed looks, especially if he got a student killed, and he definitely wanted his old body back, beside he'd promised to Lilly to look after the boy and if he didn't who would? And what on earth was he trying to deny with all these excuses?
Staring up at the ceiling he cursed quietly.
He didn't have the time or the energy to try and play this game with himself, he would dwell on this later, when urgent matters weren't as pressing. He was just about to spring out of bed when he heard the distinct pop of a house elf.
"Dobby has urgent news Master Draco."
"Wha?" The unintelligent noise of the suddenly woke boy. The blonde blinked a little trying to get his bearings and Severus couldn't help but wonder if perhaps all the training he had forced on the boy had been wasted. He should have woken up in an instant, wand ready.
Severus couldn't help but think that Potter would have done better. But then each boy's circumstances were different.
"Dobby has news from Mr Lucius for Master Draco, Dobby is to tell Mr Draco that Mr Harry is safe." The house elf bobbed and nodded looking quiet pleased.
"Harry?" The bushy haired girl asked, turning as Severus sat up suddenly, silently cursing the boy and his need for glasses as he slid them up his nose. He ignored the two and let his glare fall on the small bobbing creature.
"But Harry's woken from the visions, why would Father need to tell me that?" The blonde asked oblivious to Severus still stuck in Potter's body and the galre he was giving the house elf.
"Oh. Oh." Dobby bounced, before his head collided with the end of the bed with a painful sounding thud. "Dobby did wrong, Dobby should be punished." Another thud "Dobby didn't mean to say Mr Harry. Dobby is sorry."
"Dobby." the creatures name stopped the head banging. "What did you mean to say?"
"Dobby was to say Mr Snape is safe, he didn't mean to say Mr Harry, Dobby was told to keep it a secret, Dobby is bad."
"You know Dobby, that doesn't actually make sense." The girl pointed out, but Severus frowned, it made perfect sense if you knew what the small creature was going on about. The house elf had been sworn to secrecy as soon as he had pointed out that Harry was in fact in Snape's body and Snape in Harry's.
He had just revealed that secret.
"It's ok Dobby," Severus let the naturally soft quality of the boys voice emphasise his words, although he felt rather ridiculous comforting the house elf, so he quickly continued on. "So Lucius has P-Snape?" Severus had almost made the same mistake the house elf had. The house elf nodded and he felt relief flow through him.
Potter was safe.
Quickly followed by anger.
Why the hell hadn't Potter contacted him? He would've gone back to save the brats life if the house elf hadn't intervened. No thought for other's safety, a Potter through and through. He kept cursing the brat in his mind as he tried to ignore the overwhelming relief he felt.
"Harry are you alright?" The young woman sitting beside his bed watched him with concern.
He plastered on a fake smile.
"Fine, just fine."
The house elf vanished from under his distracted smile.
"I just need a little more sleep, that's all." His smile slipped into a grimace as he felt his muscles protest to his earlier action of sitting up.
Now that he didn't have to rescue the brat from another foolish act of heroism, he could feel the tension in his muscles release, could feel the pillows pressing back into him, and could feel himself drifting off under the gaze of the two students.
And for some reason, he felt safe enough to do so.
His mind didn't have time enough to contemplate on it before the darkness closed around him.
HP
The next time he woke he was aware of the sound of a low voice speaking rapidly, feminine, different from the previous one and this time it held a hint of urgency. There was the sound of a door being shut and Harry felt the person draw closer.
"Gods Severus, what have you done?" It was whispered to the room, the exhaustion and worry not meant to be heard by Harry. He felt the bed dip, the surprise of a hand taking his had him opening his eyes.
The sight made him jerk in shock. The man sitting on the edge of his bed, head bowed over the joined hands, staring off into space, focused looking back at him.
Worry and relief.
"Thank the Goddess you're awake."
Harry opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Thank the Goddess?
"The Dark Lord is looking for you, he's furious, but Lucius is attempting to calm him, I'm surprised the Dark Mark didn't wake you."
Harry blinked at his forearm, the dark brand carved in his skin didn't even tingle. There wasn't even the feel of another presence, nothing to connect him to the mad man.
He had broken the bond.
"I've sent word to Draco that you are safe, it seems Mr Potter was worried as well." The woman lifted a aristocratic brow. "You have some explaining to do about that boy, and don't try and wheedle out of it this time. I know there is something going on."
Harry felt himself go pale at the words.
"But not now love." She smiled and Harry realised he had never seen Narcissa Malfoy wear any other expression than well bred distain. "You need your rest."
The kiss to the forehead was unexpected as well, "I'll get you something to eat and drink." She gave his hand one last comforting squeeze before leaving.
Harry blinked as the door was shut. Had he woken in an alternate dimension?
Trying to get up, he felt every muscle in his body protest. He may have gained a little strength from his sleep, his body may not have been screaming in pain or exhaustion any more, but it still thrummed with a deep aching, his head felt full and the buzzing still occupied the back of his mind.
But there was an added ache to his bones, as if they weren't used to being saturated in magic, in the wild unpredictable force that swept through his at times when he lost control. Harry frowned, in fact they weren't. He was in Severus's body, and somehow… somehow he had accessed the power that he shouldn't have been able to. His body, the body of Harry Potter was able to access the magic through the link to Voldemort, but this body, the body of Severus Snape.
It shouldn't have been possible, and not only had he been able to access it, there had been something else hidden in it, something deeper, darker… ancient.
He fell back into the pillows, his head aching with the effort of trying to think. He'd have to ask Severus about that later, for now he had to think of how to get out of here.
"It isn't much, but you shouldn't be eat much after coming back from the Dark Lord." The blonde woman had closed the door with her foot, precariously balancing a tray as she turned to face him, a sympathetic half-smile on her face.
Harry blinked. Where were the house elves? Since when did Malfoy's do anything on their own? Especially for someone else?
"By Artemis you look exhausted, worse then usual." She tutted and Harry tried to place all of this together. Who was Artemis? He tried to remember where he had heard that name before, it had been mentioned once in some book.
Artemis had been a Greek Goddess of the moon, a hunter, a warrior.
Hermione had explained that once the wizards had worshipped the pagan gods. There was something about worshipping pagan gods, about how ancient wizarding tribes had possessed magic power, but it had been ancient, unpredictable, linked to pagan legends and gods.
That magic had been tamed, restricted, drained of most of its power, into the discipline that was taught these days.
Hermione had gone through a stage of trying to find out more about ancient magic, but almost every where she turned she was restricted, ancient magic had been classified as evil, dangerous, dark. There had been a few in Harry's family vault, but by the time they had found those she had moved onto a different interest, obsessed about the founders, and the large number of books on the subject that they had found along side the ancient volumes.
There had been a few articles on ancient magic and paganism in the newspaper, details were vague but all held the same gist, those that dabbled in the magic were locked up, erased from the known world, those that held pagan beliefs were ostracized from society and kept under a very close watch.
He would never had believed Mrs Malfoy to one of those believers.
"And I bet you aren't looking after yourself either." She had continued talking and Harry felt a little ill at ease when she helped to sit him up. "Here, drink this slowly."
She handed him a glass, but when she noticed he didn't even have the strength to hold the clear tumbler in his hands she slowly helped him sip at the water. Harry couldn't help the blush that crept across his cheeks as she leant over beside him, her pale hair, not up in its customary styled bun brushed against his bare neck, her scent washing over him.
He wasn't attracted to women, but he couldn't help shiver involuntarily at their proximity, maybe it was because he never let people this close to him, had never been quiet so vulnerable in front of a practical stranger.
Maybe it was because he had never had a mother.
That the half remembered love, super imposed on the stories of her sacrificing herself for him. The faded memory of being carefully cradled against a warm chest, caught in protective arms seen only in the presence of dementors, green flashes and the painful realization of death.
"Are you alright Severus?" Her voice had changed, held a hint of concern as she watched him. Harry couldn't help but avert his eyes from her piercing gaze, the gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I miss her." He hadn't realised his constricted throat had allowed the words through but he couldn't help the shocked look he sent the blonde woman. Her look was one of understanding.
Harry tried to open his mouth to take the words back, but the way the woman seemed to melt in beside him on the bed, lithe arms encircling him, a gentle kiss to his jaw, her blonde hair on his shoulder.
Comforting.
"I miss her too."
Harry tensed at the softly spoken words, and for some absurd reason he as quite sure they weren't talking about the same person… his sarcasm didn't help the situation.
A hand came to rest just above his heart, fingers curled in a loose fist as a breath of warm air sighed across his collarbone and for some reason Harry felt himself relax into the warmth at his side, even though his mind screamed at him to get away.
"She was beautiful, our Lilly."
The name hit him like a blow to the stomach.
He couldn't breath.
SS
As he slept he dreamed.
Severus Snape couldn't remember the last time he had dreamt.
He had drifted in darkness or had nightmares for as long as he could remember, he had been faced with the visions Harry had been forced to deal with. But he hadn't dreamt.
Hadn't dreamt of Lilly.
The kind voice.
The bright eyes.
The mischievous smile.
So like her son.
It saddened him as he watched himself walk beside the young woman, no older than the last time he saw her, no less beautiful, as she talked animatedly about something. Harry would never know his mother, the talented, kind and calming woman who had never had the chance to watch her son grow up.
"Oi." She poked him hard on the forehead. "You're not listening to me are you?" She held the same look Severus had spent years perfecting, the you-better-not-be-wasting-my-time look. Severus looked around him at the snow, could feel the cold seeping into his skin, before his eyes met emerald green above rosy cheeks.
"Rissa said she found something…"
The scene changed and they were in an unused potions lab, an old tomb on the desk. He remembered this scene, like he had the previous one, it was almost a memory. He tried to grasp the exact scene in his mind but he couldn't quite catch it as he turned back to the people in the room.
The blonde Ms Black perched triumphantly on a chair while Lilly leant over her shoulder reading the text. Piercing green eyes turned to him.
"Really Severus, do I have to spell it out for you?"
The tone was mocking.
"You never see the most important things, especially when they're right in front of you."
The potions lab fell away from him and he choked on a surprised cry as he fell back and kept falling. The darkness kept dragging at him until he hit the ground, painfully jarring his back. He sat up cautiously, expecting a nightmare to start. Instead he was faced with a pair of luminous green eyes.
"By my Lady, are you alright Sev?" There was concern in the voice.
He looked around at the destroyed room.
"I don't remember."
He couldn't remember this scene, for all he knew he'd never been in this room before.
"Did it work?" She peered down at him. "You weren't suppose to pass out…"
He blinked and the woman kneeling beside him had aged in a second.
"Promise me. Promise me Sev, please."
As she pleaded the bright eyes gained dark shadows.
"Please."
Jaded, he noticed the thick red hair darkened, skin tanned, high cheek bones.
"Please…"
Plump lips spoke the word like a plea, hand on his, pleading eyes and Severus wrenched himself back from the figure of Harry Potter, and the boys soft touch.
"Please…"
The voice played havoc in his mind. And he shook his head.
"Promise me… look after him. Look after my Harry."
Voice spoken from the darkness he'd fallen back into, voice of both Harry and Lilly combined and he tried to squeeze his eyes shut, but they were already shut, tried to draw a breath but he was drowning and all he could see was feathers, rustic brown feathers falling like snow and just as cold.
He woke up with a start, the hospital room dark. His back icy cold, the blankets kicked off the edge of the bed, and he could make out an owl hooting off in the distance, probably back from an evening hunt.
His dream lingered on the edge of his mind and he couldn't quiet grasp it, remembered that it had something to do with Lilly.
There had been snow.
There had been a promise.
There had been a pleading Harry Potter.
Severus cursed inwardly.
-
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--- to be cont'