PB19
Disclaimer – I own nothing in the Harry Potter world, we're just going on a little trip.
Chapter 19
Severus led the way up the staircase, the gargoyle leaping out of the way without Severus saying a word. Severus relaxed minutely, knowing this meant that Hogwarts had transferred its loyalty to its new Headmaster - Severus.
Good, now that Albus was 'no longer himself and magic-less' and likely to stay that way, Hogwarts had accepted Severus without a single protest. Severus had felt the wards and other magics associated with the Headmaster's position pass to him the moment that Dumblemort's spell had failed, but he'd not been sure whether there was more involved to taking complete control or not.
The loss of Hogwart's magic had likely been the breaking point for Albus, Severus had thought with a smug smile.
Severus waved everyone into the puffy chairs Albus had always preferred and went to the desk and opened a thin top drawer. "Anyone need a drink? There seems to be a rather extensive bar in Albus' quill and ink drawer …" Severus pulled a very tall bottle of scotch out of the 3-inch deep drawer.
Harry giggled while Amelia, Kingsley and Rufus smiled slightly and murmured 'on duty, sorry'. Lucius sniffed and waved a negligent hand. "It's that blended crap … proof positive that the old man was crazy." Cornelius echoed Lucius, likely out of nervousness. Severus smiled and put the bottle back, calling for a house elf to bring tea.
Severus took a seat with the others, feeling that occupying the Headmaster's desk would invite too many of the wrong questions.
"Well, does anyone know exactly what happened?" Rufus got straight to the point with a nod from Madame Bones. Rufus lay the remnants of Albus' potion and the recipe in Albus' writing down on the table in the center of the group of chairs.
Good, Severus thought, he wouldn't have to explain everything.
"I know some of it … though Albus kept so very many things to himself." Severus sighed, and received grimacing nods from everyone else in the room – even a few portraits. "Albus, quite simply, had overworked himself for decades, to the point of near madness at times. He was on the Wizengamot – was sometimes its head wizard, was Chief Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Headmaster of the premier British wizarding school. Any one of those positions was a full time job, yet he did them all for, as I said, decades."
The others nodded, frowning. "He is only one hundred and ten … yet he looks closer to the two century mark." They nodded again at Severus' statements. "He's been making mistakes and the need to step down from the Wizengamot showed that to him, I think. He said that he knew that 'He Who Must Not Be Named' was going to return and he was determined to stop him. He went on a search for Dark artifacts that were rumored to have been used by him and destroy them …" More nods as well as anxious looks from the Aurors and Fudge. "He found a few, and one was badly cursed … a withering curse that would kill him in less than a year."
There were gasps and Madame Bones glanced at the Potions recipe. It was definitely a healing and rejuvenation potion. They knew from the investigative spells that the writing was Albus' and the potion had only Albus' magical signature in it. But the recipe called for the elixir of life.
"He borrowed the Philosopher's Stone, didn't he?" Madame Bones didn't really pose the statement as a question.
Severus nodded gravely. "I managed to slow and limit the curse to his hand, but it was a temporary stopgap that would buy him time to come up with an antidote. I was unable to be of any help, as I have never worked with the elixir of life or a philosopher's stone." Severus managed to sound a bit put out about that, hopefully cementing the idea that he really had no experience with potions that needed that particular ingrediant.
"So he was cursed and was making an antidote …" Rufus recapped, "… what about 'He Who Must Not Be Named, how did he get involved?"
"I would presume that between Harry Potter starting school and rumors about the Stone being here – and there were rumors – he could not resist trying for a way back to a new body and a bit of revenge." Kingsley nodded to his two superiors.
Severus almost smiled. It was much better to have the three Aurors coming up with some of the answers themselves with only a few prompts from him.
"I'm afraid that Professor Quirrell was possessed by the Dark Lord's spirit." Severus carefully did not say whether Quirrell was a willing host or not, pointing fingers always made Madame Bones suspicious.
"Mister Potter and I were on the way to my lab – he had a detention involving cauldrons needing cleaning …" Severus raised an eyebrow at Harry, who managed to look sheepish. "We heard shouting and ran to the lab the Headmaster has been using. The Headmaster was trying to fight off a dark specter but he appeared quite weak and was not very successful. Quirrell tried to grab Potter and was killed by the blood protection on him."
Rufus and Madame Bone's eyes cut to Harry who squirmed a bit.
"Why did the wards kill Quirrell and not Dumbledore?" Madame Bones asked with a frown.
Lucius broke in, knowing that Severus answering all the questions might be suspicious. "Blood wards are tricky things, and none of them act the same. I am not certain why they would attack one and not the other. It could be because Quirrell intended to kill Potter then and there. The possessed Headmaster perhaps had other ideas."
Harry broke in with a look of disgust. "Something went wrong with the potion and they were both stuck in Dumbledore's body and it was losing it's magic … they were going to try and fix that and have Voldemort take over my body permanently and then blame everything on Professor Snape and Quirrell." Harry didn't need to fake any horror at that thought.
The Aurors looked grim at the thought. "So Headmaster Dumbledore was in league with 'You Know Who'?" Rufus said with a snarl, though Severus noted a rather satisfied glint in Rufus' eyes. Rufus at least would not mind Albus turning out to be 'the bad guy'. However Severus should not seem too eager to rush everyone to judgment when it came to Albus. Madame Bone was always suspicious of everyone, and she was no one to trifle with.
Severus let a sorrowful look creep over his face and he leaned forward, hands lying on his knees lightly, trying to appear sincere. "I am no Healer, but I understand that having your magical core shatter to the extent that Albus Dumbledore's core has can cause a certain amount of madness. It is rare, in fact, to stay completely sane when your magic is gone."
Severus fought to not smirk at the former Headmaster's fate. Albus had plotted to kill Harry; therefore Severus had no sympathy for Albus' fate. In fact, he had more sympathy and remnants of respect for Voldemort than Albus. Yes, the Dark Lord had tricked and lied about many things, but he had not pretended to have any intentions toward Harry other than to kill him. Albus had insisted that he was looking after Harry for years and it had all been lies.
Kingsley nodded, along with all the others. Dumbledore had been trying to recruit him through Moody. The recent debacles involving Moody, Dawlish and Albus not to mention his old transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall had made him wary of their machinations. Kingsley had been skeptical even before all the 'little problems' the Headmaster had been experiencing. He simply didn't see the need for a vigilante group when the ministry was still acting fairly well in response to situations. After all, nothing had happened before today and now apparently the Dark Lord was defeated.
Madame Bones rose, nodding. "Well, Minister, I know you need to start working on a statement. Rufus and I will be along to give any last minute updates." Cornelius nodded and was ushered by Lucius to the floo with a glint in his eyes. "Rufus, you and Kingsley make sure the Department of Mysteries doesn't make off with anything they shouldn't." Rufus smiled and waved Kingsley to follow him. Madame Bones obviously had some grilling to do with no witnesses and he had no objections. Amelia was canny and rather thorough.
Severus stood as Amelia gazed at him with a shrewd gleam in her eyes. "Dumbledore can't be carrying the wards and magic of Hogwarts with a shattered core."
Severus nodded gravely. "Yes, they passed to me when his magic totally drained. I will be holding them until the Board of Governors appoints the next Headmaster." Or confirmed Severus him permanently to the position, Severus mused smugly. With Hogwarts accepting him as she had they would be reluctant to tamper with things. If Severus had been unsuitable Hogwarts would have passed him over for one of the Heads of House or simply locked down.
"There is usually some ritual for passing the wards. Having them dumped on you unexpectedly should have knocked you out for a few hours." Madam Bones mused aloud. "Unless you are a lot stronger magically than any of us had heard."
Severus just lifted an eyebrow. No response was really needed to that. Harry edged over to stand next to Severus, obviously supporting him as Headmaster.
"He protected me against Dumblemort." Harry said stoutly, making Bones smile at the name they had coined for the possessed ex-Headmaster. "He stood between me and the Avada Kedavra being cast at me. I think he'll protect the students here the way Dumbledore never did."
Madame Bones let that matter drop, Harry Potter was supporting Snape … he was very likely here to stay. Very well, on to the next question. "And just where is the Sorcerer's Stone, then?"
Finally, the pair of wizards hesitated in their response, but to her surprise Snape was looking to the boy to answer. Harry looked at her with a certain amount of suspicion.
"During the scuffle I summoned my house elf and had him take it away." Harry finally answered.
Bone raised a brow, herself. "Why didn't he take you to safety as well?"
Severus answered almost politely, "The wards do not allow students to be snatched by house elves, or anything else for that matter. We would have children kidnapped any every turn if there were no wards against it."
Madame Bones blinked; of course there would be wards against that. She must be more tired that she thought to have even asked. "Yes, of course." She murmured, hoping Snape didn't treat her to one of his legendary insult fests.
"So the stone will be returned to Nicholas Flamel, then?" Madame Bones asked, a glint in her eye. The same glint everyone seemed to get when mentioning the Stone. The thought of untold riches and a rather benign way to eternal life seemed to do that to a lot of people.
"As soon as we figure out how to contact him, I hope Professor Dumbledore had a floo address in his files, or something." Harry answered with a sigh.
Madame Bones nodded shortly, having to keep herself from asking exactly where the Stone was or offering to 'return it' herself. The dangers of having the Stone within one's grasp were getting clearer to her. It was better to simply not have access to it … even if you were a Hufflepuff.
Madame Bones knew there was more to all of this, her gut was rarely wrong about circumstances of this nature. The thing was; she didn't think that she necessarily cared how Snape had ended the situation. Dumbledore had gotten himself cursed, tried to fix it and got jumped and possessed by Voldemort. Bonkers or not he'd tried to get out of the possession by sacrificing Harry Potter for the Dark Lord to take over. Even going round the twist was no excuse for that.
Severus watched Bones carefully, knowing this was the moment of truth. Either she would go with the explanation or she would decide to really start digging and pull out pensieves and Veritaserum. They couldn't make Harry take potions and pull out memories, but they could go after Severus a bit.
He could work around the pensieve memories and only show what he wanted, he felt, his Occlumency would aid in that. There might be a few things he'd have to explain. Veritaserum, though … well for the most part he would be able to justify most everything by saying he was saving Harry Potter's life from the Headmaster's machinations. His only worry was that they might ask why the Headmaster wanted Harry dead.
He could always say that the Headmaster was angry about losing control of him, wanted to be able to take all the credit for Voldemort's defeat, etc. If they pressed him, though, he could only hope he could avoid any mention of that damnable Horcrux in Harry's scar. He wasn't sure what the ministry would resort to, but he didn't put much past them if it meant the end of Voldemort.
To his immense relief, Madame Bones finally nodded. "I'll need you to make official reports and all, but I believe we're done here."
Severus waited until the door closed and sagged in relief. Harry grinned and gripped Severus in a hug, and Severus patted the enclosing arms with a smug smile. They were safe, for now.
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Vernon walked around the Salisbury track, whistling and greeting trainers and jockeys with a smile. Lucius had sent a brief note saying that Voldemort and Dumbledore were now subdued and getting themselves put in a padded lock-up. It had been brief and there were other worries, of course. But everything else had been small potatoes compared to those two.
Vernon gripped the odd looking red stone that was in his inner pocket that zipped up and was hard for even him to get to. Strange to think that it was a legendary item and that many would kill to get it.
He smiled again. It was fun to think that wizards owed him quite a bit for keeping it safe. More than one wizard would have a stroke if they knew a muggle had possession of the Stone 'to keep it safe'. Even Vernon had been surprised when Harry had said he would be sending the Sorcerer's Stone to him.
Vernon sighed, a bit misty eyed. Petunia would have had a good laugh if she had been here. It was over a year since she had passed on, though it seemed longer, somehow. That was likely because so much had happened in a short time. He knew that Narcissa was just waiting for him to show signs of being ready to 'move on'. She hinted now and then that she had women waiting in the wings to 'meet him'. He suspected that they were squibs or muggle 'relatives of relatives' or some such.
Narcissa seemed anxious to ensure that he and Dudley maintained close ties to the wizarding world and especially the Malfoys, preferably by marriage Vernon supposed. Vernon didn't mind, it was a bit flattering, he supposed. As long as Narcissa waited patiently for him to 'be ready'.
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Rita Skeeter flooed into the Headmaster's study with a glint in her eyes two days later. Severus had promised her award – winning interviews and articles if she sat on some of the information she'd had for what seemed like forever. Normally she would have given a source a day or two and then release the story no matter what. She did tend to be a bit impatient.
She smiled at Severus with some smugness. She'd become quite fond of him. He had a delightfully jaundiced outlook on life and had brought her quite a lot of fame – and she had not needed to exaggerate or make anything up. That had been a bit of a new experience for her. Usually she at least padded the stories a bit, but Severus had said it was important to be very accurate. That 'the events would be looked at by historians in the future, most likely, and unless she wanted to be viewed as an unscrupulous journalist and not taken seriously by people in the future, she had best stick to the absolute truth.
That idea had never occurred to her, and she had reviewed some of her past articles with different eyes. How would people in the future view the things that she had written? Much of it could be rather easily disproved or was obviously slanted in nature. They would think of her as either an idiot or a chronic liar. This was not a cheerful thought.
Severus was right; she needed to be much more accurate about things. This didn't mean she didn't lust after really hot stories, just that she could not play them up with lies or half-truths, especially about things regarding Harry Potter and 'He Who Must Not Be Named. Those articles would be historical in nature and would likely be torn apart in the future by people looking for information, just as she occasionally would tear apart past articles about things, looking for nuggets of information for her own stories.
She stiffened her resolve. Those future writers would not find her work wanting from now on. Especially since even if the 'historians' were looking over her work a century from now, she was likely to still be alive to have to read their criticism.
Severus saw her settled into a chair and pulled out a rather pricey magnum of champagne form Albus' now infamous 'quill and ink' drawer. He poured them each a glass and they chimed them together in a silent toast.
"Well, I am sure you already have the Ministry's story … Dumbledore trying to get rid of dark artifacts, getting cursed, the antidote backfiring and causing him to lose his magic. Not to mention getting possessed by the Dark Lord." Severus smirked. The Ministry was avoiding saying anything about Albus' total slip into insanity and his probable collusion with Voldemort. Fudge and Bones said that the full truth was unknown and they should not tarnish Albus' name unless they were sure. Rufus had reluctantly agreed with a rather sulky look.
"And there is rather more to the story, I expect?" Rita asked with an arch look. Now that the screaming headlines full of speculation were over with, she expected to put out an article that would have all the right information – the one the historians would read to know what really happened.
"Well, the dark artifact happened to belong to Lord V-voldemort." Severus barely stuttered over the name. He'd been practicing, and he didn't intend to give the Dark Lord any further power over him – not even with the dreaded name.
Rita's eyes widened, quite impressed with Severus' daring. And the news that Albus had been after artifacts belonging to the Dark Lord? What did that mean?
"The curse on the dark artifact would have killed him quickly, but I did manage to limit it to his right hand for a while. It would have eventually spread no matter what. He didn't have very long, just a few months. He must have found an old tome with an antidote that he thought would work. It required the Elixir of Life." Severus smiled at Rita's wide eyes and gave her the rundown of Albus' 'fears' for the Stone's safety and the gauntlet they had set up.
"Professor Quirrell was helping Voldemort and together they overcame Albus when the potion fractured his core. Albus should have realized the potion was wrong when he saw that Sweet Briar was being combined with geraniums, not to mention he used orange lilies instead of white. The formula did not specify what color, but anyone with experience would know that using orange lilies in any potion would cause harm to their magical core." Severus gave the information casually. The Department of Mysteries had gone over the formula they had been found and finally found the error. They had not kept it a secret and had loudly concluded that Albus must have copied it down wrong.
Severus smiled a bit; he'd added those elements to the formula carefully. Only a highly train Potions Master would have known the problem, and he'd made sure the only lilies available in the Hogwart's greenhouse at that time were orange. It was ironic that orange lilies represented hatred in the old 'language of flowers' and geraniums meant folly.
The rest of the story Severus could tell with no real editing. To everyone's relief Dumblemort was quickly becoming incoherent most of the time. He alternated between Albus, who continually wept and Voldemort who raged rather incomprehensibly. The Ministry would not be getting any information from either of them to contradict Severus.
Rita copied down the last words of the tale and then tossed the pad and quill to one side and reached for Severus eagerly. Severus laughed and tossed an obscuring spell at the scandalized portraits. He submitted to her kisses happily and then eyed Albus' old desk. He'd always wanted to do something truly outrageous on Albus' desk ….
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Severus watched the nervously twitching Governors with satisfaction. So much had happened over the last week, and the children were on their way home for spring break, enough time for him to pull the school together. Getting confirmed by them as Headmaster had been easy enough, with Fudge backing him eagerly after Harry had asked Fudge for help with a wistful look. Harry had eagerly told anyone who would listen that Severus had stood between him and a killing curse being cast by Dumblemort. Severus sighed with satisfaction. If only Voldemort and Albus knew that the wizarding world was calling them Dumblemort, they would have a stroke on the spot. Rita had been quite happy to put the name in her article, saying she was quoting 'the Hogwarts schoolchildren'.
"Gentlemen, we do need to replace teachers for at least the remainder of term. I realize my choices will need to be further reviewed over the summer, but in the meantime we have NEWTs and OWLs to get the students ready for." The governors relaxed a bit and nodded.
"First, I did get Professor Slughorn to return to his old post." Severus noted their relieved smiles with amusement. Perhaps they thought he was going to bring out Bellatrix LeStrange or Fenrir Greyback? Horace had been easy to persuade, Severus just pointed out that Harry Potter was there and that since he'd been gone from Hogwarts for over a decade, he might soon run out of sources for free Quidditch tickets and the more expensive candies.
"Professor Remus Lupin has been filling in for Professor McGonagall with no difficulty and should continue to do so." Severus braced himself for the onslaught of objections. To his surprise they were few, mostly there were questions about how Lupin could be kept safe during the full moon.
Perhaps all the stories in the Prophet about Remus and Sirius Black's friendship had helped. They had had a typical noisy and tear-filled and very public reconciliation that one expected from Gryffindors. Harry and all his friends had raved about Lupins's wonderful lessons to anyone that would listen.
"I assure you I have been supplying his Wolfsbane and on full moon nights he is well-secured by myself to prevent any mishaps." Severus said, and was rather shocked when they all nodded, apparently satisfied. There had been a lot of information from European wolf colonies lately, sneering at Britain's 'barbaric treatment of werewolves' and the need for them to do better. Perhaps they were getting pressure from the Ministry. Nevertheless, it fell in with Severus' wish to keep a close eye on Remus.
"Any plans for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position?" One of governors asked, little hope in her voice.
"I do have a candidate. I hope to have him pick up the class when classes resume." Severus smiled at their eagerness … and their stunned looks when he gave them the name.
Being Headmaster was definitely much more fun than teaching.
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Harry raced to his home in the Dower house to plot with his Uncle and Dudley on the return of the Stone to Nicholas Flamel. There had been demands from Flamel for its return and Harry had snottily insisted that Flamel come and fetch it, himself. They all intended to tear a strip off him for handing it over to Albus, like he had.
Draco bounced into Malfoy Manor with Severus arriving right behind him. They walked into the family room to find Sirius going through a large stack of letters with a wild-eyed look and making unhappy noises.
Narcissa had a tight-lipped look of disapproval and Lucius and Remus were snickering.
"I don't understand … I made it perfectly clear!" Sirius was wailing. He'd been a bit inebriated when he had sent off the advertisement to be placed in the 'looking for work' section of the paper, but he had thought it was clear.
"What now, Black?" Severus asked with resignation.
"Sirius was looking for work. He was afraid he would get bored now he doesn't have Moody or Minerva to torment anymore." Remus explained and handed over the Daily Prophet over to him. It was turned and folded to show part of the advertisements with one circled in red.
'Experienced wizard seeking interesting positions to try.' It read.
"They mistakenly put it in the personal ads instead of those looking for jobs." Remus muffled the laughter fighting to escape.
Draco looked confused and Narcissa hustled him away before anything got explained.
Severus didn't try to restrain his own mirth, while Sirius muttered and shook his head over another salacious response to his ad.
Remus helped open a letter and or two and said brightly "Oh, this one sent a picture …" Remus peered at the photo and then looked horrified. "Uh, oh … it's not of his face." Remus dropped the picture hastily while Lucius choked on his drink.
Sirius dropped his head into his hands and whimpered. "Thank Merlin I didn't put my name on the ad."
"Well, assuming you don't intend to try one of the positions the letters offer, would you consider taking up the Defense position at Hogwarts, at least for the remainder of the school year?" Severus snickered at Sirius's look of relief.
"Do you mean it?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"Yes, since I already told the governors you were taking the position." Severus grinned at Sirius' eye roll at that. "Plus Lupin will be there to help keep you in line. He has the Transfiguration position for now." Severus looked at Remus apologetically. "We'll have the next few months to convince the governors and parents that our security measures are the very best."
"Thank you for the opportunity, Severus." Remus answered sincerely.
Lucius eyed the werewolf sourly, but Severus was right. Better to have Lupin under their watchful eyes. Black would insist on having him around anyway. This would ensure they knew what he was up to.
With his career plans now made Sirius happily cast incendio on the pile of letters, making Lucius yell about the now scorched mahogany coffee table.
Severus rolled his eyes and escaped during the argument that Remus was trying to mediate and found Narcissa alone on a terrace.
Perfect. This needed to be done without Lucius.
Severus had thought long and hard about the vial of Elixir of Life he had snatched. It was enough to give an extra decade or two of life, maybe a little more. However Severus had little interest in prolonging his life at present. He still had around a century and a half of life left even without it. He supposed he might feel differently when he turned one hundred and eighty.
Or he could likely turn a fair amount of lead into gold with it, but he really didn't need it. He wasn't Malfoy – style rich, but he was well off. He finally decided he could just keep it. It was possible he would need to make a real antidote to an otherwise unbreakable curse, or something like that. It was rather fun to just have the vial of ultra-rare elixir.
Then he had thought of Narcissa and knew what at least part of the elixir would be used for.
Severus held out a potion vial to Narcissa. "I cannot guarantee that this will break the curse Bellatrix cast on you. I did find an old formula for a healing potion for curses of this nature in that grimoire we used on Albus. Of course, like all the other potions in that book, it called for the elixir of life. Luckily I grabbed that vial when Albus grabbed the fake stone."
Narcissa looked at the potion in numb disbelief. After a decade of no hope, it was almost too much to believe in. Even if it didn't work, she was astounded that Severus would use part of the Elixir of Life to try and help her. It was an incredible gift. She gasped out a sob and threw her arms around Severus.
"Thank you, thank you." Narcissa sobbed out. "You have no idea…"
"Just remember, I don't know for certain it will work." Severus emphasized. That was why he had not included Lucius. Another crushing disappointment would do Lucius no good. "Take the potion and give it two days – then have St Mungo's check you."
Narcissa pulled herself together and ran to her bedroom and sat on the bed, her head reeling. She gazed at a recent picture of Lucius and herself on the wall, hoping she would have good news for Lucius. Her image smiled and nodded in encouragement to her. She downed the liquid and wondered how she would manage to last two days before knowing the outcome.
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Two days later Severus escaped from a pair of sobbing Malfoys who were incoherent with joy at the news that Narcissa was completely healed. Severus was pretty sure Draco would have a younger sibling in less than a year.
Severus saw Harry strolling the grounds, Rusty following him and nibbling on grass here and there and he crossed the lawn to intercept them. Rusty eyed him curiously and continued to amble after Harry, who brightened at the sight of Severus.
"You just missed Flamel. I thought he would blow a gasket when he realized Uncle Vernon had the Stone, not me. I let him know he had nearly caused Voldemort's return with his carelessness, and that he was lucky I was letting him have it back since, considering that.
Severus chuckled. Flamel had likely not been pleased to be chewed on by a first year, but if he had to act like a nitwit, he deserved it.
"How are you doing, Harry?" Severus asked, peering at the young boy.
"I'm not sure." Harry said with a faintly puzzled look. "There has been sword over my head waiting to drop for so very long. Voldemort and Dumbledore have been waiting just around the corner for years, now. Now that they are gone, it's a little … weird?" Harry shrugged, not sure how to explain his slightly lost feeling with no murderous Dark Lord's or homicidal Headmasters out for his blood.
Severus sat on a nearby bench and Harry perched beside him, stroking the curious Rusty's neck. "It will take time. The two of them have overshadowed your life for almost as long as you remember. Just keep on day by day, I assure you that life will throw other challenges at you before long."
"Thanks, I think." Harry snorted with a grin, and then abruptly stopped smiling. "What about the … um, you know, my scar?" Harry was nearly whispering.
Severus looked that boy over, they had spoken of it before, but clearly he needed reassurance.
"When they took Dumblemort out of Hogwarts, I made sure you were there." Severus reminded Harry. "When he looked at you and your eyes met, what did you feel?"
"Nothing, I felt nothing" Harry answered in relief. "I always felt a lot of pain when I met Quirrell's eyes when Voldemort had possessed him. Are you sure that means I am safe?"
"Voldemort no longer has any magic, so there is no way for him to access any connection he might have had with you. The Horcrux may still be there, but it is useless to him. When you die in a century or two, his last link with this world. Albus likely only has a decade – he was very old already, but the potion did have Elixir of Life in it, so it has bought him a little time. Voldemort had best hope that when the Headmaster dies, that he dies as well or he'll be stuck as a very weak wandering spirit until you die as well." Severus hid his smile at the thought. Harry sometimes found Severus' lack of empathy for his enemies a little disturbing.
"You are sure the horcrux can't make me do anything?" Harry asked for the hundredth time.
Severus bit down on his impatience. Harry was only eleven, first years always seemed to need things endlessly repeated before they believed anything.
"Absolutely not." Severus answered patiently. "If you do find yourself plotting the takeover of the wizarding world, just let me know and I'll assign you enough detentions to quell that urge."
Harry laughed with some relief. Severus seemed quite sure about all this, and of all the adults in his life Severus seemed most likely to tell him the truth even if the truth was horrible.
"I promise not to make you my minion if I do decide to take over any part of the world." Harry said brightly. "I'm sorry I keep asking you the same questions."
"If you do chose to become an Evil Overlord you will need to remember that they never apologize." Severus smile at Harry's look of relief. He hoped Harry believed in his freedom from Voldemort, now.
Harry jumped up and led Rusty back to his paddock, chattering to the bemused horse happily. Severus was left to watch the boy with a smile on his face. Harry was soon joined by Draco and Dudley and they started planning what they would do for summer vacation.
Severus glanced at his now tattoo – free left arm and smiled even more brightly. He would need to rethink his own future as well, now that he was free from both light and dark 'evil overlords'.
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A/N – pretty much done with Petunia's Boys except for an epilogue. Hope you've enjoyed the ride.