Hiding at Hogwarts
~ by Healer Pomfrey ~
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
15 – Revelations
Early in the morning, Harry, Severus and Professor Lupin took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and headed straight to Gringotts.
"Harry Potter wants to see his parents' vaults," Severus told the goblin, who was eyeing them with obvious disinterest.
"Is Mr. Potter seventeen years old?" the goblin queried, letting his eyes wander up and down Harry's small figure.
"No, but Professor Snape is his guardian," Professor Lupin challenged the goblin, who held out his hand to Severus.
To Harry's surprise and relief, Severus handed the goblin a parchment, and the goblin nodded in understanding. "Very well then, please wait here for a moment."
A few minutes later, another goblin arrived and led them into a small side chamber, where he motioned for them to take a seat and spread a pile of parchments in front of Severus. "Mr. Harry Potter owns thirty-one different vaults." He pointed to the top parchment. "This is a list of all the vaults. The newest ones are at the top. The first vault is the only one, to which Harry Potter has access even under the age of seventeen. All the other vaults are locked, and he will only be able to gain access while accompanied by his guardian. The vaults at the bottom are those of the Founders of Hogwarts. Do you know which vault you wish to access today?"
"Thank you so much for your explanation, sir," Severus replied, slightly inclining his head. "We wish to search for information left by Lily and James Potter."
"Very well then, please follow me," the goblin said and led them to one of the carriages, which took them to a vault that looked exactly like all the others to both sides. He pointed to the door and to the next on the left side. "All the information as well as items left by Lily and James Potter should be in these two vaults. If you're done, just call for Agbark. I shall come and take you back."
The three wizards thanked the goblin profusely and set to work. Harry hesitantly followed the two teachers into the vault. 'It feels strange to enter my parents' vault, to think that they came here to leave things here. Perhaps they even left them for me, so that I could come and get them,' he thought as he curiously glanced around the huge room that was packed with shelves, boxes and larger items on the floor.
"Harry," Severus' voice pulled him out of his reverie, "I suggest that you skim the books for some writing or even a diary or such, while Professor Lupin and I take a look at the items in the vault, because there might be some that could be dangerous and we have a bit more experience with dark objects, provided that you want us to see if we find anything that might be of interest for you."
"Yes please; thank you, sir," Harry agreed, feeling very relieved at his guardian's thoughtfulness. He found a few very old looking tomes; however, he resisted the urge to check them out first, remembering that they were searching for something that his parents had written. "Excuse me," he addressed Severus, who was busying himself searching through a nearby box, "would it be possible to take some of the books with me? Some of them look really interesting."
"Of course you may take things with you, Harry. Everything in this vault as well as in the many others listed on the parchment, which we received earlier, belongs to you," Severus replied in a soft voice, instructing him, "Just put everything, which you want to take with you, on the chair over there."
Harry happily agreed, and as the hours went by the pile on the chair slowly grew higher. It was just when Professor Lupin suggested that they should stop searching and take a break to have lunch that Harry opened a book, which seemed very different from everything else that he had found so far.
"Wait a moment, please," he said in excitement. "Here is something..." He hurriedly skimmed the rather thin book. "This must be my mother's diary."
Something shattered onto the floor when Severus abruptly turned around to face Harry, who laid the book into his guardian's hand. "Yes, this is Lily's diary." He hurriedly handed it back to the boy.
Harry observed the professor in surprise. For a few seconds, emotions flashed over the wizard's face, before he schooled it back to his normal blank mask. However, the few seconds were long enough for Harry to understand that something had to be wrong. 'We'll see. Maybe Mum wrote something about him,' he thought, resolving to spend the evening reading the diary.
~ At the Leaky Cauldron ~
The three wizards strode back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they ordered three Chicken Terriyaki sandwiches for lunch. While they were waiting for the food to arrive, Harry opened the diary from the back and began to read the last entry from the last page.
'October 25th, 1981
No one knows about this, but I am a Seer, and I know that James and I are going to die very soon. Therefore, I'm going to finish this diary at this point, and I hope that my Baby will find it someday.Harry, if you ever get to read this, please know that I love you very much, and I also love Severus. The two of you are the only wizards, whom I have ever and will always love.Harry, you will probably remain alone. Please make sure that Severus Snape will become your guardian. He is your relative through Salazar Slytherin, and he would have been your father if I'd have had a choice. Have a great life, my sweet baby, and remember that I'll always be watching you from heaven.
Your mother Lily.'
"Well, that is interesting, Severus," Professor Lupin blurted out, looking at his former classmate, who was sitting there clearly in shock. "Harry, could you please read the previous entry. Maybe it says something about the Secret Keeper," he added in a soft voice.
Harry skimmed the previous few entries but decided not to read anything else aloud unless he found something about the matter that they were searching for. "Oh here is something," he suddenly said and began to read.
'October 7th, 1981
James finally agreed to change our Secret Keeper. Sirius as his best friend is much too obvious, and he is too reckless and childish for such an important task. I don't agree with Peter either, because I don't trust him, but as always James knows everything better. I'd have preferred Remus or Severus, if not Minerva or Professor Dumbledore...'
"Oh no, poor Sirius!" Professor Lupin, who had been following the lines from Harry's left side, suddenly blurted out, causing Harry to look at him in surprise. "He was innocent all these years."
"What does it say?" Severus, who had remained quiet and absentminded for a few minutes, queried, and Harry quickly handed him the diary. "The mangy mutt seems to be innocent," he confirmed after skimming Lily's entry, causing Harry to throw him an amused look.
"Sirius is a dog Animagus, and he and Severus couldn't stand each other," Professor Lupin explained, smirking.
"Oh, is he the one of whom you told me? Who was my father's best friend?"
Severus nodded with a grim expression on his face.
"He was also your godfather, Harry," the Gryffindor Head said softly.
"Godfather?" Harry asked in surprise. 'Oh no, as much as I'd have liked to have a godfather all these years at the Dursleys, having a godfather and a guardian, who hate each other, doesn't sound good,' he thought. "Now that I finally have a guardian, and the best guardian I can imagine, I don't need a godfather," he said firmly.
"As a godfather, he can claim the guardianship over you," Severus said darkly.
"No, he can't do that. I know this might sound strange, because I haven't even met him, but even my mother wrote that he is a reckless git and that she wanted you to become my guardian," Harry said resolutely. "Apart from that you're my uncle, aren't you?"
"Exactly," Severus replied, and Harry noticed contentedly that a small smile began to play on the professor's lips.
"Very well then, let's finish our lunch, and I suggest that we head back to Hogwarts and ask the Headmistress to speak with the Ministry of Magic in order to clear Sirius. Perhaps she has an idea how to solve the godfather matter," the former werewolf said firmly. "Harry, I will fully support you. If you want Professor Snape to remain your guardian, we'll ask Professor McGonagall to help us fighting for it, if we need to fight.
"Thank you, Lupin," Severus sighed. "However, I insist that Harry meets the mangy mutt, before he decides whom he wants to become his guardian. I don't want Harry to make decisions that he might regret afterwards because they were merely based on our words or a diary entry."
tbc...
Thank you so much for your kind reviews for the previous chapter! I really appreciate them!
Question: Do you want Ron to come back to Hogwarts or not? At this stage, both variants are still possible, but I'll have to decide during the next chapter; so I'd like to know your opinions.