Chapter 11

Ginny was exhausted; she was starting to really despise her fifth year. Every teacher seemed to be enjoying their little joke of torturing the students. She just wanted to lie down but knew that she needed to meet with professor Sprout for lunch. She made her way down to the greenhouses and looked for professor Sprout's office. Once she found it she straightened out her clothes and hair before knocking in the door. She heard the motherly voice call out 'Enter' and she opened the door.

"Hello professor Sprout, I am sorry for my lateness as I have had a very hectic morning."

"Not a problem my dear. I remember my own fifth year. I was the second student to have a total melt down because of the work load and stress of exams. Now I should ask you to explain your clues. Now as a woman that enjoys gardening a bit too much at times I found your clues to follow in the same tread. Especially the last two, which are the ones I will question you on. But first as it is lunch time I think that we should order some food first. A young witch going through her fifth year needs the energy."

Professor Sprout snapped her fingers and two large plates of food appeared on her desk. With it came a jug of pumpkin juice and a pot of tea with all of the extras. Ginny smiled and gave her thanks before digging in. When Ginny and Sprout were half way through their meals professor Sprout spoke up.

"Now I think I can guess the reason for your fourth clue. However you're fifth has me a bit stumped. Can you explain please?"

Ginny chuckled "Don't feel too bad. I had to listen to Harry about that one for a whole week. Yes I did use the cucumbers to express a certain part of the male anatomy. However it is also to show that I am surrounded by sturdy people. You will not normally see any one of my family waver from what they feel is right. Even Percy is included in this as he believes the Ministry over family. I on the other hand have always been seen as delicate. My mother babies me as do my brothers. I have never been allowed to show just how powerful I am because they are always pushing me to the side, thinking that I would get hurt. This was made even worse after my disastrous first year."

Sprout smiled at her "Ms. Weasley your family loves you very much, that much is obvious. What you say makes sense. I do hope that with this you will be able to show off a bit and show your family that you are not as delicate as they believe you to be. Now I have one more question. How is it possible for you and your brother to be heirs?"

Ginny had been waiting for that one "Professor Sprout we found out that Gryffindor is a paternal name while Hufflepuff is a maternal name. As the Weasley family is related to Hufflepuff and has always had boys the title of Hufflepuff has gone unclaimed. Now my mother's family, the Prewetts, was decedent from Gryffindor but never had a male that fit the requirements to fulfill the heir-ship. Since the day my parents wed magic has been eagerly waiting for a girl. Since Ron and I fit all of the requirements we were able to claim our birthright."

Sprout was grinning from ear to ear. "Oh how much fun this will be when your family finds out. I can just imagine your parent's reactions. Your brother's reactions are easy to guess."

Ginny hid her giggles behind her hand "Yes I can see what you are getting at. However we will wait for a little while to tell them. Maybe I should write home and tell mum that something has come up and we need to have a family meeting. Dad can even order Percy home for it."

Both Ginny and professor Sprout were laughing openly now. "Oh please let me see the memory of that meeting when you get back from holiday."

The rest of lunch was spent talking about different ways to drop 'the' bombshell on Ginny's family.

Ron was lucky as the sixth years had Transfiguration just before lunch. After class he just sat there staring at his head of house while his friends all filed out. Harry was the last one to leave as he patted Ron on the back and whispered a 'Good Luck' before he left. Once the last student had left professor McGonagall turned towards Ron.

"Mr. Weasley if you would follow me. I have already ordered lunch for the two of us and it should be waiting in my office."

Ron stood up and after grabbing his book bag followed McGonagall into her office. He was shown to his seat and relaxed a bit as food appeared before him. McGonagall filled her plate and began to talk.

"Mr. Weasley as I was given strict instructions to ask questions about the clues that I was given I will do so now. The two last clues where most confusing for me. I do understand that the clues are related to chess but I am confused about why they would be used as clues to your identity."

Ron remembered his manners barely and swallowed his food before speaking (shocker I know) "Professor McGonagall if you remember right that was the last two moves Harry and I used to defeat your giant chess set guarding the stone in first year. I used Gryffindor courage to sacrifice myself as I was playing the knight. That allowed Harry to checkmate the king, hence the last clue." Ron went back to shoveling food into his mouth.

McGonagall was quiet as she allowed her memory to go back to that night. When she found the right memory she found out that Mr. Weasley was indeed correct.

"Well that clears that up quite nicely. Now the next question I have is how it is possible for you and your sister to be heirs to different houses."

Ron smiled "We were unsure of that fact ourselves until we met up with the founders in the Dream Land place. Dad is a decedent of Hufflepuff and Mum of Gryffindor. Since Ginny and I are a year apart with me being one year older, we fit the requirements to accept our heritage. We haven't told the rest of our family yet and I think Ginny is planning something. This is one time when I will let my sister do the planning. She is so much like the twins that I could never measure up to whatever she has planned in her mind."

McGonagall smirked at that "You are quite correct My Lord. I am just grateful that your twin siblings never found out that Mr. Potter is the son of a Marauder. This old castle would not have been left standing."

Ron laughed at that "Why do you think that we never told them. Hermione, Harry and I agreed that the twins would have destroyed at least our common room. That was something that we could not allow."

"Now My Lord, this morning I mentioned what I could do to assist you. Is there anything that I can do?"

Ron thought for a minute. "Well I think that having a house meeting occasionally would be a good idea. I have found out that the other houses have them and I was wondering why Gryffindor house does not."

McGonagall thought for a minute "That is a good idea, My Lord. I hadn't thought of that before, even though I knew that the other houses did have meetings. It allows the head of house to deal with issues that are not brought to their attention in between meetings. I will definitely be starting those soon. I am only ashamed that I hadn't thought of doing so sooner."

"You are busy professor. You have too much on your plate. However now that we are here and aware of our heritage we can begin to help take some of those duties off your hands so that you have more time for your students."

"That would be greatly appreciated My Lord."

The rest of the meal was spent hashing out ideas for different meetings and other things that McGonagall could do to help the students of Gryffindor house.

Harry had spent the entire day worried. He had met up with the other heirs during dinner and was soon realizing that he was the only one that had not yet met with his head of house. He was sweating as he left dinner that night. He kept rubbing his hands on his cloak to dry them. He quietly made his way downstairs to the Slytherins dungeon common room. He knew the way thanks to his second year and Slytherins memories. When he reached the hidden door he stood stiff for a moment. He cleared his mind and sighed. He felt like he was going into the lion's den. This was funny; since he was technically the lion walking into a snake pit. He gave the special password in Parsletounge and watched as the door opened. He walked in to see every Slytherin standing or sitting in front of the fire, professor Snape was standing in front of them. Harry stood straight knowing that to show weakness is frowned upon in this house.

"Welcome to you all. I know that you are all curious as to how a Gryffindor became the rightful heir to Slytherin. It is simple; my mother was not a straight muggleborn she was instead born from a line of squibs. Now many of you know that there is a self-proclaimed Lord who claims to be the heir of Slytherin. That is not one hundred percent correct. He is a descendent of Slytherin however he comes from the younger son and my mother's line is from the oldest. Now to answer your other question. Why was I placed in Gryffindor house in the first place? That's another simple answer, first I refused to be placed in the same house as my parents murderer. Second and you will all like this one, I didn't like Malfoy. The first time I met him while getting fitted for robes; he unknowingly insulted my parents, specifically my mother. The second time I met him he insulted the two first people who had been nice to me in one sentence. So now that I have answered those two main questions. Are there any other questions I need to answer before the professor and I have our little chat?"

The others were looking at Harry as though he was an interesting new species of bug. Harry smiled he was glad to see that there was a fair amount of glares heading towards the Malfoy heir. After fifteen minutes he figured that there were no other questions. He was wrong!

Blaise Zabini walked forward a bit "My Lord I have a question or two. I was amongst some students in Slytherin house that were trying to figure out the clues that were left. I am curious about what you meant when you said 'A broken prince who hides his scars'?"

"That is actually an interesting clue isn't it? That was mainly directed towards our dear professor here. He has always believed that I lived the life of a pamper prince. However that is anything but the truth." Harry pulled out a small bowl from his pocket, he tapped his wand on it and it grew three sizes bigger. "I have selected a few memories for you to watch as I highly doubt that any of you would believe me if I told you."

He waved his wand and the lights dimmed, then Harry tapped the pensive again with his wand. The images appeared above the bowl and the silver liquid it held.

Harry was weeding the garden in the back yard. He looked to be about three or four years old. Suddenly the back door slammed open and his uncle strode angrily across the yard. He grabbed Harry's hair and dragged him back into the house. Once inside Vernon began to pummel Harry with his fists all the while yelling that Harry was a freak and that he was the reason that Vernon had lost a large deal with a lot of money on the line. After Vernon had beaten Harry for close to half an hour Harry was again grabbed by the hair and thrown into his cupboard and screamed that Harry would not eat for a week.

**********Next memory**********

Harry was now about seven and Vernon had just returned from taking Petunia to the clinic. She had apparently been pregnant and had miscarried. Vernon took a distraught Petunia upstairs and when he returned he sent Dudley off to play at a friend's house. Vernon then grabbed Harry and dragged him upstairs to the second bedroom. He threw Harry against the wall and removed his belt. He began to whip Harry all the while yelling that it was Harry's freakishness that caused Petunia to lose the baby. After Vernon had whipped Harry for ten minutes he threw Harry onto the bed. He stripped Harry from the waist down and then dropped his own pants. Harry was pleading with his uncle to not do this but his pleas went unnoticed and just plain ignored. Just as Vernon had walked up behind Harry and grabbed his hair the memory stopped. Harry wasn't going to show that part, especially with a large group of eleven year olds.

++++++After Memories++++++

Harry stopped the memories and stood there watching the students in front of him. Daphne Greengrass walked over and gave Harry a hug.

"I am so sorry that the magical world left you to be raised by that monster."

Harry patted her on the back awkwardly. He may be the heir of one of the smoothest sweet talkers in history but he still couldn't handle a crying woman.

He looked to some of the others for help but they all just smirked at him or shrugged their shoulders. They were clearly telling him that he was on his own for this.

"Lady Greengrass… uh… Daphne I think that's enough now. You are getting my robes wet."

She laughed slightly and punched him on his shoulder.

"That's what drying charms are for My Lord."

"Yes but they always leave my robes wrinkled and the last time I tried to iron out the wrinkles I was stupid enough to not take off the robe first. Madame Pomphry got quite a laugh as she put burn cream on my shoulder."

That broke the tension in the room as quite a few people laughed. Professor Snape stood up next to Harry.

"I think that's quite enough for one night. Lord Slytherin will be here for the rest of the year for you to ask other questions. Now I need to have a conference with Lord Slytherin and it is getting quite late."

The Slytherin students all said their goodnights and went up to their dorm rooms. Once the last student had left Snape ushered Harry into his office. He ordered tea and some biscuits and sat down, motioning for Harry to do the same. Once both men had their tea made to their preference they sat there staring at each other. Snape gave a large sigh and sat his tea cup down. It was time for him to show that he did indeed have a heart. No matter how small it was or how well guarded.

"Lord Slytherin I have to make an apology for my behavior towards you through the years. I saw only what I wanted to see and I made a grievous error in judgment. I had never been one to admit when I was wrong and to do so with a Potter is an even bigger hardship for me. I hate the taste of crow and feel that I will be eating it for quite some time. If you would please forgive me I promise you that I will do all that, is my power to help you."

Snape looked down at his potion stained hands and waited for the ax to fall. When Harry remained quiet for over five minutes he dared to look up. What he saw almost brought back the snarky git attitude that he was well known for. Harry was holding his hand in front of his mouth as his eyes were dancing with laughter. When he saw the look on Snape's face he lost it. His laughter could be heard ringing throughout the dungeons. After he got a hold of himself he started talking before Snape could.

"I'm sorry professor, but I had an imagine of what Ron would say if he had seen what I just saw. I was not laughing at you or what you said, I promise. I know that you, like the rest of the wizarding world had seen only what they wanted to see. I also encouraged this thought process by going through the Headmaster's little tests year after year. I gave them their little hero and for the most part they liked it. Last year and my second and fourth year was the complete opposite of course. I still gave them their ideal hero as best I could. So naturally I understood quite early on why the sorting hat wanted me in Slytherin house. I was ambitious and cunning but I used those gifts to hide behind an image that the world wanted to see. I hid in plain sight and no one realized it. Until now that is. Now as for your two masters, professor I know that the headmaster is aware of what I am, but Tommy boy isn't. I am sure that as soon as the Slytherin students can get to the owlery he will know. I know that you are a spy for the headmaster and the Order so I can give you and option."

Harry set down his empty tea cup on the desk.

"It is late professor so I don't expect an answer tonight. I will give you as long as you need to decide. Your options are as follows; one you can go and report to Tom that he has competition in the role as heir of Slytherin, most likely get tortured and possibly die. Second option is that you can give up being a spy and a Death Eater, help me get Slytherin house in order so that the students do not follow in their parents footsteps and live a relatedly happy life with your potions. Whichever life you decide is completely up to you. Do not let me, Dumbledore or Tom to decide for you or color your decision. Now as I said it is late and I have given you a lot to think on. So I shall say one more thing. I have already forgiven you for the treatment you have given me and I am sure that if my mother was here you would have her forgiveness as well. Goodnight professor!"

Harry stood up and walked out of Snape's office without another word.

Snape sat behind his desk letting Harry's words wash over him again and again. He opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out a picture. He traced a long finger over the woman's hair in the photo.

"I am so sorry Lily and I hope that what Harry said is true. Now if only I had the courage to do what I want for a change instead of what everyone else tells me to do. His mind brought up the memory.

Severus was getting in a bit of last minute revision before his Defense OWL when he felt a finger tap him on his shoulder. Looking up he noticed Lucius Malfoy standing there with a few of his friends.

"Severus a word if you mind?"

Severus nodded his head and followed them to a corner. There he was thrown against the wall with five wands pointed at him. Malfoy was the only one to speak.

"Look Severus we don't like the fact that you're hanging out with that trumped up mud-blood. It is bringing dishonor to our house. So we are giving you a choice. You either break up your relationship with the mud-blood or we will hurt her and then you. Break it off with her and we will leave her alone."

The five of them then punched him several times before letting him leave for his test.

Severus Snape was no idiot and he was tired of playing the pawn either for a fanatical murderer or a manipulative old man in this war. He stood to go to bed; he would sleep on it. However he would be surprised if his decision changes in the morning. He smiled as he slipped under his silk sheets, tomorrow Severus Snape would be a free man. If only he could figure out how Potter was going to do it.