Chapter 13
"Severus, look at this." Harry said, shifting so Teddy was facing him. "Open your mouth again." He told the toddler.
Teddy complied and opened his mouth again while Severus peered in with Harry's lumos lighting it up. At first he didn't see what Harry was talking about, but when he did, he blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. He closed the boy's mouth. "He has four fangs..."
"So I'm not going crazy." Harry said, almost in a way that sought approval.
"Two on the top... two on the bottom. Like a canine."
"They're still little though, just coming in." Harry mused, pulling back Teddy's lip gently, much to the toddler's displeasure.
"No daddy!" Teddy wailed.
"Daddy's sorry, he was just looking at your teeth." Harry replied.
"Owie." Teddy said, his face all scrunched.
"Well, at least you get to experience some of the teething agony I had to deal with while you were gone." Severus thought aloud.
"Ah yes, the joys of parenting in a bi-parent household. You get to say 'tonight it's your turn'." Harry said with a small chuckle. He had pushed the feelings he was having over the episode with Badbane to the back of his mind so he could focus on Teddy.
It was then that Severus had an idea. "Teddy, you know how you can make your hand have more fingers?"
Teddy tilted his head, confused. "Wha?"
"Like this." Severus said, holding up his left hand with all five fingers splayed out, then holding his right hand as if he were pointing and sliding that up behind his left hand.
Teddy held up his hand and sprouted another finger. "Finga?"
"Yes. Can you do that with your teeth?" He asked, pointing to his own teeth.
"Finga not go mouf." Teddy told him.
"He is still a toddler Sev, he's not going to understand everything we're trying to say." Harry reminded him.
"I realize that." Severus said. "I'm just so used to him being more advanced..."
The fire roared to life and Minerva's head poked into the flames. "Severus, Minister Shacklebolt is here to see you." She said with a grin. It wasn't often the Minister of Magic came by to see someone at Hogwarts.
Snape raised an eyebrow... that was unlike the Minister to make house-calls. "Send him over to Malfoy's manor." He said.
As Minerva nodded and went to do as instructed, Harry looked at his husband aghast. "You can't just say to the Minister of Magic 'come here if you want to see me', it's rude!"
"Weren't you the one who said that sometimes it's better to treat famous people like ordinary people?" Severus asked by way of reply.
Kingsley stepped through the floo and into Malfoy's Manor. He dusted off his robe and looked around. "Might I ask why you are here?"
"We're trying to look for the man who hurt Bill." Harry told him.
"Ahh, Mr. Weasley, I'd heard from Arthur Weasley that he was hurt. Is he feeling better?" Kingsley asked, taking a seat in a chair.
"A bit yes, but not entirely. Whoever hurt him really hurt him bad." Harry admitted.
"Yes, I see." Kingsley stated, not overly concerned. "Bill is a strong person, he'll make it out of this just fine. I've come to speak with you Severus."
"Alright, what about?" Snape asked.
"Alone, if we could?" Kingsley asked with a nod towards Harry and Hermione.
Hermione took her cue to leave the roomm picking up Teddy along the way, and Harry was just about to do the same when Severus pulled him back down. "Anything you have to say to me, you can say it in front of my husband." He stated. There was something off about Kingsley, had been ever since they'd passed that bill for marriage within other species. He couldn't quite place it.
"Severus, it's alright." Harry protested.
"No no, he's quite right." Kingsley said, brushing the incident aside. "It has come to my attention that you have halted work on making the wolfsbane potion only be needed once in a werewolf's life."
"Yes, I simply haven't the time to work on it, what with being a full time professor, full time parent, and part time Potions Master." Severus replied.
"Well, as a Potions Master, consider it my order. I would like one vial of wolfsbane that only needs to be taken once per werewolf's life to be completed by two years time." Kingsley said with a smile.
Instead of stating the obvious that Potions Masters only took orders they knew they could fulfill, Severus chose another route. "Why are you so interested in this potion?"
"To help our fellow witches and wizards with this most troubling disease of course." Kingsley told him.
"It's isn't a disease." Harry interrupted. "I mean, sure most of wizarding society views it as that, but it's not. It's just like Hagrid and Flitwick, it's who they are that they can't change. It's not something that can be 'cured' like an illness, it's a state of being."
Kingsley shook his head in a way that suggested that Harry was simply naïve. "Call it what you will, it is a gene that is passed on through the transmission of bodily fluids. People who have never had it can attain it, people who weren't born with it, thus it is a disease."
Just as Harry was about to argue something back, Teddy tugged at Severus' robe sleeve having apparently came back into the room. "Papa... huwts." He said, then pointed to his mouth.
"I know child." Severus replied, pulling out his wand. "Open up." He said, and when the boy did so, he cast a small cooling charm on Teddy's teeth and gums to numb the pain. At such a position, Kingsley couldn't see the boy's mouth.
Teddy settled back in between Severus and Harry and looked to the visitor. He didn't remember this man, having only seen him for five minutes of his tiny life, so he just stared at him. "Hi." He said.
"Young Lupin is growing well I see." Kingsley said. "Hi there."
"Hi." Teddy repeated. The boy wasn't too good in social situations just yet.
"As I was saying, I wish to help our fellow witches and wizards." Kingsley stated, returning to the subject at hand.
"If you want to help them, perhaps you could set aside some land for the werewolves under the wolfsbane potion to roam during their transformations. That way, they wouldn't be a danger to society, and they would have somewhere to run off all of that energy." Harry suggested.
"Yes... a plot of land just for them... that's rather brilliant Mr. Potter." Shacklebolt said with a gleam in his eye.
Something wasn't right about this. Severus wasn't sure what, but there was just something off. "I am still unable to do much pertaining to the wolfsbane potion without the time." He reminded them.
"Yes well, you seem to have made time to hunt down this Preece fellow." Kingsley said with a shrug.
Severus' eyes narrowed. They hadn't used the man's name at all, how did Shacklebolt know about Preece? "I think it's time you leave." He said sternly.
"Excuse me?" Kingsley asked, clearly affronted.
"We were just getting ready to follow another lead on Mr. Preece, however you stepped in right before we were going to leave." Severus lied. Harry was about to say something, but Snape squeezed his hand a bit to stop him. "If we don't find him soon, he may flee again, and we may never get another chance. I apologize for the inconvenience."
"Ahh I see." Kingsley said with a nod. "Do please try to find time to work on the Wolfsbane potion, I shan't stop sending volunteers for you to work out the tweaks with you know." He called cheerfully before exiting via the floo.
"Wolf?" Teddy asked. "Like faber?"
"Yes, just like father." Harry answered.
"Mama wolf?" The boy inquired.
"No, mama was a metamorphmagus."
"Mowphy." Teddy said with a nod. "Papa an' daddy is mowphy?"
"No, only mama." Severus replied.
"I can be mowphy." Teddy said, holding out his hand and adding a few fingers. He really liked that trick.
Harry smiled. "Yes you can, just like mama."
"Man is mowphy too?" Teddy asked.
"I don't really know what that man is." Severus admitted.
"Senity not a mowphy, or Aldy." Teddy said sadly. "Why?"
How does one explain to a 3 year old why some people are metamorphmagi and some aren't? That's like trying to explain why some people have brown hair, and others have blond... Harry decided on the simplest method he knew. "Because you and mama are special."
"Oh dear Merlin." Severus said to himself. That was one of the parenting methods that Harry employed that he disdained, telling a child they were special for reasons they were not. Metamorphmagi might not have been entirely too common, but they weren't special. That would be like saying Flitwick or Hagrid were special because of their size. It simply was a part of who they were, not something that made them anything more or less than other people. Allowing a child to grow up thinking they're special simply because their body is a bit different would only lead to disaster down the road.
Do not misunderstand this, Severus did in fact think Teddy to be special, just not because of that. He thought his son was special because Teddy could grasp concepts that children who were a bit older than he still had trouble understanding.
"It huwts." Teddy said, his little face scrunching up again while his hand found its way to his mouth.
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
"What do you want Mr. Duvall?" Harry asked just as the student in question was about to knock on his office door. It was really quite annoying that he had to put off going to New Zealand to track down Preece because of the school week, but thank goodness it was Friday. He just hoped that Shacklebolt didn't catch his husband in his lie about leaving last week. Every time Harry had asked Severus why he lied to their friend, Severus simply replied that he wasn't sure.
The boy opened the door with a scowl on his face. "Your pet snakes are at it again."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked at the boy's tone.
"A few of the 6th and 7th year Slytherins have banded together and cornered Leah Stofer and Alden Parker. As usual Professor Snape is nowhere to be found, and since you're Parker's adoptive father the other prefects and I decided to come to you instead of the headmistress." The Gryffindor seventh year prefect stated.
"Take me to them. Professor Snape is and will be working on a potion for the next few weeks when not out of the castle or overseeing detention." Harry informed the boy.
"The same one he's been working on all week?" Adrian asked, leading the way.
"Yes."
"Hmph. Seems to me he cares more about that potion than his own house."
"It's nothing like that, the potion has been ordered by the Minister." Harry told him.
As they came to the scene of the commotion, the quidditch pitch, they heard Alden yelling. "-and if you TOUCH her I'll do the same to all of you!"
Harry furrowed his brows and quickened his pace, heading up to the group and Slytherins fighting amongst themselves. "What's going on here?" He demanded.
"Those prats started it when they threatened Stofer." Carlota Myas spoke up, pointing to the irritated looking Slytherins.
Calvin Flint was holding one of the other Slytherins, Ellie Hefson, back. Hefson was trying desperately to get loose with her eyes set on Alden. Harry shot a low-powered Petrificus to her and she fell to the ground. "You started it when you cut him!" She shouted.
Harry's gaze immediately traveled to Alden. "Is what she's saying true? You cut someone?"
"He was pointing his wand at her about to hurt her!" Alden protested, stepping defensively in front of Leah who was cowering.
"He who? Who's been cut?" Harry demanded.
Ritchie Pye, a 7th year Slytherin, stepped forward holding his arm and scowling. Harry cast a small charm on the wounds to keep them from bleeding. "I should have known." Harry grumbled to himself. "Pye, Parker, Hefson, and Myas, you've all got detention with Filch tonight and tomorrow evening from 6 pm to 8 pm. Myas, take Pye to the infirmary. Parker," He gave a look to his son that was undefinable to the boy. "-we're going to speak about this when you come back from detention tonight. And 20 points from Slytherin."
Harry watched as the group dissipate and pulled Stofer to the side. "Leah, why did that boy threaten you?"
"Because I said all of the Death Eaters got what they deserved, every last one of them." She said with conviction, then her face fell. "But Pye said that his dad was a Death Eater by force, that he'd never wanted to be one and he still died in the battle... then he pointed his wand at me and told me to take it back 'or else'. That's when Alden jumped in. It's not his fault, he didn't hear the first part, it was kind of my fault." She told the man.
"Why are you admitting to fault?" Harry asked curiously. Really, it was getting strange around here with all the adult things the children were doing, and the childish things the adults were doing.
"Because I don't want you to be mad at me." She said, her cheeks tinging red a bit. "And you'd be angrier if I lied than if I admitted what I said was thoughtless."
Harry's eyes widened at the look the girl was giving him. He quickly sent her on her way, deducting five points from Gryffindor for some reason which he quickly forgot, and hurried into Severus' personal potions lab in the dungeons, locking the door behind him. "Sev, help!"
Snape glance over his shoulder and rose an eyebrow. "What?"
"A student has a crush on me, what do I do? Do I report this to Minerva, do I pretend I don't know, do I-" He stopped talking when he heard Severus laughing.
Severus was clutching the edge of the table, his body shaking from the laughter he was desperately trying to keep quiet.
"Is it so hard to believe?" Harry demanded.
"No, it's-" The man laughed again and turned around, brushing aside the potion. "It's-" He couldn't help himself, the look on Harry's face mixed with his question was too much. He laughed even more. "You ignore it." He said finally, holding his hand to his forehead, shaking his head, and chuckling. "You ignore it and remind yourself that there's only X amount of years that they will be here... Unless of course they grow up and come teach here alongside you. Then you set clear boundaries."
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
"I'm so hungry..." A voice said.
Harry jumped back a bit, startling both himself and Severus. He hadn't heard anyone come in, and that wasn't anyone's voice he knew... "Who said that!" He demanded, whipping out his wand. It wasn't that he needed his wand, he just used it as a prop to ensure that whoever it was knew he meant business.
Severus grew from startled to concerned.
"You can hear me?" The voice asked.
"Obviously, now stop playing games and come out." Harry said. He didn't hear a damn thing besides a seemingly disembodied voice and maybe the scurry of tiny feet from mice beneath the castle floors.
"Will you feed me?" The voice asked, seeming to weigh its options.
"Do you mean any harm?" Harry asked in return.
Severus watched his husband, worried for the man's sanity. All he saw was Harry waving his wand about and squeaking. Perhaps Harry needed a break.
"No. I just want food." The voice replied.
"Then I might feed you if you show yourself." Harry said.
A tiny little head popped out from behind the bookcase. The only reason Harry saw it was he was staring in the direction the voice was coming from. "Food?" The voice asked while the mouse stared at him intently.
"Show yourself!" Harry demanded. He didn't like being in situations where he couldn't hear a person's movements or breath or... or... well, where he wasn't in control.
The mouse came out a few more mousy steps. "I am." The voice said in an irritated manner.
"Severus, someone's messing with my mind." Harry said.
That, Snape clearly heard. "Really... I had assumed they were messing with mine."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, giving a glance over his shoulder.
"Because you're squeaking and waving your wand around like a maniac." Severus replied.
"Sq... wait..." Harry's hand went to his necklace and he stared at the mouse. "Are you the one who's hungry?" He asked.
"Yes!" The mouse said, glad the gigantic whatever it was that he shared this home with understood.
"And he's back to squeaking." Severus mused, watching as Harry bent down to pick up a... "Why are you holding a rat?"
"Hmm? Oh, he's hungry." Harry said.
"Could you please not squeak when you answer me..." Severus said with a mild irritation.
Harry furrowed his brows. It looked like he would have to get used to speaking in mouse like he had parseltongue. "Sorry." He said. Ah, English this time, judging by the look on Severus' face. "I said he was hungry."
"And since when can you talk to anything other than snakes?" Severus asked, following Harry out of their quarters and into the hall.
"Since Badbane gave me this necklace. It lets whoever's wearing it understand any animals... he gave it to me with the task of visiting Norberta." Harry explained.
Severus immediately thought to Serenity. "I could finally speak to my snake."
"Yes you could." Harry said, secretly glad that the man wasn't angry with him for not telling him about it earlier. Really, it had simply slipped his mind.
"The possibilities... One could ask a phoenix to cry for them, a merperson for some of their hair or scales, even a unicorn if it would freely give a small portion of its blood." His eyes glittered with the possibilities and how his potions could benefit. Then he thought of something. "Is it tied to only you?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"I mean, can only you wear it, or can others?"
"I dunno. I presume others can. Wanna test it out?" Harry asked, holding up the mouse as they reached the kitchens.
Severus gave a look of distaste. "Perhaps with Serenity when we return to our rooms." He suggested.
The mouse was fed and Harry and Severus returned to their chambers, Harry immediately letting the mouse go back wherever it came from then taking off the necklace and handing it to Severus while he went to go and find Serenity.
Harry came back moments later with the snake on his arms. "Okay, you might have a hard time noticing when I switch from english to-" -parseltongue, but you should be able to hear it. Harry told the man.
Who ssshall hear what? Serenity asked.
Severus' eyes widened. I've no trouble telling them apart. He frowned. Telling them apart. "Why can't I say 'distinguishing them'?"
Harry grinned. "They don't have a word for 'distinguishing'."
"I see." Severus said. He eyed Serenity, who was staring at him, moving her head back and forth as if trying to get a good look at him. What?
You ssspoke! Serenity exclaimed. You ssspoke the right way. She slithered off of Harry and up to the other man, in essence climbing him. I want anssswersss. She hissed in his ear.
About what? Severus asked, half wondering why she didn't simply ask Harry and have the man ask him earlier.
Harry watched the two converse, and while he was happy that Severus had finally gotten something he'd wanted for such a long time, he was insanely irritated at the fact that Severus seemed to have no trouble distinguishing the different languages when in use and that it took Harry well over a month to learn how to do such a thing. One might even say he was a bit jealous.
Of course, as things had a habit of happening in ways that weren't wanted, Alden walked in and was immediately curious. Harry was supposed to be the only one who could talk to snakes, Severus had said many times that he wished he had the ability but thought that a silly notion. Now here was the man carrying on a conversation in parseltongue, or at least it seemed to be, and acting as if he'd done it every day. "Are you two polyjuiced to look like one another?" He asked.
Severus raised an eyebrow and Harry snickered. "No." Harry answered. "It's that necklace, a gift from Badbane which lets us communicate with animals." His amused tone quickly went away though. "You are just in time for that talk."
Severus' ears perked at this. "Talk? What's happened?" He was then filled in on what had transpired earlier with the Slytherins.
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
Ah the weekend, finally time to go and look for this Preece bastard. Harry was going to New Zealand alone though, as Severus was staying at the castle to watch Teddy and oversee both his and Harry's detentions.
Harry used the floo to one of the Leaky Cauldron's sister pubs, one located in the wizarding community of Wellington. He dusted himself off after stepping from the green fire and glanced around, realizing that he had no frikkin clue where anything was, much less Preece.
It was then that a woman came up to him. "You're Mr. Potter, yes?"
"Uh, yes." He answered.
She smiled. "Good." Her blond short hair seemed to be fixed into place. "I'm supposed to show you to the muggle hotel you'll be staying at." She told him.
"Uh... how did you even know I was coming? And what hotel?" Harry asked.
"Badbane." She informed him. Of course it was him who sent her... "Mind you he wants you to know that you should interrogate before making any hasty actions."
Harry rose an eyebrow. Interrogate his ass, Preece very nearly killed Bill. He'd pummel him, then interrogate him. "Sure." He said.
The woman gave a sly smile. "You really are new at this aren't you?" She asked.
"New at what?" Harry asked, slightly confused.
She lifted her necklace some. "Using these. We've been talking in araneaetongue this whole time."
Harry blinked. Damn, he hadn't even noticed! Really, he should be better at this considering his parseltongue abilities... wait... "What's 'araneaetongue'?" He asked.
"The language of the spiders. Nobody can hear us because it's so soft, not even a werewolf, only other spiders." She replied with a mischievous grin.
"Araneaetongue, huh... Sounds a bit like 'orangutang' to me."
She snorted and laughed. "That's just what I said to Master the first time I heard him use the phrase."
"Master?"
"Badbane."
"I should have known." Harry said shaking his head. "So, why do you call him that?"
"Two reasons. First, respect. He's taught me so much over the years that I see him as a Master of many things. Second, because he controls my life. When someone else is in control of another's life, they become that person's Master, logically anyway." She said, looking as if that last bit didn't phase her in the least.
"Why does he-"
"I was in Azkaban scheduled to receive the kiss and he saved me from it on the condition that I become his test subject." She answered. "It's not a bad life really, he gets to test out things, like these necklaces we're using to communicate, and I don't have to die or get my soul sucked out. Of course, there are many more dangerous things I have to test as well, but that's fine."
Harry furrowed his brow. She was a criminal? "What did you do to be sent to Azkaban?" He asked curiously.
She gave that mischievous grin again. "I buried the Italian Minister of Magic up to his neck in dirt then used him for target practice for the unforgivables."
Harry stopped walking behind the woman. She was a loon. "Why would you do that?" He demanded.
"Because he was corrupt and trying to change things in ways they shouldn't be changed." She justified. "Don't worry though, I'm not allowed to do any magic anymore. You're safe."
He hesitantly picked back up the pace and began walking behind her again. "What were you doing in Italy?"
"I'm Italian." She answered as if it should have been obvious. He stared at her as if she were crazy. "These translators don't distinguish between human languages, only animal ones, therefore if we both speak the same animal language, such as araneaetongue, we can understand one another. I do speak English though." Harry was becoming more and more impressed with these necklaces as the days passed. "By the way, something I'm sure you haven't figured out yet, if you twist the little charm inside of the circle like you would a time turner, you'll be able to hear all of the animal languages around you instead of just the ones speaking directly to you."
Harry frowned and lifted his necklace, twisting the blue charm a bit. Suddenly his ears were assaulted with many things being said at once. "-away from my nest!" "-come back my prey." "Food? No... Food? No!" "-which way is home?" "-youngling!" He quickly twisted the charm back to its original position and sighed. He wouldn't be doing that again any time soon...
"Alright... We're here. Your room is all set up, the only thing you need to do is check in and find whoever you're looking for within 3 days because that's all the room's booked for." She informed him, then handed him a bit of paper with a phone number on it. "We're in the muggle area so you'll have to use the phone to contact me."
"Wait, uh, do you think I could get you to do a point me spell with me to find this guy?"
The woman cocked her head to the side. "Weren't you listening earlier? I'm not allowed to do magic anymore, at all, ever, for any reason whatsoever."
"Oh, right... I guess I didn't think about that..."
"I'll say. Look, if you desperately need someone to work with you, I know a guy down by Magi's Run who'd do it as long as you did something in return."
Harry sighed. "How much money would he ask for?"
"Oh he doesn't trade money, he wants actions in return. I don't know what he'd ask from you, but seeing as it's you I think it'd be something that would be well worth his time and effort, but not nearly worth yours." She said, handing him a small pamphlet. "I'll take you to Magi's Run tomorrow, tonight you need to focus on getting settled in and learning the laws here. They are different you know, even in the wizarding portion, you can't just go around all willy-nilly and expect to be fine."
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
A/N: Taking a (hopefully) short break from this fic to work on an Xmas fic for a friend.