A/N: Sorry this took so long, I've been derping around on TF2 and SL for the last… month… I swear this story will be completed, even if I have to set some sort of nanny-device on my computer and make some sites and games off-limits for certain time periods. O.O;
Chapter 16
Harry was going covertly into a meeting with the Minister of Magic. With Severus' help, he had been polyjuiced to look like one of his male students, glamoured to look female with the same basic shape, and had Luna over to apply makeup to his face and watch Teddy while he was gone. He found that putting on makeup… was not fun. The constant poking of pencils on your eyes and tweezing eyebrow hair… he wasn't sure what he'd look like when he came out of this.
He found out just how privileged he was when it came to meetings with the Minister. Severus had to pull strings to get 'Evette' to see the man, and even then everyone was less than thrilled to see him. The security was tighter, people were rude, and when he finally got into the same room with the man, Shacklebolt had 3 guards in there with him to ensure 'she' didn't try anything.
Luckily the boy whose hair he had taken was a transfer student from France, so the potion worked to give him a French accent. He used this to his advantage. "Monsieur Shacklebolt… Monsieur Weasley contacted me and told me zat you might 'ave a job opening for me."
Kingsley raised an eyebrow and leaned in. "Which Weasley?"
"Bill." Harry replied. He looked down at his nails which were varying lengths and mostly long while he tried to look bored. "He said zat you needed someone to take 'is place while he recovered." Kingsley leaned back and gave a look that said he was less than amused. "Crap." Harry said, his eyes widening. "I 'ave messed eet up. He said not to say Bill, oh what was eet?" He grabbed a handful of his own hair and groaned, simultaneously using legilimency to lightly probe the Minister's mind. "Oh! He told me to call 'im Achille. I am so sorry Monsieur; sometimes I forget what to call people." Thank Merlin he could do that without being detected anymore.
The Minister smirked and looked interested once more. "Bad with names, are you?"
"Yes, terribly so." Harry said, feigning an apologetic look. "Sometimes I even forget my own."
"What uh, what all did he tell you about the position?" Shacklebolt asked.
Harry couldn't believe it. This was happening. Bill had been working with the Minister for something and was stalking Preece. "Uh, only zat you needed a temporary replacement and-" He swung around and grabbed the wand from a fourth guard who had entered the room and was sneaking up on him. He pointed the man's wand at his own throat and glared. "What is zis?" He demanded.
Kingsley was grinning from ear to ear. "That was a test. You passed." He nodded towards the slightly shaking guard who promptly couldn't believe that he'd just been bested by a girl. "You didn't finish your sentence though, what after the replacement?"
Harry snarled and snapped the wand over his knee before returning his gaze towards the man. "Zat I would 'ave to leave as soon as he got better."
Kingsley nodded and stood. "Well, let's do it this way. If you can best me in a duel, then I will gladly take you on as his replacement. If not, you will be obliviated and I-"
Before he could finish that sentence, Harry had his wand at the man's throat. "You vill not try to touch my memory unless you want to be crucio'd to the point of insanity and 'ave your limbs ripped from your body." He said lowly. His stomach was knotting and he could feel the effects of the potion beginning to wear off.
The Minister smirked as his guards all positioned around Harry with their wands pointed at his head. "My dear Evette, we shall meet again to discuss your position here. Tomorrow at 3." He said before disappearing from the room. It wasn't apparation nor was it a port-key, and Harry had no idea what it was.
The young man simply growled a bit and apparated from the room, leaving his decoy wand with the security and going to France, where he port-keyed to Italy, apparated to New Zealand, and floo'd to Hogwarts. The first place he went into was Severus' room as the last remains of the polyjuice potion and glamour faded. He sighed and sat down on the couch, his hands combing through his hair which was in terrible need of cutting. "I wanted to kill him." He said, trembling a bit as Severus sat down beside him. "I wanted to crucio him and rip his arms from his body."
"What did he do?" Snape asked, unsure if he wanted the answer.
"He followed protocol and ensured I knew there was a chance I would be obliviated if I worked for him." Harry said, leaning back and slouching. "I imagined it when I threatened him… I imagined him bordering on insanity and weeping as I physically pulled his arm from his socket." He looked to his lover pleadingly. "What's wrong with me?"
Snape looked down showing a timid nature that he rarely – if ever – showed to anyone. "You're losing your mind." He said in a near whisper.
"Excuse me?" Harry asked, affronted.
"You're literally going insane." Severus repeated, angrier this time. "I've looked in countless books while you were away, after that day… the one with Alden… I keep hoping it's not the case, but it is!" He stood and started pacing. "They all go back to the same thing; Slytherin's locket. It was charmed with something and when Voldemort took it and turned it into a horcrux, he absorbed that something. The locket has been destroyed since then so the spell can't be reversed and I don't know what to do!" He looked towards Harry in a defeated way. "Even Miss Granger can't figure the blasted thing out. First the Dark Lord went insane, then you took it along with his power, and now it's turning you!" The man snapped his wand towards a decorative vase and destroyed it before walking towards the door. He stopped in the frame with his hand resting against the hard wood, not looking back. "Alden's missing… nobody knows where he went." He said before billowing off.
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
"ALDEN!" Harry yelled frantically. It was dark and he was in the forbidden forest as that was where he used to run to during school. He wasn't sure if Alden would do the same, however he hoped. It was cold and Christmas break would start in a few days. He couldn't understand why Alden would run away at a time like this – unless he was kidnapped. A shiver of fear ran through his spine and he shook that thought away. It wouldn't do to think about any of his children getting kidnapped.
"Alden?" Then there was what Severus had said… He wasn't going insane, he couldn't be. He had control over this, over the bloodlust, over the turning all red-eyed… Hell, he had total control over his sleeping habits, he should have control over all this too. Plus, if he were actually going insane, Severus would have sai-… He would have said something earlier, like when he first noticed it.
"Alden?" Harry sighed and glanced around. Maybe Severus didn't say anything before because he was hoping he was wrong. His eyes darted towards movement in the trees, but it turned out to be some strange type of bird that he wasn't familiar with. I really don't have time for this. He thought, growing more irritated by the second. If Alden wasn't in trouble and was just being rebellious… I barely have time enough for day-to-day life without all of this going on. I have to drop the tutoring, they're just going to have to learn from some better students. I'll tell Minerva about that when I see her next. Then I-
The young man nearly tripped over something, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts. He glanced down, ready to kick a rock or some such thing out from his path. His eyes widened at what he saw. "Alden?" He whispered, reaching down and turning the lump of cloth over. "Oh my god, Alden!" Harry said frantically, dropping to his knees and shaking the boy by the shoulder.
A thought, 'Lumos', lit up the area and Harry nearly jumped back at what he saw. He scooped the unmoving boy up and ran as fast as he could towards the castle, making it in record time. Bursting through the grand front doors and into the main corridor, he look a left turn and went straight down into the dungeons, running head first into what appeared to be a wall, but was in fact a passageway to the Ravenclaw common room and closer to the infirmary.
"Poppy! Floo Severus and Minerva, get a pepperup, a blood replenishing potion, a wiggenweld, and tell Severus to bring some raw aconite!" He yelled as he burst into the hospital wing. The medi-witch shook, startled by his sudden outburst, but quickly moved into gear doing as she was told. Harry lay the boy down in the first bed he came to, ripping the robe down the center and pulling his arms out of it. "Vulnera Sanentur… Tergeo." He said loudly over the boy's body.
The first spell worked ease up the flow of blood, but since these wounds weren't created by dark magic, it would do no more than that. The second spell cleaned the dirt and dried blood from the boy's wounds and caused him to flinch in his unconscious state. "Oh god oh god… POPPY! Bring some skele-gro too!" He called.
The medi witch and Severus both rushed over to Alden's bed at roughly the same time, followed shortly by the Headmistress. Poppy was busy tending to the child; forcing potions down his throat. "Minerva!" Harry barked. "How many werewolves reside on Hogwarts property?"
"Besides Ted? None. And don't use that tone with me, mister."
"Shit… How easy would it be for one to sneak on to the property?" harry demanded.
"Very hard. Virtually nobody can come onto Hogwarts grounds without my knowing about it." She replied, going over to Alden and gasping at what she saw.
Severus had forgotten he was carrying the aconite in his hand for a moment, but quickly regained himself. "What is all of this about werewolves? Why did I bring the wolfsbane? What's happened to Alden?" He demanded, all in one breath. He glanced over to the boy laying on the bed and frowned. "How can you be sure a werewo-"
"Don't patronize me, I've lived with the bloody things for a year now, I damn well know what werewolf scratches looks like." Harry said with a low growl then snapped his head towards the bed and nearly fell as he ran over to it. "Rub the aconite into the wound Sev; Poppy, check and see if he has any bite marks anywhere on him." He ordered, lifting up Alden's head and flicking his writs towards it causing a parchment to appear hovering above the child.
Severus did not like being spoken to that way and he bloody well would not put up with it from anyone, not even Harry. His retort would simply have to wait for now though, as the boy needed attending to badly.
(¯`·. Hp/Ss .·´¯)
"What do you mean, you can't grow them back? It's Skele-Gro!" Harry demanded.
"I mean without the flesh and muscle there for the bone to grow in to, it's impossible for any spell or potion that I know of to grow an entire limb, no matter the size." She responded hotly; her face red.
"Those aren't limbs, they're incredibly small appendages, it's not like-"
"Oh do shut up and listen to the woman." Severus snarled. "He's going to have to learn to live without a few fingers. It's doable."
"Like you've ever had a limb detached!" Harry huffed.
"Oh, now it's a limb, earlier it was just an 'incredibly small appendage'. Stop changing your view on the situation to suit what you want." Severus told him coldly.
"FINE! Whatever, we'll let him decide on whether or not he demands some sort of reattachment or not." Harry compromised. He turned his wrath on to Minerva, who was doing her best to sit there and be quiet to keep attention from herself. "I want to know how a werewolf got onto campus." He demanded.
Minerva bristled at the implied accusation. "It's like Severus said earlier when he checked the wards around the grounds, there is no possible way that a werewolf could have gotten in without my knowing!"
"THEN WHO DID YOU LET IN?" Harry demanded, his own face going red.
Alden swallowed thickly from his bed, keeping his eyes firmly glued shut as they continued arguing. He didn't understand why everyone was so angry. He knew that he was hurt; granted he didn't know how he had gotten into such a state. He thought that he knew it had something to do with a werewolf, but weren't the werewolves and Harry supposed to be on the same side?
"That's IT!" Severus shouted, standing up fully and towering over Harry. "I didn't want to do this, but that blasted centaur was right. You need to CALM THE HELL DOWN! We'll find someone to cover for you!" He thrust a small gemstone into Harry's hand and whispered something, activating the port-key and watching as Harry disappeared from the room. Sinking back into his chair, he sighed and rubbed at his temple. "I hope to Merlin this works."
"What was that?" Minerva asked, giving a sideways nod towards the bedridden boy who was peering at them; out of Snape's range of vision.
"A port-key." Severus explained. "Firenze gave it to me saying it was from Badbane and to use it if Harry started acting… out of sorts – not in the normal way." He lowered his head and rubbed at both temples. "I fear for our relationship if this keeps up." He said softly.