A/N: Thank you all for the great comments, suggestions and theories! Keep them coming - they sometimes inspire me to write something totally different than what I had planned ;)

mizzrazz72: Hopefully soon :) Severus was already thinking about just packing and going on holiday to get away from all the chaos ;)

tefe203: You probably will... If I remember correctly there will be some things in Harry's statement that will need to be clarified by Severus ;)

Yana5: Right on the first try! :)

Kanisha Argawal: Haha SORRY it was even longer this time ;) balm to the soul... I'm blushing :) Thank you!

Zoysite: Du und deine ewig langen Nachrichten ;) Ich hoffe du bist mir nicht boese, wenn ich dir nicht alles beantworte. Vielleicht schaff ich es ja endlich mal und schreibe dir eine PM, die dann wahrscheinlich auch in die Kategorie AUFSATZ passt :D Keine Angst - Marvolo ist sicher :) Er hat seinen echten namen niemals in Bezug gesetzt mit Voldemort. Dumbledore is der einzige der das weiss und er kann es nicht beweisen ;) Ich hab mir das nie so genau ueberlegt aber ich rate mal dass Severus es einfach nicht wusste. Es war Oktober, also war er in der Schule und konnte nicht seine ganze Aufmerksamkeit Marvolo geben. Tea Time ist meine Lieblingszeit des Tages :D

Mephistopeles: Thanks! At least I passed Monday's and was allowed into the laboratory yesterday ;)

ludelcc: Stop! I'm blushing... Yeah I know what you mean... Work, studying and even writing my own fic takes a backseat when I find a good story ;) I recommend lastcrazyhorn if you are looking for one of that category :P My mother tongue is German (Zoysite and I write in it here), I speak English and French. I also learned Latin for two years which helps me understand the gist of most roman languages and I had three years of Czech but I would have to revise a bit for that one. Otherwise I know enough Italian to get my food and find the way and also a few bits of Swedish since I have family there. I plan on getting better in Italian ASAP and maybe learn Spanish. I'm pretty good with languages :D For some of the comments you saw google helped a bit ;)

randomplotbunny: I believe she will get the Firewhiskey once she sees the amount he has written ;) She will need it for sure

ThePhoenixandtheDragon: I actually thought about the way teenage boys were drafted into the german army near the end of the war. They went to school like usual and never made it back home because they were taken to the army bases right away. It was an awful time in Europe. My great grandparents made a huge journey just to be able to say goodbye to their only son, not even knowing if he would still be at the base when they arrived (letters took ages).

Dixie.f.9: You bet. Think how it will be at the trial...

Thristan: It is but thankfully my parents also enjoy their tea and always made sure we had an assortment of good quality loose leaf teas :D I was calm ;) You know my name is fake and I am really a Puff so I hate it when I can't make a due date. Also I hate it when I am waiting for a chapter and none is coming...

aisa.32: Proszę bardzo! (If it's wrong it was Google Translate's fault :P)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with the storyline ;)

Chapter 46: Reunion & Magical Outburst

Words: 3613

He was exhausted. Why again had he decided to stay in one of the most remote places in the Swiss Alps? Not only had it taken ages to get back to London but it had also become a lot more difficult since most of the countries he had to travel through had different timetables for Sundays.

He mentally cursed the ministry of magic – again – for making it so damn difficult for werewolves to find work. International portkeys were also extra expensive thus he had had to rely on muggle means of travel. At least the Swiss trains were always on time.

Thankfully after a day and night of traveling he had finally arrived at King's Cross. He had walked the short distance to the Leaky Cauldron and after getting a classic English breakfast from Tom he rented a room to get a few hours of rest. Since the international night train from France had arrived very early none of the shops in the alley would open until a few hours later.

At some point during the long train journeys he had remembered that he had no idea how to get in contact with Sirius or Harry. He could send them an owl but they could be behind anti-mail wards and it would take ages to get an answer.

After another hour of debating with himself he decided to go to the goblins once they opened. The Black and Potter vaults were some of the oldest and biggest in existence and although they probably wouldn't tell him where Sirius and Harry were they would contact them for him.

After a few restless hours of sleep and a very long, hot shower he put on his last clean clothes before gathering his meagre possessions and making his way to Diagon Alley. Since the holidays had started last week there were quite a few teenagers enjoying the sunny day. He also saw a few families with kids probably about to enter Hogwarts who were obviously trying to get a heads start on their school shopping.

He was drawn out of his musing when he noticed two familiar mops of black hair in Florian Fortescue's front garden. He took a second, closer look and was surprised to see his honorary godson sitting with his best friend, his best friend's arch nemesis and another man, each person enjoying some kind of treat.

"Sirius! Harry!", he exclaimed overjoyed. He couldn't believe his luck. A small part of his mind wondered what Severus and the other man were doing here as well as how Harry was here. Shouldn't he be with his muggle relatives?

"Mooney?", Sirius asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question", he said with a meaningful glance in Severus' direction. He and Sirius had never ever gotten along so it was quite the surprise to find them sitting peacefully at the same table.

Harry grinned at his uncle and waved since he still wasn't allowed to talk.

"It's a long story. Why don't you sit down and I'll explain over a nice cup of chocolate ice cream?"

"Ice cream for lunch?"

"Harry's treat. His voice is sore from talking too much yesterday."

"Ahhh….", the werewolf said slowly. That hadn't made any sense at all to him. He glanced at Severus and the other man and was shocked to find a small smile gracing the Potions Master's lips. Severus waved his hand in an inviting gesture and motioned Remus to sit down.

"Take a seat, Lupin. This might take some time to explain."

But before Remus even had the chance to pull up a chair he saw the tell-tale red colour of a stunner making its way in Sirius' direction. Without even thinking about it his wand was out and he had put up a shield for his best friend.

" What the hell?!", he exclaimed.

"He's a filthy Death Eater! Stun him! Aurors!", a woman screamed. She had her wand out and her expression could rival Sirius cousin Bellatrix'.

"I was declared innocent of all charges, woman!", Sirius roared, drawing his own wand. "It was all over the papers! Leave me and my family alone or you'll feel the wrath of Lord Black!"

"Maybe we should talk about things at home", Marvolo spoke up for the first time while watching the crazy women being escorted from the premises. Hopefully this would dissolve the situation. He really didn't want to start a fight in the middle of Diagon Alley, especially not when his son was here.

"Yes, I believe we should", Sirius agreed while also still watching the crazy witch.

All of the adults were on high alert during the short walk to the public floos. Once there Severus and Harry stepped into the flames first, followed closely by Sirius and Remus while Marvolo watched their back before following them as well.

Minerva was exhausted. She had sorted parchments late into the night and after a restless night she had been at it again since eight o'clock. Until now she had merely made a small dent in the mountains of parchment in Albus' office. She had not even had the time to read through even one letter since all her time had been spent with separating school related things from everything else.

This was her main goal for two reasons: firstly school stuff shouldn't be relevant to the auror's inquiries and secondly if Albus really was in as much trouble as the papers had said then she would have to take over as headmistress and organize it all anyway.

Around nine a patronus arrived in the office and the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke to her: "Good morning, Professor McGonagall. We are at the gates. Please let us in."

Thankfully as Deputy Headmistress she could open the gates from anywhere as long as she herself was on Hogwarts grounds without having to go all the way to the gates herself. She did however make her way down to the entrance hall to welcome them into the castle.

Minerva had expected that a few aurors would come but not even in her wildest dreams had she thought there would be fifteen aurors led up to the castle by Amelia Bones herself. There had to be more going on than just what the papers had written.

"Good morning. I had not expected so many of you", she voiced her thoughts.

"Good morning, Minerva. Thank you for coming back from your holiday early", Amelia spoke for her team. "We had already planned to get in contact with you since the castle sealed itself the moment Albus had left it."

Minerva just nodded and motioned them to follow her into the castle. Once the group was in motion again the two ladies walked together in front of the others and caught each other up to speed.

"I saw the papers and thought it prudent to come back as fast as possible. What has been going on?"

" It's very complicated. There are numerous investigations involved and the only common grounds are Dumbledore and Harry Potter."

" I always knew it had been a bad idea to leave the boy with those relatives of his", the stern professor muttered.

"You knew where Harry was all these years? Why didn't you check up on him?"

"Yes. I was there when Albus dropped him off. I had watched those vile muggles all day and thought it would not be a good place for any child. I told Albus but he didn't believe me and convinced me that it was in Harry's best interest", Minerva explained. "I had planned to at least check up on Harry regularly but Albus swore me to secrecy. I was not to tell anyone about his whereabouts and not check up on him at all. I couldn't even bring him his Hogwarts letter although it was my responsibility."

Before Amelia could retort in any way they reached the gargoyle and rode the revolving staircase up to the headmaster's office.

"There is a recording charm on the floo you might want to check", Minerva was all business once again. "I started sorting through all of the parchments and divided them into school and non-school related matters. As you can see our esteemed headmaster hated parchment work."

Most of the younger aurors looked at their former professor in awe while the others started hashing out tasks and groups.

"Alright, listen up!", Kingsley commanded: "I want two juniors with Tonks and Professor McGonagall reading through the already sorted school pile while three juniors and Thomas will sort and divide the remaining parchments. Miller and I will get the floo sorted while the rest of you will split into two teams of three and search the office and his private quarters. Remember to look for hidden items."

After a bit of shuffling around all of the aurors got started on their assigned tasks.

Amelia took a seat next to Minerva on the sofa where they started reading letters. They all worked quietly for some time before the two women started up a conversation again.

"What did Albus do, Ami? The papers didn't say much but it must be otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Amelia sighed and put down the letter she had been reading. Minnie was a bit older than her but they had grown quite close during the last war. Minerva had taken her under her tutelage back then and she would be forever grateful for all she had learned from the witch. She knew that she and the headmaster were even closer.

"A lot of not so good things, Minnie. He sealed the Potter's will which stated that Harry should under no circumstances go to Petunia Dursley. He took funds from the Potter vaults and gave it to the Dursleys after taking a part for himself. He knew Black was innocent and did everything in his power to get him into Azkaban."

At hearing this Minerva gasped. She had never believed that Sirius would rat out the Potters. He and James had been closer than brothers. But every time she had gone to Albus with her concerns he had waved them away and told her he couldn't do anything.

" He did all that?"

" And some. I can't tell you everything since our investigations are still ongoing but so far I was appalled at what he has done in the name of the greater good."

"Where is Potter now? We have to get him away from those muggles, especially if he was not meant to be there anyway!", Minerva said urgently.

" He is safe. It is his decision to tell you what has happened but I can tell you that he is with Sirius and a few others in a beautiful manor. Harry also took up his Lordships since the Triwiz declared him an adult in the eyes of magic."

"Thank Merlin for that. At least one good thing came out of that godforsaken tournament. I always thought it was an exceptionally stupid idea to resurrect it."

"Yes. I believe it was one of his worse ideas. It was also the first piece of the puzzle we are trying to solve here."

With a hum of agreement Minerva picked up another letter and they both fell silent again. After another hour of quiet work Minerva decided it was time for a morning break and called the hose elves for refreshments while Amelia got her team together.

She was surprised that they still weren't done with searching Dumbledore's private quarters and decided to inquire.

Amelia sent the juniors on their break while she gathered her seniors near the fireplace for a debrief.

"Alright. Tell me", she simply ordered.

"There is a quite ingenious spell on the fireplace. It records who called and the callers can even leave a message for Dumbledore", Kingsley explained: "At the same time it blocks anyone from entering this office. There were quite a few calls after he had been arrested and some more after the Wizengamot session. Yesterday had an influx of calls after the morning paper came out."

"Can we transcribe them in any way?"

"Yes. We tried it and a simple recording quill works great. It is still taking some time since we can only play one message after the other. Miller is already reading and sorting them once each transcript is finished."

"Great. Thomas?"

"We are still sorting. He really hated parchment work. A huge amount of letters only arrived yesterday after the news broke but since the headmaster isn't here the elves have disabled all the howlers."

"Keep going. So far we haven't found anything interesting since we are only reading the school mail at the moment", Amelia gave her own update.

"His quarters are taking a long time. There are a lot more rooms than we thought and the readings are picking up so much that we had to resort to manually searching each room", Dawlish grumbled. After having the night shift last week he had been rather grumpy about getting up early in the morning and having the morning shift again.

"Same here", Mitch piped up: "Nearly everything in the office is charmed one way or another."

"Alright. Keep going the same way after your break", Amelia told them before she got her own cup of tea and settled down next to Minerva.

"You wouldn't believe what I just read!", the professor exclaimed with an affronted look on her face.

"What is it?"

"Since apparently Albus had not yet found a new DADA teacher, Fudge wants to send us his undersecretary Umbridge. Do you know her?"

"Fudge can't just decide that, can he?", Amelia asked surprised. She had never heard of something like that.

"No he can't. It is against the Hogwarts charter. But still. The gall of him. Just because he is minister doesn't mean he can do anything he wants."

"Good. You don't want her here. She is one of the vilest people I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. She hates anything that isn't a pureblood and looks down on everyone who doesn't measure up to her standards although she herself was nearly not powerful enough to finish Hogwarts."

"How do you know that? I can't remember her."

"She was in the same year as my brother but in Slytherin. For all their house unity ever they made it clear that she was an outcast. She was married once. No idea how she managed to get a man but for a short while at least she was and after he divorced her she kept his name. I can't remember her maiden name, though."

"Ah! That would explain it. I usually remember all my students", Minerva said.

Slowly their short break came to an end and everyone returned to their work. It would be a long day.

"Welcome to Snake Pit Manor!", Sirius announced with an inviting gesture to the room around them once the stepped out of the fireplace. Remus looked around and found the room to be tastefully furnished but his strong sense of smell could pick up easily that it was all new and not very lived in yet.

He silently followed Sirius through the halls while still assessing the hose. They all had obviously moved in a short while ago.

They arrived in a cozy living room where Harry and Severus were already occupying one of the couches. He was surprised to see how close his honorary godson was to Severus and how comfortable the teen looked.

Severus must have asked the elves for refreshments since a tray with tea and sandwiches appeared on the coffee table just as he and Sirius sat down on the opposing couch.

The last one to arrive was the mysterious man Remus still didn't know the name of.

"So what is going on here?", Remus asked to break the tension in the room.

"First let me introduce myself", the man said: "I am Lord Marvolo Cadmus Slytherin and my husband is Severus Prince – Slytherin."

Marvolo had a smug smirk on his face while he observed the gob smacked look on the werewolf's face.

"Slytherin?... Prince?... Husband?!", Lupin stuttered and Severus took pity on him.

"Relax, Lupin. My maternal grandfather was the last Prince and left me everything without my knowledge. Marvolo and I married in 1979. Lily was a witness at the ceremony."

"How does Harry fit into all this?", Remus asked confused and looked at the teen who had laid down on the couch with his head in the Potions Master's lap. It seemed as if he had decided to take a nap.

"I found out last year that he is my biological son and-…"

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down, Mooney. It's alright", Sirius tried to calm his best friend down. "I was shocked as well at first but think about it."

Remus listened to his best friend and concentrated on getting his breathing back to normal. He had always been the voice of reason within the Marauders and he would be so again right now. He closed his eyes and thought back all those years. It didn't take him long to find what Padfoot meant.

"His smell", he muttered and took a deep breath. "Harry's smell. I only met him a few times when he was a baby but something was bothering me back then."

"Good, wolf", Severus said, for once without malice in his voice. "Now come here and smell him and me again."

Remus slowly opened his eyes and walked over to the others. He bent over and took another deep breath – this time of Harry's scent – before he sniffed at Severus' hand.

"It's you. What I smelled back then. But his smell is still not right. It's also different from when he was a baby. I could always smell Lily and James and the off part that was obviously you but there is something else now."

"Ah! I believe I can help with that", Marvolo said and offered his wrist to the wolf.

Remus looked surprised but still sniffed his wrist. Moments later he had a look of surprise on his face.

"You?"

"I adopted Harry officially last week. He agreed to be my heir which was one of the stipulations for my Lordship."

"What stipulations?"

"The Slytherin Lordship asks that the one trying to claim it has to have an heir and that both speak Parseltongue."

"Ahhhh…", was all Mooney got out.

"Why don't I show you around the gardens and tell you what has happened?", Sirius offered. He knew that, similar to himself, all this new information would be quite shocking to his friend. He also knew that just being surrounded by nature calmed Mooney considerably.

Just as they got up from their seats there was a loud crash in the room next door.

Harry had become quite bored by the adult's talk only moments after they had arrived in the manor since he couldn't contribute in any way. He had tried to take a nap but he was not tired at all. The goblins had told him to test his higher levels of magic carefully but since he couldn't talk right now that had to wait as well.

Although, reading a book sounded like a nice idea. When he had explored the library a few days ago he had seen quite a big section of muggle novels and one collection had caught his eye. At that time he hadn't been able to start reading it but he thought now might be the perfect time to begin.

With a small sigh he snuggled further into his Dad. He really didn't feel like getting up right now.

In an unconscious move he positioned his hand in the direction of the library, which was just on the other side of the fireplace. There was even a door connecting the two rooms, which was usually open at all times.

Without noticing he started thinking about the book, but not just its title and the author but also about the book itself. How it looked, how big it was and what the cover looked like and…

Suddenly a loud crash in the library drew his attention just as a few books came flying though the open door only to crash into him.

"Oops", was all Harry could say while blushing.

"What happened here, Snitch?", Severus had a hard time concealing his amusement.

"Erm… I don't know?", the teen tried which was followed by barks of laughter from the canines.

"Could it be that you wanted one of the books in the library?"

"Maybe? I was just thinking about starting this book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle." Even while he spoke one of the books in his proximity started floating in front of him, making it possible for everyone to read its title – 'The adventures of Sherlock Holmes'.

"I believe we will need to work on you magic quite a bit", Severus stated dryly while waving his wand to send the wrong books back into the library. "But now hush. You shouldn't be talking at all."

Harry gave a silent salute before opening aforementioned book.

After recovering from this little surprise Sirius and Remus left for the garden while Marvolo went to righten the library and Severus enjoyed the quiet time with his son.

TBC

We finally made it! Sorry again for the delay but you all know how real life can be...

After it took me until Tuesday to write the chapter it took miu until today to beta it since she had to finish an important paper...

On a happier note I passed the test on Monday :) And you only have to wait 10 days for the next chapter... hopefully...

First posted on: 31. May 2018

Next update planned: 10. June 2018