Most of the room was silent after the reveal that Harry and Severus were married, that everything was completely legal even though Harry was physically sixteen years old. Because of a stipulation in the tournament two years ago, Harry was considered an adult, therefore, the marriage was entirely legal. Also, Severus and Harry hadn't broken any school rules, so they couldn't be fired and expelled.
"Now that everything is settled…" Narcissa paused. "I think it best we all leave so Harry can recover from being poisoned. Severus, darling, help him back to bed. He's weak, standing on will power, no doubt." The woman chuckled some.
Severus got his arm around Harry and carefully eased him back down to the bed. "Rest now, Harry." Severus helped Harry get laid down, then covered. "Your body needs to recuperate from the poison it took in despite the bezoar's countering properties." He informed before taking Harry's wand and setting it on the bedside table. "All is taken care of for now. I'm safe, thanks to you."
"I…" Harry yawned. "Vowed you would be when we did this," The poor teen could barely keep his eyes open. The adrenaline was wearing off.
"You did and you're a man of your word. I'll never doubt you again, dear husband of mine." Severus gave the teenager a light smile and kissed his forehead.
"B-Better not…" Harry gave a weak smile back.
"You two are just so cute." Narcissa giggled.
"Narcissa," Lucius sighed. "Don't tease them."
"Let me enjoy this!" Narcissa glared. "I don't get to swoon over any of Draco's girlfriends."
"Mother, I do not have a girlfriend!" Draco defended. Narcissa went to say something. "Or a boyfriend!" He added quickly.
"Exactly my point! Planning Harry and Severus's wedding was the highlight of last year." Narcissa remarked. Draco and Lucius both just sighed this time, shaking their heads. Severus shook his head and Harry was trying not to laugh. "Come on, it was such a momentous occasion. We all agreed it was quite the spectacle during the ceremony."
"I will side with Severus on this one. Harry does need to rest and it's getting late. The students need to be in bed," Poppy stepped up to help get Harry back into the bed. "I still want you here overnight, Mr. Potter," She stated.
"Potter-Snape, Madam Pomfrey." Harry corrected.
"Pup…You really married Snivellus to get away from me?" Sirius asked softly.
"You'll always be my godfather, Sirius and I'll always love you like an uncle. Same as I love Remus. You guys are my dad's best friends…But you hurt me in a way I didn't think you could, Sirius. You did what so many others do, you see my father…Not me. Severus is the only one who has ever seen me as Harry, and never anyone else." He paused, eyeing his godfather gently.
Then he continued. "He doesn't put me in my mother's or father's shadows even though he knows I look like my dad with my mother's eyes. He knows I have traits of both, but he knows I am my own person. Severus has never treated me differently and given me a shred of normalcy I've craved for years since I started at this school."
"Severus has never treated me like a hero just because I'm the boy who lived. The boy prophesied to destroy the dark lord. And after that snake-faced coward is gone by whatever power I apparently have to get rid of him, I'll be the boy who defeated Voldemort." Harry informed.
"Severus sees me as any other normal student in his classes, fame aside, and outside of class; he treats me like a person. With respect. An equal, a partner, a friend. As his husband. Yes…I married Severus to get emancipated from needing a guardian." Harry stated.
"But Harry…This is an unbreakable bond. It's not your normal marriage." Remus reminded.
"I'm more than aware what was chosen for the ceremony; it's what we wanted. So no one could try and contest it and with so many people aiming to try and control me for whatever reason; the only person with that power is Severus now. And he's a respectable man to not abuse that power but giving me control over my own life." Harry said.
"It was originally supposed to end when I turned seventeen, just sever the bond and divorce. Long enough to get me to adulthood…But things changed as the time passed we've been married."
"What things have changed?" Hermione asked.
"We like one another." Severus answered. "It started as a business deal. Harry asked me to marry him for the emancipation of being underage and needing a legal guardian." He explained.
"This was so Harry didn't get stuck back at his abusive relatives home because Albus told Harry that's where he'd end up if Harry left Sirius's custody over what occurred. And Harry knew Sirius needed to mentally heal from losing James, Lily, and his time in Azkaban."
Severus paused, then continued, "That's why the agreement was set for when Harry turned seventeen, to end things. He'd be an adult and didn't need guardian custody beyond then. It wasn't easy, the marriage. We fought and butt heads as we always have, until I realized my behavior towards him was affecting the bond. Making us both miserable and weak; him sick over Christmas holiday. So we talked it out and agreed to be better, treating the marriage as a marriage over a deal we had made."
"In all this time, we've come to be friends and mutual feelings of like emerged. So we agreed to forgo the arrangement to end things when I turned seventeen and just stay together. Give the relationship a real chance to flourish and grow into possibly more." Harry mentioned.
"Can I ask something?" Dean spoke up. "Draco's mother said there was a spectacle at the ceremony of their marriage and bonding. I suppose I'm wondering what that was?"
"Their bonding circle glowed." Lucius replied.
"What…Exactly does that mean?" Pansy questioned.
"It means their bonding was blessed by magic itself, and a higher power." Albus enlightened. "It means their soulmates."
"So-Soulmates?!" Sirius screeched. "No, absolutely not. This is obviously some kind of dark magic prank! There is no way you and him belong together!"
"Believe it, Sirius," Narcissa told him as she tapped her wand to her head and pulled a strand before waving it around to create a screen where the wedding itself played out. "It's all right there, not altered in any way. You'd see the same from Draco, and Lucius." She added when it was over.
"It hasn't yet been decided if they are soulmates in the sense of being lovers or just friends. What is established is that they belong in one another's lives." Lucius informed.
"No, I refuse to believe it." Sirius shook his head. "You're just a child, I don't care what legalities there are behind your…Adulthood. Severus doesn't care about you, Harry. He doesn't care about anyone, it's why your mother never forgave him. He loved her and never got over it."
"Sirius!" Remus scolded. "Stop, enough now."
"It's true, Remus!" Sirius said. "And you know it. You know how much Snape loved Lily and went to the dark side when he lost her, then came crawling back when his precious lord threatened to kill her."
"Regardless…Severus is on our side to stop Voldemort, Sirius. He's been loyal to the Order since before Harry was born, and risks his life every time the dark lord calls to spy for us so we can protect Harry. He's got his neck on the line FOR Harry!" Remus argued.
"More so now that the dark lord knows he abandoned a meeting to come here when Draco called that Harry was poisoned and the fact Severus never told him Harry got resorted to Slytherin…" Narcissa mentioned.
"Severus, you abandoned a meeting to get back here for Harry?" Albus asked.
"Harry is my husband. It wasn't exactly a hard choice, Albus." Severus rolled his eyes. "Now enough arguing. Harry needs to rest, so everyone out." He ordered. "I've got Poppy to back me on this so don't fight me. I have the power as Harry's husband to refuse visitors and Poppy can kick people out."
"Harry, your father never would have approved of this!" Sirius said quickly.
"My father is dead, Sirius, you can't keep using him as a reason to dictate my life." Harry told him.
"Harry, but how can you forgive Severus for giving you so much grief over the last five years? In fact, because you are James's son!" Sirius pushed. "He doesn't care about you, pup. He's only holding onto you to keep your mother alive. He's only latched onto you because you're her son, holding onto something that died a long time ago and was never real!"
Harry was quiet a moment. "Harry, you know that's not true." Severus told him.
"Of course I know it's not true, Severus. Our bond would tell me if you were lying…" Harry replied before looking at Sirius. "Get out."
"P-Pup?" Sirius stilled.
"You heard me. Leave. Go home, go back to St. Mungo's and get yourself checked in again, go to Godric's Hollow…Go anywhere, but get away from me right now before I lash out at you for what you just said." Harry said. "I'm weakened, I'm not responsible if my normal restraint on my anger isn't up to par…But if I lose control here, someone is going to get hurt and it's going to be targeted at you. Go away. I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to see you right now."
"Sirius, let's just go. It's been a night and you need time to calm down. So does Harry, you know what happened last time he got angry with his magic physically manifesting into a weapon. I can't even see it forming, but I feel it." Remus insisted.
"Yeah, actually…We all feel that." Blaise commented as he and the other students took a few steps back, Draco included.
"Severus…Do something." Narcissa told him. "You're his husband, calm him down before he loses it. You're going to be the only one who can get close to him." She said.
"Harry? Harry, relax. It's alright, your godfather wasn't using his brain. Seems quite rare that he does lately…" Severus remarked. "Come on." He put his hand on Harry's hand, which made Harry link their fingers and Severus sat on the edge of the bed to wrap his other arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Use me. Channel the magic in our bond, use my control for yourself. Breathe…" Severus soothed before he pulled Harry to lean against him and put a kiss on his forehead. "It's okay. Don't let him get to you, you've kept control even against the dark lord."
Harry's energy eventually lessened down to nothing again and he closed his eyes to take a breath, then opened his eyes before looking back at Sirius. "You know, Sirius…I really thought you were getting better. You promised me over the holidays of fifth year that when all the danger was over…We'd be a proper family. You just showed me that no matter what happens, you'll never get over losing my dad."
"We can never be a family because you're the one keeping us from having one. You're the one breaking us up with all the unnecessary anger and hatred towards Severus. The fact you can't accept that my dad is gone. He's dead, Sirius…Let the man rest in peace." Harry told him.
"He was my best friend Harry, and the Potter's took me in when I had nothing. Your father was the only family I had." Sirius admitted.
"And I'm not saying you can't be upset that he's gone. But…Here's something to think about. While you're sitting around moping you lost your best friend, the man you called a brother…How do you think I feel?" Harry asked. "How do you think it feels for me to be surrounded by people who knew my parents for years, have all these great memories of them."
"Everyone tells me all these comparisons because they see the people they lost through me. So how do you think it feels for me to only exist in their shadows? To only be seen as one of them, the reminder of who was lost." He pushed as Sirius's eyes widened a little.
"How dare you accuse Severus of only liking me because of my mother when you've been so lost in losing my father years ago now, that in the present you're calling me James. All last year, I wasn't Harry to you. I was James." Harry paused. "Everyone in this room, with the exception of the current students, knew my parents."
The teen continued. "Knew them as students. Knew them as adults. Knew them as friends. Knew them as unofficial family. You all have these fantastic memories of my parents…And I have nothing. You get to remember them. You got time with them. I got nothing except everyone else's stories about them. Pictures here and there. What do I have of them aside from living in the legacy of the fact they died for me?"
"Do you know how much that sucks for me? To be remembered as the boy who lived over their sacrifice before Voldemort decided to try and kill a baby to stop him from growing up to defeat him? Because he's a power-obsessed idiot? My fame isn't even mine. I didn't do a damn thing that night. I was not even a year and a half old. I lived because they died." Harry reminded.
"Pure blood maniacs as your family might have been, Sirius…You had a family!" He yelled. "You had parents, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. You had family and you have the nerve to feel sorry about the friend you lost, the only person you saw as family?!" Harry glared, but there were tears in his eyes that hadn't fallen.
"I don't even know my parents because they died when I was a baby, to save me. I was told they died in a car crash, that they were drunk. Both sets of my grandparents are dead. My only blood family left are my mother's sister and her son and they hate me. I was bullied by my cousin and his friends. I was treated like a slave. I was beaten all the time for whatever and I didn't do anything wrong." Harry went on.
"I was starved, only eating once every couple of days. I was molested by my aunt's husband when I was seven. And I was raped by him at eleven. Summer after first year, all summer…Until Ron and his brothers broke me out of the house with that car. Raped again the following summer, all summer…" Severus held Harry tighter. He knew Harry hadn't wanted to tell anyone, but obviously Harry felt Sirius needed a reality check on what he suffered.
"That is what my family did to me. That…Is the place where Professor Dumbledore left me after you gave me up to go after Pettigrew. That is the place that I begged him every year to let me get out of and he refused saying it was for my own protection. That is why I begged him to use his power as whatever his titles are to set you free, and when I was finally with you…I felt better." Harry admitted.
"I started to put it behind me. Everything that happened the last few years. Until the tournament happened and more bullshit after that. This is the life I've had to live and through it all, I've survived like my parents wanted me too. Died for me to do." Harry revealed. "You tell me the only family you had was my dad? That your family was bad just because they were obsessed with the pureblood ideals?"
"Give me a break and check yourself in the mirror, Sirius. You didn't have to deal with what I went through with the people who were supposed to be my family. You tell me that you had nothing? You don't know what it means to have nothing, to suffer…To be hated simply for existing."
"Harry…" Sirius tried to step closer.
"I know Severus was a git for five years, but that doesn't mean Severus was seeing me as my father, Sirius. Yes, I share traits of my parents. I look like my dad, and I have an unholy knack for getting into trouble or danger. I can be extremely lazy too. But that doesn't mean I am my father and Severus knows the difference." Harry remarked.
"I forgave Severus because I'm also just like my mother. I have her eyes for a physical aspect, but I have her kind and understanding nature too. She saw the good in people and so can I." Harry told him. "My parents died for me to live. So I could have a long, happy life and despite all the bad that's happened over the years…"
"I'm happy, Sirius. I'm happy with the friends I have in my life. I'm happy about how good I do in school. I'm happy with Severus. And that is something I know my parents would want for me, no matter who it's with. I'd think that as my godfather, you'd want the same." He paused.
"You just can't get over the fact I married someone you don't like for reasons I will never understand. Severus never did anything to you, Sirius. You are the one who wronged him, with my father, and Pettigrew." Harry remarked. "Severus grew up and let go of the past. I think it's time you do the same." He paused. "So you go wherever it is you have you to be the godfather I saw in third year, when you were ready to actually risk going to Azkaban for murdering Pettigrew to protect me."
"You go wherever you must to get better and be the man my father and mother saw when they named you my godfather. You do you, Sirius. I'll be right here when you get back, but I won't leave Severus, not for anything or anyone because for the first time in years…I'm finally starting to heal from what I've been through, and the depression is being coped with. I feel better with him around, and maybe it's to do with the soulmate thing or maybe he's just the only one who sees me as myself, while also being very smart and wise."
"So if you want to be in my life, then you deal with Severus and you do it civilly. But for the time being…I want you to go. And I don't want you to come back until you're you again. The you I met in third year, when you would have done anything to keep me safe. When you said we'd be family." Harry told him.
"Severus isn't the one hurting me, Sirius…You are. I still love you no matter what, and I always will. But I will not forgive you until you earn it." Harry said. "Now…It's late, I'm tired and I just want to go to bed. So I'll ask nicely, one time, that you please just go and leave me alone. Please…"
Remus tried to pull Sirius away, but the man seemed to be so in shock by Harry's confession that he couldn't move and just wanted to hold his godson. Yes, he knew he messed up, but Sirius couldn't believe what he'd heard. "Leave, Black. Harry asked nicely, but I'm demanding it. You've upset him enough." Severus said after he felt Harry start to shake; he was obviously holding back a breakdown.
"Sirius, now." Remus practically dragged the man out. Tonks and Kingsley were next.
"Slytherins…" Severus said.
"You don't need to tell us, Uncle Sev." Draco replied calmly. "Let's go, snakes." He rallied them to leave together, heading out of the infirmary to get back to the dungeons.
"We'll take our leave as well." Lucius stated, guiding his wife to the fireplace.
"The rest of you may leave as well." Severus told those remaining.
"I will guide the Gryffindors back to their tower." Minerva led the Gryffindor students out. Albus and Horace were last to leave the room.
Poppy left a couple potions on the nightstand before going to her office as there was no one else in the infirmary.
"It's alright, Harry…Everyone is gone." Severus comforted. "We're alone now. Go ahead and let it out."
And Harry did. Harry turned himself into Severus's arms and let the tears fall in streams, crying out against the man. Severus held him tightly, trying to rub his shoulder or arm. Harry cried for a while and Severus just whispered gentle words that it would be alright and he'd feel better with it out of his system.
Harry had been holding in what he went through for a long time and Severus was really the only one who knew everything. Harry never told anyone, not even his friends, so it took serious courage to admit everything in front of everyone that he'd been abused, starved, molested and raped.
Severus learned tonight that Harry had been eleven the first time, though he had his suspicions since Harry brought it up that night they talked at Malfoy Manor. Eventually, Severus got Harry to take a calming draught, then a sleeping one. As Harry fell asleep, it was in Severus's arms and the potions master knew that Harry wanted him to stay with him, so once Harry was out; Severus transfigured the chair into something more comfortable to sit next to Harry, and fall asleep there, holding his hand.