A/N: A bit of a transition chapter, but I hope you like it! There will be more Lily and James soon, promise. If you enjoy this chapter, please, leave a review. Thank you so much and see you again!
Chapter 9
A couple days later found Harry finally leaving Severus' rooms. Not only was it Monday and he was not allowed to miss class without an immediate threat of death present—of which Grey had not yet proven to be—but he'd also managed to exhaust his father's seemingly unending patience in regards to his presence. Thus, he'd been kindly, lovingly exiled from his father's company.
"I thought you wanted me around?" Harry teased as he gathered his required books for the day and pulled on his robes.
"I always want you around. I want nothing more than to be reminded that you are a constant joy in my life," Severus replied, buttoning up his own robes as he met Harry's raised eyebrow. "However, sometimes I am content to have such a reminder from a distance."
Harry grinned at him. "You can just say I'm annoying you and you want some time alone."
Severus came over to him and put his hands on Harry's shoulders, gazing into his eyes. Harry's lips twitched as he held back his amusement, waiting for his father's follow-up.
"Harry, you are annoying me and I want some time alone."
Harry burst into laughter at the man's dramatically serious tone and pushed through Severus' loose grip to give the man a hug. "Love you too, Dad."
Severus chuckled lightly below him and returned the hug before stepping back to finish buttoning his robe. "Go, menace. Have a good day. Do not antagonize Grey."
"What if he antagonizes me?" Harry asked, pulling his bag onto his shoulder.
"You know exactly what to do and I'd better not hear a word of you doing otherwise." Severus pinned him with a stern look. "Understood?"
Harry held back a slightly irritable sigh and nodded. "Yes, sir."
Severus gave a short nod of his own and spun Harry around, guiding him to the door. "Off to class now. I will see you at dinner."
"Try not to make anyone cry," Harry said cheekily as he slowly opened the door.
Severus arched an eyebrow. "If you stay out of trouble."
"Ah, bugger," Harry lamented dramatically. "Well, hope you've got tissues handy for the poor sods."
Severus rolled his eyes and swatted at Harry who ducked, laughing. "Class, brat!"
"Bye, Dad!"
Still laughing, Harry left his father's rooms and jogged through the castle, heading for History of Magic, having had breakfast already with Severus. Walking into the classroom, he found Ron, Hermione, Draco, Seamus, Dean, and Neville already there and quickly joined them.
"Harry!" Neville exclaimed once he noticed Harry's entrance.
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as Harry walked over to them, taking his seat around which they were all gathered. "We haven't seen you since Saturday."
"Yeah, sorry," Harry answered. "Something happened on Halloween."
Concern immediately filled his friends' faces.
"Is everything alright?" Dean wondered.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Harry admitted and, glancing at the door to check for new arrivals, he proceeded to explain what he, his father, and godfathers had seen Halloween night in the glade. By the end of the story, his friends were gaping at him.
"Are you saying Lily and James Potter are alive?" Draco said, dumbfounded.
"We don't actually know for sure, but it seems like it," Harry told them with a shrug, trying to remain calm and casual about the whole thing despite feeling anything but calm and casual.
"How is that even possible?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"Kingsley thinks—"
Harry didn't get to explain Kingsley's theory as the classroom door opened and students poured into the room. With a promise to finish explaining later, they all scattered to their seats and settled in for yet another lecture on troll wars…or goblin rebellions…honestly, Harry wasn't sure. Regardless, it was long and dull and droning, the usual for Binns, and Harry sketched mindlessly as he fought to keep his attention on the lecture rather than anything from the last seventy-two hours.
When the period finally ended, Harry couldn't escape with his friends fast enough, all of them heading for Defence. As they neared the classroom, Harry gestured for his friends to step to the side before they entered.
"I'll explain more later, but there is one thing you need to know," Harry whispered. "Grey is not Grey. He's Elias Moreshire and he's involved in all of this with my parents."
All of their eyes widened and darted to Grey as the man appeared through the crowding students, opening the classroom door. Harry kept his face blank as Grey glared at all of them, eventually meeting Harry's eyes at which point they narrowed.
"Inside," Grey ordered and everyone herded into the classroom.
Harry sat stiffly next to Draco, watching Grey closely. He couldn't help but be wary, uncertain what Grey's ultimate goal was. The situation was far too much like the previous year with fake Moody. Glancing at his friends, he saw the same wariness.
"A couple of things before we begin today's lesson," Grey said, waving his wand. A small stack of parchment settled on his desk and a piece of chalk began scribbling across the board. "First, beginning next Monday, we will be starting our duelling competition."
There were a few quiet mutters in response, but everyone's attention was on the board. Harry—and everyone else—frowned as the list of names grew and his gaze flew to Grey as the final two names were scrawled.
Lord Voldemort and Severus Snape.
"Second is your next assignment," Grey continued. "We have spent the last two months understanding what qualifies something or someone as Dark. In magic, sometimes it is how it is used and in other cases, the mere concept is what is Dark. People are far more complex. How do you determine if someone simply made a mistake, if someone acted with good intentions but went about it all wrong, or if someone is irredeemably Dark? Is it the things they say or do, the magic they use, the company they keep, the ideas they have?"
Harry swallowed thickly, grinding his teeth and sharing a glance with Draco as Grey's eyes slid over them very purposefully.
"This is your task," Grey told them and waved his wand again. The parchment began to distribute itself to the class and, as it did, the names on the board peeled off, floating on the air to affix themselves to the parchment randomly. "Each of you have been assigned a witch or wizard that has been qualified as Dark. You are to research them, discover what they did to earn the title, and determine if it is an appropriate designation for the things they did or were involved in."
Harry let his eyes fall to the parchment that had settled in front of him and ground his teeth even harder.
Lord Voldemort
"Um, Professor?" Lavender said, sounding hesitant. "There's still a name on the board."
Harry looked at the board again, finding Severus' name was still written there. He fought not to glare at Grey, knowing exactly what Grey was attempting to imply by including Severus' name amongst those of historically Dark wizardkind.
"So there is," Grey said lightly, falsely innocent. "My mistake. I must have miscounted."
Harry couldn't help the narrowing of his eyes when Grey looked directly at him before erasing the name. There were more murmurs among the students and Harry spotted the small smirk Grey was unable to conceal for a split second. Harry became convinced dealing with Grey was going to be far worse than fake Moody; at least they'd known what that imposter wanted.
What did Grey want?
It was an uncomfortable period between the rage, fear, and confusion, and the racing of Harry's mind as he attempted to unravel Grey's agenda. The fact that Lily and James could somehow be involved made theorizing all the more difficult.
Just like with History of Magic, Harry hurried out of the room with his friends at the end of the period. They all huddled up to the side, hissing their conversation as students passed by.
"This is just sick!" Ron said, shaking his parchment with his assigned Dark witch or wizard. "He can't be serious about this."
"He is," Harry replied. "He's trying to find out what happened on Halloween, how I survived."
"Why would he care?" Neville asked.
"Because he was involved," Harry said and they all looked at him in confusion.
"How?" Dean asked.
They all immediately fell silent as Grey exited the classroom. He stared hard at Harry who stared back, their eyes locked for several seconds before Grey finally continued on his way.
"Come on," Harry muttered, watching Grey walk away. "Let's talk outside."
They made their way onto the grounds, Luna joining them, and they arranged themselves around the huge oak by the lake, wrapping cloaks and scarves around them to protect against the weather that was quickly becoming wintery. Draco, Luna, and Neville sat against the tree while Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and Seamus stood, aimlessly tossing Dean's Muggle baseball between them.
"Come on then, mate," Ron said, catching the ball as Dean tossed it to him. "Tell us what's going on."
"Most of it is still just theories," Harry warned.
"But Lily and James are alive?" Neville said.
"And Grey's involved?" Seamus added, tossing the ball to Hermione.
"Except he's not Grey?" Draco followed up.
"How is any of that possible?" Ron asked, catching the ball.
Harry sighed, catching Hermione's toss and throwing it to Seamus. "Kingsley thinks they took prisoners from Azkaban, killed them, and charmed the bodies to look like them. Grey helped them stage Godric's Hollow and the Unspeakable helped forge documents."
"He thinks your parents willingly murdered two people?" Neville said, clearly skeptical.
Harry nodded reluctantly.
"But how is Grey actually Moreshire?" Hermione asked, confused.
"He masked his signature with a new one," Harry said, shrugging slightly. He hadn't fully understood the whole signature conversation.
"Absolutely mad is what that is," Seamus said, shaking his head and throwing the ball to Hermione.
"But if he was involved, why does he want to know what happened on Halloween?" Neville asked.
"They expected you to die," Luna interjected.
Harry's heart stung at the vocalization of the horrible theory and threw the ball to Ron with a little more force than he intended. He gave Ron a look of apology.
"But why would they think that?" Dean asked, frowning. "Sure, if they thought You-Know-Who would attack, but how did they know he would? They were in hiding."
"What if they somehow arranged the attack?" Draco suggested and Harry frowned at the implication.
"How would they have done that?" Seamus asked, tossing the ball to Harry who stared blankly at it for a moment as he followed the theory, heart breaking.
"Pettigrew," he said, throwing the ball to Dean with a heavy sigh.
"How do you figure?" Ron wondered. "Sirius said he convinced them to switch Secret Keepers, that none of them knew Pettigrew was a Death Eater."
"Or that's what they wanted Sirius to think, to think it was his idea," Hermione guessed.
"A year-long plan?" Neville said and Harry looked at his friends, pained, and seeing their sympathy. "But why? Why would they do any of it?"
There was a moment of contemplative silence.
"Could they have known more of the prophecy than everyone thought?" Draco asked quietly as though hesitant to voice the possibility.
"Dumbledore's the one that told them about the prophecy and he only told him the first part, just what they needed to know I was in danger," Harry said. "Only those a prophecy is about can hear it."
"Actually, Dad's found out that's not exactly true," Draco argued. "If someone is touching the subject of a prophecy when they touch the prophecy, they can all hear the prophecy."
"The Unspeakable could have let them into the department," Ron added, continuing with Draco's theory. "They could have brought you."
Harry's face crumpled into a distressed frown. Had his own parents set him up to die because of the prophecy? Had they willingly sacrificed him to get rid of Voldemort?
"Look."
Harry turned at Seamus' voice, finding all of his friends facing the direction of the Forbidden Forest. His frown deepened as they watched Grey cross the grounds and disappear into the forest.
"Strange time to be visiting the forest," Ron mused aloud and Harry looked back at all of his friends, tense.
Harry crossed his arms over his chest, huddling into his cloak against the wind as he sat back to recline against the stand seats behind him. He gazed up at the dimming sky, spotting the couple of stars appearing early in the evening. He smiled to himself as a memory drifted through his mind, finally one not full of pain like those the past few days, hell, the past few weeks had been dragging up.
It had been his eleventh birthday and he'd told Severus about his yearly tradition of staying awake until midnight to wish himself 'happy birthday' and make his usual wish of finding his family somehow. Severus had decided to continue Harry's tradition and participate. Having Severus in Privet Drive meant that, for the first time, Harry was not trapped in his cupboard on his birthday and Severus brought them outside instead. In the backyard, Severus had them lay in the grass and gaze up at the stars. As they counted down the minutes to midnight, Severus pointed out constellations and stars, delving into their stories and meanings as he identified Leo the lion and Sirius the dog star. Then, midnight had come.
"You will never spend another birthday here," Severus had said.
Harry had looked at him, not understanding, and Severus had shown him the petition for adoption. Harry had sat up quickly, snatching the paper to scan almost aggressively.
Severus had sat up next to him and murmured, "I will give you everything."
Harry had launched himself at Severus, knocking the man back to the ground, laughing as he hugged Harry close. They'd spent the night outside, holding onto each other even after Harry had already fallen asleep. Severus had kept his word and Harry hadn't spent a single birthday or any other celebration in Privet Drive since, and Severus had given him everything he could ever want: love and a home.
Severus had become his everything yet the man had no idea. It was so easy for Severus to believe Harry would choose someone over him because he didn't know he was so much more than just Harry's adoptive father. He wished he could make Severus see that, believe he wasn't so easily abandoned. He wished he could make Severus believe that he meant more to Harry than anyone else ever could, that no one could replace Severus…not even Lily and James.
How could he make Severus understand that he didn't want things to change? Not anymore.
"Hey."
Harry turned to watch Draco settle on the seat next to him, pulling up his collar to protect against the evening, beginning-of-winter wind. Draco leaned back to mirror Harry, putting his hands in his trouser pockets and gazing up at the sky, dotted with even more stars now. They sat together in comfortable silence for some time.
"Dad's afraid I'll be taken away from him," Harry said eventually. "If it is Lily and James."
"Normally, I'd say it's impossible, especially since you did a blood adoption," Draco replied, "but no one's ever had parents come back from the dead either."
Harry sighed sadly, filled with confusion and conflict.
"Do you want it to be them?" Draco asked.
"No," Harry admitted. "I stopped wanting the life I could have had with them a long time ago. I have what I want. I have Kingsley and Remus and Sirius. I have Dad."
"Have you told Severus that?"
Harry nodded. "I can tell he doesn't believe me though. He thinks I'll choose them."
"You can't blame him for thinking that. They are your parents."
"Parents that might have left me to die. Parents that might have abandoned me," Harry said sharply, always hurt and angry at the mere idea his own parents had left him behind. "Would you choose your mum over your dad if she came back?"
"It's not really the same thing," Draco protested weakly, sighing when Harry looked at him. "No, probably not. He stayed, she didn't."
"Exactly. Severus is the one that's been here," Harry said. "Nothing should have kept them from coming back for me, not if I'm meant to believe they loved me. Nothing would keep Lucius from you and nothing would keep Dad from me. How could I ever choose them over that?"
"He's afraid to lose you," Draco replied. "With Voldemort and the prophecy and the horcrux already an issue, this is just another way he could lose you without him being able to do anything to prevent it."
"Yeah, about that." Harry blew out a deep breath and sat up so he was no longer reclining, leaning on his knees instead. "Turns out, the horcrux is killing me."
"What?"
"It's trying to grow stronger so it's absorbing my magic," Harry told him. "Dumbledore wouldn't say it explicitly, but I know he knows the horcrux will eventually drain all my magic and I'll die."
"Harry…"
"I can find the other horcruxes. I just have to do it before mine kills me."
"You're not going to die," Draco said firmly. "No one is going to let that happen."
"Everyone has been looking for a way to destroy it for over two years now," Harry pointed out. "There is no way."
"Hey." Draco bumped his shoulder and Harry turned to look at him, seeing the stern sadness if his friend's eyes. "You don't get to give up. You don't get to leave us, leave Severus. If you won't let Lily and James take you from him, you don't get to let Voldemort take you either."
"I can't fight against something that's a part of me," Harry argued.
"You don't have a choice," Draco said, shaking his head. "You don't get to do that to us, to Severus. You are everything to him. We lose you, we lose him."
Harry gazed at him, heart aching.
"You said you've found what you want," Draco continued. "Don't let anyone or anything take that away."
Harry turned back to the sky, remembering laying under the stars with Severus again and leaning against Draco.
He wanted to be under the stars, not amongst them.
He wanted to lay under the stars with his father again…
And he would.