Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Emancipation	By : BadGirlgoesworse Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 14093 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Anything recognisable does not belong to me. Story is based on the books by JKR and inspired by other writers of this genre. I do not make any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
BETWEEN FRIENDS AND FOES
Something must have happened!
Harry could feel it in his guts pacing restlessly in his room. Dumbledore was never late unless there was an absolute emergency and with yesterday’s paper in mind he could guess that no good news was to be expected.
And here he had thought today was going to be great. Well, it had started quite promising at least. Aunt Petunia had made him a cake and given him an unbelievably thoughtful gift, an assortment of his mother’s old childhood belongings and pictures. That she still had them after all this time was mind-boggling enough, but she had actually taken her time and explained who and what the pictures had shown. Many had his grandparents in them, so he took the opportunity and asked her after them.
It turned out that he might not have been named after his father’s father after all, as their names were Henry and Violet Evans. Which grandfather he had been named after he supposed was something he would never know now.
The doorbell rang making him stumble over his own feet in haste to get it. He wrenched the door open with the first question on the tip of his tongue, only to come face to face with none other than Severus Snape in all his dark glory, countenance included. Now he knew without doubt that whatever it was, it must be really bad.
“Where is Dumbledore?” he asked stepping back to let him in.
“The Headmaster is a far too busy man to waste his time on fetching conceited brats, Potter,” Snape sneered glaring down his nose at him. “Now get your things and let’s go. I don’t have all day.”
Knowing he wouldn’t get any specific information out of him Harry ran up the stairs to get his trunk and Hedwig’s cage. Whatever questions he had could wait until he got to Grimmauld Place.
xxxoooxxx
Snape had apparared them directly to the porch, then opened the door and ushered him inside. Remembering to be quiet in the entrance hall Harry proceeded directly to the kitchen, while Snape enlarged his belongings and left them next to the staircase, before following him.
Only Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Ginny were inside, greeting him and wishing him a Happy Birthday. He though had more urgent things on his mind.
“What happened?” he asked not even bothering with pleasantries.
“Attacks all over Britain last night,” Ron supplied immediately. “Mostly homes of the muggleborn and mixed families.”
“Hermione?” his heart was ready to break out of his ribcage.
“Unfortunately yes, dear,” Mrs. Weasley confirmed. “But thank Merlin she managed to escape,” she continued quickly seeing his face. “She is resting now in the girl’s usual room, so how about you sit down and calm yourself. I’ll make you a cup of tea and Professor?”
Snape nodded taking a seat as far away from them as possible.
“Her parents had been tortured and killed before her very eyes, Crookshanks too,” Ginny informed him. “It was Mulciber, Dolohov, Nott, Macnair and Rowle, they took her away to some manor dungeon, but Hermione being Hermione managed to steal her wand back and simply unlocked the door and got out of there through the Floo.”
Harry nodded his heart bleeding for his friend.
“But we don’t need to worry about the sorry bastards anymore,” Ron put in with his mouth full of something already. “They’ve been killed by You-Know-Who a couple of hours later.”
Harry blinked at that and furrowed his brows. “He had actually killed them for something so trivial? Weren’t they Inner Circle members?”
Ron shrugged in response.
“We don’t know the details, but it seems like they have been tortured with Cruciatus until they had a heart failure,” Ginny said.
“All five of them?”
“Yeah,” she nodded taking a biscuit herself.
Harry processed it in silence. No way could this be just a coincidence and he had an inkling that Hermione might know more than she had revealed so far. He would talk to her later in private. He looked up and over to Snape, meeting his gaze and throwing up his shields automatically, guessing that this was someone who might know more than he let on as well.
xxxoooxxx
My, Potter, you have grown up at last!
Severus could not help admitting, while sipping his tea that the mutt’s death had obviously had a positive effect on the boy.
How fitting that the dog has made himself more useful in death than in life.
He watched the gossiping teenagers comparing them again. Yes, definitely an improvement. He was surprised to see the brat actually not swagger around like the place belonged to him. Well, it did belong to him, hadn’t he realised that?
Anyway, Potter was not the only brat, who he had been very pleased to see a positive development in. Nott’s nerve still staggered him. Not in a hundred years would he have believed him capable of something like that, and yet...
The look on the Dark Lord’s face when he realised they were dead had been absolutely priceless! More so, because there was no explanation for it at all, beyond the obvious of course. The remnants of food and drink littering the room had not revealed anything, neither had the bodies themselves. He was able to tell that there must have been some sort of poison at work only minutes ago, but had not said anything.
Theodore Nott had been dragged before the Dark Lord dripping wet and barely clad, apparently just out of the bathroom, and delivered the most pathetic display of a snivelling, spineless creature he had ever seen. Being acquainted with Wormtail, it was actually saying something. It had looked like he hadn’t even known that his father was in the house last night, much less anyone else.
Enraged the Dark Lord told Severus to take samples of their body fluids and find out what the hell had killed them, before turning on his heel and storming out with the rest of the Inner Circle behind him. And he had been quite at his wit’s end as to the culprit, until he turned around and was met with the sight of Nott standing proud and upright, an amused glint in his eye and a smug smirk plastered on his face.
Clever sneaky little shit.
He could not help feeling proud of the boy. ‘You are playing dangerous games, Mr. Nott,’ he had said to him then, only to watch the smirk go wider. ‘But they pay, sir,’ had been his reply and Severus could only silently agree with him.
Taking another sip he watched Potter rise and excuse himself to take his things up to his and Weasley’s room. A moment later there was a sound of something crashing down in the hall and Mrs. Black’s screeching filled the air, together with the howling of the other portraits. He stood up and leisurely walked to the kitchen entrance to have a look.
Weasley was helping Potter up, who had obviously tripped over his own trunk and sent the cage standing on top of it flying across the hall, while Ms. and Mrs. Weasley were struggling to shut the curtains.
“Filthy blood traitors, get out of my house! You disgusting creatures...”
“SHUT UP, YOU VILE BITCH!”
Severus blinked and stared at Potter mildly shocked, as was everyone else in the room, including Mrs. Black.
“Who are you to order me around, you nasty little thing? Get out! You are defiling the house of my ancestors!”
“As the Master of this house I order you to shut up or bear the consequences of my wrath,” Potter answered dangerously calm.
“You! The traitor’s son! Get out, filth! This house will never be yours! Get out...”
Potter raised his wand. “Incendio!”
A constant stream of flames shot towards the portrait, which screamed as if in pain, consuming the canvas and leaving only a blackened frame behind. For a moment there was nothing but shocked silence, until suddenly the frame detached itself from the wall and fell down, breaking in several places.
“Oh, look! The Sticking Charm was obviously not that permanent after all,” Potter commented drolly, before turning towards the other portraits, which recoiled in fear. “Is anyone else here questioning my legacy?”
They all shook their heads vehemently.
“Good,” Potter collected his cage and started up the stairs, levitating his trunk before him. The Weasley children followed him a moment later, clearly impressed.
Severus shook off his surprise and returned to his tea not wanting to admit that he was impressed as well. And with Mrs. Weasly still in shock no one pointed out that Potter had performed illegal underage magic twice before their very eyes.
Well, unfortunately, no one could forbid the brat doing magic in his own well warded, undetectable house. Demonstrably, Potter was well aware of the fact.
Oh, to be the fly on the wall when Dumbledore finds out!
xxxoooxxx
Draco Malfoy was completely and utterly disgusted and the only thing keeping him from showing it, was the threat of pain and subsequent death. Fortunately, due to his mother’s careful manoeuvring, he had to spend as little time in the presence of their ‘guests’ as possible.
Is this thing supposed to be the great Dark Lord? The revered messiah and reformer of the wizarding world?
To be honest, Draco had his doubts IT was alive, much less human, and attributing to IT any sort of purity, blood or otherwise, was a travesty in and of itself. He had always wondered why Potter had no respect for the Dark Lord, even after coming face to face with him more than once. Now he knew, having none himself, even though he was still afraid of saying his name.
What revolted him the most were not the red eyes or the ghoul-like appearance, but watching his oh so proud relatives, aunt Bella and his father in the frontline, grovel at ITS feet like common slaves. No, that would be too kind; like a bunch of lapdogs, who wriggled their tails at every pat and small bone coming their way and slinked off with tails between their legs beaten and crucioed, whenever their Master was displeased.
Was this the great future of the wizarding society his father had been raving about whenever he got the chance in the past? And he was actually expected to contribute to it with everything he had? Fuck them! He’d rather end up knutless on the streets! Not that it would ever come to that with his father outlawed and on the run, but still. No wonder Severus had changed sides. ANYTHING was preferable to this, even serving Dumbledore.
Draco sat in his chair silently willing the last month of summer to flow by faster. He had things to do.
xxxoooxxx
It was only two days later that Harry got the chance to speak to Hermione alone and undisturbed. Ron and Ginny went to Diagon Alley to help out at the twins’ shop, since their assistant took ill, to earn themselves a bit of pocket money, and Mrs. Weasley was busy with lunch preparations expecting a lot of people today. The Order members were still cleaning up the aftermath of the attacks and were stopping by the Headquarters to eat, rest and report their progress.
He had cornered her in the library right after a late breakfast and set up every privacy ward in his repertoire, before sitting down in the chair next to her and pushing it around to face her. He raised an eyebrow in silent question and she sighed and closed her book putting it away, obviously having expected this for a while.
“They took me to Nott manor,” she conceded without beating around the bush. “After watching my parents tortured and killed I had no presence of mind to even take in my surroundings properly, much less plot an escape.”
Harry nodded putting his hand on her arm in comfort, waiting for her to continue on her own.
“Nott senior locked me in a dungeon holding cell and left me to my business. I don’t know how much time had passed, I’ve been sobbing my guts out when I heard someone cast Alohomora and the door opened. It was Theodore Nott.”
Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces fell together giving him a very clear picture of what had happened and why.
“Your boyfriend?” he asked cautiously.
Hermione looked up startled and blushed deeply, despite her apprehension. But seeing no negative reaction on his part, she nodded.
“He had freed you and helped you to escape, before making sure his own father and his friends did not get away alive?” Harry wanted to know.
“Yes,” she regarded him defiantly, as if waiting for the judgement.
He could only grin wickedly in response. “Then I’m alright with him.”
She let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding and glared at him half heartedly for leading her on, but then let it go, shaking her head in resignation.
“You really are alright with it?”
“Yes, unless he hurts you,” Harry assured her still smirking. “Then I’m going to chop his balls off and feed them to him raw.” His mirth disappeared though as quickly as it came. “Ron is going to go berserk.”
“Yes,” she sighed heavily. “I fear this one is going to be the last nail into the coffin of our friendship. He has been behaving these past days, though I’m not sure if it’s due to coming around or Mrs. Weasley.”
She looked down at her hands resting in her lap. “From what he has said to me recently, I’ve gotten the impression that he’s trying to win me over, using my supposed vulnerability at the moment.” She looked up again smiling weakly. “For someone, who hates anything even remotely Slytherin on sight, he’s using quite cunning tactics.”
“He has always been good in strategy,” Harry acknowledged hiding his disgust. “But you don’t seem to be any more accessible than last month.”
“I know it’s strange, but I don’t feel any pain anymore, only sadness and sometimes anger,” she confessed looking guilty. “I’m having nightmares at night and what has happened is constantly on my mind when I’m awake, but I’m not miserable.”
“Believe me, I know exactly how you feel,” Harry reassured her smiling sadly. “Ever since Sirius died I felt guilty about not pining after him, but one gets used to it in time.”
“I think it has something to do with the fact that my parents have been avenged already,” Hermione added thoughtfully, “and that I’m not alone. I still have you and Theodore and other friends, and just like you I now have a new goal in my life, even though it came with an awful price.”
Harry raised his eyebrow in question sincerely interested in her answer.
“Well,” she smirked mischievously, “next to helping you to fight and win a war and reform the wizarding world, to get into Theodore’s pants of course. It would be quite stupid of me to let my Prince Charming slip out of my grasp, wouldn’t it?”
They looked at each other with their faces straight only for a second, before breaking out in laughter. And despite everything Harry could only be happy for her.
xxxoooxxx
Dumbledore read the last report and put it aside rubbing his tired eyes. A glance at the ornate clock hanging on his office wall revealed it to be two in the morning. He sighed and stood up slowly, trying not to aggravate the knots in his back too much. On days like that he truly felt his age and was not fond of it at all.
The fact remained though that this wave of violence had taken him by surprise. He had not expected it be so soon, nor that extensive. Severus had not been privy to it, which was nothing new to be honest, but neither had been any other of his informants. Six Death Eaters had been killed and three taken by the Aurors arriving on time in few isolated cases. Unfortunately, those were just small fish. The more disturbing had been the discovery of five high profile Death Eaters dead in Knockturn Alley.
The strange occurrence refused to leave his mind and understandably so, since no one seemed to have the slightest idea what had happened. It was out of question that Tom had killed them himself, not even unintentionally, seeing as Criciatus simply did not cause heart failure. Consequently, he was asking himself who and how?
Severus had assured him that the younger Nott had absolutely nothing to do with it, having neither brains nor guts enough for any such endeavour, and because the boy’s interrogation by Tom hadn’t produced any results Dumbledore was inclined to believe him. For a fleeting moment he had entertained the idea that Hermione Granger had something to do with it, but had discarded it as quickly. For all her brightness it was highly doubtful the girl had been capable of doing anything beyond getting herself to safety at the time. That she had managed even that much was a small miracle already, no need adding to it.
And on top of it, Harry’s behaviour had truly started to bother him. Not only did he seem to be far more informed than Dumbledore had designated, he had become almost rebellious. After the incident with the portrait he had given the boy a stern talking to about using magic out of school, only to get an angry retort of it being none of his business what he did or didn’t do in his own house, and the Ministry wouldn’t know anyway. Telling him it was against law, not to mention school rules, brought on a fit of temper and the suggestion that Dumbledore should enforce it on every single pureblood first before coming to him, and that this law was only a further act of discrimination of the muggleborn, which he was not going to tolerate under his roof.
He had given Ms. Granger and the Weasley children explicit permission to use magic while Mrs. Weasley wasn’t watching, as a result Molly had taken Ronald’s and Ginevra’s wands away, only giving them back whenever they had to leave the house. Unfortunately, she had no right to do the same with Harry, and while Ms. Granger was reasonable enough to be trusted not to abuse this privilege, he wouldn’t put it past the boy at this point.
He ascended the spiral staircase to his private quarters and headed towards the bathroom. What he needed to do was to find out how much the boy truly knew about his assets and political and social standing, and in such a way that wouldn’t cause awkward questions and possibly reveal something Harry wasn’t aware of yet. He would definitely talk to Remus, and maybe Ronald as well, before approaching Harry himself. Then, he would decide how to proceed.
- 10
- 11
- 12
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Emancipation