Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Different Kind of Hero	By : JunjouSlashGirl Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 53263 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters. All rights belong to J. K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Chapter 15: A Shock for the Marauders
HP
Harry had fallen asleep in his mate's arms by the time Severus had stopped the car nearly two hours later in front of Grimmauld Place. He didn't notice when Lucius carefully leaned him against the seat and went ahead so that they would not arrive at the same time.
After another ten minutes, he was awoken by careful shaking and opened his eyes still tired and slightly confused.
"Where are we?"
"We are in your uncle's car in front of Grimmauld Place," Severus answered from his place beside him.
He awoke fully and the memory of their shopping trip and the horrible visit to Privet Drive came back. Groaning, he asked: "Where is Lucius?"
"He has gone ahead. It would be suspicious, if we all arrived at the same time," his father said and Harry nodded in understanding.
"When did he go?" he asked and looked at the small digital clock on the radio.
"Ten minutes ago, I think we can follow him now. Besides, I want to get out of this car as soon as possible, I always hated these things.
"Yeah, I was surprised when you told me you had a license. Why did you learn to drive in the first place? Had you planned on going back to the muggle world after Hogwarts?"
His father snorted: "No. To be honest, I do not really know the answer to the question myself."
"There really is a question you can't answer?" Harry mocked him and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"Cheeky brat," Severus muttered but got out of the car himself.
"Yes, but I am your cheeky brat," Harry smiled joyfully. As soon as he had closed the door on his side of the car, the front door to Grimmauld Place swung open and Ron and Hermione came out.
"Harry, you’re back!" Hermione flung herself around her neck, as if she had feared for his life.
"So you really can drive?" Ron asked Severus, who ignored the question in favour of one of his glares.
"He can," Harry affirmed.
"How was your trip? Everything went well? Ron and I started to get worried when it was already 5 PM and you weren't back yet," Hermione asked at a rapid pace and Harry had to blink a few times and sort her questions, before he was able to answer.
"Shopping was fine. Da...I mean...Severus got some really great new robes and he bought Justitius a really beautiful perch," Harry told his friends.
"I bought the perch for you, not for that annoying, hyperactive bat," his father huffed, shoving Justitius away, who was once again excitedly fluttering around and had come too close to the Potions Masters head.
"Yeah, but I am not the one who will hang on it," Harry replied, before turning his attention back to his friends: "We also visited the founders' vault and I brought some strange coins I found there and..." Hermione interrupted him excitedly:
"Oh, you have to show them to me! I bet they are historical...you know, coins they used in the past..."
"Hermione, we know what the word historical means," Ron muttered. "We are not that stupid."
"I can lend them to you. To be honest, neither I nor Severus has any clue as to which era they are from, they must be really old," Harry told his brainy friend, who beamed happily at the perspective of learning something new.
"But what I actually wanted to tell you was that the Dursley’s are back!" Harry told them.
"What?" Ron asked incensed and Hermione said: "I thought they were killed by the killing curse."
"They are not back in the sense you are thinking of right now Miss Granger," Severus drawled. "They are ghosts."
"Ghosts?" Ron echoed dumbly.
"Yeah, now I’m living in a house where a crazy portrait screams Mudbloods and Bloodtraitors and own a house where three ghosts get upset about the freaks I bring to their precious home," Harry complained.
"Then let's hope that you don't find any other evil portraits at your mate's home," Ron chuckled, but Harry paled and threw a questioning look at his father, who only shrugged. Somehow, Harry had the feeling that it was very likely that he would find some more ranting relatives at Malfoy Manor.
"We should go inside, it is not wise to stand around in front of the headquarters," Severus said and they quickly followed him inside.
"Have we missed dinner?" Harry asked innocently and Ron looked apologetic.
"You have, and there is nothing left. When Bill and Charley found out that mum was preparing a roast, they floo’ed over."
"It's okay, we ate back at Diagon Alley, so I am not hungry yet anyway," Harry replied and went down the hallway to the dingy living room, only the the room wasn't really that dingy any more.
It was still not beautiful and the carpets were perforated as before, but at least it was clean.
"Wow, Kreacher must have been really diligent today," Harry said appreciatively.
"Yes, it was really annoying, he ran through the house the whole day, cleaning like crazy and muttering 'For great Master Lucius', or 'Finally a respectable wizard back in my dear Lady's house'," Ron muttered darkly.
"I am really not happy that Malfoy has ordered him to clean the whole house alone; it was too much. Wizards really need to have more respect for their house elves," Hermione huffed."Mione, the lazy elf has done nothing for the last ten years or even longer. It was about time that someone set him straight again," Ron said. "I only wish that Sirius would have been the one, to accomplish that feat as now we have to be grateful to that prick," Ron replied dryly.
Harry really hated the fact that his friends and guardians insulted his mate so often. It hurt him physically to listen to all those foul words whilst he could not defend Lucius. The feeling of guilt was quickly growing in his stomach since the aristocrat's arrival and he was about to open his mouth and probably say something stupid and better left unsaid, when his father saved him:
"Lucius Malfoy is an intelligent, talented and most of all useful acquaintance. He is one of the best lawyers in Britain, has a lot of influence in the Ministry and holds the highest rank among the Dark Lord's followers. Harry was wise to add him to the Order, so you better be careful with your words, because he will not be as forgiving with all these insults and might leave the Order very quickly if you and the other members don't cease your disrespectful behaviour."
Harry knew that Lucius would not just leave, but his father's words had the desired effect:
Ron grumbled something like: "Would be better if he left; and as if you are so forgiving," but shut his mouth after that.
Harry gave his father a thankful smile; he only held his gaze for a moment, but didn't react in any other way. He sighed; it would probably take his father a while, before he would be as openly loving and caring as he had been in Diagon Alley at Grimmauld Place, where all the people who had always made his life difficult resided.
"Do any of you know where the mu...where Black and Lupin are right now?" Severus asked.
"I believe they went back to their room," Hermione answered quickly as ever when she was asked something by a teacher.
"I will go and ask them to come down," Severus said and disappeared back into the hallway quickly.
Harry sat down awkwardly; he really was nervous about the upcoming conversation, more so than he had been before he had introduced Lucius to the order. Back then, he would have had Dumbledore's support and it was not really a personal matter, at least not as far as the other knew, but now it was different. His father was probably the one person, who was hated by Sirius as much as Lord Voldemort himself, maybe even more. Sirius' dislike, or hatred for Severus, whatever it actually was, went back even further than the man's hatred for Voldemort. The animagus had fought with the Potions genius when he wasn't even old enough to completely realize what a frightening person the Dark Lord was.
He would not even begin to hope, that his father and godfather would someday miraculously get along, they had far too much history, but at least both men tried their best to not insult the other in front of him, which probably didn't mean that they didn't throw hateful words at each other as soon as he left the room, but still, it was at least something.
"So, you are going to tell Sirius and Remus about...you and Professor Snape?" Hermione asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Please, Mione, don't make it sound as if Harry had an affair with our Professor!" Ron exclaimed, flopping down next to him. Harry snickered; at least an affair with a Professor was something he would not have to confess to his friends someday.
"Yeah. I am sick of my life based on lies. I want them to know the truth," He answered truthfully.
"I can actually understand that, it must be unnerving to live a life where all the important things were made up by others. But you really didn’t have much luck there; first the thing with Snape, your mum and the ritual and along comes Dumbledore and puts another ritual on top of that. How we could ever have believed that you are our age is a mystery to me. I mean, I even saw you under the showers after Quidditch practice, at least I should have noticed that something was seriously wrong," Ron mused.
Harry only blinked, he still had no feelings about the impression he made on other people.
"You’re right Ron," Hermione agreed. "It is obviously now when we aren't under the ritual’s influence anymore. I am really glad that you don't belong to those kinds of magical creatures who mate as soon as they have found their other half. You are still much too young for that type of thing."
"I suppose I am," Harry replied evasively; they were right after all, but that didn't change anything anymore at this point.
"So, you have accepted Professor Snape then? You wanted to call him dad in front of the house, didn't you?" his brainy friend asked suddenly, changing the topic.
Harry nodded. "I have. It is hard to describe, but when we were at the robe shop for Potions Masters and Severus came out in his new robes, which didn't reek of potions fumes, I could suddenly smell that he is my father, so it feels kind of natural to call him dad," He told them.
"And he would have let you call him dad?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"I have been all the time in Diagon Alley," he replied and smiled happily at the memory. "It was nice to call someone father."
Ron made a face and Hermione looked back at him slightly disturbed. Harry could see that his friends were still torn between being happy for him to finally have a parent and not liking their unpopular Potions Professor. Ron had honestly told him this yesterday. They tried their best to understand him, but they had not witnessed how caring the grumpy man could be and they didn't have Harry’s keen senses and instincts, which helped him to accept Severus Snape as what he was.
"Your new abilities are really impressive," Hermione finally said after a moment of awkward silence. "I really wish that you would tell us what kind of creature you have become, it must be something spectacular. I cannot even start to imagine what it must be like to be able to smell things like blood relations to somebody, it is really awesome."
Harry smiled: "It is and without this ability I would have a much harder time to come to terms with the whole having-Snape-as-a-father-thing, but my instincts took care of all lingering doubts."
"I am really happy for you...but I am also happy that it's you who found out that he is your father and not me," Ron chuckled.
"I think you are not the one who is most happy about that. I think Severus would have passed out if Dumbledore had told him that you were his son and not me," Harry snickered; the picture was far too hilarious.
"Harry, you can call him dad in front of us," Hermione said.
Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione shoved her elbow into his ribs hard, making him gasp and shut up.
"Thank you, Mione," Harry smiled, it meant a lot to him that his friends were at least comfortable enough with the situation to be fine with hearing him talking about Snape as dad.
"Call him dad if you want to, but promise me that you will address him as such in one of our potions classes, when it is safe to do so of course, but I really want to see the faces of all his Slytherins realizing that the Gryffindor golden boy is the son of their beloved Head of House," Ron snickered.
"I will do that," Harry promised, liking the idea of shocking the snakes into silence for once, and seeing Hermione's expression, so did she.
They could hear footsteps coming downstairs and Hermione took Ron by his arm: "We will go up to our room and wait there for you."
Ron didn't look as if he wanted to leave Harry alone, but Hermione pulled on his sleeve once more: "Come on, Ron, Professor Snape will not appreciate us being there for this conversation. We really should not stay."
"Good luck," Ron mumbled, before he was dragged off.
His friends were just gone for a moment, when Severus entered with Harry’s two unofficial guardians in toe. Sirius looked fairly grumpy and annoyed, whilst Remus tried for a neutral expression and Severus face was a blank mask.
Harry had the feeling that his father had had a hard time to get the two remaining Marauders downstairs and his suspicion was confirmed when Sirius muttered: "Don't think that I would have come down for you, Snape. I still don't understand what kind of news Harry has to tell us, which requires you to be present as well."
"As I already told you Black, it is not only Harry who has to tell you something, but both of us," his father snapped.
Harry flinched, that didn't sound very promising.
"Please Sirius, just sit down, it really is important," he tried and gave his godfather his puppy-eyes. Sirius sighed and wanted to sit down next to him, when Severus had already fluidly taken the seat himself. Sirius looked as if he would blow up any moment, but luckily Remus pulled him by his arm to the other couch, dragging him down next to him.
"So, what is it you have to tell us? Do Remi and I need to go on a long mission for the Order with that stinking...?”
"Sirius," Remus growled and bared his fangs. Harry had never noticed that they were actually a bit longer and sharper than human ones until now. The werewolf was always so balanced and calm that he never growled at anybody. Sirius huffed and fixed his eyes on Harry, refusing to acknowledge his father.
Severus pulled out a scroll then and laid it on the table between the four of them, but Sirius still didn't look at the man.
Sighing in irritation, Severus said: "I am applying for the guardianship and custody of Harry."
That finally made Sirius snap his head around: "You what?" The animagus barked, rage blazing in his dark blue eyes. Remus suddenly looked very angry himself and Harry saw his former professor's nails digging into his godfathers arm in an attempt to stay calm.
"Why?" the werewolf asked coldly.
Sirius interjected his friend's words with a growl. "It doesn't matter why Moony, the git has no right to apply for Harry's custody, if anyone should try to get his custody, it should be you, me or even the Weasley’s but not him!"
"By Merlin's beard, for once sit down and listen first before jumping up and shouting like the stupid Gryffindor you are!" his father barked and Harry grabbed one of the man's hands to calm him down, but he quickly realized that this had been a silly gesture, when Sirius roared:
"Are you molesting my godson? I swear Snivellus; I will take you to Azkaban even if it means that they shove me back in there as well!"
Now Severus looked positively angry: "Oh shut the hell up mutt, or I will hex your unbearable trap closed!"
Remus started to growl protectively and Harry saw his father's glamours starting to flicker at the edges, as he bared his fangs and hissed. Shoving him harshly, Severus luckily realized that they had to calm down unless they wanted a real disaster to occur this evening.
"Just tell him the story," Harry urged him and at his father's incredulous look he added: "You don't need to add many details, just the important facts."
Severus nodded and then asked surprisingly politely: "Would you sit down again, so that I might be able to finally tell you the story behind the matter?"
Sirius and Remus growled, but did as asked.
"You were right, Lupin, when you said James Potter did something big for me to pay his debt back," Severus started.
Remus blinked in confusion, having not expected to hear this confession from the man and Harry sighed in relief as the shouting stopped for a moment.
"Lily and I had a much deeper and intimate relationship than you two ever knew and it was in fact me, not James who had been in a relationship with her."
Sirius snorted: "Don't make me laugh, Lily would never have chosen you over James. Why would she? James was attractive, funny, and talented at Quidditch and he was a Gryffindor, whilst you have always been grumpy and greasy and..."
"You are right mutt, James was all that, but he was also Lily's cousin," Severus cut him off. Harry watched as every expression glided over his godfather's face, leaving only a very confused look behind. Using the silence that created his father continued with his story:
"Lily and I had a single night together, before we fell out, you surely are able to remember the day I speak about; it must have been one of your more joyful memories."
Sirius and Remus nodded in affirmation. Harry wanted to growl at them, but quickly squashed the urge and continued to listen instead.
"As it was, Lily noticed that she was pregnant and went to her cousin for help. Unfortunately, I had already joined Voldemort's ranks at that time, so they apparently decided to perform a ritual that is called the heritage ritual."
Remus eyes widened in disbelief. "But that is dark magic," he said.
"You of all people should know that Gryffindors are not above using the dark arts," Severus sneered, referring to Peter Pettigrew.
Sirius gave Remus a questioning look who quickly elaborated: "The heritage ritual makes sure, that only physical traits of one parent develop. As far as I know it can be made even stronger by using a bit of blood from one of the relatives of the parent the child should resemble later."
"You mean James gave Lily his blood to make sure that Harry would look like him?" Sirius asked, his voice sounding disgusted.
"That is what he did," Severus affirmed.
Sirius eyes shifted back to Harry and Harry had the feeling that his godfather was trying to find any resemblance to Severus in his face. He tried his best to endure the scrutinizing glance from his godfather, but with his new instincts it wasn't easy and he began squirming in discomfort. Only when his father placed a soothing hand on his shoulder did Sirius seem to notice what he was doing and asked: "But why?"
"To protect Harry and myself from Voldemort's wrath," Severus explained.
"Who told you all this, Harry? Do you have any proof?" Remus asked, eyeing his father coldly.
"Albus told us, Severus didn't know until the day before the Order meeting himself and we have proof." He said and his father gave the parchment over to Remus at his words.
The werewolf unrolled the document and his godfather leaned over his shoulder to be able to look at it as well. Their eyes flew across the lines and then both men gasped in unison.
"Harry Severus..." Sirius mumbled.
"How did Dumbledore know about this? Did Lily tell him?" Remus asked; Sirius was currently too shocked to do anything else but listen. Harry saw the pain, confusion and expression of loss in his godfather’s eyes and he had to close his own eyes for a moment. He had long ago realized that he was not only important to his godfather as a person and his godson, but as a last connection to his late best friend and right now Sirius looked as if James had died all over again.
His father eyed his godfather for a moment, before explaining: "Lily and James preformed the ritual in the room of requirement and Albus noticed the gathering magic. When he went to check what was happening, he found Lily and James and they told him everything. Albus helped them to protect Harry, but they died not even two years later."
"Why didn't Dumbledore give Harry to you after their death?" Remus inquired.
"Albus had the suspicion all along that the Dark Lord would rise again and Harry and would have been in even more danger if he had found out that I am his father after his resurrection, besides, I went to him and offered to work as his spy in hope of revenge for Lily and end this war once and for all," Severus sighed.
"And only for the sake of the war Harry had to live with the Dursley’s for eleven years?" Remus growled.
"Not for eleven years, for eight," Harry mumbled absentmindedly, not realizing at first, that he had corrected Remus automatically.
"What do you mean by eight? You lived with this horrible muggles until your Hogwarts letter arrived," Remus said.
Harry fidgeted nervously, he could tell the whole story now that they were at it anyway, but it would be a lot to take in for the already overwhelmed looking man, although Remus still looked slightly better than Sirius and he was slightly nervous about the outcome.
He quickly looked over at his father, asking him with his eyes if he was against telling them, but Severus only nodded curtly.
"I...I never told you how bad the Dursley’s abuse really was," he stuttered. "They locked me in that cupboard under the stairs for days. They starved me, hit me and I had to do chores since I was very small..."
Remus growled angrily.
"Albus had watched all this until I was nearly eight and it grew even worse..." Harry's voice left him then and he snuggled into his father's side, not able to tell them about the beatings.
"It was still important to keep the protection of the blood wards for Harry, but it also became unavoidable that someone had to save Harry from the abuse he had to suffer. Albus decided to perform a second ritual on him, one that would make every human who had ever heard about him think that he was already turning eleven instead of eight. This way, he was able to send Harry his Hogwarts letter three years earlier and ensure the blood wards during the summer holidays," his father continued for him. He was thankful that the man had not mentioned the extent of his abuse either, but as someone who had lived through physical abuse as well, Severus had to know how humiliating it felt.
His guardians' eyes fixed on him once more and it was as if a veil was lifted in front of them, as the ritual lost its effect on the marauders.
"Oh no...Harry," Remus looked sad beyond belief and Harry could see the same expression in Sirius’ face for a moment, before despair and anger ripped his features apart:
Suddenly Sirius jumped back to his feet, pointing with his finger at Severus: "I can't accept this story!" Harry looked in shock at his godfather. The talk had gone so well so far, what had suddenly gone wrong?
"And even if everything is apparently true, that doesn't mean that you have the right to become his father! You thick bastard! You should have loved Harry for being Lily's son all along and not hating him for being James’! You made his life even more miserable for the last four years and now you come along and want to play happy family with him? I won't let you!" His godfather continued.
His father rose as well; his expression thunderous. Harry tried to hold him down, but as a submissive child vampire he was not strong enough to restrain his father:
"Don't think I do not regret all the hateful and hurtful words I have thrown at my own son in the last years Black! You are right, I hated him for not being mine; I knew it was wrong, but it was too painful to see a child every week, that was made by my soul mate and another man! And how should I have known with all those rituals affecting everybody around him?"
Harry grabbed the hand of his father again; it was enough that he still blamed himself, he didn't need Sirius’ accusations on top of that, but his godfather didn't see his pleading look.
"Harry was always James' son and he always will be, regardless of who his sire might have been! And I can't believe that you are accepting him, Harry! How can you betray James' memory like this?" Sirius shouted, before turning and stomping out of the living room.
For a moment Harry hoped that Remus at least would see reason, but the man only said: "I think Sirius is right; you have no right to become his father," before following his mate upstairs.
Harry sat there for a moment in frozen shock, then the realization of what had just happened and what Sirius had said hit him and his walls broke. Tears started to pour down his cheeks, first silently and then accompanied by loud sobs. As soon as the first sound left his throat his father was next to him again, lifting him into his lap and cradling him against his strong chest.
"Shh, Harry, he will come to terms with the truth. Even your little friends did, didn't they?"
Hiccuping, Harry asked: "Was it so important to him, that I was James’ son? Did he only love me because everyone thought that I was the son of his dead friend?" He could not understand why his godfather and Lupin rather wanted to see him as an orphan than with Severus Snape as father. How could they be so cruel? Hadn't they seen how happy he was with Severus? Hadn't they seen how much the dark man loved and cared for him?
"No, I am sure he loves you for yourself as well and if he doesn't know it yet, he will come to realize it soon," his father stroked with a calming gesture over his back and rocked him gently.
"Am I really throwing James' memory away by accepting you? And why was Remus so infuriated if he already knew?" he mumbled.
"No, of course not, Remus himself told us that James has acted as your father to save you, and in hope that we would be happy as a family together someday," his father reminded him.
Harry sniffed and snuggled even closer.
"He didn't know exactly what James had done for me and it wasn't what he had expected or what he would ever have wished for," Severus explained softly.
"Why do they all hate you so much?" Harry cried and buried his hands in his father's robes.
"You should know that yourself. I am a closed off and unpleasant man to those I don't like. Sure, it was them who started our animosity all those years ago, but since then I did my fair share to make it worse instead of better."
"Why does everybody insist on keeping old grudges up as long as possible?" Harry wanted to know, he could not understand why it was apparently so difficult to just forgive sometimes. He never had those problems, especially if it was with someone who was important to him.
"Not everybody has been given such a great heart as you have. But I am sure that you will be able to teach us how to be as kind-hearted as you are," his father chuckled. "I really have a son who is too good for this world. How could I of all people have done this? I was always so bitter myself," he mused.
"And now you aren't anymore?" Harry asked, his sobs stopping abruptly and he looked up with huge, questioning eyes.
"No, not anymore. Maybe a little, but you have taken nearly all the bitterness away from me," Harry felt a kiss pressed to the top of his head.
"I am glad," He sniffled. He felt a movement on his shoulder and suddenly a small, warm body pressed to his cheek, hugging his face and chirping consolingly.
Harry chuckled: "Justitius," he mumbled and lifted a finger to stroke his small friend.
"Do you think you are calm enough to go up to your friends? It is very late already and they are probably either asleep or worried sick about you."
"I think I will be fine," He sat up and smiled at his father.
"Do not worry too much, you are a far too lovable brat, they will realize it soon," Severus said and hugged him one last time, before placing him back on the ground.
"Sleep well," Harry mumbled and went up the stairs. When he was on the first floor, he could hear Sirius’ aggravated voice from the room across, but he didn't listen and opened his own door silently.
It was already dark inside and soft sleeping sounds came from the beds of his friends. He didn't feel like lying down in his own bed alone and sniffed silently. He wanted the comfort of his mate, or his father. Was it because Albus' ritual had had an effect on him as well, or because of his change into a submissive or merely the fact that he now had two people he could go to for comfort, that he did not have the energy to go through his misery alone anymore?
Feeling cold, lonely and still very hurt by Sirius and Remus’ words he silently changed into his nightshirt, sniffling all the while. When he had changed he crawled under his blanket and turned on his side, before closing his eyes.
Unfortunately an hour later found him still wide awake. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Sirius’ hurt expression, his look of loss and then his anger. His godfathers and Remus’ words echoed in his mind:
And even if everything is apparently true, that doesn't mean that you have the right to become his father! You thick bastard! You made his life even more miserable for t he last four years and now you come along and want to play happy family with him? I won't let you! Harry was always James’ son and he always will be, regardless of who his sire might have been!
I think Sirius is right; you have no right to become his father!
The tears started to gather in his eyes again and his body started to shake. How long would it take until he could have a peaceful life? Would that ever happen? And why was he still laying cold and alone in this bed, when he had two people he could go to? Sitting up slowly, he tried to decide where to go. It probably would not be a good idea to go to Lucius, just in case someone went looking for him. Taking his new wand from his nightstand, he quickly transformed Lucius’ shirt into something more appropriate, a t-shirt and a short pants, both in Gryffindor colours.
This time Hermione didn't awake when he tiptoed over to the door. Justitius, who had been hanging onto a curtain until now, fluttered over to him and landed on his shoulder, apparently set on accompanying him wherever he would go. Sirius and Remus must have gone to bed as well, because nothing but silence came from their room as he passed the closed door on his way to the stairs. He made his way up quickly, but stopped in front of his father's room.
Severus was probably sleeping as well and he didn't want to wake him, so he pushed down the door handle carefully, praying that it wouldn't be locked. It wasn't. The door made no sound as he pushed it open and slipped inside. Last time he had been here he had not paid any attention as to where the bed was located, but he found it quickly to his left. Wondering, how he should climb under his attentive father's blanket unnoticed and whether he should even do so without asking first, he went over to the big piece of furniture.
Severus lay motionless on his back, his pale face framed by his black hair and looking more relaxed than he had ever seen the man. He really didn't want to wake his peaceful slumber, but just when he was about to turn and go again, his father's red ringed eyes opened, instantly settling on him.
Without saying a word Severus lifted a corner of his blanket and invited him in. Harry didn’t have to be invited twice and quickly climbed onto the mattress, before snuggling against his father’s side, whilst his little bat searched the room for a place to sleep. Justitius found his golden perch in one corner and settled down once more, chirping joyfully.
Harry, who had watched his little familiar chuckled softly and laid his head onto the soft pillow. Severus then turned around and laid one arm over Harry's waist, drawing him closer. Happily, Harry noticed that his father's touch provided as much warmth as his mate’s touch always did and sighed in comfort.
"I love you, dad," he mumbled before closing his eyes. The last words he heard before finally drifting off was his father's unusually soft voice echoing: "I love you too, Harry."
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HG
When Hermione woke the next morning Harry was still gone. She had still been awake when the small raven had returned, but said nothing. To be honest, Ron and she had decided to give their friend a bit of space after they had witnessed the argument from their place on the stairs where they had listened in on everything, too worried about their young friend to just leave him alone. This way, they had also witnessed how truly caring the normally cold Professor was with Harry.
When Harry had started to sob loudly, Ron and her had come down to comfort him, thinking that Snape would surely not do so, but they both had been frozen in shock as they had seen the man pulling Harry onto his lap, stroking his back and whispering comforting words to him. It was then that they had finally left, and to be honest, she had been surprised that Harry had returned at all.
Yawning, she sat up before standing up and going over to the snoring redhead in order to wake him. It wasn't an easy task after they had stayed awake so long last night, but she finally just pushed him out of his bed and onto the hard wooden floor.
"Hey," Ron grumbled sleepily, but finally sat up.
"I will go and get ready, you better do the same," she said, before grabbing her toiletries from the place where she had put them on a stool next to her cot and went out of the room and over to the bathroom.
Whilst brushing her hair she thought that Severus Snape might turn out to be exactly what Harry needed. The man could obviously be very warm and caring with the few people he loved; it almost seemed as if he spent all the love he possessed on Harry, whilst everybody else divided their love between the many people he or she cared about. Harry was of course a whole different matter; no one else possessed as much love as he did. Hopefully his mate would be somebody who was worth the boy’s love as well.
In contrast to Ron, she could easily imagine Harry as a submissive. Harry wasn't the strong hero with the sharp edges. He was kind and gentle and warm-hearted. It hadn't even really surprised her to hear that he was not willing to fight any longer and she was sure, if any person could find something similar to a peaceful way of ending this war, it would be him.
Putting her brush aside, she quickly dressed into a short sleeved summer blouse and a knee long skirt before going back into the room she shared with her two best friends.
"Where is Harry?" Ron greeted her as she came back in.
"I think he went back to... Snape," the whole name-issue bothered her a bit; for Harry it was easy, he had been calling their Professor dad since yesterday and sometimes Severus, but how should she and Ron address the man? They didn't have a personal relationship with the Potions Master, but it was just weird to call the father of one’s best friend Professor outside of class at least.
"Did he come back yesterday?"
"Yes, but only for an hour or so, he was still very... distressed when he left," she answered.
"I really thought I would get a stroke when I saw Harry sitting with the git cuddled together on the sofa," Ron muttered and pulled a shirt over his head.
"It was strange to see, but don't you think it is great?" she asked, putting her toiletries back down.
"Of course it is great for him. I never said anything else and Sirius and Remus are pricks to tell him all that shit about how Snape shouldn't be his father and he should not accept him."
"I never thought that I would say something like this about them, but they are," Hermione agreed.
Silently they went down to breakfast. They were fairly late, so they didn't meet anybody on their way downstairs. Entering the room, she saw Dumbledore to her surprise sitting at the long table. The old headmaster looked a lot more relaxed than the last couple of times she had seen him; maybe Harry had been right to assume that the Professor was getting too old for all the responsibilities he had taken on himself. Currently he was sitting across from Mr. Weasley chattering animatedly.
Sirius and Remus were already there as well, looking as if they were in a particular sour mood. Far away from everybody sat the Malfoy Lord, having a grumpy expression himself, so did Ginny, who was looking at the door every so often, most likely waiting for Harry to show up. Only Fred and George were cheerful as ever and so she decided to take a seat next to the twins. Ron followed her, grabbing a mug of cocoa in passing, before sitting down himself.
"Is Harry coming down soon?" Hermione looked up and saw Sirius leaning over to him.
"I don't know, he didn't sleep in our room last night, but I think he will be down in a few minutes."
"What do you mean he didn't sleep in your room last night? Where did he sleep then?" Sirius cut her off. Sighing she answered pointedly: "I believe he went back to Snape. The conversation really distressed him." Her glare was lost on the two men when the animagus jumped to his feet, shouting: "He is sleeping over by the git and you didn't stop him?"
"What do you think will happen? He is Harry's father," Ron muttered and his twin brothers spluttered.
"Snape is what?" they asked in unison and Molly nearly dropped the pan with scrambled eggs she was holding in her hand.
"That can't possibly be right," Ginny huffed and rolled her eyes. "My Harry could never be the son of that disgusting and scary person."
"Is that true, Albus?" Arthur Weasley asked calmly, seemingly noticing the tense atmosphere for the first time.
"It is," Dumbledore answered, his bright blue eyes twinkling merrily.
Hermione sighed heavily, some days she believed she was living in a house full of big children.
"When did you find out about it Albus?" Molly asked, but no one answered her when Sirius stood up:
"I will go and take him out of there. Who knows what Snivellus is doing with him? Harry doesn't need to be insulted by the slimy bastard more than he already has been...who knows, maybe he will even use the chance and hand him over to Voldemort after all," Sirius grumbled and went to the door.
Immediately everybody was on their feet, hurriedly following the enraged animagus. Absentmindedly Hermione noticed that even Lucius Malfoy was following him, at a more leisurely pace and with a bored expression on his face, but nonetheless he still followed. She wondered about his reasons, but then she just assumed that the Malfoy-Lord was coming along because he and Harry had formed some sort of strange...acquaintanceship and he probably saw it as his duty to appear concerned about the boy who was supposed to revenge his lost family for him. Purebloods worked like that, they had an odd code of duties and their morals were often even more disturbing to someone with a Muggle background like hers.
"Sirius, enough! You are going too far!" Dumbledore was shouting after Sirius, trying to catch up to him, but the man had too much of a lead.
Suddenly Malfoy passed them all, stopping Sirius at the door to the Potions Masters bedroom:
"You should think carefully, Black, before you make everything worse. Harry deserves to have a father and he also deserves a supporting godfather, not someone who tries to separate him from the only family he has left out of his own egoism," the aristocrat spat.
Sirius shook the hand on his arm off spitting back: "Snape his only left family? Lily and James were his parents and they are dead. The git will never be able to replace them and I don't trust him one bit. You probably are in league with him in whatever plan you two have been plotting to lure him out and bring him to your true master!"
Closing her eyes, Hermione thanked whatever god was listening that Harry didn't hear this particular argument right now; it would surely destroy the fragile Gryffindor to hear all those things. Next to her Ron clenched his fist, apparently she was not the only one who wanted to shake some sense into the adults, and Ron looked as if he was barely restraining himself.
Sirius opened the door to Snape's room then and stomped inside, quickly followed by everybody else. She quickly grabbed Ron's hand and dragged him through the small crowd, so that they would be able to see everything that would happen.
The room was dark and her eyes needed a moment to adjust, but as soon as she could finally make something out she froze like everybody else:
Harry and the Professor lay cuddled together in the Potions Masters huge bed. Snape had one arm protectively wrapped around the small boy, who was turned towards the man, holding on to the teachers black nightshirt, his face buried in the man's chest and still fast asleep. A soft expression lay on Snape's face. The man shifted in his sleep and consciously or unconsciously pressed a soft kiss to Harry's black locks. Harry sighed happily in his sleep, snuggling even closer and just when Hermione was sure that nobody would dare to disturb this peaceful picture of father and son sleeping together, Sirius grabbed the arm that was lying on top of the covers and tried to yank Harry out of bed.
Both males reacted instantly:
Snape's arm tightened around Harry's waist, preventing the boy from being pulled away even before the black eyes of their Professor had opened. Harry woke up as well and for a moment, Hermione thought she had seen something red flashing in those normally warm, green orbs. Then Harry moved quickly, far too quickly to see exactly what he had done but a second later Sirius hissed, five long gashes marring his arms, like wounds of sharp claws, but when she looked down at Harry's hand, the boys nails looked normal.
Hermione saw Sirius, Remus, Harry and Snape's eyes flashing, but before any of them could make another move Ron shouted:
"Enough!"
Looking over to one of her best friends she saw that Ron was too enraged to be able to find the right words, so she stepped in front of the bed, glaring fiercely at the animagus and his mate:
"How could you? Both of you! You say that Harry is the most important person to you, but you behaved like little egoistic and self-centred three-year olds! Is it that important who his father is that you are now ready to make him miserable only because you are unhappy that Harry's father is a man you never liked, instead of being happy for him that he isn't fully alone after all? You two talk about honouring James Potter's memory, but James Potter sacrificed himself, so that Harry and Professor Snape could one day have what they are now having, a loving relationship!"
Sirius wanted to protest, but Ron quickly cut him off once more, having found his voice again: "Isn't it enough that Harry was alone for the first years of his life? Haven't you all messed enough in his life?" By these words he even glared at Dumbledore shortly. "I don't like Snape either and it is really strange to see him like this with my best friend, but he makes Harry happy so I try to come to terms with it and be happy as well!" Fuming like a provoked dragon, Ron turned and stomped out of the room.
For a moment silence hung heavy in the gloomy room, until Snape had apparently overcome his shock of being woken by a horde of Gryffindors and barked: "Out!"
To Hermione's relief, Dumbledore grabbed Sirius arm and dragged him out and leaving no option but to follow Snape's order. With a last hesitant smile at her friend, who still looked sleepy and very shocked, she left as well.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
Harry stared at the door, which had just closed behind Hermione. His mind was still not fully aware and he had difficulties to process what had just happened.
"Was it a bad dream, or did Sirius try to drag me out of bed without even waking me first?" Slowly his anger was surfacing and he had to concentrate to keep his glamour intact.
"Sadly, it was not a dream," his father replied dryly.
"And did I really injure Sirius?"
Silence for a moment and then: "Yes, you did."
Turning back around, he snuggled back into his father's chest, hugging the man tightly and mumbling: "Should I apologize?"
"No," Severus answered without missing a beat. "Black was stupid by trying to pull a sleeping magical creature out of bed without waking you first. You only followed your instincts."
"Ok...but I really feel bad about it..." he admitted. Severus sighed, a ‘why do I have such a Gryffindorish son’ - sigh and he quickly added: "...even though, I don't want to apologize."
"I really had hoped for a quiet and peaceful morning," his father muttered and lay back down.
"Yeah, but at least Ron and Hermione gave them a piece of their minds," he sighed.
"They surely gave them a talk worth remembering," Severus agreed.
Harry chuckled happily: "I will tell them that you complimented them."
"Don't you dare, I have a reputation," Severus huffed.
"You can't be grumpy in front of them all the time, they are my best friends and you will see them more often than before; besides, they already saw you and me cuddling in the bed," He argued amused.
"I do not cuddle,"
"Yes you do," Harry replied.
They fell silent for a few more moments, until they felt more awake and then sat up.
"Shall I transform your night clothing into some of those tasteless muggle outfits you preferred before your mating or do you want to go down to your room and change?" Severus asked and stood up.
"Some muggle clothes will be fine for now, I can change later after breakfast," Harry answered, still lying lazily in bed.
"You have to get up then," his father smirked and he finally sat up.
Ten minutes later they arrived in the kitchen, Severus in one of his new robes and Harry in a green t-shirt and a pair of yellow shorts with Justitius happily following him and even Nagini had joined them on the stairs.
Everybody seemed to wait for them; probably to prevent any possible continuation of the dispute from half an hour ago, but his guardians were currently not there. It was strangely silent when he sat down between his father and Ron and across from Dumbledore and Lucius. How those two had ended up seated next to each other, Harry wasn't quite sure, but he assumed that both men had sat down near his friends to talk to him or just have an eye on him and Severus.
Hopefully glancing subtly over at his mate, he saw that the noble man looked pale and tired, even paler than he normally was these days. Lucius must have seen his unspoken question, because he lifted an eyebrow and told him pointedly: "I retrieved the document about the ritual that ensured the blood wards at your house last night."
So his mate had been called to Voldemort, no wonder that he looked like death warmed over. Worried, he took another look at the aristocrat from under his bangs, whilst seemingly eying his empty plate. Lucius couldn't die easily anymore, but that didn't mean that Voldemort couldn't make a visit to Riddle Manor a hellish event. Sadly he noticed, that the shadows under Lucius’ eyes and on his cheeks were more pronounced.
"We will talk after breakfast," he said, slipping into the role of the Order Leader. Lucius gave a curt nod of understanding.
A huge amount of bacon and eggs were dropped on his plate then. As he looked up Molly smiled brightly down at him: "Eat up, you need it and in three days you lot go back to Hogwarts and Merlin knows, that you will not eat as much as you should once you are there."
"Thank you, Molly," he said and took a bite.
"Oh Harry, look! You are in the paper along with Professor Snape and Dumbledore," Hermione said, holding the paper out for Harry to take, but Lucius was faster. The man unfolded the Daily Prophet and stared at the front page for a moment, before glaring at Severus, who only lifted one eyebrow in amusement.
Huffing, Harry snatched the paper from his mate's hands and took a look himself.
"Can you read it out loud?" Ron asked.
"Sure," he replied, before he had even taken a look at the headline, he had been too transfixed with the picture, showing his mate, who luckily was looking at the ground so that his annoyed face was hidden, and his father and him just exiting Eeylops.
When Harry started to read, he quickly noticed, that it was a mistake to agree to read the article out loud:
Intriguing boy seen in Diagon Alley at the side of two Professors (by Rita Skeeter).
Witches and wizards alike were stunned into openly staring as they came across an intriguing boy in Diagon Alley yesterday. This reporter had the fortune of getting a glimpse of the charming child and is now able to give you a detailed description of the beautiful boy:
With his frail and small frame, his pale complexion and his gracefulness the young child looked like those who are closely related to the folk of fairies. His hair was black, which in addition to his bright, forest green eyes gave a shiny glow to his soft looking skin. The boy (around eleven years old) was clad in the attire of the wizarding council. Yes, my dear readers, you read correctly! One of the council members had shown himself in our most favourite shopping street!
Accompanying the boy was none other than Professor Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Wizardry and Witchcraft) and Severus Tobias Snape (infamous Potions Master of Hogwarts and recently announced Best Potions Brewer of the Wizarding World).
This author can only assume that this special child will start at our beloved school next term and was taken out from his secluded and certainly most aristocratic home to get his school supplies for his upcoming first year by the two teachers.
Mothers around the world will want to send their daughters to Hogwarts in hope of their beloved children becoming this boy's future fiancée. Already the young raven has a charisma and sex appeal that rivals nearly every adult witch or wizard.
We can surely await excellent achievements from this child and are waiting impatiently for his sorting and the proud parents of this fabulous boy; we can only advise they keep a close eye on their little darling.
Who exactly this boy is, this journalist cannot yet say, but I promise my faithful readers to provide you with all news I get my fingers on,
Rita Skeeter."
Harry spluttered at the end of the article and a whole body flush adorned his pale skin. Everybody looked stunned and silently at him, only Albus had a very amused expression on his face, his eyes twinkling over at Lucius, and suddenly Harry had the feeling that the old man knew much more than he admitted once again.
Ron slapped him reassuringly on his shoulder: "See it like this: the big uproar is yet to come when they realize it is you they are lusting after."
Harry didn't know what to say or where to begin. Skeeter had described him like some kind of eleven year old sex-god, born to a noble family, which sadly wasn't very far from the truth anymore, apart from the sex god thing, that is, but he certainly didn't want this title. Neither did he want that parents would send her daughters to Hogwarts in hopes to get one of them engaged to him. Why did the annoying writer have to make such stupid suggestions?
He wanted to write to the bloody witch and tell her that she had written utter bullshit, but in fact, she had guessed his age almost correctly and everybody would soon know about his relation to the four founders and that indeed made him a noble man, even without his mating to one of the council members. Sighing he slumped down; he would surely be the hot topic of Rita Skeeter for the next month...even more than usual.
"Ron, that really is not very reassuring!" Hermione snapped next to him and his redheaded friend, grasping for the paper to read over it again.
"Sex appeal, Harry?" Fred and George whistled and snickered.
"Well, he is already taken," Ginny huffed and Lucius hissed: "Indeed, Miss Weasley."
"At least we can be sure that he has a parent who will have an eye on him and scare every annoying suitor away," Ron mused and grinned at Severus.
"That I will do," the professor promised, his eyes flashing protectively.
"Oh dear, this reporter really is a nuisance," Molly huffed. "What does this impertinent woman think? Promoting a boy like a piece of meat on the market?"
Harry saw his mate and his father exchanging a look. Sadly, the two men could not do much as long as they needed to keep their relationships and Harry's mated status a secret.
"Can we just change the topic?" he asked desperately and to his surprise they all obliged, but the arisen silence was honestly not much better. Starring down on his food, he shoved the scrambled eggs around, not intending to eat them.
"Harry, I have something for you," Albus suddenly said, giving him a reason to ignore the meal for the moment. The old wizard, today clad in red and lilac, put his hand into one of his many robe pockets and pulled a small, golden book out.
"It used to be mine, but Fawkes is already trained and I do not need it anymore. I hope you do not mind that it is second hand."
Taking the book, he read the imprinted title: Phoenicem Edoceo.
"Educating a phoenix?" he translated before looking at the author: "It was written by Merlin?" he asked curiously.
"Yes, it is even today, the best book about the topic of phoenix education and it is still published today, but this one is the only original version that exists," Albus hummed, his eyes sparkling brightly.
"But Albus, I cannot accept this book then. It must be immensely valuable," Harry exclaimed and laid the book back down in front of the headmaster.
"Of course you can, Harry. I haven't looked at this book for about 90 years, it is getting dusty. Books like this should be read and not waste away in a bookshelf of an old man."
"Okay...if you are certain. Then I guess thank you," he mumbled in embarrassment. "But Justitius is not an actual phoenix, can I still train him the same way?" he asked. Justitius had started to flutter excitedly like always when he heard his name and was now buzzing around Albus’ head, who chuckled and stretched a finger out for Justitius to land on.
"He is a fine guy and will surely be a faithful companion," Dumbledore mused and stroked the little bat.
Harry watched his little familiar, who seemed to have taken a liking to the crazy headmaster. The bat had closed his huge eyes and enjoyed the treatment.
"I know and I am really grateful that my mate gave him to me. He is one of the best presents I have ever gotten," he agreed.
"What kind of presents did you get that were as good as a phoenix foundling?" Lucius drawled, in a seemingly uninterested voice, but when Harry turned to him he saw jealousy hidden in his eyes. Lifting an eyebrow, Harry asked himself if his mate could be jealous that he had not given him his best present and answered:
"For example, Hedwig. She is just a normal owl, but I had never gotten any presents before. She was my first one and the invisibility cloak of James. Albus gave it to me at Christmas in my first year."
"I knew you had a secret, you sneaky brat," his father muttered to his right, but Ron exclaimed:
"How can you tell them about your invisibility cloak? I know Snape is your father and all, but he still is our teacher and now he can catch us when we sneak down to the kitchen!"
"It is Professor Snape to you, Mr. Weasley, or it will cost you some house points," his father sneered.
Harry could see his father's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, as Ron ignored him and just went on:
"And really, telling Malfoy of all people about your cloak? That is not only plain stupid; that can very well be dangerous." Ron glared at his mate, who narrowed his piercing eyes and glared back.
Harry decided to interrupt the glaring contest and said: "I will wait for you in the garden, Lucius," before standing up and leaving the room, sure that Lucius would follow him within minutes.
It was already warm outside, even though the sun seemed to slowly lose some of her power as the summer came closer to the autumn. Justitius had apparently followed him and was now happily fluttering from one flower to the next like a huge, black bee. He sat down beneath an old tree and pulled Merlin's book from his pocket, opening it on the first page.
It was written by hand entirely in Latin, but Malfoy Manor had provided him with enough knowledge already that he could read it without any difficulties. It was strange how he gained knowledge and wasn't even aware of it until he came across something that he would need it for.
The book started with a preposition, telling the reader that it was a great honour to be the chosen companion of a phoenix and the greatest proof of someone's power, because Phoenixes only hatched for very powerful witches and wizards. Merlin himself apparently knew of only one other person who owned a phoenix and that was his wife Morgana, who he had two children with.
Merlin also wrote that until the time of his great grandchildren no one from his line was able to get a phoenix as his familiar. Therefore he was apparently very proud of one of his great grandsons, although he speculated that four of them should have been able to incubate a phoenix egg, but they were so rare, that it failed due to the fact that the other three could not find one.
Harry snickered silently; somehow, he had the picture of an old guy in front of him, similarly crazy and wise to Albus, but with a whole bunch of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to fuss over. It was a shame that there was no portrait of Merlin, he would have liked to get to know the man and it sure as hell would have been an interested conversation to listen in on, if somehow Albus and Merlin could meet.
A heavy weight pressed against his side and as he looked up from his book, he saw Nagini watching him intently: "The young female is coming,"the reptile hissed in dismay, only a second before a redhead appeared in the door to the garden and waved at him.
Sighing, Harry closed his book and put it away, he really would prefer to read a bit more.
"Finally!" Ginny sighed as she plopped down next to him: "I was afraid that we would never find time for each other."
Harry shifted uncomfortably, he honestly feared other things, for example his mate or father losing their tempers if they found Ginny yet again flirting with him. Severus might not have liked that he had been so young at his mating, but he had also told him that he was happy for Harry to have found his soulmate; furthermore, Harry's instincts told him, that to vampire’s family was held above all else, so his father would protect his blood bond to Lucius as fiercely as the Aristocrat himself.
"With you becoming the new leader of the Order and the whole Snape issue you were really busy, but you really should make some time for you alone and just relax now and then," she said and scooted closer, whilst he tried to gain some distance from her. Every cell inside him refused her attention, only Lucius was allowed to come this close to him in such a manner. Sadly, Ginny had not noticed his hint or plainly ignored it, both was equally likely:
"I really think it is great that you are in charge now. I like men with power," she giggled.
Harry felt nausea rising in his stomach, oh how he hated her flirting! Ginny didn't even see that he was not the guy she saw in him; she chased after a famous hero figure, a strong man to protect her and to provide her with a good home, not noticing that he didn't like to be in charge that way.
"Yeah," he answered evasively.
"So, do you need some help to relax? I could give you a massage..." the girl offered suggestively. That offer really went too far. He wanted to explode in rage, but right now his submissive side had won over his Gryffindor side and all that he could do was stutter:
"Thanks, but no, Ginny... Don't worry, I am taking care of myself and I have plenty of free time where I can relax," he tried to scoot a bit further away again, but Ron's sister followed once more, pouting: "Why haven't you visited me then?"
A dry voice saved him from answering this particular uncomfortable question: "Miss Weasley, it is inappropriate for a Lady to fling herself so openly at a man...or boy."
Harry sighed in relief at the voice of his mate and rose quickly, he hadn't known how to get away from her right then; those bursts of submissiveness were really annoying.
"It is even more inappropriate to do so when the man already has a mate and is therefore not available anymore," Lucius, leaning casually on his cane, wrinkled his nose in disgust and glared down on the still sitting girl, who pouted first and then glared back:
"Harry’s and my relationship is none of your business, Mr. Malfoy," she spat. "Harry didn't complain, besides, I don't really believe that he really has a mate, or he would have introduced her to me long ago and even if he has a mate, it sure doesn't seem to be going very well, or can you see her anywhere?"
Lucius’ eyes flashed for a split second in anger, before he had his emotions back under control:
"As far as I could see, Harry was scooting away from you, so I would say that he did complain in some way, although apparently not loud enough for you to hear, Ms. Weasley. And if you really think that you have a chance with him, talk to your parents so that they can agree on a period of official courtship with his father, like it is proper to do," the aristocrat hissed.
Ginny huffed: "As if Snape would do anything for a Weasley and I didn't notice Harry scooting away from me."
Harry, feeling more confident again with his mate close by finally found the courage to take a stand, stepping a bit closer to his mate, but not close enough that she would suspect anything: "Ginny, it's enough. Lucius is right. I don't want your attention in any way. I have a mate, I am already taken."
Hurt eyes settled on him: "You only say that because Malfoy is here. It is not a crime to find out that the person who is your mate is not the right person for you, even though this stuck up Pureblood bastard tries to talk you into believing it. I bet she is somehow related to him, otherwise he would not give a shit about the matter!" she hissed and then added in a much sweeter voice: "Come on Harry, I will help you to get out of this mess, you don't have to suffer in a relationship you don't want."
Slowly, Harry honestly started to wonder where Ginny got these ideas from, even he with his muggle upbringing had known that mates and especially soul mates were inseparable and would never even wish to have another lover other than the one destiny had given them. But before he could react in some way, Lucius ordered harshly:
"Come, Harry, we will take our conversation to your father's lab, I am sure he wants to know what the document says and I will use the opportunity to talk to him about Ms. Weasley." Harry's submissive purred in pleasure at the order.
He nodded and turned around with a happy smile to follow his dominant, but Ginny grabbed his hand to hold him back:
"Don't follow him like a puppy. You are the head of the Order, not him," she said and glared at Lucius’ back.
Lucius was next to him in less than the blink of an eye, wrenching his hand free. "Do not touch Harry or I will go and have a serious talk with your parents, Ms. Weasley and believe me, you would not like the outcome of it," he growled threateningly.
His mate was so sexy when he was protecting him; Harry's inner submissive purred and he felt his cock hardening in his trousers as his dominant stepped protectively in front of him. Harry saw Lucius’ pinkie twitch and he knew that his mate had smelled his arousal, they needed to get out of this situation soon, or he would not put it past Lucius to just push him to the ground and ravish him in front of Ginny and everybody else who might come into the garden. This thought aroused him even more and a heavy blush crept up his cheeks.
Lucius gave Ginny one last threatening glare before turning again and this time Harry hurried to follow him. He caught up with him at the door and they went down, side by side, into the dingy and dark cellar. Harry's heart was still hammering in arousal, but he restrained himself from doing anything stupid. Unfortunately, the alluring scent of his mate didn't help him in the least. Lucius was aroused himself and he could clearly smell it.
The aristocrat led him into a part of the basement he had never been in before and the appearance grew more dungeon-like with every step. They rounded a corner and as soon as they were out of sight, Lucius shoved him with all his strength against the nearest wall and was at his neck within the blink of an eye, sucking, kissing, licking, nibbling and biting teasingly.
Harry groaned at the impact with the unyielding wall and the sudden rush of pleasure.
"You are mine, and mine alone," Lucius growled into his ear, lifting him up and grinding his hips against Harry's. Harry moaned and wrapped his legs around Lucius’ hips.
"Yours," he hissed back, tilting his head backwards to expose his neck; he would never want to belong to someone else, his whole being, his body and soul only belonged to the strong man in front of him and he would not wish it any other way.
"That audacious bitch, how dare she to flirt with you? You are mine, my submissive, you belong to me."
Harry had never heard his dominant talk like this and it aroused him even more. He groaned as Lucius’ hard cock rubbed perfectly against his own. His hips jerked forwards and he answered his mate’s demanding thrust with his own more careful ones. Lucius bit down on his neck, drawing a bit of blood.
Heat started to cloud Harry's mind and his own thrust grew more demanding, as heat gathered in his lower stomach and balls. Lucius' cock felt so good against his own, so hot, so big and so hard. Soon they were mindlessly rutting against each other, their tongues intertwined in a heated kiss as they rapidly approached their high, Harry's collar with the little silver bell deliciously rubbing between them, making silent sounds like beautiful music in the rhythm of their fucking.
"Lucius, please," Harry begged, not even knowing what he was begging for. But Lucius knew; the blond bit down on Harry's neck once again, this time sinking his fangs into his flesh.
"Ah!" Harry exclaimed, as he exploded in his pants. Lucius thrust one last time against his sensitive member, before the aristocrat followed him over the edge, groaning into his neck, whilst his long fangs were still buried deep in his skin.
They stood like that for a moment, before Lucius slowly pulled his fangs out. Harry whimpered at the motion and wrapped his arms tightly around his mate's neck, not wanting to be set down so soon.
He leaned his head against the strong man's shoulder and the warm, fluttering feeling rose in his stomach again. Slowly he understood what that feeling meant, but he was not yet ready to say it out loud. But one thing he could say:
"Lucius I...I...there is no one else for me," he whispered and pressed a kiss against the artery on Lucius' throat. Lucius lifted his head a bit and gave him a long and soft kiss, putting every emotion that Harry was still not ready for into that one kiss.
"Do you think someone heard us?" Harry asked as they parted again.
"I cast a quick privacy spell when we entered the basement," Lucius answered with a smug smirk.
"So you had it all planned?" Harry asked, lifting an eyebrow. Lucius hadn't appeared as if he had any control left over his instincts as he had pushed him up against the wall, but then again: that was his mate, Lucius Malfoy, the most controlled person on the planet.
"Not particularly, but I knew that I would not be able to control myself much longer," Lucius confessed, and the confession in itself was a huge proof of trust on his mate's part. Harry smiled up at him, happy that Lucius felt comfortable enough with him to be honest about his few weaknesses. He stretched and pulled his mate down for another, shorter kiss, before he wriggled uncomfortably in his sticky and now very cold shorts.
Fidgeting in his sticky trousers, he asked: "Lucius...could you cast a cleaning spell or something?" His mate chuckled, but pulled his wand out. A shiver ran down his spine when Lucius cast first a cleaning spell and then a freshening charm on him.
"Thanks," he said. "Uhm, where is dad's Potions Lab?"
Lucius pointed at a door just three steps across from them. Harry blushed darkly and glared at his mate: "You didn't just press me up against a wall in front of my father's lab?" he asked a bit sourly.
"Everywhere else someone could have easily walked in on us and I did not have the patience to take you up to my room," Lucius drawled leisurely.
"I hope for your sake that your privacy spell was a good one," he threatened and went over to knock on Severus’ lab door.
"Of course it was. All my spells are flawless," Lucius huffed and followed him.
Severus opened the door at that moment, sniffed and lifted an eyebrow in question.
"The young Miss Weasley saw it fitting to flirt with Harry openly in the garden," Lucius explained dryly.
"Ah," Severus said and stepped to the side.
Harry stepped into the lab, which looked nothing at all like their classroom at Hogwarts. A huge working counter made from stone lined the whole left wall and shelves with ingredients and old looking potion’s books lined the walls. One huge cauldron bubbled in the middle of the room and a couple of smaller ones on the counter. How could his father brew so many potions at the same time? Well...the man was a genius in his area of expertise.
In another corner stood an old green leather sofa, with a small wooden table in front of it.
"What are you brewing?" he asked and walked over to one of the smaller cauldrons. He sniffed and quickly stepped backwards again, feeling a bit dizzy.
"That would be a sort of wine, that suits our new...taste and metabolism. It is mixed with blood and ethanol, making it much stronger in comparison to normal alcohol. I would not advise you to offer it to one of your friends, it might very likely kill them if they drink too much, but for Lucius and myself it will not be any different to the red wines we drank before," his father explained.
Going over to the next cauldron, he smelled pumpkin juice mixed with blood. Harry supposed that this was meant for him. The liquid had a dark orange colour, like blood oranges and would not look very suspicious at a breakfast table.
Lucius in the meantime had taken Harry's place in front of the cauldron with the wine and peered inside with interest: "That sounds and smells like one of your better inventions. I truly miss the feeling ant taste of some relaxing intoxication."
"What do you mean by ‘one of my better inventions’, Lucius?" Severus narrowed his eyes and glared at the blonde aristocrat.
"Well, your enhanced Polyjuice Potion was even more disgusting than the common version," Lucius replied.
Severus only huffed: "Don't forget that you would not have been able to accompany your mate to Diagon Alley without my potion."
Harry had gone to the sofa and was now watching the argument with interest. His father and mate were so similar in many of their ways, that it was always interesting to see the two proud men interact so openly with each other; sadly, it was far too rare, because both of them were highly restrained as soon as a third party was present.
"Without your potion I would not have been forced to pose a whole afternoon as the old coot of a headmaster either. I still have to kill you for that one. Do not try and tell me that you didn't know who the hair was from."
"I didn't, but I did notice that it was a gray hair which left Albus, McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick," his father smirked.
Taking his eyes off the two bickering men, Harry saw a piece of parchment laying on the small table in front of him with his name on it. Picking it up, he read: New schedule for Harry, but there was not anything else written on the paper yet.
"Dad," he interrupted the men. "Are you disappointed that I am not good at potions?"
His father turned to him, and frowned: "Do not say that yet, Harry. I told you that you had no chance to do better in my class than you did due to your undeveloped magical fields. You will start again from the beginning this year and only then will we be in a position to tell whether you are really not talented at potions."
"But if I am still crap at them..." Harry asked shyly; his father's opinion was important to him, especially after they had been on bad terms for so long and he would hate to lose what they had due to his inability to brew a potion.
"Then I will still love you," Severus was next to him in two long strides and ruffled his hair.
"Was my mum good at potions?" he asked curiously, looking up at his father.
"She was...better than average and far better than the morons you mostly find in Potion’s Classes. I would say she was a solid brewer, who could follow a recipe without much trouble...at least most of the times. But when she botched something up, she did so spectacularly, often succeeding in destroying the whole classroom. Luckily that only occurred once, or twice in an entire year. We quickly learned to run whenever her cauldron started to smoke," his father chuckled; his eyes soft and glazed over in memory.
"I can remember some of those... incidents myself. As a Slytherin prefect and head boy I had to watch over the cleaning and rebuilding of our classroom a couple of times," Lucius sniffed. "I believe even Slughorn was sometimes...’overwhelmed’ by her. Let's hope that you have more of your father's talents than your mother's..."
"I'll do my best," Harry promised and waved his mate over to his side.
"Then let's see what the document says," Severus said and conjured a wooden chair so that Harry could snuggle with his mate on the sofa, which he did. As soon as Lucius had sat down, he climbed onto the man's lap and made himself comfortable. His father snorted, but said nothing, only watching him with an amused expression.
"Who would have guessed that the two of us would one day sit in one of your labs with none other than Harry Potter like this?" Lucius mused and stroked over Harry's sensitive neck.
"Who would have guessed that the brat would turn out to be your mate and my son," Severus replied and smiled fondly at him.
Harry purred happily but then forced himself to concentrate; he was the leader of the Order and thus the Light Side now and he could not just slack off.
"You said you brought a copy of the ritual?"
"I did," his mate answered and retrieved a folded parchment from his pocket, giving it to Harry.
"The first page is written down in English, why Salazar changed to Parselscript I cannot tell," Lucius explained.
"Hmm...” Harry hummed and started to read over the first page. It told him essentially, what Severus had already explained to him on that day of the King's Cross attack: The ritual was meant to ensure blood wards, after the anchors of the wards had died. The anchors were living relatives of the caster and the person, who should needed to be protected. Then the ritual itself was described.
The second page was of much more interest to them; Harry couldn't fully understand what exactly Salazar described.
"Salazar says," he said, after he was finished reading "that the ritual uses the magical energy of the dead relatives, which lingers for some time after their death always. It binds this energy to the house where the person, who needs to be protected, lives in. But in the case that those relatives are muggles, the ritual has no ‘magical energy’ it can use, so it replaces this ‘magical energy’ with ‘life force’...whatever that means...and that is the reason why dead muggles turn into ghosts. This process apparently needs some time, two to four weeks."
Lucius sighed: "We shouldn't have been surprised."
"No, we shouldn't, but in our defence, Salazar is talking about a very obscure topic," Severus affirmed.
"What exactly does he mean?" Harry asked, still none the wiser.
"He talks about the difference between wizards and muggles," Lucius explained. "We wizards know that the magic within us is the main force that keeps us alive, that is why it is dangerous to be drained of magic, it quickly leads to certain death. Muggles have no magic, or at least, none they can use, so the question arose whether they actually have magic, but sealed away, or if they have another power that keeps them alive, this so called ‘life force’. It was assumed, that no one could prove either theory, but apparently Slytherin did it a long time ago."
"Slytherin also wrote that the ghost will disappear as soon as we end the ritual, so at least I don't have to deal with them for all eternity," Harry told them and snuggled deeper into Lucius’ embrace.
"What are we going to do now? I don't feel like going up so soon," he asked after a moment of content silence.
"I have to work on the Connecting Potion soon, but you and Lucius can stay if you want and as long as you do not disturb me with ‘inappropriate behaviour’," his father suggested.
"That will not be a problem," Lucius promised. "I brought a test for Harry and he needs a quiet place to solve the questions."
"A test? What kind of test?" Harry asked unhappily. He hated tests.
"I want to know how much knowledge the Manor has already transferred to you," Lucius answered and pulled a stack of papers from his pockets.
"Oh no! That is far too much! I am on holiday!" Harry protested as he saw the pile.
"Harry, you have taken on the duty of the Order Leader and you are the main figure in this war; I think it would be good to know what you are able to do and what not," His father said from across the room, where he had returned to his potions.
"It is not only a written exam," Lucius soothed him and searched for a particular page of the test. When he had found it, he held it up and showed it to Harry. Written at the top of the paper was the name of a spell or curse, Harry wasn't sure.
"These are spell testing paper. You perform the spell on it and it will turn green if you did the spell correctly. If you make a mistake it will turn red and yellow when you did nothing at all, then we will know that you have not gained any knowledge about it."
Harry grumbled, but took the oversized test. "That doesn't make it any better."
"Thank you, Harry," Lucius said and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"I really am not in the mood, but I will work through this test for you."
Lucius came even closer to him and whispered: "Maybe I can make it up to you later," the aristocrat trailed his tongue over the skin behind Harry's ear and he shivered. With a sigh, he turned to the stack of papers and looked at the first one.
Harry quickly noticed that the test was ordered by topic. It started with Defence, followed by Charms, Transfigurations and most of his other classes, except Divination; apparently even his strict mate didn't see the need for him to learn reading the future from a tea cup. The pages with questioned were always followed by at least one paper for a practical test and more of them came out green than he ever would have guessed.
Next were classes he had never attended, like Ancient Runes. He was astonished that he could actually answer some questions, although not as many as before. After he had gone through every class at Hogwarts, the test topic changed entirely and he was faced with many pages in languages, he didn't even recognize. Curiously enough, he could often understand at least some of it.
The last part of the exam was clearly about the dark arts and he found himself performing spells, he would never dare to use if he would be given a choice. Harry didn't know whether it should worry him that this last part was one of his best, nearly as good as the one about Defence, but then again, Lucius had warned him that he might develop a talent for the Dark Arts. When he thought about it, it was even possible that he had possessed these talents all along, with Severus being his real father and his unfortunate connection to Voldemort.
It took him until late afternoon, but finally he had finished the all the tests. By now his brain felt as if it had simmered on a stove for too long, like it tended to do whenever he learned for too long.
"I am finished," he said and strolled over to Lucius, only to sit down again and snuggle into his side as he gave his mate the papers. The older vampire conjured a quill with red ink and started to correct every single parchment at a pace that should not be possible, even for Lucius Malfoy. His dominant’s eyes flew over his answers and corrected them without even thinking twice. Harry wondered, if the Manor magic had helped his mate to learn all this as well, or if he had just read all those books in his library.
Harry continued to watch him; content to sit close to his mate, without having to worry about someone searching for him down in his father's Potions Lab. Severus was still working on the Connecting Potion; a concentrated look on his face.
After only 40 minutes his mate was finished with the corrections and sat up straighter, pulling Harry from his content state.
"And?" he asked, eying Lucius curiously. Unfortunately his mate’s face didn't tell him whether he had done well or not, the famous Malfoy mask was such a huge part of the man, that he even wore it most of the time around Harry. But Harry had learned to read the small signs, like the darkening of his eyes when he was concerned.
"You did quite well; it seems as if the magic is currently adding mostly information to you about topics you already know about, like your classes. The way you learn languages is...interesting, to say the least. From some of them you know only the grammar, from others only the vocals and you obviously have a talent for the dark arts, or even the Manor would not have been able to provide you with so much knowledge in such a short amount of time.
Your biggest problem is still Potions. You have gained some knowledge, but it seems, as if you lack the necessary basics to exercise the gained information. Did you never read a Potions Book for Beginners?"
Harry frowned: "I have started with the first year's text book, like all the others..."
"Well, that certainly explains a lot," said Lucius and his father shook his head in disbelief.
"What is it, dad?" Harry asked and fidgeted nervously, had he done something wrong?
"Normally it is common for students to read a Pre-Potions Book before they enter Hogwarts. These books explain all the basics, like the difference between chopping and slicing. Or how the size of the pieces you cut from an ingredient can change its potency or effect," his father explained.
"The manor has not concentrated on Potions very much, because it is one of the few topics that cannot easily learned by a spell," Lucius added.
"At least I finally have an idea where your major problem lies, besides your age," Severus said and stirred his potion. "We will fix it," he added.
"Do you want to play a game of chess before you join your friends again?" Lucius asked and nibbled on his neck.
"That sounds great, I haven't done something fun the whole day" Harry exclaimed, and turned to his father: "Do you have a chess board?"
"Not down here, but up in my room. I can summon it for you," Severus strode over to the door and opened it before saying: "Accio Severus' Chess Board!" A moment later the chess set flew into the room and Severus directed it to the small coffee table in front of Harry and Lucius.
"And Harry," his father said, his lips slightly lifting in a smirk: "Let Lucius win, his ego needs it."
"I did not lose the last game, my dearest friend," Lucius drawled sounding a bit offended.
"Yes, I know," Severus smirk widened. "But you didn't win either."
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A Different Kind of Hero