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Promises of Forever	By : Ravenheart Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/James Views: 18939 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from this story and no copyright infringement is intended

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
A/N: This was a lot of fun
to write, even if I cursed this chapter every five minutes. Before
the shit hits the fan – so to speak – a little bit of
cheer to forget their problems, and a little bit of cuteness to make
us all go 'awwww' over Harry. (Just imagine those kitty ears on him!)
And I had a LOT of fun with the Daily Prophet article at the end.

Tittle: Promises
of forever

Chapter: 19 –
Times

Pairing: James
Potter & Severus Snape

Summary: James
survived that fated Halloween night, now with an infant by his side
he has to face adulthood and a world that demands his son. Thank
goodness he has Severus Snape on his side.

Warning:
Character Death, OOCness, cuteness, AU, Harry's three months old
instead of 15 months. Manipulative!Dumbledore, Evil!Tom Riddle

Disclaimer: This
is a work of fiction, written to win the NaNoWriMo challenge. No
money is being made from this and no copyright infringement is
intended.

Previously: “If
I do, you're not getting to them.” he said, grinning and
quickly walking to his – their? - bedroom. Harry would have to
sleep with them today, behind him he heard Severus snarl of 'Potter!'
and he couldn't help but smile nastily at the sound, it was his own
fault for screaming and shouting.

Christmas
Times

The hearing was to be
had on the third week of January and as such, they had, at least,
Christmas and Severus' birthday to look forward to.

It wasn't much since
they were approaching Christmas already but James was thankful –
for once – for the Wizengamot's laziness.

And so it was that they
had Christmas shopping to complete, and it would also be the first
time James went to Diagon Alley with Harry. It was surreal, Harry was
on his lap, held with a cloth that left his arms free to shop while
the kitten looked around. James had been a bit naughty that day and
had put fake kitten ears on his son, enchanting them to twitch and
turn according to his son's mood.

Their presence alone
had gathered he attention of the shopping crowd but the Kitten,
actually looking like a kitten, had sent them to over the edge and
soon enough James was surrounded by onlookers... mostly females he
noted.

Since Harry was just
looking around curiously – even if he suddenly shied from
everyone – and not minding the attention he let it pass,
keeping an eye on his boy even as he enjoyed the discounts he got in
some stores.

It wasn't until someone
tried to grab Harry from him that had James grabbing his wand and
throwing a perimeter ward around them, just as Harry started to
scream, as if someone had cursed him.

“What the hell do
you think you're doing?” He shouted at the woman, his arm
around Harry and the tip of his wand pointed at the older brunette.

“Well... I... I
wanted to pick him up!” she said with as much bravery as she
could, staring up into the cold hazel eyes of the Potter Lord.

“And you think
you can just go around like that picking someone else's children?”
he screamed, but not before weaving a silencing charm around Harry,
he didn't need to hear his father screaming at someone, not again.

“He's not a
child, he's the boy-who-lived!”

“My son is not
public property madam, next time you try something like that I'll
nail your arse with kidnap attempt charges!” He hissed at her,
well aware that everyone else was also watching.

“Well, I've
never!” Said the middle-aged woman, affronted with his claims.

“And you never
will again if you don't get out of my sight!”

After that very few
people tried to bother them.

The day was marked with
the appearance of the Boy-who-lived on public and the call of one
Sirius Black over complaints of someone disturbing public peace. He
immediately saw what could have happened as he noticed James in one
of the fancier restaurants sitting by the window as he fed Harry some
goo or other and he, himself ate the kidney pie. Sirius stood by the
window – under a desilusionement charm – watching the
scene unfold, Harry eating the goo his father gave him like a big
boy, the tyke was bigger than he remembered, the happy grin thrown
around the restaurant to anyone who bothered to look his way until
his eyes lit up in joy as the a dark man entered the place.

The wind was picking up
as Severus walked inside to see both charges eating, one making much
more mess than the other.

“I've always
known you were a messy eater James, but this is pushing.” he
drawled, getting the attention of those who weren't supposed to be
spying even as Harry started to whine to be picked up.

James ignored him, in
favour of getting up, asking for another menu and giving Sev a chaste
kiss on the lips and then politely asking said waiter to remove the
high-chair and replace it with a normal one, that Mr. Snape would be
eating with them.

“I know you want
to be picked up Kitten, what do we do when we want up?” James
asked, grinning when his child lifted up his arms with a toothless
grin. “That's my boy.” He muttered picking up the babe
and sitting him on the table, letting the waiter take the high chair
away.

“You know,”
he murmured, getting the milk bottle. “I don't think you'll
live past your first year. I'll have to eat you up first.” he
said, leaning forward and gently biting the full cheek, getting a
giggle from Harry and a fond smile from Severus.

“When did he
start doing that?” Severus asked, helping Harry hold the
bottle.

“Yesterday
evening... hours after you left.” James said with a proud look,
ready to burst. “He also started to crawl... we were in the
living room and out of nowhere I saw his bottom up in the air going
after a wandering toy.”

“What is it
Severus?”

“I missed it.”

“No you
didn't...”

“I wasn't there
James, of course I missed it!” he groaned, staring at the tiny
baby and giving into the urge to tickle the tiny feet, which were
without shoes for some reason.

“I have a
pensive, Severus.”

“It still won't
be the same.”

“I know, but it
is something.”

Severus just nodded,
smiling at the infant.

“Are you sure you
don't want to come and live with us?”

“After my mastery
is done... after my mastery is done I'll think about it.”

“Okay.”

“What, just like
that?” Severus asked, a bitter edge to his voice.

“Yeah. I thought
about it and... I think we've been fighting, arguing, too much and...
and unlike our school days I don't want to fight with you, not
anymore and specially not on Christmas.”

“I agree,”
Severus just stared at James for a time, before requesting the
memory. And just like that their fighting days were over and done
with, at least their meaningless fights.

Outside Sirius watched,
torn between seething in righteous anger and melancholy for something
he knew he would never have again. He resented Dumbledore and Snape
for the changes in his life but sometimes, rare times, he admitted to
himself that the fault was also his for going along with the plan. He
turned around, trying at the same time to turn his back on his
previous life, the life of fun and games and the carefree lifestyle
he enjoyed, even with he Dark Lord around.

He just hopped that,
someday life would bring his brother back with him, but he guessed...
probably not, he was pants at that whole family thing.

“You're spending
Christmas day with us... right?”

“Is that an
affirmation or a question Mr. Potter?” the potions apprentice
grinned, showing yellowed teeth that came with the love of
Darjeeling, Matte and coffee. Honestly James was just glad that
Severus didn't smoke.

“An affirmation
Mr. Snape.”

“And you're also
shopping with us.”

“Now you're being
delusional.”

James snorted, before
turning his attention to his boy, taking him on his arms and taking a
hold of a raised foot as he smiled at the sleepy face, he knew Harry
wouldn't sleep now, it wasn't time for his nap but he would be cranky
for a bit.

“His first
Christmas... I'm glad I'm here to see it.” he murmured, gazing
into trusting green eyes, so like Lily's, but yet so very, very
different.

“So am I.”
came the mutter from the other side of the table, and James could
only smile at his lover as the waiter came up to take his order and
to hand James his dessert along with another fruit for the dozing
infant.

Lunch went pleasantly,
if a bit stiff due to the patrons staring up at them, Harry waking up
shortly before they left and then Severus left with a kiss on each
Potter, though the baby received much less attention than the father,
trying to escape the eventual shopping spree that he just knew James
would go on.

Said shopping spree was
only interrupted once when one of the Daily Prophet's new reporters
tried to accost him with an out of line question...

“Mr. Potter! Lina
Danzelly for the Daily Prophet, who's the love of your life sir?”
she asked with an unholy glint in her eyes. James, a former marauder,
prankster extraordinary and former collector of detentions just
answered her as truthfully as he could before entering the kid's
shop. A wide awake baby on his lap.

“Let's see what
she makes of that, shall we? Now, don't be surprised or disappointed
if your name doesn't appear anywhere in that article kitten.”
He warned the baby, getting some babbling out of him.

“That's very,
very interesting Harry.” he nodded looking at the child at the
same time he browsed through the shelves, looking for toys, after
that brief interruption shopping went the way he remembered, meaning:
chaos and indecision, specially when it came to baby toys.

Christmas day came
early in the Potter household.

It wasn't a white
Christmas. Not by a long shot, it was muddy and cold and Severus'
freezing feet digging at his knees searching for warmth and Harry
demanding attention early in the morning and Severus tossing him out
of the bedroom with clear instructions to see to his spawn.

James could only roll
his eyes as he left.

He found Harry rolling
on his crib, screaming his lungs out as he tried to roll on his back
again, and he just couldn't keep from yet another eye roll as he
helped the babe to roll on his back again, only for Harry to look at
him with teary green eyes and whimper. And James could only groan as
he picked up his boy and kissed the beginning of a bird's nest that
was his hair.

“Is it me, or
you're getting a bit spoiled?” he murmured, casting a warming
charm over them both and going back to his bedroom.

For Severus, Christmas
started with a cold bed on James' side, the sound of giggles and a
foul smell coming from the very same individual that was crawling
around the bed. But it was the sound of the camera that finally got
him to open his eyes. Bleary eyed he spied the babe sitting in front
of him and about to reach a tiny fist towards him to 'wake him up'.

“Harry, no!”
he mumbled, poking the soft tummy. “Tell your father to change
your nappy, you smell.” Severus watched, amused, as the soiled
bottom went up in the air as the babe crawled to the edge of the bed,
speaking to James in a language only he understood.

“All right
squirt! Let's get you cleaned up!” He heard James' voice
somewhere near the bed before it faded away along with the disgusting
smell, he couldn't help but smile as he listened to the conversation.

“And we have a
full day ahead of us! First breakfast, then presents and then
Neville's coming over to visit and...”

He went back to sleep
as the voice faded away, wondering who he had pleased in his past
life to get a gift such as the one he now had. He was just going back
to dozing when the terrified scream of 'Harry James Potter' woke him
up and he was out of bed and running down the corridor faster than if
the thread of the Cruciatus was being held up over his head.

As it was he found
James soaked and Harry splashing water all over the bathroom.
Needless to say, between the three of them Harry's morning bath took
quite a while.

On the southwest of
England, near the border of Walles, on a land that only Wizards and
Witches could see, Frank Longbottom stood inside his house, by the
fireplace staring at the fire and hopping it would give him answers.
It was almost two months since the attack that rendered his wife
insane and left his son with a damaged magical core. He had visited
Alice every week, sometimes even twice a week, to check how she was
doing, her progress and possible cures.

It was over a month and
there was nothing.

And now it was
Christmas, and he wondered if he should take Neville to see the woman
who gave birth to him.

“Taki,” he
called, snapping his fingers “get Neville ready for travel and
warn my mother that we'll be out all day.”

“B-but Lord
Longbottom, sir...” the tiny house else whispered, twisting his
flapping ears. “It's Christmas sir... and your Lady mother...”

“Tell her that
she can take her plans elsewhere Taki, they will not take place on my
State.”

The house elf bit its
lip, twisting even more its ears as he popped out of the living room
with a 'yes sir.'

Frank wondered,
briefly, if he was being too hard, separating his family like that
right on Christmas... butt it was his mother's punishment for acting
on her own will instead of consulting him about her actions first.

“No use thinking
about it Frankie.” he muttered to himself as he heard his son'
babbling coming closer, followed by a crash upstairs. Picking up the
baby he threw a pinch of floo pownder in the fireplace, calling for
St. Mungos, and flooing out ignoring Augusta's screaming.

He didn't even top by
the reception, going directly to the Janus Thickey ward, only paying
the slightest attention to Neville as he walked through the white
corridors. He paused for a moment to stare at his wife, her hair
shorter than it had ever been, and she was looking at the window,
rocking back and forth to a sound only she could hear.

“You still
remember mama, right Neville?” he whispered to the child,
walking to the end of the ward and staring at her back. His mouth
dry, he conjured an armchair and sat down, Neville on his lap,
staring at the woman before he tried to launch himself at her, crying
and getting her attention.

Frank felt like crying
too.

“Hello, who you?”
she whispered, her voice like a faint spring breeze. The healers had
told him that she would loose her speech abilities in a few years,
and he hopped with all his heart that, even if she didn't recognised
him, Neville would be able to talk to her.

“Hello Alice, I'm
Frank and this is Neville.” he said with a watery smile,
placing the crying baby on the bed, next to her. He couldn't help
crying as he watched Alice gently poke Neville as he hugged her.

“I like it... but
it cries a lot...” she whispered, even as she tried to get away
from her own child.

And as his tears fell,
he couldn't help but think this had been a horrible idea.

On the other side of
Britain, in Scotland, on the Great Hall of Hogwarts, Dumbledore sat,
watching the children and wondering what would their future hold for
them.

He was old already and
his own future had been written, to die in the next twenty years
either in battle – which he hoped would help Hogwarts one way
or another – or of old age. He hoped it was the former, since
his new mediwitch, Madam Pomfrey, was horrible when it came to
bedside manners. He couldn't help but chuckle at the last part.

“Is something the
matter Albus?” Inquired the Charms Professor.

“Just wondering
thoughts Fillius, just wondering thoughts.” he smiled at the
man, his thoughts going back to one Harry J. Potter and his own
future.

He hadn't predicted the
attack on Godric's Hollow. Actually, he hadn't predicted that Tom
could get his claws in the Marauders, he had obviously underestimated
his former student and overestimated the friendship the pranksters
shared. He hadn't thought that the person who James would go to would
be his own spy and James' former nemesis, but he did. He hadn't
thought that Severus, with their own master-slave bond would abandon
him and allow James into his home, but it had happened.

And somehow, along the
way, all of them had gone to different paths.

Albus knew his time on
this plane of existence was coming to the final countdown, he also
knew that Tom had made sure of his continued status in the land of
the living and he needed to know what he had done. And how Harry had
survived, how it tied with Lily, and how it tied with Tom and his
sudden 'death'.

He needed to know,
needed to figure out before it was too late, and for that he needed
Harry and James – specially James – to see his own point
of view.

He supposed haste was
making him commit mistakes, but his time was running out and there
was no time to feel regrets, not now, maybe when Death came to greet
him, but not now.

There was no time to
wonder if things would go right, no time to wonder if he was pushing
away the only chance of 'family' he had seen when he held a newborn
Harry and a newborn Neville.

There was no time for
regrets.

There was only time to
look at the future.

And so that's what he
did, talking to Hogwarts' children, offering advice and a new path to
those who looked for it, and forgetting the tiny hands that held his
fingers at the end of July.

At the Potter household
Christmas lunch wasn't a big affair... James knew nothing of cooking
besides the basic and Severus knew a thing or two, at most. So, lunch
was nothing but basic dishes and the odd thing or two that both of
them had bought to give that Christmas cheer.

Christmas Carols were
either ignored or glared to death by Severus and finally it came the
time James had been looking forward the most.

Opening presents.

Their tree –
while modest – was surrounded by brightly wrapped gifts and
decorated with bows and balls and fairies, and James just knew that
Harry had been aching to grab and chew a few of them, if the looks
meant anything so, finally, finally he picked Harry from the high
chair and settled both of them around the tree, giving the babe a
medium sized present to try and open up, only to watch as Harry
leaned forward and latched on the corner of the paper, gnawing and
humming and banging his hands on the side.

The only adults in the
house couldn't help but laugh at the display, before James ran out to
get his camera and take a few pictures. His favourite being Harry
surrounded by toys and stuffed animals and still gnawing on the
wrapping paper.

Amused, he looked at
the Daily Prophet, Christmas edition. In capital, bold letters, as
the first headline, was written:

'CORNELIUS
FUDGE FLUSTERED OVER JAMES POTTER'S CONFESSION'

'He's
short, fat and he's getting bald.' ~ James Potter

'A week
before Christmas and James Potter confesses all to Lina Danzelly's

question:
'Who's the love of your life?' in a question that shock the Ministry

to the
core, Mr. Potter's answer of 'He's short, fat and he's getting bald.'
rocked

the
foundations of the Ministry, as everyone tried to figure out who
would be the

love
interest of the famous James Potter. A few sources confirmed the
statement

above,
about the physical characteristic but would not say anything else.
Looking

into
the statement above, and looking for possible candidates, the only
one who

fit the
criteria was candidate for the next election Cornelius Fudge,
married, age

51, and
with two children at Hogwarts. Mr. Fudge was unavailable for comments

but his
secretary a Madam Tangela Lavonna, confirmed that he had been
flustered

and
shocked over the statement. We, at the Daily Prophet, await eagerly
Mr.

Fudge's proclamation to Mr. Potter's confession.

James
couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at Harry and the spot where
his hair was beginning to fall. “Short, fat and bald indeed.”
he muttered, and he couldn't help but smile as his child
smiled at him, forgetting for a moment everything that had happened,
and everything that would eventually happen from here on.
- 18
- 19
- 20
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Promises of Forever