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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
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A/N: This was supposed to go up on Monday, but I lost any
shred of patience I had and I'm posting it today! (sometimes I think
authors are more likely to be subjected to posting anxiety than the
readers) On another news I FINALLY got the scene I wanted done and it
only took 57 pages to reach it... and you'll probably see it in a few
weeks time! ;)

Tittle: Promises
of forever

Chapter: 04 –
Talks

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:“Good...
he got this idea that he had to train your son as soon as humanly
possible. Trouble is he wants to remove custody from you to do so.”
said the greasy haired young adult, looking at James with such
sincerity that the Potter Lord had to look away.

Talks
and Unthinkable Plots

“Can't be
right... Dumbledore he... he's the leader of the light side!”
he shouted, upsetting the baby.

Severus just sighed,
rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. How could anyone be
so oblivious? Sure his sense of danger had possibly saved his son
but... he had tried to take Harry Potter away once already, what
would keep him from doing it again?

“Go change your
son... he stinks.” he murmured, watching the crying infant.
“We'll discuss this later.”

“Of course he
stinks... he slept for six hours...” he murmured.

Later, when both their
tempers were somewhat at ease and Harry was happily sucking on a
bottle – while staring fixedly at Snape one might add –
James tried again, his eyes trained on the infant instead of glaring
at the potions apprentice.

“Tell me...
everything.” he demanded and he knew he would be obeyed, maybe
it's because this is his house, or simply because Snape is in the
mood to share information. It doesn't really matter in the end as
long as he gets what he wants.

“I caught Albus
making plans with Minerva, to bring the boy over to Lily's...
relatives...” came the murmur from his dark haired... ally?
Acquaintance? Part-time slave? He didn't know... he only knew that,
the moment Snape offered James the lactus charm they became something
not quite in the way of acquaintance, not even friends... but
something other than bitter enemies.

With a snort, he looked
over at where Severus was, arching an eyebrow challenging. “He's
not 'the boy', or 'the baby' he has a name Snape.”

“Ah yes... the
boy-who-lived I believed.” he was answered with a sneer, just
as challenging as James himself.

“Fuck the whole
boy-who-lived nonsense. He's Harry, Harry James Potter, no other
titles, no other names, don't even use synonym nouns. He's Harry!”
He growled, unconcerned with the language, specially as Harry was too
young to understand.

“Harry then...”
Came expected sneer. “Albus believes that what protected Harry
from the dark lord's killing curse was his mother blood sacrifice, he
doesn't believe that the boy could be protected by a healing chant.”
Came another sneer, but somehow James was not able to believe this
one was directed at him.

“Therefore he
wants to take... Harry” another sneer, “away from you and
with Petunia and her husband. He believes he could place blood wards
over their house.”

James just nodded, as
he lifted Harry up and on his shoulder to have the infant burp. He
cast a glance at the former Slytherin, his lips forming a wicked grin
as he turned around, leaving Severus to watch the back of his head
and Harry's green eyes, he knew the other was incapable of holding
information from Lily's green eyes and he had no shame whatsoever in
using his son, at least not for this purpose.

“Out of pure
curiosity... how did you come about this information?” he asked
in a neutral tone of voice, or as much neutral as he could possibly
keep under the circumstances.

He heard a rustle of
clothes as Snape moved until a clear voice came much closer than he
had expected. “Can I hold him, Harry that is?”

He turned around,
looking into midnight-blue eyes. It had always miffed him that Snape
was taller than him... just three inches, but still taller. Narrowing
his eyes, he gave a tight nod at his guest. “Do you know how
to?”

He watched in curiosity
as two blotches of red colour stained Snape's cheeks that, while not
unattractive, was decidedly unappealing. “I've experience...
with Lucius' and Narcisa's son.” He mumbled, gently taking the
dark haired infant from his father's arms. He was slim, tiny really
and greeted him with a smile as his hands explored Severus' face –
a.k.a, his nose – so unlike Draco that rarely smiled or made
any happy noises.

“I heard they had
a son as well... three months older than Harry wasn't he?”
James asked just so they wouldn't fall on uncomfortable silence.

“Pretty much...
he's...” Severus eyed the infant, before looking at James with
a grimace. “He's... teething... and Narcissa either hands his
off to the house-elves or leaves him with me... her way of saying
'you owe us for the money, make yourself useful by silencing him'.”
he found himself saying, bitterness colouring his words as he patted
Harry's bottom, being rewarded with a loud burp in the middle of his
sort-of speech. James beaming at the boy.

“I heard you were
having your mastery... but I always wondered where you got the money
for it. Lucius' paying for it then?” he grinned, he knew Lucius
hated half-bloods almost as much as 'blood-traitors' and 'mudbloods'.

“Let's just say
someone coerced him into paying it. Someone who would... let's say...
benefit from a potion master.” he arched an eyebrow as James
Potter started to laugh, laughing so hard as to fall on the makeshift
bed.

“Lucius' must
have hated it! No offence Snape but he hates anything and everything
related to half-bloods.” he snickered, well aware that him, as
a supposed 'blood-traitor', married to a 'mudblood' and the father of
a politically powerful three-month-old half-blood had put him on the
top list of people to supposedly 'eliminate'.

“The dark lord
can be very convincing when he wants to be.” He smirked nastily
at James, before looking at the spot of drool on his shoulder. His
head snapped up as he felt James stand up again, all humour gone from
his voice. His face as serious and as dangerous as it could possibly
get with his boy-ish looks.

He briefly wondered if
he was now dealing with Auror Potter or an overprotective parent.
Even worse, maybe he was just dealing with both?

“You're talking
about Him in present tense, why are you talking about Him in the
present tense?!” He growled, and Severus felt the urge to take
half a step back to get room to breath. He held his ground though as
he freed his left arm and showed the now grey dark mark.

James sneered, looking
at the cattle brand and resisting the urge to snatch his son from his
childhood enemy's clutches. He knew that if he did, he wouldn't
resist the urge to blow Snape across the room and curse him with
spells he reserved for death eaters. He briefly wondered when he
stopped thinking of Snape as death eater before pushing the
unimportant subject to the back of his mind.

“What about the
brand?” he asked, or more accurately, growled.

He received a decidedly
flat look in return.

“When you stuck
your head on my fireplace I'm sure you saw the mark on my arm.”
He said in a flat tone, enjoying the look of utter horror and shame
that filled James Potter's face. “as the hours go by it gets
lighter and lighter, the connection diminishing, but I'm sure it
won't go away.”

“How?”

“Because if it
was supposed to go away it would have done so when Harry obliterated
the Dark Lord. And it would have taken most of His followers with
him.” he sighed. “This is a slave bond Potter, it can
only be undone if either the Slave or the Master dies, the fact that
it's grey, going on white and not all together gone, means that He's
not gone...” he sighed, finally having enough courage to sit on
James' couch, on the falling-to-pieces house. “Unfortunately,
Dumbledore agrees with me. He thinks the dark lord did... something.
He won't tell me what he might have done or why.”

“You didn't tell
me... how did you came by the information?”

“I was... asleep
at the Hogwarts library... trying to finish something for my
mastery.” He mumbled, looking at the infant rather than the
father, they had been having a mildly decent conversation, and
besides the initial irritation from both of them this conversation
had been... almost friendly. And he was loath to give Potter even
more weapons to tease him with. He could almost hear the comments
about how he would probably marry books or such nonsense.

He was, therefore,
surprised when James answered with a thoughtful “hmmm...”

He attributed the
father's mild behaviour to the lack of the other two marauders and
the presence of his son.

“What? No
teasing? No snide comments?” he wondered, perhaps a bit harshly
as he glared at James, only to come face to face with a guilty
expression. His glare sharpened as stood up.

Not that he made an
intimidating picture mind, at least James didn't think so, specially
with a gurgling infant on his shoulder yanking on the greasy hair.

“No, not
really... Can't very well do it if I want to ask a favour out of you
can I?” He shrugged.

“Favour? I don't
have money Potter, nor am I willing to have both of you in my house
if that's what you're planning...” Severus glared, moving to
hand Harry over to his father.

James nodded, he knew
that already and the wouldn't put it past Snape to kill both of them
himself if they became a nuisance, it was the reason why he had
thrown the idea out when it had come to him in the first place.

“Idiot!” He
called, completely ignoring the death glare he received. “It's
not that! Look I need you to help me with something. It's about-”

“Does it involve
breaking the law?” the potion apprentice asked with yet another
glare.

“No, it's just-”

“Does it involve
dealing with Black or Lupin?” The glare intensified, pinning
James to where he was standing.

“No, it's got
to-”

“Does it have
anything to do with getting myself involved with dark wizards,
politicians or the law enforcement crew?”

“Of course not!
Now if you just-”

“Does it have-”

“Snape!”
James shouted, startling the child on his shoulder.

“Now look what
you've done!” Severus muttered, getting Harry from James –
and getting an eye roll in the process – and trying to get him
to stop crying.

“You wouldn't let
me speak!” cried the Auror, “Now I need to know two
things, if you know the price for gold-made goods in the muggle world
and if you can melt galleons and get rid of any impurities they might
have.”

“You have just
told me there was no law breaking in this favour of yours...”
he glared, showing his teeth in a silent snarl.

“There isn't! In
nowhere in the books does it say that one can't melt Gringotts gold
and re-sell it, they don't even hint at it!” James cried yet
again, starting to pace around the room. “I read those law
books in auror training from cover to cover there's nothing there
saying you can't melt money and sell it in the muggle world.”

“There might not
be laws James... but what about the goblins? If they catch us at it-”

“I'll take the
whole blame!”

Severus snorted, still
trying to calm the sniffling infant. “And then what? Take the
blame and Albus will surely get his hands on your son!”

James took a deep
breath, before looking at Severus in the eye and replying. “That's
where you come in. If Albus wants to take Harry you can claim that
you, by taking care of him, will satisfy the life debt you have with
me. No! No, listen!” He added as he saw Snape about to
interrupt. “They can't take Harry away if I make it so that, if
you're taking care of him, it will satisfy my terms for the
life-debt. Trust me, a life-debt comes above every law, with very
very few exceptions, blood-wards are not one of those exception.”

James sighed, staring
into midnight-blue eyes.

“I don't like
you, and I know you don't like me but I know you would take care of
Lily's son no matter what. She told me you would and I'm trusting her
word.”

Severus sighed, staring
into hazel eyes that shone with a sincerity he had never seen before.
“What are the exceptions?”

“The unbreakable
vow and a blood vow. The first is self-explained and the second... if
you make a promise while exchanging blood with a person.”

“I see... why not
ask Black and Lupin?” the Potion apprentice asked, finally
putting the infant on the couch besides his father, where he could
rest and sleep in relative peace.

“I'm afraid that,
if you're right and Albus has plans for Harry, that he will blackmail
Sirius into taking Harry away from me... and Remus... somehow his
wolf counterpart never really accepted Harry, I have no idea what he
would do to him if we left my son in his care.” He sighed,
defeated.

“And what do I
get out of all this?”

James just sighed,
giving a weak grin. “40% commission?”

“Sixty.”

“Forty-five.”

“Fifth-five.”

“Forty-seven.”

“Deal.”

And then they shook
hands.

“Tell me, have
you even looked into your Family Vault? It's possible you'll have
enough money there.”

James had the grace to
look mildly ashamed of the oversight, flushing bright red at the
reminder. “Well... err... no! But I know my family, my mother
liked to overindulge sometimes and my father had a mild gambling
problem. They had to sell most of our houses to get enough money to
live and it's not like they had any company or shares to live off
of...” He shrugged, uncomfortable.

“For Merlin's
sake Potter!” Severus snapped, resisting the urge to hit the
auror with a stinging hex. “You'll check with Gringotts first
thing in the morning! You'll be getting a complete bank statement
AND” he glared at the Potter Lord as he saw he was about to
interrupt. “you'll get their fees and a vault booklet... I'll
teach you to use it myself if I have to!”

James could only nod
sheepishly as he stared at the Slytherin. Lily had always been the
one to take care of their accounts. Now he had a feeling Snape would
get into that role.

“Will you take
care of Harry tomorrow?” He asked, trying his best to give the
older man (by three months!) an innocent look.

“What? Me? Why?!”

A/N: Edited on 12/06/2009.
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Promises of Forever