Dearest Harry - Eileen's Story

Dearest Kim, thanks for all the stonking work this weekend girl. Love you Lxx


Twelve

When Severus went downstairs, Harry was already in the kitchen, helping Molly. He was clad in a pair of Ron’s pyjamas, which were several sizes too big for him. The two were snarking at one another happily.

“If you are going shopping for me later, then I am helping you now, and that is an end to it.” Harry was saying firmly, he was standing by the stove frying bacon. It was the smell of this which had woken Severus and he was sure that, with the delicious scents filling the air, that he would soon be joined by whomever else was staying in the house right now.

“But you have not been well, Harry, you should still be resting.”

“I’m fine, Mrs Weasley. Really, I am. All better now, I promise,” This time flexing the muscles in his arms as if to demonstrate his general wellness.

Molly smiled at him and reached up to feel the muscle that Harry indicated, “I can see that you are strong, Harry,” she said, “But you don’t have to do this to make me like you, you know.”

“I know,” Harry said looking down at his feet, “but I don’t think you should be doing this alone, it’s too much.”

They both turned from the stove at the same time and noticed Severus.

“Good morning,” he said, as he walked over to the table and took a seat. A large orange teapot was sitting in the centre on a crocheted tablemat and Severus poured himself a cup of the thick brew.

“Good morning, Severus,” Molly said cheerfully. “Harry asked if we could gather after breakfast. He said the two of you had something to tell us.”

Severus raised his eyebrows and looked steadily at Harry. Harry stared stonily back.

“I think everyone should know,” he said, “unless, of course, you are ashamed of me? And I think she would probably be safer here if Voldemort is after you.” Then he turned back to the cooker and added some eggs to a pan.

Severus was stunned. He had never for a moment thought that Harry would want to claim him, Severus Snape, as family, and of course the boy was right; Severus had been really worried about Eileen. But, in his current situation, there had been nothing he could do to protect his mother. He didn’t even have his wand. He had no influence with the Order right now, in fact most of them were still quite hostile towards him, and he had nowhere safe that he could take Eileen.

Seconds later and the kitchen was full of people all talking at once.

After breakfast, and the usual arguments about who was clearing up, the crowd of people seemed to thinning out a little bit. Soon there were just the usual inhabitants of Grimmauld Place left; Lupin, assorted Weasleys, Granger, Malfoy, Tonks and Moody, who had arrived a little earlier and seemed to be hanging about for some reason.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Potter,” he growled, glaring at Severus. “They are Death Eaters. Both of them should be in Azkaban.” He glowered at Draco who flinched and started staring at the table with great intensity.

“Well, thanks for your advice, sir,” Harry said, “but I do trust them. I trust them both and I do not think that they should be without their wands right now.”

“They have fooled you, Potter, smarming up to you a little bit and you forgive them everything and welcome them into the fold.”

The look that Harry gave the grizzled old Auror would have quelled anyone and it certainly seemed to give even Moody pause for thought.

“I have my reasons for trusting them both,” Harry was saying, “but, right at this moment, I cannot tell you what those reasons are. You will just have to trust me. And I didn’t say that I liked them, either of them, but I want them as safe and as useful as possible and they can’t be that much use to us without their wands.”

Malfoy flinched at Harry’s words, Severus almost flinched himself, but at least he thought Harry was nothing if not honest, painfully honest. Moody reached into his robes and brought out two wands and Severus felt like crying. He had never been without his wand as long as this before and he wanted to snatch it from the old Auror’s hands and cradle it to his chest. But Moody gave the wands to Harry, who took them with thanks and then returned them swiftly to their owners. From the look on Malfoy’s face he was just as delighted as Severus was. He stroked his wand gently and returned to his pocket. Severus put his away quickly before any one could take it away again.

Moody scowled at them all, “If they do anything they shouldn’t, let me know,” he said menacingly, “It’ll only take a minute to gut them both.” For a moment longer, he stood glaring at the two of them and then he swept from the room, banging the front door behind him.

“Well, that was pleasant!” said Lupin sarcastically, looking at Severus in apology. “But seriously, Harry, how do you know that you can trust them?”

“I know for a lot of reasons. Malfoy has every motive to hate Voldemort, as you all well know. And as for Professor Snape,” Harry said, walking back to the table where most people were still seated, finishing up coffee and eating toast. He started ticking those reasons of on the fingers of one hand. “He has saved my life on a number of occasions, including at the Dursleys the other day. I have a lot of cause to believe that he is indeed Dumbledore’s man and, furthermore, he found something out recently which clinches his trustworthiness for me. But I’ll let him tell you all about that.” He sat back down, poured himself another coffee, adding far too much sugar and cream, in Severus’ opinion, and started to nibble a piece of toast.

Every eye in the room turned to Severus. He sighed deeply. He was not sure that he wanted to share this with the people gathered before him, but he thought that Harry was probably right. They did need to know, it would make things easier. He could probably bring Eileen here, and his relationship with Harry, once made public, would undoubtedly help him in protesting his innocence. He couldn’t quite believe that Harry was so ready to claim him as a relative, though. He looked at the boy who was sitting at the head of the table, obviously aiming for an air of casual indifference and failing miserably. Severus suspected that, despite what Harry had said yesterday, he did want a family. He wanted someone to want him, to claim him and Severus thought that he at least owed the boy that.

So, for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, he launched into his story.

When he finished, the kitchen was totally silent, even the clock seemed to be holding its breath. Harry was staring at the tabletop now, idly stirring his finger around in a pile of sugar, making spiral patterns and listening intently.

Molly spoke first, “Oh Severus!” she said, “Poor you, your poor mother, and poor Harry.” She got up from where she was sitting and walked over to Harry first, enfolding him in a loving hug. Severus shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He hated being the focus of so much attention. He could see that Harry obviously felt the same. Rather spitefully, he revelled in the boy’s discomfort, and then he felt a pang of guilt. None of this mess was Harry’s fault, after all?

“We are going to meet her this afternoon,” Harry said roughly, “and bring her back here for safety. Voldemort might take it into his head to go after her, especially if he finds out about me. No one else should be in danger ’cause of me. I thought she could have my room.”

Molly still had her hand on Harry’s shoulder. He held his hands in his lap and he was looking down at them as if they were the most interesting things that he had ever seen. She placed a finger under his chin and tilted his chin up so that she could see his eyes. “Is that why you needed the new clothes today, love?” she asked kindly.

Harry nodded, “I didn’t want her to be ashamed of me,” he said in a tiny voice. “I owled Madam Pomfrey too, to see if she could come and look at my eyes, maybe sort out some glasses or something, for my vision.”

It was such a huge revelation that nobody seemed to know what to say, then Ron grinned.

“It’s a pity you didn’t know this back at school, Harry. You could have got tons of leverage in potions.”

Then everyone was talking at once again, and the awkwardness passed, and then people drifted off to get on with their day and mull over what had happened that morning, and Harry insisted on helping Molly with the dishes.


Eileen’s front door was immaculate, just like the rest of her house. The brassware shone, the paint was clean and fresh, and the windows gleamed in the sunlight. In the end, half the order had turned up to support them both and offer protection and Severus was grateful, even if he did suspect that they were mostly here for Harry and not for him.

The boy stood just beside him, he was pale and shaking a little. He had gone a bit green and looked as if he were going to be sick. His clothes were new, and they transformed him. He looked neat, stylish, as if he cared about his appearance. Molly had taken Hermione and Ginny and they had hit the chain stores, stopping first at Harry’s vault to get enough money. Severus had felt yet another pang of guilt because he, like everyone else, just assumed that Harry was lazy, and had never bothered about his appearance because he was arrogant. But they were wrong, weren’t they? His outsized, tatty clothing was, like so many other things in his life, yet one more indication of the neglect he had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys.

Severus thought that he would never forget the vitriolic outpourings that Harry had suffered at their hands earlier that day. Harry had waited until Molly was well away from the house before inviting the family downstairs from the little room where the Order had sequestered them. He had stood there in front of them, not saying a word to defend himself, whilst they spent a full half-hour shouting at him for every perceived wrong in their lives. They had then proceeded to list every shortcoming they thought he had, until finally Severus had had enough and he told them all to shut up.

Tonks had managed to arrange a safe house for the family somewhere in Europe, as it was felt that no one could be spared to keep watch on the family, and removing them from the country was probably the only way to keep them safe. Severus knew he was not alone though, when he suggested that they could just be obliviated and delivered gift-wrapped to the Dark Lord. In fact, it was that, more than anything, which had finally persuaded the family to be quiet. They obviously worked out for themselves that Severus meant every word.

It was Tonks again who apparated them away and, once they had finally gone, Harry had seemed to shrink. He had held himself together throughout the diatribe that they had unleashed on the boy but, after they were gone, he had made lunch with Ron and then quietly disappeared to his room to be alone for a while.

Severus, Arthur and Lupin had sat around the table, ignoring the rather lumpy sandwiches that Ron had made, and eating the delicious ones produced from the same ingredients by Harry. This time Severus made the tea. Molly and the girls were due back early that afternoon.

“It is a wonder that Harry did not grow up to be another Dark Lord when you see what he had to put up with,” Lupin had said sadly.

“Will your mother be good to him, Severus?” Arthur had asked. “Does she want him in her life? Because we can’t let him be hurt again, we should have seen this. He is right, you know. All of us saw the signs, time and time again, and then ignored them. Because we couldn’t believe that such things would happen to Harry, to a child we know. We should have looked out for him before. All of us should. But we have to look after him now too. He deserves much better than that, than those odious people. He is a good kid.”

Later, there had been much excitement as Harry tried on the various clothing that Molly and the girls had chosen. And those, along with the new glasses that Poppy delivered, made him look very handsome indeed. Neither Ginny, nor Hermione, nor Malfoy, Severus noted with not a little surprise, could take their eyes off him. Malfoy too had been astonished when he was presented with a parcel of clothing. “Your things looked a bit threadbare, dear, and Harry said he thought you might need a few things. They are only from a chain store, though, they are probably not what you are used to.” Molly had said. Even Ron and Ginny had one or two new items, courtesy of her housekeeping budget, so Molly had said, but she had winked at Harry at that point, which made Severus think that there was a little more behind the story.

Poppy had taken Severus aside and told him how pleased she was with Harry’s rapid healing. “He seems to have got over those broken bones very rapidly,” she had said. “Mind you, I would not be surprised if he doesn’t have some innate healing ability. After all the scarring I found when I did a magical scan, he has had to deal with some pretty bad breaks and bruises in the past. He has healed so well, that it was only when I did a deep scan, that I found any evidence at all of abuse. I had never seen it before.”

Molly had hugged the boy when they finally left for Eileen’s house, and brushed his hair from his eyes, and told a hugely embarrassed boy that anyone would be delighted to have him in their family, and she only wished that she had found out that Lily was her long lost sister. He had blushed furiously then, and placed a quick kiss on her cheek before Severus had portkeyed them away.

And now they were here. Harry looked at him one more time, seeking what, comfort? Reassurance? Before lifting his hand to knock at the door.




Harry felt like he wanted to run away. It had been easier, by far, to face a dragon, a Dark Lord, come to that, than be standing here on his grandmother’s doorstep. It was a sweet little house, with a bright red front door and colourful hanging baskets, brightened with begonias and lobelia. He had only found out about his grandmother the day before, and here he was, ready to meet her already. He had been very touched by the kindness of the Weasleys and Professor Lupin today, especially Mrs Weasley. They had all felt sorry for him, he knew. Sorry, and not a little guilty, but Harry had appreciated their kindness, whatever the reason behind it.

He had kept sneaking peeks at Snape all day, too. He could not quite believe that he was Harry’s uncle. When he had stood up to the Dursleys for Harry, it had made him feel quite fuzzy inside and he had to go to his room for a while, because all the emotion had proved just too much to handle. He had tried to continue hating the Professor, but instead found himself watching how he stood and talked and brushed his hair from his eyes and wondering if he were like Snape in any way, and how like Snape Lily had been. When he was upstairs, he had peered closely at his album to see if he could spot any resemblance between the Professor, Lily, and himself. He also wondered if he was any good at this ‘hate’ thing, because he couldn’t seem to sustain it for long, not even with Malfoy who had been horrible to Harry and his friends and whom Harry now felt sorry for. Not even with Severus Snape, who had been an out and out nasty bastard to Harry since he was eleven years old, and not with the Dursleys who he had just been glad to see the back of.

But now the door was opening. Harry was vaguely aware of the Order members standing nearby, of Snape beside him, but really he didn’t have eyes for anyone except the woman who opened the door.

She was small and quite thin. Her hair was white and drawn back behind her head in an old fashioned bun. To Harry, she looked like a picture-book granny. Her eyes were very like Snape’s but, whereas his had so often looked at Harry with hate and contempt, these eyes were warm and loving. When she saw him, Eileen Prince’s face broke into an enormous smile and Harry could feel the love radiating off her. She looked at him as if he was the best thing to ever walk into her life and nobody had ever looked at Harry like that before, not ever.

Harry felt warm all over, and safe, and welcome. Most of all, he knew that she was keen to know him, to have him in her life, and Harry had never felt anything quite like this. For the first time since he was a very small child, Harry felt wanted.

She lifted her hands to his face and cupped his cheeks as if she were holding something wonderful and precious. “Oh Severus, thank you,” she breathed, “E lad,” she whispered to Harry, “You are such a sight for sore eyes, you are!” With that, she drew them both inside and shut the door on the outside world.