Scarred Souls
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
48
Views:
69,298
Reviews:
251
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
2
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
48
Views:
69,298
Reviews:
251
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
2
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Fame or Infamy?
*****************************************************
Title: Scarred Souls
Author: Misty Moonlight/Co-author: QueenBoadicea
Beta: QueenBoadicea
Pairings: Severus/Harry
Published: 12/10/2008
Summary: A widowed Harry must bond with Snape in order to save his daughter’s life. Sev gains a family, for better or worse, and the hearts of two scarred souls will be changed forever.
Warnings: Romance, Drama, Angst, Alternate Reality/Universe, Sexual Situations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash, Anal, Language, Humor, possible MPreg, Bonding, Original Characters, Family, non-canon, OOC, WIP
*****************************************************
Chapter 17: Fame or Infamy?
The next few days were hell. The obscene color of his hair was fading only gradually to its normal color, leaving his hair black with uneven streaks of pink, much to Severus’s annoyance. The glue had washed out completely but left his palms and his scalp itchy and dry. A cream of his own creation had remedied that problem. He dared not try anything on his hair lest it make the dye somehow worse.
The pranks continued unabated. His favorite ladle turned into a snake and tried to bite him. The herbs, plants and various potions ingredients he had gathered for his lab rotted, spoiled or vanished inexplicably. The feet on the cauldron disappeared but if he tried to brew any potions in it, they tended to react in unexpected ways. They curdled, turned unsightly colors and, in one instant, blew up, splattering a noxious smelling paste over half the room. Even with his wand, it had taken ages for the magic to dispel the rotten substance.
Even his private quarters weren’t safe. He’d gone to sleep and woken up covered in a horrid rash that left him itching savagely. He pulled his shirts from the drawers only to find that they’d been mysteriously dyed purple. His robe shrank every night so that he had to re-size it in the morning.
He made good on his threat and took away the toys from the twins. The odious brats had run screaming to their father. He and Potter had had a furious argument that had degenerated into insults and yelling, causing the urchins to start crying even louder. Fed up, his bond mate had taken his whole stinking brood back to the Burrow. Severus had bidden them all good riddance.
So now it was just he taking up residence in the cottage…and the unholy trinity. While he would never admit it, Severus found he actually missed Potter. When he was engaged in what passed for conversation with that brain-challenged Gryffindor, the noise from the heads could be tuned out somewhat.
There was no such respite now. If he remained anywhere in the house, they berated him unceasingly. The third head’s musical material never ran out. Severus wondered where the songs originated. Merlin knew he didn’t recognize any of them.
Another blow came a few days later in the Daily Prophet.
BOY WHO LIVED MARRIED IN SHOCKING SECRET CEREMONY TO DEATH EATER!
Stunned by the lurid headline, Severus found himself filled with fury as he kept reading.
One of our reporters, a Mr. Clay Webster, was in Slugs & Jiggers when he heard Harry Potter come in to buy potions ingredients. The list was long and rather unusual, all the more so since the famous Boy Who Lived was never brilliant at Potions. Many former students at Hogwarts attested to Harry’s lamentable performance in this class, including Slytherins such as Blaise Zabini.
“Yeah, Potter was absolutely pants at Potions. It didn’t help that Professor Snape picked on him all the time in class. Potter couldn’t do anything right in his eyes.”
So why was Harry in Slugs & Jiggers, buying potions ingredients? Could it have to do with the fact that his new bond mate ordered him to purchase them, at Harry’s expense? An anonymous tip has revealed all!
It seems that Severus Snape, presumed dead these many years, has been secretly alive all this while, sheltered by people in the Ministry. If Severus Snape had been exonerated in the murder of Albus Dumbledore and vindicated for his role against Voldemort during the Second War, why was he kept hidden? If he truly was a traitor and foul murderer, why was he sheltered and protected from discovery by a government sworn to protect the public?
Ministry officials have made no comment about this matter. This reticence is inexplicable. The war has been over for years. Why not speak out?
Additionally, in a heinous act of subterfuge and guile, Snape held the life of Harry’s little daughter in his hands and threatened to let her die if Harry didn’t become bonded to him. Afraid of losing his little girl, the last child of his dearly departed wife Ginevra Weasley, Harry reluctantly agreed to this Faustian bargain.
This was a truly despicable act to perform, especially in the light of Harry’s many attempts to exonerate the former Death Eater. Perhaps this is merely another case of a Slytherin making an unwarranted attack on a Gryffindor. Perhaps there is something deeper and more personal than old house rivalries.
Whatever the answer might be, it’s clear that Harry Potter, with his love for women, did not bond with Severus Snape out of love but expediency. Why did Severus Snape hate Harry so in school? And why is he so willing to perpetrate that hatred on the Wizarding World’s savior after all these years?
These reporters will be keeping a very close eye on these two. Hopefully, Harry Potter won’t suffer too much at Severus Snape’s hands.
His fingers tightened on the paper as he read the article again. Accompanying it was a blurry photo of a saturnine frowning man dressed in black, obviously meant to be of himself. He squinted as he tried to think when and where this photo might have been taken.
By the highly placed windows, this would seem to have been taken in Hogwarts. When—ah, it must have been during that wretched Tri-Wizard Tournament. He could make out Dumbledore twinkling in his usual manner and the bulging eye and leg of Alastor Moody, that is, the fake Moody, just at the edge of the picture. Harry Potter was at the center, of course, his face twisted in an unhappy frown.
He had thought Potter to be puffed up and conceited by the unwarranted attention. He shouldn’t have been in that tournament. The proper champions had been picked already by that cup and Potter had been too young. He had said so himself, vociferously, to anyone in charge who would listen. He’d been ignored and Potter had foolishly risked his life, just as the silly brat had been doing since his first day at school.
“Merlin, that’s a nasty picture of you.” He gritted his teeth as head number one commented on the old picture.
“Well, at least they got your good side, Snivellus. What am I saying? You don’t have a good side!” guffawed head number two.
“Meeskite, meeskite. Once upon a time there was a meeskite, meeskite, looking in the mirror and he said, ‘What an awful shock. I got a face that could stop a clock.’ ”
More of that insane laughter and he threw the paper down on the table in disgust.
Who could have told about his marriage to Potter? Given his position in the Ministry, Arthur Weasley would have stressed the need for secrecy to his family. Molly Weasley was angry enough to unleash the Killing Curse. But Severus had made it plain that any attempt on his life would pose a fatal danger to their precious Harry. Exposing the fact that Severus was alive would make him a target for his enemies and that would prove deadly to Potter’s life.
Percy Weasley wasn’t on good terms with his kin but he had been clear in indicating his distaste of Severus’s new association with his family. Would that spur him to speak out against Severus or keep his silence? Severus was fairly certain it would be the latter but he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.
Potter was the likely suspect. He was angry about being bonded to Severus. But would his rage be enough to cause him to wag his tongue to inquisitive reporters?
His lips thinned. Of course he would. Potter always was a preening attention seeker. Moaning like this about his awful fate in being tied to the ugly, old, greasy Potions master would be just the sort of thing he would do.
Striding to the living room, he grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. “The Burrow!” he called and thrust his head into the flames. “Mrs. Weasley! Mrs. Weasley! Come to the floo at once!”
There was no immediate answer and he braced himself. There was nothing for it. He would have to beard the lioness in her den. He advanced into the floo and stepped into the space.
He glanced around narrowly, half expecting Potter or one of his brats to come running into the room. They did not. But the next moment, Molly Weasley entered, wiping her hands on her apron. She halted and a furious expression crossed her face. However, she spoke to him with cold civility.
“Well, Severus. This is unexpected. What did you want?”
“I’m seeking my errant bond mate. I understand that he ran to your comforting arms a few days ago.”
“He’s not here.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Indeed? Did he lie to me then? I always know he was a deceitful little sneak.”
The woman’s face reddened and her tone lost some of its politeness as the chill increased.
“He and the children left to go to Grimmauld Place. Harry will always be welcome here but he didn’t want to impose on me any more than he had to. If you like, I can send on a message by owl that you want to see him.”
“That’s not necessary. I can pen a note if you’ll be so kind as to fetch writing tools.” He waited while she fetched quill and parchment. The owl itself, a grey somnolent creature, sat almost unmoving on the table. The thing looked like it was going to sleep and he poked it sharply with the quill until it roused itself with a shake and an unoffended hoot.
He scrawled his message on the parchment, wrapped up the offending article in it, and fastened it to the bird’s leg. Severus watched the bird flap its way heavily through the window. Afterwards, he stood and stepped to the fireplace again.
“You’re quite welcome, Severus. We so enjoy these little visits of yours…like an attack of spattergroit,” Molly snapped acridly at his back.
He didn’t bother to reply only grabbed the powder and stepped back into his new home.
********************************************************************
Grimmauld Place was not an ideal home to Harry’s mind. Kreacher worked hard to keep the place clean and tidy. But somehow shadows abounded in the place and brought an aura of gloomy depression. Molly had advised curtains in bright colors, new furnishings and an abundance of flowers. She’d recommended knickknacks too, although Harry couldn’t think of any that would fit the stark grandeur of the place.
The library, filled with Dark Arts tomes, made him distinctly nervous. He could lock the door but sooner or later the twins would find their way into it and then there’d be hell to pay. For the moment, they were too young to read anything too complicated and for that he could only count his blessings—and keep the door firmly locked and warded.
The children’s rooms and his were the only ones with any true hominess in them. Colorful hangings graced the walls and a Snitch, a leftover from Harry’s youth, darted around the twins’s room. When they had Lily with them, she would laugh and crawl around the room, trying to catch the golden flying ball.
Harry couldn’t help but feel this was an unworkable situation. Running from Snape every time they had a disagreement wasn’t an option. Yet he couldn’t push himself on the hospitality of the Weasleys forever, no matter how much they’d welcome him.
They had to reach some kind of compromise. He was unwilling to stay separated from his children just because he had Snape around but they couldn’t be in Snape’s presence without yelling at him or struggling not to cry.
There was also his job to consider. After defeating Voldemort, he had agonized about what he should do with the rest of his life. He was so rich he could spend the rest of life in idle luxury if he chose. But the job offers had come pouring in for him, the Boy Who Lived. The impression was that he could be absolutely lousy at his work and no one would care.
Harry hadn’t wanted that. When he thought hard about what he wanted in life, the idea came to him in a flash. Dumbledore had tried, in his way, to show fairness towards the downtrodden in the Wizarding world. He had extended the hand of benefactor to the half-giant Hagrid, Squibs like Arabella Figg and Argus Filch, outcasts like Firenze, Dobby and Winky and even the nearly useless like Sybill Trelawney. Could Harry do any less?
When he looked at his children, born of a poor pureblood witch and a mixed-blood wizard, the choice was easy.
Just as he’d striven to exonerate Snape after the man’s supposed death, so Harry had worked to help children born of less exalted parentage. With his father’s money, Harry had funded an orphanage for children who’d been orphaned by the war and couldn’t find anyone to take them in.
But he knew more than money was needed and so spoke out tirelessly about the plight of halfbloods and squibs. He remembered with a shudder how Neville had casually spoken about being dropped through a window by a careless uncle. How many other children of Wizarding families were subjected to the same test of their magic? And how many unfortunate Squib children had been quietly buried when the experiment failed?
Every person was valuable. No one should be thrown away just because they couldn’t perform magic or came from less than noble parentage.
Ginny had approved and kissed him soundly when he’d told her his plan. He’d thrown himself into it, glowing in the knowledge that his entire family had backed him in his plan.
Harry smiled as he jiggled Lily on his lap. She was so beautiful and her dark auburn hair reminded him so much of her mother. He wanted her to be happy, to grow up in a loving home. A happy childhood was what all his children deserved. Goodness knows he’d never had that. Why couldn’t he get Snape to realize that rearing children meant more than punishments and rigid discipline?
There was a rap at the window and he lost his train of thought. When Lily fussed, he quieted her and let her play with the stuffed unicorn he’d bought for her and placed her on the floor.
The Weasley’s owl was there, a creature so old he’d often wondered how it managed to fulfill its duties. Arthur Weasley had gotten an increased salary when his position had improved with the Ministry. He could have bought another owl if he chose. But he was loyal to this faithful creature and was reluctant to retire it while it still had the ability to fly.
Harry opened the window and the bird hopped in and plopped down in a nearby seat. To Harry’s amusement, the fowl immediately dropped off to sleep after he removed its message.
The smile fell from his face as he read the contents.
“Potter, you imbecile, what in Hades do you think you’re playing at? I would have thought, having survived a war, you’d have learned something about discretion! Yet I open this morning’s Daily Prophet to find your name and mine emblazoned on the front page!
Do you not understand that I am still a wanted man in certain quarters, that there are escaped Death Eaters and others sympathetic to the Dark Lord who would like nothing better than to see me killed or worse? I did not become your bond mate simply to have you throw my life away in this cavalier fashion!
You will find a way to rectify this mess, Potter, or so help me the next time I see you I WILL hex you and no Weasley or your wretched infants will stay my hand.
Included with the letter was the offending article. Harry fumed as he re-read the message. What bloody cheek! He certainly hadn’t gone talking to any reporters, especially the ones at the Prophet! He refused to read the Prophet on principle, ever since he had seen the foolish crap they’d printed about him when he was just a student in Hogwarts. But it would be just like Snape to assume the worst and blame him!
If the public had gotten wind of Snape’s reappearance from the dead, there was precious little Harry could do about it. He could lie, of course, and state that he didn’t know anything about Snape being alive. But, thanks to Snape’s insistence in dragging in that Ministry official, who knew how many people were aware of the Potion master’s miraculous return from the dead?
He tossed the message on to the sofa while he tried to think. Contrary to what Snape thought, he wasn’t interested in seeing the man punished, not after he’d spent so much time and effort getting his name cleared. He’d see if there was anything he could do to straighten out the latest misunderstanding.
“Dada?”
He looked down to see Lily staring up at him. Her face was unusually solemn, as though she’d picked up on his worry.
“What is it, sweetie?”
“What wrong, Dada?”
“Nothing, darling. Just thinking about stuff, I guess.” He smiled and ran his hand through her soft curly ringlets. She smiled, satisfied, and sat down near his leg once more playing with her unicorn, which ran and leaped on the floor in front of her. Lily had such a cheerful nature. It took a great deal to upset her, unlike the twins.
Suddenly Harry sat up. Where were the twins? Another drawback of this oversized mausoleum was that it was hard to keep track of the rambunctious pair. They could be several rooms away and he’d never hear what they were up to.
“Kreacher?”
The house-elf didn’t appear right away so he called again. The ancient Black servant took a long time to show these days when he was summoned. Harry wasn’t sure why but he put it down to age. Soon he was going to have to cut off Kreacher’s head and nail it on the wall beside his ancestors, as the house-elf had often demanded. He had explained to the house-elf that he could be free if he wanted. There was no need for such a ghastly end to his career. But the house-elf had been adamant, falling into piercing wails until Harry had agreed to the hideous task.
It left him queasy whenever he thought about it. The twins had found all the severed house-elf heads to be pretty cool, though.
Finally, the house-elf appeared. He bowed and rasped in his gravelly voice, “How may I serve Harry Potter?”
“Kreacher, have you seen the twins lately? I get worried when things are this quiet. It usually means they’re up to something.”
“No, Master Harry. James and Albus have not summoned me.”
“Well, find them and check to see that nothing has exploded in their rooms, all right? Don’t let them put anything over on you, either.”
Did he imagine it or did a smirk crease the worn old face? “Very well, Master Harry. But I find your children to be wonderfully well behaved. If they harbor feelings of mischief, it is not towards you.” With that enigmatic statement, he disappeared.
That wasn’t too difficult to figure out. But, surely, with the twins separated from Snape, the possibility for stupid practical jokes was practically nil. Still, it couldn’t hurt to be more careful.
Shoving the matter of the newspaper to the back of his mind, he decided to go in search of his wayward offspring and hope they hadn’t set the drapes on fire.
TBC
A/N: The song “Meeskite” is from the musical Cabaret.
Title: Scarred Souls
Author: Misty Moonlight/Co-author: QueenBoadicea
Beta: QueenBoadicea
Pairings: Severus/Harry
Published: 12/10/2008
Summary: A widowed Harry must bond with Snape in order to save his daughter’s life. Sev gains a family, for better or worse, and the hearts of two scarred souls will be changed forever.
Warnings: Romance, Drama, Angst, Alternate Reality/Universe, Sexual Situations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash, Anal, Language, Humor, possible MPreg, Bonding, Original Characters, Family, non-canon, OOC, WIP
*****************************************************
Chapter 17: Fame or Infamy?
The next few days were hell. The obscene color of his hair was fading only gradually to its normal color, leaving his hair black with uneven streaks of pink, much to Severus’s annoyance. The glue had washed out completely but left his palms and his scalp itchy and dry. A cream of his own creation had remedied that problem. He dared not try anything on his hair lest it make the dye somehow worse.
The pranks continued unabated. His favorite ladle turned into a snake and tried to bite him. The herbs, plants and various potions ingredients he had gathered for his lab rotted, spoiled or vanished inexplicably. The feet on the cauldron disappeared but if he tried to brew any potions in it, they tended to react in unexpected ways. They curdled, turned unsightly colors and, in one instant, blew up, splattering a noxious smelling paste over half the room. Even with his wand, it had taken ages for the magic to dispel the rotten substance.
Even his private quarters weren’t safe. He’d gone to sleep and woken up covered in a horrid rash that left him itching savagely. He pulled his shirts from the drawers only to find that they’d been mysteriously dyed purple. His robe shrank every night so that he had to re-size it in the morning.
He made good on his threat and took away the toys from the twins. The odious brats had run screaming to their father. He and Potter had had a furious argument that had degenerated into insults and yelling, causing the urchins to start crying even louder. Fed up, his bond mate had taken his whole stinking brood back to the Burrow. Severus had bidden them all good riddance.
So now it was just he taking up residence in the cottage…and the unholy trinity. While he would never admit it, Severus found he actually missed Potter. When he was engaged in what passed for conversation with that brain-challenged Gryffindor, the noise from the heads could be tuned out somewhat.
There was no such respite now. If he remained anywhere in the house, they berated him unceasingly. The third head’s musical material never ran out. Severus wondered where the songs originated. Merlin knew he didn’t recognize any of them.
Another blow came a few days later in the Daily Prophet.
BOY WHO LIVED MARRIED IN SHOCKING SECRET CEREMONY TO DEATH EATER!
Stunned by the lurid headline, Severus found himself filled with fury as he kept reading.
One of our reporters, a Mr. Clay Webster, was in Slugs & Jiggers when he heard Harry Potter come in to buy potions ingredients. The list was long and rather unusual, all the more so since the famous Boy Who Lived was never brilliant at Potions. Many former students at Hogwarts attested to Harry’s lamentable performance in this class, including Slytherins such as Blaise Zabini.
“Yeah, Potter was absolutely pants at Potions. It didn’t help that Professor Snape picked on him all the time in class. Potter couldn’t do anything right in his eyes.”
So why was Harry in Slugs & Jiggers, buying potions ingredients? Could it have to do with the fact that his new bond mate ordered him to purchase them, at Harry’s expense? An anonymous tip has revealed all!
It seems that Severus Snape, presumed dead these many years, has been secretly alive all this while, sheltered by people in the Ministry. If Severus Snape had been exonerated in the murder of Albus Dumbledore and vindicated for his role against Voldemort during the Second War, why was he kept hidden? If he truly was a traitor and foul murderer, why was he sheltered and protected from discovery by a government sworn to protect the public?
Ministry officials have made no comment about this matter. This reticence is inexplicable. The war has been over for years. Why not speak out?
Additionally, in a heinous act of subterfuge and guile, Snape held the life of Harry’s little daughter in his hands and threatened to let her die if Harry didn’t become bonded to him. Afraid of losing his little girl, the last child of his dearly departed wife Ginevra Weasley, Harry reluctantly agreed to this Faustian bargain.
This was a truly despicable act to perform, especially in the light of Harry’s many attempts to exonerate the former Death Eater. Perhaps this is merely another case of a Slytherin making an unwarranted attack on a Gryffindor. Perhaps there is something deeper and more personal than old house rivalries.
Whatever the answer might be, it’s clear that Harry Potter, with his love for women, did not bond with Severus Snape out of love but expediency. Why did Severus Snape hate Harry so in school? And why is he so willing to perpetrate that hatred on the Wizarding World’s savior after all these years?
These reporters will be keeping a very close eye on these two. Hopefully, Harry Potter won’t suffer too much at Severus Snape’s hands.
His fingers tightened on the paper as he read the article again. Accompanying it was a blurry photo of a saturnine frowning man dressed in black, obviously meant to be of himself. He squinted as he tried to think when and where this photo might have been taken.
By the highly placed windows, this would seem to have been taken in Hogwarts. When—ah, it must have been during that wretched Tri-Wizard Tournament. He could make out Dumbledore twinkling in his usual manner and the bulging eye and leg of Alastor Moody, that is, the fake Moody, just at the edge of the picture. Harry Potter was at the center, of course, his face twisted in an unhappy frown.
He had thought Potter to be puffed up and conceited by the unwarranted attention. He shouldn’t have been in that tournament. The proper champions had been picked already by that cup and Potter had been too young. He had said so himself, vociferously, to anyone in charge who would listen. He’d been ignored and Potter had foolishly risked his life, just as the silly brat had been doing since his first day at school.
“Merlin, that’s a nasty picture of you.” He gritted his teeth as head number one commented on the old picture.
“Well, at least they got your good side, Snivellus. What am I saying? You don’t have a good side!” guffawed head number two.
“Meeskite, meeskite. Once upon a time there was a meeskite, meeskite, looking in the mirror and he said, ‘What an awful shock. I got a face that could stop a clock.’ ”
More of that insane laughter and he threw the paper down on the table in disgust.
Who could have told about his marriage to Potter? Given his position in the Ministry, Arthur Weasley would have stressed the need for secrecy to his family. Molly Weasley was angry enough to unleash the Killing Curse. But Severus had made it plain that any attempt on his life would pose a fatal danger to their precious Harry. Exposing the fact that Severus was alive would make him a target for his enemies and that would prove deadly to Potter’s life.
Percy Weasley wasn’t on good terms with his kin but he had been clear in indicating his distaste of Severus’s new association with his family. Would that spur him to speak out against Severus or keep his silence? Severus was fairly certain it would be the latter but he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.
Potter was the likely suspect. He was angry about being bonded to Severus. But would his rage be enough to cause him to wag his tongue to inquisitive reporters?
His lips thinned. Of course he would. Potter always was a preening attention seeker. Moaning like this about his awful fate in being tied to the ugly, old, greasy Potions master would be just the sort of thing he would do.
Striding to the living room, he grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. “The Burrow!” he called and thrust his head into the flames. “Mrs. Weasley! Mrs. Weasley! Come to the floo at once!”
There was no immediate answer and he braced himself. There was nothing for it. He would have to beard the lioness in her den. He advanced into the floo and stepped into the space.
He glanced around narrowly, half expecting Potter or one of his brats to come running into the room. They did not. But the next moment, Molly Weasley entered, wiping her hands on her apron. She halted and a furious expression crossed her face. However, she spoke to him with cold civility.
“Well, Severus. This is unexpected. What did you want?”
“I’m seeking my errant bond mate. I understand that he ran to your comforting arms a few days ago.”
“He’s not here.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Indeed? Did he lie to me then? I always know he was a deceitful little sneak.”
The woman’s face reddened and her tone lost some of its politeness as the chill increased.
“He and the children left to go to Grimmauld Place. Harry will always be welcome here but he didn’t want to impose on me any more than he had to. If you like, I can send on a message by owl that you want to see him.”
“That’s not necessary. I can pen a note if you’ll be so kind as to fetch writing tools.” He waited while she fetched quill and parchment. The owl itself, a grey somnolent creature, sat almost unmoving on the table. The thing looked like it was going to sleep and he poked it sharply with the quill until it roused itself with a shake and an unoffended hoot.
He scrawled his message on the parchment, wrapped up the offending article in it, and fastened it to the bird’s leg. Severus watched the bird flap its way heavily through the window. Afterwards, he stood and stepped to the fireplace again.
“You’re quite welcome, Severus. We so enjoy these little visits of yours…like an attack of spattergroit,” Molly snapped acridly at his back.
He didn’t bother to reply only grabbed the powder and stepped back into his new home.
********************************************************************
Grimmauld Place was not an ideal home to Harry’s mind. Kreacher worked hard to keep the place clean and tidy. But somehow shadows abounded in the place and brought an aura of gloomy depression. Molly had advised curtains in bright colors, new furnishings and an abundance of flowers. She’d recommended knickknacks too, although Harry couldn’t think of any that would fit the stark grandeur of the place.
The library, filled with Dark Arts tomes, made him distinctly nervous. He could lock the door but sooner or later the twins would find their way into it and then there’d be hell to pay. For the moment, they were too young to read anything too complicated and for that he could only count his blessings—and keep the door firmly locked and warded.
The children’s rooms and his were the only ones with any true hominess in them. Colorful hangings graced the walls and a Snitch, a leftover from Harry’s youth, darted around the twins’s room. When they had Lily with them, she would laugh and crawl around the room, trying to catch the golden flying ball.
Harry couldn’t help but feel this was an unworkable situation. Running from Snape every time they had a disagreement wasn’t an option. Yet he couldn’t push himself on the hospitality of the Weasleys forever, no matter how much they’d welcome him.
They had to reach some kind of compromise. He was unwilling to stay separated from his children just because he had Snape around but they couldn’t be in Snape’s presence without yelling at him or struggling not to cry.
There was also his job to consider. After defeating Voldemort, he had agonized about what he should do with the rest of his life. He was so rich he could spend the rest of life in idle luxury if he chose. But the job offers had come pouring in for him, the Boy Who Lived. The impression was that he could be absolutely lousy at his work and no one would care.
Harry hadn’t wanted that. When he thought hard about what he wanted in life, the idea came to him in a flash. Dumbledore had tried, in his way, to show fairness towards the downtrodden in the Wizarding world. He had extended the hand of benefactor to the half-giant Hagrid, Squibs like Arabella Figg and Argus Filch, outcasts like Firenze, Dobby and Winky and even the nearly useless like Sybill Trelawney. Could Harry do any less?
When he looked at his children, born of a poor pureblood witch and a mixed-blood wizard, the choice was easy.
Just as he’d striven to exonerate Snape after the man’s supposed death, so Harry had worked to help children born of less exalted parentage. With his father’s money, Harry had funded an orphanage for children who’d been orphaned by the war and couldn’t find anyone to take them in.
But he knew more than money was needed and so spoke out tirelessly about the plight of halfbloods and squibs. He remembered with a shudder how Neville had casually spoken about being dropped through a window by a careless uncle. How many other children of Wizarding families were subjected to the same test of their magic? And how many unfortunate Squib children had been quietly buried when the experiment failed?
Every person was valuable. No one should be thrown away just because they couldn’t perform magic or came from less than noble parentage.
Ginny had approved and kissed him soundly when he’d told her his plan. He’d thrown himself into it, glowing in the knowledge that his entire family had backed him in his plan.
Harry smiled as he jiggled Lily on his lap. She was so beautiful and her dark auburn hair reminded him so much of her mother. He wanted her to be happy, to grow up in a loving home. A happy childhood was what all his children deserved. Goodness knows he’d never had that. Why couldn’t he get Snape to realize that rearing children meant more than punishments and rigid discipline?
There was a rap at the window and he lost his train of thought. When Lily fussed, he quieted her and let her play with the stuffed unicorn he’d bought for her and placed her on the floor.
The Weasley’s owl was there, a creature so old he’d often wondered how it managed to fulfill its duties. Arthur Weasley had gotten an increased salary when his position had improved with the Ministry. He could have bought another owl if he chose. But he was loyal to this faithful creature and was reluctant to retire it while it still had the ability to fly.
Harry opened the window and the bird hopped in and plopped down in a nearby seat. To Harry’s amusement, the fowl immediately dropped off to sleep after he removed its message.
The smile fell from his face as he read the contents.
“Potter, you imbecile, what in Hades do you think you’re playing at? I would have thought, having survived a war, you’d have learned something about discretion! Yet I open this morning’s Daily Prophet to find your name and mine emblazoned on the front page!
Do you not understand that I am still a wanted man in certain quarters, that there are escaped Death Eaters and others sympathetic to the Dark Lord who would like nothing better than to see me killed or worse? I did not become your bond mate simply to have you throw my life away in this cavalier fashion!
You will find a way to rectify this mess, Potter, or so help me the next time I see you I WILL hex you and no Weasley or your wretched infants will stay my hand.
Included with the letter was the offending article. Harry fumed as he re-read the message. What bloody cheek! He certainly hadn’t gone talking to any reporters, especially the ones at the Prophet! He refused to read the Prophet on principle, ever since he had seen the foolish crap they’d printed about him when he was just a student in Hogwarts. But it would be just like Snape to assume the worst and blame him!
If the public had gotten wind of Snape’s reappearance from the dead, there was precious little Harry could do about it. He could lie, of course, and state that he didn’t know anything about Snape being alive. But, thanks to Snape’s insistence in dragging in that Ministry official, who knew how many people were aware of the Potion master’s miraculous return from the dead?
He tossed the message on to the sofa while he tried to think. Contrary to what Snape thought, he wasn’t interested in seeing the man punished, not after he’d spent so much time and effort getting his name cleared. He’d see if there was anything he could do to straighten out the latest misunderstanding.
“Dada?”
He looked down to see Lily staring up at him. Her face was unusually solemn, as though she’d picked up on his worry.
“What is it, sweetie?”
“What wrong, Dada?”
“Nothing, darling. Just thinking about stuff, I guess.” He smiled and ran his hand through her soft curly ringlets. She smiled, satisfied, and sat down near his leg once more playing with her unicorn, which ran and leaped on the floor in front of her. Lily had such a cheerful nature. It took a great deal to upset her, unlike the twins.
Suddenly Harry sat up. Where were the twins? Another drawback of this oversized mausoleum was that it was hard to keep track of the rambunctious pair. They could be several rooms away and he’d never hear what they were up to.
“Kreacher?”
The house-elf didn’t appear right away so he called again. The ancient Black servant took a long time to show these days when he was summoned. Harry wasn’t sure why but he put it down to age. Soon he was going to have to cut off Kreacher’s head and nail it on the wall beside his ancestors, as the house-elf had often demanded. He had explained to the house-elf that he could be free if he wanted. There was no need for such a ghastly end to his career. But the house-elf had been adamant, falling into piercing wails until Harry had agreed to the hideous task.
It left him queasy whenever he thought about it. The twins had found all the severed house-elf heads to be pretty cool, though.
Finally, the house-elf appeared. He bowed and rasped in his gravelly voice, “How may I serve Harry Potter?”
“Kreacher, have you seen the twins lately? I get worried when things are this quiet. It usually means they’re up to something.”
“No, Master Harry. James and Albus have not summoned me.”
“Well, find them and check to see that nothing has exploded in their rooms, all right? Don’t let them put anything over on you, either.”
Did he imagine it or did a smirk crease the worn old face? “Very well, Master Harry. But I find your children to be wonderfully well behaved. If they harbor feelings of mischief, it is not towards you.” With that enigmatic statement, he disappeared.
That wasn’t too difficult to figure out. But, surely, with the twins separated from Snape, the possibility for stupid practical jokes was practically nil. Still, it couldn’t hurt to be more careful.
Shoving the matter of the newspaper to the back of his mind, he decided to go in search of his wayward offspring and hope they hadn’t set the drapes on fire.
TBC
A/N: The song “Meeskite” is from the musical Cabaret.