Windows of the Soul

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story ignores HBP and DH; it starts the beginning of the summer before Harry’s seventh year. Thank you to my beta Sometimeselkie for all her hard work.


Christmas morning arrived clear, crisp and with a fine covering of snow on the ground. Harry woke up and carefully leant up on his elbow, just looking at his sleeping boyfriend. Draco had managed to spread across most of the bed with Harry curled up around him on the edge.

Harry was excited.

It was Christmas morning and everyone was here to help them celebrate.

It was special, though. It was the first one with his new family.

Harry leant down and blew gently into Draco’s ear; the blond moved his head and moaned.

“Wakey, wakey, love.” He smirked when Draco grabbed the blanket and rolled away from Harry. Harry grabbed the blanket and with Seeker-like reflexes jumped out of bed, ripping the blanket off Draco and leaving him lying naked on the bed.

Draco shrieked and with a deadly glare at Harry jumped up and stomped off to the bathroom. Harry nearly fell over, he was laughing so much.

Harry knew that he would pay for that later, but it was worth it.

Draco was giving Harry the silent treatment as they both walked down to the kitchen. Harry had tried to apologise, but Draco had been his stubborn self and refused it.

They were the last to arrive in the kitchen. Everyone seemed to be here and they all had found a seat around the extra large table. Draco sat in a spare seat next to Elli; Harry looked and found one near Ron.

Harry looked around the cramped kitchen at all the people here. No... Not just people...his family.

At the top of the table sat Molly and Arthur. Harry smiled as he saw Molly automatically refill Arthur’s cup whilst talking to Minerva, who was seated opposite. Albus sat at the head of the table. He had a twinkle in his eyes as he sat there watching and listening. Next were the twins, who were sitting with their heads together, probably planning their next prank. Harry sat next to Arthur and then Ron next to him. Across from them Draco sat next to Elli, but a surprise guest was Pansy, who sat on Draco’s other side. Her parents thought she was staying with friends, but she had decided to spend the holidays with her best friend. The other surprise guests were Seamus and Luna. Seamus’s parents had gone on a second honeymoon and arranged for him to stay with his friends and Luna’s dad had gone off to find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack and had left her with the headmaster. On Elli’s other side sat Neville, whose grandmother would be coming over later that morning to spend Christmas with her grandson, then Charlie and Bill. Remus sat at the end and Snape was beside him at the end of the table, the former chatting excitedly with the latter.

No, he had to correct his thoughts, not Remus and Snape... it was Papa and Severus...they were his parents. He felt a happy glow in his chest. He chuckled at the thought of Severus’s face when he realised that he had Harry as a son.

There were three empty seats, one on the right hand side of Albus and two left of Severus. Harry wondered who they were for. He knew that Ginny was missing as she had gone with the Patil sisters on a once in a lifetime trip to India. Molly and Arthur were upset to have their only daughter away at Christmas, but felt that they couldn’t stop her from going, not whilst Percy was still estranged from the family.

Molly stood up and started to remove empty plates and dishes. Dumbledore stood and with a wave of his hand cleared the table, and Molly gave him a relieved smile.

“I think that we should go into the other room and open presents.” Without waiting for a reply, he held his arm out to Minerva and led the way out of the room.

Elli nudged Draco, who glared at her but took the hint and walked around the table to Harry. Without a word he just hugged him, trying to convey his apology in the hug. Harry just held his boyfriend; he didn’t like to be at odds with Draco and so allowed the blonde to make amends. Elli stood at the door with Neville, Ron, Pansy, Seamus and Luna, waiting for the two boys to finish. Harry took Draco’s hand and as they walked out of the kitchen they both took Elli’s hands and went in search of the others.

Harry started to walk towards the library when Elli stopped him and turned him towards one of the other rooms; he started to frown when he saw which room they were going to enter.

“Why are we going into this one? I thought that everyone would be in the biggest and comfiest room and that would be the library.”

Elli nodded. “That might be so, but this is the second largest room and we have cleaned it up just for today.” She smiled at her brother with sympathy on her face. “I understand why you don’t want to go in there, Harry, but we all have demons to kill.” With that, she led him into the room, whilst the others in their group had puzzled looks on their faces.

The room had a large fireplace at one end and, with the help of Minerva, there were three large sofas along three of the walls, with a few beanbags littering the floor. In one corner there was a large Christmas tree with many decorations on it, and underneath it was a very, very large amount of parcels.

The adults had already found their seats, leaving a couple of places on the sofas. Harry took a deep breath as he entered the room. He was trying so hard not to look at the wall next to the door, but he was fighting a losing battle with himself. “Take a look; you will only tarnish his memory if you go against your heart. He would want you to remember him,” Elli murmured softly in his ear. Harry squeezed her hand. He felt bad as they both had so little time with Sirius, and Sirius was her father and only his godfather, but Elli was looking after Harry when surely it should be the other way round. Harry did as he was told and turned to look at the Black family tree that was lining the walls.

He gasped as he looked at where Sirius’s picture used to be before Sirius’s mother had burnt it off the wall. There he was, restored, and by his name there was Remus and Elli and...

He looked at Elli, and then turned towards Remus and Severus.

“Remy, did you do this? How? Why? Look!”

Remus looked at him and walked over to the wall. He also gasped when he saw the wall. He leaned into the body of his lover when he felt him stand behind him. Time seemed to stand still as they all looked at the wall.

There on the wall was Sirius Orion Black (deceased), bonded to Remus J Lupin, bonded to Severus Snape. Children: - Ellorra Minerva Lily Lupin-Black, Harry James Lupin-Potter.

Severus turned and looked at his daughter, who had been very quiet, “Elli. What do you know about this?”

Elli smiled sadly at her parents and brother. “If I had known that it would upset you, then I would never have gotten the tree repaired.”

Remus was the first one to take her arms and pull her into a hug. “I’m not upset, honey. It was just a shock that is all. I never expected it.”

Remus turned his head to Harry and saw that he still had a bewildered look on his face. Draco nudged him. Harry jumped and glared at his boyfriend until he realised that they were all waiting for his opinion.

Harry smiled at Elli. “I don’t know how or why you did this, but I thank you.”

Elli hugged Harry. “I did it for us. We will never forget him as he was a big part of our lives for such a short time and we all loved him, but we all need to move on and this will help.”

Draco looked at the wall. Questions were running through his head, but he only asked one. “How did you manage to get it repaired?”

“The day we all went to Hogsmeade, Ron, Neville and I managed to find a repair wizard not too far away. We went and visited him and paid for him to help me repair the wall. He gave me a spell which would repair it and also any new names in the tree will now magically appear.”

Ron pointed to the wall. “I don’t think it is totally fixed, Elli.”

Elli cocked her head to one side, a slight frown on her face. “Why not, Ron?”

“Well, if you look, it says that Remus is bonded to Snape, but they’re not, so it must be wrong.”

Severus looked at Remus and sighed when the latter nodded. “We wanted to make an announcement after the presents and dinner, but now is a good enough time.” He looked at their children, then at all their friends and family, taking Remus’s hand in his. “Remus and I would like to announce that last night we were bonded together, here with only our children and my godson in attendance.”

It was all so very quiet, until suddenly both Minerva and Molly squealed in excitement and came rushing over to the two men with heartfelt congratulations. There was a lot of back-slapping and hugs for both men. Finally, everyone got seated and the present giving was about to start.

Harry had manoeuvred himself and Draco on one beanbag next to Elli, who had sat on one by Remus and Severus’s feet. George and Fred both volunteered to hand out presents.

Draco was surprised by the not-so-small pile of presents laid at his feet. He looked over at Harry and Elli and theirs were just as big. He was happy that he had friends who remembered him, but he was still sad at the thought of being away from his father at Christmas. Draco had sent his father a present, but he had had no reply yet.

Harry nudged Draco, who jumped and then realised that nearly everyone had started to open their gifts.

Remus and Severus sat watching as their children opened their gifts. Their own piles were small as they had already given each other their gifts at their bonding the night before.

Everyone had received a Weasley jumper in various colours and sizes, even those who didn’t know until the last minute they were coming to stay. Harry’s was a deep burgundy with a silver H. Draco’s was dark ivy green with a gold D. Elli’s was a cornflower yellow with a small green E on it, which was slightly raised so she could feel it.

Remus smiled and nudged his husband when he saw the names on the presents he held. They were for ‘Papa’ and ‘Tatko’, ‘love from Harry, Elli and Draco.’ Severus glared at the three teenagers, but inside he was feeling very warm and fuzzy, very unlike a Potions master should be.

Inside was a platinum potion rack and stirring sticks for Severus, and for Remus there was a large soft blue blanket big enough to cover a king-sized bed and on the edge were embroidered the letters RJLS. Wrapped inside the blanket were some Defence books.

Elli picked up one of her presents and felt the tag. It was from Neville. She ripped the wrapping and smiled when she felt the title of the book she held; it was An Idiot’s Guide to Becoming an Animagus. She opened her other presents, chocolates from Ron, and a Charms book from Hermione. From Pansy she got some make-up and from her friends in Hufflepuff she received a Dicta-Quill which would write in Braille.

From Draco and Harry she got a platinum necklace with a small gold badger hanging from the middle with semi-precious tiger eye for its eyes.

The gift from Remus and Severus was a ring that had the combined coat of arms from the Black, Lupin, Snape and Potter families. Both of the men had one each as their wedding rings to symbolize being part of their family. Remus had been surprised that Severus had agreed to the Potter family being added, but Severus had simply stated that Harry was part of their family now. Severus had agreed that Harry seemed to have grown up in the last few months and wasn’t the irritating child that he had been, even though he still looked very much like James Potter.

The last present was from Elli’s godparents, Albus and Minerva; she opened it with a bit of trepidation. Inside, she found a kind of leather book, but when she opened it she clicked on her gift and, with a gasp, found that it wasn’t a book, but a photo frame with three parts. The first picture on the left was one of a very young Remus and Sirius together with Remus leaning on Sirius. Elli felt tears come to her eyes. They looked so young and in love. The picture on the right was one of Remus and Severus taken a few weeks ago at Hogwarts. They were near the lake’s edge, Severus sitting by a tree with Remus leaning against him. Elli remembered when the last picture had been taken at Hogwarts just a few days ago. She looked at the picture and saw Severus standing with Remus in front of him. Elli was by Remus’s side and Draco was by Severus’s, and Harry was hugging Remus. The thing that made Elli smile and laugh was the look on Severus’s face as he looked at his family, one of happy disgust. Everyone else had a look of happiness and contentedness on their faces.

Elli whispered her thanks to Albus and Minerva and told her fathers that they could look at it later. Harry had seen it as Elli opened it so he knew what it was and he was happy that Elli had something to remind her of all her fathers and family.

He hoped that maybe one day he would get the same.


A/N: - I found a picture which I think looks like the one Albus gave Elli of young Remus and Sirius, it is by Black Rapture and you can find it at http:/www.artisticalley.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29700&ppusser=109695 it is fantastic. Sorry this is a long chapter, but Christmas day is still not over yet you will have to wait until next chapter for Harry and Draco’s presents and also who will fill the empty seats for dinner?