Dearest Harry - Eileen's Story

Hi there, No I didn't drop off the face of the planet, though I did come close to it!! RL has been a bitch to both me and my betas for the past few weeks, things are back to normal now though, another chappie up in the next few days ~ Lucie


Chapter Twenty-three


Harry felt as if he had been sucker punched; his eyes filled with tears yet again and he started to get quite annoyed with himself. ‘I think I’m turning into a girl,’ was his last coherent thought, before Severus Snape stood up and rather awkwardly pulled him into a clumsy embrace.

This time Harry did not pull away; he was not worried that Snape was about to jump him. It was somewhat uncomfortable, because Snape was quite bony, not padded like Mrs Weasley or tweedy like Professor Lupin. He smelt of cloves and of tea-tree oil, and lavender and lots of other things that Harry was unable to identify.

And Harry thought that today really was turning out to be unique because he had had more hugs today than he had ever had before in his entire life.

“What do I call you?” he asked, his voice muffled against Snape’s, against his uncle’s chest.

When Snape answered him he could hear the rumble of his deep voice. It almost sounded like the other man were smiling.

“I think you are probably a bit old to call me Uncle Severus, don’t you?” he said. “How about Severus, just Severus?”

“Not Sevvy then?” Harry asked cheekily. Severus moved so that he was grasping Harry’s shoulders and then held him at arms length. He was about to say something acerbic, something cutting, but he saw the glint in Harry’s eye and the slight smile that graced the boy’s lips and he couldn’t help but smile in return. Harry was trying to joke, to lighten the atmosphere; his nephew was teasing him.

“You may call me that - if you want to spend the next ten years cleaning out cauldrons,” he answered silkily.

Harry’s smile widened.

“Well, there is a sight for sore eyes!” It was Eileen who had spoken. Her eyes were dancing and she looked happier than Severus had ever seen her and, considering the revelations that they had heard that day, she really should not be looking as cheerful as she did. But she was a fighter, his mother, wasn’t she? Despite what she had been through over the years, Eileen never, ever seemed to give up. She always fought for what she believed in and, despite the secrets that she had kept from him, Severus knew that she had never completely given up on him either. He suddenly realised where Harry, and indeed Lily, might have got their dogged determination.

Harry turned to look at her and then hurriedly moved out of Severus’s reach in order to go and relieve his grandmother of a pile of unwashed clothing. But she pre-empted him by the simple manoeuvre of handing the pile to Draco who was following her closely. Severus almost laughed; he had never seen Draco look quite so disgruntled before. The boy’s normally immaculate blond hair was somewhat dishevelled and his face wore an enormous scowl.

He had already been clutching a not inconsiderable amount of dirty clothing and he all but disappeared when she added to the bundle that he was carrying. “Take that to the pantry, lad,” she said, “and start sorting it, light colours, dark colours and whites. When you’ve done that, you can make a start on the dishes. I’ll be with you very soon.”

Severus wondered what she had said to Draco to get him to acquiesce because Severus expected a comment or a simple refusal. But, apart from the fact that the scowl got even deeper, Draco said not a single word.

Instead, he stomped off in the general direction of the pantry wobbling a bit because he couldn’t really see where he was going very well.

Eileen turned to her grandson.

“Will you sit down a moment, love?” she asked. “I want to talk to you.”

Harry had been watching Draco’s departure, but turned to smile at his grandmother and went and sat at the table with alacrity. Eileen sat beside him.

“I need to ask you something, Harry,” she said. Harry was studying her face, shyly, surreptitiously through his lashes.

“Harry,” she continued, “what did you do to help Draco get over his transformation so quickly?”

Harry blushed. It was the blush to end all blushes as far as Severus was concerned; deep red and seemingly all encompassing.

Several other members of the household had arrived as Eileen spoke, including Lupin. They had obviously heard her words and were standing listening eagerly for Harry’s reply.

Harry fixed his gaze on the table in front of him.

“I can’t tell you that!” he exclaimed.

“Harry, the lad looks great today, he looks better than he has in weeks, and yet look at poor Remus, he is obviously suffering still. If you can help him too, lad, then maybe you should?”

The boy looked horrified.

Harry’s eyes took in the werewolf, seemingly for the first time. Lupin truly did look dreadful; his face was drawn and he was obviously in pain from wounds that must have been inflicted the night before. He had deep, dark circles under his eyes, he had not shaved and his hair was a complete mess, even messier than Harry’s, and considering the fact that Lupin was always very well groomed, even if he was also a bit shabby, was more telling than anything in Severus’ opinion.

“Oh God, I’m sorry Professor!” Harry muttered, staring back at the table again. “I don’t know…I’m mean, um…er…but ……” He trailed off and looked even more embarrassed.

Eileen spoke again, after a short silence from Harry. “Harry love, what did you do?”

Harry eeped and then he spoke very fast, so that he words all ran together, “hewashurtingsoIsortoflickedhimalloverwithmyliontongue.”

Eileen looked mystified.

Harry seemed ready to bolt.

“Harry,” Hermione said, “you will need to say that again, because we all missed it; you spoke too fast.”

“He washed me.” It was Draco; he had come out of the pantry and was leaning against the door-jamb with his arms folded.

Ron was listening in on the conversation too, “What did he wash you with?” he asked. Draco smiled, quite evilly, “He washed me with his tongue, Weasley!”

Now it was Ron’s turn to blush but Harry was trying to curl up on his chair, he was obviously completely mortified.

Ron scowled. “Yeah, and I’m sure he really appreciates you telling us all this, Malfoy, because really likes sharing his private business with the entire world!”

“Harry was helping me, you git!” Draco began. “He was a lion! It wasn’t like that!”

“That will do!” It was Eileen again; she was frowning at them both. The two boys were glaring at each other, but they quietened at Eileen’s words. “I’m sorry love,” she said, turning to Harry again. “I didn’t mean to pry, it was just, what you’ve done lad is remarkable. You have a gift and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it, however you use it.”

She put her hand under her grandson’s chin and gently tilted it. “Will you show us, pet? Show us what you look like as a lion?”

Harry’s eyes betrayed his relief. Severus had realised in the last few weeks what a private person Harry was. Having such an intimate thing, so casually discussed, must have been excruciating for him. The boy gave his grandmother a tiny smile and then without more ado he smoothly transformed.

This time there were no screams.

There were gasps and sighs, though. Harry was a good looking boy, he attracted a lot of attention wherever he went just because of his fame and recently he had begun to exhibit some of the raw power that he wielded. He was impressive and attractive as a wizard. But as a lion he was magnificent.

One by one, tentatively, the occupants of Grimmauld Place made their way over to Harry. Draco was first; he was not fazed by the lion at all. Then Ron, then Hermione, Ginny, Molly, Lupin. Each one drew closer and could not resist touching him, it seemed.

Only Severus and Eileen held back.

Severus was not afraid, he had seen this creature very close up, had felt the power, the strength in those enormous paws. If Harry had not hurt him then, when the boy had quite understandably lost control, then he was completely safe now.

Eileen came over to her son. He was leaning against the worktop, having retreated here when his hug with Harry had ended to better observe the proceedings. But now his mother came and stood beside him and linked her arm in his and together, just for a moment or two they stood mother and son in complete accord watching Harry.

“Thank you, Sevvy,” Eileen said, she squeezed his arm gently and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Thanks for what, Mum?” he asked, she looked up at him wryly. “Thanks for finding him, for looking after him for so many years, even when you hated him. Thanks for making up, thanks for a lot of things. I’m right proud of you, sweetheart.” Severus felt a lump forming in his throat. His mother had never stopped loving him, he knew that. But Eileen was a very direct person and very honest.

Although the Princes were a well bred pureblood family, things were different in Yorkshire; they did not keep themselves apart from other folk, from those who were not well off. The county got into your blood. Eileen was typical of many women of her age, Muggle and magical. She worked hard; she was blunt and straightforward and had a very strong moral code. She would never abandon her son, he knew that, or stop defending him to the world, but she was not above tearing into him if she thought he was in the wrong. She also never, ever praised someone if she felt it was unearned and she had not praised him like this for a very long time.

“Can you see that he is glowing, Sev?” Eileen said, still keeping her gaze fixed on Harry’s animagus form. “He lights up this room doesn’t he?”

“I think it’s his magic,” Severus said, “We have all just come to realise how magical he is but in this form you can truly see it, he can’t contain it all, that is why it is leaking out of him, that is why he is glowing; the sheer amount of magic that must be available to him to even achieve this form and then to have so much left over?”

“We will save him, won’t we, Sevvy?” Eileen asked, and Severus was unnerved to see the worry in his mother’s eyes, hear the tremor in her voice. “He can’t die, Sevvy, it’s just not right!”

Severus lifted his arm and draped it around his mother’s shoulders, giving her a gentle hug. “We’ll do something, Mum,” he told her comfortingly. “We had a huge shock when he told us about the horcrux, I know, but there has to be a way to destroy the horcrux without destroying the vessel. We will not lose him.”

Eileen looked up at him, giving him a watery smile. Severus rarely saw his mother this upset. No, make that never.

“I think I see how he managed to heal the Malfoy lad,” she said. “Just look at the magic pouring off him; there’s got to be some power of healing in him. Do you think he’ll let me take a bit of his fur? I’d like to have a closer look at it.”

“Mother dear, I think he would let you do just about anything you wanted to him.”

Severus was brewing in the small lab that Harry had encouraged him to set up; this was the place in which he was happiest. Eileen had joined him and was busy sorting the little bits of fur and mane that she had taken from Harry’s animagus form.

Harry had spent some considerable time rolling around the kitchen floor like an enormous kitty cat as his friends rubbed his furry tummy and tickled him behind his ears. Thereby eliciting the loudest purrs that Severus had ever heard on Harry’s part and choruses of squeals and giggles from the others.

Harry-lion had cheered every one up. The lion was able to be playful in a way that the boy obviously could not, and seeing him batting a hastily constructed cat toy made from some of Molly’s copious supplies of wool had had everybody laughing.

After watching the children (for that, Severus reminded himself, was indeed what they were) playing with the big cat he realised something else about Harry. All these years he, and indeed everyone else, had underestimated Harry, hadn’t they? Everyone, with the possible exception of Dumbledore who had his own opinions about Harry, only some of which bore any resemblance to reality; Harry’s animagus form was apt in another way that had escaped Severus’ notice when he had pondered it earlier.

People saw him as a pussycat. Goody, goody. Tamed. But Harry commanded more raw power than Severus had ever seen he could kill them easily, just like the big cat could with one swipe of its claws. Voldemort still underestimated Harry, as did his minions and that in the end would be their downfall. Harry, if he wished, could be deadly.


The boy who stuck his head around the door of the potions lab did not look dangerous, though; he looked deeply uncomfortable. But he smiled when he saw his gran and Severus was glad that Eileen was here.

Harry was clutching something to his chest and it took a moment or two before Severus realised what it was: it was a book, even more battered than when he had seen it last; it was his old potions book.

Harry came fully into the room and walked determinedly over to the bench at which Severus was standing.

“I’m sorry Pro…er Severus,” he said, holding his head high and looking his uncle straight in the eye, “I lied to you last term, I did have your book. I’m sorry, but it meant a lot to me!” He looked defiant this man-child, daring Severus to reprimand him.

Eileen had wondered over to see what they were talking about, drying her damp hands on a towel as she came.

“Oh Harry,” she said in delight, “that’s me book, mine and Sevvy’s, wherever did you find it?”

“I had it last year,” Harry said, “It got lost for a little while, but then I found it again. It helped me more than you can know. I felt like the person that had written it could be my friend, someone I would like and get on with. It grew quite precious to me.”

He was talking to Eileen, but he was looking at Severus as he spoke. Severus smiled he felt that they had shared some sort of understanding him and this boy. When he had first seen the book Severus had felt a surge of annoyance, he had known that Harry had had the diary, known that he was lying when he denied all knowledge of it. But it was truly meant for him, wasn’t it? It was his book after all.

Eileen was busy expressing her delight that Harry possessed her potions diary and she was telling him a story about how she and her friend Min were able to write secret messages in it using an invisible ink that they had created between them. Before long she and the boy were deep in conversation and then Harry was helping his gran chop ingredients and asking intelligent questions about the interactions of certain ingredients and Severus felt yet another pang of regret.

Watching Harry chop and dissect and question his gran on a number of different things, Severus wondered if Harry might have shone as a potions student if only he had been given the chance. But then he firmly put his doubts behind him and settled for just enjoying the fact that three generations of his family were together, working alongside each other in a potions lab and it was more wonderful than he could ever have dreamed it to be.

And, whilst Harry and Eileen spent the afternoon adding small samples of lion fur to various different types of creams for healing, Severus busied himself by brewing a batch of wolfsbane using ingredients which had arrived only that morning. He had long wondered whether he could create a potion, using the basic recipe for wolfsbane which could be improved so much that it would hugely improve the efficacy of the potion or even remove the need for it all together.

In a clear glass tube just beside him, Severus beheld what he thought might be the missing ingredient, the one that he had been searching for all these years: a sample of magical saliva taken from a lion animagus.