Choices Not Made
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
9
Views:
6,033
Reviews:
30
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Snape
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
9
Views:
6,033
Reviews:
30
Recommended:
0
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 the writing of this story.
Chapter 4
-----------
Severus was furious as he made his way down to his lab. He was ten years in the future and had no notion as to how he had got there or who had obliviated him. Not only that, but he was married to Harry Potter. He was already married, had been relatively happily so for 21 years. Now he was supposedly married to Harry Potter, a child 21 years his junior -- a boy younger than two of his own children. How in the world something like that came to pass was beyond him. For one thing, his wife had to be dead… His heart clenched painfully at the thought. They may not have always agreed, but she was his wife. His beautiful, cold wife. He had promised to always protect her. He had even moved her thousands of miles away so that she would be safe. But somehow he had failed. Oh Merlin, how in the world had he ever forgiven himself?
Now married to Harry Potter? He laughed weakly; what a cruel joke. The boy unquestionably did not possess the intellect and maturity that normally attracted him to his lovers. He supposed that it had to have been the sex -- his body had certainly reacted to the near naked man in his bed before he took in his surroundings and the identity and condition of said man…. Was it possible that they had slept together while under the influence of alcohol, Potter had gotten pregnant, and they were required to marry? Maybe while he was morning his dearest Maurinda? He certainly felt like drowning his sorrows in alcohol now.
He turned into his lab. This was much better, something in this alleged future had gone right. His las jas just the way he had always wanted it. There were a couple of items he didn’t recognize, but those were probably new inventions from the previous decade. While looking at simmering cauldrons filled with potions in various states of completion he thought of Thomas. The boy had been nearly four yeard thd the last time he saw him. In fact he had been looking forward to seeing him again in a couple of days. Thomas was the only positive result of a rather disastrous affair. The boy currently lived with his maternal Grandparents who spoiled him rotten. Severus had been unable and unwilling to take him while Voldemort was still alive. He wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea afterwards, as some of the Death Eaters were still active. Also, his wife still resented the idea of raising an illegitimate child -- even if he kept the boy with him during the school year and only brought him home during summers. But it didn’t worry him too much, as Thomas’ maternal grandparents seemed reluctant to part with him.
What had happened to his wife was his main concern as he made his way to his potions journal. He had moved her to Italy with their two children midway through the first war, when even women and children had become open game. She had become strongly attached to the country and eventually refused to leave it even to join him, while he felt Italy was uncomfortably bright and hot. By the time that it had threatened to become an issue, Dumbledore had voiced his concerns that Voldemort would rise once again and that perhaps Severus’ family would be better off in Italy.
Back to opening the journal, he put his hand over it and was pleased when it let him in. He was disappointed when he didn’t recognize quite a few of the potions. He’d have a lot of studying to do if he didn’t want the Potion Masters guild to find out that he was ten years behind. He flipped through the journal a couple of times before whispering his secret password. The journal changed colors and the diagrams and scribbles and stains of potions disappeared to reveal a daily journal, he whispered another password and the words went blank.
Severus picked up a quill lying next to the journal and started writing on the page. “Death Date of Maurinda Snape.” The words sank into the page and returned “August 14, 1997.” Two weeks, she would be dead in only two weeks. He closed his eyes and took in a deep ragged breath.
“Cause of Death.” He wrote. “Avadra Kedavra,” Someone had killed his wife? They better be dead by now, he would never have permitted them to live.
“Murderer?”
“Harry Potter.”
He stopped and stared at the words. No, that couldn’t be true, he’d never have married his wife’s murderer. Why was that boy still alive? Why had he done it? Where had she died? Potter couldn’t get to Italy without a passport and that took longer than two weeks to apply for. Maurinda was at home in Italy, had even told him not to come this summer because she had friends visiting, and he would inevitably alienate them. (He thought it a reasonable request, as he hated her friends. Well, that and he had a lot of work to do for the School and for the Order.) He wished he had gone anyway.
Just as he was about to ask the journal the details of his wife’s death, Twinky popped into the room.
“Twinky has led Master Harry to the library. Is there anything else Master would have me do?” she asked, her eyes seemed to be trained on the journal.
“No, I will call when I need you next.” Severus answered. He found her behavior odd, but, as she was also the only house elf that he knew of that wore clothes, he dismissed it.
Looking at the journal again he decided that now wasn’t a good time to learn of her death, he would only become more enraged and would probably kill the boy which wouldn’t do any good. He eventually decided that he shouldn’t try to read more about that until he could find the time to read the whole journal from the day he left off. He should try to find more recent activities. One, so he could get through most conversations with out giving away his lack of memory and Two, so he could see if he could figure out who might have a motive for obliviating him. He asked the jourto pto pick an average week in his life and skimmed through it.
//
“The idiots at the lab are worse than students, mostly as they claim to know what they are doing but are generally as incompetent.”
“Orion is irritating Thomas who is in turn irritating me by requesting that I find another way to entertain Orion. However, I can’t help but appreciate that Orion is doing something other than reading, and that Thomas only has to put up with Orion for 1 month out of the year.”
“Aaron is miserable that Orion is ignoring him and has taken to spending his time with Justin, who has decided that n isn is the only one he likes, which is upsetting Harry.”
“I caught Cassie, Ramses and Osirus trying to convince Helena, who wanted to play with them, to climb up the trellis to where they were. I confiscated their brooms for two weeks. Helena took 3 hours to calm down.”
“One of the idiots managed to blow up 3 cauldrons in a half an hour by confusing powdered doxie wings for powdered unicorn hair even though they were labeled correctly. I swear he’s worse than Neville Longbottom. We’ve been set back six weeks on that project.”
“Ruby and Sapphire escaped from their cribs for the third time this week. Harry had put the strongest spells I know of on the cribs to keep them in. I’m almost afraid of how strong they’ll be magically.”
“Aaron haswn awn an interest in potions. I made him a children’s potions set and set up a corner of the nursery as his own little lab, with Cassie, Ramses and Osiris specific wards, I swear he’s the only one who inherited my appreciation of potions. Not even Orion will go near a cauldron.”
“The doctor advised Harry to try to avoid getting pregnant for at least 2 years. Harry says he’s done it before, but I don’t believe it will take 6 months.”
//
Looking over the notes again he was distressed to notice that his relatively quiet life (outside of classes) that he had grown accustomed to at Hogwarts was over. He summoned some paper and wrote down the names of the children mentioned as well as the names of his coworkers. Orion, Aaron, Justin, Cassie, Ramses, Osirus, Helena, Ruby and Sapphiree the the names of the children. Nine children, plus the older children meant that he was a father of 14. He was worse than Arthur Weasley. Well, at least it looked like *he* was wealthy enough to afford them.
Scanning through the past few weeks he discovered that while he still had a handful of people that disliked his harsh ways, mostly he got along with and was respected by everyone he knew. This left him with no suspects that might have a motive in erasing part or all of his memory. Another difficulty was that while he was an expert in memory charms, he wasn’t aware of any that could be reversed.
Severus knew that he should probably be learning more about this strange future world that they were trapped in... but with ten years of advancements in a field he loved, it took very little time for the pages of his journal to switch back to potions notes and for him to settle down and indulge himself in study.
-------
Severus was furious as he made his way down to his lab. He was ten years in the future and had no notion as to how he had got there or who had obliviated him. Not only that, but he was married to Harry Potter. He was already married, had been relatively happily so for 21 years. Now he was supposedly married to Harry Potter, a child 21 years his junior -- a boy younger than two of his own children. How in the world something like that came to pass was beyond him. For one thing, his wife had to be dead… His heart clenched painfully at the thought. They may not have always agreed, but she was his wife. His beautiful, cold wife. He had promised to always protect her. He had even moved her thousands of miles away so that she would be safe. But somehow he had failed. Oh Merlin, how in the world had he ever forgiven himself?
Now married to Harry Potter? He laughed weakly; what a cruel joke. The boy unquestionably did not possess the intellect and maturity that normally attracted him to his lovers. He supposed that it had to have been the sex -- his body had certainly reacted to the near naked man in his bed before he took in his surroundings and the identity and condition of said man…. Was it possible that they had slept together while under the influence of alcohol, Potter had gotten pregnant, and they were required to marry? Maybe while he was morning his dearest Maurinda? He certainly felt like drowning his sorrows in alcohol now.
He turned into his lab. This was much better, something in this alleged future had gone right. His las jas just the way he had always wanted it. There were a couple of items he didn’t recognize, but those were probably new inventions from the previous decade. While looking at simmering cauldrons filled with potions in various states of completion he thought of Thomas. The boy had been nearly four yeard thd the last time he saw him. In fact he had been looking forward to seeing him again in a couple of days. Thomas was the only positive result of a rather disastrous affair. The boy currently lived with his maternal Grandparents who spoiled him rotten. Severus had been unable and unwilling to take him while Voldemort was still alive. He wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea afterwards, as some of the Death Eaters were still active. Also, his wife still resented the idea of raising an illegitimate child -- even if he kept the boy with him during the school year and only brought him home during summers. But it didn’t worry him too much, as Thomas’ maternal grandparents seemed reluctant to part with him.
What had happened to his wife was his main concern as he made his way to his potions journal. He had moved her to Italy with their two children midway through the first war, when even women and children had become open game. She had become strongly attached to the country and eventually refused to leave it even to join him, while he felt Italy was uncomfortably bright and hot. By the time that it had threatened to become an issue, Dumbledore had voiced his concerns that Voldemort would rise once again and that perhaps Severus’ family would be better off in Italy.
Back to opening the journal, he put his hand over it and was pleased when it let him in. He was disappointed when he didn’t recognize quite a few of the potions. He’d have a lot of studying to do if he didn’t want the Potion Masters guild to find out that he was ten years behind. He flipped through the journal a couple of times before whispering his secret password. The journal changed colors and the diagrams and scribbles and stains of potions disappeared to reveal a daily journal, he whispered another password and the words went blank.
Severus picked up a quill lying next to the journal and started writing on the page. “Death Date of Maurinda Snape.” The words sank into the page and returned “August 14, 1997.” Two weeks, she would be dead in only two weeks. He closed his eyes and took in a deep ragged breath.
“Cause of Death.” He wrote. “Avadra Kedavra,” Someone had killed his wife? They better be dead by now, he would never have permitted them to live.
“Murderer?”
“Harry Potter.”
He stopped and stared at the words. No, that couldn’t be true, he’d never have married his wife’s murderer. Why was that boy still alive? Why had he done it? Where had she died? Potter couldn’t get to Italy without a passport and that took longer than two weeks to apply for. Maurinda was at home in Italy, had even told him not to come this summer because she had friends visiting, and he would inevitably alienate them. (He thought it a reasonable request, as he hated her friends. Well, that and he had a lot of work to do for the School and for the Order.) He wished he had gone anyway.
Just as he was about to ask the journal the details of his wife’s death, Twinky popped into the room.
“Twinky has led Master Harry to the library. Is there anything else Master would have me do?” she asked, her eyes seemed to be trained on the journal.
“No, I will call when I need you next.” Severus answered. He found her behavior odd, but, as she was also the only house elf that he knew of that wore clothes, he dismissed it.
Looking at the journal again he decided that now wasn’t a good time to learn of her death, he would only become more enraged and would probably kill the boy which wouldn’t do any good. He eventually decided that he shouldn’t try to read more about that until he could find the time to read the whole journal from the day he left off. He should try to find more recent activities. One, so he could get through most conversations with out giving away his lack of memory and Two, so he could see if he could figure out who might have a motive for obliviating him. He asked the jourto pto pick an average week in his life and skimmed through it.
//
“The idiots at the lab are worse than students, mostly as they claim to know what they are doing but are generally as incompetent.”
“Orion is irritating Thomas who is in turn irritating me by requesting that I find another way to entertain Orion. However, I can’t help but appreciate that Orion is doing something other than reading, and that Thomas only has to put up with Orion for 1 month out of the year.”
“Aaron is miserable that Orion is ignoring him and has taken to spending his time with Justin, who has decided that n isn is the only one he likes, which is upsetting Harry.”
“I caught Cassie, Ramses and Osirus trying to convince Helena, who wanted to play with them, to climb up the trellis to where they were. I confiscated their brooms for two weeks. Helena took 3 hours to calm down.”
“One of the idiots managed to blow up 3 cauldrons in a half an hour by confusing powdered doxie wings for powdered unicorn hair even though they were labeled correctly. I swear he’s worse than Neville Longbottom. We’ve been set back six weeks on that project.”
“Ruby and Sapphire escaped from their cribs for the third time this week. Harry had put the strongest spells I know of on the cribs to keep them in. I’m almost afraid of how strong they’ll be magically.”
“Aaron haswn awn an interest in potions. I made him a children’s potions set and set up a corner of the nursery as his own little lab, with Cassie, Ramses and Osiris specific wards, I swear he’s the only one who inherited my appreciation of potions. Not even Orion will go near a cauldron.”
“The doctor advised Harry to try to avoid getting pregnant for at least 2 years. Harry says he’s done it before, but I don’t believe it will take 6 months.”
//
Looking over the notes again he was distressed to notice that his relatively quiet life (outside of classes) that he had grown accustomed to at Hogwarts was over. He summoned some paper and wrote down the names of the children mentioned as well as the names of his coworkers. Orion, Aaron, Justin, Cassie, Ramses, Osirus, Helena, Ruby and Sapphiree the the names of the children. Nine children, plus the older children meant that he was a father of 14. He was worse than Arthur Weasley. Well, at least it looked like *he* was wealthy enough to afford them.
Scanning through the past few weeks he discovered that while he still had a handful of people that disliked his harsh ways, mostly he got along with and was respected by everyone he knew. This left him with no suspects that might have a motive in erasing part or all of his memory. Another difficulty was that while he was an expert in memory charms, he wasn’t aware of any that could be reversed.
Severus knew that he should probably be learning more about this strange future world that they were trapped in... but with ten years of advancements in a field he loved, it took very little time for the pages of his journal to switch back to potions notes and for him to settle down and indulge himself in study.
-------