Embracing the Real Us

It's Our Night

Snape sat in his rooms alone with his fire-whiskey. After the day’s events he was hounded by his memories, hounded by emotions he had been battling since the blasted boy had come to Hogwarts. It was easier to hide from the boy when he only had to deal with him in class, but now; now that Harry was in his own house, he was screwed. He sat in his favorite chair, the same one he’d sat in, with another bottle of fire-whiskey, the night the love of his life, his soul mate had found out he was a death eater and left him, without even giving him a chance to explain.

~Flashback~

Severus fell to the floor in his small flat. His whole body wracked with pain from the meeting. He took slow breaths to calm himself only to be startled by a familiar voice.

“Severus? Severus what happened to you?” He heard footsteps rushing over.

“I’m fine.” He said and made to stand. With his left arm he grabbed hold of one of the shelves on a bookcase and his robes fell down his arm. The footsteps stopped.

“You...you…you took the dark mark? You’re a fucking death eater! How could you lie to me like that?” Severus raised his head to speak, but he was now alone. He tried to apperate, but his body was too weak. He tried to floo, but it wouldn’t go through. So resigned himself to his favorite chair and a bottle of fire-whiskey, depression settling in.

~End Flashback~

The Potions professor was stirred from his thoughts by a loud incessant pounding on his door. He stood up and stalked over to the door angrily.

“What could you possibly want at this hour?” He shouted as he wrenched the door open. Dumbledore and a group of aurors were waiting.

“Severus, someone has been in the castle. They have been spotted in the dungeons; we must hurry if we are to find them. Go to your common room and stand guard over your house, I’ll let you know when it is safe.” Severus nodded and rushed down to his Slytherins. He walked in to find Hermione ranting to herself.

“Miss Granger, what pray tell are you going on about?” He asked. She turned to him, tears in her eyes.

“I swear it sir, it was Dumbledore that was going to kill him. There was no one else! IT WAS DUMBLEDORE!”

“Wait, Dumbledore was going to kill someone? Who?”

“HARRY’S FATHER! JAMES POTTER!” She cried to her new head of house. Severus stopped cold.

“Miss Granger, are you sure it was James?” Hermione looked confused as to why he would care about James.

“Of course I’m sure!” She hissed. “But, Harry mustn’t find out about this yet. James is in some sort of unending magic induced sleep and no one can seem to wake him. There is no use of telling Harry unless there is something to tell.”

Severus sat down and began to wait; he knew that Hermione wouldn’t lie about something this big; however he would not endanger his students in case she was mistaken.

“Go to bed Miss Granger, there is nothing to fear, I will stand guard in case the intruder comes here.” Hermione huffed and walked to her room. Severus sat in astonishment. James Potter was alive, well, had a pulse. He couldn’t believe it, he wanted to see him, wanted to see if it was really him. Dumbledore couldn’t come back fast enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whoever it was, they’re gone now.” One of the aurors said after combing the entire castle.

“Yes, it appears so. In any case, it looks as though they came to dispose of something they had long left here, and now we have him, I don’t think we have much to worry about.” Dumbledore said before calling off the alarm and sending all the professors back to their own quarters. The moment he set foot into the Slytherin common room Severus was off and running to the hospital wing.

“Oh James.” Severus whispered as he sat down beside the bed. Once Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey went to bed tears began falling freely from his dark eyes. “All these years we thought you were dead and you were right here, beneath our feet, sleeping.” He cried. He took the other man’s hand in his own.

“You stupid git, if you had only waited and let me explain, I would have told you about my being a spy. But no, you and your Gryffindor emotions, you ran off and got that Evans girl pregnant.” He paused for a moment and stared at his soul mate. “Please wake up love. If not for me then do it for Harry. But please wake up.” After awhile Severus crawled into bed with his beloved and cried himself to sleep.


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Draco woke up and rushed over to Harry’s bed, something he had become accustomed to after this past summer. Harry was screaming and thrashing about in the midst of a nightmare. Draco threw his arms around the teen and held on tightly.

“You’re alright Harry; it’s going to be alright.” Draco soothed and Harry slowly calmed down. After a moment the dark haired young man turned to look at the other.

“I think that Voldemort is working for someone else. I couldn’t see who it was, but they were talking about killing my dad.” Harry whispered finally. “But, my dad is already dead Draco, why would they be talking about killing him again.” They sat together in confusion for the better part of the night before slipping into a restless sleep close to four am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the night, no one was awake to notice the strange pink and red mist swirling around the Potions professor and his former lover. Severus slept soundly, having wrapped himself around the other man.

As dawn broke over the horizon Severus opened his deep brown eyes to meet the gaze of a pair of blue. A smile broke out on his face and his eyes began to tear as he stared at the face in front of him. The other man smiled weakly with his own tears blurring his vision.

“Hello love.” James whispered and was soon being kissed by his love.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” Severus said running his hands all over the other man’s body, as if to reassure himself that he was real.

“I don’t know what woke me up, but I’ve wished for so long to be with you.”

“Harry is going to be so happy to see you.”

“Harry survived?”

“Yes.He’s actually a Slytherin now; don’t know where he gets it.” Severus said quietly. James grew sad as he remembered the circumstances of his son’s birth. “I’m sorry you lost her James, you must have loved Lily to have a child with her like that.”

“Sev, there’s something I need to tell you. But I don’t want to do it until I’ve gotten up and out of this bed.” James smiled. Severus stood and helped him stand, but surprisingly, he didn’t need it much. Madam Pomfrey stepped out of her quarters to check on him and screamed when she saw him out of bed.

“Oh my! You’re awake! What are you doing out of bed?” The two men laughed.

“I feel fine Poppy, just like in school. I would like to get out of here, so some normal clothing would be appreciated. I think after so long, these pajamas I’m wearing have started to smell.”

“Yes, yes of course. We have something you can wear around here someplace.” After he’d dressed, he and Snape headed out.

“Are you hungry?”

“Starving, but I need to tell you now, before we go in there.” James looked at him.

“What is it?” Severus asked worried.

“Lily didn’t give birth to Harry.”

“Then who did?”

“I did.” Severus stared at James.

“But wait, that would mean…”

“Yes, it does.” The Potions professor leaned against the wall behind him. “Sev?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? No wait, I know why you didn’t tell me. That’s why you were at my flat that night wasn’t it?” James nodded. “I’m so sorry James. I wanted to tell you what was happening, but Albus told me no one should know, and then you left that night before I could explain.”

“I know, Sev, I know. But, why wasn’t Harry given to you while I was out? You should have known he was yours after I was gone.”

“Albus sent him to Lily’s relatives. Why would I know? I mean, if everyone thought that he was Lily’s then of course he would be sent to what people thought were his only living relatives. But now, I only hope that he can accept me, after all, I haven’t been that nice.” Severus admitted.

“Of course you weren’t. But, Sev, I made sure that his birth records were correct, after he was born I made sure of it, just in case.” James replied and pulled him into the great hall. All eyes turned to them as the doors opened. Dumbledore nearly fell from his seat when he saw the former Gryffindor up and about. When he saw Severus with him, he realized what had happened.

“Hello Albus.” James growled and stalked up to the head table. “If you would Albus, a word?” The two men lead the headmaster out the side door, leaving the room in confusion.

“That was, was, was….” Harry stuttered, unable to complete the sentence.

“Who?” Draco asked.

“His father.” Hermione whispered. Hearing the words actually said, Harry launched out of his seat and raced out of the Great Hall.

“James, I had no idea that they were not his real relatives, we had no reason to check the birth records.”

“You would have had to check them to see who Lily’s relatives were.” James growled.

“Even so, it was too dangerous here for him. You have to understand it was for his safety.”

“Dad?” James turned and saw Harry. James could only stare at his son in shock.

“James. James, say something.” Severus said to the other man. Sev knew that the teen didn’t know about him being his other parent, but he couldn’t help but look on him in a whole new light. James blinked and looked smiled down on his son. Harry stepped up and put his hand up to the older man’s cheek, testing to see if he was really there. Tears of joy began trickling down Harry’s cheeks.

“Where have you been?” He whispered.

“He’s been asleep Harry, someone put him to sleep the night of the attack and he was hidden away in our own dungeon until tonight when someone went to kill him but Miss Granger saved him. What was it again that woke you up James my boy?” Dumbledore jumped in.

“I don’t know, I just know that I was dreaming, and I could feel some of the things that were happening, and then all of a sudden, I was here, in the hospital wing.” He replied, conveniently leaving out the part about Severus being with him. Harry looked up at the man and hugged him tight.

“Headmaster, if you would so kindly leave me and father to catch up.”

“As Severus has cancelled his morning classes, you won’t have to start until after lunch.” He said before heading up to his office.

“What was that about Harry?”

“Meddling old fool, I don’t want him around.” Harry said and Severus led them to his quarters. “No offense, what is Professor Snape doing here?”

“Harry this is going to be difficult, but I have something I need to tell you.” Harry just stared at the man. “I fell in love while I was in school here Harry, and I was loved deeply in return. That love produced a baby, you Harry. But Harry, it wasn’t Lily I was in love with; it wasn’t Lily who gave birth to you. It was me, and your father, is Severus. It was Severus that woke me Harry, the spell cast was one that only love could reverse, and whoever cast it thought that any chance of waking me had died with Lily, but they were wrong. We both love you Harry.”

“I’ll understand if you don’t want me as a father, it’s a lot to handle in one day.” Severus added. “But know that I love your dad and I do love you.” Harry stared at the two men for what felt like an eternity. Finally Harry turned his gaze to Severus and smirked.

“And you wondered how I did so well in Potions.” Severus let go a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and smiled.

“So, you don’t mind that your parents are men?” James asked him. Harry looked at him.

“Are you kidding me? How could I mind, I’m gay!” With that he wrapped his arms around both men and laughed. “I’ve always wanted a family and it’s so nice to know that I wasn’t related to those bastard muggles.”

“What are you talking about Harry?”

“As much as I would love to see you go kill them, I think that’s better left unsaid.” The three men talked for a bit and then finally floo called Remus who came rushing over with Snuffles, otherwise known as Sirius in tow. The three marauders embraced and began talking as if they’d never been apart. Once they discovered the truth about Harry and Severus, they had no problems with Harry rightfully belonging to Slytherin. By the time lunch came Harry was smiling like he never had before. Hermione, Draco and Layla were excited to see him so happy. That night Harry took Draco out with his invisibility cloak. They made their way to the Quidditch pitch where they sat on the grass, Draco sitting behind Harry his legs spread and arms holding the brunette tight against his chest.

“I did want to kiss you yesterday, you know that don’t you.” Draco whispered.

“I know, but things like that should just happen, they shouldn’t be forced, even if it’s Layla and Hermione.”

“How long have you had a thing for me Harry?”

“Since last year, November. I was in the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione, and you walked in and I just couldn’t bring myself to hate you. I tried, oh did I try, but by Christmas I was hooked.” Draco laughed. “What about you? When did you stop hating me?”

“Uh, well, it was last year, one night I snuck out and there you were, flying. I realized I’d never noticed how amazing you look when your flying, how beautiful you are. I of course was better at hiding it.” Draco said tilting his chin in the air. Harry laughed and shifted his body so he was half facing Draco. Draco smiled and looked into those gorgeous emerald eyes, taking in everything he could about them. He breathed in the scent of Harry’s cologne but he could tell there was an underlying scent that was just Harry, some kind of mix of evergreen trees and patchouli. Harry stared into Draco’s ice blue, almost silver eyes staring at him, breathing in the scent of mint and lemons. Their eyes locked as Draco moved one of his hands to Harry’s head and pulled his lips to meet his own. Their eyes closed as their lips met in a kiss that began soft but soon turned deep and passionate.