Hopes Refuge

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

Thank you once again to Periculum…I’m really really not sure what I would do without you!

Chapter Six

Tio allowed whoever was tugging on his arm to pull him over to the rest of the teens, his palms sweating and shaking in reaction. He kept expecting to be called on his rudeness, and knew that it would be well deserved. So far Rosa had been nothing but polite to him, he could even admit that she had been kinder then most people had ever treated him, but he had thrown it all back in her face. He knew that she didn’t deserve that, but the word combination between what she said and Umbitch still rang in his head. He didn’t really react when he was convinced to sit, and didn’t notice that everyone in the clearing was watching him in concern.

Rosa stared after the boy with hurt in her eyes, knowing that it was her fault that he felt the way that he did. She could see for herself now exactly what Severus had explained to her in the study earlier; she even knew what she needed to do to fix the problem, but in her heart she also knew that she had done the right thing. It seemed that all she could do was wait and see if her decision not to allow Tio to fly was for the best. She would know within a few days if his magic, like the young man’s body, would recover faster than she expected. For now she would allow her decision to stand, at least until she did a scan on Tio’s magic. Maybe if she provided him the information needed on exactly how much magic it took to fly and direct a broom the way he did, he would understand why she had made that decision. “I understand what you were saying, Severus, about flying being to him what potions are to you. But you and everyone else need to understand that to fly the way he does, he needs ten times the amount of magical energy that you need to brew even the most complicated of your potions,” she murmured. “There is a book in the library that explains exactly that. I’ll be in my office if you need me, please remind Tio that I expect him there after the evening meal,” she added before walking away, knowing that one of the house elves would deliver a meal to her there.

Severus watched Tio walk away from them, his eyes narrowed in concern when he saw the boy start shaking. He had a pretty good guess as to why Tio was shaking; more than likely it was an inbred reaction for any kind of ‘attitude’ he would have shown in the ‘tender ‘care of his relatives. He knew growing up with ‘Petunia the Pill’ would not have been pleasant, but he never expected the girl he knew back in his own youth to turn into the kind of bitter person that could have treated her own flesh and blood in that manner. He had been given a report on what exactly Cal had found when he went to rescue Harry from that house, and he had become even more enraged. It was a sure thing that he would have to go to the next Order meeting and vent there, because doing so anywhere near the child would do more harm than good.

His thoughts on exactly what he planned to say when he next saw his fellow instructors were derailed when Rosa made her statement. Following her with his eyes as she walked away, he nodded slightly to himself. She had a point, the way Har…no Tio… the way Tio flew on a broom bordered on reckless on the best of days, and despite the calm authority he used while directing it, if he was not recovered sufficiently, he would make a judgment in error and come away with a whole new set of serious injuries. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tony nod in understanding as well.

“I think my being here may well be more of a distraction for him than anything,” Severus said softly. When he had Tony’s full attention, he continued. “Would you please be kind enough to inform Tio of his appointment with Rosa, and ask him to bring me up a copy of the report in my office when he is done?” When Tony nodded once in compliance he added, his voice just above a whisper. “Let him know that he’s not in trouble with me, though I doubt he will believe you at this moment. Get him to relax before he goes to see Rosa, and stay with him if he would like. I would like a chance to explain things to him from Rosa’s point of view, and perhaps give him the book she mentioned.”

Tony nodded once again. “No promises, Uncle, but I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s all I can ask at this stage: that you do what you can.”

Tony joined the other teens around Tio, and simply directed the meal, which had shimmered into place earlier, over to where they were all sitting. Noting that Tio’s shaking had not dissipated any, he carefully pulled the younger teen into his arms and tried to settle him once again. Honestly, breaking down like this again today would not do Tio any good at all. “Come on, Little One, no one here blames you for trying to take back control,” he whispered in Tio’s ear. It took a number of minutes, but finally the shaking started to ease up, and bright green eyes looked up at Tony once again in confusion. Tony chuckled slightly when the confusion turned to horror at what exactly he had said and done, followed by embarrassment complete with that blush that Tony was quickly becoming addicted to.

“How much trouble am I in?” Tio finally asked, conquering his blush.

Stephen answered for Tony. “That depends on what you mean by trouble. If you wanna know about the trouble you’re in from Uncle Sev and Rosa for speaking your mind, I would say none. If you wanna know about the trouble you’re going to get into from the rest us, if you don’t unwrap yourself from around Tony and actually eat, I would say a whole lot.”

Tio managed to beat the blush into submission before it managed to show itself, and slid out of Tony’s embrace. Looking at the wealth of food spread out in the middle of the rough circle that group had made, Tio knew that he needed to stick with lighter foods as his stomach would not handle the heavier foods available, and started placing fresh fruits, cheese, and some sausage on his plate along with a bread stick. Getting a look of disbelief from Stephen, he quickly added salad to his plate as well.

Conversation was light as everyone concentrated on eating first and talking later, and due to the fact that they were once again eating in the glade where tranquility reigned supreme, Tio found that he had more of an appetite than he first suspected. Much to the relief and pleasure of everyone else, he managed to eat a second helping of most of the food available.

It wasn’t until the remaining food vanished and a dessert tray took its place that Tio started looking for answers, and looked to Tony for the first one. “You and Professor Snape are related?”

Popping a chocolate in his mouth, Tony nodded his head. “Distantly. We’re third or fourth cousins, though I never cared enough to actually figure out how we were related. The only thing that I did care about was that when my mother died he was the only one left who was able to care for me. I’ve called him Uncle my whole life.”

Tio let this sink in for a few minutes, before looking around the circle. “What is this place? Why are you all here? How did you all get here? Why do you call Professor Snape ’Uncle’? Boss Man? What do you do here? What about the Statue of Secrecy?”

Pulling in a deep breath to continue, he found a hand across his mouth and heard Stephen chuckle. “Easy there, Little Bit, give us a chance to answer before you ask any more. We understand why you need to know this information, but you need to slow down.”

Tio gave him a sheepish smile and ducked his head. “I’m sorry, but…”

“But today you figured out that you have a place here among us, and you’re desperate for the answers that have been circling in your mind for the past week. Like Stephen said, we do understand,” Mikal continued for him.

Nodding his agreement to what the others were trying to tell him, Tio continued to keep his head down, knowing that they would answer his questions in due time. Looking up in surprise when a soft finger touched his cheek, Tio found Sofia kneeling in front of him with a glazed look in her usually bright blue eyes. “Secrets upon secrets lined up with even more secrets, held over with the light of truth. You will find your happiness here, Harry Potter, make no mistake,” she whispered before her eyes came into focus once more, and she continued speaking as though nothing had happened. “Uncle Sev made this place into a retreat for those who needed help, and named it Sanctuary. Of course the official name is still Prince Manor, but we all tend to forget that little tidbit of information,” she said with a grin. “As for how we came here, well Uncle Sev found Yeo and I, Dez was born here, Stephen was brought in by Rosa, and the rest of us by Cal.”

Mikal, Stephen and Tony shared a look at the whispered sentence, and knew that something important had happened. For his part, Tio had to suppress a shudder of fear, and quickly stopped the look of shock from showing in his eyes. It wouldn’t be the first time that he had heard a prophecy, and knew that she would not remember a thing. Hopefully the others, if they had heard, would keep it between them, or write it off as reassurance or as nothing cryptic at all. “I think I like the name Sanctuary better than Prince Manor,” he said, hoping his voice wouldn’t tremble as he spoke.

Dez, seeing the distress Tio was in, decided to help him out. He had also heard what Sofia had said, but decided it would be better to figure it out at another time. “Everyone but Tony and I were brought in for the same reason - and yes, Tio that includes you. In time, I’m sure you will get enough of the details to figure out everything, but that time is not now. However we can make the attempt to answer everything else.”

“We’ll start with the easy stuff,” Stephen added. “We call Severus ‘Uncle’, because it was with his help that we turned out as we did. Each of us healthy, happy, and in his words ‘not absolute dunderheads’.” He laughed.

“That and he forbade us to call him father, pops, dad, or any of the other euphemisms for a father figure,” Tony laughed. “He complained that he was too damn young to have such old children.”

“We also work for him, in between going to school and all. We go through and remove any of the dead fall in the forested areas that need it. Repair damage due to storms, take care of the animals, plant and harvest the fields, fish, and just make a general nuisance of ourselves,” Sofy added with a giggle.

“As for the statute of secrecy, no worries there, what they don’t know, they can’t do anything about. Besides, we all signed a contract to keep the knowledge of magic to ourselves, so it doesn’t really matter one way or another,” Yeo added.

Knowing that they had given the teen enough to think on tonight, Stephen figured it wise to redirect everyone’s attention. “You know, it’s such a beautiful evening, why don’t we all head down to the pond for a few hours?”

Tony, seeing the distraction for what it was, agreed immediately. “Great idea,” he said with a grin, throwing Stephen a grateful look. “We’ll go swim for an hour or so, and then perhaps a bonfire when it’s fully dark?”

Noises of general agreement were heard all the way around, and the wizards among them quickly transfigured the clothing to what was needed. Tony figured this was perhaps the best way to keep Tio’s nerves from acting up at the moment. Something active, his appointment with Rosa, followed by his meeting with Severus, and then a relaxing bonfire. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to jinx it by asking what else could go wrong at this time.