Scarred Souls

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Title: Scarred Souls

Author: Misty Moonlight/Co-author: QueenBoadicea

Pairings: Severus/Harry

Published: 12/10/2008

Summary: A widowed Harry must bond with Snape in order to save his daughter’s life. Sev gains a family, for better or worse, and the hearts of two scarred souls will be changed forever.

Warnings: Romance, Drama, Angst, Alternate Universe, Sexual Situations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash, Anal, Language, Humor, possible MPreg, Bonding, Original Characters, Family, OOC-ness,
non-canon, WIP

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A/N: “Thank you” so much to everyone who has reviewed this story.

I am so happy that you like it. Your support means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing. If anyone wants to be notified when I update, please let me know by leaving your email in a review and I will contact you when chapter is posted. I can also be reached at kahlan1986@yahoo.com with any questions but will be busy for the next week or so and can’t update again until after that.

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Chapter 6: Meeting the Weasleys


‘The Burrow’


Molly and Arthur were sitting at the kitchen table together sipping on some hot tea while their three young grandsons were upstairs playing in Ron’s old bedroom. George had wanted to stay with them but Molly was adamant that he go home and wait with his pregnant wife for news of Lily. Bill and Fleur had left earlier, after much persuasion by his parents, for their own home Shell Cottage to await any news.

“Arthur, what do you think is going on? Why didn’t Hermione tell us all to come to the hospital? She was holding something back; I know she was.” Molly was wringing her hands together nervously and Arthur reached across the table to pat them.

Ron had just left a few minutes ago for St. Mungo’s after Hermione had contacted him by fire call but she reassured Molly that Lily was no longer in danger and would be all right.

“Molly, you know Hermione wouldn’t have told us that little Lily was out of danger if it wasn’t true. I am sure it’s nothing to worry about. She probably just wanted Ron by her side for a little moral support after everything that’s happened.”

Molly’s eyes searched her husband’s before she said, “No, Arthur, there is definitely something else going on and she didn’t want to tell us so that we wouldn’t be upset. At least, not yet anyway. I promise you that, whatever it is, we are not going to like it.”

Arthur was looking at her with a worried expression on his face and started to say, “Now, Molly dear, please don’t jump to the wrong conclusions.... ”

“Arthur Weasley, don’t you dare patronize me. I know that you think I’m being a silly old woman worrying like this but just call it a mother’s intuition. Whatever is going on at St. Mungo’s, I can guarantee that it spells trouble. I also promise you this: whatever or whoever it is who’s causing my children problems, they won’t get away with it. I won’t let them jeopardize the welfare of our family, not after everything we’ve been through together.”

Molly had a determined look on her face and added, “Oh no, I won’t, or my name isn’t Molly Prewett Weasley!”

Looking at his wife, whom he loved with all his heart, Arthur shook his head but smiled and said, “Well, I knew marrying into the Prewett family would mean adventure and I’ve never been let down yet. If there is someone new out there wanting to cause our family harm, they will rue the day they ever met us and won’t know what hit them.”

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‘St. Mungo’s’


Ron ran down the long hallway of St. Mungo’s, earning himself strange looks from the nurses and visitors jumping out of his way. By the time he finally got to the now familiar family waiting room, he was all out of breath and had to bend over to hold the stitch in his side. Just as he started to straighten up, he was almost knocked over by a small whirlwind flying into his arms.

“Ronald!” Hermione cried. “Thank goodness you’re finally here.”

Ron held onto his small wife and gently guided her back into the room so they could sit down on the sofa together. Once he got his wind back and could talk normally again Ron turned to her saying, “Alright, Mione, talk to me, what’s up then? Why couldn’t Mum and Dad come and see Lily?”

Mione looked up at him and all of a sudden started crying. Ron quickly pulled out a clean hanky and wiped the tears from her wet eyes. He was getting experienced at this sort of thing now and was use to her sudden mood swings with the accompanying meltdowns. Ever since Hermione found out she was pregnant, it had become a normal way of life for him. One minute she was fine and then for no apparent reason the waterfall would start. He never knew how Harry did it when Ginny was pregnant with the twins. He only knew that there were days when he himself was ready for the loony bin and this was starting to be one of them.

“Oh Ron, it’s horrible, simply horrible. You won’t believe what’s happened. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and still can’t believe it. Oh, Ron, what are we going to do? Poor Harry! This can’t be happening. It just can’t. Not after everything he’s been through. What are we going to do? We have to do something to help him.”

“Lily is alright, isn’t she?” he asked in an alarmed tone.

“Oh, Ron, I am sorry. Yes, she’s fine. Lily is just fine.”

Ron relaxed a little bit then kissed her before saying with a laugh, “What is it? It can’t be that bad then, now can it? After all, Harry defeated old U-No-Poo, didn’t he? What can be worse than that? It’s not like Snape’s come back from the dead to haunt us, now is it?”

At this she just started crying harder and he had to get another hanky out.

“I can’t explain it. You’ll just have to come with me and see with your own eyes,” she hiccupped.

Wanting to get this mystery over with, he stood up pulling Hermione with him. Then wiping and kissing her eyes again, Ron let her take him by the arm out the door and lead them down the hallway to what he assumed was Lily’s room. Before they went in, she turned to him and asked in a near whisper.

“Ron, hand me your wand.”

Looking baffled, he said, “What?”

“You heard me. Hand me your wand. Now!”

“Have you lost your mind? Why should I do that?”

Obviously, too late, he knew that was the wrong thing to say to his wife because Hermione batted him on the side of the head with her heavy bag and snapped back, “Ronald Weasley just shut up and give it to me now,” she demanded.

“Geez, for crying out loud, Hermione, that hurt,” he whined holding his aching head and reluctantly handing his wand over into her waiting hand.

Taking it, she stuffed it in her handbag then stood on tiptoe to kiss his head, saying, “Sorry. I love you.”

Shaking his head in disbelief, he followed her into the room being sure to keep a safe distance behind.

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Harry was sitting in a rocking chair by the crib holding Lily in his arms. She was playing with the stuffed dragon and smiling up at him.

“How’s my little girl feeling?” he asked while brushing her curly bangs aside.

“I love you, Dada,” she giggled and blew him a raspberry kiss.

“Dada loves you too, sweetheart,” he answered and blew one right back at her causing her to giggle more.

“Dada funny,” Lily cried in delight.

The door opened and Harry looked up to see Hermione followed by Ron walking into the room. She cautiously looked around the room before heading over to them and smiled at the beautiful sight of father and daughter together again.

“Harry! Lily!” She gave Harry a quick peck on the cheek then reached down to pick up Lily.

Harry handed Lily over into her godmother’s waiting arms and then stood up to let her sit down. Seeing Ron lurking in the background, he went up to him and gave his ‘brother’ a huge hug which was reciprocated back.

“Ron, I am so glad to see you.”

“Hey, mate, it’s good to see you too and of course my beautiful little goddaughter.” Ron went up to Hermione and smiling at both of them looked down at Lily and began making goofy faces at her causing the little girl to go into hysterics.

Unfortunately, no one saw the door opening again until a cold sarcastic voice drawled, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Weasley clown come to visit the golden boy and his little demon seed.”

Ron’s eyes grew wide in shock and his hand reached for the wand that was usually sitting in its holster but was gone. Twirling around, to protect his wife and godchild, he growled, “Snape! You son of a bitch!” and then jumped at his former Professor before Hermione or Harry could stop him.

Throwing himself across the room he landed on Severus and knocked him over, starting to punch him with all his strength. Harry entered the fray and tried to pull Ron off of him but got knocked backwards by Ron’s elbow hitting him in the face. Lily started screaming bloody murder and Hermione stunned her husband with his own wand.

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“Oh, Ron, I am so sorry!”

“Ron, wake up, Ron.”

Ron heard concerned voices calling to him from a distance and he groaned wondering why he was all of a sudden lying prone on the floor. Then everything came back to him and his eyes popped open to see his worried wife and best friend bending down over him.

“Take it easy, Ron, you hit your head hard when you fell.” Harry told him helping him sit up.

“Ron, are you alright? Does it hurt badly?” a tearful Hermione asked in the background.

“What do you think Hermione, of course it does, but the thing that hurts most is my pride.” he grunted as he started to stand while rubbing his sore head with his hand.

“Oh, Hermione, for the love of Merlin, will you please be more careful the next time you decide to hit me in the head again?” he begged his wife then smiled and kissed her when she jumped on him smothering his face with kisses.

“Whoa, Hermione, slow down, will ya, I forgive you. I was just kidding. I am not mad at you. How could I be? You’re carrying my baby?”

“Hey guys, I hate to bother you when you’re making up but we’ve got company, you know. In case you’ve forgotten,” Harry said.

Thinking Harry was talking about Lily, Ron laughed saying, “Blimey, Harry, for a minute I thought I heard Snape’s voice. I must have imagined it after Hermione hit me so hard with her bag. It seemed so real though that I thought we were back in school again being giving detention by that greasy bastard.”

“You really are as stupid as you look, aren't you, Weasley?”

It was that voice again and Ron felt Hermione’s hands tighten on his arms.

“Don’t, Ron! Please. Don’t,” she begged.

“It’s really him, isn’t it?” he asked her. “He’s alive. Snape’s alive.”

Nodding and with tears in her eyes again, she kept a hold on him as he turned his head to look over his shoulder. There standing in the far corner was none other than Severus Snape, former dreaded Potions Professor of Hogwarts. He was right glad to see the man sporting a fantastic black eye that would have made Fred proud.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

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“He can’t do this, can he, Hermione?” Ron asked for what seemed the millionth time while glaring at the dark specter now standing by the window. “Are you sure? There has to be some way out of this mess. It was purely and simply blackmail. He used the love of a father for an innocent child who was sick to get revenge. There has to be a law against that. Harry can’t marry this jerk or he’ll end up being murdered in his own bed.”

“Thanks a lot, Ron,” Harry huffed.

They had just spent the last hour telling Ron everything that had happened right up to Hermione participating as their bonder during the “Unbreakable Vow”. He was furious that Snape had drawn his pregnant wife into this mess.

“Ron, it’s already done and since they already took the vow the only thing left to do now is have a bonding ceremony to complete their pact. Harry can’t back out now or he’ll die. You know that.”

“Wait until Mum hears about this. She’s going to blow a gasket,” Ron said with an evil smirk directed at Snape’s scarred face.

“Let’s get this over with then, shall we?” Hermione offered.

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James, Albus and Timothy (Ron and Hermione’s son) were upstairs playing a game of wizarding chess, or so thought their Grandparents, but they were actually eavesdropping. They had found an old set of their uncles’s Extendable Ears and were hiding at the top of the stairs listening in on the conversation they were having in the kitchen. Whispering between themselves, they kept fighting each other for a better position so they could hear what was going on between the adults.

When they heard the familiar sound coming from the fireplace, which signaled the arrival by floo of incoming visitors to the Burrow, the boys suddenly went quiet and listened together.

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Ron came through first, followed by Hermione and then Harry. Molly rushed up to Harry and pushing a disgruntled Ron out of the way, pulled him into a tight and comforting hug.

“Oh, Harry, my dear boy. How are you? You look tired and hungry.” Molly fussed over him and pulled him up to the table, then pushed him into a chair while summoning some hot soup from the stove with her wand into a bowl that had appeared out of nowhere and placed it in front of him.

“Eat,” his surrogate mother ordered then beckoned to Ron and Hermione to join him.

Sitting down next to Arthur, she said, “Right then, now tell me everything and you better not leave anything out. First I want to know how my baby granddaughter is.”

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Molly was furious and Arthur was keeping a very close eye on her while glancing back and forth nervously at his wife and the fireplace. He had an alarmed look on his face that mirrored the ones Harry, Ron and Hermione were sharing.

“Just you wait until I get my hands on that man!” Molly hissed just as the fire suddenly flared to life and the supposed and long thought dead former Hogwarts Potions Professor, former Death Eater turned spy for the light and former member of the Order of the Phoenix stepped out of the floo and into the Weasley kitchen.

Brushing himself off, he looked around it with an air of cool disdain then seeing Arthur and Molly said, “Surprised to see me alive again after all this time?”


TBC


I hoped you enjoyed.

Please review and let me know whether you liked it or not.

The next chapter features Molly confronting Severus and the boys upstairs conspiring to make Snape’s life hell. Also featured will be the bonding ceremony and Snape moving in with Harry and his little family. The fireworks will soon be starting so stay tuned.