Gaelic Blessing

Severus rolled his eyes, disgusted, as the Minister of Magick proposed yet another search for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Defeated-Voldemort. Harry had killed the Dark Lord during the Easter holidays of his seventh year. Many Death Eaters had been killed in the Final Battle and many were taken to Azkaban to be administered the Dementors kiss. Severus and Harry were among the lucky ones to escape relatively unscathed. Both Professor Vector and several other professors were killed in defence of Hogwarts.

Within Harry’s original Hogwarts year only fifteen out of thirty seven had survived to graduate. Among the fallen across the school were Mark Evans, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Cho Chang, Hannah Abbott, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, Ginny and Ron Weasley. It was these two deaths that hit Harry the hardest along with the loss of Hermione Granger. Ron and Hermione had been engaged since the start of their seventh year and, unbeknownst to anyone but the threesome Hermione had discovered that she was pregnant over the Easter holiday. Determined to fight alongside her fiancée and best friend she had joined the forces of light at Hogwarts. However, when the killing curse killed her fiancée and overexposure to the cruciatus curse caused her to miscarry her unborn child, it was Harry who she blamed. She spouted vicious words on how Ron and her baby would still be alive if it wasn’t for him, and how she wished she had never become friends with Harry in first year.

Although none of the Weasley family blamed Harry, Severus could see that Harry blamed himself. He felt that because of him Arthur and Molly had lost three children (Ginny and Ron at the Battle of Hogwarts, Percy at the Battle for the Ministry) and almost lost a fourth (Bill was attacked and badly maimed by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback). Despite the fact that Molly and Arthur had told him repeatedly that he was not to blame he didn’t believe them.

Since the unfortunate death of Sirius at the end of Harry’s fifth year, Severus and Harry had become closer as their minds were in contact through occlumency and legilimency. Now, Severus counted Harry as one of his closest and only friends alongside Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey. Following his graduation, Harry had disappeared from public life completely without informing anyone where he was, just a simple message to say he was safe but didn’t want to be contacted. As far as he knew, he was the only person who kept in regular contact with Harry; the young man had refused to bow down to even Molly’s tearful entreaties. Cornelius Fudge, who had tenuously managed to keep a grasp on his position on Minister of Magick, attempted to find Harry every few months but for the last four years all attempts had failed.

What the rest of the Wizarding world didn’t know in fact, what the whole world didn’t know what the whole world didn’t know was that Harry had left England in an attempt to avoid the media attention and the machinations of Cornelius Fudge. True to her word in fifth year Professor McGonagall had ensured that Harry got the requisite grades and graduated from Hogwarts with a place at the Auror Academy. Seven years of fighting Voldemort whilst still attending school had deadened Harry’s appetite for fighting dark wizards. He withdrew several thousand galleons from his vault at Gringotts as well as the keys to one of the properties owned by the Black family; a large sprawling mansion in County Cork, Ireland. Throughout the summer months of July and August and with the help of Dobby and Winky, Harry completely renovated the house. All of the dark artefacts were removed, thankfully the house elf heads were limited to Grimmauld Place, and everywhere was freshly painted. At the same time, Harry sat the final exams necessary for his healer accreditations. With that done, numerous potions made, the kitchen fully stocked and fake documentation in hand showing him to be Harrison Evans, he set off for the Ministry of Magick and the child welfare department.

As the war had progressed he had thought more and more about the children left behind in the devastation. He had no desire to see magickal children grow up unloved either in orphanages or Muggle families as he had done. He had been seized with an idea and, after talking it through with Severus, the older man had agreed to help him gain the potions and healing knowledge he would need to look after children. Six hours later and Harry held guardianship papers for four children. Holly Creevey was the eleven year old sister of Colin and Dennis who had been killed at the Battle of Hogwarts whilst their parents were killed at Diagon Alley – their mum simply for marrying a Muggle. Then there were the six year old twins Robert and Violet Carmichael, their parents killed for openly defying Voldemort, who didn’t comprehend why their parents weren’t there anymore. Finally, there was three month old Georgiana Castle. Georgiana’s mother was a young Pureblood witch who had been raped by one of Voldemort’s lieutenants at a Death Eater revel. As soon as the child was born the mother had named her daughter before using the Avada Kedavra curse on herself. As such the child became a ward of the Ministry. Harry knew that taking responsibility for four children, one that was little more than a newborn but he felt that he was more than equipped for the challenge.

Four years down the line there were twelve children living under Harry’s care. Several of the older children had been placed with Muggle relatives and either abandoned or abused before they came under Harry’s care. A further two children, like Georgiana, were the product of rape whilst the remaining children were simply rescued from a system that had overlooked them. When the children were seven they attended a small wizarding primary school in a nearby village four days a week whilst Harry looked after the younger children. Dobby and Winky were permanently on hand to cook and clean but it was Harry who bore the brunt of the responsibility. He looked after the children, taught them to read and write, soothed their nightmares, made their potions when they were ill, helped them with their homework and generally acted as their father. They never referred to him as their dad though, he was always “Uncle Harry”. Similarly, Severus, as a familiar figure to the children was always referred to as “Uncle Severus”.

Albus was still the headmaster but becoming increasingly like his age and as such, more and more duties were passing to Minerva as deputy head and head of Gryffindor as well as Severus, Filius and Pomona as the other heads of houses.

Severus had to admit that he could get used to the lifestyle out in Ireland. In addition to the regular weekend trips Severus often spent extended periods of time at the house during the summer holidays. Under Severus’ tutelage during his last years at Hogwarts Harry had brought his potions skills up to the equivalent of a master. He was not quite as good as Severus but he was more than good enough to hold his own in theoretical discussions as well as most brewing. As a result of Harry’s talent there was a potions laboratory at the manor that rivalled his own at Hogwarts. Plus, at the manor in Ireland he had the freedom and time to experiment without distraction. He even enjoyed spending time with the children.

Having discovered his proclivity for wizards rather than witches whilst a student meant that he had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he would never marry or have children of his own. This had been further compounded when he had fallen in love with Harry Potter whilst Harry was a sixth year at Hogwarts. At the time Severus fell for Harry the sixteen year old had been dating the fifth year Ginevra Weasley, a match that was highly desirable to the wizarding world. As a result Harry suffered a rapid drop in people’s estimations when he dumped Ginny at the start of seventh year along with the announcement that he was gay. It was this more than anything that people disliked. Apparently saviours weren’t supposed to fall in love with another guy. They were supposed to meet a nice girl, fall in love, marry straight out of school, have lots of children, several pets and a nice house with a white picket fence – the whole cliché. Following the end of his relationship with Ginny Harry went on to have numerous relationships with guys around the school, most notably with Seamus Finnegan and Blaise Zabini. The two wizards had taken inter-house relations to a whole new level since the start of sixth year. Although jealous of the relationships Harry had with the two boys, however casual, Severus had no qualms about dating Slytherins. That being said and done both Finnegan and Zabini were a lot more attractive than Severus considered himself to be.

The death of Voldemort had eradicated most of the stress from his life and the decrease in stress had let to an alteration in his looks. Without the constant fear of being discovered as a double agent he could now actually eat at meal times rather than having to rely on nutrient potions which were never wholly effective over a long period of time. Also, as a result of Voldemort’s death he no longer had to keep up the role of greasy old bat of the dungeons. He no longer had to play favourites, although the Slytherins were favoured slightly more, and he spent time on the grounds so there was a hint of colour to his skin – he no longer could be described as having a sallow complexion. The demise of the Dark Lord had also allowed him to resume the one hobby he had as a child other than potions; drawing.

It was no longer a strange sight to see Professor Snape around Hogwarts pad and pencil in hand sketching. The majority of his drawings were done whilst at Harry’s home. He had several dozen sketchbooks that detailed each and every minute detail of life at the manor. Three of those sketch pads were taken up with drawings of Harry himself. There were pictures of Harry whilst still a student playing quidditch and studying in the library though those were few and far between. There had also been one of Harry with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger before things had gone wrong. This picture Severus had reproduced using oils and had given it to Harry as a present which was treasured for its reminder of past times. From the time of Harry’s graduation there were pictures of him brewing potions, teaching the children, bottle feeding the babies, cuddling the children. There were pictures of Harry reading in his library, chewing a quill as he laboriously studied Dark Arts texts and Harry sleeping. Finally, in a warded sketch book that was keyed to open only for Severus there were the pictures of Harry that had no basis in reality. They were the images that Severus had drawn in an attempt to erase the fantasies from his mind. Here were the pictures of Harry in the throes of passion, eyes closed, hair tousled and head thrown back in pleasure. Harry bound hand and foot with silken scarves to a four poster bed. Harry, shoulder length hair rumpled in a way that screamed ‘I’ve just been shagged’, eyes glazed over and lips swollen from kisses. These were the pictures that Severus took out when he was feeling wistful, the pictures of what he desperately wanted but felt that he would never have. Moving over to the shelf that held his sketchpads Severus removed one that resembled an ornately decorated book. This was to be Harry’s Christmas present. That year Alexander James, another of Harry’s wards had started at Hogwarts being sorted into Ravenclaw and joining Holly Creevey, now a fifth year Gryffindor and two more wards, Lucia and Alfonso Marcello, thirteen year old twins who were third year Slytherins. It had become tradition that each year, as another of Harry’s wards started at Hogwarts, Severus’ Christmas gift to Harry was a book of sketches of that particular ward during their first three months at the school. Next year there would be two books to make as Christmas presents for Harry with the Carmichael twins Robert and Violet starting at Hogwarts and Severus got the feeling that he already knew which house they would be in. He always kept a replica of the books himself at Hogwarts although the books were always kept under lock and key when any of the other professors visited his quarters.

Thankfully Minerva had stopped watching the quill write the addresses for the Hogwarts letters years ago, otherwise she would be slightly suspicious about the number of letters being sent to Heathmore House. Placing the book back on the shelf he resolved to add to it once he had finished grading the stack of sixth year essays on why their attempts at brewing Amortentia had been unsuccessful. The four that had managed to brew it successfully had written essays on the properties of Felix Felicis.

This was to be the first Christmas that he had spent at Heathmore or rather the first Christmas where he had spent the whole holiday there as there were no Slytherins staying at school. The Heathmore children that were at Hogwarts would ride the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross with their friends and from there they had a portkey that would take them home. Severus himself would be apparating later after dinner and once he had finished closing up the labs for the holidays.

The following weekend, the last of the school term, Severus made his way to Hogsmeade along with the students even though he wasn’t acting as a chaperone. In addition to the annual presents for Albus, Minerva and Poppy he had to buy presents for Harry and the twelve child residents of Heathmore House. The oldest of Harry’s wards Holly was sixteen whilst the youngest Elizabeth, or Beth as she was known, was just three and a half years old. Although none of the children were spoilt they were certainly over-indulged at Christmas and their birthdays. Harry always spent a fortune on them, as with his godson Teddy Lupin, and Severus delighted in blowing his Death Eater father’s fortune on the children his father considered to be scum. Subsequently, Severus quite happily made his way round Hogsmeade buying toys, books, sweets and items of clothing for the children. Albus got his usual jar of lemon drops and a pair of socks whilst Minerva and Poppy received yearly subscriptions to their favourite transfiguration and healing journals. When it came to Harry Severus had to admit that he probably did go slightly overboard. For the younger man he bought a set of forest-green dress robes, various potions ingredients, the latest Defence against the Dark Arts text and some of his favourite Honeyduke’s chocolate.

The last day of term arrived and was over relatively quickly to Severus’ relief. Having seen his Slytherins onto the Hogwarts Express and on their way back to King’s Cross he made his way back to Hogwarts, wrapping his muffler tighter round his neck as he did so. He was looking forward to dinner that evening as it would be peaceful and he could enjoy intelligent conversation with Poppy Pomfrey and Molly Weasley. The Weasley matriarch had joined the staff during the war as an assistant to Poppy as well as becoming school councillor and surrogate mother to students of all houses. Following the death of Ginny and her sons leaving The Burrow Molly suffered from empty-nest syndrome and happily accepted the permanent post when Albus offered it to her. Several hours later, walking into the Great Hall Severus went and took a seat by Poppy and Molly before helping himself to the food that had appeared on the staff table.

He was deep in conversation with the two witches when the fireplace turned green and out tumbled a familiar figure. Severus looked on in confusion as the familiar figure of Holly Creevey tumbled out of the Great Hall fireplace and looked around wildly until she spotted him. With her eyes locked on Severus she seemed to sag with relief and she flung herself across the room as him as he stood up. He caught her as he rounded the table.

“Holly? What’s the matter? Why aren’t you at Heathmore?”