Some Important Talks are Finally Had
A chaotic commotion could be seen and heard on the lawn of the main house.
A swarm of growling goblins and cackling imps decided that this Midsummer’s Eve was the perfect time to stage a revolt against the caretakers of the Fablehaven preserve.
Now normally, this would not be a problem. All anyone had to do was gather the band together, get some fairies with free time on board, and voila. The goblins and imps would be chased off before anyone could even yell ‘Viva Las Fablehaven!’
Unfortunately, there were two issues that made it a problem.
The first was that the goblins and imps were revolting together instead of separately or one after the other. Somehow, these two species with well documented animosity towards each other decided on a truce if it meant overthrowing the caretakers and taking over the preserve.
The second problem…was the guests.
–
Mr. Granger yelped as he ducked under a lunging imp, barely managing to bat off its clawing grasp with Grandma Sorenson’s trusty wooden ladle while Mrs. Granger took the chance to smack the imp away from her husband with a sturdy cast iron pan that belonged to Great, Great, Great Uncle Patton’s grandma.
Seth whistled, impressed by the hit as the imp soared through the air in what would surely be considered a home run and landed back in the surrounding forest.
“Nice swing, Mrs. Granger!”
Mrs. Granger gave him a shaky smile before returning her attention to making sure her husband didn’t become imp chow.
Seth turned his attention to surveying the lawn. He saw Kendra duking it out with a pair of goblins who were armed with thick branches, Bracken and Vanessa were fending off a horde of imps through a combination of magic and potions, Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson were paired up with his parents as they smacked away any imps who dared to get close to the main house, and Dale was dual wielding a pair of fairy enchanted spatulas against a particularly growly goblin.
“Seth, look out!” Hermione shouted in warning.
Seth whirled around to see a goblin charge at him for what would no doubt be a back breaking tackle. He crouched down, readied his sheathed sword like a baseball bat, and swung at the goblin’s legs hard enough to send it tumbling across the lawn where it smacked straight into a tree.
“Nice!” He exclaimed with glee, “That’s gotta be a seven out of ten!”
“More like a five out of ten!” Kendra yelled as she flipped her goblin adversaries simultaneously onto their backs. “Your form sucked!”
“Oh come on! Did you not see that beautiful tumble?” Seth loudly protested.
“Sorry Seth,” Bracken said in faux apology as he ran by, “But you know you need to get a somersault to break the five out of ten threshold.”
“Sheesh. Everyone’s a critic,” Seth petulantly grumbled.
“Seth!” Hermione cried out in both worry and frustration.
“Woah!”
Seth jumped away from a trio of lunging imps just in time and ducked behind a barricade made from a picnic table and some barbed wire Vanessa had lying around. He grinned over at Hermione who frowned at him in disapproval.
“This is not the time to be clowning around, Seth!” She reprimanded with a scowl.
“Oh come on, Hermione. Lighten up a bit,” he jokingly nudged her which only made her scowl more harshly at him.
The two of them poked out from behind the barricade long enough to throw potions at a nearby goblin that was immediately entangled in vines that rapidly sprouted from the ground.
“There’s always time to crack jokes in the middle of a crisis!”
Hermione huffed in disbelief but she couldn’t quite hide the faint twitch of a smile.
As the two ducked back down behind the barricade, Seth asked, “So what do you think about Fablehaven so far?”
“Well I certainly wasn’t expecting something as mad as this to happen,” she flatly responded.
“Then what were you expecting? Sunshine and unicorns?”
She immediately turned away in response but not before Seth could see her flush in embarrassment. “...maybe…”
He laughed. “That’s what we’d call a Thursday, Hermione.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “And what would you call this?”
“Tuesday!” He said with a manic grin before jumping out from the barricade and charging at a group of imps with a dramatic battle cry.
Harry sat in the middle of the small parlor at the Leaky Cauldron staring at the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, in confusion as the strangely dressed man continued to ramble reassurances that he wasn’t in any trouble for the accidental magic that had caused his aunt to blow up and float away like an oversized balloon earlier that evening.
“And so again, you needn’t worry, Harry. You’re not in trouble,” Fudge said in a soothing voice that only sounded condescending to the 13-year old’s ears, “We’re simply glad you’re safe and that’s what matters. No harm done.”
“So that’s it then? No warning? No punishment?” Harry asked, understandably skeptical.
Fudge sputter. “Punishment? No, no! Definitely not!”
“And you’re not going to threaten to expel me like you did last year? When you thought a house elf smashing a pudding in my uncle’s house was actually me doing magic?” Harry continued with no small amount of bitterness.
“Oh, well, that was just a simple mistake, Harry,” Fudge tried to brush off while looking fairly uncomfortable, “Our magic detectors aren’t exactly the, er, best. It simply recorded magic occurring in the area where you lived and given you were the only one with magic living in that area, it was assumed you performed underage magic. An official would have been sent to investigate the matter if it occurred again.”
Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Really?”
Fudge nodded eagerly like a poor imitation of a bobblehead. “Really!”
Harry nodded slowly but something was still bothering him. “That’s good but…why would the Minister of Magic come down here just to tell me all of this? Surely you’ve got more important minister stuff to do?”
Fudge nervously chuckled. “It’s nothing truly strange, Harry. I always find time to speak with those of the younger generation.”
“If you say so,” Harry said, clearly hearing the lie but not wanting to push it. He picked up a buttered crumpet. “So what now?”
“Well now I would hope we could return you to your aunt and uncle’s home,” Fudge responded. “However, they’re rather angry about what occurred but are still prepared to take you back next summer so long as you stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays.”
“I always stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays,” Harry said as he bitterly munched on the crumpet, “And I never want to go back to that house.”
“Now, now, I’m sure you’ll feel differently once you’ve calmed down,” Fudge nervously chuckled, “They are your family after all. And I’m sure you are all fond of each other, er, very, very, very deep down.” He cleared his throat. “For now, we’ll have you set up at the Leaky Cauldron. Unfortunately, as a minor, you must be accompanied by an adult during the duration of your stay.”
Harry frowned at the sinking feeling in his gut. “And who would that be?”
Fudge smiled before calling out to a door on the other side of the parlor. “You may come in now!”
The door opened and Harry watched with slack jawed surprise as a sour faced Snape stepped inside. A dropped pin could be heard in the very awkward silence that followed the reveal.
“Professor Snape has kindly volunteered to supervise you for the last three weeks of your summer break,” Fudge explained as he laughed nervously, “I’m sure the two of you will have a brilliant time together.”
“And that’s how I ended up going to Hogwarts,” Seth finished explaining.
He and Hermione were sitting out on the main house porch and watching the sun set in the distance as it cast a beautiful gradient of warm colors over the preserve.
Hermione was silent for a moment as she methodically digested everything he just said. “So…” she carefully began, “You’re saying that you are a shadow charmer which is someone who has darkness inclined abilities and a kinship to creatures of the night, usually demons and other unsavory creatures while your sister is fairy kind which is basically the complete and light inclined opposite.”
“Uh huh.”
“And you are actually a 22 almost 23-year-old man in the body of a 12 almost 13-year-old boy because you took an ‘impromptu bath’ in water from the lake of Avalon from Arthurian legend.”
“Yup!”
She gave him a hard stare before slowly nodding in acceptance. “Alright then.”
Now Seth was the one staring at her. “Wait, what?”
She frowned. “What do you mean ‘what’? I thought I summarized your rather long winded and overly dramatic retelling rather well.”
“Well yeah but, that’s it?” He asked, confused by her utter lack of reaction, “No freaking out? No screaming? No being weirded out? Just, cool story bro?”
She deadpanned. “I traveled through a fairy kingdom to meet the fairy queen, almost fell into a demon hole because your satyr friends wanted to go spelunking for gold, got chased by golems trying to find a hidden treasure for naiads, and helped stop goblins and imps from revolting against the preserve during Midsummer’s Eve. My tolerance for weird and impossible has already been reached and broken multiple times by this point.”
“And you’re also okay with the fact that I’m technically an adult in a kid’s body?” He asked, just to be sure.
She gave him an unimpressed look. “You are many things, Seth Sorenson. A prankster, a troublemaker, and a maniac just to name a few…”
“Hey!”
“But you are most certainly not a creep nor a pervert. And if you were, I would’ve already hexed you a million times over until every part of you was practically unidentifiable and then gotten you expelled from Hogwarts.”
Seth gave her a vaguely horrified look. “I think you need to stay away from Vanessa from now on. You’ve been spending way too much time with her.”
Hermione smiled at him with a sharp edge that was definitely a carbon copy of Vanessa’s whenever she managed to successfully intimidate someone through words alone. “But I trust I’ve made my point?”
“1000 percent.”
“Good. Besides, you act enough like a child to suit your present physical change that I wouldn’t have known your true age if you hadn’t told me.”
“I…don’t know if I should feel complimented or insulted.”
“How about both?”
The two then sat there in silence for a moment.
“So do you wanna go to Tibet and visit Yeshe this weekend?
“Who?”
“The dragon we met in that secret room our first year.”
Hermione looked as if she regretted every single life choice that led her to this moment even as her eyes shone brightly with burning curiosity. “...sure.”
Harry was back in the parlor again, this time lounging in a large, squishy chair and reading Quidditch through the Ages. Or rather, he would be if it weren’t for the fact that his gaze kept sliding away from the words on the page and over to the other side of the room where Snape was writing meticulous notes for his lesson plans.
Whenever Snape looked up from his notes, Harry would quickly duck his head behind his book in an attempt to hide the fact that he was spying on the professor.
Normally, Harry would be quite happy to ignore Snape whenever possible but this time, he couldn’t help it. Ever since he heard Snape’s name back in the chamber, he couldn’t stop wondering if the Severus in the photo with his mother was the same Severus who was the infamous potions professor of Hogwarts and if that same professor also sent that photo of his mother back in first year.
And he wanted to ask. Oh Merlin did he want to ask that burning question sitting on the tip of his tongue.
But he had no clue how to do so without potentially bringing Snape’s wrath down on his head and having it follow him for the rest of his years at Hogwarts. He quite enjoyed not being on the receiving end of Snape’s ire last year and he didn’t want to experience that horrific attitude again any time soon.
Eventually though, Harry’s dilemma was solved as Snape had enough of his strange behavior. The professor set his quill down with an irritated sigh and asked, “What is it, Mister Potter?”
Harry looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. “Uhh, er, ummm…” he stammered.
“Speak boy!” Snape snapped.
And speak Harry did as he hastily blurted out, “Why did you send those photos?”
Snape looked startled as if he expected Harry to say any number of things except that specific question. He quickly snapped out of his surprise and glared. “What photos? I did not send you any photos.”
“But, that name, Severus, was on a photo and I heard Professor Flitwick call you by that name too,” Harry said, refusing to drop it.
“You must be mistaken-” Snape began to deny.
“With all due respect, Professor,” Harry cut him off with a cross expression, “I know what I heard.”
Snape scowled. “Do you want to receive detention before you’ve even started the school year?”
“I’ll gladly take it if it means you’ll answer my question!”
Snape and Harry engaged in a standoff. Snape’s glare hardened and took on a menacing quality but Harry refused to back down, glaring back unflinchingly.
Much to Harry’s surprise, Snape was the first to back down, slumping in his seat with a tired sigh. “You really are just as stubborn as your mother.”
Harry was stunned. “So then…you really are the boy in that photo? You really did know my mother when she was a kid?”
Snape nodded; no words were needed.
“Could you tell me more about her?” Harry tentatively asked with a hopeful expression.
Snape sighed again and for a moment, Harry thought he was going to reject his request but he visibly brightened when Snape instead gestured for him to come closer. He eagerly went over to sit at the table with the professor.
Harry then listened, completely enraptured, as Snape told him about the sort of person Lily Potter nee Evans was.
He spoke of how she was as gentle as her namesake but as fiery as her red hair. She had a stubborn streak miles long and suffered no fools which allowed her to thrive in Gryffindor. She was the sister he always wanted and needed but that life back then was much harsher as it was the time when the first wizarding war began, when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his power and fear was slowly becoming everyone’s best friend. Back then, the intermingling of houses was quickly put to a stop shortly after the sorting and the divide between Slytherin and Gryffindor grew into the wide chasm everyone knew of today.
“I always regretted how our friendship ended,” Snape sadly remarked, leaving a heavy silence to hang in the room after he was done speaking.
“And what about my father?” Harry asked curiously, “Did you know him?”
Immediately, Harry knew he made a mistake when Snape’s expression soured, as if he’d just swallowed a lemon whole.
“I did and there are many days where I wish I did not,” he said, clearly trying to keep his emotions in check.
“Well why not?” Harry asked, confused, “You certainly liked my mother so why not my father? What did he ever do to you?”
“Enough to know I would rather die than speak about James Potter,” Snape spat the name like a curse.
Harry scowled and jumped out of his chair in anger. “Don’t speak about my father like that! You’re just jealous that my mother chose to be with him instead of staying friends with you!”
Snape laughed derisively. “As if I would ever be jealous of someone as lazy and arrogant as him.”
“You take that back! My father was a great man!” Harry shouted.
“Your father was a bully!” Snape roared with such force that it made Harry flinch back as if struck. “He lorded his ‘greatness’ and moral superiority over those who were unfortunate enough to be deemed lesser and evil by him.”
“Shut up! You’re lying!” Harry cried out before running out of the parlor. He raced back to his room and slammed the door shut behind him with enough force to startle Hedwig out of her afternoon nap.
Her irritated chirping shook him out of his anger and he took a few deep breaths to calm down.
“He’s lying,” he firmly said as if trying to convince himself that his words were the truth and that the strange feeling in his stomach wasn’t caused by a niggling feeling of doubt, “He has to be lying.”
For the rest of the week, Harry avoided Snape like the plague and Snape happily allowed him to do so. The professor only made passing glances and swift walk by’s to ensure that Harry was still alive and in one piece.
However, as time passed, Harry’s curiosity and doubt couldn’t help but grow as he wondered if Snape was truly telling the truth about what sort of person his father was. Eventually, his curiosity and doubt grew to such a point that by the end of the week, he cautiously sought Snape out.
“Um, excuse me, sir?” Harry hesitantly approached an irritably scribbling Snape.
Snape looked up with a severe frown. “Hello, Mister Potter. Have you come back to throw yet another tantrum?”
Harry scowled as his cheeks flushed with anger but he bit his lip to stop a scathing retort from breaking through. He breathed in and out through his nose until he was settled again. “Actually, um, I was hoping I could speak to you about my father.”
Snape’s expression soured but before he could say anything, Harry hastily added, “Not to argue with you or anything. I…” He steeled himself and stood firm as he looked Snape directly in the eyes. “I want to know about him…and my mother. I want to truly know them. Not just the good that everyone seems content to tell me, not just their heroism for something that cost them their lives, but also the bad as well. I…I want to know everything.”
Snape stared at him, eyes searching for any signs of deception, of truth that this was something Harry actually wanted and would listen to.
After a few anxiety riddled moments, Snape finally sighed in defeat. “Very well then. Sit down, Mister Potter. I’d rather not waste more time than I have to speaking about your father.”
Harry quickly did so before Snape could change his mind.
Snape then tersely explained his history with James Potter. How the man, then a boy, decided that Snape would be the target of his ire simply because he was a Slytherin who was childhood friends with Lily whom James had a rather obvious crush on. He didn’t get into too much detail, keeping everything brief and somewhat censored.
However, there was enough to paint a rather clear picture of what a bully Harry’s father was and how his mother never stopped his father from engaging in schoolyard behavior for years. It was enough to remove the rose tinted glasses Harry wore when looking at his parents and made him realize they were also people who made mistakes and did stupid stuff like any other person would do.
“I…I didn’t realize that my father could be such a bully,” Harry eventually remarked, greatly subdued.
“Why? Because he was a Gryffindor?” Snape asked, more curious than bitter.
Harry shook his head. “No, because he was my father. But, even though he was my father, what he did…it wasn’t right. No one should be bullied because of which house they’re in. And my mother shouldn’t have allowed something like that to happen, even if you weren’t friends anymore.”
Snape softened slightly when he saw how downtrodden Harry was by the information. “I don’t blame Lily for her inaction as it was the fault of my own actions that pushed her away. Though I suppose I will admit that, I may have spoken more harshly of your father due to the bitterness and resentment I still hold towards him for how he tormented me during our earlier school years.”
Harry looked at him in confusion.
“James Potter was a fool, that cannot be denied, but he was a brave one. He grew up and became a good man,” he remarked with a smile full of regret. “I was glad Lily ended up with him but,” he sighed heavily, “I only wish I had been able to put the past behind us before he died.” Then he spoke quietly as if he didn’t want Harry to hear. “And I wish I had reconciled with her before it was too late.”
Harry fell silent as he watched Snape return to his writing, clearly done speaking for the day.
“Professor Snape…” Harry hesitantly began.
Snape paused in his writing. “Yes?”
“I…didn’t get to know my parents in the way I would’ve liked,” Harry carefully said, “But, given what I know about them, I believe that my father would’ve gladly buried the hatchet and-” He looked away nervously and hesitantly continued, “I’m sure my mother would’ve welcomed back her old friend with open arms.”
Snape gaped at him in surprise before clearing his throat and returning to his writing. “If that’s all, Mister Potter,” he said with a rough voice.
Harry accepted the dismissal and left. But not before seeing Snape’s eyes grow suspiciously wet. He smiled, hoping that Snape believed him about what Lily would’ve done as well.
Seth and Hermione were back on the porch, watching the sun set on their final day at Fablehaven before they would leave for London and prepare to return to Hogwarts for their third year.
“Seth…” Hermione carefully began.
He looked at her in question. “Yeah?”
“Are you going to tell Ron and Harry?”
“About what?”
“You know,” she gestured vaguely, “about yourself and Fablehaven?”
He looked away from her and back at the setting sun. “I will, eventually. Definitely not during the year though. I want to bring them to Fablehaven and reveal everything that way. Makes it an easier pill to swallow.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She asked with a disapproving frown. “I honestly believe you should have invited them over as well this summer.”
“...I know.”
“But?” She prodded.
He sighed heavily as if this was something that he’d been pondering about for a while. “Look, Fablehaven has always been this family thing that I felt I needed to protect at all costs. Hell, the preserves as a whole are on a need to know basis in the Wizarding World with ninety percent of witches and wizards not needing to know so you can see why I’m a bit reluctant to let even more people know so fast.”
She nodded in understanding. “I understand and I won’t push you on the matter. But just know that if push comes to shove…”
He shook his head, cutting her off so she doesn’t end up tempting the fates and speaking that possibility into existence. “It won’t. At least, I hope it doesn’t.”
“I hope so too…”
“Alright then, good talk,” he said, putting an end to that conversation, “Now let's talk about something else. How about this letter Harry sent?”
“Sure.”
The two of them read through the rather lengthy letter from Harry that had arrived that afternoon. By the time they finished reading it, the only thing they both got out of it was that “Harry blew up his aunt?!” Hermione screeched in shock.
“Nice!” Seth complimented with a grin.
“Seth!” Hermione shouted in admonishment.
He only cackled as she started lecturing him about propriety and thus, their final day at Fablehaven that summer ended with only a light fanfare.