Chapter 1
‘’Uncle Siri?’’ Harry whispered, hoarsely, desperately trying to collect some moisture in his mouth.
The man’s mouth twitched into a smile as he nodded. Aster felt his world shift as his heart squeezed painfully.
He watched the scene unfold in front of him. Jack hadn’t moved, too stunned to react at all and Harry stood still, eyes fixated on the man in front of him. This man was his godfather? Harry blinked several times, hands grasping the air, almost looking for his boomerangs or something. Harry’s mind was running through several scenarios, all of which told him to run. He couldn’t bear to see his Da’s face-knew that it was contorted in pain. Jack’s face was running through his own emotions, but mostly Jack was angry.
Mother Nature was a bitch.
‘’Harry, it's okay, I’ve got a house and-’’ Sirius began, taking another step as Harry took one back. He heard the telltale sound of stone grinding and Harry knew that Rocky’s face had shifted to his fighting face. He chanced a glance behind him and saw his Da was watching the entire thing, sitting in the dirt. No one moved, save for this man. Harry tensed, backing up even more.
‘’S-S’tay! Don’ come!’’
Sirius held his hands up in a pleading manner, showing he was unarmed by placing his wand on the ground in front of him, but Harry didn’t bother. He hadn’t learned enough Wizarding customs and he still didn’t trust many of them. This man was included in the bunch, godfather or not. Aster saw Harry’s foot rise, getting ready to run. Sirius watched the motion carefully, wondering what his godson was going to do.
‘’Jackie, now!’’
Jack blurred in front of the man, knocking him down with his crook, before flying upwards out of the way. All Sirius saw was Mother Nature leave in a dispersal of green leaves and a large rabbit leap at him, pinning him to the ground. His godson disappeared into the earth.
‘’HARRY!’’ he cried, still being pinned down.
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Harry had no idea where he’d run off to, nor where the tunnels opened up. He had no idea if he’d been running for hours or minutes, only that his skin bristled at the temperature change and the air was cooler here. He kept his head down and ran and ran and ran. He felt sick, the sweat gathering at the back of his neck was cold and clammy. His blood pounded in his ears and he felt a migraine coming on. Still, he had to put as much distance as he could. Harry usually had good direction, able to use the tunnels to go anywhere he wanted to, but now everything looked the same. The houses were all the same, the lawns, the hedges, doors. He passed number one, number two, number three, and number four Privet Drive. A flash of yellow and black caught his attention, but he paid it no mind, instead tapping his foot once more to open another tunnel. He had to keep moving.
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Severus Snape had never expected that his lonely life would be anything but. He’d had to borrow two house elves from Lucius-one to clean out his storage rooms and the other to go out and purchase new furniture. Instead, he’d received Narcissa herself and while Lucius was married to her, Severus was not. Thus, there was nothing he could ultimately do to her, lest he face the ire of his wand. Narcissa came with her own army of house elves, several catalogs from the higher end of Diagonalley and all but forced him, Marcus, and the Weasley Twins to pick out their own furniture and ‘’spare no expense!’’ To add further insult, she’d whipped out her wand and began to vanish his moth-eaten curtains, mismatched sofa and pillows and relight the fire. She’d gotten rid of his ‘’horrendous wallpaper’’ and imitation carpet he’d purchased to cover up an old blood stain from the first war.
‘’You are a highly capable wizard, Severus! Act like one! Honestly you still live as your parents did!’’ Narcissa chided him as she vanished upstairs and Severus heard the telltale sounds of his furniture being banished as well. ‘’Prepare to add some more color as well! You’ll need some new pants as well! Half of them are moth eaten, darling!’’
Severus flushed and grumbled something about all women being the same. He could see Lily laughing at him. He sighed, his house had never felt much like a house before. A woman’s touch was quite nice, despite Narcissa’s over exuberant energy. Severus understood and allowed it. She was his oldest friend and this was the first bit of fun she’d had since her injury. He wouldn’t be cross with her at all. Still, he figured to see her smile was worth a few hours (days) of torture.
Frankly, neither Severus or Marcus could be too worried about the state of this place. For Severus, it was only used in the summer and for Marcus it was the same. It was a holding spot until they could find something that suited them better. Severus had every intention to look during this coming school year as it would have been Marcus’ seventh year, but now it would seem that the end of year exams would be taken at the ministry.
His gaze locked on to the Weasley Twins. They’d come almost two weeks after the school had collapsed and they hadn’t left yet. They come in, cleaning like Molly Weasley and then had set up impromptu therapy sessions for both Severus and Marcus. They were by no means professionals but they cared. They cooked and cleaned and made both men bathe and take naps in actual beds. They put them back into a rhythm of sorts and then, they had owled Narcissa Malfoy.
When Severus had asked why, they had simply shrugged their shoulders and claimed it was the right thing to do. Narcissa had answered in the same format. Neither he nor Marcus gave it much thought.
“Dinner is served!” A young house elf called, pulling Severus from his thoughts.
Severus stood and crossed into the dining room, taking a seat at the head. Marcus on his left and Narcissa to his right with the Weasley Twins next to her. “Pippy, you’ve outdone yourself! This looks incredible!”
“Thanks you miss Cissa!”
With a snap of her aged fingers, warm bowls of mashed potatoes appeared, a lovely baked chicken and various vegetables appeared. The scents and clattering of the silver ware filled the air as the conversation flowed easily. Pippy came around with some chilled wine and butter beers. The atmosphere was homely and carefree, even though both Weasleys were working in tandem to charm Narcissa while making a quick grab for the wine. Severus, who was caught in conversation with Marcus, simply waved his hand, switching the wine for the butter beer.
“Hey! No fair! It’s summer…”
“Yea we’re not gonna…”
“Fly or apparate or drive a..
“Tele-mobile!”
Severus laughed, “It’s auto-mobile and you are not drinking. This isn’t Italy you know.”
Narcissa chuckled, but before anyone could answer a tunnel opened up above them and a pale-faced Harry dropped down onto the table, knocking over bowls and cutlery. Narcissa stood abruptly, calling out for first aid. Severus cradled the young man, issuing wandless magick to clean him up. He was cool and shaking.
“Cissy, he needs a calming drought-Fred upstairs in the bathroom in the cabinet-purple bottle! Hurry!”
Fred scrambled, his chair fell back and disappeared up the hallway. Severus held him, running his hand through the boy's hair-why on earth had he journeyed here?
He looked closely at the child, still shaking and eyes screwed shut. A sudden unfurling of parchment caught his attention and Severus saw Narcissa’s wand as it spewed out a length of magickal parchment as she ran a medical scan. Logically, Narcissa was aware that Harry had suffered at the hands of his previous settlement, so despite the treatment, his parchment would always show those old injuries. Ignoring them for now, she moved down the parchment length, scanning for the newest ones. She said nothing but Severus could see when she saw exactly what Lockheart had done to him, her eyes watered and several tears slipped out before she could contain herself. Finally the parchment stopped flowing, just after that horrid event.
“What is it?” Fred had returned, getting lost once or twice since Narcissa had taken to redecorating. He didn’t remember them having a jacuzzi tub.
“It’s nothing-“
“Cissy it can not be ‘nothing’. What. Is. It?!”
Narcissa whipped the parchment and all but threw it in Severus’ face. “Look there! It’s nothing!” Severus frantically searched the paper for several minutes before letting it fall. Marcus, Fred and George stood by, waiting. (In Marcus’ case, he was waiting for a name.)
“How can this be?”
Narcissa and Severus stared at each other for long minutes, neither of them knowing what to say. Severus did not notice when Harry stirred until he sat up, eyes downcast.
“I didn’ kno’ where else ta go. Da n’ Jack-they gave me time.”
Narcisa gave Severus a look, motioning him to keep Harry talking. “Who was it? Pitch?”
Harry shook his head, biting his lip for a moment before answering, “Some ratbag bastard claimin’ ta be my godfather-Sirius Black?”
The room went deathly quiet; Narcissa stood, unable to form words and instead went to Severus’ private stock of Ogden’s and poured herself three fingers and downed it. “My cousin is free? How can it be? Sirius Black? Siri?” Narcissa paced the length of the dining room, muttering under her breath and refilling her glass. Severus knew it would take more than that bottle to get her drunk, so he allowed her to do as she pleased. Marcus said nothing and apparated away. Fred and George eased Harry out of Severus’ lax grip and carried the other male upstairs to rest.
Severus plucked the bottle from her, summoned his own glass, poured a decent amount and drank. Carefully, he grabbed Narcissa’s hand and led her back to the living room. They took seats on two new armchairs, both content to drink for now.
“What happens now Severus?” Narcissa whispered, taking another sip.
“I do not know, he’s been in Azkaban for years and now he’s out?”
“Can he claim Harry? As godfather, he might be able to-“
“No! Harry is a Bunnymund, he’s hasn’t been a Potter for years-“
“Severus! By adoption Harry is a Bunnymund but is that adoption legal? Can it be used in court to ascertain Aster as Harry’s father?! He may very well end up with Sirius!”
“Aster is his father, we have seen the man shed blood for his son-“
“Is it enough? If Sirius proves he is mentally stable and financially secure, then the Wizmagot will have no choice but to fit him with Sirius.”
“Cissy, there must be something we can do!”
“I do not know, I’ll have to talk with Nott Sr. and Lucius on the matter,” Narcissa sighed as she stood, “ you know as well as I do that our laws will not take into account Aster-he’s not even human. They very well might place Harry with Sirius because he’s human and once that happens, Harry will have to revert to a Potter and take up his mantle of Lordship and contracts.”
“What do you mean contracts?”
“As a Potter, Harry had many marriage contracts which were proposed but the main two were from the Greengrasses and Weasleys. For Daphne and Ginny.”
“Daphne is betrothed, so that makes her contract null and void.”
“Which means that unless someone of a higher standing proposes a contract, Ginny Weasley is set to become the next Lady Potter.”