Trickster

The boys just stood blinking at the spot that the Gods just disappeared from, but after a few moments Harry shook himself out of his shock, turning to Althea, “We should return to the castle, has the shade that was chasing us left?”

Nodding her head, “Yes Raven.”

Harry scrunched up his face in confusion, “Raven?”

Althea got as close to a raised eyebrow that a snake could get, “Your hair is Raven black, a snake will rarely call a speaker or companion by their human name, but I don’t want to call you ‘Speaker’ for the rest of time.”

After a moment to think it over Harry tilted his head in acceptance, “Fair enough.”

“Then we should get back, we can send a house elf to let Hagrid know we went back to the castle,” Draco started to make his way towards the edge of the clearing.

As they were picking their way back towards the castle with Fang keeping an eye out for any trouble, Harry glanced at his brother before opening his mouth, “Loki seemed to believe you know this Severus person my Mom spoke of?”

At the curious lit in his tone Draco winced slightly, “Yes but you need to promise that you will hear me out before saying anything.”

Harry looked at Draco’s pleading look, and felt his sincerity through their new bond, “Draco, I trust you.”

Those simple words encompassed more than they physically said, causing Draco to slump slightly in relief, “Severus is the Potion Master Severus Snape, better known as our Potions Professor,” hearing the sharp intake of breath, he hurried on, “wait let me explain, there are two reasons that he has been treating you the way that he has, first is that you remind him heavily of your late father, who had bullied him relentlessly, and ruthlessly when they went here as students.”

Hearing this Harry paused, that explained some of it, but it didn’t really explain how he thought that bullying a child would fix what his father did to him, but he was willing to listen to the rest, “And the other reason?”

“Severus is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now, he doesn’t want to treat you as he is right now, though this summer before we started this year, Dumbledore pulled him aside and told him that you had been coddled and pampered as you grew up, just as your father had been, and that they needed to toughen you up so you would be ready to face Voldemort when you got older.”

Pausing for breath, and to fortify himself for what he was going to say next, Draco continued, “After the first few weeks of school, Severus noticed several signs of what could be abuse, but when he took them to the headmaster, he dismissed all claims, feeling that he has ruined any possible way to approach you without you being extremely suspicious, he decided to lighten up some coming to doubt what Dumbledore has told him.”

Harry nodded; he had noticed that the Potion Master had been less rude lately.

Draco looked up as they where getting close to the castle, “I believe you should let him explain the rest for himself.”

Looking into his brother’s eyes, Harry tried to weight his options, after a moment he came to a decision, “I believe you, we should speak to him as soon as possible, do you think he is in his chambers?”

Letting out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, Draco nodded, “Yes, though there is something else you should know so you aren’t caught off guard,” at Harry's attentive look he continued, “Severus is my dad.”

Stumbling slightly, Harry started to splutter causing Fang to bark in concern, but an absent minded pat to his head reassured him, “Wait what?! I thought that Lord Malfoy was your dad?”

Laughing at his shock, Draco smirked at him, “No, Lucius is my Papa, when I was younger, he asked that I call him that in private, otherwise I call him Father in public, Papa is French, and he didn’t want to be called Father because his father was a terrible person.”

Gathering his thoughts Harry nodded his head, “What of Mrs. Malfoy?”

Draco snorted as they made their way up the front steps, “Narcissa was a cover for Papa’s Father, when they were supposed to be married Papa actually married Dad, Narcissa was fine with this, she is friends with both of them and as she isn’t married she was free to pursue others discreetly until it was time to reveal that they weren’t married.” Harry nodded, and seeing that he needed time to process Draco stayed silent until they drew closer to the Potion Master's door, then he nudged him out of his mind.

As they drew even with the portrait that guarded his door they where shocked, “Loki?!” this drew a chuckling laugh from the portrait, “Now there is a name I haven’t heard in a long time, but no, I am not Loki, but I was blessed by him, as I can see you two have,” the man looked on in amusement as the children paused at this new information.

He also watched as the Raven-haired child rose to his full height, which wasn’t much, and narrowed his eyes slightly in calculating study of his portrait, before giving a slight bow, “Forgive us for the mistake then, might we inquire for your name?”

After he studied the child for a moment a smirk came over his mouth and he inclined his head in return, “Oh, I like you child, my name is Salazar Slytherin, I take it that you are here to see Severus then?”

Harry nodded, “If he is available, it is incredibly important that we speak to him as soon as possible,” at his words the boys watched as Salazar smirked and walked out of the portrait.

Draco walked up beside his brother, “You did well, that was a test, as with all new people at the door, if Sal didn’t like you, he never would have opened up.”

“I figured, it seems like your pureblood training and some of your Slytherin attributes are bleeding through the bond,” Harry smirked at his brother.

Laughing a bit Draco nodded, “Yes it also seems that I have a newfound interest in cooking, though it seems like I am getting minor memories of what your ‘relatives’ where like,” at his last words Draco frowned.

Before anymore could be said the door in front of them opened, with a foreboding Potion Master staring down at them, at his appearance Draco threw himself at his front, crushing his waist in a hug, “Draco?” Severus was shocked at the small body rocketing into him, but his arms automatically raised to return the hug.

Looking up he notice the other boy was none other than Harry Potter, who was watching the scene in front of him with undisguised longing and burning jealousy, but before anything could be said Severus watched as those emotions where viciously stomped down and buried below a thick layer of ice, interesting.

Once Draco had stepped back, Severus waved them forward, “Might as well come in,” as everyone settled, he took this time to study his son and tag along, absentmindedly noting Hagrid’s large boarhound was with them, but as long as he behaved himself Severus would overlook his presence, shocked to see the physical changes both boys have gone through, this explanation ought to be good.

Before anyone could say anything, Severus called for a house elf, “Alice,” when the elf popped in it didn’t escape his notice how Harry flinched at the unexpected entrance, there was no way he grew up with wizards and didn’t know of house elves, another red flag.

“What can Alice do for Potion Master?”

“Would you bring tea and biscuits up here please?” it only took a moment for her to blink down to the kitchen and back with the requested items, before she could leave, Harry spoke up, “Alice.”

Said house elf turned to him before squealing, “what can Alice do for Great Master Harry Potter?” no one could miss the twitch at the title.

“Just Harry please Alice,” at her nod he continued, “would you please inform the grounds keeper Hagrid that we have returned to the castle please, that Fang is with us and will probably stay the night,” she squeaked an affirmative and popped out.

Severus looked back at the two boys sitting on the couch across from him, shocked to see them sitting about a half a foot away from each other, not that it was inappropriate, but not even a day ago it would have been a fight just to get them into the same room let alone sitting on the same couch, narrowing his eyes at the boys, “I believe that you have some explaining do,” he saw Harry flinch at his harsh tone, but before he could feel much guilt he watched his son reach out and lay a hand on his arm and give him a reassuring look, just what happened in the forest.

With a fortifying breath Harry looked right into the black eyes that had tormented him for the last several months, “Perhaps you should call Lord Malfoy here, he will need to hear what we have to say and it will be easier to tell you both at the same time.”

Shocked eyes quickly looked at his son, but seeing him nod he let out a breath and rose to fire call his husband, not to long later they were gifted with the sight of a relatively flustered Malfoy hurry into the room, but at seeing the boys on the couch he turned and gave an exasperated look to his husband, who only shook his head and gestured back in their direction, only then did he seem to notice the changes to their appearance, blinking in shock he took a seat across from The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry looked on in mild amusement, having never expected the Malfoy Lord to show up in his night-ware covered only in a dressing robe, but it didn’t matter, first impressions where everything here, and thanks to the bond he now had the pure blood knowledge to know what to do.

As such he waited a moment before shifting slightly to indicate he wanted to speak, then made eye contact with Mr. Malfoy and bowed his head slightly, “I apologize for calling you here so late Lord Malfoy, but it was imperative that you hear this, and it is better for you to hear it from the source then a second party.”

Lucius eyed the child across from him critically, “That is quite alright Mr. Potter, Severus just told me that something had happened at the school and I was worried someone was injured.”

“Yes, are you ready to tell us what happened tonight during your detention now?” Severus cut in.

The married pair watched on fascinated by the silent conversation going on across from them, consisting of head tilts, raised eyebrows, and lip twitches, though it didn’t last long before they both nodded at each other and faced them, but it was Harry that spoke, “It would be best if we showed you.”

Severus studied the boys before sighing, “I have a pensive in my office.”

Raising his hand Harry stopped his professor, “That won’t be necessary,” turning to lock eyes with Draco he extended his hand to him, “Will you help me brother?”

Draco snorted at his dramatics before smirking and clasping his hand in a firm grip, “Always brother.”

As soon as the words left his mouth the magic in the room started to rise, causing a breeze to tousle the boy’s hair, throwing into stark relief the change of color, and between one blink and the next their right eyes changed to the rune pupils, and changed color.

Turning back to the stunned adults on the other couch they brought the hands that weren’t clasped, up and pressed the palms together, and with a heavy concentration of magic the hands separated, leaving behind what appeared to be a liquid mirror suspended in the air.

It was only seconds later before hazy images shimmered into existents quickly clearing up showing Hagrid insisting they split up, causing Severus to lean over and hiss at his partner, “Who the hell insists on splitting up like that?”

Without taking his eyes of the memories he whispered back, “A bullheaded Gryffindor, but we both know that Fang is better protection for them anyway.”

When Harry said that he could remember everything about his parents death, both adults immediately felt immense levels of sympathy, but not pity, they wouldn’t do him the discourtesy to pity him, though they were still shocked when instead of hearing Harry tell what happened that night, the memory played instead.

The first thing they saw was Severus himself in the fireplace warning that Voldemort was on his way, and were witness to the set determination and resignation on the elder Potters face as he sent Lily upstairs with Harry.

They were then shocked as they witnessed Lily’s sacrificial blood magic ritual, and was equally shocked by her apology to Severus, but before they could say anything they watched as Voldemort burst into the room, demanding that she move out of the way, it was then as Lily was pleading for Harry’s life that Voldemort’s eyes cleared of the hazy mania, “Lily? What is going on here? Where is Severus?”

At his words tears started to leak out of Lily’s eyes, “It will be alright Tom, Severus will find a way to free you, I promise, just know when you remember this, I don’t blame you for anything, I know it’s Dumbledore’s fault.”

As soon as Dumbledore’s name was uttered the mania descended back in his eyes and over his mind, when another demand to move aside was ignored a killing curse was flung at her carelessly, though his eyes cleared again momentarily as they landed on the baby, “Harry…” they could clearly see him struggle against something before visibly losing, and attempting to kill him.

The sight of Voldemort exploding into a cloud of ashes was gruesome, but they saw a mangled shade get tossed out of the field of vision, but it left behind a small shard of shimmering soul behind, the entire time Harry hadn’t cried, though he did reach out and embrace the soul shard causing the child to pass out, which had the memory fading from view.

Before they continued Harry looked around the floating mirror and addressed the shocked couple on the couch with a slight echo in his voice, “Do you need a moment to process before we continue?” upon getting only absent nods the boys settle back and allowed the silvery mirror to dim, as maintaining the spell didn’t take nearly as much magic as dispelling it, only to recast it later.