Chapter 1
Harry sat heavily on the sofa in the rooms he’d been given. Tomorrow, clean up started along with the trials for anyone they’d caught. Harry wanted to make sure everyone got a fair trial, under veritaserum. He also owed it to Malfoy and his mum to speak up on their behalf. Malfoy couldn’t go against his father without being killed and Mrs. Malfoy would do whatever it took to protect her son.
It would be a long few months before things began to go back to normal.
A quiet pop had him tensed up. He looked down at the well dressed house elf, who was wringing her hands nervously. “Hello?”
She looked up at him. “Good evening, Lord Potter... Mitzy is sorry to disturb you, but Mitzy has something important to tell you about.”
Harry nodded slowly. “Of course, come and sit. What do you want to talk about?” He gestured to the other end of the short sofa.
Mitzy looked warily up at the sofa and then back at Harry. She cautiously climbed up and settled down, crossing her legs under her. She watched Harry, looking for some kind of reaction. When he didn’t give it she sighed slightly. “You are a strange human.” She shook her head and sat up straighter. “Mitzy is the Head-Elf and... currently the only elf of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Prince.”
“Prince?” Harry asked. “You’re Snape’s elf?”
Mitzy nodded. “Just before the final battle, Master Severus had been working on a potion... it had gone wrong and spilled on him. He had vanished it but as soon as it got on his skin it seeped in. By the time he died it had already done what it needed to do.”
Harry sat forwards. “What was that? Is he still alive?” He was just about ready to jump up by Mitzy shook her head.
“When you came into contact with Master Severus’ blood... some of it, along with the potion, was absorbed into your bloodstream...”
Harry nodded slowly. “What does it do?” He was visioning agonisingly slow deaths, anything could be better, right?
“Master Severus’ soul was cleansed and purified... and reborn as... an unborn child. In you.”
Harry took a sharp breath in through his nose and leant backwards on the sofa, suddenly feeling incredibly light-headed. “I’m... pregnant... with Snape? He’s... a baby and I’m... pregnant with him?”
Mitzy nodded. “Yes. Lord Potter, Master Severus had no idea the potion was in him, or what it would do. He was ready to die, but now he’s been given a second chance. Mitzy knows with you as a father he will grow up happy and loved and healthy and not cowering in fear of what his alcoholic, abusive father will do next.”
Harry nodded. “I’d never...” He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry, I need to think about this.”
Mitzy nodded. “Mitzy will leave you, be sure to call Mitzy when you have thought about it, or if you have any questions.” With that she disappeared with a faint pop.
Harry tipped his head backwards, resting it on the back of the couch. “So I’m pregnant, with a baby who just so happens to hold Snape’s soul... I mean, if anyone deserves a second chance it’s him... But why did it have to be me?” He sighed. “Pregnant man, at seventeen. Wow, the public is gonna hate this. And my friends! What am I supposed to tell them? How do I explain this? Do I tell the truth? Lie? How is this going to affect everything? I’m pretty sure the Weasleys are going to freak out. Ginny won’t want a pregnant boyfriend and she will try to insist I get rid of him, or give him up. The others will be upset that I’m pregnant with the guy who cut off George’s ear, even if I explain what happened that night...” He sighed and draped an arm over his eyes. “What am I gonna do?”
He spent the rest of the night going over every scenario he could think of. In the end, he decided to keep the baby, since he owed it to Snape for everything he’d done since the last war and especially all the times the man had saved his life in this war. Snape deserved a second chance, more than anyone.
He decided to see how things went with Ginny but baby comes first. If Ginny couldn’t accept his child, he didn’t want anything to do with her. As for the other Weasleys, he could only hope they didn’t turn him away. He would of course, see to Snape getting a posthumous Order of Merlin, First Class for everything he’d done.
He would need to buy a house, of course. And there was no way he could be an Auror while pregnant, or even with a child. He wasn’t going to risk orphaning his son and him being treated badly because he’s Snape’s ‘son’.
That was something else, he’d decided to tell everyone that the baby was Snape’s son because, ‘We accidentally had sex and now I’m pregnant, woe is me,’ somehow sounded better than ‘Snape accidentally reincarnated himself and impregnated me with his reincarnated soul.’
He’d actually given that a lot of thought and figured, he was alone for a little while just before the last battle, if he tells everyone Snape was still in the castle at the time and he’d found him by accident in the headmaster’s office talking to Dumbledore’s portrait he could pretend that they had argued, started flinging hexes and ended up having very angry sex. The whole ‘repressed feelings’ story kind of fitted too.
Harry sighed and paced. “Alright, so, during fifth year occlumency lessons he got to know the real me through my memories, during one lesson he told me that he couldn’t see me as the reincarnation of my father anymore, but with the war going on, the rest of the school couldn’t know he didn’t hate me anymore. By the end of the year we were kind of friends, and any detentions I had with him sixth year we spent talking or practicing spells. Just friends. I ended up developing a crush on him but desperately tried to hide it, went out with Ginny to try and convince myself I’m not gay, Snape tried to hate me because it’s wrong for a teacher to have feelings for a student. End of sixth year, I wanted answers for what he did but he ran before I could get any. I confronted him in his office before the final battle and we ended up having rough, angry sex. Sounds believable enough...”
Harry flopped down. “Mitzy?” The elf popped into the room. “So... What now?”
The elf smiled slightly. “Since you’re only one day into your pregnancy, you can’t let anyone know you know you’re pregnant, you have to ‘find out’ later.” Harry nodded, that was obvious. “Since you are pregnant with the Prince Heir, you inherit the Prince estate in trust, until Master Severus reaches his Majority. Unfortunately, you cannot use much of the Prince money because Master Severus didn’t add you to his vaults and you weren’t married.”
Harry nodded. “That’s fine. The Potter money will be enough, though I will have to make it up to Gringotts for breaking into their bank, and then breaking out on a dragon.”
Mitzy shook her head. “Explain about the Horcrux. They’ll understand. That kind of magic is so completely forbidden and taboo that how to make one was erased from all scriptures from every country. Information about them is available, since a lot of Pharaohs and such created them so curse breakers investigating tombs may encounter one.”
Harry nodded slowly. “Alright... And perhaps presenting them with a basilisk body could help. Ron said it looks like it died only minutes ago. The eyes are gone and so are two of the fangs, but other than that...”
Mitzy nodded. “The kind of profit made from that would definitely make up for it.” She popped away suddenly but before Harry could wonder why she came back with a multi compartment trunk. “This is everything of Master Severus’. The first compartment is all of his clothing in a wardrobe. The second compartment is a ladder leading down to a library of all the books he owns. The third is a ladder leading down to a room full of his notebooks and other papers. The fourth room is all of his potions supplies and ingredients. The fifth is everything else he owned.”
Harry nodded and looked the trunk over. “I’ll take good care of this.” He looked at the third lock. “His recipes for some of the potions we’ve brewed over the years... I used some of them in sixth year potions. They are better, more efficient, easier to follow steps.” He sat forward and rubbed a hand absently over his stomach. “I think he deserves to have his recipes published. I can have the money earned added straight to the Prince Vaults, or even his personal vault.” He frowned. “I’ll have to get a full audit of everything from the Potter and Prince accounts... plus I own the Black accounts...”
Mitzy nodded. “You can also claim the Slytherin vaults by Right of Conquest, the Gryffindor vaults by heritage, the Peverell vaults and many others, then there is the people who left you things in their wills.”
If Harry wasn’t already sitting his legs would have given out on him. “That’s a lot of money.”
Mitzy nodded. “The Goblins can’t afford to refuse business with you. If they try to claim all of your assets the ministry will just demand they hand them over. The bank would likely lose nearly half its revenue.”
Harry grinned. “Alright, a good side to having money.” Harry frowned slightly, becoming serious and explained his ideas about explaining the baby to everyone. Mitzy helped him iron out some details, not too many so people didn’t think he was lying, but not too few so people wouldn’t ask more questions or think he was being deliberately evasive.
Eventually Harry couldn’t put off going down to breakfast. He called Kreature up and introduced the two elves before sending them off to Grimmauld Place to clean up a little and get rid of the Order’s enchantments. Kreature also promised to remove the wards the Order had put up, reactivate the old wards and have them ready to key into Harry when he was ready to come home.
Harry walked down to the ground floor and into the Great Hall. All of the wounded had been moved into other rooms on the ground floor so those that wanted to come to the Great Hall for meals didn’t have far to go. He stepped over bits of rubble, flicking reparo and scourgify about with the Elder Wand. He was planning on getting rid of it, but since it was doing such a good job of repairing the castle he decided to keep it a while longer.
He got down to the great hall and flashed a slight, tired smile at McGonagall, taking the seat beside her when she gestured.
“How are you doing Harry?”
“I’m coping. It’s difficult getting used to not having to sleep with one eye open, and just... being alive. I wasn’t expecting to survive.” He plated himself up some food and they settled down to talk about what they were going to do next. Harry forced himself to eat as much as he could. He needed to recover from all the weight he’d lost over the last few months, almost a year, and he needed a lot of nutrition for the baby. Eventually he made his excuses and headed off towards the ministry to meet with the Auror Department.
He ignored all the reporters and skirted around everyone trying to mob him, heading straight towards the DMLE. When he got there he shut the door behind him and leant against it, sighing overdramatically. “Vultures!” A couple of Aurors who had noticed his entrance chuckled and he sent then a slight grin. “Hi. I need to talk to someone about the trials for the Death Eaters.”
One of them hopped up from his desk. “I’ll take you to Mr Shacklebolt. He’s standing in as Minister for now. We can use the floo to escape having to run into those vultures again.” A quick trip later and Harry was crumpled on the minister’s office floor with one hand over his mouth, desperately trying not to puke. He declined the potion that was dangled in front of him and took a few steadying breaths before slowly standing up.
“Sorry, never been that close to throwing up out of the floo before.” He smiled slightly at Kingsley. “Hey, hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
The former Auror shook his head. “No, not at all. Come sit, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Not sure what that was about at all. I wanted to talk to you about the Death Eater trials. I wanted to ensure they all got a fair trial under veritaserum. It would save you lot time and ensure someone who was forced into it for fear for their life or their families won’t go to Azkaban, and that someone who is genuinely guilty like Lucius Malfoy won’t get off with the imperius excuse.”
Kingsley nodded. “I would like that too, but we only have so much Veritaserum. We would need a potions master to brew us some, and they are busy brewing healing potions.”
Harry nodded slowly. “Mitzy.” Pop. “How much Veritaserum did Snape have brewed?”
“There is enough to question every Death Eater twice over and everyone in the ministry at least once.”
Harry grinned. “Excellent. Can we give it to the Ministry?”
“Of course, Mitzy be right back.” She disappeared.
Kingsley sat forwards. “Are you sure we can use Snape’s potions Harry?”
Harry nodded. “Severus Snape is the most self sacrificing, brave and selfless people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He has been a spy on our side since before I was born. Right up until the end he was on our side. Dumbledore’s death had been arranged between the two of them almost a year in advance. Snape played his part really well, but he was on our side the whole time. I have pensive memories to prove it if you want to give him a posthumous trial. I insist on him being given an Order of Merlin First Class. He gave up everything for the sake of the war.”
Kingsley nodded slowly. “Alright Harry... If you can prove it, I’ll see what I can do.”
Harry nodded. “I also want to speak up for Draco and Narcissa Malfoy. Draco saved my life at his manor, I returned the favour later so it makes us even, but I do owe him. He was not a Death Eater. For all his talk he never actually enjoyed what he was doing. He spoke rather proudly during sixth year about his task, but really, he was scared of what Voldemort would do to his mum. As for Narcissa, she told Voldemort I was dead, even though she knew I wasn’t. She only did what she did for Draco. Her loyalties were to him, first and foremost. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep Draco safe and she knew what would happen if they tried to turn their backs on Voldemort.”
Kingsley nodded. “Alright. Jepson, make a note on Draco and Narcissa Malfoy’s file that Mr Potter will stand as witness for their defence. Is there anyone else you want to testify for?”
Harry thought carefully before shaking his head. “I didn’t know anyone else in Slytherin very well, I was the Gryffindor Golden Boy, I couldn’t be seen associating with Slytherins. I don’t think many of the children of Death Eaters genuinely believe in what their parents were doing. It’ll be especially true now, now that they’ve actually seen and experienced what they parents have spoken about all those years. I think a lot of them will be disgusted by what they’ve seen. I can’t really testify for them, but I don’t want them to be blamed for their parents’ crimes.”
Kingsley nodded. “I will make sure the children are not held accountable for their parents’ actions.”
Harry nodded and smiled gratefully. “Thanks. I’ll be at Hogwarts helping with the repairs if you need me for anything.”
Kingsley nodded. “There is one thing Harry. Will you be joining the Auror corps?”
Harry frowned. “I... Don’t think I can. I just need a break. I might change my mind later and join, but for now I just want to repair Hogwarts, go home and sleep for a week.”
Kingsley chuckled and nodded. “I know the feeling. A lot of people are going to want to do that soon.”
Mitzy popped back into the room. “Master Snape’s Veritaserum has been given to the Auror department, Lord Potter. Do you need anything else of Mitzy?”
“No, not right now. Thank you Mitzy.” She popped out. Harry stood and stretched slightly, popping his back. “If you announce in the papers that all Death Eaters are going to receive a fair trial under veritaserum to prevent people going to Azkaban who were only trying to protect themselves or their families then a lot of ‘Death Eaters’ will turn themselves in since they are hiding to avoid Azkaban. Those that don’t will look guilty.”
Kingsley nodded. “It would save our Aurors from having to chase so many down. Good thinking Harry. Alright, I’ll see you around.”
Harry nodded and turned to leave, “Let’s hope I don’t spew coming through the floo.” He flooed through to the Hogs Head and greeted Aberforth before walking back up to the castle. He was going to take the tunnel before he remembered about the RoR being destroyed in Fiend Fire. He threw reparos at everything he walked past, fixing it up. He was honestly surprised at how responsive his magic was being at the moment. It made it look slow and sluggish before. His spells were more powerful now too.
He pulled out his old holly wand, which he had repaired and tried to cast a reparo with that, frowning when the spell was significantly weaker than before. His mind instantly flew to the horcrux and he sighed. The horcrux was probably draining his magic slightly, or perhaps his magic was containing it, resulting in his magic being stronger and more responsive now than before since he wasn’t dividing it. Plus, without the horcrux in his head, he probably wasn’t compatible with his old holly wand anymore.
Harry put his wand back into his pocket and continued repairing what he could. When he got to the castle he moved over to assist Neville. “Hey.”
“Hi Harry. How are you?”
“Tired.”
“Everyone is.”
Harry threw an overcharged reparo at the wall and frowned slightly as a huge section of the wall repaired itself. He charged the next spell a little more and watched a larger area repaired. He grinned. “Hold on.” He held the wand out and charged his spell up, building as much magic into it as he could and hurled it at the wall watching as the entire wall from ground to roof and almost the whole way across repaired itself. He dropped to his knees breathing heavily. “Wicked.”
Neville stared at the wall, mouth hanging open. “Woah...” he looked down at Harry, crouching down beside him. “You alright?”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, just need to get my breath back, though I don’t think I’ll be using any more magic today.”
“What spell did you use? It was non-verbal.”
“Reparo. Way overpowered, but just a simple reparo.”
Neville let out a low whistle. “Well, overpowered, underestimated spells aside, are you alright?”
Harry chuckled. “Yeah, just help me inside. I just need to rest a bit and replenish my magic.” Neville nodded and helped him into the castle, ignoring everyone standing around gaping. They both grinned when they realised Harry’s spell had travelled inwards as well, creating almost a semi-sphere where the spell had taken effect. Harry sat at the table in the Great Hall with a sigh, grinning slightly as Mitzy popped in and placed some food on the table in front of him. “Thanks Mitzy.”
She bowed slightly. “Lord Potter has received numerous letters. Mitzy and Kreature have gone through them. The cursed letters have been sent to the DMLE. You have received twenty three letters from papers requesting interviews,” she placed a stack tied with sting with the tag ‘Reporters’ on in on the table. “And numerous letters thanking you for finishing the war. There are so many, and more to come, Mitzy suggests arranging a meeting with some reporters, Kreature can get a list of the ones your family are associated with for you, and give an interview and release a statement thanking everyone who fought beside you. It will stop many of the letters.”
Harry hummed quietly. “That’s a good idea Mitzy. Alright, can you arrange that for me?”
“Yes sir. Mitzy has also received a request from Hogwarts Winky to bond her and her elfling to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter.”
Harry sat up straighter. “Winky had a baby? Is it Dobby’s?”
“Yes sir.”
Harry nodded. “Right. I have no problem letting her into the family. If Dobby wasn’t so happy as a free elf I would have employed him and honestly, I’d never even thought of hiring a house elf so bonding with Winky had never even crossed my mind.”
Mitzy nodded. “Mitzy will let Winky know to be in Lord Potter’s rooms later on. Lord Potter needs to write to Gringotts,” She placed some parchment, ink and a quill on the table. “since Lord Potter needs to apologise and claim his Lordship.” She popped back out again.
“Lordship? Wait, I’m I Lord?”
Neville nodded. “Yeah, didn’t you know?”
Harry shook his head. “No. I found out the magical world existed a month before I started here and I only went to Diagon alley with Hagrid once, since I got here no one said anything about me having a Lordship so I figured I didn’t have one.”
Neville’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair. “Harry, the Longbottom family line has been tied into the Potters for so many generations we forgot how long it’s been. I’ll teach you everything you need to know about your family and make sure you get what you aren’t taken advantage of.”
Harry grinned. “Thanks Neville.” He frowned. “Wait, if our families have been bound for so long, why didn’t you try to make friends with me in first year? Why wait as long as you did?”
Neville shrugged. “I thought you knew I was your vassal but didn’t think I was good enough for you or something.”
Harry shook his head. “You should know me better than that, Neville. After the first couple of weeks it should have been obvious I didn’t know anything.”
Whatever Neville was going to say next was cut off buy Ginny calling out for Harry and rushing over. “Harry. I was wondering if we could talk, privately?”
Harry glanced at Neville and saw him frowning slightly at Ginny. “Alright, but it’ll have to be fast, I have a lot to do today.”
“Then cancel something.” She shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer.
Harry shook his head. “I can’t.” He stood up. “Come on, you can talk while we walk.” He picked up the plate of food. “I’ll talk to you later Neville.” He sent him an apologetic look and rolled his eyes at Ginny.
Neville nodded slowly. “Sure. I’ll get back to work on the castle. We still have the other sides to fix.”
Harry nodded and walked off, Ginny following. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
“Do you have to be eating?”
He nodded. “I just used up a huge load of magic repairing the castle. Have to get my strength back, plus I’ve been spending the last year on basic rations and going weeks without anything. Forgive me for enjoying food. What did you want to talk about?”
“I want to talk about us.”
Harry nodded. “Right. That is a conversation that will take longer than I have at the moment, can we talk about it later?”
“No Harry. I want to talk about it now.”
Harry sighed. “That wasn’t a request Ginny. I’m busy. Too busy to have a lengthy and emotionally exhausting conversation with you. If I have time later I’ll let you know, but I don’t have the time right now to talk. You are going to have to accept that. I can’t drop everything for your sake.” He opened the door to his room and walked in, shutting it behind him before Ginny could come in. There was a quiet click behind him and he felt the door lock. He turned around to see Kreature sneering at the door.
“Filthy blood traitor. Master said he was busy.”
Harry smiled slightly. “Thank you, Kreature, but you know I don’t like you calling people names.”
Kreature nodded. “Yes sir. Kreature will not insult Master’s friends. But Kreature will insult her. Kreature does not like her.”
Harry sighed and shook his head. He walked further into the room and spotted Winky with a tiny baby sitting on the rug in front of his fireplace. She looked terrible, for lack of better words. She had huge dark splodges under her eyes, was thin as a rake and her skin was paler than he remembered her being.
She looked up at him with tired eyes.
Harry smiled sadly and sat on the floor in front of her. “Hey. It’s been a while since I last saw you Winky. How have you been?”
Winky looked ready to burst into tears. “No master has ever asked Winky how she has been. Winky has not been good, Lord Potter. Elfs are supposed to stay together for a baby until the baby can work on their own. It has been hard without Dobby, sir.”
Harry frowned. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Winky needs a proper master. Winky and Diddy won’t survive long without one.”
Harry nodded. “I’ll take you both into the Potter family, but I don’t know what to do, you’ll have to tell me.”
The ritual itself was pretty simple and soon Winky and Diddy were Potter Family House Elves and Harry sent them to Grimmauld Place to settle in. Harry then looked around the room before sighing. “I need to get a basilisk to Gringotts. How am I supposed to do that?”
Kreature popped away and returned a few moments later with a trunk. “This was one of Master Orion’s trunks. It is bottomless and feather light.”
Harry grinned. “Thanks Kreature. Alright, can you come down to the chamber with me? I don’t have my firebolt so I may need help getting out again.”
Kreature nodded and Harry led him down to the Chamber of Secrets. The elf looked around in awe as Harry placed the skin in the trunk, shortly followed by the basilisk itself when they got to the main chamber. “Kreature? Can you see if there are any more rooms around here? This thing probably had a nest somewhere so there’ll be more shed skins.”
Kreature nodded and clicked his fingers. Nothing seemed to happen but Kreature nodded excitedly. “There are many chambers, Master Potter. Kreature can show you them all.” Kreature then pointed out where each secret room was and Harry found out how to open it. The one inside the statue was easy, since he’d seen Tom do it once. Once the door was open Kreature was able to pop them inside and he placed all the bits of basilisk he’d found in the trunk.
Harry looked at his watch and kissed his teeth. “We’ll have to come back and explore the rest later. I want to deal with Gringotts before it gets too late, and they we’ll see about that interview later on. Alright Kreature, can you get me to Diagon Alley?”
Kreature nodded. “Kreature can, of course. Not good for pregnant master to apparate. Might leave baby behind.”
Harry paled. “Wow... I guess I was lucky when I apparated to the ministry earlier... I doubt I will be apparating again anytime soon.” He took Kreature’s hand and the elf popped him over to Diagon. “Alright Kreature, you go back to Grimmauld for now, I’ll call you if I need you.” Kreature nodded and bowed, disappearing with a faint pop.
Harry headed towards the bank, wincing slightly when he took full stock of the damage caused by his dragon escape. The guards glared at him but let him pass none the less. Harry walked into the main room and looked around, spotting an available teller. He walked over and glanced at the nameplate before waiting patiently for the goblin to acknowledge him. He was honestly expecting to wait longer than he did.
The goblin looked up after only a minute and a half. “What can I do for you, Mister Potter?”
Harry inclined his head. “Good morning, Mister Gravelknock. I was wondering if I could speak with someone about my actions here a couple of days ago?”
The goblin sneered slightly but nodded and called someone else over. They spoke quickly for a moment before gravelknock turned back to him. “Gabknife will show you the way.”
Harry bowed slightly. “Thank you, Gravelknock.” He followed Gabknife through many winding corridors, feeling more apprehensive the more guards he walked past. He eventually was led to a huge pair of doors and told to wait. It was a few minutes before the goblin came back out and gestured for Harry to go in. As Harry passed the goblin he bowed his head slightly. “Thank you, Gabknife.”
Gabknife, the goblin guards inside the door and the goblin behind the desk frowned slightly before Gabknife shook his head and left. Harry walked into the room and stood beside the chair in front of the desk. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”
The goblin nodded slowly and indicated to the chair. “You did request to meet me.”
Harry nodded. “But you did not have to grant that request, so for that, I thank you.” He bowed at the waist slightly before sitting down.
The goblin sat forwards slightly in his chair and steepled his fingers. “So, why did you request a meeting? And why should Gringotts do business with you after you broke into our bank, stole something from one of our vaults and then broke out on the back of a dragon, causing massive damage to the bank itself?”
Harry blushed and looked down before lifting his head and looking the goblin in the eyes. “The item I stole was a Horcrux-”
“A what!” the goblin behind the desk leapt up and the two guards slammed the butt of their halberds onto the ground.
Harry flinched and glanced back at the guards who looked like they wanted to run something through. “A Horcrux. Voldemort made six, splitting his soul into seven.” If you didn’t include the one in his scar at least. “I had to destroy all of them before I killed him or we’d still be at war now. I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything before and had to break in, but I couldn’t let him know that anyone knew about them before I’d destroyed them all or he’d move them, and I was struggling to find them enough as it is without him hiding them better.”
The goblin settled down slightly and the one behind the desk nodded leaning back in his chair. “I see... and you are certain that they are all destroyed?”
Harry nodded. “All six have been accounted for. I don’t think he would have made more since seven is a magically powerful number. He would have put a lot of stock into it and not made more.”
The goblin behind the desk relaxed slightly. “I see... well, I understand your reasoning, however Gringotts cannot simply forgive you for the damages you’ve caused.”
Harry nodded. “I understand. That is why I’ve brought this, to help pay for the damages.” He pulled the trunk out of his pocket and placed it on the desk. “A fully grown basilisk. As far as I am aware, it has been in Hogwarts since its founding, but I might be wrong. Both eyes have been destroyed by a phoenix and two of the fangs were used to destroy a pair of Horcrux, but the rest of it is still in perfect condition. There are also a few shed skins and other bits and pieces I pulled out of its nest.”
The goblin behind the desk nearly choked on air. He leant forwards and looked intently down at the trunk. “Who killed it?”
Harry frowned, wondering why that was important. “I did.”
The goblin relaxed slightly and nodded. He pressed a crystal on his desk and spoke something gobbledygook into it and sat back. A few moments later another goblin came in, collected the trunk and left. “We will examine it for its worth. If it is enough to cover for the damages, we shall call your debt void. If not...”
Harry nodded. “You can take the money from my account.” Harry frowned and tilted his head. “Um... apparently I own more than the one vault I’ve been to... is that right?”
The goblin frowned deeply. “You are unaware of your vaults?”
Harry nodded. “I only knew about the one vault my parents left me and the Black Vaults that Sirius left me. I was told earlier that I have a lordship and that I can claim the Gryffindor and Peverell vaults by heritage and the Slytherin Vaults by Right of Conquest... or something...”
The goblin snapped something out on gobbledygook and tapped the crystal on his desk, practically yelling into it before sitting back. “We shall sort this out.” A few moments later a rather rich looking goblin came in. Not quite as well off as the one behind the desk, but still better off than any other goblin Harry had seen thus far.
“You sent for me, Lord Ragnarock?”
Harry paled slightly, realising the goblin behind the desk was in fact the head of the London branch of Gringotts.
He nodded. “Yes, this is Heir Potter. It is my understanding that he has not been informed of his heritage or accounts. Why have you not kept him up to date with his accounts?”
The goblin frowned. “Mister Dumbledore assured me that Heir Potter was fully aware of his accounts and that he had no interest in running the business. I have been managing it for him.”
Harry frowned. “What business? I don’t know anything about my accounts. And why would you take Dumbledore’s word for it! He’s not my guardian or anything.”
Ragnarock sat forwards. “Dumbledore didn’t tell you? He was your magical guardian.”
Harry shook his head slowly. “He was... but then... why...” Harry closed his eyes and ducked his head. “Why did he leave me with them?”
“Who?”
“The Dursleys... they treated me like a house elf. Worse than a house elf. I was locked up in the cupboard under the stairs, I only got a proper bedroom after my Hogwarts letter arrived. They didn’t want me to go to Hogwarts... I thought my name was Freak until I went to school... the teacher couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t answer to my name...” Harry shook his head slowly. “And he’s the one who left me there...” he grabbed hold of his hair, pulling it slightly. “I barely got enough food to live off, and went weeks without anything if I was being punished... I didn’t have a single thing to call my own until a came back to this world... and that whole time he was my guardian?”
A tiny hand gently pulled his hand away from his hair. Harry looked up and locked eyes with Mitzy. “Lord Potter should not worry so much. Dumbledore is dead and cannot harm you anymore.” Mitzy turned to face Ragnarock. “Lord Potter would like someone not allied with Dumbledore to take over his accounts. He would also like to take a heritage test to see which Vaults and Accounts he is eligible for.”
Ragnarock nodded and made a gesture to one of the guards, who escorted Harry’s former account manager from the room. “I will take control of your accounts for now, Mister Potter, and we shall do a heritage test. Your accounts will have to be frozen for now, while I do an audit and see where everything is. It shouldn’t take too long to do. For now,” he rummaged beneath his desk. “Please prick your finger with this and let three drops of blood land in this basin.” He slid a dagger and bowl across the table.
Harry nodded and did so. Ragnarock then poured a potion into the bowl and pulled out a sheet of parchment. The potion was then poured over the parchment and names were spelled out. Harry stared in shock as Snape’s name appeared next to his, both connected to a blank box under them. Harry sat back heavily in the chair, staring at the parchment. He really was pregnant...
Ragnarock frowned at the parchment and looked up at Harry. “Did you and Mister Snape...”
Harry nodded. “Yeah... one time... a couple days ago.” He took a deep breath in and out of his nose. “I’m... pregnant... is that even possible?”
Ragnarock nodded. “With magic, anything is possible. Many same sex couples try for years to conceive, that you did so spontaneously will be a huge boost to them.” He looked the parchment over. “As you are pregnant with the Heir of the Prince family, you will hold the accounts in trust until your child turns seventeen.”
Harry nodded, frowning slightly. “Can I make it so he only gains access to everything once he turns twenty one, and gain only, say... a quarter of the accounts, when he turns seventeen. I don’t want him getting the entire thing and just spending it all in a couple of years. By the time he’s twenty one he should be more mature and responsible.”
Ragnarock nodded. “I can see what I can do, but I will have to look up the Prince family history. As for your other accounts, you are now Lord Potter of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, Lord Black of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, Lord Peverell of the Primordial House of Peverell, Lord Gryffindor of the Primordial House of Gryffindor, Heir Apparent of the Primordial House of Hufflepuff, Lord Warden of the Most Ancient and Most Regal House of Prince, and through Right of Conquest, Lord Slytherin of the Primordial House of Slytherin.”
Harry nodded slowly, looking at the list at the side of the parchment. “What do the names of the houses mean?”
Ragnarock frowned. “What do you mean?”
Harry frowned. “Well, Peverell, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin are ‘Primordial’, Prince is ‘Regal’, Potter is ‘Most Ancient and Most Noble’, and Black is ‘Most Ancient and Noble’. And what does Heir Apparent and Lord Warden mean?”
Ragnarock nodded. “Ah, well, the House’ title comes from its Status. The Peverell, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Merlin and Mercia are the oldest families with magical ties in England. The Mercia line is descended from one of England’s earliest rulers, and the Prince family line is a branch from King Alfred the Great, in 817. Because they are directly related to Royalty they are ‘Regal’ bloodlines. So, Mercia would be the Primordial and Regal House.”
Harry nodded. “Right.”
“Now, how ancient or noble a house is affect their title. The Black family used to be Most Noble, but their actions and inbreeding caused them to lose a lot of their status, and dropped to simply being a Noble house. Not all lines have a Noble status, for example, the Crabbe and Goyle lines are both Ancient, but neither of them have ever attained anything worthwhile, and so the lines are not recognised by the other Noble Lines.”
Harry nodded.
“Now, as for the titles you have from each, a Lordship is one of the highest regards in our world, once a family gains a lordship it is passed down through generations and cannot be lost, even if the family loses its noble status or even falls into great debt. The Lordship remains. Now, there are other types of title in ascending order is Esquire, Baron, Viscount/Vidame, Count, Earl, Marquis, Duke, Grand Duke, Archduke and then Lord. There are others as well, but those are the important ones.”
Harry nodded again. “What about Lord Warden and Heir Apparent?”
Ragnarock nodded. “Lord Warden is the title for someone who is holding a Lordship in trust until the Heir comes of age, but they cannot claim the Lordship themselves, it is usually held by mothers or uncles. Madame Longbottom was Lord Warden for her grandson. Mister Dumbledore tried to become Lord Warden of the Potter accounts but there is a clause that only a member of the family can become the Lord Warden of the Potter family. A failsafe to prevent political assassination. Now, Heir apparent can mean different things in different circumstances. In your case, the Longbottom line holds Lordship of the Hufflepuff line, you are the Heir after them, so at the moment you are second for the title, after Mister Neville Longbottom. If he claims the Lordship you will be first heir until he has a child, then you will be second again.”
Harry nodded. “Right, I get it. But, how are mine and Neville’s families connected?”
Ragnarock fiddled with a quill. “You really do know nothing, don’t you? We shall have to arrange for tutors to teach you everything you need to know. It’ll take a good few months to get you up to proper standards...”
Harry frowned and nodded slowly. He looked down at Mitzy. “Could you re-schedule that interview? I don’t want to insult someone by accident.”
Mitzy nodded and popped out.
Ragnarock made a few notes on some parchment. “I shall collect all the reading material you will need and forward them to you. Would you prefer owl mail or should I send it by house elf?”
“Have a house elf take it to number 12 Grimmauld place, and my elf Kreature can take it to me. My elves will throw a fit if I accept mail from anyone else. They are already screening it without me telling them to.”
Ragnarock chuckled. “You are the type to inspire loyalty amongst the strangest of people. I have heard a rumour that you call us goblins by name.”
Harry nodded. “If I know your name, I’ll use it. You have a name for a reason, I’m not just going to call you all goblin and still expect you to call me by name. If I call you goblin it is only fair if you call me human, but I don’t want to be called human, so it’s fair if I call you by name too.”
Ragnarock blinked at Harry in silence for a moment before shaking his head slowly. “Strange human.”
“I get that a lot.” Harry grinned.
.oOo.
Harry stepped into Grimmauld Place and felt the wards settle in immediately. He sighed slightly and looked around. The portrait of Mrs Black was gone and the wallpaper was clean and bright... well, as bright as dull green can get. The whole place looked like it had gotten an intensive clean from top to bottom. Everything looked like new.
He whistled low and looked down at the four elves in front of him. “You guys did a good job on this place. Well done.” He smiled down at his elves. Kreature, who was by now used to Harry thanking him for his work, simply bowed slightly at the waist, Mitzy crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow but nodded her acceptance of his thanks regardless, Winky just about died of happiness, Diddy didn’t quite know how to act and was looking between the three older elves. Harry chuckled and knelt down next to Winky. “You know, you’re gonna have to get used to me thanking you. I believe in acknowledging a job well done.” He looked over her filthy dress and muttered, “I’m gonna have to get you something decent to wear.”
Winky freaked out. “No, not clothes! Winky is sorry master!”
Harry grabbed hold of her head before she could freak out more. “Winky! I don’t mean clothes!” she calmed down slightly. “I mean a uniform. You are a Potter elf, the Head Elf of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, you should wear something appropriate.” He looked up. “You too, Kreature. You should wear something befitting of the Head Elf of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black.” Mitzy was already wearing a little dark blue dress with the Prince family crest embroidered on it. “Mitzy, where did your uniform come from?”
“Mitzy made it, on Mistress Elia’s orders. Mitzy can make uniforms for Kreature, Winky and Diddy if Lord Potter wishes?”
“That would be great, Mitzy... who was Elia?”
“Mistress Elia Prince was Mistress Eileen’s Mother. Mitzy was only very young at the time, and only knew Mistress Elia for three years.”
Harry nodded and stood up. “How many rooms have you all cleaned?”
Kreature bobbed his head. “We has cleaned all the hallways and stairs, all the bathrooms, Master Bedroom, Nursery and all the rooms on first two floors.”
Harry looked up at the gap in the stairwell. “How many floors are there?”
“Six.”
Harry whistled. “Including ground?” the elf nodded. “And, how high up is the Master Bedroom?”
“Is on the fourth Floor.”
“Meaning second from the top?”
“Yes sir.”
Harry sighed. “That’s not going to be fun in a couple months.”
“The first room Kreature cleaned was Mistress room on ground floor.”
Harry frowned. “Mistress room?”
“Kreature show you.” Harry followed the elf down the corridor. There was a nicely decorated bedroom on the ground floor. “Has been a study since Master Regulus was born. Kreature turned it back, don’t need another study. Mistress room is bedroom for Master and Mistress to stay in when Mistress is too pregnant to go upstairs.”
Harry nodded. “Right. This will be a lot better. Thank you Kreature.”
“Kreature must make sure house is ready for baby.”
Harry smiled and nodded. “Right. I’m sure you’ll do a great job.” Harry sat on the edge of the bed. “God, I just realised I need to tell all my friends...”
Mitzy patted his knees. “Why not bring your closest friends and tell them all at once?”
Harry nodded slowly. “After Snape’s trial... no, the baby will come up then, I have to tell them before... Hermione will freak out and research like crazy, she’s not the type to advocate abortion but she’ll probably suggest adoption. Ron will freak out regardless of what I say, need a few weeks to cool down, have Hermione talk him round then half apologise while making it out like it’s my fault and then never talk about how much of a dick he was. Neville... I think he’ll get it. He’ll be worried for me, and the baby... and offer to babysit or something.” Harry smiled softly, imagining Neville’s reaction. “Neville’s cool... Luna probably already knows. She’s amazing like that.” he stood up and paced. “Dean and Seamus would probably freak out for a while but come around, probably before Ron. The others in the DA would probably stand with me at first, then hate me for having Snape’s kid, then stand with me again when it all comes out what Snape did...”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I guess the only way to know for sure is to tell everyone...” he took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly. “Alright. I’m going to write some letters, Kreature, can you deliver them?”
“Kreature can do that, yes.”
Mitzy nodded. “Elves and Lord Potter need to discuss what duties each elf will perform.”
Harry nodded. “After I write the letters.” Harry walked over to the ground floor study and found writing equipment already set out. He quickly wrote a letter to Neville, asking him to invite Luna if she was still at Hogwarts and a letter to Hermione, inviting her and all of the Weasleys inviting all of them around for dinner. He thought for a minute before deciding not to invite anyone else for now. He’d tell them tomorrow or something.
After Kreature vanished with the letters Harry went to the kitchen to see what kind of food was around. Thankfully Winky, Mitzy and Diddy were all very good cooks and between the four of them the meal was cooked up in no time. While they were cooking Harry asked a load of questions about elflings. Apparently they only stayed as babies for a few weeks before entering the ‘toddler’ stage and began learning their parents’ speciality. They could choose a completely different path if they chose, but they always knew how to do what their parents could. Diddy was going to learn everything he could about child care so he could be the baby’s nanny elf if Harry needed him.
Harry paced anxiously in the reception room, waiting for everyone to arrive. Neville and Luna arrived first with Professor McGonagall. Harry paled, not having even considered how his old head of house would take this news.
Luna immediately hugged Harry. “Congratulations Harry! You’ll be great!”
Harry hugged her back. “Thanks Luna. Any hints on how to deal with the others?”
“Back story first. Big news later.”
Harry nodded. “Right. Yes. Definitely. How do you know already?” Luna simply smiled mysteriously and Harry shook his head at her. He stepped over to Neville.
“Hey Harry. Hope you don’t mind I brought the professor along? She wouldn’t let us leave without her.”
“Not at all.” He smiled brightly up at her. “I’m glad to have you here, Professor.”
She bowed her head but whatever she was about to say was cut off as Hermione and all nine Weasleys came tumbling through the floo. He was immediately engulfed in a dual hug from Hermione and Mrs Weasley. Once released he was captured by Mr Weasley, then bro hug from Ron, then the twins, and finally a clap on the back from Bill and Charlie and a handshake from Percy.
Harry sighed slightly and led everyone through to the dining room. Mrs Weasley exclaimed over how clean the house was. Harry grinned slightly. “Well, that’s what happens when your house elves like you. Kreature kind of gave up after Regulus died, but he’s excited to see the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black get back on it’s feet.”
Harmione frowned. “What do you mean House Elves. And why would the Black family get back on its feet? There aren’t any Blacks left!”
Harry shook his head. “No, there’s Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, Draco Malfoy and Teddy. As Lord Black I can reinstate Andromeda back into the family and Teddy can become Heir Black.”
Ron frowned. “Why would you count that Ferret and his mom in it?”
Harry sighed. “Ron, Teddy is the only family I have, and Malfoy and his mom are the closest family related to mine, though the Potter ties to the Longbottom family are tighter.” He bowed slightly to Neville who bowed back. “Hey Neville, did you know you can claim Lordship of the Primordial House of Hufflepuff?”
Neville stared at him in shock. “What?”
“Yeah, and the Potter line is Heir Apparent to the Hufflepuff line, so my family line is second in line to the title after yours. Our family ties must date back to the founders, or even before. Though the lines will have gone by a different name back then.”
Neville nodded slowly. “How do you know...”
“Just ask for a Heraldry test at Gringotts. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.” Harry grinned and sat at the head of the table, motioning to Neville to sit at his left. McGonagall sat to his right with Mr and Mrs Weasley in the two seats beyond them with their children sitting in order of age with Hermione and Luna sat at the final two occupied seats at the table. Ron, Hermione and Ginny pouted at being so far down the table.
Diddy popped in, “Dinner, for sir and his guests.” He clicked his fingers and the food popped onto the table.
Harry smiled and nodded to the elf, who grinned and looked to his mother who was standing in the doorway nodding happily at him. Dinner conversation was a little awkward since Harry kept fending off the real reason he’d asked them all here. Once everyone had eaten and Harry couldn’t put it off any longer he led everyone to the informal sitting room and they all sprawled around on the couches and chairs.
Harry walked over to the cabinet in the corner. “Alcohol anyone?”
McGonagall smiled slightly. “A malt whisky if you have one.” Harry nodded and poured her drink.
Predictably Mrs Weasley made a short rant about alcohol and how he shouldn’t be drinking at his age, and just because it was legal, etc. Etc. Harry handed out everyone’s drinks and sat down between Luna and Neville, despite Ginny gesturing for him to sit with her.
Harry sat forwards, cradling his glass of water in his hands, which didn’t go unnoticed by Hermione, who was frowning at him. “So, you all know that... this time last year was about when Snape killed Dumbledore yeah?”
Mrs Weasley suddenly became flustered. “Oh, well, of course you’re thinking of-”
“Don’t interrupt me. This has nothing to do with missing Dumbledore. I’m not exactly happy with him right now, to say the least. But it does have to do with that. Almost a year before then, in the summer before my sixth year, Dumbledore found a certain cursed item. He was stupid enough to not check it for spells before touching it and ended up cursed. You all saw his hand right?”
There was confused nodding.
Harry took a deep breath. “He got cursed by the ring. Even with Snape doing all he could to contain the curse he still only had a year left to live. If that.”
Ron stood up. “How can you believe that git did everything he could?”
“Because if he hadn’t then Dumbledore would have died within an hour of being cursed.” He stared straight at Ron. “Now if you want me to get to the point, sit down and don’t interrupt. This is hard enough as it is.” Ron flushed slightly, pertly in anger, partly in embarrassment and sat back down. “Snape did everything he could. He knew that without Dumbledore we would be doomed and I was nowhere near ready to fulfil the prophesy. Unfortunately, training me was not on Dumbledore’s agenda. I was a sacrificial lamb. I wasn’t supposed to survive. Anyway, Dumbledore knew he had about a year left, so he began planning. He could no longer put off telling me what I needed to know, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to waste time showing me useless memories about Voldemort that he’d already figured out. He knew where most of the items where but for some stupid reason he wanted me to figure it out myself. If he’d just told me outright the war would have ended last year!”
The glass in his hands smashed and Harry flinched violently. Luna wrapped an arm around his shoulders and Mitzy popped in, checking his hands for injury before cleaning the mess and vanishing. Harry buried his face in Luna’s shoulder. “So many people died and suffered because Dumbledore didn’t tell me what I needed to know.” He sat up straight. “Anyway, he knew he was dying. He wanted to use that to our advantage, so he made Snape promise to kill him.”
Ron and Ginny leapt up, their screams drowned out by Mrs Weasley’s caterwauling that Dumbledore was a good man, and Snape was a murderer and how dare he suggest such a thing. Mitzy popped back in the room and spelled all three of them silent and back into their seats. “Lord Potter’s guests should be more respectful.” She popped back out again.
Hermione frowned. “Who’s elf is that?”
“Mine. That’s Mitzy, the Head Elf of the Most Ancient and Regal House of Prince.”
Ron moved his mouth as if shouting something but the silencing charm held true. Hermione frowned. “Prince? That’s Snape’s elf?”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, I’ll explain that later. So anyway,”
“Why do you have Snape’s elf? Any why did she call you Lord Potter? You’re not a Lord.”
Harry shook his head. “I am. I claimed the Lordship at Gringotts earlier today. It also ties in with why I have Mitzy.”
“Who was that elf earlier?”
“That was Diddy, Dobby and Winky’s elfling.” Hermione opened her mouth to ask more questions. “Shut up. For god sake, we’ll be here all night if you keep asking questions. Let me tell everything in order or we’ll never get there.” He glared at her and she huffed.
“We’ll be talking about you having house elves later.”
“You seem to believe you have a say in it?” everyone turned to face Neville. “Harry is Lord Potter and who he employs as his staff, and how many house elves he has are his own business and not yours. You have no say in how he runs his family.” He turned to face Harry and nodded.
Harry nodded back. “So, as I was saying, Dumbledore arranged his own death with Snape. A few days later Narcissa Malfoy and Belatrix Lestrange trapped Snape into an unbreakable vow that if Draco couldn’t finish the task he’d been given by Voldemort then Snape would finish the job. Dumbledore was quite happy that it tied in with his plans, and Snape couldn’t back out. So... at the end of the year, when we were up in the astronomy tower, when Dumbledore said ‘Please’ he was asking Snape to kill him, not help him like I’d thought.
“Of course, since Snape killed Dumbledore that meant that Voldemort fully trusted Snape and let him have full control over the school, he of course still checked in from time to time, since Hogwarts is the only home he’s ever known, but he mostly left him to it. That worked in our favour, since Snape was able to forbid the Carrows from a lot of things.”
McGonagall leant forwards. “What do you mean?”
Harry tilted his head. “Any half-bloods, any blood traitors, anyone who spoke up against Voldemort, anyone who couldn’t do the unforgivables, anyone who didn’t fit into the category ‘Death Eater in training’... they would have all been killed outright. Snape forbade killing, he forbade raping, he forbade a lot of things that kept the students alive. Not perfectly healthy, but alive and capable of fighting back when the time came.” He looked to Neville and then Luna. “If he hadn’t been headmaster, both of you would be dead.” He looked up. “So would you, Ginny. They would have either tried to use you as bait for me, or killed you straight off and used other students as bait, saying they’d kill them too.”
Harry stood up and began pacing. “It was really hard for Snape to have to do all of that. Out of every member of staff he’s the one who was always first to jump up in a student’s defence if they had been seriously wronged. All of the abused kids in the school went to him first, even before Madame Pomfrey. When he found out about the blood quill he was furious... it took me, like, two and half hours to calm him down...” he trailed off chuckling, smiling slightly as he imagined Snape pacing, ranting and yelling various threats towards Umbridge. “He’s always been the first to stand up for someone being mistreated, even if he could never let anyone know how he felt, what with his status as a spy. Especially since in our year group there are a lot of children of death eaters or supporters. None of them could find out about his loyalties so he had to act that way the whole time... what was it... sixteen years?” he looked to McGonagall.
“Yes, that’s right.” She nodded. “But what do you mean blood quill?”
Harry tilted his head. “You don’t know?” she shook her head slowly. Harry frowned. “Huh... I thought you knew. I did try to go to you about it but you just told me to keep my head down... Umbridge was using a blood quill during detentions.” Harry held up his hand, the words ‘I must not tell lies’ clearly visible against his skin.
McGonagall paled. “Harry... I... I had no idea...”
Harry shrugged. “What’s done is done. No sense dwelling on it. It’ll all come out now, since if she’s not already on the list for a trial I will make sure she is. She’ll pay for what she’s done.”
George shook his head. “What I want to know is why you’re defending Snape so much?”
Harry crossed his arms, getting more worried about how everyone would take the big news. “Snape is one of the biggest war heroes. I won’t let him die without the recognition he deserves.”
Fred and George exchanged glances before shrugging. They both turned to Harry. “Alright. We’ll take your word for it.”
Harry nodded. “You didn’t know him like I did. When he wasn’t pretending to be a death eater he was a different person. Not completely, he was really impatient and didn’t tolerate half-arsed attitudes, especially when he was trying to teach. He was still a snarky, sarcastic git, but he was nowhere as bad as he played off in front of everyone else.” He grinned slightly, imagining Snape flopping onto a sofa and sighing heavily. He bit back a snicker and shook his head. He sighed. “Anyway, where was I?”
Luna tipped her head backwards to look at him where he was standing behind the couch. “A lot of back story. How did you and Professor Snape become friends?”
Harry smirked. “Ah, right, I haven’t told any of you. So, during my fifth year I was getting occlumency lessons from him. He saw a lot of my memories and in turn, I kept seeing his whenever I cast a shield charm and caused his spell to backfire. We learned a lot about each other. We kept everything the same outside his office but we developed a new understanding of each other. He stopped seeing me as a reincarnation of my father and I got to see the real him, the one he hides behind his masks. By the end of fifth year, I’d kind of developed a crush on him. I had for a long time before then actually, which was why I chased after Cho. Same colour hair and eyes. I’d realised he was the target of my feelings shortly before our exams. It was one of the reasons I didn’t want to go to him when snake face gave me that vision. I didn’t want him to see what kind of thoughts or dreams I’d been having.”
He glanced at Ginny and realised she was shouting behind the silencing charm. “Don’t throw a fit, Ginny. You and I both know the only reason we got together in the first place was because it was expected of us. You and I are supposed to end up together, get married, I’ll become an Auror, you stay at home and look after our three children, James, Sirius and Lily, after a short career in Quidditch that you had to quit because of the children. Honestly, everyone had already planned out our future from the moment you started Hogwarts and people started saying that Potters always marry redheads. Which is completely false, my grandmother was a Black and had black hair, so just because my mum had red hair doesn’t mean all Potters marry redheads.”
He shook his head. “Anyway, it’s not like I could feel for you like that anyway, what with you being my little sister. I mean, your parents practically adopted me from when I was twelve,” he nodded respectfully at Mr and Mrs Weasley, “Plus Ron is my best friend so I never thought of you as any different when we were little, and over time Fred and George kind of adopted me as an unofficial Weasley Brother.”
Molly shook her head and pointed at her throat. Harry clicked his fingers and Mitzy popped back in, undoing her spell. Molly shook her head. “We took you in because we knew you’d marry Ginny. We wanted you to feel a part of the family as our future son-in-law.”
Arthur shot her a shocked look. “Molly!” he looked at Harry. “That may have been her reason, but it wasn’t mine.”
Fred, George, Bill, Charley and Percy were nodding.
Ron shook his head. “What are you talking about dad? Everyone knew Harry was going to marry Ginny.”
Harry shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”
Ron shook his head. “No, listen mate, Snape’s obviously got you under some kind of spell or potion! His elf is probably giving it to you too!”
“Kreature prepares all of my food.” Lie, but he wouldn’t know that.
“But you’re not gay!”
“I’m bisexual, actually. I lean more towards women but I’ll go either way. Snape is the only person I’ve ever felt anything real for. With Cho it was to try and convince myself I wasn’t crushing on Snape, and I never felt anything for Ginny.” Which was kind of true, in the sense that he didn’t have ‘real’ feelings for Cho, as it was simply a childish crush, and while he didn’t approve of Ginny dating Michael Corner (As he didn’t treat her right) he’d never felt anything romantic towards her until she seduced him in the RoR, and he did think of her more as a sister than a girlfriend. He felt awkward while he was dating her and when they were together he didn’t react the way he should have done, as he figured he should at least from hearing Dean and Seamus going at it with whichever girl they snuck into the dorm or from overheard conversations at dinner or in the common room.
Harry shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is, I still haven’t gotten to the point. So, sixth year. Snape and I kept our cover going in front of the school, but whenever we were alone we were able to drop our masks. By the end of the year, I had really deep feelings for him and honestly, he treated me almost like we were friends. This last year was hard because I wanted to know why he did what he did. I wanted to know why he led me on, or pretended to be my friend. It was one of the reasons I hated him so much at that time. So, when we were at Hogwarts a few days ago, after he left the great hall he went straight back up to his office, to talk to Dumbledore’s portrait. I’d gone up there, looking for advice on where to find the diadem.”
Ron scowled. “And did you get your answers?”
“Not at that time. We shouted, threw hexes and...” Harry blushed heavily and turned away. “Somehow we ended up having sex, right there in the office.” Predictably everyone seemed to be trying to outshout each other. Harry sighed and walked around the couch, sitting back between Neville, who was simply staring at him in silence, and Luna, who started rubbing his back. He glanced at Mitzy who clicked her fingers and silenced everyone. “After that, he ran off and I headed to search for the diadem. When he was dying, you two remember he gave me that vial of memories? They answered all of my questions, including one I’d asked him a year ago, ‘What made you turn spy?’. Actually, it was my mother. They had been best friends since they were kids, she was practically his sister and the only light he had in his life. When snake face targeted me, and her by extension, he ran straight to Dumbledore and begged him to protect her, and by extension, me.”
Neville nodded. “I had been wondering why he was a spy. He was always swinging from being a Death Eater to not in my opinion. He had plenty of times where he could have taken you, consequences be dammed, but he didn’t. That confused me a lot.”
Harry nodded. “Here’s something that’ll confuse you even more. This is why I asked you all here tonight.” Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m pregnant.” Luna immediately wrapped her arm around his shoulders as everyone, bar Neville, blew up.
Harry waited a few minutes before nodding to Mitzy to silence them all again. Harry wondered when she dropped the last silencing charm but shrugged. “Can you all calm down enough to not try screaming over each other?”
Fred, George, Bill and Charley all nodded and Mitzy released the charm on them, shortly followed by Arthur. Fred and George sat forwards. “Do we need to bring him back so we can kill him again?”
Harry shook his head. “No. I’m upset that he’ll never meet his child, and that my baby will never know its daddy, but he died a hero, even if it was kind of needless.”
Bill frowned. “What do you mean needless?”
Harry shrugged. “He had an antidote to Nagini’s venom. He invented it two years ago when your dad got bit. Plus he was a potions master. You’re telling me he didn’t have Essence of Dittany or something in his pockets?”
Charley nodded. “It would make sense if he did. I carry all kinds of potions on me when I’m working.”
Bill nodded. “Me too. Why didn’t Snape have any then?”
Harry shrugged. “It’s likely that he wanted to die, since he didn’t think anyone would stand up for him and he’d probably end up in Azkaban no matter what.” He sighed heavily. “But because of that, I’m now a single father... of two if Andromeda can’t look after Teddy.”
Fred and George frowned. “Why would you look after Teddy?” “and who is Teddy?”
“Teddy, Theodore Remus Lupin. My Godson.” They both nodded, understanding. Harry tipped his head back. “Teddy would probably enjoy being an older brother... I know I always wanted siblings growing up, and it’s not likely I will find anyone willing to get into a relationship with someone with two kids, and even then I’ll have to weed out the fans who just want ‘The Saviour’.” He sighed and rubbed his face before looking at Ron, Hermione and Ginny. “Are you three going to be calm about this?”
Hermione nodded and Mitzy removed the charm. “Harry, there are options you know.”
Harry shrugged. “I know, I know. I could give him up after he’s born, but,”
“No I mean, now. You can abort it.”
Harry leapt up. “No way! I’m keeping my baby!” he glared at her. “You know, out of the three of you, I was expecting you to be the one to not suggest abortion.”
Ron frowned. “You can’t abort it anyway. You’d lose your magic. Spontaneous male pregnancies are rare and any pregnancy is delicate. If you lose the baby, there is a chance of losing your magic, since your magical core and the baby’s are tied together.”
Hermione looked shocked. “What, there’s no abortion in the Wizarding world?”
Ron shook his head. “Not if you want to keep your magic.”
“But what if a girl is raped!”
Ginny shook her head. “Your magic prevents you from bearing a child in that case. In most cases, your magic acts on its own to protect you from rape, even if you’re drugged. There are a few cases where it happens but in those cases your magic stops you from getting pregnant... so... if Harry is pregnant... he couldn’t have been drugged or raped... magic wouldn’t let him get pregnant otherwise...” She leant forwards. “So... you led me on, you made me think you loved me, you told me to wait for you after the war and this whole time, you’ve been in love Snape!” he looked up and glared at Harry.
He glared back. “You seduced me, I figured you already knew about everyone expecting us to get together, since you were dating Dean at the time. And I broke up with you and told you NOT to wait for me. You are the one who took it all out of proportion.”
Charlie nodded. “Besides that, male pregnancies don’t just happen. Not only do both partners need to be somewhat powerful, but both need to have serious feelings for the other, no man has ever, ever, fallen pregnant from a one night stand. There needs to be real feeling behind it for it to happen. It’s one of the reasons none of my ex-boyfriends have gotten pregnant. We were just dating, there was nothing serious between us. If Harry and Snape could conceive...” he trailed off and everyone understood the meaning behind his words.
They must have been in love.