A Starting Point
The Spell is Broken: Memories Returned
Chapter Four
A Starting Point
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“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover up and decoration, but as time goes by, what is true is revealed and what is fake fades away.” ~ Ismail Haniyen
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Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England
Lucius Malfoy’s Office
July 31
7:35 AM
Draco smiled as entered his bearer’s office, he closed the door and felt the wards snap into place. The smile became fond as said bearer was spotted asleep leaning back in his chair. Draco walked closer to him and leaned on the side of the desk.
“Mother?” Draco said quietly, trying not to startle the submissive veela. Draco leaned over and carded his hand through the long blond hair. “Mother.”
Lucius woke slowly, to his son calling him and a hand running through his hair. He smiled when he saw his son was calm and in control. He sat up and realized that the wards around his office were in place and he could speak freely to his son.
“Hello my dragon,” Lucius smiled. He reached up and grabbed his son’s hand and pressed a kiss into the palm. “How was your night?”
Draco’s smile could have blinded the sun.
“Oh! You will never believe who is my mate!” Draco exclaimed, bouncing a bit.
“Who?” Lucius smiled at his son’s exuberance.
“Well, he came into an elf inheritance last night,” Draco paused with a wicked smile as his mother’s eyes grew round in comprehension. “My mate is Harry Potter.”
Lucius sat there a minute before laughing;
“Only you my Dragon would be the First Veela in a thousand years to be mated to an Elf!”
Draco froze and stared at Lucius;
“A thousand years?”
“Yes,” Lucius smirked. “Elves are pure creatures, even more pure than Veela. For them to mate outside of other elves is exceedingly rare. Both mates must be very powerful, and when the elf is submissive, the Dominate must be a very protective creature. Veela are one of the few very protective creatures left.”
Draco was just staring at the submissive veela sitting in front of him. Lucius kept talking;
“I do believe the two of you are mates because of the happenings in the world at the moment. We are at war, but it is about to get worse. Sure Harry will work together with Tom, and hopefully in time, the Ministry, but people will rally behind Harry, he is a natural leader even though he is a submissive. He is not afraid to lead people if he has someone to lean on and let him be weak when needed. That will be your role I believe. Are you willing to stand at his side as he leads us in this war?”
Draco snapped out of his stupor at the question, determination took over his features. He stood to his full height and flared out his new wings.
“I will stand beside him till the very end.”
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#4 Privet Drive
July 31
8:12 AM
“Sir?” Harry asked shocked.
“Hello Harry,” Severus said quietly. He walked closer to the bottom of the stairs. Petunia was still standing in the doorway, watching her childhood neighbor waltz through her house, with a mulish look on her face. Harry was watching him with a wary look. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Are you here to take me away?” Harry questioned softly. His instincts telling him to trust the man before him. He took a step closer before he realized what he had done. Something deep inside Severus purred at the natural action. Not taking the time to think about his reaction, Severus leaned down and looked Harry in the eye.
“Yes Harry,” Severus kept his face open and honest, so that Harry could see the truth into his words. “I do believe you received a letter last night from someone most unexpected?”
“Yes,” Harry said hesitantly. “And You?”
“I did,” Severus confirmed softly. There was silence for a moment as the two didn’t know what to say or to do. Then Harry smiled a small true smile.
“You must believe it or you wouldn’t be here.”
“I am willing to give him a benefit of the doubt,” Severus sighed. “Many things he wrote struck a chord in me that I had long since buried. That is why I am here, to take you with me, first to Gringotts for an inheritance test and medical exam, then to find what your godparents know about all of this, and finally to get in contact with those we know are loyal to you.”
“Yes Sir!” Harry gave a large smile. His father was willing to take the tests to make confirm everything and not just throw the idea of him as a son away, and he was willing to try and fix his godfathers! The small smile that graced Severus’s face in view of his happy son gave Harry reason for Harry to smile even larger. Reaching out before he could question his actions, Severus pulled Harry to him in a tight hug. Harry stiffened at first then reached around and hugged his father, His Father! back. Every instinct in Severus sang at holding the boy to him, a small locked away part of himself was beyond happy that his son was finally in his arms.
“Then we must hurry to Gringotts,” Severus commanded as he reluctantly pulled away. “Dumbledore stopped by at my home this morning before I could apparate here, he wishes for you to under his control. We must get you away from here and to Gringotts before he realizes that I am not his puppet any longer.”
“Of course,” Harry said and turned back to the stairs. “Let me just pack my trunk and I will be ready to leave.”
Severus followed his son up the stairs to his room. Upon seeing the room that he was being led to Severus stopped and stared at the locks on the door. Harry, sensing that his father was no longer following him, turned and saw the glare pointed at the locks and sighed.
“It’s not what you think,” Severus turned and raised an eyebrow in a distinctly familiar action. “Those haven’t been used since before fourth year. They were also never locked every night as it was. Only after I had accidentally done magic. Something never sat right about that.”
Severus looked thoughtful for a moment before walking in the room with Harry. Together they packed all the things that Harry received in his trunk. Harry pulled on his new coat and placed his wand in an arm holster that had been a Christmas gift from Kingsley. Severus shrunk the trunk and placed it in his pocket and the two walked out of the house without so much of a backward glance.
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#12 Grimmauld Place, Kitchen
July 31
7:50 AM
Two men sat staring at each other from across the kitchen table. In the middle of the table sat a letter that had been read at least ten times by both men since it arrived nearly an hour before. Unknowingly it was similar to the letters received by their godson and school yard enemy. The two men were husbands Sirius Black-Lupin and Remus Black-Lupin. Sirius looked up at the man he called husband.
“Remus?”
“Yes Siri?” Remus responded softly, staring off into space.
“Should we see if Harry and Sn..Severus received similar letters?” Sirius questioned unsurely. “I mean. This is James. He wouldn’t lie about something like this, and it makes something on the edge of my consciousness stir. It makes sense though, all of things we remember doing in school, to Severus and Slytherins in general. None of us were like that, we were pranksters for sure, but our personalities were never cruel without reason.”
“Yes,” Remus said slowly. “This would explain memory gaps and irregularities. We should go get…”
Remus was interrupted as a bell rang through the kitchen, signifying that someone wished to come through the floo. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances and stood to make their way to the receiving room. Upon entering the small room they saw Dumbledore stepping out of the fireplace and brushing off his robs. Remus pinched Sirius slightly in the arm before he could speak, it was a silent message to his husband to let him do the talking.
“Hello Headmaster,” Remus greeted. “What brings you here this morning?”
“Hello dear boys,” Dumbledore greeted with a twinkle in his eyes. “I just came to inform you that I have sent Severus to retrieve Harry from the Dursley house. He should be here within the next half-hour. It is important that Harry not leave the house except to go to the Burrow till school starts. It is simply not safe.”
“I will not lock him in this house like I was,” Sirius growled. “He is a teenage boy. He would be insane before September 1st rolls around!”
“I understand,” Dumbledore sighed, twinkle dimming a bit. “But to keep him safe this must be what happens.”
“I will explain it to him,” Remus says, holding up a hand to forestall complaints from Sirius. “But it will be his choice if he stays or goes. Harry is 17 now, an adult, we can’t force him to stay.”
“Very well,” Dumbledore sighs again, as if it pains him to think about Harry getting hurt. “I suppose that is all I can ask.”
Dumbledore casts one more glance at the two men, as if hoping they will stop and reconsider making Harry stay. When they don’t move he shakes his head and steps back through the floo with a shout of ‘Headmaster Office! Hogwarts!’
Sirius turns to Remus with an expectant look.
“What?” Remus demands.
“You’re the one who normally comes up with the plans,” Sirius points out.
“Then I suppose we head to Gringotts,” Remus says thoughtfully. “James’ letter sounds that Severus must take Harry there and claim him so that the spells can be lifted. We will see if they can do us as well.”
“Fine by me,” Sirius nods. “Let’s go.”
They walk downstairs and out of the house before turning and aparating to Diagon Ally