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The Spell is Broken: Memories Returned
Chapter 7
A Long Night
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"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."
~ Tupac Shakur
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Grimmauld Place- Later That Night
Severus nodded and led them over to the apparation point in the bank. He held his arm out to Harry who took it with hesitancy remembering earlier, Severus looked at him reassuringly and showed him his potions kit that had been transferred when his clothing changed. Harry nodded to show he saw and the two disappeared with a pop Sirius and Remus following not a moment later.
It was nearing ten at night and the three men and young teen were sitting together in the parlor on the second floor. Their glamours were down and the four were sitting in silence with the occasional sound of the turning of the page from the three who were reading or a soft snore from the one who had drifted off against his mate.
Harry was laying spread out on a couch absently turning pages every once in awhile while he thought about what had happened since they had arrived home.
Flashback
With two almost simultaneous pops the four appeared in the entryway of the old Black home. They silently made their way to the stairs where Sirius added Severus to the wards that surrounded the upper floors and they made their way up to Sirius' office for a discussion.
Upon their arrival Kreacher appeared and offered all four drinks. Sirius and Harry declined but the other two accepted. They sat in silence for a few moments before Sirius broke it.
"Damn," Sirius said and put his head in his hands. "Why did Dumbledore do this?"
"Because he is a power hungry, self-serving, manipulative old goat who needs to learn when to step aside and let the world progress," Severus sneered, reflective of the man he was for the last seventeen years. "He wants to be the leader of, not just the Wizarding world, but the muggle as well. He wants to expose us and for wizards to stand higher than muggle's and him highest of all."
"Why?" Harry asked confused. "He never gave off the air that he wanted to rule the world."
"No, he wouldn't," Severus conceded. "Not until the time was right. For the last 17 years after he locked everything away he was been shaping the students of Hogwarts to follow him. What he doesn't realize is that with the destruction of the spell, people's true selves will be revealed and the truth will out. But we shouldn't talk of this yet. We need to let the information from today sink in before we talk about anything else or you will have a literal information overload and pass out."
Harry sighed but nodded his consent to the reasoning. He really didn't want to pass out.
"Tomorrow we will see about finding Miss. Granger," Remus said as he took a sip from his brandy. Harry looked hopefully at his godfather. "We will have to do it carefully and quickly."
"Well Dumbledore knows I'm here and thinks we are still friends," Harry said contemplatively. "Which I hope we will be after we fix her. Maybe I could send her a letter in the morning inviting her to Grimmauld for the day after tomorrow and we can stun her and take her to Gringotts."
"That's a good idea," Sirius said and lifted his head up from his hands. "We'll try it and if it doesn't work, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
The other two gave their own agreements and silence fell again in the room for a few moments.
"How are we going to find mom?" Harry asked almost in a whisper. Severus looked over at him and sighed.
"I don't son, he could be anywhere. But I promise, we Will find him," Severus promised. Harry looked at his father and saw the determination burning in his eyes and nodded with a small smile.
"I know we will," Harry responded. For the next hour they talked about things that were unimportant and smiles were slowly brought back to their faces. Kreacher came and called them to dinner and it passed almost completely in silence.
After dinner Severus had popped back to Spinner's end to collect a few things before returning and joining them in the sitting room.
End Flashback
"I think it is time I called it a night," Harry said as he closed his book. He stood and stretched before placing the unread book back on the shelf. Severus looked up from the journal he had been reading.
"Go ahead, it's been a tiring day and you just came into an inheritance, you need sleep."
"Your room is the same as it was last time," Remus said from his place on the loveseat. Sirius was dozing with his head in Remus' lap.
Harry smiled slightly at the scene and walked over to his father and hugged him over the back of the arm chair. Severus reached up and placed a hand on his son's shoulder and turned to whisper in his ear.
"I know you wish to see your mate so go ahead up stairs. Spend the time to get to know them because when the week is over your instincts will take over and forcibly complete the bond. I won't ask who it is because I don't believe you are ready to share that information, but we will need to know before the end of the week so we will be able to get the two of you together without drawing suspicion."
"Don't worry Dad," Harry whispered back with a small smile and a twinkle in his eye. "I do not think any of that will be a problem."
Harry gave his father a kiss to his cheek when his father just raised a questioning eyebrow. He stood and made his way over to his godparents and gave both kisses to the top of their heads before leaving the room with a small wave.
Severus and Remus shared a glance across the room before sighing and closing their respective books.
"Do you have any idea of who it might be?" Remus asked softly, running his hand through Sirius' silky hair.
"I have a few possibilities but I don't know for sure," Severus sighed before standing and starting to pace in front of the chairs. "There is only one creature that is strong enough to be his dominate. He is the strongest Submissive elf I have ever seen or heard, no elf will ever be his dominate, we just aren't able to ground that much power. The only thing I can think of that will be able to ground him is a Veela."
"Veela?" Remus asked contemplatively. "There are several families that carry the Veela inheritance. But which one?"
"I don't know," Severus sighed, thinking about his son's words from before. "I believe we may know him from what Harry said earlier, but we will just have to wait and let him come to us."
"I suppose you're right," Remus sighed before gently standing and taking Sirius into his arms. "But I do believe we will follow your son's lead and head to bed. It has been a tiring day and we all need sleep. Good Night Severus."
"Good Night my friend," Severus said and gently picked up the book he had been reading and retrieving Remus' from the side table. "Go ahead, I'll take a moment to put our books away. I'll see you on the morning."
Remus gave a nod of his head before he strode through the door with Sirius still blissfully asleep. Severus made his way over to the bookshelf and put the two away before making his way upstairs to the room he had been given. He went through his evening routine before turning in. He fell asleep quickly and fell into a dream he wasn't expecting.
**Dream**
Severus sat up with a gasp and looked around at his surroundings. He was lying on his couch in front of his fireplace in his living room at Spinner's End. But he wasn't, it was different from the one he saw earlier in the day. The dark wallpaper was replaced with a creamy white paint, there were photos lining the walls but the photos were fuzzy, the subjects unclear. The atmosphere itself was happy and welcoming. In short, it is what he pictured his house looking like if James had not been taken.
"Your right," a voice sounded from the doorway. Severus jumped up and spun around and came face to face with the man he had just been thinking about. Standing in the doorway, as if he had never been gone, was James.
"James…" Severus breathed before he was over the couch and James in his arms in the blink of an eye. "How am I seeing you now? This is like the meeting dreams the week after an inheritance."
"When the spells binding you were removed it was like coming into a second inheritance," James explained as he put his arms around his husband. "It will only be for tonight, and I don't think it will even last the whole night. I'd say we have three hours, four at the most."
"Just getting to see that you are indeed alive is enough to keep me going until this reunion is real," Severus said softly. "This will keep me strong enough to find you after all these years."
"Oh, Severus," James sighed before pulling back to look Severus in the eye. "I have missed you all these years. I was beginning to lose hope, but now I know you remember and are looking for me."
"Where are you? Do you know?" Severus asked desperately.
"I am sorry my love," James sighed. "I do not know where I am. I do know that there are others here though, but I don't know who they are either. We are taken care of by house-elves who bring us food and clothes. The food is always something cold and we only ever get water to drink. Dumbledore will come by once a month and gloat about what is going on outside. The house-elves also bring a daily paper. Most of the time I ignore it but recently I have started reading it because of our sons name being a constant."
"Only Dumbledore and house-elves?" Severus mused. "What about the area you are kept in?"
"We are in our own fully furnished bedrooms with working bathrooms," James said, he paused a moment before dragging Sev back to the couch and forcing him to sit before plopping down in his lap. Severus let out a small grunt before rapping his arms around James again. "The door leading out into the hall is locked with both magic and muggle means. The windows are the same but are spelled to let light in but not show the view from the window. We have simple clean clothes and as many books as we can read. My magic is almost completely bound by a pure sapphire collar that is engraved with magic suppressant Runes. I am barley above squib level right now, he lets me have just enough magic to keep me alive."
"How do you know there are others?" Severus asked as he gently started to massage the smaller Elf's back.
"When I was first captured I naturally did everything I could to get out, so anyone else would do the same thing. The first few days there was a pounding on one of walls, but not the other side," James replied. "So there is at least one other person."
"I will do everything I can to find you," Severus vowed. James smiled before turning and straddling his husband.
"Enough of that, tell me about our boy," James said softly, he leaned in and kissed Sev on the nose before snuggling into his broad chest. Severus got a proud smile on his face at the mention of their son.
"He is so strong my love. He has taken everything that has happened in the last 24 hours so well. Though I believe there will be a breakdown before long, then everything will settle and we can start planning," Severus paused for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Do you know any of the life Harry has lived?"
"I know some, but not all," James admitted. "I had a vision not long after his birth that showed me bits of his life but it was all disjointed and out of order."
"He was forced to live with Evans' sister, Petunia, and her family. He wasn't abused in the strictest sense but he was never loved," Severus said softly before gently wrapping his arms around James before laying down flat on the couch with him lying on his chest. "I don't know how much time we have left so I won't start telling you about him tonight. But once we find you and you are settled down we will sit and have a long discussion about the last 17 years, but I will tell you this, he has come close to death every year since he started Hogwarts at 11."
"My poor baby," James sobbed lightly at the thought of his son almost dying so many times in his young life. "I never thought that my decision to walk home would cause all this to happen."
"You are no way guilty of anything and Harald understands that. He is ready to fight those who have hurt us," Sev soothed. "He shouldn't have to, but he knows that people will rally behind him."
Before James could respond that world around them began to lighten and fade. James sat up and looked Severus in the eyes,
"I love you, Severus. Tell Harry I love him as well. Tell the others that I will see them soon," James said quickly before leaning down and kissing Severus desperately and deeply. Sev responded in kind before the world went black.
**End Dream**
Severus opened his eyes to find himself back his borrowed bedroom at Grimmauld Place. He smiled slightly as he remembered his dream with James. Casting a wand-less Tempus the numbers 03:30 appeared before him. Seeing as it was still the middle of the night he turned over and sighed before falling back to sleep.
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Harry's Room a few hours earlier
Harry walked up the stairs with a bit more speed then he normally would, he was excited to see Draco again and tell him about what had happened that day. Reaching his room and closing the door behind him he almost skipped through his evening routine before climbing into bed and falling asleep almost instantly.
**Dream**
Harry opened his eyes to find himself in the same place he was last night and Draco was already sitting in front of him; waiting. When Draco saw that he was awake he smiled.
"Good Evening Harry."
"Draco!" Harry smiled before leaning forward and hugging the Veela. Draco was surprised for a moment before hugging him back. "Oh, I am so happy!"
"Oh?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are you just happy to see me?"
"Well I am happy to see you," Harry said with a smile. "But I am so happy about some of the things that I have learned today. Not everything was good, but what was good made me so happy!"
"I take it you learned some hard truths today then," Draco sighed slightly. "Are you going to tell me or smile at me like that all night, not that I mind the smile, but I would like to know what is going on."
Harry blinked and blushed at having been caught smiling like a loon at Draco, "Sorry, I am just trying to put my thoughts in order before I tell you everything."
Harry paused and looked around for a moment before jumping up and dragging Draco up as well.
"Where are we going?" the blonde questioned confused.
"To lean against the stadium wall and be more comfortable," Harry said simply. They reached the wall and Harry shoved Draco down and plopped down on the ground next to him (unknown to him, mimicking his mother and father). "If we are going to talk about this tonight then I want to be comfortable while doing it."
"Of course love," Draco laughed a little and put his arm around the small elf. "Whatever you want."
"So when I woke up this morning and saw that everything was true I was so happy. There were a few owls waiting for me with a few surprises that didn't stop coming the whole day. I learned that the older Weasley's are all on my side, I can't wait for the chance to see them. I received a letter from Luna saying she was in my side. I received a letter from Gringotts that had a letter from my mother with it. The letter from my mother explained everything that happened 17 years ago, it explained that my Mother is James and my Father is Professor Snape. I'm not even related to Lilly Evans at all."
Harry paused here to look at Draco to gauge his reaction so far. Draco was looking at Harry with a look of contemplation.
"I knew that James was your mother but my mother never told me Uncle Sev was your father. Though I guess it might be because he didn't want me to give Dumbledore a reason to suspect I he wasn't under his spells."
"Uncle Sev?" Harry asked confused. Draco chuckled before answering.
"Yes, I call him Uncle because he is my godfather."
"Ah," Harry nodded in acceptance. "Well after reading the letters and taking in the information given in them the doorbell rang downstairs and it was my Father coming to collect me. It seems that my mother had sent him, as well as my godparents time delayed letters like mine. So after an awkward greeting we left for Gringotts to confirm everything with the Goblins. While there it was made aware that, yes, everything in the letter was true and that Father had many spells binding his true self away. So we were invited down into the Goblin Kingdom to meet the Emperor who set up a cleansing ritual for Father, Siri, and Remi. While they were undergoing the ritual I made friends with the Emperors eldest child, Princess Springwind, she is really nice and very curious about the outside world. Anyway after the three of them woke, we were invited to lunch with Emperor Silverblade who gave us two shocking discoveries. Hermione isn't actually muggleborn, she is the daughter of Tom and Rodolphus and she is being kept under powerful spells. The other is that my Mother is still alive and being kept hostage somewhere."
Harry said the last few parts really fast and was breathing heavily at the end. Draco, seeing Harry looking like he was going to cry pulled him into his lap before speaking.
"That is a lot of stuff to find out in one day love, no wonder you seem flustered," Draco said as he gently rubbed Harry's back as he began to cry. "I am happy that James is alive. We will find him don't worry. As for Hermione, well, she was way too powerful to be a muggleborn, now we know why. I don't know her very well but I think leaving her to you but probably be best."
"My family and I have already come up with a plan to deal with Hermione so we don't have to worry about her," Harry sniffled as he started to calm down. "I'm glad I had this breakdown with you instead of when I am awake because I really don't think anyone could give me the comfort you did. They would try but you give me a sense of safety the others don't."
"Oh, Harry," Draco sighed still rubbing his back. "I was afraid of this. As the mate bond grows stronger you will feel more inclined to only show weakness in front of me as your mate. It's especially bad with you because, while you love you father and godparents, you have never had the need to show weakness in front of them and adults have never given you a reason to rust them to do so."
"But I do trust them!" Harry cried desperately.
"I know you do," Draco assured. "But you elf is all your instincts, it was there when you were a child and knows that adults were never kind to you so it is the one giving you those feelings of not showing weakness. As time progresses your elf will come to see them as family and allow weakness in front of them as well, but you will always come back to me for the most comfort and acceptance."
"I understand," Harry said softly. Just as Harry was about to ask Draco a few questions to get to know him the world slowly started to lighten. Harry whimpered and held on tighter to Draco.
"I don't want to go either Harry," Draco said softly as the two began to fade from each other's arms. "But you can write me if you would like, we could ask all the questions in letters so we can just talk in here."
"Okay," Harry replied and the last thing he regained before the world went white was the feeling of Draco's lips on his forehead and arms around his body.
**End Dream**
Harry woke with a start to see the light starting to shine through the curtains as the sun came up. Running his hand across his face Harry felt the left over tears that he had cried in his dream. Feeling rested and happy knowing he could write to Draco, Harry jumped out of bed and started to make his way downstairs to the private dining area that was set up so that they wouldn't be ambushed in the kitchen unaware.
Reaching the room Harry smiled at seeing his family already sitting at the table, still in their sleep clothes, with Kreacher just now putting breakfast on the table. Harry walked in a plopped down next to his father and his plate magically filled. The meal passed in silence before Harry spoke up.
"So, who is ready to start destroying Dumbles plans?" Harry asked with a vicious looking smirk on his face.
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