Previously:

Snape formulated a potion for Voldemort that allowed him to penetrate the wards on Number 4 Privet Drive. With the help of Fred and George, Harry and the Dursleys arrived safely to Hogwarts. Dumbledore ordered Snape and Harry to attempt to get along. The Headmaster told Harry of Petunia’s jealousy towards Lily, which centered on Lily’s ability to do magic and a young wizarding boy who favored Lily over Petunia. The boy but eventually lost their friendship after a schoolyard incident.

The Dursleys are staying at Hogwarts while their home is repaired. Dudley snuck out and went missing, but Harry was able to find him with the help of the Marauder’s Map. However, when inspecting the map he saw that his name was flickering. In addition, Harry had been having strange dreams and tingling sensations in his arms. In his quest to learn more about the map, Harry asked Fred and George, who explained how they discovered the password.

Remus was much more helpful and remembered an incident during Harry’s first birthday party where Harry was severely burned in the floo powder contaminated fireplace after crawling near the flames when no one was watching. A healing potion for the resulting wounds contained James’ blood and was the reason why Harry looked so much like James. However, after 15 years, the potion was wearing off. In that time, Snape and his mentor discovered Ardor Curatio, a healing potion that would permanently restore one’s natural appearance and only remove the scars. Following painful withdrawal symptoms, the original potion stopped working on his birthday. Snape administered the Ardor Curatio and Harry fell asleep as the brew took effect.

-333-

Chapter 12: Realizations

Severus sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. After being awake for thirty-six hours, he was looking forward to a chance to rest.

He turned back to where Potter lay in a peaceful sleep and yanked the empty potions bottle from his lax fingers. He paused and watched as thin red scars were slowly being erased from the boy’s hand.

Snape’s eyes rose from Potter’s hand to his face. What was once a mirror image of his father, James, was now a visage only a mother would love. Tortuous scars weaved ugly patterns across his cheeks, not sparing an inch of skin. His eyebrows were nonexistent, but Severus could see tiny wisps of hair emerging. By the time Potter woke, his scars would be gone and he’d look as though the accident never occurred.

Severus wasn’t interested in the changes to the boy’s face, but was fascinated by how effective the Ardor Curatio potion was. Mistress Starkey had spent nearly eight years perfecting this particular potion before her death. He felt as though the completion of her advances in healing potions was one way he could use his talents to atone for the horrible decisions of his past.

Severus was startled from dwelling on his past regrets as a loud tapping sound echoed through the hospital wing. He recognized it immediately as the sign that a Post Owl had made a delivery. He was, however, surprised by the time at which the owl arrived, as post was typically delivered during normal school hours. Severus set down the vial he had been holding and headed to Madame Pomfrey’s office to investigate.

“Merlin...” Snape muttered as he spotted the delivery bird. Instead of the ordinary post owl, Severus was greeted by a tiny blue speckled bird. “A Jobberknoll,” he stated in wonder.

While the Jobberknoll was not a rare bird, it was quite elusive and most specimens typically preferred to stay near their nests. Severus had never seen one alive, let alone being used to deliver post. He had read about the use of their feathers in memory potions, but had never been fortunate enough to own such expensive ingredients. Severus moved forward cautiously, careful not to scare away the potential source of such a valuable potion ingredient.

Once he was within an arm's reach, the bird dutifully raised its talon bearing a tiny package and a letter the size of a Muggle business card addressed to Severus Snape.

Suspicious, Severus first checked the missive for dangerous curses before unshrinking and opening the attached letter. He read,

Dear Mr. Snape, On behalf of the estate of Missus Lily Evans Potter and in accordance with her last Will and Testament, enclosed is a vial containing several memories. The contents were to be delivered after midnight on July 31st, 1996 to one Severus Snape. In order to restore the memories, the recipient must first ingest a Class III Memory Potion prepared with three feathers from the accompanying Jobberknoll. Please contact a Ministry certified Potions Master to have the potion formulated.  If the recipient is not Severus Snape, please return this missive to Gringotts Bank, Estate Division. Ministry law prohibits tampering with official documents as per Sec. 2473-011 of the Gringotts Code of Conduct. Sincerely,Griselda GreenbackGoblin Undersecretary of Wills and ProbateGringotts Bank

Severus grabbed the edge of the desk for support, feeling like his legs couldn’t support him for a moment. His hands were shaking and he instinctively lowered himself into a nearby chair. His heart beat rapidly in his chest and he closed his eyes, focusing on getting his erratic breathing back under control.

After several minutes, his unsettled demeanor was replaced by an emotionless mask as he reread the letter. When he was done, he sighed and stared at the parchment. While he appeared calm, his thoughts were racing.

He had no idea why Lily would send him memories this long after her death. His only thought was that it was a recount of the accident on Potter's first birthday. Lily knew he was skilled at Potions and that he would be able to help once Potter's potion wore off. However, the nature of the memories discounted his theory. He needed to ingest a Class III Memory Potion before viewing the memories, indicating that the attached memories were his own. The only reason he would need this specific type of memory potion is if he had been Obliviated. The potion was used specifically to restore memories taken from one wizard by another.

But why would Lily have his memories? Was she the one to remove them? Why would she do such a thing? As far as he knew, he and Lily never spoke after they graduated.  He couldn’t resist another chance to see her again, even if it was just a memory. Eager to start the potion, Severus looked towards where he last saw the Jobberknoll. The bird had already left, but in its place were ten bright blue spotted feathers. He pulled out a satchel from his robes and carefully stored the precious ingredients.

Without a thought to Potter, who lay in a nearby bed, Severus swept past him. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and called out, “Potions Laboratory, password hellebore,” before disappearing in a roar of green flames.

He returned in less than five minutes, carrying a silver cauldron filled to the brim with ingredients. Despite preferring to work in his own lab, Severus began to set up his cauldron in the stock room. He told Albus he’d monitor Potter’s condition throughout the night and would honor his responsibilities. He quickly set to work, his prior exhaustion vanished and replaced by adrenaline-fueled desire to see Lily once more.

-333-

Harry awoke slowly after his first peaceful sleep in weeks. He was laying face down and yawned into his pillow while blindly searching for his glasses with his left hand. After a few seconds of feeling around, Harry remembered the events of the past few days and bolted upright. Jumping to his feet, he snatched his glasses off of the nightstand and grabbed his wand, stuffing it in his back pocket as he practically flew to the loo.

“Bloody hell!” Harry exclaimed as he stood in front of the mirror, examining new appearance.

“No need for such language, young man!” the feminine voice of the mirror reprimanded.

Harry didn’t respond, too stunned by what he saw. His hair, once short and messy, was now perfectly straight, but uneven. The shoddy haircut was to be expected, considering Snape chopped it off to add a few strands to the potion, but the texture was not. In place of his unruly locks were jet black strands of hair that fell above his shoulders.

Once he got over the change to his hair, Harry looked closer at his face. His nose was longer, but not exceedingly so. His skin was paler, accentuating his brilliant green eyes and lightning bolt scar. Next he held up his hands. Unfortunately, the words I must not tell lies still remained and stood out even clearer on his pale skin. He flexed and extended his fingers, engrossed in seeing fingers that were longer and thinner than before. He looked down at his feet, noting his toes looked a bit longer as well. The cuffs of his pajamas looked like they hit the same spot on his ankle as always, causing Harry to sigh as he realized he didn’t grow any taller.

‘At least I didn’t get any shorter,’ Harry thought. If not for his eyes and familiar glasses, he would have thought he was looking at a stranger. He could pick out more features of his mum than before and scanned his face in the mirror, hoping to find a few more of his father’s features had remained.

His new appearance was unsettling. Ever since entering the wizarding world, Harry had been compared to his father. He loved hearing more about his parents, but being compared to a man he longed to know better was difficult. Now he missed his dad’s messy hair. His nose and skin tone didn’t match the photos of his parents either. Harry sighed, staring into the mirror and seeing a stranger staring back at him.

-333-

Severus stirred the teal colored liquid counterclockwise and added the third and final Jobberknoll feather. With one last stroke the potion turned a deep blue. Severus sighed and swiped his brow, relieved that the difficult memory potion turned out perfectly. Not that he doubted his skills, but sleep deprivation and rare ingredients always made brewing much more dangerous. He shut off the flame, carefully decanted the liquid into a shatterproof vial, and slipped it in his robes.

‘Potter should be up by now,’ he thought as he cleaned his workspace. Grabbing his packed cauldron, he stalked out towards Potter’s hospital bed, only to see the boy was not there.

-333-

“Potter!” Severus roared, setting his cauldron on a nightstand.

Inside the bathroom, Harry jumped. “Coming!” He shouted back, hurrying to finish dressing.

“Now, Potter!” Snape yelled back. “I’m not waiting all day for you to stare at yourself in the mirror, bo—,”

Snape was cut off as the door swung open and Harry stepped out, hopping as he put on one of his trainers.

“All right, all right! I’m here!” Harry exclaimed in annoyance. When he looked up, he saw that Snape was staring at him. The professor was looking at him strangely, as though he were surprised by what he saw. However, Harry didn’t have time to decipher Snape’s expression because the professor quickly averted his eyes and cleared his throat.

“Sit over there. I’ll need to make sure the potion’s worked properly,” Snape commented quietly.

Harry was confused. A second ago he was yelling at him and now he was being almost civil. Harry sat on the bed and Snape wasted no time. He stepped forward and peered into Harry’s eyes, pulling down his lower lids. Next he lit his wand and had Harry open his mouth. He used the light to examine his throat. Then he tapped Harry’s elbows and knees with his wand, causing his arms and legs to jerk.

“Normal reflexes,” Snape muttered to himself. With another flick of his wand, Harry could hear his own heartbeat and breathing in the room as though the sounds were amplified a hundred times.

“All right, Potter, you seem to be fine. Can you see ok? No double vision? Do you see anyone else in the room or hear any disembodied voices?”

“No,” Harry replied. Those sounded like pretty bad side effects to him.

Before Snape could respond, Dumbledore strode into the infirmary, his yellow robes flowing around him.

“My, Harry. I’m pleased to see your true appearance,” Dumbledore responded with a smile.

“Thank you, sir,” Harry responded.

Turning to Severus, the Headmaster added, “I trust there were no complications?”

“None, Headmaster,” Snape answered.

“Good, good. Well, Severus, I’m sure you’d like to rest. I’ll take care of Harry from here and speak with you later this evening.”

Snape nodded, grabbed his cauldron, and turned to leave.

“Professor!” Harry called.

“Yes, Potter?” he replied tiredly.

“Thanks for everything,” Harry said softly.

Snape stared at him for a second and inclined his head before sweeping out of the infirmary.

-333-

Dumbledore turned back to Harry once Snape exited, eyes twinkling. “I’m happy to see that both of you are putting in the effort to be civil to one another,” he smiled.

Harry smiled, “Since I was asleep or unconscious for most of the time we spent together, it really wasn’t that difficult.”

Dumbledore chuckled and picked up a package from the bedside table, “It seems in all the excitement I forgot my manners. Happy Birthday, my boy.”

Harry grabbed the offered package, “Thanks, sir!” Opening it, he found an old hatbox full of pictures. He reached in and pulled out a random picture of two young girls, one with blonde hair and the other with red hair and green eyes, playing in a sandbox. On the back was the inscription, Lily age 5, Petunia age 7. Smiling, Harry stared at the girls in the yellowing Muggle photograph in surprise.

“Where did you get these?” Harry asked Dumbledore, looking up and keeping a careful hold on his precious gift.

Dumbledore looked sad, but gave a weak smile. “I found these in the attic of your aunt’s home while we were doing repairs. They were buried beneath boxes of your cousin’s baby clothes and I thought you would like them, so I made copies of them all.”

“Thank you, Professor. I couldn’t ask for a better gift,” Harry said softly, mesmerized.

“You are most welcome. I know you are eager to look through them, but I do believe your friends would like to celebrate with you today. Molly wanted me to bring you by in time for breakfast, so why don’t we gather these gifts and head over?”

With a flourish of his wand, all the gifts were neatly bundled together. Dumbledore picked them up and escorted Harry, who was carrying the box of pictures, to the floo. The Headmaster went through first and Harry followed, calling out, “The Burrow!”

He was saved from falling on his face by the surprisingly strong grip of the Headmaster.

“Harry!” came a shout from across the room. He looked up just in time to see Hermione running up to him.

“Don’t!” Ron shouted at Hermione, grabbing her arm and pointing his wand at Harry.

“How can we be sure that’s Harry? It doesn’t look anything like him!” Ron announced, pushing Hermione behind him.

Harry looked around the room in shock. The twins were staring at him, both reaching for their wands. Hermione was struggling to get out of Ron’s grasp. Ginny walked into the room and stopped in the doorway, gaping at Harry.

“Harry, I think you better prove who you are before spells are exchanged,” Dumbledore commented with a smile, putting a hand on his shoulder.   

Harry thought for a second and asked, “You’ve all seen or heard about my Patronus, right?”

Following a series of nods, Harry raised his wand, thought about the first time he visited the Burrow, and called, “Expecto Patronum!”

A brilliant stag shimmered in front of Harry and stood, turning its head as if looking at all the occupants of the room. With one last glance at Harry, the stag faded. When Harry looked up at the Weasleys and Hermione, he saw recognition in all of their faces.

“Whoa, mate!” Ron called from his left as the boy looked Harry up and down with wide eyes.

Hermione walked up to Harry once more, whispering “sorry” into his ear as she gave him a hug.

“Check out his hair!” shouted one of the twins from the edge of the sofa, while the other stared at Harry in shock.

“You look great, Harry,” Ginny replied with a smile as she walked up to the Headmaster, took the packages from him, and carried them into the kitchen.

“Well, Harry, I must get back, but I hope you have a great time. Remus will be by later to bring you back to Hogwarts,” Dumbledore stated, patting Harry on the shoulder before disappearing in the green flames.

“Oh, Harry. You look wonderful!” Mrs. Weasley called as she exited the kitchen while wiping her damp hands on her apron.

She gave him a warm hug. When she pulled away, she left her hands on his shoulders. “You look so much like your mother,” she replied a little teary eyed. “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks for having me over.”

“Nonsense, you’re always welcome here! Now, let me see what I can do with that haircut of yours before breakfast,” Mrs. Weasley stated, turning Harry around to face away from her and towards the others in the room.

Hermione grabbed the photo box out of Harry’s arm and set it on the side table.

“Yeah, Harry, did you try giving yourself a haircut in the dark without your glasses on? I’ve seen Fred here do a better job,” George chuckled as he and his twin started transfiguring pillows into pebbles and began chucking them at each other.

“Boys! Put those pillows back!” Mrs. Weasley shouted, quickly ending the mock battle in her living room.

Harry laughed, “Yeah, this was the best Snape could do, I guess.” Looking at the confused faces of everyone in the room, he added, “He brewed the potion that healed me and needed some hairs.”

Ron looked at Harry seriously and replied, “Good thing you still have some left after the greasy git got done with you.”

“Ronald Weasley!” Mrs. Weasley reprimanded.

Ron was red all the way to his ears and muttered an apology. Hermione just looked at him and shook her head.

Harry attempted to change the subject and save his friend from further embarrassment. “So you can cut hair, Mrs. Weasley?” he asked.

“Of course I can. With all these boys in the house, someone had to make sure they all looked presentable. Now, stand still,” she added, her tongue poking out between her teeth as she raised her wand in concentration.

“Vir saeta!”

A puff of pink smoke surrounded Harry’s head. He couldn’t see and his hair felt like it was blowing in the wind, flying in all directions. Within a few seconds the wind stopped and the cloud faded. Ginny was holding up a mirror and Harry saw his hair was cut similarly to how it was before his transformation, only his hair was much neater looking. It was just long enough for him to hide his scar.

“Brilliant!” Harry remarked to a slightly nervous looking Mrs. Weasley.

“I’m glad you like it. Now, into the kitchen, all of you, before the food gets cold!” she responded.

-333-

After the teens polished off Mrs. Weasley’s hearty breakfast, they all gathered around to help Harry open his presents. Neville and Luna gave him a gift when they celebrated his birthday earlier at Hogwarts, but still sent a card. The twins had also given Harry his present early, hoping to keep some of their best pranks a secret from their mother. Several DA members sent Harry cards and a few gave him some wizarding candy. He received enough Sugar Quills, Fudge Flies, Acid Pops, Cockroach Clusters, Ice Mice, and Chocolate Frogs to last him until the first Hogsmeade visit of the new school year. 

“This is from me and Ginny,” Ron said with a smile, handing over a package wrapped in red and gold paper with flying snitches.

“Thanks, guys!” Harry exclaimed, pulling out a new pair of Quidditch gloves and trying them on.

“They’re dragon hide,” Ginny added. “Charlie sent both of us a pair, so we thought you’d like a pair too.”

“They’re great. I’ve worn my other ones since first year and they’re getting pretty tight,” Harry added, taking the gloves off and admiring the shine of the dragon scales.

“Open mine next,” Hermione called, holding up a rectangle package wrapped in blue paper with shimmering stars.

“How’d I know it was a book,” Harry joked, peeling the wrapping off of Teaching Defense to Teens: The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts Curriculum by Professor Thaddeus Tutelage.

“I thought you could use that for DA lessons, that is, if you want to continue them,” Hermione responded.

“We have to continue the DA this year,” George stated with a hint of disappointment in his voice at the thought of the group not continuing.

“What do you mean, we?” Harry asked. “You both quit school after you set off the fireworks and unloaded the portable swamp.”

“We didn’t tell you guys?” Fred asked, looking towards George. “We’re coming back to finish our NEWTS. Mum was devastated when we skipped out before finishing school. We thought she’d be mad, but instead she kept crying every time she saw us, talking about how she failed all her kids. We hated seeing her like that, so we talked to Dumbledore and he agreed to let us come back to finish the year and take our NEWTS before winter break.”

“That’s great!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Yeah, who could go through life without sitting through another lecture with McGonagall or Snape?” George laughed.

“Besides,” Fred added, “We found a place in Diagon Alley to rent, but the current tenant has the place until January. So, we’ll use the next few months to test out some new products.”

“And study for NEWTS,” George added when he saw Hermione was ready to reprimand them.

“That’s awesome, guys! I can’t wait to see the place,” Harry smiled, happy for the twins.

“We couldn’t have done it without you, ickle Harrykins,” Fred remarked, winking at him.

-333-

Harry opened the final packages, including The Official Auror’s Guide to Disguises from Tonks, who wrote to Harry saying she nicked the book from work and to “feign amnesia if asked who he got it from.” Remus also sent him a book on becoming an animagus and a note stating that James and Sirius used it and to “not try anything in it alone.”

After opening the gifts, they played a three on three game of Quidditch. Hermione quit after the first game, choosing to read the book on disguises from Tonks instead.

Before they knew it, Hermione was halfway through the book and everyone else abandoned Quidditch to see who could chuck garden gnomes the farthest. They ate lunch outside and moved inside as an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in.

“Hey, what’s this?” Ginny asked, holding up the hatbox.

“Oh, that’s some pictures from Dumbledore of my mum. You guys want to look at a few?” Harry asked, hoping everyone would agree. He was having a great time with his friends, but seeing the box again reminded him of how much he wanted to look through the photos.

“Sure. We’ve got about twenty minutes before dinner’s ready,” Ron remarked, as Ginny walked over and everyone huddled around Harry on the sofa.

After viewing each photo, Harry passed it around to his friends. He saw his mum on her first day of primary school, a tiny bag over her shoulders. He finally saw pictures of his grandparents, looking proud of their youngest daughter as she started her first day of school. In another, his grandmother was teary eyed, helping her attach a name tag to her shirt.

“Why’s she crying?” Harry asked the others as he passed the photo to Ron.

Ron shook his head when he saw the picture. “Must be a girl thing. Mum did the same thing when each of us started school,” Ron replied.

“My mum did too,” Hermione added. “I think she was probably happy to see her youngest child starting school and realized she was no longer a baby,” she theorized as she passed the image to Ginny.

In another shot, Petunia was hugging Lily, both wearing matching shoes and school bags. He saw some of Petunia and Lily’s birthday parties, surrounded by tiny friends in colorful, pointy paper hats. With each photo he saw his mother and her family happy, growing older as the years passed.

They reached images of his mother at age nine when Remus stepped out of the fireplace about fifteen minutes later. He looked a little tired, but not as bad as Harry remembered one day after transforming.

“Hey, Remus,” Harry called, passing another photo to Ron. The other teens called out greetings as well.

“Hi, everyone,” Remus responded as he slowly took a seat in an armchair across from the sofa. “What are you looking at?”

“Professor Dumbledore gave me a box of photos of my mum growing up,” Harry answered, reaching over to hand one to Remus, who smiled when he saw a young Lily posing in her Halloween costume.

“Thanks for the book,” Harry added, gesturing towards the gifts on the side table.

“You’re welcome. Just make sure you don’t practice alone. Sirius did once and he was stuck with paws for half a day before we found him,” Remus chuckled at the memory.

Harry promised he’d always have someone nearby and passed around another picture.

About two pictures later, Harry found one that made his heart speed up. Lily and a scrawny, black haired boy were sitting on a swing, smiling. He stared at the boy, thinking there was something familiar about his face. His hair was long and shined in the sun, as though it hadn’t been washed in several days. His clothes weren’t as nice as Lily’s and his formerly white trainers were yellowed with age. Despite his appearance, it was the boy’s eyes that were striking. They were black, piercing, and oddly familiar, as was his large nose.

‘Is this the boy Dumbledore was talking about? Could he be the wizard boy who became friends with his mum and aunt, only to lose their friendship years later?’ Harry wondered.

He was so shocked at finding the picture that he forgot to turn it over and read the writing on the back. Instead of handing the photo to Ron, who was waiting with his hand outstretched, Harry stood and brought the photo over to Remus.

“Do you know who this boy is?” Harry asked, pointing to the dark haired child.

Remus’s expression grew sad and he sighed, rubbing his forehead, “I was wondering when you’d come across a picture of him. That’s Professor Snape.”