A Secret Gift by little-sun
Summary: A short bittersweet story about an unexpected gift that has somehow overgrown into a multichaptered fic. AU.
Categories: Parental Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required)
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: General
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 6th summer
Warnings: Profanity
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 9 Completed: Yes Word count: 15649 Read: 43071 Published: 12 Jul 2008 Updated: 04 Dec 2008
An Overheard Conversation by little-sun
Author's Notes:
They say you shouldn't listen behind the door, as you may very likely hear something unpleasant about yourself. I say, sometimes the things learned may be worth it.

Harry woke up and with slow, half-conscious movements he stretched out his arm to retrieve his glasses from the bedside table. He hissed in pain as his hand collided with a wall. Harry bolted upright. Where was he?

Suddenly, he realised he could hear the murmur of voices. He got up silently, noticing in the dim light of the room, that Nephele was sleeping in an owl cage. Good, he thought with relief. She can't leave without me knowing.

He carefully tiptoed towards where he saw a blurred shape of a door, trying to ignore the cold stones under his bare feet. Funny, he couldn't remember taking off his shoes last night. Actually, the last thing he remembered was Snape's living room. Snape!

Oh, yes, one of the voices was Snape's. "Albus won't have any of it." Harry heard his Potions teacher say. "He wants the boy to master his problems himself. The old fool refuses to see that the child is drowning."

Harry wondered who the boy could be. There was a real concern in Snape's voice. It was probably someone from Slytherin, then. Draco, Harry guessed. The blond nitwit had been looking really pale this year, now that Harry thought about it. Worried and a bit scared, too. Harry was surprised that Dumbledore didn't want to help Malfoy. He was supposed to be helping everyone, wasn't he?

"What about Minerva?" a woman's voice asked and Harry frowned. Where had he heard this voice?

"She agrees with Albus, just as I expected," Severus answered and Harry wondered why Snape would consult Malfoy with McGonagall. It was no secret that there was no love lost between the prince of Slytherin and the Transfiguration teacher; not as if McGonagall ever actively persecuted Malfoy the way Snape did to Harry.

"So there's no one who would support you in this? Apart from me and Poppy, of course," the woman said, "I mean, there is someone who cares about the boy; you said they gave him a new owl lately."

"Ah, you see, Scilla-" Harry's head snapped up. Scilla. It was the mind healer who was Snape talking to! So, Malfoy was barmy too, Harry grinned. Then his grin faded. There were too many similarities between the blond boy and Harry. The teenager frowned. He didn't want to have anything in common with the blood-purist git.

Snape continued and Harry pricked up his ears. The wizard actually seemed to be embarrassed about something. "Actually, it was I who gave him the owl. It's... complicated." He sighed loudly enough for Harry to hear. "During Christmas, I found I was his father."

"What?" Scilla exclaimed, voicing Harry's stupefaction perfectly. Snape had a son. The greasy bat of Slytherin had a kid! So it all wasn't about Malfoy, after all, Harry realised and he didn't know whether he should feel relieved or disappointed.

"I know it sounds unbelievable. But I made tests. He is my son. There is no doubt." Snape explained. His tone was so complicated that Harry decided not to even try to decipher it.

"But, how did you find out?" Scilla asked, still sounding very stunned. "I mean, he's fifteen!"

Harry's feet were starting to freeze solid, but this was too interesting a conversation to move from his hearing spot. Ron was going to faint!

"I've been experimenting with various mind potions. I'm trying to find a more subtle potion with the qualities of Veritaserum. So far, I've only invented a potion that significantly strengthens latent Seer abilities." Severus explained and Harry had to grin at the evident effort to explain Potions in a comprehensible manner.

"You tested it on yourself?" Scilla said in understanding. Snape probably nodded, because she continued, "And you had a vision about something that had already happened years ago?"

"I dreamed about going to Delphi and a Seer prophesising for me. It was a bunch of verses that I forgot, of course, but it was about a lost son that I considered an enemy, who will come back to me, because- " Snape cut himself off. Then he cleared his throat. "Well, the point is that everything pointed clearly to Potter and so- "

Snape continued to speak, but Harry didn't hear him over the thrumming noise in his ears.

The End.


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