Chapter 44- Rest for the Weary

Dear Uncle Sev,

Sorry I can’t be with you and that it took me so long to write. I was sleeping a lot since the graveyard, and dad and Uncle Moony didn’t tell me you were in the Ministry holding cells! They said you’ll be okay though and I’ll make sure you are back with us fast.

I wanted to tell you, when the killing curse hit me I went to this place and saw mum and dad. They explained to me I had a choice and could either move on or go back because the curse killed the Horcrux in me instead of me, and Voldemort was anchoring me to earth because he used my blood. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I have a message for you:

Mum says she loves you and that she forgave you long ago. Though she wouldn’t tell me what she forgave. Said it was up to you. And dad said he was glad you were there for me. Said you deserved the title of my dad with Uncle Moony and dad (Padfoot). Grandpa is calling it a near death experience, but at least he believes me. Dad (Padfoot) and Uncle Moony thought I was dreaming but then they went all misty eyed when I told them what dad said about being okay with you three raising me.

I gotta go now, but promise you’ll be okay Uncle Sev. I miss you a lot and want to see you.

Love,

Harry

Severus reread the letter several times. Harry didn’t say how he was and the insufferable mutt, werewolf and old codger only said he was recovering. What the bloody hell did that mean?

Relax, he is fine. He is well enough to write you. He smiled. He believed Harry had seen Lily. Of course he did. They lived in a world where ghosts roamed around, so why couldn’t Harry’s spirit been somewhere with his parents? Lily forgave him. Harry said so, which was only more proof that he’d been with her. Harry didn’t know she had anything to forgive him of. How would he know to say that if she hadn’t told him? And she did. Even after what he’d done.

A tear fell on the parchment and Severus wiped his face. Severus Snape does not cry. She loved him, what did he do to deserve that?

And Potter said he deserved to be Harry’s dad. Who would have thought that James Potter would glad Severus Snape loved his son? Who would have thought it would have meant so much for Severus Snape to know that?

“Got a trial date,” came a cheery voice from the bars and Severus looked up.

“Really? When?”

“In about three weeks,” Ted answered.

“That long?”

“Sorry,” Ted winced. “But believe me. The way things are going that is good news. Fudge would have you tried at the earliest next year if he could, but I argued that they had not presented any solid proof of your guilt to keep you locked up for so long. That if he wanted so much time to prepare the prosecution then they had to grant you at least a questioning with Veritaserum to determine if a trial was even needed.”

“And of course Fudge doesn’t want that. It would prove he has no grounds,” Severus smirked.

“Indeed it would. That is why I will demand you be questioned with it at the trial. It’s your right to do so,” Ted said. “But I’ll ask for it only then. Don’t want Fudge preparing for it.”

Severus and Ted exchanged confident smiles.

Xxxx

Cedric had come to see Harry and Harry had apologized for what happened. Since Cedric didn’t remember, Harry explained that they had decided to take the cup together.

“You wanted me to take it. If I had you wouldn’t be like this,” Harry said.

“From what dad told me you saved my life twice in the maze. And Dumbledore said you saved me from a killing curse. So  the way I see it, I owe you my life. You didn’t know the cup was a Portkey and I could have just said no, so you’re not to blame,” he finished handing Harry a bag of money.

“What’s that?”

“The winnings.”

“I don’t want them. It’s yours,” Harry said shaking his head.

“I don’t want it either. I can’t even remember what I did to earn it. It doesn’t feel right taking it.”

Harry had a strong sense of deja vú and sighed. He spotted his get-well cards and a few tongue toffees. Remembering what the twins had told him about Bagman paying them off with Leprechaun’s gold and running away from the Goblins when he lost a bet with them about Harry winning, he said, “Say Cedric, why don’t we invest it then?”

XXXXX

Up and down, up and down. Sirius eyes followed the movements of Harry’s chest as he slept. For the first four days, Harry had been sleeping non-stop, waking up just for a few minutes at a time. He was so weak and tired that his sleep was undisturbed, but as he gained strength enough to stay awake longer, he had started having nightmares and Poppy had dosed him with Dreamless Sleep. She said that right now sleep was what he needed the most but that she couldn’t keep him on the potion too long.

When Harry was awake Sirius did his best to keep a cheery face, but when he slept Sirius crumbled. He was afraid to go to sleep and wake up to learn that it was a dream. That Harry had died that horrible night. Poppy had to force some Dreamless Sleep on him and Moony a few times after they refused to lie down, or after they woke up, shortly after finally falling asleep on one of the Infirmary’s beds, screaming for Harry.

He would never forget the desperation that filled him when he heard Voldemort say that Harry Potter was dead. The world had ended for him at that point, and he couldn’t think straight anymore. He saw red and the only thing he knew was that he wanted to get to Voldemort and kill him with his bare hands.

He hid his face in his hands and sobbed quietly. He felt someone hold him and when he dropped his hands, he looked at the tear tracks on Remus’ face that mirrored his.

“I though we lost him,” he whispered.

“Me too.” Remus said hoarsely. “It was the worst moment of my life and one could safely say I have a lot to compare it to. I never felt pain like that and don’t ever want to feel it again.”

Sirius nodded but didn’t move. Remus’ grip tightened and Sirius held Remus’ arms and rested his head on Remus’. They could not say how long they sat that way, in silence, seeking strength in one another.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Dumbledore made an announcement to the rest of the school about what happened and about why Professor Snape was missing. He called it an abuse of power and said Snape was a courageous man who fought for what was right and now is being unduly punished. He also told people not to bother you or Cedric,” Hermione explained. They were leaving in an hour for the holidays and Hermione, Neville and Ron had come to the Hospital Wing to say goodbye to Harry.

Susan had come earlier, but Sirius had made a good impression of Uncle Sev while he hovered the whole time and she left promising to write.  But Harry was feeling a kiss short when she left the wing, giving him a kiss in the cheek while Harry was clearly putting his lips out there for her. He had reminded Sirius that James had wanted him to relax, but Sirius had stared at Harry firmly until Harry confessed that James had said the opposite but please, please don’t do it. Sirius could be seen with a satisfied smirk for hours after.

“Don’t worry Harry, Mr. and Mrs. Tonks will get him out,” Hermione finished confidently.

“Yeah,” Harry said. “But from what the Prophet is saying, I’m worried they will have already convicted him before he even has a chance to say anything.”

“At least Skeeter has been oddly quiet,” Neville said. Hermione smirked.

“What?” Ron asked.

“Well, let’s just say that I found out Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus and struck a deal with her.”

“She is? What animal?”

“A beetle. That’s how she got around so easily.  Of course she could just register and pay the fine, but she doesn’t want people knowing now does she? She was here on the windowsill that morning after the task when we came to see Harry. That’s also how she knew so much about what happened that night; she heard all the explanations Professor Snape gave Madam Pomfrey. I was going to make her stop writing altogether but then I decided that being able to actually control what she says could be good, so I decided to make a deal with her after I kept her for a few days. She doesn’t badmouth you anymore, and she sticks to the truth with no more embellishments and printing lies, and I’ll say nothing.”

“What do you mean, kept her a few days?” Ron asked worried.

Hermione smiled evilly and said, “Kept her in a jar. Don’t look at me like that; I was very good to her. Gave her leaves to eat and everything, and even sent in the piece she had already written about the third task, after making a few corrections of course. It was printed that same day.”

“How humanitarian of you,” Harry snorted. “How did you get the article she wrote?”

“When Professor McGonagall had us researching Animagi, I learned the spells to force an Animagus both out of and into their form,” she smiled evilly. “So, I took her to my dorm when Lavender and Parvati weren’t there, and forced her out for a little chat. I took her wand and bag away while she was disoriented, but at that time she was very uncooperative so I forced her back into a beetle. Her article was in her bag. A couple of days later I forced her back into a human again and she was much more receptive.”

“And she agreed to the deal?” Neville asked amused.

“Of course she did,” Hermione said. “She had tried to blackmail me back with Harry being an Animagus but I just reminded her that that’s not much of a blackmail since everyone knows that by now. So now we have someone who will write our side of the story.”

“To bad no one will print it,” Harry said grimly.

“There is someone who might,” Remus’ voice said from behind the kids, and they all jumped scared.

“Who?” Harry asked.

“One of the Ravenclaws is the daughter of the Quibbler’s editor. And he doesn’t mind going against the Minister.”

“The Quibbler?” Harry asked raising an incredulous eyebrow.

“You will find that when people are getting only one kind of information they will read other versions no matter where they come from,” Remus said. “I’ll talk to Luna and see if she can talk to her father. Now, you three should run or you’ll miss the train.”

“Bye Harry,” Hermione hugged him tight.

“Bye mate,” Ron said patting his shoulder and then followed Hermione.

“Bye Nev. Tell Ginny bye for me,” Harry said.

“Will do.”

“You two make a nice couple,” Remus said gently.

Neville blushed and checked to make sure Ron was gone, “We aren’t actually. We quickly found out we don’t have much in common. But don’t let Ron know. Thinking she’s with me gets him off her back. She’s seeing a Ravenclaw she met thanks to her friend Luna. And I don’t mind covering for her.”

“So what did you do when you were in Hogsmeade supposedly with Ginny?” Harry asked.

Neville smiled shyly, “Well, you see, Hannah likes Herbology a lot. And sometimes she comes to the Greenhouse when I’m working there for Professor Sprout.”

“Neville! You dog!” Harry laughed.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Sirius shook his head as he came in.

“Well, gotta go. I’ll write to you okay Harry!”

“Bye Nev. Good holiday!”

“Well,” Sirius said with a grimace. “I already Apparated our stuff there and Vernon and Dudders already left. Got the Portkey here. It will take us straight to your bedroom at Privet Drive.”

“I thought that now that Voldemort is dead we wouldn’t need it,” Harry scowled.

“You still have the protection for three more years and it’s best to keep it. This way, if anything happens, you still have a safe haven to go to,” Remus said gently as he picked up Harry, careful not to jar the injured leg, so he wouldn’t fall at the landing as Harry was prone to ever since his first Portkey at the age of three.

“Safe is arguable,” Harry muttered.

Sirius extended a teacup and Remus touched it.

“Harry, you have to touch it,” Sirius said but Harry didn’t move. His breathing was speeding up and he just stared at the cup keeping his arms crossed tightly.

“Harry, calm down,” Remus said letting the cup go and putting Harry back on the bed.

“No, no,” Harry said scuttling back and shaking his head.

Sirius dropped the cup and got on the bed. He wrapped Harry tightly in his arms and said in soft tone, “Sorry pup. I forgot. We won’t use a portkey okay? We’ll go some other way. Relax. It’s gone; he’s gone. You’re safe.” He kept repeating that until Harry started quieting down. He did not let go of him until he heard the even breath that meant that Harry had managed to exhaust himself into sleep.

Remus rubbed his eyes wearily and said, “He seemed fine when we discussed it at first. We should have imagined he’d have that reaction when having to actually touch a portkey.  I’ll go talk to Poppy. She doesn’t want him Apparating, but maybe we could do it some other way.”

“Car,” Sirius said. “Arthur’s car flies doesn’t it? I could Apparate to the Burrow and borrow the car. I’d be back by nightfall. Then we drive. Harry can sleep in the back seat. We’d arrive tomorrow morning, but that’s better than nothing.”

“Okay,” Remus nodded. “You drive the car here and I’ll drive to Surrey.”

Xxx

Petunia Dursley wrinkled her nose as she saw the ancient blue car pull in the driveway from the kitchen window. There was no way she would allow that to be displayed to the neighbors. She hurried outside as the two Muggle-dressed Marauders exited the car and were opening the back door.

“Put that thing inside the garage,” she hissed.

“What?” Sirius asked bewildered.

“I don’t want the neighbors seeing that. I’ll pull our car outside and you’ll leave that inside,” she said.

Tired from the long trip, hot from the summer weather and really not wanting to wake Harry with a shouting match, Sirius reigned in his anger and got inside the car while Remus and Petunia opened the garage. He backed the car to give Petunia space to pull her car out and as he waited for her to bring her car outside, he glanced at Harry who was sound asleep in the back seat. He sighed; tonight had been the last night Poppy allowed for Dreamless Sleep. Dreamless Sleep could become dangerous to Harry’s health since people needed to dream. Poppy had explained why but Sirius didn’t really pay attention to the reason; he knew the important part, which was that from now on Harry could only take it every four days. The problem was that right now, what Harry needed the most was to rest because of all the magic and energy that the potions were using up.  And how would he get it if he was woken up by nightmares all the time?

Sirius started the car again and swiftly entered the garage. He got out as Remus came in and closed the garage doors.  Sirius opened the back door and maneuvered Harry so that he could lift him in his arms without waking him. Harry was still very pale and sickly looking, even after a week. Poppy had also put his injured leg into a cast, even though no bone was broken, to make sure he wouldn’t smack it around while the flesh and nerves were re-growing.  Sirius and Remus entered the house through the garage door and as they made their way towards the stairs they met Petunia. Her eyes widened as she saw Harry. His shirt had been caught in Sirius arm exposing the very long scar on his side that Bellatrix’s spell left. Everything together made quite a sight. Sirius could swear he saw her eyes soften, but in a second the look was gone and she pinched her lips.

“You know the way,” and with that she turned around and went back to the kitchen. Sirius exchanged a pained look with Remus and Remus muttered:

“It’s going to be two long weeks.”

“More like three,” Sirius grimaced as he thought of the trial that awaited Severus. And to think that he had always thought that once Voldemort had been killed all their troubles would end. I guess life never stops, it goes on, Sirius thought to himself.

The End

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A/N- As you’ve noticed this is by no means the end of my tale. Now I intend to deal with the aftermath of Voldemort’s death. Things will change a lot but I am keeping a few things close to Canon because I just wanted to have our parenting trio deal with them.

The sequel will deal mostly with family issues. There is still some Voldemort related things that have to come out as you know. But there will be some action, after all, we still have a couple of not very nice Death Eaters on the loose. I hope