Blood Magic by GatewayGirl
Summary: Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry safe, but his relatives are expendable. Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry looking like his adoptive father, but it's wearing off. Blood is a bond, but so is the memory of hate -- or love.
Categories: Parental Snape > Biological Father Snape > Severitus Challenge Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Hermione, Remus
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama
Media Type: None
Tags: Slytherin!Harry, Snape-meets-Dursleys
Takes Place: 6th summer
Warnings: Alcohol Use, Drug use, Neglect, Profanity, Romance/Het, Romance/Slash, Torture, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: Blood Magic Universe
Chapters: 84 Completed: Yes Word count: 337748 Read: 759763 Published: 14 Dec 2009 Updated: 14 Jan 2010
Curses and Teeth by GatewayGirl

Severus fumed as he half-ran down to the Forbidden Forest. Idiot Gryffindors, all of them! And Harry would try to save Creevy ... Severus wondered why he was trying to save the fool himself. He told himself that if he didn't, Harry would. Besides, it was his duty as a staff member... his duty to Dumbledore....

He gave up. The grounds flowed past him in an oddly familiar nightmare. He would see the wolf again. He would see Remus, and this time he knew, this time there was no denying -- It wasn't duty or logic, it was vengeance and penance and fate -- he could no more resist running toward the wolf then he could in the nightmares. Only the snarl and lunge would release him, and this time there was no James....

He had the horrible thought that Dumbledore wouldn't get to him on time, and if Remus killed him, Harry would have neither of them. He tried to think of it as vindication, but he knew it as tragedy. Like all good tragedy, it had the patina of inevitability. Perhaps the pain would make Harry the weapon they needed him to be.

The bulk of the forest was close, now, and dark. Severus drew his wand. He heard a canine yelp and slowed, but the wolf still drew him. He adopted the sliding walk that would warn him of obstacles in his path, and pushed into the forest. He supposed it was always possible the wolves would start howling, and the centaurs would come kill the lot of them. He checked the map. Remus Lupin and another, unfamiliar name, their dots almost on top of each other, were close to the dot marked Colin Creevy; none of the three were moving. The others had spread out, but two were already doubling back. Severus cast Visus Noctu on himself, and resumed his mad run.


He saw the patches of light fur first, and slowed. One wolf was fighting another. Easing closer, Severus saw something that might be the boy in the shadow of a tree behind them. He had begun to edge around towards him when he was temporarily blinded by a flash of light. Blue spots swum in his vision as the darkness re-enveloped him. It was the Gryffindor boy. The idiot had his camera out, and was taking picture after picture of the fighting wolves. His flashes made the clearing look as if it was in a silent lightning storm.

"Climb the tree!" Severus called, and the fighting wolves both paused to look at him. ...the werewolf prefers humans to all other prey, seeking them out whenever possible... For an instant, Severus could see the words in his mind, down to the annoying flourish on the fs. One of the wolves lunged for him, and the other was but a leap behind.

"Stupefy!"

The spell merely sent the foremost wolf tumbling. It was back on its feet in a minute, but the delay had been enough; the second wolf leapt upon it and tore out its throat.

Severus stood frozen with his wand extended, staring at the gushing blood. The victorious wolf backed clear of the mess, then dropped and rolled on his back. Severus knew very little about animals, as such, but he was well acquainted with acts of submission. Cautiously, with one hand, he spread their section of the map flat, and glanced quickly down.

Remus Lupin.

He stared at the wolf. It rose with slow care, and sat back, watching him watch it. It seemed nothing like the ravenous beast that had lunged at him in the Shrieking Shack, except for its mouth, which dripped with gore, just as it had all those years ago. Then, Severus realized dizzily, it would have been Remus's own blood that ringed his mouth. He watched this placid wolf lick its chops, then shake its head, then lick again, clearing away some of the blood. Severus stared at Remus, then at the dead wolf between them.

"Did you know him?"

He felt ridiculous as soon as the words left his mouth. Even with the Wolfsbane Potion, werewolves understood very little of human speech when in their wolf form, according to the literature. The wolf, indeed, ignored his words and looked pointedly at Creevy, and Severus, cursing himself for delaying, dashed across the clearing.

He seized the boy's arm. "Come. Now."

"That was great, Professor! Do you suppose it's Professor Lupin? Do you think--?"

"If it is Lupin, you have just forced him to kill, I suspect for the first time in his life."

"Oh." The boy paused, but only for a second. "Still, he was brilliant, wasn't he? And I can sell the pictures to the Daily Prophet, I b--"

"Those pictures will never be developed!" Severus's panic returned full force. He might be in those pictures! And the Dark Lord would question softly -- "Why did you not assist my agents, Severus? Is your path so unclear?"

"But--"

"Come!" Severus tried to haul the boy forward. Just in time, he heard the flowing line of noise -- crackling leaves, snapping twigs -- of a large creature approaching swiftly. He shoved the boy back and hoisted him into the lowest branch of a beech. "Up!"

Remus had surged to his feet and was loping forward. He was between Severus and the onrushing wolf when it emerged. Severus watched him set his head down and snarl a warning. The new wolf, a darker one, with brown and grey hairs intermingled, flinched back. It tried to move around him. Remus paced it, growling. They zigzagged back and forth, Remus always between the brown wolf and Severus.

A fourth wolf, this one grey and white, and close enough in appearance to Remus's wolf that Severus feared confusing them, emerged from the shadows and rushed past the zigzag dance, causing Remus to wheel about. A flash of light exploded from behind Severus, and he realized the idiotic Gryffindor boy had stopped one branch up, more concerned with his photographs than his own life. The wolf yelped in pain and surprise at the searing light.

"Higher!"

The newest wolf, snarling, lunged for the boy, and Remus launched himself after it. Severus tried to recall an anti-werewolf spell. He had taught himself several, he knew. While he was thinking, he cast the Stupefaction Hex again. He missed; the wolf had surged upwards sooner than Severus had expected. Its teeth closed on the hem of Colin's robe, and the werewolf fell back to earth, pulling the boy down with him. Colin cried out in surprise, and twisted to protect his camera from the impact. His voice went shrill with pain, but he had not been bitten -- Remus's lunge had connected as well, and his teeth were raking back along the other wolf's lower leg. It curled back to snap at him, and Severus recalled the spell he had been groping for.

"Rumperio!" Severus pulled out his boot knife -- a small blade, but long enough -- lunged forward, and stabbed, left-handed, through the creature's eye. The wolf's entire body arched upward in leaps like a grounded fish, splattering flecks of foam and contagious blood. Severus threw himself backward and pressed against the tree-trunk, shaking. It didn't touch me. I don't think any touched me. It would need to land in a cut or in my mouth or my eye....

Retrieving the bloodied knife was out of the question.


The Gryffindor boy, at his feet, was still hissing and rocking with pain. Severus could see his knee was unusable -- no subtle injury, this, not with his leg at that angle. He missed the arrival of two more wolves until they were almost upon him. A flash of pale grey passed within arm's reach, and Severus nearly attacked before he realized this wolf had thrown its own body between Severus and the attack of one of the newly arrived wolves, this one a startling white. They went down in a brief but furious tumble, then rose, parting. Behind the white skulked another grey wolf, but this one, thankfully, was an almost unbroken grey that Severus could easily distinguishable from Remus's grey and white mix.

Severus tried to remember the incantation to make werewolves susceptible to hexes. He had seen it just last week, while reviewing Lupin's notes....

The white wolf fell back snarling, but then it, the brindled brown, and the grey began to spread out. Severus stepped to the side to stand over Colin, so the tree was at his back, and Remus could stand in front of both of them at once. That still left the sides unguarded, though, and the grey was circling around to the right, and the brown to the left. Severus decided the grey one was more dangerous, and trained his wand on that one. Debilitario, he thought, his memory cooperating at last, then the Killing Curse. As he opened his mouth, however, he was distracted by the wolf in front of him suddenly turning into a writhing, snarling ball of two wolves, then three. When they separated again, Remus was alive, but bleeding heavily from the flank. He struggled unsuccessfully to stand. The brown wolf stood with legs spread and hackles raised, growling at the white. Unfortunately, the white wolf seemed uninjured.

Severus cast Debilitario towards the grey, but didn't get to follow it up with another curse. The white wolf lunged at him, and the grey started its charge. Severus had the distant thought that if he was lucky, he would die.

At that point, he heard a shout from above.


************


Harry tore through Gryffindor common room and up the stairs to the sixth-year boys' dormitory. He grabbed his Firebolt without taking the time to close the trunk, much less relock it, and plunged recklessly out through the window. When his broom had steadied, he descended far enough to see the ground. He had two pointers -- Greenhouse Four and the direction in which Remus's tail had disappeared into the night. He set a line with them, and headed into the Forbidden Forest.

The trees below him were too dense to show the ground. Harry wondered if he should shout for Colin or his father. If it was only the werewolves, that would be safe, but if their doorman had stayed, then there was an armed Death Eater below, as well. He zigzagged back and forth to no avail. He was ready to scream in frustration, when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of light. He slowed to a drifting hover and tried to soften his focus as much as possible, as if he was in a Quidditch game waiting for a glint of gold from anywhere on the field. The light flared again. Two more flashes in quick succession made it easy for him to pinpoint the origin. He set course and lay flat to his broom.

No more flashes came. Harry needed to slow his flight, but he had a trajectory now. He scanned the ground purposefully as he flew. After a painful delay, he saw movement through a break in the trees. He banked round and descended further.

Wolves, he thought. Several. He made out the form of a human lying on the ground, and went still lower. He was quite close before he could distinguish a black-clad form that must be his father. As he watched, Severus started to hex one wolf, but was distracted by another. Harry pointed at the cluster.

"Genio werewolf Debilitare!" The words rang out through the cold night air. "Genio werewolf Stupefy!"

The wolves all fell. Harry clung panting to his broom, stunned the attack had worked. Shaking himself, he shot down till his feet were inches above the ground, and hovered in front of Severus and Colin.

"Are you out of your MIND? You are supposed to be in your dormitory!"

"Get Colin on behind me, and I'll fly straight to Dumbledore's office." Harry spoke as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure how long the Stupefaction Hex would hold on werewolves, even over Debilitario.

"Remus is wounded."

Harry pulled a tiny box from his pocket "Catch." He tossed it.

"You take it!"

"No. You can bring him back by portkey, but we can't take Colin that way."

"That ... idiot child must not speak to anybody."

"Right."

"Come straight to my rooms."

"Yes, sir." Harry kept the broom steady and low as Colin, his breathing harsh and ragged, was bundled on behind him.

"The brindled brown," Severus said. "She protected him. Remus, I mean. "

Harry looked at the collapsed wolves and tried to distinguish the brown one in the moonlight. He wondered if it was Selena, finding her own layers of loyalty. "I'll let Dumbledore know."

Severus winced. "If you must."


************


Harry, as suddenly as he had descended, rose into the night. Severus looked down at Remus. The werewolf was breathing raggedly and bleeding profusely from his torn side.

All infectious, too.

Severus quickly checked his own body. He was just deciding that he didn't have any scratches, when an anguished scream from above him yanked him to his feet, wand out. Harry's angry voice and the crashing descent of an object through the trees made Colin's distress clear enough. Either he had dropped the camera, or Harry had thrown it. Severus rather hoped it was the latter.

Severus took off his cloak and carefully covered the bloody parts of the werewolf before him. He quickly opened the map, checked to see that no one was near and that the wolf really was Remus. Only then did he open the box. Gingerly, he placed his hand on Remus's cleanest paw, and brought the portkey to touch them both. His stomach lurched as the clearing was torn away.


************


"That was my camera!"

"Those were people! People have died because of you, you self-absorbed little twit! And if any harm comes to Remus because of what you did--"

Harry saw glints of something below them and angled down. The points resolved into a lamp, held high by Hagrid, and reflections from spectacles of the headmaster and deputy headmistress. He dived.

"Harry! What d'yeh think yer doin--"

McGonagall lowered her wand, and Dumbledore stepped forward, raising his hand. "Wait, Hagrid." Dumbledore's voice was calm, but not pleased. "Harry?"

Harry gestured to Colin. "Got him. He broke his leg or something, no bites--"

"Harry smashed my camera!" Colin's voice was harsh with pain, but he still managed words. "I had pictures of werewolves fighting and he--"

"Snape took Remus back with my portkey. He was hurt. Colin will need to be Obliviated, or somethi--"

"You can't do that!" Colin shrieked.

"The werewolves, Harry."

"They killed two, and I stunned the rest -- including Professor Lupin -- with the spell he taught us. They're just a little into the forest by the trail right before the Whomping Willow. The brown one changed sides, I guess -- it was defending Remus."

Dumbledore nodded. "Minerva, Rubeus, I expect you can handle it. Send up a flare if you have any trouble and portkey back if necessary."

"Righ', Professor."

"Oh! And Marcus Flint let them in. We saw on the map. I suspect he's a Death Eater, now."

"Qualifying, more likely," Dumbledore said sadly. "Voldemort will take initiates on Halloween; he likes ceremony." He looked at Harry. "Off that broom, Harry. I can get us back faster."


A moment later, they were standing in the hospital wing. Harry felt as if he had traveled by portkey -- but he didn't see how that could be. Colin was unconscious, which Harry thought suspiciously convenient, and Dumbledore was speaking to Madame Pomfrey in low, urgent tones. Harry could not clear his mind of the sight of Remus, bloody and unmoving. Previously, he had been afraid the Weakening Hex might not work well enough. Now he was afraid it might work too well.

"I'm heading down," he called, and without waiting for a reply, darted out of the room.

He ran down the hallway and down the stairs. He didn't have his cloak, so he took the back stairs, which were less likely to have traffic, but took a minute more at a walk. He suspected the difference wasn't much, at his pace. He slid down the banisters, which he had always secretly wanted to do, now not for pleasure, but for speed. At his father's door, Harry didn't pause to knock. He panted out the password and shoved inside as soon as the latch clicked free.

The wolf on the floor raised its head, snarled, and then collapsed, exhausted by even that effort.

"He's not healing!" Severus's words were an accusation as well as a plea. Harry froze, staring in surprise at the sight of his father, still streaked with blood and dirt, kneeling by the wounded werewolf. The wolf's blood-matted flanks rose quickly and irregularly. Harry watched the beast spasm once, twice, then lie frighteningly still for a second before those panting breaths resumed.

"Undo it!" Severus spat, and Harry pointed his wand and tried.

"Finite Incantantum."

Nothing.

"What did you DO?"

Harry recognized the angry, dangerous hysteria in Severus's tone. He had heard it far too often in other years. He shook his head, fighting back panic. "It was the Weakening Hex -- Debilitario. He taught us it, but not how to stop it."

The wolf's breath labored out in a harsh rasp that did not quite cover the quiet, keening noise from Severus. He seemed unaware he was making it, however, and Harry's sense of panic increased. He tried to think. "Do you know anything about it?"

"The Weakening Hex?" The keening, to Harry's relief, stopped as Severus forced out words. "It will stop him from healing as werewolves do. It will sap his strength. It will sap his will. It will make him vulnerable to--"

"Do you know how to counter it?"

Severus shuddered. "Of course not." His voice rose. "That might be helpful! When have I ever learned anything that might help--"

Dumbledore stepped from the fireplace.

"How is our--"

"Dying!" Severus screamed.

Dumbledore moved more quickly than most of the students would have believed possible. In a moment, he was on his knees on the near side of the wolf, blocking Harry's view of him.

"Harry," he called back. "What did you cast?"

"Debilitario. Remus said--"

"Cast Redderio." When Harry did not move, Dumbledore said, "I cannot undo that with a mere Finite Incantantum. We need Redderio, the Restoration Charm, or his wounds may kill him. It will be most effective from the wand that cursed him."

Harry darted over and pointed his wand. "What's the motion?"

"Direct point. 'Redderio!' Triumphant helps."

"Redderio!" Harry tried. Nothing happened. If anything, the pants became more frantic and irregular, as if the wolf could not get enough air. Triumphant -- he felt anything but that, right now. Sternly, Harry forced himself back to the moment when the wolves fell, when Severus caught the portkey, when he rose in the air, Colin clinging behind him. Victory scorched through him like a flame. "Redderio!" he commanded.

The wolf whimpered. Harry watched his breathing, still fast, grow steady.

"Good." Albus flicked his wand with a muttered spell, and the wolf's breathing slowed. Another, and the blood disappeared from the thick fur. More did not replace it. Harry exhaled. Severus stumbled to his feet and collapsed into the armchair, two steps away.

"Well, that should do it," Dumbledore said cheerily. "I expect a werewolf's usual recuperative powers will take it from here."

Severus looked up. His eyes caught on Harry and narrowed. "You are an unmanageable, reckless, disobedient child."

"And you're alive." Harry swallowed. "So's Colin."

Severus's eyes closed and he slumped back.

The wolf moved. Slowly, never rising, he got his feet underneath him. Belly flat to the ground and tail tucked, he crept over to Severus's feet and tried to insinuate his nose under one muddy boot. Harry noted that Severus had opened his eyes, and was now looking down in weary bemusement.

"Remus, you look ridiculous."

The soft, chiding words had an immediate effect on the wolf. His ears came up, and he fluffed up his body into a more normal posture, at the same time folding his legs under him. Overall, this kept his shoulders at about the same height. With slow care, he extended his massive head, then laid his jaw over the top of Severus's boots. His eyes rolled up to look at Severus, who rubbed the bridge of his nose as if it hurt.

Harry choked back a laugh.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Well. Now we have the matter of getting our errant werewolf back to his rooms unseen. I would rather not subject him to a second port, but he--"

Severus waved a hand dismissively. "Leave him here. He can walk back in the morning."

"If you don't mind the imposition, Severus."

"Had I minded, I would not have suggested it." Severus leaned back again. "Out, both of you."

Harry hesitated at the door. "Father?"

Severus cracked an eye at him. His expression was not encouraging.

"You understand I needed to rescue Colin, don't you?"

"No." His father straightened. "I don't understand it at all. He's insignificant, you have more important things to accomplish, and it was his own damn fault. You should have left him to his fate."

"Oh." Harry couldn't think what to say. He turned to leave. Behind him, Severus cleared his throat.

"It was accomplished combat magic, Harry. For that ... thank you."

Harry managed a delighted grin back before Dumbledore closed the door behind them.



The End.


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