Along Came a Family by missyanne
Summary: Severitus-beginning between years four and five. Harry is overcome with guilt over the death of Cedric Diggory and has isolated himsef from those who care. A strange gift arrives on his fifteenth birthday that changes everything.
Categories: Parental Snape > Biological Father Snape > Severitus Challenge Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Dumbledore, Hermione, Lucius, Remus, Ron, Sirius
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Alternate Universe
Takes Place: 5th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Alcohol Use, Profanity
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 37 Completed: No Word count: 179510 Read: 209696 Published: 06 Jun 2011 Updated: 29 Oct 2020
A Deadly Game by missyanne

Severus had seen the backs of Harry and his friends leave the Great Hall just as he arrived through the staff entrance. He scarcely caught a glimpse of Mr Weasley taking an overly large bite out of a sandwich, so at least Severus was relatively certain that Harry had managed to grab one too as he ran about trying to find a way to contact Draco.

Nothing seemed amiss and Severus relaxed knowing that his son had at least managed to grab a bite to eat. Severus felt no qualms about tucking into his own lunch. But, it was only a little more than five minutes later when Severus realised that it was too much to hope that Harry's first day back would be normal.

Something had streaked past the open doors of the Great Hall. It took Severus a couple of seconds before he realised that the streak was, in fact, Mr Weasley. The boy had been running through the corridors so fast, he had nearly skidded by the massive doors of the Great Hall. In the past, Severus would have verbally slashed the Weasley whelp for running inside the castle, but from the panicked and frightfully pale look on the red-head's freckled face, alarm bells went off inside Severus' head. By the time Mr Weasley had run down half of the length of the hall amid the curious stares of the students, Severus could tell that the boy was actually in tears.

Severus arose from his seat so quickly he almost upended the entire staff table. Before he had even realised that he had moved, Severus was standing between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, grabbing the youngest Weasley boy by the shoulders and fighting his ever-growing parental instinct to shake any news about his son out of Mr Weasley.

"Where is he, Mr Weasley," Severus asked in a voice that teetered on the edge of panic.

"Entrance," the boy managed to gasp. Mr Weasley obviously wasn't accustomed to physical exertion as he was leaning over and trying to support himself with his hands on his knees.

Without a second thought, Severus bolted out of the Great Hall and towards the massive entry of Hogwarts Castle. It scarcely registered with him that Albus and Minerva were right on his heels.

When Severus reached the front steps, he was greeted by every parent's nightmare. It seemed he had been standing there in shock for an eternity, but Severus had surveyed the scene in the span of a heartbeat. Harry was laid out on the ground and Ms Granger was straddled over him, applying chest compressions to Severus' son with all the strength she had in her.

"Don't leave me, Harry. Your dad's almost here," she gasped. The tears she had been trying to hold back in an effort to remain calm were welling up in her eyes and threatening to spill over.

"He's almost here, he's almost here," Ms Granger sobbed as she continued her compressions.

"Get out of my way!" Severus yelled as he began to shove the stunned bystanding students from his path.

Severus nearly collapsed to his knees next to his unconscious son. Albus was already kneeling next to Harry with his aged fingers against the boy's carotid artery. Albus nodded to Minerva and the deputy headmistress gently pulled Ms Granger away from Harry as Albus cast a charm that Severus was too distraught to recognise.

"You did a fine job, Ms Granger," Minerva said quietly to the trembling girl. "He's alive because of you."

Severus was too concerned with his own son to notice or even care that Ms Granger had collapsed into her Head of House's arms in tearful fright. He couldn't understand what was happening. It had been less than a half hour since he had seen his son. Harry had been perfectly fine. Was he in the middle of some sort of cruel nightmare?

But it was no nightmare. What lay before Severus was all too real. Harry was shockingly pale. In fact, he was practically grey. It was then that Severus noticed the nearly dried vomit crusted on the side of Harry's face and pooled just beside his head.

Then the horrific happened and Severus nearly froze in panic. Harry's body began heave in a series of convulsive fits as the headmaster began casting more spells and charms in quick succession.

As quickly as they started, the violent convulsions faded to tremors and a more natural colour came back into Harry's face, though his lips were still disquietingly tinged blue.

"He's breathing for now," Albus said in an urgent, business-like tone that snapped Severus to attention, "but we need to get him to the hospital quickly before the respiratory charms fade."

Severus scooped his son into his arms with little effort. He was startled at how light Harry was, despite the boy's dead weight. He could feel the unnatural quiver of his son's muscles that threatened to break out in a new wave of convulsions at any time.

The crowd that had amassed around them parted without a word from Severus. Unbeknownst to Severus, they could all feel the crackling waves of magic that he barely held in check as he passed by and no one cared to be in the Potions Master's way if that pent up magic were to suddenly find release.

The doors to the hospital were open and Poppy and two of her interns were already awaiting Severus' arrival.

"Put him here, Severus," Poppy said as she led Severus to the nearest bed. "I know it's not the most private, but we'll worry about that once we stabilise him."

Severus gently laid Harry on the small bed. His son did look small…small and helpless. Harry's eyelids were slightly parted and it was all Severus could do not to become undone when he noticed Harry's beautiful green irises were rolled back. There was nothing but a deathly milky-white behind those lids. Severus took a step back, realising that there was nothing he could do…no potion he could offer, because as yet, no one knew what had happened.

One of Poppy's interns, a young, dark wizard, with hair so deep a red it was almost black, was taking Harry's vitals. "Madam, he's barely registering a pulse and his breathing is shallow. There looks to be some bruising around his lungs."

Poppy nodded gravely. "While Severus was in on his way up, the headmaster sent a message that Mr Potter may have had a seizure of some sort."

Severus took another step back, but he couldn't sit down. If he sat down, he couldn't see Harry's face. He wanted to be the first thing Harry saw if his son managed to open his eyes again. Besides, Severus felt his magic course through him like ungrounded electricity. If he sat down at this moment, he knew he would explode. Severus had had very few good things to count in his life since he lost Lily. In fact, as far as Severus was concerned, his part in creating Harry was the only truly good thing he had ever done with his life. Severus had been alone for so long, he had forgotten what it was like to feel the need for companionship or love. Since discovering Harry was his son, Severus knew what it was like to be needed…and to need.

Severus needed his son. He needed his son like the air he breathed, and for the love of all that he held holy, he did not know if he could survive losing Harry. Now that he had come to know what it was like to love and to be loved again, Severus knew he could no longer live without it. Were the gods playing some sort of sick game with Severus? Was Severus paying the price for his past sins?

For the first time since the night Lily and Harry had gone into hiding with James, Severus prayed. He said a second prayer in hope that this time, someone benevolent would hear.

Poppy had just finished casting charms that surrounded Harry in a blue, life-supporting mist. It was then that Severus nearly fell into a nearby chair, the full gravity of the situation slamming him in the chest. Harry's heart and lungs were incapable of supporting life on their own.

"Albus is bringing back a specialist."

Severus looked up. He had been resting his head in his hands and hiding his face behind a curtain of hair. It was a defence mechanism that he still held onto from childhood.

Minerva and Mr Weasley were escorting Ms Granger into the hospital wing. The girl was leaning heavily on her friend and seemed a bit pale, herself, but he paid little attention to Ms Granger's plight.

"From what Mr Weasley and Ms Granger have described of the events, the headmaster suspects that Mr Snape has been envenomated."

"What?" Severus slowly arose from his chair, unconsciously grasping the back for support. "Do you mean to tell me that someone inside these castle walls intentionally sought to kill Harry?" he asked in his deadliest tone.

"We don't know that for certain, Severus," Minerva said in her heavy brogue. "We'll know more when Albus returns with the specialist. Poppy, might I have the assistance of one of your interns? Ms Granger has fallen ill as well."

Poppy was passing her wand over Harry's body. She nudged her head in the direction of Ms Granger. "Ms Fuller, would you please be so kind as to assist Professor McGonagall."

The blonde intern recognised the order in the request and hurried over to help Ms Granger into bed. Harry's friend obviously wasn't in mortal peril, but she had most certainly fallen suddenly ill. The entire situation was beginning to reek of foul play.

"Is there anything I can do, Poppy," Severus said, desperately wanting to make himself useful to his son, and needing a distraction before he inadvertently released his magic and accidentally killed someone. "Is there a potion you require… anything?"

Poppy was sitting on the edge of Harry's bed from where she had been running diagnostics and reinforcing the life-supporting charms. She leaned back, looking thoroughly exhausted. She shook her head slightly. "No, not until the specialist gets here. We can't know what to give him until we've identified the toxin. We could kill him otherwise. I won't lie to you, Severus. He needs to get here soon. These spells won't hold long if we don't find out what did this to Harry."

From that moment on, Severus would fervently believe in the power of Wish Magic. No sooner had he begged any god that cared to listen for the arrival of the specialist, the hospital Floo roared to life, and Albus stepped out with a short, dark man practically leaning on a staff. The stranger's face was scarred and he wore a white agbada.

Severus and Poppy stepped forward to greet Albus and his mysterious friend. "Madam Pomfrey, Severus—I would like you to meet an old friend of mine, Mzilikazi. He is an Isangoma, and without question, one of the world's foremost authorities on exotic toxins and venoms. Muggles would refer to him as a to..."

"Albus, we don't need a science lesson," Severus snapped at the headmaster. He then turned to the Witch Doctor and asked in a slightly more cordial manner, "Isangoma, whatever it takes, please… help my son."

The old wizard nodded his head to Severus and said in a deep, exotically accented tone, "My knowledge and power is formidable, and I will do all that I can to save your child, Ubaba."

There was something about the small wizard whose very presence seemed to fill the room—much like Albus Dumbledore when one met him for the first time. And as with Dumbledore, Severus trusted the judgment of this new wizard without really understanding why. He just felt it as far down as his magical core: Harry's future was in the hands of this wizard.

Mzilikazi ignored the presence of anyone else in the room and seemed to glide over to Harry's bedside. Quite suddenly, the quiet in the hospital was broken by a series of rhythmically chanted incantations. The old wizard did not use a wand, but rather seemed to channel his magic through his staff.

From his nearby chair, Severus could feel his heart beat in time with the Isangima's magic as he watched and waited. The blue mist that surrounded Harry intensified to a deep indigo. Mzilikazi picked up Harry's hand and examined a small cut in the palm that Severus hadn't noticed before. The Isangoma passed the head of his staff over Harry's injured hand. The hand glowed, but its colour was obscured through the blue mist.

By Severus' reckoning, it could have been ten minutes or it could have been ten hours when Mzilikazi arose from Harry's side. It was only when Severus arose to meet the wizard that he realised there were more people in the hospital wing than he was initially aware of.

Mr Weasley was still there, holding the hand of the sleeping Ms Granger as his attention was firmly fixed on Harry. Poppy was tucking the girl in for what appeared to be a long rest. Minerva was nowhere to be seen, but Severus did notice that Albus and the other Heads of House were sitting close by, if not next to him. They knew Severus well enough to know when Severus needed to be alone, but remained close at hand in case they were needed.

Mzilikazi's face was unreadable as he approached Severus and Albus. Poppy rushed over so she could be privy to her patient's prognoses. The old wizard did not even await the concerned father's inevitable questioning, but instead went straight to relaying his findings.

"This was a definite and deliberate envenomation."

Severus' own heartbeat became deafening at this news. He took a deep hard breath before he turned to Albus. "This could only mean a staff member or a student. No Death Eater could have done this."

Albus nodded as Mzilikazi answered, "Those mysteries are for Albus to find. Our job, Ubaba, is to make your son well again. I can tell you that the envenomation was deliberate because the venom entered through the wound on your son's hand, and though it was snake venom, it was not a snake bite. Although I have identified the species, I could better assure the boy's full recovery if I had the snake that provided the venom."

"Professors!"

Severus and the other adults turned to see Mr Weasley rushing over to them.

Albus asked, "Yes, Mr Weasley, do you know something we should?"

The tall boy stood next to them, nodding his head frantically. "Yes, sir. Harry was stabbed in his hand by one of his quills right before this happened. It fell back into his rucksack."

Severus looked to Albus and turned his head sharply to where Harry's rucksack sat on the floor next to his bed.

Severus rushed over and snatched the rucksack off the floor. Despite the hefty books inside, the bag was remarkably light from a Featherweight Charm Harry had cast on it after Severus had bought it. Severus levitated the books and stacked them on a nearby table. Some of them had specks of blood on the covers and spines and Severus had to hold back his anger. Left in the bottom of the bag were four owl-feather quills; the tip of one was particularly bloody.

Severus took the rucksack to Albus for inspection, then turned and asked Mzilikazi, "Will the venom left on the quill be sufficient?"

Mzilikazi shook his head. "No… it is too dry and too little to produce an effective antivenin. The potions and spells I have added to the stabilization charms are only for general neurotoxins. They can only slow down the progression of the venom, not stop it. If I am to ensure that your son survives, I need the venom that did this, and I need it quickly."

Albus added soberly, "As it is, someone had to have cast a stasis charm to keep the venom from drying out too soon and losing its effectiveness. As the venom is dry now, it was quite likely a weak one, but still enough to…"

"Have you even identified from what species this venom came from, Isangoma?" Severus asked, purposely cutting of the headmaster, not wanting to hear so casually how someone had plotted his son's demise.

The Isangoma nodded. "This venom came from a Black Mamba."


Remus Lupin rushed down to the hospital wing after ensuring that the all the Gryffindors were safely in the tower. Minerva was busy seeing to Harry and Hermione, and it was left to Remus to see to the safety of the rest of the House in her stead. Down in the dungeons, Aurora Sinistra was doing the same for Severus.

Remus was nearly panicked. He still had no idea what had happened to Harry. He hadn't sent Padfoot a message yet. Remus, frankly, did not know what to tell him as yet and he couldn't risk his friend exposing himself in his panic and making a bad situation even worse.

As soon as Remus stepped into the hospital wing, he stepped into chaos.

"I"LL KILL THE LITTLE BASTARD!"

An enraged Severus Snape came storming towards Remus. Remus caught Severus just as the headmaster waved his wand and slammed the hospital doors behind them.

"Where do you think, you're going, Severus?" Remus said, struggling to hold back his colleague. He didn't know who Severus was going to kill, but he knew the wizard meant business.

Severus smacked Remus' arms away and stood in front of him defiantly. "Don't worry, Lupin. I'm not going after one of your precious lions! I'm going to hang Draco Malfoy off the Tower Bridge and make certain his turncoat father joins him soon after!"

"SEVERUS!"

The sound of the headmaster's booming admonishment was enough to bring Severus back down to earth, but Remus could tell by the wizard's heavy breathing that Severus was still more dangerous than a Hungarian Horntail protecting her nest.

"You will not lay a hand on one of my students. Is that clear?"

"No, it is not clear, headmaster," Severus protested. "My son lies near death and I know for a fact that Lucius Malfoy purchased Mamba venom in Knockturn Alley not three weeks ago! I don't even keep it in my potion stores," he admitted, pointing and tapping his finger at his own chest. "Who else could it have been?"

"Greg Goyle, sir."

Remus noticed Ron standing just behind the headmaster. The boy approached the headmaster, almost tall enough to look him in the eyes.

"Are you certain about this, Mr Weasley? That is quite a serious accusation," Albus asked as his eyes peered over his half-moon glasses, looking for any sign of artifice from Harry's best mate.

Ron seemed to dwell on his accusation. But the momentary look of doubt turned to one of certainty. "It had to have been him, sir. He bumped into Harry just before Potions this morning. Harry's books and quills were scattered over the corridor and Goyle gathered them up. No one else could have got Harry's things."

Remus still had no idea what had happened to Harry. His heart bled when he finally looked over and saw Harry clinging to life in the blue haze of a Support Charm. Hermione was also lying in bed, but she seemed to be nothing more than asleep. Even from this distance, Remus' hearing picked up parts of the conversation between Poppy and her intern. Hermione was suffering from a case of magical and emotional exhaustion—the details of which he would ask later. Somehow, this all involved Draco Malfoy and one of his friends.

"What did I tell you, Albus," Snape ranted, snapping Remus out of his private thoughts. "Goyle doesn't have the brain cells to carry something like this out on his own! Those boys must be punished!"

"And I agree with you, Severus, on both counts. If Messrs Malfoy and Goyle are behind this, then they do deserve to be punished. But we must also keep in mind that they are also boys."

"Boys who choose to play a man's game, headmaster," Snape countered vehemently. "And if they want to play deadly games, I will be more than happy to teach them the consequences of their folly!"

"We have no time to worry about doling out punishment now," Albus told Severus. "If Mr Malfoy did manage to get his hands on that Mamba venom, then he knows where it is. If Mzilikazi is to save Harry, it is imperative we find that venom."

Although Remus did not know the finer details, he knew enough to understand what was going on. Harry had somehow been envenomated with Mamba venom, and Draco Malfoy was the key to finding it.

"The students are in their common rooms right now. I'll go down and find Malfoy and the venom, Headmaster."

Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. His grip was hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "I'll come with you," he said determinedly as he began to walk towards the doors.

Remus rushed to catch up with Severus and then blocked his path. Remus put his hand against his colleague's chest, but Severus resisted, trying to make his way around Remus. "You aren't going anywhere, Severus."

"That is my son lying unconscious, Lupin. If…"

"And he needs his father right here, Snape!" Remus retorted. Snape was opening his mouth to say something but Remus cut him off. "I love Harry too. I want the people who did this to pay just as… almost as much as you do."

Actually, Remus did want the guilty party to pay as much as Severus did. Harry was the closest thing he had to his own child and that's how it would likely remain. But he knew Severus would never see it that way. Remus' tactic seemed to work, because it looked as though the fight was leaving Severus.

Severus' face was tight with frustration as his hands grasped his temples. Severus then ran his fingers through his black hair. He said nothing—only nodded jerkily. He quietly made his way to a chair next to Harry and sank into it until he nearly disappeared. Remus felt sorry for his former nemesis. He had never seen Severus Snape look so close to defeat. But then again, he hadn't been there when Severus found out that Lily died.

Remus wanted to be sitting there next to Harry too, just as he knew Sirius would want to be. But someone had to find the perpetrators and Harry needed his father by his side. Remus' and Sirius' feelings were not a priority at this particular time.

Remus turned to leave only to find the headmaster next to him. The old wizard turned Remus to the side, presumably so Severus could not see them speak. "As important as it that we find Malfoy and Goyle, it is imperative that we find the venom. Mzilikazi has just informed me that the life support charms will begin to weaken as Harry does in the next two to three hours. Without the venom, he cannot guarantee Harry's recovery after that," Albus said so quietly that only Remus could hear.

Remus looked up at Albus in alarm as he realised the full gravity of the situation. He nodded his understanding to the headmaster. "I need Slytherin's password," he said resolutely.

He wouldn't stop until he reached the Slytherin common room.

By the time Remus reached the dungeon corridors, his rage was almost as hot as Severus'. If Malfoy and Goyle were behind this attack on Harry, they would find that their typically mild-mannered Defence teacher was in no mood to play nice.

To be continued...
End Notes:
As always, thanks go out to my wonderful beta, badgerlady.

Also, I need to give a very special thanks to Luck and JA Worley. Luck created a fan trailer for "Along Came a Family." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYcEmsUw-lQ&feature=youtu.be JA created the lovely new banner for my story.

I'm sorry once again for the late update, but no worries. I am with this until the end.

~Missyann


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=2564