Harry sighed and rolled over on his bed again. He absolutely hated when his uncle had guests over. Today the guest was an old friend from school, Damon Reeds, who was back in London to visit friends and family since he resided in New York City presently. He’d only gotten a peek at him, but he noticed that he was skinny, and not that bad looking, which was rare for guests at the Dursley residence. Of course, though, he’d been banished to his room for the night, his uncle saying that Damon doesn’t want to meet ‘freaks that will ruin his trip’. Usually, Harry would think his uncle was overreacting, but since this was actually a good friend, he didn’t question it. It was probably true anyways.

Hedwig chirped from her cage, and Harry turned to look at her. Every time he saw her, he couldn’t help but think of what a beautiful owl she was. She was his first birthday present, and definitely his favorite, and from his first friend ever as well, Hagrid. Harry closed his eyes, trying not to miss Hogwarts again. It always hurt him to remember his second home, and his favorite home. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the red chairs in the Gryffindor common room, and the food in the Great Hall that always seemed to make his mouth water. Of course, there were always the negatives of Hogwarts, like the Slytherins for instance, and their leader and the potions master, Professor Snape. Also, that blonde twit named Draco that always seemed to make his skin crawl. But the pros always outweighed the cons, unlike his summer home of Number 4 Privet Drive.

Hedwig chirped again, but in alarm this time. Harry’s eyes burst open and he sat up in bed, reaching for his wand. He didn’t care about the Ministry anymore. They couldn’t particularly expel him for using defensive magic when a whole group of people were trying to kill him, and one of them was a very powerful dark wizard. Hedwig chirped again and nudged her nose towards Harry’s window. Harry raised an eyebrow and cautiously tiptoed over to his window and slowly opened it. Once it was open just a crack, a small box flew through and landed on Harry’s bed. Harry’s eyes widened and he looked at Hedwig in confusion, who, if she was human, would’ve shrugged.

He again tiptoed back to his bed and reached for the package, pulling at the ribbon wrapped around it. Once the maroon and gold tag was off, he opened it, his wand ready to kill anything that happened to pop out. Thinking a death eater would pop out (this is magic, anything could happen,) there was just a picture of his mum, Lily. Harry cocked his head to the side in confusion but picked up the picture.

All of the sudden he was swirling around and he gasped in realization. It was a portkey! He was probably being sent to some Death Eater meeting or to the Giant Squid to be eaten! After coming up with the worst scenarios, one including the Slytherin common room, he finally landed. He crashed to the floor and quickly looked around.

Harry was once again confused. He was in a living room full of books, with a fire going on inside of the fireplace. Strange place for a Death Eater meeting… Harry thought to himself, but slowly stood up, his wand out and Stupefy on his lips, ready to be uttered at anything that walked towards him. He heard footsteps coming towards him, and he turned towards the door. It’ll probably be Malfoy, or Bellatrix. Oh bloody hell, please don’t be Bellatrix! But instead, the door opened and no one other than Severus Snape walked in, cape less. Harry’s eyes widened as he took in his professors appearance. He was in dark jeans, with a black t- shirt with a black hooded jacket on over it. He looked down at his shoes and almost laughed when he realized he was wearing black converse.

Snape, though, looked shocked and slightly, well really, angry. “Potter, what in the HELL are you doing in my home? Spying, are you? Or do you want to steal more ingredients from my lab? Well Potter, what is it?”

Harry had to take a second before he could actually speak, “Well sir, a package came into my home, and it had a picture of my mother, so I picked it up and ended up… ended up here. I don’t know how, or why, but I’m guessing it was a portkey. I have no idea why it sent me here though… did you happen to get a package?” Harry asked, staring at the box in Snape’s left hand. Snape looked down and lowered his wand.

Snape looked up and glared at Harry. “Sit, Potter. And for the love of god, put your bloody wand up! I’m not going to hex you!” Snape sneered and sat in one of the chairs while Harry sat himself on a couch in the room. He watched curiously while his professor opened his box. His ribbon was green and silver. I wonder why the ribbons are the colors of our Houses…

Snape carefully pulled out a picture from the box, which was another picture of Lily. They both waited for Snape to be taken somewhere, but nothing happened. Harry’s eyebrows drew together and Severus raised an eyebrow.

All of the sudden, the picture laughed, making Snape jump in surprise. “What the hell…?”

The picture smiled up at him, “Well hello, Sev. It’s been a while, has it not? About… I don’t know sixteen years and nine months? And then you had to go on that stupid mission for Dumbledore, but that’s all water under the bridge. Move over to the couch and sit by Harry, so I can speak to both of you at the same time. Yes, I know he isn’t your favorite, but how could he, considering the fact he looks exactly like James. But that’s beyond the fact, go on!” She ordered in a playful tone.

Harry watched as the potions master stood up and approached Harry carefully, but sat down next to him, putting the picture in the middle of them.

Lily smiled up at him, “Hello Harry dear, you look so darling. I wish I could be there with you, but of course, there’s a slight problem with that. Again, I’m going off the subject. I guess you’re wondering why you were sent to Spinners End, which is Sev’s home. This story will take a while, but it’s very important that both of you pay very good attention. It takes place almost seventeen years ago, in a flat in London.

“Sev and I were drinking tea and talking about the war going on. You see, Sev here is a spy, and I was always trying to get him to leave Voldemort’s side, and just stay strictly with the Order. Of course, stubborn Sev wouldn’t listen to me. He told me about an upcoming mission coming up that Dumbledore was sending him on, and he was scared that he wouldn’t survive it. So he decided, just in case, to make a few confessions to me so that way he never regretted not saying them. One of those confessions happened to be the fact that he was in love with me, and had been for a very long time.

“I also confessed that a part of me loved him to, and that, if this was the last time we were to see each other, we should express our love to each other. Sev told me he didn’t want me being unfaithful to James, but I told him that James would get over it. So we did it, and the next morning, he left for his mission. I don’t believe I’d ever cried so much in my life, but I went back home to James and never mentioned it. Six weeks later, though, I found out I was carrying Severus’ child. Scared, I put a spell on you to make you look like James, just so he wouldn’t know. Note that he still despised Severus, and would probably leave me should he have found out.
“I hadn’t heard from Sev for all those months that I was carrying his child, and then, on July 31, 1980, I gave birth to Harry James Potter. James thought he truly was a Potter, but I of course knew, he was really a Snape.”

Harry jumped up, eyes wide. He looked over at Severus and found him staring blankly ahead. “Lily… how… how could this be? He still looks exactly like James!” Snape frantically asked the picture, looking up at Harry with questioning eyes.

Harry cleared his throat. “Mum… I don’t… I don’t look anything like Snape! And we hate each other!” Harry declared, sitting back down, waiting for his mum to answer.

The picture sighed and looked at both of them, “Boys, my precious boys, you will see in time that Harry will look like his true father. The spell I used wears off after Harry’s sixteenth birthday. These packages were supposed to be sent on July 28th, so it would be easier to notice the changes. Harry, on your birthday, you will notice yourself gradually changing, and start to look more like Sev. No, don’t worry, you have my nose.” She chuckled and looked at her dear Sev, “You my dear need to treat him like your own son. I am hoping the war is over and your spying duties are over, but if not, you need to find a way to make this a secret. Harry has your personality, my precious Severus. You need excuses to why he looks and acts like you. The Death Eaters cannot catch on, or you and he will both be killed.

“I know you both have feelings to get over, and that you won’t be a happy family quickly, but I trust that eventually you will reach your and my goal, with the help of friends. Please, for my sake, help each other. And Severus, be honest with Harry. He deserves to know, and I know you need to tell someone. Merlin knows you don’t even tell Dumbledore! I don’t think myself being the only one knowing is very helpful. And, well, he is your son.” She smiled at them both now, and then frowned a little, “Well, I must bid my goodbyes now. There is a time limit for these pictures. I love you both very much, and I will see you both someday in the afterlife. Goodbye, my sweets!”

Snape looked frantic, “LILY! Lily wait! You can’t leave it at that! What am I supposed to do! I don’t know a thing about being a father! Lily! Lily, please tell me…” He dropped to his knees in front of the picture, “Please come back to me, and help me…”

Harry was staring in shock ahead of him. The greasy git was his father! He looked over at his newly discovered relative and was shocked to see a single tear roll down his cheek.

I guess he really did love my mum. Oh damn, what are we supposed to do?

“Sir… um… I don’t know where I am exactly or where I am to go…’ Harry trailed off looking around the room again.

His professor sighed but didn’t look up from the picture. “Upstairs, second door on the left, there’s a guest room there. I’ll give you a tour tomorrow and we’ll go collect your stuff then. Is your fireplace connected to the floo network?” He asked, looking up quickly then moving his eyes back down.

Harry nodded, “I believe so, sir. I’ll just be um… upstairs.” He walked off and headed upstairs, finding the door. He opened it and was shocked to see it neutrally decorated. He collapsed on the bed and cried. He cried and cried until he fell asleep from crying.

Why can’t my life ever be normal?!? He thought before falling into a deep sleep.