Severus Snape sent an incarcerous at James before releasing him from the petrifying curse. He followed it with an expelliarmus, catching the Auror’s wand easily in his hand.

“What is this?” he hissed at the man he hated most. The elder Potter and his friends had been nothing but bullies while they were in school together. They had even almost killed Severus, but still got away with it.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” the man sneered back. 

Severus held the parchment with the boy’s family tree in front of the other man’s face. “This. That boy is not a Potter! He is... he... how could you do that? Why would you do that?”

“We were taking him from a dark family!” Potter yelled.

“Bollocks and you know it. I was a spy for Dumbledore. My parents may not have supported Dumbledore, but they didn’t support the Dark Lord either. You broke my mother’s heart. How could you?!”

Potter only snorted in reply. 

Severus cast ‘finite’ at the man and threw his wand at him. “Leave. Leave before I do something I will regret.”

Unfortunately James Potter had limited intelligence and pointed his wand at the Potions Master. Severus ducked under the stunner and charged at the man, smashing his fist in to the man’s glasses, knocking them both to the floor. In moments, Potter had a black eye and a bloody lip and held his hands up in submission.

Once Severus stood, the man scrambled to his feet and ran from the room.

()

Harry couldn’t believe his eyes. This was why his parents... no. Why James didn’t want him to know his ancestry. Because technically the Potter ancestry wasn’t his own. He was a Snape. 

He turned back to James Potter, emotions swirling inside. He suddenly remembered the conversation with Remus so many years ago. “What have you done?”, “Harry. I can smell it. He is not-”, “James, who...”

Now, Harry could fill in what Remus wanted to say. What James had cut the man off from saying aloud.

“This is what he meant, isn’t it?” He said sadly into the eyes of who he thought was his father. “What Remus meant? I heard your argument during his last visit!” He saw anger flash in James’ eyes and flinched back. “Why?” he whispered, a crack in his voice. It was a loaded question. Why hide him? Why keep him from his family? Why treat him as the invisible son he never wanted. “Why!?” He said with more anger.

Harry knew the man was under the petrificus spell and couldn’t answer, but he couldn’t help but ask the question. Then he remembered why the man was under the petrificus... and ran.

()

Severus threw floo powder into his fireplace and called for Madame Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. 

“Severus!” the woman exclaimed in surprise. She got a look at his face and knew something was wrong. “What has happened, Severus?”

“Please come through, Amelia. I don’t know how to handle this situation.”

The woman nodded and grabbed her satchel, going through to the Potions Master’s quarters right after his head had disappeared.

Severus showed the woman into his private quarters. He called his personal elf to bring tea and biscuits and waited for the woman to settle.

“Alright, Severus. Please tell me what had happened.”

“Are you aware of the cold case surrounding my family?”

“I’m not aware of details.”

“During the last war I was a spy for the light. My parents though, chose to stay neutral. They supported neither light nor dark, preferring to be safe and let experienced wizards handle the cause. When the Dark Lord was defeated, they remained in hiding for a time, waiting a couple of years until they knew it was safe. I thought they were being overly cautious, but when I finally saw them again, two years after the Dark Lord’s defeat, I knew why. My parents were going to have another child.” A small smile lit his face. “Alexander was born in the middle of July- just after my parents came out of hiding. We were happy, so happy. My mother had been trying for a child since I was about four. She was even thought infertile. 

“But, the happiness didn’t last. Alexander was only a few weeks old when the Manor was attacked. Alexander was kidnapped that night. My mother died a month later of a broken heart. She had tried for so long and Alexander was everything to her. When he was taken, she couldn’t handle it anymore. We have looked for him ever since.” 

Amelia patted his arm in sympathy, “If this is a cold case, why call me?”

“I want to reopen the case,” he stated simply. Before the woman could argue, he pushed forward. “You know about the Goblin’s centennial vault inspection?”

“Yes of course. The muggleborns in the ministry are fighting for the potions. I don’t know how that-”

“I was supervising my fourth year Gryffindor/Slytherin class when the youngest Potter, Harry, stepped forward. Suddenly his father came charging into my classroom telling the boy he was not allowed to do the potion.” Confused, but curious, the woman nodded for him to continue. “This boy is nothing short of a Potions prodigy. He could be in my sixth year class, but refused the offer to be in class with his brother. Anyway, when the announcement was first made, the Headmaster told me the boy was exempted from the potion. I hate when he pushes his authority over my classes but had no choice to agree. I was surprised when the boy showed up, but who am I to keep him from learning?

“Anyway, James Potter entered my class, angrily telling the boy he was not allowed to make the potion. At first the boy shrunk back, but then... he stood and petrified Potter. Then he turned and dropped his blood into the potion and completed his work.” He closed his eyes in memory, “The smile on his face Amelia, it was breathtaking. He was so proud to have made the potion and to watch it work. But the smile faded as he read the page.”

Severus pulled a parchment from his robes and handed it to the head Auror. “What? Severus? This is Harry’s?”

“Yes. What can we do? Even my father has never been the same since Alexander was taken. How can we make this right?”

“Keep an extra vial of that potion, Severus. It may need to be done in front of the Wizengamot.”

“I think Dumbledore may be involved. Can we ban him on the idea of conflict of interest?”

Amelia shook her head, “No. But we can put this through the Department of Wizarding Child Welfare. Those cases always go through the courts and cannot be banned.” 

Severus nodded his head, “Thank you, Amelia. May I speak with my father about this?”

“That may be best. I don’t want to spring something like this on him. I know the stories and I’d hate to get on the wrong end of that wand.”

The Potions Master smirked and waved her off. “Charlus Potter was only burping bubbles for a week. It wasn’t all that bad.”

Amelia laughed, “Even so. Break the news to him, will you?” 

()

James Potter stormed through Hogwarts on a mission. He was so angry the magic crackled around him. He didn’t even notice the students that he rushed past.

He couldn’t believe the boy had gone against his orders! He had even gone against the Headmaster! He always knew the boy would be trouble, but the Headmaster had insisted. The boy needed to be raised in the light. He never knew why.

His thoughts cut off as he slammed into the Headmaster’s office, “He knows.” 

“Who?” the Headmaster asked quickly, “And what happened to you?”

“Both of them know. He did the potion anyway.”

“I guess that explains your current condition.” The man said, pointing his wand at his favorite student and quickly fixing the split lip. He handed the man a jar of bruise salve and helped him cover his blackening eye. “I told Severus he was exempted.”

James jerked away from the old man’s fingers. “Yes! You told him the boy was exempted, not banned from making the potion!” Then all the anger faded and he fell into a chair, “What are we going to do Albus?” 

“All will work out in the end. The boy will never want to go with Severus. You know that.” 

However, James didn’t know that. He actually highly doubted this. The boy probably would want to go to Severus. He had never really been treated as a Potter, as family. Always playing second fiddle to his famous brother. But it was more than that. He had always known it was more than that.

“Right. I’m heading home, Albus.” 

Without waiting for a reply, he floo’d to Potter Manor. 

“James, what’s wrong?” Lily said soon as he exited the fireplace. “What happened to your face?”

“Snivellus,” he sneered.

“I told you not to call him that, James Potter!” she said as she slapped his arm. “Why would he hit you? Why were you are Hogwarts anyway?”

“They know,” he said tiredly as he poured a shot of firewhiskey. 

“Who knows what, James? You’re not making sense.”

“Severus and Harry. They know.”

Lily’s face paled. “How do they know? How could they have found out? You didn’t-”

“No, of course not! That stupid Ancestry Potion! He went behind our backs and made it anyway. Henry owled me while at work and I rushed to the school. I was too late though.” He snorted to himself, “Actually I was right on time, but the little bas-” he cut himself off at Lily’s glare, “the boy then. The boy cast petrificus totalis at me!”

Lily stood and paced, wringing her hands. “I told you, I told Dumbledore. This was a bad idea. Why did we do this again? Why did we agree to it?”

“Albus said that the boy was in a dark home and that he needed to be raised with a light family. We agreed to take him in and I went with the rescue team.”

Lily scoffed, “Rescue team,” she muttered. She looked deep into her husband’s hazel eyes, “We both know that isn’t what it was. We kidnapped that child.”

James stopped his wife’s pacing with arms around her waist. “We did what we thought was right,” he whispered to her.

“Then why did we raise him as less than Henry? Why did we treat him so poorly?”

“Because he wasn’t ours and we didn’t want him to be.” 

Lily Potter broke down crying. Knowing that her husband spoke the truth.

()

On the other side of the castle Ginny was trying to find her friend. 

Harry was her friend since they were young children. When he was brought to their house with the other Potters, she immediately found a common soul in the shy green-eyed boy. 

As the youngest child of 7, she knew how it felt to be left behind sometimes. Her mother and father adored her, and in that respect she was much luckier than her friend... but her brothers were lost in their own little worlds most of the time. They never wanted to play with their ‘baby’ sister. 

The first time she met Harry was at her brother Ron’s birthday party. The boy immediately put himself into a corner and sat with a book in his hands. She could see the sadness in his eyes as every person ignored him and walked by. 

When it was time for cake, he remained in the corner, but Ginny took an extra piece of cake and walked it over to him. 

He was very shy, but she sat with him until it was time to go home. She watched on sadly as his parents looked surprised when he walked up to them as they were leaving. It was obvious they had forgotten that he had been there.

From then on the two were closest of friends. The spent time together whenever his parents brought him, and they exchanged owls as well. When they arrived at Hogwarts, she was quite surprised when Harry got into Gryffindor. She was very happy for it, but could see how unhappy her friend was. When she asked why, he explained about the argument he had with the hat. 

Last year she had caught him doing something she had never seen before... and something she had hoped to never see again. 

///FLASHBACK///

His day had gotten worse as they day went on. McGonagall compared him to his father and brother and how he lacked the natural ability for transfiguration, then Snape ripped into his perfect potion belittling and degrading the boy. Harry always got perfect grades in that class, but it didn’t keep the Potions Master from continuously ripping into him.

Ginny followed him, unseen to the Owlery where he sat talking to his Snowy Owl Hedwig. She was his familiar that he bought for himself for his thirteenth birthday. His parents had forgotten about him... again.

She must have lost herself in thoughts, because next thing she knew, Hedwig was making a racket of noise and Harry let out a hiss. 

Ginny ran forward only to see Harry quickly putting something in his pocket and pulling his sleeve down.

“What do you want, Ginny?” he asked softly.

She didn’t answer, instead moving forward and pulling up his sleeve. His arm was riddled with white lines and two fresh cuts. “What did you do?”

“It makes the pain go away, if only for a bit of time,” he answered.

“Harry, you should talk-”

“To who?” he cut in angrily. “McGonagall who refuses to see anything but my father or brother in me? The Headmaster who ignores me just as my parents? Or my parents who not only ignore me but wish me invisible? Who Ginny?”

She had tears flowing down her face as she pulled him into a tight hug. “Me, Harry. I don’t know the answers, but I can listen.”

It took a few moments, but eventually he spoke up, “I’m just so tired” he said brokenly with a sob.

“I know, Harry, I know,” and she held him as he cried and sobbed. 

They remained there until morning. And no one missed them.

///END FLASHBACK///

In the present, Ginny picked up her pace, running to the owlery. She was scared when she didn’t see Harry there right away until she heard Hedwig’s loud hoot. 

Ginny looked around the room again, only just catching the red of a Gryffindor scarf. 

She skidded forward and pulled the boy’s cloak off and choked a sob when she saw how pale he was. His arm was riddled with red lines that bled on the floor. It was not a pretty sight.

“Harry,” she said with a light shake of his shoulder. 

“Gin? I’m tired,” he said softly, a slight slur to his voice.

She began pressing her robes onto the cuts as she spoke to him, trying to stem the bleeding. “I know Harry. Can you tell me what happened?” She spoke to him, trying to make sure he stayed awake.

“They tol’ me not to do it,” he slurred again, “but I didn’ listen... I wanted to kn...know... They never told me... about the Potter lin...lineage and it wasn’ fair... that I wasn’ ‘lowed to know.”

“As a child, you have the right to know your lineage,” she agreed, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. She returned to his cuts as he continued talking

“Even Dumble agreed... He said ‘They only want the best for you’.” He took a shaky breath, “But s’not true... Never has been... didn’ care... long ‘s I stayed... invisible.” He paused again. “Remus knew... had to know... He asked my- James... He asked James what he had done. He said I wasn’t something, but James cut him off.”

“Shh Harry. Calm down. You’re not making sense.”

Pained green eyes stared into Ginny’s bright blue, “The potion... they didn’t want me to do it. They didn’t want me to know. Not a Potter. A Snape. They didn’t want me...”

“What? What do you mean?”

“The potion. Not a Potter...” he rambled on again, eyes beginning to close.

“No, Harry. Stay with me. Come on,” she said, tapping his cheek gently.

“No one wants me,” he choked out, thick tears falling down his cheeks.

“No, Harry, No. Don’t talk that way, come on, let’s get you healed up, yeah?”

“Why?”

“Come on, Harry. I love you, you know that right? You’re my best friend. You’re another brother to me- one that actually enjoyed spending time with me. Please?”

Harry began to shift his weight around. Ginny released his shoulders and stood up, putting out her hands to try to help him up. Once he was standing, she put his arm over her shoulders and her arm around his waist, trying to steady him. 

Harry was surprisingly about the same size as Ginny was, but he did weigh a little bit more. He was drowsy and dizzy, making it even harder to hold onto him.

After only a couple of steps, the two fell to the ground. Harry was unconscious, and Ginny was now the one crying. 

She pulled her bag to her and took out parchment and a quill. Calling a school owl to her, she sent off a quick letter to her twin brothers. They may not have wanted to play with her much, but she did enjoy them more than her other brothers. They also didn’t like Potter.

After sending the owl, she sat beside her friend and held his hand in her own. He was very cool to the touch, but she could still feel his pulse.

“Hurry up guys,” she whispered to herself softly.

()

Fred and George Weasley took the message from the owl after casting several detection charms on it to be sure there was nothing nefarious. The two were well known pranksters, and had also been pranked in return.

When they saw the signature, identical eyebrows rose. By time they got to the second line, they were running to the hospital wing.

“Fred and George (in no way in order of favorites),

I need you to get Madame Pomfrey to the Astronomy Tower soon as you get this letter. It’s Harry, please. Do not let her follow you until you get her oath as a professional not to reveal anything she sees to anyone other than those present. If you cannot do this, then don’t do anything. This is life or death. Please.

Love, Ginny”

The twin menaces slammed into the hospital wing and called out to the matron. 

“What happened now?” Madame Pomfrey asked, “Another experiment gone wrong?” 

Their faces remained serious, even with a slight mischievous twinkle to their eyes. “We have been sent to retrieve you dear Madam-”

“But not unless you can claim the oath-”

“Confidentiality is imperative from all who already know-”

“Yes, yes, of course.” A bright white light surrounded the matron, much to her surprise.

“Fantastic,” the twins shouted together. Fred continued, “Now grab that beautiful bag of potions and follow us!”

The woman did as they said, amused and worried at the same time. As they were running, she noticed they were heading to the Astronomy Tower. When she arrived, she paled drastically and pushed everyone out of her way. 

She didn’t notice the twins casting locking charms on the door.

Once Pomfrey had looked the boy over, she wished she hadn’t taken that oath. Harry’s forearms were covered in thin white scars and a few red lines which had recently been cut. Muttering under her breath about sly students, she used a healing balm on his arm and poured two vials of blood replenisher down his throat. She then woke the boy up.

()

Harry was floating in blissful unconsciousness when suddenly he was awakened. His head was pounding and his arm ached lightly- but not as much as it had when he had fallen unconscious.

“Come on, Mr. Potter, open your eyes. That’s it.” He slowly complied, but closed his eyes again when he noticed Madam Pomfrey leaning over him.

“Come now, Harry. You will have to go to the hospital wing,” she said as she began packing up her bag. “You will need at least one more blood replenisher.”

“No.”

The matron froze in her movement. “Excuse me?”

“No. I don’t... I can’t... Not with...” he looked imploringly at Ginny.  

“She has already reinforced her confidentiality oath to only include those in this room,” his friend told him.

“But there... in the open... Can’t I go to my dorm?”

“I think not, Mr. Potter,” Harry winced at the used of his last name, “You look like death warmed over.”

“Fine. Warded, curtained bed,” he muttered, looking away.

Ginny turned to the Mediwitch, “A Private curtained bed, warded from all but those in this room unless Harry declares otherwise?”

“But surely his parents-”

“When have they ever come to see him before Madame?” Ginny hissed angrily. “How many times has he been in the hospital wing due to bullying? Have they ever come to see him? No. They are the reason he is in this position to begin with. And no, I will not explain that statement.”

Pomfrey looked like she wanted to argue, but at the sight of the pained green eyes, she agreed. The four then made their way to the hospital wing, luckily enough not coming across anyone.