Sanction (Familia Ante Omnia - Book Three) by SaraJany
Summary: After their narrow escape from Voldemort’s clutches, Severus, Saturnine, Draco, and Harry retreat to Dumbledore’s safe house to lick their wounds. But what should be a peaceful holiday in the countryside turns out to be anything but.

The old man should have seen it coming, though. After all, what else did he expect thrusting four wizards—with the emotional baggage of a small royal court—together in a cottage by the sea for an entire summer.

Can Draco and Harry learn to become friends as they discover that they are not so different? Can Severus and Saturnine bury the hatchet long enough to remember how to be siblings? And what will be the price to pay for having thwarted the Dark Lord’s plan to take over Hogwarts?
Categories: Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco
Snape Flavour: Canon Snape, Snape is Loving
Genres: Drama, Family, General
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption
Takes Place: 7th summer
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: Familia Ante Omnia
Chapters: 19 Completed: Yes Word count: 61349 Read: 9341 Published: 26 Dec 2021 Updated: 30 Dec 2021
The Wolf’s Mouth by SaraJany

“Really—how hard is it to say, ‘I love you,’ Severus? Or are you truly incapable of doing the right thing for once in your life?” Saturnine asked as she shook her head for the umpteenth time. She paced back and forth across the living room with her arms crossed over her chest.

Feeling a headache settle in, Severus rose to his feet, intent on putting his sister and that dreadful discussion behind him as he retreated to their bedroom.

“Don’t you dare walk away,” she threatened him with a pointed finger. “You will talk to him even if I have to drag you to that room myself and tie you to his bed.”

“Stay out of this, ’Nine,” he warned. “You already have one child to see to, don’t you? Why don’t you worry about Harry and let me deal with Draco in the way I see fit.”

“By playing ostrich and hiding your head in the sand?” Both her eyebrows rose mockingly, and he felt his temper flare. “Fat load of good that’ll do either of you, Severus.”

He had a well-chosen insult ready to tumble from his mouth when a clearly distraught dark-haired teenager stormed out of his bedroom.

Saturnine was on him in an instant. “What is it, Harry? What happened?”

“Draco’s gone,” he gulped as he heaved in a breath. “He Stupefied me before Apparating away.”

Severus felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” Harry apologised, briefly looking down in shame. Then he forced himself to look back up and meet his gaze. “We have to find him, Severus. He’s not well—and—” He swallowed with difficulty, “I don’t know what he’ll do. But I’m worried.” He turned to look at Saturnine pleadingly. “I’m really worried.”

“Did he say where he was going?” Saturnine asked as she took him by the arm to force him to sit down in the armchair.

Harry shook his head. “We were arguing, and he was being an arse to avoid talking to me.”

“What happened exactly?” Severus demanded. “Walk us through it.”

“I was trying to tell him that it would be okay, that he could stay with us and have a place here. But he didn’t want to hear it. He said some pretty hurtful things, and I—” he gulped and looked down.

“You what?” Severus prompted, his tone making it clear that he had better talk—and fast.

Harry glanced sideways at his sister. “I kinda told him about the papers you signed,” he admitted.

“‘Papers?’” Severus echoed, with no idea what the boy meant. Clearly, his sister knew, for she had trouble meeting his questioning gaze.

“Adoption papers,” Saturnine answered after a brief silence. Then, finally looking up at him, she added, “I’m going to adopt Harry.”

Severus felt his worry turn into rage, and he rounded on the Gryffindor with all the bite he had. “And you felt it wise to throw that in Draco’s face? Today, of all days?” he asked scathingly. And Harry recoiled in fear at the sight of him.

Severus had to walk away at that; it was all he could do to refrain from throwing a hex or two his way. Merciful Merlin, that boy could be thick at times.

“I didn’t mean to,” Harry tried to explain. “I never wanted to hurt him. But he said all those hurtful things about you and Saturnine, and it just came out. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Harry. We know that,” Saturnine said. And Severus scoffed at her tone. An adoption, really? Guess that explained the motherly attitude he’d begun to notice in his sister recently. And of all the possible candidates, it had to be James Potter’s spawn—of course. As if life hadn’t fucked him over enough already. It was a knife to the back—a deathly blow dealt by his own sister, of all people.

Feeling what little of his magic that had returned pulse through his veins, he curled his fingers into fists as he tried to evade the pain. He needed to find Draco. He needed to find his boy.

“You know him better than any of us, Severus,” Saturnine said. “What do you think he’ll do?”

He turned to face her then and saw that she was approaching the corner where he stood. He shrugged. He had no idea.

“Do you think he might be foolish enough to go after Lucius?” she asked, stepping closer. “Think, Severus.”

And he did. Forcing the emotions away, he focused on the rationale and tried to view the situation from a strategic point of view. Dumbledore mentioned the word ‘ultimatum’. And the deadline wasn’t over. That meant Draco still had his name and title for another day or two. The logical move would be to remove Lucius and destroy the paperwork before it could go through, thus ensuring Draco retained his vast inheritance.

“He might,” he said as dread all but paralysed him. His godson tended to do foolish things when driven by pure desperation. And as it stood, he might well have decided to throw himself into the wolf’s mouth.

An agonised look filtered over Saturnine’s face at his words. Both of her hands came up to rake at her hair as she blew out a heavy breath. “Surely he must realise that it’s a trap, right?” At his silence, she tried to force a reply from him. “Please, Severus—tell me he figured that part out.”

Unable to form the words, he merely shook his head.

She cursed out loud. “Malfoy Manor?” she asked. “You think he went straight there?”

“If he really wants to have it out with Lucius, that’s where he’ll go.”

“Sweet Circe, Lucius will be expecting that,” she said, aghast. “Draco won’t have a chance.”

“We have to go then!” Harry interrupted.

Severus whirled on him in surprise. He’d forgotten Harry was even in the room and hadn’t noticed him sitting up and walking towards the entrance of the Potions lab where he and Saturnine stood.

“We can’t leave Draco alone,” he continued. “We must go at once.”

We are not going anywhere,” Severus said darkly when he noticed the wand in the boy’s hand. “You will stay here while Saturnine and I deal with this situation.”

With no surprise, his sister backed him up readily. “You can’t come with us, Harry. It will be too dangerous. This whole disowning thing was obviously a trap to lure Draco out—and possibly the rest of us. Half a dozen Death Eaters will be waiting for us at the Manor. There’s no way we’re taking you there.”

“But you can’t fight them on your own!” Harry roared back, wand twitching in his hand. “You’ll need help. Get the rest of the Order, at least.”

“There’s no time,” Severus said, his tone making it clear the decision was final. “We had best get going.”

Saturnine nodded, and an instant later, a dark cloak floated through the living room and into her waiting hand. She shrugged it on over her burgundy hoodie and light-blue jeans before tossing her long braid over it. Severus did not need extra layers. He was already dressed appropriately in a pair of black jeans and a black long-sleeved jumper. Come nightfall, they’d both be inconspicuous.

As Severus turned to face the door, he was surprised to find an angry teenager with a raised wand facing him. “Step aside, Potter,” he sneered.

“No!” he said. Then Harry raised his gaze to meet Severus’ and held it. “Either I’m coming with you, or you’re not going.”

“Let us go, Harry,” his sister insisted. And Severus felt more than saw her reach for her own wand. He had little doubt that she would throw a Stunning Curse on the boy if she had to.

“Don’t make me fight you,” Harry all but begged her. “If you think I’ll stay behind, you really don’t know me at all. Right now, I don’t care about the war or Voldemort. If we start leaving behind our own, we’re no better than him.”

His emerald-green eyes shook with intensity both foreign and familiar to Severus. Harry really had his mother’s eyes, he realised. Her courage shone through. Lily wouldn’t have backed down either, he knew. And neither would James. He would have stood, as Harry did, with the same dogged determination in his squared shoulders.

“You don’t abandon your friends or family,” Harry pleaded with them, wand still held in a threatening posture. “You two may have forgotten that, but I haven’t. I never will!”

Reaching a hand to the side, Severus found his sister’s wand-hand and forced it back down. “You will do as we say, no questions asked,” he informed the young Gryffindor. “If we tell you to run—you run and don’t look back.”

Lowering his wand, Harry nodded. “I will,” he promised, still holding Severus’ gaze.

***

Harry wasn’t sure he could ever face off against Professor Snape and live to tell the tale. But he could face Severus, and he had. Now, he stood his ground as Saturnine threw a murderous gaze his way. She was pissed, and he could understand why. But Draco needed them—all of them. This rescue mission, if it was one, was a Hail Mary. And he couldn’t stay behind. He couldn’t sit on his hands while the woman he loved like a mother risked her life to save the teen he’d begun to call his friend over the summer.

Severus led the way outside, and Harry followed suit. Saturnine brought up the rear and locked up Cove Cottage behind them.

“Malfoy Manor, then?” Severus said as he stood a few feet away from the front door.

Saturnine nodded as she reached out a hand for Harry to grasp so that she could Apparate them both.

“Wand at the ready, Harry,” she instructed. “Stay behind me. We’ll Apparate a little bit away from the entrance and assess the situation when we get there.”

“No rushing in,” Severus advised. “No matter what you see.”

Harry nodded. He had meant it when he promised he would do what they ordered. He needed to find Draco to right his wrong—if only he hadn’t been this dumb. Draco had been hurting. Of course he had been. And he’d said exactly the right things to distract Harry from the truth that was staring him in the face—fool that he was.

First Narcissa and now Lucius pulling this stunt—and Draco had no one now. He’d needed a supportive friend, and Harry had been anything but—he’d hit him in the face, for Merlin’s sake.

Severus had missed the mark, too, Harry realised, letting his godson walk out of that living room without so much as uttering a word. They had all let him down, and it was time they made amends—together.

Strengthening his grip on his wand, he reached out for Saturnine with his free hand and froze as a thought struck him. Abandonment. Draco felt abandoned. And it was a feeling Harry knew all too well. He’d carried it with him his whole life.

It was like a small, insidious beast hurting you deep inside—a tiny monster that never shut up. It was always gnawing at you. There had been brief moments when it had gone to sleep, though. The Mirror of Erised had done that. Seeing inside his reflection sitting next to his parents had brought a wave of calm like Harry had never known before. And he’d felt the same way more recently when Saturnine took him to Godric’s Hollow Cemetery so that he could finally mourn on his parents’ graves.

“Draco’s not at the Manor,” he said in a rushed breath. He turned to face the wizard at his side and asked, “Where’s Mrs Malfoy buried?”

He saw Severus work through the logic of his question and come to the same conclusion he had. “The Malfoy mausoleum,” he replied. “Near the church closest to the Manor.”

“I think he might have gone there. It’s where I would go,” Harry said, looking the man straight in the eye to convey his certainty.

They were gone in the blink of an eye as Severus reached out both hands to Apparate him and his sister at once.

They Apparated next to an imposing church. It stood tall and looming in the falling darkness as dusk settled around them. The sun was going down, bathing them and their surroundings in pales hazes of red and purple.

Harry had no idea where he was. He faintly seemed to recall that Malfoy Manor was somewhere in South Devon. And it struck him as funny that they had become neighbours, in a way. Surely Lucius had looked everywhere to find Draco. But he’d probably never considered Cornwall.

Severus took the lead, wand drawn in front of him and held between steadfast fingers. Saturnine wrapped her free hand around Harry’s shoulders to steer him as she followed suit. She would make sure not to let him out of her sight, it would seem.

Harry knew the two of them would have words when all of this was over. She’d probably been disappointed by his attitude. But he couldn’t have left Draco behind any more than he could leave Ron or Hermione—or Saturnine herself. It just wasn’t in him.

Severus led them around the church to the cemetery that lay behind. Harry shuddered at the sight; he’d visited more cemeteries in the past year alone than he had in his entire life. This one was well-kept, though. Carefully trimmed edges lined it on three sides. The fourth was an unobstructed view over the sea where the earth ended in what seemed to be a tall cliff.

Harry was surprised to see that Severus seemed to know where he was going. He’d obviously been here before. He pushed open the wrought-iron gate that led to the cemetery and followed down the path, turning left and right without pause until they reached a large structure that appeared to be made from white marble. It was a mausoleum, the Malfoy crest on its front making it clear who it belonged to. Harry was surprised not to find diamonds here. But perhaps Lucius had finally realised that there had to be a limit to their display of richness.

There was no sign of Draco—or anyone else, for that matter. Worry ate at Harry—what if he’d been wrong? What if this stop was for nothing? What if Draco was at the Manor getting tortured or worse while they stood there? He could never forgive himself if it was his mistake that ended up costing Draco his life.

And then he saw it as they drew closer: the door to the mausoleum was open a fraction. Someone had been here recently—perhaps was still inside. Severus saw it, too, and his pace quickened.

Harry lengthened his stride to keep up, rejoining him at the door.

“Cast Lumos,” Severus instructed as he stood by the entrance, his wand at the ready.

Harry did, bathing their small group in constant light while leaving the other two wands free to cast spells should the need arise. Harry had no idea what he would find inside. He’d never been in a mausoleum before.

Wand held a little higher, Severus pushed the door completely open. Harry followed him inside while Saturnine brought up the rear, her eyes darting left and right as she made sure no danger lurked behind them.

The interior of the structure was much less imposing than the outside was. The floor was made of plain, dusty concrete, as were the walls and ceiling. One or two lamps hung on the walls, but they hadn’t been lit. Harry’s wand-light was the only source of illumination, and it bathed the raised tombs on either side of them in an eerie blue haze. The rectangular granite caskets were stacked in rows of three, the higher two hovering in the air in a looming way that gave Harry the creeps.

There were four or five rows of similar stacks of three on both sides of the central aisle, and Harry couldn’t help but try to read the names and dates of the deceased as they walked further inside the mausoleum.

Saturnine’s hand was quick to manifest itself at his back to push him forward. And he shook his head to clear his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Quickening his steps, he caught up with Severus again.

They were almost at the back of the cavernous space now. And Harry saw on Severus’ face the exact moment he caught sight of his godson as he rounded the last row of raised tombs. The look of intense relief that washed over his features said it all.

Rounding a granite casket that he realised was Narcissa’s, they found Draco nestled in a corner, sitting on the barren, dusty concrete floor. His cheeks were dry, but his eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked a right mess.

Harry had to fight back the urge to reach out for him. He wasn’t the one Draco needed now. Only Severus seemed too caught up in the wave of relief that had washed over him at the sight of his unhurt godchild to do much. He’d frozen mid-way, a splotch of black against the dimly lit background, face hidden beneath equally dark hair. A gasp broke out of his mouth suddenly, and life returned to him at once. He lunged forward and crouched down by Draco’s side. Severus’ black-clad arms tightened around him an instant later as he engulfed him in a fierce hug.

“I’m so sorry, Draco,” he muttered, his dark voice clogged by the weight of emotions.

And these weren’t words that could ever have come from Professor Snape’s mouth. But Harry wasn’t surprised to hear them tumbling from Severus’ lips. The broken tone with which they’d been said left no doubt to the veracity of their meaning.

“Severus,” Draco croaked out as he clawed at the man’s back, desperate for a little warmth, a little love.

“Hush now, Draco,” Severus said. “Everything’s all right.”

Though he couldn’t see the potioneer’s face, Harry could hear the tears in the man’s voice. His heart went out to him—to them both.

“Forgive me,” Severus apologised as he held onto the boy a little stronger. “I should have come to you sooner. But you know me. I’m not good at this.”

There was frailty to his voice now. It was utterly naked and bereft of any artifice—open, with raw vulnerability. His usual assertiveness was gone. Severus wasn’t sure he was the right person for this. He wasn’t sure that this was even what Draco wanted. If the way Draco held him and sobbed in his arms was any indication, Severus was most certainly what the boy needed—desperately so.

“I’m sorry, too,” Draco mumbled from somewhere against the man’s jumper. “I didn’t mean to leave like that. But I thought you didn’t want me. I didn’t want to be weak. I tried to be strong; I thought I could face him. But—I—I couldn’t. And I came here instead. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a disappointment.”

“No, you could never disappoint me, Draco,” Severus said gently. “I wasn’t always at liberty to show it, but I always cared about you. I swear—I always did. And I’m sorry that I gave you the wrong impression. Please give me a chance to do better. Come back with us, please.”

Draco never replied, but the loud sobs that wracked his body were answer enough. And Harry knew what he felt: the relief of finally being wanted, of finally finding someone who loved him. He turned to Saturnine and caught her gaze. He saw that she was thinking along the same lines. Harry gave her a small smile, and she returned it alongside a nod. There was no need for words. Her eyes said it all.

Saturnine broke the silence a short while later. “We should go back,” she said. “It isn’t safe for us to stay out past nightfall.”

Harry saw Severus nod, and he was back to his feet a moment later with a bundle of sniffing Slytherin protectively held against him.

This time, it was Saturnine who led the way out, and Harry brought up the rear. He killed the Lumos Spell the instant they reached the door. And they slipped outside under the cover of darkness.

They were halfway out of the cemetery when Harry saw it. What it was, he wasn’t sure. But movement had caught his eye on their left. His head swivelled that way even as his lips formed the words, “Someone’s there.”

It was all the warning they got before a lightning bolt of magic flew their way. It struck a nearby headstone, which exploded under the impact.
The End.
End Notes:


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