Severus gazed around the room as the dozen torches flashed to life, lighting up the chamber. About half a dozen huge badger statues stood along the room’s perimeter, each with a thick black band of shimmering obsidian around its neck like a collar and a gold pendant with a word on it. Looking closely at one revealed a trait associated with the Hufflepuff house, and he assumed the rest had other traits. Vertical strips of yellow gold and black obsidian lined the walls. The center of the room was a large, stone dais with a flat platform top. An ‘H’ of gold and obsidian was set into the platform, glittering in the torchlight.

His eyes widened when a translucent figure materialized on the opposite side of the dais and gazed at him steadily. It didn’t take long to recognize her as Helga Hufflepuff.

“Possible hero,” her voice echoed in the room. “Step forward if you dare to attempt the trial of Helga Hufflepuff.”

Severus gripped his wand tightly and did as she commanded, walking up to be directly across from her. She stared at him and clasped her hands in front of her.

“Do you hold the title of Hero of Hogwarts?” Hufflepuff asked.

Severus hesitated briefly, still unsure Hogwarts had made the correct choice in him. “Yes,” he finally said.

“Do you intend to claim the Sword of Hufflepuff?”

“Yes.”

“Feel the love denied to you and reject the hate in your heart. Prove you are worthy of my sword and title of hero.”

Hufflepuff’s shadowy form disappeared, leaving him in a silence broken only by the crackling torches and his breaths. Severus was tense as he waited for the trial to begin, unsure what to expect. After several moments, a couple of figures materialized in the room and walked up to the podium. His eyes narrowed and he stiffened as he faced his parents and they glared hatefully at him. Even after them being gone for more than two decades, it was still hard to face them.

“How could I ever love a freak like you?” Tobias sneered. “I never wanted a kid, but to have you was worse than anything.”

“I didn’t protect you because I didn’t love you,” Eileen said. “How could I?”

The words cut just as deep as when he heard them as a child. They had been a staple growing up, having heard some variation nearly every day up until the day he left.

His heart stuttered when Lily stepped up beside Eileen, her face twisted with disgust.

“You really believed I loved you?” Lily said. “Oh, Severus.”

Her harsh laugh stabbed at him.

“I could never love someone like you. I talked to you out of pity for the pathetic, poor, abused boy you were, but nothing more, certainly not love,” Lily said.

Severus could hardly breathe, his heart constricting so painfully he feared it would stop all together. He’d dreamed such things numerous times, but this felt real.

“You remember what you said to me?” Lily said and Severus remembered the day he’d lost her. “You can’t love.”

Severus couldn’t help the lone tear that fell down his cheek. He watched Dumbledore appear beside Tobias.

“You must protect the boy, but you can never tell him and you cannot care for him. You put everyone you love in danger. Do you want to do that to Lily’s precious son?” Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling with his manipulation. “You must never care for him. It will only kill him.”

A figure of Harry appeared beside Dumbledore, the headmaster’s arm draping possessively around the teen’s shoulders.

“Don’t forget everything you’ve done,” Dumbledore said. “No one can love you after all you’ve done.”

“You caused all of it, faked it to convince me it was real,” Severus said stiffly.

“Real or not, you did those things,” Dumbledore said with a smirk. “You handed your life to me because you know no one will ever love you, no one but me.”

Severus scoffed. “You? You don’t love anyone, you only manipulate.”

“And what do you do?” Lily jumped in. “You are incapable of love.”

“You are irredeemable, unlovable,” Dumbledore sneered. “And I own you.”

Severus shut his eyes, trying to Occlude against the excruciating pain they were reviving inside of him. A deep self-loathing he’d become so used to he’d nearly been able to ignore it expanded to consume his heart.

“You will never find anyone,” Lily snapped.

“No one will ever love you,” Eileen said bitterly.

“You belong to me and so does your love,” Dumbledore said with an evil grin.

Severus shook his head, unable to keep them out. How badly he wanted out. He couldn’t handle it. He was weak, unable to do anything. They were right. Love would never be a luxury for him to give or receive, not after all he’d done.

“Don’t you remember me?”

He lifted his bowed head to look at the figure of Harry with furrowed eyebrows.

“I…”

“You promised,” Harry said. “You promised us. You have to remember me.”

Severus frowned, completely confused. Harry held out his right hand, palm up.

“Remember me,” Harry said quietly.

Severus hesitated to reach out. He knew this was the trial, to accept what could possibly be a love he’d received or destroyed. If he refused, he would fail, but could he take the risk of knowing what he could no longer remember? What if it was nothing but more pain? Looking into Harry’s gleaming green eyes as the teen watched him, waiting, he raised a hand and pressed his palm to Harry’s.

“Everyone’s left me,” a fourteen-year-old Harry said, staring into the fire.

“I take offence to your use of ‘everyone’,” Severus said, gazing at the boy from his desk.

“You’ll probably leave too. Everyone does,” Harry said bitterly.

“I will not,” Severus said firmly.

Harry looked over at him. “Promise?”

“I promise.”

Severus gasped, releasing the Harry in front of him. The emotions of the memory rushed through him and he looked at Harry, his heart pounding.

“I remember you,” Severus whispered. He looked at the others, his eyes growing hard. “I may have lost your love or never had it in the first place, but I gained his. I found him.”

Harry smiled at him while the others disappeared. As they did, it felt like a heavy weight on his chest disappeared with them. He drew in a deep breath, trying not to gasp for it. He watched as Hufflepuff appeared beside Harry, a soft smile on her face.

“You have learned the true feeling of love,” Hufflepuff said. “Love is a difficult thing to earn, but how precious it is when you do.”

Severus gazed at Harry, overcome with lost emotion and the pain of his unloving life.

“Come, Hero of Hogwarts. Claim your prize and take back what’s been lost,” Hufflepuff said and a sword shimmered into existence on the podium.

Severus stared down at the intricate silver sword. The blade was long and thin, ‘Helga Hufflepuff’ engraved in a medieval script near the hilt. Little gold and obsidian gems dotted the hilt around the abstractly-designed badger made of vines and leaves. He marveled at its beauty and its mere existence, all but Gryffindor’s sword having fallen into legend.

Hufflepuff and Harry stood waiting as he stared at the sword. He couldn’t believe it was for him, that Hogwarts believed him worthy. No matter what was fabricated by Dumbledore, he’d still done terrible things. He was no hero.

“We are all worthy of love,” Hufflepuff said gently, a soft smile of compassion on her face.

“Come find me,” Harry said with his own smile.

Severus took a deep breath and reached out to the sword. Several things happened the moment his fingers wrapped around the sword. Hufflepuff and Harry disappeared in a flash of golden light, power rushed through and around him, whipping his hair, and he fell into a stream of memories as his life was returned to him.

Severus lightly traced the scars as he applied the ointment to the fresher injuries in an attempt to prevent further scarring. He finished and gently pulled the boy’s shirt down, allowing him to turn around.

“How long?” Severus asked quietly.

Harry shrugged, twisting his fingers together.

Severus reached out, placing a hand on top of the small ones, bringing the green eyes to him, full of pain.

“I’ll get you out, Potter.”

*

“You are an imbecile, Potter,” Severus said, glaring down at the eleven-year-old in the hospital bed.

“Hey!” Harry said, affronted. “I caught the Snitch!”

“You nearly fell off your broom and then you swallowed the Snitch, idiot,” Severus said.

Harry flushed. “I didn’t mean to,” he muttered. “Still won the game.”

“Yes, you did,” Severus said with a sigh. “Well done, Mr. Potter.”

Harry beamed at him and he sighed again.

“Are you alright?” Severus asked, his voice gentler.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

*

“What in seven hells were you thinking?” Severus growled, sitting beside Harry’s bed. The boy looked exhausted and was bandaged on his arm and had cuts on his face.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Harry said quietly.

“No, an explanation. You better have a damn good reason why you went down that trapdoor,” Severus said angrily.

“I…I don’t know. The stone…Voldemort…Dumbledore wasn’t here and McGonagall ignored us. Just felt like I had to do something,” Harry said, dropping his eyes to his bandaged arm in his lap.

Severus sighed. “You don’t have to do anything except be you, troublemaker and all.”

Harry glanced shyly at the professor, his lips turning into a small smile. Severus reached out, grasping Harry’s hands with one and brushing back the dark hair with the other.  

*

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, what a surprise,” Severus said as the two twelve-year-olds walked into his office, both with serious faces.

“Sir, Malfoy needs your help,” Harry said.

Severus looked at Draco who was refusing to look at him.

“Like me,” Harry added.

“Mr. Malfoy?” Severus said, dragging the grey eyes to him. He saw the same pain he’d seen in Harry and he sighed. “Come along, child.”

*

“Why do I put up with such childish behaviour from the two of you?” Severus said, examining the results of the Quidditch game.

“Because you like us that much?” Harry offered.

“You’d be bored otherwise,” Draco added.

Severus raised an eyebrow. “I think the word you meant to use is ‘relaxed’.”

The two boys looked at each other and shook their heads.

“No, bored,” they said together, grinning as Severus rolled his eyes.

“Brats.”

*

The calm that permeated the room was in direct contrast to the fear Severus had felt only a few hours earlier. Seeing the Dementors swarm the pitch and then to see Harry plummeting to the ground had terrified him more than he ever thought possible. He’d dragged Harry and Draco, who was waiting, from the infirmary the moment he could, wanting them nearby.

After engulfing them in a tight hug, he’d gone to his desk to work while the boys settled on the sofa. There they remained, talking and laughing quietly for some time.

He finished grading just as he realized how quiet the room was. He looked up and couldn’t help but smile. Both were asleep, Draco with his head tilted against the back of the sofa and Harry sprawled to the side, his head on Draco’s shoulder.

He gazed at them for a time, ensuring himself they were safe.

*

Severus stopped at the door to his rooms when he heard yelling.

“What is your problem, Draco?” Harry was saying.

“Just leave me alone, Potter! Go enjoy your life with Snape!” Draco yelled.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Harry said angrily.

“I heard you, alright!” Draco said. “The two of you with your secret meetings because you can’t trust the Malfoy.”

“Draco, that’s not—”

“No, I know what I heard! Wish I wasn’t a Malfoy and you hate that I am!”

“Would you shut up?” Harry yelled. “That’s not what we said! We wish you weren’t a Malfoy so you could be adopted!”

Severus stepped in at that time, noting Draco’s red eyes.

“Never think I hate who you are,” Harry said. “You’re my brother.”

“And my son,” Severus said, pulling the blonde into a tight hug and then pulling Harry against them as well. “Both of you are my sons.”

Severus’ eyes opened and air rushed into his lungs. His head and heart were pounding with the overwhelming emotions accompanying the memories. Hufflepuff’s power continued to course through his body and he realized the sword was vibrating happily in his hand. He blinked and looked around, stunned to find himself in Hogwarts’ core. He gazed at the sword in awe. Such incredible power to be able to transport him from Austria into the most protected part of Hogwarts. He looked back up, finding the Founders watching him, and he gazed into Hogwarts’ upturned face.

The brightening and fading yellow glow drew his attention to the veins and followed them to the back right. A stone badger sat on its hind legs, its front paws stretched out in front and holding a platform. He stared at the vibrating sword and laid it across the podium. He spun as the yellow threads became almost blinding and the yellow gem on Hogwarts’ necklace beamed.

As the chamber filled with an intense power, he felt a tingle on his arm and rolled up his sleeve. Close to his elbow, a yellow band had joined all the others. The power dimmed and he looked up at the Founders, each of them smiling at him.

“Champion of Hufflepuff,” Hufflepuff said.

“And Hero of Hogwarts,” Slytherin said.

“You have proven yourself,” Ravenclaw said.

“Hogwarts thanks you,” Gryffindor said.

Severus inclined his head in acknowledgement of their gratitude, still reeling from the experience.

“Go and find him, Hero,” Hufflepuff said.

An image of Harry—his son—flashed before his eyes. He felt an all-consuming rage at Dumbledore for doing this to him. He’d had sons, had escaped the Mind Magic and found Tom, but that had all been stolen. He’d been made to forget, hate, and hurt Harry. The pain was indescribable. He had to find him.

He hurried out of the core, desperate to find Harry. He headed directly to the Library to scan the Marauder’s Map, but found it to be unnecessary for there sat the boy. He could only see some of the back and top of the messy head as Harry was curled up in the armchair, a book open in his lap. Even from what little he could see, he could tell Harry was upset and despondent, likely from the loneliness of being the only one with memories. He could only imagine how the boy had been feeling all these weeks, seeing things as they were meant to be.

As he stared, watching a page slowly turn, he couldn’t believe he’d ever been able to hate the child, even if magic was the cause. It seemed impossible to hide and replace the love he felt.

“Harry?” he said quietly, and watched the head fly up and the body spin around. Harry stared at him over the back of the chair, forehead creased as their eyes met. He could see the confusion in the green eyes.

Severus walked into the Library, coming to just off to the side of Harry. He knelt down, seeing the anxiety fill the boy as the green eyes tracked him. How could anything have been able to separate them? He reached up, resting his hands on the sides of Harry’s face and neck, cupping the boy’s face.

“How could I have forgotten you?” he whispered and Harry’s eyes widened. The green eyes began to shimmer.

“What?” Harry breathed and Severus smiled gently. “Do…do you…remember?”

“I remember, child.”

They both ignored the book that fell from Harry’s lap and bumped Severus’ knee on the way to the floor. Severus readily accepted the armful of teen he gained as Harry flung himself around Severus’ neck. Every memory of holding Harry flooded his mind, making him squeeze the boy even tighter. Harry pulled back after a moment, tears pouring down his cheeks, but kept his hands on Severus’ shoulders. Their eyes met again.

“You really remember?” Harry asked, sniffling. “Everything?”

Severus placed one hand back on Harry’s cheek, his thumb swiping at the tears. “Everything…my son.”

And Harry collapsed into sobs against him as he held his lost son with everything he had.