Three years later. . .

“Mail.” Severus nodded toward the ceiling. There was only a few owls flying toward the single table at the front of the Great Hall.

Exams had ended two weeks ago and the school was blissfully silent and empty. Most of the staff had left on summer breaks. Sometimes they came back to work for a day, but then they returned home.  Only Bellatrix, Severus, Harry, and Filch were still in the castle full time. It was as if the entire castle belonged to them.

Bellatrix took the vials three owls brought her and cast a few spells over the other envelops before handing them to Harry and Severus. She took her morning potions quickly and tried not to dwell on the taste. The potions had been one of Severus's amazing ideas.

Bellatrix no longer looked like Bellatrix LeStrange. Her hair was darker, more the colour of her son's and her eyes were deep blue. The regular food and less stress had allowed her to gain weight and she now looked more alive than ever. The potions made sure that the changes would be permanent. For even though her name had been cleared there was still danger from her victims and their families.

“Look! Look at what I got!” Harry was bouncing out of his chair in happiness! “I knew I'd get one!” He stuck his letter under Severus's nose. “I'm coming to Hogwarts!”

“You're already at Hogwarts.” Severus noted drily. “I didn't think you could come to a place that you were already at.” He gave his son a challenging look. Come on Harry. Show off your brains. I know you're smart.

“Don't be silly Da.” Harry said. “Now I'm a student! And I'll get sorted!” Sorting was going to be amazing. He'd have an even larger family to belong to. Harry really wanted to have brothers and sisters. But his Mother had said that she wasn't going to have any children.

Severus scowled. Did he call me. . .silly? He thought. He glared as hard as he could at the boy. “If you are a student here then you will address me as Professor Snape. Students are not allowed to call me. . .Da.” He shivered. Thanks goodness. The Weasley twins calling me Father. . .it's the stuff of nightmares.

“Okay.” Harry threw his arms around his parents. “Can we go get my stuff today?”

Bellatrix blinked. Today? We just got out of school. “No, not today.”

Severus looked at her over the top of Harry's head. “But we'll have to go soon. There is the big event to prepare for.”

The adults exchanged excited looks. Bellatrix was smiling and Severus even managed a small grin. Harry looked between the two adults, he was lost at the reasons to their happiness.

“There is something else we've got to do today.” Severus told Harry. He pushed his breakfast plate away and knelt down next to him. “We're going to finalize your appearance changes. So that you look more like your Mother and I.”

Harry nodded. “And then I'll really be your kid!”

“You've always been my child.” Bellatrix told him. She squeezed his shoulder possessively.

“And mine.” Severus hugged his son. “And we'll have to go into the muggle world later this week.” He ran his finger over Harry's scar. “Muggles can hid your scar.”

Harry frowned. “I thought that muggles were bad. They're the reason we have to fight and that we need spies and aurors. And Mother told me that muggles are filth and mudbloods are even worse.”

Severus stood up and looked coldly at Bellatrix. He had tried not to instil Death Eater and pureblood supremacist values in his son. But obviously, someone else had. “Harry, mudblood is a dirty word. I don't want you to ever say it again.”

“Why?” Harry was confused. “It means that your parents were muggles. And that's really bad.”

Severus could feel a headache start to form in his temples. “Are you finished eating?” He asked. As soon as he's done I'll take him back to our quarters and talk to him about blood status. Without Bellatrix.

Harry was mystified. “Yeah. I'm done.”

Severus grabbed his arm and hauled him out of his seat. “Come.” He pulled him quickly through the halls. Bellatrix seemed to understand that his nasty mood was directed at her and stayed out of the dungeons.

Severus pushed Harry down onto the sofa and took a seat across from him. He wandlessly summoned a headache potion to himself before starting to talk. With the way things are going this morning I'll need ten potions before the day is done.

“Da? What's going on?” Harry asked. Only his mother told him about blood status and muggles. His father taught him potions and helped with his school work. He didn't tell Harry about nasty things. That was his mother's job, since she knew more about it. At least, that was what she had told him.

“Muggles aren't as bad as you think. Neither are muggle-borns.” Severus held his hand up to stop Harry's protests. “A muggle-born is a mudblood. But you will never use that word. Remember?”

Harry nodded. “Why didn't mother tell me that? She doesn't let me say lots of dirty words.”

“Your Mother doesn't always understand as much as she seems to Harry. Your birth mother was muggle-born an she was one of the most brilliant people I knew.” Severus didn't talk about Lily very much, and he never talked about James. But when he talked about Lily, Harry paid very close attention to his words.

“Really?” Harry was surprised. His Mother had told him that muggle-borns were stupider than Greg Goyle and Vince Crabbe from his classes at school.

“Truly.” Severus looked into the eyes that reminded him so much of Lily's. “When you're older I'll show you some of her work.” He would have showed the boy that very second but he wouldn't have understood anything and it wouldn't have meant as much to him.

“But what about muggles? I thought they were just plain evil and bad. They killed wizards! Even little kids!” Harry pointed out. He'd studied witch burnings in his school's history unit.

Severus rubbed at his head. His headache was getting worse. Why do they teach that to young children? Does it help them in anyway? He asked himself. “Muggles are simply different from wizards. We are better than them. But we must remember that they act the way they do because they are jealous.”

Harry considered this. “Then someone should give them magic. Then they'd understand.” To his young mind it made perfect sense.

“Wizards are born, not made. You cannot give someone magic.” Severus told him. “And muggles have things wizards can only dream of. Muggles will be able to cover your scar and allow you to live a normal life.” Plastic surgery would cover the scar. Magical means had proved useless against a scar that was so powerful.

“I know.” Harry touched his scar. He'd never learned the details of the Dark Lord and the fact that he was the Boy-Who-Lived. And if all went according to plan by the end of the week he'd been someone totally new.

“When you start Hogwarts there will be many students here.” Severus reminded him. “More than all of your school. And some of them will be muggle-born.”

“That would suck!” Harry said. “I like being a wizard. And why do we trust muggles? You don't trust me after I do something bad. And I never killed anyone!”

Severus sighed. “There's a difference.” He summoned a book to him. “Why don't you go and read for a little while. This book should explain some things. And I need to get to work.” He pulled Harry into a hug before giving him a push in the direction of his room. “We'll eat lunch together.” He promised.

While Harry read his history of muggles and wizards, Severus brewed potions. Dumbledore had never actually met Harry. They'd always found an excuse to keep them apart. Dumbledore still believed that Bellatrix was innocent and that Harry was still with the muggles. With luck he would never find out otherwise.

Bellatrix had gotten an appointment for Harry with her sister. Andromeda would fix Harry's eyes. He'd already been on the required potions for a year. They'd use spells and potions to change his facial structure and the colours of his hair and eyes. The last part had been a stroke of genius on Andromeda's part. Although once Bellatrix had left she'd told Severus that it was actually her muggle-born husband's idea.

A muggle plastic surgeon had recently joined Andromeda's staff. His daughter was muggle-born and he was working on teaching some of his methods to the Healers of the wizarding world. Andromeda was certain that with a combination of magic and muggle medicine Harry's scar could be covered. And he could truly be one of Bellatrix's cousins she was raising. And he would be safe from meddling Headmaster's and Dark Lords.

The potions Severus had to brew were complicated. Difficult, advanced versions of Polyjuice and potions to change colours. Pain killing and knock out elixirs for the muggle surgery and a even more potions for Harry's eyes. And not a single one of them tasted good. Making the potions was hard enough. Getting the boy to drink them would be even harder.

Severus finished brewing and used a charmed box to send the potions to Andromeda's clinic. Once he was finished tidying up his lab, it was past the time for lunch. The wards told him that Harry was still reading in his room and that Bellatrix was outside the castle somewhere.

“Lunch time.” He knocked on the frame of Harry's door. The boy was still enthralled in the History text. “Come on Harry. We've got a busy afternoon.”

Harry placed a slip of paper in his book to mark his page and followed Severus up to the Great Hall. The table had five place settings. That worried Severus. Few people knew that the Boy-Who-Lived had been adopted by Bellatrix. He didn't want anyone else to know.

Bellatrix came in just as the other two took their seats. She took her place next to Severus and spread her napkin out on her lap. “Who else is eating with us?” She asked, inclining her head to the two empty chairs.

But there wasn't time to answer her question. Professor McGonagall walked in through the staff entrance and the batty seer, Trelawney was following her. They were involved in a loud, angry discussion involving recent OWL Divination scores.

“I think that answers your question Bella.” Severus said as he helped himself to some of the food that had appeared once the last two teachers had entered the room.

“Hmm.” Bellatrix also helped herself to some of the food. She made sure to place a serving of vegetables on Harry's plate. He never took any for himself.

The meal passed rather quietly. Trelawney and McGonagall finished their argument and spent the rest of the meal ignoring each other. Neither of them felt inclined to speak to the others at the table and because of the moods radiating off of them no one else saw it fit to start a conversation.

Harry found himself bored to tears. He tugged on his Da's sleeve. “Are we almost done?” His plate and cup were empty. He wanted to do something! Like return to his book.

Severus glanced quickly at his empty plate. “We will go now.” H tapped Bellatrix and rose. “A pleasure to see you Minerva. Enjoy your summer.” He didn't bother talking to the seer. She was already off in her own little world.

The three made their way back to the dungeons. They all changed into decent robes and assembled in front of the fire.

“Remember we're going to Andromeda's clinic.” Severus said. “I'm going with Harry. And Bellatrix will go first and secure the area.” He nodded to the witch who'd puled her wand from her sleeve.

“Just wait until I send you the all clear.” She stepped into the flames and the green fire whirled her away.

The two wizards waited for a long five minutes until the signal came through. At the sight of the purple sparks in the flames, Severus tossed his handful of floo powder into the fire. When the flames turned green he stepped in and pulled Harry beside him.

“Andromeda Black's clinic!” He called and the flames whirled around them.