Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Those Who Choose You
Harry had received a number of scathing letters by the next morning, and more were to follow over the course of the next week as the days led up to Christmas. There were also letters of encouragement though, from Fae and the friends and family of Fae. Silver had given a copy of Harry's statement to the Lighthouse, where it was printed and sent around and posted up outside of every business on Payne Alley.

The Prophet hadn't let Rita Skeeter write the article about Harry's statement and it resulted in an almost unbiased piece about the ‘impassioned speech of unity' he'd given to a crowd of Christmas shoppers and shop keepers.

A few days before Christmas Snape pulled out a special edition of the Prophet when Harry came into the living room to have tea after dinner and handed it to him.

"How bad is it?" Harry asked as he took the paper but didn't look at it.

"See for yourself."

He looked down and found the headline: ‘I Stand With Potter.'

Harry ignored the cup of tea Snape had handed him (creamy warm chai) and let his eyes drift down to a photo of Munro McGlaggen, standing in front of his shop holding up a citation from the Ministry.

‘"I'd like to count myself amongst Mr. Potter's friends," Munroe McGlaggen, business owner and majority shareholder of multiple ventures along Diagon and Knocturn Alleys stated Wednesday afternoon. "He's a good lad, and he's really put himself and his businesses on the line by hiring people our society considers unworthy of help or friendship. He knew he was doing something risky... that he might lose everything he and his forefathers have worked for if he stepped up to help those in need. He did it anyway, even though he believed he was going to be standing alone in this. We could all stand to be a little more like him. I won't let him stand alone. This week I hired five Fae employees in various businesses I own. Right away I received five citations. I was told in the citations to fire these people or I'd be fined a hundred galleons per employee per day until I was in compliance. There's no law stating I can't have them working for me, so why should I comply when they're not hurting anyone?"'

There was also a smaller photo of Gerrin Honeyduke below Munroe's statement. He was holding up a bloodpop to show the camera.

'Gerrin Honeyduke, of Honeyduke's Sweetshop in Hogsmeade has also recently been fined by the Ministry of Magic for similar violations as the ones sent to Potter and McGlaggen. ‘"This is a bloodpop: a sucker that vampires like made from animal blood I got from a butcher... the same butcher you buy your meat from in Hogsmeade. Harry Potter was cited and fined for buying ingredients from The Aether to make sweets for vampires, but I'm being cited for buying blood from a butcher from animals that were already dead. It's the only thing I carry for Fae in my store and I shouldn't be fined because of one sucker. Once when I asked Potter why he'd gone out of his way to help my business when he didn't have shares in it, he told me ‘we rise together'. I stand with Potter on this one. There's no reason to step all over Fae when we can rise together. I'll keep paying the fines and keep selling what I want."'

Near the bottom of the article was one final statement, and a black and white photo of Mr. Barrow inside his used bookstore.

‘"Potter came in this summer like a tornado that cleaned up Knocturn Alley and left everyone better off for it," said Bartholomew Barrow of Barrow's Books. "He didn't own shares of my business and could have left me here to rot without even sparing me a passing thought. He helped me repair and paint my shop though. He didn't want anything in return except for me to hire some teenagers from the orphanage. Let the Ministry fine me for selling to Fae. I'll keep selling to them anyway. My used bookstore has always been open to Fae and will continue to be so. If the Office of Business Affairs is reading this, I'll be waiting for my fines and looking forward to them."'

Harry was almost brought to tears. He'd wanted people to help the fae, and he'd wanted people to support him. This article showed it wasn't just Snape, Dumbledore, Silver and Ron who were with him. It was the best Christmas gift he'd ever received.

"Drink your tea before it goes cold," Severus said, and Harry laughed and reached for his tea.

"Do you have a frame sir?"

"A picture frame?"

"Yeah. I wanna keep this forever."

"We will find one. Are you planning on keeping all of the articles and positive letters in frames?"

"All of them sir?"

He picked up a letter Harry hadn't seen sitting on the coffee table and handed it to Harry. It had the Flourish and Blotts seal on the back. Harry opened it and found a flier inside with a note attached. The flier said in bold letters: ‘Open to Fae - Open To Being Fined'. The note was from Bennet and said, ‘We have these up on the front door and the back one leading out to Knockturn, and we sent it over to the Lighthouse too. Barrow has copies of it up on his door and Munroe took a stack of them to put up on his businesses. Merry Christmas Harry.'

"Is another frame in order?" Severus asked before taking a drink of his tea.

"Yes sir," Harry said with a grin. People were choosing him in a way he never imagined they would before, and the feeling filled him up until he felt fit to burst.

* * *

Harry had been thinking a lot on the letter he'd written to himself. When he'd written it weeks ago he couldn't even imagine the things that had occurred since that time. He still had things to do though if he wanted that letter to ring true when he read it again at the end of the school year. In the letter he'd written that he wanted to cast a full patronus. Up until now he hadn't been sure about having a good enough memory. He had several to choose from now and had been thinking about all of them until he had one he was certain he would work.

A few days before Christmas Eve Harry left Professor Snape's quarters after dinner and went up to the Defense office, hoping Professor Lupin would be in. He was pleased when the door opened before he could even knock and Professor Lupin came out. It looked like he was just leaving.

"Harry, this is a surprise," he said with a smile.

"Did I get you on your way out sir?" he asked.

"I was going to head to the staff lounge for tea but it's not urgent. Come in."

"I won't be long sir, or I don't think I will be. I wanted to ask if we can try again with the patronus."

"Are you sure?  I know you don't feel well after we practice."

"I have some new memories to choose from."

"Are they powerful?" he asked.

"Yes sir. The best I've got."

Lupin nodded though he looked uncertain.

"Please sir, I promise I'm not wasting your time."

"You're never wasting my time Harry," he reassured him, and moved to drag out the trunk holding the boggart. "Get your wand ready, get your memory in order."

He looked to see if Harry was ready, and Harry gave a nod, looking determined. Lupin opened the box and the boggart dementor flew out, looming tall over Harry. As he did every time he saw one, Harry felt chilled and felt a shadow creeping over him. This time it wasn't a shadow of doubt however, because he knew who was waiting for him in the memory he had chosen.

Before the dementor could advance further on him, Harry was remembering the afternoon when Dumbledore found him in his cabin. ‘He didn't want me,' Harry told him. ‘I want you Harry.' And when he'd thrown himself into Dumbledore, the man had embraced him. Then the memory shifted quickly to Snape's quarters that same evening when Snape had sat down on the couch beside him and hugged Harry on his own, promising him he would teach Harry what it was like to have a real family. Finally Harry remembered riding the lift up to the atrium in the Ministry with his new family. ‘You're ours now.'

"EXPECTO - PATRONUM!" A blinding white stag bathed in blue and silver light burst out of Harry's wand and charged the dementor. It lowered it's antlers and drove them through the boggart, forcing it back to the wall. The stag lifted the boggart with it's antlers and threw it across the room and charged again, but before it could finish the boggart off, Lupin had sent the open crate flying at it and the boggart dove into it and pulled the lid closed on his own.

"Yes! Yes Harry! You did it!" the Professor shouted with glee. "I think it's safe to say that boggart won't be coming out of the crate on it's own any time soon. It'll be nursing those wounds for weeks."

"I did it!" Harry shouted happily.

"Your parents would be so proud of you," Lupin said with a smile, holding Harry by both shoulders. "That may be the strongest patronus I've ever seen. What memory did you use?"

"It was more than one," Harry said, "but they were all the same. I just felt- loved... and wanted. I felt like I meant something to somebody."

"You mean something to me Harry, and you did to Lily and James as well. They loved you dearly."

"You knew them?"

"Your father was one of my best friends in school."

"Did you know Sirius too then?"

"I did," he said warily.

"Professor, I don't know if Sirius did what they said he did or not. But he helped me this summer. He was there for me when no one else really was."

"Yes," Lupin said quietly, "that sounds like Sirius. He was there for me too when I was sure I would have no one when I came to school."

"But, didn't you make friends in your house? Weren't you in Gryffindor?"

"I'd never had friends before." He turned away from Harry, took a couple steps, and then turned back to him and said, "Not many know this Harry, and there are no students who can know. I'm only telling you because I believe you truly meant what you said about helping Fae to the crowd in front of Gringotts."

Harry was listening raptly, wondering what it was his Defense Professor was about to confide in him regarding Fae.

"I was one of few werewolf children over the years that the Headmaster allowed secret admittance to Hogwarts. I expected to come and be completely alone with my secret. It wasn't long before James and Sirius found out though, and they accepted me for who I was. I expect you already know how accepting your mother was."

"Was she?" Harry asked. "I didn't know."

"You told the Prophet that a wise woman once said friends are family we choose. That was said by Lily."

"By my mum?"

"Yes, where did you hear it?"

"The Headmaster told me." Lupin smiled and Harry asked, "and Professor Dumbledore was the one who let you attend even though you're a werewolf?"

"Yes. All of the staff here know."

"Sir? Before school started, did you put an ad in the Lighthouse asking for suits and stuff?"

"I did."

Harry grinned at him. "I'm glad you got this job sir. You're the best defense teacher we've ever had."

"That means the world to me."

Lupin saw him to the door and when they were both in the corridor, he locked it.

"I have to get to the staff lounge or they'll wonder where I've got off to. There's always a gathering of staff around Christmas."

"Do you think you could ask Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape to go to Snape's quarters after? So I can show them my patronus?"

"No," Lupin said, "I think it's something the entire staff will want to see."

"Am I allowed to go in there with you? I'm pretty sure I got banned from the staff room off the Great Hall for life." Harry had never been into the staff lounge on the first floor, though he knew which door it was.

"Here's what we'll do," he said. "Have you ever seen someone send a message by patronus?"

"I saw Dumbledore do it once."

"You must cast your patronus as you did in my office a few minutes ago, and then give it a message and think of who you'd like to deliver it to. It can't travel great distances... no more than a mile. If you whisper the message it will go and whisper the message into the recipient's ear. If you shout it, it will shout it. It will be in your voice as the patronus is an extension of yourself."

"I just talk to it once I cast it?"

Lupin nodded and Harry said loudly as they stood in the corridor just outside the staff lounge, "Expecto Patronum!" His stag burst out of his wand again and took a few steps down the corridor before turning back to Harry with question in his eyes.

"Think of the person you want to send it to first, then say your message."

Harry thought of Dumbledore and Snape and hoped they were both in the staff lounge, and then shouted happily, "I DID IT!"

The patronus pranced around a little in a circle, and then galloped down the corridor and through a wall into the staff lounge. They were close enough to the staff lounge to hear the Patronus loudly delivering it's message through the door in Harry's voice. It repeated the message several times. "I did it! I did it!"

Lupin laughed. "Best way to show them," he said. They walked down the hall and Lupin pushed open the door to the staff lounge. Harry heard laughter drifting out of the room, and then heard Flitwick call, "Is he out there Remus? Bring him in here."

Remus turned to Harry and Harry came in through the door and found the large white and blue glowing stag prancing around happily and nudging Minerva's hand with it's ghostly nose.

"I'm so pleased!" Fitwick squeaked. "It's a very advanced charm for a third year! I think it deserves some extra credit points!" Harry grinned. He'd only been a few points away from having an O in Charms when the term had ended for Christmas holiday.

"And some house points," Professor McGonagall said, giving Harry a wink. "Ten points to Gryffindor for a good show of magical prowess."

"You'll spoil him," Severus told her from his comfortable looking chair next to Dumbledore, though he didn't look like he minded. He was giving Harry a look like he might be proud of him. Harry hoped he was.

"Let him be spoiled," Minerva told him. "That's what the point system is for."

"Harry," Dumbledore said, beckoning him over as the other staff chatted and talked about the patronus, which had finally faded. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you sir."

"Such a strong Patronus must have been conjured by a powerful happy memory."

Harry looked into his eyes and said with a smile, "I'm just glad you came for me sir. All those times I spent wishing for a family to come take me away to something better- I'm glad it was the two of you."

Albus pulled Harry into a hug then and though Harry's muscles tensed for a moment at the contact, he relaxed quickly and wrapped his arms around his Headmaster- his grandfather.

Harry's new father watched them hug and watched the look on Albus' face. In that moment he realized that as much as the two of them had helped Harry in the last few months, Harry had helped Albus get the twinkle back into his eyes, which had been missing since the start of the trial. And the two of them had been able to give Harry something he'd been sorey lacking: at least one strong happy memory that could protect him from all the bad memories he had. Severus promised himself silently that there would be more strong happy memories in the future. He and Albus would fill the boy's days up with happy memories, so he would never find himself running short on them again.

Severus longed for the day when the child wouldn't expect that he would be hit when in trouble... the day when he could be hugged without believing he was about to be injured. He and Albus would work on it until that day came. Always.

The End.
Chapter End Notes:
I hope you all enjoyed the ride with this story. I was reluctant to leave it when it came time to finish it, but everything that needed to be accomplished was. For those thinking about Harry's legal issues: Silver told Harry these types of hearings could go on for years, and he was right. Silver fights in court for Harry's right to hire who he wants and sell what he wants for years, most likely into Harry's fifth year. Honeyduke and Munroe join Harry's case and are also represented by Silver for this case.

What the outcome of the case is, and whether or not Harry sees Sirius again, I won't tell you, just in case on some far flung date I decide to make a sequel, but I make no promises.

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