August 31, 1991
After being acquainted with the Weasleys for four weeks now, Harry has become extremely comfortable in the wizarding world and with their family. At first, the initial shock each member of the Weasley seemed to have from being in the presence of ‘Harry Potter’ confused him until his new friend Ron explained it to him. He supposedly killed the evil wizard that killed his mum and James when he was only one year old! ‘I don’t even remember doing that… how did I even do magic before I knew it existed? Is Severus a wizard too?’ he thought to himself.
Speaking of his dad, he still had to get that chest out of the vault at Gringotts but wasn’t sure how to. He figured he better do it today before they board the train for Hogwarts tomorrow. Sitting down at breakfast, he finally turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and bit his lip wondering if he should ask them. Mrs. Weasley noticed he had hardly touched his breakfast placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Are you feeling alright dearie? You’re not getting sick, are you?” she asked as she moved her hand to his forehead. Harry leaned into the touch and smiled internally; it felt nice to have someone care about him. He remembered the first day he met them she immediately hugged him tightly to her and complained that he was much too thin for her liking.
Harry shook his head and figured now or never. “Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you a question?” he asked. “Well of course honey!” she told him. “Well… my p-parents left a chest in the vault at Gringotts along with a letter and told me to bring it to Hogwarts. My mum wrote I’m supposed to give it to Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. It’s too big to carry, so I was wondering if someone could help”
Suddenly, the twins and Percy dropped their forks on their plate and turned towards Harry. Harry felt the flush creep up his neck. Mrs. Weasley gave her children a look and then turned towards her husband who seemed to be just as flabbergasted as the kids.
After a solid minute of quiet except for the sound of Ron chewing, Fred was the first to speak “Did you just say you’re supposed to give something to…”
“Professor Snape?” finished George. Harry turned towards them and nodded. “Yeah um… he’s… he’s, my dad.”
At this, Ron stopped eating. He’s heard terrible stories from all his brothers, well aside from Percy really, that Snape was known as ‘the greasy git of the dungeons.’ He swallowed and stared at his new friend. “Harry, your dad is James Potter, hence your last name being you know… ‘Potter,’” Ron said emphatically. Harry felt the blush creeping higher on his neck “Well of course I know my own name Ron!” he replied heatedly, “but my mum wrote a letter to me telling me James Potter just protected us and that Severus Snape is my real dad… Why is everyone giving me that look?” he asked noticing everyone’s face at the table.
Even though Percy didn’t necessarily have a problem with Professor Snape since he was the most studious out of all his brothers, he still knew the man was a complete bastard. He was more shocked though at hearing the potions professor is his father. “So, the boy-who-lived isn’t even a Potter? He’s a Snape?” said Percy turning to his parents. Molly gave him a hard look and turned back to Harry. Arthur seemed to be no help at all now as he was still sitting there staring at nothing against the wall with his mouth hanging slightly open. “Harry dear, we surely can take a trip and get the chest out for you. We can go right after lunch and then pack it for you tomorrow,” she said while placing a hand on his cheek and stroking it gently.
Harry nodded and replied with a simple thank you. Now he really didn’t feel like eating his breakfast since every member of the family aside from Ginny, Molly, and Arthur were staring at him. Arthur seemed to snap back into it and admonished his children for staring at the boy, and everyone resumed their breakfast.
******
Severus Snape sighed as he leaned back into his chair. He was nursing a headache all afternoon preparing for the arrival of the miscreants tomorrow. He already knew he was in for it with the Weasley twins this year and groaned at the thought of that. What he then realized was that it was 1991.
He groaned again, ‘the Potter offspring is going to be here tomorrow’ he thought to himself. He didn’t know how he was going to react to seeing the boy. He doesn’t even know what the boy looks like but is assuming he’s going to look like a clone copy of his archenemy. ‘James Potter, bloody bastard’ he thought. He not only hated Potter for the years of torment he put him through during his time at Hogwarts, but he took his… his ‘my Lily’. Severus slammed his hand down on the end table and stood up. He hardly allowed himself to think of her anymore. It took years to get over her… except that’s the thing. He wasn’t over her. She was still the love of his life, his absolute best friend. ‘Then she went and married the devil's offspring.’
He walked over to the small kitchen in his quarters at Hogwarts and grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey from the shelf. Not even bothering to grab a glass, he took a long swig from the bottle and grimaced at the burn he felt when it went down his throat. He walked back over to his chair and sat down with the bottle in hand. ‘I do not know how I am going to put up with the brat for seven whole years. Maybe he’ll fail out or better yet, get expelled because he’s going to follow in his father’s footsteps'.
If only he knew the true parentage of the boy-who-lived.
Chapter 5