Slytherins Son

Bonding-Chapter 5

Severus steps out of the fireplace, and the second he raises his head, he sees a flash of colour running at him, nearly knocking him back into the fireplace.

"Severus!" It cried.

The little boys' messy sobs were mixed with hiccups and whimpers.

"Harry...what happened?" Severus demands, slowly squeezing the boy back.

"I woke up...you...you weren't there." Harry gulps.

Severus winces. "I'm sorry. Harry...I am so sorry to scare you. I didn't mean to."

Harry blushed, and pulled away from the man.

"I was speaking to a family that I'm hoping can watch over you while I am at work." Severus explains.

Harry clumsily wiped away his tears. "Oh?"

Severus nods, and leads Harry over to the couch.

"You see, when I came to your house, I wasn't planning on taking you. Merely making sure you were happy, and if need be, talking to your aunt and uncle. But then I saw your living conditions, I knew your parents wouldn't want you there, and knew I had to take you."

"So..." Harry takes a steady breath. "Okay."

"They agreed to come over on your birthday, that way you can get to know them and their son, and I can see if they're a good fit to watch you while I'm working." He explained.

"They have a son?" Harry asks.

"He's your age." Severus says, encouraged by Harrys curiosity.

"I've never had a friend before." Harry whispered, as if ashamed to admit it.

Severus bit his lip, his suspicion had been correct, Harry had truly been a lone soul. The awful muggles, he wished he could curse them so badly. But he would have to settle to trying to find friends for Harry and keeping the boy safe. "Of course, I will still be your guardian, I'll be there on most weekends, and hopefully be home at some nights." He smiled slightly. "But when I'm not there, I think the Malfoys will be a fine family to watch you."

Harry nods, and now that he was calm, the two went to eat their second breakfast together, this time drop scones.

"Hey Severus?" Harry asks, fingering with his napkin.

"Yeah?" Severus answers, sensing another long talk.

"You...you said we could talk, about why she was pointing at me? You made it seem...like a big deal, did something bad happen? Am I in trouble?"

Severus sets down his fork calmly, and tries not to appear nervous. He obviously was anxious to explain this. Harry was an amazing kid, but could have fragile moments, like moments ago when Harry ran to him in hysterics.

"Harry...you did nothing wrong." Severus says hesitantly. "It's simply the hand you were dealt."

Harry frowned, and if Severus wasn't so stressed, he probably would have smiled. Sometimes he forgot how young Harry was, and how he didn't always understand words or sayings.

"You see...like the muggle world, the wizard world has all sorts of people, good, bad, people in the middle...we're a mix." He forces himself to meet Harry's eyes. "When you were a baby, there was this one very bad wizard, and he hurt a lot of people."

"Did he hurt my parents?" Harry blurted.

"How...how did you know that?" Severus asks.

"Well, Aunt Petunia said it was a car accident, but nothing else...it didn't seem right."

Severus nods. Once again Harry was showing a great mind for such a young boy, he just wished it wouldn't be displayed over such morbid topics.

"Yes," Severus admits slowly. "This man...killed your parents."

Harry took a shaky breath. "My parents were good."

"They were." Severus says.

Harry met Severus's eyes, "And this man...he's alive?"

"It's complicated." Severus says, not wanting to get into the complicated conversation of Voldemort's life. "But, yes."

"But that's not fair!" Harry bursts out. "He gets to live, but not my mum and dad?"

He pants heavily, his eyes teary. "It's not fair..."

Severus wraps an arm around the angry kid, whose eyes are scrunching in fury. "Anger is not wise Harry." Severus says. "Anger will only make you stupid, and stupid gets you killed."

Harry nods weakly, taking in Severus's advice. He wipes his fists clumsily over his tears, to dry them up.

"We cannot change what happened." Severus continues. "It may not be fair, but sadly it is how it is." He keeps his arm around Harry, allowing the boy to relax.

"Who is he?" Harry asks once his tears have finally dried.

"It's a very bad name, Harry." Severus says. "I'll tell you it, but you have to understand that this name is not to be taken lightly and it caused a lot of people a lot of pain."

Harry nods wisely.

"His name," Severus says reluctantly, "Is... Voldemort."

The little boy shivers at the name, like most wizards do.

"He was once a normal boy, a student at Hogwarts." Severus says. "But dark ideals took hold of him, they infected his mind, and his ways and appearance suffered." Severus thought of Voldemort's snake-like face with its red eyes and the almost handsome boy he had been before he fell into darkness.

"You met him?" Harry asks, tilting his head.

Harry was staring at Severus with so much trust, Severus almost lost his nerve. He knew that if he didn't speak just right, he could lose Harry forever. Severus barely knew the boy, but he feared he wouldn't be able to handle it if he lost the boy who looks so much like James but had a soul that seemed to match Lily's. "A long time ago," He starts. "After Lily and I weren't friends anymore, I lost my way..."

"What's that mean?"

"There was a time..." He struggled to get the words out, he couldn't even look at Harry's eyes, he didn't want to see the trust in Harry disappear. "When I followed the dark lord."

Severus slowly rolled up his sleeve to show Harry. "I was hurting, and in pain, I turned into darkness."

Harry stared at the mark, Severus shifted as he did, he itched to pull his sleeve down over the mark. The mark on his skin disgusted him, and honestly? It also terrified him. The mark represented the darkness that was in him. The fact that he had been completely lost without Lily to guide him. "I went back to Dumbledore." Severus continues hurriedly. "I heard what Voldemort was trying to do to you and your family, I tried to prevent it."

The silence from Harry continued, he simply sat there, staring at Severus's forearm.

"You...changed."

Severus nearly wept in relief.

"You wouldn't do it again." Harry looks up, taking shaky breaths.

"I wouldn't." Severus says softly.

Harry nodded for a while, he was a smart kid, but he was still young, and all of this was a lot for the boy. What he did know was that Severus was kind, he had saved him from the Dursleys, given him a bed, food and clothing...he liked Severus, truly. With all that in mind, he decided to stay, Severus was flawed, but so was he. Perhaps the two flawed men could make a life here, among the trees.

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Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I'll get the next one out soon.

(I do not own the Potter franchise)