Slytherin by Choice

Chapter 3

At Home

I sighed as I set my keys down on the table next to the front door of my house. I was slightly surprised, as I looked at the clock in front of me that didn't tell time, to see that I was the only one at home. The three hands of my children were steadily on Hogwarts and my hand was sitting on home. Ginny's hand, however, was hovering on away. I wondered if she was at work, which I doubted because she was always home before I was, or if she was doing some other thing.

I walked into the kitchen, not giving her absence a second thought and found a note held to the fridge with a magnet. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a beer before I took the note down and walked over to the dining room. I sat down at the table and read:

Harry,

I'll be out late tonight, don't wait up for me.

Ginny

I sighed, noticing just how much we'd drifted apart in the last few years. Her notes used to be signed Love, Ginny or Your Most Adoring Wife and they used to be addressed to My Dearest Husband. I was moderately surprised that she didn't just call me Potter.

It was the out late, don't wait up that made me wonder if Ginny wasn't finally repaying me in kind. I shrugged it off, not really in the mood to care what my estranged wife was doing in her free time. Especially when it gave me a much-needed night away. I pulled out the magically powered cell phone (an invention of George's) and called Draco.

He answered right away. He never could resist my call.

"Harry, hello," he said.

"Hello, love," I answered. "Are you free tonight?"

"Believe it or not, yes," he answered. "Are you slipping away from that fiery redheaded wife of yours?"

"Actually I daresay she's slipped away from me for the night. Left a note on the fridge telling me not to wait up for her."

"I could do some digging," Draco suggested. "Find out who she's cheating on you with."

"What do I care?" I asked. "It's about time she repaid me in kind. Anyway, what time shall we meet up and where?"

"What are the odds she'll be home tonight, do you know?" Draco asked.

"Not high. I can always put up a ward or two just to give us a bit of a warning in case she comes in earlier than expected."

"Then how about I see you at your place in about an hour?" Draco asked. "I'm not much for yet another hotel room, if you know what I mean."

I smiled, not that he could see it. "Sounds perfect," I answered. "I'll see you in an hour, love."

"Love you too, Harry," he answered, then ended the call.

We never said goodbye. It seemed to permanent and we never knew if a goodbye would be the last one for months on end or if it would be a matter of hours before we got to say hello again. I was silently praying for the day when we wouldn't have to count the days between seeing each other, but the chances of that happening were slim to none and it wasn't just because I was married. He was too.

An hour later I was finishing the touches on dinner when there came a knock on the door. I couldn't help but smile as I quickly finished what I was doing and hurried to answer. Draco stood at the doorway, handsome as ever, with a smile on his face.

"Smells delicious," he said as he walked in and took off his traveling cloak. It could be more than a hundred outside and he would still insist on wearing the damn thing. Now that we were getting into fall, I could actually see the need for it. Draco, however, was an aristocrat through and through.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. Either we would eat now or we would eat later, so I wasn't worried about the food.

"Actually I'm starving," Draco answered, wrapping his arms around my waist. It was such a nice change to have him in my house instead of the two of us having to go out to some random no-name hotel for a night away from our wives. "What did you make?" he asked.

I sighed. "Food," I answered with a smile. He chuckled and I couldn't resist the urge to kiss him.

He chuckled as we slowly separated. "You're distracting," he said softly.

"If you think I'm distracting now, just wait until after dinner," I whispered in his ear. I felt the shiver go through him and it almost felt like we were seventeen again.

It gets worse every time. He's here or I'm there for a few hours and then one of us has to rush off again, leaving the other behind in our hurried escape to avoid a scandal. The longest we were together was two weeks, five days, and six hours and it was four years ago. I was the one who had to hurry home, thanks to James and a severe Quidditch injury. That night after Ginny and I had gotten home, I stayed up after she'd gone to bed and I cried because I couldn't be with the man that I loved.

After that the pain of this forced separation caused me to leave him. I couldn't deal with not knowing if he was going to come back. I couldn't stand the thought that I'd never be able to come home to him every night. I had tried to patch things up with Ginny but I couldn't, and it wasn't long before I went crawling back to him.

He left my house around one o'clock that morning. I stayed in the guest room that night, it wouldn't have felt right if we had been in the same bed Ginny and I shared. I didn't see him off and we didn't say goodbye. There were no plans made for future trysts because we couldn't plan the future. We were just too busy and too married.

I heard Ginny come home around five that morning. I heard her in the kitchen, getting ready for the day ahead of her, and I stayed in the bed I'd shared with the man of my dreams. I heard her walk up the stairs and go into her room. She muttered a curse aimed at me and a few minutes later I heard her in the bathroom. It wasn't until seven, when she left for work, that I came out of the room. I sighed as I realized, yet again, how separated we were from each other and I resolved myself to finally ask for the divorce that we needed to have years ago.

At Hogwarts

James, Lily, and I continued to rebuild our fractured family bonds over the next month. We studied together, even though we were all separate years. James answered my questions and we both helped Lily with hers.

I think, perhaps, that the biggest shock came a week later. Rose and Hugo had virtually ignored me since I had been sorted into Slytherin. Rose had watched as the Sorting Hat called out my House and she never spoke to me again. Hugo...he wasn't there that day, but he felt the same way she did.

Whatever it was that had changed, whatever it was that James and Lily had said to them after we'd talked, they walked up to the three of us and sat down.

I stared at my two cousins in shock for a moment before they gave me apologetic smiles. "Hi, Al," Rose said, smiling. "How have you been?"

My eyebrows rose. "What's going on?" I asked, turning to my siblings.

James sighed. "Rose and Hugo decided to apologize for their behavior," he said. "They feel bad about how we've alienated you the past few years."

I closed my books quickly and picked them up. "Save it," I said, picking up my bag from the floor and rolling up my report on wolfsbane. "I don't need anyone's sympathy or pity. I've been just fine since I became a Slytherin and it's time I headed back to where I belong."

I walked away then, wondering if they would come after me. If James and Lily really wanted us to be a family again, they would follow me. If they didn't, I'd have a reason to believe that they didn't care at all about me. I'm the brother and cousin none of them want. They'd have been happier if Teddy had been me. At least that way they'd have a Gryffindor in my place.

I made it halfway down the hall before James came running out of the library. "Severus!" he called. I forced my legs to stop, but I didn't turn my body.

"I meant what I said in there," I informed him without turning.

"I know," James answered. "I'm fully aware of the fact that you did just fine without the rest of us and I'm sorry that we did that to you. Rose and Hugo just wanted to make up for the fact that they did what the rest of us did."

"Do you realize that the only two family members we have that have actually spoken to me in the last four years have been da and Hermione?" I asked. "Mum, Ron, Grandpa and Grandma, and Percy, they've refused to have anything to do with me. Uncle Bill and Charley don't care but they're not around that often. Uncle George couldn't care less about the nephew in Slytherin. According to dad, he hasn't cared about much of anything since Uncle Fred died. I don't have a family, James," I said softly. "Dad and Hermione are my family."

"We're trying to fix that, Al," James said softly.

I sighed in frustration. "Severus," I snapped, turning and walking away. As I walked away from them, I remembered how close we all used to be. I remembered that we'd all grown up with each other and that we'd been happy. Wherever that happiness went, it wasn't here. It never would be.

I dumped my things onto my bed before I journeyed out into the grounds of the school. There wasn't anyone I wanted to be around and absolutely nothing I really needed to do. I'd somehow inherited Hermione's brains, even though she's only related to me by marriage.

I followed a path I'd discovered in my first year that led to what was probably the most secluded spot on the grounds. It was completely surrounded by trees, bushes, and boulders and I'd found it completely by accident. I needed somewhere to be alone and my feet had guided me here. I told Da about it once. He said that it used to be his spot, once upon a time, when he was a student and needed a breather.

It was small and enclosed, and no one knew about it.

Or so I thought...

When I parted the curtain of branches, I was surprised to see another student sitting on the rock in the center of my hideaway. I vaguely recognized him as a fellow fifth year, a Ravenclaw. I didn't know much else about him, but I was curious to know why he was sitting here alone.

He looked up at me and I was started by how blue his eyes were. They were like the clearest, deepest ocean in the tropics on a sunny day--they were that blue. His hair was the same black as my own, but not nearly as messy (thank you, Da). When he stood up, he was almost exactly my same height and our bodies were the same.

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying. "I didn't know anyone else came here."

He chuckled. "I was just thinking the same thing," he said. "You're one of the Potters, aren't you?" he asked. "The Slytherin?"

I nodded. "Yes," I answered. "My name's Severus. What's yours?"

"Oh, I'm Jaryhn Ingleward," he answered.

"Nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand. Most people, when a Slytherin such as myself extends his or her hand in friendship, turn away. They don't want to be associated with anyone from the House that turned out more dark witches and wizards than any other. In fact, I once heard someone say that all dark witches and wizards who went bad were in Slytherin, but I have to believe that it simply isn't true. A Ravenclaw, for instance, can be just as cunning or power-hungry as a Slytherin. Look at the Grey Lady.

Jaryhn, however, didn't respond the way most people do. Maybe it's because I'm Harry Potter's son, maybe it's because I surprised him, or maybe it's something else entirely, but he took my extended hand and shook. It was a rarity, even for me, and I was glad that someone finally looked passed my House. I may have chosen Slytherin, but that's only because Slytherin chose me first.

"Nice to meet you," Jaryhn replied with a smile. I couldn't help but notice the small things about him. The way his lips were slightly up-tilted, as though he constantly had a small smile on his face. His eyes were tilted the same way and he had a dimple on his left cheek. His eyelashes were so thick that they looked as though they should belong on a woman, but then again I've seen better eyelashes on men that I have on women.

I didn't want to let go of his hand and he didn't seem to want to let go of mine. I finally forced my hand to let go of his and I sat down on the rock, leaving enough space for him, should he choose to stay. "So what's your story?" I asked.

Jaryhn sighed and sat down next to me. "I just found out that my aunt died last night," he said softly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "Were you close?"

Jaryhn nodded. "She basically raised me," he answered. "She was probably the most important woman in my life. My mother died right after I was born in a Death Eater attack. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and my aunt had been watching me that night. I've been with her ever since and now that she's gone, I don't know what's going to happen."

"What about your father?" I asked. "Is he around?"

Jaryhn sighed. "I've never met him," he said softly. "From what I understand, he took off just before I was born because he wasn't ready to be a dad, according to my aunt. Now that she's gone, someone's going to have to find him. They won't let someone like me live alone."

"Why not?" I asked. "My da's godfather was on his own at sixteen."

"Because I'm not going to be sixteen until next August," he answered. "I was born in just enough time to be in this year."

"Really?" I asked. I, on the other hand, would be turning sixteen in April. It was rather nice to not be one of the youngest in our year. I'm fairly certain my dad was the youngest in his year, if not one of. Sure, Hermione's birthday is later in the year, but she's a year older than dad and Ron. Even Lord Malfoy is older than my father by a matter of weeks.

"So what about you?" Jaryhn asked. "What brought you here?"

"My feet," I answered with a smile. I got a chuckle out of him before I gave him a real answer. "Actually ever since I was Sorted into Slytherin, my family's sort of alienated me. The only two people who really ever talk to me are my dad and my aunt. Everyone else has decided to hate me, especially my mum. My brother and sister were pretty bad about it too, until just a few weeks ago. They're trying to be a part of my life, but they don't really know what that means."

Jaryhn nodded. "That's too bad," he said. "I haven't known you very long and I can tell that you're someone I'd want around in my life," he said softly, causing my heart to start racing. I couldn't say anything, not yet. Not until I was sure. And I had to do something about Scorpius first. I couldn't drag an innocent Ravenclaw into what could very well be the scandal of my Hogwarts years. I'll bet my father never had anything like this happen to him in Hogwarts.