Deepest Bonds

Deepest Bonds

*

Renewed Relationships

*

"Stay away from me, woman!" a loud yell was heard echoing through the halls of Hogwarts. "I will definitely not participate in any of your idiotic plans!"

"Don't be foolish, Severus," sighed Poppy Pomfrey, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling. "You came to me to find out what is wrong, and I told you. And then I told you what to do to recover from it. And you sure as hell will do as I say!" she added with a determined tone.

"No, I won't!" The Potions Master seemed to have given his last word on the topic, whatever it was.

"Now, now, do calm down, you both," they heard Albus's amused words. Behind the Headmaster they saw a couple of professors, as well as a herd of curious students. "What's the problem, anyway?"

"Albus, your mediwitch has gone bloody insane!" hissed Snape venomously. "She -- she seriously thinks I would ever leave my dungeons and move to some other quarters! Because I 'need some light and fresh air,'" he added with a perfect imitation of Poppy's most overcaring voice, though with some added venom.

Now, the Headmaster chuckled. "Actually, I think that could be pretty good to you," he said with a slight smile. "You do spend too much time in darkness, Severus. It can't do much good to you."

"So now you're against me too, eh?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "How wonderful of you, Albus. I always knew I could trust you in my time of need." Needless to say, his tone was sarcastic.

"My boy, I'd never be against you," the ancient wizard replied with a gentle smile. "I just think that you should get new quarters. Fresh air and some sunlight surely could not do any harm!"

"But Headmaster," said a small voice from among the students, "sunlight is dangerous to vampires!"

At this, everybody froze. Snape turned slowly towards the children. "Who said that?" he asked with an icy cold voice, looking even more threatening than usually. All students cowered, but nobody confessed.

"Now, now, Severus, do calm down," Albus said cheerfully, placing a calming hand on his favourite professor's arm. "It hardly matters who said that, now does it? You're not a vampire after all, are you?"

"Of course I'm not!" snapped the Potions Master, glaring at him. "I do know what the rumours say, but against the popular belief, I happen to be a human!" 'Even if the Ministry laws don't count me one,' he thought then, but of course he didn't say it aloud.

"Excellent!" The Headmaster practically beamed. "Then you surely have nothing against your new quarters that Poppy must have already picked for you! Haven't you, Poppy?" he asked from the mediwitch.

"Yes, I have," the witch replied briskly. "In fact, they aren't very far from here!" 'Or from Sirius's quarters,' she thought, not saying it aloud, either. Sirius had asked for new quarters somewhere in the castle's upper floors. It wasn't that his current ones in the upper dungeons weren't comfortable, no, but after Azkaban and especially the Veil he didn't feel too good about darkness, either. So, of course she'd used this on her advantage to arrange them both new quarters near each other.

"Albus, this is ridiculous," hissed Snape. "I have no intention at all to move into new quarters!"

"But of course not," the Headmaster said cheerfully. "I'll have the house-elves move your things immediately, and all you have to do is to walk to your new quarters!" Most of the people present smiled at this, but nobody dared to laugh. Snape looked positively murderous. None of them would put it past him to attack anybody who dared to laugh.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Albus again as Snape seemingly wasn't going to respond. "Poppy, where are Severus's new rooms? I'd like to walk him there!" Yeah, this bumbling fool hadn't changed in any way.

"Well, his new classroom is the previously empty one next to Reliel Ravenclaw's portrait," the mediwitch said, smiling broadly at her "achievement". Of course, both she and Albus knew of Sirius's plot, as well as that Severus would have wanted nothing rather than to move. "The large one, with a beautiful view to the lake. And his quarters are behind the third door to west from there."

"Wonderful!" The Headmaster's smile got even broader. "Come on, Severus, let's go to see them!" He grasped the Potion's Master's arm and, under the bemused gazes of the other people, started to drag the black-clad man through the corridors towards the place Poppy'd mentioned.

"Let go of me," hissed Snape. "I hate you, Albus Dumbledore!"

"No, you don't," replied the older wizard calmly. "You're just saying that to make me feel better. Oh, and Severus?" he asked then. "Could you possibly change the password of my office? I have nothing against it, far from that, but Kingsley's feeling quite uneasy about it, that's all."

"Sure," replied the tall man stiffly. However, he didn't say anything else.

It wasn't until then that Albus noted his Potions Master's changed appearance. Sure, he was still in his usual stern black robes, that would not change. However, instead of the usual high collar that almost reached his jaw, Severus now had a robe with no collar at all. In fact, the Headmaster caught a glimpse of the almost black, dark green shirt underneath it -- but no sign of the slave's collar.

This, of course, made him wonder. He knew better than well that the magic of the bond would have made Severus suffer great pains if anybody but his Master saw him without his collar. However, invisible collars usually had just the same effect. So how could Severus walk around with seemingly no collar at all, but not feeling any pain, either? Albus made a mental note to ask either Severus or Sirius about it later. Right now wouldn't do, with the couple of people who still lingered in the hearing area.

"And here we are," Albus said cheerfully as they reached the third door from the new Potions classroom. "I'll make sure your things are moved up here as soon as possible!"

Snape merely snorted. Then he pulled his arm from the ancient wizard's grasp. "I can very well enter on my own," he said sharply, then opened the door and stepped inside. Through the thick door the Headmaster and the others who were present heard several locking charms being murmured.

Once inside his new quarters, Severus sighed in relief. He'd got through it, and even without losing his gloomy image completely. Really, his Master's plan had worked just right.

"I take it that it worked, then?" asked a calm voice. As he turned around, he saw his Master standing in an open doorway that, by the looks of it, led to a study. All his things were already present. Of course -- the house-elves had been busy with them ever since the morning, as he'd already known that he would move.

"Yes, it did, Master," replied the Slytherin, bowing as the other man stepped into the room. "I'll continue throwing dirty glares at both Albus's and Poppy's direction for a couple of weeks, and nobody will suspect anything out of ordinary. How is it that I find you here?" he asked then.

"Oh, I just checked that the house-elves had put everything on its rightful place," replied Sirius cheerfully. "As we're now in the public part of the school and it'd be difficult to me to sneak here in daytime, Poppy took the liberty of arranging me new quarters next to yours. My rooms are connected to yours through a door from your study to mine. The door can be locked on both sides," he then hastened to say as he saw the weird expression on Snape's face, "and it is so thick that even if I tried to tell you to open up, you wouldn't hear it. If you don't want me into your rooms, you can easily lock me out with no fear of me getting in." He sighed inwardly in relief as he saw the slave's expression turn a bit more relaxed. That was good. It wouldn't do to unnerve Snape, the man didn't deserve any more worries into his life.

"Master?" asked Snape silently after a moment of silence. As Sirius nodded, indicating that he was indeed listening, the Slytherin continued, "Could you... Would it be possible that you called me Severus? I know this sounds odd," he continued quickly as he saw Sirius's surprised expression, "but it's just... My both previous masters always called me just 'Snape', claiming that a slave was not worth a human's name. I was never called Severus until I came to Hogwarts, and hearing you call me Snape just... well, it makes me nervous," he finished rather uneasily.

"Afraid, you mean," Sirius said, smiling in what he hoped to be a soothing way. "Very well. I'll call you Severus... under one condition." As the Slytherin raised his eyebrow questioningly, the Animagus flashed a grin and said, "I'll call you Severus, if you find a flameproof spell and use it instead of that potion."

Snape -- err, Severus just huffed as Sirius made his way towards the study and then his own rooms to prepare them for Harry's visit. However, when he was sure that his Master couldn't see it, he almost smiled. Not quite, but almost. And that was more than he'd done ever since Remus's death.

*

Harry Potter was very excited, though nervous, as he arrived to Hogwarts. The letter he had got had been astonishing, but he didn't want to get his hopes too high. In his mind he vowed that if this was some kind of a sick joke, he would seriously harm the one responsible for it. This was a thing nobody was allowed to play with, since it was too important to him.

The thing being, Sirius's death. Only that it now seemed that his Godfather wasn't dead after all.

The young Auror dug the letter from his pocket again, wanting to examine it for yet another time. And even though he'd decided against it, he allowed hope raise its head within him as he eyed the lines on parchment.

"Dear Harry," it said,

"They say that an old dog learns no new tricks, but seemingly that's not true. You say, 'die,' and it dies, you say, 'sit,' and it sits, no more dead. I just thought you'd like to see what's become of the dog, so could you possibly pay us a visit? We're still staying at the old place. You remember that painting, don't you? No, not the old hag, the one that I almost destroyed as I didn't like it. Don't bother to reply -- just come to see me, okay?

Love,

Snuffles".

Some parts had been written with a bit bolder letters, the difference being small enough to be an accident, but Harry could clearly see the message hidden behind them: Sirius was alive again. It was Sirius's handwriting, anyway, and only a few knew of the name "Snuffles". Those who did would have never done anything like this to him. Or at least he had to hope so, for he couldn't bear it if this was just a joke.

For a moment he'd wondered whether the letter meant the Grimmauld Place instead of Hogwarts, but had dismissed the thought almost immediately. He and Luna were going to move there after their wedding, and there was always somebody fixing the places, so nobody could hide there without the cleaners noticing. So, Sirius had to be in Hogwarts. And it had to be Sirius.

To his great surprise, he was already expected. Albus Dumbledore stood by the main doors of the castle, smiling as he saw the young Auror approaching. "Ah, Harry, my boy!" he exclaimed in greeting. "You've come here because of a certain letter, am I correct?"

"Well... yes, Sir," replied Harry, running a hand nervously through his hair. "I was just wondering whether it could really be true." He held onto the letter like it had been a lifeline.

"Well, I'm glad to tell you that it is indeed true," the Headmaster said cheerfully. "And I've told you a hundred times to call me Albus, Harry. Come on now, follow me. I'll show you to him."

They walked through the corridors to a part of the castle Harry had never before visited. "Si -- Albus," he said, "may I ask where we are? I don't know if there are any classrooms around here."

"Oh, but there is indeed one," replied Albus with a beaming smile. "The Potions classroom was moved here just today." Ignoring Harry's shocked expression, he said cheerfully, "Ah, here we are. The password is 'chocolate frog,' I believe." And truly, the door they were standing in front of flung open at the words. Albus winked at Harry, then said, "Go inside, my boy. I'm sure you're already eagerly expected."

A bit nervous, Harry stepped inside, closing the door behind him. As soon as the sound of the door being closed echoed through the quarters, the sound of hurried footsteps caught Harry's ears from the next room. The next thing he knew he was closed into a huge bear hug that emptied his lungs.

"Harry!" exclaimed a voice he'd thought he'd never again hear on his waking hours. "Oh, Harry, you've grown so much! Although you're still shorter than me," continued Sirius teasingly as he let Harry step a bit backwards, eyeing the young wizard from head to toe. As he did so, Harry did the same to him.

Sirius now looked better than he'd ever seen his Godfather. Even the pictures he'd seen of Sirius's younghood couldn't rival this. The shiny black hair fell past the man's broad shoulders in silky waves. The grey eyes were twinkling with a joy Harry had never seen in them, and a broad smile adorned the angular face. His skin was still pale, true, and looked even paler with the deep blue shirt he was wearing, but it no more looked sickly, being natural paleness instead. A silver hoop hung from the Animagus's right ear, and there were silver rings in his hands. All in all, Harry'd never seen Sirius so charming and healthy.

"Sirius," he breathed, now embracing the other man in turn. "I almost didn't believe it. I hoped, true, but I couldn't believe." Looking up in the shining grey eyes, he said then, "Although I should have expected this from you. Only Sirius Black could trick even the Veil of Death!"

Now Sirius laughed, a true, hearty laugh that Harry had longed to hear from those lips. "It's good to be with you again, too," he said then mischievously. "Now, come on, Puppy. Let's have some tea and biscuits -- not doggie ones, I promise! -- and you can tell everything you've been up to while I couldn't look after you. I've only heard the general news, but I'd like to hear everything in your life from you personally."

"You've heard the general news?" asked Harry, starting to follow Sirius towards a nearby table, where a steaming tea pot and two cups were already waiting for them. "Then you surely know that..." His voice trailed off. What if Sirius didn't know it already? He really didn't know how to tell about it.

However, to his great relief, he didn't have to. "That Remus is dead?" finished Sirius, the twinkle in his eyes dying for a moment. The Animagus sighed deep. "Yes, Harry, I'm aware of that. And even though it still does hurt, I've come to live with it."

"Right." Harry sat down and took the offered cup. Just then, however, he noticed something in Sirius's outreached hand. Something that he recognized from a book he'd seen when Hermione had been doing some research a few years back. Something that had been burned in his mind, although he'd never thought he'd see it in real life. Cursing aloud, he quickly stood up, knocking his chair over and dropping the teacup.

Sirius looked at him in pure astonishment. "What's wrong, Harry?" he asked, confused.

"How could you?" snapped the younger wizard. "How could you, Sirius? That's a Master's ring! Do you really think I don't think what it means? That -- that's just inhuman!"

"Merlin, Harry, neither of us wanted it," sighed Sirius, his eyes casted down, avoiding the enraged emerald eyes. "His previous master, however, left him to me as an inheritance. If I hadn't accepted the bond, it would have been transferred to the previous master's son. As this previous master was Lucius Malfoy, and his father before him, I could not let the poor man suffer any more, and I definitely couldn't let him fall into Draco Malfoy's hands. You should be happy about it, anyway," he added harshly. "Not only my slave is now better than under his previous masters' rulement, but this bond also pulled me from the Veil."

"Oh." Harry calmed down a bit, ashamed at his sudden outburst. Of course Sirius would never voluntarily enslave anybody. Only a monster could do that, and despite the rude things he'd done in his younghood, Sirius wasn't a monster. "Who --" he started to ask, then remembered the rumours -- the rumours that had started only shortly after Hermione had been doing her research on slavery. "Snape," he said. "It's Snape, your slave, isn't it?"

Sirius just nodded mutely. "Yes, it is," he said after a moment of silence. "It was really shocking at first, like you maybe can imagine. But, well, I've come to live with it. Sort of." He sighed.

Harry, however, sat straight in his chair. "Sirius," he said levelly. "I apologize for my outburst, I know you're not a monster and would never enslave anybody, given the choice. However, if you ever use this bond on your advantage, you'll have me to deal with. I and Snape maybe aren't in the best of terms, far from it, but I respect him from everything he's come through, and even more, if he truly is a slave. So, if you ever hurt him, I will hurt you, my Godfather or not. Don't you dare to forget that."

Sirius rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and muttered something that sounded like, 'And now a fierce little brother on top of it,' but Harry wasn't quite sure what that meant. Aloud the older wizard said, smiling a bit, "Of course not, Harry. Like you said, I'm not a monster. I've come to notice that Severus is anything but the bitter bastard he appears to be. That man has been through a lot, and certainly more than I would have ever survived. Twelve years in Azkaban are nothing compared with what he's had to bear. I'd die rather than hurt him in any way. He simply doesn't deserve that."

"Oh. Good." Harry wasn't exactly sure what he should say now. Suddenly, he felt very awkward.

Fortunately, Sirius knew what he wanted to hear him talking about. "So, this fiancée of yours," the Animagus said, grinning a bit. "What is she like? When did you start dating? May I come to the wedding?"

"Of course you may," laughed Harry, relieved at this change of topic. "In fact... I was thinking about asking Arthur Weasley to represent my father, but now that you are here... Would you take the honour?"

"Gladly, Harry!" replied Sirius immediately, a broad smile on his face. In Wizarding wedding ceremonies, the groom traditionally had his father with him, while the bride had her mother on her side. If the true parents couldn't attend to the ceremony for one reason or another, some trusted older friend took their place. Sirius truly seemed to be honoured that Harry had chosen him to stand on James's place.

"That's good, then," the young Auror said. "Luna's already asked Tonks -- don't look at me like that, they're really good friends," he said hastily at Sirius's disbelieving expression. "Both are -- well, a bit weird, if I can say that about my fiancée." And, as Sirius nodded, encouraging him to continue, he launched into a long talk about his favourite topic, his beloved Luna Lovegood.

And all the time, Sirius just listened, a warm smile on his face.

*