Blood Magic

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world are the inestimable creation of J.K. Rowling. I am a trespasser, playing for my amusement (and hopefully yours).

Truth

Severus turned on Harry as soon as he was clear of the hearth.

"What did I tell you about the Muggle drugs?" he hissed.

"That I couldn't have any after term started."

"That you could finish what you had," Severus corrected fiercely, "on the information that was ten or less of them, before term started." Whatever possessed me to allow that? I ... he was so edgy. He'd had enough sudden changes.

"I'd forgotten that part."

"Even so, what was the point of buying more, now? Term starts in eight days. You'd only be making it harder on yourself. You're bright enough to know that!"

"Look, it was an impulse thing, okay? Ron wanted to try some Muggle sweets, so we went into a shop, and they were just there."

"But you bought two packs."

Harry ducked his head. "I ... er, reckoned you'd catch me and take one?"

Severus shook his head. "You are far too clever an idiot, you know."

Harry shrugged. "Perhaps I'm lucky I have Gryffindor friends, then."

Severus restrained a smile. He brought his focus back to the problem at hand. "You should not have been in Muggle London to begin with," he said. He had no trouble getting angry, again. That had been far too risky. "You're wanted for murder, there, in case you've forgotten."

"I didn't look much like me."

Or so you thought,

Severus added, to himself. "Do tell me it wasn't a hat and different glasses."

Harry laughed. "Fred and George gave me something that made my skin turn brown -- African brown -- and I put on a headband to cover the scar. If I'd talked to a classmate, they would have figured it out, but no one was going to recognize me from a six year old picture."

Something about Harry's knowing smile caught Severus's attention. He caught Harry by the shoulders and pulled him closer to the wall-torch. He examined Harry's face closely. He was almost certain that the boy had changed from that morning.

"Don't do that again," he said sharply. "The Weasleys' whatever."

"Why not?"

"Switching back could accelerate the changes. I think it has."

"Oh." The boy's eyes widened. "Sorry."

"It could happen with any transfiguration. When your body reconstructs itself, it tries to get it right."

Severus opened the door and gestured for Harry to follow him. They walked in silence down to the ground floor. I need to ask him about Remus, Severus thought. I won't be able to have a normal conversation with him until I do. On the stairs to the dungeon, Severus began to speak.

"About ... last night," he asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"Do you believe Remus thinks I'm ...." Severus trailed off, again. How do I phrase this?

"Yes," Harry answered, not waiting for the continuation. "Or he at least thinks it's likely. If I have to hear one more thing about how I can always come talk to him if I need help, I am going to scream."

"I don't think I've been --"

"I don't think he was suspecting that. He had decided I'd been so damaged by the Dursleys that I'd become neurotically submissive. Then he saw me with my mum's engagement ring. Probably no one else will recognize it, but Remus does. He asked where I'd got it, and I wasn't thinking and told him you'd given it to me. Then he got very strange. I didn't put it together until I last night, when you were talking and I was looking at the ring. Then I remembered how he mentioned it in Professor Dumbledore's office, and Professor Dumbledore cut him off as if he'd brought it up before, so he thinks it's important, somehow...."

"And ... I see." Severus's mouth quirked. "I suppose that would seem odd, at best."

"Please may I tell him? He won't tell. You know he won't."

Severus clenched his jaw. He won't volunteer it, but if threatened.... On the other hand, he had spent most of the last day running through Remus's behavior, and his conversation with Dumbledore, and had to agree with Harry's conclusion. Better this slight risk than to have him think I've taken a student as my lover. He won't accuse me directly, but he could make my life very difficult.

"Very well," he forced out. "You may tell him. But be back here in an hour." And if Remus rejects you for not being James's child, I swear I will make an error in his Wolfsbane Potion. Something that might be an accident.... I'll need to review the literature....

They had stopped in front of Severus's rooms. Harry nodded eagerly.

"Thank you!" He stopped only long enough to drop his shopping in his room, then bolted for Remus's office.

By the time he had reached the right floor, Harry was less enthusiastic. Telling Remus that Snape was his father meant telling him that James wasn't his father. Despite what Remus had said in the Three Broomsticks, Harry wasn't sure it wouldn't change their relationship. He liked being special to Remus, as aggravating as the last few weeks had been, and he was afraid he would be giving that up.

Remus's office door was ajar, but Harry knocked anyway.

"Come in," Remus called absently.

Harry entered the room. Remus's head snapped up instantly. He looked tired and worn, but also unnaturally alert. Harry thought it must be less than a week until the full moon. Hadn't Snape said something about working on the Wolfsbane Potion?

"Harry?"

Quietly, Harry closed the door behind him. He looked back at Remus, and saw the werewolf's eyes narrow. I must smell frightened. Harry's stomach clenched as he hesitantly approached Remus's desk.

"I... I have something to tell you." His throat was suddenly dry, making his voice come out as little more than a whisper, and he found himself looking down at the desk, rather than at Remus. He was embarrassed to feel so terrified. I fought for this! he chided himself. I want to tell him. Why do I feel like I'd rather be facing him down as a wolf?

A hand touched his arm. Harry had been staring so hard at the desktop that he had not noticed Remus rising from his chair.

"Come sit down, Harry." Harry found himself led over to the shabby, comfortable armchairs that faced the hearth in Remus's office. There was no fire, now, but at least he could tuck his feet up and lean over into the protective corner of the chair back. "Harry?" Remus queried.

"I ..." Harry realized he had no idea how to start this. I got a letter from James? I've been put with Severus because? You know how my hair stays in place, now? He covered his face. "Damn it, I don't know what to say!"

"It's all right, Harry. You can tell me anything. You know that."

"No, I don't!" Harry snapped. He forced himself to sit straight and tried to collect his thoughts. "I ... Would you still like me if I ... if I wasn't James's son?"

Remus frowned. "You have asked me this before, Harry," he said patiently, "and I have answered you before. Yes. I like you." His eyes narrowed. "Why do you need to be told that?"

Harry steeled himself. "Because I'm not." Deliberately, he summoned the sarcastic expression that he knew emphasized his nascent resemblance to Severus. "Lily and James cast a Paternity Charm on me, to make me look like James. Now it's wearing off."

The momentary confusion on Remus's face was replaced by anger. "Who told you this?" he demanded.

"James," Harry shot back. Before Remus could protest, he added quickly:

"He used a time spell to send a letter to my sixteenth birthday. They hadn't told anybody -- not even Dumbledore -- and he wanted me to know what was happening if he and Lily had died when I was too young to tell."

"It was a fake," Remus said angrily. "Lily would never have been unfaithful to James. There was no one else --"

"She didn't. He knew. It was arranged."

"What was arranged?" Remus snarled.

"It was for Herem -- Severus asked, and they thought he was dead --"

"Severus would never have asked for a Muggle-born girl for Herem!" Remus screamed.

Harry stared back at him. Slowly, the werewolf got his fury under control. Harry watched his breathing steady. Remus closed his eyes. Harry thought he must be remembering Lily -- perhaps after Snape had broken up with her. He appeared to be preparing to speak.

"That was why James said yes," Harry said softly.

"Harry ... This cannot be true," Remus said. "It can't ... it...."

"Look at me," Harry said. He stood up and walked over to Remus's chair and stood, arms crossed, a few feet away from Remus. "Look at me. You saw me in June. Do I look like I did then? Like I did three weeks ago?"

Remus licked his lips nervously. "What about the potions?" he asked suddenly. "Professor Snape could be --"

"He is giving me those potions because I was changing so fast that it hurt. They make it hurt less. But I had already started to change before he came up with that. Beside, he doesn't want -- well, didn't want...." Harry sighed. Remus was still regarding him in stunned disbelief. "Would you like to see the letter?" Harry offered. "I made you a copy."

"I would rather see the original."

Harry shrugged. "You can't keep it, but okay."

He had taken the letter from his room, and stopped into an empty classroom to make a copy. Now he took both out of his otherwise empty school bag and handed the original to Remus.

Remus stared at the red parchment. "Looks like Potter stationary," he muttered. To Harry's surprise, he did not unfold the letter immediately. Instead, he raised it to his face and inhaled the scent of it. His entire body twitched. He sniffed it again, all along the edges.

"James and Lily both touched this," he said. His tongue glanced nervously along his lips. "Three or four weeks ago. That would be right if it was sent by a time spell. Three weeks and a few days, right?"

"Right."

"You have touched it. I don't believe anyone else has, though it has been near Professor Snape and Madam Pince."

"Again, right. I made a copy under Madam Pince's instruction, and I gave the copy to Severus. I didn't show him the original, but it's been in his rooms, though mostly in my room, which shouldn't have much of his scent in it."

"But you have a bit of his scent on you, as you always do, now." Remus's eyes suddenly widened. He got unsteadily up from the chair. "Stay still," he ordered, as he approached Harry. "Excuse me." He leaned over Harry and sniffed the top of his head. Harry froze. Remus lifted his hair and sniffed the back of his neck. He stumbled back and to the hearth, where he leaned against the mantle.

"Remus?"

"Your scent's changed. Not a lot, just .... That's disturbing. That's not supposed to happen." Remus focused directly on Harry. "Professor Snape is your father, then?"

"Yes. You might want to read the letter."

"Oh." Remus looked down at the red parchment, which he seemed surprised to still be holding. He returned to his chair and lowered himself carefully into it. At last, he unfolded the papers and began to read.

Harry watched anxiously. Remus smiled almost immediately, then chuckled. Expressions moved unrestrained across his face -- disturbed, wistful, amused, sorrowful. At one point he looked a thought away from crying.

At the end, he stared a long time at the same place on the red paper. He lifted his fingers to his lips, kissed them lightly, then pressed to the kiss to the page. When he handed it back to Harry, his eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"You would think," he said in a strained voice, "that one would stop missing people. Sometime. Certainly in so many years, but it smells like they were just here." He rose unsteadily. "Here. Put the copy on the table, please. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, thanks. Though I should probably head back after that."

Remus whipped around. His first flash of annoyance changed quickly to a shrewd look. "You are trying to be a good son to him."

"Yes, in part. And I'm going to try to end my petty feuds. Those are the only things James asked of me, aren't they?"

Remus nodded, and disappeared through the door from his office to his private rooms. Harry heard running water. A minute later, Remus returned with a tray holding a teapot, milk jug, sugar cubes, and two cups.

"Good tea, this time," he said, "but it will need to steep a bit. I can bring the water to an immediate boil, but magic cannot extract the flavor from the leaves any faster."

At that, Remus seemed to run out of words. He looked silently at Harry until Harry began to panic. "Tell me you still like me," he pleaded.

"Harry!" Remus shook himself from his reverie and reached out to grasp Harry's forearm. "Harry, lamb, of course I still love you." Harry nodded and took two deep breaths, to try and steady himself. "Don't ever doubt that," Remus soothed. "Have you been afraid to tell me?"

"No -- well, yes, but it didn't matter, because Severus wouldn't agree to it. Dumbledore is the only other person who knows, but you were making such a fuss...."

Remus laughed nervously. "I wish you had told me. I'd given up on the explanation of simple dominance, and moved to wondering if he was blackmailing you or poisoning you, and then ... then ...."

"And then I showed up wearing my mum's engagement ring."

"Well... yes."

"Yeah, I figured out what your problem was with that, last night. That's how I got him to let me tell you. He gave it to her again, after the Herem ... thing ... to give to the child, if there was one. So it's mine. Dumbledore had had it. He did something to it -- I shouldn't take it off, ever, so get used to seeing it."

Remus thought that over.

"So, Professor Dumbledore is trying to become your guardian so he can continue to cede supervising you to Severus?"

"Yes." Harry grinned suddenly. "And it doesn't suck."

Remus chuckled. "Well. That's a surprise."

Harry laughed. "Yes!"

"So, what's it like?" Remus asked.

Harry looked at the mantle while he thought.

"About like it's supposed to be," he concluded finally, "oddly. I mean, the first day I was here, he was on me about my clothes, and smoking, right? This less than twelve hours after saying I could sleep in his rooms, but I was not to expect any interaction, that he was completely incapable of acting either as a parent or as a companion... Suddenly, bamm! it's, 'you can't go outside wearing that!' and 'you're smoking a garden pesticide?'"

"Dear Merlin! You've nearly got his voice!"

"Well, I can imitate it pretty well, now." Harry shook some errant locks of hair back from his face. "He's very relaxed about some things, and bizarrely conservative about others. This aversion to jeans is very odd to me."

"A lot of the old families feel that way."

"Maybe, but I was raised by Muggles."

"That's different."

"Yeah and... Well, he admits he's deeply prejudiced, but I'm a half-blood -- who was raised by Muggles! He has trouble dealing with that sometimes, I think. But on the whole, it's much better than I would have expected." Harry looked down. "It ... it feels nice that it matters to him? And he seems, happy, almost? Relatively speaking, anyway. Maybe that's stupid."

Remus shook his head. "No, he has seemed happy, at times." He smiled mischievously. "The returning students are going to wonder who hexed him. It certainly had me terrified." He laughed. "And last night, he came in all cleaned up ... I haven't seen him look like that since ... since Augustus died, I suppose."

"Were they lovers?" Harry managed to restrain a "too," but Remus still looked at him oddly.

"No. Augustus expected even his friends to be presentable."

"Oh. Well, it will be strange when the students are here. He's going to have to go back to treating me like he always did."

"Why?"

"Because no one can find out. Once Voldemort finds out, we're both in danger. Eventually, I'll look too much like him, we think, and then he'll need to stop spying. Dumbledore is trying to decide when to tell the Order."

"Ah. Did he know you planned to tell me?"

"No, but he'd asked us to. He won't mind."

Remus nodded and poured the tea. "May I see the other document?"

"Severus versus the Marauders?"

"That one."

"You might not like it."

"Harry," Remus said firmly, "I am the only remaining Marauder. I deserve to know what he has told you about us."

"All right. Just warning you. Shall I bring it tomorrow?"

"Please."

---

Chapter 23: Choices