A Family Affair

Once Sean's decision to accompany the trio had been accepted by Draco - and once Draco had forced Hermione and Sirius to accept that decision - Sean wandered off to his own room to gather his gear for the upcoming journey. Sirius and Hermione stayed with Draco as he seemingly haphazardly stuffed clothing and toiletries into a large backpack.

"It's no wonder we had such a hard time tracking you down," Sirius said thoughtfully as he watched the younger man pack. "You look nothing like you did when last I saw you."

"Yeah, well. Time stands still for no one," Draco replied absently.

"He means we were looking for someone fitting a particular description - which you certainly do not," Hermione clarified, reaching out to tug playfully at Draco's wavy brown hair.

Draco flashed a grin at Hermione that often reduced the local girls to giggling masses of jelly. "Oh, that," he said. "I had a rather bad experience with Muggle hair-dye right after I moved in with Sean. Hard to keep it a secret after that, really. His..uh.. girlfriend of the moment...suggested I try something a little less drastic to avoid future catastrophes." He paused in his packing to glance around the room, searching for something. Flipping his hair back over his shoulder in a gesture that reminded Hermione a little too much of Lavender Brown, Draco opened the drawer in his bedside table and withdrew a faded photograph in a simple metal frame. "Besides which," he said quietly, "I wanted to completely sever my ties to the past. I wanted to forget." Cradling the photo to his chest, he looked up at Sirius and gave the man a sad smile. "It didn't work."

"Nothing short of memory charms ever does," Sirius replied gently.

Nodding in agreement, Draco tucked the photograph into his backpack and fastened the closures that would hold the bag shut. Settling down on the bed beside his bag, he hesitantly picked up his wand, running his fingertips lightly over the polished wood. After a moment of unnatural silence, he looked up at the two Gryffindors. "Don't everyone talk at once," he said wryly.

Hermione blurted out what was foremost in her mind. "I watched you dance," she said, immediately feeling stupid and wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

Draco's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Did you, now? I barely remember dancing last night. I was a bit knackered."

"A bit?"

Hermione's query was met with a smirk. "A bit," he insisted. "I hadn't made it to 'paralytic' yet, much less comatose, as I intended."

"Why ever would you want to?" Hermione asked, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.

"It was my birthday," Draco said, as if that explained everything.

"So to celebrate, you drank yourself stupid."

"Something like that," Draco replied, still smirking. "So did you enjoy the show?" he asked smugly.

The faint pink tint that lit Hermione's cheeks answered the question, but Hermione spoke, anyway. "I was rather shocked, actually."

Draco mumbled something that sounded like 'prudish virgin bookworm', but Hermione pointedly ignored him.

"I mean, I had no idea that you were gay," she said lightly.

"What?" Draco cried. The conversation had now drawn Sirius' attention, who was looking at the younger man with a rather dark expression. "Not that there's anything wrong with it," Draco covered hastily, remembering suddenly that Sirius' best friend just happened to be gay.

"You think Mike's gay?" Sean interrupted from the doorway, where he lounged against the doorframe, a compact duffle bag dangling from his hand. "That has to be the funniest goddamn thing I have heard in ages," he continued with a grin.

"Granger, whatever gave you the idea..." Draco trailed off, flustered.

Hermione, slightly confused but enjoying seeing Draco red-faced and at a loss for words, tilted her head slightly to the side and looked thoughtful. "The way you were dancing with that man last night, I just assumed..."

Draco, having no idea whatever what Hermione was talking about, as he had indeed been quite drunk the previous night, looked to Sean for help. "What man?"

"Don't look at my, kid. I'm not your keeper."

"What man?" Draco asked again, looking to Hermione this time.

"Handsome Asian man, a little shorter than you. Incredible smile," she explained.

"Jessie," Draco and Sean replied in unison.

"Jessie's had the hots for Mike for..what? The last five years?"

Draco nodded. "I was more than a bit disturbed when I figured it out, I must admit. But he's an excellent dancer," Draco continued, shrugging.

"Jessie is always lamenting the fact that he had to go and fall for the most blatantly heterosexual man in the tri-state area. He always ends up crying on my shoulder when Mike leaves the club with another of his one-night-girlfriends."

Draco shot out a booted foot to kick Sean in the shin just a little too hard to be considered playful. "Will you shut up?" he hissed, glad that he was no longer barefoot.

Sean replied to the assault with a choice expletive and leaned down to rub his leg.

"Are we going, or not?" Draco asked shortly, refusing to look at either Hermione or Sean.

Sirius stood and, fighting the urge to laugh at the boy's discomfort, reached once again into the pocket of his jacket. This time he pulled out a tattered, out of date magazine which Draco knew must be a portkey.

Suddenly more apprehensive than he had imagined he would be, Draco shoved his wand into the back pocket of his jeans, shrugged into his battered denim jacket, shouldered his backpack, and reached around Sirius to pick up his guitar case. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the battered instrument case, but wisely said nothing.

"Everyone take a corner," Sirius instructed, holding out the magazine.

Sean, wondering if he were going crazy and feeling as if he had stepped into a sci-fi film, crossed the room to join the others in placing a hand on the old magazine.

"Right, then," Sirius said. "The portkey is set to respond only to your wand, Draco. Just touch it to the paper and say...what was it Hermione?"

"'There's no place like home'," Hermione supplied, with a wry grin.

Draco rolled his eyes. "This is home," he muttered. Handing the guitar case to Sean to free one hand, he retrieved his wand and touched it to the paper. "Don't let go until you feel the ground under your feet," he warned Sean. "And try not to knock me on my ass." Drawing a deep breath, Draco repeated the activation phrase and felt the long-forgotten tug at his middle that accompanied travel by portkey.

A moment later, Sean did indeed stumble as his feet touched solid ground again, his eyes wide with awe and more than a little shock as he looked around him. Draco, too, looked on his new surroundings with wonder. After six years, he was back inside of Hogwarts once again.

Hermione, looking a bit green, pressed a hand to her mouth and one to her stomach, swaying a little on her feet. Sean and Draco both reached forward to steady her, accomplishing nothing more than bumping hard into one another. In spite of the wave of nausea that had hit her, Hermione smiled at the two. In some ways, they reminded her so much of Ron and Harry....

"All right, Hermione?" Draco asked. The concern in his voice sounded so strange to Hermione, who remembered his scathing insults and snide remarks all too well.

"I detest portkeys," she replied simply.

"Beats hell out of American Airlines," Sean said with a wide, boyish grin. He tore his gaze from Hermione to continue his survey of the room they were in.

The plain stone walls seemed something out of a fantasy novel; the huge four-poster bed and antique armoire added to the medieval feel of the room. A cheery fire and the red and gold fabrics of the bed hangings and upholstery kept the room from being at all dreary, and a soft light seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.

Upon further inspection, Sean found the light was coming from the walls themselves. The complete lack of lamps, electrical outlets, and technology of any kind amazed him.

"This way," Sirius said, heading for one of the room's three doors.

Draco gently took his guitar case from Sean's hand, and the two followed Sirius and Hermione through the doorway.

In the adjoining room, the four of them were met by a familiar face.

"Professor Snape!" Draco cried, his face breaking into a wide smile.

At the sound of his name, Severus looked up from the Potions essay he had been grading with a slight scowl. He stared at Draco for a long moment before he recognized the youth. "Draco?" he asked incredulously.

The younger man nodded slightly, still smiling.

Snape rose from behind his desk, moving toward the young man with panther-like grace. His eyes took in the Muggle clothing, the ponytail, the earrings. The man before him looked nothing like the boy he once had known. There were, he knew, other changes that could not be so easily seen.

With the beginnings of a smile curling his lip, Snape offered his hand to Draco, who clasped it briefly in a firm handshake. "Welcome back, Draco."

"Thank you, sir."

"Severus," Snape corrected.

Draco nodded. "Severus," he repeated.

Snape looked past Draco to the man standing just behind, and his almost-smile turned once again into a scowl. He fixed the stranger with a disapproving glare, which was met with an icy cold stare as Sean took a step closer to Draco, as if to protect him.

"Could we dispense with the hostility, please?" Draco asked smoothly. "Really, it's quite unnecessary." Casting a long-suffering look at Hermione, he added, "Honestly, how many over-protective father-figures can one man stand?"

Hermione smiled at him, and her smile turned to a soft laugh as Sirius lightly slapped the back of Draco's head. Sean grinned, Snape gave them all a look that said he was clearly too dignified for such antics, and the tension melted away.

"Severus, Sean Jacobs," Draco said by way of introduction. "He's gotten my worthless ass out of trouble almost as often as you have."

The almost-smile twitched Severus' mouth again. "Sean, Professor Severus Snape."

Sean offered his hand to the older man and was much relieved when the professor shook it.

Introductions done, Severus invited the others to have a seat and settled into his favourite armchair beside the fire. Draco dropped his bag beside the sofa and took a seat, leaning his guitar case against the sofa's arm. Hermione sat beside him, and after a second of hesitation, Sean sat on Hermione's other side, his duffle bag nestled between his feet. Sirius leaned against the mantle where he could easily see everyone else.

"May we speak freely?" Severus asked, looking pointedly at Sean.

"Some things may have to be explained as we go, but anything you can say to me can be said in front of Sean," Draco replied.

Snape nodded once in acknowledgement. "You've explained the situation to him?" he asked, glancing at Sirius.

"In generalities," Sirius confirmed.

"How much have you left out?" Severus inquired, his mouth tightening noticeably as it did when something aggravated him.

"Almost everything," Hermione said in a quite voice.

Sighing, Severus slumped back in his chair, wondering where to begin. As he struggled to gather his thoughts, the door to the sitting room opened almost silently. A tiny girl with white-blonde hair slipped into the room, her frilly pink dress contrasting sharply with the subdued tones of the room. Her eyes on Severus, she rocketed across the room, her tiny patent leather shoes tapping softly on the stone floor. With a very serious look on her face, she climbed into Snape's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, eliciting the first real smile Draco had ever seen on the professor's face.

"Papa, Uncle Harry's sick again," she informed him sadly.

Sirius looked alarmed at her proclamation, but Severus shook his head slightly as if to tell the other man not to worry. "You've got to go and see to him, Papa," the little girl insisted.

Draco stared at the little girl in shock. She looked exactly like the baby pictures of him that his mother used to torture him with when he was younger. Except of course his mother had never made him wear frilly pink dresses, and his long blonde hair hadn't been tied back with a massive pink bow.

"I believe your 'Uncle' is old enough to take care of himself, Alexis," Severus replied gently, his hands tenderly smoothing her silky blonde hair.

"He's really sick," Alex whimpered.

"Perhaps you and I should see to him, Alex," Sirius said, stepping forward.

With a delighted squeal, Alexis squirmed out of Severus' lap as she realised for the first time that other people - including Sirius - were in the room.

"Siri!" she shrieked, flinging herself into his arms as he knelt down to scoop the child up and toss her into the air. Giggling madly, Alex leaned down to kiss Sirius on the nose. "I missed you!" she confided.

"I missed you too, Princess," Sirius assured her.

"After we go and see Uncle Harry, I can show you the present Remmy gave me."

"Present you say? I really must speak to him. He's spoiling you, awfully," Sirius told her as he moved toward the door with Alex clinging to his neck.

After the two had left the room, Severus turned his attention back to his guests. Draco was staring at Snape in disbelief. "Papa?" he asked.

"Where that child got the idea that I am her 'papa', I shall likely never know, but I haven't the heart to disabuse her of the notion," Snape said.

"She...how...." Draco stammered.

"When you disappeared, your father's position in Voldemort's ranks was threatened. Lucius was eager to regain favour, so once again he offered his own progeny. This time, however, the child was specifically created to be handed over to Voldemort for the Rite. Your mother, of course, could not allow it. She contacted Dumbledore, and he managed to rescue Alexis the night she was born. An elaborate hoax convinced everyone concerned that Alexis had been kidnapped and killed." He paused for a moment before continuing in softer tones, a hint of sympathy in his voice. "Rumours surfaced not long afterward that your mother was unable to cope with the lost of a second child. They say she committed suicide, but we all know that simply isn't true. I'm very sorry, Draco."

Draco looked as if the wind had suddenly been knocked out of him. Blinking away tears, he clenched his hands into fists, his breath coming a bit rapidly.

"Now that Lucius has learned that Alex is still alive," Severus continued, "she is in very grave danger."

"I'll kill him," Draco snarled.

Beside him, Hermione flinched a little at the sudden venom in Draco's voice. Draco glanced over at her, took a deep breath, and forced his hands to relax.

"While I have no objections to your doing so, I think it would be better for everyone if you managed to stay out of Azkaban."

Draco's jaw clenched, but he managed to contain his fury. He nodded his agreement, not trusting himself to speak.

"So what do we do?" Sean asked, reached around Hermione to place a calming hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Lucius Malfoy is a very powerful wizard," Severus explained. "He's in a stronghold surrounded by magical wards and protections, and he's accompanied at all times by two or more wizards who act as his bodyguards. We need Draco's help to find a way to bypass the wards, but otherwise I don't believe that there is anything the two of you can or should do," Severus said, addressing his words to Sean but giving Draco a pointed look.

"I will face him, Severus. I owe him. And I owe it to Alex to make certain she never has to suffer because of him."

Snape merely nodded, understanding Draco's feelings far too well.

"Severus," Hermione interjected, eager to change the subject. "Has Harry been ill often, lately? Alex said that he was sick 'again'. It he all right, do you think?"

The Potions master snorted. "He isn't ill at all. He simply has a hangover, or, more likely, he's still drunk. Without you and Sirius around to coddle him, he's been hiding in a bottle of Firewhisky."

"Poor Harry," Hermione murmured sympathetically.

"'Poor Harry' needs to pull himself together," Snape replied tartly. "Isabella would not approve, I can assure you."

"He lost his wife and his child, Severus!" Hermione cried. "Do you really think it's just that easy to put the pieces back together again?"

"Perhaps not easy," Severus countered, "but possible. He isn't even making an effort. The man is supposed to be a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake! He either needs to summon the courage to go on living, or find the guts to end his suffering for good. Wallowing in self-pity will get him nowhere."

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but found herself at a loss for words. As much as she pitied Harry, she knew Severus had a point.

The room fell silent for a moment. Then Sean leaned forward from the deep recesses of the corner of the sofa. "What the fuck is a 'Gryffindor'?" he asked.

Among the three of them, Hermione, Draco, and Severus managed to come up with an explanation that Sean could follow, even if he wasn't quite certain what the 'Sorting Hat' was or how in the hell a school for magic could exist without the whole world knowing about it.

Suddenly all of the science fiction and fantasy films he had seen seemed a whole helluva lot more realistic.