Daddy Dearest

Chapter 7 - Memories

Thursday, September 12, 1991

Harry only stayed down in the common room for a few moments before going up to his dormitory, his thoughts on his mother. She'd always said that his father had possessed an uncanny ability on a broom; and Harry, apparently, had received the same talent. The teachers, of course, all knew that Harry Snape was truly Harry Potter, but no one else did. His mum had made sure of that.

Thursday, June 30, 1983

Harry peeked around the corner into the room where his mother and her sister were working on Lily's gown for the wedding.

"I still think this is going to be something along the lines of a royal wedding, Lily," the blonde, slightly horse-like woman told her irritably as she worked on fitting the dress. "You could have the wedding that everyone dreams of. I only came to help you because I thought this was going to be very much in the public eye and wanted to make sure you don't disgrace the family."

"Pet, this isn't in the public eye so much as disappearing from it," Lily said, touching her scar softly. "Lily Evans Potter, one of the two survivors of the Killing Curse, is well-known, but Lily Snape will be completely unknown. No one will suspect that I was Lily Potter. I will effectively disappear, and save Harry from more publicity, the poor boy. I promise, as far as you're concerned, both Harry and I will cease to exist after the wedding. The next news you'll have from me will be my death. I won't even tell you when I have more children, if you don't want."

"Don't call me Pet," Petunia Dursley snapped, giving her younger sister a very sharp look, her lips thinning. "And that seems like a very mercenary reason for the wedding, Lily. I don't want your children around my Dudley, and Vernon dislikes magic more than I do."

"The only thing mercenary about this is having a small wedding. I wouldn't, except it's the only way to disappear, and it is my second marriage. I love Severus; I really do." Lily sighed. "Who knows? If you have more children, you may get a witch or wizard of your own, and then you and Vernon will have to come to understand magic, at least. You're only afraid of it because you don't understand it."

"Maybe," Petunia said icily.

"Things will never be like they were before, though," Lily said wistfully. "I'm a different person, now, between Hogwarts, and the Marauders, and James . . . and . . ." Her voice cracked, and after a tense moment Petunia gave her a slight, awkward hug.

This was the last time Harry would seen his mother and his aunt together alone.

Saturday, December 17, 1983

"Mummy? Mummy, where are you?" Harry stepped fearfully down the long, empty corridors, tears running down his face. "Mummy?"

Lily Snape woke at the sound of her son's voice and slipped quietly out of her husband's arms, going out into the chilly hall without even bothering to pull on a house robe over her light, sleeveless nightgown. "I'm right here, Harry love."

"Mummy, I'm scared."

Lily picked up her three-year-old son, holding him to her. "What's wrong little one?"

"B-bad men. Bad men are coming to get me."

"Shh, Harry. No one's coming to get you. Your new daddy and I will protect you, and so will this." She traced a finger lightly along the boy's scar. "Your father's love for you is right there . . . and this is his love for me." She took the boy's chubby little hand and placed it on her scar--a thin, serpentine line that started near her elbow and blossomed into a star-like pattern that resembled the flower she was named for. She knew from doing this several times before that different sensations flowered from her scar when the boy touched it, depending on his mood, and that only Harry could bring those sensations. This time an exquisite, burning pain ignited her skin where the child's fingers lay, informing her of how terrified he was. She had never touched her son's scar in times of fear, to prevent him from feeling similar pain. What she didn't know, was that her son knew what happened when he touched her scar. He felt an echo of it every time.

When his mother removed her hand, Harry curled his fat little fingers into a ball, trying to stop them from throbbing. His mother touched his scar again, sending in torrents of love and comfort that had a slight sting of sorrow to them. She only left her fingers there for a moment, then set down her son, hugging him close.

"Do you want to stay with me?"

Harry nodded, and Lily took her son to bed with her.

Monday, September 3, 1984

"We are gathered to mourn the loss of Lily Snape, wife of Severus Snape and mother of Harry Potter and Lenora Snape. "After surviving the rise of the dark lord Voldemort, the greatest horror of our time, she died after giving birth to one of the many wonders of her life, her daughter Lenora. She was--"

Sirius's voice was cracking, but it was hidden by a loud sob from her sister, Petunia Dursley, who was there with her four-and-a-half-year-old son, Dudley, her husband, Vernon, and her three-month-old son, Abel.

Sirius was, while trying to be serious, barely able to contain his emotions. He forcefully laid down his carefully prepared notes, swearing under his breath and looked around at the gathered crowd--the few who had been close to Lily; her friends and her family. "We all knew Lily; we all loved her. She was a wonderful person. She had a heart big enough to love all of us, despite our flaws. Lil couldn't hold a grudge if her life depended on it, and she was in love with two men--James Potter and Severus Snape. She'd loved them both since Hogwarts, much to James's dismay, especially since she was almost afraid of James at first. He was powerful and rash--Severus has been overly stable for as long as we've known him. Whatever battles she had to fight on that front, she chose to marry James. I must admit it was a relief to me--with her safely married to my best friend, I could get on with hating Snape in peace." Noticing that his attempt at gentle humor had failed, Sirius grimaced and proceeded. "Anyway. After James was killed she married Severus, forcing us out of our comfortable routine. Severus was, after all, what kept her alive.

"She lived just long enough to bear Severus a child--little Lenora. She died a week ago, on the day Lenora was born. Most would probably say she died from complications in Lenora's birth--but there were no complications. Lily died of a broken heart. She would have died shortly after James, despite surviving the Killing Curse, but she held on for three years for Harry and Severus. Lily was a remarkable woman--and it was impossible not to love her."

Thursday, July 31, 1986

It was Harry's sixth birthday. Aunt Petunia had sent a gift and a letter. The gift had been a book of fairy tales that had belonged to Lily, and the letter had come with a very formal Muggle photograph of the five Dursleys--Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, Abel, and little Neeja. Neeja had been named for Lily, in a roundabout kind of way--Neeja was a Hindi name meaning "lily." The fact that the pictures didn't move fascinated Harry, and this was the only way he got to see his aunt and cousins.

Uncle Vernon was large and surly, as always, his dark, graying hair and mustache neat. He looked displeased, as he did in most of the photographs the Snapes had received of the family.

Aunt Petunia was very thin and prim, not the most attractive woman, but she looked progressively friendlier each time a photo was sent.

Dudley, who was several months older than Harry, was (proportionally) larger than his father, much to his mother's dismay, and his blond hair treated like his father's brown. His piggy eyes and facial expressions revealed him, to the trained eye, to be a bit of a bully and not particularly intelligent, but Harry, who had met the boy only once (at his mother's funeral) was oblivious to that fact.

Abel had his father's deep brown hair, but more his mother's build--long and thin. He was just a little older than Lenora--two and a few months, where Lenora would be two in just under a month. He was full of life and obviously disliked being posed for the picture.

Neeja was the youngest, only five months old. She was sitting on her mother's lap, tugging at Petunia's carefully organized blond hair, her own curly light red-blond hair pinned out of her inquisitive pale blue eyes.

After studying the picture, Harry turned to his stepfather. "Dad? What did Aunt Petunia say this time?"

Severus Snape smiled at the little black-haired boy. "Not much this time. She thinks that Abel might be showing his first signs of magic, and is desperate to know what to do. Neeja has started talking, and Abel tells her all about your mother--though Petunia often has to correct him. She suggests that we might get together to see about Abel--shall we invite them up some time next month?"

"Yeah!"

Thursday, September 12, 1991

A short visit from his aunt and younger cousins had followed. Abel wasn't showing signs of magic (though Lenora had been), but by that Christmas he was. Over the next two years, Aunt Petunia, Abel, and Neeja--who was showing her first signs of magic at the end--had visited several times. Harry hadn't seen them since he was eight, Abel and Lenora were four, and Neeja was two, when the letters and visits had suddenly stopped. In four years, Lenora and Abel would both be arriving at Hogwarts, and Neeja would just two years after that.

Harry, doing his homework on his bed, wondered briefly why the letters and visits had stopped. Dudley, the only non-magic child of the lot, had never come, and neither had his uncle. Vernon Dursley hated magic and was furious that two of his children had magical powers, as near as Harry could tell.

With a slight sigh, Harry got back to his Potions assignment. They had class the next day, and he'd meant what he'd told Seamus about having to work harder than anyone else.