Elemental Genesis

Chapter Seven: Slashed Hopes and Shattered Dreams

The crisp morning air was cut by a large shout of happiness. Soon after, an annoyed voice belonging to whom many described as a 'greasy-haired git' yelled back some choice comments at the former. It was obvious by the way that the two spoke to each other that they didn't get along.

This was the manner in which the sleeping residents of 12 Grimmauld Place awoke and was how many of those actually awake got their first laugh of the day. Today, July thirty-first, was a special day. To be more exact, July thirty-first would have to be called a tremendously special day. A specific, very significant article had appeared in the Daily Prophet just a few days ago that radically changed the life of a very important person.

Captured Death Eaters Free Black

Despite Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge's allegations that the Dark Lord He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has not returned, a group of five Death Eaters (supporters of You-Know-Who) have been captured by high-ranked Aurors in the town of Great Whinging. After being interrogated using Veritaserum, these dark wizards claimed to be under "orders" to attack the home of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Minister Fudge claims this incident to be a hoax set up by Albus Dumbledore. Accusations aside, however, the identity of one of the apprehended is hard to dismiss.

Peter Pettigrew, a person believed to have been killed about fourteen years ago, is actually alive and well, if you overlook now possessing a magical silver hand. Further questioning revealed that Pettigrew was really a spy for the Dark Lord and after a confrontation in the middle of a busy street, went into hiding. He will be given the Dementor's Kiss in three days for the combined murders of James and Lily Potter, as well as the deaths of twelve Muggles: all of which he had framed on former friend Sirius Black. Black will be given a full pardon and compensation for his unjust imprisonment. In a statement to the Daily Prophet, Black commented on his new freedom. "I'm happy that I'm finally proven innocent and can walk down the street a free man." Black has also told the Prophet that he plans to retake his position as an Auror and that he will claim custody of his godson Harry Potter, as per the wishes of the late Potters.

Albus Dumbledore laughed heartily, eyes twinkling madly, when he saw the sour expression on the face of Severus Snape. "Come now, Severus! The man has had little to celebrate for in a long time."

The potions master continued to glower. "Well, Headmaster, I'm sure that Black can 'celebrate' a little later in the day. Also, preferably, NOT IN MY EAR!"

The oft-called mad headmaster of Hogwarts continued to chuckle while the mood of Severus Snape continued to worsen. As any attending Hogwarts student would know, Snape in a bad mood was never a good thing. One person in the large crumbling house was far too elated to care though, not even bothering to shut up the portrait of his ill-tempered mother.

The said extremely happy man, to most known as Sirius Black, skipped into the dusty and molding dining room. He had a good reason to be in such a good mood: he was proven innocent after about fourteen years of being falsely convicted as a murderer. Today, he would finally be able to claim custody of Harry Potter, his godson. This day was something he had been dreaming about for a long time. He was going to make today the best birthday that the aforementioned young man had and nothing, positively nothing, was going to ruin it.

Seeing a cheerful person does absolutely nothing to improve a person's bad mood: it makes it worse. Snape was no exception to this universal law of human nature. Within moments, he was chasing the other man around, screaming the various threats he will inflict if Sirius didn't stop his "prancing". Sirius wasn't listening. Deftly avoiding Snape, he continued to "prance" with a giant smile plastered on his face. The headmaster wasn't any help to the situation. Dumbledore was currently rolling on the floor in his mirth: apparently he found the scene very amusing.

The only other occupant of the room that could possibly stop Sirius' antics smiled weakly while leaning heavily on the elbows propped on the tabletop. While his best friend was looking pretty well (the prospect of taking care of Harry had certainly helped), Remus Lupin wasn't doing too well. It was still a few days after the last full moon and the werewolf needed to recover. But seeing his friend, so happy after years of sadness and depression, did him some good.

Sirius Black did indeed look better. He wanted to give Harry a surprise, so he definitely made himself appear less like a convict. Now he resembled the happy man he used to be, but there was still a ghost of Azkaban shadowing his blue eyes. He had his black hair, cut short but still long, in a ponytail and did not look emaciated like before. Obviously, he was now in great health: both physically and mentally.

12 Grimmauld Place was the one place other than Azkaban that Sirius did not want to return to. He had to be forced to stay there and though he still hated it, he was sure that he wouldn't mind once Harry moved in. Considering how much he disliked his family, it was no surprise that he had to be practically dragged to the detested house. They almost disowned him when they found out he was Sorted into Gryffindor. The decision of the Sorting Hat had made the already strained relation between him and his kinsmen even worse. In their eyes, only Slytherin would do. Ravenclaw would be tolerable, but never Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. This probably was because the "blood traitors" of the Black family invariably came from these Houses. Actually these "traitors" were the most decent people the family produced. Despite the fact that he went against everything the family believed in, he did get the vast fortune and ancestral home that came with the name. He didn't want it, but it came with the territory of being the last Black. The place was ideal, though, for the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, the resistance against Voldemort.

"Honestly, Sirius! Must you make so much noise? You woke everyone up!" This came from the forty or so matron of the Weasley family as she doled out generous helpings of sausage to the children's plates. Fred and George, her twin boys, smiled at the former Marauder: he had already given them plenty of ideas for pranks. Not that their mother was supposed to know, of course. Molly Weasley was an intimidating sight when mad. Molly straightened to her full height and with arms crossed in an obviously angry manner, she scolded, "They're still young and need their rest!"

Ron, her youngest son, said through a mouthful of sausage, "C'mon, lay off, Mum! Harry is coming today!"

"Well, yes, you do have a point..."

The only Weasley daughter piped up, "Harry's coming?" As the attention of the table turned to her, she immediately blushed. The fact that she inherited the trademark Weasley red hair made it worse. Ginny turned bashful eyes to her toast and scrambled eggs.

Hermione Granger, a close friend of the family's, smiled across the table at her best friend's younger sister. The girl's obvious crush on the famous Harry Potter had certainly endured. "Yes, he is. Knowing him, he'll be pretty surprised at the party we've set up for him."

Rolling his eyes, Ron said, "Of course, he will! I bet he never got a single acknowledgement, much less a present, from those Muggles!"

The table went silent at the statement. Then Sirius stood up, startling everyone. "I'd better be going. Gotta pick up the birthday boy."

"There will be no need, Sirius," Dumbledore said.

"What?"

"I've already sent someone. As you can see, he has already left."

"No! You can't do this to me!" Sirius began to pace, a sure sign that he was going to begin a rant. Fred, George, and Ron started to snicker while Hermione just sighed in resignation. "You don't know what I had planned! I was to have this huge entrance, all dark and ominous looking. Then, Vernon and Petunia were going to be green cows, with purple spots no less! I was going to chase his fat cousin screaming nonsense words! You've ruined my plan! I was going to terrorize those Muggles!"

"Exactly. That is why I sent Severus."

"You sent SNIVELLUS?!"

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Severus Snape was certainly a new sight on the painfully normal boulevard known as Privet Drive. He had to be feeling hot; the sun was scorching that day. Many of the lawns were starting to yellow due to the need to conserve water. It didn't help that his bad mood, already aggravated by Black to very dangerous levels, had exacerbated even further. I'm just going to grab Potter, take him to Black, and prevent myself from killing both of them. Old habits die hard, Death Eater habits of killing and torture included.

Number four, right...here? Is this right? This house couldn't be the home of the renowned Boy-Who-Lived. Wilted flowers dried in the heat, while the grass was already burnt brown. The fence was in disrepair, as was the walk, and dirty windows reflected back the glaring rays of the morning sun. It seemed extremely unlikely that the arrogant Potter lived here. The house stuck out on this prim and disturbingly proper street like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, the headmaster had given him this address. Albus Dumbledore was rarely, if ever, wrong.

Snape pressed the doorbell button with one long pale finger. He was sure that people were inside. Before he rang the bell, he had heard a loud man's voice. Correction: it was more or a roar. Now, though, everything was silent. He rang the bell several more times and was about to use the Alohomora charm, when it suddenly swung open, almost hitting him in the face. He was about to yell a scathing remark at Potter, but shut his mouth when he saw who was standing there.

This boy was a far cry from Potter. Actually he was the very physical anti-thesis of the son of his old school enemy. He was far, FAR larger than his nearly skeletal student. The boy's blue eyes had widened when he saw the robed sinister man before him. Both of them were startled out of their momentary stupor when that loud voice from before bellowed, "Son? Is it one of them?"

Snape noticed the tremor that was inflected on the word "them." Could he mean wizards? It sounds as if whoever he is, mostly like the uncle, he is afraid of magic. He was distracted when the boy in front of him yelled back, "No, dad! It's just a salesman!" A low grunt responded to this outburst.

Now Snape was angry and really, REALLY, wanted an explanation of that. I was just called a salesman by a muggle! Now, I'm really going to kill Potter... He was brought out of his fantasy of giving Potter a few drops of Veritaserum and dragging out his deepest secrets, by the overweight teenager. "Hey!"

"What is it?"

"You're looking for Harry, right?" This caught his notice. The boy seemed extremely nervous and kept glancing down the hallway behind him, as if something were going to attack him. This was odd.

"Yes, I am Professor Snape of Hogwarts. Now tell me who are you and where the bloody hell is Potter? I don't have all day."

The boy then had the nerve to glare back at him. Yes, he's definitely a relative of Potter's. "I'm Dudley Dursley, his cousin, sir." He had enunciated the title as if it were an insult. "Meet me in the park two blocks down from here in five minutes. I can't tell you everything here."

"Dudley!" That bellowing voice was back. Snape had to resist the strong urge to find the voice's owner and curse him to oblivion. "Is he gone yet?! If not..."

Dudley quickly yelled back. "No, dad, everything's fine! He's leaving now!" The boy made frantic motions towards the end of the street before slamming the door in his face.

Okay. Now, I'm interested.

<><><>

It was nearly noon and Snape still hadn't come back. All the party favors and decorations had been set up. A large pile of brightly wrapped presents waited beside a large chocolate cake emblazoned with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!' in green frosting. Everyone was growing impatient for the guest-of-honor to arrive, especially one anxious godfather.

"He shouldn't have taken this long! I bet he's killed him."

Dumbledore said reassuringly to his former student, "I'm sure Harry's fine, Sirius, calm down. Severus isn't going to kill him nor take him to Voldemort." A majority of the room flinched at the sound of the Dark Lord's name.

"He's a Death Eater, a slimeball, and hates Harry. Of course, I'm worried! I should have gone!"

"Knowing you, you would have done something exceedingly foolish to those Muggles. I wanted someone who was more...what's the phrase...'on the level,' so to speak."

"Are you saying that Snape is more sane than I am?"

"No, I'm saying he is less likely to start magically causing mayhem. Don't worry. I'm sure they're coming up the walk right now."

"Yes, you said that an hour ago. I don't think it take that long to walk up it-"

Ron, standing by the door, yelled out, "Guys, someone's coming in!"

Sirius' concern vanished. "Okay, people! Places!" Everyone hid themselves around the room and the area was magically made pitch dark. The door opened almost painfully slow...

"SURPRISE!"

A snide reply greeted them. "Yes, it is quite the surprise, isn't it?" Severus Snape, the menacing man that he was, stood forebodingly in the doorway. Alone.

Sirius was the first to shake off his shock. "Snape, where's Harry?"

"Simple. I don't know."

"What?!"

"From what little I do know, Potter's in trouble."

The former Azkaban convict collapsed into a thankfully nearby armchair. Just when he thought everything was going to finally be okay in the world, something bad happens.

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