Curse of Fate

Title: The Curse of Fate
Author: Mistress Nika
Rating: PG-15 (Yes, 15. That's somewhere between PG-13 and R.)
Summary: Thousands of years into the future, vampire Harry only wants to join his loved ones in death. However, his curse of immortality is absolute. Therefore he sends himself back into the body of his infant self, vowing to this time refuse eternity. When do things ever go according to plan? Unexpected changes to the timeline, people who aren't as they once were and more send his life spiraling out of his control.
Pairings: Harry/Lucius(main), possible Harry/Severus, possible Lucius/Severus, possible Harry/Lucius/Severus, Sirius/Remus, Theo/Hermione, possible Theo/Blaise, possible Hermione/Ginny, Draco/Luna, possible one-sided Harry/Luna on Luna's part, possible Hermione/Pansy, Cedric/Eleanor(OC), past Harry/Ginny
Warnings: AU, het, slash, angst, language, violence, time travel, VampireHarry, DarkLordHarry
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter Twenty Two
Sirius groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the sun's rays and groping beside him with the other. Tugging insistently on a strand of soft hair, he groaned, "Moony, curtains." When he received no reply, he tried again. Tugging a bit harder, he pleaded, "Mooooony, s'bright. Shut curtains." When there was still no movement, he rolled over and threw an arm affectionately over his bedmate's neck. "Moony?"

A snicker came from the foot of the bed.

"Uwa?" he mumbled incoherently, wondering who had violated the sanctity of their bedroom. Harry always sent an elf if he needed them and Lucius would never have dared walking in on something he would rather not see.

Cracking an eye open, he squinted in the bright light. Instead of his mate, two large impassive red eyes peered back at him. They blinked and Sirius suddenly realized that the hair he'd been tugging on wasn't hair at all. It was feathers. Suddenly realizing that he was sharing his bed with something decidedly avian, he screamed.

Shrieking loudly, he threw himself backwards, tugging the blanket off of a highly amused phoenix. He flailed his arms and legs wildly and scrabbled at the bed as his momentum carried him over the side, his butt hitting the floor with a dull thud. "What the hell!?"

Remus snickered as Sirius peeked over the side of the bed fearfully and doubled over with laughter as Fawkes hopped over to him, bent down and bit him firmly on the nose before vanishing in a ball of fire.

In the dining room, Lucius smirked and handed the bird half of his orange. "I think you and I are going to get along quite well."

-SCENE BREAK-

An hour earlier, Draco had gotten a similar shock. Breakfast time had come and gone and he'd decided it was now late enough to pay a visit to Leonis House. Upon flooing in however, he'd been informed by a house elf that everyone was still in bed. He'd considered waiting, but his mother had received a last minute invitation from a distant cousin to accompany her to see the new opera "Marriel's Mage" and Narcissa insisted that Draco ask to stay with Harry until she returned. Otherwise, she would be forced to drag him along with her and that was something the boy did not want.

Deciding to risk his lord's wrath, and more importantly, his father's anger at disturbing them, he carefully edged the door open and inquired softly, "Father?" hoping not to wake Harry as well.

"Draco!" his father's voice exclaimed in surprise.

"Draco!" Harry echoed much the same.

Draco paled, frozen in place and stared with wide eyes at his father, pinned to the bed by his lord's small but strong hands on his shoulders. Harry sat astride his chest and had been, Draco shuddered, kissing him. Taking a step backwards, he slowly pulled the door until it clicked shut. With haunted eyes, he turned and walked away. Maybe the opera wasn't so bad afterall.

-SCENE BREAK-

Inside the bedroom, Harry dissolved into giggles and Lucius chuckled.

"That wasn't exactly how I'd hoped our first kiss would end," Harry laughed.

Lucius agreed readily and added, "Of course, I hadn't expected it to occur quite so soon either. You are still only a child in body."

Folding his arms across Lucius chest and propping his chin on top, Harry inquired casually, "Does it disturb you? If you'd like, I could whip up a quick aging potion."

Lucius merely smiled at him. "I admit, it is a bit disconcerting at times. I constantly tell myself that I am not a paedophile. I have no attraction to children, but then it is obvious that you have a child's body. However, it is not your body that I desire. It is your soul." Reaching up, he brushed his fingers through Harry's hair before caressing his face. "I love you for who you are, not what you appear to be. If you took an aging potion, it would be like denying your nature. I can wait a few years for you to grow up."

Harry smiled and leaned forward until their noses were touching. "So, if I promise not to molest you, can I kiss you again?"

Lucius smirked. "Do you need to ask?"

-SCENE BREAK-

Sirius glared as he stumbled into the dining room with a perky Remus at his side. For the life of him, he could not understand why his mate was always so hellishly bouncy after a long night of mind blowing sex. Something about reaffirming bonds, but they did plenty of "affirming" all the time and sometimes Sirius just wanted to sleep in.

His glare intensified as he noticed the phoenix sitting on the blonde's shoulder eating an orange. He glanced between the bird and the smirking man, daring him to say anything.

"Run into a door this morning, Black?" Lucius queried innocently, still with that infuriating smirk on his face.

Sirius glared for a few more seconds before giving up and plopping down into the chair across from him. "Piss off, girly-man," he grumbled petulantly, rubbing the large red mark on his nose where Fawkes had bitten him.

"My, how articulate you are," Lucius remarked, holding a hand to his chest. "Your verbal arrows wound me greatly."

Sirius stared at him, as if wondering why the other man had not spontaneously combusted from the heat of his glare. "Piss - Off - Girly - Man," he enunciated carefully.

Remus laughed and Harry snorted inelegantly into his cup. Seizing the chance to annoy Sirius further, Lucius leaned over and casually captured Harry's lips with his own. Only to reel back in disgust at the sharp tang of blood on the boy's lips.

"Ack!" he exclaimed, wiping his mouth frantically with his napkin. "Warn me next time!"

"Ha!" Sirius cried, pointing at Lucius and laughing loudly and vindictively. He paused a moment later as realization came over him. "Hey!" he exclaimed, grabbing the fruit Remus had been peeling and hurling it at him. "Keep your lips off my godson, you paedophile!"

"My kumquat!" the werewolf exclaimed forlornly as said fruit sailed across the table and hit Lucius in the head.

-SCENE BREAK-

After lunch, Lucius returned home to do damage control with Draco while Remus finished a little last minute gift wrapping. Harry, having not had any time to do Christmas shopping, spent hours rushing from one store to another with Sirius. They elbowed their way through other last minute shoppers, most of whom were panicked to the point that they couldn't care less who the other two were, only that they were competitors for that last box of chocolates.

Sirius had hexed two men who had been after a vial of expensive perfume, his chosen gift for his number one fan. Petunia, of course. Dobby, whom Harry had purchased from Lucius for purely sentimental and, if he were honest, entertainment reasons growled wildly, tripped three people and pounced another in a rather good imitation of an American football player in order to clear the way for Harry to get that rare green puffapod for Neville. Harry himself had lost his cool a couple times and flashed a bit of fang at several people, causing one woman to faint and another man to run from the building screaming about demonic children and their rabid obsession with trick wands. Harry had calmly picked up the Rand-O-Wand, which, despite its name, was not a sex toy, and gone to pay before Sirius could see his gift.

Eventually, Harry's irritation reached a peak and he refused to get personalized gifts for each and every person on his list. As such, many would be getting an assortment of cakes and sweets.

That night, the three residents of Leonis House sat around the fireplace, drinking cocoa and telling stories. Sirius and Remus reminisced on Lily and James and Harry told them a bit more about his previous life. Eventually, they all went up to bed and Harry sent off a small flock of owls to deliver gifts.

-SCENE BREAK-

Ron always loved Christmas. It was a time to be with family, a time of joy and, most importantly, a time for presents. This Christmas he was not with his family though. He was staying with a friend and was slightly uneasy in the mostly muggle home. It had taken him hours to realize relatively simple things like the fact that dishes did not do themselves, the clock was for telling the time only and the microwave oven was not a toy. The pinched lipped Petunia, while hospitable enough in general, still made him feel like he was imposing and a general idiot about everything.

Therefore, when Dudley had dragged him downstairs Christmas morning to open gifts, he was surprised to find that there were several for him from people other than his mother. Along with the traditional Weasley sweater, he'd also received Quidditch posters from Dudley, muggle sweets from Petunia and various other small things from his friends. Harry had sent him a years subscription to Quidditch Illustrated and a nice winter cloak probably worth more than he'd ever see in his entire life. It was delivered by a tiny owl named Pigwidgeon, which he learned was actually meant for him and a gift from the entire Potter-Black-Lupin household.

Dudley had been given an unending candle that, when lit, slowly increased the magic of the user by very small amounts. While almost useless to most wizards, it would raise his magic to near normal levels by the time he was sixteen. This was accompanied by a note from Harry instructing him to keep it hidden as it wasn't entirely legal. His gift had also been delivered by an owl, a Barn Owl named Athena, that was also meant for him and his mother.

After gifts were opened, they had a quick breakfast before Petunia took them into the muggle world to visit with Dudley's Aunt Marge. That was perhaps the most horrifying thing he'd ever experienced in his young life. Forget his encounter with a troll. The loathsome woman was just this side of heart stoppingly hideous with her wide girth that could put an elephant to shame and her piglike face. The moment the door opened, Dudley had been swept into a crushing hug and nearly disappeared into her rolls of fat. The poor boy flailed his arms wildly and made violent choking noises as the woman cooed at him. Ron swore he'd never again complain about a hug from his mother.

After Petunia managed to pry the mad woman off her son, they'd been ushered into the living room and offered tea and biscuits, and sandwiches and pie and pudding and cake and a whole host of other assorted things. "Need to put some meat on those bones! Why, you're wasting away!" she'd claimed while thrusting a large slice of chocolate cake in Dudley's face.

Petunia had quickly pushed the cake away before Dudley could become too wistful and calmly explained that her son was on a diet and that he would not be going the way of his father. Marge had puffed up and loudly defended her brother. His weight had been just fine and those doctors didn't know what they were talking about. He was a healthy man and no heart attack could have claimed his life! After that, they'd stared at each other venomously for a few moments before Petunia forced herself to smile and change the topic.

It was after they'd had lunch, during which Ron had watched in horrified fascination as two thirds of the virtual banquet had disappeared into Marge's gullet, that the tense atmosphere shattered explosively.

"You must visit more often," Marge said while attempting to slip Dudley a gooey pastry which he adamantly refused. "I miss my neffy-poo so much and it's so nice to be able to talk without that horrible little hooligan around! Don't have to worry about him breaking the china or swiping our loose change!"

Ron was, of course, confused as to who she was talking about. He was about to lean over and ask Dudley, but the woman continued regardless of the cold look she was getting from her sister-in-law and nephew.

"No doubt it was him that drove Vernon to an early grave," she ranted. "My dear brother always did have too big a heart. Should have been straight into an orphanage with him, the moment you laid eyes on him! No offense to you my dear, but no matter how hard you try, no good can come of that creature. I don't know how such a woman as your sister could have come from such a good family as yours. Now, I never met your parents, rest their souls, but I'm sure they were fine, upstanding members of society and you turned out just fine. It had to have been that dreadful Potter man that ruined your sister. It's all in the blood, I'm afraid. Bad blood will out. All he'll ever amount to is a wastrel and a drunk, just like his parents! Good for nothings that they were."

"Are you talking about Harry?" Ron broke in with astonishment.

"'Harry'," Marge scoffed disdainfully. "That Potter boy, of course. Don't tell me you haven't met him, being Dudley's friend and all. Horrid little cretin. Deserves everything he'll get in life!"

"How can you say that!?" Ron exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

Petunia tried to shush him, but Ron ignored her, stepping away from the couch and toward the woman that was spewing such terrible things about his friend. Dudley covered his eyes, knowing what was coming and wondering if he should go ahead and summon the Ministry to erase his aunt's memories.

"Harry's incredible! He defeated You-Know-Who! He's...he's... Harry's a hero! And so were his parents! His dad was a a decorated Auror Captain! His mum was a bloody Unspeakable! They both fought You-Know-Who, face to face, more than once and lived to tell the tale! Do you know how few can say that!? My uncles were Hit Wizards and they died fighting him! Countless witches and wizards died at his hands and Harry, as a baby, did what no one else could! Harry is powerful and good and kind and...and... Harry is the greatest wizard on the face of the Earth!" His face was red and splotchy with anger, his eyes fiery and he gestured wildly, unable to comprehend how someone could think Harry worthless. "Bad blood!? Merlin, I'd kill to be a Potter! They're bloody royalty! Harry's got so many titles it makes my head spin! He's a lord and a prince and the heir to dozens of Houses and top of his class and a Seeker and he's smart and powerful and nice and...and...and..."

Ron's chest heaved in anger as he sputtered for a moment, unable to think clearly anymore. With one frantic motion, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Marge. Before anyone could say or do anything, he shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Marge's body suddenly froze up, going straight and rigid. Her arms locked to her sides, her teacup fell out of her hands and her eyes bulged comically. She made a pathetic doglike whine as she slid off her chair and hit the floor with a thump. All was silent.

Dudley gaped, Petunia's mouth fell open and Ron just stood there with his wand still pointed at the immobile Marge Dursley.

After a few moments, everyone seemed to return to their senses. Dudley began laughing, Ron slowly lowered his wand and Petunia fretted.

"Oh dear," she muttered with a hand clasp to her lips. "Oh dear. Oh dear."

"Um, oops?" Ron offered sheepishly with a shrug.

-SCENE BREAK-

Sirius and Remus stared in horror as their godson rolled around on the floor, clutching his sides and laughing uproariously with tears streaming down his cheeks. In his hand was a crumpled letter from the Ministry informing him that Ronald Weasley had performed underage magic on a muggle named Marge Dursley and that he should, as the Lord of his family, reprimand his cousin's guest.

Sirius looked over to his mate and asked softly, "Think someone hit him with an overpowered Cheering Charm?"

Remus just shrugged noncommittally and continued watching the scene in stunned confusion.

Nellie shook her little head and slithered out of the room. 'And they think Nellie is crazy...'

-SCENE BREAK-

Albus Dumbledore sucked absently on a sherbert lemon as he stared into the fire.

He'd sent Harry his father's invisibility cloak as a Christmas gift in the hopes that it would ingratiate the boy to him, but he honestly wasn't holding much hope. The boy was simply far too independent, stubborn and arrogant for his own good. All in all, he reminded the old man of a slightly more confident and defiant Lily. She'd always been able to hold her own in any kind of fight and wasn't afraid to stand up to other students, but she'd also had a very well developed respect for authority. Something her son was clearly lacking. Rather, the boy seemed to think himself far above everyone else, as if the rules didn't apply to him. He'd seen a similar attitude in some of the pureblood heirs, but they all toed the line with the headmaster, if no one else. Harry did no such thing. He did what he wanted when he wanted and if it seemed that he was doing what had been requested of him, it was only because his own wishes happened to coincide with those in authority.

He'd also managed to charm at least half the faculty. Filius was constantly singing the boy's praises, Minerva glared at Dumbledore everytime she saw him now, Pomona chirped happily about his skills, Poppy wanted him as an apprentice and even Severus lauded the boy as a genius.

He was certain the dark man was up to something. Harry was constantly in his office, even when he didn't have detention, and he swore he'd seen Severus lay a friendly hand on the boy's shoulder and almost smile at him more than once. If Harry had been a bit older, he might have suspected something...untoward...was going on. As it was, he was extremely wary of the self-satisfied smirk Severus had been giving him this past week. Yes, he was definitely planning something and it had to do with Potter.

He'd tried in vain to think up a reason to keep Harry at Hogwarts over Christmas, but could come up with nothing. It was the boy's right to visit his family and nothing the man could have said would have persuaded him otherwise. Potter knew his rights, to an almost disturbing degree. He'd been considering paying a friendly visit to the Potter household over the holidays, but quickly nixed that idea when a copy of the restraining order filed against him last year by Petunia Dursley was owled to him the day before the students left. He'd been hoping it had lapsed, but was dismayed to find that it had indeed been updated to show Sirius Black as the legal guardian. He was still forbidden from coming within one hundred yards of the boy unless in an official capacity as Hogwarts Headmaster or as Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot.

He'd repeatedly filed forms with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement requesting that he be allowed to visit Leonis House for a variety of different reasons. Searching for Dark objects, as his guardians were one confirmed Death Eater and one suspected. Checking up on the boy's health, as he often visited with Healer Alston at St. Mungo's for undisclosed reasons. Checking if the Blood Wards still held. Checking up on the "family situation" citing that werewolves were dangerous creatures who were prone to violence around "pups" that were not their own. Investigating claims that the village was haunted by a grim and several Barghest. Investigating reports that several key lines of magical energy ran through the area the house was built upon. Investigating rumours that the ruins of an ancient Atlantean temple were buried under the house. His claims had become more and more outlandish each time he was turned down and eventually he was banned from filing anymore requests dealing with Leonis House or its surrounding village and properties.

Now, he was forced to sit back and watch as Severus casually left the castle, heading for the end of the wards and still with that infuriating smirk on his face. Damn that man! He was going to meet Potter! He just knew it, and he couldn't do a single thing about it!

Seething silently, he sat down behind his desk and continued throwing darts at the muggle photo taped to the back of his door. He glanced suspiciously over at Fawkes' still empty perch and wondered where his faithful companion had gotten to. Shrugging it off for now, he propelled another iron projectile through the air to lodge firmly in the forehead of the likeness of Severus Snape.

-SCENE BREAK-

Two days after Christmas, Severus showed up at Leonis House. After being shown to the drawing room by an extremely chatty House Elf, he had been waiting patiently for approximately three and a half minutes before a prickling sensation ran down his spine and a sense of impending doom came over him. Tensing, his hand hovered over his wand and he glanced around carefully.

"BOOGA BOOGA!" Sirius shouted, leaping up from behind the sofa and pointing a neon green wand at him.

Nothing happened.

Severus blinked. "Black, what the hell..?"

"Booga!" squeaked his left shoe.

"Booga!" followed his right.

Severus glared. Sirius ran.

It was quite the sight to see. On par with the chase a little over a year before involving an enraged Malfoy and the very same Sirius Black, who seemed to have a knack for childishness and pissing off powerful individuals. Sirius ran around the room, leaping over furniture and cackling wildly. Severus chased after him, shooting relatively mild jinxes at the laughing man, his shoes squeaking "Booga!" cutely with every step.

Remus and Harry quickly appeared, a terrified elf having informed them of the situation, and Remus dragged Sirius from the room as Harry apologized profusely for his godfather's behavior.

"I'm starting to regret giving him that trick wand for Christmas," Harry lamented as they unspelled Severus' shoes. "You should have been here earlier when it was raining coconuts."

-SCENE BREAK-

Walter Groby was a relatively happy, well adjusted man. Average height, a little on the chubby side with thinning blonde hair and brown eyes. He'd tried his hand at running his family's store when he was younger, but three angry Aurors and a lost stock of expensive dragonhide robes had forced him to find another occupation. He'd applied for a position at the Ministry and eventually worked his way up to administering OWLs and NEWTs.

He'd seen a lot of different people over the seventeen years he'd been working there and little surprised him anymore. He'd seen older wizards and witches who's test results had been lost over time, foreign wizards who'd never taken them, children who'd missed them at school, prodigies who were taking them early, children who had failed the first time and had to retake them, those who weren't satisfied with their scores and wanted to retake them to improve them. He'd even been there when one particularly untalented teen had blown up a room, destroyed major support walls and put himself and five other people in St. Mungo's. Yes, he'd seen a wide variety of people pass through in his time, but this had to take the cake.

He'd been in an unexplainably good mood all day, smiling happily at everyone he met and even volunteering to take a coworker's shift so they could have an early lunch. It was a day everything just seemed to be going his way. That is, until "they" appeared.

"They" consisted of Severus Snape, Potions Master extrodinaire and all around intimidating fellow, who appeared to be having a good day as well, if that darkly amused smirk were anything to go by, and the eleven year old Boy-Who-Lived who was only halfway into his first year of school. He could not, for the life of him, comprehend what these two impressive personages were doing in his small cubicle in a back office of the Department of Magical Education. After blinking stupidly, he inquired politely if they were lost. He got glared at for that.

"Mister Potter has an appointment to take his OWL and NEWT level Potions exams," the unamused Snape stated, glaring down his nose at the man seated behind the desk.

After another moment of confused silence, Walter quickly began sifting through the papers on his desk to find his appointment book. Sure enough, Harry Potter was listed for one o'clock, just as he'd said.

"Hurry up," Snape snapped when he only stared blankly again. "After he's done here, we have an appointment at the Potion's Guild. I will not be late because of your bumbling."

Shocked out of his silence, he yanked several rolls of parchment out of his desk drawer and led the young Potter down the hall to an exam room while Snape settled into an uncomfortable metal chair to wait in the cubicle. After explaining the process to the boy and getting him set up to begin, he asked if he had any questions.

In an exceedingly innocent voice, Harry asked, "Why do you have a bit of muggle circuit board for an earring?"

Walter mentally groaned and facepalmed.

-SCENE BREAK-

Severus Snape was a brilliant man, if he did say so himself, and he knew when he was missing something. He was overlooking something important, something life altering, but he just couldn't seem to figure out what it was. There was also the niggling suspicion in the back of his mind that Potter was a part of it.

The boy had not only passed OWL and NEWT level Potions, he'd done it effortlessly with the highest scores ever recorded. Others may be able to pass it off as him being a genius, Severus knew that it was simply impossible for the boy to have accomplished such a feat at such a young age.

Sinking back into his soft leather armchair in his personal quarters at Hogwarts, he fell quickly and with practiced ease into a meditative state. He'd been neglecting his Occlumency lately and was hoping that bringing a little organization to the chaotic thoughts in the forefront of his mind might shed some light on what he was failing to notice.

After ten minutes, he felt a great deal more calm and ordered and began pulling forward the stray bits of thought that he was sure were connected somehow. Now, if only he could connect the dots.

The first enigma was Harry Potter himself. He stuck an image of the boy, along with various facts about him, into a nice little bubble and set it aside, unsure what to do with it yet. Dumbledore was given his own bubble and set aside as well, a minor, if perhaps important, part in this web. Next, a faded image of Voldemort was linked tentatively by a glowing strand to an unknown figure all in shadow. The false Dark Lord he had served was obviously linked in someway with the true one. He had, after all, been masquerading as the man and convinced his followers that he was him.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were shoved rather hastily into a bubble. A faded and nearly nonexistant strand linked them to Voldemort, indicating their deception in serving him. A brighter strand linked them both firmly to the shadowed Dark Lord and Potter, as they had strong ties to each. They were obviously very attached to the boy they viewed as a son and their loyalty to the Dark Lord seemed to be unshakable. It was self-evident that the Dark Lord had no interest in harming the boy. Black and Lupin would not have served so willingly if it were so. He was tempted to make a dubious connection between the boy and the Dark Lord, but held off for now. There was no direct evidence to indicate a link, only circumstantial through his guardians.

A sudden moment of inspiration struck him and he placed a transparent overlay of Leonis House on the lines between Potter and his guardians and the two men and the Dark Lord. He'd recognized that sitting room, even if he hadn't realized it at the time. Leonis House was where the Death Eaters had met before the attack on the Ministry less than a year prior and where he'd been informed by Lucius of the rise of a true Dark Lord. Where had the boy been at that time and why would they risk his safety in such a way?

As the legal owner of what appeared to be one of the Dark Lord's base of operations, he was forced to connect a line directly from Potter to the shadowed figure. He was not liking where this was going.

Quickly, he began adding facts to the Dark Lord's bubble. Things that were known for certain about all true Dark Lords, things that were only suspected and things that were unique to this one.

Dark from birth. Magically gifted. A connection directly to magic. No need for a wand. Instinctive knowledge of the nature of magic and how to wield it most effectively. High intelligence. A political powerhouse with the ability to back up any threats he made. A deep rooted need to protect all Dark races as a whole, even at the cost of the individual. Slight insanity, but still functional. Cruelty to those who oppose or betray him. Compassion to those who are loyal. Tight knit groups formed around him, comrade and family, whom he would protect viciously and were extremely loyal to him.

Oh, he really didn't like where this was going. Most of those facts were duplicated in Potter's bubble.

Potter was born a vampire and thus was Dark from birth. There was no doubt he was magically gifted. A direct link to and an instinctive understanding of magic would explain that and his intelligence was far beyond even genius standards. He certainly had political power, even if he had yet to use it in a public forum. Severus had heard rumours that the boy offered sanctuary to various werewolf and vampire clans on large, protected properties he owned. While this could be explained by sympathy from his godfather's and his own nature, why would he risk the wizarding public making a connection if he were not serious about protecting them?

There was no doubt in his mind that Potter could be cruel and even dangerous when provoked. His easy handling of the troll. His vengeful and unrelenting torment of Dumbledore for any perceived wrong. Millicent Bulstrode had even confided to him from her hospital bed that Potter had brushed past her just before the Thestral attacked her and had only smirked while he looked on as she was savaged.

Potter's odd group of friends from all four houses were intensely loyal and viewed him with near absolute trust. It seemed he was capable of inspiring such feelings in just about everyone. Yet, it was obvious to Severus that the feelings weren't mutual with all of his friends. His core group of Granger, Malfoy, Parkinson, Nott, Zabini, even Longbottom and the youngest Bell girl of all people, were trusted far more than any others and treated with genuine kindness. The others, for all that they viewed him as a good friend, were treated more as acquaintances.

Taken together, his secretive nature, his tendency to disappear at odd times, all of his ties to the Dark and the incredible abilities he displayed could easily mean one horrifying thing.

Almost against his will, Potter's bubble was layered on top of the Dark Lord's, becoming one and the same.

'Oh dear Merlin,' he whimpered in his mind. 'My new apprentice is my Master!'

This was wrong on so many levels!

For the first time in ages, Severus felt the urge to curl up in a ball and sob his little black heart out.

-SCENE BREAK-

Just before noon on Friday, Harry awoke to find his house overrun with children. Having been expecting them, he knew exactly where to look should he want to find anyone.

Daphne, Lisa, Terry, Michael and Padma had made a beeline for the dungeons the moment they arrived and Remus was overseeing their experimentations with a keen eye. Su, Mandy and Blaise were devouring the books in his library as house elves continually placed discarded ones back on their shelves in an effort to keep some kind of order.

Draco and Neville, who'd finally received permission to visit from his grandmother after much begging and pleading, were in the gardens. Pansy had drawn Theo, Dudley and Ron into a game of hide and seek, of all things. Dudley was hiding in a linen closet, Ron was under a bench in the small chapel off the side of the house and Theo was wandering lost in a secret passage unable to find the exit. Pansy was casually filing her nails and wondering how long it would take them to realize she wasn't going to look for them.

Surprisingly, Hermione was sitting in a chair next to his bed, reading a book with Nellie curled up in her lap. As he stirred, she looked up and smiled. "About time you woke up."

"H'mione?" he slurred sleepily.

'Puppy's up!' Nellie announced, bobbing her head happily. 'Puppy! Your Nellie likes this human female and demands you tell her so! Then, Nellie wants her breakfast because Puppy slept late and Nellie should be angry but she isn't because this human pets her so nicely and lets her sun herself in her lap and-'

Harry tuned the snake's rambling out with practiced ease. "Hermione, not that I really mind, but why are you in my room?"

Closing her book with a snap, she mock glared at him. "Harry," she began pointedly, "there are nineteen other people in this house. Two are my parents, one is your aunt, one is your madman of a godfather who won't stop waving that trick wand around, one has his hands full with keeping the house from exploding, thirteen have no appreciation for silence whatsoever and the one that does is slowly being corrupted by Draco. This is the only place in the house I can be sure I won't be disturbed. Besides, I couldn't wait to find out how your tests went."

Harry thanked all the deities he could think of, which was quite a lot, that he had a large house. When he'd issued invitations for a weekend sleepover, he really hadn't realized how many there would be. Even Hermione's parents would be staying as they had been getting along very well with Remus, who was always seeking to expand their knowledge of the magical world. While her father was generally amused by Sirius, her mother often looked a bit disgruntled by his exuberance. She'd also eyed his hair a few times as if she wanted nothing more than to find a good pair of scissors. Petunia, bless her, was still enamored. Many people speculated that she was part of the rapidly growing Official Sirius Black Fanclub. Only Harry knew the truth. She was the founder.

"It went fine," he answered, getting up and grabbing a set of casual robes. "I passed both easily and Snape had me registered as his apprentice. Sirius is going to send notice to the Board of Governors that I have my Potions NEWT, so I won't be taking that class anymore." Disappearing into the bathroom to wash up and change, he continued conversing through the door. "Technically, I'll be using the time while others are at class for independent study, but I'm sure I'll use it for "extracurricular" purposes. I'll spend an hour every other day after dinner with Snape and three on Saturday. If all goes according to plan, I'll take my Potions Mastery sometime this summer."

"And then, next year you'll take another NEWT, right?" Hermione asked. "And maybe another Mastery. So, by the end of your seventh year, you'll have completed all your NEWTs early and have several Masteries, so no one will question your skills?"

Harry poked his head out and smiled. "Exactly."

A loud crash sounded from somewhere in the house and moments later Sirius, looking guilty and slightly disheveled, eased the bedroom door open. "Uh, Harry. You weren't particularly attached to that bust of Merlin, were you?"

Harry glared. "The antique one? The one that's been in my family for eight generations?"

Panicking, Sirius looked around for a distraction, eyes lighting up as they fell on Hermione. "Hermione!" he exclaimed, excessively cheerful. "There you are! Pansy's been looking for you! Something about a sofa eating your boyfriend."

Hermione turned bright red in both embarrassment and anger. "He is NOT my boyfriend!"

"Ah, but you know who I'm talking about?" Sirius winked.

"Sirius," Harry growled, interrupting his taunting of Hermione. "What did you do to that statue?"

"Uhhh," he stalled unsuccessfully.

Harry narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak when Remus' angry voice called, "Sirius! Why the hell is the front hall full of live chickens!?"

Sirius brightened. "Hark! My werewolf howls and I must answer!" he exclaimed before ducking back out and slamming the door shut behind him. Running footsteps were heard before there was a yelp and several loud thumps as he fell down the stairs.

Harry, now dressed, crossed the room and peered out into the hallway. "Sirius?" he called. "You alive?"

"I'M GOOD!" was the strained response before a groaned, "Ow. I think I broke my pride. Moony, doctor me!"

Childish giggles indicated there had been more than one witness to his graceless flight from his godson's wrath.

Harry sighed and shook his head. "I think I'll wait to tell him that hideous statue was worth exactly nil and I hated it. Shall we? Lunch should be ready soon." Offering Hermione his arm, he led her from the room with an amused smile.

-SCENE BREAK-

Bill Weasley was waiting patiently in a secure meeting room in Gringotts and he was more than a little nervous. His right leg was bouncing uncontrollably. His hands wrung the sleeve of his robes into knots, then obsessively straightened them and smoothed out the wrinkles. He'd had to consciously slow and control his breathing several times when he neared hyperventilating.

Ever since the Dark Lord's Missive had been published, he'd been a nervous wreck. He knew that magic was dwindling due to muggle blood and that the magical world was suffering for it, but he dared not mention such things to his family. They were firmly of the Light and voicing any such thoughts would have been tantamount to familial treason. They would never disown him, to a Weasley family was everything, but he would not have been able to deal with the open disgust and scorn from those he loved.

He himself was technically a Light Wizard. He'd used a few dubious spells before in his work and he'd felt the effects of some serious Dark curses when he'd screwed up, but he'd never actually cast any purely Dark magic. This left his magic neutral and drifting more towards the Light side, but this had in no way anything to do with his own opinions. He didn't need to be a Dark Wizard to understand the Dark Lord's views.

Even in the past few hundred years there had been a marked decrease in the magical strength of wizards in general. In that same amount of time there had been more and more wizards and witches marrying, and having children with, muggles. It was the reason the purebloods of late had become so intolerant of anyone of less than "pure" blood. They had noticed this trend, even if only subconsciously, and begun to shun anyone with muggle blood in an effort to protect the magical integrity of their family.

In the distant past, there had been less bigotry based on blood simply because there had been many more witches and wizards. "Purebloods" had been those who had both magical parents and grandparents. "Halfbloods" were those with a muggleborn parent or grandparent. Marrying a muggle would not have even crossed a wizard's mind. The term "mudblood" had been used solely for those born of one magical and one completely muggle parent, though the polite term had been "lesser halfblood". Muggleborns were, for the most part, treated fairly and only shunned when they refused to accept their magic, refused to learn and abide by wizard laws and customs or attempted to use their magic openly while living as a muggle. Such actions brought the danger of discovery and persecution by muggles upon the whole of the magical world.

Eventually, spells were developed to allow magic to be easily explained away or ignored by muggles and wizards began interacting more freely with them and living among them. As such, more wizards began to marry muggles. Their children, while usually still magical, carried that muggle blood with them. Those children then often married a muggle or another halfblood, as they were considered undesirable by purebloods, and so began the slow weakening in the power of magical humans.

Nowadays, the problem was compounded by the casual acceptance of marriage to muggles by the majority of society and the strict intolerance, and subsequent inbreeding, of purebloods. Marrying muggles produced weaker children while inbreeding produced squibs. It had gotten to the point that muggleborns, who were technically first generation purebloods as their magic was "pure" despite their muggle parents, were noticeably stronger than most others. Even purebloods who didn't breed with muggles or close relatives were getting weaker because they had begun to supplement their genepool with creature blood. While veela and vampires brought their own unique magic to the family, it would usually supplant human magic unless strong bindings were placed upon it at birth.

Bill was surprised that his own family had thus far remained pure while still producing marginally strong children. He supposed their willingness to marry anyone from any family, despite social status, helped create enough diversity to prevent squibs and the lack of halfbloods and muggles kept their magic strong. Also, the occasional discrete muggleborn helped to bring in new blood. His great-great grandmother had been a muggleborn who masqueraded as a pureblood war orphan.

He'd learned all this through his delvings in magical history, as he often needed to understand the society and culture of the people who'd created a certain curse in order to successfully break it. After first noticing the trend of magical decline, he'd done his own research and came to the conclusion that, while muggleborns generally brought only good things to the wizarding world, muggles were slowly and unknowingly destroying it.

That was why, when the goblins had offered to set up a meeting with the Dark Lord, he had agreed. He'd originally only approached them to learn their opinions on the matter, as he certainly wouldn't want to anger the ones who not only sign his paycheck but also have some very creative methods for dealing with those they consider traitors to the goblin nation. He had been surprised to learn that while they weren't exactly allies of the Dark Lord, they did have a good working relationship with him and considered him worthy of their respect. The fact that he seemed to respect the goblins as well raised Bill's opinion of him a bit more. Most wizards saw the goblins as little better than house elves, there to serve and the rest of the time it was out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

"Weasley," a gruff voice called from the door. "He's here."

Standing, Bill smoothed down his robes one more time, took a deep breath and looked up to greet the goblin and the...little boy?

-SCENE BREAK-

The next week passed quickly for Harry.

Bill was given time to think and eventually took Harry up on his offer. He had joined the Order when his father did and would pass on any relevant information he could, but his work with Gringotts kept him out of the country most of the time. Harry set up a vault specifically for his use and had him buy and ward several safe houses around the world with his impressive skills. While not as secure as Night Haven, they would serve his purposes should he have need of them.

After the children returned home, Harry and his godfathers spent the rest of the holidays with Remus' pack. While the man spent at least four days a week with them during the school year, they were still nervous without their Alpha around fulltime. Harry once again offered to move them to Leonis, but once again they refused. The large forest would provide them with plenty of room, but the nearby village still made them wary. At this point, Harry began to seriously consider moving. He hated to take Remus away from his pack, but the man's devotion to him would not allow him to stay with them unless Harry was there. Harry may have liked the pack, but he couldn't see himself living with them on their terms. He had an image to maintain and the Boy-Who-Lived could not be seen living with a werewolf pack. For the time being, he needed as much public support as he could get and the public opinion did not favour werewolves. Not to mention that he was very attached to his modern comforts.

Dumbledore was suspiciously silent after being informed that Harry had attained his Potions NEWT. He didn't know whether to think the man was up to something or simply sulking, but he'd expected either an angry or pleading letter. Instead, he'd received only an official confirmation that he would be withdrawn from that class. Of course, it may have had something to do with the fact that it was signed by the Deputy Headmistress rather than the Headmaster.

On the fifth, when Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express, he was immediately pounced and interrogated by the Weasley twins. After "reluctantly" admitting that his father and both godfathers were Marauders, and that they considered him one as well, they happily turned over the Marauders Map with the stipulation that they be included in any future mischief making. This led to a wake-up call for Dumbledore involving honey and a bear, twenty live turkeys in his office, the glue-and-feathering of three staff members, the framing of Professor Flitwick for what was forever referred to as The Naked Hula Incident, Moaning Myrtle flooding Dumbledore's bathroom by violently propelling the toilet water upwards whilst he was sitting on it, and a dinner gone wrong with a giant purple aardvark. The quartet, including a reluctant Hermione who'd been cajoled into it by Harry, finally called it quits only after Severus, who had been the subject of constant mood music for the past week and a half, broke down, got on his knees and pitifully begged Harry to stop.

That was also the biggest hint Harry had that something was seriously wrong with the Potions Master. He'd been distant and professional since the day he'd returned to school. Instead of the almost friendly encouragement he'd given Harry before, now it seemed he was all business. Were Harry not an eleven year old supposed prodigy, he would have thought the man had been treating him like an equal, with respect, but when Severus broke down like that, it wasn't respect Harry saw in his eyes. It was fear. It almost seemed as if Severus were afraid of what Harry would do to him and there was even barely concealed pain. He was actually hurt that Harry had targeted him for a prank, as if he'd betrayed him somehow.

Despite his skill in the mind arts, Harry preferred to respect people's privacy. Unless given a very good reason, he refused to casually invade their minds, but he felt that Severus' recent behavior warranted at least a small look.

It was during one of their private lessons that he did just that, and was surprised. He'd known that the man was smart and very observant, but he had not expected him to make such a connection so soon. He really shouldn't have been surprised though. He'd been interacting with him quite regularly and, even if he hadn't put two and two together in his mind, eventually the man's magic would have recognized Harry as the Dark Lord and pointed it out to him. Indeed, it had already been nudging him that way. A Light Wizard would never have noticed, a Dark Wizard would have taken much longer, but the combination of Severus' wizard and vampire Dark allowed him to pick up on it much quicker.

He'd known since just after Christmas and, after a few moments of blind panic, had taken a calming potion and decided there had to be some reason he hadn't been informed. Therefore, as nervous as it made him, he would act as he had before while trying to ignore the instinctive, desperate need to be acknowledged by his Lord.

With a sigh, Harry finished bottling his potion and turned to face him.

"Severus," he said solemnly, surprising the man with the use of his first name. "It's not that I don't trust or like you." Hoisting himself up to sit on the teacher's desk, he looked him in the eyes seriously. "I knew this would happen. Every Dark being, whether human or not, has a natural instinctive need to defer to me. I could not risk you changing your behavior, even unconsciously, and alerting others, but it seems that my efforts have been for naught."

Reaching out, he took the stunned man's face in his small hands. "You must not act differently," he said gently. "I cannot risk being discovered this early in the game. There is currently far too much fear of all things Dark and most have become unable to recognize the difference between Dark and Evil. The rise of a Dark Lord so soon after Voldemort will only lead to panic. I need them to trust me, to know me as a good person and to educate them in what Dark really is before I allow them to learn the truth."

Leaning back, he supported his weight on his hands and cocked his head to the side cutely. "There's also the fact that few would take a child seriously." He smiled at him and then stuck out his tongue childishly. "Don't feel bad. Only a handful of people know. You did nothing wrong and I would trust you with my life."

Pausing, he sat patiently as Severus recovered his composure. The man was still staring at him blankly, as if unable to keep up with the easy confirmation that his notion had been correct, the information given him and the swift changes in personality. Regular Harry was an intelligent child who could be serious one moment and playful the next. He liked to play pranks and socialize with his friends, but did not tolerate detrimental foolishness or rebellion against his own authority. He'd gotten a glimpse of a dangerous Dark Lord who was used to giving commands and being instantly obeyed and now, the boy before him looked so innocent and dewy-eyed, he could barely comprehend that all these personalities belonged to the same person.

"Merlin," he whispered in astonishment. Slowly, a smirk crept upon his lips. "James Potter must be rolling over in his grave."