average human’s Reviews > Avada Kedavra > Status Update

July 22

“I’m not going,” Harry scowled as he threw his duffle bag back in his wardrobe and slammed the door shut. “I’ve got too much to do here.”

“You mean you don’t know what to pack,” Theo said placatingly. “Here, I can help.”

“I don’t want to go,” Harry said for the fiftieth time. “Snape is going to be a git if he has to eat breakfast by himself and the others—”

“Will be fine without you for a few days,” Theo said calmly as he dug Harry’s bag back out of the wardrobe. “C’mon Harry, it’s a vacation. You need one. And you already told Trent and Black that you’d go.”

“But Neville and Luna—”

“Have their own plans,” Theo said firmly. “Their lives don’t just revolve around you, Harry. You’ve been working yourself to death. It’s time for some sunshine and fun-shine or whatever mad thing Black said.”

Harry raised his brow at Theo’s oddly shaped bag on his bed. He didn’t like to bet, but if he did, he’d put quite a bit of gold on it being filled with books.

“I will be reading between ‘fun-shine’ events,” Theo said solemnly with only the tiniest twitch of his lips to betray him. “If you won’t go for yourself, go for me. You’re driving me mad Harry and I need a break.”

“Weird thing to say to the bloke who shares a bedroom with you,” Harry said with a defeated sigh. “What about—”

“The death eaters will still fucking be here hiding from you when you get back you absolute mad man. We are going, Harry Potter, that is that.”

Harry raised his brows at Theo’s sudden outburst.

Theo clearly was the one who needed a vacation

“I was going to ask about Stevie, you prick.”

Theo threw down the pair of Harry’s trousers he was folding and fearlessly got right in Harry’s face. “Susan and Draco are caring for Stevie. Ron and Neville are covering for Fred at the shop. Luna is helping Snape brew and working on potions. Narcissa, Charlie, and Tonks are going to be here watching over everyone, along with Severus fucking Snape, so they aren’t even at risk for a split-second. You are going on this trip. Fred is going on this trip. I am going to pack this bag then I am going to spend ten days on the beach with my girlfriend, got it?”

Harry pushed Theo’s shoulder, getting him out of his face, and scowled. “If anyone gets hurt while we’re gone, I’m blaming you.”

“And if I don’t get to see Hermione in a bikini because you’re being a prat, I’m blaming you,” Theo said snidely. He stalked back over to the wardrobe and pulled out three of Harry’s short sleeve shirts. “Now, which do you prefer?”

Harry raised a silent brow, channeling Snape’s look of ’I will give you one second to come up with the correct answer’, until Theo sighed and put all three of them in Harry’s bag.

“You can’t wear long sleeve shirts on the beach,” he said firmly. “It’s the States, Harry. Everyone is crazy there. Nobody’s going to notice a few little scars.”

“Brill,” Harry said lightly. “So you’ll be going shirtless to the beach then?”

And no, Theo would not be going shirtless to the beach. Instead they worked on glamour charms until they were both satisfied enough with their looks to pack short sleeve shirts.

Harry threw a couple long sleeve shirts and his most recent Weasley jumper in his bag too though, just in case.



Harry thought maybe Luna or Susan would talk him out of going, convince him to stay home with them, but they were suspiciously eager for him to leave.

“We have plans,” Susan said primly as they helped Luna and Neville plant some flowers in the backyard. “Plans that you would just get in the way of.”

“Gee, thanks Sue,” Harry drawled, hiding his actual annoyance behind pretend annoyance. “I’ll miss you too.”

“I really will miss you,” Luna said earnestly as she looked up at him. “But Susan’s right, we do have plans that you aren’t invited to and you should go have fun.”

Harry gave Neville a hopeful sort of look, but Neville just shook his head.

“Harry, mate, if anyone needs a bloody vacation, it’s you... And Snape. Take Snape too why don’t ya?”

“Snape’s vacation is Harry leaving,” Susan said with a sly smile that Harry frowned at.



Harry tossed and turned that night, taking the night off from searching for Timmy’s followers in favor of sleeping before they had to catch an early portkey. Except he wasn’t sleeping. It felt like his brain was filled with static. And, since Timmy hadn’t bothered him mentally a single time since the battle, Harry had to assume this static was of his own creation.

After accidentally kicking Fred and causing him to stir with mumbles and complaints, Harry gave sleep up as a bad job and silently slipped from his bed. He hesitated in the hall, unsure of what would ease the weight of dread in his stomach, before resolutely turning towards the door with the neat little plaque in the middle of it labeled:

Severus Snape

The plaques had been Neville’s idea. After he showed up at the meeting on the fifth with a suitcase and an arm full of plants, he kept forgetting which of the bedrooms was the one he was supposed to use until everyone agreed to labels for their doors.

Harry lifted his hand to knock on the door. Then he grimaced at his own dramatics and turned away to go back to his room.

Then he took five steps from the door and turned right back around and threw it open before he could change his mind.

Snape sat up as soon as the door banged against the wall, his hair tangled and his wand held out defensively, pointed right at Harry.

“Harry.” Snape groaned and dropped his head back on his pillow while Harry awkwardly shuffled in the doorway. “Is it already time for breakfast or to once more convince you that the world will not implode if you go on a trip with your godfather?”

“I can’t go.” Harry stepped further in the room and shut the door behind him. He pulled on his magic and sent a small ball of light to Snape’s bedside table so he wasn’t standing in the dark. “I don’t even know where we’re gonna be sleeping, do I? It’s probably going to all be different. Or someone here might need me. And I don’t know if the foods going to be different, or if death eaters are going to kill you all while I’m gone, or—”

“So the latter,” Snape interrupted him. He sat up and scooted to the left-side of the bed, leaving the entire right side open for Harry to flop on.

Which Harry did.

“No one is going to die while you are gone,” Snape said patiently. “You are staying in a hotel on the beach, where it will doubtlessly be outrageously sunny and hot. I am certain that you can eat eggs and coffee in the States just as you do here. In fact, your beloved pizza is a relatively popular dish in the States. Their tea is served cold though, which is disgusting.”

“And you definitely can’t go?” Harry asked again, ignoring Snape’s half-hearted jokes about cold tea.

“I can hardly imagine a more horrifying scenario,” Snape said. “I would kill Black by the end of the first day and the States still utilize the death penalty.”

Harry tried to laugh a little, since Snape was obviously trying to get him to, but it came out strained and mirthless. “I’m going to hate it,” he whispered, his face tilted up to the white ceiling to avoid having to look at Snape as he admitted it. “It’s going to be terrible, I just know it.”

“Harry.” Snape waited until Harry peeked over at him before continuing. “I believe it would be a good experience for you to travel and take a vacation with your friends. However, if you get there and it truly is terrible, you can come home. Send me a message and I will create an excuse for you and authorize an early return portkey, is that acceptable?”

“Swear?”

“I swear.”

Harry nodded and scooted down on the bed until his head was on the pillow. “Acceptable,” he drawled. He pointed at the ball of light and lowered his finger slowly, dimming the orb to a less bright level of light. “Do Americans really drink cold tea?”

Snape snorted and readjusted himself until he was able to once more bury his face in his pillow. “They do, coffee as well.”

“Ugh.”

“Quite so.”

11%
Lmao idk what Sirius was thinking

The first real problem with ‘vacation’ came when they got checked in and Sirius handed out room keys.

“Rem and I will be in 1001, Trent and Fred in 1002, Harry and Theo in 1003, and Hermione in 1004.”

Harry and Theo both stared balefully at Sirius as he handed them their keys with his bright eyes and eager expression until the smile slowly slipped away.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said firmly. “You guys aren’t going to be shacking up on vacation. I was put in charge, it’ll get me in trouble somehow, I’m sure.”

Harry blinked very slowly at Sirius as he held his hand out to his friends, all of whom promptly handed over their room keys.

“Trent, 1002. Theo, you and Mione in 1003. Fred and I will take 1004,” Harry said as he reshuffled the cards and handed them back out. “Sirius, be real here,” he added when Sirius turned to Lupin for support. “Why would we go on vacation just to not sleep in the same setup we’ve always had?”

“Let it go, love,” Lupin murmured to Sirius. “Severus allows them to do it.”

“Snape does not have enough rules,” Sirius said with a dramatic arm gesture of exasperation. “‘Same setup you’ve always had’, pft.”

“Sapphire has to sleep in Sky’s room when she comes over,” Trent said helpfully.

Helpfully for Sirius, that is.

“Not that we’re dating,” Trent added hastily with a red stain to his cheeks. “Just- just that we can’t share a room when she comes.”

“That’s because Sirius doesn’t know how to live,” Fred said teasingly. “He moved in with his boyfriend when he was eleven.”

“Did you really?” Trent said accusingly as he glared up at Sirius. “You didn’t tell me that!”

Fred and Hermione laughed as they led their group to the lifts to take them up to their rooms to unpack before ‘hitting the beach’.

And the lifts were officially ‘reasons Harry hated vacation’ reason number two.

“We did not move in together at eleven,” Lupin said with a grin after they crammed in the lift. “Fred’s joking, Trent.”

Harry blocked out their conversation as the lifts slowly rose and he concentrated on not feeling suffocated. It was just- were all lifts so small? Why didn’t they just split up and take two of them? Could he bust the doors open if he stopped breathing?

He had too many plans to die in a bloody lift.

The lift slowed, even though the little lights inside it said they were only on the eighth floor and Harry felt a flare of panic rise up inside him.

“Why are we stopping?” he asked no one in particular. “More people aren’t going to fit. Why’s it stopping?!”

“Sorry, we’re full,” Hermione said politely as the doors did open and a young couple with two little kids stood there, hoping to get on.

“Are you claustrophobic?” Trent asked, squinting up at Harry curiously.

“Shut up, Trent.”



Harry let Fred swipe the card that gave them access to room 1004 and squared his shoulders as he resolutely stepped inside.

“Oh.” Harry let out a relieved breath as he looked slowly around the room. The walls were all a clean white color, which matched the bedspreads on the two beds and the filmy curtains fluttering in front of an exit to an attached balcony. Harry’d expected something... darker, dirtier. More like the motels in downtown London. “This isn’t too bad.”

Fred was inspecting the television with a curious eye and looked up to smile happily at Harry. “Ten days of sun and fun,” he said. “This is paradise, darlin.”

Harry didn’t think it was paradise, but as long as he took the stairs instead of the confining lifts, it may wind up being a decent ‘vacation’.



The first day Sirius insisted on taking everyone to the beach outside their hotel and taking a million photos of them as they all tentatively explored the beach.

“We should have brought gillyweed,” Harry murmured to Fred and Trent as they stood ankle deep in the water. “Then we could find a shark or something.”

“Why would we want to find a shark?” Trent asked incredulously. “I’m starting to think Professor Snape is right, you really don’t have any self-preservation instincts.”

Harry and Fred shared a quick look, seeming to agree on a plan with just that look, before Fred snatched Trent and threw him over his shoulder.

“Neither do you,” Fred laughed as he carried Trent further in the waves over the sound of his protests. “Can you even swim?”

“NO!” Trent yelled. He gave Harry a pleading look over Fred’s shoulder as Harry laughed and followed them further in the water. “ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LET HIM KILL ME?”

“Yep.”

He wouldn’t.

But Fred wasn’t going to kill Trent either.

“You’re the worst godbrother ever,” Trent hissed after Fred dunked him in the water. His hair was sopping wet and made him look a bit like a green eyed kitten stuck in the rain, not very threatening at all in Harry’s opinion. “I’m trading you for Theo.”

Harry looked over his shoulder where Theo and Hermione were laying on towels in the sun, hand in hand, talking and laughing. Well, Hermione was talking, Harry could see her mouth moving from where he stood; Theo was gaping at her like he’d never seen a girl in a bikini before. Which, admittedly, Harry hadn’t either. And, objectively, Harry was sure that Hermione was attractive in her blue two piece that showed off her tanned skin and her curves, but Harry wasn’t much interested in gaping at her like Theo was.

He turned back to Trent and smiled sweetly for an instant before smirking. “Just for that...”

Harry could hear Sirius laughing from the shore with Lupin as Harry got in a vicious splashing war with Trent and Fred. Fred, traitor that he was, at some point switched sides to help Trent so Harry carefully used a small blast of magic to knock them down where they sputtered from the waves crashing in to them.

“Cheater!” Fred cried dramatically as they headed back to the shore. He had his arm over Harry’s shoulder and was smiling despite his baseless (and true) accusation. “Trent, this is a war now, you understand? Before we leave on the first, we have to kill Harry Potter.”

Trent snorted, “No. I like living, thank you.”

“Of course you do,” Theo snickered as the three of them threw themselves on the towels next to him and Hermione. “Free candy for life? What’s not to like about that?”

“It’s a shame nobody wanted to share a room with me,” Trent grinned as he stretched out and let the sun shine on his bare torso. “I brought loads of it with me.”

It was another quick look, further proof that Harry might be a great occlumens, but Fred didn’t have to be a legilimens to read his mind.

“Party in Trent’s room tonight then,” Fred said cheerfully as he laid back on his towel as well.

Harry tried very hard not to stare too much, but Fred shirtless and glistening from the water and the sun was rather distracting. He was probably failing anyway though, if Fred’s little pleased grin was any indicator.

Harry did glare heatedly at a pair of girls who walked by and giggled while they cast appreciative looks at Fred and Theo both.

“Put your shirts on,” Harry sighed after the girls were out of earshot. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Trent echoed him solemnly.

Harry decided he liked having a younger godbrother after all.



The next few days were a whirlwind of activities as Sirius tried to cram ‘fifteen years worth of family vacations’ in to ten days.



They traveled to fairs, where Harry slyly used a spell Amelia once taught him to make sure the muggles crowding everyone couldn’t touch him. He taught Trent how to play the games that Susan taught him to play the summer after his first year. He begrudgingly posed for group photos for Sirius and took some of his own when Theo smushed ice cream on Hermione’s nose.

He also convinced everyone to ride a roller coaster and shared a look of joy with Trent and Sirius that the others weren’t really experiencing.



One day, Sirius did the maddest thing he’d ever done in his entire life, and rented a fleet of ‘jetskis’.

“I don’t know about this...” Hermione said quietly as Sirius drug them to the dock where seven yellow water vehicles floated innocently. “I- I don’t know how to drive one.”

“Neither do we,” Lupin said reassuringly. “They’ll show us how, and everyone will have on life-jackets. It’s supposed to be fun, but if you don’t want to then you certainly don’t have to. I don’t mind going down to the beach with you instead.”

“Chicken,” Harry murmured to Hermione quietly with a small grin. “Guess all that talk about the Sorting Hat almost putting you in Gryffindor was bullshit, wasn’t it?”

Theo shook his head at Harry as Hermione’s chin jutted out stubbornly and she tied her hair back in to a ponytail. “Don’t antagonize my girlfriend in to a suicide mission,” he said.

“Quiet Theo,” Hermione said with a little snap to her tone. “Come on then Potter, let’s race.”

And bloody hell, if Harry thought flying was the most freedom he’d ever felt, it was only because he’d never gotten to do this before.

He laughed and shouted and whooped as he and Hermione recklessly raced between giant ships and speed boats. Theo and Fred got caught up in their own convoluted ‘obstacle course’ of which Harry’s blur of a jetski eventually became an obstacle to dodge.

At some point, Harry twisted the handle as far as it could go when a wave came up to him and, son of a bitch, he flew up in the air and somehow still landed without flipping the jetski over.

“Did you see that?!” he yelled to Lupin, who was closest to him at the time.

“I saw,” Lupin said with a soft smile.

Harry shrugged at Lupin’s lack of jubilation and turned until he found Sirius driving patiently alongside Trent, trying to coax him in to going faster.

“Hey, Trent!” Harry yelled and caught the boys attention. “I’ll let you drink tonight if you can beat me in a race!”

Trent’s face lit up even as Lupin called out half-hearted arguments against it.

Not that Trent beat Harry in a race anyway, not until Harry finally took a bit of pity on him and let him win the last one.



It was worth losing the last race when Hermione and Theo joined Harry and Fred in Trent’s room and they steadily got more and more pissed until one of them (Harry thought it was Hermione, Trent swore it was Harry) decided to sneak out of the hotel and go for a night swim.

Harry had a blurry recollection of getting roped in to playing some game on the beach with a group of muggle teens that were also drinking and listening to music. Harry and Theo were showing off for their partners a bit, as they stumbled and jumped around and tried to hit the ball, but Harry ultimately landed face first in the sand more times than he hit the ball over the net.

“I miss Barty,” he admitted as he and Theo were sharing a bottle between them while Hermione chatted up the muggle teenagers and Fred and Trent collected seashells.

“To Barty!” Theo lifted the bottle and took a deep swig before passing it to Harry.

“To Barty,” Harry murmured as he drank more and moped less.

Hermione swears that Harry broke his nose at some point, playing the game with the muggle teens, but Harry didn’t actually remember that so he’s fairly confident she’s lying. What he did remember were the laughs and smiles and jokes flowing freely between his friends that left Harry feeling weightless.

Harry crowded against Fred in their bed that night, pushing his face as far in to his neck as he could, and kissed him right below his ear. “Vacation is brill,” he breathed on his skin. “Innit?”

“Yeah.” Fred’s arms tightened around Harry and he buried his face in Harry’s sand-filled and saltwater soaked hair. “Bloody brill.”

16%
This is actually to precious

“IF YOU BREAK ONE MORE GOD DAMNED WINDOW I WILL MELT EVERY KNIFE WITHIN THIS HOUSE!” Severus screamed out his shattered office window the next afternoon. “LEARN TO FUCKING AIM OR PUT THEM AWAY!”

“Sorry!” Bailey yelled back, his hands behind his back and his face quite apologetic. “I’m sorry!”

“Ignore him,” Harry said with a laugh. “C’mon, Trent, just focus on the target.”

Harry came jogging up to Severus’ window and he gave him a cheeky salute as he effortlessly repaired it. ‘Better?’ he mouthed from the other side.

No.

Not ‘better’.

Though if Harry insisted on teaching Bailey and his other friends gathered around him how to ‘kill an attacker with a knife’, and Mavis insisted they do it outdoors, it was likely the best Severus would get.

And, when another knife bounced off Severus’ window, cracking the glass, Severus gave up entirely on his book and moved outside to watch Harry in his element.

Harry, who had no patience for much of anything, whose temper was always boiling just beneath the surface, was truly just as excellent of a teacher with weapons as the students at Hogwarts had said he was.

Severus enjoyed watching him teach the others, even if it was undoubtedly a tragedy that Harry had likely honed these skills as a small child.

Regardless of how competent of a teacher he was proving to be, when Harry announced that he was going to be showing the others how to shoot a gun and Severus had to step in.

He didn’t stop him, had no desire to do so really, he merely insisted on every protective spell he could for the children and the house.

Then he summoned a drink from the house and relaxed as he witnessed the debacle that was Ronald Weasley using a gun.

“You wanna try?” Harry asked when he noticed Severus’ amused smirk.

Severus nearly said no, but the challenge in Harry’s eyes was quite obvious.

“Certainly.”

Severus accepted the gun that Black bought Harry for his birthday (the man had always been an insufferable moron) and squared his shoulders as he aimed it at the center of the target Harry had pinned to a tree 20 or so yards away.

Severus pulled the trigger as he exhaled, and his smirk grew when the bullet hit the small black dot in the center of the board.

“How did you do that?!” Bones yelled indignantly. “You can’t have all that—” she waved her hand in Severus’ direction, “—going on and be good with a weapon!”

“And yet...” Severus carefully returned the gun to Harry, noticing a look of amazement in his wards eyes. “Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Harry agreed with a laugh. “C’mon, who next?”

It was a specific type of torture, watching Harry conduct training sessions in their backyard. As Harry barked instructions to his friends, Severus could recall the small boy who used to flinch at shadows. When Harry laughed and casually twirled a knife between his fingers, a spark of cunning in his eyes, Severus could picture precisely how Harry would look in ten years. A young man, surrounded by his friends and family, undoubtedly teaching the future children of his friends the benefits of knowing how to utilize muggle weapons in magical fights.

It was agony to know that despite how far Harry has came in his life, his journey would be cut drastically short in one way or another.

Severus relished in the torture though, he embraced it and allowed it to fill his every nerve.

One day, when decisions were made and the unthinkable happened, these were the images Severus would carry before he followed his child to the grave.

***

The morning before the wolf and mutt wedding, a date Severus only knew due to the incessant conversations discussing it, Severus wearily stepped in to the dining room, dressed in his sleep clothes still, and paused as soon as he saw Harry slumped over on the table. His shoulders were tense and his face was buried in his arms.

Which was a far cry from the relaxed and joyful child that has been wrecking havoc within their home since his return from vacation.

“Harry?” Severus slowly and noisily stepped closer to Harry’s seat. “Are you alright?”

“‘M fine.” Harry’s voice was muffled by his arms and sounded entirely ‘not fine’. “I need your help.”

“Certainly.” Severus was uneasy by Harry’s continued refusal to lift his head. Had he been crying? Was he injured? “Would you look at me?”

“No.”

“Harry.”

“Is anyone else in here? Blippy or Roo or Mavis or anyone?”

Severus looked around, “No.”

“If you laugh I will fucking kill you.”

Severus’ lips twitched and he took a deep breath before calming himself. “I will not laugh.”

Harry slowly lifted his head and it took all of Severus’ skills as an occlumens to slam his barriers in place against the emotions that threatened to overcome him.

Because he did actually feel like laughing.

“Good Lord, Harry, what happened?”

Harry’s face, particularly his jawline, was some sort of horrifying patch up of nicks, cuts, and the type of shadow-like facial hair that only teenage boys are able to make look so ridiculous.

“I tried to shave,” Harry said, his cheeks flushing and his eyes averted to the wall over Severus’ shoulder. “I wanted to look nice for tomorrow. And I fucked up.”

It did look quite fucked up.



He does not even know how to shave, and has his head on a chopping block with an axe waiting to drop.

It was tragic.



“I see.” Severus remained standing as he inspected Harry’s face. “Did you do this with a razor?”

“Magic.”

“You attempted to shave your face with magic?”



Idiot boy.



“Come along,” Severus said. “I will show you.”



Severus took his time as he taught Harry to shave the small amount of scruff he had on his face.

“Heal your battle wounds first,” he said. Once Harry’s face was no longer covered in small nicks and cuts, Severus grabbed supplies from his restroom cabinet.

He showed Harry the proper way to prepare and lather his face, and gave him one of his unused razors to use.

“While you refuse to use proper spells, your magic is unpredictable and dangerous,” Severus said as he demonstrated the proper way to shave in the mirror. “There are spells to accomplish this, but just as a scourgify does not give you the same feeling as a shower, neither do those spells. I can show them to you another time, if you would like.”

“Alright,” Harry said. He stepped up beside Severus and began mimicking his actions. “Like this?”

“Tilt your chin, so that you do not cut the skin. Excellent,” Severus gave him a nod of approval as Harry began shaving effortlessly. “Do you already have dress clothes for the event tomorrow?”

“Yup.” Harry kept his eyes on his face in the mirror as he worked. “You’re coming, right?”

Severus did not laugh, though it was close. “I am not,” he said. “I do not believe I was invited.”

“Course you were,” Harry muttered as he furrowed his brows and moved along his jawline. “Lupin said he invited you when you brought the potions?”

Severus racked his memory for what Lupin would be referring to before he recalled his parting remark;

‘We’d love to have you come next week,’ he had said. ‘If it isn’t a bother.’

And since it had been, Severus had curled his lip before flooing back to Invisibility Way.

“Perhaps he did,” Severus allowed. “Though I will not be attending regardless.”

“What do I do now? Just wash my face?” Harry asked as he inspected his clean face closely. “And Tonks is coming.”

“Wash and apply aftershave,” Severus said, pushing a bottle towards Harry. “It will prevent irritation. Nymphadora is an adult perfectly capable of attending a wedding on her own.”

“Ta.” Harry washed then patted his face dry. “I’m going to be in the wedding,” he said casually. He gave Severus a sideways look in the mirror. “So... so you should come. Did I tell you I’m best man?”

“Nearly sixteen times now,” Severus said with an actual chuckle. “It does nothing to increase my desire to attend their wedding.”

“Hmm.” Harry hummed as he liberally applied the aftershave to his face. “Did I tell you I’m wearing a bow tie? And you should come because I’m going to be in the wedding, as the best man, wearing a bow tie?”

Severus sighed in an actually put upon way as he looked up to the ceiling and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

He truly was a terrible parent.

Harry had an uncanny knack in convincing him to commit the most atrocious acts.

“What time shall I arrive?”

Severus was unsure how Black and Lupin’s desire to wed somehow led to his home devolving in to absolute chaos, yet somehow it had.

Another grudge to hold against them, he supposed.

Severus sat in the sitting room with Mister Longbottom as the other occupants of the house ran around madly.

Narcissa was dashing around, entirely in her element, as she did hair and makeup for Granger, Bones, and Lovegood.

Ronald kept being called as his various brothers kept appearing in the floo double checking the time of the wedding.

Severus could hear Draco yelling about dress robes from downstairs.

All five elves were just as energetic as they rushed around, quite pleased to help the others prepare.

“I’m starting to think weddings are a bit more work than I thought,” Longbottom muttered to himself as Theodore was heard shouting at Harry for something.

Severus snorted despite himself, “Quite so, Mister Longbottom.”

The boy gave Severus a startled look, as if forgetting who he was sharing a calm cup of tea with. “Er... right.”

Severus was unable to finish a single glass of tea before Harry came rushing in the room, half-dressed and frantic.

“Sev! Theo is being a dick and won’t help me, can you tie this?” Harry thrust a scrap of black fabric in Severus’ face.

“What..?” Severus held the fabric up and held back a grin, certain it would be unappreciated (and may actually terrify Longbottom). “Come here, brat.”

Harry held his face up as Severus looped the tie around his neck, beneath the collar of his shirt and carefully tied it.

“Is that too tight?” he asked.

“Nope.” Harry pulled lightly on the side of the bow tie and stepped back to give Severus his artfully perfected cheerful smile as he held his arms out to his sides. “How do I look?”

Severus swallowed down his emotions and occluded very quickly before responding. “Charming,” he said.

Harry was quite charming in his dress clothes and his socked feet as he stood there, but he also looked terribly young with his bright green eyes and messy hair.

“Thanks, Sev,” Harry grinned more genuinely. “I should go find shoes and my robes. I’m supposed to be there before everyone else since I’m—”

“The best man,” Severus and Longbottom said, unintentionally simultaneously.

“We are quite aware,” Severus sighed. “Go on.”

Severus sank back in to his seat as Harry dashed away once more.

“And I’m definitely not having Harry be the best man if I ever get married,” Longbottom said with a quiet laugh. “Merlin.”

Severus inclined his head slightly, once more in agreement with the boy.



Severus was fulfilling the role of unwilling photographer for Harry’s friends, at Harry’s firm request before leaving to ‘do best man stuff,’ when the floo flared to life and someone, undoubtedly another Weasley, stepped out of it.

“Damn.” Susan Bones whistled as she posed for a photo with Granger and Lovegood in their matching dresses. “You look amazing, Tonks.”

Severus mentally counted to five in his head before he turned and looked at Nymphadora. Who, admittedly, did look quite nice in her dark amethyst dress and her high-heeled black boots.

Perhaps a touch more than ‘quite nice’, but she also looked youthful and full of joy, which put her quite out of Severus’ reach.

“Ta,” Nymphadora said with a bright smile as she stepped closer to the group. “You all look great. I wish I could do makeup like that when I was your age.”

“Mrs Malfoy did it,” Lovegood said with a shy smile towards Narcissa. “She’s a genius.”

“You flatter me, Luna,” Narcissa said warmly from her spot on the sofa. “A light hand is all that is needed. Luckily you girls already have such natural beauty that it is simple to highlight your features.”

Theodore scoffed, though he covered it quickly with a cough when Granger lifted her brows at him.

“What?” he asked with an air of innocence. “I tell you all the time you don’t need makeup.”

Severus had never imagined his life devolving to involve any scenario where he was taking photographs for a child while other children began bickering over cosmetics.

God damned Harry Potter.

“Here.” Severus carefully tossed Harry’s camera to Bones and stepped away from the children. “If Harry needs more photographs, he is welcome to come take them himself.”

“We should bring it with and take pictures there,” George Weasley said after checking his watch. “If we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late and little Harry is going to kill us all.”

“He’s not little,” Frederick protested, jumping to his ‘fiancé’s’ defense.

An utterly ridiculous term to use for a sixteen year old.

“Fred’s only saying that because they’re engaged,” Draco said with a sly smirk.

“Engaged?” Nymphadora yelped. Her eyes were wide when she turned to Severus, “Engaged? Harry and Fred?”

“Yes,” Severus said simply as the others began flooing in pairs to Moon Lodge. “Frederick asked him on his birthday, Harry said yes. Thus, engaged.”

“But...” Nymphadora bit down on her lower lip and remained silent as she waited for the sitting room to completely empty. “But, how?”

Severus hardly needed to read her mind to understand her question.

“Would you have told him no?” Severus asked imploringly. “Could you have, Nymphadora? I cannot tell him, ‘don’t make plans for the future because you might not have one’, can I?”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “It’s just... just he needs to be told soon, doesn’t he? You don’t want him to find out from someone else first.”

Severus sighed at the truth in her words. Harry needed to be told, but...

“Not today,” he said. “The brat is having a relatively good day.”

“Soon though?”

“Soon.”

Nymphadora gave him a crooked smile and offered her arm out for Severus to take. “Shall we then?” she asked.

Severus accepted her arm with another wry look. “You should find a more suitable person to focus your stubborn attention on.”

Nymphadora laughed as she stepped in to the floo with him. “Nothing like a challenge.”



By the time Severus was able to take a seat in the rows of white chairs adorned with simple golden ribbons, the mutt and wolf were the least of his concerns with attending.

It seemed as if Lupin’s pack have come to regard Severus as some type of ‘hero’.

In the chaos that fell after the battle, Severus had quite forgotten that a young woman, Sky Monty, had called him her hero.

Merlin.

“What’s wrong, Sev?” Nymphadora murmured from her seat beside him. “Not used to being called ‘such a great man’?”

He was not, actually. It was discomfiting and terribly awkward, both emotions Severus was unused to experiencing.

Severus glanced at the woman with the infant on her lap who had said those exact words and considered revoking his offer to brew the wolfsbane potion for them.

“Had I known that I would be accosted upon my arrival, I never would have let Harry blackmail me in to attending,” he said back.

“Harry? Blackmail? That doesn’t sound like your son,” Minerva clicked her tongue as she took a seat on Severus’ other side. “I hope this blackmail involved you returning to Hogwarts, Severus. I am rather displeased with you.”

“Now Minerva, I seem to have gained a crowd of admirers, it would be a shame if I were to inform them of your displeasure,” Severus murmured with a smirk.

A personal army of werewolves, the idea carried merit.

Severus was lost in a fantasy regarding setting the wolves loose on his enemies when one of those enemies stepped up on the platform in front of the guests, Harry by his side.

“Oh, well Harry looks nice,” Minerva sighed. “He’s become quite the young man, hasn’t he Severus?”

Severus eyed his son and nodded curtly, unable to respond aloud lest his emotions wreck havoc on his vocal chords.

Harry stood beside his godfather in a white dress shirt, black dress trousers and robes, and his ridiculously beloved black bow tie around his neck.

And Severus was experiencing a pain so sharp that he had to use all of his concentration to ensure his face did not crumple.

How could the world be so unbearably cruel?

As Harry stood beside Black, dressed in his formal wear, it was only too easy to see how Harry would look as a man one day. As graceful in his body as Lily, as outwardly confident as Potter Senior. Eyes filled with joy, and shoulders broad enough to carry reasonable loads on.

And Severus alone knew that he would never get the opportunity to fully become the man that he could be.

No.

Severus’ thoughts were grounded by a firm squeeze of his hand that caused him to glance over at Nymphadora, whose eyes reflected the grief that Severus was attempting to bury.

Severus and Nymphadora alone knew that despite the ring Harry wore proudly on his left hand, it was for naught.

“We’ll figure it out,” Nymphadora whispered in his ear with the stubborn lilt to her tone that Severus has grown accustomed to hearing. “There has to be something.”

Severus lifted his chin, pretending to be convinced.

He kept his eyes on Harry throughout the ceremony though- Merlin only knew if he would have an opportunity to witness Harry on such an occasion again.

Nymphadora snickered when Harry nearly dropped the ring in his haste to hand it to Black when asked for it.

“Ah, that looks more like the Harry we know,” Minerva whispered when Harry’s green eyes sought out Nymphadora’s and he glowered at her for her laugh. “Oh.” Minerva inhaled sharply. She tilted her head towards Severus and whispered quietly to him. “He does look like Lily without his glasses, doesn’t he? How do you stand it Severus?”

Severus lifted a shoulder silently.

It had been ages since Severus looked at Harry and saw Lily Potter’s eyes.

“He looks as he always has, like himself,” Severus responded in a thick whisper.

He looked like a young man. A young man who Severus would give his own life to save.

A young man who caused a true laugh to ripple through the guests as he pointedly looked away when Black and Lupin sealed their matrimony with a kiss.

A young man whose life could not be saved by the sacrifice of a parent twice.

Despite Severus’ many unheard prayers that it could be.

“Leave me alone, you cretin.”

Severus swiped at Harry’s owl as it flew around his head, pulling at his hair with its talons.

“Sevvie, leave Sev alone,” Harry cooed at the mad beast. “He’s just a git until he gets his caffeine, isn’t he?”

‘Sevvie’ hooted and took one last yank of Severus’ hair before flying to Harry and landing docilely on his shoulder.

“I knew I should have boiled you for ingredients,” Severus scowled at the owl. “Terror.”

“Ignore him,” Harry said as he stroked the owl. “He doesn’t mean it buddy, you’re perfect, aren’t you Sevvie?”

Severus muttered under his breath about impertinent owls and their lackadaisical owners as he unfolded the paper the little black furball brought him.

“For the love of God...” Severus scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation at the top headline. He knew it was coming, though it did not make the prospect of the upcoming year any less daunting.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE REINSTATED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER AMIDST PANIC OVER YOU-KNOW-WHO

Severus read the article and saw precisely what he expected to:

The witches and wizards of the Hogwarts School Board of Governors were distressed over sending the children to Hogwarts without Albus’ presence as he was widely hailed as the only wizard the Dark Lord ever feared.

And, to add insult to injury, Albus was quoted on the battle in May:

’I have stuck firm to my belief that Voldemort has once more returned. This was proven by his attack in Hogsmeade. He will need stopped.’

“Albus has been reinstated,” Severus said flatly as he slid the paper to Harry. “There’s a delightful comment in there, regarding Albus’ steadfast belief that the Dark Lord was back all along.”

Harry’s face flashed with anger for a moment before he ground his back teeth and snatched the paper.

“Oh I’m going to fucking ruin him,” Harry snarled as he read the article. “Just- fucking ruin him.”

Severus smirked over his cup of coffee as Harry summoned a quill and parchment. Whatever scheme Harry was plotting to ‘fucking ruin’ Albus Dumbledore was certainly fine with Severus.

It couldn’t happen to a more worthy wizard.

***

Severus,
I would like to speak with you about the upcoming school year. I understand that you must have quite a bit on your plate that is causing you to feel as if your time would be best served elsewhere. However, if it suits you, I believe I have a compromise for your resignation if you are interested. Please floo me at your earliest convenience.
Yours,
-Albus

18%

“Don’t die you prat,” Harry yelled over his shoulder as he jogged to the platform to board the train.

“You’re supposed to say ‘I love you’,” Fred yelled back at him.

Harry leaned out of the doorway of the train, raising a brow quizzically at Fred. “Isn’t that what I said?”

He listened to Fred’s laugh and watched his smile and wave as the train began its journey to Hogwarts.

Its journey away from Fred.

Harry’s shoulders slumped a little as he stepped in to the corridor to go find his compartment. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten attached to someone so strongly.

Who was he going to sleep with at night?

Luna probably wouldn’t, since Draco was a jealous git. And even though Susan spent quite a bit of time in the wrong bed last year, he didn’t know if she would sleep with him either.

Harry hated sleeping alone.

Harry threw open the door for the compartment he’s shared every year with his friends and immediately threw himself across Ron and Draco on the bench nearest the door.

“You cannot already be depressed,” Draco sighed as he awkwardly patted the head on his lap. “It’s been five minutes.”

“Two,” Ron corrected Draco. “And it’s just Fred, mate, he’s not really that great.”

“This is the worst day of my life,” Harry groaned, feeling pretty dramatic honestly. He could see why Draco was such a fan. “Can I die from this? Can a terrible day actually do me in?”

“We all wish it was that easy,” Blaise drawled from the bench opposite them. “Imagine if Timmy could just hide your broomstick and your treacle tart and you’d fall over dead at his feet.”

Harry gave another deeply dramatic groan as his friends laughed. He looked around until he saw Trent folded up on the floor next to Luna. “Don’t date someone older than you, it’s miserable.”

“Noted,” Trent said seriously. “You don’t usually look very miserable.”

Harry snorted and moved his head around on Draco’s legs until his knees weren’t jamming in his head anymore. “Wake me up when the prefects get back, yeah?”

“As if you’re going to sleep,” Draco scoffed. He did start messing with Harry’s hair though, smoothing it down in an incredibly relaxing way. That, along with the rocking motion of the train, did actually make Harry feel tired enough that he might sleep.



Harry lurched off Draco and Ron and nearly hit the floor of the train as the compartment door was thrown open with a harsh bang. He bounced off the floor and had his knife pointed directly at—

Susan.

“Wha— Jesus,” Harry shook his head at Susan who was standing there with a grin as if she knew precisely what she was doing. “You’re the worst.”

“Aah, this brings back such fond memories,” Susan laughed as she pushed Blaise’s legs off the bench so she can sit. “All we need now is for you to piss off the trolley lady and it’ll be first year all over again.”

“There’s a lot more of us now,” Neville pointed out. “And Harry’s using a knife instead of his wand.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know where his wand is,” Theo said. He and Hermione sat down next to Ron and accepted a snack from Trent with appreciative nods. “You lot seen the new potion Professor yet?”

“Is he on the train?” Ron asked. “They don’t usually ride the train, do they?”

“Lupin did,” Neville reminded him.

“He’s here,” Theo told them. “He stopped us in the corridor and asked if we were really friends with Harry Potter or not.”

“What’d you say?” Blaise asked him, a grin already forming.

“I told him no,” Theo said. “Then someone,” he looked at Hermione with fond exasperation, “said we are.”

“If I don’t meet the new potions professor, then does he even exist?” Harry scowled as he sat on the floor.

Hermione laughed, “Aah, yes, Schrodinger’s Potions Professor.”

Harry had no idea what that meant, so he just shrugged. He was still pretty put out with Snape for giving up part of his position to ‘Horace Slughorn’, but having Snape at the castle at all was a boon so Harry tried to not complain too much.

“I’m very disappointed that Professor Snape won’t be teaching us,” Luna said sadly, echoing Harry’s thoughts. “He’s a genius and we’re lucky to learn from him.”

“I still get him,” Trent said. And he sounded smug, which, as his godbrother, Harry wouldn’t stand for. So Harry sent a small bit of magic at him which caused Trent to yelp then scowl.

“You’re the worst,” Trent said. “Go back to having a tantrum, will you?”

“Why were you having a tantrum?” Susan asked. “Were you—”

Susan was cut off by the compartment door opening, and since Harry knew all of his friends were already inside, he went ahead and pointed his knife in the intruders face.

Theo, Luna, Draco, and Susan all also had their wands out, much to Trent’s bemusement.

“I...” There was a kid standing in the doorway, with thick blonde hair and terrified blue eyes. “I was told to c-come give a message to Harry Potter, Theodore Nott, Susan Bones, Blaise Zabini, and Neville Longbottom?”

“What kind of message, Dennis?” Neville asked kindly.

Harry had no idea how Neville and Susan knew the names of all the students in Hogwarts. He also wasn’t sure why they bothered, Harry only remembered the names of people he liked or people he hated, the rest he was indifferent to.

Dennis was still warily eyeing Harry’s knife, but his shoulders relaxed as the others lowered their wands. “From Professor Slughorn, he wants to know if you guys want to have tea in his compartment with him.”

“No. Goodbye,” Harry said coolly.

Dennis’ eyes widened more in face of Harry’s refusal, but he glanced at Neville and stuttered out a compartment number before turning around and running off quickly.

“Why does he want to have tea with us?” Neville asked incredulously.

“Auntie said Slughorn has a club of his favorite students,” Susan said with a faux-haughty tone. “Anyone who’s anyone gets invited.”

Harry, who was debating on just going back to sleep, perked up. “What?”

“I’m definitely going then,” Blaise said as he stretched his legs out with a lazy grin. “Can’t afford to miss out on meeting important classmates, can I?”

“How rude,” Draco sneered. “Luna and I are important as well.”

“We don’t have famous names though,” Luna said consolingly with a gently pat of Draco’s leg.

“I don’t either?” Theo said with a confused scrunch of his nose.

“You moved in with Harry Potter, you— oh for God’s sake, are you really going?”

“Yep.” Harry smiled at Hermione and got to his feet to smooth down his clothes. “Anyone who’s anyone, Mione, why wouldn’t I?”

“You’re an insufferable ponce,” Susan said with a toss of her hair. “Let’s go.”

After a few minutes of arguing, Harry convinced Theo and Neville to go with them. Theo didn’t want to leave Hermione, and Neville just seemed uneasy about why he was being included.

Draco, of course, pouted the whole time. But, as Harry reminded him, it wasn’t his fault that Harry’s parents were dead war heroes and Draco’s dad was in prison.

Well.

It mostly wasn’t his fault that his dad was in prison.

Either way, Harry led the others to Slughorn’s compartment and promised to tell the others how it went when they got back. As they approached the compartment, Harry stuck his left hand in his pocket in a casual pose to keep a grip on his red penknife and let Susan knock on the door since his other arm was entwined with hers.

“Come in!” a jolly and deep voice called.

Susan and Harry exchanged one more look that shared more than any words could, before Susan slid the door open and their group stepped inside.

What the fuck?

Harry blinked around for a moment, caught by surprise by the rich furnishings and plush purple carpet of this compartment before he adopted his charming smile for the man seated at the head of a decent sized round table that was undoubtedly Professor Horace Slughorn.

“Hello, sir,” Harry said brightly.

Slughorn jumped to his feet, which seemed like quite a task. He was a bigger man, thick around the waist and cheek jowls that drooped down to his neck. He was dressed in a posh yellow suit with green robes, which should have looked ridiculous, but actually went together nicely. Slughorn smiled at Harry’s group and stuck his hand out to Harry at once. Harry glanced down at it and felt a bit of relief when Susan reached across him and took it in his place.