Fic: To Be Young Again [Pt 2]

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The next day Sirius transfigured another one of his father’s favourite books to a pile of multi-coloured parchments. They were sitting in the library. Luna, Hermione and Ron were making paper stars, hearts and hats for Christmas. Luna had taken to carry the blue plush dragon with her everywhere, naming it ‘Snarkyblast’. For the moment the toy was under her blouse, its head sticking out between the buttons like a strange stuffed smoking baby kangaroo.

Draco was teaching Harry to fly Sirius’s old toy broom. The blond boy was walking beside Harry holding his hand while circling the room. Harry didn’t really seem to need the support, but still held on to Draco as if he did. Sirius watched them for a moment. Should he encourage friendship between the two if they were going to grow up remembering that they hated each other? It seemed cruel to separate them now. Harry was already beginning to come out of the shell the Dursley’s had forced upon him.

He returned to the armchairs by the fire where Snape was sitting leaned over one of the more darker books of the Black collection. The old yellow pages where singed and the writing was blood red. Sirius had been chocked when he found out what a Horcrux was. And to think that Harry had been chasing after them was even more chocking.

From what Snape had been able to pick from Ron’s mind there were several of these things out there. Pieces of Voldemort’s soul that had to be destroyed. Snape had broken through some kind of barrier in Ron’s mind to get to the memories. The boy now claimed to be eight years old, though he has still in his five-year-old body. Ron had not noticed the change himself since he had not been a child long enough to experience the maddening double memories that Snape had been talking about. The only thing confusing him was that he was shorter than he thought he was.

“If Voldemort had raised Harry…” mused Sirius as he leaned back in his armchair “…he would have been forced to continually Obliviate half Harry’s mind until he turned his rightful age.”

“Probably,” Snape didn’t look up from the book. “But it would be a small price to pay to gain control over your enemy.”

Sirius picked up the book called Ghastly Spells and Gruesome Curses that he had been reading before the children ran out of paper. If he was younger and currently not in a truce with Snape, he would love to try some of his reading out on the other man. The thought scared him somewhat. Had he really been so cruel as a child? Sirius had always thought Regulus was the cruel one. Maybe Sirius was a true Black after all, hiding his real nature under a Gryffindor exterior?

“There was a kind of a chant in Weasley’s head,” said Snape waking Sirius from his musings. “It sounded like Potter’s voice… ‘locket, cup, snake, Ravenclaw’ over and over again. It seemed like Potter said it quite often, even in his sleep.”

Snape’s eyes were following Harry as he circled the room on the toy broom one foot above the floor. Draco was jogging after him, laughing, and his blond locks bouncing over his head. Harry suddenly made a sharp turn to avoid a table and Draco ran into him from behind. Harry fell off the broom. Draco fell and hit his arm on the floor. The scream was worse than the one time the Hippogriff Buckbeak had stubbed his toe.

Sirius got up and ran to Harry, while Snape hurried to Draco.

“I’m sorry,” cried Harry. “I’m sorry! Please don’t send me away!”

“Silly boy,” Sirius hugged Harry with a laugh. “Why would we send you away? Are you hurt?”

“Are you going to lock me in the cupboard?” sniffed the boy, pressing his small face to Sirius’s chest.

“We are not!” Sirius couldn’t help to rise his voice in anger over the Dursley’s treatment of the boy. “It was an accident. No one is to blame. Look, Draco is fine.”

Sirius turned Harry so that he could look at Draco. Snape had opened the boy’s shirt and was looking over the arm. Draco’s skin was almost as fair as Sirius had been after his twelve years in Azkaban. There was a beginning of a bruise on the elbow but Snape was already moving his wand over it. Draco looked on with his lower lip pouting.

“Interesting…” Snape murmured.

“What?” Sirius was giving the girls and Ron assuring smiles and gestures that everything was fine.

“These scars,” Snape opened Draco’s shirt more so that a several pink scars over his chest was visible, the longest started on his right shoulder and continued to his left hip bellow the pants line. “He shouldn’t have these now.,. Look at Potter’s left hand.”

“What is this?” Sirius starred in horror at the words carved into Harry’s skin: ‘I shall not tell lies.

“It seems that the youth potion doesn’t take away cursed scares.”

“Was that?” Draco poked one of the smaller scars that were close to his right nipple.

“Nothing to worry about,” Snape began putting on Draco his shirt again. “It just means that I probably have to do some re-calculations to the antidote.” He patted Draco on the head. “Now, go to your friend.”

Draco looked at him for a moment, but then turned to Harry, who was still sitting in Sirius’s lap looking worried and ready to cry. Draco gasped and ran over, also seating himself on Sirius.

“Don’t cwy,” he said and hugged Harry with a giggle. “I fell off my broom fiwst time too. Ewybody do!”

“Is it right?” asked Sirius getting to his feet. “To let them be friends?”

“Try to stop them,” Snape shook his head like he was seeing something really silly. “Anyway, Draco has always worshiped Harry in his own strange little way.”

“Was war ship?” asked Draco.

“A big spaceship,” peaked Hermione, holding up a half finished paper star. “Daddy watching them on telly all the time.”

“Uncle Vernon never let me look at telly,” said Harry miserably. “Only Dudley can do that.”

“Was telly?” asked Ron.

All the wizard children looked at Sirius, who was just as clueless as them. He had heard Muggleborns talk about the thing from time to time, but he had never really understood what it was. He knew it had something to do with entertainment. He shook his head not-knowingly and looked to Snape.

“It’s like a wireless with pictures,” sighed Snape, returning to his seat. “Muggles use them to watch news, sports and acting. My father liked the sports…” his tone was bitter. “But we didn’t have a telly at home so he always watched it in the pub… were he could drink…”

Sirius noticed Snape’s mood getting dark and understood that the man did not like his father very much. Well that was one thing we have in common, he thought as he scooted Harry and Draco off his lap.

“We need to move on with the plan,” said Snape, rubbing his face. “I can not go outside the house because of the Mark, so you have to do everything. It is possible that you have to use the children too, but we will try to avoid it as far as we can.”

“All right,” nodded Sirius. “But I need to disguise myself. I’m still wanted, you know.”

“There is no time to brew polyjuice,” Snape conjured a quill and began to make hastily notes on a pink piece of parchment, “But I know a couple of adequate replacements. We’ll get the elf to buy supplies. You can use disguises and the dog until they are done. Just be careful, Lucius knows your animagus form. I’m not sure of his alliances at the moment, since we have Draco, but it’s better not to take chances.”

“Very well.”

Sirius watched Snape’s concentrated face, and decided he liked this ‘take-charge’ attitude. It was a relief to finally get something to do after months of boredom, even if it was with Snape. He turned to the children who now was listening spellbound to Hermione explaining something about ‘space ships’. It sounded kind of interesting, even with her childish know-it-all voice, so he got up to sit with them. Luna immediately crawled to his lap.

He noticed that Snape was glancing at him with half a smile.

--------------

They were again in the kitchen. It seemed like this place had also become Snape’s favourite room. It was probably because the kitchen reminded so much of an underground dungeon. But that was because it had actually been a dungeon once, several hundred years ago when rich wizards still lived in small castles and not in townhouses. ‘Grimmauld’ had in fact been the name of the Black family’s old medieval home, before London grew out of proportions and the first of many adjustments had to be made.

The children were napping in Harry’s room. There were several pots bubbling on the stove and a large cauldron was on the fire. Another cauldron, smelling like burned lime, was over a magical blue flame on the table. Sirius only hoped that Snape and Kreature had control over what was dinner and what was potion.

“This is what I got out of Weasley,” Snape pushed one of his parchments over the table to Sirius. “He is sleeping now; I had to break one more of his mind seals. I put him in your room. He will be very confused when he wakes up so I have given him a strong sedative. It might be better for his sanity to keep him asleep for as long as possible.”

“Right…” Sirius looked through the notes with rising fear. “The Cup of Hufflepuff?”

“I believe we can find in the LeStange’s vault,” Snape sniffed the cauldron on the table and stirred it a quarter of a stir clockwise.

“Well, that’s easy enough…” Sirius continued reading and paled a little. “Nagini, the snake.”

“With the Dark Lord. She will be hard to get near. It seems they were working on a plan, but it would probably end up in suicide,” Snape moved to the stove, looking over his various concoctions.

“’Something that has belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw’. That’s helpful…”

“It could be her diadem…” Snape sat down next to Sirius bringing two conjured cups of hot tea. “But it has been missing for centuries… It is possible though that it has been found. Whatever it is I believe it’s inside Hogwarts.”

“Why do you think that?”

“When I was appointed Headmaster, the Dark Lord was very specific with how the security of the school was to be laid out. There is something there that he wants to protect, something more than his future army of Death Eaters.”

Sirius nodded. He looked to Snape’s profile. It was strange that they had gone for days without arguing. It was as if they had really found a truth between them. The children were a great buffer, of course, but Sirius didn’t even have the urge to insult the other man. Maybe living this close made him see Snape’s good points. The man was very intelligent, he was devoted to his tasks and he was actually kind to the children, even if he pretended to ignore them. And the rare times he smiled were almost worth waiting for.

“Take your puppy eyes off me,” growled Snape without looking up from his notes.

“I was not looking!” Sirius blinked, straightened in his seat and took a sip of the tea.

“Sure,” Snape huffed. “Why don’t you rack your two brain cells to think of a way to break into Gringrotts instead of thinking dirty thoughts?”

“I was not!” Sirius shouted. “As if I would…!”

Snape only gave one of his half smiles and rose to look at the pots on the stove again. Sirius was left with staring on the table with a whole new set of disturbing images in his head.

-------------

“This is the most stupid idea in the history of stupid ideas,” said Snape. “I’m a teacher, I know stupid ideas when I see them.”

“Why are you going with it then?” asked Sirius.

Snape snorted. He looked over a phial with a pink potion with grey flakes floating around in it. It was eight a clock in the morning. It was already the twentieth of December. The children, except for Ron who was still asleep under a potion, were sitting by the table with each a plate of pancakes in front of them. Harry looked like he was still sleeping and was leaning on Draco’s shoulder. The two boys had been sleeping cuddled together all night. Sirius still had his doubts if it was a good thing. But then again the girls had cuddled up too; maybe it was just something children did.

“This will transform you to your female counterparts,” Snape held forward the potion. “It will keep for about four hours, if you keep calm.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius was trying to wake up Harry, or at least try to make him sit up for himself.

“Don’t do anything that would increase your male hormones rapidly, it weakens the potion. That is, don’t get excited, don’t get angry, don’t fight and don’t get aroused.”

Snape gave him an almost evil smile that seemed to convene the thought: “Basically, don’t think of me.”

“Right…” Sirius diverted his eyes from Snape without really knowing why. “And Draco?”

“He will be fine; he is still too young to be affected by any of those reactions.”

The plan was for Sirius to go into Gringrotts disguised as a woman with her daughter. He was going to be impersonating his own mistress and Draco was supposed to be his child that had inherited the key to the Black vault. The Prophet was already spreading the rumours that he was dead; he had read his own obituary not long ago praising him as a hero to the Dark Lord’s cause.

The Black vault was next to both the Malfoy’s and the LeStange’s vaults in the lowest levels of the Wizard bank. Once they got down there he was going to put a Confondus on the Goblin. They were hoping that the workload around the upcoming holidays would give them some concealment.

“You will be careful with the boy,” the tone in Snape’s voice was not a question. “I only agree to this since he knows the bank, and you are of close blood and the deceit will be easier. But I’m warning you…”

“Don’t worry,” Sirius lifted up Draco on his hip. “We will be fine.”

“Why can’t Hawwy go?” asked Draco, looking down on the confused rumpled haired boy that was wondering where his pillow had gone.

“There is only room for one,” said Sirius taking the phial from Snape. “We are going to go shopping for Christmas and we are going to play a game.”

“A game?” Draco lit up.

“Yes,” Sirius gave a nod to Snape and walked up the stairs to the hall, still with Draco on his hip. “It’s a dress-up game, it’s very important to pretend, because if the bad guys find out we lose.”

“Like daddy when he has his bwig cloak and visit his fwiends?”

“Daddy and his friends will be playing the bad guys this time, remember that,” Sirius hesitated for a moment but then said: “If they win they get Harry and they won’t give him back.”

Draco gasped and nodded seriously, his small cute face was suddenly more determined than ever. Sirius continued to the back of the house to a dusty old chest. Behind it was a secret passage that led a few blocks away. He hadn’t even told the Order of this secret family escape route, in case any of them had been a traitor. And he had been right. But then again, was could Snape really count as a traitor now?

As he hurried trough the passage with Draco on his back, and his wand a lit before him, he thought of Snape alone in Grimmauld Place with free access to Harry. This was really a test of loyalty. He thought of Snape’s injury and his story about Dumbledore. Sirius had not really taken time to think things over. The shock of having six children to take care of, and the confusing closeness of a slightly attractive man had taken over his lonely heart and rational thinking.

Slightly attractive? Sirius shook his head as they arrived to the exit. He was really losing it. If James still had alive he would have kicked Sirius’s arse just for looking at Snape in another way than loathing. He wondered what Remus would have said. The werewolf had always felt sorry for Snape after the cruel joke in the Shrieking Shack. Sirius sighed and pushed away the thoughts for now, he had more important things to do. At least he hoped so…

He let Draco take a drink of the pink potion and then took the rest himself. He had a curious sensation of panic as his penis and balls seemed to retract as if he had dived into ice water. His chest suddenly felt heavy. His face prickled in pain like each every one of his hairs there were pulled out at once. His hips hurt as they stretched his skin. Lastly his throat narrowed and it felt like he was swallowing his own Adams apple. The gasp he admitted was high pitched. Draco giggled.

The boy looked almost exactly the same, only difference was that his curly blonde hair was a twice as long and his cheeks a little bit rounder. Draco looked curiously up at him.

“You look like the lady on mommy’s pictwure.”

“Do you mean Bellatrix?” Sirius cleared his throat to get a feel for his new voice.

“M-hm,” Draco scratched between his legs. “Can I still pee?”

“Yes,” Sirius didn’t dare to touch himself. “Now, I’ll transfigure our clothes. You call me Mommy and I call you…”

“I wanna to be Cissy! Daddy calls Mommy that!”

“Fine, Cissy,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “ Mulebri”.

It was a general spell, made to choose the clothes most suitable for one’s character. Draco had on a green robe with silver flower trimmings; the child was really a Slytherin without even trying. Sirius’s robes looked like Molly’s, but more expensive and cleaner. He was just happy that he didn’t look like his mother.

“Let’s go, Cissy,” Sirius took Draco’s hand and Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron.

At the door he was face to face to Snape. Sirius bolted backwards, but realised that it was only a picture. A wanted-poster: searching for any information of the whereabouts of the highly dangerous traitor and killer Severus Snape. Snape looked disdainful as he turned from side to side to show up his eagle nose in all angles. Draco tilted his head, but didn’t say anything.

They stepped through the door. The bar was gloomy even if the Christmas lightning and decorations was up. There were some drunks sitting by the bar. Tom, the bartender, gave Sirius a trepidationous look and turned away. Sirius gripped Draco’s hand harder and moved towards the back. He tapped the bricks and waited for the wall to open.

On the other side there was snow everywhere. It didn’t seem that the new government was so keen on holding the streets clear. There were several paths were wizards had melted walkways for themselves. The snow was falling heavy though and the paths were not going to be there for long. Sirius decided not to use his magic, someone could be on guard and recognize it. He put Draco up on his hip again and began walking through the snow towards the bank.

There were several people moving around carrying packages. They looked haggard. It could not be easy shopping for presents and feeling any kind of Christmas spirit in a place like this, with half the shops closed and vandalized. There were posters of Harry everywhere, and some of Snape. There was even an old poster of Sirius that nobody had bothered to take down.

When he entered the bank they were met with a wall of pleasant heat. Draco, who had cuddled up to him in the snowy cold, looked up and around. The small boy (or was it girl now?) gasped excitedly. It must have been a treat for the child to come here with Lucius.

“Can I help you, Madame?”

A well-dressed goblin with a huge chin and beady amber eyes, not taller than to Sirius’s lower hip, glared his sharp teeth in what supposedly was a courteous smile. Sirius was first taken a back from being addressed as ‘Madame’, but then straightened his back making his ample bosom push to the side of Draco’s head. The child gave a little squeak.

“I’m Violet Fitz Black,” Sirius said in a firm voice. “I would like to visit the Black vaults.”

“Do you have a key?” asked the goblin.

“Here,” Sirius held up the silver key he had found in his mother’s jewellery box.

“You are aware…” the goblin narrowed his eyes. “That only a true Black can enter the vaults?”

“How dare you?!” huffed Sirius in anger, again hitting a squeaking Draco’s head with his breasts. “Are you accusing me of being an imposter?”

The goblin narrowed his eyes even more, looking partly suspicious and partly scared. Sirius suspected that he did quite resemble Bellatrix. Draco played his part by giving the goblin one of the best ‘you-are-just-slimy-dust-to-me’-looks Sirius had ever seen. The goblin bowed lightly, presented himself as Hatchet and asked Sirius to follow him. Sirius was glad that he had thought of bringing Draco, someone carrying a child was not as likely to want to rob a bank.

…

“Never…” breathed Sirius as he staggered in to the library of Grimmauld Place, carrying a limp boy-Draco under his arm and throwing the Cup of Hufflepuff at Severus, who caught it smoothly. “Never ever…. Let me do something as stupid as that again…”

“Stopping you from doing something stupid is like asking Gilderoy Lockhart to stop curling his hair,” Snape put the cup on the table beside him and got to his feet. “How’s Draco?”

“He’s fine,” grumped Sirius handing Snape the limp child. “Just sleeping, which is what I should be doing. I want to go to sleep and forget this entire day ever happened. Where are the others?”

“They are playing in Harry’s room. What happened? Did the potion fail?” He looked Sirius over. “Very fetching.”

Sirius was all but naked, only wearing a old grey overcoat.

“Shut up, you greasy bastard,” Sirius grabbed hold of Snape’s robe and shook him. “You have no idea what I went through to get that damned thing!”

“Perhaps it has something to do with you not telling me?” Snape pulled himself lose. “Try to compose yourself while I tend to the boy.”

Sirius watched as Severus left the room. He sank down on the seat that had been left free and took a deep breath. Compose yourself, he thought irritably.

Snape hadn’t been almost killed because Draco had fallen in love with the dragon guarding the vaults and wanting to bring it home. Snape hadn’t been bitten in the shin by an angry goblin waking from the imperius curse and discovering the lady he had been escorting had tricked him to open the wrong vault. Snape hadn’t been burned and crushed by the cursed valuable objects in the LeStrange vault. Snape hadn’t had run for his life with a cheering five-year-old trying to escape the raging dragon the said five-year-old had set free with spontaneous magic. And Snape hadn’t been almost molested by the Auror-Death-Eaters when they arrived to the ruins of Gringrotts after the dragon had flown away.

The Death Eaters had really begun to gather around Diagon Alley after that. Sirius had been forced to walk for three blocks in Muggle London to find a safe apparition point. The potion had stopped working after the first block. After discovering the hard way that a rough looking middle-aged man should not be walking around Muggles dressed up in women’s clothing holding a beautiful small girl in his arms, he turned into Padfoot.

Draco had enjoyed walking the dog that was more than four times his size. They had to leave Sirius’s clothes behind in a bin, taking only the cup, wrapped in a scarf, and the wand with them. Several people, mostly old ladies, had stopped Draco on the way asking him is he was lost and telling him what a good dog he had. Sirius just growled at them like an overprotecting mother. As they finally found a safe Apparition point, Sirius changed the scarf to an old overcoat. Draco had fallen asleep as they walked back through the secret passage.

Sirius sighed, striking his fist against his thigh. He was tired and he was angry. He had had to carry the damned cup in his mouth all the time he was a dog, now it was just standing there on the table like nothing had happened. He took the cup, closely scrutinising the carved badger. Oh, how he longed to break it…

“I put Draco next to Weasley,” Snape re-entered the room, holding a small teacup. “Here you go. I guess your hormone levels are quite high after coming of the gender potion. This will help…”

“Fuck my hormones!” Sirius threw the Hufflepuff cup at Snape, making the man spill the teacup over himself. “I’m sick of this thing! I’m sick of seeing your face!”

“Manners,” muttered Snape bending down to take up the Hufflepuff cup. “Hmm…” he turned the cup around, investigating it.

There was a strange sent coming of Snape from were liquid had spilled. It smelled like books, grass and sex. Snape tapped the cup with his wand, without anything happening. He frowned, shrugged, and carfully put the cup on one of the bookshelves. Snape turned to Sirius, seemingly to say something, but stopped short. He looked down on the massive erection that Sirius’s coat couldn’t hide. Snape raised an eyebrow. At that point Sirius couldn’t take it anymore and launched himself forward.

Before he even knew what happened, Snape had stunned him and all went dark.

…

“Doctor Hop, we need to operate.”

“Indeed Medi-witch Fofo. We need the big saw.”

“Can we use this one?”

“I said a saw Nurse Harry, that’s the hammer you hit him on the knee with.”

“Why can’t Hawwy get a name too?”

“I want to be Harry!”

Sirius had a crushing headache and his body felt sore. He moaned and tried to open his eyes. There was a giggle from a small girl. Sirius managed to pry one eye open. He was looking up at the ceiling above his bed. He noticed that he was not alone in there though. The mattress rocked.

“Medi-witch Fofo, the patient is awake,” the haughty voice of young Hermione Granger declared.

“Don’t we need the saw then?” asked Harry’s hesitant voice.

“Let’s ask Healer Snarkyblast,” Luna Lovegood placed the stuffed blue dragon on Sirius’s chest, it spewed a large cloud of smoke in his face.

Sirius coughed and sat up, pushing the toy away. He looked around at the children who were looking back at him with curious faces. Hermione and Luna were sitting next to him on the bed wearing big, long, white robes, which Snape probably had conjured for them. Harry and Draco were standing next to the bed, looking totally innocent while holding hands.

“What happened?” Sirius rubbed his face.

“Uncle said you was sick,” said Draco.

“I was going to op-rate!” Hermione held up her hand in excitement. “My daddy is a dentist!”

“There, there children,” said Snape’s deep voice from the door. “There is hot chocolate and cake in the kitchen.”

“Yay!”

Ten seconds later there were only the two of them left in the room. Sirius shifted, noticing that he was wearing a red velvet pyjamas. He cleared his throat and looked at Snape.

“I’m sorry…” he began.

“You were influenced by the Horcrux,” Snape walked up to the bed and placing a hand on Sirius’s forehead. “That thing is evil and will contaminate your mind. You were also experiencing an increase of male hormone as you were so active under the gender potion. And since you just transformed back from a dog your sense of smell was increased, you reacted to the counterpart potion that was spilled on my clothing. I apologize for not noticing in time…”

“No,” Sirius took the thin hand that was being pulled back from his head and smelled it curiously. “There was something else…”

He breathed in the smell of chocolate, herbs, spices and various plants. There were faint scents of animal blood, fish and earth. And the something else, something tangy and exciting. Sirius turned the hand over to look at the palm.

“Let go, you mutt!” Snape yanked back his hand, holding it clenched to his chest. “Get up and get dressed. You have been sleeping for ten hours. I need you to help me with my testing.” He took a deep breath to calm himself. “We haven’t got much time left. Your escapades are all over the Prophet.”

Snape turned abruptly and left the room. Sirius looked down at his own hand, clenched it and thought of Remus.

------


Downstairs in the kitchen Sirius was met with a teary-eyed Harry. The boy sat on the same chair as Draco, snivelling in his cup of chocolate and looking confused. Draco was petting the unruly raven-black hair with an air of childish determination. Hermione and Luna were whispering on the floor, throwing short glances of the two boys from tome to time.

“What happened?” Sirius bent his knees to look at Harry’s face and stroke his wet cheek.

“A memory,” said Snape calmly.

Sirius turned to where Snape was hunched next to Kreacher’s airing cupboard. There was a small bed on the floor there. Ron Weasley was comfortly tucked tin between the sheets, still sleeping. His small freckly face twitching as he reacted to his dreams. Snape rose to look over the cauldrons.

“From before the age of seven most children only remember the really traumatizing or really happy things,” he explained. “Potter remembered a time when his uncle locked him inside a cupboard for saving a cat out of a tree with magic.”

“Uncle Vernon said the kitty died,” whined Harry and got an even tighter hug from Draco.

“I have lots and lots of kitties at my house,” Draco said proudly. “I give you tfhree!”

“Why didn’t you Obliviate it?” asked Sirius giving Harry a comforting smile and a kiss on the forehead.

“I’m not the Dark Lord,” huffed Snape and firmly put a cup of tea on the table. “The boy needs to grow up with his own memories so that he will become the man that will win the war for us. We are not at the point where his mind is in danger, yet. Now drink this, I put some Pepper-up in it. We have a long day before us.”

Sirius wanted to argue, but found Snapes’s reasoning sound as usual, and stayed quiet. He gave Harry one more comforting smile and stroked Dracos head. Both the boys smiled back at him and returned to drinking their chocolate.

“So these memories can come at any time?” Sirius moved to his own chair and sipped his warm drink. “For any of them?”

“Yes,” came the blunt answer. “I have been working on several versions of a possible antidote, but they are still in the test-stages.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately, again, Weasley must be our first test subject. I had to go once again into his mind to search for ways to destroy the Horcrux. I believe his mental age is now to be around eleven, his body about six.”

“Is that so bad?” Sirius looked over at the sleeping boy. “If he had slept through it. An eleven-year-old is perceptive, he would probably understand… and he is both pure-blooded and wizard-raised…”

“I know,” Snape made an indecisive face. “Weasley’s first year at Hogwarts was not as traumatic as Potters, though it was close to it… and…” He glanced over at Harry and Draco…

“You are scared that he would spoil their possible friendship?” Sirius followed his gaze.

“Draco would be a powerful ally for Potter, and vice versa…”

Again Sirius didn’t want to agree, but was forced to do so. Harry and Draco wouldn’t be close after they were returned to normal, but this time together would perhaps sow a common seed of understanding in the boys. They didn’t have to become friends, allies were good enough. From what he knew from stories and rumours, Draco was not without influence. Perhaps not over Voldemort, but he could perhaps persuade Lucius and Narcissa. Draco was also admired by most of the Slytherins at Hogwarts…

“So, children” Snape made sure he had everyone’s attention. “Black and I have very important work to do today, so you have to play nice by yourselves again.”

“You going to help Ron ‘cause he is sick?” asked Luna. “Want Snarkyblast to help? He helped Siri!”

“My daddy is a dentist!” said Hermione holding up her eager hand.

“We have everything under control, thank you,” Snape said calmly. “We will indeed try to help Weasley, so don’t disturb us until we come and get you.”

“Unless it is an emergency,” Sirius hastened to say. “If you are hurt, or anything like what happened to Harry happens again.”

“Indeed,” Snape turned to his cauldrons.

The children left the kitchen as they had finished their meal. Harry and Draco were still holding hands as they walked up the stairs. Sirius looked after them, feeling both uneasy and hopeful at the same time.

“The Prophet says there was an escaped dragon at Gringrotts,” said Snape, summoning five teacups from a cupboard and placing them on the table.

“Draco set it free,” Sirius emptied his tea. “Am actually glad he did, now in hindsight. That poor beast was treated worse by those goblins than any prisoner in Azkaban. It was not pleasant at the time tough.”

Snape nodded. He opened a small sack and took up the Hufflepuff cup from it. It glistened in the fire light. Sirius felt a shudder go through him. Snape put the cup back in the bag and placed it on a shelf as far away form them as possible.

“It is a pity that we have to destroy it,” Snape frowned. “But for the Dark Lord to die, we have to. The Sword of Gryffindor destroyed the Locket that Potter got from Umbridge. I saw it with my own eyes. The sword should still Malfoy manor, and we are not going back there. Weasley’s memory tells me the location of the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts; there are fangs of a Basilisk down there. It should be strong enough to destroy it.”

“You said that the Ravenclaw diadem could be there too.”

“If that truly is the Horcrux, we have no way of knowing until we find it,” Snape was now taking measurements of different liquids out of the cauldrons and filling the teacups on the table with them.

“And Nagini?” Sirius watched as some of the teacups started steaming over.

“She will be where the Dark Lord is. The final battle will stand at Hogwarts, it is my belief that the Dark Lord wouldn’t want it any other way. Potter needs to be there, at least to inspire hope if he can not fight, or all will be lost.”

Sirius noticed the sad and tired tone in the other man’s voice. Had he been resting at all? He felt sad for Snape who had to carry the heaviest burden of them all. Sirius realised just how much he started to depend on him just over the last few days.

“So we have to go to Hogwarts then?”

“Yes,” Snape stirred the first teacup with a silver spoon. “The question is now if we go there with a group of children or with young adults. Get Weasley.”

----

It had passed three hours since their experiments started. Ron had grown to his eleven-year-old body and then abruptly stopped. His outer age now matching his inner, they had decided to keep him awake for the time being and feed him. The boy remembered the first month after arriving at Hogwarts for his first year. Just one look at Snape had made pale as a ghost and very compliant.

Ron remembered escaping from Malfoy manor, but as something that happened years earlier. He accepted that he had had an accident and had to be taken from school. His easy acceptance was probably because Snape really scared him, and that he was used to accidents after living with George and Fred his entire life. For the time being Ron was content with being given food.

“It’s a possibility that if I break down all their mental blockages individually they can grow to their real age with the help of the potion,” speculated Snape. “But, nobody’s mind is the same, and as they grow older they become more complex… and they have to let me in freely for best result.”

They were sitting on the opposite side of the long table to Ron. Their voices were low and their heads close together. Kreacher was moving around the kitchen, occasionally filling Ron’s plate, but mostly muttering about dirty and noisy children. Sirius could smell every sent coming of Snape, his heightened dog-senses going a bit wild.

“Couldn’t you just do Harry?” he asked and adjusted his seat.

“Potter’s mind is connected with the Dark Lord’s. A sudden awakening could alert him to our plans. It would be bad to risk it. If I fail breaking a barrier, there is a chance that the Dark Lord can connect to my mind as well. Potter has done it before…”

Again, Sirius was caught by the hurt in that voice. He had heard it several times before, nearly twenty years ago. Back then he hadn’t cared about it; he and James had just laughed and laughed. Now he felt guilty.

“Severus?” he asked slowly.

Snape turned his face to look at him in surprise; it must have been the first time Sirius had ever said his name to him. Their eyes met. Before either one could say a word their lips met. Sirius felt relief rising up from deep his stomach and spread into his chest. Their mouths opened and their tongues dived into action, entwining themselves in each other. It tasted sweet and soft. Sirius drew in his breath through his nose and was drowned in enticing smells, promising of pleasure.

There was a sound as something crashed to the floor. The sound made the pull apart and look around. Ron sat as if petrified, his fork halfway to his open mouth. Kreature stood still, starring, a pile of broken plates at his feet. Sirius blinked. Snape collected himself with a grunt and a correction of his collar.

“I’m going to check on the children,” he said, almost in his usual voice. “It seems that we have to take them to Hogwarts as they are.”

With that he was gone from the room, without even a glance over is shoulder.

“Woah,” Ron put his fork down. “Are you Professor Snape’s boyfriend? My brother Charlie has a boyfriend.”

“Does he?” Sirius cleared his throat, willing his budding erection down. “I didn’t know that.”

“He does,” nodded Ron continuing his meal. “He tames dragons!”

“Master is kissing half-bloods, what is my poor mistress to say? Filling honourable house of Black with dirty children. Kissing half-bloods. Poor mistress. Poor Kreature…”

Sirius chose to ignore the elf.

….

It was the early morning of the twenty-third of December. The clock had just passed a quarter past three when they snuck aboard the Hogwarts Express. The train was leaving for Hogwarts to pick up the students that were celebrating their Christmas at home. Snape was carrying Luna and Hermione, and Sirius carried Harry and Draco. Ron was walking next to them.

They chose the last compartment in the last wagon. Snape put some protective spells on the compartment so that no one would discover them. It was not ideal to travel with so young children on such a dangerous journey, but it had been unavoidable.

As Snape had said, Harry’s connection with the Dark Lord was too dangerous to meddle with. It would be too exhausting on Snape to return the other four to their real ages in just a few hours, if such a feat was even possible. It was bad to rush something fragile as a human mind.

“Even Weasley’s mind,” smirked Snape.

Ron had been surprised to meet the children, and he was a bit sour over Draco stealing Harry but accepted it for now. He had more trouble with the two girls, who had both decided to marry him when they grew up.

Neither Sirius nor Snape had spoken about the kiss. Mostly it was because they hadn’t had a chance to be alone, but also because they both seemed to be at loss for words over the subject. They had exchanged several, seemingly, accidental looks and touches though. Sirius felt bad since had ever only had sex with Remus before. He had always thought of Remus as his first and his last, even after Remus had died. Was feeling desire, maybe even attraction, to Snape the same as being unfaithful?

Was Snape even attracted to men? Sure they had kissed, and it had felt good, but what had really happened? Was it Sirius that had taken the first step? Had he forced Snape into the kiss? His memory was hazy, and the more he thought about the kiss, the more it confused him. But what about the looks and the touching? He closed his eyes and leaned back on the soft seat.

The compartment was dark and the children were falling asleep. He suddenly felt a head on his shoulder. Sirius breathed in the now familiar scent.

“This doesn’t mean you can go all puppy me,” came Snape’s muttering voice.

Sirius laughed silently and leaned his own head on Snape’s.

…

Comments

[lrndng.livejournal.com]

SO CUTE

[centaury-squill.livejournal.com]

This is a fascinating alternative take on Deathly Hallows. I do hope you'll write more of it, as I'd love to know what happens next!

[bonfoi.livejournal.com]

A lovely story idea. You've left plenty of room for continuation. So, I'm looking forward to more as well.

[justbecause421.livejournal.com]

very creative AU! I hope you're planning on continuing this?? bats puppy-dog eyes :)

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful!

The children were hilarious and I loved how you changed things. I really hope there'll be a sequel to this as I really cannot wait to find out what's in store for them!

Great story! ♥

Hermione was great and I love how Draco is all "grabby hands" over Harry. *happy face*

I liked that it took Severus and Sirius as long as it did to get over their differences enough to allow them to look beyond. It felt very much like a natural change from mutual dislike, to grudging respect and then more.

I'm really glad I spend the time reading this. Cannot wait to find out who wrote this! <3

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a fascinating read!
I love left turns from canon, so this was really fun!
I, too, hope you continue it as I'd love to se how it all turns out.

[carolinelamb.livejournal.com]

Oh I love Snack! This was original–a very new angle on the pairing as the whole plot was a different take! Also Harry/Draco was cute!

(And I had a weakness for femme!Sirius ;)

[naturegirlrocks.livejournal.com]

Yes, this was mine. Because of a silly screw-up of mine the whole story was not emitted. (Sorry Mods)

To see how it all ends go to my journal (http://naturegirlrocks.livejournal.com/106397.html)

[laurapetri.livejournal.com]

lovely