Chapter Text
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***HP
With a rare, true smile on his face, Severus embraced his old friend. He hadn’t seen or heard from Carlisle Cullen since he left home for his last year at Hogwarts. His father had been an abusive drunk so after graduating he never returned home. He held no love for his father whatsoever so once he turned seventeen that had been it, he never even looked back. Instead, he had foolishly joined the Dark Lord and became one of his most trusted Death Eaters. If he had been smart he would have returned home, not to his father, but to Carlisle and Esme who had offered him a home and a family with them.
Carlisle and Esme never knew it, but he had figured out that they were vampires in his second year at Hogwarts after learning all about muggle vampires in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He had met Carlisle and Esme shortly after they had moved into a home a block away from his in Spinners End. Carlisle had found him broken and bloody in the park after his father had taken a belt to his back in a drunken rage. He had only been ten at the time so it hadn’t taken much for Carlisle to talk him into returning home with him where he patched up his back and Esme fed him his first real meal in ages.
After that first encounter he had regularly visited the Cullens and had quickly fallen in love with the couple. Many times he had went to bed cold, hungry, and lonely wishing that they were his parents. He knew that they had a couple of kids, but they were away at college, except for Edward who Carlisle said was having some control issues and had taken off. He had first thought that Carlisle meant anger issues, but after he learned that they were vegetarian vampires, he figured that Edward was off killing and consuming human blood.
He had often thought about Carlisle and Esme after he graduated and joined the Death Eaters, but there was a war going on and he couldn’t risk visiting them. It wasn’t until after the death of Lily that he returned to Spinners End only to find that Carlisle and Esme had moved away. He had been devastated, but it had been his fault for never visiting or even writing to them.
“Well, it takes one to know one, Carlisle,” Severus said, chuckling at the shocked look on the man’s face. “I was bitten and turned when I was twenty, but I have known about you and Esme since I was twelve.”
Still reeling with shock, Carlisle pointed down the hall. “This story I need to hear, but this isn’t the place. Why don’t you come to my office?” Remembering the young boy with the baby, his eyes widened worried that the child had overheard him.
“Don’t worry about Potter, he’s with me and knows what I am. The boy also knows how to keep a secret, despite being a pain in my ass. Potter is a good kid.”
“Thank you for the compliment, sir,” Harry smirked, “but it takes a pain in the ass to know a pain in the ass.” He said, repeating the man’s earlier words. Giggling, Harry ducked his professor’s playful swing at his head.
“Cheek, Potter,” Severus warned, though he was happy and relieved to see that Harry was doing much better today. Last night’s episode had been very bad and he prayed that they wouldn’t get any worse.
Carlisle smiled at the pair, he could tell that Severus cared a great deal for the frail boy. “So I take it that you are his guardian? Should have known, the boy is as stubborn as you. I have been trying to get him to let me look at that eye of his for the past thirty minutes, but he has refused without his guardian.”
Harry lowered his head in embarrassment, his face turning red. “I-I didn’t want to go without you, Professor.”
Severus gently placed his hand on his charge’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “Dr. Cullen is a very good doctor, Harry, I have known him for a very long time. If it makes you feel more comfortable though, I will sit with you while he takes a look at your eyes.
“Please,” Harry pleaded as stood up on wobbly legs, clutching at the stroller for support. Everyday he was improving, but he still had a long way to go.
Carlisle showed them to his office and motioned for Harry to take a seat on the exam table. He didn't see too many patients in his office, especially seeing as he mostly worked the emergency department, but the table had been left behind by the previous doctor and he never got around to removing it.
Carlisle chuckled when the boy awkwardly climbed up on the table, his baby daughter still clutched safely in his arms. “Severus, can you please take the little one so I can see to her daddy?”
Harry’s head snapped up from where he had been gazing at his daughter, all the color draining from his face. “No, please don’t take her,” he cried desperately. “Please, Sev, I need her.”
The boy’s reaction shocked Carlisle. Turning to his old friend, he gave him a concerned look. He needed to see to the boy, but he couldn’t do that with the baby in the way. The boy’s reaction wasn’t normal, it wasn’t as though he was asking Severus to leave the room with the newborn. Did the boy not trust Severus with his daughter? He didn’t think that Severus was abusing the boy, that he was the one who gave the boy his scars, but sometimes abused kids grew up to be abusers themselves. He didn’t know what he would do if that was the case, he loved Severus like a son.
Harry clung desperately to his daughter, not willing to give her up. He didn’t need her because he was terrified to have his eye looked at, which he was, he needed her because he needed grounding. A hospital was the worst place to be for an empath with everyone’s emotions at their highest. There were sick and injured people here, as well dying and grieving people, there were just too many emotions for him to handle. He knew that he would quickly become overwhelmed if he didn’t have Leora to ground him. The last thing he wanted to do was pass out in the middle of the hospital.
Running a hand over his tired face, Severus sighed. “Carlisle, I have a lot of explaining to do, but Harry can’t lose contact with his daughter. He is an extremely sensitive empath and his daughter is a grounder. As long as he is in physical contact with her his empathic abilities are blocked. If he were to lose that contact, he would quickly become overwhelmed and pass out, possibly even suffer a seizure.” Harry had yet to suffer a full blown seizure, but he had noticed at times when he was getting overwhelmed that he would start involuntary twitching.
Carlisle looked between the pair, his eyes wide with shock. He knew that there were humans who claimed to be empaths, but he had never met any. Jasper was an empath, but he was also a vampire. He had never heard of a grounder before but he was very much interested in learning more. Jasper struggled everyday with his gift, a grounder would be amazing.
Seeing how the boy was clinging to his daughter and looking at him in fear and desperation, Carlisle inclined his head. “Relax, child, I understand your suffering. My son Jasper is also an empath and I know how incredibly hard his gift is on him. I have never heard of a grounder before, I would love to learn more.”
Severus raised a single, curious eyebrow at hearing that Carlisle’s son was also an empath. Meeting and talking with another empath could possibly help Harry with his gift, especially if Carlisle’s son was a vampire with decades of experience and knowledge. Harry had never met another empath before. “I take it your son is a vampire too?”
Carlisle smiled when he saw the relief in the boys eyes. He could tell that this kid had been through hell and back and didn't trust easily. “You never got to meet my children, Severus, they were away at college when we lived near you. Yes, Jasper is a vampire, he was turned in 1863 when he was only nineteen years old. I also have two other sons and two daughters. All adopted of course.”
“So Rosalie is a vampire too?” Harry asked shyly. “I knew that she couldn’t be completely human, no human is as pretty as her, but I wasn’t sure what she was.”
“All my children are vampires, but we do not consume human blood,” Carlisle explained, not wanting the boy to be frightened of them. He knew that Rose was desperately looking forward to seeing both the boy and the baby again.
“Not to be rude, but I can sense that you’re not completely human either.” Carlisle said gently.
“What!” Harry cried, looking to his professor with wide eyes. “What does he mean that I’m not completely human? I’m human, I’m very human. Aren’t I?” He added in a small and unsure voice.
Closing his eyes, Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Merlin, give me strength,” he muttered under his breath. “Potter, Carlisle can sense your magic. You are human, but you’re also a wizard, you daft boy.”
“Oh!” Harry gave his guardian a sheepish grin. “But I’m still human, right?”
“Yes,” Severus sighed. “You are a completely, idiotic human who was put on this earth to be a thorn in my side.”
Harry giggled nervously. “Right, I knew that. Sorry about my little freak out.”
“Wizards are real?” Carlisle asked, his mind completely blown. He had heard of witches and wizards of course, but he didn’t know that they were real. He wondered if Severus was a wizard too, the boy had always smelled different to him. Severus did have the same electricity scent to him like Harry, but Harry’s scent was much more powerful. He wondered if that meant that Harry was more powerful than Severus, or if maybe it was just because he was young and still maturing.
Despite Severus’ sternness with Harry and his name calling, he could tell that Severus cared a great deal for the boy. He felt guilty that he had briefly doubted his friend, Severus wasn’t the one who had hurt this child. No, Severus was taking care of him, both him and his daughter.
Carlisle gave Severus a meaningful look. He had so many questions, but right now wasn’t the time. Right now he had to see to Harry, to see if there was anything that he could do for his eye. “We have a lot to discuss, Severus, is it alright if myself, along with my family, come over to your house this evening. I know Esme will be thrilled to see you.”
Severus gave his friend a rare, true smile. “I would love to see Esme again. Does six o'clock sound good to you?"
“We will be there.” Carlisle turned to Harry. “Rose mentioned that you were craving pizza but got too sick to buy some yesterday. She would like to bring some over for you to enjoy.”
Harry gave Carlisle a blinding smile. “Really? Oh my god, I can’t believe she’s going to bring pizza. I have always wanted to try pizza, the smell is amazing, but they would never allow me to have any.”
Carlisle pursed his lips. He couldn’t wait to learn more about this boy and his daughter. He could easily see why his daughter had been immediately taken with the boy. Rosalie was wary of everyone, but there was just something about Harry that drew you in.
“Harry grew up in a worse home than I did,” Severus explained sadly. “I still don’t know all the details myself, but it’s amazing that Harry has turned out as kind and as compassionate as he is.”
Carlisle balled his fists up, he hated hearing that. Tobias Snape had been a mean bastard who liked to beat on his wife and child and didn’t care if they had food in their bellies, he couldn’t imagine Harry being raised in a worse environment. He hated abusers with a passion.
***HP
Sitting at the table with a notebook and colored pencils, Harry tapped the paper with the purple pencil as he tried to imagine the perfect bedroom for his little daughter. He wasn’t having much luck designing her room, the proof was in the numerous balls of discarded paper at his feet.
Looking at the clock, he grinned excitedly when he saw that it was almost six o’clock. Dr. Cullen seemed nice enough and he was anxious to meet his family, a family of vampires, but what he was most excited for was the pizza.
He was glad that he had met Dr. Cullen in the hospital. He hadn’t asked too many questions about how he injured his eye, but the man was hopeful that with a cornea transplant he would regain some vision in his blind eye. He had an appointment in three days with a trusted friend of Carlisle’s, a doctor who specializes in hopeless eye cases.
With a frustrated growl, Harry ripped another piece of paper out of his notebook then tossed it onto the floor. He just wanted to design the perfect room for Leora, but all his designs so far have been stupid.
“Harry, Leora will love whatever you design for her,” George said gently as he wrapped his arms around Harry from behind.
Harry gave a startled jump, but then relaxed into his brother’s protective embrace. “I know, but I just can’t help it. I never had a bedroom, I just want hers to be special. When I was little I use to lay in my small and dirty cupboard and imagine that I was in a nice big room with blue walls and a real bed with a warm comforter. I dreamt that I had shelves full of toys and stuffed animals like my cousin Dudley. But then reality would always come crashing back and instead of a bedroom, I had a broom cupboard, and instead of a warm comforter, I had an old dirty towel with holes in it.
Harry snuffed wetly as he looked down at the empty notebook, “I always wanted a stuffed animal. One time I found one of Dudley’s old stuffed bears in the trash, and even though I knew it was wrong, I rescued him and hid him in my cupboard. The bear was a lot like me, beaten and unloved, but despite the fact the Mr. Grr was missing an ear, an eye, and his head hung limply, his little beating heart still beat softly and made a whooshing sound whenever I pressed on his chest. He was one of those bears that was supposed to soothe babies and make them think it was their mother’s heart they could hear beating.”
“God, that bear was such a hot, ugly mess, he even smelled funny, but I loved that ratty bear. For one amazing week I had someone to snuggle with and talk to when I was scared, lonely or hurt. Mr. Grr didn’t care that I was an ugly freak that no one wanted or loved, Mr. Grr had been my best friend...my first and only friend.”
George swallowed the lump he could feel forming in his throat. He had a horrible feeling that this story wasn’t going to end happy. “What happened to Mr. Grr?”
Wiping at his wet eyes, Harry smiled sadly down at his daughter who was sleeping in her transfigured bassinet. Harry wanted to reach out and touch her, to reassure himself that she was actually here, but he didn’t want George to see how badly his hands were trembling. “My Aunt Petunia had been in a bad mood all day and refused to let me out of my cupboard to do my chores. She said that she couldn’t deal with me and that my ugly face was making her physically sick. She knew that if I didn’t get my chores finished before my uncle got home that he would punish me, but she didn’t care. When Uncle Vernon got home that night he had been in an extremely bad mood, some deal that he had needed fell through. When he saw that I hadn’t even started on my chores he grabbed me from my cupboard by my hair and yanked me out. I had been cuddling Mr. Grr in fear and he fell from my arms when my uncle grabbed me.”
“I can still see the sick, satisfied look my uncle got on his face when he picked up Mr. Grr then drug me down to his special room in the basement. I was screaming and crying, begging him not to hurt my only friend, but like every other time in my life, my pleas were ignored.”
“Uncle Vernon handed me a knife and ordered me to cut Mr. Grr’s ear off, and when I refused, he gave my back ten lashes with the whip. He told me that he would give me ten lashes every time I refused, I lasted for thirty lashes before I finally couldn’t take it anymore and gave in. I cut off Mr. Grr’s ear. Of course my uncle didn’t stop there. I ended up with seventy lashes to my back, bum, and back of my legs, for refusing to continue cutting my only friend, but eventually I had cut off all his limbs and stabbed him in his stomach three times.”
Harry took a couple deep breaths, he was openly crying now. “My uncle then ordered me to cut out Mr. Grr’s beating and swooshing heart. At first I stubbornly refused, I didn't care that Mr Grrr was all cut up and had no ears or limbs, his heart was still beating so he was alive.” Harry chuckled somewhat madly. “I was only six at the time so to me Mr. Grr was real and alive. My uncle tried to lash me more, but because of his large size, he was too tired and out of breath, so instead he took the knife that I had used to disfigure Mr. Grr and started cutting into my chest, right above my heart. He said that he was going to go deeper and deeper until I put the knife in Mr. Grr’s heart. I only lasted three carvings before I gave in and killed my only friend.”
Shaking, Harry hung his head. “My uncle said that it was a lesson. He said that anyone or anything that I love will eventually end up getting hurt or killed. He said that I was a monster and that monsters weren’t allowed to love or be loved.”
Harry looked up at George, his eyes bloodshot and defeated. “My uncle was right.” He choked out brokenly.
George too was crying, Harry’s story was making him feel sick to his stomach. He couldn’t believe that someone could be that demented and twisted. How could an adult hurt a child in such a manner, especially their own nephew? “No, Harry, that’s not true. You are so very loved.”
Harry stared at George, not truly believing him. Shaking his head, he lowered his eyes to look at his daughter. “George, I want to buy Leora a teddy bear.”
“Isn’t Mad Eye enough of a big teddy bear?” George asked jokingly. It hurt that Harry wouldn’t admit that he was was wrong, that his brother truly believed that he was unlovable and that he blamed himself for the death of his parents and Cedric. He wished that there was more that he could do for him to make him see that none of those deaths were his fault and that both Fred and himself loved him. Hell, they loved him more then they did Ron. To be honest though, they really didn’t like Ron at all.
Harry jumped when he heard someone clearing their throat. Looking towards the entrance of the dining room, he saw Rosalie standing there holding a fluffy brown teddy bear wearing a pink tutu with a matching bow between its ears.
Rosalie awkwardly bit her lip, her heart bleeding for the poor boy. She had heard his story about Mr. Grr and it was taking everything in her not to hunt Harry’s uncle down and kill him. How could someone be so cruel? How could he force a six year old little boy to butcher and kill his only friend? Someday she would have the monster’s head.
“I-I hope you don’t mind Harry, but I saw this teddy in the store while I was waiting for the pizza to be ready and I thought of Leora.”
All the color drained from Harry’s face and his limbs went numb. “Rosalie, how long have you been standing there?” He would be mortified if she heard his story about Mr. Grr. Not only her, but the rest of her family would have heard too. He wanted to crawl in a hole and die.
“I am so sorry, Harry,” Rosalie said sincerely, her eyes wide and pleading. “I didn’t mean to hear, honestly.” She knew if it had been her she would have been upset if someone who was still pretty much a stranger had walked in on her talking about her rape and turning.
Harry could easily sense how truly upset Rosalie felt for accidentally overhearing his tragic retelling of Mr. Grr. Rosalie wasn’t just upset, she felt tremendous guilt, sadness, shock, anger, and understanding. Her emotions were so strong that he didn’t realize that his nose was bleeding until he felt blood drip onto his top lip.
“Oh my god, Harry, are you okay?” Rosalie cried. “Your nose is bleeding bad.”
George quickly jumped up, napkin in hand, and pressed it to Harry’s nose while his other hand gently massaged his brother’s neck, partially grounding him. Harry’s nose bleeds we’re getting more frequent and it was starting to greatly concern him.
Grimacing, Harry tried smiling at the beautiful blonde. “Sorry about the blood, it’s nothing to worry about. I know it looks bad, but nosebleeds are unfortunately common for me.”
Severus led the rest of the Cullens into the room feeling horribly guilty that he had let them in seconds before Harry started his story. He was also feeling guilty because Lily had been his best friend whom he had dearly loved and he had made a vow to her to protect her son before she died, and he had failed the first person who had ever showed him kindness. Not only had he failed Lily by not making sure that her son was happy and healthy, making sure that Petunia was treating him right, but he had also been mean to Harry from the second he entered Hogwarts. He was an adult, yet he had picked on, belittled, and bullied an eleven year old child, an eleven year old child that he had vowed to protect.
He couldn’t make excuses for his behavior, as far as he was concerned his actions were unforgivable, and yet Harry had not only forgiven him, but let him into his and his daughter’s life with open arms.
He had asked about Harry once when the boy would have been around four years old, but Dumbledore had reassured him the he was keeping a close eye on him and that Petunia and her husband doted on him as if he was one of their own. He should have known that the old bastard had been lying, he knew from first hand experience how mean and spiteful Petunia was.
“Harry?” Severus questioned when he spotted Harry standing with George with a look of panic on his face while blood dripped from the cloth that George was using in attempt to stop the bleeding.
“It’s okay! I’m okay! Harry tried to reassure refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. He felt like shit that everyone heard his pathetic story and now here he was bleeding all over the damn place. He was such a disgraceful mess. “I’m so sorry.”
Even though George was grounding him, he could feel positive, soothing feelings being pushed on him. Looking at everyone in the room, his eyes landed on a tall, good looking vampire with honey blonde hair. This must be the other empath, Carlisle’s son. Inclining his head in thanks, he gave the vampire a shy smile. He was actually looking forward to talking to and getting to know him. It would be kind of cool being friends with someone who can understand what he’s suffering through.
All eyes looked to the bassinet near Harry when Leora started fussing. Seeing that Harry was still bleeding and being helped by a tall red head, Rosalie took a tentative step forward. “Harry, do you mind if I get her?” She asked hopefully.
Harry could see the desperate longing in Rosalie’s eyes. He should be leery seeing as he really didn’t know her, not to mention that she was a vampire, but his magic felt settled and welcoming around her. Seeing that she was still clutching the teddy bear, Harry nodded his head. “You can pick her up, but you have to stay within three feet of me. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but we have a very complicated bond and if we’re more than three feet apart it causes us both great pain.”
Rosalie looked horrified, just the thought of either one them hurting upset her. “I’ll stay close,” She reassured as she approached the bassinet, her eyes softening when she saw the little one. Grinning from ear to ear, she placed the stuffed bear down then very slowly and gently lifted the tiny baby. As much as she adored babies, she didn’t have much experience with them. She always knew that she wanted to be a mother, but she had been turned when she was just a teen herself.
“Why don’t we all have a seat around the table?” Severus suggested as he kept one eye on Harry and the other on the young woman holding Leora. He trusted Carlisle and Esme with his life, but he didn’t know their children.
After everyone was seated, Rosalie next to Harry happily feeding the newborn her bottle, Carlisle cleared his throat. “Severus, you have heard many stories about them, but I would like to finally introduce you to my children.”
Grinning happily, Esme reached across the table and took Severus’ hand. She had been shocked when her mate came home from work late and informed her Severus had moved to their small town. Over the years she thought a lot about Severus wondering how he was and what kind of man he had grown up to be. She had loved Severus every bit as much as she loved her own children. They had even stuck around Spinners End longer than they had planned hoping to see him again before they left, but Severus never returned home after his last year of school.
Carlisle looked around the table, his keen eyes searching the faces of those he didn’t know. Other than Harry, there were a pair of identical ginger haired twins that were keeping themselves close to Harry in a defensive position as if they were protecting the young boy, another ginger haired man who had to be the twins brother who was sitting awfully close to Severus and whom he could smell Severus on, and a horribly scarred man with a crazy whirling eye that was looking back at him, analyzing him.
Carlisle pointed to his wife. “This is my mate Esme, my daughters Rosalie and Alice, and two of my sons, Jasper and Emmett. My third son, Edward sends his apologies for not being able to attend, but he has a human mate whom he doesn’t like to be away from. I didn’t think it a good idea to invite Bella without your permission seeing as she only has knowledge of vampires and shapeshifters and I figured we would be discussing topics of a sensitive nature.” It was bad enough that Bella knew the truth about them, she didn’t need to know more before she was turned. It was up to Severus or Harry, if they wanted Bella, a human, to learn about magic and wizards. Something as major as that wasn’t up for him to decide.
“Thank you,” Severus said. “There are laws that our kind must follow when it comes to non-magicals learning of our existence.” After that, Severus introduced his family to the Cullens and was relieved to see that everyone was getting along.
“Harry, I have something for you,” Rosalie said as she winked at the shy boy.
Harry looked eagerly at the beautiful blonde hoping that she was referring to the pizza that Carlisle said that Rose wanted to bring him. He thought could smell something coming from the kitchen, but because of his nosebleed his nose was tender so he didn’t want to risk inhaling deeply. There was a delicious smell that he could just make out coming from the kitchen, and knowing that he was the only one who could pretty much cook, it had to be the pizza.
Rosalie couldn't help but laugh at the excited, hopeful look that Harry was giving her. “I didn’t forget your pizza, Harry. I bought five large pizzas from what I’m told is the best pizzeria in Forks. Not that I would know first hand seeing as we don’t eat food, but all the teens at school rave about the pizza from there.”
“Really!” Harry cried, literally bouncing in his seat. “You really bought me pizza? I finally get to try pizza?”
Esme didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or hunt down the humans that abused and starved the poor boy. With a soft smile on her face, she stood up. “You stay in your seat, dear, let me get everything.”
“Are you sure?” Harry asked, making to stand up.
Esme held her hand up, stopping the teen. “I’m sure, Harry.” Esme felt her heart melt when the boy smiled up at her. She could already feel herself wanting to mother the dear boy. She didn’t know all the details, but she knew that he suffered a horrible childhood and has never known the love of a mother. The fact that the Harry smelled like her son wasn’t helping her motherly instincts any. Harry smelled so much like Edward that it was confusing her. What did it mean?
Harry could no longer contain his excitement when Esme came walking out of the kitchen carrying the pizzas then placing them in front of him. He moaned sinfully when Esme lifted the tops and he saw that each pizza had a different topping and all five had extra cheese. The smell was so mouthwatering that he had a hard time not rudely snatching his slice and stuffing it into his mouth before someone could take it from him.
Jasper could sense Harry’s feelings, his anxiety, fear, desperation and longing. “It’s okay, Harry, the food is for you and your family, no one is going to take it away from you.”
Taking a shaky breath, Harry took a slice of the plane cheese pizza. Bringing it to his nose, his stomach rumbled loudly, hopeful that it was going to be filled with the delicious smelling food. Taking a small, tentative bite, he moaned as the flavors burst in his mouth. Closing his eyes, he savored the taste of the cheese, the tomato sauce, and the warm dough. It was even better than he imagined.
“Oh, Merlin, Rosalie,” Harry said, covering his mouth so his guests couldn’t see the food in it. “You don’t know how much this means to me. I know it’s just food, but it’s so much more to me. Thank you so, so much.”
Rosalie smiled at the boy she was growing more and more fond of by the minute. “I’m glad it was everything you dreamed of.”
After watching Harry’s reaction to the pizza, the rest of the Wizards helped themselves to the food. Being the only one raised in the muggle world, Severus had eaten pizza before and it was something he thoroughly enjoyed.
“Holy shi...shitennoodle!” Fred quickly corrected, not wanting to feel one of Snape’s hexes to his backside for cursing. “This is amazing!” He cried as he dove in for a second slice.
“What in the hellennoodle is a shitennoodle?” Emmett asked, howling with laughter.
Forty five minutes later there were only a few slices of pizza remaining, the wizards, especially Harry, thoroughly enjoyed their meal and company. “Thank you,” Harry said sincerely, truly meaning it.
“Anytime, Harry,” Rosalie said. Noticing a notebook next to Harry with sketching in it, she tried to peek at what it was, but she couldn’t quite make out the details. She thought about pulling it closer to her, but it was rude to do so without permission, and both her hands were currently occupied with the most beautiful little girl in the world. “Harry, what are you sketching?” She finally asked.
Harry grimaced as he looked down at his sketchbook. “I’m trying to design the most perfect nursery for Leora, but I’m completely clueless. I don’t know what little girls like or what’s supposed to go in a bedroom.”
“Oh, you’ve done it now,” Emmett joked. “The woman in this family are obsessed with decorating and shopping. Esme is an architect, there’s nothing she can’t design.”
Harry looked at Esme with wide, hopeful eyes. “Do you think you’d be willing to help me design and decorate a room for Leora? I have nothing for her yet, everything she has has been transfigured for her, except some clothes and formula. I’ll pay you, money isn’t an issue. I just really want her to have her own special place.
“We would love to help, dear,” Esme gushed excitedly. “And I’ll accept no money from you.” Standing up, she walked over to her daughter Rosalie and peered down at the baby in her arms. She couldn’t get over how much Leora looked like Edward...both Edward and Harry. She’d love to hold her, her arms were aching to feel a baby in them, but she knew how much her daughter craved a child and she didn’t have the heart to take her from her so instead she picked up the sketchbook.
“I-I don’t mind paying you,” Harry said unsurely, not use to people helping him for nothing.
Smiling, Esme shook her head no. Tapping the pencil on the pad, she thought about what a baby needed. “How about we make a list of everything we can think of that the little princess will need? Tomorrow, if you’re up to it, we can do some shopping.”
While Harry and the girls planned their shopping trip, Emmett was getting to know the twins better. Just a few short minutes into their conversation and he could tell that they were kindred spirits. Bill and Jasper also were hitting it off, Jasper in awe of their library and all the books about the wizarding world. He was especially interested in the books about the wizarding wars, as well as magical creatures. If wizards, vampires and shifter were real, what else was hiding in the world?
Carlisle was pleased to see that the two families were getting along. “Severus, is there somewhere where we can talk privately?” He had so many questions, hopefully Severus would be willing to answer some of them.
Inclining his head, Severus led Carlisle into his warded office. “Alright, Carlisle, fire away.” He knew that his old friend’s head must be close to exploding with all the questions he had.
“One thing I always loved and respected about you, Severus, was your no nonsense, straight to the point attitude. First question, how the hell did you become a vampire?”
Severus winced, he hated talking about his past and all the mistakes he made. Mistakes that cost people their lives. Taking a seat behind his desk, he started off by telling him what happened after he left for his last year of school. He explained how he joined the Dark Lord after graduating and and how he had fought in the war, knowing that he was wrong but unable to do anything about it.
“I’m really sorry, Severus,” Carlisle said sincerely, easily seeing regret in the man’s eyes.
Severus sighed. “The Dark Lord was obsessed with immortality, not only his own, but also those of his loyal followers. I was invaluable to him, both for my potion making skills and my fighting abilities. I’m also a licensed healer even though I don’t actively practice. Wizards and witches, up until recently, couldn’t become vampires, they wouldn’t survive the bite. Our magic and vampire venom aren't compatible, magic will fight it until it eventually destroys the human body, killing the person. The Dark Lord ordered me to create a potion that would keep a wizards magic dormant long enough for the venom to do its job and then an antidote that would restore their magic once the newborn woke.”
“It wasn’t an easy potion to creat, and it took me damn near a year, but in the end I was successful. The potion isn’t pleasant, especially the antidote. For the first hour after the antidote is given, the witch or wizard will feel pain greater than that of their turning as their magic rebuilds itself around its new vampire body. As a reward for my hard work and success, the Dark Lord ordered me to take the bite. I was the guinea pig for my own creation, but as you can see it worked.”
“Jesus,” Carlisle mumbled, wanting to hug the man he once hoped would be another son to him.
Severus shrugged his shoulders. “I survived, as I always have. Fortunately not long after my success the Dark Lord became obsessed with a prophecy and then was destroyed before him or anyone else could be turned. Not wanting anyone else to get their hands on such a dangerous potion, I hid the formula.”
“You’re not like us though, are you? You were eating the pizza.”
“I am a full vampire with all the same supernatural enhanced abilities as you, but I can eat human food and I only need blood once a month or so...unless I get injured or use a lot of magic, then I’ll require more.”
“Your tale is stunning and heartbreaking, Severus,” Carlisle said, feeling bad that someone he cared so much for suffered so greatly and lost so much. He had only met Lily a few times, but he knew that Severus loved her dearly. He couldn’t believe that Harry was her son.
“Severus, what happened to Harry? I have been around long enough to know that there’s more to his story than child abuse.”
Severus retold what he could about Harry life, both his home life and his life at Hogwarts and Azkaban. He didn’t tell him everything though, he didn’t bring up Harry’s and Cedric’s special relationship or the fact that Harry birthed Leora himself. He trusted Carlisle, but he wasn’t sure how he would handle the knowledge that a male carried and birthed a baby.
“That’s absolutely horrible, I can’t believe what the poor boy has been through. How could his close friends and godfathers betray him like that? I just don’t understand, I’m speechless. And your ministry! What the hell, Severus? How could they condemn a fourteen year old boy to such a horrible place like that and allow the grieving father of the victim to torture and rape a child? What kind of crazy and backwards world were you a part of?”
“That’s why as soon as I got custody of Harry we left. We will never go back there and I will never allow anyone to hurt that boy again.”
A slow smile spread across Carlisle’s face. “You love him?”
“I do,” Severus admitted. “I have come to see him as a son, a son I never thought I’d get and never really wanted. I can’t imagine my life without him or that little girl. Just don’t tell the brat.”
Carlisle chuckled. “Severus, I think Harry would love to hear how you feel about him and I think it will help him heal. Harry has never known the love of a father, and I can tell by the way he looks at you that he already sees you as one.”
Severus knew that Carlisle was right, but he just wasn’t ready to say anything yet. Like Harry, he has never known love, so he was terrified of opening his heart up.
“Alright, Severus, don’t think I didn't miss how you left out Leora’s parentage. My medical training tells me that men can’t have babies, but my nose is telling me that Harry is Leora’s mother. Harry carried and birthed that little girl, didn’t he?”
After a few minutes of contemplation, Severus told Carlisle everything, this time not leaving anything out. He told him about Harry and Cedric all the way up to discovering the tiny baby a seriously sick Harry birthed all alone hidden in his filthy prison robes.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Carlisle said, his voice choking up. “I just can’t believe what that child has survived through. And he’s such a kind and loving soul still? Will Harry survive without his soul mate?” Vampires had destined mates, it would be painful to live without them if something happened to them, but they wouldn’t die without them.
“Honestly, Carlisle, I’m scared to death for Harry. I don’t know if he’ll survive without Cedric. We don’t know what spell the Dark Lord used, but Cedric’s body was never found. We know he died, the Diggory family tapestry, which updates itself, has listed him as deceased, and family magic like that doesn’t make mistakes. Harry is getting worse, he has episodes where his magic lashes out searching for Cedric. Last night he had a particularly violent episode, screaming and crying , he was in real physical pain. It was terrifying to witness.”
Carlisle sat deep in thought, his mind racing frantically. Things were slowly starting to add up, but they didn’t make a damn bit of sense. He didn’t see how what he was thinking could be possible, it was too inconceivable and impossible. “Severus, last night, what time was Harry’s episode?”
“Around Severn thirty, I guess.”
Carlisle eyes drifted to the window, that was the same time Edward had his episode. Edward had sworn that he heard a voice calling out to someone by the name of Cedric. Then there was the baby, the baby that not only looked like Edward, but also smelled like him. And Harry, Harry who smelled like Edward’s bonded mate. As crazy and far fetched as it seemed, everything was adding up to Edward being Cedric.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Carlisle looked back to Severus. “Would you happen to have a picture of this Cedric Diggory?” He needed confirmation before saying anything. He didn’t want to get Severus’ hopes up.
Not sure why Carlisle wanted to see a picture of Cedric, Severus pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet that he had saved. On the front page was a picture of the four Tri-Wizard contestants, Harry and Cedric standing side by side, their shoulders touching.
Carlisle accepted the paper, afraid to look. Steeling himself, he looked down, all the air leaving his lungs when his eyes landed on a picture of his son Edward with a younger and healthier looking Harry. He was shocked to find that the picture was moving, every few seconds the boys looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, Harry with an adorable smirk on his face.
Watching the different emotions play across his friend’s face, Severus grew concerned. “Carlisle, what is it? What has you looking like you have just seen a ghost?”
“Can...can wizards time travel?” Carlisle asked shakily.
Taken aback, Severus warily nodded his head. “We have devises called Time Turners that allow us to travel back a few hours, but the ministry strictly monitors their use.”
Carlisle shook his head. “No, I’m talking more along the lines of traveling back a century or more?”
Severus raised a curious eyebrow. “There is no way that I’m aware of. Why do you ask?”
With a trembling hand, Carlisle dug a picture out of his wallet. Taking a deep breath, he passed it to Severus, picture side down. “This is a picture of my son Edward.”
Severus about fell out of his chair when he flipped the picture over. How...how was this possible? “I...” snapping his mouth shut, he continued to stare at the impossible picture. Edward was Cedric! Cedric was Edward! How? How was this possible? Time travel? The Dark Lord was powerful, but powerful enough to send someone so far back in time? Unheard of!
“How? I...”
Carlisle grimly shook his head no. “My words exactly, Severus. I don’t how this can be true, but your Cedric and my Edward sure as hell looks like the same person. And technically Edward is dead, I bit and turned him when he was dying from the Spanish Influenza.”
“Well shit!” Severus mumbled numbly.