My Father's Image
Chapter 3
By Kinsfire
The stories in this grouping have been abandoned by me, and will not be worked on again.
Chapter 3
"Lily Potter?" Snape asked, aghast.
"Actually, Lily Evans," she replied, letting her skin tone lighten and her hair turn red. "I was carved while the flesh and blood Lily was still unmarried. I'm not Harry's mother, nor will I ever be, if only because I'm a statue, but also because I willingly let them carefully Obliviate my feelings for James. Yeah, Lil and I had some fun with him, but it was just romping, and I was put in the vault and deactivated before things went to hell as they so obviously did. I remember James fondly, but that's the most I ever will. So please, don't think of me as Harry's mother."
Remus was waking up on the floor. "Astonishing. I heard the explanation from 'I'm a statue', so I … wow. I'd heard about the statue work being done, but I never saw it. It's a remarkably complete job."
"Want to find out how complete the work he did was?" she asked with a laugh. "I don't need to eat, drink, sleep or excrete, but I can simulate the first three. I'm fully functional, Remmy." She wiggled her eyebrows at him. His own eyes went wide.
"You mean …"
"I said that Lil and I romped with James. He couldn't tell the difference."
Severus growled. "I stand by my reference to her as a prostitute, then." Remus leapt to his feet and started toward Snape, but she held out her hand and stopped him.
"He has reason, and maybe someday you'll know why. Right now it's not my story to tell. It's his and one other's, but they'll tell it in their own time, if ever." She turned to Dumbledore. "So, now that you know that Harry has gone to his vault and gotten what you didn't want him to have for some reason. Are you willing to explain to me why you went against Lily's and James express wish to keep Harry out of the hands of Petunia and the walrus she married?"
Dumbledore looked carefully at her. "You will need to prove to me that you are, in fact, Lily Evans before I would even consider answering that question."
She walked forward and whispered something in his ear, and his eyebrows rose. "Indeed! That lends credence to your claim."
"Then perhaps I can get an answer to my question?"
"The greater good," Harry said. "Staying alive is the most important thing for me. Everything else is secondary. That's your answer, Lily." He turned back to Dumbledore. "Now, do you have any further questions, sir? I left because I felt that there was information that I needed to know, and your insistence that I wait was unacceptable to me. I did not do it purely to defy you. I was unaware that I would be legally made an adult today once I arrived at Gringott's. I merely felt that there were things that Mum and Dad wished me to know if they went to the trouble of giving me full access a full month before I should have gotten it."
"Very well. How did you leave the property?"
"By means known only to Lily and me, and even she doesn't really know everything about it."
"It leaves a security hole Harry. We need to ward that method."
"No one discovered it before, so I seriously doubt that we're suddenly going to see a thousand Death Eaters exploding into the house via that route." He paused. "Wouldn't mind seeing a thousand Death Eaters exploding, but that's something different. Maybe one a thousand times." He looked carefully at Severus Snape. "Even the owner of the house didn't use it, and I have reason to think that he knew about it, so even he forgot about it." He stopped. "Be honest with me, sir. If you needed to keep Arthur Weasley alive for something, would you force him into lock-down, preventing him from doing anything not on your list of things he should be allowed, or is it because I happen to be under the age of seventeen? You had to know that the wards would drop next July thirty-first."
"I had hoped to have things worked out by then, Harry," Dumbledore said kindly.
"Yes. Either Riddle dead, or me in a new home that's just as warded to keep me from doing anything without half a dozen people being aware."
"Harry …"
"Sir, let's end this conversation right now. We can talk later on. At the moment, I'm too annoyed by your meddling and your attempts to prevent from learning what my parents wanted me to know. This implies that you know what it is, or that you at least suspect." He paused. "Actually, you stated that you were fairly certain what I would find, so your statement to me about being open with me was a lie. You now give me the same tired excuses as to why I should be locked away here. To be honest, sir, if you're really that worried about me going somewhere you don't want, I could just kill someone and let them send me to Azkaban. You'd know exactly where I was then."
"Enough of your childish tantrum, Potter. We're sick of hearing it," Snape snarled at him.
"We have to listen to your tantrums, so I figure that you should listen to mine. Be that as it may be, I am ending this conversation now before I say something I can't take back." He turned and began to walk away.
"You will not turn your back on the headmaster until he gives you leave, Potter!" Snape barked. "Incarcerous!"
Harry leapt out of the way of the incoming spell somehow, and the dagger was quickly on its way across the room, slicing through Snape's left arm. "One warning, Snape. I'm an adult and can press charges now. I have a history with you that others can attest to, and you are a known Death Eater. At the moment I'm that Golden Boy you keep bitching about, as far as the Ministry is concerned. Do not try something that will cause me to bring you up on charges, because you will go to Azkaban for it." He called the dagger back to his hand and left the room, followed closely by Lily.
Upstairs, he stalked into the master bedroom, closing the door behind him carefully once she was inside. "Someday I will take great pleasure in going to Azkaban for killing that son of a bitch. He has intentionally gone after me since the first time we met." He shook himself and then looked to Lily. "Okay. As soon as possible - likely in the next week - I need to get to Gringott's and make some changes to the way my account or accounts are handled. I would not put it past Dumbledore to find some shill to act as my guardian - he may even nominate himself - and ensure that the control over the Potter and Black estates leave my control until such point as he deems that I'm ready. Of course, he won't train me in finances until after I've been his weapon and killed Voldemort."
"How do you say that so easily?" she asked, shivering slightly.
"It's just a word, Lily. It actually came from an anagram he made of his birth name - Tom Marvolo Riddle. That became 'I Am Lord Voldemort'. It's just a word. Shivering at the sound of it is like getting scared every time I use the word 'liver' or 'spleen'. It doesn't make sense."
She shook her head. "Do you really think so little of Professor Dumbledore?"
"My first letter was addressed to 'The Cupboard Under The Stairs.' I have always shown up in second-hand clothes that originally belonged to my massively overweight cousin. Until today, I never had Muggle clothing of my own, where I was the first person to wear them. I was given over to beaknose to learn Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of my head, and that failed miserably. My fault, of course. He knowingly throws me together with that vile excuse for a human being at every chance. What does he think Snape is, my father? Does he think we're going to bond?" He snorted. "The only bonding that'll happen is when he trusses me up to deliver me to his lord and master. Oh sorry, that's bondage." He chuckled slightly. "Because of Dumbledore, I've faced Voldemort in my first year, a basilisk in my second year, an escaped murderer and a werewolf in my third, although the murderer wasn't, and in my fourth year, we were all taught by a practicing Death Eater, who ended up sending me to a place where I helped return Voldemort to a physical body and also killed a fellow student. Last year ended up killing Sirius just a few days ago, and found me being told the Prophecy that cost you and Dad your lives at the same time. I was also told, as if it were supposed to make me feel better, that I should have been the fifth year Prefect, but I already had too much on my plate. Hmm, Dumbledore, whose fault might that be?"
He looked up at a somewhat scared looking Lily. "I'm sorry, Lily. I have a tendency to frighten people. Comes from being a dangerous crazy."
"No, I was just … there's so much to take in, Harry. He abandoned you with my sister and … there's a lot you're going to learn in the journals I … well, she wrote. You'll probably be unhappy with some of it, and I guarantee that you'll develop some problems with Dumbledore after reading them. He knows some of what's in them."
"He told me that I might be disturbed by some of what I read. Again, he's decided what I should and should not know. Given the Dumbledore I just discovered in the last year, I think I can honestly believe that had he had access to the vault, he would have destroyed these journals to ensure that I was never disturbed by them."
"Can you truly think so little of him, Harry?" Remus asked as he opened the door.
"If you had asked me that same question this time last year, he'd have been tops in my book, and I'd have fought anyone suggesting it. Given this year? I have every reason to believe that he's a manipulative old bastard who is just as bad as Tom, but on the side of Light. He'll run roughshod over anyone he has to, just to make sure we win. This is in opposition to Tom, who will run roughshod over everyone in his path in order to win." He took a deep breath. "That's why I walked away. Because I'd have said this stuff to him, and I'm well aware that a lot of this is my anger speaking. It's not like I ever had a chance to learn how a normal person reacts to anger - all I had was Vernon, the king of puce. Go against him, and he turns puce. I need to learn to control my anger, though. As opposed to what our esteemed Potions Master believes, I can actually learn, and have learned that getting angry at everyone solves nothing."
Harry ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture of obvious frustration. "I don't want to hate the man, but every time he steps in and prevents me from doing something - for my own good, of course - he becomes more and more like everyone else in my book. No owls from my friends during the summer. Well, I come from such a loving family, I obviously didn't need to talk to anyone outside my home. Then he sends people along to drag me to another place, without my consent. Then again, I was still a child, so he could do that, being my wizarding guardian." After a pause, Harry added softly, "I think the emotional abandonment hurt the most. He acted like a grandfather for four years, and I loved it, being as starved for affection as I was. Then as soon as Tom has a body back, he suddenly has nothing more to do with me. I'm just a student, just like everyone else." He ruthlessly fought back the prickle he felt behind his eyes. "He abandoned me, just like everyone else has."
"I'm here for you," Remus said.
"Where have you been in trying to keep Dumbledore from controlling me? What leash does he have to keep you away from me? He wants me to grow up alone and unloved. No contact with anyone because of the danger. Leave me with vile excuses for human beings. Give me the same upbringing as Tom. Is he trying to make me into a Dark Lord? Or am I some experiment to see if slight changes in upbringing leads to a different result?"
"Snape may not need love, but human beings do. I'm tired of being hated and vilified by everyone but Hermione when the slightest thing goes wrong at the school. Even the 'princess' that I saved from the 'dragon' in my second year sided with Ron and her brothers during the Goblet fiasco." He paused. "I didn't do it for thanks, but did you know that she's never once thanked me for saving her life? I was her prince, so of course I'd save her. It was expected."
"I just want it over, you know? I want the little fucker dead so that I can go on with my life and discover what else the public can vilify me for. Given their history, I can expect to go to Azkaban for murdering Voldemort, assuming I can ever get enough training to survive." He tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "I'm just so tired of it all."
"Is it always like this, Remus? Your life is so tightly controlled that you never have any say in it? Hell, I love Quidditch, and I was informed by McGonagall that I was on the team. Dumbledore forces me to live with abusive relatives because it keeps me safe. Until now, of course, when I had to be moved to here. Any bets that if I ask him to remove the charms that he'll find reasons not to? If I told him that as the adult owner of the house I wanted the Order to move elsewhere, I'd basically get told no?" Harry sighed deeply, a thoroughly depressed sound. "My life is hell. My parents are dead, my ex-guardians are sadistic and inhuman, and I've only got one friend I can rely on when the chips are down." He blinked as something seemed to strike him. "And I think I'm in love with her. Ack."
"Is that so wrong, Harry?" Lily asked with a sad smile.
"When she's in love with someone else? You tell me." He shook his head. "I think I'm going to have to slap some sense into Ron this year. He's going to lose her to someone else if he doesn't get off his arse and do something about it."
"That's neither here nor there," he finally said. "I need to get studying, both the journals that Mum left me, and the journals I got from the other two vaults."
"Other two vaults?" Remus asked, curious. "I didn't think that you would have access to the Black vault yet."
"I don’t." He held up his hand and showed him the three rings he wore, which made Remus stagger back in shock. "You're the Ravenclaw heir?" he whispered.
He held up the dagger again. "This was apparently Rowena Ravenclaw's. Works as a back-up wand as well. And since I'm an adult, legally speaking, I don't have those pesky owls to worry about, either." He grinned. As an afterthought he said, "I'm officially the Heir of Slytherin, too. The vault picked me."
"Well, I suppose that I should let you be, then," Remus said.
"No, you're a lot like Hermione. If you want to stay and help me through the Slytherin and Ravenclaw journals …"
With that statement, Snape came into the room. "Where did you get your hands on Salazar Slytherin's journals?" he demanded.
"… you can stay and help me work through them, Remus. And only you and Lily are part of that offer right now. Hermione will have access to them when she gets here, assuming the saviour of the wizarding world doesn’t decide that she's safer somewhere else, as long as it's away from me."
"Answer my question, Potter. Where did you get those journals from? They belong with a Slytherin, not some smart-mouthed Gryffindor."
Harry looked at the Potions professor with ice in his eyes. "That is none of your business."
"I'm making it my business, Potter," snarled the teacher.
Harry blinked for a moment before saying with a vicious smile, "All right, then." He reached into the trunk and pulled out the journals, enlarging them as he set them down. Snape grabbed for one of them and found himself flying across the room, coming to a stop with a hard impact that shook the wall. "And there is the reason that Voldemort will eventually lose. Every Slytherin I've seen so far may be good at intrigue, but at the same time is somehow remarkably stupid." He stalked over to Snape and shoved the fistful of rings under his nose. "Take a look at the one with the green motif."
Snape's eyes focused for a moment and then widened. "Wonderful. It's bad enough that our bloodlines are weakened by Muggles breeding in, but now I find that the worst of all possible choices is the Heir of Slytherin. Even Longbottom or Creevey would be a better choice."
"Deal with it, Snivellus," Harry growled. "I am heir to two Households in Hogwarts, and know the names of the other two Heirs."
Snape looked at Harry for a moment before whipping out his wand and shouting "Legilimens!"
Harry felt the intrusion and began to see images of his trip to the vaults, his reaction to the realisation that this living statue was sexy, watching her climbing out of the car in her sundress … it stopped suddenly, and Harry saw the dagger sticking out of Snape's stomach, his hand still on the hilt.
"Keep it up, Snape, and I'll yank upwards. Or I could cast a Tickling Charm, or maybe even experiment and find out what happens when you cast a Stunning Curse from inside the human body."
"Harry, please …" Dumbledore began.
"Get him out of my sight, Headmaster. Take him to Madam Pomfrey and heal him, but get him out of my house. And never let him darken my door again. Be very glad that I'm willing to allow that you need him, or else I'd be calling the Aurors and having him carted away for attacking me. We have witnesses, remember."
"Will we ever return to a good relationship, Harry?" Dumbledore asked sadly.
"Did we ever have one, or was it acting because you needed me?"
The headmaster flinched as if slapped. "I see. I shall have to work at regaining your trust." He paused before adding, "It is worth the effort."
Harry nodded. "You might want to do something for him, sir, because I'm pulling the dagger out. I don't think Rowena would want him to have it." In short order, both men were gone from the premises.
Harry turned to Lily and Remus. "So, shall we start looking at the journals?" They looked at him for a moment in stunned shock, before finally turning to the journals.
Things continue to deteriorate.