First Place - Angst

"Hermione!" the youngest male Weasley squeaked.

Severus had already been in the kitchen long enough to eat breakfast and was reading the Daily Prophet, wondering who hired the simpletons who wrote the articles, when his mental berating of the editors was interrupted. He looked up to see what had caused the stir and was shocked himself.

Granger's long bushy hair was gone. It had been cut so the hair framing her face curled below her ears and angled up so the hair in the back of her head was a good inch shorter. With the weight of long hair gone, and probably the help of some hair potions, the frizz had become soft waves. The girl also looked taller with the cropped cut. Weasley's eyes looked ready to fall out of their sockets.

Granger nervously flattened the hair and felt the back of her head as though something was missing, "Ginny cut it last night."

Weasley still didn't say a thing and Severus rolled his eyes. The boy was growing much more adult in many ways but he was still inept when it came to girls. Severus now knew for certain that the other Gryffindor boys of his year had been responsible for Weasley's poetry recitation the year before.

"It looks lovely Miss Granger," Severus felt the need to calm the girl's worrying. "Your boyfriend is either stunned into inarticulate silence or is a fool."

"Or both," Ginny Weasley grinned from behind Granger. She had grown significantly and would be tall like Bill, Percy, and Ron, willowy.

Just as Severus was contemplating the unwelcome job of rousing Harry so they could be on their way at a reasonable hour, the subject of his thoughts stumbled into the kitchen with Charlie close behind him. Severus overheard Granger and Ginny Weasley making bets on when Harry would notice the hair cut. He also took note that Charlie's hair had been trimmed back to its normal state. The Weasley children had found their own path away from the nagging of Molly regarding the state of their hair.

"It did grow back," Ginny pouted, looking at Harry, who had mumbled 'morning' to everyone and was drinking his first cup of coffee with his eyes still half-closed.

Severus looked Harry over carefully, and recalled that he had never seen Harry's messy raven hair at any other length except for the potion induced long hair, "You cut his hair too?"

Ginny nodded and the pout changed to a frown, "I thought it might stay, because he let me cut it. Whenever his aunt cut it, it would grow back by morning."

"It went to normal on its own last summer too," Charlie, drinking his own coffee but slightly more coherent than Harry, commented from next to Harry, who was aware enough by then to elbow Charlie.

Severus set down his tea and considered the possibilities. Harry couldn't be a metamorphmagus, or he would have managed to hide his scar with accidental magic by then. There was also no history of the trait in his family or the Potter line. Lily was too far removed from her wizarding ancestry to consider the traits of whichever families her squib ancestors had come from. He would have to talk to Albus about this. Then he recalled that he had never seen James's hair change, and decided the hair was a Potter family trait.

Weasley eventually recovered his tongue and complimented his girlfriend on her new hairstyle, red-faced and stammering the whole time. It took another cup of coffee and Remus's arrival at breakfast and subsequent commentary for Harry to notice. Once he did, though, he was much more eloquent than his best friend in telling her how she looked. Most of the house had already eaten and left for the day when Lovegood and Longbottom were the last downstairs.

When post came Severus noticed it took two owls to bring all the Hogwarts letters for the number of students in the house. He noticed the mildly frightened look exchanged by Ron Weasley and Harry, probably in expectation of what one of the letters was sure to carry. True to prediction Granger squealed and bounced in her seat when a shiny silver badge fell out of envelope onto the table.

"I'm Head Girl!" Granger announced in a higher pitch than normal. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement and her eyes were shining.

"Of course you are," Harry grinned at her.

Ron Weasley kissed her cheek, "Who's Head Boy?"

Granger started to look through the several sheets of parchment that had come with her letter that year but Severus preempted her, "Draco."

"Malfoy?" three male Weasley voices groaned.

Both Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes and Ginny reprimanded her brothers, "Is there any other Draco at Hogwarts, not to mention in their seventh year?"

"He and Granger are the top two students in the school," Severus gave the Weasley boys a mild version of his glare, "and Draco has made a valiant effort to repair his reputation."

Harry's glare was almost identical and Severus was impressed with his son, "Not to mention that he hasn't insulted your family in almost a year. Everyone deserves a second chance."

Severus was not blind to the three pairs of eyes that darted to his face quickly and then looked away almost instantly. All of them then nodded at Harry and went back to their food, as only Weasleys could. The rest of the people in the kitchen congratulated Granger on her appointment to the most coveted of Hogwarts student positions... among the more studious anyway.

"Time for us to go," Severus said to Harry once his son had finished eating.

Harry nodded, "I'll be back down in a minute."

Everyone in the kitchen remembered to tell Harry 'Happy Birthday' as he left with Charlie following close behind. Several of them went up to the parlour at that point and Granger began her yearly harping on homework completion. Though Harry had gotten more conscientious in his study habits it looked like Weasley had not. When Severus passed by them Weasley was pleading with his eyes while Granger was beginning her lecture on their approaching N.E.W.T.s.

He had waited several minutes, much longer than it normally took, for Harry to come downstairs and he decided to wait in the hall. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the lingering kiss as Harry paused halfway down the stairs and said goodbye to Charlie.

"All set," Harry smiled at him.

The smile felt good to see, as Harry displayed very few genuine smiles in the past few years. Severus guessed that most of them were Charlie related but he didn't really want to consider that. He looked Harry over and approved of the robes Harry had chosen, school robes but in very good condition.

"We should get you some casual robes," Severus commented appraisingly.

Harry nodded and held up his Hogwarts letter, "Dress robes are on the list again too and I need a new set. My last are an inch or two short."

They took the Floo first to the Ministry so Harry could complete his apparition test. Curious eyes followed them through the halls and Harry glared at the watchwizard Eric Munch, a Hufflepuff from Severus's early teaching days, throughout the wand weighing and registration. Combined with the glare from Severus the wizard was sufficiently intimidated and got them through quickly.

Harry smirked up at Severus as they stepped onto the almost crowded lift, "I think I'm getting pretty good at that."

"Half the world thinking you're disturbed and the other half thinking you're the most powerful wizard alive doesn't hurt either," Severus smirked back.

"Level Six, Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparition Test Center," a woman's voice announced. Severus and Harry stepped off the lift, with all eyes following them, as several violet paper airplanes flew over their heads.

There were more windows on this floor than most others, as there probably more visitors to this section of the Ministry than others. Signs opposite the elevators pointed the directions to the various offices located on the sixth floor. Harry and Severus turned left and headed to the end of the hall. Severus noticed that Harry picked up speed in his stride as they passed the Floo Network Authority where each cubicle had its own miniature fireplace with bright green flames.

The tense muscles relaxed as they passed and it only took and expression to coax an explanation. Harry colored slightly and whispered, "Mrs. Edgecombe works there. She was the one monitoring the Hogwarts fires that year and her daughter told Umbridge about the DA."

Severus just nodded understanding and put a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder. Marietta Edgecombe had not returned to Hogwarts for her final year. Filius, her Head of House, told them that her mother had transferred her to Beauxbaton as the girl was too upset to continue her schooling with the students she betrayed.

The Apparition Test Center was a small office, as no more than five or six wizards and witches came of age on each particular day. It was heavily staffed on Hogwarts holidays and the beginning of the summer for those students that had their birthdays during the school year, but lightly staffed towards the end of the summer.

"Mr. Potter!" a curvy witch with short dark hair just beginning to show some gray and light amber robes came over to them. She was a few inches shorter than Harry, "We were expected you would come in today! Welcome! And Severus, it's so good to see you!"

Severus looked at her closely and then blinked his eyes in recognition, "Raine Zabini? Is it you?"

The witch smiled brightly, "Of course, though it's McKinnon now. I married a Ravenclaw, Marlene's older brother. I can't tell you how pleased I was to read that article. Too many of our classmates joined him. How does my nephew?"

"Blaise is well," Severus informed her. If she did not support Voldemort it was no surprise that she little contact with that portion of her family. The Zabinis were divided almost half for Voldemort and half against, and Blaise's parents were pro-Voldemort though Severus didn't think they were Marked. "He is in the top half of his class, though the competition is impressive for their year. Four students achieved record breaking O.W.L. scores. That hasn't happened since our class."

Harry looked up at him, "Really? Who?"

"You were a bit distracted last summer," Severus admitted, and then smirked in anticipation of the reaction the next news would bring. "Draco Malfoy got the top Potions score, beating mine by one point. Hermione Granger beat your father's transfiguration score by two points and your mother's charms score by three. She also tied the top Ancient Runes score. I believe she was somewhere around ten points away from tying Remus for the top Arithmancy score. Neville Longbottom scored ten points higher than Professor Sprout in Herbology."

Harry suddenly looked wary, "And the other?"

His smirk got wider and Severus answered, "Your Defense Against the Dark Arts score was a full twenty-five points higher than Alastor Moody's."

"Congratulations!" Raine patted Harry on the back. Severus noticed the slight flinch and sighed. It was easy to see progress when Harry was surrounded by people he was close to, but when he was among strangers all his barriers went up and his reserved behavior kicked in.

"So," Harry stood as straight as he could, which still left him several inches shorted than Severus, "what do I have to do?"

Raine handed him a piece of parchment, "Apparate to these coordinates, in this order, and there will be a tester at each spot to mark your sheet complete. Just follow their instructions." She turned to Severus, "Due to the circumstances Professor Dumbledore contacted me and he wanted me tell you that each tester met with his approval."

Severus raised an eyebrow, "Confirmation?"

"Skittles," Raine rolled her eyes at the password.

Severus nodded. The Order had discussed this all in advance and Albus had told only Severus what the code word would be. He gave Harry a quick, one-armed reassuring hug and nodded at him.

Harry looked up from the sheet with a serious expression, "These are farther than normal test coordinates, aren't they?"

"Sorry," Raine smiled as Severus read the sheet over Harry's shoulder, "Dumbledore's request."

Severus raised both eyebrows. One of the locations had Harry apparating over fifteen hundred miles. The testers must have taken Portkeys to the locations or they left hours ago to rest the necessary amount of time between jumps. Harry just scowled and disappeared with almost no sound.

Raine looked impressed, "Quiet."

Severus nodded, feeling rather proud. He wasn't about to tell her that Harry had, in his sleep, gotten through both the Hogwarts wards and those set by Voldemort. The test, with more than five jumps, would take at least an hour to complete with the ten minute wait at each stop. He settled down in a chair and started to catch up with Raine. He hadn't seen her since they had graduated from Hogwarts in the same class, both in Slytherin.

"Marlene McKinnon was a prefect five years ahead of us in Slytherin," Raine reminded him. "Her family was strictly anti-You-Know-Who and she helped me out a few times when Narcissa bothered me. I bumped into her on Diagon Alley not long after we graduated and she introduced me to Michael. He had graduated the year before we started and we hit it off right away." Her smile was dreamy, a look almost never seen on a Slytherin, which was quickly replaced by sadness. "We were married only two months later and then Marlene died while we were on honeymoon."

Severus flinched slightly. He had been there when Marlene was killed. She was one of the public members of the Order of the Phoenix, working as a fundraiser for various organizations. Her social connections made her an excellent recruiter for Dumbledore. Voldemort had ordered her capture and they attempted to turn her but she resisted the Imperious and was killed slowly.

"She died well Raine," Severus assured his classmate, who looked at him in surprise. "She was strong and proud to the end."

"You were there?" Raine whispered, wiping a stray tear away.

Severus nodded, "There was nothing I could do but report back to Dumbledore. It was a full gathering and his numbers were much higher then."

Raine composed herself quickly, "Thank you. Would you object to Michael contacting you? They were very close."

"Not at all," Severus wondered how many people this would happen with. There had been many victims. "Have him speak Albus first. The majority of our post is dealt with by a house elf at the castle."

"That does not surprise me," Raine smirked. "I assume Harry gets hundreds of owls."

Severus rolled his eyes, "Valentine's Day is the worst, though today will probably be close."

Harry appeared back with the softest 'crack', Kingsley Shacklebolt holding his arm. The auror thanked Harry for the ride, raised an eyebrow in Severus's direction, and left for auror headquarters. Harry brushed back his hair and handed the parchment, now with several signatures, to Raine. She raised her eyebrows when she scanned it and noted the times of departure and arrival.

"Which department do you normally work in?" Harry asked with a blank face.

Raine smiled, "Good call. I'm a Senior Undersecretary in Law Enforcement. Amelia Bones assigned me here today. All the normal testers have the day off." She leaned over her desk and signed two certificates, tapping one with her wand and handing the other to Harry. "There you go Mr. Potter, you're legal."

"Thank you Raine," Severus nodded at her and turned to Harry, "Leaky Cauldron alley."

Harry grinned and nodded. He rolled up his freshly signed apparition certificate and tucked it into his robes before disapparating. Severus gave a final nod to Raine McKinnon and disappeared himself, though a bit louder than Harry. When he got to the alley Harry was leaning against one of the brick walls and examining his fingernails as if he had been waiting.

Severus snorted, "You may be quieter and able to travel farther, but nothing is faster than instantaneous so don't give me that."

"Whatever you say Dad," Harry stood up straight and grinned impishly. "Where to first?"

"I thought we would do all your shopping first and then go to Gringotts," Severus answered. He had more than enough Galleons on him to cover whatever purchases were necessary. "It may take a while to look over the vault."

Harry nodded, "I don't have much money. Most of what I had for the year went to Christmas and birthday presents."

"I am your father Harry," Severus looked at him sternly. "I will pay for any necessities and even some frivolities, though if you purchase anything from the twins you are paying for it."

"They wouldn't accept my money," Harry's grin was too close to the James-planning-something-grin and Severus gave him a probing look. "The start up money for their store was my Triwizard winnings."

Severus closed his eyes and shook his head. There was more Marauder in Harry than most people thought. It was just hidden well. He opened his eyes again, "At least they put it to good use tormenting Umbridge."

They entered the alley and did their shopping as quickly as possible, which was not all that quick seeing as at least fifty people stopped Harry to wish him a Happy Birthday. Harry just thanked each one softly and became more and more agitated and quiet as the day progressed. Books and stationary were taken care of easily.

Severus took his son to his personal seamstress, who gave Harry a thorough education on fabrics, color, and degree of formality in robe style. Harry was measured and outfitted with a dozen robes in as many colors for a variety of occasions, most of them some shade of green or crimson with gold accents and a supply of trousers and shirts, both formal and casual.

A dazed looking Harry requested a trip to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes after the tailor and Severus reluctantly agreed, though he silently acknowledged that Harry needed the relief from Madame Vestire overload. Fred and George greeted them enthusiastically and piled Harry's arms with experimental products and demanded to hear evaluations on their effectiveness, though they refused to say what each one would do until Harry glared at them for several minutes. Eventually they left with a bag full of trick sweets and other joke items and a parchment explaining each one.

"Gringotts?" Harry looked tired and hopeful, and it was getting towards late afternoon. They had gotten one over on the twins by adding a sign over the store as they left that read 'Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here'. Chances were the two jokers would appreciate it though. Lunch had been small and hurried as neither of them ate much at the meal on any given day.

Severus nodded and they entered the massive limestone structure. A goblin was assigned to lead them down to the Potter family vault, in the deeper levels of the bank. Severus saw Harry smile as he spotted a dragon down the track from where they stopped. The dragon looked at them curiously and ducked its head in a bow-like gesture that shocked the goblin. Severus wondered just how far Harry's story was spreading among the enormous reptiles.

The goblin recovered and took Harry's key, inserting it into one of the locks. He then produced his own key and opened the vault door. Severus and Harry stepped forward but were prevented from entering by a ward.

The goblin muttered, "Most unusual, most unusual indeed."

Both Severus and Harry ignored him though as a voice Severus had only heard in his dreams for the past sixteen years spoke, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you forgot to say the password Padfoot."

"James," Severus shook his head and tried to ignore the tugging at his heart, "you would do something like this." He turned to Harry, "Have you any idea?"

Harry, his face taught, stepped forward and placed his hand against the ward, which crackled around him, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

There was a tingle of magic as the ward dissolved to let them pass. There were mountains of coins, more than Severus had ever seen in any one vault before, chests, and the school trunks of both Lily and James. There were books, stacks of framed paintings, and unlabeled crates. Standing in the middle of the vault though, was a pedestal with a very thick, large envelope on top of it. They walked up to it and read in James's print, Padfoot.

Severus looked down at Harry with concern and gave a quick glance back to the goblin, who was standing outside the vault door, facing away in guard as he was supposed to. Harry had tears welling in his eyes and his hands had a slight tremor in them as he opened the envelope to find several more envelopes, each addressed to a different person. Severus read the single sheet over Harry's shoulder.

Padfoot,

If you're reading this Peter was either broken or he betrayed us. I'm counting on you to deliver these letters. Yes, there is one to Severus Snape there. You can't read any of them except yours so don't bother to try, and you can't even read that one until you deliver the rest. Moony taught me that charm he used on his homework all those years ago and I've put it to good use.

There is a box near the vault door that is for Severus, though I would like Albus to give him both his letter and the box after he reads his own letter. I've mentioned them both to Albus so don't even think of 'forgetting' them and only Severus or Harry can open the box. Please Padfoot, try to put the past behind you, for me.

Love,
Prongs

"It was here," Harry choked out. "All this time the proof was here. If Albus had checked... or anyone... Siri... we could have..."

Severus gathered Harry to him in a hug and let him get out all his frustration. Harry's muscles were tensed and the air audibly crackled with loose magic as Harry shook from combined rage and grief, though no tears fell. Severus tightened his hold and felt arms wrap around his torso, finding that Harry was much stronger than he looked. Harry wasn't tall enough to rest his head on Severus's shoulder so he buried it in his robes.

When Harry was done Severus could tell he was exhausted. He reminded himself that Harry had apparated to multiple countries that day and he had overheard that morning that none of the young people in the house got more than a few hours of sleep. He led Harry out of the vault, stopping to shrink the two school trunks and pocket them and to take the box with his name on it.

"I think it's time I gave you your final birthday present," Severus said softly.

Harry looked up at him with reddened eyes, "What is it?"

"You will see soon," Severus got back in the cart with Harry after the door to the vault, noting that the ward sprang back into life. They rode up to the lobby of the bank and walked outside. "Just follow my lead. This is guided apparition, not tandem, so it's much more comfortable."

Harry just nodded and held onto Severus's arm as they both disapparated.

Finding the Key - Chapter 5

Back to Chapter 3

Back to Results