| Appendix for My Dad by Sever Us |
| I got this idea from �the-dreamer� whose story �The awakening of a Magus� I�ve really been enjoying. New updates to this section will be added always just below the local back history (when I update the back history I�ll put it in bold so you can see it easily. I�m really nit-picky. I�ve reloaded each chapter at least once to fix errors (though I don�t do this until I have a new chapter to add as well so no one is faked into thinking the fix is a new chapter). The history of Harry�s life with Severus will likely be posted quite quickly � I have it mostly already done. Actually I wrote all of this (also, incidentally a history in which Sirius raised him) as part of a procrastination from my longer fic elsewhere. After we get to the summer after fourth year, expect things to slow down. That is where the actual story will start though. All this back story is going to set up their relationship during the adventure that will take place after the events of the tri-wizard tournament. Local back history 1) In this story, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, and James Potter are all first cousins � each on their mother�s sides (their mothers were sisters and each married quite different men. 2) Severus Snape was not an abused child, nor was he in anyway traumatized as a child. He had your basic average childhood. His parents were loving in their way, and kind. They could be said to have been strict, but not unusually so. The worst that can be said about them is that they were a bit formal � but again, this is not out of the ordinary for the social standing they come from (old wizarding purebloods). 3) Harry was born in 1980. His parents died when he was 15 months old (exactly). He was left with the Dursleys on Nov. 1, 1981. Sometime before his second birthday (July 31, 1982) he was collected from them (I�m not telling you the circumstances just yet � that�ll probably come up in the story). Though Sirius was his godfather and second cousin, and Harry would normally have gone to him, he was also in prison � we all know why, and so was not in the running � obviously. Severus then became his next closest blood relation after the Dursleys, so he was asked by Dumbledore to raise him. 4) The protection Harry gets from being in the care of a blood relative exists with Severus, but it was stronger with the Dursley�s as Petunia and Dudley are more closely related to him (blood connection � his mother�s sister is more closely blood related than his father�s cousin). The fact that the Dursley�s quite obviously didn�t want him, nor care for him added to the fact that they refused to take Harry�s extra safety concerns seriously made the change worthwhile anyway. The slightly diminished blood protection with Severus is overcome by the fact that he is a fully trained and capable wizard, and that they live most of the year at Hogwarts � quite possibly the safest place on earth (well, from Death Eaters of course). 5) Severus is not a total bastard. He must walk a fine line among the children of his former colleagues (Death Eaters) � constantly trying to lead them away from their parents occupation, while not doing so in such a way as to give away his own true affiliation. To the outside world he plays the role � carefully avoiding giving any clear indication of which side he truly supports. In private, with Harry � his son, he can lower the masks and allow himself the comfort and security a stable homelife provides. 6) Harry's owl is called "Ruby" not Hedwig in this story because in this universe Harry doesn't need to identify with being and orphan. Ruby was still a gift from Hagrid and Harry named her "Ruby" after him (Rubeus) ************ Update Chapters 16-17 Well, after the fiasco of ff.net deleting My Dad and still (as of Feb. 24) not telling me why� *grumble, grumble* I�m back up and back to writing. I will have to get back to my other story a bit, so that might slow things down for My Dad � but I�ve been getting a lot of pressure to get back on track with Enemy Mine � most notably from my mother and my beta for that story: Lenore with the red pen. Enemy Mine is a much more complex story � also much darker and heavier. My Dad was started to be something light and fun to take my mind off of several �heavy� aspects of my real life right now. But, my mother is coming to visit this weekend (all the way from Canada), and I work with Lenore every day� all in all, they�re gonna get me if I don�t buckle down and finish something for Enemy Mine sooo� But don�t worry. I love My Dad way too much to give up on it in the process :D I want to thank everyone again!! for all the messages of support after ff.net deleted my story. I can�t believe that in the week and a half since my site has been up on geocities, there have been over 1700 hits!! (as of Feb. 24). Encouraged by this, I reposted everything on ff.net � though I�m still posting new stuff on my site as well � and in a fit of tOOby hubris, I�ve set up a yahoo group if anyone is interested. If there�s interest, I�ll keep it going. It doesn�t all have to be about me and my little stories � I�d welcome discussion about writing in general � and reading� :D Anyway, the address for it is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aliaseverus Ok, as I mentioned, the last about 13 reviews for chapter 16 were lost � I never saw them before they were deleted. So, if you posed a question or made a brilliant observation and I don�t mention it, that�s why� Questions/comments: LeeLeePotter: I kinda skipped over the forest scene from the first book � I only mentioned it in hindsight. Sorry � but Harry gets into plenty of mischief in his second year :D My, my, we�ll have some fun� Ms. Issues: You said �Your portray Severus & Harry�s relationship really well� � wow, thank-you!! You were also wondering what Severus� reaction would be to the flying car incident because �in the book he was already pretty mad and now that harry�s his son�� � Yeah, as you saw, Sev was very angry� Librisa: You said: �I love all the characterizations, the story really does sound like an altered version of the book, and has so much of Ms. Rowling�s style in it� � Can I just say that that is the absolute greatest compliment I�ve ever received?! I about fainted when I read that. Thank-you so much!! JessicaKou: Great reviews! I�m glad you like things like Severus joking with Harry and showing his more �human� side :D Harry wanting to help him with potions, and the two goofing around is because Harry really likes it, and they do have a great father-son relationship (yes you can use �relationship� in this situation � it�s one of those words whose meaning changes a bit depending on the context :D ) About late night detentions � yes, it seems hard for 11 year-olds to have such late nights, but they also have midnight astronomy classes � I think that wizard/witch children must have a better ability to deal with this � maybe they just need less sleep? �he�s no spring chicken� I�m not sure if this expression is common in the UK or America � it is a funny one though :) Gentleman!Harry � yes, this is Severus� influence: when invited to stay or visit someone�s home for the first time � take a hostess gift� I like to think that Harry in the books would do the same if he could though � but being rescued in the middle of the night, and not being able to go shopping makes it kinda hard� Did Mrs. Weasley have a crush on Severus (because of her knowing about his Quidditch skills�) � No :), no crush � she was just making a big deal about it to make Harry feel better. In this world though, because he�s been raising famous Harry Potter, more is known about Severus by the public� About Harry being the only one with concerns about being alone in Diagon Alley � Yeah, poor Harry � but that�s the way it is when you�re famous, and �former� Death Eaters, and hyper reporters are on the prowl � he just has to observe more security precautions. To the 100+ others who had reviewed this story before it was deleted: THANK-YOU!!! :D Update Chapters 13-15 Hi, all! There have been some troubles with the last few updates� chapters being missing. One chapter repeating several times� I think it must be something on ff.net, because I�ve been having trouble accessing other people�s stories to read as well. Hopefully, this will be resolved very soon. I want to thank everyone for reviewing. I�m so happy that people are enjoying my story� I�m really glad that people are seeing Severus as I intended him to be viewed: as a loving, concerned, and involved parent to Harry. Questions: Kit Cloudkicker: Yes, our friend Severus has even more reason to dislike Lockhart in this story than he did in JKR�s Chamber � Lockhart will continue to learn why he shouldn�t mess with Harry� Andrea 13: Thanks! There is a reason why most of the major events still take place, in spite of major changes in Harry�s circumstances� mwa ha ha� keep reading, �cause I�m not telling why yet� (PS. I liked the �twitch� comment� I�m glad my story isn�t one of those :D) Claire: Yeah, um, yeah� I knew that� Yeah, that�s right� I was, um� just testing you � yeah, that it. I was testing to see if you�d spot that� (haha) Thanks � at one point I did actually know that� blame writing too fast, too much on my mind, and having been living in the States for too long� In everyday life I�m still constantly asking �Is that the right word for that here?� and trying to reconcile how weird words like colour and honour look with out the �u�� Seriously, thanks � I love to get constructive help for boo boo�s like that. I fixed it now. :D Kateri: Thanks! Yes, Harry, Severus and Dumbledore all know, but so far they are the only ones who know that Harry is a parselmouth. That�s only been mentioned once in my story � during Harry�s sorting. It will come up again though, when it�s supposed to during the duelling club� How will be a little different though, won�t it? Severus is hardly likely to coach Draco to send a snake at Harry knowing already what might happen� JessicaKou: Thanks! Your reviews are always so thorough� Yes, poor Harry, but this is not a potion that turns up in most potions books � don�t you think it was kind of Severus though to whisper what it was so as not to embarrass Harry? Personally I always hated it when adults refused to explain what something was. It just made me even more curious� Harry does throw a rather massive sulk after the dragon smuggling incident � it�s only mentioned in hindsight. But I don�t think making a scene is really Harry�s style. He�s enough the centre of attention already and he doesn�t like that much� there will be teenage rebellion � but expect it to be more subtle � also, it has to be a little intimidating being in front of fifty of the most learned and powerful witches and wizards of the wizarding world� I hope you like how I�ve gotten Harry and Ron into the flying car again� There are many times in the books where I�m trying to will Harry to do something different � like an Accio charm to get the map back when he drops it in GoF � he knows that spell � just spent ages perfecting it� but, it�s true, we don�t always think as clearly when we are in the situation. For the flying car, they are twelve� and as we see, Harry has a history of acting first, and thinking it over second. I guess when you�re twelve, the excitement of a situation can override common sense sometimes� :D Barbara: Thank you for your kind review! Yes, Severus has managed to keep Harry level headed � he�s really a good Dad � and Harry�s really a pretty good kid. This is a story really about mistakes and consequences (both good and bad consequences)� Severus made mistakes early in his life that he greatly regrets the bad consequences are that he can never undo them� But he chose to get back on the right path � the good consequences of that in this story, was being allowed to raise Harry, and live a respectable and respected life (at least at Hogwarts�) And he�s working hard to teach Harry that no matter what (famous or no) everyone makes mistakes, but for every mistake, and every decision, there are consequences� Anyway� I digress. As for the conference people embarrassing poor Harry � I think that sometimes really smart people can be pretty dense when it comes to some things� Also, politicians (like the chairman) sometimes think more about a photo-op for themselves, more than they do about how a kid (famous or no) like Harry might feel about it� Athenakitty: Yes, I do plan to keep going through GoF � and maybe beyond� I�m really enjoying exploring how things might still happen even with a trusted adult in Harry�s life. Thank-you to all of the other reviewers! Even if you don�t have a question, it really makes a writer feel good (and inspired to write more) when you post a review! Update Chapter 12 This is shorter than I�d originally intended, so sorry. The next chapter won�t be long and will have Harry�s Birthday � at the ICW conference. ** A fix regarding a question from �Jane Sephronia�** The initial query was posted anon. using Jane�s name. Jane posted signed-in that it wasn�t her. I had considered deleting the original message anyway, so now I have � as well as my response here. It was regarding a �layman�s� simplification of the details of Harry�s injury to his shin-bone in the flashback to when he was five in this chapter. If anyone has any questions about this please go ahead and post them in the reviews. Sorry for any mix-up. I never meant any insult to the real Jane Sephronia. Cheers all! Questions/comments: Tantz: Well, now you see a bit in this chapter that Severus and Remus aren�t exactly friends� not as hostile either. Remus will be teaching in Harry�s third year (shouldn�t �a said that!), but never fear. I have ways of having the same stuff happening even without these two being so hostile� Kit Cloudkicker: Thanks for your reviews! You might see a clue in chapter 12 as to how the flying car incident might still occur� As for Dobby � keep reading. Dobby is also too much fun to leave out :D JessicaKou: You crack me up! Probably one or two more chapters of the holidays after this. Hope you like� though, when you find out where the convention is, you�ll see why suntan lotion won�t be a problem� Yes, if Harry ever uses any of his increased knowledge of the castle workings and gets caught, I think he�d find himself facing a very irate Severus. Hmmm, is he cheeky enough to risk it though? *cackles evilly* LilPup: Thanks! Yes, Harry knows a bit about Sirius� we�ll see the effects of that later� Nagini: No question but you really cracked me up with your review! Sparrow, Kateri, KawaiiWhiteWolf, Jordan, Lei Dumbledore, Phoenix Flight, and Lady Lightening (I hope I haven�t missed anyone!) Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! It really means a lot to think that people are actually enjoying what I�m writing! Update Chapter 11 Woo hoo! Another chappie. Stay tuned for the next which will have Harry and Severus� unexpected trips� Harry�s birthday� and holiday�s with friends� mwa ha ha. Thank you all for all your wonderful reviews. I�ve been having a bit of a time of things lately, and the friendly reviews really make a body feel good. The following question responses may be a bit � odd � but I�m just a titch stressed, and Really tired, so *cough* proceed with caution� Questions: Sparrow: About the Dursleys � I�m not positive. I have two scenarios in mind. In one they make an appearance. In the other they don�t. We�ll both just have to see which direction my muse takes me :D JessicaKou: Thanks for the lovely long reviews! How�s this? It�s not much Harry and Sev. But don�t worry they�re back together next chapter. As for Cat � I don�t see it as a fast turnaround. Think of it that she was maybe jealous � or insecure and Harry, being who he is: famous � not just as �the boy-who-lived� but within the school as the boy who everyone watched grow up there � was an easy target to take her frustrations out on. Faced with the fact that he nearly died, and did so because of who and what he�d faced. She had to face the fact that she, like everyone else who had watched Harry grow up, looked at him like a kid brother (remember, she would have seen him about the castle since he was five). Faced with the prospect of losing him permanently, she was able to voice what she probably knew inside all along � that she loves the little bugger just like everyone else. Oh, yeah, and duelling and parseltongue � oh my! What fun we�ll have when Harry has his second year! Kateri: Hee hee hee. The whomping willow is just too much fun to avoid! That�s all I�m sayin� and I won�t say no more! :D Vita Brevis: Ha ha ha ha! I have ways of making things happen � Snape-as-adversary, or no. Mwa ha ha. I�m evil, it�s true :D Update Chapter 10 Well, I hope everyone likes it. It didn�t end up going quite as I�d expected it to go, but there you are. Either my muse, or the characters themselves would not be quieted. First I�d like to thank everyone who has reviewed � over a hundred! Every writer can use the encouragement. I should tell you, that though you won�t see my author name in many reviews here on fanfic.net, I do review, and often. I just rarely login first, and I usually review under another name. Thanks all for reading! Questions: JessicaKou: I think that whenever anyone in authority says �x� points from Gryffindor, that the castle, or the scoreboard just magically records this, so the only way to replace points deducted would be to give points. There are probably rules for when a teacher may give points too, so she couldn�t just give them back. Also, I don�t think that Minerva was meaning that there would have been no punishment if she�d known why he was out � just that she might not have been so harsh. I think that she mostly said that to Harry so that Cat would hear that she and Severus both felt that there were extenuating circumstances behind Harry getting in trouble. About Sirius and Remus: I forget who asked this � sorry. Yes, both with make appearances. We�ve heard that Harry has met him and spoken with him (he tells the legal witches this when he�s being adopted), but we�ll be seeing him �live� very soon � much sooner than we see him in the books� (mwa ha ha). And never you fear. Sirius will turn up in good time. I�m typing this from memory about questions, so if I�ve missed any, I�ll catch you with the next update which shouldn�t be too long. Update Chapter 8 Wow, two chapters in two days! Actually this chapter was written a while ago � I just wrote chapter 7 recently to come before it� I�ve still got two full chapters written that won�t be posted yet. They�re Harry and Ron�s interesting arrival at school at the beginning of second year (with Severus� reaction, this time as Harry�s Dad�), and Harry�s birthday, after fourth year. I�m still writing stuff to come between these chapters though, so they�ll be up when the others are ready. I�m in the process of writing the final encounter of first year with the prize under Quirrell�s turban� and how this happens with Harry having an adult he trusts� I�ve got some interesting theories� I hope you�ll like how it turns out, but that�ll be chapter 9 � hopefully it�ll be done next week sometime if work isn�t too busy. What do you think Harry might see in the Mirror of Erised in this version of events? Mwa-ha-ha, I�m not telling until the chapter what I think� :D Questions Jessica & Pale Rider: Why Harry takes the train (even though he was already at Hogwarts), and lives in the dorms (instead of with his father). This is for several reasons. First of all, Harry is a special boy� he�s famous: �The boy-who-lived� and all that. He�s always had a lot of attention focused on him, but in spite of this, Severus has always tried to let Harry live as normal a life as possible (though not in the mean way the professor only character does in the books). As Severus says to him after the sorting �� you�re meant to be bonding with [your year-mates], not keeping yourself separate from them.�� He wants him to have as �normal� a Hogwarts experience as possible, and this includes taking the train, and living in the dorms. Of course, he can never have a completely �normal� experience there � being �the boy-who-lived�, famous, known to the older students since he was a kid, having grown up in the castle, having his father as a teacher, having to be careful to remember that people he used to call �Auntie Minnie�, and �Uncle Albus� must be addressed a bit differently during school� but Severus and the other teachers are trying to normalize things for him as much as possible. Also, though it�s part of �normalizing� Harry as a student at Hogwarts, as Severus also tells him after the sorting, Harry still must ��follow the same rules � you should do the same things as your fellow first years�� Bottom line, if the other students are expected to take the train and sleep apart from their families and in the dormitories, so must Harry. Jessica: As for Severus� strictness� I don�t mean to say that he isn�t strict. Just that, for pureblood (think aristocratic) wizarding society, he would not be considered unusually strict. Certainly for a �liberal� or �lenient� 2003 family lifestyle, an occasional spanking, yelling-at, restriction to one�s room, or being forbidden from spending time with the twins (remember they are two years older, and clearly a bad influence on nine-year-old Harry in his father�s opinion), might seem quite strict. But we�re talking about a slightly old-fashioned version of the 1980�s and early 90�s, so I went by what I knew from the culture of my own childhood (1970�s), in which these sorts of punishments were quite common, and not considered unusually strict. About who I am on Schnoogle� well, I was going to keep things separate, but since you ask... Like I say, this is quite different from what I write there. Also, the first two chapters I posted there were rated �R� � though nothing in those chapters would earn the rating � I was just being over-cautious before I really got to know their rating system. There is some violence in that story, and it�s not an AU like this � it�s a standard �what happens after the fourth book� sort of thing. Also, I�ve rather left it hanging for a while. It�s been ages since I updated, and there�s only three chapters. Still, I suppose it�s unfair to allude to it here but not give a name, so in Schnoogle I�m Alia and my story is �Enemy Mine�. Thanks to all reviewers for reading and taking the time to review! You rock! Update Chapter 7 Wow, this is fun. Chapters six and seven have been mostly Severus� pov. Hope you like. Don�t worry, we�ll be getting back to Harry�s pov in the next chapter which is done, but I�ll just check it over for mistakes and put it up tomorrow maybe� Please note, though I didn�t change the disclaimer, in chapter six I quote directly from Harry Potter and the Philospher�s Stone by J.K. Rowling, pp. 88 in my copy (which is the Raincoast Books printing) � from the Sorting Hat�s song � its words about Gryffindor. They are not mine, I have no claim and I do not pretend to have written them myself� Also, in Chapter seven, and for most of the coming chapters, I am using ideas and themes already created by Ms. Rowling. I am merely rewriting plots and scenes from the first four books for the next while (with occasional flashbacks to scenes made up by me), in an alternate universe which I have created using Ms. Rowling�s characters. There haven�t been any more questions in the reviews that aren�t answered in these chapters, so I�ll just say Thank-you to all who have reviewed! It really makes one feel good � and want to write more! Woo-hoo! Update Chapter 5 I�m so glad that people are enjoying this. It�s great fun to imagine it � I can tell you! I upgraded the rating to PG, because I occasionally have a �naughty� word that may not be for G audiences � none of the �biggie� naughty words, but better safe than upset someone. There is no plan for smut in this story, so don�t worry. As Harry gets older, he might start �experimenting� which is normal and to be expected. But don�t expect anything graphic here. An error fixed in Chapter 4 Oops, Harry was 4 (nearly 5) when Charlie saved him from the runaway bludger. It would have been near the last game of the season so late May or early June the year that Harry would turn 5. More on spanking I�m honestly a bit surprised that this has had such a reaction (not angry surprised, just surprised). The wizarding society is very old fashioned in some ways � they wear robes, they still use Latin� Granted, I�m a little older than Harry (don�t ask how much�), but I don�t think I knew any kids growing up whose parents didn�t resort at least once in a while to the odd swat on the behind to �bring the message home�. In Harry and Severus� case, know these facts 1)It�s the final resort (i.e. after several warnings, or for something quite serious where Harry really does know better), 2)The wand stealing incident was not the only time in his life that Harry was (or will be) disciplined in this way, 3)It�s not done to injure Harry (i.e. not very hard) it�s just meant to solidify the seriousness of the consequences, 4)For the society in which I imagine they live, Severus is not considered to be especially strict or harsh in his rules or punishments � just about average. Those who see them together, consider Severus to be quite a good father to Harry. Ok, on to Questions Sk8reagle: You see Harry�s impression of Percy in Chapter 5, but he was only 3 (nearly 4) when Bill graduated. Bill was head boy, but Harry didn�t really know him and really only vaguely remembers him. Harry bonded with Charlie over a specific incident when he was 4 (nearly 5), which is the only reason why he got to know Charlie. Kikite: Thanks � that�s how I�m trying to portray Severus. Weasleys start playing in chapter 4+. Amanda: You�re right, even if that psychological opinion was available to Muggles at that time, Severus would not likely have known about it. He doesn�t hate all things Muggle, but nor does he spend much time thinking about their opinions either :D Mikee: Thank-you, I hope you spot the new chapters as they come :D I�m sorry if the placement of the appendix was confusing. Jelly Bean: Thanks! Although I haven�t explicitly described meetings with Remus, when Harry was speaking with the official Ministry witches when he was being adopted by Severus when he was five (chapter 2), he mentions that his Daddy sometimes takes him to see Remus because he was a friend of his parents. Again, though I don�t say as much there, in my mind, when Remus heard that Harry was no longer secluded (and so unreachable) in the Muggle world, he contacted Dumbledore &/or Severus and asked to be able to see Harry once in a while. Dumbledore may have stepped in and suggested to Severus that it would be a good idea to let Remus spend some time with Harry as a connection to James and Lily. Myrddin Ambrosius : Thank-you, that�s how I was intending it to be read :D All others: Thank-you all for your wonderful reviews and support! ******************** About Harry�s punishment in the third chapter I�ve had several comments about this, so I�d like to explain. First, remember that that scene is taking place in 1986, and though that is not so very long ago, it was 16 years ago. Spanking was a more common resort even that recently. Add to that the fact that in some ways, the wizarding world is a bit more old fashioned, and I thought it was an appropriate response. Harry is six years old and he has been told very plainly that he mustn�t touch a wand. He has been told very plainly that he mustn�t take things from the students. He has been granted the privilege of being allowed to play and mingle with the students (a privilege much prized by his six-year-old self) during meals. And finally, the last time he disobeyed and did take a wand (it was Severus�) he was told quite plainly that this would be the result should he repeat the behaviour. Also remember that in spite of recent debate, �smacking� and the vague �reasonable chastisement� of children by their parent/guardian is still fully allowed by law. That being said, it was not a harsh spanking. Severus wasn�t trying to hurt him. Yes he was angry (and with good reason), but he loves Harry terribly. As he says later when he�s speaking to Harry about it, he�s got to learn that some mistakes have very serious consequences. No one knows this more than Severus who counts his past decision to join the Death Eaters as the kind of mistake that you can�t fix. It is perhaps this above simple discipline that makes him take a hard line when it comes to making mistakes that Harry should (and does) know better than to make. His greatest fear has to be that Harry will make the same kinds of stupid mistakes when he�s older as he did. Reviews (up to Chapter 3) Wow, I should have started posting stories here long ago. I�ll keep up with my novel-length stuff on Schnoogle, but the folks here are certainly much quicker to review. I still love FA, but I do fear that should I post this story there I would be laughed out of the alley. To all those who liked the first chapters and asked for more (too many to name) � thanks, and I will! To those who liked, or were nervous about Harry being in trouble (he�s a cheeky boy!) � I hope my above explanations are helpful. Sylvanus Snape: ��interesting� � is that good interesting, or bad interesting? Nagini: I�m afraid I don�t understand� ROTCGirl: About wizard religion. In the books, they celebrate Christmas � not solstice. Sirius is Harry�s godfather, not his merlinfather� I�ve always just thought that J.K. Rowling�s witches and wizards celebrate the same religions as us Muggles. I�ve read the stories that wizards and witches have a special gift � the ability to do magic. And so I write what they do as an ability, not a religion. I�m not slamming your review, just explaining where I was coming from. Thank-you all for the lovely reviews! |
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