A Second Chance
Written By: Jaree (mightyenas_pup@y...)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13
Pairings None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. No infringement intended.
Summary: Dumbledore take some drastic measures to save Severus' life.Author's Note: I have thought long and hard about where I want to go with this story. I was not sure if I wanted to go through all the stages of Dumbledore's pregnancy and him raising Severus. I have a plan for the story, and I was thinking that if I did all of that, it would take a long time to get the story where I needed it be. On the other hand, I think that part of the story is very important as well. I have decided to skip that part, but to refer to that time throughout the story.
Author's Note 2: I do not know what Dumbledore's wand is, so I made it up. If you know it, please let me know. Thanks!
Chapter One:
11 years later:
His child was a handfull.
Albus Dumbledore sighed in resignation when his son came tearing through the house, leaving a thick trail of mud behind him. The young ten-year-old had been cooped up inside the two-story house for the past week due to a large rainstorm that soaked the small town in which they lived. So when the sun had decided to peak through the dense, grey clouds, the young boy had dashed outside to try and burn off his access energy. However, Severus seemed to have an endless supply.
Days like this one, Dumbledore had a difficult time keeping up with Severus. It was quite depressing for the older wizard because before his son had been born, he had always thought he had been very energetic for someone his age. After all, he had been the Headmaster of Hogwarts for about fifty years, and he had had to manage a few hundred students between the ages of eleven and eighteen. However, that had not prepared him for raising his precocious child. The young boy was so full of life that Dumbledore often felt all of his 163 years. Nevertheless, he never once regretted giving Severus a second chance at life. In fact, it was because his son was so full of life that it made his decision so worth while.
Severus had been such a hard and unhappy man. Life had not been kind to him, due not only to bad decision made in his youth, but also by circumstances beyond his control. Dumbledore could remember when he had first met Severus. He had been just a small first year, but even back then, he had been rather sullen, showing signs of what a difficult childhood he had already had. Dumbledore was also sad to admit, that while Hogwarts should have been one of his happiest memories, it was a time in which he had be picked-on and harassed. Dumbledore knew a lot of it was his own fault, for he often turned a blind eye to the attacks made on the greasy-haired boy. This was not to say the Severus had been faultless, but it still did not relieve him of his own shortcomings in the matter.
Now, the second time through, Severus was a happy child. He knew how to play and how to laugh. The black-haired boy was energetic and had the self-confidence that Dumbledore did not think his other self had ever had. This did not mean that there was no trace of the old Severus, and while certain likeness was a given, some of the similarities concerned Dumbledore greatly. It was not just the fact that Severus seemed to have an unnatural ability, even when compared with those who showed superb natural talent, in potions, for this could be easily explained. However, there were times when Severus seemed to transform into his other self. His expressions and mannerisms would change, and Albus would feel as if he was dealing with his old friend once more, instead of the young boy he actually was. Dumbledore had tried to explain the phenomena away, tying to tell himself that of course Severus still had some mannerisms that were the same. However the explanation felt more than a little hollow to him.
Dumbledore was not the only one that saw it either. Harry Potter, who he still saw quite often, between his work as an auror, often commented how Severus would sporadically change, and how his naturally graceful walk would turn into the sweeping stride that often intimated the students of Hogwarts. He also insisted that when Severus seemed to be caught in one of his “spells,” as they started to call them, he would look at the Boy-who-lived with suspicion in his fathomless eyes. Dumbledore might have thought Harry was being paranoid, however, there was no mistaking the hurt in the younger wizard's voice. Harry had become quite close to the younger boy, and Severus to Harry, and Dumbledore knew it would hurt Harry terribly if Severus just all of sudden reverted back to his former self. Thankfully, Severus rarely had these spells.
Still, Dumbledore, as well as a Harry, had taken upon themselves to look into the spell that had been cast almost eleven year ago. They each had been hoping to find out more about what was going to happen to Severus, but they found very little information on the subject, so they just had to take it one day at a time.
At the sound of a tiny pop, Albus was brought out from his mussing just in time to see a house elf beginning to clean up the mess that Severus had caused. He sighed quietly and decided he had better find his son and discover what he was up to. He climbed up the stair that led to the living quarters and entered the Seversus’ room. He watched with great amusement as the young wizard carefully placed a few different types of plant material into separate glass containers, his face scrunched up with concentration. He had obviously been out collecting for his potion’s supplies. Dumbledore smiled. He had been silently encouraging Severus’ love for potions. He was well aware that the other Severus had been more interested in other things besides potions, like the Dark Arts, but there was no denying that he had had a great gift when it came to the subtle magic. He also thought that, though Severus might have wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts instead of potions, there had been a special place for the subject with the anti-social man. This thought had been confirmed, in his opinion, by his son’s love for all things potions.
His smile turned to a frown when he noticed the large dark puddle forming on the green rug beneath his son, from where the young boy stood dripping from head to toe like a giant mud ball.
“Severus,” cried Dumbledore in slight exasperation.
Startled, the black head shot up, from where it was bent over his ingredients, and black eyes widened slightly when he caught sight of his father. Dumbledore could tell Severus had no idea what he had done wrong, so he gave the boy a meaningful glance, making an exaggerated show of looking at him from head to toe. Severus looked down at himself and grimaced slightly, his pale cheeks turning a light pink.
“Sorry, Papa,” apologized Severus, getting up to get out of his wet clothes.
“You’ve left a trail of mud all the way from the front door to your bedroom,” admonished the older Wizard. “What have I told you about that?”
“Not to come into the house soaking wet,” answered the guilty boy.
Dumbledore sighed and then said, “Why don’t you get out of those muddy clothes and then help clean up the mess you have made. After that we can have dinner.”
Severus nodded and then started to get out of his wet clothes. Dumbledore left him to it and started walking down towards the dinning room, his blue eyes twinkling softly behind his glasses. After he made sure he was far enough away from where Severus was he let out a small chuckle; his son had certainly looked rather ridiculous covered in all that mud.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, the day was promising to be another sunny one. Dumbledore watched in amusement as Severus began shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could, getting ready to go back outside for another day of gathering potion ingredients. He had spent all last night talking about all of the different things he had collected and what he wanted to collect that day.
Their meal was interrupted when a large brown owl flew through an open window, hooting softly. Fawkes, who had been perched behind Dumbledore, trilled softly in greeting to the other bird. Dumbledore went to reach for the letter but the owl flew over towards Severus instead. The young wizard seemed surprised to see the bird comes towards him, but he automatically reached towards the bird and pulled the letter from the owl’s leg. When he saw what the letter was, he quickly opened it up, grinning.
“It’s my letter from Hogwarts!” cried Severus quickly reading through the admittance letter.
“That’s great my boy,” responded Dumbledore encouragingly; however, he could not keep the slight worry from showing in his expressive blue eyes.
“When can we go to Diagon Alley, Papa?” questioned the boy excitedly.
Dumbledore took a moment to consider and then said, “we can go a week from today.”
“Can’t we go sooner?” asked Severus.
Before Albus could answer, they heard a commotion coming from down the hall. They both turned just in time to see Harry Potter coming into the kitchen.
“One of the house elves let me in,” explained the dark-haired man, “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” said Dumbledore while motioning for Harry to sit down. “Are you hungry?”
“Just a little,” replied Potter a little sheepishly before helping himself to some of the breakfast Dumbledore offered him.
“I got my Hogwarts letter today!” said Severus proudly to Harry, waving the letter in front of his face.
Harry turned his full attention to the boy, smiling at him and said, “Wonderful! I suppose I don’t have to ask if you are excited.”
Severus blushed before saying, “I can’t wait! Papa said we could go the Diagon Alley next week. Can you come?”
Harry smiled and said, “I’ll have to check my schedule first.” However, Harry could tell the boy was not really listening to him, as his thoughts seemed to be a hundred miles away.
His musings were confirmed when the young boy speculated, “I wonder what house I will be in.”
The room went strangely tense, and Severus looked up in confusion, trying to understand what was wrong. Both Harry and Albus were looking at each other with strange looks in their eyes that Severus could not quite make out before Dumbledore said, “which ever house you are in will be fine son.”
Severus looked between the two older men shrewdly, knowing there was something that they were keeping from him, but he could not figure out exactly what it was. He would have to figure out later.
~*~*~*~*~
The week past slowly for Severus but soon enough he, Dumbledore, and Harry were in the wizard’s part of London, shopping for his school supplies. They had already gotten his books and potion supplies, though Severus had wanted to say a little longer in the apothecary shop, as well as gotten him a nice grey-coloured owl, in which he named Bezoar. Severus had wanted to take Fawkes with him, but Dumbledore would not let him. They were just finishing getting his school robes, and then they were going to head over to get his wand at Ollivander’s.
When they entered the wand shop, Severus watched as an older, white-haired man put away a few boxes in a large stack that must have been about thirty boxes high. The man turned towards them after completing his task and then took a good look at his customers.
“Albus Dumbledore, twelve inches, willow, phoenix tale feather, flexible,” greeted Ollivander before moving towards Harry. “Harry Potter, holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple.”
“Hello Ollivander,” replied Dumbledore. “We’re here to get Severus a wand.”
“Severus Snape,” Ollivander turned towards the black-haired boy. Severus gave him a nervous smile, and then before he knew it, he had a tape measure in his face, taking his measurements. He frowned at the device and then tried to find where the owner was, since the tape measure was doing its work by itself, and noticed him talking to his Papa and Harry. Severus strained to hear what was being said, but he was sure he must have misunderstood what they were saying, for it sounded like Ollivander asking his Papa if he still had Severus’ old wand and then his Papa responding that no he did not because it had been destroyed. However, that did not make any sense, for he never had a wand before.
Whatever they were talking about ended quickly enough and Ollivander disappeared for a moment and then came back with a large stack of boxes.
Ollivander called back the tape measure and handed a wand to Severus. “Give it a swish,” commanded the wand maker.
Severus obeyed and almost instantly the wand was taken away. This process was repeated a few more times until he came across one that Ollivander seemed satisfied with.
“Oak, ten inches, dragon heartstring, stiff, great for potion making.” Ollivander told Severus. The young wizard smiled at the comment about it being good for potion making.
Dumbledore paid for the wand and they headed outside. Severus was happy with the day of shopping and was looking forward to going home so he could start reading his textbooks. The only blight in the otherwise perfect day, was the bizarre conversation he had heard at Ollivander’s. He just could not get it out of his head. He did not understand why, but he knew that the conversation was important, and until he figured out exactly what it meant, nothing would be quite right.
TBC…
