Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Cat Out of the Bag

The Slytherin dorms had three beds to each room. Severus and Harry were sharing with Andrew Corner. The other Slytherin hadn't come back yet, so Severus and Harry lay ensconced on Severus' bed, hidden behind his curtains, with Harry's head in Severus' lap. Severus stroked Harry's hair and watched his partner with a soft smile on his face.

"Harry, thank you."

Harry looked up at Severus. "For what, love?"

"I do not think I would have made it through this without you. At least not and remained whole. Thank you."

Harry reached up and caressed Severus' cheek. "I would have stayed with you anyway, Sev. I love you."

"I love you too."

"I know, Sev. I see it in your eyes every time you look at me like this." 

Severus kissed Harry's fingers and took his caressing hand in his own. 

"Starling is so much like the adult you that it's a bit eerie being in the same room as him sometimes. Only your older self was in pain and bitter. Starling is just having us all on and laughing his arse off about it behind the scenes."

"I suppose I must have learned it from him."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah." His mirth faded. "Just don't lose your softer side this time, okay? You're such a good person, Severus. So loving and kind under all those masks. I would hate for that to—to vanish again, when I know how beautiful you really are."

Severus leaned back and nodded solemnly. "I swore to myself a long time ago I would never become the man you knew. No matter what happens—to us, to Lils, or with anyone else—I won't hurt you again. I won't be that cold, unfeeling man who made you suffer when you were already in pain."

Harry sat and took Severus into a gentle, loving kiss. "You were suffering, and I wish I could have made it better."

"You do, Phoenix. You're my hope."

"And you're my future." Harry snuggled closer. "So, how do you think Dumbledore took it? Us getting around all of his schemes and embarrassing him in front of everyone into the bargain?"

"Not well, I'd wager." Severus sat up. "Mipsy?"

The little elf appeared with a bow. "Masters, Hypnos is hunting. And Lucia is investigating the grounds. They is coming back soon."

"Thanks, Mipsy." Harry sat up too and motioned her closer. "Muffliato." A buzzing field of energy coalesced around them. "Mipsy, what is Dumbledore up to?"

Mipsy covered a giggle. "He is cursing and stomping around his quarters, Masters. You is both giving Dumbledore fits."

Harry snorted. "Guess we really did ruin his night, yeah?"

"Indeed." Severus' expression held more worry than humour. "Mipsy, keep an eye on him until he goes to bed if you can do so safely, please."

"Mipsy is doing that anyway, Master Severus. Mipsy is not letting the old man hurt her boys."

"Thank you," Harry murmured. "Get out of there if it gets dangerous, okay? You're irreplaceable."

Mipsy sniffled and hugged Harry and Severus in turn. "Mipsy feels the same about her boys."

With a wave and a wish for a good night, Mipsy disapparated. Severus stared after her, his nerves unsettled and his heart troubled. An angry Dumbledore could do a lot of damage, and he would most likely go for Harry and Severus' allies first.

"Raven," said a subdued Harry, "we should talk to Starling. Warn him not to be too outspoken against Dumbledore, just in case. He placed himself in firm opposition to the man tonight, and if I were that evil bastard, I'd want to nip that in the bud as soon as possible."

Severus nodded grimly. "I was just thinking the same thing, but how much do we tell him?"

Harry paused. "I think we'll have to tell him something. He's irritated with Dumbledore, but I don't think he would believe that Dumbledore is really dangerous without proof. For his own sake, let's try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, but he needs to know the gist of the situation to stay safe."

"Agreed." Severus cast a Tempus. "We still have about forty-five minutes to curfew. Should we go now?"

Harry nodded and led Severus into the hall, throwing his cloak over his partner as soon as they were out of the bedroom. He motioned for Severus to follow him and led the way out of the dorms, Severus' warm hand in his.

The other Slytherins sat in groups about the common room. Even the first years had stayed up late, all hyped up on excitement and too much sugar from the feast. Among the older students, a tacit divide separated the dark Slytherins from the neutral and light aligned sides. To Severus' relief, not many had joined the dark-sided Slytherins this year. Their roommate was not among them either.

As Severus and Harry neared the door into the dungeons, Corner called from near the fire, "Oi! Don't stay out too late, Potter. It's going to be curfew soon, and Starling is a hardarse. Don't cost us points."

"All right. I just wanted to have a look around."

"Just don't get lost."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah. I'll do my best. Thanks for the warning."

Corner nodded and went back to his chess game with Ganesh Patil. 

"Your turn," Patil chided him. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes!"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

Corner was still deliberating when Harry closed the door behind Severus. Severus slipped his hand into Harry's and cast the invisibility spell over his boyfriend. 

"Now we are free to go."

Harry nodded. "Have any idea where Starling's quarters are? I doubt he'll be in his office at this time of night."

"As far as I know, the offices are connected to the quarters so the professors can have a bit of privacy."

"Ah, good point. Then… his office?"

"It's the potions master's office, I suppose. They stay the same, don't they?"

"Now that you mention it, all my DADA professors had the same office space." Harry gave a wry chuckle. "If it's the same office as Snape's, then I know it all too well. Let's go."

Severus shuddered. "That is… eerie, thinking I am going into my future office."

"It may not be now. We've already altered the future so much. And you told me yourself you don't want to teach. There's no reason why this Severus will ever inhabit that office."

Severus squeezed his hand. "Perhaps we will decide to teach together someday."

Harry tugged Severus closer and laced their fingers together. "Yeah. I think I'd like that."

Severus wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders instead and walked beside him, enjoying the sensation of Harry's hand tracing patterns in the small of his back.

Starling answered the door sans robes, but still dressed professionally in a white dress shirt and black trousers. His eyes narrowed and scanned the hallway, intelligence and irritation sharp in their depths. Harry edged a little closer to Severus, and the older boy wondered if the sight of him had triggered more of Harry's lost memories.

"Who's there?" Starling's voice was low and cold. "If this is a prank—"

Harry called, "Sir, it's not. It's Harry Potter. Severus and I are here, but invisible. Could you let us in for a moment? It's really important."

Starling paused, confusion clear in his features. "Harry, you say? And Severus?"

"I am here, sir," Severus said. "Harry is speaking the truth. The situation is quite serious or we would not have concealed ourselves."

"Serious? I see." 

Starling opened the door and let the students into his office. Shelves of creepy things lined the walls all the way around. The only other furniture was a bookcase full of potions texts and research journals and a hulking desk at the centre of the back wall. Two student chairs sat before it and the professor's chair behind it.

Harry stepped inside and froze, a pained sob catching in his throat. "Oh, God."

It was like walking into the past all over again. Harry choked back a sob and pressed his arms around his stomach, as if that would stop the bleeding inside. Oh, gods. It hurt, so much, to know the professor who had saved Harry's life was gone—lost forever to time, and there was nothing Harry could do to save him.

'Oh, Professor. I'm so, so sorry.'

Severus winced and caught Harry into his arms. "Harry? What is it?"

"Snape," he whispered in Severus' ear. "T-the office—it's exactly the same."

Severus cancelled Harry's invisibility spell and took off his hood, revealing Harry's face. "Oh, Harry." 

Harry pressed his head into Severus' shoulder and struggled to keep the tears back. 

"Forgive him, sir," Severus murmured, nodding to his friend. "Harry has—he's endured much more than we let on to the headmaster. Seeing your office reminded him of something painful."

"M'sorry," Harry choked out. "Should have better control by now. It's b-been months!"

Severus held him and stroked Harry's hair. Starling searched through his desk. 

"Mister Potter," Starling said, his voice gentle, "this will help."

Harry turned to see a familiar blue potion and shuddered, another bitter sob escaping him. "I failed him, Severus. We all failed him."

Severus took the potion and gently guided Harry to open his mouth. "You're healing him now," he whispered into Harry's ear. 

"Gone," Harry whispered back. "That man is gone. Lost forever. And he suffered so much! I just—gods, I wish I had known before it was too late."

"Harry, shh. You weren't even born. It's not your fault."

Harry sniffled and downed the potion. "S-sorry. I'm a mess."

Severus guided the shaking boy to a chair and stood behind him, gently rubbing Harry's hair and shoulders. Starling watched, a concerned expression on his face and curiosity in his eyes.

"If I may ask," said the professor, "whom is it you are so distraught over, Mr. Potter?"

Merlin. Harry couldn't tell him, even if he did trust Starling. "Oh. I—um—a friend."

'I'm sorry, sir.'

Starling's eyebrow shot up. "If you do not wish to tell me, you might have simply said so rather than lying to my face."

Harry winced. "Oh. Sir, it's not that—I just—Severus?"

Severus rubbed Harry's back. "We'll have to tell him as much as we safely can, Harry. You didn't know him where you're from, did you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'd never seen him before until your OWLs."

Starling narrowed his eyes. "You were not in attendance for OWLs."

Harry gave a sheepish laugh. "N-no, not as a student. I was there to protect Severus, invisible and out of the way. We suspected the Marauders—the students who caused a ruckus that day—would try to hurt him. I didn't want anything bad to happen to him or to interfere with his grade, so I was waiting to stop them if they tried something. We weren't disappointed." He shuddered. "But even I wasn't prepared for that level of treachery."

Starling's eyes widened. "It was you! You cast that shield charm! I had no idea where it had come from."

Harry nodded. "I purposefully aimed it so whatever Pettigrew had thrown would go back into his cauldron. I had no idea it was so dangerous, though."

"Neither did he," said Severus in a dark voice. "That was too sophisticated a 'prank' even for them."

"That's why we came tonight, sir, though I didn't intend to have a fit in your office. Sorry about that."

Starling waved off his apology. "That the two of you know something serious is obvious. So perhaps we should hold off on apologies and worrying about what cannot be changed and get to the root of the problem."

Harry grimaced. "All right, but, sir, it's very dangerous. Can you silence and ward these rooms against the house elves and eavesdroppers first?" He mimed writing, and Starling handed him a piece of parchment and a quill. Harry wrote: "Especially the headmaster."

"Merlin!" 

Starling eyed the parchment and gave Harry a searching gaze. Harry opened his mind to the man, revealing snippets of what he knew, and wasn't surprised to feel Starling's presence slip into his thoughts and slip out a moment later. 

"I will… take your advice into consideration." With several flicks of his wand, the walls shined silver with wards Harry doubted even Dumbledore could breach. "There. Now, explain what I just saw."

Harry closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "The headmaster isn't the grandfatherly old man he pretends to be. He's—well, it's not safe to reveal too much to you, not when you have to work under him, but he's dangerous. You need to be careful—much more so than you were tonight. He has it in for Severus—and me, by extension—and defending us so publicly might get you hurt."

Starling shuddered and sat down, looking pale. "You are sure of this?"

"Absolutely. We're his victims."

"Victims?" Starling gripped the desk, his nails digging into the wood. "Explain."

Harry hesitated. "Sir, Severus can show you more than I can. My life has, um, special circumstances that could get all of us hurt if the wrong people see the truth, but the same isn't true for Severus. And he's suffered terribly as a result of the headmaster's machinations."

Starling went ashen. "How?"

Severus took a deep breath and clutched Harry's hand. "Before my fifth birthday, my parents were kind, loving people. They were poor, but the best parents anyone could ask for either way, and they adored me. On my fifth birthday, everything changed. Mum had just told me she was pregnant—Merlin, I was so excited—and we had gone to cut the cake. But then…."

He covered his mouth and shuddered, and Harry helped him.

"Then Dumbledore showed up. Well, in a manner of speaking. He was hiding, but I saw a flash of him in Severus' memories. He broke through Eileen's wards—that's Sev's mum. She was a warding expert before Dumbledore… broke her. Anyway, she sensed his presence and told her husband to take Sev and run—he's a Muggle, so he would have been defenceless against a wizard. Then Dumbledore cast a spell at Severus, and Eileen jumped in front of him. But Dumbledore knocked Eileen down, and, with Severus distracted by his mother's fall, he managed to knock them all out."

"Mum lost the baby," Severus whispered. "She lost my brother or sister, and the loss was so traumatic to her system, she can never have another baby."

"Dear gods," Starling gasped. "Severus…."

"That's hardly the start of it, sir. After that day, he compelled my parents to hate me. He compelled Da to be abusive and a drunk, and Mum to be cold and weak. We managed to weaken their compulsions this year, but we couldn't free them entirely. It's the same with my best friend, other than Harry."

"Lily Evans," Harry explained. "She, as well as the Marauders—Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew—are all under compulsions to hate and hurt Severus. Over and over. And Dumbledore has Confunded , compelled, and Obliviated anyone who's stood up for him since."

Starling paced the office, distressed to the extreme. "He is forcing students to assault another student?"

Severus winced. "I—yes. It's actually worse than that, sir. Much worse."

"Dear gods, worse?" Starling sank into his chair, ashen and trembling. "I do not understand. Why in Merlin's name would he do this?"

Harry shook his head. "We don't know exactly. The answers are probably all in his office. For now, all we can tell you is that there's a reason, and it's probably tied to prophecy, but we can't explain beyond that. Not least because divulging anything else might get you hurt."

Starling crossed his arms over his chest. "Children, do you have proof of this?"

Harry looked to his partner. "Sev, he knows Legilimency." 

Starling gaped. "You know of the mind magics?"

"We're trying to learn Occlumency, sir. Dumbledore is a master Legilimens, and while our rings protect him from the worst he might do, he could still invade our minds if we're not careful. We just haven't enough experience to get as far as we need to, to be safe."

Starling breathed out harshly. "Merlin. I will train you both then. Are you able to show me what you know, children?"

Harry closed his eyes. "I can't. For the sake of us all, I need to keep the darkest of my memories quiet—at least for now. But Severus can show you, if he can bear it."

"Y-yes." Severus gripped Harry's hand and pulled it close against his side. "I…."

Harry tugged the boy fully into his lap and held him close. "I have you, my beautiful Raven," he whispered in Severus' ear. "You're safe and protected and cherished. I'm here."

Severus trembled against him, but nodded and held Harry's hands around his waist. "Yes. Thank you, my Phoenix." He took a deep breath and focused on Starling's face. "O-okay, sir. I am ready."

Starling nodded and dove in. His blue eyes dilated to almost black while he searched—no wonder Snape's had looked so dark when he had rifled through Harry's mind. His pupils shrank to a normal size the instant he emerged from Severus' mind.

"Mother of Merlin," Starling choked out, tears heavy on his lashes. "I cannot believe it. To condone the rape and torture of a student—to have arranged for it to happen—it is reprehensible. We must call the aurors and have him removed."

"Sir, wait." Harry shook his head. "Please. Sit and listen. If it were safe and possible to have Dumbledore removed, we'd have done it already. But the problem is this—Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in 1945, and the Wizarding world still thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread because of it. His influence in the Ministry goes deep, and he has the most important people there compelled to turn a blind eye to his crimes. And all the evidence we have, at this time, is circumstantial at best."

"We know it was him," said Severus with a nod, "but the Wizengamot won't believe it."

"Veritaserum would—"

"But it won't make it that far, sir," said Harry with a shake of his head. "Please believe me. I'm a powerful Seer, and intuition is telling me that even attempting to have him arrested at this time would only result in you being discredited and us being expelled and possibly thrown in Azkaban for 'false accusations.' His influence is simply too powerful and our evidence too weak to risk a trial right now. I'm sorry."

Starling raised an eyebrow. "A Seer?"

Harry hesitated. "I can't tell you everything, but I'm a direct descendant of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake, and they were both incredible Seers. I inherited their powers. Severus is a descendant too, but he's not a Seer."

Starling's lip quirked up. "So you two are family?"

"Well, yes, a thousand years or so back," said Harry with a snort. "I reckon no one would be able to marry at all if we worried about family ties that far down the tree."

Starling smiled wanly. "No, probably not." He rubbed a shaking hand over his forehead. "This is horrifying, frankly. Does anyone else know?"

Harry nodded. "Professor McGonagall does, to an extent, and she's trying to help us."

"But she won't be easy for Dumbledore to remove," said Severus with a grim expression. "She's the deputy headmaster, Head of Gryffindor, and altogether too well-loved for him to sack her without consequences."

"You, however," said Harry, "haven't her support—not yet. So please, sir. Be careful. For your sake and ours."

Starling nodded tentatively. "I will not provoke him on purpose or involve the Ministry without further evidence, but, children, I cannot, in good conscience, stand by while he allows you to be assaulted."

"That's where I come in," said Harry with a wicked smirk. "Remember I told you I'm the top Defence student in the school? I meant it. I've been trained to fight by aurors and spent more time than I care to remember fighting Death Eaters and Voldemort head-on, but no one's going to expect that of a sixth year. I can defend him and I will. You just lie low and keep him safe behind the scenes, sir. I'll handle the prats in the daylight."

Starling's jaw dropped. "You… a sixteen year old, have fought You-Know-Who?"

"Six times. I know what I'm doing." Harry tapped his temple and felt a push from Starling's mind. Harry revealed bits and pieces of his battles with Voldemort over the years, only the ones that would not reveal his timeline, and felt the professor's shock.

"Sweet Merlin. I cannot believe—are you real, Potter?"

Harry laughed. "Er… last time I checked, sir. If you want, Sev and I can do a mock duel and I can give you a little idea of what I can do. Or I can duel you. But maybe not here, with all these jars."

"Duelling is not a strength of mine," said Starling with a shiver. "It seems as though you could train me. Sweet Circe." 

Harry nodded. "My sight already confirmed that's what I'm going to do. Train fighters, I mean. We'll be a lot safer if the general public can fight back." 

"That is a compelling argument."

"Yes, sir. For now, though, I could teach the two of you what I know of fighting, and in return, you can teach us Occlumency and Legilimency, sir. And potions for Sev, of course. I'm, well, I'm not bad, but I definitely don't have Severus' talent for it. Defence is my strength."

"If you have been battling You-Know-Who since practically your infancy, I am not surprised." Starling sighed and leaned back in his chair, clearly shaken. "If what you have told me of the headmaster is true, I think it would be remiss of me not to learn to defend myself and the two of you to the best of my ability. Potter, you shall train us to fight on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I will teach Severus potions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and carry on your Occlumency and Legilimency lessons during the final hour. Thursdays, we will have a full mind magic lesson, with Sundays off to rest and recover. Does this sound acceptable to you?"

Harry and Severus nodded. 

"Perfect. Thank you, sir," said Harry.

"Yes, thank you," Severus agreed. "And thank you for trusting us, sir. I know it's hard to believe."

Starling bowed. "Thank you for risking your safety to warn me. But now it is nearly curfew, and the two of you must get back to bed. Be careful, children. Apparently there are worse risks than detention and lost points roaming about. I would escort you, but…."

"But it will be suspicious," said Severus. "Don't worry, sir. We are able to slip about unseen fairly well. We will be fine."

"And if we do run into trouble," said Harry with a wry grin, "we know of a place to hide that no one else does. Not even the Marauders."

"Good. Then off with you, children, and I…." Starling stood and took Severus' hand. "I will do everything I can safely to keep you from harm. Both of you."

Severus swallowed hard and squeezed the professor's fingers. "Thank you, sir," he said, voice rough.

"You are most welcome. Now go, before we are discovered here."

"Good point, sir. Thank you." Harry gave the professor a bow, tossed the cloak back over Severus' head, and led them both from Starling's office. The hallways were empty, to his relief. "Come on, Sev. Let's get back before Corner has a coronary."

"Lead the way, Phoenix."