A/N – Welcome to my newest dark Hermione story, only this one has a twist and has a dark Harry as well. As usual, I want to point out that this a dark story. I know not everyone likes dark Hermione stories, so I like to put a warning at the very beginning just so everyone knows where they stand. I also want to briefly mention Harry. Since Harry is going to be dark, I've changed a few things about his past. I'm sure some people won't like the changes, but I'm happy with the choices I've made and I feel they work perfectly for this story.
Onto the story itself, and as usual it's already finished. In total it has twelve chapters, including the prologue that sets up the backstory. This is the first part of a seven part story, and each part covers a whole school year. The first few years will be very similar to the books, with some changes, but later years are going to run quite differently. The romance will be between Hermione and Draco, but not until the later years.
I'm currently working on the second year of this story, but there will be gaps between publishing each story. But I can promise that there will be seven parts to this story, it just might take a while to get each part written and published as I have other stories I want to write and don't want to neglect them. I hope people enjoy the first year of Children of the Dark.
Lying in her lover's arms, Lily Potter waited for the guilt to sweep over her. She had just done the unthinkable, and cheated on her husband, James. Even though Lily had suspected the event had been going to happen for some time, she'd tried to fight it. However, it was inevitable she was going to betray her husband from the moment Severus Snape re-entered her life several months ago. While Lily genuinely loved James and was quite happy with him, she couldn't deny the pull she felt for her childhood friend. Severus had been her first love, and it would take more than James Potter to change how she felt about him.
"Are you regretting what we've just done?" Severus asked quietly. He'd never for one minute thought that he would get the witch he'd loved for so long, and he fully expected her to dismiss their afternoon together and return to her perfect life with her husband.
"I regret the circumstances of our situation," Lily replied, sitting up and pulling the bed covers around herself. "However, I can't regret the amazing experience we've just shared together."
Severus bit his lip to stop from asking if he'd pleased her more than Potter. Instead he joined her in sitting up and asked her what came next.
"I don't know," Lily admitted. "I guess that depends on you."
"You know what I want, Lily," Severus replied. "You've always known."
"I thought I did, but then this happened," Lily answered, taking hold of Severus's arm and running her fingers over his dark mark. "Have you really left The Dark Lord behind?"
Several months ago, Severus had come to the Order claiming dissatisfaction with Voldemort and his supporters. He'd thrown himself of Dumbledore's mercy, explaining how he was young and impressionable and was sucked into serving Voldemort. Dumbledore had been convinced he wanted to help, and agreed to let him join the Order as a spy. However, the majority of the Order were sceptical of Severus's switch of allegiance and most of them remained convinced it was all an act and his loyalties lay with Voldemort. Lily wanted to believe her old friend had truly switched sides, but she had to admit she wasn't quite sure.
"The truth is, The Dark Lord holds my loyalties," Severus admitted. "And he always will. I will not abandon him."
"This is all an act," Lily said, feeling the tears pooling in her eyes. "You're using me to gain information."
"I would never use you, Lily," Severus insisted. "I love you."
"How can you claim to love me while you're supporting a man who wants to rid the world of my kind?" Lily demanded as she jumped out of bed.
"Things aren't as straightforward as they seem," Severus protested. "It's true The Dark Lord doesn't like muggleborns, but he has no intention of extinguishing them from this world. He wants power, and everyone knows the true power in the wizarding world lies with the purebloods. The blood purity issue is a way of recruiting supporters. He might tighten up some rules regarding muggleborns when he's in power, but he won't get rid of them. He knows a world of purebloods will soon became tainted and inbred, and he doesn't want that. He wants to strengthen magic and those who wield it."
"Even if that's true, why support him?" Lily asked. "Without him everyone would be free to do as they please. No-one would have to answer to his regime and prove themselves worthy. Why not fight for freedom?"
"Because I have another reason to be loyal to him," Severus replied. "He's my father."
Lily gaped at Severus, not knowing how to ask the questions that were swimming around in her head. She was confused how it was even possible for Severus to be Voldemort's son. She knew Severus's parents, and the fact his father was a muggle was the reason he'd lived not far from her growing up.
"Sit down and I'll explain," Severus said, reaching his hand out for Lily. Taking his hand, Lily returned to the bed and sat back beside her lover. "My mother and The Dark Lord had a fling several years ago, which resulted in her becoming pregnant with me. She never told him, or anyone else, until I was seventeen. She told me then who my father was, and I vowed to tell him who I was as soon as I could."
"That's why you joined him as soon as you left school," Lily whispered.
"It is," Severus replied. "I went to him and explained everything. By that time he was married, but he accepted me as his son."
"Are you saying your father is married?" Lily questioned. Not once at any Order meeting had she heard anything about Voldemort having a wife.
"Yes, he's married," Severus replied. Even though he was telling Lily about his heritage, he didn't go into any further details about his father. He didn't divulge the name of his father's wife, or the fact that she had just given birth to a daughter a few weeks previously.
"Why are you telling me this?" Lily asked. "I could go to Dumbledore and tell him all this. He would kill for information like this."
"You could go and tell everyone everything I've told you," Severus agreed. "As for the reason I'm telling you, that's simple. I'm telling you because I love you and I want you to understand why my loyalty is to The Dark Lord. What you do with the information is up to you."
"And what would your father say if he knew what we'd just done?" Lily questioned. "How would he feel about his son sleeping with a muggleborn?"
"I don't know," Severus confessed. "But I do know that if I asked him, he would ensure no harm comes to you. If he knew I loved you, he would do everything in his power to make sure you were safe."
"And why would he do that?"
"Because he loves me. I'm his son, and regardless of everything, he loves his family."
"This is just so much to take in," Lily muttered, rubbing at her head as she felt a headache building.
"Whatever you decide, is entirely up to you," Severus said. "Both regarding us personally, and regarding my parentage. Everything is in your hands, Lily."
"I need some time to think," Lily said, once again rising from the bed.
"Take all the time you need," Severus replied as he also got up and began to dress. "I'll be leaving next week, and won't be back until the summer. Unless of course you tell the Order who I truly am, and what I'm up to, then things will change."
Lily couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh at the reminder that Severus would be going away for the next few months. For the next few months Severus would be travelling the world doing various training courses in the art of potions making. Dumbledore had suggested that Severus take on the position as Potions Master at Hogwarts, but he'd insisted on several months training beforehand. So for the next few months Severus would be training and next September he would start teaching at Hogwarts.
Once the pair were dressed, they shared a quick goodbye before Lily headed off to think. She had no idea what she was going to do about Severus and the things he told her. She knew she had a responsibility to tell the Order what she knew, but that would mean betraying her oldest friend, and despite everything she didn't think she could do that to Severus. However, since Severus was going to be away for a while she felt as though she had plenty to time to decide on what to do.
However, Lily's problems only intensified a few weeks after Severus left when she discovered she was pregnant. She knew from the timings that the baby couldn't possibly be James's, meaning she was carrying Severus's child. With Severus travelling, Lily knew the only way to get in touch with him would be via Dumbledore, but asking about him would raise suspicions. She also didn't want to go to Voldemort, despite Severus assuring her that he wouldn't harm her. Left all alone and pregnant, Lily did the only thing she could think of. She passed the baby off as James's and waited for Severus to return.
C.O.T.D.
Finally Severus returned home, after months of travelling and training in the potions industry. Severus was quite happy to be teaching at Hogwarts, as was Voldemort who thought it was a brilliant idea, but he could have done without the months of training beforehand. He especially could have done without being separated from Lily. He still had no idea how she was coping after their afternoon together, but the fact that no-one seemed to know who he was reassuring. He just hoped that when he saw her, Lily didn't pretend as though nothing had happened between them.
Severus got his answer the following day at Order headquarters, along with the shock of his life. When he first saw Lily, there were a few other people around so they didn't have a chance to talk, but she did give him a warm smile and whispered that she needed to see him. Unfortunately, they never got a chance to talk before James arrived carrying a new-born baby. Severus watched with a breaking heart as James placed the baby in Lily's arms and gave her a loving kiss.
For the rest of the meeting, Severus avoided looking at Lily and James and as soon as he could he headed for home. However, he'd only been at home for ten minutes before there was a knock on the door. He wasn't the slightest bit surprised to find Lily at the door, although he was slightly annoyed that she'd brought the baby with her.
"Can we talk?" Lily asked, following a sullen Severus into his cottage.
"Talk away," Severus replied. "Although I suppose I should thank you for not saying anything."
"I can't say anything, Severus," Lily said. "I don't want anything happening to you."
"Why does it matter? You've clearly gotten things back on track with Potter," Severus retorted, eyeing the sleeping child in Lily's arms.
"His name's Harry," Lily said. "And he's your son."
While Severus gazed at Harry and tried to take in what was happening, Lily explained what had been happening since he'd been gone. She explained why she'd passed the baby off as James's, and how she'd claimed that Harry was a few weeks premature. She also confessed that she'd been waiting for Severus to return, and that if he wanted her and Harry, they were waiting for him.
"You would leave Potter?" Severus questioned.
"Yes," Lily replied. "Providing you could assure that we would be safe."
"I can promise you'll be safe," Severus vowed. "Let me speak to The Dark Lord and we can arrange for you to leave Potter."
"Now that's sorted, it's time for you to meet your son," Lily said with a smile.
Lily carefully placed Harry in Severus's arms for the first time, and as he bonded with their son they discussed plans for the future. They were going to be a proper family, and nothing was going to stand in their way.
C.O.T.D.
Less than a week after Severus returned, plans were in place for Lily and Harry to leave James and the Order behind. Lily knew that James was due to be busy with Order business on the evening she was leaving. She knew it was cowardly to leave without speaking to her husband face to face, but she didn't know what to say to him. Instead, she wrote a letter explaining everything that she would leave before she left home.
Initially it looked as though things were going to run smoothly. James headed off as planned, leaving Lily to pack up what she needed. Unfortunately, James had forgotten to take his invisibility cloak and he'd only been gone ten minutes before unexpectedly returning to find Lily hurriedly packing her stuff.
"What's going on?" James demanded as he found Lily standing in their room with a packed bag.
"What are you doing here?" Lily asked.
"Never mind that," James replied. "What's going on Lily?"
"I'm leaving," Lily admitted with a sigh. She would have rather left without seeing James, but now he was here she at least owed him an explanation.
"Leaving," James repeated numbly. "Why?"
"Because I'm in love with someone else, and want to be with him," Lily replied. "I'm sorry James. This isn't your fault, it's mine. I'm the one in the wrong."
"You're telling me," James snorted. "I can't believe you're walking out on your husband and son. What sort of woman are you?"
"I am not leaving Harry," Lily said. "He's coming with me."
"Over my dead body," James spat, moving to block the door of the bedroom. "You are not taking my son."
"Get out of the way, James," Lily said, trying to squeeze past her husband.
James refused to budge from the doorway, but Lily was determined to get past. In the end she resorted to elbowing him in the ribs and squeezing past him. Running towards Harry's room, Lily had just reached the door when James grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
"You are not taking my son," He yelled. "If you want to leave, do it. But Harry stays with me."
"He's not your son," Lily shouted back, struggling to get out of James's grip.
"What did you say?" James asked in a deadly voice as he froze in the hallway.
"He's not your son," Lily repeated quieter. "I'm sorry James, but Harry isn't yours."
"Of course he is," James said. "Dumbledore thinks there's a prophecy about him. That's why we're in hiding."
During Lily's pregnancy, Dumbledore had come into a possession of a prophecy regarding the person who could potentially defeat Voldemort. They deduced the person in the prophecy was either the Potters child or the Longbottoms child, so both families had gone into hiding with only a select few people knowing where they were.
"The prophecy isn't about Harry," Lily insisted. "He's not your son."
"I don't believe you," James said, turning and stalking towards Harry's room.
Running after him, Lily grabbed hold of James as she tried to make his see the truth. "He's Severus's," She cried.
The instant the words left her mouth, James let out an anguished cry and roughly pulled away from his wife. As he did so, his arm caught Lily in the face and she went stumbling backwards. Unfortunately for Lily she was a bit too close to the stairs and before she could stop herself she went flying down them.
"Lily!" James cried, rushing down the stairs after his wife.
The second he reached the bottom of the stairs he knew it was too late. Lily was lying at an unnatural angle and her once bright green eyes were staring up at him lifelessly. Breaking into sobs, he collapsed next to his wife's body, which was where he stayed until three men in dark robes burst into his house and all hell broke loose.
C.O.T.D.
"She should be here," Severus muttered as he paced his small front room.
Lily had been due to arrive at his cottage with Harry, and as of yet she hadn't shown. Severus had been insistent that she should only take what she needed, so packing up to leave shouldn't have taken her long. In his estimation, she should have arrived before now. The longer it took her to leave the more chance there was of James returning home and finding her preparing to leave him.
"I'm going to check on her," Severus announced.
"I'm sure she'll be here shortly," Voldemort said. He was at Severus's cottage to meet his grandson. He could hardly believe that ten months after becoming a father for the second time that he was a grandfather.
"I need to check on her," Severus insisted.
"In that case, we're coming with you," Lucius Malfoy offered. Lucius was Severus's best friend, and he'd been at the cottage reassuring Severus that he would be a good father. Since Lucius himself had just become a father, he could understand Severus's worries.
With the matter settled the three men donned their dark robes and apparated to the village where Lily lived with James. Severus had never visited the house before, but Lily had told him where to find them just in case their plans went wrong. Following Lily's directions, Severus quickly led them to the Potters residence. Spotting no sign of life, the trio broke in through the back entrance and were stunned at what they found. Lily's lifeless body lay at the bottom of the stairs, while James was curled up at her side crying like a baby.
"You bastard," Severus cried, charging at James.
Totally forgetting about his wand, Severus physically laid into James. Hauling him away from Lily, he began to punch and kick at the man who'd made his school days a living nightmare. The physical attack quickly brought James to his senses, and it didn't take him long to start fighting back. Within minutes, the pair were engaged in a bitter fight and both men were quickly bloodied and bruised.
After the shock of what had greeted them upon arrival at the Potters, Lucius flew into action and hauled Severus to safety. While Severus struggled to get out of Lucius's arms, James sat on the floor, wiping blood from his face.
"You murdered her," Severus accused his rival, not bothering to hide the tears that were flowing down his face.
"It was an accident," James whispered.
"Murderer," Severus cried, pulling out his wand.
Before James had a chance to react, Severus had shot the killing curse at him and he slumped to the floor in a heap. Blindly, Severus turned away from James's body and made his way over to where Lily was lying. Collapsing to his knees, he gathered Lily in his arms and hugged her to his chest as his heart broke.
"Lucius, take Severus back to the manor," Voldemort said quietly, watching his sobbing son grieve for the witch he loved. "I'll get Harry and I'll be right behind you."
Lucius made his way over to his friend and gently prised him away from Lily. Severus briefly protested the plan and insisted on getting Harry himself, but he was eventually persuaded that he was in no fit state to apparate with a baby. In order to ensure Harry's safety, Severus agreed for Voldemort to fetch him while he allowed Lucius to take him back to his house in the Wiltshire countryside.
Seconds after Lucius and Severus had left the Potters house, Albus Dumbledore entered through the broken back door, looking for James as he'd been gone far longer than they'd anticipated. Upon finding James and Lily lying dead, Dumbledore flew up the stairs and entered Harry's room just before Voldemort picked up his grandson. Assuming that Voldemort had killed the Potters and intended to kill Harry, Dumbledore flew into action. Within minutes curses and hexes were flying as the two wizards battled each other.
During the fight one of their spells ricocheted off the wall and struck a glancing blow to Harry, leaving him with a scar on his forehead. Shortly after Harry was struck, Dumbledore managed to shoot the killing curse at Voldemort. Much to his horror, The Dark Lord didn't immediately die. Instead he collapsed to the floor in agony and began to fade away. Not sticking around to see what was happening, Dumbledore grabbed Harry and ran. He would sort Voldemort later, but right now he had to get Harry to safety.
Writhing on the floor in agony there was nothing Voldemort could do as Dumbledore snatched his grandson and ran. All he could do was summon his remaining energy and hope he had enough power to apparate back to Malfoy Manor. Luckily his power lasted long enough for him to crash land in the Malfoys front room. With the last words he would speak for several months, Voldemort managed to inform his son that Dumbledore had Harry, before he passed out completely.
C.O.T.D.
"Calm down Severus," Lucius pleaded with his friend. It was several hours after events at the Potters house, and Lucius was working hard to keep his friend from going off the deep end. "You have to approach this logically."
"Logically?" Severus repeated in disdain. "How can I be logical? I've lost everything tonight. The woman I love is dead, my son is missing and my father is in a magical coma."
"I know things aren't great, but steaming in isn't going to help anyone," Lucius insisted. "There's nothing you can do for Lily, but you can do something for Harry and your father. You know that Dumbledore isn't going to hurt Harry. We might not know where he is right now, but we will find him. I promise we will find your son."
Severus reluctantly agreed that Harry wasn't in any danger. Dumbledore thought he was James and Lily's son, meaning he would probably try to protect him. Looking at things logically, he could see that he would find out where Harry was as part of the Order. However, that didn't make the not knowing any easier to cope with.
"You're right about Lily and Harry," Severus conceded in a quiet voice. "But what can I do for my father? He's in a coma, and no-one knows what's wrong with him. You've seen him Lucius, his body keeps fading as though he's about to disappear."
"First of all you have to stay strong for Beth and Hermione," Lucius replied. Beth was Voldemort's wife while Hermione was their young daughter. "They're going to need you right now. When things get tough, family sticks together. I don't know what else we can do for your father, but it wouldn't hurt for us to look into what he's been up to lately. I think he was hit with the killing curse, but he's not dead and we need to find out why."
"I'll do what I can," Severus said. "But Harry is my priority. I will get my son back, and then I'll help you work out what's wrong with my father."
Less than twenty four hours later, Severus had a solid lead on his son. Word of the Potters death soon started to spread in the wizarding world, and Dumbledore was there to put his version of the truth forward. Dumbledore publicly announced that Voldemort had killed the Potters and tried to kill Harry. He explained that somehow Harry survived, but in doing so had drained Voldemort of his powers and for the time being the wizarding world was safe from his darkness. In private Dumbledore informed the Order that Harry was with relatives, although he refused to be drawn on which relatives.
Luckily, Severus knew James had no relatives and Lily's only family was her sister, Petunia. A quick investigation revealed that Petunia and her husband, Vernon, did indeed have Harry with them. A further examination revealed that Dumbledore had just dumped Harry with the Dursleys and hadn't put any protection in place, he hadn't even sorted spells to ensure that he remained in the care of his aunt and uncle. As such, it was very simple for Severus to pay Petunia a visit and claim custody of Harry. Petunia was more than happy to let Severus have Harry, and for a price she agreed that if necessary in the future they could pretend they'd raised Harry.
With Harry safely in his custody, Severus returned home and talked things through with Lucius and Beth. It was agreed that it was safer for Harry if no-one knew who his father truly was. None of them were really sure what Dumbledore or any of the Order would do if they discovered he was Severus's son. Beth even worried that they would accuse Severus of killing Lily and James to get Harry. It was decided that Harry would live with Beth and Hermione while Severus began teaching at Hogwarts and saw his son at every available opportunity.
As for Voldemort, Lucius and Severus quickly discovered the reason he wasn't dead was because he'd been making Horcruxes, meaning all of his soul didn't reside in his body. More research revealed a potion that would restore some of Voldemort's health, so the pair whipped up a batch. A couple of months after being struck down, the potion was ready and Voldemort finally awakened from his coma. While the potion had restored some of his health and magic, Voldemort was still weak so he was more than happy to let the world carry on thinking he was gone. He was confident they would find a more permanent solution to his condition, and when they did, he would return and let the wizarding world know he was back. When the time was right, he would rise again and with the help of his family and closest followers, he would defeat Dumbledore and finally gain the power he craved.