The Rose in the Dark

Summary- What happens when someone slips Harry a box of drugged chocolate on Valentines Day?

Disclaimer- I own only the plotline, not the wonderful characters. They belong only to that gorgeous goddess of ingenuity, J.K.

Warning- Kinda smutty, then it gets dark and tragic, then it might get a happy ending. Contains implied yaoi, slight lemon, mpreg, the mebbe death of a character of my own making. I was pms-ing when I wrote this. RATED M FOR A REASON, FOLKS!!! Oh, and it is a Severitus, just for my sister, Netrixie. This is evil Dumbledore bashing. I needed to write one to get the bile out of my system, so I can concentrate on my good Dumbledore stories.

Author's Note 1- in my story, the tables are arranged in the Great Hall in the following order, if you are overlooking the Hall from the staff table- Slytherin on the far left, then Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw, with Gryffindor on the far right. Don't yell at me, this is just for this story. I think.

Author's Note 2- there's nothing going on between Remus and Sirius, other than the fact that they are really good friends. What might look like a threesome including them and Snape is just the awesome coolness of how close they get to each other.

Author's Note 3- Alright- this is the newest stuff. Enjoy!

Part 10

Only Snape would make us do a practical of an almost illegal potion, thought Harry with a groan. He was plopped down on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room, head firmly planted against Draco's side. It had taken two and a half hours to complete the ruddy thing, and he wasn't even sure it was correct. Mentally, the brunet shrugged. oh, well.

He heard a chuckle rumble through Draco's chest. "Worried about Potions?" came the blonds question.

Not really," Harry replied. "More wondering why Snape had us make that specific one." Hellebore-Hyperion Potion was a controversial potion that counteracted a werewolves natural attuning to the moon. The poison of the hellebore acted like non-lethal silver. It slowed responses, blocked the moon from their system, and made them lazy and lethargic. The Hyperion part of the name referred to one of Saturn's moons- a type of warning about the uses of the potion.

Draco chuckled again. "Silly Lion," came his answer. "He has us making it for the War we are about to provoke."

Harry just grumbled and shifted. Looking around the room, he watched the various groups. Hermione and Pansy were leading a study session for the firsties. Ron was trying to study, but really watching Blaise play chess. Seamus and Dean we busy ignoring each other-which Harry found hilarious- and Justin and Abbot were arguing over something to do with bottle nose dolphins.

He and Draco sat there for a bit, with Draco running his fingers through Harry's hair and Harry mostly asleep. The bit of peace was interrupted when Sirius came bouncing into the room.

"Harry!" The Gryffindor sat up with a jolt, ignoring Draco's grunt when the brunet's elbow collided with his stomach.

"What's up, Padfoot?"

Sirius glowered at Draco briefly before speaking. "Snape would like to see you, and he doesn't want his- ahem, Nosy little godson- to be there. So, come on!"

Harry turned with a grin to a frowning blond. "I'll be right back, Draco." He levered himself up, walked over to his godfather, and followed the man out of the room.

When the portrait closed behind them, Sirius turned to Harry. He opened his mouth, then closed it with a snap and turned away.

Harry grabbed his upper arm. "Hey. Listen." When the animagus looked back at him, Harry continued. "I know you don't like the thought of me and Draco together, but I look at it as a second chance." Harry knew that Sirius was listening, even if he wasn't looking at him. "You realize that if either of us had been less of a fool, we'd have been together by fourth year, tops?"

Sirius finally turned to look at him. The shadowy hallways made it hard to see his face, but his voice was clear enough. "I know- I do! It's just that it's hard to see you so happy, with the spitting image of that- arse-"

Harry reached over and wrapped an arm around his first father figure. "What would happen if you had a second chance with Lucious?" he asked as they neared Snape's quarters. "Would you take it?"

Harry felt a little bad about leaving the animagus like that, but Snape didn't wait for anyone, so he went into the man's rooms, with a wave at Sirius.

He found his father seated in front of a roaring fire. "What's popping, Snape-ster?" he asked with a grin. The look the professor sent him was well worth the idiocy of the words.

"I have no idea what you just said, nor do I have a wish to understand." Harry grinned. "However, there is a reason that I called you down here."

Harry leaned forward, curious. "Why?" he asked. "Is anything wrong?"

Snape grinned, something Harry might have said was scary a few months ago, but just looked right on him now. "No," came the soft reply. "on the contrary, something is spectacularly right."

Harry shifted. "What? Tell me!" he pleaded.

Snape leaned back in his chair, elbows resting on the armrests and fingers steepled together. "In the Wizarding world, when the heir to a fortune comes of age, there are no forms to be signed, no battles over precedence, as there are in the muggle world. You see, if the current holder of the estate does not designate an heir, it's the estate that does- he who would be the best caretaker regardless of gender, or relation, because they fit what the estate needs, or is used to."

He paused, and Harry nodded. He'd never heard any of this before, but Snape was explaining it clearly enough.

"You have already been named the heir of two large estates- the Black Estate, and the Potter. You are marrying into another, the Malfoy." Snape tapped his fingers together, once. "and now, you have been named the heir of a third."

Harry interrupted. "I have? Which one?"

Snape's grin got bigger. "Mine." As Harry stared, he continued. "A notification arrived today from Gringotts, informing me of the fact that since I had not named a heir, one who best fit the requirements had been found, with discretion, of course. The letter named you." He was silent for a second, then continued. "I, of course, wrote back that I had no problems with the proposed Heir, and would see to it that he was informed."

Harry sat their in silence, trying to get the thought that Gringotts had named him the Heir to Snape's fortune through his head. As the silence stretched on, Snape's grin disappeared, and then became a frown. "If, of course, you have a problem with the current events, then I shall immed-"

He was cut off when his arms became full of Gryffindor. Harry was talking a mile a minute- "This is great! Someone else found out that you're my Da, and their taking care of it and who cares that they're goblins!? I sure as hell don't and I finally have some proof that I'm yours and everyone's going to have to face it at some point and" he paused and sat up, eyes glistening with tears, "And you're my Da."

Snape grinned. "Yes, I am."

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It was close to midnight when Harry finally left his Da's quarters. He was giddy, happy, and so bloody relieved. Someone that hadn't been told knew that he was the heir of Snape's estate. He idly wondered if human wizardry worked on goblins.

Halfway out of the dungeons, he felt fur brush against his clothes, at hip height. He grinned- only Sirius would prowl around the dungeons as a dog. He looked down at his godfather and said, "Been chasing Mrs. Norris off?" and was answered by a doggy grin of happiness.

They walked in silence, Harry's hand resting behind his godfather's ears. When they reached the Gryffindor common room, Harry turned to his now human godfather. "You coming in?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nah- Remus is waiting up for me in your- Snape's- common room. He wants to make sure I'm asleep before he is." Sirius rolled his eyes. "I don't know why…"

Harry laughed. He hugged the Animagus back when arms reached around him, then pushed him towards the dungeons. "Don't make Remus stay up later than he has to." As Sirius backed up, still grinning, Harry added, "And, Padfoot-" that got the man's attention- "you can call Snape my father anytime you want."

He turned to enter the common room, laughter bubbling up at the look on Sirius' face.

He found the whole of the House in the common room, along with those who'd managed to find their way up. "What's going on?" he asked warily.

Draco sent him a pitying glance right before Hermione said, "We're having a party!"

"What's the occasion?" Harry asked cautiously.

"The end of your first trimester!" The entire crowd cheered, and then the party started. Butterbeer, ale, and firewhiskey for all but Harry, sugar of all kinds, food, stuff from WWW, Fred and George, all of it was in the room. And at three in the morning, McGonagall had the nerve to come in and try and break it up. So, of course all the stuff was packed away, and everyone went to bed.

When she left the room, Silencing shields went up, the guest came out from under their invisibility spells, and the party started again. The thing that really ended the party was the sun coming up, and someone figuring out that breakfast was in an hour.

So it was a crowd of very boisterous, slightly hung-over, tired teens that descended into the Great Hall for breakfast.

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"Whoever decided," growled Hermione, "to have alcohol on a school night should be shot."

Harry grinned. "That would be Fred and George." he whispered. Hermione with a hangover was quite interesting to be around. She'd hexed other students, taken points off for breathing, and was altogether a miniature Snape.

But it was dinner time now, the day having passed quietly, because hung-over students wouldn't cause a ruckus if their lives depended on it, and a meeting had been called by Snape for that night. Harry couldn't wait to see what his Da had thought of all the alcohol-from-the-night-before induced potions accidents.

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Hey all-

So, I'm still getting my groove on with this story- it's been about a year since I've actually written anything new for it. Waddaya'll think? Have I still got it?

Anywayz, hope y'all liked this chapter and it's lightheartedness- it gets down to crunch time soon.

Ttyl!

MannyWitch