A plot bunny took over my mind when I read PadyandMoony's Snupin Family Challenge. Hey! Don't look at me like that, I can't help it! And, don't worry, I'm still working on WtMT 's sequel. The rules as are as follows:
1. Remus has raised Harry from a young age.
2. Harry calls Remus 'dad'.
3. Anything I like with Sirius. (oh, boy, am I going to have fun with that rule!)
4. Severus and Remus are in love with each other, but neither of them knows of the other's affection or has acted on their own.
5. How Severus came to be Harry's father is up to me, but he has to be a good guy. Still Snape, but a good guy.
6. Severus and Harry MUST have an established hate/hate relationship. How they each find out is up to me.
7. Remus, James and Lily were all good parents and Harry was never abused in anyway.
8. Harry must be protective of Remus.
9. The only must have relationship is Remus/Severus, but I can play as much as I like with everyone else.
10. No changing Harry's first or middle name. Surname change is fine.

Now, on with the story. I ask that all readers keep an open mind; Remus is gay, but Sirius and Severus are bi. If you don't even know what that means, choose another story. Any flames will be carelessly flaunted on my profile and laughed at accordingly.
Much love,
Cal
xxx

Prologue: Paved With Good Intentions

Caramel. Hot, runny caramel dripping over his shoulders and tied loosely back with a leather tie. Black eyes watched emotionlessly as the werewolf stumbled over his apology again and again.

Severus hated Sirius and James. He hated them with a passion. So, when they tricked their friend into almost killing him, things should have been simple. Because Severus should hate Remus, too. And the whole thing should be pushed aside with nothing more than another brick to add to his wall of bitterness. Another prank to swear vengeance for. Another painful memory to add to his gallery of a painful lifetime. It should have been simple.

But it wasn't.

Because Severus didn't hate Remus. He was completely, totally and irrevocably in love with him.

'Severus, please, I am so, so sorry,' the teenager begged him, amber eyes so large they seemed to take up his entire face. 'Just - I don't - I don't expect forgiveness,' Remus choked. 'Just - don't… don't tell anyone. Don't tell them what a monster I am.'

Severus turned his face away violently, burying his large nose in the clean, lemon-scented pillows of Hogwart's hospital wing. How could Remus say that? It had been a shock to learn the man he loved was a werewolf, but that didn't make him a monster. The transformation - as was his hand in the prank Black and Potter had pulled on Severus - was involuntary. Did Remus really think that Severus could possibly love him any less because of it?

A long breath was released and when Severus opened his eyes again he saw that Remus had stood up, his beautiful eyes flat and dead.

'Right,' he said. 'My mistake.' Then Remus left, the curtain drawn around Severus' bed fluttering slightly in his wake.

Severus wanted to call out to him, to let him know that it wasn't his fault, to say that he'd forgiven him even before the whole thing had happened.

But he couldn't do that.

Because Remus could never, never know that Severus loved him. Severus wouldn't spoil the beautiful boy's life with the dark shadows that were his past, present and promised future. And Severus didn't think, after his mother, his heart could cope with another rejection.

So he watched Remus walk away and locked his heart tight behind his masks and his walls and he vowed that no one would ever have the opportunity to hurt him.

A whiff of some instantly recognisable, but subtle, smell made Remus' nose twitch. He casually raised his head to see Severus slide into the room.

'Ah, Severus m'boy,' came Albus' guaranteed, overly enthusiastic greeting.

'Professor,' the other man replied, deep scowl never leaving his face.

'Now, now,' the older wizard scolded. 'You're no longer my student, are you? You graduate today.'

'Yay,' Severus snarled sarcastically back at him.

Remus turned his head quickly away and tried his best to refrain from laughing aloud. Sirius and James, his best friends, were so straightforward that sarcasm completely escaped them. But Remus had always appreciated the humour of sarcasm, and Severus Snape was the epitome of sarcastic humour. Or maybe that was just Remus' opinion.

'What are you sniggering about, wolf?' the dark haired teenager spat at him, causing Remus' grin to disappear and his head to whip up to look at the other again.

'Yay,' he said simply.

Something flashed in the obsidian eyes that might have been amusement, but it was gone the next second and Remus was sure he imagined it. 'Not even able to articulate full sentences anymore, wolf? What a disappointment you must be to your parents.'

Remus dearly wished that the barb was nothing more than friendly teasing, but he and Severus were not friends. He wished the other man could have been joking, but he knew that could not possibly be the case.

Remus stood stiffly, eyes downcast. He pulled his book into his bag and headed towards the door, pausing a moment as he opened it, he looked up into Severus eyes.

'I just received a letter informing me of my parents' deaths,' he said simply to the unspoken question and walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind him before he could see Severus' response. He leant momentarily against the hard wood and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears away. For all his faults, Remus had realised in his fifth year that he was in love with Severus. A love that he knew would never be returned. But that was fine. He would never see Severus again once he departed from the Hogwarts express that evening. Never again would Remus have to watch those obsidian eyes smoulder with hatred for him.

Her slim figure trembled in his arms, crystalline tears staining wind-whipped rosy cheeks.

'Shh, Lily,' Severus muttered into his best friend's hair. 'He'll come home.'

Another sob wracked through Lily's body and she clung ever tighter to the front of Severus' robes. 'How can you know that, Sev? How can you know?'

Severus looked to the ceiling and hoped that she wouldn't notice the lie. He hated Lily's husband with his entire being, but he loved Lily enough to not want any harm to come to the other man. 'The Dark Lord would have told us if he'd killed James,' he lied. There was no way of telling if James Potter was dead or alive.

'Liar,' Lily muttered into his shirt. Then she raised her face to look into his eyes. 'But thank you for lying,' she said.

'Anything, Lily,' Severus spoke into her hair. 'Anything for you Lily.'

The red head looked at him for a long moment, a strange expression stealing across her face. 'If - if he's dead…' she started, her voice trailing off.

'Don't say that, Lils,' Severus cut her off, placing a finger over her lips to quieten her. 'He isn't dead.'

'Sev, could you make me believe that?' she asked him, her voice getting quieter as she spoke. 'I - I just need… need to forget that he might - might be dead.' She turned her brilliant green eyes to gaze directly at him. 'Can you… can you make me forget?'

'How?' Severus asked her immediately, knowing that his brilliant Lily would have thought of a means of distraction if she was asking such a direct question.

The answer to his question scared them both. Her hands wrapped tighter into his shirt and she raised herself just a little and pressed a soft, uncertain kiss to his jaw line.

'Lily…' he warned.

'It's ok, Sev,' she replied, whispering right into his ear. 'If he comes back, he'll forgive me. For tonight I need to forget. Forget that he might not be coming back, that he may never have the opportunity to forgive me.'

Her hands moved to his neck, but Severus caught them and trapped them against his chest. There was a long time of silence before he said again, barely audibly, 'Lily.' She continued to just look at him and he sighed. 'Will you be able to forgive me?'

'I love you, Sev.' she answered as though it were the answer to all of life's problems.

'Not like this,' he said, indicating between them.

She disagreed, 'For tonight I do.' She kissed his jaw again. 'And if James doesn't ever come home…' her voice trailed off, the question clear in her eyes, even as she was unafraid to voice it.

Severus let out a long, tormented breath. 'Anything, Lily. For you, anything.'

And then he ducked his head and kissed her full on the lips, the first step towards letting her forget, for just one night, that James might not come home.

Remus knew that he shouldn't find it even remotely funny, but Sirius had a hangdog feel to him at the moment and the phrasing was so completely appropriate the werewolf was having a little difficulty keeping his amusement to himself.

Biting back his smile he asked him gently, 'Siri? What's wrong?'

The other man sighed deeply and looked up into Remus' face. 'I have a problem,' he said simply.

'Oh?' Remus asked, still trying not to laugh.

'Yes,' Sirius snapped at him, before lowering his eyes and sighing again. 'I'm in love, Moony,' he said quietly.

Remus' merely raised his eyebrows at the man before him. There was nothing particularly odd about Sirius' proclamation - the man was always in love with one person or another - but it was a little strange that Sirius was so upset about it. Usually he'd be bouncing off the walls, shouting with glee to anyone who'd listen, and many who wouldn't, that he had just found the love of his life. Beyond a shadow of a doubt within the next four months he'd be doing the same thing with someone else' name on his tongue.

'Don't look at me like that,' Sirius complained, slouching even further down in the sofa.

'Sirius, you're always in love with someone.'

Sirius snorted. 'Yeah, but usually it isn't my best friend.' Then, as if only just realising what he'd said, he turned wide, horrified grey eyes up to look at Remus and slammed both hands over his mouth.

'J-James?' Remus choked out, his earlier amusement vanished in a haze of surprised disbelief.

As if committed to telling the truth now, Sirius shook his head slowly.

'Not Peter!' Remus gasped out, as horrified now as Sirius was at spilling his troubles.

Again the other man shook his head, this time even slower. His hands dropped from his mouth and curled like claws in his laps, scraping at his clothing as though trying to stop themselves from -

'Me?' Remus squeaked, eyes wide and feeling very much like he might faint.

Instantly Sirius was off the couch and on his knees at Remus' feet, watching his friend with sincere anxiety. 'Please, Moony, don't hate me. I know you probably don't even like men, and I really didn't mean to say anything, but you know you always make me spill my guts and I'm sure that it'll be like anyone else - over within months. Right?'

His words came out in a rush and Remus had to concentrate to keep up with them. The only thing his brain really picked up was the lie in Sirius' tone. Not for the first bit, oh no. Sirius was being completely, well, serious, when he said he was in love with Remus. But the last part, where he'd said it would only last a couple of months. Sirius was lying to himself, trying to convince himself that if Remus rejected him things wouldn't be so bad.

Remus knew because it was the same lie he had told himself over and over again about Severus.

It must have only been a couple of seconds, but the thick silence seemed to go on forever, Sirius waiting for his answer and Remus searching for the right one.

He was not… unattracted to Sirius, but he had been in love with Severus for so long he didn't even spare a glance for other men. But Severus would never love him. And here, offering himself up, was a loving, upfront man who hadn't been able to lie to Remus since they were twelve. A man that Remus already loved as a best friend. Would transition from friends to lovers be so difficult?

Remus looked at Sirius for a long moment before lowering his head and kissing the other man so, so softly on the lips. It was safe, warm and everything that Remus could ask for in a partner. Except Severus.

But then Sirius smiled his blinding, heartfelt smile and Remus swore that he would never again even think Severus' name in that context. His future belonged to Sirius.

Severus was slumped forwards in a chair and Dumbledore was standing over him, looking grim. After a moment or two, Severus raised his face, and he looked like a man who had lived a hundred years of misery.

'I thought… you were going… to keep her… safe'

'She and James put their faith in the wrong person,' said Dumbledore. 'Rather like you, Severus. Weren't you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?'

Severus' breathing was shallow.

'Her boy survives,' said Dumbledore.

With a tiny jerk of his head, Severus seemed to flick off an irksome fly.

'Her son lives. He has her eyes, precisely her eyes. You remember the shape and colour of Lily Evans' eyes, I am sure?'

'DON'T!' bellowed Severus. 'Gone… Dead…'

'Is this remorse, Severus?'

Severus stood suddenly, expression as black as his eyes. 'How dare you?' he asked, voice low and deadly. 'You know perfectly well that Lily was a sister to me, and yet you dare insinuate something else?'

Dumbledore looked up at the young man before him, any pity that might have been in him second earlier was gone. 'Evidence suggests otherwise, Severus,' he said coolly.

'What do you mean?'

'A child, lost within a month of conception. The result of a sexual liaison between yourself and Lily Potter.'

Severus laughed a horrible, disturbed laugh. 'You think that proof, old man?' he asked darkly. 'That is proof that I loved her. That I'd give her anything she asked for, without a second thought for the ramifications on my life.'

Dumbledore watched the man before him and nodded quickly to himself. 'Very well, Severus. I believe you. If James could forgive you for it, then I suppose I can.' He paused, taking in every last detail of Severus again. 'If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear.'

Severus seemed to peer through a haze of pain, and Dumbledore's words appeared to take a long time to reach him.

'What - what do you mean?'

'You know how she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily's son.'

'Anything,' Severus replied instantly. 'Anything for Lily.'

Remus was furious. No, he wasn't even that. He was beyond furious. He was seconds away from becoming feral. Now that was scary enough on a normal wizard, but when it was a wizard who also happened to be a werewolf it was down right terrifying.

Not only had Peter betrayed Lily and James, but he had successfully managed to place all of the blame on Sirius. Sirius had attempted to chase after the rat, but he was currently locked in his and Remus' bedroom under petrificous totalus for safety. And, if that wasn't bad enough, the meddling old fool Dumbledore had taken Lily and James' one year old to Lily's sister's house.

Remus didn't care if he was breaking one or all of the rules, he apparated in to the middle of the Dursley's garden, in the middle of the day, in front of at least five muggle witnesses.

'Petunia!' he shouted, banging furiously on the door until it swung open to reveal a bloated, purple-faced man.

'What the ruddy hell do you want?' Purple-face blurted furiously.

'I have come to retrieve my godson, Harry Potter,' Remus said as calmly as he could. 'I believe an old man with a long white beard left him in your care sometime last night or this morning?'

An unearthly glee lit up Purple's face. 'I dunno 'bout an old man,' he said, suddenly excited. 'But we got a baby and letter dumped on our doorstep last night.'

Remus felt a fuse somewhere inside him blow. Very, very carefully he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out again slowly. Then he opened his eyes.

'If you would be so kind as to give me both I won't hassle you any further,' he said politely, the deadly undertone in his voice seeming to excite Purple even further.

'Certainly,' the other man said, disappearing into the house for a moment, before reappearing with a young toddler with bright green eyes, messy black hair and a lightening shaped scar on his forehead. He dumped the child and an unopened letter unceremoniously into Remus' arms. 'Good riddance to bad rubbish,' Purple said with a nasty smile and then slammed the door in Remus' face.

Trying very hard to keep the werewolf in him at bay, Remus stared down into the eyes of two of his best friends' son.

'Harry,' he said softly to the child, whose eyes blinked furiously back at him for a moment.

'Moo,' Harry said. 'Moo'y.'

'Yes, that's right, child,' Remus said, a fingertip tracing Harry's scar.

'Pads?' Harry asked, question clear in his lucid green eyes.

Remus smiled. 'He's at home, would you like to meet him?'

Harry nodded, hands clawing out of the bundle of blankets and gripping Remus' long hair in chubby fingers. 'Ma, Da?' He asked the same question for different people.

There werewolf sighed sadly and tucked the child safely into the crook of his arm. 'They're dead, Harry. They were taken away to a special place, but don't worry. Padfoot and I will take care of you.'

Harry nodded in understanding and smiled shyly up at the man. 'Love you, Moo'y,' he said.

'I love you too, Harry.'

Ta da! What do you think so far? This is just the prologue, obviously, but I don't expect this story to be too long. Excuse any and all mistakes, they are mine and mine alone. Don't forget to drop me a review!
Much love,
Cal
xxx

PS You probably already know, but just to make sure, the majority of the meeting between just Severus and Dumbledore is JK's words, I just changed it a little bit. I own nothing, of course.