Chapter Four: Request Granted

Severus' P.O.V.

I sat in the Malfoy's dining room, trying to get Draco to eat and encouraging Harry to eat more than a few bites of chicken and potatoes. Both boys were being as stubborn as mules and I knew I couldn't blame Harry. The boy had practically been starved his whole life and this measly portion must be a feast to him. But Draco could eat this and more if he wanted to. I had already told him that if he didn't eat he wasn't going to get a cookie and that I wouldn't read him a bedtime story, but he didn't budge at either offers. At least I was getting Harry to take a bite every now and again. That's it! "Draco, if you don't eat, I'm not going to let you go flying with Harry," I said.

That got Draco's attention and Harry was looking at me wide-eyed. I know Draco's a quidditch fanatic and anything that Draco liked, Harry had come to like also. I had never seen a day where Draco wasn't trying to encourage someone to play with him and Harry was very excited about flying. When I had asked him why he want to fly so much I almost cried.

Flashback…

"Can I go flying today Sev?" Harry asked as we watched Lucius and Draco fly around their apple orchard. I don't remember when he started calling me by the nickname, but it made him Lily's son even more.

"Not today Harry," I said, "Maybe Friday, when Poppy stops giving you that medicine,"

"But Sev!" he exclaimed, "I really want to fly with Draco!"

This was the first time that he had persisted on anything I had said no to. It was a little overwhelming, being used to the quiet and obedient Harry. "Why do you want to fly so much little one?" I asked.

"The angels fly Sev," he said, "Mummy and Daddy are angels so they have to fly, so if I fly, they might fly with me. They might tell me they love me and they might stay with me forever and ever. Or they might take me with them and I can help the angels do whatever they do. Sev, what do the angels do?"

I was taken aback for a moment. He wanted to fly to be with his parents. "The angels help pour out the rain and they protect people," I said, trying to fight back the tears.

Harry just smiled and curled up into my lap, falling asleep in a matter of seconds. It surprised me how much the child knew, but yet how much the child didn't understand. He was truly something out of this world.

End of Flashback

By the time the boys were getting ready for a bedtime story I had gotten them to eat their dinner, take a bath, and get them into bed. They didn't fall asleep until I finished reading 'The Unicorn Who Jumped over the Moon' the third time. I smiled as I watched both of them dream. It was like they didn't have a care in the world and I wished it was like that.

"Severus," I turned around to see Lucius. "Come here Severus. I have good news,"

I reluctantly left the room and went to speak to Lucius. I was terrified to leave the boys alone. Albus might learn how to bypass the wards and take them away. I don't think Lucius or I would be able to live with that. "What do you wish to tell me?" I asked, "Please tell me that Simon and Zane found that Albus put the blocks on him!"

"Yes they did," Lucius said, "They told me yesterday and I have trail set two days from now. There is no way they can deny the evidence and let Albus get away scot free! But that isn't the only good news I have for you Severus,"

What else could Lucius tell me? He pulled out same papers from his pocket. "Congratulations Severus," he said, "You are now the guardian of one Harry James Potter."

I smiled the moment the papers were in my hands. Harry was my son now. No one could take him away from me, not even Albus. I gave Lucius a sincere smile and couldn't resist the urge to huge the man. "Thank you for everything Lucius," I said, "How can I ever repay you?"

"You have paid me enough Severus," he said, "You have given my son the friend and brother he has been looking for. There is nothing more you can do but to keep us in his life,"

"That can easily be arranged," I said, "I just can't wait to see the look on Albus' face when he's thrown into Azkaban,"

Lucius smiled at that and motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen. I was about to follow when I heard a scream come from the boys' room. We both dashed for the door and ran to their beds. Draco was wide awake, staring at Harry like he had just told him that Father Christmas didn't exist. Harry was awake also, clutching Courage the lion, bawling his eyes out. I picked him up and held him close to my chest. "Did you have a nightmare little one?"

He nodded and Draco crawled over to Harry, rubbing his head. Harry looked up at him, confused by his friend's actions. "My mummy rubs my hair when I have a bad dream," he said.

Harry smiled and then frowned. "Sorry for waking you up," he said, "I'm such a baby,"

"You're not a baby!" Draco shouted, causing Harry's tears to come back full force and bury his head into my chest. I looked at Draco and saw the confusion and fear in his eyes. "Daddy, I didn't mean to make Harry cry!" he exclaimed, looking at his father as if expecting punishment.

"I know you didn't Dragon," he said, scooping his son into his arms, "But Harry gets very scared when people yell. His old family, the muggles we told you about, when they yelled at him they hurt him too," I could tell that it pained Lucius to give Draco that simple explanation, but Draco didn't understand.

"What do you mean Daddy?" he asked.

"Do you remember the time that you fell out the tree and hurt your arm?" a nod from Draco. "Well, Harry's family made Harry hurt like that and didn't give him medicine when he was sick. They yelled at him a lot before hurting him, so when you yell at him, he thinks you're going to hurt him too,"

Draco looked horrified at the idea. I bent down to whisper in Harry's ear. "He's not going to hate you Harry," I said, "You're practically his brother, he's loves you too much to hate you," Harry lifted his head up and I nodded.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Draco said, way too quiet for my liking, "I didn't know that'd make you scared,"

"It's okay Draco," Harry said, "You didn't know,"

"Would you like to tell us what your nightmare was about?" I asked, "Maybe we can help make it go away,"

That only caused Harry to stiffen and start crying again. Before I could tell him that he didn't need to tell us, that it was only an offer, he started to speak. "I saw Mummy die again!" he sobbed, "But then the man didn't go away and he killed you and Draco and Uncle Luc and Aunt Sissy! I don't want you to die Sev!"

Draco held one of Harry's hands and Lucius started to run his fingers through Harry's hair. I just held him close, trying to comfort him. This wasn't the first time he had told me about seeing his mother dying and I knew this probably wouldn't be the last, but I wanted nothing more than to make the nightmares stopped. No child should have to watch his mother die and relive the moment for the rest of their lives.

As Harry fell back asleep in my arms, Draco following his friend's action just moments later, I realized that he call Lucius 'uncle.' I smiled as I realized that Narcissa had told Harry to call him that and he actually felt comfortable to call her that. It proved that maybe it wasn't too late for Harry to learn to trust people. He could grow up to be a normal wizard and I could be the proud man to have claimed to raise him. I would raise him to be a good child, one that didn't harass his classmates to get a laugh or to win a girl. He would be my little Harry, my own son.

I tucked him back into bed as Lucius did the same for his son. I looked over at him and saw the sad look in his eyes, but he smiled at me. I smiled back and we left the boys in peace. Hopefully one day Harry would stop having his nightmares and he wouldn't think that we were going to beat him every time we yelled. I really hoped that he could be a normal child one day, but I have a feeling that the day is far away.

I followed Lucius to the dining room, where Narcissa and Poppy were waiting. With them were Simon, Zane, and Minerva. The moment I saw her I remembered the letter she sent us, which led to me shivering slightly. How Albus justified himself I don't know, but I do know that we have a long road in front of us.

"So, the trail is set for two days from today?" Minerva asked.

"Since today is almost over, we only have tomorrow to prepare," Lucius said, "I've already got all the paperwork in order and Severus and Poppy have the pictures and medical reports. Narcissa, I trust that you'll be watching the boys while we are in court?"

"Of course dear," she said, "But won't they want to question Harry too? Are the Dursleys going on trial too?"

I hadn't thought about prosecuting the Dursleys at all. My first concern was getting rid of Albus and then going after the abusive bastards. But I saw Lucius smile and I knew that he had gotten a trial for them too. "Since they were involved with this whole scheme they'll be on trial right after Dumbledore," he said, "Just because Albus left them on their front porch doesn't mean they have the right to beat a child. As for their son, I'm sure he'll be put into an orphanage,"

"But what about this 'Aunt Marge?'" I asked, remembering Harry mention her in a few of his nightmares, "Wouldn't she take the sniveling brat in? He is her nephew and probably his next in kin,"

"We've taken care of that," Minerva said, winking at Poppy.

"I found dog bites all over Harry and managed to have her dog, Ripper I believe, put to sleep," Poppy said, "Also I had temperament tests be tried on all of her dogs and none are safe around children. There is no hope that she'll get custody of young Mr. Dursley. Most likely he'll be put in an orphanage and be, as the muggles say, forced to grow up," I could tell that she didn't like to punish the boy, but it was really the only way we could without physically touching him. After hearing from Harry how the boy had hit him and blamed him for everything we had to make sure he was involved in the punishment, plus actually learns something from it. I just hope we don't have to save the boy from the same exact thing we had to save Harry from.

"What if we had a muggleborn take him in?" I suggested, "They could teach him all about the Wizarding world and still keep him intact with his muggle roots. Who knows, maybe the brat has some sort of magical talent and he's just been raised to think it was freaky and shouldn't be used,"

They nodded and we quickly decided that a young muggleborn witch by the name of Candace McBlide would take him in. She had been looking into adopting a muggle since she graduated and we could convince her in no time at all. If anyone could teach a magic-fearing muggle to like magic, it would be her. "So we're having Albus, Petunia, and her husband go on trial in about a day's time and having the young Mr. Dursley be adopted by Ms. McBlide," Minerva recapped.

"That sums it up dear Professor," Narcissa said, glancing at the clock, "Its midnight now and we can worry about the trial later, for now let us go into slumber,"

When almost everyone left I went to confront Simon and Zane. "What can we do about the blocks?" I asked, wanting to hear good news.

"We'll see what blocks have been placed upon him first," Simon said, "Then we'll see what we can do after that. We'll probably check the blocks either before the court cases or after them. Will that be good for you Sev?"

"That will be proficient," I said, "You two will be witnesses for us in the court cases tomorrow, won't you?"

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else," Zane said with a crazy smile, "Get some sleep Severus. We're going to need some if were going against crazy Dumbledore in the morning after next,"

I smiled and then frowned as I saw Albus' phoenix at the window. "Minerva mentioned that bird before you joined us," Simon said, also looking at the bird, "She said he broke the bond between himself and the headmaster. Maybe he wants to be forgiven Severus,"

I knew Simon was right. Phoenixes only bonded with those who proved they would be do-gooders and such. Since Albus was practically killing a child Fawkes wouldn't want to stay with the old coot. I saw out of the corner of my eye Lucius coming into the room to stare at the phoenix too. He looked at me and nodded and I open the window allowing the bird to come in. He landed on my arm but I felt no bond forming. "Do you think he's looking for Harry, Severus?" Lucius asked.

I nodded. "He can see the child in the morning," I said, "For now, we can all rest,"