the marriage stone (Discontinued)

chapter 6 - Life With Snape

"Wait," he sighed. Harry stopped, but did not turn. "That was untrue. This does concern you." Much as he hated to admit it, there were certain personal facts that he was going to have to share with Harry Potter. No way of avoiding it forever.

Harry turned, his green eyes wary but no longer quite as angry. He still said nothing however.

"It's a letter from my brothers," Severus explained, and then because he knew this was not going to be an easy conversation, he moved toward the couch and sat down. Harry joined him a moment later, sitting across from in one of the armchairs.

"What do your brothers have to do with me?" Harry asked.

Severus smiled bitterly. "They want to meet you. Want to meet the young man who has single handily returned our family name to good standing."

"And something about that makes you angry with me?" Harry demanded.

Surprised by his statement, Severus looked into his eyes, seeing years of hurt there. No doubt his Muggle family took every little slight and family squabble out on him. "I'm not angry at you," he assured him. "I'm angry at. . ." he broke off uncertain how to answer that question. "I haven't spoke to either of my brothers in nearly eighteen years."

"Why not?"

"Because my brothers have never forgiven either me or my father for tarnishing the family name in the first place," Severus explained simply, though there was nothing at all simple about it. Nothing at all in that statement to explain years of pain and betrayal and angry unforgivable words between brothers that could never be taken back.

Harry looked startled by the admission. "Your father was a Death Eater?" he asked. Severus nodded. "And you joined the Death Eaters to be with him?"

He had no doubt that the boy had wondered about his history and how he had come to be a spy in the first place. "No, Mr. Potter," he told him. "I joined the Death Eaters so that I could get close enough to my father to kill him." Green eyes widened in shock, and Severus threw Harry a twisted smile. "Like my brothers, I couldn't forgive my father either. He was our blood, our responsibility, and every crime he committed was ours to answer for."

"You killed your own father?"

"No," Severus shook his head. "Thankfully I was spared that little indignity by Lucius Malfoy. Seems they both fancied the same mistress and dueled over her. My father lost. Since I was unable to reclaim our family honor myself, I went to Albus Dumbledore and offered to spy for him instead."

"But your brothers never believed you?" Harry guessed, too clever by half.

"We never really had a particularly long conversation on the subject," Severus informed him. "There wasn't much opportunity for me to convince them of my guilt or innocence one way or another."

"But they must have believed you after the trial!" Harry protested.

Severus looked up sharply, pinning Harry with a sharp glare. What in God's name could the boy know about that trial? He'd never said anything, and he doubled very much Albus had discussed it with the boy.

Harry flushed and looked down. "I looked into Dumbledore's pensieve a few years ago. I saw some of the trial. That's how I knew you were spying for him in the first place."

"That man leaves the damnedest things lying about!" Severus cursed, feeling strangely vulnerable at the thought that Harry might have witnessed his youthful torture in the hands of the Dementors and the shameful trial that followed.

"Didn't your brothers believe you then?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"Didn't matter," Severus explained. "The damage was already done. And judging by the terseness of the letter, I doubt they believe me even now. But they're not willing to pass up this opportunity. The hand of friendship they are extending is to you, not me."