A/N: Its an Update :)
⭑─⭒──⚝⚝──⭒─⭑
"Alright, everyone, who has ever heard of an inferi?" Sirius asked, leaning against his desk.
Draco raised his hand straight in the air. "Oh, oh."
"You, monkey number one."
"Well," Draco scowled, humphing,"an inferi is a corpse that still acts like a human."
"Like a zombie?" Finnegan asked.
The Slytherins all turned and stared. Zambini quirked his brow. "What's that?"
The Irish boy reddened. "Uhm, it's some mudblood term."
"Detention, Mr. Finnegan," Sirius said, popping up from his spot. "That is not a term to be used in polite company." He pointed to a raised hand. "Yes, Miss Abbott?"
"Wait? He's getting a detention for that? Isn't that usually just a point deduction?" Hannah asked, her forehead creased.
Sirius blushed. "I'm tired of hearing that awful term. Points don't seem to be a deterrent anymore. They just get them back in potions." He scowled. "Besides, you're in Hufflepuff. What do you care?"
"Well, it's not fair…"
"Life's not fair," Sirius said. "You might as well get used to it."
"Exactly," Harry smiled. "If life was fair, you wouldn't have to teach a lesson on the thing that killed your brother."
"Wait, Remus killed my brother?" Sirius whipped around and stomped up the stairs. "Moony, you promised you wouldn't."
"That was last week's lesson, Padfoot." Remus voice sounded from upstairs. "I do believe he was referring to the current topic."
Meanwhile, Severus was sitting in the back of the class, softly banging his head on the desk. He started when he felt a hand petting his back.
"Miss Lovegood, what are you doing in this class?" Severus asked, brow furrowing in concern.
Luna shrugged. "I have a free period, and I wouldn't want to miss out on catching this episode of 'As the Wizard Turns'."
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. Not deeming the comment worthy of response, he turned back to the lesson.
"So, how does one fight an inferi? It's not like they're going to die more," Sirius said as he descended the stairs.
Pansy raised her hand. "Professor Black, aren't you going to be a dad soon? Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Enough with the questions about my personal life," Sirius said, huffing.
"Why?"
"Because if I answer one more question, Professor Snape and Professor Moony will lock me in a room with Professor Binns lecturing on the proper professional relationship protocol between teachers and students." Sirius turned and picked up a piece of chalk. "Back to the matter at hand: how do you destroy an inferi?"
Harry raised his hand. "Well, inferi don't like fire or light. What I don't get is why Kreacher didn't know that. He could have easily magicked Regulus away after repelling the corpses."
"Harry," Hermione said, turning to her friend, "enough with the obsessive need to talk about Regulus."
"But he was so misunderstood."
"And what does this have to do with the lesson?"
Harry puffed out his lip. "He was a hero."
Sirius slammed the chalk down onto the ledge of the board. "Alright, that's enough. Silencio." Draco opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. Zabini's mouth started bobbing, his eyes blazing, but not a word was spoken. "I have had it up to here with your nonsense. Do you realize this is the only class that acts this way? I have had second years who successfully captured pixies. I have had third years hold a strong protego against a cutting curse. I have had fourth years successfully master an expelliarmus charm. How is it I can't go two seconds in this class without one of you derailing the conversation with inane chatter?" Several moments of silence followed. Sirius was sure they were feeling contrite, refusing to look him in the eye, but their lack of response grated on his nerves.
"Well? Why aren't any of you answering me?" The entire class glared at him. "Oh, yeah. Finite Incantatum."
At once, the entire room filled with loud shouts of indignation. Even Draco yelled out, claiming he would sue for emotional distress at the outrageous action of being silenced. Sirius sighed, rubbing his face with his hands, and walked to the stairs.
"Moony," he called up, "I give up. You take them for the day."
Remus sat in the office upstairs, lounging in a lazy-boy, reading The Daily Prophet. His voice carried down the steps.
"I'm not coming down there every time you have an issue with them, Padfoot."
"Why not? That's my entire parenting strategy."
"I'm going to end up raising your child, aren't I?"
Severus jumped from his spot. "Silencio." All the students turned to him, offended. "For once, Black is right…and all of you have detention for making me say that."
"Ah, Spots, I have a warm, fuzzy feeling inside."
"Black, you are one comment away from my locking you in a room with the mother of your child to discuss adult responsibilities."
Sirius sat at his desk. "As you were."
"In all my years of teaching, I have never seen such a poorly behaved class. I have always had problems with your group—your understanding of interpersonal interactions is truthfully appalling-but you somehow maintained a shred of respect for me-if only out of fear-and were able to learn. Professor Black has done everything in his power to try and give you a less stressful learning environment and taken the time to create sound, engaging lessons for you to give you the tools you need to succeed in life. Somehow, you have shown how little you respect someone who spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit, a hero who has selflessly given his all to the war effort, and a man who stepped out of his comfort zone, sat for hours with his worst enemy, and came out with lessons any teacher would be proud to use. This man is more than worthy of your respect and obedience, yet you give him none. I am appalled by your lack of decency, your lack of integrity, and your lack of self-control. You pry into things that are not yours to know, you continually gossip about the man as if he were no greater than one of your peers, and you take no caution in following your every whim. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Now, sit down, shut up, and give Black the respect he's due for once in your lives." Severus turned, slamming the door on his way out.
Up on the balcony, Remus stood, hands supporting his weight against the railing as his jaw dropped. Sirius paled, his eyes widening. All the students collectively gasped, before facing the front and folding their hands, completely prepared to listen to whatever Professor Black had to say.
"Well, apparently, I've walked into an alternate reality," Sirius said, slowly standing up from his seat.
Harry nodded. "You're telling me."
That night at dinner, all eyes stayed on Severus while he ate. At first, he ignored it. Then, he blushed in embarrassment. Finally, he reddened in anger.
"What is so bloody interesting that everyone's eyes must be trained on me? Did Albus assign me as the topic of some bloody essay?" Severus snapped, turning to McGonagall.
She merely flipped the page in her Daily Prophet. "I'm assuming it has something to do with the rumor flying around that you lost it on a group of students and defended Sirius Black." She looked up from the article. "Did you really give all of them detention, because that is a lot of paperwork and I did hope to get some essays graded tonight."
Severus stood up and marched out, refusing to respond. Finnegan ran up to the man as he exited.
"Does this mean I have double detention?" the Irish boy asked.
Severus rubbed his face. "Triple detention. Now, go."
"Wait…"
"Do you want to make it quadruple detention?"
Finnegan sighed, hanging his head and turning to go back to the Slytherin table. With all the commotion happening near the Slytherin table, Sirius and the three Gryffindors snuck out, going up to the DADA classroom to get Remus. Harry threw the invisibility cloak over the five of them, still showing the group's feet.
"Ow! Padfoot!" Harry moaned as Sirius accidently stepped on his foot.
"Sorry," Sirius said, grimacing. This had seemed so much easier as a dog.
"Remind me again why we all had to hide under the cloak?" Draco said as they stopped in front of one of the abandoned potions classrooms.
"To avoid detection." Sirius rapped his knuckles on the door.
They waited a few minutes, and all paraded through the door-still under the cloak-when it opened. The dark man sighed and held his head in his hands as the little group threw off the fabric and made themselves known.
"Black…" Severus paused and sighed. He rubbed his eyes. "You work here. You had every reason to come down here at any time, out in the open. Why, oh why, did the five of you have to hide under one invisibility cloak?"
Sirius smiled shyly. "Good to see you, too, Spots. And in answer to your question, for old time's sake."
Draco and Harry scowled at Sirius.
"You mean, we didn't have to fit the five of us under the invisibility cloak?" Draco whined.
Harry huffed. "I didn't have to get my foot stepped on?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Are we here to talk about the logic of sneaking five bodies down to the dungeons rather than four, or are we here to figure out what to do with Harry's little problem?"
"At least it's not a furry one." Draco mumbled. Remus looked hurt and directed a scowl at Draco. "Sorry, I'm useless after eleven o'clock at night, as well."
Remus glanced at his watch. "It's only seven."
"Same thing."
Severus rolled his eyes. "We are here to both fix Harry's problem and speak logically. Now, Remus, you know Harry is a horcrux. As a horcrux, he carries a part of Voldemort's soul in him. To defeat Voldemort, we must destroy the horcrux. The only problem is that to destroy the horcrux, we must destroy the container to a point that it is no longer salvageable. Now that we have stated the problem, which one of you would like to come up with the solution?"
All remained silent.
"Well, technically," Hermione started slowly, "the container is the scar. So, if we destroy the scar to the point it can no longer be salvaged, that should meet the requirements to destroy the horcrux. I know a high-voltage laser that could do the trick nicely."
Harry eyes widened in horror. "Are you saying we destroy my face?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, a highly focused laser could easily destroy the scar without affecting your face."
Severus shook his head. "Miss Granger, while that may work on any old scar, it will not work on a cursed scar. There is a magic behind it that no muggle technology can destroy."
"We could take some basilisk venom and insert it into Harry's scar." Draco said, cleaning his fingernails with a potions knife.
"All the while killing me? Isn't that what we're trying to avoid here?" Harry's voice raised, cracking near the end.
"Well, actually, that's exactly what we need to do," Remus said, scratching his chin. "However, we need to make it so that you don't actually die."
"Where are you going with this, Moony?" Sirius asked nervously.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you just said I needed to die, but didn't need to die. That makes no sense."
Remus shook his head. "No, you don't get it. All we need to do is make your body think you're dead. We need to do something that tricks your body into believing it no longer has a beating heart keeping it alive. We need to…"
"Stop his heart and restart it!" Hermione finished for him, eyes widening at the suggestion. "Of course, it's so simple. We just need him to be legally dead. That would satisfy the requirements of destruction for the horcrux, it would leave his body, and then we can restart his heart and get it beating again."
"Are you really suggesting we kill my godson?" Sirius turned to Severus. "Please tell me you agree with me: this is ridiculous."
Severus shook his head. "I don't necessarily like it. It isn't without risk." He shrugged. "However, muggles do it every day. It's used in muggle surgeries, and it is standard practice in the medical world to restart hearts when they stop. I could see it working. However, it's not enough to use CPR to get his heart pumping. How would we restart it, Miss Granger?"
Hermione's brow creased. "Whatever it is, it needs to use electricity. Electric shock is the best way to restart a heart."
Draco scowled at the girl. "What are you suggesting, that we Crucio Harry?"
Hermione smiled, eyes sparkling.
Remus nodded. "Yes, that should do the trick."
Sirius mouth dropped. "No! We are NOT killing my godson, waiting five seconds, and then CRUCIO'ing him back to life."
Hermione shook her head.
"Of course, we wouldn't wait five seconds." Sirius' shoulders slumped in relief. "We'd have to wait for more than a minute to actually make sure the horcrux left." Hermione explained. "He can go for five minutes without any actual brain damage."
Sirius shook his head furiously. "NO!"
Severus stood in front of the distressed man. "Black, understand this. I love Harry, too. I don't want anything bad to happen to him. However, he's on borrowed time right now. We both know who is out there at this moment plotting ways to kill him. This is the only way we can have control and can protect him. We have to do this."
Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "This is not the only way. It can't be."
"Do you have any suggestions, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
Sirius stared at the ground. "What if we can't bring him back? What if it doesn't work?"
Remus' Adam's apple bobbed. "That might be a risk we have to take. At least this way, we'll be prepared for it and have been able to make our peace with it."
Silence stretched as the occupants in the room contemplated the ramifications of this statement.
"I'm sitting right here, you know." Harry jumped up and waved his hands. Everyone stared at him. "Don't I get a say in what happens to me?"
Severus nodded. "What would you like, Harry?"
"In a perfect world? Not to die, not to be a horcrux, not to be the boy-who-lived?" Harry's fingers ticked off each point. He let out a sigh. "But this sounds like the best idea we have. I'm willing to do it if you're willing to try."
Silence stretched through the room for a long moment.
Finally, Remus clapped, breaking the somber noiselessness. "Okay, I say there's no time like the present. Get a good night's sleep, everyone. Tomorrow, we are going to kill Harry Potter." The lycanthrope chuckled. "Should I send out invitations to the local death eaters?" The crowd glared. He scrunched his nose. "Tough crowd."
Sirius walked over to Harry and hugged him.
"I can't lose you, too." He muttered into Harry's shoulder. Harry squeezed his eyes shut to keep the tears from flowing down his cheeks.
"You won't."
The next day, Harry trudged down to Severus' private chambers around eight in the morning. His heart beat wildly in his throat. What if they couldn't get the horcrux out? What if they could, but only at the cost to his life?
The-boy-who-lived shook his head. Truth be told, he was lucky to get this second chance at life. Technically, he should've died years ago. The prophecy said that he was supposed to die in order to kill Voldemort. If it meant for good, so be it.
Harry smiled, a renewed sense of dignity and calm rushing through him. He would be able to face this no matter what happened. He nodded, walking through the portrait hole.
"We could give him basilisk venom," Remus said. Harry's eyes widened. Well, there went that thought.
"That wouldn't just stop his heart. The venom would damage important organs," Sirius said, brow furrowed.
"Well, we're crucioing him back to life, we could just Avada Kedavra him."
"So, have me perform two Unforgivables in one day on my godson?" Severus asked as he continued making the couch comfortable. If he was going to kill his godson, might as well give the boy something soft and warm to lay on.
Sirius shook his head. "We'd never ask that of you, Spots. Besides, in theory, the killing curse separates soul from body immediately. There is no coming back from the killing curse."
Remus rubbed his eyes. "We could strangle him."
"And who would do the strangling?" Sirius threw his hands in the air. "None of us could possibly do that to Harry."
"We could always wait until the full moon and leave me in the Shrieking Shack with Moony." Harry mumbled as he sat down on the couch.
"No," Severus said, shaking his head, "that would endanger the lives of everyone near the school. Besides, there are plenty of curses that stop the heart inadvertently. I will be performing a stronger version of Petrificus Totalus that will paralyze the heart. Once you pass out from oxygen deprivation, we will wait thirty seconds. After that, I will shock you back into consciousness and see if it worked."
Remus and Sirius glared at the man.
"Why didn't you tell us the plan before we began discussing it?" Sirius growled at Severus.
Severus smirked. "It's too much fun to see the two last Marauders plotting the demise of another human being. I always wondered how you did it. Clearly, Potter and Wormtail were the brains behind this operation."
"Well, it's not like we have a lot of experience in plotting how to kill someone, Severus," Remus said, arms crossed.
The potions master snorted. "No, Black seems to have a knack for it all on his own."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I thought we got past that, Spots."
"Yes, because someone getting past their own near-death experience is a walk in the park." Severus mumbled. He sighed and watched Harry close his eyes.
"I'm ready."
The gang looked down at the young boy. He was too young to be dealing with this sort of thing.
The whole room grew quiet. Severus nodded to the other two, who placed their hands on Harry's legs. It was a means of moral support and a safety measure.
Severus waved his wand. "Duro."
Within seconds, Harry couldn't breath. His eyes widened and he fought against the restraints. He struggled, trying to get air, but he could not. Very soon, everything faded into darkness.
Sirius didn't know he had it in him to ignore his godson's pleading eyes. He wanted to tell Severus to knock it off, that he could see his godson was in pain, but he knew he couldn't. He just sat there, helpless, trying to be strong for Harry. When Harry passed out, all eyes went to his scar.
After thirty excruciating seconds, a black wisp of smoke floated out of Harry's scar. It hissed, screeched, and dissipated. Severus quickly whispered Pietro antistrofi before motioning for Remus to come up to Harry's chest.
"Now, I will Crucio him every ten seconds. You should spend the intermediate time doing chest compressions," Severus said. Remus nodded. "Clear! Crucio."
Severus held it for a second before dropping it. Remus began to press Harry's chest.
Ten seconds went by.
"Clear."
Remus moved away.
"Crucio."
Remus began chest compressions again.
"Clear."
Remus moved.
"Crucio."
They continued for over a minute, with no results.
Sirius paced, his scowl deepening. He threw his hands in the air. "It's not working."
Severus glared at him. "We still have two more minutes, Black."
Sirius grabbed the dark man's bicep.
"No, it's not doing any good!" Sirius bit back. Severus snarled.
"Let me go, Black!" Severus growled.
"No," Sirius said, tightening his grip on the man. "Try something else."
"There is nothing else," Severus said, wrenching his arm away.
"There has to be."
"No."
"A potion, another spell, anything," Sirius said, his eyes sparkling.
"Black, shut up. I need to concentrate."
"Try something else."
"I told you, there is nothing else."
Sirius threw his hands in the air. "Then, you killed our godson," he said, his voice cracking.
"Sirius, calm down," Severus said, turning and looking the animagus in the eye. He spun back around to look at the still body. It had been five minutes. He wasn't breathing.
"You killed our godson," Sirius said quietly, his face dark.
Severus closed his eyes. "Sirius…"
The animagus jumped the potions master, snarling as he bit at the man's overly large nose.
"Padfoot, no," Remus said, moving to get between the dog and the professor.
"Dragon."
Both men snapped their heads in the direction of the couch. There, gasping for air, was Harry Potter, sparkling green eyes and all.
"Harry," they exclaimed. Sirius and Severus ran to him, hugging him together.
Remus stood off to the side, smirking. "I knew it'd work."
The two godfathers glared at him.
"Did it work? Is it gone?" Harry asked, eyes widening.
Severus nodded and Sirius shrugged.
"Well, it should be. Something came out of that scar of yours," Sirius said, pointing to his godson's forehead.
Harry smiled. "Brilliant. What'd it look like?"
"What have previous horcruxes looked like when you destroyed them?" Remus asked, sitting down at the end of the couch.
The boy shrugged. "It was different each time." His smiled faded and his eyes dimmed. "Oh. I never thought…"
"What, Prongslet?" Sirius asked, brow furrowed in concern.
"I just never realized…without him, I'll lose my ability to speak and understand Parseltongue, won't I?"
Severus smirked and walked over to the kitchen. Moments later, he returned with something wriggling through his fingers.
"Draco wanted me to check and see if you two could still talk the moment we were sure everything worked out correctly," Severus explained, holding up Severys. Harry's godfather placed the snake on Harry's lap.
Severys scooted up to Harry's chest and his tongue touched the boy's cheek.
":Draco said you would be doing something very dangerous today and that I needed to be here to keep you from doing something stupid.:" Severys hissed.
Harry smirked. ":Well, I'll tell him you were very brave and did keep me from doing something stupid. Although, I didn't do anything. It was all Uncle Sev.:"
All three men stared at him, waiting for a verdict.
The boy smiled. "He said Draco told him to keep me from doing something stupid
All three men cheered. Sirius patted Harry on the back.
"And here we thought the Parseltongue was a part of the horcrux. All along, it was all you," Sirius said. He paused, staring off into space. "How do you think you came by such a unique skill?"
"Well, I am related to the Peverells, who are descendants of Slytherin himself. I probably got it from there," Harry said with a shrug.
Remus' eyes narrowed. "Wait," his brow furrowed, "wouldn't that mean James would have had it?"
Sirius shrugged. "Well, maybe he did. I mean, how many times did you see him come in contact with a snake-present company excluded?"
Severus scowled. "I resent that."
"Once a snake, always a snake…" Sirius smiled. "But, maybe that's not always a bad thing."
CHAPTER END
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT
LOVE, ESHA❤