As they reached the Potter Manor, they plopped on the couch in the living room and gave a sigh of relief and content. Harry looked around the room in awe. He never even had his own room. So seeing such a big place and knowing that you could live here peacefully without having someone to order you around was enticing to even think for Harry. He got up and went to a table on which many family photos were kept. They showed many pictures of James at different age with his family. Also there were pictures of the Marauders. He took one particular picture of James in which he was probably a year old, and being held by his parents. Harry remembered the picture he had of his own parents in which he was also being held by them. It was the only picture he had with them. His eyes filled with tears.
The others were all noticing Harry quietly. They could only assume what he was feeling at this moment. The Marauders were all looking at each other with knowing sad eyes. When they saw Harry's teary eyes, James went up first to him with the others following him.
"What's the matter Harry?" James asked softly putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I only knew my parents from a picture like this. That was the only picture I had of them; a one year old me in the arms of my mother with my father standing beside her while they were both smiling. That was the only picture I had with them. It was in that picture that I came to know of my parents. Later when I met Padfoot and Moony, they showed me another one of their marriage. But I only had ever seen them or rather known them through pictures and stories from Remus, Sirius and Hagrid. That was the only one picture that kept me going every time I broke down. Remus and Sirius tried to help, but they couldn't be around often and unfortunately they believed Dumbledore more than me. So they were content to leave me with the Dursley's. So I never got them around very often. That picture was the only thing that gave me courage to fight." Harry said as though in a daze. The others were listening quietly to him.
"When I saw the memory of Professor Snape, I was in a denial. I couldn't believe my father could be anything he told me. I always thought he was lying. But I immediately fire - called at Grimmauld Palace. When Sirius answered the call, I demanded the truth from him. It was Remus who answered. I was so heart-broken after that I stopped protesting anything Snape said. And after I came to know of Dumbledore's truth I only truly believed anything he said. He was the only one who always told me the full thing without hiding anything; however harsh it may be. Sirius and Remus only told me things that Dumbledore told them to. That was the worst year of my life. The only people that kept me going were the twins and their pranks." Harry was nearly sobbing now. He had forgotten that the people he was talking about were all in this room.
"Before Sirius died, he was protecting me from Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. There were about fifteen death eaters at the room. All of them had surrounded me. Ron and Hermione assured Ginny, Luna and Neville that I was perfectly capable of fighting them all alone and so they were standing at the back and watching. That was when the Order came in. Sirius immediately covered for me and had to pay by dying by the most unexpected person. I watched the whole thing in front of my eyes and could do nothing. Remus also saw who actually killed Sirius and looked at me with disappointment and disgust. That day took every reason out of my life to live. That was the actual day I truly became an orphan. That day Hermione Granger took away the last remaining speck of love from me. I lost the last bit of hope I had, I lost everything that day." Harry broke down crying after that. He was clutching the picture to his heart like the last rays of light.
All the others were crying by now. They could only imagine how hard it was for Harry. But the most affected were Sirius and Remus. They were crying uncontrollably. They understood very much how much they meant for Harry and how they were the ones that have caused him a great amount of pain unknowingly. Harry slowly returned from his dazed look and immediately flushed. He was now aware of the crying people around him.
"I'm sorry. That picture must have triggered something. I really didn't—"Harry tried explaining feeling red with embarrassment.
"It's okay Harry. It's good to let out sometimes. You were obviously holding all this inside you." Lily said softly. Harry though didn't look quite convinced.
"Really Harry, we care about you. I don't know what I have done to you completely but I can only assume. If you had not come to our lives, I'm deeply frightened what could have turned out. We are all thankful to you." Lucius said slowly. He was truly appalled by all the things he have heard about himself and was sure that he would have turned out to be that person had not Harry not came in his life.
"Yeah; Harry without you Lily would have married James. I shudder to even think about it." Severus said the first thing that came in his mind.
"Shut up Severus!" Lily said with her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Everyone looked at Severus with amused eyes. Harry's eyes were also twinkling with glee even through his tears.
"You really don't know how to calm people down. Don't even try." Harry said with a small smile at Severus. Severus immediately flushed.
"Sorry..." Severus mumbled looking at his feet. Lily looked at him smiling fondly.
"Enough of this; if Draco would have been here he would have said 'Saint Potter trying to gain everyone's attention again.' Harry said in a mocking tone. Everyone laughed at that.
"What is this Saint Potter?" Lucius asked.
"It was one of the names given to me by your son. He had many names in his stock. Wonder Boy, Golden Boy, Scar head, Scar face, and I don't know if he had made any more. He also called me The Boy Who Don't Die. He was constantly jealous of my fame and didn't help that I became the youngest seeker of the century. That also because of him," Harry laughed a little as he remembered that.
"What? Youngest seeker," Sirius asked bewildered.
"Yeah, I became the seeker of the Gryffindor team in my first year itself. Draco being his own self wanted to act smug by stealing Neville's rememberall during our first Quidditch lesson. But I saved that by my first Wronski Feint; which I didn't even know then. That was the first day I mounted a broom. McGonagall immediately took me in the team as a seeker and brought me my first broom Nimbus two thousand; it was the best of that year. Since that day Gryffindor team never lost a Quidditch match and Draco got all jealous. So Draco went to his father all whining and next year bought his place as the seeker of the Slytherin team by donating a huge amount of money to the team which they only told me with great pride. He brought Nimbus two thousand one and even then could never win against me. It was always fun to look at his face afterwards. He really reminded me of my cousin Dudley Dursley." Harry said smirking. Sirius, Remus and James were looking at him in awe while Lucius had a torn look between amazement and embarrassment. The rest of them were only laughing.
"You became a seeker on your first year and did Wronski Feint on the first day on your broom? Harry will you ever stop taking us off guard?" James asked stunned.
"Um, that's kind of me. I've always been far from normal." Harry said shrugging.
The conversation went on smoothly after that and everyone quickly forgot they were even crying.
The morning looked to be very normal to Harry, though he knew that it was his birthday. He didn't expect the people out there to remember his birthday even if he had told them just a few weeks before. It was okay for Harry. That felt like normal to Harry; spending his birthday in silence, without any gifts or greetings.
He slowly got up from his bed in the huge room he had been sleeping in for almost two months now. It was a quite sunny morning, the summer sun blazing and warming up the whole room more than it was comfortable. There was no sign of hustle in the Manor. He looked up at the clock; it was half past seven; a little too early than necessary. But Harry didn't feel like going to sleep again. His eyes didn't oblige. He walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
As he came down to the sitting room for breakfast, he realized that nobody had woken up yet. Honestly, it was rather selfish of him to expect someone awake—
"Hello, Harry," he was cut out of his thought as he saw Severus sitting on the couch. "Good morning." He greeted him with a gentle smile.
"Good morning. Actually, I didn't expect you to be up so early; or anyone at that." Harry said sitting down beside Severus on the couch.
"Well, neither did I expect you to be awake at this time. I'm usually an early riser, though." Severus said holding up the book he was reading in his lap.
Harry nodded. "How long have you been up?" he asked.
"Not for long, I came down here probably fifteen minutes ago." Severus informed.
Harry nodded again. He didn't know what to speak about. Severus didn't feel much different from Professor Snape to Harry; though he was much more polite and subtle. But Harry had noticed that he had already grown a bit distant from everybody, except Lily. He didn't know the reason though.
Harry hesitated for a moment, thinking over whether or not to ask him. But he eventually gave in to his habit of trying to make people's lives better. "Um, Severus, if you don't mind can I ask you something?" he asked rubbing his hand nervously as though talking to a Professor.
"Yes, why are you being so nervous, Harry?" Severus said looking up from his book and frowning.
"I—um, I was thinking—is there—I know it's very involuntary to ask you something like this but—" Harry stopped abruptly.
"Harry, what's wrong? Why are you—look I'm not your Professor okay? You can ask me whatever you want to." Severus said trying to read his expressions.
Harry blushed profusely. The main reason of him being nervous was even now, twenty years back, he could see the grouchy Professor in the teenager boy. "Um, sorry; it's just that I really didn't imagine being all free with you of all people." Harry said rubbing the side of his neck sheepishly.
Severus smiled. "It is okay, Harry; really. You can ask what you want." He said reassuringly.
The smile gave him a bit of confidence. Harry took a deep breath before plunging in. "Severus, I was just wondering, like, how are you with your family? I mean, how well do you get along them?" he asked efficiently avoiding the possibility to stutter.
Severus immediately grew tense. He turned to face the question nonetheless. "We do fine Harry, why?" he said trying to sound indifferent.
Harry frowned as he saw right through the Slytherin mask he was trying to hide himself behind. His frown eased as he realised that he has moved the right stone. This had to do something with his family. He sat there silently thinking as he had realised that Severus had efficiently hid his face behind the book in his hand. What could possibly be the problem? As per as he knew, every normal family had their personal problems and issues; but they need not to be so big that it would scar a person from his childhood. But somehow, the silence and the uneasiness that had flashed in his eyes when he had asked him the question, seemed a bit familiar; like somehow, he might have seen it somewhere before.
He glanced at the teenager beside him. His position was defining the ultimate posture of a mentally tensed person, who seemed to be in a danger of getting his deepest secret known to the rest of the world. Harry strained his mind to think of the situation, he had felt the same. He couldn't directly ask him; he knew that. That would make things worse. He replayed his memories of the past one year spent in Hogwarts with the Marauders—the meeting with the Marauders, the light argument with them, the encounter with a bullied Severus, the beating from the Slytherins—
Harry's eyeballs stilled at one point on the floor as he realized whom he had seen so tensed about something; it was he himself. It was exactly when the Marauders had tried taking him to the Hospital wing and he had to strain and beg to all his muscles to straighten up and walk away without limping. It was the exact fear of getting exposed of his abusive life.
Harry looked up at Severus; leaning back onto the couch to have a better look at his face. He could see his eyeballs frantically moving left and right on the same page and spot. Certainly, he wasn't reading; he was rather dreading any questions from Harry. Harry had a sad look on his face. It was difficult to live an abusive life; but it was much more difficult than keeping it a secret. He had a very good idea of the situation Severus was going through right now. Harry himself had miserably failed in keeping his life a secret. And he could only imagine how much pain the adult Potion Master held in his heart to be so rude to people.
"You know, before coming to Hogwarts, I thought the life I led with the Dursleys' to be normal." Harry started. He saw Severus look up from his book. "I thought that that is how every child was treated or at least every nephew was treated by their aunts and uncles. The everyday chores and household jobs seemed to be very normal to me. I didn't know much about other children's lives in my muggle school; I never got to get so close to anybody being Dudley around me. But after coming to Hogwarts, I gradually understood that however I was treated like was not normal. It was abusive. It was the first time I even realised that I was abused. I started taking it as an insult that I was an abused child. I started getting irritated at my relatives for treating me like the way they did. It's not like it didn't bother me before; but before, I was only sad. And after Hogwarts, I was irritated at the same time." Harry paused and looked up to Severus; noticing that he was listening to him intently.
"I tried making friends at Hogwarts, taking advantage of Dudley's absence. I made two of them, Hermione and Ron, as you know. I started confiding in them and told them everything I had in my heart. It felt better that I had someone to trust. It really felt good before I came to know that they were actually using me." Harry stopped and again looked at Severus. His face was a mixture of sadness and concentration.
"Why are you telling me all this things?" Severus asked frowning.
"It's because I know that you are not using me." Harry said smiling.
"And what if I turn up to be same as Granger and Weasley?" He asked.
"Well, then I would try to move on and try to forgive you." Harry said.
Severus gave a laugh. It was an obvious indication for Harry that he was coming out of his mask. "One would think like that Harry, that it's their fault that they broke your heart. But actually it's your fault; to trust them." he said shaking his head.
"Who said I would try to forgive you for breaking my heart? Remember, my heart is already broken. I didn't tell you all about my life to get sympathy and pity. I told you all about my life so that you can try to fix my broken heart. It's just a favour I'm asking from you all, that's it." Harry said smiling. "And even Granger and Weasley managed to hold my heart together for few years, before they realized that it needed to be broken to fight the Darkest Wizard of your time." Harry added.
Severus looked at him with bewilderment. "Then what do you want to forgive them for?" Severus asked.
"I already forgave them for not being able to hold my heart together. I assume it as their loss." Harry said.
"You forgave them?" Severus asked again.
Harry shrugged. "I'm still a bit sad, but I did forgive them the day I told everybody about my life. Because I too had got someone else to confide in; and that too in a group of much unexpected people; so why not move on?" Harry said smiling.