Chapter twenty two

'Why didn't you ever tell us you were with Professor Snape and had a daughter?' Seamus asked as he got to Harry.

'We wanted to keep our privacy for as long as possible.'

'And it's Severus now, you are definitely not students anymore.'

'So the way you behaved, how you treated everyone, that wasn't real?' Neville asked.

'No, but since all the Slytherin's were kids of death eaters or supporters, I had to act like I hated all of you.'

'You scared the life out of me, couldn't you have given us a clue you were okay?' Neville asked making everyone laugh.

'No, if they suspected then I would have been killed and maybe all of you as well, Harry definitely,' Severus put his arm around Harry's waist pulling him close.

'She's beautiful, so Lily after your mother Harry, where did Eileen come from?' Susan asked.

'That was my mother's name, but I wanted Lily as her name as Lily Potter was my best friend when we were young.'

'Oh, that's so nice, I'm sure you're mum would love it Harry.' Luna said.

'Yeah, she would,' Harry smiled at his daughter who kept pulling at his awards.

'What if you had a boy, surely you wouldn't want the name James since I did hear you and James Potter hated each other Severus?' Neville asked.

'No, Harry and I spoke about that and he understood, but we did discuss a lot of boys names, never ended up settling on one though.'

'Ladies and gentleman,' Kingsley called, 'I have been asked to let a group of people perform for you tonight. Some together, some separately, but to start off I wish to welcome to the stage, our aurors,' Kingsley waved them over.

'We're up babe,' Harry kissed Severus then handed Lily back to him before joining his aurors on stage. First the whole lot played different instruments, with Harry singing. Next was Neville, Parvati and Padma did a song together, then Susan and Seamus did a duet. The others all sang themselves but with the other aurors all on their instruments. Harry couldn't stop smiling at how much the crowd enjoyed them, again none of the Weasley's or Grangers did which made Harry chuckle.

Then Harry finished off as he sat at the piano and sang a beautiful song for his daughter, angel's lullaby, a song he heard on a muggle radio.

I was never alive

'til the day I was blessed with you.

When I hold you late at night,

I know what I was put here to do.

I turn off the world and listen to you sigh,

And I will sing my angel's lullaby.

Know I'm forever near,

The one you can always call.

Right now all you know to fear

Are the shadows on your wall.

I'm here close enough

To kiss the tears you cry,

And I will sing my angel's lullaby.

So tell me how to stop the years from racing.

Is there a secret someone knows?

I'll never catch all the memories I'm chasing.

I'll never be ready to let go.

And when the world seems cold,

And you feel that all your strength is gone,

There maybe be on tiny voice,

Your reason to carry on,

And when I'm not close enough

To kiss the tears you cry,

You will sing your angel's lullaby.

Let this be our angel's lullaby.

With loud applause and chants for more, the aurors thanked everyone then left the stage and had family and friends coming up to them. Minerva McGonagall had to push her way through the crowd to Harry and Severus.

'Thank you for your words Harry, they meant to lot to me,' she hugged him surprising everyone standing around him.

'I meant them, you don't realise how much you meant to me over the years Minerva, that night showed I meant something to you.'

She put her hand to Harry's cheek, 'You do, you always have. Now why did I not know about you and Severus?'

'Just for our privacy Minerva, once Harry mentioned he had a partner, he was always being questioned, so we decided to keep it to ourselves until tonight.'

'I do understand that as Harry is always in the papers, after tonight, he will be more so but so will you Severus,' Minerva waved her hand around at the photographers who were taking pictures of Harry, Severus and Lily.

'Yes, but we expected it. Did you have anything to do with that blasted statue?' Harry raised his eyebrows at Minerva McGonagall who grinned.

'Of course I did, you deserve to be recognised. But it was my suggestion to have it placed at Hogwarts. I've also put in a request to the minister that every few years we will open the gates of Hogwarts to people that wish to visit the place where our war finished and of course to see your statue.'

'Which means I'll see it as I'll be on duty.'

'Naturally,' Minerva said, 'Now about all of you singing, again something none of us knew you could do, any of you.'

'When I was telling the aurors that sometimes taking a break from what they were working on and do something they enjoy, I told them I play guitar, so I started bringing it into the office, then the others did as well. So a couple of months ago, Michael came up with the idea for all of us to do this tonight. I wasn't sure, mainly because I don't like attention, but they talked me into it.'

'Yes, it seems the aurors were playing instead of doing their duty. I think that shows they need someone else as head auror,' Bill Weasley said scowling at Harry.

'Then let me tell you Mr. Weasley, that between Harry and his aurors they have captured the last of Voldemorts death eaters. I think that proved they did their duty. Then let me mentioned that Harry caught five alone, again proving he is the best man for the job.'

'I cannot believe you just said that about Harry Bill, that doesn't seem like you,' Minerva said looking surprised.

'Oh didn't you know Minerva, but the Weasley's only pretended to be my friend, they wanted my money that or just kill me in my sleep. Hermione and her parents were in on it as well.'

'What are you talking about Harry?' Neville asked staring around at the red heads with Hermione and her parents.

'He's lying, that's what Harry does just to get his own way, like kicking me out of the aurors,' Ron scowled.

'Well let me tell you what I know. Severus and I talked, we put some plans together. See, I got suspicious of you and Hermione, so I used my cloak and listened to you the night I killed Voldemort. I went straight to the shrieking shake and helped Severus who was still alive. Then when I visited that day, I left, but Severus was under my cloak. He stopped Bill cursing me, in the back. Severus also gave me a potion to counteract the one you slipped me. Then we both listened, because I told you I had finally had my Will done and sealed my vaults, that wasn't true. But when Bill said it was lucky I didn't have a high security vault that way he could break in, I had all my assets transferred to a high security vault. Then Severus and I listened to all of you again, about how you wanted Ginny to fall pregnant to me to get the money that way.

'They did this because of how my father fucked your sister Arthur and she was hurt that he didn't want her. Those were the reasons you wanted to hurt me, to take what was mine. It all started when you heard my parents died, that's when you put your plans in order, the plan to destroy James Potter's son. Ginny tried to slip me a potion tonight, now if Ron was any good when he tried to be an auror he would have told you that we are trained to see a drink that is spiked and that was. Ron was overheard talking to Hermione about how they hated me and hated the fact they had to pretend to be my friend. They were also overheard again, Ron saying he'll be an auror because he had been my friend for years and I don't turn my back on my friends, which I don't.

'Why do you think that every shop in Diagon Alley had their rents either lowered or they get it free apart from George and Fred's shop? Why do you think I bought the Burrow and put your rent three times higher to what you were paying, then took the land, and started to build houses for people that need it. After hearing everything, I stopped you from ever getting a knut from me, and I had my Will done to make sure I was protected. But you never knew that Albus Dumbledore had control of my money, then Severus did and he in turn left a letter to Minerva for her to take control if he died. So none of you would ever have gotten my money even if I did die, people like Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall all knew what I would have done with my money,' Harry turned to Minerva, 'Can you tell everyone what I would have done even if I never told you?'

'You would have used it to help people, donate a lot to places like St Mungo's, muggle orphanages, research into things like the permanent brain damaged ward and of course Hogwarts.'

'Exactly, that is what my Will does say. Naturally Lily will have a lot, if I die, Severus has control of her money, if he dies, then again that control goes to Minerva, then Kingsley, people I trust.' even though Harry tried to keep his anger under control, everyone heard it in his voice. But when Harry had begun to explain, everyone that was there were glaring at the Weasley's. Even without proof, they believed Harry until everyone made the Weasley's and Granger's so uncomfortable that they left. Then and only then did Harry relax and felt Severus tighten his arms as Lily put her head on Harry's shoulder. But his friends, his real friends surrounded him, showing their support and their friendship, not for anything other than to show Harry that they cared about him, and it had nothing to do with money or his reputation.

The following day, Kingsley sent Harry an owl stating that Arthur Weasley, and Percy Weasley were both sacked, but they were offered jobs in magical maintenance, Ron as well. Bill and Fleur were both sacked from Gringotts, Charlie couldn't get a job anywhere and went back to Romania. Ginny was refused all requests for try outs for every quidditch team. Fred and George's shop was ignored by everyone and the people started to return to Zonko's, and they said they would never set foot in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes again. Hermione was turned down for every job she applied for, so she ended up going to the muggle world to work and the Grangers ended up working for the muggle government as dentists. The working conditions were terrible, longer hours and lower pay. But to Harry, they were all paying for what they tried to do. It might not be how Harry would have liked it, but knowing they would say they were under the imperius curse, there was nothing legal he could do, not without absolute proof. This was the best he could hope for. The Weasley's and Grangers had lost all support and respect within the magical world because the magical world supported and respected their hero, Harry Potter.

The end:

The song Angel's lullaby is owned by Richard Marx, it's just a beautiful song that I wanted to add into the story.