Year 4

Hermione made the breakthrough over the holidays, in working out that the dark mark was essentially a protean charm powered by the magic of the person inflicted with it. The ability to torture or call through it was indeed tied to parselmagic of a kind so crude that Hermione actually laughed when she found out the signature of it.

Somehow, Tom Riddle had never managed to find Salazar Slytherin's library, having been too impressed by what he could do with a basilisk. All they had to do was to persuade the snake in the morsmorde tattoo to slither off Severus' arm onto a piece of plain leather, dragging all its connections with it. Here it would go into hibernation and essentially die. The skull remained as a rather faded tattoo, and Harry suggested adding an Iron Maiden logo and 'give me Ed til I'm dead' to claim it as a teenage fondness to heavy metal.

Severus sighed, and agreed.

He then set out to research Iron Maiden songs, and discovered to his surprise that there were possibilities in using them in magical chants. Sirius, who liked heavy metal, found a point of similarity with Severus over this, and helped him research. Unfortunately he could not sing as well as he thought he could.

Severus then went to Lucius with the offer of removing his own dark mark. Lucius looked shifty.

"I had been wondering whether to hedge my bets," he said. "And Parkinson suggested a muggle-baiting revel at the World Cup ..."

"Are you a complete idiot, Lucius?" said Severus, in disgust. "You have a teenage son. Do you really want Draco to be a death eater, a slave to that egomaniacal little wanker? Don't you think you owe it to your family to stand above that sort of thing? And to encourage your wife to be a true cousin to Lord Black, which might give Draco a bit more standing? Believe me, I have argued with Sirius Black that you have seen the light, and he is willing to make a tentative truce, but if you throw that away with revels, you may guarantee that Narcissa will be declared divorced, her dowry revoked, and all ties to the Black family broken. And when you end up in Azkaban, Draco will then be Draco no-name. I ask again, are you a complete idiot?"

Lucius bowed his head.

"The mudblood is a decent witch," he muttered. "Narcissa likes her."

"And you are clever enough to recognise that the teenage rebellion which got you into a profound slavery is a lie," said Severus. "Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort, is a half-blood. And he's done more to limit pure blood families than anyone else, you know. Why do you think most Death Eater families have at most one child?"

"I don't know, I hadn't thought about it."

"Well, I'll tell you," said Severus. "It's not purely inbreeding, though that doesn't help. It's because the dark mark is tied to your life force, and this also means it is tied to your procreative life force. The dark revels emphasise rape and enjoyment other than pure sexual because the virility of all people under the mark has been compromised, leading to a need of some kind of fetishism to get it up. And your ability to procreate is also compromised."

"Get it off," said Lucius, baring his arm.

Having learned how to do it from Hermione, Severus hissed the correct formula, and the snake willingly slithered out of the skull and onto the piece of leather he had brought.

"You're a parselmouth?" Lucius was surprised.

"Harry and Hermione taught me," said Severus. "We haven't figured out how to get rid of the skull, but mine has faded. I have a declaration of support of a muggle music band."

"I'm not going that far," said Lucius. "It's just a skull; I'll tell the DMLE if they ask that we got drunk together but I wised up before I let them cover me with muggle symbols."

Severus nodded.

It would serve.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Severus had applied for adoption over the holidays as well, in consultation with Lupin and, reluctantly, Black. Having assured the animagus that it would not affect his rights as godfather, and changing his will to leave guardianship of the children to Black, he had won the support of the volatile man. Black had been at pains to make amends after his long healing. Apparently he had been viewing his own pranks in a pensieve and distance had shown him that his actions had not been appropriate.

He finally felt able to go and look at Grimmauld Place, and went, with Remus as a support, looking every inch like Lord Black, rather than like a gaunt and shifty jailbird.

He returned suddenly through the floo, with a gold locket in his hands, a look of distaste on his face, and a dirty, scrawny house-elf clinging to his robes.

"Sev, mate! I think this is one of You-know-who's You-Know-Whats!" he shouted. "My brother was one of the good guys! He turned against Riddle, and died getting this to destroy! And this here is Kreacher who begged me to kill him for failing to destroy it!"

"That'll be the one in London Bill Weasley couldn't get at," said Severus, in some satisfaction. "The kids know what they are so you don't have to use circumlocution."

"You told them about ..."

"I had one removed from Harry, remember? That Dumbledore did not know how to remove and so in his usual fit of hubris assumed could not be removed unless Voldemort fired another killing curse at Harry and killed it."

"I'm going to kill that old man."

"Get in the queue. He's messed with my life as well as with my son's life. Right, basilisk venom should do it. It has with all the others Bill found."

"And of course you just keep basilisk venom on hand?"

"Well, yes. Just in case. Sassie is amenable to being milked so long as it doesn't hurt."

Black shook his head.

"I cannot get over how laid back you are about a sixty foot deadly class five-x creature," he said.

"Familiarity," said Snape. "Sassie teaches parceltongue to those who want to learn and parcelmagic; there's a group of Ravenclaws who want to be healers who hang on her every word. She's a better history teacher than Binns, too. I might ask Dumbledore if she can't have the position formally."

"I would love to see his face."

The look shared between the two old enemies was quite mischievous.

"Here, Kreacher," said Severus, putting the locket in a crucible, "You were charged with dealing with it; take this flask and pour it onto the locket. Be careful not to get any on yourself."

Kreacher did as he was told, and the locket screamed, protested, and ... died.

Kreacher sighed in relief and knelt to Sirius.

"Kreacher will do whatever Master wants, and punish himself for letting the house get so dirty," he said.

"The hell you will," said Sirius. "Listen, your punishment is to clean the house thoroughly with only two other house elves you recruit."

"Master is generous. Does Master have any house elves in mind?"

"No, I thought you might know some whose lines are dead?"

"Kreacher knows just the elvses!" the little elf brightened and popped off.

"I hated him when I was a kid, but his story was so heartrending," said Sirius. "I did the whole nine yards of Lord Black at him and he just spilled the whole lot."

"One we haven't managed to find in Hogwarts and one in Albania left," said Severus. "I wager even if Albus knew where they were, he'd contrive to turn it into some sick treasure hunt for Harry to build his character."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

With Lucius having let slip that former Death Eaters were considering a revel at the Quidditch World Cup, Severus vetoed a tentative suggestion from Harry that they might go.

"Why not?" Black demanded. "If it's money, I'll take the pup, and Hermione if she wants."

"I'd as soon have more library time, thank you," said Hermione.

"It's not money. Parkinson is planning on a dark revel and I have no intention of having Harry, who attracts trouble like a magnet attracts nails, anywhere near idiot Death Eaters alleviating their boredom with puerile pranks perpetrated on people," said Severus. "Knowing Harry, he'd end up wandering into their meeting and being tortured for shits and giggles."

Black paled.

"When you put it that way ... Have you told the DMLE?"

"Yes, I mentioned I had overheard something. Amelia Bones said she would do what she could. Which is to say as much as Fudge lets her."

"That man is a waste of space."

"Yes, the position would even be filled better by someone like you," said Snape. Black sputtered indignantly.

"Wait, was that almost a compliment?" he managed as he worked it out.

"Almost," said Snape. "But then, I recognise that little Colin Creevey could do a better job than Fudge, so it's not much of a compliment."

"What if we promise to stay away from Death Eaters, dad?" asked Harry, his mind on the pertinent point.

"That would be fine if only Death Eaters would promise to stay away from you," said Snape. "I'm sorry, Harry. Perhaps we can go to some other games during the season, but I am not going to risk my trouble magnet."

Harry sighed.

"I guess you're right, Daddy," he said.

Sirius' face contracted slightly to hear his pup call an old enemy 'Daddy', but he had learned to recognise that Snape gave as much love to the boy as was returned. And to be honest, he was not sure how good a father he would be. It was more fun being an uncle who could get into trouble with his nephew. And niece, he reminded himself.

00000000000000000000000000000000

The revel barely occasioned a paragraph in the Daily Prophet, and was only mentioned because someone had sent Morsmorde up into the sky, using the wand of a child who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child turned out to be Ronald Weasley, who had received a nasty shock of being questioned rather roughly by Rufus Scrimgeour. The game had not been especially exciting, by the sound of it, with Ireland outscoring Bulgaria by so far that Krum's snitch catch had been for pride. Harry wondered if he would care more about quidditch the way Sirius expected him to, if he had not got a loving family. As it was, he was too busy to be obsessive about the game the way some of his house were; and since there had been those who made a fuss about him and Hermione becoming 'traitors' by having a Slytherin guardian he had lost his temper, and told the Gryffindor team that they wouldn't want a traitor playing for them, and he preferred to have a loving guardian to being a star quidditch player. And Severus had listened to him when he cried a bit about it, and said that it was perfectly normal for someone who had little support at home to hanker after recognition.

"It's how I became a Death Eater," said Severus. "I got recognition for my talent with potions."

"Recognition is over-rated," said Harry.

"There's no quidditch this coming year, anyway," said Severus. "Dumbledore has cancelled it in order to revive an old competition called the 'Triwizard Competition' instead. Two other schools will take part, and their representatives will be spending the year here. He swears blind he will make sure you are not involved in it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he enters you clandestinely; or it will be some kind of trap for someone to do so. I found a book on his desk in which it outlined a ritual whereby the body of someone kept alive by horcrux could be remade using the blood of his enemy, the bones of his ancestor and the flesh of a willing sacrifice."

Harry looked panicked.

"But I can refuse to compete!" he said.

"It is supposed to be a binding contract if your name comes out of the goblet," said Severus.

A cunning look washed over Harry's face and he looked for a moment disturbingly like his father.

"Supposing my name wasn't legally just Harry James Potter?" he said. "After all, you are my father. It is our destiny to rule the galaxy ... sorry, sidetracked there."

"Harry Vader doesn't quite have the ring to it; and your godfather is doing fairly well. I'm not sure he'd like you being Harry Snape."

"He will if it's a prank and my legal name is Harry James Potter Black Lupin Vader Snape," said Harry.

"You know, that might just work," said Severus.

When it was put to Sirius like that, he looked thoughtful.

"And I have named Harry as my heir," he said. "So using 'Black' as part of his name would make sense, and it means we can adopt Moony more thoroughly too. Vader? Really?" Sirius had also seen Star Wars now.

"Well, Dad's robes billow so beautifully," said Harry, as if this explained it.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Severus consulted Bill Weasley on how the horcrux search went, and discovered that he thought he had them all.

"And one was at a place in Little Hangleton where the Riddle ancestors are buried, so for safety's sake we had them disinterred and cremated, and scattered at sea," said Bill. "All with the aid of the muggle authorities, in great secrecy and in something called 'Noddy suits' as the yarn we spun was that they carried a strain of the plague."

"Oh very well done," said Severus. "That precludes that particular ceremony then. I wonder if his spirit can survive without any horcruxes left?"

"Do you know where it is?" asked Bill.

"Yes, it's in the petrified body of Quirinius Quirrel and we stored it in the Chamber of Secrets," said Severus.

"Oh, we should be able to drive it out, especially as he is now objectified, and into an object I can throw through the veil," said Bill. "I don't know what that would do to anyone with the dark mark though."

"I don't care; I don't have one," said Severus.

Bill chuckled.

"Oh, well, we will see what happens," he said. "It may just disappear if he's not in a state to fight and draw on them. Or there again, it might kill any host his soul is attached to."

"An interesting experiment," said Severus.

Bill could not get to Hogwarts before Halloween, but there was no big hurry.

The other schools duly turned up, and Sirius made a suggestion to Severus, who chuckled gleefully.

"It's a good job I wasn't friendly with you at school, or we should have caused mayhem," he said, severely.

In due course, the goblet of fire tossed out its three candidates, and two more pieces of paper.

"Bless my soul!" said Albus. "Salem Academy of witches – Albus Brian. Well that is plainly ridiculous and not a full name. Zurich school of wizardry; Harry Potter. Harry my boy! You will have to go with the other contestants."

"Will Albus Brian be going too?" asked Harry.

"Of course not; it is not a full name so it is not legally binding," said Dumbledore genially.

"Oh, in that case, I don't have to go either," said Harry, and resumed eating.

"Harry, my boy, Harry Potter is your name."

"But it's not my full name, and does not include my official surname, so it's as legally binding as Albus Brian," said Harry. "And I didn't put my name in or ask anyone else to, so the intent is not mine either, so it doesn't count. I'm not going to."

"But Harry ..."

"As the boy's guardian, I forbid him to compete," said Severus. "Satisfied, old man? And he's right about the legal name. He changed it in the holidays to take account of the people he sees as family. Of course, if someone put it in as a prank, never meaning him to compete, they will have no problem, a bit like anyone who put in a name like Albus Brian. But if they had intent, they will be the one to forfeit magic. Dear me, Alastor, you look quite wan. Surely you did not want my son to be challenged more than his age warrants?"

"More likely a death eater like you," rasped Moody.

Severus laughed and rolled up his sleeve.

"Now you do the same," he said.

"I don't need to!" said Moody. "And if you ain't a death eater, why have you got a petrified body stashed secretly?"

"You mean do I know that Sassie took exception to having been fooled by Voldemort in 1946 and decided to petrify the body he was using as a host?" said Severus. "You'd better ask Sassie about that. She's a very sweet-natured basilisk on the whole."

"You admit to keeping a basilisk in a school where Harry Potter is supposed to be protected?" howled Moody.

Harry stood.

"Actually, Professor Moody, Sassie is my familiar, and aren't the contestants going to be getting worried?"

"We will speak of this later, Snape," growled Moody.

"You can, if you like; I'm bored and plan to wander off," said Severus.

"How did you get your name in?" demanded Ron Weasley.

"I didn't. Someone put a part of my name in, was it you, Weasley? I don't appreciate that as a prank, you know, and I'm bloody glad you don't know my full legal name or I'd have to compete. Or was it your lunatic brothers?"

"Not us ..."

"Harry," said the twins.

"And it wasn't Ron ..."

"Either."

"Good," said Harry.

"Harry," said Hermione, quietly, "Should we cast the dark mark removing spell and see who screams? Because it might be someone in Slytherin House in the seniors who wants to see you killed by this silly contest."

"You know, that's a very good idea," said Harry. "But let's warn Dad first."

Severus listened to the explanation.

"Do it," he said. "Harry, use the invisibility cloak and cast near the staff table; it'll take Karkaroff's dark mark as well, and though he ratted people up for self preservation at the time, he might even go straight if he doesn't have to fear being found through it. It isn't easy being a headmaster I wager so he is atoneing."

Harry nodded.

"'A death mark's not an easy thing to live with,'" he quoted. "And then if it's anyone else we get them too," he said.

"Exactly, General Rieekan" said Severus. "And Hermione frees those of my children inducted when they were infants – if there are any."

"Is it possible?" asked Hermione. "I hadn't thought about it, but of course they haven't had the opportunity since being of age."

"I ... do not think so," said Severus, "But I don't entirely rule out the sick little creature doing it to the children of those of his followers he considered likely to be disloyal, to control them."

Hermione made a face.

"How very unpleasant," she said.

Dumbledore looked up sharply at the sound of the quiet, sibilant hissing; and then Professor Moody and the visiting headmaster, Karkaroff were rolling on the floor screaming, and clutching their arms. Nobody else was affected and Harry stood on Moody's wand and trained his own on him.

"Harry, my boy, what are you up to?" asked Dumbledore.

"Not your boy, and revealing the hidden Death Eater who put my name in the goblet," said Harry.

"that was unwise and impolite of you," said Dumbledore.

"Unwise to reveal a traitor? I don't think so. And Han shot first," said Harry, somewhat obscurely from the point of view of some of those present.

Severus sent one of his steadier prefects to fire call the DMLE, and it was not long before the false Moody was changing into Barty Crouch junior and sobbing that he had been separated from his master.

"Separated from reality more like," said Severus.

With all the horcruxes found and destroyed, the stone statue formerly known as Quirrelmort was pushed through the veil intact. Quirrel had, after all, been willing to be possessed.

To Harry and Hermione the Triwizard competition was rather boring and anticlimactic. They cheered politely for Cedric of course, and Harry sent Dobby to rescue Gabrielle seeing Fleur's distress, on the proviso the excitable little elf did not mention who his master was. He almost pranked Severus by suggesting to Dobby that he claim that Severus Snape was his master, but there were pranks and then there were pranks which went too far.

And besides, Harry had no desire to have Fleur as a stepmother.

He was half considering engineering seeing a bit more of their wizarding social services case worker who seemed open minded enough to meet Severus half way and was a good sort and besides had watched Star Wars with them once.

The world was now his oyster with a loving father and uncles and no dark lord.