After the "prank" event, Severus ends up losing his life and James feels guilty about it. He tries to go back in time to fix his mistake, but every time, he ends up in different timeliness. Nonetheless, he still tries to make up for the things he did to Severus, but it was too late.
The Severus' of those timeline didn't love him. They felt pity for him, they'd try to comfort him but they didn't love him back. All James could do was watch Severus from different times fall in love and get married with people he knew. In one of the timelines, Severus even got married to his best friend and he looked so happy. Unfortunately, James couldn't find a single timeline where Severus was happy with him.
"There was a timeline where he fell in love with you. But you killed the Severus of that time. The Severus, who could've been your lover, your soulmate, he's dead. And there is no magic in the universe that can reverse it, James."
"The first time I saw you was at the station, waiting. Flaunting your stupidly messy hair, your stupidly hazel eyes full of passion and your stupidly dashing smile that you threw at every girl that passed you", Severus let a dry laugh escape his lips. He didn’t dare blink, the tear drops were so close to the edge; he wouldn't be able to stop them from rolling down like hailstones.
"You shined so bright among all the others, it was fascinating. But on your wake you also cast a huge shadow over those who were beneth you, I was unfortunately one of them. The darkness you cast consumed me- my body, soul, and senses. But I wanted you to notice me, to see me...beggers dream, I know. No matter how much I tried at the end of the day I was just a wallflower. Your dazzling face almost made me forget how different we actually were..."
James stepped closer unconsciously, his hands reaching for Severus' arms. All he wanted at that moment was to pull the other onto his warm embrace.
"Not now!", Severus snapped not looking at him anymore. He held his hands on the air almost as if he has finally surrendered to his fate. The platinum band on his ring finger catching the light slightly, "I am married now. And really happy with my married life."
James hovering hands shook in their place, his fingertips were so cold.
"Don't look at me like that, Potter".
James' voice came so low, it sounded so unlike him, "Then what should I do...I can't-"
"I don't want your chaotic storm to tarnish my life again. What we had- what I had for you...I let them go. I let you go. I can't welcome you back in my life again." Severus breath was coming in small gasps. He slowly started walking away without puting much thought to it, "Why are you doing this when you never cared to begin with? What went wrong-"
"I called!" The man with absurdly shaggy hair shouted after him. "After you left Hogwarts I called...multiple times to that house. For some reason my owls didn't reach you, I didn't know if the bird couldn't find you or you were just..."
Dead- he couldn’t utter it, the word was like a poison throne stuck in his throat.
"The red muggle telephone booth...I called from there..."
"So it was you...? you kept calling my father’s house..."
"I didn't want to but I just couldn’t stop thinking about..." his hands moved towards Severus, "You. I couldn’t stop, I never stopped looking."
"The call came at a very specific time. Every night at 12..."
"Every night."
"Every night..." Severus rubbed the side of his arm, suddenly all the warmth left his body. He inhaled sharply, tilting his head towards the sky. "When mum passed away we had to sell the house. Those few days I was helping father move out. Anyhow, no point crying over spilled milk". He turned his back completely towards James, determined to leave him in the past just like he did with his love for the man.
"Please don't go."
"Don't be like this. Go home, Potter" Severus said bitterly over his shounders. But within a second he felt a pull on his arm and was forced to look back.
"Look me in the eye and tell me this desperation this turmoil of my heart...it don't go both ways?"
"No it doesn't!" The raven head tried to pry the unyielding hands off him. "I do not love you. The Severus who loved you- you killed him. Get over with it".
James jerked him in his grip, "Do you want to know how my heart starts pounding like a maniac every time you are in my vicinity? How I am always subconsciously looking for you in a room full of crowd? Looking...incase you look back at me. Don't you want to know how I daydream about kissing you? Having you in my arms every time I turn in my cold empty bed".
"Do you know how my heart shreds into pieces everytime I end up in a timeline and see you happy, having the greatest time of your life with everybody but me."
"Potter."
"I am not there in a single chapter of your life; it's like you have some how perfectly erased my existence-"
"James"
Severus caressed face of the man he once loved. He was in such a shabby state- hair a big birds nest, stubbles grown into full beard. The smell coming from was something between old leather and gasoline. His beautiful hazel eyes lost their spark a long time ago.
Severus finally allowed the tears to roll down his face, they were catching his eyelashes. He inhaled sharply as if they hurt. James reached out wiping a tear away with his thumb, the nail on it was missing. The wound took color of nasty deep purpl. They were standing so close, close enough that their breath mingled. An unacceptable closeness that, as a married man Severus shouldn't allow.
"James...I am married and happy. I love [guys name] and he is a good guy. He loves me too, maybe more than I love myself".
"Nobody", James looked at the teary doe eyes and realized how much he missed these eyes giving him angry stares. "Will ever love you more than I do."
"You don't love me, Potter"
"I do"
"You loved Severus of your time, not me. Not any version of he that you visited for the past Merlin knows how many years."
The raven head slowly pulled himself away, "So I request you, please go back. Don't try to crawl your way back into my life because I am not him. Goodbye, Potter".
This time before James could reach out to stop him, Severus disappeared with a deafening crack.
“Are you busy right now?” Harry heard his best friend calling for him from the door.
“Mn…No” he replied from behind the mountain of paperwork that was on this table. He was basically buried under them, barely visible to Ron.
Ron gave him a weak laugh and ribbed the back of his neck while speaking, “I know you’re always busy around this time of the year…and I know you have no time to spare for anything else.” He looked at his friend with a lopsided smile.
Harry gave him a half lidded look, his eyes were burning from lack of sleep, “You need help with what Ron? Spill it.”
Ron stopped his dallying and spilled the beans, “You know how I took in the robbery case in Knockturn alley, today I have to go visit the site and I forgot to mention it to Hermione. And I have to leave now. And I was wondering if you could pick up Hugo from the daycare…”.
Harry stared at him for a while, while processing what Ron just said to him. “You forgot to mention to Hermione that you can't pick up your son from daycare because you had work. And she took on work because of that, and if you mention it to her now she’s going to kill you so you want me to cover for you?”
Ron put his hands together in a begging stance, “Please just for today. I’m counting on you.” He left in a frenzy before Harry could say no to him.
Harry opened and closed his mouth like a fish multiple times, at loss for words. Who thought it was a good idea for Ron to become a parent when he was so irresponsible. It was not a one time thing. When Rose, his daughter was in the daycare Ron would make the same mistakes and let Harry cover up for him.
Maybe it was a good thing he didn’t have kids of his own, the stress would make him go bonkers, Harry thought while rubbing his temples.
He looked at the clock. It was a quarter past three. The daycare Hugo was at closed at seven. Yes, he remembered their closing time because Ron made him go there so often for Rose before and now for Hugo. He decided to get done with the file he opened before heading out.
It was early fall. The air was not chilly but it was fairly cold. By the time he got to the daycare almost all the children were gone. It did not take him a lot of time to find Hugo in the small playground. The little boy was sitting in the sand pit admiring the little castle he made which was almost falling apart.
“Hugo.” Harry called out for the boy from the entrance. “Your dad sent me to pick you u–”.
Hugo got up from his sitting position when he heard Harry calling for him and at that time Harry noticed Hugo was not alone. There was another little boy playing with him inside the sand pit. The boy was fair with white blond hair. He crouched opposite Hugo with his little arms hugging on his knees.
“Uncle!” Hugo exclaimed while running towards Harry. “Are you here for me? Me?” the kid said while clinging to one of Harry’s legs.
“Yes I am here for you, you” Harry said, matching the kids energy with a monotonous voice.
“Okay! I will go grab my baggie” the ginger head boy said while rushing to the sand pit to look for his bag.
The blond boy was still quietly sitting there not moving. His little face turned red from cold air. Harry slowly walked up to where both the kids were at.
“Is this your new friend Hugo?” Harry asked, a little bit curious.
“Today is Scorpius’s first day. Other kids were bullying him by calling him a ghost. I made him my friend so others don’t bully him.” Hugo said, puffing his chest.
The blond kid did look like a ghost alright. His pale almost translucent complexion and the way he did not utter a single word the entire time Harry was there, gave him a ghostly aura.
The kid reminded Harry of someone else who looked exactly the same at this age. Maybe less timid and a little more talkative. And the eyes…they eyes were different. They were not icy grey. If they were this kid would look like an exact copy of the person in his memory. But how could someone bully a little timid boy like Scorpius. Kids…Harry never understood how their head works.
“Hi, Scorpius. My name is Harry. I am Hugo’s uncle.” he said with a friendly tone.
Scorpius gave him a curt nod by saying I know. Harry was a little taken aback but was not completely surprised. His face appeared almost every other day on the Daily Prophet. His popularity was widely known so this was not something special.
“I told Scorp all about you. You know how cool my uncle is, right Scorp?” Hugo chidded.
“Did you now?” Harry ruffled the ginger haired boy with a playful grin on his face.
Scorpius gave him an enthusiastic nod with a barely audible “Hmm very cool. My dad is also very cool.”
“That reminds me Scorpius, your dad is really running late isn’t he?” Harry cast a quick Tempest and it was really late. Almost six in the evening. Scorpius just gave him a little nod in response. His gaze fixed on the sand castle that was barely holding up.
Harry wanted to get back to his home as soon as possible. But just thinking about leaving this little kid all by himself made his heart hurt.
“Do you want us to stay with you until your dad comes?” he asked reluctantly.
The little blond shook his head in response. But Harry couldn’t take a kid's word seriously; he was a grown up after all.
“How bout we stay with you until your daddy comes. You can play with Hugo in the meantime.” Harry said.
Hugo gave an excited jeer when he heard he got more play time and dropped his backpack on the ground.
“Do you want to go wait inside?” he asked the blond kid. Scorpius nodded once and got up from his position when Hugo started in a whiney voice, “But I want to play outside!”.
“Hugo it's getting chilly let's go in. I’m pretty sure your friend is also cold.” Harry said but the kid started whining even more. He soon felt a tug on his pants. It was Scorpius trying to get his attention.
“Outside, I want to stay outside.” the boy said in a small voice.
“Scorpius, you know you don’t have to stay out for Hugo. Look, your cheeks are turning red from the cold.”
But the boy only said the word outside again, still keeping his head bowed low.
Harry let out a heavy sigh. He really didn’t understand kids. He took Scorpius to the nearby swing while Hugo ran around the playground with a tree branch he found on the ground. While he was on the swing besides Scorpio’s he could hear the little boy trying to sniffle his snot without making a noise and failing miserably.
Harry slowly unwrapped the dark maroon scarf from around his neck and wrapped it round Scorpius. The little boy looked at him with his big dark eyes, “I don’t need–”. “I can see you’re getting cold.” Harry responded, “It will keep you warm.” -he gently gestured towards the scarf. Scorpius was almost drowning in that scarf, it was too big on his small neck.
He grabbed onto the front of the scarf and peaked out his face, “But now you will get cold.”
“It’s fine you don’t have to worry about me. Adults don’t get cold easily” Harry responded with a casual voice while casting another tempest.
Scorpius’ father was still not there. Both of them sat in silence for a while watching Hugo play by himself. Harry did not know how to keep conversing with kids but the awkward silence bothered him.
“Um…..so Scorpius, where is your mother at? Is she also busy at work?” he asked the kid beside him.
Scorpius looked like the question did not register in his head first as his response came pretty late. “Mommy…mommy doesn’t—”.
“Scorpius!”
A familiar voice rang from the entrance of the day-care and the little boy snapped his neck towards that direction. Harry didn’t need to look to see who it was. His heart started palpitating faster sending a fight or flight reaction through his veins.
“Daddy!” the little boy said while walking towards the other man’s direction and Harry’s eyes soon followed him.
“I’m so sorry for being late, sweets. Did I make you wait too long?” Malfoy said while picking up the child who had his hands stretched towards him. Even after all these years Malfoy didn’t change much. Maybe he let his hair grow a little so people won’t recognize him and he looked like he lost a few pounds which made him look leaner.
“Mhmm…” Scorpius shook his head in response, “Hugo and his uncle kept me company so I wasn’t lonely.
“Then I’ll have to thank them both before we take our leave.” Draco said while his eyes followed to where Scorpius was sitting. Harry did not have to be a mind reader to notice the initial shock when Draco’s eyes rested on him.
Malfoy’s body language was clear as daylight to him. He was ready to eliminate any kind of threat that might come towards him or his son. The silence between them stretched making it uncomfortable to breathe. Harry rubbed his neck contemplating what he should do. He got up from the swing walking towards the father and son, a few steps away from him.
“Hi” Harry refused to let the discomfort raise to his voice. He put his hands inside his pocket trying to show Malfoy that he was no threat. Malfoy on the other hand stared at him with an expressionless face. His cold eyes calculating his current situation.
“So you are Hugo's uncle…” he said after a while “judging by his fiery head and—”. At that moment Hugo decided to run towards Harry and bump onto his leg, making loud dinosaur-like noises.
“Very…loud personality, I’m guessing he’s Weasley’s…” Draco continued, a hint of sarcasm blooming onto his tone.
“Yeah, I’m just picking him up because his parents are busy” Harry responded while fidgeting with a lint ball in his pocket. “I thought you didn’t recognize me at first.” he tried to lighten the mood with some dry humor.
“No, I did.” Draco said with a straight face, “It’s just…I thought if I refused to acknowledge your presence long enough you’d turn into someone else. Silly I know.”
“Oh..”
“Yeah”
Harry never really cared about what Malfoy thought of him but after not seeing each other for so long, such words from Malfoy stung his heart.
Scorpius who was quietly watching the two of them have a conversation, cupped Draco’s face between his tiny palms, “Daddy are you cold, your cheeks are so red.”
“Ah…I forgot my scarf in a rush. I am fine Scorp” Draco reassured the tiny version of himself.
Scorpius who was a lot more compassionate than kids his age did not buy his words. He took half of the scarf that was dangling from the back of his neck and wrapped it around Draco. “Hugo’s uncle gave it to me so I won’t get a cold. I will share it with daddy so daddy can stay warm too.” Scorpius said while patting the scarf on Draco’s neck.
“I can share it with daddy, right…uncle..?” The question was directed towards Harry.
The maroon complemented Draco’s pale features, giving a hint of color to his complexion. Both Draco and his miniature self looked quite adorable wrapped in Harry’s scarf.
Harry remembered, on their first meeting, which was on the train to Hogwarts, Draco had a similar colored scarf wrapped around him. Maybe if Scorpius was less compassionate and had slick back hair he’d look exactly like the Draco he remembered from childhood.
“Of course you can,” Harry replied, forcing himself out of his daydream.
Taking a deep breath Draco started, “Anyways, thank you for keeping my son company and the scarf. I will return it through Hugo if you happen to not come anytime soon.”
***
On their way home Harry asked Hugo a bunch of questions about this new friend of his.
“So you’re saying you never saw his mother coming to pick him up?’
Hugo, who was too busy running in front of his uncle, waving his imaginary plane in the air, finally answered after he was out of breath. “Scorp said his mom is travelling outside England with her husband.”
That stopped Harry in his tracks.
“What do you mean by her husband?”
Hugo looked back at his uncle with a scrunched up eyebrow, “Uncle, Scorps parents don’t live together anymore. That’s all Scorp told me.”
Malfoy was divorced? But he clearly remembers seeing the platinum wedding band shining on his ring finger. What was that about?
***
Hermione’s dining area reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasly’s kitchen. Small but warm and inviting. She put a mug in front of Harry and took the seat across from him. The sweet smell of cocoa soothing his shivering bones.
“It’s hard to tell why they’d have split up.” She took a sip from her own mug. “I mean they obviously loved each other. They have a child together afterall. And I didn’t see anything about the Prophet either, they really wanted to keep it from the public.”
Harry leaned closer to the table, “Do you think he was a bad husband to her? That’s why she left his petty arse.”
Hermione shook her head in response, “The little interaction I used to have with Astoria when she still worked for the ministry told me she was quite happy with her marriage.”
“You sure she was not acting just to keep up appearances?”
A thud echoed in the room as Hermione put her mug down on the table. “Harry, sometimes people fall out of love. Maybe at the beginning it was love for both of them but later they had a fall out. I mean as long as they were not dishonest with each other when they were together, it was okay to move on when they know it’s not going to work.”
“But still—”
Their conversation got cut short as Ron entered through the main entrance, loudly announcing his presence.
“Ha—Harry, so good to see you?” he clearly didn’t expect Harry to come over the same day. Let alone have a serious looking conversation with Hermione in the dining area.
Ron’s eyes soon moved on to his wife, who was looking at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Mione…my love.” he went over to her, kissing her forehead.
“Ronald Weasley, I know you made Harry get Hugo from daycare today.”
“I’m sorry” Ron hung his head low, “I wanted to tell you that I couldn’t make it today but I was too scared you’d be upset.”
Hermione let out a heavy sign.
“I won’t say I wouldn't have gotten upset but next time let me know if there is any issue okay. Even if I get mad. You can’t always bother Harry whenever it’s convenient to you.”
“Hermione, I don’t really mind helping you guys with the kids sometimes you know.” Harry said, trying to cool down the atmosphere.
“I know Harry and I am grateful for that. But you know when you are a parent you can’t help but worry when you know your child is outside your care. Parenting is not easy. That's why you need a partner so you can share that responsibility.”
The rest of the conversation died down in the background, Harry was bothered. He couldn’t help but think about a certain someone.
A certain someone who was a single father now, with a child no older than six. A certain someone who looked good wrapped in his maroon scarf with the little blond child in his arms.
“Earth to our lord and savior Harry James Potter?” he heard Ron calling for him.
Harry looked towards his love-dovey friends and gave them a tight smile.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, “What are you thinking about?”
“What? Nothing. I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“Let me ask you a question so you can narrow down that answer.” Hermione leaned in close. Who are you thinking about?”
Ron looked from his best friend to his wife, “What were you guys talking about before I came?”
“Mione, I swear I’m not thinking.”
“Is it Malfoy?” Hermione said his name so casually as if it was written over Harry’s face, who he was thinking about.
“What?” Ron was in utter disbelief. “Why is he getting involved?”
“Harry met him today.” Hermione, put her hand on the table, leaning on it. “Malfoy’s son is in the same daycare as Hugo.”
Ron looked towards his best friend with his mouth still open, not knowing what to say. “Harry, he is married!”
“He was.” Hermione quickly corrected him.
“Oh..” Ron dragged out the word purposefully, “That makes the situation a little interesting…”
“I really don’t know what you guys are on about but would you look at the time?” Harry said, quickly getting up from his seat. “I must take my leave. Can I use your Floo?”
“Of course. Wouldn’t want you to get run over by a love angel on your way home.” Ron said with a smirk on his face.
Harry gave his friends a half-hearted eyeroll before disappearing into the green flame. They were always good at making something out of nothing.
~~~~
A sprinkle of drarry with children that I wrote a long long time ago but never finished and probably never will...
Original Lineart by @randomartist7
Coloured version by myself
Fanfiction also by myself
Teaser:
Well that, Vox decided when the smoke had cleared, was not a comfortable experience.
The roughly seven foot tall demon stared around his new surroundings with a mixture of curiosity, begrudging amusement, and annoyance. Mostly the latter, as he had been unceremoniously dragged out of the middle of an afternoon hang-out session with his fellow Vees. It was extremely unusual for a demon to be physically summoned from Hell, much less a sinner demon such as himself. Someone powerful must be behind this. Or stupid lucky. It certainly wasn't the smoothest ride either way. But to summon him, of all creatures! Pride flashed in his veins, lighting up the television screen that was Vox's face.
However, as the biomechanical being observed the area, muggy air slugging through the gills hidden beneath his jacket, those feelings began to turn into something far less confident. Vox found himself in a rickety old shack. The smell of mold and rotting swamp, though strong, was heavily overpowered by the rancid stench of blood. Death battled with sick-sweet-revolting decay. A small breeze through holes in the wall did little to whisk away the unnerving scents, though they were able to sway the foliage, like cattails and vines, that invaded through the floorboards and ramshackle walls. A few strange symbols, made of bent twigs and sinew, hung from the ceiling. Corpses were strewn about the floor. Beside him was a bookcase full of occult tools and trinkets, beneath him was a sigil drawn in blood, and before him stood a lean man wearing glasses. The man was somewhat dark of skin, and scornful of eye...
God!! That was great!! I read through the whole thing and I loved this so much!!
Vox taking pictures of human Al while he had the chance was 100% vox 😂😂😂 and him thinking about how vellvet and al both are like witches was a good point I didn't notice before :000✨✨
Keep cooking!! I'm curious about what happens next xDDD
A/N: Yeah I'm not stopping. As usual link at the end.
Vincent’s hands were still trembling — not from fear, but from excitement. Blood speckled his shirt, his knuckles, even the corner of his cheek where a stray drop had flicked up.
He didn’t notice any of it.
All he could focus on was Alastor standing infront him, one hand cupping Vincent’s jaw with that slow, confident tenderness that always made his circuits feel like they were overheating.
“You are doing it great, sweetheart,” Alastor murmured against his ear, voice smooth like warm radio static. Praise wrapped in velvet. Encouragement disguised as sin.
Vincent’s breath caught — he lived for that tone.
He leaned into Alastor’s touch, eyes fluttering shut briefly as the older man’s thumb brushed over a smear of blood on his cheek.
Vincent’s grin widened, sharp and boyish all at once.
“Thank you, honey,” he whispered, blue and green eyes glowing a little brighter, pride rolling through him like electricity.
The knife in Alastor’s hand gleamed, freshly used but steady, held with elegance only he could make look romantic. Vincent’s own hands rested on Alastor’s waist — messy, trembling, desperate for approval, desperate for him.
Alastor guided Vincent’s wrist gently, lining up the blade again, his voice soft and coaxing:
“Just like that, darling… slow and deliberate. There’s an art to this.”
Vincent shivered — not at the gore, but at the attention.
At Alastor choosing to touch him, to guide him, to let him be part of this intimate violence.
The room smelled like copper and adrenaline.
Vincent had never felt more loved.
Alastor kissed the side of his neck — light, approving, almost domestic.
“Good boy,” he murmured.
Vincent practically melted, breath hitching as he leaned further into Alastor’s chest, hands gripping him tighter.
He whispered with that shaky devotion only Vincent could have:
“Anything for you, Alastor… anything you want.”
Alastor smiled — a soft, wicked, unmistakably pleased thing — and tilted Vincent’s chin up to kiss him, uncaring that their lips smeared together with red.
“Excellent,” he purred.
“Then let’s finish what we started.”
And for Vincent, nothing had ever felt more like home.
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