Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Stray
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter...........yet
You told me and I answered! Stray will be raised in.....(insert drum roll)..... The Dursely House!
X
On the fourth day of Stray's stay,(giggle giggle, rhymes!) they were all seated in the parlor watching the fire in comfortable silence, broken only by the cracking of the logs and the occasional contented gurgle of the babies as they took turns nuzzling Draco's plushie. Narcissa watched them both, smiling that smile that only mother's have, and Lucius thumbed half-heartedly through an old Creatures text.
Around the time he reached chapter fifty buh-jillion elevinty four, after he had confidently decided that Stray's lack of poisonous fins and gills erased Higglypunks from the seemingly never-ending list, the small, warm fire roared upwards, turning acidic green, and spewing Dumbledore onto the expensive fur carpet, along with a rather wary looking Severus.
"Headmaster!" trilled Narcissa, getting to her feet and running over. "How nice to see you again! Please, please sit down!"
"Don't mind me." drawled Severus, rolling his eyes. "I'll just stand over in the corner."
Lucius mimicked his action, standing and giving him a clap on the shoulder. "Pleasant as usual, Severus. No big surprise there. What have you been up to since the other day?"
His nearly life-long friend sneered, but he did not miss the cagey look he sent to the smallest person in the house. Lucius raised an eyebrow, before walking over to his chair, picking up the book he had been looking through, taking out the sheet of parchment he had been jotting on. (at this point Narcissa and Albus are talking animatedly at the other end of the room about Draco, her favorite subject). "Severus, about the child you left in our care- -"
"Don't worry, Lucius, that is why we are here. We located relatives, he will be gone within the hour."
Lucius nodded, ignoring the slight pang of regret to lose the sweet little being. "Very well. But you see Narcissa and I have a few inquiries to make about our little house guest."
Severus nodded, a sign for him to continue.
"First and foremost, his name."
"His father forbid the boy to be named. Under the circumstances, I would think it is simply whatever name Dumbledore comes up with. I fear he'll end up a Lolly or something equally rediculouse. "
Lucius furrowed his brow. "We've called him Stray so far. He seems to like it."
Severus gave him an odd look, his lip twitching. "I.... ehem, I will tell the Headmaster to include that bit of information when he is given to his relatives."
"Alright. Now..." Lucius cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Would you object to telling me what, exactly, I have allowed into my home?"
Severus blinked. "What?"
"Stray. Who is he, and what is he? Normally something like this would be handled by the Ministry Child Services. This is obviously a special case for you and Dumbledore to be working on it."
Severus rubbed his temples miserably. "Damn you and your ways, Lucius." he glared at the slightly shorter man, before sinking into a chair. "Alright. You have a right to know, I suppose. Just remember that he is only a baby, hardly a year old at that."
Lucius nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes! Enough with the dramatics!"
"The boy, Stray as you call him, was the second son of one Lily Potter."
Lucius choked, despite the fact that he hadn't been drinking anything. "W-what?! But the Potters only had one child! The one who defeated Voldemort was an only child! Everybody knows that!"
"No. They were twins. Lily was apparently taken by an Incubi during the beginnings of her pregnancy. James was so disgusted that he sent the newborn to an unknown cabin in the mountains with only a House Elf for company. She left a note in her will to lead us to him. We've decided to send him to live with his brother, under the guise that he has been in the hospital and was only recently released. He won't show many of the Incubi traits until he has his purging, and by that time he will be secured in school, where we can watch him and keep him and everyone else safe."
"I can't imagine the Muggle caretakers to want anything to do with.... Well, one of them."
Severus nodded, looking annoyed. "That is what I said. They are Muggles obsessed with normalcy, and young 'Stray' is about as strange as they come. Potter's clone was likely already a stretch for them. But Albus assures me that the boy will be normal enough to get on with them for the duration of his stay."
Lucius nodded. "Very well. But if anything happens..."
Severus raised a brow. "Why Lucius, do I detect a hint of compassion?"
Lucius smirked, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue. "No, merely my attempt to keep Narcissa from swooping down at me. I do believe she loves the boy already."
"I am not surprised. So Lucius, tell me of your young guest's stay?"
X
Albus shifted uncomfortably at his desk, quill hovering hesitantly over the papers before him. He cleared his throat, lowering the tip to the paper.
"What are you doing?!" snapped Narcissa, glaring down at him with molten mercury eyes.
"I'm just writing his name." said the old man, trying desperately to hide how intimidated he was by the woman's glare. Honestly, he was six times her age! He defeated Grindlewald! He shouldn't be afraid of a 5'7", 130 pound witch!
"And just WHAT did you intend to write, hm? Not your little idea I hope?"
"It's a perfectly acceptable name, Narcissa!"
"Of course it is." she sniffed, crossing her arms. "If you're asking for a new Dark Lord that is."
"It's a great name for a child!"
"But BonBon Saccharine Evans? It's okay for a little girl maybe, but he is a little boy. One that will grow up to be a man. He'll be teased relentlessly for the rest of his life. I'm sorry headmaster, but that sounds like the name of a hooker."
Albus sent a 'trust me, I know everything' look her way, but apparently she had set up shields for such advances beforehand. "Narcissa....."
"No! I'm not backing down! I've known that child for far longer than you- - -"
"Four days!"
"- - - and I'll tell you right now, he is NOT a BonBon!" she spun around on her heel, glaring at Lucius and Severus, who had been watching the whole display. "You agree with me, don't you Luc? He needs a better name! A good one! A dignified one!"
"Like Draco?" said Severus in bemusement.
"Yes! Exactly! Or we could keep the name he already has!"
"Why don't we follow the Evan legacy?"
"What?"
"They all have flower names as far as I've seen. Why not......... Stray Mandrake Evans? Or something?"
Narcissa wrinkled her nose. "Mandrake? As in those screamy little monster plants? What if he actually sees one? He'd hate whoever gave him the name forever!"
"Sugarcane?" said Dumbledore innocently.
"No! A flower!"
As one can well imagine, this argument went on for a very very long time. The fact that any flower name would, in essence, be a feminine name was brought up and immediately shot down until they all came to a grudging agreement.
"Stray Cosette Violet Evans." said Narcissa, picking up the rather drowsy baby and spinning him around. "That's your name little one! But I think I'll just keep calling you Stray, huh?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "That child is going to grow up a Homicidal Maniac." he said, looming over Narcissa 's shoulder to look at the tiny half-human. "And it won't be because of his bloodlines, I'll tell you that much."
"Don't be so negative, Severus my boy." said Albus, though he was still a bit put out after all of his candy-based names were refused. "I'll just sign the papers and be on my way to bring little... Stray... to his new home."
X
Yeah, I know. Short. But I got hit in the head really hard yesterday so this is the most my frazzled head can come up with. Sorry. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!
You told me and I answered! Stray will be raised in.....(insert drum roll)..... The Dursely House!
X
On the fourth day of Stray's stay,(giggle giggle, rhymes!) they were all seated in the parlor watching the fire in comfortable silence, broken only by the cracking of the logs and the occasional contented gurgle of the babies as they took turns nuzzling Draco's plushie. Narcissa watched them both, smiling that smile that only mother's have, and Lucius thumbed half-heartedly through an old Creatures text.
Around the time he reached chapter fifty buh-jillion elevinty four, after he had confidently decided that Stray's lack of poisonous fins and gills erased Higglypunks from the seemingly never-ending list, the small, warm fire roared upwards, turning acidic green, and spewing Dumbledore onto the expensive fur carpet, along with a rather wary looking Severus.
"Headmaster!" trilled Narcissa, getting to her feet and running over. "How nice to see you again! Please, please sit down!"
"Don't mind me." drawled Severus, rolling his eyes. "I'll just stand over in the corner."
Lucius mimicked his action, standing and giving him a clap on the shoulder. "Pleasant as usual, Severus. No big surprise there. What have you been up to since the other day?"
His nearly life-long friend sneered, but he did not miss the cagey look he sent to the smallest person in the house. Lucius raised an eyebrow, before walking over to his chair, picking up the book he had been looking through, taking out the sheet of parchment he had been jotting on. (at this point Narcissa and Albus are talking animatedly at the other end of the room about Draco, her favorite subject). "Severus, about the child you left in our care- -"
"Don't worry, Lucius, that is why we are here. We located relatives, he will be gone within the hour."
Lucius nodded, ignoring the slight pang of regret to lose the sweet little being. "Very well. But you see Narcissa and I have a few inquiries to make about our little house guest."
Severus nodded, a sign for him to continue.
"First and foremost, his name."
"His father forbid the boy to be named. Under the circumstances, I would think it is simply whatever name Dumbledore comes up with. I fear he'll end up a Lolly or something equally rediculouse. "
Lucius furrowed his brow. "We've called him Stray so far. He seems to like it."
Severus gave him an odd look, his lip twitching. "I.... ehem, I will tell the Headmaster to include that bit of information when he is given to his relatives."
"Alright. Now..." Lucius cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Would you object to telling me what, exactly, I have allowed into my home?"
Severus blinked. "What?"
"Stray. Who is he, and what is he? Normally something like this would be handled by the Ministry Child Services. This is obviously a special case for you and Dumbledore to be working on it."
Severus rubbed his temples miserably. "Damn you and your ways, Lucius." he glared at the slightly shorter man, before sinking into a chair. "Alright. You have a right to know, I suppose. Just remember that he is only a baby, hardly a year old at that."
Lucius nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes! Enough with the dramatics!"
"The boy, Stray as you call him, was the second son of one Lily Potter."
Lucius choked, despite the fact that he hadn't been drinking anything. "W-what?! But the Potters only had one child! The one who defeated Voldemort was an only child! Everybody knows that!"
"No. They were twins. Lily was apparently taken by an Incubi during the beginnings of her pregnancy. James was so disgusted that he sent the newborn to an unknown cabin in the mountains with only a House Elf for company. She left a note in her will to lead us to him. We've decided to send him to live with his brother, under the guise that he has been in the hospital and was only recently released. He won't show many of the Incubi traits until he has his purging, and by that time he will be secured in school, where we can watch him and keep him and everyone else safe."
"I can't imagine the Muggle caretakers to want anything to do with.... Well, one of them."
Severus nodded, looking annoyed. "That is what I said. They are Muggles obsessed with normalcy, and young 'Stray' is about as strange as they come. Potter's clone was likely already a stretch for them. But Albus assures me that the boy will be normal enough to get on with them for the duration of his stay."
Lucius nodded. "Very well. But if anything happens..."
Severus raised a brow. "Why Lucius, do I detect a hint of compassion?"
Lucius smirked, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue. "No, merely my attempt to keep Narcissa from swooping down at me. I do believe she loves the boy already."
"I am not surprised. So Lucius, tell me of your young guest's stay?"
X
Albus shifted uncomfortably at his desk, quill hovering hesitantly over the papers before him. He cleared his throat, lowering the tip to the paper.
"What are you doing?!" snapped Narcissa, glaring down at him with molten mercury eyes.
"I'm just writing his name." said the old man, trying desperately to hide how intimidated he was by the woman's glare. Honestly, he was six times her age! He defeated Grindlewald! He shouldn't be afraid of a 5'7", 130 pound witch!
"And just WHAT did you intend to write, hm? Not your little idea I hope?"
"It's a perfectly acceptable name, Narcissa!"
"Of course it is." she sniffed, crossing her arms. "If you're asking for a new Dark Lord that is."
"It's a great name for a child!"
"But BonBon Saccharine Evans? It's okay for a little girl maybe, but he is a little boy. One that will grow up to be a man. He'll be teased relentlessly for the rest of his life. I'm sorry headmaster, but that sounds like the name of a hooker."
Albus sent a 'trust me, I know everything' look her way, but apparently she had set up shields for such advances beforehand. "Narcissa....."
"No! I'm not backing down! I've known that child for far longer than you- - -"
"Four days!"
"- - - and I'll tell you right now, he is NOT a BonBon!" she spun around on her heel, glaring at Lucius and Severus, who had been watching the whole display. "You agree with me, don't you Luc? He needs a better name! A good one! A dignified one!"
"Like Draco?" said Severus in bemusement.
"Yes! Exactly! Or we could keep the name he already has!"
"Why don't we follow the Evan legacy?"
"What?"
"They all have flower names as far as I've seen. Why not......... Stray Mandrake Evans? Or something?"
Narcissa wrinkled her nose. "Mandrake? As in those screamy little monster plants? What if he actually sees one? He'd hate whoever gave him the name forever!"
"Sugarcane?" said Dumbledore innocently.
"No! A flower!"
As one can well imagine, this argument went on for a very very long time. The fact that any flower name would, in essence, be a feminine name was brought up and immediately shot down until they all came to a grudging agreement.
"Stray Cosette Violet Evans." said Narcissa, picking up the rather drowsy baby and spinning him around. "That's your name little one! But I think I'll just keep calling you Stray, huh?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "That child is going to grow up a Homicidal Maniac." he said, looming over Narcissa 's shoulder to look at the tiny half-human. "And it won't be because of his bloodlines, I'll tell you that much."
"Don't be so negative, Severus my boy." said Albus, though he was still a bit put out after all of his candy-based names were refused. "I'll just sign the papers and be on my way to bring little... Stray... to his new home."
X
Yeah, I know. Short. But I got hit in the head really hard yesterday so this is the most my frazzled head can come up with. Sorry. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!
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