Ancient Magician (Severus x Reader)

Chapter 53: D Day

It had been a few strange, tender, and chaotic months since my world was flipped on its head and I stopped living with the Potters. At the time, it felt like a disaster, like everything was falling apart. But looking back now? It was probably the best decision I ever made.

I was home again. Not just any home—but home home. The one that smells like goat's milk soap and woodsmoke, the one where the floorboards creak too much and the butterbeer is always just a little too strong. Home with Dad—Aberforth Dumbledore, in all his grumpy, pub-owning, secretly-sweet glory. The man who had spent most of his life pretending the world didn't affect him one bit, when in truth, he cared more deeply than anyone I've ever met. And Rellie—my brother, Aurelius—was there too, awkward and serious and brilliant in that big-brother way that says I'm watching out for you but I will never, ever admit it.

Those months gave us something we'd never really had before: time. Time to actually be a family. To sit in the living room and bicker over wizard chess, to laugh over badly cooked meals, to be quiet together without it feeling weird. It wasn't perfect—what family is?—but for once, it felt real. Like this bizarre patchwork life of ours had finally stitched itself into something whole.

Of course, with the Dumbledore blood running through our veins, peace is never more than temporary. Calm days are just the dramatic pauses before another absurd scene.

That morning, I was lounging on my bed in my favorite socks—the ones with little badgers on them, naturally—when there was a heavy knock on the door.

Then came Dad's voice, gruff and oddly urgent, as if he were ordering a rogue hippogriff to stand down. "Stay in your room, Bumblebee. Just—just stay there, alright?"

I raised a brow, already suspicious. "Uh-huh. Sure, why not?" I shouted through the door, my tone rich with sarcasm. I flopped back dramatically onto my pillows, arms splayed like I was waiting for fate to descend upon me.

Now, I probably should've warned you—the drama that erupted when I first told Sirius, Remus, and Sevvie (yes, that Sevvie—Severus Snape himself) that I wasn't living with them anymore? You'd think I declared war. Sirius looked like I'd just ripped out his heart with a spoon, clutching at his chest like some Victorian heroine. Remus just stared, all quiet and solemn, with those big sad eyes that made me feel a bit like the villain. And Severus... Merlin. He didn't say a word. Just stared. Like the earth had shifted beneath his feet and he was still waiting for it to stop shaking. I almost cried, but I needed to come home. I needed this.

Back to the present, though—not even five minutes after Dad's command to stay put, I heard them.

Footsteps. Three sets. Marching down the hallway in perfect synchrony like they were preparing for some kind of intervention.

Out of sheer instinct—and, let's be honest, a touch of paranoia—I rolled off the bed and locked the door. No magic, no enchantments, just the solid, satisfying click of a Muggle lock.

Then came Rellie's voice, clear and commanding: "Y/N GRIMBLEHAWK DUMBLEDORE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU OPEN THAT DOOR."

I blinked. "Um... why?"

"Because!" he shouted. "Just—just because!"

Dad's voice came next, weirdly panicked and climbing into octaves I didn't know he possessed. "DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR, BEE!"

And then—of course, with the flair only he could pull off—Uncle Albus chimed in smoothly, his tone calm and annoyingly pleasant, as if he were inviting me to tea. "Y/N, my dear, today is the day I whisk you off to Hogwarts."

My heart stopped. "Come again?"

"Do you remember," he said in that maddeningly casual tone of his, "a few months ago, I mentioned you'd be taking over as Head of Hufflepuff House?"