Chapter 10

The great dining hall of Slytherin Castle was lit with hundreds of floating candles, much like in Harry's first year. Zippy had prepared a modest meal for the occasion, nothing as grand as what she prepared for Harry and Severus's dinner, but nothing an aristocrat would find fault with. Harry sat at the head of the long table, Severus at his right hand. Across from them sat James and Lily Potter, stiff-backed and not looking happy at all.

James's glare was fixed on Severus. His gaze held daggers while Lily's expression was tight with disapproval. She took a sip of her wine before speaking, and her voice was just as Harry had remembered it, patronizing. "Harry, dear, do you know why we've come?" she asked, as though speaking to a child and not the reigning monarch. "Do you understand the irresponsible thing you've done? This marriage, this spectacle, we had a perfectly suitable bride lined up for you. The wedding was supposed to be in seven months. She's from a good family. Refined. Proper. Not... this."

Harry's jaw tightened. "Odd really, that the groom wasn't even involved in his own wedding preparations. Seven months, you say? When exactly were you going to fill me in?"

Lily's lips pressed into a thin line. "We were protecting you, Harry. You need guidance. You're still so young, and you don't understand the weight of your decisions. Romilda Vane is a proper match. She would have elevated the family name, not dragged it through scandal."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "I am not a child. I am 26, and I am King. And my marriage is not a scandal. It was my choice. One you will respect."

Severus sat silent with an expression that seemed carved from stone. Harry had asked him, nicely, not to commit murder tonight, and Severus was honoring that request. But the tension in his shoulders and the way his fingers curled against the table made it clear he was ready to strike if provoked further.

James leaned back and smirked. "Do you even know who you've married, boy? Severus Snape used to chase after your mother's tail. Everyone knew it. He wanted her, but she chose me. And now, since he couldn't have my wife, he's settled for her son."

The words landed like a blade, and Harry's goblet rattled against the table as his magic flared. Harry rose slowly. His voice was low and dangerous as he hissed, "You will not insult my husband in this hall. Not tonight. Not ever."

James waved off his son's threat with a dismissive flick of his hand, as though Harry's fury were nothing more than a child's tantrum. "Temper, temper," he rebuked. "I'm glad I handled the situation early. My Heir turning out to be a poof. What a disgrace. The moment we annul this farce and get you properly married is when you will not be treated as a liability."

Harry froze, though his magic crackled faintly in the air. His voice was sharp when he asked: "What situation?"

James smirked and leaned back in his chair with smug satisfaction. "I decide when you would sow your oats, boy. Family magic is an interesting thing. A Lord has certain rights over his heir. I made sure you wouldn't embarrass the Potter name before the time was right."

Severus's eyes narrowed as his mind raced, and the pieces fell into place. "You gave him erectile dysfunction," the Potion master said with dawning horror.

James waved off Severus's accusation with a scoff. "Nothing so horrible as that," he said, almost gleefully. "But I had to act. When Harry was thirteen, I walked in on him pleasuring himself. No self‑control, that one. I couldn't risk him getting the wrong kind of girl pregnant. So I used the old Peverel lordship magic. It's older than the Potter line, and it gives the Lord certain rights over his heir. I made sure he wouldn't embarrass the family name."

Harry's face went pale, and his breath caught in his throat. "You... you tampered with me? With my own body? I remember that night. You beat me with a fucking belt for masturbating!"

"Do not be crude at the dining table," Lily rebuked.

"Family magic is a powerful thing. My father threatened to use it on me once, back when Lily and I couldn't keep our hands off each other. I knew exactly how it worked. So I used it on you. It was for your own good. Lily and I agreed that we'd find you a suitable match. Someone proper. Someone worthy. And the magic would lift once the marriage was registered."

"You shackled your own son's autonomy." Severus hissed, and then he added, "Silence your tongue, Lily. Stop being a bitch."

Lily's eyes widened. She had never expected Severus to talk back like that to her.

"Enough!" Harry stated as he looked coldly at his so-called parents. "You thought you had the right to decide when I lived, when I loved, when I touched my own body. How twisted do your minds have to be to want to control another human like that?"

"You are blowing this out of proportion." James shot back. "Using family magic is perfectly legal."

"You thought you could cage me forever. But you failed. I am married. I am happy, I am free. Moreover, I am King. By law, you answer to me." Harry stated. "You have confessed to binding the King with ancient magic. That is treason against the crown itself."

James's smirk didn't just fade; it curdled. He looked at Harry as if the boy had suddenly started speaking a foreign language. "Treason? Don't be absurd, Harry. I am your father. I am the Lord of the House of Potter."

"I am the King of the British Wizarding World," Harry corrected, "The crown does not belong to House Potter. House Potter belongs to the crown. And you just admitted, in front of the Prince Consort, to magically sabotaging the reproductive autonomy of the Sovereign."

"Clearly, this is an assassination attempt on the royal line," Severus stated plainly.

James stood up, his chair screeching against the stone floor. "You shut your mouth, Snivelous. We are going to discuss the annulment and Romilda..."

"There will be no annulment," Harry stated firmly. "And there will be no more 'guidance'."

"Zippy!"

With a loud crack, the house-elf appeared. "Yes, Master King Harry, sir?"

"The guests are leaving," Harry stated firmly. "They are to be escorted to the gates. They are to be stripped of their palace access. And Zippy?"

"Yes, Master?"

"Afterward, pop in to the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement's office and tell them that I require a warrant for the arrest of James and Lily Potter on charges of High Treason and Unlawful Magical Binding of a Sovereign."

"Harry, you can't!" Lily gasped, "We are your parents! We gave you everything!" Her words fell on deaf ears. Now that Harry knew he wasn't defective all those years, something finally snapped.

James opened his mouth to roar. His face was already purple with indignant rage, but Severus stood up and actually punched him in the face.

"My husband asked me not to be a murderer tonight, so be bloody-damn grateful a punch is all you are getting," Severus sneered.

Zippy ejected the Potters from the castle with a snap of her fingers. Then Harry finally lost it. His magic, which he had been reigning in, lashed out and split the dining table in half. The thunderous crack echoed through the hall. Harry stood amidst the wreckage with his breath coming in jagged, agonizing hitches.

Severus didn't hesitate. He stepped over the debris and pulled Harry into an embrace. Harry buried his face in Severus's shoulder while his fingers dug into the heavy wool of the Potion Master's robes.

"I wasn't broken," Harry choked out, as the words muffled against Severus's chest. "All those years... the doctors, the shame... I thought I was broken."

Slowly, the magical pressure in the room began to recede. Harry pulled back just enough to look at Severus. His eyes were red-rimmed but burning with a new, terrifying clarity.

"I want them to rot," Harry said, his voice now eerily calm. "I want the world to know exactly what the 'Great' James Potter did to his own flesh and blood."

"Then they shall. Your word is law after all, my liege."

Meanwhile, at a small cottage on the outskirts of a quiet Scottish village, a knock on a door set in motion something far more sinister than one could ever imagine.

Inside, Albus Dumbledore stirred. His blue eyes narrowed as he approached. He opened the door to find a cloaked figure standing in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Dumbledore asked, his tone cautious.

The figure tilted their head slightly and uttered: "I wish to speak about the child of destiny."

"The prophecy..." Dumbledore murmured as his eyes widened.