He did not wait long after the boy left to present himself at Minerva McGonagall’s quarters. He was slightly amused to find she was preparing herself for bed. He smirked to himself; turnabout was fair play after all.

“Severus.” She greeted him coolly. “I assume you’re here to inform me that Mr. Potter is staying in the dungeons again?”

Snape feigned curiosity. “Do you not do a bed check Minerva? I assume you do not or you would know that Potter is up in his dorms where he belongs.”

“I’d advise you to mind your own house, Professor Snape. What do you want?”

“I’d like to speak to you and the headmaster for a moment if you don’t mind. It’s rather important.”

“Can it not wait until morning?”

“I’d rather we cleared some things up right away if you please.”

And so they sat down in front of Dumbledore’s several minutes later. The headmaster greeted them cheerfully, although he sensed his youngest staff member had something serious on his mind. Severus, however, was carefully controlling his emotions.

“First I’d like to ask what is going on regarding the search for the boy’s attackers. I believe it might ease his mind to know that we are close to finding them.”

Dumbledore smiled once again. “We are indeed close to finding them. In fact, the ringleader has been identified.”

Snape found himself blinking dumbly at the headmaster.

“What? Well when was he expelled?”

“I have not approached him yet. I am waiting for him to come to me.”

He thought he had been surprised before, but this particular revelation left him momentarily speechless. Finally he managed to push some words through his teeth.

“Waiting for him to come to you? Have you finally gone completely mad old man?”

He heard Minerva struggle to stifle a chuckle, while the headmaster continued as if he hadn’t said a word.

“He was really quite easy to find once we set a quill searching through the student records for the details Harry provided. I’m giving the boy a chance to come to me, a chance to show some remorse.”

“You are giving yourself an excuse to let the boy get away with the attacker.”

Dumbledore’s eyes tightened. “I am doing nothing of the sort. You are letting your prejudices show, Severus.”

Snape said nothing in return, fearing that once he went down that road he would never return. Instead he focused on the attacker.

“Who is it? The attacker?”

“However mad you think I may have gone, Severus, I have enough wits about me to realize that telling you that information would not be wise.”

“Why ever not?”

“I believe you visited the Dursley’s did you not?”

McGonagall turned to look at him then, with a look that he thought was a mixture of surprise and gratitude, perhaps with a hint of envy.

He didn’t even give them the respect of knocking, he just apparated directly into the house. They had obviously not been expecting him, and when the :pop: of his arrival interrupted their dinner, causing their overly large boy to drop his fork, he just chuckled to himself.

When the boy began to whinge about his fork and the interruption in his ability to scarf down food the woman – Petunia, he presumed – moved to get the boy a new one, despite the fact that a strange wizard had just popped into her kitchen.

It was abundantly clear where her priorities lay.

“Do not move.” That’s when the whole family turned to see him, standing in their kitchen doorway.

Vernon Dursley, the pathetic lump, was the first to react.

“Who are you? Get out of my kitchen!”

“I don’t think so, Dursley. I have a few things to discuss with you.” He kept his voice smooth, despite his inner rage. He pointed his wand directly at the man’s chest. “I am your nephew’s teacher at Hogwarts.”

“I do not want any of you freaks in my house! Just because I agreed to let him attend that worthless school doesn’t mean I want your lot visiting. He’s lucky enough that I let him in this house.”

“Oh, very lucky indeed; otherwise he would miss out on all your punishments.”

“The boy is incorrigible, just like his freak parents. All he causes is trouble!”

“Yes,” he drawled, “it’s such trouble to feed a child 3 times a day. Planning on beating such expectations out of him were you?” His eyes settled purposefully on Vernon’s belt.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I have seen the results of your handiwork, Dursley. Lying to me will only make me angrier.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I suggest you send your son from the room.” He replied dangerously.

“Oh dear, what did you do to them Severus?”

“I didn’t do anything to them. The son was dismissed from my sight, and although I had words with Petunia I did not harm her.”

“And dare I ask about Vernon?”

“Vernon got a taste of his own medicine, and we shall leave it at that.”

He smirked with satisfaction at the memory of the magically placed welts on Vernon’s back. He made sure they would remain perpetually unhealed for several months. They were shallow, but they would provide just enough pain over that time to serve as a reminder to the man.

And he had made it abundantly clear that if the man ever went within 50 feet of Harry Potter again, he would be begging for something as merciful as simple welts.

At the time he had acted rashly, not thinking about the potential consequences. That would come later, when he began to wonder why he had not been arrested for harming a muggle.

Now he knew why. Once again, he owed Albus Dumbledore a debt. Perhaps it was time to change the subject.

“I also wanted to talk to you both about Mr. Potter himself. There have some – developments.”

“More developments beyond the fact that Mr. Potter has been sleeping in the dungeons for the past three nights?” McGonagall put in.

“That, yes. It seems Mr. Potter was purposefully acting out in my class in order to get a detention, thus placing himself exactly where he wanted to be when he fell asleep at night.

“His behaviour was getting tiresome, so I have remedied the situation.”

“Professor Snape, he is just a child, a little compassion would go a long way…”

He allowed her to go on for a moment before interrupting with “He has asked to stay in the dungeons and I have given him permission to do so 2 or 3 nights a week.”

He smirked in satisfaction as McGonagall’s mouth dropped open slightly, the shock clear on her face. She recovered quite admirably, however.

“That’s an awful lot of time to spend away from his own house. I’m not sure I approve.”

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I am not seeking your approval.” He paused to let that sink in for a moment and then continued. “I am well aware that Potter needs to keep his ties to his house strong. That is why I made it clear that it will only be 2 or 3 nights a week. But he will come. I fail to see why helping a troubled student should cause anyone concern.”

“Fair enough, Severus, you’ve made your point.” Dumbledore cut in. “Harry needs all the support he can find, wouldn’t you agree, Minerva?”

Her face softened and she met Severus’ look. “Of course, wherever he may find it.”

Having had enough of their hypocritical sentimentality, he turned to leave the office. As he reached the door however, he turned back briefly.

“I’m glad you think so Professor McGonagall, because I expect in the future when the boy is distraught enough to ask for me in the night you will escort him down to my quarters yourself.”

He did not give her a chance to reply as he swept down the stairs and away from the office.