The Sorting complete and the Opening Feast eaten, Severus motioned for Harry and Draco to hang back. Most of his House knew the two boys, but he wanted to introduce them formally as his sons. He led his sons down to the dungeons after giving all his students time to arrive in the dormitory.

“Look sharp there,” one of the seventh year prefects called out when they walked into the common room. “Show some respect for your Head of House.”

Harry watched from Severus’ side as the Slytherins stopped what they were doing and formed seven neat lines in front of them, the first years looking slightly confused, but following the lead of the older students.

‘Purebloods love tradition,’ Draco told him through their bond. ‘Some of the traditions we keep in Slytherin date back to Salazaar himself.’

Severus nodded at the prefect and stepped forward to address his students. “I am Professor Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House and Potions Master. To my returning students, welcome back. To the new students, welcome to Hogwarts.

“For those of you who have not yet heard, over the summer I adopted Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. They are the twin sons of James and Lily Potter and were separated at birth. If you do anything to harm either one of them, no matter how minor, you will suffer my wrath.”

‘He’s kinda scary when he’s like this,’ Harry said to his brother.

‘He has to be. The House of Slytherin has a bad reputation and he’s been trying to change that since he took over as Head. He demands a lot of us, but he also rewards those who do well.’

“You will find a complete list of the Slytherin House Rules in your dorms as well as curfew times for your year. Curfews are not a suggestion. Proper sleep ensures that you all stay healthy.

“The first and most important rule of Slytherin is to always present a united front. I don’t care what petty squabbles you might have with another Slytherin, when you walk out that door they are to be left behind. Outside of these rooms we are all on the same side.

“Many people believe that because we are Slytherin, that we are dark or evil. Any student caught proving that reputation true will be dealt with most severely.

“If you have trouble in any of your classes, I expect you to come to me. I will arrange for an older student to tutor you. Your parents expect you to make good grades and I expect that as well.

“When you lose points for Slytherin, your name appears on the parchment on the wall there along with the number of points lost. If you lose points, you will be considered fair game for twenty-four hours. Only the approved list of jinxes and hexes will be tolerated. My advice to you: Do nothing to lose points for your House.

“Should another teacher give you a detention, you will serve one with me as well…perhaps more than one depending on the severity of the crime.

“If you have a problem with another Slytherin, first try to solve it yourselves: without wands or fists. Should your first attempt be unsuccessful, then you are to come to me and I will solve the matter. You will respect myself and all members of the staff here at Hogwarts at all times. Any disrespect will not be tolerated and will result in a loss of points.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, turning and striding from the room, his robes billowing behind him. Harry and Draco exchanged a look, before Harry hurried after him.

--

After and making sure that his students were settling in and walking Harry back to Gryffindor tower, Severus headed up to the Defense classroom and Remus Lupin’s office. “Do you have something stiff to drink?” he asked the man after being granted entrance to his office.

Remus nodded and moved over to one of his trunks, pulling out a bottle of firewhiskey and conjuring two glasses. “I wasn’t aware that you drank, Severus.”

“Only on occasion…and tonight I need something stronger than butterbeer.”

“Harry said that you talked to Albus,” Remus said as he poured two glasses of firewhiskey. “What did he say?”

Severus lowered himself into one of the two chairs in front of the fireplace and accepted the glass. “He questioned my motives, mostly. But it’s what he didn’t say that bothers me.”

“What are your motives, Severus? I know that you and Sirius didn’t exactly get along.”

“Why don’t you just go ahead and say it, Lupin. Black and I hated each other. And I know that I said he could rot in hell after he was arrested, but that was before…all I know now is that he didn’t receive a trial and he should have. I spent some time in Azkaban too, remember. No innocent man should have to do that.”

Remus nodded. “That’s good enough for me, I guess. So what exactly is it that Albus didn’t say?”

He drained his glass. “That old fool…didn’t even bother to find out if Black was innocent or not. All he was concerned about were his plans! He had Black sent to Azkaban without a trial so that he could place Harry with the Dursleys because of the damn blood wards. Harry slept in a cupboard! That was his room until he got his Hogwarts letter…and do you know what Harry told me? That his first letter was addressed to: Harry Potter, Cupboard under the Stairs! Albus knew, Lupin! He knew and let Harry stay there. Then he tried to convince me not to tell Harry and Draco the truth once I found out the truth about them. I did it anyway. Black may not be the most mature person, but at least he would have loved Harry…unlike the Dursleys who abused him.”

“Abused him?”

“I’ve already told you about the cupboard. When Draco and I went to get him, they had him locked in a room. There were five padlocks on that door, bars on the window and they had cut a cat flap in the door. He had welts on his back and legs, some of which had actually broken the skin.”

Remus sighed deeply. “Poor little Pronglet.”

Severus looked over at the man. “Which of you idiots came up with that asinine moniker?”

“Sirius, actually. I think Lily hated it.”

“That’s even worse than the idiotic names you called yourselves back when we were students.”

Remus refilled Severus’ glass. “Since you know the truth about them, I may as well tell you all of it. I told you that Peter’s Animagus form was a rat…James was a stag and Sirius was a big mutt. That is where our nicknames came from. Peter was Wormtail, Sirius was Padfoot and James was Prongs.”

“And you were Moony. Did any of you realize how easily someone could have figured out your secret? I didn’t realize it until years later, but you four idiots were discussing it after our Defense OWL. If I heard you, so could any number of people…and that was even before that little incident at the Shrieking Shack.”

“Severus, I’m so sorry about that…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Lupin. And once I calmed down I realized that. However, I do blame that idiot Black. It was his fault. And if Potter hadn’t come after me, there is no telling what would have happened.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Lily overhead James tearing into Sirius and demanded to know what had happened. She didn’t speak to Sirius for nearly a month.”

Severus sighed. “Lily sure could hold a grudge.”

“But she was a fine woman.”

“Indeed she was.” He was quiet for a moment. “Thank you for taking care of my sons.”

“You’re welcome, Severus. But, I hope you know that I would do anything for those two boys. They are all that is left of James and Lily.”

He nodded, staring into the fire once more. “They…they mentioned your Patronus. And they would like to learn the charm themselves. I know it’s not something that we teach in the Defense curriculum, but I think it might be useful for them. I could teach them; however, I…I thought you might like to spend some time with them.”

“I would. Thank you.”

--

Hermione was alone in the library when a shadow fell over her, blocking her light. She looked up to see one of the older students, a Hufflepuff, standing in front of her.

“Are you Mademoiselle Granger?” he asked with a faint French accent.

She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. She clamped her hand over her mouth and nodded, her cheeks turning a light pink. After a moment she moved her hand. “I am.”

Smiling, he sat across from her. “I’m Beau Devereaux. I think Harry spoke to you about me.”

“He did,” she replied. “He said that you couldn’t read.”

“That’s right. I’ve tried, but my schooling has been a bit hit and miss. Can you help me? I have to be able to read in time to take my OWLs.”

She nodded. “I think we can manage that, but it will take a lot of work.

“I’m not afraid of hard work, Miss Granger.

“Good. We’ll get started on Saturday.”

He started to get up, but stopped. “Might I ask a favor of you?”

“What is it, Devereaux?”

“Could you read this to me?” he asked, pulling a letter from his pocket. “It’s from my family. Normally I would ask Rae to read it to me, but she’s got a meeting with Professor Snape.”

“Are you sure you want me to read something so personal?”

“Please.”

She nodded and took the letter, carefully opening it.

Dear Beau,

We all missed you lots, so Aunt Halle said that we could write you a letter. She’s going to write it over for us so that all the spelling is right.

Johnny got in trouble at school. Aunt Halle says it’s because you and The Captain are both gone and he’s the only man in the house. Johnny got in trouble for fighting. He says that you don’t need to know about him getting into trouble at school, because Aunt Halle already punished him for it.

Georgia is trying to convince Aunt Halle to get a dog, but Ana wants to get a kitten. Aunt Halle said that we aren’t getting anything because The Captain doesn’t want any pets. We think she’s just making that up.

We need to go now because Aunt Halle is calling us for dinner and she said we had to finish before dinner if we wanted you to get this letter at breakfast tomorrow.

We love you!

Georgia, Johnny and Ana

P.S. Are you coming home for Christmas?

Hermione looked up at Beau. “They sound cute.”

“They are little monsters,” he said with a laugh. “And I miss them terribly.”

“Are you going to be able to go home for Christmas?”

“No. Cap doesn’t want Rae and I traveling that far alone, but he’s arranged for someone to take us home for the summer.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, surprising herself by reaching across the table and giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” he replied, taking his letter and standing. “Shall I meet you here on Saturday?”

--

Severus sat beside Harry in the infirmary, ignoring all of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (minus Wood), Ron, Hermione, Beau, Rae and Cedric Diggory as they discussed what had happened on the Quidditch pitch. He had felt his heart stop when he realized that it was Harry freefalling toward the ground. Thankfully Albus had reacted quick enough to slow the boy’s fall.

This was the second time the Dementors had gone after a student, Harry both times, and still Albus refused to stand up to Fudge and tell him to call off the creatures.

Diggory had caught the snitch just seconds before he realized that Harry had fallen from his broom and was now trying to convince the Gryffindor team to accept a rematch, but the Gryffindors were refusing saying that Harry wouldn’t want that. They were right; Harry wouldn’t want a rematch on his account.

“When is he going to wake up?” Draco asked, leaning against the man’s side. Times like this, he tended to act somewhat younger and clingy.

He moved so that he could put his arm around the boy. “Soon, Dragon. And he’ll be fine.”

“He’s going to be upset about his broom…”

“I know, but I’ll get him a new one.”

“A Firebolt?” the boy asked, hope shining in his eyes. A Firebolt was the top of the line racing broom and both boys wanted one, though neither of them had asked for one.

Severus was quite proud of the fact that Draco wasn’t asking for the Firebolt for himself, but for his brother who’s Nimbus had been destroyed when it had blown into the Whomping Willow after Harry had fallen. “I wish I could get him a Firebolt, Draco, but I just can’t afford one. It costs about what I make in a year.”

“What about using my vault?”

“Absolutely not! Narcissa agreed to let you keep the vault that Lucius had given you, but I will not allow you to touch it until you come of age. The same thing goes for the Potter vault. Once the two of you become of age, if you want to spend your money on something as frivolous as a racing broom, then you may.”

Draco sighed dramatically. “Alright…spoil sport.”

Severus gave the boy a look. “That is enough.”

“Yes sir.”

Harry stirred and started to sit but Severus placed a hand on his shoulder. “Easy…” He grabbed a couple more pillows and used them to prop Harry up. Then he handed the boy his glasses.

“Who won?” he asked.

Hermione shook her head. “Boys!”

“We did, Harry,” Cedric said, moving over to Harry’s side. “But it wasn’t a fair victory. Those Dementors shouldn’t have been there at all…I tried to convince your team to take a rematch.”

“No rematch,” Harry told him.

“How will we ever find out who is the better seeker? You’ve been a seeker for three years and something always happens.”

Harry laughed and then winced, holding his ribs. “You still have two years left, Diggory. There’s time.”

The Hufflepuff nodded. “Alright Harry. Until next year.”

Ron stepped over to them next; Harry’s destroyed broom wrapped up in a blanket in his arms. “Harry…your broom fell into the Whomping Willow…”

“Let me see,” Harry said, sitting up. Ron lay what was left of the broom on Harry’s lap. “My broom…”

“I’ll get you another one, Phoenix . We’ll go to Diagon Alley next weekend,” Severus told him. When Harry nodded, he reached out and stroked the boy’s hair. He sent all but Draco from the room before turning back to Harry. “Get some rest, son.”

Harry nodded again and curled up on his side, closing his eyes.

Once he was asleep, Severus looked down at Draco. “I’ll walk you back now, Dragon.”

The boy looked up at him, morphing his appearance from the ‘Malfoy’ looks that he normally wore into his true appearance. “Can’t I stay?”

Severus sighed when he saw Lily’s eyes staring up at him in an expression he had seen often on the young boy’s face over the years. “Are you trying to manipulate me, Orion Snape?” he asked with a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Is it working?” the boy asked with a slight smirk.

The Potions Master bit back a chuckle. “It is not.”

“Then I’m just being Slytherin, Uncle Sev,” Draco stated. “You’re going to stay all night, so why can’t I? Tomorrow is Sunday, so we don’t have classes…”

He sighed. “Oh, alright…you can stay.”

“Thanks,” he replied, before moving around to the other side of the bed and stretching out beside his brother.

Shaking his head, Severus used to wand to make the bed a little wider so that they could both be comfortable.

--

An hour after sunrise the next morning found Severus sitting in the chair he usually occupied when one or both of his boys were in the Infirmary. He was really beginning to hate that chair. When Remus Lupin limped in, he looked up. “Did you take the Wolfsbane last night?”

Lupin nodded and sat on a nearby bed. “Yes. I always take it, Severus. But some months are worse than others. Last night was one of the bad ones.”

Severus stood and began casting diagnostic spells. At one time he had considered studying healing as well as potions, but in the end he had decided to go for his Potions Mastery. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to go back. If nothing else, it would aid his research for new potions. “Did you walk all the way back from the Shrieking Shack on that ankle?”

“How else was I supposed to get back?”

“Send your damn Patronus and get someone to help you. You’ve fractured it,” he told the man, summoning a vial of bone mender.

Remus shrugged as he took the potion. “It’s not the worst injury I’ve had.” Severus shook his head as he healed the other minor cuts and bruises on the man. “How is Harry doing?” Remus asked him. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t stop by and see him last night.”

“If he knew the truth about your…problem, I’m sure he’d understand. He was awake for a short time yesterday evening and then again early this morning. Physically, he’s mending. Poppy just wanted to keep him overnight and Draco wanted to stay too.”

“Did he tell you what he hears when the Dementors attack him?”

“He told him that it was just someone screaming…”

Remus sighed deeply and eased back onto the bed, exhausted. “Severus, I think he’s hearing Voldemort kill Lily.”

Severus swore and sank back into his chair. “Why didn’t he say something?”

“I don’t think he realizes it. I asked him about it and he told me that he hears a woman screaming and then there is a flash of green light. You and I know what that green light is, but he doesn’t. When else would he have seen that particular curse?”

“He was just a baby…”

“But the memory is still there, hidden. Dementors feed on your worst memories and I hope he doesn’t have any memories worse than that.”

Severus raked his fingers through his hair. “You need to teach him the Patronus…or I do. But the longer he goes not knowing…”

“Severus, he’s thirteen. You said yourself that charm is not even in the curriculum at Hogwarts.”

“Even if he can just manage a Patronus shield, it’s better than nothing.”

“You’re right. Give me a few days to recover and then I’ll start trying to teach him.”

Severus fell silent, pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing his temples in an effort to relieve the headache that he had been nursing since the Quidditch game the afternoon before. “Harry and I talked for a few minutes this morning when he woke up. He said…said that he thought he saw a Grim in the stands during the game, but then it was gone. It was just before the Dementors swarmed the pitch.”

“You’re letting him take Divination?” Remus asked.

“I let them make the decision themselves, but I did discourage Divination. He said that it was there for a minute and then gone again. I used just a touch of Legilimency on him and saw it. What he saw was a big, ugly mutt.”

“A big, ugly…Sirius…”

“Would he be dumb enough to come here? The paper did say that he had been heard say ‘He’s at Hogwarts’ in the days before he escaped.”

“But they say that he’s out to kill Harry. Sirius loved Harry like his own son. We both did. He wouldn’t hurt him.”

“What about Pettigrew? Could Black somehow have found out where he is? Think about it, what better place to hide then a place that you are familiar with and where a rat wouldn’t too out of place.”

“Peter would be able to hide here. We all knew this place like the back of our hands.” Remus grew silent for a moment. “That’s it, Severus. The map…I wonder if Filch still has it.”

“Map? What map, Lupin? And what does Filch have to do with anything?”

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I always thought that you would have made a good Marauder if you and James and Sirius hadn’t started out on the wrong foot. What you did to the boys’ room in your quarters just proves it to me even more.”

“How did you find out about that?”

“Harry told his friends on the train. I just happened to hear it between naps.”

Severus nodded. “Alright. So what is this about a map?”

“Right. The Marauders created a map of Hogwarts. We called it the Marauders’ Map. There was a pass-phrase to turn it on and another to wipe it clean. Otherwise it just looked like a blank piece of parchment. When active the map would show every person in Hogwarts and where they were and what they were doing. It was quite a piece of magic that. Filch confiscated it at the end of Sixth year. But by that point we didn’t need it really. We knew all the secret passages in and out of Hogwarts. And it couldn’t be fooled; even with an Invisibility Cloak or in Animagus form…we tested that.”

“If Filch doesn’t have it then I know two red-headed Gryffindors who do…or could at least find it for us if we put a bug in their ears.”

“Ah…the Weasley twins. I’ve heard a good bit about them from some of the other teachers. And the students as well. I can blend into the shadows almost as well as you can, Severus.”

“It’s all those years of hiding behind Potter and Black.” There was no malice in the tone and Remus smiled wearily at the Potions Master. Severus shook his head. “Go to sleep, Lupin. I’ll talk to the Weasley twins when my boys wake up.”

--

Severus sat in his office a few hours later looking across his desk at the Weasley twins. “Gentlemen, I have a question for you about a certain object and I would like an honest answer. Do you have in your possession something called ‘The Marauders’ Map’?”

Fred and George exchanged a look before they turned back to him. “What if we do?” Fred asked him, a sly look on his face.

“I don’t care how it ended up in your possession or how you’ve used it, but I do need to use it. I will even return it once I finish with it. Gentlemen, it’s important, or I wouldn’t ask,” he replied.

George sighed. “Do we have to show you how to activate it?”

“No. You don’t.”

“I’ll be right back then,” Fred told him, getting up and leaving the room. By the time that he rejoined them half an hour later with a piece of parchment, Remus Lupin had joined them as well. “It’s already active, sir,” He spread the parchment out on the desk and the four bent over it.

“The map shows everyone in Hogwarts,” George explained. “Where they are, what they are doing, every minute of every day.”

Neither of the adults bothered letting the two students know that one of them was in fact one of the creators of the map.

“What are we looking for?” Fred asked.

“We are looking for Peter Pettigrew or Sirius Black,” Lupin told them, his eyes scanning the map.

George looked at the two adults. “Isn’t he dead? Didn’t the Prophet say that Sirius Black killed him all those years ago? All that was left was his finger.”

Severus paused in his own search of the parchment and looked at the two red heads. “We have reason to believe that Pettigrew is in fact alive and probably hiding in his Animagus rat form.”

“Animagus? Rat? Missing finger…” Fred started, turning to stare at his brother.

George looked at him as well, some form of unspoken communication passing between them. “Scabbers.”

“What is that, George?” Lupin asked, looking up as well.

“Ron has a pet rat that’s been with us practically forever. Almost twelve years, I think. Scabbers was Percy’s rat first. Scabbers is missing what would be a finger on his left hand if he were human. You don’t think…”

“Lupin, could you recognize Pettigrew if you saw him in rat form?”

“Yes, Severus,” Lupin answered. “The same as I would recognize Padfoot or Prongs.”

The two boys glanced at each other and then at the quiet Defense professor. “Padfoot? Prongs? As in the Padfoot and Prongs that helped create the Map?” Fred asked.

Severus rolled his eyes. “Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Moony. Wonderful…introductions over. Now, can we please get back to the business of finding this rat.”