Severus Snape rounded the corner of the hallway, robes billowing behind him. He was walking back down to his quarters after unsuccessfully meeting with the Headmaster to try in vain to get Potter off of Severus’s hands and out of his quarters.

I really don’t see why because the brat couldn’t watch what he was doing in class, added the wrong ingredients to the potion, blew it up, and changed himself into a child is my problem. He thought as he went down another set of stairs. Just because he clung to me and wouldn’t go to anyone else, is no reason for me to keep him for the next two weeks until the potion wears off.

He smirked slightly as he thought of how Harry had yelped and run behind Snape’s robes when Hermione tried to pick him up. Oh how he was going to ridicule Potter with that when the boy changed back to normal.

Snape rounded the final bend to get to his quarters and placed his hand on the seemingly blank stone wall. After a moment a painting with a forest scene appeared. Two does stood near the front of the portrait, and if one looked very closely in the bushes at the very edge one would have seen a small fawn as well. Snape looked up and down the corridor and seeing no one softly whispered the password, “Sto unus”, and the door clicked open.

Once Snape was inside, he took off his outer robes and toed off his shoes, slipping his feet into a pair of soft moccasins. Then he looked up as he heard a small sound. There was Harry, half-way through the living room. Dangling in his arms was a small smoky-gray cat.

“Would you care to explain why you appear to be kidnapping my familiar, Mr. Potter?” Snape said as he eyed the seven-year-old with a look that had been known to make sixth-years cry. Harry who didn’t seem fazed at all by Severus’s look, glanced fearfully back down the hall towards the room that Severus had ensconced him in earlier in the evening, then back at the professor. “There’s somethin’ under that bed. And I thought that ‘Stofiles could keep it away.”

Severus rolled his eyes skyward and ran a hand over his face. And this is why I work with teenagers rather than young children. He thought, before he held out a hand for the cat. Harry walked over and handed the older wizard the ball of fur. Severus took the cat in one hand and with the other arranged Harry’s arms so that one was parallel to his chest and the other was slightly above the first, then he placed the cat back in Harry’s arms. “You hold him like this, that way you do not hurt him. And his name is Mistoffelees.”

Harry nodded and followed Severus’s instructions in how to hold the cat. Then Severus said, “Now, let us see about this ‘Somethin’ that is under the bed.” Harry nodded, now that this “protector” was here, he could face the fears in the room. But just to be safe, he would let the older man go first into the room.

Severus strode into the spare bedroom that he had put Harry into and looked around the room from the doorway. It was a modest sized room, with a bed against one wall. A tall wardrobe, and a bureau that, held a mirror on the other, and by the foot of the bed was Harry’s trunk. Nothing seemed to be out of place except the bedclothes, which seemed to have been flung violently away from the bed’s occupant hurriedly.

Severus looked behind him at the child that was slowly coming around the older wizard’s robes. “I do not see any monsters Harr-” Suddenly, a large, dark, wispy shape came flying out from under the bed and flew around the room several times before settling near the far wall. Severus pointed his wand at it as Harry shrieked and buried his head in the front of Severus’s robes. “That’s it! That’s it!” he yelled into the soft cloth.

Severus watched as the black mist morphed into a slightly larger than life bulldog, which began growling at the two wizards as soon as it saw them. Harry took one look at the “dog” and screamed, before trying to climb up Severus’s robes as he was yelling, “It’s Ripper, It’s Ripper!” while Mistoffelees stood just to the side and hissed.

Severus knelt down and put his hands on Harry’s shoulders and shook him gently. “Harry, calm down! The dog is not going to get you. Now, look at me.” Harry slowly calmed down, as the “dog” began circling them. Severus gave a nod to the boy once Harry had calmed down. “Now, this is not a real dog, it is a boggart. As such, it is relatively simple to be rid of it.” He stood up and said, “What you need to do is think of something that the dog can do that will be very funny. Let me know when you have it.”

Harry screwed up his face, thinking, and then nodded to Severus. Severus leveled his wand at the dog and said, “Riddikulus.” The boggart spun in place and became a bulldog riding a skateboard. It spun around the room several times to Harry’s delight.

Before the boggart could become something else, Severus hit it with an immobilization spell. Then he summoned a sturdy trunk to himself, and lowered the boggart into the box, locking it securely.

All this time Harry stayed behind Severus, as far away as he could get from the bed. Severus noticed this after he had finished with the boggart and said, “Harry, what is wrong now child?” Harry just lifted one finger and pointed at the underside of the bed.

Severus sighed and slightly rolled his eyes, “Would you like me to check under the bed that there is nothing else there?” At Harry's frantic nod, Severus got down on his knees and said, “Perhaps you could hold the light?” At the boy’s eager expression, Severus handed Harry his wand and said, “Simply say Lumos.” Harry did as Severus said, and a bright light issued from the end of the wand.

Harry’s head spun to look at Severus “I did it! I made it light up.” Severus smirked, “You certainly did. Now, aim the light under the bed.” Harry did as he was told, and soon they were both assured that there was no longer anything under Harry’s bed.

Severus took back his wand and put his charge back in his bed. Harry gazed up at the older wizard and smiled “T’ank you for getting rid of the monster.” Severus looked down at the boy, who had been the bane of his existence for two years, but was now worming his way into Severus’s closed heart, and smirked. “You’re welcome Harry. Now, go to sleep.”

As Severus walked out of the room and turned to close the door, he saw the small child resting peacefully, one hand curled over the back of Mistoffelees, and Severus thought in the very back of his mind that perhaps it would not be quite so terrible to have Harry in his quarters. For a while at least.