“Mr. Zabini, you come with me. Mr. Nott, I will come find you shortly. Harry-”

“I know,” Harry said. “I'll just get back in my kennel, shall I?” He sounded kind of depressed, and Blaise was concerned for a moment before realizing that he was probably just grounded. Snape seemed to notice, too, and ran a hand over Harry's hair. Blaise was surprised to find that watching the gesture hurt, just a little bit.

“Come, Zabini,” Snape said as Theo and Harry left.

“Yes, sir,” Blaise answered, more respectful than before. Parental conferences. He really is going to call home. Shit. In that case being on Snape’s bad side would not be a good thing.

When they got to Snape's office, Snape reached up for the floo powder.

“Sir,” Blaise said quickly, interrupting the movement.

Severus paused. “Yes, Mr. Zabini?”

Shit. What do I say? “Don't call my family, sir,” he requested, keeping his tone even and confident. Snape just stared at him, clearly waiting for Blaise to say something more.

But he couldn’t explain. Instead, he closed his eyes. “Please,” he added softly. “I’m sorry I was rude, earlier.”

He opened his eyes to find Snape frowning at him. “It is school policy to call guardians for something like this. You wish to be treated differently from your friends?”

Blaise swallowed. Oh, hell. Fine. He shook his head and made sure his voice didn't shake. “Never mind, sir.”

Snape's frown deepened, but he reached again for the floo powder, watching him. Blaise made sure to keep his expression blank, but nevertheless Snape paused again.

“You are certain, Zabini? All you have to do is explain.”

“I'm sure,” Blaise said.

Snape stared at him for a moment, and once again Blaise just stared back.

“Explain,” Snape demanded finally.

“There is nothing to explain,” Blaise insisted. Snape was certain to figure it out anyway as soon as he called, and at least that way he wouldn't have to say anything.

“Mr. Zabini if you do not explain then I am obligated to contact your guardians about this. It has never bothered you before to have your aunt and uncle called in. What has changed?”

Blaise raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. Snape would know exactly what he was doing, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. “Changed, sir?”

Snape closed his eyes, his frustration written clearly on his face. He’d gotten the message, then. He was probably used to it – Harry communicated that way, sometimes, too. Good, Blaise thought, before once again remembering that he still needed Snape’s good opinion. He met Snape’s eyes apologetically. The man would know what was going on in minutes, anyway.

“Very well,” Snape said finally, dropping the eye contact to turn back towards the fireplace. This time when he reached up for the floo powder, Blaise didn't protest, and he didn't stop.

“Carolyn and Maxwell Luxanis,” Snape stated clearly before sticking his head through.

“Mrs. Luxanis,” Blaise heard Snape say.

“Get out of my floo, Snape,” Blaise heard his aunt answer glacially. “We do not associate with traitors.”

Blaise winced. Oh, this is not going well.

“And I don't normally associate with Death Eaters, Madam, but I have discovered lately that I will do strange things for the children in my charge. It regards your nephew.”

“We do not associate with traitors,” Blaise's aunt repeated.

“Are you referring to me or your nephew?” Snape asked her. He sounded surprised, to Blaise's ears.

“What nephew?” she asked him in return.

Blaise flinched, glad that Snape couldn't see him. You'd think I'd have got used to it already, he thought, swallowing hard and staring at the wall while he mastered his expression.

“Ah,” he heard Snape say. “Good day, then, Ma'am.”

“Come by again and I'll call my husband,” she told him. “He'd be thrilled to report your death to the Dark Lord when he returns.”

Snape pulled his head back through without answering, and stood up straight to look somberly at Blaise, who carefully avoided his gaze, keeping his expression as blank as he could manage.

“It appears that you need a place to go, Mr. Zabini,” Snape said matter-of-factly.

Blaise just nodded, once, not trusting himself to speak.

“May I ask what happened?”

He shook his head sharply.

Snape stared at him for a moment, but Blaise once again refused to meet his eyes. “Alright,” Snape said finally. “I'm going to make some floo calls. I will find you a place to go for the Easter holidays and the summer, at least. Then we'll discuss the next step.”

“Yes, sir,” Blaise said, tone and face blank.

“Given your preferences, where would you go?” Snape asked next.

“Notts,” Blaise said. “But that's not safe, for me or for them. Weasleys, maybe?”

“You could stay with me,” Snape offered softly. Somehow Blaise had known he would.

He shook his head sharply. “Harry needs you.”

Snape smiled slightly. “I think he would appreciate the time to himself, but certainly we would both manage, and three months of summer is a long time. He would probably appreciate the company.”

Blaise just shook his head again. Snape was Harry's, and whatever Snape said, Snape's home needed to be Harry's. Harry hadn't even spent any time there, yet. Snape had stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas.

“No?” Snape confirmed. “Alright. I'll ask the Weasleys, and perhaps the Grangers. It is fortunate that you have so many friends.”

“May I be dismissed, sir?” Blaise asked, doing his best not to sound too abrupt but wanting out.

“Go,” Snape agreed. “But return here tonight. You're suspended, so you'll need to stay with Harry for the time being.”

Blaise nodded again. “Thank you, sir,” he said quietly. Then he turned silently and left.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Severus sat back in his chair, thinking. What on earth had happened to turn the Luxanises so thoroughly against their nephew? Traitors, he remembered. The woman had said they didn’t associate with traitors. She certainly meant Snape himself, but she’d sounded like she meant Blaise, as well. Traitor. What had the boy done that his aunt would consider treason? She’d known the boy was friends with Harry, hadn’t she?

Maybe she didn’t, Severus realized. But the woman had taken the knowledge that badly? Even most Death Eater parents would’ve just told him to repudiate the friendship. But then, the Luxanises were not really Blaise’s parents. Who knew how many relatives the boy had lived with since his father had died?

And now he’ll be passed around even more, he realized. He and the Weasleys and maybe the Grangers would have to figure something out. The boy was right, that the Notts couldn’t safely take him. Not with Blaise labeled blood-traitor. Minerva might be able to take the boy for a little while. Molly Weasley was really his best bet, though. A more generous woman he’d yet to meet.

Mind made up, he went straight to the floo. “The Burrow!” he told it, throwing his powder in.

“…SUSPENDED! AND FOR BEING IN THAT HORRIBLE MAZE! OF ALL THE DANGEROUS, FOOLHARDY, IDIOTIC THINGS TO DO! I WOULD THINK THAT YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THAT AWEFUL TROLL ON HALLOWEEN! BUT NO! NOT ONLY ANOTHER TROLL, BUT EVERYTHING ELSE-! ARE YOU SUICIDAL?!”

“Mum-“ Severus heard Ron try quietly.

He could’ve told the boy that it was fruitless. Molly was fully into her rant.

“ARE YOU?!” Mrs. Weasley demanded.

“Mum, no, I just-“

“THEN WHY-“

“Molly,” Severus broke in.

“WHAT?!” she yelled back, before seeing him and taking a breath. “Severus. Come in. I already talked to Minerva-“

“I gathered,” Severus told her, walking from the floo into her kitchen. She gave him a fierce frown. “But I need to speak to you about something else entirely,” he continued. “It is somewhat urgent, I’m afraid.”

He fought back an unexpected smile as Ronald Weasley, stubbornly still heading the I-hate-Snape club, at least when Harry wasn’t around, shot him a look of pure worship.

Molly caught the look, too, and for a moment Severus thought she’d be mad. Instead, her face softened at the woebegone expression on her son’s face. “Oh all right,” she said. “You go on up to your room, Ron. I’ll have chores for you later. But I will be telling your father about this. Suspended your first year. And I thought the twins would cause me the most trouble.”

To Severus’ surprise – surely Molly was the scarier of the two parents? - Ron actually seemed worried by the fact that she’d tell his father. “Yes, mum,” he said respectfully.

“I swear, Severus,” she said, turning to him as Ron left, “if I didn’t know what a good friend your son was to mine, I’d be ready to kill the boy. Ronald was never this much trouble before! What was it you were wanting to talk to me about?”

Severus held back a wince. That was not a good start. “Another of Ronald’s friends,” he said.

“Hermione?” she asked him. “What about her?”

Why would she assume he was talking about Hermione? “No, Mrs. Weasley,” Severus told her. “I’m referring to one of my students, actually. You’ve heard of Blaise Zabini?”

“Yes,” she said, “he’s that boy the Luxanises are raising. Poor kid. If he’s not a Death Eater yet, he will be.” She frowned. “You said Ronald is friends with him?”

Better and better, Severus thought, staring at her. Of course Ronald would have concealed his pureblooded Slytherin friends from her. She probably didn’t know about Theodore, either. “He’s the…other influence…that is encouraging Ronald to cause trouble,” he admitted. “He’s good friends with my son as well, and with Gregory Nott’s boy Theodore.”

Molly put her hands on her hips. “And the reason you’re bringing this to my attention?” she asked him. “I’m glad to know of my son’s troublesome new Death Eater friends, but it’s hardly the school’s affair to tell me.”

Severus shook his head briefly. “I am not here at the school’s behest,” he told her. “But more at Harry’s.”

“Oh?” Molly asked him.

Severus breathed out. Now they came to it. “The Luxanises have declared the boy blood-traitor,” he told her. “He needs a place to go. Permanently, if at all possible.”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and crossed her arms. “Yes, and this concerns me how?” she asked forbiddingly.

“He’s a good boy,” Severus told her, hearing his voice take on a pleading quality that he hated.

“Whose mother purportedly murdered six husbands, including the boy’s father, who was raising him as a Death Eater. I have seven of my own children to protect, Severus, and that boy was raised by the Luxanises. ”

“Who have declared him blood traitor, Molly,” Severus said, “most likely for his relationship with our sons. A Weasley and a Potter. Am I to look for a Death Eater to take him?”

She frowned at him, then turned away to call out the kitchen door. “Ronald! Come down here for a minute, please!”

Severus heard the boy’s tracks down the hallway upstairs and down the steps before Ron arrived.

“Mum?” he asked nervously from the doorway.

“Tell me about Blaise Zabini,” she ordered him.

Ron blanched, and looked at Severus in horror. He really did keep the friendship from his mother on purpose, Severus thought. Interesting. He wouldn’t’ve thought the boy capable of keeping a secret. The expression on his face now was more open than he almost ever got out of Harry, even still.

“I – uh-“ Ron started. “He’s-uh...”

Molly put her hands on her hips. “Yes, Ronald?” she asked him.

And Ron started talking fast. “I- I thought- he’s a good guy, mum, and he’s real nice to Harry, and he’s real smart – smart as Hermione, even, and he killed the troll and he didn’t mean to lead us all down the trapdoor, and I mean Theo and I were totally in on it too, even Hermione was. Harry was the only one who really didn’t want to go. But he’s not a Death Eater, Mum. He’s really not. He likes Harry too much for that. He wouldn’t let anybody hurt him. ‘N maybe Hermione, too. She’s the only one as smart as him in the whole class. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you we were friends but he’s nice and Theo’s nice too and it’s not his fault his folks are Death Eaters!” At that declaration, he seemed to have run out of things to say. He looked at his mother in terror and shut up.

“Sounds like a pile of trouble,” Molly said to Severus, crossing her arms again.

But she was softening, Severus could tell. Somehow in all of Ron’s babbling he’d managed to mollify her. Seeing that, he decided not to speak, and just waited for Molly’s answer.

Molly glared at him, and humphed, then sighed, arms coming down off her chest. “I have to talk to Arthur,” she told him.

Severus felt his shoulders slump in relief. “Thank you, Molly,” he told her sincerely. “When can you take him?”

“I have to talk to Arthur,” she told him firmly.

Severus gave her a slight smile, and Molly shook her head at him, exasperated. They both knew that Arthur would have no objections. Molly put both hands up to rub her face like she was tired. “Where is he living in the meantime?” she asked him.

“In my quarters, I think,” Severus told her. “He can share Harry’s room, for now. He won’t stay forever, though. He doesn’t want to intrude on Harry, and I have to agree that Harry needs me right now. It’s going to be hard enough convincing him that Spinner’s end is his home without inviting another to live there so soon after I invited him. I need a place for him to go for Easter and for the beginning of the summer, if nothing else.”

Molly nodded, clearly thinking it over.

“Is Blaise okay?” Ron spoke up suddenly.

Severus almost winced. He’d known the boy was there and listening, and hadn’t said anything he’d regret, but Blaise would not appreciate Ron knowing what had happened. But if the boy was going to stay with the Weasleys, he could hardly keep the issue from Ron. “His relatives have decided not to keep him anymore,” Molly answered for him.

Good. That was enough information, without violating Blaise’s privacy.

“So he’s staying here?” Ron asked.

Molly met Severus’ eyes as she answered. “For the Easter holidays, at least,” she agreed.

“Thank you,” he told her fervently.

“Can he come now?” Ron asked. “He’s suspended, too. Doesn’t he need someplace to go now, too?”

“I was going to take him,” Severus told him, “but-” he looked at Molly questioningly.

“I’ll consider it,” she told him. “First, back upstairs, please, Ronald. Your professor and I still have details to discuss.”

“Please, Mum?” Ron asked. Molly gave him a look, and he spoke quickly. “I’ll go, I’ll go, just- Blaise is so serious, lately. Worse than Harry, even, sometimes. And there are already seven of us, it’s not like one more’ll be too hard, and-”

“Upstairs, Ronald,” Molly told him sharply. “I have not forgotten about your actions this morning. We still have plenty to talk about.”

Ron blanched, and fled, marching up the stairs as ordered.

Severus watched Molly as she stared up after him, making sure he went all the way to his room. She was delaying looking at him, he noticed, and just kept staring. Finally she turned back to him. “Oh very well,” she said crossly. “He can come this evening before dinner. But if this turns out to be a disaster, Severus-”

“He will be nothing but polite,” Severus told her. He shook his head. “If nothing else, he knows he has nowhere else to go.”

Molly winced. “Poor child,” she said softly. “That’s quite the decision to make when you’re eleven years old.”

“Better than when he’s twenty,” Severus told her.

She raised an eyebrow, knowing what he was referring to. “True,” she said. “Still-”

Severus gave her a crooked smile. “He’s a brave boy,” he commented. “Perhaps this’ll mean he can just be child for a while.”

“If he doesn’t get passed from family to family for the rest of his childhood, you mean,” Molly told him. “We’ll see, Severus. I haven’t even met the boy, remember.”

Severus frowned. “Ron’s description is accurate,” he told her. “The boy is entirely too serious, especially lately.” He frowned thoughtfully. “I had not thought Ronald that perceptive, honestly.”

“Oh, Ronald is selectively blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid,” Molly said affectionately. “Can’t reason out a damned thing if it’s for a class, but he beats his older brothers in chess and knows when to worry about his friends.” She frowned worriedly and looked at him. “How is Harry, by the way?”

“Grounded,” he told her. “He’ll be miserable for a couple of days, but then he’ll perk up.” He swallowed. “He gets really – careful- for a couple days after he’s been in trouble, still. Like he’s still waiting for me to somehow turn into someone else, or at least wondering if I’m still angry. And he still gets in trouble in the first place because he doesn’t trust me to take care of things for him.”

Molly’s face softened. “He’ll figure it out, Severus.” Suddenly, she smiled. “I have to admit, it’s still fun to see you this worked up.”

Amused, Severus schooled his face to blankness. “I assure you, Madame, I have not the slightest idea of what you mean.”

“Yes,” she said, smiling. “You are Severus Snape, terrorizer of young children. I did notice how grateful Ronald was for your entrance this morning. That boy’s been good for you.”

“In between heart attacks, I suppose,” Severus agreed.

“You are thirty-two, Severus,” Molly told him. “Thirty-two-year-olds don’t have heart attacks.”

“Not without help, no,” Severus told her.

She only smiled wider.

“He’s Harry Potter,” Severus told her, knowing she heard the anxiety in the statement. “There’ve been two attempts on his life in only ten years.”

Molly frowned. “And both men promptly died,” she pointed out.

“No,” he told her, lying without a flinch. “One died. Nobody knows who attacked Harry the second time.”

“And Quirrell just decided to take an early retirement in the Caribbean at a convenient time,” she told him. “Of course, Severus. I do understand.” She shook her head, and changed the subject. “Like I said, Blaise can come here tonight before dinner. But I have a lot to do in the meantime. As do you, I suspect. You go back to Harry. I will talk to Arthur and come for Blaise around five.”

“I’ll tell him,” Severus told her. “Thank you.”

He didn’t mind being dismissed – he still needed to call Gregory Nott, after all. He flooed back to Hogwarts the way he’d come.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Gregory Nott!” he exclaimed, throwing the floo powder down.

“Severus.” Nott greeted neutrally when he stuck his head through. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I have your son here,” Severus told him.

“I see,” the other man said forbiddingly. “Give me two minutes.”

Severus withdrew his head, and the connection ended. He looked down at Theodore to find that the boy was white. Given his father’s reaction at Halloween, Severus couldn’t blame him.

The floo opened again, and Gregory Nott stepped through to stare down at his son, who was very carefully studying the floor. “Yes, Severus?” he said without looking away from the shame-faced boy, “you wished to speak to me?”

“Go ahead, Mr. Nott,” Severus said, speaking to Theo instead.

Theo gave him an agonized look, and Severus was careful to keep his expression entirely stern. Theo turned instead to his father, making one attempt to look up, and then gazing at the floor again. “’M sspndd,” he finally managed.

His father just remained silent, and finally Theo looked up and tried again. “I’m suspended,” he whispered.

“You’re suspended,” his father repeated.

Theo gripped one of his hands tightly in the other. “I went to the third floor corridor th-that Dumbledore said not to go to,” he said finally, then stopped.

“Theodore,” Gregory said warningly.

“Th-there was a big dog,” Theo said quickly. “And then there was a really mean plant, and some charmed keys, and a g-giant chess set and-” he paused, then swallowed and continued. “And another troll, and some potions,” he told his father unhappily.

“A Cerberus,” Severus clarified. “Guarding a trapdoor that led onto a specimen of Devil’s Snare the size of a flattened tree, a mountain troll even bigger than the last, and the draught of living death. My son was there as well, along with Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. All five of them are suspended.”

Gregory’s face was thunderous, and he didn’t speak, letting Theo twist in the silence.

Finally, Theo spoke up again. “I- didn’t know there would be all of those things,” he said. “We were just curious. We only knew about the dog. And we dealt with him, no problem.”

“And kept going,” Gregory said.

“W-well Hermione and Harry dealt w-with the plant,” he said. “A-and Harry dealt with the keys, and Blaise and Ron with the chess, and Hermione and Blaise and Harry with the troll, and Hermione with the potions-”

“So, really, you had not part in it whatsoever,” Gregory said cuttingly. “Is that what you are trying to tell me, Theodore?”

Theo fell silent, swallowing hard and shaking his head a little.

“Once again you followed your friends into a situation that could have gotten you killed,” Gregory told him.

Theo was still quiet, just looking at the ground miserably.

“Should I forbid you from being friends with them, Theodore?” Gregory asked him softly.

Theo looked up at his father, eyes huge with horror and mouth dropping open in mute protest. It took a few tries before he managed to speak. “D-daddy,” he whispered.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t, Theodore,” Gregory told him, to all appearances impervious to his son’s distress. He was faking it, of course. Severus knew all about that, by now, but it was a good fake.

“B-because th-they’re nice to me,” Theodore said frantically. “Th-they like me. They don’t think I’m s-stupid or crazy or anything. A-and it wasn’t their fault!” he said suddenly. “I wanted to go. I-” he looked away from his father’s anger. “I agreed even before Ron and Hermione and Harry did. Harry didn’t even want to go.”

“So then you would say that you, personally, decided to go down that trapdoor, and then to keep going through all the danger,” Gregory told him. “Is that about right, Theodore?”

Severus had to admire the man’s skill. He’d led the boy right into that one. Theo seemed to realize it, too, and looked at his father with wide eyes.

But the alternative was for the boy to blame his friends, and Gregory had definitely prevented that from being an option. “Y-yes, sir,” Theodore told his father.

“Thank you,” Gregory told him. “Floo home and go to your room. I will join you shortly.”

Theodore gave his father big, pleading eyes, but Gregory just reached for the floo powder and threw it in. “Nott Manor!” he called sharply. “Go, Theodore,” he said.

Theo gave him a miserable look, but went.

As soon as the boy was gone, Severus found himself the subject of the scrutiny. Nott Senior was not happy. Not that I blame him. It was Severus’ job to keep his students safe, after all.

To Severus’ considerable surprise, though, the man did not lay into him right away. Instead he took a deep breath, and spoke. “You said that all five are suspended. Did you find a place for young Mr. Zabini to go?”

Startled, Severus stared at the man. Nott knew that Zabini had been disowned? “I cannot do anything about it, surely you realize that, Severus,” Gregory said in response to Severus’ silence. “And it is your responsibility to find the boy a place to go, given the circumstances.”

“The circumstances?” Severus asked.

Gregory gave him a strange look. “You don’t know?”

Severus shook his head. “I only found out two hours ago that there was a problem at all. You say it is my responsibility? I am the boy’s head-of-house-”

Gregory shook his head sharply. “No,” he said. “That is not what I mean at all. The boy was disowned for withholding key information from his family. He’d been observing you and talking to Harry for months, you realize? Bad enough he didn’t tell the Lexanis’s about your relationship when it was developing, but then the adoption went through, and he wouldn’t tell them anything then either. Not about Harry and not about you. The boy’s lucky they didn’t kill him outright. A true blood-traitor. He’s been down a home for more than a month, now. I assumed he’d tell you, or I would’ve.”

Severus shook his head. “Never assume that boy will tell anyone anything. He has somewhat more of a self-preservation instinct than Harry or Theo, but not to the extent that he’ll actually ask for help when he needs it.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Severus,” Gregory told him, frowning. “Seems he enlisted your help quite effectively, didn’t he? He had to know that that stunt could get him suspended. And Easter is in only a few weeks. He needed a place to go.”

Severus nodded reluctantly. “True.”

“You do have somewhere for him to go?” Gregory asked him. “I’d take him in happily, if it wouldn’t get all of us killed.”

Severus nodded. “For Easter, at least,” he said. “The Weasleys are taking him.”

“And they’ll treat him well? Death Eater parents and all?” Gregory asked.

“Definitely,” Severus told him. “Molly Weasley is loud, but she wouldn’t know how to mistreat a child.” He smiled. “I’m somewhat banking on the fact that she’s also likely to be unable to give one up, once she’s taken him in.”

Gregory smiled briefly, then frowned thoughtfully. “Can she afford that?”

Severus smiled. “No,” he said. “But it’s a damned good excuse for Dumbledore and I to support her, isn’t it?”

“Tidy,” Gregory acknowledged, smiling again. He paused, then spoke firmly. “I’ll front the money,” he said. “He’s my responsibility too, and I can afford it better than you can.”

“You just said that the boy is my responsibility, Gregory,” Severus said, irritated. “I can well afford to support one boy.”

“Yes, but you’d be supporting two,” Gregory reminded him. “And you already did your part. This is my part, since the boy is a friend of my son’s.”

“Until you forbid it,” Severus said dryly.

Gregory was surprised into a smile. “Oh, I won’t do that,” he said. “Blaise and Harry have been damned good for him, whatever has happened in the meantime. But Theo does need to start taking responsibility for his own actions, following others or no.”

Severus nodded.

“But no,” Gregory continued. “Blaise is my responsibility, too. I will see to it that he’s provided for financially since I cannot see to his needs in other ways. It will provide incentive for the Weasleys to keep the boy, if nothing else.”

Severus gave him a cold look. “We are not paying the family to care for the boy, Gregory,” he told the man icily. “Molly would never permit it. We are looking for a family, not a set of financially motivated fosters.”

“No, but I would like some assurance just the same,” Gregory told him. “And if what you say is true, the money would go straight into care for the boy. We’ll simply grossly overestimate the amount the woman would spend caring for the boy as she does the rest of her family. If she’s too proud to admit she needs the help, she’ll also be too proud to admit that the amount she’s receiving is more than she can afford to spend on her own children. Then we make it clear that she can use the money as she chooses and voila.”

Severus shook his head. He didn’t like it, but it was true that Gregory Nott could afford to give the family more than Severus could on his teacher’s salary. “Molly will see through it,” he told the man, “but it’s Arthur who is the problem, pride-wise, and if the money goes straight to Molly he doesn’t have to know. Just be sure that your ‘friends’ don’t find out what you’re doing.”

“Point,” Gregory told him. “And done. But Theo will be thoroughly miserable by now. Contact me when you’ve talked to Mrs. Weasley and we’ll set something up. I have to go.”

“Go,” Severus agreed. “I have to go explain things to Blaise.”

Gregory met his eyes, expression subtly anxious. “I have never met the Weasleys,” he said finally.

Severus gave him a slight smile. “I would trust them with my son,” he told him.

Gregory raised both eyebrows. “You wouldn’t trust me with your son,” he told him.

Severus gave him a wry smile. “I don’t trust me with my son half the time,” he told the man. “But I’d trust Molly and Arthur Weasley. I’d have sent him to them, instead of taking the boy myself, but he’s never met them either. He’d’ve never forgiven me, or them, no matter how capable they are.”

Gregory snorted. “That and he’s yours,” he told Severus, sounding like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It wasn’t that obvious, at the time,” Severus admitted softly. He shook his head. “That is beside the point,” he said. “You go to your son, I’ll go deal with Blaise.”

“Yes,” Gregory said, suddenly sounding tired. “I’ll go relieve Theo’s misery. Thank you, Severus.” He turned to the floo, threw the powder in, and left.

Severus rolled his head around on his neck, suddenly tired himself. It had been a stressful few days. He did it for Harry, he realized, awed. He’d known the boy would have to choose between the Death Eaters and his friends, but he hadn’t thought the decision would be made so immediately. Better than when he’s twenty, he told himself again. But the boy had lost his home over it. He owed it to him to make it as easy as possible for him to fit into a new one. Blaise would have a second chance, if he had to take him in personally to make it happen.