Severus scanned the group, looking for the bullies, the potential victims of the bullies and the initial signs of children coming from abusive homes. He knew intimately what to look for. His prefects also knew, as they would have spent the last year learning what to look for. Who he selected for prefects was never a surprise, Severus picked them at the beginning of fifth year and began the training soon after. Hugh Donaldson, the sixth year prefect, stood to the left of the first years and Joseph Barnes, the seventh year, stood to the right.

Severus folded his arms and began his speech.

"You have been Sorted into Slytherin, a great, but misunderstood House. You will be told by others that all Slytherins are Dark or Evil. Do not believe them for any reason. Your course in life is not dictated by what house you were Sorted into, but by your own decisions. Make your decisions carefully.

"While you are in school, Slytherin House will be your home, the people residing here will be your family. As with every family, there will be disagreements. You will contain these disagreements to this common room. There will be no fighting in the dorm rooms, the halls or the classrooms. Outside of this room, you will all show a united front. If a child from another house starts a fight, stand up for yourselves, but you will not start the fight. Anyone seen misbehaving or fighting outside of this common room with a member of Slytherin House will be punished by the prefects or myself privately. Punishment will consist of points lost, detentions and the loss of certain privileges, including an earlier curfew, restriction to the common room for a weekend and essays or lines to write. Worst offences will include a letter written to your parents. How those offences will be defined is left entirely up to me to decide.

"First years will be assigned someone from fifth year to help them find their classes and settle into the routine of school. The prefects will let you know who is assigned to whom.

"Prefects, you will report to my office in thirty minutes. First and fifth years remain here. The rest of you are dismissed."

Everyone except the first and fifth years scattered. Severus watched the goings on for a moment and then left to attend to his quarters. The extra bedroom would need to be prepared and he couldn't count on Albus to have instructed the house elves properly.

He thought about the children as he walked. Surprisingly, there was no one that stood out as mistreated. None of the children had the wary eyes or clenching fists that betrayed them. They had all seemed nervous, but that was to be expected the first night away from home. He would speak to the prefects and keep his eye on them over the next few days. If there was a child that needed attention, they would show themselves soon. They always did.

The door to the extra bedroom was to the left of the fireplace in his quarters and as soon as Severus entered it, he knew that Albus had had a hand in the decorating. It screamed Gryffindor with its gold and red. Severus sneered as he changed all the colors to blues and creams. He knew Harry wouldn't see them, but Severus would and he wasn't going to put up with that.

Albus had been so disappointed when Harry hadn't been Sorted into Gryffindor. The look on his face when the Hat had shouted out Slytherin had been worthy of several photographs.

"Not so sure of yourself now, are you Albus?" Severus had asked snidely.

Severus couldn't believe that the Headmaster was foolish enough to think that Harry would have been put into Gryffindor simply because his parents had been there. Severus hoped he was choking on his decision to Sort Harry right away.

Suddenly the floo roared to life and he hurried out of the bedroom to see Poppy's head appear in the flames. "Severus," she cried. "Get up here immediately!"

As soon as she had pulled back, he strode into the floo and directed it to take him to the Hospital Wing. He arrived in the middle of a magical storm. He ran to a screaming Harry and pulled him up into his arms. Severus wondered if this was going to happen every night.

"Harry, Harry," he yelled. "Wake up child, you're safe!"

Small fists tangled themselves in Severus's robes as the screaming and the magical storm suddenly stopped. Harry climbed into Severus's lap and keened, "Sorry, Sorry," while rocking back and forth.

"Albus has a lot to answer for, Severus," Poppy said, her mouth grim.

"Yes, he does," Severus answered as Harry finally calmed enough to fall back to sleep. The too large infirmary pyjamas were wrapped around his small body and it took Severus a minute to untangle them as he lifted Harry to carry him.

"I'm taking him back to my quarters."

Poppy just nodded helplessly as Severus left via the floo.

He arrived back in his quarters to find the wards alerting him to the fact that the prefects were waiting for him outside the door to his office. He quickly put Harry to bed before allowing the boys in.

After hearing their report and sending them to their own beds, Severus made his way back to his sitting room, laid his head against the back of the chair that sat directly in front of Harry's room and closed his eyes. He had no idea what to do at this point. Classes started tomorrow, Harry couldn't be left alone and he had no one that Harry would trust enough to leave him with. Severus needed sleep, but he was unlikely to get it tonight.

With a sigh, he flooed Minerva's living quarters.

She was sitting in front of her fireplace with a cup of tea, still in her teaching robes. "Minerva," Severus said, "I need to speak to you, can you come to my rooms?"

"Of course Severus," she said, setting aside her teacup. He backed out of the floo and a moment later, Minerva came through.

"Is this about young Mr. Snape?" she asked, once she was settled in the chair opposite his, with another cup of tea, this one from Severus.

"Yes," Snape sipped from his own cup. "I am uncertain what to do with him while I'm teaching. At this point he cannot be left alone, but I know no one that I would trust to leave him with for long stretches of time."

"What about his schooling?" Minerva asked. "How is he to be educated?"

"Albus has said that he will provide tutors to catch him up on the things he's missed in the last three years, but I cannot teach, take care of him and work with Poppy on his healing all at the same time. Also, I'm not sure about trusting Albus to do what would be best for Evan."

"Have you thought about taking a leave of absence from teaching? I'm sure that Albus would allow you to remain in the school, seeing as he's so adamant about Mr. Snape being here."

Severus looked away for a moment. "No, I hadn't given that any consideration. I will do it if no other solution is found, but for now I would prefer to retain my position."

Minerva gave him a searching look. "What is so special about Mr. Snape that the Headmaster is taking such an interest in him?"

Severus looked directly at Minerva. "I am not at liberty to say at this time, but can you not guess?"

Minerva looked contemplative for a minute, then her eyes widened, almost comically. "No," she breathed. Her head swung around to look at the child through the open door. She couldn't see much, just a lump underneath the blankets. Slowly, she got to her feet. "I told him not to leave him with them. I told him."

Severus watched as several emotions crossed her face. Anger, regret, fear.

Finally she looked back at Severus. "What do we do now?"

Severus relaxed muscles he didn't know were clenched. Minerva was on his side. "We protect him from everyone."

She nodded. "You know that the Headmaster will not appreciate our interference. He has plans and he won't lightly put them aside."

Severus set his teacup aside and stood, suddenly angry. "Evan is more important than a meddling Headmaster. Albus cannot put in place any of his plans because he counted on Evan being physically whole and mentally sound." Severus rubbed a hand over his face. "If only I had known that Albus had placed him with Lily's loathsome sister and her abhorrent husband, I could have told him it would never work. I could have done something."

Minerva laid a sympathetic hand on his arm. Severus's emphasis on the name Evan was not lost on Minerva. He was no longer the boy-who-lived, Harry Potter, he was a broken child in need of care. "He couldn't have told you, you know that. After You-Know-Who was killed, his minions would have gone after the boy with a vengeance. He couldn't risk that you would be found out."

Severus nodded bitterly. "Couldn't give away his spy, could he? Then he'd have no one to keep an eye on the Malfoys, the Parkinsons and all the rest of the Death Eater families."

Minerva sighed. "You know Albus thinks of you as more than just a spy, Severus."

"Does he, really?" Severus asked sarcastically. "If he thought more of me than just as a spy, as you claim, he would have let me take Draco away from Lucius the first time he beat the child within an inch of his life. I asked Albus, I begged him and he said I couldn't interfere because then I would be exposed and have to go into hiding." Severus folded his arms across his chest. "Now, I have to try and undo years of abuse and brainwashing with two boys and I have no idea where to begin."

Not to mention all of the Slytherins to take care of, but Severus didn't say that out loud. He wasn't going to indulge in pity, he was going to find a solution to the mess.

Minerva sat back down. "Is there anyone who passed their N.E.W.T.S. in the last two years that you would consider for an apprenticeship? You could bring them in to do some of the grading and work on the potions for the infirmary. That would help cut down on your time away."

Severus thought about it. He had never taken an apprentice before, although as a Potions Master, he would have been well within his rights to do so. He had never considered anyone worthy of the honor. After teaching a classroom full of idiots for seven years, it was difficult to see the potential.

He knew that several of his former students had gone on to apprenticeships with other Potions Masters, but he had sneered at their obvious lack of standards in selecting such dunderheads. Now it appeared that he would have to choose a dunderhead for himself.

"I will have to give it some thought. There may be one or two that I would consider. However that will not solve the immediate problem."

Minerva sipped at her tea, thinking. "Why don't you see if Poppy will take him for a day or two, just until we can get things worked out. I will contact St. Mungo's tomorrow and see if they have someone they can recommend to tutor Mr. Snape as far as basic reading, writing and maths. Also, there may be some among the sixth and seventh years that would be able to help."

"Yes," Severus agreed. "That will do. I will work on finding someone to help me in the classroom and with the Slytherins."

"You might also consider assigning a house elf to watch him at times that no one else is available."

Severus scowled. "That might be option, but only as a last resort."

As Minerva was getting ready to leave, she turned back to Severus. "How in the world did you manage to get Albus to give you guardianship?"

Severus smiled and it wasn't a kind smile, it was filled with angry success. "I showed him Evan's face, told him everything that happened yesterday and then insisted that he give me guardianship over the child. I think he was so embarrassed he had not known what was going on that he couldn't refuse."

Minerva laughed softly. "Well, good for you. It's not often that someone gets one over on the Headmaster."

After Minerva had left, Severus stood over Harry, watching him sleep, contemplating how true her last words were. Albus would be out to take back his Chosen One and Severus was deeply afraid that he would stop at nothing.

~HPSSHPSS~

Harry woke to someone touching his arm. His first instinct was to flee, but before he could do more than flinch away, he realised that none of the Dursleys would come into his cupboard, much less touch him so lightly, so carefully.

"Professor?" he asked cautiously, just in case the last two days had been a dream and he really was locked in his cupboard, waiting for Aunt Petunia to let him out. The soft feel of the bed and the weight of the blankets did nothing to alleviate the unconscious fear that it could be a dream after all.

"I'm here, Harry," he heard as strong arms lifted him off the bed and onto the ground. He was so relieved. It had all been real, he was away from his relatives and with his professor. He put one hand on the bed to steady his suddenly weak knees.

"Where are we?" he asked cautiously.

"We are in your bedroom. I'm going to help you to the toilet and shower and then we'll go to breakfast."

Harry was surprised. "My bedroom?"

"Yes, all yours."

Harry felt the sting of tears in his eyes, but he was not going to cry, not again. "Mine," he whispered, stroking the blankets on the bed.

Professor Snape showed him how to get to the loo, carefully leading him from the side of the bed and taking the time to teach him to count the steps until he had reached the door that led to the tiny room off of his bedroom that contained the toilet, sink and a shower. Professor Snape turned the water on for him and Harry was surprised when he got in and the water was not cold. Usually he was not allowed warm water; only on the weekends that his relatives were gone would he dare to use any in his bath. He wanted to stand underneath the spray forever, just letting the warmth jet down on his back. His professor wouldn't allow it, but promised that on the weekend, when they had nowhere else to be, he could shower as long as he wanted. After he was clean and dressed, Professor Snape made sure that he had done up the buttons on his shirt and robes in the right places, checked that his wand was safely stored in his pocket, then led Harry to the Great Hall for breakfast.

There were a lot of people in the hallways and Professor Snape made sure that Harry was protected from them by keeping Harry next to the wall. Harry liked this especially, because he could keep one hand in Professor Snape's and trail the fingers of his other hand along the wall, feeling the rough texture of the stone, the cracks that ran up and up beyond reach, the occasional frame of a painting that hung low enough to touch. When they came to stairs to climb, Professor Snape showed Harry how to bump the back of them gently with the toe of his shoes as he climbed. These were not like the stairs back at the Dursleys'. They were wider, deeper and uneven, making climbing them a bit of a challenge, but his professor held his hand tightly, helping to pull him up to the next stair so that he didn't have to put too much weight on his leg. All these things distracted Harry enough that he was able to keep the panic at bay.

When his fingers found the edge of the wall and after that encountered air, Professor Snape leaned over to speak to him. "We're almost to the Great Hall. Count the steps with me."

"One, two, three…" Harry counted out loud, gripping his professor's hand until they reached the doors to the Great Hall. Then they turned and began a long trek to wherever it was that Harry would sit. He could feel people close to him, a few touched him and he backed away quickly, pressing himself into his professor. He heard Professor Snape say something and the touching stopped.

Reluctantly he continued walking until Professor Snape said, "Here's your place, Evan."

Professor Snape led his hands to feel the bench and the edge of the table and helped Harry to sit, showing him to sit down on the bench with his back to the table and then swing his legs around. "I'll be up at the head table," his professor said. "Draco will help you with breakfast."

Harry nodded. This was a little familiar now. He reached his right hand out and felt a hand slightly larger than his take it. "I'm here, Evan." It was Draco, and Harry smiled.