Harry wished all his classes had been canceled, because he couldn't think straight and felt like he was in a daze more than anything else. He couldn't bring himself to ask McGonagall if there had been any news of his father, but he did count himself lucky that he had friends that were not dazed like he was. Ginny asked McGonagall at breakfast, and Draco tracked her down after lunch when she'd failed to appear in the Great Hall, and Hermione did the same after dinner. There was no sign. Dumbledore had done an extensive search of the grounds with Kingsley and Tonks and left Tonks there at the castle before taking Kingsley to search some of the Order safehouses and anywhere else Severus might have gone. No one wanted to say it, but they were all thinking it. If he hadn't come back from a death eater meeting, he was likely dead. Harry knew that if he was, it was becuase of him. If anyone had found out that he was Snape's son, and his father hadn't told Voldemort, then the punishment would be death.

"You have to eat something Harry."

"No I don't," he said quietly at Hermione's prodding, but she put a piece of buttered toast on his plate at dinner anyway and a slab of ham. Harry pushed the plate away from himself and Hermione sighed.

"You need to keep up your strength. You haven't eaten all day. What if they need your help to look for him and you're too weak from lack of food?"

"They won't ask for my help," Harry said. No one wanted the help of a child, or of an addict.

"She's right though," Ron said. "You have to eat something. I asked McGonagall and she said Tonks is here to help keep the castle safe. There's a possibilty of attack."

"And what, you want me to eat so I can fight everyone elses battles for them?" He was angry but he couldn't muster much force to put behind his words. He stood up and went back to the boys dorms, and was still there lying in bed when Ron came back after dinner.

"Do you want to work on your Transfiguration essay?" Ron asked.

"No."

"What about Charms?"

"No."

"Hermione told me to pester you until you said yes to something."

"Tell her to leave me alone."

Ron sighed and left the room.

The next day Severus still hadn't come back, though Harry saw Dumbledore briefly in the corridor, and the man didn't see him or say anything to him. Harry did eat at breakfast, but not a lot, and was quiet throughout the day and the next evening.

By day three, his friends were all taking turns sitting with him wherever he happened to be, though Ron was usually the one to stay with him since Harry was spending most of his free time in his room. Harry for his part, didn't want anybody to sit with him or try to engage him in conversation, and thought to go stay in his fathers quarters instead of the dorms.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked as Harry got up off of his desk chair in the dorms and headed for the door.

"Out."

"Out where?"

"The dungeons."

"I'll go with you."

"I'm going to my father's quarters."

"I'll come."

Harry turned to Ron and gave him a tired look. "I appreciate what you're all doing, but I want to be alone tonight. Come get me if there's any news."

Ron looked like he didn't know whether to let his friend go or not, but in the end he didn't follow him. Harry made his way down through the castle and was almost to the ground floor when he ran into somebody he hadn't expected.

"Harry."

He looked up in time to see Remus before Remus had him in a hug, and for once in the last few days, Harry allowed the contact. Remus had never hugged him before, aside from the time last year at the Ministry when Harry had tried to step in front of a curse to save Sirius and he'd grabbed him and held him tight to keep him out of harms way.

"Is he dead?" Harry asked, feeling numb as Remus continued to embrace him.

"We don't know," Remus said honestly. "We can't find him, and he was the only spy in the ranks, so there's no one we can talk to find out what happened that night. He's just, gone."

Harry sighed and Remus let go of him. "What are you doing here?" he asked tiredly.

"I came to see you. The Headmaster has asked me to fill in for your father for Potions classes and to stay with you."

"Stay with me?"

"He thought you might like to stay somewhere other than the dorms. He said you seemed irritated by your friends attempts to keep an eye on you."

"I am, and I would. Do you have quarters?"

"If you are amenable, we'll stay in your father's quarters since you already have a room there. I'll sleep on the couch."

"We don't have to do that," Harry said, although he really wanted to. "You should have your own room."

"Harry," Remus put his hand on Harry's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "It's fine cub."

Harry nodded, feeling relieved that they were going down to dungeons. Remus kept his hand on Harry's shoulder for a moment more as they moved off.

"Do you have to check in with Dumbledore?" Harry asked as they made the Entrance Hall.

"Yes, but I can do that tomorrow. He knows I was comming tonight and Minerva met me in the Entrance Hall. I was just on my way to Gryffindor to find you."

Harry let them into Severus' quarters with the password, and waved up the lights. It almost felt wrong to be there without his father, and he felt like his father would walk through the door any moment and ask what Remus was doing there with an unhappy look on his face. Harry knew they didn't get along, especially because Remus was still associated with Sirius, but at this point, Harry didn't care and was glad to have Remus there.

"Sirius got a letter from you after Christmas," Remus said, following Harry into the kitchen. Harry felt like since it was sort of his quarters too that it was his job to make tea, but Remus took the tea kettle from his hands and took over the task.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"There was a picture of a bear."

"Do you want to see?" Harry asked.

Remus set the tea kettle down and nodded, and Harry pushed the small kitchen table out of the way before turning into his ursid form.

"Very good Harry," Remus said with a tired smile. "Sirius wasn't sure what to make of it at first until I told him what book I'd sent you."

Harry transformed back again and said, "Ginny said he stayed in his room for the holidays."

"He's not used to having so many people in the house, and he wanted to avoid any questions the Weasleys had about why you, Ron, and Hermione had chosen not to spend Christmas with them this year."

"Did they ask?"

"Yes."

"Did they get an answer?"

"Not much of one. I knew that Ginny knew, but no one said anything aside from that the three of you wanted to stay behind to study for next years NEWTs. Molly was rather pleased that Ron would choose to do extra studying."

Remus finished making tea while Harry put the table back into place.

"Dad lets Draco stay here sometimes too," Harry said when Remus handed him a cup of tea. He was glad that Remus was there, but was afraid the man would take the same attitude towards Draco as Sirius had.

"Whatever rules your father has still stand," Remus said. "It's still your home Harry. I'm assuming he has rules about your transforming?"

"Just that I'm not supposed to do it in front of people because I'm not registered, and I'm not going to so that I can use it against Voldemort if I need to."

"I figured as much. The Headmaster did tell me that you and your friends took a little jaunt out into the forest in the middle of the night a few nights ago."

"Am I getting detention?"

"We'll leave that up to your father when he returns, shall we?"

"If he returns," Harry said, and a little bitterness seeped through his voice.

"Don't say that Harry. Just because we haven't found him doesn't mean he's not out there. He may be on some sort of mission for Voldemort and unable to contact us. We just can't know."

Harry really wanted to snap out at him then that it wasn't nice to get his hopes up, but restrained himself with some difficulty. Remus noticed.

"I know this isn't the best situation Harry, and I know you'd rather have your father here than me," Harry opened his mouth but Remus held up a hand to stop him from saying it wasn't like that. "I understand. What we have to do is try to make the best out of the situation and not give up hope, especially so early. I need you to know that no matter what happens, you'll be taken care of, and I need you to be honest with me about what you need."

Harry looked down at his shoes. Sleep, alone time, asphodel, and his father. Those were the things he needed just now.

"I could use some sleep," he said, scratching the back of his head, but I need to do my homework. I haven't done any of it in three days." He also hadn't slept much in three days.

Remus looked at his watch. "Don't worry about transfiguration or potions right now. I'm sure Minerva would be willing to give you some extra time and I'm going to give everyone an extra day to complete their potions assignments while I take a day to go over Severus' lesson plans. Let's focus on the assignments you have for teachers who don't know why you have reason to turn things in late. Do you have your books?"

"Everything's up in the dorms."

Remus called for an elf and a small elf named Tinky appeared. He asked her to go up to Harry's dorm and bring his books down to them and not to answer anyone aside from Ron or Hermione about why she was there collecting Harry's things or where she was taking them. She was back in just a few minutes with the books and a stack of parchment in Harry's bag, and the asignments and books were all soon spread out on the coffee table. Remus sat down on one couch and Harry on the other across from him, the work between them.

"You're going to help me?" Harry asked.

"Yes. The sooner you can get the work done, the sooner you can get some rest."

"Is this cheating?" Harry had never had anyone aside from Hermione help him with his work before, let alone a teacher. Even his father had never offered to help with his homework. He'd seen aunt Petunia doing Dudley's assignments for him back in primary though.

"No. I figured your eyes might be tired. If you read the assignment to me, I can read the appropriate section of the text book to you and you can write down what you need to, to finish the assignment."

Harry nodded. That was doable. In forty five minutes, Harry had finished his Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, and most of his Herbology, which wasn't due for another two days.

"Thank you," Harry said as Remus closed the Herbology book and set it on the pile of other school books.

"You're most certainly welcome Mr. Potter-" he hesitated and stared at Harry as if he were worried about something.

"What?"

"I wasn't certain if you were still going by Potter."

Harry frowned. He hadn't thought about it. He'd always been Harry Potter. His mother's last name was Potter too. He had his father there alive with him, but he supposed the only thing he had left of Lily was her last name.

"Why did she marry James?" Harry asked, instead of answering Remus' question.

"That I don't know. Have you asked your father?"

Harry shook his head. It hadn't come up. He supposed that with Sirius, finding out he had a father, selling Potions, the dirt, and trying to become an Animagus, his mind had been preoccupied. "It didn't occur to me to ask until now."

"I know that Severus and Lily dated in their sixth and seventh years in school, and that two years later she married James. James pursued her for our last few years of school, but after we all graduated the only contact we had with Lily and Severus was during Order meetings. Severus stopped coming to Order meetings about eight months before you were born and none of us knew why. To be honest, it surprised most of us when Lily and James announced their marriage shortly after Severus stopped coming to meetings."

"That all sounds very confusing." Harry meant what he said too, and he didn't know if he was confused because he hadn't been there, or because he was tired.

"It was," Remus said.

"I grew up thinking James was my dad," Harry said. "Everyone told me how much like him I was, how I looked like him, how I got in trouble like him... I was always sort of proud to have the last name Potter because it's the only thing I had that tied me to Lily and James. That hasn't changed. It's the only thing left I have that makes me my mum's."

"You look like your father," Remus said then. "And you do get into trouble like your father. And you are also stubborn like your father."

"Like Severus?"

Remus nodded and smiled. "Yes. And as much as they hated each other and would never admit it, they were very much alike. It didn't help their negative feelings for each other that they both liked Lily, were both stubborn, and both had a knack for breaking too many rules."

Harry tried to stifle a yawn and Remus stood up. "Up, up. Off to bed with you."

"Wait," Harry said, standing up. "Are you sure you want to sleep on the couch?"

"We already discussed this."

"Let me get you a pillow and blankets then." He went to a hallway closet where he knew there were extra things like this, and pulled out the softer of the available blankets and a pillow with a silver pillowcase.

"Ron will tell Draco I'm down here," Harry said as he handed them to Remus. "He'll probably come in in the morning."

"That will be fine. I'll be up early to prepare for classes." He set the bedding down and followed Harry down the hall to his room to ensure he went inside. He glanced at the decorations and gave a nod of approval.

"Imagine if you had been in Slytherin," Remus said with a shake of his head and a small smile.

Harry pulled his shoes off and sat on the edge of his four poster. "I almost was." He enjoyed the brief look of shock on Remus' face and allowed himself a very small smile, and then said, "I'll tell you about it some time."

"All right Harry. Get some sleep."

As the door was closed and the lights waved down, Harry couldn't help but wonder at how the evening had turned out. He still felt miserable, tired, and unwell (probably from lack of food and rest), but the night had turned out better than he'd expected. He had his homework done, he was in his room in his father's quarters (which made him feel marginally better than being with his friends up in Gryffindor), and Remus was there with him. As much as his friends wanted to help, and wanted to comfort him, they really couldn't. Dumbledore hadn't been telling Harry anything, and McGonagall had been too busy to really check on him, and Harry couldn't deny, now that Remus was there, that he liked having an adult to talk to and get help from. He would still rather have his father there and know that he was safe, but having Remus around wasn't bad for the moment.

* * *

Ron and the others were surprised to see Remus the next morning at breakfast, but not as surprised as Draco was to go into his godfather's quarters and find the man sleeping on the couch in the darkness. Draco stared at him for a long moment in the darkened living room, and then decided to leave him be and go to see if Harry was in his room. He pushed the door open quietly and went to the side of Harry's bed to prod him awake.

"Harry. Harry."

Harry didn't stir and Draco hated to wake him up when he knew his friend needed the rest, but he'd have to get up soon anyway if he was going to go to any of his classes that day. Draco lit his wand and tried again.

"Harry. There's a werewolf sleeping on the couch in the living room."

"I know," Harry mumbled. He wanted to say something like, 'he's my other godfather,' because he'd always felt that way about Remus, but didn't. "It's ok, I told him you'd probably come in."

Harry opened his eyes and saw that Draco did not look settled by this information.

"He's not like Sirius," Harry said. "He's a good guy."

"He tried to eat you and your friends in third year."

"On the full moon." Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. Draco saw that there were circles under them. "It's not like he ever tried it during class or detention."

"Ha ha, very funny. What's he doing here?"

"He came to see me, and he's taking over Potions for a while so classes can resume."

"Why isn't he in his own quarters though?"

"Because I need babysitting I guess."

Draco crossed his arms. "You're a big ugly bear and your girlfriend is a wild cat. I hardly think you need someone to keep you safe."

"Not like that," Harry said. He gave a sigh and stood up, looking around for his socks. Ever since Christmas, he'd begun keeping some clothes down here, especially since he had so many and a room to keep them in.

"Don't give him a hard time," Harry said, but his tone made it sound like a plea.

"Do you think uncle Severus would approve of him staying here?"

"Yes."

Draco scoffed, and Harry plopped back down onto his bed.

"He's here for me more than he is to sub for Potions. Do you really think my dad would have a problem with that?"

"He's friends with your godfather."

"I'm friends with the son of a death eater." Harry gave his friend a pointed look.

"Fine."

"He's all I've got left and he's never been bad to me."

"You've got me."

"It's not the same."

"I know." Draco sat down in his desk chair and looked as down as Harry felt.

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know," Harry said.

"He has to. Right? He came for me before. Even before that I mean... mum didn't want me to go to france or on other vacations with her, and sometimes my father was... well, my father. Uncle Severus would let me stay with him during the summer or over holidays. Before this was your room, it was mine." He gave a look to the Gryffindor poster on the wall then and then down to his wand, which was still the only thing lighting the room.

"You can still stay here," Harry said. "We can put in bunk or something."

"I don't think... your other godfather will approve."

"He said whatever rules dad had in place are still the rules." Harry finally waved up the lights with his own wand and finished getting dressed. Neither boy knew that just down the hall, Remus had woken and had heard their entire conversation. Harry wasn't the only one feeling alone right now. Remus didn't know what to do for Draco becuase he had no relationship with him like he did Harry. When he saw the light in the room go up, he went to the bathroom to change and get ready for the day, and when he came out, the boys were gone, already up to breakfast, though Harry had left him a note on the coffee table, telling him he'd be back after dinner. Remus stared at himself in the bathroom mirror and faced himself, trying to prepare for what he was certain would be a long day. He now had two boys to tend to, and an entire house who was certain not to take kindly to him taking their head of house's place in the classroom.