Madame Pomfrey had decided that Harry should stay overnight in the Hospital Wing and then could go home in the morning. Harry didn't argue about going home because he was exhausted; his whole body ached and he found himself full of anxiety. He jumped every time someone came into the room which caused Madame Pomfrey to frown at him.

Harry had several visitors that night with Madame Pomfrey asking if he wanted to see each one of them. The first was Hermione who cried and wanted to hold his hand and he ended up comforting her more than she comforted him. The next was Ron and Neville who spoke lightly to him about the upcoming Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quiddich game. Malfoy showed up rather late in the day. When he first entered the room, Harry felt his gut tighten up inexplicably. There was just something about that flash of blonde hair and the way he held himself. Harry's head began to pound again.

Malfoy approached his bed, eyeing him uncertainly, " So, are you okay?"

"I don't know," Harry muttered honestly, "I feel all weird."

There was a beat of silence and then Harry asked, "Did you get in trouble for helping me?"

Malfoy shook his head and then added, "Well, your mother gave me a pretty good telling off and a speech about 'when to involve an adult.' I haven't seen Snape since this afternoon."

Malfoy had brought him a couple of cauldron cakes which his mother had apparently sent him in a care package. Harry was grateful since Madame Pomfrey had him on a rather bland diet even though he insisted his stomach was feeling better.

The last visitor that Harry had was Snape and Madame Pomfrey didn't ask Harry if he wanted to see him. Harry groaned, "Look, I know I have to be punished, but can it just wait?"

Snape frowned at him and was silent for a moment before saying, "That's not why I'm here. Although what you did was very foolish and you worried your mother. And . . . I was worried, too."

Harry looked away and didn't answer. Snape continued, "We need to talk. Not now because I know you're not feeling well but when you're better. Things are going to be different, Harry. They simply can't continue like they've been."

Harry decided he wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of looking at him. Instead, he focused intently on looking at the ugly curtain that Madame Pomfrey had conjured to give him some privacy. Snape sighed and said, "Okay, then. Sirius will be here first thing in the morning to get you and your mother will get you from there later tomorrow night."

He got up and left silently and Harry spent a rather restless night waking up about every hour. He hated the dark Hospital Wing and the way the curtain obstructed his view of parts of the room and it was so dark. It was foolish, he told himself, to feel like someone could be hiding in the Hospital Wing but that didn't stop him from obsessively getting up to check behind the curtain.

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

Severus was up before dawn and sitting in the darkened living room lost in his thoughts. He knew he should go home and try to talk to Lily but the truth was that he was not looking forward to the row that awaited him there. He knew she was angry that he had let Harry come to danger when she trusted him to keep the boy safe. To keep them safe. Her anger was intensified because she didn't know who had hurt her son and didn't have anywhere else to direct it. Severus was hoping she would cool off some before they talked.

He was more disturbed by recent events with the boy than he had let on. Those thoughts; surely the boy didn't think that he actually hated him. They didn't get along all the time, no, but Severus didn't hate the child. He couldn't hate anything that was such a part of Lily. Even more disturbing - and Severus would never admit this, even to Lily - was that the boy seemed to associate him primarily with punishment. Severus had felt the same way about his own father, and while he knew he was not anything like Tobias Snape who had terrorized Severus and his mother for much of his childhood, the fact that the feeling Harry had toward him were similar to those he had felt toward Tobias was a disturbing idea.

Lily and Severus had decided early on that Snape would be the primary disciplinarian simply because Lily's punishments were largely ineffective. Lily was extremely wishy-washy in her dealings with the boy largely because she felt bad for the child who had lost his father and suffered a trauma so early in life. She still spoiled the boy rotten as far as Severus was concerned. Still, he thought now that it might have been a mistake to put him in charge of that particular parenting task. The child clearly didn't trust him and Severus knew that without trust the kind of punishments he employed could do more harm than good. This was one of the reasons he went easier on his first years; it took time to build trust. Why was he able to see this for his students but not his own stepson?

Severus had a headache. He didn't know where to begin to fix all of this. Just then, there was a knock on the door to his chamber. He frowned and called, "Who's there?"

"Open up, Snape." That voice made Severus pull a face. He was not fond of aurors considering how he had been harassed following the war despite Dumbledore's insistence that he was innocent. He sighed; they probably would not be going away. He stood up and pulled open the door to reveal Alastor Moody and a young woman with blue and yellow hair. Severus stared at her for a moment before recognition dawned.

"Miss Tonks."

"You remember me." She smiled brightly at him and held up her auror badge for him to see.

"Oh, how could I forget?"

Nymphadora Tonks had possibly caused more potions accidents in his classroom than any other student he had ever had. She would come into the classroom with apparent mastery of the material but was hopelessly clumsy. The girl had been a menace but she put forth such an earnest effort that Severus almost felt bad for her. She had wanted to be an auror but it had been unlikely she would be able to get an O on her potions examination in order to qualify for his N.E.W.T level class. Sirius had asked Severus to do him a favor and tutor his cousin so she could qualify for her program. Severus had said no on principle. Lily had then asked him to do it for her and he had been forced to say yes. He had spent hours helping the girl come up with methods to contain her clumsiness and become more effective at making potions.

"Come in," Severus said reluctantly, moving to allow the two aurors to enter.

Moody led the way, sitting down heavily at the kitchen table, rubbing his bad leg absently. Tonks leaned up against the counter in the kitchen and Severus stood awkwardly, waiting for them to explain why they were here. Finally, Moody said, "There was a murder tonight."
Tonks rushed to add, before he could fly into a full-blown panic, "Not Lily. Don't worry, she's fine."

"But someone I know."

Moody nodded, "Lucius Malfoy was found murdered at his manor at approximately two o'clock this morning."

Severus stared at him with disbelief. That was impossible; Lucius was largely thought to be untouchable. He was arguably one of the most influential wizards currently alive, albeit his methods were not exactly always ethical, and almost certainly one of the richest. He managed, "Who?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Can you think of anyone who would want him dead? I know the two of you were friends." Moody sneered, an especially ugly expression on his gnarled face. The man viewed Severus' continued relationship with a former deatheater as proof of his guilt. Severus didn't both to explain that it was difficult to let go of friendships you had begun to nourish when you were little more than a child. Besides, he had believed that Lucius was remorseful, if only because he'd chosen the wrong side.

"I know plenty of people who would want him dead. Do I know anyone who actually has the reach to accomplish that? No."

"I was a very strange murder," Moody commented, "Very grisly. Someone wasn't happy with him."

The man produced a stack of photographs of the crime scene and pushed them across the table to Severus. Reluctantly, he picked them up and gasped despite his resolve not to show too much emotion in front of Moody. They were barely recognizable as human remains. There were dismemberment spells, of course; very dark magic. But those usually looked very unnatural, contained the blood. There was blood everywhere in the pictures. It looked like . . .

"It was done manually. Maybe with an axe." Moody said helpfully.

That was extremely unusual in the wizarding world. Typically, if a wizard was going to kill someone, there was a wealth of spells at their disposal. The most obvious was the killing curse, but there were others if the wizard wished to inflict pain. This spoke of an almost animalistic rage. Severus was disturbed.

"We suspect he was expecting an attack. The manor was very heavily warded. Did he express any concerns? Did he seem unusually paranoid lately?"

"I . . . haven't really talked to him recently. There has been a lot going on with my family lately." Moody scowled; apparently he had been hoping Severus would be able to shed some light on the situation. A thought occurred to Severus, "Is Narcissa okay?"

"A little shaken up. She found her husband when she got home from visiting a friend. She was physically unharmed, however."

Severus was relieved to hear that Draco at least still had his mother. "I'm sorry. I wish I could be of more help."

Moody grumbled, "Well, you'll let me know if you hear anything? Maybe you could ask around to some of your old associates."

Severus was loathe to do this, but said, "I'll see what I can do."

Moody proceeded to limp out the door, Tonks in tow who turned at the last moment to give him a little wave. Severus sighed as the door closed behind them. Telling Draco was technically a responsibility he could pawn off on the headmaster but that felt like a betrayal. As the boy's godfather, he felt that it was his responsibility to tell the child personally. He was not looking forward to it but decided he should get to the boy before the Daily Prophet came and word started to go around.

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

As promised, Sirius arrived early the next morning for Harry. He had a quick word with Madame Pomfrey before helping his godson out of the hospital bed. Harry was a little wobbly on his legs, but Madame Pomfrey assured them that this was normal. They used the floo system to get to Sirius' flat in central London.

Sirius lived in a spacious flat that was tastefully decorated. As far as Harry knew, Sirius didn't really work though he never seemed short on money. He got the impression that the man had inherited a large sum from his family; he knew the Blacks were an old family. He heard voices from the kitchen and smiled.

"Tonks, I told you not to touch anything!"

"Oh, it's not a big deal. Just fix it with magic."

Harry and Sirius arrived in the kitchen to see Remus Lupin and Tonks bickering with each other over a couple of glasses that had apparently fallen on the floor. Remus looked up and warned, "Don't come in here. There's glass."

With a flick of Sirius' wand, the glasses were repaired and set themselves neatly on the shelf. Remus looked exasperated, but gave Harry a quick hug and looked him over presumably to make sure he was in one piece. Tonks gave him a bear hug that made him laugh but put him a little off balance. Sirius steadied him and Harry made his way to the stove where food was being prepared. He was rather relieved that Sirius had apparently recruited Remus to make breakfast. Sirius was really a dreadful cook; he had tried to make a few meals after Lily complained he was feeding Harry too much junk. The two had only tried a couple of bites before deciding that they would get take out and just not tell Lily.

Harry wondered if Sirius had broken it off with Katie, his latest girlfriend, because he didn't see her anywhere. Sirius seemed to have an endless parade of women in his life, all of whom were very nice to Harry, though he had learned not to get too attached to them. This was much to Lily's chagrin who thought he really needed to get married and settle down. She had tried setting her friend up a few times but Sirius had begged her to please stop and she had more or less given up.
Remus slid an omelet onto Harry's plate and everyone was soon settled in front of some food. Harry was very thankful for all of the company because it kept his mind off things. He loved the easy way that they talked to each other that he supposed could only come from knowing each other for a long time.

Harry asked, "So, have the two of you set a date for the wedding yet?"

Tonks sighed dramatically, "He's being impossible."

"You're the one who is determined for a spring wedding!"

"It's good luck! I don't see why we don't just get married this spring!"

"Because it's too soon."

"If we don't get married this spring, we have to wait an entire year."

"Or we could have a summer wedding."

"Do you want our marriage to end in disaster?"

Remus rolled his eyes and threw his hands up, suggesting that it was Tonks who was impossible. Harry grinned into his orange juice; the pair was almost always bickering, though it seemed like a loving type of bickering, if that made any sense. Sirius was smiling, too, "Tonks, I didn't know you were superstitious."

"I'm not," Tonks protested, "I just don't believe in asking for trouble."

"Speaking of the wedding, has Andromeda come around yet?" Sirius asked.

Tonks huffed, "Don't even talk to me about my mother. She is so stubborn. Apparently I'm too young, stupid, and irresponsible to be married. Even though she was married even younger than I am now. And she's a coward. She won't come out and say what her real problem with the wedding is."

Harry gathered that it might be because Remus was a werewolf though he thought that was stupid because he was completely harmless. Sometimes Harry even forgot that Remus was a werewolf because the only real tell-tale sign was that his arms sometimes got really hairy and he got kind of irritable around the full moon. He took some kind of potion that Snape grudgingly brewed every month that apparently made the transformation more comfortable. Remus had some scars on his arms and face but they were very faint and looked like they had happened a long time ago.

"All the more reason to wait on the wedding," Remus commented.

"Shut up, Remus," Tonks said pleasantly.

Harry felt himself drifting off at the table; his head began to droop before he awoke again, jerking it back up. Tonks was grinning at him, "Someone looks like they're really tired."

"I'm not," Harry protested, trying to focus his eyes.
All three adults laughed and Tonks and Remus decided it was time to go home and leave Harry to rest. Harry walked sleepily to the bedroom and he flopped down on the bed which was blissfully soft. He found himself shivering, however, and told Sirius, "I'm so cold."

"Madame Pomfrey said you might get chills," Sirius said, going out into the hallway to get a couple of extra blankets. He covered Harry up with three blankets and Harry felt the cold slowly seep out of his body.

"Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Sirius turned to leave and Harry sat up, suddenly panicked, "Wait."

Sirius paused and looked back at him. Harry felt stupid and childish but Sirius was probably the only person in the world to whom he would admit being afraid to be alone. Sirius nodded and said, "Scoot over. I'll stay here until you fall asleep."

Sirius sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard. He smiled, "This takes me back. You had a lot of trouble sleeping when you were little."

"I had nightmares," Harry remembered.

"Yeah. Your mum was so worried that you remembered the attack."

They were silent for a moment and then Harry asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you think . . . Do you think dad would be mad at mum?"

Sirius frowned at him and said, "For what? Oh . . . wait, for marrying Snape?"

Harry nodded which Sirius felt rather than saw since the boy was buried in blankets and Sirius was sitting up higher than he was. Sirius sighed, "Oh, Harry. I really hope you're not fighting so much with him because you think you'd somehow be betraying James by getting along with him."

Harry said, "That's not it."

Sirius looked at him doubtfully and Harry corrected himself, "That's not completely it."

"Harry, if you dislike Snape because you don't think he's nice to you or you think he's too strict, that's fine and perfectly normal. But I don't ever want you to think that you're betraying your dad by moving forward. James and Snape didn't exactly get along, true, but I'm sure his first and foremost concern would be that you and your mum are happy and safe. I don't want you to make the same mistake I did."

"What do you mean?"

Sirius sighed and debated telling the child about it, "I was pretty unkind to your mum directly after your dad's death. I felt like she was betraying James by being friends with Severus. I said some pretty mean things and we didn't talk for almost a year. I really regret missing that year of her life and yours. In a lot of ways, Snape was your mother's only real friend after the war ended."

"I don't remember that," Harry said. As long as he could remember, Sirius had been there.

"Yeah, well, you were very young. Luckily your mum is one of the kindest people I've ever met and when I was ready to apologize, she was ready to accept."

"But you don't like Snape."

Sirius paused, "We're very different people. You have to understand that there are some things that happen between people that are very hard to get past."

"You don't understand, though. You don't know what it's like to live with someone who hates your guts."

Sirius chuckled and Harry frowned at him, "Sorry, Harry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just that if we're comparing horrible families, I'm pretty sure that I could beat you with my hands tied behind my back. And no one hates your guts."

Harry had never heard Sirius talk about his family. He was curious. "Why? Did you have a stepfather who hate - that is, didn't like you?"

"No," Sirius said, "My parents were quite unhappily married, thank you very much. But they weren't my biggest fans. Look, Harry, just try to get some sleep and think about what I said. Life is difficult enough without making it more difficult for yourself."

It didn't take long at all for Harry to fall asleep.

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

Lily smoothed her black dress in front of the mirror. She wasn't looking forward to going to Lucius' funeral, but it was a responsibility and she was never one to skirt responsibilities. It didn't help that she and Severus still weren't on the best terms, but he had asked her to come and she had agreed.

She frowned at her son who was laying on the couch staring into space. She was worried about him; he was very clingy and hadn't asked once when he would be able to go back to Hogwarts. It had been nearly a week and he didn't seem to be improving. Severus had made an appointment with a mindmenders for Monday and Lily was really hoping that they could help.

"Harry," she said gently, "We're going to be gone for a bit, but Remus is going to come sit with you. Okay?"

"Okay," Harry said simply. He seemed apathetic lately, too, which also bothered her.

She hadn't wanted Harry to go to the funeral because she was avoiding mentioning anything about violence or death that might disturb him. Lily had told him that Lucius had passed away though she had left out the fact that he had been murdered. Harry had roused a bit from his apathetic state in order to ask her if Draco was okay. Lily was secretly proud that her son was such a caring person and told him that Draco was fine, though Severus had told her the child wasn't coping well.

The funeral went by fairly quickly; there were a lot of people there. Lily wrapped her arms around Draco despite the fact that his mother was there. The few times Draco's parents had come to fetch him early from the Snape residence and he had been doing something with Lily, the boy had jumped up as though he was caught red-handed doing something wrong. It made Lily sad but she did not begrudge the child for it; she knew his parents' approval was extremely important to the boy. To her surprise, Draco squeezed her tightly back.

After the funeral there was a reception at the manor which she and Severus agreed they would only briefly attend. She saw Narcissa go into the kitchen and followed her to tell her that she and Severus really had to go in order to take care of Harry. To her surprise, Narcissa was hunkered over the sink with her shoulders shaking. Lily was surprised; Narcissa had been stony-faced through the whole funeral and Lily had assumed the woman wasn't too torn up about her husband's death because it was no secret that their marriage was one of convenience. It occurred to her now that that had been an unkind thought.

"Narcissa," she said gently. The woman jerked up and wiped quickly at her face. When she turned around, however, her mascara was a wreck and her face slightly puffy.

When she saw Lily, she suppressed a few sobs, scrunching up her face, "I'm a horrible person, Lily."

"No, you're not," Lily said automatically because that was what you were supposed to say.

"I am. The night he died, I was . . . well, I was out with someone I shouldn't have been. If I would have been home, I could have . . ." She broke into tears again.

Lily spoke firmly, "If you had been there, they likely would have killed you, too, and then Draco would be all alone. I know how hard it is, Narcissa, trust me. But you have to be strong for your son."

Narcissa nodded miserably; no one had really asked her to be strong before. She had always relied on others around her to be strong. She was all alone now and the only person who seemed to care was Severus' Muggleborn wife. She couldn't imagine that her life would ever be the same.