"Presents!" cried a happy little boy with strawberry blond hair as reached from the arms of his father towards the picnic table piled high with gifts.  Severus watched lazily from his spot next to Molly Weasley as little Harry Malfoy, three years old today, tried to wriggle free of Draco's grip eagerly.  Severus laughed with the others and glanced sideways as Molly said, "Somebody's getting anxious now aren't they?"  The soft faced child gave her a big smile and struggled harder to reach for a present on the bottom of the stack, unable to reach it.

"They spoil him," Severus told her, taking a drink of lemonade as he smiled over at his adopted grandchild.  Draco was only twenty one and Ginny was twenty.  After Harry's death they'd taken solace in each other's company and ended up getting pregnant while Ginny was still only seventeen.  Nobody blamed them however and Severus had been surprised when the Weasley's hadn't stayed angry for very long.  At the couple's announcement to name their son Harry, everybody's heart had softened towards the situation.  Draco and Ginny had filled the gap in their hearts that Harry Potter had left, with Harry Malfoy.

Draco grinned. "Guess we better get to it then," he said, setting his son gently on the ground to run to the gifts. Ginny wrapped her arm around Draco's back and Fred scooped Harry up and set him on his lap. George handed Harry the first gift and Draco called, "That's not something from your shop is it? I don't want to change his hair back from purple again this year!"

 

Severus shook his head and listened to the family banter back and forth.  He had become an honorary part of their family as he was Draco's surrogate father, and so was always invited to such events such as Christmases and birthdays.  He didn't like to come but did for little Harry, even though it disturbed him to hear the name Harry.  It always made him want to turn and search for his Harry.  But no, Harry Potter wouldn't be there.  Harry was dead.

 

The party went on and he supposed Draco must have seen his eyes because he'd come to sit next to him on the bench as Ginny tried to keep their son from digging into the cake with both hands.  Severus often overheard Minerva telling Albus how sad his eyes looked.  It couldn't be helped he supposed.  He didn't get much sleep these days, not since the funeral on the front lawns where he'd given Harry's eulogy.

 

"Ok dad?"

 

"I'm fine.  It's a nice day out."

 

"Yeah it is, isn't it?"

 

"Are you ready for him to have that broom?"

 

"It only flies two feet off the ground.  His toes will drag on the grass."

 

"It won't stop him from trying to leap from the roof with it."

 

Draco raised his brows.  "Well, Ginny's already put a charm on it.  It won't work unless we give him express permission, and even then only for ten minutes at a time."

 

Severus gave a little smile but he didn't feel happy in his heart.  He was silent for a while before Draco said, "He seems to like the bear and story book you gave him?  What, no potion's set?"

 

"For a three year old?  I didn't think you wanted your living room blown up."

 

"My son?  Blow up the living room?"  He feigned surprise.

 

"Did you not write to me last month and tell me he set the curtains on fire?"

 

"Accidental magic," Draco said with a grin.  "He'll be strong, I can tell."  Severus knew the white curtains still hung in the Malfoy living room window, singed half way up to the top.

 

"Will you stay for dinner after?" Draco asked.  Sometimes Severus went for dinners with Draco and Ginny, but Severus knew it wasn't as often as they would have liked.

 

"I'm afraid not today.  I have to finish lesson plans for the coming school year and must return back to the castle."

 

"Well, maybe next week then."  He sounded hopeful.

 

"Next week," Severus agreed, and stood up.  After making his goodbyes and giving little Harry a tight hug and kiss on his forehead along with a promise to come soon to watch him fly on his new broom, he apparated away, appearing just outside the Hogwarts gates.

 

He did have lesson plans to finish up, in fact he had all of them to do, but that wasn't why he wanted to get back to the castle.  It was only three and if he hurried he could continue on his search... his secret search.  He was certain that Albus suspected, but he never mentioned it and Severus certainly wasn't going to tell him.  People seemed to worry over him far too much as it was, and something like this coming out might make them force him into St. Mungos.  He didn't belong there, really he didn't, but he saw the looks of pity and worry in Minerva and Albus' eyes far more often than he liked.  Even Draco and Ginny gave him that look sometimes.  He always tried to ignore it.

 

No, he didn't belong in Mungos, not so long as he had his search.  His secret.

 

Whenever he had free time, Severus searched for Harry's body.  It had never been found after he had disappeared into the lake.  Neither had Voldemort's.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn't want to find Harry's body, because if he hadn't found it, it meant he might still be alive out there somewhere, sucked into some portal like that up in the castle which had once pulled him and Harry into the Shadowland.  That's where Severus had focused his search in the last two years.  Even during the school year he went out on evenings and weekends when he could manage.  As a result, his preparations for classes had lacked, and he often felt rushed and frazzled when it came time to give lessons.  He'd barely handed out a detention in four years... he wasn't usually around to patrol corridors for wayward students.  Yes, Albus had to know.

 

Going out and physically searching for Harry's body wasn't the only thing that took up his time though.  He often locked himself away in the library or his quarters, or went to the wizarding library in London and sometimes Bristol to research secret portals like the one in the upper castle.  His theory was that somehow there was one in the part of the lake in the caves under the castle.  It must have sucked Harry into it... or his body.  In the past four years he'd learned more about the castle and its ancient magic than he'd ever known.  If only is search didn't feel so frantic, he might have enjoyed the reading and the interesting things he often discovered in the texts, notes, and journals of the staff and sometimes students who had come before him.

 

After hurrying down to his dungeon quarters to get his long cloak, he went back to the gate and apparated to the edge of the Shadowland.  He walked for hours, as he often did, scratching out boxes on the grid he'd penciled out on his map of the area.  These were the places he'd searched.  He'd been over quite an extensive area of the Shadowland already.  What he'd do when he'd searched the entirety of it, he wasn't sure.  Once, he'd even gone on a whim to the beach Flitwick had been transported to when he'd made the portal angry, and searched the town, holding up an old photo of Harry to anyone who would stop to let him ask if they'd seen him.  For half a day, he'd let his mind wander, and had imagined the foolish boy sitting on a beach somewhere enjoying himself and letting the worries of war melt away and be forgotten.

 

It was dark when he made it back to the castle from the Shadowland, and he was going to skip dinner, but a throat cleared behind him as he came into the Entrance Hall and he turned to find Albus.

 

"Albus," he said, taking his gloves off as he turned to go to the Dungeons.  He only had three weeks left until the school year started, and he didn't want to waste time there talking to Albus.

 

"Severus, might I have a word?"

 

"If you must," he snapped, and lead off towards his office, the Headmaster following.

 

Once in the security of his own office he took off his cloak and shut the door.  Albus put his hands behind his back and looked around the room.  It looked much the same as it always had, only there was a photo on the desk of Harry now, his Harry, not little Harry.  Little Harry's pictures adorned much of Severus' fridge space in his quarters, and the space above the mantle.

 

"I trust your search goes well?"

 

Severus looked up from what he was doing putting his gloves away in his top drawer.

 

"Search?"

 

"For Harry?"

 

"I do not know what you're talking about.  I saw Harry today at the party, covered in cake from head to toe."

 

"Ah," Albus said.  His lips smiled but his eyes looked sad.  Severus wondered if this was what Draco and the others saw when they looked into his own eyes.

 

"I mean the search for Harry's body."

 

Severus looked up again but didn't acknowledge the assumption.  The Headmaster suggested on a regular basis as it was that he take an extended holiday.  He would if he thought it was just a holiday and not an excuse to send him away for good.  He wasn't incapable of teaching, he just didn't want to anymore.  He did want full access to the Hogwarts library whenever he wanted however.

 

"I did not mean to upset you of course Severus."

 

"You did not."

 

"I merely wondered if you had found anything in, the Shadowland, am I correct?"

 

"You merely wondered if I'm fit to be here.  Let me put your worries to rest, I'm quite sane."

 

"I have no doubt."

 

Severus snorted.

 

"In fact, I brought something for you.  A text from the archives."

 

Severus allowed his eyes to flicker back up and to the book the Headmaster had produced from somewhere in his robes.  He held out his hand and took it, not bothering to ask what it was.  He flipped open the first page and saw that it was the daily log by one of the old headmasters.  He'd been slowly going through any text on the school he could find, but hadn't seen this one yet.

 

"And why did you think I would like this book?"  Severus asked in an irritated tone but not handing the book back.

 

"It was in the library in my office.  I merely thought you might find it interesting given your recent interest in school history."

 

Severus gave a grunt in response, eyes scanning down the first entry.  When he didn't look back up or say anything else, Albus said, "I will leave you to your reading then.  Oh and Severus?  Minerva wanted me to tell you she would like your lesson plans for the first term in at least a week before the school year starts this year, if you could.  She said something about ‘being afluster' at the start of last year."

 

"Fine," Severus said.  He sat down behind his desk and didn't look up as the Headmaster saw himself out.  He knew he was being rude, but he supposed he always had been.

 

Severus poured through the mundane writings of Headmaster Bertraine Lyons until four in the morning.  He'd been through two pots of coffee and half a bottle of liquor (which he liked adding to his black coffee), and was just thinking about going to bed because his eyes felt heavy and dry, when an entry caught his attention.  At first it seemed as mundane as the rest.  Bertraine, who was the third Headmaster of Hogwarts, never put any emotion into his writing and simply stuck to describing the day's events if there was anything of interest, sometimes with little detail (which so far Severus had been thankful for).

 

Ninth August 1035 A.D.

 

Professor Augustine apprehended three Hufflepuffs brewing a potion illegally after lunch in the Hufflepuff girl's dormitory.  They each received a loss of ten house points and one detention with the shackles.

 

Severus shook his head.  In the early days of the school they used to chain students for a few hours at a time as punishment.  He continued reading.

 

At half past the dinner hour, a naked young man with black hair came up the front lawns startling Mrs. Lyons who was out doing her gardening.  He seemed confused and did not know his name.  He has been brought in to the castle at Mrs. Lyons bidding to be fed and looked after.

 

Eyes scanning back over the second half of the entry half a dozen times, Severus sat completely still in his comfortable chair in his living room.  A young man with black hair who didn't know his name had suddenly appeared... no, that wasn't right, he came up the front lawns the entry said, he hadn't just appeared in a flash of light had he?  He quickly scanned the next ten or fifteen entries looking for any other mention of the mysterious young man but couldn't find any mention of him.  He cursed under his breath, frustrated, and closed the book.  No, he supposed there wouldn't be.  They had probably fed him, clothed him, and turned him out on his own.  He had probably been a beggar.

 

With a heavy sigh and a glance at his watch, he set his cup down and stood up, stretching, and made his way into his bedroom.  He supposed if Minerva was going to press him to get his course all laid out on time this year that he'd have to start it tomorrow.  He didn't look forward to it.  Maybe he'd sleep in.

 

Severus tried to sleep, but Bertraine's entries followed him into his dreams, where Harry Potter walked naked and soaking wet up the castle lawns and Albus Dumbledore told Severus he'd be put in St. Mungo's mental ward if he didn't finish his course plans on time.

 

In the morning, Severus felt as though he hadn't slept at all, which was normal for him these days, and felt the ache of having slept wrong on his right arm.  He found breakfast waiting for him on his kitchen table, also normal since he didn't often eat in the Great Hall anymore, and ate slowly, trying to let his mind wake up.  He really didn't feel like doing lesson plans today.  He supposed he didn't feel like doing much of anything except searching for Harry.  After breakfast he went back to Bertraine's mundane book.  It was another forty five entries before he found something more about the mysterious boy.

 

­First October 1035 AD

 

There is still no luck in finding the identity of the boy who appeared naked before Mrs. Lyons.  He is too old to attend school though it has become apparent that he has received magical schooling somewhere.  He does not know his name or where he comes from.  Mrs. Lyons has called him Henry and he has found this name agreeable, and the students have given him the name Mr. Silver because he has taken a liking to the color silver.  Mr. Henry Silver is quiet and often keeps to himself, though he surprised us this day with a suggestion to help the caretaker Mrs. Kentworth, a squib.  He proposed we put in supply cupboards in different parts of the castle so she would not have to carry her supplies so far each day.  He seems to care for Muggles and squibs and seems to have taken a liking to the Muggleborns admitted to school this year.  It's the first year they've been admitted and the others have been rough on them.  When Henry does talk, it is often to them.  Mrs. Lyons thinks his idea to add cupboards is admirable.  I have put him in charge of adding them as I have far too much to do...

 

Henry Silver, not Harry Potter.  Severus felt angry with himself because he wanted this to be Harry he was reading about, though he knew there could be no possibility of him traveling back in time to the middle ages, not even with a time turner.  His eyes raked back over the entry to the part about Muggleborns though.  It would be like Harry to stick up for those being picked on.  No.  He snapped the book closed.  He was getting side tracked.  Harry had to be in this time somewhere, dead or alive.  Any portal there was would have taken him to the Shadowland or some other place.

 

Severus went to his office and pulled out the lesson plans from previous years and set to work copying them out and adding changes where he thought were necessary, though his heart wasn't in it and he hadn't gotten more than two weeks into the coming term before his min wandered back to the book again.  He forced himself to at least get through October's lessons before he allowed himself to get up and go back to his quarters for lunch and another look at the book.  By dinner, he had finished the year's entries by Betraine Lyons and pushed it away from himself.  There were no more entries about the mysterious black haired young man.

 

He stood up, intending to return the book to the Headmaster and go look in the archives for any more of Bertraine's mundane writings when there was a knock on his door.

 

"Go away," he said irritably.  He didn't want to be delayed in going up to the library by Minerva, though if it was Albus he could just give his book back to him.

 

He heard someone mutter in the hall and then his door opened to reveal Draco.

 

"Oh," Severus said, deflating a little.

 

"Hey," Draco said, coming in and closing the door.

 

Severus motioned for him to come inside and sit down and Draco did so.  "Ginny wanted to know when you'd be over for dinner again.  She wants to try cooking Beef Wellington and says I'm not worth the effort all by myself."

 

With a soft snort Severus stood up.  "I am still trying to get the lesson plans finished."

 

"Harry's been asking about you too.  He reckons if you come over Ginny and I will let him try to perform more dangerous stunts on his broom."

 

Severus paused, back to Draco.  Little Harry often reminded him far too much of his Harry, and it hurt him to think about.  "Do you want some coffee?"

 

"Better not.  I have to get up early for work."

 

"Tea then?"

 

"Ok." 

 

Without turning to look at Draco, Severus continued into the kitchen and began making tea.  He could tell Draco was in the doorframe behind him after a moment, watching.

 

"Maybe the week before school starts," Severus said as he heated the tea kettle up with his wand.

 

"How about tomorrow?"

 

"Is the Beef Wellington that important to you?"

 

"No of course not," Draco said.  Severus could hear the strain in his voice as he tried to sound lighthearted but then grew serious.  "But you are."

 

Water finished boiling, Severus turned and put it and two cups on a tray which he carried to the table and set before Draco.

 

"My apologies.  I've been very busy."

 

"Maybe you're overdoing it," Draco hedged, and Severus raised a brow. 

 

"Who have you been talking to?"

 

There was silence between them before Draco said, "Professor McGonagall came and had dinner with us last night to give Harry his birthday present.  She said you seemed a little... stressed."

 

"I will be fine."  He heaved a sigh then and gave Draco a hard look.  "I will come to dinner tomorrow night if that is what you want."

 

"I just want you to be happy," Draco said.  "I want you to be a part of our family.  Harry goes to stay with Ginny's mum and dad a few times a week but you never seem to want to take him.  I think he feels a little left out, like you don't want him around."

 

I don't, was the unbidden thought that came to Severus, but he squashed it back down to the pit of his stomach, feeling irritated.  Of course he did, Harry was his grandchild.

 

"If you will allow me to put off the dinner until next week, then perhaps I could bring Harry back with me to stay the night.  I will... take him on an adventure around the castle."

 

Draco's face brightened.  "Friday then?  Five o'clock?"

 

"Friday at five o'clock."

 

He smiled and set to fixing his tea.  He stayed for half an hour and talked about work and Ginny and Harry, and then left.  Severus couldn't deny that his mood had been lifted marginally by the visit by Draco, though he wasn't sure about taking three year old Harry next Friday.

 

Looking at his watch he decided it wasn't too late to go to the Library archives, and left his quarters.  He wanted to know more about Henry Silver.

It was almost Friday, and Severus hadn't turned up anything more about Henry Silver.  He felt like he was wasting his time trying to look through hundreds upon hundreds of old school writings for the mention of one boy, who was most certainly not Harry, or at least he kept telling himself that, because if he didn't tell himself that, his mind wandered.  What if it was Harry, he would ask himself, and how would I know?  What did he really know about this Henry Silver?  He was a young man (though Bertraine never said what age), he had black hair, he helped make broom cupboards, and he took a liking to Muggleborns.  That was not enough information to draw a definitive conclusion.  It probably stood to reason though, that if they let him make broom cupboards, they might also have let him add other rooms to the school.  Severus did not know of any places aside from the room of requirement or the Quidditch Pitch that Harry really enjoyed going to however, and he'd already turned up nothing at either place about Henry Silver.  Each time he did entertain one of these thoughts about Henry being Harry, he went and looked for any sign of him.  He felt out of options for places to look, or even what to look for.

 

Draco had spent a lot of time with Harry during their seventh year, but Severus knew he couldn't ask his son to tell him about Harry's favorite places in the castle without getting a look of pity.  Who else could he ask?  What about Ron Weasley, his voice chimed in the back of his mind.  Weasley wouldn't look on him with pity, and he probably wouldn't tell anybody either.  He often isolated himself except to go to work at the twin's joke shop.

 

Before he could give himself time to shoot his inane musings down, he pulled out a quill and parchment and penned a quick, nondescript letter to the former Gryffindor.  Where were Harry's favorite places in the castle?  He didn't feel a need to explain himself.  No need to have someone else on the list of people who thought he was slowly going crazy, though he had added himself to that list in the last few days.  He must be going crazy after all, to be searching for signs of Harry in the middle ages.

 

He sent the letter and to pass the time waiting for its return, tried to get more lesson plans done.

 

The next morning, Severus looked at his calendar and realized that Friday was upon him.  He would have to go have dinner with Draco that evening and then bring little Harry back with him to spend the night.  He went into his unused guest room and looked at it.  It didn't look like any place a three year old would like to stay.  It had a queen sized bed and a boring night stand, and gray stone walls.  There wasn't even a rug on the floor.

 

He waved his wand and the bed transformed into a toddler sized one, and with another few waves of his wand it had bright silver and green bedding with a soft green rug underneath.  He stared at the end table for long moments and then waved his wand at it.  It transfigured into a little desk and he went into the kitchen where he brought back a kitchen chair and shrank it to little Harry's size to fit the desk.  After several more trips to the living room, he had put parchment on the desk along with crayons he had transfigured from old broken quills.  He would have to remember to ask Draco to pack toys for the child so he would have something to do.

 

He spent the day working on lesson plans and trying not to think about the letter he'd sent to Ron, and at twenty to five made his way out to the front gates of the school and apparated to Lizard, a little out of the way town on the Southernmost coast where Draco and Ginny had a little house on Beacon Terrace.  It was a nice little town, and Severus thought he wouldn't mind settling here himself someday, but not today.  He walked down the road to Beacon Terrace and then turned right.  A few houses down was a little light blue house with a child's toys strewn about the front yard.  He knocked on the door and was bade to come inside, where his leg was tackled by little Harry.

 

"Grandpa!  Mummy says I get to go to the castle with you!"

 

"Yes," he said, trying to smile.  He stepped over several toys as he made his way to the dining room, where dinner was almost finished being set on the table.

 

"He's been talking about nothing else all week," Ginny said.  "All he can talk about is the treasure hunt Grandpa will take him on through the castle."

 

"Treasure hunt?" he said, looking down at little Harry, and the boy beamed up at him.

 

"Treasure!" he shouted, and ran in a circle.  "Pirate treasure!  Goblin treasure!  Troll treasure!  Treasure treasure treasure!"

 

Severus recalled telling Draco he'd take the boy on an adventure, but he hadn't said treasure hunt.  If he'd known that he would have hid some things around the castle for the boy to find.

 

"Draco will be home from work any minute," Ginny said.

 

Severus nodded.  He usually felt out of place here when he did come for meals or holidays.

 

"Did your mummy pack toys for you to bring?" Severus asked as Harry ran face first into his leg and fell over backward with a giggle.

 

"Toys toys toys!"

 

"I packed a few books and his Quidditch star bear.  Harry, why don't you take grandpa to your room to put a few more toys into your bag?"

 

"TOYYYS!" Harry ran down the hall and already feeling exhausted Severus followed him to his room.  It was decorated in red, gold, silver, green, and blue with cartoon Quidditch characters on posters around the room.

 

"What do you like to play with?" Severus asked, eyeing the toys on the floor, bed, and in the two overflowing toy chests.

 

Harry fell to his knees and began playing with his toy train so Severus held down his hand for it.  Harry gave it to him and went to his blocks, which Severus gathered with a wave of his wand, and finally to a toy wand, which Severus also took.  He heard the front door open and Ginny greeting Draco, so he took the toys back to the living room and shrank them to fit into the child's green bag.

 

"Dad, you made it," Draco said, and Severus gave him a small smile.

 

"And just in time," Ginny said, "dinner's ready."

 

They ate and talked and Severus tried not to grow impatient to return back to the castle as Ginny gave little Harry a bath and re-dressed him after dinner.

 

"I'll come round and get him about four tomorrow," Draco said.

 

Severus nodded.

 

Harry hugged his mother and then Draco scooped him up into his arms and tickled him.  "You be good for grandpa and if you are then I'll take you out to fly on Sunday, ok?"

 

"Fly fly!"

 

"Good boy."

 

Draco handed him to Severus, who wasn't used to holding Harry, and Severus asked if he could apparate from there.  Within moments, they were at the castle gates.

 

"It's big," Harry said as they walked up the front lawns, little Harry holding on tightly to Severus' hand.

 

"Yes, and we'll go on an adventure tomorrow."

 

"Treasure!"

 

"Treasure," Severus said.

 

In his quarters Severus showed Harry to his bedroom, where the boy promptly sat down at the little desk to color, and Severus unpacked his toys.

 

"I will be in the living room," he said.  "In half an hour I'll read you your bedtime story."

 

Harry hummed happily to himself as he drew, but otherwise ignored him.  Severus returned to the living room and pulled out the latest volume he'd taken from the archives.  He had just opened up to the front page when the floo flared to life and a harried looking owl slid out with an envelope in its beak.  It hooted, sounding irritated, dropped the letter, and hopped back into the fire place.  Severus threw a handful of green floo powder into the grate and the bird disappeared in a flash of green flames.  He bent to pick up the letter, which wasn't sealed, and pulled out the parchment.  It was from Ron Weasley.

 

He liked the Quidditch Pitch and the Room of Requirement.  He also like secret passageways we could hide in if we were out late at night, and some of the broom cupboards, especially the one on second floor near the Charms room - we hid there a lot.  There's a secret passageway behind the Ravenclaw banner on first floor.  I think he liked the East attic too.

 

Severus had an urge to run out right then and look in all of these places for signs of Henry Silver, but a little voice came from down the hall singing a children's song about Quidditch and Quaffles, and Severus paused.  He couldn't leave little Harry there alone.  He sighed and looked at his watch, and then went back down the hall to be sure Harry wasn't drawing on the walls or floor with the crayons.

 

"Are you ready for your story?"

 

"Will it be a treasure story?"

 

"I can tell you a treasure story, but it won't have any pictures for you to look at."

 

"Treasure!" Harry shouted happily, and climbed into his little toddler sized bed.  Severus tucked him in and waved down the lights, before sitting down on the green rug next to the bed.

 

"Close your eyes and you can imagine the pictures."  The little boy obeyed and Severus gave a nod of approval.

 

"Once there was a little boy... named Henry," he said.  He cursed internally for saying the name, but it was at the forefront of his mind.  "Henry lived in a castle long long ago.  He had treasure that many people wanted.  Henry didn't want people to steal the treasure from him, so he hid it in the castle in a secret place, and left clues so that only those who really looked would find it."

 

"What kind of treasure Grandpa?" Harry asked, eyes still closed though he had a smile on his face now as he snuggled further down into his blankets.

 

"Elven treasure," Severus said, feeling it was as good as anything else he'd made up so far.

 

"With gold?"

 

"Perhaps."

 

"Tomorrow I'm going to search for Henry's elven treasure," Harry said.  "I'll find it."

 

"I'm sure you will," Severus said, and he tucked the covers up under little Harry's chin.  "But you must be well rested if you are to go on a treasure hunt."

 

"Night night," Harry said, and Severus stood up.  He left the door open and the hall light on as he waved the lights down the rest of the way.

 

Before he went to bed, he searched through his desk drawers for anything the child might believe was elven treasure and came up with a silver leaf broach that had belonged to his mother, and a little piece of black obsidian that was smooth on all its edges.  He put them in his pocket for tomorrow and went to bed, dreaming about Henry Silver being related to Harry Malfoy.  Again, he felt unrested in the morning.

 

Little Harry on the other hand was up bright and early and ready for breakfast.  Severus made the rare trip to the Great Hall so Harry could have his choice of breakfasts.  None of the other staff were there and Harry ate a bowl of colorful cereal that Severus suspected had been served up just for the child.

 

"Can we look for treasure now?" Harry asked as soon as he had slurped up the last of the mushy cereal.

 

"Yes, I think I know just the place to look."  He took him to the first floor and looked for the Ravenclaw banner.  "You must keep your eyes peeled.  If there is treasure it may be in a secret passageway, somewhere where he would hide treasure."

 

Harry put his hands up to every object they came to, including the banners, and when they came to the blue Ravenclaw banner, Harry fell right through it and disappeared into the secret passage.

 

"I found it!" he shouted from the other side and Severus lifted the tapestry aside and lit his wand in the cramped dark space.  Little Harry pulled out his toy wand and Severus used a sticking charm to stick a conjured ball of light to the end of it so Harry could have his own light.  The boy waved it around gleefully as if he had cast the charm.

 

"What do I look for Grandpa?"

 

"I am not certain.  Look for anything that doesn't belong here.  Perhaps something carved in the stones.  Look for clues."

 

"Clues!" Harry said, and began scouring the floor for clues.  Good, Severus thought, he was occupied and having fun, and now he could look for any sign of Henry Silver.  They looked for fifteen minutes before little Harry cried "TREASURE!"

 

Wondering what he had found, Severus went down the passageway to where Harry's light lit the immediate area, and Harry lay on his stomach pointing at a stone at the bottom of the wall.

 

"What have you found?"

 

"Treasure clues!"

 

Squinting, Severus got on his knees and ran his thumb over the indentation in the stone and his heart raced.  It was a carving of a lightning bolt.  He never would have seen it if he hadn't known where to look.  Little Harry had seen it though.  Little Harry had found a lightning bolt carved in a stone in one of his Harry's favorite secret passageways.  The carving didn't look new, it looked worn.  Had Henry Silver made this passageway?  Was Henry Silver Harry Potter?  His mind was racing.

 

"Did we find treasure Grandpa?" Little Harry asked when Severus hadn't said anything for long moments.

 

"You found a clue.  We shall look in another place to see if we can find another clue."

 

"And then treasure?" Harry asked.  Severus nodded, and took his hand and led him out of the passageway.  He didn't know if Henry Silver made secret passages, but he did know that he made broom cupboards.  His next stop was the broom cupboard Ron had mentioned hiding in.

 

"Brooms?" Harry asked when Severus opened the door.

 

"Treasure hides in secret places," Severus said.  He pulled the brooms and buckets out and let Harry go in before getting on his knees.  He pulled the obsidian out of his pocket and put it in a corner for Harry to find and then began looking along the base of the wall for lightning bolts, or initials, or anything.  Just after Harry screamed "Black Gold!" Severus found another lightning bolt in the bottom brick.  He allowed his heart to race again momentarily before turning to look at the grin on little Harry's face.

 

"What did you find?"

 

"Black gold!  I found treasure!"

 

"So you did."

 

"Is this from Henry?"

 

"Yes, I think it must be."

 

Harry got to his feet and jumped up and down joyfully, and as Severus lead him to another broom cupboard, Harry waved the ‘black gold' in the air.

 

At the next broom cupboard, Severus found a lightning bolt carved in a stone near the floor, and Harry found the silver leaf broach.  He looked at it in awe.

 

"It really is elf treasure Grandpa!  I'm a treasure hunter!"

 

They replaced the brooms and, though Little Harry was the one happily humming to himself about his new found prizes, Severus felt as though he was the one who had found treasure.  Henry Silver had made those broom cupboards, and probably that secret passage.  Henry Silver who had black hair and who had come from nowhere, Henry Silver, who had some reason to carve lightning bolts.

 

He took Harry back to the Great Hall for lunch, where he told his tale of found treasure to the other staff, garnering an adoring look in Severus' direction from Minerva and Professor Sprout, and then took him back to his quarters to play with some of his toys, though the only thing Harry seemed interested in was scribbling pictures of his treasure hunt at his little desk.

 

Severus sat at his own desk and penned another letter to Ron Weasley.  Did you or Harry ever carve things into the walls at school?  He sent it through the floo this time, the last address being used by the owl presumably the address Ron was at, and waited for a reply.

 

Draco came at four as promised and collected Harry, who excitedly told him all about his day and his treasure hunt for elf treasure, and Draco laughed and pretended to be impressed, giving a thankful look to Severus which he replied to with a nod.  At dinner, the same owl as the night before came through the floo with Ron's reply.  We didn't vandalize anything.  Severus had his answer.  He was either really going crazy, believing Harry was in the middle ages helping to shape the school into what it was today, or Harry really was there.  It had to be him.  He wanted to tell somebody, anybody, but knew he would never be able to.  Albus would fire him if he went off spouting about Harry building parts of the school, and Minerva would have him committed.  And, Draco might not let him see little Harry again, who, despite the name Severus didn't care for, wasn't that bad to have around once in a great while.  Severus didn't sleep at all that night, so there were no dreams of Henry or Harry.  Instead he lay awake trying to plan his next step.

In his time as a spy in his past life Severus had prided himself on making intricate plans that had kept him out of danger, tricked Voldemort and his followers, and kept him alive.  He was putting those skills to use again, and for the first time in four years, he felt alive.  He didn't know exactly what was making him feel invigorated, maybe it was the scheming, maybe it was the favors he was calling in, or maybe it was just that he finally believed he wasn't crazy, and that Harry really was alive.  Albeit, he didn't like to say it to himself because then he did sound a little crazy.  Harry took Voldemort into a paradox back into the middle ages, where he then made passageways and closets he hid in when he was in school in the future... no, it sounded to crazy to say out loud.

 

No time turner could take him back in time to the middle ages.  He knew that because he'd spent days researching it.  The sand inside time turners however, had special properties.  His plan was to invent a potion that he could add the sand to that would take him back, hopefully to the time right after Harry appeared at the castle naked to Mrs. Lyons on the front lawns.  He'd even concocted the story he would tell to anyone who asked when he got there, and set to working out the astronomical calculations he needed to get the right proportions into the potion so he could go back to the right time.  All he needed now, was a time turner, and those were hard to come by.  Time turners were restricted by the Ministry, and even in other countries you could not just procure one anywhere.  He knew a lot of people in the Ministry though and through the years had amassed many favors.  He was using them now, or trying to, to get hold of the time turner he would need.

 

Inventing potions was not easy and though Severus had researched the subject many times before, he spent the next two weeks researching it in more depth as he waited for any of his called in favors to come through for him.  He hoped to have the potion ready and waiting for when the time turner came to him, in case word got out (as he was sure it would) that Severus Snape was looking for one.  He'd already considered going back to the moment Harry died several times, but he'd nixed the idea each time.  Harry had to be the one to kill Voldemort, it was in the prophecy, and if Harry had really gone back in time and made all of these things in the school, then he couldn't stop him or else he could seriously be altering history, and he did not want to chance altering history in such a way that Draco and Harry were not his surrogate sons.  His goal was to go back, snag Harry, and then drink the potion he had for them to return, where he could help Harry remember who he was and what had happened to him.

 

There were only a few days left until the start of the term, and Severus desperately wanted to have this done before then.  He didn't want to face another year not knowing where Harry was.  He didn't want to face another year of school, facing the children who were there in the final battle, who had lost friends in the final battle.  Many of the children he taught now, had known Harry.  The first years were now fifth years, and though for some the memories of the battle had faded, for others it was still fresh, and they seemed far to mature for their young age.  It was strange how war could carry on after it was over.  It carried on for Severus daily, and he wanted it to end.  He wanted to be at peace.

 

He felt the potion was ready.  It was a complex combination of magic, ingredients, and ingenuity.  Once the sand from the time turner was added, it was supposed to permeate his body and clothing, which he would soak in it, and send him back.

 

With the potion as finished as he believed it could be, and his lesson plans in, Severus turned back to the archives looking for any mention of Henry Silver while he waited for the time turner.  The day before the students were to arrive back at the castle, he felt like he'd struck gold as he found an ancient looking black book with the peeling letters, "Notes of Henry Silver," embossed in silver.  It had fallen to the floor behind one of the tall shelves and other books had been placed in front of it.  Unable to wait to take it back to his quarters, he took a seat at a table at the back of the library near the forbidden section and opened the book.  He squinted at the untidy scrawl across the page and didn't breath.  It looked like Harry's writing.  Severus knew, because he had the last essay Harry had ever turned in.  He'd never had a chance to grade it even before the last battle.  Now he read it every few days.

 

November 15th, in the year 1035

 

Mrs. Lyons named me Henry today.  I feel like a Henry, but I feel like I'm not a Henry either.  The children call me Silver because of my silver quill and my silver pen.  That makes me Henry Silver.  I don't feel like a Silver but maybe I am if that's what they call me.  If I'm not Henry Silver, who am I?

 

November 16th, in the year 1035

 

I don't think Headmaster Lyons likes me very much, but having no choice to keep me because of Mrs. Lyons, he has let me work.  I teach the Muggleborns after school sometimes.  I teach them defense and Mrs. Lyons says I must be an experimental magic maker who had an experiment go wrong, because some of the things I teach them, nobody has seen before.  Headmaster Lyons says I must have been trained somewhere, but he can't think of where unless I was taught at home.  If I was taught at home, I must have a family.

 

November 29th, in the year 1035

 

I finally completed the broom cupboards.  The caretaker is very kind and I was happy to help her.  It felt right to do it.  Mrs. Lyons asked me if I wanted to make other rooms too.  She called me a builder.  I don't know what that means exactly.  Maybe that I make things.  It takes a long time to get from certain halls to other halls.  I told her that and when I said hall she didn't know what I was talking about.  She asked if I meant corridors and I told her I thought that I did.  She said I could make new corridors but there's no room between classrooms.  I'll have to think about it.

 

November 30th, in the year 1035

 

A lot of the Muggleborns were put into Hufflepuff house, and a few into Ravenclaw.  Only one went into Gryffindor.  The Slytherins act quite badly towards the Muggleborns, but so do the others.  They call them names and taunt them in the halls.  They say they're not meant to be here.  Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here either.  I wonder if I'm a Muggleborn.  One of the Ravenclaw's came up with the name Mudblood today to describe the Muggleborns.  I would have said something about it, but Headmaster Lyons laughed and told all the ‘Mudbloods' to get back to class before he put them in shackles.  Sometimes I don't think I like it here very much.

 

December 2nd, in the year 1035

 

I have found that between some rooms there is just enough space to put a very tiny corridor.  I have started work on one on the fifth floor.  The students are curious about what I'm doing.  I decided to let a Muggleborn named Agretious Malfoy help me.  They've been picking on him the most.  I told him and all the others that it's a special privilege to help Master Silver make new corridors and rooms.  Later the Hufflepuffs let Agretious sit with them at lunch instead of shunning him.  Perhaps I'll let someone different help me with the next corridor.

 

December 31st, in the year 1035

 

The corridor on the fifth floor has been completed.  The students told me they wished there was a faster way to get from one corridor to the next on the first floor.  Since it was the Ravenclaws who suggested the corridor, I'm going to call it Ravenclaw's Pass.  Mrs. Lyons said when it's done we'll mark it with a Ravenclaw hanging beside it.  Since Agretious helped me with the one on fifth floor and he's in Hufflepuff, we've already added a Hufflepuff hanging next to it.  The students use it every day, even if they don't need to.  It's narrow, and sometimes it gets jammed up with students.  I think it irritates Headmaster Lyons.  I overheard him saying to Mrs. Lyons that as soon as I leave he's going to cover all the corridors back up again.

 

Severus was more certain now than ever that this was Harry he was reading about.  This was Harry's journal, and this was his son in 1035, waiting for him to come retrieve him.  Severus closed the book carefully as if it were precious, which to him truly it was, and hurried back down to his quarters with it.  He sat up all night reading it.  It went all the way through January before the pages had all been filled.  I'm coming Harry, he thought.  I won't leave you stranded there.

 

Four days after the start of term feast, Severus' time turner came to him in the hands of David Dunblane, a former student whom he'd helped get into a prestigious apprenticeship in France with a Master Potioneer.  Apparently he and his former master had gone to a great deal of trouble to procure it, and Severus was grateful.  Dunblane asked no questions, which he was also greatful for.  He gave it a single upside down turn and held tight to be sure it worked, and it sent him back one hour, which he used to write a letter to Dumbledore explaining his evidence of where Harry had gone and how he had gotten there, and why he was going back for him.  He set it on top of the books he'd bookmarked for Dumbledore to read through, and also a map he'd drawn of the locations he'd found the lightning bolt carved into the stones.  When he'd come back to his initial hour, he pried the end off of the time turner.  He could only hope that he was doing this right and that his calculations had come out correct, including those he'd made converting the calendar now to the calendar that Harry was using in the middle ages.  He put his thumb over the open end of the time turner and turned it upside down exactly four hundred and seventy two times, and then held it over the cool green potion and let the sand fall out into it, ever last grain.  He stirred it until he was certain it was well dispersed on the bottom, and then bottled the potion into four phials.  One phial for him to drink now, one each for him and Harry to drink for the return trip, and one extra, in case one of the phials broke.  He also had three phials of an intricately crafted reversal potion to mix the return potion with, so that it would send them back to this exact time (he hoped).  He also used his wand to spread the remaining potion on his robes and wand, and put the phials and wand in his robe pocket.

 

With a last look around his quarters and the note he'd left on the stack of books for Dumbledore, Severus uncorked his phial of potion and sent up a prayer that it would work and take him back to Harry.  He drained it, and closed his eyes.  He felt his stomach bubble in upset, and then as though he was holding a portkey, felt a jerk behind his navel and knew he was being taken away, to where, he didn't know.

 

The next day, when Severus had failed to turn up for classes, Albus came into his quarters looking for him.  He spied the letter on top of the stack of books, and went to it, and then heaved a heavy sigh.  He feared that Severus was in for a world of hurt, and knew it to be true.

It was dark when Severus awoke, and he was soaked to the bone.  The smell of damp earth and blood assaulted his senses in one and he raised a sore arm to feel his head.  Closing his eyes against the rain that was still falling upon him in the darkness, Severus rolled, and groaned, certain that he must have broken something.  Where was he?  Why was he here?

Something sharp stabbed him and he felt in his robe pocket as he sat up.  Broken potions phials.  Time turners, back in time, Harry, Henry Silver.  No.  He found his wand, thankfully still intact, and lit the tip of it to survey the wreckage inside his pocket, hoping that at least one phial had survived, but was surprised to find only broken glass.  There was not even a trace of the potion.  How could this be?  With a sigh he looked around him.  He was in a forest, though he couldn't be certain if it was the Forbidden Forest or if he had appeared someplace else in the world.  Climbing gingerly to his feet and swaying once he was up, he set off and came to the tree line.  In the distance, a castle towered over wide open fields, several windows at the very top lit up.  So he was at Hogwarts, the question was only when. 

Trudging up the grass towards the castle, Severus tried to rehearse what he'd say, especially if he had not turned up in the right time.  What if he'd ended up after Henry Silver's time?  What if he'd ended up in the future?  He knew he was playing with fire, so to speak, just trying to alter time at all.  He could change things so that he wouldn't even be born in the future, thus creating a paradox.  He'd like to avoid that possibility if at all possible.

When he made the oak front doors, he tried to discern how different things were, but the doors looked as they had always looked, and he lifted the heavy knocker and let it fall three times.  The rain came down harder as he waited for long minutes for anyone to come and answer the door.  He knew better than to just barge in. 

Finally there was the sound of a heavy metal lock sliding out of place, and the door opened to reveal a woman in some sort of nightgown with a cloth tied over her hair.  "Yes?"

"My apologies for calling so late," he said, "but I wish to speak to Mr. Lyons." 

"The Headmaster?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Of course, come in."  She stepped aside and Severus came in, dripping all over the floor. 

"You've been injured," she said, motioning to his forehead, and he said, "I was mugged on my journey here." 

"Muggles?"

He nodded.  That is, where the word mugged had come from, or so he had assumed if she just assumed it was Muggles.

"They want to burn you at the stake?" 

"They would have, had I not escaped."

"Poor dear.  Go into the Great Hall and I'll fetch Bertraine for you."  He gave a nod and went into the Great Hall.  At the front was the staff table, as always, but instead of four long house tables, there were eight, two for each house he presumed, not quite butted up against each other.  He sat at what he knew to be Gryffindor table, closest to the door, though facing it, and began to assess his injuries.  His rib felt broken but it might just be bruised, and he had a gash on his head which was still bleeding.  He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and held it up to the wound to stem the bleeding so that he didn't look a complete mess with the Headmaster came in.  It wasn't long before the woman and who he could only assume was Bertraine Lyons came in. 

"Yes?" the man asked warily, and Severus stood up, though still feeling wobbly on his feet.

"Headmaster Lyons?" 

"Yes."  He reminded Severus of Horace Slughorn, and secretly he wondered if he was Horace's ancestor.

"My deepest apologies for calling so late and in such a state, but I have traveled a very long way." 

"Mrs.  Lyons says you were Mugged by wizard hunters."

"I was.  I managed to escape." 

"Whereabouts was that?"

"Kilgury," Severus hazarded.  He'd taken a few hours the other day to research about this time period.  They did have apparation but only the most skilled used it, and only for short distances.  Apparating was more like hopping to another place than going straight there, so Kilugry, which wasn't all that far away but was still beyond reach of Hogwarts, seemed like a feasible place to have been mugged. 

"Yes yes, one of our Professors had trouble there last year.  Are you all right?"

"I believe I may have broken something, but I will be fine.  I have come on an urgent matter, you see.  My son went missing some time ago.  He fell and hit his head rather hard on a rock during tutoring.  While the tutor came to fetch me, he got up and walked off.  We believe he may have been confused and disoriented.  I have been searching far and wide for him, and someone recently came to me and said a boy matching his description has turned up here." 

"Here, at Hogwarts?"

"Yes.  He has a mess of black hair and a scar, here on his forehead." 

The Headmaster and his wife looked at each other and then Mrs. Lyons said, "He's talking about Henry Silver."

"Henry Silver?" Severus inquired, taking a step forward. 

"He came to us almost seven months ago, nakeder than a bull frog and scaring Mrs. Lyons while she was doing her gardening.  He didn't remember his name or where he came from.  You're saying he's your son?"

"I am hoping that he is.  I lost his mother some years ago and I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me in returning him to me.  His brother has taken ill and he is my only other heir." 

"Where was he schooled at?  Where were you schooled at?"

"I, as were my father and grandfather before me, were tutored at home.  So was Harry." 

"Harry?"

Severus nodded. 

"That makes sense then Mr. Lyons," Mrs. Lyons said, "Henry said his name didn't feel right.  It's because it was close but not right."

"And your last name sir?" The Headmaster inquired.  "And what is your profession?" 

"My name is... Tobias Silver," he said.  "I am a Potioneer."

The Headmaster eyed him as if searching for the truth in all of this.  "You make potions?" 

"Yes."

"I find it odd that we've given him the name Silver, and his actual second name is Silver." 

"If you would please, how did he come to have this name?"

"Oh, well, he seems to have taken to the color silver, so the students began calling him Mr. Silver," Mrs. Lyons said. 

"If this is truly my son," Severus said, feeling as though he was trying to talk his way out of a lie when all he could do was lie, "then it may be possible that he remembered his last name, and associated it with the color silver."

"Do you think he would recognize you?" she asked, and Severus held up his hands, as if pleading with them. 

"It is my sincerest hope that he will."

"And he's being trained in potions too is he?" the Headmaster asked, but here Severus had the knowledge of the books he'd been privy to reading, especially Henry Silver's journal, and said, "He was being trained in literature, it was his mother's idea as he loved to read as a small child, and in wizarding architecture.  He wants to build things.  He always wants to be doing something with his hands." 

"He knows spells we've never seen before."

"Yes, his uncle, my wife's brother was a spell inventor before he died.  Our family enjoys a great many spells others do not know." 

"So you can levitate objects?"

Severus nodded and withdrew his wand, which he aimed at a pebble he had just spotted on the floor.  He hadn't realized that wizards and witches in the middle ages didn't have the knowledge for Wingardium Leviosa, but then again, maybe it hadn't been invented yet. 

"You must be a wealthy family Potions Master Silver," the Headmaster said then, sticking out his chest as if he was proud to have him standing there in his school.  "The only other wand I've seen as smooth and well-crafted as yours, is the one belonging to Henry Silver."

"We are not so wealthy," Severus said, "just unusually gifted to have gifted witches and wizards in our family line.  My wife's brother also made wands.  It is unfortunate that he fell ill shortly after my wife did." 

"Poor dear," Mrs. Lyons said, "and then to lose Henry and get mugged after coming such a long way.  Let's get you up to the infirmary where I can heal you and get you warmed up.  I'm the school nurse." 

"How very kind," Severus said.  So far, so good.  He was not used to being so polite, but if it worked to get him in to see Henry... Harry, then he would stick with it as long as possible.

"You know, we don't have a Potion's Master here," the Headmaster said, following them out into the Entrance Hall.

"Truly not?" 

"There was an accident in the lowest dungeon and she drowned.  The lower dungeon is completely gone, nothing more than a cave now, and flooded with water from the lake."

Severus paused.  A potion's accident where the lake was in the cave under the school?  Could it have caused some unusual reaction in that particular spot where Harry had gone into the water? 

"Tell me," Severus said as they walked up the stairs, "was there a man with my son when he came to you?"

"A man?  No." 

"The tutor disappeared shortly after my son did.  He said he was going out to look for him, and never came back.  It was my fear that he may have kidnapped him and made up the story about Harry hitting his head."

Mrs. Lyon's gasped, "How awful.  Sometimes I don't know what this world is coming to these days... witch burnings, muggings, kidnappings..." 

"Calm yourself dear," Bertraine said.  "You've still got to tend to Mr. Silver here."

"Of course, of course." 

Severus thought his wounds could wait, he really just wanted to get to Harry, but it was late judging by the fact that he hadn't seen any students and Mrs. Lyons looked to be in her nightgown already, and he doubted they'd let him rouse Harry from sleep now.  He sat on one of the beds, which he was surprised to find stuffed with straw.

"Please forgive the mattress Mr. Silver, I know you must be accustomed to much finer things, but we've only just begun replacing the straw mattresses with feather ones.  Only Slytherin has feather mattresses right now." 

"It is not an issue," he said as she waved her wand over his gash and he began to feel it close up.

"I'm sure you've had a long journey now, just lay back and close your eyes and we'll have you tidied in no time." 

Severus did as he was told, and lay back on the mattress.  It wasn't very comfortable, but at least it was better than the hard ground outside.  He found himself drifting off unintentionally, and stirred only when he heard Mrs. Lyons muttering about muggings and wizard hunters under her breath as she treated him.  After that, Severus slept through the night.

* * *

"I'm going to wed a pure blood," announced Agretious as he watched Henry and Tillium McCormack working on the entrance to a third narrow passageway up on the third floor. 

Henry looked down from the ladder where he worked.  "Aren't you a little young for that?"

Agretious shook his head.  "Me mum was only 14 when she wed me father an' he was 16." 

"Why would you want to marry one of them anyway?" asked Tillium as she stuck her tongue out in disgust.  She was the only Muggle born in Ravenclaw and Henry had chosen her to help him with this passage.

"Because I'm tired of being looked down on.  I'm going to marry a pure blood an' from then on our family will be pure." 

"Look at how they treat us," Tillium said, putting her hands on her hips.  "Which one do you think you'll get to join with you?"

"I'm only 11, I've got time.  Maybe one of the Weasleys." 

"Yuck," she said.  Henry tilted his head.  He knew why they didn't like the pureblood students in the school... because they treated them with disdain, like they were dirty.  He didn't like the way the pureblood students treated the others, but didn't dislike the students for it.  He suspected it was the way they were raised, and the way the Headmaster let his dislike of the Muggleborns show in front of the other students.  Mrs Lyons wasn't that way and neither were most of the professors there, including the head of Gryffindor Macyn Darrow.  He had been trying to stem some of the harsh treatment by threatening detention with the shackles to any student he caught being cruel.

"I haven't heard the Weasleys saying bad things about anyone," Henry said then.  Many of them were in Gryffindor though a lot were also in Hufflepuff. 

"Well Professor Darrow has threatened them all hasn't he?  They're related, he's an uncle or something."

"And?" Henry asked.  "Are you going to look down on them just because they're pureblood?" 

"Why not?"  Agretious put his hands on his hips now.  Agretious' orange hair flashed in the flickering candlelight.

"Because you'd be lowering yourself to their level," Henry said.  "They look down on you without giving you a chance, and you're going to do the same thing." 

Agretious crossed his arms and Tillium let her mouth hang open a little.

"That's what I thought," Henry said.  "Why don't you try being friends with some of them before you make any judgements." 

"They won't sit with me or anything," Tillium said dully.  "How can I make friends with them?"

Henry pointed at the bricks she'd helped remove via magic.  "You're smart aren't you?  That is why you're in Ravenclaw... you just showed me how to remove the stones easier than I had planned on doing it.  Speak up in class and show them you belong in Ravenclaw." 

"It's not my place to prove it."

"But it's theirs to accept it?" 

She glared.

"I'm starting to think you're taking their side Master Silver," she said. 

"Am I?"

They kept working for another half an hour, Agretious thinking quietly and Tillium continuing to remove bricks, giving them to Henry to banish them, and then he sent them on their way to lunch.  He was just putting the ladder away in one of the new broom cupboards when a throat cleared behind him.  He closed the door to the broom cupboard and turned to find the Headmaster, Mrs Lyons, and another man, with long black hair and a crisp button up black over shirt that looked a dozen times nicer than what the other professors wore. 

"Henry," Mrs Lyons said, coming towards him with a smile as she always did.  "Someone has come who would like to meet you.  His name is Tobias Silver."

Henry looked at him.  He felt familiar but he wasn't sure how.  His insides felt a faint irritation but also a calm recognition.  He didn't understand. 

Tobias Silver stepped forward and his eyes took in the sight of Henry hungrily.  "I-" he paused, seeming uncertain for a few moments.  "I have come a long way to find you, Mr. Silver."

"Why me?" 

"You are my son."

Henry looked from Tobias to Mrs Lyons, and finally to the Headmaster, who had an odd look... it was irritation mixed with smugness. 

"Your son?" he asked, looking back at Tobias.

"During tutoring one day, you fell and hit your head on a rock.  The tutor reported you missing and then disappeared himself shortly thereafter.  We feared he may have kidnapped you.  I see now that you are safe." 

"Can you prove it?"

"Henry," Mrs Lyons said, putting her hand on his arm.  He knew she meant it as an admonishment but it hadn't come out harsh. 

"Where am I from?  What's my real name?  Where is my mother?  Why do I know magic no one else does?"

Tobias stared at him and Henry noticed that his features had suddenly grown hard.  He wasn't angry... stern maybe.  His voice was crisp when it next spoke and Henry knew from that moment that he was indeed a stern man. 

"You're real name is Harry James.  Your mother Lily is dead.  You are from a farm outside Godric's Hollow and your uncle invented spells, which is why you know magic others do not."

Henry looked at the floor for long moments, trying to remember any of it.  "Why do I have this?"  He pointed to his scar. 

"Accidental magic when you were one year old.  It rebounded and hit you in the forehead."

"So you're planning on making me leave?" 

Tobias looked to the Headmaster and cleared his throat.  "I intend to make you go nowhere.  You are of age and it is your choice what to do and where to go.  My goal was to be certain that you were safe, and that your memories return to you."

"We don't have anyone to teach Potions yet Master Snape," Mrs. Lyons said then.  "Perhaps we can work something out?" 

He looked at her and gave a nod.

"Well Mr. Lyons," she turned to the Headmaster.  "What do you think?  It will give Henry... Harry and his father time to get to know each other again, and it will give the students a chance to get back into Potioneering." 

"Come," the Headmaster beckoned to Severus.  "We will discuss wages and curriculum... and rules."

Henry watched the two men disappear, Tobias... his father, giving him one last look over his shoulder.  Yes, he was stern all right.  Henry didn't know if he liked that. 

"Well then Harry," Mrs. Lyons said, "what do you think of that?"

"Of what Mrs. Lyons?" he asked. 

"We know your name now.  You said before that Henry didn't sound right.  How about Harry?"

He thought about it.  "I don't know," he said.  He'd grown used to being called Henry, and wasn't sure if he liked the name Harry at all.  What kind of name was Harry anyway... he wasn't covered with hair was he?  He wasn't a beast...

"We'll call you Harry for a few days and then you can decide," she said.  "I'll inform the heads of house to tell their students after dinner tonight." 

He nodded, and she lead him to the Great Hall for lunch, where he sat next to Tillium at Ravenclaw because he didn't feel like sitting at the staff table if Tobias... his father was going to be there.  What kind of man was he?  What if he was cruel?  What if he hated Muggleborns?  Harry really liked the Muggleborns and didn't think he could handle it to find out he was raised to hate them.  Instead of dwelling on this new development all through lunch (he really didn't want to), he talked up Tillium on the process of making corridors loud enough to let the others know he valued her opinion, and noted that today Agretious had chosen to sit next to one of the Hufflepuff Weasleys, a girl his age with strawberry blond hair.  They weren't talking but she did look over at him now and again. 

After lunch Henry went to the library to write in his journal.

A man named Tobias Silver has come to the castle.  He says he is my father.  He says my real name is Harry James.  He seems very stern.  I wonder if he likes Muggleborns.  I don't remember anything of what he's told me.  He does seem familiar somehow.  Mrs. Lyons seems excited.  I think the Headmaster is excited too.  I'm sure he will be happy to be rid of me, if this Tobias Silver has come to take me away with him.  He says I'm of age though.  I wonder what that means.  Does it mean he'll leave me alone if I ask him to? 

He closed the journal and stared at the books around him, just thinking, trying to remember anything.  He had woken up on the grounds half in the lake and come to the castle naked.  Those were his first memories and nothing more.  How would he know if this man... his father, were telling him the truth?  And if they were hiring him on to the staff, well, I'll just see how he treats the Muggleborns, he thought.  It was a place to start at least.

Henry skipped dinner and stayed in his quarters that night, little more than a bedroom with a small bathroom through a door to the side.  He soaked in the tub and tried to forget that anything at all had happened different today than yesterday. 

The next morning he went to the kitchens and got breakfast from the elves and waited until lunch to go to the Great Hall, where he sat with Agretious and Tillium at the end of one of the tables where the Muggleborns sometimes gathered when the others were being especially harsh.

"Have you had class with Professor Silver yet?" he asked. 

"I had class with him this morning," Agretious said.

"And?" 

Agretious looked around and then looked at Henry.  "It was strange.  He singled me out."

"What do you mean?" 

"He kept calling on me, and he awarded me house points.  It was like I was his favorite student in class or something.  Me.  Agretious Malfoy the mudblood."

"Don't say that," Henry directed him and the boy looked chastised and nodded. 

"Was he mean to you?"

"No... it, it was weird, like I said.  Usually only Mrs. Lyons or Professor Darrow calls on Mudbl- Muggleborns in class." 

"What about you?" he asked Tillium.  "Did you go to his class today?"

She shook her head.  "No Ravenclaws have him tomorrow.  But Gryffindor and Slytherin were in there today weren't they?" 

Henry looked around and then got the attention of several Gryffindor first years and waved them over from Gryffindor table.  August Byrne and Alisha Allen came over and sat down.

"Did you have Potioneering today?" Henry asked. 

"Yes Master Silver," they said.

"What was it like?" 

They looked at each other.  "Well, we learned to brew a bruise balm."

"And how did the new Professor treat you?" 

"He gave me points," August said.  "Not many, but a few."

"He gave a lot of the Slytherins points," Alisha said. 

"The purebloods or the Muggleborns?"

"Both, but mostly the Muggleborns.  He said Timothy Pierce was smart and should apply himself more." 

Henry crossed his arms.  "So you like him then?"

The Gryffindors shrugged.  "He's ok.  Better than a lot of the other Professors." 

"He- has the last name as you," Agretious hazarded.  He seemed to realize that Henry was a little on edge.

When Henry didn't say anything Tillium looked up to the staff table where Tobias sat on the far end, the position that said he was the least valuable to the Headmaster.  "He kind of looks like you too," she said. 

"He came last night.  He said he's my father."

"And your name is Harry," August said.  "Professor Darrow said so last night." 

"And my name is Harry," he agreed.  Master Harry Silver.  Or maybe not a Master at all.  If he left Hogwarts, he would go back to being Harry Silver, Master of no one.  He doubted his father held him in any high regard like Mrs. Lyons or the Muggleborns did.  Even the pureblood students seemed to look up to him.  He guessed it was because he was closer in age to them than the rest of the staff, so he took the time to listen to them.  Still, he was somebody here.  He had made a life for himself here hadn't he?  Made work... made a reputation.  He had purpose here.  What was there for him out there in the world?

"Not such a bad name," Agretious said.  "Simple... like Henry." 

Henry... Harry nodded.  "Go back to your tables.  Tillium, come to help me with the new corridor after dinner for an hour."

They gave him a look and then did as they were told.  Harry noted that Agretious went to sit next to Miriam Weasley again, and she didn't seem to object.  Before he got up himself, he looked at the staff table again and found Tobias staring at him.  He felt irritated and also a little angry and wondered where the anger had suddenly come from.  He didn't know but it was there and it felt right.  If this was his father, and he naturally felt angry towards him, then he must not be a good man, he told himself.  And then he left, wanting to avoid the man, and be alone.