Summer of Bonding by Magica Draconia
Past Featured StorySummary: It was the summer of love . . . er, no, not really. Left waiting for the Dursleys, Harry is found by the last person he'd expect to see. Written for the Summer Fic Fest 2015.
Categories: Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape, Fic Fests > #18 Summer 2015 Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required)
Snape Flavour: Canon Snape
Genres: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 2nd summer
Warnings: None
Prompts: Bonding Experience, Abandoned
Challenges: Bonding Experience, Abandoned
Series: None
Chapters: 29 Completed: Yes Word count: 78164 Read: 212712 Published: 24 Jul 2015 Updated: 03 Jul 2019
Chapter 27 by Magica Draconia

Severus spent most of the following day in his lab. He was absolutely not ‘hiding’ from Potter in any way whatsoever. He just happened to need to start packing up the lab equipment ready for his return to Hogwarts the following day. The fact that he could have done it in just a few seconds with a wave of his wand was immaterial.

In previous years, he’d simply put Muggle-repelling wards around the entire yard, with extra ones wrapped around the shed for good measure; he’d learnt that was necessary the hard way, after he’d returned from Hogwarts one year to discover that the padlock had been forcibly broken off, and the interior of the lab had been ransacked. One of his biggest cauldrons had been missing, which had been quite the surprise, as Severus had had everything Charmed to look like average items you’d find in a shed, and that particular cauldron had looked like an extremely large, empty flowerpot. Quite what a Muggle would get out of that, Severus had no idea.

This year, once everything had been neatly stored away, Severus wondered whether he should use blood magic to ward the place. He didn’t trust his wards to keep out deranged house-elves anymore, and although there shouldn’t be a reason for a house-elf to force its way into his lab, he was trying to protect against a house-elf that was . . . well, deranged.

Eventually, after more thought than was probably needed, he decided against it. Cornelius had already proven that he didn’t trust Severus, and blood magic was forbidden for a reason – mainly because it was Dark wizards using the blood of someone else, rather than their own. If Cornelius even had a hint that Severus had used blood magic, no matter how small the spell, Severus would be in the deepest recesses of Azkaban before he could blink.

And Potter would be moved elsewhere. Again.

The thought caused Severus to pause as he was striding up the yard towards the house. He still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the fact that Potter apparently now considered Spinner’s End as his home. And now Severus had to consider somebody else when making decisions. He’d never wanted children – he hadn’t really wanted a family at all after he’d realised that Lily had cut all ties with him completely.

But now he had one.

Lily’s son, as Albus had pointed out to him a few weeks ago.

Oh, the irony, Severus thought, as he began moving again. He was going to be guardian to the boy of his dearest love, and also the son of the man who’d taken her from him.

Entering the house, he glanced into the living room. Potter was curled up in his usual armchair, engrossed in one of the books from the bookcase, with a textbook lying discarded beside it. Ordinarily, Severus would have snapped at him to treat the book more carefully, but in this case it looked like one of Lockhart’s books so Severus didn’t bother.

A quick examination of the cupboard showed him that their options for dinner were limited. Severus didn’t really want to go grocery shopping this close to leaving for Hogwarts. They had enough to get by for the last day or two they’d be at Spinner’s End.

“Chicken or tomato?” he called out to Potter.

There was a brief pause, and the sound of a book being fumbled. “Sir?” came Potter’s confused response.

“Dinner will be soup. You have a choice of chicken or tomato,” Severus informed him.

“Oh.” Potter didn’t sound any less confused by the explanation. “Um, tomato?” he asked.

Severus briefly debated asking Potter if he was asking or telling, but decided not to. His blasted relatives probably hadn’t taken Potter’s opinion into account very often, and it seemed like Potter was expecting his choice to be laughed at or ignored.

Hmm, Severus pondered, as the soup heated. I wonder how many other choices he never had.

Potter had apparently been keeping part of his attention on Severus, as when he brought the soup into the living room, Potter instantly looked up and was able to put aside his book and accept the soup without fumbling or dropping either one.  

Severus had been debating the best way to bring the subject up. As Potter went to put his book away before going upstairs to bed, Severus cleared his throat awkwardly. “If you want to take the book with you to Hogwarts, you’d best leave it out,” he informed the boy. “Tomorrow I’ll be warding all the cases before we leave. And don’t forget to sort out the clothing that’s not going with you.”

The boy paused, book just about touching the shelf, before turning to give Severus a look of even more confusion than he’d had over the soup question. “I . . . I can take the book with me, sir?” he asked, shooting a quick glance down at the book. “But . . .” His voice trailed off.

“Yes?” Severus raised an eyebrow at him.

“I just . . . thought you’d want it to stay here,” Potter mumbled, and ducked his head.

“I was under the impression that you’d want to finish it,” said Severus, “but if you want to leave it here and start it again next summer, then you can do.”

Potter’s head swung up and around so fast, his neck audibly cracked. Severus winced, but Potter didn’t seem to notice. “Next summer?” the boy squeaked. “You mean . . . I’ll be coming back to Spinner’s End?” 

Severus sighed and gestured for Potter to sit in the other armchair again. “You may remember,” he began, “that when Albus sent you the trunk of your parents’ things, I mentioned that there had been a blood ward on your aunt’s house.” Potter gave a slow nod, obviously confused about where Severus was going with this conversation. “A blood ward such as that one, generated by a mother’s desperate love and the blood of her sacrifice, is almost like a binding agreement. It usually consists of two parts, with either side having to uphold one condition to uphold the ward. If either side fails, then the ward is weakened. If both sides fail, then the ward collapses.

“In this case,” he continued, “the conditions were that your aunt willingly gave you a home and allowed you to stay there, and that you consider the place as home.”

Potter had been nodding slowly almost continuously through this explanation, but now he frowned instead. “But . . . Aunt Petunia didn’t want to give me a home,” he said. “Wouldn’t that have, er, cancelled the . . . agreement?”

“Whether she wanted to or not, the fact that she did was enough to stabilise the wards,” Severus informed him.

Potter frowned even harder, and Severus was fairly certain he knew where the boy’s thoughts had gone.

“This is rough conjecture on my part, as I don’t know the intricacies of how a blood ward – and this one in particular – work, but I would suspect that your relatives moving away only weakened their part of the ward, rather than causing it to fail completely, because as far as you were aware, it was still your home, and they were still willing for you to live there, whether or not you had any right to.”

“So, when I realised they’d moved…” Potter began.

Severus nodded at him. “Then your side of the ward collapsed completely, and their—” He absently twirled a finger in the air, trying to decide on the best way to phrase it. “—benign negligence wasn’t enough to hold their part of the ward, and thus it came down.”

The boy looked down at where his hands were resting in his lap. Severus couldn’t tell what thoughts were going through his mind this time, but unfortunately he couldn’t let Potter mull things over until he finally arrived at the logical conclusion.

He cleared his throat again, even more awkwardly than before, and Potter glanced up at him again.

“When the Headmaster was here yesterday to check on the new ward that Filius detected—” Severus paused, and grimaced. He really didn’t want to have to tell Potter this, but if he didn’t, then he doubted anyone else would. Albus certainly wouldn’t; as already proven, the old fool would just make cryptic remarks that enlightened nobody and twinkle at them all. “—he determined that it was a blood ward,” he finished.

“A blo—” Potter’s voice cut off mid-word, and his face suddenly went pale, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. Severus tensed, ready to catch Potter if he fainted – or chase after him, if he bolted.

After ten minutes, though, nothing had changed, although Potter had been looking steadily more horrified. Severus supposed that, even if the boy had recognised in himself that he now considered Spinner’s End home, it didn’t mean that he’d wanted anyone else to know that, just in case he was mocked for it and cast out like his relatives had done.

“Potter . . . Harry,” he conceded with a sigh. “This may not be what anyone had even thought to imagine would happen, but it has, so now, we will deal with it. Certainly due to the Headmaster’s interference, if for no other reason. The blood ward is up around Spinner’s End, which means that during the summer holidays, you will be returning here with me.” Harry made a small sound, but Severus couldn’t tell whether it was of shock, horror or delight. “No doubt Albus will produce legal guardianship papers at some stage in the future, which will likely mean some sort of investigation by the Ministry.” He was developing a headache even thinking about it.

“Investigation?” Pott-Harry whispered, and Severus realised he was probably thinking of a Muggle-style investigation. He idly wondered how often Petunia had threatened Harry with being removed by officials because of something he’d ‘done’.

He shook his head at Potter – Harry. “Don’t borrow trouble before you come to it,” he advised, then shook his head again. “But there won’t be much the Ministry can do to reverse this, even if they want to. The blood ward that protects you will require you to live in the property for a certain period of time to anchor them and refresh the protection annually. Headmaster Dumbledore will no doubt point that out to whoever the Ministry sends; even to the Minister himself, if needs be. And,” he added, as Po—Harry opened his mouth for another ‘what-if’, “I shall point out again that the blood ward only works on places that you call home. No-one else can move it, nor can they force you to do so.”

Harry subsided, and silence reigned as the boy digested the new information.

“I think,” Severus said, eventually, when it became clear that Harry wasn’t going to ask any more questions that night, “it’s time for bed. Remember, tomorrow we pack the items going with us to Hogwarts, as we leave here tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yessir,” Harry murmured as he slid off the armchair and approached the hidden staircase. He paused briefly at the bottom of the stairs and glanced back at Severus. “Good night, Professor.”

Severus gave him a brief nod in response. “Good night . . . Harry.”

The End.
End Notes:
Hopefully the stuff about the blood ward and how it worked didn't confuse anyone (or at least, didn't confuse anyone as much as it confused me!)


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