Severus’ eyes widened for a second, but then his face reverted back to the usual blank mask. “What is it, Mundungus?”

The man glanced nervously at Harry, but spoke when Severus glared at him in aggravation. “The Death Eaters attacked,” he whispered.

“Where? When? Why wasn’t I informed?”

“Only an hour or so ago. Th-they attacked the Dursley’s.”

“And?” Harry questioned desperately. If they died- it was Harry’s fault- his fault.

Mundungus looked at the ground. “They didn’t make it. They were looking for you, wouldn’t believe the Muggles when they said you’d gone. Mr. Dursley tried to make them leave and they killed ‘im. Both Mrs. Dursley and your cousin were tortured to death.”

“This doesn’t explain why I didn’t know,” Severus said, mainly trying to distract Harry from his guilty feelings.

“There wasn’t a huge ruckus or anything, Severus. It was all kept pretty quiet. Dumbledore reckons it was a few Death Eaters acting on their own, no orders or nothin’.”

“And the house?” Snape asked.

“Burnt to a crisp, ain’t a thing left whole. Tonks is over there now, fixing memories, makin’ it seem to be a fire. She says she migh’ need yer help getting the dark mark outta the sky.”

Severus coolly replied, “You can’t do anything to remove the dark mark. It’ll fade on its own in a few hours. However, I can assist her in modifying memories. So can Harry. Good-bye, Mundungus. Hold on, Harry.”

Severus grabbed Harry’s elbow and they apparated to Number Four Privet Drive. All Harry saw on the way was a myriad of colors, and Snape’s cold form beside him. When they landed, Harry lost his balance and nearly fell, but Severus held him up.

“Severus,” he asked immediately, “how can I help modify memories? I’m not allowed to use magic during the summer.”

“I can remove the tracing charm put on your wand by the Ministry. Here, hold it out.” Harry stuck out his wand, and felt it vibrate slightly and then feel a little lighter as Severus murmured, “Erasius. Come on, we need to find Tonks.”

They found her rather quickly, in front of the still smoking remains of the Dursley’s house. She had sandy brown hair that matched exactly with her eyes today. She apparently didn’t want to be remembered. She had shocked Muggles in a line, and she was obliviating them and sending them home as fast as possible. As Severus and Harry walked up, she coughed and waved her wand at another Muggle.

“Here, Tonks, we’ve come to help. Harry can work as well, I rose the spell on his wand.”

Tonks yawned. “Thanks you guys. I’m exhausted. I had to be in early for work, Kingsley made me. He says with the whole accident at the Ministry with Sirius being there and all, we’ve got to make sure we look extra good for Fudge. I expect they’ll be arriving soon, so,” she coughed again, “you might not want to stay too long.”

“I can deal with Fudge,” Severus snarled quietly.

“I don’t know. He’s awful embarrassed, been a right ass to me and Kingsley at work. Has to have someone to blame. I think he’d try to get us on a charge of harboring information about Sirius Black, but as he’s dead, and that would upset the public, he probably won’t try it. We’ve gotta watch out though. Obliviate,” she said, pointing her wand at another scared Muggle. “It was a fire; the Dursley’s will be fine. They’re going to live with some relatives.” The Muggle nodded and walked away, looking satisfied. “That’s the story we’re feeding them, if you want to get started. If they ask, you’re a police officer, and you got called in on casual duty.”

Severus and Harry nodded and glided off and formed their own lines of Muggles. Soon Harry was immersed in casting the charm over and over and lying over and over to each Muggle’s astonished face. It seemed that the crowds were slowly disappearing, and still the Minister did not come. After what must have been an hour, he appeared, along with Percy Weasley. He looked shocked by the house, which was nothing more than a pile of ash and rubble, and scared by the Dark Mark still high in the sky, looking a touch lighter from time.

The last few straggling Muggles wandered off, and Tonks, Harry, and Severus wearily regrouped. Harry saw Fudge and shoved his wand into his pocket. He had already been to one hearing; he wasn’t about to deal with another one.

“Wh-what’s been going on here? Tonks, why is Professor Snape here? And you, Harry Potter? What are you doing here? You should be at Hogwarts, hasn’t Dumbledore been watching you sufficiently since the attack?”

Harry just scowled slightly at the Minister and stepped back, leaving it to Severus and Tonks. He didn’t want to say anything stupid, and he was still in shock. All dead, just like that. It was over- he’d never have to stay with them again.

“He has to become a ward of the Ministry, Professor Snape,” Harry heard Fudge blabbering. “No one else could become his guardian, and he’s not of age yet.”

Tonks just looked upset, so Severus hissed, “I’m sure Dumbledore shall be able to produce a suitable guardian. In fact, you could discuss this with him later, instead of pinning the responsibility on your own Aurors and teachers. Right now, Mr. Potter and I need to get back to Hogwarts. Good bye, Miss Tonks. Come along, Mr. Potter.”

He grabbed Harry’s elbow again and apparated without a word. They reappeared in the middle of Hogsmeade, which wasn’t as crowded as Harry was used to, since he had only been there on Hogwarts visits. They were getting curious looks from the villagers, so Severus hustled Harry along. He didn’t really want any talk. They hurried up to the castle, avoiding the gaze of the people on the street. When they entered the school premises, Snape seemed to relax slightly, and slowed down the pace accordingly. They walked into the entrance hall, and then Severus steered Harry down to the dungeons.

“Alright, Harry,” Professor Snape said carefully, “I want to do this as quickly as possible, so I’d like it if you’d just cooperate with me. Take the boxes out of your pocket and put one on each table. We don’t want any mixing of materials; it’ll just make our job harder.”

Harry quickly obeyed, and Snape placed his own boxes on their individual tables. Then he walked to each one, muttering the charm under his breath to bring them back to normal size. Then he used a spell to lift all the ingredients out of their boxes and set them on the table.

“Okay, Harry, go into my office, and you’ll find three boxes of crystal jars. You may use magic to bring them in here, but be sure not to drop them. Set them on that table over there.” He pointed to a table near him.

Harry looked at his tutor with an expression of faint surprise that Professor Snape ignored. When he came back, levitating the boxes of jars, he saw that Professor Snape had divided creature parts and herbs, and had procured a long list of items.

“What do you need me to do now, sir?” Harry asked him quietly.

Snape smiled slightly, but then it vanished as he said, “I’m going to call out items, and I need you to put them in jars, label them, and then put them in the storeroom. If you don’t know what an item is, ask. Shall we begin?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. We’ll begin with the herbs,” Severus called, pointing at one side of the room. “Angelica, in the form of dried roots. Has purifying properties.”

Harry grabbed the roots and shoved them in a jar. “Angelica,” he murmured, tapping the jar with his wand. The clever trick fused the name into the jar. “Severus?” he asked. The man looked up. “Can I put them in the store room afterwards? It seems that’d take less time.”

Professor Snape frowned, then nodded. “Thank you, Harry,” he forced. “I guess I never thought of that.”

Harry blushed slightly and set the jar aside. “Basil, dried leaves.”

This way the work was quickly done, and soon Harry was surrounded by jars of herbs in various forms: dried leaves, dried stems, dried roots, powdered seeds, whole seeds, dried flowers, powdered flowers, and many others.

“Alright Harry,” Professor Snape said, “now I want you to put the herbs up so I can get ready to do the creature parts. You may levitate the jars inside, then just let them float in the air while you put them on their shelves.”

Harry, slightly anxious now, cast the levitating charm and walked over to Snape’s office. He stepped inside and peered around at the jars and labels on the shelves. He muttered names as he read them, and carefully looked at all the things inside the jars. Finally, he grinned as he figured the system out. The herbs went on the shelves to the right of the door. The creature parts went on the shelves to the left. On the shelves in front of the door were already made potions. He put the herbs away quickly, not wanting to make Snape impatient. When he turned to return to the classroom, he found Severus looming in the doorway, studying him.

“Is there something wrong, Severus?” Harry said hesitantly. “I think I put them all back right.”

“You’ve never been in here before.”

Harry looked confused. “Of course I haven’t, Professor.”

“Bloomslang skin. Gillyweed. You stole both.”

Harry bit his lip. “I didn’t.”

“But you know who did,” Severus guessed immediately. “Tell me who. Not Ron Weasley.”

“I won’t tell you who. Not Ron, I’ll tell you that much, but I won’t betray my friends. You can punish me, if you like, but you won’t find out who did it.”

Snape almost smiled. “Very Gryffindor of you. I admire that. Most of my house would tell in an instant, though a few would keep it secret. Alligator teeth.”

Soon they were done with the creature parts as well, and just as Snape was locking up his office to prepare to leave, Fawkes appeared in a flash of fire.

“Hello, Fawkes,” Harry said, grinning. The bird trilled and flew over to Severus, dropping a roll of parchment into his hand. Snape unrolled it and after scanning it, said, “The Headmaster requires our presence in his office. It seems that the Minister has arrived and wishes to discuss who your guardian shall be.”

“Oh. Fawkes, will you fire us up there?”

Severus winced slightly, and said, “Really, Harry, we can walk,” but the phoenix was wiggling its tail feathers and he reluctantly grabbed on. A moment later, they were staggering into Professor Dumbledore’s office, the bird triumphantly singing above them.

“Severus, what’s wrong?” the Headmaster asked the man with a twinkle in his eye.

“Mr. Potter insisted on that bloody bird bringing us up here. These are merely the aftereffects.”

Dumbledore seemed to be holding back a chuckle, but he merely turned to the Minister. “Well, Cornelius, what is it that you wished to talk about again?”

“Harry needs a proper guardian, not his Potions teacher, especially as said teacher has a questionable past.”

Severus looked sour. “Questionable, Minister?” He said silkily. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Severus,” Dumbledore said quietly, “be still. No one doubts you here. Cornelius, I find Severus quite a suitable guardian for Harry. I see no reason why Harry can’t stay with Severus for the duration of the summer. And once he’s back at Hogwarts, we can figure out a guardian. He doesn’t really need one; soon he’ll be seventeen, but we can decide on a temporary one for the beginning of the summer until his birthday and for any papers needing signing during the school year. Can you agree to that?”

‘’ No, I cannot, Dumbledore! You must see sense. You allow Harry to be cared for by this Death Eater, and soon he’ll be dead at You-Know-Who’s feet. He simply must become a ward of the Ministry. He’ll be taken care of, put in a nice foster home for the rest of the summer and for the beginning of next year’s summer. He needs a proper influence, not teachings from a man who’s dabbled up to his ears in Dark Arts.”

“Alright, I have an idea,” Dumbledore said. “Let Harry decide. He can choose where he wants to live for the rest of the summer, and he can have a say in who he wants to become his guardian later on.” He glanced questioningly at both Harry and Fudge.

Harry nodded at once, and Fudge did too, albeit reluctantly.

“Professor Snape,” the teenager said immediately.

Dumbledore smiled and clapped his hands. “Now then, glad we have that settled. I wish to see you later, Severus. Cornelius, we need to talk about taking those Ministry decrees from last year back.”

Professor Snape and Harry swept from the room and down towards the Entrance Hall. “So you don’t mind me being your guardian then?” Severus asked quietly.

“No! Why would I? I mean, last year yes, but you’ve changed.”

“Have I?” Snape asked. “Well I’ve certainly got reason too,” he muttered so Harry barely heard. “Here’s the Floo Powder, we’re going to back to Snape Manor.”

Harry stepped into the fireplace, and by the time he came spinning out at the manor, he had forgotten Snape’s words.