Severus Snape could smell fear. The stench of death and pain radiated from the people around him. He was a Death Eater, a slave of the risen-again dark lord, a puppet of Voldemort. But he was also a spy. It had been many years since any spy had worked his way so far into that evil. But Severus had mastered that prowling walk, that mask of lies, a long time ago. He was a spy, and he was a damn good one. The potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry slipped into his place in the circle and waited with the others.

It had all began 18 years ago, with a foolish decision made by a foolish mind. Young Severus had been 17, fresh out of Hogwarts, and he had been hungry for power. He wanted revenge on everyone who had made his life hell. And Voldemort offered him that power on a silver platter. Once he realized the bad part of this “agreement” he already had the mark blazing on his arm and he knew it was far too late. People didn’t just change their mind and back out of the deal. He had wanted to become a Death Eater, and a Death Eater he had become. Severus Snape could find no way out of this hellhole, so he turned to where he knew he could find an answer; to where he always found an answer. Severus turned to Albus Dumbledore. And the wise old headmaster welcomed him with open arms. That day, 18 years ago, September 13th, Severus Snape had been inducted into the Order of the Phoenix.

There was a small pop, and Lord Voldemort appeared in the center of the circle of his followers. There were many blank places in the line, places where now imprisoned Death Eaters had once stood. Snape especially noticed Lucius Malfoy’s empty place. Dumbledore had been particularly pleased that that thorn had been taken from the bush. “This was a failure that I expect shall never take place again,” Voldemort hissed.

“No, master,” everyone murmured.

“The Minister was in the palm of our hand, following through on Lucius’ every whim, fulfilling our every need. And now he has had the information shoved under his nose and tossed around like a Quaffle in a Quidditch game. There is no way he can deny my existence now. There is no way he can’t believe that I have returned. This game is getting harder to play. Severus,” he said, turning towards the man, “How is this being taken at Hogwarts?”

Severus replied, careful not to look Voldemort in the eye, saying, “It is as we expected, milord. Everyone is in shock. The entire student body was milling around at the end of term, asking the Potter boy if the Daily Prophet was telling the truth. They all wore black as if their mothers had died and half the time they were white as the ghosts with fear. They’ve panicked.”

“As we thought,” Voldemort mused. “Students return to school soon and the castle is empty, but watchful. If we plan to make a move we cannot do it now, right under the nose of Dumbledore. We shall wait until he is distracted by the start of term. And in the meantime, we shall need to break our Death Eaters out of jail. I will devise a new plan for the third ever Azkaban breakout. It needs to be original. You may take leave.”

Everyone bowed and disapparated to their separate homes. And Severus Snape strode off through the Hogwarts gates towards Dumbledore’s office. He had to report.

Professor Snape swept into Dumbledore’s office, eyeing the room with a sneer playing across his face. The once cluttered tables were now bare of the various magical objects that had once resided there. Severus remembered well hearing about Potter’s little tantrum the day Sirius died. It seems that Dumbledore had never felt up to refurbishing his office. Severus approached the desk where Albus sat, gravely examining an article in the Daily Prophet.

“Sit, Severus,” the weary old man intoned.

Severus nodded and sat in the chintz armchair opposite Dumbledore’s desk. “The Dark Lord has decided to back off for a while,” he said. “He has realized his opposition grows slightly stronger with those Death Eaters in prison and the Ministry alert. He doesn’t want to be rash and lose the power he so recently gained.”

Dumbledore nodded, saying, “I thought this was what would happen. I’ll have to contact Fudge and get him to put some of the top Aurors at Azkaban. He’ll have realized that the dementors have totally turned against him and the prison shall still need high security. There was the mass breakout before, and it can happen again. He’ll see that, obviously. Even he isn’t dense enough not to.”

Snape snorted and muttered, “We should hope not. If he were, I don’t think he would manage to put his clothes on correctly in the morning.”

Dumbledore smiled softly, and said, “Thank you, Severus. You may go; I believe we both need a bit of sleep. Remember that the students shall arrive in three weeks time. Good night.”

“Night, Headmaster.”

Severus left Dumbledore’s office and swept through the many halls of Hogwarts down to his home in the dungeons. He muttered the password (“spy snake”) and entered his small apartment. Perhaps he could finish brewing that potion before he went to sleep. Professor Snape walked over to the cauldron he had hastily left above the fire to boil. He lifted it from the fire and put it on his worktable. Searching his shelves for the proper ingredients, he didn’t notice Fawkes appear in a flash of fire. After a moment, the red and gold phoenix gave a squawk and Severus turned to look at it with surprise. He took the parchment the bird held in its beak and read it.

Severus, It has reached my ears that the Dursley’s are looking for a tutor to up their rather dense son’s very low grades. You know of course that Harry also lives in their home, and this would be a prime way to protect Harry and help him deal with his grief, plus make sure he could be an auror by teaching him potions out of the book. You cannot say no now, I have already sent a letter in the Muggle way, responding to their advertisement in the Muggle newspaper. You will get paid 50 pounds a week, and that means you’ll have 150 pounds to transfer to Galleons when you return to Hogwarts for the school year. Your identity must be kept a secret, so act like a Muggle. You shall be staying with the Dursley’s in their home. You start tomorrow at 7:00 in the morning.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore P.S. I know that this is a bit hurried, but I am desperate for anything that will protect Harry. I am sure that you will find yourself fit for the job.

Severus knew there was no arguing with the esteemed Headmaster, so he simply grumbled curses under his breath and began packing.

Harry sighed. There was to be a tutor at number 4 Privet Drive, and Harry would have to learn all that stupid Muggle stuff. He would never be able to finish his homework from Hogwarts because of Dudley and his stupidity. The doorbell rang and Uncle Vernon snarled, “Get the door, boy. It’s probably that tutor for you and Dudley.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, groaning under his breath. He walked slowly to the door and swung it open only to nearly pass out with shock. Upon the doorstep stood no other than Professor Severus Snape, the thing Harry hated most about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Professor Snape sneered, saying, “Yes its me. Now pick your jaw up off the floor and let me in before I just walk in on my own accord.”

Harry nodded and moved aside so Professor Snape could walk in. Uncle Vernon appeared and said, “Ah, you must be Mr. Snape. Welcome. My nephew will take your things and show you to your room.” He turned to Harry and snapped, “Take his things, boy. He can stay in the room you cleaned out yesterday. Get a move on!”

Harry picked up the small suitcase and led his teacher up the stairs to the guest room usually occupied only by Aunt Marge. Severus wrinkled his nose when he heard Dudley’s snores. “Is he always that loud, Potter?”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Remember, I’m supposed to be a Muggle and you’re supposed to have just met me, so call me Mr. Snape. I will be allowing you to work on Occlumency and Potions, along with a few of your other usual subjects. When is breakfast served around here?” “Whenever Dudley wakes up.”

“I am still your teacher, Potter. Call me sir.”

“Yes, sir.”

Severus took out his wand, and waving it, conjured a piece of toast and a cup of coffee. “That kid had better wake up soon,” he growled.

Harry said, “I doubt he will, sir,” and left the room.

Harry was sitting in the kitchen, staring at the wall, when Snape appeared, followed by Dudley. Snape had a secret smile on his face and Dudley looked sort of surprised. Aunt Petunia looked up at Dudley and said, “You’re up early, ickle Diddykins. Cook the breakfast, boy,” she hissed at Harry. Severus looked a little surprised and he raised his eyebrows at Harry. Harry just glared back at him, then pulled out a pan to cook some eggs. Fifteen minutes later, Harry put a plate of eggs on the table and Aunt Petunia gave everyone a grapefruit quarter. Severus noticed that Harry got the smallest one. Dudley, huge whale that he was, quickly cleaned his plate, finished off the eggs, and began eyeing Harry’s grapefruit quarter. Harry, rolling his eyes, shoved it towards him.

Aunt Petunia looked at her son with glowing eyes and said, “Diddy, you’re going to start your lessons today with Mr. Snape here.”

Snape scowled and Dudley looked up from his plate. “I don’t wanna! Its summer! I don’t wanna learn!”

“Don’t worry, Dudders,” Vernon said loudly, “It’s only for a few weeks and I’ll make sure the boy does more than you. I’ll give you a big present if you’re good.”

“Fine.”

“Mr. Snape,” Uncle Vernon said, “This is my son Dudley, and my nephew, Harry Potter. Harry attends St. Brutus’ for Incurably Criminal Boys. He’s not very bright, so I can understand if you can’t get very far with him. Dudley, on the other hand, is practically a genius.”

“Excellent. Potter, if you’re done with your meal, perhaps you can come on upstairs and begin your studies. Dudley, I expect you to join us as soon as you’re finished. Come along, Mr. Potter.”

Snape led Harry upstairs and to the room he was staying in. Once inside, he locked the door and cast a Silencing Charm over the room. “Whenever you can, bring your wand up here so I can cast a charm on it so you can perform magic without the Ministry knowing. That way, we can still practice Occlumency and other things that you definitely need to work on.”

“Sir, can I ask some questions?”

Snape looked at him for a moment and said, “You may.”

“Is Tonks alright?”

“It’s, ‘Is Tonks alright, sir?’ And she is perfectly fine.”

“Okay sir, and also, why are you here?”

“And why do you ask so many questions? The Dark Lord’s defeat at the Department of Mysteries angered him greatly. Soon, you may need more protection than your mother’s blood can give you. The Dursley’s obviously aren’t giving you everything you need, and I’m here to possibly change that. I had a bad childhood too, and I don’t want that for my- for anyone at all. I don’t think Dumbledore’s thinking about your needs. He’s too concerned with the world’s wants. And if you ever even think I’m going soft, feel sure that I will poison you in every way I know how. I didn’t have to give you that much information and I don’t have to help you learn. Go get your wand so we can do something useful. Go on, hurry up, don’t just stand there gaping!”

Harry snapped out of his daze and nodded, then silently turned and went to his small room down the hall. He pulled up the floorboard under his bed, grabbed his wand, and then returned to the guest room, where Professor Snape sat in a chair, waiting impatiently for his return.

Harry walked slowly back to the guest room, wondering if he was imagining things. First Professor Snape became his tutor- but didn’t he hate muggles? Then he said he hated Dumbledore- but didn’t he love the man for giving him a second chance? And then he said he was going to teach him- even though last year he said he never wanted anything to do with him again. And what was it that he let slip about a bad childhood? But before Harry had time to attempt an answer at any of these questions, he found himself at Snape’s door.

He could faintly hear Professor Snape’s quietly angry tones through the door, so he must have disabled the Silencing Charms. But who was he telling off? Surely not spoiled Dudley Dursley? Harry knocked and the door swung open to reveal Severus Snape, looking livid, glance up at him and then turn back toward Dudley.

“What do you mean, you don’t know how to do long division? You’re sixteen years old. You’re at a private school. Aren’t they supposed to have some advanced education system?”

Dudley only whimpered slightly and Harry couldn’t restrain a chuckle. At this, Severus rounded on him.

“There you are! Finally! Here’s the book you’ll be working with, boy.” Severus shoved the thick text into Harry’s stomach. Then he stepped closer and whispered, “Tap it twice with your wand and it’ll become a potions textbook. Tap it three times and it’ll turn back into a normal math book. Memorize pages 46 through 57; you’ll be brewing the potion later and you’ll need to know everything.” Then he said louder, “Go to your room and get reading, boy.”

Harry nodded hesitantly and slowly paced from the room. One potion? Why was Snape letting him off so easy? Shouldn’t he be writing some long essay about some random herb and why it reacts the way it does with some other random herb? It just didn’t make sense. Harry entered his room and threw himself onto his bed. What page had it been? Oh yeah... 46. He flipped to the required page, then groaned at what he found. The Draught of Peace. Great. So Snape had remembered Harry’s failure at brewing this at the beginning of last year. Well that was just wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Harry sighed and pulled out parchment and a quill. Since Sirius had died, Harry more commonly wrote to Remus now. He had promised to write him about the tutor. Might as well do it now while he wasn’t being watched.

Remus, The tutor came this morning. You’ll never believe who it was. Yup. Professor Snape. The oily snake himself. He’s acting weird though. He actually offered to teach me Occlumency again! And Potions too so I can take Advanced Potions next year and become an auror. I’m sure that you remember my rather dismal O.W.L. scores in that course. Oh well. At least I only made four ‘Dreadful’s’- one in Potions, one in History of Magic, one in Astronomy, and one in Divination. I expected all of them, so it’s not really a problem. At least I got ‘Amazing’s’ and ‘Exceeds Expectation’s’ in everything else. Enough to pass, and I got all the other qualifications for auror training. Well, I need to go read up on the Draught of Peace, so I’ll write more later.

Harry

“Hedwig, come here.”

The snowy owl hooted and fluttered over to Harry and perched on his hand, then stuck out her leg for the letter. Harry carefully tied it to her leg, stroked her white head, then carried her to the window and set her off.

Harry wasn’t sure about his feelings about Sirius. He had done most of his mourning last month. The Dursley’s had gotten a letter from Dumbledore concerning Sirius’ death, and had pretty much let him do what he wanted during the day for all of July. Harry hadn’t cried since his birthday, when Remus sent him a copy of Sirius’ will. Sirius had given half his considerable inheritance to Harry and half to Remus. He gave the house and everything in it to Harry on the condition that Remus be allowed to stay there and it remain Order headquarters. Harry had, of course, agreed to Remus staying at the dirty old mansion, and could deal with the Order meeting there. Remus had written saying that he’d been hard at work cleaning up the place, and Harry had hoped he’d be able to stay there for the week before term started. Now that Snape was here, he wasn’t sure that wish would be fulfilled.

Harry shook himself and resumed reading about the Draught of Peace. It was intensely boring. Pulling out more parchment, he began to scrawl down some sloppy notes, knowing that would help him commit the assigned pages to memory. Wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of Snape on the first day, after all. Just as Harry finished the last excruciatingly long sentence, there was a soft knock and Professor Snape appeared in the doorway.

He stepped inside, and with a wave of his wand and a muttered word, the silencing charms were up. Another wave, and a cauldron appeared. A third wave, and a fire was crackling underneath. A fourth, and all the supplies appeared. Severus took the book from Harry’s hands.

“I hope you did your reading well, Potter.”

Harry nervously watched Professor Snape look at his finished potion with evident disgust.

“This is absolutely despicable, Potter.”

He pulled out his wand and murmured the Vanishing Spell that had become quite familiar to Harry. “Evanesco. And now, Mr. Potter, we will brew this potion again, correctly this time.”

Snape pulled the book back out of his deep pocket and it fell open in his hand on page 46. Severus ran his wand along the list of ingredients, waved it, and then the supplies appeared in front of Harry once more. He handed Harry the book and gestured for him to begin. Harry began carefully making the potion and Snape watched studiously. He winced as Harry tossed in a pinch of crushed chamomile without a care in the world. Harry noticed this and sighed.

“What’d I do this time?”

Professor Snape coughed slightly and said, “Have you learned nothing in Potions over the last five years, Mr. Potter?” Harry looked bewildered and shrugged. Professor Snape closed his eyes for a moment, then murmured, “You must pay attention to the delicacies of potion making. If you are careless, heavy-handed, and nonobservant, you will find the potion is not the best it could be. Next time don’t throw the chamomile in.”

"Oookay..." Harry turned back to the book with a skeptical look upon his face, mouthing "weirdo." He looked through the various herbs before him and grabbed a sprig of dried lavender and began grinding it into powder with his mortar and pestle. Once it was a very fine powder, Harry picked up the bowl and was about to dump it all in at once when he saw the faint look of horror on Snape's face. He checked himself and slowly poured it in so it wouldn't splash and would all hit the mixture at the same speed. He glanced at Professor Snape, who nodded. Then he picked up his ladle and stirred it carefully six times. A silver mist was rising from the potion, a little thicker than shown in the book. The color of the potion itself was a bit darker, but it was still the best potion Harry had ever brewed without Hermione's assistance.

Snape nodded again. "Almost perfect, Potter. You see that it's not exactly right because of the chamomile you threw in. Full marks though; you did well." To Harry's surprise, Professor Snape pulled out a flask and filled it with the potion.

Harry dared to ask him, "Why are you getting some, if you already graded it?"

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes slightly. "Sir. Why are you getting some, sir? This, Potter, will go to the Hospital Wing when we return to school. Madam Pomfrey is always in need of new calming potions, and the Draught of Peace is one, if a bit strong."

Harry nodded slightly, flattered that Snape thought his potion good enough for Madam Pomfrey. He didn't voice this opinion though, knowing that Snape would just sneer and say something sarcastic.

Suddenly, Aunt Petunia's voice drifted up the stairs. "Boys, Mr. Snape, come on downstairs! Lunch is ready!"

Professor Snape looked as if he'd roll his eyes if it weren't so immature, and said, "Gods, the way she yells. It's like some farmer's wife calling the dogs to their meat."

Harry gave Professor Snape a small grin at this and said, "You get used to it, after a while."

Snape muttered, "Hopefully I won't be here long enough," and thus ended their camaraderie, if it could be called that.

The two left Harry's room and made their way downstairs, where they could hear the faint murmur of conversation between Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley. Aunt Petunia had made tuna salad sandwiches and had set five places, each with a glass of tea, two sandwiches, and a handful of potato chips. Harry's pile of chips was rather scrawny, and his sandwiches didn't have much tuna on them compared to Dudley's mountains, but he didn't complain. He could sneak down and nick food later, once everyone was asleep. Instead, he concentrated on wolfing down his lunch as fast as possible before Dudley finished his and wanted to steal some of Harry's. Then he gulped down his tea. He rose first of the table and took his dishes to the sink, where he rinsed them and all the dishes Dudley had used during the day and put them in the dishwasher. Professor Snape swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and Harry automatically reached for his plate, but the man shook his head.

"I'll do it," he said, looking at Harry.

Immediately Uncle Vernon interrupted. "Really, Mr. Snape, you don't have to. You're a guest in this household, and the boy always does the dishes. It keeps him working hard, so he doesn't get lazy. He's a rude little brat, but he won't get away without working here."

Professor Snape conceded, but he sneered slightly at Uncle Vernon when his back was turned. Harry thought he heard him mutter, "Oh no, wouldn't want him to get lazy, that's what your son's for."

Harry quickly finished the dishes and then slowly walked up the stairs and down the hall to Professor Snape's room. He supposed he should get his next assignment. He knocked quietly, and heard Snape call out, "Enter."

Harry pushed the door open and found Snape at his desk, scrawling what looked like a letter at the dingy desk in the corner. Glancing curiously at it, Harry saw that it was to Dumbledore. Probably ascertaining that he had indeed made it to the Dursley's safely. Professor Snape didn't look up until he had signed the letter and stuffed it into an envelope.

"Well," he said then. "What do you want?"

"Well, you're supposed to be our tutor," Harry responded. "Don't you have some essay for me to write or something, sir?"

Professor Snape looked almost surprised for a moment, but he quickly cleared his face of emotion. "Not at the moment. I didn't expect that either you or Dudley would be taught all day long."

"Dudley probably won't be," Harry acknowledged. "He'll be lazing around watching TV and playing on his computer. But Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia will want be to be busy."

Snape nodded, sneering slightly. "Have you finished all your summer assignments?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'll go over those for you, if you'd like. You can start reading Penchant for Potions, by Alberta Kingston. It's on the booklist for sixth years." Professor Snape stood and walked over to his trunk, which he dug through for a moment until he found the book, which he handed to Harry. "Bring your schoolwork in here and I'll look at it now, while I'm not busy."

Harry nodded, and walked back to his room, where he set the book on his bed and rummaged through his trunk until he found his homework, held all together by a binder clip. He took the clip off and chucked it back into his trunk, then returned to Severus' room to give him the homework. As he left the room, he heard Snape mutter, "Wrong," and cross something out with his quill.

Harry smiled slightly in spite of himself. Finally, Snape was back to his usual critical self.

In his room, Harry curled up on his bed and obediently began reading Penchant for Potions. Part One was more about the theory of Potions than actual instructions, something that Harry had never looked into before. He supposed theory would be a larger part of advanced classes. Harry had just reached Chapter Two, “Herbs in Medicine,” when he heard a tapping at his window. He looked up and saw Ron’s tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, hyper as usual. The sixteen-year-old wizard jumped off his bed, opened the window, and snatched Pig out of the air. He untied the letter from Pig’s leg and then let him loose. He quickly recognized the handwriting used: half was Ron’s, and half was Hermione’s.

Hey Harry! This is Ron. How are you, mate? Lupin told us about your tutor yesterday, and mentioned that he was expecting a letter about him from you soon. We’re at the same place as last summer, and Dumbledore’s stopped by once or twice. He says booklists will be coming soon, once McGonagall’s done working out courses for us sixth years. There hasn’t been any news, they think that You-Know-Who is lying low after his mess-up at the Ministry. The Death Eaters they caught have had their trials, and if I heard right they were all convicted, even Malfoy. Alright, I’m going to let Mione write now. See you soon, I hope!

Ron

The handwriting abruptly switched to Hermione’s neat print. Hi Harry! I hope you’re well and that the Dursley’s are treating you alright. But it doesn’t sound like it- Professor Lupin told us they were getting you and your cousin a tutor. I do hope that the tutor isn’t being too mean and that you have had time to finish all your schoolwork. We haven’t been doing much here, I’ve been helping Ron with his homework since I’ve already finished all mine. There’s a big library and I’ve read a few books that were absolutely fascinating. Professor Lupin has been quieter than usual, and he’s been keeping busy cleaning everything. He’s changed some stuff, so don’t be surprised once you get here. The twins stay at their shop most times, but they visit and come to meetings. Bill’s still got the desk job at Gringotts and stays here; there’s talk that he’s engaged to Fleur. Charlie’s still in Romania, he thinks he might have found a foreign wizard that’s interested in you-know-what. I should think we’ll see you soon, maybe we’ll meet up at Diagon Alley.

Hermione

Harry folded up the letter, satisfied. It was much more detailed than last summer; he supposed Ron and Hermione had thrown caution to the winds and decided to write whatever they wanted. Obviously, Percy hadn’t tried to endear himself to his family, but that didn’t bother Harry. He didn’t think any of the Weasley’s would forgive the Minister’s Junior Assistant for the insults he had laid upon their family. Harry knew he never would. He would write back Ron and Hermione later; he needed to read more of the book and Hedwig was off giving that letter to Remus anyway.

Harry tossed the letter onto his desk, settled back onto his pillow, and found his place in Snape’s book. An hour later, there was a soft knocking at the door, and Professor Snape entered. He had his usual sneer on his face, a little more toned down than usual though.

“Here’s your work, Mr. Potter,” he said, handing the papers to Harry. “I am done checking it, and you’ve done moderately well. Do you have any questions about the book?”

“No, sir. I’ve read through Chapter Five. I do have another question though.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know when exactly we’ll be getting our booklists? And when will I be able to go to Diagon Alley to buy my things?” He quickly added, “Sir?” before Snape could comment.

“I actually already have your booklist, and I will be taking you shopping Wednesday of next week, in exactly ten days, as today is Monday. Once that is done, I will be dropping you off at Headquarters, where you will be staying until the following Monday, when you will be going to Hogwarts.”

“Thank you sir. Would you like me to continue reading, sir?”

“Yes, for a little while longer. Then we’ll talk about resuming Occlumency and go over your homework. I need to write the headmaster.”

Harry nodded, feeling a bit anxious at the thought of beginning Occlumency again. Professor Snape nodded shortly at Harry and swept from the room. Harry ignored the slight feeling of dread in his stomach and read a few more pages. In around fifteen minutes, there was another knock on the door and Snape came in again.

“First let’s go over that homework,” Snape said, sitting down at the chair in front of Harry’s desk.

Harry nodded, “Okay,” and pulled the stack of papers closer.

“Let’s begin with your Transfiguration assignment,” the Potions master said, in a voice that required no contestation.

An hour later, Harry was feeling quite stupid, and the notes on his assignments were growing steadily messier. He was chewing the tip of his quill and his brow was furrowed.

“Let’s take a little break,” Professor Snape suggested, glancing at Harry’s frustrated face. Harry glanced up in shock and Severus sighed. “Do you find it so surprising that I can, in fact, be slightly sympathetic?”

Harry swallowed nervously. “Well, not really... I guess I just thought you always hated Gryffindors.”

“I don’t hate Gryffindors. I just don’t like them very much. And it would be unfair to judge, wouldn’t it?” Snape almost rolled his eyes at the disbelieving look Harry had given him. “I suppose you won’t believe that I don’t like all Slytherins?”

“No,” Harry answered truthfully.

Severus straightened his robes and said, “Well I don’t. And I don’t dislike all Gryffindors.”

“So what Gryffindor do you like? Name one,” Harry demanded, quite bravely, he thought.

“Name one, sir,” Snape insisted. “I like the youngest Weasley, Ginny, I think her name is.” Harry raised his eyebrows. “I do! She’s smart, and doesn’t talk in class, and she isn’t arrogant or stuck-up or a behavior problem like her brothers.” Suddenly brisk, Snape stood and said, “Now, how about we go downstairs and get a drink, rest for a few minutes, and then practice Occlumency for a while. Come on, Potter.”

Professor Snape led a shocked Harry downstairs to the kitchen. Harry had learned a lot of unexpected things from this man he thought he had figured out. So Snape did actually have a heart, and he was willing to admit it, or so it seemed. The Death Eater spy obviously had some reason to suddenly show his nicer side, and Harry wanted to know what it was.

They found a pitcher of lemonade in the fridge, and Harry poured them each a glass. Harry sat at the table and Snape stood, looking out the window at the dull afternoon street. It was pretty lazy looking, only a few kids out to play, and hardly any cars whizzing by. In a few minutes, they returned upstairs, Harry rubbing his palms on his jeans to get rid of the sweat. Snape followed Harry inside his room, shut the door, and murmured a Silencing Charm. Harry nervously pulled out his wand, and prepared himself for an attack on his mind. Both men had their wands raised and ready. Harry was bracing himself and Snape had already started saying the spell- “Legi-“, when the door banged open. In the doorway stood Dudley, looking back and forth at Harry and “Mr.” Snape, eyes growing wide.

Professor Snape acted immediately, whipping his wand around and stupefying Dudley before he could say a word. The thin man sighed as Dudley fell to the floor with a dull thud. Well, more of a crash, really.

“This complicates things,” he muttered.

With a bit of effort, Severus dragged Dudley into the room and shut and locked the door behind him. “Silencio. Ennervate,” Snape said, pointing his wand at Dudley.

Harry’s large cousin blinked stupidly for a few seconds, then began babbling, stopping when he realized he wasn’t making any noise.

“So,” Severus said softly, twirling his wand in one pale hand. “You’ve found me out. What are you going to do now? Run to mommy and daddy? Seal your title as a coward and a tattle-tale? Well I’m not going to stop you. I’ll give you your chance right now. Go, show who you are in the end.” He waved his wand and Dudley gained his voice back. He waved it again and the door swung open. He waved it a third time and Dudley was set on his feet. “Now go,” he hissed. “We won’t stop you.”

Dudley stumbled off, glancing back at Snape every few steps. Snape turned away from him with a scowl. “I thought so. He’s going to go tell. Oh well, I expected it. Might as well get it over with. Get your trunk, Potter. The Dursley’s aren’t going to like this.”

Harry threw open his trunk and began tossing all his things inside. Severus disappeared, apparently to retrieve his own already packed trunk, as he returned with it floating in front of him moments later. Harry shoved his homework in and then shut and locked his trunk. “Any minute now,” Harry muttered.

As if on cue, Uncle Vernon shouted, “HARRY POTTER!” and came stomping up the stairs.

“Oh, he’s not going to be happy,” Harry sighed. He dropped his wand in his pocket and braced himself for some yelling and possibly even a swing or two.

Vernon Dursley slammed into the room much like his son, but unlike him faced the cold eyes of a ready Professor Snape and expectant Harry.

“You had something to say?” Severus asked in that soft voice he seemed to have perfected.

The broad man yelled, “How dare you dirty my house?! How dare you attack my son?! Get out! And take the boy! Now!”

Severus bowed mockingly. “Gladly,” he sneered. “If only you’d get your fat arse out of the way.” He levitated both his trunk and Harry’s, and blasted them through the doorway, narrowly missing Mr. Dursley. Harry followed his tutor in a stupor, amazed at what he had just done. Severus led him past a shocked Petunia and Dudley and out the front door, which slammed behind them. He led Harry right up to the street, where he stuck out his wand after checking to see if the street was clear, which, indeed, it was. Soon the all-too-familiar Knight Bus came crashing down.

“Not my most favored way of travel,” Professor Snape said to Harry, “but at least it’s cheap.”

He seemed used to this method of traveling despite his aforementioned dislike, because he silenced the conductor with a wave of his hand and shoved some gold in his hand without asking how much.

“Snape Manor,” he said smoothly, pushing Harry ahead of him to a seat and leaving their trunks for the conductor to manage.

Harry sat in the seat Snape pointed to without saying a word. Snape Manor? Snape had a manor? Snape was taking him, Harry Potter, the boy he loathed, to his manor? But why?

Severus watched the play of emotions on Harry’s face with a smirk on his own. The boy was so easy to read. Surprise, disbelief, curiosity. Snape picked them out easily while Harry sat there, oblivious to his watchful eyes. Why was he taking the boy to the Manor? To protect him, he told himself. But you could do that at Hogwarts...Added protection at the Manor. No one knows where it is. Even the Knight Bus can’t get past the borders... Severus shook his head to clear it of thought. No use dwelling on decisions already made.

Soon enough, and without too many falls out of their chairs, they made it to the edge of Snape’s land. After a few minutes hold up when someone puked in the aisle, they were alone with their trunks and the prospect of a long walk ahead of them. Snape pulled out his wand and levitated the trunks again, not speaking to Harry. About halfway though their walk, it started to rain. Harry groaned, but Professor Snape put the trunks down and created a bubble around them so they wouldn’t get wet. Harry reluctantly admitted to himself that this sure did make walking easier. It seemed that the bubble eradicated all moisture, so even the grass they walked on was dry. After half an hour of trudging along, they were looking up at a stately old manor, perched proudly on the hillside.

Snape led Harry through the large garden on the stone pathway. Harry glanced around and saw many herbs he recognized from Potions and Herbology. At the door, Snape made the bubble vanish, dropped the trunks, and began to pick apart the wards he had set on the door. Finally, after about ten minutes of standing in the cold rain, Professor Snape pushed the door open and walked inside, trunks floating behind him. Harry hesitated, then followed. He was led up a set of creaky stairs, down a dark hall, and then into a bedroom.

“This one’s yours,” Professor Snape said. Harry’s trunk dropped with a clunk. “The bathroom is attached, that door over there.” He pointed. “The bottom floor is my lab, and across the hall is my bedroom. Never go in either without my permission. Dinner is served at six; don’t be late. We’ll resume lessons tomorrow. I’ll see you in half an hour.”

Harry nodded and the potions master left the room. Harry was confused. At the end of the year, he had despised Snape. Now, he wasn’t sure. He never would have thought he’d be saying it, but Snape wasn’t all that bad, really. He seemed very moody; one moment he was explaining something and the next he was yelling. Harry supposed if you were respectful to him, at least he wouldn’t yell. The tiny unbiased section in Harry’s brain realized that most Gryffindors really were quite rude to Snape. Once he thought about it, Harry realized he had hated Snape since first year, when he had mocked Harry for being a celebrity in the first Potions class. But he had never given Snape a chance...And now that he had worked over his grief for Sirius, he realized Snape had done nothing to him all year except stop giving him Occlumency lessons-but that was Harry’s fault-and be hateful towards him. But Snape had to act like he hated me, thought Harry, or the children of the Death Eaters would think he wasn’t loyal...

Harry sat up in bed, gaping. That was it. That was why Snape had always been so mean, so unfair, so favorable to Slytherins, especially Death Eater’s children...because he was a spy, always a spy, always wearing a mask.

Severus Snape sat at the table in the dining room, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. The boy was late. It was 6:05 and he had not yet arrived. Just as Snape was about to check his watch again, Harry skidded into the room.

“Sorry sir! I lost track of time,” he explained as he seated himself.

Professor Snape merely nodded, and warned him, “Don’t let it happen again.”

Harry nodded and stared at his empty plate hard, as if he was expecting food to fall from the ceiling. Severus, however, snapped and a house-elf appeared, carrying a tray of enough food for two.

“Here is the food you is asking for, Master Severus,” the house-elf said quietly, putting it on the table.

“Thank you, Binky,” Snape said, quite politely. The house-elf smiled shyly and vanished from the room. After a moment of silence in which neither Harry or Snape moved, Snape finally said, “You may help yourself to whatever you wish any time, Potter.” At the faint look of surprise on the boy’s face, Severus explained, “Manners dictate that a host allow his guest to be served first.

Harry nodded and carefully scooped up some mashed potatoes, a portion of chicken and vegetable pie, and some applesauce. Then he politely waited for Professor Snape to get his food before starting to eat. Snape nodded at the show of courtesy, a tiny smile on his lips.

About halfway through the meal, Harry put down his fork and quietly asked, “Why did you bring me here, sir?”

At this, Snape also placed down his silverware, swallowed his bite of potatoes, and then glanced at Harry’s face. “Protection,” he finally answered. “The only two places you could continue your lessons were Hogwarts and here. Surprising though it may be, this manor is more protected. Only a select few know of its existence- myself, Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, the driver of the Knight Bus, Ernie, and now you. And of those select few, even fewer know where it is- myself, Ernie, and, again, you. And I am the only one who can come here anytime I so desire. Ernie can come only if I ask him to take me here. You can come only if I bring you along. So you see, it makes perfect sense to bring you here.”

Harry nodded, “I understand, sir,” and returned to his food. The two were silent until the end of the meal, right after Snape called Binky to clear the plates.

Severus cleared his throat. “Now that I can work with you extensively for the next ten days, is there anything you’d like to work on besides Occlumency and Potions? You may select two things.”

“Umm...Defense and maybe Herbology? It’s not required for Auror Training, so I won’t be taking it next year, but it might help, especially for Potions.”

Professor Snape nodded. “Good choice. Now I need to floo to Hogwarts to talk with the headmaster. I’d like you to come along; I don’t know how long it will take.”

“Yes, sir. When are we leaving?”

“Right now, if you’re ready.”

Harry just shrugged, so Severus stood and led him to a sitting room where there was a tall fireplace made of stone. He knelt and scooped a handful of floo powder out of a china bowl on the hearth.

“Here,” he said, pouring half of it into Harry’s hand. “I’ll go first. Just say ‘Hogwarts, Great Hall.’”

“Hogwarts Great Hall. Right,” Harry said.

Snape tossed his powder into the flames and then stepped inside, calling, “Hogwarts Great Hall!”

Once he had disappeared and the green flames had died out, Harry dropped his own dust into the fire, walked into it, and shouted, “Hogwarts Great Hall!”

After a few minutes of choking on ash and spinning, Harry tumbled out into the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He fell falat on the floor and felt his glasses snap.

“Oh darn,” he groaned, pushing himself up.

Once he was standing, Harry found himself being watched by Professor Snape. “Here, let me see your glasses,” he said, taking out his wand. “Reparo!”

He handed them back and Harry put them back on. “Thank you, Professor,” he muttered.

Snape merely nodded and said, “Come along. The Headmaster should be in his office; the staff dinner will have just ended.”

The two men that looked more alike than the realized strode sided by side towards the gargoyle that marked the Headmaster’s office. Once the reached it, Snape said the password, “Blood-flavored lollipops,” and the gargoyle jumped aside. Severus stepped on the staircase first, and it took them up to the round office that had grown familiar to both Harry and Snape over the years. The first thing that Severus noticed was that Albus had refurbished his office. He had acquired a handsome set of crystals and had them set out on a table. As Snape looked at them, one caught the light and sparkled.

“Please, sit,” came Albus’ voice.

Harry jumped; he hadn’t noticed the elderly man. Both he and Severus found a seat close to the desk.

“I was found out,” Snape said immediately. “Dudley Dursley saw me about to practice Occlumency with Mr. Potter. I didn’t wish to erase his memory; I preferred to give him a chance to redeem himself, much like the chance you gave me, on a much more minor scale, of course.”

“I see,” the Headmaster said quietly. “So you are both returning to Hogwarts then?”

“No. I would like to stay at Snape Manor for the duration of Mr. Potter’s tutoring session. He still needs to learn Potions and Occlumency.”

“He could do that here, Severus.”

Harry glanced at Professor Snape to see his reaction. He, of course, already knew why the manor was a better place to stay, but he had thought Snape would’ve cleared it with Dumbledore. Apparently not.

“I think the Manor would be safer. So few people know of it; the wards are practically impossible to penetrate.”

Dumbledore gazed at Severus and they had a silent battle of wills. It seemed that Professor Snape won, because Albus finally nodded and said, “Alright then.” Then he turned to Harry. “Harry, do you agree with this arrangement?”

“Yes, Professor, I really want to be an Auror. Professor Snape has to teach me Potions for that to happen. And I don’t want what happened las- last time to happen to someone else. I have to learn to prevent it.”

“Then it is settled,” Snape said. “Good evening, Albus.” He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder as if to steer him from the room.

“Actually, a moment if you please, Severus,” the Headmaster said smoothly. “Harry, if you’d step outside please.”

Harry nodded and slipped outside, thinking he’d listen through the door. A moment later that wish was shot by Dumbledore muttering, “Silencio.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t trust his own students,” he murmured and leaned against the wall to wait. A moment later, a thunderous Severus and a sulky Harry slipped from behind the gargoyle outside Dumbledore’s office. Harry quickly decided to just be silent and hope that Snape wouldn’t notice him, because at the moment he looked like he could have violent tendencies. The pair stomped through the castle to the Great Hall, where Severus brushed off a flustered looking McGonagall, saying, “Not now, Minerva,” and then chucked some floo powder from his pocket into the fireplace, grabbed Harry’s elbow, stepped inside, and called, “Snape Manor!”

Traveling by floo powder alone was uncomfortable enough, but doing it with another person was hardly worth the time it saved. Harry kept knocking into Snape and his throat burned from all the ash he had swallowed. Finally, the fire spit them out into Snape’s sitting room. Harry groaned from where he was sprawled on the floor and rubbed at his newly acquired carpet burn. Severus, still clinging to his dignity somehow, picked himself up and then waited for Harry to slowly rise. Once they were both standing, Severus marched up the stairs followed by Harry. At their doors, he told Harry, “Good night. Breakfast at 8:00,” and then disappeared into his chambers.

Harry stretched and groaned at the fresh morning light that stung his eyes. He glanced at his watch, praying it wasn’t 8:00 yet. 7:30. Okay, he was cool. He slowly hauled himself out of his bed and shrugged on one of Dudley’s old T-shirts and a pair of jeans. Then the only-half-awake sixteen-year-old stumbled down the stairs and into the dining room. This time, he was early; Snape had not yet arrived. He sat down at the seat he had been in the night before and glanced around the room, bored. The room wasn’t richly decorated, but that doesn’t seem like Snape’s type, Harry thought. The walls were a nice cream color, pleasantly contrasting with the almost black mahogany table and the chairs with forest green cushions. There were a few portraits hanging on the wall. One man who looked as if he could be Professor Snape’s father, a little girl who looked a lot like Severus, and a man holding a snake. Quite suddenly, Harry heard faint footsteps.

He turned to see Professor Snape, standing in the doorway watching him. “My father,” he said, pointing at the first portrait Harry had looked at. “My little sister,” he pointed at the second portrait. “The Dark Lord killed her when I was seventeen. She was nine. The last one is Salazar Slytherin.” Harry nodded and Snape said, “Then let’s eat,” and snapped his fingers, sitting down at the head of the table. A minute later, Binky appeared, set the food on the table, and disappeared again. Harry served himself some kippers, toast, and porridge, then began to devour his breakfast. Severus nibbled at a piece of toast, had a few spoonfuls of porridge, and sipped at his coffee, still looking grumpy about the night before.

Harry, not daring to ask what Dumbledore had said, quietly finished eating, then waited in his chair for Professor Snape to speak.

After a few minutes, Severus said, “We’ll be going to buy your school things today. I see no reason to wait, and we need potion supplies anyway. I’ll need your help getting all the supplies for my classes this year, and you need an adult to take you to get your things. Once we get everything, we’ll be flooing into Hogwarts so we can put it all away. I hope this will leave some time in the evening to practice Occlumency. We will be flooing to Diagon alley; if you wish, you may go put on robes.” He glanced at Harry questioningly.

“No, thank you,” the teenager muttered.

Snape nodded. About ten minutes later, Harry was brushing ash off his shirt in the Leaky Cauldron, and Snape was looking disgruntled by everyone staring eagerly at the “Boy-Who-Lived.” He curtly nodded to Tom, the bartender, and led Harry through the back door to the familiar brick wall. Severus tapped the wall with his wand, and it quickly opened so they could pass through. The pair was silent as they walked to Gringotts, Snape looking as though he was expecting something to happen. When they got to the counter, Professor Snape handed a goblin the tiny golden key and said, “Harry Potter’s vault please.”

A second later, he was grimacing as the headgoblin appeared, bowed, and began to lead them to his office. “I thought so,” Severus muttered darkly.

“What?” Harry asked, confused.

“They’ll have to transfer Black’s money into your vault, plus you’re sixteen now, so you’ll be getting your full inheritance. And don’t say “What.” It’s rude.”

“What? I’ve already got my full inheritance- Hagrid brought me here in first year- he never mentioned anymore.”

“You have not gotten everything, Mr. Potter,” the goblin interrupted. “Please, if you’ll have a seat, I will explain your new sum and then take you down to your new vault.”

Harry sat down in the cushy burgundy armchair that the goblin gestured to. Severus stood behind him, leaning slightly on the back of his chair.

“With the death of Sirius Black,” the goblin began, “you received half of the entire Black inheritance, being one of the two heirs named. It is quite a considerable sum, totaling up to 113,000 Galleons. James Potter’s will requested that you receive your inheritance at the age of sixteen if he died. That added to the amount Lily Potter saved for you adds up to 200, 000 Galleons. And there are still 18,000 Galleons in your first vault.”

Harry stared at the goblin in awe. “That’s all mine?”

“There’s more,” the goblin said with something Harry thought was a smile smeared on his face. “There was a third inheritance activated on your birthday. It is for 450,000 Galleons.”

“But who? I haven’t got any other family or anything.”

The goblin glanced at Severus, and then said, ‘The source was anonymous. Would you like to go to your vault now, Mr. Potter?”

Harry nodded dumbly and stood to follow the goblin. Insane, he thought. Completely insane. Who would give him 450,000 Galleons? Not the Dursleys, that was for sure. He was abruptly pulled out of thought by Snape pushing him into one of Gringott’s crazy carts. The goblin hopped in after them and the cart started with a shudder. Soon they were rattling through tunnels at breakneck speed. Harry recognized his own vault, but they sped right past it and went even deeper into Gringotts. After about ten more minutes, Harry felt a growing heat and the cart swept past a huge dragon.

“So Hagrid was right,” Harry muttered in slight awe.

“Yes, he was,” Severus replied. “Now would you mind stepping out of the cart?” Harry flushed when he realized they had reached his vault.

“Sorry, sir,” he murmured, slipping out to stand before a silver door with runes etched along the edges.

“Here is your new key, Mr. Potter,” the goblin said, handing him a small silver key with the same runes as the door on it. “Only you can use it, or someone with your permission, or, of course, a Gringotts goblin. And also a bag for your gold. It can hold as much as you wish and still feel weightless.”

The goblin pulled a small black velvet bag out of his pocket and handed it to Harry.

Harry took a hesitant step forward and pushed the key into its hole. There was a faint click, and his hand felt warm, then the door swung open. Harry had thought his old vault was huge, but this one was many times its size. He knelt and scooped several handfuls of gold into his bag, which he then pulled closed and shoved into his pocket. The cart ride back seemed much shorter, and it seemed that he was blinking in the dazzling sunlight in no time.

“Come along, Mr. Potter,” Severus said, appearing behind him. “I have your booklist; we need to go to Flourish and Blotts before it gets crowded.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry replied, obediently following his tutor back down the cobbled path towards Flourish and Blotts. They pushed through the crowd and entered the bookstore with a tinkle of the bell on the door. Professor Snape made his way up to the counter, where a young woman with blonde hair in two braids sat.

“How may I help you, sir?” she asked him in a cheery, eager voice.

Professor Snape scowled slightly and handed her Harry’s booklist. “Please find all these books for me. I shall return to get them in fifteen minutes.”

The woman nervously nodded, her smile quavering, and scuttled off among the shelves. Severus wandered off into the Potions section, and Harry slipped into the Dueling Section. He scanned the titles, looking for something interesting. Curses Dark But Not Black caught his eye. He flipped open the blood red leather cover and began to read. Completely immersed in it, he did not notice Severus’ presence until he heard a slight cough behind him. He immediately whirled around, clutching his wand in his pocket.

Snape raised an eyebrow. “Nice reflexes, Mr. Potter.” He glanced at the book in Harry’s hands. “Interesting choice. The saleswoman is waiting for you to pay.”

Harry nodded and walked over to the counter, where the young lady was putting his books into a bag.

“This one too,” he said lightly, placing the book he had chosen on the counter.

The woman glanced at the book then at Harry’s scar and said, “That adds up to sixty-one Galleons.”

Harry handed her the money and took his books, murmuring, “Thank you.” Then he stepped aside so Snape could pay for the books he had selected.

Once they were outside in the Alley, Professor Snape checked Harry’s list again. “You need potions ingredients, but I wanted to do those last. You also need dress robes if you don’t have them already. Is there anything else you need to purchase, Mr. Potter?”

“I need more robes, and a cloak, sir. My old ones are too short. Same for my dress robes.”

Severus nodded and silently paced away towards Madam Malkin’s. Harry quickly followed, his footfalls seeming thunderous compared to Snape’s. “He has to teach me to walk like that,” Harry hissed, not noticing Severus’ smirk at this statement. They glided into the store, and Harry glanced around to see if there were any Hogwarts students. He noticed a few tiny kids being fitted that looked as though they might be first years and smiled at them. They smiled shyly back, and one or two of the braver ones waved. Severus scowled slightly and directed Harry to the very back of the shop, where they found a few assistants standing by the back room, gossiping. Professor Snape cleared his throat and one of the teenage girls said good-bye to her friends and came over to help.

“What are we looking for today, sir?” she asked Harry politely.

“New Hogwarts robes, please. And new dress robes. And also a cloak.”

The girl nodded and led Harry down a row of cloth bolts. “Any ideas for color in the cloak and dress robes?”

“Black and green.”

“This one could do nicely,” she said, selecting a deep green fabric that exactly matched Harry’s eyes. She glanced at him questioningly, and when Harry nodded, pulled it off the shelf. “And for the cloak, a heavier fabric,” she murmured. Soon she pointed to another bolt, this time a pure black one that looked silky but thick. “Will this one do for you, sir?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Severus nodded with a small smirk at Harry’s appropriate response. Then the girl pulled off another bolt of black for the regular Hogwarts robes. “We’ll do these first,” she said, unrolling the fabric and pinning it up around him. Soon she had fashioned him robes of the proper length, and quickly sewed the seams with a wave of her wand. “You want your house crest?”

“Please. Gryffindor.”

The women made it appear on the robe with a little jerk of her wand, then quickly duplicated the robe twice more for Harry. Then she folded them up and set them aside, picking up the green cloth. She made the dress robes as fast as the Hogwarts ones and then unrolled the heavy fabric for Harry’s cloak. “Ah, shit,” she hissed as she pricked herself. “I mean shoot,” she quickly corrected at Professor Snape’s glare.

Soon after that little incident, Harry’s robes were in a bag and he had paid the girl a hundred Galleons for his robes. Severus led him back down the alley towards a small corner shop with a sign that said “Potion Making Supplies” in spidery letters.

Once inside, Harry looked around curiously. “What do we need here, sir? I thought all we had left was potions ingredients.” Severus examined a sharp scalpel and then turned to reply.

“I forgot to mention- you also need your own mortar and pestle and a small silver cauldron. Marble for the mortar and pestle, Mr. Potter,” he added when he noticed Harry fingering a gold set. Harry scowled slightly but nodded.

A thin man with stone gray eyes and blonde hair appeared, saying, “I believe these would work satisfactorily, Severus,” and producing a black marble mortar and pestle and a 7 inch silver cauldron.

Snape looked at the man, and then smiled faintly. “Why thank you Jerome. I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Have been for about a week. The French kicked me out of their country. Said I was despicable after I used my wand to make one of those French soldiers smile.”

“Glad to see someone’s discovered your true character,” Severus answered. “We should discuss- business- later,” he said softly. Then he got even quieter. “The old crowd’s back together. My old friends,” he hissed slightly, “are still on the other way.”

The man, Jerome, nodded slightly, murmuring, “I see. Thought so. I’ll floo you tomorrow, if that’s alright for you. Where are you staying nowadays?”

“The manor. Thanks, Jerome.” He took the supplies from Jerome’s hands and pulled Harry out of the shop.

“Why didn’t we pay, sir?” Harry asked, unable to stifle his burning curiosity.

“An old friend. It was his way of saying he’s on our side. Jerome was very valuable in the first war, even though he wasn’t in the Order,” Snape explained in low tones. “He watched the ministry, looked out for moles in the Order. He left after James and Lily died. Couldn’t forgive himself for not catching the mole. He was very close to them, Lily especially. That’s how I got to know- never mind. Come along, we’re going to Knockturn Alley. They’ve got the best potions ingredients- and the cheapest- around.”

Harry followed, but he felt cheated somehow, as if Snape had been about to tell him something very important, something that involved him. This thought was interrupted by Severus turning to him and hissing, “Keep up, Mr. Potter. If I turn around and you’re missing, you will not be very happy once I find you.”

Harry nodded, muttering an apology, and then kept close to Snape’s prowling figure. The crowd here wasn’t made up of polite witches and wizards, and Harry had to shove his way through to keep up. Finally they stepped inside a shop as gloomy as the street outside. Harry looked around as Snape talked to the man at the counter. The smell in here was pretty bad, and after looking around at the things, and spotting something that looked mysteriously like human skin in a jar, Harry thought he knew why. Harry scowled at a tray of fingernails; each one was labeled either “male” or “female.” After a few minutes, Professor Snape came over, looking satisfied. “Come on,” he said. “I managed to convince him to get everything for us while we ate lunch.”

Harry followed Severus back out of Knockturn Alley, feeling slightly annoyed. He had been following his tutor around all morning, and he still didn’t know what had happened last night. He squared his shoulders and began steeling himself to ask Professor Snape during lunch. Where were they going for lunch anyway? Leaky Cauldron, he quickly discovered as he was led into the dark pub. Severus found them a table in the corner and waved Tom over.

“What do you want to eat, Mr. Potter?” Severus asked politely.

“Chicken pasta, please,” Harry quickly decided, telling Tom his order.

Tom nodded and turned to Severus, who scowled at the friendly grin on the bartender’s face. “Bean soup. And a butterbeer for each of us.”

“Accio two butterbeers,” Tom said, pointing his wand at the shelves behind the bar. Two bottles zoomed over, and Tom said, “Here you go; the food’ll be here in a minute,” and left.

Harry and Severus were silent as they waited for the food to come. After a few awkward moments, there was a small pop and their food appeared with a pop on the table before them. Harry, who was starving, eagerly dug into his pasta, savoring the creamy sauce. Snape stirred his soup with a wrinkled nose and reluctantly tasted a spoonful. By the time Snape had had a few spoonfuls of soup and a sip of butterbeer, Harry was halfway through his dish. Harry swallowed another noodle and then looked speculatively at Professor Snape.

“Why aren’t you eating anything, sir?”

Snape stiffly said, “I fail to see how that is any of your concern, Mr. Potter.”

“Harry.”

“Excuse me?” Snape raised an eyebrow.

“Harry. Call me Harry, please, sir.”

“I cannot, Mr. Potter. That would suggest favoritism.”

“Term hasn’t started yet. Besides, we’re in private.” Harry found himself looking pleadingly at his tutor. He didn’t know why it was such a big deal; he just felt like it was the right thing to say somehow.

“Alright, Mr.- Harry. And you may call me Severus.”

Harry beamed. “So, Severus, are you not eating because you’re still angry about last night, or because the soup tastes bad?”

Snape had the grace to look confused. “I was not angry last night, and I am not angry now, Harry.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “You are too. C’mon, what did Dumbledore say.”

“Professor Dumbledore said nothing.”

Harry merely rose an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. “Oh, really?” he said sarcastically, glancing at his wrist to mime checking what time it was.

“Fine,” Snape hissed. “He was doubting my ability to take care of you. Despite the fact that I care for hundreds of students your age and younger throughout the school year. And also despite the fact that you’re sixteen, and hardly need some coddling woman hovering over you. I at least realize that you’ve grown up some since last year, but I think I’m the only one.”

“Now then, I’ll go pay the bill and then we’ll be going, if you’re done.”

“I am.”

Severus took one last swallow of butterbeer and then glided over to the counter. He spoke with Tom for a moment, sneer firmly in place, and handed him some gold. Then he returned, saying, “Let’s go,” and then they started off back to Diagon Alley.

After a touch of walking, Severus and Harry reentered the Potions shop in Knockturn Alley. The man at the counter was looking very disgruntled. Snape eyed the seven boxes before him, and turned to the man. “How much?” he asked softly.

“162 Galleons and four Sickles.”

Snape handed over a small purse of gold and began shrinking boxes. “Here,” he said, handing three of the shrunk boxes to Harry. “Carry them in your pocket. I’ll shrink your other stuff too.” He quickly did, reducing the load in Harry’s arms to a small lump in his pocket.

They quickly left the shop and Knockturn Alley. Then, right on the edge of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, Harry spotted the Weasley twins’ shop, ‘Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.’ He turned to Snape pleadingly, but before he could even ask, Severus sighed and said, “Go on. But do be quick, please. I’ll wait outside.”

Harry shot inside like a bullet and quickly made his way to the counter where Fred and George stood, talking to a Hogwarts student Harry recognized as a third year Ravenclaw. Once she had walked off, Fred and George had saw Harry and exclaimed in delight.

“Harry!” -he thought it was Fred, but maybe George- called, vaulting right over the counter.

Fred- though it could be George- stuck out his hand and shook Harry’s hard. “How’re you doing, mate? Ron and Hermione are delightfully pissed at you, you know. Something Remus said about Snape being your tutor got them mad right quick.”

George- he thought it was George- shook his head sorrowfully and added, “They seem to think it’s an insult that you didn’t write them the second he stepped in the door.”

“And then Dumbledore wrote something about you being at Snape’s manor, and it all went downhill from there.”

George grinned as he concluded, “So, how’s our darling Professor Snape doing?”

Harry smiled slightly. The twins had never been very judgmental; they could take just about anything in a stride. “He’s actually not that bad, really,” Harry said, chuckling at their exaggerated looks of shock and amazement. “Really and truly, you two. If you respect him, he’ll respect you. And he’s gonna teach me Potions so I can take the advanced class this year for Auror training, you know.”

“Speaking of school,” one twin said.

“We took the N.E.W.T.’s,” the second finished.

“Really?” Harry said, surprised. “When? And why?”

“Just a few days ago,” George replied. “Thought we’d do it for Mum. Oh and we also got new premises at Hogsmeade. Booming business, you know. We reckon we’re topping Zonko’s in sales. Plus, that way we can keep an eye on you youngins.”

Harry laughed. “Youngins? What the hell?”

“American expression,” Fred muttered.

“Well, I was just stopping by,” Harry said reluctantly. “I don’t want to annoy Severus.”

“Severus?!?” both twins said, shocked.

“Yup,” Harry grinned. “And he even calls me Harry now. It started today at lunch. Improvement, eh?”

“I’ll say. Well, bye,” Fred said, “You better visit us at Hogsmeade!”

“And you can buy something then too,” George added. “See you!”

“Bye you two,” and Harry walked out of the shop. “Hello Severus.”

The man stood straight from where he was leaning against a pole and smiled slightly. “Hello Harry. Ready to go, then?”

“Yes, sir.”

The pair walked on down the Alley. They had just passed Gringotts when Harry saw Severus go tense.

“Shit,” the older man muttered, looking farther down the Alley.

Harry looked too, and saw Mundungus, hurrying towards them, looking worried.

“Severus,” he hissed as he reached the pair. “Something terrible’s happened.”

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.

Harry flicked another bit of ash off his shoulder and watched Severus step out of the fireplace.

“Nice trip, Sev?” he asked, smirking.

“What did you call me?” Severus snarled.

“Nothing. Will you un-shrink my stuff, please?”

“Take it upstairs first,” Snape said gruffly. “It’ll make carrying it easier.”

Harry flushed slightly. “Oh. Thanks.”

They walked up to Harry’s room, the comfortable silence broken by the groaning of the ancient stairs. Outside Harry’s door, Severus waved his wand at the lump in the teenager’s hand. It rapidly grew and he rushed inside his room to dump it on his bed, calling, “Thanks Severus,” over his shoulder.

When he turned away from his bed, a tiny owl zoomed over to him, screeching loudly.

“Pig?” he said. “Calm down! Give me the letter, you stupid bird!”

He didn’t get a response from the obviously excited owl, so he ripped the roll of parchment from the owl’s claw when it swooped low enough.

Harry,

HOW COME YOU DIDN’T TELL US ABOUT SNAPE? We found out from FRED AND GEORGE, when we OVERHEARD them telling Lupin about meeting you in Diagon Alley. WE’RE your BEST FRIENDS! And you told my BROTHERS before you told us! How can you willingly be staying with that oily git?!? Can’t you come here? We expect to hear from you soon.

Ron and Hermione

Harry sighed. They’d never understand. Well, Hermione might, but Ron wouldn’t. He pulled a piece of parchment and a quill and ink from his bag of new things and began to scrawl out a letter.

Ron and Hermione,

I’ve been staying with Professor Snape for a few days now, and it’s actually not too awful. He makes me do a lot of work, like Occlumency and Potions and stuff, and he’s rather strict, but Dumbledore’s making me stay with him, and as the Dursley’s are dead now, I suppose I should listen to Dumbledore. I’ve finished my schoolwork, and I’m fixing some things for my Potions assignments with all the stuff I’ve learned. As you obviously know, I went to Diagon Alley, and I got my “inheritance” at Gringotts. I was surprised...I thought the money was done coming. I got another fortune from my parents, and some stuff from Sirius, and an anonymous crapload. I guess I’ll figure it out in time. I’m going to end this here; I have a lot of work to do. I’ll see you in a few days, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t write me so I can get some stuff done, and we’ll be able to talk face-to-face soon.

-Harry

Then he rolled his parchment up and handed it to Pig. The owl screeched one last time and then flew off through the door. Harry sighed. Ron would try to write him; he just knew it. “Severus?” he said, tapping on the man’s bedroom door. “Severus, I need to ask you something.”

A moment later, the dark man appeared. “You called?” he said sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. “I need to know how to ward the owl entrance so someone can’t write me letters.”

Snape peered down on him and one eyebrow rose delicately. “And why would you need to know such a thing?” He asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

“Because they’re annoying me and I don’t want them to write me anymore?” Harry said hesitantly.

“Very well,” the teacher said after a moment’s pause. “Come downstairs, the owls enter through the kitchen window.”

A moment later, Severus was standing in front of the window, and instructing Harry on how to ward it. “Now, just say that three times, tapping the window with your wand at the end of each time, and then say whoever’s name once, very clearly.”

“Bindus piannez et vous je nom, bindus piannez et vous je nom, bindus piannez et vous je nom. Ron Weasley! Hermione Granger!”

Severus stared at him calculatingly. “Weasley and Granger? Thought they were your best friends?”

“They still are, I suppose. They’re just bugging me about living with you, and I know they won’t understand if I try to explain it in a letter, so now they can’t write to me, because that way I can just say it in person and not have all the trouble.”

“I see. Now, Harry, I know I said we were going to practice Occlumency once we got back, but seeing all the stressful events that took place today, perhaps we should wait until tomorrow.”

Harry nodded. “Right, sir. Just so you know, I have practiced. I don’t want anything to happen because of me again. I reckon I’m getting better at it.”

Severus nodded. “Good. Despite this, how about we wait and go brew some potions now? I need to brew some antidotes in case of crisis in the younger years’ potions classes. You can assist me. Once we have done a reasonable amount, I can set a potion that’s on your level for you to work on.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Harry said.

“It wasn’t a choice.” Severus said blandly.

Harry looked at him, eyebrows furrowed for a moment. “Oh.” Severus just smirked.

The tutor led the way to a door near the upwards staircase and swung it open with a slight squeak of the hinges. Harry followed, only to discover a dimly lit staircase going deeper into the house, probably underneath it. He followed Severus’ retreating form, somehow feeling that he wouldn’t want to be alone on the small landing looking down. Harry’s shirt sleeves slightly brushed the walls of the stairway, and he tried to draw himself in a bit tighter, small as he was already. Soon he smelled the familiar scent of an immaculate potions lab, a scent that he recognized from five years of potion-brewing under Snape’s instruction. Professor Snape was already busy in the lab, setting out cauldrons for them to use.

Severus glanced up at his entrance. “Harry, I’ve set out six cauldrons. Today we’re going to brew mainly simple potions, so you can watch two, and I’ll watch four. I wanted you to work on a Growing Potion and also one that removes boils. The instructions are here,” he handed the teenager two slips of parchment, “and you may ask if you have any questions. However, if you waste my time down here, you shall regret it.”

Harry nodded. “Yes sir, Severus.”

“Oh,” the tutor added over his shoulder as he made his way to his cauldrons, “the ingredients are over there. He waved a casual hand at a wall of shelves full of jars and tiny neat labels.

Harry stuck his hand into a jar and drew out a pinch of the thin grass roots. He carefully let them loose into the frothing potion, then quickly stirred them in before they could settle to the bottom of the cauldron.

“Perfect,” Snape said from right behind him.

Harry slowly pulled his stirring spoon out of the potion and then spun around. “Don’t do that, Severus!”

“And why ever not, Mr. Potter?” he returned, smirking. “And you need to take your growing potion off the heat before it explodes.”

Harry whirled back around and snatched his second potion off the magical fire, which immediately dispelled.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he jerked his hand away from the hot handle of the cauldron.

“Language, Harry,” Professor Snape reprimanded, looking up from where he had been adding leaves to one of his potions. “Use a cooling charm for that hand,” he added, immediately seeing what had happened. “Quick, before it blisters! Here, I’ll do it,” Severus hissed, gliding over to Harry and murmuring a rapid cooling charm.

“Thanks,” Harry murmured sheepishly, staring at his hand. It still felt slightly warm, and there was a faint red line where the hot handle had burned him.

“Next time put a cooling charm on the handle before you pick it up,” Snape advised. He looked at the potions critically down his hooked nose. “Passable,” he sneered slightly.

Harry gave a small smile in return. “Thanks. Coming from you, that’s a compliment.”

Severus scowled. “I don’t compliment Gryffindors.”

Harry nodded, now grinning. “Exactly.” Turning so Snape could smile without being seen, he eyed his potions. “Do you want me to bottle them, Professor?”

“Please. The bottles are underneath the bottom shelf. I need to add a few more things to my four and then they’ll be ready to go. Oh, and wear these just in case.” Severus put his hand into his deep pocket and pulled out a pair of dragon hide gloves.

Harry slipped them on, saying, “Thanks,” and strode over towards the shelves to get the jars. He carried a box of them back, not knowing how many he’d need. In a few minutes, he was carefully ladling equal portions of the liquid into each crystal jar and then screwing the top on. “Where do I put all these?” Harry asked Snape, gesturing at all the jars.

“Over there,” Severus pointed at a second wall of shelves, this one full of potions glinting in their jars. Harry levitated the jars with Growing Potion in them and walked over to the shelves, scanning the labels to find the “G” section. Once he found it, he used his wand to put the jars on the shelf. Then he did the same with the second set of jars. By this time, Professor Snape had finished his potions and was using a tricky little charm to make each one leave its cauldron and divide in midair to get into separate jars. Then he waved his wand at the jars and they each drifted over to their place on the shelves.

“Show-off,” Harry taunted.

Snape raised one eyebrow. “And?”

Harry just shook his head. “Okay, what do we do now?”

Professor Snape’s eyes glittered as he replied, “Experimental potions.”

Harry stared at Professor Snape like a deer in headlights. “We’re going to do what?”

“Experimental potions. Means we take familiar potions and change them slightly and see what the results are. What shall be the most difficult about it is that we’ll be doing a harder potion, the Dreamless Sleep Potion. You’ve never done this one, so it’ll be a bit of a double lesson, and a longer one than usual.” Harry nodded. “I’ll be helping you.”

“And who will we be testing it on?”

“I won’t tell you the answer to that question,” Severus replied, smiling nastily.

“That’s reassuring,” Harry said dryly.

Severus stared at Harry for a moment, seeming to examine his face. After a few seconds he blinked and answered, “Isn’t it though?” as if he had never paused. “Here, the recipe for the Dreamless Sleep Potion.”

Harry nodded and looked at Professor Snape. “Are you alright, sir?” he asked, as the man suddenly seemed paler than usual.

The potions master scowled and said, “I am fine, Mr. Potter; now gather the ingredients needed for the potion.”

Harry nodded and obediently seized the potions recipe from the table and rushed off to get the required jars. When he came back, Severus looked completely normal and was lighting a fire underneath the cauldron he had cleaned out from Harry’s last potion.

“Are you ready to begin?” he asked cordially.

“Why not? Do you want me to prepare all the ingredients first or not?”

“Go ahead and get them done; it makes for a more efficient brewing. I can help as well.”

Harry nodded, but could not hide his surprise. Snape carefully ignored it. “You wanna grind the scarab beetles and I’ll chop the witch’s hair roots?”

“I don’t wanna do anything. I would not mind grinding scarab beetles. Grammar is important in civilized societies, believe it or not, Harry.”

Harry nodded. “You could of just said yes,” he replied, and pulled the roots and a knife towards himself. “How small?”

“Quarter inch,” Professor Snape answered without thinking as he began grinding beetles.

“So how does Remus know you have this place if it’s so private?”

“Lupin knows because Dumbledore told him,” Severus snarled. “He seemed to think it was okay to blab the information everywhere, though fortunately I stopped him after telling only one person, which was, of course, the wolf.” He rose a hand when Harry was about to protest. “I know he’s your friend. But I don’t trust him. I wanted to Memory Charm him, but Dumbledore said no, plus werewolves have a resistance to a lot of magic like that.”

Harry nodded, deciding not to argue, and began to grind chamomile with the mortar and pestle that Severus had just finished with.

“Why is it so private anyway?” Harry asked.

“Because I don’t like to flaunt my money like the Malfoy’s. Also, if no one knows about this, it’s completely safe. The Dark Lord couldn’t find it, if I had to hide from him. The Ministry doesn’t know it exists; it doesn’t show up on the floo system, and you can’t track magic here. It’s unplottable, and cursed against Muggles. I’m the only one who can get to it. Of course people could floo to it if they knew it existed, like Jerome is tomorrow. But unless they had my permission, they couldn’t actually enter the manor, only their head. Ready to start brewing?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Do you know the spell to fill a cauldron halfway with water?”

“No, in class you always just told us to get it from the faucet.”

“I’ll teach it to you. Get out your wand. Wiggle it like a “W” and mutter “Watero,” then do a sort of jabbing motion towards the cauldron. You try it.”

Harry looked at Severus oddly, curious about why he was being so helpful, then tried the charm as he was told. Water jetted out of his wand and quickly filled the cauldron, where it came to a boil in seconds. “Okay, and then I put in the chamomile mixed with the scarab beetles first, right?”

Severus nodded and watched the teenager carefully pour the bowl into the bubbling water. “Now stir it slowly three times counter clockwise.”

Harry did, and then glanced at the instructions in the book. “Add the angelica,” he murmured, and did so, stirring it in rapidly as the book ordered. As Harry was stirring, Severus gently took his stirring hand and guided the spoon so it stirred more around the outside than the middle of the cauldron. When Harry chanced a glance at the man, Severus pulled his hands away and quickly explained, “That way it moves the entire mixture and it all comes together evenly. You should always stir around the outside unless the instructions say differently. You keep stirring, I’ll add the witch’s hair.” Harry nodded. Snape was acting odd, almost nice. It was a bit unnerving, really. “Move your spoon in a zigzag motion back and forth nine times for the witch’s hair. Quickly.” Harry jerked the spoon back and forth and giggled at the slight splashing there was on the sides of the cauldron. He had never thought the making of a Dreamless Sleep Potion would involve splashing. “Okay, stop. We have to wait ten minutes now for the witch’s hair to soak. You may sit on one of the tables.”

Harry eased himself on the smooth wooden table and looked around the room. It looked nicer than the potions classroom at Hogwarts, but that was only to be expected, as this was Severus’ personal lab. There were only four tables, all like the one he and Severus were sitting on. Harry picked at a loose thread on the edge of his shirt. He didn’t know what to say, or even if he should say anything.

“How long have you been brewing potions?” He asked eventually.

“Since I was nine. Why?”

“Just curious. And bored.”

“How very Gryffindoric,” Severus said dryly. “You always get bored in seconds, do you, Mr. Potter?”

“No. Sometimes it takes a full minute.” Harry smirked. Snape rubbed his mouth; Harry thought he might have been hiding a smile. “So do Slytherins never get bored then?”

“Not near so quickly. You should take times like these to observe unnoticed. Because boredom causes a wandering eye, and so does watchfulness. Get to know your surroundings, and the people you’re with.”

Harry grinned. “So would you like me to stare at you, Professor Snape?”

“No,” he answered firmly.

“Then don’t tell me to.”

“I’ll keep your stupidity in mind next time I suggest something.”

Harry couldn’t think of a suitable reply, so he merely resorted to immaturity and stuck out his tongue.

“That’s mature.”

“So I’ve been told. It’s been ten minutes.”

“Add the salamander blood.”

Harry pushed himself off the table and searched the jars for the salamander blood. When he found it, he used a small spoon to dribble a bit into the potion. When he rose his ladle to stir it in, Severus shook his head.

“Don’t stir it. It’s more potent if it spreads on its own.”

“But how will it spread through the whole potion that way?”

“Because of the magical properties of the salamander, even the blood will move around quickly if it’s in a hot substance.”

“Oh. What’s next?”

“You have your textbook, Harry. But I will till you. Nothing, you’re done. It has to simmer without the heat for quite a while. We can start on the experimental one now, if you like.”

“Okay. Can I ask a question?”

“If it’s not a stupid one, I don’t see why not.”

“Why are you teaching me experimental potions? That’s not O.W.L. level, and that’s what you’re covering with me, isn’t it?”

“It is going to be done in N.E.W.T. level potions, if, and only if, I decide the class can handle it. I think you can handle it.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“So what would you like to make the Dreamless Sleep Potion do?”

Harry thought for a moment. “Make a potion that gives you nightmares instead.”

Severus smirked. “How delightfully surprising. You’ll definitely have to manipulate some ingredients for that. Shall we begin?”

Harry eyed his complete potion and his stack of notes with a sense of satisfaction. He had done it. His first experimental potion.

“Don’t just stare at it, Harry. You can bottle it up, you know. We’ll have to test the effects.”

Harry smiled. The hour or so of work on the potion had made him sleepy, but Snape was still being nice to him, so he was oddly cheerful. “Okay, Severus.” He pulled out his wand and summoned a case of jars to put the potion in. He didn’t notice Severus’ wince as they landed with a rattle on the table next to him.

“Here, I’ll help,” Severus offered. “Hand me a ladle.”

The pair worked quickly in a comfortable silence, and once they were done, Severus magicked the jars onto a shelf and Harry cleaned the cauldron with a scouring charm. “I think we’ll leave the testing until tomorrow,” Severus said, seeing Harry’s yawn. “Let’s get you up to bed now, come on.”

Harry yawned again and slowly stumbled out of the office and up the two flights of stairs to his room. In a moment he was curling up on his bed, and was fast asleep by the time Severus closed the door and murmured, “Good night, Harry.”

What was that incessant tapping? Harry groaned and opened his eyes a tiny bit. God, the brightness! He shut them again, but the damn tapping got louder. In a moment, a voice said, “Harry, I swear if you don’t open this door in another three seconds, I’ll blast it through the wall!” At this Harry jumped up and ran to open the door. An angry Severus was on the other side of it.

“Um. Hi?”

Severus growled slightly. “It’s 11:00. You were supposed to be up three hours ago! You’re lucky I decided to let you sleep in because of how late we were up yesterday. Now come on. Dumbledore’s dropped by in the floo and he wants to see you. Get dressed properly, and hurry up!”

Harry stretched and then dug through his trunk to find some decent robes to wear. He pulled out one of his new school robes and pulled it on over his pajamas. Then he combed his hair with his fingers, shoved on his glasses, and started downstairs. He found Professor Snape and the Headmaster in the living room, sitting on the couches that were near the fireplace.

“Sit down, Harry,” Dumbledore said kindly, patting the empty couch beside him. Harry sat down by Severus instead.

“What’s the matter, Professor?” Harry immediately asked the Headmaster.

“We think Fudge is going to give us trouble about guardianship soon-“

“But he agreed! He said he’d let Professor Snape be my guardian for the rest of the summer and we’d deal with it when school started back!”

“I know, Harry, but even the best men sometimes have to take back their promises.”

“And he isn’t one of the best by far,” Severus muttered darkly.

Dumbledore ignored him. “However, he can do nothing to you while you are at Snape Manor or at Grimmauld Place. For a few weeks, at least, you are safe. But we need to get an action plan for when he contests Severus’ guardianship at the end of the summer. You have no more blood relatives, so it’ll be hard. There are a few worthy candidates, but he can easily knock them off the lists. If you wish, I can try to claim guardianship of you, but I think the most likely thing will be that you become a ward of the Ministry, and be under the Minister’s control.”

“But Professor! I can hardly sit in the same room as that man, let alone be like his son for a whole year!”

“Harry, it’s nothing that we should worry about now. The court decisions will take a long time, so for now, just relax. We can discuss this more at the start of the school year. Now I must be going. If only the Dursley’s hadn’t died,” he murmured under his breath, not thinking Harry could hear him. “Good afternoon, Harry, Severus.”

Then he stepped into the fireplace and disappeared.

For a moment Severus stared at the fire, looking thoughtful, then he suddenly turned to Harry and said, “Come on, Harry. Let’s go eat lunch, or breakfast as the case may be.”

Harry nodded silently and followed him into the dining room, where Binky was setting out a plate of sandwiches. “Thank you, Binky,” both men muttered at the same time. Then they sat and served themselves some sandwiches. Severus began eating eagerly, but Harry, he noticed, merely picked at his own, tearing it into pieces and arranging them into a pattern.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Potter?” Severus finally asked.

“The Dursley’s are dead.”

Severus sighed. He had hoped this wouldn’t happen, especially after Harry’s cheerful mood the day before, but there it was, happening. “Yes, they are, Harry.”

Harry tore a piece of crust off his sandwich and balanced it on the edge of his plate. “This is all my fault.”

Immediately, Snape’s wand point was in between Harry’s eyes. “Say that again,” he said quietly, “and I will curse you into oblivion.”

Harry stood up. “It is. I had to live, and then I had to go live with them and put them in danger!” He began shouting. “If I hadn’t have gone back every summer, Voldemort never would’ve attacked! They’d be safe, in their stupid Muggle world!”

“Get out your wand, Mr. Potter.”

“What?”

“Get out your wand! You are angry. You are making me angry. Let’s duel. Better that you focus your anger on beating me then keeping it inside and exploding on some innocent bystander when you return to Hogwarts.” Severus bowed. “Ready, Harry? I’ll go first, if you won’t.”

Harry beat him to it. “Impedimenta!”

Severus dodged it, and hissed out a Stinging Hex, which hit Harry’s arm. Harry gave an animalistic snarl while Severus smirked and cast another hex, which Harry dodged this time.

“Very good, Harry. You have to learn not to let your emotions distract you.”

Harry hurled a jelly-legs curse at Snape. Snape seemed to decide not to dodge, and let it hit him. Then he quickly threw a curse at Harry, who was too busy dodging to stop him from ending the jelly-legs.

Soon both Slytherin and Gryffindor were properly enraged and totally in battle zone. Hexes and curses were being flung and dodged and countered at an almost impossible speed. Severus was pleased to find that Harry was quite good, and was just dodging a conjured ball of ice when he saw a figure climbing out of the fireplace. “Harry! Look round!”

And that was how Snape’s friend Jerome found himself smiling at the tips of two wands. “Good afternoon to you too, Severus.”

Snape withdrew immediately and motioned to Harry to do the same. “Sorry, Jerome. We’ve been dueling for almost an hour, and not many enter my Manor without my knowledge. My mind jumped immediately to the Dark Lord.”

“The Dark Lord, eh? Do I really look that impressive?” Jerome smiled to show there were no hurt feelings. “You both should pay attention more when you’re dueling; I must have been sitting in that fireplace for almost twenty minutes before I decided to come on through. Severus, you’ve never lifted the charms so I could actually get through without asking you first.”

“Oh, I’d quite forgotten. You can sit down, if you like. Here Harry, I’ll fix you real quick. Finite incantatem,” he pointed his wand at Harry. Then he cast the same spell on himself. “Evanesco,” he muttered, whirling his wand at the wreckage on the floor. “Well then. Harry, you may sit down as well. Jerome, do you mind if Harry intrudes upon our conversation?”

Jerome looked shrewdly at Harry, then quickly at Severus, raising on brow. “Of course not. He seems trustworthy to me. But he has to swear not to betray anything discussed here.”

Severus looked at Harry questioningly. “I swear,” Harry said immediately.

“Alright then,” Severus said, straightening slightly. “Harry, as I told you yesterday, Jerome was a real help to the Order. Just about everyone in the Order now had thought he’d died, except for me. Not even Dumbledore knew.”

Jerome laughed. “He may be the best wizard of all time,” he said caustically, “but that man is a fool.”

Harry stared. He didn’t know what to say. No one, absolutely no one, had ever called Dumbledore a fool in front of him except for maybe Voldemort.

“Congratulations Jerome, you’ve shocked him speechless.”

“Oh, why thank you, Severus,” he said, faking a peppy voice quite like Lavender Brown’s. “Come on, lad, I know you had to see it,” he said seriously to Harry. “I have been keeping an ear out for news around here you know, and he’s made mistakes even a Gryffindor would notice. For one thing, keeping secrets about you from even you yourself. And also not knowing how to deal with Sirius. Harry, Dumbledore needs to be woken up or something. He has to know what kind of game he’s playing at before he can win it.”

Harry nodded without saying a word and Snape sighed. “Listen, Harry, We’re not saying we hate Dumbledore. We’re not even saying we don’t trust Dumbledore. What we’re saying is that he doesn’t understand that his tactics aren’t working. You, in the end, have to defeat the Dark Lord. He, in the end, has to step back and let you grow up, and let you figure out how to kill the thing Tom Riddle used to be. What Dumbledore doesn’t see is that he needs to step back. Therefore, he will suffocate you, and smother any chances we have at ending this damn thing. Now I’ve just been uncommonly kind,” Jerome snorted, “so do you understand, or would you like to leave?”

Harry seemed like he didn’t realize Snape had stopped talking for a moment. Finally, he blinked once and said, “I understand. Now what the hell are you going to do about it?”

Jerome looked startled for the barest of moments, and then he laughed loudly. “Severus, I think I can work with this guy.”

Severus didn’t smile, but his face softened slightly. “He’s right,” he pointed out. “We need a strategy. We can’t just sit here chatting and expect the problem to fix itself.”

For a few minutes they all just sat there, carefully avoiding looking at each other. Then, Jerome glanced up. “What if you stopped spying?”

Snape’s head snapped around. “What?”

“You heard me.”

The dark man frowned and shoved a lock of hair out of his eyes. “But the information I give them- it’s saved lives. Could the Order deal without that?”

“Find a new spy,” Harry said quietly. He glanced at his teacher, who was now scowling.

“Not so easy is it though, Harry? I have to find someone in the Death Eater’s ranks willing to turn his coat and keep the secret of my betrayal. And if we make a mistake, what then? The Dark Lord’s shown us many times that Memory Charms can be broken.”

“Even so, Harry,” Jerome interrupted, “if we found a new spy- because we do need one- then he or she’d be put in the exact same place Severus has been in. What we need is someone who can find things out, but not get involved in the Dark Lord’s affairs. A child, or a wife.”

“And then here we are, right at the beginning again,” Severus scowled.

Jerome grinned. “I just love how unfailingly cheerful you are, Severus.” Harry snickered. Jerome looked at him studiously. “What if the two of you switched personalities for a day or two? That’d shock Dumbledore into his senses.”

Severus frowned. “But it has no point. It might surprise Dumbledore, but he’d probably just smile and tell me that he liked my new outlook on life with that damn twinkle in his eye. Well, whatever happens Harry, you’ll have to learn to deal with either Dumbledore or Fudge.”

Jerome glanced up. “What?”

“There was an accident yesterday. Harry needs new guardians. Fudge is fighting for him to become a ward of the Ministry. Dumbledore says he’ll try and contest for custody, as there are no blood relatives.”

“Ah. You’re right between two snarling lions, Harry. Shall Severus and I be the snakes that bite the lions from behind?”

Harry smirked. “Nice metaphor, snake.”

Jerome stood and bowed, but quickly sat down at Snape’s glare. “Sorry Professor Snape sir.”

“We really do need to focus, Jerome. Harry’ll be leaving for Grimmauld Place soon, and we won’t be able to all meet to strategize like this.”

Jerome nodded sharply. “Too true. Well, I think Harry needs to get better at defense, even if he can match Severus at dueling. And Occlumency, and Potions always needs work. You’ve got the best potions-brewer in the world right here, Harry, take advantage of it!” Severus merely glared harder, and Jerome smirked in response. “How about we break for a meal? It’s almost six, and I haven’t eaten today.”

Snape smirked. “Yes, Jerome, you may have supper with us. So kind of you to ask so very politely.”

Harry followed the two sniping Slytherins into the dining room and sat at his normal place at the table. Severus sat at the head, and Jerome sat across from him. Severus called Binky and in a few minutes they were digging into steaming plates of a delicious beef casserole.

“So, Jerome, what’s the news from abroad? I know you’ve been doing some work there for the Dark Lord’s defeat.”

“Well, there’ve been some difficulties. Foreign wizards don’t really want to get involved, because until recently, of course, they haven’t been involved. It’s been England’s problem. I suppose you’ve heard about the attacks on Europe though?”

“Yes. Random pattern, stunning everyone. Never any survivors.”

“Exactly. So now I’ve got the idea that the Dark Lord’s stationed spies in the foreign schools- Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, there’s a small school in Ireland; some bordering villages have been attacked. We’ll need to be watching for spies in Hogwarts soon. So far there haven’t been any signs of it, but it can happen. And most likely, they won’t be in Slytherin. Keep that in mind, Harry.”

Harry looked at Jerome oddly while Snape nodded.

“It’s true, Harry,” Jerome said. “The best spies would be Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Occasionally a Ravenclaw will take the Mark, but they’re usually more level-headed. Just because Slytherin’s are stereotyped as evil doesn’t mean they actually are. Look at the rat Peter Pettigrew. And then look at me and Severus. We’re both Slytherins. And we both fight the Dark Lord.”

Harry nodded reluctantly. “Yeah-“

“Yes,” Severus swiftly corrected him.

“Yes, I suppose I can see that. I suppose once I see what Pettigrew’s become I can’t still hold the same prejudices. That’s what causes so many Slytherins to turn to the Dark Lord in the first place anyway, isn’t it? Spite and resentment.”

“Exactly, Mr. Potter,” Severus said quietly. He smiled wistfully. “Don’t I wish more people could see that.”

Jerome had the same longing look on his face, and Harry felt a bit out of place. “I think I’ll go upstairs and finish Penchant for Potions now. Good night, Severus. Good night, Jerome.”

The two men murmured their good-byes and Harry walked over to the stairs and towards his bedroom. As the dining room door fell shut behind him, he heard Jerome ask Severus, “So, when are you going to tell him?” He didn’t know what Jerome was talking about, and he didn’t hear Severus reply.

Harry jerked suddenly awake when a quantity of icy water hit him.

“Jesus friggin christ!” he yelled.

Jerome, who was standing over him and chuckling maliciously, grinned. “Funny, I didn’t have you marked as a holy sort of guy, Harry.”

“Idiot,” Harry snarled, reaching under his pillow for his wand and throwing a sloppy drying charm at himself. “What’d you wake me up for anyway?”

“Breakfast.”

Harry glanced at the clock. “Jerome, it’s 6:00!”

“I know that. It’s time we got serious on your training! We only have seven days until you’re off to Grimmauld Place! Now come on!”

Harry glared again at Jerome before crawling out of bed and slowly changing into a pair of worn-out jeans and a t-shirt.

“Done?” Jerome asked, turning around without waiting for a reply. He wrinkled his nose slightly at Harry’s garments, but didn’t say anything about them. “Come on, Severus is already waiting at the table.”

That was sufficient motivation for Harry to walk a bit faster, knowing his dark potions professor could get into quite a temper over tardiness. As it was, when they arrived, Severus was in a heated discussion with one of his three portraits, which Harry recognized as his father.

“I don’t care who’s personalities you don’t like, Augustus! You are dead, you don’t have control over me, and I can have this portrait burned if that’s what it takes to shut you up! I can burn the whole damn manor down! You aren’t here to stop me any longer! Now QUIET!”

Jerome bent down to Harry’s ear and murmured, “I don’t think the people in America heard,” at which Harry giggled softly.

At once Severus whirled around, with his face twisted into an angry scowl. It softened when he realized it was just Harry and Jerome. “I apologize, I didn’t realize I had company.” Then he turned back to the portrait and banished it from the room. “Shall we eat?” he asked politely, moving towards the table.

Harry followed Jerome’s lead and sat down. The food was already out on their plates, so Harry took a nervous bite and Severus and Jerome joined him, picking at their food. “Harry, Jerome probably already told you that we are to begin your training today. Would you like to know what we have planned for you?”

“Sure, why not.”

Jerome replied. “First, we’ll go out into the woods, and Severus and I will teach you the pros and cons of fighting in the shelter of trees. Second, we’ll gather potions ingredients from the forest since we’re already out there. Then we’ll come inside, stock those, and have lunch. Then we’ll duel, all three of us against each other. Then we’ll work on potions until dinnertime, and then we’ll strategize some more.”

“Sounds good.”

“If your hurry up and finish your meal, we can begin and see if it really is good,” Severus replied.

Harry ducked his head and shoved the last few bites of toast in his mouth then stood up.

“Got your wand?” Jerome asked.

Harry patted his jeans pocket.

“Good,” the potions master said. “Now follow me.”

The three men walked back into a room behind the living room that Harry hadn’t seen before. It was small and a bit dusty, and Jerome and Severus didn’t seem to pay it much mind as they led him through a black door to the forest behind the manor.

Harry looked at the forest hesitantly. It looked even darker than the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. “Are we going in there?” He asked, sincerely hoping he had heard Jerome wrong.

Jerome and Severus looked at him, smirking evilly. “Wand out, Mr. Potter,” Severus said in a spooky voice worthy of Argus Filch. “Lots of dangerous creatures in my woods.”

“Shut up,” Jerome said, elbowing his friend in the ribs. “I wanted him to be surprised when the man-eating thestrals swooped down.”

Harry smirked. “I’ll just close my ears and leave you two to discuss my possible dooms, shall I?”

Severus nodded seriously. “Alright, let’s go.”

“We’re off to see the wizard-“Jerome started. He quickly quieted at Snape’s glare and Harry’s snicker.

“Sorry,” Jerome said meekly. “American muggle movie.”

Severus beckoned to the pair and stepped- quite boldly, Harry thought- into the forest. “Lumos,” he muttered, and the others mimicked his action. Soon they came into a clearing, where Severus motioned that they could sit on a decaying log on one edge of the clearing.

“Today,” Severus murmured, “we’ll be staying in this clearing, but tomorrow we’ll begin exploring the forest. In a few days, you’ll know it intimately.”

Harry nodded.

“There are several advantages to battling in a forest, as well as several disadvantages. Look around. See if you can spot some of both.”

Harry peered into the dark trees. “Lot’s of places to hide.”

“But the enemy could hide too,” Jerome pointed out.

“Traps could easily be set.”

“Be a pity if you got caught in your own trap,” Severus muttered in response.

“Are there centaurs? Unicorns?”

“Yes and yes,” Severus answered.

“We could win them over,” Harry quietly suggested. “Have them agree to help us if we were ever in need.”

Jerome and Severus looked surprised. “Never thought of that,” Jerome whispered to himself.

“I know one or two of the women centaurs,” Severus admitted. “Shyer than the men, but more forgiving personalities.”

“So call them over,” Harry said. “We can have a nice chat.” Severus looked a bit uneasy. “I can try. Chryseis!” He called hesitantly. “Ajaria!”

Immediately two voices replied from the trees, “We are here, Severus. What do you wish from us?”

“I wish for you to meet someone,” the man answered.

Harry gasped as two beautiful centaurs emerged from the trees. One had a black coat, onyx eyes, and wild obsidian curls playing about her shoulder. The other was white, with tan skin compared to Ajaria’s pale features, and had silver hair and eyes.

Severus gestured to the darker centaur. “Harry, this is Ajaria,” he said quietly. “And this is Chryseis,” he motioned towards the lighter one. Ajaria, Chryseis, this is Harry Potter. You already know Jerome.”

Both centaurs bowed to Harry, who bowed awkwardly back. Harry stood straight and examined the centaurs before him. They looked about as wild as the centaurs at Hogwarts did, with their tangled hair and proud faces, but they also looked as though they had more peaceful natures. Harry noticed they were wearing cloth wraps tied tightly around their chests to cover themselves. He could see the faint outline of their nipples through the thin material, which was the same color as their coats.

“Complete opposites,” Harry commented quietly.

“Yin and yang,” Ajaria said, laughing slightly.

“In all but spirit,’ Chryseis added. “We’re sisters.”

Harry nodded in slight surprise.

“But I believe you wished to meet us for a certain reason, Harry Potter?” Ajaria asked quietly.

“Yes, I-I did.”

Jerome smirked at Severus from behind Harry. “I love it when I don’t have to explain anything,” he whispered.

“I was wondering if perhaps-“

Chryseis looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

“You’d join me in the fight against Voldemort?”

For a moment both centaurs were completely still. “Well, you’re brave,” Ajaria murmured.

“We’ll do it,” Chryseis said quietly. “This is what the stars were saying when they said the centaurs’ fate will be tied to this second war.”

“Yes I suppose it is, otherwise you wouldn’t have agreed so quickly, would you?” a deeper voice asked from the trees. A third centaur stepped from where he had been listening in the shadows. “Chryseis. Ajaria. What are you doing here, of all places, and with humans?” The chestnut centaur was much like Harry remembered the ones at Hogwarts as, and he didn’t look just a little angry.

“Mashem,” Ajaria said the centaur’s name in a soothing voice. “Don’t be angry. You’ve read the stars. You thought it might be something like this.”

“Be calm, Mashem,” Chryseis began. “Severus is a friend; even you’ve helped him when he needed it. Can’t you accept these two he trusts, that are so close to his soul?”

Mashem pawed the ground, slightly uneasy. “Humans, Chryseis. They’ve never had good intentions before.”

“Intentions can change, cousin. Yours did.”

The chestnut twitched his tail, then nodded. “I won’t interfere.” Then he faded into the trees, disappearing as fast as he had come.

“So what does this mean?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“It’s good news,” Ajaria said, smiling. “He’ll rally the other centaurs. You shall be welcome and safe in our forest, under the protection of the centaurs. But now you must go. Our cousin hasn’t spread the word yet.” “Danu bless you,” Chryseis murmured as they too drifted off into the trees.

“Danu?” Harry asked curiously.

“One of those that sleeps. Mother of all the true gods and goddesses,” Severus murmured in reply. “Now come.”

Soon they were stepping out of the forest into the bright noon sunshine. There was a bundle of herbs laid carefully on a stone with two feathers on top. Severus hid a smile. “That would be Chryseis and Ajaria. Feather of a snow phoenix, symbol of birth. Feather of a raven, symbol of death.”

“There can be no creation without destruction,” Jerome murmured under his breath.

The three stood staring at the two feathers for a moment before Severus cleared his throat and a sudden bit of breeze blew the two feathers away. “Come on, we need to hurry if we wish to stock these herbs before lunch.”

Harry picked up his knife and began chopping the large leaf on the table into pieces. He laughed when he heard Jerome’s stomach rumble.

“Chop faster, Jerome,” he called, chuckling. “It’s your fault for eating like a bird this morning!”

Severus smirked from where he was levitating the herbs that needed to be dried to hooks on the rafters. “You’re almost done, Jerome. You just need to finish chopping that and put it in the right jar.”

“Thank you!” Jerome gasped, immediately beginning to chop faster.

“Don’t get sloppy now,” Harry chided as he swept the leaf pieces he had chopped into a jar.

“Done!” Jerome called triumphantly, screwing the cap back on a jar and banishing it to the shelves.

“Let’s go,” Harry said, rubbing his stomach. “I’m ready to stuff my face!”

Severus scowled and opened the lab door to allow Jerome and Harry to pass through and up the stairs towards the dining room. A bowl of pasta, magically staying warm, was already sitting on the table, and Jerome and Harry served themselves a plateful as soon as they sat down.

“Wonderful manners,” Severus growled, poking Harry in the side to make him sit straight.

Harry threw Snape a glare. “Why do my manners matter? None of the Gryffindors care.”

Severus scowled. “You’ll find that in polite, civilized society, manners are expected and approved of.”

Harry grimaced. “Why would I ever care what polite society thought of me?”

Jerome answered this time. “You’ll care when you’re trying the convince the press and Fudge you’re not mad when you bring a band of centaurs, Severus, and me into the last battle.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly,” Severus smirked, knowing he’d just gotten good reason to correct Harry’s manners all year. “Elbows off the table. And finish your first bite before you take your second.”

Harry shot an indignant glance at Severus and dropped the forkful of noodles that had been nearing his mouth. “I doubt the Ministry will be interrogating me about my actions while Voldemort’s attacking,” he said sulkily once he swallowed.

“Look at how stupid Fudgeface is and think again,” Jerome countered, rolling his eyes at the thought of the Minister of Magic and shoving an overlarge bite of pasta into his mouth, earning a glare from Severus.

“Too true,” Harry sighed, swallowing a noodle.

“Then how about you stop complaining about it and get him out of office,” a silky voice interrupted.

All three men whirled around to see Salazar Slytherin’s portrait staring at them imperiously, looking haughtily bored. As they watched, the Hogwarts founder deliberately turned his back and walked out of his portrait, calling, “You didn’t even have the sense to ask me to spy at Hogwarts.”

“Where’d he go?” Harry asked, not seeing any other portraits in the room besides the quiet one of Severus’ sister.

“Probably to his other portrait in Hogwarts,” Jerome said speculatively.

Severus nodded. “If we’re lucky, he’ll be spying on the Headmaster’s meeting with the Minister and Weasley for us. That would be his twisted sense of humor,” he added darkly.

“Meeting? What about?” Harry looked at Severus.

“Lots of things- your guardianship, the attack on the Dursley’s, the Dark Lord. Now, if you are finished,” he glanced at Jerome as well as Harry, “we can go down to the lab and brew the potions I have planned for today.”

The teenager and the two men that had already taught him so much stood and walked down to the lab, where they hefted two cauldrons from under the tables.

“Short-term polyjuice potion, Harry,” Severus said.

“What?”

“It’s a short-term polyjuice potion, as the name explains. Only takes forty-five minutes or so to brew, but only lasts fifteen minutes. I need it in my stores in case of Order emergencies.”

“Oh,” Harry said, coughing nervously. “Are you going to tell me instructions or let me use a book?”

“And you just assume I’m going to give you instructions?” Severus paused dramatically. “You will be using a book. Accio!”

A book flew over from a box in the corner. Harry recognized it immediately: it was Moste Potente Potions, the book they had used to make the regular polyjuice potion in second year.

“Page 248,” Severus said, turning towards Jerome. “Jerome, we’ll be brewing the Earth to Fire Potion.”

Jerome murmured a reply and walked off the find ingredients.

Harry immersed himself in the book, knowing how difficult the original potion had been, and expecting the variation to be just as hard. The directions for this one were actually on the page after the one they had made, and Harry smiled at the memories the gruesome pictures in the book brought back. The ingredients needed in the two potions were much the same and Harry quickly brought them all over to his worktable and prepared them. In a matter of minutes, he was carefully increasing the heat of the fire under his cauldron as he poured in some lacewings.

“Not that hot,” Severus warned in low tones behind him.

Harry nodded his acknowledgement and lessened the heat slightly with a wiggle of his wand.

“As soon as you’re done,” Jerome’s voice drifted over from where he was bottling the potion he and Severus had just completed, “we’re going to try an experimental with the polyjuice.”

Harry murmured a faint, “Okay,” and dribbled a drop of peach juice into the potion.

“Here,” Severus handed him some jars and a ladle to store the potion. “Looks exactly right. Glad to know my judgement wasn’t incorrect.”

Harry beamed.

Jerome quickly broke into the awkward moment for Snape. “Harry, we’ll be trying to make a potion that allows a human to turn into an animal for a short period of time. I think I have some ideas on how this could be done, and we’ll be testing these theories in a few minutes when we begin the brewing of this potion. Do you have any questions before we start?”

“Could we possibly use the hair or feather or whatever of an Animagus, so that the transformation in question wouldn’t be as much of a change.”

“Good plan, Harry,” Jerome smiled. “I am, in fact, an unregistered Animagus. I learned to transform the first year I was in France. I will be providing a feather for this little experiment. Would you like to pluck one now, or shall we do it at the end of the brewing?”

“Might as well go ahead,” Severus said decisively.

Jerome nodded and after a brief pause transformed into a mockingbird. He cooed once or twice in imitation of a dove, then Severus carefully pulled out a feather and Jerome switched back.

“A mockingbird?” Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

“When I was at Hogwarts, I used to be brutally honest when I was arguing with people; it seemed people, usually Gryffindorks- no offense- would rather hear lies than the blatant, sometimes hurtful truth. They said I made a mockery of truthfulness. I thought it was amusing.”

Harry nodded, “Ah.”

“Now, the potion,” Severus slid smoothly into the conversation. “There are two aspects to this potion that make it completely for only human transformation. Can you figure out what they are, Harry?”

“Umm...the human ingredient at the end and the-er- shrivelfig?”

“Correct,” Severus allowed. “So, we’ll have to replace these ingredients. One, of course, being the human ingredient at the end, will be easy to replace; we’re using Jerome’s feather. The second is obviously the shrivelfig, which is important in this potion. Not many people know the properties of the shrivelfig, but fortunately for this experiment, I have found them out. The shrivelfig starts, like all other fruits, as a seed, which is not wrinkled. As the seed is planted, and the fruit grows under the earth, it grows more and more wrinkled, like a human who grows wrinkled when nearing death. We know the shrivelfig is at its peak of ripeness when it is as wrinkled as you see it in the stores. Animals don’t experience this change, so you must replace the ingredient with something that symbolizes a change animals do go through, preferably one that changes like the animal you’ve chosen.”

“And this new ingredient would be?” Harry asked, completely stumped.

“A pod of peas,” Jerome responded, grinning.

“Huh?”

“It’s ‘excuse me,’ not ‘huh,’ Mr. Potter,” Snape corrected instantly. Harry ignored him.

“The peas are in the pod, which symbolizes the egg the mockingbird is in. They grow inside, like the bird, then when they’re big enough, they bust out. It’s perfect.”

Harry smiled and poured some water in his cauldron.

“Stir counterclockwise five times,” he muttered as he read the instructions to himself. “Add the shrivelfig, or in this case the peas in their pod. Let simmer for five minutes and put in your human ingredient a.k.a mockingbird feather.” Harry let the pea pod ease slowly into the potion and scooted away from the cauldron. “Five minutes on the clock, Jerome.”

Jerome and Severus smirked slightly at the boy. He had been working on the potion by himself since the little advice they had given him about the ingredient change. Severus was proud; it seemed he had instilled a bit of knowledge in the boy’s brain sometime in five years of teaching. He could make N.E.W.T. level yet.

“Got the feather, Harry?” Jerome asked.

Harry pointed at where it lay on the counter by the goblet he was going to use.

“Five minutes are up,” Severus said, glancing at Jerome’s watch.

Harry carefully ladled a portion of the mixture into the goblet and dropped the feather in. It dissolved almost immediately, and he winced at the weird white swirl it had made in the dirt-brown potion.

“Bottom’s up,” Harry said, and he drunk the potion.

And then, where Harry had been, there was a tiger. Jerome and Severus gaped at it, and the tiger gave a piteous little growl and sat down.

“Severus, is that Harry?” Jerome asked quietly.

“Yes, Jerome, it would seem that way. You could transform and ask, of course.”

“No! If it’s not, he’ll eat me!”

“Coward,” Snape sneered.

“Okay! You transform then,” Jerome said loudly. “At least you could fight him off!”

“Fine,” Severus hissed, immediately morphing into a white tiger that looked very similar to Harry’s form.

Immediately Harry’s voice protruded into his mind. “Severus, you’re an animagus?”

“Yes, Harry, and I think you are too, now.”

“Thought so. Now how the hell do I get back to my human form?”

“Good question,” Severus growled slightly to punctuate his sarcasm.

“Severus would you mind if I ran around in your lab?”

The tiger that was Harry stood and ran past Severus without waiting for a reply. Severus turned quickly back into a human to tell Jerome what he’d learned. “Yes, it’s Harry. He currently is trying his new legs out, obviously.”

“Alright,” Jerome said nervously. “Now how do we get him back in human form?”

“Don’t panic, Jerome,” Severus scowled slightly. “Acting like a blithering little Hufflepuff. Just be calm. Let’s wait fifteen minutes like the potion was made for and then we can start worrying.”

“Ah okay,” Jerome said, pacing back and forth in front of Severus.

“Seriously! Jerome, be still. It’s not a big deal. Anyway, I know the spell to get him back in human form if the potion doesn’t work.”

This seemed to soothe Jerome’s concerns, and he leaned against a table and stared at Harry, running around the lab. “He looks a lot like your form, Severus,” Jerome said sneakily, looking sidelong at his friend.

Severus glared at Jerome. “Silence, you ignoble.”

“Eegnoobley?” Jerome wrinkled his nose.

“Thought you knew French, Hufflepuff,” Severus smirked, poking him in the ribs.

Jerome mock-scowled but bit back his laughter when Harry’s tiger form walked over to him. “Harry?” He said tentatively. “You ready to come back to us?” The tiger gave a funny little growl and cocked its head. “Oh...you don’t know how, do you? Severus? Would you do the honors?”

The dark man scowled. “Are you mad? Look at my students. Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

Jerome smirked and transformed into a mockingbird.

“Harry?”

“So what do I do?”

“In a hurry are we,” Jerome said in a mocking voice.

“I’m getting claustrophobic. Don’t be an ass.”

“Fine, fine, just concentrate on being human. You have to want it. Remember that if you don’t transform after too long, you lose your human nature.”

“That’s inspiring,” Harry’s voice seared through Jerome’s mind. Jerome mentally flinched at the caustic voice so much like his best friend’s. “Here goes.”

Jerome transformed back himself, knowing he probably wouldn’t want to feel Harry’s wave of concentration. In a moment, his transformation was followed by Harry appearing sprawled in the middle of the lab where the tiger had been.

“Ow,” Harry groaned, rubbing his knees where he had landed hard on them.

“Told you not to panic,” Severus murmured to Jerome, moving towards Harry to help him up. “You still hanging there, Gryffindork?”

Harry took his proffered hand and nodded shakily. “What is it with the houses, snake-in-the-grass?”

“Seemed fitting. Congratulations, though. I think you’ve just discovered an alternative to the extensive process normally used to become a animagus.”

“Wow, big words,” Jerome interrupted. “Anyway, Severus, Harry mentioned feeling slightly claustrophobic. Any idea what that was all about?”

Severus frowned. “Not really. We can, of course, check the extensive library...”

“Oh gods no,” Jerome muttered. “Harry, run while you still can! He’ll suck you in; he’ll trap you in the ancient scripts of millions of books!”

Severus allowed himself a tiny smirk, then beckoned to the two men with him. “Come along, children.”

Harry instinctively grew quiet as he entered the silent library. It was, again, in an area of the house he hadn’t seen yet- behind the dining room and through the room where the back door was. The ceiling was very high, and Harry saw that there was another level of shelves clinging to the library’s walls. There was a long set of stairs leading to a narrow walkway that followed the shelves above them so that the books on the higher shelves could be taken off, but the painted ceiling would remain visible.

“Wow,” Harry whispered, his voice echoing slightly. “Hermione could be happy for years in here.”

Jerome looked curious, but Severus cut him off, saying, “One of his friends, Jerome. Hermione Granger, muggleborn, know-it-all Gryffindor. Yes, she would be thrilled, wouldn’t she, Harry? I have more books than Albus, the Malfoy’s, and Hogwarts combined. Knowledge is power- so Salazar Slytherin said, so I say.”

Jerome rolled his eyes slightly and looked critically at the surrounding shelves. “Transfiguration section,” he pointed to a long row of shelves with a triumphant smile. “Let’s go check that out, Harry. Severus, how about you look for stuff on the Polyjuice Potion and bring it over?”

Harry nodded, and Severus disappeared down another row of shelves.

“Books on Animaguses,” Jerome muttered thoughtfully, running his finger along the fading titles. For a few minutes, Harry leaned against the shelf and watched as Jerome carelessly flipped through a thick book with notes in the margins. It looked like Snape’s spiky handwriting.

“Jerome?”

The studious man glanced up. “Yes?”

“Do you care if I go up there?” The teenager pointed to the shelves above them.

“Go ahead,” the Slytherin said nonchalantly, turning back to his book.

Harry rolled his eyes, thinking of how Hermione acted when she was absorbed in her research, and walked towards the narrow staircase. He climbed it carefully, peering down at the lower level of the library when he reached the top. Harry turned towards the books, reading the titles with interest. It seemed he had stumbled upon the Dark Arts section of the library. Dark Child of Incest, Blood Magic, and Plots for Pain were a few of the titles he saw.

After a moment of horrified scanning, Harry heard a slight rustle behind him. He turned to see Severus, leaning casually against the low rail.

“There is a balance, Harry. Dark is just as necessary as light. Besides, if you look at it, you can’t classify magic. Light spells can be used to cause harm, and dark spells can cause good. Surely you see that. The shades in between black and white.”

“How come you aren’t falling?” Harry asked, gesturing towards the man, who seemed to be supported by air.

The potions master smirked. “I set up charms so you can’t fall off. One can lean against them.”

“Oh.”

“Well, Jerome thinks he has a lead, so you need to come down now. And you can borrow any of these books at any time. Just ask me if you have any questions.”

Harry nodded dumbly and followed the taller man down the stairs.

“So what did you find, Jerome?” Harry asked, sitting down at the table Severus had conjured.

“Here, read this,” Jerome murmured, shoving a book under Harry’s nose and pointing to a paragraph in small typing. “A case like ours, including process and results.”

“We used the Soul Switching potion normally used only for human to human switches instead with a man, my brother, and his dog. We wished to somehow give the dog human intelligence. I gave both my brother and the dog a drink of the potion, from which we had discluded human ingredients, and activated it with the appropriate spell. There seemed to be no immediate effect on the dog, but my brother immediately began to shrink and soon changed form not into a dog, as we thought might happen, but into a snake. My brother was not an Animagus, but I was, and I changed to my form, a tabby cat. I spoke to the snake telepathically, and found it was, indeed, my brother. The changed potion had given him an immediate animagus transformation. I urged him to change back, which he found difficult. When he was again in human form, he mentioned feeling almost trapped, a feeling that he said left him after a few more transformations. On his sixth transformation, he was stuck in his animagus form as he battled the snake’s spirit for dominance. He won it, and so ended our experiment.”

-Anonymous

“Great, so I can expect a fight with a tiger sometime soon,” Harry rolled his eyes dramatically.

Severus shook his head. “Not just a tiger,” he corrected. “With yourself.”

“So don’t transform until you’re ready to fight, Harry,” Jerome added. “Since you’re probably a more powerful wizard, and the tiger is a more powerful animal, it’ll probably happen sooner. What I don’t get is why you’re having the fight anyway. I never had that- I don’t think it happens in normal transformation.”

“Because the usual transformation is more gradual,” Severus explained. “You grow into your form instead of being forced into it.”

“So how can I possibly friggin prepare myself to fight with... myself, I guess.”

“Language, Mr. Potter,” Severus admonished sarcastically.

Jerome rolled his eyes. “And the used to say I was never serious...”

“Who ever said that, Jerome?” Severus asked.

“Gryffindorks. But they only ever saw me being an ass, not in the common room or anything. I guess they never noticed I was making top grades. Anyway, you should probably be pretty set with Occlumency before you try changing. Legilimency could be useful too. That way the tiger mindset couldn’t get to you, but you could control it with Legilimency.”

“If you’ve worked on it some since our last meeting,” Severus said, carefully not thinking about the Pensieve incident, “maybe we won’t have to work as much as I had thought.”

“I have worked hard,” Harry replied indignantly. “I’m pretty good at making a shield and keeping it up.”

“We’ll try it after dinner,” Jerome said. “I suppose the original plan for the day was pretty shattered once Harry turned into a fucking tiger.”

Severus’ eyes narrowed in a teacher-like way. “And they wonder why Harry’s such a troublemaker. Look at this bad influence.”

“I’m not a troublemaker,” Harry protested.

Simultaneously, Jerome cried, “I’m not a bad influence!”

Severus just looked condescendingly at them both and began walking towards the library doors. “Come along children. Binky will give us our dinner a touch early, I suppose.”

The two young men followed, Harry muttering, “Déjà vu,” and Severus hissing, “And this is the man that’s supposed to save the world.” Jerome merely chuckled at them both.

As it turned out, Binky was glad to serve dinner a bit early, and all three men eagerly dug into the scrumptious vegetable soup. When they were done, Severus called Binky, who vanished with the dirty dishes, and then they retired to the living room. Harry sunk down onto a forest green couch and rubbed his eyes. It had been a long day, and in a few minutes he’d be practicing Occlumency again, after such a long time with no mental attacks. It was tiring simply to think about it.

“Up you get,” Severus murmured to the skinny teenager, almost kindly. “Ready?”

Harry nodded his acknowledgement and immediately Severus shouted, “Legilimens!”

For a second, Snape thought he had Harry, but then his mind slammed into a mental block and he retreated. “Pretty good?” He spat sarcastically at Harry. “Pretty good? I was expecting a weak little shove out, if anything. I wasn’t able to pull a wall like that until I was eighteen and in the Dark Lord’s service. No chinks or anything, Jerome,” the dark man raved.

Jerome looked at Harry with a calculating gaze. “Try Legilimency, Harry. On me or Severus; we’re both master Occlumens.”

Harry glanced hesitantly at Severus, then nodded. “Alright. I’ll try you, Jerome, I wouldn’t want you to get bored just sitting there.”

The blond man nodded with a little smile and Harry lifted his wand. “Legilimens,” he called softly. At first he met resistance, but soon Harry slipped through Jerome’s wall and memories began pouring into his mind. Most were of France, which Harry recognized from pictures, but a few were of Jerome’s Hogwarts days. In a moment, Harry felt himself being pushed backwards, and he came back to the present.

Jerome was gasping. “Yeah, I think he can do Legilimency,” he breathed. “Wow it’s been a while since someone’s gotten me.”

Severus smirked at Jerome. “Getting weaker, Jerome? Find you’re losing your touch?”

Jerome glared at the potions professor. “Would you like to try it? I didn’t think so.” He sat back onto the couch. “Now what?”

“Why don’t I try transforming?” Harry suggested quietly after a few minutes of silence.

Severus looked at him appraisingly. “You think you’re ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Harry shrugged. “Let’s go.”

Jerome cleared his throat. “Severus, we should probably put him in a sort of confinement before he changes, just in case he can’t get control and we have to forcefully bring him back to his human form.”

Severus nodded. “Ready Harry?” At Harry’s nod, Severus muttered a spell and a silvery cage rose from the ground around Harry. “Whenever you like, Harry.”

Harry immediately became the fierce-looking tiger from earlier. For a second, the animal looked totally docile, but suddenly it let out a low, rumbling growl. “Crap,” Severus muttered. “Harry’s going to have to fight for it.”

As he spoke, the tiger lunged at the bars, snapping at the air. For the next ten minutes, it went on much the same, the tiger trying desperately to escape, seeming to have complete control over Harry. But gradually, the beast calmed down. Jerome allowed himself to hope that Harry might be gaining a bit of influence over the tiger’s vicious mind. Finally, the tiger stopped growling and throwing himself at the bars and settled down into a nervous prowl around the perimeter of the cage. In another few minutes it yawned and laid down in the middle of the confinement, watching Severus intently.

“Severus,” Jerome murmured. “Transform and see if he’s got control.”

Severus, concerned about Harry, didn’t stop to try and convince Jerome to change instead. In his animagus form, he beamed a wave of thought to Harry.

“You there, Harry?”

“Yeah, Severus,” the boy responded wearily. “I did it.”

“I see that. Now transform, and then you can go to sleep.”

Both tigers straightened and zipped back into their human shapes, one of which immediately sloped off for the stairs and bed, muttering, “Night, Sev, night, Jerome.”

“He called me Sev,” Severus said very quietly.

Jerome nodded. “Yes, he did.”

“No one’s called me that for years, not since- not since she died.”

“Get to bed Severus. It’s been a long day for all of us.”

Severus was the first to wake the next morning. He had always been the first to wake even at Hogwarts as a child; he was a light sleeper and rose with the sun. If he ever went down with it, that is. Last night the potions professor had been hard-pressed to find rest. He couldn’t get Harry’s parting words out of his head...Sev. No one had called him that for almost sixteen years... but it didn’t do to dwell on forgotten murmurs of forgotten nights. The Death Eater spy donned his robes and stalked silently towards the library. He would read until breakfast.

It was nearing 7:00 when Harry rolled out of bed in his usual state of disarray. He, too, had had trouble sleeping the night before, plagued by nightmares of the graveyard and of Sirius. Bleary-eyed and tussle-haired, he dragged on a pair of jeans and a wrinkly T-shirt and walked down the hall. Which way was the library?

Severus climbed the narrow stairs to the second row of shelves. He didn’t feel like researching conventional magic this morning. Maybe he’d reread that book on Necromancy. Professor Snape had just found the book when he heard the squeaking of the door hinges below. Surely Jerome hadn’t gotten up this early...he had never been an early-riser. It was Harry. The dark man beckoned and placed the Necromancy book back on the shelf. It was finally time to teach Harry the other side of magic. Dumbledore would just be thrilled, Severus thought in a gleefully sarcastic way.

Harry stopped when he reached Severus. “Good morning, Severus.”

Severus nodded and pulled another book off the shelf and put it into Harry’s hands. “Read. Let me know once you’re done.”

He conjured Harry a chair, and walked farther down the shelves.

Harry stood when he had finished the book almost an hour later. He quickly found Severus, poring over a large handwritten book. Harry glanced at the title. It was a book about Necromancy.

“I’m done, Sev,” Harry said.

For a moment, Snape seemed frozen, but then he nodded in his usual curt way. “We have to go to breakfast now, but we can discuss the book tomorrow morning at the same time.”

Harry smiled shyly and murmured, “Thanks,” before turning and walking back to replace the book on its shelf.

Snape followed him and then they walked through the narrow creaking hallways to the dining room. Jerome was already sitting at the table, helping himself to a muffin from the plate Binky had set out.

“So polite,” Severus said mockingly, “so delightfully mannerly.”

Jerome just shoved another mouthful of muffin into his mouth and grinned tauntingly at Severus. Once he had swallowed, he cheerfully said, “You’re up early,” and gave Snape a meaningful glance.

Snape glared back and sat at the table. Harry followed suit, acting very polite until he could no longer resist his Gryffindoric impulses and flung a bit of muffin at Jerome. Jerome immediately rose to the challenge and threw a piece of bacon at Snape’s forehead. Soon they were in an all out food fight, Jerome being especially enthusiastic, spelling food everywhere. The food fight was finally ended with one of Severus’ quick cleaning spells when there was no more food to throw.

“Well, now that we’ve proven how mature we still are and completely disgusted even the portrait of Salazar Slytherin,” Snape said silkily, “perhaps we should find ourselves something to work on for the rest of the day.”

Harry had the grace to look ashamed as he glanced at the sneering portrait of Slytherin. “We could start talking to Chryseis and Ajaria, and I believe you wanted me to explore the forest, correct?”

“Precisely,” Severus agreed. “Perhaps we could convince Salazar to come along,” he added, raising an eyebrow at the portrait. “Discuss a bit of strategy.”

The figure in the portrait smirked as he rose and stepped gracefully out of the portrait and into the dining room. “What- How can he do that?” Harry stuttered.

Jerome answered with a small smile. “Certain portraits are given the power of human motion if the painting’s owner permits it. Severus, obviously, does.”

“Oh.”

“Gods, this is the boy that saved the world?” the silky Hogwarts founder sneered. “And I thought Gryffindor was an idiot.”

“Never mind him Harry,” Jerome grinned. “That’s his way of saying he likes you.”

“Me? Like this poor imitation of a strong wizard? Boy, your training’s about to get a lot tougher. Come along, let’s meet these centaurs.”

Salazar seemed to flow as he walked out towards the forest, Jerome and Severus walking in the same way, and Harry behind, feeling rather clumsy.

The founder of Hogwarts’ fourth house stepped gracefully into the clearing the other three men had been in the day before. Chryseis and Ajaria were already waiting.

“Salazar,” Ajaria murmured, eyeing the man. “It’s been a while.”

Chryseis tugged on a lock of her silvery hair. “How’d you meet Sal, Severus?”

“He lives in a portrait at my manor,” Severus responded, raising an eyebrow at both Slytherin’s nickname and the centaurs’ uneasy behavior. “How’d you meet him?”

“Long story,” Ajaria said.

“I assume you came to discuss some final battle strategy,” Chryseis began, displacing the awkward meeting. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

Two hours later, the Hogwarts founder disappeared into the forest, leaving Harry, Jerome, and Severus with the centaurs.

“So now that Salazar’s gone to find the unicorns,” Jerome said, looking quizzically at the two centaurs, “How about you tell us what the problem is.”

“Don’t think we don’t see how uncomfortable you are,” Severus said quietly.

Harry kept silent, raising an eyebrow and leaning against a tree. After a moment of listening to the two men squabbling good-naturedly with the centaurs about their secret, he quietly slipped away in the direction Slytherin had gone. He couldn’t have gotten too far.

The forest on this side of the clearing seemed almost tense. Harry coughed nervously and looked ahead...this place was giving him the creeps. And where was Slytherin?

“Boo.” Harry whirled around at the quiet voice behind him. It was Salazar.

For a moment the two men, one doomed to save the world, and the other only a memory, stared at each other without saying anything. Then the Hogwarts founder drawled, “So what were you planning on doing after you got miserably lost?”

The teenager stared at Slytherin a moment longer before he replied. “I wasn’t planning on getting lost.”

“Exactly,” the man before him said in a whisper. “And that is why I hated Godric. He never planned anything. Not one of the other three even thought about the next day. And that is why I am the only one here, in this stupid time, with these stupid dark lords, helping you. So you’d better listen closely. Come along.” Harry watched, dumbfounded, as the dark-haired man turned and began to carefully pick his way farther through the trees. “Look,” Salazar said dryly a few minutes later. “I do believe we’ve stumbled upon a few unicorns. I just can’t believe it. It’s an absolute fucking miracle.”

Harry thought his jaw must have dropped to the ground. “Fuck was a word a thousand years ago?”

Salazar froze before he turned to Harry with an expression of caustic disbelief on his face. “Gods, they’ve given me an absolute idiot to train. I still have ears, Potter. Now shut up, I’m trying to talk to the unicorns.”

Ten minutes later Salazar and Harry were riding the unicorns farther through the forest. It seemed that in his years, Slytherin had acquired an idea of how to communicate with the majestic beasts. Harry didn’t know what exactly Salazar had done, but after a moment or two of tense silence staring at the unicorns, a rush of peace or something like it had filled the entire area, and Harry guessed that meant the unicorns were happy.

Harry nervously patted his unicorn’s neck. Around these sacred creatures, he felt almost dirty. He had cast an Unforgivable back at the end of term. The young wizard had almost forgotten it. At the time it had seemed natural, the only way out. Now he just felt like a naughty little kid trying to act like a grown-up.

“I know what you’re thinking about, Potter,” Salazar muttered. “And the unicorns do too. You’ve noticed they’re actually letting you ride. They obviously don’t think you’re evil or any such other nonsense. You’ve got to realize that all the morals you’ve been taught are wrong. There is no right or wrong. There is no black and white. This is a human world; we make human mistakes. Everybody has their good side, and everybody has their bad side. Learn it now, while you’re young. Godric never learned it. Helga never learned it. Hell, I’m not sure Rowena learned it either. You can’t win unless you know yourself. Every fucking bit of yourself. The good, the bad, and all the gray stuff in between. Because trust me, it’s going to take every ounce of it to beat someone like Tom Riddle. And if you listen to me, that will be your one advantage, besides the fact of the prophecy- you’ll have every single bit of power in this. Tom Riddle will not. Now look at this tree. See the roots, how they come up a bit from the ground?”

Harry nodded, still stupefied from the speech Salazar had just delivered.

“Good. Prime place to hide things. Never use it. You know why?”

“Because I’m not the only one that’s looked at the base of a tree,” Harry murmured.

“Exactly. Instead, don’t hide it at all, just take it with you. Because if it’s important enough that you don’t want anyone to find it, then it’s important enough for you to carry it around. If you do have to hide something though, just throw it out of sight into some high branches. Funny thing is, wizards just never think of a summoning spell when things are high up. Now you will. Now come on, I’ve got as many tricks to show you as there are trees in this forest.”

“Fair,” Salazar caustically commented on Harry’s now silent walk.

“Fair?” Harry rose an eyebrow. “I’m doing it just like you!”

Salazar frowned. “Yes, but you’ve been working on it for an hour, and I’ve been doing it for centuries. Fair is good for an amateur. We should probably go find the others now anyway; they’ve been panicking about you for the last three hours.”

Harry snickered. “Doesn’t sound like Sev.”

“Oh,” Salazar said. “He wasn’t concerned. He knew where we were the whole time…he has certain — bonds — that allow him to detect us, even though I concealed our magical signatures. It was Jerome and the centaurs that were frantic.”

“Bonds?” Harry said. “I don’t have any bonds with Severus.”

“I am bonded to him through the portrait,” Salazar said curtly. “However he knew, he knew we were here.”

Harry knew he’d better drop the subject. “Why’d you conceal our signatures, anyway?”

“I didn’t want to be bothered,” Salazar said grumpily.

Harry smirked. “You’re such a loner.”

“Blame the other Founders. They never tried to get along with me; never attempted to understand my customs and my way of life.”

Harry looked at him slyly. “Oh yeah, have a pity party. Did you ever try to understand their lifestyle?” He asked accusingly, knowing what the answer was.

Salazar scowled at the teenager. “Are you sure you’re not a Slytherin?”

Harry grinned. “The sorting hat tried to put me in Gryffindor, but I said no, so I became a lion instead. Nice try on avoiding the question, by the way.”

Slytherin glared at his “apprentice.” “You’re too talkative for your own good. Now shut up because they’re right up ahead and I want to give them a good scare. Blabbering idiots. They’re adults, and a sixteen-year-old can give them the slip.” Salazar silenced and motioned for Harry to get behind a tree.

Sure enough, after a second, a frantic Jerome, two worried centaurs, and a smirking Severus appeared. Salazar stepped out in front of them with his wand raised. Severus quickly reacted, jerking up his wand and throwing a curse that Salazar and Harry both dodged.

Salazar gave Severus a rare grin. “Good one. You’re the only one of these idiots that’s alive.”

Jerome, Ajaria, and Chryseis scowled at Salazar and Harry. “Where the hell were you?” Jerome grumbled. “Severus has been sitting here threatening us with poison and curses if we didn’t calm down for the past two and a half hours!”

“Two and a half?” Harry asked. “We’ve been gone for three. And Salazar thought I needed work.”

“You do,” Snape said. “Stand up straight.”

Harry stuck out his tongue at his potions teacher but straightened his back. “Prude,” he hissed, just loud enough for Severus to hear.

Severus ignored it, as well as Salazar and Jerome’s knowing looks. Jerome rolled his eyes one last time at the pair before shrugging his defeat.

“Whatever,” he conceded. “The three of you won,” he said, pointing at Severus, Harry, and Salazar in turn.

Harry mock-bowed. “Why thank you.”

“I brought the unicorns,” Salazar said as they appeared between the trees. “I thought Chryseis and Ajaria could talk to them while we retired to lunch. I need to critique Harry’s table manners anyway.”

Severus hid a smile with his hand. “So I’ve been doing, Salazar. But I agree. He does need improvement if we intend to allow him to be in front of polite and civilized society. You have to impress them, Harry; show them a mature adult who can handle his problems. Besides, it’ll scare Fudge out of his wits, don’t you think?”

Jerome smirked. “I can hardly wait.”

“Sit up,” Salazar hissed at Harry.

Harry glared. “It’s Sev and Jerome, Sal. They don’t care.”

Salazar glared at him for the shortening of his name but Harry just glared back.

“I care,” Severus smirked. “You need proper manners, Harry.”

Salazar smirked at Harry. “See?”

“I hate you,” Harry muttered, straightening his back.

“Thanks,” Salazar replied flippantly. “Don’t play with your food. It’s nourishment, not a toy.”

Harry scowled and pushed his almost-empty plate away. “You’ve ruined my appetite. It’s not like the Dark Lord’s going to care how I act anyway. And isn’t that what matters to everyone here? Getting rid of the fucking Dark Lord?” The frustrated teenager stood up and stormed from the room.

Severus rolled his eyes as he stood. “Gods I hate mood swings. This is why I hate those little brats at Hogwarts.” Then he swept from the room. Salazar rose a brow at Jerome.

“Finally,” he murmured, easing back into his chair to wait.

Severus pursued Harry outside and into the front gardens. “Harry,” he called, “Wait!”

The teenager didn’t stop, instead slipping into one of the manor’s old greenhouses. Severus groaned; he didn’t know how wild the plants had grown in that particular house. Pulling out his wand just in case, he entered the greenhouse.

“Harry?” he said softly, looking into the dank plants. “Lumos!” Why was it so dark in here? The sun was supposed to lighten the whole building. The potions master glanced up at the ceiling. It was filthy. In a few minutes Snape found Harry, sitting with his back to the wall and staring angrily at a mass of an unknown plant.

“What do you want?” the teenager spat.

“To talk to you,” Severus said in a kinder voice than usual. The frustrated man rubbed his forehead with a sigh before lowering himself to sit in front of Harry. “Do you care to explain what the hell that was all about?” Harry just glared at his teacher. Severus rolled his eyes. “Okay, obviously not. Well, I’ll just talk then. You obviously seem to think we’re just like Dumbledore, always thinking of how you can beat the Dark Lord, regardless of how it affects you. That’s wrong. Jerome and I, and even Salazar, care about you, believe it or not. We want to help you; we’re not another Hogwarts Headmaster hounding on you. I don’t know how we can show you that, but I hope you accept it, because I’m getting sick of this nonsense and I’ve just been pretty damn nice to come out here and all.” Severus stood up and offered Harry a hand.

After a moment, Harry grinned and took it. “Thanks Sev.”

Severus scowled, but his eyes said something different. “Come on kid,” he said, ”let’s get back to the others.”

Harry nodded. “So, how long has it been since you’ve been in this greenhouse?” he asked in his usual curious tone.

Severus groaned. “Great, the questions are back.”

Severus and Harry reentered the dining room, Harry looking sheepish. “I’m sorry Sal,” he muttered reluctantly, sitting back down by the Founder.

The man nodded. “It’s alright. I understand, I suppose I shouldn’t have pushed you,” he admitted, carefully avoiding an actual apology. “At least you got calmed down,” Salazar winked at Severus.

(right up to the day before Harry is leaving, in the afternoon)

It seemed like ages ago that Harry had had bad manners and an unpredictable temper, but in fact, it had only been a few days. Salazar had worked wonders with the help of Severus and Jerome. Currently, Salazar was sitting in the living room with Jerome while Severus and Harry walked over to the greenhouse.

“So why in Danu’s name are we coming over here exactly?” Severus grumbled.

“I just wanted to see it, you know,” Harry answered placidly.

In a moment, they did see it, and it was nothing like Severus recollected. It was clean, and when they stepped inside, all the plants were carefully groomed and organized as they should be. Severus paused in the doorway before turning a dark eye on Harry.

“Did you do this?”

“Sal and Jerome helped,” Harry blushed.

“Whatever for, boy?”

“To say thanks. You’ve done a lot you didn’t have to do, Sev. I still don’t get why you changed so much just for my benefit.”

Severus nodded, allowing a ghost of a smile play across his lips. “I accept your thanks, and give you mine. So, today, you get to pick whatever you desire to brew in the potions lab, as long as it’s not that accursed nightmare potion of yours. That thing was vicious.”

Harry grinned. “Aww, Sev, were you a wittle fwightened?”

Severus glared. “Careful, boy, or I’ll show you frightened. Let’s get up to the house before your mouth gets you in trouble.”

Harry smirked and pushed through the door into the house. “Sal, Jerome, I showed him the greenhouse,” he called as he entered the living room.

“And?” Jerome glanced up from the game of chess he and Salazar were playing.

“He’s letting me brew whatever I want in the lab today.”

“And already beginning to regret that decision,” Severus added as he came in, looking surly.

Harry beamed. “I absolutely adore getting on his nerves.”

“So what did you decide on?” Salazar asked in a bored tone. “Checkmate, Jerome.”

“The Heritage Potion,” Harry said. “It makes the drinker write down their entire heritage, all the wizards and witches anyway. I always wanted to know what founder I’m originated from, if any.”

Severus shot Sal and Jerome a look of dread.

The next day, it wasn’t until Harry was about to leave that Severus shoved a flask into his hand. “That’s the potion,” he explained. “I already checked it; it’s correct. Take it when you get over to Grimmauld Place; we don’t have time now. Make sure you have parchment, ink, and a quill at hand when you take it so you can write it all out.”

Harry nodded and dropped the potion into his pocket before turning to say good-bye to Jerome, Salazar, and the centaurs, who had come up to the manor to say farewell. “Bye all you guys,” he muttered. “I’ll come back and visit, Chryseis, Ajaria. Jerome, Sal, I expect to see you two at Hogwarts often. Since Sev’s given me permission to call you out of your portrait, Sal, I expect training won’t change overly much.” He turned back towards Severus. “And Sev, you’ll be my potions teacher for yet another year, still acting like a grumpy git, so I won’t even say good-bye. I’ll probably see you at Grimmauld Place anyway.”

The teenager stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder. “Number 13, Grimmauld Place!”

A few ashy spins later, Harry was falling into the familiar kitchen of Sirius’ old home. No one was in the kitchen, so he quickly pulled out a piece of parchment and some writing utensils. He wanted to do this quickly, before everyone else was all over him.

He swallowed the potion and immediately his hand started dragging across the paper. First, himself, Harry James Potter. Above and right, Lily Evans Potter. Above and left, not James Potter… well not just James Potter… the name Harry expected was written, but beside, was written “legal.” And above that, was written “Severus Alistair Snape, biological.”

Harry blacked out just as Ron and Hermione walked in.

Ron stared at his friend, who was now knocked out on the floor.

“Ron!” Hermione hissed. “Don’t just stand there; do something!”

Ron nodded and dropped to the floor where he started slapping Harry across the face. “Come on, Harry,” he muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the red-haired teenager and got a bit of water from the sink. She splashed it on Harry’s face and almost immediately the Boy-Who-Lived came to.

“Umm, hey guys,” he said slowly as he carefully sat up. Ron stood and offered Harry a hand, which he took, sweeping the parchment off the table and into his pocket as soon as he was standing.

“What’s that?” Hermione narrowed her eyes.

“I’ll tell you later,” Harry muttered, looking at the door where Remus was coming in.

Hermione nodded with a little sniff. “Okay, as long as you tell us why you blocked our letters then too.”

Harry quickly agreed, wondering how he was going to get out of that one. “Hey, Moony,” he greeted his old friend who was now before him.

Remus smiled softly and pulled Harry into a hug. “Harry. It’s good to see you.”

“You too, Remus,” Harry grinned. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a miniature of his trunk. “Umm, can someone show me where my room is?” Harry asked. “I could go ahead and unpack my stuff and everything.”

Remus quickly interceded Hermione’s ready response. “Harry, I know you want to go ahead and unpack, but how about you just drop your stuff off and then go meet everyone. They’re downstairs in the basement. I heard you come in and told them to wait so you wouldn’t be stampeded.”

“Alright,” Harry nodded. “You want to walk me up there, Remus?”

“Sure,” the man agreed, glancing curiously at Ron and Hermione. Apparently, he had missed some altercation as he made his way upstairs from the basement. Harry seemed reluctant to be alone with his friends, and his old students had informed him that Harry had blocked their letters.

Ron and Hermione gave Harry accusatory glares, which he carefully ignored as he exited the room with Remus. As they climbed the creaky staircase, Harry glanced around. The house seemed much cleaner than it had, not looking nearly as dark as it used to. As Harry glanced back down the stairs, he realized that the house elf heads were gone from the wall, and the troll leg umbrella stand Tonks always tripped over was missing too.

Remus saw him looking. “At the end of the school year,” he explained, “I came back here. I was alone for a while, and I was bored. So I cleaned. A lot. It helped-“ his voice broke “-deal with things, you know.”

Harry nodded solemnly. “Yeah, work did help. I think I beat Hermione doing that homework this summer.”

Remus gave a small smile. “Yeah, Ron’s still working on some of it. He’s managed to enlist Hermione’s help since school’s back in session soon and he’s so desperate.”

Harry smirked, muttering, “Typical.”

Remus stared when he heard the smirk in Harry’s voice. They were at the landing now, and Harry was looking at him strangely.

“What’s up, Remus? You look odd.” Harry tried not to fidget, remembering how much Sal had nagged him about it.

Remus rubbed his forehead before tugging his hand through his hair much like James used to do. “I don’t know. For a moment there, you looked like someone else- but that couldn’t possibly be right.” The werewolf hesitated, looking at Harry before sighing. “It must have been a trick of the light; it was just my imagination.”

Harry was silent for a moment, considering. After a moment, he decided Remus could be trusted and probed him further. “Who did I look like, Remus?” he asked, feigning innocent curiosity. Salazar would have been so proud.

Remus shifted his weight to his other foot. “It may sound crazy,” he said, “but you looked like Severus Snape.”

Harry looked at Remus with a glint in his eye. “Why would that sound crazy, Remus?”

Remus looked at Harry, carefully attempting to conceal his surprise. What was Harry trying to say? He was James’ son; Remus was sure of it. He knew how much Lily and James had loved each other; there was no way that Severus Snape could have fathered Harry.

Harry backed into his room, still smirking in a very familiar way as he pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

“Come in, Remus,” Harry quietly instructed, nervously fingering his sleeves. “Shut the door.”

Remus saw Harry’s anxiety; indeed, his werewolf senses actually smelled it. He obeyed Harry’s request, allowing the door to close with a small click.

Harry unfolded the parchment with hands that he tried to make stop shaking.

“Remus, today I took a Heritage potion. As you may know, this potion forces the drinker to write down his or her own heritage, planting the unknown information in their head so it can be written. My results,” he swallowed, “were somewhat surprising.”

Harry handed the paper to Remus. Remus quickly scanned it. Right as the werewolf’s eyes landed on Snape’s name, Harry said, “Apparently, Severus Snape is my father.”

Remus gaped. After a few minutes, when he found his voice again, he choked out a question. “How is this possible?”

“Excellent question,” Hermione’s voice said unsteadily as she appeared in the doorway next to a bewildered Ron.

Harry cursed to himself on the inside. Outwardly, he showed no surprise. He should have known they were going to listen… Sal was gonna be so pissed…

“Come in you guys,” Harry strode over to the door, closing it behind Ron and Hermione when they walked in. “Silencio,” he muttered a silencing charm on the door with a wave of his wand.

Ron sank down onto the bed. Hermione just stared shrewdly at Harry. “How did you do that magic? You wouldn’t cross the Ministry of Magic again after last summer.”

“Severus took the tracing charms off my wand,” Harry explained. “You can sit down Hermione.”

The girl shook her head. “How long have you known?”

“That piece of paper in the kitchen told me right before you walked in.”

Ron still looked confused. “But Harry… James is your father! It all makes sense- you’re a Gryffindor like him, and a Seeker like him, you even bloody look like him!”

Harry sighed and eased into a chair. “The Heritage Potion couldn’t have made a mistake. I brewed it myself, with Severus watching.” Harry eyed Remus. He was being awfully quiet. “Remus? What do you think?”

The werewolf thought for a moment. “It’s entirely possible, I suppose. Severus and Lily were friends once, before she got so close with James. We never knew much about their relationship,” Remus said softly. “And when James and Lily died, Severus had only just come to the Order. We didn’t try to question his past; we were desperate. Whatever the facts turn out to be, I’m with Harry. So Harry, if you want to accept Snape as your father, I’m okay with it.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks, Remus. That means a lot to me.”

Ron stood up. “What are you saying? You actually believe this bullshit?”

Harry looked Ron in the eye. “Yes, I do. I made the potion; I made it correctly. I can respect Severus, even if I may not ever love him like I love James.”

Ron shook his head in disgust. “I can’t believe this. He’s a filthy Death Eater, Harry. He probably raped your mum and then came to the Order so no one would blame him!”

Harry stood up slowly, his green eyes snapping. “Careful Ron, you might say something you’ll regret.”

The red-head looked furious. “There used to be a time when you trusted me, and when I could call myself your best friend. If you refuse to take my input now, when you obviously need my help, I guess that time is over.” Ron glared at Harry and stomped out of the room.

Immediately Harry glanced towards Hermione. “Hermione?”

The girl trembled slightly. “I just want you to be happy Harry,” she whispered.

Harry stepped towards her and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks, Mione. That means the world to me.”

“Ron will come around,” she murmured.

“Gods I hope so,” Harry said quietly. “I hope so.”

On the morning term was starting back, Ron and Harry still weren’t talking. Hermione had been struggling as a mediator between the pair, but so far nothing had worked.

On the other hand, in Ron’s absence, Harry had told Ginny his secret. She had taken in very well; in fact, she had hardly even been surprised. She had taken the liberty of telling Fred and George, who had accepted it in a stride and were now constantly pestering Harry with owls about hexing Snape. Apparently, they thought that since he was now Harry’s flesh and blood, Harry could prank him all he wanted.

Harry lifted his trunk into the train compartment with ease. Then he helped Ginny with hers while the twins helped Hermione. Once they were done, they walked over to Mrs. Weasley and the other adults to say good-bye.

Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry and pressed a few sandwiches into his hands. “Have a good term, Harry. Don’t hesitate to write if you need anything, dear.”

Remus drew Harry into a firm embrace. “See you later, cat,” he referred to Harry’s Animagus form. Harry had shown it to him almost immediately, but they had yet to come up with a good nickname for it. Harry had shown Hermione and Ginny as well, and they had been calling him “kitty.” It was quite embarrassing, really.

Finally, Harry walked over to Fred and George to say his good-byes. The twins shook his hand, surprisingly without any “humorous” results.

“Now if you want us to beat up that prat brother of ours,” George began.

“You only have to ask,” Fred continued.

“We’d be more than happy,” George interrupted.

“We’d be delighted,” Fred jumped in.

Harry laughed. “Thanks you guys. But I don’t think it’s really necessary. Ron will come around once he’s shown sense. He’s not entirely stupid, just a little slow.”

Fred and George nodded in unison. “That’s our brother for you.”

“I’ll come by your place in Hogsmeade. I’d better go find the girls or we’ll lose our compartment on the train. I’ll see you around, guys.”

Bye,” they waved, before disapparating with a crack.

Harry smiled and hopped onto the train. In a moment he found his compartment and sat down with Ginny and Hermione. They were back on the way to Hogwarts. They were going home.

Harry laughingly escorted both Hermione and Ginny out of the coach. “Come, my fair ladies, walk with me to my castle,” he said dramatically, helping the girls down.

The girls giggled and walked through the entrance hall to the great hall, where they sat down together at the Gryffindor table. Harry glanced up to the staff table where he saw Severus- he still couldn’t think up him as Father- watching him. Harry nodded slightly, and the potions master nodded in return. At that moment, Ginny poked Harry in the side and advised, “Don’t think about it tonight, Harry. You can talk to him tomorrow.”

Harry was about to reply with a protest but was silenced by Hermione. “Shush, the new first years are coming in,” she pointed at the straggling line of children.

“Joy, joy,” Harry muttered sarcastically. “I just love little children.” He sank into a sulky silence for the rest of the Sorting at Hermione’s scathing glare.

“Six new Gryffindors,” Ginny said proudly, scooping some mashed potatoes onto her plate.

“Great,” Harry said. “Six more little impudent brats that can’t find their way around the castle. Do you remember the ones last year? They were nasty little things.”

“For goodness sake, Harry,” Hermione began a lecture. “They’re children. You were that little and annoying once too.”

Luckily for Harry, Neville came over before Hermione could really get into the swing of her tirade. “Hiya Harry. How was your summer?”

“It was pretty good, except for I got into a fight with Ron. I’m hoping he’ll come to his senses in a few days though.”

“Yeah, I noticed you weren’t sitting together. I hope that works out.”

“Thanks Neville. How was your summer? Did you get to go to that plant exhibit that you wanted to see?”

Neville grinned. “Yeah, I did. It was really awesome. I got a new plant to go by my bed in the dorm. It’s a Cackling Cactus. It cackles whenever there are dark things around, but it giggles when it’s really happy.”

That made Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all smile. “That sounds really great, Neville,” Ginny said.

Neville blushed. “Guess what else?” he said, sounding really excited.

“What?” Hermione asked.

“I got a perfect score on my Herbology O.W.L., and Professor Sprout says if I do half as well on the N.E.W.T., she’ll give me an internship after Hogwarts so I can get a job in Herbology.”

“That’s fantastic,” Harry beamed, happy for his friend.

“Yeah, Grandmother was really pleased. She offered to buy me an owl or a cat, but Trevor is good enough for me.” Neville held up his beloved toad. “I’m gonna go talk to Dean and Seamus now; I’ll see you all later.”

“Bye Neville,” they chorused, as the other boy walked away.

Ginny smiled. “That really is great for Neville,” she said.

“I know,” Hermione said, now digging into some ice-cream. “Neville’s a great guy; if anyone deserves it, he does.”

Harry nodded, thinking about Neville’s part in the Department of Mysteries last year. He really was a true Gryffindor.

Dumbledore stood when everyone had finished eating, and the talking immediately died down. “Another year at Hogwarts, and I bid welcome to all here, the old faces and the new. I won’t say much, because it is late, and school begins tomorrow, but I will say this: Remember that there is no tool so valuable as knowledge, unless it is friendship. As the sorting hat reminded us earlier this very evening, in this hour of unsteadiness, we must not remain divided. I give you that to think on. Good night!”

Harry walked up to the tower with Hermione and Ginny, thinking about what Dumbledore had said. He was right, but what could Harry do about it. The rivalries were set, Slytherin versus Gryffindor. It was a tradition set through centuries. Even if this new bunch of first years at Hogwarts didn’t have the same rivalries, there were six solid years above them that firmly believed in them. ‘I’m sorry Dumbledore, but you are too late,’ Harry thought. ‘And not for the first time, either.’

The new trio entered the Gryffindor common room followed by a pack of other Gryffindors. Harry bid good night to Hermione and Ginny and went upstairs to his dorm. ‘Maybe in the morning Ron will have come to sense,’ Harry thought lazily as he fell asleep.