Next Chapter: To Become a Family

               Severus slowly approached the Slytherin entryway, pausing just outside as he could hear the students laughing and joking around. He smirked. While he always made rounds in the mornings with his house, he never really checked on them at night—couldn’t check on them at night, he should say. And while he knew most of the professors only made rounds a few times a week in their house at most, the other professors had the ability to do so randomly morning or night, while Severus had always done his in the morning.

               “Get your feet off the table like that,” he heard a female student scold another. “You know Professor Snape hates when we do that.”

               “What he doesn’t know won’t kill him,” the male student retorted. “Besides, he never checks in at night.”

               This would be a great time to enter, Severus thought, and he did just that with a tap of his wand at the entrance, and the wall slid open, allowing him to step through. He saw the students in question jump to their feet, the one student kicking his feet off the table and stumbling with the speed he stood up at.

               “Clearly I need to start making more nightly check ins if this is the behavior that goes on in my house,” Severus said, glaring at the muddy shoes of the male student.

               “Sorry, sir,” the student said. “I’ll clean this up.”

               “You better,” Severus said. He whistled sharply, and several more students piled in from their dorms, joining those in the common room to hear what the professor had to say. Severus waited until movement stilled before saying, “As the end of the school year draws near, I expect everyone to start packing their belongings in preparation for departure. I know there’s still a week and half until you leave but better to start now than to do so last minute and forget something. You should have plenty of time to do so in between taking your exams and resting. Anyone who still needs to go over their reports with me, or their career opportunities for you sixth and seventh years, I expect you to look at the schedule on my office door and sign yourselves up for a time. Do not make me hunt you down and do not forget what time you signed up for. I’ve extended my hours into later in the evening to accommodate for everyone.”

               Severus paused as several students nodded their heads or gave a quiet “yes, sir.”

               “Very well. I wish you all the best on your exams and I expect exemplary behavior from Slytherin House. You have all done very well this year, and pending any last-minute house awards, the House Cup will be ours this year.”

               The whole house applauded and cheered, and Severus smirked at their excitement. After they settled down, he sent everyone back to doing whatever it was they were doing and made sure the one student cleaned up the mess his muddy shoes left behind on the table. Severus left the house and headed back to his own quarters.

               In his quarters, he settled behind his desk, glancing at the time. Two hours until sunset. Right about now, he’d be rushing to get as much grading and class lesson preparation done before the painful transformation began and he could no longer work comfortably behind a desk. Now, he could take his time. And that was exactly what he was going to do. He settled in grading the final exams the fourth years had completed.

               He heard the magical swoosh from the door opening on its own that told him Remus was back—or Moony, as he often travelled by through the school. When Moony had to live in his quarters for those few months trapped in his werewolf form, he wandered the school now and then, and the staff and students assumed that Severus had kept the wolf as a familiar. He was rather popular with the students, and they decided to keep up the guise. Remus no longer had to live in the shack in the middle of the forest now, and he had a separate room connected to Severus’s quarters. It gave Remus a chance to see Dumbledore without drawing attention to himself as a new visitor to the school, and with the wolfsbane on board, it was as if a werewolf never existed, and it was just Moony the playful wolf.

               Moony trotted into Severus’s quarters with a wag of his tail before shifting back into Remus, and he paused outside Severus’s study with a smirk.

               “You should hear the things the students are willing to say to me about you as Moony,” Remus said.

               “I’m sure they flatter me,” Severus sneered. He set down his red inked quill for a moment and looked up at Remus. Severus thought he’d be more annoyed having a roommate, but he found himself not bothered by Remus’s constant presence. “Where have you been all day? Begging the students for scraps?”

               “Work, actually.” Remus summoned a chair and sat down in front of Severus’s desk. “Mr. Banges was quite pleased with the hunting compass I brought into the shop. It’s now a display antique only; to be sold only to the most serious collectors, not to any suspicious characters who might be itching to use it.”

               “Good riddance,” Severus said.

               “Couldn’t agree more,” Remus muttered.

               There was a knock at the door and Remus jumped to his feet and pulled his wand out, stepping out of the study and casting a see-through-charm at the door, smiling when he saw Harry on the other side. He pocketed his wand and opened the door.

               “Hi, Remus,” Harry greeted with a smile. “Is Ajax here? I mean, err, Professor Snape?”

               “I think they both might be in,” Remus answered, tapping his chin as if in deep thought. “Hard to tell them apart though. Which one looks more like a horse again?”

               “Ha-ha.” Harry still smiled all the same as he stepped into the quarters. Remus ruffled his hair before pointing at Severus’s study door. Severus had returned to grading but paused once more when Harry stepped up to his desk.

               “Good evening, Harry,” Severus said.

               “Good evening,” Harry repeated. He fiddled with the edges of fraying parchment as he licked his lips before saying, “So . . . I talked with Professor Dumbledore. About, umm, you know, my relatives and maybe not going back with them this summer.”

               “I see.” Severus raised his brows, silently encouraging Harry to continue.

               “I even asked if I could just stay at Hogwarts even and he said . . . no.”

               “I’m not surprised,” Severus said as he reached over and pulled the tearing parchment away from Harry’s fingers. Harry rested his hands on the desk instead. “Hogwarts is no place for students to live alone during the summer months. You’re better off going home.”

               “But you know I’m not,” Harry insisted. “And now Dumbledore knows too, and he says I still have to go back.”

               “Professor Dumbledore,” Severus corrected gently.

               Harry rolled his eyes.

               “Don’t roll your eyes at me, young man, or this conversation ends now.” Severus sighed as Harry gave him a sad look. “I know your home life is far from ideal, but if the headmaster said you have to go back, then I’m afraid there is little more I can do.”

               “Prince Manor—”

               “Is not an option,” Severus interrupted Harry. “There is a darkness that surrounds the manor, Harry. And there is a darkness attached to me that will make any kind of arrangement with you impossible. You need to go somewhere where you will be safe.”

               “And I’m safe at my relatives? They hate me!”

               “Harry . . .”

               “No! I can’t go back. I’ll run away.”

               “You will not!”

               “I can’t believe that after everything we’ve been through, you still don’t want me!”

               “This isn’t about me wanting or not wanting you, Harry. I cannot take you in because it’s too dangerous for me to do so. I’ve . . .” Severus bit his lip for a second as he hesitated. “I’ve made mistakes I cannot fix. And I know they will come back to haunt me. I cannot endanger you like that.”

               “You won’t. I know you won’t.”

               “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

               “Well, you don’t tell me anything.”

               Severus hated the way tears—whether of hurt or frustration or both—welled in Harry’s eyes, threatening to spill over. He closed his eyes, blocking out the image. Similar green eyes looked that way once, when he had called Lily Evans a terrible thing several years earlier. And then he got her killed. He took the mark, and his first true dark action was to kill his best friend by painting a target on her back. Those were his darkest moments, as for only a moment did, he feel less like a monster and more like someone who belonged to a group. The pain and regret etched forever in his arm had not been worth the moment of belonging he had felt.

               Opening his eyes, he shook his head sadly at Harry.

               “I can’t, Harry.”

               Harry slowly managed to frown at Severus, his eyes still glassy.

               “Fine.” He turned sharply and left the office. He turned at the doorway and shouted, “Then stop pretending you care about me!”

               “Harry,” Severus called after him, though he didn’t leave his office. Instead, he collapsed in his chair and held his head in his hands.

               Remus caught Harry’s shoulder before he left the quarters.

               “I’m sure Severus has good reason and your safety in mind to decline your request.”

               Harry glared up at Remus.

               “If you were such good friends with my dad, why didn’t you take me in?”

               “Oh, Harry,” Remus said, lowering his hand from Harry’s shoulder. “You already know the answer to that.”

               Harry glared at Remus for a moment longer before letting out a frustrated growl as he yanked away from Remus and slammed the door behind him. Remus sighed, then walked over to the study, where Severus still sat with his head in his hands.

               “I failed him,” Severus muttered. “The one thing he ever asks of me, and I failed him.”

               “You haven’t,” Remus said. “You have your reasons. And I hope they truly are enough for you to believe Harry would be better off in his relative’s care. Are they?”

               “I can’t change the past.”  

               “But you can change your future. Is there anything you can do that would ensure Harry’s safety with you? That you might reconsider taking him in?”

               “You know the world would panic if they found out an ex-Death Eater took in the Boy-Who-Lived.”

               “But you’re not a Death Eater anymore. Right?”

               “When the Dark Lord returns, I’ll have no choice but to serve him once more. I’m branded like the horse I am. The dark magic of this mark is glued to me like a shadow stuck to its . . .”

               Severus’s eyes widened as a realization hit him. Remus frowned at him, then a slow smile spread across his lips.

               “Time to visit an old friend?” Remus asked, and if he had been in wolf form, Severus was sure his tail would have been wagging.

               That weekend, Severus paused outside the spiked gates of a large, black Victorian house, complete with shuttered windows and shadows dancing across the steep, pitched roofs. Ravens cawed from the windows of a high roof tower, and the crooked, unpainted stairs leading up to the wraparound porch gave the entire house an unwelcoming vibe. The darkening clouds behind the house did not help with that either.

               Severus looked back down at the card, then up at the leaning mailbox that read “Campbell Residence.” Everything matched up but that did not encourage Severus to step any further.

               “Uhh . . .” Remus began, taking a step back. “You first.”

               “What, is the big bad wolf afraid?” Severus sneered, faking more bravery than he felt.

               “No-no, of course not.” Remus waved his hands dismissively as he smiled at Severus. “Just being cautious. If there’s any shadow traps around, you’ll walk into them first. Gives me a heads up.”

               “Oh, some friend you are. Why don’t you use that excellent nose of yours and sniff out the traps so neither of us walk into them. You first.”

               Severus gestured for Remus to step through the gates. Remus hesitated, then chuckled uneasily.

               “You’ve got more experience with defense against dark arts,” Remus said. “Why don’t you lead? I’ve got your back.”

               “I’m sure you do. Coward before bravery.” Severus patted Remus’s back hard enough to get the man to step forward, but Remus pulled away and made a grand gesture for Severus to step through first.

               “Brain before brawn,” Remus said.

               “Excuse me? I’ll have you know . . .”

               Suddenly, a large formation on the ground beneath the men caught their eyes, and they both looked down. A dark, foggy shadow swirled like a black hole under their feet, growing larger and darker.

               “Oh no,” they both muttered.

               An instant later, the black hole swallowed them, and they fell through the earth with shouts of surprise.

               Somehow, they ended up falling directly into a sofa in a spacious parlor room. The room was as dark as the rest of the house, though they couldn’t tell if the room was painted black or just so smothered by dark shadows that it simply looked black. A fireplace to the right of the sofa warmed the space with black flames, which offered no light into the room. Instead, the space relied solely on the dim lighting coming in from the arched windows behind them.

               In a large wingback chair across from the sofa sat Dougal Campbell wearing dark robes and his signature fedora.

               “Welcome to my humble home,” Dougal greeted casually as if Severus and Remus had not just fallen through a shadow portal. “What brings you gentleman here?”

               Remus was still catching his breath from the fall, and Severus cleared his throat and said, “We we’re coming to as you a question, but the whole entrance debacle kind of set the mood off.”

               “As amusing as it was watching you two decide who would cross the gate threshold first,” Dougal countered, “I don’t have all day. Busy man, you know.”

               “Doing what?” Remus asked as he found his breath. “Lounging in shadows all day?”

               “You should try it sometime. It’s quite comfortable. Where are my manners? Tea?”

A tea tray with all the fixings was carried out of a nearby room by a short shadow figure. The figure set the tray down on the coffee table and poured three cups, then held up cream and sugar. Severus shook his head while Remus nodded, a bit tongue tied as he watched the figure fix up his drink then settle two cups in front of Severus and Remus. The figure dropped a sugar cube in the third cup. Leaving the tea tray on the coffee table for future use, the figure collapsed and disappeared in the shadows on the floor.  

The third cup flew over to Dougal, who caught it and took a sip.

“Now what did you really want to talk about? Your letter was rather discreet.”

               “As something like this should be,” Severus said. “You remember Harry? Well, he would like to become my ward.”

               “I knew it!” Dougal said victoriously.       

               Severus rolled his eyes.

               “So, what’s keeping you from taking the foal, Big Pony?” Dougal asked.

               “This,” Severus said, rolling up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a faded red mark.

               “An old scar, I’m presuming?”

               “The Dark Mark,” Severus explained.

               “As in the one Death Eaters had branded on their skin like cows for slaughter?”

               “That would be the one, yes,” Severus said through gritted teeth.

               “Fascinating.” Dougal stroked his chin for a moment. “You-Know-Who is dead.”

               “A body was never found. And the Dark Mark never went away completely like it would have if he had truly died. He’s out there, somewhere. And when he comes back, this will reignite, and I will never be able to escape him. Harry would never be safe with me.”

               “Why did you take the mark to begin with? If you don’t mind me asking.”

               “I was young and foolish.”

               “We all were at one time. You’ll have to do better than that.”

               Severus sighed and glanced over at Remus, who causally sipped his tea, trying to pretend he wasn’t as interested in the conversation as he was.

               “When I first met Lucius, he was a prefect and I was a first year. He was already a huge supporter of the Dark Lord and growing up in the isolation of Prince Manor, I had no clue of how the real world worked. He taught me and many other Slytherins all about pureblood supremacy and how muggles contaminated the world. The very first time I shifted is a day burned in my memory, and I remember how my muggle father threw my mother and I out because of what I had become. How he hurt her and left us. I felt a connection to Lucius’s words, and suddenly, I had a group of people who shared similar beliefs and fought for a similar cause. I was apart of something big, and I loved it. I wasn’t alone anymore.”

               Severus paused as he ran a hand through his hair.

               “Then I met Lily Evans, a muggleborn, and she made me see another side of what humanity could be like. Something kind and beautiful. She found me sitting alone by the lake one day and struck up a conversation. She said I looked like I needed someone to talk to, and at the time, I did. I had gone through a week’s worth of transformations alone for the first time in my life, and they were becoming more unbearable as I was growing. She became a secret friend I told no one about in my house, and we spent many afternoons together studying, working on homework, or playing games. She was a real friend who enjoyed my presence for me and not for some prejudice beliefs. At the same time, I was a constant target of . . .”

               Severus snapped his head over to Remus, who simply nodded.

               “Go ahead,” Remus encouraged.

               Severus hesitated, then looked back at Dougal.

               “They called themselves the Marauders. It consisted of James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and this one,” Severus jerked his head at Remus. “They loved hitting me with their worst pranks or the less harmful curses they managed to pick up from who knows where. Even stole my own inventions a couple times. I gave back as good as I could, but one day they went too far and had me trapped upside down in a humiliating position. Lily tried to come to my aid, but in my embarrassment, I snapped at her that I didn’t need her help, not from a . . . a mudblood.”

               Severus took a sip of his tea as he thought back to the bitter memory.

               “It ended our friendship. And I tried apologizing but she told me she saw the “friends” I hung out with and knew how they spoke of muggles and muggleborns. And she said while she had forgiven me, she couldn’t be friends with someone who associated with that kind of people. I knew she was hoping I would renounce them, but I couldn’t do it. Not then anyway. After the history of what took place in Prince Manor and my own family problems, I wanted someone else to blame for it all, for the curse, for my mother’s pain, my grandfather’s death. So, I stayed with them. And I took the Dark Mark as soon as I graduated Hogwarts.”

               “That is why I took the mark. Then, I was searching for information for the Dark Lord under the guise of looking for a job a couple years later and overheard a prophesy that could end his reign, someone born as the seventh month dies. I only heard a piece, but I ran with it. And that led to Lily Evans death, the death of her husband, a scarred baby, and a missing body.”

               Severus sighed again and dragged a hand down his face.

               “Are you sure,” Dougal began, “that you want to take this boy in for the right reasons?”

               “What are you talking about?” Severus asked.

               “This isn’t something you feel obligated to do, is it? Something you hope will bring exoneration to a wrongdoing? This isn’t out of repentance, is it?”

               “No, it’s nothing like that. He’s asked me several times if I would take him in and I’ve said no every time, but if there is the slightest chance I could be free of the Dark Lord, then maybe I could . . . I could take him in.”  

               “You’re being honest with me?” Dougal asked.

               “Yes. I am not doing this for Lily or myself. I am doing this for Harry.”

               “Wolfie, would you concur?”

               “Of course.” Remus offered a smile. “These two need each other. I think it would do them good.”

               Dougal hmphed before standing up and walking over to Severus, looking down at the mark on his forearm. He slowly reached out a hand and traced the mark with a finger.

               “I can’t promise a miracle,” Dougal said. “I’ve broken a few curses before, but this is pure dark magic right here. I’ll do my best. But first, I need to see it in its original form. This . . . might hurt.”

               Before Severus could say anything, shadows lashed out and wrapped around Severus’s wrists and legs, pinning him down to the sofa while the shadow wrapped around his left wrist pulled his arm straight out for Dougal to inspect.

Severus pulled against the restraints, but they didn’t budge. He tried not to panic, sure that Dougal would not actually harm him, though he had been warned it might hurt. He clenched his teeth tightly in anticipation.

Pinching a sliver of a shadow and pulling it up from the floor, Dougal hovered the small wispy strand in the air and waved his hands around it before slapping it down on Severus’s arm.

               It felt like his arm had been set on fire and it burned and itched and bit at his skin as the shadow filled in the space and brought the Dark Mark back to life, becoming one with the dark magic residue still lingering inside the mark.

Severus cried out, clenching his fists and jerking against the restraints. He ground his teeth together, biting back a scream, but as the Dark Mark roared and burned as if he was being summoned by the Dark Lord himself, the scream escaped his lips.

“Severus!” Remus jumped to his feet, panicked, but he was quickly roped up by more shadows jumping up from the floor, and they pulled him into the chair Dougal had been sitting it. He struggled against it, but he could not move, and when he started muttering spells, a length of shadow wrapped around his head, covering his mouth.

Dougal winced sympathetically at the painful cries, but he focused on the task at hand. The Dark Mark was alive and fully visible once more, a black brand of a snake crawling out of a skull, and it had a green twinge around the edges that reminded Dougal of the killing curse.

He waved his hand over the Dark Mark, looking for the binding spell interwoven in it. He had seen similar enslavement curses on a couple people who sought his help, but those curses were not nearly as dark and involving as this one. It intrigued Dougal more than it frightened him, and perhaps that was his first mistake.

As he spelled more shadows into the Dark Mark, latching them on to every inch of the mark, he took a deep breath and summoned the shadows back to him, pulling on the mark, urging it to come off with the shadows.

Severus was sweating and shaking, and he cried out again as he felt his skin trying to rip right off him.

There was a flash of green that lit up the room, scaring the shadows away from Severus and the blast from the flash threw Dougal a yard back, but his shadows caught him before he hit the floor. He stood on his feet and called back the shadows in the room, surrounding Severus. Remus came running over toward Severus. The shadows that had held him captive had fallen away when the flash lit up the room.

               “Is he okay?” Remus asked, resting a hand on Severus’s forehead.

               Severus was panting now, his head rested against the back of the sofa, his hair soaked and his face pale.

               “He’s fine,” Dougal snapped as he stepped forward and tied roped around Severus once more, restraining him and pulling his left arm out. “This curse is embedded into his blood, and there is a resistant charm on it refusing my attempts to remove it. Sometimes, you’ve got to fight dark magic with even darker magic. I may need to momentarily possess Severus with shadow magic to get this mark off him. That way, I’ll be able to use the shadows to grip every piece if this curse from within him and yank it out all at once.”

               “That sounds really painful,” Remus said, giving Dougal a concerned look.

               “It is,” Dougal agreed as he flicked his wrist at Remus. “You might want to sit down.”

               “No, wait,” Remus started, but he was quickly wrapped up in tight shadows once more and dragged back to the chair.

               Dougal rubbed his hands together.

               “I’d give you a pain reliever,” Dougal said to Severus, “but I don’t have any. Hold still, this might feel weird.”

               Entering the shadow world, Dougal’s form became unhinged and wispy, and with a deep breath, he stepped forward before vanishing inside of Severus. It took a moment, but when he opened his eyes, he was seeing out of Severus’s eyes. Severus writhed against the restraints, the shadow magic suffocating him. Dougal called forth shadows and stretched them throughout Severus, nearly turning Severus into a complete shadow himself.

               Dougal focused all his energy on the glowing Dark Mark that glared at him, the snake hissing angrily. Calling forth another large shadow that encapsulated the mark, Dougal willed every shadow to push out of Severus, including himself.

               He could feel the dark magic inside Severus resisting against his push, but the shadows gripped tightly and there was a slight give that encouraged Dougal to push harder. Severus’s thrashing made it slightly difficult to hold on to every piece of dark magic, but he refused to lose an ounce of it and risk Severus suffering repercussions from this removal process.

               Bit by bit, the dark magic gave more and more until finally, Dougal fell forward, falling out of Severus. He stumbled slightly, catching himself and looking at his left arm. The Dark Mark hissed up at him and Dougal shook his arm, and the mark puffed into a smoky substance, and the shadows around it quickly swallowed the magic.

               Returning his form back to normal, Dougal released Remus from his restraints before doing the same to Severus, who collapsed against the sofa.

               “Severus, are you okay?” Remus asked.

               “Give him some air, let him breathe,” Douglass said as he leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees and taking deep breaths himself.

               Severus forced himself to take deep breaths for several moments while Remus summoned a cool, wet cloth and rested it over Severus’s forehead. Slowly, Severus raised his left arm and stared at the bare skin that remained.

               “Unbelievable,” Severus muttered in a raspy voice. “It’s gone. You did it.”

               “Oh, yeah,” Dougal said in between pants as he waved his hand dismissively. “It was nothing. Piece of cake really. But you owe me one. I don’ know what yet. But you owe me.”

               “Of course. For this, anything.”

               It took a few days to recover from the Dark Mark extraction, and Severus spent those days in his quarters sleeping. He had to drag himself out of bed or off his couch to keep up on grading final exams and seeing his students for their end of year reports. He was exhausted and felt as if a piece of himself was missing, but at the same time, he felt lighter, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He owed Dougal a lot for this transformation.

He was free of servitude. Free of spying. Free of double agent duties. He was free.

               Yet, he had yet to tell Harry. He still wasn’t sure about a public announcement or adoption. Maybe they should start with a trial period, just to make sure everything would work out between them, then he could look into guardianship. It should be much easier now that he no longer had the Dark Mark etched into his skin.

               He went over his proposal for Harry several times in his head, wanting the words to be just right. He would explain how he had freed himself of any past duties that had originally kept him from taking Harry in. He still wanted to move slow and see how they fit as guardian and ward. It would be very different from mentor and student, right?

               As Severus mulled over his thoughts one night, Moony came tearing into the bedroom, barking frantically.

               “Harry went after the stone!” Moony said, “he’s in the infirmary. He’s hurt!”

               Severus ran after the wolf, following him all the way to the hospital wing where Ron and Harry laid in adjacent beds to each other. They were both unconscious, and Poppy quickly explained that they both had concussions before Dumbledore pulled Severus aside to explain what must have happened with the philosopher stone. Quirrell was dead, and Voldemort—or at least a part of his spirit—had fled the castle. Severus kept his mouth shut about the Dark Mark removal, at least for now. He was sure he would have to tell Dumbledore at some point, but for now, it could wait.

               Severus stayed in the infirmary with Harry all night, resting in a chair he summoned while Moony curled up at the foot of the bed, resting his head over Harry’s legs.

               Ron woke up first the next morning, and he was cleared to leave by that evening, and he did so reluctantly. Hermione and Ron visited every day, bringing sweets with them each time from roommates or other classmates. Severus snorted at the growing collection of get well soon treats.

               The next day, Harry finally opened his eyes.

               “Harry,” Severus greeted, standing up and peering into the boy’s eyes. “How are you feeling? Does your head hurt?”

               “M thirsty,” Harry managed to get out.

               Severus helped Harry sit up before summoning a glass of water and holding it to the boy’s lips. Moony sat up at the end of the bed, watching intently. When Harry pulled back, Severus set the cup down. Harry rubbed at his eyes and blinked blearily at Moony, before squinting around the room.

               “Where are my glasses?” Harry asked.

               Severus found them folded on the nightstand and he handed them to Harry.

               “What were you thinking?” Severus asked. “Going after the stone like that; you could have been killed! We talked about this. You were going to leave it to the adults to worry about.”

               “We heard Quirrell talking to himself—or at least we thought he was talking to himself.” Moony slinked forward and rested his head against Harry’s chest, and Harry absently stroked the wolf’s head. “But he had . . . You-Know-Who sticking out the back of his head. We tried telling Professor McGonagall, but she didn’t believe us and I . . .”

               “You didn’t tell me,” Severus said, narrowing his eyes.

               Harry’s cheeks reddened and he looked away.

               “I didn’t want to tell you. I was still mad at you.”

               “So you risk your life?”

               “It wasn’t like that. I just wanted to help. And I wanted to prove to Dumbledore that I can take care of myself. Maybe then he’d let me stay here and not send me back to my relatives.”

               “Oh, Harry,” Severus began, resting a hand on top of Harry’s head. “I’m sorry you felt the need to do that. But that was reckless and foolish of you. I should swat you good for this. I told you to leave it alone.”

               “Don’t pretend you care, you don’t!” Harry yelled at Severus. “You’re not my dad so stop acting like it!”

               Moony lifted his head and snarled softly at Harry before looking up at Severus. Moony’s eyes spoke many sentences before he stood up and jumped off the bed, walking toward Poppy’s office to give the two space to talk.

               Harry had tears in his eyes, but he wiped them away stubbornly.

               “I do care about you,” Severus began when Harry stayed silent for a moment. “So much so that I went out of my way, went through excruciating pain in order to be able to even consider housing you. I am exhausted, I still hurt, and you have the audacity to yell at me that I do not care about you.”

               Harry looked back at Severus with uncertain but hopeful eyes.

               “I took a risk in order to offer you the chance to stay with me this summer,” Severus growled through his teeth, “and you nearly kill yourself in some heroic scheme and didn’t tell me about your foolish plan because you were mad at me?”

               Harry swallowed dryly as tears pooled in his eyes.

               “Well, if we decide to try a stay at Prince Manor, the very first thing you’re doing is spending time in your room—grounded! You hear me, little boy? Grounded. You can sit in there and think about how ridiculously idiotic what you did was and how much it may have worried the people who do care about you, you little—”

               Severus was cut off as Harry jumped up on the bed and wrapped his arms around Severus’s neck, squeezing in a chock hold.

               “I love you, Ajax,” Harry whispered.

               Severus brought his arms up around Harry slowly, then squeezed Harry to his chest, running a hand through the wild hair.

               “I love you, too, Harry.”

               They would be okay. Somehow, Severus knew they would be okay. Perhaps this guardian ward situation would come more naturally than he had originally thought.