The Luckiest Shot by JAWorley
Past Featured StorySummary: Harry threw a snowball and it hit Snape in the back of the head, which started a chain of events no one thought possible. Entry for round 3 of the first ever Tri-Writing Tournament on P&S. Prompts used: snowball fights and Muggle board games. If you like this story, don’t forget to vote for it! If you don’t like it, vote for someone else's story, just be sure to vote! One-shot.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape, Fic Fests > Tri-Writing Tournament 2019 > Round Three Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dumbledore, McGonagall, Pomfrey
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Canon Snape, Snape Comforts, Snape is Desperate, Snape is Kind, Snape is Loving, Snape is Mean, Snape is Secretive, Snape is Stern
Genres: Angst, Canon, Drama, Family, General, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption, Elves, Incognito!Harry, Injured!Harry, Kidnapped!Harry, Runaway
Takes Place: 5th Year, 6th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Bullying, Neglect, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Suicide Themes, Violence
Prompts: Snowball Challenge
Challenges: Snowball Challenge
Series: None
Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Word count: 12830 Read: 13682 Published: 18 Dec 2019 Updated: 18 Dec 2019
Story Notes:
About the warnings: *Bullying (mentioned Draco once bullying Harry).  *Suicide themes (one thought Harry has one time). *Violence (minor scuffles and implied violence at the Dursleys).
The Luckiest Shot by JAWorley

Harry didn't know what made him do it. It might have been that Snape had just robbed him of 20 points simply for being out in the snow without a coat, or it could have been because the man had taken 10 points off him the day before and another 15 last week. It might have been the man's snark that sent him over the edge, or even just that the snow was available. Harry couldn't tell you why if you asked (and people did ask), but the fact was he had done it. As Snape had stalked away from him across the grounds after docking him 20 points, Harry had impulsively scooped up a large handful of snow, packed it tight, and sent it sailing at the man's head. It was a lucky shot considering the distance the ball flew, but anyone who knew Snape would have said it was unlucky that Harry made his target.

As soon as the snowball left Harry's hand he knew he'd made a mistake. He didn't often act so thoughtlessly. Snape spun around, icy snow dripping down the long locks of hair on the back of his head. Harry barely had time to register the brief look of shock before the man was stalking back to him with a scowl firmly set in place. He was yelling too, and it took Harry's mind several seconds to register the word ‘expulsion' and the various names he was being called. Then his anger caught back up to him and washed away the brief fear and shock that had taken him over in the moments after the snowball had made contact with the back of Snape's head.

Harry found himself face to face with the angry Potions Master, and he was sure the man had just subtracted another fifty points, but his own thoughts were spinning frantically around his mind and drowning the Slytherin head of house out. Then words began tumbling out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them, and he wondered why he was letting his anger get so far away from him today.

"20 points from Slytherin!" Harry shouted, glaring at Snape. The man paused to give Harry an especially nasty sneer. He opened his mouth to scold him, but Harry cut him off. "20 points for getting hit in the head with a snowball."

"You're an even bigger moron than one would have previously assumed Potter," Snape spat with pure contempt.

"Why? Why shouldn't you lose 20 points? And I should have another 20 points for the way you've spoken to me. Yes, 20 more points from Slytherin!"

"You have clearly lost your mind."

"Really? You shout at me and take points because I don't have a coat. I can control having a coat as much as you could control getting smacked in the head with a snowball. It's not fair to punish me for things I can't control."

The man looked more than disgusted with Harry. "You will follow me to the Headmaster's office. There is no saving you from expulsion with the disrespect you have shown."

A little wave of fear rippled through him at the thought of being expelled and sent back to the Dursleys. He'd just escaped them two months ago, and the thought of being sent away from Hogwarts so soon, never to return, made him think yet again about picking up the snowball.

"Now Potter," Snape ground out when Harry had not yet turned to go back up to the castle. The man seemed so certain that Harry would be expelled for this, that Harry began to question if there was a reason for the Headmaster to keep him there at all. His grades weren't the best. He was good in Defense and Charms but he hadn't been doing so well in Transfiguration, Potions, or Herbology this year, and he always failed Divination. There was also the fact that he had been butting heads with Umbridge since the first day of term, and she had already complained about him several times to Professor McGonagall.

"No," Harry said resolutely.

"It was not a choice Potter."

"I'm not going," he insisted. Snape's hand shot out towards Harry's collar and before Harry could resist, the man was dragging him through the snow towards the castle.

"Stop!" Harry reached up for the taller man's arm but couldn't loosen his grip on the back of his shirt. He cursed, but Snape didn't react. Harry went for his wand in his pocket, but the man had it out of his hand with a simple flick of his own, and held it out of Harry's reach.

"I hate you!" Harry shouted as the front steps of the castle came into view.

"Good for you," Snape sneered. "I'm not here to be your friend."

Harry cursed again as he continued to struggle and pull against the firm grip pulling him ever closer to his impending expulsion. Finally, with nothing left to lose, he reached out and shoved the Professor, causing the man to stumble just long enough to let go of Harry's shirt. Harry shoved him again, this time from behind, hoping to gain an advantage, and it worked as Snape went down to one knee in the deep snow. Then he turned and ran, leaving his wand behind with the angry Professor.

He heard Snape shout, but Harry had already put too much of a distance between them to be hit with any curse or leg-locker jinx the Professor might consider using against him. He thought about running down to Hagrid's hut, where it would at least be warm, but thought that was too predictable, and it was also within the Professor's line of sight. Instead Harry ran into a thicket of trees at the edge of the lake, and then skirted the lake and headed straight for the Forbidden Forest. Just beyond the edge of the forest, Harry paused, doubled over and panting. The icy air stabbed at his lungs as he gasped for breath, and his legs shook with exertion. Snape came into view almost two full minutes later, and Harry watched from the shadows of the forest.

"I know you're in here Potter," Snape said warily, also out of breath but not gasping for air in the undignified way Harry had minutes before. "You are only proving my case against you."

Harry peered out from behind a large tree, crouching down. The Potions Master was looking in the other direction. If only he could get his wand back, then he would stand a chance. What chance, Harry didn't know. He'd yelled, and already assaulted the Professor twice, and in desperation a memory charm came to mind, but Harry wasn't sure he was willing to go that far. They'd been cautioned in the past not to use such charms because they could cause irreversible damage if cast incorrectly. If only he were just a little bit closer, he could sneak his wand right out of the man's robe pocket. Harry reached forward towards his wand, despite being nearly twenty feet from Snape, and willed himself to have his wand again, even knowing it wouldn't work. To his surprise, after several moments of desperate grasping at air, the wand flew out of Snape's pocket and into Harry's hand.

Snape spun at the tugging of his robes, spotted Harry with the wand in his hand, and shouted. Harry turned and ran a second time, but Snape was quicker with a leg-locker jinx than he had been before, and Harry went sprawling, chin smacking a fallen log on the way down to the cold, hard, earth.

"One way or another Potter, you are coming with me to the Headmaster's office. A professor hasn't been assaulted by a student in over 100 years." Harry felt his legs unlock, but just as quickly as one charm had disappeared, another had replaced it on Harry's wrists, which were now bound together behind his back by an invisible cord. Snape yanked Harry up by his arm and to his feet. He knew his chin was bleeding freely, but the professor did nothing to stop it.

Harry was frog-marched back out of the forest and into the twilight. Snape seemed too angry to speak, so they walked silently until they were well past Hagrid's cabin and halfway back to the castle.

"What would possess you to run into the Forbidden Forest without a wand as it's getting dark?" Harry heard him mutter something about the cold and no coat again, but his ears were roaring. He was going to be expelled and it was trouble of his own making. He should have just taken the loss of points and gone back to the tower.

"Well?"

"I don't want to go back," Harry said quietly.

"You have no choice but to see the Headmaster. Disobeying was infantile and asinine."

"I don't mean to the castle," Harry said. "I'm not going back to the Dursleys. I'd rather run away than be expelled and sent back there."

"What, they don't play into your celebrity enough to fill your overly large ego?"

Harry stared at the ground as they walked. "Celebrity status isn't good for anything," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I'd trade my status for a coat, or a pair of gloves, or a meal every day. No one cares about status if you spend all your free time locked in a cupboard under the stairs."

"Your attention seeking will get you nowhere," Snape sneered. "I am not one of your fans who will blindly believe whatever lies you feed them."

"I didn't ask you to believe anything!" Harry snapped at him.

"No, only that you're a starved orphan who lives in a cupboard."

Harry stopped walking, causing Snape to shoot him an irritated look.

"Not that it matters if you believe me sir," Harry said, face betraying his anger, "nobody ever does, but it's more than a dark cupboard and not getting fed." He turned away, face red, but it was getting harder to see color as the light faded.

"Pray tell Potter," Snape goaded him, as if his story was an amusing distraction on the long cold walk back to the front steps.

Harry was quiet as they walked, considering what to tell him. He supposed it didn't matter if he knew since he would never believe him. Maybe it would be worth it to show him his scars just to see the look on his face. Just to shut him up, Harry thought. He'd never shown anyone before. Ron had seen them a few times as Harry was getting changed, but he'd never asked and Harry had never told.

"Had enough time to come up with more lies Potter? I hope they're good this time. You are a terrible liar. You never would have done well in Slytherin." Snape smirked at the look Harry gave him. "Yes, I know the hat tried to put you there first."

Harry dropped to his knees in the snow without warning. Wrists still bound, he groped at the hem of his t-shirt behind him and tried to lift it up.

"What are you doing?"

"Lifting my shirt, so I can lie to you some more," Harry said.

"Enough. Get up."

"Not until I've had a chance to show you my lies." Harry couldn't help but think of the new scars on the back of his left hand, courtesy of Umbridge and her blood quill. I must not tell lies.

"Up."

"Lift my shirt up."

Snape reached down to try to lift Harry up by the arm again, but Harry struggled against him. "LIFT IT UP!" he shouted, and finally Snape stopped fighting him.

"Asinine," Snape muttered as he grabbed the back of Harry's shirt and lifted it so roughly from his back that Harry thought it was a miracle it hadn't ripped. When nothing more was forthcoming, no scathing remarks or snide comments, Harry knew Snape was looking. He'd lost count of the number of scars that were there over the years. Scars from being pushed down the stairs by Dudley, or hauled across the concrete patio in the back by uncle Vernon, or having the garden rake thrown at him by aunt Petunia when he hadn't done a good enough job raking grass clippings.

"Lumos." Harry saw the faint glow of Snape's wand, and felt colder than he had before since his back was exposed to the chill air.

"What are these?" Snape asked, voice cold but also oddly muted. He still hadn't dropped the back of Harry's shirt and Harry shivered.

"Do you want me to lie?" he asked, still feeling defiant and angry.

There was a long pause, as if Snape was considering his answer to Harry's question. Harry was surprised when Snape said, "Yes."

"They're nothing," Harry said, voice going hollow as he spouted the same lies he always had to anyone who grew suspicious, struggling for a moment until Snape dropped his shirt, and then standing to get out of the wet snow which had soaked through his pants and shoes completely. "They don't bother me at all. I must have been clumsy and fallen sir. I do that a lot. At least a couple times a week." At first his aunt and uncle had fed him things to say to people if they asked, but it hadn't been long before he'd begun coming up with things on his own. But suddenly wanting to shock Snape more, and make him feel sorry for the way he'd often taken points from Harry for things beyond his control, Harry continued. "I don't have any scars on my chest either, just my back. I never get a broken wrist or ribs or anything from being clumsy. I'll just be walking along and suddenly find myself on the ground and there you go, a new scar. My aunt and uncle are always telling people how clumsy I am." Well, the last bit had been the truth. Everyone on Privet Drive thought Harry was the clumsiest boy in the world. Neighbors had stopped asking every time he turned up with a new cast on his wrist or a new set of bruises. He often thought that aunt Petunia had told the lie so many times that she'd begun to believe it herself, because she often scolded him with, ‘Don't be so clumsy!' or, "You're such a clumsy boy!'

"Nox." The wand light went out and the bindings on Harry's wrist also disappeared. Harry rubbed his wrists, thinking they would be sore, but it was so cold that his arms and face were numb and he didn't feel anything. He began walking back to the castle without being prompted. He wasn't sure Snape was behind him until several minutes later when the man spoke and startled him.

"What about the truth?"

Harry turned and frowned at him, though it was now nearly too dark to distinguish facial features. "You don't want the truth," Harry said.

"I asked."

"No you didn't. You asked me to lie, and when I told you the truth you didn't care. I told you I didn't have a coat. You took points from me anyway, like I'm just too stupid to grab a coat before I head out into the snow. Thanks for thinking so highly of me."

"There is no need for sarcasm."

Harry spun on him, causing Snape to stop suddenly so he wouldn't bowl Harry over.

"Yes there is," Harry said. "It's not fair that everyone puts me down and just expects me to take it with a positive attitude. You act like I'm supposed to thank you for taking points away or giving me detention, and then you get upset when I yell at you or push you or throw things at you."

"I did not ask you to thank me."

"No, but you wanted me to take it. Well I took it Professor. I took it, and I took it, and I took it. And if you want me to be expelled, I'll go back to the Dursleys and I'll keep taking it, because that's what I do. Let me have sarcasm, that's mine. If I'm not sarcastic out loud it's still going to happen in my head."

Harry turned and jogged up the steps and in through the massive oak front door. Severus followed eventually, trying to work over the things that had happened that evening. When he got inside the Entrance Hall, Harry was nowhere to be seen. He half wondered if the boy had stalked all the way up through the castle to the Headmaster's office, and went to check, but he wasn't there. He wasn't certain what to do about the fifth year. On the one hand, he had assaulted him with the snowball and shoved him. The boy had also cursed, shouted at him, and disobeyed. On the other hand, if he really didn't have a coat and had been treated the way he indicated he had, then Snape had done little better than goad him into doing those things. He passed the Headmaster's office and headed towards Gryffindor, but found Harry slumped against a corridor wall before he got there.

"Potter," he said cautiously.

Harry looked up at him briefly but then back at the floor. "My legs won't work."

Severus looked at the boy's legs and noted that he was shaking. He was also aware the boy's chin still had a gash from where he'd fallen in the forest, and felt guilty. It was no longer bleeding but if it wasn't healed with magic he'd have another scar.

"You need to see Madam Pomfrey," he said. He moved forward to lift Harry yet again, but this time did so without jerking him upright. Harry swayed but was able to walk without Snape's help after a moment.

Pomfrey had declared the teen hypothermic and scolded him for roaming the grounds without a coat and for not coming in as soon as his shoes and pants had become soaked. She fed him several potions and healed the gash on his chin before ordering him into the bathroom to take a warm shower. Severus didn't have to see his bare chest to know there would be scars there.

"What do you think about his scars?" Severus asked when Harry disappeared into the shower and hadn't come out for ten minutes.

Poppy's eyes flickered over to him. "He's been abused."

"You know?"

"I'm surprised you know," she said.

"Why hasn't he been removed from their care?"

"Don't look at me Severus. I've brought his injuries to the Headmaster's attention time and again. Something to do with there being nowhere else for him to go."

"The Weasleys-"

She shot him a dark look. "It's not for us to shoo him off to another family. You know they can barely afford to take care of the children they have."

"There has to be somewhere better than where he's been."

"Yes there has," Poppy agreed. "I suspect there are other things at play. If Albus pretends for even a second that he doesn't know what goes on in that house then he's trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Both Minerva and myself have told him the truth too many times. I suspect others have as well."

"I'm sure he'd rather go to an orphanage than go back to his relatives."

"Yes," Poppy said in the same sarcastic tone Potter had used earlier. "I'm sure he'd like that. I'm sure you'd like that too, to push the problem off on someone else and not have to think about him anymore."

"That is not fair."

"Isn't it?"

She turned and went back into her office and left him alone in the dimly lit ward. Severus huffed in irritation, but didn't have overlong to think about what she'd said because Harry had come out of the bathroom. Severus hadn't realized how pale the teen had been until just now when he'd come out and his cheeks were rosy from the heat of the water.

Harry frowned at him and moved past him to the bed, toweling off his wet hair. When he turned a moment later to find Snape still watching him, he frowned again. "What?"

"What do you think about living in an orphanage?"

Harry shook his head and turned back to the hospital bed where his shoes and socks were. "That'd go over real well with Draco and the others. I get made fun of enough for not having parents."

"Mr. Malfoy makes fun of you for not having parents?"

In a mock voice Harry imitated, "Oh I guess you wouldn't know about manners Potter, since your mum didn't stick around long enough to teach you." He sat on the bed and pulled his now dry socks on, and mocked again, "Ooh, Potter's crying, better go get his mum and dad, oh wait, that's right, he doesn't have parents."

Harry angrily jammed his shoes on and then reached for his glasses.

"You were crying?"

Harry looked up at him and gave him a glare. "I got hit in the stomach with a bludger during practice in my first year." It had been his first practice ever and Draco and his cronies had come to watch and shout obscenities at him from the stands. He didn't normally cry when he got hurt but he supposed he'd been so surprised to have the wind knocked out of him by the hard black ball that he'd let the tears come unchallenged. The rest of the team had taken care of him though and had been nice to him. They always had been. Fred and George had even gone on a hexing spree, hexing Draco's shoe's together every time they saw him for weeks on end afterwards.

After tying the broken laces of his shoes together Harry turned and realized Snape was still there, though he was staring at a nearby bed unseeingly. "The-Boy-Who-Lived doesn't get to cry," Harry said. "I'm not allowed to be that human." He stood up and made for the door. Snape didn't stop him and neither did Pomfrey, who was still in her office. Severus stared at the door for long moments after the boy had left.

What Harry had revealed had disturbed him, because it was contrary to everything he had thought previously about him, but what he'd said about not being allowed to cry... not being allowed to be human, that had struck him the most because he supposed it was true. People had expectations about what he was supposed to be like, and who he was supposed to be. Some students were in awe of him, others like Draco were jealous of his fame, and some were afraid of him. It was the same across wizarding Britain. He had to live up to all of those things and if he broke any of those illusions, that he was a hero that should be awed, that he was worthy of fame, that he was someone to be feared, then he would disappoint everyone around him. Until this moment Severus had never thought about the unfairness of what was being put upon the boy to uphold. The boy's fame colored the way Severus saw every action of every student that interacted with him. He'd always believed the boy had eaten up the attention he was getting just like James Potter would have, but now he wasn't so sure.

A headache set in as Severus walked back to the Dungeons. Suddenly he had to fit what he now knew about the boy in with everything he previously believed and rearrange it all in his head. Potter was famous yes, but also severely abused. He didn't flaunt his fame and instead was sarcastic and bitter about the things that had happened to him and the way he'd been treated. The rivalry between Harry and Draco made more sense now too. If Draco had been taunting him and putting him down for not having parents, and for being human, then he could see now why Harry responded to the Slytherin as he did. Severus sighed heavily. Potter must see him like he saw Draco. Relentless and cruel, getting on him for things he had no control over. That is what the boy had said wasn't it?

Severus took two potions for his headache and went to bed, but he didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, too much information swirling in his mind to make peace with.

* * *

"Did you really hit Snape in the back of the head with a snowball?" Collin Creevy asked several days later at breakfast.

Harry looked up at him and tried not to glare. How had he possibly found out about that?

"Oh my gosh," Collin said, "it's true isn't it? I heard some Hufflepuff's talking. They said they saw it out a window on the second floor."

"How are you still alive?" Neville asked, mouth hanging slightly open.

"No idea," Harry said quietly. He still wasn't sure why things had turned out as they had. After the Hospital Wing Harry had fully expected Snape to drag him to the Headmaster's office, but it hadn't happened, and he hadn't received a detention slip yet.

"Why'd you do it?" Dean asked.

"‘Cause he's crazy," Seamus said.

"He took points away from me for not having a coat," Harry said, pushing his eggs around on his plate.

"Git," Ron muttered. "Not your fault." Someone kicked Ron from across the table then, and while he hissed, he looked up and saw Seamus shaking his head and staring behind him. Ron nudged Harry in the side and the group of boys at that part of the table went quiet. A few moments later, Snape came up behind them.

"Potter, I require a word."

The boys gave each other a look while avoiding the Potion Master's eyes as Harry got up and left his plate of mostly uneaten breakfast behind.

"Crazy," Seamus said again after Harry had followed Snape out of the Great Hall. "No one in their right mind would chuck a snowball at him."

The other boys murmured their agreement and went back to their meal.

Harry followed after Snape with his hands in his pockets. Maybe he had been off his rocker to throw the snowball at Snape. He was probably being led to detention now. He wouldn't put it past the man to make him serve a long, gruelling Saturday detention before he led him up to the Headmaster's office to get expelled. Harry found himself being led to the man's office though and not to a broom cupboard to retrieve a mop and bucket.

"Sit down Potter." Snape closed the door behind him and warded it. That never boded well, Harry thought. Warding the door against noise and intruders could mean a detention like Umbridge's, though Harry had never seen Snape use a blood quill before. Subconsciously he hid his scarred hand under his other hand.

When Snape took a seat behind his desk he looked up at Harry and said seriously, "What do you need?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Clothing wise, what do you need?"

Maybe Harry wasn't the one who was crazy, he thought. Maybe Snape had inhaled some toxic potions fumes before breakfast or else someone had slipped something in his coffee. He wouldn't put it past Umbridge.

"Everything," Harry said cautiously, not certain what had gotten into the dark eyed man and why he wanted to know.

"You have nothing?"

"Everything is too big and full of holes, or I don't have it at all. I have school robes and Quidditch robes, that's it."

Snape began writing things down on a piece of parchment with a quill, and after a moment he slid it across the desk to Harry.

"Is there anything that needs to be added to the list?" he asked.

Harry let his eyes scan down the page. It listed things like socks and underwear, shoes, a coat, a sweatshirt, pants and mittens. The list went on.

"I don't understand. What are we doing?" Harry asked. He had to bite back the sarcasm that clawed to get out. He wanted to snap at the man about making him list out all the things he couldn't have.

"Since your Hogsmeade privileges have been revoked and you are unable to get to the village to purchase necessities, I will see to it that the things on the list find their way to you."

"But why?"

"So the next time I catch you out on the grounds without a coat I will know I am justified in giving you detention since I will know you have one."

Harry stared at him. He wasn't sure if the man was joking or not, or if the man had ever told a joke in his life. He decided not to ask.

"I don't have a hair brush or toothbrush or anything like that," Harry said, sliding the list back across to him. "I don't have any money to get the stuff on the list either. My vault has just enough for school supplies for the next couple years and maybe robes if I skip out on buying quills and parchment."

"I did not say I required payment," Snape said. He took the list back and wrote what Harry presumed was a hairbrush down and then put it in a desk drawer and looked up at Harry.

"What are we going to do to get you out of your relatives house?"

Harry frowned. "You're asking me? I've been trying to get away. I ran away two summers ago and Dumbledore found me after three days and apparated me right back there."

Severus sat up straight. "I did not hear about that."

"No," Harry scoffed. Why would Dumbledore tell anyone that? Harry had made it all the way to Leicester, a little over a hundred miles away before Dumbledore had caught up to him and taken him back. Harry didn't cry though he wanted to and Dumbledore didn't say anything to him aside from to stay put and that he was sorry, though Harry didn't think that he really was.

"I have spoken to Minerva, Madam Pomfrey and the Headmaster. Minerva says she has been unable to convince the Headmaster to move you elsewhere and Madam Pomfrey said the same. The Headmaster gave me his reasons for why you had to stay."

"I've heard it all before," Harry said bitterly, looking away.

"I am asking if you have ideas. Clearly an orphanage is not the answer and the Headmaster would not allow it in any case."

Harry thought about throwing in the option of offing himself just to be funny, but didn't want the Potions Master to think he was serious. He was angry, not hopeless. "I don't know what to do," Harry said, hating that he sounded hopeless anyway. He had tried too hard to stomp hopelessness down with anger since he'd run away and the Headmaster had dragged him back to Privet Drive just to have it brought out now by the bat of the dungeons.

When Severus could see the boy was going to be no help and that his shoulders had fallen, perhaps at the realization that there was no help to be given him, he released him and told him he'd have new clothing delivered to him soon.

Severus was starting to feel hopeless on the boy's behalf. Since Dumbledore had custody of him, and was head of the school and the Wizengamot, there was little hope of anyone else gaining custody of Harry. Not that he'd want to, but Minerva had mentioned she'd looked into it at one point before being warned off by a friend at the Ministry.

Severus was still sitting at his desk and thinking over the problem several hours later when there was a knock on the door. A moment later, Draco and Pansy came in to receive instructions for their evening Prefect rounds.

"Patrol the main Dungeon corridor, the Great Hall, and the Prefect's bathroom. Stay out of the side Dungeon corridors and classrooms."

"Is that all sir?" Pansy asked. Typically he gave them more instructions, but he would rather just have time to himself to think instead of giving them a full rundown of the night's duties.

"Yes. You may go."

Pansy moved for the door, but Draco stepped towards the desk. "Uncle Severus?" he asked.

Severus looked up.

"Are you-" he paused with a look at Pansy and then seemed to change his mind about what he wanted to ask and finished, "is there anything I can help with?"

"No." Draco half turned, as if to go to the door with Pansy, but Severus changed his mind and said, "Yes."

Draco and Pansy turned back to him expectantly.

"If someone was preventing you from doing something you had to do: preventing you from getting to a place where you need to be; or if someone was preventing you from being safe... not actively harming you, but not allowing you to be in a safe place, what would you do?"

Pansy and Draco exchanged a look.

"I'm going to assume killing the person isn't an option?" Pansy asked seriously, and Severus almost snorted. He didn't think Pansy would do more than give someone a black eye, but killing wayward spouses or people causing the Parkinson family problems was something their family had experience with back through the ages.

"Definitely not," he said, though there was enough amusement across his features that Pansy relaxed a little. Even if the Headmaster was causing an issue with Potter, he couldn't even imagine assassinating one of his only friends.

"You could blackmail them," Draco said, as though his suggestion was much more helpful. Just as Pansy's family had a history of mysterious deaths, Draco's had an even longer one of blackmailing people to do what they wanted.

When Severus didn't answer immediately Draco asked eagerly, "Who are we blackmailing uncle Sev?"

Severus shot Draco a stern look that didn't seem to perturb Draco, possibly because it was a look he reserved only for him when he didn't really mean it, and said, "No one. It was a hypothetical scenario, and one which you would be well advised to keep to yourselves. Be on your way to your patrol, and stay out of Professor Umbridge's way. I do not expect to see either of you on the list for her ‘Inquisitorial Squad'."

The two fifth years gave each other another look, and Severus sighed before beckoning them to come back over to his desk and have a seat. He'd had this conversation with several other Prefects, but it looked like it might take longer with his fifth years. Anyone on Umbridge's new ‘squad' was likely to be expelled for whatever she'd have them do, or at the very least be stripped of Prefect status as soon as the staff were able to get rid of her, and he didn't want any of his Slytherins involved. Maybe there was some merit to their suggestions after all, just aimed at Umbridge.

* * *

Umbridge was gone, Dumbledore had come back to fill his post again, and Potter was roaming the halls in a daze after the loss of his Godfather, and the entire incident at the Ministry that almost resulted in the loss of himself and his friends as well. Severus could only guess that the boy had new scars littering his body after the amount of glass prophecy orbs the children had destroyed in the Department of Mysteries. Perhaps it had been tactless to ask the boy when he found him wandering the halls near curfew two weeks before the end of school if he had gained new scars, but he had asked, and Potter simply stared at him for long moments.

"I am scars," the boy finally answered. Severus wished the boy's eyes would go back to being glazed over as they had been when he'd stopped him a moment before instead of being full of unshed tears.

Severus sighed heavily and said, "You are not the things that have happened to you." He wished it were Minerva talking to him, or Poppy, but he was the one there now, facing a fifth year who was about to cry.

Harry pointed to the lightning bolt on his forehead and gave the man a look that conveyed his wordless sarcasm. "Boy-Who-Lived," he reminded him, and then he turned and walked away before his tears fell.

Something in Severus shifted as he watched him walk away. He'd spent the last several months being sad and irritated and angry all at once that he could think of no way to get the boy removed from his relative's care. Now with only two weeks left of school, and the boy practically a walking zombie after what had gone on at the Ministry, Severus shifted from feeling hopeless to determined. A new thought also occurred to him that he'd never considered before. He stalked off to find Minerva and Poppy. Whether they approved or not, he had an idea, and if he didn't at least try it, he would loathe himself as much as those around him did.

* * *

"How much do you care about Potter?" Severus asked Minerva and Poppy late that evening in Minerva's quarters. They'd warded the door and windows and removed the portraits.

"What kind of question is that Severus?" Minerva scolded. "Of course we care about him!"

"Obviously," Severus said, irritated, "but how much? What would you do to keep him safe?"

"From his relatives?" Poppy asked. When Severus nodded, she said, "Anything. I'd adopt him myself if the Headmaster would allow it."

Severus turned to Minerva, and she nodded and motioned with her hand that the same was true for her as well.

"Would you do something illegal?"

"Like blackmail Albus?" Minerva asked.

Severus frowned and looked over at her. "More illegal than that, but less illegal than assassination," he said, and she looked taken aback at how seriously he'd responded.

When neither of the women responded, Severus asked testily, "Well?"

"Short of assassination," Minerva said, "I would do what it took to keep Harry safe. I don't want to see him return to his aunt and uncle and come back thinner and more worn than when he left."

"Especially after what happened at the Ministry," Poppy said. They'd all seen how bad the boy looked. He looked more than hopeless. He looked completely lost. Poppy noted that Severus was still waiting for an answer from her and said, "I'm with Minnie. If I had a way, I'd keep him from going back, regardless of the law."

"We are in agreement then?" Severus asked. "Something must be done?"

"By the way you've warded the doors and windows," Minerva said, "I take it you have a suggestion?"

Severus nodded, though he stayed silent for a few moments, lost in thought. Finally he looked up and said, "We are going to kidnap Harry Potter."

The two women exchanged another look. "Would you mind repeating that?" Minerva asked.

"Not particularly, no," Severus said, wary they would take what he'd just said to the Headmaster despite assurances they wanted to help Potter.

"Is this a serious suggestion?" Poppy asked.

"I think he is serious," Minerva said at the hard, yet anxious look on Severus' face. "Severus, I don't think you've thought this through." She stepped forward and for a moment Severus felt like he was a student again, about to get scolded for wrongdoing.

"Harry ran away two summers ago. It was three days before the Headmaster found him," Severus said. "Out of the tracking spells he could have been using, it suggests he was using Vultus. If we move him often enough, we could get him through the summer."

"Vultus is just one spell," Minerva said, beginning to walk in a circle around Severus and Poppy in her living room. "He could have been using Finna Leita or Lorg Rian or any number of others. There's no guarantee we could keep him longer than a week."

"Finna Leita requires a potion that takes two weeks to brew and a large quantity of Harry's blood, not to mention the Ministry regularly checks for traces of Finna Leita as it's dark magic," Severus said. "I think we can strike that one out." He knew they could, unless Albus had been tapping Harry for blood year round and had pints of it stored away.

"And Lorg Rian takes up to a week to pinpoint someone's location," Poppy said thoughtfully, "which would be impossible if Harry moved to far away locations every four or five days."

Severus nodded. "The others are all very dark, very complex, and take more than a week to work. If he's using any of them, including Vultus, and Potter is moved every day, or every two days, or even every three days at most, he'd be untrackable as long as he was moved far enough."

Minerva was nodding now and had resumed her pacing in a circle as Severus took a seat at the woman's desk chair. Poppy had already taken the comfortable pale green armchair covered in a red tartan blanket.

"It will be a rough summer for him, moving every few days," Minerva said, but then before anyone could answer her she said, "but a lot less rough than what he'd go through at home. When he came back after first year it looked like they hadn't fed him at all."

"There are three of us," Severus said. "We can take turns taking him to a new location. That would mean none of us would be missing long enough to be suspicious to the Headmaster." Staff often disappeared for days or even weeks at a time during the summer months.

"I'll be going to a Healer's retreat in Norway," Poppy said. "I should be there for three weeks. If one of you brought him to me every two or three days, that would be a large enough distance to throw off the scent."

"But the Headmaster may grow suspicious if Vultus keeps leading him in that direction."

"Of course," Poppy said, "but the retreat doesn't take place in one location. Each week is a new place in Norway. This year's retreat is focusing on taking patients to healing locations with different properties to heal different serious maladies. We'll be at a wellspring in the North for a week, an Elven camp near Silvalen for four days, and on Frafjord in the south for eight days."

Severus nodded and looked at Minerva. "I hadn't planned on going anywhere this summer," she said. "I suppose I could make a trip home to Rosehall and take care of some maintenance I've been putting off," she said. "If I stayed for more than a week then you could bring Harry to me there twice. I could also call on my friend in Homore. He's been doing some interesting work with transfiguration to reforest there and has been nagging me to visit for years."

"What else?" Severus asked. "We need more places than that."

"What about you Severus?" Poppy asked.

"Spinner's End," he said, disgusted he would have to return there, but it was a necessity. Maybe he'd go back and sell it. "Then I will travel while looking for a new home to buy."

"That's perfect," Minerva said. "That will give you a reason to be out and about frequently without being away for weeks on end."

"While one or two of us is away, the other will have to stay behind to throw Albus off the trail," Poppy said. "Even better if two of us are here at a time, and if we can manage, three of us. Harry can surely keep himself busy for a day here or there at our homes while we come back for staff meetings and make an appearance together."

Severus nodded, though he cringed at the thought of Potter alone in his home. Perhaps he could convince Poppy or Minerva to take him on those days. "We cannot be seen together too much," he said. "It would look suspicious if the three of us were suddenly together often and talking more than normal."

"Agreed," Minerva said. "You know, I think I'll invite Albus to come help me with repairs. I'll do that tonight to let him know I'll be leaving for a few weeks. He can't think I have Harry if I invite him to come with me to make repairs."

"Be certain we know the date you invite him so you do not have the boy that day."

"Of course Severus."

The three of them sat down at Minerva's table and drank tea for several hours as they made plans, opting to commit things to memory rather than write them down on paper that could be discovered at some point, and my morning all felt sure they had a solid plan in place.

Minerva asked Albus if he wanted to have a holiday to come work on her home and he said he'd ‘think about it' in a very non-committal way. Several days later Severus mentioned he was thinking of selling the ramshackle house on Spinner's End and asked if the Headmaster had any buyers in mind. Albus told him he was glad he was considering purchasing a new home that would suit him better. Finally, the day before the term ended, Poppy reminded the Headmaster that she had plans for a Healer's retreat, though she didn't mention where. As it happened, she had been invited to a Healer's retreat in Norway that summer, as well as a Healer's Conference in France and a Medi-Wizard convention in the states. She did mention however that she was considering possibly accepting some of her other invitations to be better prepared for ‘whatever may come' in their future. Albus had wholeheartedly agreed that she should get as much training out of the way as possible.

Finally, plan set and in motion, Severus approached Potter before he made his way out of the Great Hall and down towards the train with his friends to go home. "Watch it you dunderhead!" he seethed, startling Harry. Several other students in the vicinity were startled as well, all jumping, none of them sure which had drawn the Potion Master's ire this time. "That was my robe you stepped on!"

"I- I'm sorry sir," Harry said, looking as though he really couldn't take being chastized at the moment.

Snape reached forward and grabbed Harry's ear just hard enough to get him moving and dragged him to the stairwell to the dungeons, twenty or more sets of eyes on them and Harry shouting, "Hey, I'm sorry! Ow!" as they went. Finally alone and out of the sight of other students and staff, Severus cast a strong privacy spell on the stairwell and a repelling charm to keep others away.

"Potter, listen carefully."

"I said I was sorry!" Harry snapped, unshed tears in his eyes again, though Severus knew it wasn't because he'd hurt him, but because he was still reeling from his Godfather's death and perhaps a little unsteady at the moment. He wished the boy's anger and bitterness and fire would come back and replace the hurt look he constantly wore these days.

"Calm yourself, you are not in trouble."

"Yeah? Well it sure feels like I'm in trouble!" Harry snapped, upset.

"We cannot be seen together. You have less than a minute to listen to what I say and follow every direction I give if you want to spend the summer away from your relatives."

Harry's eyes snapped up and Severus could tell he had the teen's full attention.

"You will tell no one of this conversation or of any plans we discuss, am I clear? Not even your friends."

Harry nodded.

"You are to march out of here and loudly tell your friends that I threatened bodily harm if you ever step on my robe again. You are to return to London on the train and then return to your relatives house with them."

"But you said-"

"Be silent and listen! We have no time for argument!"

Harry closed his mouth and looked irritated.

"As soon as you return home, you are to make an excuse to go outside. From there you will make your way off the property with your belongings and to the park. I will retrieve you there. I cannot come onto your property to retreive you."

"They lock up my things when we get back to the house," Harry said tersely.

"Then keep your wand with you and send your things home with Weasley."

"Yeah," Harry said, "I could do that. I did it the year I ran away."

"Good. You are also to tell your friends that you wish you could go on vacation, that you'd like to see places like Egypt, Europe, and the America's. Say you were jealous of the Weasley's trip to Egypt and Granger's many trips abroad."

"I'm not going to say I was jealous."

Snape gave him a look to be quiet and Harry closed his mouth again. "You are also to make mention that an older student told you how to apparate."

"Hermione will have a field day with that," Harry said.

"Regardless," Snape said, "stick to the plan. I will be very displeased if you have not."

"Fine."

Severus looked at his watch, waved down the privacy and repelling spells, and gave Harry a stern look before using his hands to shoo him away. Harry stomped up the stairs towards the Entrance Hall and out of sight. Severus could only hope the boy would do as he was told. His safety and Severus' position as Potion's Master, not to mention Minerva and Poppy's positions there at the school depended on it.

* * *

Ron would never believe it when Harry told him at the end of the summer that Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall had kidnapped him. He would believe that Snape had done it, but not the Medi-Witch and Headmistress of Hogwarts. Regardless of what Harry thought Ron would believe, it was the truth. He'd sent his things home with Ron, stuffed his wand down his pants, and made an excuse the moment they got inside about needing to throw up from being car sick. Aunt Petunia had shooed him outside and told him not to come back until he was sure he was done throwing up. Harry had made his way to the park in the darkness and found Professor Snape waiting for him.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm kidnapping you Potter, for two or three days at a time."

"I don't understand."

Severus had gripped his arm and apparated him away before he could protest though, and Harry had found himself at a run down house in a run down neighborhood in London. Snape explained the plan, but Harry was wary until three days later at five in the morning Severus apparated him to a chilly, foggy wooded area somewhere far away and Madam Pomfrey had appeared out of the mist.

"He was telling the truth?" Harry asked her as she led him to a cabin in a small group of cabins.

"Yes. It was all his idea. Tomorrow evening I'll take you to Minerva, and in a few days she'll bring you back, then Severus will come get you again."

Harry spent two lovely days in the forest keeping himself occupied while Madam Pomfrey was learning new healing skills at a mysterious foggy spring Harry was told to stay away from in the day time. At night however, when no one else was around, she took Harry to the spring and made him get in. The water was warm and it made his scars tingle. By the end of the second evening with her, he thought his scars looked lighter and less pronounced, though he couldn't be sure because he didn't have a mirror.

Professor McGonagall's house was in the Scottish highlands on a windswept moor. It was beautiful, and Harry thought he'd rather like to stay there for the entire summer. He helped McGonagall repair the roof and several old roof beams the Muggle way while she reinforced charms and anti-Muggle barriers around the property. His favorite part was sitting around the fire in the evenings wrapped in one of McGonagall's many soft tartan blankets and drinking hot tea and eating chocolate and orange covered biscuits as McGonagall read to herself or worked on things she needed to for Hogwarts.

Harry wasn't sorry to be taken back to Pomfrey in the wood with the wellspring though, because as it turned out his scars had lightened, and he eagerly got back in the pool of warm water for the next three nights before Snape showed up and took him to a new place. Harry had expected to be taken back to the run down house, but Snape informed him he had sold it. They spent the next two days visiting various cities and towns south of London as Snape looked for a new house. Once he even asked Harry what he thought of a property, but Harry said he imagined Snape in a Tudor style home, and was surprised when the man didn't disagree.

Harry was moved back and forth throughout the summer, sometimes staying with a Professor for a day, sometimes for two or three. Once when Professor Snape had just taken him to McGonagall's house, he came right back and took Harry an hour later and kept him for another three days. Apparently he'd received word from Madam Pomfrey that the Headmaster was planning a visit that day to McGonagall's house and had hurried to get back before the Headmaster made it there. Harry would have complained, because he loved it at McGonagall's house, but he was also enjoying seeing new cities and towns with Snape as he searched for new houses. While Snape had initially given Harry a few new items of clothing to wear for the summer the first night Harry stayed with him, he frequently bought new clothes for Harry as they moved from town to town. Everything from new sneakers to shorts, a soft pale green hoodie, and several new t-shirts. They stayed at bed and breakfasts or in hotel rooms at night, but Snape was quiet and content to leave Harry alone. One evening when Harry really did step on Snape's robe as he was on his way out of the room for a staff meeting at Hogwarts, he did not yell at Harry, and simply met his eyes before he apparated away. Harry had breathed a sigh of relief at not getting yelled at or throttled, but had spent the next several hours alone contemplating how different Snape seemed when not at school.

There was no wellspring at the next place Madam Pomfrey had stayed, but there were elves and Harry spent three days with several his own age. They talked about the differences between the world of wizards and elves, and Harry was interested to find out elven children learned magic from the time they could walk and talk. The elven teens thought it was cool that Harry got to go to school for nine months of the year away from his parents and just have time to grow and learn on his own. They even taught Harry how to grow a tree by placing his hand against the dirt a seed had been placed in and channeling his energy down through his fingers.

The day before Harry's birthday, Professor Snape told Harry that the Headmaster had figured out he wasn't with the Dursleys and had started to search. He'd offered his ‘assistance' but had been turned down as the Headmaster was certain he could find Harry on his own. Days later, McGonagall told Harry that the Headmaster had contacted the Weasley's and interviewed Ron, who told him he thought Harry now knew how to apparate and had expressed a desire to ‘see the world'. Harry had laughed, finally understanding why Snape had made him say those things to his friends on the train ride to London.

At Madam Pomfrey's final retreat location, she smeared mud from the edge of a fjord on Harry's scars and made him keep the mud on him for both days he was with her. By the time Professor Snape came back to retrieve him, the scars were all but gone. Only the one on his forehead remained. Harry thanked her with a hug and told himself he wouldn't cry as he let Snape apparate him away.

"Where are we going this time sir?"

"I am seriously considering a house in Giggleswick."

"Giggleswick?" Harry asked, biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Despite the name," Severus said, giving him a stern look, "it seems a pleasant enough town. The house sits in a wood."

He took them to the house and Harry had to admire the idyllic setting. It sat at the back of a wooded property and from the house you couldn't see any other houses. Light filtered down through the trees and across the lawn to settle on the small two story tudor in a way that made Harry wish he lived there. He could see himself living in such a place, and sitting by a fire in the evenings like at McGonagall's home and drinking hot tea and reading a book.

"It is a tudor," Snape said as Harry stared at the outside of the house.

"Yes sir."

They went inside and Harry impulsively asked, "How many bedrooms does it have?"

Severus looked at him and then at the ceiling. "Two. Both upstairs."

It was small, but Harry thought it was cozy. It had a small living room attached to a small dining room, and next to that a kitchen and bathroom. Upstairs were two small rooms and nothing more.

"It's a nice house sir," Harry said.

"Yes."

They'd seen a lot of nice houses, but this one felt ‘right' to Harry, despite that it wouldn't be his.

"The perfect size for two people," Snape said. Harry looked over at him, but Snape was looking towards the kitchen at that moment, and Harry couldn't see his face.

They went and looked at two more houses that day before Snape took him to McGonagall, stating that he needed to be back at Hogwarts that night, so he could only keep Harry for a day. Harry felt strange when Snape left him with McGonagall... almost, empty. He couldn't stop thinking about the Tudor in Giggleswick.

* * *

Professor McGonagall had a friend that lived on the coast that was doing some strange magic in an attempt to reforest areas of the windswept Scottish Moors that used to be wooded. Harry wanted to be interested, but his mind was elsewhere. That was until the man he'd been left with that day cursed and threw his hands up in the air in frustration at his latest attempt to grow a hybrid tree.

"The elves could do it," Harry said.

"Yes, I'm sure they could," the man huffed. "That's not to say they would. They've made it very clear that we hurt the land in cutting the forests down and the land needs to grieve. They've told the Ministry of Magic in no uncertain terms that it's our mess to clean up, despite the fact that it was the Muggles who cut everything down." He'd already explained the history of the Moors to Harry when he'd arrived that morning, and about how in the building of their country the Muggles had cut the trees down to build homes and even castles. With the trees, the wild animals went too. Now Arran Connor was just another in a line of unsuccessful wizards that worked for the Ministry trying to figure out a way to grow new trees. The issue was the lands were so windswept the trees often didn't survive. And if they did survive the harsh winds, the animals ate the saplings before they could grow.

"No," Harry said, "I mean, like this." Harry put his hand down over the seed that Arran had planted hours before and closed his eyes, allowing his feelings for the tree to flow through his hand and into the dirt, just as his friends at the elven camp had shown him. The dirt warmed beneath his palm and after several long moments, he felt the tree sprout up beneath his fingers. He kept touching the tiny branches though and kept channeling power until the sapling was several feet tall. He was exhausted by the end of it, and it had taken nearly ten minutes, but it was now tall enough to survive any animals nearby.

"That was- how did you do that?"

"My friends showed me."

"Elves?"

"Yeah."

"But, they wouldn't. There's no way any of them would share how to do this." He made Harry tell him the story, and Harry showed him how to do the magic. Arran was exhausted by the time he'd grown the tree another foot. Apparently the bigger it was, the more energy it took.

"This would take- years to grow a new wood. And a lot of people to help."

"Yeah but, doesn't the land deserve the attention?" The elves had spoken a lot like that. They'd told Harry that people and elves alike owed the land for what it gave up.

"I think with a lot of the right people, this is possible," Arran said.

"I bet you could get a bunch of Hogwarts students," Harry said. "My friend Hermione would help, and if it meant a field trip, my friend Ron would help too. If you had food to feed everybody lunch, you could probably get a bunch of kids to want to come out."

"That's a good idea Harry. I have a lot to think about."

That night when McGonagall took him to an old family cabin way in the north of Scotland, Harry fell asleep before he could even eat dinner. He hoped she would take him back the next day so he could grow another tree.

* * *

Snape had bought the house in Giggleswick. McGonagall had to be at Hogwarts for the next two weeks, and Madam Pomfrey had a lot of work to catch up on now that she was back from her retreat. That meant Snape would have him for at least a week, and it also meant they would only be able to spend a couple of days at the new house before having to move to avoid the tracking spell.

"Minerva said you were helping her friend grow trees."

"Yeah, I really like it. It's interesting. We should take a field trip to do it when school starts again."

"When we leave in two days, we can take a day to grow trees."

"Great," Harry said. Snape had Harry help repaint the living room, and then the guest bedroom upstairs. Harry was surprised he had a bed in the guest bedroom and wasn't going to have to just sleep on the couch. Snape even let Harry pick out a soft blue and white tartan blanket for the guest bed, and let Harry pick out the color for the walls of the room.

"It's nice," Harry said. "Whoever gets to stay here will love it."

Severus nodded, and didn't miss the look of longing on the boy's face as he looked at the newly furnished room, and in the days and weeks to come, he couldn't help but thinking of it as Harry's room. He wondered if the boy thought of it that way too.

At the end of the week, half an hour before Madam Pomfrey was supposed to come get him to take him somewhere he hadn't been told about yet, Harry packed away a chess set he and Snape had been using and said, "The Headmaster's gonna make me go home for Christmas and Easter since I wasn't there this summer."

"It is not your home."

Harry was quiet as he stared at the box the chess set went into. "It sort of is," he said quietly. "It's not like I have someplace else."

"I will kidnap you again."

Harry looked over at him and smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. He felt melancholy, and he couldn't figure out why.

* * *

"You can't have him."

"Severus, it's not up for discussion."

Harry stood behind Snape and tried not to cry as the Headmaster faced them down in the living room of the house in Giggleswick. There was only a week left until school... only a week, so why should he cry that the man was there to take him back to the Dursleys now when he'd gotten to escape them for the entire rest of the summer? He could survive a week, couldn't he? But he didn't want to go back, and Snape didn't want him to go back either. He didn't want new scars.

"I said no old man."

Albus sighed and then sat heavily in one of Snape's living room chairs... Harry's favorite chair, and stared at the dark eyed man as he blocked access to Harry.

"He must go back. Lily's magic can't protect him anywhere else."

"It's not protecting him! They'll kill him there Albus!"

"They will not. Petunia is far too afraid of what I will do should major harm befall him."

"They already have killed him!" Snape spat. The boy's scars were mostly gone now, but that didn't mean they weren't still written all over his mind. He was clearly frightened judging by the way he hid behind Severus. Severus couldn't deny he was a little frightened at the moment too.

"He will survive. Harry my boy, I am sorry I must take you back once again. You can no longer remain here."

Harry shook his head and backed up to the wall next to the couch.

"Severus, I do appreciate what you, Minnerva and Poppy have tried to do for him this summer. You've certainly baffled and befuddled my attempts to find him for the last three months. I wouldn't have known at all except Arran Connor contacted me about setting up a field trip and said it was all Harry's idea. He said you and Minerva had been bringing him by, which is when I realized what had been going on. Given Poppy's long absence and her fondness of Harry I assumed she was involved as well."

"I'm not going back," Harry said quietly from somewhere behind Severus, voice small. What Severus wouldn't give just to hear some of the old fire in Harry's voice again. The fire he'd heard when Harry had yelled at him out in the snow after pelting him with a snowball and insisted he be heard out.

"You must."

"No," Harry cried. Severus was knocked forward slightly as a warm body collided with him from behind, but found his balance again quickly. Harry's arms were wrapped around him and his face buried in Severus' back. He could feel the boy shaking behind him as he cried.

"It's only a week left-" Severus said, voice cracking. It unsettled him how the teen held onto him, as if he would simply fade out of existence if he didn't hang on to something, or someone. He looked up at Albus and it was Albus' turn to be surprised at the unshed tears that had suddenly sprang up in Severus' eyes. The last time he'd seen the man cry he'd been barely a few years older than Harry himself, and that was the night Lily had died. "Don't do this," Severus said. "I'll protect him. And Minerva and Poppy. It does him no good to go to a home for protection when he's beaten and starved and given new scars on a daily basis. They'll lock him in a closet and we won't see him again."

"You truly believe you can protect him Severus? With Tom Riddle in power again and Death Eaters in every level of the Ministry?"

"I'll do what I have to."

"At the Ministry-" Albus paused, "I almost couldn't hold Tom off. It was everything I could do to keep him away from Harry. I fear I will not be strong enough next time. Lily's power is the only power that can protect him now I fear."

"Lily loved him," Severus said.

"Yes, and she sacrificed everything for him."

"I love him."

The words hung there between them, but Severus made no indication that he wanted to take them back. Albus' eyes softened and he closed his mouth. Clearly more had gone on this summer than he realized for Severus Snape to make such a proclamation. The man had closed himself off to all emotions aside from bitterness, anger and irritation since Lily had died. Judging by the way Harry held on to his Potions Master he clearly trusted him, though it saddened Albus to know he was the one the boy feared.

"Minerva and Poppy love him," Severus said. "We will do whatever it takes to protect him." They'd promised as much to each other at the start of the summer before embarking on this wild endeavor to protect The-Boy-Who-Lived.

When Albus didn't say anything, Severus continued, "You love him too." Albus met his eyes from his seat and held his gaze as Severus spoke. "You have to do something. You are his guardian. You don't know what they do to him in that house. This is the first summer he's ever had three meals a day. It's the first summer he was allowed leisure time to read or even to do his schoolwork. Poppy took him to the wellspring and the fjord and healed his scars, scars given to him by people charged with protecting him. You could have done that Albus. You could have taken him to be healed, or sent him food in the summers, or put a spell up on one room of the house to keep them out so he could have a safe place."

Albus didn't know what to say. He could have done those things, but he hadn't. Poppy and Minerva had told him how bad the scarring was, but he hadn't listened.

"Harry- do you want to stay with Professor Snape?"

"Yes." His grip had relaxed on the Potions Master the more the dark eyed man had spoken, but he was still holding on.

"Severus, you or Poppy or Minerva will need to adopt him. I have clearly failed to protect and take care of him as I should have."

"Fine."

"Tonight Severus."

"Tonight."

"Should I call Poppy or Minerva?"

"Just call the Ministry aide with the correct paperwork."

Albus nodded and disapparated, and Harry finally let go of Severus.

"The back of your-" Harry said quietly, and then, "I'm sorry I stepped on your robes sir. And the back of your robe is covered in snot."

Severus grabbed the boy and pulled him into a hug. "I wish I could take care of you the way Minerva or Poppy will be able to."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he pulled back.

"They'll be better able to give you the emotional support you need. I can't... I'm not capable."

"Bull!" Harry shouted angrily.

"Harry-"

"No! You don't get to just dump me on other people!"

"Potter, I'm not the right person for this!" What he didn't say was he was afraid he'd break the boy as badly as his relatives had. Somehow, or in some way, if Potter stayed with him he'd end up just as bitter as his Potion's Master.

"After all that! After saying you love me, you just wanna wash your hands of me?"

"No." He wanted Harry to stay in the guest room he'd painted, and he wanted to ensure the boy did the rest of his summer schoolwork before school started in a week, and he wanted to take him to get his school things in Diagon Alley. But he also didn't want to say the wrong thing when he got angry and cause the boy to cry again. Lily's son had had enough of that in his life.

"Then what? What do you want me to do? Tell me! I want to stay here!"

When Severus didn't answer Harry stepped forward fast and shoved Severus, surprising him just as he had done in the snow months before. Severus stumbled, but he didn't fall over, and when Harry tried to rush past him for the front door, Severus reached out and grabbed Harry's shirt, holding him in place.

"Harry, stop."

"Forget it! You suck! I hate you anyway! I'll go stay with McGonagall! At least she won't lie to me!"

"Lie?"

"You said you loved me."

When Severus didn't let go of Harry's shirt, Harry took a wild swing towards Severus' face, but missed. It was this scene upon which the Headmaster walked back into.

"Severus! Harry!"

Both stopped and stared at the aging man.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"He believed you would come to take him back to the Dursleys," Severus quickly lied.

Albus took in the scene again, but didn't look like he was buying it. "Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry panted, though he glared back at Severus as Severus finally let go of his shirt.

"The Ministry Aide will be along shortly." He looked at Severus and asked, "Have you changed your mind about adopting him?"

"No," Severus growled as Harry elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"I was led to believe you were willing to give up your life to protect him if need be."

"I am," Severus said.

"Yeah, just not this life," Harry spat. "Not your nice property and quiet peaceful house and time or anything." He'd grown very quiet by the end and Severus wondered if he'd stopped talking because he knew he was rambling and not making much sense.

"Severus?" Albus asked.

Severus gave a stern look at the boy, though he wasn't even looking up at him. It was then that Severus realized it was a look he'd once reserved only for his godson. It was a look he'd been giving Harry more and more that summer that said: ‘stern, but only in an affectionate way'. Harry hadn't seemed all that perturbed by the look when he got it either, and wouldn't have been now if he'd been looking up.

"I am sorry I upset you," Severus said. Harry looked up, but he looked tired and like he was emotionally spent and done fighting for the night. "If you will have me as your guardian, I would be happy to have you in my charge."

"Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall will never forgive you," Harry said. He'd meant it as a joke, but Severus knew the boy was too spent to laugh or smile.

"No, I don't suppose they will," he said.

Half an hour later the Ministry Aide came with the paperwork, and Dumbledore signed several places on the long scroll. So did Severus. When the aide left, Albus looked at Harry and then Severus. "I truly hope you can do as you say Severus. He needs more protection than I can give... have given."

Severus gave him a single nod, not knowing now that he'd made the promise if he could really live up to it, or if he could even protect Harry from the mistakes he was sure to make as his guardian. As Albus left and Severus sent Harry up to bed, he thought to himself, all he could do was try. If the Dursleys had only done that, Harry never would have needed rescuing in the first place. James and Lily had tried, and thinking back on it now, so had Black. It had cost them all their lives, and if that was what Harry needed of him, he'd give it. He hoped his all would be enough to protect The-Boy-Who-Lived from whatever dangers came his way.

* * *

Harry had always believed that snowball he threw was the luckiest shot in the world. No one else believed him that it was lucky, or even knew why it was, but Severus and Harry, Minerva and Poppy, and Albus Dumbledore knew, and that was enough for him.

The End.
End Notes:
Severus really gave of himself there in front of Dumbledore when he gave his tears. That’s what changed Dumbledore’s mind. Snape had locked that all away up until that point. He’d given up who he had been and the facade he’d built up around himself for the last 15 years to protect Harry. Dumbledore probably would not have agreed to let Minerva or Poppy have custody of him. Severus had been so earnest even despite his own insecurities, that he reminded Albus in that moment of Lily and James and Black’s deaths in protecting Harry. Severus had told the Headmaster that Harry had already died at the Dursleys, but it was the wall around Snape that really died, because Harry broke it down.

Kind of a different story from me. Vote for it in the 1st Tri-Writing tournament if you liked it. Vote for someone else if you didn’t. Just be sure to vote!

Reviews welcome. The second half may seem rushed, but it was initially meant to be a oneshot that ended the night of the snowball incident in just Harry and Snape sort of having an understanding. The second half came out of nowhere and took an entire night to materialize on screen. You sort of got a one shot and a sequel all in one go :p


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=3554