Severus Snape, potions master extrordinaire, the man with an answer for every question, spent his afternoon in a manner that was completely unfamiliar to him. Not that he was used to brooding, or sneering, or even gut wrenching anger. No, that was quite common for him. He could easily handle those emotions. It was the unexpected feelings of anticipation and joy that bubbled up irrepressibly no matter how he tried to suppress them. He had a son. He and Lily had a son. Oh my, there was that strange tightening around his mouth again. The first time it had happened, he had actually gotten up to look in a mirror concerned that he was having an attack of some sort. The sight of his face adorned by what was unmistakably a smile, the first such in 15 years, was quite a shock. He was suddenly startled out of his reverie by a knock on the door.

“Severus, are you coming to dinner tonight?” Albus Dumbledore inquired from just inside the door.

“I hadn’t realized how the time had gotten away from me, Albus. I’ll be right there.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

Severus gathered a few assorted bits and put them in his pockets before heading out of his quarters with the headmaster.

“Sir, did you hear back from the Weasley’s?”

“Ah, yes. We will be leaving the castle around 7:30 to walk to the apperating point near town. Have you thought about what you want to say to Harry yet?”

“No,” Severus groaned. “I’ve spent considerable time this afternoon thinking about that, and I just don’t know what to say. How do you tell someone that their whole life has been a lie?”

“Hmm, said Dumbledore thoughtfully, “Have you thought about just telling him the truth? You will have to eventually, he’s a very observant lad, and is sure to be noticing the differences in his appearance. You’d be wise to tell him before he figures it out himself.”

“I’ll have to bow to your experience on that one Albus.”

“You also have to decide how many people you want to know about this. I’ve already taken Minerva into our confidence.”

“But”

“Severus, she is Harry’s head of house, she needs to know what is happening with him. You know as well as I do that she will keep quiet until you are ready to make it public. You also need to consider how this will affect your relationship with Voldemort.” he continued seriously.

“I’ve been considering that all afternoon also.” Severus admitted as they reached the great hall.

Dinner that night was as delicious as always, but one teacher in particular could have been fed sawdust and ashes and not noticed. Snape allowed the pre-term conversations to ebb and flow around him as he considered and rejected various approaches to breaking his news to Harry, and Voldemort too.

“Sev”

“Umm”

“Severus”

“Hmmmph.”

“Severus, what are you looking at?”

“What? Oh nothing Remus. Just trying to figure my way out of this mess. Tell me, how much does Harry hate his ‘greasy git of a potions master?’”

“You know what they call you?” Lupin responded in astonishment.

“Well it would be hard to miss when you hear it under peoples breath day after day, year after year. Surely you don’t think I’m that thick?” Severus’ tone of voice indicated that the answer had better be no!

“Um, doesn’t it bother you?”

“No, why should it. Haven’t you figured out by now that most of it is a façade I put on to spur the students to greater achievement? As in “I’ll show that sadistic git if it’s the last thing I do.’ Remus, they need to be tough before they go out in the world, especially now that Voldemort is on the loose again.”

“But Harry…..”

“Yes, well, I have been harder on him partly because of my history with Lily and James, but mostly because he has been pandered to throughout his life. I refuse to treat him in a special manner just because he’s ‘The Boy Who Lived’. “ he said matter of factly.

“And you know for a fact that he’s been pandered to, do you.” Lupin asked with faint stirrings of anger in his voice.

“Well, I assumed that Lily’s sister would….” Snape began only to be cut off by a loud snort from Remus.

“You never took the time to find out about what was really going on at home before you treated him that way did you. Did you know that he was raised without any knowledge of magic or wizarding? His relatives are so magic phobic that they were going to hide Harry away and not let him come to Hogwarts. They didn’t even tell poor Harry how his parent’s really died. Hagrid told me about all the trouble they had contacting Harry over tea one day.”

“Gentlemen, excuse the interruption, but if we are to reach the burrow on time, we really should be leaving.” Minerva McGonagall’s voice broke in.

As the four professors left the entrance to Hogwarts, each couldn’t help but wonder what would greet them at the burrow.