Harry awoke someplace warm.  He could hear someone breathing just a few inches away from him, so he knew he wasn’t anywhere in Arx Serpens.

Then what had happened the day before hit him with the force of a sledgehammer and his eyes flew open, not really seeing anything.

The Quidditch match.

The Hospital Wing.

Hermione.

Niamh.

Harry blinked several times, bringing the world back into focus.  He found that he was lying in a large bed under a black quilt made of rather thin material.  And lying with his head rested on his folded arms on the edge of the bed was his father.

Harry smiled and attempted to get up without disturbing the sleeping wizard but before he could move more than a few inches, the dark eyes opened and the head lifted so they looked into Harry’s.

Severus smiled and said, “Good morning.  Sleep well?”

Harry nodded.

“Yeh.  Have ye been ‘ere all night?”

Severus nodded and stretched before rising from his chair with a loud yawn.  He said, “I have.  Breakfast?”

Harry nodded again and climbed out of the bed.  Severus pointed at a folded pile of clothes then at one of two doors in the bedroom.

“Albus had the house-elves bring you down some clothes earlier.  The bathroom is through there and I will be in the main room conjuring up some breakfast for us.”

“Kay,” said Harry, picking up the clothes and retreating to the bathroom.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Harry emerged from the bathroom a half-hour later, hair still dripping slightly and curling where it was dry.  He dumped his clothes in a basket in the bathroom then wandered back through the bedroom into the main room.

His father was sitting at a round table sitting off to the right, a plate with the remains of bacon and a piece of toast sitting in front of him.  He was sipping from a mug and had a copy of the Daily Prophet laid out before him on the table.  As Harry approached, he lifted his head and smiled warmly.

“There you are.  We’ve got bacon, toast, and eggs.  Just give the plate a tap and say what you want.”

Harry sat down and tapped the plate, quickly telling it what he wanted.  The goblet by his plate dilled up with pumpkin juice as he picked it up.

“Why doan we ‘ave this a’ our tables?”

Severus shrugged and replied, “Who knows?  We teachers only have this in our rooms and offices.  I’ve always wondered about that but have yet to ask Albus about it.”  He smiled slightly then turned back to the Prophet.  Harry watched him fro a moment then turned back to his breakfast.  When he was finished, he said, “I should go ba’ ter Arx Serpens.”

Severus looked up from his paper and asked, “Are you sure?  You’re welcome to stay here for the day.”

“I know.  But…  I’ve go’ ter face ‘em sooner or later.”

Severus smiled.

“And better sooner than later, aye?”

“Righ’.”

He chuckled and shook his head at his son’s courage.  Pure Gryffindor courage.  His mother’s courage.

“Alright.  But remember, these rooms are always open to you.  Just place your hand over the third brick down from the second sconce to the left of my classroom and says the password.”

Harry remembered the words Dumbledore had uttered in that strange, rolling tongue the night before.

“Wha’s the password?”

Severus smiled and replied in an amused voice, “Lily.”

Harry blinked.  He had been expecting an answer such as what Dumbledore had spoken last night.

“Wha’ about…?”

“That rather formal incantation Albus most likely said?”

Harry nodded.

“I was wondering if you would ask about that.  In my family – our family – the only way to gain entrance to the family home was to place our hand on a brass plate on a part of the gates and recite our lineage.  Mother and father wise, that is.  If you were of the family, the gates would open.  Also, the gate was charmed to recognize the lineage of friends of the family.”

“But…”

“Yes, I know, that doesn’t explain much.”  Severus folded his paper before he continued, setting it aside.  “The family home burnt to the ground in my seventh year.  No one knows why but my father miraculously made it out of the blaze unharmed.  I have always believed he simply wanted to rid himself of one of his last ties to my mother; the only other one of which was me.  When Albus gave me my job here after Voldemort fell and I left the Aurors, I returned to the ruins of the house to see what I could find that was left that hadn’t been looted by then.  The brass plate was one of them.  It was set into the wall outside my rooms and charmed so only Albus and I could see it.  None of the other staff even know of its existence.  Nor do they know the password into my rooms.  And neither does Albus.”

Harry frowned and asked, “But – why two ways in?”

“Ah, the almighty question.  Why two ways in.  Well, the password is the original way into the room.  The other teacher’s rooms work in that fashion.  I, however, have it as well because I did not want to take the time to uncharm the door nor tell anyone else about the lineage plate.”

Harry nodded slightly then remembered something else from the night before.

“Wha’ about the language?”

Severus leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers.  He sat that way for a moment or two then spoke again.

“The language…  Well, the language is ancient and you have to know it in order to get by the plate.  It is the language of the High Elves, the most regal and noble of the elven breed.  There are very few pureblood elves left as most of them married into wizarding families.  An ancestor on my father’s side married an elven princess of the High King at that time and the lineage plate was their marriage gift, along with the elven-iron gate and stone gate-sides.  They still stand today.  Elven-iron is very resilient.  It can stand the time for centuries before finally falling.  The family home was also a marriage gift.  From Tirades Snape to his elven bride.”

“Elven.”

“Elven.  Too far that we appear nothing as the High Elves did, but their magic still lingers in our blood and their language comes as easily to us as breathing.”

Harry blinked then pushed his chair back from the table and rose.  He said, “I guess I’d better I’d better ge’ goin’.”

Severus nodded and said, “And I had better ready for class.  I have you first today.”

“No Ni or Hermione,” said Harry glumly.  Severus reached out a hand and gently squeezed his son’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Harry.  Soon Emily will have those Mandrakes ready and I shall prepare the restorative draught.  Then Niamh, Miss Granger, and all of the others will be as good an new.”

“An’ ye woan ge’ a thank you.”

Severus smiled.  “I am quite certain I will get on from Miss O’Feir.  But, no matter.  I am used to being hated by my students.  Now, off with you!  Remember, these rooms are always open to you, no matter what time or day of the week.”

Harry nodded and turned to leave then thought better of it.  He turned back to his father, opened his mouth and poured out words in the rich, rolling tongue of the High Elves.  Severus stared at his son for a moment then nodded, replying in the same language.  Though no one else could have understood them (save Dumbledore, perhaps), they would understand each other perfectly.

Harry smiled and said a quick goodbye – in English this time – then left his father’s room, heading down the corridor to Arx Serpens, heart heavy with the thought of Niamh not being there.