As he listened to the sound of Snape’s footsteps fading away, Harry Potter breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was close, Shadow! We’re lucky that I was still in practice for the Dursleys! I though he was onto us for a moment.”

Shadow nodded solemnly, then smirked. ‘Indeed, Harry. You do fake being asleep most wonderfully. In fact, if it were an Olympic sport, I’m sure you’d get gold!’

Harry tried to scowl, but that’s difficult to do when you’re giggling. “Shut up, you sarcastic git!” he said affectionately before sobering a little. “You do realise that he heard you, don’t you? When you threw yourself against the mirror?”

‘Yeah.’ Shadow looked worried. ‘No one should be able to do that except you – you did specify yourself in the spell, after all.’

Puzzled, they stared at each other for a moment, before shrugging. “You never tried hitting the glass around another wizard, maybe he heard because of that.” Harry laughing a little. “I mean, he didn’t hear you call him ‘a miserly old git who wouldn’t know a favour if it bit him on the arse’ so I think we’re safe. You really are wonderfully creative with your insults!”

Shadow got up off his bed and gave a mock bow. ‘I try my best. Actually, I think it’s more to do with the fact I haven’t been able to say anything up to now – abstinence makes the tongue grow harsher! You should have heard some of the things I was saying to Vernon!’

“Really? What were they?”

Shadow made a face. ‘Actually, I can’t remember all to well. Can you remember things that you’ve mouthed at other people?’ Harry shook his head. ‘Exactly. While I’m sure I could recall them if I tried, I’d rather not dwell on that time too much.’

Both boys shuddered.

“At least Snape didn’t notice anything. I can’t even imagine telling Dumbledore or Sirius about the Dursleys, let alone Snape…” Harry trailed off before starting again, his voice lower than before. “Did you notice how gentle he was with me? No one, not even Madame Pomfrey has been as gentle as he was when examining my ankle.”

Shadow sighed and rubbed his eyes. ‘I think Severus Snape is a very complicated man and trying to understand him will only result in many headaches. Of course, directly before that, he was a nasty git to you. It’s probably safe to say that he means you no harm, no matter what he himself says.’

Harry nodded glumly. Why can’t anything be what it appears to be in my life? First, I’m hunted by an escaped convict who’s out for my blood, and then I find out he’s my long lost godfather! My nice, mild-mannered DADA Professor turns out to be a slavering beast, and now Snape – nasty git and all round bad guy – has saved my life. Again. I swear I don’t go around looking for things like this – they just happen to me!

Harry was brought back to reality by someone whistling at him.

‘Earth to Harry,’ whistle, ‘Earth to Harry,’ another whistle. ‘Are you going to stop wallowing any time soon? Hey, hang on a moment! I can whistle!’ Another bout of whistling came forth from the other side of the glass. Harry laughed.

“Shadow, shut up, I’m back now.” Shadow finished a stanza of ‘Greensleeves’ and grinned at him. “I can see that now you’re able to talk you’re going to get even weirder.”

‘Hey! Not fair. Besides, I’m you, remember? Any mannerisms I have come straight from you!’

Harry chuckled as his double’s mock-outrage. “Fair enough. You’re going to have to explain the whole ‘you’re me’ thing one day, because I’m completely stumped.”

Shadow shrugged. ‘I don’t know any more than you about this whole matter. I mean, I’ve always ‘existed’ after a fashion, but I wasn’t actually a conscious being until you’re fourteenth birthday.’ Shadow sighed. ‘Well, at least neither of us know where we came from, it’d be kind of lonely otherwise.’

Harry nodded. “Don’t worry, you’ve got me, and now I’ve got you!”

‘Ha! True. We can be lonely together. By the way, many congratulations on working out the sign language.’ As if to prove his point, Shadow waved his arms around.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t that bad,” Harry said, smirking at Shadow’s antics. “I just thought about how I would communicate if I couldn’t talk, and most of the signs just fell into place. I must say, you’re a lot more like me than I originally thought. I pegged you more for the serious, all-knowing type.”

Shadow gave him a solemn look. ‘You try being quirky when you can’t talk.’

“Fair point.”

‘Indeed.’

“So…” Harry smirked. “What are we going to do for the rest of the holidays? Does getting on Snape’s nerves, exploring the Manor and writing to friends sound good to you?”

Shadow smirked back. ‘Definitely. It’s payback time for all the nasty things he did to us! It’s not as if we could avoid irritating him anyway – the man finds fault with everything. We might as well get some subtle amusement out of it.’

It’s fun to think about things like this, but having no real intention of actually doing them, or, at least, something so minor that it’s easy to get away with! “I agree, but we should be careful – nothing too overt. I still have to live with him and I’d rather not spend the rest of my holiday tied to the bed… It’s not funny, Shadow!”

Shadow stopped laughing long enough to choke out. ‘You should pretend you’re going barmy! Did you see his face when you were shaking your head at me before you covered it with rubbing your neck? It was priceless! A mad Potter’s probably his worst nightmare!’

“Shadow, you’re brilliant!”

‘Now, now, Harry. Self-flattery will get you nowhere!’

Harry mock-glared. “Is it your plan to truly drive me mad? Because you’ll have succeeded before the end of the week if you keep this up!”

Shadow sobered. ‘Sorry. You’re not really mad at me, are you?’

“’Course not.”

‘I think it’s because I can actually speak now. I’ll have calmed down by morning, I promise! In fact, I think I’ll go and check out the library to see if it has a mirror. I hate using windows, they make everything blurry.’

“Really? What was the water like?”

Shadow snorted. ‘Really funny. Your face was all distorted.’

Harry thought for a moment. “How about glasses? You could try to get on the inside of mine. That’d make everything a lot easier.”

Shadow’s face transformed in amazement. ‘Of course! I should have tried that when you were running away from Blondie.’

“Malfoy.”

‘Whatever. So, let’s give it a go, eh?’

Shadow disappeared from the mirror and a second later, something obscured Harry’s vision in his left eye.

“Whoa!” Harry pulled his glasses off. Surprisingly, Shadow’s form was still crystal clear. “Hi again. How’s that for you?”

Shadow nodded. ‘Good. With practice, we’d probably be able to talk without you having to take them off. I can just see Snape’s face if you went wandering around, holding your glasses in one hand and talking to them!’

Harry fell over laughing. “Oh, Shadow, with you here, this summer might actually turn out to be some fun!”

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Severus stood in the library and looked around the various shelves; there were far too many inappropriate books for Severus to be able to sort them all out by tomorrow. Damn! There’s nothing for it – I shall just have to spend tomorrow in here with the Potter brat. Not my ideal way to spend my summer holiday. Not at all.

Severus sighed and retreated to his living room to nurse his headache and mull over the events of the day; namely what Potter appeared to be hiding from him. He sat down on the couch and stared into the low flames still flickering in the hearth, folding his hands in his lap and then…

A low screeching wail sounded in his head. With a yell, he leapt up and slammed his hands to either side of his head, trying to cut out the noise that bordered on painful. The sound did not diminish. Gasping with realisation, Severus took his wand and pressed it to his temple. The noise dimmed, but did not disappear.

Severus stood still for a couple of seconds, his face grim and waxen. Someone just had tripped his wards. Someone who was not welcome at Tharabraye Manor was trying to get in.

Adrenaline thumped through his veins and Severus gripped his wand tighter. Time to go and face them… whoever they were. His feet were moving before he even consciously decided where to go; first hesitant steps, then more determined ones, and finally, full-out sprinting strides.

He snatched his cloak from the stand in the hall and approached the door, hand already outstretched to turn the handle.

“Severus!” a voice yelled. Severus whirled around, wand pointed straight into the room he had just left, a hex on his lips. “Severus!” The fire flared green and Minerva McGonagall’s head appeared. “Severus, the Headmaster said this was most important–”

“Not now, Minerva!” he yelled over her words as he felt the wards twinge again, only this time much stronger. Whoever who was trying to get in was succeeding…

Severus snatched the door handle and yanked it open, sprinting across the lawn towards where the breach was being made. The second he had taken five steps out the door, the ringing on the wards ceased as the perpetrator realised Severus had noticed them. Severus redoubled his stride, wand out in front of him, determined to catch them.

Nearly at the wall, Severus roared “Lumos!” and watched as light exploded from his wand, giving an eerie glow to his surroundings. Another two strides and his body slammed into the wall, his hand already waving the wand around to illuminate the ground over the wall. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Severus panted for breath and dragged his hair out of his face, leaning even further forward to peer into the shadows. He yielded no results from there, so he checked the ground right below, cursing his bad luck. Are the wards faulty somehow? I was already tired when I did this patch.

But no, there, directly below where he was standing, on the other side of the wall, were boot prints. Severus stood upright with a sharp intake of breath.

“Who’s there?” No answer. “You’re clumsiness has betrayed you; I know you are there!” Still no answer. “Fine! You’d better not try again tonight. I’ll be watching and next time, I’ll catch you!” he snapped at the dark. Severus felt the prickly feeling on the back of his neck that he always got if someone was watching or listening to him. He suppressed a shudder. Whoever had tried to break the wards was still here.

“So, you want to play it like that, do you?” he sneered. He pointed his lighted wand at the area he felt sure the person was standing. “Incendio!”

The shrubs on the other side of the wall went up in a blaze of light. However, the hissing and popping of his spell could not mask the quiet crack that resounded throughout the night.

“Aguamenti!” The flames were doused and went out in a hiss of steam. Severus nodded to himself and relaxed his grip on his wand slightly. The person who had tried to breach the wards was obviously a witch or a wizard and it was clear their intentions weren’t exactly benign. However, the real question was; did they know that Potter was inside the current residence they had attempted to enter, or was it just someone with a personal grudge?

Severus shuddered slightly as he repaired and increased the wards. It was quite possible that the person who had visited tonight was a Death Eater out for revenge. After all, they had attacked the Ministry without asking or telling him about it. Maybe his old comrades had finally decided that he was a traitor to their ranks and someone to be dealt with. It seemed likely – the attack on the Ministry appeared to be pretty big. It was almost as if, after all those years of biding their time, they had decided to make the next move in the war.

Severus wrapped his cloak tighter around him as he trudged back to the house after one last look into the darkness. Thinking about the return of the Dark Lord was not what he needed right now. He felt a peculiar desire to go up to Potter’s room and spend the rest of the night camped out in the chair beside it.

Severus pursed his lips. I am worrying far too much over that boy. Just because he’s my charge for the summer doesn’t mean I should hate him any less!

He made his way back into the warmth of his house and hung up his cloak with a weary sigh, wishing that this August the First could be like any other he had had in the past; boring and non-descript. He almost groaned when he walked into his living room and found Minerva McGonagall standing on his hearth rug, arms folded and looking fit to strangle him.