Sirius had almost completely relaxed as the kids’ trip was nearing the end and nothing happened. He quietly patted the shrunken products he had in his pocket and that would be used to exert some revenge on a certain engaged couple for their little “fun” at his expense and Hestia’s, when suddenly Harry was pulled into an alley.

Harry had been hanging back in thought, and if Sirius was right quite a little admiration of a certain young lady, so the other teens did not notice. A quick glance backwards and an old lady missing told Sirius that he wasn’t the only one to notice. He quickly drew his wand and ran to the alley. There he found a cloaked figure pulling a struggling Harry.

“Stop the fidgeting brat or I will hex you!” Lucius Malfoy’s voice came into a hiss as another figure approached him and Sirius recognized Goyle Sr.

“Stun him!” Goyle said.

“No, I want him awake,” Malfoy said with an almost gleeful tone to his voice and Sirius shuddered to think what he had planed. Sirius could see that Malfoy’s wand was digging into Harry’s neck and knew he had to take Malfoy out at once or any hex he cast could be disastrous to Harry. He proudly realized that Harry knew this too, as even though Harry was struggling against the grip he had not tried infuriating Malfoy with words or tried to get his wand that was in his holster. Sirius had an advantage and he planned to use it. As quietly as possible, he approached the trio and readily stunned Malfoy when he had a perfect aim.

Lucius Malfoy slumped to the floor and Goyle Sr., who apparently had more brains than his son, quickly sent a hex his way.

“Who’s there? Show yourself?” he cried as he reached to grab Harry but Harry had been faster and had dived away as soon as Malfoy slumped. Harry had his wand in hand when Tonks fired a hex at Goyle from the corner of the street behind him but he ducked and fell over the stunned Malfoy. Sirius pulled away the Invisibility Cloak and the two Wizards and witch were closing on Goyle and Malfoy.

“Surrender Goyle,” Tonks said. “It will look better for you.”

“So what? Instead of the kiss I get life with the Dementors?” he growled.

“Changes are being made. The new Minister is against Dementors in Azkaban. She will take them from the prison soon,” Sirius tried to reason while shooting significant looks at Harry to back away. No such luck; even though he hadn’t cast anything yet, Harry had his very much underage wand hand trained on Goyle.

Goyle’s grip on his wand tightened and he growled, “I’d rather not chance it.” He moved suddenly and both Sirius and Tonks shot hexes but he and Malfoy vanished into thin air. Running to where they were, they met nothing.

“Portkey,” Tonks mumbled. “That’s what Goyle took from his pocket.”

“Why didn’t they use it to take me away then?” Harry asked.

“The Portkey was probably keyed only to their magical signatures so they wouldn’t bring any unwanted company with them. I guess they learned from you taking Cedric with you,” she said grimly. “I have to secure the area and call this in.”

Sirius nodded as she started chanting around the area and pulled Harry with him back to the main road. The other teens had by now noticed Harry’s absence and were running towards them.

“We’ll explain later. Now I’m taking everyone home,” Sirius said firmly and gave Harry a look that promised some punishment for not backing away.

Xxxx

“So your father and Tonks had been there the whole time?” Hermione asked. “We never noticed.”

“Yeah, Tonks was the old lady who was following us,” Harry grumbled. “And afterwards dad grounded me! Can you believe that?”

Ron and Neville nodded sympathetically but Hermione huffed, “Well, what did you expect? He was trying to protect you and instead of backing away to safety and let him only have to worry about Malfoy and Goyle, you jumped right in the middle of the fight.”

“They were outnumbered!” Harry protested. “He trained me himself, he should have more faith in me.”

“Yet, they still managed to escape didn’t they? He trained you because he didn’t want you defenseless not because he wanted you to fight. No parent wants that,” Hermione said knowingly raising an  eyebrow. Harry just huffed louder in that way people do when they know they lost the argument.

Sirius had forbidden Harry of riding the train again as punishment, and secretly as a security measure. After all, what else could he do since Harry was already under house arrest?  Harry had only met his friends at the Welcoming feast and afterwards they had retreated to the Gryffindor Common Room to talk. At least he had some time to talk to Hagrid before the feast and explain that he had to drop Care of Magical Creatures because of his schedule. Hagrid had been upset but was thankful that Harry explained his reasoning. Harry reminded him that Neville was still keeping the class. Neville wanted to work with Herbology and said that understanding all living creatures and how they affected their environment was very important to a Herbologist.

“Well, at least he didn’t take away your broom privileges,” Ron said.

“Only because I was made Captain and he doesn’t want to lose the Cup. By the way we have to have a meeting with the team members. We already have Ginny for sure and Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peakes for Beaters who Fred and George trained, but we still need another Chaser.

“So, you will have try outs only for one position?” Ron asked.

“No, I’ll have try outs for all because I want reserves, but I’m not changing the ones that already work together well,” Harry said.

“That is wise,” Neville said. “You don’t change a winning team.”

Xxx

“Come again?” Harry asked bewildered.

“You heard me,” Severus said annoyed.

“But you never cared before,” Harry interjected.

“Well, I do now,” Severus huffed and crossed his arms. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Wait a moment,” he said and ran out of Severus’ quarters. Severus stood planted on his living room floor, staring at the door. He huffed, he paced, he cursed Harry for just leaving him there at such a crucial moment of his life and he paced some more. After about 10 minutes Harry came back accompanied by a very reluctant Hermione Granger who froze at the door entrance. When he noticed she had not entered Harry looked back and went to her. They began whispering furiously.

“Come on. It’s okay.”

“I’m not sure about that,” she said shooting glances at Severus.

“What is the meaning of this?” Severus asked sternly. Why would Harry bring a student to his private quarters? Harry pushed Hermione in and closed the door.

“Well, I don’t know about what you asked me but Hermione does,” he said happily. “Go on,” he prompted her. “Uncle Sev doesn’t bite.”

 Hermione looked like she very much doubted that. “Er, hum,” Hermione Granger out of words? That’s a first!  Severus thought. “Harry said you wanted to now about hair care, sir?”

Severus narrowed his eyes and said in his most dangerous voice, “Contrary to popular belief I do wash my hair everyday, sometimes twice a day. But working with potions turns my hair extremely oily and greasy no matter what I do. I want a solution and am no expert in hair care.”

“Oh, sir,” Hermione said eagerly. “There are a variety of both Muggle and wizarding hair products that deal with oily hair,” and she started listing shampoos so quickly that Severus was surprised.  He never would have expected that such a bookworm would have known so much about hair products. He expected Brown or Patil to know but not Granger. After Hermione managed to combine the best treatment for Severus’ problem she left to owl her parents for the Muggle products, reassuring Severus she would not tell who they were for. Alone in Severus’ quarters, Harry asked with a smirk:

“Uncle Sev, Why the sudden interest?”

Severus narrowed his eyes, “None of your business brat.”

Xxxx

“So he has been behaving?” Sirius asked. He had come to see Severus in his office alone since he thought it was better than talking in the staff room.

“Perfectly well,” Severus said. “He has even stopped Crabbe and Goyle from bullying as well.”

Sirius nodded. He had talked to Draco when he arrived from the train and Draco had been a perfect gentleman and extremely compliant with Sirius’ rules. He hadn’t even complained when he was told that Severus had decided to keep his Quidditch ban; after all, a ban is a ban and Severus had warned Draco. “Does it feel wrong to you too?”

“Yes,” Severus nodded. “I expected some rebelliousness. Albus would say he has learned his lesson with the suspension.”

“And you?”

“I’m keeping my eye on him. If he keeps on this path, great, that’s all I want, but I won’t lower my guard.”

Sirius nodded and hopped Draco was really changing.

Xxxxx

The students exited the class once the bell rang and Sirius started rearranging his papers.

“Hem, hem.”

He heard and turned to see Harry looking sheepishly at him.

“May we speak Professor?” he asked.

Sirius raised an eyebrow and nodded, summoning a chair for Harry. Harry cleared his throat and started.

“After cooling down I understand why you grounded me but-“

“Harry there are no buts-“

“Let me finish,” Harry cut him off raising a hand. “I understand that you wanted to protect me but you have to understand, dad, that I’m not a child anymore and you trained me well. You have to understand that I couldn’t leave two people I love fending for themselves against Death Eaters when I know I can help. I know you are scared of losing me, but I am scared of losing you too dad! That time in my third year when I disobeyed you and ran towards you and Uncle Sev was the time I was most scared in my entire life. And it wasn’t fear for me. It was because I was scared of losing you two. I wasn’t that scared not even with Voldemort, and I was scared a lot then. The only other time I felt fear like that was when Voldemort almost killed Uncle Sev. So you have to accept dad that I won’t run if you or someone else I love is in danger.”

Sirius regarded Harry solemnly and nodded, “I can’t accept that Harry. No matter how old you are I will want to protect you. My first priority will always be you. But I do understand, and I want you to understand and trust me to know when you are in over your head. And Lucius Malfoy is above your skill and obviously bent on revenge.”

“And that is why I didn’t leave. Lucius Malfoy is sneaky and it was better to outnumber him and Goyle even if one of those numbers was less experienced than them. Malfoy could have hurt you if he shook off the stunner dad, and I couldn’t just leave you and Tonks to him,” Harry pleaded. Sirius got up and kneeled in front of Harry’s seat. He grabbed Harry’s shoulders and smiled sadly.

“I guess I can’t carry you around my arms forever,” he said hoarsely. “I wish I could Harry. I wanted to be able to protect you forever.”

“I know dad,” Harry said leaning forward and hugging Sirius. “But you can’t.”

Xxx

Severus finished buttoning his robes in front of the mirror and smoothed his now thankfully oil free hair thanks to a combination of Muggle and wizarding hair products courtesy of Hermione Granger. His hair now fell in waves instead of clinging to his scalp and even looked shorter. He smoothed his robes and rolled up his sleeves. He ran a hand over his unblemished left arm and stared at the white skin.

Not long ago he wouldn’t wear short sleeves for anything in this world. Trying to hide the marks of his poor choices, even though the marks were still out there. The mark of his poor choice was in Harry’s very own name; Potter Black. Had he not gone and eagerly told Voldemort about the damn prophecy, Harry would have his parents and be just a Potter. But he did, with only the thought of pleasing his master, and he couldn’t lie to himself, he never thought of the consequences, never thought Voldemort would go and kill a baby, a whole family. And when he found out he was after the Potters his thoughts had been of Lily and only her. Dumbledore had said he didn’t care what happened to James and Harry, that he didn’t care if they died. It wasn’t true, as much as he hated James he never wished for his death, but Dumbledore was right that at the moment all he was worried about was of saving Lily and he hadn’t spared a thought about the fact that James and Harry were in danger too.

Lily, Lily who said she forgave him, but did he forgive himself? And now he was here, getting ready to… what? Was he replacing her? Did he have that right? What would Emmeline think if she knew what Severus did?

Severus shook his head to get rid of his depressing thoughts and took one last look at his appearance. He never had been a vain man and, to be honest after Lily died and before Harry came back to his life, he had let go a little. He had started taking care of his house and health better once Harry called him “Uncle Sev”. There was someone that needed him to be there, but his appearance wasn’t a top priority and he never much cared about the effects the potions fumes had on his hair and teeth, which, once again thanks to Miss Granger, where as white as when he was a teenager. He had to concede, he wasn’t the height of beauty but he wasn’t too bad either. And he had noticed that the female students and a few males had noticed his changes as well. One well-placed glare stopped the giggling.

Severus walked out of his quarters and to his private lab that was in the dungeons near his office. He set all the cauldrons needed and before he managed to finish separating all the ingredients a knock came on the door. He opened it and found himself being goggled at by the blond beauty in front of him.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Er, what? Oh, yes, good evening Severus. You look- I mean are you good- well? Are you well?” Emmeline stuttered a little and Severus was taken aback at her nervousness.

“Yes, thank you,” he nodded motioning for her to enter. “I have everything ready for the potion. I thought it best to explain it to you before we started.”

“Of course,” she said as she entered and started examining the ingredients and shooting furtive glances at Severus.

After the initial awkwardness and once both of them entered in the familiar territory of potions brewing, the evening progressed very pleasantly and Severus was quite disappointed when they arrived at the stage that they had to let the potions rest for 24 hours and would only be meeting again the next day.

A/N- Thanks for reading and reviewing and humongous thanks to SWaddict1986 for correcting this!