When the attacker finally made his way to the side of the bed where the raven haired boy slept, he withdrew a long, sharp dagger and raised it high in the air, ready to strike. Suddenly Harry's eyes snapped open and looked up into the face of his attacker... into the face of Severus Snape. Harry tried to scream, but was unable. He tried to move, to thrash about, but his body refused. And then Snape was bringing the knife down towards him and stabbing him in the gut over and over again, while Harry watched on, horrified.

Suddenly Harry woke with a start, screaming at the top of his lungs and fighting somebody off.

"Potter, it was only a dream, Potter!"

Harry opened his eyes and screamed again when he saw Snape standing over him, shaking his shoulder's lightly, even though he had no knife and sunlight streamed into the Hospital Wing. Harry thrashed, trying to get away, but Snape held fast.

"Potter, calm yourself or I will charm you still!"

It took a few more moments of struggling for Harry to realize that it had only been a dream, albeit a very realistic and frightening one, before he calmed a little and stopped trying to rip himself free of Snape's grasp. Embarrassed, and still a little weary of the man who had tried to murder him in his sleep... well, sort of, he refused to look up at him.

Severus crossed his arms. "Care to tell me what it was about?"

"No," came Harry's dull answer as he stared at his blankets.

"Hm... I came back to check on you, as promised. You were screaming in your sleep."

"Oh." Harry didn't want to be rude, but he suddenly didn't think he could be around Snape just then, or maybe ever again. How he had gone from feeling marginally safe around the man last night to feeling like he might be murdered by him just now, he wasn't sure, and he hated the confusion that never seemed to leave him now. It was almost as if his life was a roller coaster and he was a most unwilling passenger.

"Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked.

"With Professor Dumbledore, undoubtedly throwing a fit."

"Why?"

"Potter, if you plan on continuing to talk to me, at least give me the decency of looking at me when you speak."

Harry bit his lip. He didn't think he could do that right now, and besides that, he had an odd feeling that the man next to him could read his mind sometimes, and he definitely didn't want that just now when he still had the image of being murdered by him fresh in his mind's eye.

"Hmpf." Severus walked away to the other end of the ward when Harry refused to answer, but he did not leave altogether. Harry felt a little better with the distance put between them but still felt like he wanted somebody else there with him to help if Snape suddenly decided to hex him or pull a knife.

It wasn't long however before an upset Pomfrey entered with Professor Dumbledore, and they approached Harry's bed.

"Harry my boy, how are you?"

Harry shrugged as he looked up, careful not to make eye contact with Snape, who had moved closer again with the Headmaster. "Ok I guess. Did you catch the attacker?" He tried to hush the voice in his head that shouted, ‘He's right behind you!'

"Alas, we have not. We do have some good news however. We have come up with a plan to protect you. We only need your consent to put it into place."

"What is it?" Perhaps they were entertaining ideas that it would just be easier to send Harry home. He certainly wouldn't consent to that, even if somebody was out for his blood.

"It is a bit tricky I'm afraid, but it would require the blood of a relative-"

"Oh." Harry cut him off and looked down at his blankets again.

"Potter, at least let him finish," Snape suddenly said, annoyed that the boy had interrupted the Headmaster.

"We are well aware that your other relatives will not consent to giving even a drop of blood for the spell, so we have devised a new way to get it."

"You're going to steal it?" Harry asked, looking up again.

The Headmaster smiled at the incredulous look on Harry's face.

"No Harry. The easiest way to go about this will be to get a new relative." At Harry's confused, and amusingly hopeful look, he continued. "You see Harry, there is a spell, albeit a complicated one, but one that will bind you to another person. You would essentially become blood relatives."

"Really?" Harry asked, even more hopeful.

"Yes. It is called blood adoption. For all intents and purposes, it would be as if you were the born child of this person. Of course you would have to consent. And once the spell has been preformed, we would then take blood from your new parent and add it to the potion which would be combined with a spell. The spell would alert your parent to any immediate danger you were in before it happened. It is ancient magic, and it has taken much research to find."

"So... I have to be adopted? But who would do that?" Ron's mom and dad, Ron's mom and dad, Harry said to himself over and over, hoping that it would come true. True, he had never met them, with the exception of the brief moment at the train station, but Ron and his brothers were already the closest thing he had to family.

"There are many who would wish to adopt you, but only one who is capable of protecting you both here, and wherever else you may go. The spell would have to be preformed twice, or even three times a year to be most effective, but it would ensure that you have an advantage in any battles... or attacks, that you may find yourself a part of.

"And... who would that be? What if they don't want to adopt me?"

Here Snape fidgeted and Madam Pomfrey turned away. The Headmaster looked Harry directly in the eyes however, and said, "Professor Snape."

Harry paled visibly and felt shivers going up and down his back. "Professor who?"

"Snape Harry. Professor Snape is a skilled occlumens and is skilled in the arts of defense and dueling. He would be the preferred choice. Since he is already at Hogwarts and can also protect you elsewhere."

"But-" Harry looked back and forth from Snape to Dumbledore, and to Madam Pomfrey's back, and then back again. Were they joking him?

"It is of course your choice Harry, but I would suggest that you do not make a decision lightly. Either way the choice will have consequences. If you do decide to do this, you would be bonded permanently to Professor Snape as his blood son, and eventually the bond will begin to have other effects on the two of you such as a sense of familial relation and duty. However, if you decide not to do this, your life will be continually in danger of attack, and you may one day find yourself in need of help, and none will come. If the attacks continue, we may well have to send you home for the remainder of-"

"No! I mean... no sir. I'm not going back there."

"I am sorry it has come to this Harry, but it is imperative that you be kept safe."

And there it was again, somebody caring for him when they shouldn't. He didn't deserve this attention or to be kept safe, and now here they were asking him to get a new parent... SNAPE... to be bonded to him forever, to come running whenever he was in any danger!? This was crazy! And yet, his stomach did a little somersault when he thought about having a parent. He had been hoping for some long lost distant relative with red or black hair that had always wanted him all along, but the more time that passed the less likely that seemed to be the case. And here was a man willing... or was he unwilling? To take on the roll of Harry's father.

"Can I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course. But until you have made your decision one way or the other, we feel it best that you stay in the Hospital wing. At least here we can watch closely and prevent attack. We have put safety wards on the doors and windows to prevent any invisible force or being from entering."

"Ok... thanks." He felt cold and was sure he must still be pale from the looks he was getting.

The three adults moved to leave but Harry cleared his throat. "Can I... can I talk to Professor Snape... alone?" He was still nervous about being alone with his dream attacker.

Dumbledore raised his brows to Snape, and when Snape gave a single nod, the Headmaster and nurse left. Snape moved back to Harry's bedside.

"I still stand by what I said earlier Potter," Snape said. "I will not continue to talk to you unless you look at me."

Harry looked up briefly, and then back down again, hoping that would be good enough. "Sir... I..." Now that he had him there alone, he wasn't sure what to say. "Why?"

"I would have thought the Headmaster had made that abundantly clear."

"No, I mean why you? I thought... well, you don't like me. Why would you want to adopt me?"

Snape sighed and crossed his arms again. "You are annoying, yes, but you do not deserve to be hurt and attacked, and to live in fear constantly."

"But, still, why would you agree to something like this? He's not making you is he?"

Severus narrowed his eyes, but Harry didn't see because he wasn't looking up at him. What was the boy really wondering about all of this?

"Nobody forces me to do anything. I am not a puppet Potter. If you wish to be safe and remain here at school, you will accept the offer and forgo anymore questions. Any answers I have do not matter. All that matters is your safety."

Biting his lip, Harry nodded, wishing he could get a straight answer. He didn't want to force the man to be his father. What kind of father would he be if he did? The Uncle Vernon kind. The kind that makes you scrub floors or shovel snow until four am, and beats you senseless because you're a burden on him. The kind that makes you pay for everything that you've been so ‘generously' given.

"Oh... ok."

"Ok what Potter... ok you understand, or ok you'll do it?"

"Both I guess," Harry said, thinking that even Snape beating him would be better than going back to the Dursley's and being ridiculed and mocked and beaten by three people.

A vein throbbed in Severus' cheek. He had half hoped that the brat would turn the offer down, but he hadn't, and now the decision was made. There was no going back. Damn you Severus Snape, now look what you've gotten yourself into... adopting the infernal child of James bloody Potter.

Harry watched as Snape nodded and left the Hospital Wing. It wasn't long before he came back with Dumbledore.

"Ready Harry?"

Harry nodded, thinking in reality that he wasn't ready at all, and never would be for something like this. Dumbledore smiled though, and set to work.

Harry didn't recognize any of the words in Latin that Dumbledore said, and it was almost a full forty minutes before he was done with the spell. And then Snape was pulling out a jar of some kind of potion, and pricking his finger and letting a drop of his own blood fall into it. Then Dumbledore set to work again with another lengthy spell as Snape dipped his finger into the liquid and smeared a small amount onto the center of Harry's forehead, and then onto his own.

"It is done," Dumbledore said.

Harry looked between the two of them. He didn't feel any different.

And then Snape took out a large knife and Harry startled, ready to throw himself off the bed and out of the ward altogether. Snape did not fail to notice. Instead of trying to kill him however, he simply handed the knife to Harry, who took it confusedly.

"What am-"

"Hush." Harry closed his mouth and watched as Snape closed his eyes.

"Do you feel anything?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"A vague sense of danger." He reached out for the knife and Harry handed it back to him. "It has gone now."

"Interesting," Dumbledore said. "I imagine the greater the danger the greater the urge for you to find him will be."

"Indeed."

"So... so, can I go back to my common room now?"

Dumbledore looked down at him. "Yes Harry. But do not tell anybody about what we have done except Mr. Weasley or Miss Granger. We do not wish anybody to pass on the information to your attacker, who may then try to use it against us."

Harry nodded, and feeling awkward, got out of bed, and hurried from the room, leaving the two professors, one of them his new blood father, standing there staring.