Halfway through the morning, the November sky opened and dumped what sounded like buckets of water on the roof of the Weasleys’ house. From the thumps and good-natured noise, it seemed the rain had driven the boys indoors.

Mrs. Weasley hadn’t returned yet--it sounded like Bill was organizing them all into making the lunch.

Bill had knocked on the bedroom door, very quietly, about half an hour ago. Severus had steadfastly ignored it, feigning sleep when the young man had peeped around the door.Severus was sitting up now, contemplating everything that had happened in these few days. He sincerely hoped the solution they’d worked out last night would satisfy the Soul Bond. Magical debt was nothing to be trifled with. And one of this magnitude? If they didn’t do something about it, it could hang over the girl’s head her whole life.

It was quite possible it would prevent her from ever being able to enter into any magical contracts. Then too, according to Bill’s goblin sources, it was possible that wages from any magical employment or inheritance would simply end up in Severus’ vault. 

The spell had been created as a healing spell, but apparently there was good reason that it was so highly restricted.  Tribuo was normally only ever taught after healers had taken their Oaths of Binding, Silence and Non-harm. Gods only knew how the Dark Lord had gotten the spell from a healer.

Severus had made the comment about betrothals in jest, but Molly had seized on it. She’d come up with a solution that would hopefully appease the spell and gave Harry one more layer of protection from both Dumbledore and the Ministry.

It was strange that Molly was so devious--she’d have done well as a Slytherin. Perhaps that was where the twins got their propensity to mayhem.  Certainly Arthur had always seemed far too straightforward to have fathered such a pair of troublemakers.  

The voices in Severus’ head were remarkably quiet now. Lily had tried to speak with him earlier, but Severus had closed his mind to her, as he would have to a mental attack. It had never occurred to him that her voice and the dreams he’d been having were anything other than the products of his own overstressed imagination.

The noise the Weasley boys were making was cut off abruptly. It seemed that Bill had cast a silencing charm on the bedroom door.

Although Severus appreciated the thought, he didn’t care to be unable to hear what was going on outside his door. He cancelled the spell with a quick flick of his wand.

A female voice that was not Ginny’s or Molly’s added itself to the din. It sounded like Granger--Molly must have invited the girl over for the day. The greetings must have been what prompted Bill to cast the spell on the door.

The children’s noise grew less after a while. It sounded like they’d drifted off to other parts of the house.

Finally deciding he could hide here no longer, Severus dressed himself and hobbled out to the kitchen.

Bill was there, doing the washing up with precise little flicks of his wand. Clearly he was a man well used to looking after himself.

For some reason, it made Severus think of Toby. The old drunk could barely find the fridge when Eileen wasn’t around.

All at once, he felt light-headed, his vision greying around the edges.  If his father started talking to him in his mind or his dreams, Severus realized he didn’t know what he’d do. Hopefully, the only dead a Necromancer could speak to would be Wizarding dead.

Oh, Merlin, Morgan and Circe, thought Severus a little hysterically, I’m a Necromancer.

Necromancy, like spells of Bondage, was one of the darkest of Dark Arts. There was debate about whether those spells were even real--Severus had never really believed they were.

Severus knew he was fortunate--St. Mungo’s healers had all assumed that Poppy was the incantor and she had not disabused them of the notion. That meant that Severus wouldn’t be penalized for an illegal use of a spell.

He shivered a little. Necromancy. The very word set sensible wizards quaking.

That would be why the Dark Lord had been so interested in the damned spell, but the mad bastard hadn’t dropped that little bit of information when he taught it to his most trusted servants.

Severus, like the others, had assumed that it was another of the Dark Lord’s schemes to keep himself alive at any cost.

The Dark Lord had also spoken of capturing one of his particularly annoying opponents and testing the technique on them.

Of course, the Dark Lord would have loved old Mad Eye, Crouch, Minerva, or gods forbid, Dumbledore himself, bound to him.

His robes felt very cold and clammy.

“Professor?” Bill took a step towards him, as if afraid that he was going to collapse. “You all right?”

Severus felt himself sway on his feet. He looked down; the hand not gripping his cane was white-knuckling his wand. He didn’t remember even pulling it out.  The hand shook. Trying to get a hold of himself, he tucked it away. “Fine,” he grunted.

He took a seat at the table. “I trust there were no untoward incidents this morning?”

Bill set a cup of tea down in front of Severus, who nodded his thanks, then said, “No, they were fine. Stayed out of trouble the whole morning, for once.”

“Did Harry eat something?”  Severus asked, trying to occupy his mind with the prosaic.

Bill nodded, a little smile playing on his lips. “Yes. Everything I put in front of him. And he took the potions Madam Pomfrey prescribed.” The man’s face sobered. “Uh, he said that Madam Pomfrey said he needed to gain weight, but what was the other one for? It...er...it looks like the one Ginny’s been on for...” Bill paused, looking discomfited. “Y’know.”

Severus held the other wizard’s gaze. These were things one didn’t speak of openly in pureblood households. He decided he could dare a little honesty with Bill, given that the younger man was remarkably mature and was fairly clear on his sister’s situation. “I’m afraid that Harry has also had a touch of...” he paused to arch one eyebrow meaningfully, “you know.”

Bill got it. He sat down with a thump. “What happened?” he whispered.

“That is not my tale to tell,” Severus returned, “but you need to understand that Harry is in quite as delicate a state of mind as your sister.” He looked into his teacup, not liking the turn the conversation was taking. “Speaking of which...” he stood, picking up his tea cup, “will you tell Harry that I need a word?”

“Of course, Professor.” Bill jumped up,  “Do you want me to make you something to eat? I could bring it in.”

Severus shook his head. “Tea is fine.” Slowly he made his way back to the bedroom. Once there, he conjured a second chair to sit on. He didn’t want to have this conversation from his bed.

He heard Bill thumping up the stairs.  Harry’s resentful voice answering. Severus hoped that the tone was provoked by being dragged away from his friends, rather than having arguments with them. It would be much healthier at this juncture for Harry to be resentful of Severus than lose the support of his long trusted friends.

That was a new thought. Perhaps the ghost of bloody Freud had gotten lonely and started whispering in his ear.

One set of light footsteps tripped down the stairs. Harry really did walk quietly. Part of pretending he didn’t exist, Severus supposed.

Harry’s knock was timid.

“Come in.”

The door opened.  Severus sighed at the sight of the child. Harry’s cheeks were pale and the corners of his mouth turned down. He looked like he had the day they’d had lunch together at Hogwarts. That seemed years ago now.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” The child’s voice was quiet, uncertain.

“Yes, Harry. I needed to talk about some arrangements I’ve made on your behalf.” Hopefully, Harry would let him get through the whole thing before throwing a tantrum. “Close the door. Sit down.”

“Arrangements,” Harry muttered resentfully, “ha.” He did as he was told, crossing his arms across his chest, not meeting his guardian’s eyes,

You’re his father, Severus, James Potter’s voice whispered in his ear, making him start. Stop playing games with yourself.”

With a growl, Severus redoubled his efforts at closing his mind.

Harry flinched a little at the growl.

Severus ignored it, in favor of getting through this conversation. “Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and I have been discussing the after effects of the Tribuo spell and your situation, especially in light of the newspaper article.” 

The boy just shrugged, looking off to the side. “Whatever.”

Severus wondered what he’d done this time to arouse such hostility.

“Anyway,” the boy’s voice was thick with contempt, “the twins told me all about it. They heard you in the kitchen last night.”

The professor promised himself that the minute those miscreants got back to Hogwarts, he’d have them cleaning the dungeon floor with toothbrushes. All he said to Harry was, “What precisely did they tell you?”

That made Harry meet his eyes. “They said you were going to marry me off to Ginny. Without even asking me! What if I don’t want to marry her? What if I don’t want to marry anyone?” he snarled. “But what I want doesn’t matter! No one ever cares what I want. I’ve never even kissed anyone and now I’m supposed to..to...” He grimaced, unable to continue. That fine trembling was back.

No, not the dungeon floor, Severus decided. Fred and George would be cleaning the owlery floor with toothbrushes. Their own toothbrushes. No doubt they had no idea that what they saw as good-natured teasing had been taken deadly seriously by the Muggle-raised and ill-used child.

“Clearly, they misunderstood the whole arrangement then,” Severus said softly, trying to be unthreatening. “This contract is merely for betrothal, first of all. Not all betrothals necessarily lead to marriages. Either party might veto the arrangement when they come of age.”

Harry looked confused. “So, what’s the point?”

“One part of the standard betrothal contract allows each of the parties to be fostered by the other’s family. If it should so happen that the Wizarding world were to discover that your Muggle relatives were unfit, this prior contract would prevent certain families from petitioning for your custody.”

It would also prevent people ferreting around in the records office and finding out the truth of Harry’s parentage, Severus avoided mentioning.. 

“This fostering isn’t done very often anymore, you understand. Growing up in the same household tends to produce rather...ahh...sibling-like feeling between the parties.” He watched Harry to be sure it was sinking in.

“But...” The boy went bright red. “Ginny’s going to be... What if I..? And the Weasleys will get all...”

Severus was sure he knew what the boy was asking. “No one will be offended if, the minute you turn seventeen, you tell them that you feel far too brotherly towards Miss Weasley to consider marriage to her. That is the formula, you see. Conversely, Miss Weasley can say the very same thing.  Because this arrangement protects you and you are my ward, th arrangement also satisfies the debt Ginny owes to me.”

The man also wasn’t going to explain to Harry that, under the contract he and the Weasleys wrote out, no matter what Harry decided, Ginny would always have similar status to a daughter-in-law to Severus, making her binding to him much more benign and appropriate. The protection this betrothal would provide could be literally lifesaving to Severus’ son. Were something to happen to Severus, Dumbledore or the Ministry would have to go through the Weasleys’ legal and Magical claim on Harry. Ginny would always be a link between the Snape house and the Weasleys.

Harry seemed to mull that over. “I still don’t get it. How does it protect me?”

The potions master sighed. “Harry, the reason you were sent to live with your aunt in the first place was that the Ministry was going to sell your custody to the highest bidder, but as you know, the Wizarding world considers blood bonds paramount. If it is discovered that the Dursleys were unfit, Lucius Malfoy will be at the Ministry before you can blink, swooping in to provide the Boy Who Lived with a proper pure-blood upbringing.”

Harry paled. “But, why does this stop him?” The fine shiver became an all-out shudder.

“Because Mrs. Weasley will provide proof of prior claim. She doesn’t have to allow anyone but the judge of the Wizengamot to examine the document and the judges are bound with Oaths of Silence. To everyone else, the tale will be that your father provided for this betrothal out of fear that your mother’s Muggle-born ancestry would be a problem in your finding a mate. The Weasleys are well known to be Muggle-born sympathizers.”

Shamefaced, the boy said, “I should have known the twins were just winding me up.”

Suppressing a smile of pure relief that Harry hadn’t blown up in his face, Severus risked asking, “How so?”

The boy’s face flared bright red. “They said I needed to...er...give Mr. and Mrs. Weasley grandchildren.” Doubtless the twins had put it in much cruder terms.

“Ah.”

“They seemed put out when I didn’t like the idea. I think they thought I was insulting their family,” mumbled the boy.

“I shall have to remind them that Muggles view this sort of thing in far different terms than wizards,” Severus growled.

Thinking on it, when Molly heard that they’d been giving Harry a hard time about what they’d overheard, the twins would be wishing they were back at Hogwart’s before the week was out.

Severus was beginning to become quite fond of Molly.

“Sir?” Harry asked hesitantly, “Did you want anything else?”

There were a number of things that they could talk about, but none were time sensitive, “I did, but honestly…” he trailed off, feeling the now-familiar lassitude overwhelm him quite suddenly. He closed his eyes and tilted his head against the back of the chair.

The warm weight of a blanket fell on him. Dimly, he heard the door open and shut as the child slipped from the room.