It had been a week since Harry had left Number 4 Privet Drive. He very much appreciated that Snape had allowed him to stay here. He felt safe with Snape, and there were no thoughts of the life that he escaped from. Over the week, Snape changed. He began treating Harry like a son. Could that of been what made Harry feel safe? Today, The Professor and Harry were playing chess and they were in the middle of an intense game. Snape ordered his pawn to move forward, then sat back with a smile. It was the first time that Harry had ever seen his Professor smile.

“What’s so funny?” Harry inquired.

“There is nothing funny. I am just curious to see what your move is.”

“But you are doing it with a smile.” Harry reminded him, moving his rook to take Snape’s pawn.

Snape laughed to himself as he took Harry’s rook with his bishop.

“Check m-” Snape never got the chance to finish.

The door to the room they were sitting in was blasted open, a white light blinded Harry. There was yelling, the sound of a chair breaking, and a loud thud that echoed in the room. When Harry, who was laying on the ground, could see correctly, a man was pointing his wand at an unconscious Snape.

“What are you doing?” Harry yelled, as two men dragged Snape from the room.

He knew that these were not death eaters. Had they been, then Harry would have been dead already. Two men stormed into the room, and one of them knelt next to Harry, who was now sitting up.

“Harry.” Lupin was kneeling next to Harry.

“What is going on Lupin?”

“Did Snape do that to you?” Mad-eye, who had entered the room at the same time as Lupin, questioned.

“No…..Tell me what is going on?”

“Were you held here against your will?”

“What!?” Harry asked, appalled at the question. Did he not know that Snape had saved Harry from his Aunt and Uncle.

“Were you staying here unwillingly?” Moody repeated again.

“No.”

“Did…”

“I want to know what the bloody hell is going on!” Harry yelled, silencing everyone in the room.

Lupin handed Harry a copy of a Daily Prophet. Snape did not get this paper here, so Harry was out of the loop on what the Prophet had to say.

“THE CHOSEN ONE: MISSING.” The headline read.

“This is absurd. I have been here the entire time.” Harry responded to the newspaper.

“Arthur came to check on you. Your Aunt and Uncle said that you were not there. He got worried.”

“We were all worried. Some of us had thought Voldemort had kidnapped you.”

“No…I’ve been here. I was safe. Snape, he…..”

“We don’t need to hear this now. Wait for the trial.”

Harry sat in a cold room, waiting for Snape to be brought in. Two weeks had passed since Snape had been arrested, and Harry had lost contact with everyone. The Ministry had forbidden Harry to speak of the incident with anyone. The door opened and two guards brought Snape into the room. Snape took a seat across from Harry, but the guards did not leave.

“Thank you.” Snape said. “You can leave now.”

He did not want to speak with Harry with others present.

“We can’t” the guard responded.

“What can I really do?” Snape asked as he turned to face the guard, lifting his hands up, causing chains to rattle.

The guards looked at Harry, who nodded in agreement with Snape. The guards left the room.

“Hypocrites.” Snape whispered under his breath, as he turned around. “Harry, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. My ankle is doing better.”

“That’s good. Where have you been staying? Don’t tell me that they made you stay with your Aunt and Uncle?”

“No they didn’t. They tried, but I wouldn’t let them. I ended up hexing people.”

“Harry, you know that what you did is not right.”

“I know, but I couldn’t think about going back.” Harry gave sort of a shudder. “Members of the order tried to take me in, but the Ministry wouldn’t allow it. They sent me to stay with a foster family.” Harry knew that Snape understood where the boy was staying.

“Are they treating you right?”

“Yeah. They treat me like a son.” Harry confessed with a smile on his face. Snape gave a huge sigh of relief. “Are you okay, Professor?”

“Yes. Just like your godfather, this place does not bother me.” Snape, of course, was referring to Sirius’ extended stay in Azkaban. “I have more important things to worry about though.”

“Like what?” Harry asked

“You.” Snape confided.

“I told you that I am okay, Professor. This situation is crazy though.”

“I am right there with you, Potter.”

Did Snape really just say that? It was true that Snape always called him that, but what Harry just realized was that Professor Snape had been using his actual name. Harry shoved the thought out of his mind, for he had more important things to think about.

“Why are they doing this?”

“Is it not obvious? I’m sure that Professor Lupin told you that people thought I had kidnapped you.”

“But you didn’t. That is what makes this crazy. They are making a circus out of this trial. This had to be the largest trial since they had the death eater trials.”

“I understand that, but I need you to listen to me. They are going to ask you some very tough questions and I want you to tell them the truth. If you feel that I was wrong in how I had saved you, then I want you to tell them that.”

“But I don’t feel that way.”

“You do have to tell them the truth. Do not lie on account that I shall be sent to jail. If the truth sends me to jail, oh well.”

“What do you mean oh well? This could ruin your life.”

“It will do no such thing. I will always have a life, I may just need to do some…rebuilding.” Snape chose his words carefully. “What I am trying to say is that, If I go to jail, then it will be nobody’s fault except my own.”

“What if they sentence you to death?” Harry asked quickly. This had been a question that had been on his mind since Snape had been arrested. Snape chuckled to himself. “This is not funny. This….”

“I was not laughing at what you said. I can promise you that they will not send me to my death. I have not killed anyone.”

“They have killed people for less than that. They tried to kill Sirius and he was an innocent man.”

“You raise a good point. If it does happen, and I can promise you it will not, then I shall go down fighting and take as many people with me. All that I wanted to tell you was that I do not blame you.”

“Why? My words would send you to jail.”

“Harry, what would I gain in being angry at you.”

“I am not going to send you to jail.”

“Even after I killed Dumbledore?”

Harry sat dumbfounded at the question. He tried to find an answer, but the guards came into the room before Harry could answer.

“It is time for the trial.” One of them said.

Snape stood and looked at Harry.

“Just tell the truth Harry. Everything will be fine.”

Snape left the room with the guards on either side of him. Harry sat there for a minute, grabbed his crutches, and made his way to the courtroom. The only thing on his mind was that what he was about to say might destroy a man‘s life.