"Will you be all right, Severus?" Poppy asked once they were well clear of the Headmaster's office.

Severus sighed. There was very, very little he could keep from Minerva, with whom he had become friends of a sort after he had accepted the position of both Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin (and they'd dealt with her part in the ... unfortunate circumstances ... of his school days), and most definitely allies as they fought to keep their charges from each others' throats. From Poppy, who had nursed his myriad of hurts during his own student days, he could hide nothing, and in truth, had very little desire todo so, as she was one of a very small number of people he trusted. "I will be fine, Poppy. In truth, it will be good to not have to answer the call, when it comes."

"You're so sure then, that he'll return?" Minerva sounded less than happy about that, for which Severus couldn't blame her.

"Indeed. Voldemort was nothing if not obsessed with preventing his own death. Whatever happened that night, I am quite sure it did not kill him." He said.

"We're going to have to do everything we can to make sure Harry doesn't fall victim to him." Minerva said, expression grim. "I just wish he'd inherited a bit more of Lily's industry."

Snape snorted. "You did not hear the entire litany, Minerva. He was punished for performing better than that pig of a cousin of his, early in his school days. He learned."

"So he's been, what, deliberately performing at less than his full capacity?" Poppy asked.

"Indeed. No offense, Minerva, but how the boy ended up in Gryffindor, I'll never know. He's got more than a little Slytherin cunning and guile in him." Severus told the two women as they approached the infirmary.

Minerva laughed. "I'll take that under advisement, Severus, and be grateful you'll be helping me look after him." Then she shot him a look. "Did you mean it, about becoming his guardian?"

"Yes. A few words in the right ears will ease the way. Lucius has his uses, and if Dumbledore knows what's good for him, he won't fight it." Severus told them. He had no compunctions about lying through his teeth to the elder Malfoy and obtaining guardianship of Harry by less than entirely legal means.

Minerva laughed. "Oh, Severus. Please, please share the memory if you're there when he finds out you've pulled this on him. I very much want to see the look on his face."

"Quite." Severus said, a small smile quirking the corners of his mouth. Then, they were back in the infirmary, and Severus settled himself in a chair beside Harry.

Poppy snorted. "None of that, Severus. There's a perfectly good bed not three feet away from him." She knew better than to try to force him out of the infirmary. He always stood guard over those of his Snakes that came here in the first weeks of the year due to abusive homes. "And if you're going to be escorting him about tomorrow, you'll need some proper sleep."

Severus grumbled, but nodded. "I'll sleep in the bed. I just want to sit here for a bit."

Poppy gave him a look that said very clearly she didn't believe him, but would humor him, at least for a while, and headed into her office. Minerva hesitated long enough to look down at Harry, who'd curled up on his side, scrunched into an almost painfully small ball. "Goodnight, lad." And whether she meant Severus or Harry or both was anyone's guess, as she turned and left.

Alone with Harry again, Severus studied the boy's sleeping form. He surprised himself with the realization that really, it was only the hair (and the glasses) that bespoke of the boy's father. There was more than a hint of Lily in the shape of his face, and the length of his (rather painfully thin) fingers.