In the end, Severus decided to floo McGonagall. She was the boy's head of house, and it had been her who had asked Severus to find out what was wrong with Harry in the first place, after all.
He had to promise Harry that they would meet again the next day, though, as it seemed that the boy worried that Severus would stop helping him after witnessing what a freak he really was.

After handing Harry over to McGonagall (and a short, hushed explanation as to what had just happened), the Potion Master was finally able to withdraw to his quarters. He didn't waste any time and went directly into the relatively privacy of his bedroom, rolling up the sleeves of his robe - and caught his breath at the sight of his left forearm.

The Dark Mark wasn't nearly as visible as it had been when the Dark Lord had been at large, but its reddish contour stood out in sharp relief against the pale skin of his arm. A dull throbbing was all that was left now, but Severus could clearly recall the sharp, burning pain he had felt when the... the creature had engulfed him while he had been in Harry's mind.

What did this mean? If He was back, the Dark Mark would be just as black and painful as it had been until not even ten years ago, Severus was sure of this. But to provoke such a reaction, something from Him must triggered the mark. The Dark Lord hadn't been the most powerful wizard of the last century or so for nothing, and he had marked his followers with the only intent to be able to call them at any given time, to have a connection with them that allowed him to exert some degree of control and, if necessary, torture them. He couldn't have made a mistake that caused the Mark to react to just anything, and, after all, Severus hadn't felt something like this since the night He had vanished. No. It must have something to do with what he had witnessed in Harry's mind. It must have something to do with Harry. And the only logical conclusion Severus could come up with was that the failed killing-curse had somehow knitted together the two wizards, the baby and the man, the victim and its murderer.

The Potion Master felt numb. This was worse than anything he had thought of. Before he had delved into Harry's mind for the second time, he had thought that perhaps he had been abused by his relatives, or that the doctors that had treated Harry had (after witnessing bouts of accidental magic) resorted to some barbaric means to stop the boy from doing "freaky stuff" and that, as a result of something akin to torture, Harry's mind had snapped.
Yes, he had even thought about the possibility that the night the Potter's had been attacked had had some long-term effects on him, that the killing-curse had somehow damaged his mind, his magic, his soul.

But a connection with the Dark Lord, maybe even possession? No, this hadn't crossed his mind...

Briefly, Severus wondered whether Albus knew anything about it. It might explain why he had been so wary to reveal anything about that night, even to Severus, his spy, the man who considered himself responsible for the death of his only ever friend and who had, perhaps, grieved more than anyone else, and who had never stopped doubting whether the temporary banishment of the Dark Lord had been worth it, had been worth Lily's life...

Well, it wouldn't help to dwell on past mistakes. If he wanted to atone for all the griefs he had caused, he needed to concentrate on the matters at hand. First, to find out more about the link between Harry and the Dark Lord and whether Albus knew anything about it. Then, investigating how exactly those muggles had treated him, whether they had caused additional damage to Harry's mind and, of course, it was important to make sure that the thing didn't pose any danger, neither to Harry himself nor to his classmates. And then, well, then he had to determine whether there was any chance to get rid of it without killing the boy, too.

Harry, meanwhile, was confused. Instead of accompanying him back to the common-room, Professor McGonagall had brought him into the transfiguration-classroom and had assigned him an essay about the basics of transfiguration. Harry had tried to protest, as nobody else had to write an additional essay, but the Professor had only told him that, since he couldn't do the practical work and Professor Snape had even banned him from trying to perform a spell, it was only fair that he would do more theoretical work.

Secretly, Minerva felt bad about practically giving Harry a detention, but what else could she do? Severus had made it very clear that Harry wasn't to be left out of sight for at least the next hour, and she couldn't very well embarrass the boy by sitting next to him in the common-room. Not to mention that surely Albus would hear about it and demand an explanation. And if Harry actually did anything... well, Severus hadn't been very clear as to what had occurred in the dungeons, but the hints he had given her were enough for Minerva to decide that one hour of Harry's free-time wasn't worth the repercussions anything strange or dangerous he might do would have.
Therefore, she had settled on keeping the boy busy until dinner was served, secretly observing him and hopefully getting some of her own work done while doing so.

"Harry, where have you been?" Ron shouted, as soon as his best mate sat down next to him at the Gryffindor-table in the Great Hall.

"Uhm, Professor McGonagall made me write an essay..."

"You had a detention?" Ron asked incredulously, "But why?"

"I don't really know... she just said that I wasn't allowed to do spells any more, and therefore I had to write more essays and do stuff like that..." Harry answered.

"You aren't allowed to do magic any more?" Ron looked at Harry as if the latter one had gone nuts.

"Uhm, yes... Professor Snape don't want me to try any more magic until he has figured out why I can't do it... He is trying to help me, you know, that's why I had to meet him this afternoon. But then, well, he told me he needed to do some more research, and then Professor McGonagall took me to her classroom and... well, I had to stay there until now."

"But... but Snape, he is a Slytherin!"

"Yeah, but he isn't that bad. Honestly!" Harry added, having seen the look of utter disbelief Ron gave him. "He's really nice and he really tries to help me. I mean, I know I'm not good at magic, but perhaps I can at least learn to do something?" Harry's tone was almost pleading.

"You are the Boy-Who-Lived, of course you'll learn how to do magic!" Ron spluttered, "but why is Snape helping you?! Surely he's only trying to prevent you from learning how to do it right! He's a Slytherin, you can't trust him, Harry! They are all followers of you-know-who, my mum has told me everything about it, he will try to hurt you!"

"Mh... but he's really nice. He keeps explaining me things... and he hasn't hurt me! No, he saved me when the other witch - the medi-witch - hurt me! Yes, Ron, he saved me, he didn't hurt me!"

"But... but you can't trust a Slytherin, Harry!" Ron was nearly in tears. He wouldn't let Harry get hurt by one of them, no, he would make sure that Harry understood that you couldn't trust a snake, no matter how nice they pretended to be! "Please, Harry, Snape will only hurt you, please, you have to talk to McGonagall, or Dumbledore if McGonagall won't listen! I'll come with you, I tell them what my mother has told me about Slytherins, they have to do something about Snape trying to hurt you!"

"He doesn't hurt me, Ron!" Harry said tersely. While it was nice to finally having a friend, Harry wouldn't stop going to Professor Snape only because Ron didn't like Slytherins. No, Professor Snape was the first one who actually listened to Harry and didn't just tell him that he was too young to understand anything, that he just had to take medicine and everything would be fine, that Harry's opinion and wishes couldn't be taken seriously because he was mad.
No, he liked Snape and he would made sure Ron would accept this.

"But.. but.."

"You can come with me, if you want to, than you'll see for yourself that he's really nice and all!"

"Come with you?" Ron breathed, paling. "But... it's not safe Harry, please, we have to tell it McGonagall!"

"You can tell Professor McGonagall, then." Harry replied, irritated at Ron's refusal to believe what Harry said. "I like Professor Snape and I won't go to Professor McGonagall because of he actually helping me! No, he-"

"Harry is right, Ronald!" Hermione (whom neither of the boys had been noticed until now) interjected. "Honestly, he is a teacher! He wouldn't do something to harm a student!"

"You don't know anything, Hermione! Your parents aren't wizards, they don't know about Slytherins and what they are like! Harry might be in real danger, Snape could kill him, and you just -"

Hermione huffed. "He's a teacher, Ron, and he has only Harry's best interest at heart! And it isn't as if Harry was complaining about him, is it? Don't you think you should listen to what Harry's trying to tell you, and not just telling him what to do only because you have heard some rumours regarding Slytherins? Honestly, he and Professor McGonagall seems to be the only ones of the teachers that are actually trying to help Harry!"

"Professor McGonagall?" Harry asked, blankly. How was McGonagall trying to help him?

"Sure. She made you study the theory, didn't she? It's very important to know the theory, too, and don't you think that classes are a bit too focused on practical spell-work? I mean-"

Harry and Ron shared a look that clearly showed that neither of the boys had a clue about what the witch was talking about.

When Monday dawned, Severus felt as if he had aged about fifty years during just one weekend. Again, he had spent most of the night reading and jotting down things that might be of importance, but this wasn't why he felt so dreadful. No, it was because he thought that he finally had discovered what exactly was wrong with Harry. And it wasn't a pleasant theory.

At first he had thought he would need to visit Knockturn Alley in order to get some more books, because non of the ones already in his possession seemed to contain the relevant information. Then, however, while reading one of the texts that dealt with different means of suppression of magical energy, he had stumbled across the description of a rare substance used in potions that meant to block a person's magic. According to the book, the substance would paralyse the mind of the person that had ingested it and would fill the mind of that person with some sort of mud that blocked emotions and thoughts as well as magic. It was recommended to use it only for short-term magical suppressions, though, as the side effects seemed to be rather sever and it could easily be detected by anybody who was proficient in Legilimency.

When he had read those lines, Severus had cursed himself for not studying darker potions in more depths. Sure, he had brewed quite a few of the nastier ones while serving the Dark Lord, but when he had become a spy, he had sworn himself not to spent more time than necessary with those potions and substances that were considered dark, if only to prevent himself from getting tempted, again.

After the perusal of a few additional books, Severus was convinced that he had indeed discovered the source of the strange state of Harry's mind. Yes, the substance he had read about in the first book was closely related to another one, of which he had already read quite a few articles in his potion journals. And both of them seemed to be the basis for the very drug Harry had taken before he had come to Hogwarts! Well, at least one of them.

This explained the mud.

The Potion Master wasn't sure whether the muggles knew about the exact way this substance worked, but it was quite... understandable that they kept drugging people with it that appeared to be disturbed, hysterical... Yes, after all, it suppressed emotions, thoughts, well, every possible expression of what was going on in a person's mind. The very things that were, according to the potion-book, considered unfortunate side-effects were the exact results muggles wanted to achieve by prescribing someone these drugs.

Fortunately, the substances (at least the magical ones) didn't seem to have any long-term or irreparable effects on a wizard's magic. For possible mental effects, or even changes in the way someone's brain worked, though, there was very little hope that Harry would completely recover from taking these drugs for years. Severus could only pray that the damage done to the boy was bearable.
However, as it normally took a few weeks (and sometimes even month, depending on the duration someone had taken the pills) for all of the active substances to get out of a person's system, they would have to wait at least another month before they would be able to tell how far Harry was impaired by the residual effects.

But this wasn't the only answer Severus had found during the night.

He had been reasonably sure that the... demon he had seen in Harry's head, had, originally, been a part of the boy himself. However, after the way his Dark Mark had reacted to the being, he was forced to correct his initial assumption. And the only reference to something even remotely similar to the force that, well, seemed to 'possess' Harry he had found had been the concept of Horcruxes.

The Potion Master had never heard of those before.

After reading the few bits of information the book contained about them, though, Severus had understood why it was that he had never come across those objects in any of the (rather questionable) books he had read while being an active Death Eater. Purposefully splitting one's own soul by murdering another human being in order to gain immortality... no, it wasn't a surprise that even most books about the dark arts avoided this very subject.

Well, it seemed that, after all, he would need to pay a visit to Knockturn Alley. If this thing in Harry's head was a Horcrux, a splinter of the soul of the Dark Lord, he would need as much information as he could get about these... creatures. Currently, he wasn't even sure whether it was possible for a living being to become a Horcrux, but since he hadn't found anything else... well, and then he needed to find a way to get that thing out of Harry' mind. Preferably without killing the boy.

Severus cast a 'tempus' and sighed. Breakfast had already started, and afterwards he would have classes until late in the afternoon. No chance of leaving the castle until tonight. And then he needed to see those muggles, too... well, it would be a busy day.

At lunchtime, Harry felt frustrated. It had been worse enough to be the only one who wasn't able to cast spells, but now he was even forbidden from trying to do so! Professor McGonagall (or maybe Professor Snape) had told every teacher that Harry wasn't supposed to perform any magic, and therefore he had to endure the curious (and sometimes even scornful) looks of his classmates. Additionally, he was to read chapter after chapter in his textbooks, which was quite a chore considering that he could hardly concentrate.

He was reluctant to join Ron into the Great Hall for lunch, knowing that the knives would be there. Harry didn't know how much longer he would be able to hold the demon at bay. Originally, he had hoped that the incident in Professor Snape's classroom the day before had somehow placated the wretched thing, but after fighting against its efforts to smash Harry against the wall of the dormitory the entire night, he had given up hope.
However, just now the red-head was entering the Great Hall, eager to get as much to eat as possible, and Harry knew that he didn't really have a choice. He, too, was hungry, and surely it wasn't allowed to skip meals either. With a bad feeling, he followed his friend.

"Aren't you hungry?" Ron asked (between two mouthfuls of Steak-and-Kidney Pie) when he noticed that Harry only poked around in his food.

"Yes..." Obediently, Harry took a mouthful of his own food. He felt sick.

He would never know what exactly had happened this lunch.
He had gazed at the teacher's table, trying to catch the Potion Master's attention. He couldn't go on like this, every moment now the demon was about to do something drastic and he didn't want it to happen in front of the entire school. Perhaps, if he could somehow make the Professor understand what was happening with him, perhaps the man would take him from the Great Hall, rescuing him both from the students and from the demon, just like he had done yesterday.

It was just when he had managed to made eye-contact with the man that Professor Quirell turned around to speak to the teacher next to him. Harry felt a sharp pain in his forehead, and then the demon broke free.

Ron had been about to ask Harry whether he wanted to have dessert, too, when the boy next to him stiffened. Then, before he could do more than blinking, Harry seized the knife next to his plate, swung it back and thrust it into his left hand that was still lying on the table.

"HARRY!" He screamed, but his friend didn't pay him any attention. He just pulled the now-bloodstained knife out of his hand and brought it down again, this time stabbing his thigh. Immediately, blood began to pour out of the wound. Lots of blood. However, Harry didn't seem to notice. Or perhaps he just didn't care.

"HARRY! HARRY!" Ron panicked. He didn't know what was going on, but he needed to stop his friend from hurting himself! But what could he do? Wasn't one of the teachers-...?

Again and Again Harry thrust the knife into various parts of his body. His left hand was a mess and Ron thought he could see bone amongst the swirling red liquid that sprayed over the table.

Dimly, the youngest Weasley-boy heard the rest of the students screaming, some of them were already running towards the Entrance Hall, away from the insane boy. Others just watched the scene with a sort of disgusted fascination

It was when Harry reached out and plunged the knife into his left eye socket that Ron was pulled out of his stupor. "HAAAARRYYYY NOOOO!" He yelled and hurled himself towards the boy, intending to grab the knife, preventing Harry from doing even more damage.

He hadn't considered his own safety, though.

Just when he had touched Harry's hand, the hand that was holding the knife, the other boy seemed to become aware of him. For the split of a second, Ron got a good look at Harry's eyes, well, eye, since one of them was only a bloody mess by now. If possible, the red-head paled even further by the sight of the fury and loathing in Harry's gaze, and somehow, even the unhurt eye had a deep red colour.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. When he looked down, he saw that his cloak had a small hole. The fabric next to the hole seemed to become warm and damp, but before Ron had time to process what had just happened, Harry brought down the knife again, this time aiming at his upper chest.

Before Ron passed out, he thought that he saw a big, dark-robed figure pulling Harry away from him.

###

Severus was nervous. All day, he had had a bad feeling about leaving Harry unobserved. When the boy had entered the Great Hall, he noticed Harry's discomfort and decided to catch the boy after lunch, making sure that he was all right. Well, as far as this was possible.
A few minutes later, however, he became aware of Harry staring at him. Perhaps he should go to the boy immediately, making sure that he didn't feel worse than normally, that he still had control over the - thing - in his head?

He had been about to get up when he saw Harry's body becoming stiff. Oh damn it! He might already be too late... Severus jumped to his feet and started to run towards the house-tables when the hall erupted in chaos. Students screamed and many of them headed towards the exit, while others just sat there and gapped. He couldn't see Harry right now so he didn't know exactly what the boy was doing, but he had a pretty good idea. Severus thought he heard Albus calling something, but he didn't pay attention to the old man, his only concern right now was to get to Harry as fast as possible.

Without paying regard to the students that ran into the opposite direction, Severus forced his way towards the place he knew Harry sat. Moments later - though to Severus, it seemed like hours, and he cursed the students that weren't able to react reasonably to an emergency like this - he had reached the boy, and although his first instinct was to vomit at the sight that greeted him, he kept an iron grip on himself, drew his wand and pointed it at the knife in the boy's hand, just when Harry brought it down towards Weasley's chest, clearly trying to (at best) hurt the other child severely.

The next thing he knew was that his wand clattered to the ground and Harry was in his arms, fighting like Severus had never seen anybody fight before.

"HARRY STOP IT! - HARRY!" The boy didn't gave the slightest clue that he had heard Severus. Well, not that he really had expected him to respond. The Potion Master wasn't even sure whether Harry could actually hear him. He felt the sharp kicks of Harry's feet, and at the same time, the boy's blood drenched his cloak. He needed to be brought to the hospital wing, and quickly!

"ALBUS!" Despite all the reservations he had against the headmaster, Severus was relieved when he saw that Dumbledore approached them. "We need Poppy, NOW! Albus, I don't know whether - ouch!" He gasped when Harry managed to kick him right into his stomach. He barely managed to keep his grip on the boy. Obviously, the headmaster had noticed, though, because suddenly Harry became limp in his arms.

"ALBUS! What-"

"Stunning-spell." Far too calm for Severus liking, Albus bent down to the unconscious form of Ron Weasely, feeling for a pulse.

"The boy is all right. Minerva, if you would fetch Poppy? Tell her that we have an injured student in the Great Hall. I -"

"TWO injured students! Albus, the boy bleeds like a slaughtered pig, we need to bring him to the hospital-wing, I don't know how long-" the Potion Master interrupted himself when Albus raised his hand. "ARE YOU DEAF, OLD MAN? THE BOY IS BLEEDING TO DEAD YOU-"

"Severus! An emergency team from St Mungo's will arrive any second now. They'll take the boy with them."

"St Mungo's? But-?" Just then, four or five healers sprinted through the door that led to the Entrance Hall.

"Ah, thanks for your prompt arrival. Now, the boy in the arms of the Potion Master has sustained serious injuries. If you would-?"

Without waiting for a more detailed explanation, the healers took the boy out of Severus arms and laid him on the ground. Two spells later, and Harry was completely naked. While most of the healers were waiving there wands over the boy's body, one of them turned to the headmaster.

"What exactly has happened?"

"Harry - he stabbed himself with a knife, several times. He was responsive, but the headmaster had to stun him because he wouldn't stop fighting. He has... some mental health issues. Until his arrival at Hogwarts, he was treated by a muggle-doctor, apparently he stayed in hospital for some time, too. He had to take several heavy drugs, however, he hasn't taken them for almost a week now. It seems that he has had... incidents like this before, well, for quite some time already, though I don't know what exactly is causing them..."

"Self inflicted injuries, then?" The healer nodded. "All right, anything else we need to know?"

This time, Albus beat Severus. "It's Harry Potter, Peter." The healer - Peter - gapped. "Yes... I think it'll be the best if you take him to St Mungo's. I don't know how serious his injuries are, but considering that he has attacked another student, we can't keep him here. He needs to be monitored more closely, and it might be for the best if he is placed on the Janus-Thickey-Ward..."

Severus couldn't believe what the headmaster was saying. He wanted - for all intents and purposes - expel the boy?! "Albus, you can't be serious!"

"Yes, Severus, I am serious. We can't keep the boy here in his current condition, it's much too dangerous. Yes, better to place him somewhere where he can't hurt himself or others. No-" the headmaster raised his hand when he noticed that his youngest staff-member was about to protest. "We'll talk later, Severus!" And with a meaningful look, Albus turned back to the healer.

"All right. Pam? How's the boy?" The healer asked one of his colleagues.

"He's stable, but he'll need quite a few blood-replenishing potions. The vital blood vessels seems to be unhurt, though, as are the inner organs. Has been quite lucky, little boy... well, we had to remove the stunning-spell, but we have given him a sedative, it should be enough to keep him calm until he can be brought to the hospital-wing." One of the healers that had worked on Harry's still form answered.

"We take him to Mungo's Pam." The healer that had talked to Dumbledore - Peter - said, and at the questioning glance of his colleague he added: "Apparently, the boy did all of this to himself..."

Pam's eyes became huge. "All right... you have an emergency Portkey, right? I don't want the boy being jostled too much!"

Peter nodded, then he turned back to Dumbledore. "You said he injured another student?"

"Yes, but it doesn't seem to be too bad. Our medi-witch will deal with Ron."

"All right. Then, do we need to take any precautions? Does the boy have a history of being aggressive or anything like that?"

"No." Severus stated firmly, ignoring the doubtful look Albus was giving him. "But he has taken rather strong medication until only a week ago that might interfere with some potions. Here -" and Severus produced a quill and parchment out of thin air and wrote down the names of the substances, "under no circumstances he is to be given anything that might interact with those substances! I have started to do some research concerning the entire matter, I'll let you know if I find anything else that might be of importance. And you aren't to use any invasive diagnostic spells either when examining his state of mind either, Pomfrey already tried and he reacted badly to them!"

Absent-mindedly, the healer nodded. "All right. - Guys? We're taking the boy to Mungo's!"

And while the healers prepared for their departure, Severus got a good look on the (still naked) Harry. The boy was very pale (well, apart from the parts of his body that were smeared with blood) and he was connected to several magical iv's. The slight pulsing that surrounded his head told Severus that a spell that made it easier for Harry to breath was in place.

"I'll contact you as soon as everything is settled." The headmaster told the healer. Whatever this meant, Severus thought.

When the portkey activated, the Potion Master had the strange urge to touch it, too.

"Albus, what in Merlin's name is wrong with you?!" Severus demanded. The two wizards were currently on their way to the infirmary where Ron Weasley had been brought by Madame Pomfrey while Albus and Severus had still been occupied with seeing Harry off.

"What do you mean, Severus?" The headmaster asked, his tone neutral.

"What I mean?! You send the boy to St Mungo's! Poppy and I would have been quite able to deal with his injuries, well, and even if it might have been wise to let some additional healers have a look at the boy to ensure that we don't miss anything, there was no need to practically forcing them to take Harry with them!"

"Well, considering that Harry has hurt another student and perhaps even intended to kill him, and that we don't know what has caused him to do so in the first place, I don't think it would have been wise to keep the boy here. There are other students we need to keep safe, Severus."

"And of course Harry is a greater threat to the dunderheads than that blasted cerberus is?" Severus replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I think -" but the headmaster broke off, and for a few seconds both men were silent. "Fluffy - Hagrid and I know how to deal with it. There is no need to be worried about the creature. Harry, on the other hand..."

"You really want to make me believe that Harry is more dangerous than that monster?!" Severus asked incredulously. "Have you forgotten that you agreed on me figuring out what's wrong with the boy? And that I can hardly do so while he is locked up in St Mungo's?"

"Then you did find something?" Albus asked sharply, casting a piercing glance at the Potion Master.

"Perhaps..." Severus answered non-committally. He surely wouldn't tell Albus about the things he had discovered in Harry's mind. The headmaster's behaviour all but proved that the old coot knew more than he let on, and if he send Harry off to the closed ward of St Mungo's (where the healers might do Merlin knew what to him) only because the boy hurting himself and a classmate, Severus didn't want to know what Albus would do when he learnt that - maybe! - a part of the Dark Lord himself resided in his mind! Probably lock him up in the dungeons, protected by wards so strong that only the Dark Lord himself (if he ever returned) would have a chance of getting them down. Otherwise... the headmaster might even decided that 'for the greater good' it would be better to simply kill the boy. Dumbledore might be a so-called 'light' wizard, yes, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't sacrifice a life if he thought it would prevent the suffering and death from other people in the future.

But Severus would do everything in his might to protect Harry from any harm that Albus might have in store for him. He didn't know why, he didn't understand how it was possible, but somehow, incredibly, Harry had managed to evoke an entire unfamiliar feeling in the Potion Master.
Yes, he cared for his snakes, even if he didn't show it openly, and he appreciated the... well, the almost-friendship with Poppy and the exchange of experiences with some other potion masters via owl-post. He wasn't overly fond of people in general, yes, but he wasn't antisocial either!
But never before did he have a feeling of guilt when healers took another person away to hospital. After all, this was their job, wasn't it? And hospitals were there to help people, after all! But the mental image of Harry being forced to lie in a bed and the child screaming and crying and no one helping him because no one understood made Severus feel extremely helpless and guilty. And he didn't like either of those feelings!

And then there was the burning desire to find a way to destroy that evil thing, that demon, the part of the Dark Lord that had lodged itself in Harry's mind like some sort of parasite. How dared that thing to sully Lily Evans' child in such a fashion!?
At this moment, while he walked next to Albus Dumbledore towards the infirmary to find out more about Weasley's condition, Severus took a silent oath to do everything in his might to make sure that Harry wouldn't end up being locked in St Mungo's for years on end like the Longbottoms, and he would free Harry's mind from that evil creature, no matter what it took. He would find a way to force it out, to destroy it, even if he had to invent an entire new branch of magic!

And he surely wouldn't let Albus take advantage of the child either. No matter what the old coot had planned for the boy, he would get him to tell Severus everything he knew and than he would prevent Albus from having any other chance of meddling with Harry's life again. Sending Harry away just when Severus had begun to make progress with the boy, oh yes, this was very much like Albus! Perhaps the old man didn't actually want for anybody to find out about his condition!
Well, Severus would make sure that Albus wouldn't have another opportunity like this, and he would prepare Harry for the manipulations from that man. Harry would decide for himself whether he wanted to serve the old coot for some dubious greater good, yes! Severus wouldn't forbid him, of course not, but the boy deserved at least a choice!

Just then they reached the infirmary and Severus could already hear Poppy's babbling. But wait - this wasn't Poppy's voice! Lifting his left eyebrow, he turned to Albus.

"Ah, I think Molly has already arrived..." He answered, his expression sombre but his eyes twinkling nevertheless. "Perhaps you would agree meeting me in my office tonight? I suppose it would be wise to discuss... recent events in more depths without having possible witnesses..."

Severus curtly nodded. Now Albus had given him the perfect opportunity to find out exactly what the old man knew about Harry without him having to pry.

"Albus Dumbeldore!"

They had just entered the hospital-wing and a furious Molly Weasley was advancing on them.