It was almost Friday, and Severus hadn't turned up anything more about Henry Silver.  He felt like he was wasting his time trying to look through hundreds upon hundreds of old school writings for the mention of one boy, who was most certainly not Harry, or at least he kept telling himself that, because if he didn't tell himself that, his mind wandered.  What if it was Harry, he would ask himself, and how would I know?  What did he really know about this Henry Silver?  He was a young man (though Bertraine never said what age), he had black hair, he helped make broom cupboards, and he took a liking to Muggleborns.  That was not enough information to draw a definitive conclusion.  It probably stood to reason though, that if they let him make broom cupboards, they might also have let him add other rooms to the school.  Severus did not know of any places aside from the room of requirement or the Quidditch Pitch that Harry really enjoyed going to however, and he'd already turned up nothing at either place about Henry Silver.  Each time he did entertain one of these thoughts about Henry being Harry, he went and looked for any sign of him.  He felt out of options for places to look, or even what to look for.

Draco had spent a lot of time with Harry during their seventh year, but Severus knew he couldn't ask his son to tell him about Harry's favorite places in the castle without getting a look of pity.  Who else could he ask?  What about Ron Weasley, his voice chimed in the back of his mind.  Weasley wouldn't look on him with pity, and he probably wouldn't tell anybody either.  He often isolated himself except to go to work at the twin's joke shop.

Before he could give himself time to shoot his inane musings down, he pulled out a quill and parchment and penned a quick, nondescript letter to the former Gryffindor.  Where were Harry's favorite places in the castle?  He didn't feel a need to explain himself.  No need to have someone else on the list of people who thought he was slowly going crazy, though he had added himself to that list in the last few days.  He must be going crazy after all, to be searching for signs of Harry in the middle ages.

He sent the letter and to pass the time waiting for its return, tried to get more lesson plans done.

The next morning, Severus looked at his calendar and realized that Friday was upon him.  He would have to go have dinner with Draco that evening and then bring little Harry back with him to spend the night.  He went into his unused guest room and looked at it.  It didn't look like any place a three year old would like to stay.  It had a queen sized bed and a boring night stand, and gray stone walls.  There wasn't even a rug on the floor.

He waved his wand and the bed transformed into a toddler sized one, and with another few waves of his wand it had bright silver and green bedding with a soft green rug underneath.  He stared at the end table for long moments and then waved his wand at it.  It transfigured into a little desk and he went into the kitchen where he brought back a kitchen chair and shrank it to little Harry's size to fit the desk.  After several more trips to the living room, he had put parchment on the desk along with crayons he had transfigured from old broken quills.  He would have to remember to ask Draco to pack toys for the child so he would have something to do.

He spent the day working on lesson plans and trying not to think about the letter he'd sent to Ron, and at twenty to five made his way out to the front gates of the school and apparated to Lizard, a little out of the way town on the Southernmost coast where Draco and Ginny had a little house on Beacon Terrace.  It was a nice little town, and Severus thought he wouldn't mind settling here himself someday, but not today.  He walked down the road to Beacon Terrace and then turned right.  A few houses down was a little light blue house with a child's toys strewn about the front yard.  He knocked on the door and was bade to come inside, where his leg was tackled by little Harry.

"Grandpa!  Mummy says I get to go to the castle with you!"

"Yes," he said, trying to smile.  He stepped over several toys as he made his way to the dining room, where dinner was almost finished being set on the table.

"He's been talking about nothing else all week," Ginny said.  "All he can talk about is the treasure hunt Grandpa will take him on through the castle."

"Treasure hunt?" he said, looking down at little Harry, and the boy beamed up at him.

"Treasure!" he shouted, and ran in a circle.  "Pirate treasure!  Goblin treasure!  Troll treasure!  Treasure treasure treasure!"

Severus recalled telling Draco he'd take the boy on an adventure, but he hadn't said treasure hunt.  If he'd known that he would have hid some things around the castle for the boy to find.

"Draco will be home from work any minute," Ginny said.

Severus nodded.  He usually felt out of place here when he did come for meals or holidays.

"Did your mummy pack toys for you to bring?" Severus asked as Harry ran face first into his leg and fell over backward with a giggle.

"Toys toys toys!"

"I packed a few books and his Quidditch star bear.  Harry, why don't you take grandpa to your room to put a few more toys into your bag?"

"TOYYYS!" Harry ran down the hall and already feeling exhausted Severus followed him to his room.  It was decorated in red, gold, silver, green, and blue with cartoon Quidditch characters on posters around the room.

"What do you like to play with?" Severus asked, eyeing the toys on the floor, bed, and in the two overflowing toy chests.

Harry fell to his knees and began playing with his toy train so Severus held down his hand for it.  Harry gave it to him and went to his blocks, which Severus gathered with a wave of his wand, and finally to a toy wand, which Severus also took.  He heard the front door open and Ginny greeting Draco, so he took the toys back to the living room and shrank them to fit into the child's green bag.

"Dad, you made it," Draco said, and Severus gave him a small smile.

"And just in time," Ginny said, "dinner's ready."

They ate and talked and Severus tried not to grow impatient to return back to the castle as Ginny gave little Harry a bath and re-dressed him after dinner.

"I'll come round and get him about four tomorrow," Draco said.

Severus nodded.

Harry hugged his mother and then Draco scooped him up into his arms and tickled him.  "You be good for grandpa and if you are then I'll take you out to fly on Sunday, ok?"

"Fly fly!"

"Good boy."

Draco handed him to Severus, who wasn't used to holding Harry, and Severus asked if he could apparate from there.  Within moments, they were at the castle gates.

"It's big," Harry said as they walked up the front lawns, little Harry holding on tightly to Severus' hand.

"Yes, and we'll go on an adventure tomorrow."

"Treasure!"

"Treasure," Severus said.

In his quarters Severus showed Harry to his bedroom, where the boy promptly sat down at the little desk to color, and Severus unpacked his toys.

"I will be in the living room," he said.  "In half an hour I'll read you your bedtime story."

Harry hummed happily to himself as he drew, but otherwise ignored him.  Severus returned to the living room and pulled out the latest volume he'd taken from the archives.  He had just opened up to the front page when the floo flared to life and a harried looking owl slid out with an envelope in its beak.  It hooted, sounding irritated, dropped the letter, and hopped back into the fire place.  Severus threw a handful of green floo powder into the grate and the bird disappeared in a flash of green flames.  He bent to pick up the letter, which wasn't sealed, and pulled out the parchment.  It was from Ron Weasley.

He liked the Quidditch Pitch and the Room of Requirement.  He also like secret passageways we could hide in if we were out late at night, and some of the broom cupboards, especially the one on second floor near the Charms room - we hid there a lot.  There's a secret passageway behind the Ravenclaw banner on first floor.  I think he liked the East attic too.

Severus had an urge to run out right then and look in all of these places for signs of Henry Silver, but a little voice came from down the hall singing a children's song about Quidditch and Quaffles, and Severus paused.  He couldn't leave little Harry there alone.  He sighed and looked at his watch, and then went back down the hall to be sure Harry wasn't drawing on the walls or floor with the crayons.

"Are you ready for your story?"

"Will it be a treasure story?"

"I can tell you a treasure story, but it won't have any pictures for you to look at."

"Treasure!" Harry shouted happily, and climbed into his little toddler sized bed.  Severus tucked him in and waved down the lights, before sitting down on the green rug next to the bed.

"Close your eyes and you can imagine the pictures."  The little boy obeyed and Severus gave a nod of approval.

"Once there was a little boy... named Henry," he said.  He cursed internally for saying the name, but it was at the forefront of his mind.  "Henry lived in a castle long long ago.  He had treasure that many people wanted.  Henry didn't want people to steal the treasure from him, so he hid it in the castle in a secret place, and left clues so that only those who really looked would find it."

"What kind of treasure Grandpa?" Harry asked, eyes still closed though he had a smile on his face now as he snuggled further down into his blankets.

"Elven treasure," Severus said, feeling it was as good as anything else he'd made up so far.

"With gold?"

"Perhaps."

"Tomorrow I'm going to search for Henry's elven treasure," Harry said.  "I'll find it."

"I'm sure you will," Severus said, and he tucked the covers up under little Harry's chin.  "But you must be well rested if you are to go on a treasure hunt."

"Night night," Harry said, and Severus stood up.  He left the door open and the hall light on as he waved the lights down the rest of the way.

Before he went to bed, he searched through his desk drawers for anything the child might believe was elven treasure and came up with a silver leaf broach that had belonged to his mother, and a little piece of black obsidian that was smooth on all its edges.  He put them in his pocket for tomorrow and went to bed, dreaming about Henry Silver being related to Harry Malfoy.  Again, he felt unrested in the morning.

Little Harry on the other hand was up bright and early and ready for breakfast.  Severus made the rare trip to the Great Hall so Harry could have his choice of breakfasts.  None of the other staff were there and Harry ate a bowl of colorful cereal that Severus suspected had been served up just for the child.

"Can we look for treasure now?" Harry asked as soon as he had slurped up the last of the mushy cereal.

"Yes, I think I know just the place to look."  He took him to the first floor and looked for the Ravenclaw banner.  "You must keep your eyes peeled.  If there is treasure it may be in a secret passageway, somewhere where he would hide treasure."

Harry put his hands up to every object they came to, including the banners, and when they came to the blue Ravenclaw banner, Harry fell right through it and disappeared into the secret passage.

"I found it!" he shouted from the other side and Severus lifted the tapestry aside and lit his wand in the cramped dark space.  Little Harry pulled out his toy wand and Severus used a sticking charm to stick a conjured ball of light to the end of it so Harry could have his own light.  The boy waved it around gleefully as if he had cast the charm.

"What do I look for Grandpa?"

"I am not certain.  Look for anything that doesn't belong here.  Perhaps something carved in the stones.  Look for clues."

"Clues!" Harry said, and began scouring the floor for clues.  Good, Severus thought, he was occupied and having fun, and now he could look for any sign of Henry Silver.  They looked for fifteen minutes before little Harry cried "TREASURE!"

Wondering what he had found, Severus went down the passageway to where Harry's light lit the immediate area, and Harry lay on his stomach pointing at a stone at the bottom of the wall.

"What have you found?"

"Treasure clues!"

Squinting, Severus got on his knees and ran his thumb over the indentation in the stone and his heart raced.  It was a carving of a lightning bolt.  He never would have seen it if he hadn't known where to look.  Little Harry had seen it though.  Little Harry had found a lightning bolt carved in a stone in one of his Harry's favorite secret passageways.  The carving didn't look new, it looked worn.  Had Henry Silver made this passageway?  Was Henry Silver Harry Potter?  His mind was racing.

"Did we find treasure Grandpa?" Little Harry asked when Severus hadn't said anything for long moments.

"You found a clue.  We shall look in another place to see if we can find another clue."

"And then treasure?" Harry asked.  Severus nodded, and took his hand and led him out of the passageway.  He didn't know if Henry Silver made secret passages, but he did know that he made broom cupboards.  His next stop was the broom cupboard Ron had mentioned hiding in.

"Brooms?" Harry asked when Severus opened the door.

"Treasure hides in secret places," Severus said.  He pulled the brooms and buckets out and let Harry go in before getting on his knees.  He pulled the obsidian out of his pocket and put it in a corner for Harry to find and then began looking along the base of the wall for lightning bolts, or initials, or anything.  Just after Harry screamed "Black Gold!" Severus found another lightning bolt in the bottom brick.  He allowed his heart to race again momentarily before turning to look at the grin on little Harry's face.

"What did you find?"

"Black gold!  I found treasure!"

"So you did."

"Is this from Henry?"

"Yes, I think it must be."

Harry got to his feet and jumped up and down joyfully, and as Severus lead him to another broom cupboard, Harry waved the ‘black gold' in the air.

At the next broom cupboard, Severus found a lightning bolt carved in a stone near the floor, and Harry found the silver leaf broach.  He looked at it in awe.

"It really is elf treasure Grandpa!  I'm a treasure hunter!"

They replaced the brooms and, though Little Harry was the one happily humming to himself about his new found prizes, Severus felt as though he was the one who had found treasure.  Henry Silver had made those broom cupboards, and probably that secret passage.  Henry Silver who had black hair and who had come from nowhere, Henry Silver, who had some reason to carve lightning bolts.

He took Harry back to the Great Hall for lunch, where he told his tale of found treasure to the other staff, garnering an adoring look in Severus' direction from Minerva and Professor Sprout, and then took him back to his quarters to play with some of his toys, though the only thing Harry seemed interested in was scribbling pictures of his treasure hunt at his little desk.

Severus sat at his own desk and penned another letter to Ron Weasley.  Did you or Harry ever carve things into the walls at school?  He sent it through the floo this time, the last address being used by the owl presumably the address Ron was at, and waited for a reply.

Draco came at four as promised and collected Harry, who excitedly told him all about his day and his treasure hunt for elf treasure, and Draco laughed and pretended to be impressed, giving a thankful look to Severus which he replied to with a nod.  At dinner, the same owl as the night before came through the floo with Ron's reply.  We didn't vandalize anything.  Severus had his answer.  He was either really going crazy, believing Harry was in the middle ages helping to shape the school into what it was today, or Harry really was there.  It had to be him.  He wanted to tell somebody, anybody, but knew he would never be able to.  Albus would fire him if he went off spouting about Harry building parts of the school, and Minerva would have him committed.  And, Draco might not let him see little Harry again, who, despite the name Severus didn't care for, wasn't that bad to have around once in a great while.  Severus didn't sleep at all that night, so there were no dreams of Henry or Harry.  Instead he lay awake trying to plan his next step.