Minerva walked into her chambers.

"Tami."

The small elf popped in front of the Transfiguration Professor.

"Yes, mistress," Tami smiled.

"Take me back to Severus."

Tami gave a small nod before grabbing hold of Minerva's wrist. The two of them popped out of Hogwarts.

Minerva, standing in the hallway, heard Sirius, Remus and Derek talking. She headed upstairs. She wanted to speak with her son. She knew how much Severus wanted to deal with Dolores, but she did not want him to do something that would cost him his safety and his freedom. She stood in the doorway. She smiled at the sight before her.

Severus was sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard. Harry was draped over his chest, asleep, his head nuzzled under Severus' chin. Severus had Harry's bandaged arm tucked under his arm. Severus had his eyes closed, but like before when Harry first came into Severus' care, Minerva could tell that her son wasn't asleep.

"How long are you going to stand there and stare at us?" Severus said, opening his eyes looking over at his mother.

"Severus," Minerva said. "You understand why I did what I did?"

"Am I still being punished?"

"This was not a punishment, Severus," Minerva said, walking over to the desk and pulling out the chair and placing it next to the bed, sitting down. "Harry needs you here, not in Azkaban, or dead." The last part was said in almost a whisper. If Severus didn't have excellent hearing he wouldn't have heard it.

"Harry," Severus sighed, letting his head hit the headboard behind him. "He doesn't trust me. Not that I've ever given him reason to."

"I don't believe that," Minerva said. "Harry trust you."

"No," Severus said, shaking his head. "If he did, he would have come to me after his first detention." Severus lifted his head and looked at his mother.

"And did he tell you why he didn't tell you?" Severus nodded. "Why?"

"He said he didn't want me angry at him."

"Oh, Severus," Minerva gave him a sad smile. "Don't mistake Harry wanting to impress you with him not trusting you." Severus just looked at his adoptive mother. "Harry wanted to impress you."

"I was blinded by my hatred of his father," Severus said shaking his head. "And how I acted towards him before has set the tone of our relationship. He doesn't trust me."

"Then what is he doing now?" Minerva asked.

"What?"

"What is he doing now?" Minerva asked again.

"He's asleep. But I don't …"

"Correct," Minerva said, cutting him off. "He's asleep. If Harry did not trust you, he would not be asleep, his head nestled underneath your chin, with his hand gripping your clothes so not to be removed. Harry has found comfort in you. Not anyone else. You."

"What is so special about this? Yes, he's asleep. This means nothing."

Minerva raised her eyebrow at the harshness of Severus' tone.

"Means nothing?" Minerva questioned. "How can you say that this means nothing?"
"He doesn't trust me," Severus said, enunciating each word. "I've hurt him too much for him to."

"Severus, that's not true."

"Really," Severus challenged. "If memory serves me right, you made me go to Surrey. I didn't want to go and see the lavish life that I thought Harry had."

"Stop it," Minerva's tone was harsh. "Are you a stubborn man? Yes. But you are not heartless. Even though you try so hard to convince people that you are. Yes, I told you to go and check on Harry. But that does not change the fact that you have been protecting him since he set foot in Hogwarts. Is he," nodding towards the child in Severus' arms, "cheeky and insufferable? Of course. But you've done more for this child than anyone else. You may have fussed about it while doing it, but you did it none the less. I've been watching Harry these past years, probably not as close as I've done with you, but I have been watching him. Even before your bonding, he's been looking to you."

"Now that I don't believe," Severus sneered.

"Believe what you want," Minerva said. "But I saw the two of you when his name was pulled out of the Goblet last year. He walked to you first. And these last weeks, Harry's been looking for you, seeking you out. You've told me on several of our teas together that he's asked to spend the night with you in your chambers. Why do you think he would want that if he didn't trust you?"

Severus didn't respond to that.

"Let me ask you something," Minerva said, changing tactics. "Do you trust me?"

"You know I do," Severus answered without hesitation.

"Really?"

"Why are you asking me that? I trust you. I've never given you any reason why I wouldn't."

"Calm down," Minerva said. "I was not accusing you of anything. I am simply making a point."

"And your point being?"

"That even with all the trust that you've shown towards me, you have never fallen asleep on me."

"What does the fact of Harry falling asleep on me prove that he trusts me?"

"Because the fact that he IS asleep. If he did not trust you, he would not be comfortable enough to relax, much less go to sleep. But Harry's trust isn't really what's bothering you. It's your response to it. How do you deal with the weight of his trust?"

"I am not trustworthy," Severus sighed.

"Now that's a lie," Minerva smirked. "Stop thinking so low of yourself."

"You think I'm trustworthy?"

"Yes, I do," Minerva said.

"Only you would think that an ex-Death Eater spy would be trustworthy."

"Now," Minerva said, changing the subject. "As far as Umbridge goes, she should not be a problem anymore."

Severus' arms tightened around the child at the mention of the Toad's name. Though it did not show on his face, Minerva could tell that he was trying to contain his anger. She watched as Harry seemed to snuggle more into Severus as he tightened his arms. Minerva saw that and couldn't help the small smirk on her face. She knew that Severus struggled with the trust that Harry was giving him, but it would never say that he wasn't protective of the child.

"Where is the Toad?" Severus sneered, looking down at the boy in his arms.

"Taken care of," Minerva said. "She won't be a problem to Harry anymore."

Severus looked up at his adoptive mother.

"What did you do?"

"I took care of it," Minerva said. "Trust me in knowing that she will not hurt Harry or anyone else for that matter."

"Where is she?"

Minerva pulled out her wand and waved it over the desk. A small globe materialized on the desk. It looked like an ordinary muggle snow globe. Severus, cradling Harry's head with one hand, leaned over and picked up the small globe. When he looked inside the globe, Severus couldn't help the snort that escaped his lips. It was a tadpole on an ivy leaf, sitting in a small pond. The small tadpole looked like she was in a pink cardigan. Severus looked up at his mother. Minerva could see the mirth in her son's eyes and smiled.

"I know you wanted to harm her," she said. "I know you would have probably killed her. I just couldn't allow that to happen. This way she will be where she could be watched and not hurt anyone else."

Severus didn't respond to that. He just put the small globe back on the desk. Minerva stood up and walked over to the two on the bed. She patted Harry's head, letting her fingers get loss in the locks of Harry's hair. She looked at her son and with the other hand cupped his cheek. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

"I had Tami lifted the warding off the house. You can go back whenever you are ready."

Minerva then turned and walked out of the room.

_00000_0000_00000

Aberforth sat on Albus' sofa while Albus sat in his armchair by the fireplace.

"So, what is so important?" Albus sighed.

"I was just invited to a Death Eater's meeting," Aberforth said.

"Why would you go? You have no ties with Death Eaters."

"Well, they seem to differ from that logic," Aberforth said. "Bellatrix is dead. Were you aware that Severus was commissioned to brew a liquid version of the Cruciatus?"

"Really? What else have you learned?" Albus asked, rubbing his beard.

"You had once thought that you might be targeted by the Death Eaters."

Albus nodded.

"It's not you they are wanting gone."

"Who are they targeting?" Albus asked.

"Minerva and Poppy."

"Really? I wonder why they are being targeted?"

"Well, with Poppy already dead it is only Minerva they are going after."

Albus nodded again. Then something caught in his attention. Aberforth was never one to deal with Voldemort. Why now?

"Why were you there?" Albus asked.

"They have something over me," Aberforth confessed. "You remember the scandal a few years back about me and my goats." Albus nodded. "Well now they have evidence to the fact that I really did what they accused me of."

"You told me that the accusations were false," Albus said.

"And they are," Aberforth said. "But it still didn't stop them from assuming."

Albus sighed, sitting back in his chair, letting his head lean on the headrest.

"So what is that they have on you?" Albus sighed, not looking at his brother.

"They are saying that I tried to marry one of my goats. And they have enough proof to take my bar away from me."

"You're an idiot," Albus said, shaking his head. "You told me it wasn't true. That there was no way they could substantiate that claim." Albus got up and started pacing.

This was the last thing he wanted to have to deal with especially after hearing what was going on with his Defense professor and her illegal use of a dark artifact.

"So," Albus stopped pacing and was standing in front of Aberforth, "who is holding these claims over your head?"

"Malfoy," Aberforth said. "He came by the bar earlier."

"I can't deal with this right now," Albus sighed, sitting back down in the chair.

"They believe there is some kind of alliance between me and them from what happened this summer," Aberforth said after a while of just sitting in silence with his brother.

"An alliance?" Albus said. "Wait a minute, you said Bellatrix is dead."

"Yes," Aberforth said.

"This just may work," Albus said, absently.

"Care to share, brother," Aberforth said with a sneer.

"Continue to go when you're called," Albus said.

"What?" Aberforth's anger coming through. "I thought you already have a spy for the Death Eaters. Why should I?"

"I don't believe that Severus is telling me everything," Albus said. "I want to know everything that is going on as well as what Tom is doing. Anyway, with Poppy's death and Minerva being targeted, I know he's not really thinking clearly."

_0000_0000_0000_000

Harry woke up laying on something he couldn't quite place. It was comforting, but not hard. There was a faint beating that he could hear as well as feel. His hands; one he couldn't move as the other he could tell a piece of clothing of some kind was in his hand.

Harry opened his eyes and saw that he was laying on something that was all black. Again, everything that happened rushed to the forefront of his mind. This time Harry couldn't help his smile as he once again got another kiss on the forehead. He remember the first kiss the day before, thinking how happy he would be if he got another one. Then remembering the fear that he may not ever get that kind of show of affection from his da again after the nightmare he had. All to be proven null and void as his da once again kissed him on his forehead again.

Harry nuzzled down into Severus' embrace as he remembered the feeling of being loved by his da.

"Are you awake?" Harry felt his da's voice as much as heard it.

Not wanting to lift his head, Harry nodded.

"Do you think we can talk about what happened in your detention?" Severus asked, tightening his arms around Harry.

A small part of Harry wanted to panic at the thought of his detention but the warm embrace he was getting from his da just relaxed him. Harry nodded.

"Alright," Severus sighed. "Now, I know that you had to write lines." Harry nodded. "How many did you have to write? How long were you using that quill?"

Harry bit his lip as he thought about the question. It wasn't a hard question as he knew exactly how many lines he wrote. What was hard was admitting to his da how many he did write.

"Harry, I need to know how long you used that quill. We have to make sure that there is no nerve damage."

"I …," Harry started, but his breath hitched in his throat.

Severus could feel the tension in his boy's body and just held Harry tighter, talking soothingly in his ear.

"It's alright, Harry. I just want to protect you."

Harry took a deep breath and told his da how many lines he wrote.

"It was one hundred and fifty."

Harry could feel his da's arms tightening even more around him. Harry would have thought that as tightly as Snape was holding him, it would start to become uncomfortable, even hard to breathe. That was not the case. He could feel his da's arms around him, but the tighter they were around him, the more comforting Harry became. He wasn't uncomfortable. He wasn't in pain. He truly felt loved.

TBC