“My dear boy, you must understand,” Dumbledore said, holding up his hands placatingly, looking at the furious wizard across from him. “It was…”

“If you even attempt to say that it was for the ‘greater good’, I will submit my resignation here and now and my son will be transferred to a different school,” Severus snapped, folding his arms over his chest and looking down his nose at the old wizard.

“Harry, dear boy, you can understand why I did this, can’t you?” Dumbledore asked, switching his attention to the boy who was sitting beside Severus. “The prophecy stated that you would be the one to vanquish Voldemort. You needed to be raised…”

“By people who hated me?” Harry asked, scowling. “By people who locked me up, refused to give me meals, and punished me for accidental magic?”

Severus looked like he wanted to say something to that, especially getting an explanation on what sort of punishment the Dursley’s used. He had known that Petunia should have never been trusted to raise Potter. But, he was cut off by Harry before he could.

“I thought my parents were dead! Snape thought his son was dead!” In hindsight, Snape’s treatment of him made sense. He was born on the same day as Snape’s son, not to mention the child of someone he hated. His son had ‘died’ at the same time that Harry was ‘born’. It was enough to make most people in his position bitter. “I thought that I had no one.” The last was said in a quiter tone.

“When James and Lily perished, you needed to be raised by someone who would groom you to be the Savior,” Dumbledore said, looking down at his desk

“By making me feel like I was unwanted and worthless?”

“That is his standard reaction,” Severus sneered, thinking back to Dumbledore’s ‘you disgust me’ when he had come to him, asking to be able to switch sides. “The best pawns are the ones who are blindly loyal and will do anything for the cause. If blind loyalty isn’t enough, guilt is a wonderful motivator as well.”

Harry wondered what personal experience Snape had with that, there was too much disgust and bitterness in his voice for anything else, but he didn’t have time to ponder it long before Snape was speaking again.

“Well no more, Dumbledore. He is not going to be your precious savior because of a half-baked prophecy given by a drunken seer. He is going to be a normal boy.”

“Severus, you know as well as I that Voldemort…”

“Can be, and should be, fought by adults. The boy is still a child, and he will not be made into a savior just because you wish to relive the past. Wars are fought, and won, by adults, not young wizards who haven’t even finished school.”

Harry watched the two of them, not speaking up at the moment. Mostly, he was stunned that Snape, regardless of the fact that he was apparently his son, was standing up for him. And it sounded like the man had given this argument before. Apparently even though Snape hadn’t liked him when he thought he was Harry Potter, the man also hadn’t wanted him to die.

“Harry must go back to Private Drive, the blood wards…”

“Are rubbish, because he is no more related to Petunia Dursley than I am,” Severus refuted. “He is my son, and he will be spending the summer with me, unless he wishes to go back to his ‘relatives’.”

Both wizards looked over at Harry, who was having a hard time not laughing at the disgust in Snape’s voice when he said ‘relatives’. He didn’t know how the man had known the Dursleys, but clearly he didn’t like them anymore than Harry himself did.

That brought about another question, however. Did he want to go home with Snape? The man was cold, sarcastic, and bitter. But Harry was learning that there was a good reason behind the bitterness, and so far the man hadn’t sneered at him or obliquely insulted him since they had found out that he was Snape’s son.

With the Dursleys, he knew what to expect, and how to avoid the worst of their temper. He didn’t know what Snape would do if he was punished, or what the man would make him do.

“Potter…I cannot claim to be a perfect parent,” Severus said, looking down at the boy. “But I will not physically harm you.” Even if he had raised the boy from a baby, as he had originally planned, he wouldn’t have used much corporal punishment. He had endured too much at the hands of his father to be confident that he could use corporal punishment without it turning into abuse. “You will have chores, as I will not have you lazing about all summer, and if you have gotten less than an Advanced in any subject, I will tutor you until you are capable of grasping the material, but you will also have time to yourself.” He may consider allowing the boy’s friends to visit, but he wasn’t sure. If nothing else, he could visit them instead.

Harry considered that, looking over at Fawkes rather than either of the adult wizards. He wasn’t looking forward to tutoring in History of Magic, and possibly Divination although he was sure that Snape had the same opinion that McGonagall did about that particular class, but he could admit that it was fair. Most of his friends and classmates talked about their parents giving them chores, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it. Snape had already promised that he wouldn’t beat him, and that was better than anything he could say about the Dursleys. And Snape had promised that he would have time to himself which, again, was better than anything the Dursleys would do. Snape seemed to actually care about him, or, at least, he had cared about his son. He didn’t have anything to lose trying this, and maybe…maybe something good could come out of it.

“I want to go with you,” Harry said, looking up Snape. He would try it, see how Snape treated him now that they were apparently related. He wanted a family, he wanted someone who cared about whether or not he was alive. Snape was already trying to protect him, going against Dumbledore and saying that Harry wasn’t going to fight Voldemort anymore. If the man was already protecting him, he could at least see where this would go.

Severus nodded, inwardly relieved. He knew that they would have to have very many conversations over the course of the summer, explaining how Harry had been conceived and what his plans had been, not to mention the damage that had been done by his actions over the past five years and whatever the Dursleys had done to him.

For now, however, he turned, gesturing to Harry. “Come, you need to fetch your trunk.” The other students had already left on the train roughly an hour ago, but they didn’t need the train to get to his home. His things were already packed, and he had no doubt that the boy was the same. All they needed to do was collect their belongings and leave the grounds so they could apperate. Where they were going, no witch or wizard, not even Albus Dumbledore or Tom Riddle, would be able to find them.

Harry nodded, getting up and following his black robed professor out of the room. He didn’t know where they were going, but anywhere would be better than going back to the Dursleys. For now, he would just need to trust Snape. The questions could wait until they were wherever the professor stayed for the summer.