“Here,” Snape says.

“What--,” He takes a deep breath.  “What do you mean?”

“You have been made a ward of Hogwarts.”

He’s glad his tea cup is no longer in his hand.  He feels certain that he would have dropped it upon hearing that.

“Is that done?” He asks.

“Aye,” McGonagall answers, a slight smile upon her lips.  “In order to remove a child from their home, it takes the approval of either the headmaster and their head-of-house, or simply the agreement of all four heads.”  

He is trembling, but whether it is from excitement, terror or fear, he hasn’t a clue.

“Before Severus became the head of Slytherin,” Flitwick begins, glancing at McGonagall as if asking for permission to continue the story.  “We could never agree. Slughorn would only agree if he could get the credit, and since we didn’t want everyone to know, then that was generally out of the question.”

“How many others have you removed?”

“Hm,” Sprout begins.  “Well, Severus has been here for 12 years, and we’ve removed at least fifteen children, wouldn’t you say, Minnie?”

“Seventeen,” Snape answers instead.  “Mr Potter is number eighteen.”

Something relaxes in his chest.

“What does it mean to be a ward?”