~~~~SS~~~~

Unfortunately, Severus did not get the chance to discuss the potential for Dudley's visit with Albus. He had every intention to, as he did agree with Hermione that the relationship Harry was forging with his cousin was important especially now given the row with Ron, but something always seemed to come up for either Severus or Albus.

With classes starting in a fortnight; teaching a new subject, plus his extra research on Harry's cancer alongside the accidental magic that Harry was unknowingly doing with exceptional control, and he was now onto his fifth attempt at a salve to stop the burning pain from his dark mark, the professor barely had time to think. It ended up being a good thing that Minerva had taken control of overseeing Harry's academic schedule as he would have had no capacity to make all the finalizations with the Board of Governors, professors at Hogwarts, and securing the adequate student tutors. In fact, Minerva ended up working all the way up until the day before term started finalizing his timetable, something neither Severus nor Harry had gotten a chance to see yet.

Albus called an Order meeting on the evening of the 31st of August to discuss the incoming students and how to ensure their safety aboard the Hogwarts Express. With Harry having been in the castle for the duration of the summer and technically not returning to classes, the headmaster was unsure if the Dark Lord would make an attempt to attack the train. As a way to help prevent anything from happening, Draco had been given the approval to provide Harry's location at Hogwarts through the end of the summer, but as usual Albus wanted to be extra cautious. This meant a full scale coordination within the Order to make sure the students arrived safely.

Unfortunately, Harry had his last chemotherapy treatment for his first month of consolidation on that day - which as with the previous week was an IT and one hour IV - and Severus was having a difficult time finding someone to stay with him while the professor was at the meeting. For the last Order meeting Minerva had stayed behind, however since this one was required by all members - in addition to Minerva - Molly, Arthur, and even Lupin, who was coming in from his field work, would all be in attendance and therefore unable to stay with the Gryffindor. He was going to ask Alton, as he had stayed with Harry during the funeral for Charlie Weasley, when the healer came by to disconnect Harry's chemotherapy, but Poppy had been sent instead. Frustratingly, Severus was not able to get in touch with Alton since that morning's IT procedure; something he planned to discuss with his friend about what to do in case there ever was an emergency with Harry and the healer was not available. All of that added up to Severus having no choice other than to grudgingly leave Harry alone this time and he was not happy about it at all.

"I'll be fine Severus," Harry said while pushing his small lunch around his plate. He had recently finished the chemotherapy and was hoping to eat before the nausea hit him too hard. Even the two easier chemotherapy weeks had been difficult for the Gryffindor. "At this point, I know what to expect and unless the burning comes back, I can pretty much get whatever it is I might need in the couple of hours you'll be gone. Plus, I can always use the sphere if it gets to be too much."

"Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the sphere will work at headquarters with the Fidelius in place," Severus thought out loud; if he could firecall to headquarters, theoretically the sphere should work. However, even though he didn't foresee himself at Grimmauld Place often, it was definitely something they should consider testing for future issues. As if he needed anything to make him more anxious about leaving Harry alone tonight, now Harry may not even have a way to contact him.

"Either way, I'll be fine for a couple of hours," Harry reiterated standing up, having eaten less than half his yoghurt with almonds and side of sliced avocado; all foods that were recommendations from Alton to eat during chemotherapy to help Harry receive the calories and nutrients his body so desperately needed right now.

Whenever the Gryffindor did manage to go back to classes, Severus knew it would be a shock to the other students who last saw Harry as the small, yet strong and defiant Gryffindor. He had easily lost at least a stone - possibly even a stone and a half by now - in weight since the end of last term, and with his bald head and drawn face, he knew Harry was very self-conscious about his current appearance.

"Perhaps Miss. Granger could come to stay for at least a little while," neither Hermione nor any of the Weasley's had been to visit Harry since Charlie's funeral even though Severus had suggested they visit on multiple occasions. He had a suspicion that Harry was unintentionally pushing them away for reasons he had not yet figured out.

"Severus," Harry warned standing at the doorway, his green eyes pleading for the conversation to end as he started to visibly pale, "it's the day before school starts; she's packing. Trust me, I've been at the Burrow the day before school... it's a madhouse. I'll be just fine."

The professor watched as Harry left the kitchen, without another word, heading back to his bedroom. He couldn't help but think about how far they had come since he first showed up at Privet Drive during Harry's nosebleed incident; how comfortable they had become with each other and with his cancer treatments; the professor silently hoped school would not bring any additional turmoil into their life. Harry would not be able to withstand much more on top of what he was already dealing with.

As usual Draco arrived a half hour before Severus had to leave for the order meeting to go through his update to share. The second he opened the door, Severus knew it would be bad news. He had felt his dark mark burn yesterday - and had the first semi-successful salve work on it - but since Draco had not shown up afterwards, he assumed the blonde had not been called to that particular summons. However, Draco's glazed over eyes told him a different story. Without saying a word, he led Draco into his office and warded the door silent as he knew Harry had the tendency to try and eavesdrop.

"What happened last night?" Severus asked sitting down, as casually as possible, in the chair across from Draco who was uncharacteristically wringing his hands in his lap.

"He moved into the manor last weekend," Draco said without any further explanation needed. At least now they knew the location of Voldemort, something they had lost when Severus's cover was compromised.

This was not good news though. If the Dark Lord moved his headquarters into Malfoy Manor it could only be to gain more control over Draco after the blonde Slytherin returned to school. Severus questioned to himself what the melogmanic could have planned for him if that much control was needed over the teen. No matter which way he tried to look at it, this could not end well for anyone involved. Unfortunately, it also wasn't the only reason Draco looked so distraught that night.

"That's why I couldn't get here after the summons last night," Draco said with his head hung low staring at his hands that were still fiddling with nothing. Severus knew that look; Draco had been on his first raid.

"Were there any deaths?" The professor asked keeping his voice as even and judgement-free as possible.

Draco nodded his head, not making eye contact.

"Were any of them yours?" He didn't want to know, but if Draco had his first killing it would do him best in the long run for him to talk about it. Severus was determined to do whatever he could to make sure Draco came through all of this in one piece, even if that meant bringing up the former spy's own demons.

"No," he could see the small relief in Draco's grey eyes as they finally met Severus's black ones. When he spoke next, the teenager was having a difficult time putting his sentences together, "After everyone showed up at the manner... it was just like you said it would be; everyone bowing and kissing his robes like servants... We went to a muggle neighborhood and my job was to... Steal? Kidnap? Take hostage?... Whatever you want to call it... A woman and her daughter... she had to be maybe six or seven?"

The former Death Eater closed his eyes to try and keep back his own horrible memories while contemplating what he'd heard, "And he did not have you or anyone else kill them?"

Again, Draco stayed silent and only shook his head.

Why would the Dark Lord kidnap muggles and not kill them?

"They're being held in the cellar at the manor," Draco answered the question before Severus could even ask it with a disgusted look on his face as if he never wanted to step foot back into his home. It was one thing to know what the Dark Lord was doing in theory - even to agree with it since Draco's stance on muggles hadn't changed much at all - but it was completely different for it to be done in your own home, practically in front of you. Severus hoped they had plenty of wards in place so no one could hear what was going on down in the cellars.

He gave his full attention back to Draco as his student went through what happened from the moment he was summoned until he landed back at the manor with the Dark Lord, Bellatrix, and their two hostages - the only two muggles to have lived that night - alongside him. He tried hard to use his Occlumency, but in the end it still brought back memories for the professor that he wished would stay hidden forever.

Severus stood in the back of the old dining room at Grimmauld Place waiting for the meeting to start. With everyone in attendance, the room was overfilled with witches and wizards chatting idly giving Severus the start of a headache. Noticeably different tonight was Molly Weasley. She tutted and fussed around the room as normal - feeding every one regardless of if they wanted to eat - but her eyes weren't nearly as bright as usual and her voice cracked at least once within each sentence giving away her continued grief. Severus could understand, but he dared not say so.

"Arthur," the former spy called out quietly, but firmly to the Weasley patriarch when the man walked nearby Severus's corner.

"Good evening Severus," Arthur greeted equally quiet; taking the hint from the professor for some needed secrecy. "How's Harry feeling?"

Letting out a sigh, because that was always the first question everyone asked him lately, he answered "He's getting restless, but staying strong. And Ginny?"

"Still the same unfortunately," Arthur replied frowning, "Bill made an attempt at the curse last weekend, but it's been slow. Were you able to find out anything about Bellatrix's wand?"

Severus nodded. Draco had relayed the information they needed after walking Severus through the raid from last night. Luckily, Bellatrix being Draco's aunt made the inquiry less obvious for the new spy and helped to not draw unwanted attention to the purpose of his quest. Unwilling to give his report twice, Severus distracted Arthur from any further questions when he pulled out two phials from his robe - the reason he called Arthur over in the first place - and held them out to the man in front of him.

Lifting the larger phial he said, "A Calming Draught-" he paused to look over at Molly indicating that these were for her, then lifting the smaller one he continued, "- and Dreamless Sleep. They should help her get some decent rest with everything going on."

After recounting Draco's summons and internally reliving his own, Severus tried to ignore the gratitude he saw in Arthur's eyes. That type of gratitude was best reserved for men far better then he was.

"Thank you Severus," Arthur said, taking the phials and carefully pocketing them in his robes. "You're a good man; both for this and what you're doing for Harry. We would have been more than happy to have him with us, but as much as I hate to admit this, it's best he's at Hogwarts. Who knows what would have happened had he been at the Burrow the night of the attack. Molly says he's in great hands, so thank you."

The professor furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything back to Arthur. What could he honestly say? The more he thought about it from an outsider's perspective the more he realized how odd it looked that Severus Snape was now responsible for the care of Harry Potter. He tabled that observation when Albus got everyone's attention to start the meeting.

With the whole Order's attention on him, Albus jumped right into the latest Death Eater activity. Unfortunately, most of the raids had occurred in muggle neighborhoods with a high number of casualties, something Severus had already known even if he hadn't gotten the report from Draco earlier that night. That didn't mean the wizarding world was safe though, as both Ollivander and Florean Fortescue had been missing for the last month and had gotten a lot of publicity recently with the influx of visitors to Diagon Alley for their school supplies. The former spy cursed under his breath; he hated hearing about the people he could not save. It not only reminded him that he was no longer in a position to help those people, but it added to his anxiousness to get out there and do something productive against his former master. This was simple, the longer it took to kill the dark wizard the more death there was going to be, and if he could somehow be killed before Harry got involved, all the better.

"Severus will now update us on the report from our newest informant," his mind was brought back to the present as Albus ceremoniously transitioned to him.

"Draco had discovered that the core of Bellatrix's wand is a Dragon Heart-String, however there were no further details provided on the spell she used on Miss. Weasley," he started with the best news first to which Bill Weasley's face lit up as he nodded his confirmation; that was definitely a good sign. With any luck Ginny would be back to normal very soon.

"The Dark Lord has moved into Malfoy Manor, likely to keep a closer than normal watch on Narcissa and control over Draco while he's at school," he continued, almost sounding bored as was his usual expression. "I can only assume he's either expecting Draco to defect at some point and wants assurance against such an event or he has plans for Draco that he expects resistance to. Neither option ends well for Draco nor the Order."

He went through in detail the raid from the previous night and the mysterious muggle woman and child that were taken and now being held captive at Malfoy Manor. There was a major debate on if a rescue attempt should be planned. The arguments ranged from: how could an organization such as themselves not help when they know something like this has occurred, to it could be an elaborately planned trap for the Order, and even the possibility of it being a test of Draco's loyalties, in which case going in for a rescue could bring harm to the teenager.

After a long deliberation amongst the members, no one wanted to vote on making the hard call and it fell to Albus to decide as the leader of the Order. In the end, he came to the conclusion that it was far too dangerous to attempt to rescue the two muggles at this time. Everyone in the room fell silent with the realization they had possibly just left two innocent people to die; assuming they weren't already dead. This was exactly why - no matter how much Draco, Harry, or any of the other underaged students complained about it - children could not be part of the Order; sometimes you had to make a losing choice so you had a chance to win in the end.

"Are you certain that the flow of information is in our favor?" Moody gruffly challenged Severus once he completed updating the group on Draco's reports. "Seems to me we aren't getting nearly as much information as we used to."

"I am positive," Severus growled trying to hold back his anger. "As I've previously said on multiple occasions, as a new Death Eater, Mr. Malfoy is not privy to the type of information I had been able to receive.

"However, I'd like to point out that because of Mr. Malfoy, we now know the final piece of information to save young Miss. Weasley, we now know the location of the Dark Lord's headquarters, and while we don't know the reason behind it yet, we do know he's capturing muggles instead of simply killing them on the spot. What of that is not up to your standards?"

"Gentlemen," Albus said in a commanding tone drawing the attention away from the two wizards and back towards himself. "Let us move on shall we. Even though Voldemort is aware of Harry living at Hogwarts this summer, the train is a logical time for his next attack. We need to have full coverage... "

Severus wasn't paying attention to anything else Albus said during the meeting. All he could think about was that there had to be some significance to the muggles that were kidnapped and how could he find out if there were any others that had been taken.

When Severus walked out of the floo back into his quarters, Harry was laying on the sofa reading through his new defense textbook. The professor would have preferred Harry to be asleep already, only because then he would feel better about going off to sleep himself, but this was preferred to finding the Gryffindor laying in the lavatory. After removing his outer robes, Severus sat down in his armchair completely exhausted.

"How did it go tonight?" The young wizard asked sitting up on the couch. Severus tried to ignore the grimace of pain that flashed across Harry's face; hopefully the next phase of his treatment would be easier on his body.

"Nothing much to tell," he said nonchalantly as he did not want to add anymore pressure onto Harry's shoulders than he already felt. "Everyone wishes their best for you. Lupin asked the next time he's back from his mission if he could stop by."

"Oh," Harry said looking down at his book as if it were the most interesting thing around.

"Harry," Severus called leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs. This wasn't the conversation he wanted to have now given his current state, but the opportunity fell into his lap and he wasn't going to waste it, "I know you have to stay here because of your current immune system, but eventually you will be able to see people again. In fact, you will eventually have to see people again because I'm not intending to host your entire sixth year education in our quarters."

The edges of Harry's lips bent upwards as he tried to hold back a smile.

"Did you just make a joke sir?" The Gryffindor asked sarcastically, turning to face his professor.

"They do come to me once in a great while," he casually replied before a thoughtful look crossed over his face, "but seriously Harry, I get the feeling you're trying to push people away from you."

"Well... I'm not pushing you away," Harry mumbled defensively, confirming Severus's suspicions that he was indeed trying to distance himself from others.

"Of course not," the professor replied insightfully, "everything you feel embarrassed about I've experienced along with you. I was there for your tests and diagnosis, your first treatments, the vomiting, I even shaved your head..."

That triggered something within Harry and he started to shake his head violently as if he didn't want to hear whatever it was Severus was going to say.

"I'm fine," Harry said too quickly for either of them to believe it.

Instead of jumping straight into an argument, Severus sat back and simply observed the teenager. Harry's breathing was shallowing and he was wringing his hands, much the same as Draco was earlier that evening, leading the professor to the belief that both of these boys would probably benefit from some kind of friendship if they could ever learn to trust one another.

His silence was rewarded when Harry continued, stumbling for the right words, "I just... I don't know... I feel... Like I'm a mess right now... And I don't want anyone seeing me like this."

Severus could see the relief flood into Harry's body by simply saying the words he was sure were troubling his young mind.

"And that's ok Harry," he said getting up and kneeling in front of Harry on the sofa, "it's ok that you have those feelings and it's ok to tell people you have them. Take it one day at a time and one person at a time. Talk about what you're going through because even though it will be hard to start, I think you will find yourself feeling better in the long run. No one expects you to be perfect through all of this, but they will follow your lead on it; if you continue to push them away, they'll stop reaching out to you thinking that's what you need."

Harry simply nodded his understanding, but made eye contact which gave the professor some confidence that he had understood the message. Coming into the start of term, it was more important than ever that they could discuss things like this freely. With Harry spending at least the first 6 weeks quarantined, practically alone, he was bound to start feeling isolated from the rest of the students, professors, and specifically Severus.

"I see your textbooks have arrived," he casually changed the subject picking up Harry's defense book that had fallen onto the floor. Earlier this week, he had owl ordered Harry's supplies for classes and was a little concerned when they had not yet arrived as of this morning.

"Yeah, they came through the floo while you were gone," Harry peered over to the fireplace as if he were expecting more mail to come through. "But they forgot my potions book. I don't know if Flourish and Blotts can get one here for classes this week or if..."

Severus stood up and walked to the bookcase near his office hearing the Gryffindor trail off as he searched the shelves for the book he remembered grabbing as he was cleaning out the Potions classroom earlier this month. Once he located it, he walked back to Harry, and handed him the battered up copy of Advanced Potions Making by Libatius Borage.

"They didn't forget your potions book, I did not order you one," the professor slowly explained as Harry flipped through the book that had once belonged to Severus. "I thought you'd like to use this one instead. Since I'm not teaching potions this year, I have no reservations in giving this to you."

Severus could feel himself getting nervous about discussing something not only so personal to him, but also something that he did not do for the other Harry. As Severus still taught Potions in his old reality, he could not share this book with Harry there. Now though, after editing out the darker spells he'd created during the troubled times of his youth, he had no qualms in passing it on. Harry would have a hard enough time staying caught up with classes and he could use as much help as he could get.

"Who's the Half-Blood Prince?" Harry asked as he ran his finger across the words written at the bottom of the inside back cover Property of the Half-Blood Prince.

"It was the moniker I used," Severus explained feeling even more nervous to say it out loud, "I'm a half-blood and my mother's maiden name was Prince."

"This was your book?!" Harry asked louder than he probably expected to be. "I can't use this..."

Again Harry trailed off as he continued flipping through each of the potion lessons and reading the detailed changes and notes Severus himself had made throughout. For the second time that night, he was met with eyes so full of a gratitude the professor thought he did not deserve.

"Wouldn't this be cheating?" Harry asked, drawing Severus's attention back to the sofa. "I mean, you're a Potions Master, with the notes in here alone I could probably pass the final exam before I even meet the new professor."

Severus had to hold back a grin, "I wasn't a Portions Master when I made those notes, I was your age," Harry's eyes grew wide at that. "You don't have to use it if you're uncomfortable with it. Remember though, to pass your exams you still do have to brew the potions yourself, which could be... challenging for you."

"Hey! Half the reasons my potions exploded were because of the Slytherins!" Harry wasn't angry though; quite the opposite. "Did I have this... You know... Before?"

"You mean where I came from?"

Harry nodded and a grimace fell across his face that Severus knew meant it was almost time for another dose of his medication.

"No, you did not have this book in my old reality," the professor said, waving his wand to summon Harry's pain medicine and a glass of water. "I was still the Potions Master back there and I was not about to teach a student with my own notes."

Harry closed the book and clutched it tight, "Thank you Severus. I'll take very good care of this book."

"You are welcome," he said, pouring out two of the tablets and handing them to Harry with the glass of water. "You should go to bed. You look exhausted and I have students to prepare for tomorrow."

"G'night Severus," Harry said, standing up and pausing for a second before turning around and heading back to his room with both his defense textbook and the Advanced Potion Making book.

Smiling that Harry had accepted his old textbook, Severus rubbed his tired eyes. Somehow he knew it was going to be a long night with Harry and then he had an early morning to put the final preparations on his classroom and some adjustments to the Slytherin dormitories. During the Order meeting tonight, Severus made the last minute decision to add a couple of extra wards in the sixth year boys dormitory as added security for Draco should anything happen during the school year. He sat there in the silence of his sitting room questioning, not for the first time, how he would possibly manage everything he was currently working on, plus a full class schedule, and his Head of House duties.

~~~~AU SS~~~~

"Harry! We're going to be late!" Severus called for the third time that morning, this time though from directly outside of his teenage son's door.

"I'm almost done!" The 16-year old Gryffindor called out from inside his bedroom.

Cautiously, Severus opened the door and pinched the bridge of his nose when he saw the mess around his son's normally almost-too-tidy bedroom. They were getting ready to head back to Hogwarts from Spinner's End to start Harry's sixth year. Harry's bedroom was small, but comfortable with light blue walls that almost matched his room in their quarters at Hogwarts, but here instead of Quidditch posters, the walls were adorned with sketches, drawings, and paintings Harry had completed over the years. There was everything from his friends studying in the Gryffindor common room, to Hedwig flying over the forbidden forest, to the sun setting over the dirty smokestacks Harry could see from his bedroom window, and even one of Severus himself working over a cauldron in his potions lab. Harry had a natural talent he'd inherited from Lily's genes and Severus loved to tell Harry all about his mother's favorite hobby; the one they share. Harry had a twin bed in the far left corner made up neatly with a blue bedspread, a wardrobe on the right wall, and a small bookcase next to it filled to the brim with all sorts of books. It was the bookcase causing the issues that morning.

"I borrowed a book from Hermione and I have no idea where I put it," he called placing several more books into the pile on his left.

"You could have asked me to summon it for you," Severus said, casually pulling out his wand and calling accio Hermione Granger's book. Three books came flying to him from under a red Gryffindor jumper on the other side of the wardrobe. "Knowing the name would have been a bit more accurate, but I'm certain it's one of these?"

Harry flushed and Severus knew it was because one of the side effects of the potions he was taking caused him to forget simple things at times. While not ideal, it was an improvement over where he was at the beginning of the summer. Harry had a rough summer with the start of his potions regimen to battle the Leukemia he was diagnosed with at the end of last term. Harry had spent most of June laid up in bed as his body got used to the different potions most of which left him so nauseous he could barely keep any food down for the first month. By the time of his birthday, however, both his body had adjusted and Severus made some tweaks to the formula used and he was handling it much better. With Harry taking as many as 6 different potions per day, it was sometimes a struggle for the Potions Master to keep up with making so many fresh each week, but he was committed to doing anything to help his son recover from this muggle disease.

"This one," the teenager said, grabbing a copy of an advanced potions book that Severus made a mental note to discuss with him about at a later time. "Thank you Dad."

"You're welcome Harry," Severus said, waving his wand across the room to clean and finish packing the teenager as well as shrinking his trunk and broom for easy transportation. "Let's get to King's Cross Station before you're late."

Only a quarter of an hour later, they were on their way to the train station. Unfortunately, Severus would have no way of knowing the horror he would experience before the year was out or the fact that this would be the last time he saw his son off to school on the Hogwarts Express.