Chapter Text
Minerva was the one who let it slip to him. A still rather new professor, and still grieving Lily, Severus didn’t interact with many of the other professors. He kept his facade of uncaring, and slipped through the cracks and was left alone, how he wanted it. Minerva, however, was not someone he could easily shake. She refused to let him completely isolate, and, though he would never say it, he was grateful to her being there for him. He knew he would have slipped completely into grief and never left the dungeons if not for her.
She didn’t often talk about Harry, on orders from Dumbledore he was sure, but sometimes she would get a wistful look in her eyes, and she’d smile and start with James, and Severus would sit and wait for her to get through that, knowing what would come at the end. She would drift eventually, into little Harry Potter, how small he was when held by Hagrid, how quiet he had been. Severus knew that he wouldn’t have been in Harry’s life if Lily had lived, and let himself believe, instead, in these moments, that he was back with his old friend, listening to her talk of her son.
“Of course, I don’t know what Albus insisted we leave him with that muggle family, but he said it would be best if he was with family.” Severus frowned, looking over at Minerva a moment.
“Muggle family?” He asked, quiet, hoping his question wouldn’t bring her out of her small trance, wouldn’t remind her she wasn’t supposed to talk about this. Minerva sighed softly, closing her eyes and nodding.
“I think it was Lily’s sister that married and had a son of her own, down in Little Whinging, Surrey I think. Privet Drive, can’t remember the number at the moment.” Minevra hummed a moment, before looking over at him sharply as he stood. “Severus? Are you alright?”
“I’ve just remembered a potion the headmaster asked me to brew.” He lied, easy and quick through his teeth like he had been able to do for years now. Minevra blinked a moment.
“You’re not one to forget things like that.” She cast a critical eye on him, and Severus forced himself to stay still under her scouring eyes. He thought a moment, before sighing.
“You know I was friends with Lily for a short time. Sometimes… it’s easier to listen to someone talk about them, to… relive some memories I suppose. I got distracted. I’ll have to ask you to excuse me, it was rather urgent.” Severus smiled softly, and Minevera seemed to tear up a moment before nodding and turning away. Severus turned, walking from the room quickly.
He didn’t go down to the dungeons, however, instead turning and slipping out of the castle. It was a Christmas break, so very few children were still around. There were a few Ravenclaws sitting on the windowsill near the doors outside, but they didn’t look up from whatever they were collectively pouring over, so Severus gave them the same courtesy and passed them by.
Carefully, he bundled his cloak around him a bit tighter, before stepping out into the winter white that had become the grounds over the past couple months. He sighed, casting a quick Warming Charm, and continued down the hidden road towards Hogsmead. Severus thought his story through while walking, making his excuses in his head as he did so, trying not to appear in too much of a hurry, though, any panic that made his steps faster could be blamed on the cold.
Lucky for him, he managed to get out of the bounds of Hogwarts’ charms and barriers without incident, and quickly turned on his heel, and apparated away.
The street was dark and quiet when Severus appeared at the corner, much like Albus had four years prior. He looked around, then carefully walked around the corner onto Privet Drive, looking around for a moment, before carefully drawing his wand and whispering to it. “Appare Vestigium.”
A golden mist formed around him, and, to his surprise, he found two traces of magic. One was weak, enough to make a Wizard seem Muggle. A Squib, than. He looked towards the house that they lived in, and nodded a moment, before turning to follow the much stronger, though adolescent, trail of magic, to the house across the street.
In silence, he stood on the sidewalk in front of the house, pausing a moment and glancing around, before shifting and lifting his wand once more. “Invisibilia occultatum.”
The spell was a bit stronger than the locating one, but it did its job, rendering Severus completely invisible to the human eye for a short period of time. It was useful to him, in a way, and he shifted, going towards the window, peeking in.
Christmas afternoon with a normal looking family. He saw no sign of Harry, frowning a moment at the fat little boy sitting in his mother’s lap, laughing, face covered in chocolate. He shifted, then snapped and apperated once more, into the house.
He landed quiet, though the snap of apparition was not one that was easy to hide. Petunia’s head snapped up towards the sound, but Snape made no move, staring at her, as he stood unseen in the middle of her living room. She looked much the same as she had the last time he had seen her, with a much older, stern face. It took a moment, but her son distracted her, and she let the snap go, looking back to her child.
Severus glanced around, carefully taking a few more steps, keeping the light, though he didn’t know the weak spots of this floor well enough to avoid them, he seemed to do a good enough job that Petunia didn’t look up again.
He walked carefully towards the stairs, then paused at the noise he heard under them, frowning. He shifted, quietly walking over and pressing his ear to the door.
Sobbing. There was a child sobbing under the stairs. Fury built up inside Severus, but he knew he had to play the cards right. He shifted, attempting to see if he could look inside the cupboard, but found no way to do so without alert who he was sure was Harry on the inside. He let out a soft sigh, before shifting and apperating out with another crack, one he was sure that Petunia heard.
Back on the sidewalk, he felt the charm begin to wear off, as he came back into visibility. He stood there a moment, staring at the door, before nodding, refusing to let anything come in the way of what had to be done. He would not let a child suffer this way if he could stop it. He knew the pain of that.
With that, Severus made his choice, going towards the door and knocking sharply. He was glad, at that moment, he hadn’t changed out of his robes, knowing Petunia would be unsettled by his appearance in them. He was far from the scared little kid she had met a long time ago.
The door opened, and Severus reveled in her gasp. He shifted, stepping up onto the doorway, forcing her to move out of his way, to where he had been standing a few minutes before. He looked around, frowning softly. “Where is the boy?” He let his voice adopt the one he used when teaching most of the time. Petunia shuddered, before glaring at him, eyes narrowed.
“Get out of my house, Severus.” Ah, so she did know who he was. He looked back at her, eyes narrowed, taking a step towards her. She didn’t seem to react until his hand came from under his cloak, wand at the ready
“Tell me where Lily’s son is.” He hissed under his breath at her, and Petunia waved a hand towards where the sobbing had come from. Severus sighed, slipping his wand back into place and taking a step towards the door.
He shifted slightly, then knocked once. The sniffling abruptly stopped, and, slowly, the door opened, and Harry’s face peeked out at him. For a moment, he was struck by how similar he was to James, but the moment he looked at his eyes, all he saw was Lily. He smiled softly at the boy, crouching down to be at his height better. Harry watched him, wary, and Severus hated the way that he knew exactly why the boy was so scared.
“Hello Harry. I’m Severus. I was a friend of your mother’s.” Harry blinked and opened the door a bit more, shifting to slip out of the cupboard he had been in. Severus took the chance to peek in and found nothing of import. He kept the frown he wanted off his face, before shifting slightly and holding out a hand to Harry, who flinched back at first, before staring at his outstretched hand.
“There’s been a bit of a mix up, about where you were supposed to go. It turns out, Lily, your mother, put me as next of kin, not your Aunt.” Severus bluffed his way through this, but when he was done, Harry would be under his care anyways. He would do whatever he had to to keep him safe. Consider the life debt paid, James.
“What’s that mean?” Harry asked softly, voice quiet in a way Severus knew far too well. Severus shot a look at Petunia.
“It means that I am the one whose going to take care of you now.” He smiled softly, keeping his hand outstretched towards him. “That way, you can see everything about your parent’s world.”
Petunia made an aborted movement towards them, and Severus turned his head to stare at her, which made her stop, and finally flee to the living room. Severus smiled softly and turned his attention back to Harry, who tilted his head a bit.
“My… parents’ world?” He asked quietly, carefully taking a step towards Severus, who nodded.
“You are a wizard, dear boy. Weird things happening you can’t explain?” He asked softly to the incredulous look on Harry’s face. Harry paused, before nodding slowly. “Magic. I can show you more, if you come with me.”
Harry looked around quietly, before back to Severus. “No more cupboard?” He asked quietly, and Severus forced himself not to fling himself into the living room firing curses.
“No more cupboard.”
Harry stared quietly, before nodding a bit, shifting and pressing himself into Severus’s chest. He paused, before carefully lifting the boy into his arms, standing with him and leaving the house, the door open and Petunia left behind cradling her own son.
Severus shifted and walked down the street to the corned, glancing around once, before looking at the boy in his arms. “Hold tight, alright, and I’ll show you a bit more magic.” Harry nodded a bit, and Severus shifted on his feet and apperated out.
Severus shifted slightly, landing carefully in Hogsmeade, shifting a bit to cover Harry in his cloak. The boy started, lifting his head, eyes going wide. “Where are we?” he asked softly.
“Hogsmeade. It’s a small town just outside of where we’ll be staying.” He answered softly, shifting Harry to one arm-it was worrying how easy it was to hold him there-and cast a careful Warming Charm on the boy, who shifted, looking at his wand with quiet curiosity. Severus put that aside for a later time, instead taking a brisk pace back to the castle. He had the boy now, and that was more important than anything else.
Severus got into the castle without much hassle, shutting the doors behind him. The Ravenclaws from before were still there, but this time they looked up, seeing Snape, and then seeing Harry, wrapped up in his cloak and half asleep. Snape looked down at him, than towards the Ravens’, frowning. “Don’t mention this to anyone.” With that he swept off, doing his best to get to the dungeons before anyone saw him.
His luck was never the best, but he got down there before Minerva saw him. “Severus! There you are, I was looking for…” She trailed off into silence, seeing the boy cradled in his arms, shifting in his sleep and clinging onto Severus. He stopped, looking down at the boy, then back to Minerva.
“If you follow me, I can and will explain.” Minerva stared, before sighing and motioning for him to lead the way. With that, he walked off down the halls to his person quarters, stepping inside and trusting Minerva to shut the door. He carefully lay Harry down on the bed there, keeping him wrapped up in the cloak, petting his hair back out of his eyes, before looking over to Minerva.
One good thing about the head of the Gryffindors, he supposed, was that she was careful to listen to someone when they did what they did. He could admit he wouldn’t always do that, but she did give him the chance. He sighed, sitting next to Harry, watching him quietly. “Petunia had him in a cupboard. Christmas night and he’s crying alone in that cupboard while his cousin sits and laughs and gorges himself on chocolate and they ignore him. He didn’t seem to know what magic was, or wizardry. I hope to change that.”
“Was this why you ran off as soon as I mentioned her?” Severus nodded, looking over towards Minerva.
“I knew her when she was a child. When Lily got her letter, she was rude and jealous. She hasn’t changed much from then to now.” Severus sighed softly, looking back to the young boy sleeping, curled up on his side, clutching his cloak. Minerva watched him a moment before sighing.
“Alright. I won’t tell Albus but I suspect he’ll figure it out soon. Think of something quick, so you may keep him, Severus.” He nodded, not looking up as she left, before letting a soft smile come to his face as he watched the sleeping boy.
As if he’d let anything take him away now that Severus knew Harry was safe.