Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi everyone! This isn’t a chapter, per se, but a review of the fics so far in this series. If you’ve read the two parts preceding this, you can go ahead to the next chapter!

If you came here straight from Severus & Snape, you can skip down to the *** section at the bottom for the last bit of summary, or you can just skip straight to the story. There may be a detail or two that’s confusing, but nothing too big!

If you haven’t read either of the fics in this series, let me just tell you that you should, and I’m not saying that because I wrote them -- you will be horribly, horribly confused. Really, so confused. You will not know what’s going on. But who am I, a lowly author, to tell you how to live your life?? You can do as you like! So here is a rather basic summary of this series so far, described with some pizzazz, because I’m just like that sometimes. There’s also a tl;dr at the end that will only help you a little bit going forward.

Heavy trigger warnings for: murder, suicide, self-hatred, grief.

We open on Severus Snape, 21 years old, in our good old canon universe, finding Lily Potter dead. He sobs, he ignores the baby crying in the crib three feet away. But instead of going on like canon, he decides he can’t continue on without her, and kills himself. Instead of dying, though, he ends up in some in-between state, where he is confronted by a being that looks like his mother and calls itself Fate. Fate tells him that he’s too important to the coming days - that without him, the timeline will cause the end of a good chunk of magic users, and upset the balance. Fate tries to convince him to go back, but he refuses, so she strikes a deal with him: go back to a different time in his life instead, and try to change things, if he can. Severus agrees, and the next moment, he’s standing in front of an 11yo Lily Evans, on their way to their first year at Hogwarts.

Year 1: Severus tries to change the course of Lily’s life a variety of ways, and it backfires literally every time. They both get sorted normally, but Lily befriends Remus right off the bat. Severus, after some self-worth issues, figures out that Remus wants to be friends with him too, and the three of them become a sort of package deal. He’s slowly trying to figure out how to be a better friend to Lily, mostly for the selfish reason of making sure she trusts him the most and will hate who he wants her to hate. We see Severus’s parents over the summer - his father is abusive.

Year 2: They start learning about werewolves from their DADA professor, Hawke. Lily figures out a few months into the year that Remus is a werewolf, but Severus convinces her to wait until he tells them by himself. Severus gets beat up by some Slytherin blood purists (a common occurrence), and gets rescued by some older HalfBlood Slytherins who have a sort of club. When Lily and Remus find out about his injuries, they all share secrets. Severus tells them what it’s like in Slytherin, Lily tells them her sister hasn’t spoken to her in a year, Remus tells them he’s a werewolf. Lily lets it slip that they already knew that.
Remus spends Christmas with the other Gryffindor boys, which makes Severus angry, they spend the second term caught between the two friend groups. Near the end of the year, Remus is missing for a day and a half - no one notices because they assume he’s with the other friend group, or in the hospital wing. They use a primitive version of the Marauders’ Map to find him. He’s been attacked and kept captive by Hawke, who’s violently anti-werewolf. They all (Lily, Severus, James, Sirius, Peter) save him together, although James, Sirius, and Peter aren’t in the room to hear about him being a werewolf. Working together creates a slight bond of trust. Dumbledore now knows that Lily and Severus know about Remus’s lycanthropy.

Year 3: Over the summer, Severus gets injured by his father, gets a concussion. The first night back at school, Remus and Lily notice, and make him go to the Hospital Wing. Pomfrey says she has to file a report, Severus freaks out because that will put his mother in a lot of danger. Lily comes up with the idea to report it to the Muggle authorities instead, and they do. Sirius, who’s been hanging out with Remus a lot, starts studying with them, and notices that Remus is keeping secrets from him.
Severus gets told by Dumbledore that his mother is in the hospital in a coma, and gets Lily’s parents to take him there - it turns out that when the Muggle report was filed, the authorities went to do an interview. When they were leaving, they heard a noise, and it looks like his father threw his mother down the stairs. There is a police officer at the hospital, and Severus files a full report.
Over Christmas, at Hogwarts with Remus and Sirius, Severus gets two letters: his mother has woken up, and his father has been sentenced. Severus has a sort of breakdown, and it’s revealed that in the future-past (his first life in this timeline), he killed his father, sort of by accident, after his father killed his mother.
In reaction to seeing Severus’s breakdown, Sirius asks if they can start over, gives him a gift, apologizes. In response, Severus tells Remus that he should trust Sirius with his secret, if he wants to. Remus does, and Sirius finds Severus, thanks him, asks him if he can deliver a letter to his brother Regulus, who’s in Slytherin. Severus does so, and ends up in a sort of deal with Regulus as a result, sharing information about the Muggle world in response for Regulus showing disapproval for the people in Slytherin who beat up non-Purebloods.

Year 4: Regulus and Sirius start meeting regularly with Severus as a go-between. Sirius, now knowing Remus is a werewolf, comes up with the idea for being an Animagus, but Severus declines to join them because he thinks he’d be a doe and so would Lily and that’s a little too revealing. Sirius asks Remus’s permission to become an Animagus and tell James and Peter he’s a werewolf. Remus freaks out, ends up in a yelling match, and Severus messes up and accidentally lets too much slip. He ends up telling Remus that he’s a time traveler.
After Christmas, Regulus and Sirius are acting weird, and Severus finally figures out that a curse has been cast on an object that James gave to Sirius for Christmas. The curse makes you distrust someone, and it’s been keyed to Slytherin but also to Regulus specifically. It turns out Dumbledore gave the cursed coin to James to give to Sirius.
Near the end of the year, Lily faints in the Great Hall and is rushed to the Hospital Wing. It turns out she’s been struggling with an eating disorder for most of the year, hiding her weight loss with charms. She’s put straight into a treatment program at St Mungo’s. Around the same time, Sirius admits to Severus that he likes Remus-Severus tells him to just go for it, to tell him how he feels.

Year 5: Lily was away all summer getting treatment, but now she’s back and better. She has weekly meetings with Pomfrey and a therapist, and things she does on her own. She’s also dating Pandora Prudens, a Hufflepuff. They have a talk in the Room of Requirement where Remus admits that Sirius likes him, and he might like Sirius, but he’s having a bit of a freakout about being gay.
Sirius, James, and Peter successfully become animagi. Remus, the morning after they help him for the first time, comes straight down to the Great Hall and kisses Sirius in front of everyone, and then they’re together.
Regulus and Severus, who were hanging out more because everyone else was paired off, have a fight when it looks like Regulus hasn’t stopped being a blood supremacist. They make up a few weeks later, when Regulus makes another ‘deal’ that’s a lot closer to just real friendship than before.
Severus’s father dies, and when he’s waiting in Dumbledore’s office to go home for the funeral, he talks to the Sorting Hat. It turns out that it’s an extension of Fate, and can see possible futures in the same way. It tells him that things are out of whack, that Severus can change things for the better, and waxes a little poetic on the Founders and how mad they would be at the current house rivalries, because the founders were basically a family (Godric and Salazar were married, Helga and Rowena were married, they all lived together). When he gets back from the funeral, Dumbledore treats him very oddly (like a Gryffindor), it’s creepy. He has a headache when he leaves, and when he mentions that to Lily, she comments that she always had a headache after talking to him, too. They realize he was using Legilimancy on her, to make her distrust Slytherins and find out things.
He attends a Black family reunion as Regulus’s guest, they have a long talk and are officially friends. Severus gets over some of his prejudices about Slytherins, namely that he’s there because he’s a violent murderer. Regulus gets over some of his blood purity stuff.

Year 6: Sirius and Remus are fighting - now that Sirius knows some sketchy stuff about Dumbledore, mainly the cursed coin and Hawke (Dumbledore hired Hawke and told him about Remus. He also made sure Remus was friendly with the other Gryffindor boys, and then mentioned the idea of a magical map to James, which was how they found him in time), he wants to tell James things. Remus disagrees, but they all discuss it, and decide that it’s right for James to know. Around the same time, James and Severus have NEWT History of Magic together, and Severus realizes that James’s crush on Lily is real and not based on just her looks.
Severus’s mother dies on the same day that she did last time. He’s had time to be with her, to get to know her again, and she was starting to join the Magical world a little bit. It hits him very hard, especially because it happened on the same day.
Lily let them know a bit ago that Pandora is a Seer, and she Saw that her soulmate was someone other than Lily. She gave Lily a choice - they could keep dating until it was time for Pandora to be with her soulmate, or they could break up. Lily chose to stay together, but now it’s time, and Pandora goes to ask out Xenophilius Lovegood, a Ravenclaw.
After a lot of deliberation, Severus and Remus decide to tell Sirius and Regulus that he’s from the future, mostly because they’re a lot more observant and can help change things. Severus starts teaching Occlumency lessons with Sirius, a large group of people attend. Severus and Regulus go to Dumbledore as part of their plan to change things, goad him into wanting them to spy on Death Eater meetings. Regulus gets to put on the Sorting Hat for a moment, and gathers everyone afterward to tell them that they need to find out about the Heirs of Hogwarts.

Year 7: James and Lily got together over the summer. Sirius, Regulus, Severus, and Remus did research to try and find out about the heirs. Severus is living with Cora and Adrian, some relatives of his mothers.
At an Occlumency meeting, Hildy Burke (a fellow Slytherin) asks Severus out to Hogsmeade. He says no, very awkwardly, and then Sirius corners him and asks him if he’s gay. Severus tries to explain, and basically ends up explaining asexuality (he doesn’t use that term) and then isn’t sure whether he’d want to date someone just romantically or not. Sirius implies that there are other people who want to ask Severus out, but won’t tell him who.
Over Christmas break, they figure out that the Heirs are part of Hogwarts through a journal they find in the Black family library. About every thirty years or so, an heir of each house appears. When all four appear at once, they can bind themselves to the school and refresh its magic, as well as do powerful feats themselves. It turns out that a lot of the things happening at Hogwarts - lots of ghosts, asleep portraits, trick steps, portraits that can’t talk to you, dusty unused classrooms - are symptoms of not having had heirs in too long. Because the Sorting Hat told them about Heirs and about Dumbledore at the same time, they figure it might be a problem with him. Maybe he’s only one heir, and doesn’t have the other ones to help him.
James announces after break that Dumbledore invited him and his friends (probably not Severus) to join the Order when they graduate. Regulus wants to spy for the Order, and Severus gets mad at him and doesn’t want him to, even though that’s literally what he was planning to do. He’s not sure why he feels like this. Then they have an Occlumency class, and when he’s explaining theory he accidentally implies that Regulus really wants to be close to him. Regulus turns bright red, Severus thinks, ‘oh’ and runs out of the room after him. They talk for a while, and end up kissing a few times - they get together, although they don’t really talk about it.

Post-Hogwarts Year 1: Remus and Severus get a flat together, and Sirius and Regulus hang out there a lot. Regulus and Severus go to the first Death Eater meeting together, but Severus has to make up some stuff about creating a potion for werewolves, because he’s too well-known for his old story to work. Regulus goes back to school, and then there’s another meeting, where Regulus is tested and Severus is basically told that he’ll never be trusted, in not so many words. Later that night, Regulus shows up in the flat - he and Dumbledore decided the best course of action was for Regulus to be expelled, so he can be marked sooner. He moves into the flat, although he and Severus are fighting about it a little bit.
Lily and James get engaged, announce it to the four of them because they’re kind of their own family. Severus makes a connection between the heirs and the Founders, and realizes that heirs are always connected emotionally: in love, or platonic soulmates, etc. To find the heirs that go with Dumbledore, they need to look into his past.
Remus gets a mission from the Order to go see the werewolves, brings the potion along with him now that it’s partially done. James’ parents are killed by Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, Sirius and James witness it happen. James and Lily decide to get married right away, and have the wedding. Remus isn’t back in time.

Post-Hogwarts Year 2: James talks to Dumbledore after his parents die and has a suspicioun about Dumbledore’s father - they think he was arrested and died in Azkaban. Severus starts looking at records, finally finds something that gives them Dumbledore’s hometown. Remus gets back from his mission and learns a bunch of stuff all at once, and also lets Severus know that the potion works really well. They decide to give it to the werewolves for free, so they don’t have to be loyal to either side to get it.
Regulus gets marked. They have Halloween as sort of an alternate Christmas, and Regulus tells Severus a big romantic speech - Severus tells him he loves him, and then Regulus says it back. Remus leaves again the next day to see the werewolves and give away the potion, but takes Sirius with him this time.
Regulus goes to a meeting with Voldemort and brings a house-elf along for some reason. Severus goes to dinner with James and Lily, they figure out that they should talk to a portrait who knew Dumbledore as a boy. They go to the hall of records where Severus verified that Dumbledore’s father was convicted of murder, and talk to some of the portraits there. Then they all go back to the flat together, and Apparate right on top of the house-elf Kreacher, who has a last message from Regulus: goodbye, and that he loves Severus. Severus goes into a sort of fugue state, and no one can snap him out of it.
Lily’s parents die in a car crash, and she won’t eat, and she’s pregnant. James is beside himself, begs Severus for help, which breaks him out of the fugue. Lily tells him that she wishes she had told her parents she was pregnant, and Severus is just so tired of keeping secrets that he tells James and Lily everything, including the fact that he was the one who told Voldemort the prophecy that got them killed last time.They forgive him.
Severus goes to live with Emma and Trish for a while because he can’t live at the flat anymore. Severus, Lily, and Remus go to hear the prophecy this time, actually hear the whole thing, and come up with a plan: Lily and James will go into hiding, with as few people knowing as possible. They won’t trust Dumbledore at all.

Post-Hogwarts Year 3: Harry and Neville are both born, and Lily and James are as defended as possible. So are Alice and Frank. Voldemort knows about the prophecy, but they’re not quite sure how. It might have been Dumbledore, but they don’t know for sure.They learn that Dumbledore was best friends with Grindelwald.
Dumbledore tells James and Lily about the Fidelius Charm, and it sounds like a good idea as long as they don’t involve Dumbledore at all. Everyone agrees that Sirius is the right choice for secret-keeper, and Severus freaks out because that’s what happened last time, even if he doesn’t think for a minute that Sirius would betray them now. They agree that the coincidence would be too much, and choose Peter instead. Severus helps them set everything up.
Emma and Trish get married. It’s so much like James and Lily’s wedding, it makes Severus remember Regulus, and it doesn’t hurt quite as much as it did before. He moves back into the flat with Sirius and Remus.

Post-Hogwarts Year 4, sort of: They take a lot of preventative measures, change as much as they can, but Lily and James still die on the same die, just several hours earlier. Severus, Sirius, Remus, and Peter Apparate in. Sirius, grasping at once that Peter had to betray them, chases him away. Severus and Remus go inside and find James and Lily dead, but no Harry. In a panic, they know that they have to find Harry. They go to Hogwarts, to Dumbledore’s office, because they’re not thinking straight. The Hat is there, and they yell at it, because James and Lily are still dead. It tells them that James and Lily Potter are not the point: the point is Dumbledore, and Harry, and the long game. They have to go find Harry.

The End!!

Tldr; Severus kills himself when he finds Lily dead, goes back in time instead of dying. Lives all of his Hogwarts years again, and changes little things but no big things. He ends up dating Regulus, who dies exactly when he did the last time. Lily and James still die. But he has friends now, family now, and he makes different choices. He’s not a Death Eater, and he needs to do right by his best friend, and help raise her son.

***
Short Stories from the Childhood of Harry Potter:

One - They go and get Harry from Petunia and Vernon, hopping through a bunch of safe houses, and get help from Andromeda Tonks. They’re going to prove Sirius is innocent, and get custody of Harry.

Two - Alice and Frank are in St. Mungo’s, and they can’t get in to see them. They go to see Lady Longbottom, who tells them what happened, and agrees that they should help each other with Neville and Harry.

Three - Peter Pettigrew is caught, in rat form, and stands trial for a bunch of things. He’s convicted for the murders of the Muggles in the square, but not for anything involving James and Lily. He’s sentenced to life in St. Mungo’s.

Four - Harry and Neville are playing in the backyard, when Harry does his first accidental magic and almost floats away. They catch him, and start him on basic magic control lessons.

Five - Harry starts Muggle kindergarten. When he’s introducing Severus, he calls him ‘Sev’ like other kids are calling their parents ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’. Severus goes home and tells Sirius, and cries when he realizes that he’s actually Harry’s parent, and that they’re a family.

Six - Petunia Dursley visits, and she’s really wary of the magical world but wants to know her nephew. She ends up bringing Dudley to the zoo with a group of Harry’s friends, both magical and nonmagical, and their guardians. While there, Harry talks to a giant snake and they figure out he’s a Parselmouth.

Seven - Sirius’s father dies and leaves him the Black Lordship. It’s very unexpected, but he decides to take it if only to keep Harry even safer. They move to a Black property in London proper.

Eight - Dora Tonks is a fifth year at Hogwarts and finally gets on the Quidditch team, and they invite them all to it.

Nine - Severus brings Harry to Christmas at Cora and Adrian’s, and then they have Christmas dinner at Amelia Bones’ house with a bunch of their friends.

Ten - Severus gets a letter from Pandora Lovegood, realizes that her new experiment is dangerous, and saves her life just in time. Over lunch afterward, she asks about Harry going to Hogwarts, and they say they haven’t talked about it. She convinces them to do so, and Severus, Remus, and Sirius talk about it that night. They’re sending Harry to Hogwarts - with some rules.

Chapter Text

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

 

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

 

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Mr. Snape, Mr. Black, and Mr. Lupin,

I am enclosing this with your son’s official Hogwarts letter in order to assure you that what we spoke about last year still stands. I understand your need for security and privacy for Harry, and we at Hogwarts are confident in our ability to provide that for him.

I will speak to his Head of House, whoever that may be, but I would also request that you give Harry a letter to pass on to them as well, so that you may tell them in your own words, assuming that he is not sorted into my House.

As per your request, no journalist or reporter will be allowed near Mr. Potter on Hogwarts grounds, and any conversations that are serious enough to require the involvement of the Headmaster will also be attended by me or his Head of House.

I have also informed Poppy Pomphrey that you wish to know if Mr. Potter is ever in her care, which she is most happy to do.

If you have any further concerns about the care we can provide your son, please feel free to reach out.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Andromeda,

Have you spoken to Narcissa lately? I know you retain some measure of polite conversation in public, but I don’t know its extent--we saw her in Diagon Alley today, while her son Draco was getting his robes fitted at Malkin’s, and she seemed legitimately interested in getting together for dinner. Do you think she was serious, and if so, would you like to be included?

Thanks,
Severus

To the new Head of House of Harry Potter,

Our apologies for busying your already busy first night at Hogwarts. We, Harry’s parents, wanted to lay out for you some of the rules that we’ve already set up with Deputy Headmistress McGonagall in order to keep Harry safe there.

While Harry is at Hogwarts, reporters and journalists will not be allowed near him, or to speak with him, due to the large amount of interest they seem to have in his life.

We also are aware that Harry will probably be in trouble while at Hogwarts - if he’s anything like most of his parents, he’ll be in trouble in the first month. While we place more basic punishments, such as detentions or extra homework, in your hands, we ask that any more extreme punishments or conversations, those that involve Headmaster Dumbledore, are also witnessed by you or Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, in order to keep things as official as possible.

If, outside of punishment, there is any need for the Headmaster to meet with our son, we have the right to be present at the meeting, as is outlined in the Hogwarts rules and policies. Harry is aware of this, and I’m sure you are as well, but we wanted to let you know that we will be exercising that right.

Deputy Headmistress McGonagall is aware of all of this, and will discuss it with you soon.

If you have any questions, or wish to discuss any of this further, we’d be glad to do so at your convenience. Thank you for taking care of and responsibility for our son while he is at Hogwarts.

Cordially,

Severus Snape,
Remus Lupin, and
Sirius Black

Poppy,

As I’m sure you’re aware, Harry is starting Hogwarts this year. Minerva has probably already mentioned this to you, but we are exercising our right to be informed every time you need to treat Harry for an injury. A quick, informal note will be just fine, as we know how busy you are.

We have no doubt in your medical abilities - we have had several scares over the years with people interfering with Harry’s fame due to his notoriety, and find ourselves concerned.

Thank you,

Remus Lupin

Dad, Papa, Sev,

I’m a Hufflepuff, like Dora! I sat down on the stool, and the Hat did what you said it would, it acted very strange-although it is a talking hat, so it would be strange either way, I think. And it talked for a while, about me fitting in more than one place. It asked me what I wanted, and I told it I didn’t care, although I think I wanted to be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff a little more, because that’s where Nev and Susan were sorted.

I’m doing this all out of order! Nev is in Gryffindor, and Susan got Sorted into Hufflepuff with me. We sat with this girl on the train, Hermione, who’s already read all of the textbooks all the way through. Not like me, just a little bit, but all the way. She got into Ravenclaw, which is probably good, because she might go mad around people who aren’t reading all the time. I recognized a few of the other first years, from events and things like that. Draco from Diagon Alley got into Slytherin, which means I sort of know someone from every house, which is neat, although he keeps looking at me like he wants to talk to me and then not talking. Maybe he’s shy.

Sorry, I’m going back and forth! This is a daft letter, but it’s really late and you told me you wanted me to send a letter first thing tomorrow morning, so I’m trying to get everything down before the other boys in here - Ernie and Justin - want to turn the lights off. The Hat just said I could go a bunch of places, and I said that it was supposed to choose, not me, and then it kind of grumbled at me? And then told me I was a Hufflepuff, so that’s where I went. I’m happy I’m with Susan, at least. We’re going to explore this weekend so that we can find somewhere inside the castle to hang out with Neville and maybe Hermione too, since it’s so much colder here than at home, so we can’t go outside all the time

I gave the letter to Professor Sprout after dinner, and she didn’t look surprised, so I guess Professor McGonagall already talked to her about the rules. Does that mean all the teachers know? I hope they treat me like normal.

I’ll write you again next week when I’ve had all my classes.

Love,

Harry

Harry,

Congratulations on getting into Hufflepuff! You should write to Dora, they’ll be so proud of you. Don’t worry about Neville, you’ll find ways to spend time with him. The library is a great place to meet friends!

Harry, this is your Dad - don’t listen to them. The library is a horrible place to meet friends, because then they want to study the whole time. There are lots of alcoves and empty rooms that you can meet in that have no books!

Harry, this is your Papa again. You meet up wherever you’d like to, and don’t mind us. Maybe you’ll find your own spots. Hermione sounds lovely! Don’t worry, though--most people won’t have read the textbooks all the way through, at least outside of Ravenclaw. Are Ernie and Justin nice, and the rest of the new Hufflepuffs?

Thank you for giving the letter to Professor Sprout. We look forward to hearing from her. I imagine Professor McGonagall told anyone who needed to know about the rules; they won’t work, otherwise. Remember, the teachers are there to protect you, teach you, and take care of you. I also think most of them have had enough students not to mind one who’s maybe a little famous.

We love you,

Papa, Dad, Sev

P.S. Sev wants to know, who is your Defense teacher? It wasn’t announced prior to the year starting. I think he wants to look up their credentials. And now he’s glaring at me, so I’ll send the letter before he can change it!

Dora,

I’m sure he’s written to you as well, but we wanted to let you know that Harry got into Hufflepuff at Hogwarts. He’s very excited! I know he’d love to hear any tips or tricks you have.

Do you have any friends who are still at Hogwarts who might be persuaded to look out for him? I’m not sure how Hufflepuff usually works, but Slytherins often have an older mentor-type in their House to show them the ropes, and I believe Ravenclaw is the same way.

How is Auror training going? I barely remember going through it myself, but I’m sure Amelia Bones would be more than happy to give you any advice, not that you need it.

Sincerely,

Cousin Sirius, as well as
Severus and Remus

Papa, Sev, Dad,

I miss you all, but Hogwarts is amazing! Most of my classes are really brilliant. We have Herbology and Astronomy with Gryffindor, which is the best, because Nev is really good at Herbology. I’m okay at Astronomy, I guess, but mostly because of Dad talking about his family. The first day, Professor Sinistra asked us if we could point out any constellations, and I pointed out Sirius, and now she thinks I know a lot, which isn’t true yet. Hermione said she’d help me study so I could memorize things faster.

My least favorite class is probably History of Magic. It was on Tuesday and Thursday morning this week, so everyone kept falling asleep, and Professor Binns doesn’t tell it right, like Sev does. It’s all years and really weird names of things, instead of stories. I told everyone that we should find some different books in the library, but they just think I’m crazy for wanting to do extra homework. Well, everyone but Hermione, and her friend Theo.

The first flying lesson was brilliant! I already knew most of it, of course, but it was still loads of fun, because we could go up as high as we wanted in the advanced group, and Susan and I kept throwing pinecones at each other to catch. The other first years think that we should try out for the Quidditch team, just in case we’re good enough to bend the rules, but that wouldn’t be very fair.

We went exploring and tried to find places to hang out, but every place was uncomfortable or had really loud portraits or something. What empty classrooms did you all use to use? Dora sent me a letter and said that they mostly hung out around the Quidditch pitch and used warming charms in the winter, but we haven’t learned those well enough yet. Me and Susan met Neville in the library a couple of times, but Neville’s been hanging out with a boy from Gryffindor, Ron, who doesn’t want to be in the library all the time. He says it’s too quiet.

The Defense teacher this year is Professor Quirrell. He’s a little weird and nervous, and he wears a turban, but no one can agree on why. I heard a couple of third years saying that it has garlic in it, which doesn’t make any sense, because he doesn’t smell like garlic, I don’t think, but I don’t know why else he’d be wearing it. He’s a good teacher, though. He keeps telling us things that aren’t in the textbook, and he gave some of the people in my class extra reading if they wanted it, but I have too much homework already right now.

Ernie and Justin are nice, but I think they’re scared of me a little bit, or something, like sometimes people are. Sometimes I’ll walk into a room and they’ll stop talking, so maybe they’re talking about me? Or maybe they’re just nervous. I think it’s because I’m me, so I hope they figure out I’m not some hero soon.

A lot of people want to talk to me, and ask me about the scar and Lord Voldemort, but I’m doing what you said and telling them I don’t want to talk about it, and walking away from them if they don’t stop, and mostly it works. Susan almost yelled at a fourth year Hufflepuff, which was weirdly nice. Draco, the boy from when we bought robes, keeps coming up like he’s going to ask the same questions, but then he mostly just says something mean and leaves again, which is kind of annoying.

I’ll write you again soon!

Love,

Harry

P.S. Can you send me that one book about the Goblin Wars, Sev? I was trying to tell Hermione something about it and I couldn’t remember something, and I know it’s in that book.

P.P.S. Sorry, I wanted to write it earlier but I didn’t want you to be mad, because I really like it here and you’re worried, but I’m about to send this letter and I know I have to tell you stuff, so something happened with Headmaster Dumbledore. He asked to meet with me with a note, but I wrote him back what you said, that if I was in trouble I needed Professor Sprout with me and if I wasn’t in trouble then he needed to write to you to ask to meet, and he said that was fine. Did you get a note from him? Everything’s fine, I promise, and I’ll keep following the rules.

Harry,

Did Dumbledore tell you what he wanted to talk about, in the note? Who delivered it? Did he ask to talk to anyone else?

You’re absolutely not in trouble, but it really is important that you tell us if someone tries to break the rules. I know it’s frustrating that things aren’t the same for you as for everyone else, but that’s just how life ends up being, sometimes. We’re proud of you for understanding and following them, even when you don’t like them very much, or it feels like it would be easier to ignore them.

Your Dad says that Astronomy is overrated, but I think that’s because he didn’t like a lot of people named after constellations. I think Astronomy is pretty cool, especially since where different planets are can affect everything else in magic, although mostly Divination and Potions. Try not to worry so much about what the teachers think, okay? It’s not your job to impress Professor Sinistra, it’s just your job to respect her and learn what she teaches you. Hermione sounds like a good friend, though, to offer to help, and if you’re interested in learning extra Astronomy, you should! That’s the best part of school, learning extra stuff because you want to.

I have a secret to tell you: I didn’t like History class at Hogwarts, either. Your father and I had History together sixth and seventh years, and we learned more out of that class than we ever did in it. I can absolutely send you the book on the Goblin Wars, and there are other books that I liked a lot more than the textbook, but I don’t want to give you extra homework if you don’t want me to. How about I send you a list of books that are in the Hogwarts library?

Warming charms aren’t very hard - if you like, we can teach you over Christmas, so you can walk around the grounds without getting too cold. I taught your mum and Remus when we were second years, and they both got it really fast, so you will too.

I think Professor Quirrell was the Muggle Studies professor a while ago, when Dora was at Hogwarts. Is that right? I’m glad he’s a good teacher. Maybe he’s just nervous about being back to teaching, or about his new subject. Remember, please, that it’s not nice to gossip about your teachers’ appearances--he probably has a very good reason for wearing his turban, but that doesn’t mean he has to share it. I know you hate when people tell stories about you.

Harry, this is your Dad, and I’ve stolen the quill from Sev because we are going to talk about Quidditch. You should absolutely go to Quidditch tryouts anyway! Even if they say you can’t try out because you’re a first year -- which they probably will -- you’ll still get to see everyone on the team fly together! The more interest you show now, the more they’ll remember you at next year’s tryouts. Bending the rules never hurt anyone, eh?

Alright, this is your Papa, now, since the other two are now arguing about rules. You do whatever you want to do, and I’m glad you like flying class. I’m sorry that Ernie and Justin are making you feel awkward. Maybe they’re not sure how to talk to you? You might have to open up to them a little first, which I know is scary. I spent almost a year hardly talking to the other boys in my dorm, including your Dad and your father, because I was worried they wouldn’t want to be friends with me.

Well, I won’t tell Amelia that Susan is yelling at older students, mostly because it sounds like she’s being a good friend. Give it a little time, Harry--once the shine wears off, I bet people at Hogwarts will figure out that you’re more than a story. Until then, it sounds like you have a great group of friends, from all different Houses! I’m so proud of you.

Your Dad and Sev have stopped arguing long enough to say that they’re proud of you, too.

Love,

Dad, Papa, and Sev

P.S. Dad and Sev say that Draco is acting like a typical Slytherin, although they should know better than to stereotype. Sev says that you should stop talking to him until he figures out how to start a normal conversation, but your Dad says that probably won’t happen. They’re both very dramatic, Harry. Why have you left me alone with them, again?

Chapter Text

Amelia,

Apparently your niece has been going around yelling at fourth years because they’re mean to Harry. We’re all incredibly proud of her, and also, we’re not the ones who told you.

Sorry, in advance, for the trouble Harry will inevitably pull her into. See you Saturday?

Sirius, Severus, and Remus

Misters Lupin, Snape, and Black,

Thank you for your note about your son’s wellbeing here at Hogwarts. I appreciate being told directly, and have already spoken to the Deputy Headmistress to ensure the rules you agreed upon remain in place.

Harry is a joy to have in Herbology class so far, and I look forward to having him as part of my House for the next seven years!

Adrian,

I don’t know about that, really. Yes, I could live here and do research without working--technically, we all could, because of the money Sirius has inherited. But, partially at least, I want to be working. I can’t quite remember a time in my life when I wasn’t accomplishing something.

The small potions business certainly keeps me busy, but I can’t be as prolific as the larger suppliers, and I’ve passed on the recipe to the Wolfsbane Potion to some trusted friends over the years. It’s only about twenty hours of work a week. The only other subject I truly enjoyed in school was History of Magic, and I’m not quite sure what could be done with that, other than research or perhaps teaching. I’d have to get a Mastery either way, which would come to about the same thing as sitting here and researching.

How is Cora doing, and the rest of the family? We’ll definitely come for Christmas, at least some of us, although I imagine that we’ll want to spend as much time with Harry as possible. I’m not quite sure how much us missing him is worry based in paranoia and fact, and how much is just normal parenting. What is that normal amount, in your experience? Or is that a silly question?

Severus

Papa, Sev, Dad,

The second week of classes was great! The first week we mostly talked about how much work we had to do, and went over lists of topics, and got lots of lectures about how to do homework and the safety of practicing spells and things like that. But now that’s over, it’s like the real learning started! I learned a bunch of little charms, because Professor Flitwick says he likes to start out with some fun stuff, but I think it was an excuse to get us used to practicing how our wands move. Professor McGonagall turned into a cat! Did you know she could do that? Dad, does she know you can turn into a dog? Have you ever chased her around? I think I’d be too scared to.

Potions is okay, because I’m already pretty good at it, except Professor Slughorn keeps calling on me in class, which I don’t like. We have that class with the Ravenclaws, and they keep looking at me weird because I get asked so many questions, even though I don’t raise my hand that much and they all do. He has some club made up of people that are really good at stuff, or something, and he invited me. I told him I’m not that good at potions yet, and I mostly learned from watching Sev. He says hello, by the way, I think because he was your Head of House.

Headmaster Dumbledore didn’t say why he wanted to see me in the note, and he didn’t write me back, either. The Prefect who delivered it didn’t have a note for anyone else in my class, but I don’t know if he went anywhere else after. Why? Do you know why he wants to talk to me? I know you said he wants to ask a bunch of questions, but I still don’t get why he doesn’t already know the answers.

I’m okay with the rules, honest. Most of the other students don’t know about them, so it’s okay. They already look at me weird, but the teachers are treating me like everyone else, mostly.

How did you start liking History, if you didn’t like the class? Did my father go with you to the library to see all the extra history books? I go there a fair amount, but mostly it’s Hermione and Susan who go with me. Neville’s with Ron a lot, now, and they mostly hang out in Gryffindor tower. Ron taught him wizarding chess. Do you think you could teach me over Christmas break, along with warming charms?

I did end up going to Quidditch tryouts, with Susan, and we sat in the stands. I think Neville went with Ron to the Gryffindor ones. All the players are really good, including the new ones, but there were some people who tried out who couldn’t even stay on their brooms. I don’t think I’d try out for Quidditch if I couldn’t fly.

Ernie and Justin are a little nicer, now, but it turns out they knew each other before Hogwarts, like me and Susan did, so they’re best mates already. But Justin let me borrow his Potions notes the other day, since I lost mine.

Do you know how to get into the kitchens? The older Hufflepuffs keep showing up with snacks later at night, and I know it’s not stuff they kept from dinner. Is it a hidden door in the Great Hall? I thought I saw something weird on the wall when we were sitting at the Gryffindor table the other day, but Hermione said it was just a trick of the light or something.

Love,

Harry

Sev,

You and Dad said that Draco was being a ‘typical Slytherin’. What does that mean? He doesn’t act like those Slytherin stereotypes that you all talk about. He’s just confusing. He comes up to talk to me every couple of days with his friends, and I’ll say hello, and then he’ll pretend like he never wanted to talk to me in the first place. Except a couple of times, I’ve said hello back in class, or sat with him when we have Hufflepuff-Slytherin classes, and then it’s like we get along fine.

He said in Diagon Alley that he wanted to be friends. Do you think he does? How do I make a Slytherin talk to me like a normal person? And yes, Houses don’t mean everything, I know, but you started it. Is it something to do with the fact that we’re cousins, since he’s Andromeda’s nephew? That makes us second cousins, right?

Love,

Harry

P.S. Dad and Papa can read this one too, if they want, I just wanted to ask you.

Severus,

That’s kind of you, but I think even hosted at your house instead of mine, it might be a bad idea. I’m never quite sure about how much Narcissa and I trust each other, but I’m much more sure about how much Lucius trusts me, which is not at all.

Really, she said it like that? Very odd. It’s almost like she’s using her son as a political pawn, but he seems a bit young. Merlin, is Hogwarts just full of children trying to impress the Boy-Who-Lived for their parents? I’m really not sure if that’s something Harry would want to know or not. Still, at least he has friends from before Hogwarts as well, and Pomona and Minerva watching out for him. Heaven help the wizard that gets between them and something they protect.

I’ll write to her, if you like, and have tea like we do fairly regularly. Perhaps I can suss something out for you, at least, if only to figure out what level of political power they’re aiming for. The children are related, at least as much as Dora and Harry are, which is to say, not very much at all for Pureblood society. They may just want to be acknowledged as distant family, for Narcissa to be welcome to Black family events, as if you hold any of those.

Who knows what goes through their minds?

Let me know,

Andromeda

Harry,

Your Dad and Papa looked at your second letter to me as well, but neither had anything specific to add. You’re right that just because Draco is a Slytherin doesn’t mean anything. You’re also right that he is very similar to many people in my House.

It sounds a bit like he’d like you to be friends with him, but for him to remain head of your friend group. He’d like you to chase after him and try talking to him, but he won’t do the same, right? So you have two options, at least: go ahead and chase after him anyway, and become friends on his terms, or tell him clearly that you’ll gladly speak with him when he’s polite or maybe even kind to you and your friends.

I’d do the second in private, if you choose to.

Oh, it looks like your Dad does want to say something.

Harry, it could have something to do with the fact that you’re technically family, but you really shouldn’t start trying to figure out exactly how close of cousins you are with everyone you meet, especially if you’re counting the Black, Lupin, and Prince lines all at once. You’re probably related within fifth cousins to half of Hogwarts, in some definition. It’s so much easier to say that anyone farther than first cousins away is just… distant. I’ll show you the Black family tree again sometime, if you’d like. Trust me, it’s easier to ignore it.

Love,

Sev (and Dad)

Emma, Trish,

My son has taken it upon himself to be friends with a Pureblood Slytherin.

I’d like to ask what I did in a past life to deserve this, except that’s a bit too much of a literal question after the war, isn’t it?

It’s Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy’s son, by the way. I imagine you both interacted with them enough to know why this is distressing. And Harry is ever so motivated now. Why couldn’t we raise him to be a bit more prejudiced?

I know, I’m whining, and overall I’m wrong, and Slytherin does not mean bad - but it seems to me that you two could understand that perhaps I’m the one most qualified to stereotype students. At least there’s no megalomaniac trying to recruit them for a war this time.

Are you coming for lunch next week, as usual?

Sincerely,

Severus

Severus,

I disagree with the idea that research isn’t ‘accomplishing something’, although I do take your point. I also understand the need to be working. When I retired, I drove Cora barmy for months, desperate for something to do. It turns out that social clubs are actually quite the hotbed for interesting gossip and scintillating discussion, not that I’d admit that to her. Not that she needs me to.

I really am proud that you felt you could pass on the recipe for Wolfsbane. I know it was rather a large thing for you to do, given the time and energy you’ve put into it. I hope that you’re aware of all the things you’ve done to help lycanthropes in society with that one potion. I saw an interview in the Prophet the other day, a young woman, who talked at length about how the creation and distribution of that potion proved that more could be done. I believe she was a Healer; you might look it up, if you haven’t seen it already.

You should look into the requirements for a History of Magic Mastery, really. It might be something you could accomplish easily, as I’ve always thought the requirements were too lax in both OWL and NEWT levels - really, having seen some of the Hogwarts textbooks in Diagon Alley, it’s a miracle young wizards and witches know anything at all. Perhaps you could earn your Mastery on the side of that twenty hours a week, and then once you’ve achieved it, get another job with the additional degree. I agree that researching or teaching seem like the most likely prospects, but I believe in your perseverance and creativity. I’m sure the Ministry has use for a history expert every now and again.

Of course, you could look into Muggle degrees as well, though I know you’re stuck firmly in the Wizarding World at least until Harry is of age, if not longer. Having studied both sides, they really do weave together in quite a fascinating way.

Cora and the children are fine, though of course we miss them terribly. I’m not sure why both Bram and Isaac thought that taking our grandchildren out of the country to live was alright. We’ll have to make up for it by spoiling Harry as much as it is possible to from a distance. Do you think sending loads of sweets to Hogwarts would make him more popular? I’m simply asking for a friend.

In my experience, parenting is an almost constant amount of worry, especially for the first year that they’re away from you. I know you have good reasons to be nervous, and it’s smart of you to act on them. Just try not to let them overwhelm you, yes? Worrying does not help if you can’t think straight on top of it. How is he doing at Hogwarts? We wrote him a short note to congratulate him on Hufflepuff, of course, and got a lovely thank you back, but I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend all his time writing back and forth.

Adrian

To the Board of Mastery for History of Magic,

I’m writing to enquire about the exact requirements and study necessary to complete a Mastery in History of Magic. Could you provide me with the literature needed, as well as anything else I may need to know?

My sincerest thanks,

Severus Snape

Harry,

I agree, the ‘Slug Club’ is really an atrocious name. If you’d like to join it, it does have perks - as you get older, the parties are an excellent source of networking, and you can meet some very fascinating people. Your father was invited in his later years, due to his family’s connections, and he took your Dad along with him a few times. You’ll have to ask for stories over Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, of course we’d love to help organize a get-together for you and your friends. Did you have a specific day in mind? We can have them here, if you like. We already have invitations to all the usual places - Cora and Adrian’s, your Papa’s parents, and the Tonks’ - but I do believe your Dad and Sev and I were planning to stay home most of your break. Is there anything else you’d like to do while you’re home? Your Dad would like you to know that you can absolutely invite Professor McGonagall over for him to chase around in animal form. I would like you to know that you cannot.

This is Sev, now - It is a rather long list of History books, and you certainly don't have to read any of them. I just thought you might like a variety. Perhaps you could choose one related to what you’re currently talking about in class, just to see if extra reading about the same topic helps you learn better.

This is your Papa again. I’m sorry to hear that you and Neville aren’t getting to spend quite as much time together. It’s difficult to enter a new chapter of your life alongside your friends, but you and Neville have been so close for so long. Sometimes, life is about making time. Is it possible you could spend time with both him and Ron? Chess is rather difficult, you’re right, but we can certainly get a good head start on it while you’re home, and perhaps Ron could help teach you the rest.

Susan wrote to her aunt and said something about a troll in Hogwarts - is that true? How on earth did that happen? I’m glad you both went back to your dormitory when you were told. Was anyone hurt?

We’re so glad we’ll get to see you in just a month! We’ve missed you terribly. Please prepare to be hugged within an inch of your life at King’s Cross.

Love,

Papa, Sev, Dad

Mr. Snape,

You will find attached the required forms to apply for a Mastery in History of Magic. Other than those, we require a summary of your proposed research, as well as a short document explaining what sources you are going to find, and proof that you achieved an O on your History of Magic NEWT while at school. If you did not, you are more than welcome to sit it again in one of our thrice-yearly sessions, until you can achieve the necessary scores.

We look forward to reading your proposal.

Leticia Perigle,
Head of the Board of Mastery for History of Magic
Wizarding Examinations Authority

Chapter Text

Madam Perigle,

Thank you for the materials and information. Attached you will find my research proposal and all completed forms, as well as documentation of my History of Magic NEWT score. I eagerly await what you think of my proposal.

Cordially,

Severus Snape

Adrian,

I’ve just written in that proposal to the History of Magic Mastery Board. Thank you for looking it over last week - the more I looked at it, the more ridiculous it all looked.

I hope that the Board sees it as an opportunity to combine Muggle and Magical knowledge, rather than a weaker proposal for only half-focusing on the Wizarding World. I know you said that historians everywhere like comparison analysis, but we’re not that far out from the war, and anti-Muggle sentiment is surprisingly pervasive.

Then again, as long as my methods are solid, they should be objective, should they not? It’s rather their job as academics.

I’m not quite sure why I feel nauseated right now. It’s like I’m back at Hogwarts, studying for exams all over again. Remind me why I did this to myself?

Severus

P.S. Please let Cora know that Sirius is still on for shopping in Diagon Alley next week, as he’s too lazy to write his own letter, apparently.

Papa, Dad, Sev,

I didn’t realize how much I’d missed Hogwarts until we got back here again! It’s a bit rubbish that the first dinner of each term is separated by House, though. I sat with Neville, Ron, and Susan on the train, but I didn’t see Hermione or Theo until the next day, when we rotated tables all day to see everyone.

I got all my homework done on the train and the first night back, like I promised. Susan and I sat in the Common Room with a bunch of other students who were doing the same thing, so I think you shouldn’t be too disappointed in me. I’m being social, like you wanted!

Sev, you were exactly right about Draco and getting him that present. He grabbed me after dinner last night and shoved a wrapped-up book at me, and he said something which I think was ‘thank you’, but he sounded mad about it. It’s a Transfiguration book, which is nice, I guess. We’re creating a pattern of niceness, like you said.

Ron was talking about bringing his chess set to the library tomorrow, since I told him that I learned a bunch over break even after we had our party. It sounds like fun, although I think Madam Pince might be mad at us after a while, because we’re not super quiet when we play. Still, this means that we can all hang out in the same place most nights! Plus, Hermione really wants to learn that warming charm you taught me, and Theo said he’d help her learn, because he lives somewhere really cold and he learned it ages ago, so we can go outside too.

I’ll write you more later!

Love,

Harry

P.S. I’ve just reread the start of this letter and don’t worry, I miss you all, I promise. I just missed school too!

Lady Longbottom,

We wanted to thank you again for letting Neville spend time here over break. We know from experience how much we missed Harry this term, so I know you wanted to spend time with him! The boys were a bit sad about being Sorted separately, I think, and needed some time to get their rhythm back.

We should also warn you that they were talking about spending parts of the summer at Longbottom Manor. We promised nothing, I swear, as we’d hate to dump multiple eleven-year-olds on your lap without warning.

Sincerely,

Remus, Severus, Sirius

Amelia,

I promise, she was really an angel. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling guilty about. Maybe something more has happened with people treating Harry badly? Harry hasn’t mentioned anything about it, but I’m pretty sure he’s trying his best to pretend like it doesn’t bother him.

They’ve also been very adamant about finding out where the kitchens are located. Sirius may have told them - we haven’t gotten it out of him yet.

Let us know if you find out, please?

Severus and Remus
(and Sirius, who’s keeping his mouth shut)

Harry,

It’s perfectly understandable to miss Hogwarts just as much as you miss home. Do you remember a couple of years ago, when we went to watch Dora play in their first Quidditch game? That was the first time we’d all been back to Hogwarts in years, and I found myself missing it, too. You know that your Papa and Dad and I didn’t have the best time when we were kids, and Hogwarts will always hold a special place in our hearts, as it does for a lot of students.

I was always frustrated by the first feast too, since all my friends were in Gryffindor, at least until I was friends with your Uncle Regulus. But it sounds like you’ve figured out a way to spend time with everyone regularly! Good job. Remember, too, that you don’t have to hang out with your friends all the time to still be friends with them.

I really wish we had a leg to stand on with the homework. Well, your Papa probably does, although he’s shaking his head at me right now. I definitely did my summer homework by wandlight the first night back a few times, and your Dad probably did his on the way to breakfast the next morning.

Well done, Harry, although I do wish either of you had given each other a gift to be nice, rather to get even. I hope you can become friends with him, like you’re wanting to.

Harry, this is your Dad, and Sev is being very stingy with his knowledge. The next step is to figure out what Draco wants from you - friendship, knowledge, public acknowledgment - and trade it for friendliness. It’s how I tricked Sev into being friends with me, and now he can’t get rid of me!

Harry, this is Sev again. Please do not take advice from your Dad about this - I started being friends with him because your Papa made me, and then he never went away.

Harry, this is your Papa. I have taken the paper and gone into my own room. We all miss you too!

Love,

Papa
And Sev and Dad too, I suppose

P.S. They were both the most annoying people, trying desperately not to be friends while being very, very similar people. It really was exhausting. I wish you better luck with your attempts.

Severus,

Thank you for the lovely birthday gift! Emma, of course, is very angry that now I have a new kitchen utensil to cook with. When I got a whisk, all I did for days was try to master things that needed whisking. She hid it from me for a few days, but I know all her good hiding places at this point.

How is Harry doing befriending that Slytherin? Have they been doing some tiny posturing all over Hogwarts? Oh, how fast they grow up.

Tell Sirius he’s not funny, by the way, no matter how hard Emma laughed when I opened the ‘your first broom’ kit. You’re not getting me in the air, that’s my wife’s job.

Thanks again,

Trish

Sirius,

Well, something is definitely going on with my sister - she asked me to tea the other day, and was actually asking real questions about my life. I really, really hope she is being sincere. She certainly seems like she is, but I have always been biased where she is concerned.

Has Draco continued to try and befriend Harry?

Love,

Andromeda

Sev, Remus, Sirius,

Honestly, I have no clue what Susan was feeling guilty about. I do know that I told her where the kitchens were over Christmas break, so you can let Sirius out of the doghouse (haha).

Is it bad that I missed the quiet over Christmas, and now I miss the loudness? Life is full of contradictions. Come over and get drunk on Saturday, we’ll listen to Muggle sports on the radio without knowing any of the rules.

Amelia

Mr. Snape,

The Board here finds your proposal, as well as your methods of research, quite acceptable. We look forward to reading your work. In order to ensure security, you will need to visit our offices in person to deliver your research once completed. You will also need to schedule a meeting with the Board after we have had time to study it, in order to defend your research to us.

Please feel free to write to us with any additional questions or problems.

Leticia Perigle
Head of the Board of Mastery for History of Magic
Wizarding Examinations Authority

Boys,

I am quite sure that I will see Neville more than enough this summer - he writes me every week, as he should, and I’m quite proud of how much he values Harry and his other friends. I’d be happy to host Harry here over part of the summer, although I imagine we’ll be juggling them back and forth quite a bit.

Would you like to come over for tea next week, all of you? I believe even my social clubs are tiring of me, although they wouldn’t dare say that to my face. This house is really far too large for one person.

Sincerely,

Augusta Longbottom

Papa, Sev, Dad,

I don’t have a huge update, because I just wanted to write and ask could Hermione come and visit for a weekend this summer? Susan wants to come too, but if it’s okay then Hermione wants to Owl her parents and have them call you on the telephone, since they’re Muggles. Hermione’s horrible at flying, and she wants to learn how on her own, because Flying class is almost over and it’s kind of hard to learn in a big group. Plus, I want to show her our library! She’s always going to the really dusty section of the library here, and we have a bunch of dusty sections. I’ll write her address at the bottom before I send this tomorrow, in case you want to send things the Muggle way.

Oh also! I turned in my Christmas Break homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts last week, and I got it back today, and a bunch of the stuff that Papa helped me with is marked weirdly? Professor Quirrell wants to talk to me about it. Can I tell him that you helped me? That’s okay, right? It’s like studying, except from someone else’s brain instead of a book, and anyway, our textbook didn’t have a lot of the answers. I know that I need to be respectful, and I haven’t gossiped or anything to other people, but he’s weird.

Love,

Harry

Trish,

You’re welcome! I saw it in a Muggle shop when I was walking through London the other day and thought of you. I wonder how many tiny things you can grill before Emma figures out how to cut the electricity?

As soon as I stop laughing too hard to speak, I will tell Sirius how not-funny he is. Please, are there photos? I will gladly take those as my next birthday or Christmas gift.

Severus

Severus,

I sound very biased, I’m sure, but if any higher education rejects research because of viewpoint, well, I can’t imagine trusting them as an authority again. History is all about respecting and studying the viewpoints of everyone, isn’t it?

You did this because you hate doing nothing, as is perfectly understandable. As soon as you get deep into research, it will be fun again - at least, that’s usually my opinion.

Cora sends her thanks through me for the confirmation and will meet Siriuis in Diagon, although I am not about to comment about my wife’s laziness in any capacity, as she is by far the busiest woman I have ever met.

Adrian

Harry,

We can absolutely invite Hermione to our house for a bit this summer. We’ll write to her parents now, if you’d like, and Hermione can as well.

What parts did your Professor think were weird? Most of what I told you was out of my own books, and were facts rather than stories. Did he want you to only look in your textbook for answers? I’ve attached a list of the books I used, if you want to tell him where you got your information.

You do have to be respectful, but it depends on what kind of ‘weird’ you mean. If he’s making you uncomfortable, remember that you can talk to us about it. If he’s just wearing clothing that isn’t normal, that’s different.

Love,

Papa

P.S. Sev and Dad send their love as well, of course.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger,

Hello! My name is Severus Snape. My son Harry is a friend of your daughter, Hermione, at Hogwarts. Harry wrote to us a few days ago to ask if Hermione could visit over the summer, and we’d be very glad to have you.

We understand that you’re both Muggles, and that letting Hermione visit a strange house in the Wizarding World is definitely stressful. We do have a telephone, if you’d like to speak directly, and we’ll include our return address as well if you’d rather write back. You’re also welcome to join us along with Hermione!

Sincerely,

Severus Snape

Adrian,

I am, indeed, much too excited now that I’m actually digging into source material. I’m including quotations from this book that you absolutely must read. This analysis is fascinating! It’s such a specific look into the mind of someone who lived during the Centaur Debates, and I’ve never read an account that didn’t have the context of hindsight on the misconceptions everyone had.

The manuscript is a bit too fragile to travel by owl, but I’ll bring it with me next time I visit. Sadly, I don’t think I can use it for my History research, but maybe I’ll write a paper on it anyway.

Severus

Mr. Snape,

It’s lovely to hear from the parents of some of Hermione’s new friends! She can absolutely come up for the summer: I’ve included some dates that are good for her, as she also has some family engagements this year.

We’ll definitely take you up on the offer to come along with Hermione, at least for a brief meal, so that we can meet in person, but it is perhaps the height of embarrassment for us to accompany her anywhere right now.

We did have another favor to ask - Minerva McGonagall did visit us, when Hermione was first invited to Hogwarts, but I’m afraid she wasn’t able to explain more than the basics before her next appointment. Could we pick your mind about the Wizarding World sometime?

Thank you,

Mary Granger

Misters Black, Snape, and Lupin,

I regret to inform you that your son has been injured here at Hogwarts. He is fine, and in the care of Poppy Pomfrey, but we did want to inform you. You are welcome to Floo directly into my office - I have opened it for you, so you do not need to take an indirect path.

Minerva McGonagall

Chapter Text

They were all at home when the letter arrived, which Severus was thankful for later. Certainly, none of them had enough objectivity at the time to make any plans other than diving for the Floo Powder and the fireplace. They were through to Minerva’s office within a minute, and barely spared her pleasantries before heading straight to the Hospital Wing, trying not to trip over any students on the way.

Bursting through the Hospital Wing doors, Severus saw Remus walk up to Madame Pomfrey out of the corner of his eye, while he scanned the beds, finally spotting two with curtains around them at the end. He and Sirius, who had undoubtedly had the same thought, walked straight over, each heading to one bed. Severus opened one set of curtains, spotting a shock of red hair first. Ron, he recognized from the party over Christmas break. He barely registered that the boy was both breathing and unconscious before closing the curtains again and spinning around to see Sirius had already revealed the other bed, where Harry was lying.

Severus walked the three steps to his son’s bed, trying not to fall over in relief at the sight of his chest rising and falling. He got a hand on Harry’s blanket-covered leg just as Poppy and Remus reached the other side of the bed.

“He’s fine,” Poppy said quickly, speaking to all of them. “A concussion, as well as a few low-level burns and abrasions. I’ve put him under to let the healing do its work, but he should wake up within the hour.”

“Burns?” Sirius asked, his voice hoarse. “What happened?”

Poppy shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m not certain. He and Mr. Weasley came in together with Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger and Miss Bones, but Minerva took the other three up to the Headmaster’s office to get the full story. I was about to send you a message, but Minerva told me you’d already been informed.”

Severus blew out a shaky breath. “He’ll be fine?” His mind was buzzing. He wanted to be down here with Harry, but something had happened, and he desperately needed to know what. He also didn’t want to leave any of the other children alone with Dumbledore.

“He’ll be perfectly fine,” Poppy assured him again, running her wand over Harry’s form and casting some recognizable diagnostic spells. “The swelling from his concussion has gone completely down. He’s resting under his own power, now.”

Severus nodded sharply, staring at Harry’s face, his flickering eyelids.

Remus, standing next to Poppy, looked at him. “Dumbledore?”

Severus tightened his fist, trying to keep anger from showing on his face. They’d entrusted their son to these people, and-- “Yes,” he told Remus, looking at him and then at Sirius. Sirius had better Occlumency shields. “Can you stay here?” he asked Remus.

Remus raised his eyebrows but seemed to understand, nodding. “I’ll send a note as soon as he wakes up.”

Sirius stood from where he had collapsed into a chair, tearing his eyes away from Harry. “Let’s go, Sev.”

Severus nodded and turned to go, blinking in surprise at the sight of Minerva by the Hospital Wing doors. He’d quite forgotten she was there, but marched up to her anyway. “Can you take us to Dumbledore’s office?” he asked, phrasing it as a request.

She raised an eyebrow, probably at the idea that he wouldn’t go there under his own power if she refused. “Yes, of course,” she said, turning and leading the way out.

They walked there in silence, though Severus could hear Sirius thinking hard beside him. As they reached the gargoyles, and Minerva told them the password, he shot him a meaningful look.

Sirius stared right back for a minute, eyes filled with anger, before sighing roughly and Occluding visibly.

They walked into Dumbledore’s office, Minerva leading the way, and Severus immediately focused on the children sitting in front of Dumbledore’s desk, dwarfed by the chairs they were sitting in. Neville, turning to look at who had walked in, immediately stood up and ran to Severus, colliding with him heavily and clinging to him in a hug. Susan, sitting in the middle, looked like she wanted to do the same thing, but was holding herself back. A young black girl with hair larger than she was, who Severus assumed was Hermione, was curled up tightly in the last chair.

“Boys,” Dumbledore greeted them, friendly but serious. “Thank you so much for joining us.”

Severus ignored him, bending over slightly to hug Neville back. “Are you alright?” he asked him, looking past him to glance at Susan and Hermione as well.

Neville straightened slightly, wiping at his face. “We’re f-fine,” he said, his hand still wound in Severus’s robes. “Is Harry okay, and Ron?”

Severus regretted not asking about Ron down in the Hospital Wing, but this wasn’t the time to be unsure. “They’ll both be fine,” he reassured him. “Is your grandmother on her way?”

Neville crinkled his brows. “I… I don’t know.”

Severus stood up straight, making eye contact with Dumbledore directly for the first time and ignoring the slight twinge of pain in the back of his skull as he did. “Have their guardians been contacted?”

“Not yet,” Minerva answered from the corner of the room. “Since they weren’t injured, it’s procedure to find out what has happened before contacting parents.”

“Augusta and Amelia would want to be here,” Sirius said from where he was standing between Susan and Hermione’s chair, a hand casually on Susan’s shoulder in reassurance.

Minerva hesitated a moment before nodding. “There’s no reason they can’t be contacted now,” she relented.

“Is your Floo still open?”

“It can be,” she told him. “I’ll go back down right now.”

He nodded and then spun to face away from Dumbledore - it was hard to cast advanced magic and keep his shields up at the same time. Focusing on Neville next to him and the huge relief of seeing Harry alive and well in the hospital bed, he cast a quick Patronus. “To Amelia Bones,” he told the silvery antelope. “Susan is just fine, but you’re needed at Hogwarts. Go to Minerva’s floo, it’s open.” He sent it off, then casted his Patronus again to send an identical message to Augusta Longbottom. Watching it disappear, he turned to look at Hermione. “I’m afraid I don’t have a way to send a message like that to your parents. Would you like someone to go get them?”

She looked at him with wide eyes, then glanced up at Sirius. “Are you Harry’s parents?”

He nodded. “Yes. I’m Severus, and this is Sirius.”

She took a breath, then shook her head. “I’m alright.”

Brave, he thought, giving her a smile and turning back to Dumbledore. “What happened?”

Dumbledore was looking at him, and Severus wasn’t sure whether the calculating look in his eye was real, or simply the sum of Severus’s knowledge and paranoia. After a moment, he spoke. “You came in just as we were about to start the tale, I’m afraid.” He refocused on the children. “Can you three tell us what happened tonight?”

Neville looked up at him for permission, and Severus hesitated for a moment, wanting to get the story without Dumbledore here, but Neville and Susan only had rudimentary shields from their childhood lessons, and Hermione likely had none at all, being a Muggleborn. He probably knew the whole story already. He nodded down at the boy, moving him gently back toward his chair.

Neville took a breath and then looked toward the Headmaster. “Ron and I were walking around the castle tonight,” he began, voice hesitant. “Before curfew,” he added quickly. “And we saw Professor Quirrel in the third-floor corridor, the--the off-limits one.”

“There’s an off-limits corridor?” Sirius interrupted, staring at Dumbledore. “Why?”

Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling. “We are keeping an artifact safe within the castle,” he told Sirius smoothly. “The corridor is off-limits simply for security.”

“You told students not to go somewhere, in order to keep the area secure?” Sirius asked, scorn filling his voice. Severus shot him a look, and he subsided, brow still furrowed in frustration.

“We thought he was…” Neville hesitated, but seemed to get his nerve back after a moment. “He’s been acting weirdly for a while, and stuff like that, and so we… saw him… on the third floor, and when we turned the corner he was gone. There was nowhere to go but the door that’s off-limits.”

They were following him, then, Severus surmised, filling in the gaps. “Harry wasn’t there, or you two?” he asked, glancing at Susan and Hermione.

“No,” Neville told him, voice small. “We went to the library, just to… to prove it to Harry, because he kept saying that Quirrell being weird didn’t mean he was suspicious.”

“We were studying in the library with Harry,” Susan put in. “We thought that we should tell someone, so we went to Professor McGonagall’s office--”

“But she said that he was a teacher, and he was allowed to be anywhere, and that wasn’t proof of anything,” Neville interrupted, talking faster now. “But he’s been acting strange, especially around Harry, so we just wanted to prove it.”

“We thought that we could look in the room and see what he was doing, and then go back to Professor McGonagall or maybe Professor Sprout,” Susan said, her voice hesitant, “except that we went back to the door and unlocked it and there was a troll unconscious on the floor, just like the one that was in the dungeons before.”

“And Quirrell was the one that told us all about the first troll,” Neville put in. “And it was unconscious already, and there was a trapdoor, so we just…”

“Harry shone a light down, and then jumped in,” Hermione continued the story, her voice clear and factual, if a bit frightened. “And then he yelled, so we all jumped after him, and we landed in Devil’s Snare.”

“Hermione and Neville recognized it,” Susan said, “and shone lights at it right away, and it let go, but then we couldn’t get back up, so we had to keep going.”

Severus raised an eyebrow at her, doubting the logic of that decision, but finally nodded for her to continue.

“We went through a door, and there were a bunch of keys flying around, but only one big one,” she told him, then turned back to Dumbledore. “Harry grabbed a broomstick from the wall, and then Ron did too, and they caught the big one, which unlocked the other door.”

“Then there was a giant chess set,” Neville continued, “with five pieces missing, so we all stood in for a piece and Ron played through the game--” his voice broke.

“Neville helped too, and Harry a bit,” Susan put in. “But Ron had to… had to s-sacrifice himself to win the game, and he hurt his leg and maybe his head too.” Neville fell silent, leaning back in the chair, exhausted.

“Harry told Neville to stay with Ron,” Hermione said, “so he wouldn’t be alone, but the three of us kept going. There was a door in the next room and a big vial of Veritaserum--”

“Veritaserum?” Severus asked, unable to help himself. A big vial of it? Veritaserum cost hundreds of gallons, and a huge vial of it would be… why would anyone do that?

“I think so,” Hermione said, her small voice making it sound like a question. “I read a lot, and I recognized the… the look of it. And there was a door, but it had a face on it, so we thought it was probably a puzzle about telling the truth.”

Severus widened his eyes at her without meaning to. Veritaserum was hard to recognize, and if knowing the type of potion was needed to understand… he shook himself slightly. Understand what? A puzzle room in a series of obstacles that could all be beaten by 11-year-olds?

“I took it,” Susan was saying, and Severus refocused. “As soon as I did, the door asked me a bunch of questions, and I answered them all, and then it opened.”

Severus wanted to ask if she’d been compelled to tell the truth, as Veritaserum would do, but if Dumbledore wasn’t going to ask, he wouldn’t give him any extra information.

“Harry told me to go back to Neville and Ron, and to see if I could find a way up to get help,” Susan added.

“Why?” Dumbledore asked, his first question. At Susan’s apparent confusion, he clarified. “I mean, why did Mr. Potter ask you to leave at that point? Was there not room for you to continue?”

Severus stared at Dumbledore, trying to remember everything word-for-word so he could analyze it later. Was he… was he collecting data about what had happened? Oh, Severus was going to kill him, and if he was lucky, it would be metaphorical.

Susan turned a bit pink. “I think… I think he could tell that I wasn’t… The questions were a little personal,” she admitted finally. “I think I was shaking. I think he wanted to make sure I was alright.”

Severus’s heart swelled with affection for his son, then joined all the other adults in the room in turning to look at Hermione, who looked slightly cowed by the attention.

“We--we went into the last room, and it was a bunch of different buttons with a riddle next to it,” Hermione told them all. “And I figured out which button was the right one, and we pressed it, and all the other ones disappeared but the door opened, so we went through it--” she hiccuped, and Severus saw her eyes were slowly filling with tears. “And P-professor Quirrell was in the room, but he was pacing in front of this big mirror and talking to himself like he’s been doing lately, and Harry pushed me behind him and walked forward and asked him what was going on, and then he spun around and he pointed his w-wand at us,” now she was openly crying, and Sirius had crouched down beside her chair, hand hovering about her arm. “And a bunch of r-ropes pushed me against the wall but he pulled Harry forward and made him stand in front of the mirror and started talking about L-lord Voldemort and some rock, and Harry was talking back to him but I couldn’t hear what he said, and then Q-quirrell unwrapped his turban and there was a face there--” she burst into sobs.

“A face where?” Severus asked her, careful to keep his voice gentle but insistent. He needed to know. He ignored the annoyed look Sirius shot him.

“On the back of his head,” Hermione managed through his sobs, “and then Harry started yelling, and the face yelled back, about how his parents had died and other s-stuff, and how Harry had to help him or they’d k-kill him too--”

Sirius, who had been sitting stock-still, suddenly leapt to his feet and swung to face Dumbledore. “Quirrell is a Death Eater?” he hissed, voice angrier than Severus had heard in a long while. “You hired a Death Eater to--”

“I assure you, my boy--”

”Lord Black,” Sirius interrupted, his tone deadly. Severus couldn’t move, could only watch as they stared at each other.

“Lord Black,” Dumbledore said after a moment. “I assure you that I had no idea of any of Professor Quirrell’s--”

Severus laughed--he couldn’t help it. “We’ve heard that before,” he said, voice dry. “I remember a similar story when Remus was almost tortured to death--” He heard Neville gasp beside him, and remembered where they were and who was with them, gathering himself.

Sirius experienced no such resurgence of control. “We’re taking our son out of this… of this… how could you hire a Death Eater--”

With a face on the back of his head, Severus added silently, still trying to parse Hermione’s half-intelligible words, but he stepped forward, trying to place a hand on Sirius’s shoulder to calm him down slightly. Blowing up at Dumbledore wouldn’t help.

“--checks are always done,” Dumbledore was saying, “but it is difficult to find Defense teachers, and Quirrell had taught here in the past.”

“I could teach that class!” Sirius yelled at him. “Bullshit you need to hire a--”

Severus had latched onto something different, though, and interrupted Sirius as he finally dragged him backward a step, curling fingers into his shoulder-blade to try and communicate calm. “Had? Where is he now Quirrell?”

Dumbledore hesitated, and in her chair, Hermione began crying harder.

“What?” Severus asked, louder.

“He was… injured past healing,” Dumbledore said, voice measured in that infuriating way of his. “We are positive that it was self-defense on Mr. Potter’s part.”

“It was,” Hermione insisted through her sobs, as Severus just stared at Dumbledore. “Quirrell kept trying to c-catch him, but whenever Harry put his h-hands on him it burned, and then Q-Quirrell collapsed and then Harry did too--” she turned to Severus, eyes wide and tear-filled, her jaw set. “I tried to get to him, but the ropes were too t-tight, I’m s-sorry, Professor McGonagall had to l-let me out.”

Severus wanted to go to her, this child who was apologizing for being in a life-threatening situation and not being able to help, but he could feel the tension in Sirius’s body and knew that if he let him go, he’d go straight for Dumbledore. “It’s alright,” he opted for saying, keeping his voice as calm as possible. “Thank you, Hermione.”

She nodded jerkily, and then curled up smaller. Susan took her hand between their chairs.

“Our son was forced to kill a Death Eater that was trying to murder him--” Sirius started, his voice calm in a way that frightened Severus more than the yelling had. “We are never letting him back in-- He was interrupted by the sound of the stairs behind them moving, and then both Augusta and Amelia were in the room, moving toward their children quickly.

“Severus, Sirius,” Minerva said, speaking louder to be heard over the rather tearful questioning going on. “Poppy just sent me a memo, Harry is awake.”

Sirius, still glaring daggers at Dumbledore, cursed, and after a moment, turned around to storm out of the room.

Severus watched him disappear, then turned around to look at Dumbledore, who was watching Sirius leave with a strange look on his face. Severus pushed his thoughts away to deal with later, but took a moment to put a hand on Amelia’s arm. When she looked up at him, he glanced at Dumbledore and then jerked his head out the door--get everyone out of here when you can. She nodded, and he spun and followed Sirius out of the office.

He found him again at the foot of the stairs, pacing back and forth. As soon as he saw Severus, his face twisted. “That motherfucker,” he bit out. “I know he--”

“Not here,” Severus said, quickly.

“Sev!”

“Not. Here.” Severus grabbed his arm and started walking toward the Hospital Wing. “Portraits,’ he added in an undertone, as they passed painting after painting filled with curious faces.

Sirius let a rather impressive string of expletives out of his mouth, but otherwise stayed silent, jerking his arm back but staying next to him as they walked.

They entered a rather loud Hospital Wing, and one glance toward Ron’s bed gave the reason--he was absolutely overrun with redheads. Severus recognized Arthur and Molly, who’d been in the order during the war and still were in infrequent contact with Sirius, but his attention was quickly pulled by Harry, who was sitting up slightly and talking quietly with Remus.

He and Sirius got there at the exact same moment, their arms overlapping as they both wrapped Harry up in tight hugs.

“Hi,” Harry said from beneath both of them, voice quiet.

Severus pulled back, Sirius doing the same several moments later. “Harry,” Severus said, voice filled with relief. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” Harry said, looking between all of them, hesitating, and then he burst into tears. “I’m s-sorry,” he blubbered.

Severus made a noise of despair, and heard it echoed by Remus and Sirius, all of them moving closer to their son.

“Sorry for what, kid?” Sirius asked, voice quiet, one hand stroking Harry’s bangs back.

“I shouldn’t have gone after him,” Harry admitted, sniffling, hands wiping at his face.

Severus grabbed his wand, pulling the curtains shut and casting some privacy charms. “We’re not mad,” he tried to reassure his son, sitting on the side of the bed. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”

“Neville and Ron kept saying he was acting weird,” Harry admitted, staring at the blanket that was over his legs. “And I was trying to prove that he wasn’t.”

“Because we told you that you needed to respect your teachers?” Severus asked, fearing the answer. Had they pushed him into this?

“Sort of,” Harry said, “but also because if he… they kept saying he was weird around me, and if he was then I was afraid you’d take me out of school.”

Remus, sitting opposite Severus on the bed, let out a breath. “So you wanted to prove that he was normal, so we wouldn’t want you to leave Hogwarts.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, nodding fervently, picking at the blanket. “I just--- I don’t want to leave. I like it here.”

Sirius laughed, a broken sound. “Harry, someone tried to kill you.”

”Sirius,” Remus hissed.

Sirius lifted his head, sending his partner a look. “It’s already happened, Rem. Saying it won’t change that.”

“Can’t you just make more rules?” Harry asked, his voice edged in desperation. “I won’t--I won’t go anywhere alone, or I won’t ever follow a teacher without another one present, or I can… I can live with a teacher in the castle, or something.’

Severus cut him off gently. “We need to… we need to think about it, okay? We need to talk about it, please. We need you safe.”

“It won’t happen again,” Harry insisted, face set in stubborness.

“You can’t know that, Harry,” Remus said.

“I can,” Harry said, “Because he’s dead this time, for real, isn’t he?”

“...Quirrell?” Severus asked, after a moment.

Harry looked at each of them, and then looked hesitant again. “...Voldemort?” he asked.

“What?!” Sirius shouted, and then immediately quieted when Harry winced. “No, I’m sorry, Harry. Just… what?”

“He was the face,” Severus realized, his stomach sinking. “He was… he was possessing Quirrell, Harry?” Voldemort was… was...

“I think so,” Harry said, hands twisting in the blanket again. “He said something about needing a stone to stay alive, but he didn’t get it, so he can’t stay alive. Right?”

“A stone?” Sirius asked. “What stone?”

Harry shrugged. “It was red? I looked in the mirror, and then it dropped into my pocket, but when I woke up here it wasn’t in my pocket anymore.”

“It--” Severus cut himself off. They needed to go home. They needed to go home right now.

Chapter Text

It was less than a week after taking Harry home that they got a letter from Hogwarts, and although it was signed by Minerva, they could hear Dumbledore’s voice throughout it. They’d gone through everything that had happened that year, more than once, but when they got that letter they rehashed everything again.

“It’s not enough,” Sirius told them, pacing back and forth across the entryway. They’d sent Harry out of the room for the moment, but Severus raised his wand to strengthen the Silencing Charms as Sirius got louder. “I don’t care if we have half the staff filled with people we trust, nothing makes up for Dumbledore being there and running it all.”

Remus, who had fallen into a chair and was currently reading the letter over again, sighed. “Sirius, I understand what you’re saying. But it’s not just Harry we have to think about.”

“Harry is all we should be thinking about,” Sirius insisted.

“And if I thought he’d be in any less danger elsewhere, then I’d agree with you!” Remus said, raising his voice in return. “But you can’t tell me that Dumbledore is any less powerful outside Hogwarts than he would be in it, if one of us was there too.”

“He has all the portraits.”

“Yeah, and what can they do? He can manipulate situations, but… I don’t know. There’s something about what happened last year. It’s like… he didn’t mean to kill Harry.”

“And that matters?”

“Sev?” Remus turned to him.

“What?” Severus asked, rubbing his forehead. He was still trying to figure out Dumbledore’s motivation for trying to hire any of them for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“What do you think?”

“About which part?”

“Any of it,” Remus said, waving his hand to indicate the breadth of his question. “Mostly why, I guess.”

“I think you’re right about last year,” Severus said slowly. “That whole obstacle course… it wasn’t a place to hurt Harry. I’m not even sure he knew the whole truth about Quirrell. And plus, if he wanted Harry dead, he could have killed him eleven years ago.”

“Cheery,” Sirius said derisively. “Thanks, Sev.”

“I’m just saying. I can’t put my finger on… no, I can. It was the chess board.”

“What about the chess board?”

“There were five empty spaces, Sirius. Remember? It wasn’t built for Quirrell to get past, or Harry to get past, it was for a group. I don’t even know what Quirrell did to pass it. He probably just broke the whole enchantment. It wasn’t a way to trap and kill Harry, it was like… a series of tests for him and his friends. I mean, there was the chess room, when Ron is some sort of chess-obsessed kid. There’s the Devil’s Snare, when Neville talks about Herbology day and night. There’s a room with buttons, which is possibly the most Muggle thing possible.”

“For Hermione, the Muggleborn.” Remus hesitated, staring at him. “You got that from five empty slots?”

“I got that from the whole thing,” Severus told him, tipping his head back. He was exhausted. Well, at least Dumbledore hadn’t offered him a job.

“So it was a test,” Remus said slowly. “Why?”

“We’ve hidden Harry away for years,” Sirius said, starting to pace again. “He was supposed to be with Petunia--”

“Easy access,” Severus put in.

“--but we hid him away instead, kept him away from reporters and the like. So what, Dumbledore wanted to see if he could beat a bunch of challenges?”

“I don’t know who else he could have built those challenges for,” Severus admitted. “And…” he paused, but this needed to be said. “If we take Harry out of Hogwarts, homeschool him or send him somewhere else, we won’t know why he was testing him. We won’t know what he’s planning.”

Sirius stopped, staring at him. “You want to put Harry in danger to figure out his plan?”

“I don’t want to,” Severus said, slumping down further. “But keeping him at Hogwarts, and one of you two living there? Watching Dumbledore, figuring out what in the world he thinks he’s planning? That might be safer in the long run.”

“Might be,” Sirius repeated. “What tips the scales?”

“Harry,” Remus said. “He wants to go back. He’s desperate to, you heard him. And what, we’re supposed to take him out, but leave all the rest of those kids there? Harry wasn’t the only one almost killed. Maybe Amelia and Augusta would believe us, and the Grangers might listen to us a bit, but Arthur and Molly love Dumbledore.”

Sirius almost growled, pushing both hands through his hair, and then collapsed on the couch. “Fine. Fine! Alright. We can try it. I’m not going to teach, though, it should be Remus.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d be a horrid teacher? Because you’re already a teacher? Because if I see Dumbledore again I might tear him limb from limb? I don’t know, pick one.”

Remus sighed. “Alright. That’s fine. Sev should come with me, though.”

Severus lifted his head to stare incredulously at Remus. “What? Why?”

“First of all, I can only teach like 28 day a month at most,” Remus pointed out. “Also, two of us are definitely better than one, and you’re the spy. Also, you’d be a great teacher, and we should actually have a good Defense curriculum, for once.”

“Just because I’d be good at it doesn’t mean I’d like it,” Severus pointed out, but he saw them both looking at him and threw up his hands. “It’s not even offered to me!”

“Well, he wants one of us,” Remus said. “I doubt he’d say no to two of us. You didn’t take Defense, but I bet less than half of the teachers over the years have any sort of qualifications anyway. And he’s not hiring us for our teaching skill. I don’t even know why he’s hiring us, really.”

“Power,” Severus answered grudgingly. “He wants us closer, I’m guessing. To spy on us.”

“Same as we’re doing to him, so that’s fair,” Sirius put in. “Also, Sev, I seem to remember you basically running study sessions in Hogwarts. Although in retrospect, you had a distinct advantage, since you’d taken all the bloody classes before.”

“You didn’t even want us to do this,” Severus said, pointing a finger at him dramatically, but he groaned. “Fine, we can ask. We still need Harry’s permission to do this. He’s desperate to go back, but is he desperate enough to have two of his parents teaching?”

“Let’s find out,” Sirius said, leaning out the doorway to clear the Silencing Charms. “Harry!” he bellowed up the stairs.

Less than a minute later, Harry came skidding into the room. “Yeah?”

“We’ve decided you can go back to Hogwarts,” Remus started, but held up a finger to forestall any whooping. “There are conditions.”

“What conditions?”

“I’m going to be teaching Defense,” Remus told him. “And probably Sev, too.”

Harry’s nose wrinkled for a moment before he smoothed it out with what took like a lot of effort. “Both of you?” he asked, voice faint.

“If they agree,” Remus confirmed. “And we think they will.”

Harry paused for a moment, one socked foot itching the other, and then he sighed. “Okay. What else?”

“All the other rules still apply,” Severus told him. They hadn’t discussed this part, but he was pretty sure they were on the same page, and a glance at Remus and Sirius told him he was right. “Except instead of having Professor Sprout go with you to Dumbledore’s office, one of us will go, and you need to tell us anything that you think is even slightly strange.”

“We’ll be asking Neville and Susan too,” Remus added. “It sounds like they noticed Quirrell this year before you did.”

Harry wrinkled his forehead. “I guess they did. I mean, I thought he was weird, too, but they kept telling me it was bad weird. Hermione too, sometimes.”

“We’ll ask Hermione too, then,” Sirius said. “Alright. That’s it, bolt, go to sleep now please.”

“It’s not even that late!”

“You heard Madame Pomfrey, you need more sleep for another couple days,” Remus told him firmly. “Just until the last of the concussion effects are gone.”

Harry made a face, but nodded and headed back upstairs.

Harry was fully healed, and mostly over his consternation at the idea that his parents would be teaching him and his friends, by the time Hermione came to visit. Severus and Remus had gone to visit the Grangers a few days earlier, walking them through Magical transportation options and helping them apply to get put on the Floo network as well as just introducing themselves, so they came through the Floo with their daughter on Friday afternoon.

“Where’s Harry?” Hermione asked immediately, looking around the room with curiosity.

“Hermione,” her mother reprimanded.

“Sorry,” she said, turning to them. “Hello, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Hello, Hermione,” Remus said, laughter in his voice. “Harry and Neville are in his bedroom. It’s up the stairs on the left.”

“Thank you!” she said brightly, walking quickly past them. They heard her steps morph into a run as she reached the second floor, then the joyful sounds of friends reuniting.

“Thank you for inviting us for dinner,” Walter Granger said, holding out a hand to Sirius, who was closest to him. “It’s nice to meet you. Sirius, correct?”

“Yes,” Sirius confirmed, shaking his hand. “Lovely to meet you, and of course. Would you like to come through to the sitting room?”

Severus tried his best to hide his smile as Sirius’s snooty accent came out, a side effect of meeting new people, but making eye contact with Remus, who was doing the same thing, he ended up snorting quietly.

The Grangers left after supper, but Hermione stayed as planned, staying in one of the guest rooms, and by the time Susan got there the next day, the small gaggle of children were practically inseparable.

Severus watched them run all over the house with a small smile, remembering times spent in the library with Lily and Remus, laughing much more than they studied. At least they’d done this, even if they didn’t know what was going on with Dumbledore, or Lord Voldemort, or anyone else. At least they’d helped make this happen. He caught Remus looking at him a few times, and thought he might be thinking the same thing, but they didn’t talk about it.

It was a few weeks before they got a response from Dumbledore, though it was still signed by Minerva. It was addressed primarily to Remus, and he read through it several times before handing it to Sirius, who was sitting next to him at the breakfast table.

“What is it?” Harry asked, eating eggs happily at the other end of the table.

“They’re letting both me and Sev teach Defense this year,” Remus told him. “With some extra benefits,” he added, looking at Severus.

“Benefits?”

“The shack,” Remus said, taking a bit of toast. “For transformations.”

“And your own rooms,” Sirius commented, reading it for himself. “They say that spouses automatically have access, so I can live there as well if I’d like. It… doesn’t say whose spouse they think I am.”

“Let’s not ask them,” Severus said, holding out his hand for the letter. When Sirius handed him the bacon instead, he scowled. “Anything else?”

“They graciously offer to keep my condition a secret,” Remus said dryly.

“That you’re a werewolf?” Harry asked. “It’s not a secret, is it? You said you had to sign papers.”

“I did,” Remus told him. “If anyone bothers to look it up, they know, and it’s not exactly a secret anyway. I’m not quite sure what they’re thinking.”

“They’re thinking leverage,” Sirius said, but shot a glance at Harry and didn’t continue.

Harry rolled his eyes, clearly catching the gesture, and scooped the last bite of eggs onto his toast, taking a huge bite. “I’m going to the backyard,” he said, mouth still full, and took his plate to the sink before disappearing.

“I don’t know if he doesn’t care, or is just really perceptive,” Remus commented.

“My money is on a bit of both,” Sirius told him, finally handing the letter to Severus. “They’re paying you a salary and a half combined, which makes a certain amount of sense and doesn’t actually matter anyway. Rem, we should totally just… take the leverage out from under them.”

Remus shrugged. “It’s not really leverage anyway. It’s not a secret, it’s just not… widespread.”

“But it would be, if you took a job at Hogwarts,” Severus pointed out. “As much as it really shouldn’t be, since Wolfsbane means you basically have the flu every month.”

“So we tell them that,” Sirius said. “Go to the Prophet, or somewhere else. Give an interview, tell everyone about it, give them a chance to pull their kids from Hogwarts if they want. And if they get pissed at Dumbledore for hiring you in the first place, well, more people angry at Dumbledore really isn’t a bad thing.”

Remus looked at Sirius, narrowing his eyes. “Did you just give a logical reason for me to give a full interview to the Daily Prophet about my personal life?”

“Yep.”

“I hate you.”

Sirius stole a bit of bacon off his plate and popped it into his mouth, smiling. “You love me.”

Remus groaned, but went to the Prophet offices the next day with Sirius anyway, arranging for full approval over an extensive interview.

It was done and published within the month, and they dealt with maybe ten letters and a few Howlers, which were horrible, before it seemed to blow over completely. Sirius was absolutely obnoxious in his gloating, although he also spent a lot of time extolling Remus’s virtues and insulting ‘idiotic discriminatory jackarses’ to make Remus smile. Still, they were all still a bit worried about public opinion when the time came for them to meet the Grangers in Diagon Alley.

They went a few days before the rush, but the street was still full of Hogwarts students of all ages and their parents, and it took almost an hour to get the Grangers’ money switched over to Magical money at Gringotts. When they finally did, and made their way back out to the street, Harry immediately widened his eyes. “We should go to Quality Quidditch Supplies first.”

“We should?” Sirius asked, a smile in his voice.

“Yes! I need more polish.”

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that they have a new broom in the window, and you can try out for the team this year.”

Harry just grinned, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

Remus laughed. “Alright. We should split up to get this done. I’ll go to Flourish and Blotts--”

“A big sacrifice, going to the bookstore,” Sirius said to Mary Granger in a rather loud aside.

“And you can take Harry to go look at the new brooms,” Remus told Sirius pointedly. “Which you’re dying to do anyway.”

“Perfect,” Sirius said, grinning at him, then turned to Hermione. “Would you like to go with me and Harry, or with Remus?”

“Remus,” she said decisively, smiling widely. The weekend she’d spent at their house seemed to have cured her of her shyness.

“I’d love to take a look at the broomsticks,” Walter said. “Mind if I go with you?”

“And I’ll stop Hermione from buying up the whole bookshop,” Mary commented, gathering her daughter to her side in a hug.

“I--” Severus hesitated. “I’ll go to the bookstore, for a bit at least. I have an errand to run.”

Remus raised eyebrows at him but everyone nodded, and then they were splitting into two groups with a promise to meet back at Fortescue’s in an hour.

Hermione all but led the way into Flourish and Blott’s, and then got distracted by the very first display. Her mother stayed with her, while Severus followed Remus to the front of the store.

“Hello, how can I help you?” the clerk asked, barely looking up from where he was packing books hurriedly.

“We’ve got two second-years at Hogwarts,” Remus said. “Are you selling those books in a pack this year?”

“Yes,” the clerk said, closing up the box he was working on. “Got the lists pretty far in advance this year, which is all for the better. Two second-years, you said? Let me just grab--” he looked up at them and stopped speaking. “You’re Remus Lupin, aren’t you?”

Remus gaped at him for a moment before recovering. “Yes?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude. I saw your photo in the paper. Let me tell you, you made our lives much easier.”

“I…” Remus hesitated. “As… by being a werewolf?”

“What?” the man shook his head. “No. I mean, that’s a bummer and all that, glad you have that potion and all that. But I meant the book list. Say, hold on--” he spun around. “Gladys! Come here a minute.”

An older woman, hair falling down around her face and three books in each hand, appeared from the back. “What?”

“This’s Remus Lupin,” the clerk said, jerking his head at Remus. “Y’know, the new Defense teacher at Hogwarts.”

Gladys immediately brightened, handing all of the books in her hands to the clerk, who promptly dropped one, and moving to the counter. “Oh, bless you. Did you actually look at our existing inventory? Or are you just incredibly lucky?”

“Er…” Remus hesitated. “I mean, I gave them… we gave them pretty late notice,” he said, pulling Severus forward to stand with him and shooting him a rather alarmed look. “I thought it was only helpful. Plus, you’ve got a large selection to choose from.”

Severus didn’t resist being pulled, but shot Remus an amused look as he was cooed over by both employees. Yes, Severus had contributed slightly to the planned curriculums, but Remus had been the one poring over catalogs.

“You should have seen the idiotic book lists I’ve seen over the years,” Gladys was saying. “One book for every grade level. Books I’ve never heard of. New editions that haven’t come out yet! One guy assigned his own self-published diaries. I mean, the sheer relief of seeing a reasonable title… say, does this mean you’re buying Harry Potter’s books?”

“Yes, his and a friend of his,” Severus said.

“Oh, well, I’ll get those right out for you,” she said, pulling her wand out of her bun--where Severus hadn’t even noticed it--and waving it at the back room. “Listen, I’ll be thinking good thoughts for you this year. Pass on your books to the teacher next year, yeah? Oh, and sorry about the werewolf thing.”

Ten minutes later, they’d bought Harry’s books, Mary had come up to buy Hermione’s school books and some extra reading material, and they were making their way outside.

“That was interesting,” Severus commented lightly, nudging Remus with his elbow.

“Did they just… did he call lycanthropy a bummer?” Remus asked, askance. “Actually?”

“Yes,” Severus said, starting to grin slightly, and then his smile dropped. “I can’t believe we forgot about the curse.”

Remus stopped walking for a moment. “Right,” he said, catching up to the group again. “It slipped my mind too, honestly. That’s probably why Dumbledore offered one of us the job, yes?”

“Probably. Maybe having two of us will mess with it, somehow.”

Remus shook his head, as if shaking off the whole situation. “What errands do you have to run?”

“Ah.” Severus glanced to where Hermione and her mother were walking ahead of them, and dropped his voice slightly. “I thought I’d drop into Knockturn Alley and see what the gossip is.”

Remus huffed a laugh. “You’re not exactly a Death Eater spy anymore, Sev. What’s your cover story?”

“Potions Master,” Severus told him. “Weird ingredients. Slightly illegal ingredients.”

“Alright, well, be careful and meet us at Fortescue’s?”

Severus nodded to him and handed him the bag of Harry’s new books, ducking into the crowd going the other direction. As he walked toward Knockturn Alley, he pulled his hair back into the ‘Pureblood ponytail’ and shrugged his robes down over his hands, affecting a rather superior air that would hopefully help him blend in. He ducked through the gates and turned several quick corners, walking past by the people milling about the entrance and making his way toward the more reputable--for a given meaning of reputable--stores.

He was a bit too well-known to actually start conversations, but he hovered in several different stores, perusing everything and buying a small selection of Potions ingredients and interesting artifacts. Nothing overtly illegal, and being in Knockturn Alley itself wasn’t a crime. It wouldn’t do to taint Harry’s name like that in any way. He kept his ears open, and heard several tidbits that might have been interesting to others, but not to him. Nobody seemed to know that Lord Voldemort had possessed someone last year, or if they did, they were very good actors. Nobody was talking about Harry, or about the new staff of Hogwarts.

Finally, he gathered his purchases and headed back out of Knockturn Alley, shrinking them to put in his pockets and shedding his darker aesthetic as he rejoined the crowd of families. It really would be easier if they had any idea what was happening.

Chapter Text

The moving process took about a week, but most of that was moving furniture and most of their things into the new flat in Hogsmeade, where Sirius would stay most of the time. Two days before the start of term, they all went through the Floo to Minerva’s office again, laden down with bags and a sort of low-level, constant paranoia.

She greeted them kindly, took in their rather harried appearances, and burst into action. “Sirius, you can take Mr. Potter down to your new rooms. Second floor, back by the old Arithmancy classroom, do you know it?”

“Yep,” Sirius told her, grabbing a few more bags from Severus and Remus both and then nudging Harry out the door with his foot. He stopped in the doorway and turned. “Password?”

“It’s just ‘Open’ for the moment,” she told him. “Once you two sign the contracts, you’ll be able to change it to whatever you’d like, barring anything inappropriate.”

Sirius snickered and shot her a jaunty salute, following Harry out the door.

“Let’s get you two set up, shall we?” Minerva said, pulling two pieces of parchment from her desk and pulling quills from a jar of them to place on top of each contract. “You can read over them as much as you’d like, and you can call for a lawyer, if you’d like one. Once you sign them, I’ll sign and then take them up to Albus, so you may not be able to change that password for an hour or so until he gets to them.”

Remus bent over his contract, reading carefully. Severus, trusting his judgement, looked at Minerva again. “Anything else that we can do once we sign?”

“Take points, give detentions,” Minerva told him. “It gives you access to the House point counters. Call house elves--everyone can call them, but they’ll always answer to you. It also gives you access to all the House dormitories in case of emergencies, although you won’t know the password, so you can’t share it with anyone. The portraits will recognize you as professors--” she coughed lightly. “The ones that recognize any kind of authority, that is.”

Severus nodded slowly, mulling over this list. “What about Sirius?”

“He won’t be able to do any of that,” she said matter-of-factly. “He has the right to live here as a spouse, although I believe he’ll be living elsewhere?”

“Yes,” Remus confirmed, finishing up his perusal and picking up a quill to sign. “He’ll be here often, though.”

“Perfectly understandable. I can draw up something so he’ll be able to call house elves, and you can give him Floo rights to your fire, of course. We ask that anyone with Floo rights is put on an official list, so we can approve them, but he’s already approved.”

Remus nodded, signed the contract, and then offered it to Severus.

Severus closed his eyes for a moment, and then took the quill and signed the contract, feeling the slight tingle that was associated with a magical contract. “Thank you, Minerva.”

“Of course.” she smiled. “There’s a staff meeting tomorrow morning that you’re required to attend, but other than that, you’re free to do as you please until the Starting Feast, when you’ll both be expected at the High Table.” She paused. “Oh, please let Sirius know that he’s welcome to sit at the High Table during any meal as well. Any spouse has the right, we just haven’t had one in… a while.”

“How long?” Severus asked, curious, as they stood and gathered their things again.

“Merlin, years,” Minerva said, clearly thinking. “Silvanus was married, what, twenty years ago, but they separated, so she stopped living here.”

“Huh.” Severus groaned as he picked up all the bags again. They should have shrunk them, but they’d thought it was such a quick trip…

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Remus told her as they stepped out of her office.

They made their way to their new rooms in silence, both lost in thought. Severus had been here at the end of last year, of course, but had only really walked to and from the Hospital Wing. It was going to be more than strange to live here again. “I lived here for almost 14 years straight,” he reminded Remus, as they turned the last corner. “It’s odd to be back.”

“I know,” Remus said, smiling. “Should we go to the Room tonight? Like old times.”

“Sneak out?” Severus asked, pitching his voice in disapproval. “Why, Remus Lupin.”

Remus laughed as they got to the door. “Open,” he told it, and it swung inwards, revealing a fully furnished sitting room with a fire on one side and a door on the other side. As one, they walked across to the door, and Remus opened it. “Well one, it wouldn’t be sneaking. And two, we’d be horrible at sneaking now, anyway. No map this time.”

“I did a lot of sneaking before the map,” Severus reminded him, stepping through the second doorway to the living room. “I cannot believe you can’t even remember who had it. How do you forget the last one to use a magical map?”

“It’s not much use outside Hogwarts,” Sirius reminded them. He was lying facedown on the couch, his voice muffled by the cushions. “But honestly, I don’t even remember using it for the last few months of school. James was trying to find it when they moved, although I don’t remember why. Maybe--” he cut himself off.

“What?” Remus asked, dropping all his bags by the door and going to sit on the arm of the couch by Sirius’s head.

Sirius raised his head slightly, dropping his voice. “Maybe Pete had it. Kept it, or lost it, or something.”

Remus sighed. “I was thinking about him earlier, too. Hard not to, when we’re back here.”

“Yeah, well.” Sirius pulled himself up. “Severus, you should go check on our son. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to unpack all your clothes for you.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Which room is mine?”

“That one is bigger,” Sirius said, waving vaguely to the door on the left side of the room. “So I figured…”

Severus nodded, smiling, and moved to the other door, which was ajar. He nudged it open to reveal Harry, lying splayed across the bed, eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

“Did you get tired?” Severus asked, dropping his bags and looking around. The dresser looked to be half-full, all the drawers open, and the closet had a single sweater hanging in it.

“Yeah,” Harry admitted, turning his head to look at him. “Am I sleeping here tonight?”

“It’s up to you,” Severus said after thinking for a moment. “You can stay here with me and your Papa, in these rooms, or you can go back with your Dad for a few days and he can walk you up when term starts.”

“I don’t have a room here,” Harry commented.

“You’re twelve,” Severus reminded him, closing the dresser drawers. “I think you can sleep on the couch for a few nights without dying.”

“Yeah,” Harry relented. “Okay, that sounds fun.”

Severus laughed at that. Sleeping on a couch instead of a bed didn’t sound like fun to him, and he didn’t think that had changed since he was twelve.

“Thank you for letting me stay in the dorms,” Harry said suddenly, sitting up at the end of the bed. “Instead of here with you.”

Severus smiled at him. They’d discussed it, slightly, but it would only serve to alienate the other students and make Harry’s life harder, for the most part. “You’re welcome. You’re coming to dinner every weekend, though, don’t forget.”

“I know! It’ll be good,” Harry said, bouncing slightly on the bed. “Neville wants to come too, sometimes, and Susan. I missed you guys, last year.”

“Well, this works out well, then,” Severus told him, ruffling his hair. “Go tell your Dad that you want to stay here tonight, alright? I think he wanted to get back to the flat soon.”

“Okay.”

Harry left the room, and Severus sat down on his bed. It was a nice set of rooms, although he’d miss having a kitchen. He wasn’t at all miffed by getting the smaller bedroom. Sure, Sirius was technically living in the flat, but Severus suspected he’d be sleeping here more often than not. They’d been blessed with space, the past few years in their new house, and he had a feeling that he and Remus would be tripping over each other for a while until they got used to it. It was… was it odd, that they’d chosen to live together in the same rooms? They lived together now because they were co-parents, because they were a family, but Harry wasn’t even living in the rooms with them. And they’d have more space if they had their own rooms. But he hadn’t even thought about it.

He’d lived with Remus for close to fourteen years, though, other than that period of grief after Regulus had died. Changing that felt… odd. Severus sighed, putting it out of his mind, and got to his feet to put his clothing away properly.

The staff meeting was exactly as dull as they’d expected, just teachers going around and introducing themselves. Heads of Houses being confirmed, although nothing had changed there in close to thirty years, when Pomona had taken over as Head of Hufflepuff. Dumbledore announced Head Boy and Girl, two students Severus had never heard of.

Harry spent the two days before term exploring the castle, mostly by himself, although Sirius came through the Floo for an afternoon and scampered around in dog form with him. He also took great joy in ordering dinner through the house-elves, who seemed much more likely to answer someone who was in teacher rooms and were very happy to provide him with pudding whenever he wanted it. He dragged Remus and Severus around in a tour, which actually taught them a few things that had changed about the castle in the last fifteen years. For one, there was now a poltergeist, who seemed to take great joy in welcoming them to the castle, complete with water balloons that were decidedly not filled with water.

The three of them came down for the Sorting Feast together, Harry slipping into the crowds to join his friends and Severus and Remus making their way to the High Table. As everyone settled into their seats, Minerva walked out from the side room, carrying the Sorting Hat and a stool, and Severus stiffened in his seat.

“Rem,” he said quietly, trying not to gather attention.

“Hm?” Remus asked, turning toward him.

Severus twitched his shoulder toward the Sorting Hat, and Remus’s eyes went wide, then slid to meet his gaze. “Merlin bollocks,” he hissed, causing Poppy to turn her head and look at them disapprovingly.

“I… forgot,” Severus said, feeling like a complete fool. How had they not taken the Sorting Hat into account? They’d thought about somehow breaking in to talk to it over the years, but it had never been worth it. Now, though…

“We’re idiots,” Remus told him solemnly, then turned carefully back to face front. “Later.”

“Later,” Severus agreed, clearing his throat lightly and listening as the Sorting Hat started to speak.

The Sorting went by quickly, although Severus knew it didn’t feel like that to the new first years. He recognized Luna, of course, Pandora’s daughter, and clapped with the rest of the High Table as she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Pandora had written them, after the article had come out, and asked them to look after Luna. Was it overstepping to ask Harry to invite her to their study group?

None of the other first years were familiar to him, although he recognized some last names, as usual. The Wizarding World wasn’t that large in this region. And then the Sorting was over, and the Hat taken away, and Dumbledore stood up.

“Hello, everyone! Just a few words before we tuck in, and I apologize for the delay. We have new professors joining us this year! The post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be filled by two professors, working in tandem: Remus Lupin and Severus Snape.” Applause rang out again, and both Remus and Severus stood and bowed. As they sat down, Severus noted that people were talking while clapping, and more than one finger was pointed toward Harry, who was sitting next to Susan and looking like if he concentrated hard enough, perhaps he could fall through the floor into the kitchens.

Dumbledore ended his speech quickly, motioning for the meal to begin, and soon the Great Hall was filled with the cacophony of many hungry children eating.

“I can’t tell whether that reception was a good sign or not,” he told Remus, leaning toward him slightly.

Remus sighed. “We’ll see tomorrow, I guess.”

The next few days of lessons were… interesting, to say the least. Grueling might have been a better word. They’d planned for this, but still, coming into every Defense class and having them flip straight to the chapter on werewolves, if their book had one… Severus watched Remus’s back get tenser, watched the bags under his eyes darken.

It worked, though, or it seemed to. Each class would read through the information, and then Remus would simply say, “Now, I’m a werewolf, and I will answer any question related to my condition that you want to ask. Go ahead.”

Some of the questions were rather personal. All of them were awkward. Anything that Severus could answer, as well as any questions about the Wolfsbane Potion, he took off Remus’s shoulders and explained as well as he could. Some students were nasty, but overall, by the end of the class period they had run out of questions and looked rather gobsmacked.

Severus had fully expected Harry’s class to be the worst, but it was actually the best, for the most part. People clearly knew who they were to Harry, and when Remus stepped forward and asked for questions, no one raised their hands for a long moment. Only the fact that the class was half Ravenclaws got the discussion going at all.

They sat in the empty Defense classroom before the Gryffindor and Slytherin second years, and Severus paused in the middle of cleaning the blackboard by hand, something he found quite therapeutic. “Draco Malfoy is in this class.”

“Yes?” Remus asked. “Why?”

Severus shrugged. “Lucius was one of the ones making a bit of a stink after the article. I wonder if Draco will perpetuate that opinion.”

Remus turned and aimed a look at him. “You’re just curious about this Slytherin who our son is stalking for his friendship.”

Severus grumbled, but didn’t deny it. “I’m also worried about the werewolf thing.”

“Uh-huh.”

Draco was actually the first person in the room - Severus recognized him immediately, and would have even if they hadn’t met briefly at Diagon Alley last year. He was the spitting image of his father. He came up to them alongside two other boys, although one of them stopped at a desk and sat down while the other walked all the way with Draco to the front of the room.

“Hello,” Remus said cheerfully. “Mr. Malfoy, correct?”

Draco nodded. “Yes, and this is Vincent Crabbe. It’s nice to meet you, professors. Do you both have a moment?”

Severus put down the eraser and turned to face the two boys completely. Remus nodded.

Vincent smiled, and then began moving his hands rapidly.

“My name is Vincent Crabbe,” Draco began, taking a step to the side and watching Vincent’s hands fly. “I’m deaf, and was hoping to have a moment of your time to discuss some spells and strategies I use in class.”

Draco was translating, Severus realized, and cleared his throat, looking at Vincent when he spoke. “Absolutely. How can we help?”

Vincent smiled.

“Do either of you know how to sign, know British Sign Language?” he asked, Draco still translating.

“No,” Severus said, glancing at Remus, who shook his head as well.

“I have a few spells that I use in class to facilitate translation.” Vincent dug a stack of parchment out of his pocket, taking two off the top and handing one to each of them. “I’ll be casting a spell on each of you at the start of class that will let me see…” he paused for a moment. “They’re basically transparent hands, hovering in front of your body and signing. Only I’ll be able to see them.” He reached forward and tapped one of the spells. “It’s that one. The other one is for you. You can cast it on me, and words will appear when I’m signing.” He paused, waiting for them to both nod. “If you can’t cast it for some reason, both Draco and Greg--” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the Slytherin already sitting down. “--know BSL, and most of Slytherin can get by. Do you have any questions?”

“I--” Severus paused, looking down at the piece of parchment. “No, Mr. Crabbe. Thank you.”

“Is there anything we can do to help the spells work better?” Remus asked.

Vincent paused. “If you don’t talk while ducking into your office for something, or going into the hallway, that would be good. The words stick to your body, sort of, so if you leave, they do too. For your spell, I don’t know, I don’t cast it. Draco?”

Draco stopped translating and faced them. “I don’t cast it much anymore, but it won’t last more than a half hour unless you do it perfectly, so you might have to recast.”

“Alright, thank you,” Remus said.

Vincent nodded and signed something quickly, then turned to go sit by his friend.

“He said thanks,” Draco said, staying where he was. He seemed to hesitate.

“Can we help you with something, Mr. Malfoy?”

“...the spell that you use, it just gives the words,” he said quickly. “People can think he’s rude, when he’s being sarcastic, or--” he stopped talking, turning slightly pink. “You asked if there was anything you should know.”

Remus raised his eyebrows slightly but smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. We’ll keep it in mind.”

Malfoy nodded and went to sit at the desk in front of Vincent and Greg.

“He’s protective of his friend,” Severus noted.

Remus burst into quiet laughter.

“What?”

“Once Harry gets him to be friends, they’ll just be… unstoppable. Two kids with that much loyalty and protectiveness, can you imagine?”

Severus groaned. “Merlin save us from Hufflepuff and Slytherin friendships.”

Remus and Severus were both very happy once Saturday hit, exhausted from the first week. Severus wouldn’t sit in most classes going forward, only coming in to teach when Remus wasn’t feeling well and helping cover office hours. The rest of his time was slated to be spent in the library, doing research to help complete his History Mastery. But this first week he’d gone to every class and then watched as Remus had to defend his existence. He was going to Honeydukes as soon as possible to get him… a whole pack of chocolate.

They sat down to dinner on Saturday night, Remus almost horizontal in his chair, Sirius making cooing noises at him that would have made Harry make fake vomiting sounds if he wasn’t currently talking a mile a minute about Quidditch tryouts.

“And they said they won’t post the results until tomorrow, but it was only me and Frances for Seeker, and she fell off her broom.”

“Be kind, Harry,” Severus reminded him.

“Yes, okay,” Harry said, looking chastised, but he brightened quickly. “I wouldn’t say it to her face. But Cedric, he’s a Chaser and a Prefect, he smiled at me when we were all walking off the pitch, and then he winked! That means I got it, right?”

“Maybe he was trying to reassure you,” Severus said, fighting a smile at Harry’s obvious ploy for praise. “For being not very good.”

“Sev!” Harry complained. “I was too good!”

Severus laughed. “I’m sure you were good, Harry. I’m sure you got it. And if you didn’t, it took Dora four years to make the team, right?”

“I don’t want it to take four years,” Harry whined, but changed the subject. “Papa, did it go alright talking to everyone like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Letting them ask questions, about being a werewolf.”

Remus hummed, taking a bite of salad. “I think it did. We’ll see next week, I guess. Your class didn’t ask as many as the other classes.”

Harry mumbled something.

“What?” Remus asked him.

Harry looked up guiltily, but repeated himself. “That’s because they all asked me, afterward.”

Remus put down his fork. “I didn’t know that. Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Harry sighed. “I didn’t know all the answers, so I told them to come ask you, and the Hufflepuffs were mostly… were mostly good about it.”

Severus took a breath. “Does that mean other houses have asked you, too?”

Harry shrugged. “A little bit. They know that you’re my parents, so they think I know things, I guess. Mostly they just ask me if the article is all the truth, which it is, and I tell them that and then they go away again.”

“I’m sorry,” Remus told him, reaching out a hand to put on Harry’s shoulder. “We should have thought about that more. Can we help? Maybe if we come talk to your whole house--”

“No,” Harry said, quickly, squaring his shoulders. “I think they’re mostly done, and… if you can answer questions, I can answer questions too, y’know?”

“You’re a kid, Harry,” Sirius put in. “You don’t have to.”

“Yeah, but I want to help,” Harry said. “You’re here and teaching because I want to go to school. Can’t I help you too?”

Remus looked caught between wanting to go yell at Hufflepuff house and hug his son, and in the end, he just squeezed Harry’s shoulder once more and picked up his fork again. “Let us know, alright? We can get into any dorm we want, you know.”

Harry laughed, and the talk turned to something that had happened in Transfiguration that week.

As days turned to weeks, their strategy to destigmatize lycanthropy seemed to have worked well enough, although Severus didn’t sit in on most of Remus’s classes. He spent his time in the library, usually in his own private research room. He’d forgotten how many books Hogwarts students had access to, and he’d been one of the more library-bound students in his time. He also found himself sitting under the portrait of Hermiker more than once, grinning at memories of laughing with Lily and Remus.

He sat in for Remus during the full moon twice, and passed a couple of awkward minutes at the beginning of each class explaining what their usual teacher was going through before they’d let him continue on to subject matter. Still, concern and curiosity was so much better than fear, and Severus found himself almost relaxing as they got into the swing of things.

They reached Halloween without too much drama or worry, and were having their usual weekly dinner with Harry in their rooms when there was a knock on the door.

Severus, who was closest, opened it to reveal Pomona. “Is something wrong?” he asked her quickly.

Her eyes swept the room, landed on Harry, and then she visibly relaxed. “I had to do a headcount of my students,” she explained. “Harry let me know he’d be here, but I wanted to verify.”

“Why a headcount?” Remus asked, standing. “Did something happen?”

“I…” Pomona hesitated. “Yes. No one is hurt, but you should both come with me. Harry, you need to go back to your Common Room, I’m afraid.”

“I’ll escort him,” Sirius said quickly, standing up and grabbing his wand off a side table. He glanced at Remus. “I’ll meet you both back here.”

Severus nodded, and they all followed Pomona out to the hallway, Sirius and Harry splitting to the right while the rest of them went left.

Severus heard the sounds of arguing before they turned the corner, recognizing teachers’ voices, but as soon as they reached the group, his attention was caught by the red letters on the wall.

“...enemies of the heir…” Remus mumbled beside him, reading over the words.

Severus took in a shaky breath and let it out. “That… that cannot be good.”

Chapter Text

The petrification of Mrs. Norris, and the message on the wall, caused an immediate flurry of research from both staff and students, as well as an abundance of rumors. Severus, Remus, and Sirius read through their copies of Eridanus Black’s novel, as if they didn’t already have the whole thing memorized. They sat in their rooms, each of them reading a different chapter and occasionally voicing theories.

“Alright, so we know that there’s an active heir of Slytherin,” Sirius said, for the third night in a row.

“No, we don’t,” Remus told him, also for the third night in a row. “There’s no proof that this was an heir, first of all. They could have found the information just like we did.”

“We only found the information because we were tipped off by a magical, immortal Hat of Fate,” Severus put in, still reading.

Remus waved a hand at him. “Still. It also didn’t say Slytherin, Sirius.”

“Yes, because the heir of Ravenclaw opened Salazar Slytherin’s infamous chamber,” Sirius drawled.

Remus groaned. “Okay. Fine, you’re probably right on both counts, you just can’t say it like a fact.”

“I’m saying it as a theory, then! Shite. There’s an heir of Slytherin in the castle. It’s probably a student.”

“We’re the only new teachers,” Severus noted. “If the heir of Slytherin was a teacher, they’d have been here for years. The whole problem with Hogwarts is that there aren’t any heirs. Also, they Petrified a cat.”

“Doesn’t scream ‘mature adult’, does it?”

“Not really.”

“So this is the whole point of us, then right?” Sirius asked, dropping his copy of the journal to the ground.

“The point of us?” Severus asked, following suit. This was the first night he’d said that.

“The point of, y’know, the Hat saying you had to stick around for Harry. Raise him, take care of him. We’ve ended up here, at Hogwarts, now.”

Remus hummed. “You’re saying that the whole point of this was to make us the parents of a child Harry’s age, so we could stop this one heir.”

“I’m saying that at least one heir is happening now, and here we are, apparently the only people in the damn castle that know about heirs.” There had been lots of talk about the Chamber of Secrets, lots of questions about the Founders and Slytherin in particular, but everyone seemed to have overlooked the word ‘heir’ except the three of them.

“Other than Dumbledore,” Severus put in as an afterthought.

“Merlin, we don’t have to save the heir, do we?”

Severus looked at Sirius blankly.

“From Dumbledore?” added Sirius, with a little shake of his head.

“Oh.” Severus bit his lip. “Right. I mean… I’m not quite as worried about Dumbledore as the heir.”

“Why?”

Severus thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure. He’s just… he has to figure out who the heir is before he can do anything, right? We should just focus on finding them first.”

Sirius clicked his tongue. “Remus, how did he seem when you met with him?”

“Normal,” Remus said, sighing. Dumbledore had called him up to his office more than once, under the guise of picking his Defense brain for possible spells that could be used to Petrify. Remus said it was mostly an excuse to keep his Occlumency shields up. “You know, I have a huge headache afterward, but he doesn’t actually ask anything interesting,” he added. “There’s lots of flattery, and mentions of Harry’s wellbeing and his gratitude for us coming to teach.”

“I’m so glad it’s you and not me,” Severus told him.

“I’m not,” Sirius said. “Your shields are so much better, Sev.”

Severus waved a hand. “I’m helping Remus every night. He’s fine.”

Sirius grumbled but changed the subject. “Did you try the spell again?” There was a spell in Eridanus’s journal, one they’d seen and tried all those years ago with no success.

“No,” Severus said, groaning. “I don’t know if it’s just a bad spell, or if the heir isn’t bound to Hogwarts yet.”

“They have to be here,” Remus put in. “And the spell does something, I can feel it. But maybe it’s just tracking Flobberworms or something. We need confirmation.”

“Or just to wait for a known heir to pop up, and then try it with them in the room,” Sirius said.

“You think there’s more?”

“I think that our luck means that there are all four of them, and we have to protect a bunch of kids from a kindly old psychopath,” Sirius said. “Actually, our luck means that Harry is one of them.”

Severus blinked at him. “Merlin, don’t say that. Bad enough that people are trying to hurt him for other reasons.”

Sirius chuckled without humor. “I’m not actually sure whether it would be funnier for the Chosen One and the Boy Who Lived to also be an Heir of Hogwarts, or for him to go to school with all the other Heirs and not be one.”

Remus made a very disgruntled sound. “Let’s just… no. No, Sirius. Not like we can do anything about it without knowing. If he pulls a cup out of thin air, we’ll deal with it when it happens.”

Most of the students were utterly fascinated with the identity of the heir, although they seemed to think it implied a familial relationship, or maybe just a very big ego. Draco Malfoy claimed the title to anyone who would listen, but when Remus brought up that rumor at their weekly dinner with Harry, he started laughing.

“What?” Severus asked his son.

“Sorry,” Harry managed through his giggles. “I just… I asked him already.”

“You what?” Remus asked faintly.

Harry shrugged. “I asked him. He kept bragging about it, so I cornered him after Herbology and asked him if he actually was the Heir of Slytherin.”

“...what did he say?” Severus asked after a moment. He couldn’t decide which answer would be more surprising.

“Yes, of course,” Harry said, chuckling. “So then I asked him how he managed to kill a bunch of roosters, keep their blood, sneak out from dinner, Petrify Mrs. Norris and write the whole message, and then make it back for the end of dinner, all while being seen the whole time at the Slytherin table.”

Remus made a sort of choking noise. “And?”

Harry grinned. “He made a lot of excuses, all of which were really… just, really bad. Plus, Draco’s just… more dramatic than that.”

“More dramatic than a huge sign in blood and a Petrified cat?”

“I mean, yeah.” Harry shrugged. “It wasn’t even a clear threat, was it? And no one really likes Mrs. Norris anyway, except for Filch.”

Severus laughed despite himself. “So the reason you don’t think Draco did this is because he was seen at dinner, and because he would have done it… better?”

Harry nodded.

“Harry, you weren’t even at dinner with everyone. How do you know where he was?”

“I didn’t. I guessed, because I didn’t think it was him.”

Severus gaped at him a little. “You… bluffed him?”

“Yep.”

“...what House are you in?”

Harry stuck his tongue out at them.

A few weeks later, in which rumors continued to fly but fear was beginning to die down, Severus was trying to wake up at the breakfast table on Saturday morning when his son burst into the room.

“Harry?” he managed, immediately awake.

“Hi! I’m fine, I’m good, I just need to tell you something. Papa?” he called, raising his voice. “Is Dad here?”

“No,” Remus said, walking into the room, his tie hanging loose around his neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Harry said, walking all the way into the room. “Oh, toast!” He grabbed a slice and stuck it in his mouth. “A house elf snuck into my bed last night,” he said, spraying crumbs.

”What?” Severus snapped.

Harry chewed, holding the now half-gone toast in one hand. “A house elf snuck into my bed last night.”

“The toast wasn’t the problem with us understanding,” Severus told him in exasperation.

“Though it was disgusting,” Remus added, grabbing a glass of juice.

“There was a house elf in your bed?” Severus said quickly, trying to keep the conversation from derailment.

“Yeah. Well, I mean, on top of my bed. I had the hangings pulled while I was reading before bed, and he just popped right onto the foot of it. Scared the bollocks off me.”

“Language,” Remus said lazily, snagging a piece of bacon from Severus’s plate. “What did he want?”

“I have no idea,” Harry said frankly. “He kept talking about how I was in danger, which, like, that’s not news to me. He wants me to leave Hogwarts, or something. I told him to come talk to you two, so I wanted to warn you before he popped in here, but I’m already late for Quidditch practice. Hey, can I Floo from here to the Entrance Hall? Is that allowed?”

“I…” Severus paused, processing. “He told you that you were in danger here?”

“Yep,” Harry said, sticking the rest of the toast in his mouth. “I’m not being… I mostly don’t believe him. He couldn’t tell me why, or where I should go to be safe, or anything. The Floo?”

“It should work,” Severus told him absently. “Stick just your head through first and test it. What was his name?”

“Dobby,” Harry said. “I tried calling him this morning when I was on my way, but he didn’t answer. Where’s the powder?”

“In the jar on the side table,” Remus told him. “Dobby?” he asked the open air, and they all paused for a moment.

When nothing appeared, Severus hummed. “Interesting.”

“Huh,” Harry said. “Ok, I gotta go, but I’ll be here for dinner, ok?” He ducked back through the door to the sitting room before anyone could answer him.

“A house elf who doesn’t work for Hogwarts,” Remus surmised.

“Odd,” Severus noted. “For a couple of reasons. Firstly, did we know that elves who don’t work for Hogwarts could get into the castle?”

“I didn’t. Secondly?”

Severus sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Secondly, just telling Harry he’s in danger here, with no other information? It could be a trap.”

“Pop him out of Hogwarts to somewhere dangerous,” Remus agreed. “We’ll have to talk to him.”

Dobby didn’t show up any time that they called him in the next few weeks, and rumours were continuing to die down. Severus was starting to truly despair that they could figure anything out with their current information, but he felt odd, hoping for something or someone else to be Petrified. Still, he got his sort-of-wish when he and Remus were called to an emergency staff meeting the day after the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch game. They walked in the door and took their usual seats, and Severus noted the air of fear in the air as the last few teachers filed in and the door closed.

“There has been another attack,” Dumbledore said as he sat at the head of the table, not beating around the bush.

“Oh, no,” Sybil said, voice even breathier than usual. “What happened?”

“Mr. Colin Creevey, a first year Gryffindor, was Petrified late last night,” Minerva said, taking over. “He’s in the Hospital Wing right now, as are his parents.”

“Merlin,” Remus murmured. “Was there a message this time?”

Minerva shook her head. “Not that we could see. He had his camera up, but--” she pulled a small object out of her pocket, unshrunk it, and set it in the middle of the table. “Filius, I thought you could take a look.”

Filius stood up and waved his wand, making the camera shoot into his hand. When he pried it open, Severus could smell the burnt plastic from where he sat. Filius made a face, but continued to poke at the contents of the camera with his wand for a few moments. Finally, he set it back on the table and sank back into his seat.

“It’s no spell damage I’ve ever seen,” he told Minerva. “Something that hurts the camera like this, but also the person on the other side of it? And only the inside of the camera?”

Minerva sighed. “I agree. I thought I’d check. Does anyone else have any ideas?”

Severus raised his hand slightly. “I can check. I’ve seen…” he hesitated, but everyone in this room knew a fair amount about his history. “I’ve seen more than my share of dark spells.”

Minerva looked at him for a moment and then nodded, and he grabbed the camera, casting some diagnostic spells. Remus, sitting next to him, leaned in his direction and watched him, offering a few suggestions.

When everyone had taken their turn with the camera, Dumbledore cleared his throat, steepling his fingers together. “We are planning on sending a notice to all families about this, but we’ll be encouraging them to keep their students here at Hogwarts. So far, both Mr. Creevey and Mrs. Norris will be able to be fully cured as soon as Pomona--” he nodded to Pomona, who smiled weakly-- “brings her Mandrakes to maturity. Until we have information that this is more dangerous than it seems right now, we cannot let rumors and threats change our standard of education.”

Severus nodded along with everyone else in the room, though his mind was whirring. Did that mean that Dumbledore didn’t think this would end in injury? Or was he keeping everyone here so he could find the heir?

He and Remus made their way back to their rooms silently but quickly, as Remus had a class in less than an hour. But when they entered their room, Harry was already there, pacing back and forth, with Sirius sitting on a chair talking to him quietly.

“Sirius,” Remus said, heading toward his partner. “I thought you weren’t coming over today. Harry, is something wrong?”

“I swear, I didn’t know this was a thing before,” Harry said, still pacing. “This isn’t like last year, I would have told you, but I didn’t know it was--”

“Slow down, bolt, start from the beginning again,” Sirius told him. “Harry Floo’ed me,” he told Remus, taking his hand. “When you two weren’t here.”

“We had a staff meeting, a student was Petrified,” Severus told him, still looking at Harry. “What happened, Harry?”

Harry took a very visible breath. “I heard a voice last night, while I was walking back to Hufflepuff. Like, in the paintings, or the walls, or something? It kept saying creepy things.”

“Creepy things?”

“Rip, tear, kill,” Harry quoted, running a hand through his already-wild hair. “And then Colin was Petrified, like, hours later.”

“Harry, I’m sure it’s not--” Remus started, but Severus sent him a look.

Harry looked at him too. “It usually is, though, with me.”

“You said you didn’t know it was important before,” Severus said slowly. “Has it happened before?”

Harry nodded. “Once or twice. It’s just sometimes, and I honestly thought it was… I don’t know, other students playing a joke on the Chosen One, or Peeves being annoying, or something. But it happened last night, and then I remembered that it happened the day before Mrs. Norris, too.”

“That’s too much of a coincidence,” Sirius commented quietly, and then looked contrite when Remus shot him a look.

Remus sighed and took a step toward Harry. “It might be important, Harry, you’re right. Thank you for telling us. But it might be a coincidence.”

“And either way, it’s not your fault,” Severus put in. “You had no way of knowing it was anything like that, and even if you had, you couldn’t have stopped whoever Petrified Colin.”

Harry made a face. “I know. I would have gotten you.”

Severus smiled at him wryly. “Well, I appreciate that. We still would have had to be in exactly the right place.”

Harry still looked distressed, but nodded, and finally stopped pacing.

“Harry, you have class,” Remus said quietly. “Right?”

Harry sighed. “Yeah.”

Severus put a hand on his shoulder as he passed. “Come tell us if you hear it again, please?”

“Yeah.” Harry smiled weakly at them before walking out the door.

Silence fell for a minute, and then Sirius spoke. “I really, I hate to say this…”

Remus groaned, falling into Sirius’s lap dramatically. “No, Sirius.”

“It could be an heir thing!” Sirius insisted. “I’m just saying.”

“What, the Heir of Slytherin goes around whispering his desires to rip and kill into the other heirs ears, except they can’t see him anywhere?”

“Or they have a telepathic connection,” Severus added, mocking.

Sirius looked up at him hopefully.

“No! No,” he said quickly. “That was a joke. We would know if the heirs were linked telepathically. Eridanus would have mentioned that.”

Sirius sighed. “Yeah, probably. I’m just saying.”

“If a student from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor each come forward saying they can hear voices from the walls, we’ll consider it,” Remus said, face buried in Sirius’s shoulder. “Merlin, poor Colin. They can’t… people that are Petrified aren’t conscious, are they? Like Petrificus?”

“It depends,” Severus said, dropping into a chair. “The term ‘Petrified’ is inexact. Technically, people under Petrificus Totalus are Petrified too, it’s just easily countered. We’d have to know the cause to know for sure. But for cases that need the Mandrake Potion, no, they’re not usually conscious.”

Remus sighed in relief. “Good. I can’t even imagine.” He sat up. “What is Harry hearing?”

“It’s a bit of a coincidence if it’s not related to the attacks,” Sirius noted. “Even if it’s not because Harry is an heir, it could still be the heir speaking to him.”

“He is a public figure,” Remus admitted. “A popular target.” He shuddered.

“Okay, well, it could be the person attacking students,” Severus said. “In which case, Harry should travel with other people as much as possible, and with us if he can.”

“He’ll hate that.”

“If it’s not the person attacking students, it could be a prank,” Remus said. “Peeves has been making up new rhymes every day, I swear.”

“Rip, tear, kill doesn’t exactly rhyme.”

“He’s running out of material,” Remus said dryly. “I don’t know.”

Severus groaned and laid back on the couch. “We’ll figure it out.”

After Colin Creevey’s Petrification, everyone was on their guard again. Severus assisted Remus in several Defense classes as the older years wanted to practice their dueling skills, and the library was once again full of students looking for extra defensive spells. Gryffindor House seemed to have drawn together, the younger students traveling in clumps, and Draco Malfoy had stopped bragging about his heirdom quite so loudly within their hearing, lest he get dozens of glares leveled directly at him.

Sirius brought up taking Harry out of Hogwarts, but was overruled by Severus, Remus, and Harry himself. Everything they knew so far pointed to Muggleborns being in danger, and Harry was a Pureblood, if not by blood-purist standards, exactly. Harry pointed out that if he heard a voice from the walls, he’d walk straight into a crowd of people, which seemed to pacify Sirius slightly. In the end, no parents took their child out of Hogwarts, although Severus heard from his sources--mostly Andromeda and Augusta--that there had been some close calls, averted by Dumbledore.

Other than the ever-present fear and anxiety, students traveling in groups more often, everything was eerily normal, including the Quidditch schedule. Harry, of course, had made it to every Quidditch game ever since he’d started at Hogwarts, but Severus and Remus hadn’t attended one yet. Now, though, Harry was on the Hufflepuff team, so the end of November found them both wrapped up in winter wear and meeting Sirius outside the Quidditch pitch before the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match. Dora was standing alongside him.

“Dora,” Remus greeted, hugging them. “Short hair or long hair?”

They grinned. “Long hair today. Picked that up from your son, I see.”

Remus smiled at her. “We can switch to a different question, if you’d like. It’s just catchy, I suppose.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” she said. “Sort of a family thing, now.”

“What are you doing here?” Severus asked.

“It’s Harry’s first game as a Seeker for Hufflepuff!” she said, grinning. “I’m returning the favor.”

“I know he’s so excited to follow in your footsteps,” Remus said, the group moving inside. “How much has he bothered you through letters?”

She laughed. “Just enough. I’m excited. Most of the people on the team were my teammates too, you know. I wrote the captain and told her all about Harry’s strengths, planned half their plays from afar.”

They headed to the top of the Hufflepuff stands, Sirius and Dora chatting about the new plays the Hufflepuff team was planning. Severus mostly glanced around the pitch, trying to find Harry among the yellow-and-black blurs flying in circles.

Dora noticed him watching. “Look up,” she advised. “I told him to fly up during warm-ups, make sure he knows the layout of the pitch and the stands. Sometimes people are wearing something flashy, and it distracts you later. This way he knows that when he sees a glint over there,” she waved a hand at the professor’s stands, “it’s McGonagall’s brooch, and not the Snitch.”

Severus looked up, and sure enough, there was a smaller yellow blur above them, flying in smooth arcs, a shock of black hair and darker skin telling him it was Harry.

That was about the clearest look they got at him all game. Harry spent the whole time flying up high, occasionally diving down, almost constantly getting the Ravenclaw Seeker to follow him, before going high to circle again. When he finally dived for the Snitch, the other Seeker hesitated before giving chase, and Harry caught the small, golden ball with almost no interference.

As soon as he captured the Snitch, Dora let off a scream that made all of them lean away from her, but before she could even recover enough to apologize, the whole of Hufflepuff was screaming around them, jumping up and down. Severus watched as his son basically collided with the rest of the Hufflepuff team in midair before they all landed safely on the ground.

Chapter Text

At the start of Christmas break, Severus and Remus walked with Harry down to Hogsmeade Station to see his friends off, and then the three of them walked to the flat that Sirius had been living in all term. It was a cold winter so far, and they were shivering by the time they knocked on the door, but it opened immediately, Sirius pulling them all inside as if he hadn’t seen all of them a few days before.

“Happy Christmas!” he cheered, dragging Remus in by an arm to kiss him quickly and then gathering everyone in for a giant hug. “I’ve already got eggnog.”

“What kind of eggnog?” Remus asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion at Sirius’s good cheer.

“Both kinds, of course,” Sirius told him, grinning. “Harry, the blue pot’s for you, don’t forget.”

Harry wrinkled his nose. “Yours always smells bad, I know the difference.”

They watched him disappear into the kitchen.

“Ah, the days where he thinks alcohol smells bad,” Remus said fondly, waving his wand at all their bags and sending them to the appropriate rooms, then starting on their outerwear.

“I still think alcohol smells bad,” Severus commented, letting go of his scarf as it was tugged out of his hands and onto the coat rack. He raised his voice. “Harry, leave some for me!”

“Okay!” came a faint call from the other room, and then a slight crash. “‘M fine!” Harry called.

Severus groaned.

“Did anyone we know stay at Hogwarts for Christmas?” Sirius asked as they slowly moved toward the kitchen, where a mess was probably being cleaned up hurriedly.

“Susan and Neville are with their parents,” Remus told him. “Hermione too, and Luna and Ron Weasley. There’s a Ravenclaw staying, friends with Hermione. Theodore, I think. Why?”

“Just wondering if we need to invite anyone.”

Remus smiled. “I don’t think so. You know Harry - he’d ask.”

They spent the days leading up to Christmas in a food-induced haze, sometimes wandering up to the Hogwarts grounds for snowball fights or skating on the lake. Harry had invented some sort of game involving Quidditch on the ice, and he and Sirius both accumulated more than a few bumps and bruises. Theo Nott, who was indeed staying over the break, came down with some of the other students one afternoon, ending in an all-out snow battle that made Poppy come out and drag them all in to warm up by various fires before they froze to death.

Christmas morning, Harry woke them all up as usual, dragging them down to the sitting room to sit around the tree and open gifts. Plenty had arrived from other students over the last few days, for both Harry and Remus and Sev, and a few for Sirius as well from Neville and Susan.

Harry opened up one gift and burst into giggles.

“What did you get?” Severus asked, curious. A gag gift, maybe? But it looked like a book.

“A History book,” Harry said between giggles.

“Oh,” Severus said, confused. “And why is that funny?”

“It’s from Draco,” Harry explained, calming a bit. “He knows it’s my least favorite subject, probably, because I’m always complaining about how I keep falling asleep in class accidentally. It’s because Professor Binns doesn’t teach it like you would,” he added to Severus, looking a little contrite.

“...he got you a book about your least favorite class?” Remus asked haltingly. “You mean, on purpose?”

“Yep! He got me a super boring book last year too, after I got him that gift. Y’know, he knows that I’ll get him something, so he has to get me a gift too, but it doesn’t have to be good.”

“I…” Sirius looked to be fighting laughter. “What did you get him?”

At that, Harry burst into giggles again. “A toy rooster.”

“What?!”

“You know, a little one! It crows and everything, it took me forever to figure out how to enchant it. Hermione helped loads.”

“Because he keeps bragging about being the Heir of Slytherin,” Severus realized, and fixed Harry with a look. “You know, Colin really is hurt, Harry.”

Harry sobered immediately. “I… I just wanted to…” he looked down at the floor. “‘M sorry. I just wanted to… I dunno. Draco being the heir of Slytherin is a joke, right? So this was just another joke. But…”

“It’s alright,” Remus said gently. “We understand. But be careful with jokes like that, yeah? Sometimes you can hurt people without meaning to.”

“Mhm,” Harry said, still looking down, his face flushed with embarrassment and shame.

“I’m sure Draco was adequately annoyed by it,” Severus said, trying to lighten the mood. “What else did you get?”

It was two days later, full of a lot of reading of the new books that Remus and Sev had gotten and a fair amount of Quidditch training filled with plays Harry had gotten from some of his new books, that they were sitting in the living room and drinking hot chocolate. A crack seemed to shake the whole room, and Severus managed to spill his drink everywhere as he jumped to his feet, aiming his wand at the house elf cowering in the middle of the floor.

“Dobby!” Harry said, putting his own, unspilled drink aside and walking forward, though he stopped short of the house elf. “You’re back.”

Severus lowered his wand, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Sirius and Remus do the same, though they all kept them in hand. “Dobby?” Severus asked. “The house elf who tried to talk to you a few months ago?”

“Uh huh,” Harry confirmed. “Dobby, where have you been? I told you to talk to my parents.”

“Dobby could not,” Dobby said, sounding terrified and very sure. “Dobby could not trust anyone but Harry Potter, but now Harry Potter is planning to go back again. Harry Potter cannot go back.”

“Dobby,” Sirius said, crouching down slightly. “Can you tell us why? I promise, if there’s something that will be dangerous for Harry, we want to keep him safe, too.”

“You is having to keep Harry Potter out of Hogwarts,” Dobby insisted.

“Why, Dobby?” Sirius pressed.

Dobby shook his head, choked out a few words, and then lunged for a nearby table.

“No, Dobby--” Harry jumped between the house elf and the lamp he was trying to grab. “Dad, he does this, he tries to hit himself--”

“Oh, shit,” Siriuis said, leaping forward and dragging Dobby backward slightly, where he collapsed onto the carpet, crying. “Shit. Okay. Er. Kreacher?”

There was another crack, and then another house elf was in the room. Severus winced slightly, as he did whenever he saw this particular elf. He knew that Sirius sometimes did too, even if it was for slightly different reasons. Regulus had been Kreacher’s favorite.

“Yes, Master Sirius?” Kreacher said, wiping hands carefully on his clean, embroidered pillowcase.

Sirius eyed him, but didn’t protest the title, which said a lot about his stress level in the moment. “I’m hoping you can help keep Dobby here calm.”

Kreacher turned his eyes toward Dobby, who was still sobbing on the floor. He sneered slightly, which Severus knew was out of distaste for a lack of ‘house elf professionalism’, but crouched down beside the other house elf anyway. “You are Dobby?”

Dobby sniffed. “I is Dobby, yes.”

Kreacher looked back at Sirius. “What household is Dobby from?”

Dobby started shaking his head, wildly. “No, no, Dobby cannot say, Master would--”

“Okay,” Kreacher said, turning back to him. “I do not need to know. Master Sirius, are we--” he broke off, pinching a corner of his pillowcase uniform to indicate ‘hiring him’.

“No,” Sirius said. “Not at the moment, anyway,” he added, looking at Dobby as he cried out of fear of his current master. “He says that Harry might be in danger, but won’t--can’t--tell us why.”

Kreacher turned to Dobby and started murmuring quietly, too low for Severus to hear. After a bit more sniffling, Dobby began answering, words still a bit garbled. Severus caught bits, here and there, enough to know that some kind of trust was being built, and then Kreacher stood up again.

“Alright, Dobby. You should return to your household now.”

Dobby nodded rapidly, looked over at Harry once more, and then snapped his fingers and disappeared.

“Kreacher?”

“He would not tell me who his Master is,” Kreacher told Sirius. “He seems very afraid, but I believe he is truthful.”

“Why does he think Harry’s in danger?”

Kreacher paused for a moment. “He did not tell me. If I had to guess… his Master means Harry harm. I cannot say how, only that I believe he does think returning to Hogwarts would be dangerous.”

Sirius sank into a chair. “But his Master could have lied to him, right? Said he was going to target Harry at school, so we’d take him out.”

Kreacher nodded, and Sirius sighed. “Alright. Thank you, Kreacher, you can go back to what you were doing.”

After Kreacher had gone, Harry spoke up. “I don’t want to leave Hogwarts.”

Sirius looked at his son. “It wouldn’t--if you wanted to stay here, just for the semester, we could talk about you coming back next year. It wouldn’t have to be forever.”

“You could live with Dad, just until we figure out what’s going on,” Remus added.

Harry shook his head. “Isn’t it safer in Hogwarts? If Dobby’s Master wants to… to get to me, or something. Hogwarts is off limits to most people. And if you’re worried about... about the attacks, I’m not a Muggleborn.” His voice verged on whiny, obviously a plea, but his eyes were earnest. “And my friends would still be in danger, I can’t just leave them.”

Severus didn’t voice his thoughts, that there were plenty of adults he didn’t trust inside Hogwarts, that Harry being there wouldn’t protect his friends, but he was right that Hogwarts was fairly safe in comparison to the rest of the world. At least he knew who he didn’t trust at Hogwarts, and Harry wasn’t a Muggleborn. He looked at Remus and Sirius, both of whom nodded slightly after a moment, although Sirius looked a lot more conflicted.

“Alright,” Severus said, sighing. “We’re going to talk about it more, but you can still go back next semester.”

They hadn’t been back for a week before Severus and Remus were roused in the middle of the night by a house elf calling them to the Hospital Wing. The only thing the elf seemed to know was that a Hufflepuff student had been Petrified, and they both took the Floo straight there, almost bowling over Horace on the other side, who was holding a hasty conversation with Pomona.

“They won’t be mature for another month and a half!” Horace was saying. “It’s most potent like that.”

“There’s nothing you can do?” Pomona asked, desperate. “There are two students Petrified now, and Merlin knows if we’re going to be able to dose Nick or not. We don’t even know if they’re aware.”

“Who?” Severus got out, between gasps, looking at Pomona. “The house elf said--Hufflepuff--”

Pomona grasped the situation immediately. “Justin,” she said quickly. “Finch-Fletchey.”

“Harry’s yearmate,” Remus breathed from behind Severus, and then almost collapsed into him, barely catching himself. “Thank Merlin.”

Pomona looked at him sharply. “He’s still someone’s son, Remus.”

Remus looked at her, shamefaced. “Sorry. I know, sorry. I just--” he cut himself off. Severus reached back and grabbed his hand, squeezing once in solidarity.

Pomona sighed. “No, I understand. Of course I do. You… both of you, actually, Albus and Minerva want you to consult.”

Severus nodded and moved past both her and Horace, catching sight of Minerva and Dumbledore on the other side of the room, hovering around… was that a ghost? He’d never seen a ghost in the Hospital Wing before, which, now that he thought about it, was ironic. Reaching them, he saw it was the Gryffindor House ghost.

“Nearly-Headless Nick?” Remus asked, astounded, as he walked up behind him.

“He prefers Nicholas,” Minerva told them, turning around. Her hair was half down, and Severus could see a dressing gown under her usual robes. She sighed as she faced them. “I’m… I have no idea what this is. Spells don’t affect ghosts, not like this.”

“I concur,” Dumbledore said, from where he was studying the ghost. Severus joined him, though he stayed as far away as possible. Nearly--Nicholas was stock-still, and looked almost… scared, and yet he was still fluttering slightly in the wind, like he wasn’t completely solid. Sure enough, when Severus reached out a hand, a fingertip passed through him like it would normally.

“Wizard magic isn’t strong enough for this,” Remus said, coming to stand by Severus and studying Nicholas as well. “I don’t think so, anyway. Sev?”

“Nothing I’ve ever come across,” Sev told him, knowing Remus understood the full extent of what he’d encountered.

Remus nodded, eyes lighting up like they did when he finished a book and understood something new. “It has to be non-Wizard magic, then.”

“Meaning what?” Minerva asked. “Creature magic?”

“...For a given definition of creature,” Remus allowed. “Goblins can do magic that’s extraordinary even to wizardkind. Centaurs have their own brand of magic, though it’s usually more subtle than…” he trailed off, lips still moving as he muttered silence.

“Very good,” Dumbledore said, looking at them over his glasses. “That narrows the search tremendously.”

“We’ll start doing research right away,” Severus told Minerva. “If it’s a natural ability of a creature or race, rather than a learned spell, we should be able to locate it.”

She nodded and sighed. “Alright. I suppose we’re leaving him here.” She cracked a small grin. “I wasn’t quite sure where to bring him, but it’s not as if Poppy can do anything.”

Severus passed a fingertip through the ghost again, brows furrowing. “How did you get him here?”

Minerva’s mouth twisted, and Severus recognized that she was trying not to laugh. “Wind charms.”

Remus let out a giggle and then clapped a hand over his mouth, looking ashamed. “Sorry. I’m…” he sighed. “I’m… the house elf that came and got us only said it was a Hufflepuff student. I woke up perhaps thirty seconds ago.”

Minerva nodded in realization, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, I should have specified in the message. I…” she turned to look at the bed behind her, curtains drawn around it, where Justin probably lay. “I’ve sent a letter to his parents, but as it’s the middle of the night, I’ll have to go get them.” She looked down at herself. “I should change first.”

The attacks hit their little family hard. Hard enough that Severus wasn’t quite sure how the rest of the school was reacting. He and Remus were deep in research mode, looking through books and books of creatures to see which mentioned Petrification or something similar, and the list they were getting was still too long to be of much help. Harry had been helping often, and for a bit they let him, until he came to their rooms three nights in a row.

“Harry,” Remus said slowly, having had a silent conversation with Severus for the past few minutes. “Is something wrong? You’ve been here a lot, the past few days, and of course you’re always welcome, but…”

Harry kept looking at his current book for a moment, and then sighed, sitting back. “I hate being in my room, right now.”

“Why?”

“Justin,” Harry said. “It’s too quiet, and his bed is just… sitting there, stuff still out and everything, because his parents didn’t move anything. Ernie and I just sit there staring at it, not talking. It’s horrible.”

“How is Ernie doing?” Severus asked, remembering something from one of Harry’s letters. “He and Justin were friends before Hogwarts, weren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Harry drew up his knees. “He stayed in the Hospital Wing a lot, the first couple of days, but Madame Pomfrey told him that it wasn’t healthy to just sit there all the time. I don’t know, he’s angry, I guess. People keep having to keep him and Draco apart in History and Charms, because Draco won’t shut up about being the heir.” Harry gave a noise of frustration. “I don’t get why he’s still--”

When Harry cut himself off, Severus put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“Would he tell you if you asked, do you think?” Remus asked.

Harry considered that. “I dunno. Maybe, if we were alone. I can try, I guess, but it won’t help with Ernie.” He sighed again.

“Do you want to sleep here, instead?”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t want to leave Ernie alone in the room. That would be even worse.”

Severus got his first taste of how the castle was reacting to everything during a Defense class later that week, covering for the first day of the moon. He had four classes today, one of which was the Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years, who were always an… interesting group. They all took the class more seriously, starting out with their NEWTs education, but this year had taken the House rivalries very seriously. Today was no exception, since the moment everyone sat, a Gryffindor in the back row raised her hand.

“Yes, Miss Mullens?”

“Someone said that since Nearly-Headless Nick was Petrified, and he’s a ghost, then it had to have been Dark Magic. Is that right?”

Severus took a moment to think, raising an eyebrow to stall, a strategy he’d quickly adopted. “Who said that?”

She looked a bit embarrassed. “It’s just… a rumor, I guess.”

Severus nodded slowly, letting his gaze sweep the room, take in the tension. “Raise of hands, who has heard this rumor?”

Most of the Gryffindors raised their hands, though he noticed that Percy, Ron’s older brother and a Prefect, didn’t. Severus wondered whether he just didn’t listen to gossip, or didn’t want to admit it. On the Slytherin side of the room, a few people raised their hands, but most did not, opting to shoot dirty looks at the Gryffindor side of the room instead.

Severus nodded and sighed. It looked like today’s lesson plan wasn’t going to get done. “Alright. It’s a common idea, that Dark Magic is stronger than Light Magic. Does anyone know what that idea is based on?”

Hands dropped quickly, no one wanting to get called on, until a Slytherin boy raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Flint?”

“Because you can do things with Dark magic that you can’t do with Light magic,” he said simply, dropping his hand and sitting back in his seat.

Severus tilted his head to the side, considering. “Alright. I think we’re looking at the question the wrong way, though. It’s not as if everyone has two different kinds of magic inside them, is it? The premise of ‘dark magic’,” he stopped, making sure the air quotes were clear, and several of the Slytherin students sat forward a bit in their seats. “...is that a good wizard can go bad. Yes? Therefore, we all have the same kind of magic. What’s the difference, really?”

“What you use it for,” one of the Gryffindors blurted.

Severus nodded at him, not bothering to tell him to raise his hand. If they were going to have this discussion, it should be more natural. “Exactly, Mr Wood.”

He turned to the blackboard, picking up a piece of chalk. “So if it’s what you do with your magic, then it must be that what we categorize dark magic as is stronger, yes?”

About half the class nodded, but the other half looked contemplative. Seeing where he was going with this.

“Alright, let’s make a list,” Severus said.

There was a chuckle from the Slytherin side of the room, and he turned around again. “Yes, Miss Siller?”

She grinned at him, although she was blushing slightly. “Sorry, Professor. We’ve just…” the girl sitting beside her giggled, and Elizabeth elbowed her sharply. “We noticed you like lists.”

He laughed despite himself, glancing back at the board, where he’d written two bullet points next to each other. “I do,” he admitted, grinning. “I’m afraid it’s a trait I fell into in Slytherin.”

At that every single student fell silent and focused on him, which possibly shouldn’t have been so unusual in a classroom.

“Yes?” he asked, trying to cover his unease.

“You were a Slytherin?” Elizabeth asked.

He blinked at her. “Yes. You didn’t know that?” he blurted, surprised.

A couple of heads shook, but mostly there was just more staring.

“But you were friends with Harry Potter’s par--other--with James and Lily Potter, weren’t you?” a Gryffindor asked. “And Professor Lupin, he’s a Gryffindor, and so was Sirius Black--”

“So?” a Slytherin countered, sitting forward in her seat to glare at the last speaker. “That doesn’t mean they couldn’t have known each other.”

“That was during the war, though!”

And then there was a clamoring of voices. Severus cleared his throat several times, but finally had to set off a couple of loud noises from his wand to quiet them all down. “Yes, I was a Slytherin,” he said, finally. “I was close in school with a lot of Gryffindors, as well as a couple of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.”

“What about people in your House?” a small Slytherin girl asked, voice quiet.

Severus looked at her for a moment, understanding the question perfectly. If he had been friends with all of those people in other Houses, had his own House tolerated him? “I had Slytherin friends too,” he told her, and then paused and considered the room. This was personal information, and he was their teacher--but there might never be a better audience for this life lesson. “I’m a half-blood,” he told them all, and noticed that several Slytherins nodded in understanding. “At the time, with the war going on, tensions were very high between Houses here. I imagine that you all can relate, even though it’s been almost fifteen years since I was in school,” he said, trying to make eye contact with as many of them as possible. “I didn’t quite belong anywhere, I suppose. But there were more… more important things,” he took a breath, “than what Houses we had been Sorted into by a Hat.”

A room of students looked at him slightly incredulously, and he grinned. “I know it really doesn’t feel like that. But at the time, with people dying all around us, it absolutely felt that way. Yes, I was a Slytherin. One of my closest friends, my… my partner,” he said, after a moment, unsure what to call Regulus after all this time, “was a Slytherin, too. Most of our friends were Gryffindors. And then we graduated, and we were all just… people. Trying to survive.” He took a breath, let it out. “Failing to survive, some of us.”

The class was absolutely silent, several of them looking at each other wide-eyed, and Severus caught several looks across the aisle as well. He took the opportunity to drive his original point home. “The reason people think that Dark magic is more powerful is that we attach more significance to horrific things than to pleasant things. For instance…” he hesitated, trying to think. “A Patronus. Light spell, or dark spell?”

After a moment, a Gryffindor spoke, though they did it quickly enough that Severus couldn’t see who it was. “Light spell.”

“Why?”

“It needs a happy memory,” Percy said, more confident in this answer.

“Alright. So anything that you need to put happy emotions into is a light spell?”

Nods of agreement.

“What about Cruciatus? Light or dark spell?”

“Dark,” came the answer, quickly.

“What do you need for that to work?”

Silence, and then Elizabeth raised her hand again. “You need to mean it,” she said, voice quavering slightly. “You have to want it.”

“You’re right,” he told her. “The most common way to cast the Cruciatus is to imagine the person in pain, and derive joy from it. That’s what they mean by ‘wanting’ it. So then, we could pretty easily say that Cruciatus and Expecto Patronum are similar, couldn’t we?” He paused.

“One is a torture spell and the other is defensive,” Oliver Wood said, looking baffled.

“That’s true. They do very different things,” Severus said. “And yet, both are a magical expression of the joy of the caster, made to affect something negatively. I imagine Dementors don’t find Patronuses very pleasant.” He paused. “I’m not actually trying to say that these spells are the same. They’re not. But here’s a rather simple question: which is more powerful?”

“Crucio,” Elizabeth volunteered immediately. “It’s one of the three Unforgivables. It can’t be protected against.”

“If your emotions are strong enough,” Severus countered. “If you don’t want to hurt the person, it won’t affect them, remember. Isn’t a Patronus the same way? The only difference is that we don’t want to counter a Patronus.”

“It can torture people into insanity,” a Gryffindor argued.

Severus spared a moment of grief for Alice and Frank at St. Mungo’s, taking a breath. “Yes, it can. You’re saying that since it can have permanent consequences, it’s more powerful?”

The boy nodded.

“You can kill a Dementor with Expecto Patronum,” Severus told him, nodding when he looked shocked. “It needs to be weak, and alone, but that’s how they do it. A lot of Patronuses, all at once, surrounding a Dementor. So that argument doesn’t work either.” He took a breath. “The reason Cruciatus seems so much more powerful is that it’s a horrible spell. It causes pain, excruciating pain. To cast it, you need to find joy in that pain. As human beings, we feel the wrongness of that very deeply. What’s a sunny day in comparison to a storm?”

“You’re saying that Dark magic seems more powerful because it’s worse,” Elizabeth’s friend said.

“And I’m also saying that any magic that’s ‘worse’ has been labelled as Dark,” Severus added. “Anything that affects us more strongly, that we find inexcusable, we label as Dark. It’s no wonder that people live in fear of it.”

“So then,” Percy said, slowly, “the attacks aren’t being caused by Dark magic?”

Severus hesitated, but decided that they deserved all the information. After all, what could come of lying to them? “We believe that this is non-Wizard magic.”

“Like…” Grace looked a bit pale. “Like a monster?”

“Like any magical being or race that is not human,” Severus told her firmly. “You all have covered magical creatures, in this class and in others, but there are also a plethora of other magical races. There is a Mermish clan in the lake, and a herd of Centaurs in the woods, and that’s just on Hogwarts grounds.”

“Professor Flitwick is part goblin,” Marcus put in.

“Yes, he is,” Severus said. “Ask him sometime how he incorporates his non-Wizard magical abilities into his casting. It’s what made him a dueling champion, along with a lot of acquired skill and practice.”

“So crea--non-Wizard magic is stronger,” Elizabeth said.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, in a way. More than that, it breaks our rules. We create wards so that wizards cannot Apparate inside Hogwarts, based off of wizarding Apparation. House elves move through space in a different way, and thus can Apparate throughout Hogwarts at will, simply because it’s not Apparition.”

“Then what kind of non-Wizard magic is it, in the attacks?”

Severus sighed. “That’s the part we don’t know, yet.”

Chapter Text

The conversation with the Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years went well enough, and was apparently interesting enough, that every class Severus covered for the next two days wanted to hear it again. He varied it depending on age, of course, and used different examples. He wasn’t about to explain vicious torture to an eleven-year-old, after all, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff classes tended to focus far less on House rivalries, which made sense. For perhaps the ten thousandth time, Severus wondered how Gryffindor and Slytherin had become enemies. Why those two? Had there been a specific catalyst, or had it been gradual? He recalled the Sorting Hat’s words from so long ago, that Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin would be deeply saddened by what their houses had come to.

The third day after the moon, when Remus was feeling well enough to go back to teaching, Severus sat down with him in the afternoon to go over what he’d been teaching the last few days.

“I’m sorry, we got to basically nothing on the lesson plans, except for a bit with the younger years.”

Remus just laughed dryly. “Better you than me, honestly. I didn’t want to have the whole ‘is Slytherin evil’ conversation.”

“I don’t think we had that conversation,” Severus pointed out. “It was more about Dark versus Light magic.”

“And you don’t think that’s close to the same thing, for them?” Sirius pointed out from where he was sprawled on the couch, head in Remus’s lap. “Slytherin and Dark Magic have been synonymous for years, even if no one says it explicitly. Plus, you said you told them you were a Slytherin, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing better for the ‘Slytherin isn’t evil’ cause than for one of Harry Potter’s parents to be a Slytherin.”

Severus sat back in his chair. “I suppose. Anyway, I wanted to warn you. I doubt they’ll be very on task.”

“They’ll probably ask me if I agree with everything you said,” Remus commented, looking up at Severus. “I do, by the way, although the Crucio/Patronus comparison seems a little extreme.”

“It was the first thing I could think of.”

“It’s apt, honestly,” Sirius. “A bit brilliant. Wonder if you could write a paper on it.”

“One paper is enough for me right now, thanks,” Severus told him, rolling his eyes. “I sent my first draft to Adrian the other day, and I’m dreading how much red ink it’s going to come back with.” He sighed. “I’m kind of regretting that I won’t be there for the followup, but I suppose they should ask you all the questions they want to ask, Remus. Get it from two separate sources.”

Sirius laughed. “Not sure how separate you two are,” he commented, looking at where their legs were lying parallel on the ottoman. “You could just go in with him, Sev.”

Severus considered that. “Maybe, just for the older years? We had to cut some discussion short.” He heard a small chuckle, and looked up to find them both staring at him and grinning. “What?”

“Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoy teaching,” Remus teased.

“No, Rem, don’t be silly. They just had to cut the discussion short, that’s all,” Sirius told him, smile widening. “It’s not that Sev likes influencing young minds, or anything.”

Severus frowned at them. “I’d like to influence your minds,” he grumbled sulkily.

Remus started giggling. “What does that even mean, Sev?”

Sev tried to answer seriously, but couldn’t, joining him in laughter instead, until all three of them were laughing uproariously.

Finally, Remus forced words through his laughter. “Speaking--speaking of y-young minds,” he managed, pushing Sirius off his lap and standing up. “We have to clean the sitting room.”

“Why?” Severus asked, catching his breath. “Office hours aren’t until Thursday.”

“Harry came by during his study period,” Sirius said, pushing Remus slightly in retaliation as he fell back against the now-empty couch. “He wants to study here with his friends tonight.”

“Can’t believe we didn’t think of it before, really,” Remus commented. “It’s even better than the library, especially with all the books we have here, and this way we can keep an eye on them.”

“They want to help,” Sirius added. “Hermione, and a couple of the others, they want to keep trying to narrow the search for the heir, or whatever the heir is… using, controlling, allied with, whatever.”

They’d barely gotten the sitting room cleared of old teacups and papers when there was a knock on the door, and Severus raised an eyebrow when he opened it to reveal Harry and some of his friends. “Since when do you knock?”

Harry grinned. “I dunno. It seemed like an official visit, or something.”

Severus laughed and shook his head, stepping aside. “If it’s official, you won’t get to call for tea, you know.”

“Sod that, then,” said Mr. Nott--Theodore--as he followed Harry into the room, Hermione trailing behind him. “You can order tea?”

“We can order tea,” Remus said, coming into the room, Sirius following behind him. “Harry reaps the benefits of being our child.”

“It’s a trade-off, having your parents be professors,” Harry quipped, sitting down and dropping his bag heavily to the ground. “Come on, you guys can sit.”

“Should we wait for Susan, or Neville?” Hermione asked, sitting carefully in another chair while Theo took the corner of the sofa.

“Neville will probably forgo the knocking,” Severus said, raising an eyebrow at his son, who raised one right back. “Who is coming, Harry?”

“Susan said she’d come. Neville and Ron were both maybes,” he said, pulling out a clean sheet of parchment. “I have a Herbology essay, but Hermione and Theo wanted to look at that list of books, if that’s okay?”

The list of books was something he and Remus had compiled in trying to ascertain what sort of non-Wizarding magic had been used to Petrify everyone. They were barely halfway through, and it wasn’t a comprehensive list - they could use all the help they could get. “I have the next five on the desk over there,” he told Hermione, gesturing behind her. “Careful when you’re going through them, please. We’d rather have something wrong on the list than something right that didn’t make it.”

She grabbed two books off the top, nodding at Severus and passing one of them to Theo, who took it without complaint and started pulling out his own supplies.

“Hello,” Sirius said, swaggering over and dropping onto the other side of the couch. “Hermione I’ve met, of course, and I’m stuck with this one,” he reached over and flicked Harry on the forehead, getting an eye roll in response, before turning to Theo. “But you, I haven’t met. Sirius Black, Harry’s father. Well, one of them.”

Theo nodded and stuck a hand out carefully, which Sirius shook. “Theodore Nott, Lord Black,” he said.

Sirius grinned, raising a single eyebrow. “You’re not a Slytherin, are you? They’re usually the ones calling me by my title.”

“Honestly, Sirius,” Remus said, leaning over the back of the couch to cuff his partner in the back of the head. “Why has Severus spent the last three days arguing against Slytherin stereotypes simply for you to ruin it all?”

Theo was slowly grinning at the sight before him. Severus realized this was probably the first time he’d seen his teachers in a casual environment. “I’m a Ravenclaw,” he said finally. “But we have plenty of Slytherins in the family, and I’m a Pureblood.”

“Sacred 28?”

Remus cuffed him in the back of the head again.

Sirius spun around. “Oi! I am being hospitable. Or something.”

“You’re being unprofessional,” Remus countered.

Sirius grinned at him. “Can’t be unprofessional if you’re not a professional, Rem. I don’t work here, remember?” He turned to Theo. “But still, he’s right, you don’t have to answer that. Just curious, I suppose. Not a lot of twelve year olds know who I am right off the bat.”

Theo tilted his head slightly, grinning. “You’re the only person named Black left, basically, and you’re Harry Potter’s father,” he said, jerking his head toward Harry, who shook his head as he kept writing what was hopefully that Herbology essay. “I think a lot of them probably do, actually.”

“He’s got you there,” Severus said, coming around to perch on the arm of the couch next to Sirius. “Do you all need help with anything, while you’re here?”

“Oh, yes, you hate teaching,” Sirius told him solemnly. “The only thing worse than teaching Defense would be teaching a subject you actually enjoy, or something.”

Severus refrained from telling him that he did enjoy Defense, and opted to just glare at him instead and then call a house elf and ask for tea for everyone.

In the end, he wasn’t sure if it was the allure of teachers--and Sirius--bantering casually, of tea and various sweets, or of a quiet place to do homework, but their sitting room quickly became a popular place for Harry and his friends to spend time in the evenings. After a week or so, Hermione and Theo grew confident enough to come without Harry, although usually some combination of Harry, Susan and Neville were present and familiar enough with the adults to talk with them comfortably.

In fact, most of Harry’s friends seemed comfortable enough with them that when they climbed into the Quidditch stands for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game, a flurry of hands beckoned them over.

“Hi!” Susan said excitedly as they got close enough to be heard, sitting beside Hermione, Theo and Ron. “Do you want to sit here? We got here early so we could sit right in the middle and support both of them.”

Severus was impressed - he couldn’t imagine spending more time at a Quidditch game than he already did, no matter how much he loved his son. “Mr. Longbottom is definitely playing?”

Hermione answered him. “Yes, that other Chaser is still in the Hospital Wing.”

“Spinnet,” Ronald provided from the end of the row, the sole Gryffindor present. “Er, hello, professors.”

Severus nodded to him, smiling slightly at his awkwardness. He’d tagged along with Neville to a few study sessions, but still seemed very unsure how to address him or Remus. “Mr. Weasley.”

“We’d love to sit here,” Remus told Susan, grinning at her. “Good thinking, grabbing a middle seat. We don’t want to seem biased.”

Theo barked a laugh. “Yes, I wonder who you’re rooting for?”

Sirius sat next to Susan, Severus and Remus on his other side. “Well, Rem and I were Gryffindors, you know. And we’ve known Neville since he was born.”

“And this is Nev’s first game,” Susan put in. “Harry played against Ravenclaw last time.”

“It’ll help me if we just cheer for both of them,” Hermione said wryly. “That way I won’t have to figure out what’s going on.”

Severus shot her a grin of camaraderie and then settled in to watch the game. Their little section did, in fact, cheer for everyone, getting especially loud when Neville assisted a goal. It was a fairly close game, but as soon as Harry and the Gryffindor Seeker both went into a dive, Sirius cursed rather inventively.

“Sirius!” Remus scolded, and then a moment later, “What, what is it?”

“He’s got him on the outside, and a bit behind,” Sirius said, pointing at the race. “Pretty sure Harry’s just following him, not the Snitch, so he can’t angle right.”

Sure enough, maybe twenty seconds later, the Gryffindor seeker caught the Snitch and they won the game. Severus watched, bursting with pride, as Harry almost collided with Neville in an effort to hug him first.

“C’mon, we have to get back for the party,” Ron said to the others, and then looked at Remus and Severus, eyes widening.

“Honestly, Weasley,” Theo groaned, shooting his professors a glance. “We’re not even in your house, you know.”

Ron shrugged. “I don’t think they particularly care, since we won. Half of them will be dr--I mean--that is--” his ears turned red, looking up at Severus and Remus again.

Sirius burst into laughter. “Remus, don’t you find post-Quidditch parties shameful? You would never go to one of those.”

Remus shot him a glare before turning to their students. “Alright, well, we’ll be going. Have a lovely, peaceful night, everyone,” he said, turning away and poking Severus to get him to move along.

Severus tried his best not to burst into laughter at the whispered yelling as they all walked away, and Sirius barely made it out of the Quidditch pitch before doubling over. “Their faces!” he said, holding onto Remus’s arms for support. “Merlin, you’re, like, real teachers to them. Bloody hell.” He wiped his eyes free of tears, still grinning.

The Quidditch game was a bright spot in what was otherwise a rather dim time. Severus had gotten his first draft back from Adrian, filled with suggestions and corrections, but their time was still taken up with research on the attacks. As their first list of books was exhausted by both them and Harry and his friends, they branched out to more obscure texts, Severus heading into the Restricted section almost daily.

The more time without a solution, the more unsure the student population and their parents became, and finally, finally, people started being pulled out of school. Half-bloods first, which surprised Severus until Remus pointed out that Muggle parents would be out of the loop, unless their children told them exactly what was going on. Dumbledore was still advocating for everyone to stay in school.

Harry never brought it up, in a very deliberate sort of way that told Severus he was just waiting for them to send him home. Actually, none of Harry’s friends went home. He wondered how truthful Hermione had been with her parents.

Sirius was not on the same page as Harry, and had more than one argument with both of them. “Just for a few months!” he’d told them, more than once. “He can fucking commute to school, for all I care, I can bring him in for the first class and he can come home after the last one.”

“Sirius, he’d hate that,” Remus said. “You know that.”

“Yes, well, lucky he’s not the one deciding, then,” Sirius had snapped back.

The problem was this: so far, no matter how wildly the rumors swirled, no one had been injured beyond Petrification, which Poppy seemed confident she could cure with the Mandrake Potion. More than that, the only human victims had been Muggleborns. Harry was either a half-Blood or a Pureblood, depending entirely on who you asked. This threat wasn’t that threatening, to him. Better to have him here, where they could keep an eye on everything.

Still, with all the students leaving, Hogwarts headed into March with maybe two-thirds of its usual students, made all the more obvious by how often students traveled in groups, and how well they all obeyed curfew. Severus hadn’t caught anyone out after hours in weeks, which was quite the record.

At least, not until he opened the door one day to reveal Hermione and Theo, both of them breathing hard. Hermione looked determined, Theo wary, and both of them exhausted, holding books to their chests. They’d been knocking for a good five minutes before Severus had dragged himself out of bed to answer.

“Her--Miss Granger, Mr. Nott, it is…” he trailed off, glancing around for a clock, but of course there wasn’t one. “It is very late.”

“I know, sir, it’s important,” Hermione said quickly. “Can we, please, we need to come in.”

Severus opened the door wider and stepped back automatically, something about the panic in her voice spurring him on. “Sit, give me a moment,” he said, then took another look at their faces and called a house elf. “Can you get them some tea, please, and something else if they want it?” he asked, and the house elf nodded, snapping his fingers a few times to make dishes appear before he disappeared with a crack. “Sit,” he said again to Hermione, who was still wringing her hands, whereas Theo had already crashed down into a chair.

He looked at them both for a moment and then turned on a heel, walking back into the living room and then straight into Remus’s room. He didn’t know if Sirius was here, but either way, that knocking would have alerted anyone who was awake.

Sure enough, Remus and Sirius were both asleep in the bed, and he took a moment to shake Remus’s shoulder, hard, before he stepped past them and grabbed a random robe from the closet. It wouldn’t fit right, but he just needed something over his pajamas to deal with whatever this was.

“Huh--what?” Remus asked from the bed.

“Get up,” Severus told him, shoving his arms into the sleeves and then checking his pockets for a wand and cursing when he didn’t find it. He grabbed Remus’s wand off his bedside table and Accio’d his own wand, catching it easily. “Hermione and Theo are in the sitting room, and they look rather shaken.”

Remus blinked up at him blearily, but nodded, swinging his legs out of bed.

“Sirius,” Severus said, loudly, grabbing another robe at random and shoving it at Remus. “Sirius!”

“What the bloody hell do you want?” Sirius grumbled into his pillow.

“There are students in the sitting room,” Remus told him. “What do they want, Sev?”

Severus shook his head, checking himself to make sure he was presentable and turning to leave the room. “No idea. They had books with them, though.”

Sirius sat straight up. “Which students?”

“Hermione and Theo.”

“Maybe they found something,” Sirius said, almost falling out of bed. “C’mon, go, go.”

Severus found himself basically shoved back into the sitting room. Both he and Remus were in wrinkled robes now, but Sirius had barely put a t-shirt and pajama pants on. Theo and Hermione were talking quietly, both of them holding teacups but not drinking, Theo pointing forcefully at a passage in the book open in front of them.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Remus said, his voice cracking slightly in the middle. He walked over and grabbed a cup from the tray, filling it with tea and draining half of it in one go. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“We figured it out,” Hermione said.

“We might have figured it out,” Theo told her, pointing at the passage again. “Think about how big something like that would be, Hermione, you can’t--”

“Maybe it’s invisible!” Hermione cried, her hair wild around her face. “I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s invisible,” Theo grumbled, but turned to the adults. “We found something in a book.”

“What?” Severus said, stealing Remus’s cup and draining the rest of his tea before refilling it and handing it back to him. He was getting the feeling that he needed to be awake for this conversation.

“It’s a Basilisk,” Hermione said quickly, flipping the book on the table around until they could read from it.

Severus leaned forward to read the passage, although his mind was busy pulling all the information he knew about Basilisks. “Hermione, Basilisks are--”

“Giant bloody snakes,” Sirius finished, grabbing a sandwich off the tray. “You think a giant bloody snake is going around Hogwarts?”

“Is this because it’s the heir of Slytherin?” Remus asked.

“No! Well, I mean, a little,” Hermione admitted, “But it all makes sense.”

“Basilisks only Petrify in very rare cases,” Remus said, slowly. “Indirect sight, through… what was that story, Sirius?”

“Through a lake,” Sirius said. “A Basilisk lived at the bottom of a lake, and people would look in, be Petrified, and then…” he made a hand motion that was probably supposed to be someone falling into a lake.

Remus sent him a look, probably for the dramatics, before focusing back on Hermione and Theo. “Right. But this, whatever or whoever did this has only Petrified.”

“Yeah, but…” Hermione bit her lip, looking at Theo.

“Creevey is always taking photos, right?” Theo asked. “He has it up to his eye, like, nine times out of ten. He could have seen it through the camera.”

Hermione nodded rapidly. “And Justin, he was with Nearly-Headless Nick, he was behind him. A fifth year Ravenclaw told me, she saw them when they were moving them to the Hospital Wing.”

“So he might have seen it through a ghost,” Theo said.

“What about Mrs. Norris? And Nicholas himself?” Severus asked.

“We don’t know,” Hermione admitted. “I don’t… maybe because they’re not humans, really? You said before that different magic works differently.”

“Basilisks kill animals just like people,” Remus put in, his voice a bit far away, telling Severus he was running through the options. “There’s still the problem of it being a giant snake,” he said finally, gently.

“There are secret passages,” Hermione defended.

Remus shook his head. “Not that many of them. We’ve mapped most of them out ourselves.”

Theo’s eyes lit up, but he seemed to wrestle his curiosity under control. “But… weren’t there stories of Salazar Slytherin having a giant snake?”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “There are a lot of stories about the Founders.”

Sirius elbowed him slightly, sending him a look. “Not the time.”

Severus shook his head, sighing. “Right. Yes, okay.” He looked at Hermione and Theo. “That all makes sense, I suppose, but…”

“The power a Basilisk would need to Petrify someone is immense,” Remus put in. “It would have to be… Basilisks live years, grow very slowly. There’s a reason they’re so rare, because most of them are killed before they reach maturity, when they can actually kill. Or Petrify.”

“We can look into it,” Severus told them, placing a hand on the book still in front of him. “We’ll add it to the list, and see if we can find more about them, but I think it’s a long shot, probably.” It was a possibility, but then again, they had a lot of those at the moment. “Will you be alright getting back to your dorms?”

Theo hesitated, but they both nodded after a moment. “Can we… can you write us a note?”

“Yes, of course,” Severus said, pulling parchment and a pen from a nearby drawer, then hesitated. “Would you like one of us to escort you?”

“No,” Hermione said after a moment. “We’ll be okay. There’s a passage maybe a hall away that takes you to the tower.”

“So there is,” Severus said, remembering it, finishing up the note and handing it to Theo. “Thank you for coming to tell us.”

“We’re sorry to have woken you,” Theo said politely, reaching for the book and then remembering that Severus wanted to look at it. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Severus said, and collapsed back onto the couch when they closed the door behind them. “Fuck, I’m tired.”

“Giant snakes crawling around Hogwarts,” Sirius said, grinning, sprawled next to him.

“Oh, so now it’s snakes, plural?” Remus joked, taking another sip of tea. “Merlin, it’s what, three in the morning?”

“The more the merrier,” Sirius joked, closing his eyes. “Maybe they’re in the walls, hissing up a storm.”

Severus laughed, leaning his head against the back of the couch. Then his brain tripped over those words, recalling… recalling what? He’d… “Say that again,” he told Sirius.

“What? The more, the merrier?”

“No--” Severus sat up, trying to think. “In the walls. Snakes in the walls. Hissing--”

“Buggering hell, Sev, go to sleep,” Sirius complained. “There aren’t snakes crawling through the walls. What is this, a Muggle horrible film?”

“Horror film,” Remus correctly tiredly, eyeing Severus. “What is it, Sev?”

“If there were--we’d be able to--shit.” Severus jumped to his feet, upending the whole table in front of him.

“Sev, what the hell?”

“We’d be able to hear them,” Severus almost yelled, spinning to face Sirius. “In the walls, we’d be able to--bloody, fuck--” he grabbed his wand off a nearby table and headed straight for the door.

“Severus, what?” Remus asked, panic in his voice.

He spun to stare at him. “Harry’s a Parselmouth,” he said, simply, before turning and running out of their rooms, trying desperately to remember which corridor the shortcut to Ravenclaw Tower was in. Harry had been in their rooms this morning, telling them that the voice was still taunting him. He was pretty sure it was a prank, now, because no one else in his friend group seemed to be able to hear it. Bloody buggering fuck, he was--there were fucking snakes in the walls, shit.

Finally, he remembered and ran, sprinted, catching Hermione and Theo two hallways over and grabbing both of their arms fast, pulling them into a nearby corner.

“What--Prof--”

“Shh,” he hushed Hermione, rather harshly, and then started whispering, fast. “You were right. It’s a Basilisk, somehow, I don’t--that’s not important. It’s hunting tonight.”

“What?” Theo asked, his face blanching. “We don’t--it’s--”

“Shh,” Severus said again, trying to think, listening desperately.

“Professor, is that--” Hermione whispered hysterically, grabbing onto one of his arms. “I hear--”

“Where?” he asked, straining his ears, but he had twenty years on both his students. If anyone was going to hear it--

“Me too,” Theo said, shakily, and then squeezed his eyes shut, grasping frantically at Severus’s other shoulder.

Severus took several gasping breaths, thinking, and then he pulled his wand from his robes and conjured a hand mirror. “We have to get back inside,” he whispered. “Back to my rooms. You need to look at the mirror, and only at the mirror.”

“Prof--”

“The mirror,” he said, insistently. He didn’t have time to explain. “No matter what you see in your peripheral vision, no matter what you hear, you look at the mirror, and let me pull you along. Got it?”

Both of them nodded hard, and Theo opened his eyes. Severus held the mirror in front of them, angled low. If it was… it would have to be at just the right angle, and on the ceiling, for them to see it. It hadn’t hurt anyone else once they were Petrified and helpless. This was their best bet. Closing their eyes would just-- “Move,” he hissed, and tried desperately to convince himself that the echoing hiss was just his imagination as he pulled them both forward, meeting their terrified eyes in the mirror. They rounded a corner, and then another corner, and there was only one more turn before his rooms. His eyes met Hermione’s in the mirror, widened in fear, and then flicked to something else in the mirror view, yellow--

Chapter Text

--eyes staring at--Severus flailed, discombobulated, the ground moving beneath his feet.

“Sev, Severus, hey, Sev--”

The words cut off with a grunt, and Severus realized rather belatedly that his elbow had collided with something soft. He looked around frantically, taking in the familiar walls of the Hospital Wing, and tried to slow his breathing down.

“Severus?”

“Sev?” a different voice asked, and Severus snapped his eyes to Harry, who was staring at him from the foot of the bed, his eyes big and red-rimmed. “Sev?”

“Harry,” he breathed, and then he was being hugged tightly by his son, his shoulder getting suspiciously damp. “You’re alright?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said, managing to sound petulant and relieved at the same time, pulling back and wiping his face. “I’m okay, I’m good.”

Sirius moved into Severus’s view, wrapping up Harry in a half-hug, and then another body was rushing Severus from the side, almost flattening him to the bed. “Severus, Merlin fuck.”

“Remus,” Severus managed through his constricted lungs. “I’m alright.”

Remus let out a watery laugh. “Yeah, sure you are. It’s only been two months, after all.”

Severus took in that information, looking down at himself in the traditionally horrible Hospital Wing gown, thinking back to what he last--”Hermione and Theo,” he said quickly.

“Both fine,” Sirius filled in quickly, setting a hand on Severus’s shin gently. “Justin and Colin too, and they’re working on strategies for Nicholas and Mrs. Norris.”

Severus nodded slowly, deciding not to think about how they were going to give a potion to a ghost. “What happened?”

“You rushed out of our rooms after the vaguest hint in the entire world and then got yourself Petrified,” Remus said bitterly, still hugging him, tightening his hold slightly.

Severus let out a breath, hugging him back for a moment. “After that?”

Remus pulled back enough to sit on the edge of the bed. “We should wait a bit, Severus. Poppy said that you… that you might not be processing very well, for a while.”

“I can process it later,” Severus insisted, hands itching to throw the blankets off his legs. “Is it… did you get it, kill it? The Basilisk?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Sirius said, coming to sit on the other side of the bed, pulling Harry with him, who just climbed right up onto the bed to sit at Severus’s feet. “It… it took us a while.”

Remus sighed heavily. “It took us… maybe five minutes to figure out what you had meant. As soon as we did, we ran out after you, but you were already--so we started researching.”

“Like mad,” Harry added, his voice still a little shaky, holding Sirius’s hand like he hadn’t done in several years. “Every book in the Hogwarts Library and then the one at home, and then--”

“We found lots of information,” Remus added, quietly. “We realized it was probably using the pipes in the walls. But there are pipes everywhere, and the castle is so big. We didn’t know where it was.”

“But you could prove it was a Basilisk?”

“The mirror did that,” Sirius told him. “You were all three looking into it when we found you. That, along with Harry being able to hear it in the walls…”

Harry shuddered.

“As soon as we got you here, I went straight to--” Sirius stopped himself, glancing around, looking annoyed. “Anyway, we were just… just researching, trying to find anything. And then two weeks after Easter hols, Hagrid was arrested.”

Severus sat straight up, almost knocking Remus off the bed. “What? Why?” Hagrid?

“Draco told me,” Harry put in. “Like, before that, right after hols. He came back, even though a bunch of people didn’t, and then he came and found me and told me everything would be okay, because his father was going to arrest the… the person. The one attacking people.”

“It sounds like he was bragging about his father,” Remus put in. “Lucius was the one who served the arrest warrant, later.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Harry argued. “He would have done that in front of everybody. He, like, found me after class, and told me. I think he was trying--” he bit his lip, making eye contact with Severus. “I was really worried,” he confessed.

Severus exhaled, reaching out to squeeze Harry’s other hand. “I’m okay.”

Harry gave him a small smile, then seemed to remember his argument, turning back to Remus. “He wanted me to know everything was gonna be alright.”

Remus looked at their son for a moment, but nodded eventually. Agreeing to disagree, Severus thought. “Harry told us when Draco told him,” he said, picking up the train of the story again. “Draco said that Hagrid had been arrested for murder, before. Sirius put a request in at the Ministry to see the files.”

“Hagrid was arrested for… he works at Hogwarts!” Severus said, astounded. “Merlin, not even Dum--”

Sirius cleared his throat loudly. “So I put that request in, but it was sort of… it was on the back burner,” he admitted, and looked ashamed for some reason. “We were really focused on making a new map, but automatically, to see if we could figure out where the Chamber was.”

Severus narrowed his eyes slightly in confusion about being cut off, looking around for his wand. When he didn’t find it, he glanced at Sirius. “Silencing spell?”

Sirius shook his head sharply, but put a smile into his voice. “You’re safe now, Sev.”

They were most certainly not safe now, in the middle of the Hospital Wing, with the curtains drawn so he couldn’t even see if there was anyone outside them. But Sirius’s face told him not to argue, so he didn’t, though he raised an eyebrow in question.

‘Later,’ Sirius mouthed carefully, then continued speaking. “So, er--”

“We were focused on the map, and keeping everyone safe,” Remus finished for him.

“I’ve been staying in your room,” Harry admitted, still holding Severus and Sirius’s hands. “So I didn’t… just so we could all stay together.”

Severus nodded in understanding, his heart hurting a little at the look on Harry’s face.

Remus let out a breath. “And then Ginny Weasley went missing.”

“I was with Ron, when he found out,” Harry added. “Me and Neville and Susan, in the library together. And all of us went to tell--”

The curtains behind Harry’s head moved, and all the adults spun to face it, Severus’s hand going to the non-existent pockets of his hospital gown for his wand.

“Professor?” a voice called out timidly from the other side.

Sirius let out a breath, walking over to the curtain, checking in with Severus for permission before pushing them open to reveal Hermione and her parents.

A breath Severus hadn’t known he’d been holding was loosed at the sight of her, looking a bit ill but otherwise okay, and then she was rushing into his side. “Thank you,” she said, muffled, and then backed off quickly, eyes skittering away from his in slight embarrassment. “I just… er…”

“We wanted to thank you,” Mary said, stepping forward to put a slightly shaking hand on her daughter’s arm, pulling her into a hug. “Hermione said that you saved her life. I… thank you. Thank you so much.” She sniffed once, wiping at her eyes, and her husband came up behind her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It… no problem. I mean, er--” Severus cut himself off, feeling supremely caught off guard at the look on everyone’s faces. “I’m glad you’re alright,” he said, finally, trying to smile at Hermione comfortingly. From Sirius’s slight snort beside him, he wasn’t very successful, but Hermione smiled back tearfully anyway. “Is Theo here as well?” he asked, mostly to move the conversation along.

Hermione shook her head. “Madame Pomfrey said that his parents took him home. She Floo’ed over to treat him.” She hesitated. “It… Professor, it was really a Basilisk?”

“Yes,” Remus said, even though she hadn’t been asking them. “It was, Hermione. You were right.”

She laughed a little shakily. “I kind of wish I hadn’t been. Is it…”

“It’s dead,” Harry said quickly. “N--we killed it.”

Hermione let out a breath, nodding. “Okay.”

Silence fell for a moment, and then Walter cleared his throat. “Hermione, love, they said you should stay in bed for a while.”

She looked back at her father and then nodded, leaning more heavily into her mother. “Alright.”

Severus watched them leave, watched Sirius close the curtains again, and shook his head slightly to shake his thoughts into some kind of order. “I--Ginny Weasley?”

“You should rest,” Remus said, still sitting on the side of his bed. “We can tell you later.” His voice was comforting, soft, but his eyes were flickering nervously.

“Remus,” Severus said, trying to make eye contact with him. “What happened?”

Remus looked at him for a long moment, before sighing, closing his eyes and leaning into him slightly as he started to speak. “Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber.”

“It’s real?” Severus said, startled. They’d looked into the Chamber at first, like everyone, but all that they’d uncovered were tales and legends, even in Eridanus’s journal. Certainly heirs would have access to a Founder-created space, right? They’d basically accepted that the Chamber was more of a metaphor than anything else, or if it had existed, it had been converted into something else over the centuries.

“Yes,” Remus said shortly, although his face said a lot more about it.

“There was another message left about her, on that same wall,” Sirius said, taking over. “They told her family first, and since Harry, Susan, and Neville were with Ron--”

“We went to Dad and Papa,” Harry put in, talking faster now. “Ron was really worried, they didn’t even know if Ginny was alive--”

“She’s fine, now,” Remus interjected. Sirius scoffed slightly, but didn’t argue.

“...yeah,” Harry said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “But we needed to know where she was.”

“Once we knew that the Chamber was real, or at least that Ginny had been taken somewhere, I put a rush on Hagrid’s expulsion records,” Sirius said. “We thought that where the last death had happened might give us a clue, and there was nothing else to go on, anyway.”

“You put a rush on them?” Severus asked, confused. Sirius didn’t work at the Ministry, not really.

“Yes,” Sirius told him, a slight smirk on his face.

Severus narrowed his eyes in realization. “You bribed someone, or something.”

“I put a rush on it,” Sirius said again, innocently. “Popped in and out of the Ministry in maybe an hour, and got the records of the death fifty years ago--Myrtle Warren, died in a girl’s lavatory.”

“Lavatory?” Severus blurted. “Merlin--Myrtle, as in--”

“We went straight to her,” Remus told him. “Asked her how she died.” He took a deep breath. “She pointed us toward a sink, and there was this… a symbol on it. A snake, scratched on there. Which doesn’t make any sense,” he said, voice rising slightly. “Who the hell put it there? What, wizards beat Muggles to indoor plumbing by--”

“We tried a bunch of spells on it,” Sirius said, interrupting his partner with a raised eyebrow. “But it wouldn’t open, and then Harry… Harry heard something, in the walls, and he said something in Parseltongue to the thing.”

“I told it to open,” Harry said. “Sort of. I was… mad. And then it opened up, and there was this tunnel just going down--” he cut himself off, looking a bit guilty, and Severus’s stomach dropped.

“You didn’t,” he said, looking at all of them in turn. “You did not dive into a dark tunnel that was definitely housing a giant, murderous snake.”

The silence that greeted him was answer enough. “Mother of--” he gritted his teeth. “Why?!”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’d been Petrified for a month,” Remus said, voice filled with pain.

“And there was an eleven year old girl somewhere down there,” Sirius put in. “And--just--” he sighed, running both hands over his face and through his hair. “We maybe weren’t thinking very straight, at that point,” he admitted. “In our defense, we were not the first ones to jump.”

“Ron--” Harry swallowed. “He figured that Ginny was down there. He just wanted to save her, and he figured they wouldn’t let them go, which they wouldn’t have.” He sent all his parents a look. “And then I had to go,” he insisted, “because there were probably gonna be more doors, and more Parseltongue.”

Sirius sat up straight again, looking exhausted. “We wanted to send Neville and Susan to get more people, to get Aurors, and they said yes, and we all jumped in.” He sighed. “And then four seconds after we all landed, Neville did, too.”

“He didn’t want Ron to be alone,” Harry defended. “And he knows Ginny really well, too, he’s been helping her in her classes this year.”

“That still doesn’t--” Remus huffed. “Okay. Alright, so we walked along, and made the kids look in mirrors the whole time just in case. And then we got to a big chamber--”

“The Chamber of Secrets,” Sirius said.

“After a big door that needed Parseltongue,” Harry put in, looking vindicated.

Remus shot both of them a look before continuing. “Ginny was on the ground, but before we could get her out of there, we heard the Basilisk behind us.”

Severus sucked in a breath. He couldn’t help it. Even seeing the three of them safe, knowing that Neville and Ron were alright as well, he could picture it too vividly in his mind. “How did you kill the--”

“Fawkes,” Sirius said, a bit too loudly, a bit too quickly. “The Headmaster’s phoenix. He flew in and dropped the Sorting Hat.”

Severus looked at him, trying to figure out why on earth he was lying. Next to him, Remus winced, probably in reaction to the bad acting. “We didn’t know what was going on,” he said, much quieter. “But I went to pick up the hat, just to--and a sword fell out of it.”

“And then we stabbed the Basilisk,” Harry finished quickly, glancing between them, “and then we figured out that Ginny had this cursed book thing, so we stabbed that too, and then we woke up Ginny and brought her back.”

Severus stared at them all, feeling like he was blinking a bit too rapidly. “Sorry, a cursed book thing?”

“We think it was a cursed diary,” Remus said after a moment, although it sounded like he was hesitating. “Or, er--”

The curtains twitched again, and then Poppy poked her head through, taking in the scene quickly. “Right, Severus,” she said, walking over to him. Remus jumped off the bed to clear the way. “How are we feeling?”

“Er, okay,” Severus said, rather unconvincingly. “Better than I think I should?” he ventured.

Poppy raised an eyebrow at him. “Indeed. That seems to be the consensus.” She drew her wand and cast several diagnostic charms, jotting the results down on a notepad. “Alright. You’re actually well enough for the feast tonight, if you’d like to go. I’ve kept you healthy with nutrition charms, but there’s no replacing real food.”

“Is everyone else the same way, recovered?” Sirius asked.

“Yes,” she confirmed, bustling around, pulling a parcel of clothing out of nowhere and setting it on Severus’s lap. “All but Mrs. Norris and Nicholas, whom I’m still strategizing about. Could use your help,” she told Severus. “Horace brewed it well enough, but dosage is a fickle beast, and I’ve no idea how to administer a potion to a ghost.”

Severus really didn’t either, but he nodded to her anyway, and then she and everyone else left to let him get dressed. When he emerged from behind the curtains, only a bit shaky on his feet, he was surprised to see that the Hospital Wing was almost entirely empty. “What time is it?” he asked.

Remus cast Tempus quickly and then winced. “The Closing Feast started a couple of minutes ago.”

“What?!” Harry squawked, immediately moving toward the door. “We’ve gotta go, then, we’re late!”

His parents all trailed after him, but Sirius hung back slightly. “Are you sure you’re alright to go?”

Severus nodded. “I feel fine, honestly. A bit unsteady, I suppose?”

Sirius huffed a laugh, although he didn’t look amused. “A bit unsteady, he says. Merlin, Sev, no one would know you looked dead two hours ago.”

Severus dropped his voices slightly. “Was Harry okay? With…”

“We were all a little bit of a mess,” Sirius told him honestly. “Of course we were, Sev. I mean, they said they could revive you, but…” he shuddered. “Please don’t fight any more Basilisks, yeah?”

“I’m not the one that fought one,” Severus shot back, slightly offended. He hadn’t been the one sliding down tunnels.

Sirius was stopped from answering by the general hum of voices coming from the Great Hall. Harry, apparently feeling unsubtle, pulled both doors open immediately, and the whole room quieted.

“Fuck,” Severus muttered, and thought he heard Remus echo his sentiment from a couple steps in front of them.

Severus straightened his spine, bracing himself to walk all the way to the High Table while being stared at, but as soon as he reached the first row of students, people were talking about him, standing up to greet him.

“Professor!”

“Is it true you totally saved those second-years?”

“Are you--”

“You’re back, how--”

Severus blinked rapidly and let Sirius drag him ever-so-slightly across the room and into his chair. Once he’d made it up to the dais, the sound had mostly quieted, but every time he glanced up, another student caught his eye and grinned widely, or tried to yell something at him.

Sirius leaned around Remus to whisper to him. “Try to look a little less like you’ve been trampled by Hippogriffs, yeah?”

Severus turned to him, still blinking, and registered that his mouth was hanging open slightly. “Wha--”

Remus laughed, leaning into him a little. “They missed you, Sev, obviously. We have a whole pile of letters for you back in the rooms, too.”

It was another day and a half at Hogwarts before the term was over, and Severus and Remus sat through the last staff meeting filled with exhaustion. All the other teachers seemed about the same, though, so it wasn’t noticeable. They covered NEWT and OWL requirements for the next year, and Dumbledore said a few words about the ‘unfortunate attacks this year’ that Severus didn’t listen to, mostly so he wouldn’t accidentally curse the man, and then their job as Hogwarts Professors was over.

Harry had gone down to stay with Sirius after the Leaving Feast, so when Remus and Severus Floo’ed through to the Hogsmeade apartment, he was already sitting in an armchair, nose in a book.

“Homework already?” Severus asked him, laughing a bit. Harry was usually a leave-it-to-the-last-minute kid.

Harry took them in with wide eyes and then spun and shouted up the stairs. “Dad!”

Severus wrinkled his brows, concerned. “Is something wrong? You saw us a couple of days ago, and Sirius--”

“Sit down,” Remus said, already pulling him to a nearby couch. “We need to tell you something.”

“Lots of stuff,” Harry added, looking worried. “A bunch of stuff, but Dad and Papa promised you wouldn’t be mad, because we had to.”

Severus gaped at him, but any kind of response was interrupted by Sirius basically launching himself around the corner, landing on the floor in front of Severus. “Tell him yet?”

Remus shook his head. “No.”

“Tell me what?” Severus asked, and then, ”Remus."

Remus groaned. “Okay. Just listen, yeah? We may have… misled you about what happened down in the Chamber. A little. But only because we wanted to keep it from Dumbledore!”

“I--” Severus hesitated. That was a good reason. “What really happened, then?”

“Neville pulled a sword from midair!” Harry cheered, and the look on his face told Severus that he’d been waiting impatiently to share this information. “And then he totally stabbed the Basilisk, and he killed Voldemort--”

”What?!”

“Harry,” Remus warned, “back up a little, okay?” He sighed, turning back to Severus. “When we got there, there was a man. A teenager, I suppose. He told us his name was Tom Riddle.”

“Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Sirius added. “Made a big deal about it, rearranged the letters--” he waved his hand in midair, outlining. “I am Lord Voldemort.”

Severus stared at him. “You met a teenager who said he was the Dark Lord.”

“I mean--” Sirius winced. “I won’t say that I didn’t believe him right away? He was pretty damn convincing. But we checked some things later, and it all adds up.”

“It was him,” Remus said, his tone sure. “Or, well, a shade of himself. Remember the book thing that was cursed? We spoke to Ginny after, and she confirmed that she’d been talking to it for months. Talking to ‘Tom’.”

Severus blinked a few times, connecting the dots. “It possessed her.”

“Basically.”

“An eleven-year-old girl was possessed by the teenage self of Lord Voldemort, and he used her to control a giant snake.”

Remus snorted a laugh. “We realize it’s a little…”

“No, I believe you,” Severus said, putting his face in his hands. “What was that about a sword?” he said into them, voice muffled.

“Oh, right. So, we’re pretty sure Neville Longbottom is an heir of Gryffindor,” Remus said.

Severus’s eyes immediately went to Harry, who they had decided not to loop in on that particular information. Not until they had anything really relevant, anyway.

“It was a bit hard to keep it from him when Neville pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from literal air, and then the teenage ghost version of Voldemort said ‘the heir of Gryffindor’ loudly,” Sirius said dryly. “We thought we should explain. Quickly. I did most of the background stuff yesterday when we got back here, out of range of Dumbledore and whatever’s spying for him.”

“Right.” Severus sucked in a breath and then let it out again. “Right. Okay. So, I understand why we don’t want Dumbledore to know about Neville, but surely you had to explain how you got a sword down there?”

“Fawkes really did fly the Sorting Hat in,” Remus told him. “And remember Eridanus’s journal?”

“Any Gryffindor can pull the sword from the Hat in times of need,” Sirius quoted, his voice haughty.

“We definitely, really needed it,” Harry added.

“And he believed that?”

Sirius shrugged. “Probably not? I mean, even if he thinks there’s an heir--”

“He might be able to sense it,” Remus put in.

“--then there were still four Gryffindors down there. He doesn’t know who it is, and we’ll keep an eye out, I suppose, once school starts up again. He’s definitely going to keep an eye out for us, he was super suspicious when we told him what happened.”

“I mean, you were lying to him,” Severus pointed out. “He’s not wrong.”

Sirius gave him a look. “At least we’ve got the Board on our side too, slightly. Oh!” he smacked his palms onto his legs. “I completely forgot. Dobby, that house elf who was stalking Harry all year?”

“He wasn’t stalking me,” Harry put in, petulant.

Sirius rolled his eyes at his son. “He’s Lucius Malfoy’s elf. Or a Malfoy elf in general, I suppose. Lucius stormed into Dumbledore’s office, all upset, elf in tow.”

“When was this?” Remus asked.

Sirius waved a hand at him. “You went to the Hospital Wing with the kids, I went to Dumbledore with the diary with a hole in it.” He held out his index finger and thumb in a ring, ostensibly showing the side of the stab hole. “Oh, and Dobby got squirrely about the cursed book, too, by the way.” Sirius flopped backward onto the floor. “I need to write this stuff down, or it needs to get a lot less complicated.”

Chapter Text

The next morning, Severus was woken up by Remus shaking his shoulder. The noise he managed in response wasn’t encouraging, apparently, because Remus just shook him harder until he forced himself into a sitting position. “Bloody hell, what?”

“Dumbledore,” Remus said, simply.

Severus was about to ask him what had happened, what Dumbledore had done, when a sort of… a veil, a wall, lifted from his mind, and suddenly his memories of the whole past year fell into place in a different way. “Shite,” he managed, blinking, as he tried to sort through everything. Had they really… had they really not confronted Dumbledore about any of his choices this year? Or even tried to break into his office and talk to the Sorting Hat? Or… he turned to Remus. “Wait, do you mean--”

“Do you mean that I just woke up and realized that we’ve been eerily fine with Dumbledore all year? Yes.” Remus sat down on his bed and leaned forward, forehead colliding with Severus’s shoulder. “Fuck, Sev, what? Did our shields fail, or something?”

Severus took a moment to think about it, but in the end he shook his head. “I don’t think so. We were definitely suspicious of him, weren’t we? We just didn’t… didn’t do anything about it.” He groaned. It was definitely too early for this. “What did Sirius say?”

“I wanted to wake you up first,” Remus said, sitting back again. “To see if it was both of us, or just me.”

“Okay, well, we should go see if it was him.”

“He’s the only one of us who’s yelled at Dumbledore all year, though,” Remus pointed out. “And he kept pointing out that we should talk to him, too, damn it all.”

“We still need to ask him.” Severus nudged Remus with his feet until he got up, and then swung out from under the blankets and stood, cracking his spine. “What time is it?”

“Er, maybe six?”

Severus glared at him.

Remus held up hands in supplication. “Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing, if you had woken up first!”

Severus glared harder but didn’t argue, and charitably ignored Remus’s grin at his silence as they made their way into the hallway and across to Remus and Sirius’s room. Sirius had, as usual, taken over the entire bed with his many limbs, probably as soon as Remus had gotten up.

“Siri,” Remus said, tapping him on the back. “Oi, love, up for a minute, please.”

Sirius made a series of noises that might have been words and turned over, fixing Remus with a withering look. “It better be noon, Remus Lupin.”

“It is not,” Remus said apologetically, “but it is important.”

Sirius sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. “Is our child on fire?”

Severus was a bit too alarmed by their recent discovery to fall into the normal banter. “Did we seem to trust Dumbledore too much this year?”

Sirius immediately looked more alert, shifting to sit against the headboard. “Er, yeah? The entire fucking year? Wait--” he looked between them. “Was that, like, coordinated? I thought you were just more worried about other things, or maybe you didn’t want to speak ill of him in Hogwarts because he might be able to hear you.”

“I don’t care if he hears that I don’t like him,” Severus said automatically, but he was too busy thinking about the implications. “Do you feel any differently about Dumbledore this morning?”

Sirius thought for a moment. “Nope,” he said finally. “Still an arse of the highest order.”

“So it wasn’t the castle,” Severus said. “Because you were there over half the time this year.”

“Hold on,” Sirius said, blinking. “You mean that you two woke up this morning full-on hating him again?”

“Pretty much,” Remus told him, lying back on the bed, looking even more exhausted than he had last night. “Fuck. Okay, so it’s not residence in the castle, unless it’s official.”

Severus waved a hand. “What’s the difference between official and unofficial residence? If it’s exposure to Hogwarts, then Sirius would be less changed, not unchanged.”

“Why this morning?” Sirius asked. “You stopped teaching classes a couple days ago, you came home yesterday morning. What, did sleep reset your brains or something?”

Severus looked at him. “No,” he said slowly. “Yesterday was our last official day. On our contracts. Which means that they ended at midnight.” He turned to Remus. “Were you awake at midnight?”

Remus shook his head. “Oh, fuck.” He squeezed his eyes shut and then sank back into the mattress again. “It was the damned contracts, wasn’t it?”

“Loyalty spells woven in,” Sirius said slowly. “Interesting.”

Severus shot him a look. “Not very interesting at the moment.”

“Still pretty interesting,” Sirius argued. “You didn’t like him, and you didn’t trust him. You were just… apathetic, I suppose. He wasn’t your priority.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, I should have noticed.”

“There was a lot going on,” Severus commented drily. “And you’re right, it’s interesting. I suppose they’re just potent enough to shift priorities, like you said. To assume the best of him, maybe? Not enough to change someone’s tune, or else people might notice. Not that people distrust him, generally.” He took a step back to lean against the wall, all his analysis from this year taking on a new light now. He froze in place. “Hold on. Voldemort is an heir of Slytherin.”

They both looked at him. “He said he was,” Remus said slowly. “I suppose I didn’t… I didn’t think about it, too much.” He put his thumbs to his temples, rubbing in circles. “Why in Merlin’s---that is clearly important information!”

“I’m guessing the contract spell also causes you to think heirs and that sort of stuff aren’t a priority?” Sirius said, amusement in his voice. “I was mostly waiting until we’d all slept a couple of hours to talk through it all. I’m guessing that Dumbledore knows.”

“That the Dark Lord was--is--whatever…” Severus trailed off, trying to rein his thoughts in. “That he’s an heir? Probably. He was a professor when he was in school, after all.”

Remus looked over at him, eyes widening. “He fucking was, wasn’t he? He knew all about Moaning Myrtle from the start.”

Severus took in that observation. “...probably,” he said, finally.

“Alright, so Dumbledore knows Voldemort is an heir,” Sirius said, trying to get them back on track. “I suppose he tried to stop him from being the heir?”

“Or maybe that was the start of it,” Remus argued. “He sees one heir go bad, and thinks, ‘it’s better if there aren’t any’.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, if he knows about heirs,” Severus said, mind whirling. “The best way to weaken the Dark Lord would be to replace him, wouldn’t it? If he’s an heir, you just get a full set of heirs, and they inherit his power.”

“But they inherit Dumbledore’s power, too,” Sirius pointed out, and then paused. “Maybe… he thought it wouldn’t matter, either way.”

“What?”

“Well, the Dark Lord was only really dangerous for what, twenty years?” Sirius asked. “Less, depending on who you ask. Full sets of heirs only occur every half century or so. Even if Dumbledore knew that Voldemort was an heir, and knew that he could weaken him that way, the odds of it happening…”

“Or maybe he doesn’t know any of this,” Remus said wearily. “And he’s just keeping heirs away somehow so he can have more of Hogwarts’ power.”

“Either way,” Severus said, speaking slowly, “we have the beginning of a set now. Neville.”

Remus was already shaking his head. “Severus, we can’t bring him into this, what, make him fight Voldemort? If there’s still even a Voldemort? We don’t even know if his, his bloody spirit thing even made it out of there, after Quirrell.”

“He wouldn’t have to fight him, even if he survived, even if he… he could be fought. Possessed someone else, or something,” Severus said, voice growing louder. “Neville would just have to bind with Hogwarts, and then we could keep him in a fucking bunker--” his voice cracked on the word, but he forced himself to continue. “--if we wanted. Keep him safe.”

“But Dumbledore would be against it as well!” Remus said, standing up. “What, you want to put a twelve-year-old in the position of having both Voldemort and Dumbledore wanting him gone? Really?”

“It’s his choice,” Severus said, his voice biting. “We have to at least tell him.”

“We told him,” Sirius put in, sounding tired. “Not all of it, but that it was something big. We told him to wait for our letter, that we’d explain everything to him and Augusta. This week.”

“We have to tell him,” Severus told Remus, quieter now.

“You know he’ll want to do it,” Remus said, voice thready. “What, tell him that he has a grand destiny, that all he has to do is one lousy ceremony and he’ll fix Hogwarts and maybe extra-kill Voldemort? He’ll jump at the fucking chance.”

Severus paused for a moment, taking in Remus’s words. “Grand destiny,” he said, finally. “Does that mean that Neville is actually the one in the prophecy?”

The other two froze, both staring at him, and then Remus sat down hard on the bed.

“I--” Sirius managed, before falling silent again.

“Fuck.”

They wrote to Augusta and Neville later that day, and heard back almost immediately. Severus didn’t blame them at all, and made sure to have two more copies of Eridanus’s journal ready by the time they arrived the next day for tea.

Augusta took her copy without comment and immediately flipped to the first page, then several more random pages throughout the little book, before she spoke in a sharp voice. “This is a journal?”

“Yes,” Severus confirmed. “The journal of Eridanus Black, an heir of Ravenclaw from…” he paused, glancing at Sirius. “Three centuries ago?”

“Something like that,” he said. “He wasn’t in the direct inheritance line, so there’s not a lot we know about him. Birth and death dates, and that journal.”

“That’s basically all we know about heirs of Hogwarts,” Severus told Augusta. He glanced at Neville, who was holding his copy tightly and staring at them with wide eyes, looking slightly paler than usual. “Based on what Sirius and Remus witnessed at the end of last year, we think Neville is an heir.”

“Because the sword appeared in my hand,” Neville said, the words not quite a question.

“Yes. It’s on page fifty-three,” Remus put in. “Or at least, Eridanus’s own experience with Ravenclaw’s diadem.”

“The lost diadem?” Augusta asked, stopping in the middle of flipping to page fifty-three.

“We think that might be a false rumor,” Severus admitted. “I mean, it seems to be lost now, but this--” he tapped his own copy of the journal, sitting on his lap as a reference. “--this seems pretty damn accurate.”

“How do we know he isn’t making this all up?” Augusta asked.

They sat in silence for a moment before Remus spoke. “We didn’t hear about heirs from this book. We heard about them from… from the Sorting Hat. Years ago, when we were in school.”

Augusta raised an eyebrow. “The Sorting Hat told you? Why?”

“It’s a long story,” Severus said, really not wanting to get into it. “We’ve found vague references in other texts, things that could be metaphorical, but the journal was the first real piece of information we found.” He cleared his throat. “Heirs are real, I promise.”

“And I’m one of them?”

Remus turned to Neville. “We think so. There’s… there’s a spell, that we can try, to make sure. It says it only works on active heirs, and we think you are one, now. It won’t hurt him,” Remus added to Augusta. “We’ve tried it on each other, on the whole castle, picked it apart. It never does anything, but we haven’t tried it since Neville pulled that sword out of nothing. Page two-hundred-and-three,” he added.

Both Augusta and Neville flipped to the right page, Augusta mouthing the words to herself and bending over the rather messy handwriting, Neville just looking back up at them. “Is it… is it okay?”

“The spell is perfectly safe--” Severus started, but Neville shook his head.

“No--no, being an heir. You--” he coughed briefly, reaching for his cup of tea. “You-Know-Who is an heir, isn’t he? Or whoever the guy was, in the Chamber. Was it--was it really him?” He looked at Severus, pleading.

Severus considered the question. “We do think that Tom Riddle, as he introduced himself, grew up to be L--You-Know-Who.” At Augusta’s sharp look, he defended his logic. “He’s the right age, was top of his class in Slytherin, and the anagram of his name is just… too coincidental.”

“I even double-checked his middle name in past Hogwarts records,” Sirius added.

“And I do think that Tom Riddle, You-Know-Who, was an heir of Slytherin.” He paused, glancing at Remus, but continued. “Or is an heir of Slytherin.”

Neville gulped visibly, face growing even paler. “You think that Harry didn’t… that he didn’t die all the way, last year. With Pro--Quirrell.”

“I think it’s a possibility,” Severus said softly. “If he survived before finding--”

“Hold on,” Augusta said, cutting him off. “We’re not getting into this until we… you haven’t confirmed that Neville is--” she held up the journal she was holding. Her hand was shaking, just slightly.

“That’s true,” Remus said, after a moment. “That’s why we want to try that spell, with permission from both of you, of course.”

“Yeah,” Neville said, quickly, glancing back down at the page the spell was written on.

“No,” Augusta said, just as fast.

“Gran--”

“Not yet,” she told him, voice gentle but with an undercurrent of sternness. “I’ve barely looked at this, at any of this, and you’re not feeling well. He’s not feeling well,” she said again, looking up at the three of them and then standing. “I--thank you, for the journal. We’ll both read through it, and I will get back to you.”

“I feel fine,” Neville insisted, then coughed again, face twisting. He sighed. “I feel better, I promise. It’s this stupid cold, half of Gryffindor had it, and most of Ravenclaw before them.”

“Yes, you sound very healthy,” Augusta said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“It would be better to wait until you feel better,” Remus said.

Neville looked at all the adults in the room and bit his lip, grumbling something. “Fine,” he said finally, petulance filling his tone.

Severus resisted the urge to laugh at the obvious halting of preteen angst. Now wasn’t the time. “Thank you for coming,” he told them both. “Really.”

Augusta nodded at him, face relaxing just slightly, and led Neville to the fireplace and through the Floo.

Two weeks went by without hearing anything from the Longbottoms, and they’d talked through everything that had happened so many times that Severus’s brain was starting to hurt, so they’d started to talk about other problems instead. Namely, what they were going to do next year. Having Remus and Severus live at Hogwarts, Sirius basically live at Hogwarts, had obviously helped keep Harry safe. Severus liked to think that he would have gone to another teacher for help when they’d found out about Ginny, but…

There wasn’t a reason Remus and Severus couldn’t go teach at Hogwarts again. Sure, Severus had been injured, but he hadn’t quit, or been fired. Neither of them had. Still, curses were curses, and thus Severus was suitably surprised when an owl arrived at breakfast one morning with letters for both him and Remus, postmarked from Minerva.

Remus grabbed both of them and handed Severus his without looking as he tore the seal and started reading. Severus, as always fine to trust Remus’s reaction and slightly preoccupied with his eggs, watched his face. “Job offer?”

“Yes,” Remus said, but his face twisted slightly. “But…” he stopped, glancing up at Severus. “Just me.”

Severus blinked at him, letting the words sink in.

It made sense. After all, he’d basically been covering one or two days a month and getting paid half of Remus’s salary for it. They’d done perfectly well without him while he was Petrified, other professors covering for Remus during the two moons he’d missed. They could do the same this year, and Remus would do fantastically.

Severus supposed it would make the most sense for him to live at the flat in Hogsmeade with Sirius, then. It was big enough for the both of them, definitely. And he could--he’d visit, of course. Sirius had come for dinner almost every night, although of course he was Remus’s partner, so Severus should probably visit less than that.

He’d have plenty of time for research.

“Sev, read yours,” Remus told him.

Severus blinked again and opened his letter, reading the first sentence automatically and then stopping, blinking, reading it again. “What?” he asked.

Remus got up and leaned over his shoulder, reading that first sentence aloud. “I’m happy to offer you the position of Professor of History of Magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the academic year of 1993-1994.”

“Bloody hell, really?” Sirius asked, coming around the table himself and grabbing the letter from Severus’s hands. He read the first sentence. “Bloody hell.” He looked at Remus. “They offered you the Defense slot alone, then? They’ll cover for you during full moons?”

“It…” Remus picked up his letter again. “Yes, but Minerva mentions something about having guest speakers, and she’s set a meeting with me if I’d like the job.”

“But…” Severus read the rest of the letter, but there wasn’t an explanation. “Did they… fire Binns, or something?”

“Could they fire Binns?” Sirius asked, going back to his seat and draining the rest of his tea. “I mean, are they even paying him?”

“I’m not even qualified yet,” Severus said quietly, still staring at the letter.

“Your Mastery defense is in a week,” Remus pointed out. “You’ll be qualified by the end of the month.”

“You’d also be hard-pressed to be a worse teacher than Binns,” Sirius commented. “Are you gonna take it?”

“I--” Severus thought about the past year. About how much he’d really enjoyed teaching, when it got down to it. About how he’d found himself wondering if he could open up more Defense office hours, to talk with students more. About the reaction they’d had when he’d shown up to the Leaving Feast. About how he and Remus would probably stay in the same rooms this year. “Yeah,” he admitted, grinning slightly. “Yes, I am.”

“Wait,” Sirius said, his mouth full. “Does this mean that the curse is broken?”

“I mean, it’s a different way of filling the position,” Remus said, shrugging and sliding back into his own seat. “It could be a loophole.”

Severus defended his Mastery thesis, and then got notified that he’d ‘passed’, or whatever the equivalent was. He was a History Master and a Potions Master. Sirius immediately asked him which one he was doing next.

He and Remus both accepted their positions, and Remus went in for the meeting with Minerva and came back looking rather shaken.

“What?” Sirius asked, immediately. “Guest speakers?”

“Binns is gone,” Remus told him, sitting in a chair and taking the glass of water that Severus handed him. “Sorry, I’m fine. Dumbledore was there, so I spent the whole time Occluding.” He sighed, shaking his head slightly. Severus recognized an oncoming headache when he saw one and summoned the right potion, which Remus took gratefully. “They looked for Binns a week or two after the end of term, because no one had seen him lately - he usually floats through the teacher’s lounge once or twice a day. Looked everywhere, no Binns. They think he--” Remus gestured with one hand, eyes closed. “Moved on, or whatever.”

“Why now?” Sirius asked.

Remus pointed at him. “Exactly why I was Occluding. A ghost who’s stuck around for years after his death, barely changing his routine, suddenly moving on? You know what Eridanus wrote about ghosts.”

“You think this is because of Neville.”

“You do too,” Remus said, sighing and sipping at his water. “Or maybe Dumbledore offed him to offer you the job.”

“How do you off a ghost?”

“How do you Petrify a ghost?” Remus retorted. “I don’t know. Merlin. Dumbledore kept staring at me. Sev, we need to do Occlumency practice again.”

Before they knew it, the summer was halfway over, and they found themselves deep into planning Harry’s 13th birthday party. It was a joint effort, of course, since Harry and Neville had been throwing co-birthday parties as long as they’d been aware of their shared birthday, but they’d never had quite so many friends before, and the list was formidable. Susan, Ron, and Hermione of course, but also Theo, Luna, and Ginny Weasley, as well as an additional smattering of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

Harry and Neville had finalized their guest list a week before, but an hour before the party found Harry in Severus’s lab, looking nervous as he carefully ground up newt spleens.

“Is something wrong?” Severus asked finally.

“No,” Harry said, and then after a moment, “Yes. Should I have invited Draco?”

Severus stopped what he was doing and turned slightly, giving his son his full attention. “Did you want to invite him?”

“Yes. And Neville said it’d be okay, but…” Harry hesitated, chewing at his lip slightly. “He’s still mean, in the hallways. He’s still a bully, and he spent a bunch of time last year calling people--calling Muggleborns bad names.”

Severus nodded slowly. He’d been witness to that, if not directly - the amount of detentions assigned due to derogatory language had skyrocketed this year for the entirety of Slytherin house, and he’d heard plenty of things about Draco specifically.

“I didn’t want to make Hermione or Justin uncomfortable,” Harry said finally, sounding sad.

“That sounds like a good decision,” Severus told him.

“But I want to be his friend!” Harry insisted, looking angry now and grinding the spleens a bit too hard. “He never says any of that when he’s not around people.”

Severus took a breath, sitting down across from him and pulling the mortar and pestle from his hands. “I don’t know why Draco is different in public than when you talk to him alone,” he said, though he could guess. “But it’s not your responsibility to overlook his behavior. If the things that he says, that he maybe believes, mean that he’s not invited places, he brought that on himself.”

Harry sighed. “He sent me a gift.”

Severus hummed. “What was it.”

Harry giggled. “A seventh-year Astronomy textbook.”

Severus laughed despite himself. “Do you have ideas about what to get him for his birthday?”

There was one more surprise before the party started. Neville was supposed to get there in advance, but Augusta wasn’t supposed to pull them all aside into the library as soon as they arrived, and she definitely wasn’t supposed to put up a slew of protective and privacy charms.

“Do the spell,” she said, once they were all inside and the spells had been cast. “To see if he’s an heir.”

Remus exhaled. “Are you sure, Neville?”

Neville sent him a look that clearly said he’d been ready for two months, and sniffed once. “I’m sure.”

“Are you still sick?”

“No,” Neville said petulantly, and then at a look from his grandmother, relented. “It’s just a stuffy nose. I feel fine.”

Remus sighed. “Alright. Sirius, you’re the best at it.”

Sirius nodded an agreement and raised his wand. “Won’t hurt a bit, Nev, I promise. If it works, you should get a sort of glowy cloud thing.” We think, he didn’t voice, but Severus could see it in his face. There was only so much research you could do about a spell without actually trying it out.

Sirius cast it silently, and there was barely a delay before a sort of glow started emanating from Neville, primarily from his left hand.

He looked at it in awe for a moment, then looked to his grandmother. “That’s the hand the sword appeared in.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “Alright. Neville has asked--”

Neville scoffed.

“He has asked,” she repeated, shooting him a look, “that you help him bind to Hogwarts at the beginning of this year. We’ve read the book, and we understand the--the risks.” She sighed. “And it’s his choice.”

Chapter Text

Severus was at the desk in his room, sorting through Wolfsbane orders, when Sirius knocked on the empty doorway. “Got a second?”

Severus made a note of where he’d stopped and sat back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He’d started putting out an improved version of the potion maybe six months ago, before being Petrified, and the lycanthrope community had just accepted its safety and benefits. He was going to have to outsource to Damocles again. “Yes,” he managed. “What?”

“Letter from Narcissa Malfoy,” Sirius told him, walking into the room and dropping a roll of parchment on top of the order forms. “To Lord Black, which is excessively formal even for her. I was expecting a letter from Lucius, I wrote to him about purchasing some house elves, but she replied instead.”

“Dobby?”

“Not that they know, yet,” Sirius said, a grin curving up the side of his mouth. “If the contract goes through, I’ll slip in something about being able to choose some specifically, and I’ll name several of them.” The smile dropped. “I don’t want him being hurt, but if he happens to mention to one of them that he tried to warn Harry about something--if he gives away the fact that he knows about some… some plot--”

Severus nodded in agreement. Harry had come to them weeks ago, seeing if they could free Dobby. This was the easiest way, under the circumstances. Severus unrolled the parchment and began to read. “You’re worried about the meeting she’s requesting?”

“Not… really? I don’t think she’s going to poison us, or anything. I’m just not sure what her goal is with this meeting. And there’s--” he pointed to a paragraph near the bottom of the letter.

“She wants to bring Draco with her,” Severus summarized as he skimmed it. “To see Harry?”

“Ostensibly.”

Severus read the letter through again. “Okay,” he said finally. “I can’t think of a reason against it. It looks like she’s using the family connection.” He tapped ‘Lord Black’ at the top of the letter. “Perhaps to get a better deal?”

Sirius sighed. “That’s what I thought too. Alright. I’ll ask Harry if he’s alright with Draco coming over.”

“He will be,” Severus said. “He wanted to invite him to his birthday, but wasn’t sure if he should mix those two friend groups.”

“Probably a good idea. I mean, I haven’t really met him, but--”

Severus sighed. “He has some…” he shook his head, deciding to be frank. “Remember Reg, in first or second year?”

“Merlin.” Sirius shook his head. “Yeah. Little snot-nosed blood supremacist brat, huh?”

“Something like that. Smart, though. Protective of his friends.”

“So… exactly like Reggie.”

Severus snorted.

Sirius sighed. “Alright. I’ll ask Harry, and then write her back. Want to be in on the conversation?”

Severus shook his head. “She might get more defensive if I’m there - we spoke at Death Eater gatherings, don’t forget.”

“Right.” Sirius exhaled heavily, taking the letter back and leaving the room, knocking absently against the doorframe as he walked out.

Harry was just as happy to have Draco over as they’d predicted, although mostly he seemed excited to figure out how Draco would act outside of Hogwarts. Severus confessed that he was a bit curious himself.

It was maybe five minutes after Narcissa had gone into the sitting room with Sirius and Remus for tea that Harry found Severus in his potions lab, Draco trailing after him rather morosely.

“Harry? Is something wrong?” he asked, scanning them both. Had they argued?

“No, professor--” Draco tried, but Harry cut him off.

“Draco wants to know about what happened at the end of last year,” Harry explained.

“No, I don’t!”

Harry raised both eyebrows at him. “Then why were you asking me about it? Honestly, like, right after you got here?”

Draco did some rather impressive spluttering, while Severus tried not to laugh and sank back into a chair, thinking. Draco might be curious on his own, but Sirius had written to Lucius, and Narcissa had replied and brought Draco along… it was likely that this was about the cursed book, and that Lucius wanted to know what had happened. He’d sent his son, but apparently Draco hadn’t been subtle enough.

Severus considered his options. He could refuse to tell Draco anything, at which point Lucius would just look for information elsewhere. He could lie to him, but then if Lucius figured out the truth, he’d know that Severus didn’t trust him. Well, he probably knew that already, but…

The problem with Lucius Malfoy was that Severus knew him. Rather well. They’d been friends in the past-future-whatever, almost colleagues in this timeline. Lucius Malfoy had managed to make alliances with almost every powerful family in Wizarding Britain, and yet he’d married for love, or at least friendship and mutual understanding--he and Narcissa had dated for years while at Hogwarts. The problem with Lucius Malfoy is that he trusted him more than Dumbledore, at this point, just because he was better equipped to predict him. Lucius wanted Dumbledore out of Hogwarts--that was something they agreed upon. Could it hurt to foster an alliance of sorts? Tell Draco the truth, let him tell his father, let Lucius confirm it elsewhere, somehow. Maybe next time they asked for help, they’d get it. He’d probably find things out on his own even if Severus refused.

Well, he wouldn’t find out everything. Severus needed to pick and choose his facts.

“What did you want to know about it?” he asked Draco, keeping his voice casual and turning back to his counter to sort through ingredients. “Harry, hop up and chop these for me, please.”

Harry sat on a different stool and dragged the piece of pufferfish toward himself, grabbing a knife carefully from a nearby block. The look he shot Severus said he knew exactly what Severus was doing--how many times had he gotten Harry to share things over potions work?

“I… I was just curious,” Draco said, sounding a bit nervous. “Nervous about… about the attacks. Er… can I help?”

Severus smiled at him encouragingly. “If you like. Grab a seat and crush those beetles for me, please.”

Draco did as he was told, visibly fidgeting, and he opened his mouth once or twice as if wondering if he should push further.

Severus took pity on him. “I assure you, the danger has passed,” he started, keeping up the charade. “There was a cursed object, but it’s been disposed of.”

“A cursed object?” Draco asked, seeming much more comfortable as he added more whole beetles to the mortar and pestle.

“Good job,” Severus praised his technique, and then continued on. “Yes. A first year student got a hold of it, and was… influenced, and took control of the Basilisk. Now that the book has been destroyed, and the basilisk defeated, everything should go back to normal.”

Draco looked a bit pale. “...a book?”

Severus very carefully didn’t look at him. “Mhm. A journal of some kind, I believe. There’s a lesson in there, to be wary of even ordinary items.”

Harry snorted. “You’re such a professor.”

Severus shot his son a look, ignoring the blush that wanted to creep up his face as he thought about what Sirius and Remus would say. He really was such a professor, sometimes. It was hard to believe.

“Who g-- who cursed it?” Draco asked.

Severus pushed down the urge to shake his head at the boy. Honestly, had Lucius sent him here with no preparation? “They don’t know,” he lied. “They’re looking, I’m sure.” He turned to look at Draco. “In the meantime, though, the security at Hogwarts is very tight. Still…” he turned back to his ingredients, carefully measuring as he spoke. “I know that your father is on the Board. If he has any information, will you let him know that we’d love to know as well?” He turned back to Draco. “I want to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Draco nodded quickly. “I’ll tell him,” he said, still looking a bit pale.

“Thank you, Draco,” Severus said, smiling when Draco’s eyes widened a bit at a professor calling him by his first name. “You can call me Severus, when not in class,” he added, with a glance at Harry, who was grinning. “All of Harry’s friends can do so.”

“O-okay,” Draco managed, glancing at Harry too. “Thank you, P--Severus.”

Severus nodded to him, and then pointed at the beetles. “Are those done?”

It was another hour or so before Draco and Narcissa left, and the boys spent the whole time in the potions lab assisting Severus and making idle conversation. As soon as the Malfoys left, Severus ushered Harry into the sitting room, where Sirius and Remus were still nibbling on cookies.

Sirius let out a breath. “Well, Narcissa and I ironed out a contract, and she’s taking it to Lucius. If he signs it, we’ll have Dobby out of there soon,” he told Harry. “Other than that, just niceties and gossip.” He sighed dramatically, leaning his chair back onto two legs.

Remus threw a cookie at him. “You love gossip,” he snarked.

Severus let down his mask and dropped into a chair. “Draco was spying for his father.”

“What?!” Remus asked. Sirius almost knocked his chair over. “What did he try to see? Did he go into--”

Harry started giggling, and when everyone stopped to look at him, just giggled harder. “He was--he was so--so bad at it!” he managed through his laughter. “He barely said hello before he just happened to ask about the chamber. It was--” he hiccupped, laughing again. “It was so bad.”

Severus smirked. “He’s right. I’d really be more concerned if he was even slightly good at lying.”

Sirius snorted. “So, not like Reggie, then?”

Severus shook his head. “I imagine he didn’t have the same motivation,” he said, sobering slightly. He knew that both Regulus and Sirius had learned how to lie and obfuscate from an early age, mostly to keep the peace with their parents.

“That’s a good thing,” Sirius commented, likely thinking the same thing.

“Sev told him about the book,” Harry put in. “He told him that a first-year got a hold of it, and then they could control the basilisk, but that everything was okay now.”

“You told him,” Remus said, the words not really a question.

“Lucius would find out eventually,” Severus pointed out. “This way, we’re on the allies list.”

There was a pause as both of them thought this over. “You indirectly told Lucius Malfoy that someone gave a first-year a cursed book,” Remus said, slowly.

“Yes.”

“Sev. Lucius gave a first-year a cursed book. Or snuck it in, or something. Didn’t Sirius--” he turned to his partner. “Didn’t you say Dobby kept staring at it, and Lucius looked surprised to see it? Didn’t you say you thought it was his?”

Sirius nodded. “And it’d make sense. The Malfoys are some of the last Death Eaters not in Azkaban. If anyone would have a journal possessed by Voldemort…”

“You’re sure?” Harry asked, voice a bit small. “Did they want to hurt Ginny?”

“...I don’t know,” Sirius said after a moment.

“Lord Voldemort often gave assignments or objects out without explaining them,” Severus said, thinking of Regulus for a moment and breathing through it. “Or they could just have wanted to get rid of it, and cause a bit of chaos in the process. Or,” and he said this last part gently, “he wanted to plant it on purpose. But honestly, if Sirius is right and he was shocked to see it there, and he’s sending his son over to get information…”

“You think he didn’t expect this,” Remus finished. “And now he’s trying to figure out what happened.”

Severus sighed. “Yes. So if I can give him the bare facts, and then the next time we need a favor from them…”

When Siriuis got a letter from Lucius the next morning, Severus read through it several times for clues to how Lucius had taken Draco’s new information, but it seemed to only acknowledge the house-elf contract. Sirius replied in kind, listing about ten elves specifically, Dobby among them. They’d asked Kreacher for the other names, and he’d managed to identify elves with relatives or friends already among the Black family elves. Hopefully, Lucius wouldn’t look into any of the choices too far. Severus imagined he wouldn’t - the Lucius Malfoy he knew wouldn’t be caught dead knowing who the relatives of his house elves were.

A couple more missives back and forth, and the contract was signed by both parties. Sirius summoned Kreacher to deliver the last copy back to Malfoy Manor, so that he could return with their new ‘property’. Kreacher left and returned barely ten minutes later, surrounded by elves who looked significantly less healthy and well-clothed than the Black family elves normally did.

Severus remembered Sirius having several long conversations with them and with Kreacher once he’d taken on the title of Lord Black. He’d offered every one of his elves freedom, if they wanted it, and ‘lent out’ or sold the contract of anyone who wanted to work for a different family, but Severus knew that Sirius still wasn’t quite sure whether he was doing the right thing. Kreacher seemed more certain, though, taking his new role as Head of Household quite seriously, and having monthly meetings with Sirius to describe any changes he had made.

He looked almost angry, standing in the middle of the crowd of new elves, but walked straight up to Sirius with his spine straight. “Lord Black, let me introduce Nonkey and her daughter Lamkey, Makdy and Lakdy whose grandmother works in the Grimmauld House property, Joppy, Nisney, and their son Jopney - Nisney’s sister is working at Longbottom Manor but is under contract with you -- Meemy, Tissey, and Dobby.”

“It’s lovely to meet all of you,” Sirius said, staying in his seat but leaning forward and nodding to each elf as they were named. “Kreacher, you have their contracts?”

“Yes, here,” Kreacher said, handing a stack of parchment to Sirius.

Sirius turned back to the crowd of elves. “I’m about to destroy these,” he said, hurrying on, since they knew from experience that some elves grew distressed at just the concept. “I will immediately offer you a contract of your own with the Black household, if you’d like one. If you’d like to be without a traditional elf contract but still work for us, that can be arranged.” He nodded to several of the elves. “Those of you with relatives already among our staff, places with them have been prepared in case you’d like them.” With that, he raised his wand and set the contracts in his hand on fire, a quick bit of magic to prove they’d been destroyed, and then picked up a new stack from the desk beside him.

“Here are your new contracts, unsigned. You may have a few days to look over them and discuss what you’d like to do, of course.” He handed them out, stopping to read the names at the top to ensure he was giving them to the correct elf. Dobby’s was at the bottom, and he paused before giving it to him. “Kreacher, could you take the others for new uniforms, if they’d like them, and make sure they have whatever they need, including new rooms? I’ll call for you all separately in a few days to discuss their decisions.”

Kreacher nodded and herded the new elves, many of whom were looking at Sirius like he had just sprouted green scales and fairy wings, toward one side of the room before having them all join hands and Apparate out with him.

Dobby remained, standing in the middle of the floor, eyes rather bugged out of his head.

“Harry!” Sirius called over his shoulder, then turned back to Dobby. “Everything I just told them goes for you as well, Dobby. I understand that you can’t share any information you learned while working for the Malfoys, and we won’t ask you for it. We just wanted to--”

“Dobby!” Harry cried, careening into the room. “Hi! I’m so glad it worked, we were worried he’d catch on.”

Dobby made a sort of squeaking noise, looking back at Sirius. “You is buying all those elves for Dobby?”

Sirius waved one hand dismissively, but he was grinning. “Several of them, we wanted their contracts anyway, since we have some of their relatives on our staff. But yes, Harry asked us to purchase your contract.”

“I is…” Dobby hesitated, then held the new contract in his hand back out toward Sirius. “I is wanting to be free, please.” It sounded a bit like a question.

“Of course,” Sirius said, nodding. “Would you still like to work for us? You would earn a wage, of course, and be entitled to room and board. Otherwise, you’re free to take your leave.”

Dobby swallowed several times, glancing around at all of them, Harry twice, before looking back at Sirius. “Dobby would like to work for Master Black.”

Sirius nodded. “Alright, we can make that happen. And call me Sirius, please. I’ll draw up a contract tonight. Can you come when I call, tomorrow?”

Dobby nodded rapidly.

“Perfect. Kreacher?” Sirius addressed the elf that had just appeared back in the room. “Can you help Dobby get whatever clothes he wants, please, and give him a room?”

Kreacher shot Dobby a bit of a confused look but nodded, putting a hand on the other elf’s shoulder before Disapparating them both.

Sirius let out a breath, leaning back in his chair. “They always look at me like I’m going to eat them.”

Remus hummed. “Those were worse than most. I don’t much like the way the Malfoys treat their elves.”

Sirius sighed, running hands over his face. “Yes, well. Maybe I should invest a little more in house-elf legislature. I’ve been a bit too focused.”

“Yes, how dare you devote your time and energy to werewolf rights,” Severus said dryly, pushing to his feet. “Think Lucius knows what we were up to?”

“He got enough bloody Galleons that he likely doesn’t care, especially since Dobby can’t tell us anything, anyway.” Sirius got to his feet as well. “He seems very loyal to you already, Harry. How would you feel about having him… assigned to you, so to speak?”

“Assigned to me? Like, at Hogwarts?”

“Plenty of students have house elves with them,” Sirius said, nodding. “Kreacher was technically your Uncle Reggie’s personal elf at school, but he didn’t want him there full-time. We’d loan Dobby to Hogwarts, basically, and he’d help out in the kitchens, but whenever you ask for an elf he’d be the one to come. He won’t bring you sweets in bed,” Sirius warned. “Just if you’re in our rooms and want something, or if you need help. Kreacher used to help Regulus take care of his owl.”

“I don’t really need help,” Harry said, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Sirius looked at him for a moment, and then took a breath. “I know you don’t. But this… it’s someone you can call if you’re in trouble, who can always hear you calling, and who won’t get you in trouble. He can get you out of Hogwarts, too, if need be.”

“You mean he would protect me.”

Sirius glanced at Remus and Severus for a moment before turning back to Harry and nodding. “I mean he’d protect you, yes. But he wouldn’t be there unless you want him to be, lightning.”

Harry wrinkled his nose a bit at the nickname. “Alright. It’s common?”

“Probably not as much anymore,” Severus put in. “But plenty of people had them in Slytherin when I was in school, popping in to bring them hot chocolate at night and things like that. My… roommates… had their elves clean their rooms for them.” The memories of Mulciber and Avery had him making a face.

Before he knew it, Severus was standing in Minerva’s office again a few days before the new school year. They’d shrunk all of their belongings down this time, and Sirius and Harry had gone in through the fire in the Entrance Hall to go straight to their rooms.

“Sit down, please,” Minerva said.

Remus and Severus took their usual seats, and Severus studied the contract in front of him. If they were right, these had weak charisma charms keyed to Dumbledore, but they hadn’t thought of a good way to counteract them. Hopefully, now that they were aware of them, and with Sirius to call them on it, they’d be able to resist. Still, Severus would be spending his free time in the library for a while researching countercharms.

They both signed with minimal small talk, and Minerva seemed to understand their haste to settle in, taking both contracts back. “If you both choose to return next year, we can discuss a lengthier contract,” she said, shooting Remus an uncertain look.

Remus smiled, clearly not wanting to get into how in the world he was here two years in a row, and they bid her farewell and made their way back to their rooms.

“Huh,” Remus said as they made their way around corners.

“What?”

“Just… shouldn’t there be a dead end there?” Remus asked, gesturing at a nearby wall. “Like, a short corridor?”

Severus studied the stretch of wall, trying to remember. “Maybe?” he hazarded. “I can’t remember.”

“Huh.”

The few days before the start of the term passed as normal, he and Remus seated at the High Table and trying not to shoot looks at the Sorting Hat. If Neville decided to bond with Hogwarts, they might have a way to speak with it anyway - heirs were supposed to be able to call the Hat, although they weren’t sure how Dumbledore’s power of Hogwarts would affect Neville or the binding. They also didn’t want to give Dumbledore any reason to suspect him of being an heir.

They hadn’t heard from Augusta or Neville since Harry’s birthday party, at least not in regards to Neville’s heirdom. They’d dropped Harry at Longbottom Manor, and vice versa, but had barely spoken to either of them, and if Harry had talked to Neville about it, he didn’t share. Still, they’d written letters of information to the two of them, delivering it by hand, making sure they were as informed as possible. Severus knew that it was a risk, and every part of him that had watched Neville grow up wanted him to stay as far away as possible. But if Voldemort was an heir, and if Voldemort was back… If Dumbledore was getting more power every day that no more heirs were bound to Hogwarts… heirs would always be children, every time. They couldn’t hide Neville away and wait for the next one to show up.

Severus was only allowed to fret until the first night. He and Remus were lying on various pieces of furniture in their living room, far too full from the feast, when knocking on the door revealed Neville, who came in immediately and handed Severus a piece of parchment.

“I want to do it,” he said quickly, after glancing around him. No portraits - Severus and Remus had insisted, which was apparently common enough that Minerva had thought nothing of it. “I want to do the binding. Gran agrees, that’s a letter from her giving permission. When can we do it?”

Severus studied the letter, and then looked up at Neville, making sure his face didn’t reflect his misgivings. “As soon as you’d like,” he said, with only a momentary glance at Remus to check that they were on the same page. “We prepared what we needed, just in case. The last item we need is the sword, which should come to you automatically....?”

“Yeah,” Neville confirmed. “It ended up in my bed a couple times at the end of last year, actually, and it was under my bed when I went to unpack just now. Will it stop doing that?”

“It should,” Remus told him. “You should have more power over it once the ceremony is done. If not, we can look into it, because we definitely don’t want swords appearing all over the castle.”

Neville laughed, the sound a bit wild. “No. No, I don’t.” They’d explained about Dumbledore to both him and Augusta, how he probably didn’t want more heirs being created. How he might go after Neville. Severus badly, badly hoped that he understood the risk. “Can we do it tomorrow night?”

Severus hesitated. “Yes,” he said after a moment. “Can you get away? We can meet a bit before curfew, and then one of us can walk you back.”

Neville nodded, and then smiled weakly at them both and left. Severus leaned against Remus for a moment, letting himself react to the reality of what they were going to do tomorrow, before heading straight to bed.

Chapter Text

The first day of classes did nothing to dispel his anxiety, because on top of teaching History classes for the first time, he heard the talk flowing between classes. It was easier to get to class today, students said. Were there classrooms missing? More than one student asked him where Binns was, and though he gave the standard answer of ghosts moving on, each time made him think a bit harder about all the changes. It had to be because of Neville. And if all of this was changing already, what would change once they did the binding?

He had first, sixth, and seventh years today. Actually, he had first years first thing in the morning, Slytherin and Hufflepuff followed by Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and was rather amused by how it went. Most of them had probably stayed up far too late the night before, because they were making new friends or because it was simply a new place, and he watched half of them almost fall asleep at their tables as he waited for everyone to find the room.

Some of them had obviously heard stories about Professor Binns, and he’d been introduced as the new History of Magic teacher last night, so he got slightly more avid attention than he was used to. He went over his plans for the year carefully, outlining what topics they would cover and handing out a syllabus. He had reconfigured the curriculum almost entirely, but these students didn’t know that, reading along and nodding as if first years always started with recent history, rather than the origins of magic. These students had the easiest time of it. Every other year, with the exception of seventh years, he’d had to mash together both the old and new curriculums in order to cover everything.

He made it through both first year classes with minimal problems, and as he went to lunch he was feeling rather energized. He sat down next to Remus and grabbed several plates of food in a row, then turned when he heard muffled laughter. “What?” he asked Remus, who was very clearly laughing at him.

“Did you have fun?” Remus asked, humor dancing in his eyes. “You look like Harry does after he goes flying. I mean, your hair alone…”

Severus put a hand up to his hair, self-conscious, and sure enough, the charm he’d placed on it this morning had broken. He muttered curses and redid it quickly before turning back to his food. “I did have fun, actually,” he told him after a moment. “I think the year will go well.”

Remus laid a hand on his shoulder, and when Severus looked over at him, he was beaming. “I’m glad,” he said. “I know we kept telling you that you’d enjoy teaching, but seeing you enjoy it is another thing entirely.”

Severus tried not to smile back at him and failed, grabbing another plate to cover it. “Yes, well,” he managed. Remus laughed at him again, sounding fond.

Severus spent the rest of the meal talking to Remus and Aurora on his other side and going over his plans for his afternoon classes in his head. His plans for his sixth and seventh years were a bit unorthodox, and completely overthrew the old curriculum. He’d had to meet with Minerva to ensure that he could do it. Stuck so firmly in his own head, he almost jumped out of his seat when Aurora elbowed him gently.

“Sorry,” she said, though she was grinning. “Lunch is over, I thought you’d want to know.”

He sighed, trying to calm his heart rate, and stood. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Did you notice the entire room staring at you?”

He looked at her sharply. “What?”

She grinned again. “Not all at once, of course. But you were definitely a topic of conversation. What did you do during your first classes?”

“Er. Nothing? Taught?”

“Huh.” She shrugged, heading out a side door that Severus knew was a shortcut to the Astronomy tower, where her office was. This had been her breakfast, in a way, since she had so many night classes.

He hadn’t noticed any staring, but as he set up his things for the seventh year class and students began to filter in, he noted the absolute silence with something approaching panic. Even when the last of the students filtered in, they took their seats quietly. He was familiar enough with these students, and unnerved enough, that he risked some unprofessionalism. “Why in the world are you so quiet?”

All four houses were in this class, since History was not a popular NEWT class, and they all looked at each other for a moment before Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw, spoke up carefully. “We, er…”

Percy Weasley, sitting next to her, took over when she hesitated. “The first years all said that History seemed like an interesting class, this morning. Some of them were already reading their books…” he trailed off, looking dumbfounded.

Severus considered this information, blinking. “Right.” He supposed he might have had a similar reaction, after six years of Binns. “Right,” he said again, gathering himself. “Okay then. I have your syllabus here,” he raised the stack of parchment in front of him, “but before we get started, I have an… announcement, of sorts. I know that Professor Binns did not require a certain grade on your History OWLs in order to take his NEWTs class.”

Several students in the class straightened and looked rather frightened, and he hurried on. “And I won’t either, at least this year. But looking at your curriculum these past six years, I can tell you that this year will not be like previous years. It will be difficult, you will spend many hours studying, and you will be prepared enough to get an Outstanding on your NEWT. Therefore, I’m giving you until Monday to drop this course if you’d like, with no repercussions. Professor McGonagall has agreed that there will be no note made on your transcript.”

Penelope raised her hand.

“Yes, Miss Clearwater?”

“Do all years get this?”

“Only yourselves and the fifth years,” Severus told her. “In order to prepare you both for your exams, you’ll have to expend a lot of energy in this class, and it seems only polite to warn you.”

A couple of students laughed at that, and he grinned at their acknowledgment of the joke.

“Alright. Go see your Heads of House if you’d like to drop this class. Now, this year will be different than you’re probably used to.” He grabbed the stack of syllabi, handing them out as he walked around the room. “Going forward, the first semester and most of the second semester of seventh year will be spent learning things that won’t show up in your NEWTs.”

“Like what?”

“Like Muggle politics,” Severus told whoever had asked that question, “and how their politics affect ours. Like the cultural structure of centaurs, and how that has affected our treaties and talks with them in the past. Instead, this year, we’ll spend that time going over all the topics that will be on your NEWTs, in detail. There will be supplementary reading each week during the first semester to cover things that we won’t have time to talk about in class.” He caught some disappointed looks, and added, “I will also offer supplementary material about the future topics to be studied, if you’d like, and I’d be glad to discuss any of it during office hours as well.” That got him some smiles.

Elizabeth Siller raised her hand, and when he nodded at her, spoke. “What about the end of second semester? This just says ‘independent review’.”

He handed out the last syllabuses and turned around. “Your second semester, in addition to normal classes--although I’ll go a bit easier on you--you’ll do a project on something of your choosing. We’ll discuss requirements as we get closer to Christmas break, but it should be something in depth. A month and a half before your NEWTs, you’ll each take a day to teach the class your topic, including a discussion section and answering any questions they have. There are… eight of you,” he said, counting quickly. “If all of you stay in the class, that’s about four weeks of student-led lectures. That last two weeks will be strictly NEWT-review--come here and study, and ask me anything you want. Guided office hours, if you will.”

They were all blinking at him, though a few of them were scribbling madly.

“...We can do the project on whatever we want?” Jeannette Wills, a Hufflepuff, asked, doubt in her voice.

“Within reason,” he told her. “It can’t be something you’ve learned in this class in any depth, and I’ll award bonus points for things like… crossing Muggle and Magical lines, or comparing events in history, things like that. I’ll have individual meetings with you all to discuss your topics, but again, that’s not for a while.” He clapped his hands, then grabbed his own copy of the syllabus. “Right, let’s talk through this semester, shall we?”

The rest of that class went smoothly, and when Percy Weasley asked if they could move onto the usual curriculum if they were able to speed through NEWTs review, Severus grinned and couldn’t stop. Being in the same room as people just as excited about History as he was--no one took a History NEWTs class with Binns unless they were interested in the subject--was invigorating.

His class with the sixth years went just as well, although their curriculum was more standard. He’d have the whole two years to prepare them for the NEWTs, after all, even if he had to go over everything again. The students were just as unnerved, apparently, at the idea of History of Magic being a class instead of naptime, and there was a lot of murmuring chatter as they exited the room.

Dinner was even worse than lunch, or at least Severus figured it was, since he actually noticed this time. Every table kept glancing up at him, and Severus caught more than one cluster of sixth and seventh years gesticulating wildly and looking up at him every few words. Some of them blushed when he caught them and avoided his eyes, while others just stared harder.

“What in Merlin’s name?” Remus asked from beside him.

“Severus is a hit,” Aurora said, smiling widely. “Apparently.”

“Something about being surprised that History is any way interesting,” added Filius from Remus’s other side. “Severus, there were students reading your syllabus in my seventh-year NEWTs class.”

Remus laughed. “Sev, that’s brilliant. Told you that you’re good.”

Severus leaned closer to him, so he wouldn’t be overheard. “I think anyone would be considered interesting, considering the competition.”

Remus laughed hard enough that Severus had to pour him more pumpkin juice, and then shot Severus one more amused look before turning to answer something that Filius had asked.

They met Neville on the seventh floor as planned that night, both Remus and Severus already Disillusioned. It wasn’t unusual for Neville to walk around alone--this was the same floor as the Gryffindor Common Room--but Severus had never been so aware of all the portraits lining the walls. As soon as possible, they ducked into a hallway without adornments and Severus cast the charm on Neville as well. Then he put one hand on Neville’s shoulder and the other on Remus’s elbow, and led them quickly to the hallway of the Room of Requirement.

When they got to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, he cast a few privacy charms on the hallway, and turned to Neville, or at least where he thought Neville was. “You should just have to focus on that wall,” he pointed at the empty stretch of stone, “and walk back and forth three times, thinking about--” he cut himself off. He didn’t want to be specific, even with all of their countermeasures.

“Alright,” Neville said, sounding a bit shaky, and Severus listened to his soft footsteps go back and forth until a door appeared on the wall, looking as it always did. Staring at it, Severus felt a certain wave of nostalgia, but pushed it aside, and instead stepped up to open it, still holding onto Remus’s elbow with his other hand.

Once the other two were guided inside, he stepped in and dropped all three camouflage spells, then looked around. The room was simple, the walls mostly empty stone, and the whole thing was perhaps the size of his bedroom here. Along one wall, though, four banners hung, two on each side of an alcove of sorts, with a step up to it and a shelf set into the stone. Gryffindor and Slytherin banners hung on the left, and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff on the right, and the order seemed odd to Severus--who had stared at the walls of the Great Hall long enough to know them well--until he remembered what they knew of the Founders. Two couples who together made a family.

“...I don’t know what I expected, but…” Remus trailed off, looking around the room.

Severus wanted to laugh, but the occasion was a bit too solemn and much too stressful. “It’s smaller than I imagined,” he ventured, then gathered himself. “Neville?”

“I kind of thought there would be windows, for some reason,” Neville said, grinning weakly. “Should I--” He gestured to the dais.

Severus hesitated a moment. He badly, badly wanted to say no, to deliver Neville safely back to Gryffindor Tower and be done with all of this. But they’d given him and Augusta all the information they had, and they’d made their choice, or at least given permission. Severus nodded, putting a hand on his wand where it sat in his holster.

Neville nodded back, turning around and bracing himself as he put one foot on the step, then the other.

Immediately, a slight ringing filled Severus’s ears, like he’d been knocked on the head one too many times. He scanned the room quickly, looking for the source.

Remus sucked in a breath next to him, and Severus spun back to face the alcove, gaze fixing on the Sword of Gryffindor that now sat upon the shelf, handle positioned perfectly for Neville to reach out and take it with his dominant hand.

Severus watched him hesitate, but reach out anyway, resting a hand on the pommel lightly. “I just… open my mind?” he asked without turning around.

“Yes, Hogwarts should… be there,” Remus said.

“It shouldn’t hurt,” Severus added, hand tightening on the handle of his wand. This was the part that they were unsure about. It would have been easy, simple, if Hogwarts’ magic was healthy. But that hadn’t been the case for decades. What could magic like this, twisted and limited, do when let loose again?

Neville took a deep, audible breath, and Severus saw him roll his shoulders, his usual habit when raising or dropping his Occlumency shields. Then he shuddered, just barely, hand tightening on the sword briefly before relaxing again.

Severus took a step forward, Remus’s hand landing on his arm to hold him back, or perhaps to comfort him.

Neville stepped backward once, then again, leaving the Sword of Gryffindor where it was as he backed away from the alcove. He spun around to face them. “That was amazing,” he told them, eyes bright and smile wide.

Severus let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding, although based on the way Remus squeezed his arm, he’d been obvious in his anxiety. “You’re alright?”

Neville nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was weird, like--” he cut himself off, blinking rapidly, and then twisted alarmingly to one side, his knees buckling.

Remus and Severus moved as one, reaching him as he crumpled. Remus caught his head before it could slam into the cold stone floor, then lowered him carefully down. Severus had already drawn his wand and was casting diagnostic spells.

“He’s just out, I think,” he told Remus quickly, though his voice was shaking. “Unconscious, and I can’t see anything else wrong.” He took in a shuddering breath. “We should take him to Poppy.”

Remus nodded. “Tell her he fainted in our rooms.” They’d planned for this, just in case. If needed, they’d explain everything--no secret was worth Neville’s health--but the more people that knew, the less secure their plans would be. No matter how much they trusted Poppy.

“Let’s go,” Severus agreed, casting a Hovering charm so they could get Neville to the Hospital Wing safely, then several charms to keep them all unseen for the moment. Remus opened the door, looked around, and ushered everyone out, and they walked as quickly as possible to a hidden alcove that was between their rooms on the Hospital Wing, running the rest of the way with portrait witnesses.

Severus had kept up diagnostic spells as they went, and everything was still coming up fine, but his heart pounded rapidly in his throat as Remus opened the doors to the Hospital Wing for them and called for Poppy. It was barely after curfew, so she came out of her office quickly, bursting into action at the sight of a prone Neville and pointing Severus toward the nearest bed.

“What happened?”

“Tutoring, in our rooms,” Remus said quickly, spinning the story they’d come up with. “We were--”

“I was helping him with his Occlumency shields,” Severus said quickly. If something was wrong, it was mind magic. She needed to be looking in the right place. “He fainted.”

Poppy nodded, focusing in on Neville and raising her wands, casting the same spells that Severus had and then several more. “You were attempting to pierce his shields?”

“Yes,” Severus managed, his voice coming out as a croak, moving to stand by Remus, who grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Augusta?” Remus asked under his breath.

“I--” Severus hesitated, his mind whirring, lists being created and discarded as he watched Poppy weave spell after spell above Neville’s pale form. “I don’t know.”

Remus shot him a concerned look, and opened his mouth to speak, but Poppy let out a sigh of relief before he could say anything.

“He’s fine,” she said firmly. “Just unconscious. Too much magic, too little dinner, probably.”

“Can you wake him up?” Remus asked.

“I could, but I’d rather let him sleep,” Poppy said, smiling at them reassuringly. “Magical exhaustion is pretty common, boys, especially whey students are learning advanced magic for their age. I’ll give him fluids, and watch him overnight, and he should be just fine for classes tomorrow.”

Severus nodded, wobbling on his feet slightly. “Did Augusta--does his guardian have anything in his file about alerting her?” He knew that Harry was an exception. Most parents trusted Poppy and Hogwarts in general to care for their children, and never heard about injuries unless a transfer to St. Mungo’s was necessary.

Poppy waved her wand, and a file flew out of her office. She grabbed it out of the air, flipping to the first page, and shook her head after a moment. “No, not for something of this nature.” She looked back up at them. “Would one of you like to stay?”

“Yes, please,” Severus said at once, ignoring the look that Remus directed at him. It made sense for him to be concerned, didn’t it? If he had been the one testing Neville’s Occlumency shields. Poppy already knew that Harry and Neville were close. Speaking of which… “Dobby?” he called.

Immediately, Dobby popped into the empty space next to them, taking in the scene with his large eyes. “Neville is hurt?” he asked, voice squeakier than normal. He was also wearing two different socks, heavy boots, and something that was probably once a set of overalls.

“He’ll be alright,” Severus assured the elf, who was very fond of not only Harry, but most of his friends, by now. “Dobby, can you let Harry know that Neville is fine, but in the Hospital Wing, first thing tomorrow morning?” Dobby had a strong connection to Harry, and usually knew as soon as he woke up, which Sirius assured them was normal for a personal elf.

Dobby nodded rapidly. “You is not wanting him to know now?”

“There’s nothing he can do right now,” Remus explained, catching on quickly as he always did. “But he’ll want to visit tomorrow morning before breakfast.”

“Dobby can do that,” Dobby said, nodding again. “You are… Are you wanting anything else?”

“No, that’s it, thank you,” Severus told him.

Dobby bowed slightly, a habit that hadn’t disappeared with his freedom. “Masters Severus and Remus,” he said to them before popping out again.

Poppy had watched the scene with some amount of amusement. “Was he wearing--”

“I don’t keep track anymore,” Remus said with a sigh, moving forward toward the bed. Severus, reminded that they were still holding hands, let go to move to the other side of Neville. “He has a preoccupation with clothes since he was freed from his old contract,” Remus explained. “Sirius says he’s exploring his style.”

Poppy nodded, blinking rapidly. “And quite a style it is, too. I dare say I’m glad that Hogwarts has a dress code.” She looked lost in thought for a moment, then shook her head and waved her wand again, pulling two chairs toward the side of Neville’s bed. “You’re welcome to stay,” she told them both. “I’ll check in on him regularly.”

Chapter Text

In the end, Remus and Severus only stayed by Neville’s bed for another hour or so that night. After a few minutes, Neville had regained his color, and was breathing evenly - he looked to be nothing more than asleep, and when Poppy assured them that was the case, they went back to their rooms.

Severus didn’t venture past the common area, though, and Remus reemerged from his room after a moment dressed in pajamas, joining him on the couch.

“Should we call Sirius?” Severus asked him. Remus had talked to him earlier and told him the plan for tonight, but Severus and Remus had both decided it would draw too much attention for Sirius to be creeping around the castle too, and evidently Sirius had agreed. Still, he spent half his nights in the castle anyway, and he’d want to know about Neville.

Remus shook his head. “He had a couple of big meetings at the Ministry today,” he said. “Planned to go to Andromeda’s after for a nightcap. He told me to send him a Patronus if something went wrong, but I don’t even know if something went wrong.” The end of the sentence went up a bit, and Remus shifted to look at him. “Did something go wrong?”

Severus laughed a little. “I don’t know why you’re asking me like I know,” he said, voice coming out a bit rougher than he intended. “You were there, you saw the same thing.”

Remus tilted his head, eyes softening, and he extended a foot, poking Severus in the shin with his toe. “I’m asking because you’re the expert in mind magic,” he said gently. “You alright, Sev?”

Severus stared at him, about to say ‘fine’, and for some reason remembered that time years and years ago, when he and Remus and Lily had promised not to lie to each other. “No,” he choked out, and then suddenly he was angry, so angry, thinking about their years at Hogwarts and about Lily and James and Regulus and-- “It’s fucking happening again, Remus.”

“What is?”

“People getting hurt! People--” he cut himself off, not wanting to end the sentence. Neville was fine, he was just sleeping. “Children. Children fighting some… some mysterious battle, something we don’t even have the facts of, just going in blind and hoping.” He spit the words out, forcing them past his teeth.

Remus let out a slow breath. “Again?”

“What?”

“You said ‘again’. ‘It’s happening again’. Did you mean…” Remus trailed off, observing Severus like he always did, following his convoluted mind. “Did you mean us, when we were in school?”

Severus tipped his head back against the arm of the couch, all the fight suddenly gone from his frame. “We spent so long thinking we knew what was going on, Remus,” he said finally. “Or thinking we had most of the facts. And then everything got turned on its head, but at least we finally knew what was happening. Dumbledore isn’t an heir, and everything was about keeping Harry safe. I thought--”

Remus made an encouraging noise, toe still poking into Severus’s leg. He found the rather ridiculous point of contact oddly comforting.

“I thought we could do it, now that we had all the facts,” Severus told him. “Now that we’re not children anymore, now that we know what’s going on, we can handle it. But we’re not…”

“We’re not the ones handling it,” Remus finished for him, pulling his leg back and looping his arms around his knees. “Now it’s more children. Neville’s an heir, and… and probably more of them are, as well. Harry and Neville and Ron were fighting in the Chamber last year, too.”

“At least in the Chamber you had the choice to bring them,” Severus said. His leg felt cold now, missing that point of connection, his words not coming as easily. “This, with Neville, we can’t… we can’t do this for him. We can come along, we can… we can research, but--there has to be another way, doesn’t there? A way without using children to fight whatever the bloody hell it is we’re fighting. Dumbledore. The Dark Lord, maybe.”

Remus let out a long breath. “We’ll keep looking,” he promised. “And, y’know, there’s a… a difference. A big difference.”

“Between what?”

“Between them and us.” Remus’s arms tightened. “I know that I’m… I’m lucky, to still have my parents. To have a… a decent relationship with them.”

“It’s not a competition,” Severus reminded him. They’d had more than one row about it over the years, with Remus comparing his childhood to Severus and Sirius’, feeling like he needed to be grateful for his own.

Remus tilted his head in acceptance of his point, giving him a grim smile that said he remembered the fights just as well. “My point,” he said, “is that none of us really had… adults. I mean, honestly, James was an outlier, with his mum and dad. And your mum was wonderful, I know, but she wasn’t really… and you didn’t go to her for help anyway, which makes sense in the context of time-travel and all that. Did you know, I’ve never even told my parents about Hawke?”

Severus felt his eyebrows go up. “Didn’t they… get told, anyway? You were in the Hospital Wing, Hawke got arrested.”

“They were told that he… kept me captive,” Remus confirmed. “But I didn’t talk about it, and neither did they, and I doubt anyone explained the full extent. But last year, Harry and Ron and Neville came to us. This year, we gave Augusta all the information too, and she gave permission. They’re not alone, Sev, not like we were. They come to us for things.”

“They shouldn’t have to,” Severus insisted, but he felt calmer, the logic of Remus’s reasoning helping his mind slow. “They should just… go to classes, and make friends.”

“Severus, they are never, ever going to just go to classes and make friends. Really. Never ever. That’s not how teenagers work.”

Severus badly wanted to argue against the ‘teenagers’ label, but he couldn’t, really. He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, trying to chase away his building headache, and braced himself to stand up. “I know.”

“Bed?”

“Bed,” Severus confirmed. “We should meet Harry in the Hospital Wing tomorrow, they can both come back here for breakfast.”

“To find out what happened in Neville’s head.”

“And to avoid a scene in the Great Hall when Harry tackles us for not taking him with us.”

The next morning, they made it to the Hospital Wing barely five minutes before Harry careened through the doors. He went straight up to Neville’s bed, where his friend was still asleep. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?!” he demanded, making only a slight effort to lower his voice.

“Because Neville is fine and you were already in bed,” Remus told him.

Harry opened his mouth, probably to argue that he hadn’t been in bed, but seemed to realize that it wouldn’t be a good argument, and bit the inside of his cheek instead. “Fine. Dobby said he was okay?”

“He’s fine,” Poppy told him, joining them and stepping up to Neville’s other side, running a few diagnostics. “Fully rested, so you can wake him, if you’d like.”

Breakfast had started, but just barely, and Severus considered going there before deciding that if they had to wait to talk to Neville in private he might actually go mad. “Harry, want to wake him?” he asked his son, who was hovering intensely. “Then we can get breakfast in our rooms?” he said, looking to Remus for confirmation.

Remus nodded, something in his face relaxing.

Harry reached out a hand to Neville’s shoulder and shook him slightly, which was the usual way of waking the boy. Once he was out, Neville had been known to sleep through entire dramatized Quidditch commentaries, and had only woken up when lept upon by the ‘snitch’. Sure enough, it took a good minute of gentle shaking before he woke up, blinking blearily and examining his surroundings with a bit of alarm.

“You collapsed in our rooms,” Severus told him, wincing internally at the additional confusion he was probably causing. “When we were practicing Occlumency, do you remember?”

Neville looked at him for a moment and then his eyes widened and he nodded. “Y-yes. Is it--what time is it?”

“Breakfast time,” Harry told him, hand still on his shoulder. “We’re going to go eat in my parents’ rooms, if you want to.”

Neville nodded, flipping the blankets off his legs and standing up. He stumbled, catching himself on Harry’s shoulder, and all the adults in the room took a step toward him. “I’m alright,” he assured them, steadying himself and stepping back from Harry. “Er, do you… my clothes?”

“Here, dear,” Poppy said, pointing to a stack on the side table. “I’ll draw the curtains. Everyone out for a moment, please.”

Severus, much calmer now that Neville had spoken and quickly cottoned on to a cover story, went easily, although Harry was a bit harder to convince, only moving back when Neville gave him an eye roll and a shove.

They walked back to Severus and Remus’s rooms in near silence, Harry walking so close to Neville that he almost tripped him more than once, a hand near his elbow like he was afraid Neville would fall again. In response, Neville shot him weary but fond glances, and proceeded to walk perfectly steadily the whole way.

When they got to their rooms, Severus called a house elf to order breakfast, and then sat down heavily in a chair, taking a moment to breathe while Remus set up a variety of privacy charms. They’d swept for spy charms, and taken out all the portraits, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.

Once Remus was done, and breakfast delivered, Neville spoke. “We weren’t really in your rooms, right? We were in the Heir Room, or whatever it’s called. And I fainted.”

“Yes,” Remus confirmed.

Harry paused in the process of filling both his and Neville’s plates with food. “Is he still going to be okay?”

Remus glanced at Severus, obviously unsure how to answer that question. “He… there’s not a record of this happening,” he told them.

Harry’s eyes widened, and Severus forced himself to sit up and forward, catching his attention. “That doesn’t mean anything bad. It just means that we don’t have anecdotal data to back up anything right now. Neville, can I--” he paused. He’d been about to ask if he could use Legilimancy, but this close to his collapse… “Can you tell me what happened?”

Neville scrunched his face up, thinking. “Er, we were in the room, and you told me to go up the stairs, but it already kind of felt like I should? I don’t know whether… it was the only thing that made sense, but maybe there was a push from somewhere. And then, um, I stepped up and the sword was there. I didn’t see it appear, it was like--” he glanced at Severus, brow furrowed.

“Like it had always been there?” Harry supplied.

Severus shot his son a look. “We need this in his own words, Harry.”

“Sorry.”

“But it was like that, like it had been there before, and I hadn’t noticed it before. So I grabbed it, and opened my mind like you and Grandmother taught me, and then Hogwarts was there.”

“How?” Severus asked, leaning forward. Hogwarts was a magical building, that was certain, but all the books had described it like… like it was alive.

“I dunno, it was there,” Neville repeated. “Er. Like its mind, I suppose. Except a lot bigger than most minds are. Y’know how your mind seems smaller than Grandmother’s?”

Severus didn’t know, as he hadn’t had occasion to use Legilimency on Augusta, but he could guess why that statement was accurate. “Because I use my shields to pull everything in.”

“I guess. Hogwarts was… bigger. Twice as big as Grandmother, at least. She--it--almost surrounded me.” Neville frowned. “It feels weird to call Hogwarts ‘it’, now. She’s like a person.”

“Can you still feel… her?” Remus asked. They’d seen personal pronouns used for Hogwarts before, mostly in the journal, but it was still an odd concept.

“Sort of. Like...here?” Neville pointed to a spot on the back of his skull. “Like she would be there again, if I just reached out.”

“Have you?”

Neville shook his head. “You told me to keep my shields up most of the time, and… and I have a headache, too, so…”

Severus nodded. “That’s okay, you don’t have to. We can try some other time, if you’d like. What happened after you opened your mind?”

“Hogwarts, er, swept through me? I guess? It felt weird, but not bad. And then she… backed off? I closed my mind again, and I remember saying something, and then nothing.”

“You said ‘That was amazing’,” Remus supplied.

Neville opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the door opening and Sirius stepping through. He walked briskly to the table, leaning down to kiss Remus on the cheek, and then collapsed into the chair on his other side. “‘Lo, everyone. Everything go okay?”

“Neville fainted, and ended up in the Hospital Wing overnight,” Harry told him. “We’re trying to figure out what happened.”

Sirius sat forward, studying Neville carefully. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Neville told him, smiling, though he was still a bit pale.

Sirius sat back again, bringing a plate of bacon with him. “Good. Sorry I’m late, Andromeda…” he glanced at Harry and Neville. “It was a bit of an evening.”

Remus shot him a bemused look. “Uh huh. Anyway, the next part of the plan is to see if anything changed, or changes in the next few days. Neville, if you start feeling odd, you come and tell one of us.”

“I remember.”

Remus sighed. “Other than that… I wish there was something else to do.”

“Can’t we try the spell again?” Harry asked. “To see if-- if anyone else at the school is an heir, now that Neville’s bound to Hogwarts.” He turned to Severus. “He’s bound, right?”

“Since he can still feel… her, I imagine so,” Severus replied. “We’ll test the binding, if Neville wants to, once he’s feeling better.”

“And the spell?” Harry asked again.

Severus shot his son a quelling look, knowing why he was so insistent upon it. They’d discussed it, how heirs were often destined to be in each other’s lives, and Harry had read the whole journal -- Severus couldn’t blame him for assuming he might be an heir himself. Still, no good would come of assuming. “We can try that as well,” he said finally.

“Changes mean we have to be more careful,” Sirius said, voice turning earnest. “Especially since Neville was in the Hospital Wing.”

“Easier to identify,” Severus said, nodding in agreement. “So if there are obvious changes, or even if there aren’t, we need to stay cautious. Harry, you watch out for any changes in Neville or your friends, alright?”

“Why?”

“Dumbledore has been known to manipulate people’s friends to get to them,” Sirius said, glancing at Severus, a strange expression on his face.

“What?” Severus asked him.

“Nothing.” Sirius waved a hand at him.

Severus furrowed his brow, about to ask him again, when there were a series of knocks on the door.

Harry, being the closest one to the door, and once everyone had looked at him expectantly, sighed and got to his feet to open it.

As soon as he opened it, the voice of Hermione Granger filtered into the room. “--stand there eating--Harry!”

“Hermione,” Harry greeted her, grinning slightly. “Ron. Alright?” He took a step back, so the people in the doorway were visible.

Hermione brightened considerably. “Neville! There you are, we were worried. We went to the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey said you’d left.”

“You were worried?” Neville asked her, grinning. “I mean... I’m fine.”

“See, Hermione, he’s fine,” Ron Weasley answered, taking another bite of the bacon sandwich in his hand.

Severus watched in slight disdain as crumbs and bits of butter fell to the stone floor.

“He just fainted last night during extra lessons with us,” Severus provided.

Neville promptly turned bright red and shot Severus a betrayed look.

“I-I didn’t--I mean, okay, I… I became unconscious, but--”

“Oh my god, are you alright?” Hermione asked, stepping almost into the room before seeming to recall that it was a semi-private space. Severus smiled slightly at the Muggle phrase, filled with a bit of nostalgia over it. He made a mental note to write to Adrian soon.

“You can come in,” Remus told her.

She immediately took several steps toward Neville, jostling Ron on her way in, who looked rather annoyed. “He said he’s fine, ‘Mione.”

Hermione shot him a look over her shoulder. “You were worried about him too. you’re the one who wanted to check the Hospital Wing, remember?”

Now it was Ron’s turn to flush slightly. “Yeah, and once we got there she said he was fine.” He leaned around her to look at Neville. “Yeah? Alright?”

“Alright,” Neville told him, smiling bigger now.

“Right, then we have class,” Hermione said, all business now, hiking her bag higher on her shoulder. “Neville, are you coming, or do you need to rest?”

“I don’t need to rest,” Neville said quickly, grabbing his own bag. “Let’s go.” He paused, then spun around to look at Severus and Remus, seeming to remember that they’d been in the middle of a conversation.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him, but smiled. “Yes.”

“Go away,” Sirius added, smirking at him. “Take the Hufflepuff with you.”

Harry shot him a look, rolling his eyes, but grabbed his own bag and a piece of toast, shoving it in his mouth as they all left.

“Anyone else have to go to class?” Sirius asked. “Y’know, to teach it?”

“In a half hour,” Severus told him, standing up to pace and think everything through. “So we need to test the bond, with Neville’s permission, and also try the spell again.”

“See if any changes have happened, and if so, keep a close eye on Dumbledore,” Remus added.

“Pretty sure changes have happened,” Sirius told them. “For one, I think that’s the first time since you signed those damn contracts that you’ve brought up Dumbledore negatively in a conversation. You agree when I say it, but you don’t bring it up.”

Severus thought for a moment, trying to come up with an example to prove otherwise, but conceded the point. “Huh.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. “I trust me to bring it up. If things started happening, I would have let you know. Honestly, I didn’t notice until Sev brought him up and I was surprised.”

Severus sighed, leaning back in his chair. “If everyone becomes more suspicious of him--”

“Or challenges him more,” Sirius added.

“--then he’ll definitely notice something is different.”

“That’s a pretty subtle change, though.” Remus set down his fork, biting his lip in thought. “He probably couldn’t pinpoint the exact date with that, meaning Neville going to the Hospital Wing wouldn’t seem as suspicious.”

“So as long as any changes are like that, we’re okay,” Sirius summarized.

Twenty minutes later, any hopes Severus had held onto were dashed quite summarily. “Sorry, what?” he asked his fifth years.

“Who controls Hogwarts?”

“The Headmaster!”

“No one, stupid, Hogwarts is magic.”

“Hold on,” Severus called, projecting his voice and holding up a hand. “Someone, explain the question, please.”

“The stairs are weird,” Lee Jordan said, leaning back in his chair. “There are… fewer portraits, I think? No one I could name, but the walls seem emptier.”

“Maybe Hogwarts just moved them,” Roger Davies pointed out.

“Hogwarts can’t just move paintings,” Adrian Pucey interjected. “It’s magic, but it’s not that kind of magic.”

“What does that mean?!”

“The stairs have changed?” Severus asked, trying to get back on track.

“It took me five minutes less to get to class,” Adrian told him.

“And there were fewer rooms on the way too, I think,” Lee added. “So, who controls it?”

“I told you--”

“Who here has read Hogwarts, a History?” Severus asked. “A show of hands, please.”

Almost every hand in the room rose, which was pretty expected for a History OWL class.

“Right. So, what does that book say about changes made to the castle?” Severus asked, making his tone as even as possible. Trying to figure out how he’d handle this situation if he was clueless to the context. If all these things had changed, there was no way that Dumbledore had remained ignorant. Bloody hell, changes that big, he’d probably felt it, as tied to Hogwarts as he was.

“It says that Hogwarts makes periodic changes to its layout and style,” Roger said. “No mention of anyone being in charge of it,” he added, raising an eyebrow at several of his classmates.

“But it’s one thing to tweak a hallway now and again, and another thing to remove entire rooms and portraits! Those portraits are living things, sort of, and Hogwarts can just… get rid of them?”

“All the portraits in Hogwarts are woven into Hogwarts’ magic,” Severus said, wanting to cut off this train of thought. He really didn’t want to get into the ethics of portraits right now. “That’s how they can travel between frames that aren’t all their own, and control objects outside paintings.”

“Like the Fat Lady opens the door,” Alicia Spinnet called out.

“Exactly,” Severus told her, smiling in approval. “Portraits cannot do that sort of thing without being tied into the magic of a building. For instance, if you hung a magical portrait in a Muggle house, it could not move into other paintings.”

“Okay, but just because it’s tied into the Hogwarts magic doesn’t mean they talk to each other,” Roger pointed out.

“It sounds like you all should talk with some portraits,” Severus commented, and then suffered several leaps of thought at once. “Actually--an assignment, to be due next week,” he said, ignoring the groans of several of his students. “Find something that’s been changed by Hogwarts, do some investigating--please actually use the library, and not only your own minds--and tell me what this change implies about Hogwarts and its magic, based on current and past data.”

Alicia furrowed her brow. “What do you mean, implies about Hogwarts and its magic?”

“Er…” He hesitated, not sure how to explain his thinking without implying his newfound belief that Hogwarts was some kind of alive. “Alright, an example. An example that you will not use as your assignment,” he added with a stern look. “Say a classroom has disappeared. What should we find out about it for this assignment?”

“What subject was taught there,” Lee called out.

“What professor used it last,” Adrian countered.

“How long ago it was used,” Alicia added.

Severus nodded. “All good. Say it was used to… teach Charms, used by a professor who quit eighty years ago, and was last used a hundred and twenty years ago. What conclusions can we draw about why it was removed?”

There was silence for a moment, and then Roger spoke. “Classrooms that aren’t used aren’t removed immediately after professors leave. They’re left until… Hogwarts is sure they won’t be needed?”

“Good,” Severus told him. “So, like that. Any other questions?”

There was a general shaking of heads, and Severus nodded and moved on to that day’s lectures. He hadn’t answered the original question, and he hoped none of them had noticed, or that they’d just ask another professor. According to his readings, Hogwarts controlled itself, but he rather thought that not saying Dumbledore would garner too much attention.

He got through the rest of the class without skirting any more dangerous subjects, and was bending over to pack up his things when Lee Jordan walked up to his desk, rapping his knuckles on it to get his attention.

“Yes, Mr. Jordan?” Severus asked, tapping a stack of papers on his desk to get them into some semblance of order before he put them in his bag.

“Are there maps of Hogwarts, if it’s constantly changing?”

Severus grinned, thinking immediately of the map that he’d helped create. “Not very many,” he answered truthfully. “Really, I doubt anything officially created exists.”

“Couldn’t you… link it to the magic of Hogwarts? Make it fluid?”

Severus tilted his head, thinking about it. They’d tied the map to Hogwarts, but in a rather static way. He doubted it had adapted to these new changes. “Not much is impossible with magic, Mr. Jordan. So yes, you probably could. But keep in mind, the magic of Hogwarts is centuries old. Tapping into that would be very advanced, and very dangerous, as magic tends to... become more sentient, you might say.” He laughed. “That is to say, I would not recommend trying it for this homework assignment.”

Lee laughed too, though it sounded a bit pained. “Right. Okay, thanks, Professor.”

Severus nodded, quickly losing himself in plans. Making a new map would surely be a worthwhile endeavor, especially if they had to watch out for Dumbledore on a daily basis. But if these changes continued, they really would have to tap into Hogwarts magic. He might have to go to the library.

Chapter Text

For several weeks after Neville’s heir binding, everyone in the know was on high alert. Sirius, as the only adult not under a charisma charm, spent his time watching Dumbledore’s every move, as well as keeping his ears open at the Ministry for any and all gossip. Severus and Remus hit the books, as it were, looking for solutions to the charisma charms and ways to create a new map and really anything else they could find. Overall, they fretted.

Harry stuck to Neville like a barnacle whenever possible, and multiple times tried to convince them to bring someone else, Hermione or Ron, into their confidences as well, to be there when he couldn’t.

Neville mostly tried to lie low and recover from his ‘fainting spell’, as the official story went. They all watched slightly neurotically as he spent the next week or so swaying on his feet, having headaches and generally feeling unwell. Poppy assured them that it was probably just the lingering cold from that summer, combined with the heavier third year workload, but they all kept an eye on him anyway. Severus could swear that Dumbledore watched Neville too, mostly during meals, but was well aware of his own paranoia where the Headmaster was concerned, and only ranted about it once or twice a week to the rather captive audience of Remus, who could usually calm him down with logic .

Overall, Severus was far too busy changing and making plans -- they couldn’t try and break into Dumbledore’s office for the Sorting Hat any time soon, but they should definitely set up some kind of security protocol for Neville, and maybe assign him a house elf -- to enjoy the better parts of the beginning of term. If prompted, he’d probably have realized that his classes were a lot more enthusiastic, and a lot less surprised each time he introduced an interesting topic. Harry reported to them more than once that people came up to him to tell him how much better History of Magic and Defense were now.

“Seriously,” he said one evening, as he and several of his friends and classmates sat in Remus and Severus’ front room and studied, “I think I may actually be more famous for you two, now.”

“Don’t let your dad catch you using that word,” Severus reminded him, mostly in self-defense. The “serious” jokes had gotten old approximately 20 years ago.

“Is that a good thing? That you’re apparently famous for us?” Remus teased, grinning as he kept his eyes on an essay that he was marking.

“I dunno,” Harry told him, apparently giving it real thought. “I mean, either way I’m famous for something I didn’t cause or control, although I suppose you two took these jobs for me, sort of.” He glanced around as he said it, but they were far enough from the others that they probably couldn’t hear him.

They’d talked about Harry’s role in his parents’ deaths before, and Severus felt no need to rehash the whole discussion now. Instead, he addressed the other part of his son’s statement. “I might have taken it anyway,” he told him. “Perhaps not the Defense job last year, but absolutely the History job. You’d be surprised at how many jobs there aren’t for Masters of Magical History.”

“You’d adore sitting at home doing research all the time,” Remus commented, putting down the essay and picking up the next, making sure to angle himself away from the other students in the room.

“Not if you weren’t there to listen to me talk about it,” Severus said, lifting his head as Theo walked over, a book open in his hand and a look of confusion on his face. Remus looked at him, a strange emotion in his eyes, but Severus didn’t notice. “Or if you were both at Hogwarts and Sirius was out all the time,” he added as an afterthought.

Remus sighed. “Yes, well.”

“Either way, I do research all the time anyway,” Severus finished decisively. “And I quite enjoy teaching, yes, Remus, I know you were right. Mr. Nott, how can I help you?”

It was hours later, almost at the end of the casually defined “office hours” that Remus and Severus ran, that Fred and George Weasley slipped in the room as several Hufflepuffs, including Harry, left.

“Misters Weasley,” Severus greeted, putting aside the book he’d been skimming. Usually students that weren’t in Harry’s year were here to ask a specific question, rather than take advantage of the communal space.

“Professor Snape,” one of them--Fred?--said. “Could we ask you a question?”

“A hypothetical question?” the other one added. “About a hypothetical spell?”

“That we are in no way planning to use.”

Severus glanced at Remus across the room, who grinned back at him. The boys were known pranksters, and more than once Sirius had heard of one of their achievements and spent a few hours figuring out not only how they’d done it, but also how to improve upon it. They’d never shown up looking for help, though. He turned his attention back to the twins, raising one eyebrow carefully. “You may.”

“Right. So, say there was a--”

“--hypothetical--

“--map of Hogwarts.”

“And say that it was hypothetically damaged, because--”

“--of recent changes to Hogwarts.”

Severus took in this rather confusing statement, glancing between them, and then repressed the urge to both thump his head down on a table and burst out laughing. “You two are friends with Lee Jordan, I take it.”

The twins glanced at each other, and then turned back to him with rather identical grins. “Hypothetically,” they said in unison.

Severus did laugh, that time. They both looked surprised. “Alright. So, hypothetically, you looked high and low in the library for a spell that would make a map adhere to current Hogwarts architecture, but you couldn’t find anything.”

“We found things,” one of them said.

“But the map is already enchanted, and we don’t know what with,” the other one finished. “Er. Hypothetically.”

“You don’t know how you enchanted it?” Severus asked. “Also, there aren’t any portraits here to report you to Professor McGonagall, and I could not care less about a map of Hogwarts, it’s not as if anyone couldn’t draw one. Kindly stop using the word hypothetically, it doesn’t sound like a word anymore. Although don’t let me see it, please, I’d like some plausible deniability.”

The twins smiled even wider. “You’re alright, Professor.”

“Thank you,” Severus said, a bit sardonically. “Now, you don’t know what you enchanted it with? What, did you throw a lot of spells at it at once? That’s rather dangerous, you know.”

“No, we found it,” the one on the left said. “Tried to do a bunch of diagnostic spells, but we think it’s a recently created spell. Most of the corridors are the same, so it can’t have been made too long ago.”

“Unless Hogwarts really never changed before now,” the one on the right added.

“Hold on,” Remus said, walking over to them, leaning over the back of Severus’s chair. “You found a magical map of Hogwarts, made fairly recently, with enchantments you can’t untangle because they’re too clever?”

“They’re not too clever,” one of the twins said, looking offended.

“Er, no?” the other one ventured.

“Relax, I don’t care about a map of Hogwarts either,” Remus told them. “Especially if I’m right. Can I see it?”

The twins hesitated, glancing at Severus, but he’d caught on now, and nodded.

“We think it was created by this prankster crew, they were rather infamous,” one of them said, while the other dug around in his bag. “We tried for ages to get it to activate, finally stumbled upon a sort of ‘password change’ spell and managed to unlock it.”

As soon as the folded piece of parchment was dropped on his lap, Severus sucked in a breath, caught up in memories. Remus, either caught up in the same ones or understanding as he always did, laid a hand on his shoulder. “Alright?” he murmured.

Severus let out a breath. “Yes.” He picked up the map.

“You have to--”

“Lilium,” he intoned, waving a wand over the map, trying to cover the lump in his throat as he interrupted them. Lily had come up with the idea for the password, and James had been enough in love with her at that point… The map unfolded, filling in just as it had years and years ago.

“That’s not--”

“--the password we set up.”

“We know,” Remus said, smiling sadly down at the map, the lines all skewing to one side and the dots jumping haphazardly from place to place as the map tried to adhere both to the ink and to the castle. “Hello, Moony at your service.” He waved sarcastically, then turned to look over his shoulder. “Sirius?” he shouted. “C’mere, love, please.”

“You’re the marauders?” one of the twins asked, the other one attempting to close his mouth without much success. “Honest?”

“I’m not,” Severus said, waving his wand in midair, bringing a colorful array of spells to life over the parchment and poking at them.

“You are too,” Remus admonished him. “Just because you didn’t want a name.”

“I had nothing to do with your pranks.”

“No? All the times you fixed Sirius and James’s plans didn’t count?” Remus teased, grinning at him.

“James Potter?!”

“The one and only,” Remus confirmed. “Where’d you find this, boys?”

The twins blinked at them, looking rather nervous.

The door to their rooms banged open, Sirius making a rather grand audience. “Yes, sweetums?”

“Honestly, Sirius, just come here,” Remus told his partner, before turning to the twins. “We just admitted to making a rather against-the-rules object. You’re not in trouble. He’s Padfoot,” he added, pointing at Sirius.

“Why--” Sirius walked over, collapsing on another chair, and then stood up again when he saw the map on Severus’s lap. “Bloody--er--blimey,” he said, with a glance at the twins. “Where’d you find it?”

“It was in Filch’s office,” one of the twins admitted.

“Fred!” the other one admonished in a whisper.

Severus made a mental note which of them was wearing what, although they’d been known to call each other by the wrong names on purpose.

Sirius let out a breath, handling the map carefully. “P--he had detention right before we graduated,” he told Severus and Remus. “That--it must have gotten confiscated, and he didn’t want to tell us. Sev, can you fix it?”

“Probably,” Severus said, waving his wand again and making the colorful magic disappear, then turning back to Fred and George. “I’m sorry, I told you I wouldn’t, but I need to take this for the time being.”

“For the time being?” the one who was probably George asked.

“Does that mean you’ll give it back?” maybe-Fred asked.

Severus hesitated, not sure how much to tell them. “Yes,” he said finally. “Someday. Or…” He thought for a moment. They were Gryffindors, after all, and Ron’s brothers. Two more eyes on the inhabitants of this castle wouldn’t hurt. “If you make your own map, as accurate as possible, I can… recommend some spells.”

“Once he’s figured them out for himself,” Remus said.

“Remus, look, it’s--” Sirius started, poking a finger at one of the dots.

Remus cut him off, pulling Sirius to his feet. “Later.” He dropped a brief hand on Severus’s shoulder, squeezing slightly, before he and Sirius went back into their private rooms.

Fred and George watched them go, and then turned their attention back to Severus. “Really?”

“Really,” Severus told them. “I won’t help you make it, and I won’t do the spells for you, but I’ll point you in the right direction. I missed that map,” he admitted. “But if I catch you pranking anyone vindictively, ganging up on someone or focusing too much on Slytherin, I’ll take it away,” he warned. He wouldn’t encourage that.

“We can do that,” Fred said, nodding rapidly.

“Thanks, Professor,” George added, smiling widely. “Brilliant.”

They walked as far as the door, and then Fred spun around. “Can I ask another question?”

George’s eyes widened, spinning to fix his twin with a glare. “Freddie, no--”

“A personal question?” Fred persevered.

“...perhaps?” Severus said, unsure. Did they want to know who the last person named was? Wormtail, Peter? “I may not answer.”

“That’s fine, there’s just a bet--”

”Freddie!”

“--and if you could settle it that would be great.”

Severus raised both eyebrows this time, looking at George, who seemed to accept his twin’s stupidity for the moment, though he was still avoiding Severus’s eyes. “What is it?”

“Are you and Professor Lupin in lo--married?”

“Are--what?” Severus managed, as his brain shuddered to a stop, before jumping tracks entirely. “No, I heard you,” he added as Fred opened his mouth again. “I--that is--” he gathered himself. This wasn’t a hard question. It was a rather simple one, actually, the answer was ‘no’, except that for a moment his brain had automatically said ‘yes’, and then there was the problem of the question Fred had obviously been going to ask before, and the answer to that was no, but--

“Professor?”

“See, I told you--”

“No,” Severus managed to squeeze out. “No, we are not. We’re just--” he stopped, utterly bereft of the words to describe anything at the moment. They weren’t married, they weren’t--then why--then-- “Why do you ask?”

“Er…”

Severus went back through their previous words. “There’s a bet?”

“No?” Fred managed, looking at his twin, who raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘you dug yourself into this hole’.

“Right. Er. Just a Gryffindor bet?” Severus asked, hopefully.

“Yes,” Fred tried again.

Severus didn’t need Legilimancy to know that he was lying, and closed his eyes for a moment in pure exhaustion. “Alright. Go away now, please.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Sorry, Professor.”

There was a slammed door, and an immediate mostly-muffled conversation as they moved away down the corridor. Severus sat there, mind whirring for several minutes, until he made a decision. He stood and shot a locking charm at the door before marching through the other door to their private rooms and then locking that one too. “There’s a bet running to see if we’re in lo--togeth--married.”

“Er. Who?”

Severus spun, making rather harried eye contact with both Remus and Sirius.

“Because we actually are married, legally,” Sirius continued, pointing between him and Severus. “And it’s really not a secret, anyone with a relative in Pureblood society--”

“Us,” Severus interrupted, gesturing between himself and Remus rapidly. “Us,” he repeated, looking at Remus.

“Right. Well. We’re not,” Remus said. “So you told them that? I’m guessing Fred and George asked you.”

“Right. We’re not, I told them.” There was a pause as he tried to figure out how to frame the question in his head. “We’re not, right? Because--it--I--”

“Alright, so I’m gonna go,” Sirius said suddenly, levering himself off the couch and kissing Remus on the cheek as he went. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Remus, remember what I said, yeah?”

Remus opened his mouth, then closed it, looking like a cornered… a cornered something, Severus’s brain was not feeling up to similes at the moment.

“You remember what I said, right?” Sirius said again. “And you’re not going to do a silly thing for a silly reason, right?”

“Right,” Remus told him shakily.

“Right.” Sirius nodded at both of them, grabbing a handful of Floo powder from on top of the fireplace. “Have fun, kids!” he said as he disappeared, grinning at them both.

Remus groaned, dropping his face into his hands. “Arsehole.”

Severus was suddenly aware that he’d made a huge mistake, even if he couldn’t quite decide what it had been, and was struck by the immediate urge to hide somewhere or perhaps flee from civilization entirely. “Sorry,” he blurted. “Sorry, that was--we’re not, you’re right. I told them, so that’s cleared up then, and it should be fixed in a couple of days, knowing the gossip mill here. So. Fixed! Goodnight.”

“Sev,” Remus said, his voice still shaky, “will you sit down, please? For just a bit.”

“I’m really quite tired,” Severus told him, edging around the room toward his bedroom. “We can discuss the map tomorrow when Sirius gets back, I’m sure.”

“Severus--”

“I have several ideas for how to adapt it to a changing--”

“I feel like we’re married, together, whatever, too! Sometimes,” Remus blurted. “I feel like that too, feel-- please sit down?”

Sev stared at him for a long moment, Remus looking back at him without any hesitation, and it was the desperation in his best friend’s eyes that made him walk back over and sink down at the other end of the couch, carefully not touching Remus at all.

“Thank you,” Remus said, taking an unsteady breath. “Okay. Alright.” He laughed awkwardly. “I have no idea where to start.”

“At the beginning?” Severus suggested, really having no idea what conversation they were having. “I have no idea what conversation we’re having,” he admitted, for clarity.

Remus tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling for a moment, before making eye contact again. “I think it’s a feelings conversation.”

Severus tried not to show his abject fear at the concept, but probably failed, based on the amused grin Remus sent him.

“So. The beginning,” Remus started. “A few months ago--actually, more than six months ago--Sirius sat me down and told me that if you and I wanted to have a relationship, any kind of anything, that he’d be fine with that.”

“He… what?”

“He gave his blessing,” Remus told him dryly. “For a thing that I hadn’t actually considered at all, up to that point.”

“But you… then you considered it?”

Remus paused for a moment. “Yeah.” He laughed, looking up at the ceiling again. “A lot, actually.”

Severus took a few seconds to let that sink in. Remus had been thinking, for months, about… what? A relationship with him? Dating him, being...? Just the thought put a flurry of panic in his chest, in his stomach, and Severus got to his feet, needing to feel… “I don’t--”

Remus had sat up again, and was leaning toward him, a hand partially outstretched.

“I’m not leaving,” Severus told him quickly. “I just-- okay. You. You want to… to date? Me?”

“I don’t know,” Remus said slowly. “I suppose… I suppose it depends on what that word means.”

Severus stared at him.

“Okay. Let’s try--will--okay. I’ve been noticing some stuff, the past few months. Will you sit down, please? Is that alright?”

Severus nodded, taking his seat again.

Remus reached out with a foot, slowly, and pressed it against Severus’s shin.

Severus felt himself relax almost immediately, grounded by the point of contact, and then he immediately tensed up again, analyzing it.

“We touch a lot more than I do with my other friends,” Remus commented, as if he was remarking on the weather. “Not like… just like this, or a hand on a shoulder, or… but more than usual.”

“We’ve been friends for over 20 years,” Severus pointed out.

Remus nodded slowly. “We have. And it’s--we could just call it best mates, what we… are to each other, for lack of a better term.”

“Or?” Severus asked, because that sentence begged for an ‘or’.

“Or we could… it could be something else.”

“Like what?”

Remus threw his hands up, a sudden gesture that would have made Severus flinch back, normally, but Remus hadn’t been able to startle him in a long time. “I don’t know! It’s confusing. It’s not the same as Sirius, but it’s not less than Sirius, it’s just…”

Severus was starting to feel twitchy again, being compared to Sirius, because now he was thinking about Remus and Sirius’s relationship--their marriage, really--and applying that to him and Remus, and he didn’t-- “I’m not in--I don’t--I don’t do that,” he managed, stumbling over his words and quelling the urge to move away from Remus again.

“I know. I mean, I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about, but I can, er, I can guess? And I.” Remus stopped. “Can I ask you a question now?”

Severus nodded.

“I remember that you told Sirius that you didn’t… like people, for lack of a better term. And then that Regulus was a surprise, right? Or something like that?”

The mention of Regulus hurt more than it usually would, brought up in this conversation, and Severus pushed down the feeling of guilt as best he could, trying to find the words to answer the question. “I didn’t think that I could,” he said carefully. He’d covered this with Remus in the weeks after getting together with Regulus, all those years ago, but they hadn’t really discussed it since then. “He made me… rethink some things.” He huffed a laugh. “I rethought things a couple of times, really.”

“Can you explain that to me? You haven’t… you hadn’t felt about anyone else that way before, right? Or… or since? You haven’t wanted to date… anyone.”

Severus put aside Remus’s obvious question for a moment, but felt his face flush anyway with embarrassment. He pulled back as best he could, trying to explain his series of epiphanies in a logical way. “In the future-past,” and wow, it had been a while since he’d said that term, “I thought I was in love with Lily. For years, I thought that. And then I got some distance, and thought maybe I didn’t. And then I went back, and made more friends, and knew for sure that I didn’t. We were friends, we were best friends, and everything just got twisted.”

“And then there was Regulus,” Remus continued.

Severus hesitated. “And then there was Lucius,” he admitted, because if they were going to have this conversation, really going to have it, he wasn’t going to skip things. He wasn’t going to lie, even by omission.

“Malfoy?”

“In the future-past,” he confirmed. “He was my way into the Death Eaters, he introduced me to everyone. He… protected me, for lack of a better word. Let me go to his house after meetings and drink with him, showed me some measure of trust.”

“And you had feelings for him?”

“Not that I knew, or even suspected, at the time,” Severus admitted. “But looking back on it--” he chuckled. “I think that wanting to spend a lot of time with someone, trusting them far more than the situation warrants, and being jealous of their wife for some unknown reason probably points to something.”

Remus grinned. “Probably.”

“Either way, we never talked about it, or about anything personal. I’m not positive he considered me a friend,” Severus admitted. “I figured that all out after Regulus and I-- after I realized what I was feeling for him. I… noticed the similarities.”

Remus nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought. “And then no one since Regulus.”

“No,” Severus admitted, wincing slightly. He’d just all but told Remus that he didn’t--but he didn’t. Did he? He tried to imagine it, being in the same kind of relationship with Remus as he’d been with Regulus, and it wasn’t… it felt awkward, and there was a sort of slithery feeling in his stomach, and…

“Sev,” Remus said softly, drawing his attention again. “Sev? That’s okay. Really, it is. I’m glad. Wait, that sounds bad, I just…” It was Remus’s turn to stand, walking over to their tiny kitchenette and pouring himself a glass of water. He returned slowly, but didn’t sit down, resting one hand on the arm of the couch. “I don’t have a crush on you. That word sounds so adolescent, but I don’t have a better one. I just, er, I care about you, a lot?”

Severus stared at him for a moment. “I don’t understand.” Remus opened his mouth, looking concerned, but he went on. “No, I understand how you could care about me. I care about you too. I just don’t know how--you said you wanted to date, for some definition of the word. If you don’t… have a crush on me, and I don’t have a crush on you, what are we talking about? What’s the--” he sighed. “I don’t know what this conversation is about.”

Remus stared at him for a moment, and then sat back down on the couch, setting his water glass on the table and reaching out with his foot again for that point of contact. “It’s about the fact that sometimes when I introduce you, I feel like I should use a different word than ‘friend’.”

Severus considered that for a moment. This is my friend, Remus, he thought to himself, then paused. This is my partner, Remus. My husband, Remus. My-- “Okay,” he concluded. “I… I understand. That. You just want to… to change the word we use?”

“I… do you?”

“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Severus murmured, and watched as Remus smiled slowly at him.

“Okay,” Remus agreed.

“Okay.” Severus let himself relax a little, relished the feeling of safety that came with this room and Remus and that one point of contact between them. “Is that… it?”

“That’s the part that… is there anything else that you’d want to, to change about us? Or talk about changing?”

Severus thought for a moment.

“Or not change?”

That question was easier. “I don’t want… no dates,” he said quickly. “That would be--”

“Weird,” Remus agreed. “That would be weird. But we can spend time together, right?”

Severus grinned. “We live together, Remus.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Yes, alright. I just don’t want to… to cross a boundary. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Severus looked at his friend, his… something else, and felt a sudden swell of gratitude and affection. “Thank you,” he said, smiling more genuinely. “Yes, I want to spend time together.”

Remus smiled back. “Good. Okay.” He brushed his hands through his hair, ruffling it wildly, curls frizzing in every direction. “Can we be done, do you think? For today?”

“Fuck, please,” Severus agreed, tilting his head back.

“Good,” Remus repeated, and then fell silent.

Severus, feeling the silence a bit more than usual, looked at him again. “Rem?”

“CanIhugyou?”

“Can--”

“No, wait,” Remus rushed to say. “Wait. I, er. I’ve been thinking about a thing.”

“A thing?” Severus asked, a bit worried by the crease between Remus’s eyebrows.

“A… cuddling thing?” Remus said, blushing again. “Can I…” he gestured toward Severus, something which did nothing to clear up his statement.

“Okay,” Severus agreed anyway.

Remus nodded decidedly, moving forward and then hesitating and grabbing his wand off the table to cast a quick expansion charm.

Severus, suddenly shifted to the left as the couch widened, yelped and did his best not to fall to the ground.

“Sorry,” Remus told him, setting the wand back down and crawling carefully to situate himself between Severus and the back of the couch. Still propped up on one hand, he looked up at Severus. “Er, could you lie down? Please?”

Severus shifted down accordingly, trying not to let his nerves show. It was fine, Remus was fine. He wasn’t going to-- “No kissing, right?”

“No,” Remus squeaked, then cleared his throat. “Er. No.” He laid down carefully on his side, forehead tilted to rest against Severus’s shoulder, then carefully placed his hand on Severus’s chest, his entire body tense. “Is this okay?”

Severus took it in, Remus’s warmth, him being close but not too close, the hand on his chest like that one point of connection all over again. “Yes,” he breathed, carefully laying his own hand on top of Remus’s, relaxing.

He felt Remus relax too, his whole body sinking deeper into the couch, and it wasn’t five minutes before his breaths deepened into sleep. Severus, on the other hand, lay there thinking for a good half hour. My partner, Remus. My husband, Remus. My...

Chapter Text

If Severus had thought that the first conversation with Remus had changed everything, had made them enter some new phase of being them, he was both right and wrong. They both knew something was different, but kept getting caught in talk after talk. What would change? What terms would they use? Who would they tell?

Severus had woken up that first morning to Sirius poking him in the shoulder and holding out a cup of tea. Remus was gone already, and Severus found himself feeling awfully cold along one side, although surely he’d been gone long enough for that not to be the case.

It had taken him a few minutes and about half the tea to realize that he was sitting with Sirius, his legal husband, whose actual husband he had decided to be in a relationship with the night before. But before he could choke his way through some sort of--well, apology wasn’t the word, as he wasn’t exactly sorry about it. His panic was interrupted by Sirius’s laughter, and then a brusque explanation that boiled down to ‘it took you long enough, just let me know if we need to set down any rules’.

That had perhaps been the easiest of all the subsequent conversations, mostly because Severus had hardly needed to speak.

So here Severus was a month later, sitting in their front room with a bunch of students and staring at Remus across the way, wondering if he should go sit next to him. If he was supposed to, or if he wasn’t supposed to? They’d decided not to tell any students--Harry excepted--yet, but he’d often sat by Remus before. Was it actually more suspicious to remain where he was?

But he wanted to go and sit by him.

Severus’s introspection was interrupted by a small scuffle, and then Harry’s voice, louder and angrier than he’d heard it in a long time. Severus immediately stood and moved over to the commotion, sensing rather than seeing Remus do the same thing.

“Harry?” he asked, reaching his son and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Get out,” Harry repeated.

Severus followed his pointed glare and found Draco Malfoy at the other end of it, looking rather confused and almost cowed and somehow even paler than usual. Severus had noticed him come in, along with a few other Slytherins, and sit next to Theodore Nott, but now it seemed he was the only Slytherin in the room.

“Potter--”

“Out!” Harry shouted.

“Harry,” Remus said sharply. “What is going on? No, not you. Er, Mr. Nott, please,” he said, indicating the student who looked perhaps the calmest.

“Malfoy used a… term not used in polite society. Well, this polite society, anyway,” Mr. Nott said, and his voice was calm and slightly mocking but his face was carefully blank. “Mr. Potter requested that he leave.”

“I see,” Remus said. “Thank you. And the term he used?”

Severus could guess, having heard stories and even witnessed Malfoy’s bigoted behavior a few times, but--

“He called Hermione a Mud--” Harry cut himself off, perhaps unwilling to say it.

Severus blew out a breath, looking between his students. “Alright. Mr. Malfoy, as neither Professor Lupin or I heard you, there will be no punishment, but I will have to ask that you vacate our rooms, as I will not abide by that sort of language.”

Draco stared at him for a moment, and then forced a sneer onto his face, and Severus was taken aback by the sudden resemblance to his father.

“Fine,” he said, trying to look haughty and only halfway succeeding, and he took perhaps five seconds to gather his things and flounce out the door.

There was a collective sigh of relief, and Harry sank down into his chair again. “I’m sorry, Hermione,” he told her. “He’s not usually--”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, he is.”

“What?”

“He is like that,” Hermione told him simply, gathering her own things. “Oh, he doesn’t target anyone specifically, usually, more derides us as a general group, but he’s just as nasty every day. I suppose I know why you’re friends with him, or mutually assured rivals, or whatever. He’s clever, and I know he helped with--with something or other. But he is always like that.” She sighed. “Anyway, I’m going back to the Common Room, it’s late. Theo?”

She stood up, bag tucked over her shoulder, and made her way to the door. Theo, whose study things had gone back in his bag ages ago--he tended to stick around for the socializing and the gossip--stood and followed her. “Buddy system,” he said over his shoulder. “There’s probably not another basilisk, but, well…”

They left, leaving only Harry, Neville and a few others in the room. The others, who had mostly been trying hard to hide their eavesdropping, quickly left as well. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Remus shot a locking charm at it and dropped onto a small couch, Summoning a house elf.

“Could we have some sandwiches, please?” he asked her, and then closed his eyes for a moment as she popped away to get them.

Severus sat down next to him, studying his son, who seemed to be very interested in the last sentence of his Charms essay. “Harry?”

“Hermione is mad at me,” he said immediately, and then stood abruptly, almost knocking over an inkwell in his haste. “I should go and--”

“She’s going to Ravenclaw Tower,” Neville reminded him, “and it’s almost curfew. She’s mad now, but she won’t be once you talk to her. She’s much scarier when she’s actually angry.”

Harry groaned, sitting back in his chair. “Shite.”

“Language,” Severus and Remus said almost simultaneously, though neither of them sounded particularly upset about it.

“He really is different,” Harry insisted, looking between all of them for some support. “He’s downright friendly when it’s just me.”

“And you can be his friend,” Remus told him. “But that might mean that you upset some of your other friends. Is it worth it?”

Harry opened his mouth, and then frowned, and fell silent. He remained silent all the way through eating the sandwiches and both he and Neville returning to their separate Houses. The next day, he seemed to be himself again, but Severus wondered what he had decided.

October brought with it the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff game, and their cheering section assembled as usual. Hermione sat on one side of their group, allied partially with her house and sitting with some of her friends, while the rest of them spread out into the Hufflepuff section and yelled until they were hoarse.

Severus had been to few Quidditch games in his life, and he spent this one the way he usually did--analyzing the crowd and people-watching, and waiting for Sirius to scream something that indicated important things were happened. He was proud of Harry, of course he was, but there really was only so long he could stare at his son on a broom in the air. Looking around at the crowd, he was struck once again by how calm the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw game always was, compared to every other matchup. Severus wondered if it was a lack of House pride or perhaps just an abundance of sense that made most of the crowd talk amongst themselves and cheer happily. Perhaps it was just that this was always the first game of the season.

“Harry’s showing off,” Remus said from next to him, pointing to their son, who was indeed doing some sort of midair calisthenics. “He’s going to miss the Snitch at this rate.”

“The question,” Sirius said, leaning in from Remus’s other side, “is who he’s showing off for.”

Severus frowned. “Couldn’t he just… want to show off?”

“Not during an actual match,” Sirius said confidently. “It’s for someone.”

“How often did you show off for me?” Remus asked him, voice too casual.

Sirius glanced at his husband, ears turning slightly pink. “I did not show off, I was just… naturally that good.”

“Uh-huh,” Remus replied, grinning at him. “I seem to remember a few unnecessary swings with the bat, myself.”

Severus enjoyed their gentle banter for the rest of the game, cheering with their section when Harry caught the Snitch and Hufflepuff won the match. They watched him make his way down to earth, earning a pat on the back from their captain, Cedric Diggory.

“Is he… blushing?” Sirius asked, looking delighted.

“I can’t tell,” Remus replied, squinting. “Maybe?”

“Quidditch captain,” Sirius hummed, smiling widely. “Well, there’s a way to have a more cliche first crush, I’m sure.”

“Honestly, Sirius--”

Severus tuned them out again as they clambered out of the stands and made their way back to the warmth of their rooms. They certainly wouldn’t see Harry again tonight, having made time for brief hugs before he was literally carried off to the Hufflepuff dorms, so Severus led the way straight to their inner rooms and ordered cocoa from a house elf before collapsing.

“Just go to bed,” Remus told him. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Not a lot. I kept thinking I was hearing whispering, or something, kept tossing and turning.”

“Just come sleep with us,” Sirius said, totally nonchalant.

Severus made a sort of squeaking noise.

“Sirius,” Remus reprimanded. They’d talked about Sirius pushing. He’d had all sorts of logistics in mind, about sharing time and making room places, and they’d had to ask him to stop. Remus and Severus would figure this out together, or not at all.

“What?” Sirius paused, looking at them both. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t think that was pushing, you two nap together all the time.”

“Not in--” Not in your bed, Severus wanted to say, but didn’t.

Sirius understood anyway. “Oh. Sorry, that’s on me. I didn’t--well. Either way, it’s fine.” He gave them both a smile and then walked into the bedroom, leaving an awkward silence behind.

“You can,” Remus told him. “I would… I would like that. Sirius and I already discussed--” he paused, flushed a light pink, and then kept going gamely. “We already designated the house in Hogsmeade as the… date night house. For Sirius and I.”

Severus coughed. “I know. Just. Er.” He took a breath. “In a while, maybe?”

“Of course.” Remus put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing warmly, before he left to follow Sirius.

Severus sat and waited for his cocoa to arrive.

A week later, he and Remus sat Harry down after one of their Sunday night dinners, Sirius lingering in the background for support.

“Am I in--what’s going on?” Harry asked.

Severus narrowed his eyes at his son for a moment, wondering what he thought he’d be in trouble for, before he let it go.

“Sev and I had something we needed to talk to you about,” Remus started, and then dove right into the speech they’d rehearsed. “We’ve decided to, er, redefine our relationship, in a way. This wouldn’t change anything for you, really, but we wanted to tell you. We don’t want it known to the whole school yet, though, so--”

“Wait, are you… breaking up?” Harry asked, looking horrified.

Sirius let out a loud guffaw in the corner before getting himself under control.

“Er, no,” Remus said. “The… opposite?”

“We wanted to tell you that we were together,” Severus told Harry, although he now had a sinking feeling that they wouldn’t be able to keep this secret from the student population for very long.

Harry stared at them for a moment, brows wrinkled, before his eyes widened. “You… when?”

“About a month ago, give or take,” Sirius said from the corner.

“But I--oh,” Harry said, blinking. “Er. Alright.” He fidgeted in his chair.

“Anything you’d like to share?” Severus asked him dryly.

“I… may have known? Or thought I’d known? Before now,” Harry said in a rush.

“Was there, perchance, a bet?” Sirius asked, still grinning widely.

Harry looked rather embarrassed, glancing between the three of them. “Look, I didn’t bet anything, they wouldn’t let me, anyway, but people kept asking me, and I know that technically only Sev and Dad are married, but I thought that--” he pressed his lips together. “Sorry.”

Severus stewed in embarrassment for a moment before glancing at Remus, seeing his pink cheeks, and letting it go with a laugh. “Well, now you’re right,” he said simply. “Although it’s not… we’ll act and look different to your Papa and your Dad, probably.”

“And we’re not married,” Remus added. “We’re… partners. We’re serious--”

“No, I’m Sirius!”

“--about the secret part, though. We’d like to keep this between us for a while, alright?”

“Alright.” Harry smiles at him. “I’m… this is good. This is great.” His grin widens.

Something about watching Harry accept it so easily, or perhaps the fact that everyone thinks they were together already, changes things. Why in the world are they making this seem so hard, when everyone else seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion? When Sirius and Harry are simply happy for them?

So that night, he changed into his bedclothes and went into Sirius and Remus’s room instead. Remus was sitting up, reading, Sirius already sprawled across the bed next to him, and he looked up at Severus warily when he entered.

“I thought I’d stay here tonight,” Severus told him, trying not to make it sound like he’d been repeating that in his head for the last ten minutes.

“Sure.” Remus poked Sirius until he moved to the right, then scooted over himself and Summoned another pillow, placing it in the new open spot. “You ok with the light on for a while?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Severus told him quickly, laying down and pulling up the blankets.

Remus continued to read, and Severus laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. In his peripheral vision, he watched Remus stare at his book, not turning a single page. Severus’s heart raced, nerves almost getting the better of him, and he was about to change his mind and make his excuses when Remus sighed and leaned over Sirius to put his book on the bedside table, then put out the lights and scooted down to place his head on the pillow.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Severus murmured back. Remus leaned his forehead against Severus’s shoulder, and Severus felt his whole body relax in response. Within minutes, he was asleep.

That seemed to be the turning point. Or perhaps the turning point had been that very first conversation, and it had just taken this long for them to realize. Either way, things got… easier. Severus sat where he wanted to, and slept where he wanted to, and Remus did the same, and they fit in a way they almost hadn’t let themselves, before.

Severus was stunned, frankly, that they made it all the way to Christmas break without something dire happening, either with the new relationship or with one of the myriad things they were juggling. Research into heirs, into Hogwarts magic, into Dumbledore, into everything was basically constant, and this year, Severus had a full-time teaching job rather than a part-time one. So it was with a certain amount of queasiness that he found himself halfway through the school year and headed to Hogsmeade with Remus, Sirius, and Harry.

It was a relief to be in a place where they knew Dumbledore couldn’t see or hear them, and that first night after Harry was in bed, the three of them stayed up complaining well into the night, just because they could. The first week of break was rather blissful, and after the usual jam-packed Christmas Day, they all returned to the house to drink eggnog and open the last of the gifts.

“Draco sent me something,” Harry told them, holding it in his lap.

“What is it?”

“I don’t--” Harry huffed, throwing the gift onto a nearby chair, then standing and running out of the room.

There was a brief silence.

“Well, that’s not good,” Sirius commented.

“He gets those dramatic tendencies from you,” Remus told his husband.

Sirius shot him a look. “You were the most dramatic teenager I’ve ever met, Remus ‘I’m a wolf once a month and no one will ever like me’ Lupin.”

“Remember that time you kissed Sirius in front of the entire Great Hall?” Severus put in, and laughed as Remus turned on him with a glare.

Harry ran back in, his owl on his arm.

“What’re you doing, kid?”

“I’m sending it back to him,” Harry told them, tying the gift firmly to the owl’s leg as she hooted at him imperiously. “Yes, I know it’s late and cold, I’m sorry. I’ll give you extra treats when you get back.”

“Harry, you can’t-- okay, you can send a Christmas gift back. But why?”

“I told him that we couldn’t be friends until he was nicer to everyone, not just to me, and I haven’t been talking to him, and I didn’t get him a gift,” Harry said in a rush, carrying the owl to the window.

“Harry--lightning, hold on. It’s almost ten, she’ll be flying back overnight and she’ll freeze. Wait until tomorrow, at least.”

Harry paused, looking at his parents, and seemed to deflate. “So you think I should send it back?”

Severus hesitated. “I think… you certainly think you should send it back.”

Harry scowled at him. “That’s not helpful.”

“It’s your choice, Harry,” Remus said softly. “And I understand where you’re coming from.”

“Gifts are a really big thing for Pureblood society,” Sirius put in. “Just… make sure you know what message you’re sending, yeah?”

Harry looked at him. “What message am I sending?”

Sirius sighed, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of eggnog. “Basically? That your friendship is over.”

“Like… over, over?”

“Over, over,” Sirius confirmed. “You have to understand, riches and belongings are a… big part of power. It used to be actual power that determined your status, but as dueling died off, belongings became important instead. Giving someone something tells them their importance to you.” He sighed. “That doesn’t mean you’re wrong. It just depends on what you want to say.”

Harry sighed and untied the package, earning a frustrated peck from his owl. “Yes, okay, sorry,” he told her, sitting back on the ground again. “I’ll wait until school and… talk to him, I guess.”

He went up to bed maybe ten minutes later, and Severus knew from the fact that he hadn’t complained at all that he was deep in thought.

“Sev?” Remus asked after he’d gone. “I have another gift, sort of. Can I… talk to you alone?”

Severus blinked at him. “Er. Sure?”

Sirius raised both hands up, standing, empty mug hooked around one pinky. “I’m going to the kitchen, just come find me when you’re done.”

Severus glanced at him and then back to Remus, worried now. “What is it?”

Remus grinned. “I said it was a gift, didn’t I? It’s not bad.”

“Okay,” Severus agreed, shifting around to look at his partner.

“Okay.” Remus took a breath. “So, I want to tell you something, and I’ve told you before, but I feel like it’s different now, because of everything. So it’s not a big deal, or at least I don’t think it is, but I want you to know that I mean it in the new way. Does that make sense?”

“Er. Not yet?” Severus told him honestly.

“Right. What I wanted to say is… I love you.”

Severus stared at him, part of his brain processing the words, and another part of his brain having a strange feeling of… deja vu? He paid attention to that part, analyzing it. Why was this--

Severus felt himself stop breathing, felt the blood leaving his face, felt his memory throwing him into another time and place.

"I love you too," Regulus had said. "Your gift was better than mine,” a smile quickly overcoming his pout, beaming at Severus, just weeks before he’d--

“Sev?”

Severus started breathing again, but the breaths came too fast, panicked.

“Sev! Hey, wait--”

He vaguely registered standing up, leaving the room, fleeing. He walked to the kitchen without thinking.

“Hey, Sev, what-- whoa, hold on, stop, come back. Sit down.”

Severus was pushed into a chair, still breathing too fast, brain whirring too quickly to focus in on any one thought.

“Sev, breathe. Please? Just… in, and out. Breathe.”

Severus listened to his friend as he kept talking, the words blurring but his meaning remaining clear. He saw, as if from far away, the door to the kitchen open and then close again as Sirius gestured and said something.

Some time later, the roaring in his ears ceased, his eyes finally able to focus on Sirius crouching in front of him.

“Hey,” Sirius said, voice still calm and measured. “Alright?”

Severus nodded, a jerky motion.

“Uh huh. Somehow, I don’t believe that, but we’ll let it stand. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Severus blinked at him a few times, trying to marshal his thoughts. “I’m… not sure. What happened, I mean.”

Sirius nodded. “Okay. Well, full disclosure, I know what Remus wanted to tell you tonight, so I’m feeling like it probably had something to do with that. Am I wrong?”

“It--” Severus hesitated, closing his eyes. Remus had said-- “Really? He--”

Sirius laughed a little. “Really, but I’m not the person to reassure you about that. Do you want me to go and get him? He’s upstairs, I told him I’d find him when--”

Severus interrupted him, shaking his head quickly. “No, not yet, I--” Remus had told him he loved him. And then Severus had panicked too hard to keep breathing. “Fuck, that was-- I can’t believe I did that to him. I have to go and--”

“Hold up. You just told me you didn’t want him here yet. Take a breath, Sev, he can wait a minute.”

“No, he must feel--”

“He can wait a minute,” Sirius repeated firmly, a hand on Severus’s elbow. “Wait until you know what to say, at least.”

Severus nodded, trying to slow his breathing down again.

“Did it… surprise you? Scare you?”

“No, it was… it reminded me.”

Sirius tilted his head, confused. “Reminded you of what?”

“...Do you know how Regulus told me that he--told me that?”

Sirius leaned back a little, sitting on his heels. “I know he told you, but I don’t know how.”

“It was after that last Halloween, but we didn’t celebrate Halloween, we celebrated--”

“Christmas. Lily threw a Christmas party,” Sirius finished, looking up at him sadly. “Oh, fuck.”

“And he pulled me into our room, and told me that--that if I wanted to leave the war, and run away with him, that he’d do that for me. And then I told him I l-loved him, and he said it back.”

Sirius sighed. “I--”

“And then two weeks later, he died,” Severus finished bitterly, and then caught himself. “That’s what--”

Sirius nodded slowly. “That makes sense. Is that… is that it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Sirius took a breath. “Regulus would want you to be happy. To be… to be loved.”

Severus looked at him for a moment, surprised. “It hadn’t occurred to me,” he said honestly. “That he wouldn’t. It never… “ he smiled sadly. “I think he thought I deserved love more than I ever did, at least back then.”

Sirius smiled, sighing. “That… makes me both sad and happy.” He shook his head. “I think I’ve had too much eggnog for multiple emotions at once. Are you… do you want to go find Remus, now?”

Severus smiled at him. “Yes, thank you, you can run away now. I’m alright.”

“Thank Merlin,” Sirius breathed, but pulled Severus into a hug anyway before patting him roughly on the back. “Okay, go, go. Sorry.”

Severus took a breath, then another, then went to find Remus. It only took one guess--sure enough, Remus was in the library, sitting in a chair at the table in the corner, staring into space. When Severus walked in the room, he stood up, bringing one hand to his mouth to tug on a hangnail, looking terrified.

Severus walked straight toward him, pulling his hand away from his mouth and tugging him into a hug, squeezing him as tightly as he dared.

Remus pulled in a shaky breath and hugged him back, pushing his forehead into Severus’s shoulder. “Sorry,” he managed, voice breaking.

Severus hugged him tighter. “No,” he said, and then winced. That was not the way to start. “I love you too,” he tried instead, and yes, okay, that was better. “I’m sorry that I… that I did that.” Remus had ended up here, alone, probably thinking all sorts of horrible things… “And I’m sorry I went to Sirius.”

Remus pulled back slightly, and Severus’s heart broke a little at the tears in his eyes. “What?”

“You ended up alone,” Severus clarified. “You couldn’t go to him, because I was.”

“And then you would have been alone,” Remus pointed out. “It’s alright, Sev, I don’t mind. He’s your family too.”

“Yes, but he’s your--”

“He’s your husband too, as well,” Remus added dryly. “And either way, you needed someone. Do you--did I--what did I say? Wrong?”

“Nothing,” Severus assured him, pushing them both toward the table and sitting down. “I… that was how I told Regulus, sort of. After fake-Christmas, and he said it was a gift, and--it didn’t--it brought up. Bad things.”

“Shite,” Remus breathed, reaching out to grab Severus’s hand. “Sev, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“I know you didn’t know,” Severus told him, gripping back just as tightly. “It’s okay. You’re okay, we’re fine.”

“Okay.” Remus pulled Severus’s hand between both of his own, encasing it in warmth. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Severus told him. “You are absolutely, positively not allowed to die.”

Chapter Text

With Christmas over and done with, returning to Hogwarts felt sort of like being shoved both into a small box and onto a large stage. Severus felt altogether too watched, and he wasn’t sure how much of that was paranoia, and how much was the portraits that lined every wall and the students that filled every class.

They’d dived into research over the break as much as possible, taking advantage of being able to speak freely and access to many different libraries. Severus had several new theories to try out with Neville, and had already scheduled ten meetings with his seventh years to discuss their final projects. Remus’s workload wasn’t much better -- at least Severus’s predecessor had kept the same curriculum every year.

The first night back, Neville came to their rooms, ostensibly to see Harry, but pulled them all into the sitting room when he got there. “I feel loads better,” he said immediately. “Severus, can we try the new spells?”

“What do you mean, you feel better?” Harry asked. “I thought you already felt better, before.”

“I mean, I did,” Neville told his friend, fidgeting. “Y’know, the headaches were basically gone. I was just tired, from exams and things. But now I feel better.”

“I imagine you slept for two weeks straight,” Severus told him, teasing slightly. “I’m glad you feel better. I do have a couple of spells to try, but I want you to read over them first, please. We can try them in… a week?”

Neville frowned. “I trust you, though.”

“Neville, it doesn’t matter how much you trust us,” Remus told him. “You should always know what a spell does before you allow someone to cast it. Information is important, remember?”

Neville frowned harder, but seemed to relent. “Fine.” He took the sheet of paper Severus offered him without complaint, quickly memorizing the spell that made the text both visible and invisible, and dragged Harry with him out of their rooms, headed to see the rest of their friends.

“Did you get Augusta’s permission?” Sirius asked.

“Yes, a couple days ago,” Severus said. “I offered to send her the spells, but she said she’d hardly understand them if I did, gave me full permission.”

“Codswallop.”

“Yes, well, she survives on being underestimated,” Remus commented. “Can’t blame her for it, even if she knows we know better.”

“I’m pretty sure it was her way of saying ‘I trust you’, which is pretty big considering the circumstances.”

“She already let us bind him to ancient magics,” Sirius pointed out. “I’m not quite sure how you get more trusting than that.”

A week later, Neville came back having read the whole paper carefully, though he looked a little worse for wear. He insisted he was fine, but after one bout of Occlumency, he had to sit down, and Severus insisted on running diagnostics.

“We should take him to Poppy,” he told Remus. “He’s sick, again.”

“It’s this bloody cold,” Neville said, whining. “I’m fine, I swear, it just makes me tired.”

“You said you were better over the break, though. Right?”

Neville hesitated, perhaps sensing a trap, before he answered Remus. “Yes.”

“Then it’s Hogwarts, not a cold.”

“Couldn’t it be both? Last year, Pomfrey said something about an epidemic. One of us got sick and then a bunch of us got sick, because we were living so close together. She said it happens all the time, right?”

“...It’s possible,” Severus allowed. “I’m not a Healer or a MediWizard.”

“Pretty close, though,” Remus commented. “Neville, it could be a cold, but it could also be something else. We need to talk about unbinding you.”

“No!” Neville protested. “You can’t, I’m helping. All the rooms that are different, and the portraits that got to leave, and Binns, and--”

“That doesn’t matter as much as keeping you safe.”

“And there’s no saying that any of that will go back to the way it was, or stop changing, if we unbind you,” Severus added, seeing that the first argument wasn’t gaining them any ground. “We will not risk your life or health for the possibility of something good happening.”

Neville stayed silent for a moment, staring at them resentfully, but finally, he sighed. “Fine. Can we just… wait and see if I feel better soon?”

“We can wait a week or two.”

“A month.”

“Two weeks,” Severus repeated, voice stern. “And you should go to Madame Pomfrey for some Pepperup and so she can run her own diagnostic spells.”

“Fine,” Neville huffed. “No spells today then?”

“No spells today,” Remus told him.

There weren’t any spells the week after, either, and although Neville assured them that Poppy diagnosed him with a mild cold--something that Severus confirmed with her, just in case--he seemed to be getting no better. As they passed the two week mark, Severus started reaching out to his contacts in earnest, trying to find all he could on unbinding something of this magnitude. They’d come up with several strategies before they’d ever bound him in the first place, of course, but they all involved Legilimancy, which made Neville woozy and paler than normal. They needed something else.

It didn’t seem to be forthcoming, however, and everyone kept a careful eye on Neville in the meantime. It seemed to be worse during classes, or when he tried any kind of mind magic, or sometimes during meals, as reported by Harry when he noticed Neville wasn’t eating as much. Neville himself was absolutely forbidden from even touching the bond.

Severus tried his best to fulfill his other duties while all of this was happening, on top of his normal research, but quickly found himself overrun by students stressed out of their minds about their OWLs and NEWTs. The evening study sessions, which were normally occupied mostly by Harry and his friends, now held countless fifth and seventh years desperate for revising help.

At one point, he had to have Penelope Clearwater sit down and put her head between her legs, afraid she was going to pass out while talking about the possible essay options and their pros and cons. Remus, in a show of psychic ability, happened to pass by with a glass of water, which he placed in front of her, and then left again with a quick squeeze to Severus’s shoulder.

“Miss Clearwater, you’re very prepared,” he told her genuinely. “I’ve read your practice essays, and I reviewed the latest draft of your project. I’m excited for your presentation.

She looked up at him, almost tearing up. “Really?”

“Really,” he assured her. “Now, we can go over this again if you’d like, but I think it might help more for you to go get some chocolate from the kitchens and read a non-academic book.”

Penelope looked at him as if he had grown several different, more interesting heads. “You.. want me to steal from the kitchens.”

Severus grinned at her. No matter how many times it happened, that moment when students realized he was a person would always be entertaining. “Yes.”

There was a sort of wailing sound from their left, and Severus glanced over. “Perhaps take Mr. Weasley with you,” he commented, watching the boy as he stared at a page of notes with every single word underlined.

Penelope laughed. “Alright,” she managed. “Thanks, Professor.”

“No problem.”

A few weeks later, he was pulled from a large stack of grading by Sirius, dressed head-to-toe in Gryffindor colors, including his old, enlarged Quidditch uniform.

“We have time,” Severus told him grumpily, attempting to put the stack of parchment in a drawer before he was dragged from the room. “The game isn’t until five, and my students are depending on getting these back by tomorrow. Has Harry seen what you’re wearing?”

“Augusta couldn’t make it,” Sirius told him, “So I’m wearing this and Remus is wearing Hufflepuff colors, and you, as usual, are wearing black. It’s perfect. Are you still assigning them essays, this close to their projects and exams? Cruel.”

Severus sighed, resigning himself to walking faster in order to keep up with Sirius’s hand on his elbow. “They’re optional, and extra credit. I grade them like the examiners will, so they get practice.”

“Swot.”

“The fact that I have one from half my OWL students and all of my NEWT students tells me it was something they needed,” Severus told him primly. “Also, I’m very clearly walking with you, so you can stop it with the dragging.”

“Oh, sorry.” Sirius dropped his hand, having forgotten about it, apparently. “It’s always funny to see Harry and Neville at mealtime before these games. They still sit together, but they just… sit in silence. I think their captains forbid them from talking.”

“Smart. They strategize together, usually, I suppose.”

“They still do, obviously, just not at meals,” Sirius confided as they stepped outside, shivering in the cold air.

“Stealthy.”

Sirius grinned. “Harry just wants to impress his captain.”

Severus rolled his eyes, waving to Remus as they approached him by the stadium entrance. “Are you still on about that?”

“Just because he doesn’t talk to you about boys doesn’t mean he doesn’t talk to me.”

Severus took a moment to parse that sentence, before gaping at him. “Sirius Black, he does not talk about boys with you, does he? Is it, is it boys, then?”

Sirius had broken down into gales of laughter at that point, and Remus mostly looked confused. Severus bit his lip, trying not to join in on the laughter.

“Bloody hell, what is it?” Remus asked them. “Sirius, love, breathe, please.”

Sirius finally recovered enough to form words. “I’m messing with you, he hasn’t talked to me, but I do have eyes, and it’s at least boys, but who knows?”

Remus, surmising the topic of conversation quite quickly, sighed and pulled them both toward their usual spot in the stands. “We are not going to gossip about our son’s sexuality, remember? We wait for him to confide in us.”

“I wasn’t--” Severus started to protest, but they’d reached their usual seats and were surrounded by students, so he stopped. “I wasn’t,” he insisted anyway, casting a warming charm over the three of them.

Their cheering section was slightly smaller than normal, given that Harry, Neville, and both their teammates were on the pitch. Still, Severus found himself surrounded by the usual wall of noise, and glanced around to take stock of his surroundings as Hooch--Rolanda--blew her starting whistle.

There was the usual Gryffindor/Hufflepuff split down the center of their group, with a small Ravenclaw contingent stuck in the middle. He saw Hermione first, wearing the rather garish combination of a Gryffindor scarf and a Hufflepuff hat. Theo and Ron sat on either side of her, and on Theo’s right, Draco.

Severus studied him for a moment, Draco had been known to come by study sessions in the past few weeks, but he usually only stayed to ask Severus or Remus a quick question, and then left again. Once, he’d set his bag down long enough to drink a glass of water, and then picked it right back up, and every time, he’d dragged one of his Slytherin friends in with him. They always had their own questions. Severus always wondered if any of them actually needed the answers.

Severus, Remus and Sirius had tried their best not to pry into Harry’s issues with Draco. Severus liked to think that they were giving him privacy and space to work out his own life, but mostly there was too much going on. Whatever the reason, he had no idea what was going on with their friendship, but there Draco was, one seat away from Hermione and completely, stonily silent. He wore completely Slytherin colors, but was watching the game avidly, leaning forward in his seat.

Severus wondered what Slytherin House was like, nowadays.

There was a yell from the stands around him, and Severus faced front again, focusing in on the announcer.

--to the Gryffindor Chaser, Bell, excellent catch there, and Preece keeps his seat but seems to be in some pain. Direct Bludger to the arm like that, that’s gotta hurt, and yes, Diggory is calling for a medical time-out, and Preece goes down to Hooch to get that looked at.”

Severus watched Harry fly down to the Hufflepuff huddle, having a quick word with his teammates while their Chaser got his arm examined.

“Why isn’t Poppy just here during games?” he asked Remus.

“Huh? Oh. She’s not allowed to leave the Hospital Wing unless there’s someone there to relieve her,” Remus told him. “Otherwise people wouldn’t be able to find her.”

Severus hummed. “...that sounds horrible.”

Remus looked at him. “You know, it does. We need to start having tea with her, or something.”

The whistle blew again, and the players took to the air as the announcer started up again.

“And Gryffindor starts with the Quaffle, and--ooh, they’ve lost it to Macavoy, nice hustle there, and Macavoy takes it all the way to the end, and--saved by Wood, that’s a save, drops it right into Longbottom’s hands, and they’re off again.”

Severus let himself drift as usual, watching the searing yellow and red robes rush past them. Every so often, the people around him got louder for one reason or another, and he cheered with them.

”--seen the Snitch? Not sure, Potter is known for leading the other Seeker around by the nose. They’re neck and neck, but I’m not--oh, fuck, what--”

The unexpected cursing happened at the same time as a gasp traveled around the pitch, and Severus looked around wildly to see what happened. The announcer was still talking, but had taken a step away from the mic now, and only every other word was getting projected. Severus wasn’t paying attention anymore, eyes fixed to the figure drifting downward instead as it tilted dangerously to one side, spinning in slow, terrifying circles. And then the player fell off their broom.

“That’s Neville,” Sirius said quickly, already pulling his wand. “Bloody hell, Rem--he’s--hey!”

Severus pulled his wand too, on instinct, but there wasn’t a way to cast a spell to help. They were too far away, and there were too many people between them. Neville had been in an open part of the pitch, and now had several players streaking toward his falling body, all of them collapsing onto a single--

Maybe ten meters from the grass, Neville’s unconscious--Merlin, let him be unconscious--body slowed down, buffeted by magic, just as the first flier caught up to him and hooked an arm around his waist. Still, they hit the ground hard, and Severus could see Neville’s pale face for barely a second before he was surrounded by people

Harry, who’d been on the other end of the field, hit the ground not a second later, landing and dismounting in one movement and pushing himself into the throng of worried people. Severus could hear him yelling from where he was pressed up against the railing, wand still outstretched.

Blinking rapidly, he blew out a breath, forcing his mind to work. “Hospital Wing,” he said to Remus and Sirius, who were both staring wide-eyed at the pitch. “Hospital Wing,” he said even louder, grabbing at both their arms. “That’s where they’ll take him, come on.”

It took a horribly long time to fight their way all the way to the Hospital Wing, although as soon as students looked at them long enough to recognize them, crowds parted for them quickly. Still, it was almost ten minutes by the way they got all the way to the Hospital Wing and through the doors.

There was only one bed bustling with people, and Severus walked right to it, taking in the chaos as quickly as possible.

Neville laid in the bed, and Severus noted with immense relief that he was breathing, although he looked pale and clammy, and the bruises under his eyes bloomed darker than they ever had. Harry was by his side, holding tight to one of his hands, eyes fixed on his face. Not even the arrival of his parents distracted him. Severus could see his lips moving, forming words he couldn’t hear, but the desperation was clear.

Poppy was almost a blur, running tests and setting up stabilizing spells, a quill and parchment taking notes next to her as she dictated.

“Professors,” Oliver Wood said from next to them, watching the scene before them with fear in his eyes. “He--he said he was fine, but he’d been so tired. I shouldn’t have--” he cut himself off.

“I need a bit of room, please,” Poppy snapped, not even looking up from her work.

“I’ll go, I should go,” Oliver said quickly. “Will he--is he going to be alright?”

Poppy paused for an instant before continuing, shooting them all a glance. “He’ll wake up in an hour or two,” she said.

Oliver seemed to take that as reassurance, nodding and leaving the Hospital Wing, but Severus had known Poppy for years, and she almost always answered that question with ‘yes’. “Poppy?”

“Hold on,” she said, but her voice held a measure of comfort in it. “Give me a moment, I just need to--alright.” She stopped moving all at once, shoulders dropping, and grabbed the quill and parchment out of the air, glancing over what Severus assumed was a list of symptoms. After a moment, she sighed and thrust the list at them. “Have a look, please, and tell me if anything… well. Just have a look.”

Severus looked over the list, glancing at the ones he’d already seen in Neville and stopping at the ones he hadn’t. “You found consistencies?”

Poppy nodded. “Yes. It’s the same thing from earlier in the year, I’m sure of it. But something that hangs on this long, with these effects and no others? I’m unfamiliar with it.”

Remus took the list from his fingers, muttering under his breath as he read. Sirius looked over his shoulder.

“You said he’d wake up in a few hours,” Severus said, sneaking a glance at Harry, who still hadn’t moved or acknowledged them.

“By my best estimate.”

“That’s all you said,” Remus elaborated. He’d spent even more time with Poppy than Severus had--it wasn’t surprising he’d caught the same omission.

Poppy sighed, looking over the three of them, and then pulled them away from Neville and Harry. “It’s the same thing as before,” she told them quietly. “And it’s worse. None of the symptoms seem extreme, but from what Harry mentioned before you got here, he’s been too ill to really get food down, and he hasn’t been sleeping. If we can’t figure out what’s going on, and it keeps getting worse, he’ll need to be hospitalized to get enough sleep and nutrients.”

“It’s a wasting illness,” Sirius summarized, eyes wide. “Fuck.”

“Now that we know that, I’ll go straight to my books,” Poppy told them. “I’ll run tests, we’ll figure it out. I have every confidence that we’ll figure it out, and he’ll be fine.”

“But you’re not positive yet.”

“What?” Harry asked from behind them. He was still holding Neville’s hand, but had taken a step away from the bed and toward them. His face was tear-streaked, eyes wide and fixed on them, free hand shaking against his thigh. “What did you say? You said he was waking up,” he accused Poppy, voice breaking.

“He is,” Poppy assured him. “He should be awake in an hour or two. I just need to keep him here until we figure out what’s going on, Mr. Potter.”

“Dad?” Harry asked, eyes fixed on Sirius. “You said--”

“We’ll figure it out,” Sirius assured him, taking the few steps needed to sweep him up in a hug.

Remus did the same, and Severus put a hand on his son’s shoulder, the other one coming to rest on Neville’s foot under the blankets. “We’ll fix it,” he said, speaking to everyone and to no one.

“Yes, we will,” Remus agreed, leaning into him slightly.

It was barely an hour before Neville came to, blinking his eyes open slowly. Harry had gone back to holding his hand and had promptly fallen into an emotionally exhausted sleep, but as soon as Neville slipped his hand away, he sat up again. “Nev?”

“Hey,” Neville croaked. “What happened?”

Severus moved to grab and fill a glass of water from a nearby table, pressing it into his hand. “You fainted.”

“During the game,” Sirius added. “In the air.”

“Oh, fuck,” Neville said concisely. No one in the room called him on his language. “Did I break anything?”

“One of the twins caught you,” Harry told him. His hands had tightened on the blanket, knuckles white. “And Hooch slowed you down, I think.”

“That’s good,” Neville commented, blinking at all of them.

“No, it’s not!” Harry yelled, rounding on his parents. “You have to make it stop.” He burst into tears.

“Harry--” Severus started, taking a step toward his son.

“No,” Harry cried, turning and burying his head next to Neville’s on the pillow, throwing an arm over his friend. “No,” he repeated.

Neville looked a bit stunned, staring at his best friend’s head. “Harry?” he whispered.

“We have to take it off,” Severus said in an undertone to Remus, watching his son and the boy who was practically his son as they hugged in a hospital bed. “Now, we need to do it now.”

Poppy walked in the room, Augusta trailing behind her. As soon as she saw her grandson, however, she overtook the Mediwitch, walking straight to his side.

“Gran,” he greeted her. “I’m fine.”

“You are,” she insisted, sinking into the chair opposite Harry, who was still halfway on the bed. “They tell me you fainted during your Quidditch game today and fell off your broom.” Her voice shook subtly, emotion clear in the lines on her face.

“I wasn’t feeling well. I shouldn’t have played, I’m sorry.”

“Yes, well,” Augusta managed, sniffing. “You’ll be staying here until you’re feeling well enough to go to St. Mungo’s, and then you’ll be transferred.”

“But Gran--”

“That,” she cut him off, “is Mediwitch Pomfrey’s recommendation as well, and we will abide by it.” She leaned closer to him, brushing his bangs off his forehead. “She is excellent, but she is not a Healer.”

Harry turned his head enough to speak to her. “Can I come visit?”

“As often as your parents and the school allow,” Augusta assured him. “And I will keep you all apprised of his condition,” she added to Severus, Remus and Sirius, although her eyes were bright with anger. “We shall all talk.”

Chapter Text

At the first chance, Augusta pulled them aside and demanded more details, all of which they gave to her. She was furious, and Severus found himself even angrier with himself. They’d had to drag Harry away from Neville’s side that first night, and Severus hadn’t gotten Harry’s look of betrayal out of his mind.

No one argued with Augusta’s decision to move Neville to St. Mungo’s, but it never happened--the first round of tests caused him to sleep through the next ten hours, interrupted only by nightmares, and every attempt to move him after that only made the illness worse. Finally, Augusta convinced Healers and other specialists to visit Neville in his private room at Hogwarts instead.

It was a day and a half before Severus and Remus managed to arrange a secret meeting with Poppy, pulling her into her office and setting down as many wards as they could.

“He didn’t faint that first time from Occlumency,” Severus told her quickly. “We want to tell you what did happen, but we’d like to ask you to keep it a secret.”

“From everyone,” Sirius added.

Poppy raised her eyebrows. “And if I don’t?”

“Then we’ll tell you anyway,” Severus told her, far too weary to do anything but be honest. “But people may get hurt, including Neville.”

“Neville’s already hurt,” she commented, then sat down heavily and Summoned a cup of tea. “I’m sorry, I’m so fucking exhausted. Tell me what happened, I won’t tell a soul unless I need to.”

Severus sank down into the chair across from her. “The less you know, the better,” he began, wincing at the look she leveled at him. “It sounds trite, but it’s true. I’ll tell you everything I think you need to know, and then we’ll answer any questions you have.”

Remus sat down on the arm of Severus’s chair. “Neville fainted that first time because he was bound to the magic of Hogwarts, through mind magic. We believe that bond may be causing all of this.”

Poppy stared at them for a moment. “Bloody hell,” she said finally. “Well, I have questions, but none of them are medical in nature. Er. Can he access the bond?”

“It gives him a headache, but I believe so.”

“Alright. I assume you’ve tried to break it?”

“It all requires Legilimency, which seems to make him worse. We were trying to find another way before this happened, but now… we’ll try whatever you or the other Healers want us to.”

“Here is the spell,” Remus added, passing his wand over a bit of parchment and causing the words to appear. “We believe that, in conjunction with some mental magic manipulation--”

“Say that five times fast,” Poppy mumbled.

“--will break the bond.”

She sighed. “And I suppose you’d like me to break this news to the Healers from St. Mungo’s, in a roundabout way and without implicating the two of you.”

“If you think that would still keep Neville safe,” Remus said carefully.

Severus ran his hands over his face a few times in frustration. “Listen. Poppy. We have plans, and I will burn them all to the ground if it means he gets better. Just tell us and we’ll do whatever it takes.”

She sent him a small smile. “I can see that. Alright, boys. I’ll run some different tests now that I know this, and clue the rest of them in on it. At this point, I can’t see that spilling the beans would make any difference. Now, you said not to tell anyone, but I’m assuming the Headmaster is the important one?”

Severus tried very hard not to react in any way, and felt Remus twitch bodily next to him.

Poppy sighed. “You both hate him, and Sirius as well. Never quite understood why, but it’s not subtle. Okay, go, out of my office. I’ll let you know as soon as anything changes.”

There were OWLs and NEWTs in less than a month, and exams for the other years before that, and their front room had become so busy that they’d had to restrict hours and capacity and post it outside the door, and Severus and Remus noticed almost none of it. Sirius was there every night helping them research, or sometimes taking over their grading just so one of them could focus on some new manuscript.

Poppy sent them periodic updates, sometimes through Harry, who was in the Hospital Wing every chance he got along with most of their other friends. She’d told the other Healers about the bond with Hogwarts, apparently passing it off as something Neville said in order to keep them from spreading it, and although it had refined their search, there were still a long few weeks of waiting and worrying before Remus and Severus received a message to join everyone in the Hospital Wing.

“Why the hell wouldn’t she put any details in there?” Remus asked, trying to cast a Patronus for Sirius. It produced only a wisp of smoke, and he made a noise of frustration, going to grab the Floo powder instead. “That’s the vaguest note I’ve ever seen.”

“Multiple notes,” Severus told him. “This isn’t addressed, and the student who delivered it had more in his hands.”

“That’s a great sign,” Remus commented dryly before sticking his head in the fire. “Sirius!” A pause, then, “Yeah, a note from Poppy, you might as well Floo into the Hospital Wing.” He pulled out the fire and waved his wand to end the connection, turning to Severus. “Alright, let’s go, he’ll meet us there.”

They arrived to absolute chaos, a room full of people and Neville looking rather overwhelmed in his usual bed. Severus offered him a smile and a nod that he hoped was reassuring before focusing his attention on the rest of the room. Remus strode straight over to Harry, who seemed to be arguing with Dumbledore.

Severus took stock of who was here. Dumbledore, Minerva, and Poppy, as well as Augusta standing by her grandson. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Susan, although the latter two were in the corner, looking rather intimidated by the commotion. Severus made his way over to them, trusting Remus to intercede in the loud conversation if needed.

“What’s going on?” he asked them both.

“They want to move Neville to St. Mungo’s,” Susan told him quickly. “Even though he always gets worse when they try. The headmaster and Professor McGonagall are trying to figure out a way to make it happen fast.”

“And Harry disagrees?”

“He’s been keeping a journal,” Ron told him. He’d been in the study room frequently this year, although he mostly played chess in the corner with anyone he could drag into playing, and he’d slowly gotten used to talking to Severus and Remus outside class. “About when Neville gets worse.”

“Hermione’s reading it now,” Susan added. “They both think moving him fast will be even worse.”

“So everyone wants him to go to Mungo’s, they’re just arguing as to how.” Severus sighed. “How long has this been going on?”

“Dumbledore got here a couple minutes ago,” Ron said. “Harry started--er--it got louder after that.”

Severus sighed. “Right. Thanks. You two should probably go.”

“No!” Ron protested, then blushed as he realized he’d just argued with a teacher. “I mean--Professor, we want to stay.”

Severus eyes him for a moment, but he couldn’t hear yelling behind him anymore, which was arguably more worrying than hearing it, and he didn’t have time to deal with a Gryffindor today. “Alright,” he said, turning away as Ron’s mouth fell open in shock.

He walked up to the group of people and stood next to Remus, putting his hand on Harry’s other shoulder and tightening his Occlumency shields as he looked at Dumbledore. Sirius had come into the room while he was distracted and was standing beside Augusta, talking quietly.

“--worried about the safety of your friend, and that is commendable, Mr. Potter,” Dulmbledore was saying. “But we really must listen to the Healers.”

“They told me that my records were very helpful. Sir.”

“I imagine they were,” Dumbledore began, “but--”

“Harry,” Hermione interrupted, reading from a small Muggle notebook intently. “Is there another one before this?”

“Another what?”

“Another notebook.”

“Er. No?”

“Huh.” She went back to reading, brow furrowed.

“What is it, Miss Granger?” Dumbledore asked.

Severus shot him a look, wary of the tone of genuine curiosity in his tone.

“It’s just… I mean, it’d be better if we could figure out exactly when it started.”

Harry turned to look at her. “That is when it started,” he told her. “That’s when… er, that’s when he fainted the first time.”

“I didn’t--” Neville spoke from the bed, but cut himself off, apparently tired of arguing the point. Or maybe just tired in general.

“Yeah, but that’s not when he got sick,” Hermione commented, still reading.

Severus stared at her for a moment. “...he was sick at the end of last year,” he said after a moment. “That’s right. But that was....”

“He had a cold,” Hermione noted, voice still distant. “All of Gryffindor had it, right, Ron?”

“Huh?” Ron asked, taking a step toward them. “What?”

“And then he felt better over break, he told me so in that letter,” Hermione continued. “Then at the very start of the year, he got worse again, he almost missed our first class because he overslept--”

“I did too, ‘Mione, we both ate this tart thing at the feast that really--er--”

“And then a week later, he fainted because of whatever spell he was trying out,” Hermione concluded. “And that’s when this journal started. So he was better over the summer--”

“And over Christmas,” Harry added, reaching over to flip the pages. “See?”

“Huh. Any other times you felt better?” Hermione asked Neville.

He blinked at her from the bed. “Summer and Christmas, you’re right,” he told her. “Except for when we went to Diagon Alley, we went to Florean’s and I couldn’t even get anything, I felt rotten.”

Hermione stared at him for a moment, then spun on her heel to face Poppy. “Did you take into account that he felt sick before that first time he fainted?”

“...we’d been taking it as the starting point in most of our tests,” Poppy answered slowly. “But it shouldn’t matter when it started, Miss Granger, except that it’s had a bit longer to work on his immune system.”

“No, but it means that he got better both times he left Hogwarts, if it’s the same thing,” Hermione told her.

Severus turned that information over in his mind, not sure how to feel about it. They should have put it together, that he’d been ill before, shouldn’t have assumed that the binding was the cause. But if Hermione was right, then the binding hadn’t made him sick, but it certainly hadn’t made him better. What if being the heir at all was killing him slowly? They’d never seen a way to stop that, they’d never--Neville might have to leave Hogwarts forever. He glanced at Remus in horror, only to find him staring at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore’s face was caught in a mixture of surprise and curiosity, but the set of his eyebrows made something inside Severus go cold.

“That’s very clever of you, Miss Granger,” he said slowly. “Even more reason for us to get Mr. Longbottom moved to St. Mungo’s posthaste.”

“But that might not help!” she insisted, spinning to look at him. “Diagon Alley was worse too, remember? It’s almost like--” she stopped in place, eyes growing wide, then spun to look at Poppy. “When’s the last time you ran tests on him, did a spell on him, anything?”

“Not for almost an hour,” Poppy answered. “Why do you ask?”

“Do you have a thermometer? A Muggle one.”

“Miss Granger--” Dumbledore began.

Severus spun to look at him. Was that--was that fear, in his voice? In that case--he raised his wand. “Accio thermometer,” he said quickly, catching the one that flew into his hand and passing it to Hermione, who nodded at him in thanks.

“Alright, so--” she moved to stand beside Neville’s bed. “Open, please?” she asked him.

Neville looked up at her. “What? Oh. Alright.”

She placed the thermometer under his tongue, then waited, staring at it. The rest of the room stared at her.

“37 degrees,” she said finally, staring at it.

“That’s lower than normal,” Poppy commented, coming to stand on the other side of Neville. “Are you feeling better, dear?”

“Cast a spell on him,” Hermione told her. “Actually--cast a spell on him, something diagnostic and strong, and then everyone else Summon something.”

Poppy looked baffled for a moment, but finally relented, casting something that looked rather complicated. Severus, after a pointed glance from Hermione, raised his wand and Summoned a pillow from across the room, watching as everyone but Dumbledore did the same.

Hermione kept one hand on the thermometer, watching it closely, her eyes slowly widening.

Poppy, on the other side of her, blinked slowly, blowing out a long breath. “Bloody--’ she muttered under her breath, cutting off the cursing quickly. “Everyone step back, right now,” she continued. “All of you, yes, Miss Granger. I see it.”

Hermione took several quick steps back, running straight into Harry, who steadied her and started talking frantically. “Hermione? What is it, what’s wrong with him?”

“It’s magic,” Hermione said slowly, eyes fixed on Poppy, who seemed to be setting up some sort of barrier while watching Neville like a hawk.

“What do you mean by that?” Severus asked her, trying to keep his voice gentle. Because he thought he knew, but the consequences of being right--

“Magic is making him worse,” Hermione said succinctly. “It was better over break because he wasn’t around magic, or not as much of it, anyway. Same with Christmas. But at Diagon Alley, all those people, and at Hogwarts--Harry wrote down that he was worse in Transfiguration and Charms, which makes sense.”

“Those are the classes with the most casting,” Sirius muttered, making his way over to them. “Sev, I bet he was fine in History.”

“Exactly,” Hermione confirmed, eyes lighting up. “So all the tests, all the diagnostic spells, they all just triggered it! He’s not actually getting worse, we’re making it worse.”

“‘Mione, that doesn’t make any sense,” Ron told her, joining their little circle.

She turned to him patiently. “Magic is making him worse, Ron. Around him, or done on him, when someone casts--”

“No, I got that,” he interrupted. “I mean, you were all excited that he got sick earlier, yeah? But I was sick too. All the boys in Gryffindor were, and then I was at the start of the year. I even felt worse at Diagon Alley, too, actually, although I was miserable most of the summer.”

Hermione wilted. “Oh. Maybe you just… got better?”

“Yeah, obviously, but what’s the difference between me and him? If it’s as bad as all that, why am I totally fine and Nev’s--” Ron bit his lip. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Hermione studied him for a moment, then glanced over at Neville, who was still being fussed over. “...when did you start feeling better?”

“I dunno,” Ron answered, then actually seemed to think about it. “...the morning after Nev fainted that first time, I guess. Woke up and I was starving, first time in ages. I ate three bacon sandwiches, ‘member?”

“...just like that?” Hermione asked, faintly.

“Miss Granger--” Dumbledore started again, taking a rapid step forward.

Remus and Sirius moved as one to block his way while Severus pushed Harry and Hermione farther from him, though they all kept their eyes fixed on Hermione. There was something, just on the edge of Severus’s mind, maybe--he closed his eyes, trying to focus. They’d all been sick, and then Neville and Ron had been sick until the binding. Maybe--

Remus, still standing right beside him, sucked in a startled gasp, and Severus opened his eyes. Hermione was still standing in the same place, but her eyes were huge in realization, and on her head was a sort of tiara, with a bright blue stone.

“Oh, fuck,” Sirius intoned, taking another step to stand directly between Hermione and Dumbledore. “Oh, shite bloody fuck.”

“...Hermione?” Severus asked, keeping one eye on her and one eye on everyone else in the room and noting absently that Minerva and Poppy seemed to be the only two who were confused.

“It’s a spell,” she responded, still staring at Ron. “It must be, it’s a spell, Ron! It’s a… it’s a curse.”

“What?”

“Think about it! What, you’re both sick as all get-out, and then you’re better when you’re not around magic. You were worse than Nev over the summer, but you have all those siblings and Neville’s an only child, so--and then you’re both sick that first week, but then Neville wakes up much worse and you wake up much better?”

“Yeah, but what about--”

“So someone wanted to make you both sick, and then decided to just focus on Neville, or maybe you disabled the curse by accident. Or maybe it was all an accident, and he got hit by something?”

“The other boys--” Severus started slowly, a horrible picture forming in his mind. They’d kept such a careful eye on Neville, they’d been so focused, but when the cause had seemed to be the binding itself, they’d made assumptions. But if someone had cursed him, the odds that it was an accident were just...

“Oh,” Hermione breathed. “Oh! It wasn’t an accident.”

“Miss Granger, we really must focus on--”

Severus spun on his heel, staring at Dumbledore and trying desperately to keep his anger behind his mental shields, daring him to keep speaking. His thoughts were a jumble, but the most important thing was to keep Dumbledore away. They needed to get Hermione out of here, and Neville too. They needed to get away, because if it hadn’t been an accident, then Severus knew who it had been.

“Why wasn’t it an accident, Miss Granger?” Remus asked, his tone quiet but intense.

“Because of the other boys in Gryffindor,” she responded, although she seemed to have noticed the crown at last, picking it off her head and staring at it in confusion. “Whoever cast it really just wanted to get Ron and Neville, but that would have been too obvious.”

“Why?” Ron asked.

Hermione turned to look at him and raised her eyebrows. “What else did you two do at the end of last year?”

“Well, I mean, we were both--oh. The Chamber.”

“Yes, exactly. So they… they got everyone, you see? And Madame Pomfrey said it was a cold, because it went around the dormitory, and then as soon as everyone left for Hogwarts, I bet the rest of them got better.”

“They did,” Harry told her. “They did, Neville was complaining about it, Seamus and Dean took some huge trip with their families and all Neville could do was sit around and drink soup for however long.”

“Miss Granger, is that your d--crown?” Dumbledore asked, sidestepping Sirius and Remus deftly. “It’s quite interesting. May I see it?”

Hermione wrinkled her brow. “I… I’m not sure where--”

“Hermione, don’t give it to him,” Harry said hurriedly, pulling her away. “You can’t--”

“Headmaster,” Augusta said firmly, joining the conversation for the first time and bringing it to a halt, “I’m afraid I’ll need to ask you to leave. If Hermione is correct, then it will help my son immensely to simply bring him home, and the experts can consult there. Of course, I’d be most glad for any information you had on the subject,” she added smoothly, sweeping her eyes over all of them. After a moment, she turned to Poppy. “Now, please, I’m taking him home.”

Severus, seeing her plan for what it was, spoke to Harry quickly. “Harry, take your friends to our rooms. Yes, all of them,” he said before his son could speak. “Now.” He leaned closer. “The map is in its usual drawer, use it. If you see anyone coming in that isn’t us, take them all home. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Harry answered quickly, grabbing Hermione’s hand and darting glances at Susan and Ron as well. “Come on, let’s go, right now.”

“What--” Ron managed, but was dragged out in record time by his friends.

Severus watched them leave and wondered if someone should go with them. But then again, everyone in the castle he was worried about was right here. He turned to face Dumbledore, Remus and Sirius at his shoulders.

“A worrying development,” Dumbledore commented. “Now that we suspect the cause, though, I’m sure that we’ll be able to help young Mr. Longbottom.”

“Yes,” Sirius said lightly, as though they were speaking about the weather. “Hopefully my friends in the Ministry will be able to identify the caster, now that we know it’s a curse. We wouldn’t want them to escape. Of course, that’s if they don’t drop the curse before we’re able to run the correct tests.”

Severus fought the urge to look at Sirius in amazement, instead fixing his eyes on Dumbledore and the flash of anger he saw in his face before he relaxed.

“Either way, I of course wish them the best,” he commented.

“Mm,” Sirius hummed in agreement.

“Albus, what--” Minerva began.

“Ah, I believe the necessary paperwork for this is in my office,” Dumbledore interrupted. “Poppy, I’ll leave you to it. Minerva, if you’ll join me?”

“Headmaster,” Poppy responded, nodding, as she helped Augusta maneuver Neville out of bed.

Dumbledore left the room, Minerva right behind him, and the whole room seemed to relax.

“I’m going to the rooms,” Sirius said quickly. “I don’t want to chance that Dumbledore will go and try to speak to the kids.”

“Here, Neville, sit back down,” Augusta said quietly. “Poppy, I’m sorry, I just needed to get them to leave.”

Poppy helped Neville sit back down again, and then threw her hands up into the air. “What is going on?” she demanded.

“Nothing good,” Neville commented, laying back across the blankets. “Really, really not good.”

Severus looked at Poppy’s face, weighed the possibility that she would let this go, and put the odds at ‘bad’, throwing up several privacy charms and locking the doors. “Neville, we’ll figure out what this is,” he told the boy.

“If he doesn’t drop the curse immediately,” Remus added. “Sirius was pretty clear.”

“You think Albus Dumbledore cursed a student?” Poppy asked, askance.

“I’d honestly bet you money on it,” Severus commented, collapsing in a chair. “You really should get him out of here, Augusta.”

“He knows where we live,” Augusta commented wryly. “And we’re in a magic-rich part of town, if magic is really what’s causing this.”

“There’s a Black property in a Muggle town a ways from London,” Remus told her. “Sev can write you a note, give you full permission to be there. I imagine Dumbledore knows about it, but there are more than ten Black properties, and it’s heavily warded.”

Poppy looked between them. “This really isn’t the time, but… Severus can write a note? Not you?”

Severus sighed, putting his hands over his face. “I’m legally married to Sirius Black. Please don’t remind me.”

“That would be very appreciated,” Augusta told him, disregarding the slight tangent.

“I’ll do it now,” Severus responded, about to Summon a quill and parchment before slanting a glance at Neville and going to grab it from Poppy’s office instead. “Remus, we need to… to call a meeting, or something.”

“I know. And you know what, I’m inviting Amy, too. Merlin knows Susan won’t let this go, and this is---he cursed a child!”

“He hired someone and then baited them into locking you in a cage for three days,” Severus reminded him, scribbling down an address and then Summoning Kreacher.

“He did what?” Poppy asked, spinning to look at Remus. “Hawke--”

“Yes, but there’s no proof of that one,” Remus told him. “There’s proof of this one, probably. And this is worse.”

“That,” Severus told his partner, “is debatable. But I agree, we should invite Amy. You’re thinking of opening a case? Hello, Kreacher. You know Augusta, I’m sure, but she and her grandson are going to be staying in the Slipton property for the foreseeable future, and they may have Healers and other people visiting as well. Can you assign Augusta an assistant to help with anything she needs?”

“He might as well pop them in, too,” Remus commented. “House elf magic is different, it may not affect him as much. And yes, or at least talking about opening a case.”

“I’ll assign Whipsy, sir, she’s free and very organized,” Kreacher told him. “And I can bring you both over now, if you’d like?” he asked Augusta.

“Yes, that would be lovely, Kreacher,” she told him. “Thank you.”

They were snapped away, and then Severus and Remus were left with Poppy, who was watching them both with a gobsmacked expression.

“Explain.”

They didn’t explain, not in full. There was too much to do, and frankly, people that needed an explanation more. They did, however, promise to invite her to the meeting, which was growing quite a bit larger than Severus would have liked. It was also set to include Hermione’s parents, and possibly Ron’s, and Severus was getting a headache about it all.

After a night of angry debate, the kids had insisted on staying for their exams, and after news that Neville had miraculously recovered just two nights into his stay in the country, Severus, Remus, and Sirius threw up wards around all the students, watched the map religiously, and allowed them to stay for the last two weeks of classes.

So Severus found himself at the Head Table at the Leaving Feast, compulsively finding his in-the-know students one after the other as he swept his eyes over the hall. Harry, Susan, Hermione, Ron. Harry, Susan, Hermione, Ron. Most of them at different tables, and so his eyes flickered back and forth across the room, ensuring their safety. Harry, Susan, Hermione, Ron.

“Sev,” Remus murmured. “They’re fine. The minute they feel anything less than perfect, we’ll get them far away, but you know nothing will happen today.”

Severus shot him a look, but knew he was right. Dumbledore likely needed to make new plans, especially in light of what they’d recently uncovered. Other students, going back fifty years or so, who suddenly got ill and had to be sent home. Most of them had fully recovered, but had needed to be homeschooled. Dumbledore had arranged complimentary tutoring for them. Heirs, or at least potential ones, Severus guessed.

One of them had died, in his home in the middle of Wizarding London, surrounded by a large magical family.

The same plan for fifty years at least, and this time it had failed. Dumbledore would back away, would do some thinking, would come back with something new. Still, Severus kept sweeping his eyes over the hall and reached out to Remus, clasping their hands together to keep from dragging everyone he cared about to Belgium.

He didn’t notice the stir that happened in response to their joined hands, although Remus did, and promptly turned pink at the whispers.

He also didn’t notice Minerva three seats down, smugly taking money from Aurora.

Chapter Text

“I- I’m sorry, Hermione is a what?”

“She’s an heir of Hogwarts, specifically of Rowena Ravenclaw,” Severus repeated.

“...and what does that mean?” Walter Granger asked. His voice was rather calm, but Severus imagined it wouldn’t be for long.

“This will explain more fully,” Remus told him, holding out three copies of Eridanus’s journal, giving one to him and one to his wife and the third one to Hermione, who looked at it wide-eyed.

“Can you explain it in broad terms, please, Remus?” Poppy asked from her seat in the corner, where she was flipping through her own copy of the book. Amy sat next to her, holding her own copy on her lap and talking rapidly with Susan next to her.

“The Founders poured their own magic into Hogwarts,” Severus started, trying to think how best to present the information. “They either intentionally or unintentionally created heirs, meaning that every fifty years or so, each house produces an individual who exemplifies the values of that Founder. They have access to a certain portion of Hogwarts’ magic, and when all four act together, they can cleanse Hogwarts and replenish its magic themselves.”

“And Hermione is one of these heirs.”

“Well, she’s a potential heir,” Remus said, wiggling a hand back and forth, “which is almost the same thing. Basically, all we need to do is a short ceremony before she’d have full access to these… abilities. Skills.”

“And you want her to do this ceremony.”

“We’re just giving you the information,” Severus assured her.

“We haven’t even decided if we’re letting Harry back in Hogwarts,” Sirius commented.

“Dad!”

“Harry!” Sirius responded in the same tone of voice, turning to look at him. “We haven’t talked about it yet. You know that.”

Kreacher walked into the room, followed by Ron Weasley and who Severus assumed were his parents. “The Weasley family is here,” he announced formally, before turning to Sirius. “Will that be all?”

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the formal language, and Severus could see he was trying not to laugh. “Yes, Kreacher, thank you, Augusta and Neville should be able to find their own way in,” he managed, and the elf snapped his fingers and disappeared.

“Hullo,” Ron’s father said, waving awkwardly. “Er. I’m Arthur Weasley, and this is my wife Molly. Ron said that we needed to… join him here?”

“I thought you were looking to meet us, but I see that I was probably wrong. Poppy,” Molly greeted the Mediwitch, before looking over at Sirius. “...Lord Black?”

“Sirius is fine,” Sirius said with a wince. “This is my husband, Remus, and this is Severus. We’re Harry’s parents.”

“Yes, of course,” Molly managed.

“Er, why did you need to speak with us?” Arthur asked.

“They just needed one of you,” Ron grumbled, walking over to Susan and Harry as if to seek shelter from his parents. “You two were the ones that insisted both of you come.”

“Well, if they wanted to meet us, it’s only logical they wanted to meet both of us,” Molly told her son.

“Thank you both for being here,” Remus told them both. “Please, take a seat.”

“What is this about?” Arthur asked again, hesitating over a chair.

“I--several things,” Remus began. “Part of it is that Ron happened to learn about something at the end of the school year, and while we wanted to give him answers, we wanted to give them to you as well.”

“And the other part?”

“The other part is regarding the fact that we believe someone cursed both Neville and your son at the beginning of his second year, a curse that would have severely incapacitated Ron as well if they had not taken it off again shortly into his third year.”

“What?!” Molly exclaimed, standing up again and going over to Ron. “Are you alright?!”

“It was a year ago, Mum,” he said wearily. “I’m fine.”

“Who cursed him?” Arthur demanded.

Severus took a breath. This was the risky part--the Weasleys were part of the Order of the Phoenix, they’d fought under Dumbledore the entirety of the last war. What were the odds that they’d believe him? “We believe it was Albus Dumbledore.”

Molly immediately scoffed, turning to look at him and crossing her arms. “That’s ridiculous. Albus Dumbledore?”

“I’m sorry, you must be mistaken--” Arthur began.

“Molly, Arthur,” Poppy interrupted, regarding them both with an even stare when they turned to look at her. “Hear them out.”

“It’s a very long story,” Severus told them, “and if you’d like, I’ll explain it all.”

“The long and short of it is that over the years, Dumbledore has done… a lot. But there are powers associated with Hogwarts, powers that Dumbledore has taken for himself, and now we’re trying to take them away, and he doesn’t like that.”

“Powers?”

“Why are you taking anything--what do you mean?”

Remus rubbed at his face. “We should have waited to explain about the heirs,” he murmured to Severus.

“Mum, Dad,” Ron said, standing up. “You didn’t see him. He got all scary in the Hospital Wing, like he wanted Hermione to stop talking when she was figuring out what was wrong with Neville. And then--er--Lord Black?”

“Sirius,” Sirius supplied again.

“Sirius--”

“Mr. Black,” Molly corrected her son.

“He basically threatened to figure out who had cursed Neville if the curse wasn’t lifted, and Dumbledore nodded, and then two days later the curse was lifted.”

“Ron, that doesn’t mean--!”

“You didn’t see him,” Ron repeated. “He did it.”

“Neville is an heir of Hogwarts,” Severus began, his voice sounding quiet after the shouting. “That means that he is able to access part of the magic of Hogwarts. There hasn’t been an heir for over fifty years, and we have reasonable proof that someone has been driving them out of the school. With no heirs, all their power, all that control, it goes right to the Headmaster.”

“You didn’t see him,” Ron repeated, quieter.

Arthur looked at his son, then at Severus, and sat down slowly. “Alright, we’re listening.” Molly hesitated a moment, and then sat down beside him.

“...did you ever sign any contracts with Dumbledore? Agreements, promises, anything on paper,” Remus asked.

“Yes, for the--er--” Arthur hesitated, looking around the room.

“For the order,” Augusta commented dryly as she stepped into the room, “I imagine is what you were going to say.”

“Nev!” Harry ran at his friend, embracing him quickly before dragging him back to the corner with their friends. Hermione immediately started flipping through her journal and showing him pages, asking questions.

“...yes,” Arthur confirmed after a moment.

“Do you still have them?”

“I imagine that he does.” Arthur furrowed his brow. “Are you saying there was something… else in those?”

“He’s been known to weave charms into contracts that encourage… apathy.”

“Loyalty,” Sirius countered. “It only encouraged apathy in you two because loyalty would have been too far-fetched. Basically, it made them never suspicious of him,” he told Arthur and Molly. “There’s a possibility that he did the same to you.”

“Leaving that for a moment,” Augusta commented as she took a seat on the couch next to the Grangers. “Tell me why I should even consider letting Neville back into Hogwarts, regardless of who cursed him.”

“We’re not arguing that you should,” Severus told her. “We’re of half a mind to send Harry to Beauxbatons, I think.” Luckily, Harry was too involved in his current conversation to overhear. “We just wanted to speak to you about it.”

“Do you agree that it would be safe without Dumbledore there?” Sirius asked her.

“I’d be inclined to agree, yes,” Augusta allowed. They’d filled her in over the past year, small stories about their past with Dumbledore, but seeing what had happened in the Hospital Wing had cemented it in her mind.

“Then we should get rid of him,” Sirius finished, holding out his hands in triumph. “Problem solved.”

“Sirius, it really sounds like you want to kill him when you say it like that.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Who says I don’t? But no, that’s why Amy is here.” He gestured at Amy, who looked up and came to join them, leaving Susan with her friends.

Molly looked confused. “I thought she was with--” she looked at Susan.

“I’m her aunt and her guardian,” Amy told her, collapsing into an armchair and chucking the journal at the table beside it. “I’m also Head of the DMLE. You want to arrest him, I assume?”

“I would like that very much, yes,” Sirius agreed.

“Okay. Well, unless you’ve missed out something important, I’m not sure I can do that for you.”

Severus looked at her askance. “He cursed a child! He designed the obstacle course in Harry’s first year, baited it for them, and then put a Death Eater at the end of it. He hired someone so they’d torture Remus when he was eleven.”

“That last one is the only one we can even sort of get him on,” Amy told him. “Accessory to kidnapping, specifically, if we could prove that Dumbledore knew that would happen. Conspiracy if we could prove he did it on purpose. I place even odds on the accessory charge, but bad ones on conspiracy.” She shook her head. “He’s just too well known, and it was too long ago. No one will care.”

“Nothing else?” Sirius asked, voice turning angry. “Really?”

“What would you recommend?” Severus asked her, shooting Sirius a quelling look.

“I would recommend opening a case on him,” Amy told them. “In fact, I’m going to do it with or without you wanting it, just based on what you’ve told me.”

“What does that entail?” Augusta asked.

“Interviews,” Amy told her. “Gathering evidence, uncovering past wrongdoing. You’ve told me a lot,” she gestured to Sirius, Severus, and Remus, “but others might tell me more. Especially if we can get to some people closer to him.”

Severus regarded her for a moment, thinking. “His brother works in Hogsmeade,” he confided. “We’ve never spoken to him, because we don’t really have any questions to ask and we couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t turn around and tell Dum--Albus.”

“He owns the Hog’s Head,” Remus added. “Aberforth.”

Amy blinked. “How did I not know that? Actually, the fact that I didn’t know that gives me hope he’ll be helpful.” She pulled out a notebook and a quill and began taking notes.

“Minerva,” Augusta added. “If you’re looking for people close to him.”

“She’s probably tied with a multitude of charisma charms,” Severus commented.

“That doesn’t mean she forgot things,” Augusta countered. “Just that she doesn’t see them as bad. Correct?”

“Alright. Aberforth Dumbledore, Minerva. Other teachers at Hogwarts, I presume. People from his hometown, whatever that is.”

“Mould-on-the-Wold,” Severus supplied. “We got some information from a portrait there, a while ago.”

“Who’s going to investigate?” Sirius asked. “You? The DMLE? Because I’ve met some of your Aurours, and--”

Amy raised an eyebrow at him. “A select team. I have a few in mind, mostly foreigners or people that didn’t go to Hogwarts. This is my job, Sirius.”

“You might talk to people who left the Order,” Arthur supplied shyly.

Severus turned to look at him, having half-forgotten the Weasleys were there. The rest of them did the same.

“...if you’re right about the charms?” he continued. “If they’d left, their contracts may have ended. I can get you some names.”

“Arthur--”

“It’s an investigation,” he told his wife. “Don’t you want to find out the truth?”

She bit her lip, but nodded at him.

“Alright, if that’s decided,” Augusta announced, “I came here to discuss whether you are sending your children back to that school.”

At this, the Grangers perked up again. “Hermione hasn’t told us any of this,” Walter said, raising an eyebrow at his daughter across the room who was still reading the journal. “Since that petrification business, of course.”

He said it so nonchalantly that Severus balked. “Did…” he hesitated. “Petrification is not normal in the course of a magical education. Dumbledore told you that, right?” As he said the words, he realized the stupidity of them.

Walter looked at him. “Of course I know that.” He seemed confused. “What do you mean? Of course we were worried, but you seemed to have it well in hand by the time we got there. We wanted to take her home, but they said the cure might be available any day, so we really ought to leave her there.”

“Right.” Severus took a breath. “And you’re aware that she might have died?”

“What?” Mary Granger said, looking at her husband and then at Severus. “I was under the impression your--you knew all about being petrified, and how to help her. As soon as we walked in, Nurse--Doctor?” she turned to look at Poppy.

“Mediwitch, actually, but nurse is the Muggle equivalent,” Poppy told them.

“--Mediwitch Poppy told us she’d be right as rain in a few weeks, and that it was like a coma, but more stable.”

“You’re correct, of course,” Remus told her. “But the Basilisk itself, the creature that Petrified her, could have killed her.”

The Grangers stared at him. “No,” said Walter, finally. “I suppose we didn’t know that. It was a… a monster? They said that you protected them,” he told Severus.

“Making direct eye contact with a Basilisk will kill you instantly,” Severus told them, as gently as he could. “We were all Petrified because we were looking into a mirror, rather than directly at it.”

Mary stood up, and then sat down again immediately. “Oh,” she said finally. “I had thought--oh.”

Hermione, who’d been mostly ignoring them, sat up and looked over worriedly at her mother’s movement.

“You mean he didn’t--!” Poppy stopped herself with a huff. “Oh, well, of course not. Alright. Better include that in your case, then, Madame Bones.”

“Amy, or Amelia, please,” Amy told her. “And I will. Could I interview the two of you, later?”

“This doesn’t answer my question,” Augusta said. “For all that I am sorry for the miscommunication and the danger your daughter faced,” she said aside to the Grangers. “Are you going to be sending her back to school?”

“What?” Hermione asked. “You have to! I have to do the binding ceremony.”

“We haven’t spoken about that yet, Hermione,” her father told her. “We need to read this little book too, and talk more with--with Harry’s parents.”

“But I can help,” Hermione insisted. “Eridanus was an heir of Ravenclaw, dad, he talks all about it. And you should have seen the castle this year. And with two heirs, we could do a bunch of stuff!”

“...what sorts of things?” Walter said hesitantly.

“Like… like talk to the portraits, and have them do things for us, and they’d listen.”

“Currently, Dumbledore controls them,” Severus added for Amy’s notes.

“We can also call the Sorting Hat, or it says we can,” she said. “Apparently it was some kind of advisor, sometimes, telling heirs what was going on.”

“Didn’t binding make Neville sick?” her mother asked.

“No, that was the curse,” Neville said, walking over to join Hermione and his grandmother. “Gran, I want to go back. I can really help, now, and the binding is already so much better. Look!” he raised his wand and a light appeared at the end of it.

All the adults, save the Grangers, looked at him in surprise.

“...you can cast wandlessly,” Augusta said slowly.

“Yep! And a bunch of other spells are easier, too,” Neville said. “I’ve been trying them out while we’re here, since we can’t do magic at the safe house.”

Augusta looked dumbfounded for a moment before taking a breath. “That doesn’t mean it’s safe, Neville. You almost died, remember.”

“Yeah, but now that he knows that we know, he won’t do that again!”

Augusta leveled her grandson with a look. “I find it difficult to predict the actions of a madman. We also haven’t proven that it was him.”

It was Neville’s turn to roll his eyes. “It was.” He sighed. “If Hermione’s going back, I have to go, she’ll need me there to help her.”

“If Neville’s going back, I have to go,” Hermione told her parents. “For… the same reason.”

Harry, Susan and Ron walked up behind their friends.

“I just really want to go back, and I wasn’t even cursed or injured this year,” Harry offered.

“I was only cursed for a bit,” Ron added.

Susan looked at her aunt for a moment. “I’ve never been injured, cursed, or otherwise hurt.”

Amy sighed. “Yes, fine, Susan, I get your point. Hopefully we’ll be able to build this case quickly--I’ll think about it.”

“We’ll all think about it,” Mary added, frowning at her daughter. “After you tell us exactly what’s been going on for the last few years.”

Hermione, looking rather downtrodden, agreed, and the other children did too after a moment.

Severus, Sirius, and Remus discussed it that night after Harry had gone to sleep.

“Alright. Points in favor,” Remus started.

“Hermione’s right that with two heirs, a lot might change. We could strip Dumbledore of a lot of his power, and remove most of the reason to worry.”

“You two are still there,” Sirius added. “You both are going to get letters to return, I imagine, you’re both fantastic.”

“I got one from the Wizarding Examinations Authority,” Severus admitted. “They want to see my curriculum, if next year’s results are the same as this year’s results.”

“And Dumbledore will want to keep the charisma charms on, for any good they’re doing.” Remus added.

“Harry wants to be there to help his friends, and I imagine Susan and Ron at least will be going back,” Sirius said, continuing the list.

“Also, if he doesn’t go, we’d still have to figure out somewhere else to send him,” Severus noted. “And I imagine that being a transfer student at a foreign school is even worse than being a local student.”

“Points against,” Remus said.

“Dumbledore has now tried to murder, or at least gravely injure, a 14-year-old,” Sirius said at once.

There was a beat of silence.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason to me, as well.”

Severus sighed. “But he’s been targeting heirs, and Harry isn’t one.”

“Yet.”

“I hate to say it, but I’m not sure he’s in that much danger from Dumbledore, at least right now. And if Dumbledore is arrested a few months into the school year, like Amy wants?”

“Then Harry will immediately pitch a fit to go back to Hogwarts.”

“There’s also just… okay.” Remus sighed. “I want at least one of us to be with Harry. That leaves homeschooling and Hogwarts, and if we’re homeschooling him, then at least one of us would need to quit.”

“And then there are fewer people at Hogwarts to help them deal with whatever is happening,” Severus finished the thought. “And we’d have to bring in other people to help teach him, because we’re only qualified to teach three or four of the subjects we’d need.”

“And socialization is an important part of an education as well,” Remus added.

Sirius groaned. “Did we just talk ourselves into sending him again?”

“It’s the safest choice, I think,” Severus said quietly. “But it doesn’t feel like it.”

“It’s the safest place with us.” Sirius corrected. “We could send him to stay somewhere else.” At Remus and Severus’ glares, he raised both hands. “I’m not saying we should! Just that we’re making an assumption. You two used to love when I’d point out assumptions.”

Their discussion was tabled for a few weeks until Severus and Remus got letters offering them another year of employment, and then after a short discussion, they called Harry down to the kitchen.

“Sev and I have been invited to teach again,” Remus told him.

“Cool! The curse is broken, then?” Harry asked. “Since this is your second year all by yourself.”

“I--” Remus hesitated, blinking. “...yes, I suppose.” He waved a hand. “That’s not the point. The point is that we need to discuss your return to Hogwarts.”

Harry nodded rapidly, but didn’t speak.

Sirius sighed. “...you can go back.”

A smile lit up Harry’s face, and he twitched, as if he’d like to run off and inform his friends immediately, but he stayed seated. “Thank you!”

It was almost impossible to remain solemn when Harry was that happy, but Severus attempted it anyway. “There are more rules.”

“I--yeah, alright. What rules?”

“You tell us everything,” Remus said, leaning forward. “I’m not kidding, Harry. We’ll ask Hermione and Neville, and maybe even Ron and Susan, to tell us things too, but with you it’s a requirement.”

“I have been telling you things,” Harry complained.

“I know, and that’s amazing. Thank you for that,” Sirius told their son. “But we mean everything. If you feel weird about a project, if someone says hi that you’re not expecting, if someone stops talking to you. If you have a headache, even if you think you know why.”

“...what if one of my friends tells me a secret?” Harry asked.

Sirius hesitated. “I--please use your best judgement,” he said. “If even a part of you thinks, maybe we should tell an adult--”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Harry said, nodding. “I can do that, I’d do that anyway, and I’ll tell the others that’s what I’m doing.”

Severus relaxed. He’d expected more of a fight. “Thank you. As soon as this is over, I promise you can go back to keeping secrets.”

Harry grinned. “Sev, I don’t have any secrets from you! Don’t be ridiculous.”

Sirius barked a laugh. “Say it with confidence, kid. Say it with confidence.”

The summer was weirdly quiet, other than that. Almost a month and a half went by with nothing happening, other than Severus and Remus updating their curriculums and infrequent updates from Amy about the state of her case against Dumbledore--mostly, the updates were ‘it’s happening, and you can’t have any details’, but they took what they could.

The Quidditch World Cup was in England that year, and Sirius had gotten himself and Harry tickets almost immediately after they’d gone on sale. Severus and Remus, on the other hand, had quickly opted out of going to a Quidditch game where they didn’t even know anyone playing.

They both got back that evening, Harry babbling so quickly that only half the words were intelligible.

“I take it that some people played Quidditch well,” Severus remarked when he took a breath.

“It was awesome, Sev! A bunch of people were camping out, but Dad said we couldn’t.”

“We didn’t have overnight tickets, lightning. I didn’t think you’d want to. Next time, we will.”

“Okay!” Harry jumped up and down in place a little. “Neville and Ron are camping with Ron’s family, I told him to write to me tomorrow and tell me all about it. I’m going to write him. Night!”

Remus blinked and watched him run up the stairs. “...he knows that Neville cannot possibly get that until tomorrow afternoon, right?”

Sirius collapsed into a chair. “I’m old. Remus, I’m so old, please… rub my feet or something. It’s been a day, I cannot believe you two left me alone.”

“It was your idea,” Severus said.

“You love Quidditch,” Remus said at the same moment, but he sat down next to his husband and pulled Sirius’s feet into his lap.

The next morning, Severus woke up to Harry shaking him. “Harry?”

Harry shoved a paper in his face. “Can we go to Neville’s? Please?”

Severus blinked down at the paper, taking in the headline -- SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP -- and swung his legs out of bed. “Grab your Dad and Papa.”

“Yeah, they’re my next step,” Harry said, rushing back out of the room.

”Expecto Patronum,” Severus cast, imagining Harry’s smile when he’d opened his birthday gift, then spoke to the silvery antelope. “To Augusta Longbotton--we saw the paper, Harry wants to come over. Is Neville alright?”

He pulled on his clothes hurriedly and then almost ran into Remus as he rushed down the stairs. “I sent Augusta a Patronus,” he said quickly.

Remus deflated. “Good. Fucking hell, I’m glad they didn’t camp out.”

Severus nodded in agreement pushing past him to find Sirius and Harry.

He burst into the kitchen and started to speak, but was interrupted by a silver housecat. “Neville is fine, and home,” it said immediately in Augusta’s voice. “Harry may come over this afternoon for lunch.”

“I need to see him, though,” Harry complained.

“His grandmother wants a morning with him,” Remus said gently. “I imagine she was very scared, Harry. You’ll see him this afternoon.”

Harry sighed. “Fine.” His eyes widened. “I sent him a letter all about how great the game was, and how I wanted to be camping with them!”

Sirius choked out a laugh. “I’m sure he’ll understand, Harry.

Chapter Text

Severus and Remus moved into Hogwarts castle as usual, taking a few days to get everything settled in their rooms before students were due to arrive. Harry, on the other hand, had campaigned to take the train with his friends, until Sirius pointed out that his friends all knew that his parents were either at Hogwarts or in Hogsmeade, and they might ask him why he’d backtracked all the way to London. Harry opted to stay with Sirius for a few days, and simply meet his friends at Hogsmeade station instead.

This gave Severus and Remus a few days to themselves at Hogwarts, and they spent the time exploring to figure out if anything had changed, as well as fully warding their rooms and setting up some basic protection and warning spells on various things. They didn’t bother with subtlety -- if Dumbledore had thought them ignorant of heirs before, he surely didn’t now. This was open war, albeit secret from the majority of everyone else who lived in the school.

The changes were small, but telling. More dusty, unused classrooms had disappeared, and a few rooms had appeared that they quickly decided were study rooms.

“Of course the heir of Ravenclaw makes study rooms appear,” Remus remarked.

“Hopefully this means our rooms will be quieter,” Severus pointed out.

“Hopefully.”

Having set up everything the way they’d planned, they both immersed themselves in their curriculums, making last-minute changes and adjustments. They’d get final class lists at the first staff meeting, but unless something crazy had happened…

“I’m sorry, what?” Severus asked a day later, blinking at Minerva.

“We’ve had to add another History of Magic OWL class,” she repeated, dryly. “Here is that new schedule, keeping that in mind. As with other OWL classes, houses are still mixed, based mostly on which class fits a student’s schedule better.”

“Huh,” Severus managed, taking the sheet of parchment from her.

Remus elbowed him and gave him a wide smile. Severus raised his eyebrows in response.

“Alright, that’s the scheduling sorted,” Minerva finished, sitting back in her chair. “Headmaster?”

“A few announcements,” Dumbledore said, smiling sweetly at all of them.

Merlin, but Severus had a headache already.

“We are in final talks with a possible addition to the staff this year,” he continued. “We will be hiring a dueling instructor, if all goes to plan, Alastor Moody.”

“Moody?” Remus asked from beside him.

“A dueling instructor?” Filius asked, sounding a bit confused.

Severus glanced at him, remembering with a start that Filius had been a dueling champion when he was younger.

“The reason why we are hiring a dueling instructor,” Dumbledore said, before honest-to-Merlin pausing for dramatic effect, “is because this year, we will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.”

There were various sounds of confusion or outrage around the table, but Severus just stared at Dumbledore, wondering why he was in any way surprised.

The only person who didn’t look shocked was Minerva, who seemed to weather the sea of questions calmly. “Hush!” she said finally, and the table fell silent.

“Headmaster,” Aurora began, “I’ve heard truly awful things about the tournament. Have… what safety measures have been taken?”

Dumbledore nodded to her. “An excellent concern. We will, of course, limit who may compete to those who are already of age, and I’ve already arranged and discussed the tasks with not only the Department of Magical Games and Sports, but also the heads of both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.”

There was silence for a moment, then Filius spoke up. “I take it that each school will bring possible champions for the day of the choosing? We’ll need to find housing for them.”

“They’ve arranged their own housing,” Dumbledore assured him, “and they’ll be here all year.”

“...all of them?” Filius squeaked.

“Yes! We have a series of events planned in addition to the various challenges. Regardless, Alastor will be here to run a dueling championship for all those who cannot compete in the Tournament.”

“Now hold on--”

“Headmaster, what--”

Severus sat back in his chair, watching the chaos.

“This is crazy,” Remus muttered to him.

Severus glanced over at his partner. “I’m not quite sure what you expected,” he told him. “At least Harry and his friends aren’t yet seventeen.”

There still wasn’t word on Moody by the start of the Start-of-Term Feast, and both Remus and Sirius had told so many stories about him the night before that Severus was glad he hadn’t shown up. They really didn’t need a loose cannon around Hogwarts this year.

Of course, only part way through Dumbledore’s welcome speech, the doors to the Great Hall banged open--an impressive feat, given their size--and a man strode through them, leaning heavily on a wooden cane as he made his way toward the Head Table.

“Ah--our new Dueling Instructor, Auror Alastor Moody,” Dumbledore hastened to say.

“Former Auror,” Alastor growled.

As he got closer, Severus could see the magical eye spinning wildly, but any other observations were immediately overshadowed by the feel of the man’s mind. Severus grabbed blindly for Remus’s hand on the table, trying to ground himself, as he pulled away from the noxious mind that was getting closer.

“Sev?” Remus asked worriedly.

Severus shook his head at him, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. He hadn’t even been trying to read the man--who was he? Severus had only met a few people in his life like this.

He had to focus the rest of the meal on his shields, keeping them up firmly. It usually wouldn’t be difficult, but something about the man’s mind was like a black hole. A narcissist? Remus and Sirius had said he was reckless, paranoid. Probably traumatized by what he’d seen and gone through as an Auror. Severus shuddered and resolved to be in the same room with the man as little as possible.

He almost missed Dumbledore announcing the Tournament completely, and only noticed the roar of disapproval when he told them Quidditch wouldn’t be happening this year. Harry caught his eye, a look of betrayal on his face.

He had to clear his mind for almost thirty minutes that night, strengthening his shields and trying to ease the headache that had set in with a vengeance. “Dumbledore must be reeling,” he told Remus, who was on the couch with a book and a cup of tea. “That or he’s used to it by now.”

“He’d be worse off than you?” Remus asked curiously.

“I’m not the one who attempts to read everyone I meet,” Severus said dryly. “I had my shields up from the start of dinner, and I still felt nauseated.”

“He didn’t react,” Remus told him. “I looked, when you were having trouble, I was worried he was doing something to you. He looked totally normal.”

“He must be used to it, then.”

Remus hummed. “They are friends. Moody only took this post as a favor to Dumbledore, I’m pretty sure.”

Severus shuddered. “That means we have to keep an eye on him.”

“I’ll do it,” Remus volunteered. “Or Sirius, when he’s here. We’re not as sensitive as you are, apparently.”

Severus sighed, lying back on the floor. “Thanks.”

“Mhm. Alright, bed?”

“Yes, bed. I have twice as many classes tomorrow as I had last year,” Severus groaned, getting to his feet.

“Poor you, having doubled your OWL students in a single year,” Remus teased, walking into his room.

“Ha!” Severus laughed, loud enough for Remus to hear it, as he ducked into his room just long enough to change into pajamas, then walked back over to the other room and climbed in on his side of the bed. “No Sirius tonight?”

“Nope,” Remus hummed, curling up and laying his forehead on Severus’s shoulder, their usual way of sleeping.

The first day of classes was just as hectic as Severus had expected, but he found himself enjoying it even more than he had the previous year. Now that most of his students were mostly caught up, his curriculum wasn’t a patchwork anymore, and he knew he’d enjoy every lesson. The OWL classes were mixed houses, just as Minerva had told him, and were gratifyingly enthusiastic.

There was only one NEWTs class, but to have more would have been implausible -- the only subject with two classes was Charms, which was a subject required for almost every job in the Wizarding World.

He walked into said NEWTs class that first afternoon with high hopes, although there was a pang of missing last year’s seventh years. They’d all graduated, and Severus was glad they were making their way in the world and all that, but he’d had a soft spot for his first class of NEWT students, who’d gone above and beyond to prepare themselves for the exam and have fun besides.

Still, he knew all the students in this class too, and this year, the curriculum would probably be much easier.

“Good afternoon,” he told the few students already in the room, dropping his bag on the desk and unlocking the second drawer down to pull out their syllabi. Locking everything was second nature now, although anything truly secret he carried on his person or left in the Hogsmeade flat with Sirius.

“Professor,” Eloise McGill said, “Is it true we get to do our own projects next term?”

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. “You know I’ll absolutely tell you everything you need to know in about ten minutes,” he told her. “But yes, within reason.”

“Cool!” she shouted, before quieting slightly. “Oliver said he got to do his about Muggle sports.”

Severus cocked his head at her. “You’re on the Quidditch team,” he guessed.

“Yep,” she confirmed.

“Yes, he did do his project on Muggle sports. Specifically, on early Muggle sports and early Magical sports, and where the two might have diverged,” he told her. “However, I won’t take the same project twice.”

“Oh, no sir.” She shook her head, laughing. “He talked enough about it last year as it is.”

He grinned at her. “I look forward to seeing your proposal, then.”

More students wandered in the room in a gaggle, and Severus took note of them as they sat down, counting carefully. “We’re waiting on one or two more, I believe,” he told them. “We’ll give them a minute to find the room.”

“I always walk my classes the day before,” Lucian Bole said. “That way I don’t get lost.”

“That’s because you’re a swot,” Beatrice Haywood commented with a grin. “Some of us prefer to try our luck.”

“Considering how your league’s doing, I wouldn’t put much stock in your luck,” they retorted.

The door opened and the last two Slytherin girls walked in, and Severus sighed in relief. “Alright, take your seats.” He floated the stack of syllabi to the nearest student. “Take one and pass them on, please. I believe there are a few new faces in the room. I’m sure your Heads of House told you last year when you choose classes, but if you didn’t take History last year, be advised that you’ll do much better with some supplemental reading. Come see me after class if you’d like a list.” He paused, waiting for the stack of paper to make its way around the room, and then continued. “Take a second, read over the syllabus, and then I’ll answer questions and walk through some specifics.”

He tidied his papers, taking a silent roll call for Minerva’s records and glancing over his own copy of the syllabus. Finally, he cleared his throat to get their attention. “Alright. I’m sure that everyone has a question about the second semester projects, so first I’ll take questions on literally anything else.”

Lucian raised their hand.

“Yes, Mr. Bole?”

“Last year they had extra readings, will we have those?”

“Their extra readings are your normal readings, actually. Last year’s students did a bit of catch-up in order to be prepared for NEWTs, but as you did the majority of your catching-up last year, we skipped straight to the fun stuff.”

Lucian grinned at him and nodded, lowering his hand.

“Miss Perio?”

“After the projects that we’re not talking about yet--” she paused and grinned at the titters that swept the room, “--it just says ‘study days’. Are those optional or required attendance?”

“Required,” he answered, “unless you talk to me personally and convince me otherwise. However, it’s more of a resource than anything else--you can bring and work on other subjects, if you’d like, although I probably won’t be able to help you with them.”

“What about defense?” Lydia Perio asked with a laugh in her voice.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. “I imagine you’re remembering that I taught that class a few days a month in your fifth year,” he said dryly. “In which case, I’d be glad to answer questions, as long as no one else has a question about the subject I teach currently.”

“That’s absolutely what I was remembering, Professor.”

There were grins around the room, and Severus barely resisted rolling his eyes at their cheek. “Alright. Any other non-project questions?” Silence. “Questions about the project.”

He glanced around the room of raised hands and didn’t fight his grin. He loved seventh years.

The rest of the day went similarly well, and the first day of classes meant that no one had a need for a study room yet, so Severus, Remus and Sirius had a quiet dinner in their rooms, work sitting alongside their plates.

“These bloody wankers,” Sirius managed after a while, sifting through his stack of parchment, and then whining as half of it fell to the ground.

“What, love?” Remus asked, hardly listening as he made notes on his different classes. “A new bill?”

“No,” Sirius sighed. “Nothing as official as that. But Merlin forbid I use a bloody pencil, or even a pen, or any sort of Muggle object. Half the Wizengamot would send it back on principle, and the other half would think about it.”

“Surely Amy doesn’t mind,” Severus commented.

“Well, no.” Sirius gave up, tossing the stack onto a nearby chair. “Let me be dramatic in peace, please.”

“Sorry,” Severus told him, grinning. “All quill and parchment, you say? The horror.”

Sirius pointed at him. “You,” he said gravely, “are a buzzkill.”

“I’m aware,” Severus told him, equally somber.

“Door,” Remus said absently.”

“What?”

”Door.” He pointed toward the front room where, yes, knocking could be heard.

“Monsieur Buzzkill can get it,” Sirius announced.

Severus rolled his eyes but got to his feet, walking into the front room and then to the main door, opening it quickly.

“Hi,” Neville said, out of breath, Hermione behind him with a bag held gingerly in her hands. “We, er, need homework help?”

“It’s the first day,” Severus told him dryly, but opened the door wider. Once they were both inside, he locked the door and set up a few more privacy charms, then turned to them. “What’s going on?”

“Are Remus and Sirius here?”

Hermione shot her friend a look, probably at the impropriety of calling professors by their first names.

“Sirius, Remus,” Severus shouted in response.

Sirius came into the room quickly, followed by a stumbling Remus.

“Miss Granger. Nev,” Remus greeting them. “What’s going on?”

“Tell them what you told me,” Neville told Hermione, elbowing her.

“I--” Hermione started, glaring at Neville, before turning to them primly. “Professors,” she said. “Er. Mr. Black.”

“Please, dear Merlin, everyone just call me Sirius,” Sirius complained. “Please.”

“That’s not going to happen, love,” Remus told him. “But good try.” He refocused on Hermione. “What’s wrong?”

“So, the diadem has been… popping to me, I suppose, all summer. And I asked Neville when I saw him at the big meeting, and he told me that was normal.”

“It was normal, at least before the binding,” Neville added. “Got ruddy annoying, really.”

“But it’s also been… talking to me, I suppose, and so I told Neville--”

“Talking to you?” Sirius repeated.

“Yes.”

“I told her the sword doesn’t talk to me, and then we came straight here,'' Neville reported. “She’s got it there in the bag, it popped to her last night and hasn’t left yet.”

“Can I see it?” Severus asked.

Hermione nodded and opened the bag, lifting the Diadem out with care and handing it over.

“Right,” Remus said. “Set it down, Sev, let’s see.”

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked.

“Inanimate objects don’t talk unless they’ve been imbued with something strong,” Severus told her as he set the diadem on a nearby table and cast a few wards to keep any bounceback contained. “Go ahead, Remus. So it could be bad or good, but with our luck…”

“You’re saying it’s cursed?”

“I’m saying it might be, and it behooves us to find out,” Severus told her, watching his partner send a series of spells at the object.

“There’s something on it,” Remus said after a moment. “Something not on the sword, with all those spells we ran on it last year. But I can’t tell if it’s dark. Sev, your turn?”

Severus nodded. Remus’s spells were about the same strength as his, but he sent a few darker ones at the object, and then sighed and reached out with his mind gently. Sometimes curses that manifested this strongly…

He jolted back from the diadem, putting up a few more wards in quick succession. “Cursed,” he announced, fighting a sudden headache and closing his eyes tightly. “Very, very cursed. Remus--pain potion, please?”

“I’m getting that box,” Sirius announced, walking through to the fire in their private rooms.

“Here,” Remus said, pressing a bottle into his hands. “High strength, the red ones.”

Severus labeled his pain potions according to their strength, something he’d stolen from Damocles, and he only swallowed half the contents of the bottle before passing it back. “Thank you.”

“Is it… am I going to be alright?” Hermione asked worriedly.

“Can I cast a few diagnostic spells?” Remus asked.

“Sirius should check her mental magic too,” Severus told him. “I… cannot, right now.”

Hermione must have nodded, because Severus heard the mumbles of Remus casting a series of spells. Then the roar of the fire in the other room, before Sirius swept back in.

“Alright!” he said.

“Shush,” Remus admonished him, “Sev’s got a migraine.”

“Just a headache,” Severus reassured him, opening his eyes slowly as the pain potion took effect. “You’ve got the box?”

“Mhm. Safe to touch it?”

“Should be. Keep a solid mental shield up, though, it’s a strong one.”

“Gotcha."

“She’s clean,” Remus announced. “If it’s alright, Miss Granger, I’d like Sirius to take a quick look at you using Legilimency. He won’t be examining any memories, just looking for adverse effects from the diadem.”

“That’s fine,” Hermione said in a small voice.

“Alright, take a seat,” Sirius told her, planting them both on the couch. “It might hurt a bit, if you’ve never practiced any form of Occlumency. Sev’s a lighter touch than I am. But it should only take a few seconds. Ready?”

Hermione nodded, and Sirius closed his eyes, brow wrinkling in concentration. After a moment or two, Hermione straightened in her seat, caught off guard by the mental magic, but it was only a few seconds until Sirius opened his eyes again. “All done,” he told her, then addressed the room at large. “I can see where it touched, just on the edges--unless there’s another cursed object near her, and we should run tests for that--but it should dissipate in a week or two. Good instincts,” he added to Neville.

Hermione exhaled shakily, standing and moving next to Neville again. “You’re locking it away?”

“It’s an anti-curse box,” Sirius explained. “Well, really it’s an anti-magic box, wards against anything you can imagine, but it’s used to contain cursed objects.”

“We’ll keep it there until we can take it off,” Severus added.

Hermione bit her lip. “This means we can’t do the binding, right?”

“You’re right,” Severus sighed. “We’ll dive into it, figure out how to take the curse off. In the meantime, the box should keep it from popping to you, but if it does you bring it straight back to us. Alright? Even if you need to duck in between classes.”

Hermione nodded. “I can do that.”

Chapter Text

“Do you think he’ll come?” Harry asked for approximately the 50th time that morning.

“I’m not sure,” Severus told him, pouring himself more tea. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Harry groaned, chewing rapidly. “But what do you think!”

“I think that if I were a famous Quidditch player, I wouldn’t go on a year-long field trip,” Severus told him. “But that doesn’t mean anything. Harry, we’ll find out tonight anyway, remember?”

Harry groaned again, grabbing a last piece of toast. “Alright, I’m off, I’ve got Potions.”

“Have fun,” Sirius told him absently, head down on the table. He’d stumbled in sometime this morning, apparently after imbibing a fair amount of alcohol with a business associate, and now he was paying for it. He winced visibly as Harry slammed the door behind him.

His day went fairly normally. Excitement and apprehension for the Tournament had died down for a while over the first month of classes, but now that students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were set to arrive, the energy of the castle was through the roof again. That, paired with the fact that the first bracket of the dueling competition was this weekend, made it harder than usual to keep his students on task.

The first week or so of classes, people had been curious about the Tournament. Remus had reported a similar interest in his classes, and they’d both decided to answer honestly. The Tournament was dangerous, people had died. There was no information on what changes had been made this year. Tasks had ranged from crossing magical lava to fighting monsters in a snowstorm, and changed from year to year. No, Severus had no more information than that, and that happened to be the truth. Dumbledore had been rather tight-lipped about it all, which was no different than expected.

Sadly, the bloody history of the tournament seemed not to have dampened the spirits of his students, and Severus spent most of the day halting conversations about who, exactly, was going to enter the competition. When dinner arrived, he just wanted to fall into his normal seat. Instead, he was conscripted into organizing the entire student body into somewhat orderly lines as they waited for their guests to arrive.

“It’s freezing,” Harry commented, having eschewed the careful lines to stand next to his parents. “Can you Conjure that fire, Pa--Professor?”

Remus sighed, but Transfigured a jar from a quill in his pocket and then Conjured a flame inside it, handing the contraption over. “Go share it with your friends,” he suggested.

“He means go stand with the other fourth years,” Severus added.

Harry huffed but did as he was told, cupping the jar in his hands.

They didn’t have to wait long, and soon a giant carriage was landing in the middle of the courtyard.

“Dramatic,” Remus murmured.

Severus tried not to laugh.

A woman stepped out of the carriage, and then maybe fifteen teenagers, all looking around with wide eyes.

“My dear Madame Maxime,” Dumbledore said, stepping forward. “Welcome to Hogwarts.”

Severus and Remus, standing in the back with the other staff, missed the rest of the conversation, but surmised it from the hand gestures and body language.

The Beauxbatons contingent was escorted in by Filius, and then there was a ship… rising from the Black Lake?

“That lake isn’t connected to any other waterways,” Severus said in confusion.

Remus fixed him with a look. “...we’re magic, Sev.”

Severus bit his lip. “Yes, but then--” he cut himself off with a sigh. “Yes, alright. Perhaps I’ll ask them about it.”

The ship docked on shore quickly and out stepped a man, again followed by fifteen or so of his students.

“Dumbledore!” the man called out, walking off the gangplank quickly.

Again, the conversation was lost to the wind, and Severus shivered, bored and cold.

The Durmstrang students and their instructor were escorted inside by Horace, and then Minerva quickly funneled the Hogwarts students to the Great Hall for dinner. Professors, of course, were seated last, and Severus had barely gotten a bite of potatoes before Dumbledore was standing and giving a speech. They had gotten warning, at least, about Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch, and Severus nodded at both of them as they were introduced and then sat down at the Head Table. Beside him, Remus was shooting covetous looks at a plate of chicken, just out of reach.

The Goblet of Fire was revealed, and the rules explained, and Severus scanned the room as the Age Line was announced, noting the students who immediately started whispering. There were a few ways around an Age Line, but nothing that schoolchildren should be capable of, and most of them were illegal. He was grudgingly approving of the security measures Dumbledore had set down, although he certainly wasn’t going to tell him that.

And then finally they were able to eat. Severus noted the new foreign dishes with acceptance but avoidance--he was a bit of a picky eater, and he was bloody starving--but avoided conversation with anyone but Remus, and thanked Merlin that it was Friday.

He didn’t even bother to visit the Goblet of Fire the next day when entries were allowed, instead spending the day catching up on grading and running more tests on the diadem, which had already been returned twice by Hermione when it had popped to her in the middle of the night.

He was frustrated by the diadem. It would be fairly simple to find out the effects of the curse, and from there its name and how to dismantle it, but that would require opening his mind to it, something that Sirius and Remus had promptly forbidden. Instead, he was stuck going through books and casting charm after charm at the diadem as it sat in its box, hoping for some kind of reaction. It was the best they could do other than bringing in an expert, which they very much didn’t want to do.

Dinner that night was just as ornate as the night before, and House separations were still enforced, and Severus was honestly about to doze off into his pie, when Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat.

“Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” he said grandly, gesturing to the cup.

“Is it sentient?” Remus murmured to him.

Severus shrugged. “It’s very old magic,” he answered, which was sort of an answer in itself. The longer magic was left, the more sentient it could become, after all. The goblet could well have some kind of will of its own, if not truly a mind. “I’ve seen no sign of that, though,” he added. “If it was sentient, we wouldn’t need an Age Line, would we? It could control who could put their name in.”

Remus hummed, and they watched as a scrap of parchment flew out of the goblet and landed in Dumbledore’s hand.

“The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum,” Dumbledore said clearly.

There was an uproar of sound, and Severus saw Harry turn and shake Susan slightly, who patted him on the head with a grin.

“Harry’s going to spend the next year reciting his stats,” Severus said with a groan.

“Yep.”

“The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!”

Severus clapped with the rest of the hall, watching a girl from Beauxbatons follow Krum to the side room where champions were meant to go.

“The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!”

Remus barked a laugh, although it was lost in the general cheering.

“What?”

“Sirius still thinks Harry has a thing for him. If he’s right…”

“How is he going to choose who to root for, between Diggory and Krum?”

Remus laughed again.

Severus took a breath, blocking out Dumbledore as he continued to speak. He’d been half-expecting something bad, but perhaps they would actually be able to ignore the Tournament and focus on everything else that was happening.

“Sev,” Remus bit out, looking past him.

Severus turned and watched the goblet turn red again with a sinking stomach, watched Dumbledore catch the scrap of parchment.

“Harry Potter,” Dumbledore said after a moment, sounding honestly surprised.

“What?” Remus asked faintly from next to him.

“What?!” Severus repeated, much louder.

Harry let out a sort of squeak from his place at the Hufflepuff table and almost fell out of his chair.

“Mr. Potter, please join the others,” Dumbledore said stiffly, glancing at Severus and Remus.

Severus stood and raised an eyebrow, daring him to argue, but he and Remus faced no arguments as they joined Harry in the side room.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Severus turned to Dumbledore. “He’s not competing.”

Dumbledore regarded him for a moment, mouth turning downward. “Indeed, there does seem to have been an error. Mr. Potter, I really must ask - did you put your name in the Goblet?”

Severus pulled Harry to him, Remus automatically standing on his other side.

“No, Headmaster,” Harry said, voice shaking. He turned to look at Severus. “Honestly, I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I mean, I couldn’t have! I’m only fourteen.”

“I’m sorry, what is happening?” Fleur Delacour asked, tilting her head. “Why is this boy here?”

“Harry?” Cedric asked.

The door banged open again, and both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons’ headmasters walked in.

“You are a cheater!” Olympe Maxime announced, marching over to Dumbledore. “Hogwarts cannot have two champions, this is not fair. I demand another champion from my school be chosen.”

“The boy cannot compete,” Igor Karkaroff chimed in. “He is--he is a boy!”

“I don’t even want to compete!” Harry argued, shrinking back into his parents.

“How is it even possible? There was an Age Line!” Olympe cried.

“Now, hold on, friends,” Dumbledore said, making a calming gesture. “We will get this straightened out, I am sure.”

“There’s nothing to straighten out,” Severus said. “Harry isn’t allowed to compete. He doesn’t want to compete. No one else wants him to compete.”

“Yes, just leave the boy out of it,” Igor agreed. “Easy enough.”

“Ah, see, there is a… complication with that,” Dumbledore said. “The goblet is, itself, a magical contract. Once a champion has been chosen, they must compete, or else face magical consequences.”

All the adults burst into speech at once, a cacophony of noise that took close to a minute to peter out as Dumbledore tried to placate them.

“I am not letting my fourteen-year-old compete!” Remus insisted. “He’s not seventeen, it’s against the rules.”

“Those are new rules,” Olympe answered shortly. “A decision was made to limit the age of the champions with an age line, in order to ensure the safety of the children.”

“Then certainly in past years, underage champions required the permission of a parent,” Severus said.

“We absolutely do not give permission,” Remus added.

“I’m afraid that was not part of the contract,” Dumbledore told them. “The goblet does not care about parental consent, though I can assure you that I do.”

Severus fought down a dismissive scoff. “What does the goblet care about?”

Dumbledore blinked at him. “I beg your pardon?”

“I mean, what does ‘competing’ look like?” Severus asked, seeing a possible solution and rushing toward it. “Surely players were not punished for doing badly. Or even for giving up, if a challenge was too hard.”

“And what are these consequences?” Remus demanded.

“The consequences -- I’m afraid it’s impossible to know,” Dumbledore hedged.

“It is a magical drain,” Igor answered instead. “I looked into it myself. The contract pulls on you to compete, and the more it pulls, the more magic it uses up.” He looked down at Harry dismissively. “You might as well send him home for the year, if he won’t be able to do magic until the competition is over.”

“So it would end once the competition does,” Remus rushed to ask.

Igor shrugged. Severus resisted the urge to hex him.

“As to your other question,” Dumbledore began, “I believe it is only the act of participating that the goblet requires. As you say, participants are not punished for giving up, or not doing well.”

“Perfect,” Severus said. “Harry can take a step into whatever you’ve devised and then sit down and wait it out.”

“Just sit there?” Harry asked.

Severus turned to look at them. “It’s to keep you safe,” he assured his son.

Harry grinned. “No, I know. I don’t want to compete, remember? Plus, it’s not fair, Cedric’s the champion,” he added, nodding his head to his Quidditch captain. “But couldn’t I… I don’t know, sit outside or something?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I don’t want people just watching me sit.”

Severus fought a grin. “We’ll discuss particulars later, alright?” Harry nodded, and Severus turned back to Dumbledore. “There you have it. If you can’t get him out, you’ll have one very boring competitor.”

Dumbledore looked at him with an indecipherable expression, then smiled and turned to the other two headmasters. “Is everyone agreed? Mr. Potter will do only enough to satisfy the contract, and there will be no imbalance.”

Igor and Olympe grumbled, but agreed, and Dumbledore made to sweep out of the room, but Severus stopped him before he could.

“I’d like to see the piece of parchment.”

“Pardon me?”

“The piece of parchment? The one with Harry’s name on it.”

“Oh!” Dumbledore went through his pockets for a moment, then shook his head, grinning ruefully. “I’m sorry, Severus, I must have left it out on the table.”

Severus left the room, walking straight to the Head Table, but the meal had ended already, and the tables had been cleared.

“Damn,” he murmured.

“Sev?” Remus asked, coming up behind him with Harry. “Were you hoping to see the handwriting?”

Severus nodded. “Or something else. There are only three schools competing, Remus. Even if you could have gotten past the age line,” he said to Harry, “Its whole purpose is to choose one person from each school. An artifact like this doesn’t make that mistake.”

Remus sighed. “Well, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, let’s… go elsewhere, yeah?”

Severus nodded. “Harry, come to the rooms, please, we need to call your Dad and tell him. I think he’ll probably want to hug you.”

Regardless of what they discussed that night in the rooms--and they discussed a lot--Harry was still required to take part not only in the ‘tasks’ but also in the other parts of the ceremony, according to Dumbledore. They had no reason to trust him, obviously, but the Weighing of the Wands seemed fairly straightforward and unhazardous.

Of course, that was before Severus showed up with Harry and saw Rita Skeeter walking around, looking particularly vicious. She lit up when she saw Harry, and Severus stepped in front of him automatically. They’d dealt with her before -- Sirius had actually had to write to the Daily Prophet and complain about her specifically, threatening legal action, which had taken care of her. Until now, apparently.

“Sev, I’m fine,” Harry muttered behind his back. “She’s probably supposed to be here.”

Severus took a breath and stepped to the side again, letting Harry walk toward the other competitors. He’d expressed a measure of frustration yesterday that one of his parents insisted on accompanying him to every event, since the other competitors didn’t have their parents following them around. ‘They’re of age and you’re not’ was not a compelling argument, apparently.

“Mr. Potter!” Rita Skeeter said almost immediately, walking toward him with a notebook and quill. “How exciting, to find you here as part of this tournament. I’m having a few words with all the contestants, if you’ll follow me?”

Harry raised an eyebrow, then went over to Cedric. “Has she spoken to you?”

“No,” Cedric told him.

“Right.” He turned to Rita. “You can speak to them first, as I’ve just gotten here.”

Rita made no move to interview anyone else.

Harry heaved a sigh. “Alright. I will not be giving an interview. Would you like a statement?”

Severus took a step forward--this was not part of their plan, but then again, they hadn’t discussed reporters specifically--but Harry shot him a look and he stopped. Sirius had been giving him media training since the age of eight. He knew what he was doing.

Rita, meanwhile, had gotten a particularly bloodthirsty look in her eye. “Absolutely.”

“Off the record,” Harry started, “If you print anything other than what I say, I will not be speaking to you for the duration of the tournament. However, if you do print exactly what I say, I’ll answer your questions first in any crowd. Deal?”

Rita hesitated, but finally nodded.

“Great. Here’s my statement, on the record: I have been forced to be a part of this tournament against my will. I do not want to be here, and Cedric Diggory is the true Hogwarts champion. I wish him and the other competitors the best, and will not be attempting to beat them in any of the tasks.” He smiled grimly at Rita, who was scribbling these words down and looking as if she’d been handed an entire plate of treacle tart. Severus supposed she rather had, at that.

“Clarifying question?” Rita asked. Her tone was businesslike, now. Perhaps Harry had earned her respect.

“Give it a shot,” Harry told her with a grin.

Rita laughed. “Who is it that’s forcing you against your will?”

Harry hesitated, shooting a glance toward Severus. “I’m not sure,” he finally said, “and that’s all I’ll be saying on the subject.”

Rita sighed. “Understood.” She nodded to him and moved on, to Cedric, who looked pleasantly surprised.

Severus wondered how long she’d been ignoring the other competitors, waiting for Harry.

Dumbledore swept into the room then, followed by Garrick Ollivander. “Wonderful, you are all here,” he said grandly. “Mr. Ollivander is here to weigh your wands.”

“...weigh our wands?” Cedric asked, sounding unsure and gripping his tighter in his hand.

“Just to check that they are functional,” Garrick said, walking to the other side of the table. “More ceremonial than realistic, I assure you.”

Severus watched the rest of the wand-weighing next to Igor and Olympe, and thought of another argument for Harry later. The rest of the competitors had Headmasters who were responsible for their well-being here at Hogwarts. He, Sirius and Remus were simply filling that role.

Perhaps they should keep an eye on Cedric too.

They took the next week or so preparing Harry with an armada of defensive spells. He could sit right by the entrance to whatever it was and be in danger, after all. Severus hated it, viciously, but they could do little else.

Harry rushed into their rooms one night, Ron in tow. Sirius, who was lying on the couch with his head in Remus’s lap, sat up.

“Ron thinks he knows what the first task is,” Harry said. “Sorry,” he added belatedly, probably at the interruption to an evening when neither of them had office hours.

Sirius groaned and laid right back down. “What does Ron think it is?”

“My brother is here,” Ron told them. “Er, Charlie.” At their collective silence, he continued. “He works with dragons in Romania.”

At that, Sirius sat up again. “And you think he’s here for work.”

“Well, he’s never home,” Ron said. “Mum complains about it all the time. And he’s here, at Hogwarts, just said he was passing by and wanted to say hi, but…”

“Huh,” Severus said, putting aside the book he’d been holding. “Do you think you could speak to him?”

Ron shook his head. “Second time I saw him, I asked him what he was doing here and he got all shifty. He’s also been avoiding me, reckon he doesn’t want to let anything slip.”

“Right,” Remus said after a moment. “I agree, you’re probably right about the first task. Thank you for telling Harry, and us. Harry, you do some research, alright? We’ll draw up a list of dragon-specific defensive spells and get started tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Harry said, nodding. “Goodnight.” He dragged Ron back out of the room.

The next week was focused mostly on fire defense spells, as well as a lovely spell Remus had uncovered that hid someone’s scent. Their focus was only interrupted by the dueling championship, which Harry insisted on attending. Severus and Remus weren’t very invested, instead seeking out any more defensive spells they could find, although Harry reported back that same evening.

“Neville won!” he yelled, bursting into their private rooms.

“Ouch, Harry,” Severus said, rubbing his temples. “A bit quieter, please. Neville won the tournament?”

“I mean, this part of the tournament,” Harry amended. “But he beat every other fourth-year Gryffindor!”

“That’s terrific!” Remus told him, summoning energy from somewhere. “That whole class is very talented in defense, that’s something to be proud of.”

“I know! I wanted to hold a party, but since everyone else was competing too, we couldn’t really celebrate in anyone’s Common Room…”

Severus caught on and raised an eyebrow. “Is this you asking to order food to the front room and celebrate here?”

“Er. Yes?” Harry asked. “It’s just me, Neville, Susan, and Hermione. Ron lost and he’s a bit upset about it.”

“Did Susan and Hermione not compete?” Remus asked.

“Hermione didn’t. Susan did, but she said she wasn’t really trying very hard, so she’s not mad about it,” Harry supplied. “So?”

Severus sighed. “Harry, you’re not supposed to order food for your friends.”

“We could go and get it, instead?”

Remus laughed. “You mean you could go and steal it from the kitchens instead.”

“...yeah?”

Remus laughed again. “Just order it. But if anyone asks, you stole it. Yeah?”

Severus shot him a look, but Remus shrugged, and he relented. “Get us some biscuits and tea,” he told Harry.

“Got it!” Harry cried. “Thanks Sev, Papa.”

A few minutes later, he slipped in and put a tray of tea and biscuits on their table, then went back out to his friends. Severus quashed the desire to hug him and maybe never let him go again.

He slept badly the next few nights, but the night before the first task, neither he nor Remus slept a wink. Sirius slept like a log, though Severus knew he was no less anxious. His anxiety had never resulted in insomnia.

He dragged himself through morning classes and through a quick lunch, and then joined Harry in the first tent, alongside all the other families. They took turns hugging Harry, for long enough that he started squirming and complaining, although he looked a bit nauseated too.

“We can get out of here,” Severus told him on a whim. “Tell us, and we’ll leave, and figure out a way to deal with the contract.”

“If there even is a contract,” Sirius snarked. He was of the opinion that Dumbledore was lying about it all, even though their research supported his claims.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry told them. “If it’s a dragon, it’s big, I can hide somewhere small if I need to. I know a bunch of charms and spells. It’ll be fine.”

Severus let out a hard breath and hugged him again.

“Sev,” he said, voice strangled. “You all have to go, that was the bell.”

Severus released his son, and Remus grabbed Harry by the shoulders instead. “Absolutely no heroics,” he said. “They wouldn’t put anyone in actual danger, other than the competitors, apparently. You get in, you find a corner, and you sit.”

Harry nodded. “Got it. In, corner, sit.”

Sirius grabbed him in a bear hug. “Be careful, lightning bug.”

“I will be, now go. Go, c’mon.”

Severus grabbed Remus’s hand for a moment before letting it go as they stepped into the open air and made their way to the stands. The task was being held in the Quidditch stands, which explained why they’d cancelled the tournament. Sirius made for the family box, and they sat next to a man who Severus guessed was probably Cedric’s father.

“Hullo,” he greeted them with a nervous smile and an outstretched hand. “Amos Diggory.”

Severus congratulated himself on the good guess as he took the man’s hand. “Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black,” he said, pointing to each of them in turn.

“Of course, Harry Potter’s parents,” Amos said. “And two of you are professors, yes?”

“Yep, those two,” Sirius said, leaning around Remus and Severus to speak to him. “I’m just a layabout.”

“Sirius, honestly,” Remus scolded. “Cedric is a wonderful student,” he added to Amos. “I have him in Defense. Talented, I’m sure he’ll do well.”

“Yes, well,” Amos hedged. “Wish he’d asked my permission beforehand, but he’s of age, and he is good. Say, do you know what this challenge is?”

Severus hesitated. Minerva was only a few seats away, and he’d know in a few minutes anyway. “I’m afraid we don’t,” he told the man. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” Amos said, although he was rather pale as he turned back to look at the pitch in front of them.

Chapter Text

Severus watched, almost in slow-motion, as the gate on the far side of the pitch opened, and a group of people ran in, each carrying--

“Are those eggs?” Amos asked, disbelieving.

Severus just watched. Eggs--that meant that they’re not just dragons. They’re brooding dragons. “Shite,” he mumbled.

Remus patted his hand absently, watching the pitch intently.

Just as the group of egg-carriers disappeared out the other end of the pitch, having dropped their bounty on top of a bowl-shaped rock in the middle, the gate opened again and a dragon, blue-ish grey and angry-looking, waddled in and immediately took to the air.

The crowd gasped, some people screaming despite the shields set up around the pitch, but the dragon caught sight of the eggs almost immediately and landed next to them, making crooning noises. It didn’t seem to notice that one of them was gold and shining. Severus imagined that the goal was to get the egg, and was hit with a pang of relief. The dragon wouldn’t leave the eggs unless threatened--Harry could, indeed, sit down right at the entrance and do nothing.

“Greetings!” Ludo Bagman called, voice magically amplified. “And welcome to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. As you may have guessed, the goal of this task is for each competitor to retrieve the golden egg from the nest, out from under a dragon. Each competitor will have a different dragon to challenge! Injuries to both the eggs and the contestant, as well as time elapsed, will be taken into account from our judges. And here, I’m receiving the order in which our champions will go! First is… Cedric Diggory, our--well, one of our Hogwarts champions!”

As he finished speaking, a small gate in the side of the pitch opened. Cedric stepped in and the door immediately closed behind him.

“Oh, I’m going to be sick,” Amos mumbled next to him.

Severus really didn’t blame him. The crowd watched with bated breath as Cedric carefully skirted around the dragon, analyzing his surroundings. Finally, he waved his wand at a rock, and Severus watched as it was Transfigured into--a bird? Some sort of bird, anyway.

“Oh, lovely,” Minerva said from a few seats down.

After a few minutes, his strategy became clear, as the bird drew the dragon’s attention away from the eggs. Cedric darted in and grabbed his egg, but wasn’t quite quick enough on the getaway. Severus, and the rest of the crowd, winced as part of his shirt was burned away by the dragon’s fire. Amos, next to him, gripped the railing hard enough to whiten his knuckles as his son stumbled out of the arena, hopefully headed to the medical tent.

“Excuse me,” Amos managed, shoving past them. “Excuse me, I need to--my son--”

Severus, Remus, and Sirius watched with slowly growing nausea as Fleur Delacour put her dragon in some sort of trance and as Viktor Krum blinded his dragon. The crowd roared approval and gasped at brushes with danger, and even though Severus knew that the other competitors had volunteered for this, he couldn’t help but feel sick at the violence of it all. He would need to ask Charlie Weasley or one of the other tamers if the dragons would be okay after this.

As soon as Viktor laid a hand on the egg, Severus sat up straighter and leaned forward. Harry was last, which was somewhat of a bad thing, since there was no real reason for them to rush through his task.

“--certainly not least, our other Hogwarts champion,” Ludo was saying. “Harry Potter!”

Again, the gate opened, and Harry walked through. As soon as the gate closed behind him, he stepped backward and put his back against the wall, then cast a series of charms that Severus could only guess at, from this distance. He hoped that Harry had remembered all the new fire-protection ones. And then he slid down the wall and sat on the ground, arms crossed on his knees, and stayed there.

The crowd broke into whispers and some laughter. Even the dragon looked confused, which Severus hadn’t known dragons could do. Gigantic and red and dangerous, it regarded Harry with a slightly cocked head before apparently deeming him not much of a threat and settling down to guard the eggs.

No one had mentioned a time limit--apparently, no one had thought they’d need one, even though Harry had been less than circumspect about his intentions. And so five minutes turned to ten, and Harry continued to sit against the rock wall, twirling his wand between his fingers. A few times, Severus saw him close his eyes, before seeming to remember that he was enclosed with a giant dragon and opening them again.

A row away, Ludo was having a brief but chaotic discussion with the judges, probably about what on earth to do. Severus, focusing on the rest of the crowd, was amused to see that most of the students seemed to have moved on, talking amongst themselves, while the adults were still confused. Well, perhaps now Harry’s plan would spread outside Hogwarts proper.

It was fifteen minutes before Ludo called time in a nervous voice. “Alright! That is the First Task concluded. Judges, if I might, erm, have your scores?”

Each judge held up a ribbon with a number, and Severus was slightly amused by Dumbledore’s four compared to the other ones. He supposed the charms at the beginning had been some impressive spellwork, but still.

“Right. Er.” Ludo shook himself. “And that concludes our event! Ladies and Gentleman, if you will please remain seated for a few minutes until we have word that all dragons are safely in their enclosure.”

Severus, Remus and Sirius ignored him and made their way out of the stands as Amos had, going to the medical tent, although Harry wouldn’t have needed help.

As soon as they entered, Harry stood up from his cot and started talking. “Merlin, that was mortifying. Next time, can I bring… I don’t know, a sign or something? Everyone was wondering what I was doing.”

“The other students weren’t,” Severus told him. “They’ll tell their parents, I’m sure.”

“And well done, Harry,” Remus added.

Sirius just walked up and hugged him.

“I wasn’t actually in any danger,” Harry reminded them, though he hugged his dad back.

“You were stuck with a giant brooding dragon,” Severus said dryly. “Give us a bit of leeway, yes?”

“Yeah, okay,” Harry sighed.

“Hey, Harry,” Cedric said, walking up to their circle, his father standing beside him. “Er, I know you always said you weren’t competing, but I guess I wasn’t--thanks.”

“Yeah, of course,” Harry said, grinning, cheeks darkening slightly. “You’re the one who earned it, mine was just a mistake.”

Cedric grinned. “See you.”

“See you.”

Sirius watched Cedric and his father leave, and then turned around to smirk at Harry.

Harry groaned. “Stop, dad.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You did say nothing rather loudly, love,” Remus told his husband.

Sirius grinned at him. “I did, didn’t I? I’m good at that.”

The days after the first task were filled with people going up to Harry and saying either ‘well done’ or ‘what is wrong with you’ in equal measure. Still, the message seemed to have gotten across, and along with Rita Skeeter’s article about the Tournament that included Harry’s quote verbatim, Harry was mostly just a student who wasn’t allowed to be in the Dueling Championship.

Well, he was also a student who had to participate in the dance at the beginning of the Yule Ball, it turned out, much to Harry’s immense dislike. Severus thought he’d be rather apathetic on the subject--surely he’d either hide out in their rooms or go as an authority figure to stop students spiking the punch--until the second full week of dramatics concerning who would be taking whom and why. Students were pairing off at an alarming rate, and more than once, Severus came across someone sobbing in a corridor because they’d asked someone and gotten rejected. All in all, he was very glad not to have to find a date himself, perfectly content to go with Remus and Sirius.

That is, until Minerva cornered him one day in his office.

“What can I do for you?” Severus asked her, slightly bewildered at the note of nervousness in her posture.

“Severus. I… I suppose I assumed that Remus would be taking Sirius as his date to the Yule Ball, but tha you may or may not be accompanying them. Am I correct?”

“Yes,” Severus confirmed. “Why?”

“Because I would like you to accompany me instead, if you would.”

Severus blinked at her for a moment.

She sighed and collapsed into a chair. “The Headmaster required me to bring a date.”

Severus blinked some more. “I see,” he said finally.

“I hope you won’t take this as an insult,” Minerva said tiredly, which was a sure sign that he would. “But it was either you or Horace, and I imagine you have a much more similar view of social gatherings than he does.”

“Right.” Severus kind of wanted to laugh, but he could also see where she was coming from. He wouldn’t want to pass a party at Horace’s side, either. After a moment, he realized he hadn’t answered. “Yes. I mean, sure, I’ll go with you. I was… going anyway?”

Minerva deflated back into her chair. “We’ll have to dance,” she warned him. “Once, at the start. Then I have been assured that I will be free of my responsibilities for the evening. I plan to drink punch and talk to Aurora in the corner.”

“Not if the Weasley twins have gotten to it first,” Severus commented. “The punch,” he clarified.

Minerva raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, I may be counting on it, not that I’ll admit to that after this moment.”

Severus laughed quietly and nodded his understanding.

There were still a few weeks until the ball, and most of them were taken up by trying to research the diadem. Finally, after the third time in as many days that they’d opened the box to find it empty, Sirius let out a strangled sort of yell, punched a pillow, and collapsed face-down on the couch, mumbling something into the cushions.

“What was that, dear?” Remus asked, unperturbed.

Sirius turned his head and spit some hair out of his mouth. “Time for Plan M.”

“Wasn’t Plan M the one where everyone died?”

“No, Plan M is the one where we take it to the goblins. Even if we never see it again, at least Hermione will stop waking up with a cursed object on her pillow.”

Severus sighed, closing the box again. “You’re right.”

“Jolly good,” Sirius said, leaping to his feet. “I’ll make an appointment at Gringotts, they love me there.”

“Don’t mention the diadem!” Remus called after him.

Sirius jogged back into the room and pecked him on the cheek. “Not a dumbarse,” he reminded his husband, before scurrying off again.

Remus sighed and shook his head. “We’ll grab it off Hermione tomorrow,” he said. “Then, Gringotts.”

“And then they take the artifact for themselves and we can’t do the binding, and Hermione is in danger for absolutely no reason,” Severus summarized. “No, no,” he added at Remus’s quelling look. “He’s right, I said so before. Hermione’s the priority, of course she is. I just… I really could use Legilimency…”

“I am not risking your health either, Severus Snape,” Remus said, moving toward him and knocking their foreheads together briefly. “No one’s health is being compromised for the sake of a bloody building, even if there’s a sociopath in it.”

Severus leaned against his partner, suddenly tired beyond measure. “We should write Amy for an update.”

“She can’t tell us anything. She won’t tell us anything. In fact, it would jeopardize the case if she did.” Remus sighed. “But I hate it too.”

Sirius traipsed back into the room. “No appointments for two weeks,” he told them, leaning on Remus’s other side and snaking an arm around his waist. “Something about the holidays, I wager. I told them four people, I figured us three and Hermione?”

“Neville should go too,” Severus added. “The sword is goblin-madel, and if they’re amenable to letting us keep the diadem, it wouldn’t hurt to get it looked at. He can tell them about the connection he has to it, as well.”

“I can stay back,” Remus added. “We don’t need us all, and legally you two are the Lords Black.”

Both Sirius and Severus shuddered simultaneously, making Remus laugh.

The Yule ball was exactly as mind-numbing as Severus had imagined. He’d arrived with Minerva, they’d danced once, and then had gotten out of the way of the crowd of students. The champions had entered before them, and none of the pairings were surprising--Hermione and Viktor Krum had been the talk of the school for the past week, Fleur Delacour had taken a Hogwarts boy that Severus honestly couldn’t remember the name of, Cedric was with his girlfriend.

Harry had caused a bit of a stir, going with both Susan and Neville, but he’d told them the story of it the night before to get their blessing--before he knew it, both Susan and Hermione had gotten dates, and he’d been out of female friends to take. Taking a male friend was a bit of a statement, given his fame, and he hadn’t really had any of those available other than Ron who’d ‘flat-out refused on the basis of hating bloody dancing’. Finally, Susan and Neville had suggested that the three of them go together as friends, for fun and to show support for Remus, Sirius, and Severus.

Harry had been thrilled about the idea. Sirius had not teared up a little, shut up, he hadn’t.

The three of them had danced the opening dance in an awkwardly charming sort of shuffle, all three of them giggling in the middle of the floor, before Neville had escaped Susan’s clutches as she dragged Harry out to dance more properly.

Severus found himself lodged firmly in a chair out of the way, Minerva next to him, cups of punch in their hands. Most of the other professors were doing the same, although Dumbledore was dancing rather joyfully with Aurora, who looked horrified. Alastor had blended himself into the shadows in the corner so successfully that Severus almost couldn’t see him--well done, him.

Minerva took a sip and sighed. “I suppose the twins haven’t had the opportunity yet,” she intoned, raising an eyebrow at the punch. “Pity.”

“Couldn’t you leave, at this point?” Severus asked her. “Not that--I just--”

Minerva laughed. “No,” she said good-naturedly. “I am required to remain until curfew. Ostensibly to keep an eye on the students.”

“Ostensibly?”

She rolled her eyes. “I believe Albus is causing mischief again.”

“...Oh?”

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him. “Requiring me to bring a date, and then requiring me to remain here the whole evening?”

“You think he’s matchmaking,” Severus summarized. This was odd. Was this odd? He’d never heard her gossip about Dumbledore, not once. Although they’d never really had a social conversation before. He saw Remus and Sirius approached from behind her and flicked his eyes away, a gesture Sirius immediately saw, pivoting and dragging Remus away. Severus looked back at Minerva. “Wouldn’t you just… bring a friend?”

Minerva sighed. “Yes. But I couldn’t very well abandon them here once I’d invited them, could I? Rather annoying of him.” She took another sip of punch and wrinkled her nose. “That is really far too sweet.” She sighed. “You, on the other hand, know plenty of people here. You are more than welcome to leave early, by the way.”

Severus glanced at Sirius, who was hovering suspiciously near the punch bowl, and stifled a laugh. “I think I’ll probably have to stay and keep people out of trouble. By the by, you may want to go get a refill, now.”

“Oh?” Minerva turned and looked at the punch bowl, saw Sirius idling, and put two and two together rather quickly. “That’s even better, now I don’t have to hold a detention tomorrow night. Excuse me, Severus.”

Severus hummed and she departed, and it wasn’t two minutes before Sirius was sitting in her seat, Remus hovering over his shoulder. “What was that?”

“Sirius says you gave him a signal,” Remus added.

“I did.”

“Ha!” Sirius cackled, looking back at his husband.

Remus sighed. “Yes, alright. What was it?”

“I don’t know,” Severus said slowly, looking over at Minerva who had filled a cup with punch and was sipping from it contentedly. “Did you spike the punch?”

“Of course I did,” Sirius scoffed. “It’s tradition.”

“This is the first time the Yule Ball has been held in over fifty years,” Remus reminded his husband.

“It’s tradition now,” Sirius clarified. “Sev?”

“She was complaining about Dumbledore,” Severus told them absently, and then focused in. “I don’t know. It was odd, I’d never seen her do that before.”

“Complaining about him?”

“She called him annoying. Or, sort of. Told me he was matchmaking, wasn’t happy about it.”

“Huh.” Sirius furrowed his brows. “I haven’t heard her do that either, and I’ve spoken to her more than you have. Well, in more social occasions than you have.”

“Maybe the charms are failing,” Remus observed, eyes glinting. “The--” he mouthed ‘charisma charms’ at them.

“Portraits can probably lip-read about as well as us,” Severus told him. “But yes, that’s what I thought, too.”

“Amy should interview her, if she hasn’t already,” Sirius said. “Brilliant. Sev, that’s pre-spiked punch, yeah? C’mon, refill.”

They were all relieved to finally go home for what remained of their Christmas break. That is, they would have been, except that their appointment at Gringotts was only a day into said break. This meant that Severus had gone straight from Hogwarts, to speaking with the Grangers, to speaking with Augusta, and then a quick night in his own bed before walking into a building where everyone considered him to be a Lord, and married to Sirius besides.

Sirius walked in with the confidence he carried with him into public spaces, marching up to the main goblin and giving a winning smile. “Lord Black,” he announced. “I have an appointment with Caax.”

“Yes, of course, Lord Black.” The goblin glanced at Severus, and revised his statement. “Lords Black. If you’ll follow me?”

“So Theo was right, and you’re both Lords?” Hermione asked as they followed the goblin into a side corridor and around various twists and turns.

“Technically,” Severus told her. “I.. am married to Sirius. Legally.”

“He doesn’t like to think about it, for some reason,” Sirius said over his shoulder.

“They did it so Harry would be more secure,” Neville told her. “So no one could take him away from either of them.”

“Oh,” Hermione said. “I thought that Professor Lupin--oh! Oh, that’s awful, he can’t get married, can he?”

“That,” Sirius said, halting as their guide stopped at a door, “Is a work in progress, kid.”

“Good,” Hermione told him vehemently.

Sirius grinned at her before turning to walk through the door that the goblin was holding open for them. Severus ushered the children inside before following at the rear.

“Caax will join you soon,” their guide said, nodding to them in farewell before closing the door with a loud clang.

“That’s not ominous,” Sirius commented, before sitting in one of the provided chairs. “Neville, you can keep the… your belonging from coming to us, right?”

“Yeah, I have control over it now that… now. This year.”

“Great. Last thing we need are mystery s--belongings.”

“How were you ever a spy?” Severus asked him genuinely.

Sirius scoffed in mock offense, then relaxed again. “I can pass very well for a blood supremacist arsehole. Or I could in those days, anyway.”

“Language,” Severus reminded him.

“We are not in Hogwarts and I am not a Professor. Also, they’re fourteen, Sev.”

“I’m fifteen,” Hermione volunteered.

“She’s fifteen!” Sirius echoed, pointing at her.

A different door than they had entered by opened, and a goblin walked in, taking a seat. “Hello, Lords Black,” he greeted in a deep voice. “I’m Caax. How can Gringotts help you today?” He eyed Neville and Hermione, but was too polite to ask why on earth there were teenagers in a bank meeting.

“I have acquired an artifact. It’s goblin-made, but we’re afraid it has some sort of curse on it,” Sirius said carefully. “We have been unsuccessful in identifying or dismantling it, and I’ve heard talk that you may have a way to purify goblin-made objects. I would,” he said, leaning forward in his chair, “like to sign a contract that this object will remain with its current owner regardless of how you are able to help. We are prepared to pay handsomely for this service, of course.”

Caax regarded him for a moment, before looking at the rest of them. “This object belongs to you?”

Sirius hesitated briefly. “Primarily, it belongs to her,” he said, gesturing to Hermione. “I am here to represent her interests. I have permission from her parents,” he added.

“And how did you come to own it?” Caax asked Hermione.

“Is that important?” Severus asked.

“We cannot move forward without having that question answered,” Caax told him frankly. “If it was passed down in a legal manner, and you have proof of that, then I can draw up the contract that you are interested in,” he told Sirius. “If you cannot prove that, I am not authorized to cede our possible rights to the object. Many goblin-made artifacts, once legally abandoned, are obligated to return to us.” There was a glint in his eye that said he knew that they were aware of all of this. To be fair, they were.

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment. “In that case, no, she did not come by it in a legal inheritance or a sale, she… found it. If we cannot have a contract like that, I would like a confidentiality agreement.”

Caax raised an eyebrow. “With me?”

“With all Gringotts staff,” Sirius conceded, “Although the fewer people that know, the better.”

This wasn’t a hard line, although Sirius was certainly laying it out as such. After all, Dumbledore already knew that they had the diadem. But the less he knew about the curse and its existence, the better. The less information he had, the better.

Caax nodded, opening a drawer and pulling out a folder containing a stack of identical contracts. “Standard,” he said, handing it to Sirius, who handed it to Severus. Severus read over it quickly, before handing it back to be signed, and they finalized it with a few signatures.

“Alright,” Sirius said, nodding. “Thank you for your understanding. Severus?”

Severus drew the curse-box out of his bag, laying it on the counter.

Caax looked at it askance. “What manner of curse is it?”

“No short-term effects, as far as we can tell,” Severus told him. “Just… don’t reach out with mind magic, and don’t keep it in your pocket.”

“Fascinating,” Caax said, raising an eyebrow at him, before he pulled the box toward himself and opened it carefully. Almost immediately, his eyebrows rose to his ears, and he closed it again to look at Hermione more closely. “You found this?” he asked her intently.

Hermione looked at Severus in question, and he nodded at her.

“It… found me, I suppose,” she told him cautiously. “It appeared on my head.”

Caax let out a slow breath. “You are an heir of Rowena Ravenclaw.”

Hermione’s eyes widened, and Severus imagined that his did as well.

Caax turned to Neville. “And you?”

“Er…” Neville hesitated.

“Gryffindor,” Severus supplied. They wouldn’t give them the sword, not right now, but he doubted that Caax would let it go without knowing.

“Two of them,” Caax breathed. He glanced up. “And you are here for a purification only?”

“...what else should we be here for?” Sirius asked.

Caax huffed, looked them over, and huffed again. “I’ll be back,” he told them, and then disappeared through the door.

“That is either very bad or very good,” Sirius hazarded.

“Mhm,” Severus agreed. “I wonder if we could have learned anything we wanted to about heirs just by asking them years ago.”

Sirius rubbed his eyes. “That sounds like our luck, yeah.”

Caax came back in, another goblin, much older, trailing behind him. “This is Rotlee,” he told them. “She was alive when the last heirs signed their contracts with us.

“Rowena and Godric, you said?” Rotlee asked.

“Yes,” Sirius confirmed. “Would you be willing to explain what you mean? What contracts?”

Rotlee sighed heavily, sitting in the chair that Caax had taken before and placing a sheaf of papers in front of her. Caax hovered at her elbow, deferential.

“When the Founders asked their friends the goblins to make them each a token, an object to represent them, the goblins said yes, but under a specific contract,” Rotlee began, her voice falling into a pattern that made Severus think this was an oft-told story. “Over time, the contract has been lost, but its understanding still remains.” She put a hand on the curse-box. “Each of the four objects -- the diadem, the cup, the sword, and the locket -- belong to the goblins. However,” she said, raising a single gnarled finger, “each time an heir inherits the power of their Founder, the token will appear to them, and stay by their side until such time as they die or another heir is recognized.” She paused. “They live here,” she summarized, “but you may have them for a brief time.”

“And the contract?”

“Tells us that you will honor the understanding,” Rotlee told them. “Wills us the token in the event of your death. So. Sign the contract,” she told Hermione, pulling the top sheet of parchment from her pile and handing it over, “and we will purify your diadem.”

“Wouldn’t you do it anyway?” Severus asked, confused. Surely something as prized as this wouldn’t be allowed to sit around, cursed and dark.

Both goblins fixed him with glares.

“He means no disrespect,” Sirius said quickly. “Er. He’s an academic, he can’t help it.”

Rotlee’s face flickered in a way that might have suggested a grin. “Do not underestimate a goblin’s capacity for spite,” she said honestly. “We live longer than you -- it is but a blink of an eye for us, and then you will never see your diadem as it should be seen.”

Sirius snorted.

“I’ll sign it,” Hermione said, reaching the end of the contract. “It should be theirs anyway, and I can’t imagine anyone but me having a use for it until the next heir, and it would be theirs at that point anyway.”

“Let Severus read it,” Sirius told her, as Severus was already taking the paper out of her hands and reading it over slowly.

He finished it, and then skimmed the meaningful passages again, but he couldn’t find anything unexpected and handed it back to Hermione. She grabbed a quill from the table and signed it quickly, then passed it over to Rotlee, who signed it and then stamped it with something official.

“We do not have a curse to hold over you, I imagine,” Rotlee said leadingly, looking at Neville.

“Oh!” he said, surprised. “Well, no, we don’t think so, but I’ll sign anyway.” He grabbed the blank contract that he was handed, glanced at it side-by-side with Hermione’s--to check that it was the same, Severus thought with pride--and then scrawled his name at the bottom.

Rotlee repeated the process of signing and stamping, then handed both contracts to Caax. “To the vaults,” she told him, and watched him hurry out of the room before turning back to them. “Now, the diadem,” she said, opening the box for herself and gazing at it for a moment. “Right,” she said finally. “Let us first get this purified, shall we?”

She stood, taking the box reverently between both hands, and nodded to the door that she and Caax had been using. “If you’ll open that?”

Sirius stepped forward and did so, gesturing for her to go first.

She nodded to them and led them down a white marble corridor with doors every few feet, all of them closed. Every so often, another goblin would pass them, looking rather horrified at the intrusion. Rotlee ignored them all and kept walking.

Severus, bringing up the rear like before, ran through the possible ramifications of the contracts that Hermione and Neville had signed. It seemed unlikely that they would be kept anywhere but Gringotts, and it seemed equally unlikely that they would break the confidentiality contract. Still, there were human employees at Gringotts, and there were eyes everywhere. They’d basically willed the sword and the diadem to the goblins--that, at least, should prevent any sort of assasination plot by people who wanted the objects, since fighting a legal battle with goblins was a fool’s errand. Severus winced at the path his thoughts had taken. It would be fine--everything would be fine.

Rotlee led them through several doors, including one that was locked, and finally brought them into a room that seemed to contain nothing but a waterfall on one side, falling from the ceiling to a grate in the floor and making almost no sound as it did.

“Thieves’ downfall?” Severus asked.

Rotlee raised an eyebrow at him. “Indeed.”

Severus smiled at her in a way that was, hopefully, disarming. That probably wasn’t a fact known to the general public. “I’m a history professor,” he told her. “The study of wizard-goblin interactions involves lots of tales of goblin magic that we do not have the ability to create. Objects that are imbued with innate power. Water that can remove all wizarding magic from anything it touches, as long as it is moving.”

Rotlee’s eyebrow fell--she looked pleased. “Hmm,” she said again. “You teach at Hogwarts?”

“Yes.”

She nodded, glancing at Neville and Hermione. “I suppose the new heirs allowed Binns to leave. Good. Every year we get wizards and witches who begin work here and have no idea of our history beyond which years we were at war.” She bent over and placed the box on the floor, gingerly pulling out the diadem, and then held it out to Hermione. “It is in your possession at the moment - you should be the one to purify it.”

“Oh,” Hermione said, reaching out to take it automatically. “Er. Do I just hold it under the water?”

“A drop will do it,” Rotlee confirmed. “If there are any charms on your person that you would like to keep, don’t let it touch your skin.

Hermione drew in a breath and turned to the waterfall, but as she took a step forward, her footsteps faltered and she spun to face Severus and Sirius. “It’s talking again, it’s… whispering, can you hear it?!”

“Put it down,” Severus said immediately.

“No,” Rotlee snapped. “Put it under the water, remove whatever is on it.”

Hermione hesitated, eyes flicking between them.

Severus shoved out a breath. “Do it, quickly. If you feel any pain at all, drop it.” He took a step toward Sirius and put a hand on his shoulder for support, preparing to reach out with his mind and monitor what on earth was going on.

“No,” Sirius hissed. “Keep your head in your head, we need you here.”

Severus shot him an apologetic look and reached out anyway.

He had barely gained awareness of the object, a malevolent presence that was trying to twist itself into every corner of the room and its inhabitants, when he was pulled sharply out of Legilimency by a shriek as Hermione dropped the diadem and staggered backward from the huge black maelstrom that had erupted out of it.

Neville leapt forward and dragged her back, positioning them both firmly behind Sirius and Severus.

“Fuck!” Sirius shouted.

Severus nodded, wide eyes fixed on the mirage before them. Mary Granger stood before them, reflected on the funnel cloud like a Muggle projector, but there was something… off about her. Her eyes were harder, like flint, and her mouth was pursed in an expression Severus had certainly never seen.

“Oh, Hermione,” she said softly, a parody of concern, “not this nonsense again. You know magic isn’t real, darling, don’t you? We don’t want to have to take you back to the doctor.”

Behind him, Hermione made a little sound of fear.

Walter Granger appeared beside his wife, the same small, sinister changes made to his face. “Now, Hermione,” he said. “You really must stop this craziness. You’re normal! You’re ordinary. Embrace it, like we have -- there’s no shame in being--well--”

“Nothing,” Mary finished, smiling. “See, Hermione--”

Sirius let out a strangled breath and stepped toward the diadem, and the scene changed abruptly.

Severus immediately whimpered at the sight of Regulus as he’d been at Hogwarts, a grin and eyes alight with curiosity. Then there was a flicker, and his body was lying on the ground instead, eyes unseeing, flicker, him sinking beneath cold water, flicker, Harry sinking beneath water instead, blood trickling from his scar, flicker, Harry cowering beneath a wand, flicker, Harry--

“There’s nothing you can do,” a voice said, whispered, grating and yet sickeningly melodious. “Sirius Black, who couldn’t even save his little brother, what a--”

Sirius let out a yell, rushing forward, his foot connecting with the diadem and sending it careening into the flowing water.

There was a scream, more flickers, images moving too fast to see, and then the maelstrom dissolved, leaving the diadem lying innocuously in the waterfall.

“What the hell,” Sirius said, breathing heavily and staring at it. “What the… buggering bloody--”

“Thank you for helping us to purify it,” Severus told Rotlee, forcing his voice into a tone of politeness and trying to hide how hard his hands were shaking.

The goblin was against the wall, breathing steadily. “That,” she said, “was not an ordinary curse.”

“No.”

“That was soul magic,” she said, staring at the diadem.

“Is it gone?” Sirius asked brusquely.

She nodded. “Yes. I--I feel the need to ask whether you are sure that the sword remains untouched.”

Severus clenched his fists and relaxed them, turning to Neville. “Would you call it, please?”

Neville and Hermione were shoulder-to-shoulder, both of them looking ready to faint, but he nodded and held out his hand. It dipped slightly beneath the weight of the sword as it appeared in his palm, and he took several steps forward to stick the tip in the waterfall. He held it there for a few seconds, but nothing happened, and he tugged it back out and made it disappear again with a moment of concentration.

Rotlee sighed. “Either it had no spells on it, or they were harmless and are now gone anyway.” She clasped her hands. “I think that concludes our business, unless there is anything else we can do for you, Lord Black.”

“That’ll do us,” Sirius said, lordly veneer completely gone. “Can you show us the way out?”

“Follow me,” Rotlee said, turning to leave.

Severus strode forward and used his wand to pull the diadem out of the flow of water, then cast a quick drying spell and picked it up to place back in the box.

“Sev,” Sirius called, voice harsher than normal.

Severus dropped the diadem in the box and closed it, grabbing it roughly and shoving it under his arm as he pushed the children out of the room ahead of him.

The minute they were outside Gringotts, Sirius grabbed Neville’s hand and, with a quick glance, Apparated them both away. Severus did the same thing with Hermione, and they all landed almost as one in the sitting room of their London house.

“Give us a minute, please,” Severus told Neville.

Neville glanced at Sirius, who was leaning against the wall and staring into space, and grabbed Hermione’s hand again to pull her away, nodding. “I’ll tell Remus you’re both in here, too.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as they disappeared around the corner, Sirius turned around and punched the wall.

Severus made a noise of distress and grabbed his arm, pushing him down in the closest chair and pulling out his wand. “Hold still,” he said, reciting a quick diagnostic--just bruised, not broken--and then a healing spell.

”Fuck,” Sirius spat, cradling his newly healed hand in the other palm and looking like he was about to stand up and punch something else. “What the hell was that?”

“Soul magic,” Severus echoed Rotlee numbly.

“What does that bloody mean?!”

“Sirius?” Remus asked, rounding the corner with wide eyes. “Neville said you were--” he spotted Sirius’s knuckles, still red, and Severus crouching in front of the chair. “What happened?”

“Bloody fucking diadem,” Sirius groaned, burying his head in Remus’s stomach. He mumbled something else unintelligible.

“What?” Remus asked him softly, threading fingers through his hair.

“The diadem’s magic reacted to the threat of being purged,” Severus said, voice empty of emotion as he tried to state the facts. “It showed Hermione what I imagine is a frequent nightmare, or a fear, and then Sirius took a step forward and it showed a series of disturbing images.”

“It’s purified now, though, right?” Remus asked, eyeing the box still under Severus’s arm.

Severus glanced down at it and set it aside with a grimace. “Yes.”

Remus nodded slowly, eyeing both of them. “What were the images?”

Severus took a shaky breath. “Regulus dead. Dying. And then Harry, the same way. I imagine that he picked those from Sirius’s head,” he added, voice going up at the end a bit in question.

“Shite,” Remus breathed, reaching out the hand that wasn’t in Sirius’s hair to Severus, who grabbed it and sat back on his heels, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to stay present.

Sirius let out one more hard breath against Remus’s stomach and then sat back, though not far enough to disconnect Remus’s hand from his hair. “Sev. Soul magic?”

“I imagine it’s one of two or three things,” Severus said slowly, “but I have a question first.”

“What?”

“Did you recognize the voice at the end? Was that part of your nightmares, or whatever it was that the curse was pulling those images from?”

“Nightmares,” Sirius confirmed. “And… no, not specifically. It was just… creepy. Weird.”

Severus bit his tongue, glancing between them. “Then I think it might--I mean--have you heard of horcruxes?”

Remus shook his head after a moment.

Sirius nodded hesitantly after the same pause. “In some of my father’s books that I read when I was a kid, I think?”

Remus raised an eyebrow at his husband.

“They told me not to read them, so I had to,” Sirius defended himself. “And that was one with a bunch of pictures.” He shuddered. “Horrible pictures.”

“I think that was a horcrux,” Severus told him.

“...aren’t they really rare? And… you said there were two or three things.”

Severus shifted so he could cross his legs. “There are three curses, based in soul magic, that have the power to do what this curse did today, as well as the effect it had on Hermione. It could be the result of a Ladvor curse, which is where you--you take a portion of the soul of someone as they’re dying and place it in an object or in another person.”

Remus shuddered. “That’s horrible.”

“The moment of their death, usually rather painful and torturous, plays on loop for either the person it’s been placed in or on anyone who touches the object. It’s a...unique form of a torture spell. It gained…” he swallowed. “It gained popularity as a way to torture one person with the death of a loved one.”

“This didn’t cause terror,” Sirius said slowly. “Or, well, it did, but it didn’t seem upset, it seemed… snide.”

Severus nodded. “The second possibility is something called a Recritimor. It uses a sliver of the soul of someone who wishes you harm to reflect back your fears in a malevolent manner.”

Sirius blew out a breath. “So it would be someone who wished both Hermione and I harm,” he said. “That’s… there’s probably more than one person who fits that bill, but I can only think of one.”

“Recritimors were traditionally mirrors,” Severus said slowly, voice shaking as they moved closer to a conclusion he’d glimpsed before and desperately wanted to be wrong about. “They reflect your fears, they color your memories with malice. But they use too little of the caster’s soul to create anything. It’s all you.”

“That’s why you asked if he recognized the voice at the end,” Remus guessed. “Because if it wasn’t from his mind, then it was something created by the object.

“It was just a random creepy voice, though,” Sirius said. “Couldn’t that be the ‘malice’ part of it?”

“No,” Severus told him, “because I recognized the voice. It was focusing on you, it seemed to only be able to target one of us at once, but that voice wasn’t from your memories, it was from mine.”

“We were standing right next to each other,” Sirius objected.

“Whose voice was it?” Remus asked.

“You were ahead of me, and you were the one that was going to destroy it,” Severus said to Sirius. “And I’ve never--I’ve never had nightmares about Regulus in the--the water. I didn’t--is that what--nevermind. Later.” He turned to Remus, gripping his partner’s hand more tightly. “It was Lord Voldemort’s voice.”

Remus let out a breath. “Oh,” he said. “Okay. It’s… so it was his horcrux.”

“Fuck,” Sirius cursed. “Tell me I’m remembering about horcruxes wrong. Either that, or tell me that we just super-killed Voldemort.”

“You’re remembering right,” Severus told him. “And I… I really, really hope so.”

“Wow, I hate being the least informed one in the room,” Remus griped, but his voice was thready. “What?”

“If you make a horcrux, you can’t die,” Sirius said. “While it exists, I mean. It keeps you alive, sort of.”

Remus sank to his knees, breathing slowly. “Alright. Explain horcruxes from the beginning, please.”

Chapter Text

Amy had apparently reached a breaking point with them dogging her for updates on the case against Dumbledore, and when they arrived at her Boxing Day party, she pulled them all into the kitchen before they’d even greeted the other guests.

“If anyone asks, I need you to help with the food,” she said. “In actuality, find a way to hear what’s going on in my office in half an hour.”

Sirius nodded rapidly, and Remus thanked her. Severus eyed a pot of cider bubbling on the stove. “Do you need help with the food?”

Amy deflated. “Yes, please. Do I season cider? Does it come seasoned? I bought it at the shops, but--”

Remus moved to her spice cabinet, pulling out several packages and bottles, as Severus grabbed the wooden spoon that had been slowly stirring the liquid.

“Thank you,” Amy told them. “Sirius, Susan wants you to see the new broom she got, she wants to try out for Beater next year.”

Twenty minutes later, they clustered in a corner together, and ten minutes after that, they were successfully situated outside the window to Amy’s office, a spell cast to keep them warm, a spell to warn them if anyone came around the side of the house, and one to help them overhear anything said inside.

They settled against the wall to wait, but they’d hardly gotten comfortable before they heard a door opening and then closing.

“How can I help you, Madame Bones?” Minerva McGonagall asked.

Sirius turned to look at them both, eyes wide and excited, mouthing words that Severus couldn’t decipher. Severus nodded at him in understanding but focused on what he could hear. Someone was pouring a drink--probably water, Amy didn’t keep alcohol in her office--and someone was sitting in a chair.

“It’s Amelia, please,” Amy said. “And firstly, I’d like you to understand that I’m speaking to you as the Head of the DMLE. I apologize for the… underhanded manner in which I’m meeting with you.”

“I was a bit surprised at the invitation,” Minerva said, sounding more curious than anything else. “Although I confess that I do know a number of the other guests--it’s a lovely party.”

“Thank you,” Amy said. There was a pause and a rustle of paper. “So. This is a confidentiality agreement. What I would like to do is tell you about an investigation that is currently ongoing, and ask for your help. However, due to the security concerns surrounding it, I will only be able to begin if you sign this agreement.”

“And if I don’t?”

Another rustle of paper. “Then you may be called to speak at a later time, when this level of secrecy is no longer needed. However, I truly believe you can help us at this stage of the investigation. This agreement does not require you to speak with me--only to keep the nature of this investigation, and any details I share with you, secret.”

A pause, in which Minerva was obviously weighing her options, and then a scribble as she signed the paper. “Alright. What is this investigation?”

“Albus Dumbledore is being investigated,” Amy said slowly. “So far, we plan to accuse him of conspiracy to kidnap, reckless endangerment, and the harmful cursing of a minor, but we are working on proving or disproving a longer list of charges.”

There was absolute silence for a good thirty seconds, and then someone sat down hard in a chair. “And now you’ve ensured that I cannot tell him,” Minerva said, sounding betrayed.

“I understand your confusion, and perhaps your anger. We are only looking for the truth,” Amy said, voice calm but firm. “If he is innocent, of those charges or of any others, we want to prove that, and he will not be accused of anything we cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.” She sniffed. “Frankly, it’s bad for business. So. I would like to interview you, in a more official manner, at the Ministry, but we would need to keep it as quiet as possible.”

“You could just speak to him,” Minerva said bitterly. “I’m sure he could clear this all up. What good is it to keep it a secret?”

“All investigations into people in power are kept secret,” Amy told her. “It would be the same for any member of the political elite, any member of the Wizengamot. Anyone perceived to have significant influence. It’s protocol.” She sighed. “And we do plan to question him. We will give him a chance to refute any of this, and if it goes to trial, he will be given a more-than-adequate defense, I am sure.”

“So you want to ask me what I’ve seen or heard over the years.”

“I have some specific questions, some timelines to nail down, and some more general questions. You may answer as many or as little as you wish, although I warn you that if we later suspect you have information left unshared, you may be subpoenaed.”

“I need time to think about this.”

“Of course.” There was a creaking noise as they both stood, and a rustle as paper -- probably the contract -- was swept into a drawer. “Could I have you come in early next week to give me your answer?”

“I’ll send you an owl.”

“Thank you. You may stay and socialize if you wish, of course.”

“No, I think not,” Minerva said with an edge to her voice. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

A click as the door opened and another as it shut, and then a sigh as Amy sunk back into her chair. “Boys?” she called.

Severus stood, becoming visible through the slightly cracked window. “Thank you.”

Amy rested her head on her hand. “Don’t thank me yet--you couldn’t see her face. I imagine she will tell me no quite clearly.”

“Thank you for trying,” Severus clarified, smiling at her softly as Remus helped Sirius to his feet.

“Alright, go, go,” Amy said, shooing them away. “And keep it quiet, please.”

Break seemed much shorter than usual, and in no time they had returned to the castle. The first night, Hermione met them outside the Room, and they snuck their way inside as they had before.

Her parents had agreed to this, of course, but Severus had still made sure they understood every single risk he could come in with. Even if Hermione wasn’t cursed like Neville had been--and they’d checked--she would still be opening her mind to a large magical building, and she hadn’t been training in Occlumency from age ten like Neville had. Instead, Severus had given her rudimentary shielding lessons over the past semester, which she’d taken to like a duck to water. Still, this was a big step.

As soon as they stepped in the room and the door sealed behind them, both the sword and the diadem appeared on the shelf by their appropriate flag, and several torches lit themselves on the walls.

Severus realized that he had no idea what had filled the room with enough light to see, last year. He took a shaky breath.

Hermione did the same, and turned to the dais, walking up it with shaky hands. She placed a hand on the diadem and closed her eyes, brow furrowing slightly.

The torches flared, and Severus found himself grabbing Remus’s hand and squeezing tightly, but Hermione just let go of the diadem and her breath, blinking several times before she grinned and turned to step back down the stairs.

“That was… incredible,” she told them, still grinning. “I can feel it. I mean, Neville said I would, but… this is incredible.”

“Do you feel alright?” Remus asked, stepping forward and casting a few more spells over her. “Dizziness, nausea, headache, anything?”

Hermione considered the question. “Maybe a bit of a headache,” she said finally, “but I’ve been getting twinges whenever I practice Occlumency, like a muscle stretching.”

Severus nodded. “That’s fairly normal. If it doesn’t go away in a day or so, let us know, please.”

Hermione nodded. “I will. Do I just go straight back to my Common Room?”

Severus hesitated, not wanting to leave her unaccompanied, but there wasn’t a good excuse to bring her to the Hospital Wing. “Dobby,” he said, waiting a moment for the elf to pop into view.

“Yes, Severus, Dobby is being here!” he said. He’d taken much quicker to calling them all their first names, much to Kreacher’s dismay. Actually, most of what Dobby did was to Kreacher’s dismay.

“Hello, Dobby,” Severus said. “You know Hermione, right?”

“Yes! Hermione is being one of Harry’s friends,” Dobby said quickly, smiling at her. “Hello.”

“Can you come if she calls you, tonight or tomorrow morning? Just in case she needs help.”

Dobby nodded hard, ears flapping. “Yes, Dobby can be doing that.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said, smiling at him gently. “I appreciate it, Dobby.”

“It is no problem, Hermione Granger,” Dobby said. “Is there being anything else?”

“No, Dobby, that’s it,” Severus said.

WIth a crack, the house elf disappeared.

“Now you can go,” Remus told Hermione. “We’re still a bit before curfew, so you should be fine, but call Dobby if you need anything, or if your headache gets worse.”

Hermione nodded and reached for the door, glancing left to right a few times before closing it behind her.

Remus sighed, leaning back against a wall. “That was rather anticlimactic. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong.”

Severus slumped against him slightly, staring at the sword and the diadem. “So now we have two heirs,” he said, voice echoing in the small stone room. “Do we just wait for the other two to appear?”

“Well,” Remus said. “There’s certainly good odds on either Susan or Harry, and as for the heir of Slytherin--is Harry talking to Draco again?”

Severus sighed. “I don’t know. I didn’t see a Christmas present from him, or to him. But… the heirs are destined to be tied together, but there’s no proof that it happens when they’re children. It could be years from now.”

“Mhm,” Remus hummed, eyes closing. “Well, maybe we just find the artifacts instead. They react to the heirs, right? We just go about it backwards. Find the cup, have both Harry and Susan touch it and see if it’s either of them. Find the locket and… pass it around Slytherin?”

“Neither of them have been seen for years and years,” Severus reminded him.

“The diadem was supposed to be long-lost,” Remus commented dryly. “Not so much anymore.”

The next day, the effect of the binding was clear. The study rooms that had appeared before had multiplied, and gained comfortable couches and chairs, tables, lamps, stacks of pillows. Severus stopped by one on his way to breakfast and stared for a full minute, remembering all the times he had to study in the Slytherin Common Room alone, trying not to draw the attention of anyone else. All the times he’d spent hours in the library because that was the only place he could study with Remus and Lily, sitting in uncomfortable chairs and being hushed every five minutes.

Thank Merlin that these students, these kids, got more than that.

He made it through the day with minimal stress, and although students commented on the changes, they had become fairly accustomed to it over the last year or so. Although Madame Pince, usually stern and quiet at the Head Table during lunch, was frankly incandescent over the new sections of the library that had opened up, and the cleaning that it had gotten.

That night, Neville, Harry and Hermione came to their rooms. Now that they were bound, they could try a few things.

The thing that Hermione and Neville were most excited for was co-casting--one person providing the magic, the other providing instruction, to create more complex and powerful spells. But before they could do that, Severus wanted to try something else.

“Can you call the Sorting Hat?” he asked them, fidgeting. “Or… try it?”

“Er. Yeah,” Neville said, looking confused. “Just call it here?”

“Please,” Remus added.

Neville nodded and grabbed Hermione’s hand, tips of his ears turning pink as he did, and they both closed their eyes in concentration.

Nothing happened for a moment, and Neville squeezed his eyes tighter, and then took a stumbling step to the side. “It, er. It talked to me?”

“In your head?” Severus asked, leaning forward. “Wait, obviously in your head. In… in clear words?”

”I will join you in a moment, Mr. Longbottom,” Neville quoted, putting on a rather dignified voice. “So. Yes?”

“Then we wait,” Sirius said from where he was leaning against the wall. “Co-casting, in the meantime?”

They’d barely gotten Lumos to work by the time there was a pop, and the Sorting Hat appeared on the sideboard by Sirius’s elbow. Sirius, in response, let out a rather undignified noise and stumbled backward into the arm of the couch.

Remus put a hand on his back to keep him from toppling over the side.

“Hello,” the Hat said, wrinkles moving in a way that brought to mind a raised eyebrow, although the lack of actual eyes was as disturbing as it always was.

“It’s been a while,” Severus said, trying to bite back his anger but not really succeeding. The last time he’d seen the Sorting Hat, Lily and James had just died.

“For you,” the Hat said mildly. “It’s been a short time for me, although I will grant you that plenty has happened.”

“So this is what I was supposed to do?” Severus asked, heedless of the others in the room. He’d explain if he had to, it’s not as if he was really a time-traveler anymore. “This is what I was supposed to change. I don’t even know what changed.”

The Hat regarded him silently for a moment. “In this timeline,” it said, “I was able to place every student this year in their proper house. You have already broken many people’s faith in Albus Dumbledore, and you are well on your way to ousting him entirely.” Its voice was getting louder. “Everything has changed, Severus Snape, and as I have told you before, I am playing a longer game than you can possibly imagine!” It seemed to calm, sinking back down onto the table. “You called me here for a reason. I cannot be gone long -- ask your questions.”

“Are there two more potential heirs at Hogwarts right now?” Remus asked quickly.

“...yes,” the Hat said slowly, twisting to look at him. “No, I will not tell you who they are. Predestination is a… fickle thing.”

“Could Neville or Hermione, or the other heirs, be hurt by being bound to Hogwarts? Is Hogwarts’ magic stable?”

“They cannot be injured by the bond,” the Hat said, looking at Neville and Hermione, who were both watching it with wide eyes. “However, I would caution both of you--do not take on more than you can handle. The power that heirs are given cannot be taken lightly, as the past has shown us.”

“Yes… sir,” Neville said. “Er. Thanks?”

The Hat twitched in what could be a nod. “Is there anything else?”

“Should we know anything else?” Sirius returned, still sitting on the arm of the couch. “These talks have always been cut short--is there anything else we can know?”

The Sorting Hat hesitated. “...you are doing well,” it said after a moment. “I have… a lot of hope, for this timeline. And, Mr. Snape,” it turned to Severus, “What you were supposed to do was live. I think you’ve done that, wouldn’t you say?” With another nod-twitch, the Hat disappeared.

“...I thought the Hat just put us in our Houses,” Hermione said after a moment, staring at the empty sideboard. “What did you mean by all that?”

Severus collapsed down next to Remus on the couch. “Which part?”

Sirius snorted. “I think you’ve been painted into a corner, Sev. You know which part.”

Severus nodded slowly. He should have thought this through better -- he’d just been so excited to talk to the Hat, to get some answers, to get any sort of information. And, truthfully, it was time that Harry knew. “Grab a seat,” he told them.

Neville and Hermione sank into chairs. Harry, looking around for another seat and finding nothing, huffed and sat cross-legged on the floor.

“When I was 21,” Severus told them, focusing mostly on Harry, “I was sent back in time by… Fate. Magic. Some kind of overarching force. It took me back to when I was 11, and from then, I lived my Hogwarts years, and a few more years after that, all over again.”

Neville and Harry were gaping at him -- Hermione mostly looked curious.

“When I was sent back, I was told that I needed to… change some things,” Severus told them, fibbing slightly. He wasn’t going to get into his attempted suicide right now. If Harry wanted more details, they could speak about it in private. “I interpreted that to mean that I could save... people.”

“My Mum and Father,” Harry said immediately. “Uncle Regulus. Wait. You’re a time-traveler?!”

“But time-travel doesn’t work like that!” Hermione chimed in. “A few hours, yes, but not… years!”

“Not with wizarding magic,” Severus allowed. “Suffice to say that this was something else. And… yes, Harry. Your parents.” Regulus hadn’t been part of the plan, back then, although Severus would give-- “The last time I saw the Sorting Hat was the night your parents died, Harry. It told me that saving people wasn’t the plan, that what happened back then had never been the plan. You were the plan, you and your friends. Helping your generation, I think.”

“Helping the heirs,” Remus put in. “We started our research years before Neville pulled the sword out of midair, and good thing we did.”

“It said that a bunch has changed,” Neville said. “That people were in the right Houses now.”

“It puts people in the wrong Houses sometimes,” Hermione added. “Doesn’t it? Why would it do that?”

“Dumbledore,” Sirius told them. “At least, that’s what we think. Damn, that was a question we should have asked.”

“Next time,” Severus told him. He sighed at the look on Harry’s face--he’d known that his son would feel betrayed, not having been told this before. But when, exactly, was it supposed to come up? “Would you two like to try co-casting again?” he said, instead of addressing it. They’d speak about it later.

Severus had barely sat down for lunch the second day of classes when Remus showed up, grabbed his arm, and promptly pulled him out a side door and into the first open room he found, ignoring the stares from staff and students.

“What?” Severus said blankly, blinking at him.

Remus glanced at him and then away again, laying down several layers of privacy charms before grabbing Severus’s bag, pulling the map out, and setting it up to make sure they weren’t being spied upon.

“What is it?” Severus asked more sensically, worried at the way Remus was pacing back and forth. “Remus.”

“I had third year Gryffindors and Slytherins this morning,” Remus said, still pacing. One hand snuck up to his mouth before he pulled it away again with a frown. “Ginny Weasley was in the class.”

“She’s a third year Gryffindor,” Severus agreed.

“She was also possessed,” Remus hissed, spinning around to face him. “Fuck, we’re stupid.”

“What?”

“But you said they can’t be destroyed by just anything, right? Something about permanent damage. It was just stabbed, but it was stabbed by a Basilisk tooth, and their venom is very potent.”

“Remus! What are you talking about?”

“She was possessed,” Remus said, slower, both hands braced on a nearby table. “By a cursed book, a book that talked to her, a book that talked to us in Voldemort’s voice. Used his face. Sev!”

“Oh,” Severus said, blinking. “Oh, fuck. It was a horcrux.”

“Can Basilisk venom destroy a Horcrux?” Remus asked, plaintive. “Because it looked very, very destroyed, but if it wasn’t, we gave it to Dumbledore. And that seems… bad.”

“What happened when you stabbed it?”

“He… faded. Ginny was okay again. There was a giant snake body, which was pretty distracting, honestly."

“If it was feeding off of Ginny, and then she recovered fully, it was destroyed,” Severus said, sounding a lot more certain than he felt.

“But this means there were two,” Remus told him. “At least. And if he made two, then he probably made more. Right?”

“Maybe,” Severus said, thinking. “Didn’t we… wasn’t there a chance that Lucius Malfoy gave that diary to her? Or at least left it somewhere, and she found it?”

Remus nodded. “It would make sense, that he might have something of Voldemort’s. Although Horcruxes probably aren’t meant to be left around places, they’re meant to be… locked in vaults, that sort of thing. It doesn’t make sense that he would give it away.”

Severus closed his eyes. “We’re going to have to talk to him.”

Chapter Text

A week into the spring term, Minerva walked into Severus’s evening office hours calmly, shut the door behind her, and then proceeded to start hyperventilating as she sunk into a chair.

“Minerva?” he asked, coming around his desk immediately and crouching by her chair, laying a tentative hand on the arm of it. “I--what’s going on?”

She reached out her hand and gripped his forearm tightly, slowing her breath by increments until she slumped backward. “I’m only saying this once,” she said. “You should get Remus.”

Severus opened his mouth to ask why, but thought better of it at the look she gave him. Instead, he rose from his crouch and opened the side door that led to their main rooms. Remus looked up at the noise and Severus jerked his head silently as he made his way over to their Potions cabinet--a Calming Draught couldn’t hurt.

He made his way back into the office, Remus following, and handed the vial over. “Calming Draught,” he told Minerva.

She nodded, tipping half of it back before placing the bottle back on the desk between them. “I’ve suddenly begun remembering things,” she told them. “Big and small things, just… over the years that I’ve been here. I thought I was losing my mind, or maybe thinking about some things caused me to reminisce a bit too hard. But this afternoon I remembered something… I thought you two might be able to explain it.”

“What did you remember?” Severus asked, sitting down in his chair.

Remus sat down on the other side of the desk, far enough from Minerva to give her some space. “We’ll explain whatever we can,” he added.

“Well, that’s the odd thing,” Minerva started. “It wasn’t so much remembering, at first, as it was… reevaluating. For instance… did you know that I was a Ravenclaw, in school?”

Severus blinked at her. He’d rather thought it impossible for someone to be in one House in school and lead another one as a Professor, but perhaps they hadn’t had enough Gryffindor professors at one point? “No, I didn’t,” he told her.

“I did,” Minerva said. “I mean, of course I did! That’s not something you forget, after all. But it didn’t seem… important. I was made Head of Gryffindor House ten years into teaching here, and thought nothing of it!”

“You--”

“And another thing,” she continued. “I was never asked for information on Voldemort when I joined the order, when I went to school with him. He was two years below me! And yet no one seemed to know his name, and I never thought to mention it.”

“And then this morning,” she said, reaching forward and taking another sip of Calming Draught, “I woke up from the strangest dream and remembered something that happened when I was a student. I thought it was a… an odd dream, something I had fabricated from real life, but it seemed so real.”

“What happened?” Remus asked, leaning toward her.

“At the end of last year, Ms. Granger suddenly had a crown appear on her head, and clearly everyone knew that something had happened,” Minerva said, eyeing them both warily. “I don’t know why I didn’t ask what was going on, but I didn’t. And then this morning, I woke and had memories of that happening to me!” She shook her head. “I must be going mad.”

Severus sucked in a breath. “No,” he said. “No, I don’t think you are. Er, Remus, would you get the journal, please?”

“Yeah,” Remus said, nodding and making his way out of the office.

“Minerva, do you… have you heard of the Hogwarts heirs?”

“The heir of Slytherin?” Minerva said, with disgust.

“It’s more complicated than that,” Severus told her gently. “We have a primary source that you might believe more, but basically--I think you may have been chosen as the heir of Ravenclaw, when you were in school. Did anyone ever talk to you about it?”

“Albus,” Minerva said slowly. “That was odd, about the memory--that was the first time he spoke to me outside of class, I remember that now, but before it had seemed like I was always… friends with him, I suppose. But that day he pulled me aside and… and talked…” her brow wrinkled. “He talked to me about it, I think. I honestly can’t remember.”

Remus came back in the office with a copy of Eridanus’s journal, handing it to Minerva. “That should help,” he said, then turned to Severus. “We really need to compile this into a list of bullet points.”

Severus sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Probably.”

“Have you…” Remus hesitated. “Spoken to someone about this?”

Minerva eyed him. “If you mean Albus, then no, I came here instead until I could sort everything out. If you mean your friend Amelia Bones… no, but I may make another appointment with her.”

Remus looked chagrined. “Sorry,” he said. “We just…”

“I imagine that there is a lot going on I’m not aware of,” Minerva said, gesturing with the journal she was still holding. “But this is not why--do you know why I might be remembering things now?”

“As heirs are recognized,” Severus started slowly, “Hogwarts magic is renewed, and various… charms lose their efficacy.”

“Hogwarts placed charms on me,” Minerva repeated, doubting.

“Er--”

“Please tell me what you mean,” Minerva snapped, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“We believe that Dumbledore has placed various charisma charms on his friends and allies,” Remus told her. “On job contracts, at least, and perhaps elsewhere. If you’re remembering things now, especially suspicious things that have to do with him, it’s likely due to those failing.”

“You think that Albus Dumbledore caused me to forget a large number of things,” Minerva said slowly.

“We think Albus Dumbledore prefers it when he isn’t questioned,” Severus countered.

Minerva paused, looking at both of them, then nodded and rose to her feet. “Thank you for the information,” she told them. “I will… refrain from telling Albus about this conversation.”

As with the first round of the dueling championships, the second round happened a day before the second task of the Tournament. Also as with the first round, Severus didn’t go to them, too busy drawing up a final list of defensive spells for Harry. Cedric, apparently finding it unfair that Harry hadn’t received the clue in his egg, had warned them it would take place in the lake--hopefully Harry wouldn’t even have to get in the water, but if he did, they’d taught him charms to stay warm, dry, and floating. Remus had also gone over information on the Mermish people with him, but they were still pulling up more information. Would Harry have to fight them? Surely he’d be expected to breathe underwater, and they’d taught him a spell to do that -- the Bubblehead charm -- but it was difficult, and he only succeeded about half the time.

Finally, Remus gave a triumphant sound, pointing to a spot in the book he was reading. “Gillyweed,” he said, scanning the rest of the page. “We’ll have to bring a bunch and only give him as much as he needs, but it should work if they make him go underwater.”

Severus grabbed the book and spun it around to read it. “A type of seaweed,” he read. “Do we have any?”

“We’re about to,” Remus said, grabbing his wand. “I’ll go to the shops and get some.”

“It’s used in various potions,” Severus continued, dragging a finger down the page. “Try a potions supply store first, somewhere fancy.”

“Got it.”

Remus hadn’t returned by the time Harry rushed into their rooms to report the results of the competition.

“Daphne Greengrass won our year,” he said, still wheezing slightly. “Sorry, you wanted to know but there’s a party thing for the Hufflepuffs who won--”

“Go,” Severus told him, laughing. “But take this,” he handed Harry the final list of spells, as well as a quick set of notes about Gillyweed. “We’re trying to get this for you,” he told him, tapping it with a finger. “Your Papa is out now.”

“Okay, thanks,” Harry said, bumping their shoulders before running out the door again.

Severus grinned after his son. He hoped Neville was alright--he’d achieved a decent amount of fame for winning the first round in his year and House, and losing it now had to hit hard. Hopefully there was a Gryffindor party going on, too.

The next day, Severus choked down a couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea, and then walked down to the lake with Remus, Sirius, Harry and most of the rest of Hogwarts.

“Have you seen Neville?” he heard Harry ask Ron behind them.

“Er, no,” Ron said. “I think he turned in early last night?”

“You haven’t seen him since last night?” Hermione asked, voice louder than the others.

“Oi! I’m not his keeper, am I?” Ron objected. “He went to bed early, and then this morning I was late to breakfast. I just missed him, I guess.”

Harry made a frustrated noise, then jogged slightly to catch up with his parents. “Neville’s not here,” he told them. “We have to find him.”

Severus nodded. “I heard. You’re worried?”

“He was upset yesterday,” Harry said. “I mean, he didn’t tell me that, but I could tell. But he likes to be alone when he’s upset, so I let him go back to Gryffindor. I thought he’d be here today, though.”

“You need to get to the task,” Remus reminded him. “I agree that Neville would be here, usually--as soon as we’re sure that you’ll be ok to sit out, one of us will go find him.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Severus reassured their son. “But we’ll find him.”

Harry looked ready to argue, but acquiesced with a grumble and a nervous look back at the castle. “Fine, but when you find him you come and tell me, okay?”

“Of course.”

Harry nodded, then stepped away to make his way to the front of the crowd with the other competitors. Severus followed Sirius and Remus to the family section, studying the setup. There wasn’t anything on top of the water, and the other three competitors were wearing swimming costumes. It seemed likely that the goal was under the water, but unless they made him jump in, Harry could sit on the edge of the dock as long as he liked.

“Looks okay,” Sirius said beside him, echoing his thoughts. “He can just sit there, yeah?”

“I hope so,” Severus said, looking up at the judge’s bench. Was that--Percy Weasley? What was he doing here?

“The rest of them look like they’re freezing,” Remus commented, staring at the three actual competitors. “Fleur is shivering.”

“I imagine she’s used to pleasant weather rather than viciously cold water,” Severus commented. “Wait, is he--”

They watched as Harry walked over to Fleur and showed her the powerful Warming Charm he’d just learned, and then continued to talk with her pleasantly.

Sirius laughed. “I’m not sure why anyone thought he’d compete when he wasn’t supposed to.”

“To put him in slightly more danger?” Remus asked. “Or maybe they just didn’t want competition in the dueling championships.”

Sirius grinned. “Yeah, it was a first year, I bet. Didn’t want to go up against Harry Potter.”

“He’s rubbish at dueling!” Severus laughed. “He always just picks five spells and repeats them, he’d get docked so many points for that.”

“Welcome to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament!” Ludo Bagman cried, again louder than the crowd. “The places, as they stand: In first place, our Durmstrang champion, Viktor Krum!”

There was a loud cheering from the Durmstrang portion of the crowd, although there wasn’t any cheering from the family box. Severus glanced around--surely someone had come to cheer Viktor on?

“In second place, one of our Hogwarts champions, Cedric Diggory!”

A wall of noise erupted as every Hogwarts student cheered, and Amos Diggory, behind them, exploded into applause. Severus cheered politely, and spotted Harry clapping and grinning at Cedric, who looked a bit overwhelmed by the support.

“In third place, our lovely Beauxbaton champion, Fleur Delacoeur!”

There was the requisite cheering, and Severus, watching Fleur, wondered how many people he’d want to stab if he was continuously described as ‘lovely’.

“And last but certainly not least, in fourth place, our other Hogwarts champion and the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter!”

A muted cheer went up, mostly from Harry’s friends, as well as a chant of ‘Cedric’, and a lot of whispering and muttering from the rest of the crowd. Harry looked unbothered, continuing to chat with Fleur, although he glanced up at the announcer’s table in annoyance when his ‘title’ was announced.

“Now, our champions have not been told what this challenge entails, other than any clues they may have gotten from their golden egg in the first task,” Ludo called. “They will have one hour to recover what has been taken from them.”

“Taken?” Severus heard Harry ask. “What does he mean?”

Fleur must have said something back, because he stared after her in horror as she jumped into the water, and then spun around and walked straight to the family box.

“Mr. Potter--” Ludo Bagman called, voice still amplified, before coughing and cancelling the spell, hurriedly making his way to intercept Harry.

“They took a person!” Harry called, running into the side of the box and almost falling over it in his haste to get to them. “Fleur said they took her little sister, her mum told her this morning, but they took--” Harry scanned the three of them and his eyes widened. “Neville!”

Most of the crowd closest to them were staring, now, as well as the entirety of the family and the staff box. Pomona took a step toward them, and Alastor leaned forward, looking concerned.

“Hold on,” Severus said, catching Harry’s attention. “What did Fleur say, exactly?”

“She said they took the person most dear to you,” Harry said quickly. “And Neville’s not here. What if I don’t go?! I wasn’t supposed to go, but what’ll happen to him?!”

“Mr. Potter, if you would lower your voice--” Ludo said, finally reaching them.

“Is this true?” Sirius demanded, turning to him and putting on his Lord Black voice. “You’ve taken a child to the bottom of this lake? Was his grandmother informed?”

“She was, yes, she was sent a letter, of course,” Ludo said.

“When was she sent a letter?” Sirius asked, dangerously.

“What did it say?” Remus added. “Because there’s no way she would have allowed this. What will happen to Neville if Harry doesn’t go and find him?”

“Well, I--oh--”

There was a noise from beyond the box, and Severus turned to see Draco and Vincent Crabbe pushing their way through the crowd toward Harry.

“Come on,” Draco said when he reached them, grabbing Harry by the arm.

“What? Draco, why--”

“Just--” Draco shook his head. “Just come here.” He walked to the edge of the dock and let out a truly horrendous sound that echoed loud enough to silence the entire crowd.

Severus watched in silence as Draco paused and then repeated the noise, cupping his hands around his mouth to aim it toward the water and then studying the waves intently. Finally, he seemed to see what he was waiting for, and took a step back, still gripping Harry’s arm.

Severus leaned forward as the head of a mermaid, and then her whole upper body, popped out of the water.

Draco made a different, softer screeching noise, and then began to sign rapidly in BSL. Severus, who’d picked up perhaps ten words of it during Defense lessons two years ago but then had never had Vincent, or any other deaf student, in his classes again, watched in bafflement as Draco proceeded to have a conversation in sign with the mermaid.

Every so often, the mermaid would sign something and Draco would turn to Vincent, get it clarified, and then sign back. Finally, he turned to Harry and spoke, loud enough for the first few rows of the crowd to hear him. “She says they’re safe where they are, and her clan have agreed to protect them. They have instructions to bring anyone who isn’t recovered to the surface in an hour, or as soon as everyone is out of the water after that.”

Harry visibly deflated, leaning into Draco’s shoulder a bit and mumbling something with a smile.

Draco looked a bit shocked by the casual affection as he replied in kind, and then Harry enveloped him in a hug, and then he really looked shocked.

“So, I guess they’re friends again,” Remus observed.

“Apparently,” Severus replied, although he still felt the need to yell at Ludo and the entire judge’s table.

“You couldn’t have told them that their loved ones would be safe?” Sirius asked Ludo, who was leaning heavily against the family box and gaping at what had just happened.

“Later, love,” Remus told his husband, grabbing his hand.

Sirius relented with a grumble, and Ludo made his way back to the announcer’s table, still looking a bit gobsmacked.

Harry dragged Draco and Vincent with him back to the family box. “You heard that, right?” he asked them.

“Yes, we heard,” Severus told him. “Mr. Malfoy, why do the merpeople know BSL?” He quickly cast the spell that would translate anything signed into written, hovering words.

“Well, the Slytherin Common Room is by the--you know that,” Draco said, uncharacteristically flustered. “Er. We can’t talk to them through the glass, but they saw us signing one day, and we got the idea to communicate with them that way. We taught a couple of them by the lake, and then they spread it--not all of them understand English out of the water, so it’s easier.”

Vincent signed something, and Severus read the words that hovered in front of him -- ‘They really enjoy talking to the students, almost their whole clan knows how to sign.’

“That’s brilliant,” Severus said, smiling at them both. “Thank you, for putting our minds at ease.”

Draco nodded again nervously.

“Come sit with me?” Harry asked him. “I just have to sit there for an hour, it’ll be better if I’m not alone.”

‘I’ll leave you two alone,’ Vincent signed, and Severus heard Remus snort beside him as Draco’s ears turned pink and he shoved at his friend.

“What?” Harry asked.

“Nothing, Crabbe’s going to go find Goyle,” Draco told him, glancing at Severus and Remus with wide eyes as he walked away with Harry.

“What did he actually say?” Sirius asked.

“That he was going to leave them alone together,” Remus told him.

“Huh.”

Fleur returned first, bleeding and visibly upset, and Poppy immediately dragged her to the medical tent. Harry followed her, talking frantically, and some of her worry seemed to ease as they walked. Severus imagined she hadn’t known that her sister would be fine, and resolved to make the organizers face consequences for not informing her. There was a difference between fighting for a prize and fighting for a loved one’s safety, after all.

Cedric arrived second twenty minutes later, pulling his girlfriend Cho along with him. As soon as they broke the surface, she gasped and blinked, seeming surprised by her surroundings, and Severus wondered what on earth she and the other ‘hostages’ had been told. Who had planned this?!

A few minutes later, Viktor surfaced, dragging with him another Durmstrang boy that Severus had seen him with a few times. He had the head of a shark, which frightened both the crowd and his friend before he cast a charm to change himself back.

“That’s a tricky spell,” Remus commented, watching with admiration. “Minerva will like that.”

And then they waited. The judges were fidgety, watching Harry as he sat on the docks waiting--clearly they hadn’t thought through this time limit, and the crowd was growing more raucous as they realized that there was someone at the bottom of the lake, just waiting.

Finally, two heads broke the water, and Severus let out a breath of relief as he recognized Neville, who was gasping and trying to get his bearings as a merman held him up.

Harry immediately reached out a hand and grabbed Neville, hauling him onto the dock and casting several different charms to dry and warm him, and then grabbed him in a bruising hug.

“Thank you!” Harry called to the merman, signing the words as well, and the merman nodded as he disappeared back underneath the water.

Ludo Bagman cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, and Harry accompanied Neville to the medical tent as he started to speak. Severus ignored the scores, anxious to go see for himself that both Harry and Neville were okay, but heard Sirius laugh bitterly and tuned back in. “What?”

“Dumbledore’s given Harry points again,” Sirius said, gesturing at the man, who was indeed holding up a ‘two’. “Probably for giving Neville a hand up, or something. He didn’t even touch the water!” he shouted up at the man.

“Shush,” Remus told him, giggling. “You know all of them are giving extra points to the competitors from their schools, it’d be weird if he did give him a zero. What’s the difference between losing and losing badly?”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Sirius grumbled, crossing his arms, then uncrossed them almost immediately. “Come on, let’s go make sure Neville’s alright so we can send Augusta a Patronus, she’s either reeling or the letter was shite.”

They made their way to the medical tent, pushing through and going straight to Harry and Neville.

“He’s fine,” Poppy said as soon as she saw them. “And yes, I’ll send Madame Longbottom a message saying just that. A quick Pepperup potion, and Harry already warmed him up, he’s alright to leave. If you want, dear,” she added to Neville.

“Yes,” Neville confirmed, nodding rapidly and standing. Severus saw that Harry still hadn’t let go of him, although whether Neville had noticed that or not was debatable.

“Neville, can I ask you some questions?” Remus asked as they exited the tent and headed for the edge of the crowd.

“Sure, yeah.”

“Did they come and get you last night?”

“Er, yeah.” Neville shrugged. “Professor McGonagall interrupted me on my way to my dorm and said she needed to speak to me, and then we went to a room with the other, er--”

“Hostages,” Severus supplied, still a bit perturbed by the whole thing.

“Okay,” Neville allowed. “She told us that we’d be asleep until the end of the task, but that no matter what we’d be fine, they guaranteed it.” He shrugged again. “There didn’t seem like a reason to say no, I guess, and they were telling Gran, and I figured she’d tell you. It’d be bad form to hurt me in a tournament I’m not even a part of, right?”

Severus couldn’t deny the logic, but raised an eyebrow at him anyway. Neville raised an eyebrow right back, and Severus laughed.

“Yes, you’re probably right,” Remus allowed. “Still. Next time, see if you can get a note to us?”

“There’s not going to be a next time,” Harry said vehemently.

“It’d be boring twice,” Neville reassured him, and then softened when he saw Harry’s expression. “I’m fine, yeah? Madame Pomfrey said so, and everything.”

Harry groaned and released his friend, turning around to walk backwards. “Did I actually get more than zeros again? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Exactly!” Sirius crowed.

The aftermath of the second task was even less than the first--Harry not competing was commonplace, now, and an hour of staring at a lake had been much less gossip-worthy than dragons. They only had the champion’s word for anything that had happened, and they weren’t really talking. Rather sadly, students focused back on their academics, and then realized with a shock that some of them had OWLs and NEWTs in just a few months.

Severus, Remus, and Sirius, meanwhile, were searching for the last mentions of both Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup and Salazar Slytherin’s Locket, and also looking for any possible stockpiles of Voldemort’s items. If he made two horcruxes, odds were that he’d made more, but…

“They could be anything!” Remus cried at one point, shutting a book. “This is madness. They could be precious objects, or they could be trash.”

“Probably not trash,” Sirius told him. “I mean, he was a bit of a ponce, yeah? Priceless artifact and a childhood diary held to the same standard, doesn’t get more narcissistic than that.”

“Would the locket be a Horcrux?” Severus asked, bringing up an old argument. “If something was tied into your magic like that, you wouldn’t want to curse it.”

“Except that it’s not a curse to him,” Remus pointed out, not for the first time. “We’ll just find it, and then we’ll know. We have to find it either way,” he grumbled.

“Let’s just get Draco to do something exceptionally Slytherin,” Sirius said, shutting the book in front of him. “I don’t know, host elections for something, let him campaign. Er. Make a puzzle competition? How do you make a Slytherin… Slytherin?”

“It might not be Draco,” Severus reminded him.

“Our son’s got a huge crush on him,” Sirius told him. “I mean, not that he’s said, but…”

“You said he had a crush on Cedric Diggory,” Remus accused.

“And I was right about that! But that was more hero-worship. Quidditch captain, you know how it is.”

“Not even remotely,” Severus deadpanned.

Sirius shot him a look. “I was right about that, and I’m right about this.”

Remus closed his book too. “They’re at least friends again. And I don’t remember the last time I saw Draco bully anyone.”

“But has he changed his mind? Or is he just hiding what he thinks to make Harry talk to him?”

“He’s fifteen,” Sirius said. “Before, he was doing things to make his dad happy. Now he’s doing things to make Harry happy. Are we upset about this change? No.”

Severus fought the urge to stick his tongue out at Sirius, snapping his own book shut instead. “You sent that letter to Lucius?”

“Well, to him and Narcissa,” Sirius corrected. “But yes. I gave them a few dates, as is polite, all weekends. I’ll tell you when they reply, Sev.”

“We’re actually telling him stuff,” Remus confirmed. “Like, more than he already knows?”

“Unless he’s changed completely,” Severus said slowly, considering his words, “he’ll value his family--their safety, their wealth, their power--over almost anything else. If we’re right, and giving it away wasn’t the plan, then he’ll do almost anything to cover for that.”

Perhaps the highlight of Severus’s entire year--not that it was hard to hold that title, what with Harry being in danger every few months and a pending court case to remove his boss--was a staff meeting that happened at the end of February.

It had started fairly normally, with Minerva listing any administrative updates and asking each teacher for anything they’d like to address. They were almost to the end, where Dumbledore would make a rousing speech that they mostly disregarded, when Horace stood up from his seat unsteadily and pointed straight at Dumbledore with one hand. “I quit,” he said clearly, brow furrowed.

“Horace?” Dumbledore asked, looking confused. He tilted his head to the side, fixing Horace with his full attention.

“You heard me!” Horace repeated, glaring at the headmaster. “I can’t--you can’t--I’m done with this school. You can’t make me stay! You think you can, you think you can do anything, and Merlin knows I’ve made mistakes--” He shuddered. “But you will not keep me here any longer.” He turned to face the rest of them, but seemed to have run out of steam, and merely turned red and strode out of the room.

“I--oh dear,” Dumbledore, staring after him with consternation. “I will have to speak with him later, and see if I’ve done something to offend him.”

Severus fought the urge to stand up and do the same thing as Horace, picturing some sort of grand exodus with Dumbledore sitting there, baffled, twiddling his thumbs good-naturedly. But alas, he couldn’t do that--so he merely enjoyed Dumbledore’s stumbling speech about school unity and then stood up, falling into step with Remus. They walked in silence, all the way to their rooms, but once inside, Remus let out a huge breath and exploded into laughter.

“Fuck, I wish I could do that,” Severus said fervently. “Do you think we can organize that? All stand up and quit, and then he gets arrested? Well, no, because I wouldn’t want to quit if he weren’t here…”

“Maybe we can visit him once he’s arrested and tender our resignations, but only to him,” Remus gasped between laughs. “I wonder what got Horace so upset?”

Severus shrugged. “He’s been here forever--maybe he wanted to quit, but Dumbledore kept convincing him not to?”

“Sounded worse than that,” Remus countered. “We should tell Amy to talk to him.”

“Yeah,” Severus agreed, still picturing the absolutely bewildered look on Dumbledore’s face. “Maybe I’ll recommend Damocles for the job, he’s still just doing contract brewing.”

Chapter Text

Apparently qualified Potions instructors who could start right away were in short supply, because Minerva took Severus’s suggestion and interviewed Damocles the next week. In the meantime, Potions classes were covered by Severus and Pomona in turns, which led to one of the more exhausting weeks of Severus’s life. Sirius took to grading the work for first through third years, just to let him sleep.

Finally, Damocles was hired and took over classes, and then that same night, showed up in Severus and Remus’s room with a bottle of mead and three boxes of candy.

“Hello,” Severus greeted uncertainly. They’d been friends for… years, but over letters more than anything else, and they were hardly the drinking-and-socializing types.

“Slughorn--Horace--must have left fifteen boxes of this stuff in his office,” Damocles, raising the boxes up slightly. “I’ve come to see if any of you like them, because if so, they’re all yours. This,” he raised the mead,” is payment for listening to me complain about his curriculum.”

Sirius, who’d come up to the door behind Severus, greeted him jovially. “Dam!” he shouted. “Come, bring in the alcohol. Excellent.”

Damocles rolled his eyes--he’d had minimal interactions with Sirius over the years, but hadn’t succeeded in dissuading him from that nickname.

“Rem!” Sirius shouted. “Come drink with us. Sev, glasses?”

Severus rolled his eyes but Summoned four glasses, catching them with a charm before grabbing each out of the air to set them on the table. “What did Horace do?”

“Other than leaving in the middle of a semester?” Damocles asked, sitting down and uncorking the bottle. “Well, half the potions are chosen for flash value instead of, for instance, use. Or difficulty. And apparently he teaches Amortentia, which is--”

“Illegal?” Sirius asked.

“Precisely,” Damocles said, pointing at him. “Well, making it isn’t illegal. Giving it to someone is. Just seems like testing fate, having a bunch of teenagers make something they’re not allowed to use.” He groaned, leaning back. “And he’s something like a month behind in marking!”

“That, I knew,” Severus said. “Pomona and I tried to catch up a bit over the last week, give you a fresh start.”

“So it was worse before? Thanks, mate,” Damocles said, filling a glass with mead and raising it toward him.

“Hey, wait,” Sirius said, pouring his own glass. “Who’s head of Slytherin house? Dam was a Ravenclaw, weren’t you?”

Damocles nodded.

“Aurora, I bloody well hope,” Severus said, leaning back. “It’s her or me, and she has seniority.”

“But you’re more popular,” Damocles put in. “I’ve hardly been here a day and I know that. You and Remus are star-crossed lovers, apparently.”

Severus grimaced. “Not quite,” he said. “Partners.”

“If anyone’s star-crossed, it’s me,” Sirius said.

“Your name is a constellation, love, we know,” Remus said, walking in the room with a stack of papers under his arm. “Damocles, hello.”

“Remus,” Damocles greeted him. “I was telling Severus that he’s one of the more popular teachers at the school.”

“He’s great,” Remus said, grinning at Severus. “Although part of that is just comparison to Binns, he’ll say.”

Severus rolled his eyes, grabbing a box of candy to look at it. “This is that pineapple stuff?”

“Yep. Please take it away, I can’t even put away my books, it’s everywhere. Why wouldn’t he just take it with him?!”

Horace had left the same night he’d resigned, and had taken only the bare minimum. He hadn’t left a forwarding address, as far as Severus could tell, so he and Pomona had packed up some of his things as they tried to organize his classes, and hoped that he’d be back for them sometime.

“He was in a rush,” Severus said.

Damocles eyed him. “Uh-huh. Well, cheers for the job, although I could do without the caginess and disorganization.”

“Next year you can write your own curriculum,” Remus offered.

Damocles groaned. “That sounds worse, actually.”

“That’s what I’ve always said!” Sirius cried, leaning forward to clink their glasses together. “Damn, Dam, you’re a keeper. Save me from the swots.”

Despite his early reticence, Damocles settled in well, and Aurora was named Head of Slytherin House, a fact that filled Severus with relief.

“Heads of Houses have private meetings with Dumbledore,” he told Remus after they found out, leaning back on the couch. “I might have cursed him by accident.”

“By accident?” Remus asked, laughing.

“Well, logically, I shouldn’t. So yes, by accident,” Severus rationalized, closing his eyes. “Would you, er, come here?”