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Harry looked at Professor Snape's door, nervous. Professor Snape had taken a dislike to him and he found it hard to get on with people even though Draco helped him meet people as he knew all the Purebloods at Hogwarts, even those from other Houses.
"Harry?"
"Uncle!" he exclaimed with a relieved smile. "You found it."
"I found it," his uncle confirmed with a kind smile that still made him feel warm. "We're early, so we'll go in when it's time to make sure we don't disturb anyone."
If it had been Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, they would not have waited and would not have been so dignified if doing so. Things had really changed for him in the two weeks he had spent with his uncle on the Potter side of the family, and life could not be better.
And now he was a Wizard and waiting to meet his Potions teacher and more generally his referent teacher. He did not quite know what his Uncle Harry – yes, there was clearly a problem of originality in the choice of first names in the family – wanted to discuss, but he had made an appointment anyway.
The door opened and his impressive and charismatic teacher appeared in a swirl of cape as his uncle was about to knock. Seeing the man's arm raised, the professor seemed reluctantly and subtly appeased.
"Please come in."
"Professor Snape, I assume? Thank you for seeing me to discuss Harry's situation."
"That's my job, Mr... ?"
"Potter, Harry Potter," his uncle introduced himself with a charming smile before continuing straight away because this was only the hundredth time in a month. "Believe me, I know."
Professor Snape, frozen and lost in his observation of his uncle, took a moment before regaining his composure.
"Potter."
"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Up until... oh, about a month ago today, wasn't it, Harry? Yes, up until a month ago he was living with his mother's Muggle sister, her husband and their son."
"And you're telling me all this because...?"
"Because they abused him."
Harry looked at his uncle with wide eyes, surprised and shocked, before looking at the floor. Why was he telling him this?
"... abused."
"Neglected, abused, insulted, deprived of food, stolen from his origins, and probably other details that won't be discussed today. Abused."
Professor Snape looked at Harry and he looked down again, uncomfortable and embarrassed.
"Why are you telling me this?" The Professor asked, his tone sounding softer to Harry but he was not quite sure.
"Harry isn't familiar with the ways of the Wizarding world, and he is having trouble getting used to his new... rather macabre celebrity."
Because he should be dead. Because someone had tried to kill him. Because his parents had died and he had survived the impossible.
No one around him understood that he would swap places with any of them any day, anything to know his parents' love and remember their embraces.
" As the Head Professor of the Slytherins, I'm relying on you to look after him as you would look after any of your pupils. With his circumstances, I thought it best that we had a chat, sometimes certain... previous experiences can make a child react particularly badly to a situation, I think you'll be able to look after him better with this information."
"I think I will, Mr. Potter. Senior. Mr. Potter Jr. you can come to me with any problems, otherwise I think Mr. Potter has everything well in hand."
Harry nodded, smiling hesitantly before heading for the door when his uncle waved him away.
"Thank you, good evening Professor!"
"He's a bit shy, Potions was the subject he found most intriguing, and apparently you were terribly fascinating. Now I understand better."
Harry was just going through the door when he saw his uncle kissing the stunned and paralysed professor's hand.
When he saw the almost... frightened - ? - eyes of Professor Snape who seemed to be trying to silently call out to him for help, Harry did the sensible thing and closed the door behind him.
He was a well-behaved boy: if an unmarried man wanted a chance to seduce someone, he had to give them privacy to get to know each other.
If his uncle could marry Professor Snape, it would be incredible! Draco would be so jealous, it would be the biggest thing in his whole life after the whole ‘Being a Wizard’ thing and ‘The Boy Who Lived’.