This chapter was written by Ramelia but the second chapter will be mine. And I got permission by the author to post this chapter.

Hello, Have We Met Before?

Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. I own nada.

Neither his resignation, nor Severus himself appeared in Dumbledore's office the next day, or the one after that. He had never been too keen on introspection, and so, he did not consider the reasons behind his behaviour on the morning of the Headmaster's visit, other than hangover, of course.

After warding his house and garden against unwelcome visitors, which was everyone at this point, he had holed himself up in his laboratory. He seldom ascended to the upper floors now. He had found a broken radio in the attic, and after a little tinkering with it that Arthur Weasley would certainly have disapproved of, Severus had brought the device to life, albeit a feeble one.

It was all about having a schedule, planning his day down to the last minute and not letting his thoughts wander. However, despite his best efforts to occupy himself with brewing, scrubbing and organizing everything that did and did not need organizing, at times Severus caught himself straining his ears—not for possible intruders, although there were plenty of those (a Muggle postman, Dumbledore's owls, followed by the man himself and his companion Severus had not seen before), but for light footsteps in the bedroom upstairs.

Once or twice Severus woke up in the middle of the night, imagining he had heard Harry's voice, but as he, sleep-deprived and disoriented, hurried upstairs to see what was the matter with the boy now, he was met with deadly silence but for the ominous strike of the grandfather-clock counting away the seconds of the night.

To his great irritation, Severus found that after the disastrous night with her, he was a few galleons short. And it was not only the fact that she had ripped him off while he had been sleeping, but there was the danger of Ministry sniffing out the fact.

He had not left the house and had no intention to, but a few days after his word exchange with Dumbledore, Severus had run short of Hellebore roots. He carefully opened the back door, wand at the ready. He waited a second for an official-sounding voice to announce his arrest, or some hex flying in his direction, but none came. He pushed the door open wider and, eyes narrowed, stepped out into the garden. His gaze raked over the bushes, trees and flower-beds until it stopped a few feet to his right.

Severus' brow shot up as he watched the great black dog struggle vainly against a spiky vine-like plant that had wound tightly around the beast's torso and paws, holding it rooted to the spot. The dog was whimpering softly, its jaws snapping uselessly at the offensive plant.

Severus strode over to the dog and leaned down, humming thoughtfully.

"The hybrid of the Devil's Snare and ivy," he said aloud, closely inspecting the plant. "Quite effective at hindering trespassers, wouldn't you agree?"

Severus smirked as the dog gave a weak growl that turned into a long moan when the vine tightened its hold on its victim. He watched the dog's futile efforts of freeing himself for a moment. There was really no point in risking the dog doing a damage to the plant.

Severus squatted down and slowly drew his wand over the vine. By degrees, the plant loosened its clutches, and Snuffles started wriggling feebly. The vine finally crept back into the low grass, blending in, and the dog staggered aside and promptly collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, the pink tongue lolling out.

"I should have known," Severus muttered, pocketing his wand. "The boy must have fed you if you keep coming back here."

He stared at the dog for a moment, then, as if remembering himself, he turned on his heel and determinedly strode towards the Hellebore patch.

When ten minutes later he was headed back towards the house, his arms full of Hellebore roots, he caught a glimpse of the dog still lying on the garden floor, its eyes following him. Snuffles lifted his head an inch as though he want to growl at the Professor, but did not seem to have it in him.

"There is nothing for you here, dog," Severus said impassively. "Even if the boy fed you, do not think I will not give you any of my food."

Severus glared fiercely at the beast, who did not show any signs of moving any time soon. It took Severus a second to register he was talking to a dog and there would be no answer forthcoming. With a little scoff at his own silliness, Severus disappeared inside.

Back in the laboratory, Severus dropped his armload on the table, staring at the earthy roots for a moment. The radio was droning on in the background about the happenings in the Muggle world, the sound of the scratchy voice mingling with that of a quietly simmering cauldron. His fingers played absently with the silver knife.

He had the oddest idea of returning to the garden to see if the beast was all right. And why was Lupin's dog here? Had it really grown so attached to the boy that it would not leave? And what did he care? He absolutely detested canines in general and wolves in particular.

But no... Potter had liked the dog, and if the boy found that Severus had known the beast to be in his garden, starving... He scowled and started chopping viciously the Hellebore roots. It took him a moment to realise he had forgotten to wash them.

"You insufferable brat!" Severus snarled as if it was Harry's fault that he could not focus on brewing a simple potion, but instead had to worry about some worthless beast.

As it turned out, the 'worthless beast' was entrapped in exactly the same spot as half an hour before, when Severus, cursing Harry and the dog, stomped out into the garden once again, a package of sausages in his hand. The expiration date was overdue, but they still looked edible... to a dog, certainly. Perhaps a bout of diarrhoea would ward the beast off. Severus' mood went up a notch at that thought.

"And here I thought you were marginally intelligent," said he with a scoff. "Stupid animal. Just like the boy—always gets himself into trouble."

His wand froze mid-wave. He stared at the wriggling and whining dog, his face twisted into a scowl.

"No matter," he said finally, recollecting himself. "Neither of you are my responsibility. Not anymore," he added after a little pause as the dog sprang free and leaped away from the offending plant.

"Come here," Severus wriggled a slimy-looking sausage in front of the dog. "What was the silly name Potter gave you? Snuffles? Come here, Snuffles."

The dog was not moving an inch. It sniffed the air, looked up at Severus, and took a step back, growling faintly.

"What is the matter with you?" Severus huffed. "It is a perfectly edible-"

He broke off as the dog whirled around suddenly and bolted towards the open back door. Severus cursed his own carelessness and sprinted after the dog, discarding the sausages on the ground. An innocent-looking dandelion split in two, opening the yellow jaws wide, and devoured the sausages and the package whole.

"Come back, you filthy animal!" Severus barked as he dashed inside the house.

The dog was in the living room, its muzzle glued to the floor as it went about sniffing. The beast raised its head and growled as Severus came sprinting in.

"What do you think you are doing?" Severus demanded, ignoring his misgivings about talking to a dog. "You are getting mud all over my floor! Get out this instant!"

The dog blinked at him a few times; then, as if he hadn't heard the Professor, put the nose back to the floor, its eyes flickering up from time to time to check Severus' position.

"The boy is not here," Severus said eventually, watching the dog, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Snuffles ignored him, and after wading around the armchairs and stopping briefly by the couch, he trotted towards the staircase and up to the first floor landing. Severus remained at the foot of the staircase, but that changed quickly when the dog expertly put its front paw on Harry's bedroom door and pulled the handle down.

"Not in there!" Severus snarled, taking two steps at the time. "If you think I am going to let you sleep in a bed..."

No sooner had he reached the bedroom, that the dog darted out again, nearly knocking Severus over. Cursing loudly, the Professor whirled around and chased the dog downstairs again.

It seemed that the beast was looking for something. Food probably, Severus thought irritably. He should have known that it was bad business from the very start. Potter was going to get a week's worth of detention first thing come September for inviting the beast into Snape's garden.

"What has possessed you, stupid animal?" Severus grumbled as the dog dashed past him towards the lab door. Seeing its paw on the door, Severus whipped out his wand. "Oh no, you don't. Petrificus Totalus!"

His spell rebounded off the door-frame. The dog had beat him to it—again. Severus gritted his teeth, seething. Something crashed downstairs, and Severus' eyes narrowed. He approached the stairs, slowly taking the steps down, wand before him.

"If that was the Draught of Peace batch, you are going to be a stuffed dog on somebody's mantle piece," he ground out, emerging into the lab. The radio was still on, filling the vicinity with its grating sound. Severus' gaze had barely swept over the room when he felt something brush against his leg and looked down to see Snuffles darting upstairs.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Severus snarled, pointing at the black tail dashing up the stairs. "Stupefy!"

The dog shunned the spells and disappeared in the corridor, Severus following him. He turned the corner in time to see Snuffles fleeing through the back door.

"And stay out!" Severus snarled, slamming the door shut.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning against the wall. His chest seemed to become an incredibly small, confined space and it was difficult to breathe. Honestly, locking himself up in the laboratory would not do. He needed to get out and get a little more exercise.

Severus' eyes snapped open.

"Nonsense," he heard himself scoff aloud.

He was perfectly happy to hide away in the basement and brew his potions. He was perfectly happy to deny Dumbledore the chance of meddling with his life. And he was most definitely happy that Potter was not spoiling his solitary summer anymore.

Yes, perfectly happy.

The door of the small brick house banged open, and Sirius rushed along the corridor, past the stairwell and into the small kitchen, upsetting a chair in the process.

"Oh, for god's sake... Remus? Remus!"

"Lower your voice." Remus was standing in the door-frame, his brow furrowed as he took in Sirius' dishevelled state and the wild look on his face. "Where in the world have you been? Dumbledore-"

"We have to find him, Remus," Sirius breathed, grabbing the front of Remus' shirt and shaking him desperately. "I told you Snape couldn't be trusted, and now he's gone and... and done something terrible."

"What are you talking about?" Remus' frown deepened as Sirius started pacing circles around the kitchen table.

"I just knew we couldn't leave him with Snape," he murmured more to himself than his friend. "He must have taken him somewhere... somewhere... I don't know. We have to go, we have to find him."

"Sirius, you could really use a shower and a long nap," Remus said sensibly, but Sirius acted as though he had not heard him. He stopped suddenly, nodded to himself and still muttering under his breath, dashed out of the kitchen again. Remus' mouth opened slightly in bewilderment.

The wooden stairs creaked pitifully as Sirius ran upstairs, and a moment later Remus heard him moving around in the bedroom upstairs. He shook his head and followed his friend.

The door to the small bedroom was thrown wide open. The midday sun filtering through the thick foliage of the forest trees outside had coloured the pale wallpaper a greenish hue. Remus stepped in, his eyes flickering to the bed in the corner for the briefest of moments before veering to Sirius, whose posterior was currently sticking out of the wardrobe as he rummaged inside as though looking for something.

"Sirius..." Remus began, but was yet again interrupted.

"I told you," Sirius stuck his head out of the wardrobe long enough to point and accusatory finger at his friend. "I told you Snape would do something ugly like this."

"Sirius, for the last time," Remus asked slowly, "what are you talking about?"

"Harry, of course!" Sirius exclaimed. "Snape has done something to him. I can feel it in my gut."

Remus shook his head good-naturedly, a soft smile making its way to his lips. He was about to offer some teasing remark about Sirius being too paranoid when his friend's muffled voice, suddenly subdued, came from the depths of the wardrobe.

"I've let him down. I've let him down, Remus." Sirius straightened up slowly, his shoulders slumped, and looked down at the bundle of clothes in his arms, as though they would offer him some sort consolation. The smile faded away, and Remus felt something heavy lodged in his throat. At times he felt like crying at seeing Sirius like this.

It had been such a shock, when his old friend had, to put it simply, returned from nowhere to show up at his door, pleading to hear him out. Although every fibre of his being had demanded instant retribution for the betrayal of James and Lily, he had not been able to raise his wand. He knew he trusted too easily the meagre hope he had cherished for years; nevertheless, Sirius explanations had made sense, Remus told himself. Pettigrew was the traitor and very much alive, and his old friend was innocent.

Except, this wasn't the 'good old Sirius' who had come home from Azkaban, and these weren't the 'good old times.' At first there seemed to be no change at all, but over time, Remus noticed the way Sirius hands would sometimes start trembling, the way his eyes would dart around the room as if seeking out some phantom images, the way all life seemed to drain from him before nightfall and he would sit, his dull, hollow eyes fixated to one spot.

"Sirius..." Remus swallowed heavily, putting one hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Harry is all right."

When Sirius miserable expression did not change, Remus elaborated.

"He's here. Harry's here, Sirius," he said softly. "Come."

He guided Sirius to the corner of the room towards the bed. Although the covers were pulled up and nothing of Harry's face showed, the unmistakable nest of black hair was sprawled all over the pillow.

"Dumbledore and McGonagall brought him yesterday," Remus said. "They said Harry had, well, he'd fallen asleep on his feet, literally, and they had to carry him all the way through the forest and the anti-apparation wards."

He managed a soft chuckle that did not sound genuine to his own ears, but his friend did not appear to be listening. Sirius lowered himself on the side of the bed, the springs screeching in protest at the extra weight. Slowly, hesitantly, he drew the covers away from Harry's face, his eyes widening slightly.

"He hasn't woken up yet," Remus said to somehow fill the silence. For some reason he needed to talk. "McGonagall said she would drop in today to see how he's doing. That reminds me-"

"What- what happened to his face?" Sirius asked hoarsely, staring at Harry's black eye. "If Snape-"

"No, no, it's nothing to do with Snape," Remus said placidly, pushing Sirius back down on the bed as his friend half-stood, a furious expression on his face. "It's... Dumbledore said the Dursleys had given Harry a rough time of it. Well, that would be an understatement, I'd say."

"Dursleys?" Sirius glanced up at him questioningly, but then understanding dawned in his eyes. "Those Dursleys? Lily's sister and her family?"

Remus nodded slowly, and Sirius frowned, looking back at Harry.

"I promised Dumbledore we'd get someone to take care of his injuries," Remus commented into the short silence that had ensued. "I rang up the clinic, but my doctor—the one who was here a few weeks ago to patch you up, remember?— he is on vacation, and I don't want to risk anyone else coming here. Some of the Ministry officials are lurking about, and Dumbledore said we'd better keep out of their way for the time being."

"Right," Sirius nodded. "We're taking him to St Mungo's."

"Have you been listening to me, Sirius? And never mind the Ministry, you can't just show up at St Mungo's. The thousand galleon reward-" Remus broke off suddenly, but there was no taking back the reminder that Sirius' freedom was still heavily impaired. And as long as Pettigrew was on the loose, Dumbledore's insistence that evidence of a thirteen-year old case be re-examined would fall on deaf ears.

"Hogwarts, then," Sirius said shortly, his shoulders stiff.

"Madam Pomfrey is visiting her relatives, McGonagall said," Remus replied carefully. "And she'll be back only-"

"Dammit, Remus!" Sirius suddenly sprang up to his feet, jabbing a finger in Remus' chest. "Nothing's good enough for you, but Harry's hurt! How do you know he doesn't have a broken leg or arm, or maybe he's bleeding internally or something? We have to get him to a hospital!"

"Calm down," Remus began placidly. "I know all that, but-"

He stopped mid-sentence, and both of their heads turned towards the bed at the sound of Harry mumbling indistinctly. Two green eyes were peering up at them. Harry frowned, and for a long while everyone remained silent as if afraid to break the spell of the moment.

"Harry..."

As soon as Sirius reached towards him, Harry bolted upright in the bed, fully awake, back pressed against the wall and wide eyes staring at the two men.

"Harry, it's me," Sirius said, his voice breaking a little. "It's me... Sirius."

All of a sudden, Harry threw the covers off himself and scrambled out of the bed. His legs got entangled in the sheets and he fell down on the wooden floorboards with a soft oompf!

"Harry, what are you doing?" Sirius bent down to help the boy up.

"Stay away from me!" Harry batted Sirius' hand away, and having finally managed to free himself from the encumbering sheets, sprang to his feet and dashed out of the room before either of the two men had recovered from the shock.

Sirius turned towards Remus, his brow raised, as the sound of running feet retreated downstairs.

"What was that all about?"

Remus shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"The element of surprise?" Upon seeing Sirius' frown, Remus sighed heavily. "He was just startled, I guess. He wakes up in a strange place and there's you, whom, well," he averted his eyes to the window, uncomfortable, "whom he doesn't exactly know, and-"

"What do you mean he doesn't know me? All that time we spent together... Of course he knows me," Sirius scoffed and brushed past Remus, heading out of the room.

Remus drew a hand wearily over the length of his face and followed his friend. He had barely put a foot on the steps when he heard Sirius crying out in pain and a door slamming shut moments later. Harry, it appeared, had found a cupboard of all places to hide in. Sirius was crouching before the door, rubbing his left leg and speaking softly, when Remus joined him.

"Open up, Harry," Sirius pleaded. "Come on now. It's me... Sirius." He held his breath, but no sound came from within the cupboard. Sirius glanced at Remus. "Help me out, will you?"

"At least now you know he doesn't have a broken leg, if he can run like that," Remus said.

"It's not funny," Sirius scowled darkly.

Remus shook his head slightly, and taking Sirius' hand, drew him away from the cupboard.

"Look, why don't you stay here and try to get him out," Remus said in a low voice. "In the meantime, I'll go get Snape."

Sirius' mouth opened and the horror on his face quickly morphed into anger.

"Snape? What for?"

"He must have some potions to patch Harry up."

"No. No, no, no, no, no," Sirius shook his head, glaring at Remus. "Absolutely not. Snivellus is not coming anywhere near my godson anymore."

Remus felt a spark of irritation.

"Well, what would you have me do? We don't have any other options."

Sirius' jaw worked for a moment.

"We don't need Snape," he declared and rushed on before Remus had the chance to open his mouth. "You nick those potions from him. He has plenty in the basement. I saw it."

"Sirius-"

"You sneak into his house," Sirius spoke over him, ignoring the 'you're-impossible' look Remus gave at his suggestion, "grab some of them vials and come right back. Yes? All right? Good."

He beamed, his anger gone as quickly as it had flared.

"You're a good friend, Moony." Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "And Harry will like you, you'll see."

Sirius turned around and sauntered back towards the cupboard, leaving Remus with a sinking heart. Not that he didn't enjoy seeing Sirius so enthusiastic. From the first day of his return, Sirius had been looking forward to Harry coming to stay with them. He made plans and came up with grand schemes of 'rescuing' Harry from Snape. There was no place in Sirius' mind for any other scenario—that Harry might not be able to stay with them—and Remus did not have the heart to tell him so.

It was selfish of him perhaps, Remus thought as he forced himself to move and headed in the opposite direction towards the front door. It was selfish, that he wanted to keep Sirius at his side.

Severus' mind was wandering.

After that horrid beast had left the house, he had, grumbling and cursing Lupin and his wayward animal, cleaned up the muddy footprints the dog had left behind. Yet it seemed that with the dog's reappearance, Harry, too, had re-entered his thoughts and would not leave.

Severus found himself sitting in the small bedroom on the first floor, the place achingly desolate without Harry's things thrown pell-mell on the floor, and his textbooks and essays strewn over the table, and the snowy white owl perched on the bedstead...

Severus fiddled with his wristwatch. He took it off and turned it over in his hands, staring at it absentmindedly.

He was a man of principle, and once he had grown accustomed to something, he did not like to let go: holding grudges; spying; making bets with McGonagall on the outcome of Quidditch games just for the sake of riling her up; blaming Dumbledore whenever things did not go according to his own plans; hearing Harry whine about rewriting yet another essay...

Severus harrumphed, annoyed with himself. And yet-

The man of principle that he was, he did not neglect his duties—not too often, at any rate—and ascertaining that the boy had settled in back home and was perfectly safe and sound was surely included in those duties. Yes. He would go to Privet Drive and check up on Harry... on principle, of course.

Severus stood up, feeling much better now that he had reached a decision that dispelled the uncertainty and confusion that had overwhelmed his mind for the last few days, and headed for the bathroom.

He was slightly taken aback when he glanced at the mirror. A face twice his age, rugged and drawn, was staring back at him. He frowned and prodded five days worth of stubble covering his cheeks.

"Well, honestly..." he murmured disapprovingly.

Once he had taken a shower and had acquired a generally more respectable look, Severus descended to the ground floor. He made sure that his wand was conveniently tucked up his sleeve and reached for the door-handle, but the small pile of letters and various notices on the floor drew his attention. He scooped up the papers and dropped them on the counter to be sorted out later.

He hadn't, however, even stepped over the threshold when the sight of Lupin, somewhat breathless, approaching the front door stopped him dead in his tracks. Severus' hands balled into fists but he forced himself to remain calm.

"Ah, Severus." Remus smiled up at him.

"You're too late, Lupin," he sneered, and Remus frowned in confusion.

"Pardon?"

"Your dog, Lupin," Severus drawled, "is gone. And if it shows up at my house again, I will hand it over to the dog warden to be put out of its miserable existence."

Remus seemed too stunned to offer any kind of immediate response.

"Now," Severus said with a disdainful scoff, "remove yourself from my presence, if you will."

Remus' mouth had shaped into a perfect 'O' and he blew out a breath softly.

"Hasn't- hasn't Dumbledore..." he shook his head as if to clear it.

"Do you have trouble understanding intelligent speech, wolf?" Severus hissed. He took a few menacing steps towards Remus and surreptitiously drew his wand. "Turn around and sulk away to where you belong—in the woods. You must be sorely missing your little pack."

Severus stopped a mere two feet from Remus, the wand-tip pointing directly at the werewolf's chest. He smirked at the pained, and slightly angry, look on Remus' face. The man swallowed and seemed to struggle with himself for a few moments before speaking.

"Severus, please," Remus said with forced calm. "Harry's locked himself up in a cupboard and-"

"What?" Severus questioned sharply, drawing himself up. "What are you raving about, Lupin?"

"Harry... Didn't Dumbledore tell you?"

Severus' eyes narrowed. "Tell me what?"

"Harry's with us," Remus explained. "I've left Sirius with him, but he's in need of-"

"Sirius?" Severus echoed him incredulously. "Sirius Black?"

Remus nodded, searching the Professor's face a little worriedly.

"Dumble-"

Remus was cut off abruptly as Severus grabbed the front of his robes, swung him around and forcefully slammed him into the wall. Remus' head hit the wall and he groaned in pain as the world exploded into a thousand colours.

"I should have known that you were in on it the entire time," Severus snarled in his face.

"Severus, please listen to me," Remus attempted feebly, but the Potions Master would hear none of it.

"Silencio!"

Remus' lips continued moving but no sound came out. He stirred, trying to shake off the Potions Master, but Severus merely tightened his hold.

"You pathetic creature," he spat, his lip curling. "If one hair on the boy's head has been moved, you and your little friend Black will be begging for death before I am through with you."

"Severus?" a voice suddenly asked behind him. "Is this young man giving you any trouble?"

Remus cocked his head and looked past Severus to see Rose standing a few feet away. The Potions Master closed his eyes in exasperation and gritted his teeth. Why did this blasted woman have to show up at the most inopportune of moments?

"Not at all, Madam," Severus responded icily and turned around, relinquishing his hold on the other man. "We are simply having a friendly chat."

Roses' gaze flickered from one to the other and the worry in her face was swiftly replaced by a toothy grin.

"Well, in that case, would you like to try some of the brownies I-"

"I am afraid we are in a hurry," Severus replied coldly before she had finished. "And we couldn't possibly take up your valuable time, Madam." Severus' wand poked Remus in the gut and pointed at the front door as the Professor said with exaggerated emphasis, "But first, there are things to be taken care of inside. Good-day."

Remus hesitantly stepped inside the house, glancing warily over his shoulder. Moments later, the door clapped shut and he was once again face to face with an angry Potions Master.

"Your wand," the Professor said, holding out his hand, palm up. When Remus did not move, Severus grabbed him by the collar, wand pressing into the greying temples of the other man. "I said, give me your wand, wolf."

Reluctantly, Remus withdrew his wand and Severus snatched it up before Remus had had the chance to do any non-verbal magic. The Potions Professor favoured him with a contemptuous glance but did not offer any more comments.

It took a few crisply spoken Summoning charms for Severus to prepare a first-aid kit. He looked at Remus.

"You will Apparate us to where they are, Lupin. Understand?"

Sighing heavily, Remus could do nothing but nod.

Sirius sat on the corridor floor, glaring helplessly at the cupboard door.

For over an hour, he had tried everything—everything—to wheedle Harry out of his hiding place. He had baited him with sweets... which they didn't have, but would once Remus' lazy arse returned. He had promised to get Harry new Quidditch gear, a new broom, new everything the boy desired, but nothing worked. Harry remained unresponsive.

At one point Sirius had worried that Harry might have passed out. However, after he had opened the door a crack and received another rather painful kick in the shins and his fingers were nearly snapped off as Harry yanked the door shut again, Sirius finally desisted.

It was ridiculous, really. All that time they spent together in Snape's garden, and now Harry was giving him the cold shoulder.

Sirius' eyes widened as realisation dawned on him.

"Of course!" he exclaimed, shooting up to his feet, grinning. He stomped towards the kitchen, stopping in the door-frame. "Oh, look!" Sirius said slowly and unnecessarily loudly. "A big, black dog! I wonder what's it doing here? I'd better go find its-"

He broke off and his head whipped towards the front door where a little scuffle was taking place.

"What the...?"

Sirius had no time to react as the red streak of a wordlessly cast spell hit him squarely in the chest.