Title: Care
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, its characters, or its places. I own only my own story and any characters I choose to add along the way. J.K Rowling is a genius, and I wouldn't dare to try and take anything she has created and say that it was my own.
Chapter I: Prologue
Summary: Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall have waited four long years to see their pseudo-godson Harry, and now that they have him, they'll never give him back. A Snape and McGonagall rescue Harry from the Dursleys story.
Author's note: Ok, so I know that I'm supposed to be updating 'Passable' instead of going and posting a new story...but I couldn't get this out of my head. I will continue to write Passable, I promise; I'll just be writing this concurrently, because I can.
This is AU; it is a major manipulation of basic canon. For my purposes, Minerva McGonagall was 18 years old and a first year professor when Lily, Severus, and the Marauders came to Hogwarts. With her guidance, the four boys and Severus became fast friends, and she and Lily became quite close. Severus began as a Death Eater spy for the Order, under Dumbledore's watchful eye. Severus did not overhear the prophecy, but another Death Eater did. Severus is kind man, Minerva is young, and Harry's parents are dead. On with the show:
"It's done," Minerva murmured as she stood in Severus' entryway, peering into the sitting room at the hunched figure of her friend. His head snapped up at her words.
"You have left him then? He has carelessly tossed the boy off to the Muggles, hoping with all of his Gryffindor audacity that they will care for him? That they will love him as one of their own?" He asked, shifting over as she moved to the couch and sat down next to him, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
"We did. He has. It is done, and the wards will remain impenetrable for near four years, after which time we will be able to visit him. Until then, he is, for all purposes, safe," Minerva replied.
"Will they love him? Will they play with him and tell him stories? Will they read to him before he falls asleep, and leave a light on to ward away the darkness?" Severus asked, his gaze rising to meet her grief stricken eyes.
"No. Severus, no, they won't. I watched them all day; they were horrible, brazen and coddled their over-large son with so much smothering that I feared he would burst. They are narrow-minded fools Severus. I told Albus, I told him; but he would not listen," she whispered, tears beginning to leak from her eyes.
"Almost four years," Severus said as he took one of her trembling hands into his own and squeezed it.
"Four years. He'll be five by then. We're allowed to go see him when he turns five. Lily would kill him, strangle him, with her own two hands, wand be damned," Minerva muttered.
"Oh, she'd kill him, then pick up the wand and hex him, and then bring him back to do it all again. She hated Petunia by the end. That vile woman tried to sabotage her wedding and almost dropped Harry in the lake the last time she visited," Severus replied, his voice hoarse. "James would have blown a gasket."
"They're really gone," Minerva whispered as tears began to leak down her face. "We'll never see them again. They won't bring Harry to the games. We won't go there for summer picnics. You, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus won't fight and bicker, and then duel over who gets to take Harry flying next. Lily and I won't laugh and bounce him around like a little potato. We won't, they won't, never, gone…" she sobbed.
Severus pulled her to him and hugged her, his own eyes dripping tears down his nose and onto her cloak. They stayed silent for a long moment, grieving against one another.
"What of Sirius and Remus?" Severus asked, pulling back to look at her.
"Sirius left his bike to Hagrid, apparently, and we haven't heard from him since. Remus was on an Order mission; I don't even know if he knows yet. Peter…I haven't heard from or seen him in weeks," Minerva replied.
"I just don't understand. They were safe; Albus promised that they were safe. I hadn't heard anything, I swear. I would have told everything I knew, but I had no idea! He didn't tell anyone that he was going after them," Severus exclaimed, rising to pace in front of the hearth, his hands clenched into fists.
"I don't think anyone but his informant knew, Severus. Albus did, I suppose, or he wouldn't have sent them into hiding, but he didn't tell them, or us, very much. It was safer that way, or at least, I thought it was. Who would betray them that way? I can't imagine Sirius would do something so horrible. He loved them; he and James were like brothers, and Harry. Oh Harry," she whispered, her head falling into her hands again. "I just want to hold him, promise him everything will be alright. But I can't! Albus took him away and left him there. He'll wake up in the morning and want his mummy and daddy, and instead he'll have Petunia. Merlin knows what they'll do to him."
Severus stopped pacing and sat down on the coffee table in front of her and wiped her tears. "I know. I hate it," he murmured, as he let his hands fall, his right absentmindedly falling to lie over his Mark.
"Is it gone?" Minerva quietly asked, laying her hand over his.
"It is very very faint, but not gone," Severus replied. "Would that it was, and we knew he was gone forever. I don't think he is Minerva."
"I know, neither does Albus," she replied softly, squeezing her hand over his. "At least he's gone for now. You're safe, we're safe, for now."
"It isn't enough. Harry is in danger as long as he's alive," Severus said.
"Harry, at the moment, is as safe from Death Eaters and the Dark Lord as he can possibly be. I worry for you more than I worry for Harry. I never liked that Albus sent you in to spy, that he made you form a fake feud, that he made you and the boys put up that ugly façade and fight so horribly," Minerva replied softly, her tone sorrowful.
"We needed a spy, Minerva; you know that. I was the least attached, the least obvious. It was easy, and though I hated it, and it stole any innocence I think I had left, I gained my Mastery through it and was able to return here, and live in relative safety as a 'spy' on Dumbledore," Severus said, his voice rough.
"You were just a child, just a boy. You are seven years my junior Severus. When you began to spy you were still a child! A Child, sent into the ranks of the Death Eaters, taking on more than any man ever could. It was wrong," she intoned.
"I am a man now Minerva, and whether I came to be a man before or after joining the Order is of little consequence. We all became adults before our time, or was it not you who joined Albus at fifteen?" Severus replied, arching an eyebrow in a gesture that was so decidedly normal, and so very Severus, that Minerva couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Yes. I'm a hypocrite you annoying man, and you'll just have to deal with it," she grumbled, letting herself be calmed by the hand he was running up and down her arm.
"Like this is news to me," Severus replied, smirking as she whacked him on his other arm. "Where is Albus now?" he asked.
"The Ministry," Minerva sighed, "He has to make appearances. I begged off. I just can't imagine…I couldn't face so much celebration. He may be gone, and Merlin knows how magnificent that is, but he took so much with him," she murmured, another tear falling from her eye.
"I know," Severus replied, giving her arm a little squeeze, "But they died defending the most important thing in their lives, and I know, I do know, that that is how they would have wanted it, if it had to happen. Harry is still here, and, though we cannot see him, is alive and well."
Minerva nodded and leaned her head back to rest on the couch. She tugged on Severus' arm and managed to get him to flop back down beside her. They lay, looking up at the ceiling, in quiet grief, understanding and companionship.
"Will there be classes?" Severus asked after a long pause.
Minerva chuckled. "Of course not. First off, there will be a great celebratory feast, and then the children will be sent home for an extended holiday, probably a few weeks in length, to spend time with their families. You know Albus and his penchant for overindulgence," she chuckled.
"At least we'll have quiet," Severus replied.
"I don't know, I think I would have preferred the bustle; at least I could have lost myself in the students," Minerva murmured.
"We'll find something to do," Severus replied softly, taking her hand in his.
"Four years," Minerva whispered.