Authour's note

Dear readers,

Thank you for dropping by. I hope you enjoy. Your reviews are welcome and cherished, always ;)

CHAPTER 1

Melanie pretends to be focusing on her paperwork, but in fact she has been secretly observing the young man on the other side of the desk.

He hasn't changed much. If anything, he has somehow grown to be perfectly still and composed to an extent that makes her wonder if he is actually breathing.

She remembers him well despite the fact that they hardly know each other. When she was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, he arrived as a first year Slytherin. He made it into her memory because he got into fights all the time with a bunch of Gryffindor boys, which too often as the Head Girl she had to sort out. She was concerned about the enduring constraint between them, and she did leave words to the next Head Girl and Head Boy that they should keep an eye on them and try to prevent it from escalating into bullying.

Apart from that though, he sank into the back of her mind for several years until one day freshly after the war, she found him on the front page of the Daily Prophet, among a group of Death Eaters who had just been arrested. She didn't understand why she was surprised at that - there was nothing surprising. He was a Slytherin. The vast majority of Slytherins in their generation ended up as Death Eaters. The image drilled into her mind nonetheless as she looked at him, the youngest among them with a stone cold expression, almost no motion whatsoever and the pair of black, bright eyes full of energy, ambition and sorrow at the same time. It made her sigh.

A few days later, she sighed again - this time with relief - when the news came out that he had been cleared of all charges, vouched for by Professor Dumbledore himself, and that at some point during the war he had switched side and turned into an excellent double agency for Professor Dumbledore. Again she had no idea why she even cared - but anyway she did.

Another decade has passed before today, he surprised her once more by showing up early in the morning at her orphanage.

When he expressed his intention, her first reaction was inevitably hesitation. She wouldn't blame herself though; she believes any orphanage manager who does care about the kids would hesitate when a former Death Eater - double agency or otherwise - suddenly shows up and offers to adopt The Boy Who Lived.

"Please enter," Melanie answers to the knocks on the office door.

Leila, the child helper, steps in, alone.

"I am very sorry, Mr Snape," Leila says, "but Harry is not willing to meet you today. I couldn't convince him."

A tiny flick of disappointment crosses his face, but no signs of surprise. He seems to have expected that.

"For some reason he believes that... I mean no offense, Mr Snape, but he told me he believes that you are coming to insult him about his current situation," Leila adds.

Now he is slightly taken aback, but very quickly it turns into an accepting sigh.

"I see. Thank you, Miss Blackburn."

Melanie eyes Leila, full of concern and worries. This doesn't sound good at all, and the fact that it doesn't surprise him much only makes it worse.

Snape lets out another sigh, his eyes dropped to the floor and his fingers locked together. After thinking for a moment, he turns to Melanie:

"Would you mind, Madam, if I come again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"

"Of course not, Mr Snape. But as I said, we can't force him to meet you if he doesn't want to. If you think coming for a few more times might change his mind though, we are happy to assist."

She eyes Leila again before continuing:

"Officially we are not supposed to ask, but if you can possibly tell us a little more about your current relationship with Harry, we might be able to help."

All of her caution and prejudice melt down at once when he looks her in the eyes, and she registers sadness. Sincere sadness. An amount of sadness that far exceeds his young age.

Melanie truly wonders if the man is fully aware of what he is getting himself into. He is the first single man ever in her entire career at this orphanage who comes and asks to adopt a child. Parenting is hard enough for families with two parents, and parenting is hard enough for single parents with their biological children. A single parent caring for an adopted child - it is an totally different level of challenge. It makes much less sense when the reason for it is one that sounds as insignificant as his - that Harry's late mother was an old close friend whose memory he would forever honour and as such, he can't let her child grow up in institutional care if he can help it. Speaking in common sense, that is hardly an adequate reason for a thirty-two year old man to take on the responsibility of a single father - a single foster father who wakes up one day to find himself having an eleven year old child to care for and all the conceivable and inconceivable problems attached to any given child to cope with.

He freezes for a long while before quietly replying:

"I very much appreciate your offer, Madam, but perhaps later. I would like to try again with him by myself first."

"Might I suggest then," Leila puts in, "that you for instance write him a letter. We still can't force him to read it if he doesn't want to, but when he is in the right mood he might be willing - or curious - to take a look. It can very well make a good start for you two."

In a short moment a flick of hope lights up in his eyes. He nods:

"Thank you, Miss Blackburn. I will."