Harry kept his head down during the funeral, hand on his wand.
Constant vigilance, he told himself.
Ginny moved to grab his hand, but he shook his head.
Now was not the time for her childish crush. He didn't want it.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" she asked under her breath. "You won't attend Hogwarts next year."
He gave a minuscule shake of his head.
"I have a job to do. A job that Dumbledore gave me."
She nodded.
"One day, he will be gone, Harry. And we can live together with no dark wizard chasing us."
Harry glared at her.
"I've told you, Ginny. We are not a thing. And the dark wizard is after me, not you."
She sighed regretfully, pouting at him as if he were a child.
"You couldn't think for a moment that you might love me, Harry Potter?"
He barely contained his groan, standing to leave the grounds with a small sign to Hermione.
"You will forever be in my heart, Ginny, as my fiercest little sister."
She nodded sadly, and pressed something cold into his palm.
"Stay safe then, brother."
He smiled at her, recognizing the metal in his hand to be her silver locket.
He opened it to find a picture of the order on one side, and the D.A on the other.
"Remember that you are loved, Harry. You are not alone."
.
Harry patted the floorboards in his cupboard, lifting the loose one to retrieve his childhood pictures. They were not much.
The letter that came with him, along with the blanket. A drawing of a flying motorcycle.
He moved to the attic with an idea in his mind.
"Accio Lily Potter's things," he said, hand outstretched.
Thankful for that wandless spell, he happily opened the summoned box.
After seeing the diary and pictures that laid inside, he decided to look through it later.
He held his things to his chest and went to the kitchen, sitting upon the counter.
"Will you be leaving soon?" asked his Aunt Petunia.
He nodded surely.
"Yes. Remus should be here in a minute."
She moved as if to hug him, but then stopped herself.
He opened his arms as if in permission.
She gave him an awkward embrace.
"You're going to kill the man that killed my sister?"
He breathed deep.
"Yes."
She removed a wand from her purse, handing it to him.
"This was your mothers."
He gasped as he felt her magic touch his, her aura still flowing through the wand.
"Thank you."
She sniffed, turning away.
"You will come back, won't you?"
He averted his eyes.
"I do not know."
She sniffed again.
"But you will try? I have so many stories… I never shared with you. If you come back, after you kill him, I will tell them to you."
He gave his best effort to smile.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia. I will try."
A knock sounded at the door, and he moved to answer it.
"Are you ready, Harry?"
Harry gathered his box under his arm, letting Remus cast a concealment spell over him.
"Of course not. Let's go."
.
It was not what he expected.
Hermione and Ron were supposed to be waiting for him already, but it seems that Mrs. Weasley had convinced them to stay for the wedding.
He was sure that he felt another's presence in the house, however, and there was only one person that it could be.
"Professor?" he called, pushing open the door to the library.
The teacher was staring at a book, but didn't seem to be really reading it. Rather, he seemed to be staring into space.
"Professor Snape?"
He did not move.
Harry strode forward to lift the dangling book from his fingertips, taking his chin in his hand.
"Severus."
He blinked.
"I did not give you permission to use my first name, Mister Potter."
Harry gave an amused quirk of the lips.
"I was about to go through the box of my mother's things. Would you like to join me?"
They ended up sitting on the rug in the library to go through everything. It was mainly letters to Petunia, and inconsequential things, such as her favourite yoyo, and her hairbrush. There was a picture inside that made Severus gasp though, and that one things was enough to make it worth sharing the experience with the prickly man.
It was them, as children of course, laying under the tree out by the park. Lily had taken it on her birthday with one of those Polaroid cameras.
"I'm going to always remember, Sev," she had told him. "I won't ever forget that you're my best friend."
She had even gotten him to smile for the picture.
"You can have it, if you want," Harry offered, nodded at the picture that he had been holding for several minutes.
He was going to refuse, and say that he didn't have need for such sentimental things, but he didn't have any pictures of her.
Harry smiled at him, "I have a photo album with pictures of her with me. Those are important to me. I wouldn't have known her then. Those are your memories to relive."
Severus nodded, and moved so that his hair blocked his face.
Naturally, the Gryffindor knew what he was up to, and wouldn't let him slip by.
Harry pushed away his curtain of hair to dab away his tears.
"I've never seen you cry before his death," he whispered.
Severus averted his gaze to his knees.
"I will try to refrain from such driveling activities."
Harry shook his head, coaxing Severus to lift his eyes.
"It's good to let it out, and I'm here for you all the way."
He sneered.
"I don't need a shoulder to cry on, Potter. I am a grown man."
Harry caressed his cheek.
"Yes you are, but I can sense that you do, and I'm willing to be that for you."
Severus crossed his arms across his chest, swallowing thickly.
"Care to explain how you can sense that, Mister Potter?"
Harry smiled, holding out his hand palm up. A sphere of many colours appeared there, vibrating with the intensity of his magic.
"You have the power, but if that is why... Then shouldn't the dark lord and the hea-headmaster be able to do the same?"
Harry let the light fade, bringing his warm hand to Severus's arm.
"If they had tried," Harry admitted, "Then it is possible that they could have. Well- perhaps not Vold-"
At the mentioning of his name, Snape froze, so Harry stopped himself.
"Why do you fear his name?"
Severus sneered half-heartedly.
"The dark lord punishes those who speak it."
Harry closed his eyes in understanding.
"I will not call him by that name if you don't call him 'the Dark Lord'"
Severus rose an eyebrow.
"Are you trying to make a deal with me, Mister Potter?"
Harry stuck out his hand.
"It would seem so, Professor Snape."
"I would be amenable."
Harry gripped his hand firmly with a grin.
"Now, are you ready to get rid of Ol' Voldy's tattoo?"
The excitement and anxiousness in Severus's eyes could not be misinterpreted, but he only smirked.
"No need to procrastinate. Lead the way."