CHAPTER 2:

Harry was pulling away at the gardens, at all the weeds that grew and at the same time he was thinking. Getting Lucius free would actually be easy. There were not many ministry officials who had actually seen Voldemort, most of them had only come after he had vanished and seen Dumbledore announcing his return.

All he had to do was tell Fudge that Dumbledore was pursuing a smear campaign and using the boy-who-lived as a mascot and he would do the work for him. Nobody had even seen the Death Eaters, only Lucius had been seen coming out of the rubble and that could be explained saying he had been coming out from his office after a late night.

Just giving Fudge a little push in the right direction and assuring him that he would support the minister would do his job for him. The only block he could foresee is what Lucius' lawyer would do. If they did opposite things then he would have a problem.

The thing that would fix that was if Snape took him to see Lucius so that he could warn him. But would Snape help him, he did not have much time and he had so much to do. He also wanted to visit his vaults to get a bribe for Fudge, if it came to that.

While he was thinking he did not realise that he had finished most of his work. Having worked at the Dursleys he was a lot faster than the average gardener and much more efficient as well. In any case though he stood up and stretched, sweat was pouring off his back, he had taken his shirt and sweater off when he got to work.

There were scars on his back but he had found a glamour sometime during fourth year and had been regularly applying it. It was not a spell, more a rune he had to draw on his hip every now and then so it did not alert the ministry.

Well, in any case, he had to go up for lunch now and with any luck he would be able to understand which side his teacher was on. Maybe he would use Draco as an opening, he had heard through the grapevine that Draco was Snape's godson, that was an in. He would use that. Speaking of which, he had to go in for lunch now. He did not want to know what Snape did to people who were late for meals.

He quickly rushed inside and up to his room and made himself look presentable again. He then checked his back one more time and left for lunch. Like breakfast his teacher was already there. He waited to be bid entrance and sat down in the same place as the morning.

"Did you finish with the garden Potter?" Snape knew the answer of course he had been watching the boy, but he wanted the answer anyway.

"I still have to water the garden Professor, I finished weeding though. I put them in a wheel barrow I found, I did not know what else to do with them." He answered nervously, at the Dursleys he would not have been given food unless he finished.

Snape nodded, the boy told the truth, good for him " Very well, after lunch you will read a book I will give you and towards the evening you can go out and water the flower bed, it is too hot now." He said shocking his student. But he wisely did not say anything.

He quickly ate his lunch and thought of ways to bring up Draco in conversation, he was just about to give up and sleep over it again when Snape yanked him out of his thoughts. "Potter, I have work to do now so if you are done follow me to the library and I will give you the book I want you to read."

Harry was done so he nodded and followed his teacher as he led him to the library. He was astounded when he saw the size, Hermione would have a seizure. It was beautiful, high vaulted ceilings allowing lots of circulation and plenty of large windows. And there were so many shelves of books, all subject coded. It was almost as big as the Hogwarts Library.

"This is the book I want you to read Potter." And so saying he was handed a book titled, Potions: A Basic Understanding. "That book is a good book for anyone having a problem with potions. I would like you to read the first three chapters by the time I return and I will be quizzing you after dinner. So do not try to trick me." Snape glared at him to emphasise his point and pointed at an armchair in the corner next to one of the big windows.

"I am leaving now Potter, I will be back before you finish. If you need anything call Rose and she will bring it for you. Otherwise please do not leave this room."

Harry nodded to show that he had understood, his professor gave him a once over and swooped out in true Snape fashion. Harry stared after him till he could no longer see him. He then cracked open the book and began to read. And before he realised he was sucked into the book and he did not realise time passing.

He remembered calling Rose to get him a little tea and a few parchments and quills for things he wanted to note down but that was it. He was engrossed in his book. Meanwhile, Snape decided that he would go visit the Dark Lord and inform him of his plans.

LINE BREAK

"Severus what brings you here, I thought you were on an assignment for Dumbledore." Marvolo Slytherin asked his spy. Snape nodded and spoke.

"I am my Lord and I came to tell you of this assignment but before then may I ask you something."

"Go on" the Dark Lord replied looking intrigued, it was not often that his treasured spy waned to ask something.

"What are your plans for Lucius? I know my Lord that you did not intend for him to get captured, but still." He asked, he knew that Potter was planning something, his thoughts were so loud it was hard to ignore and with his sheer dumb luck it may actually work.

"Severus as you said I had no intention of getting him captured. You know very well how fond I am of him and his late father and son now. That whole family means a lot to me. I want to have him freed but I do not know how that is going to happen unless I do another Azkaban breakout. Why do you have something on your mind?" he prodded.

"My Lord, I do not have anything but my assignment does and I think it may work."

"Speak plainly Severus"

"My assignment, My Lord is to watch Harry Potter for the summer and from what I have understood of his thoughts Lucius will not be going to jail. In fact it may not even go to trial. And if things go well he may as well be issued a public apology for a ministry blunder." Severus answered sensing his Lord's urgency.

Voldemort took a moment to digest what he was told, the Potter boy was in his reach, his friend may not go to jail and the two were related. Stranger things have happened. He may as well just let things pan out, Potter was as unpredictable as they came.

"Very well, I will just let things go on as they are now. There is no point in us planning and ruining anything. "

"Very well my Lord. I will leave then." Voldemort nodded and Severus got up and left, he had one more stop before he went back. He pulled on his cloak and left for Malfoy Manor.

He landed in the formal parlour and was shown by an elf to the family room where Narcissa and Draco were drinking their tea.

"Severus, it is so good to see you." Narcissa greeted with a strained smile. Loosing her husband had taken a toll on her. She was paler than usual and looked like she had not slept at all since Lucius had been taken away. The sight did not surprise him but he could not help but wish that it was not so.

"Hello Uncle Severus, how are you?" ah there was his godson, it seemed he was doing worse for the wear as well. Thank god the Dark Lord had not demanded he become a death eater, it would have killed Draco.

"Hello, how are you both holding up." He asked softly. Narcissa poured him a cup of tea.

"We are doing as well as we possibly can Severus." He did not miss that she did not look at his face. He handed him his tea and wrapped her shawl around her more tightly.

"Severus do you think there is a chance that father could come back?" Draco was worse than expected if he had dropped all sense of cunning, this was not good.

"There may be a slight chance, but I do not want to promise anything yet." He said slowly.

"Please, we will take any hope you have." Lucius was going to have his arse kicked when he got out of jail, his family was a mess.

"Calm down, both of you. There are things in play, yes but I am not sure how they are going to work out." He really did not want to give them false hope and at the same time it hurt to see them like this.

He finished his tea and spoke to them a little longer offering what comfort he could before taking his leave. Draco walked him to the floo.

"Uncle Severus…" he stopped and turned around, his godson looked much younger than his age. He pulled him into a hug and held him. His mother was in the same boat, he could not ask for comfort from her.

"It will be fine, it may take a while, but things will be okay." He pulled back and kissed his godson on the cheek. He was not affectionate with anyone else, but he always had a soft spot for Darco, then again if he was not affectionate with his godson then who would he ever show affection towards.

He gave Draco one final squeeze and flooed back home, he had a crazy Gryffindor to keep an eye on. He quickly marched up to the library to see what he was up to. He had been gone for a good four hours so in that time he should have been able to finish the reading he had assigned.

He walked in to find Potter still immersed in his book, he had a light shawl wrapped around him and had curled into the couch Snape had put him on. Next to him were a lot of parchment papers with scribbles all over it and also a large pot of tea and a tea cup. He had clearly made himself at home.

Snape cleared his throat to get his attention, no response. That book cannot be that interesting. He tried again, nothing. He tried coughing, nada not even an indication that he had been noticed.

"Mr Potter" a small grunt. Progress okay, but not enough.

"MR POTTER" and the boy jumped out of his skin, now that was more like it.

"Professor I did not notice you there, heh heh." Harry stumbled over himself trying to get up. Snape raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Clearly," He let out a sigh and continued, "dinner is in an hour, so go clean up and put your parchment away. I will quiz you after." He turned and made to leave.

"Professor?" he heard the brat call. He turned around, "Thank you for the book, it was very helpful."

"You are welcome, now come for dinner quickly."

"Professor?"

"What now?"

"Watering the garden?" Snape shook his head, he had completely forgotten.

"I will have the elves do it later."

He then stomped off before he could be interrupted again, he missed the small smile that grew on Harry's face, maybe his teacher was not completely made of cement after all.

Harry arranged all his parchment in a neat pile and took all back to his room, he took the book with him too. He washed his face and did his best to make his hair look presentable, he then rewrapped his shawl around himself and went down for dinner. He went down and as usual waited to be allowed entrance into the hall.

"Professor," he called, he got a hum in response, Snape did not take his eyes off the book in front of him. "I was wondering, umm … never mind." He muttered in the end, he was going to bring up his question but he dropped the idea.

"What is it Potter?" his teacher grunted out.

"Nothing Professor," He mumbled back, he was not ready for that discussion but he was sorely running out of time.

"Potter spit it out." Snape growled, finally looking up from the paper. Harry next to him startled a little and began breathing deeply.

"Well, I was just wondering, well... now that Voldemort is back, which side will you be on?" he noticed his teacher beginning to bristle and quickly continued, "You have not given me to Voldemort yet and that should say something I know. But I also know that you are a double agent and that means you could just be waiting for the right time." He was babbling at this point, but he was getting his point across, hopefully.

"Potter, let me get this straight. You want to know if I work for Voldemort, is that correct?" his teacher got out with difficulty. Harry shook his head.

"No, I want to know whose side you are on, you could just be on your side." He spoke, a bit more confident this time.

"Potter, that is a very heavy question and before I answer, I want to know why you are asking that question." Snape turned to fully look at the boy sitting next to him. He had been expecting a bombshell but this was a bit much.

Potter looked conflicted for a moment but then he sighed and looked back at Snape. "Professor, I am sure you are already aware of my home life, so I will..." he did not get to finish that sentence. Snape broke in.

"Your home life, no Potter I do not know anything about your home life, why would I?" he was perplexed, why on earth was that coming up in conversation.

"Professor, did Dumbledore not tell you?" now Harry was confused, he thought everyone knew, his bloody acceptance letter had it on it, anyone could have seen that.

"No Potter Dumbledore did not tell me anything, now care to elaborate, because I am under the impression that you were being treated like a prince. That is the impression that Molly Weasley gives me and what I have been led to assume from the snippets I have heard." He was letting out information, but in order to gain you must give, he hoped this would help with that. He had heard Lupin and Black complain to Dumbledore sometimes about abuse, he did not want to believe it at that point, he did not want to believe it now.

Harry was stumped, this was not what he had been expecting, well now how he supposed to answer Snape's questions. He took a deep breath, time was no on his side right now and if he wanted Lucius Malfoy free by Draco's birthday then he had to lose a little. You lose a little in order to gain, that much was for sure.

"Well, Professor I will not talk about my home life without proof as you will not believe me, but I assure you I was not treated like a prince. Now moving on to your original question, I asked you which side you were on because I know that I will be given an honest answer." He watched his teacher for any indication on how he might be feeling and when Snape refused to change expressions he continued.

"Think about it Professor, how many people do you know tell me the truth on a daily basis. Dumbledore sees me as a means to an end, I know that. Ron sees me as a bank account and Hermione as an asset for a muggleborn. Everyone else sees the boy who lived. But you, you see a teenage boy with attitude problems and that is what I am, you hit the nail on the head." Harry was getting animated and passionate now, he was waving his arms and re emphasising what he was saying.

"I really appreciate that Professor, I appreciate that you are willing to see me for what I am and tell me the truth." He calmed down and took a breath, "So I ask you again Professor, which side are you on?" the moment of truth.

Severus recovered quickly and spoke back, "First thing Potter, you will get this proof and tell me of you home life, first thing tomorrow morning that is what we are going to do. Secondly yes, I see you as a teenage brat with problems and that is how I am going to treat you." He paused for a moment and considered how much of the truth he was going to tell him.

He seemed to know a lot about his friends but how much he knew was still a question. "As for which side I am on, I work for Lord Voldemort Potter, that much you have guessed by now."

Harry nodded, he had guessed as much, this made things very easy for him but for now enough.

Author's Note:

Wow I did not expect this kind of feedback, thank you so much. I hope you continue to enjoy this.