"And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy."
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Third Chapter

Hours passed by as Potter made the perfect impression of possessing a capability to dematerialize. The suspicion was that the boy had hidden in the muggle world, for he had not used his wand since the morning. This was making his escape more successful with every passing minute. Severus marched down the hallways in a foul temper. Conversations with the Headmaster tended to have that effect on him. His thoughts ranged from cursing Potter to cursing Dumbledore, until he finally decided that the most sensible solution was to curse the Dursleys. As it was, he had no wish to end up in Azkaban at present.

What devil had possessed Lily to agree in naming Sirius Black the boy's godfather was beyond Severus. Black had always been an irresponsible fool. Now it seemed he had been a complete failure of a guardian if the brat had not shared this type of information with him. How in the hell did he find himself in a position where he was trying to fix the cumulative mistakes of both the Marauders and the Order was beyond him. The only reason he continued to walk the path he had so recently chosen was because he knew that, if Lily were there and knew what had happened to her son, she would have been a force to be reckoned with.

As it was, perhaps to the benefit of those responsible for the current state of things, the woman, his best friend, had been dead for fourteen years. If she somehow had been able to see all of this he knew that she would want the boy removed from her sister's care immediately. Severus held no sympathy for the brat, but even he thought that Albus' idea was deplorable.

Upon reentering the infirmary, Severus saw that the room had been emptied to some extent. It was likely that the conversations were moved elsewhere. He quickly located the person he had come to see was still present.

''Miss Granger.'' His voice was cold and his eyes narrowed as the bushy haired sixteen year old jumped up from her position on the bed next to a sleeping Weasley.

''Professor Snape.'' She replied in greeting, though obviously a lack of audience was adding to her discomfort.

Good, he thought.

''You claim to possess some modicum of intellect, yet recent discoveries seem to state otherwise.'' He sneered at her, and she looked away, obviously trying to school her expression but failing miserably. His words were getting to her. ''Look at me, and explain yourself.''

''I would rather you not condescend me, sir.'' She said back softly. The emotional confusion of talking back to a person of authority shinned through. She was not the type to disobey the rules, but there was a hardness in her gaze that the potion master had not seen before.

''Fifty points from Gryffindor for avoiding the question.'' He sneered back as he crossed his arms. He towered over the young woman from his standing position, while the girl was uncomfortably sitting down on a stool close to her friend's hospital bed. Her chin tensed, but she said nothing.

''Let us make it a hundred points then.'' He said in fake amusement. ''You do realize that Potter could very likely encounter Death Eaters during his little field trip? Does that not concern you at all? Or maybe you simply don't care? Potter is, after all-''

''Stop!'' She stood up, and the Potions Master saw tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

''I tried! I really did-'' She choked back a sob, and Severus wanted to curse himself for ever agreeing to work in a school full of hormonal teenagers. ''Harry, he covered all those things up, and when he started to tell us bits and pieces…I wanted to inform the officials; muggle or wizarding, it didn't really matter. But he said the blood wards were so very important, and that Professor Dumbledore thought he should stay there too. He reassured me that his relatives couldn't do anymore harm to him, and he never went into details anywhere near like what was written in that article. I trusted the Headmaster's judgement, and I know now that I was a fool for doing so, but who in the world could any of us trust if not Professor Dumbledore?'' She finished, a tear sliding down her cheek.

''Your own instinct, for starters.'' The Head of Slytherin sneered. He refused to feel guilty that it had been possible to notice, or that it have been the adults around the situation which had failed completely. ''The Headmaster is a good man, and that is something we all need Miss Granger, but he has the responsibility of hundreds of lives on his shoulders. You should have signaled your concerns, regardless of Potter's insistence that things had been taken care of.''

She used the sleeve of her uniform to dry away her tears before continuing, ''Harry ran away from his home at the beginning of this year, third year, and also second year. No one bothered to look into the details. He always comes back after the summer holidays looking thinner. He didn't even know his parents had been murdered! His relatives told him that his father had been a drunk and killed himself and his mother- who was always described to Harry like a prostituted- in a car crash! No one bothered to dig deeper! So do not tell me everything is my fault because I kept silent! The truth is, no one wanted to know. Everyone more or less unconsciously turned a blind eye on everything that they did not desire to understand.''

Severus started at the emotional girl, speechless. She was right, but it did not mean the he liked it. He glared at the girl as he spoke, ''You will go find Professor McGonagall, Lupin, or Molly Weasley, and you will to repeat to them everything you just said to me. You will elaborate further on every detail. If you fail to do this, I can assure you that you will not like the consequences.'' He paused to let his threat sink in. ''However, you are first going to tell me if you have the slightest suspicion of where Potter could be.''

She shook her head. ''I wish I knew. I've tried to contact him, but he won't answer.''

''How?'' Severus demanded in confusion.

''The DA we conducted this year, we have these coins which allow the leader to send a small message to anyone else carrying one. We used them to arrange our meetings, and it can work as a messaging device well enough, but I can't trace a signal back to Harry's.''

''You invented this?''

She nodded her head. The older wizard was slightly impressed, but he would never admit it. ''Give me the coin.''

The bushy haired girl looked uncertain, ''Whatever you write the other DA members will be able to see it.''

''That is none of my concern.''

Miss Granger watched her Professor turn the coin around in his hand before putting it in his pocket. The girl didn't even protest. Severus felt rather surprised at how easy it went. ''Tell me, Miss Granger, how come you had told me all this but felt then need to foolishly waste everyone's time when others have likely already asked you similar questions.''

''Harry doesn't trust you, but when I thought about how you always end up protecting Harry, regardless of your mistreatment of him in class, I guess I got the impression that you cared more about his life than you would ever let on. Certainly more than most of the people who were here before.'' She finished in a rush.

Silently in his head, Severus noted that if the girl had just a bit more confidence in herself and her instincts, rather than blindly trusting people in positions of authority, she would have the potential to be a truly valuable witch in this war. The problem was, she was too young. She had the brains, but not the life experience to use her intellect wisely, which always seemed to put the Dark Lord at a higher advantage. Potter was possibly powerful, Granger had the intellect, and Severus had no idea what purpose Weasley served, buy the trio had the potential to be a very real threat. Still, they were children regardless of all they had seen, and that would always put them at a disadvantage against their enemies.

OOO

Students may have thought they had seen their Potions professor in a foul mood, but that paled in comparison to his current state. As Severus marched to the nearest floo, he was contemplating with glee what he would do to a certain woman from his past, wondering just how much he could get away with.

The raven haired man walked slowly along the calm streets of Privet Drive. His attire had been changed to a classic white shirt, grey pants and a dark brown muggle coat and his hair was pulled back into a neat queue. His wand was secured in his pocket, ready to be used, though the problematic blood wards should have been extending their protection, in some degree, to the area. He had wondered if the dark mark on his arm would prevent him from entering the house. A part of him desired that, for he could then walk away from this issue with a clean conscious. Let Albus be damned for putting him in a position where he felt responsible for making sure the boy was secure for the summer to come.

He wondered grimly on the options at hand. He needed to assess the situation personally before making any type of decision. It had been that nosey fool of a woman, Skeeter, who wrote the article that caused such thoughts to emerge in his mind. There must have been aggregations on her part. Potter was fifteen, not a helpless toddler, and Severus wondered if leaving him at this house with enough charms would work. On the other hand, the Potion Master considered that the brat had just suffered a great loss, a loss for which he thought himself responsible according to Lupin and Molly Weasley. That certainly didn't make the situation any easier.

With complete loathing at even having to summon his deeply buried memories, Severus remembered how he had broken after his mother's death. It had been an accident, but he had wondered for many years that if he had been home, could he have stopped it occurring? This, combined with loosing Lily's friendship, had been the final straw in submitting to the pureblooded ideals for glory, power and respect. He had joined the Death Eaters which had been one of the greatest mistakes of his life. After Lily and Potter were murdered, he had needed months to come back to himself and even now he wasn't entirely willing to deny some portion of guilt.

It was a quiet afternoon, almost evening. Potter's disappearance was becoming even so more worrisome to the Order, but Severus knew that if the Death Eater's caught the child, the fifteen year old would be brought to Dark Lord to kill personally. Of course, before that, the Dark Lord would summon as many of his followers as possible before exhibiting his revenge. It was a small consolation to anyone, but at least they knew the worst hadn't happened. Yet.

He knocked on the door of 4 Privet Drive. He heard some commotion in the house, and within a minute, a tall, large boy opened the door. His silhouette was one of a boxer, for there was too much fat for any other sport, yet the blond teen was not to be considered obese, but rather of stout built. Severus kept his passive expression without a fault. His mind travelled to the article, and had no trouble believing that the individual in front of him was physically capable of breaking bones.

''Good evening, Mr. Dursley. I am an old friend of your mother's. Is she home by any chance?'' The potion professor asked calmly.

''Ehh…yeah?'' The teenager replied idiotically eyeing the man up and down. The boy must have assumed that he posed no threat, or maybe the boy was simply a moron, and let the wizard in. Dudley Dursley yelled towards the living room that there was a guest in the house.

Severus took in the foyer. The house seemed well kept, richly decorated and organized, although the decoration seemed tasteless and atrocious to his own eye. All in all, it was the image of a typical middle class muggle home of a typical muggle family. Knowing Petunia, that was exactly what she wanted. Severus took a step forward, and his eyes caught sight of the cupboard under the stairs with an air opening installed and a lock which only worked from outside. He tried to suppress his fury, however as he guessed at how much space was inside, he realized that most house elves had larger sleeping chambers.

A forty year old woman rushed into the hall. Time had not been kind to her, as her face was plain, wrinkled and used up. Her hair had darkened with time, which her one centimeter offshoots proved, while her hair was coloured an unnatural yellow. Maybe it was the latest muggle fashion.

''Tunie, it's been ages.'' He said in a form of greeting.

Petunia looked at him in a mixture of shock and confusion. Her sharp gaze hardened as soon as she recognized him. Her long nose rose up as she made a disgusted face upon realizing who was in her house.

''Severus.'' She spat, though some venom seemed to be held back as her son was still in the room, looking rather strangely upon the situation. There was a level of anxiousness in his eyes, which suggested that Dudley Dursley had some brain cells, and realized his little interview with Skeeter had incurred consequences.

''What are you doing in my house?'' She continued with a glare. Suddenly, as if the sentenced had reminded her of where she was, the older woman turned to her son, her voice becoming sweeter and higher: ''Dudley, please go play on your computer upstairs.''

''Mum.'' The boy protested rather embarrassed, and it was not so surprising considering the woman was addressing her son as if he was six and not sixteen.

''That would be for the best.'' The potions master insisted. The teen had shown some remorse for his actions, and for that he decided to spare the child from the little show he had prepared.

As soon as the boy disappeared up the stairs, Severus counted slowly to ten while the older woman and he glared silently at one another. He had forgotten where he had learned and then practiced this little skill as a child. The potions master noted the irony of the situation with some level of amusement. Potter had some exceedingly rotten luck.

Without further ado, Severus took three steps to reach the cupboard and yanked the door open. Inside were cleaning supplies and an old mattress. Some may think innocently of the bed, broken toys and a small childish drawing tacked messily to the wall, but he knew better.

His voice was like steel as he turned toward the woman with loathing in his black eyes. ''Tell me Petunia, what sort of monster does one need to be to reach this kind of cruelty?''

''Get out freak.'' She snapped back, meeting his gaze without a second thought. Her hands were crossed, while he looked calculatingly at her.

''Manners, Tunie.'' He chided coldly. ''You should get used to wizarding folk being around. In the upcoming days you can expect many angry members of the magical community to demand punishment for the abuse and neglect you have bestowed on their savior." He knew from Albus that she was not oblivious to who her nephew was. If she ever consider the child family, that is.

Her eyes narrowed in lack of understanding and slight panic. ''What the hell are you talking about?''

''One of our journalist has found proof of what has been going on in this house, and published it this morning for the world to see.'' He said in a perfectly neutral voice, greatly enjoying her reaction as she grasped and her eyes widened.

''You are lying!'' She shrieked, almost making him wince at the horrible noise.

''I thought of you as slightly more intelligent. Honestly, if I have not had the displeasure of knowing you, I would not believe you could be related to Lily-''

''Shut up! What proof are you babbling about Snape?'' demanded the blonde.

''You will get the article soon. In the meantime, I have a couple of questions to ask.'' The potions master finished in a calm voice, yet his face gave away his dour mood.

The woman took a few steps forward fearlessly, coming to stand almost in his face as she spat, ''So you remembered, after fourteen years, that your dear best friend had been killed and had a brat that I was damned with. Not once have you checked. Not a single time had another freak been here with any kind of interest into Potter's well-being. I am sure Lily would be jumping with joy at how much you care about her son.''

Severus swallowed as his grip on his wand tightened dangerously. The woman seemed amused by mocking him. ''Do you forget that he is your nephew, or are you really that jealous of your sister?''

''She was a freak, and I still did my duty by talking the brat in despite how much I hate your unnaturalness. You should be thanking me for agreeing to that Blood Protection.'' She claimed with her chin raised up high.

''You are delusional. The only thing I should do is make sure you suffer in return as Lily is not here to do so herself.'' His eyes sparked with fury, and for the first time, she looked uncertainly toward his wand hand.

Severus had no idea where her confidence came from, but she smirked at him cruelly as she continued. ''Poor Sev, you're threats are still as empty as before. When we were children you couldn't use magic, and now I have the Blood Protection, especially from workers of your madman. You know, Lily told me about your sad, sad story of choosing the dark side. She cried for you, poor and stupid slut that she was-''

''Do not dare insult her or you will taste how good I became at torturing when I went to the dark side.'' He threatened, advancing toward her and forcing her to take a step backwards.

Her confidence melted to some extent, but stubbornness still shined through. ''If you want the brat, then be my guest and take him. Otherwise get your freakish arse out of my house!'' She raised her voice at him for the second time during the conversation.

The teenager upstairs must have gotten worried by the raised voices as Severus could hear him approaching. What made the potions master stop in his tracks, with a sense of cold dread in his stomach, was the fact that Petunia's imbecile of a son seemed incapable of closing the front door correctly. In the reflection of a picture frame located by the stairs, Severus could see Harry bloody Potter's shocked expression. Almost immediately, Severus decided that he was the one with outstandingly atrocious luck here.

OOO

Potter was stunned into silence, even after Petunia rushed to the door when she noticed a change in his expression. She yanked the door opened and screeched at the fifteen year old to get inside the house. Potter was still too shocked at what he heard from the Potions professor to pay attention to her, and in a rough movement, she grabbed the boy by the white shirt of his Hogwart's uniform and violently pulled him inside. Severus was disgusted as she went outside to check to see if any of the neighbors had seen the disgrace.

Potter just stared at him with wide green eyes. 'Innocent eyes.' Severus tried to forget that detail with all his will.

The elder wizard was not doing much better. His lips were pressed in a thin line, while his fist clenched painfully. Anger at being eavesdrop on rose high, yet he knew he had been completely careless in this situation. Granted, anyone who wished Potter harm- and was not a part of this sick family- could not even dream of getting close to the building. Still, here he was with a very unpleasant situation to deal with.

Severus glared as he demanded in an icy tone, "Who the hell do you think you are, Potter? Do you have any idea what havoc your little escape has caused? Aurors, the Order, and other innocent people are currently risking their lives to find you, while you arrogantly drown in self-pity. You aren't even pathetic, you're less.'' He stressed at the end with as much cruelty as he could muster.

The green eyes closed, for which the potions master was extremely grateful. He considered Obliviating the brat for a moment, but he argued that he first had to get him out of a house where magical activity was carefully observed.

What made Severus hold back his next words was the utter hopelessness in Potter's posture. Did the brat even dare to think that something would change due to this unwanted discovery? An unpleasant feeling settled in Severus' gut.

James Potter made sure he hated everything to do with the man. Everything but Lily. He could never hate Lily. If the boy were anyone else, the potions master knew he would not be there arguing with Potter's aunt in the first place. If the matter was to do with any other child, from any house, the most Severus would have done would be escort that child to Poppy.

So where the hell was the guilt coming from? If Lily had chosen her friends more carefully, if Lily's friends had been the Weasley's, Andromeda Tonks… anyone but him, the Longbottom's and the Marauders who were incapable of even taking care of themselves, Lily's child would have been safe. He wouldn't have been left at 4 Privet Drive for ten years. Someone would have noticed, and Severus would never have felt responsible for the unpleasant way Potter's life had been turned unnecessarily, without even adding the Dark Lord to all this mess.

The most powerful dark wizard of the contemporary world had named a child his arch enemy. That child didn't need to be an unhappy and abused boy to top that off, for Merlin's sake! Suddenly, Severus took a new light toward Rita Skeeter's words, something which he refused to acknowledge up until then.

What if Potter desired to turn towards the Dark Arts? Just like he had, just like the Dark Lord had? Then they all, magic or not, would be faced with a threat so much worse. The truly vile part to this whole story was how close all of them were to breaking the boy. Potter had used a Cruciatus last week out of anger and grief. This did not bode well.

''Mum?'' The young muggle questioned with audible uncertainty. He walked quickly down the stairs, and noticed his cousin in the room. His eyes widened, and his posture shifted back and forth as if he hadn't decided if he should approach the raven haired boy or not. ''Harry? You look terrible.''

''Why the hell did you do it?'' Potter snapped back with venom Severus had not realized the child possessed. He turned around from his Professor, focusing like a predator upon his next prey: ''Why?''

Dudley Dursley blanched. He must have figured out what the conversation was about. It was obvious that the teen was a coward.

''Leave my Dudkinns alone, freak!'' Petunia hissed at him.

Potter turned his heated gaze on his aunt, his eyes flashing with a hundred emotions until they settled on anger. ''He told everything! About the cupboard! The food! School! Thanks to your dear Dudkinns, you could go to pri-''

A loud slap echoed throughout the house as Potter's head snapped forcefully to the side. Petunia's hand was shaking, as was her entire frame. ''Do not lie to me, boy.'' She uttered with loathing.

Severus Snape was startled at first, but the truth of what he had witnessed was in front of his eyes in the form of Potter's reddened cheek. He did not hesitate this time as he forced Petunia to back away from the fifteen year old. Rather than letting her go, he took out his wand and pointed it in front of the woman's nose. For the first time, the reality of the situation was drawing on Petunia and she eyed the stick fearfully.

''Dare to raise your hand on him again, and I swear on Lily's gave, you will beg to die by the time I am done with you.'' His voice was low and dangerous.

Severus straightened his posture, while he saw Potter watching him with a wide gaze while a hand was covering his cheek. He felt embarrassment and an ocean of anger from the teen.

''Potter. Out. You already caused me to waste enough of my time as it is.'' The raven haired man decided. With his wand out, still in his muggle attire, the man grabbed the door handle and threw it open, passing the brat on his way. Emerald eyes glared at him with fire, while he angrily raised his head.

''It's a good thing sir, I can always count on your capacity to put all the blame of the world on a Potter. Whatever it would be, it's always Potter. Potter caused this, Potter the insolent, Potter the arrogant. Isn't it great to be able to constantly take revenge for the past?''

The fifteen year old paused to stand in a more comfortable position. His eyes were guarded as he continued, ''Don't you ever get tired of hating my father? You know, the man that I don't even remember?"

"You know what-'' The emerald eyed boy said with a new edge to his voice as he looked between the two adults present with humorless laughter. ''The two of you should open a Potter-Hating fan club. You would be just perfect. One blames my mother for all the wrongs of her life, the other blames my father.''

OOO

This story was betaed by xXFor-The-Love-Of-FandomXx