Food.

The smell, before anything else.

Stronger than ever before – because he wanted it all the more. Opening his eyes, he saw through the darkness to a cloaked Death Eater standing at the open door. So lowly, if he was bringing food…

Severus was even lower if he was being brought food, like a prisoner…

Severus didn't stand up until he knew he wouldn't stumble, however much his mouth watered. When he did, and the world tilted from the horizontal to a plane that made sense, he took the plate – potatoes, a white sauce, steam – from the figure. Severus didn't even look him in the eye, so concentrated on the hot thing in his hands. Then the door closed wordlessly, the triangle of white light that had fell across the floor turned to nothing.

Hand shaking, Severus spelled open the curtains – morning - to reveal Harry, in the same position as before. A lump under the duvet. Somehow, before Severus ate any himself, he said "Potter" and walked over. Severus could actually see as Harry inhaled the smell: the frown that had creased his face all night became nothing. So quickly, Harry opened his eyes, sat up and said "food".

"Indeed."

Harry nodded, but his eyes were hungry and Snape said "sit up, Potter." Harry did so, quickly. From the windowsill, Severus summoned the now-fixed decorative plate that Harry had smashed before, scraped half the food into it before giving it to him with a matching decorative fork (the Malfoys were beyond comprehension – but he was thankful in this rare case).

Harry ate slowly; Severus, in too much bliss of taste to say anything, just forked potato after potato in his mouth.

"Don't eat too quickly."

"Excuse me?"

Harry shook his head, placing a potato into his own mouth and closing his eyes as he chewed. Even after he swallowed, he stayed still. Savouring, before opening his eyes once again.

"I just… it's not a good idea," he said, meeting Severus's gaze plainly. "If you haven't eaten in this long, eating really quickly will just make you throw up – which is a real waste."

Harry wrinkled nose as if it were the ultimately offensive action. Though it was useful, it was sickening that Harry knew that. Unimaginable.

After the plates had been cleaned, Severus banished them, and leant forward. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. I guess I was just tired."

"Nothing to do with any Cruciatus, I am sure."

Harry smiled weakly. "Could you re-do the charm on my eyes by the way?"

"Of course."

Severus shifted forward, carefully resting his fingers on Harry's temples and murmured "Videus".

"Thanks," said Harry, looking at Severus for a few seconds, calculatingly. On the surface, it looked Slytherin - not in manipulation, but the depth and shade of thought. "You…Me…" he said eventually "This is just so different. Unexpected."

"I am not teaching you Potions, for one," said Severus unwilling to go any further into any of his feelings, which sat like a nearly-finished potion, needing only one more ingredient: spoken words to confirm. Severus didn't know what would happen if he added it- Explosions? Poison? Healing? – and nor did he want to find out. So he stayed quiet.

"What's the date, anyway?" asked Harry, an obvious, easy change of subject that Severus had also been about to provide.

"The thirty-first of July."

"Really?"

Severus watched Harry's happy face with dawning comprehension, then he pinched the bridge his nose. "Oh, Merlin it's …"

"It's my birthday!"

"This place is truly one of torture," he drawled. "So, what would you like as a gift? Unfortunately, there's not much I can offer you."

Harry shook his head, apparently believing that Severus's "unfortunately" was sincere. "Oh that's alright. It's cool I'm sixteen though. Horrid place to spend it but…" Harry shrugged, as if to say I'm not used to much more. Severus thought that perhaps that was true.

"I could offer you a Malfoy photo album. This room has many of those. Or another piece of decorated cutlery."

Harry's eyes actually lit up. "Are you serious?"

"I assume that such excitement isn't anticipation of seeing another fork?" asked Severus with a raised eyebrow. "No, you…want to look through photos of the Malfoys? I wasn't serious until you looked so happy about it."

"That would be golden."

"Golden to see Malfoy memories reminisce at their beauty? Or golden because it would be hilarious?"

Harry bit on his lip, unsuccessfully biting back a grin. "Have a guess."

Severus shifted, the wood of his chair feeling much harder. "You think that I want to give you more material to bully Draco with?"

"I don't bully."

"No, you only tease and chastise."

Harry's mouth set into a hard line and his first curled. "How many times am I going to have to tell you that I'm not my father? You would support Malfoy and your Slytherins even if they beat me up right in front of you."

Severus opened his mouth to let his tongue whip, but the Harry's words held it in chains. Harry hadn't even blamed Draco, whined how it was not him that was bullying, told of the much worse Draco had teased him about– rather he had taken the braver approach, and accused Snape of prejudice. Instead of war through indirect words and hidden anger, Harry had tackled the problem more dangerous because of its closeness– Snape – rather than the one so far away it could barely harm– Malfoy.

"No. I see now that…" He took a deep breath, before meeting Harry's eyes; it was much trickier to say something like this, rather than something biting; how tempted he was to… "That you are not your father in every way. I am not accusing you of such. I simply do not wish to increase misery, whether it is your own or Mr. Malfoy's."

Harry stared at him, as if sussing out the plot behind the words, the Slytherin behind the Gryffindor well-meaning. There was none, so Severus easily met the gaze. Harry was as much as a Gryffindor as his father. However, the thing that Severus had perhaps forgotten, was that Harry was as much a Gryffindor as his mother too.

"Well, er, good…Because I would never do what my father-"

"Best that we don't discuss that again."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Sir. But yeah, anyway…" Harry rubbed his arm. "This isn't like bullying. I would do the same to Ron with his childhood photographs."

"Really?"

"I know you don't believe me, but it's not like Malfoy hasn't done his fair share to me – more than his fair share I would say – and this is just-"

"If it stops you rambling, we will look," said Snape quickly. Though his mind had been made up the moment he had said the words you are not your father, he had enjoyed seeing Harry struggle for a while but that had gone on longer and had been even more intense than even he could permit. When Harry had apologised for his father's shortcomings, Severus had seen for the first time a minor form of what Dumbledore had so lamented about and what Severus had viewed at the time as so alien, like they were referrals to a different Harry Potter: Harry's habit of harbouring guilt of all the world's sins. Well, that would have to stop. But not now. Snape wasn't the most experienced in birthday celebrations, but knew that that talk wouldn't provide the wildest party. The chubby Malfoy toddler would have to do.

With a threatening glance at Harry, Severus lay the albums from the drawer on Harry's legs.

"Bloody hell. It feels like they're breaking my bones."

"That heavy? Think of the weight of these as relative to the Malfoy's self-obsession."

Severus shifted them a bit so he took some of the weight too, paused for a moment before he to come to terms with the fact that he was spending some of his summer in a room with Harry Potter, perusing baby photos of Draco Malfoy…before turning the first page.

"Is that really him? This is hilarious," said Harry at the first picture he saw. Severus snorted, more from Harry's reaction. Draco Malfoy, aged two or three, was covered in chocolate; his blonde hair was dripping, and his face was screwed up in a wail. Photo after photo, laugh after laugh from Harry. It was…hilarious.

Severus was aware that Harry's reaction was more than the situation really warranted; yet, could he deny him this? This sudden, eye-watering joy. It almost hurt because it was so… Desperate. Severus was nervous that it was faked.

Yet, when Harry lay back down to sleep, he was still smiling. "That is the best birthday present ever, sir."


The next time the door opened, Severus had no idea what time it was, apart from it was night. It felt like had had slept for days. Both he and Harry were slow, slow to push aside the grogginess for fear. When Severus stood up, hunger almost weighed him back down. It had been over a day since the potatoes.

He bowed all the same. "My Lord."

It was not the Dark Lord, though; it was Lucius Malfoy.

"You've certainly changed your tone with me," said Lucius, looking at Snape with a twisted lip.

"Lucius! I thought it was the Dark Lord…"

"I understand." Lucius looked around the room and waved his wand "Let's have some light."

The candles on the walls lit to a gentle flicker. Snape waited for the thorn behind Lucius's rosy front, aware he had moved to stand in front of the bed in the corner where Harry slept.

"What a task…" said Lucius. "To treat a boy who you have so hated."

"He is nearly ours now."

"Do you believe it?"

"I believe what the Dark Lord says is true."

"Hm," said Lucius softly, and Severus could see that Lucius, unlike many of the Death Eaters, did not suspect Severus of betrayal. Perhaps the sickening hours Severus had spent flattering a pouting Draco at Dumbledore's request had reaped usable consequences. Dumbledore had seen danger in Draco from his first year – to Draco's self and his accidental victims rather than as any serious player in the war. It was this encouragement that gave Severus the courage to step blindly into the danger of the next few sentences - no, not blindly but choosing not to see it, for Severus could if he wanted, in gruesome, experienced detail.

"Your mansion is magnificent."

"It has been in my family for many years, passed down from father to son….A mudblood has not yet seen its insides," Lucius added, with a small smile.

Severus took a delicate, physical step forward as he did so, and not letting his eyes leave Lucius's; his confident gaze was his greatest weapon, manipulator. Then he went in for the sentence he had been revolving around.

"It must have many secrets."

"Too many to know, let alone count, although I do intend to try."

"I am very interested in old houses, you see…" Or had been since he thought that knowledge about them might become in useful in matters of life or death. "I was wondering whether this house has secret passages? They are the rarest of things."

Snape's tone did not betray the mind underneath, and Lucius had no suspicion that were having anything else but a boring conversation.

Lucius's gaze bulged towards Harry. "Do you think we should be discussing this in his company?"

"I don't see why not. As I said, I trust the Dark Lord." At Lucius's sceptical look, Snape added "Regardless, it's unlikely your house even has this. It would be a great testament to the wealth and age of your house if it did-"

Lucius's eyebrows raised in anticipation, the creases of stress forgotten. "Oh? What is it?"

"A statue, that if you press the eye of and use the incantation Aperio… it opens. Next to pillar or deep wall is the most usual place, for it has the space to reveal a chamber or passage."

There was only one thing Severus could do now: hope Lucius found a potentially non-existent passage that felt as fleeting and unreliable as a dream right now – and, if luck was nimble enough to fit that slim chance, make Harry well enough to escape – the details of how were so far…non-existent - the locked room, drag him to relative…safety? Just outside Malfoy Manor? There was no such thing.

Severus -who lived in the hottest battlefield between two enemies, dodging each of their blows by lying and changing, relying on his own wit and awareness for his continued existence - was used to scrappily put-together plans, but had never had one like this.

"Fascinating. I will be sure to check. And with the regards to the boy?"

Severus hesitated for an unnoticeable moment. "He is alive, barely speaking but functional as the Dark Lord requested."

Lucius smirked - no doubt happy that it was Severus walking the tightrope, rather than Lucius, who had been so asked to perform so many impossible tasks in the last few months to inevitable failure, as punishment for the Ministry.

"The Dark Lord asked me to prepare you once again," said Lucius. "He expects you to perform your duty, and thought it would be fitting to give you warning. He wants Potter ready when he arrives, which is soon. He said that you would know what that entailed…I must admit, Severus, I am curious…"

Lucius left the room with a pretentious swirl of his cane.