"You're coming with me," Snape said a couple of days later. Alexei raised his head from the book he was reading.
"But the potion," Alexei said.
"You know it's in a stasis stage right now and will be for another five hours," Snape said.
Alexei closed his book and drained his wineglass. "Very well. What mission am I accompanying you on today?"
"We are visiting the boy's relatives," Snape said.
"And you don't think you can intimidate them into signing the child over to you?" Alexei said in disbelief.
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I can," Snape scoffed. "No, you are going to help torture them."
Alexei frowned. "Severus—"
"Not like that," Snape said. "They hate magic and they're scared of it. How do you think they'll act when they know one of those 'mystical creatures' actually exists?"
"So psychological torture?"
"Yes. I realize I was once a Death Eater but I'm not stupid enough to think I can get away with killing three Muggles," Snape said.
"Like you, I try to forget that particular mistake," Alexei said, getting to his feet.
Snape scowled. "I realize I must've been a great disappointment and such a tarnish to your reputation."
Alexei sighed. "That's not what I meant and you know it."
Snape just shook his head. "Let's go before Dumbledore figures out how to interfere."
Alexei sighed again, sadly this time, and followed his greatest accomplishment and his 'pride and joy'.
They hurried down to the small village of Hogsmeade and Disapparated. They appeared thousands of miles away in the little suburban area of Little Whinging. They gazed at the identical houses that lined Privet Drive. Snape sneered. Even the gardens and the lawns were the exact same.
Glancing at Alexei, they walked closer and began the search for number four. Despite the houses being identical, they found number four quite easy. Snape assumed it was because of the slightly wilting flowers and browning grass.
They walked up to the door and Snape knocked. They listened to the shuffling and muffled voices from inside, and cast startled looks at each other when they heard thunderous footsteps. The door was flung open and Snape felt a renewed sense of rage.
He had never seen the boy's uncle, had never even asked for a description. As such, he hadn't made any assumptions other than the fact that the Muggle was a horrible child abuser. Now, however, he was actually seeing the man and was fighting the strong urge to simply kill the Dursley matriarch. He couldn't believe a man of Dursley's size had thought it all right to even go near such a small child. How could Harry have possible survived beatings from such a giant man?
"What?" Dursley spat, his eyes small and beady as they glared at Snape and Alexei from his large head.
"Mr. Dursley?" Alexei said, placing a hand on Snape's arm to calm his friend down.
"What do you want?" Dursley snapped. "We're not buying anything."
"And we're not selling," Alexei said. "Might we come in? We have something to discuss with you and your wife."
"Who are you?" Dursley said, not moving to let them in.
Alexei smoother down his Muggle jacket. "We wish to discuss a promotion."
Dursley's eyes widened greedily. "Promotion? You work for Grunnings then?"
"We certainly do," Alexei said. "We're in upper management so you have probably not seen us before."
"Of course, of course," Dursley said, suddenly the picture of politeness and kindness. "Come on in. I am Vernon Dursley, as you very well know." He stuck out a hand and shook Alexei's and Snape's without waiting for them to offer their own hands. "I was unaware there was a position open, Mister…"
"Romanov," Alexei said.
"Any relation?" Dursley asked, leading them to the sitting room. Snape gazed around, easily noticing the lack of any indication that Harry had lived in that house.
"No," Alexei said. "As you know, the Romanovs were all executed."
"Right, right," Dursley said with a laugh. The falseness made Snape want to roll his eyes. "And you are?" he said to Snape.
"Snape."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Snape."
Snape just inclined his head.
"Where is your wife, Mr. Dursley?" Alexei said. "Surely she should be involved in a decision such as this."
"She's not much into the business world," Dursley said. "She takes care of the house and Dudley."
"Dudley?" Alexei said curiously.
"Our little son," Dursley said proudly, pointing to a picture on the mantelpiece. "He's off at school. He attends the boarding school, Smeltings. Brilliant boy. Perfect for such a prestigious school."
Snape and Alexei masked their expressions of disgust as they gazed at the picture of the overly large boy. It was a recent photo as the boy was in his school uniform. He was a mirror image of his father, far too rotund for a boy his age. They also couldn't believe this boy was so obese while Harry was little more than a skeleton.
"Mr. Dursley," Alexei said, forcing his eyes from the photo, "our records show that you have two children in this house. Is that correct?"
Dursley was the one to look disgusted. "Yeah, it's true. My nephew, son of my wife's sister. Right menace he is and always has been right from the start. Idiot parents killed themselves and we were stuck with the rotten boy. Just left on our doorstep."
"He is a troubled boy?" Alexei said, glancing at Snape from the corner of his eye.
"Been causing trouble since he brought him in. Always making messes, picking on Dudley, and shirking his chores. Lazy child if I ever met one," Dursley said. "Freak like his drunken parents."
Alexei's hand flew to Snape's arm. "Where is your nephew now?"
"St. Brutus' Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys," Dursley said. "He needs good discipline. The lord knows he doesn't listen to Petunia and I."
Alexei cleared his throat and squeezed Snape's arm.
"Would you like tea?" Dursley asked suddenly.
"Tea would be lovely," Alexei said with a smile. "For the both of us, please."
"Of course." Dursley hauled himself to his feet thought with great difficulty. "Let me tell Petunia."
Alexei smiled again and watched Dursley disappear into the kitchen.
"Why are you chatting with him as though this were a lunch date?" Snape snapped.
"I doubt he would have let us in if he knew we were wizards," Alexei said, finally removing his hand. "I know he's saying terrible things about Lily. Just remember that you knew her, he didn't. He is going off Petunia's jealousy and his own hatred."
Snape's jaw clenched but he nodded.
"She'll be right in with that tea," Dursley said, lumbering back to his chair. "Now, this promotion you mentioned."
"I really think we should wait for your wife, Mr. Dursley," Alexei said.
"She has no interest in my work," Dursley said dismissively.
"I really must insist," Alexei said.
"Mr. Romanov, I—"
"Tea, gentlemen."
Snape and Alexei looked up at the horse-like woman. She had a large smile plastered on her face and she walked as straight as a model. Clearly a trophy housewife though they failed to see the prize part of the woman.
"Thank you, Mrs. Dursley," Alexei said and she beamed at him, moving to her husband's side.
"Pet, this is Mr. Romanov and Mr. Snape. They're here to offer—" Petunia cut her husband off.
"Snape?" she said, looking at Snape in horrified rage. "You're that horrible boy!"
"Petunia, you know him?" Dursley frowned.
"How could I forget? He lived down the street from me as a child. He was the boy that turned Lily into a freak. They're both freaks, Vernon!" Petunia cried and Dursley jumped to his feet, surprising Snape and Alexei with his speed.
"Freaks in my house?" Dursley said, turning red and then purple with rage. "I won't have it! I've had enough of you freaks and your freaky powers and your owls! I've rid us of the boy! I'm done! Out!"
"Not just yet, Dursley," Snape said smoothly. "And lovely to see you again, Petunia. You haven't changed a bit."
Petunia made an affronted sound.
"Get out of my house!" Dursley shouted.
"Not until we get what we came for," Snape said, withdrawing the guardianship papers from a pocket inside his jacket. He dropped them on the coffee table with a slap. "Sign," he ordered.
"What are these?" Dursley demanded.
"Papers releasing Harry Potter from your custody," Snape said. "You will be signing his custody over to me and he will leave your lives forever."
"What do you know about the boy and what do you want with the freak?" Dursley sneered.
Snape sneered back. "I am one of his professors and have seen some of what you have done to the child. As he refuses to speak of it because of fear and his lessons, I can only speculate about your past actions. As for what I want with him, I want him as far away from you as possible. Now sign the papers."
"No," Dursley said. "We're getting good money for the boy."
"That money was supposed to be spent on the boy!" Snape growled.
"He never deserved it! He was a worthless burden that could barely earn his keep! We took him in and he thanked us by being a freak!" Vernon yelled.
"You ungrateful, inhuman, insignificant little—"
Alexei's eyes widened as he saw Snape pulling his wand. He quickly grasped Snape's wrist and jumped between him and the Muggle. He glowered at Dursley and bared his teeth.
"Sign the papers, Muggle, before I lose my control," he hissed.
Petunia had shrieked at his pointed canines and Dursley had paled drastically. They fumbled for a pen and made quick work of all required signatures and initials. Alexei took the papers, checking to make sure it was all right before handing them back to Snape.
"They deserve something," Snape said, pocketing the guardianship forms.
"They do," Alexei agreed. "I have an idea though I shudder at what I must do."
He moved as fast as light, biting both Muggles on the neck and fighting to avoid as much blood as possible. He was back at Snape's side in seconds, grimacing.
"With a few well placed spells, they will feel compelled to tell everyone that they were bitten by a vampire. They will be able to see the marks on their necks while no one else will see a thing," Alexei said. "They'll only see two people who claim vampires exist."
Snape smirked and cast the spells, adding one that would prevent the Muggles from saying who had visited them and why. He replaced his wand, glaring at the weeping Muggles.
"Shall we?" he said.
"One last thing," Alexei said though he left the sitting room and headed towards the door. He stopped, however, at a small closet under the stairs. "Harry's scent is all over here."
"A supply closet?" Snape frowned. Why would the boy be around a closet so much? He held the small doorknob and pulled the door open. They both gaped.
A tiny cot with nothing more than a dirty flat pillow and a ratty blanket sat in the center of the closet. A single dim light bulb swung from the ceiling, casting eerie shadows. A few broken toys lay on the shelves and spider webs hung from the corners. Their eyes were always drawn back to the door though. They raged as they stared at the old crayon drawing that simply said 'Harry's Room'.
"This is the cupboard he told me about, briefly," Snape said, still staring at the sign. "They put a child, a baby, in a cupboard."
"You don't know that he was put here as a baby," Alexei said though he knew Snape was right. "This could have been a recent change for all we know. You said he didn't tell you much, only that it's where he slept."
"He calls this place his room," Snape said, jabbing a finger at the sign. "He would not call it his room if he were recently moved. Besides, that is the writing of a boy much younger than Harry."
Alexei gazed at the cupboard that had been made into a child's bedroom and sighed. "Perhaps we should ask Harry."
"I can't see him talking about it," Snape said. "He refuses to say anything because he's not supposed to."
"He just has to know that he can trust us to help him and keep him safe," Alexei said.
"He's been abused his entire life," Snape said. "We'll be lucky if he ever trusts us even a little bit."
"I managed with you," Alexei said and Snape stopped in surprise at his blunt words. "I am going to go back to the Ministry to file the guardianship papers. You go back to Hogwarts and I will join you to continue the potion."
Snape was still just staring at him when Alexei took the papers and Disapparated. He eventually shook himself and returned to Hogwarts. Walking into his quarters, he was about to go to his lab to check on the potion but he was stopped as his eyes were caught by that extra door that hid Harry's room. Or what would become Harry's room. It was an odd thought that the room would be a permanent fixture in his quarters until he found a family for the child. He was actually taking a child in. Until he found the child a family, he would be responsible for taking care of the boy. He had never wanted children and now he had an eleven year old in his custody.
He walked over to the door and pushed it open. He gazed around the empty room, reminding himself that the last and only time the boy had stayed in the room he had been severely ill. As he looked around, he found strange thoughts going through his head about what the room could look like if Harry were to permanently live there. Would the boy open up and become a regular child that covered his walls in Quidditch posters and pictures of his friends? Would he have Slytherin bed covers or would they be other colours? Would the desk be covered in books and supplies for homework as well as supplies for whatever hobbies he may have? Would clothes be thrown in a pile on the floor? Would he need a bookcase? Would books lay everywhere they had in Snape's own childhood room?
He shook his head and immediately left the room, letting the door fall shut behind him. He had no idea what he was thinking. It didn't matter. The boy probably wouldn't ever use the room. Clearing his mind, he snorted quietly at himself and stalked down to his lab to check on the potion.
Snape was still in his lab a couple hours later when Alexei finally returned. The vampire joined him just in time for the next stage of the potion and it came out of its stasis stage. They didn't speak as they prepared the next few ingredients and stirred them into the liquid that eventually turned a soft salmon colour. Placing a mint leaf with some shredded ginger on it in the very center of the cauldron, they began to clean up as the potion would now have to sit for sixty-four minutes. They left the lab with an alarm set on the potion and settled in the sitting room, each with a glass of wine.
"You will be receiving an owl in the next few days approving your application for the guardianship of Harry Potter," Alexei said, sipping his wine.
"I realize you have unimaginable sway in the Ministry somehow but I don't think this is something even you can influence," Snape said.
"There are always ways around what you are supposed to do," Alexei said vaguely.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Are you doing something illegal?"
"It's not illegal. They're shortcuts and loopholes," Alexei said. "In any case, you will be gaining a new ward within the next five days."
Snape just shook his head and took another drink from his glass. "Are you planning on telling Harry that you're a vampire?"
"At some point," Alexei said. "He may suspect by now as I think he spotted my teeth when he was in the infirmary."
"You never were the most subtle or secretive about what you are," Snape said.
"Why hide?" Alexei said with a shrug. "My state of being hasn't changed in the last few decades. I really don't think it will in the future. Well, unless Mr. Genius Potions Master discovers a cure for vampirism."
Snape rolled his eyes. "Don't wait around for it."
Alexei laughed.
A/N: Another update quicker than I planned but I have actually had chapters 9-13 written and sitting here since I left. Why I never uploaded them to give you guys a little bit more, I honestly have no idea :P I appreciate the response I have received since I came back. I half expected angry responses as I was one who promised I would never abandon and that's exactly what I did. I apologize again for that. Life honestly took over and, as I said, not only that but it also took my inspiration and enjoyment. I honestly experienced a period of time where writing was not enjoyable-not matter how much I felt I missed it-and it was not a bright spot in my life anymore. However, I feel that is coming back through my return to fanfiction and also my steady work on my newest original book. Well, enough about all that. I have apologized and explained, and that's that. I am back now so let's continue. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to enjoy the future writings to come. Remember to review :)