A Safe Place
I'm going to go ahead and explain the dome and how the time works here. You can likely figure it out as it's referred to throughout the story, but if you just want to read the explanation then I think you'll have a much easier time with the concept as it pops up.
Within the time warp, every four months is equivalent to a year for Harry. This means that every full year in the wizarding world will be four years for Harry. Harry will leave the time warp for his birthday every four months and go to Hogwarts to meet with Dumbledore and update him on his training. The idea is that he would also celebrate his birthday at this time, and get updates from how the world around him is doing.
With this math, in the summer following is first year Harry will be 14. Second year, 17, Third year, 20, Fourth year 23. For the sake of maths, I'm also going to include that Severus' birthday is 9 January, 1960, which will make him 31 when Harry turns 11 and 35 (and a half) when Harry is 23.
So on we go!
Chapter Two: You're an adult now, Harry
Harry quite liked when he got to visit the castle, not only because it was his birthday. The castle always welcomed him with her magic, and since learning to listen and feel magic was his first lesson with the goblins, he could feel how happy she was to see him. Plus Dumbledore was always waiting with food from the great hall in his office, and it was a far cry better than the food he ate normally, though probably not as good for him.
"Harry, my boy!" Albus called, clearly pleased to see him. This visit was going to be longer and a little more exciting than his last three because it was summer time, so it was his birthday in the wizarding world as well, and school wasn't in session.
Harry gave him a big grin.
"Hello, Headmaster!"
Albus gestured him into his chair.
"I got a letter just this morning from Awrine, he said you've completed almost through your NEWTS! How's it feel?"
Harry blushed at the praise he could hear in the headmaster's tone. He wasn't used to having someone be so open with their emotions; the goblins were very controlled with how much they emoted.
"Feels good. I get to start more specialized study soon. I'm really excited to gain my masteries in defense and transfiguration especially, though Awrine says that Charms will be more fun than I'm anticipating."
"Good, very good. Once you get through that, what do they have planned for you?"
Harry shrugged.
"I start rituals once I'm of age, along with mental magics and elemental study. Awrine says those will be very immersive, but that I'll get to engage with human teachers then as well so that I can learn the staff, so that'll be cool too."
"Still struggling with the gobbledegook?" he asked knowingly, and Harry felt his cheeks warm again.
"I do fine just talking and stuff, but when I have to study something that's only written in gobbledegook, I get mixed around."
Albus started to speak before looking at the door.
"It looks like some of my professors are here. They want to see where you are on a Hogwarts level, but no big tests just some feelers."
Harry nodded. Awrine had told him he'd be meeting professors today who have their masteries, and he was rather excited to meet some new people.
"Severus is doing some very important restocking right now of the hospital wing potions, so he won't be able to meet you today, and we actually just lost our defense professor."
"Lost him?"
Albus grew very serious.
"I believe he was hosting Lord Voldemort in the back of his skull, but when we cornered Quirell in battle, his lord abandoned him, killing him in the process."
Harry gaped at the man, while Dumbledore clapped and became excited again.
"But enough of that! It's your birthday!"
—
"You'll need to warn him, Albus. You don't know what the goblins have planned or how aware they are inside this dome of the outside world."
Harry stood outside of the office. The man who was speaking had a voice like silk, but he was for now more concerned with what that voice was saying. He decided to forgo knocking and simply go in. He liked Albus, but he thought it likely that the old man didn't really grasp that full years of maturation were happening for Harry, and he was more than ready for any information he had to share.
When he opened the door he immediately locked eyes with a dark haired man, and he felt his breath catch. The amount of power and surety in his stance and his magic sent him reeling, and he had to shut his mind away from the sex rituals that he immediately thought of— he didn't have a lot of sexual knowledge outside of sex ritual studies at this point after all. But he shut that away, tucking it nicely behind his shields.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said, feeling a bit a wry amusement at the annoyed snarl arising on the other man's face. "I didn't want to give the headmaster a chance to not share this warning with me— I assume it's with me, unless there's another wizard inside of the dome, in which case I think Awrine will want to do a check of security."
The man's annoyance dropped and was replaced by a blank mask, but Harry could feel his gaze become curious. Harry knew he didn't look at all how anyone was expecting him to. His eyesight had been fixed quickly by the goblins once he started battle training, and his years of strict diet and exercise routines during his growth meant he was a lot more built and taller than his father was.
He gave the man a small smile, bookmarking the small gasp from the other man.
So he found him attractive, too? He sent up a little prayer to the gods to keep this man up for grabs for at least another summer, depending on when the fates deemed him ready to exit the dome.
"Harry Potter," he said, putting out a hand. "I don't believe we've met."
The other man stood a little taller, giving him his hand as well. Harry took the slim hand in his own and grasped it firmly as the other man acknowledged him, "Severus Snape."
"The Potion's Master," he noted. "I've read your work. Hogwarts is very lucky to have such a talented man at her disposal."
Harry thought he saw a blush sprout on the other man's cheeks before his face became blank. Before the man could come up with a cutting remark to protect himself, as he seemed about to do, Harry thought to steer the conversation back to where it was before he entered the room.
"Now I do believe the headmaster was just about to pass on a warning for me. It wouldn't have anything to do with the mass murderer that's out trying to get me, would it? The one that's also my godfather, and is known to have been my parent's secret keeper, though that can't have possibly been true since their will states that Peter Pettigrew is the secret keeper?"
The potion's master swayed a little, and Harry immediately waved his hand to move the chair so it was right behind him. He looked at the man in concern even as he seated him.
"Are you quite alright, Master Snape?"
"Impossible," he whispered sharply. "Sirius Black is— he is—"
Harry squeezed his arm slightly, and all Severus could do was stare at it.
"All that he might be, he was not the betrayer of my parents."
"My boy," Albus stated, leaning forward. "How do you know this?"
"I'm seventeen now, Headmaster. I've come into my inheritance. The will reading was just this morning. I'm going to leave you with a small sum of money. I want you to get this information to the right people. Pettigrew is still out there, I imagine, and he needs to be stopped before he scampers on to resurrecting his dark lord or some rubbish."
"You should say his name, Harry," Dumbledore told him. "Voldemort is just—"
Harry felt more than he heard the other man's hiss pain, and he felt the protectiveness well up inside of him before he could think twice about it.
"How dare you say his name so frivolously with your spy right here to suffer for it?" He turned to Snape. "Are you alright, sir?"
The older man was looking more confused than ever, eyes darting back and forth between Harry and the headmaster.
"You've given a lot of information to this boy, Albus."
Harry smirked, stepping away from the man to not overwhelm him so much.
"I expected you to keep your spies better informed, Headmaster."
Harry looked between them before stating, "I've been given a lot of information this morning, and I also have a few things I would like to do before I head back into the dome today. May Merlin guard your steps."
He gave them both a serious look, a warmer one to the attractive dark-headed man, and took his leave. He needed to expand some of his extracurricular studies, and for that he'd need to visit the bookshop in Diagon Alley.
TBC