AN: I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think of it!

Chapter 43

January faded into February, and with it came the letter that Harry had been dreading. The Ministry had finally set a date for when the social worker would come back for the second round of interviews. It would be on the sixteenth: just over two weeks away.

Harry almost wished that it was sooner so that it could be over with already and he wouldn't have to keep worrying about it. As it stood, there was plenty that could happen in those two weeks. The Gryffindor match against Ravenclaw was the coming Saturday, and the next Hogsmeade trip was the Saturday after that. Harry had no intentions of staying behind now that he knew how to get there. He just had to make sure that he wouldn't get caught.

To make matters worse, Harry's anti-dementor lessons weren't going anywhere near as well as he thought they should be. Remus had assured him that he was doing remarkably well for his age, but it did nothing to appease Harry as he watched his patronus simply hover in the air, too feeble to drive away the boggart-dementor and draining Harry of all his energy, leaving him feeling tired and irritable.

Things with Snape, however, were going better than Harry had expected. After the first initial shock to everyone after the news had come out, things had seemed to calm down quickly. But in the end, it wasn't so much the fact that Harry was now Snape's ward that had Hogwarts' rumor wheel running, but Snape himself. He had changed more than anything.

Not in his sternness or in how he pushed his students and didn't take any slacking off, that Harry was sure would never change. But it was in how he had begun to treat everyone. He gave points to students not in his House and had even been seen taking some from Slytherin. Hermione especially had come to love Potions Club, and Harry had even spotted Snape talking quietly to Neville last week, actually explaining to him how to keep his potion from being ruined. If Harry didn't know better, he would swear that Snape had been replaced by a doppelganger.

Of course, none of these changes seemed to be aimed towards Harry. If anything, Harry thought he was suddenly pushing him even harder in an attempt to not be accused of showing favoritism. Harry couldn't be bothered to care, not when Snape kept calling him Harry in front of the class and even praising him when he did something well. A small part of him thought that it should embarrass him that Snape was giving him attention, but the other part of him wanted to soak it all in.

He was still worried that Lucius Malfoy and the like would find out— not that he could even be sure that they hadn't already— but so far everything had been quiet. No one had really said much of anything about it, and the silence was what worried Harry more than anything.

Two nights before the match against Ravenclaw, Harry and Ron crawled through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room with Neville, who had been standing outside, unable to get in because he didn't remember Sir Cadogan's newest password. Ron headed up to the dormitory to give Scabbers his rat tonic after pausing to say hello to Hermione. Harry, taking in the tired look on Hermione's face as she sat in the middle of a mountain of books, sat down next to her.

"Do you really need to take all these classes, 'Mione?" he asked, picking up her Muggle Studies essay titled: Why Muggles Need Electricity. She nearly snatched it back out of his hand.

"Of course I do! I can't believe you didn't think it would be fascinating to learn about Muggles from a wizarding perspective."

Harry shook his head. "What about Arithmancy? It looks bloody awful."

"Oh, no! It's really so—"

But Harry didn't find out what Arithmancy really was because at that moment, Ron began to scream from upstairs.

"SCABBERS! SCABBERS!" He came out of the dormitory and looked down at them from the landing. "SCABBERS IS GONE!" Ron came down the staircase carrying a sheet from his bed and shaking it in his and Hermione's faces. "Do you see this?! It's blood! Your stupid bloody cat ate him!"

Hermione, now getting a bit angry herself at being yelled at, stood up and glared back at the redhead. "You've got no proof that Scabbers has even been eaten, Ron Weasley, much less that Crookshanks was the one who did it!"

"You never took that cat trying to eat Scabbers seriously, and now he's gone!"

Harry stood up and tried to step between his two best friends. But it was no use; they simply carried on yelling around him as if he weren't there.

The next day, Harry had tried to talk to them both about it, but when he'd tentatively mentioned to Hermione that Crookshanks did appear to be the guilty one, Hermione had blown up at him as well for taking Ron's side. Eventually, he'd dragged a sulking Ron out to his last quidditch practice before the match, with promises that he could take a ride on the Firebolt afterward. That at least seemed to cheer Ron up a bit. Though in the end, Harry decided to spend the night down in his and Snape's quarters so that he wouldn't be put in the middle of any more arguments.

"Does he have any proof that the cat ate his rat?" Snape asked Harry that night after dinner. They were sitting together in the parlor having their usual cup of tea, and Harry had been telling him all about Ron and Hermione's current argument.

"Well, there was blood on the sheet," Harry answered.

"That doesn't mean the cat ate him though. It could just as likely have been something else that got him."

"I guess," Harry conceded. "But Crookshanks has been after Scabbers since Hermione got him."

"All the same, it's really not right for Weasley to blame the cat without actual proof."

Harry rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else about it. Personally, he thought the chances of it being anything besides Crookshanks were unlikely.

"Are you coming to the match tomorrow?" Harry asked.

Snape nodded and took a sip of his black tea. "I am."

"Who're you rooting for?"

Snape raised his eyebrows, "You. Officially."

"Thanks," Harry said. "Do you think the dementors will come again?"

"I don't think so. I don't think they will make that mistake twice."

"Good," Harry murmured. "I don't think my patronus is good enough yet to do anything against them and I rather like staying upright on my broom."

Snape looked at Harry and frowned. "Harry, I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. From what Remus says, you're doing quite remarkable with the charm, especially for—"

"Someone my age. I know, but that doesn't make me feel any better."

"You'll be fine. Try not to worry about it." Snape pushed the plate of biscuits towards Harry, "You can have one more, but then I think you should try to get some sleep. You'll be no use to your team if you fall asleep on your broom either."

Harry grinned and took the biscuit. It was a chocolate one: his favorite.

"Will Remus be there tomorrow? He missed the last match."

"As far as I know, he plans to be. Why do you ask?"

Harry shrugged. "He sort of seemed like he was feeling sick again when I saw him earlier." He stared down into the creamy brown color of his tea. "Hermione knows why he stays sick all the time."

Snape spluttered into his own tea, making Harry look up at him as he coughed a couple of times to clear his airways. "What does she think is wrong with him?" he asked, trying to appear as though he were only mildly interested. But Harry saw right through it.

"Dunno," he said, watching Snape closely. "She wouldn't say, but Hermione is never wrong, so I'm sure she really does have it figured out."

"Well, I'd still rather you leave well enough alone, Harry. It's no one's business what's wrong with Remus. If he wanted you or Ms. Granger to know, he would have told you."

"I know," Harry said, offended. "I'm not going to bother him, Snape."

"See to it that you don't," Snape said sternly. "Now, it really is past time for bed."

Harry grinned as he stood up. "You're right. After we win tomorrow, we're throwing a huge party up in Gryffindor Tower. I don't want to be too tired to enjoy it."

"Harry," Snape started, his voice as low and dour as ever, "I don't expect to find out that you stayed up til all hours of the night celebrating. You still need to go to bed at a decent hour."

"Good night, Snape," Harry replied as he padded towards the hallway.

"Harry, I'm serious—"

"Of course you are."

As it was, the Gryffindor celebration party lasted until well into the night, only ending when Professor McGonagall came through the portrait hole and demanded that they all go to bed. Harry and Ron climbed the staircase and headed into their dormitory, followed closely by Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Harry climbed into his four-poster bed and pulled the hangings closed to block out the nearly full moon that was shining through the window. He fell asleep almost immediately, still thinking about the match.

Harry awoke suddenly to the sounds of shouts and what he thought was the door to the dormitory being slammed shut. By the time he had yanked open the curtains on his bed, Dean had lit his lamp, illuminating the room in a soft glow.

Ron was sitting straight up in bed, his own bed curtains hanging from their hooks. His face was pale and he was pointing to the door.

"What is it, Ron?!"

"Sirius Black! It was Sirius Black!"

"What?!"

"Are you sure?!"

"Look at my curtains! He's slashed them! He had a knife!"

Suddenly all five boys were in a scramble to get out of their beds. Harry was the first one to the door and he wrenched it open and ran out onto the balcony of the staircase, but he saw no one in the Common Room. Around him, other doors were being opened and students were filing out, yawning, and complaining about being woken up.

Fred and George were grinning and asked if the party was continuing. Though, that idea was shot down when Percy came out of his room to yell at them for all being out of bed.

"Perce!" Ron exclaimed, "Sirius Black was in our dormitory! He was!"

"Nonsense, Ron, you must have been dreaming." Percy began ushering them back to their room even as Ron was shaking his head.

"I wasn't! I saw him!"

The portrait hole opened once more and McGonagall stepped inside. "Honestly! That's enough! I want you all back in bed this instant!"

"Professor!" Ron shoved away from Percy who was still trying to force him back to bed. "Sirius Black was here! I woke up and he was standing there. He had a knife, Professor!"

McGonagall shook her head. "That's impossible, Weasley. How could he have gotten through the portrait?"

"Ask him!" Ron pointed towards the portrait of Sir Cadogan.

With a heavy sigh, McGonagall walked back out through the portrait. Everyone rushed down the staircase to try and listen, but only a moment later, she was back. The glare she pointed at them had several students backing up a few steps. "Who wrote the passwords down and left them lying around?"

From Harry's left, he heard Neville gulp audibly.

It was only minutes later that McGonagall was joined by several other professors, Snape included. Unlike the others who reported to Dumbledore for orders on where to search the castle, he sought Harry out in a corner of the Common Room.

"Are you alright?" he asked calmly.

"I'm fine," Harry was quick to say. "I didn't even see him."

"You're going down to our quarters. Let's go."

"What?!" Harry glanced around to check that no one was listening to them. Everyone else was too engrossed in their own conversations about Black. "I want to stay here."

"Harry, do not argue with me. You're staying in our rooms at least until the castle has been searched."

"No! That's not fair. No one else is getting pulled away. Do you know how embarrassing that will be?!"

"Frankly, I don't care." Snape was glowering down at him but Harry was glaring just as hard back. He crossed his arms over his t-shirt and glanced around again.

"I'm not going, Snape."

"This is not up for negotiation, young man. Sirius Black was in your dorm room tonight. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if it had been your bed that he got to first. Now you are going downstairs and that is final."

Harry grit his teeth. "Can Ron and Hermione at least come with me? I don't want to be stuck down there alone."

Snape sighed. "I suppose so. If it means you'll go without a fuss. Go and get them and then use the key to go directly there. I don't want you in the corridors."

Harry nodded. He started to turn away when Snape reached a hand out and touched his arm, turning him back towards him.

"I mean it, Harry. Stay in our rooms. If I find out that you were out wandering around, you'll be very sorry indeed."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied and walked away to find his friends.

Snape opened the door to his quarters several hours later to find three children sleeping in his parlor. One of them, Granger most likely, had transfigured his chair into a plush couch and was now sleeping peacefully with a blanket over her. Both boys were on opposite ends of the couch and while Weasley had his blanket, Harry's was, as usual, kicked off onto the floor. Snape walked over and picked it up before covering the boy with it once more.

The action caused Harry to stir and he sleepily looked up at Snape, though he was squinting without his glasses, which were on the coffee table.

"Did you find him?" he murmured, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Snape shook his head. "No. We searched the entire castle but found nothing. Why don't you go to your bed so that Weasley can have the couch to himself? It's still several hours before morning."

Harry groaned. The last thing he wanted to do was get up just to go to his room. "I'm fine here."

"You're being awfully stubborn tonight," Snape replied, though he didn't sound too stern. Instead, he waved his wand and the couch magically extended, giving both Harry and Ron enough room to sleep more comfortably. Harry was jolted slightly by the shifting of the couch, but Ron never seemed to notice. Harry lay back down, and Snape pulled the covers back up over him.

"Bet you never thought you'd have three Gryffindors sleeping in your parlor," Harry said with a grin.

"No, I did not. You're completely ruining my reputation, young man."

"The bat of the dungeons is going soft."

"Never," Snape replied. "Go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Snape. Love you," Harry murmured.

"Good night, Harry. I love you, too."

Snape glanced around the parlor one last time and as he did so, he noticed a book lying on the floor next to Hermione. Walking over to pick it up, he realized that it was the one she had borrowed that first time she had come down here, the one about werewolves. Snape sighed and placed the book on the coffee table. He needed to talk to Remus about that as well, though it would have to wait till tomorrow. He was exhausted.

The next morning Snape came out of his bedroom, dressed for the day and momentarily forgetting that there were three sleeping thirteen-year-olds still in his parlor. He paused at the end of the hallway and debated about whether he should wake them up or just let them sleep.

Then Harry's comment from the night before about him becoming soft entered his mind and he smirked. Snape walked past them and waved his wand as he came into the kitchen. A moment later, his parlor was filled with the sounds of alarms going off and the yelping of teenagers scrambling to try to turn them off.

"Bloody hell!"

"Language, Weasley," Snape called out mildly.

"Turn it off, 'Mione!" Harry complained.

"I'm trying! The spell's not working!"

"Snape!" Harry yelled. "Turn them off, you git!"

Finally, Snape took pity on them and cast the charm to turn off the screeching alarms.

The three of them trudged into the kitchen a moment later looking disgruntled.

"Still think I'm going soft?" Snape asked as Harry sat down. Both Hermione and Ron stood just inside the kitchen door seeming unsure of themselves.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"Sit down, you two," Snape said as he tapped the table. He didn't know what they would like so he made everything appear. Ron dropped quickly into the chair opposite Harry while Hermione sat down on the other end.

"Thank you for breakfast, Professor Snape," Hermione said politely.

Snape nodded and they all began to fill their plates. Snape reached for the Daily Prophet that had appeared with their breakfast and opened it to the front page, immediately seeing Sirius Black, screaming and thrashing about in the chains that held him to the chair.

When he noticed that Harry was also looking at it, he turned it away quickly before rifling through the pages to take out the comics section to pass to him. Harry took it with a small smile and began to read over them. Snape noticed Hermione smiling as well, though she was trying to hide it as she took a drink of her pumpkin juice.

"Ms. Granger," Snape began after a few moments of reading the paper, "I'd like to have a word with you before you and Mr. Weasley leave today if you don't mind."

Hermione nodded. "Of course, Professor."

Harry glanced up from his comics. "Me and Ron are going flying later, so I'll be heading out soon too."

"No, I don't think so," Snape said, shaking his head. "I don't want any of you out on the grounds alone."

"But we won't be alone. We'll be together."

"Harry, don't argue with me. Black broke into the castle last night and we all know that he was after you. I'm not about to make getting to you any easier by letting you run around unprotected outside of the castle."

"So I have to stay inside all the time?!" Harry protested. "That's not fair. The next thing you'll be telling me is that you want me to sleep down here every night."

"I think that's a good idea, actually, but I—"

"You can't be serious?! Snape, no, you can't do this!"

"I think you'll find that I can," Snape said, putting down his fork and turning completely towards Harry. "Though if you could kindly let me speak before interrupting me, you would know that I'm not going to do that."

"Oh," said Harry quietly, turning back to his food.

"If you and Mr. Weasley wish to go flying, however, you will absolutely need to have an adult with you. As everyone at the present moment is busy trying to make the castle more protected for your sake and for all the other children, you may very well have a hard time finding someone."

"Couldn't you?" Harry asked.

"I cannot. I have quite a few potions to brew and I'm behind on my grading at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon."

"Fine."

Through all this, Ron had kept his head down and was only picking at his food. Snape took notice and turned to him. "Mr. Weasley, how are you feeling after what happened last night?"

Ron looked up, surprised. "Oh, er, alright, I suppose."

"Professor Lupin has asked me to tell you to stop by his office later. I believe he needs to speak to you about something."

Ron nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll stop by when I leave here."

"Very well," Snape turned back to his paper. Harry and Ron exchanged looks over the table before going back to their food.

When they'd finished eating, Ron asked Harry to make the magical door reappear so that he wouldn't have to walk around the castle in his pajamas. Harry went back to his room to change, leaving Hermione alone at the breakfast table with Snape.

Snape cleared the table with a tap of his fingers and regarded Hermione thoughtfully for a moment as he tried to consider the best way to broach the subject. In the end, however, it was she who started the conversation.

"Professor, I think I know what this is about," she said hesitantly.

"You do?"

"About Professor Lupin?"

"How did you know?"

Hermione smiled. "He's your brother. Harry told us," she added quickly when Snape raised a brow at her.

"He is."

"Well, it only makes sense that you would want to protect him." She lowered her voice. "I know he's a werewolf."

"How long have you known? Ms. Granger, if you—"

"I would never say anything, Professor," she assured him, offended, though not surprised that he would assume she would. "I like Professor Lupin a lot and I can't imagine how hard this must be for him. I've suspected for a while, but I didn't know for sure until you let me borrow the werewolf book. I haven't even told Ron or Harry, not that they're speaking to me right now anyway."

Her last words caught Snape off guard, but he would come back to that in a moment.

"I appreciate your discretion, Ms. Granger. It is not often that someone finds out about his condition and keeps it to themselves. A lesser person would have told."

Hermione smiled at the compliment. "Is it Wolfsbane that you brew for him?"

"It is. He can't get it anywhere but here, which is why it's absolutely imperative that no one finds out."

"I already said I wouldn't say anything," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can trust me."

"And you can trust me, Ms. Granger. Would you care to tell me what you meant when you said they weren't speaking to you?"

Hermione deflated a bit. "It's not that big of a deal. Ron's just upset because he thinks my cat ate his rat."

"But he has no proof," said Snape, "and I've already spoken to Harry about that. Do you mean to tell me that he's still not talking to you?" Hermione shook her head. "But the three of you spent the night together here. They didn't talk to you the entire time?"

She shook her head again and said, "But it's alright. They'll both get over it eventually. I read more of the werewolf book so it's not as if I had nothing to do. And it was really nice of you to let us stay here."

"Even still," Snape looked down at her kindly, "I will be speaking to Harry about this again."

"Oh, no, please don't!" Hermione stood up and looked out of the kitchen door towards the hallway, in case Harry had come back without her realizing. "It'll all blow over soon. I don't want to make it worse."

"But—"

"Please, Professor. It's really alright."

Snape sighed but after a moment, he nodded. "Alright, I'll leave it alone for now. But if it doesn't get better soon, I would like for you to tell me."

"It will, but thank you, Professor." She smiled up at him before moving towards the door. "I'd best go get ready. Thank you for breakfast."

Hermione, unlike the boys, had had the foresight to bring a change of clothes with her, and after changing into them in the guest bathroom, she bid goodbye to Snape and Harry and left through the front door.

Snape watched her go and was once more reminded of Lily and how fiercely protective she had always been of her friends. He set about transfiguring the furniture back to its usual state and thought that he would, though grudgingly, admit that she was good for Harry. For that, he was grateful.