Wow, what a long wait! I am so sorry everyone. Thank you to those who have stuck by this story/series. Here is the next chapter and I will do better to update this again much sooner and not let months lapse in between.

Severus woke up with a gasp and panted on his bed, clutching his tight chest. It was that damn dream again. But this time, when that strange shape cut his chest and he lay on the ground bleeding away, Harry fell to the ground in front of him, his eyes lifeless. He glanced at the time. It was nearly six am, and Severus sighed and pulled himself out of bed. He might as well as shower and prepare for classes that day. Harry would be stopping by and he really wanted to hear how Harry's first day had gone. Rumor had it his son had taken a trip on the back of a hippogriff.

Once Severus was showered and dressed in his teaching robes, he walked out of his bedroom, spotting Sam in his large dog bed gnawing on a bone. Severus didn't really want to ask where the fox found it.

: Good morning, Sam greeted, Sleep well?

"Can't say I did," Severus said. "I had that strange dream again."

: Again? The exact same thing? With the strange symbol?

"Exactly. That symbol looked kind of like some kind of bird to be honest. I still can't remember what it is exactly when I wake up."

: Interesting. Sam stood and stretched, abandoning his bone at his bed. He followed Severus toward the kitchen, watching as Severus began gathering supplies for breakfast. Occasionally, Severus would allow the house elves to make their food, but Severus often liked to cook himself. Sam sat at Severus's feet.

: Some kind of bird, you say? Sam asked. You couldn't get a good look?

"Unfortunately not," Severus said, setting down two frying pans and summoning eggs, sausage, and bread. He set down a small pot to make a gravy in for the sausage while getting the sausage on the stove and cooking. He used his wand to send the bread into the toaster. "But as you said, this could mean absolutely nothing."

: Yeah, but it happened twice. And you seem a bit more shaken by it this time. Something different happened. What was it?

Severus had been cracking eggs when Harry's lifeless body dropping to the ground in front of him invaded his mind, and one eggs dropped from his hand as he jumped slightly.

Sam opened his mouth and caught the egg in his jaws, chomping on it and licking his lips to clean the yolk off. Looking back up at Severus, Sam tilted his head curiously. It wasn't like Severus to drop his ingredients when cooking, as much as Sam wished for it to happen more often.

: What happened to cause that reaction?

"It was . . ." Severus coughed into his elbow briefly as his throat became suddenly dry. "It was Harry. He was . . . gone. Dead."

: Oh my. Sam's ears perked at that. He nodded his head as he hummed in thought. Something's bothering you.

"Obviously," Severus said, looking down at Sam.

: I do not mean just the dream, Sam corrected himself. There is something else on your mind and you know what it is and why it might be connected to your dreams. So share with me.

"I don't know if it has anything to do with the dreams."

: Just tell me what else is bugging you. How am I supposed to prepare myself for anything that might threaten your son if I'm not aware of the danger to begin with?

Sam had him there. At a time like this, Severus wanted the upmost protection surrounding his son, and Sam could do so much more for him than a simple spell could ever do. Severus stirred the eggs and flipped the sausage before he held up a hand and summoned the Daily Prophet from yesterday morning. He held it down in front of Sam for the fox to read, and Sam leaned forward and scanned what words he recognized. He saw the name Stephen Niles and read the brief description of the Dark Experiments Case. After a few minutes, his eyes trailed up to Severus.

: My reading skills still aren't top notch, Sam said. I'm gathering that this man abused his patients medically and when Auror Lily Snape tried to apprehend him, she was injured in the process but successful.

"Yes," Severus said. "And that injury killed her."

: A disease killed her, Sam said. A disease the man gave her accidentally. And now he is facing a chance at parole after serving twelve years fairly. That's what I got from that.

"Twelve years is hardly enough of a sentence for what he did."

: What he did being abusing those sick patients or killing your wife?

Severus closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Must Sam be so blunt about it? His chest tightened and he forced a deep breath down. His hands shook the slightest, but with a few more deep breaths he had himself under control. The pain of losing his wife was threatening to flood him again as it had at her funeral, and he was not ready to deal with those emotions. Severus turned down the heat on his gravy and checked on the other food cooking. He glanced at his watch and frowned, wondering where Harry was. He figured his son was probably just waking up and he could use this time to have an honest conversation with Sam.

"Everything," Severus answered Sam's question. "I think he got away with a lot more than his case ever touched on. And I have a PI looking into it for me."

: I may not know much about law, but I don't think you're supposed to involve yourself with the case. Especially one with personal connections.

"If the PI doesn't find anything, then no one will ever know."

: Yeah, until your PI digs himself too deep.

"I have a favor to ask of you as well," Severus said.

: Oh, great. I'm all ears. Sam lifted his ears fully to prove his point.

"How good are you at sneaking into prisons?"

Sam's ears flattened at that. Something was screaming internally at him to back pedal out of this conversation, but he could sense the bottled-up pain and stress Severus was feeling. And now that the man was opening up more to him, he wanted to help any way he could. He just didn't want Severus to do something stupid that might land him in prison alongside the man who killed Lily. He was sure a homicide would take place in prison if that happened.

: Well, I did break out of one. With assistance, of course.

"I know. And Azkaban is one of the most secure prison there is. No one gets in or out of it without permission or being an official guard. And you and I both know you are good at illusioning yourself as another person. If you could get in the prison and get Niles talking and see what you can extract from him, we could use his own words against him. What do you say?"

Sam blinked slowly up at Severus, then lowered his head as he looked off to the side, his ears pivoted in different ways. He loved the thought of adventure and mischief, but something like this could get Severus into trouble, and the last thing he wanted was to be the cause of a broken family. Not that Severus wasn't all ready causing enough trouble on his own.

: Are you sure about this, Severus? If you get caught, you could be facing jail time. I, of course, could be shipped back to Japan. What about Harry?

"I'm hoping we'll all be careful, and no one gets caught. I'd rather Harry didn't know anything about this anyway."

: And if he finds out?

"We'll get to that if he ever does. I'm sure he already has questions about Stephen Niles and the case, and I can answer any questions on that, but let's agree to keep what we know and do private."

: You know he'll want to be as much a part of the case as you do. It's his mother we're talking about. He'll want more answers than you're probably willing to give him.

"I know. But understand that I'm not ready to open that book in our past."

: And if he is?

There was a long pause of silence. Severus wasn't sure how to go about the whole situation with Stephen Niles and his potential release from prison, and he hadn't really considered how Harry might handle the news. Like the dream he kept having, he felt as though he was being stabbed in the chest every time he thought of this situation, and he tried to push those feelings aside and deal with what was in front of him. It was all he knew how to do. And he hoped Harry would understand that as well.

"I don't know, Sam. I'm hoping he'll be understanding enough to wait and watch the proceedings from a distance. What do you say?"

Sam hoped Harry could be understanding enough to give his father space through it all, but he had a feeling he'd be getting in between the two for as long as this trial lasted. He mentally prepared himself for the year to come and shook out his fur before smiling up at Severus.

: Hmm. I do like acting, especially when there's a stage.

"So you'll see what you can do about Azkaban?"

: No prison can keep me in or out, Sam said. I'll do it.

"Thank you, Sam. This means a lot to me. I should probably tell you about the dementors."

: The what? Sam asked, growling slightly at Severus.

"Morning," Harry's voice interrupted the room, and the two looked over at him. Harry hesitated in the kitchen doorway. "Sorry, are you guys in the middle of something?"

"Nothing that can't be addressed later," Severus said, smiling at his son. "How are you this morning?"

"Okay, I guess. What are you talking about?"

: Your hippogriff ride, Sam said, winking at Severus. He pranced over to Harry. Good luck.

Harry's eyes widened and he held up his hands defensively.

"Before you go mental," Harry said, "I can explain."

"Always a promising start," Severus said, turning his attention back to the food. He began plating for Harry.

"It was Hagrid's first class and he wanted to really wow everyone, so he showed us Buckbeak, but then he wanted me to bow to him and all to show respect and before I knew it, Hagrid had me on Buckbeak's back and I was flying around the school. It was fun though, and I survived. He's really friendly and gentle."

"And yet," Severus said as he handed Harry a plate of eggs, sausage and gravy, and toast, "that could have gone completely sideways with you getting kicked or falling off the animal. Hippogriffs are sensitive creatures. One wrong move, and you could have been injured."

Harry took the plate and sat down at the table with it. Severus made a plate for Sam and set it on the floor at Harry's feet before he made a plate for himself.

"Hagrid had it all under control. The rest of the class managed to get close enough to at least pet him. Buckbeak did fine."

"Regardless, I will be talking to Hagrid about taming down his classes. There's no need for students to be recklessly riding any creature around the school. The class is meant to teach, not amuse."

"You know," Harry said around a mouthful of eggs, "Professor Lupin manages to do both. You could take some pointers from him."

"Are you saying my class is boring?" Severus asked. He sat down at the head and picked up the Daily Prophet.

"Just a little." Harry pinched his thumb and index finger close together to indicate how boring his father's class was.

"Good to know. From now on, I'll have you demonstrate the potions we'll be brewing. I'm sure the class would love to watch your eyes pop out of their sockets. That should liven up the class, hmm?"

"You know what, Dad, the class is perfect the way it is. I love how you teach, no need to change anything."

Severus snorted with a roll of his eyes and picked up the paper, glad that the front-page news wasn't on the Dark Experiments Case, though he saw the index that told him which page it was further discussing it. He would read that later tonight so he could focus on his classes.

"Aside from the hippogriff ride, how was your first day of classes."

"They were good." Harry pushed his plate away slightly as he turned his full attention on Severus. "I was actually hoping we could talk about something else?"

"Okay." Severus lowered the paper with a sinking feeling he knew what Harry wanted to ask. "What about?"

"Well, yesterday's paper had Stephen Niles on the front," Harry said. "It kind of went on about how he practiced illegal experiments on sick people and how . . . Mum had stopped him."

"Yes?" Severus encouraged.

"You never told me the whole story," Harry said. "Or that the man who gave Mum the disease was still alive."

Sam stopped eating and glanced back and forth between Severus and Harry. Severus took a drink of his tea before saying, "You're correct. I have not."

When Severus said nothing more, Harry frowned and chewed his lip slightly. He stared down at his plate, tapping his fork on the table before eyeing his father again. Sam sat down in front of the plate on the floor, his food abandoned as he turned his complete attention on father and son.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"I did not see at the time why it would have mattered," Severus said.

"It's the person who gave my mother a disease! And now he might leave prison. Why was he even in prison if Mum contracting Hepatitis B in the first place was an accident? What else did he do? It sounds like he was just trying to help people."

"Maybe in his head he thought he was helping people. Harry, you don't know this man or what he is capable of. He was a wanted criminal before you were born and it took a few years to track him down and put an end to a years' long investigation. He was hurting people, trying new, unresearched medicine on the sick against their will."

"But he's been going to therapy and says he sees the error in what he did. He won't even practice medicine anymore when he gets out."

"That's because he can't. He won't be allowed to."

"So he just gets to walk free now. Like a regular civilian."

"I'm hoping he will not. Unlike the muggle world, the aurors here are going to perform a thorough investigation of Doctor Niles past to make sure they did not miss anything that could further incriminate him or may be a red flag for his early release. They will also evaluate his prison record, any schooling, therapy, or volunteer work he may have attended, and there will be several interviews with him to decide how well he has improved and recovered. Then, he will have a trial run probation period."

"Oh," Harry frowned, pulling his plate toward him and playing with his food, dragging the toast through the gravy as he thought about all of that. "What if they find something?"

"Then he could very well stay behind bars."

"And if they don't? What if he really has changed? What if he's a better person?"

Sam blinked at Harry's question and swung his head in Severus's direction. The man was taking another long sip of his tea.

"Some people never change, Harry," Severus finally answered. "I have a feeling this man is one those people."

"But you don't know that for sure."

"No, I do not. Why do you ask?"

Harry shrugged.

"I guess I'm just trying to understand all of this. It's kind of startling to know that someone my mum risked her life to capture is now leaving prison. I don't know, it feels personal, in a way. I'm not sure how I should feel about it—glad that he got the help he needed or scared that he might come after us for my mum putting him in jail in the first place."

"That will never happen," Severus declared, his eyes flashing at that. "He will not come within one hundred feet of you if I can help it. And I'm sure Sam feels the same way."

Sam snarled, flashing his teeth for show, his ears flat against his head.

"See? You're well protected."

"But what if he really has changed?"

Severus took a deep breath as he tried to follow his son's thought pattens. What did it matter if the man had changed or not? In Severus's mind, he belonged in prison regardless.

"What of it?" Severus asked.

"Then it's as if Mum saved a life in way. Helped change him for the better, don't you think."

Severus hummed at that but did not say anything right away. He had been present for Niles first trial when he had been arrested and the man simply did not seem like one to change. There was something mentally off about him, and it flagged several warning signs around the man every time he saw his picture in the paper. Harry had not been there, however, nor would his son remember it anyway. And always the optimistic one, Severus wondered how to make Harry see that Niles could not be trusted.

"I highly doubt he changed, Harry. He's always been manipulative, cunning, and he could talk his way out of any hole he found himself in. His trial was difficult enough as it was. He never would have gone down either if he hadn't injured an Auror, which is a punishable offense alone. He tried to plead not guilty by insanity, and he is far from insane. He knows exactly what he is doing, as he does now."

"And they proved that at his trial?"

"They did."

"So, you don't think he should walk free?"

"I do not. I think there is a lot he is hiding."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"No, absolutely not. I do not want you involving yourself with this case, is that clear?"

"I was just asking. I wouldn't any way."

"I'm very serious about that, Harry. Allow whatever happens to happen, but I do not want you getting into the middle of all this. If any reporters approach you, avoid them. Do not answer their questions and you can always send them my way."

Harry couldn't help the smile on his face at the thought of a reporter trying to interrogate his dad. He would love to see the look on their face when he chewed them out. He played with his food some more.

"You're not doing anything to help?" Harry asked.

Sam narrowed his eyes at Severus, but no one was even paying attention to him.

"No, I am not. You and I will do our parts by staying out of it and letting the aurors do their job. Even if they fall short of it sometimes."

Harry nodded and took a bite of his gravy-soaked toast.

Sam let out a breath. The conversation had gone better than he thought it would have. He could still sense unease in Harry, but he hoped Harry listened to Severus and did not take any risky moves like his father was doing. What a hypocrite the man could be sometimes. Sam wondered where Severus might draw the line for himself, and if he might be able to talk Severus out of his crazy ideas. He returned to eating his breakfast before it got any colder.

"If I may dare try again," Severus said, giving his full attention to his son. "How was your first day yesterday."

"It was great," Harry said with a little more enthusiasm. "Professor Lupin got us right outside dealing with kappa. You know they're from Japan, right?"

"I do."

"You know who else is from Japan?" Harry motioned his head toward Sam, who lifted his lips at Harry.

"Where is this going?" Severus asked, his eyes darting between Harry and Sam.

"Well, Sam and the kappa got into a fight. Turns out, Sam had no clue how to handle the kappa."

: I have my own ways of dealing with those water rats. Sam shook out his fur as he stepped over his clean plate and sat closer to the table. I could have handled them on my own without assistance, but they took off down the stream, the cowards.

Severus chuckled at that. Harry continued explaining his day, how after Defense he went to Hagrid's class and reexplained how he ended up on the hippogriff to begin with, and then they had had an interesting transfiguration lecture about animagi, and Professor McGonagall had demonstrated by turning into her animagus after explaining the work that went into discovering one's animagus. Then, she talked about natural borns, the result of having two accomplished parents passing down a magical shapeshifting gene to their offspring, and she had asked Harry if he would show off his, and Harry had been more than happy to do so. Severus smiled softly. Minerva had asked him prior to the school year beginning if she could use Harry as an example of natural born animagi, and Severus had agreed, knowing Harry would love to flaunt Faolan.

"Then Scabbers went missing," Harry continued. "And Ron is convinced Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, ate him. Now they won't talk to each other."

"I'm sure they'll work it out," Severus said. "You have all been very close friends for a while now."

"Yeah. But it's hard trying to spend time with them when they can't even look at each other. Speaking of which, where did you go yesterday?" Harry addressed his question to Sam.

: I was giving a newcomer a tour of the castle.

"Oh. Did they like the tour?"

: I don't know. At the end, she said she had to leave and took off abruptly.

"She?" Severus inquired, quirking a brow. He smirked at the fox's indignant look.

"I should probably get going," Harry said, glancing at the grandfather clock. "Class starts in twenty minutes and I didn't grab my stuff. See you later, Dad?"

"Anytime," Severus answered, picking up his paper and returning to reading it. He had a few minutes before he had to report to his classroom.

Harry opened the door to their quarters and paused at the sight of a three-tailed fox sitting outside the door, a flower hooked around her ear.

: Konnichiwa, the fox greeted. She tilted her head, peering around Harry, her ears flopping slightly. Is Sam here? He told me this is where he stays.

"Uhh, Sam?" Harry called. "Who are you?"

: Harry, Sam scolded lightly as he came around him, don't be rude. This is Haya. She was the newcomer I was giving the tour to. Haya, this is Harry.

: It is a pleasure to meet you, Haya said, bowing her head deeply.

"You, too," Harry said, bowing slightly in the way Sam had shown him. "I'm just surprised there's another kitsune in the castle."

Haya smiled then looked at Sam.

: I do not mean to intrude . . .

: Never, Sam said. Are you hungry? We have plenty more breakfast if you'd like.

: No, thank you. I am working on building a new den not far from here. I thought I might stay at Hogwarts for a while.

: Would you like help moving in? Sam said, trotting out of the room and pausing just in front of her. I could assist in digging.

: Thank you, but I think a vixen can handle a little digging. It's just a place to sleep, not a family den.

: Right. I did not mean to imply you couldn't . . .

: I'm not offended. I wanted to ask you if we could meet later this afternoon. Perhaps you could properly introduce me to your family.

: You don't mind that they are human?

: I do not. Haya smiled at Harry briefly. I do hope I'll meet your sister one day though.

: Of course! She'd love to meet you!

: Then it's settled. When the sun rests above the mountains, can you meet me at the gates?

: I suppose I could do so, Sam smirked.

: Let me give you a little more incentive, Haya smirked back. She shook her head and the flower dislodged off her ear. She picked it up gently in her jaws and moved it closer to Sam's feet. Take good care of that. I'll be wanting it back by tonight.

: I'll protect it with my life.

Haya smiled and trotted down the hall, her three tails trailing behind her as she turned at the end and ran up the stairs. Sam watched her all the way until she disappeared.

"Wow, Sam," Harry chuckled, startling Sam out of his thoughts. "Smooth."

: Don't you have a class to get to? Sam's ears pivoted back as he glared up at Harry.

Harry snickered as he took off in the opposite direction and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. Sam huffed but followed Harry, picking up the flower and trotting up the stairs. He paused at a window, jumping up on the sill and looking over the fields out to the forest, hoping to catch sight of Haya.

Suddenly, a large raven dived at the window with a loud caw and snatched the flower from Sam, who yelped then yapped at the bird as it took off, his tails wagging angrily.

: What could you possibly need that for? Sam shouted after it. He jumped off the sill and snarled under his breath as he headed for the entrance of the school. Great, now I need to find a new one. What kind of flower was that? Mountain avens? Dwarf cornel? Daisy?

The raven flew fast and high above the mountains, twirling and spinning against the wind as it soared away from land and over the ocean. It flapped a couple times and it shot forward at sonic speed, leaving a trail in the disrupted clouds. It covered miles in a matter of minutes, and a large, lonely tower came into sight, waves from the ocean crashing alongside the rocky structure. Dark clouds hovered ominously over the structure while dark cloaked creatures flew around it.

The raven dodged a creature as it came very close to it. It flew to a window halfway up the structure and tapped its beak on the bar. A dark-haired man approached the window. The bird offered handed the flower to him.

The man sniffed the flower, then let out a relaxing breath. He looked at the raven and smiled.

"Smells like home," he said. "Good job. But you're going to have to get closer than that, you know."

The raven cawed at him before flapping its wings and taking off over the ocean once more. He man in the jail cell smiled as he twirled the flower in his fingers.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know you're still here to read this one!