Disclaimer: I am a starving college student - I own nothing.

Note on 'Mary Sues:' I hereby swear, in the name of Merlin, that I will not include any 'Mary Sues' in this fiction. If you still doubt me, and want to know more about this girl who has appeared, include your email address in a review and I will give out information. I will not write anything here as I don't generally like to give out information regarding future developments, though for specific requests I will do so. I will say here that she has no special powers, nor is she especially attractive.

XSnapeLoverX: Snape found his mittens where his slippers should have been. He surmised that that was Harry's work.

Christelle: You were far from the only one to comment that the girl might be a Mary Sue. I understand the fear, though. See above for more information.

lilith: Will they get to have a father/son relationship? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

BlackPhoenixTears: Romance will not be a large part of this story, no. If it furthers the plot, it will be mentioned, but likely only in passing.

Chapter 34: The Mystery Guest

Severus sighed. Harry had come clean with him: perhaps he would forego his plans for revenge.

Severus looked at the boy sitting beside him. What was he going to do with the boy? Harry sought his approval, he had come to him after the battle: the boy was clearly forming an attachment. Severus could not allow this to continue, nor could he do what must be done in order to put a stop to it. Last time he had tried that, the boy had run off, and Severus couldn't blame him for his actions. He blamed Albus for this quandary he found himself in. It was a bit of a mantra, actually: 'when in doubt, blame Albus.' The old man must have manipulated this situation in some way. How, he did not know, but it was one of the irreversible laws of the universe: Dumbledore would always poke his nose in where it did not belong.

"Harry," Severus said. Green eyes looked up at him: Lilly's eyes. "Harry, this little prank you pulled could have had much more dire consequences than it did. I'm glad you told me the truth, but in the future, if something small like this spirals out of control, please come to me at once."

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

Severus shook his head. "You don't have to call me 'sir' while you are in here."

Harry's face scrunched up in the odd way that it tended to when Harry was wondering about something. Severus could have laughed at the sight, but he restrained himself. "What should I call you, then?" Harry asked.

"I will leave that up to you.," said Severus. "But Greasy Old Bat and Snarky Bastard are out of the question," Snape deadpanned.

Harry laughed lightly, though he looked abashed. "May I call you Severus, then?"

"You may," said Snape.

"I want a promise, though, Harry, that you will come to me before doing anything incredibly foolish in the future," said Severus.

"I promise," said Harry.

Severus wondered just how often that promise should bring Harry to him. Every ten minutes? Fifteen? Perhaps he could have worded that better. 'Anything incredibly foolish and life-threatening' might have been a better way to put it. Then he might only show up on my doorstep two or three times a day, Severus thought snidely.

* * * * *

After Harry had left, Snape sat in his armchair, nursing a glass of firewhisky, deep in contemplation. What he was going to do about this situation was beyond him.

Realizing that he would decide on nothing today, Severus went to his potions lab. He had an inoculation to work on.

Snape added ingredients as the ideas came to him, taking careful note of his actions. It was often in this frame of mind, when his mind was elsewhere, that is to say, that he had his most important breakthroughs. He could feel a breakthrough coming.

* * * * *

Severus wiped his brow with his sleeve. It was late. Very late. The potion needed two weeks to brew, after which time he would be able to test it. Chances were that the potion was useless, Snape knew, but at this point in the war, even a shadow of a chance of an advantage was something to give hope. Hope. That ridiculous word again.

Snape tidied up his work area, then went to do what he generally did when it was late and he had much on his mind: he went to stalk the halls of Hogwarts. Contrary to the notion of most students, he did not do this in the hopes of catching students out past curfew: that was merely an added benefit.

Having walked the halls for several hours, Snape decided to go and check on their Mystery Guest. He was suspicious of this whole situation, and having someone unknown in the castle was never a good idea in his not-altogether-humble opinion. Why Albus hadn't listened to him and shipped her off to St. Mungo's immediately was beyond him.

* * * * *

"Albus, we have a problem," said Severus.

These words were quickly becoming his new introductory phrase whenever he spoke to the Headmaster. Last month it had been 'Honestly, Albus, you simply cannot be serious.' Severus would prefer to return to that, actually, but these words of his reflected the gravity of the situation, and this situation was quite grim indeed.

The Headmaster had answered his office door in his sleepwear. Some silly fluffy robes with moons and stars and all other sort of whimsical design. Snape sneered.

"What can I do for you, Severus?" asked a less-than-jovial Headmaster. He knew this must be serious if Severus had woken him: Severus had never been one to interrupt him lightly.

"It would appear that our Mystery Guest has disappeared," said Severus.

Albus's face became even grimmer. That expression on Albus's face was always disconcerting.

"Check on your son, I will alert the rest of the staff. We will reconvene here in an hour's time." said Albus.

My son. Yes, but Albus would love that idea, wouldn't he? thought Severus.

Instead of voicing his thoughts, Snape merely nodded, and left the office. Danger did have a habit of following his son around, and Snape would be damned if anything happened to the boy on his watch. It was a matter of pride, of course.

"MiniMice," Severus sneered the password to his son's rooms, not wanting to know what the word referred to.

Snape opened the door and entered the room, only to find himself hovering a foot and a half above the ground the moment he passed the threshold.

"Dobby," hissed Snape, his glare turned on the Guilty Elf that stood by his son's bed. "Let me down at once!"

"Dobby is sorry, Sir. Dobby is only wanting to protect Harry Potter Sir, Sir." With those words, Snape came crashing back down to the ground with a loud 'oomph.'

Through it all, Harry Potter slept on.

Must remember to work on those awareness skills of his, thought Severus derisively.

Severus pulled over a chair, and took up guard by his son's bed: a position from which he would not move until it was time to meet with the Headmaster once more.

Once an hour had passed, Severus was loathe to leave the boy's side, but the room was locked and warded, and the elf would certainly protect the boy.

Before leaving Severus turned to the elf. "If any harm comes to him, I will hold you accountable, am I understood?"

Dobby squeaked and dove under the bed. Dobby then poked his head out. "No harm is coming to Harry Potter while Dobby is here."

"It had better not," growled Snape.

* * * * *

"Severus, good," said Albus, once Snape had made his presence known. Aside from himself and the Headmaster, only Minerva was in the room.

"Firenze is currently searching the grounds, Hagrid the Forest. As I cannot call any other Order members off of their current assignments, the house elves are searching the castle. I have set one to watch over Draco. We can only hope that this girl is found, and quickly," said Albus with a weary sigh.

"Have you still no idea who she might be?" asked Minerva.

"None," said Albus. "However, Poppy did say that she spoke a few words in her sleep earlier."

This caught Severus's attention.

"Whatever did she say?" asked Minerva.

"Poppy could not make out her words. She did say that it sounded like the girl was speaking in German though," said Albus.

"German?" asked Severus. "She certainly did not appear to be of Germanic blood. If anything, she appeared to be Russian."

"I quite agree," said Dumbledore. "I quite agree."

"Do you believe her intentions to be sinister? She seemed quite vulnerable when we found her," said Minerva.

"I don't believe her intentions to be anything of the sort. I have no idea what her intentions are or who she is. In the meantime, though, for her own good and ours, it would be best to find her without delay," said Albus.

* * * * *

Severus returned to the dungeons in a downright foul mood. There was some Stranger prowling the grounds of Hogwarts, or the castle itself, and there wasn't damn thing he could do about it. He had stalked the halls for the rest of the night following his conversation with the Headmaster. It was nearly dawn now, and Severus Snape had returned to his quarters for a much needed shower before he would return to his task of stalking the halls.

Before entering his chamber, Snape had checked once more on Harry. Seeing that all was in order, Snape allowed his mind to wander to the various possibilities that this new development portended. Allowing the hot water to poor over him, Snape wondered what was in store for the current residents of Hogwarts. Would they never be allowed a moment's peace?

Drying off, Snape glanced around for a new set of clothing. After half an hour of searching, Snape managed to locate his clothes. Damn elves.

Snape exited his rooms, and turned toward the exit that would lead him to the Entrance Hall. He would go stalk the grounds for a while.

After a couple of steps, Snape felt a solid object collide with his skull. His muffled oath could barely be distinguished as his body hit the cold stone floors.