Okay, here's the first real chapter. Let me know what you think.


.
Severus Snape paced to the Headmaster's office in a very dark mood. He hated this feeling of uselessness more than anything else in the world and his temper was not helped by the steady, sharp burning in his fore-arm. If the Dark Lord hadn't known he was a traitor the night of the Third task, he knew it now. The Mark only burned continuously if one was marked for death.

The only thing that allowed him any peace of mind about his decision was that the burning had started barely fifteen minutes after he'd left the Hospital wing. The boy had been right and he hadn't been a coward.

Now he was doing research for Dumbledore because the Headmaster, 'wanted him close.' Which was, of course, a bit of a euphemism. What Dumbledore wasn't saying was that if Snape left the castle Death Eaters would be on him in an instant. They would be able to track the Dark Mark, which still burned in his arm. It would continue to burn until either Snape died or Voldemort was destroyed.

The only time it had stopped burning, even for a short time, was while he'd been looking the boy in the eye. During that moment when his eyes had locked with Potter's, he hadn't felt a thing from the Mark.

The foolish child truly hadn't wanted him dead. Harry Potter, the one person he despised more than any other in this world or the next, did not want him dead. Potter was probably the only one who felt that way, with the exception of Dumbledore.

And that, of course, was the crux of his confusion. A puzzle he could not even conceive of a solution to. Yes, the boy's protections were confusing. They were a project worthy of research if he ever found one. And the Dark Lord's resurrection ritual was quite a conundrum. It really shouldn't have worked based on the knowledge he had.

But these problems he could find the answer to. Indeed, he was very close to discovering the way Potter's shields worked. A bit more time in the library and he would understand the resurrection rituals as well. But no amount of reading seemed to help him understand why Potter didn't want him dead. After all, Potter was the poster child for the light. Snape was a former Death Eater.

But even ignoring that and any other altruistic reason why Potter should want him dead; Potter hated him. Potter had hated him from the first moment the boy had set eyes on him at the welcoming feast. Potter had locked eyes with him, then gotten that look on his face and turned away. And Snape had done his fair share to continue the hatred. He willingly admitted that. He'd been harder on the boy than any other student for a great variety of reasons. That would not have endeared any child to him, he was sure.

And by god the boy was supposed to hate him for it! Potter was not supposed to tell him that his life was worth something after all. That was the job of old fools like Dumbledore.

Yet, Potter had stopped him. Potter had looked him in the eye and said, 'I don't wish you dead.' There was something very wrong about that and Snape knew it. The trouble was, he had no idea what to do about it. He wasn't even sure what was wrong with it to begin with.

He forcefully pushed thoughts of that night from his mind, however, as he rode the spiral staircase up to the headmaster's office.

"Ah, Severus, I am glad you are here." Dumbledore smiled as he opened the door and entered the office. The old man was happy about something, the thought did not bode well. Dumbledore in a good mood was scarcely any better than the Dark Lord in a good mood. To Snape, either meant he was in for a rough time.

Somehow, Severus thought the Headmaster would not appreciate the comparison.

"You did call for me, Headmaster."

"Yes, I did." He picked up a flat tin off his desk. "Lemon Drop?"

That meant he wanted something. Dumbledore always offered Lemon Drops right before he asked a favor. "No, thank you."

The old man put the tin away. "You've been researching the wards and blood magic around number four Privet Drive, yes? Tell me, have you discovered any new information?"

Snape sighed. Yes, he had found new information and it was not good news.

"Lily knew exactly what she was doing when she died, Headmaster. She set up these protective magics knowing that the Dark Lord was after her. While I am sure she did not want to die, she was prepared for the eventuality."

Snape passed a scroll across the desk. "She prepared the boy so that when she died, if it was in his defense, whomever killed her would find themselves unable to kill the boy no matter what. When the Dark Lord killed Lily, he sealed his fate."

"She always was a clever child, even in school," Dumbledore remembered fondly.

Nodding at the sentiment, Snape continued. "The Dark Lord based his resurrection rituals on that scroll. Lily based her protection spells on that scroll. The magics cancel each other out. Both are in effect, of course, but one will not work against the other. Lily's protection now works against anything wishing to harm the boy, except the Dark Lord. The invulnerability the Dark Lord placed on his new body will hold against anyone except the boy." Snape smirked. "It's a tidy little loop."

"So Harry is still safe..." Dumbledore seemed to sigh with relief and opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off.

"No, Headmaster. The boy is anything but." He pulled a second scroll out of his pocket, this one in his own writing and much newer than the previous. Dumbledore squinted at he tiny equations. "The protection Lily set up was designed to hold against a single person, at most two. Now it is stretched to cover anyone on the entire planet. It will deflect minor spells and lesson more severe ones, but it will not save him. It will barely slow down a determined Death Eater. It would barely slow down Draco Malfoy."

"The wards will stop anyone..."

"NO!" Snape cut in again, astonishing them both. "Don't you see? The wards will stop the Death Eaters but the Dark Lord can walk up to Potter's front door anytime he likes. The only reason Potter is still alive is because the Dark Lord does not yet know this. Unfortunately, He can find out."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and steeple his fingers. "What do you suggest, my dear boy?"

"The boy must go into hiding. It would almost have to be in the muggle world, he is far too recognizable in the Wizarding one. And it must be soon, today if at all possible."

"Severus, the blood magics are not yet renewed. Harry must stay with..."

Snape stood and paced the length of the room quickly. "Good Lord, man, are you even listening to this conversation? The Blood Magics are a lost cause. Lily never intended this when she set those charms. Everything she set on the boy is breaking down. I can sense it when I check the wards you set. Have you any clue how many layers of spellwork are on the boy? It's a detailed web, complex and intricate..."

He broke off and stopped moving suddenly, staring at the old man. "You didn't know, did you? You can't see it."

Dumbledore's brow furrowed as he frowned. "What did you see, Severus?"

"They layers of spells around the boy. I can see them, when I look through the wards. They are like a cloak wrapped around him. Except, there's no even warp to the fabric. The threads twist and bend, like chain mail or knitting." He spoke absently, staring into space, obviously picturing what he'd seen before.

"I remember seeing an old woman in a tea shop one day, knitting with several strands of colored yarn. She would pick up and drop threads in a pattern that left the garment several layers thick. That's what is wrapped around the boy. The spells are woven together, to make them stronger, serve more purposes. Only they've been stretched now, twisted. The threads will snap under any more pressure."

The old man looked thoughtful. "An analogy Molly Weasley would be proud of. Still, it serves it's purpose." He pulled out another Lemon Drop while he thought. "I am even more impressed now than I was before by Lily's work. I never imagined how much she had put into this. For this to be true, she worked almost from Harry's conception, setting up these spells."

"But, how could she have known this would be needed? The Prophecy..."

"Was not made until June, I know," said Dumbledore. "It bothers me as well. However, that is a thought for another day. For now, I believe you are correct. You'll have to retrieve the boy from his relatives home. You can bring him here, then we will make other arrangements."

Dumbledore felt it the instant the wards around Privet Drive had been breached and broke off the conversation quickly. He'd tied them to his person for just that purpose. It was the work of barely half a second for him to activate the alarm and grab hold of the portkey he had illegally set to take him to Harry's home in Surrey, leaving Snape behind in the process.

Several others had the portkeys and alarms as well and, a mere moment after the wizened Headmaster found his feet, Minerva McGonagal, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape all stood around him. He knew from past experience that it would be a minimum of ten minutes before anyone from the Ministry of Magic arrived.

The street itself was dark and silent with no apparent reason for the alarm. The lamps glowed faintly and here and there along the block windows held the flickering light of television screens. It was early yet, which made it doubly lucky no muggles had seen the strange group's arrival.

Without a word, McGonagal transformed into a tabby cat and stalked quickly toward Number 4. The house in question was mostly dark. One of the upstairs windows flickered slightly with the light of a television screen and a small yellow patch of light on the grass told the silent observers that the kitchen was occupied.

The still night was broken by McGonagal's enraged scream. Hearing this, the rest of the group split up, Dumbldore and Lupin heading for the front door, which flew completely off it's hinges with the force of the combined unlocking charms, while Snape circled the small building and came bursting in the already open back door.

Professor Minerva McGonagal stood in the center of the kitchen, her wand pointed at a very large and unconscious man lying near a wall that looked as if he'd hit it at a great speed. A bony horse-faced woman lay curled in the corner with bits of plaster in her hair from where she'd impacted the wall. Her arm was out-stretched toward an equally unmoving fourteen year old boy who lay just out of arms reach, against the dining table.

Breaking the tableau, Snape said, "What is going on here?"

As he spoke, Dumbledore and Lupin entered and McGonagal snapped back to life.

"I'm not sure what happened here, but when I came in I saw that... that man," she sounded as if she wished for a much worse epitaph, "Standing over that woman, prepared to kick her. Harry was already unconscious."

She crossed the room and knelt next to the woman while Lupin attempted to wake Harry.

Petunia Dursley roused rather reluctantly and the professor was greatly worried by her weak pulse.

"You- you're one of them?" She asked weakly.

McGonagal wasn't sure how to answer. "I am one of Harry's teachers from Hogwarts."

Petunia seemed to smile slightly. "The boy, he..." Her eyes were slightly glazed. "He collapsed, screaming. Vernon..." The woman tried to raise her head, but dropped it heavily.

"Albus!" the older woman cried over her shoulder. "Where is Poppy? We need her!"

Dumbledore knelt beside Harry's aunt and said, "She should be here any moment. Whatever has kept her, it must be important. She would have heard the alert as well."

Petunia was once again lucid and she focus blurrily on the face in front of her.

"I tried... I tried to stop him. He doesn't usually drink... knows better," her voice trailed off.

"Shush, he's stopped, you're safe. Just rest."

Petunia shook her head slowly. "Don't let the boy..." She blinked, as if confused. "Don't leave Harry with him. He's a good man... Don't leave Harry with him. Hates the boy..."

With that, her eyes fell closed and Petunia Dursley was no more. McGonagal closed her own eyes in a moment of silence, then stood quickly. She covered Mrs. Dursley with her long coat, leaving the teacher in only her dressing gown, and turned her attentions to Harry, who couldn't be woken.

A moment later, Poppy Pomfrey, one of the most skilled mediwitches of the age strode quickly through the back door and assessed the situation wordlessly. Snape was busily conjuring ropes to bind the huge man in the corner and the figure near the wall was covered completely in cloth, obviously dead. That left Harry to be the most seriously injured.

The boy had been attacked from inside and out at the same time. By Voldemort and, apparently, his uncle as well. She waved aside the other witches and wizards and conjured a stretcher for the child.

"The poor dear..." she said softly as she ran her wand down the boy's body. Pleased that the only injury seemed to be to his head, she turned her attention to the thin smear of blood down his face. The red streak started at his forehead and she brushed back his fringe to examine the injury. With a quickly conjured damp cloth, she wiped away the blood and gasped.

The old lightening bold-shaped scar across the boy's forehead was red and inflamed and crossing it with a precision angle as a single thin cut that leaked a few drops of blood at a time. She flicked her wand at the wound, then frowned. With a look of concentration, Madam Pomfrey laid her hand on the boy's forehead, just over the wound, and closed her eyes. Then she lifted her hand and stepped back.

"Albus," she said.

"Yes, Poppy."

"Are you absolutely certain Petunia Dursley isn't a witch?"

He nodded slowly.

The mediwitch frowned at the cut on the boy's forehead. "Well, that," she pointed, "cannot be healed any more than the other one can. And you can be sure that it will scar."

"Sweet Merlin!" McGonagal exclaimed. "That's what she meant. Petunia, she said something about that lout," she pointed to the bound Vernon Dursley, "Being drunk. She said she tried to protect Harry from him."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "And she died protecting him, just as her sister did."

Snape looked up at this and scowled. Ever since the night of the Third task, when the boy had stopped him returning to his old position, Potter had crept into his thoughts more often than he was willing to admit, even to himself. He couldn't help running back through his every encounter with the boy, every story he'd ever heard of the boy's escapades.

The thing was, Severus Snape was beginning to think he'd been wrong all these years and he hated being wrong. The boy didn't make much sense at all. One minute, he was Gryffindor's golden boy, then he was acting like he was concerned about his greasy git potions master. He was spoiled at home, yet apparently he was abused. He complained that his relatives did not care for him, but his aunt died to protect him from her husband.

"Headmaster, I cannot fathom what affect this will have on the blood magics, but I'm assuming that since we are all here that the wards have failed?"

Dumbledore took the hint and nodded decisively. "You are quite right, Severus. We should take this elsewhere. He took a portkey from his pocket, this one perfectly legal. It went straight to the hospital ward of Hogwarts and it was one of only two in existence.

"Poppy, take Mr. Potter to safety. The rest of us will follow shortly. I must wait for the ministry. Vernon Dursley must be dealt with and believe there is another child here as well." Pomfrey took both the portkey and Harry and disappeared. Once they were gone McGonagal and Lupin turned to walked to the edge of the apparition barriers, leaving Snape and Dumbledore alone.

"Headmaster, This is not good. Lily and her sister have no more living relatives. Petunia's sacrifice will not hold more than a year or two at most." Snape saw the old man's eyes show confusion for a moment before they reclaimed their serene emptiness.

"Ah, so you know what happened here tonight? I must say it's left me quite perplexed."

Snape paused, he'd never known the Headmaster to be at a loss before. "I have been researching the magics Lily used, as you asked me to. Lily set up charms on the child even before he was born that would help to ensure his survival. Her death cemented those charms and sealed them with her blood. The blood she shared with the boy. I'm assuming you understand this since you built the wards off of those charms."

At the headmaster's nod, he continued. "Petunia died protecting the boy and the charms Lily set into motion reacted to that sacrifice. Petunia and Lily shared blood, you see. You built off that blood connection, attaching the space that Lily should have held in those spells, had she been alive, to Petunia. When Petunia died, it was like Lily died a second time. I have no idea what effect this will have on the protection. After what the Dark Lord did... I just can't tell."

"What does that ritual have to do with this?"

Snape opened his mouth to explain but was cut off by several aurors bursting onto the scene.

"That is alright, child. Go back to the castle and we can discuss this later on.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"You foolish, foolish man!" Snape sneered at his mentor later that same night. "I thought wisdom came with age but you are certainly no indication of that. I never thought I would be saying this to you of all people..." He shook his head, apparently at a loss to describe the full depth of the other's stupidity.

Dumbledore lowered his head slowly. "I believed I had the measure of the situation, Severus. Believe me, if I'd had even the slightest clue..."

"Yes, well, now there will be no repairing the blood magics. All the work that Lily put into this is gone to waste."

"What I don't understand is why she felt she needed so many layers of magic to protect the boy?"

Snape shook his head. "I don't think they are all protection. I think this charm started out as something else and when it's purpose had been served, instead of removing it, she altered it to a new purpose."

"Remarkable," said Dumbledore. "Lily always was truly gifted at protection magic."

"That's just it," Snape interrupted, his annoyance forgotten momentarily in his enthusiasm. Severus snape had always been, first and foremost, a scholar. "I don't think this was protection magic, at least, not to start. It's woven like a protection spell, but there is more to it than that. It actually looks a little bit like a concealment spell. Not invisibility, more like a "notice-me-not" or even the way polyjuice works."

"Could this have anything to do with the anti-tracking magic we've found?"

Severus' face was thoughtful. "I don't know. Concealment spells... You know, if I didn't know better I'd say this was originally designed to hide a pregnancy. Of course, I saw enough of Lily during that time to know that wasn't the case... Perhaps she altered such a charm for her purposes, whatever they may have been..."

Snape stood and paced the length of the room.

"Headmaster, I've examined the spells again. Whatever happened tonight broke the thread. The charms are unraveling. It could take years for them to completely vanish, but they are broken. If I thought the fraying they acquired at the end of the year was bad..."

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know what we should do."

"Is there any way to patch or mend these charms?"

"That would be like sewing an invisibility cloak while someone is wearing it and while the tear is continuously getting larger. It would also be dangerous. We don't know what all this magic is for. We could, if I may continue my simile, prick Potter with the needle. I can't even guess what is going on and by the time I could it would be too late to do anything."

Snape settled back into his chair, pushing his hair from his face. "The boy will need constant monitoring while the spells unravel. This magic is tied to his very life, I have no idea what effect it could have on his health, for example."

A soft knocking on the door drew their attention.

"Yes, come in, Minerva."

The woman did so, taking a chair next to he colleague. "Potter should be waking up in the next couple of hours, Poppy asked me to inform you."

"Yes, thank you. We were just discussing the blood magic around Mr. Potter. Do you know anything about any spells Lily may have created around herself during her pregnancy?"

The old teacher stared at them in shock. "Using magic on an unborn child! Lily Evans would never do such a thing."

Raising an eyebrow Snape said, "Apparently, she would and did. Unfortunately, that magic is breaking down now."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "And how do you fit into this, Severus?"

"Apparently," Dumbledore said, "Severus is capable of seeing the spells around Mr. Potter as if they were simply cloth he was wearing."

"And they are falling apart," Snape broke in, interrupting her gasp of disbelief. "There is no way to repair the damage that our illustrious Headmaster has done and we have no idea what effect this will have on Potter's health."

McGonagal finally managed to finish her gasp and raised one hand to her mouth. "Albus, is this true? What shall be done."

"I have some ideas but none will do until we know how Mr. Potter is doing. Severus, if you could check on him, I will join you shortly."