Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Web of Lies: Revelations.

Severus left the doctor's office about half an hour later. The man had said that Alec was just exhausted, having spent a lot of energy in helping his grandfather but that he seemed to be fine. Just in case, the doctor recommended bringing him to Hogwarts and let Madam Pomfrey look him over since she had treated him before. The Potions Master had just nodded at the suggestion, knowing he would have done it anyway and silently left the office with the child cradled in his arms.

He returned to the hall where Sinistra and Chris were waiting. It seemed Amanda had been allowed back into Albus' room. The man looked up when he approached and looked at the pair uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape."

The man looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not understanding what the other wizard was referring to. "You can call me Severus, no need for formalities at a time like this. And may I ask what you are sorry about?"

Chris motioned towards the child still sleeping against the Professor's chest. "Amanda and I should be taking better care of Alec, you shouldn't have to look after him while we're here, but everything is kind of overwhelming right now."

Snape narrowed his eyes a bit and looked towards the other teacher. Sinistra, sensing he wanted to speak to the other man in private, offered to take care of Alec while they spoke. With only a nod, the Potions Master transferred the child from his arms to her lap, being careful not to jostle him too much and then took Chris' arm, leading him a bit away and throwing a privacy charm around them.

Before Chris could ask what was going on, the younger man turned around and looked at him seriously. "There's no need for you to keep the act up around me; I am very well aware that Alec isn't your son."

The other wizard blinked at him in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Severus crossed his arms and scowled. "Don't play games with me, I know that you and your wife are only pretending to be Alec, or should I say Harry's parents."

Chris cocked his head in confusion. "Uncle Albus didn't tell us he had told you."

Snape sighed relaxing a bit against the wall. "He didn't, someone else told me. Someone that had the good sense to know that had I found out in front of the child, I could have hurt him quite a bit. It's no secret that I've hated the Potters for most of my life." Feeling the man tense at his side, he smirked a bit in reassurance. "Don't worry; while I'm still trying to work through my feelings on the matter, I have come to care about Alec enough not to hurt him. Knowing him as Dumbledore's grandson has allowed me to see past my hatred to the child he really is, and believe me, he's nothing like I thought Harry Potter was."

Chris nodded. "Albus told us once he was worried about you finding out; you're taking it much better than Uncle thought you would."

Severus frowned a bit. "Your uncle was right, I didn't take it well. Luckily, the person who told me had the means to make me see reason rather quickly." The man straightened up. "I only told you this because you don't need to try and act all mushy around Harry. He doesn't seem to know how to act around you any more than you do around him, and it's just making the whole situation more uncomfortable than needed. Just try to keep appearances around the rest of the staff."

Chris nodded in agreement but before the other man could leave his side, he spoke again. "Does Alec know that you know?"

Severus shook his head quite forcefully. "No one knows that I know; no one besides my informant of course, but he's not likely to go babbling around. I would appreciate it if you could keep it that way. Harry doesn't need to start second guessing me at a time like this when he needs all the support he can get, and Albus doesn't need to worry about things like this now that he's injured. Just tell your wife and keep quite about it, Albus is right to want to keep this secret very quiet."

The other wizard nodded and together they moved back to where Sinistra and Alec were. Severus gently lifted the boy back into his arms and looked at his companions. "I'm going to take him to Hogwarts so Madam Pomfrey can have a look at him, just in case."

Chris nodded and as his wife had done earlier, he bent over and gently kissed the teen's forehead. "I trust you'll take care of him, Severus?"

The Potions Master nodded seriously. "Of course, you don't need to worry about Alec; I'll make sure he's fine. If Poppy gives her ok, I'll bring him back tomorrow. Keep me informed on Albus' state, please."

Both adults nodded in answer and he left them to their vigil.

Once back to Hogwarts, Severus quickly made his way to the hospital wing. He was fairly surprised to see that most of the beds were occupied. He watched as Poppy rushed from one bed to another, giving the children laying there some potions while grumbling under her breath. It took her nearly twenty minutes to notice them, and by that time, Severus had taken a seat, with Alec sleeping comfortably in his lap, and was trying to figure out what had happened.

"Severus! What happened?"

The man looked at her and shook his head. "That's what I was going to ask. As far as I know, the infirmary was empty when I left this morning."

The nurse nodded as she started to run her wand over the sleeping teen. "Minerva will be able to tell you the details, but it seems that a fight broke out between the members of the new house. Well, it took the teachers a while to notice so there was quite some damage done. Nothing permanent of course, but there were lots of bruises, cuts, and several broken bones, not to mention the hexes."

She shook her head in exasperation and the Potions Master frowned. "I was going to leave Alec into your care, but I don't think that's such a great idea."

The nurse nodded. "What happened to him anyway? He's completely exhausted. And how's Albus doing?"

The man briefly told her what had happened; by the end of his story, she was shaking her head in amazement. "I knew he was powerful, but I had no idea how much. There's not much I can do for him, so you better take him with you."

The man nodded and rose from his seat, Alec still sleeping undisturbed in his arms. Poppy looked at them with a small smile on her face. "I don't think he'll wake up until tomorrow evening at the soonest so don't worry about that. If you can't take care of him or have to leave to go to the hospital, you can bring him here."

Severus snorted, looking around the full room. "I don't mean to insult you, Poppy, but I don't think that Alec would be exactly... safe... in here. Don't worry, Minerva and I will take turns watching him, or else I'm sure Filius won't mind, he seems to be rather taken with the lad."

Poppy chuckled. "And who isn't, Severus? Anyway, I'll check on him sometime tomorrow so at least let the elves know where he is, please."

Snape nodded and after saying his goodbyes, he left the large room. On his way to the dungeons, he stopped a group of Gryffindors and ordered them to ask Minerva to go down to his room as soon as she could. The students nodded and quickly left the man alone, knowing that while he was gently cradling the headmaster's grandson in his arms, that gentleness was not reserved for anyone else.

Once in his room, Severus settled Alec in his own bed and softly muttered a few charms. They would make sure that Harry stayed protected and that he would be warned if something was wrong with him. He had barely had time to serve himself a cup of tea when someone knocked on the door. With a brief sigh, he stood up again and went to open the door. As expected, Minerva entered as soon as he opened the door for her and with barely a glance to him she went to his bedroom. Severus closed the door shaking his head, wondering if he should feel insulted at his colleague's lack of regard to his privacy. After a moment, he decided to let it go; after all he would probably have done the same had their roles been inversed. With barely a sound, he went to stand next to the woman.

Minerva glanced at him once before her gaze settled on the sleeping figure once again. "Is he alright?"

Severus nodded and led her gently back to the living room. "Both, Poppy and the doctor at St. Mungo's say he's fine. Just tired and that's no wonder after all he did to save Albus' life."

Minerva nodded and sat down in the Potions Master's comfortable couch. "I'm still trying to understand how he did something like that. I didn't hear the details, but Pomona told me that the doctors had nearly given up on saving him."

Severus shrugged, resuming his seat in the leather armchair. "Who knows, I don't think he even knew what he was doing; he was in some sort of trance while the magic flowed around him. It was amazing to see."

Minerva looked pensively. "There's still something I don't understand. I thought you had taken him out to have breakfast, were you just back in time to the hospital when it happened?"

Narrowing his eyes, Snape remembered what had happened when they were eating. The happenings in the hospital had been so overwhelming that he had nearly forgotten about it. "We were just back, but it was not by chance. We had both been having something to eat when suddenly Alec stated that there was something wrong and that we had to go back. I didn't even have a chance to hold him back, and when I finally caught up with him, I decided to see what he was on about." Severus sipped his tea. "Believe me, I'm glad I did."

Minerva smiled slightly at him in understanding. "Your instincts are usually right, Severus. Anyway, a few Gryffindors told me you wanted to see me?"

The wizard nodded. "Would you mind taking care of Alec for a while? I need to brew some potions, seeing the war zone that the infirmary has become, there's no doubt that Poppy will need them."

Minerva grimaced at those words. She hadn't been in the hospital wing, but the state the children had been in when she and Sinistra found them was enough for her to know that quite a lot of potions would be needed.

Severus looked at her curiously. "What happened anyway?"

A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my beta-reader, Vinnie.