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

Web of Lies: Revelations.

Dumbledore laughed at the words his younger colleague had just uttered. "I see some things never change, Severus. What makes you think I need you to do something?"

Snape rolled his eyes and took a seat next to the older wizard's bed. "You just ordered me to put a student to sleep, you're still sitting there despite the fact that you should be sleeping, and the fact that I know you well enough to know what to expect when you try to deny things in that tone of voice."

Albus couldn't help but laugh again. "You're starting to know me too well, old friend."

The younger man shrugged his shoulders even though he looked quite pleased with himself. "Come on, Albus, stop beating around the bush, I still want to get some sleep tonight."

The older wizard nodded, a pensive frown shadowing his face. "I'm afraid you will have to wait with going to bed, Severus. As you pointed out, I would like to ask you for a favour." Knowing he was irritating the other man, Albus quickly continued. "The fact that Alec is Harry has come out, and by tomorrow morning we will have the castle full of reporters trying to get a look at the boy and aurors trying to find out everything that has happened. I would like you to take him out of here before it becomes impossible to stay in the castle."

A frown started to grow on the young man's face as the older man spoke. "Albus, I'm not saying that I won't do it, but do you think that that is a smart move? I agree that Harry needs time to rest, this last attack on top of everything else might have been too much, and yet, won't it be even more difficult to come back later? I know you want to protect him, but will you be able to?"

The old headmaster remained silent for a short while. "I have thought about that too, Severus. You have to understand that I have ways to protect myself, I can tell the aurors to piss off if I want to, I can force the reporters to get lost and only some of the staff might question me, but what is it going to be like for Harry? The student body is not going to leave him alone; they are going to hound him to find explanations about everything. His friends are questioning him right now; they won't be able to protect him until they have had a chance to reassure themselves that he is still the same boy. And you know him well enough to know that he won't come to us with his problems. Let' give things time to settle down, it's just one week till Christmas, give Harry till after that to relax."

Severus sighed, knowing damn well he wasn't going to win this argument, and privately he didn't really want to. Nodding, he first made sure Albus was settled comfortably in his bed before turning his gaze towards the sleeping boy. Not bothering to change his clothes, he gathered the young wizard in his arms, blankets and all, and silently left the room, aware of the blue, twinkling eyes following his movements.

When Harry woke up, he was very surprised to find himself in his room in the headmaster's house. Aware of the throbbing in his shoulder, he carefully sat up in bed and swung his feet over the side, in search for his slippers. He had managed to get on his feet when Twinkle appeared in the room.

"What is Young Master doing out of bed? He should be resting, Master Severus ordered it."

Harry reluctantly allowed himself to be pushed back into the comfortable pillows and watched as the small house elf rearranged the blankets around him. When she finally stopped moving, he started to question her. "Why am I here, Twinkle? You said Uncle Severus was here? Where is he?"

The house-elf settled down next to him. "Master Snape brought you here last night; he said Master Dumbledore had ordered him to do so. He says you're going to stay here until you get better and that Young Master shouldn't leave his bed under any circumstances. Master Severus left just after lunch, said he needed to get some of your things from the school and report to Master Dumbledore. Master Severus should be back in an hour or so, he told Twinkle to keep you in bed and make Young Master eat something."

The boy sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes as the small being disappeared, probably off to fetch him his lunch. Not that he wasn't grateful to be here; he assumed everyone knew that he was Harry now, but he felt he should have been there to try and explain things to his friends. His musings were cut short when Twinkle reappeared in the room, carrying a tray and ordered him to eat. Once he was finished, he felt sleepiness start to overcome him. He would have liked to stay awake until the Potions Master returned, but it seemed like he wasn't well enough yet for that.

Snape entered the room half an hour later. Things had been hectic at the school; he had had to walk past dozens of aurors who wanted to speak to either Harry or Albus. It seemed that they still didn't know that Harry was no longer in the castle and as Madam Pomfrey kept everyone out of her infirmary, it didn't seem like they were going to find out anytime soon. After stopping for a moment in the Ravenclaw common room and gathering a few things for the boy, he went to the Hospital wing. He ignored the Gryffindor students standing there and entered. Pomfrey was quite cross at him for taking Harry away and had no problems in telling him as much. Luckily, Dumbledore quickly drew her attention away to him. They talked for a while and then Severus quickly left again, not comfortable in leaving his young charge alone for a long time.

The boy was sleeping when he arrived, but Twinkle assured him that he had awakened and eaten something. Settling down at the bedside, the Potions Master brought out the book he had taken from the library about apprentices. If Dumbledore was going to ask him to be the boy's master, then he would like to know just what he was getting into. Several hours later, when Severus was just starting to eat the dinner Twinkle had provided, Harry started to move slightly. Guessing he was about to wake up, the Potions Master put his plate aside and moved so he was sitting on the bed, next to the boy.

Harry groaned as he was slowly brought back to consciousness. His shoulder was throbbing painfully and he couldn't help but wish he was still asleep. A gentle hand petting his hair finally managed to wake him up completely and he forced his eyes open. He wasn't very surprised to see his uncle sitting next to him.

"Uncle Sev."

Harry winced internally when he heard his voice was more a moan of pain than his usual infantile tone. The man gently caressed his cheek.

"Are you in pain, child?"

Alec barely nodded his head yes, and the man stood up at once, telling him he would go fetch a pain reducing potion. When the teacher returned, Harry was lying once again with his eyes closed and the hand of his healthy arm was clutching the blankets tightly. Gently, the tall man propped the teenager up so he was leaning against his shoulder and put the vial against his lips. It didn't take long for the potion to take effect and Severus could see how the boy's face regained some colour.

"Better?"

Alec opened his eyes and nodded, with a small smile dancing on his pale lips. "Much better; thank you, Uncle Sev."

The two stayed silent for a long while, before Harry decided to break the comfortable silence. "Uncle Sev?"

The man rolled his eyes slightly. "Will I ever manage to get you to call me Uncle Severus again?"

That produced a laugh from the younger boy. "Don't think so."

"Brat." Severus sighed and conceded defeat on that matter. "What is it you wanted?"

Harry sat up a bit against hi pillows. "Why am I here? Not that I mind, but aren't there classes? And what about Granddad? How is he doing? Is he still at St Mungo's?"

Severus raised a calming hand. "Calm down, child, one thing at a time."

Harry bit his lip and nodded in agreement. "Sorry."

The man shook his head and shifted so he was seated more comfortably on the bed. "Don't worry about your grandfather. He is at Hogwarts now, Minerva told him what had happened with Nirian and he decided he wanted to be there rather than at the Hospital. I still don't get how he convinced the healers, but he appeared there with Minerva and his brother."

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "His brother is there?"

Severus nodded slightly. "Indeed. Anyway, Poppy had a fit, but in the end she agreed to keep him there until he his well enough to be on his own. He asked me to get you out of Hogwarts; he wanted you to have time to recover, if you remember it's only one week till Christmas, and you'll remain here until then. Hopefully, Albus will be joining us by then."

Harry was smiling softly by the time Severus was finished. "We'll really spend Christmas here? I'm so looking forward to it." Then he started to frown a bit. "What about my friends? They must know by now who I really am."

Severus pressed his lips together. "I'll talk to Minerva and will see if she allows them to come here one of these days, I realize you would like to talk to them for a while."

Harry nodded gratefully and rested his head against the pillows, feeling a bit sleepy now that all of his concerns had been appeased. Severus, noticing, got up from the bed and moved to tuck him in. The boy blinked and frowned lightly.

"Don't want to go back to sleep yet, I have been sleeping too much lately."

Severus looked slightly amused at that. "Maybe you have, but you certainly need it. Besides, it doesn't look like you'll remain awake for very long, your eyes are about to fall closed."

Harry's eyes, which were indeed nearly closed, snapped open at once, eliciting a chuckle from the usually stern man. "Oh, go to sleep, you silly boy. It's not like you have pressing matters to attend to and your body really needs the rest."

The teenager pouted lightly but finally allowed himself to relax into the comforting darkness.

To be continued...

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