The team were still buzzing from their victory half an hour later as they exited the locker rooms. The whole of Gryffindor seemed to be there to cheer them back into the castle, all wanting a turn to hold the cup.

They were stopped at the entrance to the castle by McGonagall who stepped forward with a beaming smile. "Congratulations." She addressed the whole team warmly. "And a special congratulations to you, Captain Weasley. If you would come with me for a moment, there are some people here who would like to meet you."

Ginny's eyes lit up at the suggestion and she looked back at Harry briefly with sheer hope on her face. "Go on then." He nudged her forward encouragingly and she left with McGonagall.

"Mr Potter," Snape stopped Harry before he could go on with the rest of his house. "There is someone who would like to speak with you also."

"Huh?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "Do try not to sound like an illiterate buffoon when you're in there, Potter." He said, but Harry knew now when the man was just teasing him.

Snape opened the door to a spare classroom with a raised eyebrow and shut the door after Harry had walked through, leaving him alone with the other wizard in the room who awaited him.

"Um, hello." Harry greeted and the unknown wizard turned around for Harry to recognize him as one of the talent scouts Ron had pointed out in the stands.

Instantly the man's face lit up with a warm smile, changing his look from gruff to approachable. "Mr Potter, such a pleasure to meet you." He offered his hand to shake.

"Thank you, Sir." The man's jovial countenance did a lot to put Harry at ease, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable not knowing what was going on. "Um, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure of your name."

"Ah, of course, well I didn't introduce myself, did I? My name is William Williamson, but everyone calls me Billy, and I am a talent scout for the Wimbourne Wasps."

"Oh, right. Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Fantastic game you played today, Harry. Can I call you Harry?"

"Yeah, sure. It was an unusual end to the game for sure, but a lot of fun."

"Yes, yes, absolutely." Billy agreed still smiling broadly. "Well, I was very impressed with your seeking skills Mr Potter, very impressed indeed, and it's my job to find the best players to join our team."

"Right…" Harry was beginning to see where this was going but he couldn't quite believe it.

"I would like to offer you a place on our team. We want you to join the Wasps for the next Quidditch session."

Even having seen it coming, Harry was a little stunned. "Really? I mean, I'm really flattered but I've already got a job with the Aurors lined up for after school. Sorry."

The man shrugged, still cheerful. "I thought there was a good chance of that, if I'm honest, but I had to try. We could do with a new seeker and you're an agile flier. You sure I can't tempt you away from dark wizard hunting?"

Harry smiled, "I'm afraid not. I love quidditch but for me it's just for fun. I'm not serious enough to play professionally."

"Ah, well. It was worth a try. Thank you for your time, Mr Pottter." He offered his hand for Harry to shake once more. "It's been an honour." He adjusted his robes as he prepared to leave. "Time to be getting back."

"Sir," Harry stopped him. "I'm not interested in playing quidditch professionally but our team captain, Ginny Weasley, is. She was the Chaser that scored most of the points for Gryffindor. Don't you want to speak to her?"

Billy smiled wryly. "I'm a hopeful person, Mr Potter, but I know when I would be wasting my time. Miss Weasley is indeed a fine player, but she is currently receiving lucrative offers from both the Harpies and the Cannons; Wimbourne can't compete with what they'll be able to offer."

"Oh."

"Pass my congratulations on to your team, Mr Potter, and, of course, to Miss Weasley. Whichever team she picks, she will be a fierce adversary for us next season, I'm sure."

"I will do and thanks again for the offer."

"You know where I am if you change your mind." Billy threw back as he left.

Severus was outside when Harry left the classroom, still a bit stunned by the offer he had been made.

"Congratulations." Severus fell into step beside him.

"Thank you, Sir."

"And are the Wimbourne Wasps to have a new seeker on their team next season?" The professor asked with obvious curiosity.

"'Fraid not. I'm still destined for the whole dark wizard fighting thing." He raised an eyebrow at Severus. "Sorry to disappoint."

Severus waved a hand to dismiss the suggestion. "I assumed as much. Nice to get the offer though?"

"Yeah, that was pretty good. I still can't really believe a professional team would want me. It wasn't even a particularly spectacular match."

"Hm, it might have had something to do with the unnecessary stream of dangerous stunts you did before you caught that infernal little ball." Severus drawled.

Harry laughed, "Yeah, that might have done it." He looked unashamed at the Professor, enjoying the relaxed conversation after barely any contact for a week. "I had to make it interesting!"

Severus gave him a sharp tap to the back of his head causing Harry to laugh more and duck away.

"Ow," he complained, though it hadn't really hurt. "What was that for?"

"That's what you should expect every time you decide to shave another few years off of my life expectancy." Severus teased.

Harry grinned mischievously. "Remind me not to talk to you about my work in future."

Snape just rolled his eyes.

They were nearing the Gryffindor tower and Severus slowed to a stop. "I'm sure you have much celebrating to do, so I'll let you get back to what I'm sure are some very smug little lions." He drawled. "Now that exams are over, I'm sure you'll have more time to stop by the office this week."

Harry's relaxed demeanor turned tense. "Um, yeah, probably." He turned to go. "See you then."

"We'll talk soon." Severus confirmed with confidence. "Oh and Harry?" The Gryffindor turned back. "Nice work with Miss Phillips today. I was, as always, very proud of you."

A blush rose up Harry's neck at the very sincere praise. "Oh, it was nothing, but thanks, Sir."

Severus nodded, "Enjoy your party."

Harry lifted his hand in a half wave and headed off.

Tuesday night had Severus drumming his fingertips on his desk. Exams were over and classes were winding down for the last few weeks of the year. There was little for him to prepare for and limited marking to do, so he found himself with a surprisingly free schedule. This left Severus with plenty of time to consider Harry's continued distance. He could not reason why the young saviour was avoiding him when he still seemed entirely amicable when Severus forced an interaction with him.

Abruptly, fueled by frustration, Severus stood. Before he knew it, he had left his office, climbed the staircase up three floors and stalked down the corridor towards the tapestry of the girl in the field of daisies.

Unlike his entry into the dorms two weeks previously, Severus did not enter cautiously. He swooped in, ready to insist on a talk with Harry. The door swung shut behind him and Severus was met with silence.

Empty. The 8th Year common rooms were completely empty. As empty as they had been two weeks ago.

Severus considered going back to his office, or stalking the halls of Hogwarts until he found the elusive group of teenagers. Instead, he decided to stay. He would wait them out and would eventually find out where they were all disappearing to every Tuesday evening.

He wasn't sure whether he was pleased or not when he heard them all returning well before curfew. The group was chatting animatedly, with loud voices and laughter, to such an extent that they didn't even register his ominous presence standing near the fireplace until they were well into the room.

It was Longbottom who noticed the professor first. The look of guilt on his face as he quickly nudged his peers to alert them would have told him they were up to something if it wasn't already obvious.

"Evening, Sir." Longbottom stopped, but more of the 8th Years were still piling in behind him, those who hadn't noticed him yet still chatting.

Severus said nothing. He tugged on his sleeves sharply and folded his arms and waited.

Harry and Ron came in last. Severus caught the end of a conversation that seemed to be about dueling strategy, but an elbow to Ron's gut from Hermione cut him off mid-sentence. Harry soon picked up on the tense atmosphere and his eyes fell on Severus' severe expression.

"...Everything alright?" He asked slowly.

"Perhaps one of you would like to inform me where you have all been this evening?"

Looks passed around the group but most seemed to settle on Potter. Eventually he sighed, resigned.

"I'll explain. Come on, Sir, we can talk in my room."

Severus followed Harry to his room, through an intense set of wards, to where they had privacy. He wasn't sure why the boy chose to have the conversation alone, since the rest of the students were clearly involved, but he imagined Harry was about to martyr himself for the group.

Harry perched on the end of his bed leaving the desk chair for Severus who pulled it around until they were face-to-face.

"So it's like this," Harry jumped straight in. "You know how when Umbridge was here we, I mean, I set up that club, the DA, where we were, I guess, teaching ourselves defence. Well, the others, I mean, I thought that we could set up the DA again this year to, um, teach ourselves spells and practise them and stuff."

"You resumed, this year, the club which you began when you had a completely incompetent teacher." Severus' voice sounded dangerous.

"What? No! I mean, it wasn't like that. It wasn't like before. We didn't do it out of necessity. It was just for fun." Harry tried to explain hastily. "I promise it wasn't anything to do with you teaching us. We've learnt loads from you this year, we just learnt extra stuff on top for our own amusement."

When Severus spoke again his voice was crisp and staccato. "What precisely is it that you are doing in your little secret club?"

"Er, well, it kind of depended on what people wanted to do. Someone would find a spell they wanted to try and we'd all learn it. Or sometimes we'd sort of teach each other. People who are good at one type of spell help those who aren't."

"You're merely practicing new spells?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck. "And, um, sometimes we…duel."

Severus closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"And Draco?" He asked when he was ready to hear more.

"What about him?" Harry's frown displayed his genuine bewilderment.

"There is no possible way that Draco was part of your little gang three years ago."

"No, we invited him to join this year." Harry said as though it was obvious.

"We?" Severus raised his eyebrow expressively.

"I."

"Oh," The professor sighed. "I should know better than to be surprised by that, I suppose. What I don't understand is why you kept it all a secret? Clubs aren't banned like that anymore. Other than the unsupervised dueling, which, to be clear, I am not condoning, we're essentially talking about a glorified study group."

"Well, we weren't totally sure how you'd feel about it, what with the 'unsupervised dueling.'" Harry wiggled his fingers in the air for the quotations. "So there was that, but mostly it was to honor the way the DA began, and the way they had to operate last year when they were more resistance army than club. Plus it was just kind of fun."

There was a long pause and then Snape spoke again. "Very well."

"Very well?" Harry repeated. "What does that mean?"

"Harry, you had a secret, but apparently highly inclusive, study group. You haven't left school grounds, you've not even been out after curfew. I could maybe sanction you for the dueling, but at the end of the day you are all over 17 and legally adults anyway." Harry's nose scrunched up and Severus' eyes narrowed. "Everyone is over 17, correct?"

"Well, um, not quite."

Severus gave another long-suffering sigh. "How young are we talking?"

Harry grimaced. "Third years were the youngest we would take. We didn't let them duel though! Only 6th years up."

"3rd Years?! Just how many students are a part of this 'little' club?"

"Er, not everyone comes every week, maybe about forty?"

Severus' eyebrows rose high on his face and then dropped as he considered what this meant. The surprisingly high performances in his classes were making a lot more sense. He frowned again. "Are you the reason half of my 6th Year students could already cast non-verbally."

Harry shrugged, "Kinda."

Severus shook his head with a very slight smile. "It's a shame you're leaving, Mr Potter, in some ways you do actually make my life easier."

Harry smiled, "I think the younger years have got plans to continue after we're gone so you might be alright, Sir."

"They will need to get the club approved and they need a staff member to supervise dueling practise." Severus demanded.

"I'll let them know." Harry agreed. "So…is that it? I'm not in trouble."

Severus rolled his eyes. "No, you're not in trouble."

"Oh, great. Thanks, Sir. I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"No." Severus said, suddenly firm again. "We're not finished."

Harry stopped mid-rise from the bed. "Um, okay?"

"You've continued to avoid me. I have tried to give you your space, but I have reached the limit of my patience. You say it is nothing to do with the article so talk."

Despite Severus' demand, Harry said nothing. He stared at his mentor while he tried to formulate words. "I – I told you I'm not bothered about the Prophet."

"Yes, and you don't appear to be lying. So what is going on? Talk to me, Harry, please."

Harry's fingers worried at the bedspread. "It's not really anything. Stupid really." Severus waited. "It's just that it's all ending."

"What is?"

"This!" Harry gestured frantically between them. "I'm leaving school soon, so I'm not going to have you to rely on like I have done."

"What in god's name are you talking about?"

"You. You've been so helpful this year; you've been so great for me. I've loved having you to talk to, I've never really had that before, a person like that. But I'm leaving Hogwarts. I can't rely on you to to be there to solve all my problems."

Severus didn't take his eyes off Harry. He spoke slowly hoping his words would land with the sincerity that was meant. "Harry, the fact that you are leaving Hogwarts, does not mean I am not there to support you. You know where I am, if you need to talk, I'll be there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think our relationship has gone further than that of teacher and pupil. I am not intending this to be the end of that relationship." He allowed a small smile to slip through. "You know me, I don't do things by halves."

Harry spared a brief returning smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yeah. I mean, sure, but it won't be the same."

"Of course things will change." Severus sympathized. "It's normal to feel this way when you leave school. Every young person has these thoughts when they leave home."

"Yeah, but most people have a home to go back to." Harry muttered despondently.

Severus' heart ached for the young wizard. "Harry, I can't tell you that nothing will change but I can promise that I will be there for whatever you need. If we need to schedule in nightly chats still then we will. Or we can write letters, floo call or meet in person. You do realise you're a wizard – travel isn't exactly an issue."

"Yeah, I s'pose." Harry agreed but Severus knew the boy did not really believe it. There were no more words that would convince Harry, but Severus was determined that he would.

The next day, Harry walked into DADA with the rest of the 8th Years and was surprised to see McGonagall at Snape's desk, with the man in question no where to be seen. As Harry thought back, however, he realised he hadn't seen Severus at breakfast or lunch earlier in the day.

"Good afternoon." McGonagall greeted once they were all settled. "Evidently, I am not Professor Snape. He has, however, assured me that I need not trouble myself to teach you anything, which is good as I have plenty of my own work to be getting on with. He assures me that you have long since mastered everything on the NEWT syllabus, which is good since you have already sat your exams, and he tells me that you are apparently very competent and experienced at teaching yourselves."

The 8th Years all exchanged nervous glances with each other. Harry gulped as the headmistress turned her steely gaze on him. "Well, Mr Potter? I was told that you would have something appropriate for the group to do?" She said pointedly.

Harry was still rather stunned by the turn of events. "Um, er, yeah, I can…of course."

He looked briefly at Ron and Hermione to his right, "Carry on with the dual casting?" He suggested, referring to the skill they had been practicing at the DA the night before. The other two nodded their agreement and the three were soon up and organizing the rest of the 8th Years into smaller practise groups based on their previous progress.

Harry led the most able group, which included Draco. While the rest of the group paired up to practise in a dueling scenario, Harry pulled the Slytherin aside. "Do you know why Severus isn't here?" He asked with evident concern.

"No idea. He sent a note this morning to say he couldn't make my scheduled meeting tonight but I didn't know he wasn't going to be at classes and he didn't say anything about where he would be."

Harry's frown deepened. "He didn't say anything about mine."

"Maybe he's expecting to be back by then?"

"Hm, probably." Harry responded distractedly.

He left it as long as he could, planning to wait until after class, but simply unable to hold out. He abandoned his group, who needed very little help as it was, and approached the headmistress where she sat with eyes trained on what looked to be very official documents.

"Sorry, Professor," he excused his interruption. "Why is Professor Snape not here today?"

McGonagall gave him a knowing look. "He is fine, Mr Potter, he is just taking a personal day."

"A personal day?" Harry repeated incredulously.

"Yes, Mr Potter. Teachers are entitled to a life outside of school."

"Well, where is he?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him. "I have no idea. That is why it is called a personal day."

"He didn't say anything about this before."

"No, he only came to me late last night, informed me that it was very important and reasonably urgent, and since the man has not requested a personal day in the nearly two decades he has worked here, I saw no reason to deny his request. He said he will be back this evening, I'm sure you could ask him for yourself then."

Severus came across Harry sat on the floor outside his office door when he returned to school, having informed Minerva that he was back on his way through.

"Harry you're early." He commented but unlocked his door and opened wide to allow them both through.

Harry shrugged so Severus let it go, leading the young Saviour straight through his office to his private rooms beyond.

"We're not meeting in your office?"

"I thought this conversation would be more comfortable in my chambers."

They settled in the living area, Severus in his usual armchair and Harry on the adjacent sofa.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked worriedly. "You're not ill or something?"

"Not at all. I have something for you." He reached into his robes and produced a parchment scroll, rolled up and tied with green ribbon. "Before you read it, you should know this comes with no expectations."

"What do you mean?"

Severus sighed, "Just read it."

Harry held his gaze as he slid the ribbon off the scroll and stretched the parchment out flat, looking for answers before he could find them on the page. Without finding any clues in Severus' expression, Harry dropped his gaze down to what was evidently an official Ministry document and began to read.

Application for Reassignment of Heirship

This document herein designates that one Severus Snape of Prince heirship names one Harry James Potter (the Recipient) his rightful heir.

The Recipient is thus heir and will, therefore, be entitled to any properties or moneys possessed by Mr Snape on the event of his death. This document also seals that Mr Potter and Mr Snape be hereby considered kin.

Harry stared at the words for a long time before he could make any sense out of them.

"I…you…I don't understand." Severus waited until Harry could digest the information further. "I don't want your money."

"I know. It's not about the money."

Harry looked at him with an alarmed expression. "I don't get it."

"It's not about the money. I have barely anything anyway. It's about what it represents in the Wizarding World." Severus explained. "You're 18 years old. I can't adopt you or make you my ward, but this marks you as my family. It's mostly done for legal reasons but there are other benefits. Professors' families are entitled to live or visit the castle whenever they wish, which means you would be allowed to return here whenever you like. This really would be your home as much as it is mine."

Harry still wasn't saying anything. He stared with wide eyes at the parchment in his shaking hands. Severus moved to sit on the coffee table in front of him.

"Harry? Talk to me. You don't have to agree to this. Like I said, I have no expec-"

Severus was cut off by the breath being knocked out of him. It took him a second to realise what had hit him square in the chest, looking down at the saviour of the wizarding world who had thrown his arms around the professor.

"Harry?" Severus patted him back gently, returning the unexpected embrace. "Are you alright?"

"Mhm." Harry replied weakly. A quiet sniffle alerted Severus to Harry crying on his shoulder. He held the back of the boy's head and was surprised by how natural it felt.

"I did not mean to upset you."

"You didn't." Harry pulled back, hastily wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand. "Are you sure about this? You don't have to do this for me."

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life. There's no debate for me. I want you to know that you belong; I want you as a part of my family."

Fresh tears ran down Harry's cheeks.

"Why are you crying?"

"I've never had a family that wants me before."

Severus squeezed his shoulder and looked into those familiar green eyes. "I do, harry. If you want it, you will always have a home with me."

Harry nodded slowly. "I want it."

End

AN: I can't believe I have finally finished this story! A short epilogue to come soon. Thanks for reading :)