A/N: This chapter takes place in the first week of August of 1976, when Severus stays at Hogwarts for three weeks to learn Occlumency, and would thus coincide with Chapter 25: To Learn as Individuals of The Path Not Tread.

Friends in Unexpected Places

Having both Madam Pomfrey and Flitwick, in addition to Dumbledore, take Severus seriously and not dismiss him out of hand as just 'that greasy-haired Slytherin boy' made Hogwarts feel more like home than ever before.

[The Path Not Tread, Chapter II,25: To Learn as Individuals]

Poppy Pomfrey

Occlumency training was, by and large, something Severus was excelling at; for all that he adored potioneering and that he found magical theory – and especially when it pertained to Dark Magic – endlessly curious, Occlumency still eclipsed them, proving at the same time challenging and yet inexplicably right, a part of him that he'd never been as aware of as he was being now, in the desolate, cavernous, empty Hogwarts, when it felt closer to his heart than any other home ever had.

That didn't mean it was all sunshine and daisies.

Busy as he was, Dumbledore had assigned him two tools for Occlumency practice – the Sorting Hat, and a Curio. The Sorting Hat was appropriately discomforting, certainly, given that it was rather sentient and seemed to take extreme enjoyment in doing more than sorting some brats for an evening, but it was also kind with its praise and rather encouraging, so on the whole it balanced out.

Not so with the Curio.

Curios were strange objects whose inherent purpose was to force compulsion in a certain measure around themselves; Severus thought they were likely invented by a rather malicious trickster of a wizard as a practical joke, but the inherent danger in them was not to be understated nonetheless. While there were various sorts of Curios, charmed to influence people in their vicinity to do various sorts of things, their greatest danger lay in whether they were designed to release the compulsion or not. Any Curio that was not was designated as a Dark Curio, even if they weren't created by the use of the Dark Arts. Those that were, were by far the most dangerous of these trinkets, easily ensnaring beings in their to their deaths, and their regulation was extremely strict because of the level of damage they could very easily do in the Muggle world, depending on their radius of influence.

Dumbledore's was a Curio of the benign kind, in as much as these things were benign, and was to serve for endurance exercises in Severus' Occlumency training. For the most part, he found it a challenge he was up to; that didn't mean that he didn't have days when it felt a bit too much.

That was how he ended up wandering the Hogwarts' deserted hallways at four in the morning, about a week after he'd arrived at the school, feeling like a ghost inside and out.

With the students gone, most of the school was closed for the summer, the portraits and statues and other passage guardians taking a well-deserved rest from the gaggle of children they were subjected to for most of the year. The Headmaster had judged it simpler to put Severus up in his guest bedroom, seeing how the Headmaster's Quarters were right above his office, and this was where Severus was spending the vast majority of his time in the day, with his head buried in books or magical practice. For the most part, the Slytherin himself truly didn't mind either way; the pace was so gruelling that by the evening, he was far too tired to pay attention to where exactly he put his head down.

The unfamiliar surroundings did, however, contribute to his sense of unease when he ended up having a rather vivid nightmare, prompted no doubt by straining his mind too much with the Curio practice. He couldn't quite remember the nightmare after he'd woken up, but the sense of dread and fear lingered, making him itch in his own skin in this unfamiliar room.

Wandering the deserted castle at least allowed for physical movement, and while it didn't chase away the dread and fear and unease, it at least made it manageable to ignore to a large extent. If his thoughts kept wanting to focus back on the disintegration of the only healthy Muggle relationship he'd ever been privileged to witness, on Lily's wan face, on the thought of how close he'd come to losing her twice over, had he not told her of his work with Dumbledore, on what lay ahead for him and how much he'd have to work to get there, on what it'd be like to become a Death Eater and yet be a spy from the start, well, it was a good thing that his whole purpose in being in the castle at this time of year was Occlumency, because Occluding his mind at least managed to keep these sorts of thoughts at bay for the most part.

Not enough to let him sleep, though, and there was the rub.

The sound of creaky doors opening and the lighting of one wall candle to give some illumination past the near-full moon startled Severus out of his hazy thoughts.

"Having trouble sleeping, young man?" a no-nonsense, female voice asked. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to more light, Severus realised that he was right in front of the hospital wing. Before he'd managed to put together a coherent response that at the same time wouldn't reveal his state of mind, Madam Pomfrey opened the door further. "Come on, then; in you get."

"Madam Pomfrey?"

"Busy hands make a cure for troubled minds, Mr Snape," she answered, closing the door after he'd slunk in. She looked fully awake but clearly not expecting visitors if he was going by her comfortable but slightly tatty robe, of the kind that one wore around the house. Whether she'd not yet gone to bed, or had awoken long enough ago to have shaken the vestiges of sleep, Severus couldn't say. "I usually take the time over the summer to brew the large quantities of relatively common medicines for later in the year. Pepper-Up Potion, Dreamless Sleep and such."

"Ah," Severus voiced, still feeling somewhat wrong-footed, but allowing himself to be almost manhandled into the back room, where the hospital wing laboratory was located.

"I will need a decently sized batch of Skele-Gro," Madam Pomfrey continued. "You will find the ingredients in the storage cupboard beyond that door. And if you wish, you may also brew a small batch in addition for experimentation purposes; I will not promise to use it, but I would be very curious to see what you make of the recipe, which in my opinion leaves quite a bit of room for improvement."

"And you trust me to brew potions that you intend to use on the school populace?" Severus found himself blurting out in surprise.

Madam Pomfrey gave him a soft look by her standards – which wasn't truly very soft, but it drove itself straight into Severus' heart all the same.

"Do you know why I do most of the brewing myself, Mr Snape? Because Horace, proud though he rightfully is of his craft and skills, finds mass production to be tedious and is thus rather more resentful of having to do it than I prefer my brewers to be. Not because I would not be grateful, mind, but rather because the product never quite comes out working as effectively as I'd wish it to. And I know that you know what I mean by that."

Of course Severus knew what she meant; while there was little foolish wand-waving to potioneering, it was a magical discipline for much more than the ingredients one used. Muggles could probably produce most of the simpler brews, just for the inherent magic in many uncommon ingredients that would be enough to fuel the process if done with wizarding equipment, but their brews would be inherently weak, bordering on completely ineffective, because one did use magic when brewing. It was innate use, of the sort that one didn't truly notice unless one focused, but it was there nonetheless, in how one lit the fire, wielded the stirrer, handled the ingredients. And like with all magic, intent played an immense role there, too. It was one of those things that had earned Eileen Severus' admiration once he'd begun purposely studying the magic in potioneering, that she could hate her craft so much and yet produce such high quality product in spite of it – it spoke to tremendous self-possession and focus.

"I may not know you as well as the Headmaster does, Mr Snape, but I believe I do know you far better than many other students that pass through my care. And I am fully aware of the love you have for your chosen craft, and the respect you have for my profession as well, much as you resent having it applied to yourself. More importantly, you understand the necessity of seemingly tedious chores and do not allow that tediousness to interfere with your work ethic. The equipment, you will find in that cupboard by the window, and should you need reference books, they are on the shelf behind you. We shall test your experimental Skele-Gro on several severely injured wild birds that we currently have recuperating with Hagrid, so make sure you do not brew a poison on accident."

As if, Severus almost wanted to scoff. But the brusque kindness Madam Pomfrey had shown him without ever attracting attention to his initial predicament was combining with his evening's strange mood and wreaking havoc on his mental control, so instead he simply did as she'd instructed and set everything up on the work bench for brewing Skele-Gro.

They worked in silence, with no unnecessary chatter, and having a mentally challenging task to focus on had Severus' mind finally letting go of the nightmare, bit by bit, just like the woman had intended. Working with a new brewing partner could be a tricky, and finding that he and Madam Pomfrey were neither getting in each other's way nor causing each other disturbance with their work was gratifying. Severus hadn't brewed with a more knowledgeable person in almost seven years, when it came right down to it, since he'd stopped brewing with his mother and began brewing for her, though he'd not quite understood the distinction at the time to be able to put a name to it. And while Lily was really very good with potioneering, she had never been his intellectual superior in the craft. Slughorn or any of the other students weren't even worth mentioning in the same context.

By the time they were done, the first pale lightness of the early summer morning in the Scottish highlands was beginning to substitute the candlelight, and Severus felt more settled in his own mind than he had since arriving at Hogwarts. Stretching his aching shoulders, he bottled the regular batch of Skele-Gro into appropriate dosages (which Madam Pomfrey then sent flying outside of the laboratory, into storage no doubt), before taking his time inspecting his improvised brew – he'd not spent too much time on the potion itself previously, not having any true urgency before to improve it in any way, but he had had an idea or two from other potions that he felt could be applied here, and was curious to see how it'd work out.

He placed it into Madam Pomfrey's outstretched hand once he'd bottled it and found himself yawning.

"Once Hagrid brings the birds in for their treatment, I will summon you and we will test this," Madam Pomfrey promised; unlike Severus, she looked perfectly rested even though she'd spent most of the night over several large cauldrons.

"And if it proves to work better than the regular recipe?"

"I shall have to see," the matron answered. "I am not allowed to use anything not governmentally approved on the students unless the case absolutely demands it and parental consent is given, but I will speak with the Headmaster on the matter and perhaps we might be able to work something out. As for you, young man – you are quite welcome to join me any time you wish; I can always use a deft hand such as yours, and as you're quite aware, once flu season starts, we can never brew enough for the demand. And Mr Snape," she added softly once she'd escorted him to the entrance of the hospital wing, "if you find yourself at loose ends, or needing some peace and quiet to gather your thoughts, my doors are always open to you. Whatever else happens in your life, you will not alone in the world, not so long as this hospital wing is my domain. And that goes whether you are here in the role of a patient or an assistant."

"I... thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Severus said hoarsely, throat tight. The stern woman offered him a gentle smile before her face fell into its customary no-nonsense expression.

"Now, to bed with you, Mr Snape. Get some rest, and I will see you later today or tomorrow."

"Until then," he agreed, giving her a small smile of his own, before turning and finding his way back to Headmaster's quarters and his now far more inviting bed, feeling all the while as if a tiny bit of faith in the adults of their world was restored to him this evening.

Filius Flitwick

You do your House proud, and Her as well. Your mind is quite orderly, and your magical core is almost at the adult level; you would likely be able to sense Her, if you were taught how.

The idea of Hogwarts as a quiet sentience stayed with Severus in the hours and days after the Sorting Hat had implied it, niggling at his curiosity, spurring on thoughts of research he really didn't have the time for. The idea of being able to sense her was a very appealing one, and wouldn't leave him alone.

Severus had intended to ask Dumbledore about it, but on the afternoon of the same day when he'd learned of this new, intriguing piece of information, they started in on manipulating memories and in his application to the new challenge, he forgot all about it.

The thought came back to him as he was walking down the deserted corridors at six in the morning the next day, and he turned it over in his head for a bit. Given the history and the concentration of magical folk occupying this exact spot, it wasn't hard to assume that the location was some sort of magical fulcrum; magic had its own rules, ones Severus was far more aware existed than most other people did. Dark Magic straddled the line between ordered, structured magic manipulation and wild, untapped potential of the free magic swirling in the world. He'd never truly gone into proper research of that other side, but now he did wonder if there were any definable limitations to it, and how those might relate to the castle.

And sensing Her? That was appealing for a very, very different reason.

"Ah, Mr Snape; good morning, I hope," the voice of Severus' diminutive Charms professor greeted him softly from an open doorway, and he realised that he'd wandered into the corridor leading to the Ravenclaw tower.

"Good morning, sir," Severus answered respectfully, not quite sure what to say. He'd not planned on crossing paths with this particular professor, especially not this early in the day.

"Poppy mentioned that you seemed to retire late and rise early; rather like her, I suppose. I would have expected you to be down in her laboratory?"

So the staff talked; that was an alarming thought, if one that really shouldn't have surprised him quite as much.

"You talked about me?" he asked with a frown, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. In answer, Flitwick chuckled.

"Not to worry; Professor Dumbledore had warned us to keep it between the four of us. Hagrid, bless his heart, tends to be rather talkative when inebriated, and who the Headmaster's private guests are should not concern anyone outside of the Headmaster's Quarters."

The calculating, deceptively mild look in Flitwick's eyes made Severus' hair stand on end. He'd heard some stories about Dumbledore's possible proclivities, though who was insane enough to consider a nonagenarian's sexual interests, Severus didn't know and didn't want to know. As far as he was concerned, Dumbledore was absolutely asexual, which was perhaps why he'd not considered the rather damning possible interpretation of the three-week invitation.

Before he could say anything, though, Flitwick tittered in laughter. "That was not what I meant, young man, and I doubt many others would think of it, either. Really, given the number of unmarried faculty, it's no wonder that you youngsters always assume we're all celibate and with no private lives, so I wouldn't worry that anyone would go quite down the route you just did."

"Your wording was quite suggestive, Professor," Severus pointed out crossly.

"Well, given that we were all students of Professor Dumbledore, I suppose it's no wonder that our views on such matters have persisted, as well. To be honest, I have never considered such a thing at any length, and I'd rather continue not to."

"Why?" Severus found himself asking. "Do you know something?"

"Oh, I'm sure many people know a great many things, me included; but that is the Headmaster's private business, and should rather remain so, don't you agree?"

Severus shrugged. "Information is a very valuable currency."

"Yes, something I believe only Slytherins can fully appreciate, though we Ravenclaws try our best. How are your studies going so far?"

"What has Dumbledore told you?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Flitwick corrected mildly with a slant of his head. "And he's not told any of us much; just that you would be staying with us for the purposes of advanced magical study for which he'd given personal dispensation, and that your presence is not to be disclosed beyond Minerva, Poppy and me."

"They're going fine," Severus answered noncommittally, shrugging his shoulders.

"If I may be of any assistance, do not hesitate to seek me out, please."

"Actually, I do have a question. Is there something specific about Hogwarts that could be sensed?"

The diminutive professor released a mild sound of surprise and, tightening his house-robe, invited Severus into his quarters. They were decorated in pleasantly cool and airy colours, with earthen browns to contrast the blues, and there were as many overflowing bookshelves as Severus wished he could himself own.

"That, Mr Snape, is rather a complex question, and would require something of a lengthy explanation. I suspect you've not yet had breakfast? Well, then, I'll get us some and then we can talk."

It was one of the more surreal experiences of Severus' Hogwarts days, certainly; Severus both liked and respected the little man, but this was one of the professors who felt like they belonged to Lily more than Severus, just like Slughorn ironically enough, and so Severus had very little to go on as the older wizard procured a breakfast tray for each of them from the kitchens and then settled himself on the other side of the coffee table, apparently perfectly comfortable with eating in his sitting room rather than the little kitchenette, and indeed didn't seem in the least bit discomforted by the fact that seated in the cosy armchair, his legs dangled in the air as if those of a five-year-old. He even swung them up and down a bit in clear excitement.

(Severus assumed from this that he wasn't the only visitor to Flitwick's quarters; why else would his living room furniture be unsuitable to his height, when that in the kitchen clearly was?)

"Hogwarts is actually more or less sentient," the man began his explanation once they'd both made their plates and begun eating. "It's become tradition to refer to the castle in the female gender; I believe Muggles tend to do that with their vehicles as well. It's the consequence of so much continual magic being performed and maintained in a centralised location, as I'm sure you've already had the chance to conclude. She only communicates overtly with the headmasters unless prompted, but those especially attuned to external magic can reach her easily enough. It is not any sort of sentience that would be easily comprehensible to us, of course, given that she's built of stone and magic, and my belief is that this evolved as a direct consequence of continual warding against various threats. Most are completely unaware of it, and even if they were, very few witches and wizards have the time needed to do anything about it."

"Can you communicate with her?"

Flitwick nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes; her presence is quite amplified in my classrooms due to the high magical discharge that regularly occurs there. I believe the same is also true for the Transfiguration and Defence quarters. If you like, we could take the morning and I could explain the mechanics behind it to you a bit more; what is your background in Magical Theory?"

"Good enough," Severus answered certainly.

"May I be so bold as to assume it would be in the area of Dark Magic?"

Severus nodded once, defiantly. He had a reputation, so it was no wonder that was where the diminutive man's thoughts had first jumped, but if he was going to judge Severus for his interests, then the Slytherin was fine researching this topic all on his own.

But Flitwick only nodded in answer and scurried to his bookshelves, beginning to pull tomes out.

"Quite interesting to note, isn't it, Mr Snape, that the magical theory behind the Dark Arts should be so informative in the use of common everyday spells; I hesitate to say Light Magic, given that there is certainly an extremely wide gap between the truly Dark and truly Light Magic, especially in the theory, but we rarely teach any of the true extremes here at the school. I believe the Patronus Charm is not on the curriculum at all? No, apologies, it's been included in the Defence N.E.W.T. levels as an extracurricular project since I was a student. I should like to have gotten the chance to teach it, but it is primarily used as a defensive measure, so I cannot rightly complain, of course."

"You'd probably teach it better than whichever professor of the year we get stuck with in the end," Severus noted with a roll of his eyes. "And you could still ask Dumbledore to offer it; the Patronus Charm is much more than just a defensive measure."

"Oh, have you studied it?" Flitwick turned around to ask, eyes sparkling, and Severus found himself actually admitting to something he'd never planned to.

"I can perform it."

"Oh! Oh, how marvellous! A fully corporeal Patronus? That is very advanced magic, Mr Snape, well done! I should like very much to see it, if you would not mind?"

The pride he felt at gaining such enthusiastic, unconstrained praise from one of his professors was an utterly unfamiliar sensation, almost alien in the positive effect it had on Severus' mood. It was certainly enough to push him into pulling his wand out and making the familiar circular movement with it, the memory of Lily from their seaside vacation finding easy purchase in his mind now that it was more honed with Occlumency and buoyed by the already positive emotions coursing through him, and it was only when his precious doe materialised that Severus abruptly remembered to feel embarrassment over his Patronus' shape.

But Flitwick didn't seem to note anything wrong with the feminine animal at all, instead clapping his hands enthusiastically in delight and circling the Patronus, inspecting the spell with the trained eyes of a Charms Master. It was easier to hold the spell, too, which was a surprising side-effect of Occlumency that Severus found himself appreciating very much. He'd needed to learn to understand his emotions in order to be able to conjure the Patronus, but now the same skill was proving quite effective in other aspects of magic, combining with his inborn ability to compartmentalise and partition his own mind by giving him enough control over his strongest emotions to manipulate them to his own purposes.

"Extraordinary," Flitwick said in the end, turning to meet Severus' eyes. "Mr Snape, this is absolutely extraordinary. A corporeal Patronus at sixteen years of age. And it is still quite strong, even after several minutes. I am quite impressed, I must admit."

"Thank you, Professor," Severus said, feelings the way his cheeks were starting to burn from the alien smile on his face. "It... wasn't easy. Quite difficult to learn, actually."

"You should be very proud of yourself, Mr Snape. And perhaps, a suggestion?" The diminutive wizard waited until Severus nodded before continuing. "I believe you'd benefit enormously if you were to tutor Miss Evans in this area – as would indeed she as well."

"Lily? But we're not–" The pointed look in Flitwick's eyes had Severus falling silent.

"Mr Snape, the friendship such as the one you share with Miss Evans is not something to be taken for granted. Whatever happened between you at the end of last term – and yes, we professors are far more aware of most things happening between students than you lot seem to think – I strongly advise you to find a way of mending it, and offering to teach her the Patronus Charm would certainly be an effective way. Did you know that Miss Evans's scores on her Charms O.W.L. were the highest in the last thirty years? Mine were the ones higher than hers. The Patronus Charm is in many ways the pinnacle of Light Magic, and I have no doubt that Miss Evans will walk out of this school with full mastery of it. But it would be far more valuable to the both of you if it came from you."

Severus nodded stiffly but kept his mouth shut; he knew all of that already, of course, but then Flitwick obviously still believed that they'd parted ways, and given how they were going to be behaving in the coming school year, it was better not to disabuse him of that notion. Perhaps showing him the Patronus had been a bad idea after all, though Severus was hard-pressed to regret it in the face of such profuse praise.

"Now, then," Flitwick said, dismissing the topic – and the heavy atmosphere – by levitating the various books onto the table and wiggling onto his sofa chair in order to finish his breakfast as the first of the books opened itself to a diagram from the field of Magical Theory, "Hogwarts' sentience."

They spent some hour and more in a private lecture on the topic. Flitwick took them through the basic magical theory behind the idea, explaining the many protective and defensive wards around them and how they were built in historical order. Then he segued into explaining his private musings and research into the topic, and here Severus felt confident enough to contribute, to ask practical questions over details and to give ideas as they came to him.

Hogwarts seemed to have something of a personality, according to the Charms Master; she was rather protective of her students, though far more from outside threats than those inside her. She was capable of refusing a headmaster, and had done so on four separate occasions throughout her millennium-long history – in such a case, the Headmaster's Quarters remained locked to the person elected for the position, and though all of them had tried, they'd vacated it within a year or so. She even took particular interest in some of her students, though this interest was as alien as the sentience itself, manifesting itself in the strangest of ways – from having the house-elves dote on them, to contacting them through their dreams, to one particular case of allowing a student to Apparate on her grounds in spite of the anti-Apparition wards.

Then, when they'd covered all of this in detail, Flitwick began teaching Severus how to sense her even before Severus had gotten over his hesitance to request such tutelage. It was inexact and more than a little tricky, but it did seem as if Hogwarts was at least curious enough to respond, and they concluded the first exercise with the success of Severus finally managing to put a proper name to that feeling of belonging that he'd had ever since he'd first crossed the Black Lake as an impressionable First-year – it had, apparently, been Hogwarts welcoming him and wanting him to feel welcomed in turn all along.

And the cherry on top of the pleasure and excitement of feeling wanted by the large castle was that, by the time they were done, half the day had gone and Severus felt like he'd come to know his Charms professor far more than he had before, and, more than that, felt that he was genuinely liked in return. It was not a very familiar feeling, but it was one he secretly cherished nonetheless.