A/N: Hey everyone! I hope that you all are still doing well during this pandemic *hugs*…

Here's a new chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and as always, let me know what you all think!

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By the time all the adjustments had been made to the potion, there really wasn't enough time left in the day for Harry to take the potion and get in enough training so Severus resolved for them to rather try it the next day.

The floo flared up and Albus showed up just as Severus was getting ready for bed; Harry had already gone into his room for the night.

"Has knocking on a door truly gone out of fashion, Headmaster?" asked Severus as he shelved the books that were strewn on the coffee table.

Albus chuckled, "Ah but I like to keep life interesting… besides, I hadn't seen either you or young Harry today and my curiosity was piqued."

Severus refrained from rolling his eyes at the blatant prying and answered instead, "I was making adjustments to the potion for Harry and I needed him there for both reference and to teach him a few things as well."

Albus' eyebrows shot up, "You move fast, Severus. I didn't think the potion would be anywhere near ready yet."

This time, Severus did roll his eyes, "You asked me to teach the boy and prepare him for life as a wizard, which is exactly what I am doing."

"No, no," chuckled Albus, "I am not complaining at all Severus. The sooner that Harry becomes accustomed to this life, the sooner-"

Albus stopped mid-sentence and Severus' eyes narrowed, "The sooner what?"

The headmaster waved his hand in dismissal, "Ah you know what I mean… but it is of no matter right now."

Severus took a deep breath, "You are still thinking about how and when you can start grooming him to be your weapon against the Dark Lord."

"Weapon sounds a tad dramatic-"

"He is a child, Albus!" Severus' exclamation was loud enough that he glanced at Harrys' door before lowering his voice again, "I am teaching him how to be a wizard, not a warrior," he held a hand up when Albus looked like he was going to interrupt, "I know that he is the chosen one and maybe one day he will be able to fulfil his destiny but right now he is a blind child who is just as much afraid as he is in awe of this new life he suddenly has to adapt to. I will teach him and I will guide him and you can be bloody sure that I will make certain no one can use him for personal gain…"

Albus' smirk infuriated Severus to no end, "Are you quite done Severus?"

Severus just threw his hands in the air in exasperation before making his way towards his bedroom, "You can let yourself out."

"It is quite something to see how protective you have grown of Harry in such a short amount of time but don't go getting too attached Severus. Remember that he is all trusting now but he is also yet to find out about your own involvement in everything that's led up to this; I wouldn't want you to get hurt yet again…"

Severus turned around at his bedroom doorway and glared at Albus, "Was that a threat?"

"No my boy, of course not… Just be careful," and with that, he spun on the spot and with a soft crack he was gone.

Severus grumbled all the way to bed and lay awake for most of the night.

Xxx

It was while eating breakfast the next morning, that Severus received a note from Tinky.

"Headmaster Dumbledore asked for Tinky to give this to Master Snape, sir."

"Thank you Tinky," said Severus as he took the note and read the short message scrawled on the parchment, "Huh, I should have expected him to do this this early."

"What's wrong professor?" asked Harry.

"It seems like the headmaster wants Hagrid to accompany you to Diagon Alley as early as tomorrow," answered Severus.

"Oh, but that's alright isn't it? I mean I'll have the potion and we were going to do some training today plus I'll have Hagrid with me."

Harrys' voice was so hopeful that Severus had to let go of some of his irritation towards the headmaster, "Of course it is alright but I'm still concerned about you navigating in public even though you'll have Hagrid with you."

Harry had a strange smile on his face so Severus had to ask, "What about that amuses you, Mr Potter?"

Harrys' smile only grew wider, "Well you can always just say that you're worried about me because you won't be there to protect me…"

Severus rolled his eyes, "Presumptuous brat…" Severus stood and walked over to the door, "Well, are you coming? We need to start practicing if you're going to be out and about soon."

"Are we going to the courtyard again?"

Severus paused to think, "There are a few empty classrooms in the castle, perhaps one of those will serve for today…"

"If Master Snape doesn't mind, Tinky has a suggestion," came the squeaky voice of the house elf.

"Of course not, what is it Tinky?" enquired Severus.

"There is a room on the seventh floor that can shape to whatever you may desire… Not many know about it," she paused and then, "Tinky can take Master Snape and Harry Potter there."

"A secret room!" exclaimed Harry.

Severus brow was furrowed but he nodded at Tinky and suggested they walk there instead of Tinky apparating them- mostly so Harry can hone his navigation skills.

"First order of business though," said Severus as he extracted a vial from his robes, "Time for the potion."

Harry accepted it and gulped the contents down, grimacing a bit at the taste.

They waited for a few seconds before Harry said, "Okay, it's happening."

"How do you feel?"

"Everything is much less intense than the last time but I still feel sensitive… it's just more tolerable now," he was beaming as he started walking towards the door. He paused mid-step and seemed to be concentrating a bit harder before he reached directly for the door handle- no fumbling at all.

Severus' eyebrows shot up, "Could you tell exactly where the door handle was? Is that how you reached for it so accurately?"

Harry turned to face Severus, hand still on the handle, "I had to focus a little bit… it was like something inside me was kind of guiding me if that makes sense. It took a little bit for me to almost like let it free and I think that's what guided me to the handle."

Severus was silent for a while and it seemed that that made Harry a bit nervous.

"That didn't make any sense, did it? I don't know how else to explain it…"

Severus sighed, "Harry, relax, that actually made quite a bit of sense," he could see the boy visibly perk up at that, "It seems your magic is pushing out and helping to guide you and with the effect of the potion, it just means that you can feel it more than any other wizard would."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"It is an excellent thing. You can almost think of it as your magic forming a protective bubble around you and at the same time heightening your sense of awareness," answered Severus, "And it might mean that actually casting spells will not be as complicated as I had imagined for you."

Harry beamed at him, "That's great. So can we get started?"

Xxx

They made their way through the castle, Severus hiding a smile every time Harry stopped at a staircase or statue to explain to Severus that "Can you believe I knew that was there?" and "It's about this high and this wide. Am I right?"

They finally reached the seventh floor and Tinky led them to a wide expanse of bare wall.

"I believe you said there was a room we could use to train, Tinky," said Severus as he looked pointedly at the wall.

Tinky nodded, her ears flapping with the movement, "Yes, sir. It is just beyond this wall. Master needs to walk thrice past the wall thinking of what Master wants the room to resemble and then only shall the door appear."

Severus couldn't bring himself to believe that a room would just appear out of thin air but the nodded at the house elf and walked up to the wall anyway, it was worth a try in a magical castle of all places.

He cleared his thoughts and imagined a place well equipped with everything he'd need to both teach Harry how to do magic as well as teach him to hone his sensory skills. Severus kept his mind focussed as he walked past the wall three times and as he reached the end of his third walk-by, the wall started to shift its' appearance to accommodate for a door.

Severus stepped away and stared at the door that looked like it had stood there for centuries on end and not just appeared out of nothing.

"Did it work?" asked Harry.

Severus was distracted out his thoughts by the question, "Why don't you check for yourself?"

Confusion crossed Harrys' face before he grinned and stepped towards the wall- which was now a door. He raised a hand, "I think it did work because it feels here like there's a thin barrier for something behind this," he gestured to the door, "It doesn't feel as solid as a wall would and," he moved his hand to the door handle, "-there's the handle!"

"Very good, Harry," said Severus as he approached, "Let's go inside, shall we?"

Harry pushed the door open in answer and stepped inside.

Severus followed but stopped in his tracks as he caught the rooms display.

There were mannequins placed randomly throughout the room, some with targets on them, others with padding. A few rope ladders hung from various different levels of flimsy looking platforms and a large section of the floor was covered in protective padding.

There were a few broomsticks in a rack in one of the corners and a large section on the far side of the room looked to be dedicated to an obstacle course of some sort which included various different types of terrain.

Severus was about to explore the room further when Harrys' voice caught his attention, "Is it just me or is there a lot of things going on in this room?"

Severus absent-mindedly clutched over his heart when he spotted Harry hanging from halfway up one of the rope ladders, "What on earth are you doing on that thing, Potter?"

Harry laughed, "It's a ladder, Professor. Calm down."

Tinky chose that exact moment to exit with a tiny pop and Severus was left alone with Harry, "Come down, Harry."

Harry braced himself on the higher rungs and climbed a little higher.

Severus' glare was lost on the boy, "Merlin help me but I will levitate you off that ladder and onto solid ground if you don't get down right now."

Harrys' face scrunched up as if he was thinking of something before he let go and landed in a squat but nevertheless on his feet.

Severus' breath hitched and he froze momentarily before striding over to Harry but before he can begin his tirade, Harry spoke, "You were scared."

"Of course I was scared, Harry. If you slipped and I wasn't quick enough with a spell or to catch you, you could have gotten injured!"

Harrys' eyes became suspiciously glassy as he dropped his head to hide from Severus' line of sight, "No one's ever cared enough to be scared about me getting hurt before…"

There was a sharp pang that filled Severus with immense sorrow for the boy in front of him. He kneeled and slowly tipped Harrys' head up so he could look into the boys' eyes, even if Harry couldn't see him do so, "I will always care, Harry, and you will find that you are going to meet many others who will care too. I know that your Aunt, Uncle and cousin have given you reason to believe that the world is cold and cruel but you must not allow them to taint your view of the world by losing yourself in the idea that you will never be good enough because you are more than good enough, Harry."

The impact of the smaller body hitting his was startling and he had not expected to have an armful of Harry with his face buried in his robes muttering "Thank you" over and over again.

Severus tried to let go of his awkwardness and he wrapped his arms around Harry, letting the boy calm down while he comforted him.

Severus' thoughts turned inward and he realized that it might not be all that bad to take his own advice. For too long he has allowed all the bullying and injustices of his past to dictate how he lives his life and who he trusts. It's shaped him into this bitter, shell of a wizard who he's sure that Harry would not be clutching on to if he could actually see what kind of a man Severus was; if he had come to Hogwarts with all the other students at the start of the term and had not spent this time in his professors' company, he was sure that Harry would not want to place an inch of trust in him.

But this seemed like a chance for him to get back some semblance of what it is like to care about someone else, to maybe not live as recklessly when he has someone who is depending on him.

Harry is his second chance.

Xxx

Harry pulls away from Severus after a few moments have passed and his face seems clear of any of his previous turmoil, Severus is grateful that the boy found some comfort from their interaction.

"So what are we going to start with?" asked Harry.

Since Harry didn't have his wand yet, Severus decided to start with honing his senses instead. Which meant that they went back to a few things that they had done on that first practice session, this time though, using the rooms contents to provide obstacles wherever it was possible and Severus charmed a few of the mannequins to move around and intercept Harry whenever it seemed like the boy was making too easy progress.

In a way, Severus was glad that Albus decided to send Harry to Diagon Alley this early. It meant that he'd have a wand and they could start practicing spell work well in advance, giving Harry a chance to get used to using magic for when he would need to in his lessons.

Xxx

By the end of the day, Harry looked exhausted enough that Severus called on Tinky to apparate the boy to their rooms so he could avoid having to drag Harry down seven floors.

There wasn't much conversation over dinner besides Severus explaining how he's going to start incorporating spell-work into their training once Harry has his wand and Harry replying with either a nod or a barely audible "Hmmm".

"You are about to drop head-first onto your plate," said Severus, "Go to bed, Harry. You have a busy day tomorrow."

On cue, Harry yawned and nodded, "G'night Professor."

Severus' fond smile was lost on Harry, "Sleep well."

TBC

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