When he entered the room he found his son lying slumped across the arms of one of the armchairs, idly levitating a quill above his head.

He smiled warmly at him, rolling his eyes at the ungentlemanly way in which he was sprawled before summoning a house elf to order some tea and sandwiches.

Harry turned to sit up properly but continued to focus on the floating quill – he really wasn't in the mood to talk.

Severus watched him, proudly, as the feather danced through the air choreographed by the movement of his son's hands, wand lying redundantly on the table beside him. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked after a moment.

Harry shrugged, "What's to tell? I have the Grim!" he sulked, before channelling his frustration into a blast of energy that he directed toward the quill, causing it to combust.

"Wow! Did you see that?" he gasped as the flames turned to ash. It was the first time he had ever deliberately accomplished anything like that without the use of his wand.

Severus too was pretty impressed, it had taken him far longer to achieve anything like that himself and he grinned widely as he brushed the ashes from the boy's hair. "Now clean it up!" he challenged, but he was still smiling so Harry knew he couldn't really be mad.

Harry did so, but had to use his wand just as their lunch arrived.

It was a different elf this time. The former servant of the Malfoys that Harry had befriended the previous year. Severus sat awkwardly on the periphery of the conversation as the two caught up, feeling horrendously out of place in his own office until finally Dobby left.

When he was gone, Harry turned to his father asking in all seriousness how long he reckoned he had.

After his earlier mocking it was ironic then that Severus nearly choked on his tea. "Harry I thought I warned you of Professor Trelawney's penchant for predicting death and doom around every corner. You just have the misfortune of being an easy target. You shouldn't worry about it."

"You did, but you're forgetting that you also showed me the memory of her predicting my birth and Voldemort's downfall. She got that one right didn't she!"

Severus stared at him, sighing deeply. He had forgotten showing him that memory! "She got it right because Voldemort believed it. In effect it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. So in actual fact he brought about his own downfall." he tried to explain.

"Well who is to say I won't bring about mine?" Harry countered.

"Think about that the next time you and Weasley are plotting your next great adventure perhaps." He cautioned with a grin, raising a speculative eyebrow, "Now, drink up and let me get a look at this Grim!" he said gesturing towards the tea cup.

Harry looked shocked. "Did you study Divination?" he asked, he never did find out which subjects his father had taken but after today's lesson he seriously doubted that Divination was one of them.

He shook his head, "No Harry, but it's not really an exact art, even Muggles can manage to decipher a few tea leaves." He scoffed, confirming Harry's suspicion and leading him to wonder why he hadn't insisted upon him studying something else. "Do you still have the book with you?" he asked.

Harry nodded, then pulled it out of his satchel and pushed it distastefully across the table before draining the cup. Taking Divination was one choice he was seriously regretting.

"There!" he exclaimed glumly, as he pointed out the vague shape that allegedly represented the Grim.

And sure enough, there it was, or something very similar to it at least. Was it a particularly ill portent that it was still there? Severus frowned, and looked from the clump of tea leaves to the books illustration looking thoroughly unconvinced. "Well yes I would agree that it looks somewhat like a dog but who is to say it's the Grim? And isn't this the sun? That's supposed to mean happiness is coming your way."

He paused, considering another possible implication that had just popped into his head, "It could be a wolf?" he said testily thinking of Lupin and the detention Harry was to serve later that evening, but Harry couldn't make to connection and only looked more confused.

"Or that mongrel of Hagrid's you seem to have befriended." Severus changed tact as he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be reassuring the boy. "What do dogs mean to you? Didn't you mention an Aunt with a whole pack of dogs once, Maude was it?"

"Marge! And she isn't my Aunt, just Dudley's and her dogs are pure evil. Ripper was the very worst, he is very aptly named, I wouldn't want him after me either, in fact I think I would nearly rather the Grim."

Snape laughed, and then offered his own cup to the boy as a distraction asking him to determine what might be in store for him.

"I haven't got one good eye, let alone a third one." The boy replied, gesturing to his glasses. Why on earth did you let me take Divination?"

"You have two very lovely eyes" his father replied, thinking of the boy's mother before his sons expression forced him to amend his statement to handsome. "And I wanted it to be your choice Harry."

"But it's a ridiculous subject, why is Hogwarts even teaching it if it's some airy-fairy thing even Muggles can do?"

"It's not all tea leaves Harry and yes you would get by without Divination but that's true of all electives. It's a little something extra; to broaden the scope of your education and help you learn to apply what you've been taught in core classes in different ways. You shouldn't automatically discount something just because Muggles have an interest in either, the science of Botany is quite similar to Herbology and don't even get me started on their fascination with Potions."

"Muggles don't brew potions."

"Au contraire, Muggles have a multibillion pound potions industry – anti-ageing potions, healing potions, energy potions, happiness potions…"

"Happiness Potion?" Harry interrupted sceptically.

"Mix sugar, flour, butter and eggs, heat it up and give it to someone, what do you get?"

"A cake."

"A smile." He replied with a smirk before asking Harry if he wanted to change to a different subject.

Harry shrugged,

"Your mother took Divination you know, not with Professor Trelawney of course but it was a class she always seemed to enjoy. She said it taught you a lot about yourself and not just in a foreseeing your future kind of way."

"Because it's how you interpret the signs that matters not the signs themselves?"

"Precisely, Professor Trelawney has found that she commands the most attention when prophesising disaster and misery and so when she looks at your leaves she sees an omen of death whereas a more optimistic reader might focus on the sun and see it as a reminder that there is always light at the end of the tunnel."

"So it could be a sign that Voldemort is coming for me but that I will defeat him once more?"

"It could, but that is where divination becomes dangerous." His father cautioned, launching into a lecture about the risk of giving power to prophecy.

Harry nibbled pensively on his sandwich. His father certainly had a point but would he think differently if he knew of the grim looking dog he had seen in Ottery St Catchpole? He contemplated telling him but then eventually decided against it – What would be, would be, there was little point in both of them worrying about it. Instead Harry decided to ask his father what electives he himself had chosen.

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures," he replied stiffly.

Harry was surprised, he hadn't actually been expecting an answer at all and certainly not one that included the slightly less academic choice of Care of Magical Creatures but as his father reminded him, a knowledge of magical creatures was beneficial in many areas including potion making.

"Do you think I made the wrong choice in picking divination?" he asked then, thinking that if it wasn't for Trelawney and her Grim he never would have made the connection with the dog he had spotted at Ron's.

Severus shook his head. "I think Divination was a good choice. It offers an introduction to a broad range of magical topics including Arithmancy and Ancient Runes but without consuming as much of your time. You already have Quidditch and I wouldn't want you falling behind in your core subjects. At least with Divination it would be rare for you to be assigned complicated prep, since you have no particular interest in the other subjects on offer there would be little point in switching to an elective with a greater workload. You would only be setting yourself up to be unnecessarily overburdened. However, I do remember how quickly you fell behind last year when you were struggling to come to terms with our relationship. If you think that Professor Trelawney's prophecies are going to prove a similar distraction for you then perhaps you should consider switching."

Harry flushed in embarrassment as he remembered the day he had had to explain to a very angry Snape why he had failed to complete his Potions assignment. Could Trelawney's prophecies really be as detrimental to his concentration? He didn't think he had taken in a single word of McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson but maybe that was just because he was tired and if his mother had enjoyed Divination that much then he wanted to give it a try. Besides if the Grim was coming for him anyways wasn't it better for him to be prepared? "I'll stick with Divination." He replied eventually, sounding a lot surer than he felt.

Severus nodded his approval before passing his cup over to his son again. "No harm getting some practice in." he remarked jovially.

Harry took it with a sigh, eyes flickering between the soggy dregs in the cup and the inky pictures in his book before finally declaring that his father was going to find something that was long since lost. He squinted into the cup once more, then struggling to supress a grin added that he thought it looked like a person, perhaps another child.

Horrified, Severus snatched both the cup and the book away from his son so that he could have a look for himself before realising that it was a jest. "That wasn't funny!" He scolded.

"It was a bit funny." Harry replied laughing before telling him what he really saw – a heavy responsibility, a new start, progress and an arc that either meant togetherness or luck.

"What does that mean?" Severus asked.

Harry shrugged. "No idea, I could ask Professor Trelawney if you like"

"Please don't." his father replied shaking his head, the last thing he needed right now was Sybill trying to gaze into his future.

Harry grinned. "At least there doesn't seem to be anything to indicate there is a grim after your son!"

"A positive sign for sure." Severus remarked reassuringly as he poured himself another cup before reminding the boy that while he should always stay vigilant he shouldn't worry himself with Professor Trelawney's predictions.

Harry was feeling much better now after their little talk; life seemed so much easier now that he had a guardian he could trust to go to for advice, a living father who loved him.

This thought also made him feel guilty though, his father was probably so disappointed in him after the way he had behaved during the sorting ceremony. "I have detention tonight." he admitted sheepishly.

"I heard." He confirmed, seriously regarding his son for a moment before asking what McLaggen had said.

Harry was reluctant to say but a stern look soon coaxed out the truth. "It was nothing really, I shouldn't have lashed out at him, it was just that he was joking to his friends about wanting to date Lily as a way to get back at you."

Severus glowered silently into his cup, the faint flush creeping across his sallow skin the only clue to just how furious he was. Not usually one to tell tales, Harry berated himself for the trouble he had undoubtedly caused. What on earth did he tell him for but then just as Harry grappled for something to say as a means of damage control his father surprised him by looking up with a smile. "I'm really proud of you Harry, Lily is very lucky to have a big brother like you looking out for her."

Harry grinned, "So you aren't angry about the detention?"

"Not with you," he answered shaking his head, "but perhaps a little more subtlety next time and while you intentions were good I think you should apologise to your sister for the embarrassment you caused her during her sorting."

"I will." Harry agreed, pondering what exactly he might have meant by saying 'not with you' but before he could enquire there came a knock on the door announcing Ron and Hermione's return.

"Come in." Severus called; opening the door for them with a wave of his hand and greeting them with a curt nod before pulling out his pocket watch to check the time.

Only ten minutes until his next class!

"What class have you now?" he asked his son.

"Defence,"
The potions master frowned but refrained from comment, instead he turned to Ron and Hermione, and solemnly reiterated what he had said to Harry about not taking Professor Trelawney's predictions so literally before bidding them all a farewell.

Harry filled his friends in on the specifics of their discussion as they raced up the stairs to defence. Despite Lupin's kindness on the train Harry was pessimistic about how the class would go. He wasn't so much worried about the Grim anymore but even without his father's warnings he probably would have been expecting the worst; Quirrell had tried to kill him and Lockhart would have left him and Ron down in the chamber for dead- he didn't seem to have much luck with his Defence against the Dark Arts Professors, it would have been naïve of him not to have been suspicious third time round but Lupin soon won him round. He truly was the most fantastic teacher Harry had ever had.

After spending a few minutes ascertaining what they had already covered, he opened the floor to suggestions as to the topics the class was most interested in covering, then balancing their interests with the curriculum, drew up a rough syllabus for the year. Then, seemingly oblivious to the spitefulness behind Malfoys suggestion, began a short lesson on the subject of Dementors.

With the spirits currently guarding the castle boundaries Harry had to acknowledge its relevance but he knew Malfoys game and slumped uncomfortably in his seat, expecting to spend the rest of the class cringing in embarrassment but the moment Lupin started talking he captivated their attentions completely, making Malfoy and his stupid gang forget all about their earlier intentions to use the topic as an opportunity to ridicule their rival.

Harry supposed this ability to so easily enthral them could be what made the Professor dangerous but he found himself warming to him regardless and if it wasn't for the fact that he had Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid next he would have actually been disappointed when the class ended.

Unfortunately though, Hagrid's class didn't even go half as well as Lupin's. After a brief battle with their monster books of monsters that left the half giant bellowing with laughter – all they had to do was stroke their spines – he brought out the showstopper: An 8 foot, 20 stone Hippogriff, that had taken Harry on breath-taking flight around the grounds before taking affront with a discourteous Malfoy and attacking him, leaving poor Hagrid to have to rush the groaning fool to the Hospital Wing.

It served Malfoy right of course, but Harry knew his friend would come off the worse for the incident and was worried for him. He was still happy to be back at Hogwarts of course but if the troubles of the last 24 hours were anything to go by, Harry knew that with or without the Grim it was definitely going to be an eventful year!