"Sir, I'm in a hurry. I have one more lesson," Harry struggled to somehow get out. He didn't really want to spend more time in the Potions Master's office than the lesson required. Ron and Hermione hesitated at the end of the office, already at the very door. Like Harry, they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"It won't take long, Mr. Potter. In addition, I warned Madame Hooch about your absence from her lesson" this alerted the trinity. And Harry had already sworn ten times in his head.

"Sir, I'm not sure why you detained me? My potion is certainly not perfect, but ..."

"It's not about your potion, Mr. Potter, it's about your back." After the man's last words, everything went cold inside the sophomores.

"How did you know about this?" Potter hissed coldly as a snake. His gaze went to his friends, without words they tried to come up with some kind of plan, but nothing came to mind.

"My brother told you?!" Ron blurted out suddenly. He knew he shouldn't have trusted Percy. His brother never knew how to keep his mouth shut.

"This has nothing to do with your brother, Mr. Weasley. I found out about Mr. Potter's beatings two days ago," Snape explained emotionlessly as usual, watching closely the reaction of the entire trio. Ron and Harry were angry as Hermione thought things over carefully. Severus wasted no time and continued.

"I would like to know where your scars come from?"

This was not a good idea. Potter gripped his jaw tightly and glared at the man.

"It's none of your business, sir." The boy's little outburst could not be blamed. Harry was used to it when adults saw or found out about his scars. The reaction was always the same. Some said that he was a shameless liar, while others simply mocked him and said that he deserved it. The boy did not know how they would react to this at Hogwarts, so he carefully concealed it. At the time of the first course, only two people found out about this. It was they who helped Potter to cope with the scars, both physical and many spiritual ones healed.

And now Ron and Hermione came to help Harry. The guys stood on either side of the scarred boy to protect him, thereby calming the latter a little. Snape honestly expected such a reaction, he went through it himself, but he had no one who could protect him as well. Well, except for a few people from Slytherin.

"I don't care about your past, Mr. Potter. The main thing now is that I can help, if you let me," Harry was about to answer something impartial, but Hermione stopped him with a strong grip on his hand. For a while, it seemed to Severus that the children were engaged in non-verbal dialogue with each other. Still, after a minute or two, Potter nodded and released Granger's hand.

"I will accept your help, sir," the boy agreed without much enthusiasm.

"Take off your shirt, Mr. Potter," the Potions Master ordered, pulling several bottles of potion from his private closet. Such an order again made the Gryffindor nervous, he did not like to be looked at or touched by people whom he did not trust or feared. And Snape, oddly enough, fell into both of these categories.

"Sir, can I do it myself?" This time Ron stood up, he felt how his best friend was nervous.

"I need to make sure Mr. Potter isn't seriously injured. But I promise I'll finish quickly." Severus decided to make concessions, which left the scarred boy happy without saying.

The man did not lie. The inspection was indeed quick, albeit a little painful. Especially for Ron, whose hand Harry had grabbed onto. And Potter tightened his grip every time the Potions Master touched his back or touched particularly painful wounds. The efforts of Ron and Hermione were not in vain. Thanks to potions and high-quality dressings, deep cuts, bruises and scars healed quickly and without much harm to health.

"This ointment will help get rid of your scars and wounds much more effectively, and faster." A quick dressing, and finally Harry released the younger Weasley's hand. A few bruises remained on her, but the red-haired boy did not complain or reproach his friend. He understood how hard it was for him now. Especially around Snape, "Now I want to see your wrists."

"Did you know about that too?" Potter carefully rolled up his shirt sleeve and showed a clean hand. If you look closely, you can see how the air around the hand fluctuated slightly. A side effect of the disguise spell. Snape used an office spell and quickly examined his hand.

"Nice work," Snape's meager praise surprised Hermione and everyone in the office. They would never have thought this man was capable of praising anyone other than his beloved Slytherins. After all the bandages were applied again, Snape decided to move on to another part of the important conversation.

"I'd like to talk to you about a new guardian, Mr. Potter."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Today I will speak with Professor Dumbledore about your new guardian. Due to the new details of the circumstances, you cannot be left in your current family," this news caused a double feeling in Harry. Of course, he would have gladly escaped from the Dursleys to the wizarding world, but where is the guarantee that the new family will not be worse?

"I'm not sure if it's worth doing, sir. I'm fine with the current state of affairs while I'm at Hogwarts" the new perspective scared Potter. Yet now he had some kind of stability.

"Don't be creative, Potter. This is out of the question. A more worthy guardian will be selected for you. I'll take care of that personally."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Potter hissed under his breath.

"Did you say something?" from the sensitive ears of the potion maker, of course, such a phrase could not escape, but he decided to ignore it.

"Nothing," the boy with the scar smiled innocently, "If that's all, then can we leave?"

"You're free, Mr. Potter. Later, I will notify you of Professor Dumbledore's decision." The three hurried away.

"What was that all about?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know, let's go rather the lesson has already begun," Ron, Harry and Hermione rushed towards the lesson area. Each of them was thinking about something different and each was worried about Snape's behavior. None of them trusted him one hundred percent.

In Madame Hooch 's lesson, the boys were finally able to relax, because all their thoughts were occupied only by brooms and Quidditch. But Hermione completely immersed herself in the analysis of the situation and hoped that nothing bad would happen.

In the late afternoon, Harry was summoned to Snape's office, which greatly scared the teenager. And he flatly refused to go anywhere without his friends.

"If it's easier for you, we'll stay at the office door. If Snape tries to kill you, just scream as loud as you can," Ron joked, smiling encouragingly at his friend. The gesture calmed Potter down a bit.

"Good luck, Harry. Everything will be fine. "Hermione hugged Harry and patted on the shoulder.

"Don't sound like you're sending me to death, I'm still going to Snape's office. Not much of a difference, though." Potter could no longer stall for time. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Immediately he was invited to enter.

"What are you doing? It's ugly to eavesdrop on this."

"Shh… You're in the way," the girl just rolled her eyes at the manners of her friend, but also leaned her ear against the door. Yet she was also worried about Harry.

There were two people in the office. Professor Dumbledore and oddly enough Snape. The Headmaster smiled benevolently as always, while the Potions Master was obviously angry and annoyed at something. Harry didn't like this situation at all.

"Have a seat, dear boy. We want to talk about your temporary guardian." Snape rolled his eyes in annoyance at Dumbledore's benevolent tone.

"And who will it be, sir?"

"I'm your new temporary guardian, Mr. Potter," Severus said through gritted teeth.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed, causing Ron and Hermione standing outside the door to jump up like scalded. The couple stared at each other in shock.

"He will be his new guardian?!"

At this time, Harry thought of only one thing:

"I hope it's not too late to return to the Dursleys."