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Alicia

"RAVENCLAW!"

Harry applauds as he watches his little sister take the Hat off her head and run over towards the Ravenclaw table. He's not surprised at all. He sometimes feels that he doesn't know Alicia as well as he does Sol and Romulus, since he hasn't been at home most of the last five years when she was becoming a real person, but he got to know her a lot better this past summer. She's bookish, like him.

She's on fire with ambition in a way that he's not. She's powerful like Sol and brilliant like Romulus. She's not very patient. But Harry thinks she'll thrive in Ravenclaw and learn to calm down a little. At least she isn't in Gryffindor. That would probably ruin her.

Harry glances up and catches Professor Snape's eye for a moment. Snape inclines his head. Harry half-smiles. Yes, Snape is going to treat Alicia better, too, because of her House.

Harry does wonder if he'll have another student for his private lessons soon. Sol is determined to master all the advanced spells that Harry knows, and sometimes Romulus is there, but not always. He's much more interested in magical theory.

Harry thinks it's a shame that he'll only have two years at Hogwarts while Alicia is there. It promises to be interesting.

"I want you to teach me, Potter."

Severus slows and silences his steps. He has been going towards the place that his monitoring spells in the dungeons told him Harry is; he wishes to ask him about the OWL marks he wasn't privy to. Harry did owl him about his Outstanding in Potions, but Severus will not be content until he knows the others.

He did not expect to hear the arrogant voice of Zacharias Smith. The boy has ignored Harry for five years despite being in the same classes and sleeping in the same bedroom. Severus stands where he can look around the corner but not be seen.

Harry is leaning against the wall, his arms folded and his eyebrows raised. He is growing taller every time Severus looks, and while he will never be strongly-muscled, he has a lithe grace that draws more than Severus's eye. It may be time to do something about that. Next to Harry stands his sister, glaring. She is more tolerable than Severus expected when she pestered him with questions in her first Potions class.

Smith doesn't seem to care about the youngest Potter's glare or Harry's expression of cool skepticism. He continues, "Your brother was showing off to a few of his Gryffindor friends, and they talked to friends of mine. You're a good teacher, better than the joke we have for Defense."

Severus wants to roll his eyes at the tone those words are delivered in, but Smith is correct. Remus Lupin stayed only a year in the Defense post. Since then, Albus has relied on Jasper Merrythought, the grandson of an old Defense professor, who has proven conclusively that he does not have his grandmother's knowledge.

Albus is a brilliant man, but he needs to look down from the heights sometimes and realize that he has students around him who need good teachers, not mere promise.

"So what?"

Harry's voice makes a shiver run down Severus's spine. It is deep and cool, and uncaring. Smith's facts don't turn his head. Neither does his sister's glare. He's refuting the need to teach someone else simply because they're in his House, and he's doing it in a way that makes Severus burn with the impulse to reach out and touch—

He holds himself back, but it's difficult.

"I want you to teach me, too."

"We've never been friends, Smith. Why should I?"

Smith apparently does not know how to deal with this, any more than he knows how to deal with the messes that he constantly makes in Potions. He blinks and flounders for a moment. Then his face lights up as though he thinks he has the answer. "Because I can make it worth your while, Potter. What do you want? Money? A word in the ears of important people in the Ministry, so that you can have a good job when you graduate? Or—" His eyes linger for a second on Harry's. "Something else?"

"My brother doesn't need anything you can offer him!" Alicia Potter yells.

Severus steps forwards then, and intervenes before someone can get sent to the hospital wing, not a remote possibility with the way that Smith has just drawn his wand. "Did I hear you offering to bribe Ministry officials for the sake of a fellow sixth-year, Smith?"

The boy starts and turns to him, his face going pale. "Professor," he murmurs. "Sorry, I—I mean, I think you misunderstood. I only want Potter to teach me what he knows." He looks at Harry again.

Those disdainful green eyes haven't moved an inch. Severus laughs in a wild part of his mind. I am the only one who can make them soften. I am the only one who can make them shine. I am the only one who has seen that smile.

"If Mr. Potter does not wish to do so, then he does not have to," Severus says, and savors the way that Smith goes paler. "Walk away, Mr. Smith. And ten points from Hufflepuff for suggesting the bribery of Ministry officials, even in jest."

"It was just a joke, Professor! I promise!"

"Five points from Hufflepuff for protesting my taking points," Severus says, and watches in amusement as Smith stomps away. He is going to enjoy taking points from the immature brat for the rest of the year.

"Thanks, Professor," Alicia Potter says, her hands on her hips as she considered Smith's back. "He just won't leave Harry alone. He even tried to say last week that Harry owes him lessons because he's in his House and he shouldn't be teaching Gryffindors and Ravenclaws!"

Severus turns to Harry. "Is this true?" Granted, they are only a fortnight into the new school term, but if Harry has had to listen to that rubbish for more than this one encounter…

"Yes, it's true, sir. Nothing I can't handle." Harry gives him a curious look and then darts his eyes to his sister.

That is also true; Severus does not want an audience for this. "If you will excuse us, Miss Potter, I am going to give your brother some lessons in speaking up sooner and dismissing idiots from his sight."

"He could use those, thanks, Professor!"

At least that child appears to have inherited the best parts of her parents' sunny natures, Severus reflects as she bounces away. He glances at Harry. "Come with me."

"You do not have to put up with the likes of Smith bothering you for lessons. You should have come to me the minute he started."

"It's honestly not as bad as Alicia made it sound, sir. She thinks that it's worse than it is."

Harry watches as Professor Snape turns a little away from the fire and gives him a doubtful look. Well, it's true. Alicia is protective of him in a way that's both cute and disturbing. She's five years younger than Harry. He should be the one who's protective of her, not the other way around.

But she did tell him the day after her Sorting that she thinks she was wrong all these years not to notice how Mum and Dad treated Harry, and she's trying to make up for that. And Harry doesn't know if he'll be able to talk her out of that perspective.

"Your yearmates troubling you for tutoring when they did not bother to pay attention to you all these years—"

"That's not the way it was, either, sir." Harry feels his face heat up as Snape's eyebrows creep up a little. "Honest. Smith is the only one who's talked to me about that. Sometimes the others ask me questions, but they're not bothering me."

"You are modest and quiet," Professor Snape says. "You might encounter things that would make anyone else snap and ignore them. You have the right to argue back when someone bothers you. Keep that in mind."

"Yes, sir," Harry says, even though he thinks it's a wasted warning. Honestly, the ones who bother him the most are Mum and Dad and Sirius and Remus, who can't deal with their shame and guilt. They write to him all the time, but while Mum and Dad want to know how he is and what he's doing, Remus just dwells on trying to understand why Harry kept his skills from them for years, and Sirius wavers between apologizing and trying to explain his "perspective."

Harry surprises himself with how much he doesn't want to hear it. Or read it. Whatever.

"Now." Professor Snape relaxes, and Harry thinks they're going to move towards the cauldron standing ready in the corner. He's ready for that, anticipating it, even, but Snape surprises him. "I would very much like to hear what marks you got on your OWLS."

"Well, you know about the Outstanding in Potions, sir. Which was mostly a result of your tutoring."

"And your skill. Do not neglect your skill."

Harry knows his mouth is open. But he can't understand. Snape is the last person to refuse a compliment. Harry tries to give him one, and he decides it's the student skill instead? Is he sick? Delusional?

"I—all right, sir. What other marks do you want to know?"

"All of them."

That makes Harry want to keep on gaping, but he's already spent enough time looking stupid with his mouth open. He swallows. "All right, sir. I got Outstanding marks in Defense, too, but that was mostly because I could demonstrate spells like the Shield Charm that they don't think everyone can do. I got Acceptable in History of Magic and Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy—"

"Yes, I expected you to do at least that well, and History of Magic does not matter since you have dropped it. What about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes?"

Harry grimaces a little. "Runes was difficult. I ended up with an Acceptable because I can draw the runes just fine and read them, but I can't get them to glow with my magic. I'm not good at feeding it into objects, sir."

"You cannot be equally good at everything, Mr. Potter. Arithmancy?"

"Exceeds Expectations," Harry says, just a little smugly. Arithmancy is one of those subjects that some people expect to be good at because they're powerful. They think they can turn the equations into incantations with enough power. It takes concentration, as Harry would explain if they bothered listening to him. And he can solve the equations and construct them, which matters more to Arithmancy than it does in Runes. "Acceptable in Herbology. Exceeds Expectations in everything else."

"In Transfiguration as well?" Snape's lips are curling up a little. "I imagine that your parents were not pleased by that."

"They were pleased," Harry says, a little startled Snape would think they wouldn't be. Then again, Snape's hatred for his father isn't always practical. "They were just—surprised. I think they thought NEWT-level Transfiguration was beyond my skill level."

Snape stares at him. "But they've seen you demonstrate it."

"Yes, sir, but my Transfigurations usually last an hour less than everyone else's." Harry has accepted that. Nothing seems to change when he puts more time into it, and he would rather learn other things. And his Transfigurations do exactly what he needs them to do, including protecting him during the mock battle in his Defense OWL exam.

Snape makes a low, guttural noise. Harry blinks. It's not possible for a human being to snarl, except for Remus when he's in werewolf form, but it really sounds as if Snape just did that.

"Sir?" he asks cautiously. Maybe Snape got bitten by a werewolf over the summer and Harry didn't know—although he likes to think Snape would tell him.

"They know you now, they know how much time you put into study and work, and even now they do not know how to value you." Snape's body is still, but it's the kind of taut stillness that could explode into violence at any second. Harry knows that kind of stillness from seeing Sirius and Dad playing with Remus. "Why are they so worthless?"

His voice rises into a cry, and he turns and grabs an inkwell, hurling it at the wall. Luckily, it's made of some kind of green stone and just rolls on the floor in a spreading puddle of ink instead of exploding.

Harry hesitates and then steps forwards. He's not sure it would be a good idea to touch Snape right now, but he puts his hand down on the desk not far from where the inkwell was. "You always thought my father was worthless, sir."

"I tried to think otherwise. For Lily's sake." Snape is breathing fast, spots of color standing out on his cheeks. "And then Lily. The brilliant woman I knew never would have become this kind of mother. Never. What happened?"

"Well, she had some kind of confrontation with Aunt Petunia when I was little that really had an effect on her," Harry says cautiously. He's not sure how much he should reveal in case Mum wants him to keep this private. But right now, pleasing her is less important than soothing Professor Snape, the only adult who cares about Harry this much. "And people taunted her for having a Squib son and bringing Mudblood, um, blood, into the Potter family. I don't think that she realizes how much she hurt me, even, sir."

"That is no excuse." Professor Snape lifts his head, slowly, squinting at Harry as though he's trying to see him through water. "I think I am finally over regretting the loss of my friendship with Lily Evans."

His hand finds Harry's. Harry catches his breath sharply. Professor Snape lifts his head higher, and his eyes pierce Harry's.

In the end, Harry is the one who has to glance away, cheeks warm. For the first time in years, he's afraid of what Professor Snape might read in his eyes.

Ravenclaw Help

"I can help you set this up. I think you're right, Squibs deserve a chance."

The Potter smiles at Hermione Granger when she says those ridiculous words, and Severus burns to assign her detention. But Granger is truly the one student who has never done anything to deserve it, and he cannot. Besides, her presence makes Harry talk more about the Squib advocacy movement that he wants to set up and wave his arms around while his eyes flash, and Severus enjoys watching that too much to chase the Ravenclaw girl off.

They are meeting in a small corner of the dungeons that has chairs, tables, and even the remains of a potions work station, but which no one, not even Severus's Slytherins, knows is there. He has maintained it for years as a private place to go, less guarded than his quarters, but he showed it to Harry two years ago. Harry wanted to invite Granger there, and well.

Severus is glad that he does not mark the NEWTS. He would be unable to keep his favoritism from showing itself.

"Should it be Hogwarts, though? Or another school?" Granger taps her quill thoughtfully against the parchment in front of her, spread out on a table. "Hogwarts has a formidable reputation. And it's full of prejudiced people." Granger scowls. Severus recalls her effort years before to get people to stop binding house-elves, an effort doomed to failure given the amount of pure-bloods in Hogwarts.

Imagine such a smart girl not knowing that, Severus thinks snidely, but at least Granger did go along with reality in the end.

"If we want to find another school, then we have to worry about building and funding it." Harry tilts his head. "Unless…"

Severus likes to enjoy the speed with which Harry's brain is working, but Granger interrupts, too impatient to enjoy. "Unless what?"

"There are still lots of abandoned buildings left from the war with Voldemort." Harry ignores the way Severus flinches. He's never made fun of him for it, and Severus sometimes wonders who he grew up around that would be likely to flinch at the name. Of course, given Pettigrew's rant the summer before last, perhaps it was him. "Places that no one wants to live in because people died there, but they don't want to sell them, either. Perhaps someone would donate one to us once they hear about the cause."

Granger blinks and then squeals and hugs Harry. "You're brilliant, Harry!"

He is. And you should let go of him. Severus holds himself in check and says only, "A good idea, Mr. Potter. Although that same prejudice Granger points out that would keep Squibs from attending Hogwarts might prevent some pure-bloods from selling you their manors."

Harry glances at him. "I was thinking of asking Muggleborn or half-blood families, sir. Not that stuck-up lot."

Granger giggles abruptly and claps her hand over her mouth. "Just trying to imagine you asking Malfoy," she chokes when Harry glances at her.

Harry's smile softens, but it still isn't the brilliant one that he so often gives Severus now, so Severus is content. He continues, his eyes flaring. "Well, we won't ask him. And we do have a source of funding, although probably I'll have to work for a few years before we have enough to renovate a building and start the school."

"You'll have to work? What do you mean, Harry?"

What makes Severus burn now is the ease with which Granger addresses Harry by his first name. But he listens.

"Why, those lessons that people like Smith keep asking me for?" Harry's smile flashes now, still not the brilliant one but narrow and dangerous. "I'm going to give them, sure. But I'm going to charge the bastards."

He pauses for a second and glances at Severus, then adds, "My parents are wealthy enough they might be able to pay for the school before I could. But I'd rather die than ask them."

Severus knows he is lost. The only thing he needs to do now is decide the right thing to do about it.

Funding

"Can I help you, Sirius?"

"Yeah, Harry. Don't be so formal, all right?"

Harry raises his eyebrow. Honestly, he doesn't think this is formal, but if Sirius thinks so, then Harry will give him what he wants. "All right. I'm late for one of those lessons I'm supposed to be giving some of the Ravenclaws." He dodges around Sirius and towards the dungeons.

"Wait, Harry! I came to Hogwarts just to talk to you!"

Harry turns around and leans against the wall. Sirius looks awkward and stuffs his hands in his pockets. Harry sighs internally. He knows that Sirius wants to make up for ignoring him for so long, but on the other hand, he also doesn't want to just apologize. He keeps trying to excuse it and telling Harry that he should be more like Sol, and then saying that Harry should have told everyone about his powers sooner.

It's exactly the kind of tiresome response that Harry thinks should cease soon, or he'll simply use the Silencing Charm on his family and ignore their letters.

"I thought of something I could do to make up for not acting like a good godfather."

"All right." Harry crosses his arms. "What's that?"

"Don't look like that, Harry. You look like you're trying to shut me out—it's just—" Sirius takes a huge gulp of air and smoothes his hand through his hair. "I don't like it when you look like that," he whines.

"You haven't been a very good godfather to me, Sirius. We don't have a close relationship. I'm not angry," Harry adds when Sirius opens his mouth, probably to accuse them of exactly that. "But I'm not interested in listening to you complain about me again. What's your way to atone?"

Sirius looks at the floor, then back up. "Sol mentioned that you want to start a school for Squibs."

Harry manages to suppress the roll his eyes want to give, but it's hard. Sol is an incredibly chatter-prone person, even when he's in the midst of his OWLS year and shouldn't have time to be. "Yes, I do."

"Then—I can give you some of the Black money for the building you want to purchase. Help you hire people to renovate it. You know."

Harry considers Sirius for a second, then nods slowly. "Yes, all right. That would help."

"Thanks, Harry!" Sirius darts forwards and hugs him.

Harry accepts the hug and does roll his eyes over Sirius's shoulder. The man is never going to have a normal relationship with him, but evidently he thinks that he can make up for that and everything will be the same as it was before.

Or rather, the way it should have been.

But it's never going to be that way, and Harry can accept that. He has good relationships with his siblings. He has the school. He has a few casual friends in his House and others now that he's teaching those lessons.

He has Severus.

Even if I wouldn't dare tell Professor Snape that I think of him that way yet.