The year went on slowly, and Severus had found a way for him to stand the pressure: With all his might, he ignored the eyes, the Lily in the boy, and consentrated in the James. With each week that passed by, it became easier for him. He was great in occlumency: this made it easy for him to trick his mind to slowly see the boy as the reincarnated form of his arch enemy.
While he supported the hate for him, however, he constantly kept an eye on him. For a while now, he had felt a small ticklish feeling in his left arm. It wasn't strong, and it might have been nothing, but he had mentioned it to the headmaster. It had surely concerned Dumbledore, though he didn't let it show on the outside. He had told Snape that it probably was nothing; but that he should probably keep his eyes open, because even though Hogwarts might be the safest place in the world, it still wasn't completely curseproof.
Once the first quidditch match was due, he started feeling cautious. He thought it was obvious that there was an intruder in the school, someone who knew about the stone, someone who might even be a threat to the boy. As a player, floating high with just a broom for his aid, Harry would be an easy targed. He was quite sure that the person wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything in the middle of a quidditch match however, so he didn't put too much thought into it.
A desicion he regretted once the game had started and he looked around: he immediatelly perceived that it would be impossible to discover the source of a foul spell from the mass. He started murmuring protective spells at once, hoping his instincts were wrong: but as Harry's broom started to swing, sling and shake, he knew it wasn't a strange play the boy was playing, as the slytherins around him were guessing while pointing and sneering at him. He put all his might and ability with the spells, to protect the boy, and at that point the covers he had built for himself disappeared: the boy was Lily's son, all that was left of the only person he had ever loved and who had loved him back, and he could not let anything happen to him, not now, not ever.
Suddenly the attacks stopped, and Harry was able to climb back to his broom. Severus didn't dare to stop the spells though, for he knew they would start again as soon as he would quit. Suddenly he felt something heating up his back, painfully. He howled and was forced to break the eyecontact as he turned and tried to find the source of the pain - but there was nothing there. He quickly returned to the game, but was relieved to find that nothing bad happened during the rest of the match.
Now he could be sure there was someone trying to harm Harry though, which tangled with his mind even worse. After the game he couldn't recover his walls against the boy fully anymore; the eyes started haunting him. The emerald eyes that had once belonged to his best friend, the only girl he had ever felt anything for, the girl that had been like the sister he never had, the girl that had been killed by somebody who now tried to kill her son.
It definitely wasn't a fatherly feeling he formed for this boy, for he definitely couldn't forget who his father was. He started feeling like he was responsible for his safety, as if he were his guardian. He despised it greatly how much the boy likened his father otherwise: the hateful looks he gave him, the way he talked back at him, made fun of him with his friends. During those times it was easy for Severus to confront him: all he saw was an arrogant, selfish little kid. But sometimes when Harry didn't notice Severus was observing him, he was completely different. Severus saw him grinning widely with his friends, being downbeat after an unsuccesful quidditch practise, and studying with a focused frown on his face in the library.
He knew that this boy clearly was different from his peers, he could see it. There was a depth in him that the other's didn't have, most likely caused by the fact that he had lost his parent's long before he could remember, raised with muggle relatives who, as far as Severus knew, hadn't always been as loving towards him as they were towards their own son. Nonetheless, Severus started to respect this child on a different level. And once he heard what had happened down the shutter, he felt the blood leave his face and he hurriend to the hospital wing.
As he entered the room, he saw the boy lying on a white bed, looking ever-so-peaceful. He could have been dead for all he knew, but he had heard what had happened and could tell by the small risings of his chest that the boy was just heavily asleep. He didn't dare to move any closer to the bed, but he couldn't leave the view either. For a while he just stood there, let the memories from long ago fly through his head.
He was back at the lake almost twenty years ago. He was lying against a tree with Lily next to him. They had been reading for their OWLs, but Lily had got tired of it and closed her eyes. Severus had examined her face: even though he knew he didn't love her the way some people thought he did, he felt a strong affection towards this red-haired, pale-faced girl who was resting next to him, who was so completely different from all the people he knew. If he could choose whom he fell for, he would definitely have chosen Lily; for a long while he had thought that they would eventually end up together. But as years passed, it became clear to him, that even though he cared for her as strongly as he did, he did not lust after her. Slowly he had become to realise that it wasn't only Lily - he didn't lust after any of the girls at Hogwarts. Untill his seventh year, he had never felt a spark towards anyone - and then the new Defence Against Dark Arts -teatcher arrived.
The door to the hospital wing closed quietly behind him, and he startled and turned his head away from the bed. Dumbledore had entered the room, and was now eyeing the bed, with a small twinkle in his eyes. Severus could tell that the professor had been standing behind him for a while before entering, and felt a bit flustered. Dumbledore took a few steps and paused next to the other professor. For a while, he stood there next to Severus, surveying the sleeping boy.
"The resemblence with his father is extreme", the headmaster then said, without turning his eyes from the scene. Severus plainly stood there, staring at the boy's rising chest.
"But the eyes... They are his mothers. He likens Lily very much" Severus finally mumbled. He didn't often enjoy his conversations with the headmaster, because they always made him feel vulnerable. He felt as if Dumbledore knew more about him than he himself did. His last statement had risen a contented smile to the headmasters lips, though he hadn't averted his gaze from the boy. Finally Severus cleared his throat and turned to the door.
"I have some papers to mark, professor. I'll see you tomorrow." Dumbledore lifted his eyes from the bed and turned them to Severus'.
"Good night, Severus" he said, with a covert smile on his face.
Please, be lovely, and review if you have anything at all to say. It would make me feel better to know if this is going anywhere at all!