Disclaimer: Nope. J.K. owns em.

Authors Notes: Thanks for all your reviews. You don't know how much I look forward to reading your opinions. I appreciate those of you who found Bill's death tragic. I wasn't sure anyone would care. Since he is a pretty underused character, and I was not planning on using him, I thought it might prove interesting to kill him on his wedding day.

Ann F: Yes, Draco is with McGonagall.

Snape's recollection of his parents in this chapter was inspired by 3-legged dog's, Victims of Prophesy. It is a great little fic that is extremely well written and creative. It gets better with every chapter. You should all go read and review it now. Go on. I'll be here when you get back. I can't copy the link here, but you can find the story here by using the author's name or the title. It is also archived in my C2, Snarry Alberus.

Thanks to the extremely talented excessivelyperky. I appreciate your hard work so much, especially the input regarding POV shifts. You're the best!

Enjoy

Chapter 17

The Summer House

Dobby snapped his long bony fingers, and in a flash of golden light, the drab walls of the garden shed disappeared. While Harry was again puzzled by where they wound up, he had to admit that Dobby had taken them to the most obvious place.

"Hogwarts kitchens..." the boy said aloud, as he and Snape were descended upon by several dozen enthusiastic house elves.

The reaction of the elves was worthy of note. While Harry was used to them making a fuss over him, it was a bit odd to see them treating Snape the same manner.

"Is Masters hungry?" squeaked one little elf, called Pepper, when they came in. She tugged on the sleeves of both wizards.

"No thank you, Pepper," Snape replied, surprising Harry with both his gentle tone and the fact that he knew the elf's name.

"Oh but Masters is too thin; they is not eating enough," another elf, Tilly, complained indicating both Harry and Severus with sad round eyes. To Harry's amazement Snape gave the elf an indulgent look, and Harry was almost certain the man smiled briefly. This was startling behavior for Snape. Harry had only seen the man smile when he was threatening someone with Veritaserum or taking house points.

"No, really Tilly," the man tried to beg off. "We must be on our way I think..." Snape paused. And to Harry's discomfort, the older wizard seemed to consider him briefly. For a moment Harry thought he was going to inquire if he was hungry, but then Snape turned back to the elves.

"Perhaps we should, eat," he decided abruptly, taking a seat at the same table where Harry had sat a few times with his friends when they had come to the kitchens to visit the elves and nick food.

Harry wondered vaguely if Snape used to come and nick food from the kitchen when he was a student, or perhaps he still did. The elves seemed ridiculously pleased to see them both, no one more so than Dobby who rushed about with his friends setting out more platters of delicious, steaming food than the two wizards could possibly consume. The tiny elf fairly bounced as he stood at the edge of the table looking from Snape to Harry in fawning enthusiasm.

"Does Masters need anything else?" the tiny elf squeaked, while adjusting two of his hats and looking from one to the other.

"No thank you, Dobby," Snape replied, the amusement clear in his voice. The older wizard tried to cover it with a bit of a cough and by furrowing his brow as he examined an enormous sliced leg of lamb.

"Eat up, Potter," the man ordered sternly, when he noticed the boy staring at him. "There will not be any food where we are going," Snape warned, giving Harry a look that dared him to question further.

Harry kept his legendary inquisitiveness in check for once. He heaped a big pile of mashed potatoes and roasted meat on his plate, and began to shovel it in as though preparing for a long winter. The two ate in silence amid the contented looks of adoration of the house elves. Harry was used to garnering these looks for himself, he thought as he worked on his second helping, but it was mystifying to find such rapt expressions being directed at Snape. When Dobby rushed to fill the older wizard's glass before Snape could do it himself, Harry's curiosity got the better of him.

"What is up with you and Dobby?" the boy questioned around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

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Snape pondered admonishing the boy about the rudeness of speaking with his mouthful, then reconsidered.

"The Headmaster thought Dobby might prove useful in passing on information between myself and the Order once my word was no longer trusted." A look of regret darken the older wizard's features, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

"Dobby agreed to give up his freedom temporarily and be bound to me for the duration of the War."

Snape went on to explain that was how Dobby was able to bring them into Hogwarts. While wizards could not apparate within the castle, house elves got around quite efficiently.

"A Hogwarts house elf who is bound to a particular wizard can bring them inside through an established Hogwarts gateway, and then anywhere within the castle," Snape explained. "Usually Hogwarts elves are only bound to the Headmistress or master as the case may be," the Potions Master further clarified.

The garden shed on the Figg property was such a gateway. Dumbledore had established it shortly after leaving Harry to live with his relatives. Mrs. Figg had been put in residence at the same time and was to act as a liaison between young Harry Potter and the wizarding world.

The boy seemed to contemplate this information in silence .

"So are we staying here in the castle then?" he asked after a few moments, munching an overlarge hunk of lamb as he spoke the question. This time Snape nearly did correct the boy. It was obvious those muggles hadn't taught him any manners, he noted as Harry leaned his elbows on the table and waited for an answer. It was also obvious the boy had been hungry.

"We are not," Snape intoned lifting the napkin from his lap and wiping his mouth rather delicately. "Are you finished?" he inquired as he stood and indicated Harry's nearly empty plate.

"Sure," the boy replied a tad uncertainly, as he grabbed the napkin from the table to wipe his own mouth before standing to follow. The elves followed as well to bid them goodbye.

"If you is needing anything at all, Master," Dobby chirped happily, "lets Dobby know."

"Of course, Dobby," Snape agreed mildly, as he approached a painting on the wall.

It was of a serene beach front landscape. Pale, blue water met a gentle, white froth that licked tentatively at the sandy shore. The shore stretched to meet the rich greenery, which quickly took dominance, save for the tiny buildings randomly dotting the dense brush. To the side sat the rocky face of a cliff. The cliff opened into a u-shaped cove, where a peach colored house with a gray shingled roof stood slightly above on a brick foundation. The cheery house had many windows, and the door was adorned with a brightly shining brass knocker. Harry looked on in quiet fascination as Snape touched the knocker with one long index finger and gently scratched the surface.

The painting opened then and they were suddenly met with a cool ocean breeze. Snape entered the doorway indicating with a nod that Harry should follow. The two found themselves standing in front of a bus, the kind that Harry had seen muggles take on tours of the countryside. The bus paused briefly, then swished past. Snape beckoned Harry to follow him across the road into the tiny beach town that was not yet awake in the wee hours of the first morning light.

The town was filled with small brightly colored shops that covered both sides of the narrow street. Signs advertised claddagh jewelry, fine woolen clothing and several small restaurants and a pub had signs boasting, Guinness, it's good for you.

"Where are we?" Harry wondered aloud when they were about half way down the street.

"Glenbeigh, Ireland," Snape announced. "Albus' summer home is here."

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Harry thought the older wizard's voice sounded a bit strange when he said the last, but could not be sure. The shops gradually gave way to the sand of a beach. Snape led the way in front of a shallow cliff face as though he had traveled this path many times before. Harry had a strange feeling of recognition as well. Snape turned left on the sandy path down a passage between two cliffs. When they were three quarters of the way through Harry looked up and noticed a rock shelf that seemed to lead into the cliff. The boy gasped and suddenly stopped short.

"This is where Dumbledore and I came to search for the fake Horcrux," Harry realized, as his breath came out shallow and hoarse sounding.

Snape stopped then too. "Indeed it is," he intoned. And when he turned to Harry he was wearing an extremely dark smile. The smile while similar to other nasty smiles Harry had seen the Potions Master don, seemed slightly more calculating, Harry thought, as he stared oddly at the other man.

Something about the smile, being in the same place as they had found the fake Horcrux, and remembering this was the man he saw kill Dumbledore, gave Harry a sudden sense of irrational consuming dread.

Years later, Harry would be embarrassed when reminded of how completely he had panicked, when he turned on his heel an began running flat out back the way they had come. If he had spared a glance he would have seen Snape's expression turn to one of confused concern before he took off after the boy.

"Potter!" the older wizard bellowed giving chase. "Potter! What in the seven hells are you playing at, you little dunderhead?" Drawing his wand, he placed the boy in a very tight bodybind and seemed to take perverse satisfaction in watching him stumble to the ground.

"Scared Potter?" Snape taunted mildly when he caught up to where the boy had fallen.

Harry was terrified. His green eyes were wide and his breathing labored. Somehow seeing the cave entrance made him believe himself to have been fooled again. Snape was not on their side! Had he charmed the Angelths? The boy was suddenly sure this had all been an elaborate hoax to lure him here and kill him!

Harry growled something incoherent and venomously spat on the older wizard's shoe.

Snape glared at the spittle resting nastily on the tip of his boot, then turned his angry glare back to Potter. He twirled his wand once before pocketing it.

"Do not. Do that. Again." the older wizard advised in a stony tone that fairly chilled Harry's blood. Snape held his gaze for long moment and Harry finally looked away, clearly angry with himself for weakening.

"Perhaps you should have used your wand," Snape admonished impatiently, stooping down and actually lifting Harry's chin up to meet his gaze again.

"My wand?" Harry returned a tad uncertainly, while flinching from the unusualness of the touch.

"Yes, your wand, boy," the older wizard sneered. "Certainly you have not lost it between now and the battle on Privet Drive?" the older wizard stated incredulously.

"No," Harry admitted guardedly. Thinking about the battle made Harry remember that Snape had definitely behaved as though he was on the side of the Order. Snape had actually taken out ten of the Death Eaters when he crashed into them. He had looked genuinely concerned when Bill was hit. Harry abruptly began to feel foolish about his sudden hysteria.

"Any first year Gryffindor simpleton," Snape scolded in a stern tone, "would realize that it would be completely asinine to run from a dark wizard whom you suddenly believed was about to kill you." Harry looked painfully chastened. "You panicked in a very basic way. If I had been laying a trap, you would be dead," Snape fixed Harry with a hard glare. "We can not afford such stupidity at this juncture. Is that clear?"

It took Harry a moment to realize the older wizard was waiting for a response. His cheeks reddened painfully as he answered.

"Yes," he agreed, his embarrassment making his tone sound extremely insolent.

"Yes sir," the older wizard reminded him warningly.

Harry looked up at Snape, with an expression that pleaded his ego couldn't take much more.

"Why do you insist I call you that?" Harry asked finally.

"Why do you insist on refusing to do so?" Snape returned.

"I don't always," Harry countered.

"Nor do I," Snape sneered. "I only insist when you are being impertinent, which is nearly all the time. You generally make the word sir sound as though it were profane at any rate."

"You mean the way you say, Potter," Harry observed, "like it was something nasty you stepped in?"

The older wizard rested his back against the rock wall.

"I have all day Potter. And my arse isn't resting in the damp sand."

For a moment it seemed as though Harry would not respond.

"Yes sir," Harry said eventually, damaging his pride more than the simple address should have done.

"Good," Snape stated, mildly canceling the bodybind and scourgifying the spit from his shoe, while shooting Harry a disgusted glance. "Now, as I said before, Albus' summer home is here. Just up ahead and to the right," Snape explained "I used to come here for a few weeks each summer when I was in school and the Headmaster was training me."

"Training you to kill him, sir?" Harry asked angrily before he could stop himself. For a moment he thought Snape would replace the bodybind or worse. But after one dark look the man continued.

"That cave above," Snape indicated the opening where the fake Horcrux was discovered, "was a bit of a secret hideout when I used to play here."

Harry looked thoughtful, doubting Snape had every played, but said nothing.

"As you well know searching for that fake Horcrux was a test. A test that Albus gave me hell for making so difficult for his precious Potter," Snape finished derisively.

"You made it so one of us had to drink poison to get out for the love of Merlin!" Harry returned hotly.

"Why didn't you drink it, Potter?" Snape asked with a sneer.

"Dumbledore ordered me to give it to him," Harry explained as though Snape were dense.

"But you thought it was poison?" Snape taunted.

"He made me promise," Harry said defensively.

"Hm," Snape intoned. "Amazing how hard it was to break a promise to Albus even when you knew you might cause him harm." With that Snape turned away and headed in the direction they had started out.

After a moment, Harry followed, trying hard to swallow the bitter anger that had lodged in his throat. He pondered the rock shelf above. Harry remembered Dumbledore chuckling in an almost affectionate way about crass humor of the cave opening requiring blood. He also now distinctly remembered Dumbledore's answer as to how he was able to unravel the puzzles and traps in the cave.

"I taught him," the Headmaster had told Harry. "I know how he thinks." Of course Harry had thought he was speaking of Riddle at the time.

When Harry made his way to the end of the sandy passage way, he saw a beautiful beach house that was a mirror image of the house in the painting in the Hogwarts kitchen. Snape had already made his way up the red brick stairway with white railings and lattice work.

Instead of scratching the brass knocker, Snape used a series of unlocking spells, none of which was an alohomora. Harry made it to the top of the stairs, just as the man was canceling the last of the wards. As Harry followed the older wizard inside of the house, he was stuck by the simple beauty of the house that reminded him distinctly of Albus Dumbledore. The front room was done in rich dark woods and tasteful pastel florals. On the mantle were several seemingly muggle photographs of the same dark haired boy at various ages playing and relaxing on the beach. Harry stared, transfixed at one. The tall, dark haired boy wore blue jeans an a forest green jumper. He smiled happily, his black eyes impossibly bright.

"Animate," Snape incanted from over Harry's shoulder. The picture became a wizard photo. The smile in the photo widened and then turned sheepish. The boy's smooth black hair blew in the wind as he slightly hunched his shoulders against the ocean breeze.

"That was taken when I was about a year younger than you are now," Snape supplied.

Yet another smiling image of Snape. This was getting to be a bit too much. Harry tried to reconcile the photo with the image of the miserable young man he had seen in the pensieve last year. This picture had to have been taken later the same year, as the scene in the pensieve took place during O.W.L.S.

"It doesn't look much like you, sir," Harry ventured.

"I agree," Snape said ruefully. "Those were happy summers,"

"You got to stay here every summer with Dumbledore?" Harry asked with an emotion he couldn't quite place.

"Just for a few weeks at the end of each," Snape explained. "I came here some weekends as well."

Snape's casual attitude helped Harry place the emotion. It was jealousy. The greasy git actually got to spend time with the Headmaster when he was a kid. Lots of time if the pictures were any indication, and here he was talking about it like it was no big deal.

"Your parents didn't care?" Harry asked, trying to subdue the uncomfortable feeling that rose up inside him. He never thought he would have call to feel jealous of Snape.

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Snape arched an eyebrow at the boy's query, but made no other response as he gave Potter a tour of the house. When Severus thought of his physically and emotionally abusive muggle sire and bitter and vindictive magical dame it could still inspire rage in the man. Tobias Snape knew Eileen Prince was a witch when he married her. However, he was under the mistaken impression of many muggles that he could simply forbid magic in his home and that would be the end of it. When that didn't work the man did his level best to beat it out of his wife and son.

Tobias went to exhaustive, brutal measures to remind his family who was boss. And was always aware of the need to remind them again before they thought to retaliate. Having broken all ties with her pureblooded family by marrying a muggle, and feeling unable to protect her son, Eileen did the next best thing. She began to loathe the boy because he was a miniature replica of his father, and abuse him as well. The woman developed a startling repertoire of discipline hexes. Severus' parents had been only too happy to let him spend part of each summer with the Headmaster, and the boy was only too happy to go.

"Come," said Snape, breaking free of his bitter recollections. "I have been awake for almost all of the last twenty-four hours and I believe you have as well. I will show you to your room."

"Why did you say there wouldn't be any food where we were going?" Harry asked as he followed Snape down a long wide hallway.

"No one has been here since last summer, Potter. There isn't any. You can not possibly be hungry again?" the man asked, thinking of the way the boy had stuffed himself and of his deplorable table manners.

"No, sir," Harry explained. "Just trying to piece things together."

"Let me know when you do," Snape replied snidely. " Toilet," he said, pointing to a door on the left, "your room," the man explained opened the door to a room with a huge four poster and a sliding glass picture window that led out onto a balcony overlooking the beach. There was a wardrobe in one corner and a desk in the other. A little sofa and two chairs sat in front of the fireplace.

"Wow..." Harry intoned.

"Sleep, Potter," Snape ordered. "I'll wake you up in few hours and we will begin to make plans." The older wizard turned to go.

"What sort of things are we going to be doing here, sir?"

Snape turned back and considered his answer for a long moment.

"We will proceed somewhat differently than the Headmaster and I had initially planned," Snape replied drawing his lips into a thin line. "This is in part due to the rather amazing diligence to which you have already applied yourself to your own training," Snape admitted grudgingly, thinking of the rather amazing wandless detonation hex the boy had thrown at him during the earlier battle. His subsequent flight through the air would not have taken out nearly as many Death Eaters with a blasting curse. That was to say nothing of blocking a Killing Curse with a flower pot of all things. Not to mention it saved his own life, Snape thought, impressed with the boy against his will.

Harry flushed slightly under the unexpected praise.

"And putting aside my rather severe rebuke of you regarding your attendance at the wedding and the incident with Nagini," Snape continued, causing Harry to go a shade redder and Snape to look embarrassed as well. "I do believe you gave us an unforeseen advantage." Oh but it hurt to admit this to the boy. " The Dark Lord's magic was seriously, although temporarily, weakened by her loss. We should probably begin with reviewing the snake's memories and proceed from there." Snape paused, waiting for a response.

"Okay," the boy said reaching in to his pocket for the small square vial that was full of viscous looking gray vapor. Hermione had helped him charm the vial to be unbreakable and bottomless, Harry told the older wizard. "It took forever to fill," Harry explained handing the bottle to Snape.

"According to my accounting there are two Horcruxes remaining, excluding the one the Dark Lord carries," The older wizard gave the vial a satisfied little nod before palming it. "Perhaps this vial is the answer to finding them,"

"Two?" Harry questioned. "The real locket has been destroyed then?" the boy asked in surprise.

"It was," Snape affirmed. "By R.A.B."

"Regulus Black right?" the boy offered confidently, explaining that he knew Regulus had been Sirius' brother and was murdered because he tried to quit the Death Eaters.

"Ah, no." Snape tsked as though the younger wizard was a tad dim. "Ruldolphus Alejandre Burke," the older wizard supplied smugly.

"Of Borgin and Burkes?" the boy asked, surprised.

"You remembered that the Dark Lord began his career there did you not?" Snape sneered down his nose.

"That's right," the boy said, suddenly remembering.

"That was to have been a hint," Snape explained, as though proud of the mystery he had designed. "It was to have been part of your quest to recover the fake Horcrux as well." The older wizard paused a moment. "But, alas things progressed rather quickly when you and the Headmaster returned that night."

Snape's expression darkened, and Potter seemed to cast around for something to say to lighten the mood. Before he could the older wizard spoke again.

"Bed," he ordered the boy pointing at the four poster. "I'm just down the hall. I'll wake you in a few hours,"

Both Harry and Snape were woken in less than an hour. One by the terrible burn in his forearm and the other by the searing pain of his scar.

Snape opened his bedroom door, cloak and mask in hand, to see the boy stumbling toward him from the end of the hall. He looked hauntingly like he had when he came to rescue Draco: bare chested, baggy pajama trousers hanging low on his thin frame, and lightening shaped scar burning red with a faint sheen of blood.

"Back to your room Potter," Snape ordered, catching the boy by the arm and leading him back to bed. "How do you normally care for yourself when this happens?" the older wizard asked at a loss.

"You'd better go sir," came the unexpected response. "He's really angry." The last chilled Snape where he stood.

"Can you see him?" Snape wanted to know. The boy shook his head once.

"Feel him..." he rasped

"Potter, attempt to Occlude your mind," the older wizard ordered sternly. The boy snickered, then choked a bit.

"Potter, no matter what you see, you are not to approach the Dark Lord's chamber! Is that clear?" Snape warned desperately, "Or I promise you boy, your punishment will be most severe..." the man stopped himself mid rant, staring at the skinny half clothed child. The boy's scar was bleeding, and he might probably spend at least part of the next little while being possessed by the Dark Lord. What punishment could Snape come up with to top that? The older wizard squatted down in front of Potter so he was level with the boy as he sat on the bed.

"Promise me you will do as I say," the older wizard said firmly while taking the too thin shoulders in both of his hands.

Potter, seeming rather shocked by this approach, nodded his head once.

"Yes, sir," he responded weakly.

"Good," Snape nodded in return. "I will return as soon as I am able," the man said pushing Potter back on the bed with and a concerned look and gently pulling the blankets around him. Something in the older wizard rebelled against leaving the boy in this condition, but there was little choice when the Dark Lord was summoning him. He remembered vaguely that when he was a boy Albus always used lay a cool towel on his forehead when he was ill, and Poppy thought it essential that there always be a pitcher of water. Snape conjured both of these and lay the damp cloth gently over Potter's eyes after placing the water with in easy reach.

Slipping on his cloak as he quit the boy's room, he made for the front door and the apparation point between the cliffs.

Potter was correct, the Dark Lord was angry. And once again he had the magical power to express it fully.

"Crucio," he hissed when Snape first appeared in front of him.

Hope you liked it. Don't forget to review.

I tried to write this chapter from both Snape and Harry's POV. Let me know in your reviews if the POV was too muddled or hard to follow. Shifts are indicated by the 888.