Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Thank you to those who take the time to review! =)

"Well? I'm waiting." Severus crossed his arms over his chest as he loomed over his son.

Harry scratched the back of his neck. "Um, well, we went back and managed to catch Pettigrew." He said weakly.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "In the short amount of time since I left you in the infirmary you were able to go out and find Pettigrew? Did he run right up to you and offer his surrender?" He asked sarcastically, aware Harry was avoiding telling him something important.

"No." Harry glanced at Hermione. "We used a Time-Turner." He admitted.

Severus stared at Harry in shock which quickly gave way to fear and anger. "You did what?" He hissed menacingly. He shifted his glare to Hermione. He, as well as the other professor's, were aware of the fact Miss. Granger was using a Time-Turner to attend all her classes. He didn't approve of one being used, especially by a student but Minerva had argued that Miss. Granger was responsible enough and Albus had fought for the Ministry to approve the request. "That particular object had one purpose only, to be used to attend your classes." He said to the guilty looking witch.

"I know sir." Hermione whispered. "I just wanted to help."

"Do either of you know how dangerous that was? You could have been hurt or killed!" Severus roared. "Even re-doing one hour can have dramatic consequences! What if you had been seen by your past self? Or if anyone of us had seen you? We could have been so distracted that Lupin could have attacked us!"

Harry winced as Hermione's eyes filled with tears. He hadn't thought of that. "He needed to be caught Dad. We had to try." He argued weakly.

"No one saw us sir." Hermione added quietly.

"And they caught the rat!" Ron spoke up, hating to see his friends scolded.

Severus took a deep breath as he tried to control his temper. "You two were extremely foolish to tamper with time like that. This just proves that a student should not be trusted with such a device." He said stiffly. "Your Head of House will be made known of your little escapade. I will let her handle any school consequences that she feels are warranted. I am sure she will be just as disappointed in you two as I am. I would imagine she will also send a letter to your parents Miss. Granger." He said coldly. His dark eyes landed on Harry. "You and I will discuss this more in our quarters." He said in a low voice. He needed time before dealing with his son. He was tempted to give the child a good swat on the behind but with Harry's upbringing, along with Severus's experiences with his own father, he had promised himself never to raise a hand to his child. He knew he would never forgive himself if he did.

Harry paled. He hadn't seen his dad this upset with him in a long time. He could hear Hermione sniffling beside him. "Hermione just wanted to help, you shouldn't be mad at her!" He defended his friend.

"Be careful Harry." Severus warned. His temper could not take Harry becoming defiant. "Miss Granger was warned about all the risks and was trusted to use the time-turner responsibly. It does not matter that your intentions were good, you both did a very dangerous thing."

Hermione nodded, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry sir." She offered as she wiped a few stray tears off her cheek.

"I would like you to stay here in the infirmary until I have sent for Professor McGonagall to escort you to the Tower." Severus said curtly to Hermione. He held his hand out. "Hand in the time-turner, please." Once Hermione had handed it over he put it in his pocket. "Harry, let's go." He moved to the door and waited.

Harry looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Hermione shook her head. "I knew it was against the rules, you don't have to defend me." She assured him. "I wanted to do it knowing we were likely to get into a lot of trouble."

Harry tried to give her and Ron a smile as he walked towards his dad but it came out as more of a grimace. He and his father were silent as they walked to their quarters. Once they arrived and Harry walked in, he noticed his dad still standing in the doorway. "Wait for me here. I need to speak with Minerva and Albus." He shut the door without waiting for Harry's response.

HPHPHPHP

Unbelievable, Severus snarled to himself as he stalked back to his quarters after letting Albus and Minerva know what had occurred. The old coot was actually proud of the risk the children had taken! Even Minerva had looked impressed when he told them how Harry and Hermione had caught Pettigrew, though she had mentioned she would be talking to Hermione about breaking her promise to be responsible and not tell anyone of the time turner. She had been happy to take the device from Severus as they had all agreed it was too stressful for a child to take that many classes anyway.

When Severus had asked what the consequences from the school would be, she had said that she would be talking with them, giving them a detention with her, and sending a note home to the Grangers. She then said that she thought they had been through enough and that she didn't see a reason for taking points or giving more than one detention. "Their hearts were in the right place Severus." She had said gently. Thankfully, she had disagreed when Albus suggested giving points to award their bravery! "I may be giving a mild punishment but I do not think they should be awarded Albus." She had said firmly.

It was a good thing Minerva had said that as he had been prepared to hex the twinkling eyed Headmaster for even suggesting such a thing. Catching his glare, Albus had said, "Severus, we now have Peter in custody. He would have surely gone to find Voldemort which would have interfered with our own plans for Lucius to find him first."

Severus stopped at his door, not ready to deal with his son yet. He was feeling conflicted. He was beyond happy that Pettigrew would pay for his crimes as well as not be able to help Voldemort but he was furious about the way it had happened. He thought he had been teaching Harry not to rush into danger like that. Anything could have happened; he could have lost his son! As much as he hated Pettigrew for betraying Lily and James, he would rather the rat was free then Harry getting hurt or worse trying to catch him. He opened the door and found Harry slumped on the sofa, his emerald eyes teary.

Harry looked up and then quickly looked back down. He didn't know what to say. He was sorry for doing something he knew was dangerous but he was also not sorry as Pettigrew was now caught.

Severus stood in front of Harry and stayed silent for a moment. "Was there any part of you that hesitated before using the time turner?" He asked finally. He knew Harry wouldn't have known what a time turner was and doubted that Hermione had had time to explain all the dangers before they used it.

"Yes." Harry answered. "But…but not for long." He braved looking back up at his dad. "Pettigrew killed Mum!" He burst out. "It was worth it!"

"It was not worth your life!" Severus snapped. "Believe me, I know what that rat took from us but it would not have been worth you being killed Harry!"

"Yes it would have!" Harry stood up. "Because of him, the only memory I have of Mum is her screaming for my life!" Tears fell from his eyes.

Severus bent down to look his son in the eyes. "Exactly, your mother screamed for your life because to her nothing was more important than you. And the same goes for me. Nothing is more important to me than you, not even having Pettigrew pay for what he did!" He voice broke slightly. "When will you realize, child, how important you are to me? When will you realize that you are not invincible? Anything could have happened…" He trailed off, trying to get his emotions under control. He reached out and pulled Harry to him in a crushing hug. "Don't you know how much you are loved?"

Harry gripped his dad in the tightest hug he could give, tears flowing freely flowing down his cheeks. "I'm sorry." He sobbed. "I just didn't want him to get away…not with what he did…"

"I know." Severus said softly as held his son. "I assure you, Albus and I would have hunted for him ourselves. There are some things that are to be left to the adults, no exceptions. I need you to understand this Harry, because if anything ever happened to you…" Severus choked on the thought. How he had survived so many years not remembering his own son he didn't know. Harry was his world; there was no purpose for him without his son.

"I'm really sorry." Harry mumbled into his dad's shoulder. "I don't know what I would ever do without you either Dad."

Severus pulled back and smoothed down his son's dark hair. "So you wouldn't like it if I ran headfirst into dangerous situations without even giving thought to the consequences of them? If I risked my life so easily, even if my intentions were admirable?"

Harry shook his head. He never wanted his dad to be in a dangerous situation. "No, I wouldn't."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't stand it if something happened to you!" Harry responded. "I don't want to lose you for anything. I can't imagine anything being so important for you to recklessly risk your life…" He looked sheepishly at his dad. "Oh."

Severus looked amused. "Oh, indeed." His face became more serious. "I cannot promise that I will not ever be in a dangerous position. But I can promise that if I ever did do anything risky, it would be planned out and I would have plenty of support and back-up. It was extremely risky when I became a spy for Albus but we took every precaution that we could think of." He sighed. "And even with all the planning, it didn't work out the way it was supposed to. But still, it was not a situation that I rushed off into after only a couple of minutes thinking about it."

Harry nodded his understanding.

Severus looked at him thoughtfully and then made a decision. "We, members of the Order who are against Voldemort, are planning to find and capture him before he can return to full power."

Harry's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Do you even know where he is?" Suddenly he remembered. "Trelawney!"

"Excuse me?"

"I ran into Professor Trelawney earlier, before everything happened. I think she made a prophecy, something about it beginning tonight and that two servants would set out to rejoin Voldemort. I didn't think it was real…" He trailed off.

"That is…interesting." Severus said slowly. Pettigrew had set out to rejoin Voldemort and soon Lucius would be too, although for a very different reason. "To answer your question, yes we believe we know where he is. Yet further research is being done to make sure." Severus said evenly. "I am trusting you with this information Harry. You are not to tell anyone."

Harry nodded. He was feeling a little proud that his dad trusted him, especially with everything that had happened tonight. "I understand." He assured his father.

"Good." Severus nodded as well. "We missed dinner so come with me." He went into the kitchen and began summoning food. He was too tired to really make anything and didn't feel like calling an elf so he quickly made sandwiches and warmed up some chicken noodle soup. He put the food on the table and sat across from Harry. He poured Harry a glass of pumpkin juice and himself some iced tea.

"Am I in trouble?" Harry asked hesitantly after a few minutes of eating.

"Yes." Severus answered simply. "Professor McGonagall will be talking to you and Miss. Granger about your actions tonight. You will also be receiving a detention with your Head of House."

Harry's eyes widened slightly. That was all? A lecture and one detention? "No points will be taken?" He asked in disbelief.

"No, she has decided against that." Severus answered. He raised an eyebrow. "That is just from her however."

Harry gulped. "Am I grounded for the rest of my life?" He asked, only half joking.

"Of course not Harry, don't be ridiculous. You are only grounded for the rest of your time at Hogwarts." Severus took a sip of his tea.

Harry's green eyes bugged out. "What? That's not fair!"

Severus rolled his eyes and smirked. "Honestly Harry."

Harry relaxed and shot his dad a mild glare.

Severus leaned back in his seat. "I am going to give you a book all about time turners. How they work, the dangers that can come from using them, and the Ministry's laws about them. I will create a quiz that you are expected to pass completely. If you even miss one, and I will not tell you which one, you will read the book again and re-take the quiz. Once you pass, you will no longer be grounded."

Harry slumped in his seat with a groan. It wasn't as bad as it good have been but he was sure the quiz would not be easy. "Do I still get to play Quidditch?" He asked with a resigned look, figuring the answer would be no.

Severus drummed his fingers on the table. "You do but unless you have practice or a game, you will not fly at all."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to let his team down. "Thanks Dad." He bit his lip as he usually did when he was nervous. "Do you forgive me?"

"What do you think?"

Harry smiled softly. "You do." He said confidently.

Severus nodded with a small smile. "Of course I do. You simply have a big heart and too much courage for my sanity." He said ruefully. "I know you didn't set out to do wrong. You simply need to think things through better. Harry," Severus leaned forward and his eyes were suddenly filled with sadness. "I know it is not fair that you don't have memories of your mother. Anytime you want me to put more memories of her in a pensive for you to look at, or anytime you simply want to talk or ask about her all you have to do is let me know."

Harry nodded as his eyes glistened with tears again. I'm not going to cry again, he told himself. He cleared his throat. "Thank you." He managed to say.

Severus's eyes were brighter. "The time I tried to get you to eat green beans might be a fun memory for you to look at. You hated them and ended up throwing a handful of them at me. Your mother practically fell down she was laughing so hard."

Harry laughed. "I would do the same thing now if you tried to get me to eat green beans." He teased.

"Brat." Severus said fondly. "I'll let you view it tomorrow. Right now it is time for bed for both of us. It has been an exhausting night."

Harry nodded in agreement. He quickly got into his pajamas and dove under his covers. He vaguely heard his dad come in to say goodnight and felt a hand running through his hair as he fell into a deep sleep.

TBC: