Yo! Didn't plan on updating this one again so soon (because threeish months really is very soon for me, lol), but luckily for you, my muse decided it wanted to focus on this fic instead of the many others I need to be working on.

Thank you very much for all the kind words regarding my brother's death and well, everything else. It means a lot to me and I appreciate it. And, as always, thank you to all readers so far!

This was bad. Harry had made it no secret that he'd never really liked Snape, but even he knew the man was damn good at the whole potions thing. If Snape of all people didn't know what this potion was, then that was a really bad thing.

"Any chance you can figure out what it is?" asked Harry curiously. And to his surprise, instead of getting mad at him for the possibly insulting question, Snape inclined his head slowly.

"It will take some days, I expect," he said, eyes still locked on the small vial. "I'll begin once we return."

"Alright," said Harry easily, choosing not to ask for more details. This was probably one of those cases where it was smarter to pick his battles. He didn't know enough about potions to question Snape much anyway, and their current cooperation, for a lack of better words, was still too new for him to want to risk messing with.

Snape was doing him a huge favour by agreeing to be his guardian. He couldn't risk him changing his mind. There were too many not-so-great things that could happen if he did. It seemed like the guy was willing to play nice, so Harry figured it would be smarter to do the same. It was to his own benefit, after all.

Hermione looked between them, frowning. "What's...going on between you two?" she asked cautiously.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but didn't say anything. Honestly, he had no idea what he could say. How much was he even allowed to explain? How much of the situation was it even safe to talk about? But it was Snape who spared him from having to say anything.

"I have taken Potter on as my ward until his seventeenth birthday," he said in a clipped tone.

Harry raised a brow, a little surprised by the sudden but mostly truthful answer. Maybe Tom had told him to be open about it. Then again, everyone was going to find out about it soon enough anyway, so maybe there was just no point in bothering about pretending.

"Wait," said Hermione, eyes wide. "Wait, what? What in the world happened, Harry?" she asked, her disbelief as audible in her voice as it was visible on her face.

Unable to stop himself, Harry flashed her a smile. "I did say a lot happened. Let's just say summer with the Dursleys was extra bad this time around and Snape found out. I can't really say more about it right now though. I don't know if Dumbledore will come back here anytime soon, but if he does, it's-it's better he doesn't know I was here."

Hermione blinked. "Oh, oh, right, yes. You're right, you should probably leave." Then she hesitated before saying, "I'll see you on the first of September, then?" She glanced at Snape uncertainly. "...Right?"

Harry laughed. "Of course, you will! I'm not dropping out or anything. Hogwarts is my home, remember?"

Looking relieved, but passing another unsure glance at Snape (he was going to have to ask her why she suddenly seemed so cautious about him), Hermione hugged him again. "Please be careful, Harry."

"I will. Don't tell anyone I was here, including your parents. It's better if no one else knows."

"I won't," Hermione promised seriously.

"See you next month, then," said Harry with another easy smile.

And seconds later, Harry and Snape were back in the foyer of Riddle Manor, Snape disapparating almost immediately to get started on looking into what the mysterious potion was. Harry figured that meant it was up to him to let Tom know what happened at Hermione's, so he headed off to find him.

He couldn't say he'd expected any of this when he'd read Hermione's letter, that was for sure. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either. He'd been angry in the moment, but that anger had faded as quickly as it had come, leaving him feeling very, very tired.

"A light green potion, you say?" Seated behind the large desk in his study where he'd been going over some of his plans, Tom's brow drew in thought as he searched his memory for potions he knew were a similar colour. He could think of a handful, but none were rare enough that someone like Severus wouldn't know about them.

Harry had little understanding of potions, so Tom could forgive his confusion on the matter, but Severus' lack of familiarity with the potion was confusing in its own right. Severus was a veritable genius when it came to potions and Tom was well aware of it. If he was saying he didn't know what it was, then it had to be something beyond rare. Perhaps even something new.

"Did he say how long it will take him to examine this potion?"

Harry shook his head. "He didn't mention anything specific," he said. "Just that it'll probably take him a few days, unless he gets lucky."

Tom leaned back in his seat and cupped his chin. "Why did Dumbledore believe Granger would be willing to drug you?"

"Hermione's never been good at disobeying authority figures," said Harry with a shrug. "Both me and Ron can be pretty reckless, so we've rubbed off on her, but you should've seen her in our first year. It was pretty bad."

Picking at a loose thread in his faded jeans absently, he added, "And since she's been answering all his random questions about me without telling me for all these years, he probably figured she'd treat this the same way. She was pretty vocal about not liking my...attitude last year too, and she said Dumbledore told her it was because of that."

"I see..." Tom had always known Dumbledore had been keeping a close eye on him while he'd been a student at Hogwarts, but it seemed something similar had been happening to Harry, except he was using Harry's friend to get information about him.

Dumbledore hadn't been able to do that with Tom because he'd never had anyone he would have called a friend. Abraxas Malfoy was the closest, perhaps, and that was pushing it, but being in Slytherin, Abraxas would never have told Dumbledore anything even if he'd been asked.

Dumbledore had lucked out with Granger. One of Harry's closest friends, a Gryffindor, and an inability to lie to authority figures? Yes, Dumbledore had been fortunate. But he'd pushed the matter too far.

Granger might struggle to refuse authority figures, but she was loyal to Harry, and that loyalty seemed to exceed her fears. So, not only had she lied to Dumbledore, but she'd told Harry the truth as well. How brave of her. But this was a good thing. For more than one reason.

"Tom?"

He looked at Harry again, not quite sure if he was surprised to see he was still seated in one of the high backed chairs across his desk. "There is little we can do on the matter until Severus informs us what the potion does," said Tom as he refocused. "We are fortunate that Granger had the sense to lie to Dumbledore. She may have to get used to that."

"I figured," said Harry, looking unbothered. "That's why I told her it was good she said she'd do whatever he said and slip the potion in my drink. Dumbledore's obviously been relying on her this whole time and I don't think he's planning to stop anytime soon. You had Snape become my guardian because Dumbledore trusts him, so this kind of feels the same to me."

Leaning forward, Tom tapped his fingers on his desk, pale skin contrasting against the dark wood. "You may be right," he admitted. "Dumbledore trusts so few that the more of them we have on our side, the better. Having Granger on our side will be invaluable, at least in this matter."

Harry hesitated, twirling the loose thread around his finger as he thought about his next question. "D'you...think I should tell Hermione the truth, then?" he asked after a moment.

"No," said Tom immediately. "You are free to tell her certain aspects of what has happened and what we may be planning, but Dumbledore is overly fond of using legilimency against those he distrusts."

Harry's eyes widened. "Wait, then do you think he's been-?"

Tom shook his head. "No, I don't believe he has used it on Granger yet, as she has been doing whatever he's asked her to, but if he has any reason to doubt she is no longer doing as told, he will use it, and he'll learn anything she may be attempting to conceal from him. Telling Granger the full truth will only be a detriment to our plans and I will not risk that, close friend of yours or not."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right," Harry conceded. He frowned, not realizing Tom was still watching him closely.

It was obvious that Harry was bothered by having to hide the truth from Granger, but there was nothing Tom could do about that right now. He had too many plans in motion and he was only going to have to form additional plans once Severus got back to them.

He wasn't going to risk those plans, even for Harry. If his friends had skill in occlumency, that would be one thing, but since they didn't, Harry was simply going to have to deal with it.

Unfortunately, there was nothing more they could do about this matter except wait for Severus to figure things out. Tom was sure his potions master was already hard at work. It wouldn't take him long.

Meanwhile, Severus was in the middle of having an existential crisis because he still couldn't figure out what the strange potion was.

That's it for now. This chapter ended up needing a crazy amount of editing because the end was originally Severus' attempts at finding out what the potion was. Then I thought of that last line and cut the original ending out to use this line instead, but then the chapter was only 1200 words long and needed to be longer, so I had to try to fix a few things to extend it. Anyway, looking forward to reviews! Laterz!