Severus sat on the armchair in the sitting room with a book on his lap, sipping tea when he got a summons from Dumbledore. What now? He got up and walked towards the basement and flooed through to his quarters in Hogwarts before making his way to the headmaster's office.
"Acid Pops" he said and the gargoyle leapt aside to give him entrance.
"Ah Severus. I see you're doing well. Do have a seat," greeted Dumbledore as the door opened without having to knock. He grunted as he sat down in front of the headmaster. "Care for a lemon drop?"
What was it with this man and lemon drops?
"No," said Severus, "Why am I here, Albus?"
Dumbledore looked at Severus with something flickering in his eyes that he could not put his finger on. Was it concern? Why? But it vanished as quickly as it appeared. He cleared his throat, and looked at him warily as if he thought Severus was going to start hexing him the minute he answered.
"Albus?"
"You have been reading the Daily Prophet, surely," said Dumbledore, "The Ministry has deemed it fit to inform the muggles about Black's escape from Azkaban." He was still looking at him with wariness.
"I know, Albus," Severus was confused, "What does this have to do with me? You don't think I'm capable of capturing that deranged murderer, do you?" He joked. This time it was concern that flickered across Dumbledore's eyes.
"No, Severus my boy," said Dumbledore "all I ask of you, is to listen to what I have to say before you-" Still wary?
"Blow up your office? Is that what you're concerned about?" Severus interrupted, he was tired of the way Dumbledore kept going in circles, "Get to the point, old man" he said, getting annoyed.
"The order's aurors have been busy at the ministry due to obvious reasons," started Dumbledore. "I have discussed it with Cornelius and we have reason to believe that Sirius Black is after Harry Potter at the moment." Dumbledore kept looking at Severus with the same annoyingly concerned wary look in his eyes. Severus said nothing, he waited for Dumbledore to continue although he was sure he knew where all this was going.
"My presence is required elsewhere and therefore cannot look after Harry, the Weasleys are enjoying a vacation in Egypt and will not be back for the rest of the summer. You must understand, Severus that had I another option I would never ask this of you. As there is no one else I would entrust the boy with, I want you to keep guard over him for the next few days until I can make arrangements otherwise."
"Surely the ministry can spare a few aurors to safekeep The-Boy-Who-Lived, Albus?" he sneered. Wait. "You said you have reason to believe Black is after his own godson?"
Dumbledore sighed, he suddenly looked every bit his age and then some "Yes. The night of the escape, Minister Fudge was informed by the guards that Black has been muttering in his sleep about Harry being at Hogwarts" said Dumbledore, "The minister believes Black wants to finish what his Master started."
Master! he sneered inwardly. "And the ministry?" asked Severus again, trying to keep from gritting his teeth.
"I thought it prudent to keep this information from the public for the boy's own safety," said Dumbledore. "Getting the ministry involved is going to bring up questions I'd rather not be forced to answer. So Severus, what do you say?"
"Fine," he gritted out, he would definitely regret this later. But it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter anyway.
--
It was almost midnight when Severus got home. He'd wanted a nice peaceful summer away from overactive troublemaking teenagers. But now Severus was to keep the Potter spawn in his eyesight at all times. The boy always went looking for trouble at Hogwarts. How was he to keep the brat from doing so now, without showing himself? Merlin, help me. He didn't even know the boy lived with Petunia. He'd always assumed the boy lived with James Potter's relatives.
"Merlin," he said softly to himself, "all I wanted to do was finish my book." He sighed and walked just outside the door before apparating, no one was out and about in this ungodly hour anyway.
He turned up in a narrow alleyway before disillusioning himself and walked towards the boy's house. It was long past midnight now. As he got closer to Number 4, he could see a very dull light coming from a bedroom, he wondered if that was Potter getting up to no good. As if the thought summoned him, the boy came to the window and stretched. The boy looked up at the sky as Severus walked a bit closer making no noise to put up wards around the house that would notify him if someone magical were to cross them. It would make it easier for him to grab the boy and Apparate at a moment's notice.
As he was making sure to add the boy's magical signature to the new wards he was erecting, he heard a soft "Happy Birthday, Harry". Severus jerked his head towards the boy, who was now looking intently at something with a hand on the latch. Severus turned to see what had the boy's interest and saw owls flying towards the house. As the owls got closer he discreetly fired detection spells at the parcels to make sure they weren't cursed. They weren't. They were probably just letters from his friends.
He sensed the wards that were already in place. He added more anyway - circling around the house, making sure they would notify him if Potter left the property. It was almost bright when he finished with his warding. He was startled to find the boy in the kitchen, as he crossed the window.Preparing breakfast? He didn't think much of it at the time.
Since the boy was busy Severus figured he could use a breather and knowing that the wards would let him know if Potter left, he apparated home.
When Severus came back to Privet Drive - disillusioned, he apparated very close to the window where Petunia was lounging, She whipped around when she heard the muffled crack of apparition, narrowing her eyes and peered intently at him as though she could see him. He hastily moved away from the spot before exhaling.
Apparating to Privet Drive every few hours, checking on the boy, checking and replenishing the wards became his routine for the following week. He also saw how the boy interacted with the other members of the family while he was there.
The boy was far from being spoiled and coddled, he was being worked around the house like a house-elf, cleaning windows, weeding the lawn and preparing meals. He started wondering why the boy never contradicted Severus when he would mock him for being a spoiled brat.
The spoiled brat in the house was surely the Dursleys' own son, the beefy boy would sometimes purposely knock into the underweight boy so hard that Potter would lose his footing and fall. But Potter never did anything more than glare at the older boy.
"Whatever happens do not interfere, Severus. That would not be good for Harry in the long run." He heard Dumbledore saying in his mind.
Two days later he apparated into the lawn after making sure he cast a Silencing charm along with the Disillusionment charm. He nearly lost it and almost barged into the house demanding Potter to leave with him, when he saw the beefy woman whack him with her walking stick and set her abominable dog on the poor boy. Dumbledore's words only barely kept him from doing that. Severus took a deep breath to calm himself and discreetly sent stinging hexes at the dog - when he saw the boy trying to climb a tree - to get it away from him.
Severus had tried to contact Albus, who was off in Geneva with something to do with the Wizengamot. He couldn't just keep quiet after seeing all the ways the Dursleys' treatment of the boy was wrong.
Did Albus not know? Had Potter never informed him of this? Did Albus never check on the boy? Wouldn't he have done something about this if he had? But Albus said don't interfere, whatever happened. Did that mean he knew and did nothing? Potter was The-Saviour-of-the-Wizarding-World for Merlin's sake.
All this had made Severus rethink the boy's behaviour in general. He wasn't arrogant like his father, he was far from it. He seemed even tempered and easy going, not throwing tantrums like the other boy. This made Severus wonder even more about the boy's childhood, if he'd had one at all - after seeing all this.
--
He had finally heard back from Albus and was on his way from his dungeon quarters to meet the headmaster when he felt the wards notify him, the boy had left the property. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. The headmaster can wait. He left to floo back to Spinner's End and apparated.
What was Potter thinking? Leaving the house in the dark with a mass murderer on the loose? He'd left Privet Drive thinking that he'd be back after the boy's dinner to check on the wards when the boy would be in his bedroom. Had the family left together? He wanted to check on the boy at once. Even if he was just taking a nightly stroll, as unlikely as that was.
The minute he appeared in the boy's lawn, he heard the beefy man yelling about his 'dear sister' and 'the ungrateful boy', the sister in question was blown up like a hot air balloon, flying up away from the street, screaming bloody murder.
Accidental magic.
He silenced her before he hovered her over, deflating her. He finally proceeded to Obliviate the whole family before the Ministry became aware of the events and sent a squad down to the neighborhood. Thank Merlin for the dark. He didn't feel like obliviating any more muggles. Finding the boy was more important now.
"Point me Harry Potter," he whispered, his wand buzzed and he started walking down the street disillusioning himself. He cast magic sensing spells around to make sure no one from the ministry had yet been notified about the events of the evening. Severus was frantic about finding the boy. He must be exhausted after that, how far had he managed to go?
He finally spotted Potter sitting on a low wall breathing heavily, with his trunk and a bird cage at his feet. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was halfway down the street from the boy when he sensed something. Magic that was half human, half predatory somewhere very close to the boy and right that instant he saw the boy slip. Panicked, not sparing a second to think, Severus apparated next to the boy grabbed him and his belongings and apparated them straight back to the alleyway in Spinner's End.