"Hi, Draco!" Harry caught sight of the blond, who was trying to hide behind Flint. "Want to join us?"
"No, no!" Draco shook his head vehemently, then paled as Mrs Granger looked at him curiously. He quickly blurted, "Thank you though," and added a bow for good measure, as did an equally nervous Flint.
Snape had heard the Dentist Story тАУ having had to reassure several of his younger Snakes that he would never, ever permit Granger or her parents anywhere near their teeth тАУ but felt that explaining the matter would do little for Muggle-Wizard relations. "Yes, we place a high value on etiquette here at Hogwarts," he said blandly. "And I think you'll find the Wizarding world somewhat more formal than the Muggle one," he added as a trembling Millicent Bulstrode dropped a quick curtsy as they passed her.
"What a sweet little girl!" Mrs Granger cried, and bulky Millicent nearly wet herself in relief. "You and the other faculty must be accustomed to such shows of respect, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like it," she explained to Snape.
"No, I wouldn't say I'm used to it," Snape remarked, watching as three Ravenclaws fought to be the one to open the doors to the Great Hall for the party.
The only crisis at lunch came when the house elves discovered the pudding course had been relatively untouched. But by then the Weasleys and Grangers had departed, with many hugs and kisses and instructions to write home, and the Trio had been sent back to rejoin their classes.
There, they had to tell their story over and over for their awestruck peers. Everyone was both amazed to hear what had become of their DADA instructor and delighted that Quirrell would not be returning to teach them. Even those who came from Death Eater families were pleased to be rid of an unpopular and incompetent professor, so the Trio received nothing but praise and gratitude for their actions.
Harry's fame among the student body only increased when, later that night, he was discovered in the Gryffindor Common Room writing "I will not prank Dark Lords" 200 times. Sure, lines were a common punishment, but those lines?
Over the next week, the rest of Harry's detention passed as pleasurably as he had hoped. The books his guardian assigned him were fascinating, and Snape did a wonderful (if acerbic) job of explaining the complex topics. Harry began to see how lucky he'd been in the infirmary and why half-baked plans were so dangerous to all involved. The lessons dovetailed nicely with the dueling strategy that Professor Flitwick was beginning to describe during their time together, and it was surprisingly easy for the contented eleven year old to put the events with Professor Quirrell firmly behind him.
Snape was less happy. Though he couldn't fault the brat's behavior, he was becoming increasingly apprehensive about Black. The mutt had done everything Snape had instructed and, to the Potion Master's resignation and dismay, everything was working out exactly as he had intended.
Sirius had shown the world press copies of his pensieved memories, as well as sending them to Madame Bones. After that, there was no way for the Ministry to pretend Black was guilty, and Fudge ordered his staff to do whatever it took to shut Black up and make him go away.
Snape, Black, and Lupin put their heads together and soon thereafter, a growling Fudge publicly apologized for the wrongs done to Sirius Black. A hefty pay-out accompanied the apology, as did a full pardon for Black and all (unnamed) associates regarding his escape from Azkaban. Although Bones, Moody and the other Aurors were dying to know how their former colleague had managed to sneak off the island, an explanation was not part of the deal, and they all (even Moody) felt so ashamed of themselves for believing the worst about Sirius, that they couldn't bring themselves to ask him.
The upshot was that about a week after the brat's latest detention ended, Snape had to sit Harry down, explain that Black had been exculpated, explain what "exculpated" meant, and then inform the boy that the next evening, the two of them would be portkeying to Switzerland so that Harry could meet his godfather.
##
"What's he like? Will he like me? What do I call him? Is he nice? What if he doesn't like me?" Harry's excitement bubbled over as Snape fiddled with his tie in preparation to their taking the portkey from Albus' office.
Dumbledore looked on, smiling fondly at the excited child. Only Snape's grim face and tightly pressed lips detracted from his enjoyment of the moment. He had offered to take Harry, thinking to spare his Potion Master the distasteful task of seeing his hated enemy, but to Albus' surprise, Snape had turned him down flat. Dumbledore sighed. It was obvious that he had lost a great deal of Severus' trust with his mishandling of Harry's situation, and in all honesty, Albus couldn't blame him.
Not only had he placed Harry with those wholly unsuitable Muggles тАУ and then not had the foresight to check on him regularly тАУ but he had misjudged Sirius and even failed to detect Voldemort when the man тАУ well, creature тАУ was right under his nose! Albus sighed. Perhaps his plan to lure Voldemort to the school by using the Philosopher's Stone hadn't been such a good idea after all. Well, the Stone was now back with Flamel, who had managed to keep it safe all these years, and they had clear proof that Voldemort had returned.
Albus looked over at Snape. Poor man. He hid such a good heart under layers and layers of protective snark and snarl, but all of Albus' efforts at helping him emerge from behind those shields had failed. At least until now. Watching him carefully fix Harry's tie, even as he scolded the boy for being an excitable babblemouth, Albus thought that his idea of putting the two wounded souls together might have been one of his moments of brilliance. He could feel how deeply each longed to be loved, and it had seemed as if things were working out brilliantlyтАж at least until now. Sirius' arrival was bound to upset things, and try as he might, Albus just couldn't come up with a means to prevent Snape from тАУ once again тАУ being badly hurt.
Considering the complete lack of help Albus had provided him ten years ago, Sirius was hardly likely to welcome any advice or entreaties from his former mentor. And while Albus was hopeful that Sirius still loved Harry despite the damage that a decade in Azkaban must have caused, he rather doubted that the brash, impulsive, and often unintentionally thoughtless Black would be the best guardian for the troubled, fragile, and extraordinarily vulnerable Harry. But neither could he imagine Black accepting Snape in that role. Not for a second. In fact, when he found out that Snape was acting as de facto guardian, Sirius was all too likely to immediately demand custody of the boy. Albus could only hope Sirius wouldn't pull Harry from Hogwarts entirely, though given all that had happened, as well as Sirius' enormous fortune, deciding to have the boy privately tutored or give him a fresh start at Beauxbatons wasn't such a far fetched idea. And if it had the added bonus of wounding Snape, Black was all too likely to do it for that reason alone.
Albus sighed, feeling extremely old and tired. He should have done so much more to stop Sirius' bullying of Severus back when they were both students. He should have worked to foster a friendship between them, but he had been so delighted to think that at least one of the Blacks had turned away from the Dark, he had given the boy far too much leeway in other things. And now the fact that he had never managed to curb Sirius' spite towards Severus was not only going to harm Snape anew, but also carry the damage into the next generation by involving Harry as well.
His poor boys. His two poor, poor boys, both of whom he had harmed so very deeply. "Severus, perhaps if I were to bring Harry, Sirius would be more open to negotiationтАж?" he offered delicately, feeling compelled to make one last attempt at protecting Snape from Black's vitriol.