As Potter is to Snape

Chapter 26

The next day after the start of term feast seemed to pass quickly for Snape. He had already had his first few classes, most of them with the upperclassmen, and he hadn't seen Harry at all except during meals. They never spoke, of course, but as Harry entered the Great Hall with his friends that day, he seemed to almost unconsciously scan the teachers' table where Snape usually sat. When he made eye contact, however, he would drop his head or turn his attention elsewhere. Snape would have found it amusing if he were the sort of person to find humor in things.

Though he could not deny that he found himself paying closer attention to the boy this year than he had before. He actually noticed the ways in which Harry interacted with the other students and his friends. The way that he always sat on the left side of Gryffindor Table and was usually content to let the others talk amongst themselves, while he stayed mostly quiet. An odd thing considering that he never seemed to be quiet over the summer. He assumed that it was just the first day of classes that had taken its toll on him.

It was these thoughts and more that had been floating around in Snape's head the last few hours as he prepared his lesson plans for his third-year classes the coming morning. This would be the class that Harry had with him and he could only hope that their act was good enough to fool everyone into thinking that everything was exactly as it had always been.

A soft knock on his parlor door drew Snape's attention, but he only glanced up at it before the door swung open to reveal Albus standing there with a smile on his face.

"Severus," he said as he came inside and allowed the door to close behind him, "I'm glad I caught you before you went to bed."

"It's still early," Snape said with a frown. "I rarely retire before midnight, you know that."

"Ah, well, you never did appreciate the importance of a good night's rest."

Snape rolled his eyes as Albus claimed the chair opposite him and summoned tea with a wave of his wand.

"Surely you didn't come all the way down to the dungeons just to criticize my sleeping habits, Dad."

Albus smiled again. "Of course not, my boy. I actually came for two reasons. The first is that I believe I've found a way for Harry to come back and forth without being seen by anyone."

"Do go on," Snape said when Albus didn't immediately elaborate.

The older man pulled a small, golden key from an inside pocket of his robes and passed it to Snape who turned it over in his hand, examining it. "A magical door can be put in place that would appear should he want or need to come here. Much like a portkey, he would only need to hold the key in his hand while thinking of here and the door would be there. After that, Harry would simply open the door and walk through. It connects straight here, just inside the parlor."

Snape could have kicked himself. "I don't know why I didn't think of this in the first place," he said as he placed the key on the coffee table. "But what if he loses it or someone else gets ahold of it?"

Albus shook his head. "Nothing at all. For anyone else, it's nothing more than an old key that doesn't fit anything."

Snape nodded. "Thank you. This is perfect."

Albus waved away his gratitude as he sat back in the chair. "My pleasure. As for your other problem, however, that's a bit more complicated."

Snape sighed as he nodded. "Of course, the Ministry would never let a former Death Eater become a permanent guardian to Harry Potter. The only reason they gave me temporary was because it was considered an emergency and you were searching for someone else."

"You were never a Death Eater," Albus said so sharply that Snape, for once, didn't argue the fact.

Snape had long since come to terms with the role that he had played in the first war. Being a spy was something that his parents had been strongly against from the beginning but he had felt like it was his best way to help the side of good. He had ended up making the decision and then following through with it in secret. Not telling them until after the fact.