Heart of the Guardian

10. The Marauder's Map

One morning, in mid-July, Snape and Potter found themselves with only Minerva as a breakfast companion. Poppy had finally left the previous week, to rest and get some sun, with the Headmistress' effusive thanks for her exhausting work caring for those injured in the battle. Flitwick had gone home to his sons. Sinistra was heading to a conference in Egypt, then visiting her mother. Even the ghosts were scarce, though the Bloody Baron had floated through the corner of the Hall minutes earlier.  Binns would probably sleep until the noise of students roused him on September first.

"I'll be leaving the two of you alone for a few days," McGonagall said as she stirred honey into her tea. The boy's head, bent over The Daily Prophet, came up rather more rapidly than that warranted, Snape thought, and he wondered if the boy felt safer with the Headmistress nearby, rather than alone in the castle with a former Death Eater. "Kingsley wants to consult about a number of things." Her eyes twinkled and Snape wondered what the woman was up to. "I shall want my office to myself by the time I return, Severus. All to myself. Do I make myself clear?"

Ah. Snape nodded reluctantly. He had to do it eventually. He needed his things to plan next term's lessons, particularly for NEWT level students.

"Potter – see that he does it," Minerva said.

The cheek of the woman! Snape thought, outraged – mostly outraged.

Potter snuck a glance at Snape, grinning. "Yes, Professor."

Snape could practically see the boy's mind whirling, probably planning some trick, or thinking of giving Snape detention if he did not comply with McGonagall's order. He growled wordlessly at the boy, whose grin, if anything, widened.

"I'll be back next Thursday, Severus." Then she narrowed her eyes at both of them, her beady look spoiled by a glint of humor. "Try not to burn the place down while I'm away. I am about out of patience with redecorating."

The two wizards laughed.

After breakfast, the boy headed up to his room to some comforting after-meal ritual he had adopted. Snape went to his quarters, and gathered up seven sheets of parchment that held dorm-room checklists. He'd done the girls' dorms yesterday. Today he would tackle the – decidedly more odiferous, he was sure – boy's dorms, which would finish his report duties for end of term. After checking his notes and grabbing a self-inking quill, he headed up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Ashwagandha," he said as he arrived in front of its entrance.

"Bless you!" the Fat Lady replied as she swung open to reveal the round opening. Snape eyed her narrowly, muttered, "You too," and crawled through, wondering, not for the first time, how Minerva had managed.

The Common Room was empty, as he'd expected. Potter was probably up in his room, or perhaps wandering the castle grounds already, as it was so pleasant out. He hadn't asked the boy his plans for the day, it occurred to him. He really should have. Maybe he could get the boy into Hogsmeade, get him to replace his clothes, which were looking both rather ragged and still miles too big on the boy's small frame. Putting it from his mind for now, he made his way to the room that had been occupied by this past term's first years – second years now – working his way methodically though his checklist.

He arrived at the seventh years' room – the one Potter and his mates had occupied since they had arrived at Hogwarts seven years ago – by mid-afternoon. It would be occupied by the coming term's first years, so required the most attention. Potter was not yet back from his wanderings – or at least not in his room. His four-poster was the only one that showed signs of being in use, of course. A knapsack lay on the floor by the bed. A borrowed trunk was locked at the foot, though what possessions Potter could have brought back from being on the run this past year, Snape could not imagine. The trunk probably held his treasures from Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes. He glanced out the window, his eyes seeking out the third white stone from the end in the last row, and the two beyond it. The lake sparkled in the sun behind them.