Severus, in all of his years of being a social worker to the needy young people of England, had never permitted himself to lose control as he had done over the previous weekend. There was never an inkling of attraction between him and one of the toddlers, children, or adolescents he was somewhat in charge of, so suffice it to say that his apparent attraction to one seventeen-year-old Harry Potter was a bitter pill to swallow. As Severus sat at his desk in his office at Magical Kinship that Thursday afternoon, waiting for three o'clock to roll around so as Harry would be done with school and on his way to his appointment, he found he was growing more and more unsteady with each passing minute.

When Harry finally arrived, promptly at three-thirty, he negotiated with his school bag briefly for a moment before he plunked himself down in the offered chair. He accepted Severus's offer for tea and biscuits, but Severus could plainly see that he wasn't the only one among them with a striking feeling of uneasiness. Harry visibly swallowed where he sat, but nevertheless thanked Severus for the steaming mug of tea and perched upon the edge of his seat.

"Let me be the first to put your mind at ease," Severus informed him in a clipped tone as he moved to sit opposite Harry at his own desk.

"Yes?" Harry whispered.

"You and I did not engage in complete sexual activity that night," he said steadily, and found himself clenching his teeth when Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "We engaged in inappropriate kissing and touching, but nothing more."

"Thank you," Harry told him.

"Yes, well, my type of man does not fall unconscious during my exploits," Severus told him, and felt slightly awkward in revealing this information to Harry.

"I was unconscious?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded. "Yes. After we made it up to your borrowed bedroom, and you said some rather pretty words, you went limp in my arms."

"That doesn't explain why I was merely in boxers the following morning when Hermione woke us up," Harry put in.

"I figured you'd be more comfortable that way," Severus said plainly. "I don't often like to fall asleep in fancy dress, but, perhaps, you do."

"No, I don't," Harry said softly, picking up his mug and sipping it slowly. "Thank you for your consideration to my state of sleep dress."

Severus gave a stiff nod then, twirling his finger about the rim of his own mug. "I'm afraid I must ask you to explain why there appeared to be an unfinished manuscript in your bag," he puts in, and Harry choked on his tea.

"Why?"

"Well, Harry, I am merely curious as to why you seemed to brush off all our previous discussions of The Wicked Count, when you yourself were dressed as the protagonist at Draco's Halloween celebrations, and then there's the matter of the manuscript..."

Harry set his mug down and lowered his eyes to the floor. "I don't see what I do in my private life is any of your business," he told him, his tone clipped, as Severus's had been mere moments previously. "I am hardly breaking any laws here..."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Severus allowed, taking in Harry's body language, and quickly coming to the conclusion that the young man was hiding something. "However, I think you and I both know that Linfred Hardwin is a native of Bulgaria, quite a bit taller than you, and not to mention the facial hair he boasts..."

Harry appeared angered by Severus's statement, but nevertheless kept his eyes averted. "Just as you and the rest of the public surmise," he muttered.

"Harry, if there's something troubling you, now would be the time to discuss it. Remember, I'm just here to help you," Severus told him.

Harry looked up at Severus, and appeared as if he was about to say something, when his phone suddenly went off from within his bag. "Sorry," he said, and quickly went to retrieve it. "It's important. Can I have a moment?" he asked.

Severus spread his hands. "By all means," he said, getting to his feet and crossing the room. He opened the office door and stepped out into the hallway, leaving the door a crack.

"Hey," Harry said into the phone, from what Severus could hear outside in the hallway. "No, it's not a bad time. I'm just in that meeting I told you about," he told the caller. "I miss you, too. I did talk to them, yeah, and they said that you were welcome to come to Grimmauld. Yes, or yours, too, they just want to meet your mum first. Yeah, I know how parents are; at least, I'm starting to figure it out," he continued with a laugh. "All right. Yes, I'm coming to your match tomorrow after class is over. Stop," Harry went on, laughing along with the conversation. "No, you're better," he assured them. "All right. I'll see you tomorrow in class. Bye," he said, and cut the phone call.

Severus walked back into the office then, deciding it best not to bring up who the person had been on the other end of the phone, as it appeared today was not the day to get answers out of Harry. "So, how are your classes?"

Harry blinked, obviously taken aback at the change of pace. "Fine, thank you."

"Did you inform Sirius and Remus about your little detour a few weeks ago, with Draco, Mr. and Miss Weasley, and Hermione?"

Harry nodded at him. "I did, yes."

"How did the conversation go?"

"Quite well," Harry said brightly. "They got me a puppy."

~*~

"A puppy," Severus raged as he paced back and forth in Albus's office the following evening, so close to pulling out his hair from the roots. "Don't you think that that's seen as rewarding behavior for Harry playing truant?"

"Now, Severus," Albus said, his voice authoritative, "you know as well as I do just how much that young man has been through. I hardly think a little reward for being forthright with his foster carers is a bad thing."

"He sat on the truth for weeks, Albus!" Severus sneered at his superior. "He only informed them of it when effectively backed into a corner."

"I do hope that you didn't threaten young Harry, Severus," Albus said, popping a lemon drop into his mouth in a methodic gesture.

Severus glared at the old man. "I hardly think that my methods of dealing with the children I am assigned to should be called into question, Albus."

"You have had plenty of success stories, I'll grant you," Albus replied with a nod as he sucked on his bit of sweet. "Miss Granger for one. How has she been?"

"Top of her class since she was placed with Milton and Christina," Severus told him. "She's positively thriving at her school, and has already gotten early acceptance into Oxford, with a career plan in place."

"Ah, yes, following in your footsteps as a social worker," Albus said fondly. "Gellert and I were speaking of it the other day..."

"How is Gellert?" Severus asked, sitting down in the visitor's chair in Albus's office, knowing that Albus wouldn't rest until the conversation of himself and his life partner were complete.

"Oh, very well," Albus replied, tickled. "Got a new commission for the gallery."

"He likes being a gallery owner?" Severus quipped.

Albus nodded with excitement. "Oh, yes. Especially when he gets to put his own pieces up for sale. You know," he went on with a smile, "you were always a great favorite of his."

"Likely because you have been a father to me for the past nearly twenty years."

"How are Tobias and Eileen?"

"Still married, and living in the Spinner's End council estates in Jaywick," he muttered, pleased to have gotten out of there himself.

"I am just so deeply sorry that naught could have been done for you in your formative years, Severus," came Albus's soft reply.

"Tobias would have considered it charity," Severus informed him, "while Eileen would simply bow her head to his wishes..."

"Well, good that you're out of there now," Albus said with a nod. "Is there anything that can be done about your mother?"

"Mum would never escape from Tobias's influence, for fear that he and all the factory workers would eventually come after her."

"And you?"

"Me?" Severus asked with a bitter laugh. "I'm safe, because I paid back all the supposed debts that Tobias believed I incurred, plus the notion that his son is a poof was more than enough reason to push me out."

"You're just fortunate that you escaped the streets."

"I spent all my free time reading, as you know," Severus said quietly. "It was an honor and a privilege to be accepted at the University of Essex, and then Cambridge."

"You got out."

"And I suppose that makes me a success story, then," Severus said, turning to stare out of the massive window in Albus's office. "Just wish that I could have saved them all..."

"You still haven't told Harry?"

Severus swallowed. "What good would that do?"

"It may give him the closure that he truly needs."

"I hardly think me informing him that Lily and I grew up together is something that Harry needs to be told," Severus said quietly.

"Severus..."

"Albus, I cannot."

"Surely, Harry wishes to know about the woman who died mere hours after he was born and thus put him on the path where he was forced to fend for himself at such a young age."

"She wanted to marry me, you know. Not James," Severus said softly. "I told her that I couldn't marry her, because I wouldn't be able to love her the way she deserved to be loved. When I gave her the specific reason why, she spat in my face, and told me never to talk to her again. She got accepted into King's College in London, but never finished, as she met James, and he got her pregnant, forcing her to put her educational plans on hold. And then he spent every spare quid they had on the local pub, and poor Lily was left to become more and more malnourished as her pregnancy went on."

"What of Lily's parents?"

"Disowned her after she left university and married James," Severus told them. "Told her to leave James, put the baby up for adoption, and stay at university. She was so headstrong that she refused, apparently wanting the baby..."

"Harry," Albus put in.

Severus sighed. "I supposed she wanted unconditional love from someone, and I can hardly fault her for wanting that, despite all the terrible things she said to me..."

"Severus?"

Severus sighed. "James was drinking with Pettigrew when Lily went into labor, and she called me to take her into hospital. I did, and was there when Harry was born. I watched over him in the nursery, but left as soon as I knew James was there. I didn't even say goodbye to her, you know," Severus told Albus.

"You cannot blame yourself for it, you know."

"How can I not?" Severus whispered. "She begged my forgiveness as they were cleaning Harry up, and asked me to take both her and Harry away from James. I told her I wouldn't, I just stared at her and said that she had made the bed she was lying in, and that she had better deal with it on her own. She flat-lined as soon as I left the room, and I left her with those words..."

Albus regarded Severus thoughtfully. "Would you have done it any differently, given the chance to put yourself in that situation again?"

"We can go through our whole lives imagining 'what-if's', Albus..."

"Severus. Just answer the question."

Severus sighed, leaning back against the chair. "I think I would have delayed the conversation about her harsh words towards me to a later date, when she was feeling better. But I also think that I would have made sure that Lily had a different place to live than in my measly little flat, which was all I could afford at the time."

"You were weeks away from graduating with your degree," Albus said. "It's understandable that you would have wanted your space."

"I would have wanted my space because Lily would have..."

"Severus?"

"Lily would get me drunk and make me do things to her," Severus said, hating it when his eyes filled with tears.

"'Do things'?"

"Yes. Touch her, and kiss her," Severus said, visibly shuddering. "I... I couldn't take it, which is why it came as a small relief when she subsequently rejected me for coming out to her. I couldn't go through all that again," he whispered.

"No, I don't suppose you could have, or anyone else could have," Albus observed quietly. "I would not ask anyone to do so."

Severus scrubbed a hand down his face. "Now you can see why I cannot inform Harry about his mother's relationship with me," he whispered. "It would do more evil than good."

"How can you know that, Severus?"

"I know that because, one false move, and Harry's world could potentially shatter. He already harbors resentment towards James for looking the other way. How would he be able to forgive his mother, a woman he never met, for being so cruel to people like us?"

Albus sighed. "Yes. I suppose so."

"Can we just leave it for now, Albus?"

Albus gave a grave nod. "Very well, but I expect that the two of us will be re-visiting this subject in future."

~*~

Severus accepted the call from Penelope in the second week of December, informing him that Hermione was coming in for another visit. Severus didn't mind; in fact, out of all of his former children, she was the only one who made it a point to visit. A handful or so sent letters in the post, while the rest didn't bother to stay in touch at all. Severus got to his feet as soon as the phone call ended and crossed the room, preparing cups of tea as Hermione's Mary Jane's could be heard outside of the office, and she breezed in.

"Good afternoon, Severus," she said brightly, flashing him that engaging smile of hers as she all but bounced into the seat.

"Hello to you as well, Hermione," Severus said, a smile threatening to pull at his lips as he placed her cup of tea before her—milky, with two sugars. "How are your plans for the holidays coming along?" he asked.

"Oh, they're just wonderful," she told him, grinning. "Draco's party should be quite happening, as they say. And then Molly and Arthur have their yearly get-together at the Burrow. Not to mention the one Mum and Dad have decided to put together, and then there's the annual one right here in M.K."

"Sounds like you've got quite the busy schedule."

Hermione shrugged. "No more than I can handle, I assure you. Then there's the matter of all the assignments, including papers and reading, that I've got to accomplish before term starts in the beginning of New Year."

"You've always been exceptionally organized, Hermione."

"Yes. My day planner for my first-term at Oxford is coming along nicely. I've still got to finalize meetings and such, but all my classes are picked out."

"And how are things with Mr. Weasley?"

"Ron has been a gem throughout," Hermione told Severus. "We've actually been discussing marriage, if you can believe it."

"Marriage?" Severus asked. "Mr. Weasley isn't due to turn eighteen until March. I would have thought you would wait."

"Oh, of course," Hermione told him. "We're merely discussing an engagement the summer after we get our A-Levels, and don't plan on marrying until either halfway through university, or perhaps not until its completion."

Severus sighed, nodding; if anyone could keep with a date, it was Hermione. "You do know best, Hermione, after all."

Hermione studied Severus then, and Severus felt a bit uncomfortable. "Is something troubling you, Severus?" she asked.

Severus immediately shook his head. "Oh, no, Hermione," he said, and smiled at her. "I suppose I tend to get a bit lonely around the holidays."

"I thought your parents were still living," she observed softly.

He sighed. "They are. They live in squalor in a council estate in Essex. Threw me out when I was fifteen, due to my father not being supportive of my preferences."

Hermione smiled sadly. "That's just terrible," she said, and shook her head. "We may be a long way from all couples securing the right to marry, but I believe that it has come a long way during the past few decades. Don't you think?"

"It has, thankfully," Severus said with a nod.

"Well," Hermione said, digging into her bag and pulling out a cream envelope, a red one, and a green one, before she handed them over. "Official invitations to Draco and Narcissa's celebration, plus the Granger one, and the one at the Burrow," she informed him. "And I'm also here to inform you that everyone will come to M.K.'s Christmas do."

Severus dropped the envelopes onto his desk, before his eyes shot up to look at Hermione. "Did you say 'everyone'?"

"Well, of course," Hermione said with a smile. "'Tis the season, as they all say."

"Who, my dear, is 'everyone'?" Severus asked.

"Me, Mum, and Dad, of course," she said, ticking off people on her fingers. "Draco and Narcissa will be here as well. And then don't forget Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Victoire, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. And I heard from Harry that he'll be here with Remus and Sirius."

Severus swallowed. "And how is Harry?"

Hermione grinned. "Oh, he's doing wonderfully. Really helping Draco in stepping up to get Ron to do well in all his studying."

"And personally?"

"Well, he really should have told you himself, but I suppose he didn't in your last sit-down, as it was so new..."

"What was 'so new', Hermione?"

"Well, his relationship with his boyfriend, of course," Hermione said.

Severus blinked. "Boyfriend?"

"Oh, yes. They've been together since Draco's Halloween celebration," Hermione informed Severus with a nod.

"And who, pray tell, is this young man?"

"Blaise Zabini, he's in Harry's class," Hermione told him. "He's quite a charmer, and has a flair for English, just like Harry. They're always writing poems together. It's quite sweet."

"Poems?"

"Love poems," Hermione said, and let out a little sigh. "Quite the romantic, Blaise is. He's always holding onto Harry's hand and whispering little endearments into his ear..." She flushed then and shook her head. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you any of this..."

"Think of me like a doctor, Hermione," Severus said, forcing a smile onto his lips. "All we say in my office is strictly confidential."

"Oh," Hermione said, nodding. "Well, all right, then."

"What else does Blaise do?"

"He's the Attacking Midfielder on the school's football team," Hermione told Severus. "Harry hasn't missed a match since they've gone public."

Severus clenched his teeth for a moment. "I do hope that seeing the matches hasn't prevented Harry from studying as much as he should."

"Oh, no, Severus," Hermione said, and shook her head. "Blaise is very dedicated to his education, and merely plays football for fun, although he is quite good at it."

"And what does Mr. Zabini want to do for university?"

"He's already been accepted to the University of Birmingham's College of Medical and Dental Sciences," Hermione told him. "Blaise wants to be a pediatric physician."

Severus bit his tongue, hating that there was almost nothing to loathe about this Blaise Zabini fellow, despite the fact that he was currently running his hands up and down his Harry. Severus halted his thoughts then, knowing that he couldn't allow them to get that far. He had no claims to Harry, and the fact that he readily believed he did was just beginning to lurk into the category of dangerous territory.

"Ah, I see," Severus said, forcing his head and neck to move in a nodding motion. "I suppose that children frequently find themselves to be ill. We need capable people to take care of them and to see that their needs are met medically."

"Blaise volunteers whenever he's not studying, training for football, or with Harry, at London Bridge Hospital," Hermione said fondly. "He's especially wanted in the pediatric oncology ward, with all the children who are ill with cancer."

"And Harry seems happy with Blaise?"

Hermione seemed about to launch into something which reeked of preparedness, but she stopped herself and looked up at Severus. "Can I speak freely?"

"By all means."

Hermione nipped at her upper lip. "Well, in all honesty, while Harry does seem happy with Blaise, they pair act more like people playing a part than anything else."

Severus blinked. "How do you figure?"

"Well, they act plenty smitten in public, but the few times that I inadvertently walk past them—our schools are so close together, you know—they're merely talking like close friends. They're still kind to one another, but their affections in public ring hollow."

"You don't think that Blaise is using Harry, do you?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know. I really hope he isn't. While I've always liked Blaise and admired him for all he's done, I've never been close with him. He and Draco grew up together, you see, and he's Draco's only friend remaining from before he joined our little friend group last summer."

"I just hope that nobody is using anyone here," Severus said softly.

Hermione nodded. "As do I. Harry's become my best friend, other than Ginny, in the past couple of months, and I'd hate to see that end..."

Severus nodded back at her. "Of course."

"Other than the whole thing with Blaise, however, Harry's been normal," Hermione informed him with a smile.

"What is considered 'normal' nowadays, Hermione?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "You know, I find myself unable to answer that question in an objective manner, considering that its definition means something different to every person you find yourself in contact with. Ask someone two hundred years ago what it meant, you'll likely get an answer about farming. As someone twenty years ago, and the new normal was considered factory work. And when it comes to yesterday, today, and tomorrow, you will also find yourself discovering different answers. And it's not merely limited to your occupation, but family, and friends, not to mention many other things that people find themselves involving in, especially when it comes to both a regular and an irregular basis."

Severus found himself smiling from across his desk at Hermione. "Yes, I do suppose you are correct, my dear."

Hermione bent down towards her bag then, and pulled out something wrapped with gold paper and a red silk ribbon. There was a card tucked beneath the ribbon itself, with the name Severus written in Hermione's elegant script. "I didn't want to wait until the parties to give this over to you, or to have it backed up in the Christmas post."

Severus smiled, touched, as he reached out and took the wrapped gift from Hermione. "Thank you, Hermione. Shall I open it now, then?"

"Please," she said, bouncing on her seat again.

Severus chuckled good-naturedly at that; she had done it at the age of six when he discovered her and hadn't stopped since. Carefully, he pulled at the ribbon, and his jaw dropped at what lay within the gold paper. "Hermione..."

"Don't you like it?" she asked.

"I..." Severus stared down at the book in the paper, titled The Wicked Count and the Trials of Fire, the very same title of the unfinished manuscript in Harry's bag.

"Open up the front cover," Hermione said softly.

Severus reached down and opened the front cover as Hermione had bidden him to, and raised his eyebrows at the words there. "'Not everything is as it seems," he read. "Reality is an illusion, nothing is real, life is but a dream'." He read the final part of the inscription to himself, thinking that the words were for him and him alone.

Severus, while I am not ready to tell you the whole truth, know this. The person posing as Linfred Hardwin is a model from Bulgaria known as Viktor Krum, for the real Linfred must be kept a secret for another seven months. Don't ask me until then, for I fear that the conclusion you seek will end up unanswered.

"Severus?" Hermione asked.

Severus shut the book, and promptly put it in his upper desk drawer; he hadn't even opened up the card that had come with it. "A most thoughtful gift, Hermione," he said, and saw that the girl visibly drew back at his tone of voice; he had never spoken to her thus, in all the years he had known her, as if she was a stranger to him. And yet, perhaps, at the end of the day, she truly was just that. A stranger.

"Well," Hermione said, speaking at last, her tone slightly awkward and formal, "I suppose I should let you get on with your work. See you for the parties," she said, and picked up her bag carefully, and zipped it up as she all but fled from the room.