"Albus, you can't possibly be serious right now," growled Severus Snape. He hadn't signed up for this, in all his years working for Scotland Yard; nowhere in his chemistry or forensic science degrees from Oxford University was the term "glorified babysitter". Staring at the man he'd been working under for nearly two decades, he wondered if he had truly lost his mind, and it wasn't even for the first time.

"I am completely serious, Severus," Albus Dumbledore replied. He had been Commissioner of Scotland Yard for over twenty years, and although some individuals likely thoughts his methods, at times, were unorthodox, his success rate spoke for itself. "Lemon drop, Severus?" he asked him, hoping that the sweet would calm him down.

"No, thank you," Severus replied, his tone clipped, as it always had done, for he had never taken sweets from his commissioner, just an occasional cup of tea every now and again. "As I was saying, Albus, I'm beginning to doubt your sanity, especially in this matter. You presume too much of me, Albus. You're taking too much, and you expect too much. Can't you understand that I don't want to do this anymore?" he asked him, hating the tremor that entered into his voice at his words.

"You agreed, Severus, when Lucius and I recruited you for the division years ago," Albus replied with those godforsaken twinkling blue eyes of his. "And ever since Narcissa was taken, we've had to double down on our efforts. Ted Tonks is a wonderful ally, even I can attest to that. But you know as well as I do that new recruits must be brought in when the opportunity presents itself, and you will supervise one of them."

Severus gritted his teeth. "Surely Lucius would be better-suited..."

"Lucius, as you well know, has his hands full with training Draco, as well as the other new recruit we're bringing in, Ron Weasley," Albus explained patiently.

"Ah, yes. Weasley," Severus said, rolling his eyes, "Granger's fiancé. While Granger is certainly a competent barrister for us, Weasley's not nearly as sharp as she is. He'll likely need all the help he can get."

Albus gave a nod. "Yes. Of course, I would have assigned Ted, but he's working with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, two of our other new conscripts."

Severus sneered. "Let's hope they can keep their hands off one another. If they continue as they did under Kingsley and Alastair during the preliminary training, I fear they won't last long within the organization."

Albus chuckled softly. "I think they were sufficiently reprimanded, Severus, and will see fit to keep their relationship more private in future."

Severus sneered as he leaned backwards in an effort to become more comfortable in his chair, despite his evident discomfort in their conversation. "Surely, Lucius can be persuaded to take on another recruit?"

"I'm afraid not, Severus. What with his duties with training Draco and young Mr. Weasley, he also has his hands full with young Scorpius and the twins."

Severus's black brows twitched together. "Won't it be seen as nepotism by training his own son, and favoritism, by training his own son's brother-in-law?"

Albus chuckled again at Severus's implications. "Ron and Draco work exceptionally well together. I'm told that, despite a rough beginning in their school years, they quite came together, especially after Draco began a relationship with Ron's sister, Ginny. Then came the rather quick marriage and parenthood, and while many brothers would seek to blame the husband for doing such a thing to their only sister, Ron was only too welcoming."

Severus steepled his long fingers beneath his thin lips as he mulled over his mentor's meaning in depth. "There is no way I can get out of this, is there?"

Albus shook his head. "I am afraid not, my boy. However, you should know that we've no just cause to hand over someone completely incompetent over to you."

Severus blinked. "Oh, really? Who is it, then?"

"A transplant from America. New York, to be more specific," Albus said, and Severus rolled his eyes at that. "Come now, Severus. He was born in Surrey—"

"How lovely. A Canadian," he muttered bitterly.

"Not so, Severus," Albus told his subordinate patiently. "He was born in our Surrey," he went on, and Severus's brows raised upwards a hair. "He graduated from Yale, as a matter of fact, before he joined New York's Finest. He achieved the rank of officer, of course, after the training ended, and while his chief wished to promote him to detective, he declined, and opted to return here, to the United Kingdom. Of course, it helps that his fathers have decided to retire here in the wake of them reaching a certain age."

Severus blinked. "'Fathers'?" he asked.

"Yes. You don't have a problem with that, do you, Severus?"

Severus promptly shook his head. "No. None whatsoever."

"His fathers were best friends while in school, and upon the death of the young man's biological family in the early-1980's, the friendship blossomed into love. One was, thankfully, the young man's godfather, and the adoption went off without a hitch. The other, however, was unable to formally adopt him, due to the stigma, of course."

Severus gave a brief nod. "Of course. You say his parents died? How?"

"Murdered," Albus said softly, and Severus swallowed; while his own parents hadn't been murdered themselves, they had both been gone more years than he had had with them in the first place, so he understood the loss. "The young man himself was fifteen months old when the crime took place."

"So, he's got no memory of them?"

"Memories are known to stretch far backwards in time, Severus. Even I couldn't say what the young man could and couldn't remember."

"Who is he, then?" Severus asked.

"Your 'helper', as it were, for this new case to finally attempt, once and for all, to get Narcissa back to us in one piece, will be Harry Potter," Albus said.

Severus stiffened immediately. "Potter?"

Albus blinked. "Yes. Potter. Why?"

Severus swallowed, suddenly uneasy. "Fairly common surname, is it not?"

"It has the capability of being so, Severus, as far as I'm aware," Albus said, looking over his old friend closely. "Why do you ask?"

Severus sighed, straightening his shoulders, recalling the taunts he received, along with other forms of habitual teenage bullying, from James Potter and his cronies—Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew—whilst they were all in school. Long resenting the man, especially when he took away his only friend, Lily Evans, when they were all fourteen-years-old, and then came Lily's unexpected pregnancy just months later, it was a bitter blow. The only good thing about it was the notion that Severus realized he had never been in love with Lily, and had far preferred men whenever he shared intimate company, which was seldom, to say the least, and it had cleared up many things thereafter.

"Severus?"

Severus cleared his throat, shaking his head in an attempt to ward off the memories. "Nothing. I merely went to school with someone with that surname."

"Oh, I see." Albus hesitated for a moment. "I take it the relationship was a less-than-savory one, then?"

Severus gave a stiff nod. "That's putting it lightly, but yes."

Albus sighed. "Well, I hope it won't diminish your opinion of young Harry," he went on, and Severus's shoulders slackened at that, before he nodded. "Harry is an upright young man, and very committed to his job. No romantic entanglements are listed in his file, so he was thought to be a good recruitment for you."

"Charming," Severus muttered sarcastically.

"Now, Severus, I hope I will not have to force you into Sybill's manner lessons again," Albus warned him, and Severus felt his skin prickling at the thought of the bushy-haired woman demanding in a faraway tone to open up his mind and accept the workings of his inner eye in order to achieve happiness with the world, around others, and to attempt to conform to society and its endless possibilities.

"No, you won't, Albus," Severus told him.

"Very good," the man replied with a smile. "Harry's just settling up things with his fathers, and he should be along within a few days."

"Thought it best to warn me now, then, instead of springing it on me, old man?"

Albus's eyes merely twinkled at that. "I know you were never one for surprises, Severus," he told the younger man, and Severus merely cocked an eyebrow at that.

~*~

Harry stared out the window of the flat he had called home for the past seven years, upon his acceptance into Yale. Sirius and Remus had been amazing parents towards him, but he had been confident enough to strike out on his own upon the occasion of his eighteenth birthday. To his surprise, Sirius had found him an amazing place to live, not too far from campus. He had thought about selling it upon his acceptance into the police force, but he had opted to spend the weekends there, while weeknights were spent in his childhood bedroom in the penthouse that Sirius and Remus shared in the city itself.

He would miss the view most of all; on autumn days, the sun would rise and hit the trees just right, causing the leaves to practically glow just below the city skyline. Harry pushed himself away from the window; Sirius and Remus had already caught a flight back to England two days before, to open up the old Black family home, while Harry had stayed behind the make sure he had all his belongings from the flat. He had spent several hours the day before, divvying up the possessions he'd accumulated over the years, coming up with boxes for donation, trash, and recycling, before moving onto the next step.

His flight back home was scheduled for later that night, and he would have to take a cab, with his smaller possessions, as his bigger ones had been sent on ahead, to LaGuardia. The ride itself would take a bit of time, and he'd decided to grab some dinner at the airport before the flight had taken off. Moving across the room and back towards the couch, which had come with the place and would be staying behind, Harry picked up the file folder that Commissioner Albus Dumbledore had sent along ahead, briefing him on his new assignment for Scotland Yard, as well as his new partner, Severus Snape.

Harry had skimmed the section about the abduction of Narcissa Black-Malfoy, nearly twenty years before, and was amazed that her husband, Lucius, and their son, Draco, were both affiliated with Scotland Yard, and working hard on bringing her home. Looking further into the paperwork provided, Harry took in the official photograph of Severus Snape; he had gotten dual degrees in chemistry and forensic science from Oxford University, and his severe expression, surprisingly, did not turn Harry away. He had endless black pools for eyes, a long, straight nose, pale skin, and shoulder-length, black hair.

Harry had known he was gay from the fumblings he'd had in secondary school, and then a couple of relationships throughout his university years. They hadn't been very meaningful, he realized, as time had gone on. Yes, they'd been consensual, and yes, he'd had fun with the men in his life, but there was no love lost between them when the relationships had ended. The notion that he had never been in love didn't strike him as out of the ordinary; although, his relationship with Cedric Diggory, when he was in his first year at Yale and Cedric in his third, came pretty close to it.

Cedric was a transplant from England, having attended boarding school there up until he'd come to attend Yale overseas, on an academic scholarship, similar to Harry's. Harry had gone back to England with Cedric to meet his family, and Cedric's father, Amos, had taken to Harry almost immediately. Cedric was studying business to take over his father's company, Diggory Drills, and the family was ecstatic about the whole thing. Cedric had even gone so far as to move into Harry's flat with him upon their return from England for the Christmas holidays, and so things were officially on the up-and-up.

The summer after Cedric had graduated from Yale, however, had taken a toll. Cedric had asked Harry to move back with him to England, and to take a transfer to Oxford or Cambridge. Harry, dead-set in his ways, had refused, and Cedric had accused him of being afraid. The beautiful brown eyes that Harry had been attracted to now flashed in anger and resentment, and Cedric told Harry that he was in love with him, but, clearly, Harry didn't feel the same way. Cedric had stormed out of the flat after that; it was an uncharacteristically rainy night in their area, and Cedric had been found knifed to death in an alleyway; mugging appeared to be the primary motive, according to local authorities. The last Harry had heard from Amos, as it didn't feel right to attend the funeral, was that Amos was selling the business to a man named Vernon Dursley, who had attempted to get his grubby little paws onto it for years.

Harry lowered his eyes back down to the picture of Severus Snape, and found that he would have to keep his mouth shut about his preferences. Someone like Snape would likely have a wife and family, or would be steadfastly married to his work. He could never be interested in someone fifteen years younger, let alone someone who was incapable of love. Harry shut the file folder and placed it in his laptop case, which would serve as his carry-on onto the plane. His eyes swept over the flat again, and he heard a car horn down below; upon getting to his feet, he saw that his cab had arrived. Waving through the window, he made a grab for his jacket and duffel bag, before putting his laptop case over his shoulder. He locked the door behind him, and took the lift down to the ground floor, putting the keys into his landlord's mailbox, along with a letter, thanking him for everything.

Upon stepping outside and towards the cab, the driver got out and took the duffel, popping it into the boot for him. Harry thanked him with a smile and got into the back seat, holding his laptop case in his lap, and the driver circled the vehicle and climbed back in. Harry confirmed his destination to LaGuardia, and answered the man's questions about moving home for a job. He confirmed his status as a police officer, but didn't go into further detail than that, knowing that cases were, in the eyes of the law, confidential.

Harry turned and looked over his shoulder, giving a final cursory glance to his home. He had never even cried when Cedric was killed, and a part of him hated himself for it. Dragging a hand down his face, he answered the cab drivers' question, letting him know that he would like it if they took the freeway. Leaning back into his seat, he slipped the file folder from his bag again, but this time, used it to hide his face as tears filled his green eyes at the thought that he was too callous to cry for a former lover.

~*~

Harry's arrival at Heathrow Airport was met with little fanfare, which was exactly how he wanted it. He got a cab from the airport once his duffel had been returned to him, and took it to Islington in London, a trip which was about forty-five minutes, giving him plenty of time to tell Sirius and Remus that he was officially on the way. Once the driver put him out front of Grimmauld Place, Harry slipped from the vehicle, and handed over a generous tip to the driver as he handed over his duffel bag to him from the boot. Thanking the man, Harry went up the steps of the old house and let himself in, leading to screams from inside the house as Sirius and Remus dashed forward to meet him.

"Yes, the flight was fine, and so am I," Harry told them as he was embraced by one and then the other. From over Remus's shoulder, he saw the familiar face of Lucius, halfway down the hallway, who was Sirius's cousin-in-law, and who Harry had known quite well since his early childhood. "Uncle Luc?" he asked, disengaging himself from Remus's arms and stepping forward. "I got all the paperwork and such. Everything all right?"

Lucius Malfoy regarded Harry with a smile and a brief hug. "Of course, Harry," he told him, in that official tone of his. "Sirius and Remus just thought it would be great for you to meet some new people, now that you're here."

"New people?" Harry asked.

"Not so new, if I may say so," said a familiar voice, and Harry turned and looked down the corridor towards the kitchen, grinning.

"Hey, Drake," he said, dashing towards his technical cousin, and the pair proceeded to rough-house accordingly for a moment. "Who did Uncle Luc have in mind?"

"Me, for starters," came a pleasant voice, and a young woman with a vibrant mane of red hair stepped forward, her beautiful brown eyes radiating intelligence. "Ginny Weasley-Malfoy," she said, putting out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Harry."

"Gin," Harry said, rolling his eyes and pulling her in for an embrace. "Of course I know who you are. Enough phone conversations over the years. I could recognize that voice anywhere."

"And the Christmas visits," Ginny put in with a giggle, squeezing Harry for a moment before she stepped backwards. "My brother Ron is here," she said, nodding to a tall individual with the same shade of red hair she had, "and this is his fiancée, Hermione Granger," Ginny went on, indicating a lovely young woman, half a head shorter than Ron, with bushy brown hair and a softly pretty face.

"Good to meet you, mate," Ron said with a grin, stepping forward and giving Harry a warm handshake. "I'm part of Luc's task force with Drake here."

"Right," Harry said, recalling hearing about that, as he turned to Hermione. "Nice to meet you, too, Hermione."

"Barrister," she said with a smile before he could ask. "I'm a part of the team of barristers for Scotland Yard. You wouldn't believe how many times we get people wanting to sue the organization," she said with a laugh.

"She's also my best friend, in addition to my future sister-in-law," Ginny explained. "We all went to school together—Eton."

"Except Ginny was a year younger than we were," Draco explained. "We're all the same year in school you were, Harry."

"I wasn't too keen on my little sister—my only sister—going out with Drake at first, but I came around to it."

"You had to, mate," Draco said with a grin.

"Considering we married right out of school," Ginny said with a laugh, leaning back into Draco's embrace.

"Your dads also invited Dean and Seamus—they went to Eton with us, too," Ron said with a considerate look in Harry's direction. "They should be along shortly. I think Dean said something about picking up a bottle of wine first."

"They're together?" Harry guessed.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, since we were fifteen," she said with a smile. "They're so happy together, and make such a lovely couple."

"Luna and Neville coming?" Ginny asked, turning to her brother.

"I think so," Ron told her.

"Cousin Dora's coming as well," Draco confirmed. "My mother's younger sister's child. She isn't the daughter of Bellatrix, the one who... You know," he said quietly to Harry.

Harry nodded. "I know," he told him.

"Neville and Luna are cousins as well," Hermione said, always knowing when to change the subject at hand. "Luna's bringing her fiancé, Rolf Scamander, and Neville's bringing his girlfriend, Hannah Abbott. They've been together for years."

"What do they all do?" Harry asked, relieved that Hermione had the sense to change the subject when she had.

"Neville's a top plant expert," Ron said, his tone slightly too enthusiastic to be believable. "He's really into... What was it, 'Mione?"

"Horticulture. He teaches it at Eton, as a matter of fact," Hermione said, rolling her eyes, and she and Harry shared a grin between themselves. "Luna, bless her, is a veterinarian, and does exceptionally well for herself."

"She has a practice with her husband, Rolf," Ginny put in. "Luna was in my year at Eton, and her father handed over the practice to her after she got her degree."

"And Hannah?" Harry wanted to know.

"A nurse," Draco told Harry with an indulgent smile. "Just got certified. She was a server at our haunt, The Three Broomsticks, putting herself through school."

"That's how Neville met her," Ron chimed in. "Thought she was gorgeous—long, blonde hair and all that. Never thought she'd go for him, but Nev's probably one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet. Hannah responded to that."

Ginny's made a slight noise then as her phone chimed, and she dove into her pocket to get it. She sighed a little then, and placed the phone up to her ear. "Hello, Matilda," she said into the phone, and stepped a bit away from everyone.

"My grandmother," Draco put in softly, looking over his shoulder with concern. "She's got the kids tonight."

"How are the kids?" Harry asked him.

Draco smiled indulgently once again. "Scorpius is five and is tearing up the house, and primary school," he said, puffing out his chest with pride for his son. "And the twins... Well, Henrietta and Desdemona, they're two now and they're quite attached to Ginny. I'm afraid that Grandma Matilda is calling because they want to speak to her before going to bed."

"You're lucky I grew attached to you," Ron muttered, crossing his arms and leaning up against the kitchen table.

Harry raised his eyebrows at that. "Something you're not telling me, Drake?"

Draco scoffed. "Oh. That."

"Yes, that," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes at Ron. "I'm just surprised Headmistress McGonagall didn't expel you for it."

"Ah, yes, my dear brother's reaction to my first pregnancy," Ginny said, wrapping up her phone conversation and crossing back into the fray, ducking under Draco's arm and cuddling up to him with a smile. "You're lucky you were in the States, Harry. I'd hate to think of what would've happened, had you been here."

Harry slowly turned and looked at Ron again. "What happened?"

"We started seeing each other when Gin was fifteen and I was sixteen, just before the school year began," Draco said, gently squeezing Ginny's shoulder, while the latter rested her head against his chest. "Well, we weren't as careful as we could've been and, long story short, Ginny and I got pregnant during the Christmas holidays."

"It was a hard decision, but I decided to terminate the pregnancy," Ginny said quietly. "My parents told us that they would raise the child, and Luc was willing to provide financial support, but it just didn't feel right. So, we went ahead with the termination, although Ron gave Drake a black eye and fractured a couple of his ribs beforehand."

"I may have had some choice words with Ron beforehand, and provoked him into it," Draco reported with a sigh.

"Doesn't make it all right, though," Hermione said, poking Ron in the side.

"Oi! We've all apologized," Ron said, rubbing the area, which appeared to have smarted.

"And then, right after Ginny graduated, I asked her to marry me," Draco said, beaming as he looked down at her. "I just couldn't live without her. I'd been at Cambridge for a year by that point..."

"And I'd received my acceptance—I still go there. Doctorate and all," Ginny said with a faint flush on her cheeks. "But, it just seemed like it was time. Mum and Dad approved, and so did Luc, and now we've got three kids between us, and the marriage anyone could dream of. We couldn't be happier."

"And I came around to it, eventually," Ron said, and Hermione rewarded him with a soft peck on the cheek.

"What is it you're studying again, Gin?" Harry asked.

"History," she said with a smile. "Headmistress McGonagall's lining up a position for me once I get my degree. Our old instructor, Professor Binns, is nearing retirement age and he swears he won't retire until I'm there to boot him out, so to speak."

Harry nodded, suddenly aware of his duffel and laptop case, still being gripped by one hand and suspended from his opposite shoulder. "I should probably get these upstairs," he said.

"Let me help you," Draco said, taking his duffel and moving to follow him back up the hallway and towards the staircase.

"Sirius get the portrait down?" Harry called behind him.

Draco laughed as the stairs squeaked beneath them. "Yeah. It was the first project that he and Remus assigned themselves upon their return."

Harry shuddered, remembering how much Walburga Black had freaked him out whenever he would come back to England for Christmas, and he was relieved to spot a painting of simple wildflowers in a vase as they reached the first landing. Nodding to himself, he continued up the stairs, towards Sirius's bedroom, which Harry had inherited upon Sirius and Remus taking over the master suite. Harry turned the knob and pushed open the door, relieved to spot the window open and clearing out the last of the dust.

"Dad and I got you some new bedding and throw pillows and such," Draco said, tossing Harry's duffel onto the bed before retreating to the threshold. "We love Sirius and Remus as much as you do, mate, but their decorating skills..."

"Or lack thereof," Harry tossed over his shoulder.

Draco grinned. "...yes, extremely lacking, and that's being kind," he said. His expression turned sorrowful for a moment then, and Harry took off his laptop case from his shoulder, and placed it down in the chair beside the window.

"How's it been?" he asked quietly.

"It just gets harder," Draco said softly. "Mum would've loved Ginny, and now that we've got the kids, I just see her in them more and more as time goes by..."

Harry nodded, crossing the room and squeezing Draco's shoulders, and waited for his cousin to look up at him before he spoke. "Drake, our time is now. We have all been trained for this. Once the field work begins, we're going to find her, I know we are. You know that you were lucky to have at least known your mother."

Draco nodded stiffly then, pulling back slightly to scrub the tears out of his eyes. "Nev doesn't have his parents either."

Harry blinked. "No?"

"No. They're in Broadmoor," Draco told him in a voice barely above a whisper. "Another one of Aunt Bellatrix's tricks," he said bitterly.

"And Luna?"

"Her mother," Draco affirmed. "Lost her when she was nine because of a chemistry accident of some sort going awry. She doesn't talk about it much."

Harry shook his head. "No. I didn't really talk about my parents getting killed on the job either," he said quietly.

"Did... Did he know?"

Harry smirked. "You can say Cedric's name, Drake. It... It's all right now."

"Did Cedric know, then?"

Harry swallowed. "Yeah, I brought it up once. He threw it back in my face the night he ended up knifed in the alley," he said, kicking the foot of his trainer against the wood floor.

"I never thought he was good for you," Draco put in.

Harry looked up. "No?"

"No," Draco said, shaking his head. "Too much of a pretty boy, if you ask me. Always going on and on about his reputation and whatnot."

"That's right. He went to Eton with you guys before he moved to the States to go to Yale," Harry said, putting his hands in his pockets. "What was he like?"

"Two years ahead of us," Draco said, tilting his head back as he considered the memories. "He didn't really date much, if I remember correctly, not that there weren't plenty of offers from both sides of the student body..."

"And academically?"

"Gifted, according to Headmistress McGonagall," Draco reported. "That never seemed to be an issue with him."

"What was?"

"I don't really know. He suddenly became really withdrawn at the end of his final year. Like he'd seen a ghost or something."

"He was dating that exchange student, right?"

"Yeah, from Bulgaria, Viktor Krum," Draco replied with a nod. "It was a shock, because Krum had been running around with Hermione for a time beforehand, which ultimately led to Ron taking up with Lavender Brown down the line. Jealousy was stirred up enough between those two, and they didn't get together until the end of our final year."

"And Cedric?"

"We just thought he was getting torn up because Krum was going back to Bulgaria once the final term ended," Draco said with a shrug. "We didn't travel in the same circles, and I was trying my best to keep Ron off my back, because of Ginny's pregnancy and subsequent termination. I wish I had more information for you, Harry, and I'm sorry that I don't."

Harry shook his head. "No, mate, don't worry about it. It gives me some context, at the very least," he told him, forcing a smile onto his face. "I don't think he was out to his family, though, given that they gave us separate bedrooms when we went to visit them."

Draco shrugged. "Maybe they were just traditional."

Harry sighed. "Could've been, but they mentioned Cho at the funeral, naming her as his girlfriend, despite the fact that she was just the mistress."

Draco reached out then, squeezing Harry's shoulder this time. "Couldn't have been easy for you, mate, any of it. I'm sorry."

Harry laughed darkly. "Nothing I can't handle, right?"

Draco stared at him for a moment. "You're holding something back, though."

Harry dragged a hand through his hair. "What's Snape like?" he asked.

Draco laughed aloud then. "I knew it! You've got it bad, cousin," he said, and Harry reached out then, knuckling into his hair, to the point where Draco called uncle, and decided it would be an opportune time to tell him everything he needed to know.

~*~

Severus was working feverishly on a report for the preliminary meeting he was to be subjected to with his new recruit, when his desk phone rang. He picked it up then, placing the phone delicately onto his ear, and sandwiched it between that and his shoulder. "Yes?" he said into the receiver, while all the while typing as quickly as he could.

"Ah, Severus," came Albus's jovial tone. "Just wanted to let you know that young Mr. Potter is here to meet with you."

Severus swallowed. "I'll be five minutes. That all right?"

"Of course, my dear boy, of course," Albus said. "I'll let him know."

Severus hung up the phone as the line went dead, before adding his final thoughts to the report and sent the document to the printer. Saving his progress and getting to his feet, Severus locked the computer and got to his feet, crossing over to the printer and fetching the papers. He stapled them all together before he advanced down the hallway towards Albus's office, tapping on the door before he was permitted inside, and came in once he was.

"Ah, Severus, my boy, you've arrived," Albus said, getting to his feet. "Harry, this is Severus Snape, who will be overseeing you."

Severus watched as Harry turned around slowly then, the nest of black hair on his head unable to be tamed, and the startling green eyes that stared back at him, with Severus fully comprehending how those emerald orbs could stare directly into his soul if they had a mind to. "Severus Snape," he said to the young man, putting out his hand.

"Harry Potter," said the younger man, accepting Severus's hand, with a surprisingly firm and warm grip, not altogether unpleasant.

Severus arched a brow, and somewhat reluctantly released the boy. "Despite all your years in the United States, I see you haven't lost your accent."

Harry visibly swallowed, a faint flush appearing on his cheeks, and Severus found himself hardening slightly at the sight before him. "Wanted to stay true to my roots," he admitted with a boyish smile, which was just the ticket to send Severus over the edge.

"Yes. Well," he said, sweeping his black gaze over to Albus, whose blue eyes were busy twinkling in a mischievous manner. "Am I permitted to take my charge now?"

"Go onward, my boys," Albus said.

Severus gave a cursory nod to his superior, before turning back to Harry. "Let us get a move on then, Potter."

Harry quickly followed him, letting the silence stretch between them for a moment before he spoke up again. "Look, it's plain to see you didn't want anyone to look after, but I know how to do my job, sir. Not to worry."

Severus tossed a look over his shoulder at the young man as they swept back into his office. "Sit down, then," he said, not answering his question, as he moved to the main chair behind his lethal-looking desk. "You're correct, Mr. Potter. I don't appreciate my skills being demeaned to the title of babysitter, but, here we are."

Harry swallowed. "Right," he said softly. "Please, can you not call me that?"

Severus blinked. "Call you what?"

"'Mr. Potter'," he replied. "I... I never liked it."

"What shall I call you, then?"

"Harry. That's all I am, anyway. Just Harry. It's all I ever wanted to be." He shrugged. "I mean, once everyone figured out who I was growing up, they wanted to get all, I don't know... They fawned over me, to be honest, and it was downright... Well, sickening."

"You didn't like the fame?"

"Infamy is more like it," Harry said darkly.

"What's the difference?"

"My parents are dead, sir. I don't really like being constantly reminded of that whenever people figure out what my name is, and that goes into who I am. I could've taken on my adopted father's surname, but I didn't. So, there we are."

"Your parents are dead?"

Harry nodded stiffly. "Yes."

"Well, Harry," Severus said, causing the younger man to look up at him again, "it seems as though we have something in common."

Harry swallowed. "I'm sorry. About your parents."

Severus sighed. "Don't be sorry about my father, Harry. He was a drunkard who liked to smack me and my mother around as much as he could. My mother, however... She would try, I suppose, to be competent in her parental role. Just... The abuse took its toll."

Harry gave a shallow nod. "I am sorry to hear that, sir. Truly, I am."

Severus looked down at the paperwork in his hand then, knowing when it was time to move on to the next phase of things. "I hear you are intimately familiar with the face."

"Yes. The kidnapped woman, Narcissa Black-Malfoy, is my adopted father's cousin," Harry told him, and Severus tried to ignore the inkling rushing through him.

"Very well," Severus said. "Let us go back through the files and see the initial interviews that the former leads on the case took, and we'll start from there."

Harry nodded. "That sounds reasonable, sir." He hesitated for a moment. "What does a chemist and a forensic scientist have to do with the case?"

Severus smiled darkly. "You'll know things in due time, Harry."

"Tell me something now. Please. I hate working in the dark."

Severus swallowed. "It is like an onion."

Harry blinked. "The case?"

Severus shook his head. "No, Harry. Me. I'm the onion," he said softly, before he handed over a file folder to the young man, refusing to admit that there was a tremor from within him when his fingertips brushed Harry's.