Prologue
Severus breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door of his house in spinners end. It was summer again and that meant no more idiotic children. He pushed himself away from the door and allowed a small smile to slither onto his face. It also meant he’d be able to spend some time with Martin.
Yes.
So what if the Dark Lord returned after all.
It was summer and he’d spend some time with Martin if it’s the last thing he’ll do. Though he should endeavour to be more careful. It would do no one good if the dark lord ends up hearing his right hand was willingly in the company of a muggle. Severus shook his head to clear his thoughts and got into the shower, gently cleaning his hair from all the grease accumulated from potion fumes as he thought instead about Martin. Severus could only call two people in this world his best friends. One was Lily Evans and the other - Martin.
Martin was a muggle who saved him when he was down in the dumps. Quite literally at that.
Severus had raced to where he knew Godrick’s Hollow was and waited, crying out when the fidelius charm fell and he could see the house. He’d stormed in prepared to fight the dark lord if he had to and instead had ended up clutching the dead body of lily Evans as he cried. He’d stayed like that for Merlin knows how long until he could register that the cries echoing in the room weren’t his own and he remembered that Lily Evans had been with child.
A child who was crying, who was alive.
The sole survivor.
Lily’s precious son - he’d read in the papers - now an orphan.
He slowly lowered Lily’s body to the ground and turned to the crib just to stare into Lily’s crying eyes. Oh merlin the boy had her eyes. Without thinking his hand moved towards the boy who reached out to grab at him with surprising strength.
“Severus.”
He flinched and turned around awkwardly holding his wand in defence with his left hand as his right was occupied with a wailing boy.
“Albus.” He gasped out with relief. “Lily she’s d-dead. Yet her son still lives- he must-“
“Rest assured, Severus, I will be dealing with Mr Potter. He is of no concern to you, do not worry yourself over what he must and mustn’t do.”
“No! Not what he must do - the Dark lord is dead,” only as he said it did he know it to be true. “The mark- it is gone I no longer feel it. He is a child - he must be kept safe - the Death eaters, when they hear -“
“How curious that only after Lily’s deaths do you spare a thought for Potter’s son.”
Severus’ mouth snapped shut his voice dying in his throat. ‘Potter’s son?’ All Severus could see - could hear - in that moment was the pitiful cries of a child who had perhaps witnessed his mother being murdered mercilessly. Did Albus, standing on a pedestal that was so high that Severus’ teary eyes could not distinguish it from the Dark lords, not understand that?
He got up ignoring Albus for a moment and gently retracted his hand from Harry’s grasp. As Harry could not yet speak, he would have to voice the terms himself. Behind him Albus made a questioning noise moving forward as if to stop him from cursing the boy.
His wand properly held in his right hand glowed gold as he spoke steadily and stared into the child’s eyes.
“With Lady magic as my witness I, Severus Tobias Snape, make this vow to, Harry James Potter. I vow to protect him from harm when it is in my capability to do so. Never shall he come to harm by my hand. My Magic, Life and True Loyalty for him. So mote it be.”
With that he brushed past Dumbledore and left without looking back. Running until he could no longer do so and slipped into an alleyway, slumping onto the ground, clutching onto his hair as he screamed. It might have been seconds or hours later when soft hand grasped his wrists. Slowly pulling his hands out of his hair to softly comb though it and bring his head forward to rest on a bony shoulder.
“Hey,” a calm voice whispered into his ear. “Whatever it is, I promise it’s all okay now. You’re gonna be just fine. Come on, let’s get you inside instead of out here next to the bins.”
Now, Severus stood in front of the quaint little flower shop that had become his safe haven with a carefully conjured sunflower held gracefully in his hand smirking as he did every summer at the thought of gifting the flower to a florist. He pushed open the glass door, delighting in the familiar bell chiming out to announce his entering the shop. He did nothing to hide the small smile that graced him whenever he found himself safely tucked away inside the walls of Martins home.
Martin looked up from the front counter where he was artfully wrapping up a bouquet and aimed a broad smile back at Severus, laughing when he looked at the sunflower.
“Ahh! Whatever would I do without your sunflowers to remind me that summer has begun? It’s good to see you, Severus.” His eyes sparkled as it always did when he motioned to the door behind him. “You head on up, I’ll be there is just a mo’. Your vase is quite empty without a sunflower in it.”
Severus wasted no time and bound up the stairs into Martin’s home and, sure enough, waiting for him on the dining table was the sleek black vase he had gifted Martin long ago. He made sure the sunflower was properly placed in the vase with everything it could wish for and headed into his room that had not changed since the last time he’d left it - though thankfully it was free of dust. He’d have to thank Martin for cleaning it while he was gone.
His room in Martin’s home was his favourite even compared to his rooms at Hogwarts with its potions lab. He lived here more often than not in the summer, his house at Spinner’s end and all it bad memories forgotten. He had only lived here full time for the first year after the Potter’s death, despite that Martin had kept his room as he liked it and promised that his doors would always be open for him.
A promise that Martin has never broken.
Even the first two years of his employment at Hogwarts when Severus would run away at night and hole himself away in this room just to get back to Hogwarts early in the morning after he had some tea with Martin.
He changed into the clothes he kept here, clothes he’d allowed himself to indulge on and fondly rolled his eyes and the new yellow jumper hanging in his closet. For the longest time Martin had been unknowingly trying to get him to dress in Hufflepuff colours. All because it would amuse him to see Severus in the colours of a sunflower. Severus would never forget the gag gift he’d received alongside a beautiful watch his first Christmas in Hogwarts. Martin had sent him a toilet seat that had sunflower prints covering every inch of it. Fortunately, it was wrapped properly for muggle postage and so stopped his students from seeing their new, intimidating professor receive a toilet seat. Unfortunately, the bizarre find had started a tradition and every year Severus would get two Christmas gifts, one a normal lovely gift that he could open with the staff, and the other a sunflower gift.
The most recent sunflower gift had been a sleek black tie with a single long sunflower across the length of it that Severus had actually quite liked. Not that he’d ever say it out loud even in the privacy of his own chambers.
Hearing the sound of the fridge opening Severus made his way to the living room, yellow jumper firmly pushed to one side.
Martin grabbed two cans of beer and handing one to Severus he sat down next him on the sofa.
“So complain of - sorry. Tell me, what has Saint Potter and his Crew of Ragtags been up to this past year then.”
“He signed up for a tournament - or no - a… guest signed him up for a tournament that he was too young to compete in. And when our dear Omniscient Headmaster pulled his name out he decided to allow this to happen.”
Merlin Potter’s eyes when he came back from the graveyard were far too similar to his own.
“I do question whether this headmaster I keep hearing about truly deserves the title.”
Severus clinked their cans together. “I wonder the same, my friend. Every day.”
Martin shifted to face him. “Are you happy, Severus? Teaching chemistry to secondary school children? You have always stuck me as passionate for your subject but every summer you come here looking thinner and more tired then before. Please do not tell me that just because your headmaster offered you the job you think it’s the only job out there for you? You are a talented young man, Severus, I worry for you.”
“You needn’t worry Martin. Although teaching is not what I would have chosen for myself, the 6th and 7th years make up for the other dunderheads. And the headmaster… I am grateful for all that he has done for me, but, if not for Harry Potter, then I would have left years ago.”
“True enough, with everything I’ve heard it seems you’re the only competent teacher that the boy can truly rely on.”
“I’m sure all my students will disagree on calling me competent.”
“If you had bipolar disorder for practically your entire life, I’m certain you at least wouldn’t forget to take your medicine, especially when you are working with children as young as 11. That, in my eyes, is a pretty low bar of what I would expect for my teacher. You are quite competent, Severus.”
He sneered at his empty beer, “A low bar indeed.”