kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Then at last he could decently make his excuses. Harry, suddenly shy, came over as he stood by the floo, impatient to leave. Snape looked him over. "You will behave yourself." It wasn't a question.

Harry nodded obediently. "Yes, sir."

"I will see you back at Hogwarts tomorrow evening. Do not forget to finish your homework." Snape reached for some floo powder, to make his escape, but Harry grabbed him around the middle before he could complete the motion.

Damn! That solid little forehead always knocked the breath out of him. An instant later, Harry had released him and darted away, tossing a "See you tomorrow!" over his shoulder as he pelted off to rejoin the Weasley children.

Snape massaged his abdomen and glared after the brat. Molly and Arthur hid their smiles. "Er тАУ thank you again for coming," Arthur said. "I hope we can make this a regular occurrence."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "All of tonight's events?"

Arthur had the grace to blush. Molly, however, recovered from embarrassment much more quickly. To his outrage, she dragged Severus into an embrace. "Now, now тАУ least said, soonest mended!" She completed her assault on his person with a loud kiss on his cheek which only the rigid self-control learned under Voldemort's Crucio prevented him from wiping away.

"Indeed," he said as chillingly as he could manage. "Good night."

He fled тАУ er, hastened тАУ through the Floo and relaxed with a sigh of relief as he entered his own quarters. To his relief he realized that, although it had felt like an eternity, he had only been at the Weasleys for a few hours. It was still early enough to carry out his plan.

He stuck his head back into the Floo network and called Albus. A moment later, the Headmaster stepped through the hearth and into Snape's quarters. "Well, well, my boy, and how was your evening?"

Snape glared up at him from where he lay sprawled in one of his chairs. "How do you think, old man? I have been surrounded by Weasleys, subjected to the architectural inadequacies of the Burrow, and forced to eat Molly's cooking."

"I'm sure you and Harry had a lovely evening," Dumbledore said comfortably, blithely ignoring both the content and tone of Snape's reply.

Snape rolled his eyes. "Your precious Gryffindor prince is safely ensconced among the redheaded menaces. Both Bill and Charlie are there tonight so you need hardly worry about any Death Eater attack overcoming the family тАУ let alone the wards тАУ and I am going to drown myself in Dreamless Sleep in the hopes of forgetting this day ever happened. It will serve you right if, during my absence from my nightly patrolling, the students take over this asylum."

Albus chuckled and patted the younger man on the shoulder. "There, there. I will have a word with Argus to ensure that the students get up to no more mischief than usual, and I shall even take a few strolls about the castle myself, if that will make you feel better."

Ha! Success! Snape masked his triumph with a grumble and heaved himself out of the chair. "I'm sure you can see yourself out," he snapped, heading for his bedroom.

The roar of the floo drowned out Albus' good night wishes, and Snape grinned wolfishly. He'd wait another ten minutes, just in case Dumbledore remembered something and came back. Any longer than that, and he'd assume Severus was unconscious from the potion and he'd know better than to return.

Then, with Dumbledore distracted and his own alibi neatly secured, Snape would be free to carry out his real plans for the night.

Perhaps the only good thing about being Tobias Snape's son was that by the time he was eight, Severus was, through his father, well acquainted with the seamier side of life. Whether he was sending his son to place a bet or buy him more liquor, Tobias had no qualms about exposing Severus to society's rougher elements. Even after he started at Hogwarts, Severus had maintained a few ties to the Muggle underworld. Initially this was so that, during visits home, he could still carry out Tobias' errands, but his connections had also proven useful during his years as a Death Eater, not because Voldemort would ever consider an alliance with Muggles, but because it gave Severus an understanding of Muggle law enforcement that the Dark Lord could exploit.

Tonight Snape was planning to visit an old childhood acquaintance who was now a well-established member of the Muggle criminal elite. He transfigured his clothing into garments that would raise no eyebrows and apparated to the appointed location, a pub close to where he had grown up. Within minutes, he was seated in a dark corner, opposite the man he had come to meet.

"Oi - looks like Life's been kind to you, Severus," John Marvin noted, lifting his glass in a silent toast. "Your father'd be pleased."

Snape sneered. "My father would have been most displeased, and you know it. He loathed me, and the feeling was entirely mutual."

Marvin shrugged. "Yeah, true. So тАУ you're obviously not here to talk 'bout old times. What d'you want?"

Snape leaned back. "I have a task for you and your organization. Interested?" In the almost two weeks since he had first learned of the Dursleys' treatment of Harry, Snape had done a lot of thinking about how best to repay them for their mistreatment of a Wizarding child. Unfortunately, he was somewhat limited in his options by the fact that Albus had assigned him the task and would therefore expect a report.

Since the elderly wizard was surprisingly squeamish about physical violence тАУ though not about deliberately manipulating others, whether for their own alleged benefit or "the greater good" тАУ Snape knew that he would have to avoid Unforgivables or, indeed, anything too Dark. If his treatment of the Dursleys exceeded whatever Dumbledore thought was deserved, the elderly wizard might well send him to Azkaban, deciding that he was too dangerous an influence on Harry. The unspoken subtext in everything dealing with the boy was the fear that Harry would grow up to join, not oppose, Voldemort, and if Dumbledore felt that Snape was somehow encouraging such behaviorтАж Well, Severus already knew the headmaster was willing to sacrifice him if necessary. He'd do it reluctantly and with great sadness, but he would do it. Snape was determined not to give him any reason for such a course of action.

The old man's inappropriate (in Snape's opinion) mercy towards undeserving wizards was why so many Death Eaters тАУ including Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix LeStrange, and of course Snape himself тАУ were still around. Dumbledore insisted that the Order of the Phoenix use nonlethal means whenever possible, and Snape was confident that he would therefore reject anything that seemed too cruel to the "poor Muggles". Dumbledore obviously held out hope that Harry's relatives could be made to see the error of their ways. Snape would rather they saw their own entrails.

He sighed. Since that wasn't going to happen, he could at least come up with the next best thing. He had thought long and hard about this and had rather quickly ruled out using any kind of charm or curse on the Muggles. Dumbledore was sure to object to the ones he wanted to use, as they would inevitably lead to slow, excruciating deaths, and Snape had no desire to let the Dursleys off with the equivalent of a stern lecture.

In the end, he decided on a two pronged approach. On the one hand тАУ the one he would tell Albus about тАУ it seemed appropriate to use Muggle methods to punish Muggles. He was confident that John Marvin would, with proper motivation, be able to destroy both the Dursleys' quality of life and their peace of mind.

"There is a family in Surrey," he began, steepling his fingers, "who have offended me. I wish to ensure that they are made to suffer."

Marvin nodded slowly. "You always were a vindictive little sod. What did you have in mind?"