chamber change

nurse visit

That night they never made it to their quarters, instead they kept vigil over the children that had come to them for healing and safety, taking turns to watch over them. In the morning, as had become the custom over the years, the other three Heads of House arrived to collect their students. They had discovered what Severus was doing years ago and lent him aid, along with Madam Pomphrey, where they could. Which was one reason why the files made it out of the school intact. All of them cared deeply for the students, after all they were their children for most of the year any way.

"Why didn't you notice me?" Harry asked McGonagall softly, hurt that his own pain had been missed.

"You are a good actor brat, and I was blinded by my hatred for James. I also have no doubt that Minerva, all of us really, were soothed into ignoring our misgivings by the Headmaster. Remember, out of the entire staff, I am the most skilled at finding those like us. You fooled me, even without hating James I doubt it would have been easy for me to tell. Why would they have been able to unless you slipped or told them if I couldn't tell?" Severus consoled his bondmate softly. Harry nodded his understanding but everyone awake noticed how he kept near to his bondmates after that.

"I will owl Lucius and ask that he go to the bank on our behalf. I see no reason not to use some of our funds to create a safe haven for them and arrange emergency portkeys, ones that can not be taken from them without consent. I promise that we will change this, somehow. For now we will have to wait until we can leave the school for a day or two to assign our seats and try to deal with creating laws to protect them," Tom informed his bondmates. He protectively pulled them against him in comforting cuddle as the last student, a little Hufflepuff girl, was returned to her dorm.

"We are gonna burn Dumbles bad for doing this? For acting as an evil Dark Lord while pretending to be a good guy? For hurting all of us?" Harry asked quietly in the now empty room.

"Now that we aren't trying to kill each other? Yes, I think we are but rescuing the children will need to come first," Tom agreed.

"Yeah. We're free, sort of, but they aren't. That's something we have to fix," Harry agreed firmly.

"First, breakfast then medical checks for our snakes. I will carry up the new file updates for the ones we treated when we go," Severus ordered, ending the grim discussion for the moment as they headed for their quarters to get ready for the day. Bailey had hissed his agreement with the plans they had made and contentedly followed the three about as they got ready for breakfast.

Breakfast was uncomfortable owing in part to the fact that Lupin had made it to the table before them, unlike the day before when the man had arrived just as Molly ushered them out of the hall. To top it off Dumbledore had tried to place Lupin between Harry and his bondmates, isolating Tom and Sev at the end of the table and trapping Harry between Dumbledore and Lupin. The three bondmates took one look at the set up and conjured another chair, putting Harry at the far end of the table, away from anyone but them.

"Harry?" Lupin asked with a tentative smile.

"Lupin," Harry greeted coldly.

"Now, Harry is that anyway to talk to an old friend of your parents?" Dumbledore asked in clear disapproval.

"Its a perfectly acceptable way of greeting someone who has nearly eaten one's bondmate," Tom shot back cruelly.

"Severus, you shouldn't have prejudiced Harry against one of his family," Dumbledore admonished. The rest of the staff stiffened in barely hidden shock as they realized his words weren't a denial and that the students could be at risk.

"I didn't tell them a thing, just as you forced me to vow in my fifth year. Have you already forgotten we shared each others memories as the bond settled? The very reason we need to see about testing our joint knowledge level and what we each retained? You are getting old Albus. I didn't have to say a word to them, they viewed it themselves. Be glad our only attempt to curse him was at the sorting when we weren't expecting to see him in the first place as you had failed to inform us of his presence on the grounds much less as staff," Severus pointed out icily.