Proof of Life

Deliberations



Harry had fully intended to catch up on sleep, but instead of dozing off, he continued to turn and toss on the couch, unable to get the confrontation with Diggory out of his mind. Luna appeared to be completely unperturbed by Harry\'s twitching, as she continued to read through her book, without lifting her head, or paying any attention to him. Even the soft rustling of the pages as Luna turned them, made him irritated, and Harry stood up abruptly, and left saying a quick goodbye to Luna.



Harry decided that he wanted to talk to both Ron and Percy sooner, rather than later, but showing up at the Auror Office didn\'t seem like a good move at this point. Instead, Harry Apparated to the Burrow, and knocked on the door.



Molly greeted him with a cheerful smile and hugged him instantly.



“I know that Ginny and Lily are away today...” Harry started saying, but Molly interrupted him at once.



“Nonsense, Harry, you don\'t need an excuse to come over. Are you hungry?” She took a hold of his elbow, leading him inside. She pointed to the familiar, cozy couch and Harry sank into it gratefully.



“I\'m not hungry, no,” Harry said, “but thank you.”



“Tea maybe?” Molly offered hopefully.



“I\'ll take a coffee if you don\'t mind it,” Harry said.



“Of course.”



The coffeemaker went on, and Harry sat on the couch, watching Molly quietly while she made the coffee. He couldn\'t help noticing the slight shaking of her hand that she lifted to her face discreetly to dab away a stray tear.



“I\'m really sorry, Harry,” Molly said sincerely, returning to the living room to hand him a mug with hot coffee.



“Oh. Um, thanks.” Harry said awkwardly, as Molly\'s gentle voice suddenly made him feel homesick beyond all reason. “I\'m sorry, too. I mean, it really was mostly my fault. The mood swings, and every time work came up, instead of telling Diggory to shove it, I just took one assignment after another, and sent Lily off to be with you...”



“Well, for what it\'s worth, I never, ever complained to Ginny about Lily being here,” Molly said ruefully. “It really was our pleasure - that\'s what grandparents are for. And as for mood swings, I should tell you about Arthur in his youth – now that was one temperamental fellow...” she glanced at Harry, undoubtedly noticing his tension, and said softly, “But I take it you didn\'t come to hear me natter about my youth. What is it, Harry? Everything all right?”



“Yes, everything is okay,” Harry said, “I just... need to talk to Ron and Percy as soon as possible, and I didn\'t want to firecall them at work – as far as Diggory is concerned, Ron and I aren\'t talking...”



“No problem. I\'ll get them both to drop by right away. Give me a minute.”



She walked over to the Hearth to place a firecall to Ron\'s workplace, and her demanding voice had nearly instant results. Whatever business Ron and Percy had didn\'t stand in their way of emerging through the Floo in the Burrow\'s living room.



“I\'ll let you three talk,” Molly said, departing to go upstairs, and Ron sat on the couch, turning to face Harry. Percy sat down in an armchair across from them, his face bearing an unhappy scowl.



“Harry,” Percy said a little stiffly. “Diggory is fit to be tied this morning. He doesn\'t say what\'s going on, except that it, whatever it is, is all your fault. Do you mind explaining to me how you manage to get under his skin even when you aren\'t working for the Office anymore?”



“It\'s a gift,” Harry said dryly. “For your information, Diggory showed up at my place with four Aurors by his side, trying to get his hands on Snape.”



Ron\'s mouth opened wide in surprise. “No kidding? How did you get out of it?”



“I threw them out,” Harry said a little sheepishly, even as the utter bewilderment at having ejected the Minister of Magic out of the house finally set in. Across from him, Percy looked like he was going to be ill.



“Impressive,” Ron said sincerely. “Why did they want Snape?”



“Presumably to question him about his imprisonment,” Harry said. “But...”



“But you just threw them out,” Percy cut him off. “I don\'t understand, Harry... why didn\'t you let Snape be questioned?”



“I wasn\'t comfortable with that,” Harry said flatly. “Besides, I don\'t think they wanted information. I think they wanted Snape for something else...”



“And do you have any proof of that?” Percy demanded instantly. “Or is it one of those things that you just know?”



Harry shot Percy an irritated glance. “Look, I could tell Diggory was lying. And I wasn\'t about to let Snape go with them – and don\'t stare at me like that. Diggory was trying to pull an illegal arrest. I was within my rights... and if he tries to claim otherwise, well, Luna was there to witness the whole thing.”



Percy muttered something clearly venomous under his breath, but held his tongue. Ron glanced at Harry with undisguised worry.



“Do you think Diggory is going to... retaliate? Do something nasty?” Ron asked hesitantly, clearly troubled by the possibility.



Harry shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage, which was no easy task, given the knot of anxiety that had found a place in the pit of his stomach. “What could he do? I don\'t work for him anymore.”



Percy twitched slightly. “Harry, Diggory, if he puts his mind to it, can do a lot of things. He can discredit you...”



“Not without proving himself to be a complete prick to general public, given how much I had supported his campaign,” Harry pointed out coolly. “Maybe you should remind him of that, if he decides to try.”



“And maybe you should have let Diggory and his men take Snape,” Percy said in a slightly shrill voice. “First of all, you don\'t want to make an enemy of Diggory. Second... realistically, Snape would probably be safer in a Ministry holding cell, than in your house. Not to mention that it\'s not safe for you to keep him around either, with the kind of trouble that seems to be following him...”



“Don\'t be a git, Percy,” Harry snapped, barely able to hold his temper in check. “Snape isn\'t going anywhere.”



“Oh, really?” Percy challenged him with genuine frustration entering his voice. “You are going to guard him against all the rogue Death Eaters, whose primary goal now is to recapture him and kill him? Tell me, how long are you going to be able to sustain this? Another month? A year? The rest of your life? How long until the Death Eaters target your family?” Percy\'s voice was carrying a hysterical note in it, and Harry simply listened to him quietly, allowing him to vent. “Harry, what are you going to do if the Death Eaters kidnap Lily, and demand for you to turn Snape over to them in exchange for her life?”



Harry\'s hands balled up into fists at the mention of Lily\'s name.



“Nobody is going to touch Lily,” Harry said sharply. “We\'ll keep her safe. We\'re all in this together, if someone should attack, the entire group will respond at once. Besides, Ginny knows not to let her guard down...”



“Though I\'ll mention it to her again,” Ron added grimly.



“That\'s not the point!” Percy nearly shouted.



“Then what is the point?” Harry demanded tersely. “Yes, it could be dangerous for all of us, but we don\'t give up on our own when things get tough...”



“That is my point,” Percy snapped at him. “Snape isn\'t one of us. He was playing both sides for his own reasons until it backfired on him...” Met with Harry\'s murderous glare, Percy added quickly, “in a terrible way, I admit, but just because you found him hurt and babbling for help doesn\'t mean he\'s one of us. He was never Voldemort\'s man, and he was never Dumbledore\'s man, and he won\'t be yours either, no matter how many firewhiskys you drink with him. The sooner you realize that, and stop jeopardizing your family for him, the better off we\'ll all be.”



Percy stood up abruptly, and grabbed a handful of Floo powder, tossing it into a hearth, and departing before Ron and Harry could say another word.



“Trust Percy to start freaking out at the first sign of trouble,” Ron muttered under his breath, but Harry could tell that Ron was genuinely troubled by the questions Percy had brought up.



“You know, whenever I talk to him, I end up wanting to shake him,” Harry said wearily.



“I know. Me too, mostly. But he\'s just worried about Ginny, and Lily... and you,” Ron said with a slightly apologetic note in his voice. “Give him time, Harry. He\'ll come around eventually.” Ron stood up as well and gave Harry\'s shoulder a tight squeeze. “Say, mate, you don\'t think you\'ve... overreacted? Maybe there isn\'t some grand Ministry conspiracy to kidnap Snape? Maybe they really just wanted to question him, and that\'s all...”



Harry scowled at once, and shrugged Ron\'s hand off.



“Not you too, Ron,” Harry said bitterly. “No, I\'m not overreacting. I know when people lie to me.”



Ron nodded seriously, and gave Harry a tiny smile. “Just checking. If you say so – it\'s good enough for me. I trust your judgement. I\'ll see you later.”



“Right,” Harry said absently. “Ron, if you hear something...”



“Of course,” Ron said firmly. “I\'ll try to find out what Diggory is up to. If I do, I\'ll let you know right away.”



~ * ~



When Severus entered Hanna\'s empty pub, she rushed to him and threw her arms around, making him flinch slightly and take a step back.



“Sorry, Professor,” she said sheepishly, releasing him from her embrace. “Harry told me what happened this morning. This is really... well, I guess we shouldn\'t expect any better from the Ministry these days, but still!”



“If you\'d rather not have me in your establishment, given the type of trouble that I attract...” Severus started saying, but Hannah cut him off before he had a chance to finish his statement.



“That\'s not it at all,” Hannah said indignantly. “I hope you aren\'t implying that Neville and I are afraid of a good fight?”



“Oh no, I would never dare to imply that a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff would have a shred of common sense between the two of them,” Severus said dryly. For a second he was worried that she might take offence at his thoughtless sarcasm, but Hannah just laughed, and gave him a small nudge to go upstairs.



Walking in slow, measured steps, Severus finally entered the rooftop garden. He was surprised to find his spells, the ones he\'d designed to automatically irrigate and upkeep the flower beds, removed. He frowned slightly, noticing other changes in the garden that had taken place while he was gone – the moved tanks with earth, pots with new plants, and new starter plants that had been dropped off at some point.



“Hello,” he heard a voice behind his back. Severus turned around to see Neville Longbottom standing in the doorway to the garden. “I guess I should have asked you first if it were all right to mess with your setup,” Neville said, giving him a small, guarded smile.



Severus shrugged indifferently. “It\'s your home and your garden, Mr. Longbottom. You can do as you please.”



“Well, don\'t talk like that. I guess I just got carried away this weekend.” Neville shifted on his feet uncomfortably.



Severus stared at him point-blank. It took him a long minute to recall the reason that Neville shouldn\'t be here.



“Why aren\'t you in school?” Severus asked, finally remembering Harry mentioning that Neville taught Herbology at Hogwarts.



“The Board of Governors decided to terminate my contract,” Neville explained with poorly feigned indifference.



“I\'m sorry to hear that. Why did they do that?”



Neville shrugged. “I don\'t know. I actually thought I was doing a decent job. They didn\'t really give me a reason, they just sent me a nice letter, saying that my services won\'t be required this year.” Neville\'s eyes narrowed slightly and he took a deep breath as if to calm himself. “So anyway, about the garden... I spent the weekend feeling sorry for myself and driving Hannah crazy, and then yesterday, decided to do something with my time – that I will likely have entirely too much of right now, and...”



“I see,” Severus said dryly. “Well, I\'m sorry to hear about your loss. Please convey my thanks to Hannah, and tell her that I was happy to be of assistance while it was needed.”



He took a few steps towards the exit, only to find Neville following him.



“Wait – what? Are you quitting? Just because I took down some spells and rearranged some flower pots? Don\'t you think that\'s a little extreme?”



Severus gave him a long look. “Mr. Longbottom, seeing that your family income has declined, and you have the spare time on your hands, I believe my services are no longer required. And I do not need you to humour me, and keep me employed out of pity – although your wife has done an excellent job of it in the last three months...”



“Stop it!” Neville snapped at him, appearing to be irritated more than anything else. “You\'re just being territorial!”



“No,” Severus said softly. “That would presume I\'m holding on to a delusion that I can call any territory my own. I assure you, I\'m not.” Severus paused slightly and added quietly. “I\'m sorry about your job, Longbottom. You seem like the type who... doesn\'t despise the children.”



Neville smirked wryly at Severus\' words. “A compliment?”



“An observation,” Severus said mildly, feeling his lips twisting into a semi-amused smile as well.



Smiling cautiously, they stared at each other for a long minute, and eventually the tension began to dissipate.



“Look, let\'s talk about this,” Neville said finally. “I have an idea.”



They sat down together on the edge of one of the flower beds, facing each other.



“How is your Herbology?” Neville asked point-blank.



Severus shrugged. “I don\'t know. Herbology at an intermediate level is a requirement for all Potions graduates, but...”



“But?” Neville prompted him cautiously.



“It was a long time ago. I doubt I... remember much at this point.”



“The point is, would you be willing to try? I have some books for you that you can read and refresh what you already know, and we can get into advanced Herbology next. I think I want to try my hand at plant-breeding, create some experimental herbs, and sell them.”



“What do you need me for?” Severus asked tiredly. “You obviously have some ideas – and sufficient knowledge to realize them. Paying my salary out of courtesy seems... excessive.”



“I\'m not offering you a salary. I\'m offering you a business partnership. If it takes off, we\'ll both benefit from it equally. If it flops – well, we\'ll think of something else.”



“A partnership,” Severus mused, more than slightly taken aback by Neville\'s proposal. “I still don\'t understand what my part in this so-called partnership would be?”



“Lots of things,” Neville said. “Some practical help with the plant upkeep, someone to brainstorm with regarding the plant-breeding, grafting procedures, new spells – once you catch up on your Herbology, that is. Finally, you can help research the market for the new herbs – I might be able to create a lot of new plants, but I need to know which potions they\'d be good for in order to find buyers, and estimate a fair asking price...”



“You can do the necessary research yourself,” Severus pointed out stubbornly.



“Not as quickly, and not as well,” Neville said. “Look, why are you even arguing about this? What\'s the big deal about working with me? Do you still dislike me that much?”



Severus shook his head mutely. At this point, there was no trace of dislike left for any of his former students. Still, what Neville was proposing felt... daunting. He wasn\'t sure he could manage what was expected from him. Recalling Potions had proved to be difficult enough – although he\'d managed to make some progress in that area – but mastering a whole new subject seemed almost beyond his capacity at the moment. It didn\'t help at all that he felt he owed it to Harry to at least make an attempt to earn some money and start contributing to the household hosting him – it only made the prospect of failure even more intimidating.



“I think you\'re overestimating my abilities,” Severus said wearily. “I\'ve been gone for seven years.”



A long, tense pause ensued, as the word gone hung between them, rich with its unspoken implications.



“You aren\'t gone anymore, though,” Neville said quietly. “Just try it. I think you\'d be really good at it... you know how to care for the plants – I know that much. That network of spells you\'ve set up is a real wonder.”



“If it\'s such a wonder, why did you remove it?” Severus asked, finding it difficult to believe either praise or reassurance at this moment.



“I didn\'t remove it,” Neville said. “Just... deactivated it temporarily. I want to try some grafting spells on some of the new plants I brought in, and I need them to be magically pure for the experiments to work. Once the grafts take, we can turn your network back on.” Neville\'s eyes darted in Severus\' direction. “Gee, who knew you were going to be so sensitive about it...”



“I\'m not sensitive!” Severus snapped with newly found irritation, and saw an incredibly satisfied grin on Neville\'s face. “Are you baiting me?”



“Maybe just a little,” Neville said peacefully. “So what do you say? Do you want to get started?”



“Fine,” Severus agreed. “I suppose there\'s no harm in trying. I\'ll be back once I\'ve had the time to read through your materials...”



“You could stay here,” Neville offered. “I mean – you could read here. You could come here every day to read. We\'ve got a quiet reading room. It\'s a bit small, but – it\'s nice... and this way, if you have any questions or comments, I\'ll be nearby.”



Severus thought over the suggestion quietly. Maybe it wasn\'t such a bad idea – he had a feeling he was spending entirely too much time sitting in Harry\'s home. For all he knew, Harry would appreciate having some normal routine to his own life that didn\'t involve Severus getting under his feet all day long.



“All right,” Severus said at last.



~ * ~



“Harry, you haven\'t touched your coffee.” Molly\'s voice brought Harry out of his numb stupor.



Harry wasn\'t sure how long he had spent simply sitting on the couch in the living room, staring into his mug after Ron departed. It must have been a while, because the coffee had gone from hot to lukewarm, and he was yet to drink a single sip.



“You look so tired,” Molly said softly. “And you look like you might be coming down with a cold - are you strutting the streets in this weather wearing nothing but a robe over your shirt?”



“It\'s not that cold,” Harry protested instantly, but Molly was already retreating into a small den to look for something. She returned a few minutes later, placing a familiar bright red jumper with golden embroidery in Harry\'s hands.



“You left it here last Christmas,” Molly said with a rueful smile. “You didn\'t even wear it once. One might think you don\'t like them as much as you always say you do...”



Harry squeezed the jumper tightly, a tangible reminder of the times when he knew he could count on a new piece of Molly\'s knitting being deposited in his hands every holiday.



“I love them all,” Harry said sincerely. “I think my absolute favourite was the green one, with the dragon....”



“Oh, that one. You grew out of it so quickly,” Molly said wistfully. “Maybe I should knit you a green one for this coming Christmas...” Her eyes darted in Harry\'s direction. “You\'re going to spend Christmas with us this year, aren\'t you?”



“Er - I don\'t know,” Harry said uncomfortably, as the possibility of having to spend Christmas away from Lily began to dawn on him. “I\'ll need to ask Ginny. I don\'t want it to be awkward.”



For a minute he had a distinct impression that Molly was going to express some sort of hope that things might still work out between him and Ginny, but Molly simply looked at Harry thoughtfully, and gave him a motherly smile.



“It won\'t be awkward,” she said reassuringly. “You should definitely come, and bring Severus as well. It just wouldn\'t be the same without you. Lily would miss you terribly, and so would I and Arthur.”



“All right,” Harry agreed. “We\'ll try to make it then. Thanks.”



Molly glanced at him with concern.



“You look so tired, Harry. Are you not sleeping well – both of you?”



“No, not really,” Harry admitted, barely able to suppress a yawn, as the weariness of the numerous sleepless nights began to catch up with him.



“Well, that\'s not a good thing,” Molly said gently. “You know, when you\'re taking care of someone, one of the most difficult things to do is to allow yourself to be healthy, when someone you love, isn\'t. I\'ve raised seven children, so I know all about that – you realize you won\'t do Severus any good if you allow yourself to get sick, too?”



“I suppose you\'re right,” Harry agreed, not feeling inclined to argue.



“Why don\'t you take a nap now?” Molly offered suddenly.



Harry smiled sheepishly, suddenly feeling almost like a child again, with Molly fussing over him for no other reason that he was Ron\'s best mate. He sighed slightly, realizing suddenly how much he was going to miss the Burrow following his divorce from Ginny. For all their problems and arguments, the Burrow really did become his second home, and most of the happiest days of his life had been spent here, together with Ginny and Lily.



Molly appeared to sense his hesitation, because she said very quietly, but with a true firmness in her voice, “Harry, dear, I know what\'s on your mind, but you can\'t start thinking this way. I\'m deeply sorry you and Ginny didn\'t work out. But Arthur and I cared for you long before you and Ginny got together, and nothing is going to change that, all right? Now, stop worrying and nap. I won\'t let you oversleep, I promise.”



“I really should go home,” Harry felt the need to issue one last protest, even as his weary body betrayed him, sinking deeper into the comfort of the couch.



“You are home, silly,” Molly said, summoning a small throw and tossing it over Harry\'s shoulders. As if on cue, the new Weasley dog ran towards the couch and jumped onto it next to Harry, curling up by his face, and burying his nose in Harry\'s hair.



“He\'s allowed on the furniture?” Harry checked.



“Just try and keep him off,” Molly said with amusement. “Harry, dear, just make yourself at home, and try not to worry so much. It\'ll all work out, you know.”



“What exactly will work out?” Harry asked morosely, before wrapping his arm around the shaggy mutt.



He wasn\'t sure if the words that emerged from Molly\'s mouth next were real, or a part of some weird, nostalgic dream.



“Life will work out, Harry, however it turns out. Trust me on this.”



To Be Continued....