The day after taking his NEWTs Harry had left Hogwarts, Neville in tow

The day after taking his NEWTs Harry had left Hogwarts, Neville in tow. It had taken some time to locate Snape, but the ads all over the place had pointed them in the right direction. So at last, they stood in front of the house Harry had seen in Snape’s memories. The place was certainly looking cleaner and less neglected, however.

After sharing a nervous glance, they knocked on the door.

sssssssss

Severus cursed as he rushed to the door. Who could be bothering him now? Who dared to bother him while brewing! He hadn’t bought an answering machine for nothing!

He pulled open the door with some force, intent on chewing out whatever Muggle had disturbed him at his cauldrons, but was completely cut off when he saw his former students standing on his doorstep.

“Er…Hullo, Professor Snape,” Harry ventured anxiously.

“We, er…we wanted to know if you are doing alright,” Neville eked out.

The world that had been turned upside down more than enough lately suddenly also started to spin.

“You what?” Severus spat, more out of habit than real malice, since his brain hadn’t quite wrapped around the concept of his two most hated students showing concern for him.

“May we step in for a moment? I fear discussing things outside in a M…in this neighbourhood might be unwise,” Harry asked.

Snape wordlessly let them by, until they were in the tiny but no longer threadbare and prisonlike livingroom.

“WHAT. Are. You. Doing. Here,” the former Potions Professor snapped.

“We thought the way Dumbledore treated you was disgusting, and we worried about you,” Harry began bravely, “we agreed that after our NEWTs, we would search for you to see how you were doing. We may not have gotten along at school, Professor, but you did save my life countless times and Neville owes you, too – so we want to make sure you are well and happy. Or as happy as anyone can be after all that’s happened to you.”

Severus closed his eyes briefly. “I do not need charity, Potter. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. So you can tell your precious Headmaster that I did not let him ruin me.”

“That is going to be difficult, considering the man isn’t allowed within a hundred yards of me,” Harry smirked a little, “you are not the only one who is free from him now.”

“I am not ‘free from him’, Potter,” Snape hissed, “if he finds out what I am doing for a living he will undoubtedly do his best to ruin me. Your coming here brings unwanted attention.”

“What is it that you do here, Professor?” Neville spoke up for the first time since they entered the house.

“I am not your Professor anymore, Longbottom!” Snape roared, “stop calling me that!”

“Ah, force of habit,” Neville shrugged, appearing much calmer than he felt, “but what DO you do here, sir?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” the snarl was full of mistrust, “do you think I would give you any more reason for a good laugh at the dinner table with the rest of that family of yours?”

Harry shook his head. “I understand why you don’t believe us, sir. We truly were concerned. It’s fine if you don’t want to tell us how you support yourself, we just want to be sure that you are.”

Snape stared at them, disbelief warring with anger in his eyes. Finally he sighed.

“Well, as long as you dunderheads managed to find me here, you might as well stay for tea and tell me how and why you got a restraining order against the Headmaster, Potter.”

Harry sipped the conjured cup of tea before answering. “You know as well as I do that Dumbledore groomed me all my life, preparing me to sacrifice myself. Putting me with the Dursleys to make me feel worthless, then favouring me at Hogwarts and telling me I had a destiny. I have no proof, but I am not all that certain he did not know about Sirius being innocent of betraying my parents. Even now he would try to control my life, and I will not let him.”

“You survived, Potter.”

“I did. No thanks to him. He has been planning my death for many years, yet what did he attempt to remove the Horcrux from me? Why hide the one item that Voldemort wanted more than anything else in Hogwarts in my first year, with traps that a first year could get through? No offence to your potions, sir, but leaving a riddle with the clues on the table with the potion is a tad bit retarded.”

“If in second year, Hermione could figure out it was a basilisk roaming the school, then a Wizard with 150 years experience must’ve realized immediately. Either he, Hagrid or Professor Kettleburn. You would think that between the entire staff, someone must’ve read the clues as she did. Moaning Myrtle had been in the bathroom for over sixty years, he KNEW she died the last time the chamber was opened, but didn’t bother talking to her to see if she knew anything. All those things make me distrust the Headmaster. I do not want him near me, especially not when he is trying to mooch off that stupid attention people keep paying me. It’s not that I don’t want to share, I just want to be left alone.”

“What he did to Slytherin at the end of first year was cruel, sir,” Neville offered, “I was really proud back then – I didn’t get many points, as you may recall. It wasn’t until later that I realized how horrible it must have been to the Slytherin students.”

Snape sighed. This conversation was not going the way he imagined. Potter and Longbottom were being entirely too reasonable and contrite. How could he rant and rave at them when they fully admitted to all the things he wanted to rant about, before he had a chance to do so?

“I hope – I hope I am more like my Mum, in the end, sir,” Harry said, looking at Snape with those green eyes that made it impossible to sneer.

“You might well be,” Snape finally muttered. “If you want to know, I have developed a weight loss potion. It is quite popular among Muggles, and contains no magical ingredients. I have my own business and I do quite well. So your concern was unnecessary.”

“Oh?” Neville perked up, interested, “What kind of ingredients? Anything rare?”

With a tired sigh Severus named a few of the rarer ingredients required, that he had to order abroad at quite a large fee.

“Really? I grow those in my greenhouse,” Neville said, “I’ll send you some.”

“I don’t need charity, Longbottom,” Snape spat.

But in the long year that he was Headmaster, Longbottom had lost his fear for him. The young man simply shook his head. “Not charity. I want to send you some samples to see if they meet your standards. You are importing them now, aren’t you?”

Seeing the confirming nod, Neville pressed on. “That is likely quite expensive. If you like the quality of my products, my prices are probably a lot lower than what you pay for importing them.”

“I use dry products now,” Snape mused, “but fresh would probably be better. Very well, you may send some of your samples, and a pricelist.”

“Thank you,” Neville nodded as if a great favour was bestowed upon him. And it probably was. Harnessing his pride was no mean feat for Snape, after all.

Harry frowned. “Could I buy some of your potion?”

Snape raised an eyebrow. “Planning on becoming more emaciated than you already are?”

The former Boy Who Lived grimaced. “I’ve only just started to put on weight. No, I want to send some to Dudley – my cousin.”

The Potions Master studied him. “From what I understand, your relatives were hardly kind to you, Potter.”

“Well, no. But Dudley didn’t really know any better, and once he grew up a bit – before I left for the last time, when George…well. He was okay to me, and we call occasionally.”

Snape went downstairs, and moments later three vials were pressed into his hands. “Here.”

“Great!” Harry started to fish money from his pocket.

“Never mind, Potter. I suppose that cousin of yours is related to Lily in some way, too, even if he is Petunia’s brat.”

“Thanks – I owe you again. Let me know if the Ministry are giving you any trouble, or Dumbledore. You know how much I enjoy being a pain in the arse to incompetent Ministry personnel.”

“Indeed I do, Potter. Indeed I do.”