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Day One

Day One
Sunday, 1 September 1996
Potter was missing. Severus knew he ought to be relieved, or at the very least indifferent, but no. No, he was concerned, of all things, as if he didn't already have enough to be concerned about. It didn't help that the boy's sidekicks clearly thought he had something to do with Potter's disappearance; they'd been glaring and pointing and whispering and following him around since they'd got the news. Something was going on.

Unfortunately, Severus' means for discovering what exactly that something was had been drastically reduced. Unless it was absolutely necessary, the headmaster was barely speaking to him; he was still less than pleased over Severus' treatment of Potter. They'd had a nasty falling-out when Severus admitted he'd taken the boy, and it had only got nastier when he'd refused to reveal their whereabouts. Potter's condition when Severus had returned him to Hogwarts hadn't helped his case any, death of the Dark Lord notwithstanding.

That condition was almost certainly the reason he'd disappeared; he could hardly attend classes looking the way he did. And although Severus was willing to concede it may have been his own predilections talking, he did feel Potter looked rather more like a glowing endorsement for the Dark Arts than a cautionary tale. Had he put in an appearance, the students, who'd started gossiping the second it became apparent Potter wasn't at the Sorting Ceremony, would have told their parents and their parents would have told the Daily Prophet and the Ministry would have gone into further hysterics and Potter would have been thrown in Azkaban for his own good. Yes, Severus knew quite well why Potter was missing.

He also knew quite well that Dumbledore had another reason for hiding Potter, and it was to keep him far away from Severus. And that was the crux of the issue. Severus had meant it when he'd said that he was the last thing Potter needed. To say his relationship with the boy was unhealthy was an understatement, and the fact that his disappearance had driven Severus to be sitting in his chambers half drunk and wholly brooding only underscored the point -- particularly in light of the vast amounts of alcohol it took to get him even partially inebriated.

The sensible thing to do would be to let the headmaster handle it. The rational thing to do would be to wash his hands of Potter, let the Wizarding world have their tainted hero, and move on with his life. Quit Hogwarts and the Order and Albus Dumbledore and Harry fucking Potter. But there was still a spy to catch, Severus wasn't done with Hogwarts, and he didn't particularly care to be done fucking Potter.

But Potter, just to be contrary, wasn't underfoot the one time Severus actually desired his company. Knowing Dumbledore, which he did, Potter was probably "recovering" alone in a purple room with pink polka-dots and a treatise on Why The Dark Arts Are Just Not Cricket. And knowing Potter, which Severus also did, the boy was getting darker by the second.

Yes, the reasonable thing to do would be to let the headmaster and the rest of Wizarding world deal with it. It wasn't as if Severus had anything to fear from Potter, after all. Unfortunately, Potter's utter lack of sense was catching, and Severus was in the habit of cleaning up his own messes, and he was just drunk enough to admit that the mess Potter had become was entirely his own. Sighing, he poured another glass of Craggenmore and wondered how in Merlin's name he was going to save the blasted boy this time.

***
Severus couldn't afford to be connected to the rescue mission, but it was easy enough to manipulate the other two-thirds of Potter's trouble-making trio. A few smug comments to Malfoy where Potter's hangers-on could hear them. A detention for Weasley. Potter's spare bit of parchment, strategically placed in Severus' office where even Weasley couldn't fail to see it. A pressing matter to attend to which would leave Weasley alone with said spare bit of parchment.

Of course there were flaws in the plan, variables and holes and places where it might go wrong. Severus thought the parchment was a map, but couldn't be sure; he cursed his own lack of foresight in not making Potter tell him. And even if it were a map, it would likely only work if Dumbledore had kept the boy at Hogwarts. He probably had, but it was possible he hadn't. The protections on Potter would be strong and difficult to break; Potter's own magic was likely to be neutralized. Escape would be dangerous.

And then there was the possibility that once he did escape, Potter would knock on someone else's door. Severus would rather have the Dark Lord rise again than admit it, but it was that variable which bothered him most.


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