But what it meant for the here and now, was quite simple really. Severus knew beyond any doubt, Harry was twice the Light wizard either of his parents had been. If he knew any Dark Magic spells, he only knew them because they had been used against him already and what did it say when the entirety of the Light side sought to teach him Dark Magic through having it used against him simply so they could refer to him as a Dark Wizard and sneer at him behind his back? How being the victim of dark magic users made him a dark wizard Severus didn't know but he'd heard more than once how because Potter had been exposed to it, that meant he was a dark wizard himself.
Severus knew not one person in this world really gave a hoot about the child but until this year he hadn't really cared one way or the other about that. In fact, it had been a source of private amusement for him. But now, following the boy around the Castle during his free time and having trusted members of his house do so when he couldn't due to other obligations, he knew that was really a very sad thing. The boy was just a child. A very lonely child. But still. Nothing more than a child like any other with no one in this world who cared about him. Unlike other children his age, Potter didn't spend his free time playing games or gossiping. He spent it reading. Learning from books a child his age shouldn't be interested in.
Following the Potter child around was also good for his trusted Slytherin children as they were also coming to see the child rather than the myth. For some of them, coming to see Potter for who he really was, was an eye-opening experience that showed them no matter how bad they had believed their own lot in life was, there was someone who had a worse lot. Because all of them saw the truth. Potter had no one. Absolutely no one who cared for him. Sure, there were people who liked him and always had been. But they didn't care for him. He couldn't go to them with his problems or when others were giving him a hard time. He had no one in that capacity. And never had, really. Not since Lily and James had died.
And it was proven by the fact that no one seemed to have even noticed that beautiful owl of his hadn't come back to the Castle with him this year. And Severus grudgingly admitted the boy loved that owl. Probably more than he loved anything else in this world. In either world, really. She didn't judge him or make demands of him. She didn't steal from him unless it was his bacon off his plate. Or try to lead him into confiding in her just so she could betray him as soon as he turned his back on her. She didn't hurt him just so she could laugh at how weak he was to have gotten hurt in the first place. And she certainly didn't try to kill him or get him killed. No, Harry loved his owl because she was safe for him to love. And how very sad was that when a fifteen year old boy would only allow himself to care for an animal because he knew the animal was safe to care about while people weren't?
Yet people like Minerva didn't realize it at all. He had begun talking with Irma, otherwise known as Madam Pince, the Librarian, when he'd shadow Harry to the library after his classes. That is, when he wasn't keeping Ms. Granger from bothering the boy. As soon as that girl saw him in the Library she'd try to make a beeline straight to him. Either he or Madam Pince would divert her long enough for his Slytherins to surround the boy. She'd glare at Potter but go about her business as Severus knew she didn't have a great deal of time these days for the Library haunting she was known for. It always seemed to spurt a few new rumors about how Harry was becoming a true Slytherin though. As if that was a bad thing. But the children didn't seem to care this year. The non-Slytherin children knew the Slytherin children were surrounding Potter whenever they could and not necessarily because he either asked them to or wished them to do so. So the rumors lacked the necessary nasty innuendos and died a short death.
Harry always went to the Library at the end of the class day. As normal Severus had his Slytherins scheduled for the library at the same time so he could watch over Potter while he watched over his children. In doing so, he gave himself a valid and acceptable reason for being there that even Albus couldn't argue with. This year, he was happier about that than he ever had been before.
Not that Albus was actually watching over the school and it's occupants this year as he normally did. Out of the almost eight weeks school had been in session this year, Albus was out of the Castle more than he was in it. And no one could really say what he was doing. All Minerva claimed to know was that Albus said it was personal business. Severus was surprised to discover he really didn't care either. Albus not being here micro-managing things meant this situation was being allowed to develop as it should and would therefore hopefully accomplish something good for all the children. Not just those at the center of it. Nor did there seem to be any danger lurking around the corner to threaten the students as they tried to learn. For the first time in five years Hogwarts seemed to be the safe place of higher learning it was supposed to be.
Naturally, he decided to use the Library time to discover what kind of things the boy knew or was studying when he spent his time in the library. Since he'd decided to try and gain the trust of Potter, he needed to know as much as he could discover about him from those who knew already. And Madam Pince seemed to be his main source of learning material not related to his Hogwarts classes.
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