After they finished their breakfast, Sirius flicked his wand and sent a Patronus to Dumbledore and heaved a sigh of relief when Dumbledore's Phoenix Patronus came some time later inviting them to Hogwarts right then. Dumbledore had asked them to floo directly into his office and in a few minutes a visibly worried Sirius and Remus flooed in and Harry followed them a minute later falling on his buttocks with a small 'ouch'.
Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were already sitting there and Dumbledore greeted Sirius and Remus with a smile and his smile broadened when he saw Harry's landing.
"Hello Harry, how have your holidays been? And you Sirius, Remus, how are you both?" Dumbledore asked them and the next few minutes passed by in pleasant chit chat in which everyone except Snape was participating, Snape was glowering at Harry, Sirius and Remus, well glowering at Harry and sending looks of deep loathing to Sirius and Remus. But Sirius was much too worried to even notice Snape in the room let alone snarl and glare at him. Dumbledore noticed that and he wondered what could be that important for Sirius to ignore Snape.
Harry had smiled at Dumbledore and had greeted him politely and then had turned a beaming face to McGonagall and Snape. McGonagall had smiled back at him, while Snape had shrunk back in his seat, making Dumbledore and McGonagall bite their lips to stop laughing. Harry did not do anything though and after greeting both his professors nicely, had sat down quietly in between Sirius and Remus.
"What is the matter Sirius? Your Patronus sounded urgent?" Dumbledore asked him after the pleasantries.
"Harry?" Sirius turned to Harry and asked him to tell everything to the Headmaster.
The moment Dumbledore realized that this had to do with Harry, he became very alert. So did McGonagall and Snape. Harry looked a bit nervous and felt Sirius's hands coming over his shoulder and smiled at him, before turning to Dumbledore.
Harry once again, for the second time since that morning, told Dumbledore and the other two professors about an unknown elf that came into his room last night. Harry was sure Dumbledore did not know Dobby and so he had not changed the features of the elf in his mind, but had placed false memories of the conversation he was sprouting off to everyone.
As he had expected, Dumbledore peeped into his mind as he told his story. The one good thing about Snape knowing Harry's secret was he no longer peeped into Harry's mind. So Harry had to deal only with Dumbledore. Once Harry finished with his telling Dumbledore also withdrew from his mind and there was only silence for a few minutes while all of them digested what Harry was telling them.
"I was wondering if I should send Harry to Hogwarts this year Albus. Voldemort has already tried once last year and this year has not even started and already Harry has received a warning." Sirius's voice sounded very troubled and Dumbledore sighed. He did not recognize the elf, it could belong to anybody or it could have overheard someone speaking and had come to warn Harry. But why Harry? Why not the other students? Was it because Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived or was it because Harry would be specifically targeted?
Dumbledore had no answers. "Harry will be safe here Sirius. I will strengthen the wards and also check the various entrances and have them properly sealed. Do not worry. Harry," Dumbledore turned to Harry, "You must make sure that you have someone with you all the times and you must not go alone anywhere."
"Yes sir. This year I wanted to request professor Snape to help me start with the Ancestry potion. That will take the better part of the year to brew and I will be with my friends all the time and I will not go alone anywhere."
Snape simply sneered at the politeness of Harry, and Sirius noticed him for the first time and glared at him. "Shut up Snape. Albus," he told Dumbledore, "are you sure Snape is fine?" the insult and the implication clear in his voice.
Snape jumped to his feet and had his wand in his hand and Sirius stood up furiously, his own wand in his hand and Dumbledore clapped his hands for attention. "Severus, Sirius, please, there is a child here and both of you must set an example to him."
Snape sneered once more; not taking his eyes off Sirius and Sirius threw a disgusted look at Snape and sat down. "Sorry Albus. We will leave and I will send Harry, but please make sure that what the elf said will not come to pass. Call us if you do need any help. Thank you and goodbye."
"Sirius, may I stay back here for an hour to discuss the potion with professor Snape? Please?" Harry asked him, just as they were about to enter the floo. Sirius looked incredulously at him.
"What Harry? You want to ask," Harry cut him off there and turned a pleading expression to Sirius. "Please Sirius."
"I am busy Potter and I really do not have the time to pander to your whims and fancies and I really do not think I will be able to assist you in this potion." Snape told him brusquely and flicked something off his robes.
"Sir please help us sir. It is a complicated potion and I want to know from which family my mum is descended. Please help me sir." Harry begged him. Snape froze at hearing about Harry's mother and glaring hatefully at everyone; he turned away and walked out without bothering to answer.
"Of all the bloody" Sirius was fuming and McGonagall and Dumbledore looked resigned and Remus placed a calm hand on Sirius's shoulder.
"Sirius, Remus, please, May I go and talk to professor Snape? Please, please, please." Harry begged them.
"But he won't help you Harry. You saw him. Why do you persist in thinking only good of him, when he clearly is not?" Sirius asked him, his voice full of anger and hate, and sounding more like the Sirius that Harry knew.
"Because he has never shown he is bad Sirius. He is like this with everyone, not just me and he is a brilliant potions master. Please, I want to find out about mum. Don't say no." Harry told him, his tone conciliatory and pleading.
Sirius turned turbulent eyes towards Dumbledore, "May he, Albus?" clearly not liking it, but unable to stop Harry's desire to find out about his mother.
Dumbledore nodded, looking at Harry with undisguised curiosity that a small child should be able to see so clearly below the surface actions, and Harry grinned in relief and hugged Sirius and Remus and smiled his thanks to Dumbledore and McGonagall and ran towards the door.
"Not more than an hour Harry." Sirius warned and Harry nodded, "I will floo back, either from here or from the floo in the professor's office if he will allow me to." and ran towards the dungeons to meet Snape.
Once Harry was out of the Headmaster's office, he ran all the way down and caught up with Snape at the entrance to his potions office and waited silently behind him, as he unlocked his office door and walked inside. Snape threw some privacy, silencing and locking spells before going to his chair and sitting down, his face still pale and angry.
"How are you? I am to be talking to you about the potion we are to be starting this year." Harry told him, his eyes looking carefully at Snape.
Snape was silent for some time, struggling to control himself both about cursing Sirius and his own emotions regarding Lily before he looked directly at Harry, "Who was the elf? Did this happen last time?" he asked abruptly.
Harry nodded. "The elf was Dobby, the Malfoy's elf. Lucius Malfoy will or already has given the horcrux that he had with him to Ginny Weasley. The horcrux will possess her and she will release the basilisk inside the chamber that Slytherin built. I will try and steal the diary as soon as I can from her."
There was silence as Snape processed that information and then Snape turned once more to Harry.
"Why did the Dark Lord's sprit try and possess you Potter?" Snape asked him quietly.
Harry shuddered as he thought of both events when Voldemort had possessed Harry. The last time was in the Department of Mysteries when Sirius fell into the veil and two months ago when he came out in rage after killing Quirrell.
"He possessed me once in my fifth year the last time around Snape. But after that he never came near me. I hope this time too he will not come anywhere near me and if he does, my mum's protection will help me throw him out."
"Lily's protection? I thought they were not there anymore." Snape said his eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry intently.
"They are always with me and will always work against him. Voldemort cannot stand love Snape. I thought of all those who loved me and all those whom I loved and Voldemort went away." Harry told him wondering if Snape realized he had spoken Harry's mother's name quite casually. Harry thought Snape had not realized it.
"Did he see your past life then Potter. You are careless." Snape hissed in alarm.
"No, no! Snape, I did not. I only concentrated on the love I had for everyone. That was all." Harry reassured him and smiled when Snape snorted and sneered at him.
"Then why did Dumbledore feel that Lily's protection was not there anymore?" Snape asked him, leaning forward interestedly.
Harry shrugged. "I really don't know. Maybe he felt that Voldemort trying to possess me so early is not good and if he tried the same thing at Privet Drive, I would be all alone. At Grimmauld Place at least I will have Sirius and Remus with me." Snape snorted and his expression told Harry what he thought of Sirius and Remus and that naturally led Snape to the events that happened at Grimmauld Place.
"How dare you hug me Potter, when I came to Black's despicable home? Let me assure you that I will be taking as many points as I can from Gryffindor for that all through this year." Snape told him softly, his eyes glinting with anger and something that Harry could not discern, maybe it was embarrassment.
Harry looked seriously at him. "I wanted everyone to know of your contributions Snape. Last time you did too much and got too little recognition for your hard work, without which we would have not won the war. This time, I plan to see things work differently. I want Sirius, Remus and others to also understand the type of spying you will be doing for the Wizarding World and the Order of the Phoenix. Humour me on this one, please."
Snape was flabbergasted internally, though outwardly his face was blank. Potter did that for him? What had happened last time?
Harry on his part hoped Snape would become a bit more human and be a lot more accepted than he was before. Well time would tell, thought Harry as both of them sat silently lost in their own thoughts.
"Did Dumbledore talk to you about the Stone?" Harry asked him a few minutes later.
"No. but he enlisted my help as well as that of Minerva to search for the Stone. We turned the whole castle upside down and he, I think is very worried that the Stone has disappeared without his knowledge. He called Nicholas Flamel and both of them did some complicated magic before Flamel told him that the Stone was not in Hogwarts. I have never seen Dumbledore so worried." Snape sounded very happy. Harry did not reply and both of them lapsed into silence again.
"Can you get me some basilisk venom and skin?" Snape asked him after a short pause.
"Of course. I will take you inside the chamber and you can help yourself to anything you want. If we are able to get the diary and destroy it, then that is four horcruxes out of the way. Only Nagini and the Hufflepuff cup remain, oh! And Voldemort of course, we have to defeat him as well." Harry pointed out to him and then he stood up. "Can I take the floo from here? Dumbledore peeped into my mind again today and I would rather not meet him once more."
Snape nodded once and Harry walked towards the fire. "I will bring the gold necessary and we can start preparing for the potions once School starts. Is that okay with you?"
"Will you let me be if it weren't?" Snape countered.
Harry grinned. "There is that and so, see you Snape, once School starts."
Snape did not bother to answer and looked inscrutably at Harry until he disappeared in the flames.