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CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN:

Harry strode through the castle with Severus at his side, resolutely ignoring the stares and looks he got from the students they passed. Wary, apprehensive, frightened, intrigued, calculating, adoring – he'd had it all before. He could tell that Severus was disconcerted by it, though.

Finally they reached their destination, and Harry entered without knocking.

"Warding. Now." he said curtly, and Minerva's surprised look at the intrusion turned to pained determination.

"The warding team will be here within the hour," she replied firmly, and saw that despite his obvious anger Harry appreciated her quick action now that it was quite clear that anyone could enter with intent to harm a student.

"Gringotts?" Harry checked, and Minerva nodded.

"William Weasley promised his immediate support." As well he should, considering he had four younger siblings at Hogwarts, all of which were close to Harry and thus targets.

"Does Hogwarts need to be empty for the warding?" Severus checked, and Minerva shook her head.

"I was informed that though it is preferable if no magic is cast during the warding, it will not be an issue to have the students remain. Most of the wards will be laid over the entire school grounds, including the Forbidden Forest, so some small interference from the castle will apparently not be an issue."

"Good," Harry said resolutely. "What wards are being laid?"

"Mostly intent wards preventing people – and creatures – with ill intentions from entering the school grounds, but also some defensive wards, new Muggle-repellant wards, identifying wards so that I will be notified immediately when someone other than a teacher or student enters the grounds – I regret to point out that that set of wards will notify me of your comings and goings," she pointed out to Harry, but he waved it away.

"I don't care; monitor my exact whereabouts in the castle for all I care," he said impatiently. "What about creature and being wards? There should be an anti-Dementor ward, and one keeping transformed werewolves out; nothing against vampires, since they won't get past the intent wards if they mean to harm anyone, but maybe also one against Dragons, Basilisks, et cetera…" At her slightly doubtful look he raised his eyebrows. "I will point out that all of those have been on the school grounds before, and all but the vampire tried to kill me at one point or another."

Minerva blinked. "…When was a vampire on school grounds?"

Harry snorted. "He hasn't been yet, but in my sixth year Horace Slughorn invited one to a Slug Club party," he said drily. "Sanguini, his name was. Looked rather hungrily at some of the girls around, but seemed nice enough otherwise."

"I… see," Minerva said slowly, sounding mostly resigned to Slughorn's character. "I will raise your points to the warders."

"Good," Harry nodded. "These are going up over the Forbidden Forest as well?" Minerva nodded. "You might also want to hire a team of creature hunters to go through the forest and deal with some of the more dangerous creatures in there. There's a whole nest of Acromantula that leave humans alone unless they wander into their area, and a number of centaurs that mostly like to be left alone but might be grateful for the help in getting the forest under control. Right now they have to act as the guardians of the forest, and while they take great pride in that role, there are some things in the forest that can't be taken care of without magic, and they have none. So the human team would have to be able to respect the centaurs and not go after the Acromantula, but the things they kill could probably be sold with a part of the profits going to Hogwarts."

"An excellent suggestion," Minerva said as she jotted down notes. "I will look into it as soon as the warding is done; the safety of the students is of vital importance." Harry and Severus both nodded sharply, and Minerva exchanged a decisive look with each of them.

Standing, she gestured for them to precede her. "Come, let us head down; I must make an announcement to the students before the warders arrive…"

OoOoO

Watching the warding was interesting; an opinion most of the students seemed to share with Harry, since faces could be seen from nearly every window and tower Hogwarts boasted. It was also good to see Bill again, and Harry beamed when Severus and Bill greeted each other by their first names.

Harry also had a quiet word with Bill about rewarding Grimmauld Place, since he wanted to take down the Fidelius Dumbledore had placed. He didn't think he'd be replacing it, but that would really be up to Sirius. He made a mental note to point out to Sirius that he really could choose another place to live in now that he was a free man and seeing a mind healer daily – Harry had been happy for that bit of news, and surprised when Kingsley had added that it seemed Sirius and Amelia had been engaged for marriage before the Black's incarceration. He couldn't see the two together, but Kingsley had said that it seemed the two of them were interested in seeing if there was still something there. Apparently Sirius had invited Amelia over to Grimmauld Place for dinner as soon as he'd had his first visit to the mind healer, and Amelia had somehow made space in her schedule to attend that dinner. How Kingsley knew all the details of the dinner was beyond Harry, but it had certainly made for interesting conversation. Not gossip, no – men like Kingsley didn't gossip. They conversed.

Deciding that it was something best dealt with right away, Harry called Dobby for a piece of parchment and a pen – no way he was using a quill if he had a choice – and penned a quick note to Sirius saying that he'd just realized that the man really didn't have to hide anymore and that as Lord Black was free to choose any Black property he wanted to. Asking Dobby to bring the note to Sirius, he also asked his house elf to have a private word with Winky that she should make sure any property Sirius chose was perfectly safe and clean. All the properties should be, considering the number of house elves the Black family now had, but better safe than sorry.

That done, he turned his attention back to the warding team, intrigued anew by the intricacy of the spells, the complex runes being used, and the teamwork required. Bill seemed to be simply supplying power and grounding spells, assuming his usual position of supporting the other members of his team the same way he did for curse-breaking, while a tall witch seemed to be laying the most complex spells. It didn't escape Harry's notice that Fleur was looking on from the sidelines with a wary look for the skilled older witch, but he didn't think she needed to worry on that count.

"Impressive," Severus remarked softly as the witch finished a particularly complex spell, three of her teammates grounding her spell with rune work at the same time as Bill pushed a blast of pure magic into the ground. Harry agreed just as quietly; he had never seen anything quite like it before. Bill had laid some wards around Hogwarts in the previous future, but he had been working alone and the wards had not been for repelling, only identification. This was on a whole other level.

What must it feel like to be the supporting member of such a team? Harry wondered as he watched Bill wipe sweat from his forehead. It seemed like the position he himself would take up, since he had large power reserves but no knowledge of runes nor the recall needed for the complex point casting. Maybe he could try out warding sometime in the future.

Harry sighed quietly. There was still a lot to do before that future could come, but he held on to the goal of having a relaxed summer holiday with his friends and family. He considered Severus part of his family, now, and wondered whether one day they truly would be. Then he realized he was seriously considering asking a man who had known him for less than a month to marry him, and blushed bright red. Then he noticed Severus watching him with masked curiosity and blushed harder.

"Er – I just realized that tomorrow it'll be a month since I arrived in this time," he blurted out, and Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed." It was quite obvious that he knew Harry was stalling, and Harry felt himself blushing even harder. He must be completely red-faced by now.

"I'll tell you later," he mumbled, and Severus cocked his head but let it go; they could both feel curious eyes on them, and Severus smirked slightly as he turned away again. Harry ran a hand through his hair; how could he possibly ask Severus to marry him!

OoOoO

"So?" Severus asked simply when they were alone in their quarters again, and Harry knew immediately what he was asking about. And when did I start thinking of these as our quarters? Harry wondered. Sure, his things were almost all still in the guest room near Gryffindor Tower, but he spent all his free time here in the dungeons.

"Er." Harry said awkwardly, feeling himself blush again. "It was just something stupid, really. Well, not stupid," he corrected himself hurriedly, "definitely not stupid. But not – well, not not important, either, but just-" he broke off abruptly, coloring harder. "Just something I shouldn't be considering just yet," he finished weakly, not meeting Severus's eyes.

There was a brief pause. "Does it concern me?" Severus asked, and Harry could tell from his tone that he wasn't sure whether Harry had been considering something good or bad.

"…Yes?"

"Then tell me," Severus said simply – not insisting, but not asking, either. Harry glanced up and bit his lip.

"It's that…" Harry trailed off and took a deep breath, knowing that he just had to come out and say it. Had he been sorted into Gryffindor or not?

"I was considering asking you to marry me." Severus's face was suddenly unreadably blank, and Harry winced slightly and looked away again. "I mean – I know it's not legal at the moment, so it was silly, really – but I remember in 2001 it was declared legal in the Netherlands and even if it wouldn't be recognized here it wouldn't really matter, right? I just," he flushed again, "I guess I just want to do right by you, and I know you've only known me for a month and, and it was stupid and I wasn't going to mention it, so-" suddenly he found himself cut off by an insistent mouth on his, his body crushed up against Severus's and strong hands gripping his head as Severus made every attempt at devouring his mouth. After a stunned moment Harry responded just as forcefully, knowing what Severus was expressing and needing to confirm it.

The rest of his day off was not spent very restfully.