AN: Hey guys, here is a new chapter. This chapter and the next one will give a foundation for the whole storyline so please bear with the lack of "action". As always, please forgive any mistakes I overlooked and feel free to review this chapter! Have fun!

After having found the dingy motel in which the brat currently lived, Severus approached the reception desk, or rather, the moldy piece of broken plank manned by a shivering house-elf. It was just time for noon break, which explained the absence of any real staff. "Elf!" Severus snarled, "where is that Potter boy?". The creature flinched at the first sound he made, turning its big teary eyes in his direction. Still shaking, it managed to hop onto its feet and started to walk down a corridor to the left, turning a few feet in to look back at him, clearly wanting him to follow. Severus, quite unnerved by this unusual behavior, discreetly drew his wand and followed the house-elf down two different corridors and up a flight of stairs until they stopped in front of a door. The elf shivered, clearly not willing to go any further, nodded at Severus and promptly turned on its heel to walk back the way they both came from.

Severus, never having been one to beat around the bush, shoved the door open and let himself in without further ado. Inside a room that had clearly seen some better days, stood a young man staring at himself in a floor length mirror. His skin was almost deathly pale and seemed luminescent in the dim light the closed window shutters let into the room. His small stature and lithe figure was accentuated by his long black, silky looking hair that reached until his waistline. The most remarkable thing though was his face. Such aristocratic and classically beautiful features, almost androgynous, that would not have been misplaced on a porcelain doll. But that expression on his face… that completely dumbfounded expression… clued Severus into the identity of said young man. Well that and the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"Potter!" he barked, nostrils already flaring. "What kind of idiotic trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" the boy startled, not having noticed his presence until now. Frightened, he turned around, reflexively ducking and holding his hands up, as if to stop a blow to his head. And there, glowing purple on the palm of his left hand, sat a familiar symbol. Severus whole body tensed as he looked right into the boys' eyes. "Tell me everything."

And the boy did. Even down to the last gory details of the dead bodies of those muggles. Severus, after having listened to the whole story, decided that it would be too risky to bring the boy to any of his masters considering the life debt he still owed the Potters. On the other hand, he knew that the symbol on Harrys palm meant that the boy would be powerful enough to bring down a muggle city… which clearly put him on the dark side of this war. A dark side which was currently lead by an insane dark wizard that wanted to see the boy dead. An insane dark wizard that Severus was currently enslaved too and that no one could hope to challenge power-wise. Exept maybe the prophesized child sitting in front of him that just got a new powerful symbol on his hand… a power the Dark Lord knows not ?… well…never let it be said that Severus was not a Slytherin, and what are Slytherins if not opportunists?

"Potter, whilst it would not be the first sign that you are mentally challenged, I am quite sure that hearing voices and blacking out only to awake in midst of carnage of body parts does not sound quite sane. I am considering helping you. The animalistic changes you mentioned do point to some kind of creature inheritance. This is a matter that should be discussed with Gringotts, since they are the only ones capable of tracing your blood legally. We will go and visit the goblins, afterwards we will maybe have some more clues on how to act further on and why the symbol on your hand seems to terrify house-elves. The point is, after having killed four people you can no longer be classified as a light wizard, especially if the magic you used was emotionally motivated like it was due to your panic. However, due to you being who you are, you do not have the possibility to simply switch sides to save your sorry hide from the Order and the ministry. This makes you an outcast in this conflict with both sides coming after your blood." Severus paused dramatically, making his voice take on softer tone on the next part, going in for the kill.

"Fortunately for you, I would be willing to protect and you… provided that you would be willing to build your own side and to actually try to survive this war. I would be free from Dumbledore and the Dark Lord and still hopefully on the winning side in this conflict and you would get my guidance, protection and intel to assure said win in return. Are those terms acceptable?"

Severus could clearly see that the boy realized he had no choice in this matter. If he didn't want his help he wouldn't have asked him to meet him in the first place. And Potter actually knew that he could not turn to either side, as proven by Severus presence in a motel in Knockturn Alley. The potions master was actually quite surprised that the brat was capable of thinking things through enough to have realized his current situation and to have acted accordingly. He was even more surprised when the brat put his hand out in order to create a magical contract between them by accepting Severus conditions, his green eyes showing a cunning glint in them.