Severus Snape stalked through the hallways of Hogwarts as he made his way to his father's office, clearly in a foul mood.

Just as he had dismissed his last class before the lunch period, he heard a familiar voice calling his name from the direction of his office; he had left the door connecting to his classroom ajar.

Peeking into his office, Severus found his mother's head floating in the flames, an uncertain look on her face, immediately making him wary.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Mum?" he drawled.

"It's nice to see you too, Severus. Your father and I wish to speak with you in his office. Something of importance has come up, and it is imperative that you make it there as soon as you can." She answered.

Severus rolled his eyes but nodded.

"None of that, young man," Minerva admonished.

"Sorry, Mum," Severus apologized, not sounding the least bit repentant. "I just have to wrap up a few things and I will be there in a few minutes."

Seemingly satisfied, Minerva ended the fire call.

Now only one corridor from his father's office, Severus took a moment to ponder why he was needed. The only thing that came to mind was the discussion he had about guardianship with his parents the previous evening.

Once he reached them, Severus gave the password to the stone gargoyles, "gumballs," and climbed the spiral staircase. He had his fist raised to knock on the door when it suddenly opened on its own accord.

"Ah, Severus, thank you for joining us. Would you care to eat on the lounge or at the table?" Albus inquired.

"You called me up here just so I could have lunch with you? It's the first day of classes, aren't you supposed to eat in the Great Hall so you can make sure all of you precious little monsters are faring the torture of their professors just fine?" Severus intoned.

Unlike his wife, Albus frequently chose to ignore his son's snark. However, given the circumstances, his patience was probably lower than it typically would be. Knowing that Severus would be able to take a hint, he addressed his son.

"Well, Severus, you can either make yourself comfortable on the lounge, sit at the table, or I can direct you to a corner for you to put your nose in, your pick." He challenged.

Severus noticeably deflated. He had apparently misjudged his father's mood.

"The table is fine, sir." He answered quickly.

"Excellent." Albus smirked at his son's sudden change in behavior. He may be a grown man, but no matter what, Severus would always be his son, and as such, would be treated so.

As the men headed over towards the table, where a house elf had set out an array of fixings to choose from, Minerva made her way into the room, having been in she and her husband's living quarters, which connected to her husband's office behind his desk.

"Hello, Severus. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. I trust that your morning classes went well?" Minerva inquired as she joined her family at the dining table.

Severus grunted noncommittally. After considering the mood of his parents thus far this afternoon, he thought better of it and answered verbally. "It could have been worse, I suppose." He conceded.

"Good to hear, my boy." Albus intoned. "Now that we have those pleasantries aside, we might as well get on topic as to why you are here."

Severus quickly did a mental run through of all that he had done since he had last seen his parents the night before. The last thing he wanted was to be blindsided about having supposedly done something to upset them.

"No, son, it's nothing that you have done, although you could benefit from a bit of an attitude change, if I do say so myself." Albus raised an eyebrow at his son at that last bit. "Rather, this is about our dear Mr. Potter."

Severus took a deep calming breath as he served himself a helping of chicken stew. "What about him?" he asked evenly.

"Well, as you are aware from our conversation last night, Mr. Potter is in need of a new guardian. I am happy that you are willing to step into this role for him and your mother and I believe it would be a good idea to discuss this a bit more now that we know the full gravity of the situation."

Severus looked between his mother and father before nodding his head. As he cleared his throat, Severus reached for his glass of water to take a sip.

When his son remained silent, Albus prodded, "Are your mother and I correct to assume that you are still willing to take on the responsibility of being Harry's guardian?"

For a moment, Severus seriously considered laughing and stating that no, he absolutely was not willing to take on the responsibility of being said brat's guardian; that rather, he was under the impression that he didn't really have a choice. However, that would be a lie. Severus had spent a good portion of his evening thinking about what his parents had said, about how taking Potter…no, Harry…in would be a way to honor the memory of James and Lily, not to mention wipe away any feelings he may have that he owed the boy something.

"Yes, sir; I am still willing to be Mr. Potter's guardian."

Minerva couldn't help the tug she felt at the corners of her lips. It had taken many years, but it seemed as though her boy was finally growing up, thinking about someone besides himself; at least trying to put past grudges behind him.

"Excellent!" Albus cheered. Then, taking on a more serious face, he looked at son before continuing. "After our discussion with Harry this morning, your mother and I have come to the conclusion that it is in the boy's best interest that we move this process along as quickly as possible. If we sit on this, we risk the chance of the ministry getting involved, and that is the last thing we need. After all that the boy has been through, I think the least we could do is give him a safe home with a loving family."

Severus found himself nodding in agreement, but quickly stopped. All of this was sounding a little…permanent.

"I thought this was supposed to be a temporary arrangement?" he asked.

"Oh, it will be." Albus smiled.

Minerva noted the twinkle in her husband's eye, and so did Severus.

Putting his fork down, Severus took yet another calming breath. "Just how temporary are we talking here, dad?"

Albus' smile grew even wider. "Well, Harry is 15 now. That leaves only two more years until he turns 17. After his seventh year, who's to say he won't want to move out on his own?"

Severus couldn't find the strength in him to respond to that rationally. Rather, he shook his head and stood to leave. He didn't make it halfway to the door before he heard his father speak.

"Just one minute, son, don't think you're going anywhere. We're not quite finished yet." Albus' voice was deadly calm.

Not wanting to anger his father further, Severus stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. However, rather than making his way back to the table, he stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

Albus looked his son over and shook his head. "I believe I warned you about your attitude, my boy. You have about five seconds to find yourself a corner before I decide you need my assistance getting there."

Severus quickly lost the glare and stared open mouthed at his dad. That did not last long, however. Before he could stop himself, Severus began ranting at his father.

"How dare you?! All this time you have been talking about what's best for Mr. Potter!What about what's best for me?! Why should I just sit here and take it as you try and control my life for me? I am a grown man, and the last thing I need right now is to have my father meddling in my life because he thinks he knows what's best for me! STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD!"

By the time he was finished, Severus was panting for breath.

"Are you quite finished?" Albus asked patiently.

Severus' stomach sank. Thinking about all that he had just said, he realized that he had done more damage than good.

"You are wasting time. Don't test me, Severus." Albus still sounded calm, almost too calm.

That did it. Severus quickly snapped out of his trance before rushing over to a corner in the lounge area of the office. The last thing he wanted right now was for his dad to make good on the threat of helping him to one.

Taking a deep breath, Albus looked at his wife, who made her way to his side and wrapped him in a warm embrace. Speaking into his shoulder, she said, "Just give him some time to cool off. You and I both know that this whole situation probably hits a little too close to home for him, and he just doesn't know how to handle how he feels about it all."

Albus chuckled.

"Since when did you become the softy?"

"Well, one of us has to do it. We can't both be the tough parent, at least, not at the same time."

Minerva glanced at her son in the corner.

"He's already regretting what he said, you can tell by the slouch of his shoulders. That just proves that I'm right about all of this. Don't worry so much, we'll work it all out."

"What would I do without you?" Albus asked before placing a delicate kiss on his wife's forehead.

"Probably kill him." Minerva chuckled, indicating their errant son in the corner.

The couple made their way over to one of the couches by the fireplace to wait for their son to finish cooling off. Fifteen minutes later, Albus finally released him, requesting that he join them.

Once seated in a comfortable chair adjacent to the couch his parents were sitting on, Severus found it difficult to look either of them in the eye. Before he could stutter out an apology, Minerva spoke.

"Listen, Severus. We understand that this is a very difficult topic of conversation for you. Not just that, the whole situation is emotional and confusing, and I am sure it is bringing back a lot of unwanted memories, whether they are about your childhood or Harry's parents. Regardless, this is something that needs to be handled in adult fashion. Can we please do that?"

Severus opened and closed his mouth a few times before simply nodding. Silence settled over the small family before Severus finally worked out what he wanted to say.

"Mum, dad…I'm sorry. I know that none of this is your fault. You're right, I don't exactly want to deal with any of this, but it's not just going to go away." He paused for a moment. "It's not anyone's fault but Voldemort that Harry doesn't have his parents. The boy deserves a family that loves him. I want to do this for Lily and James, but also Harry. I promise, I will try to act like an adult about this."

Regardless of the fact that his parents often pretended that he couldn't hear what they were talking about when he was standing in the corner, he could, and Severus had been appalled to realize that his mother was absolutely right about what she had said to his father. Up until the point his mum started to placate his dad, Severus had refused to believe he deserved the childish punishment he had been given. However, after hearing what his mum had to say, he knew that he had to admit that it was the truth. So, no matter how much he wanted to dig his heals in and be stubborn about the whole situation, Severus realized that now was not the time; Lily's son needed him, not just someone to take him in until he graduated from Hogwarts, but him, Severus Snape.

Albus and Minerva knew that they had finally struck a chord with their son.

"Excellent," Albus praised. "Now that we have that settled, we need to figure out how we are going to bring this up to Mr. Potter. No offence, Severus, but we all know that the boy isn't exactly fond of you. That being said, we are going to have to prove to him that you are the best candidate for the job, and that you are going to stop making his life a living hell. Do you think you can handle that?"

"How, exactly, do you propose that I do that? He has no reason to trust me, let alone even give me a chance to prove myself to him."

They were all silent for a moment.

Minerva was the first one to speak.

"After lunch, Harry has been instructed to return to your father's office. I know that it's the first day of classes, but I think that, in order for this to work, you need to be here when he returns. We need to show him that the three of us are a family, explain that we want to welcome him as a member. Unfortunately, I don't believe we will be able to sell him on just you, Severus. However, if we present ourselves as a package deal, I think he may see the appeal."

"Perfect!" Albus announced. He took a quick look at the clock on the mantel of the fire place to see how much more time they had until Harry's return. "It seems that Harry should be returning soon. Severus, why don't you floo back to your office so you can leave a note on your classroom door, explain that your afternoon classes have been canceled. I know how much you like to be the only one to conduct the first classes of the term so your students are aware of your standards. Your mother and I will be waiting for your return. Do hurry back, it would probably be best if you are already here when Harry arrives."

Severus quickly excused himself to follow through with his father's orders. When he returned via floo, Harry had still not arrived.

"You're just in time," Minerva told him. "It sounds like someone his making their way up the stairs."

Severus nodded.

Suddenly, he was feeling quite nervous. He wasn't sure why, but the gravity of the situation at hand seemed to strike hard all of a sudden.

Knock, knock, knock.

Albus looked at his wife and son with a small smile on his lips.

Taking a deep breath, he answered, "Come in!"

A/N: Thank you so much for reading the new chapter! Sorry about the long break between this update and the last. Life got pretty busy over the last few months, but thankfully, things have finally slowed down enough that I can actually pick up some hobbies that I had to put aside.

Please review! I would love to hear what you all think!