presumptions I care to from that.' Harry had no knowledge of what Severus had seen in his relatives' minds, and Severus did not mean to tell him so, not now at any rate. He paused, reached into a pocket of his robes, and pulled out the packet of photos, but did not hold them out. They made perfect bait. 'I brought those pictures of your mother; you ran out of my office so quickly, you didn't get a chance to see them.'
Harry licked his lips, and stared at the packet as if it were Merlin's wand itself. Such hope shone on his face that it made Severus heart sick. 'I . . . I can still see 'em?'
He inclined his head very slightly. 'Yes, of course.
Ostentatiously considering the offer, though Severus knew what the boy would say, so clearly was it written in his eyes, Harry's gaze flicked from the packet of photos to the door to the owlery, to Severus' face, and back to the photos. Finally, as if he had needed to be persuaded, he said, 'I just . . . just want to look at the pictures, all right? No . . . no other stuff. I don't want to talk about any of that, erm, what-all you said before.'
'Very well.' Slowly, like a tiger creeping up on its prey; he would go very slowly with this boy. 'Come along then.' He retreated from the owlery, knowing Harry would follow.
Back in his office, Severus sat behind his desk and rubbed his leg surreptitiously while Harry warmed his hands by the fireplace. Damned dog. He knew the boy had seen him limping, but he refused to acknowledge any such thing, since the bloody canine was meant to be a secret.
With a wave of his wand, he moved the chair the boy generally sat in so it was on the same side of the desk as he, so they could look at the photos together. It was not that he did not trust the boy not to damage them, but Severus wanted to make sure he could explain them, lend context if necessary as they perused them.
When he called the boy over, Harry took in the seating arrangement without comment, his body tight with barely contained expectation. As Harry seated himself, Severus removed the photos -- many of them Muggle made, with no movement or life to them at all, but no less precious for that -- from the packet and placed them on the surface of his desk.
The top one depicted a young Lily and Severus sitting, both cross-legged, out in the Evans' backyard by their old oak tree. Her long red locks had been caught by a swirl of breeze and teased into her eyes. She had one hand up, trying to tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear. Her lips were quirked into a tiny smile as she regarded Severus, whose face, like always, had been half hidden by his own hair.
'This one was taken by her father,' Severus said by way of explanation. 'We were about ten years old at the time.'
Harry reached out, and did not touch the picture, but ran his fingers just over the surface of the paper instead. His mouth was slightly agape, as if he were startled to see his mother and professor together, despite what Severus had told him on Saturday. 'Where is this?'
'Her parents' back yard.' He pointed at the lower left corner of the picture. 'The house is just off there. We didn't spend much time at her house, but sometimes.' Severus hesitated then continued, wanting to -- needing to -- build up a rapport with this boy. 'Her parents were very kind. They encouraged me to come over whenever I liked.'
Harry glanced up at him, though he kept his head bent, the result being he looked through his lashes, like he was too shy to look at him head on. 'Did she ever go to your house?' he asked softly.
Severus shook his head.
'Why?'
For a long moment, Severus debated telling the boy to mind his own business, but then, wasn't he minding the boy's? 'My parents were . . . not kind like hers.'
Harry nodded almost sagely, and returned his gaze to the picture.
Severus lifted that picture away to reveal the next, this one a wizarding photo, but just of Lily. She was crouched by the lake at Hogwarts, picking up stones and weighing them. 'First year,' Severus offered. Lily had borrowed the school camera so she could show her parents what Hogwarts was like, and Severus had taken this picture of Lily for them, but kept it for himself instead. They had enjoyed a picnic lunch that brisk autumn day, just the two of them, alone together for the first time since they arrived at Hogwarts. His throat tightened with the memory. 'Fairly soon after we'd arrived. Late September, maybe.'
'What's my Mum doing?' Harry asked, his voice subdued, as if he realized how much this trip through memories cost his professor.
Severus managed a slight smile. 'Lily liked skipping stones along the surface of the water, any water. The lake, here, or the pond near where we grew up. Even along the river, though that posed more of a challenge. She was always looking for the perfect skipping stone.'
With a little smile of his own, Harry's fingers again made that abortive movement to touch the photo, as if he could not help himself. But then, he probably had no memory of ever being touched by his mother, and his instincts called out for him to reach for her now. 'She's awful pretty.'
'Yes,' Severus agreed. 'She was.'
When Lily stood, rock in hand, and faced the camera, Harry's breath caught. 'Her eyes . . . my eyes are just like hers.'
Severus nodded in silent agreement.
They looked through several more of the photos, but it was getting late. Also, Severus wanted to hoard what bait he had, to lure Harry to come to speak to him more in the future, so he wrapped up this session, telling the boy to go to bed.
For the first time, Severus caught a real spark of rebellion in Harry's eyes, and he imagined Harry wanted to call him out on his promise and rail about the unfairness of it all. But the spark was extinguished fairly quickly as Severus raised an eyebrow at him. Severus had promised pictures. Just not
'You're welcome, Potter. Good night.'
'Good night, sir.'
