During the summer of 1996, Severus Snape expects nothing more than isolation and the uneasy quiet between brewing potions and serving two sides of a growing war. Instead, Albus Dumbledore arrives at Spinner’s End with a child Severus is ordered to house and protect for the summer. As secrets begin to surface and tensions rise beyond the safety of the house, Severus finds his carefully controlled solitude disrupted in ways he never anticipated.