Harry was doing a bit of surreptious magick, trying his level best to stay out of sight of the Muggles. Thankfully, he was old enough to know how to go about these things. For now, he was standing outside the gated entrance to their new apartment building, setting some wards in place. He'd started in the morning, once the keys were in his hand, putting on more layers of protection as the day went on. He'd taken short breaks to go fetch things from the hotel he and Gin had been staying at, and to send out some messages to the others. He fully expected a lot of them by midnight.
Arms crossed over his chest, his wand was concealed within a sleeve as he contemplated. He was running low on charms he could think of; most of those he knew were defensive for battle, not for homes. If Hermione were here, she'd likely know an entire bookful, he inwardly chuckled. Well, Remus and Tonks could help him finalize the rest.
Just as he reached for the iron gate, a flicker of something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Turning towards the far corner, Harry saw a pale-colored animal bounding towards the building. At first, his brain supplied the question what is a deer doing in the city? before his magickal instincts kicked in.
A patronus.
And not just any patronus. He'd seen this animal once before, when he was retrieving a sword from a deep, cold well. Feeling his heart leap into his throat, he swallowed hard and whispered, "Severus?"