Harry walked down the stairs the next morning sleepily. He was surprised to see Sirius sitting at the table in the dining area; he had honestly forgot about Sirius staying at the manor.

“Good morning,” Sirius greeted cheerfully, turning around in his chair to look at Harry.

“Morning,” Harry replied. Sirius's cheerfulness must've been contagious, Harry found. “Morning, Severus.”

“Good morning, Harry. I trust you slept well?” Severus questioned, sipping on his drink.

“Yes, I did.”

Harry sat down in the chair, turning around to face Sirius. Sirius's happy expression turned to one of worry as he asked, “You're not going to talk to Dumbledore today, are you?”

“I don't know,” Harry replied slowly, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “Why?”

Sirius returned the confused look. “Because of the “different reality” situation?” he explained.

Harry's eyes widened. “Oh, right! Uhm…” Harry shook his head. “N—not today, I don't think.”

Sirius didn't bother to hide his pleased grin. “Great! That'll give us lots of time to bond.” Glancing quickly at Severus, Sirius added, “But don't worry, Snape! You'll get your fair share of bonding with Harry before he goes back! Besides, you've had him a whole few extra days before I came.”

“Indeed,” Severus drawled. To Harry, he said, “Breakfast will be ready soon. Did you plan on doing anything today other than 'bonding' with Black?”

“I dunno,” Harry replied. He could tell that Severus had become uncomfortable when Sirius brought up Harry's going back. “Thank you, Severus.”

Why had he just thanked Severus? For what, though? Everything, probably, Harry mentally answered himself. For giving him a place to stay, for agreeing to sometime get Dumbledore so Harry could speak to him… for being nice to him.

Severus merely inclined his head, clearly at a loss of how to respond. Instead, before they could all slip under a blanket of silence, Sirius spoke up.

“So, do you feel like spending time with me today?” he questioned.

It was Severus who gave Sirius the suspicious look and answered with, “What did you have in mind, Black?”

Sirius looked at Severus. “Well… I dunno. Maybe take him outside for a while? Let him get some fresh air?”

“It's up to you,” Severus said to Harry, who eagerly nodded.

“Sure, I'd like to,” Harry said.

“On one condition, of course,” Severus said thoughtfully, gazing at Harry. “I only wish you to ignore Black if he tells you to do something, Harry. It would only lead to trouble; it's what he is. Trouble.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes at Severus, his mouth parting in surprise. “I resent that!” Sirius said, giving Severus a scowl. “So, if Harry was trapped in a burning building and I told him to run, to—to get out, you would want him to ignore me and stay there?”

Severus raised his eyebrows. “What would you be doing in a burning building, Black? I assume that Harry would have enough sense to get out of the building, anyway, without you telling him to do so.”

An exasperated look crossed Sirius's face. “It was only hypothetical, Snape.”

Severus turned his attention back to Harry. “Well then, Harry, let me rephrase: whenever you're around Sirius Black, then I implore you to use your common sense.”

Harry nodded, a smile tugging at the two corners of his mouth. “I will.”

Sirius scoffed. “I can't believe, after you and I raised Harry—all right, well maybe “you” a little more than “I”—and… you still don't trust me!”

“Yes, it's quite remarkable, isn't it?” Severus replied sarcastically.

But whether Severus and Sirius forgot the fact that the Harry they were talking about no longer existed, Harry wasn't sure. He, however, really didn't bother to correct them.

--

Severus had insisted, before Sirius left with Harry, that Sirius not keep Harry out too long. Sirius eventually agreed, though, at first, Sirius had enjoyed giving the potions master a tough time about it.

When Severus finally let Sirius and Harry go, Harry was immediately greeted by a blast of warm sunshine as he stepped out onto the threshold. It really was a very colorful town, Harry noticed as he walked through the green lawn with Sirius by his side. It seemed like it was a small town, as well.

“I know,” Sirius said with a chuckle as he followed Harry onto the sidewalk, though Harry hadn't said anything. “It must be amazing to associate Snape with this town. I helped him pick it out, though—the house, I mean. The place Snape originally lived in… well, it wasn't fit for you to live there, too. Dark, dreary… small.”

Harry looked up at Sirius in interest before gazing around. Lots of trees, houses and shops decorated the streets. Everywhere looked friendly.

“So when Snape asked me to look after you for a while, I helped him pick out a decent place for you to stay. For me to stay, too, actually… since I was the one who was looking after you…”

Harry listened intently as Sirius spoke, feeling relaxed. It must've been the sun that made him feel so calm and peaceful.

“Then didn't you—or we—end up staying at Hogwarts?” Harry questioned.

“Yep,” replied Sirius with a nod. “No matter how many times Snape visited when he could, it still seemed he wasn't close enough to you, no matter if he was only a Floo away or not. So, we ended up staying at Hogwarts some of the time. Occasionally we'd go back to the house… once in a while…”

Just then, Sirius's watch began to beep, and he glanced down at it with a frown, stopping in his tracks as he peered down, studying it.

“What's wrong with this thing? Why is it beeping?”

Sirius continued to walk forward to where Harry was standing, though his gaze was more focused on his watch. He began to tap it when it wouldn't stop beeping. His frown became more pronounced as he became more frustrated.

“Stupid muggle watch!” He hissed, tapping it some more. “How do you turn the bloody beeping off? It's driving me bonkers.”

Harry opened his mouth, trying to help—but then merely shook his head. He didn't have a clue of how they could get the beeping to stop.

“It should just go off on its own,” Harry tried unhelpfully. “It could be faulty or just… broken.”

Sirius sighed, looking defeated. He fumbled with the strap as he tried to take it off his wrist. When he was finally successful in taking the watch off, he threw it on the ground and flashed Harry a quick smile.

“Come on then, I'll race you. How about it?”

Harry tilted his head to the side, frowning. “Race you… where?”

The grin still played across Sirius's face, but he didn't answer Harry's question. Instead, he said, “We should be careful since… well, we can't let anybody see you in this town, really.”

Harry's brow furrowed as he frowned. “What do you mean? Why?”

Sirius didn't answer that question, either. He then began to run, and Harry laughed as he chased after him… though he had absolutely no idea where Sirius was running off to.

--

It was a piece of paper on the floor in his study that caught Severus's attention. He had no idea what it was from as he muttered what was written on it under his breath. It made absolutely no sense. Severus threw the paper aside, frowning as he repeated the words in his head. It sounded as if those words were in a different language. That, or just made up. He gave his head a small shake, swaying on the spot as a sudden dizziness washed over him.

He grabbed onto the side of his desk to support himself from falling. What was going on? Why did he feel so…

Severus slumped to the ground, his back resting against one of the legs of the desk. His stomach dropped, as if he were falling. Large, invisible hands snaked across his waist and jerked Severus forward.

Then it all stopped, and Severus just felt tired. Exhausted.

He drifted off to sleep, cursing the paper that he had read, because he knew it had something to do with what he was going through right then.

--

“Snape is going to kill me,” Sirius groaned as he and Harry shuffled into the house, soaking wet. He shook his head as if he were a dog, causing Harry to jump back and laugh.

“I know how to swim a little now, though, because of you,” Harry pointed out brightly. “I never really knew how to swim before—but you know that now, obviously.”

Sirius chuckled. “Yeah, I do.”

“Were we even allowed in that lake, or whatever it was, Sirius?” Harry asked, raising his eyebrows as Sirius gave his shoulders a slow shrug. “I'm going to go find Severus,” he said, before running up the stairs to the top floor. Though, in this house, Harry had no idea where he'd find the potions Professor.

--

“Wake up!” a voice hissed. “Wake up!”

Severus's eyes flew open as something roughly pushed him awake. Oh, how his head was throbbing! Every part of him ached.

Severus blinked, his blurry surroundings soon coming back into focus. There, in front of him, glaring suspiciously was—

No, it was impossible. It couldn't be, Severus thought, staring back at the person in disbelief.

It was—

--

“Sirius!” Harry called, emerging from the kitchens. He had a concerned face as he wandered through the house, searching for the adult.

Harry jumped as something walked out in front of him.

Sirius.

“You scared me,” Harry breathed, and then let out a sigh. “Sirius, I've looked everywhere, but I can't find Severus. There wasn't a note saying that he was going out, and the house seems completely empty except for us. I'm—I'm worried,” he admitted.

“I was looking around the house too,” Sirius said. “Snape's not here. He just… vanished.”

“How could he just vanish?” Harry wondered out loud, biting his lip. He slid down the wall, sitting down on the floor. “Without even telling us? It's not like him—is it?”

Sirius shook his head, sitting down on the floor beside Harry. “It's not like him at all. He used to always tell us—well, me or the other Harry—where he was going, if he ever went out.”

“Did you check his study?” Harry asked, glancing over at Sirius, who nodded. Harry nodded in agreement, biting his bottom lip. “Yeah, me too. Twice, actually.”

“Don't worry,” Sirius said softly after studying the look on Harry's face. “He'll show up somewhere.”

He was worried, Harry realized after a few minutes of sitting on the floor against the wall, silent. Both of them were worried.

Harry glanced over at Sirius, who was staring forward, into space. The house was eerily quiet, and Harry shuddered. Where on earth was Severus?