Spring 1987

Harry had to fight the need to cling to the other man as they approached the Dursley residence. He wanted to beg the Professor to get them the hell out of here but he doubted the other man would relent. As they finally entered the garden, Harry gave in to the impulse and stepped behind the older man. That caused Severus to stop and turn around slightly so he could regard his charge.

"Do you really think it's necessary to hide behind me? I'm sure that while angry, your relatives will be relieved to see that you are safe."

Harry emphatically shook his head yes and then no, he knew damn well that his relatives were going to hate seeing him again and that, given the chance, he would pay the price for being back. He fervently hoped the other man would help him if things came to that.

Sighing, Severus returned his gaze to the house and finished walking the few steps to the door. The child, still walking closely behind him was nearly shaking in fear which made him reconsider the wisdom of bringing him. On one hand it could be that the boy was being melodramatic, after all any child would be reluctant to face his relatives after consciously getting away from a field trip, on the other hand the boy's responses till now had put him on edge, there was something that he didn't quite like about the boy's family, and he hadn't even met them. Tossing those thoughts aside, he rang the bell, there was no sense in delaying this meeting.

The woman that opened the door made him stare in surprise. For one, she didn't look anything like Lily had done, and for another, the feelings coming from her were not the ones he would associate to a worried and anxious parent that was missing a child. Instead, she was fairly vibrating with joy and happiness. Maybe he had gotten the wrong house?

"Mrs. Dursley?"

The woman looked him over curiously. He was wearing a long, black coat over his pressed dress pants and clear shirt. His long hair was neatly combed and hold together with a thin strip of black leather. He looked rather imposing where he stood and there was no chance she would notice the small child that was now gripping his coat, much to his annoyance.

"Yes?"

So he wasn't wrong. "I'm here to talk about your nephew."

The woman's face transformed completely to an ugly grimace which she tried to contain but wasn't very successful. "Did you find the body then?"

Severus' face became emotionless as he felt the child behind him tremble slightly. "No, madam, I have other things I wish to talk to you, is your husband home?"

The woman nodded and turned around, leaving the door open for him to follow her. Instead of doing so he turned slightly so he could see the child still hiding behind him. "Why don't you go to your room? I'll come and get you once I'm done talking to your relatives."

Harry flinched slightly, he had hopped to never see his cupboard again, but if he had to chose between seeing his uncle and his cupboard he would take the second one any day. Severus stepped inside and immediately went to the living room, not noticing when Harry opened a small door and entered the tinny cupboard that had been his room for more than five years.

Severus looked impassively at the fat man glaring up at him. Vernon had not even stood up to greet him, something which annoyed the Silvanimus greatly.

"We don't want to know anything about the boy, if you've found him you may keep him, it's not like we want him."

The other man narrowed his eyes slightly. So, the boy had been right about his relatives not being happy to see him at all. "One would think that you would be more careful about saying such things about a child entrusted into your care, after all, if social services found out, you would be nicely locked away for child neglect, at the very least."

Severus's voice was soft and very dangerous, it made the other man tremble in fear. The Silvanimus didn't often use his voice magic to induce fear, but he felt that the situation warranted it. Not giving the other man a chance to answer, he took out some papers he had collected the night before from his vault at Gringots. "Luckily for you, I am here to take the child's care away from you. These papers were drafted by Harry's mother. They will grant me guardianship over the child the moment I ask for it. The only think I need is the signature of the child's current guardians. So, either you sign willingly or I take you to court."

Vernon looked closely at the stranger, he didn't seem like a nice man, there was something cold and cruel in those black eyes and thin lipped mouth, but he really couldn't care less about the boy, so he just drew a pen and motioned to the man. "Where do I need to sign?"

Barely able to believe this man would sign over his nephew to a complete strange, Severus held out the papers and showed them where they both needed to sign. Once the deed was done, Severus put the papers away so he could take them to the ministry at a later date.

"If you ever wish to see..."

Vernon cut his words with a wave of his hand. "There is no chance of that, we're not fond of the boy and I don't doubt his feelings are of the same nature, just take him away and keep him where he belongs."

If Severus hadn't been so sure the man was completely unable to think of anyone but himself, he would have believed he cared a bit about the child. Shacking his head, he walked out of the sitting room, more than ready to leave the blasted house. He paused when he saw his charge's legs sticking from a small cupboard, just under the stairs.

"I thought I told you to go to your room."

His stern voice startled the child that immediately stepped out, nearly banging his head against the door. The boy was stammering an apology, but Severus barely listened to him. Instead his gaze was trained to the small pallet placed inside the closet. He could barely believe what his mind was telling him, surely those people had not locked the child in here. But a closer look at the cupboard showed clear signs that a child had been residing in here.

"Sir? Can we go now?"

Severus snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look towards his charge. He had a small school back in his hands and looked quite uncomfortable standing there. "Is this your room?"

Harry hesitated, but one stern look from the other man had him nodding his head quickly. "Yes, sir."

The Silvanimus pressed his lips together, now was not the moment, but he would find some way to repay the Dursley for they abysmal care of his apprentice. "What do you have in that bag?"

The child blinked and looked down at it. "Just some clothes, sir, I thought I would use them so you don't need to buy them for me."

Severus narrowed his eyes and motioned to the boy. "Let me see."

Reluctantly, the younger man handed over his back only to see as Severus threw his clothes onto the pallet after just glancing at them. When nothing was left in the bag, the man turned towards his confused apprentice. "Do you want to keep the bag?"

Harry shook his head slowly. "Not really, sir."

Nodding, the older man tossed the bag onto the pallet and started to push the boy towards the door.

"But, sir..."

"You are not going to wear those rags while under my care, you will have proper new clothes, that fit you and that have been bought for you. Understood?"

"But clothes are expensive!"

Severus closed the Dursley's front door after them. "That is not your concern but mine, and I didn't ask if you agreed, I asked if you understood."

Resigned, Harry shook his head at his new guardian. "Yes, sir. So, I'm going to be staying with you from now on?"

The older man snorted slightly. "Of course you are."

The boy smiled slightly, a happy light starting to shine in his green eyes as he followed the other man down the street.

Severus quickly lead them to the park they had arrived before, Harry had to nearly run so he could keep up with the man's long strides. Once the Silvanimus had led them over to a secluded part of the park, he looked towards a tree. Harry could not help but wonder when he would learn to do that as a small portal appeared at the tree's trunk. Snape took his hand into his larger one, and just as they had done that morning, they stepped through the trunk, only to reappear somewhere else.

Harry looked around the busy street, it was a wonder no one had noticed them. He felt his hand being tugged and started to follow the other man. For a moment he thought he should complain about the other man holding his hand as if he were a baby, but with the large crowd surrounding them he was afraid he would lose the other man if he let go. Finally, Severus pushed him into a store, where he could finally see something else besides other people surrounding him. An old woman approached them, a small smile on her face.

"It's been a long time since you graced me with your presence, Severus."

The older man rolled his eyes slightly and bent so he could kiss he check. "You know I don't like coming into London, Madeleine. I hate the crowds."

The woman shook her head. "You would get used to it if you came more often." Not giving the man a chance to answer, she turned to where Harry was standing, looking curiously around. "So, you've got another apprentice. He looks much younger than your previous ones."

Severus turned to his charge. "Yes, this is Harry. Harry, this is Madam Phyana, she's an old friend of mine."

Harry nodded slightly. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

Madeleine smiled slightly. "It is always a pleasure to meet Severus' apprentices, it's good to know he's not wasting away on his own in that cottage of his."

The Silvanimus shook his head in exasperation but chose not to reply instead turning to the boy still standing at his side. "Harry, Madam Phyana here owns this shop and she is going to help you out in picking your new clothes, I have other errands to run and will be back as soon as I’m finished.” A steely glint entered his dark eyes. “You are going to wait here for me and not give the Madam any problems, understood.”

Harry nodded slightly. “Yes, sir.” He was sure the man would be very unhappy if he didn’t obey. He guessed the stern reminder had more to do with his reluctance about the clothes than with an actual fear that Harry would leave the store without him. As if he would do such a thing now that someone was bothering to take care of him.

Two hours later, Harry was seriously considering disobeying his guardian. He was sick of getting in and out of clothes and just when he thought they were done, the woman remembered he still needed something else and they started from scratch. If it hadn't been for Severus' stern reminder to behave, Harry would have told the woman where she could put her clothes. After all, it was not like he needed that many things, a few jeans and some t-shirts would have been more than enough.

Severus entered the room and nearly laughed at his charge's frustrated look as Madam Phyana rushed into the room with a stack of pyjamas, despite the fact that there were at least ten other models already lying around. He had not meant to stay away for so long, but his errands had taken longer that he had expected. He would need to remember to do something to reward his apprentice for his patience.

“I see you're nearly done.”

Harry's head snapped up and he shoot his guardian a desperate look. He needed to get out of there or he was going to explode and say something very rude to the woman.

Madeleine, not noticing her customers frustration smiled at his friend. “Severus! There was no need to hurry so much, Harry still needs to try on these pyjamas.”

Having trouble restraining a smirk at his charges horrified look, he shook his head. “I'm sure Harry is quite happy with some of these pyjamas lying around. He has tried them on, hasn't he?”

Madeleine blinked and looked down at the items in question. “O, yes, he has, are you sure they are the right ones?”

Severus had to refrain rolling his eyes. Honestly, they were pyjamas, no one but the boy would see them. “Yes, they will do. Has Harry behaved?”

The child shot him a short glare and started to pout slightly, making Severus shake his head in amusement. Madeleine smiled softly. “Of course he has, he's been an angel.”

The Silvanimus nodded and motioned to the large stack of clothes. “Why don't you get dressed in some of these, Harry, while Madam Phyana and I take care of the rest.”

Gratefully, Harry stepped towards the huge pile of clothes and, barely looking, he selected the first pair of pants and the first long sleeved t-shirt that he saw and left the room to get dressed.

Twenty minutes later, they left the store. Harry was more than ready to go home, but Severus said they still needed to make one more stop. He led the boy towards a very large book store. Instead of browsing the selection, he went immediately to the counter. The woman standing there seemed to recognised for she greeted him and immediately went to retrieve something from the back of the store. Harry looked curiously around as Severus arranged his purchases. He hadn't been to a book shop often. Petunia and Vernon thought it was a waste to spend their money on books and Dudley hardly helped since he tore apart any book he was given, including his school books. The boy didn't seem to understand the necessity of school books, and his parents had yet to try and explain it to him.

He realized he had been zoning out when Severus shook his shoulder slightly. “Come on, Harry.”

The boy blinked and looked up to his tall guardian. The man was carrying a stack of books and a few plastic bags.

“Do you want me to help you carry something?”

Severus looked at him sideways as they stepped outside. “There's no need.”

Before Harry had the chance to reply, Severus started to walk. The boy was happy he was not carrying anything as he had trouble enough keeping up with his guardian's long steps without the added weight. They were walking towards the park they had appeared in when Severus suddenly vanished from his side. Before Harry could panic, the man had returned, without the packages. That was when the boy noticed he hadn't seen any of his new clothes either.

“Where...”

The older man smiled slightly and patted his pocked. “A simple matter of a shrinking charm, much easier to carry that way.”

Harry looked slightly amazed. “Will I be able to do that.”

The older man nodded. “Of course you will, in a few years.”