Next morning, Harry opened his eyes, fighting the urge to scream like a girl. Two large eyes, far too close for comfort, were peering at him. Harry thanked his lucky stars that he had seen eyes like that before or else he really would have screamed like a girl. Harry always thought that it was one thing to be scared, but showing fear was an entirely different matter.

“We is waiting for you to wake, sir. We is wanting to know what Mr. Potter would like for breakfast. Master is already up and about but Master said not to wake you up before eight so Biddy did as his Master told him to.” Biddy said, pleased with himself for reason unknown to Harry.

“Umm…isn’t Professor Snape having breakfast? I’ll have whatever he is having. And good morning Biddy.” Harry said, although the last part was added as an afterthought. Harry was alarmed to see that Biddy had tears in his eyes so he hastened to say, “I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.”

“Mr. Potter could never offend Biddy, sir. It’s just that not many wizards are that generous with us, sir. We wish you a very happy morning too. We is going now to take care of breakfast. Tibby will come to take you downstairs for breakfast, sir.” Biddy said, bowing to Harry and then vanishing into thin air, leaving Harry to get washed and dressed.

Harry was very uneasy with his conversation with Biddy, he had an inkling that house-elves weren’t exactly as they should be. With this thought in his mind, he got up and after fifiteen minutes of pure bliss in the bathtub, Harry decided to go downstairs. As soon as he walked towards the door to go out, Harry heard a faint popping sound and Tibby suddenly appeared.

“Mr. Potter, Tibby welcomes you to Prince Mansion. Now we should go downstairs because Master is ready. Come, come young master. Master doesn’t like people who is late.” Tibby said, seeming much more happier than Biddy - in Harry's opinion.

‘Don’t I know it!’ Harry thought as he heard Tibby’s last comment. They went downstairs and entered the room not far from the main hall. There was a long table, indeed, so long that it looked like it would be able to entertain many guests. Before Harry could ponder this further he saw Snape sitting in a chair at the end of the table. Another plate was placed neatly exactly opposite Snape, and Harry took the chair as Snape motioned for him to sit.

“Mr. Potter, after you complete your breakfast, go and pack your things. We are to take the Hogwarts Express and London is not near so do not be late. It is 8.30am and I presume you will not have any problem being ready by 9.00 o’ clock. I must drive to London as we are without a portkey today.” Snape said, somewhat disgustedly at the prospect of driving the said muggle contraption.

“Thank you, sir. I know it was most inconvinient for you to let me stay as I was kind of uninvited. Thank you very much, sir.” Harry said, really grateful that Snape had let him stay.

“If you were any other student I would have done the same, Potter. You do not need to thank me. As for inconvinience, well, I would say, you were unexpected rather than unwelcome. I do not mean that you are welcome in my house Potter, for you are neither welcome nor unwelcome in my house. I am your teacher and it is my duty to provide shelter to any Hogwarts' student.” Snape sneered.

‘Well, that went well. Why did I even think that Snape would take my gratitude nicely? It's just like him to ruin the moment. Here I was totally gullible to think that he would be nice just like last night. Obviously one night's sleep has made a lot of difference. Humph.’ Harry thought, bitterly. He played with his food as his appetite was suddenly diminished. After a while Snape left the table so Harry stopped playing with food and went upstairs with Tibby - his prefered house-elf.

After packing his trunk, Harry tried to heave it downstairs all by himself. ‘Tried’ being the operative word. Harry was soo frustrated! ‘Ron could do it all by himself, why can't I?’ Harry mentally whined. Harry was determined to take it down himself, he struggled to lift it with all his might. But as he was concentrating on the trunk so hard, Harry missed the steps and tripped. He went down rolling down the stairs, his trunk following. After what felt like an age, Harry stopped at the bottom of the stairs. His knee was scrapped, his lip was bleeding, his hand bloody and he wasn’t sure where he was hurt. What was clear, however, was that it hurt like anything.

Snape was just entering the main hall when he heard some noise. It sounded like something had fallen. ‘Oh, well. Biddy must have thrown something, without meaning to, of course.' Honestly, Snape had had enough of that house-elf, the creature was only permitted to stay in Prince Manor because of his Mother, otherwise it would have been 'clothes'long ago.

Meanwhile, Harry had somehow stood up. He looked around to make sure that his trunk was alright. He looked down at his clothes, his trousers were a little bloody and so was his shirt. He decided that a change of clothes would be necessary to keep Snape unaware of the incident. He quickly opened his trunk, took out some clothes and went upstairs. He went into his temporary room and changed the clothes. He folded his earlier clothes and picked up Hedwing’s cage. Hedwig hooted softly as if to inquire if he was okay. Harry smiled and said softly, “It’s okay, Hedwig. I am as okay as I can be under circumstances.”

When he went into the main hall, Snape was already there looking impatient. Harry looked at his watch and saw that there were still ten minutes to spare. ‘Why is he always soo…so? Why am I thinking about him? I should be worrying about where Dumbledore is going to put me. Yes, I won’t think about him.’ Harry thought, resolutely. He went to chair facing the fireplace and stood next to it watching the flickering flames. He was still glaring at the fire five minutes later when Snape announced that they were ready to leave. Harry limped a little as he walked towards the door, Snape noticed this and frowned.

“What have you managed to do to yourself, Mr. Potter? I leave you alone for all of half an hour and you have managed to injure yourself. What on earth has happened?” Snbape asked, a little angrily.

Harry squirmed and fidgeted, unsure if Snape would be angry. 'Well, he already seemed angry so it wouldn’t make much difference,' Harry decided. He started, “Well, you said to be ready by 9 o’clock and I was ready fifteen minutes early. So I decided to try to take the trunk downstairs but it didn’t quite work out. I was too busy trying to balance myself and the trunk that I…I umm…didn’t see one step and tripped.” The last word whispered.

Snape was really astonished that Harry didn’t wait for the house-elves to take the trunk to the car. ‘Stupid boy, can’t he even do something simple without harming himself?’ Snape thought,annoyed. ‘At least there wasn’t any blood. How could he escape without any injury?’ Snape thought, puzzled. After a moment realisation dawned on him.

“Potter, show me your injuries. Don’t even attempt hiding them. I do not understand why even you would do such a foolish stunt. If Madam Pomfrey had seen your injuries, she would have skinned me alive. Did you do it because it would make me a bad person, Potter?” Snape asked, growing angrier by second.

Harry was amazed that Snape’s imagination could be that far-fetched. He felt insulted that Snape would even think that Harry would do something like that. He said stiffly, “I wasn’t allowed to tell about my injuries at my Aunt and Uncle's house so I thought that you wouldn’t want to know either. If I had known you would think that I would do any such thing then I would have told you.”

Snape had to give it to the brat for the bravery, stupid Gryffindor bravery. Nobody in his House would give him clarification like that, not even Draco and Draco was his favourite student. Well, it seemed that he had gone a little over the top in his assumption.

“We will discuss it later but first we need to take care of your injuries. Come, show me where you are hurt.” Snape said.

Harry couldn’t exactly defy a request which was for his own good, even he wasn’t that daft. Harry showed Snape his knee and the man tsked and went away, only return a moment later with a ointment. It was surprisingly soothing, making Harry sigh with relief.

Harry even showed Snape his hand. Snape inspected his elbow with such impersonal touch that Harry wondered if Snape had some training in healing. After all was done, Snape went to clean his hands and returned a moment later.

“Come, Mr. Potter or we will be late. We need to catch the train today, do we not?” Snape asked.

Harry nodded and said, “Thank you, sir. I know you would have done that to any of your students but thank you all the same.”

Snape was a little surprised but it didn’t show on his face. He just nodded and started walking, albeit slowly, so Potter could follow without limping and hurting his knee any further. After they got into the car, Potter sat at the backseat because he wasn’t used to sitting in the front.

‘Damn the brat, making me look like his personal chauffeur... Good gracious! He is talking to his bird, Merlin save me. He talks to his pet and we rely on him to save the wizarding world.’ Snape thought. Then another snide voice said, ‘You used talk to your pet, too. It wasn’t weird and meaningless then, was it? You just think that because it’s Harry Potter. You have seen many students do that kind of thing yet you find something wrong when Potter does it. Why, Severus Snape, I never would have thought you to be a hypocrite.’ To Snape, it sounded a lot like Dumbledore. Snape just wanted it to end. He wanted to go to Hogwarts, give the brat to Dumbledore and return to his dungeons. Was it too much to ask?

They reached Kings Cross at 10. 45am. The rest of the journey was surprisingly peaceful with Snape reading his potions journal and Harry attempting his Transfiguration homework. The day was gone without either of them noticing. They reached Hogwarts in evening.

As Snape said an inane password, the gargoyle moved and they were permitted to enter the Headmaster’s office - finding the Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall present, as well as Albus Dumbledore.

“Ah! Severus, how are you and young Mr.Potter? I hope you had a thoroughly pleasant journey. Now, Harry come and sit. I am very sorry Harry that you had to go through all that. If I had known I would have done something before. You don’t have to go there again this but I am afraid that for your own safety, you must go there next year.” Dumbledore said, sadly.

“Albus! What are you saying? After all that happened to Harry, you are still sending him to those people? That’s ridiculous! I won’t allow you to do that.” Minerva said, shocked that even after all that happened to Harry, Albus would send the child there.

As they were talking, Harry became more and more sad. He just couldn’t believe what Dumbledore was saying. He whispered, “Please, sir. I'll do all the chores... and…and oh please let me stay here. I don’t want to go back to Dursleys. I can cook a fair bit. I don’t think I’d be able to do dinner but with practice, I would be able to. I can clean the floors too. There won’t be spot left, please, just don’t send me there. I…..”

Snape had had enough of Potter’s rant, he snapped, “You are not a house-elf, Potter! You will do no such thing. We will come to an agreeable decision, I am sure.” His last sentence was directed to the Headmaster.

Dumbledore looked grave as he listened Harry talk. He was backed into corner, not knowing what on earth to do. Minerva and Severus were angry with him for trying to send Harry back to his realtives and Harry, that dear child, was offering to do chores in return for letting him stay at Hogwarts.

“Potter, wait outside. I wish to have a word with the Headmaster and you are not needed.” Snape said.

Harry initially angry with the Potions Master for dismissing him so abruptly, but after seeing the expression on the man's face, he decided that he didn’t want to be at the end of the Potion Master’s wrath (or wand). It was the same expression he had had before he hexed Uncle Vernon. So Harry just nodded and quietly left the Headmaster’s office. Although as he was just shutting the door, he saw that the Potions Master moving towards the Headmaster with a very menacing expression. Harry shivered and sat down on the floor waiting for his teacher to finish his 'word' with the Headmaster.