Author's Note: Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. To those of you concerned about Harry's rib, have patience... that was coming later and was a piece of chapter Eight, meant to be delayed. And for those suggesting bruised ribs instead of broken, it seems as if Harry is in less pain because he's used to pain. This is not the first time he's had broken ribs from Uncle Vernon, and some people have a higher pain tolerance than others do. Thank you again for all of the reviews.

P.S. Check out the floorplans for the house I made in the offical author's note above!

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Harry did not want to get out of bed. Lunch be damned if it was going to cause him pain sitting up and walking all the way down the stairs. He scratched his head tiredly as his professor stood in the doorway to the room at the foot of the bed looking down at him, waiting for him to obey and get out of bed. Finally deciding that he'd better to as he was told, or possibly be shipped back to Hogwarts anyway, he sat up with some effort and tried not to wince as the broken bones in his chest jabbed at him.

Once up Harry followed Snape downstairs and into the long narrow hallway. They went through the living room, which had a door into the dining room. This room was good sized, but had a simple rectangular wooden table and four wooden chairs to match, all the same color as the dark reddish wooden floors. There was a shelf on one wall with a few trinkets on it, and an empty picture frame above that. Harry wanted to ask about the empty frame, but didn't as he was motioned to take a seat at the table.

Just like at Hogwarts, the second they sat down to eat, food appeared before them. There was a plate full of a variety of sandwiches, and a pitcher of cold milk, along with two other plates and two glasses.

Harry waited for Snape to serve himself first before he took half a sandwich, and then he waited for the man to take his first bite so that he could eat. This was always the rule at the Dursleys, that Harry couldn't eat until every other member of the family had taken their first bite. Sometimes he wasn't allowed at the table even and had to stand at the kitchen counter to eat.

"Mmmmmmitzi is is a a good c c cook."

Snape nodded. "She used to work at Hogwarts."

"Y y you b b bought h h her in instead?"

"Hired Potter. I do not buy and trade house elves like many wizards do. She is a free elf and is free to return to Hogwarts or leave my employ at any time."

"Oh oh." Harry looked down and Severus realized that he had spoken in a harsh tone. He hadn't meant to, but house elf slavery was just one of those buttons easily pushed with him. He knew what it was to be slave to a cruel master, and swore he would never be the same and force another, even an elf, to endure the role of slave.

"I do not approve of house elf slavery, as you can tell Potter. I was merely letting you know that I pay her every month whatever salary she asks."

"O o ok."

"Finish your sandwich and I will show you the rest of the property."

Harry forced down the last few bites of his half sandwich and sat quietly waiting for Snape to finish eating. He wasn't really hungry, and it hurt to feel the food sliding down into his stomach past the broken ribs.

After a few minutes, Snape stood and beckoned Harry to follow him through the second doorway in this room, which lead to a tidy little kitchen, and through another door to a back yard. It hadn't been kept since Snape had been at Hogwarts, but with a wave of his wand the grass greened up, cut itself, and looked wonderful again, even for the middle of winter.

Standing on the back porch Professor Snape pointed out a small field beyond the large yard and said, "That field is part of this property all the way to the small thicket of trees. Beyond that is a rock fence and shows the edge of the property." He pointed to the left towards more fields and continued, "The property continues not to the first rock fence, but the second one over there. You'll know you've reached the end of it when you see the fence bordering the small stream. The other property boundaries are the road that we walked up. If you wish to explore, feel free, but stay on the property and inform me before you go out."

"Th thank y y y y you s s s sir."

Severus grumbled. He hated the constant thanking and apologizing the boy did for no apparent reason at all. Noticing that Harry had his arms wrapped around himself because he didn't have a jacket, Severus motioned him back inside and lead him back into the hallway and into his study.

Harry's first thought of the large room was that he liked it very much. There were mismatched bookshelves lining every wall, except where the desk was set under the window. Each shelf was full of books with interesting titles like: ‘A Tibetan Shaman's Guide to Healing Herbs', and ‘Moste Potente Potions'.

"You may come in here if I am in here," Severus told him. "You may read any books but the ones on the top shelves. Am I understood?"

Harry nodded, feeling sorry that he would not be able to pull down the ancient copy of Moste Potente Potions and see what was inside because it was on the top shelf, but contented himself knowing he was allowed to read the other books in the house. The Dursley's never let him read any of their few books, and Dudley had ruined so many of Harry's library books in the past that his card had been revoked.

"I suggest you start on some of your Christmas homework so that you may spend the rest of the holiday freely." Harry's head snapped up. Hogwarts seemed like ages away... as if he'd not been there in months, and wouldn't be back for years. He had completely forgotten about the five assignments he had due on the first of January when the term started again.

"Y y y yes s s s s sir."

As Harry exited the room and Severus heard him going up the stairs and into the guest room, he wondered at how much worse the stuttering had gotten. He wasn't even able to say ‘yes' now, as he had been able to do before. He had a feeling the boy was holding back on what had really happened in Little Whinging.

* * *

Harry had made it through his Potions essay when he felt like he couldn't do anymore and fell back onto the bed, exhausted. His ribs hurt, his body ached, and his head felt as if someone was pushing in on all sides, trying to smash it like a watermelon under a car tire.

He drifted in and out of sleep for what felt like hours, and finally woke up to the prodding of his Potions Professor.

"Potter... wake up."

His eyelids felt heavy, like someone had tied weights to them, and he barely managed to get them open. The room was dark and he wondered just how long he had slept.

"T t t t t t t t time?"

"Eight o'clock. I checked on you at dinner but thought I'd let you sleep and eat later."

"N n n n not h h hungry."

Severus stood up and noticed how pale the boy was, along with the beads of sweat on his forehead. He startled Harry when he placed his hand on his forehead to feel for a temperature, and Harry didn't seem to hear him at all when he told him he was running hot.

"You are ill."

"Huh?"

Pulling out his wand, he transfigured Harry's clothes into pajamas, pulled his shoes off, and waved the lamp on the nightstand up. Harry didn't seem to care until he went to lift him so that he could put the boy under the covers instead of laying on top of them all night.

"Ahh! Ahh! Nooooooo!"

Startled Snape jumped back a little.

"What's wrong Potter?"

Harry gave a sob and clutched at his chest, wrapping his arms around himself.

Pulling out his wand again Severus ran a diagnostic spell on him and was surprised to find two broken ribs along with bruises hidden by his shirt. He had seen the bruises on the boy's face and one arm and rubbed bruise balm on them while he slept earlier, but why hadn't Potter told him of the broken bones?

"You have two broken ribs," he said, arms crossed.

Harry moaned again, and said, "I I I I kn kn know. D d d d don't li li lift m m m m me."

"Why did you not tell me? I could have healed them with a spell, but now you've got internal bleeding from walking around like that all day."

When he didn't get an answer he waved his wand over Harry's chest and said a spell he was well practiced in. He had had to heal his own body too many times after encounters with the Dark Lord to not know proper healing spells. Harry seemed to relax a little and Severus left the room, returning a few minutes later with a tray covered in various jars and potions.

"Drink this," he said, helping to lift Harry's head and sip down a blue potion in a strangle shaped phial."

"Wh what?"

"To stop the internal bleeding. Take this too," he held out a hand of something slimy and pinched Harry's nose as he swallowed it down and made a face. "Tangleweed for the cold you got walking around in the cold all night."

Harry watched as he turned to the tray again and uncorked yet another phial, this one orange and murky looking. "Drink this, and DON'T, spit it out," he warned. Harry choked down the potion and shot the man a dirty look.

"Don't give me that look Potter. You needed the vitamins to help you heal properly." He handed Harry a glass of water to help wash down the taste, and then unscrewed a jar of bruise balm. Harry recognized the cream as the same he'd been given in Snape's office at Hogwarts.

Severus pulled up the front of Harry's shirt, making him wince, and said, "Yes, you'll be sore for the next few days. It wouldn't have been so if you'd told me sooner." He started rubbing the cream on the bruised rib area and then made Harry roll over (with another dirty look) so that he could do his lower back, where he had also been bruised from the fall down the steps at Privet Drive."

On his back again a few minutes later, Harry waited for Snape to return again from wherever he had taken the empty potions bottles to. He hurt much less now, but still ached everywhere, and his stomach seemed unsettled from the many potions he'd taken.

"I'm g g g gonna b be s s s sick," Harry warned the man as he came back into the room, but Snape was ready for him and had one last phial, this one full of pink, frothy liquid.

"I know. Drink this, it will help."

Harry took it eagerly and was pleased to find that it was cotton candy flavored. It was a few moments but his stomach calmed, and he was able to relax, head on a soft pillow, damaged body covered by soft, warm blankets.

"You will be fine in an couple of days, but you will need bed rest in order for your wounds to heal properly. And when you are well again you will clean Mitzi's room from floor to ceiling for lying to me."

"N n n n no l l l lie s s s s s sir!" Harry said indignantly.

"Remember the troll?" Harry nodded, and Snape said, "And what did we discuss then? Withholding the truth is just the same as a lie. I expect you to tell me things like, ‘Professor, I have broken ribs,' when you are under my care. Am I understood?"

Harry nodded and wondered if that meant at Hogwarts as well. Nobody had ever cared if he was hurt before, except Madam Pomfrey. The Dursley's had laughed at him when he had asked to go to the doctor the time Dudley had pushed him and he'd broken his leg in the back yard, and they had never done anything to take care of him when he'd been sick or had other broken bones. It was almost disconcerting to have someone care what happened to him now. And then there was that feeling of certainty again. Harry squirmed under the man's gaze and wondered what exactly he was certain about. He never thought he'd be uncertain about certainty.

After a promise to check in on him later, Snape left him alone to his thoughts, and Harry drifted off to a more peaceful sleep, not full of pain and the strange dreams that always accompanied illness.

* * *

It was almost four am when he was woken by a strange noise. What was that? An intruder? A student out of bed? No, he wasn't at Hogwarts.

Severus rose from bed and wrapped his bathrobe around himself tightly, and went into the darkened hallway, wand in hand. There was the sound again. Harry, he thought, and opened the boy's bedroom door to find him on his side on the hardwood floor next to a puddle of sick.

"T t t t tried, b b b bathroom," he stuttered, face red in shame.

"It's all right Potter," Severus said, waving away the mess with his wand and then helping Harry back into the bed. "You've got a cold and four potions in your stomach, it was not unexpected."

Harry was still pale and Severus ran the diagnostic spell one more time just to be sure he'd gotten everything. The boy's body was healing fine, and it was as he had thought, too many potions for an already weak stomach.

He disappeared for a minute, and Harry was confused, because he hadn't seen the man leave, but then he was back again with another dose of the cotton candy flavored potion, and Harry took it without complaint, relief spreading over him when his stomach calmed once again.

"Better?" He nodded, and Snape said, "Go back to sleep. You will feel better in the morning."

Severus rubbed his temple as he lay in bed a few minutes later. He wasn't used to taking care of a child. He wasn't used to anybody at all being in his house but him and Mitzi, and he couldn't deny that he was a little stressed. Old thoughts from before Christmas came swirling back into his mind, and he agreed with himself again that Potter would be the death of him, how he wasn't sure, but he was certain at least.

* * *

Harry was surprised to find that Mitzi's room was through a hidden door under the stairs that lead into a large storage area, and then into an even larger room.

There was a small bed low to the ground, still much to large for Mitzi, but too small for Harry. It was covered in a pink blanket with silver sparkling stars. There were also glittery stars all over the walls and ceiling. The room was painted in varying shades of pink stripes running from floor to ceiling, some wider than others. There was a little desk and a little wardrobe, and even a little bathroom behind another wall. A window set at Mitzi's height looked out over the countryside past a tree, and a little door next to that lead onto a small, Mitzi sized porch, which Harry was informed, was hidden from view from Muggles who might see it walking down the dirt lane.

If not for all the pink and glitter, Harry thought that he might like the room very much.

Under Mitzi's watchful eye, Harry scrubbed down the floors, walls, and ceiling, as well as washed all of her laundry by hand as soon as he was able to get out of bed and stand straight for more than a few minutes without falling over.

"A very good job Harry Potter," Mitzi commented when he was done. "As if you had been born and raised a house elf too! Mitzi is proud!" She hugged him around the middle and escorted him back through the closet and out under the stairs.

Harry found Snape in his study reading a thin brown book and was given permission to enter. Plopping down in an overstuffed chair, Severus eyed him and asked, "Are you done?"

"M M M Mitzi s s says I I I'm g g g good as as a a a h h house e elf."

"Hm..." he trailed off.

They spent the rest of the day in the study, Severus reading and Harry finishing homework. It was his fifth day there and he was glad that all of his homework was now finished, although what he'd do now he wasn't sure.

To answer his question the next day, Severus informed Harry that they were going to Diagonalley.

"I have a few errands I need to run, and I believe you said you were out of money. We can make a trip to your vault in Gringotts, and then spend a few hours in the shops."

Harry was excited. He liked the winding alley full of witches and wizards, and had only been there once with Hagrid. He even enjoyed the breakneck, whiplash ride down to his vault at Gringotts.

After breakfast Severus apparated them both to the snowy alley and Harry wondered why the man took the train all the way from Hogwarts if he could have apparated. When he asked after they had gotten out of Gringotts however, Snape had only said that he enjoyed the train ride after a long term.

They went into the apothecary first, where Snape bought many boxes of ingredients and had them sent by floo to his office at Hogwarts. Next they made their way in and out of a line of shops, including a small one-roomed joke shop Harry insisted on going into, where Snape prevented him from buying a fanged frisbee with a poisonous look, and finally allowed him to buy a pouch of stink powder with a roll of his eyes and a warning not to use it in his house or during Potion's class.

They went into the Quidditch store, where Harry eyed a new broomstick one model higher than his own, and then drooled over a poster of a team clad in red and silver, ‘The Woodson Terrace Griffons.' It was an American team from Missouri, but Harry had been following them since Ron had introduced him to all the well known teams competing for the Quidditch World Cup. Ron was loyal to the Chudley Cannons, but Harry couldn't stand all the orange, and instead had fallen for the Harlem Shuffle play that seemed to be popular amongst the American's.

"Wh wh who d d do y y you su support s s sir?" Harry asked as he was lead into a two story clothing shop across the street from Olivanders and next door to Fortescue's Ice Cream.

"The Applyby Arrows."

"W W Woodson T T Terrace b b beat th them out out f for s second in in the c cup l l last y year," Harry said.

"I'm well aware," Severus said as he pushed the door to the clothing store open.

Harry was told that his clothing was unacceptable to stay warm in the winter and was instructed to pick out several new long sleeve shirts, some short sleeve shirts, long and short pants, and a new coat and cap for when he needed to go outside.

New money jingling in the pouch tied to his belt, Harry did as he was told, pleased to be buying his first ever new clothes. He loved his new robes, but he had never had new Muggle clothing before.

It wasn't long before Harry had a new wardrobe stacked on the counter and was pulling out his money to pay, but Severus put out a hand to stop him.

"I will pay half," he said.

Harry frowned, but before he could ask why, Snape told him, "I am the one forcing you to buy new clothes, and therefore I will pay half."

The clerk totaled up the sale and Severus laid down a handful of Galleons, daring the clerk with his eyes to tell Harry that he had paid ninety percent of the bill. The clerk asked Harry for seven sickles and then bagged up the clothing, shrunk them to fit in a pocket, and handed them to Snape.

"C c can w we g go s s somewhere t to g g g g get s s something f for M M Mitzi?" He looked frustrated again with how long the sentence took to come out, but Severus nodded, surprised that Harry wanted to buy the house elf something.

Harry lead the way down the storefronts until he saw a shop filled with decorations and went inside. Severus watched as Harry picked out the pinkest, gawdiest thing he could find, a pink plastic chandelier with streamers hanging off the bottom of each arm. Instead of candles it had fake candles with light bulbs. The clerk asked Harry if he knew this was an item that only ran on Muggle electricity, and Harry nodded. He had seen an outlet in Mitzi's room. He paid the four sickles and ten knuts for the item and had Snape shrink it down to fit in a pocket, as well as put a protective charm on it so that it wouldn't break.

Back in Wendron, Harry was careful to hide Mitzi's chandelier inside his backpack in a sock so that she wouldn't find it. He had never given anybody a Christmas present before, and he was looking forward to it. He remembered trying to give a paper airplane to Dudley when they were small, but Dudley laughed and sat on it, smashing it into the couch.

* * *

In the remaining week and a half until Christmas, Harry spent his time reading his textbooks and some of the books Snape pulled out for him off the shelves in the study, playing wizards chess with his Professor, talking with Mitzi, and helping make potions for the new term that would be used in the Hospital Wing.

"Don't let me see any of these being used on you Potter," Snape warned him on Christmas Eve as they bottled the last anti-inflammatory potion in a large bottle and stored it in a divided wooden box, packing hay from the field around it.

"No s sir," Harry said.

Snape tried to hide a smile, and faltered a little bit, but Harry didn't notice. Sometime in the last few days Harry's stutter had begun to subside again, even though they had not been doing more speech therapy. Severus had a feeling that speech therapy wouldn't help the returned stutter as much as a calm, reliable, environment would, and it seemed that he was right. The more comfortable Harry grew there, the better his speech seemed to become.

Mitzi made a Christmas feast, which Snape asked her to join in on and she refused, saying that she needed to start cooking for the next day instead.

"Master Snape is too kind," she said as she backed out of the room and left them to their feast.

"Are we t taking the train again?" Harry asked. They were going back to Hogwarts a couple of days after Christmas, and Harry didn't fancy another long ride.

"No. We will apparate, unless you wish me to drop you off at King's Cross so that you can ride home with your peers."

Harry shook his head. He didn't fancy Apparation, but it was a two second alternative to a long train ride. King's Cross was hours from Wendron, and Hogwarts was eight or nine hours from King's cross.

"Have your things packed then and ready to go by Friday night so that we can go back.

Snape had preformed a charm on Harry's backpack, not only making it look new, but also magically enlarging the inside so that Harry could fit all of his clothing inside, and the bag didn't weigh anymore than it normally would.

As Harry got ready for bed that night, he heard a tapping at his window, and was pleased to see Hedwig sitting on the ledge, two packages tied to her legs. Harry hurried over to her and greeted her warmly, stroking her feathers and closing the window as it began to snow outside.

"What h have you got there g girl?"

He looked at the writing on the paper wrappings and saw Ron's name as well as Hermione's and a note not to open them until Christmas morning. Harry had picked up two gifts on Diagonalley and borrowed Snape's brown owl Job to send them off to his friends.

The packages from his friends carefully set at the foot of his bed, Harry climbed under the covers and fell asleep stroking Hedwig.

* * *
Severus was surprised to find the snowy owl sitting on the pillow next to Harry's head, and two packages wrapped in brown on the floor at the foot of his bed the next morning. When had the owl gotten there?

He woke Harry up and instructed him to bring his presents downstairs to the living room.

When they got downstairs Severus was surprised again to find a fully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of the room across from the soft brown couch, along with a tray of muffins, cookies, and hot cinnamon rolls on a tray on the coffee table with two plates and silverware.

"Wow," Harry said, looking around. When had Snape done this?

"It seems Mitzi has decided to decorate," Severus said dryly as he sat on the couch and looked at the sweets on the tray. He expected Harry to reach for the cookies or cinnamon rolls first, but he took a blueberry muffin instead and was careful not to get crumbs on the table as he sat on his knees and ate it.

"Can we open presents now?"

Severus raised a brow at the boys excited tone and lack of a stutter, and nodded, watching as Harry tore into his present from Hermione, which was a thick tomb about Quidditch teams and the history of the sport, and then into Ron's package, which was a used pair of Quidditch gloves Harry's size, and a knit red sweater with the letter H on the front.

"H he says the sweater is is from his mum," Harry supplied, trying on the soft leather gloves and admiring them even though they appeared well worn.

Mitzi appeared with a pop then carrying a tray with two cups and a pitcher of coffee and a pitcher of hot chocolate.

Harry quickly fumbled in his pajama pocket for the chandelier and asked Mitzi to please close her eyes. When she had done so he looked to Snape, who enlarged it to full size. When told to do so, Mitzi opened her eyes and Harry presented her with the gift.

Severus thought the elf would have a conniption fit right there on the spot. Her eyes enlarged and she started to cry as she jumped up an down and squealed, clapping her hands.

"Oh! Oh! Mitzi loves it! Mitzi will go put it on the ceiling right now! Oooohhhh!" She gave Harry a quick hug, took the pink chandelier and disappeared out the door, squealing all the way.

Harry laughed and looked up to Snape to see if he approved, and was not disappointed to see the corners of his lips upturned, if even only a little bit.

"There is one more gift Potter," Severus pointed out a long thin box under the tree.

Harry crawled over to see his name on the box and tore off the green and silver paper it was wrapped in to find the very poster that he had been admiring in the Quidditch store of the Woodson Terrace Griffons. This present seemed to excite the boy most of all, and Severus listened as Harry stuttered on about how he finally had a poster of his own to put up in the boy's dormitory next to his bed. Harry thanked him many times over, and Snape again wondered what there was to be thankful about a one-sickle piece of paper.

When they sat down at the dining room table for a real breakfast not made of sweets half an hour later, Harry pulled something out of his pajama pocket and shyly handed it across the table to his Professor.

Severus looked down at the item oddly and wondered why the boy was giving him a golden Snitch.

"I wanted you t to have it s sir." Harry said quietly. "It's the f first Snitch I I ever caught."

Knowing how the boy loved the game, and how much he must have valued the first Snitch he ever caught and won a game with, Severus suddenly understood the meaning of the gift.

"F for helping me sir," Harry clarified.

Severus set the ball down gently on the table in front of him and said quietly, "Thank you Harry."

Harry grinned at the use of his first name and dug into his plate of eggs, bacon, and country gravy. The tree, the gifts, the food, and Snape, Harry suddenly realized, had made for the best Christmas he'd ever had. And adding Snape onto the end of that list suddenly made Harry realize what the certainty was all about. He could have done without the tree, gifts, and food, as he had always managed before, but he didn't think he could have done without Professor Snape.

Severus wondered why the boy had suddenly gotten so shy after breakfast, but didn't complain as they sat and played Wizard's chess through the afternoon. He hadn't died, and the house hadn't burned down yet, so all in all he wasn't as stressed out as he thought he should be for having Harry Potter in house for almost a month. And the Snitch... a meaningful Christmas gift from the son of his enemy. No, not such a bad Christmas all in all. And as he watched Harry climb the stairs that evening to go to bed, he wondered how he had managed to get through all the many other Christmases before this without somebody else in his house keeping him company, and giving him golden Snitches at the breakfast table. Uncertainty flooded him, as he stared at the Snitch and the tree, and wondered what next Christmas would be like.