"The babysitter will be here any minute and I expect you to behave, boy," Aunt Petunia spoke down to four-year-old Harry Potter with a stern expression on her face.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry agreed in that breathy voice that young kids adopted when they were distracted. "Is it Jessica?"

"No. She moved away, I told you that already," Petunia answered with a huff.

Harry smiled. That was good. Jessica was a mean babysitter and she always invited strangers over for the night. Harry didn't like it.

"Will you leave forever?" Harry questioned softly, barely allowing himself to hope.

His Aunt glared down at him as if reading his thoughts. "Of course not, you ungrateful whelp! We're only taking Dudders to the movies. We'll be back at ten o'clock."

"Oh," Harry tried not to sound too disappointed.

The doorbell range.

"Well, that will be the babysitter. Dudders, Vernon! Come on, dears!" she called up the stairs.

There were loud footsteps and then the Dursleys were piling out the front door. Harry peeked around the edge of the living room, trying to get a peek at his new babysitter, but all he could make out was Dudley's large backside. He frowned.

Then, there was silence and he tried looking again. A tall, dark stranger was standing inside the hall with the door closed firmly behind him. Harry gulped. The man looked scary and the little boy's gaze flicked to the phone and back. Maybe he should call for help before the man cut him up into the little pieces and hid them away. Harry felt more scared.

He should have never watched that scary movie with Dudley. The man studied him without making a sound. Harry wondered if the man was mute.

"Can you talk?" young Harry asked, his curiosity overriding the fears.

The man nodded solemnly.

"You don't want to talk?" Harry guessed. "Oh. You don't like me." The green-eyed boy hung his head. "That's alright. No one likes me... I'm just a freak."

"Who said that?" the man asked, his silky voice startling the boy.

"Well, everyone," Harry answered as if it should have been obvious.

"Who is 'everyone'?" the man asked, stepping into the living room.

"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petty-tuna, Dudley..." Harry counted them off one finger at a time and showed the results to his babysitter. "See! Almost a whole hand!"

"Well, then, that is a lot," the man agreed.

The room fell silent.

"Why are you so quiet?" Harry asked, his eyebrows drawing together. "My other babysitter - her name was Jessica - she talked a lot... all the time."

"You seem to be doing enough for the both of us," the man pointed out.

Harry frowned. "Oh. Sorry."

"No need to apologize," the man shrugged. "What do you do for fun, Harry?"

"Fun?" Harry asked. He screwed up his face as if trying to work out a difficult puzzle and then he smiled. "Oh! You mean, like, what do I play with when I'm not doing chores? My horses... wanna see?"

Harry was already running to his closet under the stairs. He wasn't suppose to show the babysitters (Aunt Petunia called it their 'little secret'), but he was so excited about showing off his new toys. He grabbed the two horses - one with a broken off ear and the other with a missing front leg - and ran back to show his new friend.

"See! Dudley was very 'kind and considerate'," he said the well-rehearsed words, "and gave me these."

The man's eyebrows were hiding under his long bangs and Harry figured he must be really impressed. That made him want to show the man more.

"Do you want to see my room?" Harry asked shyly.

The man nodded wordlessly and let the little boy lead him by the hand to the cupboard. Harry climbed inside.

"It's really nice at night... except the spiders. I don't like them," Harry admitted.

"You sleep here?" the man asked in disbelief.

Harry nodded. "Yes."

The man shook his head and put a hand on the wall to steady himself. Harry worried that he might have shown the man too much.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that," Harry said, his voice cracking. "Are you going to spank me?"

The man took Harry's hand and gently lifted the boy up. Surprised, Harry let himself be hugged for the first time in his life. It was stifling and warm and... and... Harry felt big wet tears well up in his eyes. He hugged onto the strange man tight even though he thought that might not be right.

"There, there... hush." The man patted Harry's back softly and gathered him up in his arms.

The babysitter carried his young charge back into the living room and settled into a chair. They sat like that, Harry holding on for dear life and the man gentle rubbing circles against the boy's back. Hours passed by and it was not until they both heard the Dursleys' car pull in the drive that the boy finally let go. It felt like losing a part of himself, but Harry was too young to understand what the emptiness meant.

"Can you stay?" Harry asked quietly when the front door slammed open. His voice trembled.

The tall, dark babysitter shook his head and carefully set the boy on his feet. "No. I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry took a shuddering breath and tried to stay strong. He knew that if Uncle Vernon saw him cry he would get into trouble.

"Here's your money," Aunt Petunia was handing some paper bills to the babysitter. "Will you be available next week at the same time? My Dudders wants to go out, again."

The man shook his head, dark eyes unreadable. "I'm afraid that would be impossible."

"Oh. Well... goodbye, then," the woman said with a shooing motion towards the front door.

Harry watched as his friend walked out, the door shutting behind him. Harry ignored the rest of his family and crawled into his cupboard. He wanted to cry.

- - -

Severus Snape felt rage and sadness war inside himself as he walked away from number 4 Privet Drive. He hoped that Lily could somehow forgive him for leaving her son in such a place. It was for the good of many. It was... wrong.