'Is it weird living with him, Harry?' Jack asked as he shifted his position where he was sitting cross-legged on the grass below the large tree Harry had once climbed.

The two boys were at the park near Spinner's End on a calm weekend morning. Between them was a chessboard that Jack had brought along as the two boys were attempting to learn how to play, based on a book Jack got from his brother that explained the rules.

'A bit.' Harry smiled every time someone, though it was only really Jack, called him but his real name. 'But I'm used to moving around, so it's not too weird. Just...different.' He sighed and watched as Jack took one of his knights.

'That sounds rough.' Jack commented and glanced at his friend sadly, not being able to imagine what it would be like to go from home to home like Harry did. His family wasn't perfect, but Jack loved his parents and his brother. Harry hadn't experienced that before and it made the sandy-haired boy sad.

A silence fell over them as the two friends played and tried to focus on the game while their minds wandered elsewhere. Harry's mind was most active, as he thought about things that had happened to him, such as how his parents had died when he was a baby and how his relatives placed him in an orphanage when he'd only been a toddler. Then he'd been placed with Erin, until he was taken from her and placed with yet another family. For five years that was fine, until they died in a car crash and Harry had ended up with Emile. And simon; Harry shuddered at the thought of the angry, cruel man.

Four different houses, situations and people. Some he'd been there for years, other much less. Yet four days after he had been saved by Severus Snape, Harry already felt more connected to his fifth residence than all the others. Even more than Erin, because while he knew he loved her and could remember her a bit...Harry had still been quite young then and memories were all he had left.

Severus Snape was right here in his life now.

The dark man had sheltered him and given Harry new hope, however small it may be. And then questions filled his mind and he became distracted from the game, having forgotten how the queen moves. He didn't noticed until Jack snatched up the rulebook to check it over and correct Harry's mistake.

Sighing, Harry dropped the chess piece onto the grass and leaned back, tilting his head so he could stare upwards at the white clouds far above his head. Briefly he wondered what it would be like to fly and leave all of his problems behind on the ground. The game forgotten, Jack glanced towards the blue and white as well as he exhaled and fell backwards so his back and pressed to the grass and his arms were widely spread on either side of him.

Since Harry had told him the truth about not being “Cody Evans”, Jack had accepted it and come to consider “Cody” as the nickname he called his friend when they weren't alone. Jack had adapted to how Harry could be talking and playing a game one minute and then he'd be silent and distracted. Jack couldn't blame him, as he was still angry at Simon and sympathetic for his friend's situation. He wished he could do more to help, yet he felt selfish in wanting to spend any time he could with Harry and therefore robbing his friend of the chance to be home with Mr Snape.They had spent every afternoon at school and the most part of the weekend at the park playing games, competing on the swings, and struggling to learn the complexity of Chess.

'Jack?' Harry's voice whispered and his friend glanced over at him and worried about the troubling expression on his friend's face.

'Yeah, Harry?' Jack asked.

'Who am I?' Harry frowned and looked at Jack, who had sat up to return the gaze. 'I mean, I don't know my real parents and I've got two different names. I've tried to always do what I was told, but I don't know...I, well I don't know who I am. What do I like? Where would I go?' Harry lowered his emerald eyes towards the ground.

'Where do I belong?'

Jack would have shrugged, as he didn't have the answers, but something he saw in Harry's eyes and posture made him determined to give some sort of answer, to help his friend and ease the mood. He thought really hard about what Harry had asked him, trying to come up with a solution or something Jack could tell him. Anything at all that didn't resemble the honest “I don't know”.

A smile formed on Jack's face as he reached towards the air in front of him and cupped his hands, though he didn't appear to be holding anything. 'Look, Harry, look!' He said with as much enthusiasm as he could. Harry looked up quickly but was only confused when he saw his friend's hands were empty.

'What?'

'It's gold, Harry!' Jack invented. 'Don't you see? Lots of gold coins! I bet we could do anything with these, go anywhere in the world and buy lots of stuff.' He nodded and jumped to his feet. Confused but wanting to be distanced from the moody, serious stuff, Harry stood as well.

'I'm hungry.' Jack said. 'With this gold we could buy anything we wanted. I think I'll have a pie. A warm, meat pie. What would you like?' He glanced at Harry.

'Oh, um...' He frowned and tried to think. If he could eat anything in the world, what would it be? 'Pancakes.' Harry decided. 'You can put anything on them and they're always really yummy.'

'But if we're going to have pancakes and pies, we'll need to go someplace really nice to eat them.' Jack continued to play and Harry had forgotten how it had started as he joined in as well, a smile forming on his lips as well.

'Where?' Harry asked. 'A resturant?'

'Of course.' Jack nodded. 'But where? With this gold we can go anywhere in the whole wide world, Harry! I'd like to go to Paris as it's really nice there, I hear. Where would you like to go, Harry?'

'I would...' Harry remembered looking at pictures in books at school and tried to think of which places had caught his attention the most, places he'd like to see in real life rather than just on the page of a book.

'China.' Harry nodded. 'It's got a huge wall and I imagine if we stand on top of it everything would look really cool.'

'Okay, so pancakes and pies in China.' Jack remembered. 'And since we're in China, we should have a look around too...but how will we get everywhere? Bus, train, plane?'

'A plane.' Harry told him. 'It would be fun to fly.'

'Aren't you scared of heights, Harry?' Jack commented. 'That's a really long way up.' He looked to the sky and shivered at the thought.

'A little.' Harry confessed. 'It would be worth it though.'

'Important people might be on the plane.' Jack frowned, pretending to think as he held his imaginary pile of gold in his hands. 'We will need to wear something nice, to give a good impression. I think I'll wear blue and silver, that sounds nice to me. We can't wear the same thing though, because that would look silly.'

'I'll wear green and black.' Harry told Jack, thinking of Severus Snape and the black he wore, though green came to mind as he pictures his mother's eyes that he had inherited. If felt nice to wear something that connected him to both.

'Imagine if there was a magic pet store in China.' Jack continued. 'We could have any animal we like. What about a snake? Or a dolphin? I think I'd pick a bird though, a really cool one, and it would deliver mail for me so I don't have to buy stamps.'

'I'd like a lion.' Harry grinned. 'Because they're so strong and other animals listen to them, plus they're always pictured with a family.' His mood sank a little at that thought but Jack gave him no time to ponder further into his memories.

'A lion sounds cool. A bit too scary for me, though.' Jack winced. 'And on the way back, we'll need something to do because it will take a long time. I like music, so I'll just listen to that. Remember, we can have and do anything we want with this gold.'

'I'll read a book.' Harry said, now replying almost instantly. 'About adventures. And if I get tired of reading, I'll just watch a movie. I've always wanted to see “Mary Poppins”, so I'd watch that.'

Jack smiled and dropped his hands to his side, looking at Harry with a goofy expression that put a frown on his friend's face.

'What?' Harry asked and worried that he had done or said something stupid.

'Who are you?' Jack reminded Harry of his questions earlier. 'What do you like? Where would you go?' He shrugged. 'I don't know much about Cody Evans or Harry Potter. But you? Whatever your name is, I know that you like pancakes. You also like things that are green or black. You'd like to see China one day and you're a bit afraid of heights but would like to fly and see amazing sights. And the animal you like the most is a lion.' Jack nodded in a matter-of-fact tone that matched his smug expression.

'I also know that you're a good person. And...well, you're my best friend.' Jack blushed a little as he said that. 'And I will do anything to help you find a family, Harry. I asked my mum if she and dad could adopt you, but they said they'd always wanted two sons and feel the family is complete. I don't think they thought I was serious, though.' He frowned and felt bad for letting his friend down.

Harry, who had tears in his eyes, couldn't manage a reply and only flung his arms around his surprised friend and hugged him. He didn't care about his name, or what his favourite colour was, only that Jack had accepted his regardless of anything like that and had tried to help him, had stood by him even in unfamiliar situations, and above all had called Harry his “best friend” just as Harry had said about Jack.

Harry thought he had the best friend in the whole wide world and no one or anything was ever going to take that away from him.

Parting, the two seven-year-olds glanced upwards as the sky had darkened and raindrops dripped onto their foreheads. There was a rumbling in the distance and they both began to panic, thinking they had to get out of the rain. Since Spinner's End was closer and Jack's parents weren't home, the two boys slid through the gap in the park fence as the rain began to fall and turned towards the further darkened street.

They stood next to a forming puddle and did not move, as voices had just called out to them.

'Look who it is!' A older boy with glasses pointed and the younger pair only realised the bully and the group who had chased Harry once before had somehow managed to find them and catch up without them noticing, because they had been distracted by the rain.

Worse, there was no warning as a red-haired boy shoved Harry quite hard, obviously still angered and holding a grudge. Either that or the group just liked picking on those younger than themselves for little or no reason.

Harry, gasping from the impact, slipped backwards and landed on his rear in the puddle he had carefully avoided a moment earlier. Jack looked quickly at him and then growled like an angered beast as he charged at the four boys, aiming his fists at the red-haired one, without any consideration for the fact that he was out-numbered by the others and much smaller than they were.

'You leave him alone!' Jack shouted, though it was mingled with the rain and thunder above and around them.

The boys laughed and the bespectacled boy shoved at Jack, until the sandy-haired boy had fallen beside Harry. Without a puddle to hand in, Jack had hit his elbow against the road and winced at the pain. Harry wiped water from his face and stared when he saw the blood from his friend's arm seeping into his puddle. Looking over at the boys, Harry was too scared to move even as he was soaked to the bone and Jack bled nearby.

'Get 'em.' A blonde boy smirked as they all rounded on the pair sitting in the water on the ground.

Shaking with fear, both Harry and Jack didn't know what to do. Yet, as though they had planned it, both boys inhaled and climbed to their feet. Sore and blinded by the rain, they each clenched fists and charged at the older, bigger boys.

They weren't sure what happened because they could hardly see now, but somehow they had ended up on the ground again within seconds. Harry had blood dripping into his eye and his lip stung. Jack was groaning about his arm and shadows loomed over them, mixed with the laughter of the bullies. Harry glanced where he thought Spinner's End was and wondered where his hero was now. Severus always showed up to save him, so where was the man now? Why wasn't he chasing these bullies away like he did last time?

Harry felt alone again, only this time he wasn't invisible and he wasn't being ignored.

'H-Harry?' Jack's voice reached him, sounding cold and scared.

Harry looked in his direction and reached to grab his friend's wrist, not sure what they could do to survive this incident but wanted to make sure Jack knew that they were in it together and Harry would never ditch him. As the rain continued to fall yet the thunder was quietened, the two boys winced towards their attackers, their minds fighting for a way to escape while their bodies protested against the pain and cold.

As fists raised and the laughter continued, both smaller boys closed their eyes in defeat yet determination to stay as strong as they could.

CRACK!

Jerking their eyes open at the sound, Harry and Jack stared as a large tree branch fell onto the room and effectively separated them from the bullies, who appeared to be blocked for a moment. Wasting no time, Harry gasped and got to his feet. He continued to hold Jack's wrist and yanked him upright with a desperate motion.

The two boys ran.

They turned to Spinner's End and ran as fast as they could. The puddles splashed water everywhere and often caused them to slip and scrape their knees, but they held hands to make sure they didn't get separated and always helped the other up. 

As the house Severus Snape lived in came briefly into view, Harry slipped again and hit his already-sore head against the wooden door. He remained there, crouched on his hands and knees as Jack had released his hand to pound on the door, though it was muffled by the now-pouring rain. Harry ached and was scared still as he sobbed. His emotions loosening from his control even though he wasn't sure why he was crying. Was it because he was an orphan? Was he missing Erin who would have him in a warm embrace right now? He he simply hurt? Was he lost in how he was and who everyone thought him to be?

Or had it finally happened...everything came to a crashing halt all at once?

As the door opened, Harry wasn't even aware of it, because his mind was being bombarded with memories of a bright green flash, of his fat uncle's enraged face, of Erin crying as he was pulled from her arms, of sitting by the window and waiting for guardians to come home but they never did...and of Simon. The blood from his nose as the punch hit him, the shredding of his blanket, the unreachable rubbish bin, the crumpled cans of beer, and the shouting that filled his ears.

Faces, sounds and pain.

It all blurred together until Harry yelped when a hand snatched at his back and pulled him into a warmer, dryer place. He was released and slipped onto his hands and knees again, ignoring the frantic rambling of Jack and the cluttering of someone moving about in the kitchen or at a table.

And then Severus Snape came into view and Harry stared at him through his blurring tears. He wiped them away with his sleeve and blinked, realising where he was and what was going on. Jack was standing nearby shivering and whimpering about his injured elbow, though he seemed more worried about Harry.

'A-are you okay, Har-' Jack gasped and his eyes went wide. 'Cody?' He finished and looked warily at the man who had just paused in his action of reaching for Harry.

Severus glanced at the second boy before he snatched Harry by his clothes and pulled him upright.

'Each of you require a bath. Now.' Severus pointed to the stairs and was relieved that both boys quickly headed in that direction.

Severus hadn't paid much attention to what Jack was saying to Harry and therefore hadn't heard the near-slip, though one was clear to Severus in a manner stronger than it had been before: Cody was not the boy's real name.

Whatever his name was, the other boy knew it.

-- 

Half an hour later and the two boys were dressed in some of Harry's spare clothes as they sat on the floor in front of the fireplace. Severus was nearby discreetly spelling their clothes dry as he watched the silent, tired children with a look of distrust. He glanced away and sorted through some balms he intended to use to fix their injuries, and only looked up again when one of the boy's spoke.

'I'm sorry about your chess set and book.' Harry said miserably to Jack as they had forgotten to grab them when it rained and both were likely ruined now. He remembered that Jack was fond of his older brother and those items had been a gift from him.

'It's okay.' Jack sighed, though he didn't blame Harry was was sad about the loss of those two objects he was fond of. 'I could probably get new ones.'

'Boys.' Severus spoke. 'Come here.'

Jack and Harry shred the blankets that had been wrapped around their shoulders and approached where the man was standing by the table. He offered a balm to Jack who began to rub the cream onto his injured elbow and then another on a few bruises he had.

Harry, however, sat on a chair and watched as Severus crouched in front of him and rubbed his own balm on the cut on his forehead and then the split on his lip. The rest Harry could do himself as he could see those bruises or cuts. He reached for the balms that Jack had finished with but paused when Severus did something odd. The man moved some hair from Harry's forehead and brushed a finger over the scar that Harry had forgotten he even had. It was a bit faded now and was almost always concealed by his hair that was longer than it usually was. Why would Severus be so interested in it?

'How did you get this scar?' Severus asked.

'I don't know.' Harry replied. 'I've always had it.'

'Can I see?' Jack tried to position himself so he could glimpse at the scar, but Severus had released the hair and it was concealed again. Harry rose a hand to show his friend, but Severus had ushered Jack back to the fireplace.

Sighing, Harry applied the balms and yawned, his eyes feeling heavy as he just wanted to lie down somewhere soft and safe. Seeing an armchair nearby, he moved to curl up in it and closed his eyes, letting sleep lure him into blackness.

When Harry awoke a few hours later, the rain outside had stopped and Jack had already gone home as his brother had come to get him. Harry had missed all of that as he sleepily opened his eyes and saw Severus sitting nearby with a thick book. He remained still and watched his hero, thinking that he had seemed so grumpy and sour when Harry had first seen him the day Emile had brought him to Spinner's End, yet now he didn't look like that at all.

Of all things, Harry thought that Severus Snape simply looked...sad.

Rising from the armchair he had been sleeping in, Harry crossed the space of the room to where Severus had been reading (he'd closed the book and glanced over the moment he saw Harry move). Still in a sleepy state, Harry stood in front of Severus and then climbed onto his lap. Closing his eyes again, Harry didn't fall asleep but lay there curled up on the man's lap as he felt the warmth and safety fill him inside. A hand came down to his back and another his head, where it brushed some hair from his face. The man's breathing was soothing and Harry wanted to stay there forever.

'Who are you, Cody?' Severus asked.

Harry's eyes snapped open and he turned to face the man who was looking down at him, his black hair curtaining his face yet Harry could still see the curious yet firm expression with little effort. He should have asked Severus what he meant, but Harry knew. He wasn't “Cody Evans” and Severus had figured that out too.

His hero was like that...always noticing things about Harry that no one else did.

'I don't know.' Harry answered.

Sure, he knew his real name but even with Jack's game earlier he still didn't entirely know himself. He liked green and black, and pancakes, and China and lions...but those were small facts, small pieces of a whole that he couldn't understand. Who was he? Harry didn't know.

'You don't know?' Severus repeated, drawing out each word as he spoke. 'How do you not know who you are, child?'

'I was given a pretend name.' Harry said and paused to yawn. 'I don't know who I am. Only that I like pancakes, green, black, lions and China.' He shared, rambling a little as he closed his eyes again. 'I'm just me. I don't know my mum or dad either. Erin knows who I am...' He sighed. 'She could tell you. Erin knows the real me...I don't.' Tears brimmed his eyes as he opened them again.

He had been so sure that he was Harry Potter, the boy who was loved and had a family. Yet he lived as Cody Evans, the invisible burden no one wanted. He realised that he wasn't either. Names were just names, something to call another thing, like a fork is a fork and a book is a book. He may as well be called “boy” because that's all Harry was.

He was just a boy with two names who belonged to no one.

Severus hadn't said anything, so Harry opened his eyes again and saw that the man was looking towards the book he had left open on a pile of books.

Curious, Harry shifted a little to glance at it and saw that Severus hadn't been reading, he had viewed a picture that had been placed between the pages, like a bookmark only it would not have been seen when the book was shut. Invisible until someone either came across it by luck or searched for it...just like how Severus had found Harry.The picture was black and white and showed a smiling girl that Harry thought looked pretty, yet somehow familiar.

'Who is that?' Harry pointed to it. Severus did not lift his gaze from the picture as he answered.

'Lily.' Severus said sadly. 'She...' He paused and wondered how to phrase what she had been to him, yet the name had caused a gasp from the boy. Pulling his eyes from the picture, he looked down at the child.

'You're Sev!' Harry realised.

'How do you know that name?' Severus growled, which startled the boy he had – for some reason – permitted to curl up on his lap like a kitten.

'From the tree. “Sev and Lily – friends forever”. Though, it wasn't for forever, was it?' Harry felt bad for the man, having lost a friend like that, which would explain why he looked sad all the time. He would feel really sad too if he lost Jack or even Severus.

'No.' Severus glanced at the picture again. 'It did not last forever. Nothing does.'

'Erin said love does.' Harry said. 'Erin told me that love lasts forever even if the person you love isn't there anymore. That's how I know she still loves me.'

'Who is Erin?' Severus had heard the name before, yet he had thought so little of it that it only sounded familiar to him.

'She's my new mother.' Harry reminded him. 'Mean people took me away from her and put me back in the orphanage.' He scowled. 'She was crying and said the mean stuff they were telling her wasn't true. I am her son now, but they didn't believe her.' He glanced at Severus as he remembered something with a smile, though hardly aware of what he was actually revealing.

'I was going to be Harry Summers.'

'Her name is Erin Summers?' Severus verified and knew that he now had a place to start.

He had said that the boy could stay with him until he figured out where to send him. And now Severus had his answer. He would find this “Erin Summers” and deliver her son back to her, assuming she still wanted him.

'Is “Harry” your real name?' Severus glanced at the boy, while his mind still thought that Erin sounded more familiar than it should...as though her name meant something more to him but he could not remember what it was.

'Yes.' Harry nodded as his eyes closed again as he yawned.

Severus looked down at the slumbering child and made the connections, once he had ceased to try and place Erin's name.

Cody was really Harry.

He had a scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt.

His parents died when he was a baby.

He had emerald eyes just like she had.

Yet, Severus thought it was still a wild guess to think that this kind, troubled little boy could be Harry Potter. He hardly believed in coincidences, but he had long ago held too tightly to Lily and anything associated with her. The picture he had been looking at had not been touched since he had accepted that she and her son were gone forever. And as he brushed hair from the boy's face, Severus remembered that “forever” was not always so, and sometimes even when a person has placed careful plans or given up hope...life could still surprise them.

Was this “Cody” really Harry Potter, son of lily?

Severus wasn't sure, but he decided, as he watched the small child sleep peacefully on his lap, that he did not care. He made a firm choice to let the matter drop, to not explore the possibility because it would resurface what he'd rather leave to rest.

A long time ago, Lily had needed him and then she left. Her son then needed him, but the boy was gone. Now Cody needed him, but in an entirely different way. And Severus wasn't going to let this boy down. He was going to find Erin Summers and help Cody live the life he deserved, the life Severus had been cheated of.

And so, for the first time in so many years, Severus had a purpose again, he had a duty to the child asleep on his lap, to protect him and deliver him to someone who loved him.

As Severus shut the book and hid Lily's picture once again amongst its pages, he failed to realise that the boy already loved and cared for...exactly where he was.