Harry and Severus spent quite a bit of time together Tuesday and Wednesday. During breakfast on Tuesday, Severus offered Harry the small desk in the library to work on his homework if he wanted a change of scenery. Severus also offered his help if Harry needed it for any of his homework, not just potions, and Harry took up both offers more often than he imagined, wanting some company even if he was just doing homework.

When Harry wasn't busy working on his holiday homework he was sometimes outside exploring the grounds or helping Severus clean out one of the unused bedrooms. Severus spent a lot of the time in the library and living room reading a novel, something he rarely had time to engage in.

Wednesday night after dinner, Harry grabbed the photo album from his bedroom and went to the living room. He was tired of being in his room alone and wanted to stay in a different environment for a few hours before bed. Plus, he also wanted to partake in the tea and biscuits Severus had every night. He hadn't done so since arriving Saturday.

When Harry entered the living room that night, Severus was slightly surprised. He had yet to see the boy after dinner since they arrived at the house. While sitting at the small table, he watched as Harry walked over to the sofa, curled up against the arm closest to the fireplace, and opened the photo album, resting it on the arm of the sofa. Severus then turned his attention back to the research paper he was writing for one of Britain's highly acclaimed potions journals.

Harry had spent a few minutes looking through the photo album. However, he now really wanted to know more about when and where the photos were taken and what was happening in them. Unfortunately, he knew the only person with that information was the professor. He reluctantly set the album on his lap and looked over towards Severus. "Sir?" When the man didn't acknowledge him, he tried again, a little louder. "Professor Snape?"

Severus, startled out of his research and writing, looked towards Harry, anger and annoyance clearly showing on his face. "What?" he snapped. He was so caught up in what he was doing he thought the interruption would hinder his thoughts.

Taking one look at the professor's face, Harry swallowed thickly. He quickly looked down to the photo album, closed the cover and quietly mumbled an apology. "I…I'm sorry sir." He raised his eyes to look at Severus then looked back to the album with a hint on disappointment on his face. "Never mind." He really had hoped to hear about the photos and to learn about his mother. But with the professor's look and tone of voice, he knew the man was definitely not in the mood to discuss anything. He would not risk asking.

Seeing the look on Harry's face, Severus set his quill down and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did you want Mr. Potter?" he asked, his voice not showing any of the anger and irritation he felt only moments before.

"N…nothing. I'm sorry to have bothered you." Harry stood up with the intent on heading back to his bedroom, tea and biscuits long forgotten.

Severus sighed quietly. "My concentration was on my research, however you were not and are not bothering me, as much as I wish it were otherwise," the last stated with a hint of amusement.

Harry stopped his trek to his bedroom and just stared at the professor. Did the man almost laugh with his last statement? And was that a sort of apology? Both were something he never thought the man would direct towards him, and that shocked him.

"What did you want?" Severus repeated.

"I," Harry looked down to the photo album in his hand. "I just wanted to know more about the photos. That's all right though. No big deal. Goodnight sir." Harry turned and headed out of the living room.

"Come along Harry," Severus stated before the boy left the room. He stood up, walked over to the sofa and sat down.

Still not used to hearing the professor calling him by his first name, Harry turned around and saw him seated on the sofa. The man had his usual one eyebrow raised. Harry tentatively walked to the sofa and uncomfortably sat down next to the professor, keeping a few feet between them.

"Did you have any pictures in particular you wanted to know about?"

"All of them, actually," Harry looked up at the professor.

"Very well, then." He shifted closer to Harry as the boy opened the album. He pulled the album from Harry and placed it so it was on both their laps.

They sat that way slowly going through the photo album. At times, Severus couldn't believe how hard it was to discuss some of the photos. He just hoped it wasn't all that obvious to Harry.

An hour after they started going through the album, Severus left to the kitchen for the tea and biscuits. A few minutes later, he brought a tray out and sat it down on the table in front of the sofa. "Have some tea and biscuits." He pulled the album from Harry's lap and set it on the table next to the tray. "I think this is a good place to stop for now. We can go through more of the album tomorrow night if you'd like." In reality, Severus was having difficulty going through the album. At times it was extremely painful having to see the pictures of Lily and him together. He also realized as he came to some of the photos, he had conflicting memories of them or couldn't remember them at all. Though it was a bit depressing, he wouldn't deny the boy what he was longing; to know about his parents past.

Harry nibbled on a biscuit then addressed Severus. "Professor Snape, I just wanted to thank you for going through the album with me." Not getting any reaction out the professor, he called the man's name again. "Professor Snape? Professor?" When Harry looked at Severus, he saw that he was staring at the photo album and seemed to be lost in thought. Not knowing why he did it, Harry gently put his hand on Severus' arm and shook it lightly. "Sir?"

Severus looked down to the hand on his arm and then up to Harry, his face completely void of emotion.

Harry quickly withdrew his hand but continued to look in the man's eyes. "Are you all right sir?"

Severus did not respond.

Harry looked toward the album again with a slight understanding. "Well, I just wanted to thank you for telling me about the photos in the album sir." After Severus nodded his head, Harry turned his attention back to his tea and biscuits, wanting to leave the man alone with his thoughts.

A while later, after the tray was returned to the kitchen and Severus sat back down at the desk, Harry decided to ask the professor about the room he ventured in to by mistake on Saturday. There had to be a reason why the potions master didn't want him in there and he wanted to find out why. "Professor, I know you said this was where you lived when you were younger. Whose bedroom was I in when we first got here? And why am I not allowed in there?"

Severus looked over to Harry on the sofa. "You are not to concern yourself with that room," he responded sternly. "And I'd like you to stay out of there. I trust you can do as you are told?"

"Yes, but I just want to know…"

"Mr. Potter, quit while you are ahead. Forget about that room. It is none of your concern." He knew that Harry really was entitled to know about the room, especially since it was now his house as well, but he wasn't ready to discuss any of that yet. Maybe one day soon.

"Yes sir," Harry replied quietly.

"I think it is time for you to go on up to bed."

Harry stood up, grabbed the album and headed up to bed. He paused at the entry way to the living room and turned around. "Good night sir."

"Good night Harry," Severus replied, quickly looking up at the boy.

~SH~

Harry was finishing putting their breakfast dishes away when Severus broke the silence Thursday morning. "I will be spending the majority of today in the basement working on the few potions that are needed for the hospital wing for the beginning of the term. I do not want to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary. I shall be done in time to help make dinner."

"Yes sir," Harry responded as he put the last glass away.

Severus would have rather spent the day like he did the past two days; reading, helping Harry with his school work, and cleaning out one of the bedrooms, but the potions did need to be brewed. And when he planned it last week, he felt it was better to get all the potions brewed in one day instead of spreading them out the entire week. Now he regretted that decision. Even without his memories, he realized he was beginning to enjoy spending time with Harry.

After Severus swept out of the kitchen and down to the basement, Harry headed to his room to work on his homework. As he passed the off limits bedroom, he knew this would be the perfect time to check it out. With the professor shut up in the basement for hours, he figured he would be safe in his exploring. He continued the trek to his room and set to doing his homework.

An hour later, Harry decided it was time. Wanting to be sure the professor wouldn't know what he was up to, he quietly walked down the stairs and to the basement. Seeing the door closed, he pressed an ear against the wood to listen inside. Hearing the man muttering under his breath, Harry let out a breath and walked back to the off limits bedroom. He quickly let himself in and closed the door behind him, feeling slightly guilty. He knew what he was doing was wrong and he didn't want to know what would happen if the professor found him in the room.

As he looked around the room, he forgot how small it was. He couldn't believe it was actually someone's bedroom. Harry first decided to check out the desk. The top only held a lamp so he opened the long drawer that took up almost all the length of the desk. Inside he found broken bits of crayons, pencils, pens, a few paper clips, a bent quill, an empty ink pot, and a stack of blank Muggle lined paper. There was nothing in that drawer that explained anything.

Closing that drawer, he next opened the top drawer of the three drawers on the side of the desk. This drawer held Muggle children's books and coloring books. He pulled them out and sat on the bed looking through them all. Inside one of the coloring books at the bottom of the stack, he saw a name written in a child's handwriting. The writing being messy, Harry had to squint to make out the letters – Severus. The "e's" in the name were written backwards. Harry's hand shook a little as he closed the book and returned the stack to the drawer. Was it possible this sad excuse for a bedroom belonged to the professor? He knew he should leave the room, but he was compelled to see more.

He opened the next drawer and found more books and papers. All of it Muggle. He couldn't understand why everything was Muggle and looked to belong to a child under the age of ten. The professor was a wizard and he supposedly lived here until he graduated Hogwarts. He thought there should have been other items besides the one quill and ink pot that signified a wizard lived in the room and a teen-aged wizard at that. Still confused, Harry opened the last of the drawers. It was empty. Giving a huff, Harry sat down on the bed gruffly, a cloud of dust enveloping him. His exploring was turning out to be a waste. As he waved the dust away from his face while coughing, his eyes landed on the closet. He figured he'd try that next.

The closet was mostly empty except for some ragged looking clothes hanging from the closet rod and a few boxes on the floor pushed towards the back. Harry pulled out one of the boxes and opened it. Inside he found a stack of letters, quite a few battered books, and a few small toys. He dragged the box over towards the bed and sat down to go through all of it.

He pulled the toys, letters and books out of the box and set them down next to him on the bed. He started with the books knowing he would be faster going through those first. The books this time were not children's books, more like young adult, but again were Muggle. After Harry finished skimming through the last book, he placed it back in the box on top of the others and picked up the first letter on top of the stack.

As he started reading the letters, he realized they were correspondence between the professor and his mother, Lily, starting from when they had first met and more than likely continued all throughout their time together at Hogwarts. Part of him so much wanted to take one…to have something his mother wrote, but he knew that wouldn't be right. The letters did not belong to him.

Harry got through over half of the current letter he was reading, about the twelfth in the stack, when he dropped it suddenly. He quickly stood up, grabbed all the letters and toys, and put them back in the box. He then sat back down on the bed heavily, the dust again forming a cloud around him. His eyes were immediately drawn to the gouges in the desk and the burn marks and holes on the blanket he was sitting on, now knowing what they were all from. He began to feel sick. He made a huge mistake of coming into this room. He only hoped that the professor would never know that he had been in here and that he went through all the things in the room.

He couldn't believe what he had just read in that last letter. He couldn't understand half of the conversations between his mom and Professor Snape when he first began reading the letters, but after that last letter it all made sense. And he didn't like what he found out one bit. The professor had been abused while he was growing up. Severely abused. It made what was done to him look like he was pampered compared to what the professor's father did to the professor.

Now Harry felt extremely guilty about snooping through the room. He never should have come in here. What he found out was something extremely private. He knew that he would never want anyone to find out about his abuse the way he just found out about Severus'.

He then decided to go back to his room and cease his exploring. As he stood up from the bed, he heard something fall to the floor and roll under the bed. Wanting to make sure everything was put back exactly as he had found it, Harry got on his knees and looked under the bed for the object. It was a small ball, one of the toys that were in the box. Unfortunately, when he made a grab for it, his fingers grazed it and pushed it further under the bed. Getting on his stomach, he began to crawl under the bed to retrieve the object, but sneezed twice before his hands even get under the bed.

~SH~

Severus had just finished the last stirring of the headache potion he was brewing and while waiting for it to cool before bottling it, he decided to head up to his bedroom to retrieve the notes for a potion he was experimenting on that he left up there in the morning. He closed the basement door behind him and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. As he passed by the bedroom Harry was asking about last night, he heard a noise coming from inside. He stopped walking and stood as still as possible, listening for any possible sound. He heard the noise again a few seconds later…a sneeze. Becoming immediately irate, Severus stormed into the room, all his feelings about the boy from the morning gone.

At the sound of the door knob turning, Harry became terrified. He thought he was safe knowing the potions master would be down in the basement. Already on the floor, he quickly scooted under the bed, to try and hide from the man. Maybe the professor wouldn't even know he was there; thoughts of the open box beside the bed gone from his mind.

As Severus entered the room, his eyes immediately fell to the open box on the floor by the bed. Knowing what was kept inside and the possibility that Harry knew about his past, Severus began to pale and was becoming extremely furious.

Trying to not make any noise, but having the large amount of dust under the bed begin to bother him, Harry tried his best to squelch the sneeze he felt building. Unfortunately he wasn't successful. As he opened his eyes after sneezing, the mattress above him was thrown toward the other end of the room by Severus.

"What are you doing in here?" Severus growled, as he took a few more steps closer to Harry and reached out to yank the boy up to his feet.

The second Harry saw the hand come towards him, he quickly scrambled back as far as the bed frame would allow and raised his arms protectively in front of him, his face becoming pale and his whole body beginning to shake. "I'm sorry, sir," Harry said shakily. "Please don't…I'm sorry." The man was infuriated and with the look in his eyes, Harry was afraid the man would physically take his anger out on him.

Severus froze and quickly dropped his arms down to his sides, the scene in front of him too familiar. He immediately saw himself in that same position in this very room, but he knew he wasn't like his father. He would never hurt the boy the way his father hurt him, but he couldn't help the anger he was feeling. He began speaking in a quiet dangerous voice, his patience slowly slipping. "I thought I told you not to go in this room, Mr. Potter."

Not receiving the blows he thought he would get, Harry slowly lowered his arms and replied, not looking at the man. "I'm sorry sir," he repeated again around a few more sneezes; the dust was driving him crazy.

"It seems I was mistaken in my trust of you. I should have known better."

"But you wouldn't tell me anything," Harry began defensively, not really thinking about what he was saying. "I just wanted to know more about…"

"GET. OUT. NOW!" Severus bellowed, his patience with Harry completely gone at the boy's last statement.

Seeing how livid the professor was, Harry quickly rushed out of the room terrified and ran to his own room. Because of his life with the Dursleys’, after closing himself in his room, he immediately went to the far side of the bed and sat on the floor between the bed and night table. Trying to control his shaking and breathing, he wrapped his arms around his knees, wondering how soon the man would be coming in after him to thrash him. With the pensive incident last year, the professor had only thrown a jar at him. But with the rage radiating off the man this time, who knows what the professor would do when he entered his bedroom.

God how he wished he didn't have allergies to dust. Then none of this would have happened. He could have been and gone and Severus would have never known. Or, a small voice inside his head said, he should have done what the professor had asked and forgotten about the room.

Fifteen minutes later with no sign of Snape, Harry slowly uncurled himself from the floor and lay down on the bed staring at the ceiling. He began to replay the scene when the professor walked into that bedroom over and over and began to feel nauseous over what he had done. He knew better yet his curiosity won out again and he again was in trouble. He then felt a new emotion when he recalled Severus telling him that he was mistaken in his trust of him. It was the first time he could remember anyone saying anything like that to him and he didn't like the feeling those words gave him.

His head beginning to hurt from all his jumbled thoughts, Harry decided he'd better work on his homework. He didn't want the professor to be any angrier with him than he already was.

~SH~

Severus stood in the middle of the room after Harry all but ran out of the bedroom, trying to get his anger under control. Knowing that wouldn't happen anytime soon, he put the box back in the closet, replaced the mattress on the bed frame, and walked out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, he pulled out his wand and cast a locking charm on the door. No doubt the boy would try to get in there again.

Knowing what would help him calm down, Severus went to his bedroom to continue with his plans from earlier. He grabbed his notes and a few potions journals and went back down to the basement.

Upon arriving, Severus knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on brewing the potions for the hospital wing. He needed to calm down first. Since working on an experimental potion always calmed him in the past, he pulled the notes out he retrieved and began brewing.

An hour after beginning the experimental potion, Severus was calmed down enough to begin the required potions, but he was so caught up with the potion he was working on that he continued with it instead. While he continued brewing, he completely lost track of time.

When his stomach growled almost continuously, he put the potion he was brewing on stasis and looked at the clock on the wall. It was well after midnight. He must have worked on his experimental potion for about six hours before he began working on the required potions. He headed up to the kitchen to get himself something to eat, feeling guilty that he left Harry to fend for himself for dinner. Once done, he went back to the basement to finish the few remaining potions. He wanted to get them done before he went to bed so he could spend the rest of Friday with Harry. While he was brewing earlier, he decided that he would talk to the boy about the bedroom. Harry needed to know.

After three in the morning, Severus wearily made his way up to his bedroom. He slowly changed into his night clothes and slid into bed. He fell asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow. Unfortunately he wasn't having a peaceful sleep. The day's events came rushing to the front of his mind and he awoke several times throughout the night, having relived some of his worst childhood memories in his dreams.

Around dawn Severus was craving a restful sleep. He downed a vial of sleeping draught and dreamless sleep he had in his bathroom. It was something he didn't want to do with Harry in the house, but he was desperate. He fell asleep almost instantly.

~SH~

Harry, after having completed his homework for the day, was sitting on his bed reading the defense book he received from Remus and Sirius last year at Christmas. His stomach began growling. He looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was almost five thirty. He had totally skipped lunch, not feeling the slightest bit hungry after the morning's events. Figuring he'd better head down to the kitchen a bit early so the professor didn't have anything else to be mad about, Harry left the book on his bed and headed to the kitchen. He sat at the table and waited for the professor to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later Harry was still sitting at the table waiting for the professor. He figured the man was probably in the middle of brewing and couldn't leave so he'd wait a few more minutes. As six o'clock came and went without a word from the potions master, Harry was surprised to feel a little disappointed. Though he really didn't want to see the man after this morning, he was still upset that the professor didn't show up. Did he anger the man that much? When his stomach started growling again, Harry decided he couldn't wait any longer for the professor. He quickly made himself a sandwich and brought that along with two apples and a large glass of milk up to his room.

The next morning, Harry got ready and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Again the man wasn't there. Harry quietly ate a bowl of cereal by himself and returned to his room to work on more homework. He wasn't ready to admit it yet, but he was beginning to feel a little hurt. He really wasn't sure why. He should be used to people not wanting to be around him.

When lunch turned out to be the same as breakfast, Harry couldn't take it any more. He was tired of being ignored, alone, and constantly in his room. He needed to get out. After finishing his lunch, he went up to his room to put on his trainers. As he walked out of the room, his eyes spotted the open photo album on the table in front of the fireplace. He remembered the professor telling him that his mom and he had spent a lot of time at the park they passed on the way to the house.

Instead of going out into the back yard like he had intended, Harry walked out of the house and headed up the street towards the park. Spotting a bench near the river, Harry wandered over to it and sat down. Ignoring how cold it was, he sat there watching the water rush over the rocks and all the fish swimming around without thinking about anything.

Getting tired of watching the river, Harry headed over to the swings a while later. As he sat there swinging slightly, he realized he was feeling hurt over the professor ignoring him. It made him think about his thoughts at Christmas, of how the professor being nice to him and wanting to be his father was a joke and that he would end up hurt. He should have remembered all that because it was now happening. Of course he expected to be hurt months from now not days. How could he be so stupid, to think that the professor would truly want to be his father and to care about him? He wished he never fell for it. Well, it was over now.

Feeling angry with himself for feeling hurt over the professor's action and if he were honest, his own feelings earlier in the week, Harry stopped swinging and rested his head against the chain. He sat there staring at the ground trying to come up with what to do about the whole situation.

~SH~

Severus awoke around three in the afternoon. After dressing he searched the house for Harry. Not finding him he went up to the boy's room. Not finding him there, he went to leave the room and spotted the photo album on the table. He walked over to it and looked at the page the book was open to. It was the photo of Lily sitting on the swing with him pushing her higher. He left the bedroom and headed outside to search the grounds, hoping to find Harry out there. The boy wasn't stupid enough to go outside of the wards to the park was he? When he didn't find Harry, he figured the boy was stupid enough. Would that boy ever use his brains? Anything could happen to him out there.

Extremely worried, he quickly left the house and, almost at a run, headed up to the park. He let out a sigh of relief as he spotted Harry. The boy was sitting on one of the swings, his back to him, with his head down leaning on the chain and one of his feet drawing circles in the sand. As he got closer to him, he could see that Harry was shivering. He only had on his t-shirt and jeans in the thirty degree weather. Not wanting to have to deal with a sick teenager, he took off his cloak as he approached the boy from behind. He draped the warm fabric around Harry's shoulders and came around to sit down on the swing next to him.

Harry startled at the cloak being placed on him. To his relief he noted that it was the professor, not some stranger who had come up behind him. However, he wouldn't look at the man. While he had been sitting there, he came to the conclusion that the potions master would only be that to him; his professor. He wouldn't, again, fall for anything the man said to him. He didn't want to be part of the man's joke anymore. Anger had now replaced hurt.

Severus looked at Harry a few minutes before speaking quietly, his voice hinting at his earlier worry. "Do you place such little value on your life? To not think of your own safety?"

"Why do you care?" Though he was freezing, Harry removed the cloak from around his shoulders and threw it on the ground.

"I thought that was obvious."

Harry ignored that statement. He wasn't going to fall for it. "Well, there was no point the first eleven years of my life. And I found out right before summer holiday that it doesn't really matter at all. I'll never be safe, not that it matters to anyone anyways.

"That is not true." Severus bent down, picked up the discarded cloak and placed it back around Harry. Harry went to remove the cloak again. "Leave the cloak alone. I do not want you to get sick."

"I don't care what you want," Harry bit back. He removed the cloak again.

"Well I do care." Severus put the cloak back on Harry and kept his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Why?"

"As much as you don't want to believe it, I am your father. I want to see you happy and healthy and will do everything in my power to make sure that happens."

"With the way you treated me for the past five years, you actually think that I would believe that you are my father and care about me, and that I would want you as my father?" Harry asked. "You are dafter than I thought."

"Harry,"

"Don't," Harry growled. "Don’t you ever call me that again." He quickly stood up, threw the cloak on the ground and headed back to the house, leaving Severus sitting on the swing.

Severus, surprisingly hurt at Harry's comments, picked up the discarded cloak and followed Harry back to the house at a distance. Now there was something else he needed to speak to Harry about.

The minute Harry entered the house he immediately went to his room. He closed the door behind him and went to take a shower, wanting to warm up. When he was dressed again, he noticed that it was time to go down and help make dinner. He reluctantly headed to the kitchen.

~SH~

Cooking and eating dinner that night was a quiet affair for the two. Though Severus tried to engage Harry in conversation many times, the boy didn't speak unless he was asked a direct question and his answer was always as brief as possible. Once the dishes were washed, Severus wanted to have his conversation about the room with Harry, but the boy immediately left the kitchen when the last plate was put away. Knowing he'd have to wait until he could talk to the boy, he went to the living room to read.

After trying to concentrate on what he was reading and failing miserably, Severus decided to retire to his room early, forgoing his nightly ritual of tea and biscuits. He wasn't in the mood.

~SH~

Late that night, Severus was awakened by a loud piercing scream. Knowing it was Harry he rushed out of bed and ran to the boy's room with wand in hand. As he threw open the door, he spotted Harry thrashing around on his bed.

The scene was almost exactly like the night he went up to Gryffindor tower. But instead of watching helplessly, Severus could do something this time. He quickly went to the bed and sat down at Harry's side.

Harry woke up seconds later with another piercing scream. His head feeling like it was splitting in two, he pressed his hand hard over his painful scar and sat up. He had yet to see the professor.

Seeing a little blood seeping out between Harry's fingers, Severus quickly summoned a wet washcloth. "Move your hand Harry."

Harry jumped at the voice but immediately obeyed, still shaking. As much as he wanted to get away from the professor, he knew that wouldn't happen. He didn't have the strength.

Severus quickly wiped the trickling blood from Harry's face, placed the cool washcloth on the painfully red and still bleeding scar and rested his other hand on the boy's shaking shoulder.

With the blinding pain still in his head, Harry felt he was about to be sick. "Professor, I'm going
to be…"

Before Harry could even finish the statement, he threw up in the bucket Severus had summoned, along with another wet washcloth, just seconds before, knowing that they would probably be needed if history was to repeat itself.

Severus removed the cloth from Harry's head while rubbing the boy's back as he threw up once again. When he was certain Harry wouldn't be sick again, he vanished the contents of the bucket and handed the clean washcloth to the boy. He kept his other hand on the boy's back. "Are you okay?"

Harry pressed his hand against his scar again. The pain, though not as blinding as it was moments before, was still bad. "I, I don't know," he whispered.

Removing his wand once more, Severus summoned a glass of water from the kitchen and a vial and jar from his bedroom. He handed the cold glass of water to Harry. "Here, drink."

Accepting the glass without question, Harry greedily drank the contents. He then was handed the vial.

"It's a stomach soother," Severus stated at Harry's questioning look. After Harry downed the potion, Severus opened the jar and began gently applying a cool paste to the boy's scar. "This will help numb the pain."

"Thank you," Harry said quietly as the paste began to lessen the pain. Harry brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. The vision was almost like the last one he had over a week ago. He realized he wasn't as frightened as he was then, though he was still frightened. And if he were to admit it, the professor's presence when he woke up really had a positive effect. He always hated waking up from the visions alone and having no one there to help or reassure him.

Severus continued rubbing Harry's back, as the boy was still shaking. "Do you feel a little better now?" He watched as Harry nodded. "Good." He removed all the items he had summoned earlier. "Would you like to talk about it? Am I correct in assuming it was a vision?"

Harry nodded again and Severus waited for the boy to begin when he was ready, his hand still on Harry's back.

Harry stared at his knees when he began to speak. "It was like the vision I had the beginning of last week. I…I was Voldemort in it. I…he was walking down a deserted street with four of his Death Eaters behind him. They went into a house of one of his other Death Eaters who he thought to be a spy. He let the others torture him for a while before he killed him with the avada ke…" he stopped, unable to say the rest of the curse.

Severus stopped rubbing Harry's back and moved his hand to the boy's shaking shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He kept it there when Harry was able to continue talking. He never knew the types of things Harry saw in his visions. But after hearing what happened in this one and the fact it was almost like the vision the boy had last week, he was shocked. No one should have to see that. And no one should have to see all that and wake up alone.

"When he was done with him," Harry continued, "he went through the house killing the other occupants. He even killed their baby who couldn't have been more than a year old." Harry paused when he felt stinging behind his eyes. "He was laughing. He just stood there laughing after he killed them all." After he stopped speaking, he realized innocent people would continue to be killed until he could kill that monster. It would be his fault when more innocent people were tortured and killed.

As soon as Severus saw the first tear fall, he repositioned himself on the bed and pulled Harry towards him, putting an arm around the boy and rubbing his arm comfortingly. "It's all right Harry. We're working very hard at Occlumency and soon you won't have these visions any more. I promise."

Harry didn't acknowledge the man. The professor didn't understand. He just continued to sit there with the man's arm around him, tremors wracking his body every now and then. Only a few more tears fell.

A while later, Severus realized Harry had fallen asleep in his arm. He gently laid the boy down, stood up and covered Harry with the comforter. He then ran his hand through Harry's hair a few times. Satisfied he'd done all he could, he retired to bed.

~SH~

After breakfast Saturday morning, Harry went to his room, grabbed some of his homework and went down to the living room. He really didn't want to be alone. As he walked in, he spotted Severus at the small table so he headed to the sofa, sat down and began some of his reading.

When Severus realized Harry would be in the room for a while, he decided now would be a good time to talk to the boy. He quietly got up, made some tea and brought two cups back to the living room. He sat down next to Harry on the sofa and placed the boy's tea in front of him on the table. "Mr. Potter, Harry. There is something I need to discuss with you. If I would have done so earlier, things wouldn't have gotten to be where they are now."

"Okay." Harry put his homework down and turned his attention to the professor.

"As you well know, and the fact I told you before, I am a very private man. As such, it is difficult to talk about myself. That is what stopped me from answering your questions about the bedroom."

Harry couldn't believe it. The man was going to tell him about the room, even though he already found out on his own. He tried to hide his shock.

"As I assume you have guessed, that bedroom did belong to me. I was given the room after my first case of accidental magic. My father said people like me did not deserve a nice bedroom. To put it nicely, he wasn't fond of magic." Severus took a sip of tea before continuing. "Seeing that you had the box out and open yesterday, is it correct to say that you read all the letters?"

"Yes sir. Though I didn't read all of them." He looked down to his lap. "I couldn't." He felt nauseous at the thought of what was in the last letter he read. He took a sip of the tea hoping it would calm his stomach. Harry looked back up at Severus. "I'm sorry I read the letters, professor. I didn't mean to go against your rules. I just wanted to know more about the room. I'm sorry."

"I understand Harry. As I told you, I should have brought up the room earlier. I should have at least told you something so you wouldn't be curious. This was the first time I've been back to this house since I left over twenty years ago. When I found you in there, I couldn't deal with the memories the room brought up."

"I know what you mean," Harry said to himself.

Severus looked at Harry through narrowed eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"I…" Harry began. He thought he said that in his head, but obviously he didn't. Did he really want the professor to know? But more than likely, through all the memories the man had seen during their Occlumency lessons, he too already knew. "I just know what you mean about the room bringing back memories. I feel the same way whenever I have to go into my cupboard to get something." At Severus' questioning gaze, he clarified in a very quiet voice. "It was the room I had until I was twelve."

"You're room? I thought those memories were of you playing in there." Severus quickly put down his hot cup of tea when some splashed on his hands. His hands were shaking.

"Our childhoods were not so different," Harry said in response, then grabbed his homework and went up to his room. He now wanted to be alone.

Severus sat on the sofa as he watched Harry leave the room. Our childhoods were not so different. "It couldn't be true," he said quietly to the empty room. "Harry could not have been abused. He was pampered while he was growing up." But then he remembered some of the memories he had seen during the boy's Occlumency lessons. It was true. He just hoped it wasn't as bad for Harry as it was for him.

Harry's wanting to be alone only lasted for a few hours. The vision he had last night was still too fresh in his memory and he felt uneasy. With a book in hand, he went in search of Severus and found him sitting on the sofa in the living room reading. He joined him on he sofa and began reading too.

When Severus went to the kitchen for lunch, Harry followed as well. Wherever the man went, Harry followed. This didn't go unnoticed by Severus. However, he wouldn't bring it up to the boy. He was sure he knew what was going on with Harry.

After dinner, they both retired to the living room. Harry sat in the corner of the sofa and picked up the book he had been reading. Severus, however, wanted to indulge in something he hadn't done in years. Watch a movie. He made sure he had purchased a new television set, a somewhat new piece of equipment called a dvd player, and some dvds before the holiday started. He put a suspense movie in the player and sat on the sofa.

A few minutes in to the movie, Harry had stopped reading and scooted a little closer to the professor to get a better view of the television to watch the movie. When that movie ended, Severus put in another one. This one ended an hour after Harry was to be in bed.

"Harry, I think it's time for you to be in bed. Get going."

Harry hesitated, a little reluctant to go to sleep. "But sir, I'm not…"

"Go on up to bed Harry," Severus repeated as he stood up and turned off the television and dvd player. "I'll be up in a few minutes."

Knowing there was no way out of going to bed, Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

After Harry left, Severus went up to his room and grabbed a vial of dreamless sleep. With vial in hand, he went into Harry's bedroom.

"You really need to sleep Harry." He handed the vial to Harry. "It's dreamless sleep."

Harry downed the potion. "Thank you sir." He crawled under the covers and lay down on his side. "Goodnight professor."

"Goodnight Harry." Severus adjusted the comforter over the boy and retired to his own room for the night.

~SH~

At ten Sunday morning, Harry and Severus were walking back to the train station. They would be at Hogwarts in time for dinner. The trip back to castle was almost a repeat of the trip to Spinners End with Severus reading or writing and Harry sleeping or reading.

When the two arrived back at the castle, Harry immediately set off to Gryffindor tower, but Severus called out to him before he was out of sight. "Please be in the Great Hall in an hour for dinner."

"Yes sir," Harry yelled while walking away.

Severus sighed and headed down to the dungeons. After unpacking and relaxing for a bit, Severus walked up to the Great Hall for dinner. He met Harry outside the doors. When they entered, they were surprised to see that the headmaster had planned for a New Year's celebration for the three of them.

After enjoying the celebratory dinner and fireworks they all headed to bed well after midnight. As Severus descended the stairs to the dungeons, he wondered what the future for him and Harry would be like, now that the rest of the students were to arrive back at the school tomorrow.