Sometimes hope, love, and affection can be found in the most unlikely of places. Take my brother for instance. How could I ever have imagined when I was born that I had a brother I wouldn't meet until I was fourteen and wouldn't get to know until I was fifteen? How very strange and I wonder whom it is that I do not know now, but may be related to, tied together by hope, love, and affection in the future. It makes me smile at the thought of it.

No one told my brother these things either, nor our father. He's our second father really, and none of us have the same blood in our veins, but let's not talk about that, or else the blood pixies might get hungry and climb into our ears for a snack while we're sleeping. Where was I? Oh, our little family, yes.

It didn't happen until the summer between my fourth and fifth year that our family formed, although I suppose it started long before that when Harry felt the need to leave. It was a frenzy searching for him before everyone left for home on the train, and most of the Order went crazy looking for him. Except our father, but that's for the telling later.

My name is Luna Lovegood Snape, and this is the story of my brother Harry and how he gained a family, our family. I can never know all the details except what I've been told, and I'm still amazed at the unlikely places we seemed to draw our strength from during that first summer and the year that followed. I guess I'll leave that sort of thinking to the fate sprites though, as we begin our journey.

* * *

Hunger was nothing new to him. Neither was digging through rubbish bins for food or other things he needed. Harry James Potter was a street urchin for all the passerby saw, with messy hair and khaki pants that were ripped in one knee and totally filthy. Never mind that he had somehow managed to keep his face and body clean in the two weeks since he'd run off from school. Never mind that he was the supposed wizarding hero who had defeated Voldemort four times and would likely do it again. Harry found his treasure and withdrew it from the rubbish bin in the alley of Blackpool. It was a faded blue baseball cap with small frays on the bill that he could wash in the creek and wear to cover his messy hair and scar. He'd seen the shop owner throw it away earlier that day but hadn't dared to approach the bin when there were still people about doing their shopping.

Harry stuffed the cap into the back pocket of his pants, letting the bill hang out, and walked down the alley towards the back of the deli that always threw out their day old bread and pastries. His stomach rumbled in anticipation and he hoped that today they would have the meat rolls, still warm if he got there just in time.

Leaning against a brick wall, Harry contemplated the past few weeks. As summer had approached, he had tried desperately to get the Headmaster to let him stay with the Weasleys... it was another Quidditch World Cup this year and Ron said his family had an extra ticket just for Harry. Said he needed to get Harry's mind off of Sirius for a while... Harry swallowed hard, trying to push down the feelings of guilt over Sirius falling through the veil, and the feelings of being utterly alone in this world once again. He couldn't, and brushed a tear from his face with his dirty grey hoodie sleeve.

Harry knew Ron and Hermione would be worried about him, and likely the rest of the Weasley clan as well, but Harry just couldn't go back to the Dursleys... not this summer. Not after Sirius. The previous summer had been bad enough, getting whacked about the knees or head every time he cried out in the night after a nightmare about Cedric dying, and half starving to death because he didn't have the stamina to finish all his chores and Aunt Petunia had withheld food. No, the streets were better than that.

Harry had slipped out unseen before the feast on the last night of school, unable to sit in a hall full of cheerful students who hadn't just lost a loved one. He had slapped a sticker on the side of his trunk reading ‘Weasley: The Burrow,' and had stuffed a couple of shirts and an extra pair of pants into his bag along with socks and underwear. There wasn't even room for a blanket. He still remembered the feeling of the chill spring air as he slipped from the Entrance Hall under a sky too light out for his mood and for that time of evening. And then he was gone, off into the Muggle world. He dare not go to Gringotts to withdraw money, and had only enough Muggle money in his bag to last a few days.

No one knew that Harry waited in the woods next to the platform in Hogsmead for the train to pull in and the students to board. He watched carefully for Ron and Hermione who looked uneasy as they boarded the train, and waited until the train lurched forward to run out from his hiding spot and hop onto the very last car. It had been colder than he expected, sitting on the step of the last car as they traveled South, but no one found him, and he was content to be alone with his thoughts. It was hours on the train before he spied the edges of a large city sprawling out in the distance in the countryside, and he sucked in a large gulp of fresh air before he hopped from the train and tore up his clothes as he rolled on the side of the tracks.

This is my life, he had mused. Dirty. Unworthy to keep going with the rest of them. Ripped to shreds every time I think I have something worth having.

The city had been Blackpool, a place Harry had never been before, and he was content to spend his summer here, free of the Dursleys. Living day to day had its uses after all. If Harry was concentrating hard on what to eat and being safe, then he wasn't thinking of Sirius.

The sound of an alley door banging open brought Harry back to the present, and he watched as the deli owner dumped a large tray of rolls into the rubbish bin, followed by three or four loaves of bread and what looked like a head of lettuce. When Harry was sure the man would not come back out again, he hurried over and began snatching things out of the bin. The lettuce looked salvageable and so did the meat rolls, which were thankfully still warm. Harry also snatched a loaf of bread that would be his breakfast and lunch the next day. Too hungry to take them back to the thicket where he had settled down by the stream, he slid down the dirty alley wall and paid attention to little else but his meager dinner. He was unaware that dark eyes watched him from a shadow at the end of the alley.

* * *

Severus hated Blackpool. He couldn't explain why, only that he did. It was something about the way the city felt. Dark magic had been preformed here in the past, and he knew that some hags and mages still lived in the city or on the outskirts. Rumor had it there was even a witch's commune somewhere nearby, where the witches had never been formally trained and hexed men on sight. No, this was not a city he enjoyed visiting. Nevertheless, there was an apothecary on St. Bedes ave that carried ingredients necessary to his work. Ingredients that most Potions Masters were too lazy to gather as they often appeared on a full moon, or only in hard to reach locations, and were therefore unavailable at other apothecaries.

St. Bedes Ave was a small cobbled street where no cars could travel, with dirty shop windows and tall brick buildings with apartments above the small businesses. There were several alleys leading off of it through which Severus preferred not to travel unless he needed an unseen apparation point. It was a loud noise that drew his attention to one specific alley as he passed by, but the sight of a shadowy looking teenager that held his gaze. Severus was so accustomed to being wary of teenagers up to no good at Hogwarts, that his curiosity often got the better of him out in the Muggle world when teens looked like they were headed for trouble.

He watched from a shadow as a shop owner dumped something into the trash and then went back inside. It was a minute before the cautious teen moved stealthily along the brick wall and then began pulling things from the rubbish bin. Severus' first thought was that the boy was homeless, and he squinted to make out the child's features. He couldn't be more than 14, he thought judging by his thin frame, although he could not see well enough in the shadowy alley to see if the child had any stubble.

With disgust Severus watched as the boy slid down the alley wall and began devouring what he had pulled from the bin. His stomach lurched with the thought that the child was hungry enough to eat from the trash can.

When all was gone but a loaf of bread, the teenager rose and headed in the other direction and Severus crept along behind him. As soon as the boy was out in the open sunlight however, Severus paused and narrowed his eyes, blood draining from his face as he was able to get a better look at the boy. It wasn't just any child, but Potter, the bloody-boy-who-ran-away with no thought to how his actions would affect those around him. Albus had been worrying himself sick over Harry's safety and Minerva had been on par with Molly Weasley about the boy's absence. Not to mention the brat's little friends.

Severus had half expected the boy to turn up with a new broom or something of the like at the Quidditch World Cup in a month's time, Gringotts vault half empty of Lily's savings and wearing the finest new robes. The brat did think he was better than everyone else anyhow, and Severus had been so certain that the little cretin was just being rebellious and probably staying with a friend or living in some posh hotel. The fact that he had become a street urchin, digging through rubbish bins for food in an alley next to St. Bedes Ave had never occurred to him. Furious and confused, Severus continued to follow the boy all the way to the edge of the city and out into the countryside as the sun began to set and a chill breeze began to pick up. In the distance Severus could see storm clouds coming their way, and he was sure they'd be in the midst of a thunderstorm soon.

Potter headed towards a thicket of trees and never once looked behind him to see if he was being followed as he hopped a low stone wall and trespassed on other people's property. Slowly Severus was becoming more irate than he was curious.

Through the trees they went, and finally Harry stopped beside a small stream, where he had constructed a tiny shelter big enough for only him, with branches. He pulled a tattered, dirty backpack from inside the shelter and stuffed his loaf of bread away before a shadow fell over him, blocking out his sunlight.

Eyes turned up in fear and sudden recognition, Harry tried to scramble to his feet and run, but not before Severus had grabbed the back of his shirt and held tight with strong, thin fingers.

"Well Potter," Severus spat. "Be thankful it is I who found you and not a death eater. Although by the time I'm done with you I don't imagine you'll be thankful at all."

Suddenly angry Harry grabbed at Snape's arms and hands and tried to pry them free as he struggled, even dropping to the ground hoping that if he became dead weight the man would let go, but no such victory came, and before Harry knew what was happening, he was being dragged back through the forest.

"Let- GO!"

Teeth clenched, Severus pressed onward, knowing he would be unable to apparate if the boy was still struggling and would have to use the floo somewhere or else curse the boy still.

"I mean it you big ugly oaf! I hate you! Let go of me! You have no right!"

Suddenly Severus spun on Harry and drew him close enough that Harry was uncomfortable with the warm breath on his face as the man spoke. "I have every right to drag a runaway student back to the Ministry and put him on trial for flouting over 10 wizarding laws. I have every right to put you in detention until you're thirty for the way you ran off without thought to how your actions affect others that care for you."

"You care nothing for me," Harry spat. It was the truth and he felt it in his bones that Snape always had ulterior motives for helping him.

Realizing that the boy was still, although he shook with anger, Severus took the opportunity to apparate them back to his home in Letham, continuing to drag the boy along the vacant dirt road to his house as soon as they reappeared and the boy kept struggling. "You are a deplorable excuse for a young man, and you should not expect that anyone should care for the likes of you," Severus said angrily in response to Potter's earlier question, and they struggled all the way down the road and up to the front door of a stone house with a brown roof.

Harry hoped to gain an advantage on the stairs leading to the second floor, but he was weak from hunger and fighting and the elder man held the advantage, shoving Harry roughly through a door and slamming it closed. Harry heard a lock click and huffed with anger at being so roughly deposited on the floor.

"I hate you!" Harry screamed one more time at the door, but there was no answer, and Harry hit the floor with his fist in frustration.

Suddenly Harry was startled by a gentle and familiar voice however and turned to see a friend in an unexpected place.

"Hello Harry Potter. You seem very upset with Professor Snape. Perhaps there are gorgons tormenting you and you are really upset with them."

"L- Luna? What-"

She smiled down at him as she reached forward a hand to pull him to his feet.

"Professor Snape agreed to take temporary custody of me at Christmas last year when my father disappeared. It is unfortunate that they found him a few weeks before the end of the term however. It appeared he died from a magical explosion and they're saying it's from a Eurompet's horn, but I know for a fact that it's not explosive. We've always had one in our living room. In any case, Professor Snape has agreed to take full custody of me until I turn 17. It is ever so nice of him to allow me to stay here."

Mouth hanging open at the calmness with which Luna spoke of her father's death, Harry swallowed hard and looked around the room. "You're stuck here?"

"Only in the appearance that Professor Snape has locked the door not realizing that I'm in here."

Harry shook his head in disbelief of the situation, and then Luna said, "Don't worry Harry. I'm sure everything will be fine. Professor Snape is a very nice man, despite appearances to the contrary during the term."

Feeling like he'd only snap at his friend if he opened his mouth, Harry clamped it closed and settled himself in a chair next to a table in front of the fireplace. It appeared they were in a library. Great, he thought to himself. If only I were Hermione, I'd be content to sit here and rot in the devil's library. It was with this thought that he crossed his arms on the table and buried his head in them, never more in complete despair until now.