"Where did you find me?"

Harry had most of the strength in his legs back now that Luna had been around for a few days to sit on his bed and play games with him before leading him downstairs and outside to the fields for some fresh air. He was tying his shoes with some difficulty because his hands were still shaking from being weak and from the effects of the potions still being used to heal his lungs and throat, and Severus had knelt down before the bed to help tie them.

Severus looked up, and then moved on to the other shoe. "A surprisingly short distance from here considering the distance you traveled. You were only beyond the second town from here."

"Sir?"

He finished tying the second shoe and gently slapped it to let the boy know he was done.

"If you had not backtracked or gone in circles as much as you did, you might have gained twice the distance."

"Oh." He really didn't want to be caught, that and the fact that he felt lost and turned around so often with his injuries and dizziness.

"Often the tracking shadows could not pinpoint your location until dusk when you slept, and even then I followed their paths back and forth and in circles each day."

Harry stared off into nothing and the boy seemed so deep in thought that Severus thought he could nearly see the cogs turning in the boy's mind, although about what he did not know. Harry wasn't sure he knew either. He had never had someone come after him, and the man really did seem in earnest about not doing it out of obligation now that he had taken care of Harry in a proper manner... treated him as a respected human being. Why was it then that the man had tracked him so earnestly if not for a promise? He had not yet asked anything of Harry... the summer homework still sat unfinished in a pile somewhere but Harry had not been set to homework or chores again. He'd simply been allowed to heal.

When Harry was a long time in quiet thought, Severus stood up and asked, "Do you feel well enough to eat in the dining room today?"

Harry nodded, and was able to slowly make it all the way down stairs and to his seat without stumbling, for which he was thankful. He hated feeling helpless, although this time around it wasn't as bad as it had been when he was hurt at the Dursleys, which was often. How odd it was to have someone waiting on him, tending to his needs, and to have a friend there in Luna at the same time to cheer him up and play games with him since he was often stuck in bed. Things were certainly different and he really didn't know what to expect next.

"Hello Harry, would you like some chicken?"

As he eased himself into the wooden chair, Harry nodded and gave a weak smile, thinking that he was very ready to stop feeling so weak and tired. "Yes please." She handed him the plate of roast chicken and he took a piece along with some cooked veggies and sat quietly waiting for everyone else to be served. He did not notice the look given to him by the man on the other side of the rectangular table as Harry waited until the first bite was taken by someone else before he began to eat.

Stomach still feeling small from not eating regular meals this summer, Harry ate as much as he could and then a bite for good measure to try to resize his stomach as the summer drew on. Maybe this would be the first time he would return to Hogwarts at the end of the summer without having to nibble his food at the feast instead of properly enjoying it. He wasn't sure if he dared to hope that things would change and stay that way.

After lunch Harry and Luna sat on the living room floor playing wizard's chess while Severus went out back to work in the garden for a short while. Harry had just put Luna's king in check when he noticed she was no longer paying attention, but was watching him closely instead.

"What?" He gave a little frown with a smile, thinking it funny that she was staring.

"Will you run away again?"

Smile fading a little Harry sat up straight and sighed. He didn't know. He didn't want to run, who did? But what choice did he have most of the time but to do what he thought was best for himself since no one else did what was in his best interest. Not that sleeping in the dirt or slipping around in the mud while he had a concussion was fantastic, but wasn't it better than living always in want of something? Suddenly uncomfortable at the realization that it was love and affection that he had been lacking, Harry cleared his throat and looked into Luna's curious blue eyes again.

"I don't want to run."

"You did though."

He really didn't want to explain to someone that he didn't feel a part of anything... that he didn't feel loved or wanted, just a burden. Yet there she was staring at him, and Severus was outside, and he'd never known Luna to be judgmental yet.

"Things seem better now. It's not... I'm not, being treated like a burden now."

"I think I understand Harry Potter," she said in that light, floating voice of hers, and Harry hoped she did, because nobody had ever understood before. Ron and Hermione tried, but Harry always had the feeling that they were never quite there with him in his torment. They were good friends to be sure, family even, but no matter how hard he tried, there was always a feeling of distance between he and his friends; a gap that he could never seem to bridge.

"Check mate Harry."

Harry was drawn out of his reverie and looked down at his pieces. He really hadn't seen that coming, but she had lured him right into her trap. Or maybe she'd just wandered her way to a win.

"Guess my mind was elsewhere," he said with a smile, feeling as if he'd like a nap because he was feeling tired again.

"The mind has a funny way of wandering," Luna said in a thoughtful tone. "You never know where it will take you next."

"Where does yours take you?" Harry asked, suddenly curious. He'd always wondered about her daydreaming, and now he had a chance to find out.

"Oh, here and there and too many times the same place twice. My mind couldn't wander at all while you were gone."

Feeling his face and neck get hot suddenly Harry gave a fake cough and pretended to be interested in a painting above the fireplace.

"It's ok Harry," she said then, and he looked over. "I'm hopeful things will change for you yet." She stood then and skipped into another room with a smile and Harry was left to his thoughts again as he cleaned up the chess set.

* * *

"Sorry sir?" His voice cracked and he cursed internally that it did that occasionally as it was becoming deeper with age.

"What would you like for dinner Mr. Potter?"

Harry realized that his mouth was hanging open a little and did his best to close it as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen and stared at the man before him, ever clad in black. He may as well have just asked Harry what he wanted for Christmas. A family was the answer that came to mind unbidden as Harry became internally sarcastic. He cursed and told himself in his head to stop such thoughts before they lead to hope and then disappointment.

"You mean you want me to cook dinner sir?" That must have been what he meant after all, that he was giving Harry the choice of what he was to cook. Nobody in their right mind would ask Harry what he wanted to eat, or nobody ever had at least.

Dish towel in hand, Snape put his hands on his hips. "I mean what would you like for dinner Mr. Potter. Luna has chosen the last few meals and I heard her mention something about squid this afternoon... which I would rather not eat."

Harry swallowed. See, there was that hope he didn't have getting squashed down. He was being asked to avoid Luna choosing. But Harry still had a choice to make, one he'd never made before, and so he said the first thing that came to mind and hoped he wouldn't be causing too much trouble. "Shepherd's pie sir?"

"Is that a question or a decision?"

Voice cracking again, Harry said quietly, as if to himself, "It's my favorite dish."

With an appraising look at the young man before him, Severus nodded and as he turned said, "Shepherds pie it is then, sans squid." He set to work cooking, and suddenly feeling unhappy for some reason Harry retreated and went up to his room.

Sitting on the edge of his bed Harry frowned and put his head in his hands, irritated with himself that he had just been given a choice of food and was somehow unhappy about it. Or maybe that wasn't the reason. He scolded himself softly when he realized a moment later that hope had somehow crept up on him unawares in the last few days. Damn but how he hated hope, because it always lead to hurt when it never came to fruition.

He lay back and put an arm behind his head as he stared at his ceiling and pondered. For normal people like Luna, if you could call her that, hope wasn't a bad thing. But for Harry a hope so dangerous as things changing for the better in a permanent way could only lead to disappointment. He had come to the conclusion some time ago that he was meant for a rough and tumble life... one void of affection and dreams that come true. Despite his fears of hurt, he lay there with a now growing hope that things could be this way forever, and that there just might be a place for him somewhere.

He closed his eyes and drifted into a dream where he and Luna played Muggle sports in the back yard as Professor Snape cooked dinner, and smiled down at him when they went into the house. It was a short but pleasant dream that disturbed him when a knock on his door followed by an announcement by Luna that dinner was ready woke him a short time later.

Of all the times that Harry wished his hopes would not be trampled to the ground, he had never been treated better than since Snape had brought him back, and he desperately hoped that this would be the one time when he wouldn't be given hope, only to have it snatched so cruelly back.