The next day found Harry smiling for no particular reason, until he remembered his teacher’s confession after his tantrum. He winced at the word before letting it go, deciding breakdown made him feel like he was going mad. Snape had said Harry was more important and he couldn’t help grinning. It felt good to feel like someone wanted you, and he was almost positive that Snape might love him too. Harry shook his head at that last bit, was the man even capable of love?

 He frowned at that thought not wanting to come across as mean for the man who was helping him. Snape was confusing to him, one minute the man was scowling and the next he was comforting Harry. He never knew what to expect which was exactly what was preventing him from fully trusting the man.With Uncle Vernon he knew what to expect, with Sirius he knew what words could fan the flames. But with Snape, he had no idea, since the man never really showed his emotions. He never knew what the man was thinking of at any given time and it scared him.

 As Harry rested on his bed, he couldn’t stop the thoughts of wanting to be here next summer too. He frowned and though Snape was unpredictable, he was also a safe harbor and Harry needed that.The more Harry thought about where he was or wasn’t going to be next summer, the more he was starting to freak himself out. He had noticed that Snape hadn’t given him any chores to do, and that made him a little uneasy. He didn’t want the man to think he really was lazy so the first thing he would do was find something to clean.

Maybe if he showed the man how good he could clean up around the house then maybe Snape would want to keep him for good. He nodded at that plan, resolving not to get into any trouble not wanting the man to get angry with him and jeopardize his chance of living with him. With that he quickly grabbed his shoes, deciding to start that day.

Severus was downstairs trying to work through his thoughts about the child upstairs. He was so fragile, and scared. This child was supposed to be the one who saved them all; the boy couldn’t even take care of himself. He sighed to himself trying to come to grips about the protective feelings he was having for his enemy’s child. He shook his head; Lily was his best friend first.

His emotions were not the best at the moment, and he didn’t want to say something out of anger and have Harry take it the wrong way. Apparently it was well known that he tended to take things out on other people if he was angry at something else. He nodded deciding to talk to Harry about what was expected of him before spending the day in his lab with his potions to calm him down.

“Harry will you come down here?” Severus yelled up the stairs, stopping once to wonder at how smoothly the child’s given name had come out of his mouth.

“Coming,” Harry yelled before jumping off his bed and going down the steps. He didn’t notice that Snape hadn’t called him Potter.

Severus gestured towards the sofa for Harry to take a seat. Though they had only been there for a few days or so he knew he would have to lay down the rules. Though Potter was hurting, he was still the same rule breaking child he was at school and Severus preferred not to have his house in ruins.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked softly, as his teacher sat across from him. Was he getting the ax already?

But he hadn’t even been able to prove that he was worth keeping around. His eyes widened wondering if he could plead his case. Hadn’t the man just said he needed Harry yesterday? So used to being let down by adults Harry let his thoughts run wild, until he felt like his heart might stop when Snape got ready to talk.

“We need to have a talk about the rules of my house and how you play into this.” Severus said casually as he watched the boy’s face.

Harry took a sigh of relief before shaking his head at his stupidity. Of course Snape wanted to talk about rules, he was Snape! Harry looked at the man to let him know he was listening before Snape launched into his lecture.

“I want your holiday homework done as soon as possible,” Severus finished.

Harry didn’t bother asking why, Snape probably wanted quiet time. He shook his head, why did it feel like the nice Snape and the mean one were separate people? Couldn’t the man just choose? Harry felt so uneasy at the whole thing. What if the man snapped, would he take it out on him?

“Yes sir,” Harry murmured respectively.

Severus could see the change in the boy’s demeanor but he couldn’t figure out why. It couldn’t be because of the homework right? Potter knew that every child at Hogwarts had a type of holiday homework.

“I’m going to be in my lab, I’ll be up for lunch. Don’t break anything and don’t go outside, we’re going somewhere after lunch and I don’t want you to get dirty.” Severus said before leaving Harry alone, in the empty room with his loud thoughts.

Harry frowned not wanting to do homework at that very moment. His eyes brightened as he took in the room around him. He could start his ‘chores’ today that way when Snape came up for lunch he would surprised. Proud of his plan he quickly got to work. After finding the supplies he started with sitting room and worked his way through the downstairs getting lost in his work.

As he scrubbed the floors, he didn’t allow himself to think instead of focusing on Snape would react. Would the man actually smile? Was Snape even capable of smiling? Harry chuckled to himself as he cleaned, forgetting the man’s directions of not getting dirty.By the time lunch came around the entire sitting room, and half the downstairs was shining.

 Harry smiled in spite of his of his sweaty and dirty body. Even his Aunt Petunia would be proud, which was saying something because she loved everything to be perfect and in its place. Harry was in the process of putting the cleaning products up when Snape walked by the room, and doubled back to stand in the doorway.

“Do you like it?” Harry asked quietly, pride evident in his voice.

“What did I say about not getting dirty Potter?” Severus asked, eyes narrowing in anger as he looked at the disobedient child in front of him. Truthfully he hadn’t noticed a thing except for the boy’s attire. After lunch he had planned for them to visit the Weasleys so he could find out more about Umbridge’s detentions.

Harry looked down at himself and winced. He was a mess from head to toe, but that didn’t really matter right, now did it?

“I’m sorry sir but I was cleaning. Does it look ok?” Harry asked again, his smile wilting as he waited for an answer.

“You expect me to believe that you got this dirty by cleaning? Did you or did you not go outside after I explicitly said not too?” Severus asked, arms crossing over his chest in reflex.

“I didn’t go outside sir, I was cleaning honest.” Harry repeated, his voice rising as Snape tried to call him a liar.

“You were cleaning? There’s nothing that needs to be cleaned in here,” Severus replied crossly as he looked around the sparking room. His emotions were still going haywire and since Harry was the only other person there he was starting to get the brunt of it.

“That’s because I cleaned it, of course there wouldn’t be any dirt now!” Harry nearly yelled back.

“Watch your tone Mr. Potter, or you will be scrubbing cauldrons your entire break.” Severus threatened as he glared at the boy across from him.

“I didn’t do anything except clean; I was trying to be good.” Harry replied, tears of frustration filling his eyes. What the hell was going on? Why was Snape randomly yelling at him? He hadn’t even seen the man all morning.

“I would advise you to go upstairs right now and get cleaned up; unless you want to skip lunch today.” Severus said.

Harry didn’t say anything to that, though inside he was extremely confused. What the hell was wrong with Snape? He edged by the man to get out the door, muttering to himself. Apparently he was mumbling a bit loud, because suddenly the man spoke to him in a quiet voice.

“What did you just say Mr. Potter?” Severus asked in tone that just dared you to lie to him.

“Nothing sir, I’m sorry sir,” Harry replied, eyes widened in horror as he quickly made his way upstairs.

Severus shook his head to clear it before heading into the kitchen, the food already on the table. Thanks to Dumbledore a house elf would come and go when it was meal time so he didn’t have to worry about cooking for Potter and himself. Severus sighed loudly, not feeling hungry in the slightest; he just wanted to go back to his lab. And where was that blasted boy?

Harry was trying to quickly wash up and dress at the same time. He was mostly clean when he emerged from his room, his eyes a bit red as he sat down at the table for lunch. Out of habit he waited for Snape to take a bite of his food, before starting to eat his own.

“What did I tell you about doing that Potter?” Severus said irritably having noticing the lack of movement until he had taken a bite out of his sandwich.

“I’m sorry sir,” Harry said his sandwich feeling like sawdust as it slid down his throat. He felt the tension at the table, what was going on? He hadn’t felt awkward or like he was walking on thin ice with Snape before. What changed? What the hell? His stomach was churning so; he couldn’t make himself eat his lunch, and instead picked at it keeping his eyes low.

“Eat your food Potter, what is it not good enough for you?” Severus feeling extremely aggravated all of a sudden.

“Its fine sir, I just…I’m not very hungry today sir,” Harry whispered, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.

“Doesn’t matter what you feel, you need to eat. You’re underweight as it is,” Severus replied annoyance clear in his tone.

“Yes sir,” Harry said quietly before attempting to eat his sandwich without breaking into tears. He didn’t look up once, not even when Snape got up from the table and headed back into the lab. He didn’t even try to eat the rest of his food. He stood up to rake his plate.

Harry started towards the stairs when he passed the sitting room. He sniffled softly as he stood in the doorway before shaking his head frantically to stop the tears before they could try to fall.Harry couldn’t help but feel like cleaning up had been the dumbest idea ever. Because of that Snape was mad at him, and he didn’t even notice what Harry had done for him.

 He stifled a sob before turning and running up the steps, did this mean that the man was tired of him already? He made it to his room and quickly shut the door before sliding down against the wall and burying his head in his knees. He was so tired of crying, why was he doing it so much in the first place? Now that Snape was mad at him, what did that mean?

The fact that he didn’t know what the man was going to do to him since he had gotten dirty left him frightened out of his mind. Why did he start to trust the man? What was the point if the man only ended up hurting him too? Harry found himself instinctively flinching whenever he heard a noise, finally he crawled over to his closet and relaxed for a moment as the darkness incased him.

Severus had no idea of the inner turmoil he caused the boy upstairs the only thing he knew was that his emotions were randomly fluctuating with the main emotion being anger. What was Albus thinking when he put Potter’s care in his hand knowing how they both loathed each other?

Why did he want them to get along? He was fighting the new found feelings that the child had stirred up. He hadn’t really cared for anyone except his mum and Lily and they were both gone. These emotions were so foreign to him he was rejecting them as that was the only way he knew how. As he worked on his potions he was able to calm himself, and enforce his shields before his thoughts moved over to yesterday.

He had remembered how Harry had hugged him and cried in his robes, how the boy had sought comfort from him when he needed it the most. Severus had allowed it even though he hated being touched, only because Harry had needed it. He shook his head before he was suddenly thinking about lunch and how he had lashed out at Harry who had just been…What had the boy been doing?

Hadn’t he said something about cleaning? After putting his potion in a stasis charm he headed towards his sitting room, and really looked. He noticed the differences immediately, had Harry really done that? He slowly walked into the room and looking around, noticing that not a speck of dust, or dirt seemed to be anywhere. He remembered how harsh he had been and how he had basically scared him from eating and soon his felt his heart weight down with guilt. And though he was no stranger to guilt, he knew in his heart that this guilt was different.

“Oh Merlin, what did I do?” Severus whisperd to himself, hoping that they hadn’t had another setback thanks to his own actions.

Severus slowly headed up the stairs and knocked on Harry’s door. Not hearing anything he made his way inside and stopped when he didn’t see anyone. His Manor was heavily warded so he knew that the child hadn’t left, but where was he?

“Harry, where are you?” Severus called out gently.

Harry was curled up like a cat, in a position that one wouldn’t deem comfortable, but for one who had lived in a cupboard for most of his life this wasn’t a problem. He didn’t hear Snape calling him having already cried himself to sleep, his trunk and the cloaks hanging from his closet shielding him from view.

Severus sighed before looking around the room once more before walking out and closing the door. He tried to stop the fear that was trying to work its way into his throat. Though Harry was hiding somewhere in his Manor that didn’t necessarily mean he was safe. His Manor was 3 stories, and there were a lot of things that could hurt or even kill the child if he touched them.

 This was nobody’s fault but his own and he had nobody to blame but himself. Severus took out his wand and attempted a point me spell, but it just spun in a circle. He ran his hand through his hair tensely before he started looking into the various rooms for the child he had never meant to hurt.