‘I wish I had someone to listen to me without jumping to conclusions,' Harry started the letter, deciding that it would be a letter directly to Severus, a man who had often jumped to conclusions about him, even recently. He shuddered remembering his fear and resignation the day he'd gone fishing and Snape had come to find him. Pen paused above the paper, he didn't know what else to write, and sat another five minutes before he put down, ‘Nobody has ever asked me before what I want or need and I don't know what you want from me. I don't know what to do here. I need to know the rules so I don't break them.' Unable to shake the memory of being terrified that Snape was going to thrash him on the riverbank, Harry set the pen down, unable to write anymore, and folded the letter into thirds. On the outside he picked up the pen again and wrote, ‘For Professor Snape only'.

There, that hadn't been as bad as he thought it would be. At least there were words on the paper, but what did he do with the letter now? Did he go and hand it to the man? Should he stick it in an envelope and mail it to him? Maybe he could leave it somewhere where only Snape would find it... his Potions lab was the only good place that popped into mind. He had no idea if Joanna went down there or not, but he thought it was the best place to leave it for him to find.

Later that day as Severus leaned up against his work bench in the basement reading Harry's short missive, he tried to work out any extra meanings hidden between the words. The only conclusion he could draw was that Harry needed some sort of structure. It wasn't that the boy had gotten himself into too much trouble without structure aside from running away, but it was possible that he needed the structure to feel secure. There weren't too many set rules that Jo had informed him of for Sam, and Severus himself had yet to set any as they were not married yet, and he still did not consider this his house, even if it was his home.

He remembered Harry pleading with him to just tell him the rules a few weeks before and then promising not to break them. He also wondered what the rules had been for Harry at the Dursleys and what the punishments were for breaking them.

Pulling out a spare piece of parchment, Severus pulled the stool over to himself and sat down.

‘Harry, the rules here are perhaps a little more lax than either of us are accustomed to. As far as I know Jo does not have a curfew rule for either of you, provided you are home by the time we set out for you when you ask. It is not required that you ask before you go out, but it would be appreciated if you could leave us a note on the kitchen counter to let us know where you went and when you plan to return. This is a family rule that we all follow as a courtesy to one another. As another family rule, everyone is to use common sense in decision making. If you believe your actions will harm yourself, others, or somebody's personal property, then the action should be avoided or else there will be consequences proportional to your actions. As you have also seen, it is unacceptable at this age to engage in inappropriate adult activities with any girls you may be interested in. Those are activities that should be saved for adulthood and preferably marriage, as they can have their own dire consequences. If you have any questions about this, you can come to myself or Joanna. If you have any other questions about what is allowed or not allowed, you have only but to ask.'
- Severus

Severus waved his wand over the note after giving it a quick looking over and it vanished, startling Harry a moment later as he sat on his bed upstairs when the letter appeared suddenly on top of his desk.

He cautiously went over to the desk and read what had been written to him. Snape was right, these rules were pretty lax. What chores was he supposed to do? He knew already that Joanna didn't want him cooking dinner, but didn't they want him to do anything? In the end Harry felt more frustrated than relieved and ended up spending the rest of his afternoon sprawled out on his bed with his bedroom window open to let the cool breeze in.

That evening after dinner, Harry tentatively approached Severus and asked, "Are we allowed to use the floo?"

Severus raised his brow. "Is there someplace you wish to go?" He was trying hard to remember what Harry had written to him about needing someone who was willing to listen to him without jumping to conclusions, and his mind fought to not think about Harry looking for ways to escape again.

"I haven't seen Ron or Hermione all summer and nobody's written to me. Ron has my owl."

"I see. Then the answer is yes, you are allowed to use the floo network provided that you ask before you leave somewhere."

"Can I- go to the Burrow tomorrow?"

"Yes." Severus couldn't deny that it made him feel good inside to see the boy's face light up just a little after looking so hesitant to approach him.

Harry turned to go back upstairs to tell Sam, but turned again and said, "thanks," the corners of his lips upturned just a little before disappearing.

* * *

The next morning, dressed in his new camo cargo shorts and dark blue Falmouth Falcons t-shirt and new sneakers, Harry grabbed an English muffin and went to the fireplace with Sam.

"Do they know we're coming?" he asked.

"No," Harry said. Truthfully, he didn't even know if they were home or had perhaps gone on vacation somewhere with Ron's cousins. "I guess I'll stick my head through and ask if it's ok to come over," he said. He took the jar of floo powder down from the mantle and tossed a handful into the empty fireplace, causing it to erupt in green flames.

"Here," Sam said, and he took his wand and sent a blast of cool air at Harry's head.

"What was that for?"

"That will keep the soot off of you. It was a time delayed air blast."

"Didn't feel time delayed to me," Harry said, getting on his hands and knees so he could put his head into the green flames. "The Burrow!" he shouted, and felt disoriented for a moment as his head began to spin and the rest of his body did not. In a flash it was over though, and Ginny was there in front of him on the Weasley's living room floor on her hands and knees.

"Harry," she greeted him with a smile. He couldn't help but give her a sheepish smile in return, and found himself lost for words for a few moments.

"Uh, Ginny, hi. Is anyone there? Is it ok if we come through for a visit?"

"Yes, we wondered if we'd get to see you this summer."

Just as Harry pulled his head back out of the flames to reunite with the rest of his body, he heard Ginny shouting to the rest of the house that Harry was coming for a visit, and by the time he and Sam had stepped through, Mrs. Weasley and Ron were there in the living room as well waiting for them.

"Hello Harry dear, it's so good to see you," Mrs. Weasley said, coming over to embrace him and to dust him off. "We were a bit worried when Professor Snape came by earlier this summer to see if you were here."

"He did?"

"He looked a right mess actually," Ginny said. "Like he'd been all over. But he wouldn't tell us anything about you. He just accosted Ron and accused him of hiding you somewhere on the property, and then left."

"I thought he was going to give me detention," said Ron. "What'd you do to piss him off?"

"Ronald, refrain from using foul language in my house," Mrs. Weasley scolded as she hurried into the kitchen to begin fixing something to eat. As she went, Harry's stomach started to grumble despite the English muffin he'd scarfed down. He missed Mrs. Weasleys home cooking. Jo was a good cook, but it just wasn't the same.

"Yes mum," Ron said, before motioning for Harry and Sam to follow him and Ginny out of the house and away from adult ears.

Outside they began walking towards the Quidditch paddock and through a large field.

"Who's this then?" Ron asked when they were well away from the house.

"This is Sam... he's sorta... my brother."

"Brother?" Ron gave them both a wary look.

"It's hard to explain," Harry hedged.

"It sort of starts with Professor Snape looking for Harry though," Sam tried to add helpfully. "I'm Sam Heywood, from your year in Ravenclaw."

"You're friends with Thomas and Luke yeah?" Ron asked, and Sam nodded.

"That's us."

"They're not half bad at Quidditch." Harry knew it was a compliment but it came out sounding funny and wondered how Sam would take it, but he didn't seem to notice. Harry had never had friends aside from the Weasleys and Hermione and more recently Luna and Neville, and he was feeling a little anxious that his best friends might not get along with Sam. He felt about Sam like he felt about Ron. They were close enough to brothers in his mind that he no longer saw a difference between brother and best friend.

"What happened earlier this summer Harry?" Ginny asked.

Sam gave Harry a cautious look that he almost didn't catch, and tried to ignore. "Well, the Dursleys sort of dumped me off, and to make a long story short, I ended up staying with Professor Snape."

"And Sam?" Ron asked. He seemed to be leery and possibly upset by Harry's new friend. Maybe Harry shouldn't have said ‘brother' in front of Ron.

"Professor Snape is engaged to my mum," Sam said, and then gave a little laugh and said, "Yeah, I know," at the horrified look Ron had turned to give him as they walked.

"Professor Snape, with a girlfriend? What's wrong with him?"

Ginny giggled then and Harry was overly aware of how close she was walking to him through the high grasses. So close that their hands occasionally brushed each other's accidentally.

"So, Snape kidnapped you and you ran away?" Ron suggested to get the story moving again a minute later because Harry had gotten distracted.

"Almost," Harry said. "I had no place to go and Snape didn't want me staying with them, and he was planning on taking me to an orphanage, so Sam and I took off to go work for the Falmouth Falcons. Sam's cousin is the team manager."

"No kidding?" Ron laughed. "You actually went to hang around the Falcons?"

"Worked there for three days before Snape caught us," Sam said. "He took me home straight away but Harry saw him as he came into the Pitch and took off. That's when Severus came looking round your house for him I gather."

"I take it he found you again and you're not still on the run?" Ginny asked seriously.

"Yeah, he found me. I've been staying with them ever since. I didn't have Hedwig so I couldn't send you any letters, and I hadn't heard anything from any of you either and I wanted to see you all. Hermione isn't here is she?"

"She's coming at the end of the summer."

"Are your cousins still here?" Harry asked as they made the thicket and were just considering how to cross the wide stream.

"They went into Diagonalley with Fred and George today to go to the shop. They were ok having around for the first couple of weeks but they're right loafers now they are. They don't want to go flying or anything."

"Well we're here," Harry said. "Don't happen to have a Steel Mimicry for me to ride do you?"

Ginny laughed and Ron said, "I wish I could just see one."

"We saw one," Sam said. "In France."

"You went to France?"

"It was a surprise four day vacation," Harry said in answer to Ginny's question and raised brows. "I spent my birthday there."

"No wonder our owls kept returning with your presents."

As Ron and Ginny hopped over the creek, Sam lightly punched Harry in the arm and whispered, "Birthday? You didn't tell me that!"

Harry raised his hands as if to say, ‘You didn't ask,' and Sam rolled his eyes.

"We were just going to wait until we saw you at school," Ginny told him when Harry joined them on the other side of the creek, "But since you're here now we'll give them to you when we get back to the house."

"So what'd you get me then?"

Ron's voice took on a sarcastic tone. "You know, the usual. The things ‘brothers' get each other." Harry didn't miss the jab and the dirty look Ron sent Sam's way.

"No way, if you're my brother than that mean's Ginny's my sister," Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Or your wife," she added.

They stopped walking and Ron said, "Ginny!" as Harry's face turned scarlet and Sam whistled, drawing Ron's attention back to him.

"What?" she asked, as if she hadn't done anything wrong. "It wasn't a suggestion, I was just saying. When a man marries a woman, her brothers and sisters become his in-laws, his brothers and sisters."

"Well don't let Fred and George hear you talking about marriage," he warned, and then moved off again. They were almost to the shed that held the Weasley's old flying brooms, and the flying paddock was only a minute's walk beyond that.

"Fred and George won't care when I get married," Ginny said in a lowered conspiratorial voice to Harry. "It's only Ron who's protective."

Sam, still a pace or two behind Harry and Ginny was listening in though, and said, "Well maybe you should marry her then Harry," and gave a little laugh.

Harry turned and shot him a look that asked him to stop, but Sam started singing in a low voice, "Harry and Ginny sitting in a tree- S-N-O-G-G-I-" he would have finished it and Harry's face would have been permanently red, along with Ginny's, but Ron had turned back now at the song and was angry.

"STOP! Don't joke about my sister like that!"

Sam closed his mouth, no longer smiling. He hadn't meant to anger Ron. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring Sam along after all, Harry thought. Would Sam's friends Thomas and Luke react about him like Ron was about Sam? Maybe they wouldn't be able to hang out after school started at all, and that made Harry sad.

"Whoa," Sam finally said after a tense silence in which Ron tried to stare him down, and Harry and Ginny watched. "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to give Harry a hard time. I respect your sister."

His answer had apparently deflated Ron a little, as Ron stopped squaring his shoulders so solidly and slouched back down to his regular height. "All right then, just so's that's clear." He looked around and Harry could tell that Ron was feeling like a jerk now for getting so bent out of shape.

"What's your mum cooking for lunch?" Harry asked.

"I think she was putting in a roast chicken," Ginny said brightly, and Harry grinned.

"Been so long since I had that. I love her cooking." He looked up at the clear blue sky through the tree canopy. "C'mon then, first one to the pitch with a broom gets to be Seeker!"

* * *

Harry wished he could have found a way to talk to Ron privately before they'd left, to clear some things up. Ron was still his best friend and brother as far as Harry was concerned and he didn't want him to feel like he'd been replaced. No opportunity came about for Harry to separate himself from Sam and Ginny though, and by the time they left, he could tell that Ron looked rather defeated. Ginny had promised to send Hedwig to him though, and Harry resolved to send a letter to Ron giving him some more details about his summer so far whenever Hedwig arrived.

Their unexpected visit to the Burrow had ended up as an impromptu birthday party, and Mrs. Weasley had whipped up a cake from scratch and served it with the roast chicken and potatoes and some sort of creamy fruit salad that was a desert all in its own. Harry wished the twins and Mr. Weasley and Hermione could have been there as well, but it was a day for him to remember all the same. Ron had given Harry a new chess set and Mrs. Weasley had mended several of Bill and George's old clothes that she'd found in the attic so that they were almost like new and given them to him. They weren't new, but to Harry the clothes were better than gold because someone had cared enough to take the time to mend them for him, and he changed into one of the red shirts with a griffin on it right there in the living room making Ginny blush and Mrs. Weasley smile. From the absent twins he received a gift certificate for an entire Galleon to their joke shop, which Harry had in part helped finance with his Tri-wizard earnings, and knowing that Harry would eventually turn up to the Weasleys, Hermione sent her gift to him there to be kept with the others. Harry knew it would be a book before he opened it, and Ron said the same. It wasn't just any book however, it was an advanced NEWT Potion's text book.

"I think she's gone barmy and sent you her text book instead of your present," Ron said. "You're not in the advanced class."

"There's a note," Ginny pointed out amongst the fallen wrapping paper.

Harry picked it up. "Aurors should know all they can about potions, even if they're not in the advanced class," Harry read aloud.

"Think this means she's going to make you study with her every night and do double homework?" Ron laughed.

"Probably," Harry said. In the back of his mind he secretly wanted to be in the advanced class now to make Severus proud. He'd taken all that time forcing Sam to learn advanced potions so he could be in that class, and now Harry wanted that too, even if his chance to get into the advanced class had passed. He'd never really wanted to make anyone proud of him before, and as they ate cake after opening presents, he wondered that he wanted it now.

Harry hadn't failed to notice that Ginny had given him no present along with the others, and while it deflated him a little, he was surprised later when she pulled him aside into a dark nook in the downstairs hallway. "Harry, I didn't get to give you your present yet. I didn't know if you'd like it."

"You didn't have to get me anything," Harry tried to say modestly.

"Well it's not something I got you," she hedged.

Harry frowned. "Well, I'm sure I'll like whatever it is," he said, trying to reassure her, but she cut him off suddenly with a swift kiss on the lips, before pulling back and looking red, carefully searching his face for a reaction.

Surprise filtered across Harry's eyes however, followed by a smile. "Was that my present?"

She nodded. Ron was calling for them down the hallway, or else Harry would have asked her out right there, but he didn't want to get caught in a secluded place with her after the events of that morning in the woods.

"Better go," she told him, and he reached down and took her hand briefly to pull her out of the hallway, before letting go and going back to the living room, Ginny close behind him.

After the party, Harry hadn't wanted to leave, but after Ginny's kiss he was sure he wanted to stay forever. It was only the fact that it was getting on towards dinner that made him say his goodbyes and promise to come back again before stepping back through the floo with an armful of presents.

"What did Ginny give you in the hallway?" Sam pried with a grin.

"Well-" Harry was about to answer, ears red again, when Severus and Jo walked into the living room at the sound of their return.

"Did you rob the place?" Severus asked, seeing all of the items as Sam set Harry's chess set down on an end table.

"Nope, birthday presents," Sam said.

"Your birthday was over Easter holiday," Jo said.

"Not mine, Harry's," he said. "It was his birthday when we were in France and they kept all his presents waiting for him to come over."

Jo opened her mouth to say something, but Severus had spotted Harry looking uncomfortable and cleared his throat. "Why don't you boys take these to Harry's room and then get cleaned up for dinner." Harry took his escape route and hurried off with Sam out of the room and up the stairs.

"His birthday Severus, we missed his birthday! He didn't even tell us." She was clearly upset.

"He has never had a birthday party before and I do not believe his relatives ever celebrated it. He did not think we would want to know."

"But you knew?" She gave him a hard look as if to say, ‘and you didn't tell me?'

"On the last night after everyone was asleep, he told me, and I took him out briefly for a piece of cake and a milkshake. It was then that I mentioned in passing that I had known his mother."

Jo sighed. "I don't know what to do with him Severus. I'm not trained in mind healing. I've never dealt with a child whose come from his situation."

"He doesn't need a mind healer," Severus said then with finality, "he needs a family, of which we are trying to be one. I believe if we continue to be patient, he will adjust."

"But his friends just threw him a birthday party. We need to do something. Get him something."

"I'm not sure he'll be receptive if we do. We're still new to him. The Weasley's have been like a family to him since he started Hogwarts. He expects that they'll treat him as they do."

She sighed heavily again. "Severus, you're leading me in circles. I want to do something for him. Will you help me, or not?"

He narrowed his eyes at her briefly. They often had conflicting opinions, and he did not like the result if one or both of them didn't bend a little.

"Perhaps we can get him a few things as belated presents."

"Good, call the boys down. Maybe we can make it into Diagonalley before all the shops close up."

* * *

Harry was a little surprised when he was called back down to the living room and given potion to make him look like Sam's relative again and told they were going for a ‘birthday' outing.

"Really, that's ok," Harry had tried to tell Jo, but she insisted they go out, and Sam didn't seem to think it was strange at all, so Harry went, though he was uncomfortable when she wanted to take him into shops to pick out birthday presents.

"I'm ok, really," he said again in the Quidditch Emporium. "I don't need anything and I already got presents today."

"But not from us. Your room is a little sparse, don't you want some posters to put up on the walls?"

Harry looked around at the hundreds of posters depicting different teams all around the walls of the large, hectic shop. Even in the evening it was full of children, and Harry thought he spied the Chaser for the Chudley cannons slipping into the back room with the shop owner. He would like some posters, but he'd never had any of his own before.

"A, a poster would be nice," Harry said, thinking that if he just gave in and picked out a poster that she'd be satisfied and wouldn't try to buy him any more presents. Posters only cost two knuts anyway. But she wasn't satisfied with just a poster it turned out. She told him to pick out three, and then lead him into another store where there were quilts and blankets hanging from every wall, and let him pick out a blanket for his bed and insisted he pick out a rug as well. Harry kept looking to Severus for help, but Severus only raised his hands to indicate that they were tied as well and that Harry would be better off going along with this.

They got dinner on Diagonalley, and then Jo lead them out into Muggle London where the big stores were open later, and took them into a sporting goods store.

"Sam is into sports," she said. "Is there anything you'd like to try? Lacrosse? Football? Something else?"

Harry looked around from near the door for a moment, but Sam had already come over with a new lacrosse stick and head, gloves, mask, and two balls. "Starter's pack mum. I need someone to practice with."

Jo looked to Harry and he said weakly, "Ok," so she took the items up to the front desk. Harry had no idea how to play lacrosse, but thought that it might be something good to get him out of the house with Sam, or to take to Hogwarts with him if Sam was taking his lacrosse gear.

Just when Harry was starting to feel drained from feeling so uncomfortable at being bought all of the new presents, Jo lead them into one last store, promising they'd go home right after. It was an IKEA and both levels of the store were filled will all sorts of furniture, decorations, toys, and other home furnishings.

"Harry, Sam picked out all of his own furniture and decorations for his room. Why don't you go pick out a new bed and desk to go with the new quilt and rug and posters?"

"What's in the room is fine, really." Harry was trying to tell her he didn't want to be a burden, but she kept missing that somehow.

"Take Sam with you. Sam, don't come back to the front without a new room."

Sam laughed as he lead Harry away and up the escalator to the second floor. "It's exhausting isn't it?"

"I don't need any presents," Harry tried to bargain with him again.

"Yeah but she needs to get you presents," Sam said. "Every few years she brings me here and insists I get new decorations or something, and not even for my birthday."

"So she's always like this?" Harry asked. The Weasleys didn't have money to spend on new things and always made due with what they had, just as Harry had always done. He could relate to them. Getting something new now and again was a treasure to Harry. Did Sam feel the same way about new things if he got them all the time?

"Not always, but when it comes to decorations or birthday's or Christmas, she doesn't have anyone else to spend money on but us. She makes Severus uncomfortable with all the gifts too."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "Help me then, help me find things to buy. I've never had my own furniture before."

"C'mon." He lead Harry to the bedroom section and told Harry to remember the names and numbers of the furniture they were picking out.

When they finally got home, and Severus unshrank all of their purchases, and shrank down all the old furniture for storage, Harry found himself with a completely new room, with a modern queen size bed with his large red patchwork quilt on it, his Gryffindor rug, three new posters on the walls along with the old Falmouth one Sam had given him, a new modern desk and chair, new shelves on the walls, and even a little flat TV, which Harry thought was totally unnecessary since he'd never had his own TV before and often didn't watch TV anyway. To top the day off, Sam told Harry to go to the garage, where he presented him with the bike he'd been riding all summer. Sam had cleaned it up and used a spell to give it a new silver paint job with flecks of something that gave it a faint shine and sparkle.

"Everyone else got you something, but I didn't get a chance. You know, spent all my allowance in France and everything. But now you can have your own bike. Look, it even says Harry on it."

Harry bent down and saw his name in bold silver letters along one of the bars on the bike's frame.

"The seat's still in good condition and all, and I reckon after my next allowance I can afford to put new pedals on instead of the broken ones on there now."

Harry turned to him and grinned. "I love it, thanks."

Hands in his pockets Sam said, "Yeah, no problem. Just promise to help me practice lacrosse and we'll call it even."

"Deal." Harry ran his hand along the new paint of the bike, and then went back up to his room to lay on his new bed in a daze over the day, his mind continuing to flit back to Ginny and the kiss. Before he went to sleep, he got up to sit at the new desk and wrote a short letter to Severus, though he didn't mark it as ‘For Severus only'. ‘I didn't need new presents. Being allowed to stay here is a gift enough. That's what I want.' And when he was sure everyone else was asleep, he went down to the basement to leave it on the man's workbench.