"I know. I'm right here."

Harry opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital bed surrounded by white curtains. He couldn't tell if they were at Hogwarts or St. Mungo's.

"Where?"

"Hospital Wing," Severus said. "I couldn't heal you myself. It was lucky Jo was there."

"Jo?" He closed his eyes, trying to remember, but all he could conjure up was pain and the inability to breathe.

"She's a healer," Severus said, sounding a little sad. "She had taken the summer off to be with us."

Harry opened his eyes again, trying not to move. "To be with you and Sam."

"Yes," Severus said.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know."

Harry was about to say something else then, but the curtain was pulled back and Madam Pomfrey appeared.

"You've taken quite a lot of damage Mr. Potter. I know you usually come back from the summer with broken bones, but nothing like this."

"It was a boy from Somercotes," Severus supplied, sounding tired and looking every bit the part.

"Somercotes, my you were a long way from home weren't you Mr. Potter."

Harry coughed then and Madam Pomfrey pulled a pink potion off of the tray she'd brought over. "This will get the blood out of your lungs," she said, and helped Harry to drink it down.

After six or more potions (Harry had lost count), and several healing spells, Madam Pomfrey left him alone with a warning that it would be a rough night re-growing the rib that had been removed. When she'd been gone for several minutes, Severus asked quietly, "You come back to school with broken bones every summer?"

Harry looked away. "How injured were you when I picked you up in Teddington?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said quietly, still not looking at his Professor. "You can go back to Sam and Jo now if you want to. I'm safe."

It was quiet for a long moment, and then, "I'm not going back." This finally brought Harry's gaze back to Severus.

"What do you mean?"

"Jo said you weren't welcome in her home, and I said I needed to take care of you."

"No!" Harry said suddenly, trying to sit up then and failing as his strength gave out and as Severus forced him back down by the shoulders. "You have to go back!" Harry said angrily.

"My place is here," Severus said, feeling worn from the day's events.

"No it's not!" Harry told him, still very angry, and Severus was confused at the boy's outburst.

"I don't know why everybody takes having a family or people that love them so damn lightly! It's a gift, don't you get it!? Sam does want you as a dad, that's why he was mad at me! And Jo loves you! Don't throw that away for me."

Severus could do nothing more than sit and stare at Harry for long, silent moments as Harry glared back at him, still looking as though he would leap from the bed if he'd had the strength.

"Then take this as a gift Mr. Potter," Severus said quietly, and Harry's face softened. "They are not the only ones I care about, nor are they the only ones deserving."

"No," Harry said again, quietly this time and lip trembling. He shook his head as tears sprang to his eyes, ready to fall. "I'm not worth it. I'm never worth it. Go back to your family, I don't want you."

"Regardless," Severus said, not moving from his chair, "You have me. I'm not leaving." And then Harry really did cry. Somebody had finally chosen him. Severus put his hand on Harry's shoulder as Harry cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Harry was in the Hospital wing for three more days before Madam Pomfrey released him to Severus' care. Snape, it turned out, didn't have another place to live, having sold his home when he moved in with Joanna and Sam. It made Harry feel bad, knowing he was the cause of their family splitting up, but he couldn't help but feeling bolstered knowing that now he had someone to rely on, at least for the time being.

"We'll stay in my quarters for now," Severus said. "You're still weak and I don't want you staying in the dorms by yourself. In a few days we'll go out and see if we can secure a place to live."

"Where did you live before?" Harry asked as he and Snape walked down to the dungeons.

"London, but I prefer not to move back there. I prefer the country."

"Like Sommercotes?" Harry asked.

Severus raised a brow but ignored the question.

In his quarters, Severus gave Harry the tour and then showed him the guest room, where he insisted Harry take a nap even though Harry grumped about it having just left the Hospital Wing bed not thirty minutes before. Harry couldn't deny that he still felt weak though, and the nap did him good in the end.

Perhaps it was because Harry had already spent several weeks with the man in the company of others, but he no longer felt awkward around him. Maybe it was just because he was aware that Snape no longer hated him, although Harry had a feeling that in the end the man would resent him for losing him his wife and stepson.

Harry couldn't help but wonder how Sam and Joanna were doing, and he would have sent a letter to Sam if Hedwig were still there. He'd sent her to stay with the Weasleys for the summer knowing that in the past uncle Vernon had threatened to kill her.

Exactly three days after Harry was released from the Hospital Wing, and Snape was satisfied that Harry was well enough to travel, Severus asked, "Are there any cities you prefer?"

Harry looked up from his cereal, startled that his opinion mattered. He shrugged. "Not Little Whinging. Maybe Devon? Ron lives in Ottery St. Catchpole. I've never been anywhere else."

"Hm. The South is warmer. I am not impartial to looking there first."

Harry gave him a warm smile and was surprised to find that he didn't get a scowl in return. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I mean... I know how much they meant to you."

"You do?"

Harry looked down at his cereal again. If he hadn't messed everything up they'd still be with Sam and Jo. "They meant a lot to me too."

"You said you hated Mr. Heywood."

Harry shook his head. "We were fighting... over you. He told me to get my own family... but I didn't want to take away his from him." Suddenly emotional and not knowing why, Harry bit his lip to keep it from quivering.

"Do not worry yourself over it. It is a choice they made. Things have not worked out to be quite so bad."

Nodding, Harry wished he could believe it, but still at the back of his mind, he knew it was his fault. Someday Snape would come to realize that, and toss him out again. Besides that, he'd lost the friend he'd had in Sam. How could he face him again once school started?

* * *

As it turned out there were not any places in Devon that Severus or Harry liked. Harry thought he wouldn't mind living in an apartment if it meant he could be close to his friends, especially Ginny whom he planned on asking out this year, but Severus wanted a house on a piece of land.

They called on the Weasleys while they were in the area, but they weren't home, and Harry wondered if they'd all gone on an outing. He knew Ron had said something about a camping trip, but Harry didn't know to where. He wondered if they were fishing, and he bet Mr. Weasley knew how, or else was bugging a Muggle to find out.

"What about Tregaron?" Harry asked, looking at a Muggle map of Britain.

"The Goyles live there."

"Scratch that then," Harry said, perusing over the map some more. "How about Fishguard? It's on the sea!"

"I will consider it. Does the request come from the fact that they have a Quidditch team?"

"They do Quidditch there?"

Severus snorted then surprising Harry. It was the first time Harry could remember making the man laugh. "The Headmaster once played for the Fishguard Flying Fish."

"He did?"

"For exactly one game. That's how he broke his nose three times."

"I always wondered why it was crooked," Harry said.

"Put it on the list and we will make a trip there tomorrow."

Harry wrote the town down on the list as they sat in Snape's dungeon living room. He'd never gotten to travel like this before, and if anyone had told him he'd be doing so with Snape, he would have laughed himself silly. It didn't seem so silly now, he thought. Amazing how things can change in the space of a month and a half. Had it really only been that long since he'd been sitting in jail fretting over who would come to get him out? Apparently so. It seemed longer.

* * *

It a week and a half since Harry and Severus had left Sam and Joanna's house, and Harry was looking forward to another day of house hunting as he sat in the Great Hall enjoying bacon and eggs by himself. The other staff were all out of the castle and Severus was in the dungeons sleeping in this morning.

Harry was just looking through the wanted ads in the Daily Prophet seeing if there was anything available for rent when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey."

Turning with surprise to find Sam behind him, hands in his pockets and looking uncertain, Harry replied, "Hey."

"Anything good today?" he asked, referring to the paper.

"Nah," Harry said. "Just looking for a place to live."

Sam came over to the table slowly and sat down, startled when a plate identical to Harry's appeared before him, though he pushed it away.

"I know of a place."

"Yeah?" Harry raised his brows.

"It's this little three bedroom house in Sommercote. There's a lot of snotty rich kids around, but there's this one family that's looking for boarders."

"Oh, well give me their names. I'll write it down."

Sam actually looked shocked for a moment, as if Harry really were that dense, but then saw that he was smiling and gave him a playful nudge in the shoulder. "Harry."

"What? You think I want to sleep on that dirty cot that smells like socks? What do you keep under your bed anyhow?"

"A different kind of magazine, but don't tell mum," Sam joked and Harry shook his head.

"Your mum don't want us there, remember?"

"When I told her that night that the fight was my fault, she was sorry for what she said to you. That's why we went out after you."

Harry sighed. "I told Snape to go back to you guys. I told him I didn't want to pull your family apart."

"Then come back." Sam was very serious now, and Harry stared him in the eyes.

"I wish I could. You and I can make up fine and whatnot but what about them?"

"Mum went down to the dungeons to see him."

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"You really think you could live with me? I mean, I'm guaranteed to piss you off something awful more than once. What happens the next time your mum catches us in a fight."

"Just come back Harry. I'm really sorry for what I said to you. The truth is, I didn't realize what I had until you pointed it out, and then I thought you were there to take it all away from me."

"No," Harry told him then solemnly. "I know what it's like not to have anyone. I wouldn't do that."

"I know. That's why it was wrong what I said to you. I know you were only there for a few weeks, but for a little while it was like I had a brother. I never had that before. I kind of liked it. Even if you do snore."

"Me?" Harry laughed then and gave Sam a light punch in the shoulder. "We better go to the dungeons then and make sure they're not fighting."

Wasn't live just full of surprises, Harry thought to himself as they made their way out of the Great Hall, joking as if they hadn't been separated for nearly two weeks and fighting before that. It had definitely been an eventful summer, and Harry wasn't sure where it would take him next. He and Sam were in for a shock sooner than expected though as they soon found themselves on the other side of the locked door leading to Snape's quarters.

"I thought you knew the password Harry," Sam said as he tried the door again and it didn't budge.

"I do. He changed it to Fishguard last night. That's where we were going to go house hunting."

"Do you think she's in there then?" Sam asked.

Harry and Sam put their ears to the thick wooden door and heard a giggle from somewhere inside, though faint. Harry sniggered then and Sam looked confused.

"What?"

"Well, it's just, I think I know why they double locked the door."

"I don't- oh." A horrified look came over Sam's face. "Oh come on! Really?"

"Didn't take long did it?" Harry said, pulling a face as if he too thought it were disgusting, and he did. "Come on, let's go up to Gryffindor common room. Maybe I'll find some clothes Ron left in the dorm or something. I'm tired of wearing the same couple shirts and pants."

Sam mumbled all the way up to Gryffindor tower where the fat lady let them in and Harry thoroughly searched the sixth year boy's dorm. He found a pair of pants his size under Ron's bed though they had already been patched four times, along with a stray sock and a winter hat, but the items weren't much use to Harry.

"I'd loan you my clothes, you're small like me, but I'm still taller," Sam said as Harry left the items on Ron's bed.

"I can buy some, I just need to get to my vault. I'd rather spend the money on a broom though. The Dursleys burned mine."

"Sucks," Sam said. "You had that Firebolt too didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you can get the new Lightningbolt, or the Thunderstrike," Sam said.

"The Thunderstrike is for Chasers," Harry said. "It's not as fast but it turns sharper. It's a trick broom."

"Well, the Lightingbolt then."

"One can wish. I think they run fifty galleons a piece. I think clothes need to come first."

Back down in the empty common room, Sam gave the room a good look before he told Harry that he should see the Ravenclaw common room at some point.

"I think we should go to the Slytherin common room and set up a prank or two for when they come back," Harry said.

Sam laughed. "Like what? I doubt that will get us any popularity points with Snape."

"Nobody will know it's us. Wanna go?"

Grinning, Sam said, "We might as well. Who knows when they'll be... done." He finished his sentence with a shudder and Harry pulled a face again.

Because all of the passwords for the common rooms had been reset for the summer, the two boys had no issue getting into the Slytherin common room.

"Posh," Sam joked.

"Ron and I snuck in once with Polyjuice. We sat on that couch there."

"Bit bold isn't it? What if you'd been caught?"

Harry shrugged. "It was Christmas."

After a long look around the common room, the boys decided to go down the dorm hall and found the sixth year boy's dormitory.

"Ok, what should we do?" Sam asked.

Wand out, Harry grinned and found the bed he was sure was Draco's. "Whatever you want," Harry said. Sam laughed, and they set to work before moving into the boy's and girl's bathrooms, and then back to the common room, setting traps wherever they could think to, being sure to leave no trace that it was them.

"I've got one more thing," Harry said. He thought hard about the incantation he thought he'd heard Dumbledore use in the Great Hall once, and then aimed his wand at the Slytherin banners and wall hangings around the room, turning them each in turn to Hufflepuff colors, Sam laughing all the while.

"They'll go nuts," Sam said.

"Yeah but I'm not done yet." Harry placed a time delayed spell on the banners to hide what he'd done, so at the moment they still looked Slytherin, and then followed it with a reversal charm Hermione sometimes used, to make it so that whenever the Slytherins tried to change them, they'd go back to Hufflepuff colors after a few minutes.

Laughing hard together, Harry and Sam left the Slytherin common room and were still laughing down the hall and around the corner when they bumped into Severus and Joanna who had their arms around each other's mid-section. At the sight of them Harry and Sam stopped laughing, but after a glance at each other they started laughing again, causing Severus and Jo to give each other a look.

"Have you been hit with a tickling curse?" Joanna asked, and Sam wiped a tear from his eye. "No, but somebody might," he said, and Harry tried to keep himself from laughing again because his cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

"What have you been doing?" Severus asked.

"Nothing," Harry said.

"Nothing at all," Sam piped in. "So, are you two back together or what? I'm hungry and Harry needs to go to Gringotts."

"Blunt much?" Harry asked.

"We have, much to discuss," Severus said. "Let's get some lunch."

They headed up to the Entrance Hall and out the Great Oak front doors. Harry wasn't sure if things would turn out the way he wanted them to, but for the first time in a long time, he thought that they might turn out all right.