Harry really hated the unexpected, and what was more, he hated it when the unexpected was a truth he'd been keeping from himself. Case in point, he hadn't expected the Dursleys to call the police on him the day after he'd gotten back from his fifth year at Hogwarts. Furthermore, he hadn't expected the police to haul him away and stick him in a cell with three other teenage boys just because an anonymous call had come in about a teenage vandal. The truth was, he should have expected this from his family. He shouldn't have expected to have an easy summer after Sirius death.

After eyeing his cell mates wearily, Harry had sized them up and equated them to people he was already familiar with, as he didn't care for the unfamiliar either. The tallest boy, who was just about as wide as Dudley seemed similar in nature to Draco Malfoy, keeping a keen eye on those around him. Harry wondered briefly what he'd done to end up there, before thinking about what Draco would have done to end up in jail if he were a Muggle. The answer was something sinister, and Harry moved on to the next boy. He was short and scrawny and looked like he'd been through the ringer, with a black eye and cracked upper lip. Harry wasn't sure why he thought about Seamus as he watched this boy. Perhaps it was the fortitude that he seemed to take his situation in with. The third boy hung his head in shame and seemed rather depressed, and wasn't making eye contact with anyone. This teen Harry thought might have been somewhat like himself, and might have ended up here after doing nothing at all.

"You, come here." Harry turned at the sound of a turning key and an older male voice and found a guard unlocking the door.

"Me?"

"Yes." He waited for Harry to come to him and Harry eyed the firearm at his side warily as he moved out of the cell. He couldn't imagine where they were taking him. Surely the Dursleys hadn't come for him so soon after they'd gotten him arrested in the first place? He nearly scoffed then. No, the Dursleys wouldn't come for him at all.

"Where are we going sir?" Harry asked quietly as they walked down a long white hallway away from the juvenile cells.

The guard raised his brows, perhaps at the sir Harry had added on to the end. He couldn't help it. It had been engrained in him since going to Hogwarts.

"I've got more paperwork to fill out on you, and you're going to call your guardians."

"Yes sir," Harry said, uncertainty filling him about who he would call.

If the Weasleys had a phone he would have tried them first, but he knew Mr. Weasley would never be able to pull off his guardian with that red hair of his. Not only that, but Harry didn't want to think about the expression he'd get when the man showed up to bail him out. He really didn't want to be known as 'Harry the convict' to his friends.

He supposed he could call Hermione, he did have her number, but they lived a good four hours off, and he didn't know her parents or if they were the type of people to bail out their child's friends from juvenile detention. Harry doubted that they were, and knowing Hermione's character, doubted that they would lie for Harry about being his guardians.

After being lead into a tiny, cramped office, he was directed to sit in a worn wooden chair. The guard's desk was piled high with paperwork in various shades of yellow, white, and occasionally pink. There was a computer, but it looked old and useless, despite the fact that the man was typing away on it.

"Name?" He asked in a monotone voice.

Hesitating, wondering if he should lie, Harry opened his mouth and said dully, "Harry James Potter," figuring that he didn't have to live in the Muggle world, so it couldn't matter too much.

"Age?"

"16 next month."

"Address?"

"4 Privet Drive Surrey."

They continued on in this vein for some time before the man pointed to a phone on his desk and told Harry to call his parents. He still had not yet come up with an appropriate person to call however. Mind scrambling, he thought he remembered the entire number to Order Headquarters, which was still at Sirius' house. Not that Sirius' pureblood family would have ever allowed a Muggle phone on the premises, but the Order had set one up in case of emergency, especially since there were several members on assignment in the Muggle world at any given time.

He picked up the phone and carefully dialed the numbers, praying that he'd gotten the right phone or else his only call would be wasted. It rang on the other end and that bolstered Harry's hope a little knowing that the call went through somewhere. One ring. Two. Three. Four. Hope slipping away with each ring that went unanswered, Harry was about to hang up when someone on the other end picked up, but said nothing.

"H, hello?" He was uncertain if he had dialed Order headquarters or not.

There was silence for a long moment, and then, "Password?" Harry gulped. He didn't know there was a password. He could tell that he'd gotten Snape on the other end, and stiffened. This man, was in part responsible for Sirius' death a few weeks ago. More than that, he'd given Harry detention on his last night at school for being out of bed after hours, never mind that he was mourning over Sirius.

"This is Harry Potter," he said.

"Password."

Harry glanced up at the guard, who was waiting patiently. He hoped the man didn't want to talk to his parents, because that wasn't going to happen.

With no password to give, Harry hoped Snape would send someone for him. "I'm in jail in Surrey... dad," he practically ground out, seeing the guard's raised eyebrows. "I know mum's on holiday with aunt Minerva, and uncle Albus can't come and get me." He waited for an answer, but none came, not even another bid for a password. Click. Harry sighed and hung up the phone. Snape had hung up on him.

"Well?" the guard asked.

Harry shook his head. "He hung up. I guess he'll be here to get me soon."

"All right, you can go back to your cell." He motioned for Harry to get up, and he did. As they made their way back towards the block of cells, the guard said, "Watch out for the big one. He's in for assault. I'd give you a cell to yourself but they're all full."

Harry looked up at him. "Why would you do that?"

"I checked your record. You're a first timer. Besides that, you don't seem the type to vandalize a park."

"Why'd I get arrested then?"

"A boy your age and his mother said they witnessed the event."

"Oh," Harry said. "Dudley doesn't like me very much."

The man looked down at him in surprise, and Harry's suspicions were confirmed that his cousin and aunt were indeed the ones he had been referring to.

Harry sat down next to the depressed boy and soon after, followed suit, putting his head in his hands as he waited. After two hours, he doubted Snape had taken him seriously and decided that he might have to call Hermione's parents after all, that is if he could get the guard to give him another call. He was just about to stand up and call down the hall to ask for the guard when he heard the heavy metal door open in the distance, followed by a set of footsteps.

They all looked up, hoping to be called out of the cell, but three were to be disappointed. "Your dad is here," the guard said, pointing to Harry. Harry swallowed, but stood up and followed the guard out nonetheless. Mixed emotions welled within him. On the one hand, he was getting out and that was a good thing... perhaps they'd even take him back to Hogwarts or let him spend the summer with the Weasleys. But on the other hand, if it really was Snape that had come to take him away, he didn't want to think about the punishment he'd receive from this man.

Down the long hall again and past the guard's office, Harry was lead to the front desk where an angry looking Severus Snape stood with his arms crossed. He was wearing black slacks and a button up black shirt, but was thankfully without robes.

"Here he is. You'll need picture ID so we can release him to you, and you'll have to sign the paperwork." Snape gave Harry a glare that he shrank back from. Harry averted his eyes as Snape withdrew a Muggle driver's license, presumably a fake one with the last name Potter, and handed it across the counter.

"Ok, just sign these Mr. Potter," the elder woman told him, and Harry looked up to see Snape's rigid form. Oh yes, he would definitely be paying hell for that, Harry thought. The last thing Snape wanted to be called was Potter.

After a few minutes, the forms had been signed and Harry had been released into Snape's custody. Harry kept quiet until they were out on the sidewalk in the bright daylight.

Thinking he should at least thank him, Harry started to apologize, but was cut off.

"Don't- speak- to me." Snape told him in a deadly tone. Harry swallowed and followed him as he hailed a cab. It was a quiet, tense ride back towards the Dursley's house, and Harry frowned. He wasn't really taking him right back to the Dursleys, was he? They'd just call the police on him again. But it was true. The cab pulled up in front of 4 Privet Drive, and Snape got out, giving Harry a look that just dared him to say something, anything at all. Harry clamped his mouth shut again.

At the front door, Snape rapped smartly with his knuckles five times, and then waited. After long moments, the door finally opened to reveal Vernon Dursley.

"What's this?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I am a professor at this boy's boarding school," Snape said sternly. "I have just retrieved him from jail. He was being held for vandalizing a neighborhood park."

Harry wondered briefly if Snape was actually mad at uncle Vernon, but was disappointed to see him smile appreciatively when Uncle Vernon cuffed him about the ear and said, "Inside boy!" through his teeth.

"Thank you. It won't happen again," Vernon said. Harry was behind his uncle and could not see his Professor now, although he heard the man bid goodbye as uncle Vernon closed the door. As he rounded on Harry, Harry shrank back and wished he was still back at the juvenile detention center with the nice guard.

Severus Snape shook his head in disgust. The Potter menace had finally gone and proven his point for him, he thought, as he apparated back to Grimmuald Place. Let the other staff continue to say what a little angel the brat was. He'd produce the paperwork to show that he wasn't and had gone and gotten himself thrown in jail for vandalism. From his pocket he withdrew the fake ID he'd made, and used his wand to incinerate it. The gall, he thought. Being called Mr. Potter. In truth if that snot nosed heir of Potter's was his own child he'd have hided the boy so bad he wouldn't be able to sit for weeks for pulling a stunt like that. No child of his would disrespect other people's property in such a way. At least he was satisfied that Harry would be properly punished for his actions. Dursley seemed to realize the seriousness of Potter's actions when he'd dropped him off. Even more galling was the fact that Potter hadn't expected to be taken back to face his punishments. What, had the boy thought he'd get a vacation with the Weasleys instead? Hardly.

Severus scoffed as he picked up the pile of parchments he'd been working on when the phone had rung hours ago. He'd almost gotten off scot-free because he was on his way out the door when Potter called. He'd seriously considered leaving the brat there as punishment for his juvenile stupidity, but being the only one at headquarters at the time, he knew there was no one else to pass the information along to, and the boy wouldn't have called unless it was a last resort, especially not having the password.

Hand on his hip, Severus set the papers down again and sighed. Dumbledore was out of country, McGonagall was on assignment, and most of the rest of the Order were out in the field. If Potter got into trouble again and called Grimmuald place, there would be no one there. Eyes narrowed, he said to himself, "Damn you Severus. Just see if the little imbecile doesn't ruin your vacation." Grabbing a clean parchment and pen Snape quickly scrawled down a new phone number, knowing he would regret it, and added a quick note at the end, before stomping out the door to look for an owl.

* * *

Cars zoomed by the decrepit neighborhood, and the boy who sat on the crumbling stone wall looking defeated. He'd been out of jail for three days, and all three days he'd wished he'd stayed in.

Harry Potter eyed the payphone that was falling apart a few feet to his left, crumpled parchment in hand. There would be hell to pay if he called that number... Snape had told him so in the note. Harry frowned down at the parchment, wondering why he had sent it at all if he didn't want him to call it. Maybe it was something Dumbledore had made him do, Harry thought. Maybe Dumbledore was on the other end somehow... some fancy bit of magic that would put him through to one of those trinkets in the Headmaster's office. Hm, Harry thought. Perhaps he had smashed the trinket that would make it possible.

With a long sigh Harry looked out over the cracked sidewalk to the people who were passing him by, mostly in run down old cars. He really had no idea where he was. Uncle Vernon had driven him to another city and dropped him in the worst part of town, saying that it was punishment for bringing someone else that was 'unnatural' around the house. Never mind the black eye and broken ribs, and the fact that he'd burned most of Harry's things. Harry really had no idea if his wand was still intact or not. He'd only been allowed to throw a few items of clothing into his backpack before being hurried out of the house.

He'd been walking all morning since he'd been told to get out of the car, and then parked his body next to the phone booth so that he could debate calling Professor Snape.

'Ok', he thought to himself, 'let's weigh the variables. On the one hand Voldemort or a death eater can walk along and find me, or I can call Snape and get my head chewed off.' Hm, that was tough. Thinking he would try again, Harry thought to himself, 'a Muggle can mug me and shoot me, or I can call Snape who will chew my head off and then give me an all summer detention for bothering him again, and then send me back to the Dursleys.'

Harry closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. Truth time. He had no wand, no money, and he couldn't call the night bus because he'd been warned at the end of the school year that Stan Shunpike, who worked for the Knight Bus, was now a death eater. He needed help, because it would be dark in just a few hours.

Dragging himself off the stone ledge, Harry stood and faced the phone, steeling himself to be yelled at. Well, here goes. He dialed the number and waited for Snape to answer, but was surprised when on the third ring a woman picked up and said, "Hello?"

"Um, hello," Harry said uncertainly. "Is Professor Snape there please?"

"Just a moment."

Harry waited. Maybe he'd been given the number to a new Order hideout. He had no idea what they were going to do with Sirius' house now that he was dead. Another thought struck him as well... the thought that he might have just called a Death Eater hideout, since Snape often went undercover and into the ranks, but his thoughts were cut short when Snape answered, "Hello?"

"Professor Snape... I need your help."

Harry heard an audible sigh on the other end, and then an irritated, "What is it this time Potter?"

Biting his lip, Harry was confused when a number of emotions suddenly threatened to overwhelm him. Maybe it was just the day's events finally getting to him, and the fear that he really was going to get shot or captured by death eaters. He felt extremely vulnerable without his wand, and also lacking in control right now.

"I don't know where I am sir. It's not a very good part of town."

"Explain yourself."

Harry glanced down the street as three unsavory teenage boys rounded a corner and one lit up a cigarette. The man would never believe him if he told him his uncle had just dumped him here.

"My family went on vacation sir. They left me with a neighbor, but the neighbor got mad at me during an outing and left me on the side of the road. I'm not even sure what city I'm in."

Harry was sure the man was thinking over the story and trying to detect the lie, as the only response Harry had gotten was silence. After a few more moments however, Snape asked, "What street are you on?"

Harry looked around and then said, "Um... Middle and Park I think." Unexpectedly there was a click, and Harry frowned. He had hung up. Uncertain Harry hung up as well and sat down on the stone wall again, feeling defeated. It was looking more and more like he would need to call the Grangers, although if he couldn't even tell them what city he was in, he doubted they'd be able to find him. He could try to get to a police station, but he had no desire to do that either for fear they'd lock him up again for no good reason.

"Potter."

Harry startled so bad that he nearly fell off the ledge as he turned to find Snape behind him, surveying their surroundings.

"Sir." He couldn't help but feel relief that someone had come for him.

"How long are your family on vacation?"

Harry swallowed. "Three days sir."

"And they left you because?"

"Punishment." Given that the Professor knew he had just gotten out of jail, it seemed a plausible explanation.

"I cannot take you back to a neighbor who would leave you on your own. You will come with me until your family returns."

"Thank you sir." Harry could not remember very many times, if any, that he had actually thanked this man who would seek to torment him, but he truly was thankful for the rescue. Snape glared at him in response, before turning to go towards the dark alley he had apparently come from, motioning for Harry to follow. In the alley, Harry barely had time to think before Snape had grabbed his arm, apparating them away to a strange and unusual place.

They reappeared on a sidewalk in front of a two story house, but made no move to go inside.

"This is not my house Potter. You will behave yourself at all times, and will do explicitly as I say, or you will find yourself without a place to stay for the next three days, do I make myself clear?"

Harry looked up at him, and then to the house. "Yes sir." He wondered why Snape would bring him to a house that wasn't his and then tell him to obey him. Was Snape going to be staying here too?

Leading the way up the walk and front steps, Snape opened the door and Harry followed him in, looking around with some curiosity as he wondered who lived here. The house looked... well, Muggle. There wasn't floral wallpaper or furniture like aunt Petunia liked, but there were Muggle appliances like a phone on the wall, lamps, a radio, and a TV from what Harry could see of the living room through the door.

"We're back," Snape called. Harry half expected some of the Order to come out to greet them, but instead a tall woman with shoulder length brown hair came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"Where did you go?"

Snape stood aside, and Harry found the man's expression curious. He didn't seem as agitated as he had, but seemed, anxious. That was an expression Harry didn't think professor Snape had ever used before.

"This is Harry Potter. His family went on vacation and left him with a neighbor, who then left him in Teddington on the side of a road. They will not be back for three days."

Harry's eyes widened and he could feel his cheeks turning red. He wasn't used to being put on display like that. He wasn't sure if this woman was a Muggle yet either and so wasn't sure what information he could divulge about himself and his status in the magical world.

"Oh, you must be hungry Harry. We already ate lunch, but I'll make you a sandwich. Sam is upstairs if you want to go up while I'm making you lunch. I'm Joanna by the way, but you can call me Jo."

Harry looked to Snape expectantly, but he was choosing not to look at Harry at the moment, or say anything.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, stepping forward to shake her hand, before asking, "Sam?"

"He's my son. You probably know him. He's in your year in Ravenclaw.

Harry gave a nod. He knew of a boy named Sam Heywood, but they'd never actually spoken. "Thank you," he said, and she gave him another warm smile.

"Up the stairs and to the right. You can sleep in Sam's room until your family gets home from vacation."

Harry smiled then and thought that it was awful nice of Snape to bring him here. He hurried up the stairs, but turned to wave goodbye to his Professor only to find himself frozen at what he saw. Joanna had moved in close to Snape and was giving him a gentle kiss on the lips as she held his face in one hand. As they pulled away from each other, Harry feared being shouted at for watching, and continued to bolt up the stairs.

Heart beating erratically (the bat of the dungeons had just kissed a person after all... a really pretty person), Harry saw a partially open door to the right. Feeling out of place in somebody else's home, Harry knocked and the door swung open to reveal Sam Heywood lying on his stomach on his bed reading a magazine.

Sam looked up and said, "Uh, hello."

Harry raised a hand in a silent wave. "Um, your mum told me to come up. Er... Professor Snape brought me here."

"Oh, well, better come in then before he tries to bond with you or something."

"Sorry?"

Sam waved him in and Harry came in and closed the door.

"Here." Sam tossed the magazine to Harry and then grabbed another off his night stand, before sitting down cross legged on the floor. Harry did the same.

"You must be the reason he was all agitated the other day. He came home and wouldn't tell mum what the issue was, only that he'd had to deal with a student."

"That would be me," Harry said. He glanced down at the magazine and saw that it was the Quidditch Gazette. He didn't subscribe to this one, but he'd seen Seamus with it in the common room before. "So, Professor Snape..."

"Lives here now," Sam supplied. "Moved in over Easter holiday a few months ago."

"Because he wants you to serve an all summer detention?" Harry asked awkwardly.

Sam laughed. "Almost. He's engaged to my mum."

Harry choked then and Sam nodded. "That's nothing. What's weird is having Professor Snape in your home 24/7 trying to 'bond' with you."

"I didn't know that was possible," Harry said then, and Sam nodded.

"It is. I'm ok with them dating and whatever, but I don't want to go fishing with him, or go into town to get ice cream with him."

Harry sighed then. It was like he'd just discovered a rip in the fabric of the space time continuum. The world for Harry Potter was officially on its head. Needing time to think things over, namely the fact that Snape was human and was dating Sam's mom, who may or may not be Muggle, Harry pretended to read the magazine until Joanna came up with a sandwich and two fizzy drinks, one for him and one for Sam.

After she left, Harry said, "Your mum said I could sleep in your room until I go back to my house in a few days. Is that ok?"

Sam nodded and said, "Yeah, a cot pulls out from under my bed. They'd probably give you the guest room, but my cousin stays there sometimes when he's in the area."

"Your cousin?"

"He works for The Falmouth Falcons. He's the team manager."

"I love the Falcons," Harry said.

"I get free tickets to all the games. My cousin Jason is in charge of travel arrangements and scouting for new talent."

"I wouldn't mind joining a team after I graduate. Do you play?"

"Nah," Sam said. "My friend Thomas plays for Ravenclaw, but I don't have a fast broom. I'm into some Muggle sports though."

"Is your mum a Muggle?"

"My dad was. Mum graduated a few years after Professor Snape."

They were quiet for a few moments before Sam said, "I have an extra bike. Want to go ride around? If I stay up here too long Snape will try to get me to play a board game or something."

Harry snorted despite himself then and said, "Yeah, let's go."

It turned out that Sam knew how to do several tricks on his bike, including jumping it up and down off of curbs and rails. Harry was impressed. From what he had seen of Sam at school, he had thought of Sam like he thought of Neville: awkward and often ignored by the 'in' groups.

"Is this what you do all summer then when Snape isn't pestering you?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess. Not many people here like me. I had a black eye like yours last summer from Avery Hightower. He lives in the house on the other side of the sports park. Who pummeled you?"

Harry eyed the raven haired boy on the other bike for a moment. He felt at ease around him like he did Ron, and wondered if he could tell him the truth.

"My uncle. Don't tell anyone though."

"Is that why Snape went and got you?" Sam seemed concerned.

"No. I was in jail and he got me out. My cousin lied to the cops and said I vandalized the park. I didn't have anyone else to call. Then Snape took me home and my uncle was mad. They don't like magic. They don't like Snape."

"Oh. Then why'd he go back for you?"

"They dumped me on the side of the road."

"And you're going back?"

Harry shrugged. "It'll be ok. Only a couple of months until school starts. They'll be there when I get back."

Sam gave him a sideways glance then, and Harry pointed at him. "You can't tell anyone. You know Snape doesn't like me. He'll think I'm making it up and then I'll get in trouble for causing a fight between him and your mum."

"I did see him give you detention last year for not having your tie done up right."

"Nobody ever taught me how," Harry said as they began to pedal back to Sam's house.

Sam flashed him a wicked grin. "Maybe he can spend his time bonding with you showing you how to do a tie instead of pestering me all day long."

"Blech," Harry said, laughing. It hurt his eye to smile to wide. It felt good to tell someone the truth though.

Dinner was an awkward affair that night, Harry seeing Snape being so normal. It only got worse when Joanna asked Harry what had happened to his eye. Harry flashed Sam a glance but Sam was determinedly looking at his candied carrots. Good, Harry thought, he wasn't going to tell.

"A guy down the street from my house," Harry said. "I guess he decided he didn't like me very much."

That did draw Sam's attention.

"The same thing happened last summer to Sam! I swear, I don't know what some of these parents are teaching their children these days."

Harry felt bad about lying to her, but he didn't have much of a choice did he. He didn't want the negative attention, and he was sure Snape would misconstrue it as him trying to get pity.

After dinner Sam went upstairs to take a shower, and Harry helped clean the dishes off the table. Joanna declined his offer to wash the dishes, saying that Severus was going to help her. With nothing to do, Harry left the kitchen and began to climb the stairs, but paused when he heard his name faintly come back through the kitchen door, and listened hard.

"He's a very nice boy," Joanna was saying.

"One would think," Snape said. Harry could hear dishes rattling as they washed them together.

"Severus Snape, you are really something, do you know that?"

"Oh?"

"You must be if your students look up to you enough to call you for help. He could have called his own head of house."

"Perhaps he just wished to be an annoyance."

"Maybe he just trusted you."

Harry pushed the kitchen door open just an inch to peer inside. Joanna was holding her wet soapy hand up to Snape's cheek and he had his eyes closed. Letting the door close softly, Harry stood there for a moment feeling conflicted. Snape was a normal person, and he still hated Harry. There had to be a reason, and as Harry lay in Sam's room awake that night, the only conclusion he could come to, was that Harry deserved to be hated.

Despite his injured ribs and still sore eye, Harry found himself enjoying his time there with Sam and Joanna for the next two days. Sam taught Harry how to go down a small ramp on his trick bike and Joanna was very kind to him, even giving him some bruise balm for his eye. Unlike Snape, she never had an unkind word for him, although Snape's tongue was rather mellow in her presence, Harry still caught the stern looks he sent his way.

At the end of Harry's third day there, he found himself on the receiving end of one of Snape's cold glares. Harry didn't know why he had to be like that. He thought he had been very obedient and polite during his short time there.

"Potter. It is time to go. Gather your things."

Harry gave a small nod, and said quietly, "Yes sir." He went upstairs and threw his two shirts and pair of shorts into his bag. That's all he had been allowed to take out of the house. He didn't even have any changes of socks or underwear.

Downstairs Snape was waiting for him by the front door along with Joanna and Sam.

"It was good to have you here with us Harry," Joanna told him. "You're welcome back any time, ok?"

"Thank you," Harry said. She gently touched his still bruised eye before stepping away again. Sam gave him a motionless wave, and Harry returned it.

"See you 'round," Harry said, and then followed Snape out the door where he gripped his arm and apparated him away.

The sun was just beginning to set when they appeared on Privet Drive.

"I can get in by myself sir," Harry said.

"There is no car in the driveway."

Harry looked at the driveway and then nodded. "They probably went out for ice cream sir." Snape motioned with his hand for Harry to go to the front door however, apparently not satisfied until Harry was inside.

"Thanks sir," Harry said, and then left him there on the sidewalk as he went up to the front door. He was going to pull out his key, but the door wasn't latched, and he pushed it open, mouth falling a little at what he saw. The house was completely empty. In fact, it looked like there had never been anyone living there at all.

Harry let his bag fall to the floor as he dragged his feet into the kitchen. His wand was there on the floor at an odd angle amongst a burnt pile of what looked like wood and a dozen spent matches. He bent and picked it up and felt the warmth of its magic rush through his fingers. At least it wasn't damaged.

He heard a single knock on the front door and then heard it creak open. Harry let his head fall forward to rest on an overhead cabinet over the counters. The Dursleys had dumped him on the side of the road, and then packed up and moved to who knew where. This was it, he really did have no place to go.

"Potter?"

Harry took several deep breaths before slamming his fist into the cupboard, head still against it.

"Potter," came Snape's voice again after a few moments.

Harry turned, eyes dry, and stared at his Professor.

"Come on." There was no pity in his eyes, but there was no anger in his voice either. Having no place else to go, Harry followed him out of the empty house, and let himself be apparated away, to where, he didn't know.

Severus Snape was not a happy man. That is not to say that in general he was not happy, but rather in the fact that he now had to add Harry Potter to his list of things to contend with. Trying to maintain his close relationship with Jo was a full time job in itself, especially considering that he was at Hogwarts for nine months out of the year. Add to that a future step son that wanted nothing to do with him that he was somehow supposed to bond with, and the ever evolving enigma that was Harry Potter, and he had himself one fantastic looking summer. Or was the word he was looking for dreadful?

It had been two days since he'd returned once again with the Potter brat. Where the child's family had gone, he hadn't a clue. He'd tried to contact Albus, but with no luck, and a trace charm had gotten him nowhere in finding the Dursleys. He really had no desire to talk to Harry and try to figure out where they might have gone, but knew that he didn't want to take care of their responsibility when he had enough of his own.

Keeping his mouth closed about Potter was hard when he was around Jo, who absolutely adored him. Hmpf. At least the boy was keeping himself out of trouble, going out with Sam each day and coming back only for meals. He would bet his Gringott's vault that the brat was trying to turn Sam against him. It wasn't that Sam didn't like him like most of the other students. The teen was too easy going for that. It was more that he didn't want to get to know him at all. How was he supposed to please his future wife by getting to know her son when he was gone all the time, and with Potter no less! Just another new member of the Harry Potter fan club.

Severus sighed. No, there was nothing for it. He would have to find the Dursleys, or else his summer holiday would be ruined with a three month long headache.

Harry watched as Sam helped his mom and Snape make dinner, and felt out of place. He knew that Sam didn't care to have anything to do with Snape, but the three of them were still there laughing together. Yes, Snape was laughing. Ron would never believe him.

"Would you like to chop these carrots Harry?" Joanna asked him suddenly, and Harry looked up, first at her, and then at Snape. He could tell Jo felt sorry for him, his family having just up and left him like that, but Snape didn't. He felt more than saw Snape's icy look, and said quietly, "If you'd like."

She gave him a smile. "You don't have to, but we try to prepare our family meals together."

Harry moved forward to get to the kitchen island where the bag of carrots sat, but Snape cleared his throat. "Mr. Potter. Have you finished all of your summer homework yet?"

Grabbing his arm Harry said, "No sir. They burned my books."

"Perhaps you should borrow Sam's then and get started so that you're not behind this fall. I would hate to see you start the year off on the wrong foot."

Eyes dropping momentarily, Harry said quietly, "Yes sir," and then went upstairs to Sam's room.

Yes, Harry could definitely tell that he'd intruded on his Potion Master's private life and was not welcome. A minute later though and Sam had come up the stairs behind him.

"I haven't done any of mine either," he said. "School's barely been out two weeks."

"I didn't really feel like doing it anyway," Harry said.

"Oh... yeah. I heard about the whole dark lord thing at the ministry... and your godfather."

Harry plopped down on his cot and let his head fall back against Sam's bookcase.

"Want to go bike riding after dinner?"

"Sure." Before he'd been on Sam's bike he'd never owned a bike before. He'd fixed up one of Dudley's old broken down bikes once and learned to ride, but uncle Vernon had sold it as 'payment' for Harry living there. Harry knew that Sam's second bike wasn't his, but it was nice to be able to pretend it was.

Snape was taking Sam and Jo out for ice cream, and Sam had invited Harry. Snape didn't seem pleased at all, but Harry was thankful that Sam made him not feel so out of place. Harry thought that while his new friend was quirky, he was very smart. A good match for Hermione if she hadn't already laid eyes on Ron some time ago. Maybe it was just because Sam already knew some of Harry's truths that he felt like the Ravenclaw could see through him sometimes.

"What flavor do you like Harry?" Jo asked him when they reached the ice cream parlor. They had walked even though Joanna had a Muggle car, because it was a nice evening, and Harry was ready to cool off with some ice cream.

"Chocolate chip mint," Harry said.

"Eew," Sam laughed. "I want pistachio with a scoop of bubblegum and a scoop of peanut butter.

"Now that's gross," Harry said.

"No, see, you've got to marry the flavors together."

As the server started to dish up Harry's ice cream cone, Snape gave him a look that just dared him to ask for three scoops like Sam had, and Harry looked down, quietly thanking the server when he handed him the ice cream cone.

Snape had been doing all he could to make Harry feel out of place since bringing him back from the Dursley's empty house. That was days ago, and Harry was sure that in his spare time the man was thinking of ways to be rid of him. Harry supposed he wouldn't mind going to the Weasley's, but they might not have room for him. Ron had written saying that two cousins had come to stay with them for the summer.

As they began their walk back through the quiet downtown area as the sun began to set eating their ice cream, Sam said, "Hey Harry, let's go see who's at the sports park. Sometimes after it gets dark the good riders come out."

"Be home in a couple of hours," Joanna said. Harry looked over to Snape to see if it was ok, but Snape was holding Joanna's hand as she ate her ice cream, and was determinedly not looking at either of the boys.

"C'mon," Sam said, and Harry followed him down the street as it continued to get darker.

As they walked towards the sports park, both boys with their hands in their pockets, Sam said quietly, "He really does hate you, huh?"

"I guess," Harry said dully.

"What'd you do to him?"

Harry shrugged. "Ron's dad told me once that Snape liked my mum in school. I know he hates my dad. He's always saying how I'm just like him whenever he's about to punish me."

"Well that sucks."

Harry shrugged again. "Well normally I only see him at school. He did rescue me twice this summer."

A light breeze picked up and blew through their hair. "You never said what happened when you came back."

"My aunt and uncle were gone. They moved everything out of the house."

"They didn't even leave a note?"

"I told you, they don't like me. They hate magic."

"That sucks too," Sam said. They were quiet for a while as darkness finally fell over them and they came to the entrance of the sports park. There were teens on skateboards and trick bikes all over the place. Sam had brought Harry here a few times in the day, but they'd only ever seen a few others there.

"Oh great," Sam said as they went through the gate.

"What?"

"Avery Hightower is here."

"The one who hit you last year?"

"My mortal enemy," Sam said with a light laugh.

"Well he doesn't have a wand," Harry said, sizing him up. He was tall and blond much like Draco, but his face was full and his muscles were big. He was riding a shiny new bike and was flanked by five guys their age and a couple of girls. They looked like they came from the better side of town.

"He can't ride, I don't know why he's here. His dad is a lawyer," Sam commented. "We went to the same primary school before I left for Hogwarts, and he wasn't nice then either.

As if sensing that he was being talked about, Avery looked up from across the park where he sat haughtily on his bike in the bright lamplight.

"That can't be good," Sam said, and was ready to turn and head back for the gate, but Harry was too used to standing his ground by now, and besides, Avery was riding over to them now.

"What's up Sammy boy? Or should I say mamma's boy? Where's your bike? Didn't want to bring it out to play with the big boys?"

"Right," Sam said, "because you can ride that bike your dad bought you when you threw a fit for a new one. Old one have a little scratch on it?"

Avery stepped off his bike and let it drop to the concrete. "What did you say you little puke?"

"I think he said you suck at riding," Harry said then, drawing attention to himself. The other riders in the park had stopped to watch the scene unfold.

"Yeah? And who are you? Never seen you around here before. Heywood go and find himself a new boyfriend at that boarding school his mum sent him to?"

"Nope," Harry said, "just a friend." He stepped in between Avery and Sam then and was face to face with the taller boy.

"You're asking for it punk."

"Yup." Harry didn't know why he did what he did next. Maybe it was because he was tired of being pushed around and stepped on by people like Draco and Dudley and uncle Vernon. Maybe it was his chance to get back, for him and Sam, even if Avery wasn't the face of the ones who had bullied him. Without really thinking about it however, Harry reeled back and punched Avery square in the nose, the first punch he'd ever thrown in his life, and turned tail with Sam and ran.

"I'm going to kill you two little shites! Get 'em!"

Harry looked back just long enough to see Avery with blood all over his face chasing after them with the five guys that had been crowded around him when they'd arrived. With the exception of one of them, the other four were also big muscled, and apparently very fast even on foot.

"That was awesome!" Sam shouted as they took a turn and ran towards the industrial part of town. "But they're going to kill us!"

"I try not to think about that part," Harry panted as they ran, "just run!"

The other boys catching up with them was inevitable however as some of them were on bikes. Before Harry and Sam could make the tall metal fence they had intended on escaping over, Avery was dumping his bike in front of them and two other boys were dropping their bikes behind them.

"You broke it you little f*** head. My nose is broken. Plan on me doing worse."

Harry and Sam got back to back and Harry said, "Ever fought before? Don't suppose you've got your wand."

"No and no."

"Just keep swinging," Harry said before the three guys were on top of them, pummeling and kicking. Harry never did stop swinging, and he knew he'd done some damage to the others, but he was at a distinct disadvantage already having broken ribs from uncle Vernon that had not yet been healed. A car driving by with its headlights on scared Avery and his friends away, who picked up their bikes and rode off into the night, leaving Harry and Sam laying there on the cold hard concrete.

"Does it always hurt this much?" Sam asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Always."

"Sucks."

"Yeah."

Harry and Sam pulled themselves up off the concrete and limped back towards Sam's house, Harry's arm around Sam's neck for support because he was having trouble breathing with his added injuries.

"Think your mum will be mad?" Harry asked as they finally started up the walk to the house.

"Um... it's a distinct possibility," he said. "Not at us though, at them."

"Snape's a different story though," Harry said as they pushed the door open.

They could hear the TV on in the living room and assumed that both adults were there on the couch together.

"Mum, a little help?"

Joanna and Snape appeared in the entryway a moment later and Joanna gasped, rushing to Sam. He had a brilliant black eye, a bruise on his cheek, and scratches up his arms from where they'd scraped the pavement.

"What happened to you?"

"Hightower and his friends. It's ok though, we got them back this time."

"How? By getting beaten up?"

"No, me and Harry walloped them. Harry broke Avery's nose."

She turned her attention to Harry now, who was leaning on the wall for support now being in great pain from his ribs and labored breathing.

"You helped Sam fight those boys?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Thank you." She moved forward and touched his face just above where there was a gash, and then ushered them both into the kitchen so that she and Snape could tend to them. Jo was spending most of her time taking care of Sam's injuries, which left Harry with Snape. It was awkward to say the least.

"Broken ribs Potter? How is it that you always sustain the worst injuries from the most minor of scuffles?"

Sam and Harry gave a sideways glance at each other. They both knew that the ribs had been broken before the fight.

Both boys covered in bruise balm and having been given a pain potion (and two healing potions in Harry's case) they were sent up the stairs to bed to rest, Jo in a rage about other people's children doing harm to her child.

Once they reached Sam's room, Harry realized that he was very thirsty, and wondered if it was an effect of one of the potions. He went back down the stairs, but paused outside the kitchen door, aware that he was being talked about just inside again.

"All I'm saying is that he doesn't have to be our problem Jo."

"He helped Sam tonight Severus. Why send him away? Do you really think an orphanage is the right place for him?"

"The boy likely started the fight in the first place. You don't know him like I do. If I had had another choice in the first place I would never have brought him here. Mark my words Joanna. If he stays, there will be more trouble."

"He seems very polite to me..."

Harry had bolted back up the stairs and into Sam's room, where he stood out of breath and feeling panicky.

"What?"

Harry looked over to where Sam was laying on top of his covers.

"They're sending me away... to an orphanage. Snape is downstairs talking your mum into it now."

"My mum wouldn't do that."

Harry shook his head. "But Snape would, and he's going to."

"Well what are you going to do?"

Harry moved to his bag and threw his few pieces of clothing into it along with his wand. "Running away," he said. "I doubt an orphanage will let me return to Hogwarts in the fall."

Sam sat up now with a grimace, still in some pain. "Running to were?"

"I don't know. The Weasley's maybe. I can stay in their shed or something. Ron will hide me."

"Don't they live in Ottery St. Catchpole? That's a long ways off."

Harry stood straight now, bag over his back, and considered the second story window he would have to climb out of.

"I'll make it," he said.

Harry went to the window and lifted it, but Sam grabbed his arm. "Wait... I have a better idea. And I'm going with you."

Harry looked into his new friend's eyes, and gave a nod.

"Just so long as we go tonight."

Harry held tight to his back pack strap as they stepped out of the Magi-Cab and Sam started pulling the two bikes out. He'd been surprised about the Knight Bus, but he never thought to ask if there were magical cabs.

"That's 5 Sickles each you two," the driver said. He reminded Harry of Mr. Weasley because of his red hair, and because he chatted amiably with them on their ten minute ride cross country. Harry, suddenly remembering that he had no money in his pocket, looked up at Sam wide eyed. Sam however was digging ten Sickles out of his bag and handing it to the cab driver.

"Thanks," Harry said. "I'll pay you back. I just have to get to my vault at Gringotts."

"Won't be able to go there unless you want to get caught, remember? That's ok though, if Jason hires us on then he'll pay us good money."

Before their hurried climb out of Sam's bedroom window and then into the garage to grab the bikes, Sam had revealed his plan to Harry: They would go to Falmouth and get his cousin Jason, the Falmouth Falcon's team manager to hire them on for the summer as an equipment handler or something of the sort. Sam had assured Harry that Jason would keep quiet about where they'd gone.

"Which way is it then?" Harry asked, the cab driver having driven off.

"It's across town. That's why we brought the bikes. But Jason lives down the street. C'mon."

It was almost two in the morning when they walked the bikes up to Jason's front door and knocked.

"Will he be angry to get woken up?"

"He probably didn't go to sleep yet."

"Hm."

Inside a light flipped on and they heard footsteps, before Jason opened the door. Sam had been right, he didn't look like he'd been to sleep yet.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Helping a friend," Sam said. He motioned to Harry who extended his hand.

"Your friend is Harry Potter? It looks like you two beat each other up." He stood aside so they could come in, and they made their way into the apartment. Harry noted that it looked like there was only one bedroom door down the hall from the living room.

"No, we stood back to back as Avery Hightower and his friends tried to kill us."

"Oh man, again? You just wait until I get back there," Jason said, shaking his head. Harry thought Jason was probably about 25 years old, maybe a little younger.

"Nice to meet you by the way Harry," Jason said, holding out his hand. "I heard you play a decent game of Quidditch. Maybe when you graduate we can talk about a spot with the Falcons."

"Well," Sam said, plopping down onto the couch. Harry took a seat in a small recliner, bag still over his shoulder. He was not yet sure if Jason was going to let them stay or not. "That's what we're here about," Sam said. "We wondered if you'd hire us on for the summer. We'll clean up the stadium, haul equipment, sell tickets, whatever you want."

"A summer job huh? Well, the janitor just quit. He didn't like the wages."

"We'll take it," Sam and Harry said together.

"It's only ten sickles a week each. It's hard work."

"That's ok," Harry said. "I'm used to hard work."

Jason nodded. "I'm guessing aunt Jo doesn't know you're here?"

"We'd kind of like to keep it that way," Harry said.

"I did leave a note. I told her we were fine and staying someplace safe." Sam put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the couch.

"I'll make you a deal," Jason said. "I understand that you want to get away from your mum's new fiancé, but it's not nice to keep her worried like that. You can stay a week Sam, but then you've got to call and tell her where you are, or go home."

"What about Harry? He's got no place to go. His family moved without telling him where."

Jason looked at Harry but Harry was turning red and looking away. "He can stay," Jason said finally. "You guys can sleep on the couch and the floor out here. I'll get my sleeping bags out of the closet. But there's a couple rules."

Harry and Sam looked up at Jason, and Harry could tell that Sam thought his little vacation was going to be ruined by whatever rules his cousin would have for him.

"Rule number 1: You both shower every night. Some of those Quidditch players don't shower and I hate smelling them. You're going to be doing manual labor all day, so showers are mandatory."

Harry laughed then, feeling a little relieved for some reason.

"Rule number 2: You eat free, but you guys are cooking while you're here."

"I can cook," Harry said. "I did all the cooking at home."

"Rule number 3: You two are underage, and I can't legally have you sign the wavier saying that if you die in the stadium it's not our fault. That means you stay on the ground. If I see either of you in the air, you're both fired and going straight back to aunt Joanna."

"Got it," Sam said. "Don't stink, cook all your meals, stay on the ground."

"Good," Jason said. "Ok, well, I was about to head to bed when you two showed up. I'll grab the sleeping bags for you though." He went down the hall to his room, and Sam and Harry looked at each other.

"This might actually work," Sam said.

"Never run away before?"

"No. You?"

"No. Let's just hope it works out the first time."

"Definitely."

***

"I don't understand. Where could they have gone? Why did they leave?"

Severus ran a hand through his hair, something he was unaccustomed to doing. He had a serious problem here. It was his fault the brat had been brought into the house, and he was positive that Potter had lead Sam off into some hair-brained and dangerous scheme; therefore it was his fault that Sam was gone. There was no denying it. Potter had to have caused this.

"I am sure Potter convinced him of some imminent task they must complete. I do not know where Potter would take him or why."

Jo looked back down at the note still in her hand. "Sam said it was his idea and that they were fine. I just don't understand why they left."

Very clever Potter, Severus silently congratulated the insolent child. Get your unsuspecting friend to take the blame off of you.

"I only know of a few places Sam would go. He might have gone to see Thomas or Luke. Thomas lives in Greenrock and Luke lives in Sheffield. He might also have gone to see Jason. He should be in Falmouth, but his girlfriend plays for Puddlemere United, so Jason might be there. I'll check with Sam's friends and you check around to see if they're with Jason. I'll send an owl if I find anything." She left the room without kissing him goodbye. That hadn't happened in a long time. It wasn't often that Jo was upset enough, or angry enough to walk out on him like that. Her son was in danger though... and Severus was sure Potter was in the center of it. No, it didn't matter what Jo had said. The when they found him, he'd be going to stay somewhere else. An orphanage, another Order member, Hogwarts... anywhere but there, putting Sam and Jo in danger and endangering his relationship.

***

"Ok, put it there."

Harry dropped the heavy bag of equipment he'd been carrying over his shoulder into the pile in the hot sun where Jason had told him to.

"All right. That's your job for the next few days then Harry. You bring out all the old equipment, salvage what you can, clean it, repair it, and put it back in the equipment room by size and purpose. Whatever is left, I want you to repair the best you can and put back in the bags and we'll donate it to Hogwarts."

Harry nodded.

"I've got Sam cleaning the bleachers. It should take him the whole week. Our next game is Friday, so maybe if you get done a little early you can help him. It needs to be nice for the fans.

"Ok," Harry said. He shielded his eyes then and looked up into the bleachers, spotting Sam picking up trash and putting it into a bag.

This job didn't seem so bad, he thought. In an hour or two the Falcons would be coming out to practice and he'd get to watch while he worked. Granted he still had about fifty bags of equipment to bring out, but he had a few days to finish. He didn't have to carry it all out today.

At lunch time Jason signaled to Harry to take a break, and he met Sam in the stands.

"Jason said we can eat from the crew cart they bring in for the team since we're staff now," Sam told him.

"Sounds good," Harry said. "I'm hot and starving."

"Me too. After work we should go swimming."

"Jason won't care if we go out?"

"Wasn't in the rules, remember?"

Harry laughed. This was much better than an orphanage.

The Falcons it turned out were a pretty decent group of guys. There were no girls on the team at the moment. The last one they'd had quit to work for the Ministry after a few years. A lot of them seemed interested in Sam and Harry, and a few tried to get them up into the air for a match, but Jason told them off.

"Oh come on, we'll sign for them," Andrew, the Keeper told him.

"I don't think so. Not unless you plan on adopting them."

"Well I can adopt Potter can't I?" He ruffled Harry's hair, but Harry tried to flatten it out again. All those years thinking about being adopted, he didn't plan on being adopted by someone just a few years older than him... or one that didn't shower after working out.

After work, Sam and Harry went back to Jason's apartment and grabbed their bikes.

"Hey," Harry said. "Won't your mum know to look for you here?"

"Probably," Sam said. "But didn't you see the note on the door?"

"No."

"Jason's girlfriend is in Puddlemere. She plays Chaser for the team there. I put that he was going to be gone for a week to see Jenny."

"In your own handwriting?"

"The two are eerily similar," Sam told him. "Both are just scribbles. Should work out."

Harry shook his head. Maybe they would get away with it after all. Besides, Harry was sure Snape was glad to be rid of the two of them.

"Hey Sam?" Harry asked as they rode their bikes to the stream Sam wanted to swim in.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you come with me?"

Sam shrugged as they glided down the street. "Dunno. I'm ok with 'ol' Snape dating my mum I guess. He's ok. But I don't want to be his buddy, you know? It's not like he's trying to get to know me because he wants to. It's only because he has to because he's dating my mum. Good to get away." What Sam wasn't saying was that it made him even more uncomfortable for Snape to get to know him when he was so blatantly ignoring Harry.

Harry thought that was Sam's motivation too, but didn't comment. He was just thankful that Sam had come with him. He missed Ron dearly, but Sam was a good friend too. One he was glad to have.

***

Severus Snape was irritated. He hadn't seen or heard from Jo in three days and wasn't sure if she was still traveling the country talking to Sam's friends or not. He dared not go back to the house for sleep without Sam in tow, and so had spent the night on Spinners End, a place he had hoped never to return to after moving in with Joanna. To add one sour mood onto another, he'd been to Jason's house but had found a note saying that he was in Puddlemere. Severus scoffed now as he traveled back to Falmouth. He'd spent a day and a half in Puddlemere just trying to locate Jason's girlfriend, and once he'd found her she said she hadn't seen Jason in a few weeks. Oh, it made him want to growl. If ever there was a time, it would be now. It was obvious that the boys had written the note to throw him off the trail. Yes, Potter would be paying dearly for this.

Sure enough, the note was still on the door, and Severus squinted at it more closely this time, sure now that he recognized Sam's r's and his m's. He rapped on the door for several minutes, and when no one came out he was tempted to break in, but decided to try the Falcon's Pitch first.

It wasn't hard to find. It was like Diagonalley, right there in the middle of the city behind some shops in a magical space, but completely hidden from Muggle view.

There were no guards seeing as there wasn't a game today, so he strode right in.

Some of the Falcon team members were up in the air throwing a Quaffle around in the sunshine, and others were on the ground inspecting equipment or talking with their trainers. Keen eyes swept the Pitch and stands for Sam and Potter, but the first boy they fell on was Potter, carrying a heavy sack over his shoulder and throwing it into a pile of similar bags. He was surprised the brat was willing to do manual labor.

Severus suppressed the urge to stride over to Potter and grab his ear in favor of looking for Sam instead. His eyes found him talking to someone, possibly Jason, across the pitch. Joanna's priority was Sam, so his had to be too. He headed for Sam, unaware that he was being watched.

Harry's heart plummeted. Snape had found them and was currently striding over to Sam. He watched closely as Sam turned and gave the man a smile. Had Sam told him they were there? No... no he wouldn't have.

Dropping the Quaffle he'd been polishing, Harry stood and started to move sideways along the pitch wall. He didn't want to go to an orphanage. He wouldn't. Wasn't it bad enough he had no parents? He didn't think he'd survive in an orphanage... the ultimate display that nobody on earth wanted you.

Once he was out of Snape's line of sight, Harry ran as hard and fast as he could. He ignored Sam's bike leaning there on the wall outside the Pitch and ran until his lungs hurt and legs felt weak. He didn't know where he was going, only that he didn't want to be found.

***

Sam was at home with Jo, getting a stern talking to that Severus did not want to undertake. It didn't matter that Sam would soon be his adopted son, he knew better than to try to discipline a woman's child when said child was not his own. No, he'd simply taken the boy back after owling Joanna. His attention was now solely on Potter, who had run off again. Damn. He should have gone for Potter first because he was the real flight risk.

Severus had already checked with the Weasley's, the Granger's, the Lovegood's, and Hogwarts to no avail. He'd even looked on Diagonalley and enquired at Gringotts to see if the boy had tried to withdraw any of his money.

Stop for just a minute and think Severus, he told himself, standing in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron. Where would Potter really go? He obviously doesn't want to be found, so the Weasleys should have been out from the start. There was one place he hadn't thought to look yet... the one place he was sure Harry wouldn't go. It was worth a try anyway. He would rather let Potter be anywhere than in his care, but he had to be sure he was safe. Voldemort was back in power and on the move, and Potter's life was in danger wherever he went, if not from Voldemort then from himself. Idiot child.

On the steps of Four Privet Drive, Severus narrowed his eyes at the front door. It was ajar, but only just. Potter must be in there, but why? Why would he go back when they had left him there?

Cautiously Severus pushed the door open and peered inside as the sun was setting behind him. Immediately his eyes fell on a slumped form there in the hallway, back against the wall.

"Potter."

Harry's breath hitched. No, he wasn't sleeping, he was sitting there in despair.

The boy looked up, tears in his eyes. He'd run off from the Falmouth Pitch two days ago and here he was crying on the Dursley's floor.

"Please," Harry said, voice choked.

"Please what Potter?" Severus asked a little more gentle then he thought it was going to come out. He was tired, that's what it was. Tired and feeling very old.

"Please don't send me to the orphanage." It came out as barely more than a whisper, and Severus faltered. He'd run away because he'd overheard them talking about the orphanage? This was his fault?

Severus swallowed. Harry had already been dumped by one family. He didn't want to be dumped by another. Is that why he came back to this place? Or was it because, he came back to the only thing he knew?

"Come on Potter. Let's get you back to the house."

Harry swallowed. "I don't want to go to the Orphanage."

"We're not. I was... frustrated. I will not let you be put in an orphanage." He held his hand down to Harry, who warily took it and let himself be pulled up. He was hungry and tired and felt emotionally drained. If he could just go to sleep for a few days...

Severus apparated them back to the house. He'd never seen Harry like this before, and it unsettled him. It wasn't that Potter was crying or looked like he was about to fall over. It was that for the first time in his life, he felt like he was really seeing Harry Potter. It was unsettling, and that was all he could say about it, although he never did say anything at all.

Harry looked up at Sam briefly from his spot on the floor, feeling defeated. He was uncertain and felt like his emotions were betraying him. Harry wasn't even sure why he was feeling so... unsettled. No, he did not want to go to an orphanage, and so he had run, but in truth he knew it was more than that, he just wasn't sure what. There was that unexpected truth again, knocking at his brain waiting to be let out.

"Back to the Dursleys," he said quietly, hand tangled in his hair.

"I thought you said they left."

"I just sat in the empty house."

"It was a couple of days," Sam said. "Professor Snape dropped me here and then went back out for you. Mum was having a fit."

"Yeah," Harry said. "I reckon she'll be coming up telling me to leave soon."

"Leave? She was having a fit over you still being missing."

Harry frowned. Why would she care? He wasn't officially in Joanna's charge, he was just by a happy circumstance there rather than in jail or at the Dursleys for the summer.

"She knew she could find me eventually, but she had no idea where to look for you. Good thing Snape knew where to look."

With a heavy sigh, Harry pulled his hand down over his face. "I think I just wanna go to bed," he said.

Sam stared at him for a moment, obviously wanting to talk more about this, but nodded. "Ok," he said. He watched as Harry lay down on his cot and rolled over so that his back was to him. Harry was aware that he was being watched, but didn't care. He didn't really want to go to sleep (well he sort of did because he was emotionally exhausted), but really he wanted to think about the emotions that kept trying to rise up in him.

When Snape had come for him... found him alone at the Dursleys, Harry had felt panicked, but also relieved. He understood the panic. He didn't want to be hauled off to some orphanage. But relief he was still struggling with. Why was he relieved? As Harry drifted off to sleep, he felt the answer came to him, though he still wasn't sure what to make of it. He was relieved that Snape had come for him. He was the only one who ever did, be it to the jail, the side of the road, or back to a lonely house that still left a gaping hole in Harry's heart. Why was it that Snape kept coming for him? Those were times he'd come for Harry, not Sam... just Harry.

* * *

Sam sighed, drawing Harry's attention over to him. He'd just sat up in bed feeling groggy, but Sam was already up and putting on a dirty tan vest and blue baseball cap.

"Where are you going?"

"Fishing," Sam said in a tone that said he wasn't happy about it. "Mum's making me. I guess I'll be back by lunch though."

"She's making you?"

"Snape asked me last night after you went to bed. There's a creek not far from here." He paused and put his hands on his hips. "Just me and Snape... all day. All... friggen... day."

Harry stared at him blankly. He was getting to go fishing. What was there to complain about? Harry had never been fishing before. Uncle Vernon took Dudley once a week all summer, but Harry was always made to stay back and do chores.

"Well, wish me luck, eh?"

Harry threw his hand up and gave a still wave. "Luck," Harry said, not feeling in the mood to put up with Sam's complaining this morning and thinking that perhaps it was a good thing that his friend would be gone until lunch, although a part of him longed to go.

"Ok, I better go. Mum will still be here. I think she's downstairs cooking breakfast for you."

"Bye Harry said."

Sam gave another sigh as he faced the closed bedroom door, as if bracing himself and yet resigning himself to a difficult day, and then disappeared into the hallway.

Harry waited until he heard the front door close, and then got up and crossed the hall to the bathroom to take a shower. He felt grimy after not showering for the few days he'd been on the run. Once he was in the shower, Harry didn't want to get out because it felt like a good solitary place for him to mull things over, but he knew that Jo would probably be waiting for him downstairs. It might be awkward being there with someone else's mom by himself, he thought, but steeled himself for the day as he got dressed, and made his way downstairs.

"Good morning Harry," Jo said brightly. "Sleep ok?"

"Ok," Harry conceded. He did sleep, but he didn't know if he slept well or not. His strange emotions had followed him into his dreams where in a bizarre turn of events, Snape actually cared for him. Something that would never happen, he mused, even if the truth was knocking on his brain again telling him that it was a nice enough dream.

"I've made you some bacon and eggs," she said, pointing to the kitchen island. Steam was still rising off of it.

"Thanks." Harry sat down and tried to keep his head down as he ate. Sam had only run away because of him, and Harry was sure that as Snape's future wife, Jo would be taking his side by now in all of this, and would be angry at Harry, even though he hadn't forced Sam to go.

After Harry had eaten as much as he could stomach, (which wasn't much), he helped Jo clean the breakfast dishes, and asked her if it would be all right if he went up to his room to do some more summer homework. Apparently his bag had been retrieved from Sam's cousin's house sometime after he'd left it there in his mad dash for freedom.

Upstairs, Harry didn't pull his homework out, or any of his books. He simply sat on his cot with one foot up so he could put his chin on his knee. What must it be like to have someone falling over themselves to get to know you like Snape was doing to Sam? Must be nice, that was for certain. Harry never saw Sam getting into any trouble with Snape, and it was obvious that if it came to Harry or Sam, then Sam was Snape's priority. He had after all gone after Sam when they'd run away hadn't he?

Harry put his forehead down on his knee and closed his eyes. It didn't seem to matter where he was, he decided, because he was alone wherever he was, and there was nothing more disheartening than knowing a thing like that. At the Dursleys he was rebuked and reviled, tortured even, not to mention neglected. No, there was no one to understand him there, or to care to. At Hogwarts Ron and Hermione tried, and Ginny... Ginny always made an effort to be there with him in time of need, but he was in need now and couldn't go to stay with them because he wasn't really a part of their family either. Blood would win out every time he decided, and even then sometimes it didn't. To the Dursleys he hadn't been blood, but street trash dumped on their doorstep.

What was he here? A guest he guessed. Jo and Sam were nice enough, but Snape was always there breathing down his neck, just waiting for him to do something wrong. He had told Harry that he wouldn't take him to an orphanage, but it didn't really matter, because the man's want to do so was still there. No, Harry was alone in this place too, even though he didn't want to be. Orphanage or not, he was an orphan, and he was beginning to become resided to the fate that as an orphan, he would always be on his own.

Just as Harry was about to doze off with his head against his knee, feeling depressed, there was a knock on the bedroom door, and then it opened to reveal Jo.

"Am I disturbing you Harry?"

Harry looked up and shook his head mutely.

"Can I come in?"

Harry shrugged. It was her house, he reasoned. It wasn't for him to say where she could and couldn't go.

"Harry, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," he said very quietly.

Jo sat down on the edge of Sam's bed, facing Harry's cot across the room.

"Why did you run away?"

"Professor Snape didn't tell you?"

"No. As I've come to find out, he's a private man trying to live in a very public house. He tends to keep things to himself until he feels good and ready to talk about it."

"Oh," Harry said. Sounded familiar, although in his case he didn't talk to people because there was no one to talk to.

"Was it because of something I did?"

Harry's head snapped up. No! How could she think that?

"No maam," he said. "I... I..." he faltered. He didn't feel like discussing it with her. Damn, maybe he was more like Snape than he liked to admit.

"I know it's not an ideal situation for you Harry... being in an unfamiliar place, especially after what your family did. I just want you to know that while you're here this is your home too, and I want you to be comfortable here."

Harry nodded slowly. "Thanks," he said.

Jo looked around the room and saw that none of Harry's homework was out.

"You just wanted some time to think, didn't you?"

Biting his lip, Harry shrugged.

"Well, I didn't mean to intrude on your alone time Harry. Severus and Sam should be back soon. They just went to the creek at the edge of town."

She stood to leave, but before she could make it to the door, Harry reached out his hand and said, "Wait."

Jo turned to look at him, sitting there with a desperate look in his eyes.

"Sorry," Harry said. It was an impulsive move to ask her to wait, and now he had no idea what to say to her next. He didn't want to talk to her anymore, but he also didn't want to be alone. His sour mood that morning had migrated to depression.

After a moment without Harry saying anything, Jo took a step forward and knelt down in front of Harry, looking him in the eyes, before she sat down on his cot next to him and folded her hands in her lap.

Harry was acutely uncomfortable. What did he do now? Was he obligated to talk to her? He didn't know, but she seemed content to wait for him to be ready, which he wasn't by the time they heard the front door open an hour later.

As Jo put her hand on the back of Harry's head and gave him a smile as she stood up, Harry thought, ‘if my mum were still alive, she'd be just like Jo.' He watched her retreating back, and felt alone again in her absence.

* * *

"How was it?" Harry asked as Sam came into the room covered in mud. It looked like he'd had fun, even though he wasn't smiling.

"It was boring," Sam said. "He tried to make small talk. Tried telling me how much he loves my mum and all that. I liked the fishing part."

"Oh," Harry said. "You were gone for like, five hours."

"It was a long five hours."

Harry ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to keep quiet. Sam was really starting to get on his nerves. He acted like having someone wanting to be your father was an imposition rather than a gift. Harry didn't know how Sam's dad had died, but he thought Sam would have been grateful to have someone nice coming to fill the position. No, Snape wasn't nice to Harry, but he was to Sam and Jo. They made a nice family.

"Want to go ride bikes?"

Harry's attention was drawn back to Sam, who had changed into clean clothing now.

"I guess. I've been in here all day."

"What about my mum? What did she do all day?"

Harry froze. What did he tell him? That his mum had spent an hour and a half sitting on his cot with him in silence?

"Don't know," Harry lied. "I saw her at breakfast but then I came upstairs to do homework.

Sam shrugged. "Let's go then. I think Avery has Lacrosse practice right now, so the sports park should be free."

Harry followed, hoping his mood would get better as the day wore on. He couldn't guess that his day would only get worse.

They were out until dinner time, at which point Harry and Sam returned back to the house, where Jo had decided to go out and get Chinese takeout to bring back for dinner. Sam wanted to go so he could choose some of the dishes, leaving Harry and Snape by themselves. Thinking that Snape would rather that Harry just go up to Sam's room for the twenty minutes that Jo and Sam would be gone, Harry ascended the stairs quietly. Before turning to go to Sam's room however, he saw that there were crumbs on the hallway floor, possibly where Sam had eaten a muffin he'd grabbed when they'd gotten back. He knew that down the hall there was a broom closet, and decided that since Jo had done him a kindness that day, he would clean up the mess for her.

Harry jiggled the handle of the broom closet several times, knowing that there was no lock on it but not understanding why it wasn't opening for him. Sam had said they didn't like to use charms on their house since Sam's dad had been a Muggle, so there shouldn't have been any sort of charm on the door.

Finally Harry jiggled the handle in just the right way, and the door swung open. The broom was at the back of the closet sitting inside of a mop bucket. Harry took two steps inside, and as he reached for the broom, his elbow hit the mop handle and it swung back behind him, somehow nudging the door just enough to make it swing closed again.

"Great," Harry muttered. He reached for the handle, but no matter how much he jiggled, it appeared that it wasn't going to budge.

Without his wand, Harry felt very trapped. The closet was barely wide enough for him to walk into without his elbows touching the walls, and it reminded him uncomfortably of another closet in another house, where he had spent hours on end trapped and crying, begging to be let out.

Downstairs, Severus heard a thud directly above him. His eyes climbed to the ceiling. The only one up there was Potter. Perhaps he'd just dropped a book or something. He waited the space of ten seconds and was just about to return to his book, when there was another thud, followed by a crashing sound and several loud bangs.

What on earth? What could he be doing up there? Trashing Sam's room? Severus dropped his book on the couch and ran up the stairs, but Sam's room was empty, and the increasingly loud sounds of something terrible were coming from just down the hall.

Outside the broom closet, he wondered what Harry was doing inside, although as he listened he could hear pants and what sounded like the boy was panicking as he tried to claw his way out.

"Potter?" The banging and crashing only intensified.

Severus reached into his wand sleeve for his wand and cursed. It was downstairs on the end table.

He jiggled the handle from the outside several times to no avail, before calling through the door and the ruckus, "Potter! I'm going downstairs to get my wand, and then I'll be back to get you out."

What emanated from the inside of the room sounded like Potter was being murdered because he was howling so loud. "Noooooooooooooo!" It was a piteous sound like he had been mortally wounded.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Severus jiggled the handle several times, before deciding that the only course of action was to physically force the door open. Without giving the teen inside any warning, he backed up as far as he could across the hall, and then rammed his shoulder into the wood door. The door cracked, but it was still not enough to get the door open. He backed up and tried it again, and then with a third painful ram into the door, it cracked and fell in on itself, revealing the broom closet in shambles, and Potter not much better.

Hair a mess, face red, and tears streaming down his face, Harry scrambled over the remains of the door and out into the hallway. He was shaking.

"Potter - what?"

Harry ran his hands up and down his shoulders several times as if he were cold, staring at the broken down door and then up to his confused Potions Professor.

Breathing heavily for a few moments, Harry finally able to speak said in as nonchalant of a manner as he could, "Er... thanks. For the door I mean."

"What happened?" Severus seemed wary of the boy's reaction to being stuck inside the closet.

"Went in for a broom and got stuck."

"Are you injured?"

Harry shook his head vigorously. His pride maybe, he thought. He had managed to make his hands stop shaking now, but inside he still felt weak and shaky.

Severus was going to ask another question, but just then they heard the front door open and Jo calling up to them to come get the food before it went cold.

Giving another long look at Potter, who was determinedly looking at the ground as he held his shoulder, Severus stepped past him and went down the stairs, returning a minute later with his wand, where Harry watched him repair the door and set the broom closet back into a proper state.

Again Severus gave Harry a looking over, uncertain if the boy was all right, but Jo was calling up the stairs to them again, and he nodded with his head for Harry to go downstairs. At least for dinner, he could keep his eye on the child, trouble that he was.

Sam tried to engage Harry in a conversation about Quidditch over dinner, but Harry was quiet. Snape was quiet too, and Jo gave him a questioning look that Harry didn't miss, but Snape didn't say anything. Maybe he wouldn't? He had repaired the door after all.

"Come on Harry. My new Quidditch magazine just came by owl with the evening post. It dropped it on my head as I came in the door." Harry turned and gave a look to Snape, who looked contemplative, but the man didn't return his gaze, and Harry followed Sam up the stairs.

"Snape doesn't like Quidditch you know," Sam said after laying on his bed on his back for a few minutes perusing the magazine. He'd been reading the headlines off to Harry and then giving him a run down of any important information there might be in each article, unaware that Harry wasn't paying much attention. At the mention of Snape however, Harry rolled his head from where he lay on his back on his cot, to look at Sam.

"Huh?"

"He hates it I think. Mum says he played for Slytherin one year, but I don't believe it. He tries to get me to talk about it but why would I if he hates it?"

"Hm." Harry grunted in response, the only thing he could think to do. He really wasn't in the mood to hear Sam complaining again.

"It's just one thing after another with him. Go fishing with me Sam. Talk to me about Quidditch Sam. Let's go look at new brooms on Diagonalley Sam. Do you want to go for ice cream with your mother and I Sam?" He closed the magazine and tossed it onto his bed, sitting up.

"You'd think he'd get the hint by now that I don't want anything to do with him. He can date my mum, but that's their business. You know?"

Harry rolled his eyes then and said, "No. Not really."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I don't know," Harry said.

"What do you mean? He's a git, you know that. He's always giving you detention."

"But not you," Harry said, sitting up on his cot now too. "He's nice to you."

"That doesn't make a difference."

"Yes it does!" Harry was feeling emotional again all of a sudden, and he didn't know why until the next words left his mouth.

"At least you have a chance at having a mum and dad, so just shut up about it already. He's not perfect, but at least he's trying! You don't see me complaining about something like that, because oh, let's see, nobody's ever tried to be my dad before. I never even got to know my dad or my mum, and here you are complaining about yours. So please, spare me, because I don't have the luxury like you do.

Harry angrily lay back down on his cot and turned his back to Sam, who just sat there feeling like he'd just been unexpectedly stung by a butterfly.

On the other side of Sam and Harry's closed door, they had no idea that a particular Potions Master was feeling confused at the conversation he'd just been eavesdropping on. The more he'd had to deal with Potter this summer, the more the boy was becoming a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Had the boy really just defended him? He understood Sam's reluctance to have his father replaced, but Harry... the son of James Potter, had just alluded to wanting the same chance that Sam was taking advantage of. How isolated and alone he must be feeling to want a new father... to allude to wanting Severus Snape as a new father. The son of James Potter... the orphan of James Potter.

Sam seemed surprised as well when Snape awkwardly asked Harry the next day if he'd like to go fishing with him and Sam at the creek. Despite the things Harry had said to Sam the night before, they shared a look and a shrug at the invitation and Harry nodded. "Ok," he said uncertainly.

Joanna seemed thrilled that Severus was taking both boys, and gave Harry an encouraging look as they left, Harry with a borrowed pole he thought belonged to Sam.

Severus apparated the three of them to a shady spot along a creek that bordered a farmer's pasture beyond ten or fifteen feet of trees. He sat down on a rock and began making his line read to cast in, and Sam did the same thing in silence. Harry wasn't quite sure what to do as he'd never been fishing before, and so he watched intently as he tried to figure out how to tie a hook to his line. It did seem a bit more complicated than simply tying a knot.

Severus was the first to finish and cast his line in, followed quickly by Sam. It was only a moment before Severus looked over to see that Harry was still sitting there with his pole across his lap, line in one hand and hook in the other. Caught watching Severus and Sam, Harry quickly turned back to his own pole and wished he knew what to do so that he didn't feel so out of place.

"What are you waiting for?" Severus asked, although not harshly.

When Harry failed to answer after a few moments, Sam scoffed, perhaps still a little irritated at Harry from the night before, and said, "He doesn't know how to tie it."

"Bring it here then."

Harry gave Sam a look that said he didn't appreciate what he'd just done, and then got up and walked over to Snape with the fishing pole.

"You wrap the line around the hook like this, and then back up through the eye," Snape said in what Harry deemed to be a very patient tone, probably the first he'd heard from Snape, let alone directed at him.

"I trust you can put the worm on yourself?"

"Yes sir," Harry said. He reached into the worm container and picked out a worm. He wanted to say he was sorry to the worm for what he was about to do, but didn't for fear of looking foolish in front of the two other men who had just speared their worms onto the barbed hook without a second thought.

Finally after putting the worm on and being shown how to cast properly by Sam, Harry had his line out in the water. If he thought it had been tense back at the house, it seemed to be even more so now as they all sat quietly waiting for the fish to bite. Personally Harry didn't see the harm in sitting quietly. It was something he was used to and often took whatever quiet time he had to reflect on things. Snape attempted a few times to get Sam engaged in conversation, but Sam wasn't taking the bait so to speak and was content to sit and brood. It was around noon when Snape finally turned to Harry and asked, "After school, do you intend on joining a Quidditch team?"

Harry allowed his mouth to hang open for a few moments and noticed that Sam was silently smirking as he looked out over the water. Ok, so this was a little awkward he thought, but Sam should have been used to it enough by now to just enjoy himself. Harry wasn't used to having any kind of civility from Snape at all.

"I thought about it," Harry said. "Sam's cousin said they might take me on the Falcons after school, but I don't know."

"What is it that you don't know?" Snape asked, looking out over the shallow stream himself.

Harry shrugged. "I thought about becoming an Auror, or maybe something else. I don't really know."

"What else piques your interest Mr. Potter?"

Cheeks turning red then for some reason, Harry bit his lip. "Teaching," he said. He knew Hermione fancied a teaching position, but he'd never told her or anyone else for that matter that he had thought about it too. He would like to teach defense some day or maybe even Quidditch. Hogwarts was his first real home, or at least the first he could remember, and he didn't know who he was away from it.

"Interesting."

Sam gave Harry a look then that didn't seem very happy, before giving Snape the same look and then going back to his pole, but Harry tried to ignore it. Snape hadn't seen it at all.

* * *

"Did you catch anything?"

"No," Sam said, setting his pole by his door and then going up the stairs without another word.

"Nothing was biting," Severus said, taking Harry's pole before kissing Joanna and then taking Sam's pole and disappearing in the direction of the garage.

"It was fun though," Harry said, feeling a little shy for some reason. Perhaps it was because he'd felt wanted... included, for once in so very long. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley always made Harry feel that way, but he knew there was no room for him there and probably never would be. It was nice to feel like that sometimes.

"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself Harry." She gave him a one armed hug then and told him lunch would be ready soon. Harry didn't know as he went to use the downstairs bathroom then that Sam had been sitting on the top step watching his mother hug his friend.

* * *

After Harry had showered to get the grime of fishing off of him, he went to Sam's room intending to do some homework at long last.

"Can I borrow your History of Magic book? I need to start that essay first or I'll never do it." Harry was feeling marginally better than he had the last few days, but Sam it seemed was taking his turn at a sour mood now.

"No, I'm using it," he said, not bothering to look up at Harry. Harry frowned and looked at Sam's desk where the book plainly sat un touched.

"Can I borrow your Defense text then?"

"No."

Perturbed, Harry decided to try one last time. It was possible that Sam was still mad at him for his little outburst the night before, but he didn't think he'd take it like this.

"Can I-"

"Nope, using it." Sam flipped another page in the magazine he was reading.

"I don't-"

Irritated now, Sam cut Harry off again and said, "They're mine Harry. The books are mine, the room is mine, the parchment you were going to use to do your homework is mine. Why don't you go do something else?"

Silence hung between them for a moment, before Harry gave a single nod, mouth firmly shut. "Fine," he said, and left the room. Downstairs, Harry wasn't really sure what to do. Snape seemed to be studying in the den and Joanna was in the living room sewing something on a Muggle sewing machine. He didn't feel like intruding on them and so decided to outside and sit on the front porch for a while, even though it was a bit warm. He hadn't yet been to town without Sam and didn't want to go now, especially after fighting with the local kids whom he would not normally have chosen to duke it out with if it hadn't been for Sam's prior history with them. The last thing Harry needed was more enemies, and he was reminded of this as Avery Hightower rode his bike down the street, giving Harry a glare and a single upward nod of the head. Harry took it to mean that while he was on safe turf now, he wouldn't be the second he stepped out onto the street. Harry gave a nod in return as Hightower rode off. He had no want to break their unspoken agreement.

"Where's Sam?"

Harry turned to see Snape. Apparently the man had come out the front door behind him without making a sound.

"Upstairs I think," Harry said.

"I did not expect to find you alone. The two of you have been... inseparable since you arrived."

Well apparently that was about to change, Harry thought to himself. He was used to Ron's little mood swings, but he had no idea what Sam's were like, because until now he'd been all smiles.

"I guess he wanted to be alone to do his homework," Harry said. Severus took a deep breath, and then surprised Harry by taking a seat next to him on the front steps.

"He wishes to be alone a lot," Severus commented. "I am often the outsider here, and he does not fail to remind me of it when he can."

"He said that to you?" Harry asked, surprised. He knew Sam disliked Snape, but he didn't think he had the guts to take it that far.

"Not in words, no, but he makes it known in other ways that he wants nothing to do with me."

"Ha," Harry gave a little laugh. "He doesn't know what he wants. I bet he'll come around. He said he doesn't care that you're dating his mum."

"Did he now?"

Harry shrugged, not realizing that he had a small smile on his face, or that it was a result of talking amicably with Snape.

"I do not believe he enjoys our fishing trips."

"I think he thinks you're just trying to be nice to him because you have to be."

Severus was quiet for a few minutes then and Harry was content to sit and continue staring out at the street, where he noticed Avery Hightower sitting on his bike on the distant corner looking back at him, but not daring to ride back down the street with an adult next to Harry now.

"Is that what you believe Mr. Potter?"

"Huh?" Harry turned back to Snape now as Hightower finally rode off down another street. "It's not my place to say sir."

"I'm asking."

Harry bit his lip. "It's your house and your family sir. It's not my place to say." He stood up then, feeling uncomfortable and perhaps realizing just then that he had been having a friendly conversation with Severus Snape, man who lived to hate him. "Sorry," he added, and then went inside.

Sam was in the kitchen sitting by himself at the counter eating a sandwich, and though he glared weakly at Harry as he passed, Harry had no reason to suspect he'd seen him sitting out front with Snape, or that it bothered him, and so continued up the stairs to try to finally do some of his summer homework.

* * *

By the next day, Sam still wasn't talking to him, and Harry was starting to get a little irritated. He hated it when things were tense like this, especially when he finally felt like he had gotten... comfortable there, if he dared even think it. There were still two months of summer left and Harry didn't dare to hope that he'd be allowed to stay for the entire vacation. He was sure that while Snape was being civil at the least to him, that he was still thinking of ways to be rid of him, and so Harry had tried to put it from his mind, to keep reminding himself that while he liked it here, this wasn't his home. He did not expect Sam to remind him of it though.

It was just after dinner and Harry was feeling particularly good because Snape had mentioned at the dinner table to Joanna that Harry had considered becoming a teacher, and she had questioned him about it. He'd just gone upstairs to retrieve one of his three pairs of pants for Joanna to sew as it had three separate rips in it, when Sam followed him into the room and closed the door.

"What is it Potter? You can't stand me but you just love talking up my family?"

Harry frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about. You're the one that's been ignoring me for two days."

"Yeah, that's me, just stupid Sam Heywood who ignores his friend who tries to sneak in and take his family."

"I haven't done anything of the sort," Harry said, holding his hands up and feeling a little helpless.

"Don't pretend Harry. I've seen you hugging my mum, sitting on the porch with Snape chatting it up. Probably having a good laugh at me, right?"

"Sam-" Harry shook his head. He had no idea where all of this had come from.

"Well let me tell you something," Sam said, "I don't have a dad either, and Jo is my mum. Not yours, mine! Snape is marrying my mum, so you can just bloody stay away from the both of them. Go get your own family if you're so keen on having one."

Feeling upset beyond what he thought he should be, tears prickling his eyes, Harry said angrily, "I hate you." Perhaps it had been the pounding in his ears or the fluttery feeling in his heart as it ached, but Harry wasn't paying attention and didn't hear the door to Sam's bedroom open behind him as he told his friend that he hated him.

He didn't see Joanna or Snape standing there until Jo's voice said angrily, "Nobody talks to my son like that. It's time for you to leave."

Turning to face Joanna's angry face and Snape's impassive one, Harry was practically in tears. He was going to the orphanage. Just like everywhere else, he was finally being tossed out.

"Thank you for letting me stay," he said quietly. "You have a really nice family." As he walked out of the quiet room past her, Snape was the only one to see the single tear trailing down Harry's cheek. They heard the door open and then close again as Harry disappeared into the evening.

"I need to go find him," Severus said quietly, hand on Joanna's shoulder.

"Fine. But he's not coming back here. He's overstayed his welcome."

Without a word Severus went down the hall and after a few more moments they heard the door open and close again, and Sam and Joanna were finally alone.

"Are you ok honey?" Joanna asked, coming over to Sam and putting her arm around his shoulders.

Sam sat down on the edge of his bed, playing with his hands, and Jo sat down beside him.

"No," Sam said.

"I shouldn't have let him stay," she said then. "I didn't realize that he was going to be an issue... getting into fights, running away, insulting you."

Sam shrugged off his mother's arm from around his shoulder's then and said, "That's not why I'm upset. I'm angry because of what I did to my friend."

"I don't understand. You didn't do anything-"

"Yes I did mum!" He shot up off the bed then and started to pace in his small room.

"I provoked him. I got jealous all of a sudden because you and Severus were acting like you liked him... I don't know. I just had this freak out, and now he's out there all alone and it's my fault!"

"Sam, calm down. Tell me what's going on."

Running his hand through his hair, Sam said, "All he wants is a family like ours. Remember when he had the broken ribs after the fight with Avery? That wasn't from Avery. His uncle did that to him and the black eye. His cousin and aunt called the police and told them that Harry was vandalizing a park when he hadn't, and he got arrested. That's where Severus went, to get Harry out of jail. And then when he took Harry back to his family's house, they beat him up mum, then they took him and dumped him on the side of a road somewhere... it wasn't the neighbors that dumped him there it was them."

Despite still being upset at what Harry had said to her son, Joanna put her hand up over her mouth now. "He didn't want to go to the orphanage so we ran away. I thought I could help him... it wasn't just a summer getaway like I said. He got mad at me a couple nights ago for always complaining about Snape and said I should be happy to have the chance at having a father when he never had that chance. Then tonight I had my freak out and told him to go get his own family. That's why he said he hated me. I used what I knew against him."

"Oh Sam." She almost had tears in her eyes.

"I know mum, I messed up, and now he's out there. He doesn't even have any clothes with him."

"Come on." Taking her son's hand, Joanna lead him down the stairs and out the door after Severus, and hopefully Harry. Like her son, she too had made a mistake.

* * *

Harry had tears in his eyes as he ran down the dark street, any thought of danger to himself forgotten. He didn't know where he'd go now. He guessed he'd try to get to the Weasley's, but Sam was right, they were about as far away as Hogwarts but in the opposite direction, and he didn't have money on him for a magi-cab.

Not paying attention to where he was going, Harry ended up a few streets over from the sports park, and was brought out of his reverie by a cold voice from behind him.

"Finally away from that girlfriend of yours? What's the matter, have a little lovers spat with Sammy?"

Turning, Harry's stomach tied itself in a knot to see Avery Hightower and three of his friends. He didn't even have time to run as they dropped their bikes and ran towards him, tackling him hard and taking him to the ground.

"I'll show you, you little brat," Avery said as his friends held Harry down and Avery proceeded to punch and kick Harry in the stomach and face. After one particularly good hit to his chest Harry lost his breath, and despite gasping could not get it back. There was a sharp pain there and he could only assume that something sharp had gone through his lung.

"You knew what would happen," Avery taunted. "You left the porch anyway. This is my town and this is what happens to little punks like you." Finally having his fill of punching Harry senseless, Avery stood up and wiped his fists on Harry's ripped shirt. Harry was still gasping for breath and wheezing terribly.

"I think something's wrong with him," one of the other guys said. The four of them just stood there watching Harry. Harry wanted to ask for help, but couldn't get the words out.

"We should get somebody," another boy said, but Avery was white now; Harry could see it even in the darkness.

"Just run," Avery said, and they got on their bikes and rode off into the night as fast as they could.

Harry gripped at his chest, feeling now like something was on top of it preventing him from taking in any air, but there was nothing there. Hands finding the pavement he grasped for anything that might help him, perhaps his wand which he knew he'd forgotten at home.

After what seemed like long agonizing moments of gasping and wheezing and immense pain, Harry heard hurried footsteps coming down the sidewalk, and Snape's face appeared over his own.

"Harry," he said, looking worried.

Again Harry tried to say something, anything, but nothing would come out, and he reached up to Snape's robes, holding on to them with his fist for dear life.

Severus withdrew his wand and was incanting a never-ending string of spells as he aimed it at Harry's chest, but Harry still wasn't getting any air, and panic was really setting in now. As his vision was dimming, he was aware that there were two other people there now, but he didn't register that it was Sam and Joanna.

"He can't breathe," Severus said, panic finally reaching his voice as Joanna knelt beside him and Sam stood back, both hands up in his hair. "I've used every healing spell I know, but he still can't get any air."

"He's got a punctured lung. We need to remove the bone before we can heal it." Wand already out, Joanna said the same spell that Lockhart had used on Harry's broken arm in their second year and removed the rib that had gone through the wall of Harry's lung, and then used some of the same spells Snape had already tried, including one in the end to fill Harry's lungs with air again. Suddenly Harry gasped, eyes open again, and choked hard for long moments.

"There you are," Snape said, "good boy. Come on, keep your eyes open." Harry tried but after such a lack of oxygen and already passing out, he wasn't sure he could do it.

"Where's Sam?" Harry rasped. "Did Avery get him too?"

"No, no, he's right here," Joanna asked, surprised that after being so thoroughly beaten that Harry's first concern was her son.

Sam came into Harry's view then briefly before he passed out.

"Come on, help me get him up," Severus said. Joanna helped lift Harry up into Severus' arms before stopping to look into his eyes.

"I love you Jo," he said seriously then. "But Harry needs me. I can't let him go at things alone anymore."

Biting her lip with tears in her eyes, Joanna nodded and then took a step back, watching as Severus apparated away with Harry.

"Mum?" Sam asked, voice heightened.

"They're gone," she said, and she feared it was for good.

"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.

"Ok," Harry said, feeling strange. He knew that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were still out there biding their time, so he couldn't be seen with Snape as himself, but he felt weird about looking like someone else, even if he wished that he were one of Sam's relatives. Severus too drank the potion and his face became rounder, and his hair shorter. Harry was amazed as he realized that he looked completely different.

After drinking down the potions, Jo and Severus apparated Harry and Sam to a restaurant Harry had never been to before in Diagonalley. Harry noticed immediately that Sam did seem to have a change of heart as they sat eating. He asked Snape about several things and with a decent attitude. Before Harry knew it Snape, Jo, and Sam were all laughing. Harry laughed a little too, but as he sat on one side of the round sidewalk table, he looked at the three smiling faces and knew that while he looked like Sam, he still wasn't a part of his family. Sam would never be kicked out of the house, even if he did say something vile or do something wrong. Harry on the other hand was just the kid from the street that Snape had brought home because there was no other place for him to go.

After lunch, Severus accompanied him to his Gringotts vault where Harry scooped a handful of coins into his money pouch and eyed the contents of the vault warily. Perhaps if James and Lily had lived longer the vault would have been full of gold still, but after five years of Harry taking money for school supplies, there was very little left, and suddenly he felt bad about buying clothes with it. He would have enough to get him through seventh year, but felt wrong about wasting his parent's hard earned money on something silly like new clothes, which he'd never had before so why start now?

"I- I think I'll just put some of this back," Harry said, opening his money pouch again.

"For what cause?" Severus asked then in the dark vault. Their goblin banker was waiting on the threshold of the vault looking bored, but Harry paid him no attention as he tried to figure out how to formulate his answer to his Professor.

"There's not enough to be spending on clothes sir," he finally said. "I've got to save it for school supplies and other necessities."

"Such as a new broom?" Snape's eyebrow was raised and Harry's cheeks tinged red.

"No sir, that costs a fortune. I- I was thinking about food."

"You have need to buy food when you're at Hogwarts?"

"After Hogwarts," Harry clarified then. "Maybe I can get a job in Hogsmead next summer..." Harry trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe if he'd been thinking of this before, he could have been more frugal all of these years... purchased used books and robes instead of wasting his money on new ones.

"Do not put the money back Potter, and do not worry yourself over it. The clothes are a necessity."

They've never been before, Harry thought.

Back outside of Gringotts they met up with Sam and Jo.

"We might as well get Sam's school clothes now," Jo said. "It will save us some time when we come back for the rest of the school supplies at the end of the summer."

"Mum, I hate clothes shopping. Don't you Harry?"

Harry paused. He didn't want to sound totally pathetic and say he'd never been clothes shopping before. The closest he'd come was getting new robes each year.

"I don't know," Harry said.

"Well, come on then," Joanna urged them. Harry didn't even realize that there were clothing stores on Diagonalley until Joanna steered them into one a few steps down from the Gringotts entrance. Inside the tiny building Harry found a magically enlarged room full to the brim with clothes of both Muggle and Wizarding variety.

"Sam, I want you to pick out ten shirts and ten pairs of pants," Joanna told him. "You'd better get socks and underwear too and a coat and shoes."

"Mum," Sam said, sounding affronted that she'd just publicly told him to get underwear.

"Harry, you'd better pick out the same," she said, surprising him. "Maybe you'd better get two pairs of shoes and a sweat jacket too," she added after looking at Harry's sneakers, which had a hole in the side where she could see Harry's sock.

Harry didn't want to tell her he didn't have the money for it, so he moved off with Sam, thinking he would just get a few things and hope she wouldn't notice.

"Here Harry," Sam said when they made their way to the back of the store where the men's clothes were. Luckily Severus and Jo hadn't followed them, Harry thought as he pulled a face at the pair of underwear Sam had just thrown at him.

"Let me just look at the shirts right now," Harry told him.

"They have a whole rack of Falmouth Falcon's shirts," Sam said, "but I've already got three that Jason gave me for free."

Harry headed over to the rack Sam had pointed at and rifled through it until he found a dark blue shirt he liked with the Falcon symbol on the front in silver.

After twenty minutes Sam had a pile of clothing and Harry had only picked out three shirts and a new pair of pants. He really did want a new pair of shoes, but they were three sickles each and that was just too expensive. If he bought any more, his money pouch would be empty.

"All ready mum," Sam said as he dumped his clothes on the checkout counter.

Jo rifled through Sam's choices for a few moments before she was satisfied, and then turned to Harry's small stack of neatly folded clothes.

"Harry, is this all? You haven't even picked out a pair of shoes."

Turning red now with embarrassment, Harry said, "I don't have the money for it." He pulled out his money pouch which held exactly four Galleons, and Jo put her hand on Harry's to still him from opening the pouch.

"You're not paying for these Harry. You keep your money and spend it on something you want."

"I don't-"

"Don't worry about it," she said quietly. "You just go and get the rest of your clothes." Harry looked to Snape who gave him a single nod, and then moved off again. Nobody had ever bought him clothes before. Well, maybe his parents when he was little, but that was a long time ago.

After a few minutes Sam came to the back of the store again and said, "Mum says not to come back to the front until you have two pairs of shoes, and Snape said one of the pairs should be boots."

"They shouldn't be paying for this," Harry said, feeling tense. It just means I'll have to pay them back, he thought to himself. At the back of his mind he also wondered if them buying his clothes meant he would be beholden to them. Would they demand he be good or else take his clothes back?

"Mum's a healer and Snape is a professor," Sam laughed. "They make good money between the two of them, not to mention that Snape sells potions on the side."

Harry grumbled something and after a moment Sam began pulling pants Harry's size off the shelves to hurry the process along. Before Harry knew it he had five pairs of blue jeans two pairs of nice black slacks, two pairs of khaki white slacks, and a new pair of green cargo shorts that claimed they were aero dynamic on the tag and would help the wearer fly faster.

"Did you see the Air Krums?" Sam asked as they headed to the shoe section. "Viktor Krum swears they make him jump higher for takeoff when he flies."

Harry laughed. "Are they charmed then?"

"I don't know, try them on."

Harry sat down and tried on a pair of the blue sneakers.

"Go on then, jump," Sam told him.

Standing up and giving a good push off Harry was surprised to find himself jumping a fair height off the floor. "Ok," Harry said. "I've got to have these."

After another twenty minutes, Harry found himself back at the front of the store where Severus and Jo were waiting and talking with the clerk.

"That's better," Jo said seeing Harry's armful of clothes and the two pairs of shoes Sam was carrying for Harry. "And you've picked out a coat and sweatshirt too?"

Harry nodded and Severus took the armful of clothes from Harry and set them on the counter, before pulling out his own money pouch and pulling out seven Galleons to pay for it all, followed by Jo who pulled out six and put them on the counter.

Outside the store Severus waved his wand, and the bags of clothes vanished into thin air, presumably to reappear back at Hogwarts or Jo's house. Harry still wasn't quite sure where they were going after this. Severus hadn't said they were going to stay at Jo's house again even though they were shopping together now. Part of Harry wanted to go back, but part didn't. Somehow he was wanted... by Snape of all people! He didn't want to lose that, even if it did mean he was going to get the rest of the summer with Sam.

"Why don't we get some ice cream?" Jo asked as they walked down the street.

"Or we could go and buy new brooms!" Sam said cheerfully. Jo raised her brows knowing that Sam had never taken an interest in flying before.

"C'mon mum, Fortescue's is right next to The Quidditch Emporium." Can't Harry and I just look while you're getting ice cream?"

"You can look," she said then. "What kind of ice cream do you want? We'll order for you."

"Carmel, cotton candy, and Every Flavor Beans," Sam said, and Harry shook his head.

"How can you eat that?"

"Remember Harry, marry the flavors together."

"What about you Harry?" Jo asked.

Harry turned red a little, still not used to being asked what he wanted regarding anything, but especially not ice cream. He turned to look at Snape, but this time the man wasn't glaring at him as a warning not to ask for multiple scoops.

"Um, nothing for me thanks," Harry said anyway. He was already seven Galleons in debt to them. He didn't want it to keep piling up.

"Are you sure?"

Harry nodded and before Joanna could say anything else about it, Sam had grabbed Harry's wrist to drag him off to the Quidditch store.

Inside the Quidditch Emporium, Sam went immediately back to the magazine section and left Harry to look at the new brooms. Harry had barely stepped up to the new Lightningbolt however, when a familiar drawl sounded by his ear quietly.

"Looking for a new broom Potter?"

Harry spun around to find Draco Malfoy with a smug look on his face, and then turned hurriedly to the glass case to look at his reflection. As far as he could tell, he still looked like Sam's relative, and his scar wasn't visible.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said to Draco then. "Who are you?"

Draco smirked. "You can play games if you like, but I knew it was you the second I saw you sauntering down Diagonalley, ragged clothes and all. Or... did you forget that I'm the one that put the holes in those ragged, nasty shoes of yours?" He moved in closer to Harry now and lowered his voice even further so that no one else in the crowded shop could hear him.

"I know Uncle Severus is dating Heywood's mother, so I know why he's here, but it's you I can't figure out."

"Don't try," Harry said then, turning and pretending to look at a poster of the Lockwood Looters, an all-female team from Scottland.

Smirking again, Draco crossed his arms and then said, "You can look like them all you want Potter, but don't be fooled. You'll never be one of them."

Harry turned to give Draco a piece of his mind, but Draco had already gone, and Harry just caught sight of his back as he walked out the door. Harry huffed indignantly and crossed his own arms just as Sam came up to him.

"C'mon, mum's outside with the ice cream."

Harry followed him without a word, and was silent for the rest of the day.

* * *

As it turned out, they were going back to Joanna's house, Draco's words ringing in Harry's ears all the way. Normally Harry would have been very pleased to find out that they were giving him the spare bedroom for the rest of the summer, but he didn't seem as pleased as Sam would have thought.

"Look Harry, now you have a closet to put all those new clothes of yours in."

Harry shrugged. If he hadn't already been thinking along the same line as Draco's taunts, he might have been able to brush the Slytherin's comments off, but the truth was he was already feeling this way to begin with. At any moment they could decide to chuck him out. He wasn't part of their family, and while appearances would say they were welcoming him, he knew it was all a façade. If they had someplace else for him to go, he'd already be there.

Sam left Harry to put his new clothes away and change into something nice (of which Harry considered all of his new clothes), but came back shortly with a Falmouth Falcon's poster. "Here, something to spruce up the walls with."

"Thanks," Harry said. "Jason will like that when he comes back to stay in the room."

"What are you talking about? He'll probably sleep on the couch or on the cot in my room."

"But this is his room," Harry said.

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, it used to be when he lived here. He grew up here after his parents died, but it's your room now."

"Jason grew up here?"

"Yeah, he just moved out a few years ago. He came when he was fourteen."

Harry took a deep breath and sat down on the end of the very soft bed. "Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. I ran into Draco earlier in the Quidditch Emporium and I guess he got to me."

"He's a git."

"He called Professor Snape ‘Uncle Severus'."

"Ugh," Sam said, crossing his arms then. "Don't remind me."

Eyes widening, Harry said, "You don't mean he's actually his nephew?"

"No, but Snape is his Godfather and has custodial rights over him if something happens to his parents."

"Great," Harry said. "That will be so fun for you if Draco ever has to move in."

"Fun for us," Sam corrected. "You live here now too."

"For now," Harry said. Sam frowned, but didn't question him any further seeing that Harry looked unwilling to talk.

* * *

Sam and Snape were... laughing together in the living room. Harry shivered then, feeling uncomfortable. Sam had practically hated Snape at the start of the summer, and now they seemed very friendly... too friendly. Did this mean that Snape would stop being nice to Harry now that he had Jo's son on his side? Deep in thought, Harry didn't hear Joanna come up behind him.

"Harry, would you like to help me make dinner?"

"Ok," Harry said. She lead him into the kitchen where Harry began pulling out pots and pans. "What do you want me to make?" he asked her in a dull quiet tone.

She gave him an appraising look. "What do I want you to make? Filet Mignon I think," she said, tapping her chin with her pointer finger.

Harry went to the fridge and began pulling supplies out, but the next second Joanna had stopped him. "Wait Harry, I was only joking. I don't expect you to fix dinner by yourself, let alone Filet Mignon." She gave a little laugh, but Harry only succeeded in turning his cheeks pink, something that was becoming too common he thought.

"I can do it," he said. It was something the Dursleys had made him fix on special occasions.

Jo frowned. "Really? I've tried to teach Sam to cook but he'd burn the water if I left him to it."

"I used to cook a lot," Harry said, pulling out another pan.

"Yeah? How often?"

Harry shrugged as he filled a pot with water, thinking he'd cook some vegetables to go with the meal.

"Every meal," he said.

"Really?"

"I'm a good cook most of the time," Harry said, going to the fridge again and pulling out an armful of ingredients. He paused, looking at what he had, and then said, "You have bacon but no tenderloin."

"Harry." He turned at the soft use of his name and gentle touch on his arm, and found Jo there looking concerned.

"I really don't want you to fix dinner by yourself. We do things as a family here. And-" she paused, looking at Harry's green eyes for a moment. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I said. I should have gotten your side of the story first."

Harry stared her in the eyes and said seriously, "You don't need to apologize. I get it. Family comes first. Don't worry Mrs. Heywood... you can go into the living room with Sam and Professor Snape. I'll cook dinner." He turned from her then and began washing the vegetables in the sink. Joanna, feeling a little lost at the conversation she'd just had, and apparently the failed apology she'd tried to make, stepped out of the kitchen, giving Harry's back one last look. He'd just told her in not as many words, that he was not a part of their family and he understood that. She would need to talk to Severus, because she didn't know how to fix her mistake now.

When she'd gone, Harry stopped what he was doing and looked down into the sink. Once you were an orphan, he thought, you were always an orphan. There was no changing the path that fate had set out for you.

"Me too."

Severus and Joanna lay in bed in the dark room staring up at the ceiling. It was well past midnight and both of the boys were asleep in their separate rooms.

"You are?" Joanna asked.

With a heavy sigh that told Joanna Severus was finally ready to talk about something, he said, "One evening when you and Sam went into town to get dinner, I heard a crash upstairs. I came up to see what was going on, and Harry was stuck in the broom closet."

"Oh that closet has been sticking for years. I don't know what's wrong with it."

"He was panicking inside. I told him I was going to get my wand to get him out and he screamed out." Severus paused here, remembering the piteous sound that had emanated from within the closet. "I broke the door down to get him out."

"Oh my- what happened?"

"He was crying, but he acted like nothing had happened. He thanked me for getting him out, and that was the end of it. Do you think Sam would have panicked if he'd gotten stuck in a closet?"

"No."

"He obviously does not like small, enclosed spaces. Alone that would not be enough to concern me, but when I took him to the infirmary at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey made a comment about him always coming back from the summer with broken bones. I asked Harry about it but he didn't want to talk about it."

"I've seen signs like that before Severus. Sometimes we get children in at St. Mungos with odd injuries... they never want to talk about it."

"Do you think he's been abused?" Severus asked solemnly.

"I don't know Severus. I went to apologize to him tonight. I asked him to make dinner with me and he insisted that he could do it himself. He said he used fixed all of the family meals."

They were silent for long moments, each in their own thoughts. "Should we talk to him about this?" Joanna finally asked.

"I do not believe he will agree to talk about it, or to admit it."

"Then what do we do? I didn't realize how much I would hurt him by telling him to leave. I didn't know I'd be compounding a problem."

"He's Harry Potter," Severus said then with resolve. "He's a survivor with a stoic attitude. I don't believe approaching him in that way will draw out any answers. You don't know him like I do Jo. I've watched this boy endanger his life year after year fighting the Dark lord. No, he's not likely to show us any weakness he has. You know as well as I do that he stayed here for two weeks with broken ribs he received before he came to us without saying a word. He would still have broken ribs if he hadn't gotten into a fight with that Hightower boy."

"We have to do something."

"Yes, but not now. The best thing we can do now is to go on with the summer. He will come to us if he wishes to." Severus rolled over then, back to Joanna, who was not ready to be done talking about the issue.

"Severus Snape, we're not done talking about this."

"I'm aware," Severus said, though they said nothing more of it that night.

* * *

Harry was in the throes of a nightmare, but was unable to get out. The worst nightmares were ones where he realized it was all a dream, but couldn't pull himself from it, and then started to panic thinking that it was all real. Tonight was one of those nights.

Uncle Vernon had found him and vowed to make him pay back every pound they'd ever spent on him for food or any other thing. Harry tried to protest that he'd already paid them back in chores, and that they'd never bought him new clothes because he'd always worn Dudley's old things until they practically fell apart, but Uncle Vernon wasn't listening.

‘You'll pay me back now boy. Every pound you've taken from us was food out of Dudley's mouth.'

His uncle was advancing on him with a clenched fist, and behind him Harry could see his cupboard, door open and read for Harry to be thrown into.

‘No,' Harry said. ‘I've got gold in my vault. You can have my gold.'

Vernon crossed his arms then and Harry turned to find that they were in his Gringotts vault, which was woefully empty. There wasn't even a single Knut to be found.

Uncle Vernon gave a menacing laugh then and Harry looked up to see him standing outside the vault as he closed the heavy metal door, sealing Harry in. ‘Nooo!' Harry screamed, but it was too late, and the darkness was closing in on him from all sides. He was locked solidly in his cupboard for all eternity...

"Harry."

Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up, sweating and breathing hard in the darkness of his room. There was a dark figure there sitting on the edge of his bed and it took him a few panicky moments to realize that it was only Snape.

"It was just a dream," Harry said then, trying to reassure himself that it wasn't reality.

"I heard a noise. You were calling out," Severus said, black eyes staring through the darkness at Harry.

"It was just a dream," Harry said again. "Sorry."

"A dream about a closet?"

Harry's eyes snapped back to Snape's. "What?"

"Just a guess," he said then, and Harry calmed visibly.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said then, and rolled over so that his back was to Severus.

"If you do," Severus said, "I'm here. And so is Jo."

If Snape was waiting for an answer, Harry didn't know, because a few moments later and Harry heard his bedroom door close again, and turned to find that Snape was gone. He let out a long sigh. Maybe he could cast a silencing charm on his room to keep them from hearing him at night. He thought he'd heard Ron say that he used magic at home during the summer... something about the trace not working if there were magical adults around? Maybe Sam would know... it was the only comforting thought he had as he drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Harry was in a mood the next day, and was glad that Sam asked him if he wanted to go fishing, just the two of them. He hated that Snape had caught him having a nightmare, and it seemed that he had told Jo, because over breakfast that morning they both kept exchanging looks after glancing at him.

What Harry really felt like shouting at them was ‘I'm not a freak!', but instead he said nothing as he took the pole Sam handed him and followed him out the door.

"I hope we don't see Hightower today," Sam said as they got on the two bikes and pedaled away.

"He's not so tough without his goons," Harry said. "I could take him."

"Maybe one day we'll come back after we're seventeen and curse him when he's not looking."

"And get thrown in jail," Harry reminded him. "We should get Nearly Headless Nick to follow us here instead and get him to haunt him."

"Now that would be funny," Sam said. "Hey, what was up with my mum today, do you know?"

"They've been talking about me," Harry said. "I had a nightmare last night and Snape came in to see what was going on."

"Don't you hate that?" Sam asked.

"I thought you liked him now," Harry questioned.

"I do, but it's still weird having some guy living in your house, telling you what to do, acting like your parent."

"Well he will be soon enough," Harry said. "When are they getting married anyway?"

"I don't know. I think they talked about the end of the summer, but it might be later."

"Well, I wish they'd just stop talking about me," Harry said. "That's what I hate."

"Get used to it if you're going to live with us. My mum is always talking to Snape about me. She's the one that told him I like to fish. I used to fish with my dad."

"Yeah?" Harry asked.

"Yeah."

Harry had wondered for some time now where Sam's dad was, and wondered if now would be the right time to ask.

"Where is he?"

"Dead," Sam answered.

"He was driving with Jason's mum and dad one night and they got into a wreck. That's when Jason came to live with us."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Sucks," Sam told him. "Nothing I can do about it though."

They got off their bikes then as they'd reached the stream on the other side of town.

"Yeah," Harry said, as he lay the bike on the ground. "I know."

* * *

Harry's mood continued on through the week and he mostly stayed to himself, or went out with Sam in the day to fish, where he was still learning to bait his hook, where to cast his line in to get the fish, and what time of day was the best to fish. On Friday morning Harry felt a particular need to be alone and decided to test his new fishing skills by himself. At five am, just thirty minutes after he'd woken in another cold sweat, this time from a dream of being chucked out by Severus and Sam, Harry had gone to the garage, and then taken Sam's spare bike and fishing pole and a little box with a snapping lid that had a pocket knife, some fishing line, and several hooks and leaders. The worms he supposed he would have to find for himself since Severus wasn't there using his wand to earth them up from the back yard.

It was still dark as Harry rode his bike across town. When he reached the stream, the sun was just coming up, and Harry's hope was raised as he saw a small fish leap out of the water to catch a misfortunate bug.

Using his fingers in the damp dirt, Harry dug for a few moments before grabbing a sharp rock and using it to dig a hole where he pulled out a worm and put it on his hook. It was small, but it would have to do.

Harry, who was not wearing his pristine new clothes, still took care to keep his clothes relatively clean. It was a force of habit he supposed, as he was not often allowed to shower or clean his clothes at the Dursleys. He had often taken his clothes outside and used the hose in the summer when he was sure Dudley and Uncle Vernon were out, and Aunt Petunia was busy spying on the neighbors out the front window.

Looking down at his watch after he was certain he'd spent a fair amount of time not getting a single bite, Harry realized he'd been out for almost three hours, and it was now nearing eight in the morning. Reeling in his fishing line and feeling sorry for the drowned worm that hadn't even become lunch for a lucky fish, Harry was just getting ready to get up off of his rock when he found himself being bodily lifted to his feet.

Startled, Harry found himself face to face with a livid looking Potion's Master, who still had a very tight grip on the front of his shirt. Harry wanted to say something... anything to calm the rage he saw in the black eyes before him, but his mouth hung open and nothing would come out. He would only get hit harder if he said anything he realized, and that was experience talking at the back of his mind, telling him to stay silent.

"We feed you, clothe you, take you in, and you run away again!?" He was definitely livid.

Harry tried to shake his head no... they'd never said anything about him not being allowed to go out of the house alone, had they? His mind searched frantically for anything at all, but there was nothing, and he had the feeling that he had missed something vital to his survival.

"How dare you put Sam and Jo through that again? They're worried sick about you!"

"I- I-" the words didn't want to come out, even if he did know what to say.

"I swear Potter-" it was the last thing Harry heard, because at that moment he'd seen the Professor's fist and he was shielding his face with both hands. Allowing his body to become dead weight in the hopes that if he collapsed the Professor would let go and he would have a better position to curl in on himself, Harry blocked everything out as he waited for his punishment.

Harry waited for what seemed like forever for the blows to reign down on him, but they didn't come, and he wondered if perhaps he was dreaming again.

Chancing a look, Harry opened his eyes and looked up to find Snape crouching down beside him a few feet away.

"What happened Potter?" Snape asked warily, and Harry sat up, turning beet read again, especially around his ears.

"I was just fishing," Harry said quietly, voice cracking a little. "I just wanted to catch a fish." He could barely stand to finish the sentence, and it ended little more than a whisper. What must the man think of him now after seeing him cowering on the ground?

"Why did you collapse?"

Harry looked away. Because you were going to hit me you idiot, is what he felt like snarking out at the man, but he didn't want to push his luck, and he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Can we just go back to the house sir? I'm all dirty now."

"They're your old clothes," Severus commented. The shirt was ripped in several places and so were the jeans.

"But they're mine," Harry said quietly still. They sat there for a few moments longer and then Severus stood up, and held a hand down to Harry, who took it and climbed to his feet.

Still feeling on edge, Harry allowed Severus to grip his arm, Sam's bike and fishing pole in the other hand, and apparate them away and into the backyard of Jo's house.

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to go out," Harry said quietly, keeping his eyes on the ground as Severus let of his arm. "Nobody told me the rules. I would have followed them, I swear."

Severus couldn't see Harry's eyes because they were glued to the ground, but judging by the shake in the teen's voice, he thought there might be tears there.

"You are," Severus said gently. "I- overreacted. I am sorry. Go put the pole and bike back in the garage and then you can go take a shower."

Harry moved off, and Severus rubbed his temple. It had been so easy to believe the worst in Harry after believing the worst for so many years. He wanted to help the teen... believe that he was good, but old habits were hard to break, as were old attitudes. What would Jo think when he told her what he'd done? Especially after the discussions they'd had about Harry earlier that week? Well, she had done just as bad hadn't she?

Inside Severus made sure that Harry went upstairs to shower before he found Jo in the kitchen and told her what happened.

"I thought he'd run away too," she said with a sad look in her eyes. "Are we just doing him more harm than good Severus?" The question in her eyes was painful for Severus to look at. If he could only do harm to Harry, what would he do to Sam?

When Harry came back downstairs, hoping for some breakfast, though he doubted he'd get any if they were mad at him for going fishing, he found Severus and Joanna in the living room.

"Harry, would you please come here for a moment?" Joanna asked softly, and Harry's heart plummeted as he made his way into the living room and sat down. Were they going to kick him out again? No, they'd probably ask for the clothes back so they could take them back to the store. He hadn't even worn most of them yet.

When he was sitting down on the couch opposite of Severus and Joanna, fidgeting with his fingers, Severus said calmly, "We need to talk to you about something Harry."

"Oh, ok."

"We're sorry that we assumed the worst of you this morning," Severus continued, "and I'm sorry I startled you. I can see now that I should have approached the situation differently."

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet and listened.

"Harry, we know you've been through some things," Jo said. "We'd like to know what so that we can help you. We don't know what to do for you if you won't tell us."

When Harry still didn't respond, she said, "We know you've been having nightmares, and that there's a possibility that your relatives may have hurt you in the past."

Harry jumped up at that and turned away. He ‘really' didn't want to talk about this. He'd never even told Ron and Hermione. Sam was the only one that knew. Had he told his mother and Snape?

"We just want to let you know that we're here for you Harry. We're here to listen, and to help."

Turning now, Harry said, "I don't need any help, and I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry I broke your rules this morning. All I need is for you to tell me the rules so that I won't break them again." Seeing that they hadn't expected that answer however, and weren't prepared to tell him their rules, Harry turned again and left, forgetting about breakfast entirely as he made his way up to his room and closed his door.

Some summer this was turning out to be, he thought. Maybe he should have run off. Maybe he should have just never called Snape in the first place. As he lay on his back on his bed, door securely locked, he thought, maybe I've just messed everything up like I always have. Draco was right: I'll never belong.

With a sigh Harry wished he hadn't told Sam about his black eye or broken ribs. It was obvious now that he had told. No, secrets like that were just best kept to oneself. As Harry lay on his back staring at the ceiling of the guest bedroom, he wondered if there would ever be a time he would be able to tell someone who he really was. Maybe there was no one to tell, he thought, but unexpectedly his mind flickered to Ginny, and a small smile crept over his lips. Someday maybe, he thought. He'd have to make it through the summer first and ask her out.

Harry heard his door open and glanced over to find Sam, looking uncertain.

"Hey."

"Hi," Harry said quietly, eyes returning to the ceiling.

"So... did you catch anything?"

"Nope," Harry said.

"You know, I didn't think you ran away, but mum did. She sort of... had a melt-down."

Looking back over at Sam again, Harry said, "What do you mean?"

"She started crying. She thought we'd done something to push you away again or something."

"I told you the last time I ran away, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Sam said uncertainly.

"Well, stop worrying then. I'm sure you'll know if I do." Harry really wanted to say something to the effect of ‘I'm sure you'll tattle on me' but didn't.

"Do you wanna do something today?"

"No," Harry said in a bored voice. "I think I've had enough excitement for one day, what with your dad lifting me a foot off the ground, and then your mum accusing me of being abused as a child."

"What?" Sam came in all the way now and closed the door.

"Snape didn't even give me a chance to explain. He just picked me up and started yelling at me. And then when I freaked out ‘cause I thought he was gonna hit me, he put me down. But when we got back here your mum and him called me in to tell me that I can tell them all about how ‘abused' I must have been as a child." He ended with a rather solid glare at Sam.

"Well don't look at me, I didn't say anything."

Giving Sam another hard looking over, Harry let his face relax a little bit. Well, maybe he hadn't told after all. Even in the telling of the story Harry realized that perhaps he'd given them enough evidence. With a sigh Harry ran a hand over his face. Living with a family was hard. They expected him to confide in them, but he sure didn't feel like it.

"On second thought," Harry said, "I do wanna get out of here... that is if we're allowed to leave."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Is there some place far away from here we haven't been yet?"

"There's a hiking path in the hills outside the other end of town. It would take us an hour to ride there, but I've been allowed to go before."

"C'mon then. I don't want to be here right now." He was thoroughly embarrassed as it was and didn't want to sit through lunch and get odd looks from Sam's parents. Hm... that was odd, Harry thought as he followed Sam out. Odd how he had wanted Snape to be his parent so bad, but after this morning, he was suddenly thinking of him as Sam's dad. Maybe it was because Snape had automatically thought the worst of him, just like he always had. Even if Harry had run away, there was no mention of any difficulties Harry might have been having... only that he had worried Sam and Joanna sick.

Joanna was out when Sam and Harry went downstairs, so Sam told Snape that they were going hiking while Harry grabbed some fruit and a bag of nuts from the kitchen and put them into his backpack along with four bottles of water.

"Try to be back by dinner," Harry heard Severus saying to Sam. "You'll need to pack."

Interest piqued, Harry came out of the kitchen with his backpack in tow to listen to what Snape had to say.

"Pack? Where are we going?"

"Your mother and I have decided to go on vacation. It was a trip we had been planning, and decided now would be the appropriate time to take it."

"Where?" Sam asked. "Are we all going?"

"France, and yes."

Sam frowned and turned to look at Harry, who only shrugged.

"France?" Sam turned back to Snape.

"Your mother expressed a desire to visit there. We will be gone for four days, so you will need to pack accordingly."

"Four days. Got it," Sam said. "Back later!"

Outside, Harry looked at Sam and asked, "France?"

"Don't know. I never heard mum say anything about it. I've never been out of country before except to go to Hogwarts."

"Me too," Harry said.

So, he thought. This year, they'd be spending his birthday in France. There was a first time for everything.

* * *

Harry and Sam were surprised to find out that they were actually leaving that night. Sam was excited, but Harry was tired from their all day hike in the hills, and rather wanted to lock himself away in the guest room again for the night. Instead he packed four new pairs of pants and four new shirts into his bag along with his wand and several of Sam's Quidditch magazines, and went downstairs to sit on the couch next to Sam as they waited for Snape and Jo to be ready.

"Look," Sam said, pulling a camera out of his bag. "I got this Muggle digital camera last year for Christmas. But Mum's charmed it so that instead of using a computer to get the pictures off, we tap it with our wand next to a piece of parchment or canvas, and the picture that's on the review screen will come out."

"Let's see," Harry said. He took the camera Sam was holding out and took a picture of Sam sticking his tongue out. Then Sam grabbed a spare bit of parchment, nothing more than a scrap really, from the coffee table and transferred the image to it, making Harry laugh.

"Want to put it somewhere for Snape to find?" Harry asked.

Laughing, Harry and Sam ran to the front door and stuck it into Snape's suitcase on top of his folded shirts, before zipping it up again hurriedly and standing up straight as Snape and Joanna came down the stairs.

"We will apparate together," Snape said as Joanna shrunk down all of the luggage into candy sized pieces and packed it all into her purse.

Harry grabbed Sam's arm, and then Snape grabbed Harry's arm making Harry flinch. Harry knew that Snape gave him a look at that, but he refused to acknowledge it. Joanna likewise grabbed Sam's arm, and before the boys could expect it, they were gone, reappearing moments later on a dark street in France.

Expecting to see Muggles, Harry was surprised to find they'd been taken to a street similar to Diagonalley, only with a vastly different style of architecture. The street was well lit and full of witches and wizards in a variety of clothing. Some were in cloaks, and others were harder to distinguish from the average Muggle going out for a night on the town.

"So, we're in France now?" Sam asked as Severus and Jo let go of he and Harry.

"Yes," Severus answered. "This is Vérité Rue. It is a long lane hidden from Muggle's in the middle of Paris. There is also a magical street on either side of us, Vérité Ruelle, and Vérité Route. The entire area within the magical bounds is called Vérité."

"What's Vérité Sam asked."

"I think it means truth," Joanna said then. "And Rue, Ruelle, and Route all mean Lane or road."

"Should we have drank the potion?" Harry asked then, suddenly aware once again that there were quite a lot of people around them, although no one seemed to be paying them much attention.

"No," Severus said, motioning for them to begin walking down the street. "We're under a charm I placed before we left. We see each other as we are, but others will not be able to distinguish our true appearances. I believe if you look in the mirror once we're at the inn that you'll see how you look to any onlookers."

"How long will it last?" Harry asked, feeling all business. It wasn't only his life at stake after all, was it? If anyone found out he was staying with Sam and Jo, then their lives would be at risk as well.

"It will last the remainder of the trip, which is why we're only staying four nights. It's unsafe to use the charm for any longer than that, and no more than a few times a year, four at most." Harry and Sam could tell he'd gone into teaching mode as Joanna opened a door and lead them inside a five story building.

"Nommé?" the attendant asked, and Snape stepped forward, rambling off a long list of French words that nobody but the desk clerk seemed to understand.

After a few minutes Snape had been given a key and he lead the way up a narrow staircase. Harry thought that while the hotel was very small, with long narrow rooms, it was posh, with hanging chandeliers and high ceilings, and walls with golden embossed wallpaper and gold painted trim.

"I didn't know you spoke French," Sam said.

"Another charm," Snape told him as he unlocked a door up on the fifth floor. "We'll preform it on you tomorrow morning before going out so that you can converse with people."

"Cool," Sam said, looking impressed.

The room was small, but it had a large bed at one end and a bunk bed at the other. In the very center of the room there was a door that lead to a small bathroom.

After Harry had claimed the top bunk, Severus conjured tall screens to put around his and Joanna's bed, and two more to put around the bunk bed so that everyone could have some privacy.

Harry was immediately drawn to the entire wall of windows. Because they were on the fifth floor, Harry could see for quite a ways. He was sure he was seeing outside of the magical streets and out into Paris. It was a good view from his bunk.

Seeing that it was nearly ten when they had finally gotten there and gotten settled in, everyone was tired and had decided to turn in for the night, but Harry spent another hour laying in his bunk and staring out the window. He'd never been much of anywhere before, and he was fascinated that in the space of a few hours he'd been transported to another part of the world. Maybe he wasn't known here... maybe Voldemort didn't have his grips on this place yet. Maybe he would come back here in the future, and make for himself a new life. They were sweet thoughts that lulled him into a peaceful sleep, for which he was thankful in the morning.

* * *

Joanna wanted to go shopping in the morning, so after they had breakfast in a small café next to the hotel, they set to exploring the cobbled Vérité Rue, which was once again crowded with people, much as it had been the night before.

"Is there a Quidditch store?" Sam asked, as his mother tried to drag them into a third store that only sold candles.

"I believe there is one down on Vérité Ruelle," Severus said then, also looking bored with the candle store that held candles carved into every animal imaginable.

"You boys go ahead," she said then, preoccupied with a candle in the shape of a phoenix, one of the symbolic creatures used to represent healers at St. Mungos. "I'll probably just be a shop or two down when you get back."

"Indeed," Severus said as he followed Harry and Sam out into the fresh air again.

Harry and Sam watched interestedly as they made their way to the end of Vérité Rue and the architecture began to change into something more modern, with clean lines and simple color schemes. By the time they had turned the corner and made their way onto Vérité Ruelle, it was as if they'd entered a different world altogether.

"It looks like it's all clubs," Sam said in awe. "It's so different."

"Most of this street holds clubs, pubs, art galleries, coffee houses, and writer's guilds. The Quidditch store is down near the other end," Severus explained.

"Wow, bet this is packed at night," Sam said, and Harry nodded, noting that there were a lot more young people on this street than on Vérité Rue.

Harry and Sam didn't need to read French to figure out which store sold brooms. Halfway down the street there were thirty or more young boys staring into a massive shop window displaying the newest and fastest brooms.

"What- is that?" Harry asked in awe, drawn to the display as well, where a highly glossy red broom floated by itself. The paint seemed to shimmer as he stared at it, and Harry rather thought that the black bristles looked as if they might burst into flame at any moment. The sign under the broom read: "Les Coulées De Lave Quake." While Snape had performed the language charm on Harry and Sam before breakfast that morning, it didn't allow Harry to read French.

Severus moved past Sam and Harry's open jaws and said, "It reads: Lava Quake."

"We have to go in," Harry said then. He pushed past the throng of children and into the store, which was surprisingly empty. There was a sign just inside the door that Severus told him read: "Quidditch players, guardians, and associates only."

"Well, that explains why all the kids are out there and not in here," Harry said.

There were several brooms, all of different colors, and while they seemed of interest to Harry, he went straight to the Lava Quake. He could feel the magic emanating from it when he got close.

"Thees eez some broom, yes?" the tall French shop owner came over and motioned towards the broom in a heavy French accent.

Harry nodded. "I had a Firebolt," he said then. "How does this compare to that?"

"Thees broom is considerably faster," he said, "eet moves so fast zat ze tail catches on fire as you move."

"What about these?" Sam asked then, motioning to an electric blue broom.

"You play Queeditch too?" The shop owner asked skeptically.

"Yes," Sam lied, and the shop owner nodded and came over to him.

"Zat is ze Water Beam. Eeet's movements are said to be so fluid, zat opponents will not even see you move through ze air."

Tearing himself away from the Lava Quake, Harry went to look at the Water Beam, and then moved to a shiny silver broom that looked as if it were made of solid metal.

"What's this?" Harry asked, and the man smiled before he crossed his arms.

"You cannot afford zat broom."

"Ok, but what is it?"

"Thees is ze Steel Mimicry. Ze boys out in front, ze just call eet ze Mimic."

"What's it do?" Harry asked. Even Snape seemed interested.

"What does eet do he asks me," and then the man laughed. "Eeet senses your thoughts before you even think them, and then acts, taking you where you need to be. It flies fast and brakes hard, giving players like ze beater a throw that will knock a player out cold for a week. Last month a chaser on ze French National team threw a Quaffle from one of these Mimic's, and eet hit ze metal goal post, knocking eet off the pole." By the time he was finished, it was obvious that he'd worked himself up into quite an excitement just in describing the broom.

"Eight ‘undred Galleons thees broom costs."

"What about the Lava bolt?" Harry asked.

"One ‘undred Galleons. Both ze Seeker and three of ze Chaser's on ze French National Team fly the Lava bolt."

"How does it compare to the new Lightningbolt?" Sam asked then, and the man threw his hand into the air and laughed.

"Ze Lightningbolt? Nothing but a poor attempt by those Britons to catch up with what ze French National team flies."

"They sell the Lightningbolt in Germany too," Sam said, "and Quidditch Weekly said the Chinese National team is outfitted with it too."

"Well perhaps zen you should go and buy a Lightningbolt. You will never beat a person on any of these brooms with it."

After leaving the shop, Harry repeated, "One hundred Galleons? That's a steep price. The Lightningbolt is only seventy five and that's twenty more than the Firebolt cost when it first came out."

"He sure got into a huff when I started asking questions," Sam said.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe it's just the French way."

Grinning suddenly, Sam bumped shoulders with Harry and said, "Guess you're French then huh?"

"Hey!" Harry chased Sam a little ways down the street, both boys laughing as Severus watched. They seemed to get along so easily. How was that, when Severus had to work so hard to get along with either boy?

* * *

Harry had been having quite a lot of fun on their surprise vacation, and had almost forgotten that his birthday was the last night of their trip. To celebrate their last night, Joanna had decided that they should go out into Muggle Paris to a nice restaurant for dinner. They all dressed up, and Severus had helped Sam and Harry with a spell to help flatten their hair.

During dinner, Harry started to feel down because he wished they were out celebrating him that night instead of the end of the trip. He'd never had a proper birthday party before, having always been stuck with the Dursleys in the summer when his birthday came around. Not wanting to feel sullen after such a nice few days, Harry decided to just pretend that they were out celebrating his birth, and put on a wide smile, hoping that if he looked the part, he might feel it as well. No one appeared to be any the wiser.

In the taxi on the way back to Vérité after dinner, Harry watched the night time streets of Paris pass by, and tried to imagine that they'd given him presents for his birthday too, but his fantasy was ruined when he couldn't imagine a single thing they'd give him. They had given him clothes, Harry thought, but he only remembered his feelings of being indebted to them for the large purchase. By the time everyone had settled down for bed, Harry was in a sour mood, everything the opposite he'd wanted to feel on his birthday.

Feeling conflicted about his feelings, Harry got out of bed and snuck past the sleeping occupants of the room, and out onto the balcony to look out over Vérité Rue and Muggle Paris. By all rights he shouldn't be upset. This time last year he was sleeping on the floor of the cupboard under the stairs on his birthday, wishing he was just allowed out to have a shower for a birthday present. Now he was in Paris of all places, and feeling angry... disappointed even that nobody knew it was his special day. I must have some nerve, he thought. Maybe uncle Vernon was right for all those years and I really am ungrateful.

Harry was so deep into his own thoughts that he didn't notice the door slide open behind him, and Snape stepping out onto the balcony, fully dressed.

"Why are you still up?" he asked quietly. Harry was surprised to find him there, and also surprised that he didn't sound angry.

"Couldn't sleep," Harry said. He couldn't help letting a little of his bitter feelings seep into his voice.

"Because?"

Harry shrugged and looked back out over the city lights, leaning on the black rail.

"You appeared to be... unsettled on the way back to the hotel."

"Oh well," Harry said. "Nothing new there. I'm sure you and Jo will try to harass me about it later, right? Maybe next time you can get Sam in on the action."

With a sigh Severus crossed his arms. He had been right when he'd told Jo they shouldn't approach Harry like they had. On the one hand they'd needed to tell Harry that they were there for them, but on the other, they'd clearly embarrassed him.

"I see no need. I was merely curious. I will leave you to your thoughts."

Severus turned to go back into the room, but Harry said quietly, "It was my birthday tonight," and Severus paused, hand on the door. When he turned back, Harry was still leaning on the rail in the chill night air, staring out over the city.

"You didn't say anything."

"No reason to," Harry said, still not looking up at Severus. "Nobody ever celebrates it."

"You've never had a birthday party?"

"No," Harry said. "And we're in France this year, so my friend's couldn't send me presents... not that they'd know where to send them anyhow."

Long minutes ticked away as they stood on the balcony in silence, before Severus put a hand on Harry's shoulder, and said, "Come with me. Be careful not to disturb Sam and Jo when we go in."

Curious, Harry followed Snape inside, where he swapped out his PJ's for jeans and a pair of sneakers, and then followed Snape out into the hotel hallway.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"Out into Muggle Paris."

Harry felt his stomach clench tightly then, and he wondered if Snape was going to pull an uncle Vernon and just drop Harry somewhere without a way to get back. Was there a French Version of the Knight bus or magi-cabs?

"What are we going to do?" Harry asked.

"Get something to eat," was the only reply Snape gave him.

Out on Vérité Rue, Snape lead Harry to one of the exits, where they came out onto a distinctly Muggle street. Where Vérité Rue was still full of people despite the late hour, the Muggle street was completely empty. There was not even a stray cat to break the stillness, which Harry and Snape were now doing.

"Is there anyplace open?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Yes, but we'll need to make our way there. A few streets over is a night district similar to Vérité Ruelle."

Harry had a silly thought then that Snape desired to go clubbing, but stifled a laugh with a thought that he did not seem the type.

After a fifteen minute walk, they rounded a corner and met a street full of people with lots of businesses that were still lit up.

"Right here," Snape told Harry, who took a seat at a small sidewalk table in front of a little café. There were Christmas lights along the trellis and overhang in front of the café, and it lit the outdoor seating area nicely.

"Won't Jo worry if she wakes up and we're gone?"

"I left her a note," Snape said then, and Harry nodded. Should he have left a note when he went fishing? It wasn't in the rules he thought. If only they would tell him the rules...

The waiter came out after a moment and Snape ordered a coffee. When he turned to Harry, Harry ordered a milkshake, but Snape held up his hand and told the waiter to bring out two pieces of cake as well.

"As you wish," the waiter said as he moved off into the café.

"Cake?"

"Does one not customarily eat cake on their birthday?" Snape asked, and Harry turned red.

Harry was about to open his mouth and say that he'd never really had birthday cake before, except the one Hagrid had baked him, but was surprised with the speed that the waiter came back out with their order. It had barely been two minutes.

"Thank you," Harry said. He'd asked for a caramel latte milkshake, and as he took a sip, he thought that he didn't even need the cake, because this was desert enough. As Harry looked up though, he saw Snape taking a bite of his chocolate caramel crumb cake, and decided to give it a try anyway. Somehow, everything tasted better in France.

After they had taken their time eating their midnight desert, Harry and Snape continued walking through the clubbing district, and then out into a residential neighborhood that looked similar to Vérité Rue.

"Have you been to France before sir?" Harry asked then. He did seem awfully familiar with the area.

"I did six months of apprenticeship here to a Potion's Master on Vérité Route."

"What about Jo? Sam said he didn't know she wanted to come here."

"She also did an apprenticeship here, in a different year from when I was here. France is known for its magical healers. I believe this is where she met Sam's father."

"Oh," Harry said. "Sorry." He hadn't meant to make Snape think about Jo's previous husband. Great, he thought to himself, now it's awkward.

"Why?"

"Well, I didn't mean to make you think about Sam's dad."

"Do not be sorry. He is a part of hers and Sam's lives, even if he is gone."

That was true, Harry thought. His parents were a part of his past. He still wondered what James or Lily would have done in some of the situations he got himself into.

"I knew your mother," Snape said then, and Harry looked up in the darkness as they walked.

"You did?"

"Yes." He was silent again and Harry thought it wasn't very nice to just mention that he knew her and not say anymore, but Harry kept quiet anyway. It was a few more minutes before Snape continued with, "We were friends before we went to Hogwarts. She and her family lived a few streets over from me in London. Just after we graduated... we dated briefly."

Harry stopped walking then and just stared at Snape's back. It took him a moment to notice that Harry had stopped walking, and when he turned around, Harry picked his jaw up off the ground and caught up to his Professor.

"Dated?" Harry was astonished. "Why does nobody tell me these things?"

"It was not... pertinent," Snape said. Harry noticed that they were nearly back to the entrance of Vérité now.

"Because you hated my dad?" Harry asked, and Snape gave him a serious look, though not one that made Harry want to back away from his question.

"We will leave it at this," he said. "We are nearly back to the hotel." Harry looked up and realized it was true.

As Harry lay back in his bunk that night at nearly two am, he thought about a lot of things, like how his birthday hadn't been so bad after all. But his mind kept flitting back to the more serious issue that Snape had dated Lily. He dated my mother right after school, Harry thought. My mother. What did my father have to say about that? Oh... damn. Harry was sure if someone had seen him then that his face would have gone ghostly white, because another thought had entered his mind. He wasn't sure how old his parents were when he was born... but it did seem possible that Lily was fairly young. Did that mean? Harry didn't fall asleep until the sun came up, because he was too busy questioning, ‘Is Snape really my father?' and the only answer he got was, ‘I wish he were.'

Sam laughed as he sat tying his lacrosse net into place on his stick. "Well of course he is, he's mine now too... or at least he will be." They'd been back from France for two days now and Harry felt ready to burst with his new revelation. He had to tell someone, and the uncertainty that had flooded him about it kept him from going directly to Snape.

"No, I mean... I think he's really my dad Sam. I just don't think he knows it."

Finally looking up from his net, Sam raised a brow at Harry. "What are you talking about?"

"It France, he said he dated my mum right after they graduated. I'm pretty sure I was born the year after they graduated."

"Snape dating your mum? Now there's a twist," Sam said with a little laugh at the irony.

"C'mon, it's not funny. What if he's really my dad?" What Harry wanted to express, but was too afraid to, was that if Snape was really his father, then he'd have no choice but to take care of him, and Harry would no longer have to worry about being dumped out on his own again. He could really be a part of their family instead of just feeling as though he were butting in all the time.

"You're serious? You think he's your dad?" Sam gave him a close looking over then. "I guess you do sort of look alike."

"I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to go up to him and tell him what I think. I mean, what if he knew all this time and just decided I wasn't his problem?"

"I doubt that he knows. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need a potion."

"Like a paternity test?"

"Sure. I bet we can get the ingredients out of his stash. He's been brewing down in the basement."

Harry frowned. "You have a basement?"

"Come on. Let's go down and get supplies while he's out."

Sam lead Harry into the garage where there was a door he hadn't noticed before, which lead to the basement, a relatively well lit space with finished walls and no windows.

"It's huge," Harry said. "You could turn this into another bedroom."

Sam shrugged. "Why? Got plenty upstairs." Harry still thought that Jason would like his room back if he came back to visit, and for a brief moment Harry had had hopes that with an extra space like this, he wouldn't be booted to the couch when that happened. He valued his privacy.

Within seconds Sam had gone to a bookshelf full of stained books and pulled one out that claimed to contain over 1,000 household potion recipes. "Pang of newt, pander dust, paternity test, here it is."

Harry went over to look and Sam immediately set to putting ingredients in an empty jar. "I have a cauldron in my closet. If we remember to lock it up then nobody will find it."

"Won't he notice his ingredients missing," Harry wondered aloud.

Sam shrugged. "Doubtful. He's got so many and he's always bringing in more whenever he goes out. Remember the gillyweed he brought back when we went fishing before?" Harry nodded.

With a jar full of ingredients, and the book in hand, Sam and Harry dashed up the stairs and up through the house to Sam's room, where Harry set up the cauldron and Sam fetched several bottles of water.

"Are you any good at this stuff?" Harry asked. He was always receiving a failing grade in Potions, partly due to the professor always glaring down at him and making him nervous as he tried to work. He'd hate to mess this potion up though.

"Kind of have to be, don't I? Last year as Snape was dating my mum he had me coming down for ‘extra' lessons three times a week so I could be extra ready for Advanced NEWT Potions."

"Oh man, you're going into the advanced class?" When Harry had gotten his owls back he was relieved just to make it into the regular NEWT potions class.

"Most of the Ravenclaws will be in it. I bet your friend Hermione will be too."

"Probably," Harry said as he and Sam set to finely chopping up the 12 or so ingredients that were to go into the now boiling cauldron. When they were finally done 20 minutes later and Sam was sure his closet was secure, he told Harry to wait as he went and returned the book, hoping Snape wouldn't catch him in the garage. He was back in just a few minutes though and looked satisfied with their results.

"It'll have to brew for three days, four if it doesn't turn clear."

"Did you stop to think that we might catch all your clothes on fire doing this in your closet?"

He shrugged. "After Christmas when I was five, mom always fireproofs all my new clothes."

"Do I even want to know?"

Sam grinned. "Probably not."

* * *

Harry felt very impatient. As the days ticked by he grew even more certain that the potion would give a positive result. On the second day they'd taken some of Snape's hair and put it into the cauldron along with Harry's. If the potion turned clear, it would be positive. If it turned murky then it would be negative.

"You know, you're quite a rule breaker, who would've thought?" Harry said to Sam as they stirred the potion at the end of the third day.

"It's a distinct possibility that you just didn't know me well enough before now. You were always getting into trouble with Snape, but Flitwick and McGonagall were always catching me at something at school."

"Like what?"

"Thomas and Luke needed to get in some extra practice before a big game, so we snuck out to the pitch one night after midnight. We wouldn't have gotten caught either if it hadn't started to rain. We trailed mud and water all the way up to Ravenclaw tower, where professor McGonagall gave us all a weeklong detention."

"Nice," Harry said. "I think my all-time high score for the year is 29 detentions, and 27 of them were with Snape.

"I only had 8 and that was last year. Are you the record holder for Gryffindor then?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Fred had 42 and George had 43 the year before last. Fred was upset that George had beat him so he went out and cursed Filch's feet to the ground so he could catch up, except Filch was so mad he gave him two, and Fred won out."

"Mum's rule is that I'm grounded one week for every detention I get while I'm at school. So I served two weeks over Christmas break, one over Easter break, and one that first week of summer."

"And the other four?"

Sam looked at him and rolled his eyes. "She said I had leeway if I went fishing with Severus whenever he asked."

"Sellout," Harry remarked.

Moving to his bed, Sam flopped down and started looking through a broom catalog, and Harry sat just staring into the blue bubbling potion. He thought the color was starting to dissipate, and he had every intention of going straight to Snape as soon as it turned clear. He'd never celebrate another birthday alone, he thought to himself with a smile. This would secure his position as a part of the family, and finally, for once in his life, all would be well, he was sure of it.

Harry was just in the middle of daydreaming about some family outing with lots of food, when his eyes focused on the potion and were met with a white murky substance that looked like watery milk. His heart sank, and he felt like bolting out of the room.

"Well, that's that I guess," Harry said in a monotone.

"Is it finished?" Sam jumped off his bed and came over to kneel next to the closet. "Oh... I'm sorry Harry."

Harry just shrugged in response. "It's ok. No worries."

"Well hey, maybe we brewed it wrong? We can try again," he offered, but Harry was shaking his head.

"No, you're like Hermione... you couldn't brew a potion wrong if you tried."

"Sorry," Sam said again as Harry got to his feet.

"Forget about it." Harry left him there with the murky simmering cauldron, and went to his room across the hall, closing the door. He didn't even know what to feel at this point aside from let down. This was the price he paid for getting his hopes up. It was just the first set of emotions he was going to pay for in a rollercoaster ride he'd find himself on in the next few days.

* * *

Sam had been wrong. Snape had noticed the missing ingredients, and had used a spell to figure out which book had most recently been pulled off the shelf. Harry had catalogued the school potion's cupboard enough times in detention, and he should have known how meticulous the man was about what ingredients he had in stock.

While Harry had spent the next day laying in the back yard listlessly under the shade of the only tree and feeling sorry for himself, declining Sam's attempts to get him to learn Lacrosse, Severus was piecing together a horrifying conclusion based on his evidence. The ingredients for a paternity potion had been taken from the basement along with the book needed to brew said potion. He knew from watching Sam and Harry at school that Sam had been together with a Ravenclaw girl briefly at the end of the last school year but that Harry hadn't dated in a long time. His gut was clenched at the thought that Sam might have been doing something inappropriate with a girl, or that she might be pregnant. What would that do to his and Jo's lives? Would they be raising another child so that Sam could stay in school? He was hesitant to take any of this to Jo, but knew he'd better because he knew how much she valued openness and honesty.

Just as he had told his concerns to her in the living room that evening, Sam and Harry appeared through the back door.

"Sammuel Joseph Heywood!" Sam and Harry both paused on the threshold at Jo's angry voice coming from the living room.

"This can't be good," Sam said, and Harry nodded, though he thought that for once it was nice not to be the one in trouble.

"Yes mum?" Sam said in the nicest voice he could muster as he crept around the doorframe and into the living room.

Harry was right behind him, though just as hesitant as Sam. He hated to see anyone getting into trouble, and was curious to see how professor Snape would handle it. Jo had her hands on her hips and a stern look to rival professor McGonagall's Harry thought.

"Would you please explain to me what you were doing secretly brewing a paternity potion?"

"Oh," Sam said with a funny look on his face that said he'd been caught but that he wasn't concerned about it. Harry on the other hand was frozen to the spot.

"Oh indeed," Severus said in an agitated voice. "As if your need to brew the potion wasn't bad enough, you stole from my ingredients instead of coming to us for help."

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but Jo cut him off and asked bluntly, "Is she pregnant Sam, and you better not lie to me young man, or I swear-" she stopped midsentence as if she couldn't even think of a punishment that was fitting enough.

"No mum, it's not like that."

"Oh, it's not like that. Well there's only one reason I can think of for someone to brew this particular potion, and that's to find out if they're the sixteen year old father of a child!" She was bordering on enraged now, and Harry could tell that Sam was floundering for an answer. He was surprised Sam hadn't turned on him yet, but perhaps it was because Sam knew just how upset Harry was over the results of the potion. Sam never even turned to look back at Harry, who was still standing there frozen, though his lungs felt like they couldn't get any air.

"Really mum, I never-"

"Sam I told you not to lie to me. I have no choice but to-"

"I did it." She paused at Harry's meek voice in the background, and for the first time she realized that he was even there, head down and looking at his feet.

"You?" Jo was feeling more flustered than she thought she could handle just then. Enraged was what she'd felt at the thought that her own son had been intimate at such a young age, especially because she'd made a point to talk to him about it so many times, but Harry... Harry had probably never had any guidance in such matters.

"Sam and I took the ingredients together and brewed the potion upstairs in his closet, but it was for me."

"Harry," Jo said quietly, though Harry refused to look up at her, or worse yet at the enraged look Snape was sure to have. Silence hung in the air for long charged moments before Jo finally asked quietly, "Who is she?"

Harry did look up then to Sam for support, but he was determinedly looking up at the ceiling. Harry wondered if he'd be mad in the end that they didn't seem to be mad at Harry, but were ready to rip his head off. Of course Harry they could always get rid of, but Sam was their problem for life.

"My mum... and my dad," Harry finally said quietly. "I wanted to know who my parents were."

Confused Jo and Severus looked at each other and then back to Harry. Snape decided to remain silent. "You don't know who your parents were Harry?"

Looking at the ground again Harry shook his head, and the emotions of disappointment and depression from the last couple of days since the results, flooded back over him once again.

"Sam, would you please excuse us for a few moments," Harry heard Snape asking, and then he saw Sam's shadow pass by him and out of the room.

When he was gone, Snape finally took his turn and said, "Perhaps you should explain yourself."

"Don't want to," Harry said, feeling stubborn but not caring. Telling them his reasoning would be exposing too much of himself... putting too much of himself out on the line to be tread on. The more people knew, the more they had to use against you. Wasn't it bad enough that Harry always felt broken and out of place? He didn't want them to know it too.

Eyes still glued to the floor as he tried to fight his emotions, Harry missed the look his two pseudo guardians were giving each other.

"Maybe it's time Harry," Severus said then, taking a few steps towards him. Jo liked to think she could be the one to break through with Harry, but they'd discussed it and Severus knew it would be him.

"No," Harry said, and he backed out of the door frame and went out the front door. Once he was out on the porch he caught a glimpse of a child riding a bike at the end of the street and was reminded that it wasn't safe to be out alone with Avery and his gang roaming around, so he sat on the top step of the porch. He was aware that the door opened a few moments later behind him and that Snape had come out to sit beside him, but he stayed silent.

"You're like me you know," Severus said, and Harry wanted to laugh sadly, because he wanted it to be true. "You keep it all in because you're not used to divulging information." Severus wasn't sure if Harry had even heard him though, because he just continued to stare out into the street as the sun went down. Deciding that he would just sit there until Harry told him something, he stared out into the neighborhood as well. It was only a few moments before Harry spoke though.

"You said you dated my mum after you graduated. And I just thought, I thought it might be possible that I wasn't alone after all. Sam's safe. You and Jo can't ever throw him out, even if he messes up. I just- I wanted that too."

Severus looked at Harry incredulously though Harry didn't look over at him.

"You thought I might be your father?" When Harry nodded wordlessly, Severus felt like hitting himself. He'd given the child some kind of false hope by not elaborating his relationship or the timeline.

"It's true that your mother and I dated briefly," he said solemnly. "And it's also true that you were born about 8 months later. But I am positive that you are James Potter's son. Your mother dated him just before me. She didn't know she was pregnant when she and I began dating. That's why she left me, to go back to him."

"Oh," Harry said in a high pitched voice, feeling choked up.

"Indeed."

They remained silent on the front step for another twenty minutes as the sun disappeared and the sky grew dark.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear earlier this summer Harry," Severus said breaking the silence. "When I told you I wouldn't let you go to an orphanage, I meant it. When I said that you had me, I meant it. I know it's happened very quickly, but you have a place here with us now, no matter what. I understand that's hard for you to believe, but it's the truth. No matter what you do, you're not going anywhere. It would be best if you put this issue to rest in your mind."

"I want to." Harry's voice was finally steady again, and he felt the threat of tears had passed. He didn't think he could stand to be embarrassed anymore this summer and still think of himself as a man.

"Good. There's another issue that need to be put at rest as well."

Harry looked up at him.

"You need to be comfortable talking with us about what you're going through, or what you need from us Harry. We still don't know what your life has been like up until now aside from some indications that we've seen this summer."

"I don't like people talking about me."

"It's what happens between adults in a family. Jo and I hold conversations about Sam and his upbringing as well."

Harry didn't want to say that Sam wasn't messed up like he was... that he wasn't needy like he was. Hadn't Harry already run off several times, had multiple freakouts and been upset or depressed for most of the summer? Not to mention the injuries. Harry didn't feel like he could handle it all most days, how were they going to take on the burden? They didn't know what they were talking about asking him to describe his life to them.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to think about it anymore."

"Will your fear of being taken to an orphanage go away now that we've talked about it and put it to rest?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, maybe."

"Then is it reasonable to assume that if we spoke about other issues and put them to rest as well, that you would no longer have to think about these things?"

Another shrug.

"We are here when you're ready. Perhaps writing it out would be easier for you. Some people find it helpful to write things out in a journal or letter."

"You want me to write you letters?"

"If it will help."

Biting his lip now, Harry sighed. "Maybe I can just think about it," Harry said, and Severus gave a nod.

"This is acceptable. Perhaps you'd do well thinking on a full stomach. A hamburger and fries?"

Harry nodded and they got up off the step before Severus opened the door and called inside to Jo that they'd be back soon with carry out for dinner. Despite his promise to think about it however, Harry tried to do anything but as they walked into town.

‘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.

"So what ‘did' she give you?" Sam teased as he and Harry played catch with the lacrosse sticks in the back yard a few days after Harry's second birthday excursion.

"I'm not telling," Harry said.

"Oh a gentleman than?"

"Shouldn't I be?"

"So she did kiss you!"

"I didn't say that."

"A gentleman never kisses and tells, yeah?"

Harry scrunched up his nose. "Don't go telling people."

"Because her honor is at stake?"

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Just like Ron." Sam grinned and Harry shook his head.

"Well are you going to ask her out then? You need a date for the wedding anyway."

Harry shrugged. Severus and Joanna had been in and out of the house over the last few days finalizing wedding plans. The wedding was in two weeks, and then they were going to take a three day honeymoon, leaving Sam and Harry with Jason while they were gone. After that, school was just a few days away.

"Well who are you taking then?" Harry asked.

"Katie Davis."

"You were dating her before, yeah? Is that the girl your mum accused you of getting pregnant after they found the missing ingredients?"

"Yeah, that's her. We're just friends now, but who knows."

"You still like her then?"

It was Sam's turn to shrug. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Ok," Harry nodded. Sam didn't want to tell him that he really did like her. Harry'd been wanting to go back to the Burrow again anyway, and maybe this was a good excuse to go, to ask Ginny to accompany him to the wedding. He wondered how Ron would take it if he didn't invite him.

After lunch, Harry went down to the basement to find Severus, who smiled when Harry walked in. "Back for another lesson?"

"No, but I'll take one if you've got one," he said. In a third letter to Severus Harry told him that he wanted to learn advanced NEWT potions and that Hermione had given him the book, and in Severus' spare time between wedding planning, they'd been doing lessons that Sam opted out of.

"Come sit down then. You can help me make some of the potions that are going out as gifts at the wedding."

Harry took a seat on one of the two stools.

"You came down to ask me something?" Severus asked as he pushed a tray full of toad tongues towards him to chop up.

"I wanted to know if I could go back to the Burrow, to ask Ginny if she'd go to the wedding with me."

"The two of you are dating?" Severus inquired.

"No," Harry said, but he hoped to date her. Severus didn't ask that however.

"Then you intend to go as friends?"

"Sam and Katie are going as friends."

"Indeed." Severus set a measuring cup and two bottled potions down next to where Harry was working, one red and one green and told him to mix them in equal proportions.

"It will be a small wedding, and very few people have been invited due to the nature of the threat from the Dark lord."

"Am I not allowed to bring a guest then?" Harry asked, stopping his chopping for a moment. He'd never been to a wedding before, and didn't know what was proper and what wasn't.

"That is not what I meant. You may bring Ginny. I only meant to tell you, that typically one brings the person they're together with to a wedding. Those who are present may get the wrong idea."

"Well, who will be there?" He really didn't care what people thought of him and Ginny.

"The Headmaster, Minerva, Madam Pomfrey, several of Jo's co-workers and their families, Jason, and Draco Malfoy, who is not allowed to bring a guest."

"Oh," Harry said. Draco had already seen Harry on Diagonalley with them and hadn't seemed to tattle yet, but he could possibly cause trouble if Harry was there. Again, Harry wasn't concerned what others thought of him and Ginny going together, but maybe Draco might say something to make Ginny think twice about the kiss she'd given him.

"I don't care what others think about it," Harry said. If she did eventually agree to go out with him then people would see them together anyway.

"You are unconcerned that Draco may or may not let slip to the Dark Lord that you are dating Ginny Weasley?"

Harry froze again. "Do you think he'd do that? He knows I'm staying with you and hasn't said anything yet."

Severus raised his brows. "Hm." He didn't ask how Draco knew though.

"We can't just modify his memory or give me and Ginny potion so we don't look like ourselves?"

"I don't think so."

Harry grumbled something then and Severus asked, "You had something else to say?"

"I said maybe I won't go then." He hadn't said it with an attitude and Severus didn't take it with one.

"You may bring Ginny Weasley, but her family may not allow her to come, knowing the consequences."

"Unless we invite their family," Harry said with a hopeful smile. "Draco knows I'm friends with her, so if he sees me hanging out with her and her parents are there too..." He knew he was asking for a lot. He wasn't a part of their family, and knew they shouldn't be made to make exceptions just for his sake just because Voldemort was after him.

Severus gave him a close looking over. "As it happens, Jo works closely with Arthur from time to time. Occasionally he and the accidental magical reversal squad are required to bring Muggles to her to be treated before their memories are erased. We had discussed inviting them."

"So, they might come anyway?"

Severus nodded. "We will talk about inviting them again."

Harry gave him a little smile. "Thanks." He really wanted to tack ‘dad' onto the end of that, but didn't think Professor Snape would allow it.

Over the next few days Sam and Harry were enlisted to do a number of things to help with wedding preparations, including hand delivering an invitation to Molly and Arthur Weasley, and Ginny. Ron gruffed about not being invited, but when Ginny slapped him on the shoulder and reminded him that he didn't like Snape anyway, he closed his mouth.

"I don't think it will be much fun anyhow," Harry said.

"Where are they holding it anyway?" Ginny asked as Harry and Sam sat on the couch.

"I guess there's a spot in the West Forest that's still on Hogwarts grounds, so still protected."

"I like it there," Ginny said. Harry nodded. Sometimes Professor Sprout or even Hagrid took them into the edge of the forest on the West side of Hogwarts. It was wild but a far cry from the Forbidden Forest, as it didn't hold many magical creatures and the two didn't connect.

"What should I wear?" Ginny asked.

Harry couldn't help but get a little hazy when he looked at her, and ended up shrugging as he turned red and looked away.

"Draco Malfoy will be there," Sam said, though Ginny didn't roll her eyes like he'd expected her too. "Also the Patil twins, their dad is a healer at Mungos, and Terry Boot. His mum is nurse."

"His dad works with dad in the Muggle Affairs office," Ron piped in, sitting in the frayed recliner by the empty fire grate. "We've had to have him for dinner before."

"We didn't ‘have' to," Ginny said, and this time she did roll her eyes. "He doesn't like Terry," she said then with a little smirk.

"Well not when he's sitting there across the table giving my sister googly eyes!"

Harry pretended to be very interested in his shoes just then and Sam flashed him a little smile before he saw Ginny smirking again.

"Can you stay for lunch?" she asked.

"I think they're done with us for the day," Harry said. "We were just getting in the way. I think that's why they sent us over."

"Maybe we can play Quidditch. You know, Hermione is supposed to be here by dinner."

"Yeah? Too bad we can't stay the night too."

"Well why not?" Ron asked. "Think ol' Snape will let you?"

Harry turned to look at Sam who shrugged.

"I'll ask mum then," Ron said, and he was up and into the kitchen before Harry could say that he really didn't want to impose. He caught Ginny looking at him however and turned red again, thinking he would like to spend some time with her.

"Mum says you can stay," Ron said, standing in the doorframe.

"We'll go home and ask then," Sam said, standing and tugging Harry's shirt sleeve to get him up. "We'll let you know if we can't by floo."

"Well come back anyway," Ron said to Harry conspiratorially as Sam tossed a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and green flames erupted. "Or else we'll have to come break you out again."

"Without a car?" Harry asked.

"We have brooms."

He laughed then and turned to follow Sam, who was still waiting, into the green flames.

Severus and Jo seemed a little relieved to have the two boys out from underfoot. Not that they were really in the way, they usually went out in the day time, but it would save Jo some cooking that night, and Harry wondered what the two would do while they were gone.

They took two sleeping bags Sam had brought out from the garage, Quidditch magazines, and some clothes in their back packs. When they were back at the Burrow, Ron lead them up to his room, and they laid the sleeping bags on the floor. Sam looked around with a critical eye.

"Like the Cannons huh?" he asked. The walls were papered with Cannon's posters from different years, and the orange had begun to fade from most of them.

"Yeah. You?"

"Falcons," Sam said.

"Harry likes the Cannons," Ron said then.

"I think I saw one go into the back of the Quidditch store on Diagonalley earlier this summer," he said, not wanting to say that they weren't his favorite team.

"Which one? Was it Duggar?"

"I just saw his orange shirt. It looked like he might be wearing a Keeper helmet though."

"Drake," Ron said knowledgeably as he sat back on his bed, which had an orange bed spread.

Sam pulled out the tall stack of Quidditch magazines from his bag and set them on the floor, drawing Ron to the floor as well.

"You subscribe to all these?"

"Yeah, look, I've even got two from America and I picked up this subscription when I was in France."

"It must cost a fortune each month," Ron said in awe.

"Well it helps to have a Potion's Professor who's trying to win you over," Sam said then. "He upped my allowance by two sickles a month!"

Ron nudged Harry. "Think it's too late to get him interested in mum?" All three of them laughed. Harry had just opened one of the magazines when Ginny appeared in the doorframe though and met his eyes.

"I- I think I'll get some water from downstairs," Harry said. "Want anything?"

"Nah," Ron said, and Sam shook his head.

"Be back soon then."

Harry followed Ginny out and down one floor to a part of the Burrow Harry didn't usually visit. There were four doors off of the narrow hallway.

"That one's Fred and George's room and the next one belonged to Percy. Bill and Charlie shared the next one."

"So they're empty now?"

"Well Fred and George still come back to eat and sleep but they're gone most of the time."

"Oh," Harry said. He liked the twins and was looking forward to them coming home that night. He was also looking forward to seeing Hermione.

"Want to walk outside? It's kind of hot in here."

Harry nodded and they continued down through the house and out the back door.

"Um, Ginny," Harry said when they were about fifteen feet from the house.

"Yes?"

Harry half turned around, feeling awkward. "Your mum's watching us from the kitchen window."

She giggled. "Yes but she's not as protective as Ron. She's the one who told me to go up and see if you wanted to come down."

"Your mum?"

She shrugged.

They walked in the field for a while and Harry told her about some of his summer. Talking to her was easy like talking to Sam or Ron was, even though Harry hadn't really told Ron much about his summer so far.

"I'm really sorry Harry," she ended up saying an hour later as they sat under the shade of a large tree in the tall grass. The sun was starting to go down. "Your summer sounds awful."

"Well it's not all bad. I got a new room, new clothes, new furniture..." he paused, and then tried to screw up the courage to take Ginny's hand. "A new girlfriend," he finished, looking over at her.

"Who is it? Lavender Brown?"

Harry's mouth fell open just a little but then she laughed and shoved him lightly, and he relaxed.

"S'not funny," he mumbled, but then she took his hand and his heart beat rapidly as he caught her eye again.

"Ron will flip out," Harry said.

"He knows I like you. He would have said something already if he minded."

"Huh."

Harry was about to lean in to see if he could get another kiss but in the distance they heard what sounded like someone calling Ginny's name.

"I think someone's calling," she said quietly.

"Yeah."

Harry started to get up, but Ginny stole a quick kiss and then jumped up and laughed before running off. Harry chased after her across the tall green field and when he caught up with her he took her hand and they enjoyed the walk back in the cool evening breeze.

Fred was in the garden holding a lawn gnome upside down while George tried to get it to bite sponge when they got back to the house.

"There you two love birds are," George said. "Hermione's here and mum said dinner will be ready soon."

"What on earth are you doing to that gnome?"

"Harvesting slobber for a new product," Fred said. "Want to help?"

"No, I think we'll go find Hermione," Ginny said, and didn't let go of Harry's hand as she lead him inside.

Molly gave them a warm smile when they got inside the too warm kitchen, and Hermione stood up from the table and gave them a surprised look, which made Harry blush.

"I wondered where you'd gotten off to. No one was around when I got here except for the twins and a gnome."

"Ron's upstairs with Sam," Harry supplied.

"Sam?"

Oh. In his evening walk with Ginny he'd forgotten that she didn't know about his new living arrangements yet.

"Sam Heywood," Harry said.

"I didn't realize he and Ron were friends."

"Well if they haven't had it out over which Quidditch team is better," Ginny said, "they might both still be alive up there."

As if they knew they were being talked about, Sam and Ron came thundering down the twisted lopsided stairs and Harry and Ginny let go of each other's hands, but not before Sam had seen. Ron had seen too, but it looked like he was choosing to ignore it.

"Went for water huh?" Sam teased, and Harry shook his head.

"Everyone at the table now," Mrs. Weasley said, "Dinner's ready and Arthur will be home any minute."

While Harry had had fun with Sam this summer, he knew that this would be the best time he'd have all summer. Dinner was a raucous affair with the twins telling tales of their new inventions and the lengths they had gone to to acquire ingredients, and Ron and Sam talking loudly about Quidditch tactics. After dinner George brought out a new Tri-W product, a shiny red Quaffle that had rounded edges and was lighter and more aerodynamic and the whole lot took off for the Quidditch Paddock, where even Mr. Weasley pulled out the broom he sometimes took to work if the Floo Network was backed up, and they played Quidditch until nearly ten pm. Mrs. Weasley had brought lemonade and cake in a basket and had cast a charm that drew all the lightning bugs for miles to the paddock to light their night time game. When they were back at the house, Ginny and Hermione joined the three boys upstairs where they ended up sitting in the hallway reading magazines and laughing well into the night, because there wasn't enough room in Ron's attic bedroom for all of them. Harry didn't have a watch that worked, but he estimated it was after two am by the time he finally crawled into his sleeping bag on Ron's floor.

"Harry?" Ron said long after they heard Sam's snores in the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"Still my brother?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"Night."

"Night."

And then he drifted into a calm sleep bourn of exhaustion. He didn't worry about casting a silencing spell, because he didn't need one. There were no nightmares that night.

Sam came up and slapped him on the back. "Got that thing figured out yet?"

"No one ever taught me how to do it. Severus gave me detention last year for having it wrong so many days in a row. Hermione usually does this for me." He wished she was there just then, but she hadn't been invited, like Ron, despite that she was currently staying with the Weasleys. Harry wasn't sure if he should feel put out for her and Ron or not. He supposed they weren't close to anyone involved in the wedding except him though, and it wasn't his wedding. He was, after all, still just a guest in Jo's home.

"Here," Sam said. He pointed his wand at Harry's tie and it straightened and tightened. "Take this too. Severus said you need it." He handed Harry the jar of hair straightening cream and Harry globbed the clear gel onto his hair, using a comb to smooth it out. The wedding wasn't for another two hours, but they were supposed to help get things ready so they'd been sent to get dressed early in the men's dressing tent.

"Harry."

Harry turned at the sound of a familiar voice and found Ron with a pair of dark slacks and a button up shirt and tie folded over one arm.

"Ron! What are you doing here?"

"We got an owl late last night from Sam's mum inviting me and Hermione."

"Really?" Harry asked. He turned to Sam, but Sam only shrugged.

Ron nodded. "It surprised mum. She gave me a lecture for half an hour about being a gentleman and not causing any trouble or else she'd have my hide."

Harry laughed. "Is Hermione here then?"

"She's in the girl's tent with Ginny."

Harry worked hard not to think about Ginny in the changing room, but his red cheeks drew a frown from Ron anyway.

Just as Ron took his shirt off to change into his button up shirt and tie, Snape hurried into the tent, looked around for something, grabbed the tin of hair straightening cream and hurried back out again. Harry laughed because he'd apparently startled Ron, who was hugging his bare torso to hide himself.

"What's so funny?"

Sam looked and laughed too. "Well he's the dungeon master isn't he? I don't want him to see me starkers."

"Dungeon master?" Sam asked, and laughed again.

When they finished changing, they barely had time to say hello to Ginny and Hermione before Molly was instructing them to hover tables under a white tent top, polish silverware, lay out place settings, bring in benches, and set up rows of white wooden chairs in the sunlit clearing in front of the vine covered arch.

"I can't believe it's all for Snape," Ron said.

Harry shrugged. He wasn't a bad guy or anything. He'd been bad to Harry, but the more he found that Snape was decent, the more often he wondered if he had deserved all of the negative attention he'd gotten from the man over the past five years. Maybe he'd deserved what he'd got from the Dursleys too.

"I'm going to have to change again if this keeps up," Sam said, pulling at his shirt after Molly had just made them move the larger of the five tables for the third time.

When Molly's back was turned, Harry, Sam, and Ron hurried away, hoping to sneak some punch from the food table before they were set another task again.

"I hope we get some free time today," Ron commented as they each took a cup of punch and hurried into the trees.

"Well, once the work is done we'll just be sitting around," Sam said. "It will be pretty boring. Especially with Draco here."

Hermione and Ginny chose that moment to come up to them. They also had punch. "Mum's looking for you Ron," Ginny told him.

"I bet she is," he scoffed. "We just got away from her."

"We've been helping Professor Snape," Hermione said then. "He said he was bad at decorating so Ginny and I put all the flowers and streamers up."

"He taught us a spell to make vines grow too," Ginny said. "I think I want vines like that at my wedding."

Harry choked on his punch at that moment and Sam laughed, slapping him on his back. Hermione also covered her mouth to hide a giggle, and Ron chose to ignore Harry altogether.

"Really Ron," Hermione said, "I think your mum is about to find an owl to send a howler if you don't hurry back."

"Come on," Ron said, and Harry and Sam went back through the trees to the clearing, Harry turning to give Ginny a smile as he passed, even if his face was still red.

"You're hopeless," Sam told him as they neared Molly again. "You haven't even asked her out yet, have you."

Harry looked at Ron.

"Er."

Ron turned and shook his head. "He is hopeless. All summer Ginny and mum have been conspiring against you Harry. When Hermione got to our house it got even worse. You should ask her already so I don't have to listen to them any more."

"They- they have?"

"Well Harry likes Quidditch, you should take more of an interest in that," Ron mocked a high female voice, though Harry wasn't sure why anyone would say that since Ginny was already on the Gryffindor team as a Chaser. "And I think he likes the color blue, you should wear blue to the wedding." He snorted when he finished with his fake female tone.

Harry turned back to see if Ginny and Hermione were still in the trees, and noted that Ginny was wearing a light blue dress. It was very pretty, he thought, but pulled his mind away from her as Molly came out from the women's tent and scolded all three of them for disappearing when there was work to be done.

Guests started to trickle in around 10 am, and Harry started trying to identify the people who were mulling about. Dumbledore and McGonagall were there, and since they were on school grounds he knew they didn't have to travel very far. Sam and Ron pointed out various other people from the ministry or St. Mungos. Not including the Weasleys, Hermione, Sam or Harry there were about 25 guests. It was definitely a small wedding, but Harry rather liked it this way, even if Draco was there. If he ever got married (he turned red again and Sam nudged him and laughed since he wasn't even looking at Ginny) then he thought he would like a small wedding like this. Maybe even right here in this same spot. It was perfect really. The area was mostly shaded but there was a clearing large enough for the event where tall trees let the light filter down through the canopy. They'd already trampled the grass flat that morning, but other than that it was perfect. Harry longed to explore the area having never been given a proper chance to do so while at school, and wondered if he could sneak away with the others after the ceremony.

At ten thirty Molly came and began ushering them to sit down, instructing Harry and Ginny, Sam and Katie Davis (who was also in their year) to sit in the front row, and Ron and Hermione to sit in the row behind that. Draco was also instructed to sit next to Ron and Hermione (apparently this was the teen row), and though he scoffed, he did as he was told. Harry wondered if Severus had already told him to behave.

There were to be no bridesmaids or groomsmen in this wedding. Severus had confided in Harry that he felt too awkward asking his future step son to be his best man, and that if he had Harry and Sam up there, Draco might throw a fit if he wasn't invited. It would be awkward to have three sixteen year old boys as his groomsmen, so Severus and Joanna had decided not to have anyone up there with them at the altar at all. Harry wondered that he didn't have any adult male friends. He was nice enough to have Joanna and Sam, and Harry thought that Severus was friends with Dumbledore, but maybe not.

Finally, at eleven, Severus and Joanna met at the altar (there was no brides music to march to, as this was a Muggle tradition), and a man from the Ministry wedding office greeted them with a smile.

As he read the vows and had Joanna and Severus repeat them, Jason nudged Sam and pointed to his mom. There were tears there in her eyes. Harry looked around at the seats behind them and on the other side of the aisle and was surprised to find that all the women were crying, even Ginny and Hermione. Draco looked as disgusted as Harry felt perplexed at the show of emotions. They must have been tears of joy, because Harry couldn't imagine why anyone would come to a wedding and cry for being sad.

Turning his attention back to Severus, Harry wondered what was going through his mind at that moment. Unlike the women there, his expression was neutral and unreadable. He was smiling, but Harry wasn't used to seeing that from him and felt like it was a neutral smile. When the bride and groom kissed, Harry heard Ron make a gagging noise behind him followed by a noise of pain and turned to see that Hermione had kicked him. Harry stifled a laugh and looked back to the front as Severus and Jo began to make their way back down the aisle. Everyone stood and clapped, and when Harry let his hand fall again, Ginny took his hand in hers as they walked down the aisle behind Sam and his girlfriend and Jason.

Draco chose to sit at a table full of adults after the ceremony rather than sit with Harry and Sam and the Weasleys. Harry noted that he looked uncomfortable and unhappy. That was just Draco, he thought and didn't draw anyone elses attention to it.

The party wore on through the afternoon, and finally Harry and his friends moved off for the trees, his hand in Ginny's again.

"I'm not saying it wasn't fun," Sam said, "but I'm glad we've got a chance to get out of there."

"Me too," Ron said, taking his tie off and stuffing it in a pocket before unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt. Sam did the same thing and so did Harry. Sam and Harry had left their coats back at the table since it was hot out.

"Why didn't Katie come?" Hermione asked, looking back through the trees towards the now distant reception.

"Her aunt wanted to introduce her to people from the Ministry."

"Has anyone actually been out here aside from during Herbology?" Ron asked, wondering if there was anything to do aside from perhaps make their way towards the castle, which was quite a distance.

"I haven't," Hermione said, "but in Hogwarts A History, I read that King Arthur came through here several times on quests."

"You and that book," Ron snorted.

They wandered for a while, hopping a stream and then hopping it again as it doubled back on itself, Harry helping Ginny jump over and Ron trying to help Hermione, though Hermione reminded him that she was more than capable on her own. Ron fancied Hermione, Harry knew, but hadn't asked her out yet.

The forest was starting to get darker and Harry knew that even though there was still plenty of light above the canopy, they would have to turn back soon if they didn't want to find their way back in the dark.

"Just a little further," Ron said. "I don't want to go back yet. Besides, we haven't found any traces of Hermione's Arthur yet."

Hermione shot him a look but softened when she realized that Ron hadn't been making fun of her.

"What do you expect to find?" Sam asked. "The sword in the stone? That's been lost for thousands of years."

"You mean like that one?"

They turned to Harry who was pointing to a boulder in the distance, with a metal handle glinting in the little ray of light shining down on it. Motes of dust hung in the air over it.

"Very funny Harry," Ron said. "What charm are you using to make us see it?"

Harry held up his hands to show that he was wandless and Ron looked to Sam who held up his hands as well.

"It can't be," Ron said.

They stared at it quietly for long moments. "If it's on Hogwarts grounds," Hermione said, "that would make sense why no one ever found it. There are Muggle repellant charms all around the perimeter. Legend says that after King Arthur died, Merlin put the sword back in the stone."

"And only someone who will bring in a new age for the people can pull it out," Sam said. "I remember that story. Dad used to tell it to me all the time when I was a kid."

They looked at each other and then walked towards the boulder.

"Think Dumbledore knows it's here?" Ron asked. No one answered.

"It's pretty far in, and no one is allowed to come in except during class," Hermione said. "Maybe it really has been lost."

"You'd think one of the founders would have found it," Ginny commented. She didn't say so, but Harry knew she knew Hogwarts A History backwards and forwards like Hermione did. The day he and Sam had stayed at the Burrow, she'd told Harry about how the founders had explored the area before building Hogwarts.

Ron rolled up his sleeves as they stared at the stone and Hermione giggled. "Ron, what are you doing?"

"Well, if someone's going to herald a new age for the people, I might as well give it a go. Think about it Hermione! I could be the Minister of Magic!"

They all laughed and Ron gave them a frown, throwing his hand down at them. "You just wait and see," he said, pointing a finger, and walked to the boulder. They quieted, and he put his hand on the leather wrapped golden handle. He gave a tug and nothing happened.

"Come on, you can do it," Harry said jokingly, and Ron put his foot up against the boulder and leaned back, pulling with all his might. He tried several times before he stepped back, panting.

"No, it's going to be a girl," Ginny said with a laugh and hurried forward to try. She even encanted a charm to make the rock softer, but the sword didn't budge. Hermione also tried with several charms, and finally Sam tried. None of the teens were aware that while they'd been bantering about the sword and each trying their hand at pulling it from the rock that Severus, Jo, Dumbledore, and McGonagall had gone out into the woods to find them because they'd been gone for so long.

"Is that?" Jo asked, and Severus held a finger up to his lips. It certainly looked like the sword in the stone. Sam tried three times to pull it and finally gave up, panting.

"It has been here for an age," Albus said quietly. "We have never let students come in to the woods this far because we feared one of them may try to blast the rock apart to get at the sword. Not even Tom Riddle knew of it's existence here on the grounds."

Jo flinched at the mention of Voldemort, but stayed quiet as they watched the group.

"Albus," Minerva said, and pointed. All of the children were looking at Harry now. Apparently he'd been the only one yet to try.

"Go on Harry," Ron encouraged him. "If anyone's going to pull it, it's you."

"Me? It's been stuck in that rock forever. I don't think it's going to let me pull it."

"Come on Harry, try," Ginny said, and her sentiment was echoed by Sam and Hermione. Finally, after giving all of his friends a look, Harry walked quietly and slowly to the boulder. He put his hand on the handle, and then pulled it away again.

"Go on Harry!" Ron shouted. Harry turned to look at his friends again and then put his hand on the sword again, though he didn't try to pull it.

"What is he waiting for?" Jo asked.

"He doesn't want it," Albus said.

"The sword?"

"The responsibility that comes with it. Legend says that an enchantment was placed on the blade. Only someone as powerful as Arthur, as loyal, as kind, as true... only someone who can lead his people into a new era of peace and tranquility will be able to pull Arthur's sword from that stone."

"He has enough to deal with," Severus said, moving forward, intending to stop Harry from trying, but Albus put his hand on Severus' shoulder to stop him and they stilled as Harry tightened his grip on the handle.

"What are you waiting for?" Sam said.

Without looking back, Harry pulled on the handle, and the sword made a single fluid motion out of the boulder, surprising Harry so much that he stumbled backwards and almost fell. He held it up in the air, staring at it as the last of the light filtered down to glint off of the blade. No one spoke. Turning to his friends Harry didn't know what he expected them to say, but nothing at all was fortcoming from them.

With a swift and sudden motion Harry turned and tried to stab the sword back into the stone, but the blade made a clanging noise and slid off the edge of the rock.

"It is his now," Albus said, and Severus wondered at the awe in the old man's voice. It was something he'd never heard from his wizened mentor. Harry turned back to his friends and walked to them, sword still in hand.

"What- what do I do with this now?" Harry asked.

They stared at him. It was Ginny who steped forward and took Harry's hand. Without a word, she lead him back towards the party, and his friends followed.

Severus split off from Jo, Dumbledore, and Minerva as they made their way silently back to the party through the darkness. Harry couldn't walk back into the reception with that sword. It would create too many questions, and if the media got wind of this... well, if Voldemort got wind of this, there would be an attack on the castle for sure the day school got back in.

"Harry." He stepped out from behind a tree and the group of teens stopped, looking guilty. If not for the gravity of what he had just witnessed, he would have found their looks amusing.

"Come."

Harry's grip tightened on the sword as he took a few steps forward.

"Go back to the party, he will join you shortly," Severus told the others, and Sam lead them off. As they went, Harry and Severus could hear Sam telling Ron that Harry would be fine.

"I saw what you did," Severus said when they were gone.

"You- you did?"

He nodded and held his hand out for the blade. Harry pulled it back a little, but then handed it forward. Snape hadn't done anything bad to him for most of the summer. He'd told Harry all summer he could trust him... would help him through whatever he was going through. If there was an adult to trust, he thought it would be Snape.

Severus took the blade and balanced it on one finger, admiring the sheen and good condition of it after being in a rock and out in the elements for thousands of years.

"Jo, the Headmaster, and Professor McGonagall also saw."

"They- they did?"

He nodded.

"Am I- in trouble?"

"That remains to be seen. By pulling the sword you have taken on something new, and possibly more challenging than the task that lays before you already."

"I- I wasn't going to try. I didn't want it."

"I know."

"What do we do with it now?"

"It is yours. It chose you as much as a wand chooses a wizard. I believe it is enfused with magic. It was forged by Merlin after all, and Merlin it is said was the creator of wands. Before wands, people had to find other ways to channel their energy."

"So... it can do charms?"

"I do not know. I do not believe it is the same as a wand. It will take research to find out what is known about it. I do believe it is powerful though. Other witches and wizards, with the sword of Merlin in mind, have tried to enfuse their own blades with their own energy througout the ages. The swords of Gryffindor and Slytherin, for instance, have powers."

"They do?"

"The sword of Slytherin was intended to be used with brute force. It can smash through rocks, metal, and other hard surfaces. The sword of Gryffindor, which I believe you already discovered, seeks out those with the qualities Gryffindor himself held in high regard. The Headmaster believes that is why his phoenix brought the sword to you in your second year. Though I do not know if it is true or not, they say Gryffindor's sword was made by Goblins by the flame of a dragon. If that is true, it is a powerful sword indeed."

"And- and this sword?"

Severus handed it back to him. "I do not yet know. We will take it to the castle for safe keeping until we can research it more. As much as a blade endowed with magic can do good, it can also do evil, as any object with magic can. It's best that we don't find out first hand what it can do until we know what we are dealing with." Instead of leading Harry back toward the party, he lead him towards the castle, and when they came out of the woods Harry could see the great oak front doors in the distance. He was lead up to Gryffindor tower and to his dorm room.  Severus moved Harry's bed over with a levitation charm and did some magic to make stones lift up from their place in the floor in the shape and length of the sword.

"Put it inside."

Harry did as he was told and watched as Snape put the stones back into place and used another spell to shorten them so they didn't stick up above the rest of the floor. After the sword had been incased in stone for so much time, Harry felt sorry to see it under stone again. Severus moved the bed back into place and lead Harry back to the party, which was beginning to wind down now.

"It would be for the best if you did not tell anybody about this or where it is hidden. If Voldemort were to find out that you pulled the stone and were in posession of it, your life would be in even more danger than it already is."

"My friends know."

"Yes, and the Headmaster will have told them the same as I have told you."

Harry nodded.

When it was time to leave a half hour later, Sam and Harry didn't go with Jo and Snape, who were taking a three day trip to Norway for their honeymoon. Instead Jason collected them, and after saying goodbye to Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, who were still quiet and perhaps a little in awe of what had happened, took them back to Sam's house.

"You two are so quiet," Jason commented with a little laugh after they walked in the front door. "I know it's strange to have your mum married again Sam, but it's not that bad."

Sam nodded and he and Harry went up the stairs and into Harry's room, closing the door.

"I can't believe you did that," Sam said quietly. Was it fear in his eyes?

"I didn't want to," Harry said, laying back on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

"But you did. You pulled the sword. It didn't even give up a fight."

Harry turned his head to look at Sam, who was sitting in his desk chair.

"Who are you?"

Harry stared back at the ceiling. "I don't know."

Sam was standing in Harry's doorway, stuffing his new school robes down into a new back pack.

"No. Should I?"

Sam nodded. "Take it so we can play. There's a team."

"A Hogwarts Lacrosse team?"

"More of a team at Hogwarts."

Harry gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him.

"Really there is," Sam said. "Me, Thomas and Luke... don't give me that look, I converted them. They like to play on brooms but that's against the rules. There's a girl from Hufflepuff in fourth year, and two fifth year Hufflepuff boys, a third year Ravenclaw, and a fourth year Gryffindor. Except for Thomas and Luke, the rest are Muggle born."

"And you all go out and play Lacrosse?" Harry said skeptically. He'd never seen anyone out on the grounds doing it.

"We split into teams and play against each other once a week. Now that I've taught you, you can play too. It can get a little... violent, more so than Quidditch."

"I don't know," Harry said. "Bludgers hit pretty hard."

"There are only two of them. Imagine every player from the opposite team trying to ram into you when you've got the ball."

Harry nodded and put his lacross stick into his trunk.

"The mask too," Sam said. Harry really didn't think he'd need it, but he put it in too.

Harry's trunk was new, as was his backpack since the Dursleys had burned everything of his. In fact, everything Harry had was new. The only thing he had that was old was his wand, Hedwig, who had gone home with Ron at the start of the summer, and his father's old cloak, which he always kept hidden away in his dorm at Hogwarts for fear that Uncle Vernon would destroy it.

Sam helped Harry carry his black trunk down the stairs, where they set it on top of Sam's blue one.

"I can't believe summer's over already," Sam said, moving into the kitchen to make a sandwhich. "And mum's not even here to make us food for the trip."

Harry pulled out plastic bags and began making his own lunch to go. Severus had apparated to Hogwarts the night before to make last minute preparations, and Jo had left for work early that morning after waking Harry and Sam up and telling them to finish packing. Jason would be coming to collect them in less than twenty minutes to take them to the train station. After the wedding Jason had stayed with them for three days, and a few days after Severus and Jo had returned from their honeymoon Harry and Sam had gone to spend another night at the Burrow, where Harry and his friends talked secratively about the sword and what it meant. That was Friday. It was Sunday morning now, and nearing on to nine am. The train would leave at nine thirty.

"Sam! Harry!" The front door opened and closed as Jason called to them.

"In here!" Sam said, slapping a piece of meat and cheese between two slices of bread and stuffing it into a plastic bag. Harry had made three sandwhiches (one for Ron and Ginny also) and they were a little more composed than Sam's, and included lettuce, tomato and mayonayse.

"Come on, your mum will kill me if you miss the train."

"You can always apparate us to Hogwarts," Sam said.

"And explain to Severus that I couldn't get you to the train on time?"

Sam laughed at the look on Jason's face.

"Hurry up."

"Ok ok."

Sam went to the pantry and pulled out three large bags of crisps, which he tossed to Harry, and a paper bag of fizzy drinks.

"Loading up?" Jason asked.

"We've got to travel in style."

With the food stuffed into their backpacks, and Jason carrying the bag of drinks, he apparated them one at a time to platform nine and three quarters with their trunks.

"I promised aunt Jo I'd see you onto the train," he said.

"Yeah yeah," Sam said sarcastically. Harry waited patiently as Jason helped Sam carry his trunk onto the train and then came back out to help him.

"All right. You're on the train. Stay there," Jason said, and Sam nodded. He gave his cousin a salute and Jason apparated away from the platform.

"He seemed a little tense about getting us on the train," Harry commented as he settled into a seat in their compartment. He wondered if Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already on board.

"I think it's Severus. You know, because he's so strict. Now that he married mum he's Jason's uncle. He doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot with him."

Harry laughed just as the compartment door opened, revealing Ron and Ginny.

"Hermione's in the Prefect's compartment," Ron said. "I've got to go down there too for a couple hours."

"I made you lunch," Harry said.

"Good, because mum's sandwhich got smashed again." Harry helped drag Ron's trunk in and then Ginny's and Ron left in a hurry, leaving Sam, Ginny, and Harry alone again. Ginny sat down next to Harry and immediately took his hand. Harry didn't protest.

"Will Thomas and Luke be joining us?" Ginny asked. The train was going to pull out any minute.

"They usually do." And, a few minutes later, just as the train lurched forward, the compartment door opened again, admitting Sam's friends. Thomas was tall and skinny with short brown hair, and Luke had big muscles and sandy blond hair.

"Heywood," Luke said as he came in with his trunk and levitated it to the rack above Sam's head.

"Bit crowded," Thomas said, eying Harry and Ginny. Had Sam not written to them over the summer about Harry?

"Yeah, didn't know we were riding with Gryffindors," Luke said, giving Harry and Ginny a glare.

"You can shut it any time," Sam said in a joking tone. Thomas and Luke smiled then and Harry relaxed.

"We were only joking," Thomas said, finally sitting down next to Luke and Sam. "We know Harry and Ginny from Quidditch."

Unlike the rivarly between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Gryffindor team was generally on good terms with the other teams.

"Ron and Hermione will be coming later after the Prefects meeting," Ginny said.

"More Gryffindors?" Luke laughed. "What'd you do this summer Sam? Join the other side?"

"No, I'm just slowly converting them to Ravenclaws."

"I don't think so," Harry laughed. He'd been tense all morning about meeting Sam's friends. He didn't know if they would like him or not. Hermione and the Weasleys had accepted Sam fairly quickly and he was already welcome at the Burrow any time just as Harry was. Harry had grown so accustomed to having Sam around during the summer that he didn't want to be separated from him all year.

As the train rolled away from London, they struck up a conversation about Quidditch brooms and gear, and the conversation soon turned to Lacrosse, which Ginny expressed an interest in and Harry wondered if she really had an interest in it, or if she'd only been instructed by Molly Weasly to pretend. The conversation also turned to Sams new stepfather and the Ravenclaws thought that Sam was going to have an excuse to get away with more things at Hogwarts than he usually did.

"Seriously," said Luke. "He didn't even yell at you or anything for doing a runner. I mean, your mum was mad when she came looking for you at the start of the summer. My parents were away for a few days and she wouldn't believe me that you weren't hiding out somewhere in the woods 'round our house."

"He was mad," Sam said. "He found me and Harry wtih Jason in the Falcon's pitch and I got an earful for days afterwards from both of them."

Around eleven Ron and Hermione came back, and then the compartment really was full. Harry and Sam broke out the crisps and fizzy drinks and Harry handed the two extra sandwiches to Ron and Ginny. As it turned out, Thomas and Luke had each brought something to share too. Luke had the biggest bag of every flavor beans Harry and Ron had ever seen, and Thomas had a bar of never ending chocolate, which he broke into pieces for everyone to eat. By the time the lady with the trolly came to the door, they were all stuffed and feeling sick.

"This is the best train ride ever," Ron commented as the talk turned back to Lacrosse, and Sam tried to tell Ron about the rules.

As the sky grew dark outside and they neared Hogwarts, Harry thought he had to agree with Ron. It had been a good trip. Thomas and Luke seemed like all around good guys, and even Hermione seemed to think so as she struck up a conversation with Thomas about the advanced Rune's class they were both enrolled in this year. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad year after all, Harry thought as the train came to a stop. He could only hope that the sword and the weight that it carried wouldn't be thrust upon him just yet, or at all.

After the feast that night as Harry lay in his four poster in the darkness, Ron said, "Did you hide it?"

Harry didn't have to ask what he was talking about. The sword was on his mind too. The other boys in the room seemed to be asleep, but Harry couldn't take any chances. In any case, he'd been told not to tell anyone where it was, not even Ron. Only Severus, the Headmaster, and himself knew where it was.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Maybe you'll get to kill a basilisk with it," Ron said with a yawn, and Harry heard him roll over.

"Maybe I won't have to do anything with it," he said, and closed his eyes. He hoped it was true.

* * *

"What the-"

Harry looked up at breakfast at Ron's confused words and followed his eyes across the Great Hall to the entrance where several angry and irritated looking Slytherins were comming in, shooting glares at anyone who dared to look their way. Every one of them had black hair and teeth.

Harry laughed out loud and across the hall heard someone else do the same. He turned and saw Sam. After the summer they'd had Harry forgot that they'd set booby traps for Slytherin. One of them was a spell to make anything the water in their bathrooms touch turn black. Apparently all of these Slytherins had run their combs under the water and brushed their teeth this morning. He was surprised there weren't people coming in jet black like the night. Someone must have warned people off of taking showers. People whispered and giggled until a seventh year Slytherin girl came in completely black from head to toe. The only thing that wasn't black was the green line and badge on her robes and the whites of her eyes. She looked murderous, like an angry shadow. The entire hall burst out laughing.

"I'd love to shake hands with whoever pranked them," Ron said, mouth full of toast as he laughed. Harry held out his hand to Ron and Ron laughed harder. "You?"

"Shh," Harry said. "We were at the castle for a while this summer and Sam and I spent some time booby trapping their common room. They should have Hufflepuff banners that won't change back, sticky dorm floors and sticky bedposts, water that turns what it touches black, and..."

"And what?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe I'd better not say."

"Come on, you can't leave us hanging like this."

"Well Sam knew this spell..."

"Go on."

"Every time Draco touches something it'll have the Gryffindor crest on it. Whenever Pansy touches something it'll have the Hufflepuff crest on it. And whenever Milicent Bulstrode touches something it'll have the Ravenclaw crest."

"I've got to learn this spell."

"It's only going to last for a few days," Harry said. There were more laughs and Draco came into the hall wearing a robe that was covered in the Gryffindor crest wherever he'd touched it. There was also an upside down red and gold crest on his cheek and several on his bag. He was wearing black gloves, each of which had the crest in several places.

"Go Go Gryffindor!" a third year Gryffindor Harry didn't know shouted and Draco shot him a murderous look. Harry was too far away to hear if he growled or not.

Snape strode in a moment later and locked eyes with Harry. He strode right over to him and said, "You- office- now." Then he went to where Sam sat at Ravenclaw and presumably said the same thing.

"He knows," Ron said to Harry in a whisper. "Run!"

"I don't think that'll work," Harry said. He grabbed his bag and rose to meet Sam in the entrance where they both followed Snape out and down to his office in the Dungeons.

"I demand to know the counter to all of the enchantments, charms and curses you have placed on Slytherin house."

"What makes you think it was us?" Sam asked. "We were in our own dorms last night."

"And you had free reign of the castle that day that your mother and I were-"

"Yes?" asked Sam as if he were really interested to know.

"The door was double locked," Harry put in, "we couldn't get back into the quarters."

Cheeks tinging a shade of red neither boy had ever seen before on Snape's pale face, he seemed flustered and at a loss of words for the space of five seconds, and then he ran a hand over his face.

"The counters, now."

"Ok ok," Sam said. "The banners will fix themselves by the end of the day probably, it was just a time delayed spell."

"And the water?"

"Same thing, time delayed. It'll probably be gone by lunch, it just depends on how much water runs through the taps."

"What about the misfortunate students who have already fallen prey to your nefarious schemes?"

'Nefarious' Harry mouthed silently as he turned to Sam, wanting to laugh but too afraid to.

"If they wash in regular water it'll come off... mostly. They might be gray for a couple of days."

Severus turned to Harry, who had yet to say anything. "What do you have to say for yourself? What about the sticky floors and house branding?"

"I don't know if there are counter curses for those," Harry said. "Sam did the crests and sticky floor, I did the banners and sinks. We didn't put anything up that would last though. Everything should be done in a couple of days and the house crests will fade when the charm ends."

"Are there any others?"

Both teens shook their heads.

"How fortunate that you are not incorrigible," he said with a smile and Harry's stomach squirmed. He didn't know what that meant but it didn't sound good.

"Yes?" Sam said. He didn't know what the word meant either.

"Detention for both of you. This evening after dinner you'll both report to me. Tonight you'll be scrubbing the Slytherin common room down from top to bottom. And since you seem so keen on having other houses wear different colors and crests, you can both wear Slytherin robes for the week."

Sam groaned. "That's torture."

"Your mother will approve then," Severus said and motioned for them both to leave and go to class.

"Wonderful," Sam said. "I like green, don't you Harry?"

"Do you notice how he uses big words when he's mad? Incorrigible, nefarious. We're nefarious, do you realize that?"

"And not incorrigible apparently."

They split off to go their separate ways for classes, they only had Herbology and Charms together, and when Harry met up with Ron and Hermione outside the Transfiguration classroom Harry asked Hermione what incorrigible meant.

"It means unable to be disciplined or reformed."

"Oh."

"Did Professor Snape tell you that?"

"He said it was fortunate that Sam and I weren't incorrigible. We got detention."

"Going to be scrubbing floors eh?" Ron said, but he was still smiling from breakfast as McGonagall opened the door and let them into the classroom. They had this class with Slytherin and already there were house crests all over the desks and chairs.

"We get to clean Slytherin common room tonight and then for the whole week we get to wear Slytherin robes."

"Ugh," Ron said.

"Well they couldn't have expected anything else," Hermione told Ron.

"It's ok," Harry said, "Sam likes green." Hermione rolled her eyes.

Snape had their new robes waiting for them at lunch, and by now word had spread that Harry and Sam were the ones responsible for the pranks on Slytherin. People clapped when Harry and Sam came in wearing their new colors and though Sam took a bow, Harry tried to refrain, not wanting to make the man any more angry than he already was. Sam just didn't know how strict he could be and how mean. Now that Jo wasn't there, Harry had a feeling he was about to find out.

After dinner that night they went to Snape's office and he lead them agitatedly down the hall and around the corner to Slytherin common room. Slytherins were sitting around doing their homework in a sour mood and they all stopped to stare and glare at the culprits as they were lead in.

"You will leave these two alone whilst they are here and they will leave you alone. No one will speak to them, but feel free to make a mess in here tonight, because they will be here until the entire common room is clean." Immediately a seventh year Prefect knocked his books and a stack of parchment off the table he was at and a girl took her ink bottle and dumped it upside down on the table top.

Sam sighed as Snape crossed his arm. "Go us," he said, and Snape waved his wand where two buckets and a box of cleaning supplies appeared. He pointed to the mess that was beginning to form all around them as people un-tidied things up and then left to go back to his office.

"What a bunch of losers the maids are," Crabbe said to the people sitting on the couch next to him since he couldn't say anything directly to Sam or Harry.

"I know right?" a fourth year said. "Total jerks."

Harry went to work slowly knowing that it didn't matter how much he cleaned because another mess would be made as soon as he was done cleaning an area of the round, multi-leveled common room. Every time he went to wipe down a table, a new ink spill would appear as soon as he turned around, or bubble gum would suddenly be stuck to the table top, or papers would end up shredded there, in some cases all three all stuck together.

It was around ten pm when people tired of making messes and started turning back to their homework or going to bed, and it was near midnight when the common room was empty that Harry and Sam finally finished. Sam looked up to the still Hufflepuff yellow banners and said, "It was worth it."

"Speak for yourself. I'm knackered." They began packing away their cleaning supplies when Draco came out of the hall leading to the boys dorms. He didn't glare or sneer, and Harry and Sam watched with their mouths open as he calmly walked around the permiter of the room like a lion waiting to pounce.

"He-ey Draco," Sam said uncertainly, like he was afraid of the beast waiting to strike.

Draco casually and calmly reached out and tipped a chair over as he walked by. They watched him circle. He pulled out his wand and encanted a stream of water that trailed behind him on the carpet and stone. He didn't even smile and to Harry and Sam it seemed as though he was posessed as he used his wand to upend tables and couches, splatter ink onto walls and shred neat stacks of paper into bits before casting a whirlwind spell and sending the tiny pieces flying into every corner of the room. Then Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a phial of something shiny.

"No, no no- don't do that," Sam pleaded, and Harry held up his hands. Draco uncorked the phial of pink sparkly glitter and aimed his wand at it. Finally he smirked at the pleading looks on their faces. Without a word he waved his wand and a blast of air sent the glitter into the far reaches of the room. Harry hated glitter. It was impossible to clean.

Draco finished his trail around the edges of the common room and went back into the boys dorm hall, never having spoken a word other than the spells he used.

"That was- creepy," Sam said.

"Criminal," Harry replied.

"Nefarious." Sam said. He and Harry looked at each other and they both echoed, "Nefarious," before they set to work once again.

* * *

"What time did you get back into the common room?" Ron asked at breakfast the next morning.

"Don't say common room," Harry said, head on the table, too tired to eat. His muscles ached from being on his hands and knees scrubbing floors all night.

"They really mess things up?"

"You have no idea. I think it was four when I finished and four thirty when I dragged myself into bed. Nobody deserves that."

"Bet Malfoy made it a right mess."

Harry looked up. "I don't want to ever hear his name again. From now on he will be 'the-nefarious-one-who-we-shall-not-speak-of.'

"Seriously," Ron asked.

"Glitter Ron. Pink, sparkly glitter, all over the room after we cleaned everything up. Cleaning glitter at midnight off of every surface. Water everywhere, furniture all turned over, billions of paper shreds on everything... 'the-nefarious-one-who-we-shall-not-speak-of' never even said a word. He came out and made eye contact and made a huge mess and then went back to bed... all in the space of two minutes."

"Evil," Ron said.

"Was it worth it?" Hermione asked smugly.

"Let's not talk about it anymore."

Draco the nefarious walked by the end of their table at that moment and they watched as he passed, but he didn't even look at them. He'd had his revenge and he seemed to be content with it. Harry put his head back on the table and tried to fall to sleep in the few minutes he had left before he had to go to class. At Ravenclaw Sam was ignoring his bacon and eggs in favor of doing the same thing.

Ron had been telling him to ask Snape to find someone to teach him how to sword fight and when Harry was reluctant, Ron took things into his own hands and began teaching himself how by book so that he could teach Harry. He'd even resorted to talking to Sir Cadogan, and was trying to get Harry to fight him with transfigured objects that resembled swords. Harry wasn't confident in Ron's abilities to sword fight though and had been trying to avoid his impromptu lessons. Hermione wasn't much better. She had been researching Arthur's sword and was irritated that Harry didn't want to spend his time between classes or in the evenings researching as well.

In the end what Harry ended up having to do to try to please as many people as possible was combine activities. He spent time with Ginny at Quidditch, and agreed to go to the library to look up information on the sword with Hermione after dinner a few nights a week if Ginny would come. Ron also went with them, though he was busy looking up sword fighting techniques and trying to shove the books under Harry's nose when all Harry really wanted to do was sit at a table in the back with Ginny and hold her hand as he studied for Advanced NEWT Potions. Snape had allowed him into the class last minute and now he was wishing he had stuck with regular NEWT Potions, because this class was a lot of extra work.

"Harry, there's some information on page four hundred and ninety three of this book for you to look at," Hermione told him one evening in the library, setting a heavy tome down in front of him on top of the book Ron had just set there.

"If you two don't leave me alone, I'm going to run off with Ginny and become a hermit," he said, feeling irritated. "I do have my own work to do you know. How am I going to pass Potions if you won't leave me alone for one minute to study?"

"Don't be silly Harry," Hermione chided him. "You can't be a hermit if you take Ginny."

"That does it." Feeling irritated Harry stood up, pulled his Potion's text out from under the two books his friends had piled on top of it, and grabbed his book bag. Ginny was following suit.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"Somewhere quiet where I don't have to think about myths or sword fighting."

"You need to know this Harry," Hermione said.

"I need to pass potions! Take notes for me and I might have time to read it after Sam's dad is done killing me tomorrow morning for failing tomorrows test."

He took Ginny's hand and they left the library, leaving Ron and Hermione looking surprised.

"You'd think we were taking up all his time," Hermione said, miffed.

"We are," Ron told her. "He's right, take notes."

"Why should I do it all for him? I have my own work to do you know. I'm not an elf."

"Well, you do take good notes," he said, shooting her a grin, and her features softened for a minute. They sat down in the seats Harry and Ginny had just vacated and began talking in low tones about what Hermione had found, and about how she was irritated that Harry didn't seem to care when he was the one who had pulled the sword and it obviously somehow had to do with the prophecy about killing Voldemort.

Outside the library, Harry and Ginny laughed and stole down a dark quiet corridor, gleeful that they'd finally managed to get a few moments to themselves.

"If you didn't get up and leave, I was going to kidnap you," Ginny told him as they stopped to lean against a wall near a dead end and a suit of armour that looked as though it had seen better days.

"I'm just so swamped. I've barely even seen Sam aside from in Transfiguration and Charms. We're only two weeks into the term and I already have a four foot essay due on dangerous classes of Potions and a bunch of other homework."

"I know, I saw you reading a textbook on the way to Quidditch practice yesterday."

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to ignore you. I wish I wasn't in the advanced Potions class."

"You and me both."

Harry and Ginny turned to see Sam coming around the corner, a heavy Potions book in his hand. "Not to intrude on your snogging or whatever it was you were doing here in this lonely dark corridor," he teased Harry, "but I've been looking for you."

Harry sighed. "Here I am." He had a feeling Sam was there to bother him about Lacrosse again.

"I don't know how many feet you finished on your essay, but Severus just told me that he's going to give extra credit to anyone who writes an extra page."

"No," Harry groaned.

"Yes. He told me to tell you."

"I barely managed four feet. I think I'm even a couple of inches short. How am I going to get another page out of it?"

Sam handed him the massive book. "I checked it out earlier this week for my essay. It's about embuing objects with magical powers. Chapter thirteen talks about using Potions to do that. I used it. I figured maybe you could too."

"This is about the sword isn't it? Have you been talking to Ron and Hermione?"

"Ron yes, Hermione not so much. Listen, it's good stuff for the essay. I even tucked a page of notes in there for you."

Harry seemed surprised. "Really?"

He nodded.

"That's what I'm talking about. Notes I can do. It's forty page chapters I can't deal with."

"You owe me a game of Lacrosse for this," Sam said as he turned to leave, and Harry gave him a solitary wave goodbye to agree that he did owe him.

"Is the extra credit that important?" Ginny asked as Harry used his wand to wave up the lights in the hall and slid down the wall to the floor with the book, ready to study.

"It is if I want to pass. We have a test tomorrow on dangerous potions and all the studying we've been doing for the essays is supposed to be tested. Only it'll be impossible to know everything on the test because there's so much to read on the subject in different books. Hermione said she's been reading all summer to pass this class. Snape never offers extra credit, so I'll take it where I can get it."

Ginny sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder, and pulled out her own books to study while Harry began revising his essay which was due in the morning. He knew Severus wouldn't be impressed with what he'd written, but at least he'd have the homework done.

* * *

Harry thought he might have passed the test, and was allowing himself a break from studying the next day after lunch. He and Ginny happened to have a free period together, and had decided to sit in the Entrance Hall holding hands and relaxing. Sam was standing a little ways away organizing the next Lacross game (or so Harry gathered) with a group of students, when Luke nudged him and said, "Heywood, isn't that your mum?"

Harry and Ginny looked up along with Sam as Jo came in the front doors.

"Mum?" he asked.

She smiled at him and waved at Harry and Ginny.

"No time to talk," she told Sam, and passed them by on her way up the stairs to the next floor.

"You saw her, right?" Sam asked Harry for confirmation. "I'm not dreaming?"

"Heh, what'd you do Sam?" Luke asked. "Must be bad if your mum got called in."

"I dunno." Sam looked at Harry but he only shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything either."

It wasn't until after dinner that evening that they found out what Jo was doing there. Severus wasn't at dinner, so after dinner Harry and Sam went down to his quarters to see what information they could gather. Jo opened the door when they knocked, and let them in.

"Mum, what's this about? I know I haven't done anything to cause trouble yet."

"Except pranking the Slytherins?"

"Is this about that? That was two weeks ago."

She gave him a knowing look but didn't say anything more about it. Severus came out from the kitchen with two cups of tea and handed one to Joe.

"Is this just a visit then?" Sam asked.

"Yes, how lovely that you've come to visit your mother," she teased, but he didn't look amused, so she set her cup of tea down and said, "I've been hired to work in the infirmary."

"What about Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked. She'd always been kind to him, and didn't ask too many questions when he came in injured, though she did like to lecture him for being hurt so often.

"She's still here," Jo said. "The Headmaster felt it was necessary to have two healers on staff and he thought of me for the position."

Harry looked to Snape for a clue as to why they needed two healers but he had a feeling he already knew.

"An attack on the castle is imminent," Severus said seriously. "I believe Albus is considering hiring a third healer or even a medi-witch in case we have casualties."

Sam looked stunned, and Harry had to remind himself that Sam wasn't used to worrying about these things. Until he'd met Harry, or rather, until his mother had gotten involved with Snape, he'd probably had no idea that there was an Order of the Phoenix, or maybe he still didn't.

"How soon?" Harry asked seriously. Jo gave him a curious look, perhaps not understanding his question, but Severus answered him, equally as serious.

"We are not certain. The Headmaster believes the attack will come before you have graduated, and possibly before the end of the year. It is in sixth year that you begin to learn advanced magic and advanced defensive tactics, and we have it on good authority that He Who Must Not Be Named wants to get to you before you are fully prepared to stand against him."

Jo looked at Severus as if he were crazy at that moment, and Harry wondered if she knew Severus was a spy or a member of the Order.

"Are we continuing Occlumency then?" He hesitated with his next question but decided to ask it anyway. "Ron thought I should ask you about learning to fight with a sword."

Jo looked uncomfortable and moved towards Severus, gently trying to push him out of the room before he could answer. He looked slightly irritated and confused but allowed her to take him down the hall and to another room. Harry and Sam heard a door click shut and heard muffled voices from behind.

"What's that about?" Harry asked.

"Er... the whole Harry against evil wizard thing I'm guessing." Harry was so used to his friends being involved in his fight against Voldemort and knowing about the prophecy that he hadn't yet stopped to think that Sam and Jo didn't know.

"Didn't I tell you about the prophecy?"

"What prophecy? Are we talking about the sword? And you're learning Occlumency?"

Harry scratched the back of his head and tried to hurriedly explain to Sam about the prophecy and his faild attempts at Occlumency lessons in fifth year, before Jo and Severus came back out.

"You're not joking are you?"

"No. I wouldn't make something like that up. That's why we ended up at the Ministry of Magic last year. That's why I've been up against Voldemort five times now."

Sam coughed. "How many times? I thought it was just when you were a baby and at the Ministry at the start of summer..."

"Quirril, the Chamber of Secrets, the Tri-Wizard tournament-"

Sam held up his hand to stall Harry and looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, in my first year, and then in second and fourth and..." he trailed off, seeing that he wasn't helping things any. "You go to school here. You have to know this." But obviously he didn't and Harry couldn't figure out why. Did the rest of the student body really not know what had gone on for the last few years? Harry and his friends knew, but then again, they'd been in the middle of it. Ron and Hermione's lives had been in danger just as many times as his own had been, and Ginny had a similar number of life and death experiences.

"They never told you," Harry finally said in realization.

"Never told me what?"

"Any of it." Harry felt upset. No wonder people always turned against him and questioned his sanity year after year. It was because they didn't know what he'd been through. About saving the stone or anything. The staff had never let it out that several Gryffindor students had almost died time and again each year. So Harry sat down on the couch and Sam had a seat as well. Neither boy heard the door gently open at the end of the hall. Severus had opened it so Jo could listen to Harry's story, because she hadn't believed anything her husband had said about Harry's fight against Voldemort in their hurried argument in the bedroom.

"Listen... in my first year Professor Quirril had Voldemort sticking out the back of his head under that turban. He tried to kill me a couple of times but Severus or someone else always stopped him. Actually... come to think about it, we'd better up the count of the number of times I've faced him because he tried to get me twice in my first year, once in the Forbidden Forest and once at the end of the year when he went after the Sorcerer's stone."

"Those are a myth."

"They're not. There was one here the Professors were trying to protect, and Quirril wanted it to bring Voldemort back. Me, Ron, and Hermione stopped him from getting it. I killed Quirril on accident and Voldemort dissappeared."

"All they said was they were awarding you and your friends hundreds of points at the end of the year for bravery and services to the school."

"Well now you know why. Then in second year Malfoy's dad slipped a diary containing Voldemort's consciousness into Ginny's bundle of school books on Diagonalley. It posessed her for her whole first year and that's how the Chamber of Secrets got opened and let the Basilisk out. Ron and I went down to the Chamber at the end of the year to go after Ginny and I faced off against the Basilisk and Voldemort. He'd come out of the diary as a younger version of himself and was feeding off of Ginny's life force."

Sam was shaking his head. "They never awarded you points or anything. They never told any of us anything except that the threat was gone and all the kids that got petrified were going to be ok."

"Ron and I got awards for services to the school. I think they're hanging in a case on the second floor near Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and the entrance to the chamber. Then I faced him in fourth year at the end of the tournament. He killed Cedric. He took some of my blood and was able to use it to become fully human again. And then you know about the Ministry of Magic at the end of fifth year."

"There were too many rumors about what happened at the end of the tournament. A lot of people thought you'd made it up, and the papers-"

"The papers lied. The Ministry didn't want people to know he was back. You do believe he's back now though, right?" Harry wanted to make sure that Sam wasn't one of those people that didn't believe him.

"Of course. Tons of people saw him at the Ministry... and Severus, he's part of that Order organization right?"

"So am I. Ron and Hermione and Ginny are too... well, they won't let us jon until we're 17, but between fourth and fifth year we stayed at Order Headquarters and spied on a lot of the meetings since a lot of them had to do with me."

"This is surreal. Seriously Harry, nobody knows anything about the things you've just said about the last five years... a lot of the Ravenclaws just think you're a trouble maker or something. How do you even get any schoolwork done? Or Quidditch? Or anything?"

"My friends," he said seriously. "Hermione takes good notes," he said in a slightly more relaxed voice. "Besides, it's not like I'm fighting him or werewolves 24/7."

"Professor Lupin? You fought him too?"

"Well, no, more like Severus fought him to save me and Ron and Hermione in the middle of the night, but that's beside the point."

"My mum and dad are staff at my school, which is full of monsters and evil beings, and my brother is a monster hunter. I don't know if I'm dorkiest kid in school or the coolest. Who knew Gryffindors were so exciting?"

Harry and Sam left a few minutes later when Severus and Jo hadn't come back out, and when they were gone, Severus opened the door the rest of the way. Jo was quiet.

"It is not me who is exposing him to these things," Severus told her. She'd practically accused him of ruining the boy's remaining years of childhood by telling him Voldemort was after him a few minutes ago. "As I said before, he has wrecklessly thrown himself in harms way year after year without thought to his own wellbeing."

"Is it true, what he said about being a member of the Order?"

"He has practically been a member since the night his parents died. Molly and a few others spent the last year fighting Albus and Black to keep Order information away from Harry. That lack of information cost Black his life and almost cost the lives of Harry and his friends as well."

"I knew you were involved in the Order Severus, but I had no idea what the Order did or was really involved in. I still don't."

"You will. I assume you want to join since you've accepted the Headmaster's offer of employment."

"I have to don't I? If that evil man is going to attack the school?"

"And what position will you take on the flow of information to Harry?"

She looked at him with a look of anger at first, and then uncertainty. "I don't know. He's just a boy Severus. None of this is fair. He should never have faced You-Know-Who once, let alone five or six times. There's got to be someone to stand up and protect him! Especially with this sword thing now. I can't imagine Sam having done any of those things or having to live with knowing a madman was out to kill him."

"Sam is not Harry. They are two very different people with different pasts. I agree that someone needs to protect him. He needs to be protected from himself."

"And everyone else!" she said, seeming angry but not at her husband. "People can't expect a sixteen year old to take down Voldemort!"

Severus looked at her, surprise in his eyes. She'd never said his name before, but apparently she'd gotten angry enough that she didn't care at the moment. "They expect it because of the prophecy and because of his past encounters with him and other evil forces."

"But the prophecy is no guarantee he'll survive! It could be just the opposite! He could die fighting. We can't let that happen!" She seemed desperate for Severus to understand and he moved forward and put his hands on the sides of her shoulders to calm her.

"The prophecy and the sword and I don't know what else Jo. He will survive. He's Harry Potter. It's who he is. The Boy-Who-Lived."

"And I'm supposed to just sit by and watch him be destroyed?"

Severus looked deep into her eyes and said, "You do what I do. You join the Order. Gather information. Train him. Try to keep him sane. I made a promise to his mother before she died to protect him at all costs. It's why I spy on the other side for the Order. The information I gather could not only someday help win the war, but could save Harry's life."

"I don't- I don't think I ever understood why until now," she said quietly. She knew he had the dark mark. She knew he was part of Dumbledore's mysterious Order that was not part of the Ministry, and that he spied for the organization. But until tonight, she had thought it was dangerous and perhaps foolish. It wasn't just a foolish errand anymore though. It was a promise to a boy's mother to protect him, and that she understood.

"I think I'm falling in love with you Severus Snape," she told him, barely more than a whisper.

"I should hope so." He had promised to be Harry's protection even though he had hated the boy for years. He had resented the child for all the trouble he'd gotten himself into, just like James Potter used to, and all the trouble and danger Severus had to go to to get him out of trouble. It had been a lonely task. He was Harry's protection, and Jo was his. He only hoped that by the end of this war, he and Harry were still alive, so they didn't leave Sam and Jo feeling completely alone. He couldn't stand the thought of that.

Harry turned in the corridor at the sound of his name. It was Jo.

"Hi," he said.

"How are you doing?" she asked, and Harry wondered at the tone of her voice. It was almost like she was on eggshells, or like he was very ill and she was trying to be sympathetic to his plight.

"Er- fine. Bit late for Quidditch but good." He looked down at his watch. It would take him another ten minutes to get down to the Pitch, and practice started in three minutes.

"Classes have been good?"

"Yeah." He didn't want to be rude, especially since she'd only just gotten to the castle the night before, but he really had to go.

"Harry, I wanted to let you know that I'm here for you if you need anything."

Harry frowned. "Yeah, I know-" he hedged. If he was any later Ron was going to start the practice without him and he really wanted to get the team through a certain set of drills in the limited amount of time they had the Pitch for today. "I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but practice started a minute ago and I've got to get out there."

"I won't keep you," she said, giving him a sad smile. He gave an awkward wave and hurried off. The smile bothered him. What was there to be sad about, and why had she seemed so concerned? It couldn't be because of last night could it? What had Snape told her about him? He assumed Snape had told her about the prophecy like he had told Sam, but that kind of thing never made any of his professors or the Weasleys act like that towards him. Harry wondered about it the rest of the way to the Pitch, and then fell into Captain mode and got the team going on drills.

After practice as Harry and Ron walked back to the castle a ways behind the rest of the team, Harry asked, "Ron, what do you think it would be like if your mum worked at Hogwarts?"

"Well I wouldn't be able to get away with anything, that's for sure," he said, scrunching up his nose just at the thought. "She'd probably pester me about wearing clean underwear and making sure my tie was straight, and I'd end up grounded all the time if my grades weren't up to snuff. Why, what've you heard? Dumbledore's not hiring mum is he?" Ron sounded a little panicked.

"No, but Jo just got hired."

"Yeah, so?"

"She stopped me in the hall on my way here. She gave me this sad smile like something was wrong, and kept asking if I was ok, how classes were... it was weird."

"I know you lived with them for a couple months, but she's not your mum. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sam's the one that's got to worry. If you guys prank the Slytherin's again she's gonna be right here to get on his case."

"Yeah," Harry said. "Not my mum." He knew she wasn't, but he respected her and wanted to stay on her good side. He wanted to be able to stay with them again in the summer, and besides that, she was Snape's wife now and Harry didn't want to disappoint him by upsetting her. He hadn't even done anything wrong yet and he already felt like he'd upset her.

"Did you know, no one else in school knows about all the stuff we've done?" Harry asked suddenly, "You know... Quirril and the basilisk and all that."

Ron shrugged. "Bunch of idiots if you ask me, to go to a school and not know what's going on in it."

"Sam had no idea and neither did Jo. I was trying to talk to Severus last night and Jo and Sam acted like we were crazy. They had no idea I'd gone up against Voldemort since I was a baby. Sam said no one else in school knows. He said nobody knew why we were getting extra points in first year and no one had ever heard about how the basilisk was taken care of."

"So someone will write a book about it after we leave school," Ron said as if it didn't matter that nobody knew. "The Greatest Adventures Of The Boy Who Lived."

Harry frowned, shook his head, and then laughed. Ron laughed too. "No books, and definitely not called that."

"Bet you Hermione's already got a book half written about us in her journal."

"Probably. If I die, just make sure it gets a good title."

As Harry and Ron entered the common room a few minutes later, they spied a parchment with bold letters attached to the announcement board, proclaiming:

Swordmaster's Club
Sign up Monday night at 7 pm in the Great Hall
4th years and above only
Guardians must sign a permission slip. See Professor McGonagall to get one owled out.
Beware: Injuries will be incurred.

Ron nudged Harry and pointed at the ad. "Think this is about what happened a few weeks ago?"

"Dunno," Harry said, though he did think the timing was a bit suspicious. Then again, he had asked Severus last night about learning to fight with a sword. This was awfully fast to start a club up though. Would Severus be leading it? Did he know how to sword fight?

"I'll get mum to sign a slip," Ron said.

Ginny came up to them and said, "I already asked McGonagall to send one for you and me both."

"If this is for me then Dumbledore will already have signed one," Harry told them, and Ron nodded in agreement.

Harry didn't know it until Sunday evening when he went to talk to Severus, but apparently the permission slip for Harry was a source of contention. As it turned out, Jo didn't want Harry or Sam involved in the club, but Dumbledore, being Harry's legal guardian in the wizarding world, had already signed the permission slip for him.

"It's dangerous Harry. I want you to consider that before you join the club."

"I need to learn."

"Just because you pulled the sword from the stone, doesn't mean anything. You have a wand to duel with if you need it."

Harry looked to Severus for help, but he was choosing to stay silent.

"I need to learn. We all do. Ron, Ginny, Hermione and I are all signing up. I don't think it'll be any more dangerous than playing Quidditch. We got the owls back this morning with their permission slips signed."

"You won't lose an arm in Quidditch."

Severus snorted then and Jo turned to give him an irritated look. As Severus stirred his coffee he said, "You haven't seen him play Quidditch."

"Technically I already lost an arm to that," Harry said, and Jo huffed. He had a feeling she hadn't been through his Hogwarts medical file yet but that she soon would.

"You don't need to learn to fight with a sword Harry."

"You don't know that," he said, trying not to get upset since he knew his slip had already been signed, " You haven't been here."

"Harry, you don't have to go up against Voldemort, at least not by yourself."

"When I was in the Chamber, I was by myself. That was after a Professor nearly killed himself by trying to cripple me and Ron, and after I got separated from them. I didn't know enough magic to beat Voldemort or his snake, and I think that's still true now. All I had was Gryffindor's sword. I didn't know how to use it, or how to grip it right or anything, but that was all I had to defend myself with. I almost died because I didn't know how to fight with it. I'm not stupid, I know I should be dead right now and the only reason I'm not is because the Headmaster's familiar was there to make sure I didn't. I have to be prepared for situations like this."

"But you don't Harry. They're trying to force this on you and you don't have to be involved. Voldemort is for adult's to deal with. You should be worrying about girls and Quidditch and getting good grades."

Despite his best efforts, Harry really was starting to get irritated now. He wanted her to understand and she wasn't willing to listen. She could cause problems if she didn't understand. People could die if Harry didn't have the support and information he needed.

"Jo," Harry said, trying to calm himself before he spoke the rest of what he had to say to her. "You don't understand, but you have to. When I don't learn what I'm supposed to learn... when I don't do a good enough job learning what I have to, then people die."

"Harry-"

"No, you're not listening to me. I pulled the sword. It had another prophecy attached. I have to learn to use the sword or people will die. You don't have to like it but you have to believe it. The other prophecy... the first one, I didn't know about it in time to prepare. Others knew and I didn't. They told me I had to learn Occlumency, but I didn't know why it was so important, and I didn't put in enough effort to actually learn it. Voldemort was inside my head trying to control me, and he was able to trick me, and I fell for it. Then Sirius died, and Ron almost died, and Luna and Ginny and Neville and Hermione... they all almost died, because I didn't learn what I was told to. Well I've learned my lesson now. I can't afford to make the same mistake again. You, and Sam can't afford for me to make that mistake again."

Harry turned to return his tea cup to the kitchen so he could go, as Jo had invited him to Severu's quarters after dinner for tea, but she kept him back.

"Harry no one is telling you to do this stupid club. It's dangerous and I don't even know why they're offering it here."

"No one has to tell me. I pulled the sword and then the Headmaster started this club. It's for me."

"This isn't all about you Harry," Jo said, exasperated, but Snape cleared his throat.

"He's right," Severus said. "The Headmaster started it for him. If just Harry were to receive lessons it might make it around to Voldemort, who would wonder why Harry needed to learn to fight with a sword. If it's a club open to the entire school it won't look suspicious. The Headmaster hired a swordmaster with a lot of experience to teach a club so Harry could learn."

Jo spent another five minutes protesting before Harry said he had homework to do before bed and made his escape. It seemed as though she was trying desperately hard to control him, and he didn't like it. She seemed to think she had some sort of rights over him, which she didn't, and it was starting to frustrate him. The worst part was, he couldn't see a way to make her see reason, and he couldn't see a way to make her think he wasn't worth the trouble without also angering Severus.

Back in Severus' quarters, Severus was far less perturbed than Harry was, but still getting irritated.

"Jo, whether you like it or not, whether we prepare them for it or not, the war is coming. It's not coming in a few years, and it's not coming far away from here. It will be at our doorstep. Voldemort has hundreds of followers. He has vampires and werewolves and giants. He will not show any mercy to the staff or the children. There aren't enough aurors, there aren't enough staff to fight them all off. The children will fight, or they will die, and if they don't know how to fight well they will die."

Jo sighed heavily. "They're just children Severus. It's too much for them."

"They're resilient. This isn't the only club starting this year. In a few weeks they're starting an advanced Transfiguration club, and the Headmaster asked Madam Pomfrey tonight about starting a healing club. He's also planning on asking Harry to start up a Defense Club."

"On top of his studies and Quidditch?"

"I take it Sam wasn't a part of the DA last year?"

"The what?"

"The Defense Association." He spent the next five minutes detailing all the spells Harry had taught to their illegal club the year before.

"And-"

Jo frowned and stared at him. "And what?"

"And we will be doing Occlumency again starting next week."

She shook her head. "You said we needed to keep him sane. It's too much for him to be involved in Severus. He's got to have free time. He has to have time to be a teenager. And besides, Occlumency is so taxing. He'll be exhausted after every lesson."

"I am already aware, but as he and I have already explained, it is necessary. Without it Voldemort is free to roam his mind, control his body, and trick him into believing things that are not real. He wasn't exaggerating when he said his lack of knowledge in the subject nearly got him and all of his friends killed. He also wasn't exaggerating when he said he didn't know enough magic to defeat Voldemort. He doesn't. He can't. This is why we have to teach him."

Jo put her head in her hands and Severus put his hand on her shoulder.

"You're still holding onto the idea that he's just an ordinary boy. He never has been and he never will be."

"That doesn't make it right," said Jo with resignation in her voice.

"No, it doesn't."

"And you're going to expect Sam to take Occlumency, and learn to fight with a sword?"

"I don't expect anything of him as you do not. I do however believe that every child in this castle should be prepared to fight for their lives, and I do not believe we are doing him a kindness keeping him from learning what his peers are free to learn. That is why the Weasley's are allowing their children to join these clubs, dangerous as they are."

She shook her head and sighed again. "I'm putting my foot down against the sword fighting, but- if Sam wants to join other clubs to learn defense, I won't stop him."

Severus nodded.

"I can't have him following after Harry Severus... like his friends do. I can't lose him."

He squeezed her shoulder tight and said, "All we can do is prepare them. We can't make their decisions for them."

* * *

There were only a handful of people signed up for the Swordmaster club. Harry wasn't sure if it was because only a few people were interested, or if only a few could get their permission slips signed. Sam thought it would have been fun to learn, but obviously Jo wouldn't sign his permission slip, and he was irked when he found out only those who had their slips signed were allowed in the Great Hall during club meetings, and that no spectators were allowed unless they were staff.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, two seventh year Hufflepuffs, and one fourth year Slytherin stood gathered in the Great Hall Monday evening. The tables and benches had been pushed against the walls and a wooden rack of crude, blunted wooden swords had appeared near the Head table.

"Aren't we going to use real swords?" the fourth year Slytherin asked, giving a disappointed look at the wooden swords.

"Dear me no," said the instructor, "blades are a dreadfully messy business. Wield the right blade the right way and you can chop a poor soul limb from limb. You don't even have to be artful about it, you only need to move smart enough to avoid your opponent's blade while you try to land a blow. The real 'art' in wielding a blade is knowing how your opponent moves and what he or she plans on doing to you if you let them land a blow. From the moment you face an opponent you must learn to size up their strengths and weaknesses and learn their ways, or else you will be the one with no limbs remaining when the battle is done."

"Take it from me ladies and gentlemen," said Nearly Headless Nick as he floated in and behind the instructor. He pulled his head sideways for great effect. "It wasn't skill that did this. Just sheer brute force with a dull blade. If only I had taken this class." He looked thoughtful as he floated through a wall and out of sight.

The instructor gave a nod. His name was Sir George Fisher, but he'd instructed them all to call him Sir George during lessons. He was short, only as tall as Ron was, and several of the other students were inches taller than he was. He seemed like he had come from wealth or an old family. Harry could tell by his shoes and clothes and the way he held himself as he walked around talking to them.

"I won't be teaching you how to hold a blade or strike with it. That is for you to figure out. You will either have the intuition for fighting, or you won't. All I can truly teach you is how to be observant, and this I intend on doing to the best of my ability." He looked around the small group of students and then pointed at Harry. "You there, come here."

Harry got up from his spot on the floor and went to the instructor, turning to face the class.

"What are his weaknesses?" he asked, and Harry felt awkward then, hoping his face wouldn't turn red.

"He doesn't have any!" said Neville with a laugh. "He's Harry Potter!" The class laughed but the instructor didn't look amused.

"Everybody has weaknesses. By the time you go to bed tonight you'll be seeing weakness wherever you go, I promise you that." He circled Harry and looked him up and down. "Anyone? Anyone at all?"

The students gathered looked as if they didn't have a clue, and Harry was among them. He'd never really handled a sword before aside from Arthur's sword the one time, so he didn't know what kind of weaknesses he'd have, but physically he thought he was fine. The instructor clearly didn't agree.

"Fine then. Let's break it down. He's skinny. Underfed most likely." Harry couldn't help the glare that he sent at Sir George. The man looked at his feet and then up to his arms. "Lack of muscles in his arms means he won't be able to wield a heavy blade or a broad blade. He'll end up using something light and fast. Something that slices through the air. Are you fast Potter?"

"I'm a Seeker," Harry said, and the man laughed.

"Your broom is fast. But I'll consent that a Seeker has to have fast reflexes. Walk around for me."

Harry started to walk and the instructor nodded and said, "Um humm. Does anybody see what I see? He favors his left leg. Whether that's a recent injury or a force of habit, he does it, and you won't see it unless you look for it. Are you injured Potter?"

"I tripped on the stairs on the way here."

The man nodded. "If you know he favors his left leg, you know the way he'll likely move when he's fighting. Body language. That's what you have to learn to read. It's the same when duelling with a wand. If you watch your opponent, you might be able to figure out what curse will next roll off their tongues and be able to defend yourselves against it. If you can read body language, you're better prepared to fight with a sword or wand than someone who is skilled at holding and swinging a sword, or casting hexes, but who does not pay attention to what is going on around them."

Harry sat back down and they listened to him lecture for another twenty minutes. He pulled two more students up to study and later paired them all up, giving them each a light weight blunted wooden sword. "Fight," he said. "Stay away from the face. I don't want to see anybody's eyeballs rolling across the floor tonight. I expect you to be paying attention to the way your opponent moves and figuring out how to use that to you advantage. If you're hitting them and bruising them with the dulled blades, you're doing something right. If you're getting bruised, you're doing something wrong."

Harry ended up getting paired with Neville who went straight for Harry's injured leg and landed a blow before Harry could think to stop him. Harry also landed a blow to Neville on his upper arm. The sword, though it was very light and little more than a child's toy, felt awkward and clunky in his hand. He thought a sword should slice down through the air, but his did not, and while he was thinking about it, Neville landed another blow. Harry blocked a few blows and so did Neville before Harry hit him again, this time on the side.

"This is to the death ladies and gentlemen! We are not dueling friends or relatives this evening. We are killing people on a battlefield. People who will kill you if you give them a chance."

Harry and Neville gave each other an uncertain look, and Harry was surprised a moment later when his friend's face seemed to harden. Shouts and the sounds of wood on wood met Harry's ears around the hall as other pairs took their fighting up a notch. Harry shouted in surprise when Neville lifted the sword up over his head, both hands on the handle and brought it slicing down through the air as though he meant to split Harry's skull in two. Harry closed his eyes and threw his sword up over his head barely catching the blow on his own wooden blade. Neville had used quite a bit of force though and Harry was forced to use his free hand to reach up and push back against Neville's wrist.

"This young man is prepared to kill you Potter! Stop showing him the courtesy of a friend. When the two of you have a sword in your hands, if you are not fighting together you are enemies!"

Harry pushed Neville away and noted that Neville had a sorry look on his face for a moment, but in the next second it was gone and he was swinging again. Adrenaline suddenly pumping as though he were in a wand duel against Voldemort himself, Harry closed his eyes and swung wildly at Neville, and felt his wooden sword connect with something. There was a crack and Harry opened his eyes, fearing he'd actually broken one of his friend's bones. The fighting around them stopped and the instructor was standing there with his arms crossed and nodding his head. Neville was clearly in pain.

"The first broken sword," the man said. "This is what happens when you throw caution to the wind. When one has nothing to lose because they fear losing everything if they do nothing. Pure adrenaline. Not hate. Not vengeance. Not anything emotional other than the fear that if you do nothing, you will be ended. Utterly destroyed." He turned and started to walk away.

"Disconnecting your emotions from a battle is another lesson entirely Potter, and not one I intend on teaching tonight. Longbottom, go to the infirmary. Potter, you as well. On the way there, discuss each other's weaknesses and strengths. The rest of you, keep fighting until someone is unable or a sword is broken."

The noise in the room picked up again as Harry and Neville left the Great Hall. The Entrance Hall felt cold and empty in comparison to the fighting they'd just left.

"I'm sorry," Harry said as they started to climb the stairs. "How bad did I hit you?"

Neville looked down at his shoulder. "It'll be a big bruise. And maybe you got the bone. It's ok."

"Sorry."

"I hit you more than you hit me," Neville reminded him. "It's a class. Nothing to be sorry about."

"I saw your face harden when he said it was real war. I've never seen you like that before."

They were quiet for a few moments as they walked, and finally Neville answered, "I thought about the Department of Mysteries. I never felt like the war was quite real until that night. There was a moment when Luna and I were face to face with one of the Death Eaters and he gave Luna this look... his eyes were cold and hungry. It scared me. I remembered that feeling, like I just had to do something. I saw you. I knew you were still just Harry, but there was that feeling like it was all real..."

"It made you hit hard," Harry commented. "And it is real. There's a real war out there."

"Well, from what I felt when the sword broke, looks like you felt it too."

"It was like a duel against Voldemort... one I've had too many times already."

Neville reached out and pushed Harry gently and then laughed. "Me? Voldemort? Just imagine Gran's face!" They laughed together as they made the Hospital Wing.

Jo was out. It was her night off, so Madam Pomfrey came over as though she'd been expecting them. "Why did I know it was you two who would end up here first?"

Harry had not broken Neville's arm, but there was a lot of swelling and Madam Pomfrey said the bone was bruised. Neville got a potion and some bruise balm, and Harry got bruise balm as well. As he left to go back to the common room with Neville, he thought about how it wouldn't just be bruise balm he would need the next time he faced Voldemort. The vision of Nearly Headless Nick's head tilting dangerously sideways flitted into his head and he felt sick. Had the instructor staged Nick's entrance for dramatic effect? If he had, or if he hadn't, it had worked. The war was real, and Harry would be fighting in it. Had already been fighting in it. He just wished he could make Jo understand that.

"I'm so sorry Ron," she'd said, rushing to his side, but the instructor came over as well and said, "Never be sorry for a superior performance Miss Granger, as your opponent will not be."

The fact that Jo had had to treat Ron's broken arm, and Madam Pomfrey had needed to treat a severely sprained ankle and several large contusions after the second meeting did nothing to put Jo in favor of Sam joining the club late like he'd been begging her to allow. It also didn't endear her any to the idea of Sam joining the duelling club which Dumbledore had recently approached Harry about starting up again, though she hadn't banned him from joining yet.

"There aren't usually injuries at the DA," Harry said. "We pad the floors and walls so when people duel or fall down they're cushioned."

"It still sounds unnecessarily dangerous."

Severus wasn't there to help Harry and Sam with this discussion as he was supervising detention. The club started the following evening and Sam was desperate not to be left out of yet another activity his friends were allowed to take part in.

"If the dementors come after us, could you keep me and Sam safe?" Harry asked. He was so sincere in his question to her that at first Jo didn't associate it with their discussion about the DA.

"They can come right through normal shields," she said. "You have to cast a patronus to keep them away. It's very advanced magic."

"But, if they come, can you keep us safe? You won't let them get to us?"

"I will always protect you Harry," she said.

"And what if you're not there?"

"I'll be there."

"When a dementor attacked me and my cousin one summer, there was no one there to save us. I had to cast a patronus to keep it away. It tried to kiss my cousin, and he's a Muggle."

She looked shocked and put her hand up to her mouth.

"And in third year there were dementors surrounding the school. They kept coming on the grounds and making people pass out. That's why Remus taught me how to cast one, because they affect me worse than others. And that's why I taught people in the DA last year. 30 students can cast one now. We're ready if the dementors come back."

"Severus told me about the club but I didn't realize you were teaching such advanced magic."

"Not everything the DA learns is advanced. A lot of it is practical shields and things like Expelliarmus. Some of the things could be dangerous, but things like learning to cast a Patronus aren't. Professor McGonagall's going to supervise it this year. Last year since it was an illegal club we didn't have adult supervision, and no one got hurt."

"What kinds of things do you think you'll teach this year?" Jo asked, sitting down in Severus' favorite chair by the fire as Harry sat down on the couch. Sam was listening to the conversation with interest and looking hopeful his mother would let him join the club.

"I don't know," Harry said. "Ron and Hermione lead it with me. We all look up shields and spells we want to teach others. We learn it on our own and then come to the DA and teach it to everyone. Sometimes we ask what others want to learn or need help with and make a list. We try to make sure everyone has every spell down so they can duel and protect themselves if they need to."

"Please mum?" Sam asked. "It'll be so much fun. Some of the other Ravenclaw's are joining this year too."

Harry's eyes wandered to Sam's face. The DA was fun, but it was so much more important than that. Harry wanted his friends to be able to defend themselves, and he wanted to learn as much as he could to keep himself safe. The war wasn't real for Sam yet, and he wondered if it ever would be. He hoped it would never be.

In the end Jo agreed to let Sam join, and promised Harry not to judge the club too harshly if there was an occasional injury, especially since McGonagall was supervising and would be approving all spells they'd be learning beforehand. Harry and Hermione had talked to her that morning and Harry was happy to find out she had a list of spells she and the Headmaster had come up with that they wanted everyone in the club to learn as well.

"I'm glad you were able to convince her," Sam said after they left the dungeons. "I barely get to see you as it is. With you doing another club it'll be even less time we get to hang out. You still owe me a game of Lacrosse. We've been out every Saturday morning playing. Even Ron came out last Saturday."

"He did?" Harry asked. They'd had Quidditch practice Saturday afternoon, and he'd spent the morning studying with Ginny and doing homework before heading out to practice the week before.

"He wasn't sure about it at first since it's on the ground, but he got the hang of it really quick, especially the part about ramming into others to score a goal." He moved his shoulder back as if it still hurt from wherever Ron had tackled him the previous week.

"So you're going out again tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"Nine am. We only play for an hour."

"I guess I could come out," Harry said. Quidditch practice was at eleven, and the DA wasn't until after dinner. He hadn't planned on getting any studying done Saturday anyway with everything else he had to do. He was going to stay up late and do it all before going to bed and then catch up on the rest Sunday.

"Excellent," Sam said. "Bring your gear. We'll find extras for Ron to play with. He played with yours last week."

"He did?" Harry asked. Ron must have taken his gear from their shared wardrobe.

"He said you wouldn't mind."

"I don't," Harry said. He and Ron shared so much anyway, sometimes he forgot that the coat he always borrowed was Ron's, and occasionally their school books and quills and other school things got mixed up.

* * *

Despite having stayed up until after eleven doing a challenging essay, Harry woke feeling well rested on Saturday morning. He put his Quidditch robes into his bag along with his lacrosse goggles and gloves, and then grabbed both his broom and his lacrosse stick and went to the Great Hall for breakfast. "What's all that for?" Ginny asked when he sat down next to her at Gryffindor table.

"I'm going to play lacrosse with Sam and Ron before practice."

"Oh yeah, Ron came back bruised last weekend and covered in dirt. He had to shower before practice just so he could get muddy again."

"You could come," Harry said.

"Maybe next weekend. I have plans with Luna this morning before practice."

She surprised Harry by leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek when she was done with her eggs and toast, and then left to meet Luna at the Ravenclaw table. A moment later Sam and his friends came over with their gear to see if Harry was ready to go out. Ron was already with them, and Harry was surprised he hadn't noticed that Ron had eaten at Ravenclaw table with them that morning.

"Ready mate?" Ron asked. Harry stood up with his bag and gear and followed them out. They went out to a wide flat expanse of lawn between the castle and the pitch and got their gear on. Thomas did a spell that looked to Harry like a shield but conjured a translucent blue net, and then conjured a second one at the other end of their makeshift play area.

Just as the nets were put up, several fifth, sixth and seventh year Hufflepuffs Harry didn't know well came out with their gear on, and Sam explained they were Muggleborn and had grown up playing lacrosse in school before coming to Hogwarts. They had enough for five people per team, and Harry ended up playing Defender for their goal. Ron liked playing Keeper well enough on a Quidditch team, but liked being an Attacker when playing Lacrosse as he could score goals and move around the field.

Harry was not a good Defender as it turned out, and at the end of their hour game had let every ball past him. He was dirty from throwing himself in front of the ball, and tired. Ron was amped up and ready to head to Quidditch practice straight away, though Harry thought he'd like a break.

As Harry and Ron headed to the Pitch to change into their Quidditch gear, Sam and his friends stayed behind to practice and talk.

"I don't know how you do it," Harry told Ron as they made the changing rooms. "Defending is hard, and you have to do it up in the air and stay on your broom."

Ron shrugged. "It felt hard at first, but I picked it up all right. I wouldn't mind trying for Chaser if one of the positions came open."

Harry laughed. "I think I'll be happy to just stick with Seeker thank you very much."

"Are you going to go out again with us next Saturday?"

"If I have time... and if I can play something other than Defender."

Ron laughed and said, "Whatever team you end up on next time, I don't think they'll let you play Defender."

Quidditch practice was equally as gruelling, or perhaps it only felt like it because Harry was already tired from playing Lacrosse. His shoulders and legs ached and his back grew stiff sitting on the broom overseeing practice. He was tempted not to practice himself at all, but felt it would be unfair to the team, so he spent half an hour dodging bludgers and another twenty minutes practicing a new Seeker maneuver he'd read about over the summer.

"You look ready for a nap," Ginny told him after they'd returned to the common room and showered and changed.

"No naps," Hermione said, hurrying up to them before Harry could answer. "Professor McGonagall wants us to meet her in her office for lunch. She wants to go over a few things before the meeting tonight."

Harry sighed and gave Ginny a warm smile. He blushed when she kissed his cheek for a second time that day and headed to the Great Hall for lunch without him.

"Ron's going to meet us there," Hermione told him, and they left the common room and headed towards McGonagall's office.

Harry was happy to let Hermione do most of the talking during their lunch meeting with McGonagall. They compared the list of spells McGonagall had for them with the list of things they wanted to teach, and then the list of spells students from the previous year had already learned.

"If you're not opposed to the idea," McGonagall said as they ended their meeting, "I can teach newcomers the spells from last year so you can move on to new spells with the core group."

"That would be great," Harry said.

"The Headmaster has expressed an interest in attending some of the meetings to teach some of the spells on the list himself, but not for the first few weeks."

They agreed and after they left, Ron voiced the excitement Harry felt at having Dumbledore teach them. "I always wondered what it would be like to have Dumbledore teach a class. I bet he knows loads of things we can use."

Harry was remembering the way the Headmaster handled himself against Voldemort in the atrium of the Ministry at the end of the previous year. It was less casting of spells, and more molding of magic to do what he needed it to do to protect himself and Harry. Voldemort threw massive fireballs, so Dumbledore contained them in water. Voldemort threw chunks of stone with magic, and Dumbledore made them disintegrate. Harry wanted to be able to protect himself like that.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the common room talking and playing games with his friends. He was glad to have a few hours to just spend time relaxing and thought it might be worth it to put all homework aside on Saturdays from then on. He'd relish having less things to do this year, but knew he couldn't drop the Swordmaster's club or the DA, and he didn't want to drop Quidditch. So long as nothing else got added to his plate he might make it through the year.

As dinner finished up that evening, Harry was once again wishing for a nap to recuperate from the physical activities he'd done that day, but knew he'd have to settle for going to bed as soon as the DA was finished instead. He and his friends were just leaving the Great Hall to head to the Room of Requirement to set it up when Severus stopped Harry and motioned him to the side.

"I won't keep you," he said. "After the DA I would appreciate it if you would come by the dungeons. We need to begin Occlumency lessons."

Harry's heart sank for a moment, realizing he wasn't going to get to go to bed early that night, but then he steeled himself to make it through the rest of the evening and nodded. Occlumency was something he couldn't skip out on. He hadn't felt Voldemort in his head recently, but that didn't mean he wasn't there or wouldn't decide to take advantage of him again in the near future.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as they headed up to the Room of Requirement a moment later.

"Occlumency," Harry said.

"Ugh," Ron groaned. "Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to lead the meeting tonight?"

"No. I'll be ok. Just hope I don't fall asleep later."

Ron snorted. "He'd ground you to dust if you fell asleep while he was teaching. We'd be reading about your demise in the Prophet tomorrow. Maybe we can convince the elves to give you some coffee."

"He can't," Hermione said knowledgebly. "The caffeine will make it harder for him to learn it. Caffeine is good for keeping people out once you know how, but until then it will only hinder the process." Harry trusted her on the topic. When he'd been forced to learn it last year she'd read everything she could find to help him, but he'd still been rubbish at it.

There were eleven new people at the DA's first meeting of the year that night. McGongall explained to the group that she would be teaching newcomers until they were caught up on the previous year's spells, and made it clear that Harry was still in charge of the club despite her presence there. Harry split the group into newcomers who went with McGonagall to one side of the large training room, and the core group from the previous year who went to the other side to discuss a new shield and curse combination they would be learning that night.

Ron threw up the curse shield and Hermione cast against it, carefully dodging the curse that reflected off the shield back at her when she sent her simple stunning spell at it. Whatever curse you wove into the shield would reflect back at those who cast against it. Today they were practicing weaving in a Jelly Legs Jinx instead of something harmful.

They worked from six to eight, and Harry was pleased with the core group's progress by the time they were done. He checked in with the newcomers and found McGonagall had moved quickly through several spells from the previous year. More than half of the newcomers had learned three new spells, and the others who were mostly younger students had picked up one or two.

Ron and Hermione didn't wait for Harry knowing he had to go to Occlumency. Instead Harry left with Sam and they headed towards Ravenclaw tower.

"I'll be caught up in no time," Sam said. "It'd be helpful if you tutored me before the next meeting though. Then I can join the other group."

"I wish I had time," Harry said. "I can give you the list of spells from last year though. Maybe Severus and your mum can get you through the list."

"Maybe. Where are you headed now?"

Harry gave Sam a grimmace and said, "I'd like to be headed to bed, but your dad said I had to go to the dungeons for tutoring. Occlumency," he clarified at Sam's raised brows.

"Ah."

"I'll get you the list tomorrow," Harry told him, "or you can get it from Hermione." He waved at Sam and they parted ways as Harry descended through the castle.

It was eight thirty when he knocked on the door to Severus' quarters. Jo opened the door and didn't look surprised to see him.

"How did your club go?" she asked, letting him in.

"Fine." He described what they'd learned, and then when Severus came in with a cup of coffee for himself and a cup of water for Harry, Harry said to him, "Sam may want help learning last year's spells. He wants to get out of McGonagall's group and into the core group, but he can't until he has last year's spells down."

"I will ask if he wants help."

Severus pulled one of the comfortable chairs over so it faced the other one and sat down in it, motioning for Harry to have a seat across from him. This was so different from the last time Harry had learned Occlumency, sitting in Snape's sparse office on a hard wooden chair and getting yelled at... getting things thrown at him.

"It will not be as it was last time," Severus reassured him, and Harry looked up, surprised.

"Were you already in my mind?"

"The grimmace was written across your face."

"Sorry."

"Do not be."

Harry noted that Jo was pretending to read a book as she listened from the couch, and tried to ignore her.

"Have you been practicing clearing your mind at all since we last met for Occlumency?"

"No," Harry said, eyes coming up to meet Severus'. Severus didn't yell or sigh though.

"You must begin practicing each night before bed. Spend ten minutes clearing everything away from your mind. When you practice each day it will become second nature to you, like breathing. You will be able to do it without having to try or even think about it. The moment your mind feels a breach by Voldemort or anyone else, it will clear and you will be able to hold on to your secrets."

"Hey!" Harry sat up suddenly, his shout startling Jo. Snape had brushed against his mind. "You didn't even warn me!"

"But you felt the breach of your mind," Severus said calmly.

"Yeah-" Harry tried to calm himself. It was the first time he'd felt someone else in his mind since Voldemort had possessed him at the Ministry. Actually, he was certain it felt more powerful than it had before when they were having lessons, or perhaps Harry was just more alert to what it felt like and opposed to having someone else in his mind. "Were you being more... forceful or something? Than in lessons before?"

"I was not. It was... gentler than before."

"But it felt different. I knew you were right there. It felt like something was wrong... like alarm bells."

"I was not being subtle. It is possible however after your experience at the Ministry that you are hyper aware of your own mind and what and whom do not belong there. That will make learning Occlumency easier as you will not have to learn to sense when your mind is being entered or tampered with."

Harry sighed and nodded. "When he was- when he possessed me, I had no control. He was talking through my mouth... making me say things to Dumbledore I had no control over. I was able to talk to Voldemort in my mind because he was there and had control of it, but that was it."

"The Headmaster said you forced him out in the end."

"Not really. I just pissed him off."

"How?"

"I said I pitied him and thought about how he would never have friends. Then I thought about all the good moments I'd had with my friends that Voldemort would never get to experience because nobody likes him. I mighta said he was ugly... I don't know."

"You did not force him out then. He left voluntarily. You will still need to learn Occlumency so you can force him from your mind. You may not be able to goad him into leaving your mind and body the next time."

Severus spent half an hour talking Harry through one of the techniques to force someone from the mind, and then entered Harry's mind so Harry could practice. After a few minutes Severus withdrew and spent more time instructing Harry on what to try next. They spent another half hour practicing, at which point Severus became aware that Harry had fallen asleep, and pulled his mind away again. He looked over and found Jo still watching from the sofa, book forgotten on her lap.

"Is he still concentrating?" she asked.

"He fell asleep."

"He had a long day. I wish this could have waited until another night."

"As do I, however we will have to practice several nights a week, and needed to begin right away. The sooner he can master this, the safer we will all be, and the sooner the lessons can be ended and he can have the time to do as he wishes."

Jo rose and covered Harry with a blanket from the sofa and then asked Severus quietly, "Voldemort really possessed him?"

"Yes. Albus said it was- disturbing. A normal legilimens cannot posess another's mind or body. Voldemort has researched old magic however, and has mastered several dark magics not well known today. The Headmaster believes he was only able to possess him because of their connection."

"What connection?"

Severus tapped the center of his own forehead to indicate Harry's scar and said, "His scar is cursed. I cannot go into the details. You will have to ask the Headmaster if you want to know, and he may not tell you."

"Will Harry be able to learn?"

"He is already ahead of where he was last year. Once he learns the basic concept his skills will snowball and he will become proficient at it quickly."

"Should we move him to the guest room?" Jo asked.

"Let him sleep for a few more minutes. Then I will walk him to Gryffindor."

They watched Harry for a moment as he slept in the chair, slumped over and looking as though he were still awake and concentrating on trying to keep his Potion's Master out of his mind.

* * *

Harry stretched, muscles sore from Lacrosse and Quidditch the day before. At least he felt like he'd had a good night's rest. He'd been so tired the night before he didn't even remember going to bed.

Someone mumbled from beside him and Harry opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Sam. What was Sam doing in Gryffindor?

"Sam?"

Sam opened his eyes, frowned for a moment, and then asked, "What are you doing in Ravenclaw?"

Harry let his eyes move past Sam's face and to the brightly lit room. This wasn't Gryffindor and he didn't think it was Ravenclaw either. Suddenly there was giggling and laughing and Harry sat up to find himself on a stone floor surrounded by Hufflepuffs. There were girls and boys both. The boys were laughing heartily and the girls giggling like mad, pointing at them.

"Whoa!" Sam said, trying to pull the blanket back over him. Harry looked down and realized it wasn't a blanket covering them, but a large yellow and black Hufflepuff banner. He also realized in that moment that he didn't have a shirt on. He didn't have anything else on either. He pulled the banner up to cover his chest, back feeling cold as people continued to laugh at them.

"How the hell did we get down here?" Sam asked. Harry looked around and decided they must be in the Hufflepuff common room.

"The last thing I remember was being in tutoring," he told him. He hadn't even remembered going back to Gryffindor. He must have fallen asleep in Snape's quarters.

"I know I went to bed in Ravenclaw last night."

"What you doing in our common room boys?" one of the fifth year Prefects asked, laughing as he knelt down next to Sam. The boy tugged at the banner but Sam grabbed onto it with a death grip.

"Mind if we borrow this?" Sam asked, eyes pleading with the Prefect to let him have this one thing.

"Now if I let you borrow our banner," the boy said, "what will you give me in return?"

"What do you want?" Harry asked.

"Hufflepuffs are the best house in school," the boy said. "Repeat it."

"Hufflepuffs are the best house in school," Sam repeated, still gripping the banner tightly.

"I think everyone will know we think that when we walk through the castle starkers and covered in your house banner," Harry said. This caused another round of laughter.

"And you'll be repeating Hufflepuff's are the best house in school," said another boy, this time one of the boy's they'd played Laccrosse with the day before.

"You bet," Sam said, voice strained.

"Go on then, extol the virtues of our house through the castle," a seventh year said, and Harry and Sam struggled to stand up while remaining covered, which was impossible since there was a group of girls behind them giggling at their bare backsides.

"I expect this has something to do with what you did to the Slytherins," someone said as they made for the door out to the corridor, "seeing as how a group of them carried you in here this morning before sun up and stripped you starkers and left you for us to find." There was another round of laughter.

They made it to the corridor and were thankful to find it empty, but were dismayed to find that most of Hufflepuff house had decided to follow them out.

"Ok, ok," Sam said, putting on a smile as he held onto the banner with one hand and waved with the other, hoping they'd leave them alone.

They hurried as best as they could towards the Entrance Hall, but as soon as they came out into it, there was a large group of Slytherins waiting. They cheered them on and laughed heartily as Harry and Sam turned bright red and made for the stairs up to the rest of the castle.

"Extol our virtues," a Hufflepuff shouted, "or we'll have our banner back!"

"Hufflepuff is the greatest." Harry said in a monotone. A girl grabbed for the banner and Harry shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hufflepuff are the greatest!"

"We love Hufflepuff!" Sam shouted as they climbed the stairs, a dozen students still following them.

"This way," Harry said, but Sam pulled against the banner to go right when Harry was going to the corridor on the left.

"No, not Gryffindor!" Sam shouted. "Let's go to Ravenclaw instead!"

Harry wasn't in the mood to stand in the corridor and argue with people still laughing at them and pointing and catcalling, so he went to the right to head to Ravenclaw. "I hope you have clothes for me to borrow," Harry said.

"Of course."

They met several students on their way to Ravenclaw tower, and Professor Flitwick, who squeaked, "Oh my!" when they passed, but let them by without an explanation. Harry was glad it hadn't been McGonagall or one of the other female Professors.

At the entrance to Ravenclaw tower Sam had to come up with the appropriate answer to a riddle, but he gained their entrance quickly. Several students laughed and asked what was going on when they got into the Ravenclaw common room, but it wasn't as raucous as what they'd endured to this point.

"Hey Heywood! Where'd your clothes go?"

"Ask the Slytherins!" he said as they dashed towards a staircase Harry assumed would lead to the boy's dorms. "Didn't anyone see them sneaking in to steal me away in the night?"

The door to the common room opened again and a few Ravenclaws came in with one of the Hufflepuffs, who gave the banner a predatory look, and Harry shouted, "Hufflepuff's rock!" before Sam led him through a door and out of sight. Thankfully the sixth year boy's dorm was empty, and Sam dropped the banner and made a dash to his wardrobe, which he threw the door open to and stood behind out of sight. Harry waited patiently with the banner wrapped all the way around him now. Sam reappeared a minute later fully clothed and began tossing things at Harry to put on, including a pair of black sweatpants and a t-shirt and socks.

"You can't have my underwear," Sam said.

"Thanks, I don't want it."

Sam plopped onto his bed and put his head in his hand as Harry dressed. "They'll be after us about it for weeks," Sam said. "When we graduate they'll still be ribbing us after we get jobs."

Harry laughed, not feeling overly bitter about it now that he was fully clothed again. He was used to people scorning him or jeering at him over one thing or another throughout the year. At least this time it was over something innocent, and not people calling him names or saying he was a liar or a cheat for entering the tournament or saying Voldemort was back.

"Just act like you like all the attention," he said. "They'll stop and forget about it soon. Smile like it was all in good fun."

"I don't know about that."

They left Ravenclaw a few minutes later, and none of the other Ravenclaws gave Harry a hard time about being in their house. Once they were out in the corridor again they ran into a group of people waiting for them. Perhaps they'd thought Harry might come back out still wearing only the banner and wanted to follow him all the way to Gryffindor. Some seemed disappointed, though others were still teasing them and laughing. Harry held up his hands and said, "We made it! Because Hufflepuff is the best!" The few Hufflepuffs there laughed and cheered, and let Harry and Sam pass.

"I don't think I even want to go to breakfast," Sam said.

"You could go to the Dungeons and have breakfast there and explain to your mum why you want to skip breakfast with your friends."

"No thanks," Sam said, face turning red again, and Harry laughed.

The Entrance Hall was empty when they got back because everyone had moved into the Great Hall for breakfast. People were pointing and talking when they came in, and Harry ran to Hufflepuff table and climbed up on a bench. "Hufflepuff saved our lives!" he said. He turned to see if he could encourage Sam to come up with him, but Sam climbed up without having to be told to.

"We'll forever be grateful to Hufflepuff!" Sam said, and the table cheered. "Hufflepuff are the best ever!"

Harry bowed and climbed down in time to see Ron standing next to Gryffindor table and watching with a confused look on his face.

"Harry!" he said. "What're you doing?"

Harry turned to the group of Gryffindors seated nearest to him and asked loudly, "Why are Hufflepuff's the best?"

"Because their banner covered your bare arse all the way up through the castle," said Seamus with a laugh. "Saved our house from most dire embarrassment."

Harry sat down next to him and said, "Thank you." He let the others explain to Ron what they had seen and then told everyone about waking up in the Hufflepuff common room surrounded by giggling girls and about people trying to snatch the banner.

"Dirty Slytherins," Ron huffed, but before he could say more, Ginny came and sat next to Harry and said, "I heard you put on quite a show this morning."

"Yup, something like that."

"Only sorry I didn't get to see it."

"Ginny!" Ron said, turning red, and Ginny giggled.

Later Harry asked Severus if he had any idea what had happened to Harry after Occlumency tutoring in his quarters, and Snape insisted he had woken Harry and seen him back to Gryffindor tower, where Harry went inside and said he was going to bed. Harry and Sam always wondered however if Severus had had something to do with the Slytherin's payback, because it was so masterful and sneaky they couldn't have pulled it off without the help of a staff member.

He didn't fall asleep in Snape's quarters again, but he was exhausted enough he thought about staying the night there more than once.

"You look cold," Jo told him when he and Severus stopped for a break Wednesday evening.

"Yeah, a bit," Harry said.

"I'll stoke the fire."

"Thanks." He watched as she added wood to the fire and sent a spell at it to make the fire burn hotter and last longer.

"Do you have a sweater Harry?"

"Erm... Mrs. Weasly usually knits me one at Christmas but I outgrew mine from last year."

"Why don't I pick one up for you? What color do you want? Would you rather have a soft sweater or a soft hoodie?"

"Oh, um, that's ok. You don't have to do that. I- I can send away for one I guess. I just didn't think about it until now."

She gave him a perturbed look but let it be since Severus had come back to continue their session. Despite that he kept assuring Harry that he was ahead of where he'd been the previous year in their lessons, Harry didn't feel any closer to keeping his mind clear and keeping Severus out.

It was hard to keep his mind clear during lessons with Severus when there were so many other things to think about. He needed to plan another lesson for the upcoming meeting of the DA on Saturday, and the instructor of the Swordmaster's Club had promised they'd be using real blades this week. Harry was both nervous and excited to abandon the wooden swords they'd been using.

Ron and Hermione shared his feelings, and Harry was surprised to hear Ron say he was nervous the next day at lunch.

"Well I have to be don't I?" he asked. "If Hermione broke my arm with a wooden sword what will she do to me with a real one? Mum won't approve if I can't play Quidditch anymore because I'm missing all my limbs."

"Please don't make me keep apologizing for that," Hermione said, face heating up.

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," Ron said, giving her a soft look. "But real blades are a bit nervewracking aren't they?"

Hermione nodded and Harry was glad he wasn't the only one feeling nervous.

After dinner that night as they waited for the Swordmaster's Club to begin, he noted everyone seemed to be feeling nervous.

"I would have you remember," said the instructor as he strode into the Great Hall, "all of the injuries you've suffered to this point. If you wish to leave the club, now is the time." Everyone gave each other a curious look to see if they'd be leaving, but nobody made a move for the door.

"Very well," said the instructor. "From this point forward I will be casting a spell on each of you that will keep the blades from making it all the way to your skin. If force is used and the blade hits the spell, you will still end up bruised. You will still end up cut. You will not however be losing any limbs during the remaining sessions of this club."

Ron let out a sigh of relief beside Harry, and Harry gave a silent nod in agreement.

After the spell had been cast on all of them the instructor said, "A healer is waiting in the staff room behind the staff table and will be on hand from this point forward in case the spell fails or there are any serious cuts or gashes." He walked over to the wooden stand that usually held their wooden swords, and pulled the sheet covering it away to reveal a variety of swords. Some of them were broad and heavy looking, and others were thin and light.

"Choose your sword. You will be using a different one during the next meeting. All of these are blunted, though they can still cut you through the spell. If you choose a heavy sword this time, choose a light one next time. Over the next few meetings you will begin to get a feel for which kind of sword fits your fighting style and physique."

Harry immediately went for a broad sword that looked to be the size and shape of what he remembered of Arthur's sword, but as soon as he had it in hand it felt wrong. Wrong how he didn't know, just wrong. It was heavy and felt big and awkward compared to the wooden swords they'd been using. He wanted to try another sword, but they'd all been taken by others, who were pairing up to fight.

Harry ended up paired against Ginny, who had also picked up a broadsword.

"Mines heavy," Harry told her.

"Yeah, mine too, but all those drills we do during Quidditch have built up my muscles."

Harry laughed. "That's easy for you to say. I don't do all those drills with the Quaffle!"

The instructor told them to begin and Harry and Ginny began their fight. Harry immediately nixed the idea of lifting this sword over his head, because it was far too heavy to do so more than a few times. Ginny didn't hesitate to lift hers high though and brought it straight down towards Harry's shoulder. He struggled to get his sword up to block the blow, and did so just in time, though the force of her blow pushed his blade down and away, allowing the tip of hers to slice through the spell and cut the shoulder of his shirt.

"Did I hurt you?" Ginny asked.

"No-" but as soon as Harry had confirmed he wasn't hurt, she went on the offensive again. By the end of the meeting no one had been severely hurt, but Harry was exhausted. So were the others.

"If you have minor cuts, have them tended to before you leave," the instructor told them as they put their swords back in the rack.

Harry moved to walk Ginny to the staff door because she had a thin bead of blood drying on her cheek, but found that Madam Pomfrey and Jo had come out to watch at some point and were waiting for them at the staff table.

He held Ginny's hand as Madam Pomfrey said a quick spell to heal her cheek, and then they walked out of the Great Hall together, Jo's eyes following after them as she set to work healing a cut on Hermione's side.

"That was pretty wicked," Ron told Harry and Ginny as he and Hermione caught up with them on the second floor.

"The sword was too heavy," Harry said.

"Yeah, but can you imagine when everybody carried and fought with swords? Their muscles must have been huge! Ours will be too if we keep using them."

Maybe, Harry thought to himself, but he doubted it. He'd always been lean, whether from lack of food or forced labor. He had muscles, but he doubted he'd ever get strong enough to lift a sword that felt as heavy as he was with any consistency.

Harry wished he could see and hold Arthur's sword again. He didn't remember it feeling so heavy and awkward when he'd pulled it from the stone. After he and Ron had gone to the dorm for the evening, Harry was still thinking about it. He startled Ron when he dropped to the floor between their beds and began casting a spell at the floor in the dark space.

"What're you doing?"

"I want to see the sword again."

Ron quickly cast a locking spell at the door and warded it to keep the other boys out, and then joined Harry on the stone floor.

Harry lifted and unsealed the stones under the bed and then reached in carefully to feel for the handle, and pulled the sword out. He and Ron both stared at it in the candlelight.

"Can I?" Ron asked.

Harry handed it to his friend who held it with some reverence.

"Just think. Aside from us, Arthur was the last one to hold this."

"Or Merlin," Harry said.

"Well he was a Slytherin," Ron said, as if Merlin didn't matter at all.

Harry laughed and held his hand out to take the sword back.

"Does it feel heavy to you?" Harry asked.

"It's strange, because it's not as wide as the broad blades, but it feels heavy like them."

"Really? To me it feels light." He stood up carefully with it and Ron stood back. Harry swung it slowly through the air back and forth. It was so well balanced, and sharp. There had to be some sort of spellwork on it keeping it polished and in shape.

"Hey, there's no sock on the door!" called Seamus from the other side of the door, and Harry knelt down to the put the sword back and seal it back under the stones. It was a shame, he thought, to seal it in stones again when it had spent so long sealed in a stone in the forest.

Ron unlocked the door and Seamus and Dean came in.

"Thought Neville had a girl up here," Seamus said with a laugh. "He's been hanging around with that Ravenclaw so often, and he's not down in the common room."

"Luna?" Ron asked.

"I think that's her name," Seamus said. "Bit of a loon if you ask me."

"Don't call her that," Ron and Harry said at the same time.

"I wasn't talkin' about Luna," Seamus said as if Harry and Ron were crazy. "But Neville's been right mad lately, don't you think?"

When Harry and Ron didn't answer Seamus said, "Always walkin' around with a dreamy look on his face, like he's far away. Yeh ask him somethin' an' he don' hear yeh til yeh repeat it three times."

They laughed and a moment later Neville came in to get ready for bed.

"Am I the butt of a joke?" he asked, because they'd all quieted.

"Nah," Dean said, slapping him on the back. "We were just admiring the fact that you're the only one of us with a girlfriend."

"Hey," Harry said. "I'm dating Ginny."

"The only one of me, Seamus and Neville," Dean said. "We know you and Ginny have been going together and Ron's been sweet on Hermione for so long we figure they'll be together before Seamus or I find anyone."

Ron's ears turned red but he didn't say anything as he went about getting ready for bed.

Harry couldn't go to sleep however, and instead rifled through the drawers of his shared desk with Ron looking for the notes Hermione had given him about the Sword In The Stone. She'd finally written out pages of notes and quit pestering him to study it all word for word page by page himself.

He found the small stack of pages and took them to bed, closing the hangings around him so he could light his wand and not bother the others as they went to sleep.

As he settled in to read, he appreciated that Hermione had written out page numbers and the names of books next to her notes so he could read more in depth if he wanted to.

According to her notes, the legend of the sword said that Arthur pulled the sword from the stone when he was 15, just a year younger than Harry. Later when the sword that Arthur pulled broke during a battle, he was crossing a lake by boat and a hand appeared from the water holding Excalibur. Harry thought about that for long moments. He'd thought Excalibur had been the sword in the stone, but apparently not. Something else he pondered on was the fact that the first sword had broken at all. It had been magic since Merlin had supposedly crafted it right? Magic objects didn't break easily. And why would Merlin stick the broken sword back in the stone? The sword Harry had pulled from the stone certainly wasn't broken. Unless Merlin had taken Excalibur from Arthur after his death and put that into the stone. Harry kept reading to see what else Hermione's notes had to say on the matter.

Hermione's notes went on to describe other types of swords she'd researched. There had been swords made by goblins, wizards, elves, and even dwarves. Each sword seemed to have it's own special powers or abilities depending on who had made it and what their needs were. So many races with magic had made swords... was it possible the mermaids had made a sword too? He couldn't think of who else might be in a lake that would thrust a sword out of the water for Arthur to take. Had mermaids made Excalibur, and if so what for? He didn't think a person could swing a sword underwater very well and couldn't see why mermaids would need a sword.

Hermione's notes said that the sword of Slytherin was able to smash through rock and metal, despite being thin and light. Gryffindors sword was loyal to those who had Gryffindor's preferred traits. If a mermaid made a sword, might it have some sort of power to do with water?

Harry thought back to an hour ago when he'd held Merlin's sword in his hands. It had seemed so familiar, like when he picked up his wand off the desk. It had magic like his wand, so he knew it had to have some kind of power.

He fell asleep that night hungry for more information and unsatisfied that Hermione hadn't written more down for him to read. He dreamt of carrying Merlin's sword around with him to classes. No one looked at him as though he was doing anything out of the ordinary or paid him or the sword any mind at all.

The next evening his friends found him huddled over a book in a corner of the common room usually occupied by older students studying for NEWTs.

"Oh, so you've finally decided to read about it have you?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to him and pulling out an essay she had to finish.

"Your notes didn't have enough."

When his friends didn't answer, Harry looked up and found Ron looking wide eyed.

"What?"

"Just waiting for Hermione to smack you or something. You insulted her note taking skills."

Harry turned and grinned at his friend and she slapped him lightly on the arm with her notebook and the three of them began laughing.

Harry found all sorts of good information in the books Hermione had indicated in her notes about the legend of Arthur and the sword, and on Merlin, who was described as a scrawny, lean wizard with messy black hair, much like Harry. Harry in fact, felt like he was reading about himself when reading some of the details of Merlin's life and felt an immediate connection to him.

Despite reading well into the night however, Harry still felt like his curiosity hadn't been satisfied. He needed to know more. Maybe Severus would know of another book he could read. He didn't want to wait though. He wanted to know more about the sword now, and wanted to inspect it to see if it looked like the description of Excalibur.

Harry peeked out of his curtains and noted that all the other boys were sleeping. It was past one in the morning. He moved to the side of his bed that faced the door and faced away from the other beds, and began spelling the stones away from the sword. He reached in and took it, leaving the stones out of place. They were out of sight under the bed so he didn't feel like it mattered if they weren't put back in place right away.

He ran his fingers along the hilt of the sword and noted the minor detailing in the metal. It wasn't fancy, but it mesmerized him all the same. It looked like the brief description of Excalibur. If this was Excalibur, and it was made by Mermaids, could it have been made by the Mermaids in the Black Lake? It was in a sword in the West Wood, so Harry thought it was a possibility.

Excitement filling him, he pulled his shoes on and borrowed Ron's coat. He rifled through his trunk as quietly as he could until he came out with the invisibility cloak, and then wrapped the sword up in it and stowed it under his arm. He hoped that to anyone who looked, it would look as though he was empty handed if he were caught.

Harry was happy to find the common room empty as he headed through it and out into the rest of the castle. It had been some time since he'd been out late at night, and it filled him with a little thrill of excitement he hadn't expected. Ten minutes later he eased the great oak front doors open and slipped out into the chilly air of the night. Luckily it hadn't started snowing yet, as it sometimes did in late fall.

When Harry was certain he was far enough away from the castle so no one could look out a window and spot him, he pulled the sword out from the cloak, folded the cloak up, and set it on the ground beside him. If this sword had some kind of ability, he wanted to find out what it was. The books had had no idea. He spied a boulder and this time when he lifted the sword above his head, he didn't feel like it was too heavy like the one at the Swordmaster's club. He brought it up easily and brought it down with force against the rock. The sword glanced off of the rock with such force it pulled Harry away from the rock with it. When he turned back to the boulder however, he found it had been covered in ice.

Harry breathed and noted his breath was frozen and visible in front of him. The air had chilled in the space around the rock as well. "Whoa."

He took a few steps back and when he couldnt find another boulder to hit, he stabbed the sword down into the grass. It didn't freeze the grass or the ground, and he frowned. He turned back to the frozen boulder and struck it again. The ice melted immediately and turned to water, which gushed down the face of the boulder and down onto Harry's shoes and the grass around it.

"So you turn some things to ice, and you turn ice to water. Can you turn water into vapor?"

Harry didn't know how to test that other than taking it to the lake, because the water that had come down off the boulder had already seeped into the ground.

Gathering the cloak up, he walked down to the lake, and when he reached the gently lapping waters, he set his cloak down again and stuck the edge of the blade into the water. He waited for almost a minute, but none of the water had frozen or turned to vapor. Why did it only affect some things and not others? Or did it only affect boulders? He didn't know. Trying not to feel disappointed, Harry pulled the sword out of the water, ready to return to the castle.

After a long trek back to the castle, and then sealing the sword back in the floor, Harry was ready to fall asleep and save further thought of the sword for a different day. His mind had other plans for him however, and he was swept into a dream of Merlin forging a blade when he was younger and apprenticing as a blacksmith. He needed the blade for something, but for what Harry could not remember later after he awoke. Merlin went on to lose the sword in the dream in a lake as he was crossing it, only to have it returned later by a hand from the water. Merlin was surprised to find the blade had had magic added to it, and layered over the small amount of magic Merlin had put into it at it's creation. Not long after he had received the blade from the hand, Merlin used the blade's powers to put the sword into the stone so that Arthur could pull it out and use it to win a war.

"Harry. Are you coming to classes today or not?"

Harry sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily.

"Whoa mate, bad dream?"

Harry turned and found that it was Ron who had woken him, and that sun was shining into the room. The other boys were all dressed and gathering their books to head to breakfast.

"No, not a bad dream," Harry said, feeling like he'd taken a calming draught or some other sort of sedating potion because his limbs felt heavy. "I had a dream about... swords."

"Swordmaster's club is tonight," Ron said. The other boys left and Harry pulled on a fresh shirt and pair of pants and said, "I was dreaming of the sword. It was so real. Merlin was apprenticed to a blacksmith and he made it with some magic instilled in it, then he lost it in a lake and Merpeople gave it back to him with new magic."

"You were reading about it pretty late last night."

"Yeah but-"

"What?"

"I didn't read any of this stuff. My dream was so... detailed. It felt so real."

"You think you dreamed the real story of the sword?"

"Well when you say it like that-" Harry started.

"I didn't mean anything by it. You've dreamed real things before."

"Only when Voldemort's in my head." Harry said, feeling slightly panicked as he felt around his mind for any hint that the dream had come from Voldemort or that he was still there. When he was certain his mind was free of Voldemort, he finished getting dressed and headed to breakfast.

At the Swordmaster's club that night Harry tried one of the lighter swords, and though it felt like it was the same weight as Excalibur (Harry felt certain it was Excalibur under his bed), it still didn't feel right. This blade had no magic, and everything about it felt wrong. He was distracted and Neville sliced his shirt from shoulder to hip and his skin along with it. It was just Madam Pomfrey waiting to heal them that evening, and she had him set straight in short order.

Harry didn't stay up late that night reading or sneaking about out on the grounds. Instead he went straight to bed, hoping he might finish the dream he'd been having the night before, and was rewarded for his effort.

Arthur took the sword from the stone, never noticing that Merlin was hidden in the woods nearby, using magic to release the sword from the boulder. The blade didn't perform magic for Arthur though. He won the battle he had to fight, but the blade broke in two before the battle was finished. Merlin took the two halves of it back to the lake and threw them out into the center of it, wondering if it would come back to him whole again. Some time later Arthur was passing by the lake and saw a hand appear out of the water holding the sword.

Arthur was stunned, though he took it. "I will have to call you Excalibur," he said in awe. "A good blade."

Harry's dream dissolved into something else not having to do with the sword, and when he woke in the morning he struggled to remember all of it.

Before they had to go to the Room of Requirement that night to teach the DA, Harry asked Hermione if she thought Arthur and Merlin had ever been to the Black Lake.

"Merlin was a Slytherin," she said. "He must have seen the lake." She pulled Hogwarts A History from her backpack, and considering how heavy a book it was Harry wondered that she carried it around with her. "It says here Arthur and Merlin made several journeys through the area around Hogwarts." She was thoughtful for a moment and said, "I'm certain I read somewhere else that Hogwarts wasn't always so guarded against Muggles, or maybe it was the greater area of the grounds I'm thinking of."

Harry couldn't stay focused on what they were doing that night at the DA, because he had decided to take the sword out again that night and stick it back in the water to see if the Merpeople would come talk to him. He didn't want to wait until late at night though because he had Quidditch Practice in the morning and thought he might also like to play Lacrosse with Sam and Ron again as well.

"I'm going out as soon as we get back to the tower," Harry told Ron after the DA was over and they were alone.

"Where?"

Harry explained briefly about taking the sword out earlier in the week and about wanting to try it in the water again.

"You realize if I get caught out after curfew I could lose my Prefect's badge."

"You don't have to come."

"Oh I'm coming. I just wanted you to know."

"If we get caught, you can say you followed me to tell me off and take points."

"Nah," Ron said, "imagine what Fred and George would say if they found out I was out stopping rule breaking instead of breaking the rules. Then Percy would start hounding me to join the Ministry after school like him."

Harry and Ron set out together after the DA with the sword under the cloak once again, but just as before on Harry's previous night time outing, nothing happened when they stuck the sword in the water.

"Tough luck," Ron told him as they made their way back to the castle. It was nearly ten, and curfew had passed for them an hour ago. "Maybe the Mer-people were sleeping. I'd rather not see them anyway." Ron had mentioned before how much the Mer-people in the Black Lake freaked him out since his brief stay with them at the bottom of the lake during the Tri-Wizard tournament.

Harry felt disappointed, and though he did not dream of Excalibur, Merlin, or Arthur anymore, he still returned to the lake the next night just before curfew, and the night after that. Eight nights he went to the lake and put the edge of the sword into the water, and eight nights there was nothing that would suggest the Mer-People had any interest in Harry or his sword.

On the ninth night, the air was growing chilly and even in the borrowed coat from Ron, Harry was beginning to think he wouldn't be able to come out here for many more nights before it was too cold to continue on. As Harry sat on his haunches, tip of the sword ten inches into the water, he lost himself to thoughts of the DA, his studies, and the latest game he'd played with Sam and his friends on the front lawns. Harry barely registered that hours had passed and the night was creeping on into the wee hours of the morning.

He yawned, and his eyes came into focus where he'd been staring absent-mindedly at the dark glassy surface of the water. The only problem he wasn't staring at the water, he was staring at a pale scaly hand. His heart quickened and Harry reached forward over the water and brushed the fingers of the hand, then fairly fell backwards as a Mer-man surfaced.

They stared at each other for a moment in the moonlight, and Harry took in his pale skin and dark blue hair. It was so dark it was almost black, but it glimmered in the pale light of the moon's reflections on the water. Finally Harry asked, "Did your people create Excalibur and give it to Merlin?"

The Mer-man gave a single nod and Harry got excited.

"And you gave it to Arthur later? Is this Excalibur?"

Instead of answering, the Mer-man sank into the water slightly so his mouth was underwater and said, "You are the stubborn one from the tournament."

"Yes," Harry answered.

It was the Mer-man's turn to look Harry over. "You're scrawny like Merlin and foolhardy like Arthur," he said, and disappeared back under the water, leaving Harry feeling perplexed and full of questions.

"I guess Arthur would have been a Gryffindor then if he weren't a Muggle." He waited for ten more minutes to see if the Mer-man would come back to talk to him, but when he didn't Harry rose and stretched and made his way back to the castle.

The Mer-man hadn't confirmed that this sword was Excalibur, but Harry was certain it was. And if Merlin had crafted the sword as a Blacksmith's apprentice, and he was scrawny too, it made sense why the sword wouldn't be heavy. It had never made sense to Harry or his friends why a king would carry such a light blade, but now it did. Merlin had made the sword for himself, not for Arthur, even though he'd put it in the stone later for the prince to pull out.

Harry felt more connected to the sword now than he had before, knowing more about it's past, or at least believing he did after his dreams and his brief chat with the Mer-man.

* * *

"Geez mate, did you sleep at all last night? You look like death," Ron commented as Harry made his way to breakfast Saturday morning at nine.

"Some," he said.

Hermione tutted at him about staying up so late, but at least she kept quiet about his late night excursions out of the castle. She had to have known even though Harry hadn't told her.

As Harry sat and Hermione pushed some eggs and toast onto his plate, Harry said, "I looked something up."

His friends were quiet and Harry looked at them.

"Yeah..." Ron said, urging him to continue. "Feel proud of yourself do you?"

Harry gave him a cross look and then realized he was more tired than he thought, because he hadn't finished his sentence to them.

"Hermione, you said the grounds weren't always warded against Muggles. And we figured that was how Arthur was able to cross the area and go to the Black Lake. But I found a book that said Hogwarts wasn't built until 8 years after Arthur died. I mean, he died when he was only 18 or 19."

"But that can't be right mate," Ron said, mouth full of bacon. "Merlin was Arthur's age wasn't he, and Merlin was in Slytherin. He couldn't have gone if he was in his twenties."

"That's not true," Hermione said. "Magic education wasn't really formalized until Hogwarts had been around for a hundred or more years. Witches and wizards learned magic by apprenticing others who already knew magic. When Hogwarts was first built they let anyone who could do magic in. The older people stayed in their own rooms. Some of them taught younger students what they knew in the daytime, and learned from wiser older witches and wizards in the evenings."

"I wonder if making magical blades was a common thing then," Harry said, "or only at Hogwarts, or maybe only because of Merlin. You know, because Slytherin had a blade and so did Gryffindor."

Apparently Neville was listening in and thought the discussion had something to do with the Swordmaster's club, because he asid, "Hufflepuff had a sword. Luna might know if Ravenclaw had one."

"What could Hufflepuff's sword do?" Ron asked.

"I heard whoever wielded it won every duel they fought, but only if the duel was in defense of another person."

Later, as Harry sat down to study for an upcoming Charms exam, his tired mind wandered back to Excalibur. He found it ironic that a wizard had made the sword, Mer-people had imbued it with more magic, and then a Muggle had used it for years to bring peace and stability to the kingdom. To top it all off, the sword had eventually returned again to Merlin who stuck it back in the stone, and then found it's way to Harry... a young wizard who looked something like Merlin.

The man was an oddity to Harry, and some days Harry still had trouble reconciling the stern looking Potions Master who used to revel in torturing him in classes and detentions with the man who sat before him now in a comfortable chair in the dungeon quarters. Yes, he'd been calmer around Harry and had even stuck up for him and taken his side several times in arguments with Jo, but that still felt odd and new to Harry. Sometimes it seemed to Harry that he was still waiting for the other shoe to fall. He was still waiting for Snape to realize he had a perfectly good son in Sam, and he didn't need Harry around at all. The trouble was Harry wasn't sure he was going to get the boot when Snape realized that. He felt like he really should, because that was his lot in life, but he'd almost grown comfortable enough around Snape to forget about that reality sometimes.

"Are you ready to continue?" Snape asked. He'd given Harry a few minutes to collect himself and clear his mind, but Harry had done anything but clear his mind.

"No sir, sorry," he said. "I was thinking instead of clearing my head."

"Perhaps that is enough for the evening then. It is nearing nine."

Harry rose, expecting to leave, but instead Snape motioned for him to follow him into the kitchen and set to making coffee.

"Jo made fresh biscuits. They're in the cupboard there," he said, and Harry moved to the cupboard and found a covered plate with chocolate chip cookies.

Snape brought two cups of coffee to the table and sat across from Harry.

"I see you have been keeping your grades high this term."

"Sort of," Harry said. "Potions has been difficult."

"You may come to me for help. There will also be a study group forming after Christmas holidays to prepare for the term projects and final exam."

"What are the term projects?"

"You will be working with a partner to collect and prepare ingredients on your own for a potion of your choosing from a list I have. Then each partner will prepare the potion. Dungeon classroom A will be reserved for the 6th year NEWT class to prepare and keep their potions and ingredients."

"What are some of the potions?"

"Polyjuice, Amortentia, and Draught Of Living Death to name a few."

"And we get to choose?"

"Yes."

Harry smirked.

"Is there something amusing about the list?"

"No-" Harry hedged. "I just know which potion I'll be making."

"Polyjuice?"

"How did you know?" Harry asked.

"I assume it was you who stole ingredients to make Polyjuice in your second year."

"I didn't."

Snape's brows rose.

"We made Polyjuice I mean," Harry said, "but I didn't steal the ingredients."

"But you know who did."

Harry looked into his coffee and took a sip as an excuse not to answer.

"Polyjuice is one of the easier potions on the list to brew, however the ingredients are harder to come by and to preserve, which is why it's included on the list."

"Do we get to choose our partners?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to partner with Sam or Hermione. If he partnered with Hermione he was sure to get an O, but she would insist on doing most of the work, and Harry didn't want that. He wondered if she would be upset if he partnered with Sam instead.

After a few more moments of enjoying their coffee (Harry didn't mind being kept up late by the caffeine since it was Saturday night), Severus said, "The Headmaster informs me you and your friends have been researching the sword."

Harry looked up and smiled. The sword was one of his favorite topics these days. "Yes sir."

"He said you and Miss Granger have checked out every book on the subject several times over. Have you learned anything interesting?"

Harry told him about several things they'd learned, and then asked, "Why do they call it Arthur's sword when it was Merlin who made it?"

"Because Merlin gave it to Arthur and he used it to fight many battles. Arthur was the king. At the time some magical folk were still accepted within Muggle society and used by royalty to predict the outcomes of battles or provide help to them, and as there was not yet a magical government in place and statute of secrecy, witches and wizards still fell under the King's purview."

"Did he really give it to Arthur though? He only let him borrow it. Merlin made that sword for himself. Merlin forged it with magic and the Mermaids imbued it with even more magic."

"You seem certain," Severus said. "From which book did you read this?"

"Erm, lots of books."

"Which one has the information you speak of? The Headmaster and I have been researching the sword and the prophecy surrounding it as well and have not been able to find the information you just told me."

"I-" Harry hesitated. Ron hadn't thought it odd that Harry dreamed about it, but would Snape?"

"I dreamed it."

Snape's brows rose into his hair.

"I know it sounds strange, but it's real. I asked the mermaids."

"How did you gain an audience with the mermaids?"

"One of them came to talk to me after I took the sword and put it in the lake several times."

"I assume you have not been going out in broad daylight to do so?"

Harry explained about taking the sword out under the cloak at night, his conversation with the mermaid, and how it matched up to his dreams. He was feeling so comfortable around Snape this evening and was so enthused with their conversation about the sword that he didn't think for a moment about getting into trouble for being out after curfew.

"And you continue going out after curfew to do this?" Snape asked.

"No-" Harry paused. "I only did it a few times. That was weeks ago."

"How many is a few?"

"How many detentions am I getting?"

"At the moment, none, but I would like to know."

"Eight or nine times." He refrained from telling him about Ron joining him on one occasion. He didn't believe he wasn't getting a detention and didn't want to drag his friend into it.

"That ends now. You are no longer to go out after curfew."

"Yes sir."

"It is dangerous."

"I won't do it again."

"See that you do not. If you feel you have reason to be out after dark, you are to come to me first. If it is necessary, I will go with you."

Harry paused, hand halfway to snag another cookie off the plate. "You will?"

"That is what I said."

"Even after curfew?"

"If the task is an imminent need."

Harry frowned. There Snape was being odd again. Why would the man volunteer to waste time out on the grounds with Harry?

"Did anyone else go with you?"

"I didn't take Sam," Harry said. Snape was clearly worried Harry was dragging Sam into trouble again like the night they'd run away or the night they'd fought Avery in Sommercotes.

"That is not what I asked."

"No," Harry said. "I went alone."

A few minutes later after another cookie and finishing his coffee, Harry bade Snape goodnight and headed off to Gryffindor tower. He passed Jo in the Dungeon corridor on his way out as she was coming back from a late shift in the Hospital Wing, but aside from exchanging pleasantries, she let him pass.

A few minutes later Jo found Severus in their quarters still sitting at the dining room table drinking his coffee.

"Hello," she greeted brightly.

"Good evening."

"I passed Harry on the way out. Did Occlumency run late? He didn't seem tired."

"We had coffee after."

"That's nice. He'll be up late but have a nice lie in tomorrow."

"He has been going out on the grounds by himself late at night."

"What? Why?"

She went to the counter and fixed a cup of lavender tea and then came to the table to sit next to her husband.

"He was talking to mermaids."

"Mermaids? They don't come to speak to the students very often do they?"

"They rarely ever converse with anyone, not even the Headmaster. He said he has been out eight or nine times, sometimes as late as half one in the morning."

"Did you give him detention?"

"No. I told him to stop going out at night, and if he believes he must go out at night to get me first so I may go with him."

"He didn't take anyone? That's dangerous. There are creatures that come out of the Forbidden Forest at night to roam the grounds. And werewolves if he was out on the full moon."

"I am aware. He said he did not take anyone with him."

She shook her head. "I feel like no one is looking out for his wellbeing at all, not even himself."

"I believe I informed you over the summer that he heads into trouble at every chance without thought to his own safety," Severus said quietly.

"I remember." She sipped her tea and shook her head, looking far away for a moment. "I still can't believe the things the Headmaster has allowed him and his friends to do over the years. The number of times he's been hurt or could have been. If we were his parents I would put a stop to it."

"We are not."

She looked up at him and their eyes met for a long moment before she said, "Don't you think it's time we should be?"

* * *

Sunday evening Harry received an owl after dinner asking him to come spend some time in the dungeons. At half six Harry rose from the table in the common room he'd been studying at with Ron and stretched.

"Where ya going?" Ron asked.

"Snape asked me to come down at seven."

"More tutoring?"

"I don't know," Harry said, "the note didn't say."

He left the common room and ran into Sam a few minutes later when he was nearly to the Entrance Hall. "You get an owl too?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Guess it's not tutoring then," Harry said to himself.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe it's board game night."

Harry frowned. "Snape wouldn't play board games."

"Mum makes him," Sam said with a laugh. "Every couple weeks we get ice cream or something and play board games. He's surprisingly good at the Muggle ones. This would be the first time since school got back in though."

They made their way to the Dungeons together and when they got there, it seemed as though Sam had been right. There was a deck of cards on the table in the living room, a plate of fresh cookies, a pitcher of iced tea, and a big bowl of popcorn.

Jo gave Sam a hug, and then gave one to Harry, who felt awkward but enjoyed the contact nonetheless.

"What are we playing?" Sam asked.

"Goblins and Gnomes," Jo said.

"I don't think I've heard of that one," Harry said, and eyed the distinctively Muggle looking deck of cards.

"It's played with Muggle cards," Sam said, "Black cards are goblins, red cards are gnomes. We'll divide the deck between the four of us and place cards down on two stacks. Whoever gets rid of their cards first wins." He explained the rest of the rules as Snape came over to sit next to Jo on one side of the coffee table.

Sam and Jo laughed as they played, and Harry enjoyed the game even though he lost the first two hands. On the third hand it was an intense battle between he and Snape, but Harry won, finishing the game with a grin.

They finished off the snacks and tea, and by nine Sam said something about having to finish a Charms assignment before bed.

Harry rose to follow Sam out, but Jo asked Harry to stay for a minute, so Sam gave him a wave as he closed the door.

Harry sat uncertainly on the couch again and Jo brought out a pot of hot tea this time and sat down next to Snape again.

"How have you been Harry?"

"Good," Harry said.

"We wanted to talk to you about Christmas holidays. Severus said you usually spend them at the castle."

"I spent Christmas with the Weasleys last year."

"We'd like you to spend them with us this year," Jo said. "We'll be going back to the house."

"Will I be allowed?" Harry asked. "The Headmaster usually makes me go back to the Dursleys over holidays so I stay at the castle instead."

"The Dursleys still have not been found, and you will not be returning to them even if they are," Severus said.

"Did the Headmaster say it's ok?"

Snape and Jo exchanged a glance, and Jo said, "That's something else we wanted to talk to you about Harry. We'd like to take you to the Ministry and file for custody over you. Then the Headmaster wouldn't be making those decisions anymore. You're already a part of our family. We'd just like to make it official."

Harry stared at her. Custody? Did that mean they were adopting him?

"Harry?" she asked, when he hadn't answered a minute later. "What do you think?"

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Harry asked. "I don't think the Headmaster will let this happen."

"It isn't about what we want, or what the Headmaster wants," Snape said, but at a stern look from Jo, he said, "Yes, it is what we want."

"I'm not sure," Harry said, and Jo's face fell a little.

"What is it you're not certain about Harry?" she asked.

Harry gave a look to Snape, who met his eyes, and then said to him, "Will I be able to keep doing the Swordmaster's club? And the DA? Quidditch? Will I still be allowed to go see the Weasleys on holidays sometimes?"

Jo looked like she wanted to say something, but let Severus answer instead. "Any extracurricular school activities you are currently doing, you will be allowed to continue. And you will be allowed to have friends over and to visit friends. However, you will no longer be allowed to continually place yourself in danger."

"Sir?"

"Going out after curfew alone, brewing illegal potions, leaving school grounds during the school year without permission..." he trailed off, but Harry knew he could have gone on at length about the rules Harry had broken over the years.

Before Harry could say anything, Jo spoke up and said, "We want you to be safe and taken care of Harry. You deserve that. When you're part of a family you think of the family as a whole as well as your own wellbeing. It would devastate us if something were to happen to you. As your guardians we'd also be responsible for any laws you break before you've reached majority."

Suddenly it made sense to Harry why Mrs. Weasley was so upset when he and Ron had taken the flying car to school. If Ron's parents were going to be held responsible or have to pay fines for the laws they had broken unknowingly, the howler she'd sent Ron in second year made a lot of sense.

"Can I think about it?" Harry asked.

"Of course Harry," Jo said with a gentle smile.

Harry stood up and Severus stood to see him to the door as Jo took the tea cups back to the sink.

At the door Harry turned to Severus and asked quietly, "When do I have to have an answer by?"

Severus gave him a stern look but then the look softened and he said quietly, "There is not a deadline. Should you ever wish to join this family, you will be welcome to do so."

Harry stared into his dark eyes for a moment and then nodded. He pulled himself away from the cozy quarters and out into the corridor as Severus shut the door. He didn't move off immediately though, and stayed in the corridor staring at the closed door. No one had ever offered to adopt him before, and he'd wanted to throw himself at Snape or Jo or both of them right there and forget he'd ever been an orphan at all. But there was a reason for his orphanness... many reasons. There was an evil man, his hundred followers, two prophecies, and the constant danger Harry found himself in.

Sirius would have liked to have had Harry living with him. He'd offered that once. But Harry's actions had caused his godfather to die before they had a chance to make a go of it as a family... just like Lily and James. They'd had a year together and as Harry's parents and that was all. If Harry said yes to Jo and Severus, how long would they get before they died just by being associated with Harry? A year? Two? A day?

Harry slowly backed away from the door to their quarters, and Draco's words from that summer in Diagonalley came back to him again, ‘Don't be fooled. You'll never be one of them.'

Harry had always dreamed of having a family all of his own, and here it was being offered to him a third time, but like so many others, this dream was broken, and not meant to be put together again.