Harry had awoken to hear voices downstairs, yesterday was great, except for when he burst out crying and Severus had pointed to the tissues for him. He rubbed his eyes and made his way silently down the stairs, being careful to avoid the middle step. It was Dumbledore, and he was sitting at the table, Harry didn’t emerge but managed another peek, he could hear their voice clearly.
“Severus, the boy needs to go back home”.
Dumbledore’s voice rang through Harry’s head and held his breath as Severus turned to him, “Why so? He’s safe here”.
“The Blood Wards Severus, there’s only so much you can do, we can’t place a Blood Ward over your house, you’re not his guardian by law”.
Harry watched as Severus went to say something but stopped himself, “when does he have to go?” Harry’s heart sank, Snape was going to give him back, all that time together had been a lie. Did Harry begin to love Snape? As crazy as it seemed, Harry had come closer to Snape, as if Snape was like his dad. As quietly as he had arrived, Harry had left. The room was lit up by the morning light. Harry had rummaged through his trunk and pulled out the little envelope opener. Though it is a little blunt, if he could just put more strength in, then it should work.
Severus sighed and shook his head, “but the cuts Dumbledore”, the older wizard sighed, “I know, but the boy has to be protected”.
“This may sound crazy, but is there any way to keep the boy?”
Severus had grown to close to the boy, he couldn’t have him go back there, “there is one way... You can adopt him”.
“Adopt?”
Severus stood there for a few minutes, would he do it? He had to think about it, “anyway, I’ll let you think about it if you agree, ask the boys permission and then contact me”, Dumbledore got up from the seat and apparated out. Severus sighed and placed the cup of coffee on the table, he was really opening up to this kid way too much, he would put himself in danger, he was still loyal to the Dark Lord. Harry would have to stay hidden. Severus decided to wake the boy up, he wasn’t going to let him sleep in. He trudged up the stairs, but when he reached the top he stopped, was that crying he could hear?
“Harry?”
Severus called out, the crying had stopped and he could hear rustling, followed by curse words. Severus pushed the door the boy's room open and he almost dropped dead at what he saw. Harry was sitting on the bed, he had pulled his sleeves up and had attacked his arms with, what looked like, an envelope opener, “Harry!” Severus took a shaky step towards the boy, but froze when the boy brought out his wand and pointed it towards Snape, “don’t you come any closer!”
“Harry, what’s wrong?”
“I heard you with Dumbledore, you’re giving me back to the Dursleys!”
Severus mentally cursed, “Harry, listen to me –“.
“No, you listen to me, you were playing around with me, seeing if I would open up, which I did, and now you’re trying to hurt me, how dare you! I HATE YOU!” Suddenly the wand sparked to life and Snape was knocked off his feet, he was pushed back and slammed into the wall in the hallway. The world went fuzzy and Snape looked up to see Harry’s blurry form getting from the bed before apparating out of the room.
Once Snape felt better he had slowly gotten up from the ground, rubbing the back of his head. He had to find the boy quick, he was angry, yes he was, how dare he use magic on him. When he finds Harry he would give him a piece of his mind. He grabbed his cloak and apparated outside, where would Harry go, that was the problem.

•
Harry sat in front of the tombstone of his parents, staring at the names, James Potter and Lily Potter. He wondered what it would be like if they were still alive. He rubbed his eyes and hissed in pain as his arms hurt. He thought back to when he hit Snape with the spell, he regretted doing it after he apparated, Snape had never hurt him physically.... Well apart from the slap, he did kind of deserve it since he was being highly rude to the professor, but he couldn’t severely injure Snape since he was the elder. He sighed and got up from the ground, “I love you both” he said as he trudged away, he would have to find his way back to the Dursleys, he didn’t want to bother Ron and Hermione at all. The Dursleys were the only ones he knew.
Aunt Petunia was mortified when she saw Harry, “Vernon isn’t here, he won’t be here for about a week, he’s on a business trip, so I guess you can stay”.
“Thanks”.
“Let me see your arms”.
Aunt Petunia could be a horrid woman when she wanted to be, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a heart. They sat at the couch and she brought out some bandages, “I know we’re the ones who’ve done this to you”, she nodded down to his arms, “but you can’t stay here, of Vernon will kill you”. There were determination and fear that flickered through her dark eyes. Harry nodded, “I understand”.
“You can go up and have a rest, I’ll have dinner ready soon”.
“Can you do me a favor”.
“What?”
“A man... His name is Severus Snape, he may be looking for me, if anyone from the wizardry world comes looking for me, tell them I’m not here, that you haven’t see me since the day I left to be at Hogwarts”.
Aunt Petunia opened her mouth to say something but chose to just nod her head.

•

“Have you found him yet?” Snape had barged into Dumbledore’s office, McGonagall was there as well. “We’ve been searching everywhere, I went to the Dursleys and they said that they haven’t seen him since the day he left for Hogwarts”, McGonagall said, she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, “by God, where would this kid be?” Snape narrowed his eyes.
“He’s playing around with us, I just know it”.
“How do you know?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure he wants to avoid me because he struck me with a spell seconds before he disappeared”.
“Ah, I see, well then, Snape, you can check the other places I’ve allocated for you to do, and McGonagall will go over her allocations as well. But Snape knew exactly where the boy would be. They had already gone to the Grangers and the Weasleys, Mrs. Weasleys face would be easy to read if she was lying, but she wasn’t, Harry wasn’t there. Which pointed straight at the Dursleys. “Who was there when you went to check on the Dursleys?” Snape asked McGonagall, “Mrs. Dursely and her son, her husband were away”.
“All the better to check that place again, I’ll come with you and you distract her whilst I scope the house out”.
McGonagall wanted to go against such a plan but could see the despair in the man's eyes, he wanted Harry back, even it if killed him. “Alright then, but don’t go off at him”, she said in a calm tone.

•
Snape and McGonagall had appeared at the doorstep once again, Mrs. Dursley looked rather shocked, her face paled, that showed Snape something, “may we come in?” He drawled out and she hesitated before opening the door more to let them in. Snape had stopped in the hall, letting Petunia past him, but didn’t follow he looked up the stairs before looking back at the two women, “where’s the toilet?” He asked and Petunia pointed down the hall, Snape smiled with little thanks but waited until she looked away and went up the stairs, he could hear someone up there. Suddenly someone had come out from one of the rooms from the right, it wasn’t Harry, but Dudley, the cousin, “where is he?” Snape said harshly, scaring the boy, “Where's who?” The boy was shaking when he saw the cloaked man, “don’t play stupid with me boy”, he brought his wand up, seeing the eyes widen in total fear. He pointed to the bedroom at the end of the hall. Snape had his wand and slowly made his way to the room. He couldn’t hear anything, so he opened the door. His heart beat sped up when he saw Harry, lying on the bed, sleeping, his glasses were on the side table, his hair was ruffled, and he was still in his clothes. Snape closed the door behind him and locked it. Coming to the boy's side, he knelt down, his cloak billowing out around him.
Harry was sleeping peacefully, so Snape every so gently stroked the boys bangs out of the way, seeing the lightning bolt. He stirred, and Snape went and stroked his face, though he said he was going to be very angry with Harry because of the hexing incident, all anger was flushed away as he watched over the boy. Harry’s eyes suddenly fluttered open and squinted as he couldn’t see properly, so slowly grabbed his glasses. Snape came into view and Harry freaked, kicked out at the professor, who dodged his feet and pinned them to the bed.
“Harry, stop fight me, come on!”
“Get away from me, don’t hurt me!”
“Harry, I’m not gonna hurt you, now please!”
The boy was hesitant before he stopped fighting, “I’m sorry”, he whimpered to Snape, tears sliding down his cheek, “I know Harry, you didn’t mean to hurt me, you were upset”.
“But I didn’t have to hurt you, but I did”.
“One can only take so much, now come on home”.
“But I am home”.
“Really?”
“... No, guess I’m not”.
McGonagall was at the door, she sighed in relief when she saw the boy, “hello professor”, Harry said weakly and she rolled her eyes and smiled, “you’ve made us so worried, how come I couldn’t sense you here?”
“Oh, I learned to block my presence from other people”.
“Well Harry, I suggest you don’t do that anymore, who knows you might be in danger and we won’t be able to find you”.
“Yeah I know, I’m sorry”.
Snape had helped Harry up, trying to avoid grabbing the boy’s arms as they were bandages, “Harry, you promise to not cut anymore if you keep on doing it, I’d have no choice but to stay by your side”.
“I promise”.
Snape knew they couldn’t make promises they couldn’t keep, but he wanted the boy's words, even the boy's voice was dripping with guilt. Snape pulled Harry to his body before giving McGonagall and nod and apparating home.
“Are you still tired?”
Snape asked and the boy shook his head, “what about hungry?” The boy nodded, “yeah... We’ve still got the sandwiches?”
“Yeah we still do, I haven’t eaten anything, I wasn’t going to until I found you”.
They sat down in complete and utter silence, “Harry...” The boy looked up, “the Dark Lord will be calling me tomorrow, I don’t know how long I’ll be”.
“It’s too dangerous”.
“I know”.
Harry looked down at his arms in shame, he had put Snape through a lot of stress and he already had a lot on his shoulders.
Snape stifled a yawn and smiled when Harry copied him, “we should be heading to bed now”, he replied and Harry all but nodded, “good night”, Snape said as he got up and made his way up to the stairs, but then Harry had called him. Snape had looked down the stairs to where Harry was standing, the boy looked like he was going to ask something, but waved Snape off.
Snape pulled the covers over his freezing body, why did it have to be tonight? Why did it have to be freezing? He rolled over, facing away from the door. A few moments later he heard his bedroom door open and he froze, feeling the cover move a little, as if someone was pushing them down a bit, and then the bed dipped by just a bit. The covers returned and he suddenly felt the warmth, for a few moments Snap waited, until he slowly turned on the bed and was surprised to see Harry sleeping next to him. Was that what Harry was going to ask before they went to bed? If he could sleep with Snape? It kind of weirded the older wizard out, Harry was almost seventeen. But the wizard knew that it was nothing sexual, the boy had never sought any comfort before. The Dursleys wouldn’t have done anything for the boy. So instead of pushing the boy out, Snape turned over so he was facing the boy and strung his arm over the boy's waist as if to comfort the boy. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.