Minerva McGonagall sat at the desk in her quarters in her favorite comfortable chair, shoulders covered with a red tartan shawl, half full mug of strong peppermint tea just within reach. As Deputy Headmistress it was her job to see that all new students had received their Hogwarts letters, that Muggle born children knew how to get into Diagonalley or had someone that would take them to get their school things, and that all incoming first years had filled out the entrance interview. All of the acceptance letters had gone out last week, interview form included, and many of the interviews had come back, some filled out in childish scrawls, others filled out with the practiced hand of a parent. It was the same every year. Even though the instructions informed parents that their child should fill out the form, some parents insisted on filling it out themselves.

Minerva quite enjoyed reading the entrance interview responses each year. It meant she was the first staff member to get a look at incoming student's personalities. She tried not to imagine which house each would be placed in based on their responses to questions (especially since it was clear several parents had answered for their children), but sometimes she couldn't help it. Young Mr. Malfoy for instance. While his mother and father had both been in Slytherin, the responses to the interview questions made her think he'd be a good fit in Ravenclaw, if he allowed the hat to place him there. Under, ‘what do you hope to learn' the boy had given a detailed response about wanting to learn how charms interacted with other spellwork such as transfiguration. He seemed to have a keen mind. She'd put odds that Hermione Granger would end up in Ravenclaw too, since her responses had spilled over onto five pages of Muggle lined paper. She seemed inquisitive and excited, and half of her responses were questions instead of answers.

Minerva was most of the way through the stack of responses, and it had taken her several days to get this far. She'd made notes next to each student's name about potential conflicts or worries staff would need to check up on throughout the year, as well as notes on how some students might best be served by tutoring in certain subjects by older students, or about how some would be well served by mentoring by a prefect. Sometimes based on responses to the entrance interview, heads of house assigned prefects to check up on certain students or to take them under their wing. They'd started these interviews after Tom Riddle had left school in the hopes of identifying issues that students were having and preventing another student like Tom Riddle from passing through seven years of schooling without staff ever having been aware of issues students might be facing. Albus believed that if they could identify issues and gifts early, that intervention would prevent children from going down the wrong path.

It wasn't often that Minerva was surprised by student responses to these written interviews. The page and a half of questions was often answered with excitement to go to Hogwarts, hopes and dreams of becoming a prefect or getting on a Quidditch team, and idle chatter about which house the student thought they would best belong in. Today would be one of the times Minerva was more than surprised.

She'd just taken a sip of her tea and leaned back in her chair with a fresh interview at hand. It had Harry Potter's name on the top, and she smiled to herself, wondering just how much like Lily and James he would look. Was his hair a little wild? It had certainly been jet black like James' when she last saw the boy as a baby. His eyes had been green like Lily's, but in magical children eyes sometimes changed color as they grew older and came into their magic. Were his eyes still green? Had they grown deeper in color, or faded near to grey? She would love to have little Harry in her house, but knew she would have no say in the matter. The hat would put him where it wanted, and she thought sometimes that the hat put students in a house they didn't really belong in just to see what would happen and how the child and the house would fare.

Her eyes scanned down the parchment briefly. The boy's handwriting was blocky, but neat. It wasn't cramped or overly large like many of the interviews she'd read, nor in the neat prim cursive like the responses she always received back from children of proud pureblood families. It was serviceable handwriting, and she wondered if that was how the boy's Muggle primary school had taught him.

Many of the questions were straightforward, such as: ‘What date do you plan on going to Diagon Alley to get school supplies?' and, ‘Do you have any concerns about coming to Hogwarts?'

By answering questions like this that seemed simple, the children would have no idea that the staff at Hogwarts would be reading into the responses to find any hidden concerns. After students were sorted, their entrance interviews were given to their new heads of house.

When Harry responded to the first question about going to get his school supplies with, ‘I'm not sure where Diagon Alley is, can you please tell me? Do you know about how much school supplies cost?' Minerva wasn't alarmed. This was a typical response from Muggle raised children who knew little about the wizarding world. It would be simple enough to send an owl informing Harry and his relatives about how to get into Diagon Alley and the approximate cost of the supplies and how to exchange their Muggle money for wizarding coins.

Harry's response to: ‘What house do you think you would like to be in best, and why?' was also to be expected being raised Muggle. ‘What do you mean house? I get to live in a house? I'd like to live in a house with a bed and a warm blanket and a pillow.' Minerva chuckled and made note to recommend to Harry's family that they pick up ‘Hogwarts A History' while they were in Diagon Alley so Harry could begin to get a grasp of where he'd be going to school and some of the school's traditions. It used to be mandatory reading for all incoming students, but that hadn't been the case in almost twenty years. She moved on to the next question.

‘What is something you hope to learn at Hogwarts?' Harry's response was, ‘Hogwarts is a school for magic? If you're certain I have magic and can go to your school, is there magic that helps plants grow? Like tomatoes? I want to learn that so I'll never be hungry, because then I can grow my own food. What about magic for fixing broken things like glasses? I want to learn that too. I want to learn magic for telling me how to get somewhere I want to go so I'll never get lost. And a spell for keeping book pages dry in the rain, and a spell for keeping the wind out of my face. Are potions a real thing or just something in novels about magic? If potions are real I'd like to learn what that's about.'

Minerva reread his response to that question several times, trying to discern what she could. Did the child just have an interest in herbology and gardening, or maybe for cooking? Did he wear glasses like James and his were broken, or did he have a general interest in fixing things? What about wanting to learn how to keep books dry in the rain? Perhaps he was a bookworm like Hermione Granger seemed to be from her responses, and liked to walk home from school reading and didn't like getting caught in the rain and wind.

It wasn't until Minerva got to the question, ‘If you could have whatever you wanted, what would it be?' that she started to grow concerned and began to go back over the previous responses with a new outlook on what they might really mean. Typically children responded to this question with things such as, ‘the fastest racing broom ever' or ‘a vault full of Goblin gold' or things such as, ‘my very own pet.' Any of those wouldn't have raised alarm bells. The response she was staring at surprised her though.

‘If I could have anything at all? I'd really like to live someplace with a bed. You said I get to live in a house right? And a really warm blanket. I want three meals a day, really I'll eat anything, just something to eat at all would be good. I want some warm clothes. They don't have to be new, just warm and without holes. If they have holes I can patch them with a needle and thread, so I want a needle and thread too. I really want a friend. I've never had one before and I'd like to know what that's like. I want to go to school. I really hope I am magic so I can go to school again. I'd like to have school supplies... paper and a pencil, so I don't have to borrow.'

All thoughts of her tea or the chill in the room lay forgotten. She didn't read the response again right away, because her mind had gone blank for several moments. What did he mean he wanted three meals a day? The child had never had a friend? Not even one? He wasn't enrolled in school? Surely he just meant that he missed Primary school since it had been out for two months already for the summer. She did reread it again, looking for any possibility that she was jumping to conclusions, but she didn't see how she could be, especially when she went back over the responses to the previous questions. He'd mentioned wanting to live in a house before, and also wanting a bed with a blanket and a pillow. Did he not have that now?

Minerva rose with Harry's response in hand and went straight to the Headmaster's office, just a hall over from her own. She didn't need to give the password to the statue guarding the staircase as it seemed to be expecting her and opened of its own accord.

"Ah Minerva," Albus said, pushing paperwork of his own aside to greet her. "Are you finished with all the responses? I'd like to start sending Filius, Rolanda and Aurora out to take the Muggle born students who need help to Diagon Alley."

"Not quite," Minerva said. "I have a concerning student response you need to see. I need to know if I'm reading this wrong."

Albus' face grew serious. He took these interviews seriously. It wasn't often that they came up with students of real concern, but occasionally they did or there were students that needed looking in on. Severus, in fact, had been one of those concerning students. So had Remus Lupin, and several students since then.

He took the paper, scanning the name and looked up at her over his half moon spectacles. "Harry Potter?"

She motioned to the paper. "Please read it."

He did, and she could tell which question he paused on and reread multiple times. "This is concerning," he agreed, "have you sent a response to him yet?"

"No. I brought it straight here."

"Perhaps an unannounced visit to Surrey is in order," he said. "If you are not busy at the moment," he said, and she gestured that she wasn't. They flood from his office to a building at the edge of school grounds the teachers used often. Just a few steps from the building they were able to get to an apparition point. Albus offered his arm and Minerva took it so they could apparate together. They were expecting to apparate to 4 Privet Drive, where they'd last left Harry on the doorstep of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and find out what the Dursleys and Harry had to say about the response. There may very well be a reasonable explanation after all. But they couldn't find the Dursleys or Harry. The house was there, the address was right, but a family named McCormac lived there now. They'd purchased the house from the Dursleys three years before, and had no idea where the previous owners had moved to. They also didn't know anything about Harry Potter or that the Dursley's had even had a nephew.

"Where is he Albus?" Minerva asked, anxiously.

"That dear lady, is what we must find out."

They went back to Hogwarts and Minerva did send off a response to Harry, asking where he was living now, but they didn't wait for a response.

"Where was his school invitation sent to?" Albus asked. Minerva brought out a huge book from a cabinet and flipped to the current year and then ‘P' for Potter. "London," she said. "The London Library."

"It wouldn't be the first time a letter had been delivered to a student while they were out of the house. Perhaps his family moved to London."

Minerva wanted to set off to find out right then, but it was already nearing dark and the London Library would be closed by now. As it was their only clue about Harry's whereabouts until they received a response from him or were able to go to the Library to see what they could find out, they decided to leave early the next morning. Minerva tried not to let her impatience get the better of her, but it did, and she didn't sleep a wink.

* * *

"Excuse me."

The Muggle man behind the help desk at the London Library looked up to find a woman dressed in very prim and proper attire standing before him. Her bun was so tight at the back of her head he wondered how she managed when it looked like there were no pins or hairspray holding it in place.

"What can I help you with today?"

"We're looking for someone that may have been here four or five days ago. Harry Potter," she said quietly. An aging man with a white beard that looked too long to be allowed, simply stood behind her with a serene smile. He was dressed a little more... extravagantly, and the man at the help desk wondered about the pair's story and how they'd found each other.

"I don't know the name," the man said. "We have regulars, but I don't know all of them."

"He's a boy, eleven years old. Black hair," she said, "and he has a scar on his forehead."

"Oh," the man said with a smile. "Harry. He comes in almost every day. Sometimes when the weather's a fright he doesn't show up, but he wouldn't."

"Why is that?" the aging man with the white beard asked.

"Well he has to walk. I don't know from where exactly, but when it's pouring out I can't say I blame him."

"Do you know where he lives?" Minerva asked.

"Probably under a bridge. That's where most of the homeless live isn't it? Weather's too mucky most of the year to live in the streets or at a park."

"Did you say Harry's homeless?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, I figured you knew. You're from welfare or child services aren't you? If you're looking for him I mean?"

"We're relatives actually," Minerva said, smoothing down her blouse.

"Well I haven't seen him yet today, but that doesn't mean he's not here. The last few weeks he's been hanging around down in the gardening section. Whatever subject he's into reading he sits in the aisle and reads all day. Sometimes he comes and asks for paper and a pencil to take notes. All of us take turns bringing something extra in our lunch and when he comes to ask for paper around lunch time we give him something to eat. Yesterday I brought him a sandwich and an apple. Today's not my turn though." He pulled out a sheet of paper from under the desk somewhere and showed it to them. Across the top it said, ‘Lunch for Harry', and library staff had signed their names under certain days. Today someone named Amelia was supposed to bring food.

"Amelia's not in yet, but if you don't find him before twelve I'd come back here and see if you can spot him coming for paper and lunch."

"Thank you for your help," Minerva said, disturbed as she stepped away from the help desk with Albus.

"Gardening is downstairs," the man said helpfully, and pointed to a corner with a staircase.

Albus nodded and he and Minerva moved to go where they'd been directed.

Harry wasn't in the gardening section it turned out, or at any of the tables nearby.

"Can I help you find something?" a young woman rolling a cart of books asked.

"We're looking for a boy named Harry," Albus said. Minerva noted he seemed rather serious and didn't offer her a smile. He was as anxious to find Harry as she was after what they'd been told.

"Down there," she said, pointing a few aisles down. "In mythology. He said this morning he was reading about magic and dragons."

"Thank you."

Five aisles down they began looking down the rows of books as they passed. At first they didn't spot him in the towering rows, but Albus put a hand out to stop Minerva from continuing and pointed down an aisle to the end where a small form could be seen sitting with his back to them against the opposite end of the aisle.

They walked down the aisle slowly and found a small boy with dirty black hair hunched over a book about dragons, Arthur and Merlin.

"Interesting reading?" Albus asked.

The boy looked up, took in both of their faces, and then held up the book to show them. "Magic's real I think," he said. "Somewhere out there there are real wizards like Merlin. Arthur was a wizard too."

"Oh?" Minerva asked. Muggles always wrote about him as a Muggle, and it wasn't general knowledge anymore amongst wizards that Arthur was of magical descent as well.

"Merlin put the sword in that stone, and Arthur pulled it out. He had to have magic to pull it out, don't you think? He didn't even act like he was worried about it when he went up to it. He knew he'd pull it out."

"He was magic," Albus said. "Very observant."

"Do you think dragons are real too?" the boy asked, not perturbed at all about conversing with strangers. Clearly he knew everyone on staff at the library.

"Very real dear boy."

"You sound so sure."

Albus knelt down next to Harry, and Minerva wondered if he'd be able to get back up on his own with his aging knees. She knew they bothered him. Harry looked over, surprised the man was down on his level. "Are you Mr. Harry Potter?" the man asked, though Minerva could see the boy's lightning shaped scar as well as Albus could. They already knew the answer.

"Me?" Harry asked. "Yeah-" he said cautiously.

"I'm the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and I've come to answer your questions."

"Wow," Harry said, suddenly eager. "Did you send me the letter? Hogwarts is real? I'm really going?"

"Of course you are," Minerva said. She reached down to offer Albus a hand up, which he accepted and Harry practically hopped up off the floor. His clothes were mended in several places, but dirty. His face was mostly clean, but it looked as though he'd scrubbed his face clean in a bathroom sink that morning and missed a spot. His hair couldn't have been washed in recent weeks and looked too tangled to be taken care of without cutting it short.

"I didn't know how to get to that alley place. And I don't have any money for school supplies, but the last few days I've been asking for extra paper and not using it. I'm saving it up so I can do homework at school. I can't believe this is actually real. I actually get to go to school!" He beamed up at them, and after Albus gave the child a glowing smile he and Minerva exchanged glances.

"Harry, while we answer your questions, would it be ok if we asked you some questions? We had some questions about what you wrote on your entrance interview."

"Yes," Harry said excitedly, and the boy bounced back and forth on his heels as if he were ready to go to class that very minute. "There's a table in the nook at the end over there that I like," Harry pointed down the long rows of books. Albus nodded and held out his hand and Harry led them to the nook. It was a table with a bench seat on either side tucked into an odd space where no bookshelf would fit and looked as though it was rarely used.

"Harry, your letter was addressed to this library. Do you live here?" Minerva asked once they were seated.

"Oh no," Harry said with a grin. "I'm here most days though. I didn't know owls could send letters before, and when I left one night this owl kept pestering me. I tried to get it to leave me alone, because they have big sharp talons, but it wouldn't until I took the envelope it had. Boy was I surprised!" he beamed. "It came back the next day to take my letter back to you!"

"Where do you live Harry?" McGonagall asked.

"With my bridge family."

"Your what?"

"My bridge family," he said, as though this was the most normal thing in the world. "About a mile away, Ben and Natty and Gemma and me and some others."

"We were under the impression you lived with your aunt and uncle," Albus said softly.

"They moved," Harry said simply.

"Do you know to where?"

He shook his head.

"And you did not go with them?"

Harry scrunched up his nose as if the thought was unsavory, and then changed the subject. "Are we going to get my school supplies today? Is there something I can do to earn money for them?"

Albus and Minerva shared another look and Albus said, "If it's ok with you Harry, we would like to take you to lunch, and then to get your supplies. Then we would like to see where you live and gather any of your personal belongings and take you to Hogwarts."

"Today?" Harry said excitedly. "I get to go today?"

Minerva couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. "Yes Harry, today."

It was still only nine in the morning and too early for lunch, but that gave them time to sit and ask Harry some other questions.

"You don't go to school Harry?" Minerva asked.

"I go to school here," he said, motioning to the books, "at the library."

"Tell us about that," Albus said.

"I come every morning and read and sometimes I take notes so I can remember certain things."

"What do you read about?"

"Everything," Harry said. "Gardening and growing food, and dragons and making maps, and science and some history stuff."

"You teach yourself?" McGonagall asked.

Harry nodded.

"Many children when not in school might not take such an interest in learning," she said.

"My uncle said anyone who didn't get an education would stay poor and hopeless forever."

Minerva wondered just what context that had been said to Harry in. Had it been a warning or a threat?

"I don't wanna be poor," Harry said. "I gotta learn so I can have clothes and food and stuff and so my bridge family can move into a house."

"Harry, you do realize that no one can come with you to Hogwarts?"

"Well," he said, "it's a boarding school isn't it? I figured after I was all done I'd come back and use what I'd learnt to help the others."

"An admirable goal," Albus said.

At ten thirty they left the library and went into an alley where Albus briefly explained apparation to Harry and then apparated them directly into a restaurant on Diagon Alley. Harry was more than excited to be allowed to order whatever he wanted, and when hot fish and chips and a bread roll were set in front of him ten minutes later, Albus noted the boy tucked the bread roll away into a pocket for later.

"Would you like dessert?" Albus asked.

"I can have dessert?" Harry asked, eyes practically bugging out of his head.

"What flavor of ice cream would you like?"

In short order Harry had been given a chocolate chip mint ice cream cone and he had devoured it so fast Minerva wondered just how hungry the child had been. He seemed to have enjoyed it though, and didn't ask for more. She hoped he was full.

With a snap of his fingers Albus produced a vial with a blue potion and a list of supplies required for first year students.

"Harry, this is a potion. I'd like you to drink it before we go shopping. It will tidy up your appearance some for the shopping trip."

Harry didn't question what he'd been told and drank the blue potion down. He glanced at himself in the reflection of the restaurant window and found that his face looked different, and so did his hair. He looked like himself but not quite, and he looked clean for now.

"It will only last for an hour," Albus said. "It's called glamour in a bottle."

Albus and Minerva were pleased with how excited Harry was about the new things he was getting. He was fitted for new robes quickly, and then they got his new books, which Harry was more than excited for. He was also more excited than a normal child his age would have been over having rolls of parchment, quills and ink, Muggle pens and pencils with eversharp and always inked charms on them, and a lined Muggle notebook that promised to have neverending sheets of paper.

They split up after Harry got his wand and Minerva went to find Harry a trunk and a pair of dragonhide gloves while Albus took him into the apothecary to get the standard first year potions kit and a pewter cauldron.

Before they left Diagonalley an hour and a half after they'd arrived, they asked Harry if he was hungry again, and when he said he wasn't they asked him to describe the location of the bridge he lived under. Harry told them and they apparated away, Harry's head spinning with all the new things he'd seen and been told and been purchased that day that were all his.

* * *

Harry's ‘home' was as expected. There was a small encampment of homeless people under a bridge just over a mile from the library. Some of the people stirred when they walked under the bridge with Harry, and looked wary.

"Alrigh' Harry?" a man with a brown beard asked.

"Ben!" Harry shouted happily and ran over to him. He pulled out the bread roll from lunch and handed it to him. "I had fish and chips for lunch today and then an ice cream! And guess what, I get to go to school! I get to go today!"

"Erm-" Ben said as Albus and Minerva came over to he and Harry. "If yeh don' mind me askin' could I see some credentials or somethin? Yer from Child Services?"

"We're from the school Harry will be attending."

"An' what school might that be?"

"A school for people just like me!" Harry beamed brightly. "I'm gonna learn magic!"

"Hogwarts?" Ben asked warily, and looked up at Albus and Minerva again.

"You know about Hogwarts?" Albus asked.

He surprised them then as he laughed out loud. Then Ben said loudly, "Who ‘ere knows abou' the magic folk?"

Some people laughed and others seemed wary, but they all raised their hands.

"How many times we been raided by the Ministry?" Ben asked. "Three times the last two months?"

"Five," said a woman.

"Harry," Minerva said, "why don't you show me where you sleep and where your things are?"

Harry surprised her by taking her hand and leading her to a set of large boxes with a towel hanging down over the opening of one of them. After they were out of earshot, Albus asked Ben seriously, "If I may ask, what has the Ministry been looking for here?"

"Werewolves. They flash a badge on their chest an' come through an' look in everyone's box and tell us if we see anyone who disappears on the full moon teh report them when they come back teh check. An' they tell us teh stay in on full moon nights. We do," he said. "There's an abandoned warehouse a few blocks away all the homeless people go teh on full moon nights. Yeh seem surprised."

"I am," Albus said. "Non-magical people are not supposed to know about the Ministry of Magic or werewolves."

"Well werewolves are homeless too," the man said. "Can't find work can they? Have teh work out here with regular folk. We get ‘em passin' through every once in a while. The Ministry people said they didn' want hordes of werewolves roaming the streets. If yeh ask me don' make no sense teh keep ‘em poor an' homeless."

"If I may ask," Albus said, "how long has Harry been living here?"

"Few years," the man said. "Maybe since he was nine. He'd been on the streets a few weeks when he met up with us. Me an' Natty an' Gemma try teh take care of ‘im best we can, but we're not his parents an' can't enroll ‘im in school. We took ‘im to child services twice but they didn't take ‘im. Said there was no room the first time. The second time they took ‘im but he came back to us a couple weeks later an' wouldn' say what happened. Are yeh really taking ‘im to school?"

"Yes," Albus said seriously. "We already purchased his school supplies."

"All that boy wants is an education. Each morning one of us walks ‘im to the library an' he stays there all day an' teaches ‘imself. Sometimes he comes back an' teaches us." He motioned to a few plants that were growing at the edge of their encampment, just into the sunlight. "Been growing tomatoes last few weeks from seed, an' Harry made us go out an' look for raw potato scraps an' we planted them too. Each night when the library closes one of us goes and gets ‘im an' brings ‘im back. We give ‘im what we can for food but we don't have much. Some nights everyone goes hungry."

"Thank you," Albus said, "for caring for him."

"Not right having a kid on the street," Ben said. "There's a gang of street kids that lives on the other side of town. They sell drugs an' drink an' smoke. They take in the little ones an' teach ‘em teh steal in exchange for smokes an' food. If we didn't take ‘im he'd've ended up there."

Albus thanked the man again and then went to where Harry was still showing McGonagall his boxes and pulling out his few possessions. It was little more than a few dirty toys his ‘bridge family' had given him, two dirty t-shirts, a pair of pants, a pair of dirty socks and a blanket.

"You'll have a nice warm blanket at Hogwarts," Minerva was assuring Harry when Albus walked over to them.

"You're sure?" Harry asked.

"Very sure."

"Are you ready to go Harry?" Albus asked, unable to bring a smile to his face after everything they'd seen that day.

Harry nodded and Albus took his arm and Minerva's in the other hand. With a last look at his bridge and his boxes and Ben and Natty, Harry disappeared from sight with a pop, wondering what he'd find for himself at Hogwarts.

"Severus? Are you in there?" Minerva knocked again, too impatient to wait for him to open his door if he was home.

The door swung open and he looked irritated with her for how many times she'd knocked before he could even rise from his living room chair.

"What is so urgent you require me to apparate to my door immediately upon the first rap of your fist?"

She did look contrite for disturbing him, but there was anxiety on her face too. He wondered if Albus had fallen and needed his help or a stronger potion for the pain in his knees.

"My apologies Severus. I know you like to be left alone after dinner, but there's a situation I need your help with."

"Albus?" Severus asked.

"No. One of the students has just come to us straight off the streets."

"The streets?"

"When we received the entrance interview we had some concerns and went to check on him and found him living under a bridge. Under a bridge Severus!" she said, exasperated.

"We got him his school things quickly and fed him and brought him back, but he's very dirty. His hair is long and tangled and when I asked him he said he didn't think he could get it clean by himself. For privacy, you understand, I thought having a male help him might help preserve some of his dignity."

His irritation faded and he gave a nod. "Of course." He couldn't imagine living on the streets and having to fend for oneself at eleven years old.

"Where is the child's family? Unless they were homeless as well?"

"We don't know where his family is. He wouldn't tell us that much. Albus is looking into it now or I would have asked him, and Filius is out for the evening. Is it ok if I bring the boy down here? He's being seen to by Poppy and they're just finishing up."

"I'll gather some potions to help cleanse and detangle his hair," Severus said. "If it's as bad as you say I may have to cut some of it."

"I don't think he'll mind, but you might ask him first. It is very long. I don't think he's had a chance to bathe in weeks."

Minerva left and Severus went to find the necessary potions. They were potions he didn't normally keep in his quarters, but he usually kept the Slytherin supply cupboard in the common room stocked with basic hygiene potions and things like hair gel and detangler. He found what he was looking for in short order, as well as a brand new hair brush and tooth brush and tube of purple toothpaste.

Just after he returned to his rooms, there was a knock on the door, and he found Minerva and a scrawny child whose clothes hung off of him. The boy nevertheless had a smile, and Severus wondered if Poppy had given him candy while he was up there being seen to.

"This is Professor Snape. He's going to help you wash and detangle your hair."

"Hello," the boy said brightly. Severus moved aside to let them enter and Minerva said, "Would you say about an hour? We're looking for some clothes for him now and I'll have the elves bring them down and then I'll be back by to collect him. He's already had lunch and dinner."

"I will send word if it will take longer."

She looked down at Harry and said, "I'll see you soon. Obey Professor Snape."

"I will," he told her with a smile, and then she left and Professor Snape shut the door.

Severus led the boy to the bathroom and said, "There is a bottle of cleansing soap. Take a shower but do not worry yourself about your hair. When you are done, wrap a towel around yourself and open the door and I will come in and help wash your hair."

"Ok!" Harry closed the door and a minute later Severus heard the tap turn on. The boy showered quickly, and Severus wondered if the shower was truly long enough to get clean, but when he opened the door five minutes later with a large gray towel wrapped around his waist, his visible skin looked clean. Severus noted the scars across the boy's back but didn't comment. They looked like lashes from a belt.

Severus conjured a stool and set it in front of the sink and told Harry to sit on it and put his head face first into the sink so he could begin washing his hair. Harry obeyed and Severus turned the sink tap on warm and began wetting the long, matted hair. Minerva had been right, it was going to take some work to detangle it unless they shaved it clean off.

"Do you wish to keep your hair long?" Severus asked.

"What do you think?" Harry asked, and he seemed like he genuinely wanted to know the man's opinion. "Do boys wear long hair here?" He was clearly thinking of his Professor's shoulder length hair.

"Some, but not many. It fell out of fashion several years ago. I would say no longer than three inches is the norm now, and some wear their hair very short."

"I just want to fit in," Harry said. "I want some hair left, but I don't care if it's long or short. Do you know how to cut hair?"

"Not in a fashionable sense, no, but well enough to take some length off and detangle it so you can see a barber."

"Great!" Harry said.

Severus smothered his hair in a deep cleansing shampoo and set to work making sure every part of the boy's tangled hair and scalp was covered. Harry was quiet as he did so until Severus began rinsing the shampoo out. The water was coming away brown and yellow and Severus wasn't satisfied that it was clean yet.

"I will need to wash it again with the shampoo, and once more with the detangler."

"Ok." The boy was silent for a moment more as Severus put more shampoo into his hair and then asked, "Professor McGonagall said you teach Potions?"

"Yes."

"Are there healing potions?"

"Yes."

"I hope I get to learn how to make healing potions."

"Is there something specific you would like to heal?"

"No," Harry said. "I just wondered if there were potions like that because the nice doctor in the Hospital upstairs made me drink a potion."

"What did it taste and smell like?"

"It was orange and tasted like carrots, but it smelled like apples and broccoli."

"A nutritive potion," Severus commented, "to replenish vitamins and minerals you might be low on. She will probably give you more of that to drink for several days."

"It wasn't so bad," Harry commented. "I like carrots." He fell silent again and Severus wondered how uncomfortable this must be for the boy, so he decided to fill the silence on his own.

"What house do you want to be in?"

"They asked that on the survey, but I didn't see houses on the grounds when we came up to the castle. I do want to live in a house, and Professor McGonagall said I'd get to stay in a house with a bed!" He seemed very excited by that prospect.

"It is not a physical house. It is a group of students you will stay with for the remainder of your schooling at Hogwarts. There are four and they are based off of different traits. Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor."

"What traits?" Harry asked. "But I still get to sleep in a bed right?"

"Yes. Each student is assigned a bed that will be theirs for their seven years of schooling. One house values bravery and is known for sometimes rushing headlong into things without thinking of the consequences. Another values learning. Another values honesty and kindness Another values cunning and ambition and is known for building businesses." Severus rinsed his hair again and this time the water came away mostly clear, so he applied the detangler and began massaging that into the hair.

"Which do you think you would fit well with?" Severus asked.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I like reading a lot. I go to school by myself and read all kinds of things. So that one that likes learning might be nice," he said. But after a moment he said, "I like people who are kind. That one would be good. But I am very brave."

"Are you now?" Severus asked.

"Yes," he said confidently as Severus rinsed his hair a third time to remove the detangling potion. "When I first got to London I slept in a big dark drainpipe for three weeks. There were mice and it was cold and damp. You have to be brave to sleep with mice in a drainpipe."

"Yes you do," Severus agreed. "You may sit up." When he sat up, hair dripping into the sink and then down his front, Severus put another towel over his head and began pressing the towel into the hair to dry it. When he was satisfied the majority of the water had been soaked into the towel he removed it and brought the new brush out and showed it to Harry. "This is a new brush. When we are done with it, it is yours to keep with you and use."

"Thank you!" Harry said brightly. Severus wondered how thankful the child would be after the detangling process.

"Detangling hair may be painful. If it gets to a point where we cannot remove a tangle or it is becoming too much to handle, let me know and we will cut that tangle out. I promise there will be enough hair left to go to the barber when we are done."

"Yes sir."

Severus set to work, brushing slowly through the lowest ends of Harry's hair and working his way up. Severus could tell right away that there were some tangles so bad he couldn't attempt to brush them out and would have to cut them. He let Harry know and the boy assented, and three tangles were cut out in moments.

"What is your name?" Severus asked. Perhaps he should have started with that. It was rude of Severus as the adult not to even assure a proper introduction, especially when the boy already knew who he was.

"Harry," he said simply.

"Is that short for Harold?" Severus asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted.

"Your parents did not tell you?"

"I don't think I have parents," Harry said. "I have an aunt and uncle and cousin, and they never said."

"Every child has parents."

Harry shrugged. "Just Harry."

"It has become a popular name in recent years. There are four or five other Harry's already attending school in upper years. Generally their full name is Harold, but not always. One boy's name is Henry, but he goes by Harry."

"Do you think since my name is Harry, I could make a friend named Harry? Are people named Harry good to be friends with?"

Severus considered his answer for a moment. The boy seemed as though he hadn't spent much time around children before. "Are you a good person to be friends with?" Severus asked.

"I don't know," Harry said truthfully. "I've never had a friend before. I want one though."

Severus murmured his assent as he worked through another tangle carefully and then brought over the small pair of scissors to cut a tiny piece of it free.

"Ow," Harry said, and Severus apologized and moved to a different spot for a moment to give that side of the boy's scalp a rest.

"Why's the name Harry popular?" he asked a minute later.

"It was just becoming popular right around the time you were born," Severus said. But because of what happened with he-who-must-not-be-named and The-Boy-Who-Lived, it has become very popular. I suspect many incoming students in the next few years will have the name."

"Who are they?" Harry asked. "The man with no name and The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

"You have not been told the story yet?"

"No," Harry said, and then he sat and listened raptly to a much abridged version of the story, ending with a baby named Harry getting a lightning shaped scar and mysteriously defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who had since then vanished.

"The boy got a what on his face?" Harry asked.

"A scar shaped like lightning, or so they say. I have never met him. He is due to come to school soon, if not this year, then next."

"But-" Harry said, looking up into the mirror, where his scar was newly visible thanks to the hair that had been cut away and detangled, "I have a scar like that."

Severus stopped what he was doing and looked up into the mirror and at Harry's reflection. Harry leaned forward and examined the scar. It was a bit like lightning, wasn't it? It wasn't exactly a lightning bolt, but it was close enough. And his name was Harry...

"That boy's name was Harry Potter."

Very quietly Harry said, "My name's Harry Potter."

He and Severus looked at the reflection of the scar again, and Severus began brushing his hair again, though a little more vigorously this time, and Harry said, "Ow," again, which caused Severus to slow down in his brushing once again.

"You are The-Boy-Who-Lived," Severus said. "Your parents were Lily Evans and James Potter."

"I never heard their names before," he said. "Aunt Petunia said they got drunk and died in a car crash."

"Is that why you ran away?"

"I didn't run away," Harry said. "They moved." He was silent for a moment and then finished, "without me."

"They left you behind?"

"They took me to London and left me and said they were moving and there was no room for me where they were going."

"Do you know where they went?"

"No," Harry said. "I haven't seen them since. Uncle Vernon worked for a big drill company, but I don't know the name."

Severus looked down at the scars on the boy's back again and then noted in the reflection he could see several on his chest as well. "What happened to you on the streets to cause the scaring?"

"Nothing," Harry said. "I had those from before."

"From the night your parents died?"

"No, from when I lived with my relatives. No one would let anything happen to me in London. My bridge family and the people at the library take care of me."

"Your bridge family?"

"I live under a bridge with Ben and Natty and Gemma and some others. Ben and Natty and Gemma save some of their food each day to give to me and the staff at the library takes turns bringing me a sandwich or some fruit for lunch each day. When I'm done with school and I know all sorts of vitamin potions, and spells to grow food, and things I can do to make money, I'm gonna buy a big house for my bridge family, and grow a big garden with food, and use potions to take care of them like they took care of me."

"An admirable goal," Severus said, not realizing he was echoing something Albus had told the boy earlier that day, though he found he was having trouble speaking to the boy now that he knew who he was. "How do you know they will still be there?"

"Well I'll go back for Christmas and summer right? Besides, where will they go? Uncle Vernon told me when he pulled me from school that those who don't get an education will always be poor and hopeless. So in London I go to the library every day so I don't stay poor and won't be hopeless. But my bridge family didn't go to school. I will though," he finished brightly.

"You will not be returning over holidays," Severus said. "The Headmaster will find a family for you to stay with."

"But-" he trailed off. "That never works out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well with my aunt and uncle... and then the nice lady came and made me go to a foster family and they didn't want me either when the freaky things started happening so I went back to my bridge family."

They were quiet for the next five minutes as Severus finished detangling the hair, which was now clean, dry, and soft, and then cut most of the length of the hair away so it wouldn't get tangled again. It didn't look beautiful, but looked a thousand times better than it had, and Severus was sure Minerva would get the boy to a barber in the next few days to style it for school, which started in four weeks.

"Done," Severus said quietly, eyes traveling to the reflection of the boy again. His eyes were as green as Lily's, and without glasses he wasn't so sure the boy looked like James. In fact, without the green eyes and black hair and scar, Severus wasn't sure he ever would have recognized the boy had they not come to the conclusion together that he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was just another student. A student from the streets apparently.

"Thank you," Harry said, taking in his own clean reflection again as well. "I haven't been this clean in years!" he said brightly. Then he turned to the Potions Master and said, "Erm... do you really think they'll let me go to school here?"

"Why wouldn't you attend?"

"I'm not really magic." He played with his hands. "There's nothing special about me."

"You got your school supplies already?" he asked. He thought that was what Minerva had said.

Harry nodded. "Maybe I can keep the paper and pencils anyway? When they send me away?"

"You received a wand?"

Harry nodded.

"Then you are magic. You are not going anywhere but to classes for the next seven years."

"How do you know? I've never done magic before."

"Ollivander would not issue a wand to a student if the student could not produce magic with that wand. The wand must have glowed or sent sparks out for him to sell it to you."

"It did-" Harry said cautiously. "It- it sent a chair through the roof. The first one I tried I mean."

"The magic is not in the wand, it is in you. The wand just channels the magic so you can use it."

"I really get to go to school?"

"Yes."

"And they'll put me in a house?"

"Yes."

Harry once again viewed the reflection of himself and seemed uncertain, but relieved. There was a knock on the door, and Severus went to let Minerva back in, disturbed by the fact that he'd come face to face with the humble Boy-Who-Lived and not even known it, and that the boy had spent years living in dark drain pipes and bridges under the city streets of London. This was not the boy he'd expected to show up to Hogwarts.

Albus and Minerva had decided that Harry needed to be academically tested and then tutored in the remaining four weeks until the start of term to be certain he would be able to keep up academically with his peers. He hadn't been in a formal classroom in three years after all. Severus privately agreed, but wasn't comfortable with Minerva's decision that he should be the one to tutor the child.

"Everyone is busy doing visitations and taking Muggleborn first years to get their school supplies Severus," Minerva chided when he complained. "Albus is still trying to find Harry's family since they broke their contract of care, and I'm sure you're aware of my duties to ensure the school is ready for the upcoming term. Out of all of the staff, you have the least to do."

It wasn't that he didn't want to because he was busy. Most of his potions were brewed for the term, his lesson plans were laid out, and there were only a few days of work to get his house ready for incoming students. It was that he was uncomfortable with the boy now that he knew who he was. He'd spent the last ten years trying not to think about the child of James and Lily Potter. When he had thought about the boy it was with dread about having to teach him when he came to Hogwarts and having to deal with what he was certain would be never-ending trouble. That the child would come to him filthy, humble, and excited to learn had never crossed his mind as a possibility.

"Severus?" Minerva prompted him. Apparently he'd been sitting quietly in thought for too long.

"Yes."

"You'll do it?" she asked.

He gave her an uncomfortable look and said, "Yes."

"Is this going to be a problem?"

What was he supposed to say to that? ‘Sorry, I'm a teacher but I can't spend a couple weeks tutoring the son of my childhood enemy?'

"It will not be a problem."

She watched him for a moment more before pursing her lips. Like the Headmaster, she knew him well and how to read his moods. He hoped he passed inspection so he could go and find the child and get this over with. He intended to spend as little time as possible with him. He would get him ready for the start of term, but that was it.

"Very well. If you need something, let me know. There's funding available in Harry's vault for any school supplies you feel he needs that he doesn't already have. Perhaps you can also take him to town for a proper haircut and some clothing."

"I thought you said you took him for clothes already."

"We got his robes and the things on his supply list but that was all. The only personal belongings he came with were a few shirts and pants and two broken and rusty toys that had come from a rubbish bin. Since you'll have him during the day for tutoring you may as well be the one to take him to get the necessities at least."

"Very well."

"You seem very subdued about all of this Severus. I really expected you to put up more of a fight."

He raised his eyes and looked up at her briefly and then back down to the paperwork he'd been going over on his desk. "What is there to fight about. Everyone is busy," he repeated her earlier admonishment back to her.

"He slept in the guest room on the third floor last night. I showed him to the Library this morning and he's still there as far as I know."

"I will retrieve him shortly," Severus told her. She gave him another look, this time one of concern, though he didn't know if it was for him or for the boy. She left him alone to his thoughts though without saying anything more.

He allowed himself to feel uncomfortable for the next ten minutes over the prospect of having to spend time with the child. If he was truthful with himself, it wasn't just the fact that this was James Potter's son that was causing an issue for him. Lily had told him expressly to stay away from their family. His childhood best friend, his girlfriend for a year and a half at Hogwarts, had made it abundantly clear that he was never to contact her or the baby, and if anyone asked he was to act as though he didn't know them. Severus understood her orders to stay away from them. He understood her anger at him for getting involved with Voldemort and his followers. He hadn't understood her fear of him though. He'd never done a thing to harm her. The worst he'd ever done was call her Mudblood the one time and she was quick to forgive him after she'd slapped him across the face in the Great Hall in front of the entire school the day after the incident. But after they'd graduated school and she'd gotten together with James Potter, she'd been afraid of him, and as far as he knew had remained so until the day she'd died. Now he was tasked with tutoring her son and seeing his needs were met before his first term at Hogwarts had even begun. She'd be sending howlers to the Headmaster and coming to yell at him in person if she were alive today.

Severus rose and went to see if he could find Potter in the Library. He supposed it would be best to take him to get clothes and other necessities first. The boy couldn't study if he didn't even have clothes. He found him twenty minutes later at the end of an aisle about charms, sitting on the floor and surrounded by several stacks of books.

"You intend to read all of these?" Severus asked quietly when he found him.

Harry looked up with a grin. "Yes sir! Look, I found one about Hogwarts! Professor McGonagall told me I could check some books out and told me to read this one first." He held up Hogwarts A History and Severus nodded.

"It appears I am to tutor you until school starts in a few weeks."

"Will I get to learn Potions then?" Harry asked.

"Not until school starts. It's important that you're caught up to where your peers are so you can keep up in classes."

"Do we start today?"

"We will start tomorrow," Severus said. "Gather the books you wish to check out and take them to Madam Pince's desk. Then we will go to Hogsmeade to get you some necessities."

Harry picked up Hogwarts A History and four other books and checked them out and Severus followed him back to the guest room he'd stayed in the night before so Harry could stow the books while they went out.

"Where's Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.

"Half a mile from the edge of the Hogwarts grounds," Severus said. "Third years and above are allowed to visit on special weekends. It is a small wizarding village with no Muggles."

"What are we going to get?" Harry asked. "I don't have any money."

"You have a vault at the wizarding bank your parents left for you. There is money there for supplies. You need clothing and a haircut."

Harry reached up to his newly clean hair as they walked down through the castle. "It's so soft now that it's clean," he said. "I haven't been able to run my fingers through it in a long time."

"It will be easier to maintain once it is cut shorter."

"Yes sir." They made it to the oak front doors and after Severus opened one and motioned for Harry to go out, Harry said, "I can take care of my hair sir. I mean, there was just no place to shower, and no soap, and I didn't have a brush. I always washed in the library sink with soap from the dispenser."

"It is understandable."

They walked to the edge of the grounds and Harry asked questions on the way. He wanted to know what the lake was called and if he would be allowed to swim. He wanted to know about the forest, who lived in the hut at the edge of the forest, and if he was allowed to roam freely. Severus answered all of his questions and the trip to the school boundary seemed to pass quickly.

Their first stop when they reached Hogsmeade was the barber. It was a tiny shop with only one chair in front of a mirror, and several sets of shears and razors. The barber looked human, but his ears were pointed and his hair long and fine. The man asked Harry how he wanted his hair styled and when Harry didn't know the answer, Severus suggested that Harry pick a shorter style so he would be able to get ready for school quicker in the mornings. The barber pulled out a roll of parchment with two dozen photos of short hair styles for boys.

"That one," Harry said, pointing at a photo. Harry was surprised when only minutes later the barber was done and his long hair lay in a pile around him on the floor. Harry hadn't seen the man doing magic, but he must have with how quickly he'd cut his hair.

"Well?" the barber asked.

"I like it," Harry said brightly. His hair was short on the sides and just long enough at the front to sweep to the side a little. He thought Professor Snape was right, that this would be easy to wash and brush every morning.

Severus took Harry to the small branch of Gringotts next and had the goblins give Harry a written account of what was in his vaults, and then withdrew twenty Galleons. Not enough for Harry to blow on a broom, but enough for him to get a wardrobe, a book bag, and possibly even a pet if he desired one, or a few frivolous items or extra books.

Severus took him to the only clothing store in the village, which was focused mainly on clothes for Hogwarts students, and told Harry how many shirts, pants, socks, and underwear to pick out. He also told Harry to find two sweatshirts he liked, and a pair of shoes, as well as a pair of gloves and a hat. Students would be issued a scarf in their house colors once they were sorted. Before they left Severus also pointed out five warm coats and told Harry to choose one.

"I'll be so warm," Harry said as they left the store. Severus allowed him to change into the new shoes and a new shirt in the changing rooms before they continued to the rest of their shopping, and then told the store clerk to have the rest of the items they'd paid for sent to the Hogwarts Entrance Hall.

They next went to a shop that specialized in school supplies for students who ran out mid-term, and Severus told Harry to pick out a book bag and any specialty supplies he thought he might want. A few minutes later they left with a handsome dark gray bookbag with gray leather straps and a wooden pencil case with a carving of a dragon that had a charm to keep it closed securely and another charm to keep the box from getting beat up and dinged in a bookbag.

"You have just over four Galleons left," Severus told him. "They are yours to spend as you will. I suggest you save at least seven sickles for the snack trolley on the train ride to school."

"But, I'm already at school?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"All students must ride the train. Someone will take you to the train in September and you'll ride it back here. There is a snack trolley on the train where you can buy sweets and sugary drinks like pumpkin juice."

"What will I spend the rest of this on?"

Severus motioned with his hand to the rest of the small village. "There is a book store, a store that sells candy and cakes, a Quidditch supply, a joke shop, and a pet store."

"I'm allowed to have a pet?"

"If you will take care of it."

"How much does a pet cost?"

"Depending on what you get, at least two Galleons."

Harry asked if he could go into all the shops, and Severus agreed. He'd seen the boy's few belongings and agreed with Minerva, he had precious little to call his own.

In the Quidditch supply the clerk explained to Harry about the game and how it was played and tried to sell Harry a set of expensive flying goggles, but Harry politely declined. He did buy a Quidditch Magazine that was only a few knuts because it was an old issue from last year. Harry took half an hour browsing through the books in the book store, but told Severus that he wanted to read everything in the Hogwarts library first. Severus held back a snort of laughter at that notion because there were thousands and thousands of books in the school library. In the joke shop Severus hoped the boy wouldn't buy much, and was pleased when he passed on the pranks and went instead to look at the toys and posters on the second floor. There was a poster of Merlin and Arthur where Arthur was pulling the sword out of the stone and Harry eagerly picked up that poster, ready to have something of his own to put on the walls of his new dorm room in a few weeks. He also picked up a green and blue stuffed dragon that had shimmering scales and paid for his purchases.

Severus was surprised when he also passed up most of the candy in the sweet shop. "I don't know what any of it is," Harry said.

"Muggle born dear?" the woman behind the counter asked. "Do you like licorice?"

"I don't know," Harry told her.

"Lemon?"

He shrugged.

"Orange creme?"

In the end he came out with a small bag of candy worth less than a sickle that had a small piece of every flavor he and the store clerk could come up with.

Finally they made it to the pet shop, and Harry still had most of his four Galleons left.

"An owl, a rat, a cat, or a toad," Severus told him.

"If I get an owl can I use it to send messages to my bridge family?"

"Yes."

"I want an owl."

Unlike the shop in Diagon Alley, this pet store did not have hordes of exotic animals to choose from. As far as owls went, there were a few pigmy owls, an eagle owl, two tawny owls, and a very young snowy owl.

"If you want a larger selection you'll have to visit my brother's shop on Diagon," the store owner told them. "If you don't want to travel that far, once a month he brings new pets over and takes the ones here back to Diagon to sell."

Harry didn't seem interested in having a larger selection though. He was busy looking each owl over, examining the shapes of their faces, the colors of their feathers, and speaking gently to each one. He kept going back to the newly born snowy owl.

"Just old enough to sell that one," the shop keep told Harry. "Three months old. She'll get bigger and her feathers will change color some as she gets older. She'll be full size by Halloween."

"How much?" Harry asked.

"Three Galleons. Then you'll need a cage and owl treats. She'll hunt for her own food if you let her out at night."

Harry pulled his coins out of his pocket and counted and then looked back at the owl. Then he looked up at Severus. "Can we take some things back to the other stores? I don't have enough."

"What is the total for everything?" Severus asked the clerk.

"Four Galleons, two sickles."

"And without the owl treats?"

"Four Galleons."

Professor Snape pulled another coin sack out of his pocket that Harry hadn't seen yet and fished several coins out of it and handed them to Harry.

"But-" Harry started. Severus held up a finger to stop him though and told the shop keep, "Put the owl in the cage and ring it up."

"I- I'll pay you back," Harry stammered. He had a lot more money in his vault.

"It was only a few sickles Potter. There is no need."

On the way back to the castle Severus told the child he would help him make owl treats, as it was an easy enough recipe. Then he asked, "What will you name her?"

"Hedwig," Harry said.

Severus murmured his assent as they climbed the steps back up to the oak front doors of the castle.

* * *

Severus found that Harry knew quite a lot of information, most of which he had taught himself. The boy's handwriting was passable, though he had no idea how to write with a quill, so they had started there, and Severus had spent almost two hours showing Harry how to cut and care for his new quills, how to write without dribbling ink everywhere, and trying to teach Harry cursive, which Severus informed Harry would be easier to use when writing with a quill. Harry wasn't certain he wanted to learn cursive, but accepted the two sheets of parchment Severus had written out for him in cursive and promised he would practice at least a little.

While the boy had read a lot about Muggle history and science, had read dozens of novels, and had taught himself quite a bit about growing plants and other subjects, he was woefully lacking in maths, which he would need for Astronomy and later on Arithmancy if he wanted to learn that subject. He knew basic addition and subtraction, but that was all.

Harry also needed to know how to write an essay, as that was the form most homework assignments at Hogwarts took, and Severus spent two days going over essay form and stressing the importance of having legible handwriting and spelling words correctly. Once he was certain Harry understood what he wanted, he began assigning one essay per evening, which Harry was to bring back to him the next morning so they could go over it, purely to learn how to write one.

They were a week into their lessons when Harry sat his quill down heavily on the table between them in an unused potions room and stood up, frustrated with the maths he was supposed to be learning.

"We will go over it again," Severus said.

"It's no use," Harry said, agitated and upset with himself, "I'm awful! I don't know what any of it is or how to do it, or why I even need it!"

Severus sat back and considered him for a long moment. "You said you wished to learn potions. Is that still true?"

"Yes," Harry said, uncertain of where this was leading.

"Perhaps a break from maths is in order then. We still need to make owl treats."

"Can we?" Harry asked excitedly. "I don't know if Hedwig has had any before."

Severus beckoned for him to follow him into the store room and began explaining the ingredients. Since owls hunted things like mice and rabbits, things of that nature were the main ingredients. "Pull down that jar of mice... yes, that one. Then we'll need a binding agent. It needs to be something an owl can digest that won't change the flavor of the meat. A binding agent is something that will hold the other ingredients together. This will do," he said and pulled another jar from the shelf. He directed Harry to get a spare cauldron from the corner of the store room and to follow him back into the classroom.

Severus brought over two knives and cutting boards and a stirring rod.

"Cut the mice up like this. It is important to use fresh ingredients when possible, or magically preserved ones instead of ingredients preserved in something like brine or other chemicals. These mice were stored in a stasis charm, so they are unaltered." They pulled the skin and fur from the mice and cut the meat into small bits and put them in the cauldron.

"Take the binding agent and measure out one cup." He handed Harry a measuring cup used for dry ingredients.

"I don't know how," Harry said. Severus showed him how and Harry put one cup of the binding agent into the cauldron.

"For every three cups of that binding agent you'll need a cup of water."

"But we only put in one cup."

"So how many cups of water will we need?"

Harry frowned and thought on it for almost a minute. "If I break the cup into three, one of the three."

"A third," Severus corrected him, and showed him where on the cup that measurement was. Harry measured the water and put it into the cauldron, and Severus lit a fire. They stirred the potion until everything was dissolved and thickened and then poured the thick potion into a small pan Severus brought out and let it cool. When it was cool and dry Harry cut it into small cubes that all looked uniform.

"Do not give your owl more than two of those per day," Severus told him.

"Yes sir."

"Do you intend on making these again?" Severus asked him.

"Yes."

"And what about other potions?"

"Of course!" Harry said with enthusiasm. "This was a lot of fun!"

"And what did you think of the maths you used to create these treats?"

"Maths?"

"Measurement is maths," Severus told him. "Problem solving how much water to use was maths. Fractions, such as one third, and division was maths. Maths is integral to potion making, astronomy calculations, and many other studies in magic when you are older."

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry I was upset earlier. I'll try harder."

"I can see that you've been trying hard. You are trying to catch up on three years of maths concepts in just a few weeks, so it is understandable that you might struggle with it."

"But-" Harry bit his lip again in the way Severus was becoming familiar with. Harry did it when he was scared or uncertain.

"Yes?"

"What if I'm not able to learn it all by the time school starts? Can I still go to school?"

"If you are unable to learn it before school starts, your maths tutoring will continue and your professors will be informed that you are still catching up. They will provide you with extra help on assignments involving maths until you are caught up."

"I can still go to school then?"

"You can still go to school."

This was the third or fourth time the boy had required reassurance about his enrollment at Hogwarts now, and Severus was surprised he needed it, though he felt like he shouldn't have been with the details of his life the child had let drop here and there throughout their lessons.

Harry would say things about his aunt and uncle's care or life on the streets that was disturbing. Earlier that morning Harry had told him about getting beaten once by an older boy from ‘the street kids' in his early days of being homeless. That was when his ‘bridge family' had stepped up to take him in.

"Do you think I can see them again before school starts?" Harry asked. "My bridge family? Since I have to go back to London to get on the train anyway?"

"I do not know, but will pass your desire to do so on to the Headmaster." Harry seemed satisfied with this answer, and they set back to work learning fractions. Now that Severus knew the child was interested in potions, he began giving him maths problems in the form of ingredient preparation and mixing potions. To Harry it began to seem less like maths and more like learning magic, and so his frustration level was lower when he couldn't figure something out. Or perhaps it was because Severus was there to help no matter what the problem was.

* * *

Hagrid had taken a direct interest in Harry and was spending time with him whenever Harry wasn't in tutoring. Albus and Minerva were pleased Harry had made a friend, and Severus was happy the boy had someone to occupy his time when not in tutoring. The half giant was teaching Harry the gardening magic he wanted to know (the magic Hagrid wasn't supposed to be using but was allowed to since he was growing vegetables for the school), and was taking Harry on little excursions around the grounds to find things like billywigs, pixies, and even the boggart that lived in the Hufflepuff changing rooms out at the Pitch.

With Hagrid having the boy for hours at a time, it left Severus, Albus and Minerva with time to meet privately to talk about what was to be done with Harry now that Albus had found out where the Dursleys had gone and why'd they'd left them behind.

"They can't get away with this Albus," Minerva said angrily over tea in her quarters. The three of them had met late one afternoon to hear what Albus had found out. "It's neglect to just dump him in the streets. He was only eight and a half when they left him! I can't imagine how he survived until the others took him in."

"They will not get away with it," Albus said.

"It was more than neglect," Severus spoke up, setting his tea down. Minerva really liked her peppermint tea far too strong for his liking, and too sweet. He preferred a strong cup of Earl Grey with just enough sugar to bring out the flavor.

Albus and Minerva looked at him, waiting for an explanation. "His body is littered with scars that look like lashes from a belt."

"Poppy reported that as well," Albus said gravely.

"He sometimes mentions things about his family's care of him," Severus went on. "He said he slept on a cot in a cupboard under the stairs and was sometimes locked in as a punishment. He mentioned not always getting fed and having long lists of chores to do."

Albus and Minerva exchanged a look. "Did he mention anything directly about his scars or physical punishments?"

Severus shook his head. "No, but one could imagine. He mentioned getting beaten up in London by other homeless children before he went to live under the bridge. He also mentioned being locked out of the house before his family moved. He believes they left him behind because he was doing better in school than his cousin. His cousin was getting poor grades and Harry was doing well. His uncle began giving him long lists of chores to do so he would not have time to do his homework. When he continued getting good grades, his uncle pulled him out of school. It was two weeks later that he was driven to London and dropped off."

Minerva looked angry and the Headmaster disappointed.

"I have filed for reimbursement with the Ministry now that we have found where they live," said Albus, "and they have admitted to leaving him in London. They claimed he was a burden and was tearing their family apart."

Minerva scoffed and Severus shook his head and went for another sip of the too sweet tea.

"What good will reimbursement do?" Minerva asked critically.

"When I left him in their care they signed a contract saying they would care for him until he was 17. Since they neglected to do so for the past three years, the money that was given to them for Harry's care was misused."

"Stolen more like," Severus said. If they had signed a contract as Albus had said, it would be magically binding as were all contracts in their world.

"It was more than three years though," Minerva said. "It was the entire time he stayed with them."

"It is information I will take to the Contracts Office tomorrow," Albus said.

"How much were they given each year for Harry's care?" Minerva asked.

"Nearly five thousand pounds a year," Albus said.

Severus smiled to himself grimly. If they could prove the Dursleys hadn't taken care of Harry at all, that would be ten years of money they would need to repay. Fifty thousand pounds was a pretty penny, and he hoped it would put them in the poorhouse.

* * *

Harry fidgeted and played with his fingers. Albus and Severus had taken Harry to the Ministry Office of Contracts to speak with the wizard in charge of unfulfilled promises and reimbursements. The wizard had been asking Harry questions all morning about life with the Dursleys. Some of the questions Harry answered easily, such as how often he was given brand new clothes, how often he was taken to Muggle doctors to get new glasses or for regular check ups, had he ever seen a Muggle dentist, and things of that nature. Other questions Harry struggled with answering and sometimes flat out refused. Severus answered a few questions for Harry since Harry had already confided a few things to him, and Albus had passed on information the Dursleys had given him.

"I see no reason not to require reimbursement," the wizard behind the desk said. "Even by their own admission by written statement, they left Harry in London. With the physical scars on his body and his statements today, there's more than enough evidence the contract was never fulfilled. Judging by the fact he's still alive, we'll have to adjust for funds for food, even if that was minimal for the first seven and a half years he was with them. They should still have to pay back around $47 thousand pounds. He consulted a chart he had on his desk and then wrote down a number and said, "That's 29 thousand galleons, 17 sickles and 4 knuts."

"How soon will reimbursement take place?" Severus asked.

"Within the week. Myself and Cynthia will go over with aurors and take payment directly. If they do not have the funds we will seize their home, vehicles and possessions and sell them to pay the debt."

They left the office a few minutes later and made a side trip to Diagonalley so Harry could get some wizarding coins from his vault for the train ride to school, and so that he could also get two more pairs of sneakers and a new book of Harry's choosing Severus had promised him if he passed a big maths exam, which he did.

As they shopped, Harry asked, "What does all that mean? The reimbursement?"

"They were given money yearly to spend on you for clothing, food, toys, school supplies etc. They did not, so they must pay it back," Severus said. "It was a large amount."

"Where does the money go now?" Harry asked.

Albus handed Harry a novel about Arthur's use of magic that he was going to buy for him on top of the book Severus was paying for and said, "It is yours. It will return to your vault. It was money your parents had saved before their deaths. You have more than enough money in your vault without it for your care through your nineteenth or twentieth birthday, so the reimbursement money is yours to do with as you please."

"Do you think it's enough for a house?" Harry asked.

Severus and Albus stopped browsing the bookshelves at Flourish and Blotts and looked at Harry.

"You wish to purchase a house?"

"If the money was to take care of me, and they didn't, it should go to people who did take care of me, shouldn't it?" Harry asked.

"A house for Ben?" Albus asked.

Harry nodded. "Ben and Natty and Gemma. Sometimes there wasn't enough food and they gave me theirs and went hungry. And Gemma mended all my clothing and taught me to sew. Ben taught me about people and how to read them to see who I could trust. Natty sat with me when I was sick and she would bring me toys she found. They were who I had."

"Then it would appear the money is owed to them," Albus said.

Harry grinned. "I want to see them," Harry said. "I know they're not my actual family, but they are. Wouldn't it be nice if I could visit them in a house instead of under a bridge?"

They finished their shopping and returned to the castle. Harry was happy to go off by himself for the evening to read his new books and play with a few other things they'd picked up for him. Severus and Albus had a lot to think about though, such as finding a house for only twenty nine thousand galleons, and about figuring out where Harry would go during holidays, and getting him back to visit his bridge family, which was the only family Harry had ever known.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore had done some research and was surprised by what he'd found. Ben, from under the bridge, wasn't an ordinary homeless man that had decided to take Harry Potter in. He wasn't even Muggle. Albus had checked into what Ben had said about the Ministry raids of homeless encampments and found that to be true, so it was plausible that Ben knew of magic from those occurrences. Ben wasn't just Ben however, he was Benjamin Ball, a werewolf who had dropped off Ministry radar almost fifteen years ago. Albus didn't remember having Benjamin Ball in school and had searched back through the records and found that because of his documented werewolf status the Ministry had blocked his Hogwarts letter from ever reaching him. The Ministry wasn't just looking for werewolves, they were possibly looking for him. That led to the question, what about the others from Harry's bridge family?

It was almost dark when Albus appeared at the edge of the encampment in London under the bridge. He found that several sets of wary eyes had already spotted him as he came inside, wand lit for light.

"Did yeh bring Harry back?" Ben asked, coming over to him.

"I did not," Albus said. "I would like a word with you in private about him if you will agree to it."

"Yeh'r askin' my permission?" Ben asked, surprised, eyes on the lit wand.

"Yes."

"We can talk over here." They moved off away from the group and Ben asked, "How is he? He gettin' enough food? Has school started?"

"He is well. He has new clothes, a warm bed, three meals a day and snacks, and he has been receiving tutoring to get him ready for the start of the term. School starts in one week."

Ben nodded. "Good fer ‘im. He'll do well in school, I know it. Never seen someone so determined ter learn."

Albus nodded. "He has already raced through several books. The school librarian is very fond of him already."

Ben laughed. "Yeah, he seems ter have that effect on librarians don' he?"

"I came to ask you a question specifically."

Ben's eyes came around to meet his.

"How many of you here are werewolves?"

Ben laughed. "I thought you weren't with the Ministry. Listen, there's nothing teh report here. I promise yeh that. The last werewolf that came through left as soon as we told ‘im the Ministry comes by often."

Albus gave him a sad look and said, "I am not with the Ministry of Magic, nor do I agree with Ministry policies on separating magical creatures from the general population. Had I known they had stopped your Hogwarts letter from ever reaching you, I would have gone to you and brought you to Hogwarts myself, as I have done with others."

Ben stared at him, eyes hard for a moment as he was gauging the truth to what the man had said. Then his look softened a little and he looked away. "Others like me eh?"

"Other werewolves. Remus Lupin for one."

"Never heard of ‘im."

"Has Harry been bitten?"

Ben shook his head. "Absolutely not. We're not mindless beasts." He gave him an accusing look then and said, "I thought yeh said yeh weren't like the folks at the Ministry."

"I am not, nor do I believe you are mindless."

"What we told yeh before is true. Everyone goes teh an abandoned warehouse on full moon nights an' locks themselves in up on the second floor, including Harry. Gemma an' I go out into the country and return after the last day of the full moon."

"And Natty?" Albus asked.

"She stays with Harry an' takes care of ‘im."

"Is she magic as well?"

"Gemma's not at all, except she was bitten by someone over in Blackpool seven years back. An' Natty said she's a Squib an' her family wants nothin' ter do with her."

"Harry speaks of you often," Albus said. "Of the good care you took of him. Did you know he was Harry Potter?"

"I don' know much about the wizardin' world," Ben said. "When my letter got blocked my parents tried teh find me an apprenticeship so I could learn, but no one would take me on. Without a Hogwarts letter or an apprenticeship I couldn' get a wand. They enrolled me in Muggle school but I didn' do well an' dropped out. My parents both died before I was an adult and I ended up in Muggle foster care."

Albus looked at Ben seriously and said, "Harry's family was given money to care for him and did not. But you cared for him with nothing. What do you want as compensation?"

"For that little runt?" Ben said. "Yer insultin' me. I don' wan' nothin'."

"Even if I offered you thousands of pounds?"

"Leave me be. He needed someone ter care for ‘im. It was the decent thing ter do. A person don' need payment for being a decent human being." He looked up at Albus then and jammed his thumb into his own chest and insisted, "I am a human being. I don' need ter be treated like a monster who don' know what it is teh be decent, an' I don' need yeh comin' in here insultin' me like I need payment fer taken care of a kid."

"I meant no disrespect," Albus said. Perhaps Ben knew, or maybe he didn't, but Albus had been gauging the man's responses to his questions, just as they did student answers to the entrance interview. He wanted to know who Ben was, and he had just told Albus everything he needed to know.

"We owe you a debt for keeping Harry alive and making sure he was fed and received some form of education. Harry feels the same. We were recently reimbursed for the money his family did not use to take proper care of him. It belongs to Harry, and he wishes to buy a house for the three of you to live in."

"Not right ter take his money. Wasn' much care we could give ‘im with little food."

"Yet you did what you could. You do not have to accept it, however I believe Harry will find another way to get the funds to you if you do not. His greatest wish has been to see you housed, clothed, warm, and well fed, and to have a place to visit you occasionally when he is not in school."

"We'll be allowed ter see ‘im?"

"We believe it's in his best interest. He'll be living at the school during vacations and looked after by staff, but visits can be arranged. He wishes to see you before the term starts next week."

Ben sighed. "What do yeh expect from us, livin' in this house? Will the Ministry know?"

"Nothing is expected of you. If however you should find yourself wishing to come back into the wizarding world, I will find a place for you to apprentice, with pay, so that you may learn magic and have a wand. Natty, as a squib would also be able to find employment in the wizarding world. We could potentially help Gemma find work as well."

"I'd be a fool ter turn down a place teh live fer the three of us," Ben said. "But I have ter talk it over with them."

"I will send an owl to collect your decision tomorrow," Albus said.

Albus turned to go, but Ben said, "I didn' get yer name."

"Albus Dumbledore."

"This house," Ben said, "where's it at?"

"Where would you like it to be?"

He smiled and said, "somewhere in the country away from the city. Harry'd be disappointed if we didn' have a big garden going when he comes to visit."

Dumbledore nodded and apparated away into the darkness. He hoped whatever decision Ben made would please Harry. The child had suffered enough disappointments in his life.

* * *

"Right here," Harry beamed, holding out his arms wide on the sunny side of the little three bedroom house. It was one story and sitting up on a hill. It wasn't perfect, and the roof leaked, and several things needed to be repaired, but it was theirs, and Ben had promised to fix it up so well that the next time Harry came to visit, he wouldn't recognize it.

"Right here eh?" Ben asked.

"You could put a fence up, and have rows of vegetables. My friend Hagrid taught me all kinds of spells to make food grow faster. You could build up walls from glass windows around it so it could be used in the winter too as a greenhouse."

"I don' know about greenhouses," Ben told him, trying to envision what Harry wanted for their garden.

"There has to be a library somewhere nearby hasn't there?" Harry asked.

"In Wark," Ben told him as Gemma came up behind him to hear the plans for the garden.

"Hogwarts has huge greenhouses," Harry said. "We'll get to have classes in them sometimes, but all the plants are magical, not for eating. When I come back again I'll know all sorts of charms to put on the garden to make it stay warm and grow better. And Hagrid said he'd give me seeds for pumpkins and all kinds of things."

"Yeh just learn whatever yeh can," Ben said, and Gemma nodded. "Soak up all tha' knowledge an' fill yer head up teh burstin'."

"I promise," Harry said.

Natty came outside from where she'd been working cleaning the kitchen, which had had a layer of filth from the previous owners. There was no furniture inside yet, but Harry had talked up a storm about finding furniture to bring them the next time he visited, which Professor Snape said would be over Christmas break. "Will you write when I send Hedwig with letters?" Harry asked.

"We will," Natty told him.

"She's really friendly," Harry said. "She knows what I'm saying to her. I'll tell her to stay with you until you write back."

"We'll have only good things to write," Gemma told him. "We promise."

Harry hugged each of them, and then turned back to Professor McGonagall, who had been waiting patiently for him at the edge of the yard. "I have to go," Harry said. "The train leaves at nine, and I gotta get there on time so I can make friends."

"Make lots of friends," Natty said, looking like she wanted to cry. "And then write and tell us all about them."

"I will," Harry promised, and went to Professor McGonagall. He waved again and she took his arm and they disappeared.

"I'll miss that boy," Ben said, and Natty and Gemma nodded.

"Dumbledore said you could get an apprenticeship," Gemma said. "Maybe you can find one close to the school."

"That would surprise Harry," Natty agreed enthusiastically.

"Aye." Ben hadn't been sure about integrating back into a world he remembered little of aside from being practically exiled. It would be an uphill battle all the way, and he wasn't certain he was up for it. But everything had been an uphill battle for the little boy who had been tossed out on the streets, and he'd kept his spirits high and done everything he could to set himself up for a future. If Harry could, Ben supposed he could. They had a house, but would need money for food and furniture and other things. A paid apprenticeship would be an opportunity he shouldn't pass up. As they went back into the house, visions of future jobs and a grand garden in their minds, Ben thought again on Harry and his new future as well. He knew it would be a bright one.

* * *

"Mr. Potter, our- new- celebrity."

Harry's eyes followed Professor Snape around the classroom. His voice was stern and he seemed displeased, though Harry wasn't certain about what. He'd been on the receiving end of the man's admonishments a few times during tutoring in the last few weeks, but never without Harry having done something to deserve it.

"Tell me Potter, what would I get if I mixed powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry straightened up. He knew the answer to this! It was one of the problems they'd gone over in maths tutoring when Harry was trying to learn adding fractions. "Draught of living death sir," he said easily. "It's a sleeping potion."

Snape smirked. Harry supposed it looked sinister, but he couldn't see the man as anything but the person who had gently helped him untangle his hair, taken him to buy his owl, and caught him up in maths so he could be on the same level as his new friends in school. "Where Mr. Potter would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" the Professor practically spat, and while Harry normally would have recoiled at such a tone, he couldn't bring himself to. He knew the answer to this question too. Snape had mentioned it when Harry had helped him catalogue potions ingredients in the store room a few days ago.

"A goat's stomach sir."

"And what is it used for?"

"It will cure most poisons." Harry was feeling very pleased with himself, and the girl sitting next to him who had been practically bouncing up in her seat to get called on to answer a question seemed frustrated beside him.

"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane Potter?"

He's asking me things he knows that I know, Harry realized. "They're the same sir. They're the same plant."

"Clearly fame isn't everything, is it Mr. Potter?" Snape asked, and he turned his back to the room. "Mr. Potter studied hard before the term started. Despite that no one was there making him do so, he set himself up for success in this class. He could have just depended on his fame to get him through, but he chose hard work instead." He turned back to the class and said, "I hope you learn something from Potter. If you work hard, you will reap a reward."

Harry realized students were staring at him. They weren't glaring or laughing, just watching him curiously. They started the lesson about preparing potions ingredients, and while Hermione looked deflated to never have been called on that class, she worked beside him anyway. Twice before class was out students nearby turned to Harry and asked how he was so good at cutting up potions ingredients already and wanted tips, and at the end Ron slapped him on the back as they headed for the door and said, "Shoulda been in Ravenclaw mate. You'd fit right in."

"Good work," another boy said, and Harry thought his name was Seamus. He hadn't memorized everybody's names in his dorm yet. "You earned us two points already and it's only the first class of the term!"

Harry looked back as they exited and found Professor Snape looking at him. He gave Harry a nod, and Harry found a look of approval in his eyes.

"Be gone," Snape said. "Or you'll be late to your next class with your friends."

Harry grinned and hurried out after Ron and Seamus. He did have new friends now, and with his freshly cut hair and new clothes, he felt like he fit in for once. Harry didn't feel nervous about not having enough paper or a pencil that wasn't broken in half to do his schoolwork with, and he didn't have to worry about when he'd be able to get a shower or where his next meal was coming from. Harry couldn't believe how his luck had changed in so short a time, but he felt it was in part due to the help he'd gotten from Professor Snape.

Later that afternoon at lunch, Minerva leaned across Albus and said to Severus, "What did you do in Potions?"

"I taught." When she just stared at him he said, "Did you expect I got on the table and danced?"

"I only wondered what you said about Harry. The boys in his dorm have been clinging to him like glue and telling everyone who will listen about how smart he is."

"How Gryffindor snagged a Ravenclaw on accident," Albus said, turning to smile at Severus.

"I mentioned the boy was a hard worker."

"Is that all?" Minerva asked. "You didn't ask him a bunch of questions you had already told him the answers to?"

"That brat has a big mouth," Severus said, taking a drink of his coffee, though he didn't sound scornful. "And I would never help a student cheat."

"No, of course not," Minerva said, sitting back with a smile. Then she said without looking at him, "I'm glad none of this was a problem for you Severus."

"The boy is hardly a problem."

"It's wonderful to hear you say that," Albus said. "Minerva and I have been discussing who should watch after him during holidays."

Severus mumbled something that sounded remotely like, ‘the death of me' into his coffee cup, but didn't make any objections, and purposefully ignored the smiles of his two colleagues.

Lily had been afraid of him. James had hated him. But Harry Potter had neither fear or hate for him. Severus supposed if he could do nothing to change the minds of his once best friend and once schoolyard enemy, he could do nothing to change the mind of their son either, and he had no desire to. His eyes found the raven haired first year at Gryffindor, surrounded by new friends, and smiled to himself, happy he could help the boy achieve at least one of his wishes.