Harry hadn't seemed happy at the end of the year as they said goodbye before Harry left to walk down to the train with his friends, and Severus couldn't say he blamed the boy. If it was his choice he'd have the boy with him every day.

I just want to check on him, Severus told himself, to let him know I'm still here. He didn't want the boy to forget about him over the summer and come back for a second year feeling awkward around him and not wanting to spend time with him. He often saw how changed students were when they returned after summer holidays, and didn't want to have Harry come back a boy he didn't know.

Severus was dressed in the plainest, most drab Muggle clothing he'd ever seen. He was reminded of the clothes his father used to wear when he looked at his reflection in a puddle on the sidewalk in Little Whinging. There was no way he would stand out in this drab little neighborhood.

He was anxious as he approached Four Privet Drive. Would Harry even want to see him? Would he be upset that he was intruding on his home life? Had he told his aunt and uncle his father was still alive? Severus didn't think so after all the talk about keeping their relationship a secret. Privately he wanted very much to be known as the boy's father, and wished the boy would slip up and tell someone, but knew it would only cause trouble if he did.

He was going to pretend to be a businessman interested in buying the Dursley's house as an investment in an ‘up and coming' neighborhood. It would give him a reason to knock on their door and perhaps enter their house if they agreed to let him have a look around. He wouldn't be able to talk to Harry, but he could make his presence known, as he did in classes after making a cutting remark to the boy just to remind him it was all make-believe. Severus didn't have a chance to knock on the door however, as it was thrown open and Harry tumbled out and down the two steps to the walkway.

"You just get out there and finish the weeding!" Petunia Dursley screeched, face contorted with anger. She looked up and down the street quickly to see if anyone had heard her shouting, and missed Severus across the street, but he was still there watching.

"I'm sorry," Harry said quietly, not getting up from the pavement.

"Don't you come back in here filthy again!" she said, barely loud enough for Severus to hear across the street. "Weed until after dinner then go in the back and hose yourself off. Leave your shoes and dirty clothes outside and get into your cupboard. Don't let anyone see you either."

"Yes aunt Petunia." She shut the door with a snap and Harry crawled from his spot on the pavement to the garden and began digging in the mulch with his bare hands. He was sure to get splinters, but was doing what he'd been told without complaint.

Severus crossed the street, and Harry startled badly when he knelt down next to him. He held a finger to his lips and motioned for Harry to follow him. Severus helped him up and they walked a ways down the street and behind a large bush, where Petunia wouldn't see them if she looked out a window.

"Are you all right?" Severus asked quietly, eyes drinking in the sight of his son once again. This time the boy's face was dirty, his hair was unbrushed, and there were dark circles under his eyes as though he hadn't slept well in several days. His hands and arms were scraped from where he'd been thrown onto the pavement.

Harry looked down at his hands and Severus knew it was because he had tears pooling in his eyes. "Fine," Harry said, though it wasn't very convincing.

"Your hands are scraped."

"I'm fine," Harry said.

"You look as though you haven't slept."

Harry shrugged.

"Have you eaten?"

Another shrug.

Severus grabbed Harry's shoulders, making the boy startle again, and said, "Talk to me Harry."

Harry looked up, eyes wet and said very quietly, "I have a secret to tell."

"Tell me."

"I live in a cupboard under the stairs. I used to have a cot, but I got too big, and now I sleep on the floor. I'm hungry, and I'm thirsty, and I'm tired, and I don't wanna live here anymore."

Severus pulled him into a hug and the boy stiffened for a moment and then relaxed and let himself be hugged. He acted as though it was the first time.

"Then you won't live here anymore," Severus said.

"But you don't want me to live with you. I'm not allowed."

"I want you to. It's just going to make things more difficult. If anyone ever finds out you no longer live with your relatives, there will be a lot of explaining to do."

"Please don't leave me here," Harry said. His voice was hollow and emotionless, like he was walling himself off from being hurt. Severus knew what he was doing because it was what he himself often did. It was easier to shut everything away than to be disappointed time and again.

"Never again," Severus said, and after confirming that Harry had his wand and that his owl was out, apparated him away.

* * *

Harry could not have imagined living with Severus because he had never known life outside of the Dursleys and then at Hogwarts. Severus had a house in the country with nearly twenty different wards to keep people out. Apparently not even the Headmaster knew where he lived. Severus made sure Harry had his own room with a bed and a soft pillow. They couldn't go out in public together in case they were seen, but Severus brought home clothes and toys and books for Harry, and in the privacy of the warded property they were able to go out in the evenings and watch the stars, and in the mornings to collect potions ingredients or tend to the small garden that had been neglected for years. Harry kept himself walled off from everything for the rest of the summer, but Severus was pleased to see that once they returned to Hogwarts for his second year, the walls came down.

Harry told his friends he hated his family and had had an awful summer with them. He reiterated it to them when the Headmaster passed him in a corridor just to be sure the man thought that's where he'd been before the start of the new term. No one questioned that Harry had been anywhere else, and while Severus left Harry alone for the first few weeks, he started assigning detentions again so they could resume their schedule of spending time together in secret. Harry also told his friends he was going to the Library or out to the grounds by himself on weekends and went to see his father instead. The few times he was questioned about it, he told them he wanted time to himself and they didn't bother him about it after that. With as many fights as they got in during the school year in class or the corridors, where Severus appeared to be dressing Harry down about his manners or appearance and Harry snarked back at him in front of an audience, no one considered the fact that Harry was sneaking away to see him. How long could their charade go on? Severus hoped forever, and Harry hoped so too.