At five Harry ventured downstairs and into the kitchen. Snape had said to feed himself breakfast and lunch hadn't he? Harry didn't think there would be anything there for him to eat, but there was a fresh bowl of fruit on the counter and in the cupboards he found oatmeal, cereal, and a variety of other things. He ended up eating two oranges and an apple. He'd spied muffins on the counter, but didn't want to get yelled at for taking Snape's breakfast.

At six am on the nose Snape appeared in the doorframe to the kitchen. His eyes fell on Harry and his lip curled, and Harry tried not to feel sick. If there was anyone who liked him even less than the Dursleys, it was Snape, and now he was living with the man.

"Come along Potter."

Harry followed him out the front door and wondered if they'd be apparating, but Snape led him up the driveway and over the little hill to to the road.

"Bainbridge is that way," he said, pointing to the left. "We're going to Hawes." He pointed down the road to the right. With a look around him he grabbed Harry's wrist and apparated them away. They reappeared in a thicket just outside of Hawes.

"Is it Muggle?" Harry asked, but all he got was a grunt of acknowledgement in return.

They stepped out of the thicket and onto the road. The town was just beginning to wake up and there weren't many out yet.

"There is no shopping in Bainbridge. You are in need of clothing."

Snape led him down a narrow street past two dozen shops, and right at six thirty they came to a door of a clothing boutique that had just opened as they walked up.

"You're here bright and early Master Snape," said a young woman, probably twenty as she opened the door for them and let them in.

"I prefer to miss the crowd."

"I don't blame you. Get's busy around nine. Everyone wants to come in for their cuppa and pastries at the cafes and start their shopping."

Snape appeared to know just what he wanted to buy and led Harry straight to a rack of polo shirts. He didn't give Harry a choice and pulled a light gray polo that looked to be Harry's size off the rack. He turned to a wall of shelves and also pulled out a pair of dark gray slacks.

"Will you be wanting a sweater vest too?" the young woman asked. She spoke easily to Snape as though he came in frequently.

"Yes."

"Blue perhaps?" she suggested, looking at the two gray items he'd already picked out for Harry.

"If you think that's best."

She held up a light blue sweater vest to Harry, silently asking if he approved, and he nodded. It was muted and almost gray, but he thought it was better to have a little color than nothing at all.

"He needs to be fitted for dress shoes."

"Leather?" she asked, "Black, brown or dark gray?"

"Gray," Severus said, "without a sheen."

She had Harry try on several pairs, and they finally found one that fit. Harry thought he quite liked them. They were more of boots than dress shoes, and were handsome. They were certainly the nicest shoes Harry had ever owned. Before they left Snape also picked out a package of dark gray dress socks, and then paid the woman in Muggle notes.

There were a few more people on the street when they came back out of the shop, and several sitting at a cafe across the road. Harry thought the coffee looked good and the donuts the people were eating even better, but didn't even think about asking if they could buy something. Snape had already just spent two hundred pounds on the one outfit. Harry didn't think anyone had ever spent two hundred pounds total on his clothes for the almost thirteen years he'd been alive.

"You have a hair brush?" Snape asked as they began walking back through town.

"Yes sir."

"You will make better use of it."

"My hair doesn't really lie flat sir."

Snape looked down at Harry's hair with a critical eye and his lip curled in the same way it had earlier that morning in the kitchen. A few minutes later he had steered Harry into a barber shop. This man didn't seem to know Snape, but he took Snape's directions on how he wanted Harry's hair cut in any case. Harry held his breath for long moments at a time as the barber cut his hair. Snape had directed him to cut it very short. Shorter even than Seamus or Draco wore theirs. When he was done and held up a mirror for Harry to see himself with, Harry wasn't sure if he was looking at his own reflection.

"Thank you," Harry told him.

"Best hair cut I've given all month," the barber told Harry. Harry looked at himself again and wasn't sure how he liked it. His face looked so exposed and he could clearly see his scar. One thing was for certain, there was no need to try to make it lie flat anymore. There was only a few inches of hair left and he thought it would be a breeze to comb each morning.

Harry thought they would go back to the thicket and apparate back, but they passed the thicket on the edge of town and kept walking.

"We're walking back sir?"

"It is less than three miles. By showing you the way I will ensure that there are no excuses about getting lost on your way to or from the city."

"I'm allowed to come back on my own?" Harry asked.

"You will be sent on errands to both Bainbridge and Hawes, as well as to Mrs. Mayer's house. From the house Bainbridge is less than a twenty minute walk. Hawes is a 45 minute walk. When you are sent to do errands there will be no dawdling."

"Yes sir."

Snape seemed to be in a hurry and Harry didn't doubt the walk would be less than 45 minutes. He was right. In thirty minutes they came up to two houses side by side with small front yards and fields behind them. "That one belongs to Mrs. Mayer. You are to be polite to her at all times, and when visiting you will be perfect company."

"Yes sir." Harry didn't know what he thought Harry would do when visiting Mrs. Mayer. Perhaps he thought he'd draw with crayons on the walls or stomp his foot like a little kid if he didn't get his way. Harry wished he convince him that he wasn't like that, but didn't think he'd be able to. Less than five minutes down the road from Mrs. Mayer's was the driveway leading up over the little hill and back to the house.

"When you go visiting or to run errands for me you will be presentable at all times. You will also be presentable when company is expected. You will wear these clothes and you will ensure that both you, the clothes, and the shoes are well taken care of and clean."

"Yes sir."

Snape gave Harry the bag of clothes and disappeared back into his library. Harry sighed, feeling like the entire morning had been strange, and went back to his room to hang the clothes up in the wardrobe. He tried them on before he did and looked at himself in the full length mirror hanging on the inside of the wardrobe door. With the sharp new clothes and haircut, he really didn't recognize himself. He looked like Draco with short hair, and he wondered what Ron and Hermione would think if they ever saw him dressed like this. The clothes were less fancy than what Draco liked, but they were sharp, and Harry felt different in them.

"Harry, Master Snape." Mrs Mayer was calling from downstairs. Harry listened and heard Snape acknowledge that he was in his library, and then Harry stuck his head out his bedroom door and looked down the stairs to where Mrs. Mayer was.

"Harry, look at you!" she said, approving of his new clothes. "I saw you and the Master coming back from Hawes this morning." She came up the stairs and followed Harry into his room. She gave a look around the room, as if to assess that it was still as clean and tidy as she'd left it the day before and said, "I assume this means you're staying?"

"For now," Harry said.

"If the Master bought you some new things to wear, then he intends on you staying."

"He said I had to wear it when I go anywhere." He turned and looked at her and asked, "Why do you call him Master?"

"It's just the way of things," she said. "He's the Master of the property and of the Prince family now. Someday I'll be calling you Master."

"I doubt it," Harry said before biting his lip. He hadn't meant to say it out loud. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What for?"

"For being rude."

She waved her hand at him. "You can be yourself with me and Arran Harry, we're family."

Harry pulled the sweater vest off because it was hot and hung it up in the wardrobe. He was glad the polo shirt was short sleeved at least. He wondered if he could get away without the sweater vest when he went into town on hot days.

"Mrs. Mayer?"

"Yes Harry?" she asked as she straightened the little stack of books Harry had been reading the night before on the desk.

"Do you think I need to call him Master?"

She turned to look at him and then sat down in the desk chair. Harry sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Since he's adopting you I would think you would call him father. But from the reaction the both of you had last night, I take it that's a stretch. What's happened between the two of you before you came yesterday?"

Harry bit his lip. He wasn't adopted yet, but the book had said not to speak poorly of anyone in your family under any circumstances.

"I'm family, remember Harry?" she said. "And I said you can be yourself with me. The Master isn't going to mind if you speak your mind to me or Arran."

Harry sighed. "He doesn't like me very much," Harry said. "He gives me detention a lot, and a couple times he tried to get the Headmaster to expel me."

"Did you do something that you deserved to be expelled for?" she asked.

"I didn't think so. The Headmaster and my Head of House said they were minor infractions."

"I see."

"I- I'm not saying I don't ever mess up... I do. I mess up a lot, and sometimes on big things," Harry told her. He was desperate for her to understand and to like him, because if he didn't have some kind of ally here it was going to be a miserable summer. The longer he stayed, the less likely it would be that he could go back to the orphanage, and he was torn on how hard he should be trying to make this work. If it was going to work, he'd need Mrs. Mayer though.

"I don't expect you to be perfect Harry." She stood up and smiled at him. "Did you get one of the muffins I left for you and the Master this morning?"

"I wasn't sure if I was allowed. I ate some fruit."

"Just fruit? That's not enough for breakfast. Come have a muffin. This is your home now too Harry and you're allowed to have whatever food is in the kitchen."

"Thank you," he said sincerely. She left the room and Harry changed quickly into a pair of shorts and t-shirt and his old sneakers and went down to the kitchen. Mrs. Mayer had two muffins and a glass of juice on the table waiting for him.

"Hawes looked interesting," he told her.

"Lots of shops and cafes and restaurants," she said. "It's nice having shopping nearby. There's a grocer and a tea house in Bainbrigde, but that's all."

"I think I'm allowed to go back to Hawes on my own," Harry said. He wanted to go back for a donut and maybe to buy some regular clothes, but he didn't have any money. He had a few knuts and sickles left in his trunk, but he'd need Muggle money.

"I'm sure you are," she said. "Do you think there's any odd jobs I could do to earn some money?" he asked.

She gave him a look he couldn't decipher though he wondered if it was surprise. "So I can buy some things in Hawes," he clarified. "I know I have chores here, and things I have to learn. I won't neglect those," he promised.

"I didn't think you would," she said.

"When you have some free time why don't you come by the house Harry. Mrs. Allan is always finding things for Arran to do and I'm sure he wouldn't mind some help. If you come to do some chores for her she'd have to pay you instead of using Arran for free." She seemed irritated by her neighbor and Harry smiled as he finished his muffin. Mrs. Mayer had chores to get to herself so Harry went back up to his room and pulled out the Muggle geology book and a parchment and quill and began taking notes. The sooner he got through these books, the sooner he'd have time to earn some money.

* * *

Harry studied for two days, but was having difficulty getting through the Muggle geology book. He'd also started the book about extracting certain kinds of ore via magic and potions, but that was equally as confusing and easily beyond his level of understanding. He took notes nonetheless and wrote down definitions to words when he found them, whether he understood them or not. He was halfway through both before he decided that he couldn't spend another day studying all day and needed to get out. It was his third morning there and Mrs. Mayer hadn't come by the day before. Harry had found dinner waiting for him the previous two evenings, but no Snape, and he was beginning to feel isolated.

Snape was nowhere to be found when Harry went down for breakfast, so he made a bowl of cereal and then went back up to put his new clothes on so he could look ‘presentable'. He left a note on the counter as he'd been instructed and went out. He wasn't even sure if Snape was in the house or if he'd gone to Hogwarts or elsewhere for the day.

Down the road, Mrs Mayer was on her hands and knees in her garden planting some kind of pink flower. Harry smiled and stood on the lane and asked, "Can I come over Mrs Mayer?"

She turned and smiled. "Of course Harry! Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes."

"Come and look what I've planted. I spent all morning pulling weed and finally had time to get this in."

"It's very pretty," Harry commented.

"There was a farmer's market yesterday in Hawes and I bought four or five of these." She looked up at him and said, "I'd ask if you'd like to help but I think Master Snape would be angry if you ruined your new clothes."

"I'd like to help," Harry said, "but he said I had to wear them when I go to visit or run errands."

"I'm family Harry. You don't have to wear that to come visit me."

Harry turned as if to go back to the house to change, and then turned back to her. "Can I help plant them?"

"Of course."

"I'll be right back then," he said and turned and ran back down the road and over the hill to the house, cutting across the tall grass and ignoring the driveway. In less than ten minutes he was back in his regular clothes, out of breath and smiling. It was nice to be able to go out as himself.

"That's better," she said as Harry dropped to his knees beside her in the shaded front yard and took the hand trowel she was handing him.

"I don't have spare gloves for you. Arran might."

"It's ok, I like the dirt," Harry said. He hadn't told the father when he'd driven him out here earlier in the week, but he was glad to be in the country. He had liked the orphanage and that the bakery was close as well as other opportunities to work, but he missed nature. He often sat outside at Hogwarts just to be out of the castle, and picked at grass or threw rocks into the lake. Using his bare hands to dig in the dirt and plant things was not an issue.

"Ok, break the root ball up, like this. Don't put it into the ground compact. You want the roots to spread out into the native soil and take hold more quickly. The plant will grow bigger faster this way."

She handed Harry a pot with a pink flower and he turned it upside down and did like she'd showed him, and then put it into the hole in the ground and pushed soil over the roots with his hands. They were done in no time and she led him inside to wash up and have tea and biscuits.

"You get them planted Millie?" Arran called from another room as she carried the tray of biscuits to the table and set them in front of Harry.

"Of course, Harry helped me."

Arran came into the room. "You didn't tell me we had Master Snape here."

Harry looked around for Snape, but when he looked back at Arran, found that the man was looking at him.

"Me?" Harry asked quietly.

He nodded.

"I'm just Harry," he said.

"Well the Master adopted you didn't he?"

"Not yet," Harry said quietly.

Arran looked at Mrs. Mayer and asked, "He helped you plant you say?"

"Yes. Came right over and put his bare hands in the dirt."

"Must not be a Master yet then," he said, and sat down to have biscuits and tea with them.

"There's hope for you yet," Arran said, and Mrs. Mayer slapped Arran's hand gently.

"Hush with that. Look at his face Arran." Arran looked up and saw Harry's pale face and wide eyes.

"Not that- not that there's anything wrong with being all proper like," he said. "I just mean, well I don't know. There's a difference between common folk like us and the rest of the world and lords and ladies and masters and all that."

"I'm just me," Harry said. He didn't want to be anyone else, and he wasn't sure what Arran meant. He knew Snape wanted him to learn proper manners from the books he'd given him, and the business, whatever that was, and to look presentable, but that was all, right?

"Tell us about yourself Harry," Arran said, putting another biscuit on Harry's plate, this one orange flavored and covered in chocolate.

"Uh, like what?"

"Well what do you like to do?"

"I like to fly at school," Harry said, testing the waters, and when neither seemed surprised, he continued with, "I have two friends, Ron and Hermione, and I spend a lot of time with them." He told them about how smart Hermione was and how easy it was to get along with Ron. Arran asked about their families and Harry described Hermione's parents who were dentists, and Ron's family who lived in a tall crooked house held together by magic. He'd only seen pictures of it, but he'd been hoping to visit sometime. Ron had described his family in great detail, and to Harry they sounded perfect.

"I didn't know I was getting adopted," Harry said. "I was going to try to get a job at the bakery this summer near the orphanage."

"Yeah?" asked Arran. "Why's that?"

"Well then I could eat pastries and have some money for clothes when I go back to school."

"The Master'll be providing your clothes now," he said. "Fine ones at that I'm sure."

"He bought a pair of clothes for visiting and errands," Harry told him. "And he cut my hair short. It was this much longer two days ago." Harry held his fingers apart by several inches.

They finished their tea and Harry said he'd better get back to study some before lunch. "You come back around tomorrow morning if you can and help me fix the back fence," Arran told him, and Harry smiled and told him he would.

He didn't feel as lonely and isolated when he walked back down the road and into the house, and that afternoon as he went back over his notes for what he'd already read he felt like he understood a few things he'd missed in his reading before.