Harry awoke with a start when the car hit a bump in the road. He looked confusedly around and when he caught a glimpse of the clock on the dashboard, he realized he had been asleep for quite a while. With a pang he also remembered the events that had taken place earlier in the day, and he grimaced at the thought. He was still quite embarrassed, but it was a lot more bearable when he was not soaked and shivering. He decided that he could live trough Snape and Malfoy’s insults for the summer, they always had some insults to throw at him anyways. The real problem was what would happen when school started again, he felt a cold shiver run down his back and decided he would not bother himself with such unpleasantries right now. At this thought however he looked down, he was indeed dry and clean. That was weird, he supposed he could have air dried, but he had been expecting to feel more sticky and dirty. Nevertheless he would make sure to take a shower at the first opportunity, and for now he would do his best to forget the whole ordeal.

When Harry looked out of the window, they were driving through a cozy neighborhood. Houses were lined up on both sides of the road, but each was placed with enough space between to have a moderate sized garden and some privacy from the neighbors. In contrast to Privet drive every house looked different, Harry liked the variety and the different personalities reflected in the houses. As they drove on the space between each house increased, they even passed a nice looking park with green grass, a football field, and some slides and play equipment for kids.

The car stopped in front of a big white house with a sizable garden attached. The house was nice looking and gave of an air of chariness, Harry thought it a bit odd that such a house belonged to the snarky Professor.

The houses in this area was placed with the perfect amount of space between, you would be allowed your privacy but at the same time be a part of the community. The gardens were all nicely taken care of, and flowers and plants were all planted in a deliberate manner. The streets were clean of any garbage, and the whole neighborhood looked rather clean and put together, though in a pleasant way instead of the forced style privet drive had.

Harry looked to the front seats where Snape and Draco was seated. Draco apparantly had fallen asleep, and had not yet awoken. Snape had just unbuckled himself and was now shaking Draco awake. He then got out of the car, and without sparing Harry a glance strolled towards his house. He was a bit unsure of wether he should follow or not, he was after all supposed to live there for quite awhile. On the other hand he would still not put it passed Snape to give him a torture session now that there were no witnesses. However he did feel it was a bit less likely if Malfoy was there too, even though he doubted Malfoy would have any objections he rather thought Snape was the type to make sure no one would ever even suspect him. Because of this he looked to Draco to see if he would follow suite. He watched as the blonde slowly got out of the car and looked at his surroundings, and when he turned around he saw Harry looking at him.

“What are you staring at, Potty? Go find something useful to do, or did you manage to loose the last brain cell the amazing golden trio was sharing? Bet weasel and the mudblood won’t thank you for that.” Malfoy taunted mockingly.

Harry felt himself grow angry, and a bright flush was creeping up his chin. He could survive being bullied and belittled by Malfoy and his Professor, but he would not stand for either one of them insulting his friends in such a manner.

“Shut up Malfoy, your just jealous that Hermione is better than you in every subject. By the way, what did the almighty daddy Malfoy think of that? Or wait, is that the reason he sent you here for the summer? He didn’t want such a disgrace associated with him?” With satisfaction he could see Malfoy’s face turn red with agitation. He concluded that he’d hit a nerve, and decided to push the subject.

“And here I was thinking your dad was a prat, it does seem he have at least a couple of favorable traits. For example he doesn’t seem to like you very muc…” Harry wasn’t able to continue any longer due to Draco’s fist being planted in his face.

He staggered backwards, he was after all quite small, Draco himself wasn’t much taller, but Harry weighed considerably less. He managed to stay on his feet, and determined not to give Malfoy even a little moment of satisfaction, he took no notice of the blood streaming from his nose and instead responded with another snide remark.

“Oh, really? This is the best you can do? No wonder your father is ashamed, Hermione even hits better than you do” Harry said with a satisfied expression on his face.

This comment drove Draco over the edge, he looked completely insane. Harry had never seen him this angry before. He would be lying if he said he did not feel slightly uneasy when Malfoy suddenly charged towards him like a wild bull at a rodeo. He caught a glimpse of the Slytherin’s normally ice blue eyes, and was astounded that they seemed to have turned darker, hatred and vengefulness glittering bright inside them.

The moment Draco jumped at him, it felt as if a bombe had gone off. Suddenly he was soaring trough the air, and in his side view he could see Draco too being thrown through the air. He hit the ground forcefully, the powerful blow causing the back of his head to bang painfully against a rock in the ground. He had just enough time to appreciate just how much that actually hurt before the whole world went black.

A loud voice woke Harry up, and at first he was very disoriented. He could not remember where he was, how he had gotten there, and why his head felt like it had first exploded then been glued together again. He cautiously tried to get himself into a sitting position without making himself sick, he really did not feel to well at the moment. At this moment a tall, scary looking man marched into the room. Harry looked at him half confused and half terrified. He felt like he should know who this was, and be afraid of him, but for the life of him he could not place the man anywhere.

“You, Potter, are a complete idiot. You are an ungrateful, arrogant, half witted dingbat.”

Harry still did not understand anything, and therefor replied in the only way he could think of.

“Eh.. okay. Um I’m sorry then, I guess?” He stated more as a question than an answer. He still was very tired, and his head felt like it was filled with cotton candy.

This reply did seem to throw the man a bit of guard. He stood there for a minute scrutinizing him to the point where it made Harry feel very uncomfortable, even in the dreamlike state he was in.

“Can you tell me where you are, and what just happened?” The man drawled with a commanding and sour composure.

“Eh, what? I am at… well um.. a house?”

The man muttered something about dim witted children and their stupid actions while rummaging in a cabinet. The man drew out a small vial with a dark blue liquid swirling around inside, and handed it to Harry.

“What is it?”

“You insolent, insufferable brat, just drink it” the man said impatiently with an angry glare towards him. Harry thought the man looked quite dangerous and chugged the whole vial before the man could get even more furious with him, and once again the whole world went black around him.

When Harry next woke up his head was, thankfully, much clearer.

He was in a medium sized room with a big bed in the center, dark blue curtains hung in front of the window and on the floor was a matching carpet. The room was plainly decorated but had all the essentials, and Harry thought it looked very nice. The only thing was that he had no idea who it belonged to, how he got there, and even where he was. He remembered the car ride with Snape and Malfoy, and the argument he had with Malfoy. He supposed he must have passed out, and was now inside Snape’s home. The thought made chills run down his back. The fact that Snape had not taken this perfect opportunity to kill him off did very little to soothe his rising anxiety. Snape was probably furious with him, starting a fight with Malfoy already. He supposed he just wanted to savor the moment and would take pleasure in Harry being awake and aware of every pain inflicted upon him. He thought Snape did seem like the sadistic type of torturer.

There was nothing for it, as much as he would like to stay in this cozy room instead of facing a livid Snape, he knew that he sooner or later would have to anyway. And right now he also needed to use the bathroom.

He swung his feet off the side of the bed and got up. His head was still a bit sore, but he was essentially fine. He had faced much worse injuries than this while working hard labor at the Dursley’s. Carefully he reached for the doorknob, and turned it quietly.

The hallway beyond was painted white and had a couple of windows on each side that let sunlight stream in. There was two more doors in the hallway, and Harry chose to try the one on the opposite wall. Inside was a bathroom with a shower and tub combined, some modern looking bathroom cabinets with a big mirror covering the wall was at one side of the room. Beside the sink was a toilet, and on the floor was a light gray bathroom mat. The floor itself was of a dark marble and the walls where white. Harry thought this bathroom had to be the most beautiful he had seen. At once he was a bit nervous about being inside the room, he wasn’t sure if he was allowed. As he still needed to use the toilet, he decided he would just be quick, and no one had to know he had been there.

Harry walked through the hallway, and found a stair leading down to the first floor. He was a bit unsure of what he was supposed to do, but thought it best to get the unpleasantries out of the way. Therefor he took a deep breath and walked downstairs. The inside of the house was painted in light colors and bright sunlight shone through the many windows. The house had some sort of open floor setting which made it look even more spacious and elegant. He really could not have imagined a more controversial place for the slimy git of the dungeons to live.

When downstairs he took a random turn to the right and walked through a doorway and in to what apparently was the kitchen. At the table sat both the slimy Professor and the Malfoy git. He wished himself luck and then cleared his throat.

Snape looked up from his newspaper, and gave him a once over which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

“So prince Potter finally saw it fit to get up from bed” Snape said in a bored and superior tone of voice.

Harry thought it best not to answer, but could not help his ears from turning pink.

“Stop wasting my time Potter, sit down and eat breakfast. You will have to do with what us normal people eat everyday, I will not be upholding your luxurious ways of living while you are here.” The Professor sneered in his direction.

Malfoy let out a mean snigger and shot Harry an ugly look before continuing with his breakfast. Harry was a bit annoyed at the Professor, but didn’t want to annoy him any more so he kept his mouth shut and sat down at the table. He stretched out and grabbed himself a piece of toast, personally he thought this was quite the luxurious breakfast. There was toast with all kinds of options to add, they had cheese, ham, egg, bacon, vegetables and a lot more. Harry had never been allowed to eat anything of the sort at the Dursley’s. He still thought it rather suspicious that Snape would let him eat such a meal, so he chose to eat a single piece of dry toast just to be safe.

“Your behavior yesterday was completely appalling, both of you. While I might not have expected any better from an opulent, ill mannered urchin” at this he gave an ugly smirk at Harry “ I would have thought that you, Draco, was better behaved. I need hardly say I was disappointed”

Harry did his best to ignore the snide comments. He could also see Draco shifting uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes downcast. He actually looked a bit shameful.

“Therefor you both will get a fitting punishment.”

“Potter,” the Professor spat distastefully “You will be weeding the garden. You are to do the whole garden by tonight, and I will NOT have you slacking about. If I see you are lazing around you will be working all night too.” Snape said with an evil smirk at his face.

The expression on his face made a chill go through his body, the man really looked like a evil bastard.

“Yes sir” He replied in a monotone voice. He still thought the best way to deal with his Professor would be similar to the Dursley’s, do what you are told, be polite, and don’t argue. He would certainly do his best to achieve this while interacting with Snape, but somehow he didn’t think it would be too easy.

“Draco, you will be preparing potion ingredients for me.”

When he got a nod from Draco he turned back to Harry, still with the evil smirk plastered on his face.

“Well then, get going you lazy brat. Just like your good for nothing father, just as lazy and arrogant as ever” He sneered inches from his face, leaning over the table.

This caused Harry to jump of the chair and take a step back. He threw Snape the ugliest look he could muster, but all the same turned and stamped out the front door.

“ The necessary equipment is placed on the bench” Snape called after him in a tone that suggested he was doing a unpleasant and disgusting task.

Outside Harry took a look around, the weather was warm and pleasant, a comfortable breeze in the air made quite enjoyable working conditions. The garden itself was quite well kept, considering Snape spending most of the year at Hogwarts. Nevertheless he had a big job ahead of him, the weeds were popping up nearly everywhere, and if the garden was to keep its beauty, it all would need to be plucked. The plants and flowers would need some care, cutting, water and fertilizer, and the grass could do with a round with the lawnmower. Luckily for him, he had a bit of experience with gardening, he had taken care of aunt Petunia’s whole garden since the age of three. It was because of him that the Dursley’s had won the best suburban garden award several years running. Of course no one knew that he was the one doing all the work, aunt Petunia was always chattering about how much hard work lay in those roses, and how she had strived and exerted herself to get the beautiful garden she had.

He turned to the bench, grabbed the tools and started to work.

A few hours later Harry was still weeding, it was a big garden, and how Snape expected him to get it all done in a day was beyond him. However he continued to work, and had made quite some progress, he was now working on the fence separating the garden and the road behind.

“Hey, watcha doin there bro?" Three boys were strolling down the road towards him, all of them looked to be around his own age. The one who had called out to him was in the middle, he had blonde medium long hair, blue eyes, and wore a baggy hoodie paired with some washed out loose jeans. On his left walked a boy with dark brown hair and darker skin, he was about half a head shorter than the one in the middle and could not be much taller than Harry himself. On his right side was the tallest, he had dirty blonde hair that reached down to the middle of his neck, hazel eyes, and a hoodie with some dark colored trousers.

“Ehm, I’m just weeding the garden" Harry replied a bit uncertainly, he was half apprehensive and half curious of the group approaching him.

“Can’t remember seeing you around here before, do you live in that house?" The dark boy commented.

“I’m only here for the summer, and yes I do live there, at least for now”

“Damn, I feel sorry for you noobie." The tall boy said. "Soo, how is it like living with that grumpy jerk? Is it he who is making you do the weeding?"

"Yeah, well it certainly is interesting. You see he teaches at my school, and he doesn’t exactly like me very much" Harry replied a bit queasily.

“And yes, at the moment he is punishing me and Malfoy for having an argument yesterday. You see, a rich git from my school is also living here for the summer, he’s Snape’s favorite student and he hates me." Harry finished in an exasperated tone.

The blonde in the middle whistled.

“Wow shortie, you have quite a lot going for you haven’t you? I think what you really need is some time to relax and have some fun. Maybe we can help you there"

"What do you mean?"

"We we’re going to hang out at Malcom’s tonight. I like you, you should come."

Harry was a bit taken aback at that. He did think it was a bit weird to be invited to tag along with some complete strangers, and was a bit uncertain if this was a good idea. On the other hand they all seemed to be quite friendly.

“I’m not really sure, I don’t think Snape would even consider allowing me to go out, and I don’t really know any of you…"

"Well that’s easy to fix, I am Alex, this one" he said pointing towards the dark boy "is Malcom, and that is Brayden, but everybody calls him Ace." he said, now pointing at the tall one "We all live in the neighborhood, Malcom turned 13 yesterday so we were going to get together and do something fun tonight.

"That’s pretty much all there is to know, now it’s your turn"

"Well, uhm, I’m Harry, I’m turning 13 in a month or so. But I still doubt Snape would let me go out, he’d probably kill me for just asking"

"Oh come on shortie, you aren’t about to tell him are you? Just sneak out at 9 pm and we’ll meet you outside" the one that apparently was called Ace said.

“I’m still not sure… I’m going to be in so much trouble if he finds out"

"Don’t be a wimp, it will be fun. You can’t go all your life following stupid rules stupid people set for you."

"I’m still not sure if this is a good idea…" After a minutes hesitation he finally decided it couldn’t hurt to try. "Oh all right then, I’ll meet you outside at 9" Harry said disgruntled, but he grinned at the three boys all the same."

"Nice one noobie" Malcom grinned back at him.

"We’ll see you tonight then, it’s gonna be lit I promise you" Alex called out to him while waving goodbye. The to other boys flashed a grin in his direction, then followed Alex down the road.

Harry turned back to the garden with a smile on his face, the smile faltered a bit when he saw how much work he still had left. Determinedly he began to work again, he would finish this before tonight, he would meet up with the boys, and he wouldn’t let Snape ruin every bit of his summer.

At 5pm Harry had worked through most of the yard, he was actually quite pleased with himself. He was starting to get a bit hungry though and was wondering if he was allowed to go grab something or not when the front door flew open. Snape stood in the doorway examining his work. For a quarter of a second he looked almost taken aback by something, but just as fast he had schooled his features into an emotionless expression. He did not seem to be able to find an insult to throw at his final result and Harry found this truly satisfying.

“Go take a shower” Snape grunted in his direction before storming off again.

Harry was pleased to obey this order, he laid the tools back before walking towards the house. Inside he took his shoes off, found some clean clothes in his trunk and went to the nearest bathroom for a warm shower.

When Harry had finished his shower and dried off the clock was 6.30 pm, and his stomach started to rumble. He decided his best option was to go down stairs and see if there were anything he could take. He would not ask for food, that had been carved into his very being from years at the Dursley’s. Begging for something would only end in misery for himself. He could wait to get fed, or steal food in such small amounts that no one would notice, but he would rather die a terrible death than ask Snape. To his astonishment he found that none of that would be necessary after all. On the table stood three plates filled with chicken, vegetables and potatoes. It smelled delicious.

“Sit down" Snape barely spared him a glance, but that didn’t bother him in the slightest. He gladly sat down and looked at his plate, it looked really good but there were so much of it. There were no way he would be able to finish it all without being sick, and he certainly didn’t want that. He took a quick look at Snape who had started eating his food while reading the evening prophet, then looked up as Draco came in to the room.

“Potter" Malfoy spat at him, rather less venomously than he usually did. Harry didn’t answer him, instead he started on his food. The meal was a quiet affair, but not uncomfortable. Nearly halfway through his plate he put his fork down, he could not stomach even one more bite. He looked through his fringe at his Professor, he had finished eating but was still reading the prophet. Harry jumped when he spoke.

"Leave it and go to bed"

He sounded a bit displeased but once again Snape didn’t even look at him.

Harry stood up, muttered a thanks and went upstairs to the room he had awakened in. It felt weird thanking Snape for something, but on the other hand he had fed him, and wasn’t even going to punish him for not finishing, not yet at least. If Harry didn’t finish his food at the Dursley’s they would punish him in more than one way. Usually they always stopped feeding him for a few days, so he would just have to wait and see if this was the track Snape was going with, but somehow he didn’t really seem the type.

Harry laid down on the bed staring up at the roof. The bed was really comfortable and he was getting pretty tired. He got up again, he couldn’t risk falling asleep now. Instead he decided he would find out how to get down. The room was on the second floor, so he couldn’t just jump out of the window. He thought he might have seen a fire ladder leading to one of the bedrooms on the second floor while weeding the garden. When the window was opened and swung sideways he leaned out and looked to both sides, hah! The ladder leading all the way to the ground was placed just beside his window, this would make things a whole lot easier. He smiled to himself, maybe this summer wouldn’t be too bad after all.

At 8.50pm Harry slid off the ladder and landed on the ground. A quick look around assured him that no one was watching. He sneaked along the side of the house and out the front gate.

"Nice shortie! You looked like you have some practice of sneaking around" Alex laughed.

"Hi guys.. I think we better get out of here before any of them decide to look out the window" Harry answered apprehensively.

"Yeah, probably a good idea. This way" Malcom said, leading them towards the park a couple of blocks down.

"Soo, what do you guys wanna do?" Ace said after a short silence.

"We could try the new PlayStation game I got yesterday?" Malcom asked the group.

"Yeah Mal, what did you get again?"

"I got the new Cod game, it has this new feature with multiplayer online gaming. So we all can play at the same console, but online at the same time. Isn’t that just awesome?"

Ace chuckled and agreed with Malcom.

"You see shortie, Mal here is a bit obsessed with gaming"

"I’m not!" Malcom exclaimed incredulously.

"Yeah you are" Alex commented.

Harry grinned at this, it was really nice hanging out with people his own age without them thinking him a complete nutcase as everyone in Little Winging did.

"Well anyway, he’s actually really good at it though, which makes it a bit hopeless for us mere mortals to play against him" Ace continued with a grin.

"Nothing to bother your tiny brain with, I’ve already gotten the new DLC so that we can all be one team an play against either botts or multiplayers. I was even able to modify a download by using some coding, and a couple of incredible suffixes so we don’t even have to work our way from noob to l33t."

"Wow wow wow, slow down Mal. That’s the nerdiest bunch of words you’ve spewed up all day. Didn’t understand a single thing of that speech."

"Me a nerd? Surely you’re thinking of the wrong person. I’m just making sure I don’t end up spending my life working alongside you at McDonald’s." Mal said with a cheeky grin, Alex sniggered and agreed.

"Haha very funny." Ace didn’t look too bothered though, he just snorted and continued with the conversation.

"If you keep the nerd talk to a manageable level we all might survive the night. All right with you Harry?"

Harry was enjoying himself, they were all so carefree and funny to hang around and joke with.

"Yeah, sounds great" he smiled back.

At 01:30 in the morning Harry had finally gotten into bed. He had had an amazing evening with the guys. For the first time in his life he had tried to play on a PlayStation, and although he wasn’t excellent he definitely could have been worse. After that they had gone to the football field beside the park and played some football games, his favorite had been the game called One touch. In this game they would stand in a circle, and kick the ball up in the air, the ball could only touch the ground one time before one of the other players had to kick it up again. It was really fun, and Harry wasn’t at all bad at it. He and Ace were definitely the better players, but all of them had a lot of fun with it.

All of them had decided to meet up again tomorrow evening, and he was already looking forward to it. With a comfortable sigh, he sunk down into the mattress and went into a peaceful sleep the moment his head touched the pillow.