Harry was furious. He was just so angry. This time aunt Marge really hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately for her, getting Harry furious didn’t do her much good. Personally Harry thought she deserved everything she got, even though the Dursley’s were enraged, which might not be all to good for him. His uncle was even more unreasonable than usual, and had with a tremendous amount of rage, blatantly refused to let Harry stay with them any longer. On the other hand, he supposed even living on the streets would be quite the upgrade from his usual summers. Not to mention that he had quite the bit of gold, so he could easily book a room at the leaky cauldron and stay there until term started.

He would of course have preferred to stay with his friends for the summer, but that was not possible at the moment. As a matter of fact he had been a bit jealous of both Ron and Hermione at the end of term when they were discussing their plans for the summer. But he was genuinely happy on their behalf, especially for Ron and his family. They had always been so good to him, and he knew they didn’t have as much money as they should have had. Mr. Weasley had been invited to speak of the extension of muggle technology at an international conference, and was allowed to bring his family for a bit of a vacation. Therefor Ron, Ginny and the twins had traveled out of the country for the summer. Percy was of course caught up in his job and didn’t want to go. Therefore he stayed behind to look after the house and their pets. Harry had sent Hedwig along, and Percy had promised to take good care of her. Even though he missed her very much, he knew he had made the right choice. It just was not safe to have her in the house with his unstable uncle around.

Hermione was also traveling with her family. She and her parents were apparently visiting a lot of different countries for the holiday’s. She had been very excited about all the places she was going to see, and all she would learn about the cultures, both magic and muggle. And he must admit that it did sound pretty cool. She had been especially exited about the ancient magical history of France, and the newly discovered uses of fluxweed by one of the most skilled potions masters of Europe. Apparently he had discovered that fluxweed plucked at the full moon not only was useful for polyjuice potion, but also had great effects when used alongside the Runespoor eggs in the Baruffio’s brain elixir. Supposedly it would make the common side effect of a critically depleted magical core, less severe. Regardless of the fact that neither Ron nor Harry understood half of what she was babbling on about, it did sound quite impressive.

This events however led to the fact that Harry had no idea where to go, without an owl to contact anyone and with he’s friends gone and unable to help. And despite the fact that Harry had a huge vault with piles of fat golden coins, he didn’t have a single penny available at this time.

Harry had been storming down the streets with an impressive speed, considering the overly large and heavy trunk he was dragging along. But even the white hot rage he had been feeling could not keep his body moving at such a pace any longer. He had slowed down to a moderate pace, and was trying to think of what to do. He slowly came to a holt and sat down on his trunk with his head in his hands, trying and failing to come up with a single idea. This was how he sat when he suddenly heard a noise from the trees on the opposite side of the road. It sounded like a twig breaking, and he could probably have passed it of on the wind that was currently picking up it’s pace, if it had not been for the black soulless eyes staring at him from behind a bush. Harry jumped violently and fell of his trunk, he thrust his wand out of his pocket, pointing it at the huge doglike creature. All at once a light flew out of his wand casting light at the outskirts of the trees, the creature growled, and lounged in the opposite direction, and a massive bus nearly run him over. He was taken aback when the bus stopped quite violently, and the doors flew up to reveal a guy at the entrance.

Harry spun his head, and with his heart hammering madly, took in the strange scene. In front of him was a huge purple bus with three floors, and on the steps stood a young bloke, that could not be a lot older than himself. He had hair that reached just above the shoulders, a freckled face, and was currently reading a card in a way that was obviously meant to be a professional manner.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizaard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening.” The guy apparently named Stan stated. He paused, and looked down at Harry.

“What are you doin down there for, ey?” He asked in a much less professional manner.

“I fell over” Harry mumbled , rather confused of the whole situation

“Well, w’hat you fall over for then?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Harry stated, a bit annoyed.

“Well, come in then, no point waiti’n for the grass to grow.” He said while dragging Harry’s trunk inside. With a final apprehensive look to the woods, and the feeling of cold panic not quite letting go, Harry followed the strange guy inside.

“Take ‘er away Ern!” Stan called out to the driver. And at once the bus shot forward at a tremendous speed. Harry had just enough time to grab the nearest handle before everything was thrown backwards in the bus.

The ride that followed was decidedly one of the weirdest he at experienced. He paid 3 sickles for the trip to the leaky cauldron, and a hot chocolate that Stan poured all over him when the bus took an especially sharp turn. For awhile he was busy trying to get used to the sensation of being squished, stretched, and thrown around, but after a while it became a bit more bearable. He then caught a glimpse at the cover of the paper the conductor was reading, a man who was holding a badge, and looking quite deranged was pictured on the front page.

“Who is that? That man?” Harry asked.

“Who is that?... Who is... THAT is Sirius Black that is! Don't tell me you've never been hearing of Sirius Black?” Stan stated incredulously.

When Harry shook his head, he continued.

“He's a murderer. Got himself locked up in Azkaban for it.” Stan said mysteriously.

“How did he escape?” Harry asked, definitely interested now.

“ Well that's the question, ain’t it? He's the first one who did it. He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who. Reckon you've heard of him?”

“Yeah... him I've heard of.” Harry said quietly, not utterly keen to discuss that subject. But the conversation with Stan had at least given him something to think about for the remainder of the trip.

When Harry got off the bus, right outside the leaky cauldron in London, he thanked Stan and turned around to face non other than Professor Dumbledore and the minister of magic himself. He felt his heart sink in his chest, in the action of the moment he had all but forgotten about the accidental magic he had used to blow up his aunt. He sure had gotten himself in to dire straits now.

“Ah, Harry, my dear boy, quite the magnificent moment to turn up, I must say” Dumbledore said, and gave Harry a wink.

“Harry? Harry Potter?! I though’ you looked a bit familiar! Do you see that Ern! It’s Harry Potter!” Stan more or less shouted out.

“Yes, yes, it’s Harry Potter. Well, thank you for getting Harry here safely, but we rather must be off.” The minister said while shooing Harry inside the pub while asking Tom the innkeeper to bring along Harry’s trunk.

_______

Harry sat rather confused in a comfortable armchair by the fire. Dumbledore and the minister who sat across from him had just finished telling him a baffling tale about a Sirius Black, who was supposed to want to kill him. Or more exactly Dumbledore had told him about this man in his usual vague manner, though quite straight forward, while the minister sat beside him trying to sugarcoat everything. He seemed a bit embarrassed that such a heavy guarded prisoner had been able to escape his fierce prison guards in his time as minister, especially considering that this was something none other had managed to do. To Harry’s great astonishment they had just about brushed over the fact that his aunt Marge had been bobbing up and down in the ceiling for over an hour, with the minister just uttering a few short sentences about the matter;

“The magical reversal squad has been to your aunt and uncle’s house. So that’s that, and no harm done. However, they are a bit reluctant to let you stay the rest of the summer. But not to worry my boy! You will have a nice and safe place to be for the remainder of the holidays.”

Even though Harry had a slight feeling of unease, he couldn’t muster any true sense of fear whether it was for his living arrangements or Sirius Black, at the moment he was just too tired.

Dumbledore, good hearted and kind as he could be, was as always to some degree a manipulative bastard. Therefore he chose this moment to discuss Harry’s living arrangements, very aware that he would not be at all happy, but at the moment hopefully too tired to argue that much.

“However, there is one more thing I would like to discuss with you. I wish to talk to you about where you are going to live for the remainder of the holiday’s.” Dumbledore said with a smile.

This did get Harry’s attention.

“Well, there really isn’t anywhere for me to stay is there Professor? I mean Ron and Hermione are out of the country, and my aunt and uncle definitely do not want me there. Can’t I just stay here at the leaky cauldron?” Harry asked in a hopeful tone. He could only imagine three whole months of Dursley free holiday’s to enjoy in Diagon alley and muggle London. His hopes of a nice, relaxing summer however were soon to be crushed to pieces by Dumbledore’s next words.

“Ah, no I’m sorry Harry but that is just not safe for you at the moment. I have in fact arranged for you to live at a more secure location, with an adult to look after you.” Dumbledore said with that all to familiar twinkle in his eyes. Harry was definitely uneasy, the expression on Dumbledore’s face told him that this was not something he would like nearly as much as the old man in front of him.

“Um, okay. Where is it then, and with who.” He asked a bit apprehensively.

“You will be living with Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy, at Professor Snape’s summer home.”

“WHAT?!!” Harry shouted out. He may be tired, but not even that could take away the blow of that statement. He could not believe it, this really could not be happening. He stared blankly at the headmaster, begging to the heavens that he had misunderstood, or that this was some sort of twisted joke.

“Now, Harry, it won’t be so bad. Maybe you all could learn to get along.” Dumbledore answered calmly. His eyes twinkling madly.

Harry just stared at him with his mouth slightly open. No, no, NO, he could not go there. If he had to stay the whole summer with Snape AND Malfoy, he would not come back to Hogwarts in one piece. He gulped, horrible images of the many forms of torture Snape would do to him before he mercilessly killed him sprung to his head. The things Snape could do to him with nobody around to stop him, Dumbledore could not be SERIOUS?! This would make his uncle’s treatment of him seem rather merciful, and Harry honestly felt that they hurt quite enough. As a matter of fact he rather thought he had enough pain at the moment, with his yearly “coming home for summer present” still being quite fresh on his body.

Before Harry could even get himself together to argue his case, Dumbledore stood up, patted him on his thigh, and with twinkling eyes said

“Really now Harry, it could even be fun.” Dumbledore winked at him “Would you care for a lemon drop?”. Harry shook his head to get rid of the fog that had clouded his thoughts, and when he opened his eyes Dumbledore was gone, and in his open palm laid a small yellow sugary sweet.

_______

When Harry woke the next morning he felt gloomy. He was starting to think that the headmaster had gone barking mad, leaving him with Snape of all people. Not even one single thing could go right in his life. He must really have been an awful person in an earlier life to deserve this. He swung his legs sideways of the bed, and started getting ready while he was drowning in his own self pity. At least he had gotten one night of peace before all hell would break loose. That was if you where counting a restless night packed of nightmares peace.

Tom had come to see him a bit earlier to inform him that breakfast was on the table, and that Snape would be there within an hour. With a huge sigh and a angsty feeling in his chest he dragged his feet slowly down the worn staircase that led down to the pub. The leaky cauldron was a bit worn, but still a cozy place to be. The pub itself was painted in darker, soothing colors that gave a homey feeling. The bedrooms on the other hand was light and cheery with views of muggle London and diagon alley. It really was a nice view, he would have liked to sit up in his room, thinking over this new events while watching all the people scurrying around below, but unfortunately no such luck for him. He had finally managed to drag himself downstairs for breakfast, and the landlord greeted him cheerily while leading him to the table.

Harry sat down and looked around. There were a few other people sitting in the pub, either eating, drinking, or just having a chat. Some travelers were eating breakfast while talking excitedly about the activities they wanted to try out. A few wizards sat at the other side of the pub with a bottle of beer each. Though he thought it a bit odd to be drinking alcohol so early in the day, he didn’t linger on it. An old women, who Harry thought looked a bit like the old witches displayed on the pictures of muggle children’s fairytales, sat in the corner shooting him furtive glances. Harry shuddered and quickly turned back to his breakfast. He really wasn’t hungry at all, his stomach was turning in knots and made it rather uncomfortable for him. However he did drink some glasses of pumpkin juice. He had always found it fascinating that a juice made out of such a plant would taste good, but it really did. He wondered how it was made, and why none of the muggles ever drank it.

However he was yanked out of his reverie by a soft, cold voice.

“Potter” the potions master sneered with venom in his voice. Harry spun around, taken aback for a moment, and seemingly lost for words.

“But of course, famous Harry Potter can’t eat such a plain meal at such a mundane place, famous Harry Potter can only eat the finest prepared meals served by his servants on golden plates.” Snape spoke with with sarcastic contempt.

Harry could feel a crimson flush creeping up his chin. He stared the potions master in the eyes with poorly concealed anger. Harry supposed he should have expected the insults straight away, and although he was not especially surprised by the remark, it did nothing to rile in his anger. Snape stared down at him with disgust before grabbing his upper arm and dragging him forcefully towards the door.

“Since nothing is good enough for precious prince potter there will be no breakfast for you today. Maybe you even will experience a new sensation most of us call hunger.” He sneered. No doubt the pampered Potter brat had never even been hungry before, with his family spoiling him rotten, standing at the ready to fulfill the brat’s every need.

This statement got Harry’s anger to boiling point. As it was Harry was no stranger to the sensation of hunger, even to the point of starvation. But the thought of those memories only brought him pain and humiliation. In the present company anger was a much safer reaction. Therefor he was about to make a furious retort on the matter but clamped his mouth shut at the last second, it would not do tho rile his Professor up so early in the morning. Therefor he bit down on his tongue, using all his self control to calm himself down while being dragged along like a sack of potatoes.

When outside, Snape stalked towards the nearest alley, where a black car stood parked. The car was of the nice sort, a shiny BMW with black leather seats and an overall high class look. Even his uncle Vernon would approve, he was especially fierce on judging others on their vehicles, and made a point of always having a modern fancy car to show of in.

“Get in” Snape let go of his arm, thrusting him towards the car. Harry was confused, we’re they supposed to travel by car? Wouldn’t that be a lot less convenient than by magical transport?

“Ehm, sir?” Harry asked confused, though he made a point of using a polite tone.

“I said GET IN POTTER!” Snape nearly shouted at him.

Geez, he was even more short tempered than usual. Harry did as he was told anyways, thinking it best to try to behave for the time being.

As he got in the backseat he took in his surroundings. The interior was plain but classy, and gave a clean look. He watched as his Professor got in the driver seat and started the motor. He would have thought the scene comical, had it not been for the fact that Harry felt he was a fugitive on the way to the gallows to get his head ripped off. The fact remained however, he could never have pictures the overgrown bat to be driving a muggle car, even just knowing how to didn’t seem to fit Snape’s character.

“As I am in no mood to listen to your stupid questions and insolent behavior I will tell you the basic information. We will be driving to my home as we can not apparate or take the floo as it is under a series of protective enchantments. As neither you nor mr. Malfoy have been there before the enchantments will not allow you to use any means of magical transportation. Your trunk has been sent along already. We will pick up mr. Malfoy at the outskirts of London, and the ride will be approximately around 5 hours. There will be no need for you to torment me with your annoying voice.” Snape sneered out in Harry’s direction.

Harry just nodded. 5 whole hours with Snape and Malfoy in a car was not what Harry had been hoping for. He would at least have time to think about which approach he should use towards the potions master. At the moment he thought that he’s summer with the Dursley’s behavior might be the best one, as Snape had quite the similar temper as his uncle. But this would of course only work if Harry could control his temper. He rarely had that problem at the Dursley’s as it all was more or less programmed in to him at this point. But his uncle was dumb, and predictable, while his Professor was, loathe as he was to admit it, smart and quite unpredictable.

Harry looked towards the Professor and studied his appearance. His hair was actually a bit less greasy than usual, and in muggle attire he looked a very different. He never really could have pictured any of his Professors with muggle clothes, as they never wore anything like it at school. And although Snape still was dressed in dark clothing it did suite him. He had tied his hair back in a low ponytail, and wore black slacks paired with a dark grey sweater that fitted him quite nicely. Harry did have to admit that this outfit made him look a whole lot younger, and made his body look a lot more muscular, something that his usual loose fitting robes counseled quite well. At least the look of contempt on his face was just as he remembered it.

He turned to look out of the window at the blurring mass of streets and houses they sped past. He did wish he would have had a bit more time before Snape decided to drag him out of the leaky cauldron. Although he had not eaten anything, he had drunk several glasses of juice, and should probably have gone to the loo before they left. 5 hours was quite a bit of time, and with the current mood the Professor was in, he guessed he would not be overly pleased if Harry started nagging him about a bathroom break. Well, he would just hope that they would at least stop once.

The car came to a holt right in front of a platinum blonde teen. Draco opened the passenger door with a sneer and a look of disgust.

“What is this wreck? I am not going to be traveling like a lousy muggle!” Draco exclaimed indignantly.

“Draco just get in, I will not discuss this any further” Snape said impatiently. With a huff Draco got in, sending Harry an ugly look.

“Potter“ Malfoy spat with as much venom he could muster, all the while staring at him with a disgusted look. Harry had already decided to try the Dursley approach first, and therefor he was defiantly resisting the urge to come with a snide remark or an ugly retort. Instead he settled for a neutral nod towards Draco, even though it hurt his pride deeply. But he guessed if he was going to survive the summer he had to make some sacrifices, and he might as well start straight away. The look on Malfoy’s face was almost worth it anyway. He looked extremely taken aback, before he sneered, gave Harry one final ugly glare and turned to Snape. Harry could not help but smirk a little at the blondes obvious discomfort.

“How long will I have to endure this utter torture?” Malfoy drawled on in an irritating manner.

“We will be there in about 5 hours” Snape answered neutrally. At this Malfoy let out a loud huff before he slumped against the seat, not looking the least bit happy.

_______

Music was playing on a comfortable level from the radio, and beside from the small snippets of conversation between Malfoy and Snape the car ride had been quiet. Surprisingly Harry didn’t think the silence was too uncomfortable, at least if they didn’t talk to him they didn’t insult him either, and he was quite content to keep it that way. He did have one problem however. As the time had passed he had found it increasingly difficult to ignore.

“Ehm, sir? How long will it be until we’ll be there?” Harry asked a bit timidly. Snape cast him an ugly glance.

“About 3 hours. What is the problem? Doesn’t the car ride meet prince Potters standards?” Snape said mockingly. Malfoy let out a snigger, and Harry’s cheeks flushed. He actually did have to use the bathroom a bit badly right now, but asking Snape to stop would be suicidal. He didn’t think he could stand the humiliation. But on the other hand 3 hours was quite a long time. He was split in half, his bladder really wanted him to beg Snape to stop, but his pride wanted him to just clench his teeth together and endure it. He shifted restlessly in his seat trying to find a better position, but to no avail.

“No sir, it wasn’t that. I was just wondering if you were planning to stop anywhere soon” He tried to stated neutrally as if he didn’t care whether he was or not.

“Why, what is the problem now? In contrast to what I’m sure you are used to I will not be doting on your every need and want. You are a spoiled brat, you don’t see Draco complaining do you?” Snape sneered maliciously.

“No, Ijustkindofneedtousetheloo” Harry stated very quickly.

“Speak clear boy! I can not understand a single word coming out of that worthless mouth of yours” Snape said agitatedly. Harry took a deep breath and repeated himself in a clear whisper.

“I just kind of needed to use the loo” He could feel his cheeks burning with the humiliation of having to ask for the loo like another toddler.

“You are almost thirteen, wait until we arrive” Snape said plainly. This made Malfoy snigger once again, and Harry’s flush increased considerably. The problem was that Harry would never ever have asked if he thought he could wait for them to arrive, and he thought Snape would know that. But thinking through it he realized he probably was more than happy to have a couple of mortifying story’s to spread about Harry once back at school. He really was an evil greasy bastard. Harry shifted in his seat again, determined not to give either of them anymore dirt on him.

Another hour in and Harry was growing quite desperate, he could not sit still for longer than a couple of minutes at a time, and had crossed his legs in an effort to ease the pressure. There was nothing for it, he would just have to ask again.

“Professor, couldn’t we just please stop soon?” He almost begged, hating himself for the display of such weakness.

“I told you to wait Potter! I am not delaying our arrival just so your pampered behind can get whatever you want!“ The Professor snapped furiously.

Harry cringed at this, at his wits ends and seeing no solution. To his astonishment even Draco seemed a bit uneasy. He shot Harry a quick glance before he turned quickly back. Had he not known any better he would have thought it was a tiny amount of sympathy hidden in his cold eyes. However he did know better, and was expecting Malfoy to at least make some degrading comments of his situation any moment . But as they never came, Harry tried to focus all his remaining energy on ceeping calm and in control. This was definitely not the time to wonder about Malfoy’s lack of ruthless behavior.

As he relaxed he could feel a spurt of pee hit the inside of his trousers. Utterly horrified he clamped down with all his might, managing to stop the flow. He was mortified, he was nearly wetting himself and was almost 13 years old. No thirteen year old wet their pants! Timidly he looked down on his trouser, and breathed out a sigh of relief when there were no visible evidence. He drew his knees up to his chin, one hand clenching down on his privates he leaned towards the window, closing his eyes and bending his head down. Fortunately this position did help a bit, so he clenched his teeth together and held on with all his might.

Severus knew he had been a bit harsh, spoiled brat or not. But he was still quite sure the child was exaggerating. He looked at the boy in his mirror, and saw his small frame huddled together leaning against the window. He may not like the brat, but he knew he had gone a bit too far this time as the insufferable brat seemed to be in some distress. With an internal sigh he turned his eyes back on the road and despite his words looked for a sign that showed the nearest place to stop. Unfortunately it seemed the nearest one was about an hour away, as they just drove past the last one. As much as he would like to believe that the child was just exaggerating the whole situation, a tiny part of him doubted that the child it all up for a bit of attention. He drew a hand over his face, it was too late to do anything about it now anyway.

_______

20 minutes of agony later Harry felt his composure faltering. A forceful stream escaped his exhausted muscles. He gasped quietly, and tried with all his might to get his muscles to obey, but to no avail. He was really panicking as he felt his backside grow warm and wet, but no matter how hard he tried he could not stop the flow. No, no, no, this just could not be happening! Suddenly he felt his bladder totally give up. An expanding wet spot was making its was down Harry’s trousers and splashed to the floor. As if the sound was not enough of a giveaway, the faint smell of urine filled the air. This had to be a horrible nightmare, of all the things that had ever happened to him this had to be one of the worst in his memory. He felt his eyes burn and buried his head in his knees as he felt a tear of humiliation escape his eyes. He would never be able to live this one down.

Harry had he’s head bowed down as he waited for the scathing remarks to come. When none came he was completely baffled. Could it be that they had not realized what he’d done? As none of them where neither deaf nor blind it seemed wholly unlikely. He could not wrap his head around the lack of insults, he was after all sitting in a car with Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape. Both had made it quite clear that they despised him on several occasions, and neither had ever before missed an opportunity to harass him. Still, he did not dare to look up. He was so utterly humiliated, and all he wanted to do was to sink down in a hole in the ground and never come back up. As this wasn’t really an alternative at the moment, he settled for curling up into a ball and pretend he wasn’t there. Not that it was really doing him any good.

On top of everything he felt himself starting to shiver from the cold wetness that engulfed him. He was so ashamed of himself that he felt nauseous. He could not even get himself to look up, much less ask to get to change his clothes. As his trunk had been sent along already he did not even have anything to change into. He was most definitely not going to ask for anything from Snape, he would just have to survive the remaining hours of humiliation and discomfort. With a reminder to himself of everything else he had endured up until now, this one should be manageable. This of course did nothing to ease the harm to his pride.

Somewhere along the way the tears slowly dripping from his eyelashes stopped. He had managed to fall asleep in the same huddled position, hiding as much as possible of himself from view.

Severus pulled up at the nearest petrol station. He got out, filled fuel on the car, and gave Draco some muggle money and told him to go inside and pay for the gas. Draco gave him a weird look, but went with only a slightly dissatisfied expression on his face. When he saw that Draco had gone inside, he looked around. Satisfied that no one was near by he drew his wand. He went back inside the car, pointed his wand at Potter and mumbled a quick drying and freshening charm. Before anyone could notice he had pushed his wand back in his sleeve. Appeased that the child in the backseat had stopped shivering, he started the car again, and waited for Draco to get back in.

The rest of the ride went peacefully. It only took 15 minutes before Draco too had fallen asleep, leaning against the window. A few blonde strands of his normally slicked back hair had fallen astray and was hanging in his face. He looked a lot more innocent than his usual superior act allowed.

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.