"Potter," Snape sneered, seeing him taking in the new environment. "This is my home, and there are rules you will follow when you are here."

Harry let go of the handle of his trunk and turned to Snape, eyes wide as he tried to suppress the panic rising up inside of him. He'd never survive an apprenticeship with Snape. The man had to know that.

"Sir," Harry said, trying to sound as respectful as he could. "Would you reconsider?"

"Reconsider what Potter? You have not even heard the rules yet." From the look on his face Harry knew the man knew exactly what Harry was going to say.

"The apprenticeship sir. It can't work. I promise I'll get my potions grade up on my own. I'll be top of the class. I don't want to... ruin your time off," Harry said, wondering if he could spin things like his uncle could to make it seem like it was in Snape's best interest. He'd never tried to do something like that before.

"You're terrible at manipulation Potter, and it ends right here," he said. "The papers have been signed. You don't have to like it, but you are required to be obedient to me." He seemed to be waiting for Harry to argue with him, but Harry was eyeing the man's hands, which were at his sides. He was Harry's guardian now and Harry didn't think he could take getting punched by his Potions Professor. After summer holidays were over he went back to Hogwarts, where he was safe from getting hit or refused food. Snape would be at Hogwarts though. Harry felt like all the air had left his lungs. He had nowhere safe left to go now, not even the library, which had been his summer refuge. It had all been ripped away from him.

"I expect you to pay attention when I'm speaking," Snape snapped, and Harry's eyes snapped back up to him. Apparently he'd been talking and Harry hadn't been listening.

"Yes sir."

"Repeat the first few rules back to me."

Harry shook his head. "I didn't hear them sir, I'm sorry."

The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Rule one, you are to address me with respect at all times. The same goes with all of your Professors and other adults. If I hear of you being disrespectful there will be swift consequences."

Harry looked back down to the floor, this time trying to ignore looking at Snape's hands. They were bony, unlike his uncle's beefy hands and he imagined it would hurt a lot to be hit with bony knuckles. "Yes sir."

"You will treat my home and your items with respect, as well as the items of others. You won't destroy anything, and will keep things clean and tidy. This includes during potion making. If you make a mess, clean it up."

"Yes sir."

"Three, you are to put maximum effort into your school work and any potions brewing or potions preparation we do. I am not above banning you from quidditch or grounding you, even during the school year if you do not keep your grades up or aren't attending to your potions duties."

Snape went on for a few more minutes with other rules, like that Harry wasn't to go out without permission when with Snape, and that he'd better be obedient at home with his family and while at school because punishments would be swift and severe for rule breaking or wrongdoing.

When he was done dressing Harry down, despite that Harry hadn't done anything wrong yet, the man crossed his arms and sighed heavily again. "You may use magic while in this flat or on Camden Alley as magic here is untraceable. They can't differentiate underage magic from adult magic here. Levitate your trunk and follow me."

Harry pulled out his wand and levitated his trunk as he followed through the small living room and into a door at the back of the living room and behind the kitchen. There were three doors and he was taken through the one on the far left.

"This is where you will stay when with me," Snape said. "I have inspected the room for damage and will know if you are treating the space with disrespect. You are not to have food in here."

Harry set his trunk down. The room was small, but better than what he had at the Dursleys. There was a twin bed against the wall by the door with a light gray blanket and sheets, and a small desk with a chair. There was even a little window letting light in, though it appeared to be looking at a wall of another building a few feet away.

"Follow me."

Harry followed him back into the living room, and Snape opened the door next to Harry's bedroom door. "The bathroom. You will keep all of your toiletries in your room and take them with you when you need to shower or brush your teeth."

He pointed at the third door, which was closed, and said, "That is my room. You are not to enter it under any circumstances. If you must get me at night, you are to knock and wait for me to open the door."

"Yes sir."

Finally he took Harry to the wall of windows in the living room and Harry found that one was actually a door. Snape twisted the handle and the door opened inward to reveal a little porch with black metal railing and a few plants in pots. It looked out over an alley and was just big enough for a folding wooden chair and a little black metal table.

"We are in Camden Alley. It is a magical pocket of London." He pointed to the far end of the alley where there was a door with a sign over it. "That is a book store. Next to it on the left, there in the archway, is an exit to Muggle London. You are not to go out that exit or any others. All of the exits are gated." He turned and pointed behind them down to the other end of the little alley, which they were closer to. "There is an apothecary down at the other end." Pointing back towards the bookstore he said, "Down the side alley on the right there are a few restaurants and coffee shops. All are owned by wizards. Do not go out unless you have permission. I expect you to follow all the rules and conduct yourself as a respectful and obedient young man would when you are out, especially when running errands for me."

"Yes sir."

Snape stared at him again, and took in his black eye. "Been fighting have you? There will be none of that here. There are other Hogwarts students that live on Camden Alley and you will not engage in arguments or fights, or bully any of them or the other children on the alley."

Harry wanted to protest, but kept his mouth closed. He never started fights, though Draco often tried to get him to rise to his bait to draw him into a duel, and Snape hadn't cared to know the truth about his black eye, not that Harry would have told him if he'd given him the chance. Harry wasn't surprised that Snape thought he was a bully. He'd accused Harry of that sort of thing before at school, and Harry didn't believe he had any chance of changing his mind about it.

"Go to your room and work on summer homework until dinner. I will be looking over all of your summer homework when it's complete to ensure it has been done properly and with enough thought and effort put into it, so see that you do it right the first time. You will have no free time and will not begin potions work until your summer homework is completed."

"Yes sir." Harry made a hasty escape to the guest room and wondered if he'd be allowed to close the door or not so he could get some space to have a panic attack in private. He settled on closing the door most of the way so it was only open a crack, and then sat down on the chair at the desk, putting his head in his hands.

Breathe, just breath, he told himself. Despite that Snape was now his guardian and his life was over, the day hadn't gone so bad, yet. Snape had been an arse already, but Harry had expected that. It could have been worse, he could have ended up in a falling down house in a bad neighborhood. He could have been set to a dozen chores right away.

He hadn't expected to end up in a nice little pocket of magical flats in London, or to be given a room of his own with a bed that looked soft. He hadn't expected to be given time to complete his homework either. His school things were always locked away for the summer and he ended up completing his homework on the train ride to school or after the welcoming feast each year. Snape clearly thought he was lazy and intended to hold Harry to some sort of high standard with his school work, but Harry was grateful for time to complete it. He always started the year with bad grades in all his classes because his summer homework counted as three weeks of grades, and he had to fight all year to get his grades up to As and Es, and in Defense up to an O. If the man thought he was going to complain about a chance to get a leg up in classes, he was wrong.

Just get your work done, and lay low, and don't piss him off. Well, you're going to piss him off, so scratch that. Just survive the week so you can get back to Little Whinging.

Plan finally in place, Harry opened his trunk and pulled out his new Defense textbook and the notes he had on the Defense summer assignment and some parchment and an old quill that really needed to be thrown away but was the best Harry had at the moment.

Research and discuss the twelve classes of banned spells, their origins and uses, why they were banned, and any controversy over the banning of specific spells. Discuss punishments for using the banned classes of spells, and list instances that played crucial roles in the banning of at least one spell in each of the twelve classes.

They'd touched briefly on this at the end of the year but not much, and Harry for his part was interested in all things involving defense, especially since he wanted to be an auror. This was the type of thing he'd be expected to know if he was going to work for the Ministry.

After writing the assignment at the top of a piece of parchment (one of the few he had left), he pulled out an old homework assignment and flipped it over to the back to write notes. His uncle had bought his robes and new school books and Potions kit, but nothing else. Harry would still need to get quills, ink and parchment, a book bag, and a few other things. Even if Snape was supposed to provide for him ‘technically', Harry doubted he would.

His stomach growled as he worked, and he wished he'd gotten lunch at home before Snape had collected him, but he was used to working while hungry so he did his best to ignore it. At five thirty Snape pushed his bedroom door open and glared at him as he sat doing his work. Harry startled when the man spoke, not realizing he had come in.

"Dinner is ready Potter."

Harry tried to still his beating heart, face heating up at the fact that he'd jumped a little when Snape spoke. "Yes sir."

"What have you accomplished in the last four hours?" He was looking at the blank parchment with the assignment written on top.

"I've been researching the twelve classes of banned magic and taking notes."

"For four and a half hours?"

Harry held up his pages of notes to show him but Snape didn't seem interested. Instead he said, "That looks like old Herbology homework."

Harry's face heated up again. "I only have a few pieces of parchment left."

"I instructed you to pack all of your things. Why did you not bring all of your school supplies?"

"Sir?" Harry frowned and then looked over to the open trunk sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed. "This is all of my school things."

"You already went to Diagonalley to buy your school things for the year. That includes parchment Potter."

"Erm... we were going back later," Harry said. "I only got books, robes, and my Potions kit." It was a lie, they weren't going back later, but Harry had intended to find a way to get back after he'd worked and earned another paycheck.

Snape took a step into the small room and looked down disparagingly into Harry's school trunk. His new robes were folded neatly at one end, his new schoolbooks lined the other end, and his few items of summer clothing were in there. Aside from that there was a broken down cardboard shoebox with half a bottle of ink, several badly broken quills, a golden Snitch, his photo album, his empty money pouch, and a folder with some of Harry's homework he'd saved so he could use the backs of the parchment for notes.

"Where is the rest of your clothing?"

"This is it sir."

He didn't seem to believe him, but pursed his lips and didn't say anything more about it. "Eat your dinner."

Harry followed him out and found Chinese takeaway on the table. He must have gone out to get it or had it delivered. There were two plates with equal portions, and Harry looked around for a third plate with less on it, wondering where his was.

"What are you looking for Potter? There is a fork on your plate."

"Which one is mine sir?"

"Pick one Potter. You have school work to do and no time to be picky."

Snape picked up one of the two plates and took it to the patio to eat alone. Harry sat on a wooden stool at the counter and ate quickly. If Snape intended on giving him equal portions he wasn't going to complain. Maybe Snape meant to only feed him one meal a day, and if that was the case, Harry felt like he had to eat everything on the plate, even though it was more than he was used to after a month and a half at the Dursleys. He was done before Snape was (or maybe the man intended to stay out on his porch overlooking the alley until Harry was out of the living room and kitchen again), so Harry took his plate and fork to the sink and washed them by hand with the soap and sponge he found there. He didn't know where to put them away and didn't want to get yelled at for looking through the man's cupboards, so he took the hand towel and set it on the counter and put his plate face down on it with his fork to dry.

By the time Severus entered the living room half an hour later, Potter was gone. Where was the brat? His bedroom door was closed all but an inch again. He hadn't taken his food into the room after he'd been told not to, had he? Before he went in to check he spied a plate and fork on the counter by the sink though. After inspecting it and finding it clean, he turned and frowned at the boy's closed door again. He hadn't expected the brat to wash his plate. He wanted him to clean up after himself... had made it a rule even, but he hadn't expected the child to follow the rules without a fight. He hadn't expected him to finish eating so quickly either. After studying for hours (if he had indeed been studying hard as he'd said), he'd expected the boy to drag his feet eating dinner to get as long of a break as he could.

Severus pushed open the boy's door another inch though, and peered in for just a moment. He was at the desk reading and taking notes again. He pulled his face away from the door and went to find the book he was in the middle of so he could sit on the couch and settle in for the evening. Perhaps he'd scared the boy into following the rules, though he doubted it. Maybe it was just that he was in a new environment and finally under Severus' rule and he wanted to test the waters a bit before rebelling. That was the more likely scenario.

The boy's light shone under his door at ten when Severus went to his room for the evening, and he wondered if the boy was still studying, or just day dreaming or doodling or other things children did that wasted time. He hadn't set a bedtime, though if the boy thought he could stay up all night and sleep all day, he'd find himself sorely mistaken in the morning.

* * *

Severus knocked sharply on the boy's bedroom door the next morning at eight. There was no need for the child to be up too early in the summer, but heaven help him if he'd stayed up until four in the morning.

Harry got up and dressed and appeared in the living room after five minutes with two assignments in hand. He handed them to Snape, who took them warily. One was several feet of parchment, the appropriate length for a summer assignment, and the other was two feet of parchment.

"What is this Potter?" he asked.

"My Defense and Herbology essays," Harry said.

"There is no way you could complete these in one day. Rushing your assignments is why you start the year with such low grades each year." Each summer assignment was supposed to take days.

Harry had to clamp his mouth shut. He knew that was why he got bad grades but he'd gotten rather good at doing his work in a short amount of time and as efficiently as possible.

"Make yourself cereal for breakfast and go work on your other assignments," Snape said. "I will look over these and return them to you to re-do before lunch."

Harry did as he was told, again washing his bowl and spoon when he was done before disappearing into his room. Severus sipped his coffee and refused to look at the assignments until his first cup was completely finished. He just wanted twenty minutes to himself to relax before being stressed out by the brat's lack of effort on his schoolwork.

But after his coffee was gone and he had made it all the way through the Defense essay, he couldn't find fault with what the boy had written. A few words were spelled wrong, and the child could do with a lesson on using less commas in a sentence, but it was good work. He was certain whatever Defense professor Albus roped into working this year would give the boy an E at least.

His Herbology essay was the same. It was shorter than the Defense essay, but Pomona had assigned less to write about, and the essay had all the required information. The thought flashed across his mind that the boy had found a way to cheat, but he didn't have his owl with him to send away to his friends for help, and Severus had seen the boy taking notes.

He knocked on Potter's door and pushed it open. The boy looked up expectantly, a grimace on his face. He was expecting the worst. Or maybe he was grimacing because of the black eye.

"These are acceptable. I expect the same level of attention paid to the rest of your assignments." He held them out, and Harry took them.

"Yes sir."

Snape turned to go, but Harry said, "Sir, I can't finish the other assignments without parchment. I'm all out. Do you have some I could borrow?"

Severus' eyes turned to rake the trunk again, but the lid was closed this time.

"There's a stationer near the bookstore." He hesitated and then sighed, giving Harry a wary look and said, "I will have to show you Camden Alley eventually so that you can run errands. Put your shoes on and be on your best behavior while we are out."

"Yes sir."

There was one more door off of the living room. This one was the front door and led to a short hall with a set of stairs going down. They were several floors up and Harry followed Snape down the zig zagging stairs until they came out of a breezeway at the bottom and into the alley. Harry looked up several stories and spotted Snape's little balcony deck with black railing and viney plants hanging down over the sides.

Snape pointed out the apothecary again down the alley on the left, and then led Harry towards the other end of the alley towards the bookstore and stationer. He also pointed out the restaurants and coffee shops down the side alley to the right. There were several tables out on the sidewalk with people sitting and enjoying their morning coffee. It was only a few minutes walk down to the far end of the alley and to their destination as the alley was short.

"The stationer is here," Snape said, taking Harry into a door next to an arch covering a breezeway with a black gate at the far end. The narrow breezeway through the arch led under a tall building and at the far end Harry could see people walking on the street in Muggle London past the gate.

The stationary store was small. There was an old man sitting behind a counter, and supplies were in shelves and hanging on pegs on three walls. There was ink in several colors, and quills and parchment, but Harry was surprised to find Muggle lined notebooks as well as regular Muggle pens. Hermione used lined notebooks to take notes, and Harry really wanted one of those and a Muggle pen. It would save him time when taking notes and doing his assignments.

Snape didn't ask what Harry wanted, and bought a new bottle of black ink, a single quill, and five rolls of parchment. More than enough for Harry to finish his remaining summer assignments and take some notes with. He paid twenty sickles and led Harry back down the alley and to the flat.

He hoped the man would buy more supplies so he didn't have to borrow from his friends again all year, but didn't get his hopes up.

Harry worked all day again, finishing up his Potions and Transfiguration assignments and getting a start on his History of Magic essay, which would be short and easy to finish.

By the third day, Harry had finished all of his essays, including Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Snape seemed satisfied, and Harry hoped it would mean he could have a moment to himself to read the book the librarian had let him check out.

"There are four days until you return to your relatives. I expect you to keep yourself occupied. Perhaps it would be best if you spent some time studying so you can start the year ready to participate in classes. I expect your grades to be high this year."

"Yes sir." Harry turned to go back to his room. He was hoping to get some time to explore the little alley, but even if he did, he didn't have any money to spend and wouldn't until he could get back to his relatives house and collect the last paycheck coming to him from the library, that was if his uncle hadn't checked the mail and taken it.

"Sir?"

"What?" Snape didn't turn back to look at him, though Harry could hear the sigh the man bit back. His back was stiff, and Harry wondered for the hundredth time why the man would agree to take him on as an apprentice when he couldn't stand him.

"Is it ok if I spend some time reading one of my other books?"

Snape turned to him. "What other book?"

"A library book. A novel."

Snape waved him away. "Just keep yourself out of trouble. I will be unhappy when the term starts if I find that you are unprepared for your classes."

"Yes sir."

Harry retreated to the guest room and closed the door most of the way again. He pulled out the library book and sat down on the bed, happy for just a moment to have some time for himself (as happy as he could be in a situation like this), and settled in to read. He could lose himself in the story and forget about his life for a few hours before he had to start studying again.

* * *

Harry finished the library book quickly, and was sorry when he was through with it. He still had two days left until he went back to the freedom of Privet Drive. Snape said only what was necessary to him each day, which Harry was fine with, but it meant Harry grew bored quickly and ended up doing as Snape had suggested and reading through the first several chapters of his Defense book. At least he liked Defense and found what he was reading interesting, though he still would have rather been out exploring or reading a novel.

On the seventh morning, Snape woke Harry earlier than usual and instructed him to pack all of his belongings back into his trunk. "Do not leave anything. You are returning to your relatives."

When he was satisfied that Harry had left nothing behind in the guest room, Snape apparated him into the back yard of Four Privet Drive, startling Dudley who was out back drinking a fizzy drink despite that it was barely eight AM.

"Geez! Scared me Harry!" he half shouted, though he was giving the stern Potions Master a look of awe since he and Harry had just appeared out of thin air.

"I will return on Sunday at eight AM." He pulled a small book out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. The cover was worn and looked as though it was ready to fall off at any moment. "You are to have this memorized by the time I return." Without a word he apparated away, making Dudley startle again.

"How'd he do that?" he asked dumbly, pointing to the spot Snape had occupied only seconds before.

"He apparated. It's how adults travel."

"Can you do that?" he asked excitedly.

"I'm not an adult," Harry said, and dragged his trunk inside.

He was nearly to the stairs up to the second floor when his aunt came out of the kitchen and said, "So it's you again."

Harry turned and looked at her, trying to ignore the pang of sadness in his chest. He remembered how she had greeted their guests earlier in the summer, and wished for once she'd act happy to see him. Instead she let her eyes travel up to Harry's face, where his black eye was almost fully healed now that he'd been away for a full week.

"What was it like, living with him? With Snape."

"He lives in a nice flat in London," Harry said. "He made me do homework for seven days and barely spoke to me. He's coming back on Sunday morning."

"Don't anger your uncle this week," she snapped, eying the ever fading bruise around his eye, and turned sharply to go back into the kitchen.

"Yes aunt Petunia," Harry said dully, struggling to drag his heavy trunk up the stairs. He wasn't happy to be back, but he was happy to be away from Snape. As soon as his chores were finished he could head to the library, which opened in an hour, and check out some more books. He planned on having several with him the next time Snape came to get him.

* * *

Harry was able to avoid his uncle for most of the week by spending his days at the library until it closed. He did his chores early each morning and then left for the day. It meant he missed dinner each evening, but he didn't mind so long as it meant he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased.

The book Snape had given him was, ‘The Authoritative Field Guide To Scottish Fungi Useful To Potion Making.' With a full week to go over it, Harry was free to spend a little time each evening going over the pocket book, which was only twenty pages long. Each page had pictures of two fungi as well as their uses and where to find them. He had trouble pronouncing some of the names, but made sure to memorize what each looked like and as much of the information as he could. He knew Snape would probably test him on the information and didn't want to get yelled at, though that was an inevitability.

One evening the book even got him out of extra chores. "Wash the car boy. It needs to be shining. I have an important meeting to drive to tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes sir."

"What's that you're reading?" he asked as Harry stood up from his spot in the backyard on the grass.

"A potions book I have to memorize by Sunday."

"That Snape character assigned you to read it?" his uncle asked.

"Yes sir."

"Sit down and study. I'll take the car through the car wash."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. His uncle never wanted him to study... never wanted him to do his summer homework. Now he was letting him out of chores to do it?

"Do as I said," he gruffed, and Harry sat back down on the grass as his uncle went inside. He supposed it made some sense, if his uncle was trying to ensure he was out of the house as soon as he turned 17. That was what the entire apprenticeship was about, wasn't it? Ensuring Harry had a future with a job that would keep him out of his aunt and uncle's life?

Harry stared at the fungus guide for half an hour, not studying at all. He didn't want to be at Privet Drive any longer than he had to be, but it still hurt that they wanted him gone as soon as possible.