Harry awoke feeling good for once, so he decided to take advantage of it.  He walked out of his room and down to the dining room, and was happy to see Severus sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea, the morning addition of the newspaper propped up in front of him.  Severus turned at the sound of Harry pulling his chair out at the table.  He saw the color in Harry's cheeks, and the brightness of his richly colored emerald eyes, and he knew that this was going to be one of Harry's good days.

"I see that you are feeling better today," Severus said.  Harry smiled, and took a sip of the tea that had magically appeared in front of him.

"I'm feeling well Severus.  Can we do something fun today?"  Severus thought for a moment.  He didn't think that making potions in a lab all day would be fun for the boy, and since he hadn't had much fun as a child, he really didn't know what he should do with the boy.

"Would you like to go flying?" Severus asked.  Harry's eyes glowed brightly as he beamed across the table at Severus.

"Sounds fun," he said.  By now, the house elves had gotten Harry his breakfast which consisted of some mixed fruit, a peace of toast, and some porridge, and Harry was vigorously plowing through his food.  This was pleasing to see for Severus.  He was glad that Harry had an appetite, and he wouldn't let himself think that his sudden bout of energy wouldn't last for long.

"I will take you flying, and then we will find you a hobby," Severus said.

"Hobby?" Harry asked.  Severus smiled.  He had forgotten that Harry was still a child, and might not know some of the vocabulary that he used.

"We will find you something that you are interested in," Severus said.

"I like paint," Harry said.  Severus smiled and nodded.

"We will get you a paint set and some canvas for you to paint on," Severus said.  Harry nodded and finished his breakfast in silence.

After breakfast was finished, Severus told Harry to go get his cloak, and the young child complied.

"We are going to go to diagon alley to get you some paint supplies," Severus said.  "Hold on tight."  Severus wrapped his arms around the small boy and apparated them to just outside the leaky cauldron.  Harry looked around at his surroundings.  He still couldn't believe that pictures could move.  Severus led Harry to a store that was just across the street from Quality Quidditch supplies that was called Madam Araya's art supply store, and walked inside.  Harry looked at the pictures that were on display around the store.  There were paintings of animals grazing in a meadow, and several paintings of the oceans waves crashing onto the sea shore were also on the walls.  A tall blond woman walked up to Severus and Harry and smiled warmly.

"May I help you sirs?" she asked.

"I need some paint supplies for young Harry here," Severus said.  The young woman smiled and led them back to an area with colorful paper paints, and paintbrushes.  She handed Severus several pictures that Harry could color in with paints, then she got several blank canvases and handed them to Severus.  Next, she allowed Harry to pick out the different colored paints he wanted, and Severus was sure that they had every color of the rainbow and then some by the time Harry was done choosing his colors.  Finally, Severus paid for the purchases, and he left the store with a smiling Harry in toe.

"Thank you Sev," Harry said as he jumped along beside Severus.  Severus took Harry's hand in his and smiled.

"There is no need to thank me Harry.  Children your age need to have something that will both stimulate you and occupy your time."

Before leaving the alley, Severus stopped at a toy store, and allowed Harry to pick out a few toys.  The child was hesitant at first, but after much reassurance from Severus that it was okay to pick out more than one toy, the small boy got in to the spirit of things and had picked out several stuffed toys as well as a child's snitch to chase across the room.

By the time the two got home, Harry was exhausted.

"Go and take a nap Harry.  I will set up a room for you to play in and when you wake, you may begin painting if you wish."  Harry nodded and as soon as he crawled into bed he fell asleep.  He dreamt of Severus and he playing in a meadow without a care in the world.  He dreamt of warm arms holding him close, protecting him.  He dreamt of safety.  For the first time in a long while, Harry felt safe.

After his nap Harry's energy was renewed.  He went in search of Severus, and after asking Chrissie where Severus was, she led him to a small room that was next to Severus's potion lab.  Harry looked around the room in wide eyed wonderment.  In the corner was a toy box filled to the brim with all the toys that Harry had picked out and more.  In another corner was a big table, and spread out on the table was a canvas, ready to be painted on.  There were also shelves in the room filled with children’s books, coloring books, and pictures that Harry could paint on.  Tears filled Harry's eyes.  He had never had someone do something like this for him before.  He ran across the room and through himself into Severus's arms.

"Thank you Sev," he said.  Severus kissed Harry’s head.

"We must do something about your thanking people thing Harry," Severus said.  Harry looked at him, confusion showing on his face.  Severus chuckled and kissed Harry's forehead.

"Enjoy your toys Harry.  Should you need anything, all you have to do is ask.  You will never want for anything.  Do not be afraid to come to me for any reason."  Harry nodded, and pulled away from Severus.  He ran over to his toy box and dumped his toys out on the floor, sifting through them excitedly, not sure which toy he wanted to play with first.

"Be sure to pick up your toys once you are done," Severus said.  Harry nodded, not really paying attention to Severus, and Severus left the room.  He was glad that Harry had at least one day where he wasn't feeling to ill to play, and he was going to make sure that Harry had many more days like this one.

Severus headed back to his lab and began to work on a potion that would hopefully help Harry fight his cancer.  He worked for a couple hours until a house elf came to announce dinner, and since he was at a stopping place in the potion, he cast a stasis spell around the cauldron and joined Harry for dinner.

Harry didn't eat as much as he had for breakfast, but that was all right.  After eating, Severus took Harry flying, and by the time the sun had set behind the clouds, Harry had fallen asleep against Severus's chest.  Severus slowly landed the broom, and then carried the sleeping boy inside.  Severus placed Harry into bed, and after tucking him in tightly, Severus kissed Harry's cheek and left the room to retire to his own bed.  He hoped that tomorrow was as good as today for Harry.