“Aw, what’s your name, little cutie?”

“Freak,” Harry answered.

Severus looked up quickly. They had just finished buying new clothes, now he was paying for them. Madam Malkin had been enraged when she’d seen the size of Harry, she knew by now, just like the rest of the wizarding world about the abuse, and how he, Severus Snape had become the child’s guardian.

A witch was standing behind him at the counter; she was holding a blue dressing gown. Harry was beside Severus, clutching his hand. Hadn’t the Dursley’s taught Harry never to talk to strangers?

“His name is Harry,” Severus told her.

“Wait… Harry Potter? I read about his story in the Daily Prophet, it’s just so tragic what those muggles did to him. I didn’t want to believe, and he really believes his name is Freak?”

Obviously Snape thought to himself. He took his change from Madam Malkin and bent down to lift Harry into his arms, while he shifted the package of clothes to another arm.

“But I thought he should be about five? He looks so little,” the witch added.

“Well, when children are starved and beaten, generally they don’t grow much,” Severus answered coolly. “But you know he isn’t someone to gawk at. He is a little boy and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t giggle with your friends later about how you met Harry Potter.”

With those last words, he turned and left the shop angrily. They had been going to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade a lot over the past few days and he had to deal with gawkers or people talking about how heartbroken they felt when they read the story. He could never find a good time to avoid people either, they were always around.

“Do you want to stop by the candy shop so I can buy you a treat?” Severus asked Harry. “Then we’ll be going back home.”

“Freak don’t get treats,” Harry responded.

“You’re name is not Freak, it’s Harry and if you want a treat you can have one,” Severus told him.

He was slowly losing his patience, why couldn’t the child just understand that his name was Harry? They told him daily, and they called him by his rightful name. He never responded to it though, if they called for ‘Harry’ he ignored them, and no one was going to call him Freak. Had the Dursley’s dropped him on his head a lot? Why was he so stupid?

“Maybe,” Harry said slowly. “Never had one.”

“We give you treats all the time,” Severus said and entered the small candy shop.

“Don’t eat it. Freak not allowed treat. I get slap that my treat. Uncle Vernon say so.”

“Your Uncle Vernon was wrong. Now, how about some chocolate frogs, I think you’ll like those.”

Harry just shrugged, so Severus bought a large bag of them. He could give him the treats when they got back to the castle. For now, he just wanted to get out of there. People were pointing him out. There were some Hogwarts students doing some last minute shopping, they all stopped in their tracks to stare. He gave them glares, and they hurried on.

“A bunch of nosy idiots,” Severus muttered.

“Freak a idiot?” Harry asked.

“No, those people staring at us are idiots. They are nosy; tell them to stop staring at us. Maybe if you say something, they’ll stop,” Severus said.

He wasn’t really serious about, and he didn’t think the boy would actually do it.

“Stop looking nosy idiots!” Harry shouted at a group of second years who stopped and pointed.

Oh I am going to be in trouble if he keeps telling people that. Severus thought to himself, but he was amused. He sped up quickly so they could get into the Leaky Cauldron.

Minerva had been waiting impatiently for Severus and Harry to return from their trip. She and the rest of the staff had come up with a plan to see if they could help the boy out. They finally had their surprise for him ready, and she wanted to show it to him. When she saw them coming up the steps from the dungeons, she smiled.

“Come here, Harry,” she called and opened her arms to him.

Harry was used to the rest of the staff now, so he smiled back. He ran over as fast as his little legs would let him. She picked him up and hugged him closely. Oh, how could those people have treated him the way they had? Now that he knew people wanted to love him, he was so greedy for love, and everyone was only too happy to give it to him. And he had come when she called; did that mean he knew his name?

“I got treats,” he told her. “Can’t have one till after dinner though.”

“Well, that’s a good idea. Harry, I have a surprise for you. Would you like to come to my office to see it?”

“It’s not a treat is it? I don’t know if he’ll eat any, but if he does, I already told him to wait until after dinner,” Severus looked angry, as if he thought she was undermining his authority.

“No, no, remember what we decided to start a couple weeks ago? Well all of it has come and I just completed it. I want to show it to him,” she answered.

Everyone had agreed that she could be the one to sit with him and show it to him. Although Severus was his guardian, they weren’t too sure if it was a good idea for him to do it. He didn’t exactly volunteer, so when she said she’d do it, the staff had nodded their approval.

“Ah, okay, I’ll see you later then Harry,” he said and gave her a small nod.

He looked kind of relieved to give to her for a while. Then again, he hadn’t been too happy about the fact that he had to be the one to take Harry shopping because people kept staring. Albus had thought it was about money at first.

“He has his own fortune, if money’s the problem Severus,” he had said.

“No, I’ve got money and I’m his guardian I don’t mind spending it on him. That money in his vault can wait until he starts school,” Severus had said. “It’s the fact that I don’t want to take a five-year-old shopping, especially this one. Everyone will be staring, why did you let the Daily Prophet write up about him anyway?”

“Freak get surprise?” Harry asked now.

“Yes, you get a surprise, but you’ve had a lot of presents the last few days, haven’t you?” Minerva asked and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

She loved small children, though many people didn’t know that. She had missed her grandchildren’s early years, so she looked forward to watching Harry grow up. They had all agreed they would raise him, even if Severus was his guardian. She wouldn’t get to see him during the summers, but that was when she went to go see her own family anyway.

Inside her office, she shut the door and then sat down with Harry on her lap. She had watched Lily and James grow up from eleven-year-olds, and she had been their Head of House, it was only fair that she showed the album to their child. She picked up a red and gold book from her desk and opened it up to the first page.

The first pages had Lily and James’ school pictures. There was a smiling James Potter who waved; it was taken in his fifth year.

“Do you know who this is?” She asked Harry.

He stared down at the picture and then placed a hand on it, luckily the pictures were in a protective cover.

“Daddy?” he asked her.

She was very surprised to see that Harry knew who his father was. He had died when Harry was just a baby, and he’d lived with four years of abuse. He’d forgotten his own name.

“That’s right. That is James Potter, you’re daddy. You know, you look just like him,” Minerva told him.

“I know,” Harry said.

So maybe that’s how he knew. Harry liked to look at himself in the mirror because he had never seen himself before. The Dursley’s had never taken a picture of him, and from the memories Albus and Severus had seen, he had been forbidden to look at himself. Severus said from what they had seen that the boy hadn’t really tried to look at himself though, not even in the silverware.

“Where daddy?” he asked.

“Oh, honey, he died along time ago,” Minerva answered.

“In car crash,” he said in a very sad voice. “Freak should have died with parents.”

“No, honey, you should not have. I am very glad that you lived and I am sorry that your parents didn’t,” she said and hugged him tightly again. “Now, can you tell me who this is?”

She pointed to Lily Potter who smiled and waved at the camera. Harry stared at her and then shook his head. Minerva felt a little down, she had hoped he did recognize his parents, but he didn’t. The only reason he knew that James was his father was because he knew they looked the same.

“That’s your mummy,” Minerva said.

She conjured a mirror and had Harry look at it. As usual, he was very fascinated with his face. He pointed at it and smiled.

“It’s Freak!” He said and laughed.

“That’s Harry, what colour are your eyes?”

He squinted at the mirror for a moment and then said, “Green, right?”

At least he knew his colours, he hadn’t been educated so far, but he must have learnt colours from somewhere.

“That’s right, and what colour of your eyes does you mum have?” she asked.

Harry stared down at her picture, then into the mirror again. He looked up at Minerva and pointed at his own eyes. She nodded and smiled at him. He stared into his mother’s picture, and then slowly he reached out and touched her face.

“Mummy,” he said and then started to cry.

“Oh honey, I know, they miss you so much, they loved you a lot you know,” Minerva said.

Harry’s sobs stopped and he looked up at her with confusion.

“They love Freak? Uncle Vernon say they hate me!”

“No, they loved you, Harry. Your father’s name is James, that’s your middle name. He loved you so much that he named you after himself.”

Quickly, she flipped to another picture, it was a picture of a smiling elderly couple.

“This is your Grandma and Grandpa Potter. You’re Grandfather’s name was Harold. Your mummy and daddy, loved you so much that they named you after him. He died before you were born. They would be very sad to know that you think your name is Freak when your real name is Harry James Potter,” Minerva said.

“Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia call me Freak though,” Harry said.

“They shouldn’t have called you that. Everything they told you was a lie, Harry. You are a very special little boy. You are also a good boy, and you did not deserve any of the stuff that they did to you. I wish you would stop calling yourself that,” she said.

Harry just stared at her and then shook his head. She sighed and then continued to show him the rest of the pictures in the album. He seemed to enjoy this. They came to a picture of Lily, James and Harry.

“Who is in this picture?” She asked him.

“Mummy,” he said and pointed to her. “Daddy, and Freak!”

“Mummy, daddy and Harry,” she corrected.

When they got to the end of the album, she smiled at him.

“That’s yours to keep. You can look at it whenever you want to.”

“Mine?” He asked.

There was a knock on the door. Severus opened the door and stepped in after she called him.

“Severus, I have new book!” Harry exclaimed and jumped of Minerva’s lap. “Got, mummy and daddy, and Freak!”

Severus sighed and picked him up. Minerva stood up as well and held out the album for him to take.

“I thought Albus said this could help him? That once he saw him with his parents, he would understand what his name is?”

“The problem is, I think he knows what his name is,” Minerva said sadly. “He just believes what they told him; he thinks he doesn’t deserve to have a name.”