From the shadows of his dimmed bedroom, Draco Malfoy stared out at the quiet moonlit path that led up to his home. Two men- one of them was his father- were slowly making their way up to Malfoy Manor. The young blonde watched them intently as the taller of the two nonchalantly shoved a giant albino peacock out of the way and continued up to the great mahogany door as though nothing had happened.

He heard voices downstairs, but didn’t get up to go down and welcome the guest, since it was apparent from his mother’s cries of surprise that the man in the billowing black cloak was already ushered inside. Careful not to make any noise, Draco gently reached for his wand and crept up to the peephole in the door across the room, wanting to listen in to what was obviously supposed to be a private conversation, judging by his parents’ hurried whispers.

Crack!

Muffling a frightened yelp, Draco painfully hit his head on the dull brass knob of the door, and whirled around to face the intruder, holding his wand dangerously high over his head. It was no human, but rather a terrified-looking house elf with huge tennis ball eyes that glittered with salty tears.

“Dobby!” Draco hissed angrily, feeling torn between the intense desire to either massage away the excruciating pain on his forehead or strangle the creature to death.

“Master Draco…” Dobby wheezed as he pathetically crumpled to the floor in invisible agony. His entire body shook violently as he wept on his young master’s shoes; while Draco flung the disgusting elf off of his foot, he vaguely noticed the slashes across the elf’s nose; some so deep that spurts of blood fissured out and onto Draco’s pristine white carpeting. Oh the stupidity of these self-mutilating elves…

“Where were you Dobby?” Draco demanded tersely as he grasped the elf by the neck and throttled him against a wall with an air of indifference. The elf continued its choked chorus of sobs, however, refusing to look up at his master and admit what he had done. “Answer me!” Draco bellowed so loudly that he was certain that those in the sitting room below would hear him, but that didn’t matter at the moment…

“I…” Dobby trailed off as he appeared to have choked on his saliva and began retching and sputtering all over the floor, making Draco release his death grip on the creature’s bony neck at once. He couldn’t think of any loopholes to his master’s question, and it was of greatest offense for an elf to lie to one’s master. Feeling unusually impatient, Draco aimed a rather powerful kick at Dobby, sending him flying into the dusty old wardrobe on the other side of the room. He waited for Dobby to come out from the wreckage, but after several seconds, he realized that the idiotic elf had given up and remained lying in a fetal position underneath a pile of splintered wood.

“Get up!” Draco hissed, picking the elf up by the tip of his enormous ear and flinging him carelessly onto the floor near the bed. “I asked you where you went, now answer me!”

“Harry Potter!” was all the elf managed to say before he resumed howling in anguish over his betrayal of the Malfoys. Draco was so surprised by this answer that he stood in place for a moment, not sure what to say or how to punish the elf for his misbehavior and disloyalty. Meanwhile, Dobby screamed histrionically and wildly grabbed three of the lit candles that were perched upon Draco’s desk and plunged their flames into his skull. Suddenly, a hand grabbed him by the neck and spun him around in the air.

“Did you say ‘Harry Potter’?” Draco asked softly as the flames completely singed whatever hairs Dobby had left on the top of his enormous head. Whimpering in terror, Dobby nodded. Upon this confirmation, Draco dropped the elf to the ground and pointed his wand threateningly at him.

“What interest is Harry Potter to you, you filthy elf?”

“Master please!” Dobby once again threw himself at Draco’s feet, kissing them lovingly and crying on them as though tears would make his master forgive him sooner. “Harry Potter shall no longer come to Hogwarts! Harry Potter is gone from magic, Master Draco!”

“What?!” Draco had been trying to kick the stupid git off of him, but paused as soon as he learned of this new information. “Potter…no longer coming to Hogwarts? What do you mean? And stop crying!”

Dobby froze at once, feeling the horrible duty to obey this demand placed upon him. With a huge sniff, Dobby whispered: “Harry Potter cannot come to Hogwarts. The Muggles Harry Potter lives with banned him! Dobby saw! Dobby saw it all!”

Draco nearly snorted. As though mere Muggles could restrain Potter…still, if Dobby had confirmed it…

“Get off me,” Draco snapped as he thrust Dobby aside and headed for the door. Sure, the house elf’s antics were a nuisance, but this little tidbit of information had been fantastic. Finally, a year without Harry Potter…Draco half wondered if he was simply having a good dream as he made his way down the elegant marble stairs that led to the entrance of the sitting room. The voices grew louder as he approached, and just before he entered, he realized that he recognized the third person…

“Just as I was saying, Severus…” Lucius trailed off as he realized that his son had just entered the room. “Oh, Draco…”

“Draco, what had been going on up there?” Narcissa demanded at once, not bothering to apologize to her husband for interrupting him. Feeling three pairs of eyes on him, Draco’s gleeful expression vanished instantly; only the guest, Severus Snape, seemed to notice the change, however.

“Nothing, Mother. The elf just thought he saw a dementor.”

Snape was astounded to find that both Lucius and Narcissa accepted this lie from Draco. While he was fond of the boy, and prone to believing anything he said, he knew that the racket from upstairs was not simply a fearful house elf…

“So, back to the point…” Lucius continued his conversation as though Draco wasn’t even there, but Snape wasn’t even remotely interested in what he had to say. He was barely even listening anymore; instead, he was too busy watching Draco’s eyes. They flitted around so quickly that it was more than obvious that he had been lying. Also, the ecstatic grin that he had tried so desperately to hide from his parents unconsciously returned once his parents turned their attention away from him. Draco stared back into Snape’s unfeeling black eyes, completely unaware of the intrusion into his mind…

After just a few seconds, Snape saw it: the house elf, Dobby, had screamed that Harry Potter wasn’t coming back to Hogwarts. Undoubtedly by now, the boy had noticed something strange going on, and he looked away, breaking Snape’s concentration with Draco’s mind. Lucius babbled on about Draco’s second year at Hogwarts and Narcissa even piped in at times, but Snape felt unattached and out of place in the discussion now, with his mind solely on Harry Potter. As much as he loathed the arrogant boy, he knew, deep down, that it was his duty to inform Dumbledore of the noncompliant Muggles or Potter wouldn’t be attending Hogwarts this year…if the elf had been truthful with Draco,that is…

xXxXxXxXx

“Can’t Minerva fetch him, then?”

“Severus, you know fully well that Minerva is currently very busy with the Muggleborn admissions…”

“But she’s Potter’s Head of House!”

“Minerva has no time to meddle with even more Muggles at the moment…”

“And what of my time, Headmaster? Is my time less valuable than hers?”

“No, Severus,” Dumbledore sighed, clearly tired of arguing with the potions master. It had been nearly four hours since he had arrived in Dumbledore’s office through the Floo Network, there to tell him that Harry Potter had been locked up by his unruly relatives and therefore unable to attend Hogwarts for his second year. While a twelve year old boy’s memory about a conversation with a house elf seemed to hold questionable validity at first, the old headmaster soon confirmed the Dursleys’ lockdown on Harry with a quick visit from their Squib neighbor, Mrs. Figg.

Dumbledore had foreseen these events, of course; the boy’s aunt and uncle had always held strong anti-magic views, and would undoubtedly try forcing this ideal upon the young wizard once his true identity had revealed itself. Of course, Albus Dumbledore did not give in to Muggles, even if they thought that what they were doing was best for the boy; or more likely, themselves, for that matter. They may be his guardians until he became of age, but they were still required to adhere to the laws regarding the education of young witches and wizards, whether they liked it or not. After all, it would not be prudent to send a wizard with one year of magical instruction to a Muggle school, especially not a wizard such as Harry Potter, whom, according to Trelawney’s prophecy, would go on to defeat Voldemort if he ever came back. Therefore, if any child was going to receive schooling at Hogwarts, Harry was Dumbledore’s first priority.

Dumbledore knew Severus didn’t want to go and retrieve Harry from his relatives; the man made it exceedingly obvious that he would rather leave the task to someone else who actually cared about the boy’s well-being. He had repeatedly tried and failed to convince Dumbledore to make anyone but him complete the task. The Weasley family? No, they were on holiday in Romania, observing dragons with Charlie. The Grangers? No, it would be much too difficult for a pair of Muggles to try and convince another family of Muggles- those who despised magic with a burning passion at that- to send their nephew back to Hogwarts without having a strong back up, such as a wand. None of the teachers were available either, seeing that they were busy organizing their classrooms and syllabuses for the start of the term and had absolutely no spare time to devote to the retrieval of a student from a family of resisting Muggles; even if it was Harry Potter.

That left Severus as the only available candidate, seeing that all his preparations for the new school year were already completed. Dumbledore frowned deeply, knowing that the man had always been this stubborn, even as a student. He had loathed James Potter and his friends, and now it took every ounce of energy to convince Severus to rescue James’ son. Of course, there was always that one way to appeal to Severus…

“Severus,” Dumbledore began seriously with a hint of subtle manipulation in his tone. “I am sure you know perhaps more than I do that the boy’s mother would have wanted her son to receive a proper education…”

Dumbledore smiled inwardly as Snape immediately cringed at the sound of ‘the boy’s mother.’ The headmaster had found his weak spot, and it gave him little room for further argumentation, lest he wished to reject what he had previously stated about protecting Harry for Lily’s sake. The more he pondered this, the sourer his face became. He seemed to be having some kind of internal battle over whether or not to give in to Dumbledore’s wishes, but the headmaster knew that Severus couldn’t say no now.

“But Hagrid…”

“…is currently on holiday in Ireland,” Dumbledore finished for him, smiling serenely over his half-moon spectacles at Severus’ final attempt to make him choose someone else for the job.

“On holiday,” Severus repeated. “What about…?”

“As for me, Severus,” Dumbledore cut him off sharply. “I assure you I am not simply waiting patiently here in my office until the start of the term. The Minister is due to visit within an hour, so I suggest that you’d be going now.”

Snape scowled angrily at his dismissal, seeing no options left in sight. It would be up to him to get Harry Potter, or he would miss the Hogwarts Express, which departed a week from today. Until then, the boy could stay at the Leaky Cauldron and finish his school shopping in Diagon Alley, since there was no way Severus would even imagine having the boy stay with him until he, too, left for Hogwarts…

“Thank you, Severus,” Dumbledore cheerily bade him goodbye as Snape went through the vibrant green flames again and departed for Mrs. Figg’s home in Little Whinging, Surrey.

xXxXxXxXx

Petunia Dursley always fell asleep in her favorite velvet chair at 8:13 every evening. It was a habit she had had for years; ever since she and Vernon had first purchased their home on Privet Drive, which had come with the vivacious maroon chair as an added bonus for the lady of the house.

Tonight, however, was different. It was a very breezy evening, and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out whether or not she was imagining footsteps out on their perfectly manicured lawn. Twice, she had flung herself at the front door’s peephole; finding nothing outside, save for a few of Mrs. Figg’s outdoor cats that liked to roam the streets after dusk. She found the animals to be quite repulsive creatures, yet she knew they couldn’t be making the footstep-noises that she could have sworn were now coming from her front porch. She really hoped she wasn’t going mad, because Vernon would hear none of it. Perhaps it was the boy…no, that couldn’t be it. After his latest display of his freakishness, she and Vernon had locked up everything related to his world. Including the stick. Surely he couldn’t do magic without his stupid twig, right?

Still, she couldn’t help but twitch with every noise she heard. Dudley typing on one of his countless computers. Vernon stretching on the couch. The tick of the grandfather clock as each second passed. Even her own heartbeat was loud enough to make her jump.

After a particularly strong gust of wind, Petunia was certain she heard something in the front yard. Wasting no time at all, she bounded up from her seat and flung the front door open. Vernon grumbled something behind her, but didn’t bother looking up this time. She looked up and down the barely-lit street of Privet Drive several times, before she managed to calm herself down enough to close the door again.

Outside, Severus Snape grimaced. He was standing just a few feet away from the door under a well-cast Disillusionment Charm, wondering why in the world it mattered so much to him that Potter returned to Hogwarts. It wasn’t as though he was going to miss a good Potions student, since Potter was one of his worst students out of any of the dunderheads he had to teach, aside from Longbottom, perhaps. He had somehow forgotten about the Petunia-factor of this visit; she would undoubtedly make things unpleasant for him, considering that the two hadn’t seen each other since the summer before his and Lily’s fifth year at Hogwarts. After that, Lily stopped hanging out with Severus during the summer…she was too busy running around with her arrogant future-husband…

Not wanting to dwell longer on the memories of his and Lily’s last summer as friends, Severus grudgingly removed the charm from his body and knocked on the door, hiding his wand behind his cloak. Behind the door, he could hear Petunia shriek “I knew it!” and within seconds, the door was flung open once more. At once, her frazzled, almost-manic expression distorted into a look of horrific rage. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, save for a low gurgle that possibly contained vomit that emitted from her throat. Instead, she merely settled for blinking furiously, looking as though she had been caught in a dust storm; Snape half wondered if she could even see properly.

He hadn’t bothered putting on proper Muggle attire, of course. He had never followed the preposterous Muggle fashion trends in the past, so, he figured, why start now? So, he had worn the usual billowing black cloak and equally dark clothing underneath; everything except perhaps his pale face seemed to blend in with the shadows around the Dursley home. His appearance, added to the fact that he was a “freak,” according to Petunia’s standards, were enough to possibly give Vernon Dursley a massive heart attack once he found out.

Still, Snape found the silence almost amusing. Petunia had always been a rotten, talkative girl; having nothing kind to say to him but insults such as “What are you wearing anyways? Your mum’s blouse?” Her speechlessness was somewhat of payback to Snape for all those years of hurtful words. Finally, after several minutes that felt more like ten lifetimes, Petunia seemed to have recovered the ability to speak like a normal human being.

Then again, all she did was raise an accusing finger at him and shriek “YOU!” Since this conversation would obviously go absolutely nowhere if Snape followed the suit, he decided he would make the attempt to at least act his age, rather than shout meaningless words such as “you.”

“I am here for Potter,” he answered her plainly, though the statement itself seemed a little too much for the woman to comprehend, so he broke it down for her: “Potter. School. Needs. To. Go.”

“Don’t speak to me like that!” Petunia snapped, blushing furiously. Ah, so the older girl hadn’t lost her lovely temperament, even after all this time…

“Get out,” she added in a high voice, still trying to take in his appearance. It shouldn’t have been too much of a shock to her, considering that’s pretty much how Snape always used to dress when he was a kid. He heard voices in the room behind her, but neither of them sounded like Potter.

“I’m afraid I am not permitted to leave without Potter,” he sneered at her horrified expression. She fidgeted around for a moment in the doorway, but found no response to this. Suddenly, she turned around and yelled for her husband to come here, since facing Snape by herself was obviously too much of a strain on her. A big, portly bloke rumbled down the hallway, with an equally fat child waddling in his wake. Snape repressed the strong desire to ask her in an incredulous voice if this was the idiot she ended up marrying, and instead covered his surprise with a well-disguised cough. Lily hadn’t exactly made the best choice in husbands either, after all…

Potter was nowhere to be found amongst the trio of Dursley’s; Snape almost wondered if they had thrown him out of the house by now. Not that he blamed them, of course, but they were Harry’s guardians, so he assumed that the boy was still around somewhere within the obnoxiously clean home.

“Who is that…?” the red-faced man trailed off as he came up behind his skinny wife and took in Snape’s appearance. His chest started heaving and Snape noticed a purple vein popping out on the temple of his head.

“It’s…it’s him,” Petunia spat in an accusatory tone, glancing back and forth between Vernon and Snape as she spoke. “He was one of her friends…”

The man gasped and looked up at Snape with an unmistakable look of contempt. “You!”

Snape sighed at the stupidity of these Muggles, but forced himself to remain calm. “Yes, your wife has already established that, thank you. Now if you could just release Potter to me, I’ll gladly be going…”

“You…you’re not taking him…back to that school for freaks!” Petunia wailed, clearly more agonized by the remembrance that she hadn’t been allowed at Hogwarts when she was a girl, and therefore wanted her nephew to suffer a similar fate.

“Oh please, Tuney,” Snape sneered sarcastically while he absentmindedly toyed with his wand behind his back, wanting to hex the woman as payback for everything she made him suffer through as a kid. “Submitting to childish insults a little soon, aren’t you?”

“Don’t call me that!” she shrieked hysterically, looking as though she would punch him in the face, but was silently willing herself to resist the temptation for as long as possible. “You have no authority to take Harry away…”

By now, Harry had awakened from his deep slumber and was listening through the peephole in his door. He heard muffled voices down below; he felt as though he recognized the guest’s voice, but couldn’t quite figure out who it was. All he heard was vague snippets of the conversation, much to his great frustration. After nearly an entire summer of no contact with the Wizarding world, he was desperate to know whether or not someone would save him from this nightmare. Judging by his aunt’s outraged tone, he could only assume that there was a witch or wizard down below. But, the question remained: who was it?

“Actually, I do, considering that I teach the boy; yes I am a teacher, I know it comes as quite a shock to you,” Snape added, almost enjoying the infuriated expressions on the three Muggles’ faces. “And it is upon Dumbledore’s orders that I take the boy away from here.”

He now glanced directly at Petunia, whom by now had become quite ashen, and smirked. “I’m sure Mrs. Dursley here is more than capable of contacting the headmaster if you need to confirm my reason for this pleasant little visit.”

Petunia turned a violent shade of scarlet. “But…no…I…rubbish! Utter rubbish!”

But Snape knew he had caught her there, much to her son and husband’s bewilderment. Certainly those two dunderheads would know nothing of Petunia’s poor attempt to convince Dumbledore to allow her into Hogwarts when she was a girl…

“He’s lying…he’s lying, I swear…” Petunia breathed raggedly, unable to hide her hatred for the man any longer, not that she needed to, since Snape was well-aware of just how much she detested him.

“Get out, you,” Vernon stepped in front of his wife suddenly. “Harry’s not allowed to go back to your crazy institution, you hear?”

“As I have clearly explained, Muggle—”

“Don’t call me a ruddy ‘Muggle’ you insolent—”

“—I am not leaving the premises until Potter comes as well,” Snape cut him off sharply. As Vernon made an irate attempt to shove Snape out of the way and slam the door in his face, Snape’s hand jerked behind his cloak. It was the moment he’d been waiting for: he pulled out his wand and held it pointed at Petunia’s pig of a husband. All three Dursleys jumped backwards at the sight of the wand, and Vernon almost instantaneously released the door, letting it swing wide open. All of a sudden, Snape was in control of the situation again; three pairs of eyes nervously followed the wand as though it were a Muggle gun, ready to kill them at any given moment.

“Put that away,” Petunia said at last, her voice extremely shaky.

“Scared of awful Snape’s wand are we?” Snape sneered as he waved it in the air. He didn’t perform any magic, of course, but the mere movement seemed to scare the living daylights out of them. “You know, magic—” he smirked as the three cringed at the very word, “—isn’t banned during the summer for adults. I’m afraid if you don’t move and allow me to retrieve Potter, I’ll be forced to get by using other means.”

At this, Petunia turned quite pale. Snape got the impression that she hadn’t dealt with many full-grown wizards before, save for Hagrid of course, but Snape didn’t suppose he counted, since he had had his wand snapped years ago. He knew Potter was upstairs, by now; he heard the boy’s muffled footsteps and creaking floorboards from the closest room upstairs. With another flick of his wand— cleverly disguised as just a taunting swish, rather than an actual performance of magic— he unlocked the many locks on Potter’s door.

“I said put it away!” Petunia screamed, hugging her porky son, who was close to tears at the sight of the creepy man with the wand in front of him.

Upstairs, Harry had taken the cue and was now silently creeping down the stairs. It must have been a wizard, he concluded, since it would have taken his uncle nearly ten minutes to undo all of those locks without magic. As he reached the foot of the stairs, he held back a gasp of shock: standing in the doorway was his Potions professor, the absolute last person he’d ever think of seeing at the Dursleys’ house.

“Potter,” Snape acknowledged him stiffly, making all three of his relatives whirl around to face him. Harry just blinked, not sure of what to say to the man whom had made his first year at Hogwarts a memorably miserable experience. Then again, this was his first time in the presence of someone from the Wizarding world since he left Hogwarts. Since that idiot elf, Dobby, hadn’t left behind his stolen letters from Ron and Hermione, he had been shut out of the world once more. Not only that, but after the incident with Dobby, his relatives had taken away everything that even linked him to the world of magic, except Hedwig, thankfully.

“How’d…how’d you get out, boy?” Vernon roared with his face redder than Harry had ever seen it in his eleven years of living with the man.

“I…”

“I released him,” Snape replied calmly as he glanced over Harry’s abysmal appearance. He looked as though he hadn’t eaten in days, nor did he look as well-rested as he should have been. “We’ll be departing as soon as you give him back his belongings.”

Without warning, Petunia made a mad dash for the cupboard under the stairs, where they had stored all of Harry’s things. It was almost comical watching her attempt to block Snape from getting Harry’s school items. Snape invited himself inside— much to Dudley’s dismay— and followed the rest of the family into the living room.

“He…he can’t go if he doesn’t have his stuff and that…that stick!” Petunia cried, looking quite mad as her hair dangled wildly in her face.

Snape sighed once more at her naïveté. Harry was watching him strangely, but he paid no attention to the boy at this point in time. He was to get Potter out of here first; questions later. He’d already been here longer than he had planned on being here, mostly thanks to the boy’s relative’s theatrics. Holding up his wand, he flicked it lazily towards Petunia, relishing the fact that he was perfectly unrestrained to using magic against her now that he was no longer under the Trace he had been on as a kid. She was flung off to the side by some invisible force and Snape opened the cabinet, motioning for Harry to get his things.

Behind him, Snape saw the boy’s uncle slap him across the head. “Make him get out,” he barked at Harry, who merely stood there, looking as though Snape had just given him a million Galleons. It was painfully obvious that the man feared Snape, with good reason too, since he could use his wand as freely as he wished, while Harry wasn’t allowed to use magic until the school year began.

“As much as I approve of your disciplinary methods for Potter—” Snape sneered as he watched Harry’s grateful expression dissolve into a sour look at these words, “—I daresay we must be going.”

He flicked his wand again, making everything soar out of the cupboard and land neatly next to Harry. He turned to Petunia now, who was currently looking on in horror at Snape’s simple display of magic in her own house.

“Potter needs his wand, if you’d be so kind as to fetch it for him, we’ll be off.”

Petunia gaped at him, unsure of what to do. “I…I’m not telling where it is!” she replied defiantly, hating him for having so much control over the situation.

Dumbledore would pay for making him suffer through this, Snape thought inwardly as he raised his wand again and said “Very well then. Accio wand.”

Out of nowhere, Harry’s familiar holly and phoenix feather wand came zooming from the kitchen area. It landed gently in Snape’s hand, and he offered it to Potter, much to the boy’s shock. True, the man had saved his life countless times from Quirrell his previous year, but he had never expected the man to actually show up and help him return to Hogwarts this year! While he had personally hoped for Hagrid to come and fetch him, Harry figured that, at this point, he should be thankful he was rescued at all. He also had to admit that he found it highly amusing to see Snape messing with the Dursleys’ innate fear of magic; something he personally enjoyed very much.

Noticing Snape’s impatient glare, Harry hastily grabbed the wand and gathered his belongings. He knew Snape’s attitude towards him had barely changed since their previous encounters, but still, he’d much rather depart with his unpleasant Potions teacher than remain here under the wrath of the Dursleys. After what seemed like a lifetime without any contact with the Wizarding world, he was finally returning…it was a feeling so wonderful that he felt almost as elated as he first did when Hagrid revealed that he was a wizard.

“Let’s go, Potter,” he said indifferently as he began striding towards the door. The three Dursleys simply stared after them; Dudley was undoubtedly terrified of ever messing with full-grown wizards again after the incident with Hagrid, and Vernon seemed to be put into his place as well. Petunia, on the other hand, still looked defiant.

“You…you go to that school then. You’ll just end up like her!”

Harry, used to his aunt’s insults about his parents, ignored this and continued pulling his trunk towards the door. Snape, however, froze in place and slowly turned to face a flustered, but triumphant-looking Petunia. She had never been exceptionally good at making him angry, but this time, his eyes flashed murderously at her statement about Lily…

“Potter, go wait outside,” he snapped at the boy, whom had paused to see why his professor wasn’t following. Clearly startled, the boy nodded quickly and shut the door behind him.

Snape pulled out his wand so quickly that Petunia barely had time to react. Within a second, he was just inches away from her, with the tip of his wand digging into her forehead. She eyed the wand in horror, wondering what terrible things Snape was capable of…

“Another statement like that, and I’ll personally make sure you end up like her,” Snape hissed so quietly that only she could hear. He jabbed his wand threateningly into her skin, just long enough to prove that he wasn’t afraid of the consequences of whatever actions he took against her.

Finally, without another word, he lowered his wand and stuffed it back into his pocket. He didn’t want to give Potter any time to figure out what was going on inside, so he quickly departed; leaving the Dursleys standing completely dumbstruck behind him. With a hint of satisfaction, he was pretty sure he heard a muffled cry from Petunia as he slammed the door behind him.

xXxXxXxXx

“Now, remember you must purchase all of your supplies today and remain in your room in the Leaky Cauldron until Tuesday, when someone from the Ministry will arrive to take you to King’s Cross…are you listening to me, Potter?”

Shaking himself out of it, Harry nodded, but continued staring quizzically at his professor.

“Sorry…sir,” he added hastily, looking down at the food in front of him. He and Snape had arrived here in Diagon Alley nearly two hours ago by Side-Along Apparition. Snape had wanted to leave at once, but Harry had reminded him that he needed money and didn’t have possession of his Gringott’s key yet, so Snape had most unwillingly accompanied the boy to his vault. Afterwards, Snape had, ever so grudgingly, bought the boy lunch, since it looked as though he hadn’t been fed properly all summer. Snape was desperate to leave now; spending this much time with James Potter’s son was truly a nightmare for him, especially after having to deal with Lily’s nasty sister. He’d had had enough for today, and was ready to return to his office at Hogwarts, but Harry kept making excuses for him to stay, which he found strange, considering that he had never gotten the impression that the boy liked his company any more than he liked Harry’s.

“Sir?”

Snape had been walking away, ready to find a place to Disapparate now that Harry’s schedule seemed to be in order, but instead, he paused and gave the boy an exasperated look. “What now, Potter?”

The boy bit his lip and frowned, apparently trying to fit his thoughts into words. “I…I just wanted to say thanks, I guess…for getting me out of there,” he mumbled timidly as he refocused his attention on his snowy owl.

Amazing, Snape thought sardonically. So Potter has a concept of proper manners, after all.

Not one for awkward moments like these, he merely nodded to the boy. He looked awfully lonely, sitting at the table with nothing but an owl for company…

However, this was Harry Potter, Snape reminded himself. If The-Boy-Who-Lived wanted company, he could just show off his famous lightning scar and get a million people to admire him if he so desired. Snape certainly wasn’t going to start feeling sorry for the boy…not after all the trauma he personally went through just to get him out of the damned Muggles’ household…

“See you at school, Potter,” he replied at last. With that, he strolled off into the throngs of people crowding the shopping center, leaving behind a perplexed boy who didn’t really know what to make of Professor Snape anymore…