Tuesday morning Severus sat, perusing the guardianship papers Petunia had shoved into his hands just before he had left. She had obviously been too traumatized by the mention of dragons to discuss it, and just wanted him gone so that she could collapse. She and her lawyer had been quite meticulous - the papers would certainly hold up in any muggle court. They would have held in the wizarding world as well, if it was any child other than the Boy-Who-Lived. At least not with Albus Dumbledore as the Head of the Wizengamot deciding what was best for ‘the Greater Good.'

Severus shifted uncomfortably, the worst part of Albus was that he felt he was doing the right thing much of the time. This enabled him to overlook, or refuse to see the suffering of any one individual, or at least decide that ‘a sacrifice had to be made'. He had experienced that, himself quite frequently. Between his experiences as a student and the curses he had suffered from Voldemort while a spy he was quite familiar with what Albus would allow to happen to those in his care. After he had turned from the Dark Lord he had accepted any suffering as part of his penance, but he still found it difficult to accept the things that had happened to him when his only crime had been to be a Slytherin.

He tossed down the papers; Harry was not going to become a sacrifice if he could help it. He flooed Rigel and they went to Severus' new house. It was a bit dusty, and the back garden was over-run, otherwise it seemed in order. Rigel helped him set up the floo, and then he waved Rigel off to his work with profuse thanks.

Severus quickly blocked the floo from receiving from other than his own floo on Spinners End or from Malfoy Manor. He firecalled Lucius and he and Draco came through - Draco was hoping to catch sight of a Dragon, and he quickly went to one of the windows.

Lucius looked around and summoned several house elves. They eagerly started cleaning while the two wizards looked around.

"A good sized house - 6 bedrooms upstairs you said? They'll be able to have some guests, then. Large dining room, study and living room downstairs. I assume there's a kitchen back there, somewhere." Lucius said, appraisingly. They peered down into the big cellar afterward. "Not huge, but I suppose you could put a potions lab down there, if you wanted." Lucius grinned at Severus' eye rolling. "Come on - I know that you never look at a cellar without assessing its worth as a lab."

"Well, hopefully, I won't need to be here enough to need a lab." Severus answered with a sniff.

They made there way back to the large living room, where Draco was craning his neck to an uncomfortable angle to watch a Dragon circling high above. The house elves had returned to Lucius after cleaning the rooms.

"We is done, Master Lucius." One of them said brightly.

"Very good." Lucius tried hard to be brief, but polite - Severus had good luck with his house elf by being flattering and polite. Lucius couldn't bring himself to flatter them, but he was trying politeness, and the elves seem to be acting better. Narcissa could sneer all she liked, but he preferred the better service. "Severus, we have a ton of old furniture in the attics. We can get you set up with that, at least."

Severus nodded in relief - he could afford to buy it, but it would take time to purchase and set up. "Yes, I need to bring them Wednesday, and I prefer to have something here."

Lucius nodded in understanding. "Kander, Go to the attics and pick out a bedroom set to fit the master bedroom for the lady that is to live here. We also need to furnish two of the other bedrooms - the ones overlooking the garden, for the boys that are Draco's age. See if there is a dining room set that will fit the dining room here. When that's done let me know." The elves nodded eagerly and popped away.

The pair of wizards wandered out to the walled garden, with Draco following eagerly - to have a better look at the dragon. The garden was large - big enough for a large swimming pool and still hold a very big garden. The boys could run and play quite a bit here, Severus thought. Draco leaned his head back and watched the Welsh Green fly high overhead, but still close enough to clearly see the wings, neck and tail.

Kander and one of the other elves popped back beside Lucius with happy smiles. "Biddy and Larky are putting the furniture you ordered in the rooms and cleaning them. You need more?"

"Thank you, yes." Lucius said with slightly clenched teeth, grimacing at the beaming smiles from the pair. Somehow it would be easier if they weren't so eager. "A nice rug, and some sofas and chairs for the living area. Then check the kitchen and see what is needed. I'm sure that Malfoy Manor has extras - make a list of anything still needed. I am willing to wager there are dozens of sets of dishes and flatware that don't have family crests on them stored away - bring over some." The elves happily popped away again. Severus snickered at Lucius' aggravation and handed him a vial of headache potion. "They are just too damn cheery - it makes me want to hex them." Lucius complained.

Severus summoned Tinker, and sent him to Diagonalley to a shop for bed linens, and other sundries. The house was soon set up properly - only now needing occupants. Lucius was happy to lend a house elf; he had several that he had inherited from aunts, cousins, ect. The war had killed off some family lines completely, and house elves were bound to the family whether they liked it or not. Lucius thought and then sent for Dobby - the most unhappy elf he owned. The former owner had been a very eccentric cousin, and the elf was even worse.

Dobby appeared with an unhappy cringe, pillowcase dingy in response to the elf's unhappiness. "Dobby, I am ordering you to serve the family that will live here. You must not reveal that they live here to anyone in any way. Their safety depends on this; you will take care of them and follow their orders as my own." Dobby nodded frantically, but seemed relieved to be staying in the new house. "The house is owned by Severus Snape, but the family is Petunia Dursley and her son Dudley and nephew Harry Potter. You will not reveal this to anyone."

"I is to take care of Harry Potter, sir?" Dobby's eyes grew impossibly large. "Oh thank you, sir."

"Yes, and you will take very good care of them." Lucius reiterated. Dobby nodded eagerly again.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Lucius and Draco flooed back to Malfoy Manor with Severus in tow for dinner. Narcissa was waiting with her usual frown, greeting Severus with a frosty air. They had decided not to triumphantly broadcast that they were helping Harry Potter until he was firmly established on the reserve. Draco had been sworn to silence. Draco was smug that he was in on an adult secret, and helping with what seemed to be a very cunning plan.

Draco eyed his parents and godfather. He had been torn for a time between his mother and father, but his mother had been acting more and more erratic at times. Plus, as he grew older and understood more both his father and godfather had been giving him a lot of facts to think about. First, the very definition of pureblood, most of the world recognized anyone with all four of their grandparents being magical was a pureblood. Britain used to be that way as well, with only a half dozen families feeling differently.

Most families welcomed a muggleborn into the family line here and there, to strengthen things. A few days after that horrible blow up about the dark lord his father had hauled out the Malfoy family tree and the Black family tree. Lucius had shown him how the Malfoys had steadily infused their line with fresh blood on a regular basis, so their magic had stayed strong. They had always preferred to take in half-bloods whose parents had both been magical, so the children would still, under the usual definition be considered purebloods. Nonetheless the Malfoys had never allowed themselves to become inbred.

Then they turned their attention to the Blacks. Draco winced a little at the sheer number of cousins and second cousins and other relatives marrying back into the family. Lucius pointed out all the ones with obvious madness, and the ones that were ‘just eccentric'. Then he listed all the squibs that were not on the family tree, and all the children who had died ‘very young' that he suspected were squibs. Draco had thought that over, and when he had heard about the dark lord's hypocrisy he decided that his father was quite correct in siding with Harry Potter.

Draco had been thrilled to hear that Severus would be guardian to Harry Potter, and that he would have a chance to be friends with him. He was less thrilled about the muggleborn cousin, but being polite to Harry Potter's cousin seemed a small price to pay for Harry's friendship.

He was a bit envious that they would get to live in the dragon reserve. He sighed and looked back down at the soup he had been automatically spooning into his mouth. He couldn't have told anyone what kind of soup it had been.

Draco smiled, Harry would arrive tomorrow, he hoped for an introduction by the weekend.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Wednesday was a gloomy looking day, with rain threatening and lightning in the distance. The boys had spent all Tuesday packing everything they hoped to take they had stuck mostly with clothing and the books. Petunia had put the moneybag from Vernon's study into the Goblins featherlight bag.

They soon had all three duffels and the goblin bag by the front door just before noon. They were all eager to be gone. Harry and Dudley had been awestruck at the thought of living among dragons, and looked up dragons in their small stack of books. There was a little information, but not nearly enough to satisfy their curiosity.

Harry felt happier than he could remember; they were leaving this horrid house, and going into the magical world - where he and Dudley belonged. Harry would finally really belong somewhere.

The boys were fixing a lunch, while Petunia made some lemonade when they heard the door. The boys looked eager "He's here early." Dudley crowed. Petunia however paled - Severus would never breach protocol by not knocking.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Vernon had left Wednesday morning brooding thoughtfully. The whole lot of them were acting odd. Worse they had seemed cheerful at times, and Petunia had not even been flustered by mention of Marge. Petunia was always intimidated by Marge. Marge had friends everywhere - judges, lawyers, politicians - not extremely high level, but enough to give one pause.

Then, as he was rooting around in a bedside table for a pen, he found some flyers - from one of those pesky women's shelters - ‘what to take with you when you leave'. This had annoyed him, but surely she wasn't planning to leave, where would she go? She didn't have anyone to flee to that wasn't his friend first and foremost. He spent most of the morning mulling over clues. Surely Albus wouldn't help her - he'd made it clear he wanted Harry right where he was. Nonetheless the clues were obvious - Petunia was leaving, and perhaps intended to take the two boys with her. He grew steadily angrier all morning, Petunia must have found help, somewhere.

Finally he told his boss he wasn't feeling well and left for home at lunch. He checked the small snub nose pistol he kept in his car. This was all that freaks fault. He had likely bewitched both Petunia and Dudley - that was why they were acting so oddly. Well, he knew how to end that.

Vernon arrived home, the gun tucked into his belt. As he entered the door, he could see the duffle bags at the door. His eyes glazed over red and his already raging temper boiled over. Harry, followed by Dudley raced in with smiles that quickly changed to horror at the sight of him.

"Expecting someone else freak?" Vernon screamed, swinging a fist into the side of Harry's head, knocking him into the wall, causing him to slump to the floor, stunned.

"Don't!" Dudley yelled, pushing between the two and shoving at his surprised father. He backed up in shock. No one had challenged Vernon in years.

Petunia ran in, arms outstretched. "Please, Vernon, don't make a scene for the neighbors." Hoping that would defuse things. It didn't.

"You're letting the freak run things, and now you think you can run off and take my son with you?" Vernon roared.

"He's not a freak, he's a wizard like me. I'll get my magic back, and we'll both go to the magic school. Neither of us are freaks." Dudley yelled right back, just before Vernon backhanded him. Dudley staggered back.

Petunia stepped forward in front of them, and then also stopped. Vernon had pulled out the gun, and was trying to aim it at Harry, but Petunia was in front of both boys. "Don't, Vernon, there is no need for this. Please..."

"I won't have a freak for a son, and I won't have that evil freak infecting him any longer." Vernon was waving the gun between the two boys, now; apparently unsure of whom he wanted dead more - Harry or the son that was defying him. He waved the gun once again at Dudley yelling, "You'll obey me or..."

Petunia panicked and pushed in front of her son, and Vernon stumbled back, and the gun went off. Vernon was shocked, at the deafening noise and the sudden blossom of red spreading across the right side of Petunia's waist. He dropped the gun and fled, hearing his son wail as he caught Petunia as she fell to the floor and Harry's cry of anguish as he crawled to her side.

Harry and Dudley heard the car peel out quickly. Petunia clutched a hand tightly to the wound. "Give me the phone and run, just like we planned. You need to get away before he comes back." Her voice was firm, "I'll be alright, but you need to get to safety. Severus will be waiting for you, now go."

Harry nodded and pulled the shocked Dudley to his feet. "We'll get there Aunt Petunia, I promise."

They grabbed their duffels and the Goblin bag and ran out the door, heading into the darkening afternoon.