I replied to a review about not seeing Wendron in this story again, and I changed my mind. We will see Wendron one more time.
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Severus was seething. What on earth made the little whelp think that he could use what he had taught him to duel in the middle of the night? And to duel Draco Malfoy at that? What was he expected to do when Malfoy was in his own house? Potter was lucky it was McGonagall who had caught them was all he had to say about it. But no, he himself was lucky that it had been McGonagall who had caught them and given them both detention in the Forbidden Forest.

He paced his study until he was sure he'd put a hole in the stone floor. If he had caught them he would have hurt the boy's feelings giving him detention and taking points, and not doing it to Malfoy, but that was what was expected of him being head of Slytherin house. He and Dumbledore both knew that someday the Dark Lord would return, and when he did, it was important that Severus appeared to have continued to be a loyal follower. It was bad enough he'd had to give six Slytherins detention for Harry already. Damn the brats, he thought to himself. If he hadn't gone and given the boy extra defense lessons since they'd been back this wouldn't have happened. If he hadn't helped him quit stuttering... hadn't invited him into his own home... then you wouldn't be so weak now you fool, he admonished himself.

The fact was, he'd just grown too close to the boy. The annoyingly knowing looks from McGonagall, Poppy, and Albus had already told him that, but he'd been denying the facts until now. And now he knew... he had placed himself in a difficult position. To show favoritism as he must would hurt Potter, and not to would be the true mortal death of him someday, in a very painful, and irreversible way.

"And what do you expect to do about it?" he asked himself aloud as he stopped pacing for a moment. Even now the brat was out traipsing through the forest, facing who knew what, and he was standing in the safety of his office, worried sick and angry as hell. It was foolishness was all. The boy was foolish, playing with his safety like he was, flying recklessly on that broom of his during games, getting himself caught dueling, going into the Forbidden Forrest. He was reckless and Severus wouldn't stand for it.

Let the little fool kill himself, he thought to himself angrily, and see what I care. He tried to pretend that it was true, that he didn't care, but only grew angrier when he couldn't. Somehow a monster had crept up on him unawares and he had let it take his defenses down. He couldn't even gain control over his own emotions now. The last time the beast had shown itself was when Lily had died.

He turned and glared maliciously at an innocent quill lying on his desk and then reached down and snapped it in half. The second the boy stepped foot in his office, he was putting an end to this.

Finally satisfied that he had come up with a solution to his lack of control over his own emotions, Severus settled down into his desk chair and waited, as if Harry would be stepping through the office door any time now, although in reality he knew he wouldn't see the boy until the next day at the earliest.

* * *

Severus had once again managed to mask his face with the air of indifference when Harry knocked and came into his office after lunch the next day. Used to being invited to talk freely, Harry sat down in a visitor's chair and didn't wait to be asked how the detention had gone.

"Professor, there was something in the forest last last night, and a centaur ran up and and saved me. The thing was a man, but it it wasn't, it had glowing eyes and-" Snape held up a hand to stall him, and Harry closed his mouth.

"We will no longer be having lessons Mr. Potter." There, calm and final instead of raging and hysteric, he thought proudly, remembering the state of mind he had worked himself into the night before.

"Sir?"

"You will no longer come to my office in the evenings. You will spend it doing, whatever it is... you do."

"But-"

"But nothing Potter. I do not teach defense to students who will use it to duel in empty classrooms in the middle of the night."

He stood up and motioned to the door, and said, "Good day Potter."

Panic rose in Harry's chest. This was it? Why was this happening all of a sudden?

"But but, P P Professor! I'm s s-"

"Good day Potter," Snape said, sounding agitated now.

Harry closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, and stood up uncertainly. When Snape's hand didn't stop showing him the way to the door, he walked out, turning around just in time to see the door close in his face.

"I H H H H HATE YOU!" Harry shouted it at the door before he ran down the hall and up the dungeon steps. He wanted to run as far away as possible, but wasn't sure where to go. His room? The Owlery? Hagrid's? None of them seemed far enough. The Forbidden Forest crossed his mind, but the image of the flying beast wearing a cape with red glowing eyes stopped the thought cold, and he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked slowly through the castle instead. There were dangerous things out on the grounds, he reminded himself, and after last night, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to go visit Hagrid anymore without the giant himself as an escort to and from the castle.

Suddenly Harry hated the feeling of being trapped, and had the urge to go for a ride on his broomstick. That always made him feel good enough. But after Quidditch Practice that afternoon, Harry still felt hopeless, angry, and confused all in one. He finally went and found himself somebody who cared, and he had messed it all up. And at the same time he didn't think he had. Why wasn't he allowed to make mistakes? Everybody else was! This theory was confirmed when Harry saw Snape conversing in the Great Hall with Malfoy at dinnertime. Draco had dueled and gotten into trouble, but he still talked to him.

Ron and Hermione noticed that Harry hadn't said much and seemed to be down, but they couldn't get the reason out of him.

For the next few days, Harry continued on in the same vein, moping and not eating much, and not talking at all unless he was required to do so, at which point he stuttered out his answer and fell silent again. Snape didn't ask him any questions in potions, and Harry didn't volunteer any information. Screw the rules, Harry thought to himself as he dropped a handful too many of lacewing flies into his cauldron on purpose, not caring if it came out or not. What did the man care if he was suffering? Nothing apparently. Why should Harry bother to do well in his class then?

"Harry no, that's too many," Hermione reached out to grab his wrist as Harry went for another handful of wings, but he jerked his wrist out of hers and dumped it in anyway, watching with some satisfaction as the potion turned clear and thin instead of being thick and golden. His mind was so full and his insides hurt so bad that he didn't think he would be able to concentrate properly on the instructions anyway.

"You're ruining it," Hermione whispered into his ear when he swept all of his ingredients off his table into the cauldron.

"It it it's a a already r r ruined," Harry told her. Snape was watching him from the front of the room and knew from what the boy had added the potion would be no more useful than mud. Why had he done that? He hadn't failed to notice the stuttering that had developed again. It was like Harry didn't even care to fix it. Or so he thought until he came across Harry in a hallway a full week after he had told him there would be no more lessons.

Severus paused Sunday afternoon in the hallway. He could hear Harry trying to stutter out a spell around the corner.

"A A A Al alloo a a aloha m moooraaa. A a aloohaaaa aloo h h ha! URRRG!" The boy gave a noise of dissatisfaction and Severus heard a thud, which he assumed to be the boy's fist or foot against the wooden door he was trying to open.

Finally he stepped out from around a corner, and Harry, nursing his hurt fist in his other hand, looked up startled. The boy paled and stood completely still, as if hoping not to be seen.

"Trying to break into school property Mr. Potter?"

It was long, uncomfortable moments before Harry stuttered out that he had left his bag in the Charms room. Severus waved his wand and with a click the door opened and he strode off without a word. It bothered him to see the boy stuttering again, and he hated to admit that it might have something to do with him. Harry was obviously frustrated, and judging by his falling grades in Potions and even Herbology, Harry was bothered by what had happened.

Something inside Severus tugged, and nagged at him as if telling him this wasn't fair, but he didn't quite understand it. How wasn't it fair? It was perfectly fair, and with that thought he pushed the feelings back down and tried to ignore them. Ignoring them didn't happen for long however. In fact, uncomfortable, anxious, worried feelings sprang up in him the next day at lunch when McGonagall informed him that Harry had not shown up to breakfast or any of his classes, and was not in Gryffindor tower.

"Do you know where he's gone Severus?"

"I saw him yesterday getting his bag from the Charms room about one in the afternoon."

"He's been so distraught lately. I thought it was from his encounter with the man in the forest but-"

"Man in the forest?" Suddenly Harry's words about the floating beast with red eyes came back to him and horror flooded him as Albus leaned over and told him to pass the word down the staff table that there was an emergency staff meeting to be held in a few minutes, just as soon as lunch ended.

Severus tried not to squirm, or to let his feelings get the better of him as he sat in the staff lounge behind the Great Hall and listened as every professor was asked if they had seen Harry Potter. Even Filch, the man with an eye for finding students where they weren't supposed to be, had not seen him.

Dumbledore assigned parts of the castle and grounds to each staff member with orders to search thoroughly, both with and without magic, and to send a message to him if any sign of the boy was found, and the staff moved off in a hurry, dividing up Prefects to help with the search.

By dinner the entire school had been searched with no sign of him, and Severus had a headache the size of a Quaffle just from worrying and trying to remember everything he could about the boy and where he might have gone.

"You don't think he would have tried to go home, do you?" Pomona Sprout asked to the group as they once again sat in meeting in a staff lounge.

"No," said Minerva, "he hates his Muggle relatives, and he was told he wouldn't be going back there after they threw him out at Christmas."

"What do you think Severus?"

Severus looked up, taking his hand off his head.

"What?"

"What do you think? Is it possible Harry went home?"

"No."

The other staff went back to talking about where he might have gone, or what might have happened. The discussion had just turned to secret passageways and the room of requirement when something struck Severus hard in the back of his mind. The Snitch, Christmas, golden fields frosted over. Was it possible Harry had gone home? Just not to the one he first came from?

Surprising the rest of the staff, Severus flew up out of his chair, robes billowing behind him, and ran from the room. He narrowly avoided bowling over Weasley and Granger as he ran into the corridor, and didn't have time to hand out detention for eavesdropping.

He ran down onto the grounds and towards the school boundary with surprising speed. Please let him be there, he prayed, because if he hadn't made it, England was a big place to search.

* * *

Mitzi had been great. Harry sat with a full stomach on his bedroom floor, feeling as though it might still be Christmas time, and that nothing had happened since. He ignored the part of his aching heart that told him he couldn't stay here forever, because eventually Mitzi would break her promise not to call for Snape, or school would end for the summer and he would come home and find out for himself that there was a squatter living in his house.

There was a pop and Mitzi appeared beside Harry with a tray of cookies.

"No thanks," Harry said, trying to wave them away.

"But my Harry needs chocolate!" she squeaked.

Harry shook his head and then asked, "Why have you been calling me that?" Somehow his stutter had disappeared when he had gotten away from the castle. It had been a long ride on his broomstick to a train station where he was sure nobody would suspect he was a runaway student, and then it had been a long, long ride on the Hogwarts Express South. But the further he got away from the castle... from Snape, the better his speech got again.

"Because you are my Harry Potter," she said. "My Harry is giving me a Christmas present even though he didn't have to! You is my friend! My Harry!"

"Oh," he said, "thanks."

"Why is my Harry not wanting me to contact my Severus? Is master ok?"

"He's fine," Harry said, wishing he could say the same for himself. He hated feeling this way, so empty and lonely inside, and he hated not knowing what was going to happen to him now. He couldn't go back there, and he wasn't old enough and didn't know enough magic to make it on his own yet. Maybe he could go enroll at Durmstrang up North? He had heard that it was a decent enough wizarding school... although he might have to learn to speak a different language.

"Is Harry Potter fine?"

Harry let out a deep breath. Maybe someday I might be, he thought quietly. "Yes," he told her, although Mitzi gave him a look that said she clearly didn't believe that to be true.

"My Harry needs chocolate," she insisted again, trying to push the tray on him, but he shook his head again and she withdrew it.

"Mitzi be back to tuck my Harry in later," she said, and was gone with another pop.

It was dark outside now, and Harry sat on the floor with his back against the foot of the bed. He was lucky that Mitzi was willing to drop the anti-intruder wards and let him in before putting them back up again. Harry knew he was taking a big chance coming here, but had planned on sleeping in the field if Mitzi wasn't there or wouldn't let him in. It was still cold outside but Harry had learned how to bottle fire and cast lasting heating charms on things and knew he'd be ok if worst came to worst.

Feeling better about sitting on the floor instead of climbing into the bed, perhaps because it felt less like he was intruding into somebody else's house, Harry fell asleep where he sat. His dreams were mixed between a pleasant daydream and a nightmare. He would be having Christmas day with Snape one minute, and the next he was being ordered to get out of the house, where a hooded figure with red eyes waited to drink his blood. And then the dream Snape would save him from the figure and invite him back inside, where he found the Dursley's, and was forced to cook and clean and live in the cupboard under the stairs next to Mitzi's room. In his dream there was a crash somewhere in the house and the Dursley's had just informed him that a potion had exploded and Snape was dead, when something shook him awake.

Harry cried out for help as Uncle Vernon shook him in the dream for being such a bad housekeeper, and he threw his arms up in the air to meet a solid form.

He opened his eyes to find a dark room, with a dark figure before him, shaking him awake. Mistakenly believing it was the hooded creature, finally come to eat him, Harry screamed and tried to back away.

"Harry, no, it's me, it's me." Severus held tight to Harry's shoulders, and upon hearing his voice, Harry calmed a little, but started shaking.

"I I I I-"

"No no, it's ok. You're ok." The firm grip on him seemed to steady him a little more, and Harry couldn't help but throw himself forward into the strong, warm arms there in front of him and give a small sob.

Trying not to fall off balance as he crouched there in front of the boy, Severus allowed the embrace, relieved that he had finally found his charge. It's over, he told himself, trying to master the panic that had taken hold of his chest since early that afternoon.

"Shh, it's ok," Severus said as Harry gripped him tight and he heard a sharp intake of breath as the eleven year old tried to master his own emotions.

After long moments there in the dark, Severus stood up and lifted the boy onto the bed, where he sat with his legs hanging over the edge. He waved up the lights to a low level with his wand and stood, looking over Harry to be sure there were no wounds or other damage.

"How did you get here?" he asked quietly. He didn't think an eleven year old would be smart enough to get from Northern Scottland to Southern England on his own without the help of the knight bus.

Harry pointed to his broomstick, leaning against the wall by the desk, and then said, "I, I flew to a t train station and r rode down."

"And Mitzi let you in?"

Harry nodded and wiped his eye on his sleeve as Severus asked, "Why did you run away?"

The boy looked away then and Severus knew why. Somehow he had become so important to the boy that severing the relationship had been too much for him to handle. For a normal child, one with parents, or other adults to count on, it would have been a different story, but for Harry... but for Harry he had been the only one to give such a gift as the Snitch to. He had been the only one to help Harry with the stutter, or to teach him defense, or to take him home for Christmas.

"I'm sorry," Severus said, finally making up his mind about something that he had been denying for so long. "I should not have acted as I did. Adults act foolishly sometimes."

"What d do you mean?"

"I was upset that you used something I had taught you to harm another intentionally in a duel that was not necessary. I should not have cut off lessons with you over it however. I did not mean to cause you distress."

Harry was quiet for a few moments, and then he looked away and said, "I, I didn't know what to do. I had to leave."

"Where were you going to go?"

"Durmstrang maybe." He shrugged.

"Perhaps your friends would be more agreeable to you returning to Hogwarts? They've been in a panic all day along with the rest of the staff."

"Sir?"

"Everybody's been looking high and low for you Potter."

"Well I can't go back now then!" Harry said, face turning red. "It will be embarrassing! People will know I'm, I'm a little baby who, who ran away!"

Severus thought for a moment, and then said, "Or a first year who is now getting two weeks of detention with Professor Snape, because he decided to venture into the Forbidden Forest to slay the beast with red eyes, but instead met another monster and was knocked out cold, where Professor Snape found him in the dead of night."

"T two weeks?"

"You'll be getting detention either way Potter," Snape said with a pointed look, "but I will leave it up to you to say if it was for running off or trying to slay a beast."

Harry snorted. He couldn't believe he was being given the choice to make himself look better or worse. And the idea wasn't half bad either, although he wasn't really sure if it mattered either way since his only friends were Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid, whom he would tell the truth to anyway.

"I'm sorry f for the duel."

"Do not be. You already did detention for it, and it is expected of someone your age."

"Can we stay the night here?"

"We have classes in the morning Potter, otherwise I would say yes. We'll go back downstairs and take the floo out." Harry already knew that the floo here was one way as part of the anti-intruder barriers placed around the home.

They went downstairs, Severus carrying Harry's broom and bag, and stopped in front of the fireplace in the living room where the jar of floo powder sat on the mantle.

As Severus unscrewed the jar lid, Harry fidgeted nervously, and asked, "C c can I c c call y you dad?"

Severus paused what he was doing and both a pleasant and unpleasant feeling swept through him. "No," he said quietly, finishing unscrewing the lid. "Your father would not appreciate being replaced, even though you did not know him."

"Oh." Harry looked at his shoes.

A handful of green powder in his hand, Severus took a deep breath and said, "Would you settle for uncle?" Draco called him that in private since Severus had been around the Malfoy manor since the boy was just a baby and was as good as a godfather or uncle. He didn't think James Potter would roll over in his grave to see Harry have some sort of adult figure in his life, so long as it wasn't a new dad.

"Uncle Severus then?"

Severus narrowed his eyes in the darkened room, and said, "Uncle Severus," before throwing the powder into the fireplace and shouting, "Hogwarts!" into the flames.