Harry woke up because he was cold. When he looked around his bed, he noticed the blankets were missing. He remembered most of what happened last night, but he couldn’t remember where the blankets went. Digging under his pillow, he was glad to see his family tree was still safe. Putting it away he wondered where Snape went. Harry knew the man had stayed with him because he woke up several times after falling asleep. It made him feel better to see Snape still there. He thought it helped keep the nightmare away too.

  Only when he was at the door did he hear Snape talking with someone. Peeking out, Harry saw it was Dumbledore and decided it would be okay to enter the sitting room. The headmaster smiled kindly at him and Snape turned around. Harry immediately walked over to him, but he felt embarrassed with Dumbledore there, so he just sat down and took a piece of sausage. It wasn’t warm anymore, from sitting out, but Harry was suddenly hungry.

  Dumbledore leaned forward and poured him some juice. “I was wondering, Harry, if you would like to take a walk with me around Hogwarts? If I remember correctly, there were many more things that you wanted to see. And since tomorrow is your last day, I thought I would give you the opportunity.”

  Harry immediately looked to Snape, but the man didn’t seem to notice. He wanted to be with Snape more, he realized. “What are you doing today?” He asked, maybe they could go together.

  Snape gave his a quizzical look. “Unfortunately, I have many classes to prepare for in the coming week. I will be busy most of the day.”

  Harry was disappointed, but he knew Snape wouldn’t like him hanging around. “I guess, I’ll go with you,” He said to Dumbledore.

  He could feel Snape frowning at him, but Dumbledore only chuckled. “Very good,” He stood up. “Well, you finish your breakfast,” He suddenly pulled out a very strange watch, “Or I should say lunch? Quite unlike you to sleep so late, Severus,” Snape was glaring at him, but Dumbledore only smiled. “I’ll be back later, Harry.”

With the headmaster gone, Harry turned to Snape. He wanted to say something, but he suddenly didn’t know what. So he drank his juice, feeling a bit confused. “It is rude to stare,” Snape said, pouring himself another cup of tea.

  “Sorry,” Harry watched as he slowly drank the tea. “You know, when I was really little, I used to spend more time alone with my Aunt Petunia. Cause Dudley would be at a friend’s house or something. She usually told me not to bother her or made me do chores or something. Even though I was really little and wasn’t very good at chores,” He sighed. “Anyway, but there was some days when she would let me have afternoon tea with her. She didn’t like me talking, but she let me sit with her. She would even pour me a cup and, though I don’t like tea, I drank it anyway. It smelled good and it was quiet with her. And it was the only time I was alone with her. She isn’t so bad when she is by herself.”

  Snape was staring at him and Harry wondered why he even brought this up. The man wasn’t talking so he thought he should continue on.

  “I never thought Aunt Petunia cared about me much. I mean, Dudley would hit me and he would never get punished. Uncle Vernon would yell at me and push me into my cupboard, and she wouldn’t do anything. She always gave me less food or made me give my food to Dudley when he finished first. She never said anything nice to me or gave me any presents or helped me with homework. But I used to think that, whenever we had tea, maybe she didn’t mind me so much.”

  Harry suddenly felt like crying and he pulled his knees up to his chest. He didn’t know why he brought it up, he was feeling so good before.

He was babbling, but he couldn’t seem to stop. “I…I don’t ever want to go back to the Dursley’s. Even if every day is like afternoon tea with Aunt Petunia,” He swallowed thickly. He didn’t want to go back there, he kept repeating in his head, and it kind of scared him to think that.

  Snape motioned to him and Harry stood up to stand in front of the man. He felt Snape lock his knees around his and it made him feel a bit better. “It’s okay,” He murmured and Harry realized that he was crying now. He hurriedly wiped his eyes, but Snape took his hands. “It’s okay, Harry, to want more.”

   “I’m sorry,” He said, tasting his tears as they fell into his mouth.

  The man sighed. “If I want you to apologize, I will ask for it.”

  “Can I stay here?” Harry suddenly asked, his tears clearing. “Can I stay here forever, with you?”

  Snape had a very odd expression on his face. “You wouldn’t want to stay here. You can see that I am very busy. And once classes starts again, I will be more so.”

  Harry could feel the man’s hands going limp and he held on to them very tightly. “I don’t mind being by myself, or I could sit with you in your office. I’ll be quiet, I promise.”

  “And then I would become your Aunt? Harry, do you want that?”

  Harry could feel himself beginning to cry again. “But you wouldn’t be Aunt Petunia.”

  “I don’t think you quite understand-”

  “But I do!” Harry shook his head. “You are nice to me and you talk to me and you gave me glasses and you don’t yell at me for crying and you let me hug you,” He sniffed. “I like it. I don’t want to go back to the Dursley’s. I like it. I like being hugged when I feel bad. I don’t want to go back to the Dursley’s. I like you.”

  Snape sighed. “You hardly know me. You wouldn’t be happy living with me.”

  “I’m not happy now.”

  The both turned as the door opened and Harry quickly wiped his face as he saw Dumbledore walk into the room. He didn’t want to cry in front of him. Snape quickly stood up and walked into his office. He didn’t even look at Harry.

  Dumbledore watched him leave before turning to Harry and offering him a handkerchief. “Are you alright?”

  Harry ignored the handkerchief and didn’t answer. He was angry at Snape. He didn’t know why the man wouldn’t let him stay at Hogwarts. He frowned, wondering if Snape actually didn’t like him. Maybe he thought Harry was a bother. That is why he wouldn’t let him stay. Harry felt his anger drain and he felt himself crying again. He looked at Dumbledore.

  “Why is he so mean sometimes and sometimes not?”

  The headmaster gently reached out and wiped Harry’s tears away. It didn’t feel the same as when Snape did it. “Severus is a very stubborn man. So stubborn, in fact, that I think he doesn’t even realize it anymore,” He took Harry’s hand and led him out the door. “Don’t worry, Harry, I’ll talk to him and tell him to stop being mean.”

-

  Harry liked Dumbledore and he very quickly forgot his bad mood as the headmaster led his around Hogwarts. He noticed more that whenever they passed students, Dumbledore casually shielded him from view. But some kids still stared at him. Harry didn’t like it, even though he knew why now.

  He took Harry to the highest tower at Hogwarts and let him look over the edge. “Wow, it just goes on forever,” Harry was looking at the lake and mountains and forest. “Where is Hogwarts?”

  Dumbledore stood beside him. “Oh, much too far of a walk from the Dursley house, I assure you,” He chuckled as Harry frowned.  “Don’t worry, this won’t be the last time you will see Hogwarts.”

  “When can I come back again?” Harry asked anxiously. “Next week?”

  Dumbledore laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m afraid not. I was referring to when you became a student.”

  Harry sighed. “But that’s so far away,” He wondered if that would be the next time he would see Snape again. He supposed they could write to each other, but it wasn’t the same.

  “It will come soon enough. Come, it is becoming chilly up here.”

  Harry followed Dumbledore down the staircase, he looked at everything carefully, trying to keep it in his memory. He didn’t want to forget Hogwarts.

  “Harry, how would you like to ride the Hogwarts Express?”

  He looked up at Dumbledore. “What is that?”

  “It is the train that takes student from here to London. It is leaving tomorrow so it can pick up students to bring back,” He smiled. “I can secure you a seat, if you’re interested.”

  Harry’s eyes went very wide. “A train? I’ve never been on a train before.”

  “It is quite lovely, I assure you. And the countryside is beautiful.”

  Harry thought about it carefully. “Can I bring Professor Snape?” He asked softly.

  Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully, but Harry could still see him smiling. “Well, you will need an escort to Little Whinging, I daresay. Oh!” He gasped, “I nearly forgot,” He quickly took off his hat holding it out before him. Harry watched curiously as he slowly put his hand in and pulled out a shining white rabbit.

  Harry laughed and clapped his hands. “You can do it!”

  Dumbledore smiled. “Ah, look closer.”

  Harry looked at the soft rabbit, who seemed to be holding something. He reached a hand towards it and it dropped a colorful egg in his hand. It seemed to be made of chocolate. At Dumbledore’s nod, he opened the colorful wrapper and took a small bite. It tasted delicious. He grinned broadly and shoved the entire thing in his mouth.

  Dumbledore laughed, putting the rabbit back in and placing the hat back on his head. “Happy Easter, Harry.”

-

  Harry was so excited to ride the train that he almost forgot it was going to take him away from Hogwarts. It wasn’t until Snape was walking him towards the station that he quickly turned around to get one last glimpse of the large castle. Standing on the platform, he waved to it eagerly. He only stopped when he saw a giant tentacle rise from the lake and wave back. He thought it was very silly, but still frightening.

  “Come on, we shouldn’t delay the train,” Snape softly pushed him up the steps.

  Harry instantly loved the train. It was large and shiny and had individual compartments. He didn’t see anyone else there and he wondered what is would be like full of students. It barely started moving as Snape led him into a compartment and shut the door.

  Harry pressed his face to the window, watching the castle slowly disappear as they headed into the country. “Sit down, you do not need to plaster yourself to the glass,” And Snape tugged off his backpack, putting it up on the luggage rack. He sat down opposite of the boy.

  Leaning against the seat, Harry kept his gaze on the window. He hadn’t really talked to Snape since yesterday. He still felt a bit angry and hurt from what the man had said about not wanting Harry to live with him.  But Harry didn’t want to be angry at Snape anymore, this was the last day for them to be together.

  It still felt awkward though. “How long until we reach London?” He asked softly.

  “Already bored?”

  Harry drew one of his legs up. “No,” He didn’t want the train ride to ever end. He wanted to sit with Snape here until they both became happy. He just didn’t know if the trip was long enough. He looked over and saw Snape had pulled out a book and was reading. “What’s that?”

  He looked up from the book. “It is a potions text. I’m studying it.”

  Harry put his leg down, leaning forward. “Really? But you’re a teacher.”

  Snape rolled his eyes. “There are many new techniques and discoveries being made every day. I must keep up if I want to continue to be a skilled Potions Master and a teacher.”

  Having nothing better to do, Harry came to sit next to him. He looked at the book. It was mostly words, but Snape seemed to have scribbled in every margin. “What’s that for?” He pointed to a couple paragraphs where Snape had completely crossed them out.

  “That is the author being an idiot,” He snapped the book shut. “I doubt you would understand. Now what do you want?”

  Harry drew up his legs. “Nothing,” He muttered.

  “I doubt it,” Snape reached over and slapped his legs down. “You do that when you’re worried.”

  Harry just tugged on his glasses. “I bet I’ll do better at school now. Now when the teacher calls on me to read the board, I can do it and then she can’t yell at me.”

  “You will still have to improve your reading skills, but yes, it will be better,” Snape was looking out the window and for some reason, that bothered Harry.

  So he took Snape’s hand and examined it closely. The man flinched, but didn’t pull away. The fingers were slightly discolored, Harry notice and there was odd scars. Some looked like burns, others like small cuts from a slipped knife. Otherwise the hands were much larger and longer than Harry’s. “Why do you like potions?” He didn’t know much about potions, despite watching Snape make some. Besides, all the other classes sounded much more interesting. Well, besides for the history class, Harry was never good at memorizing dates and names.

  “It doesn’t involve much wand work.”

  Harry poked at a burn at the base of his thumb. “You don’t like wands?”

  “Wands are mostly based on a person’s natural ability with magic. Though with students it matters less, they have not yet learned how to consistently tap into their magical powers. Among adults, however, it becomes very apparent who is magically greater than others. They have all mastered the same skills, but still some rise above others, for no other reason than their birthright.”

  Harry look up, not really understanding a lot of what he said. “It’s unfair?”

  Snape gave a small shrug. “Perhaps you could word it that way. But I find it mostly unrewarding. Potions means technical skill. The ability to memorize and categorize materials and their effects. Experimentation is key and yet dangerous. A great mind is needed to become a great potioneer. And I find a great mind much more powerful than great magic.”

  Harry looked back to the hand, wondering if he would ever be good at potions. He wanted to be, suddenly. He noticed a rather large scar trailing up his wrist. Pulling the sleeve slightly, he had a glimpse of something black before Snape quickly jerked his hand away. Hurriedly, he secured his sleeve down.

  “What was that? A bruise?” Harry was looking at Snape’s left arm, it had looked really big.

  Snape was now rubbing it absently. “It is nothing for you to see.”

  Harry frowned. “Why?”

  “You are too young to know of such things.”

  Harry remembered the last time Snape said something like that. “You mean like Voldemort?”

  The man visibly flinched, the first time Harry had ever seen him react like that. “Ah, yes. Something of that nature,” He muttered and he was still rubbing his wrist.

  Harry took Snape’s right hand then. “Stop, you do that when you’re worried.”

  Snape made a weird noise that Harry could describe as half a laugh. But it seemed to mean that the man was relaxed again. Harry didn’t say anything more for while, just playing around with the skin of the man’s fingers. The right hand was less scarred, but had more grim under the nails. “What do you find so fascinating?” Snape’s voice was dry.

“I’m just memorizing,” He answered automatically.

“Why?”

“Because I want to remember forever,” He looked up at Snape.

The man seemed confused. “You want to remember my hands?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “No, I want to remember you.”

“It may be a long time before you see me again. But we will meet again.”

Harry sighed, Snape didn’t seem to understand. “There’s a tree in the backyard that I climb whenever Dudley is chasing me. He can’t climb, I think it’s because he’s so fat,” The man snorted, and Harry smiled before continuing. “I spend a lot of time up there when the weather’s nice. I can get really high up, even on the small branches. I like it there because the wind is nice and the noises from the houses are softer. I can see into all the neighbor’s yards and any cars coming down the street. I think about a lot of things up there. I think—thought a lot in my cupboard, but my thoughts felt so stuffy in there. From the top of that tree, I feel better. And I don’t worry as much. I would just imagine anything, that I was flying or at the top of a tall tower or that I was at the top of a mountain. Silly stuff, most of the time. But I can’t stay up there all day, cause my legs will get stiff and I’ll get hungry. It feels awful standing on the ground again, because I’m…on the ground again.”

He looked back to Snape’s hand, trying to remember what his point was. The hands were rougher than Harry’s, though just as pale. Harry thought that his hands would eventually become darker than Snape’s, because he would spend more time outside in summer.

“I want to remember Hogwarts and you and Dumbledore and magic,” He laid his hand, flat against Snape’s. “For when I’m on the ground again.”

-

Severus refused to take the Knight bus to Little Whinging, mostly on the grounds that it would expose Harry Potter’s residence to strange witches and wizards. He also hated the damned vehicle. He wasn’t about to take Harry on a side-along apparition either. Older children tend to have a hard time coping with the sensation, a seven year old would probably end up vomited all over Severus’ robes.

So he took Harry to the underground, then through various buses that would lead them to Privet Drive. Severus had taken muggle public transportation before, though it was very long ago. He had forgotten how painstakingly slow and inefficient it was. Dumbledore had given him some muggle money, but even with Harry’s help, it took some time to get it all sorted.

  Harry didn’t seem to mind the dubious journey through London. He would often shake Severus’ arm in an attempt to show him some odd sight or another. “Can you bring me back here again?” He would say over and over again. For the most part, Severus concentrated on keeping the boy at his side.

  It was evening by the time they were approaching Wisteria Walk and Mrs. Figg’s house. Severus hurried Harry along, wondering if the Dursley’s had arrived home yet. He looked down at Harry, who was clutching his hand. He had been somewhat miserable since arriving closer to his home. Severus sighed, there was nothing he could do to remedy that.

  Mrs. Figg was waiting on the front stoop and waved her hands hurried at them. “About time! They are to be here soon, you know!” She ushered them inside. “Called not half an hour ago,” Once they were securely in the living room, she turned to the window, looking down the street.

  Harry was holding on to Severus’ hand very tightly. “I will see you again, won’t I?” His voice was shaking slightly and Severus knelt down.

  “I will probably owl you at some point. But it may be some time, you understand that, yes?”

  Harry was breathing deeply, but he didn’t look to be crying. “Yeah. Can you-?” His voice broke and he swallowed with a shuddering sigh. “Can you tell me about Hogwarts more and potions and Quidditch?” He wasn’t quite looking at Severus.

  “You must be patient,” He said.

  “Can you…can you talk to me more about my mum or my dad?” His eyes were shining now.

  “You need to calm down, Harry.”

  The green eyes suddenly snapped to his. “Can you call me Harry every day?”

  Severus frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

One hand clutched at his sleeve. “Please, always call me Harry, no matter what. Even if your angry or don’t like me. Please?”

  There was a sharp knock on the door and Mrs. Figg made quick motions for Severus to leave. He quickly stood up and detached himself from Harry. The boy made a whimpering sound, but was now looking at the door. Severus took the opportunity to floo out through the fireplace quickly. He barely saw Mrs. Figg opening the door as Harry turned to look at him.

  Then he was gone.

-

  Severus was breathing heavily when he stepped into Dumbledore’s office. He wondered if he had inhaled smoke. He was grateful that the headmaster wasn’t in and he quickly walked down to the dungeons.

  He had classes to prepare for tomorrow and exams in the next month. When he entered his quarters, he saw the small room still there. He didn’t know what kind of elaborate magic Dumbledore used to create it, but Severus wasn’t really sure he could reverse it. He didn’t feel like trying, in any case.

  He stepped into his laboratory, bringing out ingredients for the Enlightenment potion. He knew he was going to work into the night. Even if it meant he would be at the brink of exhaustion for morning classes, he would concentrate on the annoying potion so intensely that he wouldn’t see that devastated look on Harry’s face. He would forget about the boy, Severus was convinced. He would forget all about Harry Potter and go back to normal. It would be fine. It would be as it should.