By a stroke of luck (which he suspected Luna had something to do with) Harry was allowed to begin eating meals at the table with everyone else, although he still had different food than Luna and Snape had. Harry's meals were the same daily: porridge for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, and the nastiest tasting pasta he'd ever had for dinner.

At first Harry suspected that Snape had just been punishing him, but after asking Luna she informed him that she always got to choose what she wanted to eat for meals, which is why Harry often sat with a sandwich and Luna often had roast chicken or steak and kidney pie. Harry had not learned nothing at the Dursley's though, and knew better than to complain, lest what food he was given be taken away and he go hungry.

When Harry had finished his tenth book, Snape told him that he was now allowed a one hour break after chores, although he was still not allowed to go outside, and was warned to stay out of any rooms he had not been invited inside and that he was not to enter Luna's room period.

Suddenly unsure of what to do with himself during his breaks, Harry took to lying on his bed in his room, staring at the ceiling. At the Dursleys he wouldn't have had a break, but in the rare moments he had to himself, he wrote to his friends or spent time with Hedwig. She wasn't here now, and he was too ashamed to write letters to his friends, and even suspected that they were mad at him because they hadn't written anything to him at all this summer. Staring at his ceiling day after day, Harry grew more unhappy and alone, and was finally prompted by his own sadness to try spending one of his free hours downstairs with Luna. Perhaps she had a board game or something they could play.

Feeling out of place, Harry crept downstairs and scanned the empty living room, and then climbed the stairs again to see if she was in her room, which Harry was expressly forbidden to cross the threshold of. Three gentle knocks on the closed door, and then he waited only a moment before it swung open to reveal his pale friend.

"Hello Harry. Did you want to play a game with me? I was just thinking of bringing my gobstones downstairs.

Harry nodded, throat sore and dry, and watched for a moment as she began pulling things out of a dresser in search of her game. His eyes scanned the room, noticing how much larger it was than the one he was in, and that the walls were pink and purple, and there was a soft white carpet and a number of posters. The day Harry's trunk had arrived and been dragged into his gray room, Snape had told him not to even think about hanging any decorations. Harry suspected it was because the man was working on a way to get him out of his house and back into the castle or to the Weasleys so that he wouldn't have to deal with him for the rest of the summer, and therefore there was no need to settle in.

Harry sighed inwardly as he saw pictures of who he assumed were Luna's mother and father hanging on the walls. She had settled in... made herself right at home, as strange as that sounded considering this was Snape's home. Without saying anything to Luna's back he turned and trudged back down the hall to the guest room. It wasn't really his room... just borrowed, just like every place he'd ever been, always living on borrowed time. His toys and clothes had always been Dudley's old broken or torn things, he borrowed the cupboard under the stairs, he borrowed Dudley's second bedroom, he even borrowed some of Ron's old clothing and sometimes felt like he was borrowing his best friend's parents, because he had none of his own. Nothing of his own.

A few minutes later Luna appeared at Harry's open bedroom door to find him sitting on the edge of his bed and staring off into nothingness.

"Harry?"

He looked over to see that she had a set of gobstones in a pouch and rose quietly to follow her down to the living room, but he couldn't concentrate on the game and lost five times before Snape sent him back to the Library to do more homework. Luna watched him trudge up the stairs, worry in her eyes that went unseen.

* * *

The more that Snape talked, the more melancholy Harry became. Luna had tried to engage Harry in several conversations over meals in the last few days, but Snape seemed determined not to allow it, and instead kept Luna busy answering questions and talking about all manner of things. What it must be like to have someone care to ask you questions about your day, Harry thought in wonder, watching the two of them go back and forth, as if Luna had lived with the man her entire life.

Not hungry, Harry drank a little of the water he'd been given with dinner, and took a few bites of pasta, but was otherwise unable to eat, and stared blankly into his bowl as he pushed the pasta around with his fork. He didn't notice the Potion Master's dark gaze that steadied on him, having followed Luna's own line of sight, until he cleared his throat and said impatiently, "Is something wrong with your pasta Mr. Potter, or perhaps you'd rather be eating out of a rubbish bin?"

Looking up into the man's eyes momentarily, Harry wondered why the comment stung so much. Perhaps it was just because he knew the man was doing the bare minimum to keep him alive, although that bare minimum was a far sight higher standard than what the Dursley's kept. Harry couldn't help but feel an ache of jealousy of the attention and privilege that Luna got. He was sure the man hated children period and didn't want to take Luna in, just as he didn't want Harry living with him, and yet, she was treated with so much kindness... affection even.

Clearing his throat Harry said quietly, "No sir. It's fine sir." He went back to staring into his pasta, disgusting as it was, and forced another bite down. He couldn't bring himself to finish, and when Snape and Luna were done, Harry left the bowl there and went straight to bed, though he didn't sleep more than an hour, mind unable to conjure any pleasant dreams.

* * *

"Oh, it's a lovely house Professor. Eloise's mother has decorated in all greens, which is sure to keep the Nargles away, and there are pink helgin flowers in the front yard, which is sure to draw in pixies during the summer to sprinkle the house with magic dust..." Harry dusted the mantelpiece in the living room, listening as Luna chatted with Snape in the kitchen as he fixed lunch. She had been allowed to go out today and Harry had not, again. He might have had the time if he hadn't had to do chores, and then maybe he'd have something to tell, not that the man would listen. Luna might, but it seemed as if Snape was trying to keep the two of them apart. Luna was no longer allowed to do homework and chores with him. As Harry moved into the next room to dust, he wished that just one person... well, one adult anyhow, could just once treat him with the respect and kindness Luna was receiving in the next room. What was it like not to be ignored or looked down upon? When he'd run away this wasn't what he'd dreamt his summer to be like. If he wanted to be ignored, set apart and set aside to do chores, he would have just gone back to four Privet Drive.