Stopping in an out-of-the-way alcove, Severus knelt down. "Harry, I don't know how we're going to get everything done today. I don't want to carry you everywhere, but you're not going to be able to walk on that leg all day."

Harry's chin fell to his chest. "I'm sorry to be such a bother, sir." His voice wobbled with unshed tears.

Severus gathered him close. "Shhh… You're not a bother; I'm just trying to find a way to do this without embarrassing you or hurting you."

Harry started to cry in earnest.

"What is it, child?" Severus asked, patting his back awkwardly.

"No…No one has every c…cared about not hur…hurting me before," he gasped through the tears.

Severus lightly touched Harry's leg. "Does your leg hurt a lot?"

Harry nodded, wiping a fist over his eyes. "All the time. My arm and face too."

Severus berated himself for not asking sooner. He should have realised that the extensive scarring would be causing pain. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a pain relief potion.

"Harry, I would like for you to drink this. It tastes bad, but it will help the pain."

Harry reached for the vial and Severus pulled off the stopper. Harry drank a bit and then gagged. "Oh, yuck!" he exclaimed, and then tried to give it back to Severus.

Severus refused to take it back. "Drink the rest, Harry. I promise it will help."

Holding his nose, Harry downed the rest of it. Within a few minutes, the tension in his face and body smoothed out and his shoulders relaxed.

Doing what he should have done at the beginning, if he had thought through the rage of discovering Harry in this condition, he ran a simple diagnostic over Harry. What he saw staggered him. The boy should not even be alive, much less walking and talking. His leg and arm had both been broken and never set, The mass of scars twisted and pulled at his skin, and he had had some brain damage, although that seemed to have healed. Severus marveled at the level of magic Harry would have needed just to overcome the physical damage to say nothing of what had happened internally. A fully trained wizard would have been hard pressed to pull off such a feat.

Severus sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"Are you feeling well enough now to walk for a bit?" he asked Harry.

Harry nodded happily. "The pain is gone!" he said, wonder in his voice.

"Of course it is." Severus said. "I would not tell you that if it weren't true."

Harry snorted. "Well, you're the first. Adults lie about everything."

Severus took Harry by the shoulders and bent even closer to his face. "I will never lie to you. You may not like what I tell you and I may not tell you everything you want to know, but what I tell you will always be the truth."

Harry was very still, but not with fear. "Thank you, sir," he said simply.

"Now," Severus said. "Gringotts."

"What's a Gringotts?"

Severus snorted. "It's a bank. We're going to get some money out of your vault so that you can get school supplies." Taking Harry's hand, they restarted the slow journey.

Harry chewed his bottom lip. "Sir, I don't think I have any money."

"Of course you do. Professor Dumbledore just didn't want your relatives getting hold of it."

"Oh." Harry replied. "Who is Professor Dumbledore?"

Severus blinked. "Professor Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts. You'll meet him tomorrow."

Harry said nothing more. When they reached the bank, Severus dealt with the goblins, telling them that Harry could not possibly make the trip down to the vaults. After several minutes of resistance, the goblins had Harry sign a nearly illegible signature at the bottom of a document, then brought up a bag of galleons.

Harry held the bag in his hands, feeling the weight. "Sir, how much is in here?"

"Enough to get your school supplies and some new clothes," Severus said and then turned to the goblin who was helping them. "I would like you to please send an accounting of the contents of all of Harry Potter's vaults to him at Hogwarts."

"Of course, Professor Snape," the goblin replied. "He'll have it in three days."

Snape nodded, taking the bag of gold from the boy, slipping it into one of the pockets of his robes.

Harry didn't like the place that the professor had brought him to. It was full of strange smells and he couldn't tell where he was. There were no walls to guide him.

He knew that if he could hear better, he would have heard voices, maybe even words, but all that was there was a consistent buzz pressing against his ears. The professor would stop every so often, bending down to talk to him so that he would understand what he was saying, and he appreciated that. His relatives never did that. They just yelled and then yelled more when he didn't understand.

They had left the bank, "Gringotts," Harry said to himself, wanting to laugh at the silly name, and were now on their way to a place the professor called "Ollivander's" for a wand. A magic wand.

Harry marveled at the thought of doing magic. After years of beatings for things that had happened without him meaning to, the idea of being allowed, even encouraged, to do magic was almost more than he could believe.

His hand was wrapped securely in the professor's hand, and the professor made sure that he didn't walk faster than Harry could. The potion that he had given Harry made the pain much less, but walking was not easier and his damaged leg wanted to give out. He wanted to stop and sit for a little while, but wanted the wand even more. He did what he always did with the Dursleys' and locked his knee to keep from falling.

It seemed like forever before they reached Ollivander's. The professor stopped and put Harry's hand on the wall, then Harry felt him kneel down next to him, his breath warm in Harry's ear.

"This is Ollivander's, Harry. Are you ready?"

It was more than a rhetorical question. Harry knew that his life was changing in ways that he had never expected and this was the biggest step in that change. When the professor had told him about Hogwarts and magic, he had said that a wand was the most important item a wizard could have. It was where the magic focused.

Harry nodded, his heart racing. He didn't hear the door opening, but could feel the difference in temperature when they entered the shop.

~HPSSHPSS~

Severus led Harry into the dim interior of Ollivander's, leading him up to the counter. He called out for Mr. Ollivander and then felt Harry sag against him. He looked down to seen Harry sitting on the floor rubbing his leg. Immediately he reached down, hooked his hands under Harry's arms and lifted him up to sit on the counter.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in pain?" Severus demanded, his mouth close to Harry's ear.

Harry looked confused. "Why would I, sir? It didn't hurt that much, your pain potion helped a lot. It's just that walking is a bit difficult."

Before Severus could reply, an elderly wizard appeared behind the counter. "Ah, Professor Snape, how good to see you again."

"Mr. Ollivander," Severus replied, inclining his head slightly.

"I see that you have brought Mr. Potter in for his wand at last." Ollivander looked at the boy. "It's too bad that he is hurt. It will make his time at Hogwarts more difficult." Ollivander looked back at Severus. "Of course you will want to keep his identity secret. Rest assured that I will tell no one of his visit today."

"Thank you," Severus said. "He will need to be protected until we know whether or not he can be healed."

Harry touched Severus on the sleeve. "Are you talking to someone, sir?"

"Yes, Harry. Mr. Ollivander is here and he will help you find a wand." Severus took Harry's hand a held it out to Ollivander. Harry jumped slightly when Ollivander touched it.

Ollivander stroked Harry's hand momentarily before turning away to look through the stacks of boxes.

"Are you going to measure the boy?" Severus asked curiously.

"No, the effect would be lost on him." Ollivander continued scanning the boxes.

Severus wrinkled his forehead in thought. So the measuring bit was all for show. How typical.

The first wand he brought out and laid gently in Harry's hand did nothing. Harry tilted his head in a now familiar gesture. "Should I feel something sir?" He asked.

Ollivander took the wand back as Severus explained about the wands and how the wand chooses its master.

"So," Harry said. "I'll know when I have the right one."

"Yes, you will," Severus replied and Harry held out his hand for the next one.

Harry tried wand after wand. Some jerked in his hand, some emitted weak streams of smoke, but none seemed to be the correct wand. Harry was beginning to wilt.

"How much longer, sir?" he asked after a dozen or so wands, leaning against Severus's side.

"I don't know," Severus admitted reluctantly. "As long as it takes."

Ollivander was eyeing Harry speculatively, then disappeared into the back of the shop. When he came back out again, he held a box that had obviously been sitting for quite some time. It was dusty and had split at two of the seams. "I hesitate to try this one," he said. "Holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather core. The core came from the same bird as You-Know-Who's."

Severus flinched, but nodded for him to hand it to Harry. Instantly a swell of magic surrounded Harry.

"This is the right one!" Harry said excitedly. "I can feel the magic!" He swished the wand about, emitting a cascade of red and green sparks.

Severus sighed. "Of course it is," he said, his voice thick with the irony of it all. Even as broken as the boy was, he couldn't escape his destiny.

The wand was paid for, slipped into the same pocket where Severus had stashed Harry's galleons, and they were once again outside the shop. Harry gripped Severus's hand tightly as Severus knelt down to speak to him.

"Where to now, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Clothes, then books and supplies," Severus said. "It's not far to Madam Malkin's; do you want to walk, or shall I carry you?"

"I'd rather walk, sir."

"That's fine, but you have to promise me that you will tell me the instant you are hurting, or walking becomes too difficult."

Harry's head was tilted down and he didn't say anything.

"Harry, you must promise me, or I will take the choice out of your hands and carry you."

Harry nodded jerkily. "I promise."

As they slowly made their way to Madam Malkin's, Severus saw several children gathered outside the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies chattering on about some broom on display and felt a pang in his chest that Harry would be denied the opportunity to learn to fly. It was a strange feeling, that he would have sympathy for Harry in that way, but the day had been full of lessons he'd never thought to learn. With a grimace, he turned his head away from the Quidditch store and led Harry the last bit of distance to the robe shop.

Once he had Harry ensconced on the stool, which Severus enlarged to help keep Harry from falling off, and an assistant measuring him for his robes, Severus turned to Madam Malkin.

"Evan will need a full wardrobe," he told her and started listing off the items he wanted. "Six pairs of trousers for everyday use, three black, three grey. Two pair dress trousers, both black. A dozen everyday shirts, six white, two blue, two green, two grey. Three jumpers. Three pairs of shoes…" The list went on and on from pants and socks to pyjamas and handkerchiefs.

Severus was instructing her on which items would require growth charms, occasionally looking at Harry to make sure he was holding up, when he noticed Draco Malfoy standing on the next stool with an angry look on his face.

Stopping in midsentence, Severus went to divert the coming explosion. Draco was getting off his stool, assistant exclaiming in the background, and heading for Harry, his fists clenched.

"Draco," Severus called softly.

Draco's head spun around so fast he nearly lost his balance. "Uncle Sev!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Draco aimed a glare at the oblivious Harry. "This prat has been ignoring me, and…" Draco stopped. Severus knew that Draco wouldn't tell him that he was planning on doing something quite nasty to the other boy, but the look on his face gave it away.

Severus put a hand on his arm. "Draco, this young man is my ward." Draco deflated slightly and Severus went to Harry. He knelt down next to him and Draco looked shocked.

"Evan," he said to Harry. "I have someone I'd like you to meet. He will be going to school with you and will be in your year." Gripping Harry's hand, he helped him off the stool and guided him over to Draco. Draco's eyes widened comically and his mouth dropped open.

"Draco, this is Evan Snape, my ward." Harry stuck his hand out in Draco's general direction.

"Hi Draco," he said. "The professor tells me that we'll be in the same year."

Slowly Draco put his hand into Harry's and shook it. "Hi," Draco said softly.

Harry moved closer to Draco, his head tilted in confusion. "You have to talk to me close to my ear." He flushed with embarrassment. "I don't hear so well." This was admitted with a small voice and his head turned down.

Draco moved in a bit closer and leaned in next to his ear. "I'm Draco Malfoy."

Draco looked at the professor, unsure what to say next.

Severus sighed with impatience. He had hoped that Draco would make friends with Harry, but wasn't sure that he could look past Harry's injuries.

With no visual clue from Severus, Draco turned back to Harry, briefly touching him on the arm. Harry's head went up in surprise. "Do you know which House you'll be sorted into?"

"No idea," Harry responded, a slight look of confusion on his face. "Professor Snape was explaining them all to me, but I really don't know if I'll fit into any of them."

"What House were your parents in?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't even know they were a witch and wizard before today."

Severus suddenly felt a hole in the pit of his stomach and resisted the urge to stop the conversation.

Draco looked at him suspiciously. "You were raised by Muggles?"

Harry's face wrinkled up in confusion. "I lived with my aunt and uncle. What's a Muggle?"

Draco started to sneer and then suddenly seemed to realise that not only could Harry not see the sneer, but also that Severus would see it. He struggled to keep it off his face.

"Muggles are non-magical people." Draco tried to say it without being haughty, but failed.

Harry laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah, my aunt and uncle were Muggles. They hated magic and tried to beat it out of me."

Severus looked carefully at Draco and realised that the child was feeling a bit of empathy with Harry. Draco knew what it was like to be beaten for something that wasn't his fault. "Is that what happened to you?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged. "Partly." His fingers were twisting into the new robe he wore, his agitation obvious.

Draco said nothing for a long time and eventually Harry turned toward Severus. "Professor?"

"Yes, Evan," Severus replied. "I'm right here."

"Is he gone? Did I say something wrong?" He was close to tears, but managed to keep them from falling. Severus had a sudden desire to pull the child into a hug, which he squashed immediately.

Severus looked at Draco and hissed, "Are you going to say something, or are you going to throw away a friendship before it even begins?"

Draco started violently. "Evan, I'm still here. You didn't say anything wrong. I would like to be friends with you. If you want to, that is." He was babbling and the look on his face said that he knew it.

Harry smiled and the simple joy on his face overwhelmed Severus. "I'd really like that," he said. "I've never had a friend before."

Draco's mouth dropped open. "Never?"

Harry shook his head. "I wasn't allowed."

"Well, you have one now." Draco reached his hand out and twined his fingers with Harry's.