"Me too."

Severus and Joanna lay in bed in the dark room staring up at the ceiling. It was well past midnight and both of the boys were asleep in their separate rooms.

"You are?" Joanna asked.

With a heavy sigh that told Joanna Severus was finally ready to talk about something, he said, "One evening when you and Sam went into town to get dinner, I heard a crash upstairs. I came up to see what was going on, and Harry was stuck in the broom closet."

"Oh that closet has been sticking for years. I don't know what's wrong with it."

"He was panicking inside. I told him I was going to get my wand to get him out and he screamed out." Severus paused here, remembering the piteous sound that had emanated from within the closet. "I broke the door down to get him out."

"Oh my- what happened?"

"He was crying, but he acted like nothing had happened. He thanked me for getting him out, and that was the end of it. Do you think Sam would have panicked if he'd gotten stuck in a closet?"

"No."

"He obviously does not like small, enclosed spaces. Alone that would not be enough to concern me, but when I took him to the infirmary at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey made a comment about him always coming back from the summer with broken bones. I asked Harry about it but he didn't want to talk about it."

"I've seen signs like that before Severus. Sometimes we get children in at St. Mungos with odd injuries... they never want to talk about it."

"Do you think he's been abused?" Severus asked solemnly.

"I don't know Severus. I went to apologize to him tonight. I asked him to make dinner with me and he insisted that he could do it himself. He said he used fixed all of the family meals."

They were silent for long moments, each in their own thoughts. "Should we talk to him about this?" Joanna finally asked.

"I do not believe he will agree to talk about it, or to admit it."

"Then what do we do? I didn't realize how much I would hurt him by telling him to leave. I didn't know I'd be compounding a problem."

"He's Harry Potter," Severus said then with resolve. "He's a survivor with a stoic attitude. I don't believe approaching him in that way will draw out any answers. You don't know him like I do Jo. I've watched this boy endanger his life year after year fighting the Dark lord. No, he's not likely to show us any weakness he has. You know as well as I do that he stayed here for two weeks with broken ribs he received before he came to us without saying a word. He would still have broken ribs if he hadn't gotten into a fight with that Hightower boy."

"We have to do something."

"Yes, but not now. The best thing we can do now is to go on with the summer. He will come to us if he wishes to." Severus rolled over then, back to Joanna, who was not ready to be done talking about the issue.

"Severus Snape, we're not done talking about this."

"I'm aware," Severus said, though they said nothing more of it that night.

* * *

Harry was in the throes of a nightmare, but was unable to get out. The worst nightmares were ones where he realized it was all a dream, but couldn't pull himself from it, and then started to panic thinking that it was all real. Tonight was one of those nights.

Uncle Vernon had found him and vowed to make him pay back every pound they'd ever spent on him for food or any other thing. Harry tried to protest that he'd already paid them back in chores, and that they'd never bought him new clothes because he'd always worn Dudley's old things until they practically fell apart, but Uncle Vernon wasn't listening.

‘You'll pay me back now boy. Every pound you've taken from us was food out of Dudley's mouth.'

His uncle was advancing on him with a clenched fist, and behind him Harry could see his cupboard, door open and read for Harry to be thrown into.

‘No,' Harry said. ‘I've got gold in my vault. You can have my gold.'

Vernon crossed his arms then and Harry turned to find that they were in his Gringotts vault, which was woefully empty. There wasn't even a single Knut to be found.

Uncle Vernon gave a menacing laugh then and Harry looked up to see him standing outside the vault as he closed the heavy metal door, sealing Harry in. ‘Nooo!' Harry screamed, but it was too late, and the darkness was closing in on him from all sides. He was locked solidly in his cupboard for all eternity...

"Harry."

Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up, sweating and breathing hard in the darkness of his room. There was a dark figure there sitting on the edge of his bed and it took him a few panicky moments to realize that it was only Snape.

"It was just a dream," Harry said then, trying to reassure himself that it wasn't reality.

"I heard a noise. You were calling out," Severus said, black eyes staring through the darkness at Harry.

"It was just a dream," Harry said again. "Sorry."

"A dream about a closet?"

Harry's eyes snapped back to Snape's. "What?"

"Just a guess," he said then, and Harry calmed visibly.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said then, and rolled over so that his back was to Severus.

"If you do," Severus said, "I'm here. And so is Jo."

If Snape was waiting for an answer, Harry didn't know, because a few moments later and Harry heard his bedroom door close again, and turned to find that Snape was gone. He let out a long sigh. Maybe he could cast a silencing charm on his room to keep them from hearing him at night. He thought he'd heard Ron say that he used magic at home during the summer... something about the trace not working if there were magical adults around? Maybe Sam would know... it was the only comforting thought he had as he drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Harry was in a mood the next day, and was glad that Sam asked him if he wanted to go fishing, just the two of them. He hated that Snape had caught him having a nightmare, and it seemed that he had told Jo, because over breakfast that morning they both kept exchanging looks after glancing at him.

What Harry really felt like shouting at them was ‘I'm not a freak!', but instead he said nothing as he took the pole Sam handed him and followed him out the door.

"I hope we don't see Hightower today," Sam said as they got on the two bikes and pedaled away.

"He's not so tough without his goons," Harry said. "I could take him."

"Maybe one day we'll come back after we're seventeen and curse him when he's not looking."

"And get thrown in jail," Harry reminded him. "We should get Nearly Headless Nick to follow us here instead and get him to haunt him."

"Now that would be funny," Sam said. "Hey, what was up with my mum today, do you know?"

"They've been talking about me," Harry said. "I had a nightmare last night and Snape came in to see what was going on."

"Don't you hate that?" Sam asked.

"I thought you liked him now," Harry questioned.

"I do, but it's still weird having some guy living in your house, telling you what to do, acting like your parent."

"Well he will be soon enough," Harry said. "When are they getting married anyway?"

"I don't know. I think they talked about the end of the summer, but it might be later."

"Well, I wish they'd just stop talking about me," Harry said. "That's what I hate."

"Get used to it if you're going to live with us. My mum is always talking to Snape about me. She's the one that told him I like to fish. I used to fish with my dad."

"Yeah?" Harry asked.

"Yeah."

Harry had wondered for some time now where Sam's dad was, and wondered if now would be the right time to ask.

"Where is he?"

"Dead," Sam answered.

"He was driving with Jason's mum and dad one night and they got into a wreck. That's when Jason came to live with us."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Sucks," Sam told him. "Nothing I can do about it though."

They got off their bikes then as they'd reached the stream on the other side of town.

"Yeah," Harry said, as he lay the bike on the ground. "I know."

* * *

Harry's mood continued on through the week and he mostly stayed to himself, or went out with Sam in the day to fish, where he was still learning to bait his hook, where to cast his line in to get the fish, and what time of day was the best to fish. On Friday morning Harry felt a particular need to be alone and decided to test his new fishing skills by himself. At five am, just thirty minutes after he'd woken in another cold sweat, this time from a dream of being chucked out by Severus and Sam, Harry had gone to the garage, and then taken Sam's spare bike and fishing pole and a little box with a snapping lid that had a pocket knife, some fishing line, and several hooks and leaders. The worms he supposed he would have to find for himself since Severus wasn't there using his wand to earth them up from the back yard.

It was still dark as Harry rode his bike across town. When he reached the stream, the sun was just coming up, and Harry's hope was raised as he saw a small fish leap out of the water to catch a misfortunate bug.

Using his fingers in the damp dirt, Harry dug for a few moments before grabbing a sharp rock and using it to dig a hole where he pulled out a worm and put it on his hook. It was small, but it would have to do.

Harry, who was not wearing his pristine new clothes, still took care to keep his clothes relatively clean. It was a force of habit he supposed, as he was not often allowed to shower or clean his clothes at the Dursleys. He had often taken his clothes outside and used the hose in the summer when he was sure Dudley and Uncle Vernon were out, and Aunt Petunia was busy spying on the neighbors out the front window.

Looking down at his watch after he was certain he'd spent a fair amount of time not getting a single bite, Harry realized he'd been out for almost three hours, and it was now nearing eight in the morning. Reeling in his fishing line and feeling sorry for the drowned worm that hadn't even become lunch for a lucky fish, Harry was just getting ready to get up off of his rock when he found himself being bodily lifted to his feet.

Startled, Harry found himself face to face with a livid looking Potion's Master, who still had a very tight grip on the front of his shirt. Harry wanted to say something... anything to calm the rage he saw in the black eyes before him, but his mouth hung open and nothing would come out. He would only get hit harder if he said anything he realized, and that was experience talking at the back of his mind, telling him to stay silent.

"We feed you, clothe you, take you in, and you run away again!?" He was definitely livid.

Harry tried to shake his head no... they'd never said anything about him not being allowed to go out of the house alone, had they? His mind searched frantically for anything at all, but there was nothing, and he had the feeling that he had missed something vital to his survival.

"How dare you put Sam and Jo through that again? They're worried sick about you!"

"I- I-" the words didn't want to come out, even if he did know what to say.

"I swear Potter-" it was the last thing Harry heard, because at that moment he'd seen the Professor's fist and he was shielding his face with both hands. Allowing his body to become dead weight in the hopes that if he collapsed the Professor would let go and he would have a better position to curl in on himself, Harry blocked everything out as he waited for his punishment.

Harry waited for what seemed like forever for the blows to reign down on him, but they didn't come, and he wondered if perhaps he was dreaming again.

Chancing a look, Harry opened his eyes and looked up to find Snape crouching down beside him a few feet away.

"What happened Potter?" Snape asked warily, and Harry sat up, turning beet read again, especially around his ears.

"I was just fishing," Harry said quietly, voice cracking a little. "I just wanted to catch a fish." He could barely stand to finish the sentence, and it ended little more than a whisper. What must the man think of him now after seeing him cowering on the ground?

"Why did you collapse?"

Harry looked away. Because you were going to hit me you idiot, is what he felt like snarking out at the man, but he didn't want to push his luck, and he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Can we just go back to the house sir? I'm all dirty now."

"They're your old clothes," Severus commented. The shirt was ripped in several places and so were the jeans.

"But they're mine," Harry said quietly still. They sat there for a few moments longer and then Severus stood up, and held a hand down to Harry, who took it and climbed to his feet.

Still feeling on edge, Harry allowed Severus to grip his arm, Sam's bike and fishing pole in the other hand, and apparate them away and into the backyard of Jo's house.

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to go out," Harry said quietly, keeping his eyes on the ground as Severus let of his arm. "Nobody told me the rules. I would have followed them, I swear."

Severus couldn't see Harry's eyes because they were glued to the ground, but judging by the shake in the teen's voice, he thought there might be tears there.

"You are," Severus said gently. "I- overreacted. I am sorry. Go put the pole and bike back in the garage and then you can go take a shower."

Harry moved off, and Severus rubbed his temple. It had been so easy to believe the worst in Harry after believing the worst for so many years. He wanted to help the teen... believe that he was good, but old habits were hard to break, as were old attitudes. What would Jo think when he told her what he'd done? Especially after the discussions they'd had about Harry earlier that week? Well, she had done just as bad hadn't she?

Inside Severus made sure that Harry went upstairs to shower before he found Jo in the kitchen and told her what happened.

"I thought he'd run away too," she said with a sad look in her eyes. "Are we just doing him more harm than good Severus?" The question in her eyes was painful for Severus to look at. If he could only do harm to Harry, what would he do to Sam?

When Harry came back downstairs, hoping for some breakfast, though he doubted he'd get any if they were mad at him for going fishing, he found Severus and Joanna in the living room.

"Harry, would you please come here for a moment?" Joanna asked softly, and Harry's heart plummeted as he made his way into the living room and sat down. Were they going to kick him out again? No, they'd probably ask for the clothes back so they could take them back to the store. He hadn't even worn most of them yet.

When he was sitting down on the couch opposite of Severus and Joanna, fidgeting with his fingers, Severus said calmly, "We need to talk to you about something Harry."

"Oh, ok."

"We're sorry that we assumed the worst of you this morning," Severus continued, "and I'm sorry I startled you. I can see now that I should have approached the situation differently."

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet and listened.

"Harry, we know you've been through some things," Jo said. "We'd like to know what so that we can help you. We don't know what to do for you if you won't tell us."

When Harry still didn't respond, she said, "We know you've been having nightmares, and that there's a possibility that your relatives may have hurt you in the past."

Harry jumped up at that and turned away. He ‘really' didn't want to talk about this. He'd never even told Ron and Hermione. Sam was the only one that knew. Had he told his mother and Snape?

"We just want to let you know that we're here for you Harry. We're here to listen, and to help."

Turning now, Harry said, "I don't need any help, and I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry I broke your rules this morning. All I need is for you to tell me the rules so that I won't break them again." Seeing that they hadn't expected that answer however, and weren't prepared to tell him their rules, Harry turned again and left, forgetting about breakfast entirely as he made his way up to his room and closed his door.

Some summer this was turning out to be, he thought. Maybe he should have run off. Maybe he should have just never called Snape in the first place. As he lay on his back on his bed, door securely locked, he thought, maybe I've just messed everything up like I always have. Draco was right: I'll never belong.