Draco shot out of his bed as he heard screaming coming from the room across from his. Running out into the hall, he spotted his godfather rushing into Harry's room and quickly followed the man, standing frozen in the other boy's doorway as he watched his godbrother screaming and thrashing in his sleep, begging for someone to stop. He didn't think he had ever heard someone sound so scared. He watched as Severus placed a hand on Harry's shoulder in an attempt to wake him up before yanking it away as if he had been burned when Harry only screamed louder and frantically tried to back away from the touch.

"You're safe, Harry, wake up. You're at Hogwarts." The man said, trying to wake the boy up with his words but Harry didn't seem to react.

Draco's panic rose as the other boy remained trapped in his nightmare, he remembered the state Harry had been in when he had arrived and nearly felt sick. He didn't think he even wanted to know what his godbrother was dreaming about. As the smaller boy continued to scream Draco finally rushed into the room, moving past Severus to take a seat on the edge of Harry's bed a safe distance from where the other boy sat curled into a ball in the corner and still lost in his dream.

"Come on, Harry." He said as gently as he could, hoping that hearing another child might snap Harry out of his nightmare, "You're not there anymore, you're at Hogwarts in your room in Severus's quarters. I'm Draco and Severus was talking to you earlier. We're godbrothers and you live here now. I helped you with your potions essay last night." He began, keeping up a monologue of everything he could think to say until the other boy's screaming turned into soft crying, "You awake now?" he asked carefully as Harry's eyes slowly opened and he seemed to curl even more into himself before giving a tiny, quick jerk of his head that Draco took to mean yes.

Severus sent a grateful look to Draco before stepping closer to his other godson. "You're safe here, Harry." he said before attempting to place a comforting hand on the other boy's shoulder, something that he did often for Draco. The man pulled his hand back sharply again when the small boy seemed to jump several feet in the air.

"Please don't touch me." Harry said quickly, the request half-muffled as his face remained buried in his arms as he sniffled, clearly trying to calm his crying.

Draco quickly stood and backed over to other end of the room again, not wanting to upset the other boy again. Harry clearly wasn't dealing with things as well as it had seemed at first and while Draco could definitely understand that, he wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to help his godbrother but he didn't know him well enough to really know how to and he knew that until a couple of days ago, Harry had really had no reason to trust either him or Severus. Draco couldn't really even imagine being in Harry's shoes.

He watched as Harry wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve before scooting over slightly and feeling for his glasses, finally looking up once he had placed them on his face. "I'm okay." He said and Draco shook his head softly at the blatant lie, "Just ... don't touch me. Please." The other boy finished.

"Okay." Severus said softly as Draco watched from the corner of the room, "Do you want me to bring you a dreamless sleep?" he asked and Harry quickly nodded, muttering a soft ‘Please'.

As his godfather walked past him to retrieve the potion, Draco looked awkwardly back to the other boy. "I'm glad you woke up. That sounded ... bad." He managed to say, wishing he could think of something better.

Harry nodded carefully, arms still held tight around his knees, "Thank you." He said softly before slipping back into silence as both boys waited for Severus to return with the dreamless sleep.

Within a few more seconds the man had rushed back into the room with the potions vial and Draco watched as he carefully handed it to the other boy, trying not to touch him. Harry eyed it carefully for a moment before taking a deep breath and then downing it quickly before taking a sip from the glass of water at his bedside, "Thank you." He repeated again.

"Lay back down, it should take effect quickly." Severus stated before turning to Draco, "Go back to sleep." He told him and Draco quickly obeyed, stepping back out into the hallway.

"I promise, you are safe here, Harry." He heard his godfather say just before he pulled the door to his own bedroom closed.

Severus double checked the potions he knew he needed to bring with him as he again questioned his choice of taking the boys shopping that day. After Harry's nightmare, the boy had slept past noon under the effects of the dreamless sleep potion and had spent the rest of the day quietly working on his Summer homework and speaking as little as possible. He had sent the child to bed with a dreamless sleep the night before, knowing that he needed to be well rested for what they had planned today, even though it meant he couldn't give the little boy the potion again that night no matter how many nightmares he suffered.

He knew that there were many things the boy needed but while he was physically recovered enough to make the trip, he worried about the emotional aspect. He shook his head and tried to push away the doubts. It was important for Harry to see he really would have the things that every child should have now and Severus was more than ready to burn the tattered rags the Dursley's had tried to pass off as clothes. They just had to get through this day and if he picked up their school things as well, they would not have to leave the castle grounds again before school started.  In his mind, it was best to get it over with.

He stepped into the living room to find both boys waiting on a couch looking nervous, "Remember, refer to me as ‘Sir' or ‘Godfather' while we are in Diagon Alley and I will call you John and Mark." He stated, looking first and Harry and then Draco before casting glamour on himself, suddenly seeming to gain a slight amount of weight as his hair became short and light brown and his eyes turned blue. He then motioned both boys towards him before casting the same spell and watching as they became blond-haired, brown-eyed and obviously meant to be brothers.

"We will head to Madam Malkins first and then while we wait for her to finish the spells on Harry's clothes, we will pick up your books and school supplies before heading to choose things for Harry's room." He explained quickly, "We will floo to the Leaky Caldron. Draco will go first and I will call out the location before you step through Harry as you are not accustomed to the using the floo and then I will be right behind you." He added, having heard the story of Harry's last ‘adventure' with the floo and not wanting to repeat it.

With that said, he gave one last appraising look at both boys before handing Draco the floo powder. After his first godson stepped through he gave a few moments for him to move out of the way before tossing the powder and calling out the same location, quickly telling Harry to step in and giving him a slightly longer window to move before stepping through himself. He arrived to find Harry brushing himself off and Draco hovering close by, looking protective but unsure. With a nod at his godsons, they were on their way and within minutes Harry was looking extremely uncomfortable as Madam Malkin's tape measure zoomed around him while she happily showed him various fabrics and color choices.

The woman had looked much too thrilled at his story of the boy's accidental magic going awry and setting fire to his room, destroying his clothes and many other belongings and he watched Harry closely, hoping he wouldn't need to intervene as the boy nervously and quietly answered her questions in as few words as possible, looking as if he had never been given so many choices in his life and Severus frowned slightly has he realized that was likely true. He hated seeing the boy so uncomfortable, but he knew it was a necessary evil as Harry needed clothing that both fit him and was actually fit to be worn.

Once the smaller boy had been shown so many different fabrics that Draco looked like he was about ready to fall asleep and Severus was finding himself tempted to yell at the woman, she finally announced that she was done and should have the new wardrobe ready within a few hours. He quickly lead both boys into the bookstore, where he gathered their school books while Draco showed Harry the fiction section. He paid for their text books before shirking his purchase and heading back towards his godsons.

"These are my favorites." He heard Draco saying as the older boy pointed out a book series he recognized as being popular with his younger Slytherins.  

"Were there any books that you liked, John?" Severus asked, feeling slightly guilty as the boy jumped in surprise before nodding carefully, "Draco, please help him carry them." He said, amused at the shocked look on the younger boy face as the blond send him a look that clearly seemed to say, ‘I told you so.'.

Harry looked quickly between the shelves and Severus as Draco began gathering the books that his godbrother had shown interest in. "Go on, the bookshelf in your room wasn't meant to stay empty." He prompted, causing the boy to pick up a few books before shooting a worried look at the large amount that Draco continued gathering,

"It's too much, sir." He said softly.

Severus lowered his voice as he leaned in slightly, "I'm a professor and I promise you that I have more than enough money to buy books for my godson. I meant it when I told you that you would have the things you deserve."

The boy nodded carefully and picked up a few more books before watching with wide eyes as Draco handed the stack he had made to Severus before gathering more. He felt a strange mixture of amusement and sadness as he watched the child's face and he hoped that some day he wouldn't be so shocked at being given the things that every child deserved. Once Draco seemed satisfied that they had gathered enough books for Harry, the group headed to pay again before Severus shrunk the additional books and they headed back into the Alley.

He quickly led both boys in and out of stores to finish gathering their school supplies while making sure to watch for anything that seemed to catch Harry's eye, knowing that the child's birthday was in just a few days. It was easy to see that the crowd had his younger godson on edge and he was relieved when they headed into the final store so both boys could choose things to personalize their rooms.

He stood back as he allowed them to choose curtains, rugs and bedspreads along with a few other small things. He bit back a smile as he watched Draco play up his own excitement as he looked through different options, finally managing to get Harry to tell them which things he preferred and after an hour in the shop, they were finally ready to head back to Madam Malkin's to pick up Harry's new wardrobe.

With their shopping finally over, the three floo'd back to Hogwarts and Severus quickly removed the glamour's before unshrinking the bags and sending the boys to place them in their rooms while he ordered dinner from the house elves. With their order places, he collapsed into a chair and said a silent prayer of thanks that the day had managed to go without any major problems.

Harry stepped into his room and stared at the bags sitting on his bed. He knew that he had thanked his godfather at least five more times during dinner, but he wasn't sure he could ever thank him enough. He had an entire wardrobe of clothes that not only actually belonged to him, but fit better than anything but his school uniform ever had and it wasn't even only clothes, he had books, a room decorated with things he chose - including a lamp that Draco had demanded he buy - and even a wizarding board game. He didn't even know how to react.

He looked in the bags containing the books they had bought and began to slowly pull them out, examining each one before putting it onto his bookshelf. He was certain that Draco had added several books he hadn't even seen in the store.  He wasn't really sure what to think about the way the other boy had behaved while they were in Diagon Alley. He had hovered nearby almost protectively and seemed strangely determined that Harry would get everything he needed or wanted and more.

Draco was trying and he knew that his godfather was too, but even though he knew that, he couldn't stop the doubts that still whispered in the back of his mind. He had never known anything but cruelty from either of them - with the exception of the note from Draco - until only a few days before. It was hard to trust that things wouldn't go back to the way they had been before, or worse. He had to admit though, so far, things were better then he would have dared to hope.

He really did have his own room, bigger then he'd slept in at the Dursley's and with nice, sturdy furniture. As he pulled the other bags off of the bed before starting to put the bed bedspread on he couldn't help but think how different it was to Dudley's second bedroom. Nearly everything in that room had been old and falling apart, right down to the pillow and blanket, but here it was all new, all really his and much more then he needed.

Severus had kept his promises so far. He really had allowed him to make the room his own. The new rug he had chosen was already on the floor, the curtains were waiting to be hung on the magical window that let him look out at the lake, the lamp had been sat out on a table the few belongings he already had were sat out here and there making it truly look like a room that belonged to someone, belonged to him.

It wasn't even only the room, he had bought him the new clothes that he had promised and mentioned at supper that he'd like to burn ‘those rags that your so-called relatives attempted to call clothing'. Severus had bought the books and the board game, extra parchment and quills so he could write to his friends and other odds and ends. Harry hadn't missed a meal since he had been there and when he had asked them not to touch him, no one had. He wasn't even sure how to react.

He pulled out his school supplies and began setting them on shelves and in his desk, marveling at having his own room to store them and not even having to hide them. He could read ahead in his books once he had finished his homework if wanted too and he wouldn't even have to hide it. He desperately hoped that things would stay this way, because he had started to get his hopes up and he knew that losing this now would be horrible. He was finally starting to feel like he might be safe.