Harry felt alone without his journal to write in. Somewhere on the train his father held it in his hands, probably reading it, discovering his son through the words that had spilled directly from his soul onto the page through his years at Hogwarts.

"Harry, where do we write to you at?"

He lifted his head from the cool glass and looked at Ron across the compartment. "Here," he said, and dug a piece of parchment from his pocket, handing it to him. It had the address to Prince Manor on it, though Harry had no idea where it was or what it was like.

"Ireland, blimy Harry! Mum will never let me come to see you all the way out there."

Harry scratched his nose. He hoped Ron and Hermione would be able to come and see him. Draco had already promised to visit, but Harry didn't know how often and he wasn't certain that Kenai would want to spend a lot of time with him during the summer when he had his own friends to hang out with.

"You can always build a flying car Ron," Ginny said then from beside her brother with a grin.

"Or we can tame the Ford Anglia," Harry said with a little smile of his own. The twins had nearly been expelled for traipsing into the Forbidden Forrest last month and trying to tame it. It appeared that the Weasley's old car had picked up a few new tricks and could now breath fire out of its engine if agitated, and they'd caught Hagrid's hut on fire in the middle of the night.

"Right," Ron said. "Mum would have my hide. You saw the howlers she sent to Fred and George the next day. One right after another after another."

"Are you trying to get expelled right before you graduate?" Ginny mimicked her mother and Harry and Ron laughed. Harry loved the Weasley's dearly, and even though he was facing the prospect for the first time in his life of going home to his father's house, he pinned to go home with his friends instead.

"Do you think it will be horrible?" Ron asked Harry then seriously. "Living with them I mean?" Harry shrugged. His friends had expressed their concerns about him going with Kenai and Professor Snape at the end of the summer, knowing what pain they had caused him.

"They've been ok," Harry said. It was true. They had given him two dozen Christmas presents, his father had put his life on the line to help Harry defeat Voldemort, and after that... well after that Harry had given him the journal and then set to distancing himself so he could have time to think over everything that had happened. It was a lot to wrap his mind around, and his father seemed to understand. He had spent time with Kenai off and on throughout the rest of the school year, Draco often acting as a buffer between them, but Harry had only been to his father's office a handful of times sine giving him the journal. Now he faced an entire summer in a house alone with them.

Harry went back to looking out the window as they entered the outskirts of London. How much of the journal had his father read? What did he think of Harry's emotions? It felt very unfair to Harry that his emotions were so out in the open and his father might already know so much about him, but Harry still knew very little about the man.

"We'll try to visit," Ron said then trying to reassure Harry in a serious tone. "I'll convince mum or else get Fred and George to smuggle me out."

"I'm sure it'll be ok," Harry said, trying to reassure himself. "Maybe Hermione can come too."

Harry turned to look out the compartment window then, wondering where she was. She'd disappeared half an hour ago and hadn't come back.

"Will Draco come to visit?" Ginny asked him.

Harry shrugged again. "I guess. He said he didn't want to be at home because his mother said Aurors have been there almost every day looking for Lucius, setting traps for him, and looking for illegal possessions. He said they even went through his room."

"But you're definitely allowed to have friends over, right?"

Harry nodded to Ron's serious question. "Kenai said he's always been allowed."

The train began to slow then and Hermione finally came back into their compartment.

"Where've you been?" Ron asked.

"In the next compartment. Fred and George are there laying out plans for their shop and wanted my opinion on their business plan."

"You're helping with the joke shop?" Ron asked, brows raised. They all knew that Hermione didn't approve of their skivving snack boxes and other devices aimed at skipping school or getting out of punishments.

"I was helping with a hypothetical business plan," she said with her hands on her hips. "And I was interested in these." She held her hand out then and Ron and Harry were surprised to see several candies there in her hands.

"Skivs?"

"No, these are new. They change your appearance for a short time so you can go out in public unnoticed. I thought with the death eaters running loose, they might come in handy." She gave one each to Ron, Ginny, and Harry, keeping one for herself. "For emergencies, not for skivving," she clarified then, and Ron frowned before stuffing his into his pocket.

"Thanks," Harry said. He wondered just how it would make him look different, and wondered what would happen if he took it at Prince Manor.

As they stood talking, the train finally came to a stop, and the corridors began filling with students and their pets.

"This is it then," Ron said, staring at Harry and not bothering to go out into the noisy, chaotic hall.

"Yup," Harry said, looking out the window where he spotted Kenai, one of the first to disembark from the train.

"You can write or call if you need us." Ron put his hand on his friend's shoulder and Harry nodded.

"It'll be ok," he said, trying to reassure himself again. Ron seemed to notice.

"You'll be fine Harry," Ginny said. "Or else we'll break you out with a flying car." She nudged them and he turned red then from her touch.

"You come visit too, k Gin?"

Ron made a face as they kissed quickly then and they headed out into the throng of students.

Having made their goodbyes on the train, Harry separated from his friends as soon as they stepped onto the platform, feeling alone suddenly and completely as he made his way towards his father and brother, who stood off by themselves against a wall.

"Ready?" Kenai asked, looking ready to be done with anything that had to do with school.

"Yeah," Harry said, holding onto the shoulder strap of his backpack with one hand.

Severus gripped the shoulders of his two sons then and they were gone in a flash, the last thing Harry saw being Ron staring at him from across the platform with a much too serious look on his face. It was funny, Harry thought, as they reappeared on a gravel drive in front of a three story tan mansion on an excessively large plot of land. He was usually the one that people looked up to to know what to do, being the slayer of Voldemort and downbringer of the death eaters, but Ron was the serious one who had always looked out for him and Hermione and Ginny. They all looked out for each other, but Ron was so serious about it. Harry had no doubt that his friend would become an auror one day, though Harry was no longer sure what he wanted to be.

"What do you think Harry?"

"Huh?" Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Kenai's question. He looked over at his brother and then up at the mansion in the bright daylight. ‘I think I would have liked to have lived here all my life instead of in a cupboard under the stairs,' he thought to himself, but refused to say out loud.

"It's great," Harry said.

Kenai lead off up the stone steps to the massive front door, and Harry followed, being uncomfortable being left behind with his father.

"Come on, I'll show you my room," Kenai said when they were inside. He ran off up a wide spiraling white staircase in the massive entryway, but their father called out for him to wait and Kenai paused halfway up the stairs.

Severus turned to face Harry. "There are 32 rooms here. Mine is on the third floor and Kenai's is on the second. You may choose any other room in the Manor, though I prefer you choose one that is above the ground floor."

"What's below the ground floor?" Harry asked, feeling stupid.

"Servant's quarters," Severus said seriously, and Harry felt uncomfortable then and knew that his father must have read the entries where Harry expressed how much he disliked being treated like a house elf by his relatives.

"Ok," Harry said.

"After you've chosen a room, you may decorate it. Kenai will show you how."

Harry nodded and then went up the stairs after his brother. Kenai's room it turned out overlooked a small garden on the East side of the home. It was round and massive and had its own bathroom and walk-in closet, and the King sized bed looked small and insignificant there in the middle of the room. There were a variety of Slytherin and Quidditch posters and banners up on the walls, and several large framed pictures of Kenai and his father and mother, and Kenai and his friends. There was a large desk, a rack with three racing brooms, a couch and plush chair with a blanket over it, and several Muggle musical instruments.

"You play music?" Harry asked.

"Dad hires tutors every summer. I haven't played any of those in a long time though."

"Tutors?"

"Yeah. You have to pick two subjects... anything you want, and he brings in tutors for a couple hours each morning."

"Like summer school?"

"Yeah, only it's not. You don't have to sit in a classroom or anything. When I took guitar lessons we always went out into the woods, and when he made me take Ancient History the tutor always took me out to study under one of the big willow trees."

"So you don't always get to choose."

"Well, that was punishment because I got so many detentions one year and because I fell behind in Binn's class."

"Oh," Harry said. If he was to be given a choice of topics, he had no idea what he'd like to study, aside from maybe that he'd like to learn more about the elves. Ever since he'd learned he had a small amount of elven blood from his mother's side, he'd wondered about where elves lived and what they could do. Draco knew a little, but not much.

"What will you take?" Harry asked, and Kenai shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe take up guitar again. Won't have to choose for a few days. Here." He reached down and picked up a book from his desk and tossed it to Harry.

"It's a book of wizarding and Muggle professions, and it lists what skills you need to have. You can get ideas from there."

Kenai began pulling things out of his trunk then, which had just appeared in his room, and Harry looked around for his.

"When you pick a room, he'll send your trunk up too," Kenai said.

"Oh, yeah, that." Harry turned, feeling uncomfortable in the large room, and then said, "Guess I'll go have a look around then."

He left Kenai to his unpacking and went back into the hall. He felt like he was poking around somebody else's house, or sneaking where he shouldn't be. After all, for all of these years it hadn't been his home, it had been Kenai's, and it almost felt like he was wandering around in an enemy's base.

Harry walked down the hall and began opening doors, looking into each room and then carefully closing the door again. Some of the rooms were larger, some were smaller. Many of them had beds in them, and some even had bunk beds, and others appeared to be studies, dens, and small libraries. There was even a room filled with old statues and other junk covered in cobwebs.

Eventually he ventured up to the third floor to look at rooms there, most of which were smaller and cozier, and then down to the first floor, where there were only a few bedrooms, and where the rest of the rooms seemed to be for living or entertaining.

After nearly forty minutes of just looking into different rooms, Harry finally went back up to the west side of the third floor and picked a room with bunk beds up against a window. He didn't know why he liked this room better than the others, aside from the fact maybe that it was smaller. He also thought that Ron or Draco could stay with him there since there were bunk beds. The room was only half the size of Kenai's, though it still had its own small bathroom, and a small walk-in closet. There was a desk, and a large plush chair like Kenai's, though there was no couch or rack full of racing brooms. The ceiling was also lower in this room, and it felt more secure to Harry than the other large rooms. He also liked that it looked out over a large lawn area, a field, and on the other side, a gnarly looking forest.

"Guess this is it," Harry said, and a moment later, his trunk appeared behind him on the floor, full of the new clothes he'd received for Christmas.

Harry began unpacking and putting his things away in the closet. He left his broom out and leaning against a wall, wanting to be able to look at it since he had nothing else to decorate with, and pulled out the few pictures he had of himself and his friends, and set them on the desk.

Finally having a place to empty his trunk after all of these years, Harry removed all of the schoolbooks from previous years and put them up on the top shelf in his closet, and then put Hedwig's treats in a desk drawer, along with his other school supplies.

Harry wondered briefly what to do with all of the copies of the Daily Prophet he'd kept that had been written about him, both good and bad, before deciding to put them back in his trunk because he didn't want to look at them or come across them on accident. He didn't like to know what others thought of him unless it was his friends or... his family.

Having nothing else to do after he'd unpacked and feeling uncertain about venturing back out to the rest of the house, Harry lay on the empty bottom bunk and looked through the book Kenai had lent to him. There were professions he'd never even thought of, some of them Ministry and some of them with private wizarding companies. Most of them were uninteresting to him, but he began making a mental list of all of the skills he thought he'd like to learn. The thought of being able to play a musical instrument kept crossing his mind as well, and he quite liked the thought of learning guitar. Harry pulled out a quill and parchment and began writing his list down. By the time he was done there were more than forty items. He began rating them with hash marks to narrow down his choices. Maybe if he were allowed to stay, then next summer he could choose the next skills on the list and be trained in those as well.

Finally Harry narrowed his list down to four things and then scratched Elven Magic at the top. Beneath that was: Guitar, Violin, Drawing, and Healing. He knew for sure he wanted to learn Elven magic, and he knew that with his track record that healing would be the smart thing to learn, but he couldn't bring himself to cross out the other things. Dudley had always been involved in extracurricular activities in the summer and at school, and he had all kinds of chances to learn things like this. Harry wanted to learn them all. He was sorely tempted to add things from his longer list to this shorter one, but refrained, even at the thought of being able to take extra flying and Quidditch lessons from someone possibly more skilled in the subject.

It was growing dark outside before anyone came to find Harry, and he startled as he lay on the bottom bunk when his father cleared his throat at the door.

Harry looked over and sat up. "Did I do something wrong?" He was worried, and didn't want to be tossed out for doing something wrong.

"No, you did not." Severus stepped into the room and looked around with a curious eye for a few moments before he asked, "I am curious as to why you chose this room."

Harry shrugged from the bed. "Don't know," he said. "It's cozy I guess. I like looking at the woods out the windows."

"Would you not prefer a larger bed?"

Harry shook his head. "Never slept in a bigger bed before." In fact, he was going to ask Kenai if there were curtains he could put up around the bottom bunk to make it more like his bed at Hogwarts.

"This was... my room, when I grew up here."

Harry raised his brows. "Your room?"

"I shared it with my cousin Elphas. He was a few months older and slept on the top bunk."

"Other people lived here?"

"The estate belonged to my grandparents, Oliver and Sophia Prince. I lived here with my mother, and several of my cousins and aunts and uncles."

"Where are they now?" Harry asked. He had no idea that there were other people he was related to aside from the Dursleys.

"You have three sets of great aunts and uncles who do not speak to us, and 12 second cousins who also do not speak to us."

"Oh." Harry looked at the floor. So he didn't really have other family members.

"Oliver and Sophia Prince were strict parents and grandparents. They liked to keep their descendants close to keep an eye on them and to be sure they were living in a ‘proper' manner. My mother was not as ‘well behaved' as the others. She was the only member of the family to marry a Muggle. Despite that fact, my grandparents left the estate to her for some reason, and she then left it to me. The rest of the family were upset, and they scorned the inheritance we were given. Several of my cousins kept in contact with me during and after school, but when they learned that I had become a death eater, they broke off all ties. I have not spoken to any of them since your mother and I... went our separate ways."

Harry bit his lip. That was an awful lot of information to take in about his father and their family all at once.

"Are we related to anyone that goes to Hogwarts?"

"It is tradition that the Prince's do not attend Hogwarts. My cousin Elphas and I were the only ones. The others all went to Beaxbatons in France."

"Why Elphas?"

"He was forcibly removed from Beaxbatons after his first year for behavioral issues."

"What did he do?"

"He played a prank on one of his siblings and our grandparents pulled him out and sent him to Hogwarts."

While Harry longed to have connections with a family, he was suddenly glad that he hadn't grown up under the rule of his great grandparents. He thought that this home and tutoring and his father and brothers mannerisms were awfully proper as it was, and he didn't know that he could fit in here as it was.

"Dinner will be in a few minutes. Perhaps Kenai will help you decorate afterwards."

Harry nodded and went past his father out the door to find Kenai, partly because he wasn't sure where the kitchen was. He didn't see his father glancing over the long list on the desk of things Harry wanted to learn, or the curious look on his face.

Dinner it turned out was a quiet affair, with Kenai doing most of the talking about his plans for the summer and about a letter he'd already received from Pansy and an invite he'd extended to Theodore Knott to come over next week. After dinner Kenai followed Harry upstairs and questioned him about his new room much as their father had done.

"It's so small," Kenai complained. "There's a great big room right across the hall from this one."

"I know," Harry said, "but I like this one."

"Ok, ok. What colors do you want?"

"Red I guess."

Kenai pointed his wand at Harry's curtains and spoke a description, and the curtains changed.

"That's it?" Harry asked.

"Pretty much. Picture it in your head and say it and point your wand and it'll change.

Harry pointed his wand at the bedspread and tried, and was pleasantly surprised when a warm patchwork quilt appeared with various shades of red with an occasional gold embellishment or lion. He could tell that Kenai thought it was ratty, but it was perfect to him and he wanted to crawl underneath it immediately. He'd never owned a blanket so soft or that looked like someone had taken the time to make it for him.

After a few tries, Harry had finally settled for a soft off white curtains that went down to the floor, a soft red area rug between his bed and desk, and a soft white plush chair that Harry thought he could easily fall asleep curled up in.

"Ok," Kenai said after watching his brother transform his new room. "Here's how you do posters."

He spent several minutes transfiguring pieces of parchment into larger pieces of paper, and then telling them what to turn into, mostly by holding up Quidditch magazines he'd brought with him from his own room.

Harry flipped through the magazines and then transferring pictures to the posters himself, along with a lion from his new blanket. When they were done, there were four new posters on the walls, and several enlarged photos of Harry's friends spello-taped on the wall above his desk.

The last thing Harry did was add red curtains to the bottom bunk and a soft white patchwork blanket to the top bunk, and then he stood back and admired their work.

"Well?" He asked, and Kenai shrugged.

"Maybe you want green instead?" he teased. "You are a Snape after all."

"What house was Elphas in?" Harry asked, and Kenai crossed his arms.

"We don't talk about Elphas."

"Come on, what house?"

"Hufflepuff," Kenai finally said under his breath, and Harry laughed.

"Maybe you'd like some yellow in your room then."

"Go on," Kenai said and left the room.

Harry looked around his new room again, and gave a faint smile. It wasn't the Weasley's, but it was his, for as long as they would let him keep it, and he hoped that it would be a long time indeed.