S.S.

He had not considered who the replacement carer for the boy would be over the holidays, but surely someone at Hogwarts would be able to keep an eye on him. He was aware that the boy seemed to be on good terms with Hagrid...

"Hagrid and the boy get along, surely he could take him."

"Really, Severus? Hagrid is our gamekeeper. His job carries on over the holidays, not to mention his quarters are outdoors with nowhere for Harry to stay. That would not be entirely appropriate, would it?"

Severus did not think it wise at this stage to mention that the Dursleys had hardly been appropriate guardians for the child either.

"The wolf then, he was fond of the boy."

"Remus has found himself without work," the headmaster said, giving him a pointed look. "He needs time to find employment. You are also aware that with his lycanthropy it would not be possible for him to be Harry's sole guardian over the summer."

"Are you telling me that you cannot think of a single soul that resides in this castle that would be capable of minding the boy for a matter of weeks?"

"You are aware that although we live in the castle with our students during the year we each have lives and families of our own. There is only one person available for the task," he answered, looking intently at Severus over his interlaced fingertips.

"No." 

"Severus."

"No!"

"With no one to take care of him here, he must remain where he is."

"He is outside this office." Severus almost smirked, despite the dire predicament he found himself in.

"Then it seems you have volunteered yourself."

"You once gave that boy to people who did not want him and it did not go well. Do not make the same mistake again."

The headmaster looked up at Severus over his half-moon spectacles. "You have taken a great amount of interest in Harry's welfare and I trust you completely. Hagrid will of course be on the grounds and I'm sure you are welcome to contact Remus."

Severus almost laughed at the prospect of contacting that blasted wolf.

"You're leaving me with no choice… how ironic."

"You have a choice, Severus."

"I do not consider that an option."

The headmaster sighed as if Severus was being wearisome and unreasonable. "I think we've left Harry outside for long enough, don't you?"

"Do not tell him that this was down to me," Severus said quietly.

His employer inclined his head. "As you wish." 

H.P.

Harry had been standing outside Dumbledore's office for a good twenty minutes getting more and more frustrated by the second. Why was no one telling him anything? And why was he standing outside of Dumbledore's office when it was perfectly clear that Snape and Dumbledore were discussing him? If they were going to take him back to the Dursleys they would be livid when Harry turned up again, and if Harry wasn't staying with the Dursleys why would Dumbledore make him take the train all the way to London? He was silently debating whether to start pounding on the door or whether to wander off and entertain himself just to irritate Snape when the door in question opened, revealing a smiling Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry," he greeted cheerfully. "Do come inside. Lemon drop?"

"No, thanks, sir."

His eyes darted to Snape who was standing beside Professor Dumbledore's desk looking as menacing as ever, although seeming much calmer than before.

"Professor, what's going on?" Harry directed the question at the headmaster, carefully ignoring Snape.

"It has come to our attention that your home life leaves a lot to be desired. You once expressed a wish to remain at the castle over the holidays," he stated slowly, watching Harry intently.

"Yes, sir."

"Then you will be happy to hear that you will be remaining here this summer."

"Really?" Harry couldn't help the wide grin that broke out on his face. He wasn't going back!

"Professor Snape and I were just discussing the details before you came in."

Again, Harry glanced at his dreaded potions teacher. What did he have to do with anything? Snape was the last person who wanted to be bothered with Harry over the holidays.

"What details, Professor?"

"You will of course need to have an adult to take care of you. The castle is not quite run the same over the summer, my boy. We do not normally make provision for students, as you are aware." Professor Dumbledore seemed to hesitate a fraction. "We have come to the decision that it is best that Professor Snape is appointed your guardian over the summer."

Harry's face fell. "Snape?"

"Professor Snape," the man himself snapped.

"But why?" he asked, gaping at the headmaster.

"There is no one else in the castle better suited to taking care of you over the next few weeks. You will stay with Professor Snape in his quarters and he will be responsible for you."

Harry's eyes widened further at the thought of Snape being responsible for him for the whole summer. It was a nightmare — the man hated him.

"Are we quite finished, headmaster?" Snape asked coldly.

"Indeed, Severus."

"Come, Potter." He swept out of the office with a very reluctant Harry Potter trailing behind him.

Harry pondered his summer moodily. He was saved from the Dursleys and Dumbledore was letting him stay in the castle and literally the only thing that could ruin it for him had happened. It was so unfair! Snape and the Dursleys could form some sort of club of people who hated him…

Snape would no doubt be the same as the Dursleys, blaming him for everything and acting as though sharing the same air was offensive. He certainly wouldn't want Harry around; maybe he would try to lock him away too. Would Snape even have a room for him? Harry shuddered, picturing himself locked in the potions store cupboard all summer.

Their footsteps echoed in the long dungeon corridors. Harry vaguely recognised where they were from his trip to the Slytherin common room in second year, but they quickly passed it by, eventually reaching a thoroughly nondescript painting of a tree. Snape stepped close to the painting and when he murmured the password, Lilium, a small snake wound itself out of a hole in the tree before the portrait swung aside to admit them.

Despite being underground Snape's quarters were obviously charmed to have windows, though it still was still gloomy. The wooden furniture was dark and the sofas and wallpaper were grey. If you looked closely there were small snakes a shade lighter in the paper. It was drab but comfortable looking and fairly homely. There were three doors leading off from the living room but they were shut, so Harry settled for leaning quietly against his trunk and waiting for Snape to speak.

"I do hope my quarters meet the Golden Boy's expectations," Snape sneered. "The kitchen is the door on the left and we will eat at the table, not anywhere else. My rooms are through the door on the right. You have no right whatsoever to enter them, under any circumstance. You might be used to going wherever you please in this castle but that will no longer be the case. Is that understood?"

Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes," he ground out.

"Your room is the door across from us. Come." He showed Harry into a room which was a little lighter and friendlier than the living room. "This is the guest bedroom, and—" he pushed open a door on the left "—the guest bathroom. I expect them to be kept clean; your laziness will not be tolerated here." Snape's silky voice was causing Harry's blood to boil and he bit his tongue, hard, to stop himself from saying anything rude in return. He couldn't quite help himself, though.

"I'm not lazy."

"Manners, Potter. Stay in here and unpack. I will call you out for dinner in one hour. I expect you to be finished and—" he glanced at appraisingly at Harry who was wearing one of Dudley's old t-shirts that was far too long and jeans that were torn and frayed at the bottom from where he had repeatedly trodden on them, "—appropriately dressed." 

Harry carefully put Hedwig's cage on his desk before turning around and kicking his trunk one Snape had left. He sat on the bed seething, unpacking the last thing on his mind. Snape's attitude to him was clearly the same as ever. Why he would ever have agreed to take him in? Unless he had plans to make his summers even more miserable.

A good half hour later he was no closer to figuring out how he had ended up in Snape's quarters but his stomach remembered the promise of dinner and he had no desire to find out how similar Snape would be to the Dursleys if Harry defied him. He unpacked, finishing with fifteen minutes to spare and realised that with all his stuff put away this room looked more like his own than any other had. He brushed that thought hastily aside with something close to a shudder.

He still had to get changed into something 'appropriate'. His clothes were pretty much all the same, either too big or too worn. Had Snape told him to change on purpose in an attempt to humiliate him? He quickly threw on his school robes. At best, Snape might not comment on it.

A few moments later, Snape knocked on Harry's door. "Why, Potter, are you wearing your school uniform?"

"Because you said to get changed…sir," Harry said, trying to keep his voice even.

"I asked you to dress appropriately. It seems you cannot follow even the simplest instructions. Get changed."

"What?" Harry was at a complete loss for what to do. All his muggle clothes were pretty much the same and he'd already changed into his robes. He didn't have anything left. What did he want him to wear? And who had a bloody dress code for dinner in their kitchen in the first place? You'd think he'd invited Merlin to dinner the way he was going on.

"I suggest you rethink your attitude before you join me for dinner. Five minutes," he said in what Harry recognised as his 'detention' voice.

He stared despairingly down at his clothes. Why did it matter to Snape what he wore anyway? He picked out his last Weasley jumper, curling his fingers into the warm wool. He couldn't wear this; it wasn't even appropriate for the time of year let alone Snape's ridiculous standards for his quarters. Maybe he just didn't want him to have any dinner… Well, that was fine, he'd gone without a meal or a hundred at the Dursleys. He wouldn't starve to death missing one measley little meal. He'd just sit here and… his eyes scoured the room, searching for inspiration. There, right, he'd read his broom manual.

S.S.

That was how Severus found Harry, lying on his stomach on his bed, still in his school robes, absentmindedly flicking through his broomstick manual.

"Mr. Potter," Severus began silkily. "Was there something difficult about my request for you to get changed and eat dinner?" At his words Harry shut his book and sat up with his arms folded, glaring in the opposite direction.

"Can you dress yourself?" Harry shot him a furious glare, but said nothing. "Answer me."

"Yes," Harry replied sullenly.

"Yes, sir." Severus was getting very annoyed, very quickly. He'd expected resistance from the Gryffindor but not quite this amount and not over something as ridiculous as dressing smartly. He strode forward to the wardrobe and opened the doors, pulling out every item of clothing until they were all piled up on the bed. He hadn't remembered teenage fashion being quite so hideous when he was the same age.

"Potter, are your relatives aware that you are not a small elephant?"

H.P.

Harry stifled a snigger. "Yes… sir."

Snape looked if possible even angrier as he glared at the offending heap of clothes. "Which of these clothes were bought specifically with you in mind?"

Harry glanced at the pile, feeling his face flame at the question. "Mrs Weasley knitted two of the jumpers," he admitted with what he hoped came across as a careless shrug. Snape's lips thinned, reminding Harry of his aunt when she spotted a speck of dust on her shelves. The Potions Master was probably about to start yelling.

Instead, Snape billowed out of the room, soon returning with a white short sleeved shirt and black trousers which he thrust at Harry.

"I shrunk them, so they should fit you. Put them on and come eat dinner."

S.S.

He waited for Potter to return at the table, thinking over their dispute. He'd assumed the boy's refusal to don suitable attire was some sort of statement or ploy for attention, but it was clear now that those people had not provided for him at all. Potter's life was being revealed to be less and less what he anticipated and the thought was... unsettling.

He waited for him to finish eating before raising the matter. "Mr. Potter, it was not my intention to give you a task that you could not complete. You are permitted to inform me if, for some reason, you are unable to complete a task that I set you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"The clothes that you are in possession of are not acceptable. We will remedy that tomorrow."

Harry looked up at him, giving him another of his confused looks before returning his eyes to his plate.

"As I have mentioned, while you are living with me you will abide by my rules. You will have a schedule. I will not have you wandering the castle whenever you please. You will eat three meals a day, complete your homework to a good standard — not the usual drivel that you hand in — and you will complete chores. Is that clear?"

The boy nodded mutely, dragging his fork across his plate, obviously irritated. "You will get your schedule tomorrow. Be up for breakfast at eight."