S.S.

Severus Snape was confused, having awoken up that morning to the memory of taking in his least favourite student, Harry Potter. He groaned at the thought of a whole summer stuck with the blasted child. Every day for the next few months would be unbearable. He had no idea how to entertain a child, nor any desire to do so. He was certain that leaving the boy in his sole care would lead to an insurmountable amount of tension and anger for the both of them.

It was seven thirty in the morning when Severus made his decision to contact Remus Lupin. It was not something he wished to do, but a short amount of contact with the wolf could give him a Potter free day at least once a week, and a change of scenery would be good for the child. Plus, contact with someone who could stand the sight of him would surely bring a welcome change to the boy's summer.

"Remus Lupin's study," Severus announced, sticking his head through the fire, leaving himself in an undignified position on the floor. After the spinning stopped, he found himself looking at the tired wolf's shins. "Lupin, I'd like a word." At the sound of Severus' voice, the other man jumped, clearly startled, before standing up and walking around his desk to address his floating head.

"Severus, this is unexpected."

"May I?" Severus asked impatiently, raising a single brow.

"Of course." Lupin stepped back to give him room and Severus stepped out of the fireplace. He glanced around the room, taking in the worn and shabby furniture. "How are you?" Lupin asked him, his tone measured and polite. Severus' lip curled in disdain.

"This isn't a social call. I need to speak with you about Potter."

"About Harry? Has something happened?"

Severus considered his response carefully. He did not want to get into a discussion regarding the boy's family when he had not discovered the extent of their neglect, nor did he want the wolf to believe that it was in any way down to him that the Potter brat was now living with him in the castle.

"The headmaster has decided that the boy must stay with me at Hogwarts over the summer. It is not an ideal situation as I'm sure you can imagine." He let disdain creep into his voice as he spoke.

Lupin frowned. "Why is he staying with you? I thought he lived with his aunt and uncle?"

"I suggest that you take that up with the headmaster. No doubt he just couldn't say no to his golden boy," Severus replied, rather proud of his evasion.

"Severus…" Lupin began reproachfully.

"I need you to take him at least once a week."

Lupin's eyebrows shot up. "Take him?"

"Yes. Take him somewhere outside of the castle for the day. It should not be an issue; you have no other commitments," Severus replied.

Lupin frowned, no doubt at the reminder that he no longer had a job, but nodded quickly. "That sounds fine. Do you have a day in mind?"

"Saturdays. Should you find work you will be able to keep taking him without interrupting his schedule." He was pleased, although not surprised that it had been this easy. The wolf had become quite fond of the child and would no doubt want to 'save' the boy from him.

"I'll come through the floo and take him from there. Tell Harry I'm looking forward to seeing him."

Severus departed for his own quarters through the floo. He had fifteen minutes left before Potter was due for breakfast and he wanted to have his schedule prepared for him. Sitting down at the table, Severus quickly drafted an outline for Potter that would keep him suitably busy so that not even he could not get into the mischief that he was usually capable of during term time.

H.P

Harry woke up disoriented in an unfamiliar room. The events of the day before slowly came back to him and his face flushed with embarrassment. Snape knew that he'd never had his own clothes, that the Dursleys weren't bothered enough about him to get him any of his own. Would he use it against him to humiliate him in front of the Slytherins?

He quickly threw on the same shirt and trousers that Snape had given him but it was weird to be wearing his professor's clothes. Snape's probably have them burned when this was all over.

His teacher's behaviour last night had been odd to say the least. He would never have thought in a million years that Snape would agree to take him in – the man loathed him. He'd been his usual cold and cruel self, but at the same time he'd given Harry a room, cooked him a meal, and even given him some of his own clothes. He probably had to do a lot of that stuff. After all, Dumbledore knew Harry was there and he would hardly let Snape chop him up for potions ingredients. Snape was probably just trying to keep him happy.

He entered the kitchen dead on eight to find Snape sitting at the table reading the paper. They ate in silence as they had the night before and the Potions Master didn't say a word until Harry put his spoon down.

Snape slid a piece of paper over to his side of the table and Harry leaned over to inspect it.

"I have written down your schedule. This will be followed from Sunday to Friday."

8am: Breakfast

9–11am: Homework

Free time

1pm: Lunch

2–4pm: Studying

Free time

7pm: Dinner

8–10pm: Reading/Quiet activity

10.30pm: Bed

"Studying?" Harry looked down at the schedule with something akin to horror. At least the Dursleys left him alone to wallow in his misery; they didn't plan his day to the hour.

"Was that a question you were attempting to frame, Mr. Potter?"

It took all of his willpower not to roll his eyes. "Why does it say studying, sir?" he asked again, this time looking up at his teacher.

"Your school work in my class last year was nothing short of abysmal, a standard I don't doubt is mirrored in your other courses," Snape replied.

Abysmal! He scowled darkly. If he was bad at potions it was because that greasy bat was always breathing down his neck. Harry continued looking at the schedule 'Quiet activity'? How old did Snape think he was? He thought it better to let it go when he considered the possibilities for his free time.

"Can I go out in the free time bits?"

"You may go to visit any teacher, the library, the owlery or go outside in your free time on the condition that you let me know where it is that you are going. You may leave a note on this table, or ask a house elf to do it for you if you are out. Also, at the end of your allotted time for homework I would like you to leave it on the kitchen table for me to go over. You will make a real effort or you will be redoing the work until I deem it to be of a high enough standard."

Harry's eyes narrowed. Some holiday this was turning out to be. "This says Sunday to Friday, sir?" Snape stared at him and Harry sighed, thinking dark thoughts about evil nit-picking professors. "Why does it say Sunday to Friday, sir?"

"Saturdays the wolf will relieve me of your presence for the day."

Harry's eyes widened. He was going to see Professor Lupin! It was rubbish that he'd resigned; he was the best teacher they'd had. And he'd known his parents and Sirius so he'd probably have loads of stories about them. Plus, the fact that he'd get to be away from the dungeons for a whole day was a massive bonus.

"This morning we will disregard the schedule as we must remedy your clothing situation. There is no reason for you to dress in rags."

"Are we going to Diagon Alley?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We will floo to the Leaky Cauldron and visit Madam Malkin's. I assume you are fond of muggle clothing?" Snape asked, and Harry nodded.

"We will also have to shop in muggle London. I take it you are ready to depart?"

"Yes, sir."

Harry stepped through the floo first, gracelessly tumbling out on the floor of the leaky cauldron, closely followed by Snape who strolled serenely out of the fireplace. "Quickly!" the professor snapped.

Harry got up, dusted himself off and reluctantly followed his teacher, waving merrily at Tom the barman on the way out. Snape opened the entrance to Diagon Alley and billowed up the street. He walked quickly, in long strides, evidently trying to reach his destination as fast as possible and Harry struggled to keep up. As they passed by the bank he called out to Snape. "Professor. Wait."

He jogged a little to catch up. "I don't have any money on me," he gasped, holding his side as he felt a stitch forming, and cursed Snape's speed. He was probably doing that on purpose too, torture by forced exercise. 

"Thank you, Potter, for yelling down the street to inform me of your current financial situation," Snape replied, turning to continue up the street. "Come, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."

"I can't buy anything without any money, can I?" Harry asked angrily. Why did Snape have to make everything so hard?

"Adjust your tone, Potter," he snapped. "As arrogant as your father before you…" he muttered turning away.

"Shut up about my dad."

Snape whipped round, eyes flashing in anger. "You dare speak to me like that, you insolent…" Harry backed up as the Potions Master loomed over him, but he refused to look away. He wasn't going to listen to him bad-mouthing his dad. Snape stepped back, seeming to collect himself and hissed, "You've lost your free time today. Another word out of line and it will be all week. Come, now."

Harry didn't dare refuse but why should he have to put up with Snape constantly putting him and his father down? Harry was distinctly reminded of last summer with his aunt Marge and tried to remain calm. He didn't even want to imagine how angry Snape would be if he accidentally started to inflate him. Still, he had no money on him! What was the point in even coming out if he couldn't buy anything? Maybe this was some part of a ploy to humiliate him about his lack of clothes... Why wouldn't he just listen to him instead of getting angry?

S.S.

The boy's rudeness was intolerable. He opened the door to Madam Malkin's, still seething.

He didn't want to answer the boy's questions about money; he would not tell the boy that he'd be buying the clothes for him and he would not answer to a child, especially if that child was Potter's. He was doing this for Lily. The boy was too young to be paying for his own clothes. It was his guardian's place to take care of his needs and clearly these particular needs had never been met. He had made a promise to Lily, and he would provide for the boy's needs as necessary, but that did not mean that the child needed to be made aware of it.

"I don't have any money on me. I need to go to Gringott's," Potter repeated, looking up at Severus. "…Sir," he finished, after taking in his warning glance.

Severus cursed inwardly at the stubbornness of the child. "Mr. Potter, your relatives should have bought you appropriate clothing; we are merely here to rectify the situation. You do not need to pay for the clothes."

"Someone has to pay for them, sir. My relatives aren't going to buy them. I have enough money, I just need to get it out." Severus was getting increasingly annoyed as Potter continued to argue, but the last thing he needed was to draw attention to them in the middle of the shop.

"Potter, you will not pay for clothes; you are a child. Do not concern yourself with the matter."

"Can I help you?" A young man wearing robes with 'Madam Malkin's' stitched in small letters on the front addressed Severus brightly. He scowled.

Upon the assistant's arrival Potter's hand had shot up to his hair, his fingers tugging at his fringe. Severus turned back to the sales assistant. At least his arrival had distracted Potter enough to get past the payment issue. "Yes, he needs a whole wardrobe." He indicated the boy. "Everything. Take care of it." 

Severus watched as Potter and the young sales assistant covered the whole store. The boy looked a lot happier but curiously kept flattening his fringe while he chatted and nodded to the young man.

Sooner than expected they were done and Severus was at the till paying for the clothes.

"This is everything?" he asked, indicating the modest assortment of clothes on the counter.

"Yes, it usually takes longer but he wasn't fussy. The only thing he took interest in was the socks. Your Neville's a good boy." Snape raised an eyebrow at the name, looking over at Harry who had elected to stay with the socks rather than face Snape before it was absolutely necessary. He ignored the reference to Potter as his. Snape was distracted from his study of the boy again by the sales assistant.

"Would you like to take all these with you, or have them delivered?"

"Have them sent to Hogwarts," he answered curtly.

"Neville, we're leaving."

H.P.

Once outside the shop Snape looked down at Harry, "Neville, Potter?"

Harry just shrugged, not wanting to justify himself to Snape. He didn't need to give the man another excuse to put him down. He just didn't want the boy to know who he was; the wizarding world acted a lot different to The-Boy-Who-Lived than they did to regular people and it was a lot nicer talking to people if they weren't gawping at him in awe.

Harry was looking forward to going into muggle London, at least. He'd been there when he'd travelled to Diagon Alley but he'd never really seen much of it. Snape, on the other hand, gave the distinct impression that he was not looking forward to the trip in the slightest.

"Back so soon, Mr. Potter?" said Tom as they entered the Leaky Cauldron.

"We're going into muggle London," Harry replied, smiling.

"Morning, Professor," Tom nodded at Snape.

Snape pulled out a chair from the nearest table. "Sit. Do not move and do not talk to anyone else. I will be back in two minutes."

"I'll keep an eye on him, Professor," Tom supplied. Snape nodded and left to change his clothes.

Harry was forced to walk alongside Snape in muggle London. The roads and streets were far busier than in Diagon Alley and Snape was clearly on edge as he steered him as quickly as he could to the shopping centre. Harry noticed that Snape looked slightly less intimidating than usual in his muggle clothes, though apparently he kept to the theme of black no matter what he wore.

How come Snape was so used to the muggle world anyway? When Hagrid had taken him to London he seemed quite excited by everything, but Snape seemed unfazed by it all.

"Stop dawdling, Potter," Snape snapped as Harry gazed around the large building, taking in all the different store fronts. "I don't have all day."

Harry bit his lip when Snape stared at him expectantly once they'd reached the clothing section of the department store. He had no idea how much to get, what to choose, how much to spend... Plus, it was distracting to shop with your potions teacher glaring at you. He addressed Snape, his eyes on the floor. "What do you want me to get?"

S.S.

Severus realised a little belatedly that Potter seemed rather at a loss and cursed his muggle relatives for making this process more difficult. He paused for a moment to think. "Six tops and four pairs of trousers, minimum. You have twenty minutes."

He watched Potter gaze uncertainly around the store for five minutes, then for a further five pick things up only to put them back again after seeing the price tag. "Today, Potter," he said, grabbing a shirt from a rack next to the boy and holding it up to him, judging the size. Potter stood stock still, gaping at him. "Yes or no?" he asked roughly. 

"Err, yes, I guess." Snape nodded and threw the top into his arms. They carried on in the same way until Snape was satisfied that they'd got enough.

H.P.

Harry was feeling distinctly odd. The man was picking out clothes for him, he was actually picking out his clothes! It was a relief and a bit of a shock when his teacher started picking things out for him, but he hadn't really known what he was allowed to get. As they queued for the till he looked doubtfully at the tags. Each item was around £20 or £30.

He opened his mouth to say something but Snape had been watching him out of the corner of his eye. "One more word about money, Potter, and you'll find yourself under a silencing charm until I get it through your thick skull to stop questioning me," he hissed, so that the nearby muggles couldn't hear.

Harry sent him a furious glare. He wouldn't! If the school was paying for all this and they thought that the Dursleys would repay them, then they were dead wrong. They would never pay for any of these clothes and it was better Snape knew that now so that Harry could just pay it all back.

It probably wasn't a good idea to defy Snape in public. He had no intention of getting told off in front of the entire high street, so Harry bit his tongue, for now at least.

S.S.

It had been a rather strange morning, Severus mused as he prepared lunch after sending Potter to begin his homework. The boy had been argumentative and rude, just as expected, but he did display some intriguing behaviour. The flattening of his fringe, which could only have been to hide his scar, not to mention the use of a fake name in the same instance. It didn't match the fame hungry Potter that he taught at Hogwarts, but perhaps there was a reason that he did not want that boy to know who he was. It didn't necessarily mean anything.

Then there was the issue with the money; the boy would just not let it go. He had assured him that he had no need to pay for anything, yet he had insisted, even when he knew he was making him angry. He wondered why it was so important to him. No child really thought that much about money, especially one with a vault full of gold.

He turned around to place the sandwiches in the middle of the kitchen table, stopping short when he spotted Harry standing in the doorway.

H.P.

He knew Snape would be mad if he brought the money thing up again, but he just had to explain. Snape would be even angrier if he thought that he had kept the truth from him and the Dursleys would be really angry if they had to pay for all of those clothes. It was all right for Snape, he never had to see the Dursleys again if he didn't want to. He'd rather face Snape's wrath right now, than the Dursleys' when they saw how expensive that lot had all been.

He'd faced worse than an irate potions professor since he'd been at Hogwarts. "They won't pay the money back, sir," he said. He saw the professor's expression turn dark and ploughed on before he could hand out some sort of punishment before he understood. "Just let me pay the school's money back. I'm going to have to give it back anyway when they refuse and this way you don't have to ask them. Please don't ask them, it just makes things more... difficult." He stopped twisting his hands together. He felt pathetic but he didn't want to see the Dursleys again with this hanging over his head, and if they did pay for his clothes they would surely get rid of them as soon as he went back, or sell them just to spite him.

He couldn't fathom Snape's expression when he replied. "You are aware that you are living with me this summer, Mr Potter." Harry looked at him and nodded. "A verbal response is necessary."

"Yes, sir."

"Then it is of no consequence how your relatives," he spat the word with disgust, "react to anything concerning you."

"When I go back–" Harry started, but Snape cut him off.

"You will not go back, Mr Potter." Harry ignored that particular response before moving onto his next argument.

"I'll owe the school the money anyway–" Yet again Snape did not allow him to finish.

"Mr. Potter, there is no intention to demand your relatives reimburse the money. The money is spent and nothing is owed, so sit down and eat your lunch. When you finish you will remain in your room until dinner; your punishment from this morning stands," he stated coldly, sitting across from Harry and disappearing behind a potions journal.