H.P.

Harry had spent a very dull week inside Snape's dungeons as both of its occupants continued to do their utmost to keep out of each other's way. Harry still hadn't sent his letter to Ron, and with each passing day he was becoming more and more anxious to send it. It wasn't particularly because the sentiment of the letter was that important but it had been almost a week since Harry had left the Dursleys, and considering the events of the summer after his second year, his friends got quite anxious if they hadn't heard from him. If he waited any longer they might actually decide to go there to make sure that he was okay. If wizards turned up on the doorstep of number four again the Dursleys would be livid, and when Harry had to face them again they would be even angrier with him than when he left, which would be saying something.

He needed that letter sent and he had a plan. He was putting the finishing touches to his homework ready to give in at eleven. He had been working on this piece of homework on and off for days and he was going to do an amazing job, Hermione style, so that Snape would hopefully be in a good enough mood to let him send his letter.

He dipped his quill in the ink pot and tapped it absentmindedly to get rid of the excess, staring at the parchment thoughtfully. He'd already done a foot more than what was assigned and he'd written it extra neat. Doing any more would probably be going too far; it wouldn't be worth it even if he did get to send his letter. He could hardly believe that Hermione did this on a daily basis. How could Snape not be impressed?

He went to the kitchen and put his essay in the middle of the table as he did every day. Today, though, instead of going back to his own room, he was going to stay in the living room. That way when Snape marked it, and presumably decided it was the best he'd get out of him, he could ask him about his letter right away, before the man found some reason to be angry with him. It was bound to work.

He had a lot of time left to burn and he couldn't just sit around doing nothing until he put the final part of his plan into action. In the corner of the room, Snape had a chessboard set up as though ready to play. Though, who he ever played with was a mystery. 

Harry ran into his own room to grab his own set. His weren't that experienced but you needed two sets to practice properly, he'd seen Ron at it. He wasn't all that into chess, it was more Ron's thing, but he did enjoy making the pieces beat each other up. That would pass some time until Snape came back to make lunch.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was embroiled in a vicious battle between the two sets of chess pieces. He'd named all of Snape's set as various Slytherins and his own as Gryffindors. If anyone cared to notice, it wasn't so much a battle as a systematic Slytherin slaughter, but this way it was actually fun. Harry had learnt how to play games by himself when he was young out of necessity; with the Dursleys he would have died of boredom otherwise.

"G4, Seamus, take him out!" Harry watched as the pawns wrestled and 'Seamus' dragged 'Goyle' off the board. "Right, well, Crabbe's gone mental because he can't live without Goyle… Suicide mission to F3. Dean goes in to finish the job… hit him. What are you waiting for?" he scolded one of his pawns.

"Having fun, are we?" Snape asked, peering over his shoulder. Harry yelped and jumped up so suddenly he knocked the chess board over, scattering screaming pieces all over the floor. Harry moaned, looking at the mess. He knew that his face was crimson. How long Snape had been listening to his chess battle? At certain points it had gotten quite silly and he hadn't exactly asked to use it.

"You are aware that is not the correct way to play chess, are you not?"

Why wasn't he screaming at him or grounding him? He'd touched his stuff and the Dursleys hated when he touched their stuff. What's worse was he'd gone and dropped it all over the floor. Snape was going to go mental any second. He'd never get his letter sent at this rate.

"I'm sorry."

Snape rolled his eyes, seeming unaware of Harry's mounting confusion. "Clean it up, Mr. Potter, and refrain from that kind of idiocy in my presence. Lupin has asked me to inform you that he will arrive at 10 o'clock tomorrow to pick you up. I suggest that you are ready to leave promptly."

Harry gaped, not able to believe his luck. No detention or threats to cancel his day out with Professor Lupin? Maybe he still had a chance to get up to the owlery after all.

S.S.

Severus had returned to his quarters to check up on the boy. He'd made a habit of returning regularly to make sure the boy wasn't sneaking off in his invisibility cloak to get out of his punishment.

It was peculiar to see the boy at ease when he thought no one was watching. He had no adoring fans to entertain here. Potter was clearly used to entertaining himself, but his apology was odd. Of all the things he decided to apologise for, he chose to do so for something entirely unnecessary. It was obvious that he thought he was doing something wrong; he had an unmistakable look of guilt on his face.

He intended to mark Potter's work ready to give back at lunch. His homework so far had been average at best, though it was far better than what he usually gave in after the summer. After the scene he had witnessed at his relatives household he assumed that Potter wouldn't have had much of an opportunity to complete summer assignments if his trunk was being locked away every year.

Cutting his musings short, he looked over the assignment on the table. It was his own and he'd only asked for three feet. Unfurling the parchment he saw that Potter had given him at least four and surprisingly it was in the most readable writing he had seen the boy put on parchment. What was he up to?

He marked the work they way he would any other and there was still a fair amount of red ink on the page. It was obvious that the boy had made an actual effort but he wasn't going to commend him for something he ought to do in the first place. He quickly put some sandwiches out and waited for Potter to join him. When he came in he ate his food quickly, without taking his eyes off of his plate.

"Your work, Mr. Potter." Severus slid the parchment over to his side of the table. He was curious to find out what had caused the boy to make a true attempt at the assignment. The boy gave it a thoughtful once over whilst eating and he seemed fairly pleased, despite the fact that Severus had not been generous at all.

Suddenly the boy cleared his throat. "I know I'm grounded–" This will no doubt be it... "–but I need to send a letter. Is there any way I could get it sent today, sir?" He spoke boldly and Severus wasn't sure if it was because he was confident of getting his way or if it was just his Gryffindor side coming through.

He was a little intrigued that the boy had gone to quite a special effort all so that he could have a letter sent when he only had to wait until the very next day before his grounding was over and he was free to go to the owlery. He would find nothing out if he acquiesced straight away. "As touching as your devotion to your little friends is, Potter, you may send your letter yourself tomorrow."

Severus' curiosity was piqued as Potter drew in a sharp breath behind gritted teeth, evidently trying to rein in his temper before he answered. "Please, sir. I'd really like to send it today."

He could quite easily have the letter sent that day but the boy's effort and agitation made him certain that he ought to know the reason behind his request.

"May I remind you of our conversation a few days ago? I informed you that if you felt you could not obey my request you may explain to me why." Severus regarded the boy somewhat coolly as he took quite some time to give him an answer.

"My friends think that I'm with the Dursleys and I haven't written to them yet."

"Try again, Mr. Potter. That was not an adequate explanation." It's like pulling teeth.

Potter huffed and it was clear that he was battling between his desire to not give away too much and his wish to get his letter sent. "They'll be worried and they can be rash. They might go there to check up on me."

So that was it. His friends must be somewhat aware of Potter's treatment at the hands of his relatives. He did wonder what exactly made the boy fear that they would go to the Dursleys' in search of him and why that would be so terrible, but he could not give an adequate reason why he would pry further. "You are in luck. I had intended to take care of some correspondence this afternoon. Leave the letter on the table." With that he swept off back to his lab.

H.P.

Well, that hadn't gone too bad. He'd have his letter sent after all. For a second there he thought that he'd done all that work for no reason. He grabbed the letter from his desk drawer and threw it on the table. He'd considered writing a separate one for Hermione but asking Snape to send two letters might be pushing his luck.

The next morning Harry woke up with a wide smile. He wasn't grounded any more! Feeling optimistic about the weather, he grabbed a t-shirt. He had no idea what Professor Lupin had planned, but any change of scenery was a good thing.

He couldn't help but bound into the kitchen, and his foot tapped repeatedly on the floor as he wolfed down his breakfast. Snape sneered at him over his newspaper.

"Try to eat like a human being, Potter. The headmaster would be irritated with me if I allowed you to choke to death." Snape rolled his eyes as though he couldn't understand the headmaster's thought process.

He didn't let Snape bother him. Quite frankly he couldn't care less if Snape was in a bad mood; his whole life must be one long bad mood.

After breakfast he sat on the sofa opposite the fireplace waiting eagerly for Professor Lupin to arrive. 

S.S.

The boy was irritatingly happy this morning, obviously excited to be leaving. His table manners had been more appalling than usual and now he sat in the living room practically bouncing off of his seat. Severus too, was awaiting Lupin's arrival, although with a lot less excitement. He was going to see off the boy before enjoying his blissfully Potter-free day.

He sat on a separate sofa finishing off the daily prophet but he could still see Potter fidgeting out of the corner of his eye.

"If you can't sit still, you can go to your room," he bit out, casting an angry glare at his student. They sat in a tense silence after that, neither speaking and both looking angry until the fire turned green, expelling a smiling Remus Lupin.

"Harry!" he greeted warmly as the boy in question jumped up excitedly.

"Hi, Professor."

"Remus, Harry," Lupin corrected. "I'm not your teacher any more. Severus, is there a particular time you need him back?"

"By six if you don't intend on feeding him, otherwise nine will be fine," Severus replied curtly.

"Dinner won't be a problem. I'll have him back at nine."

Severus nodded unconcernedly and left for his most peaceful day since term ended.

H.P.

After tumbling out of the floo, Harry found himself in Remus' study. It was obvious that his former teacher was struggling financially; the furniture was worn and shabby and the walls colourless. It was very different from the burrow, which was vibrant and full of life, and it didn't look as if Remus made a special effort trying to make the house more homely.

"It's not much, but the garden's quite big and the weather's nice so we can sit outside and you can tell me about your summer so far," Remus said, stepping out of the floo behind Harry and leading the way through the house.

The garden was surprisingly wild and Harry was glad to be out in the sun and fresh air. He settled on the grass, lying on his back, looking up at the sparse few clouds. Remus sat down on the ground next to him instead of bringing seats out.

He cleared his throat quietly, watching Harry closely. "So, why are you not staying with your aunt and uncle?" he asked, looking serious.

"I don't know. I've asked Professor Dumbledore if I could stay at Hogwarts before but he's always said no. But then this year I went back to the Dursleys and I'd barely been there twenty minutes when Snape came and took me back to Hogwarts." 

"Professor Snape brought you back?" Remus pressed.

"Yeah, I suppose Dumbledore sent him."

Remus nodded thoughtfully. "How are you two getting on?"

"Uhhhmm. I don't know," Harry answered, screwing up his face in thought. He didn't want to say they weren't getting along seeing as Sirius had already kicked up a fuss and that might make it worse. Plus, he hadn't been much worse than expected. He said horrible things a lot, and he made it quite obvious that he didn't want him around...

Remus cut Harry's musings short. "Is it better staying with Professor Snape than your relatives?"

"Oh, yeah, it is. He feeds me and stuff and he leaves me alone mostly. Dumbledore says there's no one else who can look after me this summer."

Remus frowned which was weird because he hadn't said anything bad about Snape really. "Don't hesitate to contact me or Sirius if you need anything. If it had been possible either one of us would have taken you."

"Yeah, Sirius offered…" Harry began but changed his mind, not wanting to talk about that. "Dumbledore said Sirius was mad because I'm staying with Snape." 

"Sirius can be a little hot-headed sometimes. He's finding it a little hard to look past his schoolboy grudge. He just wants what's best for you," he said wearily and Harry suspected that he'd had to hear a lot about it from Sirius.

"I'm OK though. I want to stay at Hogwarts, and I'm fine with staying with Snape if I don't have to go back."

"Don't worry, Harry. Professor Dumbledore and I have had a bit of a word with him. I know that you'll be fine with Severus."

He summoned some lemonade, pouring Harry a glass. They spent a good afternoon in the garden with Harry telling him about getting grounded all week and his embarrassing chess game. Remus in turn told Harry about his father and Sirius' school days.

Remus decided they would go out for a walk in the evening, saying that Harry needed to stretch his legs. "Is there anything you'd really like to do this summer?" 

"Like what?"

"Somewhere you want to visit or something you want to do."

Harry thought quite hard. He hadn't really been anywhere interesting before he turned up at Hogwarts seeing as the Dursleys never took him anywhere apart from a trip to the zoo when they couldn't get anyone to take him for the day. Dudley did a lot of things in the holidays and at weekends; he went to the cinema or bowling or ice skating. The ice skating only happened once though; it was probably too much physical exertion for him. Harry had gone with the Dursleys to pick him up though and it looked fun.

"I kind of want to go ice skating, I guess," he replied, his shoulders rounding self-consciously.

"Hmm, well that'll only take a couple of hours, so we should think of something to do for the rest of the day. Maybe we ought to do it for your birthday."

Harry grinned. That would make it the closest thing to a birthday party he'd ever had.

He was sad to leave when nine o'clock rolled around. Snape must have heard them come through because he stood waiting in the kitchen doorway.

"I see you've brought him back in one piece," he said coldly, as if he had been hoping for the exact opposite.

"Severus, I'd like to speak to you for a moment before I go," Remus said as if he hadn't spoken. Snape nodded tersely and Remus turned back to face Harry.

"It was great seeing you. I'll be here same time next week," he said, briefly squeezing Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks for today, Prof- Remus," he replied with a grin.

S.S.

He rolled his eyes. They were seeing each other in seven days for Merlin's sake. "Go to your room." Potter detached himself from the wolf and gave a short wave goodbye. Severus waited until the door closed fully before turning back to Lupin.

"I'll get straight to the point. Why did Albus give you guardianship of Harry for the summer?"

"That is between Potter and the headmaster. I would not know," he replied dismissively.

"Severus, please. I know you collected him from his relatives. You must have some idea."

He made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. Potter had obviously spoken to the wolf; it would be pointless to carry on the lie. It would be far worse if Lupin decided to speak to Albus and found out that removing Harry from the Dursleys' care had been his own idea.

"You have some concerns?" he deflected.

"Harry said something, I don't think he realised… Severus, should I be worried?" It was obvious he already was, so it was fairly pointless to ask. What had the boy let slip to cause the werewolf to have concerns?

"What did he say?"

Lupin hesitated, unsure as to whether he should reveal what Potter said, but seemed to quickly make up his mind. "I asked him whether living with you was better than living with his aunt and uncle and he said that it was because you 'feed him and stuff'."

Eloquent as ever. "That is… new," he replied carefully. Lupin paused for a moment, tiredly running his hand through his hair.

"I think it would be good for all of us to speak together, you, me, Albus and Harry. I want to know what exactly those people did to him…"

"The headmaster is away from the castle. Perhaps something can be arranged when he gets back."