Harry looked around, at the buildings, the people, and finally Snape, as they walked through the heart of London. They were dressed in Muggle clothes. Harry wore a light shirt and jeans, and Snape was wearing a button down dress shirt with the top button undone and slacks, both black. It had been a long time since Harry had been to London. The Dursleys never went out of their way to take him there, and as a wizard, no one took him there either. It was almost as though he were a tourist. The smells were foreign, and the shop windows held numerous temptations.

Snape had been quiet this whole time. After announcing their impromptu trip, and notifying the Headmaster, Snape had instructed him to change his clothes to something more suitable than his school uniform, and they walked till they were just outside the wards, where they disapparated. Other than curt instructions, Snape hadn't opened his mouth. They continued to wander aimlessly.

"Shall we stop for something to eat?" Snape suggested. "It's past time for lunch."

"Alright," Harry agreed. He would have agreed to almost anything Snape suggested at this point, realizing that the situation was awkward beyond belief. He couldn't imagine that Snape was anymore comfortable than he was.

"Is there anywhere you would like to go?" Snape asked.

"The Chinese take-away?" Harry suggested hopefully. He'd always wanted to try Chinese take-away and it had never worked out.

"The Chinese take-away it is, then," Snape replied.

Severus ordered their meals, and the two of them went to a near by park. Breaking all the rules of dignity, Severus sat down on the grass, his back against a tree, across from Harry, who sat in a similar position, as they unpacked the food he had just bought. Severus handed Harry the chow mien he had chosen and opened his own egg fu yung. Silently, they each began to eat their food of choice.

"We need to talk," Severus finally said, laying his own food aside. He couldn't eat while he was trying to think of how to say everything that needed to be said. Harry visibly swallowed and tensed. Those were cursed words, "We need to talk." Harry also put down his food. Severus crossed his arms and watched Harry with a close eye.

"Alright," Harry finally acknowledged. "I'm sorry about today."

"Today is only the last of a tragedy which needs to be sorted out," Severus countered. "I suppose where we should begin is with my own apology. I'm sorry about my negligence toward you this week. We both know my reasons for giving you space; clearly they were not good enough."

"It's fine," Harry said. "I would have come to see you, it was just I was busy all week."

"With detentions," Severus pointed out. "You could have taken a minute after class to tell me. I told you not to let her do that to you."

"I didn't want to bother you with that," Harry muttered.

"What did you do to earn her ire, anyway?"

"I told the truth," Harry said, biting his lips nervously.

"About?"

"That I had been with you, and we prevented the third rise of You-Know-Who."

"There are times to tell the truth, and there are times to tell less of it," Severus sighed. "And she gave you a week of detentions over that?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said, nodding a bit.

"And what about my instructions, that you were not to let her do that to you again?"

"I - I forgot," Harry lied.

"Read your scars, Harry," Severus whispered. Without even thinking about it, Harry glanced at the scars he knew so well.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," Harry amended.

"You've always been an incredibly bad lair," Severus commented. "That by itself should have convinced Umbridge that you were telling the truth."

"Thank you? I guess?" Harry almost laughed.

"I still told you to not let her do it," Severus pushed again. "Whether it was a big deal or not, I told you not to." Harry simply shrugged.

"I didn't mind," he finally said, when it was apparent Severus had no intention of having a one sided conversation.

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Harry said, getting frustrated. "I guess it didn't really matter to me." Severus arched one eyebrow.

"And why was that?"

"Did it matter? Does it matter? After everything? What's a blood quill and writing a few lines after everything?"

"Would you let one of your friends have to suffer a detention like that, warranted or not?"

"No, sir," Harry replied, playing with the hem of his shirt.

"Don't sell yourself short then," Severus advised. "If you wouldn't let one of your friends do it, it's probably not something you should be doing."

"Alright, sir, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Severus said. "And thank you, by the way." Harry's head shot up and he blinked at Severus.

"For what?"

"For keeping me from a one way ticket to Azkaban," Severus explained.

"Oh," Harry nodded. "You're welcome. I didn't think you would actually do it."

"I would have, and worse," Severus confessed. "If there were no witnesses and no one to interfere, I will admit I probably would have killed her." Harry looked at him oddly. "Whether you like to believe it or not, I'm a killer, Harry."

"You've just spent so long pretending, you've forgotten that you're not," Harry whispered.

"Perhaps," Severus deflected quietly. "What happened this morning?"

"Nightmare," Harry muttered. "The lucid dreaming failed. My mind layered the dreams, and no matter how many times I woke up, I was still asleep."

"Ah," Severus nodded sadly. "That happens sometimes. When your brain needs to dream badly enough."

"You never warned me," Harry accused.

"It doesn't happen to everyone," Severus explained. "I'm sorry. Why didn't one of your dorm mates wake you?"

"I use a silencing spell," Harry sighed.

"Because that's always the bright thing to do," Severus replied, though the acerbic tone was definitely missing. "Of course whenever you know you have nightmares you purposely set it up so that no one knows to wake you!"

"I didn't want to bother them!" Harry shouted.

"I gathered," Severus drawled.

"So I can't have the dreamless sleep, lucid dreaming fails, and I won't even be able to save my dignity with a silencing spell," Harry summed up.

"You cannot have the dreamless sleep, lucid dreaming sometimes fails, and it won't damage your dignity to acknowledge reality!" Severus corrected. "I do believe your friends have made their intentions clear, that they won't mind helping you, if you just reach your hand out the slightest inch." Harry sighed, a bit louder than he had meant to.

"You're not supposed to care this much," Harry said.

"I believe I am," Severus retorted. "Why didn't you come to me about your nightmare if it was bad enough for you to start hallucinating after?"

"It was a bad dream," Harry muttered sullenly. "I'm 15 years old. I shouldn't have to go running to someone over a bad dream!"

"Do you care to share any more details about it?" Severus offered.

"No, sir," Harry replied, and then shrugged again. "It wasn't important."

"On the contrary, I believe Mr. Malfoy found it rather important." A look of horror crossed Harry's face.

"Did you talk to him?" Harry suddenly asked, running his words together.

"Yes, I did," Severus affirmed. "How willing he is to cooperate, I don't know. Your friends came to tell me of your plight with Umbridge before I was able to get a sense of his reaction."

"I won't be able to take it," Harry whispered. "I can't take much more, or I definitely will go insane, if I'm not there already."

"The surest sign that you remain sane is that you doubt your sanity," Severus said, and Harry gave him an odd look. "It's one of the paradoxes of universe. The more you question your sanity, the saner you are. The truly insane have no doubt that they are the sanest person in the room."

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Harry said.

"I won't allow you to go insane," Severus said. "You can't give up."

"Too late," Harry scoffed.

"Then that's your problem. You've already given up."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, turning his face away. "A long time ago." Severus rose, went over to Harry and sat down beside him. Wordlessly, Severus put his arm around Harry, who took the opportunity to hide his face in Severus' dress shirt, though he didn't cry.

"You can't give up," Severus repeated.

"Why?" Harry said, looking forward like a petulant child who had been denied some sweets with his arms crossed as he glared at the spot which Severus had recently vacated. "Because I'm the savior of the wizarding world and it's my job to save everyone?"

"No, because if you give up - " Severus cut himself off. Then he continued in a quieter tone, "Because if you give up, I'm not sure I could continue on, knowing what a pathetic failure I will have been."

"You're not the failure here," Harry muttered.

"And neither are you," Severus pressed. "The failures are your uncle and the Dark Lord."

"How can you know that?"

"We both beat them," Severus said. "We're alive, and they're not."

"Their actions live on," Harry said quietly. "I'll always have to live with my uncle's marks on my body." The boy shuddered.

"Every seven years, all the cells in your body will have gone through at least one full cycle and regenerated themselves," Severus said. "So every seven years, you get a new body. In seven years, you'll have a body your uncle has never touched."

"I don't want to wait seven years," Harry said, his voice dropping another decibel. "I want the pain to stop now. Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Yes, you've suffered more than anyone should ever have to," Severus said, pulling Harry close and rubbing small comforting circles on Harry's arm as Harry leaned into him. "And I'm sorry."

"You deal with it so much better than I do," Harry said.

"Because I've been dealing with it for so much longer than you have," Severus pointed out. "I've learned how to act, not necessarily how to cope. If I had an answer for you, I would give it." They both fell quiet, neither saying anything for what seemed a long time. Harry didn't push him away, for which Severus was grateful. He didn't want to have to deal with the boy not cooperating. Instead, Harry leaned against him, and closed his eyes. Severus didn't think Harry was sleeping, but he had relaxed a great deal, which Severus took as a good sign.

"What are you thinking about?" Severus whispered. Soft enough to not wake him, if he was sleeping, and loud enough to be heard if he wasn't.

"Death," Harry replied, equally softly. Severus was disappointed at the response, but not surprised.

"Why?"

"You know why. It's the only answer that offers me peace."

"Let it go, Harry."

"Let what go?"

"The past," Severus replied. "You're living in the past, and forgetting that the time you have now is yours."

"That sounds a lot like Gandalf," Harry snorted quietly. He still had his eyes closed, and Severus didn't know what sort of images the boy was entertaining behind his eyelids.

"Maybe Gandalf is right in this case," Severus said. "Let go of the past, and live in the time that's given to you. It won't make the pain of those memories less, but it may make you experience that pain less often."

"I don't think it'll work," Harry said.

"Then it won't hurt to try, will it?"

"No, I suppose not."

"There's many, many things a person can regret about their lives," Severus philosophized. "Some things we were responsible for and others we weren't, but they're always in the past, and they're always be there. You might not be able to change the past, but you can change the future. If you take yourself out of it, then you will have let the past not only destroy that part of your life, but you'll have let it destroy your whole life."

"What if I can't let go?"

"You can," Severus assured him. "You're strong, and you can let go. The more you keep it bottled up inside you, the more you have to hold on to it. You have to hang on, to keep it in, and that means you can't let the past go. Until you learn to release the metaphorical bottle cap, you can't. You're strong enough to move past it though. And I promise to be there every step of the way." Unless I die in the meantime, Severus mentally added. He couldn't promise that a renegade Death Eater wouldn't kill him, but he could promise that as long as he had life and breath in his body, he would be there to help Harry.

Severus wondered if things weren't working out for the best, actually. If Draco did tell the school about Harry's summer, then Harry wouldn't have to feel he had to put a facade anymore. It would take a certain stress off him. Severus understood that having his secrets violated like that represented a very strong threat to Harry's mental safety, but it also would mean that there would be no more acting and pretending. Harry could be who he was without fear of anyone. He believed that the news wouldn't meet with the reaction that Harry expected, at least not with most.

Of course, Skeeter was going to have a field day with this. And that actually was what Severus was the most anxious about.

"Are we going to go after another horcrux now?" Harry asked, sitting up, opening his eyes, and generally seeming more relaxed. Maybe that was only Severus' impression though, because that was how he hoped Harry would feel.

"Absolutely not," Severus said casually. Harry blinked at him.

"Then what are we doing?"

"We're taking a weekend away from Hogwarts," Severus informed him, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Just you and me, and we're going to have a good time, and forget about everything. We're going to forget about everything we've both been through, we're going to forget about this morning, and we're going to forget that I have papers to grade and you have studying to do. We're going to forget there's a Dark Lord, or that he has horcruxes, we're going to forget that we were hunting them, and we're going to even forget that we're wizards for the weekend. Is that acceptable with you?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said, smiling softly. "But why?"

"Because you need a break," Severus replied, standing up. "You've been too hard on yourself for too long. I'm going to show you how to have fun again." Severus reached out and held his hand open to help Harry to his feet. After a moment, Harry grasped it, and Severus pulled him up.

Severus had been unsure if the conversation had done any good. But judging by the firmness in Harry's clasp, Severus guessed that Harry was ready to give life another try.

"Let me know if there's anything you see that you would like," Snape offered, as they walked along a sidewalk, not really going anywhere in particular.

"You don't have to get me anything," Harry replied, almost sounding offended. Snape really needed to go back to his sarcastic uncaring teacher mode, Harry thought.

"Of course I don't," Snape agreed. "Just let me know." Harry couldn't hold back a snort of amusement. Well, he'd gotten part of his wish, Harry noticed. Snape had just been sarcastic in the extreme. "Is there anything you'd like to do? Something you've always wanted to do?"

"I - yes, I guess," Harry shrugged, as he begin to find the shops on the other side of the street exceedingly interesting.

"And what is that?"

"I want to feed the birds," Harry said quietly. Snape paused for a moment, but then nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright, then feeding the birds it is," he replied.

Snape bought some bread, and they headed back to the park where they had been earlier that afternoon. Harry was surprised that Snape hadn't made some remark about the stupidity of his request. After all, it was simply feeding wild animals. Harry wasn't even sure why he wanted to do it, except there seemed something nice about the thought of a wild animal accepting food at his hands. There was some trust there, a trust which breached the boundaries of species, where the bird would decide to place its life in his hands. There was a beauty in that trust, and it would be sacrilegious for anyone to break that trust.

It was almost like the trust a child should have, Harry realized, a trust he'd never known.

The two of them found a bench in a quiet part of the park. Harry sat down first, not meeting Snape's eyes, ashamed of his realization, and feeling silly at his request. Snape seemed to either not notice or not be bothered by Harry's reaction though.

"Here," Snape said softly, handing him the bread. Harry accepted it, and tore off a small piece. He rolled it in his hands, making small crumbs, and then threw it on the ground in front of them. Harry began glancing expectantly at the trees.

"Just wait a few minutes," Snape advised. "The birds will be around soon." So Harry settled back on the bench and waited.

"What happens when we die?" Harry asked quietly.

"If I knew the answer, for sure, I would be a rich man," Snape replied, equally quietly. "I haven't died."

"Do you believe in an afterlife?"

"Yes," Snape said. "If there weren't, there would be so little justice in this world, it would be the emptiest excuse of a farce anyone could imagine."

"You don't deserve to rot in hell," Harry murmured after a moment. Snape laughed softly.

"I don't see what's so funny," Harry said. "Except we just proved there is an afterlife. The seventh layer of hell just froze over. Severus Snape, dark dungeon bat of Slytherin, just laughed!" Harry tried not to laugh too hard at his own joke, but it wasn't turning out that way. He began to laugh freely, and Snape looked on with apparent pleasure and approval.

Like Snape had predicted, the birds arrived shortly. First, just one bird, but then that one, upon seeing the food, flew away and brought back half a dozen others. Harry continued to toss the crumbs to them.

They continued to laugh and joke like nothing bad had ever happened, and for the first time in almost a year, Harry could have said he was happy.

After feeding the birds, Severus took Harry to a small Middle Eastern diner. Harry had shown interest in various things of ethnic origin, not just the Chinese food earlier that day, but that had been what had brought it to Severus' attention.

A stranger may have looked on and seen a father, or some other relative, spending a Saturday with the child in his care, and seen a rather pleasant man, though definitely capable, and a carefree fifteen year old boy laughing, smiling, and having a good time. Severus could still the lingering haunted look in Harry's eyes. Every once in a while, Harry would laugh at one of Severus' well placed insults, and Severus would be pleased at how well Harry was doing, only for that laughter to be cut short. Harry would drop his eyes, clear his throat, and change the subject. Even when he was smiling, Severus could see the ghosts of the past pulling Harry into the pit of his sorrows.

Suddenly, Harry stopped cold, and Severus, who was still deep in thought, was unprepared for this and actually bumped into him. Harry stared into the sea of people and the boy's face paled with horror. Severus followed Harry's gaze, trying to find the cause of such a dramatic change. It had only been a moment ago Harry was laughing, and Severus had thought they'd made significant progress.

"We have to get out of here," Harry hissed urgently.

"What's wrong?" Severus replied. "What do you see?"

"We have to go, now."

"I want to know what's scaring you."

"I'm not scared!" Harry seemed to noticed the object of his apprehension coming closer and he scrambled to hide behind Severus. This did more harm than good, unfortunately, because a short, fat boy took notice of the sudden movement. A look of extreme discomfort crossed this strange boy's face, as he appeared to be thinking. He maneuvered his way through the crowd until he was much closer than Harry was comfortable with.

"Harry?" the boy finally said, and Harry sighed, but came out, slightly, from behind Severus.

"Dudley?"

"What are you doing in London?" Dudley asked, a sneer to match one of Severus' best splattered on his pudgy face.

"I'm just - doing things - with - with my dad," Harry stammered, and he looked up at Severus for help.

"What kind of things?" Dudley asked, the sneer widening. "The same kind of things you did with my dad?" Harry yelped and Severus pulled him close. A dark, murderous look crossed Severus face briefly, but he masked it by arching an eyebrow instead. If this one had been able to see the signs, then Severus highly doubted that Petunia had missed them. Dudley was far from what could be described as the brightest light bulb in the room. Perhaps Petunia had even been the one to tell Dudley. "And your real parents are dead."

"Who are you talking with, Dudikins?" the woman asked when she was reasonably close.

"Tuney Evans," Severus drawled with a particularly nasty expression on his face.

"Severus Snape?" she replied in disbelief.

"One and the same," he replied.

"Harry?" she asked, when she spotted a quick movement from behind the Severus.

"Leave me alone!" Harry shrieked, still pressing close to Severus. He stepped in front of the boy, unconsciously, protecting him from the perceived threat.

"You knew?" Severus growled.

"Knew what?" Petunia replied, the ignorance clear in her voice.

"You knew what your - husband - was doing to him?"

"Sir?" Harry squeaked, tugging at Severus' sleeve slightly. The look of worry was apparent on his face, even if Severus didn't see it at the moment. To an outsider, it looked like Harry knew Severus would overstep boundaries, and Harry wanted to prevent that more than he was scared of the situation. "It's fine. We can go now."

"Hush," Severus said absently, preoccupied by the woman standing before him.

"Please," Harry tried again but Severus didn't hear him.

"Do you take me for a fool, Snape?" Petunia replied, disdain dripping from her voice. "Of course I knew. My ex-husband was a perverted animal."

"One thing we can agree on," Severus drawled before he rushed at Petunia and pinned her to the nearby shop wall. The crowds parted at the sudden activity and began to watch, though Severus' voice was low enough no one but Petunia, Dudley and Harry could hear.

"If you knew, why didn't you stop it?" Severus hissed, his voice deadly. Harry caught that note in his voice, even if Petunia seemed to be ignoring it, and Dudley was too stupid to recognize it.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" Petunia replied.

"You did have a sister, in case you forgot," Severus snapped, "but you were Harry Potter's keeper."

"It's not problem," Petunia said, still not understanding just how close she was to death at the moment. "My ex-husband was not my problem, and neither was the whelp your kind left of my doorstep. If you cared about him, you would have shown up the night his parents died."

"No one," Severus said through clenched teeth, "hurts my son without answering to me. Not now." He glared at her, and Petunia finally realized what sort of a man she was dealing with. One who had very few, if any, inhibitions when goaded properly.

Severus felt someone touch him on his sleeve. He looked down.

"We can go now," Harry whispered, silently begging him to listen this time. Harry had asked him before to go, hadn't he? "Please, let's just go. It doesn't matter. Revenge is the stupidest reason to end up in Azkaban." Severus nodded at Harry's simple wisdom, and with great effort, released Petunia.

"What did happen to Vernon?" Petunia asked.

"He's dead," Severus replied. "He deserved everything he received."

"I thought your kind would do something like that," Petunia replied. "You'll train him to be a murderer just like the rest of you."

"Be grateful that your nephew has more foresight than I do," Severus hissed quietly, "or you would not live to see the dawn." Petunia just sneered at Severus, realizing she probably shouldn't endanger her life further. "Thank him!" Severus ordered when it was obvious that Petunia would not on her own. Carefully, Petunia weighed her options and seemed to make the decision that it was safer to appease the clearly insane person threatening her life than to hang on to her pride.

"Thank you, Harry," she said, but the words came out like they were foreign in her mouth. They were.

"You're welcome," Harry muttered, not looking at the woman. "I wish I could thank you for having saved me." By the end of his sentence, Harry had mustered the strength to look her in the eye, and the question "Why?" was acutely apparent in his gaze. For a moment, Severus thought Petunia was going to reply, but instead she clapped her mouth shut, took Dudley by the hand, and left without a word. Perhaps it was for the best that way.

"The time grows late, and the crowd grows restless," Snape said, turning to Harry after his aunt and cousin had left. "I believe it is time for us to make our grand exit, before someone informs the authorities." Harry couldn't not smile at Snape's sudden turn from death threats to mock elegant poetry. On a silent agreement, the two left, unhindered by anyone who had seen the incident. It was truly remarkable how much the general population would let happen without interfering, always hoping that someone else would intervene.

"You weren't kidding when you said the time was growing late," Harry said, watching the setting sun from between two buildings. "It's beautiful." Harry pointed at the glowing orb as it grew big and orange.

"It is," Snape agreed quietly. They stood there, leaning against the shop's wall, watching the sun until it had completely dipped below the horizon, silently.

"I didn't know they knew," Harry whispered after the sun had left them in the twilight mist.

"If Petunia has the misfortune of meeting me again, she may not survive if you aren't along to restrain me," Snape replied. If his voice had been lighter, Harry would have thought he was joking, but after glancing at his face, which showed no sign of humor, and judging by the tone of his voice, Harry concluded that Snape was, in fact, very serious. Harry was both flattered and concerned about how Snape was protecting him. Flattered, because it meant that Snape cared about him. Concerned, because if Snape ever did follow through on his threats, Azkaban would be a few days away, and Harry would lose Snape forever.

"You can't do this," Harry then said.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't go around trying to kill everyone that hurts me."

"Oh?"

"There's better ways of handling it," Harry continued. "I mean, I'm grateful that you care, and it means a lot to me, that you care that much. But, if you really care, I don't think you should waste your life on something that shallow." Harry's voice dropped so quiet that he wasn't even sure Snape would hear him. "I wouldn't know what to do if you left me now."

"You're right," Snape sighed. "I'll try to keep my killing to a minimum then." Harry scoffed, but didn't laugh as he thought Snape was trying for.

"Shall we find a place to stay for the night, then?" Snape suggested.

"We're not going back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"What's Hogwarts?" Snape replied, arching an eyebrow. "I've heard of no such place. What is this Hogwarts of which you speak?" Harry may not have felt inclined to laugh at Snape's darker attempt at humor, but he began to laugh at this one. Snape looked extremely pleased with himself.

"Alright," Harry agreed. "Let's find a place to stay."

The two of them found a small motel nearby and rented a room for the night.

"I didn't pack anything for overnight," Harry brought up. He hadn't realized that they would be spending the night away from Hogwarts.

"Alright," Snape said, pulling out his wand descretely, and transfiguring some of the small motel amenities into pajamas for Harry.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, a sassy grin appearing on his face. "Sorry I made you forget you weren't a Muggle."

"Hmph," was Snape's only response, and he began to explore the room. Harry, though, quickly darted into the bathroom and took a shower. When he was finished, Harry left the bathroom, hair still damp and standing up in all directions.

"May I introduce you to the concept of a comb?" Severus asked, tossing one in Harry's direction. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered. "Sorry."

"It's not a problem," Snape nodded. "My turn." By the time Severus emerged from the bathroom, Harry was sound asleep on one of the beds. From all appearances, Harry had not yet had a nightmare.

Severus took out his wand again and whispered, "Finite incantem," taking down Harry's silencing spell.

"Harry!" Severus called, grabbing Harry by the shoulder. "Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"

"Hmm?" Harry replied as his eyes fluttered open. "Oh." Harry looked abashed. "Sorry."

"There's no need to be sorry," Severus replied, taking a seat on his own bed.

"You found my spell," Harry muttered.

"Yes, I did," Severus replied. "There is no need to use that spell. It does you more harm than good."

"Yes, sir," Harry said.

"I don't want to catch you using that spell again, or any spell like it. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said again. The boy sank back into a restful position, but turned away from Severus. So Severus got up and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I'm not angry with you," Severus whispered. "I just don't want to see you suffer with your nightmares the way I did." He wasn't sure Harry was aware of what he had said. Harry's breathing was calm and even, and there was no reaction.

Snape walked with Harry early Sunday morning. Harry hadn't asked where they were going, and Snape hadn't volunteered anything, but judging by the man's movements, this wasn't just a simple stroll with no destination in mind. Finally, curiosity got the better of Harry.

"Where are we going?" he blurted.

"I want to show you something," Snape replied.

"What something?"

"St. Paul's Cathedral," Snape replied. "It's breathtaking."

"You're taking me to church?" Harry asked, his voice hushed.

"Well, if you don't want to - " Snape cut himself off. "I'm sorry, I should have asked you first. I did a little asking around, though, and I was told you went out of your way to be Anglican."

"I do," Harry explained. "It's just - no one ever tried to help me with that. No one's ever taken me to church."

"Then you can't say that anymore, after today," Snape replied.

"The Dursleys went. Sometimes," Harry continued. "But they never took me along."

"That doesn't surprise me," Snape replied.

"Yeah," Harry said. "I think they went just because it was what high class people were supposed to do. I don't think they actually believe it."

"There will always be that kind, no matter what, until the end of time," Snape said sadly. "How did you come by your interest?" Harry glanced away quickly, unsure of how Snape would react to the truth.

"Sirius," Harry finally said. "He said that my mum and dad went to an Anglican church. Sorry."

"I don't see what for," Snape replied. "Black isn't wrong about everything, much as it pains me to admit it." Harry snorted. "Ah, here we are." St. Paul's Cathedral appeared, in all its fine glory before them, and Harry caught his breath at the majesty of the ancient building.

"It is beautiful," Harry gasped. The bells began to toll.

"Then let's go in," Snape suggested. "Mass is about to begin." They climbed the steps, and Snape held the door for Harry, who looked around in awe. Snape led Harry to a pew in the middle of the church, and Mass began.

It had been a long time since Harry had set foot in a church, and he found he had missed it a lot. Harry smiled, and he felt happy. Come the time for consecration, the congregation knelt. Harry knelt with them. There had been no surprises so far, but Harry was shocked when Snape knelt next to him.

Snape knelt and rested his forehead against his fisted hands. He gave no indication that he noticed Harry staring at him for a moment. After the initial shock wore off, Harry again focused on the liturgy.

Communion time came, and Severus stood. Harry hesitated for a moment, and his thoughts were plainly written on his face.

"You're not responsible for anyone's actions but your own," Severus whispered to him. Harry nodded and they received communion.

Severus risked a glance at Harry once they had returned to their pew. It was the first time in recent memory that Harry's eyes did not have the haunted look about them. Harry was truly happy, at least for the moment.

Severus was satisfied that this weekend had been a success.