We all face the reality that there are people out there who need help, and we can be the one person that steps up to help them.

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Harry was trying to forget about the bike. Well, he wasn't really, but he was trying desperately to make Snape think that he had forgotten all about it and wasn't bothered by the loss of the race at all. If Harry wasn't bothered by it, then maybe Snape wouldn't think about how Harry had freaked out at seeing his ‘ghosts'.

It was silly to say they were ghosts. They weren't. They were real people that he had interacted with, and they were still out there in the world somewhere. That was a harsh reality Harry wasn't ready to face yet. Camp would be over in four days and he would have to go back out and face that world where the Dursleys loomed and where Dudley was possibly being tortured by Aunt Marge at this very moment. Surely they wouldn't keep uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia in jail without a trial? Harry had seen trials on the telly in movies and on the news. He used to watch them from his cupboard where if he cracked his door open he could see across the hall and into the parlour. At trials they called witnesses and victims, and that meant him. At some point Harry would have to face his aunt and uncle again in the court room. At some point they would talk their way out of jail and Harry would end up with them again, and there would be a punishment so severe that he couldn't bare to think about it.

"What is the boy's home like?" Severus asked him one evening after campfire as they walked back towards the cabin, interrupting Harry's gloomy thoughts.

"It was better when my cousin was there."

"Why?"

"Someone to watch my back."

"It is that bad?"

"I was only there for a week before I got lucky and got to come here."

"You feel as though you are lucky to get to come here despite the mishaps that have happened this summer?"

"I never had a summer like this before. The closest was when Ron and his brothers rescued me last summer and I got to spend the last couple weeks at the Burrow."

Instead of taking the path to the cabin in the darkness, Severus lead him down another trail back towards the lake.

"Where are we going?"

"For a walk. I find the cool evening air refreshing."

"Huh." Harry picked up a stick and played with it as they walked. Occasionally Harry looked up to the night sky and ogled at the stars. A few times the Dursleys had locked him out in the summer and made him sleep in the back yard, and for his part Harry always enjoyed it because he got to stare at the stars and it reminded him of the Great Hall.

"What do you mean rescued?"

"Ron and his brothers flew the car to my house and got me in the middle of the night. Uncle Vernon fell out the second floor window trying to keep me there."

"And Molly Weasley was aware of how you suddenly came to be at her home?"

"She wasn't happy with them, but she was happy to see me."

"And the incident where you flew to school? Whose idea was that?"

"You're still mad at me for that?" Harry asked, and his tone seemed... hurt. Severus looked at him in the darkness but couldn't make out his features as they walked.

"You have already served detention. I simply asked whose idea it was."

Harry was silent for long moments. "Ron thought his mum and dad were trapped on the other side of the barrier when it wouldn't let us through and said we should fly to school on our own."

"I know for a fact that you do not always do as you are told. I find it curious that you would follow the lead of your friends so easily without questioning their judgement."

"Why would I question them?"

Harry sounded genuinely confounded and Severus refrained from snorting in the darkness. At Hogwarts he had treated Harry like a teenager. Well, technically he was 13 now, but before he hadn't been. Just a child, not the teenage version of James Potter that thought up ways to torture Slytherins and play pranks on teachers and find ways to avoid serving his detentions. Severus had expected him to have a sensibility that he clearly didn't have. If what he had heard so far was a true indication of Harry's home life, then it made sense that he hadn't really been raised just present. Present to be abused and taught strict rules, but not rules of any real helpfulness or meaning. Rules of fear and isolation. The only sensible things Harry knew were things he had taught himself. Severus remembered the things he had taught himself as a boy. ‘Don't anger adults. Stay out of the way. Don't speak unless spoken to. Don't volunteer information if you don't have to. Be ready to run.' He wondered if Harry had learned these things as well.

"How will you explain the absence of letters to your friends when school starts again?"

"Hedwig is with Ron. I don't like to bring her home."

Harry picked up a smooth stone and threw it into the lake. He didn't bother trying to skip it, and instead it just sank with a plopping noise, making ripples in the water under the stars.

Severus watched Harry throw several more stones before he picked one up himself and skipped it across the surface of the water several times. He had known none of these things about Harry or his home life before camp. Of course, his judgement of the boy and his situation had been clouded and his eyes practically shut tight to the child's plight, but not everyone was looking through clouded glasses. Dumbledore was always on the child's side and Minerva doted on him. Hadn't they seen anything amiss? Severus was finding out that Harry was secretive by nature though. He had been too at that age and still was to this day. Harry had already expressed his desire for no one else to know he'd been to the camp, so it would make sense that Minerva and Albus wouldn't know of his situation. The Weasley children had flown a car across the country to ‘rescue' him though. They at least knew what was going on, and Severus wondered why Molly and Arthur Weasley had not informed Albus or anyone else about Harry's relatives.

"You do not enjoy living with your relatives."

Harry snorted. "No."

"Why have you not informed the Headmaster or your head of house then of the ill-will they harbor towards you?"

Harry gave a hollow laugh then that was not bourn of humor. He shook his head and threw the stick he'd been playing with into the water. "He knows. He doesn't care."

"You have told him." It was not a question.

"I told him, Mrs. Weasley told him, and I think Ron and maybe the twins told him too after last summer."

"Did he have a reason for allowing you to return there?"

"Only that I have to go back for my safety." He gave another humorless laugh then. "Ron reckons he wants me to be tough in case Voldemort pops up again."

"What do you think?"

"Sure. Why not? It makes sense. I don't know why he doesn't just send me to live with the Malfoys or have me re-sorted into Slytherin. I'd rather have that then have to go home every summer."

"You would fit in in Slytherin."

Harry looked at him in the darkness. The hat had tried to sort him there. And Professor Snape wasn't as bad as he had previously thought.

"You are full of surprises Mr. Potter."

"What do you mean?"

"I said you would fit into Slytherin, but you already seem to know that."

Harry shrugged and remained silent. He didn't want to be in Slytherin. If he told Snape the hat wanted to put him there, the man might try to get him switched once they got back to school.

"It is getting late. We will head back to the cabin."

Harry stood up from the hard rock he'd been sitting on and followed Snape through the trees.

"One day you will tell me about it," Snape said, but Harry stayed silent.

* * *

One of the boys from another cabin had a birthday party on their last day there. People made drawings for him and his counselor gave him a digital camera. Harry watched the festivities impassively, neither feeling happy for the boy who had just turned eleven, or sad that another summer had passed him by without a party of his own. Harry was aware that his Professor was watching him, but he ignored him. He didn't care. Tomorrow morning he'd be leaving this paradise and going back to the real world. If he didn't start shutting off his feelings now then he'd be in for a nasty shock of fear and anger and anxiety tomorrow when he was taken back to the boy's home. It was just easier not to care.

Severus brought him a piece of strawberry cake and a glass of red soda and sat down next to him on the bench outside the dining hall. Harry took it quietly and continued to watch as other campers and counselors played tag in the field between the dining hall and swimming pool. They were using water balloons, and if you got hit you were out until you dried off.

"You do not wish to join them?"

Instead of answering his question, Harry turned to Severus with emotionless eyes and said, "The doors at the boy's home are locked. I don't have any way to get out to get to Kings Cross."

"I will ensure that you are retrieved for school."

"I might not be there you know. There will probably be a trial and my uncle will get out and then I'll be back with them."

"You sound certain."

"It's a certainty," Harry said quietly, and took a bite of the cake.

* * *

Kids were hugging their counselors outside the bus, and Harry thought of Rhys. He had hugged Rhys, and Rhys had told him he loved him. Harry wouldn't forget that. He couldn't hug Snape though, could he? He wondered if anyone ever hugged Severus Snape. Dusty would have, but what about the Slytherins? They didn't seem the hugging type.

"I am sorry you did not win the bike."

"It's ok, boys like me don't get things like bikes. I understand that." Harry noted that Severus looked consternated, but didn't comment on it.

"You have all of your things?"

"Yes."

"And the hiking boots?"

Harry pointed to show him that they were tied to the outside of his backpack.

"I will make sure you get back to Hogwarts."

"I know," Harry said. He felt... awkward. Everyone else was getting teary and some of the counselors were crying as their campers got onto the bus. Just like at Hogwarts people were exchanging addresses so they could write. Harry didn't need any of that, he had an owl, and he would see Snape in two weeks at the start of term feast. Not that Snape would care to hear from him.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Harry asked him. The man looked... perturbed. Or maybe the word was disturbed. Harry wasn't sure. Snape gave him a stern look and Harry laughed.

Harry picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He started towards the bus but then turned back to Snape and looked at him. He wasn't the dungeon bat here. Not with his camp t-shirt and black hiking boots and standing out in the sun like he was. He hardly seemed like the Potions Master at all. Harry would be sad to see him return to his sour demeanor in two weeks.

"Thank you," Harry said. Snape gave him a nod of his head, and Harry turned, still feeling awkward and got onto the bus. Callum took his bag and put it under a seat and Harry sat down. He didn't look out the window because he didn't want to see Snape's face or think about this place anymore. As soon as the bus rolled away it would be like this place had never existed for him at all. It was better if he not think about it. But as the last of the campers got onto the bus and settled down, and the doors closed, Harry felt like he had missed something. The insides of his stomach squirmed and he looked out the window. Snape was watching him, and Harry felt suddenly like he was Rhys and his life would be dimmer without him there. Harry had not hugged him, and didn't know if the man really cared at all about his fate.

The bus lurched forward and as it did Harry stood and stumbled into the aisle and ran to the back of the bus. He stood there and stared out the large back window, and Snape stood there in the parking lot and stared back. The other counselors were waving and cheering and shouting goodbye to their campers, but Harry Potter and Severus Snape just stared.

* * *

Bentham wanted to know how camp had gone. Harry and the three other boys who had gone to camp had been invited into his office to tell stories about the fun they had had, but Harry didn't talk even when prompted. Instead one of the other boys told about how well Harry had done initially in the race across camp, and another said what a good shot Harry was with BB guns.

"It sounds like you had a lot of fun then," Bentham said, but Harry didn't respond. His last moments with Snape and the lack of a proper goodbye had rattled him, and as a result he hadn't met his goal of quashing all of his feelings down in preparation for going back to the boys home. He was back to reality, but his feelings weren't. That meant he had to work extra hard now to keep them at bay. Relating all of the fun he had with the other boys wouldn't do him any good. It would just keep him stuck in the summer.

The other boys got up and left for dinner, but before Harry made it out the door, Bentham asked, "Are you at least glad you got to go?"

Harry turned around and had a feeling the counselor could see him struggling. "Yes." Then he was gone to dinner.

There was no peace for Harry at the boys home though. Harry was still the newcommer and some of the other boys were jealous that he'd gotten to go to camp for the summer. They didn't pick on the other boys because they all had older brothers there, but Harry was alone. The result was a black eye on his first night back, and bruised ribs the next morning. Harry was tripped, pushed, slammed into walls, and once hit with a book on the back of the head. Maybe if he had been sorted into Slytherin he would have known how to handle himself better in a situation like this. He wished Dudley were there. Dudley was actually rather worthless against other boys he feared, but his weight alone was enough to deter others from trying to pick a fight with him so long as he wasn't alone.

Bentham actually got upset with Harry in the days after he got back from camp because Harry refused to say who was beating him up, and Harry lost privileges for ‘lying' even though he'd never said a word either way. It was with this happy return that Harry steeled himself for another week and a half of the same before someone would come to get him out and take him to the Hogwarts express. He never expected that Snape would be the one to come though, and not after only four days.

"Harry, there's someone to see you." Dave stuck his head into the rec room and Harry lifted his eyes from the telly.

"Me?" His heart started to beat hard. This was it. It was probably uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Or worse yet Marge had changed her mind and decided she wanted a slave for the rest of the summer. He hadn't told Snape that Marge might come to take him or where she lived.

"Come on."

Harry got up and followed him to the visiting room. Not many boys got visitors and Harry hadn't seen inside of it before. It was next to Bentham's office near the front door. Dave pushed the door open and Harry peered around him to see who was inside. It wasn't Uncle Vernon.

"Sir?" Harry asked, going in around Dave. Dave closed the door and locked it, ensuring they wouldn't be disturbed. "Do I get to go back now?"

Snape's eyes raked over his black eye and the bruises on his face and arms. "What has happened?"

Harry frowned, and then realized he meant the bruises.

"Nothing. The other boys. It doesn't matter. Do I get to go back?"

"This is hardly nothing. You look worse than when I first saw you at camp."

"It's just bruises. They'll go away."

Severus sighed and then sat down at the table. "I came to check on you. I did not imagine you would find such trouble in only four days."

"It found me."

Severus gave him another look as Harry sat down. "I have spoken to the Headmaster. He is aware of your new living situation."

"And? What? Do I get to stay with the Weasleys or at the castle or something?"

"You are to remain where you are until your relatives case is handled in court."

"I don't even know when that is."

"Your aunt's hearing is tomorrow and your uncle's is the day after."

"Do you know about my cousin? Is he ok?"

"A social worker checked on him last week and he was fine."

"I do get to go back to Hogwarts right? I mean... I don't have to wait here until everything is settled?"

"Yes. You will be retrieved the morning of September 1st." He paused and looked at Harry again, and Harry knew he was thinking, ‘if you survive that long.'

"September 1st. Got it. That's-" he thought, "nine days."

"Are there any messages you wish me to pass along?"

"Does Professor McGonagall know?"

"Not that I am aware of."

"Don't tell her. I don't have any messages."

Severus stood up and frowned at Harry. "I have things to attend to. I am glad that you are-"

"-Alive," Harry finished. "Thanks for checking." The urge to hug the man came to Harry like it had come to him on the bus as they drove away, but he didn't move. Snape didn't want to be hugged. He was Severus Snape, and until this summer he'd hated Harry. Harry hadn't been convinced when he'd left camp that Snape had really cared for him at all, but here he was checking on him only four days later.

"It's only nine days," Snape said, but he sounded as though he was trying to reassure himself.

"I know," Harry said. He gave a little smile but regretted it because it made his black eye hurt.  Severus pretended not to notice.

He unlocked the door and left without another word. Harry followed him out and watched as he was buzzed out the locking doors. He hated that he couldn't leave without permission. This place felt like a prison more than a home. Harry missed camp at that moment like he missed Hogwarts, and wished he could go back.

* * *

"There's someone to see you Harry." Dave was calling him again, this time from the cafeteria. Someone wanted to see him again? So soon? Snape had come yesterday. Aunt Petunia's hearing was today wasn't it? If she had gotten out, she might come to take her revenge right away.

"Is it a girl?" Harry asked.

"No. Same as yesterday."

Harry got up and followed him into the hallway and was surprised to see his backpack there on the floor.

"What's my stuff doing here?"

"Looks like you're one of the lucky ones. You're getting out. Seems you made an impression on that counselor of yours at camp. From what I understand he's taking you home with him."

"With him? Not with my family?"

"That's what he said. He's got all the court paperwork for us to release you into his custody."

Harry hurried ahead of Dave and around the corner towards the entrance, sure it couldn't be true, but Snape was standing there with an envelope that looked thick with papers.

"Where are your things?" Severus asked, but Harry was too busy staring at him to think about what he'd just asked.

"I get to leave?"

"I attended the court hearing for your aunt this morning. In return for her release on probationary terms she agreed to sign her custody rights over to me."

"I'm really going home with you?"

"Yes. The Headmaster will not be able to dispute the legal-"

Severus stopped abruptly because Harry had moved forward so quickly to hug him around the middle that he'd nearly knocked the wind out of him. Bentham and Dave were watching from down the hall and Severus felt awkward. He set the packet of paperwork down and hugged Harry in return. The boy didn't stiffen at the contact or flinch away. He did mumble something into his shirt but Severus couldn't make it out.

"Would you mind repeating yourself?"

Harry let go of him and beamed.  "Thank you. Thank you, thank you."

Dave came down the hall to collect the papers and Bentham asked Snape to step into his office while the papers were looked over and filed. Harry knew they were talking about him, but all he could hear through the door was Bentham say, "I haven't seem him smile once since he got here. Today was the first time."

"Impeccable references," Dave said, drawing Harry's attention back to the counter.

"What?"

"He's got references from several counselors from the camp. This Rhys fellow seems particularly enthusiastic about Mr. Snape's choice to gain custody of you. He's a professor at your school isn't he?"

Harry nodded.

"It doesn't say what school."

Harry looked at him. "Er..."

"It's Smeltings isn't it? Same as your cousin?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Elite school. You are lucky. But I imagine Mr. Snape will get some sort of tuition discount for you since he works there."

Snape came back out of Bentham's office and picked up Harry's bag from where Dave had brought it down the hall and set it on the floor.

"It all seems to be in order Mr. Snape," Dave said. "It's all filed away. You can take Harry."

There were boys standing at the end of the hall watching as Harry and Snape left through the doors and they shut again and locked. Harry turned and looked at them and felt bad for them. Even for the ones who had ganged up on him and Dudley. They were stuck there, and he was free. He was lucky.

Summer for Harry always used to be bruises, a stifling cupboard under the stairs, starvation, endless chores, hopelessness and fear. Now summer was camp, the sun filtering down through the trees, mountain bikes and zip lines, cool mountain air at night around a campfire, Rhys... and Severus. Harry had always dreaded summer, but not anymore. Now there was something to go back to, someone to go back to. No one else would ever be able to understand how it had happened that summer, Harry's slow crumbling and how he had found a place with Severus Snape. But Harry and Severus and Rhys knew, and Harry knew one other thing too: when he graduated Hogwarts, he was going to go back to Camp Kennewick and help someone else, because they deserved it, and no one ever deserved to feel like they were alone. Harry wasn't alone anymore. He only got to go to Snape's house... his new house, for a few days before he had to board the Hogwarts Express, but wouldn't you know it? There was a blue bike and black helmet waiting for him on the front porch, and Snape informed him that he was exactly the kind of boy that got a bike.

Severus would always remember that summer as the time he went to camp and met Harry and forgot about that Potter child he didn't seem to like very much. It was the summer he considered the most rewarding, possibly because he had gone to camp alone and come home with a house guest that would later turn into his fully adopted son. After that summer Severus didn't go back to camp for many years, because he was busy spending his time with Harry, but when he did go back he knew he would never have another summer like the one when he allowed himself to stop being blind.

About The Dursleys

Vernon Dursley was sentenced to a year in prison for his abuse of Harry. Harry did not have to testify because of his age, and because the neighbor and Dudley did it for him.

Petunia was released a few days after her hearing and went to live with Marge (where she was miserable). She was not allowed to take custody of Dudley without going through a year of parenting classes. Dudley got to go back to Smeltings in the mean time while Petunia worked on those classes.

When Vernon got out of jail he moved back in with his family but also had to go through classes and anger management counseling, and human services checked in on them frequently and unannounced when Dudley was home from school on holidays to be sure they were treating him right. Vernon always suspected that there was somehow magic involved, because who ever heard of a government official checking in every other day all summer long?

Vernon and Petunia never saw Harry again, but Dudley did when he graduated school. Dudley and Harry became friends after they were 17 because Dudley remembered Harry protecting him in the boy's home.

In his fourth year, Harry competed for the Goblet of Fire just as he did in the books, but Severus had to secretly slip him a calming draught unbeknownst to anyone but Harry before Harry ate Gillyweed and went for a swim in the Black Lake to retrieve Ron in the second task.