“… So I’ll update Harry’s school records, and contact the Floo Office about reconnecting you to Hogwarts and the Burrow,” Albus finished, pocketing his copy of the to-do list.

“Thank you, Albus.”

“No problem, Severus. I’ll leave you two in peace.” His eyes twinkled. “See you soon.”

“Bye.”

As Severus closed the door behind Albus, he heard feet coming down the stairs.

“You’ve unpacked?” he asked as Harry appeared in the kitchen, his face still flushed.

“Almost. I just remembered … I haven’t had any breakfast yet.”

Severus cursed himself—he’d been the boy’s guardian less than an hour and already he was messing up. “So you haven’t. I do apologise; it’s been rather a distracting morning.”

It occurred to him though as he started cutting bread, that Harry had actually reminded him rather than assuming he wouldn’t get fed. This had to be a huge step forward, and he smiled.

He didn’t take any notice of the sounds of a car pulling up outside, until raised voices caught their attention.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked curiously.

Severus glanced out of the kitchen window, and his eyes widened in shock.

A police car was parked outside Number Nine, two uniformed officers talking to the Dursleys, both of whom looked a combination of humiliated and furious.

“I wonder who called them?”

Harry jumped to his feet and came over to the window as well. He gasped.

“What are the police doing here?”

Severus opened his mouth, and closed it again as one of the officers broke away and headed in their direction. “Looks like they want to talk to us.”

Harry backed into the table. “I-I don’t wanna talk to them.”

“I realise that,” Severus said gently, “but I have a feeling this could get messy.” He reached for the phone and began dialling Albus’ number.

The doorbell rang.

-

Dumbledore raced into the room, somewhat untidily dressed in Muggle clothes and clutching a file of papers. “I have them,” he announced to the room with a small gasp.

The butterflies in Harry’s stomach didn’t disappear as WPC Atkins took the one he offered her.

“You see it’s all official; Severus Snape is as of today Harry Potter’s legal guardian.” Dumbledore sat down, trying to get his breath back.

“I … see,” she said slowly. Perhaps there was some sort of spell on them that stopped her asking how it had gone through so quickly, for she accepted them without question and handed them back. “That all seems to be in order.”

“Are you going to arrest the Dursleys?” Harry asked in a small voice as she stood up. Severus’ hand tightened on his shoulder.

“Bring them in for questioning, certainly. Whether or not they will be charged is not my call.” She nodded to him and Severus. “Thank you both for your statements.”

Harry followed her and Severus to the front door, and watched as she spoke with her colleague. After a few minutes he turned back to the Dursleys, who immediately broke into shouted protests.

As Vernon was bundled into the car, Dumbledore sniffed, and ventured into the kitchen. “Severus,” he called, “you’ve left the hob on.”

Severus muttered a swearword and hurried in after him.

Over outside Number Nine, Petunia broke away from the police officers who were trying to get her in the car with her husband and charged across the road towards him, like a bull after something red. Harry didn’t have a chance to escape as Petunia flew at him and slapped him sharply around the face. “You ungrateful freak!” He cried out as she grasped his hair and shook him. “After all we did for—”

Suddenly she let go, making a gasping noise. Severus had reappeared, and had one hand clutched tightly around her throat.

“Touch him again,” he snarled with a murderous look in his eyes, “and you’ll be spending the rest of your life as a cockroach.”

Petunia choked, clawing at his hands. Severus let her go with deep reluctance as the police officers reached them, and handcuffed her.

“What’s going to happen to them?” Harry asked quietly as the Dursleys were driven away.

“I don’t know,” Severus admitted. He looked down at Harry. “Are you all right?”

Harry could still feel the sting of the slap, and judging by Severus’ expression he still had Petunia’s handprint on his cheek, but he nodded. He couldn’t work out his feelings about the Dursleys’ arrest at all, and made the decision he wasn’t going to think about it anymore.

“Come on then.” Severus steered him back inside and shut the door with a final snap. “It’s time you had some breakfast.”

-

“I never would have believed,” Severus said, trying to prise the lid off the next tin of Volcanic Red, “that I would ever be painting a room in this house with Gryffindor colours.”

Harry grinned. “Not exactly Gryffindor colours. I thought scarlet was a bit too bright.”

“So I recall. Hand me that paintbrush?”

Severus used the handle to lever up the lid. “Ah, that’s better.”

A week had passed since the Dursleys had thrown Harry out, and he could still barely believe it had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. He couldn’t recall a time he had ever been happier.

He had a home, a real home, where he was welcome and wanted, and cared for like he mattered. He had everything he needed, and a great many things he didn’t! And best of all, a guardian who loved him. Yes, loved him.

Although Severus had been granted guardianship, he had told Harry he would be putting in an application for actual adoption once Harry had settled in. Not only did Harry have Severus, the best guardian he could have asked for, but he was going to be his father as well.

Two out of four of his bedroom walls were already done, and he and Severus made a start on the next, both dressed in old clothes splashed with red paint. It wasn’t just splashed over the clothes.

“How did you get paint on your ear?” Harry asked in astonishment.

“Paint splashes if you’re not careful,” Severus replied. “I did warn you—”

“You’re blaming me?”

Severus grinned. “Of course. But you can blame me for this.” He flicked his brush at Harry, and a few droplets of paint appeared on his glasses.

“Hey!” Harry flicked his back. It was fatal. Within two minutes both of them were covered in it and giggling fit to burst. When the doorbell rang, Harry washed his hands and face while Severus answered.

He came back upstairs with Jane in tow when Harry was exiting the bathroom.

 “Hi, Jane,” he said.

For the first couple of days since the Dursleys had been arrested, the neighbours had been visiting in dribs and drabs to apologise for falling for Petunia’s lies. All had looked incredibly embarrassed and ashamed of themselves, and wanted to make amends.

Severus had said he personally thought Harry had forgiven them all far too quickly, but Harry found he couldn’t hold it against them. Petunia was good, and Severus had backed her up—something Harry had long forgiven him for. Even Severus himself had fallen for her lies to begin with—granted, he had already had a bad opinion of Harry at the time, but still. Then there was the fact that four of them had all called the police after the scene in the road. Harry found it simpler to forgive the others as well than hold a grudge. In the end he and Severus had agreed to disagree.

 “Hello, Harry. My, you two have been making a mess! May I see?”

“Yeah, ‘course.” Harry led her into his half-painted room.

“I’ll get the kettle on, shall I?” Severus asked, glancing down at his Volcanic Red-smeared hands.

“Oh, no need for that, dear. I was just on my way to the shops and thought I would drop in on the way.” Jane held up a box. “Would you care for some cake?”

Severus gave a slightly pained smile.

-

Harry opened the door, which now had a plaque on it reading Harry’s Room. “Ta-da!”

Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore, who had brought them over, all stepped inside, looking around.

“I had to see it to believe it,” Ron said, his eyes wide as he took it all in. “You’re really living here now?”

“Yep,” Harry said happily.

“With Snape?”

“Yep.”

Harry was proud of his finished bedroom. The Volcanic Red walls were decorated with all his posters, and on one of the walls he had personally painted a Gryffindor lion in gold paint. The skirting boards were the same colour. The green carpet and curtains had been replaced with chocolate brown, with a white bedside rug, and his new bedding was the same shade of brown and white. All his things from his birthday and everything else was in place, except his old hand-me-downs that—apart from one set kept for things like painting walls—had found a new home in the dustbin.

“It’s amazing, Harry. You really painted that lion yourself?”

He was about to reply when he heard a heavy vehicle turn into the road, and looked out of the window.

A removal van was parked outside Number Nine. The others in the room all came over to see what he was looking at.

He hadn’t quite managed to work out his feelings that the Dursleys had been released. Dumbledore, who had been keeping an eye on how things worked out, had assured him and Severus that the case wasn’t closed yet.

“Good riddance,” Severus said in a hard voice.

Harry squared his shoulders. “They got what they wanted. Me and my freaky business out of their lives.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Dumbledore said. “I have a contact in the Muggle Liaison Office keeping tabs on their movements. Rest assured, wherever they go, they won’t be escaping justice.”

Harry decided he didn’t want to know what Dumbledore had in mind. He didn’t care. As long as they were out of his life, that was all that mattered.

He stepped back from the window again. “C’mon, they’re not worth watching.” He tried to think of a way to change of the subject. “Ron, didn’t you say something about the Quidditch World Cup?”

As Ron launched into a description, eyes gleaming with excitement, Harry glanced around to see the two men quietly leaving them to it. He met Severus’ eyes, and the two of them exchanged a smile before the door was closed.

No matter how many times Severus smiled at him, Harry still felt that thrill of knowing that it meant he was cherished. He didn’t think he would ever not feel it.

He hadn’t exactly had the quietist life at Hogwarts, or out of it. He had no idea what the future held, and Severus’ conviction that Voldemort would one day come back had been eating at him late at night. But he knew, no matter what could happen this coming year or beyond, he could get through it. Now he had a family to be with him all the way.