"On the couch," Severus said. He'd gotten Harry to sit down, but the boy was staring into the fire and watching the flames and had been for the better part of the last hour. He'd stopped shaking, but Severus hadn't questioned the boy further. Instead he'd looked over the newest letters, which he had brought down along with Harry's bag when he'd made Harry get up from the table in the Great Hall.

"How bad is it?" Albus asked, nodding to the new notices on Severus' desk by the door.

"As it is every time." Every time someone stepped out to help Fae open a new business, or tried to employ Fae, the Ministry bullied them into compliance with high fines and taxes, despite that there was no actual law against hiring Fae or against Fae starting new businesses. The Ministry's unofficial policy had always been to starve the Fae out and hope they moved on to other countries where other Ministries were less strict. Officially they found every reason to jail them when they entered wizarding institutions, even for made up offenses, and to publish propaganda against them to turn the population against Fae of any kind, even elves who weren't violent creatures by nature.

"How is he?"

Snape only motioned for Albus to find out for himself. Albus went and sat on the couch next to Harry as he stared into the flames and gave no indication he knew Albus was there. A moment later Harry spoke though. "It's not fair. Any of it."

"It never is when concerning those the Ministry sees as different."

"I'm not going to be in compliance. It'll be hundreds of galleons a day. Then they'll keep going. They'll fine me for more. Then it'll be thousands a day. My accounts will be empty in weeks." He turned to look at Dumbledore. "I don't care," he said. "About the money, or the businesses, or any of it. I won't give in."

Albus sighed. "On the one hand I'd like to tell you that's not a wise decision and encourage you to find a different way to rebel. On the other I want you to know I'm proud of you for caring so much about others."

Harry snorted then. It was the same thing he'd told Fred and George after they'd saved Harry from that dementor, that their actions had been understood but not encouraged.

"I don't find any of this funny," Severus said, and Harry looked over and realized for the first time that the man had sat down in his comfortable high backed chair at the end of the coffee table. He didn't sound angry.

"I was wondering how many people he encourages and tells off at the same time. He told Fred and George the same earlier this year."

"More than one would think," Snape said.

"Have the newest citations been sent to Silver?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not yet," Severus said.

"Perhaps a trip to Diagonalley is in order."

"It's a school day. They'll be waiting to catch him and give him a truancy citation and give you one for keeping him out of school."

"Then perhaps it is time for Harrison Silver to pay a visit to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.

An hour later and Silver had come up through the front gates of the castle grounds and then down to Snape's quarters in the Dungeons. Dumbledore had left to teach another of Snape's classes, but promised to return afterwards.

At the kitchen table Silver read over the newest notices and then set them down and looked over at Harry, who had been fidgeting while he waited. Severus sat at the other end of the table drinking the strongest cup of coffee he could brew.

"This is the legal battle your grandfather was waiting for. This is why there's so much money set aside in the legal fund. He always said the Ministry would one day overstep their bounds, and now they have. You've made them afraid of your political sway with the people, and you've angered them and they've decided to take it out not only on you, but everyone beneath you. But this is the moment the Silver family has been waiting for for generations."

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a file folder. When he opened it Harry realized it was magically enlarged and there was a stack of paper deep inside probably ten feet tall. "Every Silver has prepared for this legal eventuality and left their notes and findings for the next generation. My grandfather, my father, and me."

"So you'll help?"

Silver gave him a stern look. "I told you Harry. The Silver's have always been the Potter barristers."

"But you're alone," Harry said. "How will you fight them? They'll have an entire team of barristers won't they?"

"Hardly," Silver said. "My father is still alive and still a barrister, and he knows the laws and notes in this folder better than anyone. Because it's a case against your businesses and not directly against you, you may not even have to attend court. The legal proceedings are likely to stretch out for months or even years. I can keep you apprised of course of what's happening, but you should hardly worry yourself over it."

"What about the daily and weekly fines?" Severus asked.

"I'm going to file for a court date tomorrow as early as I can. Within the petition for a hearing will be a petition to whichever Justice we get to put a moratorium on all current and future fines on his holdings and business interests until the case is decided in court. There's precidence for a hold on fines with past cases. When it goes through, hopefully this week, Harry will have to pay the fines he's already earned, but no more after that until the case is over. If we win the case, the Ministry will be found in error and will have to repay the fines Harry has paid."

"And if he loses?"

"If he loses they'll be free to start fining him again until he's in compliance. I've already been looking into things for the last two weeks since he started getting fined however, and every single thing they've fined him for has been false except not having filed for a business license for his janitorial crew to clean the alleys."

Here Silver pulled out a form and had Harry sign it so he could get Harry a business license for the janitors to work under and get him into compliance on at least one thing.

"We'll make our case on the Ministry giving citations when no citations should have been issued. Once that's proven in court and ruled on we'll make a secondary counter-case within the first hearing that the Ministry Office Of Business Affairs has been systematically targeting Harry and his businesses for his dealings with the Fae. Since none of this happened until he opened up a business with a Werewolf (something they still aren't even aware of by the way), and since the first and so far only businesses of his they've targeted are ones in which he employes Fae and they've given him no choice but to fire those employees or be fined, it will be easy to prove. Winning the case will be difficult however."

"Why?" Harry asked, thinking that everything Silver had said so far was going to lead him to win.

"They know they're targeting you because of the Fae. They may not even make much of an effort to deny it. It's status quo. And as you've already experienced, they don't like to change the way of things for any reason. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep things as they are, even if they have no reason to."

"But the law is on our side," Harry insisted.

"It is. The books are clean, the businesses are well cared for, and now that we'll file this business license for the janitorial service you'll be in full compliance on everything, as your family has been for the last fifty years. This case isn't really about your compliance though, and it won't be. They'll know that."

"It's about Fae rights," Harry said.

"It is."

"So what do I do then in the meantime? Keep doing what I'm doing?" Harry asked.

Silver smiled. "You should most definitely keep doing what you're doing. As the Boy-Who-Lived and as one of the most well known businessmen in the aisles, you have much more pull with public opinion than you realize. People are listening, so be careful what you say, because they'll believe you and hold you to it. Be certain about a cause before you throw yourself behind it, though I feel I hardly need to remind you of that. You already seem to have picked your battles, and that worries the Ministry too. They always expected you to throw your political weight around when you were older. I'll wager they thought they had a few more years to influence your beliefs and values before you stepped into the political arena however. That's what has them so scared."

Snape told Harry to stay put and then walked Silver up to use the Floo in the staff lounge off the Great Hall.

When he came back ten minutes later he made sure Harry ate something, looked him over, and then told him he had three options: he could wait for the Headmaster to return from teaching Potions, go back to his common room, or return to classes for the day.

"I'd better go to class," Harry said. He only had Defense and Care of Magical Creatures left because it was two in the afternoon. "I already missed the Herbology test this morning and am gonna have to make that up."

"Professor McGonagall excused you from classes for the day, so you will be given time during a study hall to make up the exam."

"I hope so," Harry said, "because I studied for three days for it."

Severus sent him on his way, but felt unsettled once the boy was gone and he was left in his empty quarters again.

The boy had been so distraught he'd grabbed onto Severus' robes again like at the Ministry. He seemed to have been upset a lot over the last several weeks, enough to seek Severus out for tea by the fire almost a dozen times.

He huffed in irritation and returned to his favorite armchair to stare into the fire. It was all well and good for Lupin and Albus to want to teach Potter to cast a patronus, but in the meantime it was Severus who was there to deal with the emotional fallout every time Potter collapsed from a Dementor, Boggart or not.

He was the one to worry over Potter's poor grades because the child was dealing with nightmares about his relatives and couldn't sleep at night. Albus had been spending a lot of time with Harry, but Severus was the one responsible for the boy's health, and suddenly he was feeling that burden in a way he hadn't before.

In some ways Harry was so mature for his age, and intelligent in the way his mind thought about fixing things, and problem solving through issues on the alleys and with his businesses. But in other ways he was a child who forgot to eat sometimes, had trouble sleeping and wasn't always as wise with his personal funds as he should be.

The case worker's words at the trial once again came back to him. They said Harry could probably survive on his own, but shouldn't. They'd said there was an emotional impact to what was going on in his life that he couldn't deal with on his own... that he needed the help of an adult to deal with. The way he'd gripped Severus' robes that morning underscored that for him yet again. He was only a boy and he was trying to fight his way into a world that even adults struggled to deal with.

When Severus had taken Potter in, he hadn't really done anything to fulfil his promise to save the boy from the dangers he would face, or from himself. And when he'd taken him in he hadn't wanted to care for him, it had only been out of obligation. But now, after seeing how needy Harry was... how he didn't expect help from anyone and only expected to rely on himself, how could Severus turn away from that? He wanted to help him. Heaven help him, he wanted to be that support the boy needed.

Potter had followed Mrs. Ginger around like a lost puppy for most of their vacation to the beach. Now Severus knew why. He followed her because Mrs. Ginger had offered him the things he needed. Harry had been clinging to Severus in the same way recently, coming to see him often, just to sit for comfort after rough tutoring sessions, or to seek the comfort he needed when he felt his world was falling apart. He'd clung that morning to Severus' robes like Severus was a life raft in a stormy sea.

And what are you going to do about it Severus Snape? He silently asked himself. He had no idea.

* * *

Albus had seen Harry in the corridor on his way back to classes, so he hadn't returned to Severus' quarters that afternoon. Instead Severus had to seek the old man out in his office. He didn't wait to be invited in, and instead walked in without knocking and sat down heavily in one of the visitor's chairs facing Albus' desk.

"You've had a rough day," Albus observed.

Severus looked up at him, feeling more exhausted than he should given the amount of coffee he'd had that afternoon. "You're going to have to adopt Potter with me." He wasn't sure how else to say it.

"Severus?"

He rubbed his forehead and then looked up at Albus. "He needs more than a guardian... two guardians. He needs parents... a parent... a grandparent."

"You think adopting him will help?"

"You know he still believes he will be sent back to his relatives or turned out at the first sign of trouble. He is still surprised when someone waits up for him on late work nights or asks him about his day. If he is forever waiting for the other shoe to fall, he will never believe things have changed for him."

"I agree. I'm surprised you're the one to come up with this solution however."

Severus gave him a half hearted sneer, but couldn't keep it there for more than a moment. "You knew, letting me take the boy, that I would be unable to hold him at arms length for long."

"I did know."

Ha, Severus thought, finally caught you at your manipulations old man, but in the next second Dumbledore was talking again and Severus' false notions about Albus fell away.

"I knew in the way I came to care for you as a son in your younger years, that you would be unable to take care of Harry without coming to feel the same way about him. I was surprised when you offered to take him in, but when I saw the resolve in your eyes the last day of the trial, I knew. Pretending to be cold to the world and the people you encounter doesn't suit you Severus. This does."

Severus looked away, feeling his cheeks color, an uncommon occurrence. "When?" he asked.

"As soon as you explain how you feel to Harry."

Severus rose and made for the door but Albus said, "He's not the first student to be adopted by a Hogwarts professor. It might help to let him know that." Severus gave him a nod and left. He had a lot to think about, namely how he was going to tell Harry that he needed a father... that he needed a father as much as Severus found himself wanting to protect Harry as his son.

* * *

Because it had been an emotional few days for Harry, Severus didn't approach the boy about the things he needed to say to him right away. He waited three days, and then went up to the Defense classroom on Thursday evening, and poked his head in the door to see how Harry's tutoring was progressing.

"You're so close Harry," Lupin was telling him as he pulled the child up off the floor. "Your patronus is sticking around for several seconds now before it flickers out of existence. There's a possibility that this new memory you've been using this week is the one you need and that you just need more practice."

"Yes sir," Harry told him. Severus noted the boy didn't look happy as he stood and faced the closed crate holding the boggart. He looked tired and wary, but ready to try again nonetheless.

"You've learned to gather the feeling back to you," Lupin told him as he walked to the crate. "To feel everything that made that memory so strong in the moment you cast. Now remember that this is the memory that will protect you from re-living the visions you face. This is the memory that will protect you from the Dementors. You must be confident in that to keep your patronus corporeal."

Harry gave a nod, and Lupin opened the crate. Severus was both fascinated and disgusted to see the boggart coming out of the crate in the shape of a dementor. Harry was braver than any of them had given him credit for, to face this night after night, week after week and still keep coming back for more.

"Expecto Patronum!" A stag patronus burst out of his wand, though it wasn't very bright. Lupin was right, it was fully formed, but after a few seconds it flickered out, and Harry passed out and hit the floor hard. Lupin ushered the boggart back into the crate with his wand in a matter of seconds and knelt next to Harry to wake him up. The child was shaking as he always did when facing down a dementor.

"Here," Lupin told him, and pushed half a bar of chocolate into his hands. "We'll continue Tuesday night Harry," he told him. "I believe you can do this. Now you have to believe it too."

"Yes sir," Harry said, climbing up from the floor. Harry's eyes found Severus in the doorway and gave him an uncertain nod.

"Good evening sir," Harry told Lupin, and went into the corridor where Severus waited for him.

"Is there another fine sir?" Harry asked, thinking that must be the only reason for his Potions professor to come all the way to the second floor to find him.

"Not that I'm aware of. I need to speak with you and knew you had tutoring this evening. I wished to see how you were progressing."

"I'll get it," Harry told him grimly.

"I am certain you will."

Harry gave him an uncertain look but didn't comment further as he followed Severus back to his dungeon quarters.

Severus made a cup of hot chocolate for Harry, and a pot of licorice tea. After Harry finished his hot chocolate by the fire, sitting on the couch, he poured himself a cup of tea, and looked up at Severus, surprised.

"Liccorice tea sir?"

"The Headmaster said you preferred it."

"You don't have to go to the trouble for me sir."

"I am aware. Obtaining a jar of licorice tea from the house elves and heating water with my wand is not considered troublesome."

"Oh." Harry looked down into his tea and took a sip, savoring the flavor. After a moment he looked up and asked, "You said there was something we needed to talk about?"

Harry watched curiously as his professor suddenly seemed nervous. Harry had never seen him nervous before. He'd been a snarky git, been downright mean, been loud, been strong, and recently been mellow where Harry was concerned. Nervousness was new, and Harry really hoped Snape hadn't been tasked with breaking some sort of awful news about his businesses or fines to him. He really didn't want to think about that right now. Harry was surprised with what the Professor did have to say to him.

"Harry," he said quietly. "You need more than just a guardian."

"Sir?" Was the man finally wising up and dumping him off on somebody else? Harry felt a moment of panic rise in his chest at the prospect of not having a quiet place to come to after tutoring anymore, but scolded himself because he should have seen this coming. He'd bothered the man far too much recently. If he kept bothering Dumbledore he would dump him off back at the Dursleys as well. They'd both grow wise like Podmore had and wash their hands of him completely.

"I can't do enough for you as just your guardian," he said. "In order to help you like I need to, to protect you like you should be, I need to- want to, adopt you." He fumbled over the last few words, and Harry wasn't certain he'd heard him right.

When Harry just stared at him across the coffee table, Severus cleared his throat and said, "You would be my son. Albus would be your grandfather, officially."

"But Dumbledore's not your father," Harry said, shaking his head as he tried to work it all over in his mind. "He didn't adopt you did he?"

"No, but he will formally adopt me, and then I will formally adopt you and he will be your grandfather."

Harry got up and began to pace, clearly upset about something though Severus didn't know what.

"What is bothering you?"

"You're already taking care of me," Harry said. "I mean, I'm staying at the castle. The Headmaster's doing what the Justice said he had to... spending time with me. Why do you want to adopt me?"

"It would not be the first time a Hogwarts professor adopted a student."

"It's not?"

"While I was not adopted officially, I was an orphan and was living at the orphanage on Knockturn Alley in my later years attending Hogwarts. I was miserable there. As I took you at the end of the summer, the Headmaster- Albus, brought me to the castle the summer before my seventh year and looked after me until I graduated."

"You said kids got adopted," Harry pointed out.

"While I did not get adopted, Professor Flitwick did in his years at school. As a first year he grew close to the then Arithmancy professor, a friendly woman who had been a Ravenclaw in her years at school. He lived at the castle for the rest of his schooling, and in his adult years returned again to teach. Over the hundreds of years since the founding of Hogwarts, many other children have been adopted by professors as well. When the Headmaster was a student, the female head of Slytherin had adopted two girls and a boy. They lived here together in these quarters."

Harry looked around then and tried to imagine that. Maybe they'd lived in his room, or there had been some other room open that was now blocked off. He didn't know.

He thought it made sense now though why some of the professors had been extra nice to him since he'd come to the castle over the summer to live... waiting up for him when he worked late, offering him biscuits and tea, and just sitting with him to chat. They'd all acted like it was completely ordinary for a student to be living at the castle, and Harry had wondered about that when he knew he was the only one.

"What are you thinking?"

"I thought I was a special case or something getting to stay over the summer. I didn't think the Ministry would let kids live at the school."

"Because it has been happening since the school was founded it has become an unwritten rule, so long as there is a staff member willing to take responsibility for the student who is staying. When Hogwarts first opened, and for hundreds of years after, staff members families, including spouses and children also stayed with them in the castle, which is why some sets of staff quarters were built bigger than others. Albus is one of the few headmasters throughout the school's history whose family has not come to stay with him.

"But he has a family?" Harry asked.

"You and me."

Harry really didn't know what to say to that. They weren't his family. The Dursleys were, and he didn't want to have a family like the Dursleys again.

"Sir-" Harry said, "I'm really tired... from tutoring. I don't want to be rude but I think I need to go to bed before I pass out."

Severus motioned for Harry to get up and then walked him back to Gryffindor tower. "We will visit the Ministry over the weekend," he told him as Harry climbed in through the portrait hole. Harry stopped and stared at him for a moment.

"The Ministry sir? To the MOBA office?"

"We will be visiting the Family Affairs office where they handle adoptions."

"This weekend?"

"Saturday morning."

"Good night sir."

Harry waited until the portrait door closed to flee to his dorm room. It was empty because the boys were all playing Exploding Snap at the edge of the common room.

Harry sat heavily on his bed. He wasn't getting a choice. Snape was going to adopt him Saturday. That was just two days away.

Harry was content with the way things were now. Why couldn't they stay the way they were? He was comfortable with the routine he had of visiting Snape when he needed a quiet place to think, and spending occasional meals with Dumbledore, or going out on the weekends with him to the tea shop or other places. If they adopted him it was all going to change.

There was a time when Harry had desperately wanted to be adopted. He had spent days at a time locked in his cupboard daydreaming of a nice family coming to the door at 4 Privet Drive and asking if they could adopt the orphan that lived there, and then moving him to a nice house where he could have his own bedroom with a real bed. He'd spent time at the Burrow watching how Ron and his family interacted, wishing he could be one of their kids. But by the time he'd finished with second year and made his way to Diagonalley to stay at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was just looking to survive.

What Harry wanted more than anything right now was a safe place to think, and he felt like that had been taken away from him. He couldn't go back to Snape's quarters to think through this because Snape wasn't giving him a choice. He was taking him to the Ministry Saturday whether Harry wanted that or not. Sirius had once offered Harry that quiet comfort Snape had been giving him back in his room at the Leaky Cauldron.

Sirius had let Harry run his fingers through his soft fur, or bury his face in his fur after a nightmare. And he'd never said a word despite being able to transform into a man. He'd just let Harry be, and comforted him.

Harry hadn't heard from Sirius since the trial though. Was he at Harry's safehouse? Harry really hoped he was and that he was safe. He thought of his godfather often even though he had never met him as a man, just as a friendly dog. Harry felt like that was enough though. He felt as though that was what he needed in that moment, and maybe forever. If he left for his safehouse, and hopefully for Sirius, he could forget about Snape and the Department of Family Affairs. Maybe he could even forget about his issues with the Business Affairs Office because they'd never be able to find him.

Long after the other boys had come up to the dorm to go to sleep for the night, Harry got out of bed and packed several shirts and pairs of pants and socks and underwear into his backpack. He pulled on his warmest gray hoodie, pulled the hood up over his head, and tucked his gloves into the pockets of it. Then he pulled his invisibility cloak over himself and looked around the room at the other sleeping boys, wondering if this was the last time he'd see them again. He didn't care if this was a wise move or not. He didn't even know how he would get to his cabin yet since he couldn't apparate.

Harry left the room as quietly as he could and made his way down to the Great Hall. It was after midnight and he prayed there was no one in the staff lounge this time behind the staff table.

The door was unlocked with a quick alohamora and he pushed it open a crack and peered inside. The fire was out and the room was dark.

Still invisible he crossed the room quickly to the fireplace and reached up for the Floo powder, hoping the password hadn't been changed.

As he threw a handful of Floo powder into the grate and green flames as tall as him sprang up, he said, "Caldus, The Leaky Cauldron, London." He stepped into the flames and was whisked away into the night.

When he came out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, he found a few tired witches and wizards sitting around the table.

"Floo acting up again Tom?" one of them asked when the fireplace had flared up but no one appeared to have stepped out.

"Knut please," Tom said, not even looking up from the shiny wood bartop he was cleaning with a rag.

Harry felt in his pockets for a Knut and found the one Snape had given him for just such an occasion. He'd never taken it out of his jeans pocket and was glad the house elves had left it there all the times the pants had been washed since then. Trying hard to make sure he was still covered with his cloak as he raised his arm and dropped the Knut into the money pot on top of the mantle, Harry hurried out the back door to the courtyard.

Once he'd exited out onto Diagonalley, he found it dark and deserted. There were a few lights burning in oil lamps along the cobbled street, but they didn't cast much light. It was also cold and windy out as he made his way down the street.

At the Gringotts plaza at the end of Diagon he turned and went down Knockturn, and then stood at the entrance to Payne Alley, staring down it. He could hear laughter and other sounds coming from the alley, likely from Gobledegooks. Would Bellamy be at the Lighthouse this late at night? Did he have a home he went to in the evening?

Snape's warning about going down Payne alone flared across his mind even though Harry didn't feel threatened in the slightest going by himself. Instead he turned and headed down Knocturn a little further to see the new sweet shop. It would be closed now as it was only open until midnight, and it was half past, but he just wanted to have a look.

When he got there, there was a light on inside and he tried his luck with the door. It was unlocked.

A bell tinkled overhead to announce his presence, and he heard Zach calling from in the back room. "Back here Gnarlack! I hope you brought extra cockroaches tonight! Gonna have to sell five times as much to keep up with the fines!"

Harry made his way into the back and when he was in front of Zach, who was kneading pale dough into a ball, he pulled his cloak off.

"GEEZ!" Zach shouted, and gripped his heart, leaving a flour handprint on his black apron. "Harry? Scared me half to death and I don't think you can scare a werewolf half to death!"

"I'm sorry," Harry told him. "I need help from Bellamy. Not sure if it's acceptable if I take a stroll down Payne at this time of night though."

"Night's just getting started," he said. "Bellamy should be down there. If not at the Lighthouse than at Payne Inn. They're having a meeting tonight at the Inn so most everybody should be there."

"But what about me?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, not sure about that one," Zach said. He considered Harry for a moment and said, "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"I'm in trouble. I need Bellamy. Do you think he knows how to apparate?"

"He hasn't learned yet. Vampires do it differently than wizards do you know. No idea how it works but most don't learn til they're at least fifty years old. Be some time yet unless someone takes him under their wing. They usually make ‘em figure it out on their own. Right of passage or something like that. If you need to get somewhere why don't you take the Floo?"

"That's how I got here. There's no Floo where I'm going."

"Where's that?"

Harry just stared at him.

"All right, it's not like I can apparate yet either. Don't have my apparition license. They're not too keen on giving one to someone who didn't go to school. How much trouble are you in?"

When Harry just stared at him again, Zach gave a nod and said, "Right, you need Bellamy."

"I don't mean any offense," Harry said. "I just don't know you that well."

"I understand. Let's lock up the shop and get down Payne. I'll go into the Inn and get Bellamy. You put that cloak back on and promise not to scare me again."

Harry pulled the cloak back over him and his backpack and followed Zach out of the shop. He locked the door with a wave of his wand and led Harry down Payne Alley. A goblin stumbled drunk out of Gobledegooks as they passed and headed towards Knockturn, but Harry avoided him and then pressed himself up against the wall in the corner at the end of the alley between The Aether and Payne Inn.

Zach opened the door to the Inn and stuck his head inside, told someone he needed Bellamy, thanked whoever it was and then pulled his head back out.

"Packed in there tonight," Zach said seemingly to himself since Harry wasn't visible.

Harry didn't respond, and a few minutes later the door to the Inn opened and Bellamy came out. Harry was surprised to find his friend's eyes were glowing slightly silver in the darkness.

"What is it? Someone harassing you at the shop again?"

"We have a friend in need."

Here Zach elbowed the general vicinity of Harry and hit his mark. Harry grunted and pulled the cloak off of himself.

"Look at you down Payne by yourself at night without that git Professor of yours," Bellamy said in approval. "Aren't you supposed to be locked away at school?"

"Zach," Harry said, holding out his hand to shake. "Thank you. I appreciate your help."

"Think I've been dismissed," Zach said, but he gave Harry a nod and headed back towards Knocturn and his sweet shop.

When Harry was sure he was out of earshot, he whispered to Bellamy, "I need to get somewhere without a floo."

"Have your professor take you."

"I can't."

Bellamy narrowed his eyes and then motioned for Harry to follow him down to the Lighthouse. The door was unlocked when they got there and the lights were on inside. A man and a woman were working the printing press, with newly printed newsletters popping out the end into a stack.

Bellamy didn't say anything to them as he led Harry through the room and to a set of stairs.

"I'm pretty sure we don't need the trouble bringing a wizard kid in here is gonna bring," the woman said. "You know you can't turn him unless he wants it and only then if he's at least 17."

Bellamy stopped and turned to her. "Just having a friend over," he said.

"Up in your room? Alone? If you bite him Bellamy, or if he even claims to the Ministry that he saw a flash of your fangs, the Ministry will stake all of us."

"Muuum," he groaned. "When have I ever bitten a kid? Or anyone?"

"What's he even doing here?" his father asked, not looking up from the printing press. "Bit late for him to be out on his own isn't it? You lost kiddo?"

"This is Harry," Bellamy said. "He's been here half a dozen times already."

His mother and father stopped and their eyes found his lightning shaped scar.

"Harry Potter?" his father asked. "You're bringing Harry Potter in alone in the middle of the night without his guardians? Are you crazy?"

"He's asking for our help," Bellamy said lazily, as though his parents often overreacted to small things and it was no big deal.

"He's The-Boy-Who-Lived! The Ministry will be furious!" his mother said.

"Erm- excuse me," Harry said, bringing their attention to him fully for the first time. They'd been speaking like he wasn't really there, or like he wasn't capable of understanding them. "I came on my own and found Bellamy at the Inn. I just- need to have a chat really fast. I promise I won't stay long. I don't want any trouble."

"You?" Bellamy's father snorted. "You seek trouble out. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty pleased you've stepped out of your safety net to do something good, but I don't believe for a second you won't cause any trouble."

"I'm in trouble," Harry said. "I need help. If me being here will cause you issues, I'll leave though."

"What kind of trouble?"

Harry looked to Bellamy and Bellamy nodded his head once towards his parents. "It's ok, whatever it is they won't turn you in. Every Fae in the aisles who's in trouble turns up here. Nightly thing really."

"I'm supposed to be at school," Harry said, looking at his mother and father. "I ran away."

"What for?"

"I have my reasons," Harry said.

Bellamy's parents gave each other a sideways look.

"And you want safe harbor?" his father asked.

"Not- exactly," Harry said. "I have a safe place to stay. I have a safe person to stay with."

"If you're thinking of Sirius Black, he's not safe for you to be around. We published your request for him to be helped, but no one has seen hide nor hair of him since he escaped on Diagon."

Harry sighed. "I just need to get somewhere. There's no active Floo. If you can just get me close to it, that's all I'm asking."

"Do you need food and money?" his mother asked. "Clothes, blankets?"

"Erm- I have clothes and a blanket. I have money in my accounts."

"You're not going to be able to access them if you're hiding."

"Guess I won't really need money because I don't plan on coming out of hiding to use it."

She came around the counter, apron covered in black ink smudges. She was tall and slender and had silver hair that fell below her shoulders. Her eyes glinted silver like Bellamy's did despite that lights were on in the room.

"Food then," she said.

Harry hadn't thought of that. He hadn't visited the kitchens before leaving school or thought about what he might eat. He supposed when he got to his safehouse and found Sirius they could figure that out together.

Before he could answer she had swept out the front door without a word and Harry looked to Bellamy for help. He only grinned at Harry in response. His father came around the counter and said, "We've harbored runaway's before. Even runaway wizards. Usually they have a good reason for leaving. What's yours?"

"It's hard to explain."

"There's a code that's followed here... with Fae. I'm not sure if you'll understand it, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because you'll be expected to abide by it."

Harry nodded.

"If or when you get caught, you're to tell no one you were here. You're to tell no one who helped you, or to even mention it was a Fae that helped you. You're to tell no one how you found your way to wherever it is we'll be taking you. That is the price of our help."

"I can do that," Harry said.

"See that you do. One slip of your tongue, even to a trusted friend, could mean Bellamy gets hunted down and killed by angry wizards."

"My- friends," Harry said, because he'd wanted to say his family but couldn't, "would never-"

"Maybe they wouldn't," he said, "but others would. There are groups of wizards out there that see no problem with taking things into their own hands."

Harry stared into the man's silver eyes and said, "I don't know how you do this on a daily basis."

"Help people?"

"Live like this. In fear of the Ministry and random wizards."

"Because if we didn't stand strong for our community, there would be no alley here to escape to... no one to help those in need who turn up hungry and tired and needing help in the dead of night."

Harry wanted to tell him he understood, but couldn't because Bellamy's mother had come back in with a brown paper bag. She handed it to Harry.

"Food," she said. "Bread, some fruit, aged cheese. It's the best I can do at this time of night."

"Thank you."

"I'll take him," his father said.

"I'm coming," Bellamy said, stepping forward. His father nodded and gripped Harry's shoulder and Bellamy's.

"You need to think of the spot you want to be dropped off," he told Harry. "Think hard, like you're there. Don't bite your tongue."

Harry nodded.

"You have it in your mind?"

He nodded again and they were gone.

It wasn't like apparating with a wizard, where you felt like you were being compressed into a tiny ball and couldn't breath. Harry could breath just fine, but felt like he was being spun around and around in a circle over his head. The floor was up and the sky was down, but before he could comprehend what was going on, they had stopped spinning and he felt like his feet had never left the ground at all. He wasn't even sure they had left the shop until he breathed in a breath full of crisp clean air.

"Is this the place?" Bellamy asked, staring into the darkness with his silvery eyes.

Harry looked around. He could hear the river and he recognized a large boulder at the edge of his property. They were forty or fifty feet away from it. He didn't want to appear too close. "Yeah, it's close."

"And where is this place you are going?" Bellamy's father asked.

"About a mile away," Harry lied. "I'll walk. It's not far."

"We'll go with you," he said.

"I appreciate it sir, but I'll be meeting someone on the way there. I don't want to give you away for helping me."

Both of the vampires stared into the trees in the darkness, as if trying to see who was nearby that Harry would be meeting.

"Well met," Bellamy's father said. "I hope you are well traveled by the end of the night."

"Thank you," Harry said, frowning as he tried to work out what was being said to him.

"He was glad to meet you and hopes you find your way safely," Bellamy translated.

"Well met," Harry returned to them both, "and I'll be safe."

They nodded, Bellamy's father gripped his son's shoulder, and then they were gone, cartwheeling out of existence before Harry's eyes.

Harry waited a few moments and then thought the address to his house and the password Lemon tea. The house appeared and he walked carefully through the trees and up onto the little wooden deck. He peered in the windows, wondering if he could spot Sirius sleeping inside, but couldn't see anything inside the darkened house. The door was unlocked since he had said the password to bring the property into view, and he went inside, lighting his wand with a Lumos so he could see.

"Sirius?" he called. There was no answer. He shone the light from his wand onto the couch and found the pillow and blanket still neatly folded where they had been almost two months ago when he'd come with the Headmaster to set the wards.

Just to be sure Harry checked down the hall, in the bathroom, and in the two bedrooms. They were all empty. There weren't even footprints (or pawprints) in the dust on the floor. Sirius had never come.

Harry went back to the living room and sat heavily on the couch, brown sack of food beside him. He pulled his backpack off and leaned back. He'd wanted peace and quiet. He'd wanted space to think. He'd wanted to escape the changes being adopted would bring. He only hoped he wasn't getting more solitude than he had bargained for, and that he had made the right decision.

* * *

Albus sat at his desk with his head in his hand propped up by his elbow. The way Harry had rejected he and Severus and their offer to adopt him by running away stung more than he would have liked. He hadn't felt the sting of rejection like this in a long time. It was different now though, because it meant they would never get through to the child. He was certain he knew where to find him, but when they did, things would remain as they were: Harry would be wary and untrusting of him and that wouldn't change.

Maybe Harry just didn't want Albus and Severus for a family. That hurt even more to think about. It was Albus' fault that he'd failed Harry so badly by leaving him with his relatives for so long and then for fighting the child in court over it. He should have taken the boy back to Hogarts at the first mention of abuse over the summer and never looked back. He'd broken the child's trust too badly to repair.

The door to his office opened and Severus strode in without knocking.

"No sign?" Albus asked.

"None of his friends saw him leave and he made no mention to them of where he was going. I have been to the Leaky Cauldron, to Diagon and Knocturn, and to see Silver and they have not seen him."

Albus shook his head. "I've done this."

Severus sneered at the old man for feeling sorry for himself. If he found Potter first he was going to give him detention until he was twenty for the self recrimination he'd brought on the Headmaster. Severus would never admit that the boy's rejection of his offer had hurt him, but it would be a lie if he said it didn't. He wasn't going to wallow like Albus however. They needed to make sure the third year was safe and then tell him off. And then Severus wanted a long holiday away from the school for as long as he'd be allowed to decompress and allow his anger to subside.

"You did nothing," Severus said.

"Because I've broken his trust he doesn't want to be associated with either of us."

"He's a child. He doesn't know what he wants or what's best for him." Which was exactly why Severus hadn't given him a choice in the first place. He needed a parent. As his parent Severus wouldn't be required to give him access to work, only school. If there was a hairbrained scheme the boy wanted to put into action like bringing the wrath of the Ministry down on himself, Severus would be allowed by law to stop him.

"Let us focus on finding him first," Severus said, thinking there was time for the Headmaster to wallow later.

"I have a good idea where he is."

"Where? If you had told me this morning when we found him missing, it would have been appreciated so I didn't have to trek to London and back."

Albus allowed a small sparkle of mischief to come into his eyes when he looked at Severus, but it was gone as fast as it came. "He has a house."

Severus only stared at him.

"It's well warded and I do not know the password. I do not know how he would get there, especially since his broom and all of the school brooms are accounted for, but he once told me he bought it to ensure he would always have a safe place to go... a place to go when things did not work out between the three of us."

"Wonderful," Severus said, exasperated. "Where is it?"

"Severus, thank you for spending the morning looking. I think I must be the one to bring him back however."

"If you find him and spend the afternoon apologizing for something that's not remotely your fault-" Severus started, but Albus held up his hand.

"I hope to return this evening. If I cannot find a way through the wards, I'll return for your help."

He swept out of his office, leaving Severus there staring after him. He hoped the Headmaster did know where the boy was hiding out and that he could bring him back. A thirteen year old shouldn't be out on his own, not with Black on the loose, and Dementors patrolling, and the Ministry intent on destroying the last of the child's youth. He only wished Albus would stop blaming himself. Potter had a lot of issues to work through, and none of them were Albus' fault.

* * *

Snow had fallen overnight on the River Almond and there was a light dusting of it on the ground in the space where Harry's cabin should be. Albus stood in the chill afternoon air as he stared at the empty space with sadness and thought the address and said, "Falmouth Falcons."

Nothing happened.

"Seeker 7... Potter 2000... Flourish and Blotts... Knocturn Alley... Gryffindor."

None of those passwords worked, and in truth it could have been any combination of words, even of the ones he'd already tried to bring the house into view. If Harry was inside he could look out any window and see his Headmaster at the boundary of the property, and if he was, he was choosing not to come out and let him in. Albus sighed.

Having run out of ideas for passwords Harry might choose after trying for twenty minutes, he started going through lists of sweets, because why not?

"Pumpkin pastie. Licorice wand. Licorice tea. Chocolate frog. Bertie Botts. Lemon tea." The house appeared and Albus was surprised. Lemon tea? That wasn't even something the boy liked. He preferred chai or sharp licorice or even peppermint. Lemon tea was something Albus liked though. Something he'd had when he'd taken Harry to the tea shop the day they'd set the wards. If Harry didn't want him as a parent... grandparent, then why had he chosen Lemon tea as the password? Perhaps Severus had been right, and Harry was just too young to know what he wanted or needed.

Albus crossed the snowy ground to the front porch, boots crunching in the snow which had iced over and hadn't thawed yet in the shade of the trees surrounding the house. He looked in the window not knowing Harry had done the same the night before, and then opened the door slowly.

Harry jumped up off the couch when the front door opened, wand out and eyes wide, but upon seeing the Headmaster, he looked away, cheeks turning red.

Albus closed the door to keep the cold air out and said, "Harry."

Harry turned so his back was to him and didn't respond for a moment. "I didn't expect you to come after me," he said when Dumbledore stood silently behind him for several long moments.

"Whyever not dear boy?"

"Sirius didn't come."

"Did you expect him to?"

He shrugged. "I thought- if I owled him where the house was, he'd have a safe place to stay. That was months ago. He never came," Harry paused. "He didn't want me."

"I want you. So does Professor Snape."

Albus startled when Harry turned and hugged him tightly, burying his face in his shirt as he had done with Severus at the Ministry. It was the first time Harry had ever hugged him or shown any affection towards him at all.

"It's a lie," Harry said, "nobody wants me."

"That's not true." He maneuvered Harry to the couch and they sat down together. Harry let go of him and didn't move to hug him again.

"If you adopt me, I'll disappoint you. Everything will change."

"What do you mean?"

"It'll be like it was before, at the Dursleys. You and Snape will get mad and -" Harry's throat tightened. He'd end up locked away and forgotten. They'd set him aside like trash and he would remember who he really was. All the hope he'd started to gain with the Headmaster and Snape would vanish. He'd lose it all.

Dumbledore put his arm around Harry's shoulder and pulled Harry to him, wrapping both arms tightly around him. He was glad when Harry didn't pull away. "Never. I will never treat you as you were treated by your relatives. Neither will Professor Snape."

Albus didn't know if he'd ever convince Harry that he was safe from abuse and neglect. The scars of his time at the Dursleys ran deep, and while Albus had never experienced what Harry had, he was starting to feel those scars deep in his bones. The more Harry felt them, the more Albus and Severus felt them. Perhaps that was what Harry needed, more than safety and promises he couldn't be certain about. Albus was angry and sad and devastated with Harry. But as a man with a lot of years and experience under his belt, he was better equipped to handle those emotions than the boy that Harry was.

"Your slights are my slights Harry," Albus told him seriously, and Harry sat up slightly from where he'd been leaning into him.

"What does that mean?"

"When someone treats you poorly, they treat me poorly. When someone hurts you, they hurt me. They hurt Professor Snape."

Harry thought about that. He knew what that was like actually. He often felt that with his friends, and Ron often expressed anger when people knocked into Harry in the halls or teachers kept Harry late after class and prevented him from getting to lunch on time. Is this what Dumbledore and Snape wanted to adopt him for? To share the burdens Harry was used to carrying all on his own?

Harry thought back to how Ron's parents treated Ron and his siblings... how the twins looked out for Ginny and Ron at school and how close they were. How they had included Harry in that circle by protecting him from the dementors. How they had included Harry as if he were family. This was what a real family was like, Harry decided, and for the first time he really understood what that meant. It was something he had been seeing all along, but hadn't known until this moment here with the Headmaster. It was even something he had been witnessing amongst the Fae community... when one was hurt, they all pulled together to help, because it was as if they were all hurt. They'd even pulled together the night before for Harry, who wasn't Fae.

Harry had been thinking over it all quietly for several minutes, and Albus had let him. He'd let him have peace to just think and figure things out, like Snape often did. Instead of plying him with sugar and trying to ask him questions about his hobbies and school, Albus had just been present there with him in solidarity for a little while.

"I think I'm ready to go home now," Harry said.

"You are?"

"I think- I'm ready to have a grandfather."

"You weren't before?" Albus asked, wondering what exactly he'd said to change Harry's mind.

"I didn't know what family was," Harry told him. "I didn't realize until you said about things that hurt me hurt you. And then I realized that's how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are with their kids, and how Ron's brothers and sister are. How Fred and George and Ron and Ginny are with me too. And you said you and Professor Snape want to be that way with me. I just didn't realize until now that I already had a family at school."

"A wise witch once said, ‘friends are family we choose.'"

"Thank you for choosing me sir."

"Thank you for allowing me to."