"Sheep keep coming into the back and trampling Mrs. Mayer's flowers," Arran told him. It was just Harry and Arran this morning, as Mrs. Mayer had gone to do chores for Snape. She'd promised Harry as she left that she was putting in a pot roast to cook all day and that when he returned that Snape's house would smell amazing and his dinner would taste better than amazing.

Arran had Harry saw a piece of wood for him after he showed him how, and then hold it into place as Arran nailed it. Harry cut a second piece of wood and then Arran had Harry nail it into place. Harry bent several nails, but Arran had Harry do the nailing on the last three boards for practice, and on his very last nail, Harry hit it in mostly straight.

"Am I supposed to call you Mr. Mayer or your first name?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure. Sometimes Mrs. Mayer called him Arran and other times by his first name.

"When it's just you, me and Millie, you can call me Arran," he said. "Better call me Mr. Mayer when you're with the Master though. The Prince family puts a lot of importance on titles."

"What about Mrs. Mayer?" he asked. "What do I call her?"

"I'd wager she'd let you call her Millie when it's just the three of us. Don' call her that in front of Mrs. Allan though."

"Ok," Harry said.

He helped carry the tools back to the little shed in back of the house with Arran and then they stood back to admire their work. The broken section of fence looked like new, and Harry was proud, even of the bent nails he could still see.

"Mr. Mayer," called a voice, and they turned to find a woman next door in her own back yard. "Is that the new Master?"

"It is," he said.

"And he's doing chores for you?"

"Yes," Arran called across the yard.

"And you're going to keep him all to yourself?" she asked. She looked to be a few years older than Millie and like she would rather not be doing her own yard work.

"That's up to young Master Harry," Arran said, and Harry bristled at being called Master.

"Come here lad," she said, and Harry went to the low stone fence between the two homes. He'd just started reading the wizarding business book he was supposed to get through, and the first chapter had been about setting a price and all terms of a deal before starting work or signing a contract. "I have yard work that needs to be done and I could use a strapping boy to do it."

"What do you need done?" Harry asked.

"My back fence needs repaired too, and the lawn needs cut. The shed needs painted and two rooms inside need to be painted. The roof on the shed needs repaired too."

"I- don't know how to do all that yet," Harry admitted. He'd done a lot of work for the Dursleys, and he could weed and mow, but he didn't know about painting and fixing roofs.

"I'll teach you," Arran said, and Harry realized he'd come up to stand beside him.

"It's settled then," she said.

"Wait a minute," Arran said. "Nothin's settled til you work out the pay."

"Of course," she told him. "You wouldn't expect me to use the new Master as a slave. You know Master Snape would have something to say about that."

"That he would," Arran said.

"What would you like to be paid?" she asked Harry.

Harry looked to Arran for help, and Arran said, "You'll need to feed him tea and a snack when he works, and a wage on top. I'd say the price should be set per chore, what do you think Master Harry?" Harry bristled again at the name and wished he'd just call him Harry.

"That sounds good," Harry said.

"Five pounds to mow the lawn," she said, "it's not very big in front or back. "Twelve to mend the fence in back, ten to mend the roof on the shed and another ten to paint the shed. It's really not a big shed. And I'll give you seven per room to paint inside."

"And you'll provide all the materials," Arran said.

"I'll give Master Harry money to go buy the materials," she countered.

"Does that sound like a deal Master Harry?" Arran asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I have learning to do in the afternoons. I can only work in the mornings, and maybe in the evening on some days." Harry was excited to have the money and the human contact. He was beginning to wonder if he'd see Snape at all again that summer. He was glad he hadn't seen much of him and nervous at the same time for when he did see him again. He knew he was going to be tested on those books and was nervous he wouldn't do well considering how much difficulty he was having with the material.

"Can you start today?" she asked. "The mowing needs done right away."

Harry smiled at her and nodded. He moved to climb the low stone wall separating the properties but Arran put his hand on Harry's arm to stop him as Mrs. Allan turned and went in her back door, presumably to pull out some money.

"I don' care if yeh climb walls and fences, but Master Snape will. Don' let her see yeh doin' it. She's no gossip but given who the Prince family are and what their reputation are around here, you'll be expected to upkeep it."

"Yes sir."

"Just Arran," he said.

"Ok," Harry said. Harry went out the front gate onto the road and then in the front gate of Mrs. Allan's front yard. She came out the front door and said, "The mower's in the shed. When you're done you can come in for tea and a cinnamon roll. Will you be joining Arran?" she called. Arran was in his front yard leaning on the stone wall, hat keeping his face out of the sun.

"No thank you," he called.

Harry retrieved the push mower from the back shed and set to work on the front lawn. When he was done in front and back Arran instructed him to rake the clippings and put them in the rubbish bin and then drag the bin out to the road since pick up day was tomorrow. Then he told Harry to go in and have his snack, which Harry was thankful for. Despite being a small yard, the push mower was harder to push than he though it would have been because it was rusted, and he was tired and hungry.

Mrs. Allan lived alone, and apparently she was just as eager for human contact as Harry was.

"I've lived here thirty five years," she said. "I was in the war you know. A nurse. Moved here ten years after that. I was only 16 when I went to work as a nurse. I thought it was very exciting to move away from home and get to go off on my own."

Harry ate his cinnamon roll and listened, but it seemed she was done talking about herself.

"What about you? Where are you from?"

"The Catholic orphanage in Leeds," Harry said.

"Yes, yes, I know about that. Where before then?"

"Erm, Surrey, and Godric's Hollow before that."

"What happened to your parents?"

Harry didn't actually know much about his parents. Someone had told him a few months ago that James was an auror, but no one had told him what Lily had done as an adult.

"My dad was in law enforcement," he said. "A bad guy came to the house and killed them."

"Really?" she asked, horrified. "That must have been so horrible for you."

"I was a baby."

"But you went somewhere else after that?"

"I went to stay with distant family but they weren't very nice. Then I went to the orphanage."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You must be happy to be here now though. Master Snape has a very nice home. Years and years ago, when I first came here, there used to be grand parties held there. I was invited a few times."

"It's very nice," Harry said. As Harry let his eyes roam, they fell on a faded quilt hanging over the back of the sofa.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Sorry?"

"The quilt. Do you know I sewed that when I first moved here? I was a dreadful seamstress. I'm better now." She pointed to a newer quilt with a more intricate pattern over a comfortable looking chair in the corner of the room. "I just finished that one last year. Mrs. Mayer sews too you know. There's a quilting club we're both part of."

"They're both nice," Harry said. He wished he had a blanket like that that he could call his own. The blanket on his bed was nice sand soft and he liked the color, but it wasn't his. It belonged to that other boy Snape would eventually adopt and bring to the house. That boy would probably want his blanket to be nice and new and clean when he came.

"Master Harry, do you want it?"

"Sorry Mrs. Allan?"

"The quilt on the sofa."

"I- I couldn't," he said. "You already paid me and gave me tea."

"You can take the quilt if you want. I was planning on making a new one anyway. That one really is my worst work. You can see every mistake I made sewing it if you look. The colors don't even go with the decor now. I'm going to make a pale green one to go on the sofa."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"You seem to admire it so well, and it might as well go to someone who will instead of being the worst part of my living room."

Harry dug the five pounds out of his pocket and set it on the table. "I can't take the quilt and the money," he said. "I didn't work for both."

She gave him a consternated look. "How about this? On your way out, hook the hose up to the sprinkler and set it out in the front yard. It needs watering. I'll turn it off in an hour. This evening you can come back and move it into the back yard and turn it on for me, and I'll turn it off again. Since you'll be walking all that distance to finish the yardwork, you'll have earned the quilt plus the money."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, I'll do that. And thank you for the tea and cinnamon roll. They were very good."

She folded the quilt up for him and Harry carried it home, the five pounds in his pocket and a smile on his face. He met Mrs Mayer on the way just before he made it to the driveway.

"Well don't you look pleased," she said.

"I earned five pounds and a blanket," he said.

"You did?"

"Yup."

"The Master is inside and there's a sandwich in the fridge for you."

"Thank you!" Harry called as he went past and she waved as she made her way down the road.

In his room Harry carefully folded up the blue blanket for the other boy and put the faded tan and green quilt on his bed. It was thinner than the blue blanket, and he wished it was plaid, but it wasn't bad. It had quilted faded green hills and two little stone houses in the front. It was the Mayer's house and Mrs Allan's house, and the longer he stared at it, the more he loved it.

After studying all afternoon and late into the night, Harry fell asleep under the quilt and dreamed that he had been adopted by the Mayers, and for at least a little he while was happy.

* * *

Arran showed Harry how to paint the next morning and Harry set to work painting the outside of Mrs. Allan's shed a dark attractive blue. She fed him tea and chocolate chip cookies. The next day Harry painted both her living room and a guest bedroom, and the day after that he borrowed Arran's tools and fixed the fence all by himself and was proud that the boards were straight and most of the nails were too. Each day when Harry started the first thing he did was set out the sprinkler on Mrs Allan's front lawn. Halfway through his work he'd move the sprinkler to her back lawn, and then he'd turn it off before he left.

"Harry, before you go we need to go get roofing material from Bainbridge."

Harry looked at his watch. It was already twelve, but he supposed he could eat his lunch quickly when he got back and stay up late studying if he was gone for too long.

"Ok."

Arran told Millie where they were heading and then he and Harry got into Arran's old truck and set off. The drive only took a few minutes.

"This is Peter's place. He had some leftover material from when he re-roofed his house. He's selling it to us for twenty five pounds." They pulled up in front of a stone house and got out. Arran didn't introduce Harry and Peter didn't ask who he was. They loaded the boxes of material into the truck, Arran paid, and they drove back out of Bainbridge.

"I'll drop you here Harry," Arran told him, pulling up in front of the the driveway so Harry could get out. "I'll take this home and leave it in the truck until tomorrow and then you can take it out and move it to the shed."

"Sounds good. Thanks!" Harry called. He waved goodbye and watched as Arran drove off. Harry would have skipped lunch to study, but he was famished and needed something in his stomach or he wouldn't be able to concentrate. He made a sandwich and then spent the rest of the day in his room trying to finish the dreaded geology book he understood little of.

* * *

Harry had grown quite comfortable in his routine of the last week. Every morning he woke up and ate, dressed, and left a note on the counter for Snape that he was going to see Mr and Mrs Mayer. Then he walked up the road and visited with Millie for a few moments and had tea before starting work at Mrs. Allan's next door. When he was done he would have tea with Mrs. Allan and head home to have lunch, then study until dinner, where he might or might not catch a glimpse of Snape, and then go back to his room and study until he was too sleepy to continue. Today was the last day he had work at Mrs. Allan's though and he wasn't sure what tomorrow would look like. He supposed he could keep coming to see Arran and Millie, but he couldn't pester them all day and would be left with nothing to do but return back to Snape's house.

"Ready to roof Harry?" Arran asked when Harry knocked on the Mayer's front door and let himself inside.

"Yes sir."

"It's Arran," he reminded him again.

"So polite," Millie said.

They drank their tea quickly and then went to let Mrs. Allan know they were ready to start work. Harry thought it was lucky that Arran knew how to fix fences, paint buildings and patch roofs or else he would have been out of a job because Harry certainly hadn't known how to do any of this until this week. Harry climbed the ladder to the roof of the shed and sat with his legs dangling over the side while Arran climbed the ladder and worked from there. It took them two hours, but when they finished the roof looked better than new.

This time when Mrs. Allan invited Arran to join them for tea, he agreed to come inside, and when they went in the back door they found Millie there already at the table. It looked like she'd brought sandwiches.

"You boys have been working hard. You deserve a big meal and desert."

"I made the cinnamon rolls you enjoy so much Harry," Mrs. Allan said.

"Thank you," he said.

After washing up, he joined them at the table and listened as the three adults talked about various neighbors in Bainbridge Harry hadn't met. He listened about how Mrs. Acker's son was back from University for the summer and how Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin's tea house was thriving because of her famous jam.

Finally attention turned back to Harry. "Harry, you've done a wonderful job all week. If you'd like to come back once a week and mow the yard I'll keep giving you five pounds for it. It certainly needs it with all the water it's been getting, and things look better than they have in years. I might have to plant some flowers like Mrs. Mayer."

"I'd like to come back and mow," Harry said.

"Looks like you ripped your shirt," Millie told him, pointing to his shoulder.

"He caught it on a nail," Arran said.

Harry looked down at it. "I'll have to go into town and get a needle and some thread."

"No need," said Mrs. Allan. She left the room and came back with a needle stuck on a spool of black thread. "You can take it and keep it. I've got plenty more. You do know how to sew don't you?"

Harry nodded. It was a necessity at the orphanage and even at Hogwarts. He wasn't good at it, but he could stitch it together well enough that he could still wear it. He didn't have many clothes with him, only a few pairs of shorts, four or five shirts, underwear and some socks and his old trainers. He'd given a lot of his clothes back to the orphanage before he left so other boys could have them.

That night before bed, Harry sewed the hole in the shoulder of his shirt and then took his clothes downstairs to wash. He studied at the table while they were washing and drying and then went back to his room. Snape passed him twice while he was reading but didn't say anything to him, even when he came right into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

It wasn't until the next day that Snape finally spoke to him. Harry was eating his breakfast slowly knowing he didn't have work to rush off to and that Mrs. Mayer would be coming at some point this morning so he could visit with her then. Snape came in and began making his own breakfast. He sneered as he sat down at the table with Harry, but didn't speak immediately. Harry took this as a good sign that he hadn't been yelled at or berated since he'd got there almost nine days before. It must have meant he was living up to the man's standards.

"You have been going to the Mayer's a lot this last week."

"Yes sir."

"What do you do there?"

"We visit and I-"

"Potter." Snape cut him off, and Harry looked up from his cereal to find Snape staring at him. What was he looking at? Had he not washed his clothes well enough last night? Was his hair not combed? He was certain he'd combed it before leaving his room that morning.

"Was I, or was I not explicit enough in my instructions to you not to use Mrs. Mayer for your personal errands?"

"Sir?" Harry asked. He was confused about what exactly was being asked of him.

"You have been using her to do your errands," he said angrily, and he stood up, pushing his chair back.

"No sir, I didn't, I promise."

"What do you call mending your shirt?" He pointed at Harry's shoulder and Harry looked down at his sloppy stitches.

"I mended it last night sir. I tore it on a nail."

"You expect me to believe that pampered prince Potter did his own mending?"

"I did," Harry said, standing up because he felt at a distinct disadvantage sitting when the man was towering over him. "Mrs. Allan gave me a needle and thread so I could fix it."

"And why pray tell would she do such a thing? I was not aware you were acquainted with her."

"I was patching her shed roof."

"You were doing chores for others out of the kindness of your own heart?"

"She paid me ten pounds, and when Mrs. Mayer saw I tore my shirt Mrs. Allan gave me a needle and thread to fix it. I did it last night before I did my laundry."

"You are to go to your room and write a formal apology to Mrs. Mayer for using her as your own personal servant. I was very clear to you that she is paid for specific things around this home, none of which are for your own personal gain." His voice was raised and Harry could tell he was on the edge of full blown shouting. If there was one thing Harry tried to avoid at all costs, it was making adults mad, especially this one.

"Yes sir."

"When Mrs. Mayer comes this morning you are to deliver the letter to her personally, and then you are grounded to your room unless you need to use the restroom or to fix yourself a meal."

"Yes sir."

Harry went upstairs and tried hard not to slam the door. He didn't need Snape stomping up the stairs and coming up to yell at him. He plopped into the desk chair and pulled out a parchment and quill. How embarrassing to have someone think so little of you that they wouldn't believe a single thing you said. Eventually Mrs. Mayer would start to catch on to what Snape really thought of him and wonder if there was a reason why, and then he'd lose the only lifeline he had here.

He only had twenty minutes to stew in his room and try to figure out how to apologize for something he hadn't done and write it down before he heard Mrs. Mayer coming in and announcing that she was there. Harry took a deep breath and stood up with the note and went downstairs. He was dismayed to find Snape waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

Harry tried to hand Mrs. Mayer the note, but Snape shot him a dangerous look and said, "Read it."

"What's this?" Mrs. Mayer asked, but Snape was still glaring at Harry and he couldn't help but avert his eyes down to the letter in his hands. He opened it and read, "Mrs. Mayer, I'm sorry for using you to run my personal errands when I was told not to. I'm sorry that you had to take your time to sew my shirt up for me when I should have done it myself."

Harry looked up, and it seemed that Snape was not satisfied. He really didn't know what else he was supposed to write however. One of those books had a chapter on how to write formal letters such as invitations and apologies, but he hadn't finished that book yet.

Mrs. Mayer looked from Harry, who was still staring at the note, to Severus, back to Harry and then back to Severus again.

"Master Snape, I don't understand."

Severus looked at her and said, "He was instructed not to have you do his own errands and chores for him. This morning I found out that he had been and he lied to me about it. Writing a formal apology to you is the beginning of his punishment."

"What errands?"

"You mended his shirt."

She gave Severus a consternated look. "Did he tell you he mended it himself?"

"He lied about that, yes."

"Why didn't you believe him?"

Severus looked at her and wanted to sigh. Somehow Potter had gotten to her. He'd tried to explain to her twice already about his rule breaking and conniving behavior at school, but she didn't believe him.

"Come here Harry," she said, and Harry looked up as she reached forward for both of his shoulders. She turned him so his mended shoulder was facing Snape and said, "Look closely at the stitching. Does that look like stitching an accomplished seamstress and quilter would use?"

Harry noted Snape looked like he didn't want to even look, but he did bend forward slightly to look more closely at the stiching. It was black thread on Harry's dark blue shirt, and it wasn't pretty, but it was holding the seam.

"I didn't mend his shirt for him Severus," she said, and Harry was surprised again at her use of his first name in such a familiar way. He couldn't figure out what the trigger was for her dropping the formality she and Arran always seemed to use. When was he supposed to call her Millie, and when should he call her Mrs. Mayer? When did they call him Master Harry, and when did they just call him Harry?

Snape wasn't answering, or maybe he had and Harry had just been lost in thought, but Mrs. Mayer was talking again. "Yesterday Harry tore his shirt working for Mrs. Allan and she gave him a needle and thread to stitch it up. If anyone, you should be upset with me for not teaching him how to do a proper job of it."

He had a feeling they were looking at him, but he was embarrassed already about the entire incident and didn't want to look up and see their faces. After a moment Snape said, "Go upstairs." Harry turned and went back up the stairs, but he didn't shut his door all the way. Harry didn't want him to yell at Mrs. Mayer and accuse her of lying too.

"What exactly has he been doing at your house all week?"

"He comes for tea in the morning and then he works. He helped Arran fix our fence one day and helped me plant flowers. When Mrs. Allan saw there was an able body young man willing to do work, she enlisted him to fix half a dozen things around her house. He fixed her fence, painted her shed, patched the shed roof, painted some rooms inside her house, mowed her yard, and some other things.

"Why?"

"She asked and he needed the money."

"He what?" As Harry listened at the door, just out of sight, he wondered why she didn't turn and run at the tone of voice Snape had used. Harry wanted to run and he wasn't even in the room.

"He only has a few pairs of clothes aside from what you've given him, and I assume no allowance. He expressed wanting to go into town to buy himself some things."

"Are you suggesting I'm not providing for him?"

"Are you taking a disrespectful tone of voice with me Severus Snape?" she challenged back.

There was silence for a few moments, and when Snape spoke again his voice was quieter. "My apologies."

"No one suggested anything. You asked what happened and I told you. He's been very polite with everyone, and he's done more than what was asked of him at both Mrs. Allan's and at our house. Arran didn't even pay him for fixing the fence, he just asked Harry for his help and Harry helped him. He had fun doing it too from what I saw, and Arran was glad for the help."

"I'm certain the boy has all manner of things to say about me when there ‘helping'."

"Not that I've heard, no."

"Only that I do not clothe him."

"He said he wasn't allowed to go visiting without his nice new clothes and I told him he needn't wear that to visit us, especially when coming to do chores. That was the only thing he said. Over tea he mentioned wanting to earn some money for himself and wanting to go back into Hawes to go to the shops. That's all. I suggest you owe him an apology for not believing him and then making him write a formal letter for something he didn't even do. I haven't been doing anything for him, but he has been doing an awful lot for us. You can call the house and Arran will tell you the same."

"There is no need."

"I should hope not."

Harry heard footsteps and wondered if she'd gone off to start her own work in the kitchen, but didn't want to look in case Snape was still down there. Instead he pulled one of his books from the desk and opened his window to let some air in and sat on the hardwood floor to read. He couldn't concentrate on the words on the page though. Snape wouldn't apologize to him, Harry was certain. He didn't need an apology, but it would be nice if the man didn't automatically think everything out of Harry's mouth was a lie. He couldn't remember a time when he'd actually lied to the man. Harry had told lies, sure, but not directly to Snape, and not even very many at Hogwarts. Most of his lies had been to his friends and other classmates about his family and why he'd ended up in the orphanage. He didn't need people to know all the details. In fact he wished they didn't know at all.

* * *

As far as Harry knew he was still grounded to the room, so he didn't come out for lunch, or dinner. It was eight when Snape came up the stairs and pushed open the half closed door. Harry was at the desk trying to study and ignore the rumbling of his stomach.

"You were told to study the books you were given, and you spent time instead doing chores for a few pounds for someone else."

Harry looked up at him and closed his book.

"You said I could go out and keep my own schedule so long as I got my studying done."

"Yet you have not."

"I did too. I study every day from lunch til' dinner and then til' bed."

"Not likely.'

Harry huffed in frustration. Why didn't he believe him?

"At that pace Potter, you should be done already."

Harry pushed four books forward in a pile. He'd finished the three etiquette books (the most recent one that evening), and the book on business. "I'm done with these and I'm halfway through the last two."

"Then you won't mind a test to assess what you've learned so far," Snape said. He sounded skeptical but at least he wasn't yelling.

"Fine," Harry said. Maybe if he answered some questions right he'd be ungrounded. He really wanted some of the pork chops he thought he'd smelled cooking earlier that evening.

Snape came further into the room and took the two books Harry was still working on from the desk in front of him and took note of where the bookmarks were.

"What are the seven uses of fire quartz?"

"Talismans," Harry started slowly, "and healing potions that deal with burns, refracting light while certain constellations are in the sky for arithmancy, and-" Harry couldn't think of any more. Those were the reasons he understood. There were more but the words were just a jumbled mess to him because the magic and concepts were beyond what he'd learned about or had something to make reference to.

"A poor attempt to study," Snape sneered. "They are used to help see qualitative properties in a variety of potions and magics, to locate veins of ore in the crust, and to draw dark magic out of wounds."

"You said seven," Harry said. "It was a test, there are only six."

Snape flipped the other book open and asked a series of questions about layers of the earth's crust, internal and external pressures on the crust and ores inside of it, and other things Harry had no understanding of. He remembered reading words that Snape was saying, but he didn't understand them.

"You have not studied at all. This is why your grades are so poor at school."

"No, I have," Harry said, desperate now to eat something. He'd study all night if he could be ungrounded so he could eat dinner. Hunger was one of the driving forces in him running away from the Dursleys. You could only go without for so long before you did something crazy or irrational to feed yourself. Two missed meals wasn't enough for such drastic measures, but it was still on Harry's mind.

"Yet you cannot answer any questions."

"I don't understand most of it."

"You would if you had read it." Snape was getting agitated again and so was Harry. Harry pulled open the desk drawer and pulled out the lined Muggle notebook Hermione had given him at Christmas and several pages of parchment he'd been taking notes on. He'd even used a highlighter Hermione had given him to highlight notes he wanted to go back over again to see if he could understand more by reading the information a second time.

"I tried. I studied hard."

Snape took the offered notes quietly and looked through them. Harry had pages of words with definitions next to them and page numbers so he could go back and re-read. There were also pages of questions about things he didn't understand.

"What are the highlights?"

Harry explained it to him, and wondered how much longer this would drag on. If Snape wasn't going to release him from his room then he wanted to go to bed and try to sleep through his hunger.

After a long silent moment, Snape said, "I apologize for not believing you earlier and making you write an apology for something you did not do."

Harry looked up at him. How odd. He never would have imagined Snape apologizing to anyone but Mrs. Mayer, who was now also on the list of people Harry didn't want to make angry.

"I also apologize for not believing that you took the time to study."

"I-" what was he even supposed to say? He wasn't used to people apologizing to him. "It's ok."

Snape turned to leave but Harry stood up suddenly and Snape paused and looked at him.

"Can I- am I still grounded to the room? I'm really hungry."

"I told you that you were grounded to the room except for the use of the bathroom or to come eat."

Harry frowned. He was sure he'd been told to stay in there except for the bathroom. "I can still eat when I'm grounded?"

"Yes. And you are no longer grounded." Severus watched as a look of relief swept over the boy's face. He was so certain he'd told the child that he could come out of his room to eat and use the bathroom. He had, hadn't he? He was also surprised the boy hadn't complained or thrown a tantrum if he thought he'd been told he couldn't eat, yet he hadn't. He'd just stayed in the room through lunch and dinner without complaint, studying as he'd been told to when he'd first arrived.

Snape left the room and retired to his own room, though he heard Harry's footsteps going down the stairs a minute later, probably in search of leftovers from dinner. Severus had noted that the boy hadn't come down to eat, but had assumed it was because he was pouting in his room, or protesting the injustice from earlier in the day. Apparently not.

As Severus mulled over the events of the day, the telling off Millie had given him (the second in as many weeks!), and Harry's surprising behavior, he thought about Harry's clothes.

When he had been expecting someone else, he had been planning on immediately taking the boy he was going to adopt to get an entire wardrobe. He hadn't taken Harry though, and he was wearing the same clothes he'd come in with. They weren't terrible, but apparently they were few. He'd also considered giving whatever child came in an allowance, but he hadn't given it to Harry. Harry had come up with his own solution however and had gone and struck up a contract for yard work and house repairs with Mrs. Allan. If Severus wouldn't provide, he'd provide for himself. Potter was- different than what he'd expected. Perhaps it was just because this was a new environment for him with a strict professor he knew didn't like him. Potter would have to tread carefully and test the waters in such a situation, and as Severus finally fell asleep, he was certain that was what was going on.