Harry Of Bainbridge by JAWorley

In an upstairs bedroom of the house owned by Master Severus Snape in a little village called Bainbridge, a soft blue blanket lay across a bed. The room was decorated with posters of people flying on brooms, and there were shelves above a desk littered with a variety of crystals, some of them glowing.

There was a wardrobe so full of clothes the door could barely close, and the desk against the wall was full of things to draw and write with.

Sometimes there was a trunk full of school books and robes sitting at the foot of the bed, but it was gone now, as it's owner had taken it away to school. All of these things in the room belonged to Harry of Bainbridge, a boy who knew just where he belonged.

* * *

"Harry! Over here!"

Harry turned in the crowd trying to spot Ron. He could hear him calling to him but Platform 9 ¾ was busy with parents and children and all manner of pets trying to carry trunks and owl cages onto the scarlet train.

Someone nudged him and Harry turned to find that his friend had come to him instead. "Hey mate, been looking all over for you."

"Right here," Harry said.

Hermione came up to them a moment later with a big smile and said, "That's a nice trunk Harry. Is it new?" His old one had been second hand from the school and the hinges were barely working.

Draco Malfoy passed by them at that moment and Harry grinned as he met the boy's eyes. "Thanks," he said to Hermione without turning away from Draco, "my father got it for me. We took a trip to Diagonalley last week."

"Your father Harry?" Hermione asked, confused. Draco walked away and Harry turned back to find both of his friends looking at him.

Harry pointed to a tall figure with long black hair who was just about to exit the station. "I got adopted this summer. I live in Bainbridge now. Maybe you could come over over on Christmas break. I'm not spending it alone at the castle this year."

Ron's eyes found who Harry was pointing at just before he disappeared and said, "Was that Snape you were pointing at?"

"No, I was adopted by the Malfoys!" Harry said cheerfully. Several people turned and Ron's face drained of color. Harry slapped him hard on the back though and said, "Of course it was Snape."

"Harry, you're gonna give me a heart attack. Who was it really? Or are you still at the orphanage? I didn't see any of the Father's dropping you off."

Harry gave his friend a serious look and said, "I got adopted by Professor Snape, and Draco is beside himself about it. He came to our house this summer and he was so angry I thought he'd punch me."

"But-" Ron stammered, "why don't you seem upset? It's Snape. Was he horrible to you all summer?"

Harry motioned for them to climb onto the train, and once they were in a compartment by themselves Harry told them about his summer in Bainbridge, about running away to take the train back to the orphanage, and about the father who came to get him. He told them about the father who dragged a teenage boy crying all the way down the lane by his ear to apologize for hitting Harry and stealing his shoes, and about hiking, playing chess and fishing in a river that apparently had no fish because they never caught any.

"A father did drop me off at the station," Harry said to finish his story, "but it was mine this time, not one from the orphanage." For the first time in his life Harry was looking forward to heading to school knowing he had a home to go back to when school was over. He was no longer Harry of the orphanage. He was Harry of Bainbridge, and as much as he belonged to Bainbridge and to Snape, Bainbridge and Snape belonged to him.