General Warnings: This fic will contain child abuse. If you are in the United States and know someone who is suffering from abuse in their homes, please contact 1-800-4-A-CHILD. If you are unsure or suspect abuse, you can still report the abuse and please do, because more times then not a child suffers unsure or afraid that no one cares.

I'm not sure where this fic is going so I'll post updates on the warnings as they come into play.

Author's Note: I haven't written in a while so please excuse this fic if it isn't up to snuff. I have been working on this idea for a while and well, now I think I know where I want to go with it.

This fic starts after Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.

Learning to Be a Family

Chapter 1.

Harry paced his small room, at Number 4 Private Drive. It was just like the Dursley's, Harry's only remaining relatives, to lock him in his room once again without a second though.

The pacing well, it helped keep the anxiety under control, because well Harry was nervous, not just about being locked in, but about the hand that fate had played him. Harry hoped that deep down, someone, other then Voldemort, was getting a laugh out of his situation, because Harry wasn't.

Unfortunately for Harry, his summer started off miserably and so it seemed that it would just become more miserable as time went on. You see, before the end of Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, he was involved in a battle, at the Department of Mysteries, this altercation ended with Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, dying in battle. Even more unfortunate, the Order of the Phoenix, saw fit to warn Harry's Uncle Vernon that if anything happened to Harry, the Order of the Phoenix, the leading power of the light in the war against Voldemort, would intervene on Harry's behalf. This left Vernon to question Harry in the car on why some "Order of Only God Knows What," warning him,

"Boy, why are all those freaks warning me not to harm you when, you have a perfectly criminal Godfather who can do the job?" asked Vernon snidely. Harry, at the mention of his Godfather, got a sad look, that Vernon and Dudley, Harry's cousin, picked up immediately.

"You mean, now I get to listen to you cry over your Godfather in your sleep too?" remarked Dudley sarcastically.

"Of course not," Harry said a little too soon, trying not to allow the hurtfulness of Dudley's comment affect him. Harry did not need the Dursley's to know that Sirius was gone.

Unfortunately Vernon caught him in the lie, "Dudley's right isn't he? Your Godfather has been killed. Most likely because of you, just like your parents, what a shame he won't be here to protect you. Wouldn't want anyone else to die for you, eh? I think this summer will be good for us Dudders."

Vernon was smiling over at his son, who looked as though he was just catching onto his Dad's plans for Harry, responded with, "Too Right Dad, its time Harry relearned where he stands in our home."

Harry couldn't help but flinch at the conversation, a little too hurt to respond. If he responded angrily, he realized that the would let them know just how much his parents and Godfathers sacrifice effected him. Harry knew he could not just hand these to men weapons. Harry had been through 10 years of pain with them once, there was no reason for him to help them hurt him now.

In hindsight, Harry wished he hadn't responded to the goading at all. This is what he thought about as he paced his bedroom that night. How he wished he could go back and change what had happened in the Department of Mysteries. How much he wished he could be a normal kid for a change. He thought of his best friends, Hermione and Ron, and how right now, they would be having dinner with their families instead of locked in his room, with no one to talk to except his Snowy Owl, who sat perched unhappily looking at her master.

"Its okay, Hedwig. I'm sure we'll figure something out. They can't keep me locked in here all Summer, now can they?" Harry said softly looking over at his owl, who he realized hadn't been locked in her cage. "Maybe we will be alright. I can just send a letter to the Order, and let them know what is going on."

Harry turned to get some parchment out of his trunk, when he realized it wasn't there. All of his belongings, save for his wand, which he kept on his person, had been locked in the cupboard under the stairs, so that Harry couldn't indulge in any "freakiness" in the Dursely home. This meant that not only could Harry not send a letter to his friends, but he also couldn't send his 'check up' letter to the Order. Harry wondered quietly to himself if this meant that he would only have to wait 3 days for the Order to come searching for him. Hedwig hooted quietly from her perch, letting her master know that, he would not be alone in waiting for the Order.

A lot could happen in three days, though. Harry worried to himself, "Maybe tomorrow I will be able to nick some things out of my trunk," Harry said to Hedwig. Who looked over at him alarmed.

It was then that Harry sat down on the edge of his bed, finished pacing for the night, and let himself worry over what was to come this summer. Could the Dursley's really begin treating him badly again? Not that they had every treated him adequately, but still, at least for the last few summers he had had enough food and not been locked in his room. Harry's worry over his current predicament distracted his mind from his other worries. Harry laid backwards onto his bed, trying to stop the onslaught of self-pity. It didn't work and soon, Harry's mind wondered into thoughts on his own guilt at his Godfather's death.

'If only I had practiced Occlumency, then maybe Sirius would be alive," Harry thought.

Thousands miles away, Harry's most hated potion's professor was pacing his office. His thoughts centered on the boy whom he could not stand. His thoughts centered on the night at the Department of Mysteries, when Harry had tried to warn him that Voldemort had Sirius. A small amount of guilt laid upon this professor's heart.

The Professor had observed Harry carefully over the last few days of school. Knowing that Dumbledore had finally, told the clueless Potter everything he was supposed to know. Potter had seemed withdrawn emotionally, which Severus knew was to be expected.

Severus scowled, why was he worried about the precious golden boy anyway? Certainly he had a multitude of followers who would do anything to keep the boy from harming himself. Certainly his relatives would protect him from harm.

And with that, Severus made his way out of his office and into his private quarters, where he decided he had done enough thinking for one night and went to bed.