Disclaimer: Though it's pretty obvious, I still say, I do not own any of the characters and any parts of the plot you recognize as canon. They belong to the genius, JKR.

CHAPTER 1

Harry woke up in his bedroom in his home at Godric's Hollow. It was on the opposite side of the square and his parents' house. He had visited the Potter house and the graveyard with Professor McGonagall. The professors had visited him whenever they could manage. Professor Sprout, though she kept insisting that Harry call him Pomona, was staying with him to set up a greenhouse with some important potion ingredients. Today someone else was to come and stay with him for the day. Professor Sprout wanted to visit the Amazons for some rare seeds and pods.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. His bedroom was similar to the one at Spinners' end. The house had one more room, where the professors were staying in turns and a library on the first floor. The living room, kitchen and dining hall was at the ground floor. Harry planned to add a potion lab, but Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that and Harry decided not to press the matter for now. Rosy, a house-elf from Hogwarts was assigned to take care of Harry and she brought breakfast as soon as Harry came to the dining hall for breakfast.

"Good morning, Pomona."

She greeted back with a smile. Sitting beside her… Harry's eyes lit up, "Good morning, S-Professor."

Snape merely nodded, though Harry could see his scowl softening.

"Come on, Harry." Pomona said, "You're not in school. I'm sure Severus won't mind." She gave Snape a look, who scowled back at her. Harry grinned.

"Well, I must be off then. Harry, stay away from the far end of the greenhouse. They are the carnivorous ones and I've prepared them to stay unattended for a few weeks. I've locked them in a section and you'll only enter when accompanied by me. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am, have a happy tour."

"Thank you my boy. Take care. Goodbye Severus."

"Goodbye Pomona."

With that, she moved outside the cottage boundary and disapparated with a crack.

They finished their serials and bacon in silence.

"Um, Severus." Harry broke the silence, "What are we going to do today?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think that we're going to do something specific today?"

"Uh, nothing. I can read in my room, I guess."

"As it happens, I was thinking maybe you'd like to visit Diagon Alley today? I have some business there."

"Oh yes. I'd like to visit Flourish and Blotts, and a sundae at Florean's won't be bad I suppose."

"Hmmm, let's go then."

Snape apparated them directly into the Alley. They visited the apothecary, Flourish and Blotts and enjoyed chocolate-walnut sundae at Florean's, their tables laden with books and potion ingredients.

Severus broke the silence this time, "We are visiting muggle London next."

"Muggle London? What for?"

"We are having lunch there and we have some – ah, business there."

"WE have some business?"Harry raised an eyebrow, imitating Snape perfectly.

Snape scowled in response, "You'll see."

As promised, they left through Leaky Cauldron and to Harry's surprise, Snape led him to an optician's.

"Wha-"

"When was the last time you had your eyes checked?"Snape asked impatiently.

"I- I don't remember."

"Allow me then." He opened the door and led Harry inside.

They waited outside for their turn. "Since when do you need glasses, Harry?" Severus asked once they were seated, away from others by a few seats.

"Since I started school." Harry replied, equally quiet.

"And your eyes haven't been checked up since then?"

Harry shook his head.

Severus sighed, "There are potions to improve eyesight. But they work for hours at most. We too need to use glasses to aid our vision. But most of the wizarding world are oblivious to the progress in science the muggles are making. And glasses are disadvantageous for you, I suggest you use contacts."

"I hadn't thought of that. I guess, I couldn't do anything even if I did. I had no money then… how many time Dudley had broken my glasses…" Harry muttered to himself.

Suddenly he had an idea, "Can I get more than one pair and colored ones?"

Severus raised one eyebrow, "And what would you do with them?"

"It's just that my eyes stand out too much. Blue or brown ones are much more common."

Severus understood, "Hmmm, that can be arranged."

Half an hour later, Harry dragged a disgruntled Severus to a multiplex to buy some concealer and hair gel. They returned home after a quick lunch at McDonalds'.

Back at Godric's Hollow, they spent a peaceful evening going through the books they bought and arranging them in the library according to the subjects. Severus admired the books there, while nowhere near his own collections, they were pretty advanced for a twelve year old. He spied some books on mind magic. What was Harry doing with such advanced books? He brought the topic up at dinner.

"They looked interesting, so I bought them." Harry said nonchalantly, while munching on his cheese and ham sandwich. But Severus thought he saw something calculating in his gaze. Sometimes Harry doesn't seem twelve, he mused.

The next morning, Severus helped Harry establish a temporary potion worktable in the library. They brewed two of the potions they were supposed to cover in second year. Harry had made them before in the chamber. But Severus always had something of his own to add. Be it a tip to prepare the ingredients better or an alteration to the quantity of them. Harry never got bored to brew a potion with Severus even when they reviewed the most basic potions.

Severus spent the week with Harry, and though he will never admit this to anyone, he enjoyed the stay just as much as Harry did.

Harry was sitting in the window with Hedwig on his side and Zudissa curling on his arm. They had come to a friendly terms as far as Harry could see. They were having time of their life hunting for rats in the grounds. He scratched Hedwig's ears, she gave her an affectionate nip on his finger. They were basking in the sun. Zudissa hissed in contentment. "Come on, who wants to fly?" Harry smiled. Hedwig gave him an approving hoot.

"You should wait for one of your professors to come." Zudissa said gravely.

"Oh, come on Zudi, I'm tired of them babysitting me all the time. What can go wrong? I'll be riding my Nimbus 2000."

Zudissa sighed in exasperation, "Stupid boy." She muttered. Harry grinned.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He was writing to his friends at breakfast. The professors were busy, hence unable to stay with him. Dumbledore wanted Harry to come stay at Hogwarts. But Harry, enjoying his freedom too much, refused him outright.

His friends had been writing to him. Ron had invited him to come stay at the burrow. Draco wrote too, but he seemed oddly hesitant about inviting him. Hermione wrote all about homework. He wrote back to all of them. He thanked Ron, but declined his offer politely stating some non-existent plans with his non-existent relatives. Draco forbade sending Hedwig for some reason, instead his beautiful eagle owl waited to carry his reply. Hedwig refused to speak to him for hours after each incident like that. She was oddly possessive about every letter Harry wrote.

This morning at breakfast an owl came swooping down, Harry recognized it as one of the school owls with his Hogwarts letter. It told him to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new books he'd need for the coming year.

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

43 Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart …

Harry stared, who would assign such a booklist? SEVEN books for DADA alone!

He sat to write to his friends. Maybe we could all meet at Alley for the shopping… I wonder who's going to accompany me this time…