Summer at the Shore

by

SiriuslySincerity

~*~ Mysterious disappearances, deaths with no patterns and a sudden darkness over Little Whinging. For his own safety, Harry Potter has been ordered to spend his summer months at the Shore with his most hated Professor of all time - Snape! But little does Harry know that this beach side town is not just small enough for him and his professor, but is in fact far to small for him, his professor and his professor's nephew - Draco Malfoy. ~*~

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters such as Harry, Severus and Draco etc., belong to the author of the Harry Potter Series, JK Rowling. I have no affiliation what so ever with the author and am making no money from this story. It is pure fiction and all events, places and times are pure imagination.

Chapter One: The Last Day of Term

Harry Potter stood alongside the scarlet steam engine of the Hogwarts Express. His hand clutched tightly to the black handle of the third carriage. A gulf of white smoke billowed from the spout and floated through him, leaving an ashy residue on his cheek.

"Have a good summer, Harry." Ron said from aboard the train.

"Ronald!" hissed Hermione, nudging him in the ribs. "Of course he won't have a good summer. Don't be so insensitive."

"Well… You know what I mean mate." he shrugged apologetically.

"We'll write every week with news and information and tell you where we are and what we're doing and everything. You won't miss a thing Harry."

"Yeah and listen, I'll post you a few chocolate frogs and some of mums fudge. I'm sure she's just as disgusted as we are." he added with resentment.

"Exactly." smiled Hermione, nodding her head in encouragement.

Harry just nodded back, staring up at them from the platform. He was still clinging desperately to the handle of the carriage door and his mouth hung open, a look of wistfulness on his face. He hoped that if he hung on just enough, that reality would kick in and that he'd wake up from this nightmare and he'd be on the train heading back to London and the Dursley's and his miserable little room with squeaky floor boards and tattered carpets.

"Last call! All aboard!" Hagrid's gruff voice roared over the screeching of the train's horn.

Harry's grip tightened on the handle of the door. He mentally begged reality to kick in. Images of himself on his knees begging, while some sort of white puff of cloud with reality written on it swirled through his mind.

"Step back from the train Harry, it's leaving." Hagrid said, pulling him away by the shoulders.

"Bye Harry."

"See ya mate."

He stood, minimized greatly by Hagrid's great frame, watching the train chug away from Hogwarts platform, it's beautiful scarlet engine glittering in the sun light. As the last of the carriages rolled passed him, multiple faces pressed against the glass watching him and a few taunting him (Draco Malfoy), he couldn't help but allow his lower lip to jut out dramatically and he heaved a huge sigh.

"Now Harry, there's no need ter look so down and sad about' where yer goin'," Hagrid said, spinning him around and walking him back towards Hogwarts. "I hear tha where yer goin is a great ole laugh and ye'll 'ave the company o loads an ye'll have letters and all sorts from everyone at Hogwarts. Not forgettin' bou Ron an Hermione; they'll be sendin' ya treats and stuff and I sure will too."

Harry grunted. The prospect of having Hagrid's rock cakes sent to him did nothing but further darken his mood. His shoulders slouched sullenly beneath Hagrid's weight and his facial expressions matched his physique perfectly. He was aware he probably looked a miserable state and that was the last thing he wanted to look, considering recent Daily Prophet reports of him being a 'head case' and 'completely mentally depressed' ; but right now he felt that his case was justifiable. No one in there absolute right state of mind could be in the least bit happy about where he was going.

"Harry? Yer not sayin' anything'." Hagrid said softly, shaking him slightly.

"I know." he replied in a dull voice.

"Look it's not tha' bad…."

"Hagrid, it's more than bad, it's ridiculous!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air slightly, but with great avail as Hagrid's weight restrained him significantly. "There's no need for me to be there."

"You've read the papers yerself, Harry. Mysterious disappearances, unknown deaths and mutilations.." Hagrid shuddered.

"That's a current event in the muggle world, that's what Dumbledore doesn't understand. There's always some strange case or serial killer on the loose. Just because some nut jobs escaped from a muggle prison and went off on a killing spree, doesn't mean it's linked to me!"

"I suppose you thought Sirius wasn't linked to you either when he escaped?"

Harry sighed. He could admit defeat when he saw it on the horizon. That's what Sirius had always said to him. '' Never admit defeat if it's staring you in the face, wait until you see it on the horizon, then change the subject and get the best of your enemy before he fools you'. Harry's insides ached when he thought of Sirius. The pain nagged at him constantly. Some days he just wasn't sure whether or not he was living in reality, it all seemed to vague. Some days he would see a lone figure wondering around Hogwarts looking very like Sirius. The figure would raise it's head, it's black shaggy hair concealing it's face and as soon as Harry opened his mouth to call out, would disappear. The twisting pain in his stomach increased with each thought and every mental image felt like a knife being ripped through his insides. He couldn't even stare at the fire anymore - his face was always there, even in the mouldy ashes Harry could replicate Sirius's face.

Hagrid seemed to realise the damage and gave Harry's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.

"He wouldn't have wanted me there." Harry mumbled, lowering his gaze to the wooden bridge they were crossing. "He'd have wanted me with him. Where I should be. Where I belong."

"Where you belong Harry is amongst yer friends and I know, believe me I know tha Snape aint the best o company. But he's a good wizard Harry and a great man, ye jus need ter dig deep enough ter find it. The Shore is a small place, I visited it meself a few times this year to collect things fer him, but it's a lovely little town and the people are great fun - very cheery." he smiled broadly down at him, his beetle black eyes twinkled with admiration. "An' that's what ye need Harry. Ye need something' to do and get yerself outta this ole castle for a while, do a bit of explorin and hey, you might do me a favour while yer there?"

"What?" he grumbled sullenly.

"I've got a friend who lives just outside the Shore." Hagrid said, leaning down a few inches as if revealing a great secret, "Ye can hitch a ride with any of the ole people I'd say, just ask nicely enough an they'll give ye a lift in there carts when there heading to the markets. You'd recognise him when ye see him I'd say, he …"

"Thank you, Hagrid." a sleek deep voice said from behind them. "You can leave him with me now and we shall take to the road."

Hagrid rose to his full height with a great heave. He shifted slightly and nodded. "I'll see you then Harry, soon enough. Don't forget to write, I'll send ye something nice." He winked and turned, acknowledging Snape on his way and then trudging back towards the castle. Harry stared after his frame and another pang of misery nestled uncomfortably on top of his other pains.

"Follow me, Potter." Snape said, turning on his heel and walking back toward the castle. Harry trudged along behind him staring fixated at the heels of his Professor's shoes. He was just getting into the rhythm of the clicking heels against the cobble stone floor, when he looked up and found himself in a part of the castle that he didn't recognise. The corridor was short and turned left, then right, then straight on, then left, then up a spiral staircase and then straight, and down four steps and finally a dead end. He halted alongside an armoured statue and peered at the large purple tapestry on the wall. Snape has his wand out and was running it across the width of the tapestry and then did some fancy flicking and twirling. All the while Harry was attempting to memorize the movements in the hopes that if he survived his residence with Snape over the summer, that he and Ron could go exploring down here next term.

The tapestry rolled slowly up the wall when Snape prodded it with his wand to reveal a wooden door. Snape opened the door and stepped into the room. He turned on his heel and stared at Harry. His face flashed a few different emotions but Harry knew that each and everyone one of them screamed hatred. "Enter." he said. Harry obeyed and stepped into the room. It was small, compared to the Hogwarts standard of mysterious rooms and it was oval, so Harry pretty much assumed that it was one of the many outer towers of the castle. There was a fire place on his right and a few standard wooden chairs and filing cabinets. Two portraits hung in the room: one of a young man with a peculiar hair cut and a goblet in his hand. He winked at Harry and nodded to the second portrait, then scrunched his face up and stuck out his tongue.

"How rude!" gasped the elderly lady in the second portrait. She crossed her arms and turned her back on the young man. Harry chuckled lightly.

"Potter!" snapped Snape.

He jumped lightly and twirled around to face the potions master. "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me, Potter. You are already on extremely thin ice and for your sake, you'd best behave. I'm not pleased about this, you're not pleased about this, so try and keep your insufferable personality to a low. Now get into that fire." He pointed sharply at the green flames in the fire place.

Floo flames. Harry recognised them. He'd used the Weasley's Floo network a few times and greatly despised it, but it was fun with the Weasley's. He stopped thinking about them, his stomach did a few flips. He stepped into the fire place and waited. The flames licked his shins in a ticklish manner and he tensed to try and keep any 'insufferable' movements of his personality at bay. Snape threw a fist of Floo powder onto the flames.

"Snape residence , the Shore." he said.

Harry felt the usual sucking sensation and was then whisked into the network. He passed multiple fire places. Some of them had children playing, others showed families having dinner, another showed a couple arguing. He tucked his elbows tightly to his sides, always fearful of losing a limb somewhere in the network. He whizzed left and then the sucking started again. He prepared himself for the impact of floor, bending his knees slightly and leaning forward a little but something caught his eye. As he spun passed a fireplace he saw a man; a tall, thin man with golden brown hair and tattered robes. He sat on a stool by the flames, reading and smiling to himself. Harry gawped at him as he flew passed the fireplace. He looked awfully familiar, but he couldn't place a name with the face. Whoever he was anyway he lived near, surely he must if he passed the fireplace close to his destination.

"Ouch!" he yelped, tumbling out of the fireplace in a heap. He rolled slightly and hit his knee sharply against a cupboard. Gasping he clutched it and growled beneath his breath.

"Get up!" Snape's sharp voice called, grabbing him roughly by the neck of his jumper and hauling him to his feet. "You've travelled by Floo enough to know how to land boy!"

Harry rubbed at his knee viciously, baring his teeth and glaring up at Snape. "That doesn't mean I'm good at it." he snapped back.

Snape pulled his wand out of his pocket and Harry instantly regretted his words. He stared eyes wide at the tip of Snape's wand. He wouldn't' dare….

"Your trunk." Snape said, throwing a small item at Harry's feet. He flicked his wand and the item grew in size to reveal Harry's Hogwarts trunk, it rested painfully against his bruising knee. Harry knew it was intentional.

Snape pocketed his wand again and gave his robes a quick dusting. Harry didn't bother. He wanted to carry Floo dust around Snape's house. The kitchen they stood in was tidy and neat. In the centre of it, facing the fire place he just tumbled from, was a the table with four chairs placed tidily beneath it. The cupboard he banged his knee against covered one wall; the top half was glass doors which held cups, glasses, plates and bowls. A fruit bowl and some papers and post lay beneath the glass doors, resting on top of a long chest of drawers. Opposite the cupboard was a long window which looked out onto a field. A few pictures of scenery hung around the wooden kitchen and above him a long string of random ingredients trailed from one wall to the next. It was a homely kitchen. It looked as if everything here was put to use. There were two doors, one next to the window which Harry assumed led outside and the second which could only lead into another room.

"Follow me." Snape said. Harry grabbed his trunk and wheeled it after Snape, up two little steps and out the kitchen door. The door opened onto a small hallway with an under stairs cupboard similar to his own back at the Dursley's.

"This is the living room." Snape said, pointing to a door on the right. "Ahead of you is the front door." Harry scowled. Obviously.

They turned left up a stairs case and came onto another hall way. "Bathroom on the left and on the right are my private rooms which you are never to step foot into without permission. Understand?"

Harry grunted.

"Understand!" he snapped, glaring down at Harry.

"Yes." Harry mumbled.

Snape walked down the hallway and paused by a small window. Across from his was another room. "This room is also out of bounds. You are never to enter it. Understand?"

"Yes. Never enter without permission." Harry mimicked.

"I never said that Potter! You are never to enter this room. You will never receive permission."

"Ok."

He pulled the trunk another few feet and paused behind Snape again. "Your room." he said and opened the door. He caught Harry by the shoulder and shoved him in, pushing the trunk with his foot after him. "You are to keep it clean and presentable at all times. I do not want any unusual odours emitting from this room, Potter. You are extremely lucky you are to have residence here, so enjoy it while it lasts." He slammed the door and left Harry to his brooding.

Harry lurched angrily toward the door and almost threw his weight against it in a temper, but quickly realised where and whom he was with. Digging his nails deeply into the wooden door, he scraped them downwards and clenched his eyes shut.

"I hate this house. I hate this room. I hate him and everyone for leaving me here!" he growled to himself.

Harry crumpled into a heap on his trunk and let his head fall into his hands. Staring down at the rug in the middle of the room, he let a single tear fall and mesh into the dark green carpet. He allowed himself a moment to feel completely sympathetic and miserable. Right now he just wanted to be in the back of the Dursley's car speeding towards his little room. For once he didn't want contact with the wizarding world. He didn't want his precious magic, or post, or broom, or robes, or sweets; he wanted his battered room, the neat little lawns in Privet Drive, his cousins punches, his uncles temper and his aunts interfering ways. He just wanted normality.

Sighing deeply, he lifted his head and looked around the square room. It was nice and neat with a large square window with dark green curtains and light honey coloured walls. The bed was pushed against the right hand side of the room and a desk sat beneath the window; a large cupboard was pushed against the left hand wall and a chest of drawers stood next to his bed with a small green lamp. Very Slytherin. Harry glowered.

Thus concludes the very first chapter of 'Summer at the Shore'. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please take the time to leave behind a review and leave your mark on this story. Hope to see you all in chapter two.