Dumbledore looked at Harry with concern as Harry avoided his gaze. He had sent Severus merely to ascertain that all was well. He had hoped that the Dursleys would overcome their morbid dislike of magic for the sake of an innocent child. Obviously, he was mistaken. This sickly child needed to be restored to proper health, and with Voldemort all but unheard of for eight years, it would seem that it was safe to remove Harry from his aunt and uncle's care. Safer, indeed, than leaving him there. He would have to be careful, of course. He didn't believe for a minute that Voldemort was truly vanquished.

What to do? Fostering Harry out would be easy, but hardly a safe choice. Even the most well intentioned people could not guarantee Harry's safety as well as the blood protection. Not to mention the dangers of thrusting an unprepared child into the center of the public eye.

No, Harry must be kept where he could control the situation: Hogwarts. But Harry wasn't due to be a student for another year. He wouldn't be able to join the student quarters until he was sorted. He would need a caretaker in the meantime. Someone to be counted on to keep him out of trouble and nurture him until he could join the school as a proper student.

He thought of how Severus had been persuaded to check on Harry, the last remnant of Lily Evans. Severus might be a bit grim at times, but there would be none as dedicated as he in looking after Harry, and his resentment of James Potter was surely not as strong as that of the Dursley's toward magic.

'Severus,' spoke Albus 'I want you to look after Harry. Hogwarts is the best place for him, but he'll need someone to watch out for him.'

'There is no staff shortage. I believe you'll find an abundance of able-bodied adults in this school, all better suited to waiting on the needs of a child than I am.'

'I don't believe that there is anyone more capable than you. Excepting myself, of course.' Dumbledore chuckled, then smiled at Harry. 'You have much to learn about the magical world, I'm sure. Heed Professor Snape here and you'll do fine.'

To Severus he said 'I'll send Filius to your quarters to arrange for an adjoining room to be added. I'm certain he can manage to contort the castle to suit our needs. In the meantime, do give Harry a tour around the castle. And try to be forbearing. He's only nine.'

Snape wound down the headmaster's staircase with Harry in tow. Harry followed with questions bubbling inside of him, but his Dursley enforced inhibitions prevented him from voicing them. Snape strode down the corridor without bothering to check if he was being followed. From time to time he threw out an explanation about something they passed, or a warning.

'Don't think you can sneak around in this castle. The portraits are mostly busybodies who have nothing better to do than spy on errant students.'

'The candles are under a simple hovering spell. Something even you could manage to learn someday, if you don't waste your magical education on frippery.'

'You aren't to do magic until you have a wand, but if you're not as dim as you look... unlikely...', flicking Harry a glance, 'you'll keep your eyes and ears open to pick up as much magical knowledge as you can this next year. You'll certainly need all the help you can get.'

'Hello there Snape! What's that you got there?' An enormous man peered at Harry over a bushy beard.

'This is the Potter boy. The headmaster has deemed it fit to give me custody and appointed me as tour guide. As though my time was as empty as some people's.' Here he looked significantly at Hagrid.

'Harry Potter! Thought I wouldn't be seein' you 'til next year, and here you are, a year early and here in summer to boot. If you really are stayin' up at the castle, why don't yeh pop by and visit me sometime. Mine's the little hut out there on the grounds. It gets awful lonely when everybody's off for the summer. I could show you there now if you haven't any objection to me giving you your tour. I just gotta get something first to take care of them snaggleroot weeds that've been coming outa the forest.'

'By all means, take him. And be sure to give him a thorough tour. I don't want to see him before supper.' Snape was gone so fast that Harry couldn't be sure which passage he had taken.

'Don't mind him, Harry. He's like that with everybody. Professor Snape's just got kinda a cold shoulder. You come with me now and we'll get that weed extractor.'

After they retrieved a box labeled 'Edils: for organic disposal', Harry and Hagrid went out to the rim of the forest. They stopped by a range of mustard coloured clumps. Harry watched as the large man opened the box and shook out tiny, flat bugs over the plants.

'You've got to watch out for these buggers. They'll eat all the roots that these snaggleroots send out so they won't grow back, but they'll do for everything else too. They only pack males in here though, so they can't reproduce, and they only live about twenty hours, so they can't do too much damage. I'm going to have to put some more on tomorrow, just to be sure to get all them roots. You have any questions? Haven't said much so far, but I reckon you'll find something that interests you. Lots to do around here. Only about an hour 'til supper, but you can have a bite at my place to tide you over, if you like. You could do with some fattening.'

'Yes, thank you', answered Harry. He didn't know what to make of all the strangeness about this place, which everyone here so easily dismissed as magic, but he suspected that this was what his aunt and uncle had been referring to in all those years of mentioning his 'freakishness'. One year and he'd be a student here, that meant he could do magic too, just like that man, Snape, who brought him here, which must be miles away from everywhere, from the corner of Privet Drive.

They entered the cottage and Hagrid brought out some... brownies? Harry accepted one and bit into it. It felt as though the brownie was resisting every millimeter that his teeth sank into it, and when he tried to lift his teeth back out, the brownie fought him on that too. He was hungry though, so he stuck the brownie back between his molars and worked them until the brownie was defeated. His jaw was aching by then, so he declined another one and hoped that he would get to eat at supper. At least that seemed more promising here than at the Dursley's.