Thank you all for the reviews and continuing to read. It really has been such an encouragement for me to continue! And a little pressure to not disappoint. :-)

The wonderful thing about being a child is that you can sleep fairly soundly most of the time, so when Harry woke up the next morning he was his usual bright eyed, bushy tailed self.
"Wake up, Sev, smells like french toast!" he shouted and ran out the door, down the stairs, and to the kitchen.

Severus groaned, cast a hateful look at the little brat, and trudged along after him. Tobias looked at the two boys who at that moment couldn't be further apart in appearance and attitudes. Severus sleepily sat down at his spot and rested his head on his arm. Harry jabbered away about something very important to little boys, but he was talking so fast Tobias couldn't really understand him.

"Yum! French Toast!' cried Harry as Tobias set the plate down and Harry eagerly served himself up a slice, Severus followed suit at a much slower pace. It didn't take long for Harry to finish and bring his plate to the sink. Just before he was able to leave the kitchen Tobias stopped him,

"Not so fast, Harry. We've got church this morning."

Severus groaned, "Can't we just skip it?"

Tobias looked at his son who quickly found his breakfast fascinating. "We're going."

Severus pouted and picked at his toast, Harry just looked confused, the Dursleys only ever went to church on Easter and Christmas and had always made him sit out in the car while they went in. "Mrs. Finnigan from next door sent this over, said it would probably fit you. Her son, Danny, outgrew it and it's in good shape still." Tobias pulled out a suit, but not just any suit, this was by far the ugliest suit Harry had ever seen. Not even Ron's dress robes fourth year were this bad. The plaid bell bottom slacks and jacket were paired with a disgusting shade of mustard yellow shirt with a large collar. It was very in for 1976. However Harry, with his 90s fashion sensibilities took one look at the horrible reminder that he was in a different time...

"I'm not wearing that!"

Severus almost choked on his breakfast.

Tobias face fell for a moment, he'd been very proud to be able to give Harry a barely worn suit. The child had been surprisingly grateful for the other clothes, even if they were castoffs, he'd never once complained about not having the toys the telly had commercials for, so he was taken aback by Harry's refusal to wear the suit. That moment passed quickly, however, because Tobias was not someone you said no to, especially not one of his kids. He thought it best to give the boy a second chance, his brain must not be quite turned on this morning after all.

"What did you say?" there was a clear warning in his tone. Harry, of course, completely missed this, "Can't I just wear jeans? Thats so… ugly."

Severus just sat at the table his fork hovering halfway to his mouth and his eyes wide.

/

Thirty minutes later the three residence of Spinner's End were in the wagon driving to church. Tobias in a tweed suit he'd had for at least 20 years, Severus had on his school uniform slacks and a button down shirt with a non slytherin tie, and Harry was in the horrible suit and wearing a pout on his face as he watched the town go by out the window. Tobias had only smacked him twice before he hastily agreed to wear the awful thing but he could still feel the slight sting.

"At least you get to go to sunday school." Severus tried to explain, but this did not have the desired effect on Harry who had nothing to compare it to and only heard the word "school".

"I thought wizards were ag-ag-aghostic." Harry whispered, struggling with the word.

"Most are, unless you end up being raised by a muggle." Severus said a bit bitterly with a glance at the front seat.

"I heard that!"

Severus rolled his eyes but said nothing.

When they arrived at the church, Severus was tasked with showing Harry his sunday school room, the teen opened the door and shoved Harry in then left leaving a bewildered Harry standing in a room full of strange kids and one grumpy looking sunday school teacher. He gave a sheepish grin as he stood awkwardly by the door. He would have very much liked to run out and find Severus. Harry was relieved however to notice that the other boys were dressed in similarly awful outfits, some even worse than his, and felt considerably better.

Awkwardly Harry found an empty seat and waited for something to happen. A couple more children strolled in, gave Harry a cursory glance before sitting with a friend. Just as the teacher was about to begin a older teen girl walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, Ms Durham." she said.

"No worries, Tuney, dear, we were just getting started."

Harry could not stop staring, Aunt Petunia was the class helper! Petunia couldn't help but notice the new boy sitting quietly alone. He wouldn't stop staring at her and it was giving her an unnerving feeling, the boys green eyes were very similar to Lily's, she noticed.

"It looks like we have someone new today, do you mind introducing yourself, young man." the elderly teacher croaked out.

Harry snapped back to reality, "Er, yeah, sorry. I'm Harry."

"What's your last name, Harry?"

Harry sat there for a moment, what WAS his last name now? Was he officially adopted? Would he keep his name? Surely that would raise questions. He heard a kid not far from his snort and snicker out "Doesn't even know his last name, what a doofus."

"Snape. Harry Snape."

This apparently was no better than not having a last name at all because the old womans sour expression became even more foul and Petunia glared at him. Harry just looked at everyone confused.

"Are you related to Severus?" Petunia asked warily.

Harry nodded, not liking where this was going at all. Ms. Durham grumbled something about needing to retire and didn't need to deal with an other Snape. Harry slumped back in his chair.

The next hour past painfully slow for both the boys. Severus spent most of the service trying to discreetly get Lily's attention, earning himself many elbows to the ribs from Tobias. Harry did not fare much better down in the basement classroom, he was so confused by this lesson Ms. Durham was telling, none of it made sense, and when he asked a question she gave him such a withering glare that he mumbled "nevermind" and was determined to keep quiet.

/

As soon as Tobias unlocked the front door Harry ran in, pounded up the stairs and changed before Tobias even had his jacket off. Harry ran down the stairs planning on going out in the back garden to play.

"Not so fast, Harry." Tobias stopped the boy, whose shoulders slumped at being stopped, "What did you think of church?"

Harry scowled, "Do you want the truth or do you want me to say what you want to hear?" Harry had had a crap day so far, the only highlight was breakfast, and he was in no mood to appease Tobias.

The man was not amused by the response and crossed his arms waiting for an answer to his question.

"It was… fine." Harry finally answered, but it was clear that he hadn't cared for it. "Can I go now?"

Tobias frowned but nodded and Harry was out the back door before the man could say anything further.

There wasn't much to do in the back garden, each home in the area was a townhouse style and the back gardens were separated by tall stone walls with a back door leading to the back alley way where the rubbish was kept, but it was outside and not in the stuffy house so Harry was happy to be out there with Severus's old football that hadn't been used in years. Harry had never had a chance to play football before, the Dursleys had never let him play with anything if it could be helped. He tried juggling the ball the way he saw footballers on the telly do it, and quickly realized he was rubbish at it.

Harry kneed the ball badly and it flew into the neighboring garden. Harry stood there for a moment debating if he should climb over the wall or try the back alley or just go knock on the door when the ball came cruising back into his yard. A moment later a little head popped up on the other side of the wall.

"You're the new kid at sunday school." It wasn't a question.

Harry nodded.

"You're dreadful with that football." the boy criticized.

Harry shrugged, "It's the first time I ever tried."

"Really? Where'd you live before, the moon?"

"Surrey"

"They got football's in Surrey."

"Well I didn't." said Harry feeling defensive.

"I'm Danny by the way. Want to come over?"

"Can't, grounded." Harry explained but climbed up to sit on the top of the wall while Danny did the same.

Danny reminded Harry a lot of Ron and they were both happy to have a boy the same age next door. Danny confirmed that Petunia was sour to almost everyone and no one quite knew why she bothered to help with the children's classes since she so clearly hated kids. He also had an older brother that was a couple years older than Severus.

"Harry! You better get down from there before dad sees you up there." Severus called to him from the back door. Harry grumbled a bit about bossy older brothers but climbed down.

"See you tomorrow, Harry." Danny called before disappearing to his side of the wall.

/

Of course the brat would befriend the most annoying kid in the neighborhood, Severus thought as he ushered Harry into the house for dinner, he narrowed his eyes and forced himself not to whack the messy head of hair as it walked by muttering something that sounded like "overgrown dungeon bat".

Severus looked back out into the yard and noticed a bird approaching, once it got closer he recognized it as Avery's long eared owl, it landed near the door and held out its leg to be relieved of its burden. Severus always kept a few owl treats tucked away by the back door so he grabbed a couple to give the bird and untied the letter. Glancing inside to make sure no one was watching he quickly opened the seal, a Hogwarts Prefect badge fell out into his hand, Severus quickly read the note.

Severus,

The badge is a portkey, Friday midnight.

Gathering at Lucius's place.

Try and come.

Avery

Severus quickly shoved the letter, badge, and envelope in his pocket and went inside to help set the table for dinner.