So I got reviews saying how they were surprised Severus used a crucio on an 8 year old and I was so surprised I had to go back and check I'd really written that! (I did.) Well, he was angry at that moment, I never liked Dudley, so, he'll just have to deal. Enjoy people!

Of meetings and friendships – It was frightening how fast Snape found he and Harry slipped back into their usual routine. Of course the fact that he was calling it their routine as if it was something that had always been and had been interrupted was also a sign of just how far their little relationship had flourished. Harry was overjoyed to be staying with Snape, but his guardian was... apprehensive. He knew he was going to have to speak to Dumbledore as soon as possible and seeming as he was accessible now; he really did not have much of an excuse. Well there was no reason to be nervous; it was not as if he was going to knowingly send the precious boy-who-lived back into the sort of environment that Snape had just removed the child from.

"Harry, there is a meeting I need to attend to; I shall be gone for a couple of hours we shall have to abandon our potions class. Call the house elves if you are in need of anything, don't leave the house, I shall be back by this evening." Harry was obviously not impressed with him leaving; with Snape being the first person to show him comfort and kindness Harry had formed a very strong attachment to him and rarely left his side. However there was really nothing he could do about it and understood this so he just sagged his shoulders and nodded to show he understood. He lifted his hand to wave a small goodbye as Snape stepped into the fireplace; he had enough dignity to not return such a gesture.

Harry took the time to read, he would not do potions without Snape there to supervise, even if he did manage to do it and he was pretty sure he would, he had a feeling that Snape would not be pleased. The only thing left to do was entertain himself in other ways, he was going to read charms, although he was 25% of the way through the syllabus it was hard to continue without a teacher. While Snape could teach him he had other things to do and he was better at potions and DADA anyway. In the end he settled for a children's book he had found on the shelves in his bedroom but never bothered to read.

It was called 'Tales of Beetle the Bard.' Well he was a child and this must be a wizarding fiction book, it may even help him understand this world he was being introduced to more. He quickly lost himself into the book, good stories always held that power, and halfway into the fourth story a deep and unfamiliar voice sounded behind him. "Ah, I remember reading that book when I was about your age; my favourite story was always the Hairy Heart."

Startled Harry dropped the book and got to his feet to face the man. He was of Snape's build if slightly taller and had long blond hair falling to his shoulders, with turquoise eyes. He was clad in the same black attire Snape wore and held himself in the same way, he looked proud. "I did not mean to frighten you young one," he said with a slight smile tinged with amusement. "I came here looking for one Severus Snape; I do not suppose you would know where I could find him would you? I was unaware that he had a son."

"I'm not his son, I'm just staying with him for now," Harry answered. "I am not sure where Professor Snape is, he just said he had a meeting to go to and would be back this evening." He looked around himself suddenly realizing well over an hour had passed.

"Well that does not seem to be for a while, who did he go to see?"

"He didn't say."

"What is your name young one?" He asked sinking down next to him on the settee.

Harry blinked, if this man knew Snape he couldn't be all bad and he seemed nice and smiling. "My name is Harry Potter, what about you sir?"

"Harry Potter!" He exclaimed, brows rising into his hairline. "Why I never expected to find you here."

"You know me?"

"Everyone does, you are the boy-who-lived."

"The boy-who-lived?"

"Surely you know about the dark lord, Voldermort."

Harry shook his head.

"My, you are uneducated, but it is not my place to fill you in, at least not now, if Snape kept it from you then he must have his reasons," he smirked. "My name is Lucius Malfoy, I am a friend of Snape's. I came to pay him a visit, but it seems I missed him. I have a son about your age," he gestured towards the fire, "would you like to come and meet him?"

"I would, but Professor Snape said not to leave the house."

"Ah, but you will be fine, you'll be with me. He won't mind"

"Be that as it may I really shouldn't. I'll always do whatever Snape tells me."

"Whatever he tells you?"

"That's right. I owe him my life, it belongs to him, so whatever he tells me I'd do it."

"I see," he did not betray any emotion on his face at this. "You do not mind if I sit here and wait for him with you do you?"

"Not at all," Harry wondered whether it would be rude to get back to his book. It was not that he did not want to talk to Lucius, even if he did put him on edge a bit, but he was really, really enjoying the book he was reading and was anxious was get to the hairy heart.

"So tell me Harry, how did you and Snape come to live together, Snape is not exactly known for his big heart." Harry frowned, that was the second person he'd met who had mentioned his guardian in such a way, although he had liked Remus and was not sure he liked this man whereas Snape liked this man but absolutely detested Remus for reasons that were unclear.

Harry was unsure what to say, he did not want to lie but he was not sure what he wanted to give away, but it would be rude to just blatantly refuse to say anything. He definitely did not want to bring attention to what life at the Dursleys was like for eight years, he did not like talking about them, or his almost attempt on his life. "I should leave it to Professor Snape to tell you what he wants," he settled for. This it seemed was the right answer because his jaw clenched minutely. So despite them being friends, they obviously did not share everything otherwise he would have been content in the knowledge he'd know soon.

Soon enough Snape appeared looking very disgruntled in a flash of green flame. "Ah Severus, you are back, Harry and I have just been talking."

"Oh have you now," he growled. Snape looked even less pleased; Harry grew worried and out of habit wondered if it was he who had done something wrong. He fixed his glare on Lucius, "what are you doing here; I thought we agreed you would not turn up unannounced anymore."

"Ah, but that does rather take the fun out of things."

"It is common courtesy; Harry is better versed than you."

"Now there is no need for insults, besides, we are friends."

"Our friendship was terminated the day you carried on Voldemort's ideals even after he died, unless you came here to say you've changed."

"I came here to ask the same thing, to find you are housing the one who killed our Lord."

"Your Lord. Not mine. You and the others can continue to fight over who gets to be the next psychopath but do not expect me to participate in any way other than an auror."

"You really have turned your back on us all."

"You turned your back on the world."

Lucius sighed, "I see, well I gave you a chance." He drew his wand.

"Harry, go to your room," Snape snapped immediately, drawing his own wand and shouting "Expelliarmus," before Lucius could do anything more. Harry just stood there and watched the two of them, eyes widening when Lucius lunged at Snape furiously, ending up crashing into a bookshelf when Snape jumped out the way. "HARRY NOW!" Snape bellowed. The little boy ran upstairs confused and frightened, this is what happened at his aunt and uncle's house.

He cowered in the room, listening to the sound of the crashing and shouting downstairs, at least this wasn't his fault. He could not have known Lucius wasn't actually Snape's friend, and he had come in using floo powder, he hadn't let him in of his own accord. But Snape had sounded so angry, the same sort of angry Vernon sounded before he was hit for doing something 'freaky'. What was going on? Why were they fighting? Had he done something to annoy them? Did they need his help? What if one of them got hurt? Who was Voldemort and this Lord they kept talking about? Why didn't anyone ever tell him anything?

He put his ear to the door to try and hear what was going on downstairs. They were talking in a language he didn't know, shouting things like 'stupefy' and 'crucio' and expelliarmus'. There was a lot of screaming, both men sounded in pain. He grew scared and moved to cower at the end of the room with his hands over his ears, humming the song his mother likes, 'green sleeves'. It wasn't enough to drown it out, he moved to the door again. Suddenly the door was slammed open and he was sent flying back into the room banging his head against the bed so hard that he saw stars and tears sprung to his eyes.

He looked up straining his eyes; it was painful to move his neck. The blond man was standing over him with a triumphant sneer on his face and two sticks, his own and Snape's, in his hand, they were both trained on his chest. Harry whimpered and scuttled back resisting the urge to clench his eyes shut in fear, then suddenly the advance the wizard was making ceased. Confused and relieved Harry looked up to see the man's eyes had widened in fear, and his face blanched in agony. He felt the pattering of liquid on his front and looked down to see blood spattered on his top, blood not his own on his brand new clothes.

He looked back up at the man whose eyes had started to roll back in his head and saw he had been run through, the sharp, silver tip of a ruthless knife sticking out of his front. Harry fought through the pain in his own head finally managed to get enough sense into his body to scuttle a few more paces away from the man and he made no move to grab him or lifted his wand hand which had now fallen uselessly to his side. As interested as he may have been with him before, he was fairly certain he was not aware of anything anymore. He groaned heavily, staggered forward half a step, and then fell to the hard ground of his bedroom– lifeless.

The fallen man revealed Snape standing behind him, face pale and haggard, but very much alive, holding a knife dripping in blood. He took one look at Harry's tear streaked face, dropped the knife and ran over to him. He reached for him with his arms, not even holding back when Harry flinched at the contact, he pulled him into his lap, supporting is head as one did a newborn. He felt the back of his head with his fingers and let out an angry grunt at the same time as Harry let out a painful hiss. He clicked his fingers in front of Harry's face and he squirmed to get away from the chaotic movements but he was restrained by Snape's arms and chest.

"What's your name?"

"Harry."

"What's mine?"

"Professor Snape," this answer was a little slower.

"When were you born?"

The answer, although obvious just didn't come to him. "Err," his voice was a little slurred like he was drunk, "July?"

"What day?"

"I dunno."

He 'humphed' before gathering him up in his arms and darting out the room, simply stepping over the blond man bleeding on the ground. He called out three names and three house elves appeared before him, keeping stride as he went down to the basement where all his potions and cauldrons were. "Tess, June, clear up the mess upstairs, three miles at least, don't tend to him, he'll be fine, but obliviate him. Lindy, get me a potion for concussion, one for bruising, and bandages for his head, oh and some food, along with Harry's usual nutritional potion."

Moments later she reappeared. "This will help you think clearer and bring down the bruising on your face," Snape informed as he poured one potion into the other and held the vial up to his lips, coaxing it past the barrier. While Harry dozed against him, still silent, Snape took up some scissors and cut off the black hair that was matted at the back of his head. He cleaned the cut with antiseptic and wrapped it in bandages, "wow, you managed to hit yourself pretty good up here," he muttered more to himself than Harry. When he got no answer he slapped his cheek lightly, "no sleeping for six hours, just in case, then you can sleep for as long as you want, I promise, and eat something, you'll feel much better."

He didn't let up until some of the food on that plate made its way to Harry's mouth. "I'm sorry you got hurt," he muttered so quietly he was not sure Harry heard him, he certainly gave no indication of it, "I won't leave you alone to give anyone another chance."