Aftermath

"What were you thinking?" a barking voice demanded.

Shocked, Harry turned around. "U… Uncle Vernon?"

"Who did you expect? Father Christmas? Of course it's me, you brainless excuse of a freak."

"How did you find us?" Harry couldn't understand what Uncle Vernon was doing in Spain.

"Did you really think that someone would keep you longer than two weeks? I'm here to take you with me, of course, and once we're home we'll finish our discussion about obedience."

Harry shook his head. He couldn't believe that Severus would do that to him. Hadn't he said he loved Harry? Or was that just a trick to let Harry fall asleep? Harry's heart started to ache.

"Well, don't stand there staring. Start moving!" Vernon bellowed.

"No!" Harry said while fear crept up his spine. He wanted to run but found himself unable to move.

Suddenly his head jerked sideways and pain shot through his cheek. Harry had nearly forgotten how much a simple slap from his uncle could hurt. Tears started to fall although Harry knew they were making the situation worse, but he still couldn't stop them. His whole body was aching, as he realized that Severus didn't want him anymore.

"Severus, help! Please I'm sorry!" Harry sobbed heartbrokenly. "Please, I will be good, please help me."

-o-

Severus jerked awake, not knowing what had woken him in the middle of the night. But then a whimpering noise reached his ears. For a second, he wondered what it could be, but then he jumped out of the bed and hurried into Harry's room.

The boy was huddled into a small ball, crying as silently as he could manage with a broken heart.

"Harry, what happened?" Severus rushed to his side. But as soon as his hand touched the boy, Harry startled violently and tried to squirm away.

"No, please. I'll be good."

"Shhh, Harry. Calm down," Severus whispered. "It's me, Severus. Calm down, child. You are safe. Nobody will harm you here. It was just a dream. You are still in Spain with me."

Finally Harry opened his eyes. The pain and helplessness in those green pools stabbed at Severus' heart. What was the boy dreaming? Severus wondered with growing alarm.

Harry was unable to speak. He was confused and didn't trust himself to recognize what was real and what was a dream. He knew somehow that Severus would not send him away, at least not back to his uncle, but the dream had seemed so real and Harry's heart was still aching, unable to let relief wash over him at the sight of Severus.

Severus longed to pull the boy into his arms, but he didn't dare to come closer, as long as Harry wasn't completely awake, so he just sat there at the edge of Harry's bed waiting for a signal that the boy had regained full consciousness.

After what seemed like an eternity but was just a few minutes, Harry whispered, "I'm sorry!"

"You don't have to be," Severus reassured him.

"But I woke you up," Harry said sheepishly.

Severus nearly laughed out loud in relief; instead he grabbed the boy and pulled him into a tight hug. "You don't have to apologize for nightmares."

Harry sighed and finally let go of his anxiety. It really was just a dream, he said to himself as he found himself again wrapped in those warm and strong arms. He shuddered and nearly started crying again because of the bad dream.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Severus asked softly into Harry's hair, ignoring the tickling of black strands of hair in his face.

"It was… just stupid," Harry whispered and buried his face into Severus' nightshirt.

"Dreams are not stupid," Severus pointed out in a serious voice, "And this one obviously unsettled you a great deal."

Harry grew silent, thinking. He longed to just tell Severus, as he knew now that the man would reassure him again that that would never happen. But what if he were disappointed to learn that Harry had such a low opinion of his promises that it gave him nightmares.

Severus drew the boy to arm's length as he felt Harry tensing up again. "You can talk to me, whatever it is. I suspect that your dream had something to do with that poor excuse of an uncle of yours, and I think you would feel better if you would just tell me."

"But I don't want you being angry or disappointed with me," Harry finally admitted.

"Why would I be?" Severus wondered. "Did you dream I sold you as a slave to your uncle?"

At first the boy's eyes grew wide in shock, and then he lowered his head and mumbled "Well, sort of, but you didn't sell me; you just called Vernon to pick me up, because I was too much trouble."

"Oh, Harry," Severus sighed and rubbed circles on the boy's back to calm him down. "I know what happened yesterday shook us both up, but trust me; you will never be too much trouble. I'm happy to have you here and I'm glad you don't hold my past against me. You are a remarkable young man. Not for all the tea in China would I send you away."

Fresh tears glittered in Harry's eyes. "I feel so ungrateful that I would dream about you sending me away."

"No, Harry. You don't have to feel this way," Severus brushed the tears away, "You can't control your dreams and you have every right to feel that fear as you have been taught for eleven years not to trust adults. I will not get tired of reassuring you whenever you need to hear it, and I certainly will not get upset if this entirely understandable fear haunts your dreams."

Harry wrapped his arms around Severus and hugged him, unable to find any words to express his relief.

Without any further words spoken, Severus lowered himself onto Harry's mattress and the boy snuggled close to his body to bask in its warmth as he fell asleep again.

-oxoxOxoxo-

"Where are we going?" Harry asked curiously.

Severus had told him in the morning that they wouldn't go swimming today but instead go on excursion with Caroline and Celine. Harry was happy that Severus was no longer angry at the two after that stupid accident a week ago, because he really liked Lin and obviously Caro liked Severus.

"Stop asking me, I will not tell you. It's supposed to be a surprise", Severus replied maneuvering the borrowed car through the streets of Benidorm.

"But you can give me a hint, can't you?" Harry tried again.

"Why don't you just look out of the window and enjoy the trip?" Severus answered, unbending.

Harry huffed in dissatisfaction, letting his head hit the car seat. Then he glanced at Lin next to him, but the girl just shook her head, "I don't know any more than you do. But I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun."

Harry humphed, but finally grew silent, watching the trees passing the car. His mind started to wander back in time. He could hardly believe that it had been just a few days ago that he had sat in the car with Severus fleeing from England. He had felt so lost and unwanted, so totally different than he felt now; comfortable enough to whine like a spoilt brat, because he didn't know where he and Severus and their new friends were going.

It was really strange how fast his life has changed. If only he could stay here forever. But of course he would miss his friends. Friends he wasn't sure if he had any more. He had never written to them, but then he had thought they had not written to him either. But they had, it was just that Harry had not received their mail because of Dobby. Stupid creature, Harry mumbled to himself.

On the other hand, he had to thank Dobby for his presence in Spain. He still could not contact his friends, but at least he had a new friend and he hoped Dumbledore would explain the situation to his friends in England. Hopefully once they learned he was all right, they would be willing to wait until school started for explanations.

José had found a way to send a short note to Albus Dumbledore. He wrote to a friend in England and asked him to forward Severus letter, so as to avoid any obvious link back to Spain. Severus also was very cryptic in his letter. If anyone were able to intercept the message, it still would not yield any useful information.

Suddenly Lin pulled at Harry's arm. Harry jerked out of his thoughts and then followed Lin's look. They passed a sign with the words "Terra Natura".

"What is this?" Harry asked.

"It's a kind of zoo. Very big, with animals from all over the world," Lin replied excited.

"And Terra Aqua?" Harry asked at the other sign.

"It's a sea life center that also has big swimming pools with different water slides."

"Cool!" Harry said with gleaming eyes.

"Well, we won't manage both parks on one day. You can choose one, and we will do the other on another day," Severus explained while looking for a parking spot.

"I choose?" Harry wondered.

Finally finding a free space, Severus parked the car and then looked in the rear view mirror at the boy "Yes, it's an early birthday present. The crowds will be too big on the weekend."

Harry was speechless, 'My birthday?' He had totally forgotten his birthday.

"You don't like the idea?" Severus asked teasingly at Harry's loss of words.

"No. No, it's not that. I… wow… I didn't realize my birthday is that soon. The idea is brilliant."

"Your birthday is no sooner than last year. Today is the 29th of July so your birthday is in two days."

Harry shook his head grinning. "Where did the time go?" Severus grinned back, as did Caro and Lin.

"So what did you decide? Which park do you want to go to today?" Lin asked curiously, after they all got out of the car.

"The zoo!" Harry answered immediately.