The morning dawned, bright, clear, and far too early, on July 31st.
Harry woke up long before any of the other occupants of Hut-on-the-Rock. The sun had barely begun to show itself over the horizon. He laid in the bed that Professor Snape had transfigured for him and wiggled under the warm blanket, smiling to himself. He fluffed his pillow and looked over at the Potions Master that was still asleep.
Rather than wake his new parent figure, Harry looked up to the ceiling. He counted spider webs and watched a rather large spider skitter across the beam over his head. The bed was more comfortable than his cupboard under the stairs had ever been.
"It wasn't a dream," he whispered, running one hand over the thick and warm blanket.
He remembered what he had said to Professor Snape the night before: he wanted a family that wanted him. Harry wondered to himself if Professor Snape would be the family he wanted.
"A child of destiny," he said, barely audible over the snoring of Vernon. "What does that mean?"
"Go back to sleep, Mister Potter. It is barely dawn," Severus said. His voice was thick with sleep; he cleared his throat to repeat himself.
Harry turned over and frowned, worried that Professor Snape would be upset with him. "I woke you? I'm sorry, sir."
Severus turned over to face the boy.
"Don't be sorry. I am a light sleeper," Severus propped himself up on one arm and looked over at Harry then up to the loft above them. "Does he always snore so…" Severus paused to find the proper word and scowled when Vernon let out a particularly rafter-rattling snort-grumble. "Loudly?"
"Yes, sir," Harry whispered as he nodded. He let his gaze glide towards the stairs and the loft, mimicking Severus' frown. "He's a heavy sleeper though."
"Hmpf." Severus yawned greatly and lay back down. "Do get some more sleep. Today is likely to be an exceptionally long day." He shut his eyes and tried to mentally will the boy back to sleep.
"All right, sir," Harry said. He lay back down with his back to the staircase and stared at Severus' closed eyes.
"What?" Severus demanded without opening his eyes.
"Nothing," Harry said. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the blanket close to his chin.
"Go back to sleep," Severus said again.
The boy yawned and mumbled a 'yes, sir,' before he drifted back off to sleep.
Severus was awakened sometime later by the sound of the creaking floorboards above his head. Harry was asleep and, by the sound of it, as were the other two adults above them. That left only the portly cousin.
"Dursley. What is your name, child?" Severus asked as he sat up.
The child froze on the stairs, eyes wide. "M-me?" Dudley stammered. "I'm Dudley."
"What time is it?" Severus demanded his voice pitched low to avoid waking Harry, or worse, Petunia.
"Uh, time?" Dudley seemed confused by the question. "How should I know?"
"Your watch, boy." Severus motioned to the digital watch on his meaty wrist. "What time is it?"
"Oh!" He looked down and squinted at the tiny display. "It's seven twenty-three," Dudley finally said. "And I'm hungry!"
"I'll start breakfast," Harry said, still half asleep. He reached over his head as if searching for the pull cord for the light that normally hung over his head.
"Oh? Severus arched a brow at him. "With what kitchen?
Harry sat up and then seemed to wake up a bit more, looking over to Professor Snape with a bright grin. "Wait a minute. I don't have to make breakfast! Ha!"
"Certainly not," Severus said.
"I don't have to, do I?" He asked Severus, who shook his head in the negative. Grinning brightly, Harry looked back over to Dudley. "I'm not making breakfast."
"But I'm hungry," Dudley began to whine. "I want to eat now!"
"Your parents can feed you," Harry said. He looked over to Severus and then down at the blanket before him. "And my…" He trailed off at Severus' arched brow. Fumbling for a title, he went with what he knew. "Professor Snape and I will have breakfast?"
"Yes, as soon as we get off this rock, we will procure breakfast," Severus said. He smirked as Harry scrambled out of the bed. "Hungry, are we?"
Harry frowned, his face scrunching up as he thought. "Only a little." He nodded after a moment. "I had the cake last night."
Severus frowned but said nothing, not liking what the statement implied: that the Boy Who Lived was used to being deprived of basic needs.
"He's always hungry," Petunia cut in from the top of the stairs. "He'll eat you out of house and home."
"I'm not always hungry," Harry protested, vehemently. He looked over at Severus, eyes wide. "I don't eat too much, I promise!"
"I am not concerned, Mister Potter," Severus said, cutting off further protests with a shake of his head. He rebuttoned his cuffs and the top of his shirt, tugging on them rather fruitlessly to try and get the wrinkles out.
Petunia glared at them both, lips pursed in disapproval at their continued existence in the Hut.
Harry hurriedly made his bed, tucking in the corners tightly. Standing at the head of the bed, he fluffed the pillows once, then again when they looked too flat. He kept looking from his now-former aunt to Professor Snape and back again, hunching in on himself when the awkward silence grew too heavy.
"You can leave any time now," Petunia finally spoke up, crossing her thin arms over her chest. "Before Vernon wakes up would be best."
Harry looked upwards to where Vernon lay, still asleep and snoring greatly. He nodded in agreement, then looked over to Professor Snape. He opened his mouth to agree and Severus raised a hand to forestall his words.
"We will leave when we so choose," Severus said. "And stop slouching, Mister Potter. You are not a turtle."
"Not a turtle," Harry echoed, standing up straighter.
"Ugh," Petunia rolled her eyes. "You haven't changed, Snape."
Severus pulled back the blanket and slid his feet into his shoes. He tied each one slowly, just to annoy Petunia. Then, also slowly, he pulled his wand from beneath his pillow and aimed it at Harry's temporary bed.
"I am going to return it to its original form now, so stand back."
Harry's face brightened at the promise of more magic being done before him. He took a few steps back, nodding to indicate he was ready.
" Egredi lectum! " Severus said.
Severus smirked at Dudley and Petunia's twin squeaks of fright when the bed winked out of existence and returned to its former life as a slightly musty sofa cushion.
"Cool," Harry whispered, stepping forward to pick the cushion. He hugged it to his tiny chest. "Ed-edgredee lectrum?" Harry asked, stumbling over the first word.
"No, Mister Potter," Severus shook his head. "There is only one 'd' in 'egredi'. And it is ' lectum ', as in the Latin for 'bed'. Most of the modern spells are in Latin."
Harry put the couch cushion back where it belonged and turned back to Severus. "Why is that?"
"You know, I do not know why," Severus admitted after a moment of thought. "Perhaps it has something to do with the false belief that somehow Latin, a language usually reserved for scholars, is more appropriate for casting spells(1)."
"Oh." Harry's face scrunched up again as he thought. "That's silly," he said. "Wouldn't magic a universal thing? Like, it's something that doesn't even always need words?"
"Just so," Severus agreed.
Harry looked up to Petunia and Dudley on the stairs. He wished that they didn't hate him so much.
Petunia had slid past her son and was at the base of the staircase.
"Sometimes it is what is not said that can be powerful." Severus' tone was low, a frown crossing his own face as he thought back to his own parents.
Harry looked up at his former relative and frowned. "Yes, sir," Harry agreed.
Petunia's expression grew even more sour as Severus stood and moved around the room to gather his things.
Silently, Severus moved to the couch to retrieve his robes. He slid his inner robes back on over his shirt and trousers; he reached for his outer robe, pausing a moment when he realized Harry was still clothed in naught but a baggy t-shirt and shorts more likely to fit himself than the boy they were on.
"Hurry up and leave," Petunia snapped. "The quicker the better. We'd like to get back to our lives."
"Hush, you useless harpy," Severus said. He cast the counterspell again, shrinking his own bed and turning around.
Harry stood just behind him, holding his arms out for the cushion. "I'll put it up, sir." He seemed to be studiously ignoring his now-former aunt.
Severus handed him the cushion to put away and sheathed his wand up his right sleeve.
"We will need to get going shortly if we are to make a timely arrival in London," Severus told him. "It took me nearly half a day to get here, but I have a Portkey awaiting us on the mainland that will get us to London in a blink."
"What's a Portkey, sir?" Harry asked as he tried to fluff the cushion into something resembling itself again, rather than the lumpy mess it was. With a sigh, he gave up and looked over to Professor Snape.
"It is a means of rapid transportation across great distances for witches and wizards," Severus explained. "But I'd rather take the Portkey first and then feed you. Merlin only knows how strong your stomach is."
"I don't know sir," Harry admitted. "I don't get carsick, at least?" he offered after a moment of thought.
"Duly noted, Mister Potter," Severus said.
"Harry," the boy half-whispered, looking down at the hole in his left sock when the Potions Master scowled over at him.
"Put on your shoes, Harry," Severus said, putting great emphasis on his name.
"Yes, sir!" He scrambled to comply, looking forward to the magical day his eleventh birthday had turned out to be.
"Merlin, Morgana, and anyone else grant me patience," Severus grumbled under his breath.
He looked up again at Petunia and Dudley, who were whispering amongst themselves.
"I have a dad," Harry whispered as quietly as possible to himself as he pulled on his left trainer. He looked down at the cake and candles he had drawn in the ash before the fireplace the night before and smiled to himself. 'I have a dad, again,' he thought to himself. Harry pulled on his right shoe and tied them both, rather messily in his haste.
"Ready!" he said, spinning around to face Severus.
"Are you aware your shoes are on the wrong feet?" Severus asked him.
Harry tilted his head, then looked down at his shoes. "But they're the only feet I have, sir?"
"No, Mister Potter." Severus sighed, kneeling before Harry and pointing to his feet. "I meant that your right shoe is on your left foot and vice versa."
"Oh." Harry toed off his shoes, switching them. "But they always fit better that way."
"We will get you new shoes," Severus told him.
"Yes, sir."
"Now. Do you have any belongings that you would like to take with you?" Severus asked him.
"No, sir." Harry shook his head in the negative. "We, uh…" He trailed off, looked up to the loft where Vernon still snored the morning away, then to where Petunia glared and Dudley stared at him. "We left in a hurry."
"Hmmm." Severus reserved comment but scowled darkly over at Petunia again.
She sneered back at him with great disdain but remained otherwise silent.
"We will remedy this as well," he told Harry. "Say your farewells, if you wish." He pulled on his outer robes and waited.
Harry looked over to Petunia and Dudley. Dudley gave a weak wave, frowning when his mother snatched his hand and held it down.
Whatever words Harry wanted to say were all jumbled up in his head, racing faster than he could put a finger on.
' What should I say? ' Harry thought to himself. He looked at Petunia. ' Thank you? Goodbye? I wish you loved me? ' Harry opened his mouth several times, shut it again at Petunia's glare.
"Bye, Harry," Dudley said, waving a meek goodbye with the hand she didn't hold.
Petunia dug her fingers into his shoulder and bent, hissing a reproach in Dudley's ear.
"Stop it!" he pulled out of her grip and walked down the stairs.
"Bye, Dudley," Harry managed to force out when his former cousin stepped towards him. "You, uh," he paused, looking around at the dismal Hut on the Rock. "You can finish the cake if you'd like."
"Thanks, Harry!" Dudley exclaimed.
"Duddly-kins," Petunia's simpering tone had Severus rolling his eyes. "You don't need that nasty cake." "And you," Dudley looked at Severus, frowned, "you take care, Harry."
Harry nodded, voice lost to the swirl of emotion he was feeling.
"Let us go," Severus said, motioning toward the door before the overweight boy could toddle closer to where he and Harry stood.
The door of Hut-on-the-Rock opened smoothly and silently, a small trick of wandless magic that had Harry looking up at Severus with wonder-filled eyes.
"Wicked," Harry whispered, he grabbed at Professor Snape's outer robe when the biting wind buffeted him back.
Severus walked forward, allowing Harry to look back once more. Looking lost and sad, the boy stood in the doorway of the Hut-on-the-Rock, hair dancing in the breeze.
Harry waved one final goodbye to Dudley before Severus placed a hand on his tiny shoulder and steered him into the waiting sunlight and fresh air.