A/N: Thank you so much for the favs, follows and reviews. I hope I at least live up to your expectations. I meant for this chapter to be bigger but cut it short and left the rest for the next one.

5 - Getting help

Petunia ushered her children to a family restaurant nearby and sat with them at a window table. Somehow, there was no fighting for who would seat near the window. Dudley had pushed his cousin to the window while he sat on the aisle seat. Petunia sat opposite the boys as was becoming customary. A waitress came with glasses and a jug of cold water, gave them the menu and left after filling the glasses. All three were still caught up in their own musings.

Ever since they crossed the entrance to the restaurant Harry had forgotten all about the conversation at the bank. He looked everywhere like it was new to him. In fact, he never entered a place like this. It was exactly like in the telly, exactly like the snippets he saw once when passing by the living room. He had delayed himself on purpose that time so he could see what was amusing his cousin so much. He paid dearly afterwards since his Uncle Vernon didn't like him anywhere near Dudley when he was watching the telly. He knew his cousin had come to places like this one before when Harry was left with Mrs Figg for the family's outings. But never before had he thought he, Harry, would enter such a place. And to make it even better he was with his cousin and Aunt Petunia, almost like he was part of the family!

Right. Aunt Petunia said I was family the other day, maybe she wasn't joking... I never saw her joking without her friends, though. Oh! We can see outside from this table! Hmm, but maybe Dudley wants to-

He was pushed into the seat beside the window by his cousin who sat himself next to him. He was still beaming at his cousin when he received the menu.

Dudley's being so nice to me today. He taught me a lot of things on the way here and now he even let me have the best seat! Of course, he was nice sometimes. Not when he was hunting me, but he let me eat his leftovers -and there's a lot of them when did it- without Uncle Vernon knowing... And there was that time he got me a band-aid when Uncle Vernon hit my head on the wall and shoved me in the cupboard 'cause I was bleeding... Oh! There's so many foods to choose from! What do I eat? Maybe something cheaper, that way Aunt Petunia would bring me together the next time she takes Dudley out. Mrs Figg house is not very nice...

What is the idio- Harry beaming at me for this time? Doesn't he know it makes people feel strange when he does it? It's not like I let him have the window seat because I know he likes watching people come and go. I just like the aisle seat better because I'm served faster.

They sat there a few more moments before they were told to order their food. His mum just finished asking for a salad and grilled salmon. He just knew his cousin would make a fool of himself and ask something strange -only freaks would do that. And since his mum told him they were the same he couldn't let people think he was a freak. He snatched the menu from Harry and handed it over to the waitress ordering for both.

"Two burgers, chips and chocolate milkshakes." His mum curled her lips a little but didn't say anything. He turned to Harry in time to see the devastated face he had before he looked down to his hands gripping at his pants, his knuckles were white he noticed. What is he upset about now? The boy huffed and the silence was only broken when their orders were put on the table. He tucked in right away.

"Uhmm... Sorry, but is there a problem with the food?" He and his mum looked up from their plates at the waitress question with equally confused looks. When they noticed she was looking at the third person at the table they also did so noticing he had pushed his food away.

"Ah, no, no. I'm sure it is fine. Just..." he trailed off hesitantly.

"Just what, dear?" Harry started squirming under their watchful eyes. Dudley had had enough and kicked him under the table earning a squeak from him and glare from his mum. It still worked, though.

"Just... It's... It's Dudley's food, right? He asked it, right? Two." It seemed Harry was dead set on not looking up so he didn't see the confused faces looking at him.

Figures... The idiot... "I ordered for you, stupid!"

"Dudley!" He shrugged his mum's reprimand and began eating again. "Dear, as he said he ordered for the both of you. It's okay if you want something else, though."

Harry gasped and suddenly Dudley saw himself warped in a sort of strange embrace. He thought it was supposed to be a hug.

"Harry?" His mum was as shocked as him. Harry never touched people; never hugged people; especially him.

"Get off, freak! Lemme go!" He wrestled himself off of his cousin clutches only to see a look on his mum's face that he had never seen before.

"Dudley Mason Dursley! Do not call your cousin that!" His mum was seething, and that was playing it down. He turned to his cousin right away to apologise but stopped in his tracks at the beaming smile Harry was still showing him. He quickly apologised and they went on eating in silence until it was time for dessert.

"Since you two behaved yourselves today, I ordered a good dessert for you." In front of him and his cousin each was a big sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, various different toppings and a banana split.

Mum is the best! I love sundaes! And from looks of it so did his cousin. They both ate away their desserts happily enough. Leaving the restaurant afterwards almost skipping from happiness to the next destination.

"This looks nice. Did you like living here, Aunt Petunia?"

"Well, I did... when I was little."

"What happened then, mum?"

"... Look! We arrived! This is Spinner's End. Your mother's friend used to live somewhere around here. Let's hope he still does..." Petunia left and locked the car. Looking around a bit trying not to appear too out of place she was approached by an old lady leaving a house with a little dog.

"Excuse me, are you perhaps lost?"

"Oh, no, not lost. I came to visit an old... acquaintance of mine but it seems I forgot which house was his. They are all so similar..." She tried her best to not seem suspicious but it just peaked the old lady's interest.

"Well, I've lived here all my life. Maybe I can help you some. Who is this acquaintance of yours?"

"Snape. I'm looking for the Snapes. They used to live here over a decade ago, not really sure if they still do, though." Petunia knew she was failing miserably at looking meek but she was still praying this old lady wouldn't recognise her. The last thing she needed was another ghost from that past.

"Oh, young Severus! Yes, he still lives here. Over that house, the third from here. It was such a pity his mother died so early. Eileen was such a good woman, not really smart, though, you know."

"I see. Thank you for your help." She steered her boys to the right house as quickly as she could. She really didn't want to deal with a gossiping neighbour at this time of the afternoon. She grudgingly knocked on the door almost regretting her decision in coming. There were more important things now than saving face in front of this man; her children, for example. She was about to knock again when the door opened revealing the person they sought.

Severus really liked summer. It was not always like that, tough. After months cooped up dealings with hundreds of dunderheads who couldn't follow the simplest of instructions and insisted on making his life difficult summer was something to anxiously anticipate. The calmness of his home, now that he could call it a home. The days dedicated only to himself and his brewing. An afternoon with no purpose besides enjoying a good tea and a book, listening to the silence of no barmy old man barging in on his space to make a stupid request. Nothing. Only Severus, his tea and silenc-

knock-knock-knock

Severus stilled for a moment. It was not common that something made him lose his composure, much less a knock on his door. He quickly rearranged his features to those of perpetual boredom. Only one person would be imbecilic enough to seek him during his time of rest with ridiculous requests and use his door.

"Yes?" Severus had to thank all the years of practice reigning in his emotions for this was an unexpected visitor. Even for the countless scenarios he used to visualise for... everything. Scanning the scene before him again Severus noticed two children hiding behind the woman facing him, likely afraid of his visage. One was an overweighed boy with familiar features. The other... Severus blood started to boil the instant his eyes latched on the other boy's appearance, one he hoped never to see again. Then he settled on the boy's eyes. Those green eyes...

"Would you mind letting us in? I would like for you to at least hear me before sending us away." Severus nodded and reluctantly relinquished the sight of those green eyes to let the trio in closing the door after them. He led them to the couch and signalled for the woman to seat with the children. He also offered tea as was proper. Served them and paid close attention to the woman and green eyed boy as she began to talk.

"I'll begin with the purpose of this visit and my request. I need help in getting the boys' school supplies and all those things that school required. Would it be possible for you to help us?"

Severus was, to say the least, confused. The only sing of such was a barely lifted eyebrow. Did she say: boys? As in plural? And if memory served him right, both this woman her husband were quite extreme in their aversion to everything magical. How anyone saw fit to leave their saviour with such people was beyond him. No wonder the old coot never told anyone where he had sent the boy. "Perhaps a bit of context would be required but, yes, it is possible for me to help, Tuney. A bit of an introduction wouldn't be out of hand."

Both boys seemed amused by the use of the nickname, so it was not used regularly in their household -maybe not at all. "Severus Snape. And your boys are?" He maintained his tone neutral but let a condescending aura seep out.

Petunia nudged the boys lightly beckoning them to introduce themselves. The first to do so was the round one. His introduction was short but with enough confidence; good enough for a child. The other seemed reluctant in following his cousin's steps but did it quickly as if to end a horrible ordeal. A most curious reaction. What surprised Severus the most was the word he thought described better the boy's attitude: meek. Such a word could never be used for either his parents, how had he come to have such a trait?

"Now for context, it a tale I'd rather not have my children hear it." Petunia was stiff and resigned to fate. Which one, Severus couldn't fathom.

"Very well. Each of you, take a book from the shelf to your left and read it while we talk more important matters." Again the green eyed boy had an unexpected reaction. He was beaming and his twinkled in a way the make even old twinkling master envious of the ability.

"I can read?"

"That is what I expect, yes." He answered with another lift of his eyebrows taking in Petunia pinching the bridge of her nose.

"And I can even choose?" At Severus nod, the boy beamed an even bigger and brighter smile and rushed to his shelves to look for a book. The other boy thankfully acted as a normal one and took a stack of comics Severus used to collect.

Sensing the boy's reaction was part of the context, he lifted a one-way silencing barrier so they would hear the boys but would not be heard. "Talk."

"I assume you used some frea- magic to not let them hear us?" Severus gave a slight confirmation nod. "Where do you want me to start?" Petunia now seemed... determined?

"From the beginning... Please." One must not forget manners. Not use them on purpose? Yes, but never forget.

"For me, it started on the morning of the second day of November, in 1981. I went out to pick up the milk and morning correspondence only to find a basket with a baby bundled in a thin blanket and a short note. As you most likely know, I wasn't on the best of terms with my sister for quite some time. So I didn't even know I had a nephew, just that she had married. She may have sent a letter and a may have stashed it away with all the others.

"The note was a short missive telling me my sister was dead and that I was to care for her son. Really, the only thing that made me believe that was my sister's son was those green, green eyes... They were so like my sister's, even his round cheeks were exactly like hers when she was his age." Petunia sighed and tried to collect herself before continuing. Needless to say, she failed miserably.

"Sorry, where was I again? Ah, yes, Harry arriving. If you remember Vernon, you must imagine that he at least didn't like that situation. He went on and on about what a burden the freak would be..." Severus found it interesting the disgusted face Petunia made as she spat her favourite word. And somehow he got the feeling she wasn't happy about her husband's behaviour.

"Yes. I remember him. In the end, he accepted the boy. Is that correct?"

"Oh, yes. He accepted. Just a few days later when he came from work he told me as much. He also said that he wouldn't take anything from his son to give it to the freak. Be it food, clothes, space or anything. Harry was a bit agitated at first and his wailing would always wake Dudley up. So we put him in the cupboard under the stairs." Petunia immediately held her hand up as if to stop Severus from saying anything, not that he would at the moment. "Just listen until the end. I'll hear comments afterwards." again Severus only nodded his agreement and on she went.

"Harry lived in that damned cupboard until early June this year. For the past ten years, he helped around the house to earn his keep. Vernon believed that Harry had to pay us back for keeping him. As for me, I'll admit to wanting some level of gratitude. But sometimes even I thought his chores were too much for a child. For anyone, really. But whenever I thought of lightening his workload something happened. Something freak. The reminder always worked me up and made me remember all that I hated about your world. As a result, Harry suffered.

"I don't even remember how many chores he did, but he did almost everything in the house. Painting, the fence and walls, of course, cleaning, cooking, sewing, mowing, washing the clothes... Everything. Name a house chore and it was given to him. And his clothes? His parents didn't think to leave him anything, why should we use on him what we could use on our son? Why buy him new clothes when it was perfectly fine for him to use Dudley's old clothes? he should feel grateful that we were clothing him.

"Oh, and feeding? Why take the food from our son's mouth to put on his when his good for nothing father didn't think about that before dying? Harry only ate the scraps and leftovers, sometimes he didn't even eat. And going to bed without eating was actually a regular punishment. Sometimes a whack on the head, nothing too much, though. we didn't want to waste Vernon's hard earned money on such an ungrateful child.

"And when school started he got into all sorts of troubles. Even so, he managed to do better than Dudley at first. But I'm a good mother I put the freak in his place. What was he trying to do? Make her Dudley look stupid? Did he think he was better than us? Just like all his kind? A freak whose parents died and burdened an honest good hard working couple with him? God only now how they died!

"And his questions about everything! Where are my parents? What's this? What's that? So many stupid questions! We had to tell the boy something! So, one day Vernon told him his good for nothing parents were drunks and died in a car crash, only Harry survived. Of course, he also told him off because of the endless questions. No more questions after that."

The woman was huffing and panting hard. She seemed angry with the situation, but something told Severus it was not at Harry. For a moment he thought she had finished and he would be able to make his remarks about such appalling behaviour but she resumed her rant.

"But life is not that easy. No. One day something would happen to change our lives. You know how there's always that moment in life that changes your world, beliefs, your very being? For my sister, it was a Hogwarts Letter. For me, not only it was a Hogwarts Letter but my son's Hogwarts Letter!" Now Severus was surprised, his eyebrows even shot to his hairline. Petunia's son was a wizard. How... ironic.

"Of course Vernon freak out! What a stupid word. He went crazy saying my baby was contaminated. Imagine that! My baby! He is perfectly normal, thank you very much. But ranting was not enough for Vernon. I had never seen him look like that. it was like he was someone else. He started beating Harry saying he passed his freakishness to Dudley. Even lashed at me when I tried to stop him, make him see reason. I was shocked and Dudley was afraid... And when Dudley tried to get his attention it only got worse. He threw Harry to the floor and went for my Dudley.

"He said he would fix him, would beat the freakishness away. I tried to stop him with more vigour this only to get beaten again. I got to the phone while he was distracted beating the boy again and called for help. I then went back to face him. He was still beating me when the police arrived later. We spent over a month in the hospital recovering.

"And you think that was enough damage? Oh, no. Nothing is enough for Vernon. Nothing. Today we went to the bank before we came here. To evaluate our financial situation. I knew we had some money saved for a trip and for Dudley school things, he was going to Smeltings, you know. So I wanted to know exactly how much we had and use the money or both their schooling and for the rest of the summer.

"Imagine my surprise when I was informed we had over ten thousand pounds between the normal account and the savings. And to top it all, we received a monthly allowance of two thousand pounds every month from Harry's trust fund. To help with the costs that come from caring for a child. Not only the allowance started as soon as we received Harry, but our house loan was completely paid for by that same trust fund. They wanted to guarantee that Harry would have a roof over his head.

"I was such an idiot. I won't be surprised if he hid other things from me. Everything about Vernon was false: his behaviour, the jewels he gave me, his morality... God, even his paycheck was false!" Severus was... shocked. He was rendered speechless before so much information. So he did the only thing he could think of that moment.

"Tea?"

"Yes, thank you. Two spoons of sugar."

They drank the tea in silence for a few more moments while watching the boys happily reading their chosen material. Severus had- needed to be objective, least he do something he would come to regret later. He stored the information away to process and analyse at a better occasion. It was best to solve the immediate problems and doubts. In any case, he was starting to understand the green eyed boys reactions.

"I'll leave my personal remarks about you and your husband for a later date. First, where is he?"

"In jail. Not leaving anytime soon."

"I see... Now, about the letter. Who was it that delivered it?"

"What do you mean?" A sense of dread entered Severus very being. Certainly, they wouldn't...

"It is customary for a member of Hogwarts staff to deliver the letter to muggleborn and muggle-raised children. Usually, it is taken care of by our Deputy Headmistress. I believe it was she who delivered Lily's."

"I do remember that day. But no visitors came for us. Either for Dudley or for Harry. Their letters came at different dates. Maybe because we already knew of your world they thought it unnecessary."

"Perhaps." Severus decided to also let this information for later use. It seems a lot is happening. "What do you intend to focus first?"

"Well. My first worry was about clothes but that is already solved. Since I believe we have more them enough money for summer and school supplies, I wanted to get everything school related as soon as possible. I hindered both Dudley and Harry with my approach on their studies. I'll try to remediate some of it during the rest of summer."

"Sounds Like a good plan, except for the money part-"

"I do plan to explain to the boys our financial situation. Also, I'll ask for Harry to let me use this money, that is clearly his, to help buy Dudley's things for now. I'll find a proper job and repay Harry for it. I don't even know what to do to make up for all those years, not to mention all the money involved."

"Yes, that is a sensible action. However the problem I was referring to was a bit more literal. You see, wizards have a different currency from muggles. It is possible to exchange it. One would need to contact our bank to know about the exchange rate." And of course, they would be able to provide all kinds of information about Harry's financial situation, even Petunia's. Besides, it is easier for a wizard to procure such information... Something was definitely off. It would possibly be better to do everything in person, goblins prefer it to owls anyway.

"How soon can that be done?"

"I think it better to go in person and solve everything at once. If it is agreeable to you we could go tomorrow. You could stay the night with the children here as this is a secure location. On the other hand, you three would be sleeping in the same room as I only have one spare. Notice that is easier to travel to the bank from a wizarding house. And I would be able to apply the appropriate safety measures regarding your children." Something of a plan was beginning to form on Severus' head. Still, much research was needed. This would be a long night for him.

"If it's safer and easier I don't see a problem. And we shared a room for the past month in the hospital, so it's no news for them. New clothes were... obtained today, so that's no problem. Wouldn't it burden you? That will be three more to feed..."

"I don't make it a custom of offering something I'm not inclined to doing. That said, Twinky." Severus cancelled the silencing ward as his house elf appeared with a pop.

"What can Twinky bes doing for Master?"

"Prepare the guest room for our three visitors. Also retrieve their things from the car. As for the car, shrink it and put it over the fireplace. Needless to say, they will be joining us for dinner and breakfast at least. Before all that, introduce yourself to our guests."

"Yes, Master. Pleased to meet you master's guests. I's be Twinky." His house elf bowed low as was proper and left with another pop.

"What was that?" Both boys asked at the same time. Interesting.

"That was a house elf. They are sort of servants in the wizarding world. You will note not every wizard has one. They are not slaves, even if a few may treat them as such. They like to serve and are happy to make that their purpose in life. They are bound to their masters by magic, it makes them stronger and healthier, as well as prolong theirs . And that was your first lesson about the wizarding world. Now follow me."

Severus felt some sort of pride and smugness at the children's adoring look towards him, not that he would ever let it be known. He pulled the book that opened the door to the upstairs rooms making sure they all had it memorised. The last thing he needed was one of them wandering his house because they couldn't remember the way back up.