Chapter 2

The Boy-Who-Lived was still waiting nervously in the sitting room of Malfoy Manor. The older men had been speaking quietly in the hall, obviously in a disagreement with one another. The two came back in, no expressions showing their current disagreements.

"Draco, if you could please show Harry to the Blue Room? And both of you get washed for dinner," Lucius commanded gently.

Without a complaint, the two boys walked out of the room slowly and headed up the long stairway to the rooms. "Mal-"

"It's Draco," the blonde corrected hurriedly, his head down.

"Draco," Harry repeated. "Why does he want me here?" He waited anxiously for the answer.

Draco was at a loss for words. He had expected a question of why he couldn't go back to the muggles or if he could invite his muggle loving friends over. "You're his son." The answer was simple and clear. The Gryffindor was a Malfoy now. He was a pure blood. The thought was unfamiliar and different, and somewhat comforting.

Suddenly, as they reached the room, a wave of emotion stole over him. He had a family to go to. Something he'd always dreamed of. And now it was his.

"Here you are. The water closet's down the hall and to your left. We need to meet out here in thirty minutes so I can show you to the dining room." Draco left him alone, standing in the room by himself.

***

Thirty minutes passed and Harry was waiting on the Slytherin to show him to the dining room. They walked there in an uncomfortable silence. The house was embellished with paintings and coat of arms. The dining room was not much different. A large wooden table stood under a grand chandelier. The table was big enough to sit twenty people, easily. The two men were already seated and waiting on the two boys to sit. They did so, a volatile silence encasing them as the food appeared forthwith on the table.

"So, Harry, Severus tells me your things are still at the Dursleys?" Lucius meant for it to sound casual, but it came out harsher than he intended for it to.

Harry nodded and pushed his food around on his plate. "Yes sir."

Everyone stared at him and Lucius gave a smile. "It's just Lucius, Harry. No formals are needed." This seemed to break the tension formed around Harry.

"Thanks. So, did you meet my dad at school?" Harry asked as he took a bite of the creamy mashed potatoes.

The older wizard nodded and much to everyone's amusement, a dreamy look came upon his face. "Yes, but we didn't get together until seventh year. He was the best person I ever knew, but Severus didn't seem to think so." The potion's master just snorted, but didn't say anything. "Yes, the two were rather annoying, going at each other's throats because of a prank." Snape still didn't say anything, but ate his dinner without a word.

Draco watched the new father and son interact. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad. "So, Harry, do you have your school stuff?" This topic brought an overcast over his new brother. "Is something wrong?"

Harry shook his head. "It's still over at the Dursleys." Apparently, he wished to avoid the topic, so throughout the rest of the dinner, the topic was on Quidditch.

***

"Harry, I am sending Severus with you to pick up your things," Lucius watched his son invert into himself. If what Dumbledore had told him was true, then it was best he didn't go. "I'll see you later." He let Harry get in the carriage before talking his friend. "Albus warned me of some things about his uncle's. This is why I ask this of you."

Severus nodded and stepped in the carriage. If Lucius felt the need to ask a favour, something must have been seriously wrong with the boy's previous home. Upon watching Harry, his suspicions were becoming more and more ratified. The boy kneaded his knuckles continuously, and he kept his eyes down. The colossal sized clothing seemed to be just barely disturbed by his movements.

"Mister Potter," he watched the boy's head lift and fear shown in his emerald eyes, but he never broached the subject of the Dursleys, or so he thought. " Why on Earth do you insist on wearing those rags?"

The shame in his student's eyes was apparent, but he was stilled answered. "The Dursleys gave them to me."

The answer was sufficient for the time being, but he had other questions. "What will they say about your new arrangements? Upset, I dare say?" He waited, and when Harry looked at him, he realized how wrong he had been.

"Sure, upset." Dead eyes stared into his and they were both startled when the carriage stopped. They were there and Harry's agitation seemed to become worse.

Walking up to the house, Snape noticed how similar they all were. Similar, hell they were carbon copies of one another. The interiors were probably decorated the same way also, no sense of individuality. When they reached the door, Harry seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Sir, I can't do this." He whimpered out, petrified. No one had known that this had been his hell for the past fourteen years, and now he was afraid they wouldn't accept him if his professor found out. "It's not that I don't want to," he tried to reassure Snape to save what little self preservation he had, "But I don't think they-" He was cut off short by the door opening and  stupendous creature stood in the doorway.

"Boy!" The creature spoke cruelly. It seemed to be a man, but a horridly fat one. Snape could see Harry shake as well as his magic waiver. Only something appalling could cause a wizard's magic to waiver, and it angered Snape to see the Boy-Who-Lived's magic being shrunk into nothing, almost.

"Mister Dursley, we are here in pursuit of Mister Potter's belongings. You are no longer bearing the burden of his custody." The raven haired man stepped between the two, hovering over the fat man.

Dursley was too stunned to move, but Snape pushed past him, with Harry following. Allowing Harry to lead, he was shown up the stairs and into a small bedroom with four or five locks on it. If that wasn't bad enough, then the room itself was pitiful. It was completely bare with only a bed and a single sheet. "It's not much, but it works." Harry tried to shrug it off, but Snape knew better.

Kneeling on the floor, the younger wizard pulled up a loose floor board and grabbed three things out. A photo album, invisibility cloak, and his wand. They went back downstairs, and to the cupboard under the stairs. "Hold on a minute." Harry grinned to himself and pulled out a bobby pin from the inside of his photo album. Within seconds, the deadlock was off and he was heaving his trunk from the closet. After taking his things to the carriage, Snape made Harry wait there while he spoke with his uncle.

"You incompetent, worthless, gruesome, hideous, horrible, crude, dissonant, cacophonic, ignorant, benighted, empty-headed fool!" He growled dangerously. "I do not yet know what kind of abuse you placed upon him, but I will find out and I will be vengeful, even if he refuses to retaliate." With that, he swept from the house and the two left, with Harry hoping never to see the Dursleys again.