Disclaimer: Alright, this is the last disclaimer I'm going to write. It is my belief that since I wrote one on the first chapter, it's pointless and superfluous to do one on every single chapter, since they are just continuations of the first.  So with that said, I'm going to let whoever wants to read on do so...

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry stared at the old man in front of him, not sure of whether he should continue.  I mean, he thought,  the man got me here through a fireplace. That's not normal.  Sure, he wanted to tell the man his story, and something about him screamed that he was sincere in his want to help Harry, but still. The man was a complete stranger, an unknown yet kind symbol in a world that hated him. A beacon of light reaching out to his cold and dreary life. Harry silently decided that the man couldn't hurt him more than he was already. Most of the abuse his aunt and uncle had given him through the years was psychological, as they continually put him down with words, although often he was beaten with one of Uncle Vernon's long belts, or Aunt Petunia's frying pan, or even Dudley's various toys.

And then being told, out of the clear blue sky, that he was a wizard. A wizard!  How in the world was that possible? Of course weird things have happened to him, but weird things happen to everyone, don't they? It made a little sense, he guessed, because, after all, many of the strange little tricks he had managed seemed to be a bit... oh, supernatural might be a fitting word. But how could that possibly mean he was a wizard?

Harry Potter shook his head, stared at his lap, and resolved to tell the white-haired man his story.

"Well... I've lived with my aunt and uncle for as long as I can remember. I worked for them for food and clothes." He looked down, clearly ashamed. "They fed me enough to keep me alive, and gave me my cousins old clothes." His bright green eyes suddenly became angry, and he added, "Obviously the fat cow was much bigger than I am."

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "I see that." He flicked his wand and Harry was re-clothed in flowing black wizarding robes, making him look less out of place, and less like he lived in the same clothes all his life, which, by the way he spoke of his previous 'home,' could very well have been possible. "Better. Continue."

"Er...." Harry's eyes widened incredibly at the movement and result, but quickly gained control of himself, remembering the Dursleys punished him if he let surprise get to him. "Well, if I didn't do everything exactly right, they would punish me."

"The scars?"

"Yea." He shook slightly with well-restrained anger, but didn't seem to be letting his emotions-any emotions at all-get the best of him. He looked apathetic to the traumas he must have experienced. "Anyway, earlier today an owl came and dropped a letter for me. I knew it was for me because I brought in the mail. Uncle Vernon took it from me, read it, and for some reason drove me into London and left me in a box in an alley. I was blindfolded and kept under close watch by my cousin. He put me somewhere I'd been before, because they had brought me all through London once or twice, maybe.

"Obviously, I managed to untie my wrists-they did a pretty full job of disabling me, I swear-and get the blindfold off a few minutes after they left. Before they left, my uncle was muttering about 'filth' and Aunt Petunia was yelling nasty things about my mother. Something about 'her kind' and more 'filth.' Then I got up, walked down the street, entered a restaurant or something, and was all the sudden flying through green fire." He paused to look at the Headmaster of Hogwarts. "Which, by the way, I'm very curious about. How did I get here?"

Albus Dumbledore stared at him silently, before responding, "By Floo." He leaned back in his chair. "You'll want to stay here until term begins. We can do something about your appearance. The scars and such. But, alas, dinner is neigh, and we must feast."

The Headmaster ordered dinner in his office, enough for Harry and himself. They ate silently, thoughts wandering separately.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape ate in the empty Great Hall with the rest of the faculty. Most were perturbed by Albus's absence, but none said anything. They didn't know of the arrival of the Potter-boy, and chances were that they wouldn't until term began.

Severus dreaded the day that term starts, knowing full well of how the student body would react to the presence of the infamous 'Harry Potter.' The new celebrity would catch the attention of everyone for a few days, at least, before the attention he was given would die down a bit.

Somehow he knew that if the boy had wandered into The Leaky Cauldron all by himself, Dumbledore would take him back to the castle to keep him until the start of term. Maybe it was the friendship he had with the man that helped him know some of the crazy ideas the man had. Severus clearly thought the man was off his rocker, that the elevator didn't go all the way to the top for him anymore, yet the Professor still seemed to make sense out of some of the things that the Headmaster was prone to do. So he knew. He knew that if Harry Potter had walked into The Leaky Cauldron, without knowing where he was going, that the old man would take the boy in and care for him. Severus didn't mind though. It seemed that the more time he spent with the old man, the more he withdrew from the old sulky self that was Severus Snape. I need to stop being around him, he thought. He's going to drive me mad.

Minerva McGonagall sat on his right, going on about one of her graduated Gryffindors. She was the Gryffindor Head of House, and loved to gloat about her graduates' successes.

Of course, being Slytherin Head of House, he had his own stories to tell. He just wasn't in the mood to argue with her about what position in the Ministry of Magic was the best. After all, no matter how much he argued with her about it, she would sit back, nod her head, shrug, stare into the distance, and say, "Potions Maker for the Minister is better than keeping up with the Muggle advances? If you say so, Severus, dear." Not only would she be sarcastic and annoying, she called him * dear. * She knew he hated such friendly terms, since he was friendly with no one, yet she insisted on using them like a mother would a disruptive and argumentative son. The nerve? Oh yes, the nerve indeed.

He continued to ignore her as he finished his duck soup, the Headmaster's idea of a good dinner. "Evening, Minerva," he said, standing up. Nodding to the other surrounding Professors, he left the Great Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, Harry," Dumbledore said, leaning back into his chair after finishing his dinner of finger sandwiches. "You will need the items on that letter you got, for school in two weeks."

"I'm going to school here? I'm not going home?"

"I told you, did I not? You are a wizard, dear boy. You need to go to a wizard's school.  And that is where we are, yes? Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Well yes, but...." Harry looked down at his plate. "I didn't exactly think you were serious, I mean.... A wizard? Really, it's impossible."

"On the contrary, Harry. It's very possible. In fact, there are quite a few of us."

Harry shuffled his feet and looked around, noting his surroundings quickly. He remembered the Dursleys teachings on being perspective without obviousness, allowing him never to be surprised. They never actually taught him these things, but the way they treated him made those qualities necessary for his survival. If he let his feelings show, he would be punished for them. He never really knew why, in his heart, but figured that he had to have done something wrong to be getting the punishment. He still felt as though a punishment would be coming for not staying in their box like he probably should have, but instead letting his curiosity lead him away, just as they told him never to let happen.

"Harry?"

Dumbledore shifted Harry's thoughts back to reality with the simple, kind calling of his name. "Yes?" Harry responded quickly, in slave mode, ready to do anything the Headmaster needed.

"Professor Severus Snape is the only other person that knows you are here. Therefore, he is whom I am going to have watch over you until term begins. Now, I will request that he brings you to Diagon Alley to buy your school supplies-"

Harry gave him a blank look.

"Diagon Alley is where we wizards shop for our necessities. Obviously we can't get things like wands and owls in Muggle London."

Harry nodded with another blank look.

Dumbledore heaved a patient-if it's possible to sigh patiently, that man could do it-sigh and explained, "Muggles are non-magic folk, like your aunt and uncle."

Harry nodded again, with a look not nearly as blank, yet still without complete understanding. But that was to be expected, of course.

"Well. We'll branch a bedroom for you off of Professor Snape's chambers. That way you can stay there until the beginning-of-the-year-sorting. You will need to amuse yourself, however. The Professor, I'm sure, has much planning to do for the year."

"Sure."

"And we'll be doing something about those scars. I'm sure there is something we can do to heal them. A potion, perhaps." Dumbledore looked over at a phoenix, perched beautifully on a wooden stand. "I'll have Fawkes here take a request to the international library. Of course, Severus might know of a good potion...." The Headmaster trailed off, staring into the distance with a twinkle in his ancient blue eyes.

"Ah," he said, standing. "Let's get you settled in with Severus, now. I'm sure he's already left the Great Hall by now, knowing him."

Harry silently followed him out the door of the room, the last sound that he heard of the office emanating from the incredible phoenix called Fawkes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: Alright. It's not that long, I know, and it's been a while since my first update. (I owe that to computer problems, sorry. Never can make technology work right for me!) And technically it's not a cliffhanger, so... Anyway, I'd like to donate some responses to reveiwers...

Andromeda's kitty: Thank you! And here's your update, hope you like it!

Lillian-and-Lime: Hello! Thanks. I tried to make it seem that way. Ah, as for the scene changes, when I wrote the chapter on Word, they were double spaced. It was my first story put on the website, and I didn't realize that it would show up differently on the website than in my document. I tried to fix it and couldn't, though hopefully it'll work this time.... Hope this chapter was something you liked to read!

oracle: Thanks!

Hermione88220: Thank you. Enjoy the chapter?

Mikee: I hope so. Yea, I'm looking forward to seeing where I take this, too. Thanks!

shiroiryu144: Ooo, this'll be long... Okay, here goes:

Harry's beginning position is in London, where I placed him. Convieniently close to the Leaky Cauldron it very well may be, but he was dropped off in London, as I saw fit, and I believe the Leaky Cauldron is in London. The Dursleys would leave Harry in London so that he may get lost, or eat trash and die, or starve. Who knows how selfish muggles like the Dursleys think? My creation of the Dursleys in that chapter saw fit to leave him in London, instead of somewhere where he might wander home. Besides, maybe when they put him there they weren't thinking heartlessly and wouldn't mind if someone else picked him up and dealt with him? Unfortunately that's all I can give for an explanation. Alright... Harry is still in the box because chances are good that he doesn't really know what else to do. I didn't go back hours before when he was supposedly dropped off. He probably expected his uncle to come back, pick him up, beat him a bit, then take him home. What would anyone do if dropped off in an unfamiliar alleyway in a box? He took the blindfold off himself, as is mentioned in this chapter. His cousin was watching him, as is also mentioned in this chapter. He was not knocked out, although yes it is third-person-all- seeing-narrator. He probably could've told an approximate amount of time by observing where the sun was when he left the house, got the blindfold off, and when my story began, but I didn't mention it. It would have been * way * too convienient, even by my standards if Severus dropped by and swooped him off after finding him in a box, as well as very out of character for a certain Potions Master. Harry's actions are also mostly explained in this chapter, although if there are some that are still not clear feel free to tell me. And, it may be unlikely for Harry to be in a state of shock, but is possible. And I'm glad that this is a good start to my story, because I hope to continue it more clearly than was apparently done before. As for questions and suggestions, not problems, it is very possible that these are problems, and I admit freely to that. I am not a perfect writer, and I hope that my explanations are enough. The floo-ing will definitely be explained later, do not doubt me. And thank you for spending the time and writing your comments, as I do appreciate it.

(By the way, if my writing in reviews sound sarcastic, as I was just informed of, they actually are not. That's just the way I write. I'm deadly serious in the review responses, though not when I'm with my friends in normal conversation, as unfortunately, reveiws are not totally normal conversation.)

I will update as soon as I can, but because tomorrow is Easter, and next week may be hectic, I'm not going to give promises I cannot keep, though the update will most likely end up being around Wednesday.

And here I part!