He-he-he.... Here we go again! Enjoy, beloved readers!

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry followed Albus Dumbledore down the steps, past a stone gargoyle that made Harry jump when it moved, and down a hallway. Both were deep in thought until Harry stopped suddenly.

"Ah, Professor, er... Headmaster?"

Albus whirled around to face the raven-haired boy. "Yes?"

"My question was never answered by the man in the Leaky Cauldron. Why, er, how did he know who I am?"

"Because, my boy, you are the Boy-Who-Lived. Didn't your uncle and aunt tell you anything? About that famous scar on your forehead, even?"

Harry looked down at himself in the new black wizard's robes, then back up sharply. "Famous scar?" He raised his hand to his forehead in shock, then quickly concealed his emotions again. "I was told I got it from a car crash."

Dumbledore chuckled softly. "As if a normal muggle car crash could give you that scar. Don't fret, my boy. It will all be explained later. But I think that now I want to get you settled, and tomorrow over breakfast everything will be explained to you."

Harry nodded, following Albus Dumbledore silently as his robes billowed out behind him while he walked.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape sat at the desk in his Potions classroom in the wonderfully dreary dungeons of Hogwarts. He leaned quietly over his first week of lesson plans, now silently cursing himself for not heeding the other teachers and instead starting them so late. He was overloaded with work, and needed something to lift his spirits.

Unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore striding through the door followed by a very solemn Harry Potter was not what he needed, nor expected.

"Ah, Headmaster. I see the boy made it safely here. What he is doing in front of my desk two weeks before term is beyond me, though."

Dumbledore chuckled at Severus's cold manner. "Always the warm welcome, Severus?" Gaining composure, he continued, "Harry is in your charge. He needs a place to stay until term, and an adjoining bedroom to your room is as good a place as any, seeing as how you are the only other Professor that know Mr. Potter is here with us. I would have Minerva watch over him, because she is all prepared for term and very good with children, as opposed to some other Professors I know of..." He trailed off, but picked up again after Severus got the point. "I would prefer the other Professors did not know about these happenings until we get them straightened up, but since you already do you can take Harry for now."

At Severus's hasty response, Albus cut him off. "Yes, Severus, I know you're busy, because you are such a procrastinator, but, I'm sure he can entertain himself for a little bit. All I need you to do is make sure he gets healthy meals every day, —"

Severus noted the thinness of the small form next to his Headmaster.

"—a nice place to sleep, and all of the things he needs for school. So really the only thing you need to do that would halt your work is a short trip to Diagon Alley."

Severus grumbled under Harry Potter's perspective glare. "Of course, Headmaster. It isn't that important to have lesson plans anyway. Some of the students are so thick-skulled it'll take days to get one lesson through to them."

Albus sent him what can only be described as the 'Look,' the kind of look a wife gives her cowering husband. "Well, Severus. I'm sure you can handle it from here." On his way out the door, he called, "Good day, Harry. We'll talk when you're settled."

Harry looked at his departing form then back at his scowling Potions Professor. "Er.... My rooms?"

Severus stood, and Harry hid the shock at his height. He stared expressionlessly at his glowering watcher and waited to be led away again.

"Follow me."

Snape led Harry through a hidden doorway at the back of the classroom into a large room with couches and throw pillows and reclining comfy chairs surrounding a low oak coffee table, all forming a big semi-circle around a beautiful brick fireplace. Severus Snape hadn't struck Harry as the type of man for such a 'cushy' room, but there it was in front of his eyes. The dominant colors were green and silver, and Harry automatically assumed it was the Potions Master's favorite color. Some black intertwined with the silver, making the room look darker, but the burning fire let off such a glow that the room looked like it could immediately become a nice home.

The walls were mostly covered with shelves and shelves of books. A room branched off that also appeared to be fairly large and full of books. Always one to love to read, no matter if his aunt and uncle didn't like it, he was almost shaking with the anticipation of letting his eyes trail over the dulled words of all those books.

"There's a spare room I usually use as a junk room because I had no better purpose for it. Now that I do, I suppose I can help you fix it up to your standards."

In the thrill of seeing such a place, Harry let it slip, "Anything would be better than my cupboard."

Severus sent him a sharp glance and said, "What?"

Harry responded, too quickly, "Oh, nothing, really."

Professor Snape shrugged off a nagging feeling and led Harry into the spare room. With a flick of the wand, the clutter was out of sight. Another flick, and there was an oak bed set, complete with side table and wardrobe. "Color scheme?"

"Green and silver are actually my favorites."

Severus muttered under his breath, "Ironic," and asked Harry, "Any other homey touches you need?" He sneered at his own motherly-ness.

"No. It's alright. This'll do."

Severus left the room and Harry looked around. Not only did he have nothing to fill the wardrobe, he had nothing to wear but what was on his back. He trailed his hand across the smoothly finished wood of the wardrobe and mumbled quietly, "A bit extravagant to my usual tastes. Usually I'm tasting spiders."

He strode back into the large room with the fireplace, which he dubbed, 'The Library,' and began to peruse the spines of the books. Most seemed to have strange names, and unknown meanings, but when he came across one entitled 'Hogwarts, A History,' he decided it would be a good place to start, considering he was in Hogwarts.

"We'll be going to Diagon Alley first thing in the morning, Potter. The sooner you get your things, the better," Severus said in a silky voice as Harry sat down in a black leather reclining chair.

Harry nodded and opened the book on his lap. "I only have one robe."

"What?"

"I only have one robe."

"No, I heard what you said, what I meant was, what do you mean?"

"I mean, I only have one robe. Headmaster Dumbledore created this for me when I arrived, but I have nothing, and I mean nothing, else."

"Nothing under those?"

"No." Harry shifted uncomfortably.

Severus swallowed uncomfortably, flicked his wand at Harry, and Harry's discomfort level went down a notch, as something came between the skin of his bottom and the inside of his robe.

"More robes?"

Severus flicked the wand again and about five robes appeared, folded, on Harry's lap. "We'll get more tomorrow at Diagon Alley."

Harry observed the robes. Two were black, two were green, and one was a dull gray, nice and heavy for winter. Harry set the book on the low table and brought the robes into his bedroom and put them away. Then he moved casually back into the Library, like the previous conversation never happened, and sat back down to read about Hogwarts's history.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Around an hour and a half later, Harry stiffly got up and retired to his chambers, book under his arm. Severus was still bent over his work in the Library, willed to finish some of his lesson plans.

Harry shed his clothes and slipped under the silken covers. They were cool to the touch yet somehow at the same time warming. Harry mused over the happenings of the day. He most definitely didn't expect to be sleeping in a real bed after being left in a box in the afternoon. He hadn't expected to be recognized by a stranger and introduced to an old man that must have been more than a hundred years old. He didn't expect to fly through a green fireplace. That experience had almost made him sick. The multiple sensations came rushing back as he remembered that. Albus Dumbledore had threw powder into the fireplace stepped in it with Harry when it turned green, yelled, 'Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office!' to no one, and then they were lurched through the air.

Harry closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back into the comfort of the pillows. Tomorrow everything would be explained, no matter how much of a mystery it seemed to him now.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: Whoo! Yeesh. Back's kind of stiff now. Sat down and wrote that for y'all same night of my last update, and now that it's past midnight on Easter Morning (12:03 AM to be exact) I need sleep. No reviews now, because I just put up my last chapter a little while ago, although I hope to get more now. Look forward to my next chapter! "Explanations and Diagon Alley." I'll get it out ASAP!