-Hogwarts-

"Minerva! Minerva!"

The deputy headmistress looked up from her work.

"Poppy? Pomona?"

The two women nearly skidded to a halt in front of her desk.

"Severus…we found Severus…thought you'd want to come…"

Minerva dropped what she was holding.

"Is he ok? Where has he been hiding? Did someone go and retrieve him yet? How did you…"

"'Nerva!" Poppy scolded, "Calm down. We've located him, Arthur and Filius are waiting for us downstairs. We're going to take him home."

-The Burrow-

Remus came in, smiling broadly.

"I've found it. I did some very extensive searching in the Ministry archive, and in some obscure cabinet were some old transaction papers. I found the one James's grandfather filed when he purchased ground near the Scottish border. Ten to one that he built the Bungalow James told us about there."

Molly Weasley looked excited.

"So…that's where Harry is?"

Remus nodded. "He might very well be. So…"

Molly waved her wand, and the food she was cooking removed itself from the stove.

"Let's get going then," she said matter-of-factly.

Ron and Hermione looked at her.

"I thought we'd agreed Harry doesn't need to be pushed, and we'd just send him letters," Hermione said tentatively.

Molly and Remus stared at the teens.

"But we know where he is now," they said, "we can go take him home. That was our objective."

Ron turned red and looked at his mother angrily.

"Harry doesn't WANT to be found. If he's at his family's house, he is perfectly fine. You promised him you wouldn't try and force him to go anywhere."

"RONALD WEASLEY!" his mother said sternly, "We are going to retrieve Harry and bring him back here. And then I'll give that young man a piece of my mind about running away like that. He could have come here."

"But…"

"We are going to collect him," the two adults said, "You can come or you can stay here."

Hermione pulled herself up from her chair.

"We are not going with you. You promised him! You promised you wouldn't try any of this."

"Fine, then," Molly Weasley snapped, before she and Remus left through the floo.

"I can't believe them!" Ron grumbled, "I mean…yeah, we wanted to find Harry too, but after he wrote and said he was fine, I figured we'd just see him in Diagon Alley. I just wanted him away from those dreadful Muggles."

Hermione nodded. "I suppose they mean well, but honestly I'm beginning to think, Ron, that the problem was never so much Dumbledore as it was the Order members themselves…"

Ron scowled. "No brain whatsoever. How about we go find Fred and George? Maybe they have a way of finding Harry ahead of them and warn him."

-Bungalow-

"It should be here somewhere…"

"That house over there!"

"Well…it looks like that's the one."

Remus and Molly fought a way through the bushes that surrounded the house.

"OUCH, Remus, why did you stop suddenly."

"Because he ran into me," Minerva's annoyed voice said.

"Minerva? What are you doing here?"

"Arthur?" said Molly Weasley, spotting her husband.

"We're here because we have reason to believe Severus is around here somewhere," her husband answered.

"And WE are here because we have reason to believe that house over there is Harry's hiding place," Molly added.

The members of both groups stared at each other in confusion.

"Severus…and Harry…together?" Minerva finally voiced the question that went through everyone's mind.

Remus shook his head.

"It would seem that way. Come on."

As they approached the house, they saw a small boy playing in the yard, seperated from the rest of the terrain by a low fence.

"Severus," Minerva breathed, her eyes a bit moist at seeing the little potions master safe and sound.

They carefully walked up to the fence, not wanting to alert the child.

"Let's go get him," Pomona said, trying to enter the fence…and bouncing off a set of powerful wards.

Severus looked up, startled. A panicked look crossed the small face when he recognized Minerva, Pomona and Poppy.

Another boy came running from the house, a teenager with messy black hair.

The child ran straight towards him, and both teams watched in amazement as the boy leapt in his arms, wrapped his legs around the teen's waist and his arms around his neck.

"Harry, Harry, they'll get me, help me," they heard him cry in terror.

The members of his search team all felt their eyes mist over as they realized just how scared the little boy was.

Molly Weasley, having tried to enter as well and being repelled by the wards, put her hands on her hips.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Let us in right now!"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't think so. What happened to 'We will not force you into anything'? I told you I was fine. Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

Remus answered. "Harry, you are too young to fend for yourself, we wanted…"

Harry, his arms still around the sniffling child, exploded.

"Too young to fend for myself, Remus? What right do you have to judge that? Was I too young to be abused by my relatives? Starved? Beaten? Neglected?

Was I too young to be made responsible for saving the whole bloody Wizarding World, who would rather throw a child into the fray then stand up as a whole against one, ONE stupid wannabe tyrant?

Honestly, you'll have to find a better reason then THAT, because it's a big fat lie. You knew I wasn't happy, to put it gently, at the Dursley's, but you let Dumbledore send me back. Yeah, he said he knew best and that I had to, but if you all had bothered to stand up to him, he couldn't have done much either, could he? At least HE has the excuse that too much responsibility finally took it's toll and made him ill."

Severus, having clung tightly to Harry even during the tirade, opened his eyes in surprise. The old man that had been mean to him had been ill? Was that why he had been mean? He shuddered. Those people had found them. They would be taken away to that awful place now. Mother had been right about that, at least. It was a nasty place. Those witches had been nice, but they worked for the mean ill wizard. Harry said so.

Suddenly a very grave thought hit him. What if the nasty people were here now because he went outside the wards and did magic? Was it his fault? He had only wanted to help Circe. The nasty people would take them away, and Harry would be very mad at him because it was his fault, and then he'd be all alone again.

Tears ran down his face and he felt Harry automatically tighten his hold to comfort him.

Molly and Remus were dumbfound by the young man's rant. But Harry wasn't done yet.

"Was I too young to see Quirrel die, Remus? Or Cedric? Or Sirius? Hear my parents every time a Dementor comes near? Hell, even coming near a Dementor is something I'm apparently not too young for. So please, don't start saying now that I'm too young to fend for myself in a house that belonged to my family, is designed to protect me, and where no one beats me or starves me. I've had to fend for myself since I was two years old.

And you, Mrs Weasley…I know you mean well and you want to care for me, but you can't go ordering me around. You can't break promises just because you are the adult, and you cannot assume you always know better. As we can see from recent events, that is not true. So I suggest you just leave here, assured that we are perfectly fine and happy, and I'll see you, professors, on September first."

Arthur Weasley cleared his throat.

"Harry…we came here for Severus too. We didn't…expect to find him in your care, and we're very much reassured that he is well…"

They half expected to see Harry drop the child in horror as he realized that this was his potions master, but Harry merely nodded.

"You knew?"

"He IS six years old, Mr Weasley. He is perfectly capable of telling me his name, and can actually relay information from his memories. Yes, I've known since about half an hour after I met him."

"Then you know, or suspect what happened to him."

"Yes," Harry said impatiently, stroking the dark hair as he felt Severus sniffle a little.

"We are looking for a solution, to turn him into an adult again," Flitwick said, "but first and foremost, we wanted to know he was safe. We've been so worried about him."

"That's good to know," Harry said, "But I won't let you take him. He stays with me."

Molly Weasley found her voice again.

"You can't take care of a child!" she said indignantly.

"Why ever not, Mrs Weasley? I have been taking care of him for three weeks now, and as you can see, he is, apart from upset at the moment, perfectly fine and healthy."

"Harry, we would take good care of him," Poppy said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Must I remind you that your previous record on caring for a child suddenly left in your care is not exactly…shall we say, spotless?" he sneered.

Then he turned to Remus.

"Weren't Ron and Hermione in your little search team too?"

"They were upset when they heard we were going here," Remus admitted, "and didn't want to be part of it."

Harry nodded in satisfaction. His friends had not let him down.

"So, now that you know how I feel about matters, we are going in to have lunch. I'm sorry I can't invite you to join us."

That said, he turned around, and started for the house, leaving a group of very flushed adults behind.