Severus Snape fumed as he made his way back to Number 5 Privet Dr. His house, now.

Did those, Dursley's, seriously believe that he hadn't heard that? That cry of anguish and pain coming from an upstairs room. It was muffled, surely, but it was there, and it was real. Of course, even if he hadn't been positive of its existence, the Dursley's nervous responses only confirmed his assessment.

As he stepped gracefully onto his front doorstep, he heard an ear shattering scream. One filled with agony. One that someone such as himself had heard many times in the service of the Dark Lord.

That had to be Harry Potter.

He may be a prejudice bastard, but he knew that Harry Potter lived there, and if the inhabitants of that house include 3 Dursleys and one Harry Potter, it left nothing to be questioned.

Of course, perhaps the boy was just being the drama queen he normally was. Maybe he had a row with his family, and refused to eat with them. Maybe he stubbed his toe, or had another one of those dreams he had heard Minerva stressing over…

Yes, surely it was nothing serious. Or so he tried to reassure himself.

He sighed, and opened the door to his new house. He would move in the rest of the furniture tomorrow.

He trekked down to his basement, and pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey.

He was going to have to get severely wasted if he wanted to deal with the fact he had just had to be decent with a bunch of muggles.

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The next morning was bright, sun leaking in through the partially barred windows of his little room. Which didn't make him any happier.

Harry found that discarded sheet, wrapping it around his hand again. He counted down the seconds, and as he reached zero, his door was once again flung open unceremoniously.

"Boy!" Aunt Petunia started, "Go do the dishes, and then weed the front landscape!"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harry droned out. If his Aunt had been paying attention she might have heard the slight mocking tone in his voice. But of course she paid no heed to the boy's response, and left quickly.

Harry once again left his sanctuary and went to do his Dursley-appointed duty in this hell of a house.

Doing the dishes was simple, just cleaning them off and shoving them in the washer. Put some soap in there, close it up and walk away. A breeze.

The garden however, was a different story.

It was Aunt Petunia's treasure, even if he had never seen her take care of it herself. The flowers in the front had to look perfectly normal for her to be happy. That meant healthy, and weed free.

Of course, Aunt Petunia had not taken care of it before he had gotten home, so it was close to being over run with weeds.

Lucky me, he thought as he kneeled in the grass and began the long process of taking care of Aunt Petunia's laziness.

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Severus saw the sun seep through his windows that morning as he awoke, and wished he had brought blackout curtains.

He hated the sun. Despised it. Loathed it. If he didn't have more important things to do it would be his eternal quest to blot out the sun.

But he, of course, had much more important thins to attend to. But right now he had some furniture to move, and then he had a Potter to find.

Lucky me, he thought to himself as he put on some vile muggle clothes, and stepped out into the sun after hoping he could avoid this dreadful encounter with this wonderfully sunny day.

Reaching into his jean pocket, his hand touched his wand, and muttered a weightless charm, which was cast over all of his remaining furniture as he neared it. No one would notice as long as he pretended dragging in his furniture was a strain.

Taking a few more paces to reach the truck, he decided it would make most sense to take in all the things one person could carry, so not to attract suspicion.

He monotonously pulled out random furniture and dragged it into his house, putting it in a position that suited him. Now all that was left was a large leather couch and the kitchen table, which could not be pulled in alone. Well at least not for a muggle, and being in a muggle neighborhood meant he was not aloud to defy the laws of physics.

Then he took a glance over at the Dursley's. Perhaps he could ask them for help…

But in the front yard he saw a small boy, kneeling in the grass bent over the flowers in the landscape. Messy black hair lay in his eyes, and he pulled weed after weed out of the overgrown garden.

Potter.

After a little study of the boy, he realized Potter looked smaller and skinnier then he had ever seen. Hopefully this had had absolutely no connection to what he had heard yester day.

But poor Severus had a sinking feeling that it had everything to do with what he had heard yesterday.

Grudgingly, he did what he knew what he had to do. He trudged his way over to the Dursley's house to speak with one he despised perhaps just as much as the sun.

He made sure all his masks were up, and he put on a friendly façade as he began to speak with the boy.

"Hello, I don't believe I have met you. What is your name?" He asked, even if he did want to go jump of the nearest cliff as he said it.

"Harry Potter, sir, and I suppose you are the new neighbor?" Harry replied, sounding extremely polite. Strange…

"Indeed, Mr. Potter. My name is Dominic Caulfield." Severus answered.

"Mr. Potter isn't necessary, sir. Just Harry is fine."

Even if Severus wanted to kill himself, he had to return the common courtesy.

"Then you may call me Dominic."

At that very moment Petunia came out of the house, muttering under her breath.

"Boy!" She started, then noticed Severus," Oh hello Dominic. I see you have met Harry."

"Indeed. Who might he be?"

"Oh he is our nephew. The boy is worthless. He recently got back from St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal Boys." She said in disgust.

She had probably used this lie before, because it slid out of her mouth with ease. But Severus was appalled at ho she truly believed the boy was worthless. Something terrible was happening in this house, he knew.

"The boy does not seem worthless to me, Petunia," He answered defiantly, "And I have come over to ask for some help moving the rest of my furniture. Perhaps Harry could help me?"

"Yes that's fine," Petunia said, waving her hand, "But the boy isn't the strongest, so don't be surprised if he isn't much help."

He ignored her, and beckoned to Potter, who at perked up at hearing his name. He followed Severus over to his home and to the moving truck.

In truth, Potter did have a little trouble with the moving, but it was not nearly as much as he would have assumed. Was the boy used to this? This was just getting more and more serious; he realized as he saw how Potter kept his head down, refusing to look him in the eye.

Potter's stomach growled and Severus forced out a laugh. It was disgusting how hungry the boy must be.

"Well come in Harry, how about we have some lunch?"

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I AM SORRY FOR THE EVIL ENDING.

I haven't much time! I have to go pack! AHG!

Thank you for your flattering reviews that boosted my already extremely large ego!

Now I really won't be able to update for about 4 days. I have a 3 day break before I go camping, so you guys might get an update around the 29th if I can get it done!

~Celia

PS: SOWWY!