A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I've been very busy with college stuff and studying for the SAT tests. Expect the next update within the next two weeks. Thank you for your comments on the previous chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and never will.

"Dudley's quite...aggressive isn't he?"

"Dudley? He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"He just shattered Potter's glasses with a rock."

"They're just playing, Tobias, calm down. I suppose you wouldn't understand unless you were around kids more often."

Severus said nothing but rolled his eyes when Vernon and the other fathers turned their attention back to the brawl between Potter and Dudley's friends.

More often? Teaching underage brats was his life. He was responsible for not only his Slytherins but virtually every other student at Hogwarts as well. And that was a lot of kids.

The only thing he hated more than teaching was social events. Last night, Petunia had called to inform them that she was hosting a 'Welcome to Privet Drive' party for them, and they simply must attend. Severus almost rejected the offer immediately, but then Minerva had intercepted the phone and told Petunia they'd love to go.

Severus was not pleased.

Socializing with other witches and wizards was bad enough, but Muggles had to be the worst. All they ever talked about was their various sporting events and children, the two things Severus hated most.

Worst of all, he would have to see Potter again. He hadn't seen nor heard the boy since that night, and he had been hoping it would remain that way until that horrible day arrived when he would see Potter's face everyday in his Potions class.

At first, Severus had adamantly refused to go, but at Minerva's persistence and the promise of a new house elf to attend to the students' messes in his dungeons this year, he had reluctantly followed her to the party.

For the past two hours, he had been sitting outside with several other men— the fathers of Dudley's friends and a few of Vernon's co-workers— watching the young boys torment Potter. The adults were completely oblivious to Potter's condition— his broken glasses, blood dribbling down his lip where the Polkiss boy had punched him, a limp in his step from when Dudley had 'accidentally' mistaken his shin for a football— in fact, the men seemed to be enjoying the scene before them. A few even cheered on their sons as they tackled Potter, ignoring the cries from the poor boy that was smothered beneath them.

On several occasions, Severus' hand unconsciously went for his pocket, wanting to resolve the situation by magical means. Dumbledore's voice rang clear in his head every time, however: "Do not resort to magic under any circumstances short of life-threatening ones."

Severus clenched his fists angrily. Why did he allow Dumbledore to control him so? He was not a puppet, and as much as he wanted to hate Potter, he simply couldn't bring himself to believe that the boy deserved this kind of treatment any longer. If he had done something to actually deserve it, then Severus would completely understand, but the boys were torturing the boy because he was the only suitable punching bag in the proximity.

Still, the situation wasn't life-threatening, and one wrong move on his part would completely blow his cover. He wanted to charge up to those little brats and give them a Severus-Snape-style punishment, but even if he didn't use magic to discipline them, it would be all over for 'Tobias Miller' and the Dursleys would never allow them near their family again. Severus honestly didn't see what was so wrong with walking right up to Petunia and telling her who he was and why he was here, but deep down, he knew Dumbledore didn't want it to happen like that. Why the old man wanted things to be as they were now, Severus could not say, but he figured it would be better for him to remain in Dumbledore's good graces and go along with the plan, no matter how idiotic it might seem.

After one particularly harsh blow to his stomach area by Dudley's fist, Potter fell backward and writhed on the ground, gasping for air. Severus immediately got to his feet, unable to simply sit there and watch any longer.

"What're you doing, Miller?" one of the fathers asked. Severus ignored all of them and hurried over to where Potter now lay, motionless. Just before he got there, however, Potter sat up all by himself and glared at the gang of boys standing a few feet in front of him. Suddenly, every one of the boys' faces began to turn a nasty scarlet colour, and enormous blisters appeared all over their skin. Then the boils came, popping through the skin and expanding to epic proportions. The boys screamed in terror and clawed at their faces as their anxious fathers leaped to their feet and ran over to calm them down.

Severus merely stood there. He was enjoying seeing the bullies get what they deserved, but he was also concerned with Potter's usage of accidental magic for destructive purposes. While it wasn't exactly Dark magic, he had to wonder if the boy consciously knew what he was doing.

Apparently Vernon knew Potter had done something, judging by the tone in which he yelled at him.

"What did you do to them, boy?!" he roared. Severus found it quite amusing to see just how purple the man's face got when he was angry.

Potter, genuinely startled by what had happened, shook his head wildly.

"I don't know!" he cried as Vernon slapped him across the face. Dudley was still screaming behind them, but by now the women had all come out to the yard to see what all of the commotion was about, and Petunia immediately began sobbing over her poor baby boy's "ouchies."

"Set them right!" Vernon yelled, striking the boy a second time.

"I didn't do anything!" Potter cried, tears streaming down his face from the sting of his uncle's abuse. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Liar!" Vernon bellowed over the screams from the boys behind him. The other parents were rushing their children inside, hoping to find some way to cure the sudden and inexplicable outbreak of boils that continued to bulge on their precious darlings' faces. Severus knew it would be nearly impossible to fix without at least a Muggle doctor's help. Those were caused by magic, and simple Muggle remedies would not be able to undo the damage.

A good man would have gone in and fixed them up— Obliviating everyone when he was done— but Severus secretly followed Potter instead. Only after the boy crumpled to the ground in agony did his uncle finally yell at him to go to his cupboard. . .whatever that meant. After ensuring that nobody was watching him, Severus sneaked inside as well and stuck his foot in the cupboard door just as Potter readied to lock himself inside.

"Potter."

The boy stared at him. His eyes were puffy and blackened and he was covered in bruises. Without his glasses, Severus noted that he looked more like his mother than his wretched father; that would only make things harder.

"Yes sir?" he asked in a hollow voice.

Severus glanced over his shoulder. Nobody was in the room, and even though he could still hear the boys were still howling in pain in the kitchen, it was rather quiet in here.

"Do you know how you did that, Potter?"

The boy's eyes widened fearfully. "I didn't—"

"You did," Severus cut across him harshly. Noticing Potter's confusion, he added, "Has anything like that happened before? Something...unusual that you couldn't explain?"

Potter leaned back into his cupboard, wary of just how much his neighbour knew. After considering the question for a moment, he responded quietly, "No sir. Nothing."

Severus saw that he was lying. A shrinking sweater and an image of Potter sitting on some sort of roof bubbled to the surface of the boy's mind; he seemed completely unaware of the way Severus was observing him. In fact, his memories and thoughts were almost too clear, even for a young child. If he kept this up, the boy was destined to be a terrible Occlumens...

"Nothing," Severus repeated, still wondering just how much the boy knew of his magical capabilities. "Why are you in here?" he asked, changing the subject in an effort to get the boy to stop staring at him.

Potter looked around the cupboard as though he were trying to formulate the proper words to describe it. "This is my room," he said plainly.

"You room?" Severus carefully concealed his incredulity as he observed the tiny room with renewed interest. No wonder the boy was so scrawny; the cramped space must have stunted his growth.

One crudely-drawn picture caught Severus' eye at once. There were three people in the drawing: a blonde woman with bright blue eyes, and a young boy and man who looked exactly alike. "My parents" was written neatly below the figures.

Noticing Severus' gaze, Potter pulled the picture off of the door and handed it to him for a closer inspection.

"Those were my parents," he said shyly. "And that's me," he pointed to the shortest person.

Severus cringed as his eyes lingered on the blonde woman. She looked exactly like Petunia.

"Have you ever seen a real picture of your parents?" he asked in a strained voice, already knowing the answer.

Potter shook his head. "The only thing they've ever told me was that I look like him. I suppose my mum would look like Aunt Petunia though, since they were sisters."

Not exactly, Severus thought silently. He wanted to tear the despicable drawing to shreds, but instead he forced himself to give it back to the boy.

"So you truly don't know why the other boys were hurt?" he asked finally, wanting to stay away from the awkward subject of Potter's parents from now on.

As expected, Potter shook his head. Resisting the urge to flat-out tell the boy he was a goddamn wizard, Severus pulled a pair of glasses out of his pocket and handed them to the boy. They were no longer smashed to bits, but fully repaired, like new.

"How did you do that?" he whispered in an awed voice after he had put them on.

"The same way you attacked the other boys," Severus replied vaguely, knowing this would further the boy's confusion, which made him feel slightly better after being so damn nice to Potter.

"Severus! Why aren't you—" Minerva trailed off as Severus stepped aside, revealing Potter, who had been hiding out of sight in his cupboard when Minerva had walked in, perhaps assuming that they were alone.

"Oh! Hello. . .Potter," she scrambled to regain her composure, but Potter had already noticed something was wrong. "We were just. . .fixing up your friends."

She shot at nasty glare at Severus, as though to say: no thanks to you.

Potter glanced from Severus to Minerva, frowning deeply as his head darted back and forth. He was very confused.

"Are they all better now?" Severus sneered. He was disappointed to hear they hadn't suffered longer.

"Of course," Minerva snapped. "Luckily I brought along some of Pop-Doctor Pomfrey's healing cream."

"I thought you couldn't use that without some Obliviate," Severus replied sarcastically. He was thoroughly enjoying Potter's bewilderment; the boy must be thinking they were talking about some kind of medicine.

Minerva glared at him. "Yes. . .but this isn't the time to talk about it—"

"I thought your boss specifically told you not to use—"

"Its okay, no harm done, Harry," Minerva interrupted, smiling at Potter as she spoke. "And. . .I was speaking to your aunt earlier. . .she told me they're going to Wales for Dudley's birthday this year."

"Oh I'm not going," Potter replied at once, looking glum. "I'm staying with—"

"How would you like to stay with us?"

Severus' jaw dropped in horror. Potter. . .come and live with them while his relatives were away?! Was this just a sick prank or was Minerva serious about that?

Potter's eyes lit up. "I-I'd love to. . .th-thank you."

Minerva smirked at Severus, who looked as though someone had just forced him into a room covered in bright pink furniture and adorable kittens.

Just when he had thought this summer couldn't get any worse, Minerva managed to prove him wrong yet again. An entire week with Potter...

"Kill me," he muttered under his breath as Minerva wrapped her arm around Potter's shoulders and led him away.

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