Apologies in advanced for any grammatically incorrect fragments and sentences, I don't think spelling should be a problem, but I did read the story over three additional times and as a human I'm bound to have missed quite a few mistakes. Sorry, though, if it throws off the reading experience for you. I will improve more in the future, x

Transparent Fall: Chapter Two

Severus Snape would openly tell you that he only kept the boy close to his side because of Lily Potter before he'd willingly admit that he cared for Harry. Seventeen years previous, when he found Lily on the floor lifeless, his life crumbled and he truly adapted an even greater hatred for the world that night. This was all until he softly placed Lily's body back to the floor and turned to the crying child in the crib. Their eyes met, and the baby's screams ceased as they looked to each other. Severus could see all of that sodding Gryffindor James, no resemblance to Lily whatsoever… until of course he looked a little closer. His breath hitched and he stood from his knees to make his way over to Harry, picking him up and holding him out from himself to look into his eyes. Green. He had Lily's eyes, and that was all he needed.

He knew it was his responsibility to guide the boy into the right direction, to help him at any possible cost because he owed that to Lily. He even owed it to James. Even so, now, present day, the boy worked on every nerve Severus had left. Nagging him about stupid questions like he always had, and even when Severus answered him the blithering idiot still wouldn't understand a damned thing. It was astonishing that Harry even came from Lily, he certainly got his intelligence from his just as stupid father.

"Severus, I was getting to thinking last night," Harry said as he skipped into the kitchen where Severus was busy sipping at tea and thinking of past events as he always did.

Snape scoffed, "What did I tell you about that, you don't do well then you think."

"Right," Harry rolled his eyes at Severus' poor attempt at insulting him, and he poured himself a cup of tea to sit across from the elder man at the wooden table, "There's a chemistry opening at the high school just a few miles away from here, would that be something you'd be interested in?"

"I teach with potions, Potter, not with muggle science-kits," scoffed the dark man.

"Look, you said that we'd have to appear as normal as possible if this was going to work out. I think you'd be surprised at how similar both potions and muggle chemistry is. I'm thinking about enrolling and becoming a student, I'd be in my last year, but it's a start to this new life, don't you agree?"

They engaged in an intense stare, as if Severus were testing the teenager across from him, "How do you propose I go about this, Potter? I haven't got any proof that I've studied, nor had muggle schooling,"

"We're wizards, Sev', we don't need to worry about little things like that. Just flick your wand and you're good," Harry sighed when Severus' hard look stayed, "Look, I know this isn't something you were thinking of doing when we got here but it might help us out fairly well, don't you think? I'm ready to just live, without worries or fear. Aren't you tired of being forced to a life behind the walls of a home that isn't even a home?"

"Maybe, I'll think about it," Severus mumbled and grabbed the muggle newspaper lying beside his cup of tea and pulling it up in front of his face to avoid the concentrated and determined look of his student across from him. He didn't bother reading the paper; he simply lost himself in memories once more as Harry stood with a defeated sigh and left the room.

"Sevvy, my shirt feels weird," a five year old Harry exclaimed as he scampered into the study of the darkly dressed Slytherin, "I dun wike it, it itches,"

The professor turned from the cauldron and looked down at the raven haired boy with a raised brow and a curious expression, "What did I tell you about calling me that? And of course it feels weird, you've got it on backwards and it's inside out."

"Ohh," the small boy said with a pout and walked closer to the only adult figure he had in his life, "Can you help me, pwease?"

"You're going to need to learn how to dress yourself one day, Harry, you know this," Severus scolded and hard eyes looked into big and bright emerald eyes that were hopeful for a bit of help. The potions teacher sighed and kneeled on one knee to help the boy fix his shirt, "Fine, I'll help you this one time, but you're going to need to learn that the tag goes on the inside, understand?"

"Otay," Harry nodded with a chipper smile, "Thank-you, Sev',"

"I told you not to call me that," he scolded once more with a now irate expression as he helped the young boy with his shirt and sent him on his way warning him not to disturb him while he were in his study and busy doing 'adult things'.

The tall and large-nosed professor also wouldn't admit that thinking of such memories made the corner of his lips twitch into a small smile. He loved the Potter boy, as a son-type-of-way, and he'd make the unbreakable vow over and over again if it meant protecting the younger wizard from any type of harm. That had actually been the reason they came to America.

Severus sighed and slapped the newspaper back onto the table and rested his elbows on the mahogany top, his forehead now resting along the bent knuckles of his hand. He knew he'd do it, he didn't have a choice. He was going to apply for this silly chemistry teacher employment for the simple reason that Harry wanted him to. He groaned and stood from the table and entered through the arched doorway that lead to their living room. There hadn't been much, but the brown leather sofa and the large muggle television had been enough, "Fine."

Harry looked over his shoulder from sitting on the couch to Severus, a knowing smile on his face as his mentor crossed his arms and continued to scowl at him, "Fine, as in…?"

"As in I'll try for the bloody job," Severus muttered, speaking in a tone that appeared to be mocking Harry's intelligence, but the boy knew that was quite the opposite, "Are you happy now?"

"Very, thank-you, Sev'…" the emerald eyed boy said softly, "We can go down to the school tomorrow morning,"

"Sounds lovely," Snape muttered and turned back into the kitchen.

The sound of the television entered the elder man's ears as Harry changed the channel to a much louder one than the previous.

"Severus... Severus, will you just stop for a minute!" Harry cried, looking baffled and terrified as he watched his teacher rush around the home grabbing anything that he felt fit to bring with him on this silly 'adventure' that he rambled on about. Harry, knowing professor Snape better than anyone, knew this wasn't how Severus acted. No, Severus was straight, cool, very collected, and spoke in a manner of least impatiences and more with calmed intelligence. Harry had come in from flying, it had been just a month after his sixth year at Hogwarts had ended. There was only one time Harry had seen Snape so undone and on the verge of snapping; and that was in fourth year- when he nearly escaped the grasps of Voldemort during the Triwizard Tournaments, "Sev', what's going on,"

"Don't-" Snape snapped, whirling on the young boy with his finger raised as he threw a clock (which Harry was sure they didn't need) into one of his very expensive trunks, "Don't you dare speak to me in that- that voice!"

Harry knew. If Severus hated anything, it was knowing someone had cared and been worried about him, which Harry had always been. You see, Harry grew up learning that his mother and father had been killed at the hands of a sinister man which should-not-be-named, and who was there for him when he'd fallen and scraped his knees? Severus. Though the man was harsh, he still handled his mangled knee with care and ease, "I'm sorry," Harry whispered now, not bothering to hide what Snape begged him to, "But you're acting completely out of character, Merlin's sake, what has gotten into you? You're running the house like a mad-man,"

"I explained to you already, we have to leave for America," Severus said, turning to break eye contact and throw a few more things they didn't need into the trunk. Harry gazed at his distraught teacher and fatherly figure, "Please, Harry, just trust me. When I tell you to trust me, you trust me- understand?"

Harry blinked and nodded. Severus was right, no matter what, he would trust him. He would trust him Severus with his life and more, "When do we leave?"

"Tonight, we'll be heading to New York to speak with a friend of mine, and then we'll be going to Forks, Washington." The potions professor stilled for a moment, his shoulders straightening, "Let's try to be normal, for your sake,"

"Okay... I'll go pack," and the raven-haired boy did just that. He packed. Because Severus wanted him to.

Cullen's residence

"We're getting a new teacher," Alice said as she skipped into the kitchen where Esme had been preparing baked goods for a few of Carlisle's co-workers at the hospital for the annual 'office' party they were going to be having, "He's an odd man,"

"What did I tell you about judging, Alice?" Esme asked kindly, a smile on her face as she rolled the dough between her marbled hands; flour scattered all around the kitchen and in certain strands of the vampire's beautifully still hair. Alice smiled and leaned against the counter with a pleasant expression as she watched her mother do the thing she loved best; cooking.

"Not to," the short vampire replied, dashing to the other side of the room at an unnatural speed. She stood next to her mother, eyes fixated on the beaten dough, "He's going to be the new chemistry teacher, Edward and I will have him,"

Esme frowned, "What happened to the previous chemistry teacher…?"

"He died, car accident," Alice said, as if it were a normal thing to say to another person. But they were vampires; death hadn't affected them like it would have any other student of Fork's High School, "The new teacher likes to be called Professor Snape. Don't you think Snape is such an odd name?"

"We've come across worse," Rosalie mumbled as she walked into the kitchen after jogging down the steps, her mate, Emmett, not far behind her, "I still don't understand why you're wasting your time even cooking those blasted sweets. They smell horrid,"

Esme gave a soft laugh as she placed the sheet of rolled out dough into the oven, "So, why does this chemistry teacher matter so much to you, Alice?"

"Oh, he doesn't mean that much really," Alice said, trying her best not to relate the man to Edward's mate so not to risk the other vampire from finding out through her thoughts. She instantly calmed herself when she remembered the Jasper and Edward went out to feed just a bit ago and hadn't come back yet, "Only that he knows we're vampires,"

The way she said it seemed like it hadn't mattered at all, but Esme dropped the rolling-pin in her hand and turned to Alice with a serious expression, Rosalie and Emmett did the same, "What did you just say?"

"He knows we're vampires," Alice said once more, shrugging in response as if, once again, it hadn't truly mattered that a human knew of their existence and true selves, "but it's okay, because he keeps it a secret. He's not too bad, even if he scares half of his students into tears,"

"Wait," Emmett said, holding his hand out in a 'stop, slow down a minute' sort of manner, "He knows? He knows we're vampires... How the hell does he know, how does he find out, when does he find out?" the questions came at her in a blaze of flames, so fast that even her own supernatural hearing couldn't quite unravel his words. She gave him an odd look before speaking to him, answering all that they needed to know as not to upset her family any farther,

"Calm down, Emmett, I already said it's alright. He won't tell anyone, except for his son," Alice wanted to smile, knowing all too well just who his 'son' had been, "I don't know how, he just knows when he first meets Edward and I in class, don't ask me how he found out because I don't know. We didn't do anything remotely suspicious to him... not that I know of,"

"We should probably warn your father, and brothers," Esme says quickly, exiting to the kitchen leaving her baked goods behind to warn her husband of the newcomers, even though the man would have probably heard the whole conversation from one floor up already. Just as she left Edward and Jasper entered the home. Alice went to greet her mate, but before she reached them she stopped at what she saw.

Edward was upset, no, much more than upset. He was angry, and Jasper looked so conflicted (Alice concluded that the emotions floating from Edward were painful enough rather than the cold and unforgiving look that Edward shot at the two of them). Edward's grimace worried Alice, what happened? she thought, he couldn't have found out, could he? Would he be angry that we didn't tell him...

Jasper tried to stop Edward by placing his hand on his shoulder, he attempted to speak, "Edward, just wait a minute,"

Alice's eyes widened when her bronze haired brother turned sharply on Jasper and harshly shoved the other away , "You were going to keep it a secret from me, exactly when were you planning on telling me? My death day certainly isn't something I should be kept in the dark from, is it?"

"Edward, we didn't—"

"No, don't bother trying to make up an excuse," Edward turned and stopped himself from running into Alice, he simply looked down at her with narrowed eyes, "I trusted you to come to me if you ever saw something like this, but instead you blocked it away from me,"

"Edward I was trying to help—" Alice squeaked, afraid that she made her brother hurt beyond forgiveness now.

"Don't. Just don't," the male vampire was already up and in his room before the pixie vampire had the chance to say anything else to him.

Emmett and Rosalie exchanged looks and stepped closer to their mated brother and sister, the blond beauty raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Does anyone mind explaining to us exactly what just happened?"

Alice looked to Jasper with hurt eyes, wondering the same thing, "You promised not to let him know...?"

"He knew, Alice, he knew I was hiding something from him. We got into a fight over it and I accidentally let it slip, I didn't mean to think about it; but when another vampire has his hands threateningly around your throat you can't really focus on keeping him from your mind, now can you?"

"Wait, you saw something didn't you?" Rosalie asked, stepping in front of her sister now, placing hands on her shoulder and tilting her own head down to make eye-to-eye contact, "What did you see?" her expression and tone of voice was hardly pleasant, but demanding.

"She saw Edward dying," Jasper answered for her. It came out so bluntly that it took a few moments to register.

"What!" Emmett said loudly, "You saw Edward's death and didn't tell the rest of the family? Alice, that's something that you shouldn't keep from us,"

Alice glares, and retorts, "Don't you think I realize that by now, Emmett?"

Rosalie looked scared, only slightly, "Your visions aren't always solid though, right? There's a chance this might not even happen… We have to tell Esme and Carlisle,"

"Don't worry, we heard from upstairs," Carlisle said as he walked humanly down the stairs with his wife, "Alice, we're highly disappointed, you know you can come to your mother and I with any of your problems, you didn't need to keep this from us…"

Alice whimpered, and Jasper was by her side in the blink of an eye, wrapping his arms around her cold and hard body and pulling her against his chest sending waves of comfort through her. She spoke, "I just wanted him to be happy, I didn't know it would be like this. I wanted him to meet Harry and I wanted him to finally be loved. I didn't know it would end up like this, I didn't want him to worry nor have anyone else worry,"

"Who the hell is Harry?" Emmett asked, earning a slap to the chest by the back of his mate's hand and a scolding look. The rest of the family looked curiously, wanting to know the same thing.

Jasper spoke for her, "It's Edward's mate, and they meet this school year,"

Esme gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Edward was finally going to have a mate? Her thoughts instantly left the worries of her child's death, "Oh, that's fantastic, what is he like?"

"Darling, we're straying from what's truly important here," Carlisle murmured and placed a hand on his mate's shoulder and looked up to where Alice and Jasper were standing, "Are we able to prevent this vision? Where and when does it happen?"

"Awhile after he meets Harry, but when he meets Harry he won't be able to leave because of whatever situation that he's in…" Alice whispered, pulling away from Jasper feeling better now that he used his ability to calm her down and make her feel a bit better. She looked up to her taller mate, "Jazz… does he know about Harry too…?"

"No… but I have a feeling he does now," Jasper said, feeling the intense emotion that came from upstairs in Edward's room. His face scrunched just a bit when he felt waves of hurt, dishonesty, betrayal, false adoration, hope, disaster, and some odd form of love. Probably love that Edward already felt for his mate, Jasper couldn't tell over the amount of other emotions coming from the vampire so he didn't bother to think hard about it.

Carlisle sighed and sat down on the white plush couch in the living room that they entered. He rubbed his face in thought; thinking of many ways that they could somehow avoid the situation of Edward's possible future. Esme sat beside her husband, rubbing his back in a form of comfort as she too worried desperately for her son's well-being.

Rosalie was pacing back and forth in front of Emmett as he stood leaning with his back against the glass wall of the room, which had been nearly all of the walls of the home anyway. Alice was busy being calmed by Jasper who sat next to her on a love-seat just across from the larger sofa that Esme and Carlisle were on. Their thoughts must have been haunting Edward, and they had a feeling that the other probably ran out through the wooded area around their home to keep his mind clear of their dreadful thoughts.

"We're going to have to leave, regardless of Edward's mate, he's going to have to accept that, he can come back for his mate once the time of his death has passed," Carlisle said with a forced sigh that appeared far too human, his cold breath flowing through the knuckles of his hand, which had been pressed against his lips in thought.

Alice froze as a vision flashed across her mind, "No. He won't allow it, he'll refuse, and if we force him he'll hate us and never want to speak to us again,"

Esme leaned forward, "Do you know why Edward's mate can't leave…?"

Alice shook her head, "Only that he's hiding from something, from someone."

"Is he the son of this professor that you were telling us about earlier?" Rosalie asked, and Alice nodded.

Jasper remembered something, "He isn't human. Edward's mate I mean, Alice had told me a few nights ago that this Harry guy wasn't human, would that mean that his father weren't human too?"

"Very well could be," Carlisle said as his brows scrunched in thought, "He also, apparently, figures out that we're vampires. So whatever they are, they'd need to be very familiar with what vampires are, we're going to need to speak with them as soon as we possibly can in hopes of saving Edward,"

"I can't believe this," Rosalie shouted, "Everything was going perfect until this damned 'mate' had to come into the picture. I bet this little brat is the reason behind Edward's death in the first place—"

"Please don't speak ill of Harry," Alice suddenly said, looking up to her sister with pleading eyes. The whole family gaped at her, had she already formed a liking to the future mate of Edward? She added, "I can promise that you'll love him, he likes to go shopping and he loves you quite a lot, in fact, he admires you. So please, don't speak badly of him,"

"Whatever. Just figure out the game plan, we obviously need to talk to these whatever they are, so when do we plan on doing that?" Rosalie scoffed, trying her hardest not to think about Edward's mate at the moment and their future friendship that Alice claims they'll have. Admire? He better admire me, I'm beautiful, she thought with a scowl that didn't exactly help her current look. Emmett pushed from the wall he was leaning on and wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist.

While they thought of their situation, Edward had been busy keeping himself away from their thoughts. He punched the tree beside him, and found himself plopping down and sitting against the now abused looking tree. His hands rested in his wild hair as he tried to shake the images of what he saw in both Jasper and Alice's minds. First, it was the death part that bothered him, but then while he was busy letting himself calm down in his room visions and thoughts flooded his mind from the rest of the family downstairs thinking about some boy named Harry, and assumingly being his mate.

The ninety-something year old vampire let out a frustrated growl and brought his arm down to punch to tree behind him again. Damn it all, damn it all to fucking hell, he thought angrily. A mate, he dies because he's too selfish to finally have love and doesn't want to leave his mate, really, how pathetic can you truly get? When he heard Jasper say it aloud that Harry was his mate and that he was finally going to not be alone he broke down. Finally, after all of this waiting and loneliness he was finally going to find the love of his life; and death had to take that all away from him? It sucked (and no pun intended on that one either).

"Everything is so… so… fucked," Edward whispered to the empty air as he breathed unneeded air. He didn't know what to think, he didn't know how to act. Only that the main importance was finding his mate now and meeting him, finally meeting whomever it was that could (or already, actually) claimed his heart. Death didn't matter to him. He'd rather die than to never meet his mate and live with constant wonder of whom this mate of his actually is.

When life was a dick to you, you were allowed to hate it, and that's exactly what Edward did, he hated it more so now than ever before had he thought possible. Life was a bitch how loved to deliver torment and kick the shit out of your own contentment. Fuck it, seriously. Fuck it. He groaned and punched the tree behind him once more, not caring that he had now put several indents on the poor thing.

oOoOoOo

"You'll be fine, I promise," Harry said reassuringly as he smiled up at Snape, bringing his hands up to the taller man and brushing his hair with his fingers to make it appear a bit more presentable than it actually had been, "Just go in there and mumble things that you would about chemicals and ingredients and cast a small harmless spell and you're good. Don't forget to enroll me as you son, so that it's a bit more realistic, okay? I'm going to try and find a place to buy food around here, don't try to worry about me,"

Severus scoffed, "Who would worry about the likes of you, Potter?"

"Love you too, Sev'," Harry said happily as Snape left the house.

He'll never learn to stop calling me that, will he? mutters the potions teacher as he walks down the gravel walkway and looks side-to-side for any stray wanderers and apparates from the edge of the home's yard.

I'll never stop calling you that, Severus, so just accept it already, Harry also thought with a smirk, knowing all too well that Severus was cursing him in his mind at the little name that Harry never bothered to stop calling the older man. He turned from the door and ran up to his room, which had been decorated to match it dorm back at Hogwarts, his Gryffindor colors showing proudly. He rummaged through his drawers, pulling out a decent outfit of muggle clothes that Severus bought him not that long ago. He slipped the nicely fitting black shirt over his head, and slipped on the dark blue jeans that hung from his hips perfectly.

"Alright, girl, I'll be back later, maybe we can go out later tonight when it's dark and you can stretch your wings, I'll have to ask Sev' though, you know how paranoid he gets about things," Harry said softly to his owl, Hedwig, and gave her a treat through the wage she perched in. He smiled, grabbed his bag (which had been a simple backpack that he used for many crucial items) and left the room, leaving the house and walking towards the town; hoping to find some sort of market so that he could stock his and Severus' new home with a bit more food than they had at the moment.

It was forty-five minute walk but he arrived to the busy town of Forks, and smiled when luck was on his side and he only needed to walk an extra ten minutes to arrive at a small mart, which seemed to be good enough for him to grab a few needs that him and Severus would need until Severus' newly ordered car from Seattle arrived and they could spend less time wasting and get things done quicker and easier. He jogged into the store and found himself curious as to just how different things were here in America compared to England. He wandered through the different aisles, forgetting his true purpose and grabbing all sorts of things to read the backs of them and examine the pictures. Things weren't so different, a lot of the things had been generic brands that were created in Seattle and shipped out here to no-man's-land.

And of course, the air-headed wizard wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and bumped into another person. He quickly looked to the stranger and apologized, "I'm terribly sorry about that, I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going and—"

"Chill, it's perfectly fine, I've bumped into people before," the girl replied, smiling kindly down at the boy she wasn't familiar with, "You must be new here, I haven't exactly seen you around, and when you live here faces are usually familiar,"

Harry smiled back and nodded hurriedly, "I just moved here a few days ago with my father, he's applying to be the new chemistry teacher down at the high school. Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Harry, and you might be…?"

"Oh, that's cool. We're all still a bit down because of the last teacher. Is your dad cool…?" the girl asked and then laughed a bit, "Sorry, I must be just as rude, my name's Bella, Bella Swan. I just moved in last year to live with my dad, finishing the last year of high school coming up, will you be attending Forks High..?"

Harry chuckled and scratched his head, "My dad, cool? He's, well, you'll have to find out for yourself. I'm finishing up my last year too, so there's a possibility you and I might have some classes together, it's nice to meet you Bella,"

"I can show you around and such when the year starts, even though it's not big enough to get lost, that's nearly impossible with how small this town is. I gotta warn you though; you're going to be the big news of the school for a while because you're new," the girl, Bella, went on to explain. Harry took time to examine her looks, she was rather pretty. She reminded him somewhat of Hermione—but he could tell she didn't have much brains as his bookworm friend did. He did admire how pretty she was though, and smiled as she spoke; maybe having a friend here wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Sounds fun," Harry joked, friendly sarcasm dripping from his tone, "Hey, Bella, you wouldn't mind helping be out with something would you?"

"No, what d'you need?" she asked in return, her eyes looking at the slightly shorter teenager in slight curiosity.

Harry nervously laughed, "I haven't got the first clue about American money, mind helping me shop for a few things? I promise to be out of your hair as soon as possible, promise,"

"Sure! I've got a bit of shopping to do too, so we can just do it together," she said happily, "American money is simple, here, I'll show you,"

And so she did, she helped him grab all that she believed the other teenager would need, and she talked about various things as she did so. Harry listened of course, she talked a lot, and Harry decided that being around her for extreme period of time would probably drive anyone insane. Harry learned a bit about the girl while they shopped with each other.

A few important things about her, Harry noted, that her father had been the town sheriff, she had a boyfriend named Jacob Black (he took a moment to jokingly ask if he was related to any Blacks in London), she hated spinach, mashed potatoes, and popcorn (something about little pieces getting stuck in your teeth, Harry hadn't been paying much attention by then).

They left the grocery store, Harry had two bags for each hand and awkward watched as Bella walked to her beat up truck, "Where's your car…?" the girl asked, and Harry flushed. He hoped he wouldn't be the only teenager at Forks High without his own car when the year started.

"I walked, I don't have a car," he replied sheepishly.

Bella cocked a brow, "Want a ride, you don't live far do you?"

"Oh no, I shouldn't—"

"I didn't ask for a self-righteous decline, I asked if you wanted a ride, and it's obvious that you do. Hop in, I'll take you home, it's the least I can do for a newcomer such as yourself," she said kindly, smiling as she took Harry's bag and placed them in the back, "Don't give me that look either, mister,"

Harry laughed, and so did Bella, I think I might like this girl, he thought, and hopped into the truck, allowing her to drive her home. When they arrived to Harry and Severus' home, Harry hopped out and walked around to Bella's side, and spoke to her through her rolled down window, "Thanks for the lift and good laugh, you're really great, you know that?"

She laughed in return to his compliment, "No big deal, here, this is my number. Call me if you ever need a lift to school or anything even though your father's probably going to be the professor anyway. You can call if you just need to get away and hang out too, make new friends and such, doesn't matter really,"

"Cool," Harry took the piece of paper with the number written down on it, did he and Severus even have a muggle phone? He'd have to invest in one then, if they didn't, "I might take you up on that offer, have a good night, it was nice meeting you Bella,"

"Later, Harry," she waved with a large toothy grin, and pulled away from the beautiful house.

Harry sighed, turned, and took his bag of items into the house. He missed his friends back at Hogwarts. He shook his head, ridding himself of those thoughts, he needed to forget about those things; that wasn't his life anymore, this was his life, and he needed to make the best of what it was, even if it wasn't all that much. When he entered the house Severus was there in the kitchen, sipping fondly at his cup of tea with a small smirk on his face, "Welcome back,"

"Sev'!" Harry said, a bit surprised that the other man was home so quick, he must have taken longer at the store than he originally planned. He paused at the expression on the other's face, "What?"

"I got the job, school starts in two weeks, be ready, 'son',"

Harry grinned, "Fantastic! See, didn't I tell you you'd do it? You give yourself little credit, Sev',"

"Yes… and will you stop calling me that!"

"Never! And here, since I went out and got it all, you can put the groceries away," Harry shouted mischievously as he dropped the bags onto the floor and dashed from the kitchen and up to his room.

Snape scolded and sipped his tea once more, damn that Gryffindor.

There that is, hopefully it wasn't too dreadful. Tell me what you think, I suppose. Things lighten up and get better, promise (at least I hope so, that's simply my opinion). I'm trying to add a little background to how I set up Severus and Harry; I'm sure you all understand now, how exactly I am going to portray them in this story. Which is why I made it AU (Alternate Universe, for those who are unsure of the term). Of course, I'm adding my own twist to the whole Voldemort thing, and I'm sure I'll be adding other HP characters into the mix a little bit down the road; let's get Harry settled in first, hm? Thanks for reading!