Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: This will be a blood adoption story with a very protective adoptive dad Snape, super protective adoptive brother Draco and a Harry who is ready to give up. No slash.

Takes place the end of fifth year after the events at the Ministry, AU and OOC characters from here although some things will stay canon. Hope you enjoy!

Harry watched as Pomfrey fretted over an unconscious Hermione. Ron was standing by her, his eyes worried. She had been hit by some sort of spell at the Ministry. She and Ron, along with Neville, Ginny and Luna had gone with him to save Sirius and instead, Harry had gotten Sirius killed. And now one of his best friends was seriously hurt. He knew the others had been hurt too but he hadn't had a chance to talk to them since they had returned to Hogwarts. As they weren't in the infirmary, he could hope they hadn't been hurt too badly. He didn't know if any of the members of the Order of the Phoenix had been hurt, Remus had been physically fine but hadn't said much after escorting Harry back to Hogwarts. And he hadn't stayed to talk...of course, Remus was grieving the loss of Sirius too. My fault, all my fault...Harry thought, his heart breaking. He wouldn't be surprised if Remus hated him now. Harry would deserve it.

"Will she be okay?" Ron anxiously asked Pomfrey and Harry focused his attention back on his friends.

"I believe so," Pomfrey said slowly. "She just needs to rest. She's lucky, though. The spell cast at her is usually fatal. She'll have to take a lot of potions to recover."

Ron finally noticed Harry and scowled at him. "This is all your fault," he muttered.

"Mr. Weasley!" Pomfrey scolded. "What a thing to say!"

"It is," Ron insisted. "He was the one who wanted to go to the Ministry! Hermione wouldn't be hurt if it wasn't for him. He should be the one laying here, not her!"

Harry didn't say anything. What could he say? It was true, it was all his fault. His friends getting hurt and Sirius...it was all his fault. He wished Remus hadn't stopped him from running into the veil after his godfather.

"Now Mr. Weasley, I know you are concerned for Miss Granger but she will just fine in time," Pomfrey said soothingly.

Ron nodded and took hold of Hermione's hand. He still glared at Harry. "Your fault," he mouthed.

Harry flinched.

A note came through the floo and Poppy caught it and read it. "Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would like to speak with you in his office." she said.

"Oh," Harry glanced at Hermione again. He wished she would wake up so he could be sure she was okay.

"Just go," Ron said with a scowl. "We don't need you here."

Harry hesitated for a moment and then left. Ron was right, they didn't need him. All he did was make things worse.

HP

Harry stood in Dumbledore's office after the headmaster had finished speaking, momentarily frozen after hearing the truth about his connection to Voldemort and the Prophecy. Neither could live while the other survives...how, how was Harry supposed to defeat Voldemort? He was no match for him! This past night had proved that, hadn't it? Suddenly a piece of parchment came through the floo and Dumbledore caught it. "You'll be pleased to know that none of your peers are going to suffer lasting damage from the events at the Ministry." He said after a moment as he scanned the note. "No one from the Order either. Well, except for Sirius, of course." he said softly.

Harry shut his eyes for moment as even more guilt swarmed him. He already knew about Hermione but hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Neville, Ginny or Luna. At least no one else was hurt. Except for his godfather... How nice of Dumbledore to remind him of his mistakes...

"I know how you must be feeling," Dumbledore said quietly.

"I doubt that."

The portrait of Phineas Nigellus snorted. "How like a teenager. They complain they aren't understood and then when you try -"

"Yes, thank you Phineas," Dumbledore said dryly. He turned his attention back to Harry. "You know Harry, the fact that you can feel is your strength."

"It's a strength, is it?" Harry bristled. "I don't want to feel anything. I don't want to care about anything. I don't want to do any of this anymore." He glared at Dumbledore. "What do you think of my strength now?" He impulsively picked up one of Dumbledore's stupid trinkets and threw across the room in anger.

"Harry, I'm sorry for all you have gone through," Dumbledore said in a patient, calm voice.

His voice infuriated Harry. How dare he be so calm after everything that had happened? If Dumbledore had just talked to him, just explained everything to him from the start, then Sirius would still be here. If Snape had just continued Occlumency and not been such a git, if only Harry hadn't looked in that blasted pensive, if only he could have trusted an adult to help him when he had that vision...if only...

"Harry -"

"If you hadn't kept your distance, if you had told me everything about my connection with Voldemort then none of this would have happened!" Harry yelled at the Headmaster. He picked up another trinket from the table and threw it, watching it smash to pieces against the wall. First he's finally told why learning Occlumency was so important and then he is told about the prophecy. How much did Dumbledore think he could take?

"Harry, I did what I believed to be best," Dumbledore sighed wearily. "I truly am sorry for any pain you have -"

Harry laughed. "Any pain? All I feel is pain! Sirius is gone, he was killed right in front of me!"

"I know that, my boy."

"I'm not your boy!" Harry hissed, his anger causing his magic to react. Books and knickknacks began to shake. "This is your fault!"

Dumbledore slightly narrowed his eyes. "I understand how you feel. However, if I may remind you, you were not supposed to be at the Ministry. You led your friends into danger and as a result -"

"I know it's my fault too!" Harry screamed. "I know it's my fault Sirius is dead! But his death is on you as well, you bloody git!" The books and knickknacks began flying off their shelves.

"Well, really!" The portrait of Armando Dippet sniffed in disapproval.

"All right, Harry. Stop it right now!" Dumbledore snapped. "Sit down and listen to me! Let me explain before you go home -"

"Home?" Harry laughed again, maniacal sounding. "You mean the Dursleys?"

"You know I do," Dumbledore said sternly. "That is your home, you know why it is important that you think so."

"Ah, yes. The blood wards," Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Based on my mother's love. Tell me, Headmaster, how can it possibly work when there is no love for me in that house? They are nothing to me and I am nothing to them!" He spat.

"Enough, Harry!" Dumbledore said angrily.

The door opened and Snape strode in. "You can be heard all the way to Hagrid's hut." He said sarcastically. "What is going on in here?" He looked around at the mess and sneered. "What happened?"

"Harry is having a tantrum," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

"Shock, the golden boy is not happy about something," Snape smirked, even though he knew the child had a right to be upset. He'd just had a devastating night and Snape couldn't help feeling partly to blame. He should have handled the Occlumency lessons better. The boy could have died and the promise he had made for Lily, to protect him, would have been for nothing.

"Shut up!" Harry snarled at Snape.

Snape's eyes darkened. Before he could verbally blast the boy, the Headmaster spoke.

"He needs to return home now."

"That house is not my home!" Harry shot back. "It never was and it never will be!"

"Harry!"

"No! Don't you get it? I'm done! I don't care anymore! I don't want to care anymore! The only person who loved me, who wanted to be my family is dead and you're to blame just as much as me!" Harry's voice broke. "I've lost enough. I would rather face Voldemort again or have Umbridge torture me again than go back to that house where I'm hated. Where I've been hated since you left me there!"

Dumbledore was eyeing a stone that sat on his desk, which began to glow. "Harry, stop." He said urgently. "I know there is no care in that house for you but it must remain your home. I am sorry about Sirius -"

"Well gee, that makes up for everything then!"

"Potter!" Snape snapped. "Enough with the disrespect!" He looked back at Dumbledore. He could understand the boy falling apart, he had just faced the dark lord and lost his godfather...but why so resistant to returning home? And what did Dumbledore mean that there was no care in that house for him? Wasn't the boy-who-lived coddled at home? And what did he mean by being tortured by Umbridge? What had that annoying cow done?

Dumbledore noticed Snape's expression. "Later, Severus. We'll talk about all this later."

"Perhaps we should talk now," Snape said slowly. Potter was red in the face, breathing hard and tears were streaming down his face. He looked ready to break. "Potter, maybe you should go to your dorm and take a nap." He said in a brisk voice, not wanting to show that he was concerned for the golden boy.

Harry glared at the word nap.

"He needs to go home, Severus," Dumbledore said briskly. "The sooner the better with everything that has happened. Even before the rest of the students leave for the summer. I'll arrange for his transp -"

"I'm never going back there! If you try and force me, I'll run away!" Harry yelled. "The only home I've ever known was here, Hogwarts, but now this place doesn't feel like home either. I'll leave...I'll find somewhere..." He trailed off and swayed. He'd find a home somewhere. Or maybe...maybe he should just join his parents and Sirius...he knew a spell that would make that happen...

"Potter," Snape stepped forward, alarm on his face. This was more than a tantrum, the boy was having a breakdown. A massive one. Why wasn't he in the infirmary after his ordeal at the Ministry? A calming draught was needed, at the very least. He was about to summon one when the Headmaster spoke.

"Harry Potter, that is enough! You will do as you are told!"

Harry set defiant eyes on the Headmaster. "The Dursleys have never been family to me. Their house is not my home and never will be. The only person to offer me a home was Sirius and he's gone..." A sob choked out. He was gone...his chance for a family gone...

Dumbledore frantically looked at the stone on his desk as it began to glow a bright red before fading. A loud sound could be heard as the stone cracked in half. "No!"

"What is it?" Snape asked.

"The blood wards have broken," Dumbledore glared at Harry. "Look what you have done! You were safe there!"

"Was I?" Harry asked snidely. "Perhaps we have a different definition of word safe, Headmaster."

"Voldemort and his followers could not touch you there!" Dumbledore slammed his hand down on his desk. "Now the protection wards are for nothing. Is this how you honor your mother's sacrifice, Harry?"

"Albus -" Snape said warningly.

"How did you honor my mother? By placing me with people who hated me on sight, who hated what I was! They never showed an ounce of kindness to me, not once! I was lucky if I got fed enough food to keep from passing out. I was their house-elf, one they locked up when I wasn't cooking or cleaning for them. And their favorite activity? Hurting me. Is that what my parents would have wanted?" Harry demanded, shouting by the end of his tirade. "I'm done being a chess piece, do you hear me? I'm done!" Harry gasped, his body shaking and he couldn't catch his breath. Everything blurred in front of him and then there was only darkness.

Snape caught the teen before he hit the floor, cradling the boy in his arms. "Foolish boy, you need to breathe," He muttered.

"I need to find a way to get those blood wards working again," Dumbledore said in frustration, ignoring the fact that Harry had collapsed.

Snape's eyes flew to the Headmaster as he settled Potter into a chair. "After how he said they treated him, you would send him back there?"

"It's the way it has to be," Dumbledore said. "He's only there a few months a year now."

Snape gritted his teeth at the dismissive tone in Dumbledore's voice. He may not be a fan of Potter but after him break down like that, hearing about his upbringing... Lily would be heartbroken at hearing her son speak the way he did. Oh, Snape knew he had treated the boy deplorably over the years but he had justified it to himself. He had a reputation to keep and the child looked so much like his father, except for those blasted eyes. And the boy would be spoiled at home and of course, idolized here at Hogwarts. One mean professor couldn't hurt the boy that much, right? But if the child had been mistreated at home...

Dumbledore eyed the teen with a sad look. "I shouldn't have told him about the prophecy. I suppose it was too much for him. He just lost it."

"You told him that now? Right after he lost Black?" Snape had hated the mutt but even he wouldn't have wished for the man to die. The Order needed everyone it could get, even a reckless one like Black. And he knew how much Black had meant to Potter, he had seen it in the Occlumency lessons. For Dumbledore to bring up the prophecy now, right after Potter had suffered such a loss...Merlin, even he wasn't that heartless.

"I thought he should know, he wanted to know what was going on," Dumbledore defended himself. "If the boy hadn't gone to the Ministry...if he had worked harder in his lessons with you then Sirius might still be with us."

"You're blaming the child?" Snape stared at Dumbledore.

"I am just saying I understand the boy acted out because of the guilt he feels," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "Unfortunately his tantrum has had dire consequences. Those blood wards were important and I don't know if I will be able to fix them."

"Don't bother trying, he can't go back there," Snape said impatiently. "Not if they abuse him, Albus."

"I'm surprised you care," Dumbledore casually remarked. "He also blames you for what happened tonight, for not being a better teacher during Occlumency. Besides, you hate the boy, after all. Especially after he viewed your pensive."

Snape scowled at the memory of that particular episode before he realized with a start that he was being manipulated. The Headmaster clearly didn't want him defending Potter. Interesting. "I must say, I'm surprised at your attitude toward Potter. I always thought you cared for him." He raised an eyebrow.

"I do!" Dumbledore protested. "Everything I have done has been for him. He just doesn't understand that yet."

"And sending him back to his hateful relatives' will help him to understand?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"I can't send him there now," Dumbledore said. "Not until I figure out how to reinstate the wards."

"So he'll spend the summer here, at Hogwarts?"

"No," Dumbledore said. "He needs a temporary guardian and many of us will be busy. None of the professors' plan to spend all of the summer here."

"I know I certainly don't," Snape muttered. He needed a break from all the dunderheads he had to teach.

Dumbledore beamed at him. "I figured. So it is settled. You take Harry to your home while I -"

"Excuse me?"

Dumbledore shrugged, his back to twinkling. "You were defending him so you obviously care somewhat for him. I know you'll protect him. And I trust he won't be able to cause any trouble with you watching over him."

"And if the dark lord drops by should I just hope he doesn't ask why I am babysitting the boy-who-lived instead of handing him over?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"Really Severus, Voldemort doesn't even know about your cottage. He thinks you still reside at Spinner's End," Dumbledore said. "Besides, I can send one of the house elves to go with you. That way Harry won't be alone if you are called away. I trust you with his life, Severus."

But I detest the boy! Snape wanted to shout. Except when he glanced at the still sleeping teen, grief visible on his face even unconscious, he supposed he couldn't really say that. Not when he saw how close the boy was to breaking...not when he heard the boy speak of his abuse...if it was true... "Fine," Snape said. "I'll take him." And I'll find out just how bad his relatives are, he thought. If this whole time Potter had been mistreated when he was supposed to have been protected... Merlin help anyone who knew about it and did nothing.

TBC: Review if you get a chance! =)