Dudley, Harry, and Snape each sat on varying chairs in the living room, each with a small plate with some cake on it. As they ate, Petunia snored lightly from the couch, completely unaware of anything that was happening.

"Thank you." Harry said quietly as Snape was eating a bite of his cake. The boy looked up to the man. "For fixing the cut. I forgot to say it earlier, but thank you."

Snape finished his bite and he sighed, then put his plate down. "Potter, my role in your life, I thought, was to keep you grounded." Any other day he would have taken mild amusement in the confusion etched on the boy's face. "Allow me to elaborate- you are Harry Potter... The, Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, boy-wonder, golden-boy, et cetera. I believed it my role to provide someone who wouldn't treat you as a celebrity... Someone to ground you. To remind you that you aren't better than everybody else. Nobody on staff could have ever guessed you lived like this. To the best of our knowledge you were just as pampered here, as you are there. Believe me when I say, if anyone had known what happened here, you'd have been removed a long time ago."

"Headmaster Dumbledore knows." Harry said with a sneer. When Snape tilted his head to the side, Harry gave more information. "I think he thinks that I don't remember... I only just put it together recently, but when I was small he came for a visit. I didn't hear much of their conversation, but I did hear about wards. Basically if any harm came to me, he would be alerted. I remember Aunt Petunia asking about if they 'accidentally' hurt me, could he turn it off so it wouldn't register for them. I don't remember what he said, but everyone was pretty happy when he left. So either he turned a blind eye to all of this and turned it off willingly for them, or he's sat through every alert and done nothing."

"Oh I remember that day!" Dudley said as he thought back. "I pulled the old man's beard. I thought it was fake. They laughed about it."

Darkness invaded Snape's features. "I see..." He said as he pondered what he knew. "How many times has something like this happened? Like the stab wound?"

Harry shook his head. "She didn't stab me, I fell onto the knife."

"She pushed you onto it. She must have seen it. She stabbed you without actually stabbing you." Severus countered. "How many times?"

Harry shrugged and stuffed his face with more cake. Dudley took his turn to chime in. "Something this big happens like twice a year, or it did before Harry started school. Last year daddy nearly bludgeoned him with a rock for trapping me in a snake cage."

"It was an accident!" Harry cried out.

"What was an accident?" Vernon's voice called as the front door opened. "Boy, so help me, if you broke another plate I'll have your hide!" The loud man bellowed.

Severus stood with his wand drawn, and the second Vernon came into view he called out, "Obliviate!" The same as he did with Petunia, he took advantage of the man's confusion and forced some of the sleeping potion down the man's throat.

The dark wizard let the man fall to the floor and he left his unfinished cake on the couch. "Come, we're leaving." He stated. "Where's your supplies?"

"I'll go get them." Harry said as he started off for the stairs.

Severus held out a hand as though he were going to grab Harry's shoulder, but he chose not to. "Potter. Summon them, summoning charm."

Harry frowned at the man. "We're not supposed to do magic outside of school."

"No one in the history of the wizarding world has ever followed that policy, Potter. Summon them, it will be quicker."

With a nod Harry pulled out his wand. He looked over the fresh scar on his right arm and hmm'd lightly. "Accio Fire Notes!" He called out. The notes with the red twine came flying down the stairs. He then went to the closet and pointed his wand to the locks. "Alohamora."

Dudley whined as Harry removed his trunk from the cupboard. "I don't want to leave... That's my mum. I love her."

A glare set on Snape's face as he took hold of one end of Harry's trunk and looked to Dudley. "They don't remember you. They don't know you exist anymore. To them you are some stranger's child. If you wish to keep what memories of them you still have, I would advise you deal with the circumstances and drop it."

Dudley fell in on himself and became quiet and sullen as the group left. When they reached the road, Severus held up his wand as though he were hailing a taxi. "Home." He said simply, then put his wand down.

Within moments the triple decker bus returned. Stanley came out of the doors and nodded. "Oh, taking the whole crew? Where to, Mr. Snape?"

"To my house." Severus informed him as he dropped the trunk onto the ground and told Harry to do the same. "Thank you Stanley." He gave the attendant 2 galleons from his pocket, and Stanley soon loaded up the trunk.

"I don't have any of my stuff!" Dudley cried out.

"You'll get new stuff." Severus informed him. "Your rooms will be taken care of later as well, I will return before they awake. In the meantime, we're going to my house, and you shall be on your best behavior." The man sat down on a bus seat and the boys sat across from him. "House rules are as follows- no running through the house unless it's an emergency. We eat three times a day, no more than that. This is a TEMPORARY situation. You will not be living with me permanently, consider this a foster home until we can find you a permanent one. Don't get too comfortable. There will be no arguing or back talking. It is yes sir, no sir. Am I understood?"

"Yes Sir." They both said quietly as the bus doors closed and the gears shifted.

"Hold on to something." Severus said as he gripped tight the bar beside him.

Soon they were off in a flash of something that neither boy could really understand. The world whizzed by them at extreme speeds. Both children vomited soon after.

"Augh- first timers." Stanley growled as he grabbed onto a mop from the back.

Harry and Dudley looked around completely taken aback. Snape's house was less of a house, and more of a run down shack. It looked to be so dilapidated, in such disrepair that they were both surprised it still stood. Looking into the windows they could barely see any furniture, and there was no sign whatsoever of anything even mildly electrical inside.

"No tv..." Dudley whined as they approached the door.

Harry elbowed him in an attempt to shut him up. He watched as Snape pulled out a key and unlocked the door, then brought the two of them inside.

"It's a charm." Severus informed him as he closed the door behind them. Inside there was far more furniture and light than it looked through the window, though it was still old and dusty. At least it had enough seating in the living room for everyone. "Keeps people from stealing if they can't see what's to steal." He lay the keys on the entry table as they passed an old and broken, beat up and torn apart thing that used to be a fireplace. "No floo travel here. Don't ask why." He told them as he led them down past the living room and into the hallway. He opened one of the doors. "This is the guest bedroom. Tonight you sleep here. I will arrange for dual beds by tomorrow evening." He told them as he furthered his short tour down the hallway. He opened another door. "One bathroom. Do not touch the potions in the cabinet. They aren't labeled because I know what each one does. You don't. If you take the wrong thing you could die. If you are in need of healing, come to me. I've a potion for nearly every ailment."

"I miss my mummy..." Dudley said as they walked on.

"I'm sure you do." Snape stated simply as he continued to the kitchen. "Breakfast is at 8 am, lunch is at 1 pm, and supper is at 6 pm. Get yourselves drinks when you feel like it, cups are in the cabinet to the right of the sink. You will wash your dishes immediately after using them, no exceptions." He turned around to look at them both. "If I find intentional rule breaking, or you argue with me over much of anything, you'll be scrubbing cauldrons. Accidental rule breaking will result in a warning, after which each additional infraction of the same degree will result in cauldron scrubbing." He ignored Harry's groan. "My potions lab is in the attic. You're not allowed in unless given my express permission. Dursley, we're going to get you outfitted with a wand and some robes. Potter, you're to share your books with him and tutor him on what you already know in the following week. I expect him to have an understanding of the summoning spell, the banishing spell, the levitation spell, and the wand lighting spell by week's end, and to perform them with a basic level of competency. If you need aid in teaching him these things, come to me. I will be tutoring you both in potions 2 days this coming week, you'll have Saturday off." He looked to Harry for a moment. "Merlin knows you could use a refresher course in potions, so I'll be starting with basics." He turned and headed for the front door. "Come along Dursley!" He called.

Dudley whimpered a little but ran to catch up.

"-and that the basics of the levitating charm." Harry said as he closed his Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. "Do you think you could cast it?"

Dudley blinked rapidly at him as he tried to take in all of this information. "Harry, I couldn't cast it yesterday, or the day before, what makes you think I can today?"

Potter groaned and thunked his head against the back of his chair. "But you've already got the summoning spell!"

"Well yeah, it gets me stuff." Dudley said with a nod as he pulled his wand out and pointed towards his drink. "Accio Glass." He held out his hand and grinned as the glass slid directly into it. "See? Didn't even have to get up and that thing was all the way on the other side of the table."

"Well so does the Wingardium! It can be a more accurate form of the summoning spell... sort of." Harry tried.

"No, it just floats there." Dudley countered as he waved his wand about.

Harry looked rather annoyed at the boy. He pointed his own wand towards Dudley's glass. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He called as he levitated it. There was a shakey start, but it soon leveled itself out, and he levitated the glass right over to himself and into his hand. "See? You control exactly where it goes and how it gets there, but with the summoning charm it just comes at you at full speed. This way you're actually in more control."

Dudley groaned and looked up to the ceiling. "But the Acc- sorry not supposed to say the spell with a wand in my hand." He put his wand down then resumed his stance of groaning. "But the Accio spell gets it there faster, and you put out less energy, doesn't that make it better?"

"Lazier maybe." Harry scoffed.

"Brush your teeth!" Snape's voice called from the mini office corner of his living room. "It's almost time for bed."

"Okay!" Harry and Dudley both said back. Soon they were off to start the night's routine.