Chapter 5: The Dinner

Note; Hello Lovelies and welcome to chapter 5! This took a little longer to get together, and I want to thank my Beta for putting up with me! Without them you would have a much shorter chapter, so thank you ^^~ Enough from me enjoy this very long chapter!

Severus sat there looking everywhere but at the child he rescued, he cursed himself already building a thought that this boy was going to be much like his father, James, that he forgot that he was also Lily's child as well. He already grew to hate the child that he had built in his head, a pampered spoiled brat, but what he saw made him rethink everything that he had known. In front of him was a defeated young man, one who had never known love, family, or safety.

Severus finally drew the courage to look at the small boy that lay upon the big bed, and he remembered the moment he brought the boy in here. He had worried that the boy wouldn't make it. He was already small and weak as it was, but with the infection setting into those festering wounds, it made it a lot harder to keep a good outlook for the boy.

Of course, Severus never gave up, spending hours in his potions lab to create concoctions that the boy may need, and spending the next two days ridding the small boy of all the wounds inflicted upon him. After that Severus sat next to boy, waiting for him to open those green eyes, which were so much like his mothers.

Severus was brought away from his thoughts when the very boy he was thinking about began squirming around on the bed.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked with concern, Harry had been through so much, he just wanted to keep the young boy from feeling any more pain when he knew he could prevent it.

"Y-Yeah I am fine," The boy said with a shy smile, Harry didn't want to upset the man who had already done so much for him. Just by taking him from those he called his family for so long, after never knowing an ounce of love from them. No, the first time that Harry ever felt such a thing was from Narcissa, she was a stranger called by the man that saved him, she was the first one who took the time to talk to him. The boy couldn't be more grateful for those two now, they had saved him, and he didn't know how he could ever repay them for all that they had done for him.

The elder man sighed, he knew what it was like, "Harry, it's fine if there is something that you want to ask me." The man said trying to keep the harshness out of his voice, something that always seemed to take hold after long periods with kids. Of course who could blame him? He has been teaching kids for the past 11 years potions and some potions required such delicate handlings that the students couldn't grasp it until they were older, yet he was still required to teach the first years.

"No, there is nothing I want to ask, sir." The boy stumbled over his words, his eyes were wide and full of worry as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Levi chuckled from somewhere in the back of the boys mind, Young one, take a deep breath and clam yourself, once you have done that, you may ask. Levi's voice said, and Harry started doing just that, reminding himself that he was no longer at the Dursley's.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting Levi into your home." Harry said keeping his eyes cast downwards as he spoke. The man gave the boy a strange look, unsure of what the boy was asking him to do.

"Can I know who this Levi is?" Severus inquired, he knew this Levi couldn't be dangerous to Harry, but he was still cautious.

"W-Well sir his real name is Leviathan, and well, er, he is a snake." Harry cursed himself for sounding so stupid.

Severus looked at the boy in shock, a snake? But Severus couldn't tell this boy no without a good reason. "What do you mean a snake, Harry?"

"W-Well you see at the beginning of summer I-I might of accidently let a snake loose at the zoo, and I might have befriend him." Harry said his eyes still cast downwards. He found he was unable to look Severus in the eyes.

"You mean to tell me that you can somehow communicate with this serpent?" Severus asked, lifting his thin eyebrow. The boy just nodded, ready for insults or even blows to come at him hunching more inward, refusing to look at the dark man. Severus sighed, knowing that he would not get much more from the boy as he had retreated back into his shell for the time being. As much as he was surprised by the fact that Harry was a Parselmouth, he didn't let it show in case it scared Harry.

"Of course I will allow him into my manor as long as he adheres to the rules, and tries not to bite or eat anyone who might come in." Severus said, keeping a trained eye on the youth. Harry's head shot up at what the man said, nodding his head rapidly, just so he can have Levi close to him once again. The snake has become a close friend and ally of Harry's, and he didn't want to lose him.

Severus couldn't help the small smile that came upon his face at the youth. "Alright then, I will send for someone to open the door for your friend."

Just as he finished his sentence the young wizard's mouth creaked open in a large yawn.

"Now you go back to sleep, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow, and you are still recovering." Severus said getting out of the chair that he had been occupying and turned to leave the room. "Have a good nights rest and your snake should be in here shortly." With that Severus turned and left the room. Harry nodded at the man as he retreated back into the hall, as he felt his eyelids grow even heavier with each passing second. The boy slipped into a deep sleep, with no nightmares that night, the first ever peaceful sleep the youth has ever known.

"Harry, you better hurry up, Severus is waiting in the parlor for you," Levi said as Harry came out of the bathroom, after his first shower in what seemed ages. He really didn't want to leave the warm water, but knew that they had to go visit Mrs. Malfoy and her family.

Harry rolled his eyes at Levi, "Yes, I know. Just give me a moment." Harry quickly dressed himself before he and Levi set out to find Severus. "Sorry sir, I was taking a shower and I guess lost track of time." Harry said as the entered the parlor, only to see Severus pacing the length of the room in front of the fire place.

Severus took a calming breath, "It is fine Harry," Severus came to stop right in front of the young boy, "We are not running late as of yet, so if you please take a step into the floo."

Harry looked at the man in confusion, Severus couldn't help but mentally slap himself. "I'm sorry. You see, one mode of travel in the wizarding world is the floo. You step into a fire place with some floo powder and say the place you want to go, in this case Malfoy Manor, and then throw the powder at your feet. But, you must be very clear when you speak, or you may end up in a more…unsavory place." Severus explained. The boy just nodded, only understanding half of what the older Wizard was explaining.

Harry took a handful of the ash like powder from the pot Severus was holding, before taking a step into the fire place. Levi quickly wrapped himself around his young master so not to be left behind. "Malfoy Manor," Harry said, before throwing the powder, his view of Severus was interrupted by the burst of bright emerald green flames, before he was pulled and twisted, then spat ungracefully into a new place.

Harry quickly scrambled to his feet just in time to see Severus climbing out of the fire place behind him. He turned his head and saw three different set of eyes all staring at him.

Harry felt rather embarrassed of what just happened before taking to hiding behind Severus, to escape the attention of the wondering eyes. All the eyes were in shock at the sight of a giant snake that seemed to have itself coiled around the young boy.

The two older Malfoy's looked up at Severus begging for information on why there was this thing hanging on the boy, and the boy letting it happen instead of screaming.

Severus took Harry's hand and bent down to whisper into his ear. "Harry, please don't be scared, these people are friends of mine for a very long time. They will not hurt you, now come on and show yourself." Severus said, giving the boy a little push on his back to encourage him.

Seeing how uncomfortable the boy was, Narcissa smiled at the young wizard. "Welcome Severus, Harry, to our home." Narcissa voice echoed off the tile. "Harry I would like to introduce to my son, Draco."

Harry quickly peered around the man to see a boy his age being pushed forward by his mother. Much like Narcissa, the boy had almost white blonde hair, and his eyes were steel gray, his skin was a sickly pale white that seemed to have never have met the outside sun. Harry gave a small wave at the young boy, very uncomfortable in this new and strange environment.

Draco, still staring at the snake in awe, asked the question on everyone's mind. "Why do you have a snake?"

"W-Well Levi is my friend, and has been keeping me company." The boy paused while the snake seemed to hiss at the boy. "He says that he has a strange attraction to my magic and decided that he will stay for the ride. Whatever that means."

The elder Malfoy was astonished. "What do you mean he says?! It's not like you can talk to the thing."

Harry stiffened at the loud voice, quickly grabbing ahold of Severus's cloak wanting to hide once again from everything. "B-But sir I can. H-He speaks like you or I do, just in a different language." The boy cowered behind Severus, while the snake started hissing at the youth, trying to calm him down.

Severus shot his friend a glare, angered that he raised his voice at the boy, but also angry at what the physiological damage has been done to the boy to get to this point. The older Malfoy noticed his mistake when he saw the young boy reach the way he did, his wife did try to warn him, but he didn't believe her for a moment. Now in front of his eyes was The Boy Who Lived, who should have been treated as royalty, cowering behind the mean looking professor. He was obviously scared and confused, and the oldest Malfoy had only made it worse.

Draco was confused to say in the least, it was very impolite of people to hide behind others like the dark raven haired boy was doing. Draco stopped at for a moment evaluating the younger boy, who was hiding behind his uncle Sev. The boy had longish raven hair that seemed to stick up in random spots, his eyes were a gemstone green, but other than that, Draco couldn't tell much about the boy since his baggy clothes seemed to just hang off his person. One thing he knew for sure was the boy was very small, he didn't really look to be about Draco's age at all, but resembled an eight or nine year old.

"Draco, why don't you show Harry around the Manor, before dinner is ready?" His mother suggested. Draco looked at his mother and then at the young boy Draco of course was disgusted by this, how come this kid was dressed like this? Draco only nodded his head since he didn't want to enrage his mother before motioning for the other boy to follow him out of the room. The other boy did, but kept his distance from the boy not even letting him within arm's reach.

Levi slithered off the slender body of the youth to stay and hear what the adults talked about, knowing that it was going to concern that of his master, and wanted to know it he needed to protect him or encourage him. The only one that seemed to notice this movement would have been the dark man that had rescued the boy from his death, one Levi knew would always protect his hatchling.

Harry stared at everything in such wonder, it was such a wonder that a house this big even existed, and that a boy like him would ever step foot in such a place. The house was obviously designed for the Malfoy family, it was marble, fine silk draperies, old family paintings, and exquisite carpets. Eventually Draco stopped in front of one of the many doors in the hallway.

"It's such a nice place," Harry's voice was above a whisper unsure what he should say since he never talked to someone his own age. Dudley always made sure that while at school that Harry was always isolated, even the teachers seemed not to notice him that much.

"I guess, come on lets head into my room," Draco said opening his door, to reveal a large room, too big for a single person to live in, it even had its own connecting bathroom. Harry couldn't help but to look at everything the blonde had in his room, he had a king size bed with a large canopy over it with silver drapes hanging off of it, a moving dragon painted on his wall that was currently asleep making smoke rings with his nose.

"Sorry about the dragon, my mum had it painted before I was born, and we haven't gotten around to painting over the thing yet."

"I think it's neat to have something like this in your room," Harry quickly said not wanting to make his friend, if they were that yet, upset that that he thought Harry hated the way his room looked.

"I guess, I mean I have seen it enough times that I know what it's like. Anyways that's not the reason I dragged you in here, you need better clothes than what you are wearing." The boy said eyeing Harry's choice of clothing carefully. The boy was wearing worn looking jeans, and a baggy T-shirt, and the blonde knew that his father was just tolerating what the boy was wearing.

"I-I'm sorry I don't have much to wear, these are my only clothes." Harry said looking at the ground wringing his T-shirt between his hands. He was very self-aware of the clothes that he was wearing compared to the Malfoy's, but this was all that was ever given to him.

"That's fine I have something that you can barrow for tonight. I will have one of the house elves charm it to fit you since you are smaller than me." Draco said setting his sights to his closet, looking through all his clothes for something he thought Harry would look good in.

Harry's eyes widen at what Draco had said. "N-NO! Y-You don't have to do that, they are your clothes after all." Harry felt bad that Draco was going to give him some clothes, he had no way to pay him back for his kindness.

"Don't worry, I have plenty of clothes, and most of them are going to be thrown out here soon anyways since they are going out of style." Draco said before deciding on a dark green, almost emerald robe that would go perfect with Harry's eyes.

"Milly!" Draco yelled causing the other boy to jump at the sudden volume, for a moment he thought that Draco was crazy just shouting a random name, for no reason. Before a loud crack entered a room and a scrawny thing with pointed ears appeared before him. Harry couldn't stop the gasp that escaped his lips at the sight of the thing,

"Milly can you shrink these down for Harry over there?"

"Yes, Master Draco, Milly can do that!" Milly replied happily before snapping her fingers, and the clothes shrunk to about Harry's size. "Is there anything else Master Draco or Master Harry needs?" Milly asked looking at Draco waiting for his next order.

"Nope that should be everything, you may go, just inform us when dinner is ready." Draco said waving her away before thrusting the robes at Harry. "You go change in the bathroom over there," Draco said, pointing to the door leading to the bathroom as Milly disappeared with another crack.

Harry only nodded, not really wanting to anger his new friend, and quickly made his way over to the bathroom. He found that robes where confusing to put on when you don't know how. Just before Harry could step out of the bathroom, Draco called out, "Come on what is the hold up?" Harry gulped before existing the bathroom, for the first time in his life was he wearing something that was his size. It felt nice, but at the same time it was new to Harry, who always had worn baggy looking clothes.

Draco nodded, noting that Harry looked happy with the well-fitting clothes. "I was right they do make your eyes stand out more, you can keep these, when you leave." Draco said, Harry was about to protest before the blonde held his hand up to silence him, much like his father does, "No, I will not hear anything about you giving them back, they have been shrunk down to your size. I am giving these to you as a sign of friendship, and you can wear those when you go shopping for your school supplies. Which reminds me, you should come along with my family, we are going shopping tomorrow."

Harry has never known such things in his life, and was overwhelmed by the kindness Draco was showing him, so he could only nod at what the boy was saying. It wasn't long before Milly popped in the room once again to inform them that dinner was about ready, and they made their way back down to the dining area.

"Narcissa, I want to thank you for yesterday," Severus started bowing his head a little to the lady of the house.

"Now Severus I would do anything for you. You are, after all, like family to us." The woman said with a smile, before a frown came over her face. "Of course I will do anything for a child as well, and when you showed him to me, I wanted nothing more than to offer my help. I saw something that I know I shouldn't have when I entered his mind, things that children never should go through, Severus. I want you to promise me that you will do everything in your power to keep him from going back to those muggles." Severus only agreed with Narcissa, but he knew that Dumbledore had other plans.

"I will try my best, but you might have to step in." Severus said looking between other two adults. "There is only so much I can do, I know, Lucius, this might be hard for you-" The blonde hair man only held his hand up to silence the other.

"No, you do not have to say anything. My wife hasn't revealed much to me about the boy, but even I know it isn't right to do that to a child. I will do everything in my power to help you both." Lucius said, staring very sternly at his friend, upset that his friend thought he would just turn them away in a time of need.

"Thank you." Was all Severus could say to his good friends.

For the rest of the wait they spent time talking about how they would keep Harry from falling back into those muggle's hands. After a house elf told them dinner was ready, they headed for the dining room. Along the way they ran into the two boys, Harry was in a change of clothes, Draco just came in smirking, happy that he got Harry to accept the clothes. It seemed that in their short time together, the two had become quick friends.

"S-Severus, Draco was telling me about going shopping for school supplies," Harry said taking a seat at the fancy table, looking in shock at all the food that just appeared on their plates, "I-is it okay if I join him and his father when they go shopping?"

"Of course Harry, the term is starting in a weeks' time, so we will go get everything on your list and then I will help you study. Draco, can I join you and your father as well?" Severus asked, turning to look at his godson. Draco nodded happy to be spending time not only with his new friend Harry, but also his godfather.

They all carried on in quiet conversation during the meal, the scrape of utensils louder than words most times. Harry had lost count of how many different courses appeared in front of him, each one tasting amazing as the last. It seemed that Levi was having a good time as well, having a conversation with Harry, but also with Narcissa since she held great interest in the snake. All too soon it was time for Harry and Severus to take their leave, but not without a promise to the young blonde about going school shopping the next day.