Harry was now sitting at a small circular table, Severus across from him. After almost seven more hours of rest, with the help of a strong sleeping potion, they were eating breakfast. Well, Severus was. Harry was staring at his lap, holding back tears, and trying to avoid Severus' gaze.

He tried held back a hiccup, failing. "Don't hold it back, Harry. Believe me, it'll feel better if you let go." He heard the soft, low voice that belonged to Severus say. "And please eat something. Eat as much as you want."

Considering Harry had never been told to 'eat as much as you want', he hesitated before holding a fork in his small hands and stabbing a sliced strawberry. He chewed it slowly, savouring the new taste. He had never been allowed to have good fruit, so this was completely new to him. He swallowed, looking at Severus for assurance. When he received a small smile and a nod, he smiled back. "Stop holding it back, Harry. I promise you'll feel better." He felt Sev rubbing his arm, and that's when he let the dam break.

His tears came slowly, as he still desperately wanted to hold them back. But after further encouragement and pushes, he let everything go. Fat, warm tears poured down his face like small waterfalls. He let out small gasps, for it felt like the air simply would not go to his lungs. His entire body shook with each sob, each gasp. When he looked up, he saw a blurred Severus beckoning for him to come over, so he slid off his chair and stumbled to the black haired man.

Severus held the small child in his arms as Harry sat on his lap, soaking his robes. "It's okay... It'll be okay... I'm not going anywhere, I promise. It will all be okay." He started rubbing Harry's back, and Harry felt a warm comfort. It was an unusual comfort, one he had never felt before, even from all the comfort yesterday.

He feels safe, like this safety will not and can not leave anytime soon.

He let himself cry and did not hold back, for Severus was right. This felt better than holding it back. At some point, he wrapped his arms around Severus and buried his face in the crook of his neck.

"I- Thanks..." Harry sniffled after quite some time. "'M s-sorry...."

"It's okay. It's okay. Why don't you eat some more? We'll talk more about this when you're done. Remember, I will not send you back there or anywhere else. I promise." Harry felt calmed by the promise, but did not want to leave the comfort, so he started having an internal battle with himself.

He chose to stay, and dug himself deep into Severus' robes.

"What's wrong?"

"No leave." Harry mumbled. "Oh. You could have told me, here." Severus reached over and dragged Harry's plate to his side of the table so Harry could reach it. "There. You can sit here."

"Th-thank you sir..." Harry whispered. Why was this man so kind, so nice to a freak like him? "No need to call me sir. Sev is fine." Harry nodded as he picked up the next thing he wanted to try: a grape. He tried it just like the prior, but figured he liked this one less. After trying a bit of everything on his plate, he prefered strawberries over everything else, so that's what he ate the most of.

Ten minutes had passed, and Harry leaned back into Severus' robes. "Are you finished?" Severus asked. Harry nodded. That was okay, right? Or did he have to eat it all? He wanted to eat it all, but he was already full after a slice of toast and strawberries. "W-Where's Lily?" He whispered. "She's on your bed. Do you want her?" Harry nodded, so Severus drew the stick-like thing from his pocket. After pointing it at his bed, Lily flew to Harry.

"Thanks."

Harry proceeded to wrap Severus' robes around him, so only the top of his head was poking out. Normally he would hate the darkness, but this just added to the comfort and warmth. He relaxed and buried his face into the fur once more.

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him and get lifted higher, so he poked his head out. "Where are we going, si- Sev?"

"We are going to my quarters, where I live. I figure it's comfier than here, so we can talk." Severus said as they left the hospital wing. Harry looked around, taking in everything around him. Everything was mysterious, different, from the moving paintings to floating candles.

"So Harry," Severus said, taking Harry out of his trance. "We have to talk about a lot. Not all of it today, but today we're going to talk about your living arrangements." Harry cocked his head to one side at the big word. "Where you are going to live. Hopefully it will be with me, but if you want someone else we can work that out as well."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "I don' wanna leave you, I wanna live with you!"

"And you can, you can. Calm down, I told you, you can live with me." Severus held Harry closer, trying to calm him. "B-But why w-w-would you want me?! I... I"

"You are perfect. Do you understand? I want you, Harry." Harry looked Severus in the eyes, trying to see if he was lying. When all he saw were soft, kind eyes, he let out the breath he was holding. "We're almost there."

They now stood in front of a large painting of a man with a silver beard and dark green robes. "Hello, Salazar."

"Ah, hello, Severus. Now who is this you've got with you?" The portrait asked. "Harry. Harry Potter."

"Well, hello Mr. Potter."

"H-hello s-sir." Harry stuttered. "Oh, don't call me sir. Makes me feel older than I already am." Harry nodded. "Okay, Salazar, you can get to know him later. Anyway, we've got to get going, so Lily."

"Alright, alright. Goodbye, Harry Potter. Afternoon, Severus." The portrait swung open, leading them to a small walkway to a cozy looking sitting room. "Huh?"

"Magic, Harry, it's all magic." Severus said as he the portrait closed. "Now. First things first, you're comfortable with living with me for now?"

"Why for now? A-Are you gonna send me back?"

"No! I meant for now, as in you might change your mind in the future. I'm letting you know that you have a choice," Severus explained. He sat down on a green armchair, and turned Harry so he was facing him. "Okay..."

"I know you might not want to talk to me about it yet, but could you tell me a little bit about your old home?"

"Aunt was nice." Harry said quietly. He was going to avoid 'Uncle' as long as he could. He wanted to forget him, stop reliving everything he did.

"Yeah? How so?"

"She never hit me... she was just nice. She gave me Lily." Harry looked up at Severus with big eyes, hoping that was an okay answer. "Okay."

"Yesterday... Uncle... H-He said we would have f-fun t-time yesterday... He always does th-that day... B-But she s-stopped him..."

"What do you mean that day?"

"I'm f-five now..." He muttered. He jumped when he heard a small gasp, and looked at Severus with confusion. "It was your birthday yesterday?!" Harry nodded. "Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry, Harry."

"What for? I-It doesn't m-matter."

"Yes it does. Every little boy should celebrate their birthday. Is there anything you would want to do?" Severus asked. "A-Anything? I th-thought..."

"You deserve a birthday. Even if it's just something small, that's okay."

Harry thought for a moment. Sev could still be lying, but something was telling him he wasn't. But there was so much he wanted to try! Maybe... there was the zoo, but that meant people, and people are just...

Maybe sweets? He had never had one in his life, and Dudley always seemed to enjoy them greatly... But movies....

"I-I kinda wanted to... try sweets?" He asked. "Well... I think that's a great idea. Do you want Muggle- non magic sweets, or wizard sweets, or both?"

"B-Both?" Severus smiled. "Okay. We'll go tomorrow, then, and we'll go to some places. Anything else?"

"I-I get to d-do more?"

"If you want."

"I kinda wanted to see a movie..." He mumbled. "Yeah? Have you ever heard of Bambi?" Harry nodded. Dudley had watched once, but didn't like it that much. "It's about a baby deer, and a rabbit, and a skunk. A nice skunk," Severus said when Harry scrunched his nose a little. "It's funny, don't worry. Well... except for the end, so we'll just skip that."

"Really? We can do both?!"

"Of course we can! Do you want to watch the movie tonight, or tomorrow with the sweets?"

"Tomorrow."

"Okay."