Summary: Harry discovers Severus Snape is his father. How with this affect the two of them? And who is this spirit that keeps coming to them, almost like a guardian? Severitus style fic. Takes place after Harry's fifth year. Ignore books 6 and 7 for this story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. All credit goes to J K Rowling!

Warnings: some violence and language, sexual references (mild) in later chapters.

Chapter 1: A Not So Great Day

It was a bright sunny afternoon in late July where our story begins. The sun was high, and the sky was a crisp, spectacular blue with only a few stray wispy white clouds. The flowers were in bloom and the birds and been singing beautiful songs just hours before. But for one Harry Potter, this was not such a wonderful day. And it is with this boy, that our story begins….

It was mid-afternoon, the hottest part of the day, when Harry Potter sat up from his work with a heavy sigh of exhaustion. It was hot out, with not even a breeze and he had been working in the garden since early morning, just after he had finished making breakfast for the Dursleys. It was summer once more and that meant that he was stuck living with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and his cousin Dudley yet again.

Like every other summer, Harry slaved away for his only remaining family, whilst they say inside the air-conditioned house, watching television and drinking cool refreshing lemonade. As usual, Harry was not allowed to join them, instead he had been handed a glass of water and an unbuttered piece of toast before being sent outside to work. So there he still was hours later, hot, tired, hungry and above all, thirsty. Luckily he was finished outside for the day. He figured he'd be out again tomorrow so there was no point in exerting himself anymore on it for the time being. He stood up and brushed all the soil from his overly large pants that he wore. 'No point in giving them any extra reason to find faults with me' he thought to himself as he headed towards the front door to go back inside.

Upon quietly entering the house, he was greeted by the annoying sound of Dudley's raucous laughter coming from the living room. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Harry headed up the stairs, but before he made it to the halfway point, a familiar voice called up to him.

"Boy!" his Uncle Vernon yelled. "Where do you think you are going?"

"Upstairs to wash and change, Uncle," Harry replied, trying to keep his tone even and respectful.

"Hurry up and then get back down here. You still need to mop the kitchen floor and dust down the china cabinet. Marge will be here in a couple hours and if this house is not perfect, you will pay. And no funny business like the last time she was here!" Vernon shouted as Harry continued up the stairs and turned the corner to his room. "You pull anything like that again and you will be removed from this house permanently! I don't care about some odd geezer and this 'protection' you need!"

Harry quickly changed out of his dirty pants and pulled on a pair that was slightly less scruffy. As he looped some rope through the belt loops and tied it to keep the pants from falling down, he headed out of his room toward the upstairs bathroom to wash. He had forgotten about Aunt Marge coming over. Vernon's sister seemed to always bring out the worst of Harry's temper. He hoped fervently that he would be able to remain calm with her usual criticism and insults. He very much believed Uncle Vernon's threats.

Over the course of this last year, after Vernon found out about the blood bond that Harry and Petunia shared and how Harry was magically protected by being allowed to stay there, Vernon had filed for divorce against his wife. He felt betrayed that Petunia hid this from him and that she had allowed 'magical hocus pocus' to be cast onto their home. Harry had been surprised to find out that Petunia stood up for him and refused to kick him out as Vernon had demanded. The couple was working things out, however they were very rocky. Vernon finally conceded to letting Harry return and also put a halt on the divorce proceedings but he had informed his wife that if Harry put even out toe out of line, or if any more magic was used, or if any witch or wizard entered his property or approached him, he would remove Harry and finish with the divorce.

Needless to say, it had been causing a very stressful summer for both Harry and his Aunt. Even Dudley tried to avoid the house more often. Alas, with Aunt Marge on her way, all household members were to stay home in case she showed up early. Harry had overheard Vernon speaking to Dudley about some Christmas incident where, apparently, Dudley was not at home when she arrived and when he had come home that evening, he brought some of his troublesome friends with him. It seemed, by what Harry had overheard, that the incident had caused some strife between her and Vernon and so Vernon would allow no chance of a repeat this summer.

After washing all the sweat and grime from his hands and face, Harry rushed back downstairs to clean and mop the kitchen. Then he moved on the Uncle Vernon's next task of dusting the china cabinet that sat in the dining room. Just as he was finishing, he heard a vehicle pull up and a car door open and then shut a moment later. Harry silently walked over to the nearest window that overlooked the front yard to see Aunt Marge outside of a taxi and urging her dog out from the back, while the taxi driver pulled her suitcase out from the boot of the vehicle.

Uncle Vernon came down the stairs just then. "Get upstairs boy! And stay there until she or I call for you!" Vernon nearly shouted at him as he headed toward the front door to greet his sister. "And be quiet!" he added as Harry quickly slinked off to go to his room.

Harry stayed quietly upstairs, dreading the evening to come. What a way to spend the evening before his birthday. Not to mention Marge would still be there the next day as well, just to spoil what little joy he might have been able to take. Harry wished the Weasley's would write to him soon to let him know when he could come stay at the Burrow. So far, no such letter had arrived. Maybe they, too, were upset with him for what happened at the Ministry, just before school ended. He couldn't blame them. He was responsible for Sirius getting killed, not to mention leading two of their children into danger. With a deep sigh, Harry laid his head down on the desk, next to Hedwig's cage. She was off. He had sent her out a few days before with a letter to Ron saying hi and an apology letter to Remus Lupin. Harry knew Remus and Sirius had been close, so then Remus must have felt his death the hardest, and since it was Harry's fault (or so Harry thought) the least he could do was apologize to the werewolf and former professor.

A few minutes later he could hear heavy footsteps bounding up the stairs, followed by a harsh pounding on his bedroom door that shook the wall around it. "Get downstairs boy! Marge wants to see you then you have a dinner to help cook!" Harry then heard the man as he headed back down the stairs. Sighing heavily with defeat, Harry stood up, and quickly tried to straighten his unruly and messy dark hair, before he exited the room to face the dreaded 'judge' that waited for him in the living room below.

Harry went downstairs and to his shock, his Aunt Marge did not say much to him. Just the usual comments of how messy he was, and how lucky Harry was to be taken in by Vernon and Petunia. Before he knew it, he was relieved from her presence to go and help Aunt Petunia in the kitchen. An hour later saw Aunt Marge, Dudley, and Uncle Vernon seated at the dining room table. Aunt Petunia quickly joined them and left Harry to serve everybody their meals. Dishing up the casserole and fresh green beans, he laid the plates before each of them. As he passed Aunt Marge, he caught a strong whiff of the alcohol that radiated off of her. He figured she was probably already half drunk and dinner hadn't even begun yet. Coming back with the drinks for everyone, wine for the adults and soda for Dudley, Harry didn't notice that Marge's dog, Ripper, had moved from his spot in the living room. The next thing Harry knew was that he was falling across the room, the glasses flying up into the air, unfortunately all in the general direction of Marge!

Soon the room was filled with screeching, and yelling from and the Dursleys. Harry was in a daze. Now he was in for it! Vernon was yelling at him to get some towels while Petunia tried to calm the shrieking Marge down. Dudley, after initially freaking out for having wine practically thrown at him, could be seen licking the red liquid off his fingers and arms. After a moment, Harry rushed to grab some kitchen towels. As he approached the table with them, he was grabbed roughly on the arm by Vernon. Uncle Vernon then grabbed the towels from Harry's arms and shoved them toward his wife. He then steered Harry from the room, toward the front door.

"I warned you!" He roared furiously. "I warned you this behavior would not be tolerated in this house!"

"It was an accident!" Harry tried to protest while attempting to pull his arm free from Vernon's grip, but to no avail.

"There are NO 'accidents' with you, Boy!" Vernon continued to yell as he yanked the front door open. "Now get out! Get off this property immediately! If you are not off in 10 seconds I will call the police!" And with that, he slammed the door shut in Harry's face and Harry heard the click of the lock.

'Shit' Harry thought. 'Now what?' He stood there in front of the door for a few minutes, thinking of what to do next. That question, however, was quickly answered when police sirens could be heard drawing closer and then turning onto Privet Drove. 'Shit!' Harry thought again. His uncle had evidently actually called the police. Harry then took off in a run, down the street.

He continued to run for several blocks, finally coming to rest at a nearby park. Once he had left the street the police stopped and stayed there, probably to watch and see if he would try and come back, Harry sat down on a swing, flushing red from anger, and breathing heavily from his run. After taking several minutes to calm down, he did the only thing he could think of. Grinning slightly, Harry pulled his wand out from his sleeve. He was very glad he had decided to always keep it on him, and luckily none of the Dursleys ever noticed it or he would have been kicked out sooner than he was. He raised his wand above his head...

Bang!

Suddenly, there before him stood the Knight Bus. Stan stood there and was spouting off his usual greeting when Harry stepped into better lighting.

"…conductor this….Blimey! E's 'Arry Potter! Good to see you again, 'Arry! Stan happily greeted him upon recognition. Harry stepped up onto the bus. "Where ya needin' to go, Arry?" Stan asked.

"Umm, the Leaky Cauldron, I guess…" Harry offered, not really sure where to go. He almost had said Hogwarts at first, but he didn't know if anyone would be there since it was summer. He offered Stan some money for the ride, then went to sit down at the back of the bus. Half an hour later, feeling dizzy with a migraine, Harry finally stepped off the Knight Bus, which had finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

He entered the establishment, and quickly scanned the room, looking for the innkeeper, Tom. Catching sight of him serving drinks in a far corner, he headed over to him. Feeling very tired and worn, he simply asked Tom for a room and begged him not to ask questions just then. Tom nodded, a worried expression crossing his face and led him up to a private room for the night. Harry paid the innkeeper and slipped inside, quietly shutting the door behind him, utterly worn out both physically and mentally. He had no idea what was going to happen to him now. But he was too tired to worry anymore that night. He would deal with it tomorrow. With that as his last thought, Harry flopped onto the bed without even removing his shoes and was instantly asleep.