Second Chances

Chapter 1

It was another normal day on Privet Drive for all those that resided there. All except one. For Harry Potter it was anything but normal. It seemed the Dursleys were keeping their distance from him, pretending he wasn't there. At least this change allowed him the chance to eat semi-normally instead of being forced on the diet along with Dudley, who still hadn't lost much weight despite being on the diet for a year. He was also pleased to know he didn't have to keep Hedwig, his owl, locked inside her cage. Harry was now owling his friends and Godfather regularly. All the owling combined with his holiday assignments allowed him to keep his mind off what happened just two weeks ago. Not even two weeks since he had only been back for three days.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts by the arrival of his pet owl, Hedwig. The snowy white owl made a graceful landing on Harry's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately in greeting.

"Hello Hedwig. That was quick. Sirius must be a lot closer than he was last time he wrote. I hope he's careful." Quickly untying the parchment he began to read.

Harry,

This is going to be short since I will be seeing you soon. Dumbledore is going to be at your house at 2:00pm today to get you and bring you to a safer place. So be packed and ready. I can't say more since this could be intercepted so I'll keep the explanations till you get here.

Love,

Snuffles

Harry blinked in surprise, "I thought I had to stay here the entire summer?"

Suddenly there was a loud banging noise from downstairs and a lot of yelling from Uncle Vernon. Harry quickly looked at his clock and was surprised to see that it was already two o'clock. He quickly got up and began to throw all is things from under the loose floorboard into his trunk. Once he had everything in his trunk and it was locked, he coached Hedwig into her cage and made a beeline for the stairs.

Once downstairs he saw something he never thought was possible. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia along with Dudley all cowering in a corner while an enraged Sirius Black was holding his wand at them and an amused Dumbledore standing not far away.

"Professor Dumbledore? Sirius?" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

Dumbledore turned to look at him, "Ah Harry. Good, good. You're all set to go I see."

Harry nodded, "Sorry I didn't get down here right away but Hedwig just got here with Sirius's letter right before you got here."

"That's alright, Harry. We were just having a friendly chat with your relatives. Weren't we Sirius?"

Sirius grunted in reply before turning towards his godson. "Harry, I know you said you didn't get along with your relatives but you never said they were this bad!"

Uncle Vernon began to turn that interesting shade of purple he got when he was angry, "Boy! What have you been telling those freaky friends of yours about us!"

Harry flinched slightly, "Nothing Uncle Vernon!"

Sirius snarled again when he noticed Harry flinch. "He's told us plenty Muggle! You are very lucky I don't want to be caught by the ministry or you'd be a toad right now!"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half-moon shaped glasses as he cleared his throat, "Yes, yes, Sirius. We all know Harry never liked coming back here and I'm beginning to see why. Harry I'm terribly sorry I left you here. It was obviously not the best place for you." Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle as he spoke.

"It's alright, Professor. I'm just glad I'm leaving."

"Ah, yes. About that. I have a port key here that will take us to where we are going. Now I know you have had a bad experience with these things but you have to trust me on this alright Harry? Where we are going is completely safe."

Harry nodded, but still looked nervously at the ball that Dumbledore had pulled out of his pocket. Sirius then left the Muggles still cowering in the corner and stood behind Harry.

"Besides, Harry. We will be coming with you. You know I won't let anything happen to you."

Harry turned toward his Godfather and smiled, "I know."

"Alright, just place a hand on the portkey and we'll be on our way." Dumbledore said. The three of them all placed a hand on the portkey and a second later they each felt a tug just behind their navels.

Less than a minute later they all landed with a thump on the floor of a house Harry had never seen before. When Harry's body stopped feeling as though it was spinning he stood up and dusted himself off. He looked around and quickly realized it looked like a normal Muggle home. Nothing out of the ordinary in sight. Why had they brought him to a Muggle house? It didn't seem like the safest place for him at the moment.

"Now, Potter, I'd think you would be above gawking at other people's belongings," came a sneering voice that he immediately recognized off towards his left. He turned and wasn't surprised to find his Potions Professor, Severus Snape, standing in a doorway, but he was surprised to see him dressed in Muggle jeans and a dark green jumper.

"Professor Snape! What are you doing here?"

"Why wouldn't I be here Mr. Potter? This is after all my house."

Harry stared at his professor shocked. "Your house? But this looks like a Muggle's house. Why would you have a Muggle house?"

"Simple, Potter. I happen to like being as far away from all the students as I can. Plus, being in a completely Muggle neighborhood puts me far away from anyone who was associated with Voldemort at the time before his downfall. I haven't been here in quite a few years but Dumbledore seems to feel my being back here now is necessary, though he hasn't told me why. And Black if you aren't going to say anything, kindly close that mouth of yours!"

Harry turned towards his godfather at this and was surprised to see him just standing there with a look of complete shock written on his face. His mouth had been hanging open but he promptly closed it at Snape's comment, giving him a murderous look.

"Snape? You're sending him to stay with Snape? You said you were sending him somewhere safe! You call this..."

"Sirius that's enough!" Dumbledore interrupted. "Yes, I've brought Harry here and I intend for him to stay here. And yes, I believe he is safe."

"Headmaster, why was I brought back here? And more importantly what is this nonsense about Potter staying with me?" Snape asked.

"Yes, of course. Why don't we all sit down and we'll discuss this." Dumbledore lead them into the living room. They all took seats; Harry and Sirius on the couch and Snape and Dumbledore in chairs across from them. "Now, the reason I brought you three here is because I believe this will be the safest place right now for Harry. I fear that despite our best efforts Voldemort will be able to find Harry at his relatives' house. And as no one in the magical world but the four of us knows that Severus stays here occasionally, it's the ideal spot."

"The ideal spot for what, Professor?" Harry asked, leaning on his knees in interest.

"For you to stay for the summer with Professor Snape, Harry. With the information we received from our other spies, Sirius and I feel we needed to keep you well hidden and safe for the time being and any other place we could think of would be too obvious. We could send you to someone anonymous but neither Sirius nor I wanted to send you to someone you didn't know or feel safe with. Especially not with what I have planned."

"I can understand that, but why Professor Snape? I mean he hates me!" Harry said with a note of confusion in his voice.

Snape chose then to enter the conversation, "Mr. Potter, I don't hate you. Dislike you? Yes. Hate you? No. There is only one person I hate and that's Voldemort."

Harry was surprised when he felt himself shudder slightly at the sound of that name and hoped no one had seen it.

"As for why you will be staying with Professor Snape, I feel he will be needing the extra protection as well. Now that Voldemort has discovered that Severus is a spy he is just as hunted as you are Harry. I don't think the light side could bear to lose either one of you." Harry heard Snape snort at this and he had to quietly agree with him. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed what Dumbledore said next. "And I don't think I could either."

But Headmaster, surely there must be somewhere else...anywhere else? What about Minerva? She likes the boy."

"I had thought of Minerva but I'm afraid she will be spending time with her family this summer. She hasn't seen them in some time and I didn't want to interrupt her summer plans."

"What about my summer plans?" Snape asked, exasperated.

"Severus, I know you. You will do what you do every holiday...research potions. You can do that just as well here since I know you have a well equipped potion lab." Dumbledore said with that ever-present twinkle in his eyes.

Snape sighed deeply, "Very well, Albus."

"What about me? What about what I want? Why can't I stay with the Weasleys or with Hermione? Anywhere but with Snape!"

"That's Professor Snape, Harry." Dumbledore corrected. "And, I believe I already said I felt this was the safest place for you for the time being. While I agree you would most likely be happier at the Weasleys', I feel it's not the safest place for you to stay because it would be the first place Voldemort will go when he finds out you aren't at Privet Drive. As for the Grangers, I would feel better if you were with another wizard or witch who can easily protect you if the need arises."

Sighing deeply Harry nodded his agreement, "Alright Professor. If you say this is the best place for me I trust you."

Dumbledore smiled gently, "Thank you, Harry. I know neither one of you are particularly happy with these arrangements but I truly believe it's the best for both of you."

When no one else said a word, Dumbledore rubbed his hands together, "Now, that we have that taken care of let's talk about what will be done to ensure that no one can find you."

"Wait, Professor. I just thought of something." Harry said.

"Yes, Harry. What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering what Sirius was doing here. Will he be staying here as well?" Harry asked, almost hoping he would be so he wouldn't have to deal with Snape by himself.

"No, Harry he won't be staying here. I asked him to come because I knew if he didn't know beforehand what was going on and where you would be this summer, I wouldn't hear the end of it. I believed it would be best for everyone if Sirius was included in this from the beginning."

Snape snorted at this, and Harry chuckled knowing already how protective his godfather could be and the lengths he would go to make sure he was all right.

"But, both Sirius and I will be making visits here every few weeks, at least once a month during your stay here. So, you will be seeing him from time to time."

Harry smiled at this, knowing he would be seeing his godfather, even if it would only be every few weeks, made things a bit better.

"Besides, I couldn't let you stay here with someone I didn't know very well without visiting every now and then, especially now that I know its Snape," Sirius said, sending a glare to the Potion's Professor and then a smile to Harry.

Before Snape could retort, Dumbledore began talking again. "Now, as for how we are going to keep the two of you safe and unrecognized. This house, as Severus already knows, has several wards around it to keep unwanted visitors from entering. It also has anti-Apparition wards all around this block. So whenever you and I, Sirius, come to visit we will have to Apparate a block away and then walk. Only one of the fireplaces is connected to the Floo Network and that's located in Severus' study. Is that still correct Severus?"

"Yes, Headmaster. I believe those are all the wards that are on this house unless you added more since I last stayed here."

"Not yet, but I thought that adding a few more wards wouldn't hurt. They will alert me in my office should any problems arise. I will put them up before I leave today. If that's ok with you Severus?"

"Yes, Headmaster that's fine. Might as well get them up as soon as possible."

"That was my belief as well." Dumbledore said with a smile. "Now, as I'm sure you are all aware, Voldemort will be having every one of his Death Eaters searching for the both you so I feel it's best that we disguise the both of you."

"Headmaster, it's easy to see through most magical disguises. I doubt Voldemort would be tricked by those." Snape said.

"Yes, I quite agree, Severus. That is why we will be using Muggle forms of disguise. Except for one on Harry here, but I will explain that one in a minute. Severus, we will be getting some Muggle hair dye that will change your hair color to brown. Anything else won't mask your dark hair. And I know you won't like this one but I think it's necessary, you should cut your hair."

"And washing it wouldn't be that bad of an idea either," Sirius said softly, but Severus heard it and gave the Animagus a look that would have easily scared off the first years.

"For your information Black I do wash my hair. But I'm not about to take grooming advice from a flea-bitten mongrel!" Snape said with distain. He then turned to the Headmaster. "If you think cutting my hair would help then I suppose I will. Though I refuse to go to one of those Muggle beauty parlors."

At this Harry started chuckling, "And what is so funny Mr. Potter?" Snape asked with a sneer.

Harry shook his head as he tried to stop laughing, "Nothing Sir. It's just that I started picturing you in the beauty parlor my Aunt dragged me to when I was younger. She went once a week to get her hair done." At the visual Sirius started laughing and Harry couldn't stop his laughing. Even the Headmaster's twinkle grew brighter. Snape just sat there and sneered.

Once he was able to contain his amusement, Dumbledore smiled at the annoyed Potions Professor. "Now, Severus you know me better then to think I would make you go through such torture now don't you?" At this Snape just scowled deeper. "Yes, well, I will just use a simple cutting charm on your hair Severus and that should do. I would also suggest that while we were in London we should pick up some Muggle clothing for you. Ones that are more up to date then the ones you have now. If I am not mistaken there should be a building that the Muggles call a shopping center that has everything that we are looking for."

Both Harry and Sirius' eyes lit up at this. Harry's because he had never been to a shopping center before, the Dursleys never took him along on the their trips there over the years for Dudley. And Sirius because he remembered the time he went to one in London with James, Lily and Remus. Snape on the other hand looked as if Dumbledore said he was going to take him to be eaten by a Manticore.

"Yes, I believe we should be heading there now. I'm not sure how long these places stay open so we should get there as soon as possible." At this the three adults stood up and began to get their things together.

"Uh Professors? You should probably put on some Muggle clothes," Harry said.

"Ah, yes. Thank you Harry. I'd almost forgotten." Dumbledore raised his wand and waved it over the three adults and their different colored robes changed into various styles of Muggle clothes. With that the four wizards made their way to the end of the Anti-Apparition wards and Dumbledore reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrist watch and they all put a hand on the portkey and they vanished with a pop.