kbinnz - Harry's New Home

"You are neither celebrating nor apologizing for the punishment," Dumbledore argued calmly. "You are commemorating the fact that, now that he has served his punishment to your satisfaction, he is once again permitted normal privileges. What is more you are reminding him of some of those privileges, such as an excursion to town and a treat." He paused, his twinkle replaced by a crafty gleam. "In some ways, it would be quite cruel, you know, showing him what he had missed for the past week and reminding him what he stands to lose, should he misbehave again."

Severus' expression shifted the tiniest bit, and Dumbledore pressed his advantage. "And it would remove him from the castle and Professor Quirrell during a weekend day when it might otherwise be difficult to keep track of him. He might, for example, wish to wander around a bit after being cooped up for so long. He did behave himself, didn't he? No sneaking around despite his restriction?"

"No," Snape admitted unwillingly. He'd been rather surprised by that. James Potter would never have accepted his punishment so meekly, but Harry and the others had obeyed the strictures, turned in their essays, and even assisted in potion ingredient preparation without any complaints or whinging.

"There, you see?" Albus said happily, as if Snape had just agreed with his ludicrous proposal. "Have a good time, my boy."

"Headmaster, even if I were going to remove the boy from school grounds, there is no reason to take him all the way to Diagon Alley. Hogsmeade is perfectly adequate for тАУ "

"No, no, my boy. Diagon Alley. Harry needs to experience Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor," Albus smiled as he walked away, leaving Snape to fume by himself.

Well? Should he do what the old coot patently wanted and take the boy on an outing? It would give him yet another treat he could withhold for punishment, and the broom had worked out spectacularly in that regardтАж

Oh, all right. He might as well, since he knew that Dumbledore wouldn't give him a moment's peace until he had done so. Besides, this way he could pick up some ingredients while they were out and see if there were any new potions journals at Flourish and Blotts. But he certainly wasn't bringing along a whole passle of brats. He shuddered at the thought of shepherding Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy, and the rest of Harry's friends around the Alley. No, he thought sternly, this was not a trip for Potter's little entourage. If the brat refused to come without his friends, then he would just learn what it felt like to sit in his quarters and copy lines for the day. That would show him that there were worse things than having to accompany his stern guardian around London and behave himself. If Potter thought a trip without his friends was too boring to contemplate, then he'd quickly learn the truth. Snape nodded in satisfaction. He'd make it clear that this was no treat for the boy, but an obligation about which he'd better not complain.

#

Harry trotted happily at his guardian's side. He was so lucky! Professor Snape was taking him all the way to London with him! Just him, Harry. Nobody else. Not Flint or Jones or even Draco тАУ no, Professor Snape had chosen him over any of his snakes. Even Hermione, with her better grades, would have been a more reasonable choice in some ways, but no, his professor had wanted him.

Harry beamed. He'd never had an adult want to spend time with him before, yet there was no other explanation for Professor Snape's behavior. Harry felt like he could burst from happiness.

Even Professor Snape's timing was perfect. This was their first day off restriction, and Hermione had been waiting outside the door for Madame Pince to open the library that morning. She was planning to spend the day there, among the books, making up for her absence over the last week. Harry shook his head. Girls.

Meanwhile, the twins had promised to smuggle Ron down to the kitchens and bribe the house elves to let him have all the puddings he'd missed over the last week. Harry suspected that they were hoping that Ron would eat himself sick, but he had more faith in his best mate's enormous appetite. He suspected the twins might be disappointed when their "good deed" turned out to be exactly that, but maybe he was being unfair. Their promise about today had carried Ron through some of the long, long meals when he could only stare in mute longing at the desserts. Harry had told Ron not to linger at the table once the pudding was served, knowing from bitter experience at the Dursleys that it was much worse to be able to see and smell the foods that you had no chance of tasting, but Ron preferred to torture himself.

His behavior had ensured that the rest of the school knew all about the punishment, and as a result Harry had been the recipient of more than one sympathetic look from students who obviously considered his guardian to be a fearsome disciplinarian. Most of the other teachers would have been content to assign detention and perhaps lines, they said. Only Snape would select such targeted and painful penalties.

Harry had happily accepted his schoolmates' solicitude тАУ it made quite a change from being reviled as "that freaky kid who lives with the Dursleys" тАУ but he was really rather proud that his guardian didn't just beat the hell out of him (as the Dursleys would have) or use an uncaring "one size fits all" approach (as the rest of the faculty seemed to do) when he screwed up. He found it rather nice that his professor spent time thinking about what would make the most impression on him and chose punishments that actually taught him something, like the essay, or matched the infraction, like the restriction. He wasn't sure why the other students didn't see it that way, but he supposed it might be a Wizarding thing and didn't give it much thought.

And now, as if to address all his fears about his Professor still being mad at him, here he was being taken to Diagon Alley as a special treat! Professor Snape had made it clear that he was going to the Alley to run some errands, and he didn't normally take anyone along, but he was going to allow Harry to come with him! He'd even taken the time to explain exactly how Harry should behave, which made Harry even happier. The last time he'd been at the Alley with Hagrid had been fun, but he'd been all too aware that he'd stuck out like a sore thumb, not knowing how to dress or talk or behave. This time, Professor Snape had made sure Harry was well prepared and wouldn't make a fool of himself. He was even allowing Harry to walk beside him, rather than making him stay several steps behind the way his relatives always made him do. Harry hugged himself in delight. This was one of the best days of his life.

Snape glanced down at the urchin walking at his side. At least the brat was keeping up with his longer strides now. At first the little menace had trailed behind, but after he'd seized him by the wrist and yanked him along, holding his hand as if he were a misbehaving toddler, the brat had learned his lesson. Now he was sticking by his side and тАУ oddly enough тАУ smiling.

Snape grudgingly admired the fiend's ability to accept a rebuke. Most of his Slytherins тАУ including, if he had to be honest, himself тАУ would have sulked for hours after such treatment, but Harry just seemed to take Snape's point and move on. He'd behaved similarly after Snape had sat him down and explained in excruciating detail just how he expected Harry to conduct himself. He'd outlined all the behaviors that were unacceptable and drilled him on basic etiquette until he'd expected the boy to explode. He was eleven, after all, and he couldn't appreciate being lectured on such basic things as using a public toilet's hand washing spells or excusing himself if he came between a wizard and his familiar on the street.

Yet Harry had listened with every appearance of rapt attention, and Snape had been defeated in his attempt to catch the child out in a display of sarcasm. Even his "thank you" after listening to Snape drone on about proper greetings for the Gringotts goblins sounded sincere and interested. Snape decided that Albus must have whispered something to the brat about Fortescue's, and the boy wasn't going to do anything that might jeopardize his treat, no matter how insulted he might actually feel.