kbinnz - Harry's New Home

"Well, yeah. I mean, everyone saw me doin' my 500 lines about my relatives so they knew they weren't really nice or anything, and that now I was living with you. An' Neville told me that he lived with his gran and his great-uncle an' sometimes he wished he could live somewhere else too. Not that they're awful like Uncle Vernon, but just that sometimes they don't really understand what a kid needs, yeah?" Harry added, correctly interpreting the look of concern on his guardian's face. "So I asked what had happened to his parents, an' he told me. He really hates Death Eaters, Da. I mean, that's why he's got to live with his gran an' why he doesn't remember his parents any more than I r'member mine. So when we were talking after class an' everyone was sayin' how Pettigrew had been a Death Eater an' Sirius was innocent and all, Neville said he was really glad that Pettigrew had melted. He was just worried what the potion might've done to Trevor if he'd put it on him first."

Snape blinked again. Oh. Well. That wasтАж good news. "I see. Hm. Well, it is getting close to dinner time. You should be on your way. I want you to drop something off at the Hufflepuff Tower for me on your way to the Great Hall."

"Okay," Harry chirped agreeably. He liked doing things for his da.

"Here." Snape handed the boy a sealed scroll. "Give this to Miss Bones."

"Susan? Okay." Harry suddenly gave his guardian a sharp look. "It's not something bad, right? 'Cause those 'Puffs cry really easily."

Snape smirked. The boy was sounding more and more like him every day. "No. It is something on the order of a Christmas amnesty. I assure you Miss Bones will be very grateful to receive it."

Earlier that day, the girl had tearfully admitted she had only been able to copy one and a half chapters of her Potions text in the allotted time. Given the length of each chapter, that had been more than Snape had expected. While he had sneered that she would obviously be busy over the holiday, he knew perfectly well that he would have to release her from the punishment тАУ if only to avoid having her aunt emerge from the fireplace like a deranged Father Christmas and hex his arms off.

The scroll that Harry would deliver contained a brief note informing Susan that she had earned an Outstanding on her final exam of the term. That being the case, it was apparent that she had in fact made an acceptable effort to study the material and he was therefore, this one time, going to waive the rest of her punishment assignment. He had also added a postscript to review pages 445-447 on the differences between pickled newts' eyes and pickled frogs' eyes.

He had been honest with Harry that Susan would welcome the message, but he had been somewhat disingenuous about the likelihood of tears. Having been introduced to the concept of "happy tears" by Harry, Snape was gloomily certain that Hufflepuffs were likely to engage in such outbursts as well, and he had no intention of being anywhere in the vicinity in case if Susan Bones greeted her reprieve with an outburst of snot and other body fluids.

"Bye, Da. See you after the Feast!" Harry called, making his exit.

Snape watched after him, wondering if the boy was ever going to inquire as to their Christmas plans. He suspected Harry was avoiding the topic lest he be disappointed, as he undoubtedly had been in previous years.

However, Snape was тАУ thanks to the Weasleys' input тАУ reasonably certain the brat would be pleased. Harry would be staying with him at Hogwarts through Christmas Day тАУ the Weasleys had offered to take him for the entire holiday, but Snape hadn't been about to allow that. Several weeks with those redheaded menaces would corrupt the boy beyond all hope, requiring Snape to engage in stern remedial measures to restore appropriate behavior patterns. And of course the mutt expected to see the brat as well. Taken together, it meant that Harry would split his time among Hogwarts, the Burrow, and Switzerland.

It had nothing to do with Snape being determined to have the brat to himself on Christmas morning. Alone тАУ ha! As if Albus and the other teachers weren't likely plotting to crash on his door shortly after dawn just so they too could see Harry's expression when he saw all his presents under the tree.

Not that he intended to give the boy all of the presents the other faculty members had provided. The ones from Albus alone were numerous enough to allow Harry to set up his own toy store. The brat's room was already full of unnecessary trinkets. He would allow Harry only a few additional toys тАУ the ones that had clear educational value.

His gifts for the brat, for example, were purely scholastic in nature. It would be scandalous if a Potion Master's ward did not excel at Potions, and the deluxe brewing kit that he had purchased would ensure that Harry's technique was flawless. And the Quidditch supplies were merely to safeguard the whelp while he was zipping around the pitch so that Snape didn't have to waste his time brewing healing potions and Skele-Grow. And the photo album that he had unearthed in the Durselys' attic after paying a quiet visit to Petunia late one night was only to prevent the boy from whinging about not being able to compete with Draco when the little pureblood boasted about his family. It wasn't as if he had enjoyed using Legilimens on that horse-faced MuggleтАж Well, actually, he had. Knowing that she would suffer from blinding headaches for at least the next week had been quite an enticement, once the idea of getting Harry pictures of his grandparents had occurred to him.

But it was plain that all of his gifts to the brat were motivated by necessity, not sentiment. Even the chocolate frogs and Fortescue gift certificates merely gave him treats to withhold from the boy, thereby reinforcing his stern reputation. It wasn't as if he was going to drop everything and deliver the brat to Diagon Alley whenever he wanted one of those ridiculous sundaes, and the sooner Harry realized that, the better.

No, his presents were clearly designed to teach the boy obedience and respect and to assist with his schoolwork. It was Albus and the mutt and the werewolf, not to mention the other little dunderheads, who would naturally bestow all manner of useless and contraband goodies on him. Snape reminded himself to check all of Harry's presents before they went under the tree. Given Albus' (now-thwarted) wish to give the boy an Invisibility Cloak, he had no faith in the others' ability to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate gifts, and he'd rather intercept the unacceptable presents before Harry saw them, rather than having to wrest them from the little monster's greedy grasp after the fact.

Snape sighed. It was bad enough that he had agreed to bring Harry to the Burrow on Boxing Day and to join the family for a festive lunch. Apparently Mr and Mrs Weasley had originally thought to leave their younger boys at the school, then visit Charlie in Romania or seek out some other member of their enormous family, but after the events of the last several months with Ron nearly being Crucio'd by that Ravenclaw, then facing down Voldemort in the Infirmary, they had decided it was better to bring the entire family home for the holidays. Snape snorted. He rather suspected that today's events тАУ learning that they had unwittingly harbored a dangerous fugitive for a decade тАУ would only make Molly more determined to gather all her chicks beneath her wings.

Besides, it would be helpful for the older two to help their parents reinforce the Burrow's wards. The present wards had been cast when Pettigrew was already resident in the home, a welcome member of the household. They now needed to be recast, presumably after the Aurors had confirmed that there were no other Death Eaters hiding in their henhouse or masquerading as garden gnomes. Snape suspected that Albus would also be visiting the Burrow to augment the wards тАУ a helpful precaution and one that he was confident would occur before Harry's visit.