kbinnz - Harry's New Home

"Oh!" Harry's eyes widened and he abruptly wiggled free of his guardian's grip. "I almost forgot!" He dashed into his bedroom, leaving Snape frowning after him. Such an impossible child! Always rushing hither and yon.

Harry hurried back into the room and stood before Snape, fidgeting nervously.

"Yes?" The Potion Master raised an inquiring eyebrow. The brat looked as if he were about to confess to some misdeed, biting his lip anxiously and with his hands out of sight behind him - protecting his backside from an imminent swat?

"I - I -"

"YES?" Snape's patience was rapidly running out.

"Erm, I - uh - thisisforyou," Harry blurted, abruptly thrusting a scroll, cheerfully bound with a brightly colored ribbon, at him.

As unusual as this morning had been, the notion that the brat had gotten him a present was still enough to rock Snape backwards, and he was very glad he was already seated. "This is for me? From you?" he asked blankly.

Harry nodded, blushing furiously and staring at the ground. "You'll prob'ly just think it's stupid an' all."

"Hmmmm." Snape eyed the scroll. Had Harry been more like his father or godfather, he would have suspected some stupid prank like the old "exploding scroll" gag, but he knew the boy well enough to know that such a thing would never have occurred to Harry. He forced back his surprise and pulled at the ribbon, little knowing that he was about to endure the greatest shock of the day.

He unrolled the scrolls and raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. The brat's gift to him was a surprisingly good if amateurish drawing of him, complemented by an essay titled "My Da". He glanced over to where Harry was still fiercely examining the floor then began to read.

My Da, Harry wrote, isn't like other kids' fathers. My Da chose me after I asked him to. My Da is a Potion Master, which means he's really, really smart. He's also Head of Slytherin House, which means he's really, really sneaky too тАУ but in a good way. He takes care of all the kids in his House as well as taking care of me. He was a spy in the war against Voldemold, and he was so smart they never figured out that he was spying on them. He was the one who knew my parents had to go into hiding, and he tried his best to protect them, even if he didn't like my dad very much, but he was really good friends with my mum. But that's my Da тАУ he does the Right Thing, even if he doesn't want to. He saved my godfather for me too, but that's a big secret so I won't write how. But he did it just for me, and not because he likes my godfather, because he doesn't really. But he still did it. And he makes potions for everyone who needs them, like Remus and Madame Pomfrey. He makes extra potions for me too, to help me grow taller and stuff. Sometimes I wish he weren't a Potion Master because the potions taste awful!

My Da takes really good care of me. He has his whole House looking out for me, and if anyone tries to hurt me, he gets rid of them. He's really strong and powerful. Those Ravenclaw boys were too scared to stay at school when he was mad at them! He lets me stand up for myself too. I don't have to just sit there and let people like Dudley hit me anymore. My Da told me that if I ever see Dudley again and he tries to punch me, I can hex him all I want! He says I could even hex Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia тАУ but I don't know if I could really do that. I would probably just let my Da do them.

A lot of people are scared of my Da. I think that's because he's really tall and dresses in black and he glares in a really scary way. But he doesn't yell or throw stuff. Even when he's mad, he still talks really low and uses big words, so you can tell that he's not out of control or anything. He knows how to use words really well and he knows a lot of really big words so you have to think about what he says before you actually understand it. And sometimes you don't even realize that he just called you dumb or something, which is pretty funny if you think about it.

My Da has to be mean in class so we don't do stupid stuff and melt our cauldrons, because that would be really dangerous. It's not like in Charms or Herbology where nothing really bad can happen even if you mess about. Potions are really cool and blow up if you do even the tiniest thing wrong. My Da lets me help prepare his potion ingredients. That is really cool. All the kids are jealous of me and keep pestering me to let them come and help too. It is fun to see all the slimy, smelly stuff and get to squish them and chop things up. My Da doesn't let us fool around though. Even though it is really fun to squirt bubotuber pus at each other, he told Ron and Draco and me that if we did it again, we wouldn't be able to sit down in class the next day. He says stuff like that and people get really scared because they think he means it, but he really doesn't. He just doesn't want us to act like dunderheads.

He is always thinking about me and he likes me. He thinks I'm really smart, and he expects me to act like it. That's why he sometimes gets mad when I do something stupid. No one before ever told me I was smart. But my Da says I am. He says I'm TOO smart sometimes, but you can tell he actually thinks that's a good thing. He helps me with my homework and he won't let me skive off the way a lot of kids do. He can always tell if I'm not doing my best, and then I get in trouble. He can say stuff to me that makes me feel like I'm about two inches tall, but even then he also says nice stuff like how I'm too smart to act so dumb. So even when he's angry with me, he still tells me I'm smart and all. He never calls me bad names, or says that I'm useless or that he wishes I was dead the way my aunt and uncle used to. And he won't let me call myself names like freak. If I forget, he goes all mental and he'll even whack me for it. He really hates my relatives for what they used to do to me. I hate them too.

My Da is always nice to me and to my friends too. He lets us study in his House or in my room and he's always really patient about letting me ask him questions, even though a lot of my questions are dumb because I'm not used to the Wizarding World yet. He doesn't make fun of me though, no matter what I ask. Sometimes the other kids laugh at me for stuff I don't know, but my Da never does. He just sits down and explains. He's never ever said he wishes he hadn't agreed to be my da.

I like the other teachers here too тАУ now that Quirrel is gone тАУ but none of them are as nice as my Da. He gave me a really great room and filled it with all sorts of great toys and books and stuff. I almost wish I could bring Dudley here, just once, to show him how great my room is. He would be really jealous! My Da also got me the best broom ever and let me play on the Quidditch team even after I was bad. He bought me new clothes and incendio'd all of Dudley's old ones so I don't look funny and the other kids don't laugh at me like they did at my old school. He buys me so many presents, almost as many as Dudley got, but Dudley got prezzies because he yelled and screamed if he didn't. My Da gets me presents to show me that I did something right and because he loves me.

My Da doesn't even get mad when I ask him to say that. A lot of guys won't you know, but my Da says it right out. My Da doesn't like it when I talk about how good he is. He would rather be nonymous and not let people know how great he is. I think it's because he gets embarrassed easily.

My Da is really gentle too. Even when he is smacking me, he never hits really hard, and he doesn't yank me around or grab me by the hair or anything like that. I almost never get swatted though. My dad mostly just scolds me or takes away my broom or puts me on restriction or has me write an essay or lines. I think the scolding is the worst. He always knows what to say to make me realize that what I did was wrong and then I feel really stupid and I start to cry like I was three or something. It's funny because I never was allowed to cry when I lived with the Dursleys, so I just stopped. But my Da doesn't mind if I cry and so I started again. But even though I sometimes get snot and stuff all over him, he doesn't get mad. He never tells me I'm being a baby or makes fun of me or hits me until I stop crying. He just gives me a hug or pats my shoulder or something until I stop on my own. He never just leaves me alone when I'm crying, even if I've done something really bad.