kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Snape rolled his eyes. Of course the brat hadn't realized the enormous amount of magic he'd expended in transfiguring Black into a puppy and then back again. It was a wonder the boy was still vertical, considering how much he must have depleted his core. There was a reason that the children slowly worked their way up from needles and matchsticks. Ah well, he was confident that Minerva would explain to the little miscreant. She'd been furious enough when she stumbled across the boy's activities earlier that day. "Go to sleep," he told Harry, helping tug the drowsy boy out of his robes. "You'll feel better in the morning."

" 'Kay," Harry mumbled, sleep rapidly overtaking him. " 'N' tell Pr'fessor McGonagall I went right to bed, 'kay? She тАУ" yawn "- told me I had t'go тАУ" yawn " тАУ straight to bed after dinner 's punishmentтАж"

Snape levered the brat into bed and covered him over with the duvet, noting that Harry was already slipping into the deep, restful breaths of early sleep. He huffed to himself. That was just like McGonagall тАУ assigning a punishment that was exactly what the little wretch was going to do anyway. Far be it from her to actually assign something onerous to the boy.

A few hours later, Harry became groggily aware of a knocking on their door, and he roused enough to recognize his godfather and Remus' voices before slipping back into slumber.

He was never sure exactly what happened among the three men that night, but the next day, his da sat him down тАУ in the presence of Moony and Padfoot тАУ and rather uncomfortably informed him that the prank war had officially ended. Sirius was still willing to let Harry practice spells on him, but it would be in the controlled context of a lesson. Sirius nodded agreement, then unexpectedly gave Harry a serious look. "You do know that I love you, right, pup? I mean, I love you. Not just because you're James' Pronglet. But because you're you. Harry."

Harry blushed. Where was all this mushiness coming from? "Yeah, I know, Padfoot," he mumbled, half-embarrassed by such naked sentiment and half-delighted that his godfather had come straight out and said it.

"And, you are obviously aware that your godfather and I are notтАж enemies," his da said awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the other wizards. "Though we might occasionally engage in, ah, disputes."

Harry nodded blankly. Well, sure, he knew that. Hadn't his da rescued his godfather from Izkibibble and all? And it's not like they'd really hurt each other yesterday for all their yelling and arguing. Actually, they were a lot like Ron and Draco in that regard.

"And as your soon-to-be Head of House, Mr Potter," Moony said, a smile taking away the sternness of his words, "I am here to tell you that you had best leave any further pranking to the Weasley twins, whom I understand are very talented in that regard, unless you want to join them in some highly disagreeable detentions."

Harry shook his head quickly. "I kinda figured that I wasn't allowed to do any more after what Auntie Min said yesterday."

Snape choked back his instinctive reaction to the witch's new title though he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Black and Lupin were now gaping at Harry with slack jaws. "Yes, well, you were quite right," he managed to say calmly. "That was very perceptive."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Perceptive enough for a chocolate frog?" he asked craftily.

"Oh, all right," Snape grumbled, hiding his pleasure at the brat's Slytherin nature. He was not only gaining in insight, but he was also learning to equate cleverness with rewards.

Harry happily hurried to the kitchen before his da could change his mind. Merlin, but adults were weird! He'd always known that eventually his prank-fest would have to come to a close, and he was just glad it hadn't ended with his da being upset or with anyone expecting his da to smack him. Besides, he was going to keep being able to learn all the same cool stuff тАУ and to be honest, it wasn't really that much fun to prank Sirius.

Truth be told, it kind of made Harry feel a little guilty, especially after Sirius was such a good sport about it all the time. He'd been starting to feel almost like Dudley, picking on someone who wouldn't fight back, but he hadn't felt like he could stop тАУ not when his da and Remus and a bunch of the other professors found it funny. He grabbed a chocolate frog and munched it contentedly.

He'd been pretty sure Auntie Min was getting fed up though, and he'd hoped that if she found out he was working with spells in her area without her supervision, she'd go spare. Well, she had, and now thanks to her, he was off the hook, and, far from being upset with him, his da and godfathers were handing out frogs. Harry shrugged. Yeah, adults were weird, but they did come in handy.

###

It was only a few weeks later that Harry's birthday occurred, and as promised, he and Neville had a double celebration. Neville's gran was so excited to learn that he had not only made friends at Hogwarts but was also interested in such Wizardly activities as flying, that she turned the birthdays into a two day extravaganza including both a full day at Featherbee's and a sleepover at their manor, complete with magical fireworks.

The only awkwardness came when Augusta flatly refused to link Malfoy Manor to her home's floo, even temporarily. Ever since the attack on Neville's parents, she had ensured that her home was more heavily warded than Gringott's, and she wasn't about to allow a known Death Eater like Lucius Malfoy to have access to it тАУ no matter how fleeting. It meant that the children had to meet at Featherbee's, then travel to Longbottom Manor via Hogwarts, but it was easy enough to excuse that by having the children's overnight bags sent there, rather than accompanying them to the flying arena. Of course, a simple shrinking spell would have prevented any inconvenience, but none of the children seemed to think of that.

In the end, the children had a wonderful time, and even Draco had to admit that Neville's gran had gone all out. Harry had been floored by what a real, no-holds-barred, wizarding birthday party could be like, and Neville was quietly proud of bringing such enjoyment to his friends.

After the party, Harry departed to spend a week at the Burrow, though Snape reminded him that he was only a floo call away, and if he got into trouble, he could expect to return to Hogwarts immediately. Harry had mentally rolled his eyes, but had contented himself with merely promising to be very, very good, a sentiment which Auntie Molly resoundingly echoed. "Of course, he'll be fine, Severus! Don't worry so!"

Snape had huffed indignantly. Why did all these interfering witches insist that he was an overanxious parent? He was merely threatening the little beggar into good behavior. Then Harry had given him a last quick hug and departed for the Burrow, leaving Snape with some blissful, child-free time.

Much as he wished he could spend it brewing, he still had to finalize the details of next term with Filius, and such arrangements took more time than he had anticipated. Meetings always seemed to spawn more meetings, and at the end of the day it was hard to remember what, if anything, had actually been accomplished. Still, Dumbledore seemed reasonably confident that everything was well in hand, so Snape supposed he didn't have to worry too much.

Albus and Minerva had already begun their hunt, interviewing Slughorn repeatedly and doing quite a bit of research to boot. Snape decided that this was a good time тАУ before the students returned тАУ to get Lucius started on his assignment. Accordingly, he contacted the blond and flooed to Malfoy Manor to discuss the matter in depth.

When he arrived, he was relieved to learn that Narcissa had taken Draco to visit some of their relatives in France and Luxembourg, so he need not worry about being overheard.