kbinnz - Harry's New Home

And that's how Snape found him twenty minutes later, lying flat on his back on the bed, an odd, blissful look on his face. "Potter!" Snape scolded, pulling him off the bed and smacking (not patting) him on the rear. After all the sentimentality earlier, he'd better send a strong message that Harry shouldn't expect all hearts and flowers and cuddles from him. "Don't lie on the bed with your shoes on, thoughtless child. Aren't you ready? Have you washed your face and hands? Didn't I tell you it was almost time for dinner?" The boy must have stumbled as he got to his feet, because suddenly his arms were around Snape's waist and he was hanging onto him for support. Snape's traitorous arms gave him a little squeeze even as he steadied the brat and set him firmly upright.

Harry gave Snape a hug as the man helped him up and was delighted when he got a brief embrace in return. It was nice to have a grown up whose gentle hands lifted you, complete with a playful tap on the bum. Before Hogwarts, Harry had never had an adult lay hands laid upon him other than in anger, and he found that he really, really liked the professor's affectionate touch. It wasn't soft like Mrs Weasley's nor Madame Pomfrey's, he mused, it was moreтАж manly than that. It wasn't hard enough to be roughhousing but it wasn't babyish or girlie either. Harry grinned. It was what a dad was supposed to do. Not too gentle, not too rough тАУ just right.

And now the professor was guiding him towards the bathroom, ordering him to get washed up, making sure that Harry was fresh and neat before he went out. It was so nice to have someone looking after him like that, making sure he didn't disgrace himself, ensuring that he got to meals on timeтАж Harry sighed happily.

Snape rolled his eyes at the boy's histrionic noises. Oh, for Merlin's sake. Such sighs and lamentations all because he had commanded the brat to wash up for dinner. What a melodramatic monster. "Hurry up," he snapped. The boy was too skinny. He needed to eat his fill at meals, but given the appetites of his Housemates, if the boy didn't get to the table on time, he'd be lucky if Longbottom and those other bottomless pits left him any scraps. "If you dawdle, you'll have to take an extra nutritive potion," he threatened darkly.

Harry dried his face and hands and hurried out. It was so nice of his professor to think of things like nutritive potions, let alone brew them for him. MaybeтАж maybe if he asked very nicely, after finishing all his punishment lines and essays, the professor would let him help prepare them?

"Come along," Snape pulled Harry along in his wake as he strode towards the Great Hall. Harry noted several Slytherins watching and whispering as they made their way through the dungeons, and he smiled and waved. After all, he'd need to get along with members of his professor's House. Oddly, his friendly greeting seemed to prompt even more furious whispers.

Then they were moving through the main corridors, and it was Gryffindors doing the watching and whispering. Harry didn't mind. He was used to being whispered about тАУ Dudley had always made sure that all the other kids at school thought he was weird and stupid. It was nice to have people whispering about him for good reasons, like having a new guardian. He figured not too many other professors had children at the school, so he'd be the center of attention for a while, but that was okay. Like when the professor scolded him for putting himself in danger тАУ it was okay for a not-so-nice thing to happen (like scolding or whispering) so long as the underlying reason for it was good (like being cared about or sort-of-adopted).

"Go join your House, and remember to eat a balanced meal," Snape ordered as they entered the Hall.

Harry nodded and hurried to join his Housemates. "Oi, Harry," Oliver Wood intercepted him. Harry noticed that Oliver was moving a lot more easily than when he had left Snape's classroom. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured the older boy. "Are you? Did Madame Pomfrey get you some potions?"

Wood sighed heavily. "Yeah, and she did help me with the essay too, but first I got a right good ticking off from her too. I'm really sorry about leaving you sore like that, Harry."

"It wasn't so bad," Harry reassured him hurriedly. He didn't want the team captain to think he was a crybaby!

Oliver gave him a dubious look. "Right. Well, anyway, from now on, we'll start and end all practices and games with stretches. Be sure your тАУ erm, that is, can you make sure Professor Snape knows that?"

"Sure," Harry agreed. He sat next to Oliver and several other team members and was quickly immersed in a loud discussion of Qudditch's finer points.

At the staff table, Snape watched the disobedient brat as he completely ignored the vegetables in favor of meat and potatoes. Worse, he filled up on rolls and pumpkin juice while waiting for the main course to appear. He leveled a glare so scorching that the Gryffindors on either side of him felt it and flinched. Katie Bell hastily nudged Potter and whispered in his ear. The little monster started, glanced quickly at the staff table, then blushed violently. A moment later he was scooping vegetables onto his plate, much to Katie and Oliver's amusement.

"Hmm. I see Harry's eating habits are undergoing a dramatic change," McGonagall murmured in his ear. "Would that be your influence, Severus?"

He gave her a lofty stare. "As his Head of House, I would have expected you to exert your influence and explain that chocolate frogs are not an appropriate form of sustenance."

She sighed. "Oh, Severus, he's had so few treats in his life. Surely a frog or two тАУ"

He tuned her out. Typical bloody Gryffindor. Just as he told Albus тАУ too focused on the boy's tragic past to help him build a strong and healthy future. Well, if he had to be the Evil Bat, so be it, but Potter would not grow up to be The Boy Who Lived To Ignore Green Vegetables if he had anything to say about it.

When the pudding came around, Harry virtuously ignored itтАж after casting a hopeful eye at the staff table. What he read in Snape's face was sufficient to convince him not to even try sneaking a taste.

Oliver caught the interaction. "He told you no pudding, didn't he?" he whispered to Harry.

Harry sighed and nodded.

"Want me to try to pass you some under the table?"

"Better not." Harry shook his head, remembering the professor's threat to have the house elves spoon feed him. He still wasn't entirely sure what house elves were, but he figured that having anything spoon feed him in the Great Hall would be mortifying beyond his wildest dreams.

Oliver glanced at the staff table and shivered. "Yeah, probably best not to risk it." He glanced at the table. "Bet he wouldn't mind if you had some fruit," he said, nodding at the fruit bowls that dotted the long tables.

Harry bit his lip. "Really?"

"Yeah, they're practically like vegetables."

Harry remembered how the professor had given him an apple for a snack earlier, after confiscating the chocolate frog. He reached out a cautious hand towards the fruit, watching the staff table closely. At his professor's nod, he relaxed and took a banana and some grapes. "Thanks!" he told Wood.

"No worries, kid," the older boy grinned. "Gotta keep our Seeker in top form!"

After dinner, Harry returned to the dorm with Neville, Dean, and Seamus тАУ the older students having headed off to study. As they reached the portrait, they were intercepted by McGonagall. "Mr Potter," she called, "Professor Snape asked me to remind you that you are to report to his office tomorrow morning at 10." She looked at him closely. "It is not marked down as a detention in my records, Mr Potter, so you need not attend if you don't wish itтАж Would you like me to speak with Professor Snape about releasing you from the meeting, or are you all right?"