kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Harry blinked. "Really?"

"Yes. Now stop standing there like you've just seen a basilisk and get into your pyjamas."

"But it's too early for bed!" Harry complained automatically. "I'm not tired!"

"Of course you are," Snape informed him authoritatively, loosening the boy's tie. "You have just been through An Ordeal."

Harry scratched his nose and thought about that while Professor Snape continued to change him into his pyjamas as if he were a toddler. An Ordeal? Really? It hadn't seemed all that unusual to Harry. He was long accustomed to being jumped at any moment тАУ one of the side effects of having Dudley as a cousin. The only thing that was different about today was that not only had he been permitted to fight back, but he had also been aided in doing so by a whole host of allies.

But maybe Professor Snape was worried that a lot of emotion тАУ even good emotion тАУ was draining. If that were true, then yes, Harry was going to be pretty tired, since he had never felt so safe and protected in his whole life as he did here at Hogwarts. And it was all because Professor Snape had figured out what the Dursleys were like and took him away from them.

Snape gave a little snort of satisfaction as he dragged the pyjama top over that unruly black mop of hair. Getting recalcitrant children into their nightclothes wasn't nearly as hard as the books said. Obviously you merely needed to take a firm approach with the little monsters.

He reached for Harry's belt, and the boy squawked and jumped back, clutching his waistband. "Pr'fessor! I can do it myself!" he protested indignantly.

Snape stood. "Then do so immediately. I will return in a moment with the potion for your head, and if you are not fully changed, there will beтАж" he paused dramatically, "Repercussions." He swept out of the room, robes billowing.

Harry stared after him, impressed. Repercussions? Wow. He'd never been threatened with those before. He wasn't even sure what they were, but they sounded ominous enough that he scrambled into his pyjama bottoms.

Snape returned to the room to find a pyjama-clad little boy surrounded by crumpled clothing. "I got changed!" Harry pointed out proudly, pleased that he had beaten the professor's return by a good 30 seconds.

"Congratulations," the Potions Master said dourly. "Drink this."

Harry grumbled, knowing it would taste awful, but he was still a bit nervous about those Repercussions, so he did as he was told. "Uggggggh! How come no one else had to take extra potions?" he whined, giving Snape a rather calculating sidelong glance.

As he'd hoped, the professor fell for it. "Because, brat, no one else is my ward, under my care and protection," Snape snapped at him. Harry felt a glow of happiness at the words. He loved it when the professor got all protective and showed how much he cared. "Now march into your bathroom and get washed up." He turned Harry by the shoulders and gave him a little push. "Hurry up тАУ how do you expect to get rid of the taste of the potion if you don't clean your teeth, foolish boy?"

Harry cheerfully headed into the bathroom. That was just like his professor тАУ giving him a potion just before his teeth cleaning, so that the minty toothpaste would erase the nasty taste. Madam Pomfrey wasn't that thoughtful. She'd just given them all healing potions for their cuts and bruises without so much as a glass of water afterwards. Yes, she'd been very busy, but Professor Snape would never forget such a thing.

Snape looked around the bedroom and grimaced in annoyance. The child had been in residence mere days and already it looked like a herd of hippogriffs had thundered through the place. He stooped to pick up the boy's clothing and put it away properly. What was it with adolescent boys and tossing clothing hither and yon? Someone should do a paper on the topic: The subconscious production of magical chaos fields by teenaged males.

As he turned away from the closet, having arranged Harry's shoes neatly on the floor, the brat himself emerged from the bathroom, scrubbed pink and smiling. He lost that smile as he looked at the bed. "I don't want to go to sleep!" he whined. "It's too early!"

"Get. Into. Bed."

Harry glared at the floor, but slowly shuffled to the bed and тАУ again with insulting slowness тАУ climbed in. "I won't go to sleep!" he declared defiantly. "I'll just sit here and stare at the ceiling an' be bored. You can't make me go to sleep."

Snape lifted an eyebrow at that, and Harry abruptly wondered if he'd gone too far. Just because he didn't want to go to sleep didn't meant that he should be so cheeky. Hadn't he just apologized for the same thing? And while this time it wasn't in public, maybe Professor Snape wouldn't be quite so lenient тАУ head injury or no.

Harry belatedly remembered that the last time he had been in the professor's quarters and complained about being bored тАУ rather hoping the professor would take the hint and offer to play a game of Exploding Snape or Mini-Quidditch with him тАУ he had instead found himself escorted to a table, presented with quill and parchment, and had a copy of Ye Potion Master's Master Compendium of Potion Ingredients: Ye 1500 Magical Ingredients Thou Canst Not Live Without placed in front of him. Spending the next 45 minutes copying out pages of the compendium had taught him that whining about boredom to a Potion Master was not the brightest thing in the world. On the other hand, he had subsequently convinced the man to let him use his new knowledge by helping Snape prepare ingredients. That had led to nearly three hours spent together in the Potions lab, much to Harry's contentment.

But since he doubted that the professor would let him into his Potions lab tonight, Harry really didn't want to have to sit and copy pages and pages of information about ingredients. If that were his choice, he'd rather lie in his comfortable bed and relive the Great Battle in his mind. He looked nervously at the professor. Had he blown it? Was the man going to make him fetch the compendium?

Snape narrowed his eyes at the boy's intransigence. Hardly surprising that the little fiend was buzzing like a Cornish pixie on stimulants тАУ he surely had plenty of adrenaline still running through his system, and his rapid mood swings тАУ from tearful apologies to grumpy defiance тАУ were further proof of his overtired, overstressed, and emotionally confused state of mind. He could dose him with a calming draught, but the boy was already awash in medicinal potions. Better to deal with this the Muggle way тАУ with a strong hand.

"Roll onto your stomach," he ordered, seating himself on the bed.

Harry's eyes widened. Okay, technically he had been disobedient тАУ or at least he'd threatened to be тАУ but he hadn't really expected the professor to be so upset. Obviously though, the man had decided that he'd had enough of Harry's cheek. Stupid, Harry! So stupid! Is this how you repay him for taking care of you? By arguing some more?

Harry gulped and did as he was told, grabbing onto his pillow and burying his face in it. He felt Professor Snape's hands drawing the covers down, and he braced himself for the coming swat. He knew it wouldn't hurt his bum much, but it made his chest ache to think that he had, once again, upset and disappointed the man.

Oddly though, the professor didn't uncover his backside, leaving the covers bunched just above it. Is he making sure the swat doesn't hurt by having the blankets there as padding? Just as Harry was wondering what was going on, the professor's firm hand descended and started rubbing his back.

"Relax your muscles, you impossible brat," Snape ordered brusquely. He might be patting the little monster but that didn't mean he was getting all gooey and sentimental. "Clear your mind. Relax."