180Harry woke to the smell of tea and Agathos hissing in his ear. He blinked at the ceiling and smiled. He had his own room. Not a room full of his cousin's broken things, or a cupboard with spiders, but a real, actual room that was just for him.
Okay, well...there was a second bed in the room, for when Draco stayed over, but that was less him sharing his room, and more an extra bed for when his best friend could stay over. He smiled a bit to himself as he yawned and shook the sleep from his head, looking around the room (his room!) The walls were oak, which matched the bed Aurora had let him pick out. He had posters, and a Slytherin banner, he had his own wireless, and bookshelves.
"Harry!" Aurora called through the door. "Come on, get up, we're going to miss the sale!"
Harry, reminded, quickly dressed and ran a comb through his unruly hair, before hurrying into the kitchen. "'M up, Rory!" He claimed, grabbing a muffin. "We can go!"
Aurora, who was his Astronomy teacher during the school term, shook her head, and handed him a thermos of tea. "Come on then. You always want to get to a car boot sale as they're unloading. All the good treasures are taken quick."
"Is Sev'rus coming with us?" Harry asked, yawning, asking about the Potions professor, who spent half his time at the house. Sometimes he did things with Harry and Aurora and Harry could pretend he had a family. He had always dreamed his parents would appear and scoop him up from the Dursleys. He knew now that they wouldn't, but Aurora and Severus had, and he loved them for that.
"He's sleeping." Aurora dismissed. "We'll switch after we get back and the caffeine wears off." She finished her cup of tea. "Let's go!"
And so, they headed off. Harry hadn't particularly liked the idea of a car boot sale at first, having had secondhand items all his life, but the fact that Aurora and Severus had allowed him to use his vaults to get actual clothes that fit him, for both the wizarding and muggle worlds, and Aurora had even taken him to get a better prescription for his glasses made it different. She had made it obvious that it wasn't about money, but the treasure hunt. He didn't mind treasure hunts. Also the haggling. Aurora loved haggling. Petunia Dursley would have never been caught dead haggling for ten pounds, but Aurora took glee in it.
So, Harry wandered along Apps Court Farm Car Boot, behind Aurora, looking out at all the bric-a-brac and fun things, hoping to see something exciting, but just glad to be there. By the time the casual buyers had shown up to the sale, he had finished his flask of tea, his feet hurt a bit in his trainers, and Aurora had plopped several old books in his arms, but just as they were about to leave, he spotted something. "Hey Aurora, look at this."
This was a wooden box, it had a snake and a gryffin carved into it, and the instant he touched it, it felt like magic.
Aurora inspected it, flipped it open, and did as much as she could to check it without alerting the muggles before handing it back to him. "If you like it, Harry, you should get it. You noticed it for a reason."
Harry turned it over twice, before deciding it would probably be good for keeping his quills and inks in for school, and handed over the tenner the man wanted.
By the time they arrived back home, Severus had breakfast on the table, and Harry was grateful for another cup of tea. "I got a new box for my quills." Harry shared with the Potions' Master as he sat down. "It was fun."
"It is enlightening to know that car boot sales remain scintillating entertainment." Severus remarked, dryly. "I am unsure how a trip to the apothecary will ever compare."
"We're going to the apothecary?" Harry asked, lighting up. Going muggle places was fun, but the wonder and newness of the wizarding world had not yet worn off.
"We are not." Severus corrected. "I have to put orders in for all of the ingredients for all of my classes that Madam Sprout has not grown. It cannot be known that we have taken you from Petunia. The Ministry would place you straight back with them." Or, in Severus's opinion, more likely Dumbledore.
"Oh. Okay." Harry agreed, trying not to sound disappointed and failing.
Aurora paused. "We could create a disguising spell," She said, thoughtfully. "But you'd have to be very careful no one used a general Revelio around you, or it would disappear." She tapped her lip. "If Severus would be all right with you going."
Severus and Aurora traded looks and communicated silently somehow, while Harry looked pleadingly between them. Finally, Severus gave a long-suffering sigh. "Very well, go change into some robes."
"Thank you!" Harry enthused. "I'll be on my best behaviour."
"You had better, or it will be muggle from now on." Severus warned darkly.
Harry didn't respond, practically diving into his room.
"I am going to regret this." Severus said in a low voice.
It'll be fine, Severus." Aurora reassured him. "Don't worry." Her reassuring smile turned into a flat out grin when Harry swooped back into the room in what appeared to be a miniature clone of Severus's black robes, including jet buttons. She bit her lip to keep from laughing, partially due to the flabbergasted expression on Severus's face. Aside from ensuring that he knew what styles were appropriate the adults had left Harry alone to pick out robes from the owl-order catalogue.
"Okay!" Harry announced.
Aurora smiled, well aware of what he was doing. Harry, who had been neglected for his entire childhood, was playing happy families. So was she, to a degree. "You look like quite the little potions master." Aurora congratulated him. "Now, come over here and let me disguise you."
A few quick wand flicks and some swishing and turns, and Aurora had changed the tone of Harry's skin, she darkened his trademark Lily-green eyes to Severus's dark grey black, and made his cheekbones slightly more pronounced. She leaned back to check her work. "No magic will cover the scar, I'm afraid. Your hair will have to do, but people won't be looking."
Harry grinned. "I'll go fix it now." He was gone in a flash.
"He's mocking me." Severus growled angrily.
"He adores you." Aurora disagreed. "You're the first positive male influence he's ever had. The first thing he did after defeating Quirrell was look at you and tell you he controlled his mind. He wants your approval, and he's emulating you like Draco does Lucius."
Severus, if it were possible, looked even more shocked, but the discussion was curtailed as Harry reappeared, his hair slicked with Sleekeazy's and covering his scar. "How's this?"
"Passable." Severus remarked. "Do not speak to the shopkeeper directly unless I give you leave. You are to be on your best behaviour, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Harry agreed, grinning.
The apothecary Severus took him to wasn't Slug and Jiggers in Diagon Alley, but a larger one in Manchester, Bobbin's Bewitching Brews. He was, apparently, a common customer, as the well-dressed wizard behind the till greeted him by name.
"Severus, good to see you." The man said. "And who is this?"
Severus was unsurprised by the question. He had never brought anyone with him to the apothecary before. "You as well, Aldous." He said with a nod. "This is Hadrian, a distant relation of mine on the Prince side."
"A pleasure to meet you, Hadrian." Aldous replied, before turning back to Severus. "Any changes to your usual Hogwarts order, Severus?"
"Add an extra pound of bat spleen, and pufferfish eyes, and three measures of dragonfly thoraxes." Severus requested. "There are some coming into second year who are lax with their preparation."
"Of course." Aldous agreed. "Shall I have it delivered to the school on the usual day?"
"Yes, thank you." Severus said, nodding. "And send the bill to the Headmaster, as usual."
"We are, as always, grateful for your business, Master Snape." Aldous said, with a slight bow of his head.
Severus glanced at Harry for a moment, considering, and then sighed. "Come, Hadrian, let me show you how to determine ingredient quality, and why we do not frequent Slug and Jiggers." Harry beamed at him, and followed after easily.
While Severus had always been passionate about the Dark Arts, Potions had always been his first love. There was a part of him that enjoyed teaching, it was just a very small part. He had never wanted to teach in the first place, having loftier goals of grand discoveries. The war, Dumbledore, and Voldemort changed that. Instead of research and changing the face of magic, he had been forced back into the castle that had been both his saviour from Tobias Snape and his hell of the Marauders' making. He was only twenty when he started teaching, and the older years still remembered him. He had never been Professor Flitwick, but he had tried to be fair once upon a time, until one too many comments about "Professor Snivellus," and then when one Slytherin seventh year decided someone who 'couldn't even wash his hair,' couldn't possibly teach him had caused an explosion in NEWT Potions that had amputated his arm and put two other students in St. Mungo's for over a month. With a dozen more treated in the hospital wing. The Board of Governors had blamed him, Dumbledore had lambasted him, telling him that he had to find a way to get the students to listen to him and not blame them, while the Dark Lord had tortured him to the point where he only made it back to the castle because of Lucius. After that, fair went out the window. If he had to intimidate and scare people into obedience to prevent that kind of idiocy, so be it.
Harry, however, Harry wanted to be in the apothecary with him, and was actually listening. That was the kind of teaching he preferred. So, he went over each of the herbs in the standard mixture, and all the ones in the second-year potions, showing the boy how to determine quality flying seahorses from poor, dried bladderwrack from withered, and more. There were worse days.
Harry and Aurora returned home upbeat and smiling from breakfast at Aurora's parents one summer day, only for the mood to crash when they walked in to find a red-eyed Draco and sterner than normal Severus .Even Harry was far from oblivious about the mood. "What's going on?"
"Abraxas Malfoy has died." Severus said coolly, by way of explanation. "The Dragon Pox finally took him. Lucius and Narcissa asked me to take Draco for a few days while they arrange things."
"Of course!" Aurora said, smiling sadly. "Harry, why don't you take Draco to your room and get him settled." She watched Severus carefully as Harry led Draco away, and then headed to the potions cabinet and deftly unlocked it, pulling out a vial of orangish liquid. She promptly held it out to Severus. "Take your potion."
Severus's expression wavered slightly. "Why is it I'm the potion master, and yet you're the one forcing a potion down my throat?"
"Because I have spent years studying Afro-Carribean magic, and your mastery only glanced at pre and post-colonial developments." Aurora replied. "Now drink the damn potion."
Severus sneered, but took the vial and quaffed the potion down. He felt it take effect like bubbles in his esophagus, and closed his eyes with a grimace. "Thank you, Aurora."
"Don't mention it." Aurora said, dismissively. "If I'm ever stuck in a room with Senior or Moody, you'll probably have to our some down my throat."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want to do that when I could sit back and watch you eviscerate them?"
"I'm more a fan of defenestration myself. I think Hogwarts would want in the game." Aurora replied. "How long do we get to keep Draco?"
"I told Narcissa we'd return him the morning after the MacDougal party this weekend." Severus answered. "I assume you'll want to gather the rest of your snakelets for a few days."
"Obviously." Aurora grinned.