Harry and Oliver told everyone else when lunch would be ready and Harry felt a pang in his stomach as they came to what was either Jason, Simeon or Robin’s room and all three of them were sat inside talking about Quidditch moves and the like. He would have dearly loved to join them, but obviously could not without an invitation and besides, Oliver’s hand was still held tightly within his own. After giving Laura and Carlotta the same message, Oliver led Harry back downstairs to the kitchen, where Juliana was making lunch. Oliver took a seat at the kitchen table and Harry just kind of hovered behind him, not sure what to do next. And then, as if his worst nightmare was coming true, Snape entered the kitchen and sat down next to Oliver and picked up a muggle newspaper - The Times - and turned to the crossword section, with Oliver eagerly looking over at the page as well. Snape then looked up and saw Harry hovering nervously, looking at his shoes and said simply, “take a seat, Harry” and gestured to the chair next to himself and Harry had no choice but to sit down next to his Potions Professor. So now, instead of studying his shoes, Harry found himself studying the cherry wood of the solid kitchen table. The kitchen was nice, the table was large because obviously a lot of people had to sit around it and the room was painted in pale yellow, cream and light blue.

When he did dare to glance up Harry caught a glimpse of how much Oliver looked like his father, he had his father’s dark hair and his eyes were only slightly lighter than Snape’s, instead of being black they seemed to be a very dark blue and although he had inherited Snape’s nose it wasn’t as hooked and it seemed to fit his face, but their was no doubt that Oliver was Snape’s son, he hadn’t inherited many physical characteristics from his mother at all.

Harry was interrupted in his musings by Laura and Carlotta coming into the kitchen. Carlotta immediately took the free seat next to Harry and Laura went and sat on the other side of Oliver and Harry realised that the ends of the table wouldn’t be used and six people would simply sit down either side and Harry didn’t know if he was looking forward to the meal or absolutely dreading it! On one hand he wanted the chance to study Snape’s children more closely and to check that he could put the right name to the right face but he also hadn’t a clue of how he was supposed to act during lunch - Snape was strict and Harry really didn’t know how he was supposed to behave at the table, well apart from the obvious no elbows on the table, he was guessing. He didn’t even know whether talking would be allowed, or whether or not Snape would uphold the old value that children shouldn’t speak at the table unless they were spoken to. Mind you, Harry didn’t plan on saying much anyway, all of this was new to him and he was very clearly the outsider and he was not going to draw attention to himself! Discreetly studying Laura down the table - Harry couldn’t study Carlotta so much because she was the only one sat on his left hand side and it would be rude to turn his head towards her and blank everyone else - he noticed that although Laura had chestnut coloured hair that didn’t come directly from either Snape or Juliana and that she was the only member of the family to have that colour hair, she did share the same eye colour as Oliver, that same dark blue colour which was a few shades lighter than Snape’s black colour.

Lunch was not completely a silent affair but from Harry’s observations it seemed like the whole children-should-not-speak-unless-they-are-spoken-to rule was in place, at least for the youngest children, the rule did not seem to apply to Jason and Simeon, and Robin was also encouraged to talk by Snape. Harry himself just stayed quiet and ate quietly what was put in front of him - tuna salad. He had seen both Simeon and Dominic wince a bit and exchange a sympathetic yet encouraging look and he figured out that another rule must be that you got what you where given and you ate all of it without complaint. Harry did not mind, he was not fussy when it came to food, he would eat just about anything - he supposed he had the Dursley’s to thank for that, he was grateful if he got food at all, so he wasn‘t fussy about what type of food it was. Once everyone had finished eating, Laura and Carlotta carried the dishes to the sink and began to wash and clear them away - obviously this was there expected task - Juliana went to put a sleepy Oliver down for a nap, Jason disappeared with Snape, and Robin took Dominic and Alexander off somewhere to do something. Harry once again found himself studying the kitchen table, only this time Simeon was sat opposite him and Laura and Carlotta stood at the sink, yet the silence could not be called a comfortable silence. Glancing up, Harry met Simeon’s gaze briefly and was offered a smile which he returned hesitantly, all the time wondering why on earth he had wanted to join Jason, Simeon and Robin earlier, he felt nothing more than a need to get away right now, but he couldn’t figure out how to do it without appearing to be rude. He did not need Snape’s children to hate him, not if he was going to survive the summer!

“So, you’ll be staying with us all summer are you Harry?” Simeon finally broke the silence, and Harry couldn’t tell whether or not their was malice behind the words, simple curiosity or simply desperation for something to say to break the silence.

“As far as I know,” Harry said quietly. Laura and Carlotta had finished the pots by now and Carlotta came over to the table and sat next to Harry again, whilst Laura left the room quietly.

“It wont be so bad, you’ll see,” Carlotta told him with a smile and Harry got the feeling that she was either really good at reading people, or his despair was very clear to read on his face. He hoped for the former, rather than the latter.

“Yeah, Papa’s bark is worse than his bite,” Simeon said with a small laugh, and Harry got the distinct impression that he was being teased as if he were a younger brother and wondered why Ron complained about it all the time, clearly it was all in good jest.

“I think I’m beginning to see that,” Harry admitted, “but if you ever serve a few detentions with him you may think otherwise!” he joked, and made it clear that he was joking, he did not want to bad-mouth Professor Snape in front of his Professor’s children, he did not think that would end well, and he had a feeling that both Simeon and Carlotta would be protective of their father.

“Well remind me never to give Papa a reason to give me detention then,” Simeon told him and Harry couldn’t help but to grin at him, and he got a wide smile in return.

Carlotta, however, looked worried. “Do people get detention a lot at Hogwarts?” she asked anxiously.

“It depends on whether or not you get in trouble a lot,” Harry told her with what could be called a brotherly smile.

“Oh,” Carlotta said quietly and Simeon chuckled.

“I don’t think you have to worry about detentions Carlotta,” he said kindly. “And besides, you don’t even know if you’re going to Hogwarts yet, you might end up going to Beauxbatons yet. Anyway, let’s change the subject from school, it’s the summer holidays, you know the time filled with fun when we have Papa with us and days in the sun and going for walks and swimming in the lake and river and possibly a trip to the Lakes, I’m sure you remember it!” Harry decided then and there that he liked Simeon and he still couldn’t understand why Ron disliked older-brotherly teasing. It seemed quite fun to Harry, but then again, he wasn’t used to having a family - that was if he could class Snape’s family as his own. Where on earth had that thought come from?! Harry managed to stop himself from panicking just about, and was relieved when Simeon and Carlotta did not appear to notice that something was wrong with him. Consider Snape family?! He must have gone mad - this was his mean, nasty, snaky Potions professor he was talking about here!

It was half an hour later, when Harry was still listening to Simeon and Carlotta banter across the table - he had managed to get away with barely saying word, his shyness having come back full force when he found himself thinking of himself as part of the family, which he most definitely was not and he wanted nothing more to escape again but he still didn‘t know how - when Juliana came in and asked Simeon to go and get Hazel and Oliver up from their naps. Simeon left the room without question, just as Harry had expected him to and Harry found himself with orders to wash his hands and to make sure that his fingernails were clean. Stunned from the unexpected command, Harry obeyed without question and soon he found himself chopping carrots at the kitchen table, next to Carlotta who was peeling potatoes. Clearly he was helping to make dinner, whenever that would be. Simeon came back into the room with both Oliver and Hazel, who were soon occupied at the other end of the table with colouring books of the muggle variety, only after Hazel had given Harry a hug though, eliciting smiles from both Juliana and Simeon, and Simeon was now with him and Carlotta, only he was shelling peas. Clearly the Snapes’ were a big believer in vegetables and Harry, from the little he had seen from Snape’s life outside of Hogwarts, didn’t find that hard to believe at all.

It was at exactly four o’clock when Laura re-entered the kitchen and soon it was clear to Harry that she had also come to help prepare dinner, whenever it would be. “There you are, Laura, honey,” Juliana greeted her. “Come and help me make this pastry.” Silence descended onto the kitchen and Harry focused on his task, keeping his head down and his eyes firmly on the table. He was used to chores from the Dursley’s, but this was different in a way, it was well, for lack of a better description, more loving. It wasn’t all rough commands and denied meals if he didn’t finish in time and that made all the difference in the world. Yet he was staying with Snape - denied meals was something he would of expected before today because he definitely rated Snape on the same meanness level as the Dursley’s, but then again he hadn’t expected Snape to be married and have kids! Ron and Hermione would never believe him even if he swore on his life that it was true, but that didn’t matter anyway because Snape had told him that he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone what went on in his house and Harry was pretty certain that that included that fact that Snape was married and had nine children. Because if that fact got out it would completely destroy the reputation of a cold evil bat that he had around school.

Juliana had left Laura making the pastry at the countertop near the sink and had joined Harry, Simeon and Carlotta at their end of the table after briefly checking on Oliver and Hazel, who were still deeply absorbed in their muggle colouring books, and she began to dice up several pieces of steak. Clearly the meal was going to be a very fulfilling one and Harry couldn’t wait for it, he wasn’t used to having proper meals during the summer months!

The conversation was starting up again around him, but Harry still kept his head down and didn’t speak, but he did listen in to the conversation just in case he was asked to contribute to it because if he was asked he didn’t want to appear completely ignorant and rude and have to admit that he had no idea what they were talking about. Mind you, from the vantage point he had now, he was able to study some more of Snape’s children - he had already started to build up character studies of both Laura and Oliver and one thing not many people knew about Harry was his flair for writing and his talent for describing people with words, but in order to do that he had to study them carefully first and there was a very good reason why his journal was magically password protected, because no one was reading that without his permission! He now had the chance to study Carlotta a bit more and whilst her hair was dark, it was not quite black, it was a very dark brown which was a few shades lighter than black and he also noted the first characteristic he had spotted in any one of Snape’s children which had been inherited from Juliana, Carlotta had Juliana’s light green eyes. Mind you, now he came to think about it, Jason, Simeon and Dominic all had their mothers hair, well, it was a few shades darker and was probably best described as just brown, neither light nor dark, whereas Juliana could be described as having light brown hair. Robin had inherited his father’s black hair, Harry recalled and Alexander could be described as having blonde hair, like his younger sister Hazel.

Soon the preparation for the meal was done and Juliana shooed everyone but Laura and Carlotta out of the kitchen, so Harry found himself stood in the main hallway with Simeon, Oliver and Hazel. Before he could escape upstairs as he still desperately wanted to, Hazel took hold of his hand, and I her other hand she still held her colouring book and her coloured pencils. “Colour with me for a while, please, Harry?” she requested and Harry knew he couldn’t say no, not without hurting her immensely.

“Of course,” he answered and gave her a smile, whilst glancing over at Simeon, who was holding Oliver’s hand.

“You want to continue colouring too?” Simeon asked Oliver and received a nod, clearly Oliver was very shy. “Well, come on then, lets go colour.” Simeon led them to a room not far from the one where the whole family had gathered together earlier on but this room was larger and had an old oak table in it with rustic benches and a set on doors at the end of the room which led outside onto some decking and beyond that all Harry could see was green. There was another leather couch in this room and there were several rugs scattered around of the floor which was once again made of oak floorboards and the entire place had a light airy feel to it, but it didn’t seem very lived in - everything was in it’s place and nothing was disturbed, it didn’t feel like their were nine kids living in the place, you’d expect some things to be mussed up but everything was perfect. Harry was almost afraid to touch anything in case he got anything dirty or broke something. Simeon, Oliver and Hazel, however, were all heading over to the table and Harry simply followed them, but it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter, Hazel still held his hand within her own. Simeon sat down on the end of the table on one side and helped Oliver up onto the bench next to him and with his eyes he motioned for Harry to sit opposite him, which he did and he helped Hazel up onto the bench next to him and he kept an arm across her back, resting his hand on the table lightly on the other side of her, not wanting her to fall. Colouring books were opened and Harry found himself helping Hazel to colour a picture of a stereotypical barn yarn, with the big barn in the background, which was obviously supposed to be coloured red and all the animals in front of the barn, including hens, pigs, cows, sheep, horses and a sheepdog. There wasn’t much talking going on, apart from Hazel telling him what colour to use were and Harry concentrated on what he was doing, so much so that he didn’t hear another person enter the room.

“So this is where you four have hidden yourselves off to, is it?” a voice asked from the doorway and it took all of Harry’s effort not to jump out of his skin in surprise.

“Papa!” Hazel responded as Snape walked further into the room and she held up her arms in a request to be picked up, and Snape complied, sitting her on his hip easily. “Harry’s been helping me to colour,” she told him, proudly.

“So I see,” Snape responded and Harry could feel his cheeks start to go pink. Then it hit him with full force - he had been sat colouring with Snape’s youngest daughter! Snape’s daughter! Colouring! Harry wondered just how much weirder the rest of the summer was going to get, and this was only his first day at Snape’s house. How he was going to survive the summer he did not know.

After admiring both Oliver and Hazel’s colouring for a while, Snape sent Simeon, Harry and Oliver to freshen up before dinner and he took Hazel with him when he left the room. Harry followed Simeon and Oliver up the stairs and went into his room when he reached it, leaving his door slightly ajar, so he would know when someone was going back downstairs and he crossed to the washbasin in the corner of his room. He washed his hands, neck, face and ears and ran a comb through his hair in a desperate attempt to try and tame it and then he sat quietly on the edge of his bed, waiting to see whether or not someone would tell him what to do next.

Jason, Simeon and Oliver came to get him when they went back down stairs and Harry once again found himself in the kitchen, where Juliana and Snape were stood talking, although Laura and Carlotta were nowhere to be seen. Juliana smiled at them as they entered and began doling out tasks; “Simeon, you can set the table, Jason you can get drinks and Oliver, you can keep your father out of trouble,” she said with a smile.

“Yes Mama,” Oliver said with a wide grin and a slight giggle as he walked over to Snape who scooped him up into his arms and ruffled his hair. Harry once again, for what seemed to be the millionth time that day, found himself studying his shoes, wishing desperately that he were some place else and hoping that he wasn’t getting in the way. After a while, deeming that he was in the way, Harry moved to stand a bit closer to Snape and Oliver, who were out of the way at the side of the kitchen. Snape had sat Oliver on the countertop near him and father and son appeared to be deep in conversation and Harry didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, talking to Snape was not what he had in mind as an ideal way to pass the time!

Practically before Harry knew what was happening they were all sitting down to eat the meal, and this time he found himself sat in between Robin and Laura. And this time he also found himself encouraged to talk by both Snape and Juliana, both of whom asked him several direct questions. Harry, although extremely uncomfortable, answered the questions the best he could and went back to hoping that the meal would be over soon.

Once the meal was over, Snape gave them all permission to leave and they had free time until they would meet in the den at seven. That would give them an hour and a half to themselves and Harry didn’t know whether he wanted to be invited along with someone or whether he wanted to escape to his room and be by himself to process things for a while. They were all just about to leave, when Snape spoke again. “Harry, if you stay behind and then you and I can have a little talk,” he requested, and Harry noted with some surprise that his tone was kind and gentle, a tone he had never expected to hear from Snape, and especially not directed at him! Harry nodded and stayed in his seat as Snape’s children left the room and Juliana started to stack the dishes in the sink. Harry once again found himself studying the tabletop and desperately wishing that he were someplace else.