“I will be tutoring the boy, starting tomorrow.” Snape informed them the next morning at the breakfast table.

Harry’s toast paused on the way to his mouth as he looked up at Snape, startled. He had mostly forgotten about the Occlumency lessons.

“Tutoring?” Hoppity asked curiously.

Snape placed his fork on his plate brusquely and placed each hand on either side of his breakfast plate. “The brat may think that he can fool around this summer playing child but the Dark Lord will not afford him such luxuries.” He said viciously as much to Hoppity as for Harry. “The blessed title of Boy-Who-Lived unfortunately carries some less than blessed side affects and Potter must be able to overcome them. It is most important that he be able to do so.”

“Oh, of course.” Hoppity said breathlessly as clutched her glass of juice in one hand.

Harry glared at his toast, wishing to kick Snape. He knew that he needed Occlumency lessons but Snape didn’t need to tell him all that again and in front of Hoppity; reminding her again of his fame. And now that she was star struck over the ‘importance’ of these lessons he wouldn’t be able to go to her to interfere if Snape’s lessons were overly harsh.

And he called him a brat too. Git.

“Twice a week, Potter, starting tomorrow at four o’clock. Do not be late.” Snape informed him imperiously.

Harry just glared at his toast harder. He needed Occlumency lessons but that didn’t mean that he had to like it.

“Potter, did you hear me?” Snape asked dangerously as he leaned toward over the table.

“Yes, sir.” He replied and bit a big chunk of toast.

For the rest of breakfast, Hoppity would give Harry overt glances and smile at him when she was caught. Harry was in a sour mood and he was sure that both Snape and Hoppity noticed but neither mentioned anything.

Harry finished the last of his orange juice and dutifully followed Hoppity to the kitchen sink to place his dishes on the counter. This time when Hoppity handed him the Muggle plastic grocery bag, no doubt containing his lunch, Harry was suddenly reminded of yesterday’s lunch mandate.

He bit his lip and looked up at Hoppity who was doing something on the counter. “I’m not allowed to bring aluminium cans or glass to school.” He informed her.

“Why?” Hoppity asked stopping her movements to tie the top of her own plastic bagged lunch.

“I dunno.” Harry said, shrugging and holding the bag up.

“We must have missed the memo,” Hoppity said distractedly as she took his bag from him, untied it and took out a can. “Muggles are so strange, they always have unusual rules that they expect everyone to know...” she mused as the knot was retied. “Here you are.” She said smiling as she handed the odd bag back. “Did you know that you have to staple sheets together in the same exact spot every single time? I had to redo half of my staple jobs yesterday.”

Harry just shook his head no, he did not know that.

They started for the garage door when Snape’s voice stopped them.

“Don’t forget to buy tea.”

“Of course Severus.” Hoppity replied. “Have a nice day.”

---

The school day for Harry went mostly as it had the day before. He mimicked the other children during the short exercises, listened to a lesson about the weather and filled out weather worksheets with clouds, suns and raindrops. They played a matching game and had some more little lessons before Harry got up with his group to retrieve his plastic bag for lunch.

He had learned the names of the children sitting around him when the teachers came by and addressed them. The dark haired boy sitting across from him with the big round spectacles was named Benny and he tended to sniffle a lot, if Harry had a tissue or a handkerchief he would have given it to him. The bratty girl next to him was named Jenny and she practically sang when the student teacher, Ms. Kincaid came around and spoke to her. The little black girl named Nisha seemed to be her friend, they kept chatting to each other about what colour they should make the clouds and whether orange or yellow was better for the rays of the sun.

The morning passed quickly and soon it was lunch time. It seemed that the order of tables allowed to get their lunches changed every day and this time Harry's group was one of the first excused to go to the back cubby.

Harry had already started to unpack his lunch when a large blond boy, the same one from yesterday who asked him about his sneakers, stopped on his way back from the cubby and snatched something off of the desk of the small boy who sat across from him.

“Hey!” the small boy yelped and turned in his seat. “Give that back!”

“Give what back.” The bigger boy taunted.

The smaller boy looked up to where the adults were, his eyes appearing distorted and larger through the frames of his thick spectacles, and Harry found himself following his gaze. The lunch lady had just entered the classroom and the teachers were standing at the door with her, talking.

“What you took!”

“Nuah!”

“Give it back!” the little boy cried, his face beginning to turn red and splotchy.

By then, the adults noticed and the lunch lady practically ran to them, bearing down on the situation.

“Benny! Bobby! What’s going on?”

“He took something from my lunch.” The speckled boy wailed.

“No I didn’t!”

“Bobby,” the woman started threateningly.

“What? I didn’t take nothing.”

“Anything, you didn’t take anything.” The lunch lady corrected.

“Yes he did!” Harry found himself saying.

The lady sighed. “Bobby empty your pockets.”

“No and you can’t make me.”

“Empty them or you’ll have to stand with the teachers during recess the whole time and won’t be allowed to play.”

Bobby pouted but pulled out a smushed packet from within his short trousers. He glared hatefully at Harry.

Benny gave a hiccupping sob at the sight of the mangled packet as the woman started to berate the bigger boy and ushered him off.

She came back moments later. “Are you okay Benny?” The little boy cried harder. Uncomfortable at the display of tearful emotion, Harry tried to come up with something to help make him feel better. He opened his own half-packed lunch bag and looked inside. Spotting the two little cakes at the bottom of the bag, same as yesterday, he pulled them out.

“You can have one of these.” He offered and the crying stopped immediately. Benny blinked from behind his enlarging round spectacles, the tears on his lashes darkening them and clumping them together wetly.

“Aw, thank you Harry.” The lunch minder said and pulled the offered cake to Benny. “Look, Benny, Harry gave you a cupcake!”

Benny looked up at him and gave a timid smile. “Thanks.” He mumbled shyly and took the cupcake from the lunch minder’s hand.

Seeing the conflict resolved, she smiled, got up and left. The rest of the lunch period passed in chaotic loudness although neither Harry nor Benny said a word.

Outside during recess, as Harry stood by himself off to the side surveying the play park, he noticed that the bigger boy (Bobby, he thought his name was) had to stand next to the lunch minder for half of the time. As soon as he was released, he came straight for Harry.

“Why’d you tell on me?” the spiky blond boy demanded.

Harry looked at him incredulously and stepped down from the wooden plank he had been standing on. “You stole something from his lunch.”

“So? He’s just a crybaby. I would’ve gotten away with it if you didn’t tell on me!”

“You’re just mean and a bully.” Harry accused.

“Yeah? Well you talk funny and you dress funny. No wonder you don’t have any friends.” Bobby taunted cruelly.

Harry looked down at his clothes. It was true that they looked different than the rest of the children’s on the playground but he couldn’t help that. They were clean and new and fit him. It should have been enough. He couldn’t help how he talked either, no more than anyone could help being a Wizard or a Muggle or a Squib.

“I have friends and they don’t care what I wear.” He retorted. “And you talk funny to me.”

“You don’t have friends. If you had friends then you’d be playing with them.”

“Well I don’t see you playing with any of your friends either, now do I?” Harry demanded. Bobby’s face just screwed up at this bit of logic and the boy gave Harry a shove and then left.

As Harry watched the bully walk away he fingered the wand in his back pocket. He would have liked to throw a tripping hex at the bigger boy but he knew better than to do that. He pushed the wand in deeper before tightening his fingers around it. He had nearly forgotten that this was the abnormality of a wand that Dumbledore had fostered him into taking. The old man had first tricked him to turning over his real wand and then he had given it to Snape! Snape!

That had been a rotten trick. It was his wand and he would have been able to look after it. When he was little he had never lost any of his prized possessions unless the Dursleys took them away from him and the Dursleys were hardly here now. He wouldn’t have lost it, it was his wand.

And now greasy, slimy, gitty Snape had it. Harry felt shivers of dismay as he thought of his wand in Snape’s possession. If he was lucky the man would just have his wand coveted and on display on a wall or something but for all Harry knew the man could be using it to smash beetle guts or butomer puss.

Harry felt an anguished frustrating wail rise up at the unfairness of it all. He may have to sit down and take it when an adult threw his lunch trash away or allow himself to be lined up and lead around with the other children like a string of ducklings but there were some things that he refused to give into. Being deprived of his real wand was one of them.

Determined, Harry resolved to get his wand back tonight. He’d hide it in a drawer or tape it to his leg if he had to but he wasn’t going to let Snape have it back. He had the rest of the day to figure out how he was going to get it.

---

He found Hoppity waiting for him in the same hallway near the exit as before, sitting on a bench. He separated from the throng of exiting students and made his way over to her.

“Hello Harry-bean, how was your day of school?” Hoppity said, beaming.

“Mm, it was ok.” Harry said quietly as he climbed up to sit next to her. He peered up shyly from under his fringe and remembered a bit of courtesy. “Erm, how was your day?”

Hoppity gave a great big beam of a smile and half-hugged, half patted Harry on the head. “You’re such a sweet, well mannered little boy.”

Harry looked down, trying not to think about his plans of stealing his wand back against Dumbledore’s wishes.

“It was good,” Hoppity said, answering his question. “I got to play some games on the compewter. Did you know that you can play against other people on compewters? I mean, not people in the same room but people countries away. Oh! We should probably get going now.” Hoppity said, not giving Harry a chance to comment. “I’ve had coffee all day but I fear that if we don’t get some tea for Severus soon that he may do something drastic…”

They hurried out of the school building, Hoppity pulling Harry along by his hand, and soon were on their way to the nearest large food shop.

“I asked Cynthia, the lady I work with, where the best place around here to get tea was. Fortunately it’s close by.”

They arrived at the large shop and walked in. Hoppity pulled out a shopping cart; this one was a lot less deep than the one Harry had been forced to sit in last time and he was glad for that, as he didn’t think that Hoppity would demand that he sit in the uncomfortable-looking front seat. He walked close by Hoppity instead and looked around at everything placed at his height.

They picked up several packets and canisters of tea and then spotting the hundreds of boxes of cereal across from them Hoppity said that they should try some for breakfast the next day. They selected several different kinds and placed them in the cart next to the packets of tea bags, or in Harry’s case he handed the boxes he picked to Hoppity to place in the tall cart.

They stopped by the refrigerated dairy area and got several different bottles of milk too as Hoppity agreed with Harry that the milk they had tasted funny, and then a bottle of chocolate milk just in case these too tasted funny.

“If worse comes to worse,” Hoppity said as she put the chocolate milk carton into their cart, “We can always try chocolate milk over our cereal.”

When they arrived home, Snape was waiting in the kitchen with a pan of water boiling.

“About time.” He murmured and the helped himself to the bags and pulled out the different types of tea.

“They only had tea bags.” Hoppity explained as Snape looked at one canister sourly.

It was opened and Snape and Hoppity sat down with mugs to enjoy the first tea they had had in days. It was almost surreal seeing them get along together in amicable silence.

“I’m going over to Michael’s, okay? Harry asked a very distracted Hoppity

“You don’t want a spot of tea first?”

“No.”

“You sure? Alright then, but if Michael’s mum looks busy don’t be a bother.”

“I won’t.” Harry said crossly but Hoppity was already blissfully breathing in the scent from her mug.

Harry went to Michael’s house but no one answered the ring, or the knocks. No one was around the back and there wasn’t a car parked nearby. Feeling dejected, Harry set back home. He entered the house again to see Snape rinsing his cup out at the sink before shelving it and then heading to the basement.

“Back so soon?” Hoppity asked him once she spotted him.

“Yeah, Michael wasn’t home.” Harry said and scuffed his shoe on the floor.

“Oh well he might be out at football practice, his mum said he had that sometimes.”

“Really?” Harry asked nonchalantly, feeling more dejected then ever.

“Ahmm. I suppose we should sign you up for them too, then.”

Harry’s movement stopped and he looked up, his attention piqued.

“Perhaps tomorrow. Would you like that Harry?”

“Erm, I guess. I’ve never been on a football team before… but I’ve played Quidditch!”

“I’m sure that that will help you with strategy.” Hoppity suggested happily. “I’ll ask Michael’s mum what team he’s on and we’ll see if we can sign you up for that one too.”

“Okay!” Harry replied happily. He had been disappointed that Michael wasn’t in his class but being on the same football team sounded great and made up for it. It would be a fun thing to do after school and he enjoyed spending more time with Michael. He had never had a real friend before when he was this young and it was really interesting to see what kind of games they could play.

Hoppity got up to rinse her mug out and Harry stood by the wall. His hand strayed to his back pocket aimlessly and as he felt the small wooden utensil he was reminded of his earlier plan. Snape was down in the basement, probably doing something with potions and wouldn’t come out for awhile.

This house was Muggle, it wasn’t like Snape’s office at Hogwarts; it wouldn’t have any wards or alarms on the rooms… Harry would be free to search through Snape’s room and the man wouldn’t even know that he was up there. And if he was careful and made sure that everything was exactly where it was when he left, well then Snape would never know.

“I’m going to go play quietly in my room, okay?” Harry asked Hoppity once she had put her mug away in a cupboard.

“Oh, that’s fine Harry.” She said slightly surprised that he had informed her. “I’ll be down here watching the telly if you need me.”

Harry nodded. This was perfect. He waited until Hoppity had moved to the front room and sat on the couch before he headed up the stairs. Once on the second floor, he stealthily made his way down the hall to stand in front of Snape’s room. The other staircase was over here and Harry paused and strained his ears to make sure that no one was down there nearby but the only sounds he heard was the quiet noise from the telly.

He bit his lip and reached out for the metal doorknob of the closed door and slowly placed his hand on it, half expecting to be shocked or from some loud alarm to start despite the fact that Snape wasn’t supposed to do any magic. Well, Harry supposed that his Occlumency lessons he was to have didn’t count as Hoppity hadn’t objected to those but she did make a fuss whenever Snape did anything else.

Nothing happened and Harry bravely closed his small hand over the doorknob. Still nothing. He gave an experimental twist and the doorknob turned- it was unlocked. Harry looked around the hall one last time, just to make sure that Snape or Hoppity wasn’t hiding in a corner ready to pounce on him, and then slowly pushed the door open. It creaked quietly but that was the extent to which his presence was betrayed.

Considering it just his good luck, Harry slipped into the room and looked around. It looked much like it had when he had first seen it a couple of days ago- the bed was made neatly, there was no clutter and the closet was closed. For a moment, Harry doubted whether this was Snape’s room or not, the man could have been sleeping upside down from one of the rafters in the basement after all, but he soon changed his mind as he spotted two vials next to a lamp on one of the bedside tables- definitely Snape’s. One was empty but the other had a murky swamp like liquid in it and Harry shuddered to think what it tasted like.

He could feel Snape in this room and Harry didn’t think that it was his imagination. The man had definitely spent some time in here and Harry was mildly frightened and thrilled. If Snape caught him in here… well the results would probably not be pleasant for him but Harry was positive that Snape would not catch him in here. Snape was downstairs, far away and probably absorbed in his work and wouldn’t have a reason to come upstairs for awhile. Harry was going to be very careful to put everything back where it belonged too, Snape wouldn’t even suspect that he had ever been in here. Once he found his wand, he would just have to hide it well and as soon as Snape gave up trying to find it, well then Harry could keep it on him, where it belonged.

But if his wand wasn’t in here and Snape were carrying it around... Harry decided to think about that later. He was pretty sure that Snape would have put it somewhere in here though; Snape seemed the kind of person to put Harry’s wand in a place where he could gloat over it every night before falling asleep. and Harry hardly thought that the man was going to start carrying his wand around like some wand chauffer.

The stillness of the room pressed in and Harry stealthy made his way to the nearest bedside table. He had pleasant thoughts of how Snape would react once he realized that he no longer had Harry’s wand- he would probably get panicked and sweat under the pressure of losing it, maybe it would make the man a nervous wreck, agitated but unwilling to say that he lost the wand. It would serve the git right!

Harry yanked open the single drawer in the bedside table. There were a few items in it; potion vials and a small notebook and a quill and a bottle of ink… a small packet of tissues- what were they doing there? And... mints?

Harry almost giggled at the last and picked the mint packet up. Borgis’ Best Mints. Hmm... He opened the packet and nicked a small white mint, placing it in his mouth and tasting it before clumsily closing the packet and placing it back into the drawer.

He scowled at the drawer for failing to produce his wand it and shut it. Crunching on the mint, he walked around the bed to search through the rest of Snape’s belongings. The bedside table on the other side was empty and Harry closed it disappointedly. The tall dresser was next, and Harry opened the drawers that he could reach and shifted through the few articles of clothing in them, looking for his wand hidden at the bottom of them. The upper drawers he couldn’t reach without help so to get to those, he opened a lower drawer and carefully stood on the side of it, giving him the extra height he needed. He was very careful, lest he fall and have the drawers topple over him. Once those had been searched to the best of his stretched ability, Harry got off and closed them. He surveyed the room, thinking of where to look next.

There was the closet and bathroom but Harry’s attention gyrated back to the first bedside table, the one with all the stuff in it. There had been a notebook in it- maybe Snape had written down where he had put his wand! Harry went back to the table, pulled open the drawer to take out the notebook and flipped through the pages. It was full of notes and strange symbols and equations and weird stuff- nothing Harry understood and nothing that looked like it said where his wand was. He was getting a headache looking at it and trying to make sense of it so Harry replaced the book and looked at the bedside table again.

He had already searched it but maybe he missed something. He pulled the drawer out more and tilted it up and- there! The drawer slid out and Harry shakily lowered it to the floor. Sitting on his knees before it, he searched along the sides of the drawer and then turned it upside down, dumping the objects onto the floor. He was disappointed when this closer search yielded nothing. The back was a normal drawer, nothing was hidden or tapped along the bottom or sides and his wand didn’t miraculously appear in the pile of objects on the floor. Biting his lip, Harry sat back and thought. Where else could his wand be? Maybe it was between the mattresses or under a pillow. He would check the closet after those and if he still didn’t find his wand then he’d try the bathroom.

Harry started to pile Snape’s belongings back into the drawer when something made his breath stop and his heart race- someone was coming up the stairs! Harry quickly, and as quietly as he could, threw in the rest of the items into the drawer. He couldn’t get caught in here going through Snape’s belongings! He prayed that it would be Hoppity coming up the stairs or someone that wouldn’t bother checking this room but he realized that it was not to be as the quiet footsteps moved toward the door and paused.

Bugger. And Harry had left the door open a crack by accident when he had come in.

Bigger bugger.

Harry leapt up and desperately tried to think of what he could do in the two seconds before he was discovered. Could he dive and hide under the bed? No, the drawer was still out on the floor and would betray his presence- maybe if he ran for the closet Snape wouldn’t notice him and just see the drawer and then storm out, giving him enough time to escape? No, there was no way that he could do that without giving himself away-

Harry’s life expectancy plummeted past his stomach and into the floor as the door was flung open. He caught a look at Snape's shocked face as the man took in the sight of Harry in his room and the drawer resting on the floor before it was twisted into a mask of rage.

“POTTER!!” Snape roared and flew into the room, stopping in front of the bed and towering over the little boy. He was livid, his face was twisted into the fiercest look of outrage and anger he had ever seen- rivaling the time Snape had caught him in his pensieve. Shaking with uncontrolled rage, Snape’s hands contorted into claws, and opened and closed grotesquely in front of him as if searching for Harry’s throat.

Harry could only stand frozen as his mind desperately raced to figure out how he could dodge Snape and get out of this without being killed. Or strung and gutted alive. He could hear his heart beat rushing through his ears as all sound seemed to be magnified and his body was one taut, frozen muscle.

Still shaking with anger, the claws were extended one last time, then forcefully closed into fists. Snape panted loudly through his nose, his nostrils flaring as his face maintained an enraged expression.

“So, I’ve finally caught you,” He hissed dangerously. “A thieving little menace. Just what exactly were you after this time, Potter, hmm?”

Harry could only mutely stand next to the bed as Snape continued his spitting rant, taking several predatory steps towards him.

“Was it an expensive potions ingredient this time? An interesting object to steal? Perhaps a dirty little secret that you can tell your friends and laugh over later…” Snape hissed out menacingly before having one last big stride and swooping down on him.

He shrank away, raising his arms.

“Well what was it?” Snape hissed and wrapped his hands around his wrists, forcing his arms down and away. “What were you after?”

Harry shook his head ‘no’, trying to get away. If he dived maybe he could make it to the door.

He tried to turn away, to twist out of his grasp and get away but Snape was there and he was stuck, trapped.

“Answer the Question!!”

“Nothing! I didn’t want anything!” Harry yelled as he finally got one arm free and found room to dive to the floor and tried to roll under the bed. Snape wouldn’t be able to follow him, he was too big.

“Oh no, not this time.” Snape said as he lost his hold on Harry’s last wrist and snatched at his ankle instead, grabbing it and pulling before he had got away under the bed. There was a rough yank and Harry was pulled across the carpet back from under the bed, the carpet leaving a hot streak of friction on his belly. Harry reached out blindly for anything to grab and hold on to but he couldn’t grasp anything- and then there was a sharp bang as his head collided with the bed frame and he was pulled fully out.

“Ow.” Harry said dully as his vision darkened and he held his head. In his haze of pain he was maneuvered to stand.

“It served you right,” Snape said harshly. Wayward spit landed on Harry’s face and he dazedly wiped it away. He was startled when he was swiftly picked up under his arms by strong hands and positioned on the edge of the bed to sit.

Harry blinked, then scowled and rubbed his hurt head but it didn’t seem to have any effect on Snape who was glowering twice as fiercely and looming above him.

“Now, Potter, what were you after?”

Harry stayed silent, looking fiercely elsewhere, he wasn’t about to give anything away this time.

His wrists were grasped and pulled in an attempt to get his attention. Snape leaned in close and Harry did his best not to look at him, turning his head to the side and trying to ignore Snape’s hot breath on his cheek.

“Potter, answer the question!” Snape raged.

“Nothing! I was just looking around.” Harry answered, trying to ignore his fight or flight reaction. His wrists were caught and as much as he’d like to kick Snape’s knee caps right now to get away, fighting always lead to a worse punishment later.

The hands on his wrists tightened, then loosened. “Then look at me and say it.”

Harry turned his head to glare at Snape, suddenly angry at his prying. “Nothing! I didn’t want anything of yours I just wanted my wand, it’s mine! You’ve no right to keep it!”

His wrists were forced down to either side of him on the bed. Snape leaned in close, merely inches away from Harry’s face and looked thunderously serious. His mouth opened but he was interrupted when a knock sounded on the bedroom door and Hoppity peered into the room.

“Is something going on in here? I heard yelling.”

Snape got up and let Harry’s wrists go. He gave Harry a warning glare, daring him to move or to talk, and then turned to address Hoppity at the door.

“Smirkett, Potter and I have some things to discuss. Kindly leave us to it.” Hoppity paused for a moment at the door but left and shut it.

Snape stood facing the far wall silent for a long minute. Harry looked at his profile warily.

"Potter," Snape began. "Do you know why your wand is so important?"

Startled at this almost calm question Harry answered. "Because... it's the match to Voldemort's?"

"The DARK LORD." Snape corrected, turning to face him. "Yes, but also because this is the first wand that you bonded to, the wand that your magical powers grew with."

"This-" Snape pulled out a 12 inch mahogany wand... HIS wand "in the hands of someone else could be, harmful. You have lost it before and that was before your brain was shrunken to the size of a teacup! In your current simpleminded state it would be far too easy for you to lose or misplace it. You won't be given the chance." Snape twirled Harry's wand with his wrist and then snapped his fingers and the wand disappeared in a flash of sparks.

Harry immediately clenched his fists and barely stopped himself from leaping at Snape.

"You shall never find it, Potter. You may wail and squall all you wish but I will not relinquish it to you until you are back in your proper state and in Hogwarts."

Snape stepped forward and leaned down until he was boring into Harry’s eyes. "Do not try to look for it again. This was your first and final warning."

Snape’s eyes narrowed further and a truly foreboding tone came out of his mouth. “Potter, next time I catch you anywhere in my private property I will tan your hide.”

Harry swallowed messily.

“Now get out!”

Harry breathed and stumbled off of the bed. Apparently he wasn’t moving fast enough because Snape latched on to the back of his neck and steered him to the door, yanked it open and deposited him in front of a worrying Hoppity.

“I found the little cretin going through my personal belongs. You’re the minder; mind him!”

“What?” Hoppity floundered while Snape surprised Harry by NOT turning around and disappearing into his door with a loud door slam as expected, but by continuing down the hallway with purposeful strides, straight for Harry’s room…

Harry felt his gut clench as he realized that Snape was going to do something in retaliation. He tried to come up with something to do or to say but really, what could he say? Stay out of my room? No, he didn’t have that right anymore did he.

“Harry what were you doing in Professor Snape’s room?” Hoppity asked, pulling Harry’s focus back to her.

Harry felt torn between answering her and running after Snape. “I was just looking for my wand!” he blurted out and started down the corridor.

“Oh,” Hoppity said from behind him and followed.

In Harry’s room, Snape had picked up the empty cardboard box that Harry had got from Agent D and was now furiously raiding his room, tossing toys into the box. With one arm sweep the Merlin, Knights and Dragon dolls from the top of Harry’s dresser were swept into the box, followed by his crayons, art pad and walkie talkies.

Harry just stood silently by the doorway, watching as Snape moved on to his gooey lizards and paddle balls next. Hoppity had come into the room and was now standing there, no doubt with another surprised look on her face.

“Severus- what are you doing?” Hoppity ventured.

“If he can’t respect other people’s personal property then he doesn’t deserve any of his own.” Snape said as he tossed the items into the box.

Harry felt his lower lip protruding, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. He should have known that he wouldn’t get to keep the toys- he didn’t now why he thought he would. He swallowed and tried to make his lip behave.

“Well surely, you don’t mean forever!”

The sound of Lego blocks hitting each other and breaking filled the room. “No.”

Hoppity looked relieved. “So he’ll get them back tomorrow?”

Snape stopped and glanced at him. “Perhaps. I’ll think on it.” The majority of the toys that had been out were in the box now, leaving a few Lego blocks on the carpeted floor. Snape made for the door. “Remember what I said Potter.” he said and then he disappeared down the corridor. Seconds later the sound of his bedroom door being slammed reverberated in their ears.

There were a few moments of silence in the newly cleaned out room. Harry looked guiltily to the side. Getting caught had not been in his list of plans for the day. “I was just looking for my wand.” He whispered, rubbing an eye. Where had this teary feeling come from?

“Oh.” Hoppity said, looking as if she might want to either grab him and hug him or lecture him soundly. She settled for wringing her hands together and moved to sit on the bed. “But you don’t need it, do you? You got a replacement for the summer.”

“But it’s not the same.” Harry complained. “It’s not fair. I should have my wand.”

“Harry, sometimes we have to listen to people who are older than us and do what they say.” Hoppity told him gently.

Harry just glared at her fiercely and she was taken aback. “That’s not true.” He said fiercely.

“But surely, if they have your best interests in heart-“

“They can always mess up.”

“Yes, Harry they can but they don’t mean to.”

Harry just made a movement that said ‘whatever’ and looked at the wall.

“But that doesn’t give you an excuse to go through somebody else’s private belongings.”

Harry just did the ‘whatever’ move again but he could see Hoppity’s mouth drawn into a thin line. She wouldn’t understand the rivalry between him and Snape.

“You really shouldn’t have your wand Harry, you know that right?” She paused but Harry didn’t answer so she continued, “Most children don’t get to try a wand until they are at least 10 because little children can’t control their magic as well. They might cause some real disasters or hurt themselves because they don’t know what they are doing.

“The Headmaster gave you a wand, and yes it’s not your real wand but it’s still a wand and that means that he trusts you that you don’t blow yourself up if you try to use it. That’s a real compliment of your abilities.”

Harry just looked at her.

Hoppity gave him an earnest expression back. “Are you going to go look for it again?”

He couldn’t, he had no idea what Snape did when he made it disappear. “No.”

“Good.” Hoppity said. “I knew that you would understand.”

“Can I be alone?” he asked quietly.

“Alright Harry. You know that you can come see me whenever you need to, right?”

Harry nodded and she got up and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Harry went to his bed and crawled under it. He pulled Roofy from against the side wall where the stuffed dragon had been hiding and held him.

---

The next morning but Harry was feeling a little better. His room was still mostly bare of toys but he was feeling more like yesterday hadn’t really happened. Unfortunately, Snape didn’t seem to feel the same way.

When Harry went to pour the new cereal they had got the day before, Snape swooped down and snatched the box from Harry’s grasp.

“What is this?” Snape demanded.

“My breakfast.” Harry said tartly, annoyed to have had it taken away from him.

“Why is there a grinning caricature of an animal in clothes on the front?”

“It’s just the box. The cereal’s inside.” Harry reached up with his hand with a ‘give it here’ signal.

Ignoring Harry’s hand motions, Snape glanced inside the box. “This doesn’t look like cereal to me.”

“It’s Muggle children’s cereal, Severus.” Hoppity informed him from where she was spreading jam on toast.

“Can I have it back yet? Harry asked hotly. “I’m hungry.”

Snape gave him a warning glare, then turned the box to its side and started to read the ingredients list.

“It doesn’t say cereal anywhere. All I see is a list of different types of sugar and poisonous substances.”

Hoppity gave Snape an amused glance. “What? Muggles don’t poison their children. You probably read it wrong, it’s just a list of refined sugar-”

“Yes, exactly. It’s not real cereal and therefore not proper for breakfast.” Snape said, closing the top of the box and moving to place it in the small cupboard over the refrigerator.

“What? You can’t take his cereal away!” Hoppity exclaimed gob smacked.

“We'll have good sensible porridge for breakfast, not sugary confections!”

Snape picked up the nearest boxes of cereal on the table and placed them in the shelf over the large refrigerator as well. He then came back and picked up the left over ones, placing those up there too before coming back and having a mini tug-of-war with Harry over the last box.

“If he wants cereal then he can have cereal- real cereal!” Snape said as he managed to pull the box from Harry’s grasp.

Hoppity eyed him. “Severus, you are being entirely unreasonable.”

Snape gave her a glare that rivaled the one he usually gave to Gryffindors who had just melted cauldrons and she quieted with a ‘Meep’.

Harry just reached out and took a piece of toast and hoped that Snape would calm down sometime before their Occlumency lesson. He’d find a way to get to the cereal later.