Harry stood up and started to put his shirt on self-consciously. He was resentful at Snape and mad at Hoppity for telling.

He spent the rest of the day in his room, coming out only for dinner when Hoppity came up and asked him to.

He closed himself in his room afterwards and played with his blocks. When Hoppity came upstairs to tuck him in, he was already in bed, rolled up on his side facing the wall away from her, holding his dragon in one arm under the covers. He really was mad at her.

He really didn't understand the big deal and why she had to tell Snape.

The bruise on his arm, it had been right after school ended, right after- Harry didn't want to think about it. He couldn't remember much about the incident either, just that he had let Hedwig out of her cage at the train station to fly home before settling into the car for a mind numbing trip home. Vernon had been livid after the order threatened him and when they got to 4 Privet Drive and Harry barely responded, well Vernon hadn't been very patient, and he grabbed Harry by his upper arm and pulled him into the house and up the stairs literally. Harry had hung in his grip like a rag doll, he didn't remember struggling or even trying to stand up to support his own weight. He had just been... blank, he didn't care what happened to him.

His arm had been red for awhile, the bruises showed up when he woke up the next day and bothered to check. He just shrugged it off. It hadn't been a big deal.

He didn't know where the other one had come from. Like he said, it just appeared.

"Harry?" Hoppity asked as she came over to sit on the side of his bed. Harry just turned his head deeper into his pillow and decided not to answer.

There was silence for awhile and then Harry asked peevishly, "Why did you have to tell him?"

"-Harry!"

"It was none of his business!" Harry clenched his fists and rolled over to look at her accusingly. "It was nothing. I told you not to tell him, and you did. It didn't concern him."

"He's in charge of your wellbeing and you know it. You remember what the nurse said, that someone would come visiting later,-"

"Yeah but we could have handled that ourselves or just... just, I dunno but you didn't have to tell Snape!"

Hoppity frowned but listened as Harry went on.

"I bet he loves this, he'll have a katrillion more remarks about me to make when I get back to Hogwarts, and then everyone will think... they'll know how weak I am." And that was a very bad thing, but Harry couldn't remember why exactly.

"Harry! A teacher wouldn't do that." Harry just gave her a look that said ‘of course he would' but he knew that she'd never believe him. He gave it up for a lost cause.

"He needed to know." Hoppity said with finality. "Harry, there's something we need to talk about. You said that you got hurt at school, why didn't you tell us?"

Harry gave a puzzled expression. Why did that matter? He looked down at his plush dragon and studied its snout. The children at school were just little children. Harry might look like one of them but he was older, the responsible one. He had let Bobby hit him when he stood up for the smaller boy in his class. "Why would you need to know?"

Hoppity raised her hand to place her face in it exasperatedly. "Harry," she started, uncomprehending his reasoning. "We're your guardians. I know that it's only temporary but you still can tell us what's going on. Now what's going on?"

Harry bit his lip, trying to decide what to say. He didn't want to talk about that now but it didn't seem as if he had a choice. "I dunno. I guess, maybe that I'm different," Harry said, thinking about how he was always different.

"What do you mean?"

Harry's attention was placed back to Hoppity's question. He screwed up his forehead in thought. He had to give her an answer that she would accept and be happy with.

"Erm," he started, plucking at his shirt. "I guess that maybe it's how I look and what I wear."

"Really?" Hoppity asked, her brow furrowed. "You're wearing Muggle clothes, how is what you wear..." she trailed off, her eyes moving around as if trying to come up with the answer.

"If you don't wear what everyone else is wearing, well I think I look too smart for them, and then I don't fit in."

Hoppity had a look of bright understanding. "I understand, Harry."

"There's this kid," Bobby, "A bully, and I guess that he doesn't like the way I'm different and I stood up for another kid and he swung his pack at me... it wasn't anything important, really."

Hoppity looked at him with compassionate eyes. "I'll take you shopping tomorrow. You'll know better what would make you fit in, and you can pick some new clothes out. How's that?"

Harry felt guilty, he didn't want to be ungrateful of the clothes he had been given. They were soft and new and he hadn't even worn them all yet. But he actually did feel like they made him stand out. Clothes were everything to children, he learned that the first time he went through Primary school. He could tell that the other children looked at him strangely, and Bobby had started to try to bother him every chance he could. Maybe if he looked like everyone else, Bobby would leave him alone. "Yeah, okay."

The bedroom door was pushed open further open. Snape leaned in, his arms crossed. "That is a poor plan. And you'll spoil the brat."

Harry narrowed his eyes. How long had Snape been there for?

"Oh, nonsense," Hoppity crooned and she reached out to caress Harry's crown. "Harry's unspoilable!"

Snape just gave a loud "harrumph" before turning and stalking off out of sight.

Hoppity turned to Harry and gave a wry smile before sobering. "Harry... promise me that if anything happens that is important or dangerous or bad, that you'll tell us. Or please at least tell me, okay?"

"Okay." Harry said quietly. He could see her point but he doubted that anything would happen that he couldn't handle on his own. If anything important happened then he'd tell her. Maybe.

"Let's get you tucked in."

-.-.-

The next morning they had pancakes. Hoppity gave him a large stack of them, cut into tiny bits and covered in cupfuls of fruit. She then drenched the whole thing in syrup and handed him his fork.

"Eat up Harry-bean!"

"You are most assuredly spoiling him," Snape warned.

"Of course not!" But her voice was laughing. "I'm taking Harry shopping today, maybe after lunch."

"He has a lesson with me at four."

Yuk, another lesson with Snape. Harry was not looking forward to that.

"Oh. Harry you want to spend the day with Michael, right?" He nodded. "Maybe we could go shopping after your lesson. Severus, would you mind moving the lesson earlier? Three, or even two?"

"He has his lesson at four."

"Well would it be alright, do you think, if we ate dinner out tonight?"

"I could care less, but not by much," Snape said unkindly.

"Oh. You're not coming?"

"No."

Well that settled that, Hoppity didn't seem if she minded too much that Snape wasn't coming and Harry certainly didn't want him along.

Harry nibbled at his breakfast and went about his usual order of morning events. But this time when everyone was finished eating and Harry had got halfway to the sink, Snape called out to him.

"Potter-"

"Harry," Hoppity corrected.

Snape just glared at her, "Boy, come over here."

Harry carefully placed his plate on the tall counter next to the sink before curiously walking over to Snape.

"Give me your arm," Snape commanded regularly as he pulled the red bottle from yesterday out of a pocket and placed it on the table next to a cloth.

Confused and a little wary, Harry obeyed. Snape reached out with both hands and pushed up Harry's short sleeve from where it rested in the crook of his elbow. He wrapped his fingers around the limb and gently prodded at the flesh, before moving to the other one. Harry knew that the bruises he had earlier were fully healed from his own inspection last night and this morning.

"Does anything still hurt?"

"No," Harry replied slightly resentful. Snape picked up the vial and dabbed some liquid from it on one long finger. He lifted Harry's right arm and extended it, exposing the jagged scar on the crease from where Harry was cut in fourth year. Harry tired to pull away as Snape reached out for it, but his arm was stuck. Wet fingers were placed on the old wound and the liquid was rubbed in gently.

"This is a topic scar healer. In time, and after many applications, it should make this go away. Or at least decrease its appearance noticeably."

Yes, he did want that. The fewer reminders he had of certain things, the better. Harry reached up eagerly with his left hand to cover his forehead. "Would it make this go away too?"

"No. Curse scars are usually permanent, especially active curse scars." Of course. Harry hadn't really thought that it would, but still, for a moment there he hopped that it might.

"But as payment with each application, you must answer me one question before I start. Today you answered that you did not have any further pain." Snape released Harry's arm and wiped his hand on the cloth. "If you refuse to answer the question, then that application is forfeit. Do you understand?" Harry nodded. "Go play. Be back before four."

"Have fun, Harry." Hoppity called out to him as he left. He planned to.

Michael was happy to see him, playing in the front garden of his house with a stick. Hello Harry!" he said ecstatically, waving. "Where were you yesterday? You didn't come to soccer and I was waiting for you. We had the funnest time playing drills and we had ice pops afterwards and I tried to save one for you but they didn't believe me when I said you were coming."

Harry felt bad. Now more than ever, he wished that yesterday hadn't happened. "Erm, well, we had to fill out papers and stuff and then it was too late and we had to go home."

"Oh." Michel picked up his stick and prodded a plant with it. "Come play pirates with me. We got a boat yesterday, and I tried it out but my brother keeps messing it up." A boat?

They went inside, where it was faintly cool, not quite the frigid temperature of Harry's house. The boat turned out to be a large plastic bin. It was blue and a stick was tapped to one end, proudly displaying a paper pirate flag.

"Okay, Harry! First we have to put our Pirate clothes on. I'm Captain Pizza and you can be my first pirate matey!"

Michael's mum came over. "Hello, Harry." She said and Harry answered shyly back. "Are you two playing pirates today?"

"Yup!" Michael cried. "I need my sword!"

Harry and Michael spent many happy hours playing pirates, Michael with his Captain's hat and a cardboard sword and Harry with a handkerchief over his head, both with eye patches that Michael said were just for the look so they moved them to rest on their foreheads so that they could see. They buried "treasure" in Michael's sandbox and then made a map.

Benny, Michael's three year old brother, wanted to dress up and follow them around too, much to Michael's dismay but Michael's mum said that they had to let him, so Benny was the second mate. He didn't do much other than follow them around sucking his thumb, holding his stuffed monkey and trying to get in the way of everything Michael did. Michael said that they should bury him alive on an island when he collapsed their boat (it fell to one side and the "water" came pouring in) but Michael and Harry were too busy swimming to shore through the shark infested waters to do much about it right then.

After that, Michael's mum made them come to the "tavern" and have sandwiches and milk and carrots. There was a brief argument when Michael said that pirates only ate cookies, but they ate the sandwiches anyway when she replied that pirates who ate only cookies had their boats taken away.

Then they searched for new treasure in the backyard, and afterwards they went inside to sit in their fixed boat to watch "Captain Threelegs" on the telly.

Chaos struck after the show when Michael tried to take Benny's stuffed monkey away from him to be their new pirate monkey, and the toddler started crying.

"All right, that's enough of pirates for one day," Michael's mum said when she came in and figured out the problem.

"I think it's time for all the little pirates to have a quiet time." She pulled out some pillows and blankets to the center of the carpeted room. "Michael, get out of that tub and come over here. I have to use that now."

"But thus is my boat!" Michael wailed. "And I'm playing Pirates with Harry. I don't need a nap!" And he started to cry.

"I think that that means that you do." Harry was pretty sure that Michael did too. He had long outgrown the need for naps but it seemed that Michael hadn't quite yet. Should he leave now? He didn't know and Michael's mum wasn't making any indication that he should, or that he was expected too and he didn't want to cause a commotion by trying to leave when he wasn't supposed to. He decided to just stand quietly by for now. After much fretting, Michael's mum managed to convince his friend to play pizza rolls instead of taking a nap.

She spread out a thin blanket. "Okay, this is the outside crust. And now I need my gooey pizza filling. Come here, Michael," she prodded.

"I don't want to be pizza filling!"

"But how will I make my pizza rolls without the pizza filling?" She laughed. "Come here, I won't really eat you!"

Michael looked at her but lay down on the edge of the blanket and allowed himself to be rolled up. Halfway through the roll, he started laughing.

"Okay, Harry, it's your turn!"

Harry shyly approached her and lay down on the blanket, just like Michael did.

"Ready?"

"Yes!" He was swiftly rolled over, the motion and the hand rolling him by his sides tickled and he laughed. Tightly rolled up, he bumped into Michael and they both giggled.

"Alright, one more little pirate pizza roll." And then Benny was rolled up right next to Harry.

"Here's your pickles," Michael's mum said as she came over to them and gave Michael his Ninja turtle.

"Pizza doesn't have pickles!" Michael cried out, outraged from the roll of blankets he was cocooned in. Harry giggled at the silliness of it all.

"This one does. Okay, I'm setting my oven timer," she said as she moved to the kitchen. "Pizza cooks for 25 minutes."

"Pizza gets delivered!" Michael called out.

"But pizza has to cook first before that."

Michael mumbled to Harry, "And pizza has pepperoni and anchovies, not pickles."

"Pizza doesn't talk in the oven! You're supposed to be cooking."

It was silent for a while, Michael shifted around a little next to Harry and Harry tried to reach out and prod the mass of blankets next to him but his arms were trapped under the blanket. He was lying on his back so he could turn his head to either side but Michael was turned a little on his side so Harry couldn't see his face. If he looked over the lump on his right that was Benny, he could see through the doorway that Michael's mum was sitting at the kitchen table, working on something. Benny was already fast asleep, hanging onto his stuffed monkey and making soft breathing noises. The house was very quiet and the forced stillness after such an eventful day started to make Harry drift off.

He woke up some time later. The world looked a little brighter. Michael wasn't next to him, an empty blanket lay discarded where he used to be but Harry could hear his voice in the kitchen, sounding much more pleasant and agreeable than before.

"Can I wake Harry up yet?"

"No, Michael, he's still sleeping so don't wake him up yet."

Harry tried to get up but he was stuck inside the blankets so he tried to turn over instead, unwrapping them.

Michael ran in. "Harry you're up! Come on, it's time to play." He danced around grinning.

Four o'clock came much too early for Harry's liking. Hoppity came over around three thirty to talk to Michael's mum and warned him of the time.

Their house was unpleasantly chilled and silent after the rowdy bustle at Michael's. Harry really didn't want to have his lesson, but he knew he had to.

Snape was waiting in the empty back room, same as last time.

"Let's hope that you manage at least slightly better than last time," he said as Harry entered the room. Harry just glared back at that.

Snape motioned to the carpeted floor and Harry, this time knowing what to expect, sat down heavily. "Alright, Potter., close your eyes, sit up straight and actually clear your mind this time." An almost impossible task.

Harry tried this time, he really did, but he kept getting distracted and every time Snape prodded him with his foot and studied his eyes he gave a disapproving frown and curtly told him to try again.

Harry tried to listen to his breathing, he tried to let his mind be clear, but nothing worked and Snape kept frowning at him as if he were a failure.

After what seemed an eternity sitting on the floor and trying to concentrate on nothing, Snape told him that he could get up for the next part.

"I doubt that you'll do much better at this," Snape said snidely. "But I will endeavor to do my best at cursing you just the same."

Harry grit his teeth. He wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of doing what he said this time, he'd resist. Last time he had been tired and in pain, that's why Snape was able to control him so easily but this time he wouldn't give in. He wouldn't.

"Prepare yourself and resist." Snape flicked out his wand and Harry readied himself, planting his feet on the ground and clenching his hands into fists. "Don't do as I say."

He wouldn't. This time when the words slithered into him, as elusive as a snake, he was ready.

"Fly," it said and he flapped his arms. No, he wasn't supposed to do this. No.

Snape was watching him, his eyes glinting as Harry hopped up and down and waved his arms about. Was Snape amused? Harry felt a rush of indignation at the thought. He tried to resist, to pour his anger into disobeying Snape but he continued to hop about, waving his arms around in the parody of a flying bird.

"You're not flying, Potter," Snape chided.

He knew that!

Snape lifted his wand in a curt movement, momentarily canceling the spell. Harry stopped flapping, breathing hard to catch his breath. Why was it so difficult to resist? He had given it his best effort and still Snape ordered him about like a puppet.

"Cognito face a Potter," Snape said, jabbing his wand forward.

"Slither," it said and Harry did his best not to get down on the floor, spread himself out on his tummy and wriggle. No, he wasn't doing that.

"I hardly call that slithering."

Harry clenched his jaw and willed himself to stop and stand up.

"The animal I'm most familiar with that slithers is a snake, and snakes don't do it like that," Snape said disdainfully.

Well of course Harry wouldn't be able to really slither. Why was Snape giving him impossible tasks?

The wand jutted forwards. "Tap dance on the ceiling," Snape said out loud as the oily feeling slid into him at the same time.

What? Snape had lost it, he was quite clearly insane. Never the less, Harry found himself walking to the wall and bouncing off as he tried to climb it. And then again and again. The moments that Harry fell to the floor and was able to glance back, he saw a dark smile stretching Snape's face.

"Aren't you trying?"

Tears of frustration welled up in Harry's eyes and he tried once again to climb up the wall and fell to a heap on the ground.

"Come, now Potter. All you have to do is disobey, something with which you are most acquainted with. You could not obey even if you wished to do so, why not just sit on the carpet and ignore it? Give up on this futile attempt."

But it wasn't a command in that oily slither and Harry continued to bounce. "Enough. You will find, Potter, that I will not coddle you no matter what your fate or past." With that, the spell was lifted and Harry was brought back to himself. Harry looked up to see a sneer on Snape's face. "Well Potter, did you start the strings of resistance? Or didn't you even feel them at all?"

Harry glared at the floor. "No," he admitted. He had been so sure of himself before the lesson...

Snape turned to stride out of the room. "We are done for today."

Harry felt a weight lift in his chest. Done. Hoppity said that they would go shopping after his lesson but Harry didn't want to go looking for her just yet. He wanted some time to himself.

He thought about how useless he was at repelling Snape's spell. What was wrong with him, why couldn't he do it? He knew that he could throw off the imperious curse, he'd been able to do so ever since fourth year.

Frustrated, the six year old kicked out his feet and hit the floor. He'd show Snape! He'd do it next time. But how? Resigned, Harry rolled over to lay on his side.

Hoppity found him there ten minutes later.

"Harry are you ready to go?"

He rolled over and sat up. "Yes, ma'am."

"It's Hoppity, remember? What are you doing lying on the floor then, silly?" She stopped by next to him and crouched down, reaching out a hand to feel his forehead and he blinked owlishly. "Are you unwell? Maybe we should go shopping another day."

"No! I mean. I'm alright. I'm just hungry," he said as he got up. And it was true. His stomach was telling him that it was time for food.

"Well alright, then let's go. You can pick what you want to eat at the shopping place."

-.-.-

Shopping with Hoppity was a lot more fun, Harry decided. His tummy was happy, they went to a sweets shop and Hoppity found a store full of clothes like the ones Harry's classmates wore.

"How about this one, Harry?" Hoppity asked as she held up a blue shirt with bright red fire engines on it. "Or there's this yellow one with a big happy face on it or this green one with... I don't know, I think it's some sort of lizard..."

"That's a dinosaur. Didn't you learn that?"

"No, just that," she looked around, noting the other shoppers nearby, " what people know about dragons, I thought that they were the same, just people's dragons."

"Dinosaurs are big and they are all eckstinct," Harry recalled from primary school, proud to offer information about them but unknowingly messing up on the word. "I bet that there's lots of stuff about them in a science store."

Hoppity thought for a moment. "How about after you choose your clothes, we go visit one?"

"Yeah!" Harry quickly settled on three pairs of short athletic trousers to wear to soccer and school, and several shirts.

The science store had all manner of interesting things in it; Rocks and crystals and goo and lots of sciencey models. It also had a lot of books and videos, and Hoppity found some about Dinosaurs that she said they should get. Harry was pleasantly surprised when she brought a large packet of plastic dinosaurs to the register along with the videos and said that they were for him.

"We could have a dinosaur battle later," Hoppity told him with a wink.

So now Harry had a bag of sweets, some new, cool clothes and some dinosaurs. He must be such a lucky boy today. He had a sobering thought, perhaps Snape was right and he was getting spoiled. A picture of a blubberous blond boy popped into his head, getting everything he asked for and just getting bigger. Harry shouldn't ask for anything else, ever again. He didn't want to be anything like that boy.

"Thank you , Hoppity," he said shyly, very grateful.

"You deserve it, Harry-bean!" No he didn't, but that was okay. "Come on, it's time to go back."

Harry was sad to see the fun outing end but he followed without complaint, renewing his vow to never ask for anything again.

Exiting the large shopping center, they were surprised to see that it was lightly raining. It was so dark outside, like night although it was only eight o'clock and an hour before sunset.

"I wonder how long rain lasts here," Hoppity mused. She looked down at Harry and he blinked back at her. "I suppose that we'll just have to make the best of it, I could really use a water repelling charm about now..." She clasped his hand. "Have you still got your bags, Harry?" At his nod she said, "Hold on to them tightly!" before looking both ways, four ways really since she looked each way twice, and started across the car park at a quick walk. Harry trotted at her side, clutching at his bag of dinosaur paraphernalia, his bag of sweets pressed deep into one pocket.

They made it to their large car and once Harry was safely tucked into the back seat, Hoppity started the engine and set off.

By the time they were pulling into the driveway, the rain was pouring down in heavy sheets. A flash of light lit up the sky and seconds later a startling loud boom sent a rippling wave of implosion rumbling the ground beneath them.

"Wow," said Hoppity. She parked the car and they made ready for a mad dash to the front door. Rain pelted them and their bags went flying every which way as they sprinted for safety. Hoppity fumbled with the keys for only a second and then they were tumbling into the cool, dry house, and out of the rain.

Snape was standing at the base of the stairs, utterly shocked at their entrance.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" he bellowed.

"Why, it's raining, Severus! Or haven't you noticed the torrential storm out there?" Hoppity asked, shaking droplets out of her curly hair.

"Of course I noticed, you nitwit! Why didn't you use the door that opens large enough for the vehicle?"

Hoppity just stood there dripping onto the floor. Harry's mouth moved into a very big frown.

Just then, a terrifyingly loud, and close boom of thunder resounded throughout the air, making them jump. Harry likened it to the sound of a metal ship liner being dropped from the sky and crashing into the earth. He wondered if the ground had actually trembled beneath his feet, it certainly had felt that way.

"Ahh!" Harry wailed. "I'm scared!" Maybe if he distracted them, they would stop bickering.

"I honestly forgot, " Hoppity replied to Snape before turning and crouching down next to Harry so that she could hold his shoulders and look him in the eye. "Harry, it's only thunder."

"Don't be ridiculous, he knows what thunder is! What I don't understand is why you continue to stand here, dripping water onto the floor." Snape folded his arms and looked down at them.

Hoppity pursed her lips as she noticed the puddles of water on the hardwood floor. "I suppose we'd best get dried off."

Now that his attention was turned to it, Harry had to agree. He was cold, the air conditioning that always had been too chilly was freezing the water on his skin. Luckily, his trousers were of a sturdy material, so they were only damp whereas he could probably wring water out of his t-shirt.

"Better change fast, Harry. You'll get sick." Hoppity hurried to the downstairs bathroom and pulled out a towel, wiping it along Harry's face before handing it to him. "Good thing you have clothes here. Please stay with Harry, Severus, while I run upstairs and get changed. He might get scared while I'm gone."

Snape had a look on his face of disbelief. Before he could utter a word, however, another frightening BOOM revervated through the air, shaking the house on its foundations. Harry had never heard thunder this loud before. While he had first said that he was scared to stop his guardians from fighting, now he really was starting to get a little bit frightened.

Snape unfolded his arms and seemed a little less opposed to the idea. "Well, perhaps it would be best that I stay with Mr. Potter. He might do something rash if left unattended."

Hoppity patted Harry's head, before hurrying up the stairs. "I'll be right back! I'll bring you down a sweatshirt, Harry."

In the resultant quiet, Harry could hear the rain pelting against the windows and hitting the pavement outside, the leaves of the trees and even the roof a story above them. He wondered if the thunder was so loud and so scary because they were so far from the ocean.

Cool air blew on him and he shivered. He picked up the towel and tried to pat himself dry, he placed it on his head and rubbed. After that his hair was still damp but at least he stopped dripping on the floor. A low, quieter roll of thunder was heard in the distance, Snape picked up the large plastic shopping bag that Hoppity had left downstairs and pulled out a shirt, a very bright shirt. He stuffed it back into the bag before pulling out the green one with the dinosaur on it. He looked at it curiously but Harry didn't feel like telling him what it was.

"Hurry up and change out of your shoes, they're soaked," Snape instructed gruffly as he tossed the shirt at Harry and moved away to look out the windows in the front room.

Harry quickly pulled off his wet shirt, patting himself dry with the towel and put on the new, green shirt before sitting down on a waterless patch of wood and pulling off his shoes, which were wet on the outside, but not on the inside. He then put the towel on the floor and soaked up all the water with it. Hoppity came back down the stairs just as he was finishing up with Harry's grey sweatshirt and a dry pair of trousers. Her hair was frizzy and damp at the same time, a bizarre combination. She lifted the sweatshirt and placed it on him, over his head and Harry was glad of its softness and warmth.

She handed him the pair of trousers. "I'll just go to the kitchen and see if I can make hot chocolate, alright?" she asked carefully, making sure that it would be alright if she excused herself before leaving.

Harry nodded and then moved to just inside the doorway of the loo to change into his trousers as fast as he could. He left the wet ones folded on top of his other wet clothes on the floor, not having a better place to put them.

A peal of thunder resounded so loudly that he could feel it within his bones. It seemed that it was close enough to be in their back garden and Harry trembled before racing to Hoppity.

When Hoppity saw him she smiled. "There you are, you look warm. I think I managed to make some halfway decent hot chocolate," She smiled nervously.

Snape came into the room, he was conspicuously silent. Harry watched him as he took out cups before placing them at the table and sitting down. Was their latest argument over with? It seemed to be.

Curiously, Harry glanced out of the back window but all he could see was darkness and sheets of rain against the panes. Hoppity ladled the hot chocolate into cups and they all situated themselves at the table.

"There we are, there's nothing to worry about. It's just a little storm."

"What protections do Muggles have against lightening?" Snape asked out of the blue.

"Erm, I know this because they use it with their electricity," Hoppity replied, obviously trying to remember. "I think that have very tall metal poles in some places that they attract the lightening with. It's perfectly safe in Muggle areas, you shouldn't get hit unless you stand under a tree or in a big field. Storms like this are just sounds and show, nothing really happens."

And as if on cue, an ominous crack of thunder sounded as if hitting their house. The lights flicked and then went out, plunging everything into complete darkness.

They sat there for a moment, shock or perhaps fear keeping them silent. The rain could quite plainly be heard due to the sudden lack of vision, but they could see only darkness. Someone was breathing loudly, but perhaps that was himself. Harry reached out and tried to see his hand.

"Lumos," Snape's voice whispered out, the spell bathing their faces in an eerie blue cast.

"I think that there are some candles in this cupboard," Hoppity said as she got up. A quick search into the darkness of the cupboard found candles and Snape struck a match to light them.

"How do you know how to do that?" he asked curiously.

"You don't suppose that I use a spell to light each and every one of your cauldrons do you? That would be tedious and quite unnecessary day after day."

"Oh."

The warm flicker of candle lights calmed Harry and he felt slightly bolstered.

"Maybe we should move to the other room," Hoppity suggested as she peered into the dark doorways surrounding this room in particular.

"Good idea," Harry called out and then bravely strode to the front room, knowing that that would give the others no choice but to follow.

"-And put out that light. You know that you're not supposed to use magic," Hoppity scolded Snape from behind him. As an answer, the blue glow was extinguished but Harry could just imagine Snape's expression.

They set up the candles and cups of hot chocolate on the coffee table, Hoppity placed some other candles on some side tables and one at the windows. They gave poor light, but the room was bathed in a comfortable, fiery glow, reminding Harry of Hogwarts and safety.

"I suppose that we could still have that dinosaur battle."

Harry was reluctant to pull out his new package of plastic dinosaur figures in front of Snape, especially since the man was surrounded by lit candles, something that could quite easily melt them. But there was little else to do with the power out and Hoppity was eager and had already got the package out, spilling the little figurines onto the table.

Snape regarded the small plastic toys curiously and picked through them. Oh well, might as well have a good look at them before they are melted, Harry thought as he knelt down at the side of the table and started to study the dinosaurs closely.

Snape held up one plant eating dinosaur with a puzzled expression on his face. "What is this?"

"It's a dinosaur," Harry replied, not smartly as he wanted to because he didn't want to chance Snape's wrath upon his new toys. There was a chance that Snape would just lose interest and leave them alone.

"They are Muggle, erm, large Muggle lizards that supposedly died out a long time ago." Hoppity held up a cardboard piece of paper. "This sheet tells us what they are and if they eat plants or not but I don't really know what else they do..."

"And how exactly do you plan to have this "battle"?"

"Well, erm, I don't really know exactly but I suppose we'll use our imaginations..."

Soundlessly, Snape got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

Harry watched him go before turning back to his dinosaurs. It figured.

"Hm," Hoppity said before turning back to the paper and reading off of it. "This dinosaur with the horns is a Triceratops and it eats plants. This one's a... Euo-plo-ceph-aius? It says that it eats plants too. Interesting armor, it kind of looks like a Fire-Crab with a club tail."

Harry could hear quiet sounds coming from the kitchen, like the opening and closing of drawers.

"I guess that you can be the greenish colours and I'll be the purplish ones. I wonder why they have two colours, are they the male and females of their species?"

Harry shrugged as he collected all the dinosaurs that were to be on his side. "I don't think anyone knows what they looked like really."

Snape returned to the front room and sat back down at his spot at the far corner of the couch. He started to unfold a small square of paper, it looked like wax paper and when it was completely unfolded and smoothed flat Harry could clearly make out small squares covering the surface. Snape pulled out a quill, from where Harry did not know, and using it at a severe angle he started to mark alternating squares with the wide opening, leaving a trail of thick, black squiggles that dried quickly.

"Oh, a chess set!" Hoppity exclaimed, delighted. "How smart."

Snape didn't reply but Harry could see one corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile thanks to the exaggerating candle light.

A bright, startling flash of lightening went off through the blinds followed by another roar of thunder, this time sounding like two cannons going off.

Hoppity reached out and patted Harry reassuringly on the back. "So Harry, which ones do you think should be the Kings?"

Harry tried to put the thunder sounds to the back of his mind as he surveyed the set of dinosaurs spread out in front of him. "T-Rex. He's supposed to be the King of dinosaurs and the badest one."

"Worst, Potter."

"Harry, Severus," Hoppity interrupted, correcting him as she had done that morning. It seemed that Hoppity wasn't willing to let this one go. Harry was sure that Snape wouldn't give in. He was sure he didn't want him to. Sighing, he turned back to sorting through his dinosaurs.

They ended up using the bird-like Pterodactyls as Knights, palm trees and long necked Brontosauruses as Rooks, and raptors as Queens. The raptors had difficulty standing up by themselves, so after many tries, they just let them lie down. For Bishops, they used the standing dinosaurs with funny bumps on their heads, they couldn't tell what they were exactly and the paper that came with the set didn't help much so Harry said that they were just Funnybumpiousauruses. "Might as well be," Hoppity said, slightly laughing. For pawns they used all the short, four legged dinosaurs. Hoppity said that they were all plant eaters so they had something else in common and worked fine.

But for Kings they had to use the mighty T-Rexes. The problem with that was that the two T-Rexes looked exactly the same, they were the same size and the same shade of brownish green.

Harry was surprised when Snape solved the King vs. King Issue by tipping a candle over one of the T-Rex's heads. His long fingers worked the candle skillfully, dropping the wax precisely on the crown of the dinosaur's head before placing it back on the board.

"Oh, lovely." Hoppity said as she surveyed the board once it was set up. "Winner plays Snape!"

The game didn't last for very long. Snape watched them, lounging in his corner of the couch, sipping on hot chocolate while Harry and Hoppity played. In the end, Harry was declared the winner by two pawns, a palm tree, two bishops and a T-Rex.

"I'm rubbish at chess," Hoppity said. Harry couldn't tell for certain but he thought that her cheeks were slightly pink, probably embarrassed at being beat by a six year old. He just grinned at his win and started to set his dinosaurs back at their staring positions.

"Alright, Potter, prepare to be thrashed."

Harry looked up and gave a challenging glare to Snape. He was planning to end 0-2 tonight. "You should be the one preparing to lose," he said bravely.

Snape glanced at him across the board before picking up the raptor that couldn't seem to stand on its own and traded it with a tall plant eating dinosaur with a funny bill-like mouth. "I think not."

The game lasted 7 minutes. By the end, Hoppity was napping on the far side of the couch, snoring softly.

Harry lost.

"I want a rematch."

"No."

"Yes."

"Fine, but in compensation, if I win I get to keep this one." Snape said, holding out the coveted T-Rex.

"Fine," Harry echoed, quite sure of himself.

Some time later Harry was facing eminent defeat once more. If he moved his Knight, it would be captured or the pawn he was protecting would be taken alive. If he moved his bishop, it would be taken by a pawn or Snape's knight. His other pawns were in similar positions, his queen was gone, his palm tree was stuck and he didn't want to just move his King back and forth spaces until Snape took it.

"You know what? This is silly. The T-rex should just eat this one," he said, moving his King two spaces up to chow down on Snape's knight, complete with biting action.

"Fine," Snape said seemingly uncaring as he moved his Brontosaurus. "Checkmate."

Harry scowled. "Not yet!" He moved his ferocious pterodactyl to swoop down on the Brontosaurus, carrying it away off of the board. He suddenly stopped and looked up at Snape. The man's face was unreadable, and Harry was unsure if he had just stepped over the line and was about to be soundly lectured. But then Snape moved his queen two spaces and then over to attack his king, tipping it over as if biting the mighty King's neck.

"Check. Mate."

"Hey! You can't do that, that's a plant eater!" Harry said, grinning despite of himself.

"I've already won. And as if your bird lizard could carry away my giant neck lizard." Snape said ironically.

"It was a little one!"

"Fine," Snape said and moved his funny bill queen to attack Harry's palm tree instead. Harry started to giggle. He moved his last horned dinosaurs to surround the plant eater.

"Surrender the palm tree or we'll attack!"

"I don't believe that they can talk."

"They're dinosaurs, no one knows what they used to do. They can talk."

"Your argument might have merit if that paper that came with it didn't say that dinosaurs had brains the size of peanuts." Snape sat back. "I grow tired of this. Admit defeat."

Harry sat back on his haunches and crossed his arms. "Fine. You won, happy?"

"Immeasurably." Snape reached out and plucked the T-Rex he had conquested as recompense of Harry's loss. Harry watched it disappear into Snape's front pocket. Goodbye, dinosaur. He pitied whatever fate was in store for it now. "Now put them away."

The lights flickered and came back on, blinding Harry momentarily after the evening of candle light. He covered his eyes with his arms, waiting for them to adjust and the pain to go away.

He heard Hoppity wake up with a start. "Wha-?"

"Potter just lost a second time to myself." Harry lowered his arms and looked around the newly illuminated room.

"Oh, tough luck, Harry," Hoppity said, blinking. Snape smirked. As if. "I suppose the storm is over?"

"I think so," Harry replied as he started to gather the dinosaurs back into their plastic case.

"Oh okay," Hoppity said as she got up and started to clumsily walk for the staircase. They could both tell that she was half asleep, or maybe mostly asleep. Harry was tired himself, but from Hoppity's fumbling up the stairs he guessed that he wasn't going to get tucked into bed that night.

And it wasn't as if he could ask for it.