“Okay kids, get ready real quick!” coach called from across the field. It was Saturday morning, and Harry’s first football match. He was so exited and so was everyone else, it seemed. The field was really big, and green, but they were only using half of it. Chairs ran along the middle as one edge and someone had painted the field to have a smaller scale of the field going the short way.

“Mom! I can’t find my other sock!” a child called out, others ran around and parents ran around too, trying to get ready, find things… they were all late having arrived at the wrong field first and now it was chaos.

“Ready, Harry?” Hoppity asked as she tied his shoes and then straightened his green uniform shirt. “Are you ready? Do you need anything to drink?”

“No, I’m okay, thanks.” He was fidgeting, but he was nervous. Finally she was done and Harry was free with a quick goodbye and Good luck! He ran over to some brown haired children, looking around for Michael.

A large woman grabbed him and started smearing some lotion all over his face. He could barely get in a word edgewise, “Hey-!”

The hand was removed. “Oh! I’m sorry!” the woman laughed out. “You’re not one of ours! Ops! Oh well, I guess it can’t hurt you…” she said and finished smearing the lotion all over Harry’s face and ears.

Thoroughly manhandled, Harry wobbled onto the field. He’d wait for Michael somewhere less dangerous.

“Hey Harry! I brought you a ball! A blue one!” There was Michael, wearing his own green shirt and holding a red soccer ball while awkwardly dribbling a blue one with long tries. He set the blue ball up and kicked it towards Harry, who missed it and had to chase after it.

A whistle blew. The team slowly made their way to Coach Renolds with their balls. Coach Renolds was a large, tall man. A friendly dad kind of man and he always wore a cap and a whistle. His stomach jingled when he ran. Sometimes in practice they raced him, but he could still outrun all of the players except for Gavin, but Gavin was really fast.

The whistle blew again. “Are we all here?” Coach waited for some stragglers. “Alright now listen up! Everyone’s going to get a chance to play today but not all at once. We’re all going to warm up first and then we’ll meet back at the side. Get into a line to do our dribble game around the cones, then give your ball to Trainer Jane. Do we all remember Trainer Jane?” Trainer Jane was Coach’s wife, she was the one they were supposed to go to right away if they got hurt or didn’t feel well.

“Alright, break!” Break was Coach’s way of telling them to go do it. Harry chased Michael to a line in front of some cones and then it was all clumsy dribbling for awhile. Harry couldn’t wait to actually play. He wanted to win!

Soon enough, the warm up was over and the team settled on the side of the field.

“Alright, now is everyone feeling okay today? No one’s sick?” No one was and Coach looked over his players. “Now, if you don’t want to play today, it’s okay. Just let me know okay? We’re going to go out today and have fun, no matter if we win or loose, you’re all going to do your best and have fun. Have you got that?”

Mumbled responses.

“I said have you got that?!” Coach yelled playfully.

“Yes COACH!” his players yelled back. Somewhere, a camera went off. Harry stepped back to try and see where it came from.

“Harry, Jenny, Coach is over here…”

Guilty, Harry turned back to pay attention. “Now if you get hurt or don’t feel well, just sit right down, okay? If you don’t want to play anymore, just run over and let me know.

“Now if I call your name, stand over here,” Coach Renolds pointed to the area behind him. “Elias! Gavin, Allison… Kekoa, Neel and Michael! Alright, now you are going to play first. Don’t forget that when you are not playing, you can’t step onto the field!”

“Yes Coach…”

Harry fidgeted. He wanted to play now! Not later! But it was Michael’s turn first…

“Time for a cheer. Go Dragons on the count of three… one.. two… three… GO DRAGONS!”

And with that, the five players ran onto the field and Harry joined his teammates on “the bench” which was actually a line of small chairs. The team they were playing today was the Parrots, and they wore blue.

Harry watched as the teams were set up on the field. There were no positions besides Goalie. Allison was playing Goalie for their team, she was the only one who liked the position, and that was only because she was the coach’s daughter and he taught her how to stop the ball whereas when anyone else was playing goalie, it always just bounced off of them or whizzed right by. Except for Elias, but Elias didn’t want to play goalie.

“Hey Harry, do you want some water?” Hoppity stuck her head between the players and held out a cup of water.

“No, I’m okay…” Harry mumbled, he was focused on the game. The ball was placed in the middle and the whistle blew and of course Gavin got it. Only he didn’t manage to kick it to anyone which resulted in a mad chase after it.

When was he going to play... When was he going to play…

Harry watched the ball and the players rush around. Usually, the ball would get kicked and then everyone would swarm all over it. Once in awhile, one person would be able to kick it for more than a couple times in a row but it was rare and usually done going in the wrong direction.

Neel, a smaller boy in an oversized shirt ran over to the side line and hopped around.

Coach noticed him, “Neel, what’s the matter? You’re playing now.”

“I hafta go to the bathroom,” the little boy cried.

Coach mumbled something. “Sub!” Harry sat up swiftly, but it wasn’t his name that was called out, but Erin’s. When would it be his turn?

A little bored, Harry looked around. Behind him a lot of parents sit on lawn chairs, talking to each other. A little girl behind him was wearing a cheerleading outfit, complete with pom-poms and she was cheering to herself, or to them, Harry couldn’t tell but he thought she was cheering her ABC’s…

When was he going to play... When was he going to play…

Harry repeated this mantra in his head as the game went on. Coach substituted players every couple of minutes. Then it was a time-out. No one had scored yet. The two times the ball actually made it anywhere near a net it had been stopped easily.

Harry joined everyone in a huddle. “Okay, good job every one! Is everyone okay still? Drink some water…”

“Alright… Tansy, Neel, Harry, Sarah, Nadia and Adrian, you’re up next!”

Harry hopped a little in excitement. Finally! He was playing! He was playing! Soon he was out on the field and he looked back towards the spectators, spotting Hoppity’s head of red messy curls. Grinning, he waved and she waved back. A whistle blew and then they were off! Harry chased after the ball with the other children, trying to kick it. He played for a long time and got lots of kicks in before the next break.

Coach subbed most of the team out, including Harry and put in new players. Harry was out of breath and hot, this time when he was sitting on his chair and Hoppity popped her head over and asked him if he wanted water he accepted.

Then a little while later he was subbed back in and Harry thought that football was one of the best games ever. Second only to Quidditch, of course…

When the game ended, it was a surprise to Harry. One moment they were playing and the next it was over and Coach was telling them what a good job they did! They had scored 5 points total, and Harry had helped in one of them. The other team had 4, so that meant that they won!

But when they started yelling “We won!” Coach said that they shouldn’t and then he made them all line up and congratulate the other team. This wasn’t anything he had ever done before, Harry thought as he had to shake hands with every player on the Parrot team and tell them “Good Job”.

“Good job, Harry,” Michael said, holding up a hand, Harry slapped it and grinned.

“Yeah but you did better, you made a goal!”

Michael just grinned.

Afterwards, Coach said how proud he was that they had won, but that he was prouder that they had shown good sportsmanship. “How about Pizza Hut?” he asked and it was like a magic word. All the kids cheered and some started dancing.

“Pizza, pizza!” Michael yelled along with several others and Harry joined in, feeling a little unsure but liking to be a part of a chant for something they wanted.

“Clean up first!” someone yelled and then Michael ran off to get his stuff and Harry went too.

After everything had been gathered up and put away and cleaned, Harry followed Hoppity back to the car. It was sitting in the shade a little ways away, barely within visual range of the field because of the trees. Snape was sitting in the driver’s seat, reading something with the window rolled down. He looked up when they approached.

“Any life-threatening injuries I should be aware of?” Snape asked uninterestedly as he turned a page of his reading material.

“No, but Harry won! Isn’t that grand? His first game and he’s a winner!”

“Hardly the first…”

“We’re going to Pizza Hut,” Harry piped up daringly. “We said we were going so now we have to.”

Snape peered over the window sill. “We don’t have to do anything.”

Hoppity opened the back door of the car and helped Harry in. “Well we are stopping for food and we might as well go with everyone else, especially since we said we would…” Hoppity said, “Now move over.”

Snape grumbled, but moved over. “What sort of food place is this Pizza Hut?” he asked with distaste.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been to one but I’d imagine they served pizza.” Hoppity put on her safety belt, turned the car on and pulled out of their parking spot. “We’re going to be following Michael’s mom over there…”

Harry reached down and picked at the laces of his shoes. The plastic shin guards were starting to bother him and he wanted them off. He managed to get his shoes, socks, and shin guards off by the time they arrived at Pizza Hut, enjoying the cool air on his toes. Problem was he had dropped his socks and shoes onto the floor and now he couldn’t reach them while his seat belt was on.

Snape was quite annoyed when he discovered Harry’s sockless state, but Hoppity just waited until he managed to get them back on and helped tie his shoes for him again.

When they entered the restaurant, most of Harry’s teammates and their parents were already there, moving to sit in a large section of the restaurant. Harry ran to catch up with them and he soon found Michael at the back of the line.

They ended up sitting with Michael and his family in a round booth-like thing. Snape was scrunched between Hoppity and Harry, who was in the middle sitting next to Michael.

Their waiter was a young man with a cap on his head. It was kind of weird to see that on a waiter as part of the uniform, not that Harry really knew what was usual… “What would you like to order?”

“Pizza!” Michael cried and Harry and Michael’s baby brother echoed him, which was then accompanied by the Ninja Turtle theme, courtesy of Michael.

“Haha, alright. What kind?” the waiter asked, looking at the adults. It took awhile, but they got their order in after several changes and then sat back to wait. Snape aligned his silverware and napkin carefully. Michael’s mum filled Michael’s cup a quarter of the way with soda and let him sip at it before filling Harry’s the same.

“I know it’s bad for them, but a little sugar after working out and sweating is okay,” she said, pouring water for herself.

While they waited, Michael and Harry recounted the game to their adults.

“And then I kicked it! I kicked it and it went right in! Did you see it?” Michael asked excitedly.

“Yes, I was there, remember? You did a great job!” Michael’s dad said. “I even got it on film!”

“I helped!” Harry cried. “And I helped a lot, I got lots of kicks in and I even saved it once from going in.”

“Good job, Harry!” Hoppity said, and gave him a little high-five, something she had been doing a lot recently after seeing Harry’s little friends doing it.

Snape was looking around the restaurant bored-like. Harry looked to see if he had heard him but it seemed he hadn’t so he went back to Michael and their conversation and then Michael’s dad was showing them how to make miniature footballs, American footballs out of paper napkins despite his wife’s protests.

Two soda spills and one fork drop later, the pizza finally arrived.

“Here you are… one order of wings, one cheese pizza with half pepperoni, a slice of meat lover’s,” this the waiter placed in front of Michael’s dad, “and two slices of veggie loves,” he placed those in front of Snape and Michael’s mum. “Enjoy! And if you need anything, just let me know!”

The pizza was served, Harry got a hot slice of it onto his plate. It smelled so good…

“Hot! Hot!” Michael cried fanning his front teeth, a bite of pizza plainly displayed in his mouth.

“Well wait a little until it cools off.”

Hoppity was watching the way Michael’s family ate their pizza. She picked hers up and blew on it a little before taking a cautious bite. “Mmmmmm…”

Harry was so hungry but the pizza was too hot, he tried biting the tip off but he stopped once he realized it was way too hot to eat.

“Try blowing on it,” Hoppity suggested.

“Put ice on it!” was Michael’s helpful reply.

Harry looked to see what Snape was doing. The man was ignoring the entire commotion and was cutting his vegetable covered pizza with a knife and fork.

Harry looked down at his pizza and decided to try blowing on it. Ice probably wouldn’t make it taste very good, and a knife and a fork was too hard, not to mention it looked fun hindering.

Harry managed to finish one whole slice and a wing before he was too full to eat any more. His stomach hurt a little and he told Hoppity. She told him to drink some more soda and crunch on some ice and if it still hurt in a little while that she’d get him some milk.

Harry did what she said and it got mostly better. He waited as all the adults talked and Michael made a mess out of his last, half-eaten pizza slice.

Soon after that, they said goodbye and left for home and Harry fell asleep on the car ride back, his shoes and socks off once more…

----

He awoke to someone shaking him.

“Wha-?”

“Potter, wake up. You’ve napped enough.” It was Snape and he was holding Harry’s shoes and not looking pleased.

“Okay,” Harry said, rubbed one eye and leaned back. He was so tired still.

“Potter!”

Harry cracked his eyes open. “What?”

Snape just breathed out and undid Harry’s seat belt. “There are other things to do today. A lesson is one of them.” He helped a protesting Harry out of the seat and onto the pavement of the garage. The cold floor on his bare feet woke Harry up splendidly.

“Why do we have to have a lesson today?” he complained.

“Because I said so. You’ve had fun today and junk food and now it’s time to work. We have gone over this before, the Dark Lord won’t wait while you take a vacation-”

“I know, okay. I know.”

Satisfied, Snape let the matter drop. “We will only be working on meditation today. Hopefully your earlier activity will enable you to settle down this time.”

Well that was good. Meditation only, that sure beat that horrible spell Snape usually used afterwards, trying to get Harry to walk up walls and such. He followed Snape back into the house and through the kitchen.

“Hey Harry, do you want a drink of water first?” Hoppity asked. She already had a glass out.

His throat was dry and his head hurt a little. Water was just the thing he needed. “Thank you.”

“You’ve been out in the sun a lot today, you should try to drink a little every hour or so. I heard that it you aren’t hydrated enough, you might fall over next time you try to play hard in the sun.”

“Oh.”

“And if you have any headaches or anything, you should tell me right away, okay?”

Headaches? Headaches were almost a normal thing for him, he wouldn’t really notice a little one at all.

“Harry? Have you been having headaches?”

Harry raised his shoulders and shook his head a little to say “kind of”.

“Oh, maybe you ought to have some more water then.”

Snape reminded them of his presence. “After the lesson. I don’t want him distracted or having to leave to use the loo in the middle of it.”

Finishing his water, he allowed the cup to be taken away and then followed Snape into the open room for his lesson. Just meditation wasn’t too bad. He only had to sit there for awhile, trying to clear his mind and afterwards he’d be allowed to play.

Not a too bad afternoon, in his opinion.

---

Harry woke from a deep sleep to the familiar sensation that told him he needed to use the loo. Still half asleep, Harry got out of bed and padded to the bathroom. He was surprised in the white bathroom to feel a wet trickle down his legs, only feet away from the toilet. Harry looked down at his wet pajama bottoms and the puddle on the white tiled floor. That couldn’t have just happened, he must still be asleep.

But no, he could feel the cool air around him and he was quite aware of his surroundings. Embarrassing urine dripped from the cuff of his left pant leg to splatter on the floor. He was awake and now he was in quite a predicament. A mortifying, disgraceful predicament. He was too old for this to happen!

Horrified, Harry realized that he had to clean this up before anyone found out. He quickly cast around for anything that would clean up the mess without giving away what happened. He spotted the toilet paper roll and dived towards it, knocking over the hard plastic toothpaste bottle off of the counter and onto the floor with a loud clatter.

He grasped the edge of the paper and gave a mighty tug. The roll spilled onto his hands and the floor and he gathered it up furiously. Spinning back to the mess, he something else on his counter off. Harry caught his breath as a bottle bounced off of the toilet seat and made the seat fall with a loud “slam!” before landing on the floor. He paused, breathing harshly and stood completely still, straining his ears to listen for any sounds that indicated that anyone had heard. Nothing.

Encouraged, yet still panicked, he took the mound of toilet paper and placed it on the floor by his feet to push it towards the mess he had left, hopefully sopping up anything that he had trailed along. He soon had a big pile of sopping wet toilet paper over the area where the ‘accident’ had occurred. This was mortifying. He had never done this before... well not that he could ever remember... If this had happened at the Dursleys’ he could have expected weeks of humiliation and ridicule over it. Vernon would have smacked him around, and then he would have been forced to clean it up by himself with his one and only towel. Dudley would have found something truly horrible to do to him like purposefully urinating on the bathroom floor and blaming it on him, and he would be forced yet again to clean it up with his only towel.

Lucky he wasn’t at the Dursleys’.

Too bad that it was still mortifying, no matter where it happened. He had to clean this up, and quickly.

Harry scrambled over to the cabinets under the sink for some cleaning supplies and flung open the doors. He found what he thought was a squeeze bottle of All Purpose Bathroom cleaner and pulled it out. He wandered back over to where he had gotten the toilet paper and started spraying the floor with quiet whooshes from the bottle with one hand and soaping up the lot with toilet paper in the other hand.

A sharp knock at the door almost startled him enough to drop the bottle.

"Potter?"

Harry stood still, his heart pounding. No, no, no! It was Snape! What should he do? Maybe Snape was just checking on him and he would go away once he knew Harry was ok.

“Yeah?” He said tentatively.

"What is going on in there?" No such luck.

Harry’s eyes glanced around the bathroom, taking in the pile of wet toilet paper, the open cupboard and the trail of wetness that he was in the middle of cleaning up. There was no way that he would be able to get rid of it all in time if Snape decided to come in. Well he would certainly try. Maybe he could bluff his way out of this.

Harry scrambled as quietly as he could to the open cabinet to replace the squeeze bottle he held in his hands. "Ah, nothing. I'm just-" his elbow knocked loose another bottle and it fell out with a clatter. "Using the toilet." Go away. Go away. Go away. Harry really hoped that Snape took his answer and went back to his room, leaving Harry in peace to clean up. Go away, go away…

Snape leaned against the closed bathroom door, hearing suspicious sounds from within. What was Potter up to? He had been lying awake in his bed trying to fall asleep when he had heard a clamor of noise through the wall connecting to Potter's bathroom. He had casually dismissed the first sounds as the brat just using the toilet, but when a quiet slam had proceeded instead of the usual flushing or water sounds, he had been unable to ignore his curiosity or worry. For all he knew, Harry could have been struggling with an intruder or making a small explosive in the sink. Far more likely that the brat was trying to come up with some new scheme to get his wand back.

Snape was unwilling to take any chances.

Which brought him here, stuck outside the door as Potter issued what sounded clearly like a child trying to cover up mischief.

There was another “thunk” and a clatter and hurried scrambling noises.

"That doesn't sound like toilet noises to me, Potter. I'm coming in."

"No! Don’t!" panicked this time, yes definitely up to no good.

He turned the knob, surprised that it wasn’t locked, and waited for a scant couple of seconds to give the boy enough time to cover up, just in case, for modesty’s sake. Not that the boy really needed it, he was closer to a toddler than anything. He knew and counted on the fact that no child could successfully hide any incriminating evidence in three seconds without giving it away.

He opened the door.

Potter was kneeling on the floor in a dejected slump, a pile of wet paper towels nearby. The lower cupboard under the sink was open and several bottles had fallen out. What was the boy up to? He took a step in before his developed olfactory senses caught a whiff.

This was just too much. He supposed that he was unable to mask his snort, because Potter looked up accusingly at him, tears sparkling in his miserable eyes. His childish voice cried out brokenly, "I told you not to come in!" Oh no, was the brat crying now? He was not cut out for this...

Potter was a lump of misery on the white tiled bathroom floor. This was something more for Smirkett's skills. Snape turned to go, intending to wake her up to deal with the problem when Potter's deplorable voice broke out again, "Please-" a choked sob "-please don't tell her."

Snape turned back to look at him. The brat had gotten up off his knees and now was approaching him beseechingly. Snape held out one hand to stop the soiled boy from coming any closer. He was surprised that Smirkett hadn’t woken up from the noises already, she just must be one of those disgustingly lucky people who slept deeply and was unlikely to awaken at the slightest noise.

He couldn't believe that he was doing this, but one more look at Harry's distressed face convinced him. He tried to tell himself that he was just going along so that the brat wouldn’t come closer and wrap his sullied self around his leg in an effort to stop him. Making a face, he took a step forward and with an extreme effort, picked up the boy at arm's distance and plopped him into the empty tub, clothes and all.

He reached to the tap and turned it on, testing the water to make sure that it was barely warm. He knew from experience that these ones usually heated to the right temperature within seconds.

Obviously the boy was surprised at his actions. "What-?"

"Hush Potter." He said tiredly. He couldn't believe that he was doing this. Snape stepped away from the tub and set to work on clearing the pile of paper that he could now smell quite clearly, Potter’s eyes followed his movements ashamedly. Snape should have stayed in bed and let whatever imaginary demons and Death Eaters his mind had conjured up, take the boy.

Once the filth on the floor was taken care of, and his hands washed, Snape reached over and shut off the tap before leaving to see to the other room. He figured that he should see to whatever mess the boy had made in his bed.

He systematically strode to the bed and pulled off the duvet and top sheet. Hm. No telltale darkness on the bottom sheet, no pungent odors... Tentatively, and he couldn’t believe that he was really doing this, Snape reached out and felt the bed. He was surprised to find it dry. The duvet and sheet and surrounding area was dry as well.

Dawning realization descended. Potter just didn't make it to the toilet in time. Another amused snort, then a frown. He needed to get more sleep...

Going through the small drawers, he pulled out an acceptable pair of clothes for the boy to sleep in and reentered the bathroom. Harry was still sitting in the same position he had left him in, face turned miserably downwards.

Sighing in long suffering, Snape placed the clothes on the counter then left the room to find some clean towels in the linen closet. When he returned, Harry was still sitting there dejectedly in the tepid water, making small sniffle sounds. Save me from disconsolate children. Snape walked toward the tub and kneeled by its side. From this angle, he could see wet tear marks on the child's face. Why was he crying? Why did he ever cry? It didn't make sense to him.

He rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Potter..."

The child still sniffled downwards. He felt a slight irritated feeling that the boy was seemingly ignoring him when he was actually trying to help. He reached out to turn the boy's head. "Look at me when I speak to you."

He nearly wished he hadn't. The poor boy looked so utterly desolate it was maddening.

He retracted his hand and tried to do something, anything, to fix this. Ugh, why did he even need to do anything in the first place?

He couldn't believe he was doing this, consoling the thorn in his side. Voluntarily! "Potter, that was a natural accident-"muffled sob yet again. Snape waited a moment to make sure Potter would be able to understand what he was saying. "It was perfectly normal after the circumstances you went through and therefore not your fault." If that didn't work then he didn't know what would. Maybe he should have got Smirkett after all...

Potter didn’t seem to be cheered up; the boy was still sniffling miserably.

He wasn't trained to console small children. What did one do to fix such a mess? A brief mental picture of him picking up brightly colored rubber boats and attempting to distract the boy with play ‘ship’ sounds flashed before his vision.

No.

Well he supposed that the best thing to do would be to wash the boy since he didn't seem like he was going to do any such thing by himself. He picked up the very large bottle of pink bubble bath that Smirkett had purchased weeks ago and started the tap up again. This was going to be as quick as he could make it.

He poured out a liberal amount into the warm running water and capped it back closed before placing it on the edge again. Harry still seemed upset but was watching him carefully.

Internally sighing, Snape reached out to pull the mostly dry pajama top off of the little boy. He was surprised when he was met with little resistance.

He quickly folded the shirt and looked up to see Harry’s damp eyes looking at him curiously, as if he were reassessing him. Slightly uncomfortable, Snape turned away to place the shirt on the now clean floor.

The bubbles had started to pile up in a mound of pink fluffiness near the deeper end. Harry was still looking at him with big green eyes; his lashes were clumped wetly together over damp cheeks. Snape picked up a washcloth and wetted it. He reached up and gently wiped the tear tracks off of his face.

Harry gave a barely audible sigh and closed his eyes.

Feeling slightly more capable, Snape continued his task and was able to finish with little trouble. Harry was soon wrapped in a large dry towel.

After he was changed into the dry pair of pajamas, Snape lead him back into his room and tucked him in. Most of the bedding had been disturbed after all from Snape’s earlier test. He didn’t say anything as he folded the blankets under Harry’s neck, the ridiculous stuffed dragon next to him. Harry’s eyes were slowly closing.

Snape quietly left the room and shut the door.

---

Harry came downstairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He had slept in a little longer than usual today and he wondered where his breakfast was. Snape was nowhere to be seen and the sugary cereal boxes were calling him…

“Hi,” he said as he entered the front room. Hoppity was sitting on the sofa, watching a home shopping channel and taking notes. “Where’s Snape?”

“I don’t know, I think he went out about an hour ago.”

“Oh.” Oh ho. So Snape wasn’t around to stop him then. Harry went back into the kitchen and thought about how he was going to get to that cereal. There were boxes of the sugary goodness in a cupboard over the fridge, quite out of reach for the small boy. He pushed over a chair to the counter and then climbed up on top of it. He still wasn’t tall enough to climb up onto the refrigerator without difficulty. So how was he going to get the cereal?

No, he could make it, he could pull himself up. Harry reached up with his arms, and through sheer force of will, managed to pull himself onto the top of the fridge with help from his feet against the side of the fridge. From there, it was only a matter of opening the cupboard doors without hitting himself…

“Potter!!”

Startled, Harry looked down to see Snape. But wasn’t he supposed to be gone? Hoppity was trailing him into the kitchen.

“Harry! How’d you get up there?”

Snape was scowling. “It’s not a question of how, that part is obvious! It’s a question of why. Potter, get down this instant.”

Feeling very naughty, Harry carefully and slowly climbed down the fridge and onto the countertop. From there, Snape snatched him and set him safely back onto the floor.

“I just wanted something to eat.”

“Something? I know exactly what you wanted and you can’t have it. You are quite energetic enough as it is without a sugar rush to start the day.”

Harry pouted angrily at the floor. He was feeling guilty though and he didn’t know why so he covered it up with anger.

“Fine!” he said and stomped off towards the table to sit, crossing his arms and frowning at Snape. Snape looked amused, it was infuriating.

“You may have some eggs, which will be a more acceptable breakfast item...”

“Well good and thank you Severus. I have to go back to the telly,” Hoppity said. “I’m busy ordering things to try out for my Muggle Studies class. They have some sugar cookie baking sets, I thought that it might be good to have the students do something fun for the Christmas holidays... Harry would you be a dear and help me try them out when they come?”

Harry shifted a little, but the idea of doing something fun, cookies, and being asked specifically to help Hoppity soon had him smiling despite himself. “Yes please!”

“Great! Well after breakfast, you can come join me if you want. I need lots of Muggle toys and stuff for the school year. I want a really fun class!”

Harry kicked his legs out happily. It sounded great.

---

That night in the kitchen, Hoppity pushed a large glass at Harry before he got ready for bed. “Drink up, Harry.”

“I don’t want to,” Harry said, trying to appear casual.

Hoppity was undeterred, “But nine hours is a long time to go without drinking something.”

“I don’t want it.”

Hoppity looked like she was going to push it but Snape, who was watching the exchange spoke up, “Don’t push it. The boy wet himself last night.”

Shocked green and blue eyes turned to him.

“You said you wouldn’t tell! You git!” Harry wrenched himself away from the scene and Hoppity’s shocked “Harry!” and ran away up the stairs.

He ran into his room and huddled himself in the corner of his bed up against the wall. He hadn’t wanted her to know… He was so mad, and embarrassed. And Snape told…

He heard someone stop at his open door. It had to be her. “Harry? Are you in here?”

He heard her come over but he refused to roll out of his ball or away from the wall or even answer her. She knew.

He felt her sit down slowly on the bed next to him and she reached out a tentative hand to rest on his shoulder. When he did not pull away, she sat closer and wrapped an arm around him and he let her, feeling extremely embarrassed but wanting the comfort.

“Harry? It’s okay you know. I don’t like you any less for it. It happens to all little boys.”

“I’m not a little boy.” Harry said tersely.

She sighed and hugged him closer. “Well your body’s a little boy’s body… It wasn’t your fault, I should have known better than to give you so much to drink before bed.”

Harry looked up at her admission of guilt.

“It must have been an awful thing to have happened,” she consoled him, patting his head.

“It was,” he admitted slowly, leaning into her embrace and looking back down at the pattern of stars on his duvet. He rubbed a tired eye with a fist.

She forced herself to plow sternly ahead despite his adorableness. “I know that it was embarrassing and that you were hurt when Severus told me what happened but that’s still no reason to call your Professor, and someone who is looking after you, a git.”

He pulled away. "Why should I apologize? He is a git!"

Hoppity frowned and Harry watched her anxiously as she seemed to think before speaking next. “Did he really promise that he wouldn’t tell me?”

Harry thought back. He didn’t remember that only that he didn’t want Snape to tell and he hadn’t right away... “No,” Harry admitted begrudgingly.

“Maybe you should go apologize to him.”

Harry looked down and pouted. He hated being wrong.

---

Severus looked up from his late evening drink to see a pajama clad, pint sized Potter approach him. He was surprised when the boy stopped right next to his chair and looked up at him determinedly.

“What do you want Potter? Have you come back to call me a few more choice names?”

“I’m sorry for calling you a git.”

Snape sat back and eyed the boy. “Oh?” he asked.

“Yes, it wasn’t right of me.”

Snape looked at Harry for awhile and the little boy started to squirm.

“I just didn’t want her to know…”

“I had thought… that all Gryffindors were more courageous than that. She was trying to water you and you did not give her a valid reason why she shouldn’t. Since you were unable to save yourself from another embarrassing situation, I did.”

Harry looked down guiltily and played with the hem of his top. “I know that now…”

“You were quite unappreciative,” Snape said gravely.

“I’m know, I’m sorry,” Harry whispered out.

Snape sighed. “It’s okay, Harry,” he said and patted the top of Harry’s head.