To keep up with the others, Harry ran half skipping alongside his friends. The further they went from the other students, the further Harry’s anxiety fled, being replaced by a mixture of shyness and curiosity. He had never been able to look at his friends in such a real, tangible way before, even muted though his observations were through his boy form. He didn’t quite know how to act around them, or how they would react to his changes, but somehow he didn’t really feel afraid. It was impossible to really fear rejection when one can sense another’s affection. It wasn’t so strong or sharp a feeling as when he was with his clan, but it was there. Hermione was equally curious, trying to observe him without him noticing. She was a bit upset about the pace they were forcing him at, or rather the pace Severus was forcing them at. She obviously wanted to ask for them all to slow down, but she was so afraid of offending Harry by implying he couldn’t keep up that she didn’t. An equally anxious Ginny’s arms kept twitching. Harry found the idea rather funny, actually, that they were so worried about offending him but he could still sense what they were thinking quite clearly. He started to giggle, then choked on it and wound up coughing violently as he tried to catch his breath. This brought the entire procession to a halt.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Hermione asked worriedly, going down on one knee in front of him while Ginny rubbed his back. Harry discovered that reassuring his friends required that he stopped coughing and to breathe properly something he had yet to manage. It didn’t help when he heard Ron mumbling to Neville that even turned into a kid Harry still got all the girls. He had to fight against the laughter suddenly bubbling up inside him. Severus was suddenly there as well, not looking particularly worried.

“Did you choke on a gilligle, Harry?” Luna asked, her voice solemn and perfectly serious. As the teenagers were quite used to her ways, no one even bothered to ask what a gilligle was. Harry managed to stop coughing and breathe normally. Severus picked him up then, despite Harry’s protests that he was fine, and carried him the rest of the way to their rooms. The others followed silently, Ron apparently in shock at the sight of Severus carrying any child, let alone the fact that this child was Harry. At the rooms, Severus set him down and let him unlock the door. Harry found that much more exciting than he felt the event probably warranted. Perhaps it had something to do with an old Dursley memory involving being locked out of the house.

“This is my rooms,” Harry declared, motioning for the others to come in, “Well, Severus too, of course, “This is the sitting room part, and over there is the kitchen part, and that is a bathroom and a closet, and we can’t go in Sev’s room, and here is mine!” The excitement of actually showing off his home, or at least his school home, was quickly overcoming his shyness. Severus looked slightly amused, especially at the expression on everyone’s face when Harry reffered to him as ‘Sev’. It wasn’t only Ron who was in shock. Before they quite knew what was going on, Harry managed to lead all five of them into his room while Severus stopped at the doorway.

“You may explain, but no demonstrations,” he instructed Harry, ignoring the gaping expressions the others were giving him, “You must be much better at shielding before you can be around humans in your cat form. I will probably go see my Slytherins soon. Will you be alright with your friends if I leave?” Harry paused in his demonstration of his bed, some of his excitement draining as he considered this. He felt fine now, but a good deal of that was with the help of his phiter. He liked knowing there was someone he could run to if he needed. But he didn’t want to admit to needing someone, not to himself and really not to his friends. And he did feel safe.

“You can come with me if you prefer,” Severus suggested, sensing his hesitation.

“That’s alright, Pher,” Harry answered at last, “You can go.” He had been practicing using Severus’s new title so often in the last couple of days, partly to get himself used to it and partly because it was so exciting having a real family, that the name came out now without his even noticing. Not that it mattered; none of the other children knew what that meant. Severus nodded, allowing a slight, warm smile at the name, before turning his attention on Harry’s friends.

“I will be talking to you before you leave,” he announced, his tone ominous, “Stay until then. If any harm comes to Harry, I will be holding each of you responsible.”

“Sev!” Harry cried, clearly mortified. With a final smirk towards the boy, Severus departed. There was a long silence among the teens.

“So…you’ve been living with Snape, then?” Ron said at last in an attempt to make conversation. Harry nodded, his shyness returning. He still didn’t quite know how to explain going from hating Snape to being family with Severus in the space of a month.

“Remus told us about seeing you,” Hermione said, when it became evident no one else was going to speak, “He even got to read a book, I think, but wasn’t allowed to take it back with him? He didn’t have time to tell us much, really.” At that, Ron snorted then tried to look innocent when Hermione turned to glare at him. That got Harry to smile; doubtless Remus had told them a lot but not nearly enough to satisfy Hermione’s curiosity.

“The sphinx are really secretive,” Harry answered, “And they really don’t trust werewolves.”

“Oh,” Hermione answered, swallowing all her indignation against yet more prejudice.

“So…you know I’m a sphinx?” Harry asked, when once again silence threatened to take over.

“Actually, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny have only just told us a bit on the train,” Neville said, “They were afraid to tell us by owl in case it got intercepted. You know how paranoid the ministry has been lately, looking out for Death Eaters or new dark lords rising.”

“And all we know is that you became a sphinx when you turned seventeen,” Hermione added, “And have been living with Professor Snape who is also one.”

“Oh,” Harry answered, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with everything they didn’t know. Even Luna was staring at him now with expression of intense interest. “Well, I woke up on my seventeenth birthday looking kinda like I do right now. Except not exactly; I’m wearing an illusion.” He paused in his explanation to pull off his chain holding the amulet and key to show him his real features. The others started, as though just seeing him once again for the first time.

“Moody said I looked like an imp,” Harry added, frowning. Ginny let out a whimper and then sat down on top of her hands, ignoring the looks coming her way that seemed to question her sanity.

“I can see why you needed the illusion,” Hermione said at last. Harry shrugged, leaving the amulet off. He felt more comfortable without it, but also more vulnerable.

“I changed into my cat form on accident a little after that,” Harry continued, leaving out the part about being distressed by his relatives, “And then Aunt Marge came with her dog.” His audience looked alarmed, obviously guessing that this was not a good thing. “I got bit in the shoulder,” Harry continued, “And then Sev showed up and rescued me, because he had gotten my distress call or something. Other sphinx can sense when a cub is in trouble, and according to the way sphinx age I am obviously still a cub. I was six feet, you know.” He couldn’t quite say why, but it felt important to clarify that. His friends nodded solemnly, still looking rather alarmed.

“I met the rest of my clan, then, while Severus became my guardian because he saved me. He’s not quite the same as the other sphinx, because he was a human until he got his animagus form and did some spells or something to become a sphinx, so even though he’s young he’s a grown up. He became my phiter, and we have more rooms in the manor with the rest of the clan. But I had to come back for my seventh year because they were afraid of the ministry wondering what happened to me if I didn’t. They don’t like people knowing about the sphinx, and of course you know how the ministry is towards non-humans. I don’t want to be declared as some sort of creature. That’s why we are telling everyone there was a potions accident and I got de-aged. You can’t tell anyone outside of this room.”

“What exactly does it meant to be a sphinx?” Hermione asked, her fingers twitching for her to take notes even though she knew she couldn’t. Harry frowned, considering.

“Do you have to stay with Snape?” Ron asked, taking Harry’s silence as a sign he wasn’t going to answer, or perhaps hoping to stave off a long, detailed explanation with a question of his own, “We’d look after you in the dorm.” Harry’s frown deepened.

“He’s my phiter,” he answered, and then, seeing their blank stares and Ron’s look of minor revulsion, he folded his arms over his chest and clarified by saying, “My father.” Now that got a reaction out of them. Luna smiled and nodded approvingly, a sharp contrast to Neville’s look of utter horror. Hermione and Ginny merely looked startled while Ron looked utterly confused. Harry looked down feeling suddenly a bit weird. He still wasn’t comfortable calling Severus his father. He had no intention of giving up James as his dad, or changing his name to Snape or anything like that. But he knew, really, that that was the role Severus had taken up when he became his phiter.

After that, there was a silent agreement to change the topic while Harry allowed the others time to adjust to that news. Instead, he told Hermione everything he knew about the sphinx, though he probably strayed from topics that interested her most quite a bit. He told them somewhat about the new culture, and how ancient they were, and about the ceremony but he trailed off that to talk about his new family and how he had his own room, how Neffy is way older than him and has had years of practice but still can’t outfly him on a broom, though Basta can. At some point, the nubis’wi came up and Harry pulled open his robe to show his shoulder, excitedly telling them how he had faced a savage beast in all its gory detail, despite the fact that most of his memory of the event was a blur, and he neglected to mention the nightmares that still plagued him of teeth and pain and being left alone in the darkness. His friends looked suitably alarmed and admiring; at least the boys did, Hermione merely looked distressed and Ginny was still sitting on her hands with an odd expression on her face. At some point, a house elf appeared bearing a plate of sandwiches. Hermione managed to not comment about slave labor.

Harry pulled his robe back up to cover the savaged scar. Severus had only recently decided that it no longer needed to be bandaged, though he still insisted on poking and prodding more often than Harry cared for. Now that he wasn’t facing the school and his friends hadn’t suddenly turned on him, Harry found his appetite much improved. Ron, surprisingly, seemed to have forgotten he was hungry because he only absently took up a sandwich and didn’t take a second. Hermione didn’t take one but Harry didn’t know if that was because she wasn’t hungry or because she didn’t approve the method to which the sandwiches were acquired.

“The manor has house elves,” Harry suddenly remembered, “One of them helped me when Remus set the alarms off. He was called Eberik Silklinen, and I meant to ask if they were slaves or not, like wizard house elves were, but I didn’t like to ask Eberik and I forgot to ask Sev.” As though he had been called, Severus chose that moment to show up. “Sev!” Harry cried, feeling giddily happy to see him again. If all of his friends didn’t happen to be sitting around him, he might have even given in to the urge to leap at the man and give him a hug. Severus smiled in return, not quite managing to hide the warmth behind it, and Harry could sense the man’s affection and amusement even stronger than usual. “Are the house elves free?” he asked, then, and the man looked rather bemused.

“I will assume you mean those you met at the manor?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry nodded, slightly impatiently, sending his affirmation over their bond in a similar style to mindspeak. Harry’s friends watched the exchange with wide eyes, obviously still not comfortable with Severus’s presence. “It is slightly more complicated than the situation of house elves in the wizarding world,” he answered, “They are not forced to reside in the manor and no amount of clothes giving could force them to leave. But they are not paid for their labor, unless one counts room and board. I never really looked into their history or reason for their service, though I did ask Roo once, when I noticed how different the house elves seemed to act from what I was used to. He did not seem to think of them as slaves. I didn’t care enough to enquire further.”

“Maybe I could ask him at Christmas,” Harry answered, “Or I could ask someone in a letter. Is there a way to send letters safely? Neville said he didn’t get to know about anything until the train because letters aren’t safe.”

“There is a perfectly safe way to send letters,” Severus answered, “Muggle post. The ministry is hopeless when it comes to Muggle contraptions; it wouldn’t even occur to them to search it.”

“But sir,” Hermione said, her voice timid, “How can we sent by Muggle post? There isn’t a post office near Hogwarts.”

“But there is one within easy apparition distance,” Severus answered, and Harry was glad that for once he answered her without his usual tone of derision. She looked rather surprised by this as well. Then, much to Harry’s dismay, Severus said he wanted to talk to all of Harry’s friends, alone. Only his fear of how it would look to throw a tantrum in front of his friends kept Harry from making more of a fuss. That and the still ever present fear that if he misbehaved Severus would change his mind. He told himself, using his seventeen year old logic, that such insecurities were to be expected and perfectly normal and that Severus was not likely to abandon him. His child emotions threw logic out the window and said he better behave, just in case. And he really did want to look like a temperamental four year old in front of his friends.

Severus took Harry’s friends into his own room for two reasons. The first was to magically bind their tongues so that they couldn’t accidently say anything incriminating in front of the other students. The second was to make sure they understood exactly what was going on with Harry.

“He may tell you he is merely a short seventeen year old,” he informed them, “And in many ways he is. He has all his knowledge and memories from before, and he can still do magic. But he has the emotions of a traumatized five year old, coupled with instincts towards curiosity and a need for security. This is partly the way a child’s brain is wired, partly the way sphinx in particular are wired, and partly the shock of suddenly becoming an entirely different species. No matter how he tries to convince you, you cannot treat him as you did before he became a sphinx. You will be, in essence, babysitting him when he is left alone in your company. There are rules. He is never to be left alone, no matter what. You will keep an eye on him. You have heard the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’? This saying has been around for millennia, and it is not without merit. If I find out he has come to harm on your watch, there will be severe consequences.” The five teens regarded him, only slightly cowed by his deathly glare.

“If harm came to Harry on our watch, we deserve whatever you come up with,” Hermione answered at last, her head high though her eyes betrayed nervousness. Ron, however, with a slightly more knowledgeable background in dealing with small children, mostly from cousins, looked petrified. Neville just seemed to be afraid of Severus, Ginny looked determined, and Luna had wandered to the window and was staring down at the lake. Severus glared in her direction, obviously not appreciating her apparent lack of attention, but he had enough experience with her in class to not push it.

“You may go back to say good night to Harry, and then you really should leave,” he finished with, “It’s almost curfew.” As quickly as dignity would permit, the children ran from the room and back into Harry’s. He was lying on his bed with a book open, doing his best to appear grown up and cool with the entire situation. His friends went along with it and valiantly restrained from pointing out his book was upside down. At least four of his friends restrained, knowing Luna she might merely have assumed Harry preferred to read that way. They all said goodnight, and how they would see Harry in classes. Harry nodded, suddenly nervous again. He was not looking forward to going to class as a child, especially since he knew Severus couldn’t go with him. But at least he knew, now, that he would always have his friends.

Severus came in to check on him after his friends left and to help him take off his bracelet. Harry was feeling anxious enough over the next day to forgive the man for insisting on speaking to his friends alone. He could guess what they were talking about, and that didn’t make him feel any happier. Finally Severus left too, though the connection between them remained strong. Harry stared out his window, feeling sleepy but not quite ready for sleep. The room was bright, even with all the lights out, because the moon was getting close to full. He went to sleep thinking about Remus, but his dreams were filled with mad, diseased dogs and dark corridors and when he awoke the next morning it was in his phiter’s bed.