The next day, after breakfast Harry stood facing the corner in the living room.

He woke up at almost 9, he hurried to the bathroom and heard Snape’s voice outside.

“Breakfast is ready Mr. Potter.”

Harry opened the bathroom door.

“I just need to change, Sir.”

“It’s Sunday Mr. Potter, you may have breakfast in your night clothes.”

Harry went down to the dinning room.

Breakfast was porridge, Snape let him pour some cream almost no sugar. Harry drank his juice and a glass of milk. He also had a scrambled egg.

Both eat without hurry.

“Did you slept well Mr. Potter? Did your stomach settle?”

“Yes sir. I… am sorry, I… shouldn’t have bothered you.”

“It was no bother, Mr. Potter, it is always interesting to hear of your latest escapades.”

Harry kept on eating, he knew it had been foolish what he did, it was not necessary for Snape to be sarcastic.

Snape put pieces of fruit in a plate and placed it in front of Harry.

“Finish your fruit and milk child, there is a corner waiting for you in the living room.”

“Will you stay with me, Sir?” Up to that moment Harry had only stayed in the corner in the same room as Snape.

“You will have to be quiet in the corner Mr. Potter, why would you want me around?” Harry just look at him.

“I need to review some journals, so I may be near, to ensure that your nose stays close to the corner.”

Snape did sit near him with a bunch of papers. He sorted thru them and read some things aloud. After a while Harry felt a little bored so he started talking.

“You are mean, Sir.”

“Have you just realized that Potter? We met two years ago.”

“You could have told me about the floo connection. Sir.”

“I could have. You could have spoken clearly while entering the fire-place, you should learn Mr. Potter, that you must focus your mind on what you are doing, I have not seen you in the rest of your classes, but that is the reason why your potions failed.”

“You are always unfair with me in potions, Sir!”

“Yes, I am a mean bastard, Mr. Potter, but not just to you. Why would Miss Granger’s potions be successful?”

“And you never give her points….”

“No I don’t, and any way she always pays attention and her potions and essays are always good, regardless of the points I do not give her.”

“You are always breathing down my neck! I will never be good in potions!”

“If you keep on being disrespectful Potter, you wont leave that corner soon, keep quiet now.”

After 6 more minutes of silence Snape said:

“Turn around Potter, your time out is over. Now satisfy my curiosity, Mr. Potter. What is you favorite subject in school?”

“My favorite…?I don’t know... I enjoy doing magic like in charms and transfiguration… Sir” Fancy wand waving thought Snape.

“You are good in Defense against the Dark Arts, are you not?”

“I guess so, Sir.”

“Your grades are good at least, your past two teachers have been little less than useless, and did try to kill you at the end of the year. You not only managed to learn enough to have good grades, you managed to survive dark creatures, How did you do it?” Harry sat in a sofa facing Snape.

“I had to do it, Sir. To defend myself and my friends. I learned alone.”

“And how did you manage to learn alone, Mr. Potter?”

“Well, Sir… The school books had information, and they did… I mean they were terrible in class, but the essays they assigned… I read the books for the homework and… I also learned from what my classmates said and… thought on my feet…..”

“Thinking on your feet makes you reckless child. So you find it interesting to learn by yourself?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And you are able to learn alone, Mr. Potter, while doing your homework, with the school books and also, from your classmates.”

“Is that wrong?.... Sir.” He said the Sir as an afterthought. Thing that did not go unnoticed to Snape.

“Quit the attitude or go back to the corner, Mr. Potter.”

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“As I was saying, it seems that you may learn, regardless of the teacher, Harry, why then don’t you do that for Potions? You have the same material and tools, why don’t you try to learn by yourself, like Defense?”

“I don’t know, Sir.”

“C’mon on, you can give better answers, Mr. Potter.

Harry kept quiet.

“In Potions class. You always pick on me, Sir. Nothing I do is good enough for you.”

“Have you at least tried, Harry?” Harry did not like the direction this conversation was taking.

“At first I did, I was interested in potions, Sir. I could relate to them because I liked chemistry and cooking, I was writing down all that you were saying that first class….!”

“And a mean dungeon-bat shattered your illusions, Potter! After you had paid attention less than 2 minutes…. And since then you spend the class feeling offended and chatting with your friends about how unfair I am….”

“You do not allow us to talk. Sir.”

“You do manage anyway. Mr. Potter”

“What do you want me to say, Sir?” Harry knew when he had lost.

“I want a commitment from you, Mr. Potter. Tomorrow when I start the classes I want your attention and your assurance that you are going to make an effort to learn, in class as well as by yourself. As you have stated you can learn while researching and doing homework. Can you do it?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You may go now, Mr. Potter. Get started with the apology letters, if you finish them by lunch time you will be allowed to ride your bike for a while.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Two hours latter, Snape was satisfied with the letters.

“Do you plan to use the protection gear, Mr. Potter?”

 Harry was standing beside him, he had been made to write them several times, his hand was tired and he dreaded that he would be sent back to write them again. So his eyes sparkled   at this question.

“Yes, Sir, I will. I promise.”

“Do not go into the forest, be back one hour before dinner, you still have to write your essay. And remember that you have an early bedtime today.”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

“And Harry….”

“Yes, Sir…”

“Be careful.”

.XXX 

Harry was clean and at the table by dinner time. Snape could see that he was unusually quiet. He finished his soup and was playing with his salad.

“Did you enjoy yourself, Mr. Potter?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Have you finished your essay?”

“Yes, Sir….Do I have to go to bed after dinner?”

“Do you have to ask me that, Mr. Potter? You did finish with the essay, didn’t you?

“Yes. But Sir…. We’ll start studying tomorrow, and… I… I thought… this seems like my last chance to have fun…. I don’t want to go out… just… maybe… play a game.”

“We are not going to study from sunup to sundown, Harry. You’ll have time to ride the bike, even fly, once the wards are reset. Finish your meal, we’ll go over the schedule for tomorrow and the rest of the Summer.”

Once the dinner table was cleared Snape brought some papers.

“This is the draft,” Snape showed Harry a parchment.

8.30 Wake up

9.00 Breakfast

10.00 Study

12.30 Lunch

13.00 Free time

14.30 Study

17.00 Free time

18.30 Dinner

19.30 Free time

21.30 Bed time

22.30 Lights out

“As you can see, Mr. Potter, you’ll have 5 hours to do what ever you want. 2.30 for meals. Half an hour to get ready for breakfast and class, one hour to get ready for bed. 10 hours for sleep. And 5 hours to learn, practice and homework. Do you think it's enough?”

“I don’t know, Sir. It looks pretty full.”

“We may adapt it as need arises. Harry.”

“You said that… that you would schedule time to talk… about… you know… my problems… Sir” Harry remember the conversation he eavesdrop with Albus, Snape said something about counseling…

“Yes, Harry, we can use the time after dinner, before your bedtime. We may talk about anything you want.”

Harry stay looking at the paper.

“What would we study tomorrow. Sir?”

“I think that we may start with charms.”

.XXX 

Next morning, they started. Harry thought that it was not going to be a good beginning when Snape appeared in the schoolroom wearing his dark school robes. Harry had been seated looking through his papers when he heard the footsteps, he turned to look and felt a cold shiver in his spine at the sight. This was Scary Snape.

Snape had been wearing black all the past week, but not his teacher’s robes. Harry hoped that he would not transform back into ‘the dreaded bat of the dungeons’.

“Good morning, todays class is going to be Charms.” He took his wand and using it as a chalk, turned his back to Harry.

Snape started by writing three words in the blackboard, “Theory”, “Wand Movements” and “Words” then he turned and talk to Harry as if the room contained a multitude instead of only one student.

“As you should know by now, the intent is what makes a charm work. The wand projects the magic inside you to do your will. For this you will study the meaning of the words, the books in your desk should contain enough theory for you to get an idea, not only about the charms, we’ll learn, but also about their modifications. We will discuss them, you will notice that some charms are not that different from each other as they share the same roots. Wand movements must be practiced, until you stop thinking and they become second nature. The words focus your intent and that is Magic…”

Harry had never heard a more passionate lecture about charms.

Snape was about to continue when he saw that the boy had his hand up.

“Yes, Mr. Potter?”

“I have a doubt Professor… Would I… I mean… the Wand… I know I shouldn’t but…”

“Mr. Potter, organize your thoughts before putting your hand up.”

“Sorry, Sir.” Harry looked down. Snape did not really want to scare him.

“What is worrying you, Mr. Potter?” He said in a more neutral voice. And sat on the other side of the desk.

Harry looked at him and said.

“Last year, when Dobby crashed my relatives Dinner Party…I received a warning, I know about the restriction of underage use of magic…. Would I only learn the movements? Or would I be able to use my wand? I do not want to be expelled.”

“The wards around the property make it impossible for the ministry to detect your use of magic. The restriction is imposed because of the secrecy we maintain with the muggles. Magical children in Muggle neighborhoods have to cease all use of magic. In Magical households their use of magic wouldn’t be noticed at all by the ministry, as there would be certified wizards in that location. Although magical parents should not encourage the indiscriminate use of magic by their children. Here, you may use your wand only for class and practice purpose though, always with me supervising. If I find out that you have been using it on your own I will confiscate it and you will have it back until we go back to Hogwarts. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, Mr. Potter, I have made a list of common house-hold charms, tell me if you know about them.” Snape moved his wand and a list appeared in the black-board.

Summon/Send away

Repair/Break

Warm/Cool

Dry/Wet

Press/Clean

Cushion/Pull

Backward/Forward

Bend/Straighten

Below/Above

Blunt/Sharp

Bitter/Sweet

Build/Destroy

Bright/Dull

Broad/Narrow

Clear/Cloudy

Ebb/Flow

East/West

Empty/Full

Expand/Contract

External/Internal

Fast/ Slow

Few/Many

Fat/Thin

First/Last

Fold/unfold

Fresh/Stale

Gather/Distribute

Hard/Soft

Here/There

Heavy/Light

Height/Depth

Include/Exclude

Horizontal/Vertical

Increase/Decrease

Inferior/Superior

Inside/Outside

Interior/Exterior

Join/Separate

Land/Sea

Large/Little, small

Left/Right

Lengthen/Shorten

Less/more

Long/short

Loud/soft

Loss/find

Low/high

Maximum/minimum

Narrow/wide

Noisy/quiet

North/South

Odd/even

Open/shut

Out/in

Plentiful/scarce

Rapid/slow

Regularly/irregularly

Rigid/pliable, soft

Rough/smooth

Scatter/collect

Slim/thick, stout

Solid/liquid

Sour/sweet

Straight/crooked

Strong/weak

Take/give

Tall/short

Thick/thin

Tight/slack, loose

Top/bottom

Up/down

Transparent/opaque

Visible/invisible

Pack/Unpack

Shrink/Enlarge

As Harry started reading he thought he was not going to be able to learn them all.

Then Snape explained the movements of the wand and how learning it correctly could be used for all of them. He insisted that the intent in Harry’s mind would get the desired results.

Then they went through the list and Harry was told to imagine the words, almost tasting them.

Snape brought several things and placed them on the table, then he allowed Harry to practice the charms.

At the end of the class Harry realized that Snape used a totally different approach from Flitwick, but he had learned some useful charms. Now he could remove stains, repair objects, clean and press his clothes and shrink and un-shrink things. Snape even taught him how to do the Lumos-Spheres!

“Could this be used as Christmas trees ornaments, Sir? I mean if you can change the colors, or not?” Harry had a small collection of spheres in several sizes.

Snape just looked at the boy, had he ever been so eager in his classes? Had he been like this before he berated him in that first potions class?

Harry was looking at him. Snape looked confused. Then he realized that he had mentioned Christmas and that would be long after the end of this Temporal thing…

“I’m sorry, Sir…I’m sorry..”

“Stop apologizing, Harry, coming this Christmas, you will have a tree to place the spheres onto. You can be sure of that. I doesn’t matter where we’ll spend Christmas, or if I am still your guardian or not.

Harry liked when Snape talked to him like that. All serious and sober, he knew that it was better that a promise.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Well, that’s all for today, it’s time for lunch, leave your things here. And wash your hands.”

“When would be the next class, Sir?”

“Next week. You may practice what you learn, if I am near, Mr. Potter.”

“Yes, Sir.”

After lunch Harry went to ride his bike and later swam in the pond, Snape watched him from his lab. After swimming he took a fast shower and went to the study room, Snape was already there.

“Do you have a Summer assignment for Charms, Mr. Potter?”

“Yes, Sir”

“Start with it, if you need to research anything I’ll be in the library.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Harry realized that he could answer the assignment with the course books he had, so he did not went to research in the library, Snape found him writing one hour later.

“Have you finished, Mr. Potter?”

“Almost, may I use the charm you taught me to remove the ink stains?”

Snape couldn’t believe that James Potter’ son was asking that!

“Yes, Harry, you may, remember the intention behind the wand movement… that’s it.”

Harry was beaming. This knowledge would help him a lot next term.

He arranged his papers, glad that he had finished with school work for the day.

Snape was looking at the discarded parchments, he looked at his ward and realized that his hands were stained with ink and he was massaging his wrist.

“You have time to practice your writing, Mr. Potter, some simple exercises would improve the quality of your work.”

Harry knew that this time was still destined to school things so, not too happy he sat again and paid attention.

Snape showed him how to prepare a Quill and gave him some writing exercises.

“Those would help you to loosen your wrist muscles and make writing easier, Harry, I have noticed that you have wrist pain after you write for a while. You do not have to do them all, every time that you are going to write, but they would warm the muscles and help with the pain.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Tomorrow we’ll review Defense, Mr. Potter.”

Harry smiled, he hoped that Potions Class would never arrive.

“When would I be able to fly, Sir?”

“Professor Dumbledore and Flickwick will come tomorrow morning to set the new wards, you may fly then.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

On Tuesday Snape was really surprised. Harry did know defense, He knew about several dark creatures and the way to fend them off. It was with ease that they went through the first year book.

At the end of the class both were feeling good with each other. Harry was chatty at lunch and again went for a ride on his bike and a dip in the pond.

He finished his assignment and presented it to his Professor. Snape keep on being surprised.

After dinner he asked Harry to bring to the living room his construction blocks. Harry brought the box and sat on the floor.

Snape placed the box over the coffee table and start piling them.

“Tell me, Mr. Potter, what is the first thing you remember from your relatives house.”

Harry couldn’t believe it, he had never talked about that. He saw the construction and started helping Snape, he placed the blocks as he started talking, that make it easier, he did not have to look at Snape and he started recalling… He talked about preparing breakfast and cleaning the kitchen… and even about his cupboard, he found himself relived at having an adult knowing about his past. He did not tell him all. Just random things. Snape kept building until there were no more pieces in the box. So they started moving around the ones already used, when Harry’s bedtime hour arrive they had built a wall and a tower. Harry was enchanted to use one of his recent learned charms to hover the construction back to his room.