It was the first time that Snape had ever given such a rash decision to another person over something as important as a child. But Snape also knew that 14 year old boys were known to get themselves into a lot of mischief if not properly supervised and considering the fact that he was in an unknown world (or at least Harry's memory of it seemed to be lacking) he felt that he had to either supervise him, himself or have Mel watch over him. Considering just how tiring he had the magic behind bringing him to his son he realised with a sad heart that he would have to let Mel watch over him and hope for the best. After all Dumbledore trusted the woman which meant that she must be worthy of his trust as well. Snape never liked to walk into a situation blind, but he did know that Dumbledore only associated with people he deemed to be "light" or "working for the greater good" and so Snape accepted his fate and that of his son's. Besides...maybe learning a little bit of the old magic might be good for the boy. Even though Snape had found little need to warrant such information in the past.

So it was after three day's of working with Mel in the forest learning how to commune with the trees and plants that Mel brought him into her greenhouse. Severus was not as happy as he could have been about Harry's progress. Harry didn't understand why this could be as he followed Mel into her greenhouse absent mindedly.

"But to those of us who have learned the craft," Mel stated snapping Harry from his thoughts, "the traditional methods hold with them generations of understanding, of patience and of perfection. These methods are those that Merlin himself would have used to understand his powers and to influence the world around him."

Harry remembered that Merlin had been mentioned in some fairy tales that his cousin, Dudley had seen on the television. But he didn't quite understand how he could have much to do with what he was learning now.

"Good Harry! Good!" Mel said.

Harry hadn't realised that he had put his hand out towards a pot plant which was now winding its leaves around him as if to make him a part of its very life force.

"You must allow for this plant to gently caress you, but feel the strength it is trying to share with you. It is called Methius Populus. Or the breeding plant. One day you will make one woman very special due to your ability to tame this plant," she giggled.

Harry blushed a little and withdrew his hand. Looking at the plant with disdain. She sat down in the middle of the floor and stated "Harry, just look at them. Do you see any different colours?" she asked.

"No," Harry responded.

Mel took out a few gems. A pearl, a rose quartz, an amethyst, an emerald and agate.

"This one is for wisdom and fortune," Mel stated placing it slightly in front of Harry to the left, "This pearl Harry, was once a small speck of sand, found inside an oyster. It is truly remarkable what nature can provide should you choose to seek it."

She then took out the amethyst, placing it to Harry's right, directly opposite the pearl.

"This amethyst is for positive thoughts, justice and strength," Mel stated.

"This emerald," Mel stated placing it behind Harry in line with the pearl, "is for love, patience and serenity."

This rose quarts," she stated placing it in line with the emerald and the amethyst, "symbolises love, all kinds, and the power and peace it can bring to one's soul." Then she took the agate crystal, "this crystal Harry, is very precious. I chose it especially because your element is earth, the rest have an element of water. Which as I explained before is closely related to the earth."

Harry was surprised to find himself in what seemed to be a large square as Mel placed the agate at the top of the square, "this crystal Harry is to symbolise the spirit, its most powerful magical property is that for protection."

Then Mel stepped back a few steps as she slowly walked a circle around the stones. "These crystals Harry, symbolise love, they symbolise love, like the love I have for you, Severus has for you, and Dumbledore. The love your parents had for you, the love that exists through you and around you every day. May you see, like I do, the power within a person. Do not close your mind to the understanding of the spirit. May those with darker spirits find themselves away from you, may those with lighter spirit find you as their friend. May you be able to see these spirits each and every day and may their truth be seen."

Mel opened the door allowing for the wind to be able to gently flow through her and add its element to the spell. A spell for protection and to help Harry to move past all of the pain of his past and be able to open his eyes to see people how they truly are.

"Close your eyes Harry," Mel stated as gently allowed the wind to lift the boy gently and she placed her hand over the boy's eyes. "Blessed be Harry," she stated gently.

Harry didn't quite know why. But he found himself smiling. He felt at peace, loved and wanted. "Each of these stones have a connection to love Harry, now I shall allow for each of them to be yours if you want. Open your eyes." Harry opened his eyes looking at Mel. She was looking down at him with the stones in her hand.

"Thank you," Harry said.

"Your welcome sweetie," she said, "come on back up to the house and read for the rest of the afternoon. I saw you checking out the book "life from a muggle" it's a good read and you should continue it whilst you still have the chance."

Mel walked Harry back up to the house where she went into the kitchen to see what she could do to prepare dinner. She had decided pot roast would be nice for tonight as she could make lots of spare meat and vegetables just for in case a visit occurred from one of her children as she had a feeling that tonight was going to be different.

Again Snape made his presence known at dinner time, he was slowly recovering from the drain on his body and felt that he might even be able to do some work in the morning. Maybe explore the forest a bit with his son, he knew that Harry would like that.

Harry was having difficulty focusing because it seemed that the whole world was a little blurry. Seeing the whole world as if it had a small radiance of light around it and not knowing quite what this light was or how it was created.

"Harry dinner is ready! Your father is already eating!" Mel stated in a huff. Surely the boy couldn't have been THAT emersed in the book could he?

Harry looked up at her, "sorry Mel…it's just…the colours….I can't….I can't focus!" Harry said.

"Yeah that is sometimes an after effect of that spell, why don't you go up to your room and I will draw your curtains closed and you can sit in the dark for a while," Mel stated gently leading Harry by the shoulders to his room, "don't worry I will bring your dinner in just a minute."

Mel had never lived with house elves simply because her family had never been able to afford one and nobody in the family tree had either. But she didn't mind, she just looked after her family and herself in the best way she knew how. She loved them and protected them with a fierceness known by no others.

"Mel, where is Harry?" Snape asked as Mel picked up Harry's plate.

"He has a little headache and shall be laying down for the night," Mel stated simply. She thought that she could leave out exactly WHY there were problems with Harry's head until the man had some time to eat and to settle down for the night.

"No…I think I will take Harry's dinner to him myself," Snape stated gently. He liked spending time with his son, so he picked up his own dinner and took Harry's out of Mel's hands and walked into Harry's room.

"Mel said you have a headache son?" Snape asked gently. He was upset because as a potions master he had easy access to pain relief potions and other assorted potions at his home but he had not thought to bring anything like that with him. He had his mind focused on only one thing, the welfare of his son.

"Yeah," Harry stated, "Mel showed me some really interesting things with crystals today. I think they might have done something to me."

"Give me the crystals son," Snape stated.

Harry dug into his pocket taking out the crystals that Mel had given him earlier. Snape waved his wand around them and after acknowledging that there was nothing bad on them handed them back.

"No son, the crystals are fine," he stated, "let's just sit and enjoy our meal and you get some rest. Maybe your headache will be gone in the morning."

Snape and Harry sat together, with Snape sitting on the floor (of all undignified places) and Harry sitting up on his bed propped up with pillows. It was a messy way to eat a pot roast with vegetables and gravy, but it was important to Snape that he spent at least a little bit of time with his boy. After all he hadn't been able to during the day.

"I'm feeling better now son," Snape stated, "would you like a walk in the forest tomorrow?"

"Sure Dad," Harry said. It still felt strange to him calling someone a word that he knew was so familiar to so many other people. But somehow it felt right.

Harry spoke to his father for a little while about how he had been able to commune with the forest and its plants and Snape said, "Well son, you will have to show me all of that in the morning. Are you finished your meal?" Snape took his plate and his own out to the kitchen where Mel was watching the kitchen clean itself under the influence of her wand.

"Mel, what exactly have you been teaching my son today?" Snape asked.

"I…I started to teach him about auras Severus," Mel explained gently.

"Auras? What nonsense! Is that why he has his headache tonight?" he asked.

"Yes, I think so," Mel stated, "here in the states, the spell that I performed tonight would have been used on two-three month old infants to be able to help them learn how to decipher between what is good and what is not. In the dangerous magical world of ours we find it much easier to be able to teach them that young as a lot of the things that are in our schools are quite dangerous for our youth if they do not know how to respect them."

Mel spoke with words that seemed as old as time but the fact that Harry had been in pain because of her methods of teaching still infuriated Snape.

"Well he shall not be taking any more lessons from you. If any of what you have done to him hurts him, I shall not be responsible for my actions!"

"I understand Severus," Mel stated, "I am also aware that you need to get back to England to be able to continue Harry's education and go to work. So I got a friend of mine to create these."

Mel handed Snape a couple of passports. "They look just like the muggle ones and as you have drained your energy so much lately I thought it might be better to take a safe, boring muggle route home."

"Besides," Mel stated, "Harry has a record of coming to this country, if he does not return muggle authorities will be out to get him. Not that they can do much…." Mel laughed, "Fiona Langley has been here over 7 years and they haven't tracked her yet! But I have a feeling its what is best for you. I'm sure you're aware of glamours, you don't want to be seen taking Harry back to London. But his passport should look just like the one held by those despicable Dursleys. Albus told me all about them!"

"Thank you Mel," Snape stated taking the passports.