While waking up at 7:00 in the morning would irk many teenagers, especially during the summer, Harry was awake and dressed, waiting until 7:30 to appear for breakfast. There hadn’t been breakfast foods in the charmed refrigerator in his rooms, so assumed he was expected to meet in the Great Hall to dine with the Professors.

Slytherin’s portrait was eyeing him warily, watching him as he moved around his little flat. He was moving his textbooks from his trunk to the bookcase beside the fireplace, sorting them by year and putting the battered books he’d procured from Dudley on the top shelves.

Finished with that, Harry hung his school robes and folded his hand-me-downs, tucking them in the bottommost drawers of the small cupboard he’d been given. Now that his trunk was empty, he noticed just how barren his room was and sighed. At least he wouldn’t be expecting visitors anytime soon, and the baby surely wouldn’t complain about his lack of decorations.

Thinking of the baby, his stomach flipped and he felt sick. Today would be the first day working at Master Gridlock’s Apothecary, and while he’d mentally prepared himself for the detention-like job, he was not so used to the idea that he was going to be a father. His head still ached dully whenever he tried to prod his memory to divulge the events that got him into this mess, but if Snape hadn’t had any luck, Harry probably would never complete the task himself.

Harry felt his wristwatch vibrate and then beep, alerting him that it was time to leave for the Great Hall. It was not a long walk, and very peaceful. The corridor attached to a courtyard, much smaller than the main courtyard at the heart of the school. A small pond was situated in the center, a stone bench beside the water with trees dotted around to completely shade the area. As Harry passed he couldn’t help but imagine sitting in solitude completing his assignments, enjoying the feeling of peace that surrounded the garden.

The Great Hall was barely two corridors away, and he wondered how he hadn’t stumbled across the courtyard before. Walking through the double doors, all conversation ceased at the table, eyes on him. He resisted the urge to turn around and go back to his rooms, complete his assignments and try again at lunch. But Snape’s eyes narrowed as if he knew what he was thinking, and yeah he probably did if Harry was being honest with himself, and nodded towards the open seat beside Professor McGonagall.

Quietly taking his seat, he avoided making eye contact with all of his Professors, tuning out the whispered conversations between the colleagues. Scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon, and a piece of buttered toast was slowly devoured, his stomach satiated after finishing only half of the plate. It was always like this when he returned from the Dursleys, his stomach unable to handle too much of the rich foods served at Hogwarts. He sat back in his chair, lifting his head for the first time since the beginning of the meal.

They were discussing the first year required materials, debating whether or not to add certain things or take away others. When they noticed Harry was paying attention, Snape cleared his throat and turned towards the teenager.

“You will be escorted to Hogsmeade at 3:00. Until then you are to work on school work, or discuss personalized study plans with your professors. Starting next week you will alternate between Herbology, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures lessons at the beginning of the day. The afternoon, until your shift at the apothecary, will be used to study. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Harry fidgeted in his seat at the stern glares being sent at him from various teachers, and as if on cue the entire group began to move away from the table.

“If I may discuss some things, Harry?” Dumbledore guided him to the Entrance Hall, pausing before the Grand Staircase.

“Of course, sir.” They moved through the lower level corridors towards Harry’s rooms, stopping in the courtyard Harry had found not thirty minutes prior. They sat on the bench, and Harry patiently waited for the Headmaster to begin. He had nothing he wanted to say, nothing anyone would believe him about anyway.

“I must apologize, Harry. This must be very sudden for you, and while we have had to rush some things, I do not want you to fall to the wayside.”

Harry remained silent, fiddling with the sleeve of his robes.

“You are a priority here, you must understand. Your guardianship was transferred to your Professors so a large portion of the burden would fall on them. Professor Snape especially is determined that you will successfully graduate in two years time.”

Harry looked at him skeptically, Snape couldn’t give a rats arse if he graduated, in fact, the Professor would probably be all too happy to fail him in his seventh year out of spite.

“I highly doubt that, sir.” He said instead, not wishing to cause too much tension but make it known that he was unhappy. Not that he was ever happy, but no one really seemed to care.

“In the following months I hope we are able to change your mind. Until then, know that you may seek any one of your Professors, or even myself, out if you are in need of assistance. Our doors are always open.”

Harry sat in the fresh air for some time after Dumbledore left, the sun warming him as it rose higher and higher in the sky. While one would expect his thoughts to be jumbled and tumultuous, he felt calm and collected for the first time since school let out. Whether it be acceptance or shock, well that was still to be determined. But peacefully blank was better than depressed, the heavy feeling lifting away from him for the moment.

He startled when the bell chimed 10, mentally berating himself for sitting outside for two hours. He didn’t have time to waste yet here he was, squandering it away. Maybe Snape was right. Maybe he was lazy and arrogant and how the hell did they expect him to raise a child?

Shuffling back to his chambers, Slytherin scoffed at him from his portrait, flipping a page in the book he was apparently reading and looking at him over his spectacles. Harry didn’t comment, placing a pillow on the floor with three of his textbooks, notebooks and parchment in hand. He opened his History of Magic book first, writing the first assignment on his specialized syllabus on the top margin and beginning the reading. It took him an hour to get through it, Merlin’s Order being an interesting topic but dully written by the awful author Binns always required. His notes took up three notebook pages, but his parchment was completely blank.

He finally began working on his assignment, the first sentences stilted as he began to summarize and elaborate on certain points with his past knowledge, but flowing after the first paragraph. When he glanced at the clock above the fireplace, he was surprised to see it was 12:30. Lunch was not an option, especially after being ignored earlier that morning. While he didn’t expect the teachers to socialize with him, he didn’t think they’d treat him like a social pariah. Maybe he could ask the elves for some fruit to keep in the kitchen so he would only have to attend dinner, everyone would surely appreciate that.

He continued working, completing the History assignment and finishing his reading for Potions when Snape walked in through Slytherin’s portrait. Harry startled, dropping his inked quill on his parchment and glaring at the instrument, he’d have to re-write the first portion in order for it to be legible or risk Snape’s wrath when he finally did turn it in.

“Potter,” Snape sneered, glowering at Harry with crossed arms. It almost slipped Harry’s mind that he was working at the Apothecary today, his first day on the job. Harry jumped up, running to grab the cloak and herbology smock he’d folded on the side table earlier that morning. Snape narrowed his eyes further, but didn’t comment.

“I’m ready, sir.”

The walk to the main gates was silent, Snape always one step ahead of him and not sparing him a glance.

Harry wondered if this is how it’d be from now on. People leading him here or there, not bothering to talk to him because he wasn’t worth the time or aggravation. Perhaps it’d be better that way, acting invisible. It wasn’t as if people didn’t do that at their own convenience. Harry was easily shoved away or pushed to the side whenever it suited anyone else, what would make this situation any different?

Almost to the shop, Harry startled slightly when Snape began speaking, “You will be respectful to Master Gridlock at all times. He is not just your employer, he is my colleague. As my charge you are expected to be the perfect employee, especially with my ringing endorsement.” He spit out the words ringing endorsement as if they were a curse, and Harry could imagine the other man’s lips curled in disgust. Harry remained silent, it’d seemed to be working, why not keep it up?

“This is the one time, Potter, when it is imperative that you do not mess this opportunity up. Am I clear?”

Harry picked up his pace as the Apothecary came into view, mumbling the words yes sir under his breath. A hand falling on his shoulder made him jump, memories of this past summer with Uncle Vernon forcing themselves to the forefront of his mind. He looked up to meet Snape’s eyes, surprised at the conflicted look he’d never before seen on his Professor. The light squeeze of his shoulder confused him further before Snape’s hand fell away and back into the confines of his dark robes. “I will be back at 7:00, Master Gridlock knows to contact me if there are any issues.”

Harry nodded and moved away, the bell above the door ringing annoyingly and the floorboards creaking as he entered.

Master Gridlock was seated behind the register scribbling in a leather-bound journal, barely lifting his eyes away from the paper to acknowledge Harry. He pointed to a large crate, similar to one used to transport milk, but lined with potions instead.

“You will be doing inventory today. You’ll start by restocking the Household section,” He pointed to the wall to the left of the register “, sorting out the potions from the crate first and then going through each display to determine how much is in stock. Write it in this journal, potion name and quantity in each given column. Let me know when that is finished.”

Harry got to work, placing potions designed to clean and sanitize bathrooms and kitchen, scented oils and medicinal candles with potion bases. He didn’t realize just how many potions there were to use around the house, stupidly on his part seeing as muggles had found ways to do it, why not wizards?

The leather journal Gridlock had given him was easy enough to understand, extra spaces beside each quantity that would self-update as product was sold. It took three pages of the journal and two hours to check and double-check his numbers, not wanting to screw up on his first day. His arms were sore from constantly having to lift some of the heavier flasks to the highest shelves, and his neck was no better, but finally, at 6:30, that section was completely organized and inventoried. The extra 30 minutes was used to align all of the bottles, fitting 15 to each individual wooden shelf. Each wall had three columns of six shelves in each, the sheer amount of potions staggering as everything was re-stocked. He moved price tags to reflect the potions above them, and dropped the empty crate beside the counter, brushing his hands on his slacks.

Gridlock had disappeared into the back of the store an hour before, telling him that there were orders to complete and to find him if he had any questions. The quiet old man surprised him, while still cold in demeanor he was being patient with Harry and not pushing him to go faster. He seemed to appreciate the care Harry was taking, and in turn Harry made sure to complete the task to the best of his ability.

He popped his head into the back storeroom, not surprised to see a fully stocked potions lab with bubbling cauldrons lined up on one sturdy table at the back. The Master was moving between all four, arriving seconds before the timers in front of the potions would go off and moving to the next potion just in time. It was amazing to watch, mesmerizing him. When Gridlock switched off the fires to two of the potions and set the timers to the following day for the other two, Harry moved forward to ask for his next task.

“Sir, I finished organizing the Household potions.”

Gridlock hummed lowly, turning slowly and limping towards his cane. He walked past Harry and to the front of the store, looking at Harry’s handiwork and nodding to himself.

“Well done, Mr. Potter. Tomorrow you will do the same with the personal care potions. The crate will be waiting beside the register if I am in the back. For now, please fetch the post from the front of the store, there is a letterbox beside the door. I will sort orders from personal mail, and you will record the names of the clients, their orders, and urgency. Prescriptions or other such requests with a mediwizards signature should be placed in a separate pile and I will deal with those myself.”

Harry nodded and fetched the post, surprised at the large stack of letters waiting for him. Gridlock waved his wand and the letters sorted themselves, only two or three missives being for Gridlock himself, the other ones being for Harry to sort.

He worked quickly, not wanting Snape to wait for him. Half of the letters had something to do with prescriptions so Harry set aside, the others he jotted down the type of potion, quantity of potion, and the person ordering said potion, working through his stack quickly.

The bell above the door ringing startled him out of his daze. He blinked blearily at his Professor, only just then glancing at the clock to see it was indeed 7:10. He hoped the man hadn’t waited outside, Harry being oblivious to anything except the task he’d been given.

Gridlock walked back in from the storeroom, nodding his head at Snape and looking towards Harry. “You are free to go Mr. Potter. Same time tomorrow.” Harry nodded, pulling his cloak on and taking his bundled up Herbology smock with him as teacher and student left.

“He seemed to find your work satisfactory.”

“Yes, sir.” Less was more when it came to Snape, and he didn’t wish to find himself in trouble for getting smart with the Professor.

“Dinner will be served in your rooms. The house elves informed me that you missed lunch, that will not happen again.” Snape’s voice was hard, leaving no room for arguments.

“Sir?”

“While at Hogwarts you will eat three meals a day, as they are served in the Great Hall or in your rooms. We do not need you getting sick, Potter.”

Meaning Snape didn’t want to take care of him if he was sick, probably because Harry was enough of an unwanted burden on him already. Madame Pomfrey would probably scoff at him if he went to her for any problem, probably thinking he was slacking off or shirking his responsibilities. Whatever.

“I won’t get sick, sir.”

Snape looked at him skeptically, his nostrils flaring before he turned onto the path to Hogwarts. It was a silent walk again, and a few times it even looked like Snape was going to say something, but nothing.

Harry should have found the silence stifling, but now it was normal. The quiet shop, the quiet meals, he would grow used to it. He just wished he had someone that didn’t think he was a complete waste of space. Even the Weasleys had made it clear he was nothing to them, Ron’s harsh words causing his heart to squeeze uncomfortably in his chest.