Wednesday, August 16th, 1995

As agreed, Harry showed up punctually at nine in the Department of Mysteries. He was curious if Riki, the man who was supposed to train him, would continue to protest or if Diana and Ghost had managed to convince him. Harry had been really excited about training, but after seeing the wizard's tantrum, his enthusiasm had decreased. Harry was fed up with adults who took their frustrations out on him. But he needed training, both for himself and for Sirius. He promised at last that he would do anything to catch Pettigrew.

He had had a gruelling football game the day before. Luckily, they won, which gave his team a chance to play in the final this coming Friday. After the match, he went home right away, giving up sitting in the park with the guys as usual. He had decided it was more important to finish painting the house. So far, everything had been going according to plan. The day before, Harry managed to finish putting the first coat of white paint in the living room and kitchen. Tobias didn't come home until after midnight. The man mumbled something Harry didn't completely understand and went to bed. The teen decided that he had done enough that day, and it was time for him to go to bed as well.

Despite his exhaustion, he did not fall asleep until morning. The prophecy he heard the previous day niggled him. He was aware that Diana was right—theoretically, it didn't change anything. He already knew he was Voldemort's target. But Harry was still terrified of the responsibiliy. He was no match for Britain's most powerful dark wizard. If that Riki guy—who didn't even want to train him—couldn't make him a super wizard in two weeks, or teach Harry some trick that would enable him to defeat Voldemort, his luck would surely run out. The Griffindor wouldn't live long after that. And Harry really didn't want to die.

Even worse was that if he failed to defeat the Dark Wizard, he would be responsible for the terror of the entire wizarding world. The prophecy was clear - one had to die at the hand of the other.

On the other hand, Diana said that many prophecies did not come true. Maybe this one wouldn't work either, and Britain wouldn’t be destroyed by him. There was also Dumbledore. There was a reason Voldemort was afraid of him. Ghost mentioned that the Department of Mysteries also planned to take active steps to fight against him.

The teen doubted, however, that they could defeat Voldemort quickly enough.

Harry entered the training room, where Riki was already waiting for him. The man was nonchalantly leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. He was wearing a tight tank top that accentuated his muscular body, and his entire left arm was covered with tattoos. Harry had to admit, the man looked pretty impressive.

"Hi," he said uncertainly.

"I see you did come after all."

"It never crossed my mind to back out. Besides, I have no choice." Harry gave him a slight shrug. "I have to learn to fight."

"I know. So, tell me where you want to start. We have less than two weeks, and I do not promise miracles."

"Where do I want to start?" Harry came here, thinking that the man would already have a plan. After a moment of consideration, he added: "I want to be able to defend myself against Death Eaters, so I want to learn the most effective defence spells and… I also want to fight them as well."

Riki nodded. Harry was a little surprised by his behaviour. Given yesterday's argument, he was convinced that the man would be abrupt and rude towards him, treating him as mean as Snape did in Potions. For now, however, his attitude seemed relatively neutral.

"So I understand that you are completely not interested in controlled duels based on fair play?"

"Er ... No. I mean, yes, a bit, of course, but you yourself said that we don't have time for that."

"No, we don't. I heard you go back to school, and you won't be able to come here often."

"You mean it's possible for me to show up here sometimes during the term?"

Riki shrugged.

"Only if you can find a way for no one to notice you're gone. You go to Hogwarts, right?" When Harry nodded, he continued: "The Portkey will work as soon as you leave the school grounds. Technically speaking, you could also activate it in the Hogwarts area, but if you use it within the protective barriers, you will breach them, and the person responsible for them, i.e., at least the Headmaster, will immediately find out about it. So, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Harry was surprised at the news. Learning to defend himself during the school year immediately cheered him up. Mostly because he had no idea what kind of defence teacher the Headmaster would come up with this time. Anyway, even if Dumbledore would hire someone competent this year by chance, additional training still wouldn't be a waste of time. But of course, he wasn't counting on much for a new DADA teacher.

"So, let's start with checking your shortcomings and your speed. I have a funny physical fitness test for you. Of course, funny to me." The man laughed. "And we'll see how powerful your spells are." Harry nodded again. "Before we begin, however, I have a few conditions."

"Conditions? What do you want?" Harry asked sharply. He thought everything was already settled.

"First of all, you are not allowed to wander in the Ministry alone, and I don't want to see you in the Department of Secrets research section. Secondly, you will avoid any interactions with The Unspeakables." Riki stood upright. "You don't approach them. If they want to start a conversation, you put them off and walk away. Except for me, Diana, and Ghost, of course."

"What?" Harry asked. "Why?"

Riki smiled nonchalantly.

"It's just my whim."

"What if I don't agree?" He wasn't thrilled about it, and not talking to anyone seemed stupid and unfounded to him. Plus, Harry actually felt very tempted to wander around the Department and find out its secrets.

"Then you will have to look for a new teacher. Good luck with that."

Harry sighed. He didn't have a choice.

"Okay," he said, slightly sulky. "But only because I really need to learn to fight."

Riki smirked.

HPHPHPHPHP

After a few hours, Harry was exhausted. Riki didn't go easy on him. He checked what he knew for the first hour, which was the simplest part. Then they went on to practice casting spells. Every now and then, mannequins appeared in various places in the room, and he was supposed to hit them with a spell as quickly as possible. However, the problem was that along with the mannequins he was supposed to aim at, “civilians” appeared every now and then that he should never cast spells at, and if he hesitated too long, the aggressors attacked him or the civilians.

After the exercise was over, his statistics didn't look promising. Within two hours, he killed nearly one hundred and fifty civilians, two hundred Death Eaters, and himself thirty-eight times.

The next skill Riki wanted to practice with him—it was that funny test—was dodging. The man was casting spells at him, and he had to avoid them without even having a wand. Fortunately, the spells didn't cause him any pain. When Harry was hit, a bell hanging on the wall rang.

At one point during the exercise, Ghost entered the room. When Riki noticed him, he immediately stopped the practice.

"How is it going?"

"Better than I thought it would," Riki said without enthusiasm.

Ghost nodded.

"Okay, you can finish for today."

Riki nodded, tossed Harry the wand he had taken from him before the last exercise, said goodbye to him and hurried out of the room, ignoring the older man. Harry raised his eyebrows at the behaviour. Apparently, Riki was still angry with Ghost for this training, but at least his anger didn't extend to Harry.

"Please, follow me, Oliver. I would like to talk with you, and I think you will be interested." Ghost smiled mysteriously.

Harry followed him into the office. They sat down on either side of the desk, and like the day before, Ghost offered him tea and biscuits.

"How is it working with Riki?"

"Fine. After yesterday's argument, I thought it would be worse, but it's really okay."

"I'm glad. If you have any problems with him, please don't hesitate to contact me right away." Harry nodded and took a sip of his tea. Ghost looked at him and tapped his fingers on the desk. "You know, you remind me of your mother."

"Yes, I know. I have Lily's eyes. Everyone always tells me that."

"Lily?" Ghost looked mystified. "Oh, no, you misunderstood me. I meant Eileen."

"Eileen?" Harry thought of Lily instinctively. Only now did he notice it. "Did you know my biological mother?

"Yes, she has been working with us for a while..." He paused for a moment. "I think it was around the time when she was pregnant with you. A truly wonderful, brave woman, very intelligent—also a genius in the field of potions."

Harry smiled slightly. Even though he didn't know her, he felt really pleased to hear someone talking well about her. Until now, all he had heard about her were Tobias' rude comments.

"It was after her, Snape must have inherited his potions' talent. My brother that is. What did she do?"

"Your mom was doing research. Unfortunately, she died before giving us the results of her work, and we couldn't get her notes back." It was then that Harry realized he didn't even know the cause of her death, and he decided to ask Tobias about it later. "By the way, maybe you know where the documentation from her research can be found? We talked to your father and brother, but they don't know anything about it." Ghost smiled kindly at him.

"No, I'm sorry. It wasn't until a month ago that I found out that I was adopted."

"I see…" The man tapped his fingers on the desk again.

"How did you know the Potters weren't my biological parents? Dumbledore told me that this information was secret and the documents about it are very secure." Even though Harry was angry with the Headmaster, he did not suspect that the man might have made a mistake with such an important matter. He felt a cold shudder at the thought of what would have happened if his true parentage had indeed been leaked to the public.

"As I said, I knew about your mother's pregnancy, and she also told me about her plans to give the baby to Lily Potter. Of course, she had entrusted this to me in secret." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "We really knew each other well and got along. But don't you worry. I doubt anyone else knows about this. Now back on topic… Haven't you seen anything in your father's house that she left behind that looked like documents or could hide them?"

Harry shrugged.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, think." Harry heard a slight irritation in his voice. But maybe it was just his imagination because his tone was as polite as ever a moment later. "Maybe some book, or a notebook with notes? Maybe something is hidden in a cupboard, a chest or a safe hidden in the wall?"

"No, there’s nothing like that in my house, and we don't have any books at home. Anyway, as far as I know, my mother moved out from my father’s before I was born. And they probably weren't on good terms when they split up, so if she left something, he probably got rid of it."

"Where was your mother before she died?"

"Dunno." He shrugged again. "She rather avoided contact with my father and her second son."

Harry wasn't entirely comfortable. The conversation was more like an interrogation than a friendly chat about the memories of his mother.

"Yes, they told us the same..." Ghost muttered under his breath. "So you know nothing at all?"

"No, I told you, I didn't know I was adopted at all. In fact, I don't even know what my mother looked like." Harry took a deep breath. "What was she working on? Something important?"

"No, nothing important, but you know... It would be a pity if any of the Department's work was wasted. Well, apparently, there's nothing we can do about it. But if you find anything, anything that could belong to her, let me know. I'm not tiring you anymore today. You can go home and rest. I'll see you tomorrow at the same time."

Harry nodded and left the office. He had a strange feeling about this conversation. And it was only as he neared his apparition point that he remembered the basement and Eileen's trunk. How could he have completely forgotten about it? He turned and looked again at Ghost's office, but the corridor was empty. He shook his head. Should he mention it to the man? There was something wrong. At first, Nott did not see the basement door, so they concluded that his mother had cast a spell to hide it. Ghost said he had questioned Tobias, and Tobias hadn't told him anything about the basement either. Maybe there was some kind of discretion spell or something on it. It seemed that Ghost also had no idea about the trunk. It appeared that Eileen had made a great effort not to let anyone else find out about it. And her spells worked so well they fooled even the Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries.

Harry was determined to uncover the secret of his mother's trunk.

HPHPHPHPHP

"Harry! Harry!" He heard Tobias calling him as soon as the man returned from work. "Are you here? At home, that is, because you're not here in the kitchen." The man chuckled at his own joke.

 Harry checked the time. It was already after eleven o'clock.

"I'm coming!" He got off the chair he was standing on to carefully paint the top of the wall, put down the brush, and headed toward the kitchen.

Tobias began to unpack the shopping bag.

"I brought ya' dinner," said the smug man, setting the paper-wrapped fish and chips in front of him. Harry tried a little, and it tasted as if the food had been bought a few hours ago. The breadcrumbs on the fish seemed slightly soggy, and the fries were cold and had gotten chewy. However, everything was still delicious. He thought it was very nice of Tobias to buy him takeaway food.

"Thank you very much." Harry smiled sincerely. Tobias ruffled his hair, retrieved a glass from the cupboard, and sat across from the boy. The man took a juice and a bottle from a grocery bag and poured the juice into a glass. Then, he opened a vodka bottle, took a healthy sip and drank the juice. Personally, Harry thought Tobias had more than enough alcohol for today, but he did not voice his opinion. Moreover, he thought it best to get out of here as soon as possible before Tobias got angry about anything.

"You know, I'll go clean up after painting and lie down because I'm getting sleepy," he said, standing up.

"Where are you going? Sit down and talk for a bit with your father. You'll finish painting tomorrow anyway. No point in cleaning up now."

Harry nodded and reluctantly sat back down.

"D'ya wanna try?" the man asked, raising the vodka bottle. Harry refused, surprised. "Good, you're too young for that. I was just joking, and I wouldn't give it to you anyway."

"I can see that you are in a good mood today. Has something happened?"

"I'm always in a good mood unless someone fucks it up. But that's right, we finished the building today, and the boss gave us a bonus. I'll have money for your school supplies."

"Oh, for me?" Harry said, blushing. "Thanks, you don't have to."

Tobias gave him an odd look.

"What d'ya mean I don't have to? Where else are ya gonna get it from?"

"Er... I dunno." He wasn't going to tell Tobias about his vault in Gringotts. All in all, he needed some security in the future. Of course, if the man had some serious financial problems, he would help him. But on his own terms.

"Then start using your brain more often because you won’t end well otherwise. Well, anyway, Noah will drive you to London in the morning on August 31st. You'll check into some cheap hostel close to the train station. I'll give you money for books and accommodation. D'ya have clothes, school uniform?" Harry nodded. "If you don't have something, find a second-hand store. You should find something there. And the next day in the morning you're gonna go to the train. Just don't be late. You're old enough not to fuck it up, right?

"Yeah, sure."

"Anyway, how are your football games going? Sam said he heard from his kid that you're one of the best on the field. Way to go, kid."

"Yeah, I'm actually doing quite good. Yesterday we had a last match before the final, and we won, so on Friday we're gonna play for the championship."

Tobias took another sip of alcohol.

"I'll come to see you play. You're gonna show everyone who's the best, no?" Harry agreed, nodding. "The manager, a rich bastard, is still talking about his son and how talented and intelligent he is. You'll show you're better than that kid, won't ya?"

"I'll try."

"So, if you win, we'll go to the pub for those burgers and the cinema, right?"

"Yeah," Harry smiled broadly. When his father was in a good mood, he was really okay. If only he had one more often ...

"You know what's on now? Mother dearest… I haven't been to the cinema for years." The man put his hand on his head.

"Er ... I don't know, but I can go and check it out tomorrow."

"Yeah, do that." The man got up to get money from his jeans pocket. He swayed but kept his balance. "Have a tenner and buy tickets for something. Just something normal, not some cheap romance for bints," the man said, his words getting more and more slurred. "Here," said, giving Harry money.

"Thanks. I'm glad we'll spend the evening together."

"Yeah, you're going back to school soon ... It's gonna be sad here without you." Hearing that, Harry felt happy, as his father obviously enjoyed spending time with him. Harry smiled, looking forward to Friday night.

They talked for a moment longer, then Harry wrapped up the leftover food, put it in the fridge and went upstairs to lie down. He was really excited about the evening he was going to spend with his father. Sure, Tobias was not a saint, he certainly wasn't the father of the year, but Harry's standard of living had gone up a lot compared to when he lived with the Dursleys. He had been here for less than two months and already played pool, ate pizza, and now he was even going to the cinema for the first time. The teen had his own room, renovated especially for him and a key to the house that he could enter whenever he wanted. Harry could also lie down on the couch and watch TV, as well as open the fridge, take whatever he wanted from it and eat it at any time of the day or night. Besides, he had friends, and no one in the neighbourhood avoided his eyes or shook his head as he passed. And most importantly, he did not stay locked in his cupboard, feeling that hunger would tear his insides apart.

Harry had no trouble falling asleep that night. However, a few hours later, he was awakened by a thud. Moments later, he heard Tobias vomit in the bathroom.

The teenager got up and went to the hall. He walked slowly to the bathroom door, which was open and saw the man half lying, half sitting on the tiles.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"Why don't ya sleep? Get to bed," the man muttered.

"I woke up. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I got a stomach bug or some other shit. Get to your room, so you don't sleep again until noon."

"Okay," nodded Harry. He returned to his bed, but he couldn't fall asleep anymore. He didn't know how long it was before the man stopped throwing up and went back to his bedroom.

HPHPHPHPHP

Friday, August 18th, 1995

Friday finally arrived, Harry's long-awaited day. The teenager entered the training room of the Department of Mysteries. Riki was not there yet, so Harry decided to use spells on a dummy to warm up. Despite his exhaustion from painting the apartment late for another day in a row, the boy was in a great mood. He finally managed to finish the whole ground floor. Tobias was surprised at how great he was doing the job and even praised him.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Harry from behind, covered his mouth with a hand and pressed the wand to his neck. Harry tried to pull away, but his attacker held him so that he couldn't move even an inch. Harry froze.

"Who are you, and what have you done with the always sad, grumpy kid with an aura of angst around him?" The man took his hand away so he could respond.

"Hey, I'm not always sad or grumpy, let alone give any aura."

"Mm." Riki released him so Harry could turn around and face him. "What happened? Why are you so pleased today that you are even humming under your breath?

"I'm not humming," Harry blushed.

"Yes, it may not quite resemble any melody." The man winked at him.

"Not funny."

"For me very much. So, what happened?"

"Nothing special. I'm just in a good mood."

"Come on, tell me what makes teenagers happy. You have a date with a girl?" he said, teasing him. "Or did she give you a kiss?" Riki laughed out loud.

"Keep poking fun," Harry said but smiled slightly. Riki raised an eyebrow up. "Seriously, nothing happened. I just have football season finals tonight, and my father will take me to the cinema and burgers after that." He tried to hide the happiness in his voice and sound like he didn't care but failed.

"Seriously? You're a strange kid. Since when do teenagers want to spend Friday night with their parents?"

Harry shrugged.

"Anyway ... I've never been to the cinema, and today is the release of Die Hard: With a Vengeance."

"I have no idea what a cinema is or a Die Hard, but it must be something fascinating if you are so excited about it?"

"Er ... '' Actually, Harry didn't know what pleased him more: the fact that it was the first time he was going to the cinema (Dudley loved going there and never forgot to remind Harry that he had to sit in his cupboard while he gorged himself on popcorn and had a great time watching Disney cartoons or superhero movies) or that he was going there with Tobias, who obviously wanted to spend some time with him because otherwise, he wouldn't take him anywhere at all. Besides, the man even thought about giving him money for books and thought up a whole plan for Harry to get to London.

 "Oliver?"

"Hmm?" Harry looked at the man. "Oh right, sorry. The cinema is a Muggle building where you can watch films, such… stories shown in pictures with sound. And Die Hard is the film's title, that is, of this story."

"Doesn't sound very exciting." Riki dismissed his explanation. "And before we go to training, I have to tell you that it wasn't your finest moment today."

Harry frowned.

"When? What do you mean?"

"You were so absent that I approached you without any problems. You didn't even notice when I entered the room. You need to work on that a bit."

"Oh, okay."

"I'm serious. You are here because something is threatening you, and when you have your head in the clouds, you completely stop noticing what is going on around you." When Harry nodded again, the man continued: "Okay, let's start. I think we can work on power control today. You know Diffindo, the cutting spell, right?" Harry nodded once more. Riki waved his wand, and a robed mannequin appeared against the wall. They walked up to it, and the man added: "This mannequin is enchanted in such a way that its structure resembles that of a human. Depending on how strong the Diffindo you cast is, it will cut it that much. I mean, if you cast the spell lightly, it will only cut the clothes, a little harder the skin, and if you try really hard and use full power, maybe even muscles and internal tissues.”

"Can I cut a man in half with it?"

"Not a chance. For that, you would have to use a stronger spell, like Absissus. Perhaps Voldemort or Dumbledore would be able to do this with Diffindo.” Riki gave him a slight shrug. “In your case, if you were under the influence of great emotions, such as fear or anger, all you could do was maybe cut off a finger. As you know, emotions make it easier for us to access the layers of magic, and in some way, they can increase our power. In any case, Diffindo is one of the better spells for practising awareness of how much power we use while casting a spell, as it is quite simple and does not work on a binary basis, such as Alohomora, which will either open something or not. Are you following?"

"Yeah."

"So, let's begin."

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry was very pleased with his day with Riki at the Department of Mysteries. The man had a lot of knowledge and excellently explained everything, especially more complex issues. Besides, he was nicely muscled. Maybe if Harry started exercising systematically, he could also look like him?

It had become easier and easier for Harry to control the power of Diffindo. They had also begun to learn the shield spell, and of course, they trained in agility and speed as they had every day this week. Riki said that wizards often forget to work on their own bodies, which might give Harry an advantage.

After returning from the Department, Harry took a quick shower, rested a bit, thenwent to get Oasis. Tobias hasn't come back from work yet, but the game didn't start until an hour and a half later. However, the players had to warm up earlier, so he would meet his father there.

As they walked through the park, they noticed Nott walking toward them.

"Hi, Nott," Harry greeted, grinning widely.

"Potter, Oasis." Theo nodded.

"What a greeting," Oasis laughed. "Are you from the royal family, or what? What's up?"

"Alright, thanks. And no, I'm not of the royal family," the Slytherin replied, not looking offended by the comment at all. He turned to Harry: "Potter, Severus is inviting you for dinner and Monopoly tonight. Just pretend you think it's my idea."

"Oh, that's nice of him, I mean of you, thanks," Harry said, surprised. "But there's a football final today, I think I mentioned it earlier. Afterwards, my father is taking me out for burgers and the cinema to see Die Hard." Harry grinned.

"Or not…" Oasis muttered.

"What d'ya mean?" Harry looked at his friend, frowning.

"About that...jeez, Shortie...I think you should tell Nott that maybe you pop in after all. Coz...you know..."

"No, actually, I don't."

"Seriously? You've been jumping for joy this whole week just because your old man told you he'd take you to the pub and the cinema after the game. But you know what? Truth is, the fuck he's gonna take you. He's been wandering drunk as a skunk for a week now."

"I talked with him. He promised he would come."

"I bet he doesn't even remember saying anything."

"Stop it," Harry growled. "You're just jealous, and that's why you're saying that."

Nott watched this exchange in silence.

"Don't be ridiculous. I didn't even intend to invite my old ones because why would I want them to embarrass me? I have a date on Friday. I'll take Mary to a restaurant, and we're gonna celebrate the victory, or she will console poor me when we lose. I win in both cases," said Oasis, proud of another of his grand plans.

"Listen, think what you want. I know I'm gonna have a great evening with my father. I even have cinema tickets. And tomorrow, you'll be begging me to tell you what the third part of Die Hard is about.”

"Face the truth, Shortie. You'll just get your hopes up. And he'll fuck it up - like everything else. And you will be crying about it for the next week."

"In an hour, you'll see that you're totally wrong. And please, don't spoil it for me." Then he turned to the Slytherin: "Sorry, Nott, we have to go, or we'll be late. But maybe we will meet tomorrow? We'll probably be sitting at the sandbox in the evening."

"Yeah, sure. And good luck. I'll keep my fingers crossed for winning," Theo said, walking away with a slightly concerned expression on his face.

HPHPHPHPHP

They won three to one. Harry scored two goals. Now he was standing at the entrance to the hall, looking around. The boy watched as friends and family approached the players, congratulating them. He hadn't seen Tobias anywhere, before, during, or after the game. Harry really was an idiot for believing the man would come and see him play. And he made an even bigger moron of himself in front of Oasis, arguing with him and showing how much he cared about the evening. He sighed.

"Hey, Shortie," Harry turned, hearing Oasis' voice. "Wanna come uptown with me and Mary? Come on, we'll celebrate the win together."

"No, thanks. It's your date, and I won't disturb you," the Gryffindor said.

"It's cool. I’ll take her somewhere romantic tomorrow. Come with us, mate. You're the MVP, and we'll drink to it."

Harry did not need the company so badly that he'd interrupt his friend’s one-on-one meeting with a girl. But he appreciated that Oasis hadn't thrown it in his face that he had been right. Besides, he didn't even have the money to go to any bar or restaurant.

"No, really, but thanks for asking. I'm actually quite tired because I got up really early. I think I'll go home to sleep."

Oasis looked at him, as if to make sure his decision was final.

"Okay, But take care, yeah? See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure". Harry tried to smile and headed towards the exit. He tried to convince himself of how insignificant this evening was. Voldemort, Pettigrew, and the fact that Sirius was still wanted by the Ministry were the real problems, not that Tobias completely ignored him. Anyway, he might as well go to the cinema by himself. He had a ticket. Even two of them.

Suddenly he heard someone calling him.

HPHPHPHPHP

Severus was finishing a chapter of a book by Kenzaburō Ōe, last year's Nobel Prize winner in literature. When he heard the sound of the door opening, he got up and headed towards the kitchen to start preparing dinner - spaghetti he had on his table at least once a week. Theodore loved it, and Severus himself didn't really mind it, except that maybe they ate it too often. But at least it was quick, and he didn't have to bother to think of anything more creative. He sent Theodore to the shop because he was missing a few ingredients and also gave him the idea to invite Potter. The Slytherin was supposed to see if the kid was hanging around the park with his gang, and if not, then check out Spinner's End and offer Gryffindor an evening of board games.

After all the events that made Severus spend quite a lot of time with Potter, he couldn't say that the boy's company was particularly bothersome. In fact, he did not mind having the kid in his house, and not only for the feeling of fulfilled duty. On the contrary, the boy was tolerable and even pleasant to be around. The boy usually only became mouthy when he felt threatened or attacked. And not even always, because sometimes he was just panicking too much to talk back.

Moreover, had Tobias consented, for which there was little chance, he would have been willing to take him in permanently. He had a spare room in which Potter had already stayed a couple of nights. Providing his basic needs such as food, clothes, or school supplies would not have been a bigger problem. At least the boy would have stable conditions, which at his age was crucial.

Severus hoped that Potter would show up tonight because he wanted to make sure the kid was okay. The Potions Master closed his eyes, remembering the atrocities inflicted on the little child he had seen in Vernon's mind. He was grateful to the fates that the boy was functioning really well considering all the traumas he had endured.

"Would you like tea?" Severus asked Theo, putting on the kettle. Of course, he could wave his wand, and the drink would prepare itself, but the man believed that relying on magic for every little thing made wizards too lazy.

"Yes, please," Theodore replied, then began to unpack the shopping bag.

"Did you talk to Potter?

"Yes."

"And?" Sometimes it was so hard to communicate with teenagers. He looked closely at his Slytherin. Half an hour ago, when he was leaving for the store, he had been in a much better mood.

"Potter said he already had plans. He plays this Muggle sport, and today they had the final match. His father, that is, yours and his, promised him to come and watch him play. And then he was going to take Potter somewhere uptown."

Severus raised his eyebrows.

"Is that why your expression is so pained? Do you miss Potter's company?"

"No." The boy looked at Severus. "It doesn't matter."

"Tell me what's bothering you." The man himself didn't believe the words he said next: "Did he say something to you that ahh...offended you?" As he had already turned his back on Theodore, he could allow himself to roll his eyes.

"No. Just please don't mock me because what I'm going to say is very... Hufflepuffy."

"I promise," Severus replied with exaggerated seriousness. "I will not see it as a permanent blemish in the honour of your Slytheriny self."

Theodore sighed and leaned against the table.

"You said Potter only recently found out he had a father." Severus nodded. Immediately after Theodore arrived at Cokeworth, he had a conversation with him about his relationship with Potter. There was no point in hiding it because the Potions Master knew that sooner or later, it would come out anyway. Unless he locked Nott at home, which of course, he couldn't do. Severus had bound the boy, of course, to secrecy. "I think ..." Theo hesitated. "That Potter is looking at this man through rose-coloured glasses. And he really wants to please him and spend time with him. The problem is, I don't think he's worth it. No offence, of course." Severus nodded again. "The point is, Potter cares a lot more about this relationship than his father does." And I can actually understand it, but Potter is blind, and he doesn't quite see how toxic this man is and how it affects him."

"And what made you think about it today?" Severus obviously shared the boy's opinion, but he didn't feel he should inform him about it.

"The fact that I met Potter, who was ecstatic his father had promised to come to the match—which seems to be very important to Potter—and then take him somewhere. Only when I went to the store later, I met his… and your father." Theodore looked apologetically at the teacher. "He was in terrible shape. He tripped in front of the shop, and some other man helped him get up. After that, they headed towards Potter's house. So, I doubt he's going to do what he promised."

Severus sighed and sat down at the table, setting the tea in front of Theodore.

"And what am I supposed to do with it?"

"I don't know. I just feel a little sorry for Potter. And you care about gaining Potter's trust, don't you? I mean, you want him to know he can count on you?"

After these words, there was a silence that was broken by Severus.

"Alright, get up. We'll eat out uptown."

"And will we happen to see a Muggle game on the way to the restaurant?" Theo asked, focusing on the glass in his hand, smiling slightly.

"Perhaps. But I warn you, if you mention it to anyone, you will be cleaning the cauldrons for a month."

The teenager laughed.

"You know, these cauldron cleaning threats are slowly getting boring."

"Boring? Then I will sit you at the same desk with Longbottom instead, for the whole school year."

"Oh no! Not that! In this case, I prefer your good old cauldrons."

Please, review ;)