Packing his bags in a short period of time was somewhat of an art form and he was the master of it. He knew exactly which compartment could contain which item and how many things could fit where. A few quick swishes of his wand and his trunk was packed. A few more and it was shrunk and securely placed within his front robe pocket. Less than ten minutes of packing and he was ready to uproot his entire life yet again.

Remus looked around the small shack he had called home for the last few months with a sigh as he extinguished the last candle on the table and prepared to leave. This would be the first time since the Potter’s death that he had ever been allowed back into a place he had lived. The first time he had been accepted back at a job, albeit in a slightly different capacity. The first time he had been a tutor to a teenager. The first time he would be known as a werewolf by everyone involved at his new place of employment.

There were a lot of firsts and he wasn’t sure if he liked it, but it was the first well paying job he had had in over a year. He didn’t even mind that he would be ultimately working for Snape; a job was a job.

He was honestly quite surprised when Severus had agreed rather quickly to his employment. He was even more surprised when he was sent a copy of Elias’s transcripts immediately thereafter. It wasn’t even the speed which surprised him, but rather the cordial manner in which it was done. Exceedingly stiff, even in writing, but still quite cordial. Elias had even written him a letter thanking him for being willing to be his tutor, or he thought it was Elias who wrote it. It had clearly been written and signed by a dictaquill so he couldn’t quite be sure who it was writing the letter, but it certainly didn’t read like something Severus would have written.

Turning his back on the shack and triggering the locking spell, he took a deep breath and apparated to Hogsmeade. It was time to meet the mysterious son of Severus Snape.

---

Mentally going over his morning tasks before checking the small notebook he took to carrying to make sure he was actually completing his tasks and not repeating things, Elias smiled in relief as he made a small dashmark in the corner of the page. He had done it! It was a small thing, but it was a relief to have finally managed it. He made it through the morning, completing all of his morning routines without checking his list of tasks. It wasn’t even a long list of things he needed to do, but accomplishing everything without reminders felt good. Independence felt good.

Pulling out the loaner wand he had been given, he sighed heavily before heating the small pot of water on the stovetop for tea. It still didn’t feel right to use this one, it wasn’t nearly as responsive as his own, but his was too… noticeable. Too obviously Harry Potter.

He hadn’t even given its disappearance much thought until he was in the middle of trying to figure out a particularly difficult set of wand movements for transfiguration and realized he had no idea where his wand was. After much frivolous searching, even attempting to remove a floorboard from under his bed (he blamed the damage on still feeling foggy), he was finally informed that his wand had been retrieved from the clothing he had been taken to the hospital in and all of his other belongings had been removed from the Dursley’s shortly after he had agreed to live with the professor. Everything was locked away in his father’s vault in Gringotts with the exception of his wand which was in a highly warded compartment of his father’s own trunk.

“Morning Elias,” Draco said, coming up from the basement and pouring himself another cup of coffee. Typically, he and the professor would be up nearly four hours before Elias even began to stir so as to get as much brewing and ingredient preparation done as possible. The long hours of brewing had turned Draco into nearly as much of a caffeine fiend as the professor was.

“M-morning Draco,” Elias said, carefully counting out his tablets and lining up his potions before double checking the list of potions and the time before smiling and jotting it down as best he could on his notepad. “G-guess what t-today is?”

“The last day you have to take the tablets?” Draco said with a smirk as he sipped the scalding hot coffee.

Elias swallowed the tablets and frowned, looking up at the blonde boy leaning against the counter. “How’d you know?”

“That’s my handwriting, you daft git,” Draco said with a chuckle, motioning to the list of potions in Elias’s hand.

“Ooo, I-i’m s-sorry for n-not rem-membering that,” Elias said sarcastically. “L-let me f-f-file that away f-for f-future ref-f-f-ference….. And it’s g-gone.”

“Twat.”

“C-can I n-not be excited f-for s-something, arsehole?” Elias said, looking back at the potions with a sigh before going to open the bottle of his tablets. He hated getting distracted when he was doing something, especially taking his potions and tablets in the morning. Mornings were always the hardest time to remember things. Mornings and late afternoons when he was getting tired.

“You already took those,” Draco said quietly, holding his hand out for the bottle. Though Elias didn’t know it, he and Severus had worked out a system over the past few days of always having one of them in the room when it was time for medications. It was not outside of the realm of possibility for Elias to accidentally overdose despite all of the precautions he took to make sure he only took his potions at the correct time.

“Oh,” Elias blushed slightly and handed the bottle over to the waiting boy. He then began slowly taking the other potions sat in front of him, making sure to mark them off the list as he went so as to not repeat the same mistake.

“Do you know what today is?” Draco asked the other boy once he was done gagging on the final potion, a rather morose expression now on his face. “And no, I’m not talking about your bloody muggle tablets.”

Elias frowned for a moment, biting his lip in an effort to coerce the correct answer from his brain. He knew they had talked about this recently, he could almost recall the conversation from the night before, but what was it? He could remember them discussing transportation and something about trunks, but he couldn’t recall what exactly it was they were discussing.

“W-we’re going s-somewhere, r-right?” Elias said, grasping at the few straws he could remember.

Draco nodded, but before he could respond Severus strode up the stairs from the basement, locking, warding, and concealing the door behind him. It was odd to look at the wall and not see the door which had previously taken that spot. It seemed an odd, blank space on the otherwise blank wall, as though there truly were something that was meant to be there but wasn’t.

“Good morning, Elias,” Severus said, striding over to the coffee pot and pouring himself another cup before noticing the pot of hot water. “Were you making tea?”

“Oh, yeah,” Elias said, getting up and limping slightly to the cabinet to pull out his tea cup. He hadn’t truly forgotten about the tea, he just… forgot about the water being hot. He still fully intended on having a cuppa, but hadn’t gotten out the necessary items to make one yet. “D-do you want some?”

“No, thank you,” Severus said, sipping his coffee and spelling what was left in the pot away. “Have you eaten yet?”

Elias shook his head as he gingerly poured the hot water into his cup and let the tea begin to steep. There was no point in making a full pot if he was the only one to be drinking it, but pouring the water was mildly intimidating. He’d already managed to burn himself once this week, though to be fair he should have waited until his potions had taken effect. Despite all their best efforts, his hands still shook and his muscles would still occasionally twitch uncontrollably. It was getting easier, but pouring liquids and picking up small objects were still difficult tasks.

Severus sighed as he pulled out a loaf of bread and quickly toasted two slices with a spell. “Are you finished packing, Draco?”

“Yes, sir,” Draco said, spelling his now empty cup into the sink where it instantly vanished. A small clink was heard within one of the cabinets as the cup put itself away. “What time will the floo open?”

“Noon,” Severus said, handing the now buttered toast to Elias who began to slowly eat, a slightly confused look on his face as he slowly nibbled on a piece.

“Where is D-Draco g-going?” Elias asked softly. He hadn’t expected to make friends with the boy as quickly as he had, but Draco had actually turned out to be a rather decent person when he wasn’t acting like a pompous prick. He seemed genuinely concerned about Elias and seemed to be legitimately interested in being a friend to him. He still was rather hesitant to trust Draco to hold a secret, but he needed friends. He couldn’t imagine how boring his life would be without friends to do things with.

“Home,” Draco sighed. “You and the professor are moving to Hogwarts today so he can get ready for classes and you can get acclimated. I’ll be coming on the train next week.”

“Oh, right,” Elias said, blushing furiously as he finished his toast. How had he forgotten that school would be starting soon? Had he honestly expected Snape to live here and commute to work? He knew the man lived in the dungeons, and it made sense that he would have to go to school early to get everything ready. “I s-still n-need to pack.”

“We got you packed up last night,” Severus said, placing stasis spells on various cabinets so as to not worry about what little food was left in them spoiling or having pests get in. “All you need to do is put on your robes and we will be ready to leave.”

“Ok. Than-nk you, s-sir. W-when shall we l-leave?”

“We will be leaving shortly after noon. Draco will leave first, then I will floo with you to my... our quarters at Hogwarts,” Severus said, taking Elias’s now empty plate and cup and placing it in the sink. “I will then return here momentarily to ward the house and lock up for the summer.”

Elias frowned at the idea of flooing but nodded in agreement. He had yet to try any other forms of magical transit after the apparation while getting home from the hospital, and wasn’t sure if he was too keen on trying any other kinds. He much rather would have taken muggle transit and the train to Hogwarts, but even that he was worried would make his stomach upset.

That, by far, was the worst part of his new reality: he hadn’t experienced much in this body so was perpetually unsure of how it would react. He had hoped he would be allowed to fly, but the idea of doing that alone was nixed rather quickly by Severus who told him he had to be seizure free for at least six months before he would even think about allowing him on a broom. He had wanted to help in the potions lab and had been promptly kicked out when he sliced his finger while cutting up ingredients when his arm twitched too fiercely. He and Draco had tried to play Gobstones one day shortly after he had finally come to and he had gotten a migraine from whatever the goo was contained within the gobstone. Chess and reading were slowly becoming his favorite past-times, if only because they didn’t injure him nor did they cause him pain.

At this rate, he ought to start hanging around with the Ravenclaws.

He was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, but it would be so different going as Elias Snape rather than Harry Potter. It was almost as if he was going back as a first year again, knowing no one and being unsure as to how the year would go. It was a strange sensation to say the least. While he was sure he would find some way to make friends, the idea of having to remake friends and not let on who he was was daunting.

And then there was the whole ‘having a tutor’ thing.

He was sure a tutor had been found for him, though he wasn’t sure who. Severus hadn’t told him (that he could remember) but had seemed rather tense every time he had asked. Whoever it was, he could only hope they wouldn’t get too mad with him if he struggled with any assignments. That honestly was his biggest fear: that he would lag behind in his coursework because of his memory.

He was having enough problems as it was deviating from what had become his normal routine for the past week and knew he was only slowing things down; he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like once he had to start classes. Every time he went to do something, he found whatever it was he was looking for was missing. He wanted to re-read a portion of his Arithmancy text only to find he had packed it away and the trunks had already been sent through. He wanted to have another cup of tea, but was told the tea was placed in stasis so it wouldn’t spoil. Frustrated didn’t even begin to describe how he felt by the time noon rolled around.

“Elias?” Draco said, looking in concern as the other boy stared at the flames in the small fireplace. “Elias? I need to go.”

“Home,” Elias said rather sadly, picking at the hem of his robes.

“Yeah,” Draco replied, hoping Elias would be fine for the few days before school started. He would be fine, Draco knew he would be, but there was still that almost fear that he wouldn’t cope well with the changes of moving once more. “I’ll see you in a week, ok?”

Elias nodded softly and rested his head on his knees. He hadn’t expected to get attached to Draco or even remotely become friends with him, but it did feel nice to have a friend around. It would only be a week; he had gone longer without talking to someone before. He could do it again.

“B-b-bye, D-d-drac-co,” Elias murmured, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Draco looked back at the professor who had just entered the room and nodded to him once. “Thank you for having me, sir.”

“Thank you for all of your assistance,” Severus said cordially before sitting on the sofa next to his son. “I look forward to seeing your improvements in class.”

Draco smirked slightly, knowing that he would now be held to a much higher standard than even Granger was. Professor Snape would certainly expect his potions to be of a much higher quality than the other students’ and this would certainly reflect in his grade. Where once he was able to get by in the class with minimal effort on his part, he now would be expected to achieve more. It was both an honor and terrifying at the same time.

Throwing the green powder into the fire and calmly stating “Malfoy Manor,” Draco was suddenly whisked away, leaving only a small flicker of green flame in his wake.

Severus quickly stood once Draco had left and began warding the stairs to the bedrooms out of habit. There were only a few more places to ward, though those could be done after he had dropped Elias off at his quarters, and then he would officially be ready to relocate to Hogwarts for the school year. Every year, this move was a small bit of frustration which nearly led to him moving to Hogwarts full time, but the idea of being around Trelawney year round was repugnant enough to put him off. That and being at the old coot’s beck and call was not on his list of things he wanted to do.

Once he was done performing the necessary spells to lock down yet another portion of the house, he turned back to Elias who was continuing to stare at the fire.

“Are you ready to go?” Severus asked softly.

“I g-guess,” Elias muttered, standing and grabbing the cane which lay next to the fireplace. “This y-year is g-going to be d-d-different, isn’t it?”

Severus nodded, wrapping his arm around his son’s shoulders as they stepped towards the flames. “In more ways than one, I should hope.”

Throwing a handful of floo powder into the fire and quickly saying the password to his quarters at Hogwarts, Severus pulled Elias with him into the fire knowing full well the boy would likely trip on his way out. He hadn’t received any notifications that anyone was in his quarters awaiting their arrival, a fact he was quite relieved about. The idea of the two of them stumbling out of the fire in front of the Headmaster was mildly mortifying to say the least.

As soon as they landed, Severus was hard pressed to keep himself standing as Elias pitched sideways, unable to keep his balance as the world continued to swirl around him. Once he was sure Elias wasn’t going to fall over, he quickly flicked his wand and lit the wall sconces with a soothing, low, yellow light. As expected, the house elves had done a wonderful job at keeping the rooms clean over the past two months, even going so far as to fluff the pillows on the armchairs in preparation for his arrival. A cursory glance down the hall off of the living room assured him the Headmaster had indeed kept his promise of modifying his quarters to add an additional bedroom.

“S-sir,” Elias said meekly, knees shaking slightly. “C-can I sit d-down?”

Severus nodded curtly before gently aiding his son into the nearest armchair. Typically, that was his chair which he would routinely force the headmaster out of when he came to ‘visit,’ however Elias did not look like he was up to taking the few extra steps required to make it to the other armchair.

As soon as he sat down, Elias immediately brought his knees to his chest and allowed his head collapse forward onto them. Flooing wasn’t nearly as bad as apparation, though the dizziness was killer. He could only hope it would pass soon. It was odd, here he was in the potion’s master’s lair and he couldn’t even bring himself to look around. He knew the dizziness would pass soon, but he couldn’t even raise his eyes without feeling like his world was tilting yet again.

“Elias? Are you going to be sick?” Severus’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“N-no,” Elias said into his knees, refusing to look up or move his head at all. “J-j-just d-dizzy.”

“I’ll be gone for just a minute,” Severus said, the faint sound of him grabbing another handful of floo powder could be heard over the sound of the crackling fire. “I need to finish warding the house.”

“Mmkay,” Elias said, giving a thumbs up in the direction of the man’s voice. He could already feel the dizziness beginning to subside, but he was afraid it would only get worse if he tried to move his head at all.

Severus snorted at the gesture before throwing his handful of floo powder into the flames and disappearing in the roar of flames. Warding the remainder of the house to alert him if it was breached by muggle or wizard alike would only take a maximum of ten minutes. With any luck, Elias would be asleep in the chair by the time he got back. He had roughly an hour or so to nap before he was set to meet with Madame Pomfrey for a cursory checkup and to give her his medical file.

Then they were set to meet his tutor for the upcoming year.

Truth be told, he was more looking forward to Poppy’s examination of the boy than meeting and attempting to be cordial with the wolf. Surely there had to have been other people who would have been better choices as tutors. Surely. Of all the people to meet, it had to be someone who was deeply involved in the boy’s early life and who had better olfactory capabilities than the average person. If ever there was a test to see if Elias’s transformation was complete, this would be it.

---

Elias was unsure of how much time had passed, though he felt it hadn’t been very long, when he heard to floo flare briefly. If his head wasn’t still spinning, he was certain he would have whipped his head up in response to the sound. As it was, he resisted the urge, choosing instead to keep his eyes closed and head resting on his knees, though his fingers instinctively wrapped around the hilt of his wand.

“Severus, are you here my boy?” Elias heard Dumbledore’s voice say from low in the grate of the fire.

Raising his head slightly so he could peer over his knees, Elias was only mildly surprised to see the head of the Headmaster in the fire, the green flames licking around his face and reflecting off his ever present half-moon glasses. He was mildly surprised when the headmaster overlooked his presence in the chair initially, but he was thankful for the slight delay. It gave him a chance to remember an important fact: Dumbledore didn’t know him, only of him.

“H-he’s n-n-not h-here,” Elias stuttered, glad the headmaster couldn’t tell when he was nervous like what his father was getting better at doing. The damned stutter always got worse when he was nervous or excited.

“Oh!” Dumbledore exclaimed, looking over at the thin boy on Severus’s armchair. “Oh my! You must be Elias! Do you mind if I step through?”

“Um…. I-i…I d-d-d-don’t know?” Elias said quietly. Would Severus want him to meet the headmaster this soon? Was the headmaster allowed in his quarters? Did he even have the choice?

“Oh, bother,” Dumbledore said with a smile, eyes twinkling even in the fire. “I’ll be over in just a moment. I’ve been so excited to meet you, my boy!”

“B-b-but…” Elias tried to protest though the headmaster’s head had already disappeared. What was Severus going to say?! At least he would be able to get through now that the headmaster wasn’t blocking the entrance!

A moment later and the floo flared once more as the Headmaster stepped through, fluorescent green robes swirling around him as he stepped through as if he had just been invited in. He carried with him an air of importance greater than what he had ever experienced from the man as Harry Potter. It was a strange feeling to get from the man after having known him, or believing he had known him, for the past four years. Had he been thrown by the man’s ability to manipulate what people thought of him that badly?

“Wh-who are y-y-y-you?” Elias stuttered, attempting to play the ignorant, ill child, hoping the headmaster would fall for it. At least he had plenty of room to play with it; the headmaster didn’t know much of his condition.

“Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot,” Dumbledore said with pride, eyes twinkling madly as he sat in the armchair opposite the lanky teen. “Though most just call me Professor Dumbledore.”

Elias groaned and tucked his head against his knees once more. The man’s chipper attitude was far more grating on the nerves than what he remembered. In fact, what he remembered of the man was a far more grandfatherly figure that he could go to with any problem. The man in front of him had just barged into an employee’s personal quarters without permission to speak with his underaged son unsupervised. The entire thing was giving him odd feelings about the situation. He knew he would likely get in some trouble for what he was about to do, but he couldn’t think of another way to not give the headmaster any information and stall the conversation long enough for Severus to get back.

“H-hello,” Elias said softly while refusing to raise his head and look at the fluorescent man in front of him again. “I-i-i’m El-l-l-lias Snap-p-p-p-pe.”

“Hello Elias,” Dumbledore said, looking as though he would offer a lemon drop if he had any at his disposal. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Your father does not like to talk about his personal life, so I must admit, we were all surprised you existed.”

“Oh,” Elias muttered, glad his knees were covering his mouth as he was sure he was grinning at his plan. “H-h-h-how d-d-did y-you get-t here?”

“Well, my boy, I typically live in the castle year round,” Dumbledore said, misunderstanding the question. “Though I do occasionally go visit my brother or tour the countryside in my time off.”

“Oh,” Elias muttered once more, frowning in frustration. Would he be able to pull this off without letting on that he wasn’t as bad off as what he was meant to be portraying? Pulling one over on the headmaster seemed almost wrong, but at the same time, the man had essentially abandoned him at his relative’s house and in a situation which ultimately led to his hospitalization. “Wh-who are y-y-you?”

Dumbledore blinked and paused momentarily having expected more questions about Hogwarts. Instead, the conversation seemed to be going backwards. Was his memory going and he hadn’t introduced himself? No, he was certain he had, in fact, just introduced himself fully.

“My name is Albus Dumbledore,” he said, choosing not to use his titles in case that was where the confusion lay. “You can call me ‘Professor Dumbledore though.’”

“Wh-wh-why are y-y-you in m-m-my h-house?” Elias asked, continuing to play up his confusion. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure which questions he had asked already, but that was the beauty of his plan. Memory issues were key. Playing up his twitches would help too.

“You’re in Hogwarts right now, in your father’s quarters,” Dumbledore said, his frown deepening. Did the boy not know how the floo worked? Severus had insisted he had been raised at least somewhat in the wizarding world.

“Y-y-you k-k-killed h-h-him d-d-didn’t y-y-ou?!” Elias accused, pinching his leg in an effort to begin tearing up and causing a wave of spasms to rocket through it. “Y-y-you’re g-g-g-going t-t-to k-kill me!”

“I… what?!” Dumbledore said in confusion, eyebrows flying to meet his hairline. “Your father went home to ward his house.”

“Then-n-n wh-where is-s-s he?” Elias continued to accuse, knowing full well his accusations made no sense and he was beginning to confuse himself truly in the process. He wasn’t actually at their home in Spinner’s End, but he was at… home? Sort of? It didn’t make sense, but made perfect sense at the same time. Had Dumbledore actually killed his father? Wasn’t that Voldemort? No… no, Voldemort killed his other father. Dumbledore killed Severus… Had he though?

“My boy, your father went back to his house in Cokeworth,” Dumbledore said, trying to placate the increasingly confused and distraught boy in front of him. He had known the boy was ill, but to be this confused and having such violent spasms was disturbing. Severus had stated he would be turning the boy’s medical file over to Poppy today; Dumbledore needed to see those files. “You are at Hogwarts right now, your father will be here shortly.”

“Th-th-then why are y-y-y-you here?” Elias said softly. If his father wasn’t dead, he would be back in a few minutes. He just needed Dumbledore out of here. “Wh-wh-who are you?”

The floo suddenly roared to life in front of them as Severus stepped through, holstering his wand as he did so. He had expected to come back to his son still being in the armchair, likely in the same position he had been in just a few minutes previous, but what he hadn’t expected to come through and see was a highly confused and rather put out looking Dumbledore staring at his son who appeared to be crying and whose twitches were substantially worse than when he left.

“Elias? Are you ok?” Severus asked, immediately going to his son’s side concerned he was having a worse reaction to the floo than they had initially thought. He never should have left him alone; he should have dropped him off with Madam Pomfrey before going back to the house. Those five minute seemed to have set them back at least a week in his treatment.

“I believe I should be leaving,” Dumbledore said, standing awkwardly and quickly shuffling to the floo. “Perhaps the next time we meet will be in better circumstances. Severus, I would like a word with you after he is evaluated by Poppy, please.”

Severus nodded, continuing to evaluate his son for the signs of a potential relapse, mind racing as he tried to think of alternatives to sending the boy to St. Mungo’s for emergency treatment. Would they be able to send a healer to do a house call who specialized in long term spell damage, or would he have to be admitted? Healer Shannon had warned that that was a possibility and that it would be in their best interest to preemptively get the boy in to see a healer in the long term spell damage department for a baseline examination should things get worse.

He really didn’t want to do that immediately, however.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and ministrations he nearly missed the tell-tale sound of the floo being used as the headmaster left to return to his own quarters. In fact he was fairly certain he would have missed the sound entirely had it not been for Elias immediately relaxing and looking him directly and steadily in the eye for several seconds as his twitches slowed to their current baseline of ‘occasional but annoying.’

“G-good, he’s g-gone,” Elias said, relaxing out of his balled up position.

“Elias, are you ok?” Severus asked once more, eyes narrowing as his son smirked rather guiltily.

“Yeah. A b-b-bit conf-fused though,” Elias admitted rather sheepishly. “I th-think I c-confused mys-s-self.”

“What in Merlin’s name were you trying to accomplish?” Severus asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “Other than giving me a heart attack?”

“H-he just c-c-came b-b-b-barging in!” Elias said, motioning angrily at the fireplace. “I d-d-d-did-dn’t know wh-wh-wh-what else t-t-t-to d-do! I d-d-didn’t w-want t-t-t-to talk t-to him-m-m without-t you there!”

Severus sighed before turning to sit on the armchair opposite his son and allow his heart rate to slow. Despite all of the anxiety it caused him, Elias was correct. The Headmaster’s visit could have easily ended in him discovering Elias’s true identity if the boy had given the wrong answers to questions. While it wasn’t the most ideal of stall tactic, he had definitely done well to deflect any questions of him or of his past thus allowing Severus ample time to get back and take over the conversation. The tactic used was certainly a good one to put the Headmaster off using legilimency as well; no one in their right mind would attempt to use any form of mind arts on someone as seemingly confused as Elias.

“While I do not necessarily agree with your tactics, I cannot argue against them,” Severus finally said, resting his elbows on the armrests of the chair and folding his hands across his chest. “But I will advise you not to do so again. It is likely the headmaster now believes your condition to be much worse than what it actually is at this point in time and I would advise we not advertise this as fact.”

Elias nodded before gingerly standing, giving his head plenty of time to adjust to the change in position before attempting to move. He was still slightly dizzy, but nowhere near as bad as what he had been when he first came out of the floo. Despite still feeling like the world was off its axis, he couldn’t help but cave to the desire to look around; he was in his potion’s master’s quarters after all.