Harry continued to stare at the kitchen table for several long minutes which seemed to stretch on for an eternity for him, as Snape silently studied him. Snape finally stood up and made to move toward the door, saying simply, “come, Harry,” and who was Harry to disobey. “We’ll be in my study if you need me,” Snape told Juliana and he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Harry quickly averted his gaze downwards again. These were things he simply did not want to witness! He followed Snape out into the main hallway and instead of turning left as they left the kitchen, as had been the case to get into the room he was in earlier with Simeon, Oliver and Hazel and the room which Robin had led him to before lunch, they turned right and to a door which Harry had not noticed before to the right of the main staircase.
It was a fairly large room, with two of the walls covered in bookshelves and at a quick glance Harry to see that many of them were potions texts and some on defence against the dark arts. There was a large desk towards one corner, with a comfortable looking arm chair behind it. Pressed against the wall near the desk was a low set of chest of draws, which judging from the cushions on top also doubled over as a seat. Snape sat in the arm chair and he gestured Harry towards the chest of draws and Harry perched awkwardly on the end of a cushion and resisted the urge to bend over slightly and stare at his shoes again. He was alone in a room with Snape, in Snape’s house, surely no good could come out of this! He could think of a hundred other places he would rather be, he would even take a History of Magic lesson with Professor Binns over this! So instead of focussing his attention on his shoes again, Harry looked around the room more closely and found it was quite similar to the rest of the rooms in the house which he had seen, the same oak floorboards, the desk was the same as the one he had in his room only larger, and the bookshelves were made of the same wood as the ones in his room. One the desk a photo frame caught his eye, it was a muggle photograph since it did not move and had obviously been taken a few years ago since neither Oliver nor Hazel were in the picture.
Harry barely managed not to visibly start when Snape handed him a glass of something to drink, and a cautious sip told Harry that it was iced fresh orange juice - despite the way Harry had seen Snape act with his children and wife, he still expected him to poison him at any chance he got and he was almost expecting their to be a horrid aftertaste in his mouth after every sip of orange juice, a sign that there had been a potion mixed in with the drink. The theory was more than likely completely rubbish, Snape was drinking exactly the same thing, but Harry had been so preoccupied with looking around Snape’s study that he had not seen Snape get the drinks, so you never knew…
“So, Harry,” Snape started, and Harry still was not quite comfortable with Snape calling him by his given name, and he supposed that it was for the benefit of Snape’s children, it would not do for them to hear their father addressing him as ‘ Potter’, especially Oliver and Hazel, it would only confuse them. “Are you settling in ok?” Snape asked and Harry simply nodded. “Have there been any problems?” Harry simply shook his head. “Is there anything you wish to ask me?”
Harry could think of at least half a dozen things he wished he could ask, who knows you’re married, how did you manage to get her to marry you, why are you suddenly being so nice to me, does Dumbledore know you have kids… but he could ask none of those things without appearing rude, and as much as this, he loathed to say it, nice, Snape unnerved him, he did not want the old snarky Snape he knew to make a reappearance. He needed something moderately intelligent which would also give him some information to help him survive the summer. Hmmm… Robin seemed to be the boy closest in age with him, so lets start with that. “Ummm… How old is Robin, Sir?” Harry asked quietly, thinking that it wasn’t a very intelligent question, but he knew next to nothing about Snape’s kids and it would be nice to know.
“He’s sixteen, he’ll be going into his sixth year at school,” Snape told him with a small smile and a chuckle. “Anything else?”
“No one else knows, do they?” Harry asked, although it was more of a statement than a question. “That you have a wife and children, I mean,” Harry blurted out, trying to sound respectful.
“No they don’t, not at the moment,” Snape told him and Harry was surprised at how honest he was and also very shocked that Snape had managed to keep this from both Dumbledore and Voldemort, it was quite a feat to pull off. Snape chuckled again, correctly guessing what Harry was thinking from the look of stunned disbelief on his face.
Yes, Harry was stunned that Snape had managed to keep something this big from both Dumbledore and Voldemort for such a long time - how old was Jason? That was probably how long Snape had been hiding this fact, but he and Juliana may have been married a bit before that, oh Harry didn’t know how long Snape had been hiding the fact! - but he was also stunned at hearing his Potions Professor chuckle, and twice! “Umm… are there… any rules… I need to… umm… know about?” Harry stuttered out once he had managed to get his emotions back under control.
Snape seemed to turned serious all of a sudden and Harry suddenly dreaded the long list he was likely to receive and which he knew he would never manage to remember. “Only one,” Snape said, surprising Harry, “do as you’re told when you’re told and mind me and Juliana at all times. Do that and we wont have any problems. The others will inform you of anything else they deem necessary for you to know,” Snape told him.
“Yes Sir,” Harry said, simply because he felt that he had to say something and he had the feeling that an uncomfortable silence was about to descend on the room. He was saved from having to try and start an awkward conversation by a knock on the door. It was Jason.
“Mama said to let you know that I’m taking Dom, Alex and Ol for a walk up to the weir,” Jason informed Snape and Harry wondered how far away it was and wondered whether or not he wanted an invitation. Jason was Snape’s oldest child and Harry did not have a clue of how to act around him.
“Very well,” Snape said. “Why don’t you run along and find an old pair of walking boots that will fit Harry and get one of your old jumpers for him to wear and you can take him along with you and show him some of the area. We’re almost done here.” Jason left the room and Harry knew that neither he nor Jason, Dominic, Alexander and Oliver were getting a choice in the matter. Well, Harry decided, he could do with some fresh air, and if he was going to be spending the summer here then he might as well get to know the area.
“Harry,” Snape drew Harry’s attention back to him, “I don’t expect there to be any problems, but if there are or something is simply bothering you, then you can come to either Juliana or myself,” Snape told him, sounding serious, and well, parental like.
“Yes Sir,” Harry responded, yet he couldn’t see himself going to either Snape or Juliana if there was a problem, he just wasn’t comfortable around them, what he wouldn’t do to be living with Sirius right now, and thinking of Sirius, he was going to have a fit when he heard about him living with Snape. Hang on… was he allowed to send owls? And Hedwig was at Hogwarts… There was no time to ask because Jason was back.
Harry obediently took off his trainers and pulled on the walking boots and with a quick spell, the first magic Harry had seen used in the house, Snape sent his trainers up to his room. He also took the blue jumper that Jason handed to him and pulled it over his head and the white school shirt he was wearing, taking care to pull his collar out and flatten it properly. “Since Harry’s coming with us, so are Carlotta and Robin,” Jason told Snape with a smile, “but Simeon and Laura are going to stay here with Hazel since she’s too small to make the walk on her own.”
Snape smiled back at his oldest child. “Make sure you watch Oliver and don’t go to quick for him, you need to remember that he’s only four.”
“I will, Papa. Ready Harry?” Jason asked and Harry nodded and followed Jason out of the room.
So, five minutes later Harry found himself walking along a country lane, with Carlotta on one side of him, and Robin on the other. “The weir’s about ten more minutes in this direction,” Robin told him “and then about five more minutes and a few steps there’s a bridge over the reservoir which the weir provides the dam for.” Harry nodded in understanding, although he had never seen a reservoir or a weir before, but he understood the directions that Robin was explaining to him.
Harry liked the weir, but he loved the reservoir, the elevated expanse of water - bigger and cleaner than the lake at Hogwarts - and he loved the feeling of the wind in his hair when they all stood on the bridge, Jason holding Oliver and Robin holding Alexander so that they could see over the side of the bridge. This left Harry stood with Dominic and Carlotta, Harry predictably standing in the middle. They pointed out the boats to him on the far side of the reservoir. “Have you ever been sailing, Harry?” Carlotta asked. Harry shook his head - not unless you counted arriving at Hogwarts in first year, but he was pretty certain that Carlotta was talking about muggle sailing. “We’ll have to teach you then. Papa often comes with us,” Carlotta said. Harry wanted to learn to sail, but spending extra time with Snape was definitely not at the top of his to-do list!
“We’ll have to teach Harry what, Carlotta?” Jason asked.
“To sail!” Carlotta answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He’s never been before.”
“We definitely will then,” Robin said. “We don’t want Harry missing out on all the fun this summer.” Harry grinned at Robin, he knew that sailing was definitely going to be part of the summer agenda now, and he couldn’t wait. It promised to be fun, and he’s never had a whole summer that could be described as fun, thanks to the Dursley’s. Sure, there had been fun times at the Weasley’s and Diagon Alley, but that was only for part of the summer, but now the summer was only just beginning, and it was promising to be good, even if he was spending it with Snape!
“Come on, we’d better head back,” Jason said, putting Oliver down and taking his hand. “Papa will be mad if we’re late.”
No kidding, Harry thought dryly with a roll of his eyes, which Robin caught, causing him to smirk at him as he placed Alexander on the ground. Carlotta once again stuck next to Harry, but Harry found himself not minding, being older than Carlotta he somehow felt more comfortable with her and he was willing to lend an ear and listen to her stories about sailing in previous summers, with Dominic inserting odd comments here and there as well. They were about five minutes walk from the house to Harry’s best estimate, when Jason suddenly picked up Oliver and said, “run!” as he took off in the direction of the house. Robin, Harry, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander followed him, realising that the darkness which had started to fall was not the approaching dusk, it was too early if you stopped and thought about it, but rain clouds and that it was threatening to pour down, which it quickly did. Robin had Alexander tightly by the hand as they ran and he reached out for Carlotta’s hand as well. Harry did not know how old Dominic was, but he felt a hand slide into his and he grasped it tightly, helping Dominic run after Robin, Alexander and Carlotta, and Harry was glad to realise that he could see the forms of Jason and Oliver not too far in front of Robin, Alexander and Carlotta.
They all crashed through the door into the kitchen dripping wet and in a muddled heap, despite the fact that they had only been caught in the rain for a few minutes and Juliana handed out towels and Dominic finally left loose of Harry’s hand. Simeon, Laura and Hazel were all sat at the kitchen table, and it was clear that Simeon was trying very hard not to dissolve into laughter. Harry unlaced the walking boots he had been given and managed to toe them off, briskly rubbing the towel he had been handed through his hair. “Right, give me your wet shoes and then get upstairs and into some dry clothes,” Juliana told them and they all done as they were told. Snape had told him to mind himself and Juliana, but he had not mentioned the consequences of not doing so, and if he was truthful, Harry did not want to know.
Once in his room, Harry quickly stripped out of his wet clothes and dumped them in the hamper in the corner of the room near his wash basin. He then grabbed the towel from the rail next to the wash basin and quickly dried himself down and then went to see what clothes he could put on now - all the clothes he now had were hand-me-downs from Robin, which was a vast improvement from hand-me-downs from Dudley, since the clothes from Robin were much more likely to fit. He selected a pair of blue cords and a cream long sleeved, V-neck jumper, which was supposed to be worn like a t-shirt - with nothing underneath it. There was a knock at the door and Harry walked over and answered it, surprised to find Dominic instead of Robin or Carlotta. Harry smiled at him and seeing how Dominic only had his socks on, he guessed he need not bother with his trainers, and indeed, when a door further down the corridor opened to reveal Robin, he too only had socks on, so Harry’s mind was at rest. Both Harry and Dominic waited for Robin to come down the hall to them, clearly there was not running inside the house and Harry casting a quick glance around his room to check that everything was in it’s place and that it was tidy before pulling the door shut. “Hey, Mama’s gave away my favourite jumper,” Robin teased when he reached them and Harry barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at him.
“You know full well that that jumper doesn’t fit you anymore, Robin,” Dominic stated. “Mama’s been trying to get it away from you for ages!”
“Yeah, but you’re so small it wouldn’t fit you,” Robin needled, and Dominic did stick his tongue out at his older brother and Robin responded likewise and Harry didn’t even try to stop his laughter.
“Yeah, but unluckily for you, it does fit Harry. And it’s not my fault your seven years older than me, I’m supposed to be smaller that you,” Dominic responded. Right then, Robin was seven years older than Dominic, so if Robin was sixteen that would make Dominic, sixteen minus seven is… nine! Dominic was nine, two years younger than Carlotta.
The three made their way downstairs and to the den where they had sat at the beginning of the day. They still had fifteen minutes of free time left so they were the only three in the room, but it wasn’t long before Carlotta entered the room. Harry noticed that, although Robin had been invited to sit on the couch next to Snape that morning, he didn’t assume that he could now and he was sat on the rug along with Harry, Dominic and Carlotta. There was something different about Carlotta, Harry thought, and it took him a moment to realise that her hair was down, and not tied into the two plaits that it had been earlier, but she did have a hairbrush and her hair ribbons with her, so no doubt it would be tied back again soon enough. Indeed it was, Laura entered the room not two minutes later and she brushed and braided Carlotta’s hair back into two different kind of plaits from earlier and Harry managed to recognise then as scalp plaits. It might just of been him, but it looked painful, but Carlotta did not complain once. When down, Harry noticed that Carlotta’s hair was long, it fell to her mid-back, but he noticed that Laura’s plaits were longer than Carlotta’s, so it followed that her hair had to be longer and Harry couldn’t help but wonder how long it was.
It was not long until Jason and Simeon entered the room, accompanied by both Alexander and Oliver and they did sit down on the couch and Alexander joined the others on the rug, but Oliver was pulled to sit up on Jason’s knee and Harry realised that Oliver was dressed in his pyjamas. Snape and Juliana entered with Hazel five minutes later, Hazel also wearing a nightdress and was sat on Juliana’s knee and Snape was holding a book. Clearly this was the whole Snape-reading-to-them-before-bedtime scenario which Hazel had spoken of earlier. Harry was not surprised to discover that the book was to be a muggle one - it was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - and Harry found it extremely interesting. Snape read until eight o’clock and Harry found himself lost in the story and he hadn’t realised how pleasant Snape’s voice could sound in certain situations. At eight o’clock Snape and Juliana took Oliver and Hazel up to bed and Robin, Laura, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander also stood to leave, heading towards the stairs, and Harry took his cue from Robin and left with them. Robin quietly explained on the way upstairs, “after eight o’clock we all have to stay in our rooms, reading, writing, whatever, just generally unwinding an getting ready for bed. Lights out for me is ten o’clock, I’m not sure about you, you’re younger, you’d better ask Papa,” and then Robin slipped into his room and Harry needed to find Snape.
He went into his own room and left his door open so that he could hopefully catch Snape on his way back downstairs. Hearing Juliana and Snape talking quietly further along the hallway, Harry went and stood nervously in his doorway. “Sir?” he tried quietly and Snape came into his room as Juliana carried on down the stairs. “Robin said I should ask you what time my lights out is,” he said quietly.
“Hmm…” Snape appeared to be thinking for a minute. “Quarter to ten,” he finally answered, “I don’t expect to see any light or you up and out of bed after that time, understood?”
“Yes Sir,” Harry answered quietly.
“Very well then. Good night Harry,” Snape bade him.
“Good night, Sir,” Harry replied. He had just bade Snape goodnight! Oh well, it had been the polite thing to do. Harry walked across the room and shut his dark blue curtains before dropping onto his bed with a sigh. It had been a very long day. Deciding to change into his pyjamas then, Harry done just that and turned the main light in the room off, just leaving the lamp on the nightstand on and collapsing onto his bed - above the duvet - on his stomach, he took the plain muggle notebook out of the draw of the nightstand, flipped to the first page which was as blank as the rest of the book, picked up a biro pen and began to write.
He wrote for what seemed like a long time, and when Harry next checked his watch he saw that it was quarter past nine, he had half an hour before lights out. Feeling nice and relaxed he replaced the notebook into the draw and then padded across the room to the bookshelf and picked up the copy of Hogwarts, A History and decided that he would read until lights out. Once his half an hour was up, he dutifully returned it’s book to it’s place on the shelf and then crawled into the bed, which was nice and soft. He idly wondered whether or not any one - meaning Snape or Juliana - would check to see if he was in bed and that his light was turned out. At the beginning of the day, Harry would of argued that the bedtime was much to early, but now that it was his bedtime he found his eyes beginning to drift close and he was powerless to resist and he succumbed to sleep.