Harry felt almost fully recovered when he awoke in his room at the Snape's house the next day. But a quick glance at the clock told him that he'd been allowed to lie in, so he must have slept a lot. And someone must have checked on him. He didn't really know what to do now. He was really comfy, and he couldn't decide if he actually wanted to get out of bed or not. He stayed in bed in the end, as if he got out of bed, he had no idea what to do then. So he snuggled back down under the covers to rest for a little longer. About half an hour later there was a light knock on the door, and Juliana entered. "Are you awake, Harry?" she asked quietly.

Harry pushed himself into a sitting position in bed, and put his glasses on. "Just about," he replied, with a small smile.

Juliana reached over to lay a hand on his forehead and check his temperature. "Back to normal," she told him with a smile. "I'll bring you up something to eat, then you can take a shower and join us downstairs in a little bit," she instructed him. Clearly this wasn't up for debate. And she was Snape's wife, so Harry wasn't about to even question or disobey. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was staying with his Potions Professor for the summer, and if he was going to survive the holidays then he was going to have to do as he was told.

Juliana brought him a tray with some warm buttered toast and a small bowl of strawberries along with a glass of orange juice on it. She sat with him while he ate, and Harry found that he was able to eat everything on the tray easily, so he didn't need to worry about that rule. Not that he had ever been told out loud that that was a rule, but he was assuming it was. It certainly seemed to be. Juliana gave him another kind smile when he had finished. "Take a shower and then join us downstairs Harry," she told him as she picked up his tray. "It's a nice day outside."

Harry done as instructed, grabbing the most light weight pair of jeans he had and a grey t-shirt. He lingered a little in the shower, attempting to delay having to go downstairs. But he turned the water off soon enough and got dressed. He did run a brush through his hair, but when he looked in the mirror he knew it didn't look like he had. He really needed a haircut, but that could be dealt with once he got back to school, Hermione was always good with details like that. He knew that both himself and Ron wouldn't survive the school year without her. He really missed his friends, and even though he was pretty certain that he could now consider Robin as a friend, it wasn't the same as with Ron and Hermione. They were his best friends, and he could tell them anything and they would understand. So in a way he was dreading the start of the new school year when he would see them again. He had so much that he would have to conceal. And he would have to be really careful about it, because Hermione was incredibly intuitive, and if she sensed something was even slightly off about him then he knew she wouldn't let it go.

Finally he could delay it no longer, and he slowly made his way out of his room and down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. The house was fairly quiet, and Juliana hadn't told him where to go when he did come downstairs. There was no one in the kitchen, so he made his way to the room where he had coloured with Simeon, Oliver and Hazel on his first day here. The patio doors where open allowing sunlight to stream into the room, and out on the decking outside where Laura and Hazel. Not knowing what else to do, Harry went to join them, attempting to gather some Gryffindor courage as he went. Laura had barely said a word to him since he had arrived and Harry didn't really know what to make of her. Hazel was just a cutie though, and her face lit up into a huge smile as she saw him approaching. "Hello Harry," it was Laura who greeted him though.

"Hi," he responded quietly, and Laura gestured for him to take a seat next to her at the garden table. Harry noticed that Laura had a book with her, and that Hazel was occupied with a colouring book again.

"How are you feeling?" Laura asked him, and Harry didn't know if she actually cared, or if she was just being polite.

"A lot better," he told her, just about truthfully. Physically he did feel loads better, but emotionally he was pretty much all over the place. "How's Oliver?" he asked as a bit of an afterthought.

"He's fine," Laura informed him. "He's off playing with Alex and Dom."

"They say I'm too little to join in," Hazel interrupted them, pouting slightly.

Harry didn't know how to respond, and he bit his lip not wanting to laugh and upset Hazel. Laura did giggle slightly. "You won't always be Hazel," she told her sister lightly. Hazel was still pouting slightly. "And you know they'll probably play with you later," Snape's oldest daughter continued. "We've got the whole summer to play together." Hazel looked slightly happier now, and picked up a different coloured pencil, frowning down at her picture in concentration. Laura glanced over at Harry and gave him a shy smile, fiddling with her book. She obviously didn't want to continue reading and appear rude, but it was pretty obvious that she was feeling as awkward as he was. Where was Robin? Harry could really do with him appearing round about now. As much as Robin wasn't the same as being with Ron and Hermione, or even with Neville, Ginny, Dean or Seamus, he was starting to get quite comfortable around the older boy.

Hazel finished colouring in her picture, and showed it to Laura for approval, who immediately gave praise to her younger sister. Hazel then showed it to Harry. "It's very pretty, Hazel," Harry told her, for lack of anything better to say. And he was hardly about to criticise any of Snape's children, let alone his youngest child who had seemed to have taken a bit of a liking to him.

Hazel had just turned to a new picture when Laura spoke up again. "Why don't we take a break from colouring and show Harry the garden, Hazel?" she suggested. Hazel eagerly climbed down from her chair and appeared next to her sisters chair as quickly as a small child could. Laura turned to Harry. "Would you like to see the garden?" she asked.

"Sounds great," Harry told her, even though there was no way he would be able to say no, since it would upset Hazel. He and Laura stood up from their chairs, and Hazel took Laura's hand as they headed out onto the grass. Off to the right Harry to see the gate which lead to the lane they had walked down on his first night to get to the reservoir, but most of the rest of the garden stretched off to the left. The walked along in silence for a bit, going slowly at Hazel's pace. The lawn was huge, and Harry could see some fields behind, most of them covered in gorgeous green grass and separated by beautiful stone walls. In one field he could make out the figures of Dominic, Alexander and Oliver running around playing some sort of game and the sound of laughter reached their ears. They were walking along a stone wall which was in line with the right hand end of the Snape's property, and the field that the youngest boys were playing in was on the right hand side of that wall, with the lane forming the top border of it, up near to the property. The started to veer to the left and Harry was surprised to see how far away from the house they had come, most of the landscape was pretty flat. "This place is huge," Harry said to no one in particular, but Laura chuckled.

"I guess we're just used to it," she told him. "We do own the land further back as well," she went on to inform him, "but I don't want to go too far from the house." Harry just nodded, trying to take it all in. Just how wealthy was Snape? This was simply unbelieveable. Laura was talking to him again. "If we keep walking this way in a loop then we'll come to Mama's flower garden and Papa's greenhouses." Harry just nodded. "And the swimming pool," she added on as an afterthought.

Harry's mind was reeling. They had a swimming pool? This was England, it didn't get that hot in summer, surely it didn't get used much? True this summer did seem exceptionally warm, but no one had mentioned a swimming pool to him. Not that he was that bothered, he wasn't the best swimmer in the world. He still didn't really know how he had survived the second task last year. Thinking of the Triwizard Tournament was always a mistake, as it brought up unwanted memories. He stared determinedly at the ground as they walked for a little and tried to calm himself down. He hoped that Laura didn't notice that something was wrong. He started paying attention to his surroundings again when the greenhouses came into view. The weren't so unlike the ones in which they had Herbology lessons at Hogwarts, although on a slightly smaller scale. The could see a figure coming out of one of the greenhouses, and Harry didn't know if he was glad to see Professor Snape or not. Hazel left loose of her older sisters hand and ran towards her father, who scooped her up and swung her around before sitting her on his hip. "Me and Laura have been showing Harry the garden," Harry heard her tell Snape as he and Laura approached his Potions Professor.

"Very good," Snape praised her. As soon as Harry was close enough, his teached reached out a hand to touch his forehead. Had he not spoken to his wife, who had said Harry's temparature was back to normal this morning? Harry didn't say anything. Snape set Hazel back down on her feet, but kept hold of her hand. "Let's head back to the house," he told them. "It'll be lunchtime soon."

"Okay Papa," Hazel replied, skipping along next to her father as she held his hand. Harry and Laura followed them in an uncomfortable silence. Laura had actually spoken to him more this morning than she had during the entirety of his stay so far, but Harry didn't know if that was because she wanted to, or if she was just being polite. And he definately wasn't about to ask.

Carlotta and Simeon where in the kitchen when they arrived back there. "Go on upstairs and clean up for lunch please," Snape said and Harry had no idea who he was addressing but he was assuming that he was included. "Simeon please take Hazel with you," his teacher continued, and Harry figured that he was probably speaking to all of them.

The cool water did feel good on his face as he got cleaned up in his room. Juliana had been right when she had told him that it was a lovely day this morning. If anything, it was too hot for Harry's tastes, especially as he didn't own a pair of shorts. If only he could do magic outside of school. Id he could he would have considered using the severing charm Ron had used on his dress robes for the Yule Ball last year to turn one of his pairs of jeans into shorts. But he couldn't, so he'd just have to get on with it. He saw no reason to delay in his room, so he made his way back down to the kitchen. He had thought he had heard more footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hallway while he was washing his face, and it was probably the other children coming upstairs to clean up as well.

He was the first one back down to the kitchen, and only Professor Snape was in there. He turned towards Harry when he heard him enter the kitchen. "How are you feeling Harry?" his Professor asked.

"Good, sir," Harry told him. "I feel a lot better."

"Be sure to let myself or Juliana know if you do need anything though, or if you happen to feel worse," Snape reminded him.

"I will, Sir," Harry lied, knowing that he would never do such a thing. Professor Dumbledore might have not given either himself or Professor Snape a choice in this summers living arrangements, but Harry was determined not to be indebted to his Potions teacher anymore than he had to. Even if his teacher was offering all of these things freely. At least Harry thought they were been offered freely, he hadn't considered the fact that he may be made to pay when he got back to Hogwarts. He didn't have time to ponder on that thought anymore, or to continue being questioned by his teacher, as Jason and Robin clattered into the kitchen.

"Hiya Harry," Robin greeted him. "It's good to see you out of bed."

"Hey Robin," Harry replied, glad to see the other boy. Hopefully Robin would allow him to tag along with him after lunch so that he might have a bit of time to be able to relax, instead of feeling on edge all of the time. The took seats next to each other at the table, and Harry was a little surprised when Dominic came and sat on the other side of him. But after the way he had seen Robin and Dominic interact the other night, he guessed they were pretty close. Despite what must be a very large age gap between Jason and Hazel, the entire family seemed pretty close.

"Will you be well enough to play outside this afternoon?" Dominic was asking him, and Harry forced himself to pay attention.

"I should be," Harry told the younger boy, hoping that he didn't sound as unsure as he felt. How in the world was he supposed to play with Snape's younger children? When he had been informed that he would be spending the summer with Professor Snape he hadn't dreamed that it would turn out to be as complicated as it was!

"What did you have in mind Dom?" Robin was asking from the other side of him.

"I was thinking about getting the garden boules set out," Dominic said.

"Good idea," Robin told him. "And everyone can have a go at that." Harry had to admit that it didn't sound like a bad way to spend the afternoon.

"Will you and Mama come and play as well Papa?" Dominic questioned Snape.

"I'm sure we could be persuaded to have a few games," Snape told his son with a smile. It suddenly wasn't sounding like such a good way to spend a summers afternoon to Harry. How was he supposed to play a game with Snape?! This was his evil bat of a Potions teacher. The one who didn't have kids, and most certainly did not play games with them! Harry was debating pretending to feel ill just to get out of the afternoon. Surely it would be better to hide away from the world in his bedroom lazing about in bed? He didn't really want to go outside and play boules with Robin and Dominic and any other of Snape's children, right? And he didn't care that he's be letting Dominic down if he did chicken out, right? And Dominic wouldn't be disappointed if he did say that he didn't feel up to it, right? After all, he must only have asked out of politeness because of how Snape and his wife had brought him up. No one in the Snape family could actually want his around this summer, correct? He was just getting in the way during the little time they had together. Harry had never been so confused in his life. And it was all over if he wanted to play a game this afternoon. That was just crazy. He was used to his life being pretty crazy, he was the Boy-Who-Lived afterall, but this just took the biscuit. But he'd worry about that after lunch. He just needed to take things one step at a time.