Harry couldn't bring himself to come up with an excuse not to go outside once lunch was over, not when Dominic turned to him with such an expectant smile. So he found himself outside with all of the Snape children apart from Hazel after the noon meal. Hazel had been taken to have a nap before she could join her older brothers and sisters and Harry outside. Dominic had ran off with Alexander to get the boules, and Harry found himself collapsed on the ground beneath a huge old oak tree with the other children. Robin stretched out on his back in the sun, and Carlotta, in a pretty pink sun dress, lay down next to him. Harry lay back as well, but he stayed in the shade under the tree. He let his eyes drift closed and he felt really relaxed, for what was probably the first time since he had come to live with the Snape family.

He heard Dominic and Alexander clatter back, but he didn't open his eyes. He was feeling too content to even move. He heard Jason tell the three youngest boys to have a couple of games by themselves, and that the rest of them would join them in a little bit after they had finished relaxing after lunch. Harry was suddenly very glad of Jason, and he kept his eyes shut, letting his mind wander. He could still feel the heat of the day, even if he was in the shade, and he would admit that this was nice. He had never had a summer like it. He had never had time to just relax in the sun, and he had never had other children around, to well, play with. At the age of fourteen, and very nearly fifteen, he was probably too old to spend all summer playing, but it didn't seem to matter here. And right now he was perfectly content to be lazy, although it helped that Robin and Carlotta were so close by. He was still taking a lot of his cues from them, particularly from Robin.

Harry thought that he may have napped for a while, he definitely wasn’t fully wake and aware of his surroundings for a period, but when he was fully alert again he was glad that Robin was still laid next to him. Laura was still with them under the tree as well, but Carlotta wasn’t. Harry propped himself up on his elbows and watched Carlotta play with her younger brothers, she was really patient while helping Oliver play.

Dominic and Alexander where pestering Jason and Simeon to come and play with them and the oldest two Snape boys relented to the request without much of a protest. Harry watched the game intently and quickly picked up the simply rules. Because of the number of people playing now, they had to play in teams. Dominic and Alexander had insisted on playing together, Jason paired up with Oliver and Simeon with Carlotta. Neither Robin nor Laura paid much attention to the game their siblings were playing, but Harry watched keenly. It just seemed like such a normal family afternoon, he could almost forget that this was Professor Snape’s family. He wondered if he would ever get used to the idea of Professor Snape as being a normal family man.

It seemed like no time at all had passed before Professor Snape and Juliana were bringing Hazel outside after her nap and a table with glasses of iced orange juice also appeared. The Snape children fell upon the orange juice and Harry joined him, figuring he would draw more attention to himself if he didn’t join them. Soon new pairs were being drawn up between the children for the next boules game, there were only 4 pairs of coloured boules balls, so only four pairs could play at once, and it was agreed that the losing pair would swap with the pair waiting to play. Professor Snape and Juliana seemed content to watch them for now, as the relaxed on garden chairs. Harry found himself paired up with Dominic, Laura and Carlotta had paired up together, Hazel was with Simeon, Jason and Alexander and Robin and Oliver. Harry found himself enjoying himself immensely and time passed quickly. Eventually the Snape children convinced their parents to join in, Harry stayed well out of that conversation, and the pairs had to be reconfigured. Harry now found himself paired with Carlotta, who sent him a wide grin. Now the winning two pairs stayed on and the losing two switched with the pairs watching. It seemed very strange for Harry to play against Professor Snape, who was paired with Laura, but there was good natured cheering from everyone for everyone else, and Harry just attempted to go with it.

After a couple of more games, Juliana tempted them all on to the back patio were Harry had sat with Laura and Hazel that morning, with the promise of ice cream. The younger children went on head quickly with Juliana and Jason but Harry found himself walking at a much more sedate pace with Simeon, Robin, Laura and Carlotta and his Potions Professor. The afternoon had passed really quickly and Harry couldn’t quite believe how much time had passed. There were several flavours of ice cream on offer and Harry opted for the strawberry. He found himself eating it sat on the edge of the patio next to Carlotta. Alexander came and sat on his other side and seemed happy that Harry had strawberry the same as him. Ice creams finished, the younger children headed back to the lawn to have another game, but Harry stayed on the patio with Simeon, Robin and Carlotta. Jason and Laura had disappeared inside with their parents.

Before long Juliana was asking Robin to set the table ready of dinner. Harry decided to tag along to the kitchen with him to help. Besides, Robin was in the process of telling him about one of the local football teams and Harry wanted to hear more. They loitered in the large kitchen, talking easily and enjoying the smells of dinner. “If you’re not busy Robin dear, could you cut some bread up for me please?” his mother asked him, and although it was posed as a question, Harry knew it wasn’t. Juliana was busy putting small dishes of butter and butter knives on the table and Robin went to the kitchen counter and began cutting some crusty loaves of bread into thick slices. Once he had finished, Robin took one of the end slices, nicked one of the butter dishes from the table, buttered it, halved it and give half to Harry, giving him a grin as he took a bite from his half. Harry grinned back and ate his slice. Juliana watched them with a smile and a small shake of her head. “Boys,” she commented. “Always hungry!” Robin cleaned the butter knife and put it back on the table as Juliana began to arrange the slices on bread on serving platters. “Dinner will be ready soon if you’re hungry,” she told them, “go on upstairs and clean up.”

“Yes Mama,” Robin replied and he and Harry made for the stairs. Harry flopped backwards onto his bed for a couple of minutes before he roused himself and washed his hands and face. He heard footsteps outside his door, so either Juliana or Professor Snape had sent the others up to clean up as well. He didn’t want to be the first one back in the kitchen, so he waiting until he heard footsteps on the stairs again before going down himself.

Harry found himself sat opposite Professor Snape at dinner and he done his best not to really look directly at the man and stayed quite. Dinner was an amazing ham and egg pie with cold potato salad and everyone could help themselves to bread and butter. Harry halved a slice with Alexander who was sat next to him and his teacher gave him a smile from across the table. Once dinner had finished, Harry helped Dominic and Simeon clear the table, while Robin, Laura and Carlotta washed up and put the pots away.

After everything was tidied away it was announced that the whole family was going to walk to the reservoir that evening. Hazel could come along because Professor Snape and Juliana were going and she rode on her father’s shoulders most of the way. Once at the reservoir, Robin and Carlotta led Harry along a path which led to the other side, although they didn’t walk that far. Dominic and Alexander had ran after them and on the walk back to the house Harry found himself holding hands with Alexander.

Harry was exhausted by the time he was in his room that evening and his bedtime did not seem too early tonight at all. He climbed into bed and had cuddled up underneath his covers what seemed like long before Juliana put her head around the door to say goodnight.