Chapter Twenty-six

Harry let his head rest against near his window, his eyes glued onto the dark night sky. The lights below from towns and city's absolutely sparkled and flashed against the blackish sky. Harry marveled at how beautiful everything looked when he was up so high in the air.

Severus was positioned in the seat next to him so that his back was almost to Harry. Harry, however, couldn't care less—he still felt a little bit of anger towards Severus.

Harry closed his eyes, pushing his thoughts far away from him, clearing his mind so that all he could hear was the small chatter of the rest of the passengers around him. By the time he opened them again, he could feel the plane landing on the solid ground of the runway, wondering if he hadn't woken up before they were supposed to get off the plane if Severus would have tried to wake him up.

Or, Harry reconsidered, maybe he'd get another passenger to try and wake him up instead. Ever since the plane had went up in the air in Belfast he hadn't tried to make conversation with Harry, hadn't even made a sound in Harry's direction, so Harry doubted he'd start then.

Getting back to their home was also very uncomfortable and quiet. Severus only spoke to the person driving them, but even that was cold and sharp. No wonder, Harry thought, feeling happy for the first time again in hours. It was Evan Taylor driving them.

"I heard that you'd be coming back tonight," Evan said cheerfully. He had insisted that Harry sit up front with him, and Harry was only too happy to accept. "So I thought, of course I'd bring you back home! Did you have fun? How was Ireland, Sport?"

"It was great," Harry said happily, smiling wide. He wondered if Severus was inwardly seething. "Loads of fun."

"Aw, I'm glad to hear it! Severus? How was Ireland?"

Severus made a noise in the backseat before muttering, "Green."

Evan faltered for a minute, and then glanced sideways at Harry, grinning.

"You look good, sport, Ireland must've been good for you. I was actually hoping before you went back to school that you and I could hang out a bit. How does that sound? We could drive down to an amusement park… just the two of us… doing the whole bonding thing! We haven't done anything together in, well, ever."

Harry wished he could see Severus's face in the back without twisting around and staring, but he grinned widely.

"Sounds great, Mr Taylor, that'd be fun."

Of course, he'd rather do anything but 'bond' with Evan Taylor. He couldn't just say that to the man without hurting his feelings though, could he?

Evan laughed loudly. "What have I told you again and again, Sport? It's Evan!"

"Evan," Harry repeated. "Erm… all right."

"Did you know just how long I was waiting for you at the airport?" Evan questioned suddenly. "Five hours! Can you believe it? Five hours. I didn't have a clue in the world what time your plane was coming in. All I told Sirius was, "I'll pick up Severus and Harry!" but I didn't even ask what time your plane would be in at. Foolish, huh?"

Harry laughed weakly. "Yeah."

There was a moment of silence in the car except for the person talking on the radio before Evan decided to speak again to Harry.

"So you and Severus haven't said much to each other. Everything… okay?"

Severus stayed silent, so Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure."

Evan cleared his throat, leaning a little towards Harry with his eyes still on the road and whispered, "If you ever need to get away once in a while out of the house, kiddo, you know where I live. You can gladly come over anytime you need me, night or day." Evan straightened, speaking louder. "You know I've never had a son before Harry, so I consider you like my own. I do."

"That's, er… nice," said Harry awkwardly. He shifted in his seat to get in a more comfortable position. "Thanks."

"No problem, no problem. Well, here we are… coming down along Mahon Hollow… have you missed home, Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry confessed truthfully. "I hope Sirius and Remus are okay."

Evan coughed. Harry looked over suspiciously, but Evan kept his gaze on the road.

"I'm sure they're fine," Evan said with a laugh. "You know Sirius though, he can do anything. Well, here we are… Odlin welcomes you lot back home!"

"Thanks," Harry muttered, grabbing his things as he opened the door to the car. "Er… see you."

"Yeah," Evan called back cheerfully. "Goodnight!"

Severus said nothing. He beat Harry into the house, pushing the door open roughly. Harry could tell that he was in a worse mood than before.

Harry slammed the door shut, not caring how loud he was. He knew it must have almost rattled the house.

"Evan Taylor," Severus muttered under his breath as he threw his suitcase down on the floor. "Of course it was Evan Taylor."

"He's not such a bad guy," Harry said defensively, though he still knew that even he wasn't Evan Taylor's biggest fan.

"No, I wonder why you choose to think that," Severus said sarcastically, glaring at Harry. "After all you were very chummy to the man."

"Oh, come on!" Harry threw his arms up in the air. "That's ridiculous. Are you starting to think that I like Evan Taylor better than you now? That I wish Evan Taylor was my father, and not you?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Remus and Sirius approach them cautiously, looking rather confused.

Severus huffed. "You think what I said was ridiculous. That is ridiculous. Perhaps that incantation did something to your mind?"

"It did nothing to my mind," Harry shot back. "You're just being a huge, insufferable git, just like you used to be!"

Severus looked as if he were ready to explode, though he tried to talk as calmly as he could manage. "Go to your room."

Harry already threw his suitcase on the floor and was making his way up the stairs before Severus even thought of saying that.

"Oh, I'm going," Harry called over his shoulder as he stomped up the stairs. He added sarcastically, "I think I might just go and use the incantation to take me back to my other reality because I'm so angry with you right now!"

Severus ignored Harry's sarcasm as he already left the foyer, yelling loudly, "Good!"

From upstairs, Remus and Sirius heard Harry's door slam shut, and then not a moment later a muffled, loud sound of another door being slammed shut downstairs, probably the one to Severus's study.

"Don't worry about them," Sirius said after a while in a low voice, though he looked slightly concerned. "By tomorrow everything will be fine again between them, I'm sure. I'm going to bed, anyway. 'Night, Moony."

"Yeah, me too," Remus agreed, following Sirius up the staircase. He laughed softly. "Welcome home, Harry and Severus. At least everything looked fine with Harry."

Sirius heard and laughed, too. "And what a welcoming it was."

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