Snape unhurriedly slid a small piece of baked salmon into his mouth, chewing on it with pleasure, before he informed the Mediwitch, “The Dursleys currently find themselves in the form of a toad family. However, I was kind enough to leave the back door open, so they should be able to find enough to eat in the garden. If you look at Mr. Longbottom’s toad, freedom seems to be his greatest pleasure,” he smirked, causing Poppy to quickly fill Harry in about Neville and his toad.

Harry threw his guardians a questioning look, pondering, ‘Did he really change the Dursleys into toads or is he only joking?’

Poppy gave him the answer, pulling him out of his thoughts by saying, “Let’s hope they’ll already be away from their house and garden when you tell Albus about the matter and he goes to change them back, or did you already inform him?”

“No,” Severus smirked. “I came here straight away.”

Seeing that Harry was only playing with his food, Poppy stood up and led Harry into his own room, gently helping him into bed. Harry lay down, sighing in relief as he was able to relax under his covers, and looked around curiously. His room was held in white and blue. The walls were painted in white, and the furniture like the wardrobe, bed, bookshelf, desk, and chair were kept in different shades of blue. The comfortable four poster bed was surrounded by dark blue curtains with twinkling yellow stars on the blue ground. Next to the foot end of his bed was a door, of which Poppy explained that it led to a small bathroom, on the opposite to the door to Poppy’s living room was the door leading to Severus’ quarters, and on the wall above his bed was a huge magical window. It was fixed at a conveniently low height, so that Harry would be able to look through the window if he was sitting in his bed.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Poppy had used the time while he was distracted taking in the features of his new room to check on him and spell a few potions into his stomach. Seeing that the boy seemed to be through with his observations, she carefully tucked him in and bade him good night, before she spelled the fever reducer into his system, knowing that it would make Harry sleep within seconds.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

When Harry woke up in the morning, blazing sunshine was coming in through the large window next to his bed. ‘This is the most comfortable bed I ever slept in,’ Harry thought, feeling much better than during the previous days. Just when he began to consider, if he was allowed to get up and what he was supposed to do, Severus stepped into the room.

“Good morning, Harry. How are you feeling?” the Potions Master enquired in his soft silky voice.

“Good morning, sir. Much better,” Harry replied softly, smiling at the teacher as he sat down on the edge of his bed, pointing his wand at his head.

“Very well then; I suggest you get up, take a shower, and dress. If you’re ready, you can come to my quarters through the door over there. We can either have breakfast in my quarters or head to the Great Hall, depending on which you prefer. Poppy will be away for a few hours. She is looking after Professor Sprout, who came down with a bad case of the wizard’s flu.”

“All right sir,” Harry replied in a small voice, feeling a bit unsure since he had never taken a shower on his own.

“Is there anything you need help with?” Severus asked gently, noticing that Harry seemed to be uncertain about something. Seeing that the child blushed deeply, he sighed. “Harry, I know that you in spite of being eleven and a half years old only have the experience and the memories of an eight year old. Therefore, you may ask about anything you need help with. Poppy and I, and also Professor McGonagall, will always be willing to help you.”

“Thank you sir,” Harry replied gratefully, before he shyly averted his eyes.

Severus stepped over to the wardrobe, stopping dead in his tracks as he found nothing but school clothes. “Harry, don’t you have any normal clothes apart from your school clothes?”

“I have no idea,” Harry said anxiously. “My relatives always gave me Dudley’s old clothes to wear.”

“Very well then,” Severus decided, “we’re going to make a short trip to Hogsmeade this morning to buy proper clothes for you.” He waved his wand over the boy, transfiguring his pyjamas into black trousers and a green shirt, causing Harry to look down at himself in awe.

“Thank you sir, but I don’t have any money to buy clothes,” he gave back sadly, feeling very ashamed to have to admit such things in front of the teacher.

Severus sighed. “Harry, first of all, I’m your guardian and as such it is my responsibility to provide you with proper clothes. Secondly, you have a whole vault full of money, which your parents left for you. Now let’s have breakfast and be on our way. You can take a shower afterwards when you might need to warm up anyway.”

Harry hesitantly followed the teacher into his private quarters, looking around the living room in amazement. It was a circular room with huge wooden bookshelves that covered the walls. A sofa and several comfortable seats that were kept in a dark green were arranged around a large fireplace, and a huge magical window showed the lake and the Quidditch pitch for a while, before it displayed the empty Potions classroom. Consecutively, it changed to the view onto the street leading down to Hogsmeade. ‘This window is absolutely brilliant,’ Harry thought, before something at one side of the room captured his eyes. It was a small table with the pattern of a chess set, on which the chess pieces were always ready to be played with. ‘Wow, they look so real,’ he mused, observing the pieces with interest.

“This is a wizard’s chess set,” Severus informed him. “Do you know how to play chess?”

“No.” Harry shook his head, noticing that the charmed window just changed the view to the Great Hall, where he saw the other teachers have breakfast.

“I can teach you how to play,” Severus offered gently, causing Harry to nod excitedly.

“Yes please,” he breathed, looking longingly at the finely wrought wooden pieces.

“Very well then, let’s have breakfast,” Severus smirked, motioning Harry to follow him into his small kitchen, where he tapped the table with his wand twice, causing breakfast for two persons to appear on the table.

Harry couldn’t help gasping at the amount of food at the table. He cautiously took a dry piece of toast, hesitantly complying when the teacher instructed him to put butter and jam on it. “Excuse me sir, what is this juice? I like it very much, but I always wondered what it was,” he asked softly, pointing to his glass.

“It is pumpkin juice, Mr. Potter. All the students seem to like it,” Severus explained gently, watching in amusement as Harry took small sibs from his glass, obviously enjoying the delicious cool liquid. “Are you ready to leave?” he queried, seeing that Harry pushed his plate with his unfinished toast away.

“Yes sir,” Harry replied in a small voice. “I’m sorry, I can’t eat more.”

“All right then. Get your warm robes, and then we’ll leave,” Severus instructed Harry, who complied instantly, throwing the teacher a flabbergasted look when he told him to step into the fireplace.

“Into the fireplace, sir?” he queried in surprise, looking anxiously at the professor.

“Did you not notice people floo into Poppy’s office all the time?” Severus asked, raising an eyebrow at the child, causing Harry to blink sheepishly. “As long as the fire is green it won’t hurt you, and from a fireplace connected to the Floo network, you can travel to any other fireplace within the network. We’re going to floo to The Three Broomsticks, which is a pub in Hogsmeade, to spare you a twenty minutes walk down to the town. Since it is probably your first time to travel this way, I suggest that we step into the fireplace together.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed, glad that the teacher went into the fireplace first and pulled him close as soon as he followed. Instantly, they were engulfed in the green flames, and in front of Harry’s eyes the world began to turn around. ‘Oh this is horrible,’ he thought while they passed several fireplaces, before the movement finally stopped and they were thrown out of a large fireplace.

“Thank you Professor,” Harry said softly, grateful that his guardian steadied him until he was able to get a grip on himself and follow the teacher out of the pub. They stepped into the sunlight, finding themselves in a lively shopping street with interesting looking shops on both sides of the road.

“We’re now in the main street of Hogsmeade; however, since only students from the third year onwards are allowed to come to the town, this is probably your first visit here. The younger students only know the station of Hogsmeade,” Severus explained to Harry in a small voice as they crossed the street towards a huge clothes shop.

Harry, who had never been to a clothes shop before, was completely overwhelmed by the size of the shop and didn’t know where to look first. He curiously glanced around, startled when the professor asked him to select three jumpers from a clothes stand. Seeing that Harry was obviously unable to decide, Severus selected what he thought Harry would need, causing the child to blush seeing that he even chose pants and socks for him.

“Is there anything else you want?” Severus queried.

“No thank you, sir,” Harry replied, adding hesitantly, “sir, how am I going to pay for all these clothes?”

Severus sighed. “You could just tell them to take the money for your purchases out of the Potter vault; however, as I said today I am going to pay.” With that, he paid for everything, and Harry watched in amazement as the clerk shrunk the whole pile of clothes so that it fit into a small bag, which the professor handed him.

Back on the main street, Severus told Harry that he needed a few potions ingredients from the apothecary, and the two wizards walked further up the road, before two people suddenly crossed their way, stopping right in front of them.

“Good day, Severus,” a tall man with long blond hair and a cane greeted the professor.

“Hello Uncle Sev,” the boy, who looked as if he was about Harry’s age, said, before he turned his eyes to Harry, grudgingly acknowledging his presence as he spat, “Potter.”