Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Decorating

Harry stood in the middle of his room, staring at the blank walls with a thoughtful expression. There was a bed in the corner, a single that had been stripped of its sheets and blankets. Severus had told him that they could either transfigure some for him, or actually go shopping if need be, but however it happened, they would still be for him.

He crossed his arms over his stomach and hugged the knowledge tightly to his chest. He wondered if Severus would let him paint pictures on his walls. He wondered if he could paint Severus.

Looking at his bed, he bit his lip and then ran back into the hallway to find his guardian. He had a question to ask.

"Severus," he said a bit breathlessly, finding the man in the potions laboratory.

"What did I tell you about running inside?" Severus asked without looking up from his ingredients.

Harry frowned guiltily. Severus had told him not to, but he had forgotten.

"Sorry," he quickly responded.

"Did you need something?" Severus finally looked up, fixing him with his customary dark stare.

"I w-wanted to ask a question," he stammered, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously.

"Yes?"

"Can I—er, can we change my bed to something else?"

". . ."

"I mean, like maybe, um, a, like a cave or maybe um, hide it behind a fake wall or something?"

Severus stopped what he was doing and straightened up. Turning to the boy beside him, he raised an eyebrow and waved at the exam table that was across wall closest to him.

Both man and boy sat down and Severus raised an eyebrow at Harry before inquiring softly, "Do you not feel safe, child?"

"No, I mean I do! I do feel safe here . . . with you," Harry said adamantly, going so far as to reach
out and grip Severus' hand tightly. The older man would never admit it, but such a thing touched him deeply.

"Then why the need for extra protection?"

Harry's legs swung back and forth off of the tall table, his hand not leaving Severus' own as he thought of a way to put his plea into words.

"Harry?" Severus prompted gently when no explanation came forth.

"It's just . . ." the child's voice was faint. "I slept in a cupboard for most of my life," Harry said, not aware of the slight growl that came from his guardian at his reminder. "And I know that wasn't right, really I do," he added as he became aware of the frown on Severus' face.

"One should not keep little boys locked up," was Severus' rough reply.

Harry's face suffused with colour at his sentiment. He wished . . . oh how he wished Severus could have been someone to speak to earlier in his life!

"But that doesn't change the fact that sometimes Aunt Petunia put me in the cupboard for my own . . . safety," he said, thinking back on more than a few unpleasant memories. "And I did feel safe there. It was all my own space. It was mine, see?"

Severus gave a small nod.

"Even though I like the heavy curtains that are around the beds at Hogwarts, it never was the same," Harry's voice had gone faint again, and Severus leaned in closer to hear, unexpectedly draping his arm around the boy's shoulder as he did.

"I never told anyone," Harry whispered, his eyes downcast in embarrassment. "Sometimes when I had really bad nightmares, I'd sleep under the bed instead. It was safer and smaller and reminded me of my cupboard," he said, trailing off into silence.

The arm around Harry squeezed comfortably around his shoulders and he relaxed into Severus' side at the sensation.

"I believe I have an idea," was all Severus said, before standing up and indicating that he wanted Harry to follow.

They went back into Harry's room and Severus gestured at the far wall where the bed was currently positioned.

"Have you heard of the concept of 'wizarding space,' Harry?" Severus asked.

Wordlessly, Harry shook his head 'no.'

"Have you ever seen a muggle closet that was too overstuffed?" Severus asked.

"Yeah?"

Severus nodded his head. "Have you ever seen a wizard closet that is too overstuffed?"

"You mean, other than at the Weasleys'?" Harry asked with a teasing smile.

Severus rolled his eyes and frowned; muttering under his breath something about 'lack of common sense.' "Yes, other than the Weasleys."

"Then, no," Harry answered.

"That is because wizards—most wizards," he clarified with a raised eyebrow when Harry grinned knowingly. "Most wizards utilize a form of extra space that exists within normal space."

At Harry's blank look, Severus sighed and gestured him closer. "Have you ever seen Mary Poppins?" He asked in a near whisper, as though the idea of asking about a muggle movie pained him.

"The Dursleys didn't let me watch the telly or ever take me to movies," Harry said with a shrug, looking away and shoving his hands back in his pockets. Beside him, he heard Severus growl and then stalk to the other side of the room.

After a moment he came back and surprisingly the first thing he did was draw Harry into a hug. After a moment, Severus let go and knelt down before him.

"I will never be ashamed to be seen with you in public, Harry," Severus said, looking straight into his eyes.

Leave it to Severus to cut directly to the heart of the matter.

"I will never starve you, Harry. I will never beat you or lock you up. Do you understand me?"

Harry swiftly nodded his head, and Severus lightly squeezed his shoulder before standing up and turning back to look at the wall again. It was clear to him that his guardian was embarrassed by the emotionality of the sentiments he had just expressed, so Harry let him be for a few minutes.

By the time Severus started talking again, his voice was back to its normal, snarky style and his face was calm again, but Harry wouldn't be forgetting what he had said anytime soon.

It turned out that wizarding space had a lot do with math mixed with higher level spells; which meant that most of what Severus tried to explain to him went completely over his head. Basically, the spells amounted to this formula:

Space/2 = basic wizarding space

Of course, as Harry was quickly learning, one couldn't just divide space in half without some very technical spells (as well as some very careful equations).

"Do you have to cast glamours over all of it?" He asked during a tea break.

"No, I do not. You see," Severus continued at Harry's expectant look. "Glamours are used change the appearance of space, but with wizarding space, the appearance is already changed with the application of the spells themselves. Wizarding space is not a temporary realignment of the volumes within, but rather a dividing principle altogether."

Harry blinked. He was feeling rather lost again.

"Let me put it another way, Harry," Severus said, catching his eye and raising an eyebrow.

Harry nodded.

"In wizarding space, the rules for what is inside that area change. Once that process is complete, then the spell caster sets the spell in place and defines what parts within that area are to be affected and which are not. For example, after the spell is finalized, then we can put things inside that space and they will stay the same shape and size, but if we were to put something inside before it was finalized, then those items would be subject to the same laws that I am writing for the space itself."

Harry shook his head.

Severus smiled and then continued, "Everything inside it works on the understanding that 2 equals 1."

"Everything is half?" Harry ventured tentatively.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"But only until you finish the spells? And then," Harry waved his arms in the air, trying to put words to the troublesome topic. "The space still works the same—in the new way?"

He got a nod.

"But," Harry added, squinting his eyes at something beyond the visual of the room itself, "The space doesn't affect what's put into it?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Severus said, looking pleased.

"Well, how does it all fit then? Shouldn't everything be twice as hard to squeeze in there then?"

"That is because I have only explained one part of the equation, Harry," Severus said gently, catching one of his still flailing hands in his much warmer one.

Harry eyed him suspiciously.

"I clarified how the edges of the space work, but not the dimensions within. Those work opposite of the outer edges."

"Woah," Harry twitched, bringing his free hand up and sliding it under his glasses to cover his eyes. "I think you just broke my brain."

Opposite him, he distinctly heard Severus snort.

"Perhaps I should simply show you, Harry," Severus said, standing up and pulling Harry with him.

Once back in his room, Severus pulled out his wand and summoned several large cans from the other room. He caused different coloured paints to pour from his wand into each of them, and then conjured several paintbrushes of varying sizes.

"While I am working on the space for your bed, I think your time would be better spent decorating the walls."

He's probably right, Harry thought, glancing over at his guardian repeatedly despite his reassurance to himself.

"There isn't much to see at this stage, Harry, but I will need your help when it comes time to ward the space itself."

Feeling better about it, Harry looked down at the paint colours and thought about what he wanted to create.

Tentatively, he picked up the smallest and thinnest paintbrush and dipped it into the black paint. Turning back to the nearest wall, he began to draw what was in his mind's eye; the corner of his tongue sticking just slightly out of the side of his mouth as he did.

It was several hours later before either of them did anything else other than work on their own individual tasks. As it happened, Severus finished before Harry did, and turned to speak to him, only to be brought up short by the incredible mural that the boy was creating on the wall opposite him.

Summoning a chair from the other room—and making a note to himself to get one for Harry's—Severus sat down lightly in it at the back wall and silently took in the ongoing creation. He hadn't known the boy could draw. He wasn't even sure if Harry had known.

Merlin knows he certainly wouldn't have gotten any positive feedback from those miserable relatives of his, he thought grumpily.

On the wall there was the image of a lion with a snake interwoven comfortably around its feet. Sitting beside it on the ground was a black badger with unusually intelligent eyes, and flying overhead was a clear representative of a bright golden eagle. If Severus hadn't known better, he would have sworn that the feathers on the bird were really moving, and that the sun glancing off of the lion's mane really did shine. It was a bit disconcerting to his typically logical mind, but it also managed to bring a small pleased smile to his face at the same time.

Those images were the brightest part of the mural, but not the most impressive. In the corner stood a tall imposing figure that held a rather uncanny likeness to himself. It stood next to a simmering cauldron, glowing unnaturally with some kind of unknown greenish-purple concoction.

Severus blinked as he suddenly realised that there was something more to the picture of himself beside the cauldron. Tucked under one arm was what looked like a younger version of his ward, Harry Potter. Both of their hands were on the stirring rod and . . . he peered closer, there was no scar on the boy's forehead.

Oh child.

. . .

The next morning, they finished the majority of Harry's room; beginning with the warding of the boy's sleeping space. Harry had eventually fallen to sleep while painting, a wet paintbrush still in his hand, dripping paint all down his front. It had been an easy enough task to clean him up and carry him to Severus' already made bed. There they had caught a few more hours of sleep—thankfully nightmare free for once. After a quick breakfast, Harry had run back to his room to "fix a few things," and then the boy had called him in.

Severus took the time to really take in the entire image laid out before him, and only then did he speak.

"I am most impressed, Harry."

The boy, after shuffling around for a bit, finally asked, "You don't mind?"

"Mind what?"

"That I put you in there?"

Severus laid a hand on the child's shoulder and shook his head. "I do not mind, Harry. Not in the least."

To save Harry from what looked like a case of terminal embarrassment, Severus turned back to the wall that his bed had previously sat beside.

Tapping his wand on the wall three times, he muttered a password—Lily—and a doorway appeared in the wall. As of yet, there was no doorknob. He needed Harry's "help" for that part.

"Come here, child," Severus instructed. When Harry was standing beside him he reached for the boy's hand, pleased when he did not flinch and put it on the door.

"I need you to envision what having a secret, safe place of your own means to you and then pour all of those feelings into your hand and into the door. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded and a look of concentration overtook his features. After a moment, the door glowed greenish-blue and Harry looked back up at him in surprise.

"It tickled. Was it supposed to do that?" Harry asked.

Hiding a smile, Severus answered, "It does sometimes."

"This access point is for you and you alone. I can get to you in the case of some kind of emergency—you need but say my name twice if you are conscious, otherwise the house will alert me to any other troubles."

"But—," Harry interjected, eyes wide and lip caught in his teeth.

"Harry?"

"I want you to have access too," Harry whispered.

"Are you sure?" Severus asked; a bit surprised.

Harry nodded and then, without having to be told so, he grabbed Severus' free hand and brought it up to the door as well. The door glowed again, the colours brighter than before, and then returned to its normal colour.

"On the count of three, say 'Domus,'"Severus instructed.

"What does that mean?"

"Home."


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