“You want to change all sleeping arrangements immediately after the Christmas vacation?!”

Harry winced at McGonagall’s near shriek of dismayed shock. She leaned back in her chair, staring at the parchment. She shook her head and glanced up at him.

“Mr. Potter. Either you’re as mad as Albus or a foolish genius – I’m not sure which, though they probably go hand in hand.”

Snape snorted.

“Insanity aside,” said Professor McGonagall, her tone turning more serious now. “Despite the mayhem it would cause, you realize you’re not an exception to this, correct? You might spend a semester or more without Mr. Weasley as your dormmate. You two have been inseparable for years, except for a hiccup last year. You’re aware of this, are you not?”

Harry let out a low sigh. The other teachers were looking at him. He steadied himself. He had made it this far. They weren’t so against him as they’d been at the start of the meeting. That was something, right?

“I think this will be the best for our future,” said Harry. He rubbed his hands together nervously, pausing for a moment. “I… I never had friends before Hogwarts, so I don’t know what I would’ve done when I was younger. But… I met Ron on the train and he was the first friend I made – well, who was my age. I didn’t think I should push it. I didn’t realize you could have more than one friend.”

“You’re not exactly close friends with everyone in your dorm, are you now?” asked Professor Sprout.

“Well, no… And I’m not saying that just because someone is your dormmate, you’ll be friends with them,” said Harry with a shake of his head. “Because I’ve had Ron, I never tried to make friends with the others. We became friends with Hermione after—uh, after Halloween first year.”

Snape raised an appraising eyebrow. Harry flushed, wondering if they could get in trouble for something they did four years ago.

“I think this will force us out of our comfort zones,” said Harry, his tone filling with strength. “We can be friends with more than one person and we can be friends with people outside of our house.”

It was a scary thought: new dormmates. There was a strong possibility he’d have to spend the coming months with people that didn’t like him or had families who were strong supporters of Voldemort.

But wasn’t this a good opportunity, too?

“Even if I can’t share a room with my best friend, it’ll be okay,” said Harry, lifting his chin. He smiled. “Maybe I’ll make a new friend, someone I’d never have tried to even talk to simply because they wore a different color. We need this. We need to make friends outside the old houses.”

There was a long silence. Glances were exchanged.

“I say, we should do it,” said Professor Sinistra. She gave Harry an appraised look. “I’ve have long wished the houses weren’t such a prominent feature in this school. I think it has caused more harm than good. Anything of such should be reconsidered.”

“You can’t be serious, Aurora,” said Professor Vector. “We’d be removing centuries of tradition.”

“Well, Dolores had one thing going for her,” said Professor Grubbly-Plank lightly. “Wasn’t she pushing to remove some traditions and keep others? Well, keeping tradition for tradition’s sake seems absurd to me. If the castle isn’t speaking through him and saying this is a bad idea, I don’t see why we shouldn’t change things up. Variety is the spice of life, hm?”

Oh, the irony.

“I’m sure she had other ideas,” muttered Professor McGonagall.

Harry snorted. It truly was stupidly ironic. Umbridge had wanted to remove and keep certain traditions: but in favor of ministry practices. Here, Harry wanted to do the same: but in favor of a better future for all.

It was utterly hilarious.

With those words, the rest of the teachers were more supportive. The staff meeting went on for a number of hours. Everyone slowly became on board with everything. One by one, they were convinced. Some things couldn’t be finalized during this meeting, but they were getting closer.

Dorm arrangements were organized in preparation for the next semester. For each year, they were a randomized group of six and a randomized dormitory. They couldn’t renovate the original house common rooms – and Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to remove that tradition. There was a lot of history and culture in the castle. Harry wanted to honor that.

These arrangements would be posted a week before Christmas vacation, so all students would be prepared for the change afterwards.

The entrances to all common rooms were to be removed or moved, in the case of the Fat Lady. No common room would be locked or hidden behind a password. All entrances would be known to all students. Everyone was to be free to come and go.

The point system was due for a change as well, but they hadn’t had enough time to finish it. They had at least come to an agreement on it.

Earning points would become a school wide effort – students vs. the teachers. There would be milestones and rewards. A survey to the students would go out among them to help determine these rewards. The more points the school earns as a whole, the better the rewards for everyone. 

Harry smiled to himself. He was doing it. He was changing how things were in this school. It was a strange feeling for Harry, being this force for good. He hadn’t felt anything like it. It was different than his previous adventures – or rather his near death experiences. There was a sense of pride in his heart.

Things are going to change for the better.

This was a small step in the right direction. It wasn’t a cure all, obviously. But Harry truly believed that this would give everyone a chance to break free of the curse that Voldemort’s presence had placed upon the Wizarding World. He didn’t want the next generation of students to argue about which house was the best nor worry that their house had been a banner for evil.

‘Slytherins are evil.’

‘Gryffindor is the best house.’

‘I’d rather die than be in Hufflepuff.’

‘I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad.’

They had spent too much time worrying about their houses, instead of worrying about who they were and who they would become.

Now, if he could find some new Defense teachers, then everything would be going perfectly.

“Well, Mr. Potter,” said Professor McGonagall with a deep sigh. She handed him a piece of parchment. “I shall miss your presence in the Tower.”

Harry took it from her and looked down at the parchment.

Harry Potter. Neville Longbottom. Michael Corner. Anthony Goldstein. Blaise Zabini. Draco Malfoy.

Dungeons.

His new dormmates for the rest of the year.

He let out a deep exhale of breath. Well, he’d been expecting something like this. He knew it would’ve been lucky if Ron was with him, but it would’ve also looked like he had gotten special treatment for himself. He wasn’t surprised about the place either. It was probably for the best anyway – yet another thing the other students could latch onto and cry special treatment because he was the Headmaster or even Harry Potter.

Overall, Harry could’ve thought of a number of boys in his year he definitely would not have been thrilled to be dormmates with – like Crabbe and Goyle. This wasn’t the end of the world.

Maybe this would be a chance to be closer friends with Neville. It also meant that Harry would be able to become friends with Draco, as well. There was a lot of opportunity here. But…

Change was hard.

For all his talk, Harry was apprehensive. It was going to feel weird moving out of Snape’s quarters finally. He still hadn’t gone back to the Gryffindor Tower. But being in the dungeons meant he was closer to Snape, so that was something.

Still…

This is going to be really weird.

Later that evening, as he sat on the couch in the warm quarters of Professor Snape – a place that had secretly become a home away from home for Harry – his thoughts were filled of the meeting, replaying everything over and over again. A large mug of hot cocoa warmed his hands and his insides. He’d spent a pleasant dinner with his friends.

It’d been a good day.

“Harry.”

He looked up at Snape. The man leaned against the frame of the doorway to the small kitchen. A rare smile graced the man’s expression.

“You certainly did well today,” said Snape. There was a touch of reverence in his tone. “You stood your ground, but you also accepted the wisdom and advice of your elders. I am proud of you.”

Warmth filled Harry’s heart. His hands tightened around the mug in his hands. It was the first time anyone had ever said something like that to him. The man looked at him with something special in those dark eyes. Harry had never seen that in this man before.

Or in any adult.

“Thank you, Professor Snape,” whispered Harry. He smiled. “Thank you for… everything.”

And he meant it.

This man had done so much for him in just two short months. Yes, there’d been some rough patches. But this man had done more for him than all of the adults in Harry’s life combined.

There were only a handful of weeks left in December. Christmas vacation was coming upon them quickly. This precious time would soon be gone and he would have to go back to living as a student – and in a new place with new dormmates. At least Neville would be there.

He wanted to cherish this time.

“You don’t have to call me Professor Snape.”

Harry blinked. He held his breath for a brief moment. “Oh?” he whispered. Something rose in his chest.

“While I’d prefer you call me Professor or sir during classes, you may call me Severus other times. We’re…” Snape looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. “As you are now my… son, I think it would be odd if you were to call me Professor in our home.”

The exhale released tension in his body. Harry sat there, a wave of disappointment crashing through his emotions. He mentally shook himself out of it, nodding with a forced smile.

“Right, of course,” said Harry. “That’s—wow, okay. Thank you.”

He drew in steady breaths. He set the mug onto the coffee table. He stood up from the sofa; his hands shook at his sides. Harry yawned with a tired smile.

“I, uh… I think I should turn in early today,” said Harry in a soft voice. “It’s been a long day.”

“Of course,” said Snape, frowning slightly.

Harry fled.

He closed the door to his bedroom behind himself. He leaned against the door, letting out another long, slow exhale of breath. Harry scoffed at himself, putting a hand to his face and dragging it downward. He felt stupid, but he couldn’t deny what he was feeling.

No…

I don’t want to call you Severus.

Ron doesn’t call his father by his first name. Why do I have to do that? It doesn’t seem… really fair. I want to call my father Dad.

Is it because I’m Harry Potter? Yet again, I have to be different than everyone else?

He had listened for years to Dudley calling his parents Mum and Dad. Envy had been in his heart. He wanted what other children had: loving, caring parents.

Severus was now his father. So, shouldn’t he call him Dad? It made sense. It wasn’t like he wanted to erase Lily and James Potter as his parents. But they weren’t here. Shouldn’t he have the right to call someone ‘Dad’ even if his blood father wasn’t here? Was it selfish? Would they be hurt by his wishes?

Harry didn’t know.

He had never gotten the chance to know them. He had no idea what they’d been like. Everyone said how amazing they were, what heroes they’d been – on and on, Harry had heard nothing but good things.

Were they true?

Would they have been good parents?

Would they have loved him?

Of course. Probably. Well, they had to, right? He had always assumed they would’ve loved him because he was their son. The Dursleys were horrible people. They were mean to everyone. Yet, they seemed to love each other. Oddly enough.

Harry wasn’t loved by them because he had magic.

Right?

Right?

Harry squeezed his eyes shut. This was silly. Of course his parents would’ve loved him. They had died for him. It was stupid to think otherwise. But he couldn’t help but feel guilty – guilty for wanting another parent when he’d had such good willing-to-die-for-him parents.

It was selfish.

James would probably be offended. Would he think he wasn’t a good father? Would he think he wasn’t good enough? But truly, James wasn’t good enough – because he wasn’t here.

They would have been good parents. But the ‘what ifs’ and ‘would haves’ held no weight. They weren’t here. Even Sirius wasn’t here and couldn’t until he was cleared of his charges. There was no way he’d let Harry call him Dad either, if Harry had lived with him. He’d go ballistic at the very thought of Harry wanting to call Snape ‘Dad’ of all things – well, if he survived the ‘I’ve been adopted’ talk.

But for once in Harry’s life, he wanted something of his own.

‘Morning, Dad.’

‘I have to talk to Dad about it.’

‘Dad, can I go to Ron’s?’

‘But Dad—’

He wanted that. Oh, how he wanted that. He wanted to be normal, to be part of a normal family. He was a wizard, a magical being in a magical world – and all he wanted was to be normal.

Simple things were treasures.