A few days after taking the appearance changing potions, Daniel woke up in what was now his bed and as usual went down to the kitchen in his pyjamas. He enjoyed having breakfast without having to get ready first since it was something he had never been allowed to do as a child. Of course, he knew that his new parents only allowed him to do so because he was still recuperating from his ordeal with the Dark Lord, but he was decided to enjoy it while it lasted. Harry frowned when he walked into the kitchen and only saw his mother sitting there, absentmindedly reading a book. His father had made it a point of eating with them in the mornings since it was not unusual for him to miss lunch and even dinner when he was engrossed in his lab.

Even if he didn’t show it, Harry missed him on those occasions in which they didn’t see the tall man the whole day. He had come so far as to stand in front of the lab’s closed door just to listen to the quite sounds coming from inside the room, reassuring himself that the man was still there. Every time, he convinced himself that he was being stupid and left before gathering enough courage to knock on the door and disturb the man.

Returning his attention to the matter at hand, he approached the table.

“Mom?”

Jasmine jumped out of her seat, wand in hand. Her reaction made Harry take a tentative step back, unsure of what had the woman so on edge. The witch blinked and quickly lowered the offending wand.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Dani. You scared me, I didn’t hear you come down.”

The teen nodded and after reassuring himself that he wasn’t about to be cursed by his mother, he joined her at the table.

“What’s wrong?” Looking around once more, he added: “Where’s dad?”

With a swish of her wand, Jasmine warmed the teen’s breakfast and served herself a fresh cup of tea.

“Your father has gone out. He said he needed to look into a few things. He’s going to try and find out what’s going on the wizarding world and how his labs are doing.”

Dani looked worried at that. None of them had ventured out of the house for fear that their disguises wouldn’t be enough to conceal themselves from Dumbledore’s eyes. And while he knew that they couldn’t stay copped inside forever he would have been better if they had all gone together.

Finding that he was no longer hungry, he pushed his breakfast around for a bit before giving up altogether and pushing the plate away. Minerva looked down at the nearly untouched meal and briefly considered forcing the young teen to eat, but in the end she desisted, knowing it would be nearly impossible at this point to make the teen eat something. After all, she hadn’t been able to force anything down either.

For hours they sat in the kitchen in silence, anxiously waiting for Richard’s return. When lunch time came, Minerva made a few light sandwiches and this time she insisted in Harry eating at least two. As the teen reluctantly complied, she also ate her part, trying to ignore the nervous feeling that made it difficult to swallow every time. Once they were finished, Jasmine tried to get Harry to go to his room to rest for a while, but the boy wouldn’t hear about it. The woman couldn’t really argue with him, knowing it would be unlikely for him to get any sleep until Severus returned.

It was barely an hour later when they finally heard the door open. Knowing the wards were strong enough to only allow those who resided in the house in unless invited, both stood up at once and went to greet the man. Harry, who had been sitting closest to the door, rushed out of the kitchen and to the front door, with Minerva walking a bit more sedately behind him.

Richard had barely had the time to lock the door behind him when he heard the sound of running feet approaching him. He turned around just in time to catch the teen, who had flung himself into his arms and was now holding him tightly around his neck, forcing him to bend down so the boy could stand on his feet.

Looking up from the dark head resting against his shoulder, he saw his supposed wife standing a few feet away looking at him with a relieved smile on her face. Severus couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at having worried them so much. He had wanted to be home by lunchtime, but things had taken longer than he had expected.

Returning his gaze towards the child, he passed his strong arms around the slim waist and without trouble he lifted the boy up into his arms and carried him to where Jasmine was standing. The woman’s expression had changed and she was now looking at him sternly, but still, her eyes were glittering in relieve at seeing him back safely.

“Where on earth were you? We were starting to think something had happened to you!”

The man looked at her with a slightly apologetic look in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Min, it took longer than I thought it would. We really need to find some way to communicate.”

Her expression softened at once when she heard the nickname he had started to use barely a week ago. While he still refused to call Harry Dani, and kept using his full name, Minerva suspected it had more to do with his pride than because he really wanted to. After all he called her Min and he didn’t seem to have a problem with her calling him Rick. Well, maybe he had said a few times not to call him that, but other than that he hadn’t complained, well, not much. She forced her thoughts back at the matter at hand. “Have you had lunch yet?”

Severus shook his head. “No, I didn’t have the time, I didn’t want to stay away for longer than really necessary.”

The woman nodded and left the hall to go to the kitchen and make some more sandwiches. When she had left them alone, Richard looked back down to the teen who was still hugging him rather tightly.

“Daniel?”

The boy looked up at him while he was placed back on the ground. “Yes, dad?”

Snape looked him over attentively. Seeing the tired glint in those anxious, bright eyes, he gently reached out and petted the teen’s hair. “I’m sorry a worried you, child, but now I’m back and you look like you could use some sleep right now. Why don’t you go to your room? I’m sure you’ve not had your nap yet today.”

Harry frowned, muttering something about being too old to have naps, but he knew that his parents wouldn’t concede about that. Until he was completely recovered he was expected to rest for a few hours every day after lunch. Not that he usually minded much, finding himself quite tired, but today, even after all those stressful hours, he didn’t want to go to sleep. “I want to know what happened and what you did.”

The man sighed and gently stroked the boy’s head until the frown had disappeared. “I will tell you what you want to know when you’ve rested for a bit.”

The teen started to pout at those words, forcing Severus to keep back a laugh. After all, who would have told him about three weeks ago that he would be standing with a pouting Harry Potter and not have the urge to insult the teen for it. Ignoring the man’s obvious amusement, Dani continued with the argument. “You won’t tell me everything.”

Amusement leaving the dark blue eyes, Richard sighed and bent down slightly so his gaze met the boy’s obstinate eyes. “Firstly, if there’s something I don’t want you to know I won’t tell you either way. No matter if I tell you what I did now or later. Secondly, I know it’s hard for you to trust us after everything that has happened with Dumbledore, but I want you to know that when we keep information from you it’s not to hurt you or deceive you, but just because we both want you to have as much of a childhood as possible now that Voldemort is death and there are many things a teen doesn’t have to deal with. Those are the things we’ll keep quite about, do you think you can live with that?”

Harry bowed his head, trying to deal with what the man had said. In a way he understood what the Potions Master meant, on the other hand, he had spent too much time playing that game with Dumbledore. But Dumbledore had showed himself to be extremely manipulative and had only used him to get rid of Voldemort. Richard and Jasmine seemed to have his wellbeing in mind so he really should allow them to decide what was better. As the man had said it came all down to trust.

Looking once again up in the man’s eyes he remembered the promise he had made himself and his parents to allow them to help him. Then, sighing, he nodded in acceptance. He was rewarded by one of his father’s gentle smiles and then he walked up to his room.

Once he heard the door click shut, Richard turned around and went to the kitchen where his wife was just putting a plate with some food on the table. After they both sat down and Richard had something to eat, Jasmine started to talk.

“Where have you been?”

At once she regretted her harsh words but she had been worried about her friend. For his part, Severus didn’t seem bothered by the tone of voice she had used and calmly started to explain.

“First I went to Diagon Alley.” At her sharp intake of breath and disapproving expression, he placed a calming hand on hers. “I had to be sure that our disguises would hold against wizards, it was the best way to test it.”

The witch didn’t seem very happy with his explanation. “It was also the most dangerous one.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Actually, going to Hogwarts would have been worse.” Not giving her a chance to answer back, he continued with his explanation. “Anyway, no one seemed to recognise me, so I bought several papers and left. There was no sense in staying there longer than necessary and I couldn’t risk speaking to anyone. After that, I went to check on my labs. As expected, the first one has already been emptied, probably by the aurors looking for clues about my location. There were a few wards placed around the place in case I went there, but everything else was gone.”

Minerva looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I hope you didn’t trigger any of those wards.”

The wizard rolled his eyes at her. “I’m not a senseless Gryffindor, Min, of course I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even get really close to the building.” Seeing she was about to raise to his bait, he quickly continued with his report. “The second lab was being watched by a bunch of aurors, they were not really discreet when you know what to look for. I think there were also a few order members, but I didn’t stay around to check. My third lab was luckily untouched, and as far as I can tell no one with magic has been around it.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “How can you be so sure about that?” Seeing his pleased smirk, the woman groaned and put a hand on her forehead. “Ok, out with it, what did you do?”

Richard’s expression shifted from amusement to innocence. “Well, first I spent about an hour checking if someone had tampered with my wards, there are a few that record if anyone with magic walks close by, but nothing came up. I would have gone in then, but I wouldn’t put it past Dumbledore to have non-wizards watching the place so I enlisted the help of a muggle.” At Minerva’s incredulous look, he shrugged lightly. “I paid him a few pounds so he would walk around the building where the lab is for a while. Of course, I didn’t tell him that I had placed a glamour on him making him look like me.”

Minerva gapped at him in shock. “Severus! How could you have done something like that? What if there had been someone watching the lap? Hell, what if the man had seen his own reflection in a window?”

The man raised his hands and chuckled lightly. “Relax, Min. I made sure the glamour would disappear as soon as someone touched the guy for more than ten seconds or something magical, like a portkey, approached him. anyway, knowing the dunderheads the Ministry uses, they would probably have thought they were seeing things and dismissed it as such. So, when I finally decided to go inside, everything was as it should. I packed a few supplies to bring them here and I briefly went over the papers to see what had been going on. That’s actually why I took so long, I wanted to make sure nothing else needed to be done before coming back.”

Minerva nodded, knowing it would be of no use to chastise the man about everything he had done. Sighing, she reached out and took one of the papers that Richard had put on the table. To her surprise and worry, there wasn’t really much information. The aurors had tried to work their way through the burned remains of Voldemort’s castle to try and find bodies, but so far they had had no luck. The wizarding world at large had been celebrating Voldemort’s death, not bothering to wait for official confirmation. Another thing that hadn’t waited either had been Harry’s funeral. It had been celebrated at Hogwarts three days ago, and hundreds of wizards from around the world had been invited to it. Jasmine looked at the article in distaste and was even surer than she had been that they had done the right thing by taking Harry away from all that.

Other than that, there were several articles, talking about the captures of the remaining Death Eaters, the aurors managed to get most of the unimportant ones or just the supporters. The inner circle who hadn’t died that day, seemed mostly untouched. While looking through a list of the remaining Death Eaters, something caught her attention. Looking up, she saw that Richard was staring at her intently.

“Your name isn’t here. Why not?”

The man leaned back and shrugged lightly. “I have no idea. All I can think of so far is that it’s a ploy of the old fool to make me feel safe and therefore careless.”

That drew a laugh out of his companion. “You? Careless? Please, Richard, you’re even more paranoid that Mad-eye.”

Severus smirked and picked up another paper, intent on reading it slower this time around and try to find the details hidden between the lines.

They both read in a comfortable silence for almost an hour. Finally, Severus looked up from his paper, and noticed it was getting a bit late. They still had not heard movement from the rooms upstairs, so Severus stood up. “I better go up and wake Daniel, else he’ll have trouble sleeping tonight.”

His supposed wife glanced up at him before returning her attention to the paper. “Go ahead, but you’ll be the one dealing with your cranky son for the rest of the evening.”

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re talking about him as if he was a five year old.”

Sighing, Jasmine put the paper aside and looked up at him seriously. “Sometimes I have the feeling I’m dealing with a five year old. It’s like he’s trying to do all those things he wasn’t allowed to do as a child. Just yesterday I went to his room to call him down of dinner, he had transfigured something into one of those electric trains muggle children like to play with and was just watching as it moved.”

By the time Jasmine was done with her explanation, there was a frown on her face. Severus sighed and looked pensive to the door that led to the hall. “I know what you mean. And it’s not only that. Did you see the way he greeted me? I can tell he longs to be touched in kindness and I have no problems in giving him what he needs, but the way he greeted me reminded me of how Draco used to greet me a few years ago.”

The Gryffindor teacher nodded in agreement and they both stayed silent for a long time, wondering what they should do to help their son. Finally deciding they would have to wait and see what happened, Severus shook his head to snap out of his pensive mood. “I better go wake him, and don’t worry, I’ll take him if he’s cranky.”

Both adults shared an amused glance and Richard left the room. He walked up the stairs and went into Harry’s room. The boy was still sleeping, he looked so peaceful that Severus was tempted to allow him to continue this way. Good sense finally won over and the tall man went to sit next to the boy and gently shook one of his frail shoulders.

“Daniel, come on, it’s time to wake up.”

The boy’s eyes flew open at once and he sat up sharply. Severus remained silent while the boy got his bearings back. It happened every time someone woke Dani up and Richard had learned that the best thing for the teen was for him to stay silent but close, so that Harry could feel he was there but he didn’t pose a threat to him. finally, the dark blue gaze settled on him and he allowed his features to soften as a smile appeared on the boy’s face.

“Is there something wrong, dad?”

The man shook his head, standing up at the same time. “No, child, it’s just time for you to get up, else you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Nodding in acceptance, the teen stretched a bit, trying to clear his mind of the remaining sleepiness. He was about to stand up when the door bell rang downstairs.

Both men tensed at the unexpected sound, freezing in their places until the bell rang again. The second sound brought Severus out of his stupor and at once his wand was in his hand. Harry quickly got out of bed and took his own wand from under his pillow. Before he had the chance to open the door, a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“I want you to stay up here until Jasmine or I come and get you.”

The teen started to look angry at that. “But, dad...”

With a forceful pull, he was twirled around and his eyes were captured by his father’s intent gaze. “Daniel, your magic has not recovered completely yet, it could fail you when you most need it and you know it. I’m not about to allow you to put yourself in danger when it’s not necessary and specially not when you’re in not a good enough condition to face it. Is that clear?”

The boy was scowling at him as they heard Minerva walking to the frontdoor. “But...”

Severus didn’t let him finish and tightened his grip on his son’s shoulders. “I asked if I’d made myself clear.”

Bowing his head, the teen nodded, his shoulders throbbing as the man let go of him. without another word, the Potions Master left the room, closing and warding the door behind him. he could now hear Minerva talking to someone downstairs and he quickly went to join her.

When she heard him walk down the stairs, the Gryffindor teacher looked up at him and smiled slightly.

“Ah, there you are, Richard.”

The man returned her smile, reassured by the way she was acting that they weren’t in immediate danger. Shoving his wand up his sleeve, he walked closer and wrapped a long arm around her shoulders. Then, he turned around and came face to face with their visitor. She was a fairly old lady, dressed in a pale blue dress that looked expensive. Her expressive grey eyes were looking at them with a mix of curiosity and welcoming that served to put Severus further at ease with her. Minerva nodded towards their guest.

“This is Madam Farey, Rick, she has come to welcome us to the neighbourhood.”

The man nodded, relaxing further, and extended a hand which the woman shook.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madam Farey, please come in.”

they led the woman to the living room and while Minerva talked to her, Severus discretely used his skills to read her mind. Once he was sure that she was safe to be around, he stood up and after excusing himself, he went to make tea for them all. While the tea was brewing, he went up to get his son. He regretted being so forceful earlier, but fear had gotten the best of him and the urge to protect the teen had made him react more harshly than needed. As soon as he opened the door to the boy’s room, his eyes fell on the small form sitting in a chair, looking out of the window.

While he was sure that Harry had heard him, the teen didn’t make a move to acknowledge his presence. Sighing, and knowing he didn’t have much time until he was expected back in the living room, Severus went to sit on the bed and immediately started to talk, not liking the uncomfortable silence that surrounded them.

“While I want to appologise for being so harsh before, I still want you to understand that we must be careful around people. Until we’re sure that the wards are strong enough to protect us from other wizards, I want you to come up here every time someone is at the door.”

For a few instants, the boy remained silent, his rigid stance revealing that he was probably frowning and not happy with that idea. Finally, his shoulders relaxed and he slumped a bit, before turning to look at his father. Severus was startled to see that the child’s eyes were red and puffy, as if he had been crying.

“Ok, I’ll come up here, but please, don’t lock me in again.”

Frowning, the man stood up and went to stand in front of the teen. Tea be damned, he had obviously upset his son much more than he had thought, and he was going to make it better now, rather than waiting till their guest had left. At least, if he was able to find out what he had done to upset the boy this much.

Bending down slightly, he gently brushed his fingers over Harry’s eyes, making him close them.

“You’ve been crying, I’m sorry.”

Harry shook his head, opening his eyes again but not looking up at the man. “It’s ok, it’s not really your fault, you didn’t know.”

Frowning the man knelt down in front of him and forced the teen to look him in the eye. “What didn’t I know?”

Seeing the questioning look in his father’s eyes, Harry gave in and tried to explain himself. “It’s just that the Dursley always locked me in in my cupboard and later in my room as punishment. I hated it, the feeling of helplessness, not knowing when I would be allowed out again. I know you’re not like them, but you were so angry...”

To the boy’s surprise, the man stood up and lifted him out of his chair, gathering him in a tight hug. “I’m sorry, child. I didn’t mean to bring back old memories, and I wasn’t angry. I was just really worried about you getting hurt. I’m afraid my nerves are a bit on edge right now.”

Harry, with his head burried in the man’s shoulder, nodded in understanding. And while it amazed him that his former professor could be so protective, it still made him feel good. Pulling himself out of the man’s arms, he smiled up at him, reassuring his father that he was alright now.

“So, who was at the door?”

Severus blinked once and then cursed softly, suddenly remembering that his wife was still waiting for tea.

“Get dressed and clean yourself a bit, there’s a woman down there that has come to welcome us to the neighbourhood or some such nonsense. Jasmine is entertaining them and I was supposed to bring them tea, I better go down there before your mother gets angry at me.”

Without waiting for an answer, Snape left the room, leaving a chuckling Harry behind. He quickly finished his preparations in the kitchen and joined the two woman in the living room.

“I’m sorry I took so long, I went to check on Daniel.”

Minerva smiled at him reassuringly, she had guessed that that was probably the case. Anyway, she had been having a good time, talking to the muggle. Madam Farey, or rather Linda as she insisted on being called, was a carefree and talkative woman, which had made the situation much easier than she had expected it would be.

“Is he coming down?”

Severus served that tea and sat down next to his wife. “Yes, he’ll be down in a bit.” Seeing the woman’s curious look, he explained. “Daniel is our son.”

Linda blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you had a boy.”

While she said that, her eyes moved around the room and for the first time, Jasmine noticed how impersonal the room looked. Severus seemed to understand it too and quickly came up with an explanation.

“It’s not your fault, you had no way of knowing. We lost all our things in a fire a few days ago and we haven’t had time to replace most of it yet.”

The woman turned to look at them in compassion. “How horrible. If there’s anything we can do to help you...”

Before the couple was forced to answer, the door opened and Daniel walked in, looking at the three adults hessitantly. Jasmine smiled at him and patted the free place at her side.

“Come join us, Dani.” As the boy approached, she nodded towards the woman, who was now smiling up at the boy. “Dani, this is Linda Farey, she has been kind enough to come and welcome us here.”

At the name, Harry looked up and looked her over more closely. “Farey? Are you perhaps related to Jessy Farey?”

Linda looked at him, a bit surprised. “Yes, of course, she’s my sister in law. Do you know Jessy?”

Harry couldn’t hold back a slightly wistful expression. “Well, not really, but I’ve heard about her, she’s the headmistress of the London school of art.”

Linda smiled. “I’m surprised you’d know such a thing, not many young men are interested in art nowadays.”

Dani shrugged. “I like to paint, I would love to get enrolled in there, but it’s very hard to get in.”

The older woman nodded in agreement. “Indeed it is, but if you want, I could show Jessy some of your work or arrange a meeting with her. She would be able to tell you if you have a chance to get it.”

Harry smiled sadly. He had been listening to the conversation before going in, so he knew what he was supposed to say. His father looked like he was about to answer, but he quickly did so himself, it would lend more credibility to their story. “I’m afraid that all was lost in the fire and we haven’t had the chance to buy new supplies. I have been sketching a bit, but it’s not good enough to show anyone.”

Both, Severus and Minerva tried not to look surprised at those words. Neither had known that Harry had been drawing again. Dani and the woman spoke for a while longer before the conversation moved to more general topics and the boy fell silent. About an hour later, the woman excused herself, saying that her husband would be home soon, and after extending an invitation for dinner, she left the family on their own.

With a deep sigh, the three of them relaxed. While not unpleasant, none of them had thought they would need to come up with so many lies and excuses while dealing with curious muggles.

After the silence had lasted for a while, Richard turned to look at his son, who was now sprawled out on the couch the woman had vacated.

“The London school of Art? I’m guessing that’s a good school?”

Harry didn’t open his eyes. “The best around here.” Then, very softly he added: “She invited me to go there, she was sure I would pass the tests to get in. I was supposed to start after finishing Hogwarts.”

Jasmine exchanged a quick glance with her fellow professor before moving to kneel next to the couch Harry was lying in.

“Who did tell you that?”

“Madam Farey. I met her this summer, she was very kind. She gave me a few lessons and said she would make sure I got in when I finished school.” Harry turned around and curled up slightly. “She wanted me to join at once, I could have started that same summer, but I had to refuse. I needed to get back to Hogwarts.”

Hearing how upset her son seemed, Minerva quickly gathered him in her arms and rocked him lightly. They all stayed in silence, not wanting to break the peace that had fallen over them. Finally, seeing his son was no longer clinging to Minerva, Richard stood up and stretched.

“How about we get something to eat and call it an early night? It has been a long day for all of us.”