Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Story Notes:

This story responds to several challenges but the major one is Someone noticed by Bratling. It is more or less finished and I plan on posting a new chapter every other day or so, depending on how quickly I can manage to re-read them to check grammar and spelling and such. It may be a bit hurried sometimes, but I really did want it to be ready for the fic fest despite real life being distracting.

 

The title of this story is a reference to Lily and James, the doe and the stag, and Harry’s relation to them.   

Author's Chapter Notes:
This first chapter was partly inspired by Jan_AQ's Puddle challenge.
Peanut on the run

There were puddles in the entryway. Actual puddles of water on the dirty, and probably half rotten, wooden floor of the entryway of Spinner’s End number 8.

Severus Snape sighed to himself. That’s what he got for waiting two months, the time it had been left until the summer holidays, to clean out his childhood home after his father had finally drunk himself to an early death. The small brick house and the mess inside it now belonged to Severus. 

As he made his way further inside he noticed there were bags of empty bottles almost everywhere, old and, thankfully, empty food containers left at random places throughout the rooms and over it all the general stench of alcohol and old sweat. The ceiling was leaking in some places and Severus suspected there might be rats too. He had half a mind to just burn it all down. However there might still be some of his mother’s old possessions hidden somewhere beneath the mess Tobias had left behind. Eileen might not have been a very maternal woman, but she had owned some rather valuable potions texts, among other things.

So it was with a sigh that Severus got started on the cleaning, one layer of the chaotic mess at the time.

It was a slow and rather ungrateful task. Despite the use of his magic he still had to look through everything before he could use any spells on it. Mostly it was just trash; old alcohol bottles or food containers, his father’s very worn and unwashed clothes and some shoes. It was not until several hours later that he finally found something of somewhat value. A box with some of his mother’s old books, which had probably only remained in the house because Tobias had been unable to find anyone to sell them to. The man had a tendency to sell anything he could when he had no more money for alcohol.

Unwelcome memories kept appearing in his mind. Severus tried to push them aside but surrounded by the familiar house in which he had had the misfortune of growing up it was hard to completely ignore the memories. His father, drunk and angry. Eileen, cold and detached in one moment, the next moment arguing loudly with her drunk husband or cowering in fear when the same husband got violent. He remember spending as much time away from the house as he could. The only time he had willingly spent much time around his parents had been when Eileen had been brewing her potions. Sometimes she had been in a good mood and willing to share her knowledge with Severus. Those times were some of the happiest Severus had of his parents.

Finally starting to feel hungry Severus realized that he had been hard at work for the better part of six hours. Perhaps it was time to take a break. He could go to the local grocery store, which was not too far away, get something to eat and maybe get his mind off of the old memories as well. Yes, that would be nice.

It was a short walk to the grocery store. He only met a few people and none of them greeted him. Not that Severus minded. He had no will to talk to these people anyway. No, he would finish cleaning out the house as quickly as possible and that was it.

It was when he was on his way home that the relative peace of Spinner’s End was broken, and Severus’ life was about to take a turn he never would have expected.

“PEANUT! COME BACK HERE BOY!”

The shout seemed to be immediately followed by a rabbit suddenly running out in front of him. Severus stumbled a little, trying to avoid stepping on the little creature.

“PEANUT! WHERE’D YOU … ouch!”

Directly behind the rabbit came a small boy, and this time Severus did not have the time to avoid a collision. The boy went sprawling on the ground and Severus barely managed to keep a hold of the groceries and remain from falling ungracefully on his behind.

“Watch where you are going boy!” he snarled.

“Sorry sir! I was just trying to catch my bunny.”

“You are not going to catch anything by shouting the way you were,” Severus coldly informed the boy, before finally focusing his eyes on the rude little cretin.

“But I have to catch him!” the boy replied. “He’s not supposed to be out of his cage.”

For a very brief moment Severus felt his breath hitch in surprise. Green eyes, dishevelled, dark hair, lightning bolt shaped scar in the forehead … there was no mistaking who this boy was. But how was he here, in Cokeworth, not far from Severus’ childhood home?

“Did you see where he went to sir?” the Potter-miniature asked. “Peanut, that is?”

“Peanut?” Severus repeated questioningly.

“Yeah. My bunny. ‘Bout this size,” the boy said, holding up his hands to demonstrate. “An’ white with little brown spots all over.”

From the very brief glimpse Severus had gotten, that did sound like the creature that had almost ended its life under his feet.

“No, I did not see where it went off to,” he finally replied.

“Oh. Well, thanks anyway sir. An’ sorry for running into you like that!”

With that the boy ran past Severus, clearly intent on finding his bunny.

“PEANUT! WHERE’D YOU GO BOY?”

Shaking his head at the foolishness of the boy Severus continued on towards his home. Obviously the child was in no danger, and surely his guardians were around somewhere. It was not Severus’ job to look after him.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry didn’t mean to be troublesome for his grandfather, he really didn’t. But gramps had been asleep and Harry didn’t want to wake him up, so he had thought that he would just play quietly with his pet bunny. Unfortunately Peanut had had other ideas, because as soon as Harry had it out of the cage it wriggled out of the five-year-olds arms.

He’d known right then and there that he should have left the bunny alone until his grandfather woke up. As the nice little boy he was Harry just wanted to put the bunny back in the cage and pretend like he had never gotten this idea to begin with. However, again, the bunny had other ideas.

Harry was sure that he had been searching for hours by now and frankly he just wanted to go back home. But gramps would be so mad when Harry told him that he had let Peanut loose, and he couldn’t really go back home and leave Peanut all alone, could he? So Harry continued to search.

“PEANUT?” he called. “PEANUT? Please come out Peanut!”

Gramps would be very, very mad. Harry knew that he wasn’t supposed to play with the bunny on his own, which was probably because gramps had thought that something like this would happen. And poor Peanut! All alone out here, probably scared and wanting to go home too. It was Harry’s duty to find him!

Just then he spotted the bunny.

“PEANUT!” he called, charging towards his pet.

Peanut did not appear to appreciate the gesture, because he fled through a hole in a nearby fence. Harry groaned to himself. The hole was too small for him to get through. However he did have to follow Peanut somehow if he were to ever catch him.

“Peanut!” he pleaded through the hole. “Please come out Peanut! Gramps will be mad if we don’t go home soon.”

Peanut didn’t appear to be listening, or maybe he didn’t care that Harry would get in trouble.

“Stupid bunny,” Harry muttered to himself. “Why can’t you just come here?”

Well, Harry thought as he took a step back to get a better look at the fence, it didn’t matter whether Peanut was a stupid bunny or not. He was Harry’s bunny and Harry had to get him back. And to get him back, Harry had to pass the fence somehow. If he couldn’t get through the hole, and if the ground was solid earth and thereby impossible to dig in, there was only one way for him to go. He gulped nervously as the wooden fence suddenly seemed to grow much, much taller. Somehow he would have to climb over it.

At first he tried jumping and reaching for the top, but quickly discovered that he was much too short for that. If only he had been taller, or a better jumper, like Peanut. As it was he would have to try something else.

A garbage can nearby gave him another idea, and with some struggle he managed to drag it closer to the fence. Standing on top of it Harry was just barely able to reach the top of the fence.

“Yes,” he hissed to himself as he tried to pull himself up.

It was hard, but after a few tries and the prospect of being able to finally catch Peanut once had passed this fence, he was finally able to pull himself up. After that it was a simple matter of an ungraceful tumble to get over and down.

Except that things were not quite that easy. On the other side of the fence was a very overgrown garden and Harry tumbled right into a big patch of stinging nettles.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Having finished his lunch Severus had returned to the cleaning. The entryway and parts of the living room were now mostly clean and he had moved on to the bedrooms. Tobias old room smelled strongly of alcohol and cigarettes. Severus supressed the urge to wince at the stench and quickly banished a pile of old clothing. A more primitive side of him wanted to burn it all, burn everything that reminded him of his father. Now that was an entertaining thought, Severus mulled with a grim smile.

“AAAAIIIIEEE!”

A howl suddenly pierced the silence, forcefully pulling Severus out of his thoughts. Quickly he was at the window, from where he soon spotted a somewhat familiar boy stumbling around in the back yard. The boy howled like he was being attacked by malicious pixies and tried to tangle himself free from the stinging nettles that had long since overtaken the backyard. However, since the back yard was full of them, the boy had very little success in getting free of them.

Acting instinctively it was a matter of moments before Severus was downstairs, wielding his wand. With a few quick twists of his hand the nettles had been cut off and he could easily make his way over to the howling boy.

“Come here boy,” Severus grunted, pulling at the boy as he spoke.

The boy did not fight him, although he continued to howl, tears running down his face. As it had been a warm day the boy was dressed in simple shorts and a t-shirt with short sleeves, clothing that had allowed the nettles to get to a lot of skin. Realising that he would have to treat the irritated skin Severus wordlessly dragged the boy inside and to the bathroom.

He pushed the boy into the shower began spraying him with cold water to alleviate the stinging. At first the boy fought the cold water Severus sprayed at him, forcing Severus to hold him in place. Eventually the boy calmed down enough to notice that the cold water was helping against the stinging, and Severus didn’t need to work so hard to keep him in place any longer. Not that it saved Severus from getting soaked too.

After several minutes of the treatment Severus finally turned the water off and reached for a towel.

“Th-thank you, s-sir,” the boy sobbed.

“What do you think you were doing, you hare-brained fool?” Severus exclaimed, trying not to be too rough as he dried the boy with the towel.

“I-I was just trying to catch Peanut. My bunny.”

“Still haven’t caught that blasted thing?” Severus muttered, more to himself that the boy.

“He ran through a hole in the fence,” the boy added. “I was just t-trying to … I climbed over it.”

“You were just trying to break your neck, is that it?” Severus scolded. “Foolish, thoughtless, imbecile!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Get out of those clothes and dry yourself up,” Severus ordered, handing the towel to the boy.

Swiftly he left the room. Of all the moronic things to do! This was clearly the spawn of James Potter, not that the exterior left any doubt in that regard.

Searching through the few things he had brought with him Severus finally found some burn salve and breathed a sigh of relief. It was not ideal for treating stinging nettle, but it was more effective than any muggle treatment at least. Not that he had any muggle medicines at hand anyway.

When he returned to the bathroom he found Potter junior only dressed in his underwear, furiously itching at his arm.

“Stop that!” Severus ordered.

“But it’s itching!” the child complained.

“And you are only making it worse like that! Now come here and let me put on this salve.”

Apparently thinking more clearly now the boy hesitated briefly before doing as he had been told. Severus quickly rubbed some of the salve onto the hot skin, hoping that it would work. It was the only thing he had on hand at the moment, as he had not thought that he would ever get in a situation like this.

“It tickles,” the boy told him.

“That means it’s working,” Severus replied, forcing himself to be a little gentler as he rubbed the child’s arms and legs with the salve.

Stupid, idiotic boy! Severus was not sure what had him the angriest; that the boy had actually tried to climb the fence surrounding the back yard or that this encounter was forcing him to face yet another of the ghosts from his past. Either way he felt like wringing the boy’s neck around!

“Thanks,” the child said once Severus had finished.

Severus grunted, not trusting himself not to continue scolding the boy. Instead he stood and turned away from the boy, discretely casting a quick spell to dry his clothes. No need to flaunt the fact that he was a wizard, or surely the boy would start demanding that Severus bow and scrape his foot!

 “I’m Harry,” Potter junior introduced himself. “What’s your name?”

Severus allowed himself a long, suffering sigh. He had absolutely no interest in befriending James Potter’s spawn. None at all. No interest what so ever. Quite the opposite. Yet here he was. Why had fate decided to throw this particular boy in his way?

“It’s Snape,” he finally replied, forcing his vice to be emotionless. “But you should address me as ‘sir’.”

“Thank you sir, for helping me with the nettles.”

Which reminded him, again, of just how foolish this child was. Severus took a deep breath, holding back the urge to start scolding the boy again. It was better to just get this whole thing over with.

“I trust you will not be so foolish again,” he muttered. 

“I was just trying to catch Peanut, my bunny,” the boy explained once again. “He ran through a hole in the fence but I was too big to follow.”

“It would have been far smarter of you to walk around the premises and knock the door, and I might have let you into the back yard without you having to climb that fence,” Severus explained impatiently.

“I didn’t think about that,” the boy admitted.

“Obviously. Now here, put on your clothes and we’ll see about that bunny of yours.”

Lily’s eyes grew larger in Potter junior’s face as the boy realised that his clothes were now dry.

“Wow! How’d you do that?!” he wondered, while complying and quickly getting dressed.

“Magic,” Severus replied with an ironic drawl.

“There’s no such thing as magic,” the boy informed him then. “How’d you really do it?”

“Never mind,” Severus said, hiding his surprise that the boy was apparently unaware of the magical world. “Now, does that bunny have some sort of favourite snack or something we might use as a bait?”

“Uhm, h-he likes apples.”

“Apples it is,” Severus stated, heading for the kitchen where he had the fruit he had bought earlier.

An apple was quickly washed and sliced into smaller pieces, which Severus put on a small plate, before he led the boy back out into the back yard. Surprisingly Potter junior watched in silence and managed not to get into any more trouble. For now at least.

“Now, let’s see if we can find that bunny …” Severus muttered to himself.

Carefully he stepped out among the cut off nettles, looking for the white and brown little creature he had almost stepped on earlier. Potter Junior hesitated but followed him after a moment, careful not to step too close to the piles of nettles that lay on the ground.

“His name’s Peanut,” the boy informed him.

“So I’d gathered.”

Although the yard was not very large it was still rather overgrown, even with some of the nettles cut down, and they spent a good five minutes looking for the bunny. Finally Severus spotted him, hiding behind what had once been his mother’s raspberry bushes.

“There he is,” he pointed out.

“PEA-hmpf.” Severus hand over the boy’s mouth quickly managed to silence the rest of the shout.

“Do not shout!” Severus ordered. “Do not make any noise, do not run up to him; in fact, do not move at all!”

He waited until Potter junior had nodded his understanding before removing his hand.

“Now stay there, and let me take care of this.”

Although the boy seemed to be itching to move he obeyed Severus orders and remained carefully still. Severus carefully stepped a little closer before crouching down on the ground and gently tossing a piece of apple in the direction of the bunny. Peanut sniffed the air hesitantly, drawn between curiosity and fear. After a moment he stepped forward, sniffing the apple and quickly starting to eat.

When the bunny had finished the piece Severus tossed him another one, a bit closer to Severus. The bunny followed suit and moved closer. Severus remained unmoving, silently praying that the child behind him would not lose patience and do something stupid.

The third piece of apple was a little closer still to Severus. Peanut hesitated a little, looking at Severus, before finally deciding that the man was no threat. Severus allowed the bunny to start eating, just long enough to stop focusing on Severus, before his hand snatched out. With speed and precision born from gathering and handling many dangerous potions ingredients Severus caught the bunny over the neck in a firm but not harsh grip.

“YOU GOT HIM, YOU GOT HIM!” Potter junior immediately exclaimed, rushing forward to take the bunny.

Severus gave one look at the excited five year old and wrapped the frightened bunny protectively in his own arms.

“I believe it is safer if I hold on to him for now.”

“But …”

“Do not take it for granted that I can catch him again if you were to drop him.”

Potter junior looked a bit dejected but accepted Severus words with only minor pouting.

“I’ll follow you home and carry him for you,” Severus decided.

“You sure? I can take him myself, if it’s too much trouble for you.”

“I am certain. Now, lead the way.”

It was little surprise from Severus’ side when the boy led the way towards the park where Severus and Lily had played as children. The park divided this part of town. On the south side there where shabby little brick houses such as the one Severus had used to live in. The north side was vastly different, the houses being larger and cleaner, with both a front and a back yard, mostly inhabited by people with a higher income than anyone living on the south side of the park.

“I live with my grandfather,” Potter junior chattered. “He wanted me to come live with him; said he was getting old and he needed someone young to keep him entertained. He’s REALLY old, so I can kind of see why, but he’s nice anyway.”

Severus focused on petting the bunny, which had now settled somewhat comfortably in his arms, and mostly ignored the boy’s chatter. It wasn’t like he was interested anyway. He would just drop the boy and the bunny off and then he would not have to deal with Potter until he was old enough to attend Hogwarts. That thought was strangely comforting at the moment.

Although years had gone since Severus had last visited Cokeworth, much less this particular part of it, not too much had changed. The houses were neat and well kept, the front yards full of healthy flower beds, and the few people that were out smiled fondly at them as they passed.

Number 22 was somewhat rundown, the flowerbeds looking tired and the fence being in need of a new layer of paint. This did not seem to bother the boy though.

“We better go around to the back,” Potter junior suggested. “Peanut’s cage is there. Maybe gramps won’t notice …”

The last part was so quiet Severus was certain he was not meant to hear it. He scoffed a little to himself but followed the boy around the house. Of course James Potter’s spawn would be unwilling to suffer the consequences of his actions. Like father like son, and all that.

“Here,” the boy said, kneeling down by the open cage.

Severus joined him on the grass, carefully putting the bunny inside the cage before closing the door, making sure it was carefully locked.

“Harry, is that you?”

Severus froze where he was kneeling at the sound of the familiar voice.

“Gramps!” the boy beside him exclaimed.

“Where have you been Harry? I’ve been worried sick about you! And who’s this?”

Forcing himself to move Severus checked the latch a last time before he stood up and faced the older man, who had for a short time been more of a father figure to him than his own father.

Joseph Evans had aged, and the years did not appear to have been kind to him either. When Severus had known the man he had been in his fifties, a strong if not burly man and full of life. Now he had to be near 70; still standing tall, although it seemed to be with more effort than it used to, from what Severus could tell, the once dark hair was completely grey and the clean shaven face bore wrinkles that had not been there before. The eyes were still the same though. Lily had inherited her eyes from her father.

“Gooday sir,” Severus greeted the man. “You may not remember me, but …”

“Severus! Is that you? Good lord, you’ve grown since I last saw you!”

The elder man’s face lit up in a warm smile and a moment later Severus found himself embraced in a hug. He stood stiffly, very much unused to being hugged out of the blue and also surprised that the man still remembered him.

“Gramps? You know Mr. Snape?” the child asked, but his question was ignored.

“It must have been, what, ten years since I last saw you?” Joseph continued when he finally pulled away to look closer at Severus.

They were about the same height now, but Severus still felt like he was a young teenager looking up at the elder man. Perhaps it had something to do with not seeing the man for so long. Severus almost felt guilty, but after Lily and he had fallen apart he had kept away from Cokeworth as much as he could, and this part in particular.

“Yes, that sounds about right,” he agreed, managing not to choke on the pain the memories brought forward.

“It’s so nice to see you! You know, I always wondered what became of you. You were such a nice boy … But here you are, back in Cokeworth! And you’ve met my Harry too, I see. I hope the little tyke hasn’t been causing you too much trouble, has he?”

“I hasn’t, I promise!” Potter interjected. “But gramps, how do you know Mr. Snape?”

It was rather surreal, being faced with so many memories at the same time. Only years of occluding enabled Severus to manage a polite smile.

“Apparently, the bunny got free and escaped into my back yard,” he explained, gesturing towards Peanut, who was now happily eating away at his hay.

“I see, I see. And you decided to help my grandson out, didn’t you? Why don’t you come in for a cup of tea and tell me all about it?”

“Actually, I should get going,” Severus said, stepping away a little. “I have a lot to do and …”

“Surely you do not have too much to do to have a cup of tea with an old man and allow me to thank you properly for helping my Harry out? Come on Severus, I’ll have tea ready in a moment!”

Without further ado, Severus found himself dragged inside and deposited in an armchair with a somewhat faded floral pattern. He remembered sitting in it before, when he visited Lily’s house. Her father had used to sit on the couch and talk to him while her mother made tea and biscuits in the kitchen, which she then forced Severus to take second and sometimes third helpings of.

“Graaamps!” Potter junior whined, apparently not happy about being ignored. “How’d you know Mr. Snape?”

“He was a friend of your mothers, when she was young,” Joseph informed his grandson, with a pat to the head. “Now, why don’t you keep him company while I prepare the tea?”

There were no objections and soon Severus found himself intensely scrutinised by the child.

“You knew my mom?” the boy asked, as if to confirm what his grandfather had just told him.

Severus rather wished the man had withheld that piece if information from the boy, seeing as he had absolutely no intention to befriend the child. Judging from the eager look in those green eyes Potter junior had other ideas though.

“I did, for a short while,” he confirmed.

“What was she like? Gramps says she was very kind and beautiful, but I don’t remember. She died when I was very little, so I don’t remember.”

It was almost like a physical blow. Severus had to take a moment just to gather himself. He had not realised that the pain was still so strong, still as overwhelming as it used to be. It had been years and he thought he had grown used to the pain, but somehow sitting here with the boy she had died trying to protect made it all seem new again.

Eager, green eyes looked at him, awaiting an answer. Severus was not sure what to say, partly because he did not wish to discuss this topic at all, and partly because he was not sure this was the company he would have chosen to do so in if he had to.

“She was,” he finally agreed. “Very kind, and very beautiful.”

And the boy nodded, as if that was all the answer he needed.

“Gramps has lots of pictures of her; she looks kind. Kind of like the lady at the bakery, but not as big.”

Looking around suspiciously the boy moved closer, until he was standing right next to Severus’ chair. For a horrible moment Severus thought the boy would climb into his lap, though thankfully the boy refrained from doing so. Instead he leaned forward and spoke in a low, secretive voice, as if he was sharing a big secret with Severus.

“Sometimes I pretend she’s not dead at all. Like she’s just away on a long travel; and someday she’ll come back for me. Mom and dad both. And then we’ll be together all the time, like a real family.”

Lily had died to protect this boy. This little green-eyed, black haired boy who looked so much like the father but so obviously missed his mother terribly. For a brief moment Severus could feel something stirring somewhere deep within him. He had been determined to hate this child from the very beginning, but he too was someone who felt the loss of Lily very strongly. To that, Severus could relate, even if the boy was also James Potter’s son.

The moment broke when Joseph entered the room, carrying a tray with tea and biscuits.

“Can I have a chocolate biscuit gramps, can I? Can I?” Potter junior shouted as he ran towards his grandfather, almost causing the old man to stumble.

Severus wanted to rebuke the child for running and yelling inside but bit his tongue. It was not his place to teach the brat proper manners, at least not until he was officially a student at Hogwarts. Joseph chuckled and put the tray down on the table, immediately handing his grandson the requested sweets.

“Now, let’s see … Two spoons of sugar but no milk, isn’t that how you want it, Severus?” Joseph spoke as he poured tea into the two cups.

“No sugar please,” Severus corrected.

“I seem to remember a boy who’d always ask for two spoons of sugar in his tea, and then add another four whenever he thought we weren’t looking,” Joseph mumbled with a smile, but handed Severus his tea without adding any sugar.

A small blush crept to his cheeks as he accepted the tea. Had he really been so obvious about it? As a child Severus had hated tea, but his pride had forbidden him from admitting to it, and so he had tried to discretely sweeten it with as much sugar as possible.

“Can I have another biscuit gramps?”

“Here you go. Don’t eat too many though, or you’ll get a stomach ache.”

At last Joseph seated himself in the armchair next to the one Severus was occupying, while the boy happily chewed away at his biscuits sitting on the couch.

“Now Severus, why don’t you tell me how you met my grandson? I’m sure it’s quite a story, and one I’m very interested to hear at that.”

After a sip of the tea Severus began to retell the events that had taken place earlier that day. Joseph listened carefully, nodding occasionally but choosing to remain silent so that Severus could say what he wanted to say. It was somewhat awkward at first, but sitting in the familiar armchair, in the familiar room with a man he trusted, he found himself reverting back to his old self worryingly quick. Even so, it was not a particularly long story to tell and Severus soon fell quiet.

“I see. Once again, thank you for helping my grandson with the bunny. I would have done it myself, had I not been asleep, believing that Harry was playing in his room like he was told to.”

“I was bored,” the boy immediately defended himself. “And I didn’t mean for Peanut to run away, but then I had to get him back, didn’t I?”

“We will talk about that later, young man.” Joseph’s voice was neither stern nor harsh, just serious, however it seemed to have the proper effect as Potter junior blushed and looked down guiltily.

“I didn’t mean to,” the boy repeated.

“I should get going,” Severus interjected. “I really do have things I have to do.”

“Are you sure, Severus?”

“I am.”

“Well, then I won’t stop you, of course. Do come by again though. I’d love to hear what you are doing nowadays.”

Severus nodded in agreement, although he had no plans to actually return, and stood to leave.

“Bye, Mr. Snape! And thanks for helping me with Peanut!”

Potter junior was all smiles again as he waved goodbye to Severus. Severus refrained from making a scathing remark and quietly left the house, hoping he would not have to see Harry Potter again for several years.

That evening he apparated back to his rooms at Hogwarts, where he had taken to staying even over the summer. In many ways Hogwarts was more of a home to him than Spinner’s End had ever been, and at the moment Spinner’s End was even less liveable than it had used to be.

However, even surrounded by the comfortable room and his many books and journals he found himself thinking about Harry Potter. What force had brought them together today? Surely it was not a mere coincidence? No, Severus did not believe that something like this was a coincidence.

How had the Potter boy even come to live with his grandfather? From what Severus had heard, whenever Dumbledore spoke of the boy, he was living with his adoring aunt and her family, probably being spoiled rotten. And while the child Severus had met today was definitely spoilt he also had a feeling that there was more to Harry Potter than met the eye.

He slept uneasily that night and got up early, not one to stay in bed for very long when he could not sleep anyway. There were plenty left to do at Spinner’s End. If he continued working at a decent pace he could probably have the house cleaned out by the end of the week. What he would do with it then he had no idea. Maybe sell it. Not that it was worth much, but still. Maybe it would just be easier to keep it? He would have to look into that when he got the time.

The kitchen was a mess. Severus had gotten started on it yesterday but was far from done. As new surfaces were revealed beneath the piles of disgusting trash he spelled brushes to clean things up further, hoping to get rid of some of the grime. It would make things easier to him if he could use the kitchen while he cleaned the house out.

Sometime midmorning there was a knock on the door. Severus ignored it at first, thinking that it had to be some sales person or deluded neighbour. However the knocking repeated itself, becoming more impatient as it did so. Severus straightened up and headed for the door, a grim expression on his face.

“MR. SNAAPEE! IT’S ME! HARRY!” a familiar voice suddenly called.

Even more annoyed than previously Snape pulled the door open, ready to tell the rude little brat to go mind his own business, only to come face to face with Joseph Evans. The man smiled warmly at Severus. Thrown off Severus found himself speechless for a moment, before he managed to gather himself enough to speak.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, voice perhaps a tad more polite than he felt at the moment.

“Oh, Harry insisted we come by and thank you again for your help yesterday,” Joseph explained. “Isn’t that right Harry?”

“Yeah. I even drew you a picture, Mr. Snape! See!”

The boy thrust a slightly wrinkled piece of paper at him. Automatically Severus accepted the thing, bringing it closer to his eyes for scrutiny. It was not a student essay but it was clear none the less that the boy expected some sort of comment on his project.

“He worked on it all morning,” Joseph added, affectionately running a hand through his grandson’s hair.

Severus refrained from making a comment about all that work being to waste. The picture made no sense to him. A blur of poorly drawn figures that could basically be anything, as far as Severus was concerned, and a lot more colour that was probably some sort of background.

“What does it depict?” he wondered.

“It’s Peanut, and you and me! See, that’s you, in black!” The boy explained, pulling the drawing down so that he could proudly point out the particulars of his masterpiece. “That’s Peanut, and that’s me over there!”

Well, that made some sense, Severus supposed, looking at the picture again.

“Why is Peanut trying to eat me?” he asked.

“He’s not trying to eat you, he’s eating that apple! See?”

No, Severus could not see it. And frankly he had never seen a bunny with fangs the size of the blob of white and brown that was apparently supposed to be Peanut the bunny. They were almost as tall as the blob that was supposedly Potter.

“Just run with it,” Joseph whispered to Snape, so that the boy did not hear it. “He’s no Picasso and he never will be, but he puts his heart into it every time.”

Clearing his throat Severus wondered what he had done to get into this situation. He had no idea how to handle it. Had it been a student project he would have given it a Troll-grade and moved on, but both Potter junior and Joseph appeared to be expecting him to praise this thing.

“Ah,” he said at last. “Of course. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome! It’s for helping me catch Peanut yesterday. And saving me from the nettles and all that.”

Potter beamed up at him. Severus had to look away, and instead met Joseph’s amused eyes.

“How are things going?” Joseph inquired politely, nodding towards the house.

“It’s progressing,” Severus said, not wanting to go into details.

“Would you care to join us for lunch?”

“Please?” Potter added.

“Actually, I have …”

“Please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE Mr. Snape!”

Joseph was clearly amused by his grandson’s antics. Severus was not so amused, however it made him glad to see the old man enjoy himself. And there were things Severus wanted to discuss anyway; questions he wanted to ask.

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll accept your invitation for lunch.”

“Yes!” Potter cheered, doing a little dance.

“Very well,” Joseph smiled. “We usually eat around twelve, so just come over and lunch will be ready.”

“Understood.”

It was with a mixture of relief and anticipation that he watched the two leave. Relief because being around the Potter boy made him uncomfortable, and anticipation because in just a couple of hours he would have to join them for a meal. What had he gotten himself into?

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Lunch was surprisingly nice. It consisted of simple tomato soup and sandwiches, which Severus ate of eagerly as he had forgotten to eat breakfast that morning. Potter managed to both eat and chatter away, however Joseph did correct him when he got too excited, allowing them to eat in some peace at least.

“Harry, why don’t you go play outside while Mr. Snape and I take care of the dishes?” Joseph suggested when they had all finished eating.

“Alright!”

“Just don’t go too far!”

“I won’t gramps! Promise!”

As the boy ran out into the back yard Joseph stood to take the dishes to the sink. Severus stood too to help, but Joseph waved for him to sit back down.

“Sit down Severus. Let me take care of these.”

“I thought you said you wanted my help with them?”

“It was just an excuse to get some time alone. Now you can ask those questions you’ve been wanting to ask.”

“What questions?” Severus asked, surprised that the man had managed to read him so accurately. He had thought he was more discrete than that.

“You tell me, and I’ll tell you the answers.”

Despite himself Severus had to smile a little at that. He never had been able to hide much from Joseph, or his wife for that matter. Which was one of the reasons he had avoided them after the fallout between him and Lily. Speaking of it …

“Where is Daisy?” he asked.

“Dead,” Joseph replied, short and to the point. “Died last December.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Don’t be. She had cancer. Fought it for years before it finally became too much. In the end, I think it was a relief for her that it was over.”

Although Joseph was obviously trying to downplay it Severus could hear how the man’s voice had gotten a bit thicker in sadness. Severus decided to change the subject. He might try to find out more about Daisy Evans’ death later.

“How come your grandson is living with you? Is it a temporary arrangement?”

Joseph, who had been putting plates in the sink, paused for a moment before he continued, covering them with warm water.

“No, it’s no temporary arrangement. At least it’s not meant to be.”

“So how did it come about?” Severus questioned, wanting more information.

“How it came about, you say? Well, I don’t know all the details, I’ll admit that, but basically, what happened was that …”

And so Joseph began to tell the story, as Severus sat at the table and listened carefully to every word. 


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