A week had gone by and Potter had resumed to his studies, thanks to Snape he wasn’t behind, though they fought daily about it. The students were getting ready to head home, though Snape had kept an eye on the boy, making sure he didn’t run off to get on the train. Even Albus was keeping an eye out for him.
“I really appreciate you doing this Severus”.
The headmaster said with a cheery tone and Snape rolled his eyes, “yes, and I’m delighted”. The headmaster could hear the sarcasm leaking out of Snape's comment, “come now child, you don’t have to take it too harshly”.
“I’m not, and I’m not a child!”
Snape threw back his words as he realized how childish he sounded, but that earned a good chuckle from the headmaster, “you’ll be fine my boy, but if you’ve got any problems just let me know, I won’t be far away”. With that, the headmaster was gone, leaving Snape to wonder why he was even born.
Potter was by his side after two hours had gone by, “what took you so long?” Snape snarled at the boy and Potter sighed, “just saying goodbye to my good friends before I die”.
“Oh get over yourself Potter, come along”.
Snape turned and began striding over to the end of the platform, the boy threw him a confused look.
“What’re we –“.
“Apparating, the fastest way to get home, hold onto me”.
“Not in a million –“.
Snape grasped the boy's arm and closed his eyes. Both felt the pull on their navel as hey were swept through to Snape Manor. He didn’t wait for the boy's reaction, Snape pushed the boy side, “I've got your room ready, you can sulk up there for a bit”. Snape felt powerful once they were in his house. He watched Potter trudge up the stairs.
•
It wasn't until three hours later did he hear the door to the boy's room open. Snape sighed and put his cup down.
“I’d watch the middle step Potter, it’s rather –“.
There was a scream and loud banging that followed. Snape sprung up from the seat and rushed into the hallway, only to keep himself from laughing, he attempted to scowl at the boy, “are you going to watch where you’re going? You’ve got your eyesight back now!”
“I’m sorry for doing a graceful fall down the steps, probably the best thing that could happen in this house”.
He wasn’t far off with that, Snape had to give a point to him. “Come on, I’ve got afternoon tea served up and no, it’s not noodles”, Snape quickly added in.
They sat quietly, Harry was sipping his coffee, which was starting to irritate Snape. The boy was picking at his food, “um, I’m pretty full now sir”.
“Full? You haven’t eaten a bit”.
Snape leaned forward as he looked down at Potters plate, it was true, the boy hadn’t touched the plate at all, “I’m really not that hungry”.
“Eat”.
“What? But I just said that –“.
“I said eat, you’re not going to be underfed, now eat”.
“So I can eat now?”
“Yes, of course, you can, why are you asking –“.
Snape then realized something, the Dursleys, they must’ve restricted him to the amount of food that he received, he cleared his throat, “you can eat, you’ll be fine, you can eat whenever you can”, he tried his best to put on a soothing voice. The boy was hesitant but then began eating to Snapes' relief.
He had finished off the food so fast that Snape was sure that the boy would puke, “you feeling alright now?”
“Yeah”.
“I’d say you’ve got some homework to do over the holidays as well am I right?”
The boy nodded, but refused to look at the professor. Snape mentally sighed, he has to ask more of the boy later on in the day. “We’ll be going out soon”, Snape said, he jus had to buy a few more Potions for the class. But the boy shook his head, “I don’t want to go”.
“And why do you think you can’t go?”
“Because I don’t want to”.
“You’re coming with me and that’s final”.
“You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my father”.
Snape felt like he had been slapped one hundred times, of course, he wasn’t the boy's father, but he was under his roof, and the sudden change of attitude had shocked the older man to no extent.
“I may not be your father, but you’re under my supervision, you’re in my home, you do as you’re told. When you turn of age you can do whatever you want”.
Snape eyed the boy off who looked rather peeved off, “fine, but don’t take so long”, Snape couldn’t help but sneer at the boy, “don’t be stupid Potter, I can take as long as I want”.
It was about an hour later that they had to leave, Snape had put on his usual cloak and made sure the boy was in his sight, making sure he wouldn’t run away. They reached the potion ingredients store in no less than seconds. “Don’t go too far”, Snape hissed to the boy, who rolled his eyes before moving further into the shop. Snape had made his way down the aisle, though he was looking for the ingredients, his eyes wandered over to the boy, who was in the next isle, he could just see him through the bottles. “I don’t want you touching anything you hear me”, Snape said. The boy sighed and returned the glare through the shelves, “I’m not gonna destroy anything”.
“Well, we can’t be so sure”.
Snape had collected what he needed before going to the counter, the cashier gave him a smile, she was tall with long brown hair. He only smirked at her, feeling Potters presence next to him.
They were on the street now, “you like her don’t you?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“That girl in the shop, you have the hots for her”.
“Watch your mouth Potter”.
“But it’s true, you’re moving on from my mom, aren’t you? Just because she’s dead!”
Snape took a threatening step to the boy, startling him, “don’t you dare say that!” The boy smirked at him, “I can say whatever I –“. Snape couldn’t believe he had hit the boy, he watched in trepidation as the boy put his hands up to sooth his, now red, cheek.
“You hit me”.
“You deserved that one”.
Snape wanted to mentally slap himself, the boy looked away from him, ignoring Snape all the way home. Snape was alright with that, he didn’t want to talk to the boy, not when he as showing such rude behavior and no, he wasn’t going to assume it was the Dursley's doing. The boy could clearly control himself and he chose to act like a little brat. Snape roughly placed the ingredients in his bag, ready for use next time. The boy had rushed upstairs, not even blinking an eye at the professor. If the boy wanted dinner then he will have to come down.
Dinner was served, but the boy hadn’t returned from the room, so Snape decided to check up on him. He slowly made his way up the stairs, making sure he wouldn’t trip over. He could hear the boy talking, chuckling as well.
“I know, he’s a strange man, I wonder what he saw in my mom”.
Who on earth was he talking to, certainly not the house elf, she was down at the kitchen. He quietly moved over to see where the boy was. He was in the old room that Severus never used, and he was talking to the grandfather clock, well maybe not to the clock, the little bird that lived inside. His voice was muffled, but he could still hear him.
“I bet mom would’ve loved him, but what would’ve happened to me if she ended up marrying that greasy git?”
Why did everyon have a thing for his hair, it was greasy! Snape rolled his eyes at the comment. “You think I wouldn’t be born? I’d say I wouldn’t be born... But what would I look like if I was born? Man, I would have his hair, oh god that’s gonna kill –“.
“Are you done?”
Snape had pushed the door open, startling the boy. The anger wasn’t there anymore, but Snape still didn’t want to have any further conversation with the boy. True he shouldn’t have hit him, but showing such disrespect to an adult can mean so much.
“Dinners ready”.
Snape turned and began walking back downstairs, almost tripping over the middle step, he cursed silently but kept his composure, as the boy appeared at the top of the stairs.
They were silent, only the sounds of the knives and forks could be heard. “Someone is coming over tomorrow –“.
“And you want me to hide away in my room, pretending that I don’t exist?”
“What?”
Snape was quite shocked after hearing this, and the boy looked up from his plate, “don’t worry about it, I’m pretty good at –“.
“No, you can be there if you want, though we’ll just be discussing some things, I was wondering what you were going to do”.
“Oh I wasn’t going to do much I guess”.
“Is that what they told you to do?”
“Pardon?”
“The Dursleys, did they make you hide in your room because –“.
The boy dropped the knife and fork and rushed out of the room, leaving Snape rather surprised.
Heal by TinkerTailor
Chapter 5