Next Chapter: You’re Magic, Too

               Harry stood behind Severus while his father talked to the principal of Saint Dalua’s Primary School about transferring documents and reviewing the curriculum to make sure Harry was caught up to where he would be in his new class. Harry was not overly excited about any of it—he didn’t want to start a new school where kids could tease him or chase him in Harry hunting games. He quite enjoyed doing his own reading and work at home, where he didn’t have to see anyone else, just Miss Trifle and sometimes Shandy and Finn. Why couldn’t he keep doing that?

               Severus pulled out a bunch of papers from a folder he was carrying and shuffled through, handing some over to the principal as he found them. Principal O’Loof was her name, and Harry so far had managed to avoid meeting her eyes, even as she smiled at him warmly when she introduced herself. Severus had scolded him a little about being rude, but O’Loof waved it off as Harry being nervous about a new school.

               She wasn’t a scary woman, she had a nice smile and seemed to radiate joy, but Harry new principals could not be trusted, and he didn’t want this one to fool him.

               Harry waited patiently while Severus was told what health records the school would need on hand, and what information he should try to find out from Harry’s old school back in Surrey. Severus nodded along and wrote everything down on the inside of the folder.

               Bored and tired of being admired by the Principal and front desk ladies in the room, Harry tapped Severus’s arm.

               “Daddy, I have to use the loo,” Harry said.

               “Okay, Harry, err, where is that?” Severus asked O’Loof.

               “Out the door, to your right, all the way down the hall.”

               “I can find it,” Harry said, stepping out of the office quickly.

               “Come right back here when you’re done,” Severus called after him.

               Harry didn’t respond. He strolled slowly down the hall toward the bathroom, admiring the fifth graders’ paintings on the wall. There were several self-portraits, then a couple animal ones, and Harry took a moment to admire a lion. He wondered if he would be taught how to paint like that. Harry turned left at the end of the hall, passing the restroom in favor of following more paintings done by other grades. There were flowers and dragonflies and landscapes, then there was even a dragon painting.

               Harry then found the art classroom, where a class was working on shaping clay. Harry could see one girl turning her clay lump into a bunny.

               The sound of laughter caught his ear next, and Harry followed, passing a few other classes to a classroom with the door shut. He pushed o his tiptoes and peered through the window. Inside, a classroom was standing around an open space, one child was on a ladder smiling while the teacher explained why his contraption did not protect the egg that had been dropped to the floor. A few other kids were waiting to climb on the ladder and test their strangely protected egg. Harry smiled as he watched the next student drop their egg protected by a few balloons, which floated safely to the ground.

               Harry wondered what kind of lessons the kids could be learning from classes like these, and he moved on to another classroom where older students began cheering as the teacher took a soda can off a burner and dipped it in a shallow dish of water.

               Harry gasped as the can crushed itself.

               “Wow,” he said.

               “Hey, kid!”

               Harry jumped and turned around, stepping away from the door. A red-haired boy his age glared at him as he held up a wooden hall pass.

               “Where’s yours?” the boy asked.

               “Err . . .” Harry hesitated.

               “Anyone who doesn’t have a hall pass gets detention,” the boy said, crossing his arms.

               “He’s with me,” another blue-eyed boy said, running up to Harry and throwing an arm around his shoulder as if they had been friends for ages. “I was showing him around. Obviously, he’s new and doesn’t know all the rules.”

               “You’re late.” The redhead pointed an accusatory finger at the blue-eyed boy.

               “Doctor’s note,” the other kid said, holding up a slip of paper. “That beats a hall pass. And you only have five minutes for bathroom breaks. You better wrap yours up, Moloney. Don’t want Mrs. Pluckley to think you’ve had an accident.”

               “Whatever, Fowey,” the redhead said, turning away haughtily and walking back the way he had come.  

Harry sighed and looked at the kid who had come to his rescue.

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“I remember you,” the kid smiled. “You were that lion. Harry, right?”

Harry’s eyes widened as the kid’s face clicked in his memory. He’d remember that dark, curly-haired boy anywhere.

“You were the red panda,” Harry said. “Ollie!”

“Nice seeing you again,” Ollie said. “You coming to school here, now?”

“My dad and I just moved here,” Harry said. “He bought a new house that’s close to the school and my grandparents’ estate.”

“Cool. I live just on the border of town. My mam said I had the choice of going to two different schools when I started, but Dad wanted me to go to this one. I like it. You will, too.”

“I don’t know,” Harry said, shuffling his feet. “Is that kid going to be in my class?”

“You mean Eamon Moloney? Don’t let him get to you. He’d run crying from your bunny if he saw it.”

Harry laughed at that.

“Are you joining Mrs. Pluckley’s class? You’ll be with me, too.”

“Really?” Harry’s eyes brightened. “I think Principal O’Loof mentioned that name.”

“I’ll save you a seat. When are you starting?”

“I guess whenever Dad gets all the paperwork in. I didn’t think there’d be so much of it.”

“Adults make everything complicated. Want to see our classroom?”

“Sure.”

               “Follow me.”

               Harry chased Ollie down a couple corridors to a small classroom where thirteen other kids were sitting in seats quietly working on what Harry guessed was a writing assignment or test. Mrs. Pluckley was a middle-aged woman who looked like she was expecting any minute now. She walked between rows of chairs to observe the progress of each student. Moloney was putting the hall pass on her desk and moving to his own seat.

               “Watch this,” Ollie whispered. He stared intently at Moloney’s chair.

               As Moloney went to sit down, the chair slid back, and the redhead fell to the floor, catching everyone’s attention. While Mrs. Pluckley ran over to him to help him up, some of the kids muffled their snorts and laughs and focused back on their test. Ollie smirked while Harry gasped.   

               “You used magic!” he whispered.

               “Whatever you want to call it,” Ollie shrugged. “But keep it to yourself, okay? I get enough weird looks around here.”

               “I wouldn’t do that. I have it, too.”

               “You can move things with your mind?”

               “Well, I’ve never really tried to do that. But I can teleport if I run really fast.”

               “Really? Show me.”

               “Let’s go outside. I’m not really supposed to do it where others could see.”

               Ollie showed Harry how to get outside through the back doors, where a path led to the closed in playground. Harry stepped away and kneeled a few paces away from Ollie. Harry imagined teleporting to the playground while getting a good look at it, then ran straight as fast as he could. He felt his magic tingling around him, and then the weird sensation of being pulled by his navel into a tight tube caught his breath for a second, and just as quickly as it happened, it stopped.

               However, he realized he wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be.

               “Err, Ollie?” Harry called, peering over the school roof.

               Ollie looked up, his mouth dropping. He smiled.

               “That was amazing! How did you do that?”

               “I don’t know. It just kind of happens if I run really fast. I didn’t mean to end up here though.”

               “Still cool. Can you get down?”

               Harry looked around the steep sloped roof. He was sitting on the edge, and he did not think he could stand up safely.

               “There’s not a lot of room to run. I might slip too. But that’s magic. I’m a wizard, like my dad.”

               “My parents aren’t wizards.”

               “Dad says there are people born with magic to non-magic people. Muggleborns, I think.”

               “I can’t wait to tell Mam and Dad! They’ll be so happy to meet someone like me.”               

               “Could you help me get down, maybe? If you can move things, could you move me?”

               “I don’t know,” Ollie said. He frowned and studied the distance from the roof to the ground. “I’ve never tried moving a person before. I feel like I might drop you.”

               “Mister Oliver Fowey!” O’Loof snapped as she walked outside the school. Severus followed her out. “What are you doing outside the school? You were supposed to go straight to class.”

               “Principal O’Loof.” Ollie smiled nervously. “Err, lovely day, isn’t it?”

               “I remember you,” Severus said, eyeing the young boy. “You wouldn’t happen to know where my son is, do you?”

               “Well . . .” Ollie’s eyes trailed upward.

               Severus frowned and followed the boy’s glance, his eyes widening. O’Loof looked up as well and her jaw dropped.

               “Oh my goodness!” she said. “How did . . .?”  

               “How in Merlin’s name did you get up there?” Severus asked, his hands on his hips.

               “I was showing Ollie something and . . . it was an accident,” Harry said.

               “What could you have possibly been showing him?”

               Harry hummed in thought before saying, “Muggleborn.”

               Severus glanced back at Ollie, who smiled innocently up at him, then back at Harry. He realized what the two were most likely doing and sighed.

               “What did he say?” O’Loof asked.

               “It’s a game he likes to play,” Severus answered quickly. “Like hide and seek. But I can assure you, this is the first time he’s ever done something like this, and it will not happen again.” Severus glared at Harry, who swallowed visibly.

               “I’ll call the fire department,” O’Loof said, heading for the door.

               “No need,” Severus said as he discreetly waved his hand behind his back and transfigured a fallen tree branch into a ladder. Ollie gasped at the use of magic and he smiled. Severus winked at him before stepping aside to let the principal see. “We could use this one here.”

               “I didn’t even realize it was there. It could have bitten me. I’ll help you set it up.”

               Severus and O’Loof picked up the ladder and leaned it against the school. With encouragement from Severus, Harry slowly scooted forward and slid onto the ladder, working his way down with the two adults keeping the ladder still for him. On flat ground now, the ladder was set down and Severus checked Harry over.

               “Are you okay?” he asked. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

               “I’m okay,” Harry said. “I was just showing him.”

               “How to play, right?” Severus said, raising a bow. He looked between the two. “Games like that can be very dangerous when you’re not in the direct supervision of an adult, your parents especially. And you shouldn’t be playing them somewhere like school, when you should be in class, is that clear?”

               “Yes, sir,” Ollie said, understanding what game was used in place of.

               “Yes, Daddy,” Harry said at the same time as Ollie spoke.

               “Well,” O’Loof said with a smile, “it seems like you’ve taken care of that nicely. I see no reason for any further discipline. Looks like we’ll have another troublemaker at the school, won’t we, Mr. Fowey?”

               “I try my best,” Ollie said.

               “I know. Back to class with you. And Mr. Snape, we will see you in class soon. Your father will hear from us when we have everything transferred over.”

               “Yes, ma’am,” Harry said, “Hey, Dad, can Ollie come over sometime?”

               Ollie looked up hopefully at Severus.

               “That will be up to his parents. We will have to see.”

               “Okay. Bye, Ollie!”

               “Bye, Harry. It was nice seeing you again.”

               Ollie followed the principal back inside while Severus led Harry around the school and to a secluded place where he could apparate.

               “What exactly were you showing Ollie how to do?” Severus asked.

               “I was trying to teleport to the park. I’m good at that.”

               “I see. It’s called apparition, Harry. And it is a very dangerous kind of magic that could splinch you.”

               “What’s that mean?”

               “If you’re not careful, you could leave behind a part of your body. And then you’d be bleeding somewhere with no arm or leg. I don’t want that to happen and I not be around to heal you from it.”

               “But I’ve done this a lot. I’ve never had a problem before.”

               “But you are still very young, and your magic is still growing, just like you are. You’ve been very lucky, and your magic is strong, but I do not want you to apparate anymore without direct supervision and even then, only in emergency situations.”

               “But I can . . .”

               “Harry,” Severus said, looking down at him. “I am very serious about that. I better not here about any more “teleporting” or you’ll get a couple swats on that rear end of yours. I understand you’ve used that kind of magic successfully many times before, but there’s always that what if, and I’d like to be safe rather than sorry. Okay?”

               “Okay.”

               “No more.”

               No more,” Harry agreed.  

He took Harry to a muggle clothing store to find the right uniform, a red jumper, black trousers, and black socks and shoes. Severus had Harry try on a few styles before deciding on one he like best and then buying several of the jumpers and trousers. Severus then took Harry to their new house to settle in.

               It was a small but modernized dormer bungalow, and while Severus did not really appreciate the low ceilings on the second floor, he did not have to slouch, and he didn’t hit his head. Out of the eight houses he had looked at that day with the witch salesperson, this one was not too big, but not too small. It had had a recent update in the kitchen and the bathrooms, and the two bedrooms had fresh paint. The property was also the only one with a decent backyard that was fenced in, and tall hedges offered privacy from any prying neighbors. The floo network was already connected, and there were basic protective wards around the property.

               The kitchen, living room, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a mud room made up the first floor, while the two bedrooms and a bathroom took up the small space in the upstairs. Despite its small size, it was a perfect living space for a family that would spend most of their time either at work or school, and then at MacAuley estate. Severus was sure they would be visiting there a lot, so the house he bought had no reason to be any larger than what he had found.

               Severus helped Harry put away his new clothes, being careful to avoid stepping on the rabbit jumping around their feet. Harry paused to play footsies with Miss Trifle, and she eagerly chased his feet as he danced around the room. Severus snorted and finished up with Harry’s clothes, folding up the last of the trousers and setting them in Harry’s wardrobe.

               While Harry played with the rabbit, Severus headed downstairs to review the job description of the Brewer of the Hospital that Saint Mungo’s was looking for. He thought carefully about graduates from Hogwarts that might be worth partnering with. He had a met a few students who showed true passion for potion brewing.

               An owl flew up to his kitchen window and pecked at it until Severus opened it for the bird. It handed him the evening edition of the wizarding paper, and Severus accepted it and gave the bird a knut for payment.

               On the front page was a picture of his Azkaban picture once again, and the words: Ex-Death Eater is Granted Adoption of the Boy-Who-Lived.

               Severus sneered at the paper. Didn’t the wizarding world have anything else to talk about this week? How long would he keep seeing his name and his face in the paper. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from straying to the commentators on the side, where journalists wrote their harsh opinions, and he read how the world must have gone to hell with this outcome. He rubbed his temples. Maybe the world had gone to hell, but it was a hell he sure enjoyed.

               He thought back to the fairy in stone with the horcrux. He had managed to find a few old tomes on dark magic at Spinner’s End, which he had made a quick stop at before house hunting. When that house was cleared out, he would clean it up and sell it. For now, there was too much there that needed to be dealt with. And books on dark arts was one of the many things. He would read through the books later to see if there was anything on the destruction of horcruxes and a way to separate such a thing from the object it hosted. Clearly, the fairy found a way to remove it from Harry, but it still lived on. It had to be destroyed.

               Ad did this mean that the Dark Lord had more out there? Severus was sure the crazed leader had not meant to turn Harry into a horcrux, but no soul split that easily unless it had been split before and was already unstable. There had to be more out there, but where would the Dark Lord have hid them all?

While he was lost in thought, the doorbell rang. Surprised it even worked, Severus went over and opened the front door.

               “Hello, Mr. Snape,” a couple said outside his door, two children standing in front of them. “We’re the Foweys.”

               “Ah, yes,” Severus said, looking down at Ollie, who smiled cheekily up at him. “You have the troublemaker.”

               “So we hear,” Mrs. Fowey said, smiling down at her oldest son. “He’s such a good boy at home, it’s hard to believe sometimes. We brought you sausage penne marinara. As a welcome to the neighborhood.”

               “I don’t believe you’re from this neighborhood,” Severus said, frowning at the couple even as he accepted the dish.

               “No, we’re about a half hour drive away,” Mr. Fowey said, “but Ollie hasn’t stopped talking about you and Harry since he came home from school and we’re actually friends with someone in this neighborhood who could tell us about who bought it. They said they brought you a fruit basket?”

               “Right,” Severus said, though he still couldn’t think of which neighbor that was. Everyone thus far had brought him some kind of basket or dinner dish.

               “I’m Owen, by the way,” Mr. Fowey said. “This is my wife, Ciara. And you’ve met Oliver, and this is Cian.”

               “Everyone calls me Ollie,” Ollie said.

               “Except when you’re in trouble,” Owen added.

               “Yeah,” Ollie agreed.

               “My name is Severus,” Severus said. “And Harry is upstairs at the moment moving in to his new bedroom. Please come in. We can dig into this pasta.”

               “We wouldn’t want to intrude,” Ciara said. “We did make it for you and Harry after all.”

               “And you expect us to eat all this food by ourselves? I’ve gotten enough for an army. Come in, I insist.”

               Owen motioned to everyone to head inside and the two boys ran ahead happily, only slowing down at their mother’s cautioning.

               “Harry,” Severus called, “come downstairs, we have guests.”

               Harry came trampling down the stairs with Miss Trifle hopping at his side.

               “Ollie!” Harry exclaimed, running over to Ollie, who took quick interest in the rabbit. While the two boys were introduced to Miss Trifle, Owen and Ciara helped Severus set up for dinner.

               “This truly is a lovely house,” Ciara said. “You could fill the walls with pictures, maybe have some vases here and there, and it would be perfect.”

               “Honey, let Mr. Snape decorate his house as he pleases,” Owen said. He quirked a brow at Severus. “Be careful she don’t rope you in to letting her design the inside of your house. You’ll regret it.”

               “Stop it.” Ciara swatted at her husband.

               “I’m sure it would look nicer than I could ever make it,” Severus said as he heated up the dish in the oven, then pulled dishes out of the cupboard. “I’m a man of very simple test.”

               “This is interesting,” Owen said, picking up the paper Severs had left on the table. “The paper is so old, yet it’s dated today. Is that picture moving?”            

               “It’s the wizarding world’s newspaper.” Severus took the paper from Owen before he could really look at the face or question the headline. “Which we need to discuss, considering your son is a muggleborns wizard.”

               “Ollie was talking about that today as well,” Ciara said. “We always knew he was special. We just never realized how much so or that there was a whole world for him out there.”

               “He always struggled in school with making friends,” Owen said sadly, glancing at his oldest. “He’d always find someone new to hang out with, and then he’d come home crying one day saying how he scared off his new friend because he’d accidentally make something move. Recently, he’s been keeping to himself more, focusing on how he can make bigger things move. It’s getting him into quite the trouble at school. I think Harry’s really going to help him open back up and maybe even rein him in some.”

               “Harry is still learning what is acceptable and what’s not,” Severus said. “I’m hoping they don’t team up and cause double the trouble at school.”

               “He ended up on the roof by teleporting?”

               “It’s called apparition,” Severus said. “And he had a stern talking to about that. He is quite skilled at his age to do something only adult wizards are trained to do, but it is a dangerous kind of magic that could end with him missing an arm or leg. Or a head. He’s been lucky so far, but you of course understand that I don’t want him to get hurt. He’s not allowed to do that kind of magic unless it’s an emergency.”

               “Oh no, we understand,” Ciara said. “What about what Ollie does? Moving things?”

               “All kids have spurts of accidental magic. And some learn to even control some of their magic at a young age. Moving objects is preferable to apparating, and as long as he’s not using it for trouble or hurting himself, it’s good to let kids explore their magic. After all, he’ll be attending a magical boarding school when he turns eleven.”       

               “Really?” Owen asked, a proud smile gracing his lips. “He’ll love that. Same school as Harry I assume?”

               “I’m not sure. You’re welcome to send him to the school of your choice. He’ll get invitation letters as soon as he turns eleven. All you have to do is accept one of the schools.”

               Severus explained the different schools in the area, giving detail on how each school worked and what the major differences between them were. He described the wizarding world, how it was hidden from the muggle world (he had to explain what muggles were), and how it had to remain secret from all other muggles besides the parents or muggleborns. When the couple asked how their child was born with magic, Severus then had to explore how someone in either Owen’s or Ciara’s family had been a witch or wizard probably generations back, and that one of them had the recessive gene for a magical offspring.

               When the dinner had been thoroughly warmed, Severus had all three kids wash their hands since they had been petting the rabbit. Ollie helped Cian reach the water and put soap in his hands.

They joined the adults at the table for dinner. Harry and Ollie chattered away and shared stories of some of their accidental magic accidents. Harry told Ollie how he had grown back his hair overnight after his aunt had shaved it all off, and Ollie told the story of how he had moved is crib to the other side of the room when he was still just a baby. His parents confirmed the story, and even Severus was impressed.

Harry then told Ollie all about Hogwarts, or what Harry knew of it, at least. Severus added in small details Harry didn’t know when Ollie asked a question. Ollie was excited to hear about a magic school for kids just like him. While the kids talked and the adults listened to learn as well, Severus made a point of controlled magic by starting a fire in the fireplace and serving tea with magical aide, earning awes from everyone, save Harry, who had grown used to magic flying all about him.

               Finally, the Fowey’s were ready to leave, and they thanked Severus for sharing the dinner and told him that anytime Harry wanted to visit, he was more than welcome to. Severus said the same for Ollie, and the family left.

               “Daddy, when do I get to start school?” Harry asked after everyone had left.

               “Now you’re excited to start?” Severus ruffled Harry’s hair. “When all the paperwork is in and approved, you will begin school. That may be a few days, a week, who knows?”

               “I want to start tomorrow,” Harry pouted, sitting in the chair.  

               “I know, and Ollie isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be there when you start, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them again soon, anyway.”

               “Aww.” Harry slouched in his seat in defeat.

               “Sit up. Would you like to read with me now or go to bed early tonight? You’ve had a busy day.”

               “I’m not tired.” Harry crossed his arms.

               “Right.” Severus could feel Harry’s exhaustion radiating off him in waves. They had been all over the place looking for a house then getting Harry set for school. “So, what book shall it be tonight?”

               Harry pulled out one of the Serendipity books, Buttermilk, a story about a bunny and a bear who wanted to be friends, but whose parents would not allow it. Severus found the topic ironic but said nothing as he sat down with Harry to read the story. Harry slowly fell asleep before the book was finished. Severus set the book aside, but he didn’t move right away. He sat in the chair with Harry, rocking his child slightly.

               His mind strayed to the paper, and he hoped the media died down soon on the topic of who now parented the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry didn’t need that kind of attention, and Severus certainly didn’t want it. He was glad Harry was settling into a life with him so easily, and glad that he had found a friend at school to study with and play with. And cause trouble with. Severus snorted at that thought. Maybe they would be okay. They survived the chaos this far.

               Severus lifted Harry and carried him to his bed, herding the rabbit up the stairs with his feet. He laid Harry on his bed, covering him with a blanket. He pushed the rabbit into her now extra-large cage and shut the door, checking to make sure she had plenty of water and food in her bowls.

               Miss Trifle plopped down in her hay, lying on her belly with her legs stretched out. A yawn escaped her mouth before she dropped her head.

               “Spoiled rabbit,” Severus muttered. “Just like your owner.”

               Severus sat on the edge of Harry’s bed, running a hand through Harry’s hair before leaning down and kissing Harry’s temple, running a finger over the morphed scar.

               “Goodnight, son,” Severus said, turning out the lights and leaving Harry to his peaceful slumber.