Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Normal Kids
Harry found himself being able to escape to the park many times that summer, and being stopped at Gary’s house more than once. Did the man not have a job? He always seemed to be home. If he had been married then Harry might have assumed him to be a househusband as Aunt Petunia was a housewife. While Uncle Vernon was at work, she was to clean the house, tend to the garden, cook the meals, that sort of thing. Kind of strange that Harry was usually the one who actually did those things. Did that make him like a housenephew or something?

Gary wasn’t married, though. Harry was pretty sure he lived alone, anyway. No one else was ever around and he seemed to have plenty of time to spend talking to Harry.

Harry was a little bit annoyed about this at first, but Gary was… nice. To him. Harry. Harry had met plenty of nice people before, but they certainly hadn’t been nice to him. It was a bit strange to meet someone who didn’t immediately assume him to be a juvenile delinquent in the making.

Gary also seemed extremely concerned that Harry would soon fall over any moment from dehydration, (as if Harry wasn’t an expert at managing without food or water for long periods of time) and so eventually Harry came inside the house for that drink.

It was a house just like any other in Little Whinging, though he did notice the absence of a cupboard under the stairs. That automatically made Gary’s house much nicer than the Dursley’s, in Harry’s opinion.

He had been a little concerned that the drink would be a drink drink, which he wasn’t sure if he would like to try or not, but he didn’t have to worry about the choice for long as he was handed a Strawberry Kiwi flavored Capri-Sun.

“Do you often have ten year olds visit?” Harry asked as he unwrapped the straw and poked it in the hole. He and Gary both sat on stools at the kitchen island.

Gary glanced at him, a bit of surprise evident on his features. “No, why?”

“Because you have kid drinks in the fridge,” Harry said, raising the Capri-Sun pouch up in the air. Gary laughed.

“Actually, I tend to like Capri-Suns myself, even if they are considered a ‘kid drink’,” he said, taking another out of the fridge for himself. For as much as he may have liked them, though, he seemed to struggle with the straw.

“Here, let me,” Harry said, taking it and maneuvering the straw through the hole. He had done as much for Dudley many times. This was one of the few times he had actually tasted the drink for himself, though, and the first for this particular flavor, and he found that he quite liked it.

“Why, thank you!” Gary said, smiling. Harry smiled back.

Gary slurped from the straw, but he didn’t seem to be very good at that, either, as juice sprayed everywhere. Harry couldn’t help himself, he giggled at the sight.

Gary glared at him playfully. “Okay, okay, maybe I don’t drink them all that often.”

Harry pulled a paper towel off the rack sitting on the counter and handed it to Gary. “Sorry,” he said, biting his lip. “I guess it’s not that funny.”

Gary shrugged, wiping the juice off himself. “It’s fine. You don’t seem like the kind of kid that laughs very often, anyway.”

“I suppose not… but it’s still not nice to laugh at people.”

“You sound as though you have experience in that department?”

“I guess.”

“You know, Harry,” Gary said, resting his arms on the counter and looking at Harry intently. “It sometimes helps to talk about things.”

“Does it?” Harry asked absently, glancing around the kitchen. It wasn’t anything special, really, but still it was somehow nicer than the Dursleys. Maybe it was simply the absence of the Dursleys themselves.

“It does. When I find myself troubled by something-”

“What’s there to talk about?” Harry asked defensively, suddenly catching up with the conversation.

Gary held up his hands. “All I mean is, it just seems like you may be a bit underappreciated by your family.”

Harry scoffed. “I think one’s presence has to be appreciated at least a little bit in order to be underappreciated.”

“You don’t get along?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, feeling self-conscious with this line of conversation. But he’d never made any attempt to lie about the Dursleys before, (then again, no one had ever cared enough to ask before) and there was no reason to sugarcoat it now. “I dunno. I mean, they don’t like me. At all. They… Well, they say that I’m a bad kid. Like, really bad.”

“That’s an awful thing to say, especially since it isn’t true. I think you’re a good kid, Harry.”

“Really?” Harry asked, hating how small and pathetic his voice sounded just then.

“Really,” Gary confirmed.

A good kid. Harry couldn’t remember a time in his life where anyone had said such a thing to him. He was a nasty boy, a delinquent, not a good kid, never a good kid.

But Gary thought he was a good kid. Despite his relatives, someone thought that he wasn’t so bad. Good, even.

I’m a good kid, I’m a good kid, the idiom echoed through his mind. He just barely prevented himself from repeating it outloud. Instead, he smiled at his host and went back to sipping his Capri-Sun, feeling fairly good about himself.

***

“Your birthday present,” Aunt Petunia sniffed in her typical snooty fashion, handing Harry a coat hanger. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expected to do with it, but he accepted it anyway. It was one of his better birthday presents, after all. Last year it had been an old pair of Uncle Vernon’s socks.

Harry thought that he would prefer for them not to acknowledge his birthday at all.

But, at least he was also granted the courtesy of being left alone for the better part of the day. After he had finished washing the breakfast dishes, he went outside and headed towards his usual destination. But it was officially the hottest day of the year, and he found himself slowing his pace once he’d reached Gary’s house. He was sweating already and didn’t really feel like spending his birthday at the park. But he had only been inside the house once, and that was by invitation. Who was to say that Gary actually wanted some kid around now? Still, he seemed to enjoy Harry’s company and Harry had enjoyed being there…

He hesitated only a moment longer before knocking on the door. It opened almost instantly.

“Hey, kid!” Gary greeted him with a grin. “What’s up?”

Harry shrugged. “Nothin’ much.”

“Well, come on in,” said Gary, still smiling. He led Harry into the sitting room and gestured for him to sit on the couch.

He handed him the television remote before going into the kitchen for something to drink. “I don’t have cable, but I pick up Children’s BBC,” he threw over his shoulder. “Although I think Danger Mouse is on ITV right now.”

Harry just looked at the buttons on the remote for a moment before slowly pressing the red power button. He’d never used the telly much, only on a few rare occasions when his aunt and uncle left him home alone when they went out to do something even more fun than usual with Dudley, something that would surely be spoiled should Harry be allowed to come along. He was left with strict instructions not to use the television of course, but well, Harry had never been all that great with following the rules.

He flipped through the channels, having no idea what number CBBC or ITV was. He stopped when he saw a white mouse with an eye patch. He’d never watched this one before as Dudley didn’t like it, but he’d seen some kids at school wearing t-shirts with the mouse on it.

Gary came back into the room and handed him a Capri-Sun before leaving again. Harry thanked him and unwrapped the straw. He took a few sips before setting it down and laying his head down on the armrest, watching the weird mouse on the telly. His eyes were just starting to flutter when he sensed Gary sitting down beside him.

"You seem upset,” the man observed. “What’s got you down?” Harry half-shrugged with the shoulder facing away from the armrest.

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that,” Gary said, pushing him lightly in the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Well…” Harry started slowly, “today is my birthday.”

“Oh? And that makes you sad?”

Harry sighed and sat up. “Not really. Kind of. I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter to me. Or to my aunt and uncle, obviously. It doesn’t bother me that much, but… it would be kind of nice if they acknowledged it. I mean, with more than a pair of old socks or a coat hanger, anyway.”

“That’s what they gave you for your birthday?” asked Gary, sounding horrified.

Harry nodded. “Well, the socks were last year. Just a coat hanger this year.”

“That is… deplorable. I’m sorry they treat you like that, bud.”

“It’s fine…”

“It’s really not. Actually, I was hoping you would mention your birthday sometime. You said that you were nearly ten, which with some kids that could mean November, honestly, but I took a chance and got you something.” He stood up and went beyond the door Harry assumed to be his bedroom for a moment, returning with a box wrapped in blue paper. Harry stared at it, dumbstruck.

“You… you got me a present?”

“It’s nothing special, don’t get too excited,” Gary laughed, holding it out towards him.

Harry had never had a real birthday gift, not that he could remember, anyway, so he didn’t have very high expectations for this not to be some kind of joke. But… just the idea that someone, someone who barely knew him at that, had gotten him a gift… it was more than his guardians had ever done for him.

He reached out for the box, and with trembling fingers, began to gently unwrap it. He lifted up the bits of tape, being careful not to rip the paper and not even sure as to why. Dudley would have had the paper torn to pieces and thrown across the room by now, and the gift inside destroyed, stored away in his second bedroom in the time it took Harry just to get to the brown box. He opened the box to reveal a teddy bear.

He admired the plush toy, transfixed by it’s soft brown fur, tiny button nose and eyes. He thought that this might should feel weird, but it was… it was everything he had ever wanted. Not literally, but… he simply could not remember a time in his life where someone had cared about him enough to get him something so basic and so unnecessary and so precious. It wasn’t a destroyed hand-me-down, a leftover from a child before him… it had been purchased with him and only him in mind.

“I know that it’s a bit of a childish gift, but… I thought that you might like it,” Gary said softly, sitting down on the couch next to him again. “Harry, I know that things aren’t great for you at home, and I want you to know that you’re welcome here anytime.”

Weird, Harry had never been welcome anywhere before. He wasn’t even welcome where he lived. He couldn’t even be considered a guest, because guests were at least invited. He nodded silently, not knowing the words to vocalize even if he had the confidence that he was still able to open his mouth and speak them.

Gary stood and ruffled his hair before going into the kitchen to prepare something for lunch, he said.

A real gift and something to eat, Harry thought absently. Kind of like a normal birthday for a normal kid.

***

It wasn’t too difficult to smuggle the birthday gift into his cupboard without being noticed, as he tucked it into the top of his trousers and hid it under his shirt. Sometimes having oversized clothes was a good thing.

He stuffed the teddy bear under his cot. He was way too old for such a thing. What did it matter if it was something he had always wanted? Ha, how pathetic was it that his first real birthday present came from his neighbor that he barely even knew…

He lay down on the cot and stared at the bottom of the steps. God, how he hated those steps. Dudley made a point of stomping on them while Harry was locked in during a punishment, knocking dust down into his eyes. Normal kids didn’t have to deal with that sort of thing. Normal kids had bedrooms above the stairs, with dust-free ceilings they didn’t hit their head on when they sat up in bed. Normal kids were afraid of the dark, not accustomed to it. Normal kids had families who cared about their wellbeing.

Normal kids probably didn’t receive gifts from near strangers and have it be the most valuable thing they’d ever owned.

Harry rolled over onto his side and grabbed the teddy bear out from under the cot, resting its head under his chin and back against his chest. So what if it was a little weird? Harry’s entire existence was weird. Having one little thing to call his own could hardly be considered a bad thing.
Chapter End Notes:
I swear Severus will make his appearance soon... sort of... well, I have most of the next two chapters written, and I currently have him coming in at chapter 5, so... it won't be too long until I *post* his appearance, I mean XD. The way I have it planned right now, there will be 10 chapters. 1-5 is in Harry's POV and the rest will likely be solely in Severus' POV.

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