A new home

Chapter 29

When they came home, Harry took it upon himself and recited one more time what he had done in the meeting to Albus: "we got to walk on the wooden bridge that the older ones built... we learnt a secret code... I have to do a good thing every day... and if they're all good, we'll get a treat next week...". Albus just smiled and enthusiastically replied while Severus pinched his nose. But he wouldn't complain, as long as the boy was happy. Nevertheless, he knew the house would be full of chatter on Sundays.

After lunch, it was, thankfully, peaceful. Harry napped on the couch while Severus did some research for his current project, and Albus was already making plans for the new school year "because I wouldn't want to do it on vacation the next few weeks.".


"Professor," Harry said as Severus was standing at the stove making dinner that evening.

"Yes?"

"I want to study muggle subjects."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Um, I don't know. It just seems interesting."

"Ok. What do you want to study?"

"Science and math Do you have more books, professor?"

"We'll see"

"Thank you!" Harry exclaimed happily.

Severus couldn't resist looking at the boy skipping around the kitchen. He was so much like his mother.

After dinner and Harry's bath, they came up to the library, looking for Lily's old textbooks. They had already found the Grade 6 biology book; now they found a Grade 7 math book, but that was it. Severus remembered he borrowed more than that but couldn't remember where he stored them.

"It's ok. I'll use what we have, the boy told him, happy with just two books.

"Hmm"

They walked downstairs, where Harry got a muggle notebook and a pencil, then he set up his little study area on the coffee table and sat down at Severus' feet.

After a few minutes of watching Harry, Severus thought that maybe he should do some muggle homeschooling with Harry, just with muggle subjects in the summer. The boy would be too busy during the school year, and he didn't want to teach him magic in advance in the summer only to have him not pay attention in class when school started. He would think it through later. He also needed to start planning for the summer vacation.

10 minutes before Harry's bedtime, the boy started to doze off, his head bobbing.

"Come on," Severus said as he bent down and picked Harry up.

Unconsciously, the boy wrapped an arm around the man's neck. Severus stiffened but forced himself to relax. He needed to get used to these things. He quickly changed the boy into his pull-up and laid him down.

"Goodnight, Harry"

The next morning, Severus woke up to... silence. Too silent that it made him suspicious. Some mornings, Albus would wake up very early and make tea in the kitchen. On other mornings, it would be silent too, but this silence he was experiencing was too strange, and he didn't know. Severus Snape didn't like not knowing what was going on. Nevertheless, he got out of bed and did his morning routine first. Then he came downstairs to... his whole kitchen being covered in flour, and there, at the island, was his little charge with flour in his hair, on his clothes, hands, and face. And next to the boy was...

"Old man!" he grumbled loudly as he stepped into the kitchen, and that was when he realized why the house was eerily silent: there was a silencing spell over the kitchen.

Harry squeaked and dashed away from Severus as the man stepped in.

"What did you do to my kitchen and my charge?!"

"Oh, I just thought we would make some pancakes for breakfast," Albus said.

"You know well that we have ready pancake batter, and why do pancakes need icing?" - he said as he looked around at all the ingredients and tools lying on the island surface - "Are you planning cakes for breakfast? I don't think you even know how to cook manually."