As Potter is to Snape

Chapter 11

McGonagall smiled and Harry thought he could see a twinkle in her eye that matched Dumbledore's. "Oh, very much so."

And with that, Snape brought the paper back up and began to ignore them both. McGonagall talked to Harry about school, his friends, and quidditch and Snape continued to read, though every few minutes, his right hand would reach around for his coffee mug.

***

Harry sat on his bed after dinner on Friday night with a book in his lap that he wasn't even attempting to read. Instead, he was lost in his thoughts about the last few days. It really hadn't even been a week since he had come here?! The last couple of days seemed to pass both fast and slow for Harry. In the mornings when he had to work on his assignments, it felt like those two hours would never be over, but then his free time seemed to speed by.

Snape had allowed him to go and visit Hagrid again on Thursday afternoon and on Friday he spent his time finishing the pirate book. He had found that he liked it very much and instead of giving it back to Snape, he put it on his bookshelf, figuring that if Snape wanted it back, he could come and get it himself.

Harry was hoping that he could go flying tomorrow since it was Saturday, but he had barely seen Snape all day. They had had breakfast together as had become their routine over the few days that Harry had been there, but then Snape had left Harry to follow his schedule while he retreated to his lab to work. He hadn't even been there for lunch or dinner, though Jenka had made sure that Harry ate with or without him. She had even given him an extra scoop of pudding for dessert since Snape wasn't there to say he couldn't have the extra sugar.

One quick knock on his door pulled Harry from his thoughts. He looked up just as Snape opened the door. "Did you eat?" He asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes."

"And you took your potion?"

Harry put his book down and looked up at the professor with a raised eyebrow. "Would Jenka have told you if I hadn't?"

"Of course," Snape replied with his own raised brow as he crossed his arms over his chest. For a moment Harry wondered why the man always had to stand so straight all the time. Didn't he ever relax? "Well?" Snape prodded when Harry didn't answer.

"Why bother asking if you already know that I did?"

"To see if you'll be truthful." Then he turned on his heel but said over his shoulder, "If you think you can contain that cheek, you may come and have some tea before bed."

Harry gave a soft grin as he got up and followed the man into the parlor. He wasn't sure when having tea with Snape had become something he looked forward to, but he found he quite liked it. He supposed that if he had had tea with him while at school, he definitely would have hated it, but for some reason, it was different here.

Sure, Snape still took every opportunity to point out everything Harry did wrong, but now it was for things like not picking up his clothes off the floor or eating enough vegetables. And Harry guessed that that was okay. Those were the same kinds of things that Mrs. Weasley said to him and Ron whenever he was at the burrow last year. Though when Mrs. Weasley said it, it was always soft and with a "Harry, dear," tacked on to it.

There was nothing soft about Snape saying, "Put your clothes away, Potter, or I'll bewitch them all to hang from the Astronomy Tower like flags."

Still, it wasn't all bad.

When he took a seat in the other armchair, (he had secretly been calling it his) Harry took the red-rimmed teacup and filled it with tea before sitting back into the soft leather. Snape had done the same and for a while, they sat in silence until Harry remembered that he wanted to ask Snape about flying.