Dunderhead - A Harry Potter story: Snape becomes Harry's mentor

Chapter 34: INTERIOR DESIGN

Severus could not have stopped Dumbledore if he had tried.

This was a wizard who had defeated the notorious Gellert Grindelwald, the only man that Lord Voldemort had ever feared, and Severus Snape's efforts to prevent the man from turning the room periwinkle blue was inevitably doomed to fail. Regardless, there was a still limit to which the potions master would put his foot down for. 

"No! If you give them bunk beds, Dumbledore, I swear!" Severus growled.

"But Sev-" Dumbledore began.

"No! Malfoy and Potter are not friends in their right minds, and they are not even warming to each other in their un-right minds! How do you think my godson will feel if he remembers that he shared a bunk bed with Harry Potter?" Severus demanded. "I don't care what ridiculous children's toys you put in there, and I will ignore the absence of my preferred colour scheme, but I will not allow you to give them bunk beds!" Severus shouted.

"Very well." The headmaster said in a level tone, waving his wand to vanish the offending furniture.

Draco and Harry were both sitting on the long leather sofa with looks of delight on their faces, albeit with slightly different expressions. While Draco's excitement was one of unrestrained eagerness, Harry's was more of a quiet intensity; the boy did not even blink, so awestruck he seemed to be by the show of magic. Unfortunately, the children could not move as Severus had put a sticking hex on them and, recognising the absence of two small bodies jumping into the room, the headmaster glanced at the children behind him sitting so patiently on the sofa. 

"The boys have been very well behaved," Dumbledore commented. "I don't know what you've been complaining about." Dumbledore smiled at Severus. But as he looked back at Harry and Draco, he frowned when he saw that Lucius' son seemed to be having trouble shifting his bottom from the chair. "Oh, I see." Dumbledore muttered.

Severus pointedly ignored him, deciding to take a sudden interest in the garish duvet covers that Dumbledore had replaced. The first cover, presumably for Potter, had animated red dragons. Severus watched with a raised eyebrow as they opened their mouths to yawn as they scratched their underbellies in a lazy way. Dumbledore had given the same to Draco, but in dark green. A side table had been added for each boy, too.

Severus walked fully into the room and glared at the enormous black panther rug. Having adamantly refused Dumbledore's wish for a lion-headed rug, Severus had mediated for a panther's instead. He still thought that the thing looked ridiculous draped on the floor. Of the most drastic changes, however, Dumbledore had enchanted the ceiling to encapsulate the sky outside, to change from night to day accordingly. Severus sniffed at the finished product but finally, to both children's happiness, waved his wand to release them from the sticking charm.

Draco raced into the new room and began to pick everything up, throwing his covers around and jumping on the bed. Severus wanted to tell his godson to show a little more self control, but he kept his mouth shut. He could not help frowning when Potter showed the restraint that Severus had been expecting from Draco. 

The two older wizards watched as Potter tiptoed into the room, keeping close to the walls as though afraid to touch anything but the floor and sides, and when the boy looked up at the ceiling his eyes widened comically and he tripped over his feet backwards. Albus reactively held out his arms to catch the boy - though he was really a few too many steps away from Harry to reach him, and both men winced as Harry's body made contact with the floor. But the boy did not cry. He was craning his neck to see the clouds that floated above his head across the high ceiling, a look of wonder on his thin face.

Severus was the first to shake himself out of inaction and he deftly hauled the boy to his feet. He let go of Potter quickly though, moving back to stand next to Albus. "Potter seems awestruck." He commented flatly. Dumbledore nodded in reply, looking pleased with himself. "Will you leave now?" Severus asked rudely, desperate for his rooms to be his own again. Maybe he could shut Potter and Malfoy away in the extended cupboard until lunchtime.

"Yes, I shall leave you to it now." Dumbledore replied, and he left Severus' rooms, closing the heavy dungeon door behind him.

Now left at least more alone than before, Severus relaxed slightly and watched as Potter and Malfoy navigated their new room. The bedspreads were at least intriguing for the boys and might make them go to bed sooner rather than later, though Severus raised an eyebrow at Potter's persistently hesitant behaviour. "Potter, you may touch the bed, it will not attack you." Severus called in a lazy drawl.

The boy looked blankly at his teacher and slowly reached out a finger to poke the cover. The red dragon blinked at him and stretched blearily, hardly paying attention to Harry. Severus felt something odd in his chest when he saw the boy's look of shocked delight. Potter's features were much less... Potterish at this age. The teenager's black, wire-rimmed glasses still made the little boy look arrogant, but they did not quite take over his thin face as they had when he was a teenager. Potter's face was still thin and sharp, but his head was small, and this enlarged his eyes, his least dislikeable feature, Severus supposed. Draco still had that sneer, which Severus rather disliked, but it was more comical and not so harsh as the Malfoy of fifteen years.

Severus turned away to start some work but paused not too long into it when he felt a presence behind him. He turned slowly to see Potter standing there, looking unsure. The little brat just barely reached past his knee when standing. Yes, Severus was a very tall man, an attribute he rather liked, but, even from over here, he could tell that Malfoy's son was taller than Potter by quite a lot. Why was Potter so small? He considered going to Poppy. He could leave the boy in her charge for hours under the pretence of worry over Potter's potential growth problem. But, no. Severus knew that Dumbledore would see straight through his plan. It was better to keep the boy where he could see him. "What is it, Potter?" Severus asked the boy. 

The boy scratched the back of his hand anxiously and avoided his teacher's eyes as he asked in what was barely a voice, "What do you want me to do?"

Severus rolled his eyes at the boy. What did Potter mean, what did he want him to do? Severus wanted Potter to grow back up and get out of his private chambers, that's what he wanted him to do! But the boy had no memory of his arrogant former self and so Severus could not understand Potter's motives. "What do you mean?" Severus replied in a bored tone.

"Do you want me to clean?"

Severus processed Potter's reply and felt himself building up to an apoplectic fit of rage. How dare the boy suggest that his chambers were dirty! This was exactly how he had expected the boy to behave. Finally, Potter was showing his true colours, Severus thought contemptuously, and not without some satisfaction. He would share the boy's disgusting suggestion with Albus. But the next words of the spawn of James Potter threw him off balance.

"Or I could help you to do something else? Maybe order your papers?"

Severus studied the boy intently but he could not honestly find anything that spoke of rudeness in the boy's form. The boy wanted to help Severus to order his papers?

"Why?" Severus said, snapping a bit more than he had intended to. The explosion of rage that Severus had been building up to was rapidly ebbing away to be replaced by an annoyed bewilderment, and this feeling was increased when Potter looked down at his feet. It was like the boy did not know what to do with himself, and yet he seemed to brighten up at the idea of... tidying Severus' rooms?

Potter could not seem to explain himself and Severus snorted when he looked over to the open door of the boys' bedroom and saw that his godson was lying on his bed, a look of exhausted delight on his face as he watched a cloud drift across his bedroom ceiling. At least one boy was preoccupied, Severus thought gratefully. If only he could find something to distract Potter with. But then again, if the boy was offering...

"Alright, Potter," Severus said slowly. "You may help me. I want you to sort out my bookcase. I want you to arrange it... into alphabetical order." Severus instructed with a smirk.

Potter nodded his head obediently (Severus wished the little twit would stop doing that) and hurried over to the tall cabinet. Severus sighed and took four long strides over to the shelf himself before he explained to the boy in a rigid tone which books he wanted ordered, and upon which shelf Harry was to place them. And then he left the boy to do it.