𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹 || 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟓.

Hiding in a stupid little house in Muggleville. This was not what Severus had signed up for. Albus had sent them away as soon as Severus showed him Lucius' letter. It would've been one thing to go out and hide in the woods of Transylvania or a mountain cave. Then he could at least gather useful potions ingredients and maintain a shred of dignity, but instead they were crammed in a two room flat, with floral wallpaper on the walls, its garish pattern grinning at Severus day in and day out, reminding him there was nothing he could do about his current situation.

"Come on Nape." Harry said, patting the front door insistently. "Time to go."

"Not yet, Harry," Snape said, trying to keep the impatience from his voice.

Albus had promised this location would be only temporary, but it had been nearly a month, and they'd only received one owl with the ever promising message, "We just need more time. Be patient."

Harry was becoming a bit of a mess, if Snape was honest with himself. He wasn't allowed outside. You never knew who was watching or where they might be. Snape had taken him on a couple outings late at night, just to give Harry a chance to escape the terrible wallpaper, but he didn't dare risk more than that.

As Snape stood to pull Harry back from the door, a knock sounded. Snape held his breath. People weren't supposed to be able to find this place. Albus had promised. Another knock came, more powerful this time, and the door shook on its hinges.

Hagrid.

Snape opened the door, making sure Harry was clear of its path, and raised a disdainful eyebrow at the giant of a man.

"A little subtlety goes a long way," he said disapprovingly.

"I've come to bring ye back," Hagrid said, ignoring his previous statement. "They caught the werewolf. Fair bit o' trouble it caused too."

"Where is she?" Snape asked, worriedly.

"Can't rightly tell ye that," Hagrid said with a shrug. "All I know is Dumbledore said it's time to bring ye both back to Hogwarts. Ello, young 'Arry."

Harry smiled shyly from behind Snape's leg, where he'd been shyly staying.

Snape was concerned about the details. How did they know Sharra wasn't working with a group? How well was she truly contained? Why had it taken three full weeks to track her down and what had the other death eaters done in the meantime? Snape felt horribly out of the loop and sickeningly out of control. Ever since the Potter child had been thrust upon him he'd been very nearly reduced to a puppet, a puzzle piece. Move here Severus, do that Severus.

However, the opportunity to get out of the hideous flat was too good to delay a moment longer.

"One moment and we'll be ready to go." Snape said, turning from the door.

In hope that their stay would truly only last a short while, Snape had stubbornly refused to unpack. He swished his wand at the few remaining objects scattered around the room, and they obediently flew to the suitcase, packing themselves neatly. With one final disparaging look at the wallpaper and the flower boxes on the windowsill, Severus held out his hand for Harry's.

"You were right after all, Potter," he said. "It is time to go."

------------------------ ~♥~ ------------------------

It was a long, uncomfortable motorcycle ride back to Hogwarts. Albus certainly thought he was funny. He always did.

Severus stiffly swung his leg over, dismounting the motorcycle and tried to pry Harry from his robes. Harry had shrieked in delight, oohing and ahhing as they zoomed high above the housetops, with frequent cries of, "Look Nape! Look that!" Despite his enthusiasm, Harry had luckily stayed tightly attached to Snape's front where he clung like a monkey, admiring what went on below over the dark robed shoulder.

"Home." Harry smiled as he was set back down on the ground.

"Indeed," Severus agreed as they crossed the grounds, heading back toward the castle.

Harry waved at everything as they passed. The trees, the candles, the paintings on the walls which waved right back.

Severus began to feel more at ease than he had in a month as they descended the stairs, entering the dungeon.

Harry slowly took each step at a time, clinging to Snape's hand as he clunked his way down. Snape sighed. Stairs still weren't the boys strong suit, though his walking had progressed beautifully.

"Try this," Snape said, eager to get back to his rooms. He sat on the stairs and waited for Harry to copy him. Once Harry was properly seated on the step, Severus scooted down on his bum. The stairs were cold and hard, but he figured his robe would provide sufficient padding. Harry obediently mimicked him, and scooted down to the next step.

"Excellent form." Snape said with another scoot. Harry followed.

Now the boy really had the hang of it and began to scoot with a little more gusto.

After a few more steps, Severus realized his scooting was unnecessary. At any point, he could stand up and walk the rest of the way. And yet, it might be best to keep providing Potter with an example. That was certainly paramount.

Thunk, thunk, thunk, the two slid down the stairs, Harry giggling as he slid over each successive step.

As they reached the bottom, Severus froze. The door to his potions classroom was wide open and the room was full.

A "Welcome Home!" banner was strung over the austere doorway, and his colleagues peered out of the room where they would have undoubtedly been waiting more calmly if it weren't for the amount of noise coming from the stairway.

"Ahem." Snape cleared his throat and gave his robes a quick brush off. "Come Harry, that's rather enough sliding about."

Harry giggled as he reached the bottom, and ran to catch Snape's hand.

"Welcome home!" Minerva said as Snape and Harry pushed past her into the potions classroom.

"Good to have you back," Flitwick squeaked.

"Hello," droned Professor Boggs.

"Hmm. If it's all the same to you," Snape said, facing the full room. "I think Harry's a bit tired and needs to be put down."

This ruse could've worked rather well, if only Harry had complied.

Instead Harry screamed that dreadful, ear-splitting happy scream Snape had tried to lecture out of him and began to move around the room as fast as his pudgy legs could take him.

"Nape! This!" he called, pointing up to a row of cauldrons before taking off again. Now he was standing at the closet door. "This Nape! This!"

The closet was only interesting for about .2 seconds though, because Harry was off again, this time dropping to hands and knees and crawling under a table. "Nape find Pot!" he called.

"Very tired, I think." McGonagall sniffed.

"Severus," Albus called from the corner where he stood of a cauldron filled with lemonade. "Come join us!"

Severus stiffly stalked over, holding back a lecture on not using his cauldrons - especially not his new bronze, double glazed one - for lemonade.

"Hello headmaster," Severus said, reluctantly accepting a cup. "It's good to be back."

And despite his classroom being filled with sweets and eventually somewhat tipsy professors, it was. Though Snape was anxious to ask Dumbledore about the werewolf and how safe Harry really was back here, he knew it wasn't the time. Dumbledore wanted to throw his party, and Snape was too tired to fight him. He was just glad to be back, even if Professor Trelawney followed him for a solid half an hour begging to read his palm.

He was even a bit excited to see his students again. After having potions with Professor Sprout for three weeks, learning about the different herbs used in potions and how to grow your own supplies, his classes were all in for a rude awakening.

A few hours later, the room cleared after wands were swished, clearing up the last of the sticky lemonade residues and firewhisky spills.

Harry was truly tired now, and as Snape picked him up and carried him through the classroom and into the living quarters, Harry fell asleep. As Snape left Harry in his crib and exited the room, he smiled. The walls were gray and stark and bare, not a square inch of flowery wallpaper to be seen.