A new beginning

After tea

Here you go! A lot of questions will be answered, requests fulfilled.

I do really hope you all enjoy this long chapter, but as always, please let me know what you thought in a comment!

...

Harry woke up with a jolt, unsure of where he was. He quickly stretched his hand to the side, feeling for his glasses. After finding and putting them on, the room came into focus. Slowly he recognized the armless chairs and the sofa from Snape's parlour. One of the sofas was missing, however, as he was laying in a bed in its place. Pulling the soft sheets back, he also noticed that he was wearing pajamas, plain gray pajamas, that he did not own nor remembered getting into.

Harry swung his sock-clad feet to the side as he absentmindedly scratched one of his arms. Did he really admit the night before to not hating Snape anymore? And did Snape do so as well? He looked down at his feet, flexing his toes inside their soft prison. What happened after that though? He remembered talking to the professor and sitting on the chair in the study while having tea. But after that, he had no idea, and that made him feel as though something was wrong. There were too many things that he could not explain about how he ended up sleeping in Snape's parlour. Where was Snape anyway?

Looking around the room, Harry noticed that all doors were tightly closed giving him no indication of where the professor could be, yet, there was a low babble coming from Snape's office. Stretching his body and rubbing his eyes under the glasses once more, Harry stood up and walked towards the sound. As soon as he was close, he extended his hand to knock on the wood but stopped a few millimetres away.

"Yes, but I am not sure that is the wisest option right now." It was Snape and Dumbledore.

Harry lowered his hand. What if the man did not want to be disturbed? He was talking to Dumbledore after all, and it sounded important. And besides, what would he say after knocking; I just woke up in your parlour professor. Not very likely, especially with the Headmaster there. There was no need to embarrass himself further in front of both men.

"The utmost care is taken when examining all candidates to teach here at the school" continued Dumbledore's voice. Harry took a small step back. It did sound like an important conversation. "I am sure you understand his situation, Severus." Maybe he should wait just a bit. Surely interrupting both men was not a good idea.

A second later the door opened wide, making Harry stumble to keep straight and revealing an angry-looking Snape. Before anyone could say anything else, the door closed once again, this time, pushing Snape into the same room. The man took one step forward. Harry's arm was imprisoned by the professor's large hand right away, making him fully aware of what was about to happen.

Snape pulled the small child closer to his body. Using his left arm, he circled Potter's waist, bending him over his own arm. Hitching the child up just a bit, he allowed his hand to make contact a few times with Potter's thinly covered backside. He released Potter, spinning him back around as he pushed the child just a bit toward the centre of the room. They stared at each other.

"What do you think you were doing?" asked Snape in an angry tone.

"Nothing" supplied Harry, biting his lip to keep the tears at bay. "I was just looking for you." He was. He really was.

"If that was indeed true," continued Snape, taking an angry step in the child's direction, "you would have knocked at the door upon realizing my location, not lingered by it attempting to listen to my private conversation."

"I wasn't trying to listen," argued Harry, making an effort to keep his voice low so that Dumbledore would not hear just what was happening on the other side of the door. It was bad enough that he knew Snape was there.