to write again.

This time, his nightmare was the graveyard in his fourth year.

He was held by the statue, the ropes burning his skin and he tried his best to get out of them, but he was too dazed to do much. Cedric and him were alone there, the full moon giving Harry a complete view of the dead body in front of him. From everywhere, green flashes pointed themselves at Cedric’s already dead and mangled body, making it move around on the ground. The green light yanked and prodded Cedric’s body around like kicking a ball for fun, making his limbs get even more twisted and having it flail around on the ground like a fish.

Harry screamed out, he cried for them to stop, but they persisted, making Cedric’s body get covered in bloody mixed mud that stained his torn yellow clothes. He couldn’t see who was attacking Cedric, just that he was dead and still hurting. They were still hurting him well after he died, still torturing his soul just as it tortured Harry.

With one final bright green flash, everything went dark and quiet of Harry’s screams, only a buzzing white sound filled his uneasy mind. He looked around and found himself in a cold sweat, blankets kicked off of him with his breathing heavy. The curtains of his four poster were open with Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville all looking at him in the dim light of the moon. They all had worried looks on their faces, Dean eyed the wand Harry had clutched in his right hand worriedly.

The scar on Harry’s head was burning, making him drop his wand and pull his hand up to rub it carefully, his other arm holding him to sit up.

“You alright, Harry? You were screaming and fighting in your sleep.” Seamus asked, still giving Harry a worried expression. Harry shook his head, trying to wake up. He got to get up, but Ron tried to push him back down gently.

“Mate, you need to calm down. That sounded like a pretty bad nightmare, you need to rest.” Harry shook his head again, taking Ron’s hand off of him and finally getting to stand up. The other boys moved away, holding out their hands to Harry as he swayed slightly.

“No, I need to go see someone. I promised I’d go to him when I had a nightmare.” Harry slipped a sweater on and saw Ron do the same. The other boys just watched the two, still worried and slightly confused. “You guys can go back to bed, I’ll be fine. Thanks for worrying, though.” He said. Slowly, the other receded back to their own four posters, and just Ron and Harry were left in the room.

“I’m coming with you.” He said firmly, still rubbing his eyes sleepily. Harry smiled while he nodded, then they headed out of the dorm together. He was still shaking slightly from his nightmare. “Who are you going to, anyways?” Ron asked, holding onto Harry’s sleeved arm to follow him.

“Remember me telling you about my aunt and uncle’s place?” Harry asked Ron, who gave a nod and a grimace in return. “Well, after I got my letter, someone came to pick me up to get my school supplies and such, then take me back to the Dursley’s. But, I asked to stay with him, so I have been living with him for a few weeks before school. I’m going to continue living with him during the summer too, so I won’t be going back to the Dursley’s at all.” Harry explained, taking the two down the stairs and out of the portrait hole. Ron made a lazy fist pump at that, remembering what Harry had previously told him about the Dursleys.

The Fat Lady awoke as the kids walked out, looking down at the two boys to assess them, Harry slightly shaking and wobbly on his legs.

“What are you two doing out so late?” She asked, now straightening up to look at them properly.

“I had a nightmare, so Ron’s accompanying me to go see Professor Snape.” Harry said. His friend’s face went confused, then made an O shape with his mouth and nodded, finally understanding.

“That makes sense.” He said, tiredly letting out a yawn. The Fat Lady still held her suspicious stare, narrowing her eyes.

“And why go to Professor Snape, not Professor McGonagall?” Harry gave her a calm answer, like he was expecting such a question.

“Because Professor Snape is my guardian, and I promised to go to him when I had a nightmare.”

“And I’m escorting him because he shouldn’t go alone.” Ron added, finally getting The Fat Lady to sit back down in her painting, resigned.

“Alright, go on then.” She said. The two gave each other a look, then were off to the Dungeons where Snape’s personal quarters would be. Ron started a hushed conversation in the process.

“So, what was the dream about? If you’re okay with talking about it.” He asked quietly, giving wary looks at Harry while he talked. “You were screaming bloody murder and thrashing around a lot. You almost ripped your bed curtains down.” Harry gave a grim face, then thought about the dream. He was screaming about Cedric in the dream, but had he said it out loud? His voice was shaky when he responded.

“Did I say anything? Anything at all?” Harry’s eyes had started to water again, now taking heavier steps as he walked. His feet were harder to pick up after every step now as they felt like the same lead pitting in his stomach. The dragging feeling spread to his shoulders, weighing him down like a sack of rice was on his shoulders.

“Not any names or anything, but you were yelling to ‘stop’ and said ‘he didn’t deserve this’. Whatever that means? I don’t know. Did you see anyone?” Ron asked, now putting a hand on Harry’s upper arm to steady him. “Harry, you don’t have to talk about it. Look, where are we going? Do you know where Snape would be?” Harry nodded, eyes now stinging with tears that he could taste in the back of his throat. Salt. That’s how that night tasted, too. “Okay, lead the way then. Focus on where you’re going.”

Soon enough, Harry had led Ron to the front door of Snape’s personal quarters, unable to move further now that he made it there. In truth, paying attention to where he was going helped calm Harry a bit more, or at least busy his mind with a mission. It was the same technique he’d use when he was an Auror. Just work, and everything would be okay, if not a little tiresome.

Ron gave one last look at Harry, then stepped forward and knocked softly on the door, hesitant to wake the potion’s teacher so late at night. After a bit of waiting while Harry listened intently for Professor Snape, footsteps were soon heard from behind the door. A light came on from the door, then it opened to reveal a potions professor in full navy blue pajamas, barefooted, and with dark circles under his eyes so large that they could probably hold mass amount of waters and be considered lakes in some places. He also had a burning candle floating next to him, giving the only source of light in the room.

He looked down at the two boys, sharpening his eyes at Ron them letting them soften at Harry’s small shaking form. There was no need for words as he stood aside to let them in, opening the door wider with his step. Harry started his way inside, finally having Ron let go of his arm. The black haired boy looked back at his red haired friend, giving him a look that said ‘don’t leave me’, but Harry also knew that his friend needed sleep as much as he did. With another silent conversation between the two, they seemed to agree to leave Harry there while Ron went back up to go back to sleep.

“Goodnight.” Ron said, Harry nodded, then the red headed boy started heading back down the hall from where the two had came and out of sight. The potion’s professor closed the door quietly, now looking over at Harry with a face full of worry and knowing.

“Another nightmare?” He asked, standing patiently for his response. Harry nodded sheepishly, almost embarrassed to have had a nightmare, even if he couldn’t control it. But before he could self doubt in his head anymore, he was being lifted in such a gentle way up into Snape’s arms and carried off up some stairs.

To truthfully admit, Harry was much smaller than he was supposed to be. After living with the Dursley’s, who made him miss most meals and with how they treated him, he didn’t get enough to grow like a normal boy would. Even with Snape’s help of three meals a day, Harry’s body still burned through the food, not helping his thin figure.

Most other boys his age were already taller than him, including Harry’s roommates and any of his other friends as well. So, when Snape picked Harry up and carried him away, the lack of struggle concerned the professor.

His high metabolism was not helping his already thin figure.

All the way up the stairs and into Snape’s extra sitting room, Harry had started to remember his nightmare in vivid detail, making his body shake violently and flinch with every step Snape took. It felt like his body thought that Snape was walking him to that graveyard, taking him back to that horrid rendition of the Death Eaters beating Cedric’s body around, back and forth the limbs just got more twisted and bruised. He was unable to heal himself or fight back.

Cedric was dead.

“Do you know what my mother used to do for me when I was a child? When I had nightmares and would come running for her room?” Snape spoke softly, slowly soothing Harry out of the tragic images in his mind and back to the comfortable feeling of someone holding him, someone caring for him. “She would wrap me up in her blankets and tell me about her garden until I fell asleep again. All the little tricks and tips she had about maintaining it.” Snape now made it to a large couch, almost like a bed with a cushion backboard. While Harry had barely even realized where he was, too absorbed in his own head to know that Snape was now sitting down on the couch and slowly sliding under the blankets. It’s not like Harry could see what was happening anyways, his eyes were too full of tears to see clearly through his glasses.

“Garden?” Harry asked, now rubbing at his messy eyes from under his glasses. Snape immediately took off Harry’s glasses and set them aside to a side table. The professor pulled Harry’s little fists away from his eyes, now brushing away little tears gently with calloused yet soft fingers.

“Yes, but those are not things I could easily go into. Her garden now mostly maintains itself, not needing my help. Instead, would you like to hear about a certain potion that is my very favorite?” Snape now wrapped a very thick feeling blanket around Harry, making sure it was tight and snug around his body before pulling him back into his embrace. Snape felt very warm and cozy to Harry, like a cozy cabin in the woods with the hearth blazing and there was snow outside.

Harry nodded yes, wanting to get his mind off of Cedric, who was still truly alive, and focus on something new. Snape smiled, then started listing out instructions for a certain potion that Harry had never heard of before. He tried to figure out what would need the ingredients in the instructions, listing them and their process to try and understand. It seemed like a very difficult potion, something not poisonous or dangerous, yet could be.

“That is how you make the Dreamless Sleep. I like this one not for its outcome, but for its process. It is very precise and quite easy to fail at making, but so very useful for those with nightmares.” Harry nodded, nuzzling his head into Snape’s chest, still quietly shaking and trying to calm down. The potions professor held Harry tighter, much more protectively now than ever before. “You do not have to, but it is always best to talk about your feelings, your dreams. I am not forcing you to say anything, but I do worry of what kind of dream could cause such alarm for you.” He said quietly, calmly out into the cold nightly air.

The little body Snape held relaxed just slightly, then went limp and let go of its tension. Harry had made a decision, now preparing for a moment before continuing. “It was a graveyard. I was… I was held to the statue of someone’s tombstone, but it was a person. There was green, green flashes coming from everywhere, but it wasn’t coming for me. Someone was hitting someone else with the green flashes on the ground. It was a person in yellow, but I don’t know who, just that they were dead. They were already dead, but the green flashes just kept pushing them around.” Harry stopped to suck in a stuttered breath.

“It sounds horrible.” Snape said quietly. The gears working in his head could be easily determined to Harry as Snape listening, the boy now calming down a bit more and relaxing next to Snape. It felt much nicer to have someone with him, listening to him, believing him. “Do you have that dream often?”

Harry nodded, now dozing off gently in Snape’s comforting arms. It felt almost like a parental thing to do, running to your parent’s room after a nightmare and staying the night there with them. No, it definitely was that, but now it was only one person, who was only a guardian and not a parent. Still, it felt so similar to the love of a parent that Harry wouldn’t deny it, but he’d never call Snape dad. More of a protective guardian who raised him, but a good guardian instead of whatever the Dursley’s were. A good, close parental person who loved him and cared about how he felt and how often he got nightmares.

“I see… well, why don’t I tell you about another potion. This one has…” Snape continued explaining, but Harry was too sleepy to understand what he was saying, and he fell asleep before Snape even got to finishing the first step.

***

“So, you like books?” Snape asked, eying the charms book in Harry’s hand. This book was on defensive charms for the third years, but Harry had already finished the charms book for second year so he had started on the third year already.

“Oh, Uhh, yeah, I do.” Harry responded sheepishly, stopping himself from fidgeting too much. Mostly, Harry had nothing else to do than brush up on his school work or socialize, and that mostly felt unproductive.

Working on fixing up the Chamber was agreed upon to only be an activity for the weekends as well, so Harry often spent his time elsewhere, mostly in places that were hidden or comfortable around the castle.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to try and use the spells, but Hermione said it’s better to know the theory beforehand.” The professor nodded in response, his own nose in a potions book.

This was the best way to talk to Snape, with both people nose deep in a book and not looking at each other. That way, neither could aggravate the other by little twitches or body language. It’s also the way Snape’s most truthful because he thinks the other person can’t read his body and know when he’s lying, but he couldn’t lie to Harry’s face, so there’s that.

After the first nightmare, Harry had a few more until he finally decided to be comfortable enough to visit Snape at other times than nightmares. The professor gave comfort to Harry, which for today, he’d need a lot of.

The day resides as Halloween, and Hermione was in the girl’s bathroom crying her eyes out for most of the day as fate would have it. After a few hours though, she let both Harry and Ron coax her out of the bathroom for her to help in their studying.

This time though, it was Theodore Nott who had called out her supposed ‘lack of friends’ and some other choice words. Harry and Ron were at Nott’s throat for saying such things, but Hermione just ran off and didn’t come back.

There is also the fact of Halloween, the date itself. Halloween is the day Harry’s parents had died. Thoughts had ran through Harry’s head with the knowledge, plans forming then being struck down. He’d thought of killing Peter Pettigrew then and there, ironic to be killed on the same date as his parents. He’d thought of killing Quirrell for the same irony, but immediately thought against it.

He needed to wait and capture Pettigrew after Sirius sees the traitorous rat in the news paper, and he couldn’t get caught in killing Quirrell. Harry had plans that could not be disturbed, no matter how much he wanted to rain his bloody terror on anyone who had and would hurt him.

So, instead of trying to plan more murders, Harry decided to dive head long into studying his school books and any book he could get his hands on. If not studying, he was socializing or practicing Quidditch. That’s why he’d come down to Snape’s quarters, to sit in a comfortably quiet room before the Halloween feast. Snape reminded Harry of how things could change, how he could change the outcome of this war.

“That’s all good and fun, theory can be, but I think you should take a moment to step back, Potter. Third year books already?” Snape’s suspicious eyes veered away from his own book to glare at Harry’s book, the title blatantly showing the more advanced book. Harry’s cheeks went hot, embarrassed at getting caught.

“Ah, well, I wanted to, uhh, have something to do. I’ve already finished all of my other school books and I finished a lot of my other second year books too.” He looked away from Snape’s eyes and tried his best to keep his attention on his book. Harry was almost done with this one as well, even if he could barely read most of the words and had to squint to see the fine print, even with his glasses. The potions professor just kept his glare on Harry, then let out an audible sigh.

“You’ve been staying up to read, haven’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but Harry still nodded a yes. He just didn’t want to be bothered by his nightmares at night, so he stayed up at night until he couldn’t anymore and hopes for nothing to disturb him.

Usually, when he was too exhausted, his dreams wouldn’t come to haunt him into nightmares, and he wouldn’t have a restless night. Harry could almost feel the disappointment from his professor wafting off of him in a little voice saying ‘this boy cannot take care of himself’. The little voice just made Harry sink into his chair, pushing himself away from that piercing black eye stare. Then the voice promised itself that he would protect Harry and take care of him, which surprised Harry into talking.

“Umm, sorry. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stand it.” A pause. “The nightmares, I keep getting the graveyard, then I get the one with the Dursley’s, and I just can’t. I’m sorry.” Saying the dreams out loud hurt him, now having the pictures in his mind to further tear into his heart. The fact that he couldn’t stop them or be brave when facing them hurt even worse. He reminded himself to start learning occlumency, then legilimency.

A book’s loud snap shut made Harry look up, the forming dark circles under his eyes made the water welling in his eyes just that more visible.

Snape looked down right frustrated by the situation presenting itself to him, but after looking at Harry’s face, his face turned to an expression of care. It’s like Harry could feel it, the way Snape emotions went from intense frustration and anger to soft acceptance and kindness. Like he could hear Snape’s thoughts say ‘really?’ or ‘I need to take care of you’.

Still, Snape’s voice was rational and calm as he always spoke to Harry.

“Potter, you can be afraid of them. Even I have dreams I am fearful of. You do know that I am here for you when you are afraid, and your friends are there as well.” Snape shifted, not knowing where to go from there. In the pause, Harry thought about some things, slowly easing himself out of the terror of his vivid dreams.

Harry thought about his time with Sirius, how it would mix with Snape and they could reconcile. The two could be family to Harry, even Remus could be family to Harry. He thought about Fred, how he wouldn’t have to be separated from George and they could continue to create in their Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. Sirius would love that, the prankster prisoner.

And Sirius could live with Snape and Harry, not having to be lonely in Grimmauld Place. He could stay with Harry, and Remus could stay too. It could be the whole family, with Harry’s friends coming over. If the twins wanted to, they could stay over as well, if Harry asked Snape nice enough.

“Yeah, thanks Snape.” Harry spoke quietly, now smiling. The professor raised an eyebrow, but then decided to move onto other topics and take his book back out. Both soon had their books out and the casual conversation was back.

“So, have you sent a letter to your cousin yet?” Snape inquired, not looking up from his book.

“Yeah, just sent it off this morning.” Harry responded casually, pulling his bare feet up onto the chair with him. “I hope I get a letter back.” The letter went as follows.

—-

Dear Dudley,

I hope you’ve been well at school and all. I told you I was going to write to you today, so here it is. Hogwarts has been wonderful; the decorations in The Great Hall are incredible! They have pumpkins bigger than the desks that our gamekeeper Hagrid grew. I’m friends with the gamekeeper, and go down to his hut for tea once or twice a week. I also started a sort of club in a secret location that only a few people can access, and have made lots of friends. If you ever go to Hogwarts, I’ll invite you into the club.

How have you been? Is school going alright? Are you safe? I hope you’ve been well, and I’ll write back to you before winter break and on Christmas.

Sincerely,

Harry Potter

(p.s. if you want to write back, just give a letter to Hedwig and she’ll take it in her claws. She’ll stay a little while to give you time to write)

—-

“You didn’t get a letter back last time?” Snape asked, a bit of a worried tone hidden in his voice. A small voice told Harry ‘does he not know how to write?’, and Harry kept in a scoff at the thought.

“He either doesn’t want to hear from me, or he doesn’t know how to send a letter back. I barely knew what owl mail was until you told me why owls are useful, so I added some directions in my letter.” Harry looked at the watch on his wrist, then back to Snape who was watching his watch as well. The professor stood up slowly, Harry matching his moves and tucking his book under his arm.

“It’s time for dinner.” Snape said, now exiting the room.

Harry turned to Mischief the cat, beconing her over with a nod. She got up, stretched her paws forward to yawn, then sauntered over to Harry who picked her up gently to set her on his shoulders. Mischief had made her stake with Harry clear, staying with him during classes and meal times, even making herself cozy in The Chambers while the group of friends met up in there to get private, more quiet studying done.

Somehow, he’d find her down there by herself, like she could get to and from The Chambers herself. Harry didn’t question it.

The three headed up to The Great Hall on foot, taking shortcuts that Snape led them through. Of course, Harry knew of all the shortcuts and most secret passageways at Hogwarts, but he let Snape lead as it would be suspicious if Harry led them down a route that went behind a painting and out in front of The Great Hall.

After the two made it to The Hall, they split up with a nod, each going to their respective tables. Everyone was filing into The Hall, but spotting the group of red hair at the Gryffindor table made it easy for Harry to find his friends and sit down in between the twins and Ron. All of their other friends in Slytherin agreed to sit at their own respective house tables for Halloween. Hermione was across from them at the Gryffindor table.

“Hey Hermione, you feeling a bit better now?” Harry asked quietly, trying to not bring attention to the girl. Hermione smiled back at him, eyes still a bit red but otherwise normal.

“Yes, I’m alright. I was lucky that I had the two of you, and the rest of my classes off for the day, or else I’d probably had stayed in the girl’s bathroom all day.” Ron nodded, moving from a conversation with Neville and Seamus to Hermione.

“Yeah, Nott had no right to say that to you. We were literally right there with you!” The boy was still upset, occasionally shooting daggers over to Nott. When Harry looked over to the Slytherin table, he also found Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and a few other Slytherin’s glaring daggers at Nott. Some of them blatantly ignoring Nott.

Harry set Mischief down next to her bowl of food and water, helping her get some things he’s sure cats could have off of the table and petting her throughout the meal. There were conversations here and there with classmates and friends, but the anxiety that steadily clawed at Quirrell’s missing seat just made his appetite decline more and more as the minutes passed by.

In the end when the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher came yelling about into The Hall, Harry was the first to get out of his seat with Mischief already in his arms. The cat clawed for the food, but Harry needed to be gone with Ron and Hermione as soon as possible and let Snape deal with Quirrell. If Harry got in the way and made Snape worry, he’d never forgive himself.

“I’ll give you plenty of more treats later, Mischief. Ron! Hermione!” Harry called out to the two after finding them in the crowd. Both Gryffindors stopped, turning around with scared expressions and fear wafting off of their persons. Their emotions made like static in Harry’s mind, like too many people talking at once.

“Harry! Come on, we have to follow Percy.” Ron tried to follow the crowd, but Harry pulled him back, Mischief climbing from his grasp up to Harry’s shoulders as the boy reached for Hermione.

Once Harry had both Ron and Hermione in his grasp, he led them to the front of Percy’s group, making sure to make eye contact with Snape while he passed by. Both nodded, understanding the situation and letting each other go to where they needed. Harry, as far away from Quirrell or the troll as possible.

***

The troll was defeated by McMgonagall, Hermione is safe, and Harry was now in Snape’s office with a cup of hot chocolate warming up his hands, and a purring cat in his lap. Mischief had not been afraid the entire time, easily accepting that dinner was in the dorms for them tonight. It didn’t surprise Harry, the cat had been known to be calm and rational, even in fearful events.

Snape, the potion’s professor, was tending to the wound he’d gotten from Fluffy. Harry had not been suspecting Snape of being the bad guy, but after the Quidditch incident and now the injury Snape had, Hermione was most certainly going to notice and suspect their potions professor even more than Harry would’ve liked.

Of course, Harry had tried to steer the blame away from Snape, but she had still set their potion professor’s robes on fire and wasn’t paying the slightest attention to Professor Quirrell and his just as suspicious rumblings. They still didn’t talk about the Quidditch incident after Draco had threatened to tell his father and get someone fired, or at least Dumbledore in trouble. They didn’t want their teachers fired, and Draco was most certainly not going to get Snape fired, so Ron and Hermione stopped bringing it up.

Now, Harry sat quite comfortable on a sofa in Snape’s quarters, all bundled up and clean after taking a shower in his dorm. Snape had immediately took him from Gryffindor dorm after his business with Quirrell, dragging him all the way back down to his quarters to make him hot chocolate and give him a potions to heal his bruises. Harry also got more food from Snape, including some of his famous cooking that, while Harry was still fed enough, could not resist eating to become completely full.

“Now, today was a lot, was it not?” Snape asked, finishing up his bandages on his leg before standing again. He turned to glare at Harry, who sat perfectly content with his refilling warm cup of hot chocolate. “So, I would expect some nightmares anyhow.” Harry frowned, lowering his cup to set it down on the table beside him.

“I already knew I’d have nightmares tonight, even without the troll.” Harry said calmly, trying not to look at Snape’s face at all, instead opting for petting Mischief lovingly. “It’s the night they… they left, left for good.” He whispered, hesitant to talk about it. He didn’t talk to anyone about his parent’s death, not even Sirius had heard him say much about his parents.

Snape gave Harry that same look of care and worry, which sprouted words in Harry’s head that said ‘you don’t deserve this’ and ‘he already expected it’. The last one gave off a tone of sadness and understanding, with a bit of frustration. It hurt to hear the words and their odd tones, but Harry tried to think that the words were true, that he didn’t deserve his parents dying and that it was bad for someone so young to expect to have nightmares because of his parent’s death.

The cup of hot chocolate now felt sickening to Harry, not wanting something so thick to sit in his stomach now with the already weighing pit he had in his gut. Thankfully, Snape levitated the cup away before walking over to Harry. He picked the little boy up, gently holding onto him while he carried him to the couch Harry now calls the dream catcher couch because of how whenever he sleeps on it, all of his bad dreams go away. Sometimes he even gets good dreams on the couch, which is always welcome.

“Why don’t you try and get some sleep, I still have some things to take care of.” Snape set Harry down, carefully pulling the blankets over him before setting off to leave. Just before he exited the room, he turned to Harry. “Goodnight, Potter.” Then he was gone. Harry was asleep before he heard the door of the room close.

***

After the incident with Halloween, Harry was watched extra carefully by Snape during classes and Quidditch. The professor made sure to be somewhat near Harry in class, always peering over his shoulder and making sure that their private lessons were even more cautious and difficult to prepare him. It took a while for Harry to be able to stop the constant nightmares too, so most weekend nights he’d find himself in Snape’s quarters to sleep on the couch, or when they were really bad Snape would cuddle with him on the couch, holding Harry protectively. Snape always welcomed him, whether he was busy or not.

Eventually, the winter holidays came around, and so did the discussion of where Harry would be came with it.

One Monday night, the week before the Christmas holiday in Snape’s classroom, he asked Harry if he’d wanted to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday. It was one of the private lessons, so only Draco, Snape, and Harry were in the room. The group had just paused to let their potions simmer, Snape was also making a large batch of the potion for Madam Pomfry’s stock of Swelling Solution.

“Ron’s staying over the holidays, so I’d like to stay too.” He said, not looking up from the potion instructions in his book. He’d taken the notes Snape had added and now the potion didn’t look as intimidating with all of the shortcuts and such, having added his own shortcuts as well.

“If that’s what you’d like.” Snape responded. Harry looked up, finding Draco frowning at him.

“Are you certain? What about Yule? Will you only spend it with Ron? Why is he staying anyways?” He said, giving Harry a confused look.

“His parents are planning to visit Ron’s brother Charlie up in Romania, so Percy, George, Fred, and Ron are staying at Hogwarts this year. Besides, I usually spend the holidays alone.” He went back to his book, not looking up until he needed to for his potion.

“Well, next year you’ll have to spend the holidays with me.” Draco got up to check on his potion as well. “I’m sure mother and father won’t mind. Actually, I’m positive that they’d be delighted to have you over for the holidays!” Harry matched Draco’s smile, then looked over to Snape with a look in asking permission. The potions professor gave him a nod, then added his own plans into the mix.

“I will invite your parents over to my home, Draco. We already have plans to spend Yule at my own residence next year, so there’s no need to worry.” He said, looking over at his own potion before adding more ingredients into the stew at the same time as the boys.

“That’s good, I’ll look forward to it.” Draco said, finishing off his potions with the last ingredients and a stir. Everyone else did the same, then the potions were done and ready to be used. “Yes! It’s perfect!” Harry looked over at the matching silvery liquid in Draco’s cauldron then back to his own. They looked identical, both perfectly done, too.

“Alright, it’s off to bed with you two. This was the last lesson before winter break, but I don’t want you lacking over the holidays. I expect that all your class work be done well since you’d have so much time to do it. Now, off with you.” Snape waved them out of the classroom, both boys waving back at their professor and saying goodnight.

Once the two were in the hall, Harry led Draco towards a secret entrance. “Come on, it’s faster this way.” He said, then opened the door with Parsletongue and walked up the stairs.

“So, you’re staying at school for the holidays because of Weasley? Why not just invite him over to your house?” Draco said, making Harry stop, pausing his attempt at dragging Draco up the stairs. “It’s simple, really.”

Harry looked back over to Draco who now has a smug look on his face, smiling a smirk like he knew his idea was brilliant. Matching that smile, Harry now dragged them back down the stairs and out through the entrance.

“Slow down! We can ask him tomorrow!” Draco yelled, but Harry didn’t listen to the demands of his friend. “Look, he’s right there! Slow down! You’re gonna-.” But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

The two had crashed into Snape’s front, who held his arms out to catch the two boys. His strength refused to let them tumble, but it was a near sight.

“What are the two of you doing?” Snape asked incredulously, now stabilizing the two wobbly bodies on their feet. Harry beamed up at his professor while Draco just stared at Harry with a dazed smile.

“Can Ron, George, Fred, and Percy come over for Yule? That way we can spend the holiday at home! I wanna spend the holidays at home but I don’t wanna leave Ron behind, and if I just bring Ron that’s unfair to the others, and I can’t do that! They’re my friends too! Even if Percy’s a bit of a prat.” Harry mumbled the last part, looking away from Snape to do so. The potions professor, to his credit, stayed calm while straightening out his robes. It seemed his mind worked fast as Snape already had an answer.

“As long as the twins don’t cause too much trouble, they may come if they’d like.” Harry beamed up at his temporary guardian, not stopping to think before he hugged him. He got a gentle hug back, then the two separated. “Alright now, off to bed with you two. And Mr. Malfoy, your dorms are the other way than Mr. Potter’s, be sure you go straight there.” Snape said, then headed off to his own quarters. The two boys grinned sheepishly at each other, then said their good nights and split up to their own separate dorms.

After the long walk to Gryffindor Tower, which was made shorter by the secret entrances but longer by stopping to talk to Asmodeus in The Chamber of Secrets, Harry finally made it to his dorm to be confronted by Ron sitting on Harry’s four poster bed.

“Ron? What’s up? Why are you up so late?” Harry asked, yawning in between his words. He was already tired from the day, even more so from his extra lesson, so having someone occupy his bed was not making Harry anymore happy. Even an insomniac needed sleep sometimes. The red headed boy just gave Harry an empty look, then went back to staring at his feet.

“It’s gonna be my first Yule without Mum and Dad, and I know you’re going to be staying, but it’s still just odd.” He said, blue eyes watering for just saying the words out loud. Harry gave a sad look to Ron, wanting to say something comforting, but taking the time to get it right. Finally, Harry sat down next to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“Hey, why don’t you and your brothers stay with me and Snape this Yule? I know I said I was gonna stay here, and I will if you do, but I think it’s be better than having to stay at school for the holidays.” Ron looked up at Harry, recognition dawning on his already tear stricken face. At the tears, Harry couldn’t stop himself from tugging Ron into a warm embrace, trying his best to hug all of the sadness out of his best friend. “Ron, I know it’s hard, believe me. I’ve never spent a holiday with my parents that I remember, but I want you in my holiday, so I won’t leave if you don’t.” After a pause, listening to the quiet sobs of his friend, Harry continued. “Of course, you’ll have to get permission of Mrs. Weasley, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind as you’ll be with me. We can even go get your parents a present and get you something too, my Christmas treat.” Harry kept talking, making the sobbing of his friend turn quiet, then silent, then gone. The hiccups was the only evidence of sadness left.

“I’ll- I’ll ask her.” Ron finally said, hugging tightly to Harry’s robes, his face wrapped up against Harry’s chest. The raven haired boy held Ron’s head, not unlike Snape does for Harry, with his other arm holding his back. “I-I think I’d like that, even i-if Professor Snape is scary.” He hiccuped, making Harry hold him tighter, more secure in his hold.

“He’s scary in class, but he has the best meat pies I’ve ever had.” Harry whispered, nuzzling his chin in Ron’s curly red hair. He could feel the smile Ron had and smiled himself. After a moment or two, Harry had to address his robes and the time. He needed to get dressed in his pajamas and get to sleep or he’d be grumpy the next day. Continuing to pet Ron’s hair, Harry spoke quietly again, trying not to notify their roommates. “Ron, I need to change, can you wait here for me?”

The red curls under Harry’s chin nodded, so Harry hummed back then untangled himself from Ron. His red headed friend just went back to his stone face and staring at his feet while Harry got situated. After Harry was finally in his pajamas, his teeth and breath cleaned by some spells, and his glasses on his nightstand, Harry was finally back in bed. As soon as he sat down, Ron looked up and immediately cling to his friend, hugging him like it was the last time he would be able to.

Harry could feel how intense his friends emotions were, words of what Ron might be thinking along with it. Fear, confusion, sadness, and a hint of frustration were all very present, but the words made an impact on Harry even further. ‘How could they just leave me?’ And ‘why is everyone always better than me?’ Ran through both Ron and Harry’s head, but they were only original thoughts of Ron. Harry knew exactly why Ron felt this way, which made Harry know that from then on, he’d need to keep reinforcing Ron’s confidence, like the other would continue to do for Harry.

After Ron stopped holding Harry so tightly and started dozing off, Harry situated the two of them to cuddle together, keeping Ron safe right next to him.

(*author note* THIS IS PLATONIC! I think of Ron’s love language as very cuddly and just all over the place, but love doesn’t just mean romance. Harry only has romantic feelings for Draco later on, but I like the idea of platonic cuddling so don’t take this the wrong way. Thank you.)

***

The day before the holiday break came, Ron had revived a lengthy letter from Mrs. Weasley to be respectful to Professor Snape and grateful that he’d let all of his other siblings go with him as well. Professor McGonagall was already informed of the children’s situation, then informed both Ron and Harry that they’d see her on Yule day for a brief visit from herself.

Everything was going smoothly. Harry and the Weasleys were packed, Snape would take their luggage and meet them at the train station, and Draco would be visiting them over the holidays as well. Everything felt okay to Harry, until it wasn’t. He had completely forgotten about the third floor and researching it until Hermione came to warn him that morning, arriving just after Ron’s letter.

“Good morning, Hermione.” Harry greeted, petting Mischief the cat after having half finished his breakfast. He wasn’t much hungry as he’d eaten a few morning snacks in Snape’s office that morning after another horrible nightmare just the previous night.

Hermione smiled, then returned the gesture. “Good morning! I hope you’re ready to spend your holidays in the school library? Prepared to research more on the sorcerer’s stone?” She asked, already taking out a book to read instead of starting on her food first. Harry had to push a bowl of oatmeal in front of her to get his friend’s attention on something other than studying.

After stopping his eating, Ron replied. “Nope!” He popped the ‘p’. “Percy, the twins, and I are staying with Harry this summer, so we won’t be at school to study the sorcerer’s stone, sorry.” Ron added a quick apology before going back to stuffing his face full again.

The sound of a spoon clanking against a bowl came from Hermione, then she let words try and stumble their way out of her mouth before they were fully formed. It took a while for he to fully form a sentence that was understandable to Harry.

“What?! But I thought the Durs-!” Hermione shouted. Harry leaped over the table and smacked his hand over Hermione’s mouth before more could be said, effectively shutting her up. He then leaned back into his seat, taking his hand off of Hermione but still shushing her by holding his pointer finger up and over his mouth.

“Shhh! I’m not going back there! Not ever! Snape’s my guardian now, so I’m staying there.” The whispering got Fred sitting next to Harry to lean towards the trio, George coming along with him.

“Yeah, but we were made to promise not to get into too much trouble.” Fred said, scowling to hide his mischievous grin. Too bad that tactic didn’t work on Harry, who knew all too well what the twins might pull.

“Percy still wants to stay, but somehow, Harry here had convinced him to go.” George threw a thumb over to point at Percy. To his credit, he didn’t know the blackmail Harry had on Percy just yet. He still couldn’t hide his stupid, dopey grin though. “What’s it Harry? What do you have on Perce that we don’t?”

Harry straightened his back up, looking smug at his position of power. From across the table, Percy glanced over at Harry to throw a small curious stare, then continued with his chattering with, you guessed it, Oliver Wood. The act almost made Harry want to spill the beans then and there, but he refrained for Percy’s sake.

Besides, Harry didn’t really blackmail the guy with his secret relationship. It was totally something else entirely.

Their bushy haired friend, on the other hand, did not seemed amused. Instead, Hermione let out a gasp of absolute shock. “Harry! You aren’t supposed to blackmail a prefect! He could put you in detention!” Harry just grinned even wider, now petting Mischief on his lap like a cartoon villain.

“Then he shouldn’t be sneaking about at the same time as me.” He said, defiant to whatever Hermione was trying to enforce onto him. She let out another gasp of shock at Harry’s words, but he just ignored it in favor for starting a conversation with the people around them for the rest of breakfast, not listening to Hermione until she started a different topic, hopefully getting over Harry wandering around at night.

After their meal, everyone went off to their classes for the day. Harry talked with his regular friends, did his school work, then found that all of his summer work was easy so he used his lunch and dinner time to complete it. In the end, everything was above standards and gave him plenty of time to socialize and still eat his meals. Of course, he only remembered to eat when Snape came over to remind him in his stone cold tone. Still, the warm squeeze on his shoulder Snape gave him also felt reassuring.

While the trio walked back to Gryffindor Tower, they discussed what the castle has been buzzing around about; the holidays.

“I’m going on a family vacation up in France; I’ll send you both postcards and a present.” Hermione said, looking excited. Ron nodded his head, then looked to Harry.

“Snape’s place is somewhere in Whales, but I don’t really remember exactly where. We should be using the Floo network to get there, but you have to know the address to get in.” Harry shrugged. He pulled up his red and gold scarf over his nose to get warmer in the winter cold. It had started snowing just the day before, so the entirety of the school grounds are now covered in a pale white blanket of glittery snow. “I hope Hagrid likes the present I got him.”

“Hagrid? Oh yeah, we went down to see him a couple of times, didn’t we?” Ron said, shivering behind his own red scarf.

Harry nodded, looking around for onlookers before taking a secret passage way towards Gryffindor Tower. “Yup! I go down to his hut for tea every once in a while. We sometimes make tea, and I help him make cupcakes every other Thursday.”

As the group kept walking up to Gryffindor Tower, they ran into the twins, both making glances around before they started talking, not even a greeting before getting down to business.

“We were thinking about The Secret, and we want to start recruiting people for it, but we’re gonna need some kinda protection for the members.” Fred started, both twins falling in step with the trio.

“Like, when they sign the book, they have a charm that makes them not allowed to talk about the secret to anyone except people who know the secret. And there has to be a certain password just to make sure.” George added before the two taller red heads went on about an entire plan about how to keep The Secret safe. Every now and then, Harry would interject with some advice, but it was mostly the twins.

Once they got to Gryffindor tower, the twins split off, promising to be at Snape’s quarters by six for their departure. Hermione also split off, promising to try her best to research Nicolas Flamel, then leaving for the train home. In the end, Ron and Harry simply sat in the common room, playing a game of chess before they had to make their way down to Snape’s quarters.

***

Getting to Snape’s home was a bit of a trip, since confidentiality and all with the spell placed upon the Prince Estate. He had to floo everyone to a pub down the street, then walk a block before letting everyone into his home through his gate.

Now that Harry was actually entering Snape’s estate properly, he couldn’t get a good look at just how extensive the Prince Estate is.

A large grassy area surrounding the Manor, which looked like an in between from a castle and a mansion, and a large redwood forest surrounding the entire estate. Each and every red headed companion dropped their jaws, looking around at anything and everything the property offered.

Out of the corner of Harry’s eye, he could see the slight smirk on Snape’s otherwise neutral face. Now that the professor was home, instead of sporting his usual stony grimace, he had on a relaxed, neutral expression. It made Harry just a bit more comfortable, knowing that even the dark and scary Severus Snape could be relaxed, even around guests that are his students.

Walking up the stone path to the house, Snape started laying down some house rules, specifically directing them towards the twins. Percy listened intently anyways, knowing that he’d stick to them by a T, and most likely yell at the twins about them later.

“House rules, all of you. One, nothing too dangerous. At all. For George, Fred, and Percy, you may use the Quidditch court out in the East side of the estate without me present. Harry and Ron, you will only use a broom while I am present and watching.” That got a groan from Ron, but a smile from Harry. He could show the twins how good he is at Quidditch for real, more then just school tricks and kicks. “Two, no touching the kitchen. I have a specific potions room for any school work to be done, or any experiments that should not be done anywhere else.” Snape made a pointed expression towards the twins.

Which, to be honest, was a good plan on Snape’s behalf. Allowing the twins to have an area to experiment when he knows he can’t stop them. If he can’t stop any of their stupidly brilliant plans, why not just let them get it out, but in a controlled area.

Not that anyone could keep the twins controlled. Not even Snape.

With a sigh, Snape continued. “Third, each of you will be sending a letter to your guardians this Yule and Christmas, as this household will be celebrating both holidays, as well as the New Years. Don’t worry about the gifts.” Harry hid a grin, suspecting Snape to give each of the kids gifts supposedly from Santa, really from him.

Which, to be fair, Harry was also planning on. So, he’s guessing that there will be an absurd amount of gifts for each kid, and maybe a butt load for Snape just from Harry’s own gratitude.

“Lastly, you may wander the grounds and Manor, just don’t enter the forest without my permission, and don’t go looking in every single room. Not every room in this house is used, so really, you won’t find much.”

Finally, the five of them got to the door, Snape opening it and letting the boys inside. “Your things are just outside your separate rooms. For Fred and George, I have given you both the same room. If you’d like your situation to be otherwise, that is a possibility.” Neither of the two twins complained. Walking further into the house, Snape waved everyone along, making them follow him. “Now, before anything else.” The professor turned to Harry, addressing him solely. “Why don’t you show our guests around, to the potions room and their own. Remember to be back by dinner.”

With a bright smile, Harry nodded. He then turned to Ron and the others, grabbing his best friend’s wrist before whisking him away, the other brothers following.

Over time, those brothers would feel like Harry’s own siblings, even Ginny, who would feel like a protective big sister, even if she’s younger.

When the group finally got out of ear shot from Snape, each of the Weasleys were loud with excitement. It made Harry so happy, hearing some of his favorite people talk about their excitement, their smiles.

It made him want to protect them even more, hardening his determination to change the future for the better.

“Merlin! Harry, you didn’t tell me how big this place is!” Ron started, extending his arms and talking with his hands about how cool the estate is. Even Percy was astounded.

“I would’ve never thought! I mean, he’s a teacher, and teachers in the wizarding world make a fortune, but still! It’s such an, an old money manor. A manor!”

The twins seemed to have different ideas, grinning mischievously.

“Oh yes, very big Ron.” Fred said, putting a hand on his chin as if a scholar. George mirrored the act, looking up at the ceiling.

“Yes, very much so brother. Indeed…” he trailed off, making Harry giggle with his own excitement. It was almost like he could hear all the little ideas running through the twin’s head. Traps in the grass, bugs in pillows, pixies in the chandeliers, etc. It also seemed as though the twins were having the same exact thoughts, both kinds of auras coming off of both of them. Like Harry could hear their inside voices and how they mirrored each other.

Not letting anyone finish their sentences, Harry went behind the group and started pushing them each down the hallway, then going to the front to lead them. “Come on! We’re loosing daylight! I gotta show you everything!” The red headed guest’s eyes lit up at that as they followed Harry obediently.

While Harry did have a kind of strict schedule of study and rest while staying with Snape, he also seemed to have unlimited freedom all the same. Snape had showed him around the manor a lot, showing him the libraries, the certain sitting rooms. He even told some stories behind the rooms sometimes, when he was in a good mood. They’d visit the few ballrooms that they’d train in, the different wings, the extensive gardens and orchards buried in the woods that had a mix of wizard and muggle trees.

To be honest, Snape could live off of his own muggle and wizard plants, selling those for a fortune while also eating them. Snape definitely used magic on the muggle plants to make them constantly bloom, but he also had charmed tools and such to harvest most of the plants on their own. So really, everything in Snape’s manor is just better, and Harry loved helping with all the gardens in his free time before going to Hogwarts.

So, Harry showed his friends the manor. His own room, which everyone promised to help spruce up since it seemed so bare. Even Percy seemed warm for once, being polite and asking questions to get to know Harry. The raven haired boy hoped that Percy would learn how to balance work and people; Harry would definitely try to help with that.

The twins really liked the potions room, Percy loved the garden, and Ron picked a sitting room that they’d use as their Secret meeting room away from home. Percy was confused by that, which made Ron pause, looking at the twins and Harry for help. Harry got the hint, pushing Percy out of the room immediately.

“I’m sorry Percy, we need to decide on something. We’ll bring you back in after we talk.” Harry apologized, closing the door behind Percy before turning back to the group. George put up a few silencing spells on the room before they started talking.

“So, should we tell him.” Fred started, motioning for everyone to sit down. Once everyone was sat, the real discussion begun.

“Alright, list of pros and cons.” Harry got a piece of parchment, bottle of ink, and a quill out of a nearby desk and started a t-chart for Percy.

“Cons are that he’s a tattletale and a prat, and he’s super rule abiding.” Ron added, scrunching up his nose in disgust. Both the twins nodded in agreement. Harry added it to the list, prat, tattletale, rule abiding.

“Okay, but what if I have dirt on him that could keep him in line? He’s also a prefect. Having a prefect on our side would be big.” Harry said, writing down prefect on the pros, and having dirt to keep in line.

Both Fred and George leaned in at that. “Yeah, what’s up with that?” George said, grinning with a sort of curious confusion.

“How do you have dirt on Percy that could get him away from school and here when even we couldn’t when we tried?” Fred continued on, having the same look of confused curiosity as George. The youngest brother was also listening intently, curious more than confused.

Sitting up with an annoying smirk, Harry sat for a bit before leaning into the group, as if there weren’t already enough silencing spells up around them. “Alright, so before I came to Hogwarts, I went into all the vaults that I’m heir to, specifically the Potter one.”

“Like how dad’s got two.” George added, which made Harry nod.

“Exactly, and like how Charlie and Bill are heir to both. Anyways, the Potter vault has a bunch of artifacts, but one stood out specifically. I went up to a certain cloth, which turned out to be a cloak. It looked cool, so I picked it up and left with it and some money to get my school supplies. Skipping to after all this, I tried it on in my room one day, looked down at my body, and found it gone.” Everyone gasped.

“Gone! Like how?!” Ron exclaimed, leaning in closer. Harry grinned, also expressing his surprise.

“Just gone! I was still there, but I was invisible! So, after that I did some research into my vault’s history book, and found the cloak of invisibility listed. That’s when I knew what I had taken, and so that’s how I’ve been getting around the castle at night.” Fred scrunched his eyebrows, still confused while Ron looked at Harry in awe. Harry could almost hear the thoughts of confusion in George’s head.

“Wait, but how does this pertain to having dirt on Percy?” George and Fred asked at the same time, not even blinking at being in sync.

Smiling even wider, Harry gave even more to the story. “So, if I’ve been wandering around the castle at night, how do you think that I get back into Gryffindor Tower at midnight?” Pausing for dramatic effect, everyone’s breath caught in their chest, Harry then continued. “It turns out that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Percy returns to Gryffindor Tower at midnight. Guess who enters five minutes before or after Percy? None other than the man himself, Oliver Wood.” At that reveal, each brother took in the biggest gasp he’s heard yet.

“No way!” Ron exclaimed, putting a hand up to his neck as if clutching his pearls.

“I knew it!” George said, fist bumping the air.

Fred on the other hand, also smiled, but kept a slightly serious look on his face. “But, would that be enough to get him to break the rules? To keep a secret from even the professors?” And for once, the room immediately settled back into seriousness.

Harry on the other hand, just smiled easily. “I’ll also have you know that if we let Percy in on The Secret, he’d have the perfect place to hangout with his newly discovered boyfriend, and a perfect place to take leadership in organizing who knows and who doesn’t. We all know how much Percy likes being in charge.” At this, all four boys smiled. Harry jotted down ‘likes being in charge’ on his pros and cons part of the chart.

“A vote?” George asked, everyone nodding. “All not in favor of Percy joining?” No hands raised. “All in favor of Percy joining?” All four hands raised. “Alright, let’s let him in.” Taking away all of the silencing spells, Harry went to the door to let Percy in. The boy was pacing back and forth, hands fiddling with themselves. When he heard the door open, he looked over to Harry, nervous yet also confused.

“We have come to a decision.” Harry said, stepping aside to allow Percy into the room. A bit angry in the face, Percy walked in.

“What decision? And what’s this secret you all are keeping?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest while going to sit next to Ron, across from the twins. Harry closed the door, then sat himself next to Percy.

“Percy, this is something I found in my first week at Hogwarts.” Percy turned towards Harry, concerned but also sort of… happy? Was he happy to finally be included in his brother’s shenanigans? Good. Harry should jot that down. “I can speak Parsletongue, and I found The Chamber of Secrets.” With a pause, Percy processed what Harry said. After a bit, the older Weasley nodded for Harry to continue. “And Ron, Fred, George, Hermione, Draco, and I have decided to make a club, a kinda hangout place down in The Chamber.” Holding out his hands, Harry took Percy’s hands in his own, feeling the seriousness in the kid’s eyes. “This is incredibly confidential. Only the listed people know about this, now including you, and we want you to be apart of it. We even have a job for you.” At this, Percy lit up.

“We want you to keep track of the people who know.” Fred said, turning Percy’s attention back to his brother. “We have a book that Hermione will put a map of The Chambers in, and we’ll also want you to put the members of what we call The Secret in. We don’t have an official name just yet.” Percy nodded, taking the situation very seriously.

“The club is basically just giving us and our friends a place to experiment with magic, and teach each other new kinds of spells, charms, and the like. We plan on putting all of our magic that we’ll learn in the book too, and you can be in charge of that too.” Percy then lit up again. George finished talking, letting Percy digest the information. The older boy then turned to Harry, smiling with pride.

“Thank you for trusting me with this, and I’m not just agreeing because you have dirt on me.” Harry’s eye glinted maliciously. “Though I know you’d never use my relationship against me, I am happy to be included in your club. Also, The Chamber of Secrets? And you can speak Parsletongue?” After that, the other Weasley boys then realized that Percy was not as much of a prat as he usually showed. They learned that Harry didn’t use any dirt against Percy to get him away from Hogwarts for the holidays, but he just asked really nicely and Percy immediately folded.

They also now knew that Percy had a relationship, but would not budge when pried about it.

The group also learned that yes, Percy can be a tattletale, but he also liked being in charge a lot more than following rules.

“So, this room will be The Secret room, just far from home?” Ron nodded, a star in his eyes as he looked at Percy now. Maybe, just maybe, Percy gained a little more respect from Ron after this. “Alright, then you should start looking for spells to teach your group and keep the books where you get them in here, then take them back to The Secret to keep there. Maybe we can take a trip down to Diagon Alley to get a few. And also, you should always teach your new members and existing members cleaning spells, just in case.” Everyone nodded, understanding.

“Yeah, and George and I were trying to come up with names to call our members. We wanna go with something like secret, or tied to The Chamber, but I don’t wanna call everyone a snake or basilisk.” Percy nodded, putting a hand to his chin.

“Why not clandestine?” Harry offered, getting odd looks from everyone else. “What? I read the dictionary a lot for a while. It means secret or hidden, and sounds cool.”

“It’s also a word nobody really knows or uses, and it kinda sounds like a name!” Ron exclaimed, happy with the choice.

“Okay, I’m gonna write this down on this paper and put it in my bag. We can make a meeting with our other group later, and talk to Draco on Yule about it. Hermione will probably also be thrilled, but I don’t wanna tell her through a letter.” Everyone murmured their agreement. “Alright, let’s get going for dinner. Everyone remember where their room is?”

***

Dinner was delicious, everyone exclaiming about how good the food was, and talking about this and that, but especially Quidditch.

“You’ll really let me on a broom?! At home?!” Harry exclaimed, looking at Snape with hope and awe. And he’d been so against it before, but that was probably because he was usually too busy making potions for Madam Pomfrey and other teachers in Hogwarts.

Snape was using a few spells to take care of the dishes and left overs, having to tell the Weasleys no to their help multiple times beforehand. “Yes, but only when I’m able to be out there with you.”

The thing is, with Harry pulling his stunt he was let onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but only with the exception that Snape be there for each and every time Harry even touches a broom, along with extra practice every once and a while.

So, actually being able to fly with at home when not previously allowed made Harry very excited. He didn’t mind the extra training during school, but if Snape let him play during the summer… well, let’s just say that Gryffindor is going to get their next best player since Harry’s father, and they’re gonna win.

“But, let’s save that for later. It’s late, time for bed, the lot of you.” Snape said, letting his spells finish up with the dishes while he led everyone to their rooms. “Remember to wash your teeth, change into your pajamas, and that I’m right in my room if you need me. Your pets are fed and in your rooms waiting for you. Any letters for your parents can be written tomorrow morning. Good night to you all.” Snape said, watching as each kid entered their rooms and closed their doors, waving good night to each other sleepily.

Before Harry entered his room, he hugged Snape, who bent down to hug Harry back. “Good night Harry, sleep well.” He said before letting go. Harry responded with a lazy ‘good night snap’ then went into his own room, getting into bed then falling right to sleep, not feeling little Mischief come to lay next to him, cuddled right up against his chest.