"Dinner!"
Harry hollered as he set the bowl of tomato pasta bake down in the center of the dining table, typically, Draco came bounding into the room, looking like one not fed for days. 10 minutes after the boys tucked in, the clomp of Snape coming up the stairs from his makeshift potions lab, in the cellar, was heard. Snape had quickly set himself up with cauldrons, burners and potions ingredients in the basement, courtesy of many strange packages, arriving in the post from Dumbledore.
Snape served himself some pasta, then sat and prodded at it
"Tomato and…. rice?"
"No, it's that other one"
"pasta" Harry informed them, he found it hard to belief these two had spent their whole lives living off traditional English food, for the first few weeks Malfoy had repeatedly asked where the gravy was.
"Have the other defence texts come through the posts yet?" Snape inquired
"Just those books yesterday" Harry said
"Eurgh, more books, I am so bored of reading, I don't see what good it is doing us without wands to practice with anyway" Draco moaned for what felt like the thousandth time.
"I do believe we have had this conversation before" Snape said in an attempt to get Draco to drop it.
"So, why do we have to spent all day reading, when there is no point?"
Snape raised his eyebrows at his godson "Got something better to be doing?"
"Well I don't see you reading for the entire day"
"That is because I have already had the joy of graduating from Hogwarts and besides, I do have something more important to be doing"
"What are you working on now?" the other boy at the table piped up.
Snape smiled to himself, glad to have the opportunity to talk about his brewing "I am in the process of developing a base for a potion that I hope can either mask, remove or alter a person's magical signature"
"If it works, we could go back?" Harry asked, hopefully.
"We are a long way away from that Mr Potter, without magic to test it on, I am left in the dark as to any successes I may be having"
"Why do you want to go back so badly?" Draco sounded a bit hurt.
"Don't you? I mean they're all back there in danger, fighting and training and doing something useful, what are we achieving here?" Harry said passionately.
"The preservation of your life, young saviour" Snape drawled.
Harry ignored that as he'd heard it all before.
"Don't you want to use magic again?" Harry couldn't understand Draco's complacency at being stuck here.
"Course I do, but if I do, I'm dead and my Slytherin sense of self-preservation won't allow that".
Harry shook his head at the other boy and went to clear the table and wash the dishes. Harry didn't mind that over the last few months, he'd become the house elf, he knew the other two hadn't a clue about anything domestic, plus it helped take his mind off being stuck here. He missed Ron and Hermione, he'd posted the occasional letter, the muggle way, and they had replied, but it was hard for them and he felt guilty making them go to all that effort just to make himself feel better. He also missed magic, not because he was lazy, but he missed the sense of awe he felt when he saw magic around him.
The weather was slowly turning grimmer and after Draco had complained about his feet turning blue, one too many times, Harry decided to turn the heating on. Draco and Snape found the radiators fascinating, "how's it hot, there isn't any flame?" leading to a bizarre lesson on the inner workings of a central heating system.
"Why's this radiator not radiating anything, Harry?"
Harry went to join Snape in the library to find that Snape was right, it wasn't getting hot.
"Ah, Trish said there was a book of people who could help with this thought of thing" Snape remembered.
"It's okay, Snape, it just needs bleeding, I can do that, we don't need the yellow pages". Harry nipped downstairs to get a wrench and a bowl to catch the water, then set about letting the air out of the system.
"Do all muggles teach children how to carry out the work of a handyman?" Snape was looking quizzically at Harry as Harry knelt back and wiped his brow. He flushed and stammered.
"Er yeah sure, you know, just the basics and stuff" he jumped up busying himself with his used equipment and hurried out.
"What's his problem?" Draco drawled from his place lounging in an armchair.
"I find it hard to believe, normal muggle children know half as much about domestic chores as Potter does"
"Yeah, so?"
"It just makes me wonder about his upbringing"
"You mean, like how he can cook all those different things and knows how to clean everything and how to work all the thingamies in the laundry?"
"It stands to reason, the only way a child would have all of those skills would be if they were made to use them an awful lot".
Draco was sitting up now, looking a bit upset "Do you think Harry's family were treating him like a house elf?... like we've been treating him?".
"Hmm, Potter has insisted on carrying out all our household duties, that doesn't make it right that his guardians brought him up like that though, it would also explain the state he was in on his arrival at Hogwarts".
Draco's interest was even further peaked at this, he had missed Harry's stint in the hospital "what was wrong with him?"
"He was very badly beaten and severely malnourished"
"He's okay now though, right?"
Snape was surprised at Draco's compassion "I believe so, the boy is not one for sharing though".
Draco looked thoughtful "do we have any books on cooking?"
Snape had a bad feeling about this but didn't want to discourage Draco from wanting to help "I'm sure you'll find some around here somewhere, maybe ask Potter about it first".
Draco didn't pay that any attention, he had a plan forming. The next morning Harry bounced down the stairs to make their breakfasts when, an alarming smell met his nose, this didn't smell like one of Snape's brews either. The sight that greeted him in the kitchen was pandemonium, there was flour covering every surface, what looked like all of the pots and pans were out and dirty, as well as at least half of the utensils, what on earth was the potato peeler, doing out? In the midst of all the chaos was a blond-haired teenager, looking sheepish.
"How do you know when a pancake is cooked?" Draco asked before turning to the stove, where the source of the smell was revealed. Harry rushed over grabbed the burning frying pan and doused it in the sink. Leaning back against the counter and heaving a sigh of relief he looked at Draco.
"About 10 minutes before it looked like that" Harry giggled but Draco didn't find it funny.
"Well sorrreee for trying to make breakfast, just thought it'd be nice to have a go, for a change"
Wait, was Draco blaming him for this? When did he suddenly decide to become a domestic goddess? "Draco, you could have asked me for help"
"Cos you're just the best at everything aren't you, oh stupid Draco can't even crack an egg"
It was then Harry saw the pile of egg shell and raw egg on the floor, he didn't think it the best time to mention that.
"How about we run out to the shops and get some more eggs, then I'll show you how to make pancakes?"
Draco seemed to get over his embarrassed defensiveness at that, it did sound fun "I'll go to the shop, you can, er get the kitchen ready".
Harry laughed at how Draco had avoided mentioning the bomb site the kitchen had become. Making the pancakes was actually very fun for both of them and Draco asked if he could help more often, Harry made him promise to only "help" when he was in the room with him.
A/N: This story is also being posted on AO3, under the same username. The plot's nearly exactly the same but with more adult themes and language, I don't like putting stuff like that on here, with there being no age restriction. But if explicit is your thing, feel free to read it over there instead