Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
Thanks a lot to my beta-reader, xxcassxxcullenxx, for correcting my mistakes.
I also would like to thank my motovation betas!
I'm not a native speaker of English!
Dear readers,
I'm sorry, I had to work a lot lately and even so I had the chapter back from my beta, I wasn't able to upload it. Nevertheless your wonderfull and numerous reviews made me feel bad for not submitting. So here comes the next chapter!
Sunny
Chapter 12 – Grandpa and Grandma
-II-
"They come with Ivy tomorrow?" Harry asked, excited.
"No, my parents will come and visit you after nap time, and Ivy will come over around four for the dance and will stay for supper."
"Great!"
"See the time flies, and soon you will be back home." Severus smiled at Harry and then hugged him.
"Bye, Dad," Harry muttered in Severus cloak.
"I see you on Monday, Harry." With that Severus stepped into the fireplace and left in a flash of green light.
-II-
"Harry! Harry!"
Harry heard his little sibling's cries for him through his door while he woke from his midday nap. He felt groggy; lunch had been a struggle again. This time Anne, the head nurse herself, had spent her time sitting beside Harry, encouraging him to eat. It was frustrating; Harry wished he could eat more.
"Eathan, no," Harry heard his mother scream, but the door had already flown open and after a short orientating glance throughout the room, Eathan ran over to Harry to crush him in a hug. Unable to see anything, Harry groaned when another similar weight jumped on top of Eathan. He was buried under his little five-year old twin brothers.
"I swear I will never take you two with me again," Ivy said out of breath from the door. "I'm really sorry, nurse Anne, I—"
"Spare your breath, dear. Nothing happened." The elderly woman ushered Ivy into the room and followed her. "Okay, boys, I need to check you have not crushed your brother."
The twins were lifted from him, and Nurse Anne smiled down at him. "Still breathing?"
"Yeah," Harry said, smiling tiredly.
"Is something wrong?" Ivy asked, alarmed by Harry's behavior.
"We didn't crush him, Mom, really," Eathan said, sensing trouble in the air.
"Calm down, Mrs. Snape. There are still problems with Harry's eating habits, and we needed to give him a potion again. Healer Smith will tell you the details tomorrow. It's nothing to worry about. Harry just needs a little more time to wake up and get under way. Right, Harry?" She looked encouragingly at Harry while she felt his pulse.
"I'm alright, Mom."
"I know your definition of alright, Harry," Ivy said not a bit calmed.
"You know that I'm head nurse here, Mrs. Snape. You can believe me when I tell you it is nothing to worry about." Anne looked Ivy straight in her eyes.
Ivy sighed. "Fine."
After a short glance over to Victor, who had sat up in his bed, Anne left the room.
"Hello, Victor. Sorry for the abrupt wake up. They slipped my hands and ran for it."
"No problem, Mrs. Snape. Do you want me to leave?"
"This is your room as well as Harry's, Victor. You don't need to ask us to leave every time." She smiled at him and then went over to Harry to run a hand over his unruly hair and kiss his forehead.
Eathan meanwhile had run over to Victor and looked at the boy with his head tilted. Victor mirrored the move and was rewarded with the laughs of both five-year old boys. "Your friend is funny, Harry."
"My friend's name is Victor, Eathan. Be nice," Harry said and fought for a moment to sit up. Seeing the worried expression on his mother's face, he tried to downplay his tiredness.
The door opened again and the healer, who had given Harry his potion after lunch, came in. He was around 45 with a little beer belly, short brown hair, and a full beard. "Nurse Anne informed me you were worried about your son, Mrs. Snape?"
"Yes, I never have seen him like that. He hardly was able to wake and sit up."
"I wasn't, Mom," Harry protested, knowing she would cause a scene soon.
"Let's be on the safe side and check you though, Harry," Healer Wright, as Harry remembered his name now, said and came over to him. Before he sat down on Harry's bed, he gave Ivy his hand and introduced himself.
"I'm fine, Healer Wright," Harry said weakly.
"I'm certain, Healer Snape, but I still prefer to look for myself."
Harry sighed. Healer Wright had a lot of James' personality.
After the healer had checked Harry through with his wand, he even scanned him by hand. It was awkward to let someone else so close, and Healer Wright's magic was different from James', not so calming and a bit overwhelming.
"I know, Harry. Your body is use to Healer Smith's magic, but please try to sit still or better yet lay down again." He helped Harry to lie down again and then started the scanning again. When he was finished, he gave Harry's shoulder a pat and turned to Ivy. "He is all right, Mrs. Snape. His body was not ready to wake up so early, but in a few minutes he will feel better. The potion we gave him to help his stomach to assimilate the food, is slowing his other functions down a bit. That's why we only give it to him before the nap time or in the evening. His body needs a bit more time to wake up and get everything started."
"I'm fine, Mom. Please stop making them all crazy."
"That's the way mothers are, Harry," Healer Wright said amused, and stood up.
"Should we come back later, Healer Wright? The boys nagged my all day and I let myself be talked around."
"No, no, there is no reason to leave. Harry will be his normal self in a few minutes." With a wave at the twins he left.
"Why are you here, Mom? Dad said Elli and Thadeus would come with the twins and you would come later for the dancing."
"Yes, it was planned like that, but you didn't have to listen to those two little pains in my neck the whole morning, since five, Harry, five in the morning." Ivy sighed. "Oh I wish I could lay down with you now and have a nap as well."
"You could go home and sleep, so you are fresh for the dance later. Eathan and Ly can stay."
"I'm certain the nurses would love that, Harry," Ivy said sarcastically. "No, I just couldn't listen to their nagging any longer and told your grandparents to come here as soon as they are back with Severus. They have spent the day in London."
"Let's play, Harry," Lysander said impatiently. They had been silent long enough to let their mommy speak with Harry.
"Let me freshen up," Harry said. "I'll be back in a minute."
"Can we come with you? Please, Harry, please." Eathan and Lysander cried and jumped around Harry.
"Sure," Harry said, Victor joining them as well. When they came back Ivy was fast asleep on Harry's bed. The twins giggled, but Harry cupped their mouths with his hands. "Let's go to the park."
"We should inform the nurses about your Mom. What if she wakes before we are back and freaks out?" Victor said.
"Ehm... yeah... could you," Harry asked. He was too occupied by his hyper brothers who pulled at his arms to make him go faster.
"Sure," Victor said, amused.
"What's that Harry?" Eathan asked and poked at the wristband.
"It's shows that I'm a patient here. Everyone here has one."
"Can we have one too?"
"That's a fantastic idea, boys," said Anne, who had come over to them after Victor's information, and placed a wristband around the small wrists of each boy. "You will listen to your brother. He knows the park better than you two, right?"
Eathan and Lysander nodded.
"They are very well-behaved, Anne. They are just a bit hyper today."
Anne smiled. "The wristband will stop them from leaving, Just in case you lose them."
"Thanks," Harry said and guided his little brothers outside.
They got a ball from Healer Jacob, who was in the gym, so they played with the twins for around half an hour until Thadeus and Elli came into the park.
"Grandma, Grandpa, here we are," Eathan screamed, and everyone in the park looked at them.
"I think they had already seen us Eathan," Harry said and rolled his eyes while looking at Victor.
"Your brothers are fun," Victor said.
"Yeah," Harry said, amused.
"Hello boys," Thadeus said. He hugged Harry and nodded at Victor. While Elli pulled Harry in a bear hug, Victor said good-bye and went back inside.
"You scared the boy," Elli said and bopped her husband on his shoulder.
"I did no such thing."
"He always tries to make himself rare when someone visits me. He isn't used to visits. He has nobody."
"What? Poor boy." Elli grabbed her heart and looked in the direction in which Victor had vanished.
"You scared your mother, Harry. She almost had a heart attack when she woke up and you all were gone," Thadeus scolded.
"She was tired, and we didn't want to wake her. Where is she?"
"Home. She will need energy for your ball later," Elli said and started to pick with Harry's hair in an attempt to tame it.
"Elli, that's useless," Harry protested.
"You haven't combed your hair after your nap, Harry. Not even your hair is looks this bad if it is combed."
Harry sighed and let his grandmother play with his hair. He hoped she did not spit in her hands and try to get his hair down like Ivy sometimes did. There were already enough people looking at them.
"Let's play, Grandpa," Eathan said impatiently. Who cares for hair beside their grandma and mom?
They played for some time, and when Harry and his grandparents sat down on one of the benches the twins played catch around them. "How are things going, Harry?" Thadeus asked.
"Not so well," Harry said, depressed. It was useless to lie to them, Severus or Ivy would most certainly have already informed them. "I think they will force me to stay for the whole seven days."
Elli sighed, "It's for you own good, Harry. Even during your stay at Snape Mansion you started to behave strangely and didn't eat well."
"I'm not doing it on purpose."
"Nobody said so," Thadeus intervened. "Your grandmother just didn't like your use of the word force. You should realize that you need the help and stay freely."
"That's easy for you to say, grand... Thadeus."
"What was that?" Thadeus asked, surprised.
"Nothing," Harry said, embarrassed. It was really hard to always speak with your little brothers telling them grandma and grandpa,but then call them by their first names while speaking with them. With Albus and Minerva it was no problem for Harry because he had known them even before he knew Eathan and Lysander, their names were burned in his head. Harry was sure he would never call them something other than Albus and Minerva. With Thadeus and Elli it was more difficult.
"Really, I think my ears are still very good and I caught you almost calling me grandpa for the first time. You need to tell me if you did because I want to note it down with red in my calendar."
"Thadeus, stop teasing, Harry!" Elli pulled her grandson closer. "Don't listen to him, Harry. It would be so lovely if you would call us grandma and grandpa."
Oh, great, now he was stuck. What should he say now? "Ehm... I don't know."
"You already did it, Harry. You just stopped yourself. Why?" Thadeus asked.
"Because it is weird."
"I'm your grandpa, aren't I?"
Harry sighed. "Yes." Now he knew he would get one of those Snape lectures with the typical Snape logic.
"If we both agree in the fact that I'm your grandpa then please tell me, where is the logic of feeling weird calling me grandpa?"
"The logic is that you aren't my real—"
"Oh, oh, oh, bad answer, my boy. You are a Snape. Severus adopted you. Our son adopted you, and so you belong in our family. We are real people and that means—"
"Okay, okay. I understand, Grandpa. Satisfied?"
"Very," Thadeus said, beaming.
"We need to celebrate that. Is there an opportunity to buy an ice cream here?" Elli asked.
"There is a small shop on the first floor. I'm sure they will sell ice cream there as well."
"Ice cream? Yeah! Ice cream! Ice cream!" The twins shouted and danced around the bench.
"You little monsters have your ears everywhere, right?" Harry asked, amused. "Let's go...grandma," Harry said, still a bit embarrassed.
Elli laughed and kissed Harry's cheek.
Ivy came back shortly before the dance started. Harry's heart ached when the twins started to cry when they said good-bye. "I will be home soon," Harry promised.
"Daddy also says that every time he says good night," Eathan whined.
Harry didn't know what to say, but then he said, "I promise I will be back and then we will go flying, okay?"
"Or better you will play inside or draw something very big," Ivy said. Harry looked at her shocked. That hopefully wouldn't mean he wasn't allowed flying again. "Not now, Harry," Ivy said, seeing the question written on her eldest son's face.
"Okay," Eathan said but still sobbed. Lysander couldn't say anything and just hugged Harry tightly.
After a few more tears and a few more hugs, Ivy and Harry were alone.
Ivy wore a lovely scarlet dress. "You look great, Mom," Harry said. "I need to get changed."
"You are dressed perfectly well, Harry. This is just a normal dress."
"No, I really want to change, Mom. I'll be back in a minute."
Harry changed quickly with Victor's help. He wore one of Victor's suits. The boy had his whole wardrobe with him in the clinic and had convinced Harry to make this day something special for Harry's mom as well.
"You look great," Victor said. "Don't forget the flowers we made for her." Victor had shown him a few origami flowers, and Harry had made a whole bouquet for Ivy.
Harry was nervous. "Do you really think this is a good idea, Victor?"
"Your mother will love it and will never forget this day. I bet she will cry seeing you."
Please review! Your comments are what I look foreward to read after a hard day at work.
