Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. And yes, I do know that it's 'board games' and not 'bored games', but Severus doesn't.

Severus bit back a groan. Did the headmaster have to ruin everything? And he'd greeted Alastor as 'old friend' too, which meant that they must have known each other for a long time. And since he was here, he probably knew the Prewetts and the Weasleys too, and…. He suppressed a second groan. This was supposed to be his holiday from all things Hogwarts.

Alastor had set his utensils down and was getting to his feet to shake Dumbledore's hand, and Severus wondered idly what his odds of crawling under the table and escaping out the other side were. Probably pretty low considering the number of people packed around the table, and he could just imagine the shocked look on Arthur's mother's face—the woman currently sitting across from him with Charlie in her lap—if he suddenly popped up beside her skirts.

"And I expect you know Severus," Severus heard Alastor say, and he set his fork and knife down neatly and refrained from dropping his forehead down into the remains of his roast only by great force of will as Alastor's hand landed on his shoulder. Now he definitely wasn't going to get away without being seen.

"Professor Dumbledore," he greeted, getting slowly to his feet as doing his best to keep his emotions off his face. He thought he was successful, but then again, it might not have mattered as Dumbledore most definitely was not. In fact, Severus had never seen the headmaster look quite so much like he'd been hit with a stunning hex before. It was…extremely amusing, actually.

"Mr. Snape, I wasn't aware that you knew Alastor," Dumbledore managed after a moment, his expression smoothing.

Severus shrugged. "I live with him."

The struck-with-a-stunning-hex expression returned for a fraction of a second and then disappeared again. "Ah. I…see." He glanced to the side at Alastor. "I hadn't realized that. You're not…related…or…."

"No, nothing like that." Alastor shook his head, saying nothing more, and Severus wondered for a second if he was enjoying Dumbledore's discomfiture as well. It was hard to tell from the quick glance Severus managed, but his tone had been awfully casual.

"Oy, Severus, over here!" Gideon called suddenly from across the room. "If you're done eating, come give me a hand with this!"

Severus glanced back down at his plate. He wasn't quite finished, but as Alastor had said, there was no shortage of snacks around. And self-preservation said that as amusing as the whole situation with Dumbledore had turned out, he probably shouldn't stick around and press his luck. If, for some twisted reason, Dumbledore decided to say anything about his troubles at school—even if most of it wasn't he fault, no matter what anybody said—he would still be dead. Seeing the headmaster so discombobulated was almost enough to make that a fair trade, but…. He gave himself a mental shake and then nodded to Alastor and Dumbledore. "Would you please excuse me?"

"Whatever he's got in mind, try and keep him from blowing up the house," Alastor said with a shake of his head and a quick pat to Severus shoulder.

Severus didn't even try to ask how he was supposed to manage that as Dumbledore murmured something polite as well and then stepped out of the way to allow him to leave the table.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dumbledore turn back to Alastor and begin what looked like a rather intense series of questions, but it was too late to have done anything differently. And the headmaster really had looked funny.

He shook his head and then navigated around a smaller table ringed by children to join Gideon. "What do you need? Alastor says I'm not allowed to let you blow up the house."

"No faith. No faith at all." He shook his head and heaved a deep sigh before his usual grin returned and he handed a handful of ribbon to Severus. "Actually I just need some help setting up for the Charms competition. Apparently I'm not allowed to compete this year—although no matter what Molly says, I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that that was Grandfather's favorite sweater—so it's my job to judge."

Severus had no idea what he might have done to the man's sweater, but having him judging didn't sound very much safer, and Severus wondered about Molly's sanity for a moment before shaking his head and following Gideon outside. He almost turned around and went right back inside as a blast of icy wind cut through his sweater—he and Alastor had Floo'd over so he hadn't bothered to bring his heavy cloak—but then Gideon drew his wand and cast a spell that Severus didn't recognize at the ground between them. A bubble of warmth, made visible as the snow it encompassed neatly melted away, spread upwards and outwards, and before long there was a circular area of grass free of snow and wet reaching Molly and Arthur's back door all the way out to the garden.

"What spell was that?" Severus asked.

"It's called an always-summer spell," Gideon said, demonstrating the wand motion again. "Usquequaque estas. Large ones are draining, though, especially if you set them up to last for several hours. Person-sized ones are much easier; you can't move around as much, but they make lookout duty a lot more pleasant than it could be.

Severus nodded. He was definitely going to try that one when he had a chance. When they had to be outside on the tower for Astronomy class, he made do with his heaviest cloak and a lot of warming spells like everyone else, but something like this would be a lot nicer. Especially since you didn't do a lot of moving around while looking through a telescope anyway.

"Spread out the ribbon in a circle, and it will make a boundary," Gideon said, gesturing in the general direction of the garden. "Keep it a bit away from the fence, though, just to be safe."

Severus glanced down at the ribbon and then began to lay it out as Gideon had asked. "There's no spell for this part?"

"The ribbon is already spelled; it'll activate when it's lying flat and the two ends are overlapped." He shook his head. "It used to be spelled for dueling, actually, back when we did the New Years' celebration at Mum and Dad's place, but then we started inviting Alastor and he kicked all our arses three years running. After that, we figured we'd better change up the competition so the rest of us would have a chance. He's not quite so good at charms—if I remember right, Xenophilius won their round last year with a surprise hovering charm—so things are a bit more exciting. Not to mention that switching from dueling to charms stopped Mum from complaining about scorch marks on the lawn."

Severus grinned. "Molly probably wouldn't like that either."

"Molly would have us out here seeding new grass even in the snow," Gideon agreed with a grin. "And Merlin help us if we touched her garden."

"Does everyone have to compete?"

"Oh, no. Everyone who wants to is welcome, but quite a few people like to just sit with their drinks and watch the show. I think I saw Albus come in, so it ought to be pretty impressive this year. Are you thinking about giving it a try?"

Severus leaned down to untwist a stretch of ribbon and hid a scowl. So Dumbledore did know the Prewetts, then. It wasn't really a surprise, at least not now, but…. He straightened again and then shrugged. "I think maybe I'll just watch." Maybe next year if he was here he might try, but he was only a fifth-year, after all. And he'd never been in a Charms competition before. It would be kind of embarrassing to be knocked out immediately for not knowing what he was doing.

Apparently the Charms competition served as the after-dinner entertainment, because people began to join them carrying drinks and plates loaded with pie just as Severus and Gideon got the ribbon ring smoothed out. As soon as they'd done so, it started emitting a translucent yellow barrier, and people began to arrange themselves around it.

Severus was more than a little relieved when Alastor joined him without being accompanied by the headmaster. He didn't want to spend his holiday around Dumbledore. And Alastor's smile of greeting was a relief as well...if Dumbledore had told Alastor anything that upset him, it would have shown, so apparently Severus' school troubles were still his. He returned Alastor's smile easily.

"Well, everything still looks intact; I suppose that's a good sign," Alastor said.

"No explosions. I was just helping him get the ring set up." He glanced up. "Are you going to compete?"

"Aye, I'll give it a try. What about you?" He nodded towards an older woman—a Weasley, Severus thought, probably some kind of aunt—now standing by the door. "If you want to try, just put your name in the hat. They'll be drawing for the first set of matches and then pairing down the winners from there."

Severus shook his head. "I don't think so. I just want to watch."

"That's fair enough." He paused. "Did you get enough dinner? You usually clean your plate, and it looked like Gideon dragged you off before you had a chance to finish."

Severus shrugged slightly. "I was going to have an extra piece of pie." Or two. "And maybe some hot chocolate, if Gideon and Fabian haven't got to it yet." He glanced back at the house and realized that the crowd around them had grown and he should probably get whatever he wanted now, before the competition started, or he'd miss something. "Would you like anything?"

"I suppose I could manage a piece of pie, also. If you fetch it, I'll stake out seats for us. You'll just have to guard mine while I'm competing, keep that partner of mine from doing anything horrible to it."

"Just put him down in here."

The feeling of floating dissipated, and Severus shifted as he landed on something soft.

"Honestly, Alastor, I don't know what you were thinking. It's nearly two in the morning—you should have sent him to bed hours ago!"

"He's fifteen, Molly; nearly sixteen in fact. I daresay that's old enough to decide when he's tired. And it's not as though he was causing anyone any trouble."

"Well, of course he's no trouble." She scoffed, and Severus squirmed away from the hand that fussed his hair. He wasn't a baby.

"Are you sure it's okay for him to nap here? It is late. Maybe I should just wake him up and take him home."

"You'll do no such thing. He's exhausted, and there's no lack of material to transfigure into beds. The two of you can just sleep here tonight, and there'll be plenty of leftovers for breakfast."

"Thanks, Molly."

There was rustling, and then something warm was arranged around his shoulders. Severus was starting to sink back into full sleep when Molly spoke again.

"Are you all right?"

"Hm. Oh. Aye." Alastor sighed, and a broad hand landed lightly on Severus' back for a moment. "Just still not sure I'm the best one for this job."

"What?"

Severus came a bit further awake, wondering what Alastor meant by that. He didn't hear any response from Alastor, but after a moment Molly spoke again.

"Why would you say that? He seemed to have a good time tonight. Though he's still far too skinny for a boy his age." Even half-asleep Severus had no difficulty imagining her shaking her head in disapproval.

"Aye, it was a good night," Alastor said. "And he's a good lad. Even with your brothers doing their best to corrupt him, Merlin help us all."

Severus felt his lips twitch and was glad that his face was turned into the pillow and half-hidden by the blanket.

"He misses his mum, though—and understandably so—and I'm no help with that. Not sure if I'm doing what I should, or if there's more, or less, or a different way to go about it, or what." Another light pat to Severus' back and a few minutes of silence before, "I took my belt to him the other day. It was well enough deserved, and if a lad's earned a thrashing it ought to be severe enough that he remembers it, but…." A sigh. "It hurts him so. And I'd have let him off a bit more lightly if he'd just told me why, but he didn't say anything until it was over and done." Another sigh, followed by a snort. "About the only thing in those nonsense books that woman gave me that I understood was to be consistent—which seems fairly obvious; you can't expect a youngling to follow the rules or accept the consequences if they keep changing on him—but maybe I'm missing something. Or going about it wrong."

"Did you talk to him about it?" Molly asked.

"Made sure that he was okay, of course. I wouldn't leave him hurting."

"That's not what I meant. " It was her turn to go silent for a moment. "Alastor, anyone with eyes can see that Severus thinks the world of you. If you're worried, talk to him."

There was another snort. "Not so sure that he knows how a lad ought to be treated either. As far as I can tell, his da and grandda weren't any more use than any of my relatives. Maybe even a bit less."

A familiar, callused hand messed his hair lightly, and Severus shifted a little and hoped that that would be enough to bring this conversation to an end. Partially because it was a little embarrassing for Molly to know about his punishment, even if he had seen her give Bill a swat once or twice before she put in him in the corner, but more because he thought Alastor was a good guardian, even if he was strict. He didn't like hearing him sound uncertain. "'lstor?"

"I'm sorry, lad, I didn't mean to wake you up." Alastor rubbed his back through the thick blanket. "Go on back to sleep with you, now. I'll see you tomorrow."

There was the sound of movement, and then it was dark, and Severus opened his eyes fully and rolled to stare upwards. Was Alastor having second thoughts? He hadn't said anything bad about Severus, but if he'd changed his mind about wanting to be his guardian—or anyone's guardian—then….

"Severus, are you awake?" Alastor asked from the doorway.

Severus yawned and then nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes quickly. He hadn't ended up sleeping very well last night, and then Molly had woken them early for breakfast and had forced far too much food on them—at least in his opinion, but then he rarely had more than toast—before he and Alastor had floo'd home. They'd both ended up heading for their own rooms for a few more hours of sleep as soon as they'd arrived, but Severus had again had trouble relaxing completely and had been tossing and turning for the last half an hour or so.

"Do you think you might be up for a trip to Diagon Alley?" Alastor asked. "I seem to recall promising you some potions' ingredients. And we ought to pick up something for Molly and Arthur."

Nothing in his voice now said that he might be regretting taking in Severus, but Severus wasn't likely to forget what he'd heard last night. How uncertain Alastor had sounded. After a minute, though, he nodded. "I'd like to go." He paused. "Are we getting them a thank you gift? Molly and Arthur, I mean." He didn't remember his grandparents ever doing that when they'd been invited to parties, but then again, those had been different sorts of parties with different sorts of guests.

"Hm? Oh, I suppose you'd fallen asleep before the announcement, hadn't you?" Alastor grinned slightly. "I think Molly would have preferred to tell the family privately first, but Arthur had a bit more to drink than he probably should have and let slip that Molly is expecting again."

"Really?" Weren't two little kids running around enough?

"Aye. She isn't due until summer, but I thought we ought to get her a congratulations gift."

Severus nodded. "You don't have to go in to work at all today?" If not, maybe he could do some brewing too after they got back. One of his school potions maybe, or he could try something from the fireworks kit. That way he could show Alastor that he really did know what he was doing and Alastor didn't have to worry about supervising him…that would make things a little easier on him.

Alastor shook his head. "Not for anything short of an emergency. Why don't you go on get yourself up and cleaned up and we'll go. Maybe stop by the one of the cafes after we're done since we probably ought to have something other than pie."

Severus didn't know how he could think of food right now, but then, Molly probably hadn't been quite as insistent about heaping food on his plate as she had on Severus'. And maybe he would be hungry after they'd done some walking around. He got cleaned and changed quickly and then shrugged on his heavy cloak and followed Alastor to the anti-apparition boundary.

Diagon Alley wasn't nearly as crowded as Severus had expected, but then again, quite a few people were probably sleeping off last night. He fell into step beside Alastor automatically. Despite still hearing Alastor's words echoing in his mind, he couldn't really ask Alastor about what he'd heard since he'd been supposed to be asleep, but he couldn't think of anything else to talk about as they turned towards the apothecary's.

"Gave Albus quite a start last night," Alastor said suddenly, glancing down at him.

"Hm?" Severus looked up at him, taking a minute to process his words. Despite his original horror at the man's presence, he'd actually totally forgotten about the headmaster, and he felt a grin escape as he remembered the man's expression. "Oh, yeah. I've never seen that look on his face at Hogwarts before, ever." He cast a cautious look at Alastor. "Its…have you known each other a long time?"

"Suppose you could say that. He was one of my teachers when I was at Hogwarts, and then we kept in touch afterwards. Especially after the war."

Grindlewald, Severus realized…he still wasn't exactly sure how old Alastor was, but that would definitely qualify them as old friends. He frowned as he tried to figure out how to ask what—if anything—the headmaster had said about him without giving away anything. Now he had even more reason to avoid letting Alastor find out about his troubles. "It looked like he had a lot of questions for you," he finally said after a moment.

"Aye, well, things have been busy, and it's been a year at least since the last time I talked to him. I doubt he ever expected me to end up with a youngster in the house."

"Oh."

"I think he was more curious about how it came about than anything else," Alastor said with a shake of his head. "Seemed to think you were happy enough with your grandparents."

Severus made a disgusted sound but managed to refrain from saying anything. The only reason the headmaster had even known that he lived with his grandparents was because his mother had died, and he certainly had never had cause to think Severus was happy there. Then again, this was Dumbledore. He noticed what he felt like noticing.

"You disappeared right after he arrived," Albus said, glancing down at him, and Severus shrugged awkwardly.

"Gideon asked for my help." He paused and then shrugged again before continuing. "And I wasn't really expecting to see any of my teachers—or the headmaster—over the holiday." It wasn't the whole reason why he'd been so eager to join Gideon, but it was true enough.

"Aye, I suppose I can understand that." Alastor paused in front of the door to the apothecary. "All right, youngling, I did promise you potions' ingredients, but try not to empty the store, all right? You do have a birthday coming up."