The next morning, I woke up around eight o'clock.

Once downstairs, Severus had- just like he had done the past days- set the table.

"Good morning." I said politely.

He looked over his shoulder and said: "Good morning Ellea." His voice surprised me. He was in a good mood, or so it seemed. And him saying my name surprised me as well. Normally, he used it to describe his displeasure about me.

I began, "Mister Snape, I mean, Professor… Sir?"

"Call me Severus."

An awkward pause occurred.

"Well, let's eat breakfast." he said after a while, walking to his chair.

We needed something to talk about, or I felt like we needed it, so I asked him something I had wanted to asked him since I had met him.

"Could you teach me how to fly on a broomstick?"

He looked up from his breakfast and stared at me with his dark eyes.

"I need to think about that."

"Why do you need to think about it? Is it dangerous?"

"Yes, of course it is! Even more for a girl like yourself."

"What do you mean with 'a girl like yourself'?" I asked, a bit irritated due to his meaningless answers.

"I mean that You have never seen someone fly on a broomstick before, so you have no example you can imitate. I mean that you are raised by muggles. And children who are raised in muggle families normally have no natural talent for flying, since they are not raised with the idea of doing it and have never had an example. They need to practise a lot. I mean that it is too dangerous for you and me to learn you how to fly in the Muggle World. They might never know about the existence of magic. And I mean that it is too dangerous for you to learn flying from me, cause I have never taught someone how to fly. So I mean that it can kill you." His eyes were ever so dark, his eyebrows ever so low.

He saw the surprised look on my face. He must have realized I hadn't meant my questions badly, because his muscles relaxed and the scowl on his face disappeared.

"Okay." I simply said, but the disappointment in my voice was clear to him.

"You will learn it at Hogwarts later on." he added. I nodded.

We finished breakfast in silence. Severus cleaned up all the things with the help of his wand, while I searched for a new book in one of his bookcases.

I wanted a book about something else than the Dark Arts, potions or herbology. I wanted to know more about the Wizarding World. Especially about the magical way of living. I wondered if they had a government and about their head of state. Would they have a king, a queen or president? Or would they have no governance?

I'm sure they have. I thought.

I hadn't found a book about life in the Wizarding World on the first three shelves yet when Severus straightened his back in the kitchen doorpost and said: "don't you forget something?" I looked to the ground and tried to remember what it was, but I couldn't.

"Your chores?" he asked raising his eyebrows. "Oh, the owls." I said a bit louder than I had intended. "Yes, the owls. Those beasts need food, you know." he snarled. I felt a bit guilty about forgetting to it on the first day already.

I walked towards him and asked: "could you show me how to feed them?" "Yes, I can and I will." he replied politely, apparently changing his mood a 360 degrees.

He turned around and I followed him to the shed. He put his hand on the door handle, but didn't open it yet. Instead, he turned around to face me.

"Those animals need more than only food. You need to give them attention and appreciation, otherwise they won't listen to you anymore. Do you understand?"

I nodded..

"In this box, you can find the food." He pointed to the coffin on which Rowan was sitting. "Maybe you can tell him to get off the box, so I can show you." He looked at me, waiting for me to do so.

"Please get off the box Rowan." I said politely. Rowan flew off the coffin and out of the window. Severus looked in confusion at the same window, clearly not understanding what had just happened- even though he had asked me to do so. We were both confused now-.

"He really listens to you."

"Yes, he does."

"How did you train him to listen that well?" he asked curiously.

"I didn't train him. My mom did."

"How is it possible that he listens to you personally so well than?" he asked even more curiously.

I shrugged and said: "I have actually no idea."

"Strange." he stated and waved the topic off with both of his hands.

Severus opened the lid of the box. Inside were two small white, plastic boxes.

"Those boxes contain kibbles. You need to fill the food bowl till the edge with the food chucks. You must refill the food bowl once a day." He searched for an understanding look, as if he needed one before he could go on, as if I was retarded. However, since I wanted him to go on, I reluctantly nodded.

"The other bowl is for the water. You must change the water once a day." He looked at me to see if I understood. I nodded in response to confirm I understood.

"Are there more things I need to know?" I inquired.

"Actually, No. It's not that hard." he stated arrogantly.

"Oh, and before I forget to mention, Luka needs to get used to you before he listens to you, so don't expect he will listen as quickly as Rowan did." "Noted." I stated.

"Get to work," he ordered, "I'm going to read."

He walked back to the house and I started my chore. I did exactly like he had explained and refilled the food bowl. I got some water from the tap in the kitchen and when I filled the bowl. I wondered if taking care of owls was really that easy or if he was just testing me before showing the harder things. I hoped for the seconds, because this would be boring every day.

When I was done, I looked satisfied to the food bowl on the shelf and realized that this chore would be an easy-peasy thing to do every morning.

I walked back inside the house and saw Severus reading his newspaper.

The people on the front moved just like the other pictures on newspapers I had seen before. Still strange though.

The man on the front looked majestic. His long light hair was perfectly combed and no sign of dirtiness made itself clear. I started to feel jealous- like every girl I supposed-. My hair was never that well combed, no matter how hard I tried.

The man was wearing a sort of long black coat with black fur. His suit underneath the coat was black too. His black walking stick with a snake's head as a handle gleamed like just polished silver.

The man moved majestically. Looking at some men next to him. I could clearly see, he felt he was better than anyone else by the sneer on his face. So arrogant, so full of conceit. So disgusting, well to say.

I wondered who he was and why he was on the front page, so I asked Severus: "who's that man on the front page?"

Severus looked up from his paper and turned the newspaper. "That man with long white hair?"

"Yes."

"That's Lucius Malfoy."

"And why is he on the front page?" I asked curiously.

"Well why don't you read it yourself." He closed the newspaper and pointed it in my direction.

I took it from him, suspicious why he was so willingly to do so.

I began reading the article on the front page. The one about the photo. It said that a new wizard law had been accepted and that Mr. Malfoy had helped with the introduction of that law.

Severus came back to the living room with a tray with a teapot and two cups.

"No wonder it's him who helped the Ministry with that." he stated cynically while seating himself again.

"Why?" I immediately asked.

"Because he is a high placed man in the magical community."

"Because of his job of course."

Severus softly laughed. "No, no, not because of his job. He got the job because of all his money. His family is very wealthy. He makes a lot of donations to the Ministry very year. And that's why he is so important to the Ministry."

I frowned. I hated it if people got a special treatment because of their money.

Severus poured the both of us a cup of tea. I had to ask him another question.

"What about the photos? How can they move? What do you wizards do to make them move?" I asked way too curiously.

Severus rolled his eyes at that, as if it was a stupid question.

"Well, you take pictures and develop them," he explained as if it was the most normal thing ever.

I frowned at him. Why did he act so frustrated? He knew I was raised in in a world without magic. I wanted to learn everything about magic and fit in in his world, but it seemed like he didn't really care sometimes.

He raised a book to start reading, but I stopped him from doing that. "Why don't you want to tell me?" I inquired grumpy. He lowered his book again and looked at me without any form of emotion.

"I need to fit in into the Wizarding World remember?" It was meant as a rhetorical question, but he replied: "I do." His voice was still short of emotion.

"Are you going to tell me? I really want to know. I want to fit in your world, that will later become mine too." My voice became softer per word. I frowned at the end of my sentence. The angry frown had disappeared and a sad frown had made its entrance.

"I will." he said reluctantly and put his book besides him. "I had forgotten about your small knowledge of magic." he stated more derisively than he had intended to put in. "It has never been my job to learn muggle-borns about magic and the Wizarding World."

I nodded in response to his statement and said: "It's okay." His face still showed no emotion. It sometimes irritated me, but I couldn't care right now.

"Do you still want to know how the pictures are developed?" he asked hesitantly. "Yes, I would love that." I replied nicely.

"Well, the pictures are taken with a normal camera, but they are developed with a special potion. That potion is called: developing potion. That's what makes them move. I believe muggles do it differently, but in theory the potion would also work on muggle photo's."

"Do you make that potion too?" I asked curiously.

"Well, I can, but the potion can only develop photo's, so it hasn't really I purpose to me." he explained.

An uneasy pause occurred. We both felt it. It was quiet until Severus gestured to the tea. "I would drink your tea. Otherwise it gets cold." I let out a small smile, he didn't.

We both read further. He in his book- apparently about potions, cause that was what the cover said and something I expected from a Potions Master-.

I read about a wizard who was apparently a celebrity for writing books. However, I read more about a sport called: quidditch. I saw a moving picture of a few people flying on broomsticks high above the ground. I wanted to asked Severus about the sport, but hesitated because of the conversation we had had before.

After a while Severus asked: "It's time for lunch don't you think?"

I looked up from the newspaper and said, "yes, sure."

We walked into the kitchen and he waved his wand. The plates, the cups and all the other things flew out of the cupboards.

"Could you tell me more about quidditch?" I asked.

He looked at me, swallowed his food and said: "it's a sport for wizards."

"And what are the exact rules?"

"It's difficult to explain, but I am sure you will learn it soon enough on Hogwarts. Then it's easier to learn. You will see the field and so on."

"You just don't want me to fly on a broomstick, isn't it?" I asked teasingly.

"It's true I don't want you to fly on a broomstick right now. You just have to wait till you are old enough," he stated.

"Why don't you want to tell me?"

"Cause it's a stupid game and I don't want you to get involved in that."

"That's sweet." I said teasingly while smiling, but he frowned.

"And not because you don't want me to get hurt?" I asked him, still in a teasing mood. His frown became more tensed. He took a small pause to decide what to say to that.

"Both." he stated after his pause. I had to blush, even though I had already expected his answer.

"Thanks." I stated nicely. He just nodded.

"Thanks." I said again. That word made him confused.

"Why are you saying that again?"

"Cause I am thankful for everything you have already done for me." I felt kind of stupid while I said it. It made me look vulnerable and I never wanted to look vulnerable to others, even to the people I trusted the most.

"You're welcome." he responded hesitantly.

Author's Note:

Hey reader!

Well, more original Harry Potter characters in this weeks' chapter. Lucius Malfoy and the writer (did you know who that was?). Maybe you will see more original characters in in future, but until then,

See you next week!

PS: special thanks to my Beta-Reader to2llyuntraceable.