Harry on Adventure

by Sadsnail

The Dursleys have no choice to take six-year-old Harry with them on vacation to the seaside. He decides he wants to be a sailor and runs away to sea. Severus is on the case.

All aboard!

Chapter Notes

Apologies for the repost, dear readers! There was a glitch in the Matrix.

Inspired by: Little Tim and the brave sea captain, by Ardizzone, Edward

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When Mrs. Figg broke her leg, the Dursleys had no option but to take six-year-old Harry Potter, their orphaned cousin, with them on their holiday to the seaside. The Dursleys did not particularly like Harry. They liked being a small, normal unit of two parents and one child and had found it an imposition when Petunia's sister and her husband died, leaving the then one-year-old Harry in their care. They would have found it an imposition even if there hadn't been something odd about Harry that they hated.

Harry knew he was odd because he was a smart enough boy and had overheard some discussions between his aunt and her husband Vernon. They tended to talk when they thought he was safely asleep in his cupboard under the stairs, and sometimes they whispered about him in the kitchen. So far, Harry couldn't figure out just exactly what was wrong with him because the whispers always stopped the moment they saw him. Lately, he's taken to listening behind doors, but it seemed the less they talked about him and his oddities the happier Petunia and Vernon Dursley were, so he didn't learn much more than this: whatever was wrong with him scared them.

Once they reached the seaside, Petunia Dursley told him to stay out of their way for the duration of the two weeks: she didn't want to see him, she didn't want to hear him, and he was to take his meals on his own and not bother her for it. That was fine with Harry because not having to deal with them would be a relief for him too. The only one unhappy with these rules was his seven-year-old cousin Dudley. Bullying Harry was his usual entertainment when bored, but his mum took him to waterparks and fed him enough ice cream to forget about Harry's existence by day two of their holiday.

Their rental cottage was a bright yellow, two-story detached right by the sea. You only needed to step out of the front door, cross a not-so-busy road unimaginatively called Sea View Avenue, and then you were on the beach. There was no cupboard under the stairs, so they gave Harry the smallest bedroom which was in the attic. It held a bed and a small dresser, and the walls were a pale blue. A painting of a sailboat on a stormy ocean hung over the bed, and the previous occupant had left a handful of sandy seashells on the windowsill and a lone red sock in the bottom drawer. The roof was sloped low overhead, but he was only six and could stand up straight without bumping his head. The best part of it was the view. He wouldn't have minded if ever his aunt had wanted to lock him inside this room, for he had a round window that looked out on the sea, and he could spend ages sitting there, looking at the endless sky and the boats dotting the blue water.

When the day was fine he spent it on the beach in front of the cottages. Harry didn't fear he would bump into the Dursleys for all three of them hated the sand and spent their days in amusement parks, movie houses, zoos, and restaurants. Harry on the other hand enjoyed playing in and out of the boats and made friends with the old boatmen who were happy enough to talk about everything they knew if you showed a little interest and respect.

He didn't know how old they were but they were wrinkled and their skin leathered and mostly forgot they had already told you something and he heard quite a few stories twice. But he didn't mind that for it meant they were never bothered by seeing him yet again. Besides the stories they taught him things they knew about the sea and the tides, how to find the best fishing spots, when it would be sure to storm, and many other things such as the seven essential sailor's knots and the taste of chew tobacco.

Sometimes Harry wished his cousin was less of a bully because he would have liked to share his new knowledge with someone and surprise them by saying things like, "Look at that ro-ro." Which was a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship designed to carry wheeled cargo such as cars and trucks that are driven on and off the ships on their own wheels. There were other children on the beach besides Harry and he had ample opportunities to make friends had he thought of it but his mind was overrun with thoughts of the sea and ships and it never occurred to him to play with them.

When the weather was wet and everyone stayed in bed or in front of the telly with hot cocoa, Harry snuck out of the house, careful not to be noticed as per instructions, to visit his new friend Captain Sparrow.

The Captain's cottage was identical to their own except for the fact that the outside was painted a bright blue and the inside was stuffed with a life's worth of things from the sea. There were boats in enormous bottles and when he asked, Harry was told they were made by magic. There were seashells and oars on the walls and life jackets on piles of newspapers in the corners and pots of snuff and tobacco on the mantle of a hearth in which a kettle was constantly brewing tea. Harry and Captain Jack would sit in the large plush sofas in front of the fire, warm and snug as two bugs in a rug, and have toast with tea and rum.

Captain Jack had started his career on the sea as a stowaway and would tell Harry of his voyages and the people he met and the treasures he found along the way and sometimes would give him a sip of his rum. Sometimes the tales turned wild and fanciful and would be full of merpeople and sea dragons and Harry would listen agog, sitting forward in his chair, eyes shining behind his glasses, wishing with all his might he could be a sailor too.

He thought his aunt and uncle wouldn't mind if he left home early to become a sailor but when he asked on the one occasion they were all in the house at the same time, he was laughed at and told he was too young, though they wished he wasn't, and told off for showing his face. This made Harry quite maudlin and he took his face off to his room to sulk in front of the window, pining for a life at sea.

That might have been the end of it had the boy not been the product of two stubborn and optimistic people. After a good bit of sulking, he pulled himself together and decided he would find a way to run away to the sea. He couldn't imagine it would be too difficult. For one, his aunt would not bother to make a missing report with the police. That he knew for sure. For another, the sea was just across the road.

At first he thought he might buy a boat and sail off on his own in which case money was an issue, for he had none. That was not surprising because you had to rely on pocket money from your parents when you were six and he had none of those either. He knew children like himself, without parents to support them, had to work for it mowing lawns or delivering papers, none of which was possible while on holiday. But Harry was not daunted by that and soon took to doing odd jobs for the boatmen, and he would receive small change in turn for running about to deliver messages or helping to carry their fishing gear. But by the end of the week when he sat in his room and counted his haul he realised he had enough to buy himself an ice cream.

The next morning was a good day for being on the beach, not too many clouds and the sun peeking brightly through them. Harry was eating his ice cream, sitting on his favourite rock, watching the boats anchored in the bay when a boatman asked him if he was still interested in doing chores.

"Always," Harry said, stuffing the last of the cone in his mouth and chewing furiously. He jumped off the rock and dusted his hands. Perhaps this week he might make enough to buy a boat. "What shall I do?"

"What a good lad," the boatman praised. "I need some fetching and carrying done."

He went on to tell Harry that he was taking his boat out to the old-fashioned steamer in the bay. The captain was an old friend of his and he wanted to say bon voyage.

Harry enjoyed tasks to do with boats the most and he happily set about making himself useful. He stowed the gear into the small boat while the boatman filled the petrol tank. When they were done he gave Harry his coins and asked, "Would you like to come too?"

What a question! He was never going to say no. He let the boatman tuck him into a lifejacket and helped give the boat a push down the shingle beach into the water. And off they went.

It was a lovely day for your first boat trip. The sea was blue and calm, the water sparkling in the sunshine. Seagulls called out to each other and dove into the water after their meal. They puttered past many boatsmen out and about, readying for their day's work. Harry was familiar with most by now and he waved and greeted them all. He got more and more excited as they neared the steamer and spend a few giddy moments pretending he was a sailor off to his job.

When they arrived they climbed up a rope ladder and Harry was left on the deck while the boatman went off to see his friend, carrying a bottle of rum. There was no one about though he could hear voices aft. This was when Harry got a bright idea. He might never be able to make enough money before the holiday was over to buy his own boat and he was too young to actually become a sailor but he was not too young to be a stowaway. The Dursleys would be delighted with him gone the same, no one might miss him for days maybe weeks and he knew exactly how to go about it because Captain Jack had been an excellent tutor.

His plan was simple. Harry knew by now the effects of rum on old boatmen's memories. He would hide under a lifeboat and when the boatman left he would not see Harry and forget all about him. It would work fine as long as no one else saw Harry on board and when the voices neared he quickly sprang into action and dove in under the lifeboat, pulling the sail over himself.

"No one is to touch my trunks," someone was saying and footsteps passed his hideout. "And my cabin won't require cleaning; I'll manage myself."

"Aye, this isn't a passenger ship. We don't do room service," someone else said and laughed. "Best stay out of our way and we won't bother you either, mate."

"I assure you I have no interest in being in your way."

The footsteps disappeared and then he was alone again. Harry planned to stay hidden until they were far enough away that they would not like to turn around and only then he would show himself.

The hideout was nice and warm, the boat rocked gently under him, and Harry soon yawned and removed his glasses. He snuggled into a more comfortable position in the bottom of the boat, and quicker than you could say 'naughty stowaway', he was asleep.

His plan worked out just as he imagined. The boatsman had a very nice time saying good bye to both his friend and the bottle of rum and by the time he left he did not remember Harry.

He slept when the steamer left the harbour and only woke late afternoon when his stomach asked him if he thought ice cream was enough sustenance for a small child, or would he consider adding something more substantial to his diet? It rumbled and grumbled and Harry was surprised no one came to investigate what the noise was. He could hear more voices now and took his courage in hand, slipped his glasses back on, and showed himself to the sailors.

"Oi!" the sailors chorussed and one led him off smartly by the ear.

"Ow! Ow!" Harry complained for the sailor was holding on tightly. "You're hurting me!"

The sailor paid him no mind and took him to the captain's cabin. It was everything Harry thought a captain's cabin should be, complete with a nailed-down desk on which lay an open map and compass. Thankfully the sailor finally let his ear go and Harry rubbed it ruefully. Violence was never necessary.

"A stowaway!" exclaimed the captain angrily and asked him what he thought he was doing.

Some of his bravery left him in the face of the ruddy captain's wrath but he straightened his knocking knees and said that he had run away from home intending to be a sailor.

"Do you not mind that your parents will be worrying?"

"My parents are dead, sir," Harry said. "And my aunt and uncle won't mind."

Captain Tom was a man of the world and he thought that might be true. He looked at Harry's dirty face and oversized clothes that was definitely castoffs. These were all clues; sadly some adults did not care for their children as they should whether their own or others. That didn't make the captain any less angry for if they wanted they could accuse him of kidnapping or of child trafficking and he told Harry off and said he must work for his passage. No stowaway was going to be a layabout on his watch.

He asked Harry's full name and address, and Harry thought himself smart to only give his name, keeping his surname to himself and pretended he didn't know his address. If he was going home he would try to delay it as long as he could. This made the captain even angrier and he sent Harry off with the sailor to be put to work. "And less of the ear pulling," Captain Tom told his sailor. "If you please."

"Aye, aye, sir!"

Harry was glad to hear that at least and he stopped covering his ear. "Thank you, sir!" he told Captain. "I'll work very hard!"

"See that you do!"

Unbeknownst to Harry, Captain Tom set off to radio the authorities. It was still possible to turn around, he told them, they could let Harry's parents, or caregivers, if his parents had truly passed on, pay the costs. They were not a passenger ship. But whoever was on the other side of the line imagined themselves with a six-year-old versus the six-year-old safely aboard a ship with someone else, and said no, drop him off at your next port of call.

In the meantime, Harry was given a pail and a scrubbing brush and the sailor set him the task of scrubbing the already spotless deck. Well, spotless as far as ship's decks went. It was very hard work. Harder than his chores at home. For one it was under the sun and his sweat soon joined the scrubbing water. For another it was a job done on your knees and knees had little padding, especially those of scrawny kids. Harry thought about scrawny knees and fat knees and imagined his Uncle Vernon would have an easier time of it. Or his cousin, if his uncle and cousin ever did chores. Both his uncle and cousin were enormous, the doctors used words like 'morbid obesity' when they visited and 'strict diet' and then they would all eat lettuce leaves for a week.

Harry scrubbed and scrubbed and thought all sorts of thoughts to while away the time, trying to keep the ones of his family to the minimum for he was on a ship at sea and exactly where he wanted to be. He thought of meals and imagined they would mostly be fish soup. He thought of showers when he smelled himself sweating, and imagined it would be a bucket of saltwater thrown over the head. But not one moment did he cry and not one second did he wish he hadn't run away to sea. He did wish for food, though, his stomach rumbling every now and then to remind him it was empty.

Sailors came and went, everyone pausing to look at him, chewing on their pipes. They asked him his name and where he was from and quite a few sailors laughed and praised him for his spunk. One time a shadow fell over him and he looked up to find a tall man dressed all in black staring at him. His eyes were dark and menacing and he had a hooked nose that seemed too large for his face. He said not a word but kept frowning and after a long while he left.

The sun was low on the horizon when a sailor came to tell him he could stop working. "Good job, lad," he said. "Not bad for a pint-sized runt."

"Thank you," Harry said and his knees creaked and wobbled when he stood up. He held his aching back and tried to stretch surreptitiously. "Is the captain still very angry?"

"Quite."

Harry sighed and picked up the brush and pail. "Where shall I put these?"

The sailor, whose name was Jim, and who had a normal-sized nose, threw the dirty water over the side and showed Harry where to stow the brush and pail. He took Harry to the galley and left him with the cook.

The galley was as large as their kitchen at home. The difference was that everything was nailed down and instead of windows it had portholes through which he could see waves. Harry looked around and saw bags of flour on the floor and baskets full of potatoes and vegetables. On an enormous black stove were pots and pans with things in them, bubbling away. The cook was a large man with bulging, tattooed arms, and unlike the sailors who all seemed to be wearing a uniform of blue or red striped shirts, he was dressed in only trousers and an undershirt with an apron tied at his waist. But like the sailors, he was sporting a pipe. Harry hoped he would not have to start smoking if he was going to be a sailor, he had tried Captain Sparrow's snuff when offered, and it had set him sneezing for an hour.

"Harry, I presume?" Cook said and smiled around his pipe.

"Yes, sir," Harry said and stood to attention. "I can peel the potatoes if you want."

"A lad that can peel potatoes will go far in life," Cook said. He took a mug and picked a pan from the stove, pouring the contents into the mug. The smell of warm chocolate wafted through the galley, and Harry's stomach rumbled. It was probably too much to hope it was for him. Things like cocoa and sweets were rarely for him because it was a waste of money.

"Here you go," the cook said. "Sit there and get this into you, lad. I heard you worked hard without complaint."

Barely believing his ears he scrambled to obey. He was also given a plate with thick ham sandwiches and told to eat as much as he wanted. Harry watched the sunset through the portholes and ate until his stomach bulged. This, he decided, was the life he wanted and none other.

When he was done and had helped wash his plate and mug, Cook called another sailor to show Harry to a bunk bed. The sailor's name was Timothy; he had acne and was no more than eighteen, but it was already his second year on the ship. He was happy to answer any questions Harry had, talking a mile a minute. The cabin looked lovely to young Harry who was excited to sleep with company; it held nine bunks, three by three on top of each other, and all were neatly made with blue and red striped sheets. The stripes seemed to be a theme on the ship, and Harry wondered if it was like that on all the ships or if they just liked stripes here but Timothy was still telling Harry his life story, and he didn't want to interrupt to ask. Harry was exhausted, and he climbed into his bunk, clothes and all; he was still waiting for Timothy to take a breath so he could ask about the stripes when he fell asleep.

The Passenger

Harry soon got his sea legs and did his best to be a model stowaway. He made himself useful and tidied the bunks and peeled potatoes and scrubbed the decks and rolled up ropes as thick as his arms, all without needing to be told. And when he didn't know what to do he asked. He took the captain and the passenger their dinners and the second mate his rum. He helped at the wheel, ran errands for everyone, and sewed buttons on the sailors' trousers.

The crew grew to like him and even the captain stopped sighing when he saw him. Most of the sailors were family men and his presence made them wistful for their own families and turned them kinder, made them swear less, and it was a good five days before the first mate had to break up a fight. A new record said the captain and wondered if they shouldn't always have a child on board.

The only person that continued to scowl when he saw Harry was The Passenger. He would pause and watch Harry go about his errands and scoffed when Harry asked, "How do you do?" instead of replying with a proper good morning.

One time he even reached out and removed Harry's fringe to look at his scar on his forehead. Harry had that scar from the car accident in which his parents had died. It looked like a lightning bolt, and he didn't mind it, but sometimes odd-looking people would stop in the street and point at it so he kept it hidden.

The Passenger was odd too. He was always dressed in black. With his pale face and black hair and black clothes, he reminded Harry of the vampire in one of the school library's books. Dracula. He wondered if he drank blood.

Timothy the sailor thought the same. "He never comes out in the day," Timothy gossiped. It was quite untrue for the first day that Harry was on the ship he had come out to look at him but Harry had forgotten that by now and nodded. "And there are smells coming from his cabin—" Timothy said.

"Idle hands?" the shift captain asked behind them, cutting their little chat short, and set them to work.

There were more things strange about The Passenger. Only Captain Tom knew his name, and every other night the captain would stop the ship and The Passenger would go for a swim. Harry would be sleeping long since, having worked hard in the day, and had to rely on what the sailors told him about it.

Timothy said The Passenger didn't take any diving gear but stayed under the water for ages. The other sailors said it was nonsense, of course, he took gear, they could see a light under the water. But none of them could say what gear exactly, or had any idea what The Passenger was doing.

One day, when he had nothing better to do and he and Timothy had speculated yet again over breakfast, Harry made sure his work took him past The Passenger's cabin. And sure enough, if you put your nose next to the gap under the door there were odd smells. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out what it smelled like. It didn't smell good and it didn't smell bad. He was still deciding when the door opened and The Passenger came out to look at him.

"Lost something, Potter?" he asked in a snooty voice, sounding exactly like Harry's first-grade teacher when she was irritated with the class.

"No, sir," Harry said and held up his rag. He could feel his ears burning but looked The Passenger in the eyes. "I'm cleaning."

"A likely story. Be off and don't let me see you here again or I shall inform the captain he has a nosy little stowaway."

"Sorry, sir," Harry apologised quickly and stopped trying to see around him into the cabin. What was that weird-looking pot? Was he cooking something? Did he not like Cook's food? "Shall I bring you anything from the galley?"

"No." The Passenger scowled and took a menacing step forward. "Get!"

Harry took himself off.

Exactly one hour later, when Harry was polishing the brass he stopped short. He had just realised something.

Potter.

He had said Potter, he was nearly sure of it! Had he imagined it? No, no, he didn't think so. Was it possible that the stranger knew him? But surely he would have said before? Surely he would have asked where Aunt Petunia was? Harry thought he would recognise anyone he'd ever met, it had not been that many people after all he was still just six, and especially ones that looked like vampires. He decided he was wrong and that his imagination had played tricks on him.

One morning the sky turned dark, the wind started to blow, and the sea turned rough, rocking the steamer violently. At first, Harry was excited to see the big waves and watched the crew hurry about securing everything. All hands were needed on deck and he was happy to help but the second mate sent Harry down below. He went to the galley to see if he could help there but the cook was struggling with flying pots and caught one just before it could hit Harry on the noggin, and sent him to his bunk.

All day the wind blew harder and harder, and the sea became rougher, rocking the ship until Harry couldn't bear it anymore. The storm's noise was terrific, they had to shout to be heard at all, and the ship rocked ever more violently from side to side, turning his stomach queasy. Feeling sick to his stomach, Harry curled on his bunk with a bucket, and for the first time, he wished himself home. Timothy brought him dinner, dancing on expert legs, holding the tray without spilling anything. Harry took one whiff of the food and turned green. Timothy gave him his bucket.

The crew was kept on their toes all night. At one point the power went out and Harry shivered in the dark, feeling quite alone.

When you were only six and found yourself alone in such circumstances, you tended to think all sorts of scary thoughts, and Harry was no different than any other child. Would he even know if everyone abandoned ship? What if they left him behind? Tears filled his eyes and he made no effort to stop them.

He was lying on his bunk and crying heartily when The Passenger appeared next to him. The Passenger was holding a strange flashlight that looked very much like a stick, his face decidedly grey in the blue light. He gripped the sides of the cot not to be thrown about and shouted something Harry couldn't hear. When Harry didn't react, he shouted again. Harry had no strength left to tell him he didn't know what he wanted. The Passenger said something else that absolutely looked like it could have been swearing, and picked Harry off his bunk, bundling him in his blankets.

"It's not safe alone," The Passenger yelled right in his ear and this at least he could hear.

He carried Harry out to his own cabin which was just down the passageway. They were banged into the walls and flung about, but astonishingly he kept his footing and kicked the cabin door open with his boot. At last Harry could see The Passenger's cabin but he was too sick to his stomach to care. Everything besides for a steamer trunk seemed to be safely stowed away anyway.

The Passenger put Harry on his bunk and then did the strangest thing. He waved his flashlight at his large steamer trunk and it shrank and shrank until it was big enough to fit his hand, then he picked it up and put it in his trouser pocket.

Just as he did it there was a terrific crash and they were both flung against the walls. Harry felt like he had banged all his bones in his body and was ready to just curl up and cry but The Passenger grabbed him up again.

"Topside!" he yelled in Harry's ear. "Where's your pluck, Potter? Be brave!"

He carried Harry out of the cabin. Water rushed over his feet and when Harry saw this he clutched wildly at The Passenger's neck.

By the time they reached the ladders the icy water was hip-high, and even Harry's feet were dragging through it. The ship was canting on her side and they struggled to stay upright as the ceiling had become the wall. Now they weren't alone anymore. Sailors came streaming out of the cabins, all of them yelling, "To the boats! To the boats! We're sinking! To the boats!"

At first they went with the stream, the bodies keeping them upright, but once they were topside, The Passenger veered away to the bridge. Lightning flashed, and deafening thunder rolled and they struggled through a curtain of water. The Passenger held on to the rails not to be swept aside, and it was all Harry could do to cling to him the same.

"We should go to the lifeboats !" Harry yelled, tugging at his shirt, pointing to where the crew was working to release the lifeboats in case he hadn't been heard.

A bitterly cold wave crashed over them and he never heard the answer. When they could see and breathe again, The Passenger struggled on, and Harry clung to him like a wet rag.

They found Captain Tom at the bridge. "Hello, Severus!" he called, his voice booming. He dragged them inside. "I see you found him, thank you! I trust you will take care of him?"

"As soon as I'm sure you are on a boat, you idiot! What are you still doing here?"

"A captain goes down with his ship!" Captain Tom yelled. "I am bound for Davey Jones's locker, lad!"

"Idiot!" The Passenger—no, Severus—shouted.

Harry was glad he finally learned his name and wasn't surprised that it was as odd as him.

"Save yourself and the child!" Captain Tom bellowed.

"Blasted idiot!" Severus shouted and then he waved his flashlight at Captain Tom.

Another icy wave crashed over them, right then, spilling into the bridge, and the men both clutched at whatever surface they could grab not to be swept away. Harry held on as water rushed through his mouth and nose and was glad for the arm that also clutched him tightly.

He was trying hard to keep up with the events. He had lost his glasses in the wave and could dimly see the flashlight turn from blue to yellow and back to blue, the yellow light fizzing over Captain Tom. Then Severus put the tip of the blue light to his throat. His voice boomed over the thunder. "Get in the lifeboat, you bloody idiot!"

Captain Tom straightened up and saluted. "Aye, aye, sir!"

Severus stood aside to let him storm past them, and he and Harry watched Captain Tom struggle to the last lifeboat and jump into it.

"We need to go too!" Harry cried and tried to pull away. What were they waiting for? The waves were as tall as skyscrapers! If Severus wanted to stay he could! Harry would go on his own! "Let me go! The lifeboats!"

But The Passenger aka Severus had gone mad.

"Eat this!" he boomed in Harry's ear and held something to his face.

Lightning flashed and momentarily turned the night bright as day. Harry could see it was a small brown ball of pressed leaves. He saw such things every day now and knew immediately what it was.

"I don't like tobacco—ghmf!"

Severus had used the opportunity to pop it into his mouth, and he quickly clamped his hand over Harry's lips when he tried to spit it. He bellowed, "Chew!"

He wasn't going to chew it. They were standing at death's door and he didn't see the sense in taking a break to chew tobacco, but yet another wave washed over them and Harry automatically clenched his jaw not to swallow the salty water and unintentionally chewed the plug. It did not taste like tobacco. It did not taste like anything Harry had ever experienced, and had a rubbery texture, much like the octopus tentacles they had in yesterday's soup. Which he hadn't liked at all.

He gagged but Severus was still holding his hand over his mouth, preventing him from spitting it out… and suddenly he couldn't breathe.

Knives cut through his neck and his chest burned. His fingers and toes itched but he was barely aware of that, struggling to get air. He grabbed his neck and felt two large slits on each side below his ears.

What was happening to him?! Eyes nearly popping out of his face, he saw his tormentor pop a plug into his own mouth too and watched him chew it furiously.

Harry truly thought he was going to die. His head spun and he couldn't think of anything else except how odd it was of the man to murder him when he could have waited a moment and let the storm do its job. He stared at The Passenger—Severus—and thought this was it. Never-mind. Perhaps it was better this way. He would finally get to see his mum and dad…

And then Severus stepped out of the bridge and into the wave as it crashed and let it sweep them off.

They tumbled in the surging water. Top. Bottom. Head. Heels. The pitch-black watery world was topsy turvy. Terror struck and disoriented, Harry didn't realise that he had long ago stopped struggling to breathe, that the previously icy water now felt balmy on his skin, that his mind was getting all the oxygen it needed, and that he could think clearly again.

Down and down they sank, rocked by the water, and Harry who was usually lost without his glasses found he could see clearly anyway, even through the dark. He didn't feel the need to blink as much and barely needed Severus's flashlight to show the way, but he was still glad for the familiarity of the blue glow.

Harry blinked astonished when he realised he could see gills flapping below Severus's ears. Severus pointed at Harry's mouth and made a chewing motion with his fingers—which had webs!

And Harry's hands had webs too!

Harry had a mini freakout when he realised he was not dead but had turned into a merman. It lasted only moments, though, for being a merman might possibly be the next best thing to being a sailor. He flapped his hands and felt the water flow over his webs.

Severus motioned again at him to chew, and being a smart lad, he got it, it was the weird tobacco that had turned him into a merman. He chewed. It was still disgusting. Eugh!

"I'm chewing!" Harry said when Severus made the motion again but no sound came out of his mouth, only a giant bubble, so he nodded and chewed with exaggerated jaw movements to show him he was doing it. That seemed to satisfy Severus finally, and he let go of Harry but quickly took his hand and pointed his flashlight in the direction he wanted them to swim in. A fluorescent orange fish as big as Harry's head darted past.

Harry would love to know why they couldn't have taken the boats but he was glad they hadn't for it was quieter down here. A new world opened up before him, ready for exploring. He swam where Severus guided him, and it was easy to swim, the webbed fingers and toes helping him to glide through the water, and he let the man lead him while he gawked around at everything.

There was such a lot to see. The sea was teeming with fish. Gazillions of tiny silver fish no larger than a finger, swirling in a school, making way for them to pass and closing up behind them. Odd blue and red fish that looked as if someone had squashed them, their eyes hilariously popping out, bobbing stupidly around them. Curtains of translucent jellyfish that parted before Severus's light. Sleek bodies and sharp fins glimpsed in the depths that made Harry nervously swim closer to Severus.

On and on they swam. When his neck started to itch, and his lungs protested, Severus gave him another plug to chew, and his breathing immediately eased.

It was not all wonder; Harry spent some time worrying about Captain Tom and Cook and Timothy, hoping they were all right. He couldn't imagine how they would fare in the small lifeboats if the big ship had broken so easily in the waves.

He was feeling quite maudlin when suddenly a small violet fish with a yellow back darted in front of his face before doing the same to Severus, circling Severus's head like a happy puppy. Severus smiled and stroked its fin, and tickled its violet belly, and when it darted off, he followed it, pulling Harry along.

Harry wished he could see Timothy now so he could tell him The Passenger was as odd as they had feared. Whoever heard of letting a fish guide you? Whoever heard of growing gills? And don't forget the trunk that he shrank! He would have thought he was dreaming if it wasn't for the fact that he was fast getting tired and found himself wishing for a bed. Why would you wish for one if you were already in it?

Just as Harry started to imagine he couldn't swim one stroke more, or eat one more plug of merman tobacco, they came upon the most extraordinary sight. Even more extraordinary than any he had seen this night.

At first, he thought it was a whale. As good as his eyesight was now, he still needed glasses, and only when they swam closer did he see the blue and silver were metal, and when he saw the windows he realised it was an enormous underwater ship like the boatmen had never before seen. For if they had they would have been talking about it all day and every day, Harry was sure.

Unlike Harry, Severus must have expected it. He swam without hesitation towards it and dove to a large circular entrance under its belly, pulling Harry along. Harry caught a glimpse of two brown faces in a window in passing and twisted his head to see a boy and a girl slightly older than him. The boy grinned and waved at Harry.

The Nektons

Chapter Notes

Cameo: The Deep. (Cartoon, 2015)

They entered the underwater ship's belly and surfaced into a small pool in the middle of a room. The room looked as if it came straight out of Dudley's favourite science fiction movie, the one that had spaceships and aliens in it. Harry gasped, but it wasn't in surprise—although he was very surprised and a better word for that is astonished—but because he still had gills and his body wanted water, not normal air.

Severus put his hand on Harry's wet hair and pushed him back under the water until only his eyes showed and did the same. The two kids that Harry had seen in the window came running into the room followed slower by an adult man and woman. All four were smiling and looked strangely happy to see them.

Out of the water, his eyesight was back to being bad but Harry squinted and could see they were a family, all four were tall, with golden brown skin that gleamed under the bright lights, and each wore navy blue wetsuits with different colour trims and round crests on their chests. The crests were similarly colour-coded and had three waving squid legs inside. That reminded Harry of the plug he had to chew, and his face turned green. He hoped he never had to chew that again! It also reminded Harry of the sailors and their red and blue striped shirts. Captain Tom had given Harry one with red stripes, he was wearing it now, and he wondered if he would get a uniform here too.

"Severus Snape!" the man called. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the two of you on the camera! Is this your son?"

Severus rose out of the water and pointed to his gills then dipped back under until his enormous nose was submerged again.

The kids chattered excitedly about that and were asking Harry if he also had gills, wanting to see. Harry would have shown them but Severus kept his hand firmly on his head and he had no option but to tread water. He raised his hands instead and showed the webs, wiggling his fingers.

"Oh, I want to see this!" the boy called and ran to the far wall where equipment was stacked neatly on racks. He came back with a clear mask that fitted over his whole face, pulled tight with a strap around his head, and jumped into the water with Harry and Severus. He tugged Harry down and Severus let him go.

"Show me your gills!" the boy called and Harry was astonished again when he could hear his voice clearly.

He turned his neck so the boy could see and the little fish that had guided them there darted closer also to inspect it.

"This is amazing!" the boy called, grinning broadly through the mask. "Is it permanent? Do you have to live in the water? How do you eat? No, scrap that, I see you have a mouth, what do you eat? Fish? Kelp? Octopus?"

Harry immediately said he would never eat octopus again but only a big air bubble came out of his mouth and the boy laughed and popped it with his finger. He would have made another bubble to have the boy laugh again but his neck started to itch and Severus's neck must have done the same for he put his head in the water and motioned Harry to come up.

Changing back had them coughing up seawater and then gulping fresh air, their lungs burning. It was most uncomfortable but the air tasted sweet and he only then realised the water had been distinctly fishy. The webs disappeared also, and Harry suddenly felt as if he had unlearned how to swim. Luckily Severus grabbed his wet shirt from behind and helped him to the side of the small pool where Harry was promptly lifted out by the large man and wrapped in a towel. Severus followed, getting one too. They shivered.

"Well now, Severus, what an entrance! I see you're up to your old tricks! Been farming?"

"Gillyweed," Severus coughed. "The prices are good this year. But our ship ran afoul of some rocks and I didn't want the kid suffering in a lifeboat through this storm."

"He's yours?"

"No," Severus said. He reached out and raised Harry's bangs and the two adults said, 'Ah,' as if that meant something.

Up until that moment Harry had not thought of Severus as anything but 'The Passenger', and 'Odd', and he looked at the tall man now and thought, 'Dad'. This, by the way, was absolutely normal for a little orphan his age, even one that grew up with family. Any unattached man or woman might become Dad or Mum in their childish fantasies if given the slightest opportunity.

Severus Snape looked down at him and squashed that fantasy. "Don't even think of it, Potter," he said.

"Let's get you dry," the woman said and herded them deeper into the futuristic ship.

It was not an underwater ship but a submarine, Harry would soon learn from the boy, who laughed when Harry called it that. Harry secretly thought a submarine was just a fancy name for an underwater ship but wisely kept that to himself. The little fish accompanied them too, swimming along the walls in a wide transparent tube filled with water. The boy was crushed that Severus had not managed to turn himself and Harry into actual, permanent merman, and even more so when Severus told him chewing the plug—Gillyweed, Harry learned—would do nothing to him since he was a Muggle.

"We're Lemurians," the boy corrected him. "Not Muggles."

"Very special Muggles, then," Severus said with a snort and a roll of his eyes. This seemed to be a bit rude to Harry but no one was bothered and he decided not to be either.

They were taken to a bedroom that had two beds and two nightstands. There they were given more towels and each a pair of fuzzy pajamas and left alone to dry off and dress. The pajamas was three sizes too large for Harry but Severus slipped the stick-shaped light out of his sleeve and shrunk it to fit.

Astonished, yet again, Harry grabbed Severus's hand when he wanted to return the light back to his sleeve.

"It's not a flashlight, I think," he told Severus, bringing it closer to his face to see better. He now had time to look at it without the storm interfering and ships sinking, and saw it was made of gleaming black wood with intricate carvings on the hilt.

"Do tell," Severus said. His nose was red and drippy.

He meant it sarcastically but Harry nodded, taking him seriously, and said, "It's a wand, right? And you're a sorcerer."

"A wizard," Severus corrected. He put the wand back.

"Wow."

"Indeed." Severus plucked the blankets from the bed and draped one around Harry and one around himself. "It's a secret and you can get into a lot of trouble if you tell anyone without asking me first, is it clear?"

Harry said it was and Severus pushed Harry out of the room. "Let's see if we can find some tea."

Tea sounded brilliant. Cook had spoiled him, though, and Harry happily trotted ahead of Severus and said, "I want cocoa."

"Don't be spoiled."

But Harry got his hot cocoa without asking while Severus had tea, and there were also biscuits, enough to satisfy everyone, although their hosts called them cookies. Harry and Severus sat with their feet in tubs of hot water—Severus insisted—in front of an electric heater that made the room nice and toasty. Their hosts gathered around them with their own mugs and biscuits and it was all very cozy.

"Why don't you introduce us to our little visitor, Ant?" the man said when everyone was settled.

"Yeah!" Ant jumped up and quickly stuffed the last of his biscuit in his mouth, chewing fast. "Sure, Dad," he said, once he had swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The girl said 'ew' but he ignored her and started what sounded like a practised speech.

"Welcome to the Aronnax, our state-of-the-art, double-titanium-hulled underwater home, Harry. This is my mom, Kaiko, my dad, Will, my name is Ant Nekton, and I'm twelve years old. My family are explorers. We have been for generations. While others look up to the stars, and some like Severus here do magic, we know that there are an infinite number of things that shine in the darkness below. There are things lurking in the seas that long ago vanished into myth." Ant finished his dramatic introduction with a wide sweep of his arms, and took a deep breath, before exclaiming loudly, "My family are explorers, and we explore the deep!"

He pointed to the little yellow-back fish swimming on the wall beside his head. "And this is Jeffrey. He's my best friend."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" the girl asked.

Ant grinned. "Oh, yeah. This is my annoying big sister, Fontaine. Pay her no mind—I certainly don't!"

"Hey!" Fontaine protested and started chasing Ant around the room. "I'll teach you to mind me!"

Ant laughed and evaded her easily.

Watching them, Harry was a little ill at ease at first but quickly understood that the brother and sister were teasing each other equally and were not similar to Dudders at all. That was a relief, and he relaxed and laughed at their antics.

Harry drank his cocoa and when the biscuits were finished they had sandwiches and he ate his fill. Severus was talking to Will and Kaiko, in an undertone, talking about boys who lived, giant clams, and harvesting rare ingredients with exotic names and exorbitant prices. All of it sounded too fantastical and some of it made not much sense but Harry was too sleepy to worry about it.

When Harry started to yawn he was sent to bed. Severus dug a small vial filled with yellow potion out of his trunk and made Harry drink it. "To prevent flu," he said. "I shan't tolerate a sick child."

When he swallowed the last sweet, lemony drop, Harry's body relaxed and steam whistled from his ears. He laughed and lay back on the bed. Never had he felt such a soft, bouncy, mattress and such cozy, fuzzy blankets, and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the cool pillow. He slept for hours and hours. If he dreamed he didn't remember it.

When Harry woke it was morning, and he felt well-rested and ready for a new day. He saw Severus was still sleeping in the bed next to his, and for a while he squinted and watched him snore.

A wizard! They hadn't discussed it yet and Harry had so many questions. How did one become a wizard? Did you have to go to a special school for it? Could anyone become one? Could girls? Could he? That and many, many more.

He wondered if he should wait for Severus to wake up but then remembered Ant and Fontaine and decided to go seek them out. It's been a while since he talked to children and he thought it might be a nice change.

The submarine, according to Ant's proud prattle the night before, was two football fields long. Harry was honest that he had no clue how long a football field was, he was only six and never saw one not on the telly. It seemed an odd way to measure things too, they did it in school with a ruler. Fontaine had laughed and said it was 720 feet. That didn't help either so he hadn't asked anymore though he truly would have liked to know whether that was adult feet or would children's feet do.

Anyway, it was big enough that he quickly grew tired of walking and peeking into empty rooms. Everything gleamed and he wished he could get the old seamen to see it. Captain Tom! Captain Tom might think it a marvel. He wondered if he would get a job or two or three to do here. There was nothing to mop.

He passed an enormous library, an exercise room, a room with a big telly and lots of comfortable chairs; he went up and down ladders and passed by a room full of gigantic, colourful clams, and an engine room bigger than their house in Little Whinging, Surrey. He paused to watch the gleaming machines ticking and clicking and buzzing away but quickly got out of there when one clanged. Harry was just starting to wonder if he would ever find his way back to his bedroom when Jeffrey swam up in a tube and blew bubbles at him.

Ant had talked to the little fish so Harry tried the same. "Good morning, Jeffrey," he said politely. It was always best to start a new friendship off on the right foot. "Can you take me to Ant and Fontaine, please?"

Jeffrey smiled at him and waved his fins in a 'follow me' motion before turning and zipping down the tube back in the direction he came from. Harry jogged after him. They went back past the engine room, up some ladders, past the screen room, the exercise room with its many metal bars and weights, the library, his and Severus's bedroom, and two doors down he heard Ant and Fontaine disagreeing with each other.

"I don't think he'll want to wear your old wetsuit, it stinks like fish," Fontaine said and there was the sound of a struggle.

"Well, yours stinks like a girl. Besides, boys like the smell of fish!"

"Only abnormal boys!"

Harry peeked around the corner and found the brother and sister playing tug of war with two wetsuits. They were in Ant's bedroom, he figured. It had many half-made projects scattered about and tools and wires in drawers, and the centre of the room was occupied by a giant fishbowl connected to the water-filled tube. Jeffrey now swam into it, flapping his fins in a 'ta-daa!' motion.

"Thanks, Jeffrey," Harry said, surprising the Nekton siblings into losing their grips and falling flat on their backs.

"Ew! Ew!" Fontaine called, having got her brother's suit on her face and she slapped it off. "Fish!"

Ant laughed. "You're an ocean explorer! You like fish."

"Not on boys' clothes," Fontaine said and sat up. "Harry! Tell Ant you would rather not smell like fish. You would think he'd remember the time he was nearly crocodile lunch because he refused to change his suit."

"That suit had memories. All my suits have. Harry would be proud to wear it."

"I would," Harry said and then tried to be diplomatic. "I think Severus would be upset if he saved me only to have a crocodile eat me." He had no idea if that was true or not but it seemed a sensible thing to say.

"My suit it is!" Fontaine laughed and grabbed it from her brother's lap where it had fallen. She tossed it to Harry. "Get dressed, Harry! You guys need to come see this."

Harry got dressed while they waited outside the room. Jeffrey was polite and looked the other way. They could hear Ant loudly complaining to Fontaine about only getting told now that there was something interesting to see and Fontaine laughing it off.

"Do they always fight like this?" he asked Jeffrey.

The fish nodded and pulled a face, showing exactly what he thought of that, which was not much, and sighed dramatically, blowing air bubbles. Harry laughed. He wondered where he could get himself a fish. Then remembered that no one on Captain Tom's ship had a pet so he doubted he would be allowed. Then he remembered that Captain Tom's ship was now on the bottom of the ocean so he won't be able to work there anymore, and he got quite gloomy at the thought that he might not grow up to be a sailor after all.

He kept up his gloomy thoughts until they came to the observation deck where Fontaine showed them an ocean full of shiny green goop. The observation deck was a large room to the front of the submarine, and its walls held multiple glass ports in all sorts of interesting geometric shapes and sizes, half of them which was now covered in the green stuff. They were still submerged and Harry could also see it floating in the water all around them. In his weeks at sea, Harry had seen quite a few interesting things and this one was right up there with the octopus that climbed on board one night to steal some apples.

Will and Kaiko were already there with Severus, staring out. Unlike Harry, Severus hadn't borrowed a wetsuit but was back in his own clothes, dressed all in black and looking like The Passenger again.

"I want to touch it!" Ant called excitedly and ran out of the room as the submarine started to rise to the surface.

They all followed him out through a hatch that automatically slid open when they neared—wouldn't Tim have loved to see that!—and out onto the bow. Ant hurried to kneel at the edge and scooped up a handful of the green goop floating on top of the water.

"Wow! So this is what bioluminescent bacteria feel like! Slimy!"

"Amazing," his mum said. "I've never seen them in these concentrations before."

Severus knelt down also and dipped his finger in it, saying, "Hmm." He shook it off fussily.

Harry stood in awe. The water all around them was green for miles and miles, sparkling in the morning sun. Next to him, Ant lobbed a glob of bacteria at Fontaine.

"Hey!"

"Slipped!" He laughed.

She threw a handful back, splattering the front of his wetsuit. "Slipped!"

Kaiko and Severus filled two beakers full of the bioluminescent bacteria while Will gave Harry an impromptu lesson on exactly what it was he was looking at. He listened attentively and nodded even for the bits that went over his head. When Will was done, Ant told him aside in a stage whisper, "It's fish food."

Just as they were all about to go down back into the submarine to figure out what was up with the fish not eating it like they were supposed to, both Ant and Fontaine yelled, "Slipped!" and spattered Harry with big glops of the bioluminescent bacteria. It splattered all over his borrowed wetsuit and a glob landed on his head to drip slowly down his ear.

It smelled fishy, and Harry gagged. But he loved it. It was a sunny day. Harry had nearly drowned, but he was still at sea, and between friendly people. He couldn't be happier. Life was excellent.

"This is excellent," Severus said, echoing Harry's thoughts. He was not speaking to or about Harry but holding the beaker with its glowing contents up to the sunlight. "We are generally hard-pressed to find it in these quantities. I would like to collect some before we leave—"

"What would you use it for?" Fontaine asked, stepping up beside him.

"I'd personally use it for testing contamination in potions," he said and reached back to pull Harry along. He grimaced and paused to shake the slime off his hand and waved his wand at Harry's wetsuit. He vanished the slimy goop and did the same for the other two, talking all the while. "I know a witch that's currently experimenting with blending bioluminescent organisms into plants that would light up at night, saving energy. I'm sure you could think of a few uses for it too if you tried."

Listening, Harry thought he might still dress like The Passenger, but he certainly didn't talk like him anymore. He decided it must be because he was between friends. Ant was calling out ridiculous uses, the best in Harry's opinion being luminescent food that meant you didn't have to worry if the refrigerator's light had gone out; Aunt Petunia had eyes in the back of her head for the refrigerator's light.

"Breakfast first," Kaiko said when they went down. "The mystery can wait half an hour; we have guests."

A very nice time

What followed was a very nice time. Harry and Severus ate breakfast with the Nektons, and afterwards they all set off to investigate why the fish wasn't eating the bioluminescent bacteria as they should. Well, all except for Severus. He told Harry to mind Fontaine as she was the eldest, and borrowed a wetsuit and mask from Will. When a curious Harry asked why he didn't just become a merman again, he admitted that Gillyweed was not his favourite thing to chew but he put extra in his wetsuit's pocket anyway because he didn't quite trust Muggle inventions, and made Harry do the same in case he fell overboard.

"Sailors don't fall overboard," Harry told him in a prissy tone.

He was feeling a little miffed at getting a babysitter and being talked to as if he was a child. For weeks the adults onboard the ship had treated him like one of them. He was a proper sailor, wasn't he? He had scrubbed decks and ran chores for everyone like any good cabin boy and Captain Tom had even said if he hadn't been a stowaway he would have been paid.

"Then keep it in case someone pushes you overboard," Severus said. "They might if you keep up that attitude."

Severus went off to the moon pool room—that was what the Nektons called the room with the circular pool Harry and Severus had come in from the previous night—and set off to collect as much goop as he could before the fish started eating again. Harry followed the Nektons to the bridge, trying not to feel as if he had been told to stay out of Severus's way. He would have loved to help collect the goop and wondered if perhaps he should have said.

He didn't get to feel maudlin for too long, for the Nektons realised the whole area was devoid of fish and set off in search of the reason. Deeper and deeper the Aronnax dove. Fontaine, who was only fourteen was at the helm, her mum letting her practise; they sank past the twilight zone into the midnight zone that was as black as its name, and finally they saw a strange sight on the radar. All the fish in the ocean was swimming as if hypnotised around an eerie yellow light. Kaiko set off in a robotic suit to see what was up with that, and then Will went to rescue her when she started speaking in embarrassing baby talk.

"Aww," they heard her over the robotic speakers. "Sooow pwettyy…Whooz a little cutie wootie…"

"Oh, no! That's awful!" Ant clasped his hands over Harry's ears. "Don't listen, Harry!"

Soon Will was doing the same, cooing baby-talk to whatever was luring the fish, and Harry watched in awe as the Nekton siblings smartly sprang to action and figured out how to save their parents.

It was both scary and exciting at the same time. They closed all the windows with steel shutters so that they won't get hypnotised by the light also, and did everything by watching the radar screens. Ant went out in another robotic suit—that he had built himself!—to save their parents, and they soon found out it was an enormous, no, ginormous Anglerfish that had lured them and all the other fish. An angler fish, Harry learned lured its prey with a luminous ball dangling over its monstrous face with its many, many teeth. Jeffrey hid in his little aquarium and refused to come out which was probably for the best.

Harry watched as Fontaine saved the day and dragged her hypnotised family back into the submarine with a mechanical claw while Ant lured the anglerfish back to where it belonged in the deepest depths of the ocean with… a mirror.

"Fascinating," said Severus when they returned the Aronnax to where they had left him and Harry had relayed their adventure.

Severus was treading water, scooping up goop with a glowing net that expanded as it filled. Fish started bobbing up all around him, eating as if they hadn't for days, and Severus tried in vain to shoo them away.

"If I had a net I could help collect the goop before they eat everything," Harry offered helpfully.

It had been a nice adventure but he had been an observer and was starting to feel a bit bored. He wasn't used to doing nothing. By this time Harry would have helped Cook wash the dishes, he'd have scrubbed the deck, and would have been busy sewing on buttons on the sailors' trousers. Sailors always seemed to be losing their buttons and Captain Tom kept a whole chest full of them.

"We'll help too," Ant and Fontaine said. They still had energy to spare. That, or perhaps they would like some mindless fun throwing slime at each other to forget how close they had been to losing their parents.

"Very well," Severus said and he made Ant bring him three buttons which he magicked into nets for each of them.

"Transfigured," Severus corrected Harry. "We don't say 'magicked'."

"Okay."

Ant and Fontaine dove gleefully into the water and started gathering goop, fighting over who would get the most the fastest. Jeffrey was there, swimming happily next to Ant, gobbling food, ignoring Severus's protests.

Harry memorised the new word and waited to see if Severus was going to teach him anything else but when it didn't look like it he jumped in after the siblings. Ant and Fontaine swam as if they had been born in the water and quickly collected large volumes of the shiny, slimy goop. Harry on the other hand learned that swimming didn't come so easy anymore when he didn't have gills, and he spent more time trying to stay afloat than actually scooping up anything. Still, he had immense fun and decided he would learn to swim properly and become the best goop-scooper he could be.

"Bioluminescent bacteria collector," Severus corrected, and Harry thanked him nicely like a polite boy should.

The Aronnax stayed above the waves and Will and Kaiko set up a picnic on the deck, complete with yellow and white striped deckchairs for everyone and umbrellas. This was a job Harry knew to do, as he had often set up a deck chair for Captain Tom on a sunny day, and he hurried to help now. Kaiko praised him for being a good boy and gave him a big, shiny red apple for his trouble. He couldn't swim while eating so he sat cross-legged on the deck and asked a million questions.

He learned that Kaiko was a submarine pilot, a mechanic, and a Marine Biologist, and Will an archeologist, and an Olympic swimmer. It was interesting and gave him food for thought. Up to now, he hadn't thought people could have more than one job and he wondered if he shouldn't broaden his horizons and revise his idea of being only a sailor.

"A sailor is a good job," Will said. "There's no reason why it cannot be enough."

They discussed the pros and cons of being one for a while. Then he went back to the others and practiced his swimming some more.

Will and Kaiko did not help Severus with his collecting, but sat with computers on their laps, writing up scientific papers and detailed reports on their morning's adventure.

"Severus," Harry asked when he was tired of swimming and paused to hang onto Severus's steadying arm. "What is your job?" He imagined something like Kaiko or Will; Severus was always collecting things, wasn't he?

"I'm a teacher."

"You're not!"

Now if you put yourself in the little boy's mind you'll soon realise that Harry was like many other six-year-olds, he still imagined teachers lived where they worked. Perhaps they folded themselves into the drawer with the stationary when the last bell rang. He would have been just as surprised had he seen Miss Jamison, his first-grade teacher in the shops.

Severus watched Harry and saw all of these so did not take offence.

"If you say so," he said, not bothering to correct Harry because he was tired from all the swimming, and did not have the energy to amuse a child when he was supposed to be on holiday from them. Severus got out of the water and draped a large fluffy yellow towel around himself. He went to sit with Will and Kaiko and said he's had about enough of the ocean.

Will said they were close to the coast of Taiwan and would drop them there after lunch.

With any normal family or on any normal ship that would have been that, but these were the Nektons, and they explored the deep. It took them exactly a week to reach Taiwan.

First, they were beset by pirates. Severus and the Nektons found themselves bound on the pirate ship and Harry and Jeffrey were stuck with the pirates on the Aronnax. Ant and Will came up with a plan to lure the pirates back to their own ship, threatening to throw their gold into an underwater volcano. When the pirates left, Harry and Jeffrey became co-captains of the submarine until the Nektons saved them all. (Severus was unable to help, not wanting the pirates who were Muggles to learn he had magic, but he did do stinging hexes whenever a pirate was within reach.)

Then Ant and Fontaine took Harry to search for a Colossal Squid which was very rare. They were all nearly squid dinner but luckily they were saved by a pod of whales. Though that happened only after the Aronnax was attacked by the squid, and a fire broke out in the engine room—Severus fixed that with a spell that shot water out of his wand because the only Muggles around were the Nektons and they already knew—and after that, they nearly ran out of oxygen. They were about to abandon ship but Severus cast bubble-head charms over everyone's heads which helped them breathe and Ant realised it was all a new light bulb's fault and they replaced it with an old faulty one which fixed the oxygen problem. They all had cocoa and cookies after.

Last but not the least, Ant's fishy wetsuit attracted a baby crocodile in an underwater cave system. It seems crocodiles all over loved Ant's suit. Sea-life and other animals loved Ant and he thought he might keep the baby as a pet. Baby was a relative term for he was as large as Ant himself, and his mother, when she finally found them, was larger than number 4, Privet Drive. When the crocodile adventure was over and they were all back on the Aronnax—Severus had missed it for he was collecting acid from the Giant Clams in the Aronnax's hold—and drinking cocoa and eating cookies, Harry thought he might like a pet too. He watched Ant feed Jeffrey his flakes and wondered what animal he could get for himself. Probably a cat, there were always cats on ships. He decided to keep an eye out for one.

There were no cats around yet, but meanwhile, Harry thought magic was very cool—when you were actually allowed to use it. For a while imagined himself growing up to be a wizard. Wizards did do interesting stuff too, look at Severus going all over the world meeting people and collecting stuff for potions—he had been quite ecstatic over the squid ink. That was how Severus had met the Nektons too the previous year when he had been shipwrecked in a storm much like this time.

Harry imagined a future in which he was wealthy beyond compare, living off his riches in a mansion, far away from the Dursleys. He scrapped that idea when he learned Severus was collecting for the school because their budget was lower than the Mariana Trench and not to line his own pockets. And then he learned he would only get a wand once he was eleven and then he would have to go to school for years. Being a sailor needed no school if you wanted to stay a cabin boy and you could start as a cabin boy even at six.

Along the way, Severus transfigured new glasses for Harry out of more buttons so he could stop walking into things. Harry learned that Severus snored like a lion when he slept but did not mind. One couldn't help the nose one was born with. No one needed Harry to scrub the decks but he did it anyway when there was an opportunity to do so, and did his best to be helpful. And there were always cookies and cocoa ready and basins filled with hot water to rest their feet in whenever the adventures became too much. Severus insisted.

Taiwan finally appeared on the horizon, and Harry realised he would soon be reunited with the Dursleys. Desperate for that not to happen, he thought he might stay behind and become a cabin boy for the Aronnax instead. He asked them over their last lunch.

Severus said no.

"I vote for," Ant said. "It's boring with just Fontaine."

"I vote for," Fontaine said. "If Harry will keep Ant out of my hair then I don't mind."

"I'm fine with it," Will said. "The more the merrier."

"What about your guardians?" Kaiko asked because someone had to be sensible and it seemed it was her turn today.

"They don't want me."

"I'd prefer to have their consent," Kaiko said with a kind smile. "I have no problem hiring a cabin boy who comes with his guardian's consent."

That still made it three to two, Harry thought, doing the math.

"The math doesn't apply. I am taking you home," Severus said. "You will not be staying here. Kindly don't make a fuss."

Harry didn't make a fuss. Sometimes you had to do what adults wanted you to. Or let them think you did. He would let Severus take him home and then get Aunt Petunia to write a letter to Kaiko, asking if he can stay. No matter how hard he thought of it he couldn't imagine his aunt not doing it.

They were dropped off at Taitung Fugang Harbour. Harry was back in his own clothes, the red and white sailor shirt and shorts, but Fontaine had let him keep the wetsuit and it was safely stowed in Severus's trunk. Severus was also back in his black attire and unlike Harry, he did not keep his borrowed wetsuit but resized it magically to fit Will again.

The Nektons hugged Harry one by one and said how happy they were to have met him. Then they did the same to Severus—who looked extremely awkward—and told him to visit more often and not wait until he was shipwrecked. Jeffrey, carried by Ant in a backpack filled with water, waved and blew bubbles at them.

Harry shed some manly tears and said he'd miss them all. If he had his way he would see them soon again but he didn't say that.

"Let's go," Severus said and he held Harry's hand tightly when he saw all the fishing boats and noticed the yearning in the boy's green eyes.

They stopped at the Harbour Master's office where Severus held a whispered conversation with a corpulent man who never stopped smiling for one moment. He pressed a pineapple cake in Harry's hand when they left. It was a sweet shortbread square with pineapple paste inside and Harry liked it quite a bit and licked his fingers when it was done.

"How are we going to get home from here?" Harry asked curious as they walked along the port. He had been learning his maps with Captain Tom and knew Taiwan was quite a distance from Little Whinging, Surrey.

"We'll take a Portkey."

"Not a ship?"

"No."

Harry wracked his brain but could not for the life of him remember if he had ever heard of or seen a Portkey. "A train then?"

"A train will be of no use, we are on an island."

All right, he had forgotten the island bit. Maybe Portkey was the name of the airplane. It was going to be his next guess but he happened to look up at Severus's face and sensibly asked instead: "What's a Portkey?"

"It's an object enchanted to take us instantly to a destination of our choice," Severus said, sounding like a dictionary.

Magic. He skipped next to Severus and tried not to be disappointed that it wasn't a plane. He'd never been on one. Not even Dudley had been on one.

They passed a few fishing boats, Severus keeping a tight grip on Harry's hand in case he decided to become a stowaway again, and stopped at one with a blue roof. Severus stuck his head into the boat's window and held another whispered conversation with a young girl inside. Money was exchanged and he received a yellow sock and a crushed soda can with instructions to, "Please recycle!"

Next, they entered a long building with a low, flat roof, and Severus walked at a steady clip past several food stalls, not giving Harry time to look at any of them. He smelled peanuts and meat and warm bread and out of the corner of his eye saw black eggs! Never mind, he had a good lunch, he wasn't hungry, just curious. Harry channelled Pollyanna and decided it was a good thing they were walking so fast. Perhaps if they stopped the people would think they wanted to buy something and be disappointed when they only looked. "Have you been here before?" he asked Severus.

"No."

"So how do you know where to go?"

Severus pointed to the sign for bathrooms that seemed to be the same all over the world and swept Harry inside the one for men.

"I don't need to go."

He had gone on the Aronnax before they left, encouraged by Kaiko just like his aunt always did with Dudley.

"We only need a private place," Severus said with a sigh. The children in his school were much older and he had forgotten how nosy six-year-olds could be. And how quickly they became boring. The stalls were empty and he held the crushed soda can out to Harry. "Hold on tight and you'll be fine."

When he was sure Harry had a good grip he waved his wand over their hands.

They disappeared.

And reappeared.

In between disappearing and reappearing there was a lot of stretching and squeezing and Harry closed his eyes imagining they would pop out if he didn't. When all of that stopped he opened them and found himself inside a small rural village next to a narrow ditch made of cobblestone in which water flowed merrily. Beyond the houses, he could see green fields and hills.

"This isn't home."

"No, it's Donghe Township. We will gather some Water Running Upward," Severus said. "It would be a waste passing through and not do that."

It made absolutely no sense until Harry noticed the small stream was indeed running up the hill and not down. Severus did not hold his hand because there were no ships he could run away to. They passed a few women who wore conical hats and they all smiled and said 'Hello' to each other, and Severus let him jog up the stream until they came to a private, shady spot. There he enlarged his trunk and took out a couple of glass vials with cork toppers. Together they crouched next to the stream that ran uphill and Harry helped him fill them.

"Is it magic?" Harry asked because he knew water wasn't supposed to run up the hill. Sailors knew a lot about all sorts of water.

"It's an illusion."

"Oh. Then why is the water special?" He stoppered up the vial and took an empty one.

"Even illusions have power over the mind. Potions made with Water Running Uphill will be more potent than those with water running downhill or regular tap water," Severus said.

In the last week, Harry had learned that Severus—like surprisingly many of the teachers he knew—didn't have much patience for children and it usually took some pestering to get him talking. But like always, once he had started he turned it into a lecture that Harry was happy to listen to. He did not understand the whole of it but it was interesting all the same. They gathered water and then put it all back into his trunk. Then Severus shrank it. He put the trunk back in his pocket and held out the yellow sock.

"Time to go home."

Let's go

Harry looked at the yellow sock but didn't immediately touch it. He didn't want to go home.

"The sock knows where my home is?" he asked Severus.

"No. The sock knows where King's Cross Station is," Severus said in a clipped, no-nonsense tone. "You'll be telling me your address. Grab on."

Harry also knew where King's Cross Station was. They had to memorise a list of them in school. He sighed, defeated, and took hold of the sock's toe.

They disappeared and reappeared again with all the little fiddly bits in-between, though this time the fiddly bits took longer. When he opened his eyes they were on a quiet platform under huge domed glass ceilings. It was his first time in a railway station and he looked curiously around him at the brick walls and peered at the empty tracks. There was no one around, and Harry shivered.

"I thought it would be busier," he told Severus just so he could hear some noise.

"This is the secret part for wizards and witches," Severus said. "We're going to walk through a wall in a moment to where more people are, and I need you to behave normally. We don't need to attract attention."

Whenever Severus said that, he meant they would be dealing with Muggles. Harry said he would behave. He didn't want Severus to go to jail because of him but honestly magic was a hard secret to keep. What would Dudley say if he knew there were witches and wizards!

"Let's go," Severus said.

And they did exactly that. They walked through a red brick wall onto a new platform, only this one was crowded, people going to and fro. Harry tried to think of them as Muggles but they looked like any normal people he had ever seen so he soon gave up. The people bustled around, bumping into Harry and apologising before rushing off again, and for once Harry was glad when Severus took hold of his hand.

Severus led him out of the station, down a few busy streets, and into a much quieter one. "Let's have your address, Harry," he said and raised his wand into the air.

A loud clang and a bang prevented Harry from answering and the next moment a purple triple-decker bus appeared in front of them. On the side in big golden letters were the words: 'Knight Bus'.

"Your address," Severus reminded him as the doors opened.

"Number 10, Sea View Avenue, Mousehole, Cornwall," Harry said.

Privet Drive was closer to the railway station, he knew. It had taken them hours to get to Mousehole; at least it felt like that with Dudley pinching him in the back of the car. But the sea-side cottage had been booked until the last week of the summer holidays and he hadn't been gone so long yet.

Severus looked at him as if he thought it was made up and he totally understood why. When Uncle Vernon had told Aunt Petunia they were going on holiday to a place named Mousehole, she nearly had conniptions. How did he expect him to tell her friends she was going to Mousehole! But the holiday cottage was already paid for and she stopped complaining when she learned Harry would have to come with. She had other things to complain about then. Harry shrugged now, he couldn't help the name, and Severus helped him up the steps.

The bus driver, a middle-aged man in purple livery, was busy squeezing lemon into a dainty porcelain teacup. Next to him, a yellowed handwritten sign said:

'JOB OPENING: Conductor.

Must be willing to put up with all sorts and Mrs Longbottom.

Salary negotiable.'

Harry wondered if he could apply. Buses traveled after all… but no, he'd miss the motion of the ocean under his feet.

"Find a seat and sit down," Severus told Harry, pushing him along while he stopped to pay the bus driver, dropping a handful of silver coins on the plate.

Harry moved deeper into the bus and found chairs of every size and shape he could imagine. There were little ones for babies and large sofas that could seat his whole class, and short ones and tall ones and even a garden bench. They were the only people on the bus so he could pick and choose what he wanted. He chose a dark green sofa in the middle because it looked soft and stared sadly out of the window at the dirty little alley beyond.

"Number 10, Sea View Avenue, Mousehole, Cornwall," Severus said, expecting to be told such a place did not exist. He would not have put it above Harry to lie; he knew the boy had no wish to go home.

"Right you are," the driver said to his surprise. "Take a seat. Would you like some cocoa?"

No, he would not. He couldn't stand the cloying sweet drink but the sad little boy on the green sofa's ears twitched hard enough for him to see it from where he stood and Severus sighed.

"We'll take one mug," he said. "With marshmallows. Would there be tea?"

There would not be tea despite the fact that there was a great big pot of it next to the driver's elbow. Complaining never helped on the Knight Bus, quite the opposite, turns would be taken sharper and the length of the ride might be doubled or tripled depending on how much you bothered.

A tea-less Severus sat down opposite Harry, on a lurid pink love seat, and he watched Harry perk up when a mug filled to the brim with hot cocoa levitated over. Spoiled brat, he thought, but not unkindly. He found the child hardworking and eager to please; much, much different than his father whom he had known in school. Thinking that, he cast a stabilising charm on both their chairs and the mug of hot cocoa before the bus started moving.

And how it moved! At speeds faster than the eye could see it zipped through traffic, past skyscrapers, fields, and surprised cows. Harry was hard-pressed on what he should pay attention to, the lovely sweet cocoa that made him feel better or the scenery that zipped past in a kaleidoscope of colours.

He had barely fished out the last marshmallow with a sticky finger when they stopped in Sea View Avenue with another clatter and a clang. Outside a muggle lad of Harry's age fell over in shock. Severus tsked. The driver called out their destination and the doors opened with a dry screech.

"Shall I wash the mug first?" Harry asked, trying to delay the inevitable although he didn't know the word.

"You may put it next to your sofa," Severus said. "Let's go."

Harry sighed.

Severus sighed also but for a different reason. He was starting to have a bit of a headache right behind his left eye. The Knight Bus was no way for sensible wizards to travel even when the driver was in a good mood. And he wasn't looking forward to meeting Harry's aunt. Again. He had known her as a child and she had been an unpleasant sort then and he couldn't imagine her changed. Not that he considered himself more pleasant, he knew who and what he was. He was feared in school and rude when he could get away with it, but much like most people, he tended to want others to be nicer to them than they themselves were to others, that was just the way of the world.

"Thank you," Harry said when they passed the driver. "That was fun!"

"Thank you," Severus said and nodded a polite goodbye, but only because he would most likely need to take the bus again once he had dropped Harry off.

Number 10, Sea View Avenue was much the way Harry had left it. It stood in its little garden looking peaceful, its yellow walls gleaming in the afternoon sun. They went through the little white gate, stepped over a broken toy spade, and up to the door.

Harry noticed the windows were shuttered and he started to hope. Truth be told, Harry didn't expect anyone to be home. Oh, the summer holidays were still for a while longer but he knew his aunt. Once she realised he wasn't there she would leave and hope he wouldn't find them.

Aunt Petunia never considered Harry to be very smart and would imagine he'd not find his way home. As if they didn't teach them in school what to do when they were lost! He pulled a face. He could go to the police or get an adult—

"Don't pull such a face," Severus told him. "If they are upset it's only your own fault for running away. Take your punishment like a good lad and do your best to behave in future." He promptly knocked on the door.

No answer.

He called.

Silence.

Harry tugged at his sleeve and pointed to a note pinned on the wall next to the door. It said:

'FOR RENT.

Call Suzy:

xxxxx…'

Severus frowned. He read the words himself and looked at the telephone number below it.

He looked at the shuttered windows.

He tried the door and found it locked.

He called but no one answered.

He looked at Harry. "Are you sure this is your home?"

"This is where I left them," Harry said as truthfully as he could be.

Severus might think himself not a kind man but Harry had come to like him in the last week and hated lying to him. Still, it was for a good cause. Perhaps if Severus thought this was his actual home all year round, and that he had been abandoned by his family, he would take Harry back to the Nektons to be their cabin-boy.

Harry might not admit to it but he was a little bit sad, knowing that he had been right about his aunt. No one liked to be left behind. Since he was still a small boy, he didn't hide these sad feelings too well, and it was this that convinced Severus he was telling the truth.

"I suppose we had better call the number and find out where they are," Severus said.

His headache had expanded to his right eye. It twitched behind it and made itself comfortable for a long stay. Out of his pocket, he dug up a pencil and a scrap of paper and wrote the number down. He looked around them for a phone booth.

"Oh, I say," said someone from the street. "Is that little Harry, returned?"

Harry turned to see Captain Sparrow, leaning over the garden fence. "Oh, Captain!" he called happily and ran out the gate to hug him. "I've had the best adventure!" he said and started to tell him everything.

Captain Jack was delighted to see him again. He invited Severus and Harry over for tea and toast, and they all sat in his comfortable living room with its many treasures and the flickering fire in the hearth, and he listened to their adventure.

Then he told them that Captain Tom and the sailors were all alive for which Harry was very thankful.

He also had news about Harry's family. After Captain Tom's call about the stowaway, it had taken the police a week to find Harry's aunt and uncle. They had simply not missed him and thought he was being good at staying out of their way. And when they all heard about the storm at sea, they insisted that Harry had drowned, no matter that Captain Tom had been picked up in the lifeboat two days after and said he had not. His family had moved out the very next day and put the cottage back up for rent.

"Did they look sad?" Harry asked.

He hoped they did at least a little. He might not like them and they might not like him but they were still all the family he had.

They hadn't but Captain Jack told a white lie and said they had. He gave Harry a sip of his rum. Harry looked into the flickering fire and thought and thought very hard on what to do next.

He needn't have bothered, for Severus was on the case.

"Harry," Severus said. "Kindly tell me your actual address, and I'll return you to your family. Don't be a little brat."

But Harry was sleepy from the fire and the sip of rum and closed his eyes. He didn't want to say anything, so he slept instead. Was being a brat so bad?

"It's very bad," Severus said when Harry woke and found himself still at Captain Jack's. "Well, no matter. I know how to find it," he said and clapped his thighs and said goodbye to Captain Sparrow. "Let's go, Harry."

Harry said his own goodbyes coupled with a hug and went after Severus. "Will we take a ship and travel the world looking for them?" he asked hopefully.

"Don't be silly." Severus took Harry's hand and led him down the street to a quiet alley. "We will visit the Headmaster."

For once Severus made perfect sense. What else was a teacher to do with a silly little brat but take him to the headmaster? Harry wondered if he would get lines.

This time there was no Portkey and no Knight Bus. Severus took Harry's hand, waved his wand, and they disappeared from the alley and appeared on a stone path in front of two tall wrought iron gates. To the one side was a forest and to the other fields and mountains that hid behind low clouds. Harry sighed when he realised there was no sea and no boats. He peered through the gate and saw neatly trimmed lawns and a castle. "Where are we?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Severus said. He let go of Harry's hand. "Come along."

"To the Headmaster?" He trotted by Severus's side. A Headmaster was scary and the teachers' last resort before calling the parents. Harry tried to be scared but he was just sad to be finally going home. "Will he make me tell you where I live?"

"He knows where you live."

Yes. Perfectly sensible. That seemed like something a Headmaster should know. They had never asked him his address or phone number at the school either whenever his cousin Dudley got him in trouble. Harry didn't question it further and sighed again.

"Stop that," Severus said. "You had your fun and went on an adventure that normal six-year-olds only dream of. Now it's time to face reality. Family, school—these things are unavoidable."

"They won't want me back," Harry said. "They don't like me—"

"Nonsense. You're likable enough when you don't sulk."

"—they never did. I bet if you asked Aunt Petunia she would tell you."

"Nonsense."

"I bet they moved."

"Best keep quiet if you're just going to spout twaddle."

Over the green grounds and into the castle-school they went. Harry saw many magical things, portraits that came alive and gossiped in their wake, gargoyles that raised their heads sleepily when they passed, and stairs that managed to move both sideways and upwards at the same time. They didn't meet one person until they came to the headmaster's office, though Harry did hear someone call for a Mrs Norris. He knew a Mr Norris, but that was one of Mrs Figg's cats.

"Severus," said an old man when they entered. He sat behind a gleaming desk in a room filled with books and whirring knickknacks. He wore a grey robe and pointy hat, which looked exactly as Harry pictured wizard's clothes should be, and had a long silver beard that he had tucked into his belt. His nose was as large as Severus's and on it perched a pair of half-moon spectacles. He peered over it at Severus and Harry. "Back so soon? Who do you have there?"

"Harry Potter, Headmaster. Run away to sea to become a sailor."

"Oh, dear." He peered more intensely at Harry and said, "I think this needs tea."

They had tea. Harry was introduced to the Headmaster, or rather: Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and they said their how-do-you-do's.

Tea and crumpets were ordered. The Headmaster waved his wand and said to no one that Harry could see, "Tea for three please, Oddment."

One moment the desk was empty and the next it had a tea tray wobbling precariously on a stack of papers.

They took it to the sofas next to the fire, and Harry's adventures were relayed a second time that day, this time by Severus. By now Harry was quite bored hearing all he had done and Severus sounded quite bored in the retelling of it.

Headmaster Dumbledore kept saying, 'Interesting, interesting', and his blue eyes twinkled over his spectacles at Harry. When Severus finished and the last tea was drunk and only crumpet crumbs were left on the plates, the Headmaster informed Severus that Harry lived in Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

Harry sighed and tried not to look as miserable as he felt.

"Best to take him back," the Headmaster said. "He needs to be with his family."

"I intend to."

"It might be easier if you use the Floo," said the Headmaster.

"They're connected to the Floo?" Severus was surprised. And rightfully so, for the Petunia he remembered did not like magic and Harry had not known it existed.

Floo was a new word and Harry perked up to listen.

But it turned out whatever the Floo was it was Mrs Figg who was connected.

"Mrs Figg broke her leg and is visiting her daughter in Devon," Harry said helpfully. Had she not gone to Devon, his aunt might have left him with her anyway. "She took all her cats too."

They took the Knight Bus.

This time Harry declined the cocoa. No little boy was ever too full for cocoa but there may come a time in their lives that they were too sad for even a nice hot mug of cocoa to help anymore and this was such a time.

They arrived with a loud clatter and a bang in front of a square little house in a street filled with square little houses that looked exactly the same as the ones beside it, from the neatly trimmed gardens to the blue-painted front doors. Harry sighed again, but softer this time, not to irritate Severus, and followed him down.

At the front door, Severus knocked.

No one came.

He knocked a second time, louder, his knuckles cracking against the wood.

All was quiet in the house.

Severus called, and when no one answered, Harry started to pay attention. He had imagined his aunt would move the moment he got lost, just in case he came back, he had even told Severus this very thing, but he dared not think it now. They were family and a kid should be with their family, he knew that, so he thought he was a bad little boy to wish it was true. For that reason, he stared at the scrap of paper on the wall next to the door for much too long with burning eyes before he read it.

'HOUSE FOR SALE.

Call Susan:

xxxxx…'

He tugged on Severus's sleeve and pointed.

Severus read the notice and said, "Oh, for… Pete's sake!"

"I told you so," said Harry.

A letter

Harry sat down on Number 4's steps and looked out on Privet Drive. It was starting to be dark out and he watched the streetlights come on one by one. A curtain twitched across the road. What he would like to do was go back to the sea any way he could, but by now he had come to the realisation that Severus was in charge. Still, he could try.

"The Nektons said I could—"

"That's not going to happen," Severus said. He knew exactly what the Nektons said, he was there after all.

"I really liked them," Harry said and sighed.

Life was too sad, he thought. But was it? He still had his health like Aunt Marge loved to say. He still had friends—something he never had before—and he wasn't going to feel Dudley's pinches any time soon. Not being a maudlin type of boy, he sighed once more and then decided it would be his last sigh. Time to plan. He was going to forge full sail ahead.

Having made up his mind, he told Severus, "I suggest we go find a ship and travel the world searching for my family." He kept it to himself that he would not search too hard. "I can be a cabin boy and you can collect."

"Is that so?" Severus asked.

"Yes."

Severus whisked them away, not to the sea but to an Indian restaurant where he bought two curries to take away and then he whisked them off again to his house. Much like the Dursleys' home, Severus's one was identical to its neighbour's. The difference was that here were no gardens, they were all attached to each other, the walls were black with soot, and the paint on the doors had started peeling off. The street was fully dark by now and far in the distance one streetlight flickered heroically, illuminating a stray cat. Harry shivered as something cold ran down his spine, and he wondered if anyone else lived there. He asked about it, scooting closer to Severus.

"I have no idea," Severus said. "And I couldn't care less. I live in school most of the year." He opened the door. "You may expect some dust."

He knew it! Teachers did live in school! Also, it was true, there was a lot of dust.

They ate their curries in the kitchen after Severus cleaned the table with his wand, but he didn't bother cleaning plates and they ate it directly from the cartons with plastic forks. That was a little adventure on its own, Harry had never eaten with a plastic fork, and afterwards Harry felt much better and more ready to face the future.

The future was a bath and bed in a dusty little room upstairs.

"What will we do now?" Harry asked when he was safely tucked under the covers. The day's emotions had taken it out of him and he was happy enough to go to sleep.

"We will figure it out in the morning. Sleep now. Good night."

"Good night, Severus."

The next day Harry woke early. It was the first night in weeks that he hadn't spent on the rolling ocean and for a while his stomach felt quite queasy at the absence of motion. It made Harry think with longing of his days as a cabin boy and decided he should keep in practise. To that end, he unearthed a bucket and a brush from under the kitchen sink. He filled the bucket with warm water and squirted a good handful of dishwashing liquid in it. He tied two dusty dishcloths over his knees. Then started scrubbing the kitchen floor, humming a sailor's song.

In his time on Captain Tom's steamer, Harry had learned quite a few songs. He also learned that there were different types, ballads that told a story of famous pirates, rude sea shanties when everyone thought he was safely asleep in his cot, or work songs sung in sync with your movements that helped set the pace or alleviated boredom. 'Fish in the sea' was his favourite for scrubbing the decks, and he automatically started singing it.

"Come all you young sailor men, listen to me

I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea…"

He scrubbed the worn linoleum under the kitchen table.

"And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys

When the wind blows, we're all together, boys,

Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow

Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes…"

He scrubbed the linoleum under the chairs. Severus stepped over him and rolled his eyes.

"Up jumps the eel with his slippery tail," Harry sang,

"Climbs up aloft and reefs the topsail!"

Severus put a pan on the stove and started searching for eggs. Magic was very welcome when you weren't in your home for many months at a time. He found what he needed in his cold-box. There were eggs, milk, and bread as fresh as the day he bought them, and he started preparing their breakfast. Magic could also scrub your floors if you so wished but he let Harry have his fun.

Harry moved the bucket to the living room which had a hardwood floor and sang on,

"And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys

When the wind blows, we're all together, boys

Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow

Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes!"

He scrubbed in front of the dusty sofas. He scrubbed in front of the hearth, scraping the ash to one side.

"And then up jumps the shark with his nine rows of teeth

Saying, "You eat the dough, boys, and I'll eat the beef!"

He scrubbed his way to the parlour. By now the water was very dirty and he felt quite satisfied. He sang,

"And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys

When the wind blows, we're all together, boys

Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow

Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes."

He scrubbed in front of the door. Harry was singing quite lustily now for Severus was awake and clattering pans, he thought in rhythm with the song, and the smell of eggs and toasted bread energised him.

"Up jumps the whale, the largest of all

If you want any wind, well, I'll blow ye a squall!"

Severus stuck his head out of the kitchen and called, "Come have breakfast."

Harry picked up the bucket and sang,

"And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys

When the wind blows, we're all together, boys

Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow

Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes!"

"Got it out of your system, then?" Severus asked when Harry dumped the dirty water out the back door. "Wash your hands." He put two plates on the table and poured a glass of milk for Harry.

They ate their breakfast in companionable silence and when they were done Harry washed the dishes just like he had for Cook.

"I have a few calls to make," Severus said. "Stay in the house and keep yourself busy."

Severus spent the morning alternating between talking on the telephone and sticking his head in the fireplace which had green flames. The first time he did it, Harry nearly fell over in shock and rushed to save him. They had tea to calm his nerves and Severus explained that wizards called each other through the fire and even travelled through it if they wanted. It was the 'Floo' they had talked about the previous day. He demonstrated that it was quite safe if you threw Floo powder into the flames first and waited until they turned green. Once he got started, he went into full lecture mode and even made Harry practise. He let him talk to the Headmaster who asked Harry how he had slept.

"Fine, thank you," Harry said politely.

The Headmaster asked about the Dursleys. "Do you know of any other family they might have gone to visit?" he asked. "Do you have any idea where they could be?"

Harry thought of Uncle Vernon's sister, Aunt Marge. She didn't like him at all. Perhaps even less than the Dursleys did. "No."

"Very well. I'll let you get on with your day."

Harry scrubbed the bathroom, and shook the bedsheets out in a tiny little courtyard behind the kitchen. The courtyard held an old, rickety outhouse that leaned precariously to the left, and a rusty metal tub.

"Do you have any buttons to sew?" Harry asked Severus when he had scrubbed everything he could find.

Severus put the telephone down. "Go wash up, we will go to the pub."

"I don't like rum."

"You may have a milkshake," Severus said. "We will have lunch. I do believe you've worked enough for the day."

He never had lunch in a pub and was quite excited. He scrubbed his hands and face until they shone pink. He cleaned his glasses. Lastly, he removed the dishcloths from his knees, and fetched his sneakers. They travelled to the pub through the Floo which was an amazing experience and also very sooty, as it smudged his face up enough that Severus had to clean him with his handkerchief when they stepped out into a pub called the Leaky Cauldron.

The pub was dark and mysterious, all the menu items had 'Leaky' in their names, and menus and money and plates circled over the diners.

Both ordered a hearty stew—Harry because that was what sailors ate after a hard morning's work, and Severus because he was an adult and adults tended to like those types of food. Harry also had his very first milkshake and declared it better than hot cocoa.

Harry ate and watched the people come and go. They were all sorts, wizards and witches in colourful robes and hats mixed with ordinary people dressed in jeans and sweaters. Some stopped for a drink or a meal, but most went through to the back and didn't appear again. He imagined they went into a magical place and would have asked but rather enjoyed imagining all sorts of things instead. Perhaps there was a magical zoo, he thought when he saw quite a few families with excited children disappearing into the back. Perhaps there was a whole new magical world filled with aliens and strange exotic animals and three moons instead of a sun...

Sometimes not knowing was more fun and he was happy enough for this to be one of those times.

"Have you found Aunt Petunia yet?" Harry asked when he had slurped the last of the milkshake up and reality returned. Opposite him, Severus was having tea.

"I have people looking into it."

"I can go to the Nekt—"

"You will stay with me until I take you to your aunt. Let's not hear of that again, if you please." Severus said this with such a teacher's face and such a teacher's voice that Harry made himself small in his chair.

Did he mind staying with Severus? He didn't think so but soon he would have scrubbed everything in the little house and what would he do then? There were no ropes to tie, no buttons to sew, no masts to climb and seagulls to feed, no deck rocking under his feet…

Not being a particularly shy little boy he stopped making himself small and asked.

"I'm sure we'll manage to find you something to do," Severus said, not much bothered. "If not then at least school will start soon," he continued and waved for the bill.

Harry would have been aghast at learning the summer holidays were reaching their end, but instead of their bill, a tawny owl settled on Severus's hand, and Harry nearly dropped out of his chair in shock. "An owl!" he called inanely.

Severus looked at him as if he had said something impossibly stupid but surely he was allowed to be surprised? He had not yet plumbed the depths of all that was magical, how could he? Feeling rightfully affronted, Harry scowled back, ready to say this, but Severus wasn't paying attention to him now. He had pulled a parchment off the owl's leg and was reading it.

"They found your aunt in Australia," he said. "Number 7, Bean Street, Coober Pedy."

"Oh."

First, they went to buy a Portkey. Harry learned there was a whole magical shopping district behind the pub and was not disappointed at all. He was not allowed to dawdle and look, though, for Severus was suddenly in a hurry to get to Australia with Harry and come back without.

The Travel Agent's shop was nothing more than a small closet-sized office between a broom shop and one that appeared to be selling toilet seats. Most of the walls were covered in racks that held pamphlets and at the back was a large fireplace that took up what space was left. A motherly woman with a sunny smile helped them and asked a few in-depth questions about Harry when she learned where they were off to. She didn't find Severus very trustworthy which he took as a matter of course. Mostly he found himself the same. Truth be told, he didn't have a good reputation for various reasons that a six-year-old didn't have to know about. After interrogating them both she stuck her head in the Floo too discuss it with the Headmaster on Severus's suggestion, and only then did she sell them a Portkey.

It was an innocuous green pen.

"Oh," Harry said when Severus held it out to him right there in the shop. He thought hard. "My wetsuit is still in your—"

"I will mail it to you."

"I still have to scrub your courtyard…"

"You don't have to scrub anything. Let's go, Potter."

Harry squared his shoulders, did not sigh even though he wanted to, and took hold of the green pen. "Let's go, then," he said, and if his chin wobbled and his voice was thin, Severus was at least kind enough not to mention it.

They disappeared and appeared with a long stretch in between, and when Harry opened his eyes he found himself face to face with a spider as big as his head. Eight eyes reflected his pale face back at him. He screamed.

"Oh, sorry, mate," someone said and reached over him to remove the spider. The spider whistled a protest and Harry saw it was hanging from the ceiling on a thick silky rope. "That's Jack, he's a whistling spider. He thinks it's mighty funny to prank incoming travellers."

"It's okay," Harry said as soon as he got his breath back.

The travel agent said, "Neato!" He held out a jar filled with black little raisins, only it wasn't raisins at all. "You want to feed him a fly?"

Harry fed Jack a fly and looked curiously around.

The little shop was not much larger than the one they came from and the walls were filled with racks of pamphlets the same. The only difference was Jack who now sat on a stool and laughed, an awful hissing-whistle sound, and that the agent was a blond, suntanned young man in safari clothes and a wide-brimmed hat. When he smiled his teeth were enormous and blinding.

Looking through some of the pamphlets, Harry saw they had underground homes called dugouts that you can rent, an Opal Mine and Museum, a Golf Course, a Kangaroo Orphanage, and a Big Winch. He imagined his Uncle Vernon putting up a Big Drill-bit. He decided if he was going to stay here he would see if he could work at the Kangaroo Orphanage and once he made enough money he could run away to the sea.

Unaware of Harry's big plans, Severus enquired after transport to 'Number 7, Bean Street, Coober Pedy', and was given directions.

"You can just walk there, mate. It's two streets down, second house to the left, great big lump of a lad in the front yard my nan says. Can't miss it."

They did not hold hands when they stepped outside for there was no beach and no sea to run away to. Everything as far as Harry could see was brown, from the dirt roads to the houses with their sandy lawns. A car passed them by, dust layered thick on its windows. Flies immediately buzzed around their heads, but Severus shook his wand out and waved it over them both and a cool breeze kicked up, taking care of the flies. The breeze stayed with them as they walked.

Harry said, "Neato!"

"You'll fit right in," Severus told him and they set off to find the Dursleys.

'Two streets down' weren't so close, the houses were long and flat, and the brown gardens were larger than any Harry had seen before. Some of the gardens were as big as playgrounds! In one a group of barefooted kids was playing football, yelling, and kicking up dust. In another, a family was diving in a round blue pool that rose up out of the ground. Severus took Harry's hand to move him along. They passed a lemonade stand made by two little gap-toothed girls younger than Harry, and did not buy anything despite the girls yelling how sweet their lemonade was, sweeter than mountain dew, mates!

On they walked and walked, the sun low in their eyes. Two streets down and the second house to the left they found Dudley sitting in the middle of a large, dusty front yard, on a red beach chair. There wasn't a plant in sight. Flies buzzed around his head, but he paid them no mind. His round face was nearly as red as the chair, sweat dripped off him in buckets, despite the balmy weather, and there were ugly sweat-stains under his armpits. He didn't look up as they entered the gate for he was too busy playing with his Game Boy, shouting rudely at the loud game.

"Your cousin?" Severus asked.

"Yes."

Severus and Harry gave him a wide berth and stepped to the brown front door where Severus knocked.

The door opened and Aunt Petunia stuck her head out to see who it was. She looked quite displeased at being disturbed.

"Hello, Petunia," Severus said and pushed Harry forward. "Mislaid someone?"

"You!" Aunt Petunia called, seeing Harry.

"You!" Aunt Petunia called, seeing Severus.

She pulled her head back and slammed the door with a loud bang in their faces.

Severus thought it might be due to shock at seeing her nephew alive, and was ready to knock again, but the noise had got Dudley's attention and he looked over. "You!" he called on seeing Harry. "We don't want you here! Why did you come?!"

"Why indeed," said Severus under his breath.

"I told you so," Harry repeated and asked, "Can we ask Aunt Petunia to write Kaiko a letter? I'd like to be a cabin boy on the Aronnax." He thought longingly of Ant and Fontaine who even when they were fighting were much more pleasant than Dudley.

"You will not be a cabin boy on the Aronnax," Severus said and he knocked again. This time he knocked louder, banging his fist against the brown paint. He bellowed, which is another word for shouting loudly, and called, "Open up, Petunia! Unless you want a scene!"

Harry's aunt opened the door and dragged them inside, hissing at Severus to be quiet. "We don't want him," she hissed directly after that. "He should be dead!"

Severus put his hand on Harry's head, and astonishingly it stopped Harry's chin from wobbling. He took a deep breath to calm down and was about to ask for a letter, but Severus did so instead. He said it was quite clear that Harry wasn't wanted asked Harry's aunt to relinquish Harry into his care and to write a letter to that effect. "I don't suppose you kept any of his clothes?"

"No," Aunt Petunia said quite shamelessly and went to write the letter. She did not once look at Harry.

Five minutes later they were back in the street, the letter stowed safely in Severus's pocket. Dudley looked up long enough from his game to shout, "Don't come back!"

Harry yelled, "I wouldn't want to if you paid me a gazillion Galleons! I'm off to be a sailor!"

They bought some lemonade on the way back.

Summer's end

Chapter Notes

Another cameo but am keeping it as a surprise!

"You've misunderstood," Severus said when they were back in his dusty little house.

They had not gone directly home, but spent the afternoon buzzing through Australia. They collected pink water from Lake Hillier, orange lichen from the Bay of Fires, Australian Glumbumbles which were grey, furry, flying insects and supposedly rarer than the Europian ones, and Witchetty grubs that would turn into Ghost Moths, but also made a good snack. At the very end, right before they took a Portkey home, Severus bought an enormous box of Lamingtons from a bakery in Sydney because he had a sweet tooth.

He now pulled the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. "Read it. This means you will be in my care from now on and I do not believe little boys should be out working on ships. There are such things as child labour laws, and besides, the Headmaster will be against it."

Harry read the letter and it said exactly that: he was to stay with Severus Snape. He thought about it for a bit. It would not be worse than the Dursleys but his heart by now lay firmly in the sea.

"When can I be a sailor?" he asked, already making plans to run away if the answer was never. He had managed it once, he was sure he could again.

"When you're seventeen. After you've gone to school and learned everything a child should."

That was… maybe acceptable. "Will I go to Hogwarts?"

"No." Severus took the letter back. "You will go to Hogwarts when you are eleven. Right now you'll stay in your Muggle school, I don't see a reason to change. I can drop you each…" he slowly stopped talking. "Why the face? All kids have to go to school."

"I know." He did. "Only, school wasn't so nice," Harry admitted.

He told Severus everything about Piers Polkiss who would still be there even if Dudley wasn't, how he was teased for his glasses and clothes, and how no one wanted to be friends with him because they were scared of Dudley's gang.

"I see."

"So I don't have to go, right?"

"I have never met a teacher's kid who did not go to school."

Harry nearly sighed but remembered in time that he wasn't doing that anymore. He went out to scrub the courtyard and sang very loudly about mermaids who wrecked ships until Severus called him in for dinner.

Was it a boring time that followed? The two of them shut inside the dusty little home until the end of the summer?

Why on earth would they do that? Severus still had a long list of items he needed to collect for his classes next year, from bobutubers which they never seemed to have enough of to walking plants for the school's greenhouse, a fifth-year student having strangled their last one when exam stress got the better of her.

They still had a little over two weeks left until the first of September and he had to do all of those, and now he also had Harry extra. Harry, who couldn't indefinitely walk around in one pair of shorts and a blue striped shirt. Who needed a new toothbrush and pyjamas and school supplies, really everything from pencils to socks.

He took Harry to St Grogory's Primary School—yes, that was not a spelling mistake of his, the school was truly named such—to sign him up and get the required item list. Not two minutes in he had a falling out with Headmistress Roemmele who seemed to think little runaways belonged in St Brutus and took him right out again for ice cream instead.

While Harry shovelled the icy treat in his mouth as fast as he could, Severus thought about Muggles and the difficulties of a little wizard growing up around them.

When Harry clutched his head, moaning from ice cream induced brain-freeze, Severus thought harder about Muggle schools and such things as essays on 'What I did this summer'.

Many little wizards and witches were homeschooled, but Harry was now in a one-parent household and that parent needed to work if they wanted to buy toothbrushes and socks.

As the last creamy bite was teased out of the bowl, Severus had made up his mind.

"Finish up, Harry," he said. "We're moving."

And so they did.

Susan the estate agent's cousin, Suzelle, who took care of the magical side of things, found them a bright little cottage in Hogsmeade, the only completely magical village in Britain. It was not much larger than his house in Spinner's End but they didn't need more space being only two. What it did have was large windows in brightly painted rooms, a sunny kitchen, new linoleum, and taps that did not drip. Best of all was the garden in the front and back, large enough to kick a ball in for Harry, and enough space to keep a greenhouse for Severus.

It even came with its own cat.

"We're not keeping her," Severus said.

It was a mangy-looking thing: its ginger hair stood up in all directions, half of its left ear had been chewed up, and it meowed much too loud. He watched Harry put out a saucer of milk but didn't stop him.

"She'll keep herself," Harry said. He knew Severus fairly well by now and wasn't bothered. He'd keep his new bedroom window open and Severus would be fine. "Do we have tuna?"

They had.

"What will you call it?"

"Ginger!"

"How inventive," Severus said in his most droll tone. Ginger curled herself around Harry's legs. She purred loud enough to wake the dead and Severus narrowed his eyes, seeing Ginger's butt. "I believe she's a boy."

On one of those last summer days, Harry wrote letters. To Captain Tom, wishing him well and thanking him for everything. To Captain Jack, explaining what happened to his family and that he was now living with Severus. To Timothy, telling him everything that happened, and that he was still wearing stripes, only leaving the magical parts out. To Ant and Fontaine, asking what they were doing and how Jeffrey was. To Kaiko, explaining that Severus refused to let him work on the Aronnax, but that he was going to ask again when he was seventeen. He sent the letters off with owls who would drop the Muggle ones in a postbox.

Some days they foraged in the Forbidden Forest close to their new home and Harry and Severus learned he could speak to snakes which was amazing. Other days Severus made him grab on to a Portkey, and they would zip all over the world, from Alaska to Zimbabwe, collecting magical fauna and flora and meeting friends Severus had made over previous summers of doing the same.

There were days they stayed at home: Rainy days where they stayed cuddled under blankets with a book each. Days Severus had to prepare lesson plans for the coming school year and he would send Harry out to play.

And those days Harry roamed around Hogsmeade, meeting other children. No one teased him, because he was dressed in his own clothes and his glasses were new. They listened in awe because he had many stories to tell. They asked him to join their Quidditch games, because the more the merrier, letting him borrow their extra broom. Quidditch, for anyone who is not in the know, is a fast action ball game played up in the air while flying on brooms.

He quickly became a sought-after player and because he never sighed even on the days that he was sad, and since he was generally a kind boy, he made many friends. They would come knock on their cottage door and call, "Professor Snape! Professor Snape! Can Harry come play?" And off they would all go to have some fun.

Harry received mail. From Captain Jack, congratulating him on his good fortune to find a home. From Captain Tom, who said he'd welcome Harry on his new steamer any time and any age. From Timothy, who was now working on a fishing boat with his dad and said he might have his own one day. From Ant and Fontaine, who said they were in the Bristol Channel near Ilfracombe and that he should visit. He showed the letter to Severus who agreed he should.

They packed his wetsuit and Severus took him to the Nektons. There he made sure Harry had enough Gillyweed for any emergency. Harry was to stay for three days, so that might be many emergencies. It was the Nektons, after all. Severus had finally collected all he needed to, and the only thing left was to organise Harry's new school, his new school supplies, and his new school clothes. It was much faster to shop without a curious six-year-old, he had found.

"Ant and Fontaine are getting homeschooled," Harry said. "I could be too. It would save a lot of money also."

"And who would look after you while I was at work?" Severus asked. "Ginger?"

This was a mistake for Harry by now knew many people and started listing all of them off on his fingers, Ginger included.

"Have fun with the Nektons," Severus said. "Try to keep them out of trouble."

He left them to it.

In the three days that Harry spent with the Nektons they never once sat down. They swam with Jeffrey. Harry invented with Ant, which generally meant he soldered things together and made a lovely mess that no one minded while Ant sat next to him and worked out how to increase the power to his robosuits. Fontaine gave him lessons on captaining the submarine and the three of them had lots of fun.

They also managed to get into quite a bit of trouble and luckily out of it again. They found and got stuck in a mysterious ancient temple beneath the sea, and when they escaped that, they found a mysterious underwater maze and became trapped all over again when the walls shifted. They finished the third day off by saving a whale from a Monster Hunter.

When Severus fetched him on the third evening Harry was quite exhausted and happy to go put his feet in a basin of warm water back home and settle with Ginger on his lap. He told Severus all about their adventures that evening and his friends all about it the next day. It was quite nice having friends, he thought and decided it might not be too hard to wait until he was seventeen to be a sailor.

Then it was the night before school. Summer was finally over and Severus told Harry to go sleep early so that he would be fresh and ready to learn the next day.

"I can't believe summer is already over," Harry said while he sat in the bath and scrubbed behind his ears. He talked loudly so Severus could hear him through the open bathroom door. Severus was in Harry's bedroom, putting Harry's clothes out for the next day. Their home wasn't large, he didn't need to shout. "Isn't there a magical way to keep summer going on forever?"

"Then you'll always be six."

"Six isn't so bad."

"So you say now."

"Will you put a striped shirt?" Harry called.

He had been surprised to learn that he didn't need a uniform. First impressions counted and he felt more confident in striped shirts and wetsuits. Obviously, a wetsuit was not something you would wear to school.

"You're sure I don't need to wear a uniform?" he asked now, thinking of it and getting worried that he would once again be the odd one out. "Did you read every last line? Did you ask?"

"I promise you won't need a uniform. I asked twice." He had. He had asked everything twice because he was entrusting Harry to them and was invested enough in the young boy by now to want to keep him safe, and more so, happy. Harry wasn't like his father at all. And Severus wasn't like his. "Wash under your nails."

Harry washed under his nails. "And they'll pick me up in the morning?"

"The bus will pick you up right outside the gate at eight and drop you again at three. Scrub between your toes."

He scrubbed between his toes. "And you'll be here?"

"Yes. If you're done you should dry off."

"I like the water."

"Well, five more minutes only."

They came at eight o'clock sharp and hooted at the gate. Harry looked through the window and saw a bright yellow school bus. Children's faces were pressed against the large windows, looking back at him.

He took a deep, fortifying breath, picked up his school bag and his lunch bag, and said goodbye to Severus.

"Behave, be polite, and have fun," Severus said. Severus was dressed in a long black robe and was just waiting for Harry to go then he would go himself to Hogwarts to start his day.

"School is not fun."

"Try anyway."

They went out to the gate.

Harry hadn't thought about running away to the sea for quite a while now but he secretly decided that he might have to consider it again if the school was going to be as awful as he feared. Only this time he would miss Severus so he hoped he wouldn't have to.

He went up the steps and the bus doors clanged shut behind him.

The bus driver was a young woman in a colourful dress. She had kind eyes, long, frizzy red hair, and a bright green, horned lizard on her shoulder. She smiled at Harry.

"Good morning, Harry," she said. "Welcome to Walkerville Elementary. Perhaps you would like to sit next to Neville?" She pointed out a small blond-haired boy of Harry's age who looked scared stiff. "He's new also. Then we can all introduce ourselves."

The absolute last thing Harry expected was to find the school bus full of desks. He took the seat she had pointed out and smiled nervously at the boy before taking a good look around. There were six more boys and girls, all sitting behind desks of their own. They were a colourful bunch, and Harry was glad to see no one wearing a uniform. At the back were lockers and tables filled with exciting stuff like dioramas and bunsen burners and glass beakers and was that a real skeleton? It was. Harry settled down to pay attention to the teacher and learned the lizard was a Jackson's chameleon called, Liz.

Ms Frizzle, who was both the driver—when the bus didn't drive itself—and the teacher, was the strangest, most surprising teacher Harry had ever met. And it was the strangest, most surprising school Harry had ever gone to.

"Oh, this is not the whole school," a boy named Carlos said. "We actually have a school that we will go to also but Ms Frizzle likes to start the year off with a bang. We might go to school instead but I think we're going to the desert."

"Why do you say that?" the girl next to him asked. Harry thought her name was Phoebe, he was still trying to remember them all.

Carlos pointed to a row of hats and canteens hanging next to a sandy diorama filled with cacti and rocks.

No one was made to sit quietly behind their desks once the introductions were over, and Harry and Neville went with Carlos and Phoebe to look at the desert diorama while the school bus slowly trundled away from Hogsmeade.

"That's a Claretcup Cactus," Neville said, pointing out a cactus with beautiful red flowers.

"That's right, Neville!" Ms Frizzle praised and Neville blushed happily.

All the kids gathered now at the back and most of them thought the diorama looked great but a boy called Tim wasn't happy with it. "Something is missing," he said.

Harry looked at it. They had sand, gravel, and cacti. They even had a heat lamp for desert sun and a fan for wind. What could possibly be missing… "I know," he offered. "We need animals."

Ms Frizzle looked over from where she was sharing out canteens. "Dynamic deduction, Harry!" she said with a smile.

They had great fun when Ms Frizzle unearthed a barrel of toy animals. Dorothy Ann knew all the animals and named them as they placed them in the diorama, "Tortoise, coyote, Gila monster…"

Carlos thought the animals wouldn't survive in a real desert. It had almost no water, no food, no shelter! Neville said he was wrong, he knew loads of desert plants, and he listed a few explaining which parts of them were good to eat for animals and humans.

Harry worried that he wasn't able to contribute much because he knew more about the oceans and things that swam but Ms Frizzle said not to worry, that was exactly why they went to school.

"Maybe we should have a field trip," Arnold suggested. "Then Harry can learn about the desert, and Carlos can see if the animals would survive."

Carlos, who was busy telling Phoebe how all the cute little animals would be buzzard bait, stopped in surprise. "You never want to go on a field trip!"

"I'm starting to be interested in survival," Arnold said, and he showed them a field trip survival guide he had brought from home. He also had a bag full of equipment and already had one of Ms Frizzle's hats on and the canteen around his shoulders. "I'm ready for anything today!"

Ms Frizzle got a funny gleam in her eyes. "Excellent!" she called and suddenly the bus started zooming down the road. Faster and faster it went and then all at once the bus changed into a plane! It took to the skies with its new propellers roaring in a magnificent noise.

Harry was astonished. Magic! He had thought the school bus curious but he hadn't thought it had magic!

Next to him, Neville said, "The Knight Bus can't turn into a plane."

"But the Knight Bus has cocoa," Carlos said.

Phoebe said it was not so great, her grandmother made better cocoa, but she agreed the marshmallows were the best while Arnold said he preferred their tea. As they flew away from Britain in search of a desert, everyone wanted to know how Arnold managed to get tea on the Knight Bus, it was unheard-of! He admitted the driver of the Knight Bus was his uncle.

The discussion turned to tea and they found out Neville knew more plants in the desert that you could make tea from—if you could find water. That brought them right back to the question of how the desert animals would survive and that was lucky for they were just about to find out. They could see a vast expanse of sand down below.

Without warning, Ms Frizzle pulled a lever. The Magic School Bus started a nosedive and all the kids grabbed onto the desks, calling for parachutes—they were about to crash! But Ms Frizzle kept her cool and flipped a switch when the time was right. The school bus changed into an all-terrain vehicle, and at the very last moment rolled to a smooth stop on a dune.

The sun was hot and Arnold shared out his sunscreen and all the kids grabbed hats and checked if their canteens were filled. Above their heads, a vulture flew in circles. Harry wondered if Ms Frizzle would cast a cooling charm like Severus had in Australia but she didn't.

"Come along, class," she said. "We're here to experience the desert! Take chances! Make mistakes! Get dusty!"

They did all of that and more, and by the end of the day, Harry had learned quite a bit in the best of ways and was bursting to tell someone. The Magic School Bus had barely come to a full stop in front of his home before he was out the door, yelling goodbyes to his new classmates.

Harry rushed through the sunny house, banging doors in his wake. He found Severus at the back in their small greenhouse where he was trying to placate the fighting lilies, and shouted, "Severus! I had the best time!"

The End.

Thanks for reading!