A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers, and for anyone wondering if Snape will turn out differently from the man we all know and love, the answer is: not entirely. Don't believe me? Read this chapter.
And Freelancer, of course I won't think you're copying me! Please post yours, I want to see your take on it!
Chapter 3: Primary School Begins
Harry stood in front of the mirror in his room and tried very hard to adjust his robes. They were new robes from his papa, deep emerald green, the same color as his mama's. "Mama!" He finally called in exasperation.
She swept into the room, her hair still down, curling around her shoulders. "Yes Harry?"
"I can't get my robes right."
She knelt in front of him and adjusted the robes accordingly. Then with a smile she sat back and appraised him. "You look quite handsome Mr. Potter. Quite grown up."
"Papa did a good job picking them out." Minerva sighed. They had this argument on a daily basis. Harry turned from the mirror and stared at her defiantly. "He is my papa! When I went to Ron's to spend the night, I paid very close attention to how a dad was supposed to behave, and Ron's dad treats him just like Papa treats me!" He studied her, and she was struck by how much of an affect Dumbledore had on him. The look in his eyes as he appraised her was as uncomfortably probing as the look in Albus's eyes when he was doing the same thing. It appeared there was no way around his attachment. "Why don't you want him to be my Papa?"
She sat on his bed and pulled him into her arms. There was a tightening in her chest that Minerva tried to ignore as she kissed his head. "It has nothing to do with want Harry. In order for him to be your Papa, Albus would have to be my husband. And he isn't."
"Would you like him to be your husband?"
This made a little chuckle escape her lips and gave him a little squeeze. "Precocious little man. It isn't quite that simple. I can't just want him to be my husband, and then poof, it happens."
Harry didn't miss the sadness in his mama's voice, but she stood up, and he lost his chance to push further. "I have to go do my hair Harry, and we have to leave soon."
"Leave your hair down Mama!" She looked at him in surprise. Harry jumped of his bed and ran over to her. "I like your hair down Mama. It's pretty down. Percy didn't believe me when I said you were the prettiest mama in the whole world. I want him to eat his words!"
His little hands were balled into fists, and she figured he'd defended her rather vocally. It also seemed rather important to him. "Very well Harry. I'll leave my hair down today."
Before long it was time to meet the first years. Harry ran along behind Minerva and waited, his hand in hers at the top of the steps. "Here're the first years Professor McGonagall." Hagrid announced as he led them up. Then he waved at Harry and winked. "Seems your Mama's set up a bit of a treat for you too Harry!"
Harry looked up at his mama. She was trying very hard to hide her smile. "What sort of treat?"
"Go on now." Hagrid told someone in the crowd of first years. "Give him room there." He instructed the students.
Soon enough there was a shock of red hair weaving through the crowd. "Ron!" Harry ran down and hugged his best friend hello. "You get to spend the feast with us?"
"Better. You and I are going to start lessons together this year!"
Harry looked up at his mama with a wide grin. "Really?"
"Yes really Harry. Now, I need to get the first years ready for the sorting, you two should decide where you're going to sit."
Harry nodded and pulled Ron towards the staff door to the Hall. "Where do you want to sit?" Harry asked as he threw all his weight against the door.
"What d'ya mean? Where do you usually sit?"
Harry shrugged and motioned for Ron to help him. They threw both pushed against the heavy door, but being scrawny and little, the door wasn't budging. In between grunts, Harry answered Ron's question. "For the Feasts I usually sit at the Head table with Mama and Papa. But I sit at all the tables. Although I sit at Slytherin least." He said making a face. "There just aren't a lot of Slytherins that I like. Uncle Severus is alright, but a lot of them are just rotten."
Ron shrugged. "Let's sit at the head table. Charlie will be so jealous."
Harry nodded and then gave up on the door. He banged his fist against it and shouted into the key hole. After a few moments, Snape opened the door and stared down at them. Ron shrank back a little, but Harry just stared back. "Thank you Uncle Severus."
"A little less noise next time." The potions master counseled in a soft voice.
Harry shrugged and dragged Ron through the door. The walked together up to the Headmaster's chair and stood patiently at his side. Albus ignored him, continuing to sweep his eyes across the returning students at their tables. It was a game he and Harry played, and Ron had been around plenty long enough to play it as well. For a moment to the two boys allowed themselves to be ignored, then Harry "snuck" around to the other side of the chair and on the very whispered count of three he and his friend jumped. They landed on Albus's lap and the old wizard feigned surprise as he put an arm around each of them to keep them from falling off his lap. "Well, it appears some over grown pixies have gotten into the castle."
He turned to the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor and Quirrel smiled back at the joke. "What shall we do with this type of pixie, Slatero?" Albus asked merrily.
Quirrel appeared to be studying them rather intently. "Well s-s-sir, I do b-b-believe that p-particular type of p-p-pixie, is best handled w-w-with tickling."
The boys squealed as they were tickled, giggling rather loudly, until Harry managed to gasp out, "Stop! Papa, stop! It's us, Ron and Harry! We're not pixies!"
The tickling stopped. "No?" The Headmaster looked at them over his glasses and the two boys did their best to look like little boys. "My goodness. You're right. I'm sorry boys." He put an extra chair on either side of him and sat Harry in the one on his right and Ron on his left. "Sit tight boys, the sorting will be starting very soon."
And indeed it was only moments later when McGonagall led the first years over to the stool and the hat. Harry waved at the frightened students and they all smiled at him. As the sorting went on, Dumbledore leaned down to the boy on his right. "I wonder why Minerva wore her hair down tonight."
"I asked her to." Harry whispered back, none to quietly. "I like it down. Don't you think she looks pretty?"
The headmaster studied his deputy for a moment. He liked the way the long ebony locks kept falling forward into her face as she leaned her head down. She looked younger as well. Not, that 70 was old for a witch, but Minerva had that lucky kind of beauty, where when she'd been young she'd looked older than her years, and as she'd aged she'd begun to look younger, so that with her hair down and a smile on her face, she really only looked about 40. "I think she looks quite beautiful Harry."
Harry looked satisfied and Albus turned back to watching the new students. The hat had gotten all the way through "Persin, Aloquacia" when he felt a small hand tugging on his sleeve. "Papa, Mama says you can't be my real papa because you're not married to her. Don't you want to marry Mama and be my real Papa?"
"Its not that simple." Dumbledore finally muttered after much stuttering.
The next morning Harry stood, rather impatiently in the headmaster's office, facing the fire place. There was a loud bang and Ron rolled out, dusting himself off. "One of these days I'll get that right." He told Harry with a cheeky grin. "So what're we doing today?"
Harry shrugged and led the other boy out of the office. "We have to get our schedules, just like all the other kids. We'll get them in the Great Hall."
The two boys ran towards the great hall, ignoring Filch's screams for them to walk. When they entered the hall, Charlie Weasley, who was a prefect, handed them schedules. "Mum said to mind your teachers and don't be late for class Ron. And Harry, Professor McGonagall wanted me to remind you that you're not to skive off to follow us around or you won't be allowed a flying lesson tonight."
When the two boys nodded the older Weasley headed off to had out the other schedules and Harry and Ron poured over theirs. "Math first…with Professor Snape."
Math was going slowly. It wasn't either boy's best subject and they'd sat slowly at the desks scratching their quills through the addition problem set. Snape had explained what to do, but then he'd left the boys to work and was grading potions essays at his desk. Finally Harry through down his quill. "Done!" He announced happily.
Snape looked up and held out his hand. Harry obediently put the paper he'd been working on in his professor's hand. Almost immediately the quill came down with red ink. Harry frowned. It only took Snape a few seconds to grade the homework and hand it back. "Try again Harry."
Harry frowned in frustration. He'd only gotten half of the problems right. "You made a mistake." He insisted.
Snape looked up with a sigh. "No, Harry, you got those wrong. Try them again."
"No. They're right." Harry insisted. "I don't get things wrong. I'm 'the-boy-who-lived.' Everything I do is right."
Snape's eyebrows raised. "Indeed? I think not Mr. Potter. Who told you that?"
"One of the boys in Slytherin."
"Well, it isn't true. You are Harry Potter, a boy, no more or less than any other, and like every other boy in the world, you have absolutely no head for mathematics. Those problems are wrong. I expect to see them redone for tomorrow." As he spoke he wrote out a note on a piece of paper. Then he folded the parchment in half and handed it to the boy. "Hand that to your mother Harry. And I will know if she hasn't gotten it."
Harry scowled and picked up his bag. He stalked toward his next lesson, Ron trailing after him. They walked into the empty transfiguration classroom where they were to have their English lesson. McGonagall was sitting at her desk. She took in Harry's angry countenance passively and took the note from him without a word. She left it sitting on her desk and handed the two boys a primer. "This is you're reading text. We'll also be using it as a grammar text. Today we're going to study nouns."
The lesson went by smoothly, but at the end, McGonagall made them wait, while she read Snape's note. She was not pleased when she looked up. "Harry James Potter. I am very disappointed in your behavior. What have I told you about that 'boy who lived' nonsense?"
Harry was standing ramrod straight, hands clasped behind his back. He recited the lecture he'd already heard many times. "Being the boy who lived makes you very lucky, and means when you get older you'll have great responsibilities, but it doesn't mean you're perfect or that you can go around behaving like a brat."
"Do you think your behavior with Professor Snape was that of a brat? Or of Mama's good boy?"
"Brat." He mumbled. He looked down at his shoe, ashamed of how he'd been acting.
"You will redo that math homework tonight and write a nice apology letter to Professor Snape. And you will eat dinner in our chambers tonight. Is that clear."
"Yes ma'am."
"Now, I believe you are over do for a creature lesson with Professor Kettleborn." She kissed the top of Harry's head. "Have fun, and behave. I'll see you two in an hour for lunch."
The rest of the day went by much faster and soon it was time for the last lesson. History, muggle and wizard. But there was no teacher listed on the schedule. The two boys made their way as quickly as they could, up the steps to the classroom indicated. "I hope we don't have Binns." Ron whispered as they entered the room. "Charlie and Bill said no one can stay awake in his classes." Harry nodded.
"I can assure you that I am not Professor Binns Mr. Weasley." Came an amused voice from the shadows.
Ron and Harry jumped and turned. Smiling down at them, very amused, was Professor Dumbledore. "Hello papa." Harry greeted the older man rather sedately, he had a feeling that his mama had already told Dumbledore about Harry's misadventures this morning.
Dumbledore smiled affectionately down at the boy and ruffled his hair. "Hello Harry." He instructed both boys to sit on the floor and then he sat in front of them. "History is a wonderful subject. You see boys, history is really just a bunch of stories, so that's what this class is, story time." Ron and Harry looked excited, finally a class that wouldn't have tremendous amounts of homework. "Today's story is about you Harry. It's about how you came to be the boy who lived."
Harry and Ron left their history class very somberly. There wasn't anything fun about being the boy who lived. Harry didn't want to be the boy who lived. "Harry, my mum always says to look at the silver lining, and well, Professor McGonagall wouldn't be your Mama if your parents had lived."
Harry shrugged. "Yeah. I guess." Then he changed the subject, not wanting to talk about it. "What are you going to do about the assignment we got from our creature class."
Ron wrinkled his nose. "I don't know, Mum'll probably make me take care of Errol or something. What about you?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to telling Mama that Uncle Kellen said I have to have a pet." He grinned impishly. "She's been telling me no for the last two years."
They entered the Harry's rooms together, laughing as they thought up all the outrageous pets Harry could try and talk McGonagall into. "Well, I'm glad to see you had fun today boys." Molly Weasley greeted them as she set aside her tea and stood. "We have to go home now Ron, but you'll see Harry in the morning."
The boys said goodbye and Molly and Ron left by floo. As soon as they were gone, Harry turned to where his mama was still sitting by the tea. "How was your afternoon Harry?" Her voice was soft and gentle as she watched him from over her glasses.
Harry frowned at the bun in her hair. He never liked her hair pulled back. She wore it down more often now, because he frequently asked her to, and sometimes she pulled it back in a braid, but every once in a while it found its way back into a bun. "It was alright. Papa told us about the night Voldemort killed….my other parents. And Uncle Kellen says that our assignment for creatures class is to take care of a pet, so now I have to have one." He supplied as he removed the pins from her hair, pulling it down.
Minerva sighed. "That man, he finally found a way to get you a pet. Very well, we'll go to Diagon Alley this weekend and get you one. What did you think of Albus's lecture?"
Harry shuffled his feet. "Its more scary to be the boy who lived than fun." He whispered finally. "It certainly isn't the kind of special I had in mind."
She pulled him into her arms, settling him on her lap. "I would imagine not m'bairn." He stayed close to her, one hand playing with a piece of her hair, the other curled into a fist with his thumb in his mouth. She rocked him for a few moments before kissing his head and setting him on the floor. "I tell you what Harry. If you redo your math right now, you can bring it to dinner and give it to Professor Snape. Then you can apologize to him and eat dinner with us. It will give you and Albus time to brainstorm about what kind of pet you want."
Harry looked excited as he raced off to do the assignment.
The weekend came rather quickly and Harry dragged Minerva through Diagon Alley to the Magical Menagerie. Once inside he stared in absolute delight at all the strange creatures but it was finally a rather plain baby bird with pinkish feathers that caught his eye. "Mama what's that?"
"That my boy is a phoenix." The wizard behind the counter told him.
"You are not getting a phoenix Harry." His mother told him firmly.
"Can we get it for Papa?" Harry pleaded. "He told me he always wanted one, and his birthday's next week."
Minerva looked down into the liquid eyes and felt herself melting. "Oh, very well Harry. But you need to pick out something as well. What about a flubberworm."
Harry shook his head. "No thank you. I would like a kitten please. And that way you can have someone to play with when you're Tabby."
Minerva smiled at his generosity. Harry took the baby phoenix and a small black kitten up to the counter.
Harry could barely wait the week to give his Papa the Phoenix, but with a little help from his mama, Ron, and all of his homework, he managed. Until the morning, exactly of the Headmaster's birthday. Then he was out of bed before dawn. He picked up the bird and ran out of the room. He knew the password to the headmaster's chambers for emergency purposes, so he called it out and ran inside. It was dark inside, which made sense, because Harry, Filch and the ghosts were the only things up. Harry carefully held the bird so it couldn't fly away and crept toward the giant four poster bed. The bed was much bigger than him and it took him a few minutes to manage to get up without letting go of the present.
Finally however he was atop the crimson covers and he scooted over to the figure in the bed and poked it. Dumbledore snorted and rolled over, but he didn't wake up. So Harry tried something else. He leaned in very close and screamed in the sleeping mans ear. "Wake Up!"
Dumbledore bolted up in bed. "What the….Merlin, Harry, you scared me. What are you doing in here?"
Harry frowned. "Its your birthday Papa. I came to bring you your present." With those words he held out the tiny bird in his hands.
Dumbledore's eyes widened. "That's a Phoenix." He took the bird and stroked its head. A soft happy note emerged from the little creature. Albus smiled. "And it looks like he's happy enough to stay. You see Harry, Phoenixes aren't pets, they're companions, they have to want to stay with you."
Harry looked down at the bird then back up at his Papa. "Who wouldn't want to stay with you?"
Dumbledore kissed the top of his head. "Thank you Harry. And I love my present."H
