PART 3

Authors Forewarning! – I am aware that some of these jokes will mean nothing to you if you don't have a fair idea of British culture or at least the British culture of making fun of each other depending on which part of the country we live in. As a Scot, I feel that I am perfectly within my rights to make fun of the Welsh – after all everyone else makes fun of us. Lol

In any case – if you cant read into it enough to make sense of the comments I'll be happy to explain further.

xLx

When he woke up again the sun was shinning on his face and there was a strange smell permeating the air. There was also a strange lack of movement…

Before he'd even opened his eyes Harry was fairly certain that they'd either stopped to get petrol or driven into the back of fuel tanker. He stretched as well as he could in the somewhat confined quarters and slowly peeled open his eyes.

"Morning Harry," Remus said, twisting in his seat to turn around and look at him. He mumbled something in response. Glancing around he realised that they were the only people in the car at the moment.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, looking towards the pay point.

"Just there," Remus replied pointing some distance in front of the car.

Undoing his seatbelt, he shifted into the middle seat to get a better view. Standing on the forecourt the two heads of house were, it seemed, in the process of having a rather heated discussion. It struck him rather suddenly that anyone else observing this scene would probably just assume that they were a husband and wife getting on each other's nerves after being in the car together for too long. This disturbed him somewhat, so he made the sensible decision not to think about it any more.

"He's irritated with her because she drove all through the night," the other man informed him.

"Oh," was all he could think of to say. "What time is it by the way?"

"About half six."

"Thanks"

"Oops – that's my cue," he said after a moment, as the other two started to head back towards them. The werewolf opened the door, got out and then settled himself back into the driver's seat, leaving passenger door open so they could now hear what was being said.

"Severus – I didn't set out to prove anything. I just didn't see the point in waking you all up when you were sleeping so heavily."

"Driving for eight hours straight was not a clever plan."

"Good morning!" Remus said brightly as Snape slung himself into the front seat and Minerva climbed into the back.

"Good morning Remus," she replied. "Sleep well I trust?"

"Like a log thanks."

"And you Harry?" Now that he thought about it he had slept well. He couldn't even remember having had any nightmares, and that was the first time that had been true since the affair in the ministry.

"Yeah," he replied with a smile.

"Well – I think there's a service station across the motorway what do you say to breakfast?" Remus asked.

This stop allowed them all the opportunity to freshen up and change their clothes before they grabbed croissants and fruit for breakfast as well as acquiring the basics for lunch. When they did set off again it was for Wales apparently and a few hours later they crossed the boarder. Remus and Snape had stayed fairly quiet up until this point, whether due to the fact that Minerva was fast asleep next to Harry or for another reason he wasn't sure, but he was glad of the reprieve.

"I wonder if Aberforth still has a place around here?" Remus said to no-one in particular.

"Aberforth Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Yeah – it was on a farm around here he was charged with placing inappropriate charms on a goat. Or was it goats? I forget."

"There must have been a sheep shortage that year." It was out of his mouth before he even thought about it. He could feel himself blushing as he glanced to his right and saw that his head of house was thankfully still sleeping peacefully. Remus obviously found it quite amusing though as he was still chuckling away.

"That was neither clever or amusing Mr Potter." Was the characteristic response from Snape. Harry watched as the driver glanced across to the adjacent seat and the light of revelation spread across his features.

"You're Welsh!" he said with relish.

"And you're a Werewolf – your point being?" This time it was Harry who was laughing out loud.

"Good point," Remus conceded good naturedly as he continued to follow the winding roads.

About half past ten they stopped for a bathroom break and Snape took the driver's seat again. In a whole different life, Harry had once heard someone say that the only thing really wrong with Wales was that there was only one way in and out. At the time it had made no sense to him whatsoever; now though it was becoming painfully clear. They had just joined the only trunk road leading out of the country and it was at a complete standstill.

"For Merlin's sake!" Snape sighed.

"Oh well – good job we're not in a rush," Remus pointed out from the passenger seat. They got moving eventually however, and though it was slow progress they were getting somewhere. Harry ended up discussing the Weasley twins' new shop with Lupin and though Snape wasn't saying anything it was occasionally obvious that his interest was being piqued. Minerva had fallen back asleep once they had gotten going again and didn't seem in the least bit disturbed at the rather animated impressions of the firecrackers that had been debuted in the school. She didn't, however, have a chance of sleeping through what happened next. Snape was pulling out into the next lane behind the car in front of them when said car slowed without warning and they crashed into the back of it. Harry braced himself for the impact of the cars behind them colliding into their back but despite the sound of squealing brakes and angry horns, everyone else seemed to manage to avoid them and carry on.

"Is everyone ok?" Remus asked urgently turning around in his seat to face them.

"Fine," Harry replied after running a quick self-diagnostic and turned to look at Minerva. Unsurprisingly, she looked like someone who had just been woken up abruptly and rather unpleasantly.

"Wha…Yes, I'm fine – what happened?" By this point their driver was out of his seat and storming towards the car in front. "Oh no…" Minerva was up and after him in an instant.

With the two doors open it wasn't hard for them to hear what was being said only a few feet away.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Snape asked, and part of Harry already felt sorry for the other driver (the other was hoping that said driver wasn't in possession of a shotgun). He watched with interest the way that his own Head of House managed the Slytherin, placing a hand on his arm and silently urging him to back up a little.

"I think our first priority ought to be to get off the motorway – are you going to be ok to drive?" she asked the slightly shell-shocked driver who nodded in response.

"How about you follow me to the next turn off? There's a view point maybe a couple of miles down the road." The heavy Welsh accent suggested that he was a local.

"That sounds perfect," Minerva agreed, and Harry was a little surprised at how softly she was handling him. With that they returned to the car and as soon as everyone was back inside and the engine had been restarted they followed their guide back into the flowing traffic.

"How bad's the damage?" Remus asked once they were on the way.

"Minimal and largely cosmetic," Minerva replied. "Which is in no small part due to Severus' quick reactions." The man in question just 'hmph'ed.

"Idiot."

"Perhaps – but antagonising the situation isn't going to help," she said firmly

"Perhaps," he repeated a little less viciously.

When both parties had parked in the lay-by Harry decided to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch his legs.

"Never say we do things the simple way," Remus said, climbing out and, having shut the door again, leaning next to Harry. He couldn't help but smile at that – they really didn't ever seem to do anything that turned out to be straightforward. His gaze wondered over to where the two Heads of House were now talking fairly amicably with the Welsh driver and his wife.

"Harry?" Minerva called. "Do you have any regular paper in your trunk?" He had to think before he replied, mentally thinking through what he had packed. He knew he had at least a couple of rolls of parchment but….

"Yeah – I think I have a notebook," he answered, and standing upright, went to the boot to see if he could lay his hands on it. Not only did he manage to find it (underneath all of his notes from the last year) but he also managed to lay his hands on a biro as well.

"Here you go," he said as he neared the group and offered her what she'd asked for.

"Thank you," she said with a smile handing them over to Snape. He was about to leave them to exchange insurance details when, the other female said something that made him stop.

"That's a lovely well mannered boy you've got there – and he looks so like both of you," she said with a smile. He wasn't at all sure what to make of this.

"Thanks I guess," he mumbled, and was reassured slightly at the gentle hand his 'mother' placed on his shoulder. Snape on the other hand just continued to write.

"He's a good boy – we're very proud of him." The unexpected compliment left him with a warm feeling that he had never up to then thought to associate with the his professor. The next part of the conversation threw him far back into surprise though.

"I… I should apologise for the way I acted earlier," Snape began as he handed over the pad and pen. "I know it's no excuse but… it's just that I got a bit of a shock and well… if anything happened to the boy or his mother I'd well, I'd be totally devastated."

"Of course… of course," they replied, and thankfully before Harry had to pull himself together, Remus appeared to divert their attention.

"Hi – Remus Lupin."

"A pleasure to meet you," the lady replied. "And you are…" she continued.

"Oh – just a friend of the family. I'm… well not very well quite a lot of the time and Severus here is good enough to take spectacular care of me."

The conversation that followed was 'spectacularly' unusual in any case but when the couple finally drove away Harry was fairly certain that they hadn't made any dire slip-ups.

"I was playing a part Lupin," Snape said, pre-empting anyone else.

"What ever you say. Daddy." Snape looked ready to spit fire.

"I'm sorry Professor – I didn't mean for…"

"If there's anything I detest more than having to apologise Mr Potter, it's people who apologise for things that aren't their fault." Harry decided to say nothing in response to this. "And for future reference, Harry, it seems ridiculous for you to call me Professor when I'm apparently masquerading as your father."

"Well Mr 'invalided friend of the family', come and give me a hand with lunch won't you?" Minerva asked before dragging him off back to the car. Harry sat down on a rock and took the chance just to take in the view. He was most surprised when the other man sat down next to him. Obviously his surprise was plain to see on his face as the Potions Master offered an explanation un-asked.

"Believe it or not Mr Potter - Harry – all of this palaver serves one real purpose and that is to get you somewhere safe in one piece. I would hate to have to explain to the Headmaster that you had been killed in a freak accident while we were all looking the other way." He wasn't sure how to take this, but the bubbling anger that he'd managed to suppress thus far was beginning to surface again. It wasn't as if he was totally helpless and he was fed-up with people talking about him as if he were nothing more than a burden. "This way, chances are, I'd get wiped out too and then I'd avoid all the awkward questions." He couldn't help himself this time, he couldn't help but laugh. There were many things that he had expected the Slytherin to say but that certainly hadn't been one of them.

"What on earth is the matter with him?" he heard Remus ask as he watched his approach through teary eyes.

"Apparently Harry finds the extent to which I would go to avoid the Headmaster's wrath to be amusing." Remus chuckled lightly as Harry himself began to sober a little.

"Wouldn't we all go to extremes?"

"Not necessarily the same extremes though – Minerva?" The name dropped on the end made all the difference, and coupled with the sly almost smile it changed the direction of the sentence entirely.

"Don't you start young man. I got enough of that from the High Inquisitor." Once again he was hit by quite how surreal their current situation was as he shook his head to get rid of a somewhat inappropriate mental image.

A/N: Thanks again to Rachel. Apologies to any Welsh readers. Let me know what you think.

Linds

xxx