Disclaimer:

Despite my love for this great story

I can partake of none of the glory

As much as I love to write this thing

This world belongs to J K Rowling

Okay, corny poem, but most disclaimers are corny... mine just does it with a rhyme. Yay!

Hey, if for some reason you like the poem, let me know and I will try to make another one for my next disclaimer.

Again, thank you so much for letting me know how you like what is written so far. It really does help.

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Chapter 4

When Harry awoke it was completely dark, yet he knew that he had been sleeping for quite a while. It had to be morning at least…the boy abruptly sat up, confused by the feel of the bed underneath him. It seemed much softer than the slightly lumpy bed he had grown used to at Hogwarts, bigger too. No light seeped in though the hangings as they did at Hogwarts. The only logical conclusion was that he was no longer at his former school.

Then it hit him, and he groaned. Nothing like waking up to bad news to get the day off to a pleasant start. This was the very reason Harry did not take sleeping draughts as they left you slightly out of sorts once you did wake up, and in a world at war any small uncertainty could be the death of you or someone around you. Harry certainly did not appreciate having such a potion given to him without his consent.

Now, knowing where he was still didn't answer why he was incased in darkness. Harry had very little memory of actually crawling into bed, but he did know for certain that he was not thinking clearly enough at the time to be able to pull the bed curtains closed. The thought of someone coming into the room while he was in a forced sleep unnerved him. Harry hated to be vulnerable.

Slowly Harry brought his hand up and kneaded his forehead. He figured that he had better get used to it, or perhaps he could erect a shield spell around him as he slept. The only problem is that they were hard to sustain while the caster was unconscious, and they often drained more energy than the caster regained while sleeping.

He would figure something out, meanwhile Harry knew that he had put off getting out of bed long enough. The boy swung his legs off the mattress but before he was able to move aside the hangings that were surrounding him they flew aside and reattached themselves to the poles.

Now Harry found himself annoyed. Really, he thought, Hogwarts was in place to educate people about magic and its utilization…so why was he so unprepared to view magic in its every day uses?

Harry then had a thought that made him chuckle, what if Hogwarts was not only around to help the magically undereducated learn to incorporate magic into their daily lives, but also to help the purebloods learn to live without everything charmed for them. That would explain why Harry's first thought after seeing everything shrunk inside his truck was that he would have to bring everything to its original size manually. Hogwarts taught her students how to do things for themselves, not to rely on pre-spelled conveniences.

Safer that way as well, to rely on one's own magic rather than the spelling capability of another, who knew what additional hexes could be added.

Harry again looked around the room. His dinner from last night seemed to have been tidied up. The lid was back on the tray and both were placed neatly back where they had first arrived. The young wizard shrugged at the placement and stood from his bed, he then walked over to the wardrobe and selected a decent set of clothing to wear. He knew that he was going to be working, so Harry did not want to wear his good robes, but then again, he did not wish to look like a beggar either…which left out any of the clothes the Dursleys had passed onto him.

Eventually Harry settled on a pair of muggle jeans and a t-shirt. After a moment of thought, Harry reached into his trunk and pulled out his watch which resized itself as it was removed. Since he was no longer at Hogwarts, the muggle technology should work. The wizard cast the time charm, adjusted the time on his watch, and finally headed towards the door that led into what he assumed would be the bathroom.

It was strange how much of a relief it was to be able to say he had seen nicer. Harry had found himself becoming so confused about the comfort bestowed upon him by the man who had forced him to come that it seemed to make him feel at least a little better to think of how much bigger the prefect's bathroom was. Perhaps it was petty, but Harry enjoyed the comparison just the same. The tub, for instance, although it was luxurious, it was not the size of a swimming pool, just slightly larger than your average Jacuzzi. Also, there was not a great deal of taps, only four that Harry could see.

The floors of the bathroom were tiled blue, and there was a shower set up to the side of the tub. Off to the side, in an area partitioned off as to not be seen from the bath was the toilet and sink area. The sink top was made out of a blue and black swirl marble-like material and already had the basic essentials such as soap, toothpaste, tooth brush, hair brush among other items neatly set out upon the counter. The entire place was decorated in various shades of blue.

It was definitely a very nice bathroom, but Harry had seen better.

Half an hour later Harry was clean, dressed, and rather uncertain about how he was supposed to proceed. Snape had mentioned that a house elf would come to collect him, but when and for what he had no idea.

…And the tray was still sitting on the desk. For some reason this irritated the boy, he figured that if the tray was spelled to clean itself up, it could very well find its way back to where ever it had come from.

Wondering if perhaps he was supposed to do something, Harry made his way over to the desk and prodded the lid with his wand. Nothing. Finally Harry just lifted the lid off the tray to find…breakfast, and suddenly he felt like an idiot.

Sitting down at the desk he found himself rather thankful that Snape was not around. Harry could only imagine what scathing remarks Snape would shred his pride with, Harry could even now see the sneering mouth and the cold eyes that seemed to look straight into him and with all manner of expression leave no doubt as to how worthless the man behind them believed Harry to be.

Thinking about the professor, Harry paused before beginning breakfast. He could have sworn that someone had put potions in his last meal, and he was not thrilled at the prospect of having more forced upon him without his knowledge.

Eyeing the meal suspiciously, Harry picked up his fork and scooped up some of the scrambled eggs. Harry brought the food up to his nose to try to detect any scent that would warn him of someone…Snape…tampering with his food. He could detect nothing, but scowled knowing that it really didn't mean anything. Anyone with a sliver of knowledge of the art could hide the flavor or smell of a potion, and Harry was now living with a potions master.

Harry debated not eating, but his stomach seemed to have caught a whiff of the tantalizing meal and was demanding to sample it. Harry sighed knowing that he would have to eat sometime. He had not forgotten about the food that Dobby had sent with him, but his instincts were screaming at him to wait and see how he was treated over the next couple days. Living with the Dursleys had taught him not to waste food needlessly, or to give up the advantage of having an unknown store just because he did not like what was served.

Harry rolled his eyes in disgust. He could just see himself refusing to drink from anything but a flask in a few years. Peculiar Potter, people would call him, or some equally ridiculous name. Harry had enough nicknames as it was.

The teen's stomach complained loudly at his indecision. Harry shook his head but finally gave in to its demands.

Breakfast was just as appetizing as dinner was the night before. The scrambled eggs had been cooked with cut up bits of bacon scattered about inside along with melted cheese that stretched into strings as Harry lifted each bite from the plate. After the eggs Harry tackled the bowl of fruit that was set aside the plate of eggs. The mix of berries and melons were juicy and seemed to explode with taste, just as if they were picked at the peak of ripeness. Finally he drained his orange juice and placed the silver lid back onto its tray.

For a moment Harry just sat there staring at the tray, trying to will it away with his mind, but it stubbornly stayed fixed to its location. He again lifted the lid only to find the remaining crumbs from his meal still where he had left them. Harry shook his head and glanced down at his wrist.

It was 8:00 according to his watch, and Harry again found himself wondering what he was supposed to do. Well, one thing was for sure, he was not just going to sit around and just wait to be collected. Harry had a few things he needed to brush up on if he was going to be spending any prolonged period of time around the potion master.

Making his decision, Harry opened his wardrobe and fished out a book on occlumency that Hermione had bought him after his disastrous lessons with Snape during his fifth year.

Harry kicked off his shoes, sat cross-legged on his bed, and immersed himself in the art of defending the mind.

Half past eight a light tapping sound came from the door. When Harry did not say anything, the door cracked open and a voice spoke.

"Mr. Potter?" Came a timid squeak. "Mr. Potter? I is sent to be bringing you to your work sir."

Harry nodded, slid off the bed and slipped on his shoes. Before crossing over to the elf Harry hid the book he was reading under the pillows at the head of his bed. The boy then glanced around the room to make sure everything was in order and that nothing was out that he did not want to be found.

Everything was in place; in fact the desk was even cleared from his breakfast. Harry scowled slightly but didn't say a word. Finally Harry followed the elf out of his room paying careful attention to where they were headed and how they were getting there.

The odd pair did not travel the same path that Snape had taken to bring the teen to his room; actually the elf led Harry further down the green hallway until they came to another stair case. This staircase was nowhere near as grand as the first one, but it seemed to serve its purpose as it led directly to a door which opened out into the back courtyard.

Harry actually found the courtyard to be rather amazing. It was not the neat flowery garden that Harry had grown used to seeing from his years living at the Dursley's. This courtyard had a sort of wildness to it, it reminded the wizard of parts of the forbidden forest back at Hogwarts. Harry found that he could name actually name very few of the plants he saw which surprised him as he had all but memorized the book 1,001 Magical Herbs and Fungi along with the many other books used in his NEWTs herbology class.

Harry was rather good at herbology, yet looking at the herb habitat around him the wizard did not see how he would be able to do anything. Snape must be trying to once again drive into Harry's head how useless he was.

Harry shook his head free from the dark thoughts that were plaguing him; not even Snape would risk ruining his garden only to make Harry feel like dirt.

Harry sighed, and not for the first time began to wonder how the fragile truce they had built between them for the last two years had shattered so easily, and what had happened to cause it.

Finally the elf stopped walking and stared at Harry waiting for the boy's attention. When Harry looked at the elf it motion to a tilled patch of land bordering a path that led deep into the garden.

"Master Severus is wanting you to be planting seedling plants here." The elf said.

Confused, Harry gave up the silent treatment and addressed the elf. "What plants?" Then realizing that he did not even know the name of his companion he added, "And what is your name?"

The little elf blinked up at him. "I is called Gobby, sir, and Master Severus said you is to collect seeds from surrounding plants to decorate pathway. He is saying that you should be using nice plants that is being useful, not the mean poison ones as this is being a well used path and should not be made to be unsafe. He is also saying that you is having seven years of learning of magical plants and should be having ad…e…quit knowledge to not be destroying a few simple spess…e…mens."

"Glad to see he has so much faith in my abilities" Harry mumbled to himself. "Hey, Gobby?" Harry said in a conversational tone as a thought struck him. "You did not happen to know an elf named Dobby, did you? Your names are remarkably similar."

"Dobby is being Gobby's brother, sir. Dobby is bad elf that abandons his family. Dobby is giving house elves a bad name. Gobby is ashamed to be being related to such a shaming elf." Gobby said harshly.

"I see." Harry said, not sure what to say now. "Um...thank you" he eventually said cringing right afterward at the thought of thanking someone for putting him to work. At least it was outside, Harry would have much preferred to be on his Firebolt, but gardening was not too bad all things considered.

"I is to be going now. Good day sir." The elf said and then blinked out of sight.

Harry sighed as he looked around at the vegetation surrounding him. "Useful and safe." Harry's mind started working as he picked out the plants he recognized, and he debated over which ones he should include in this new garden. Useful and safe… Harry smiled to himself, so be it.

It took a few minutes, but Harry found the first plant that he wished to include in the pathway's border. The Lathyrus eucosmus was a plant with a pastel pink flower commonly used to create a potion base used in many love potions or other similar potions used to effect emotions because of its natural aphrodisiac effect.

Harry grinned to himself as he harvested the seeds from the plant. It would be a few weeks before the plants would start to show, and Harry was going to make sure that it would be something to remember. Snape had brought this on himself after all. Just imagine, the man with no feelings having the main walkway into his potions gardens covered in flora commonly used in fun, inane potions.

Next Harry spotted a Malva neglecta, a fast growing plant with small white flowers. The leaves of this plant were often crushed to be used in fertility potions, while the delicate flowers were often added whole as an ingredient to skin softening balms.

It was not long before Harry had lost himself in his work, feeling relaxed and more himself than he had in a long time.

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AN: Alright, again I have the next chapter on its way to being finished and it should be up next week.

I know, no Snape action in this chapter. It really did not fit in, but there is a bit in the next chapter.

I hope you enjoyed it. Just to answer a question I know will be coming up, no Harry is definitely not happy to be there...but there is such a thing as making the best of a bad situation. He is still harboring quite a bit of resentment over the whole ordeal.

Oh, just in case you couldn't tell...I myself was famished when I was writing what Harry was eating.

Thanks for the feedback!