Thanks to Jesse for the review, and thanks to Joy.

Chapter Eight: New friends

Vicky Frobisher stared at him.

'How come you've never played hide and seek? Where have you been living?'

Connor wished to answer 'I've spent my whole life in a hell dimension called Pylea, thanks for asking' but instead he replied:

'I've been living with Muggles' That was what Severus had told him he had to say in case someone asked about his past. Then he had had to explain to Connor what Muggles were.

'Oh, really?' Suddenly she sounded excited. 'I have an aunt who is half Muggle, she is the one who reads Anne of the Green Gables to me. Are Muggles as weird as they appear in the books?'

Fortunately, Mrs. Frobisher chose that very same moment to show up.

'Vicky, don't be so rude. Why don't you teach Connor how to play?'

The girl nodded obediently and took his hand. He noticed it was smaller than his and very soft and warm. She took him to the yard and explained the rules. They were very simple and Connor found it resembled a game he had played with Daniel, in which the man hid in the dessert and Connor had to find him. Once it had taken him only five days to do so.

'Ok, let's start' she commanded. 'I'll hide first.'

After twenty minutes of playing, Vicky Frobisher was fuming. Connor had found her every single time she'd hidden, and she had only caught him twice. He just ran too fast for her, whose legs were several inches shorter than his, as her aunt kindly pointed out when they sat at the kitchen table to eat some homemade biscuits.

'I guess that Connor turned out to be a better player than you had expected,' she said, trying to repress a slightly ironic smile. She loved her niece, but she was more than a little spoiled.

Connor was silent. He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to tell Vicky that the reason that he'd been able to find her was because he could smell her hair. It smelt like strawberries.

Vicky was silent, too, but in her case that was because she was too mad to speak. As she was the youngest in her family, she was very spoiled and her cousins and brother always let her win every game. She wasn't used to losing, and she found out that she didn't like it.

'You know, Vicky, you could ask Connor to teach you to play chess. Aren't you always saying you'd like to learn?'

Now Vicky looked a little less sulky.

'You know how to play chess?'she asked Connor eagerly, who gave her a nod. 'I've always wanted to learn, but my brother doesn't want to teach me. Would you?'

Connor agreed, so Mrs. Frobisher gave them the board and the chessmen. Vicky looked avidly at Connor, listening to every word he said. Mrs. Frobisher grinned. It was nice to see that Connor finally appeared to have found a friend.

'I must warn you, Vicky, that the first time you play you'll probably lose,' she told her niece teasingly. The girl, far from getting mad, gave her a smile.

'I think I'm getting used to losing, Aunt Olga.'

Later, when Snape arrived to pick Connor up, he found that his protégé was much more excited than usual. Soon he found out the reason.

'And this Vicky girl, at first she didn't like me much, because I beat her when we played hide and seek, but then she managed to beat me twice at chess and she was much happier and she said I was funny, but I think she meant it in a nice way, you know, not like she thought I was weird or something. And that's not all. She's invited me to her house tomorrow afternoon, there will be other boys and girls there. Can I go? Please, can I?'

It took Snape some minutes to digest all this information. Finally he got what Connor had just said. He had a friend. Not just that, but he had been invited to a place where he'd meet more children. It was great. Or was it?

'We'll see' he said, and Connor looked a bit deflated but he didn't reply. Snape wanted to think it over a little. After all, he didn't even know where this girl lived, who her parents were.

He repressed a sigh. It would have been much more simple if Connor had made friends with Draco Malfoy, given Snape knew his father and he was certain that his family was the right type.

He shook his head. Hell, he was beginning to sound like his mother. She had always insisted that he couldn't be around the 'wrong' type of people, and that had been one of the main reasons he had had so few friends as a child.

No, he wouldn't make that mistake. Looking at Connor's hopeful face, he had the distinct impression that the child would get what he wanted.

With Remus' help, Sirius was finally able to find a suitable job…selling motorbikes, nonetheless. At first he had some problems when he had to deal with Muggles, but soon he got used to it (he'd always been quite a sociable person) and his boss was glad that he liked motorbikes as much as she did.

Sirius started to think that everything was going really well, at last. After three weeks, Harry seemed to have gotten used to him, and now he was more open and cheerful, even though there was still a trace of sadness in his eyes that broke Sirius' heart. Harry's eyes weren't supposed to look like that. They had to be shinning with happiness, like his mother's had done.

However, he had improved a lot. Now he laughed more and he wasn't so formal with Sirius. Summing it up, they both appeared to be adjusting quite well to each other. Sirius had finally learnt to cook something edible (although Mrs. Figg insisted on coming twice a week to provide food) and to use most of the electrical stuff in the house, and Harry had learnt some interesting new games from his godfather, games that Aunt Petunia wouldn't have approved in a zillion years. Games that Harry thought were the coolest thing in the world, of course. But what was much more important, is that he had learnt that he mattered, that there was someone who truly cared for him. And for someone like Harry, that meant a lot.

So anyone can imagine Sirius' shock when one day Harry came back from nursery crying silently, his face and body covered in bruises.

'What has happened to you, Harry?'he demanded, but the boy refused to answer. Sirius gave Mrs. Figg – who had picked Harry up from school – a quizzical look, but she shook her head. She hadn't the slightest idea of what could have happened either. She had asked Harry's teacher but the idiot just mumbled something about the boy being very clumsy.

Sirius took Harry in his arms and carried him to the kitchen. The boy didn't seem to be in the mood to face a questioning, so the man decided he'd ask later. First, it was necessary to take care of the child's wounds.

As gently as he could, he removed his tiny T-shirt and began to clean the wounds. They didn't look serious but they must have been painful for a small kid. Harry was biting his lower lip, his teeth bravely clenched, but once or twice he couldn't help making grimaces due to the pain.

'Easy, Harry. It'll be over in a minute,' he promised and not for the first time he wished he had his wand. He shrugged mentally. Alcohol and Band-Aids would have to do.

Once he was finished, he helped Harry to put on his T-shirt. The boy had stopped crying, but he was still very silent and Sirius noticed that Harry was averting his eyes. No, this wouldn't be the right time for questioning.

'Hey, Harry' he said in a forced, fake cheerful tone. 'Would you like to have some biscuits while we watch the cartoons? I think Chip and Dale are on.'

Harry loved Chip and Dale. However, he only managed to give him a tiny smile. It'd be more difficult than he'd thought. Forcing a grin, he took his godson in his arms and carried him to the living room's sofa, where the only TV set they had was.

He sat the child on his lap and caressed his hair (as wild and untamable as his father's) as Harry watched the TV and ate the biscuits that Mrs. Figg had prepared for him. At first, the child winced at his godfather's touch but after a while he began to relaxe, until he finally leaned his head on the man's shoulder.

Sirius was surprised to hear Harry's hushed whisper on his ear:

'I didn't trip.'

The man put one of his strong arms around his shoulders.

'I know, Harry. Do you want to tell me what happened?'

The child hesitated. Something scared him, but Sirius couldn't imagine what it was. He kept caressing his hair in an attempt to calm him down, and at last the boy was able to whisper:

'I got hit. By some boys.'

'I see.' He tried his best to make his voice sound neutral so Harry wouldn't notice how mad he was. 'Do you remember their names by any chance?'

This time it took Harry longer to answer and when he did, he talked so softly that Sirius didn't get what he had said.

'Sorry, Harry, but I wasn't able to hear you.'

Harry took a deep breath before answering.

'It was Dudley and his friends.'

Now it was much harder for Sirius to hide his rage.

'Oh, yeah? And why didn't your teacher stop it?'

Harry sighed.

'Miss Honey doesn't like me. She says I'm a touble…a touble make…'

'A troublemaker?'

'Yeah, that.'

Sirius didn't say a word, but he swore he'd go the very next day to have a serious talk with that Honey woman. How could she be so stupid to let those boys hurt Harry? And how could she say he was a troublemaker? He hadn't ever met a boy who was quieter and more polite than Harry. Well, except for his brother Regulus, who had had as much life as a plant.

The next day he did as he had promised, and he told Miss Honey a couple of things about dealing with children. After few minutes, the young woman was already babbling and shivering under his glare.

'I'm sorry, Mr. Black, I-I… I thought they were playing or something. You-you know, children this age…They're a little brisk, a-aren't they? And the Dursleys told me they were always like that, you see, that they played like that at home…'

'I'm sorry to tell you that's not playing but being deliberately violent, and if you can't tell that, Miss Honey, then I'm astonished you were able to turn into a teacher at all. As for the Dursleys, they have as much idea as you of how to take care of a small child, and luckily Harry's not living with them anymore. And what's that nonsense about Harry being a troublemaker?'

'We-well,' the poor woman babbled 'he's always get-getting into trouble…some weeks ago he…he put cr-crabs on a girl's hair…'

Sirius frowned, and a sneer formed on his face. Miss Honey shivered.

'Crabs? Come on, Miss Honey, not even you can be that stupid. Where the hell would Harry have gotten those crabs in the first place? We're a little far from the sea, in case you haven't noticed.' Miss Honey opened her mouth, then closed it again. 'Anyway, it doesn't matter. Harry will never set foot in this place again. You should be glad I didn't accuse you of neglectfully treating a child. Oh, and have a nice day.'

Sirius slammed the door on his way out, and poor Miss Honey had to take two pills of Valium to calm down, and even then it took her a while to recover her ability to speak.

Just as he had said, Sirius looked for a new nursery (school?) for Harry, after explaining to him what had happened. The kid looked more than relieved when he heard he wouldn't see his cousin or that infuriating Sissy ever again, and he didn't mind that much the fact he'd go to a place where he didn't know anyone. He didn't have many friends, anyway.

However, Sirius thought he must have a serious conversation with Harry, so the day before he started going to the new school, he sat him on his lap and looked him in the eye.

'Look, Harry, I want you to listen me very carefully.' The child nodded, worried. His godfather's tone of voice sounded like a lecture. 'I know that your life with the Dursleys was very different, but from now on I want you to tell me immediately if you have any sort of problem. Is that understood?'

Harry nodded again, the frown disappearing from his forehead. Sirius grinned at him, and it was like a ray of light between two gray clouds for Harry, who smiled back.

In the end, Snape gave in and Connor got permission to go to Vicky's house. All the time he was there Snape tried to concentrate on the exams he had to correct, but every now and then he glanced at his watch anxiously, wondering how Connor might be doing.

Given Connor's atypical background, he was afraid that the boy might not get along with other children of his same age. After all, he hadn't had the same things the other kids had, nor the same experiences. Even though he didn't realise it, there was a hell of a difference between him and the rest of the children. And children could be so cruel to those they felt different… He knew that all too well.

Despite this, as soon as he picked Connor up all his concerns dissipated. The child's eyes were shinning with excitement and his usually serious look had been replaced by a grin. Even more weird was the fact that he didn't stop chattering all the way home, something very unusual given Connor's reserved nature. However, Snape found himself enjoying the boy's chatter, so he let him talk until he had no breath left.

'At first I didn't feel very comfortable, because there were so many people I didn't now and some of them looked older than me, and they were taller,' Connor confessed, 'but then I met Vicky's mum and she's like super nice. She introduced me to the other kids, you see, and I thought they all would look at me strangely, like Vicky had, when they found out I didn't know many games, but they didn't. Actually, they were very impressed when they saw how quickly I learnt the new games and how fast I can run,' he said, incapable to hide the note of pride of his voice. 'I can run faster than Miles Bletchley, and his legs are longer than mine.'

'We played hide and seek, and spin the bottle' (weren't they a little too young for that? Snape wondered), 'and Eddie Carmichael taught me to play goshtones…'

'Gobstones' Snape corrected, and the boy nodded.

'Yes, that. It's very funny, much funnier than spin the bottle, but Patty Stimpson insisted on playing it and as she is Vicky's cousin… I had to kiss a girl named Daphne. It was weird. I had never kissed a girl before.' Connor didn't look a bit embarrassed, as Snape would have expected, but somewhat surprised. 'Anyway, Vicky's mum made this huge chocolate cake, and it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Then, Vicky, Geoffrey Hooper, Claribel Puddifoot and I played a game of Exploding Snap, as the rest had already left. It was very funny, although Geoff almost set his eyebrows on fire. But that was a little funny, too, and he wasn't hurt at all, although he whimpered.'

Finally it seemed that Connor had been left with no breath so he had to stop talking and silence fell upon them, as Snape was momentarily speechless. So far, all his concerns about Connor's social adjustment had gone. Not only hadn't he had any trouble at joining the other children's games, but also he seemed to have become quite popular among Hogsmeaders children. Snape had a sudden flashback of Connor back in the day had met him, a solitary and serious child that wouldn't get close to anyone, and he looked at the Connor that was now clutching his hand. They appeared to be two completely different people. Snape decided he preferred the newer version.

'Well, I'm glad you've had a good time,' he finally managed to say. The boy nodded and asked whether he could see the other children again. Snape had to repress a smile. 'Oh, I'm pretty sure you'll find you can.'

Connor wasn't sure what Snape had meant by that, but it sounded like something good and as he inhaled the nocturnal air he thought he was the happiest boy in the world.

Harry stood at the doorstep, hesitant. He looked once more at his godfather, who smiled reassuringly, and he took a step forward. However, after scanning the place anxiously, he was tempted to go backwards.

Before he could do so, though, a young woman appeared. She had big, baby blue eyes and long, sleek blonde hair. Harry thought she was very pretty.

She smiled broadly when she saw him and she kneeled in front of Harry, so their eyes were at the same level.

'Hi, Harry.' Her voice sounded like music to Harry. 'My name is Julie and I'll be your teacher here. Do you want to come with me?'

She offered him a hand and, without thinking, he took it. Her smile became broader and the boy felt a warm feeling growing inside him. He had the impression that he'd like his new teacher.

He shot one last glance at Sirius, who waved a hand. Waving back, Harry followed Julie into the nursery.

Soon he found out that Julie was the opposite of Miss Honey. His former teacher always insisted on keeping the children as quiet as possible, she shouted a lot and she smiled rarely. Julie, instead, didn't mind at all if her students talked, she never raised her voice and she laughed most of the time. It didn't take Harry long to decide who he liked better.

On his first day at the new nursery, he sat next to a boy who was even smaller than him. He had brown, wavy hair and round eyes, and when Harry sat next to him he was playing with a red car.

Harry was still for some minutes, unsure of what to do. He had never got along with the other children at the nursery. They all considered him weird, and besides, they were afraid of what Dudley and his friends might do if they were too friendly with Harry, so they had stayed away from him. What if the same happened here, and he was left alone as always?

'Hey, I'm Nicky Tratchberg,' the boy said, once he had looked up and noticed Harry, who gave him a shy smile.

'I'm Harry Potter. I'm new here.'

'I see,' Nicky looked at him as if he were evaluating him or something. He finally seemed to have decided that Harry was okay, because he added 'Do you want to play with me? You can take that blue car over there.'

Glad, Harry did so and they began to play, and soon Harry forgot all about his shyness. Nicky, on the other hand, looked like he was having as much fun as he was.

'Harry, can I ask you something?' Nicky said, suddenly serious. Harry raised an eyebrow and nodded. The boy gulped and asked:

'Do you like Chip and Dale?'