Harry groaned as a beam of sunlight reached his eyes, stirring him from sleep. Turning his back to the light served no purpose as his senses awakened. His window was open and the fresh smell of wet herbs filtered in a refreshing summer breeze. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, taking a few moments to register if he'd left the window open. No, he hadn't. Still… it made for a lovely wakeup call. Birds were singing in the distance and he stretched, getting out and walking in his pjamas to the kitchen. Snape looked up at him and nodded.
"Morning Severus." He said. He ignored the memories from last night that wanted to embarrass him so early in the morning.
"Good morning... come, you can help me out." He said. Harry happily rushed to his side, eager to do what he could. While the other fried a hearty breakfast that Harry was not used to, Harry kept an eye on the toaster, turning the bread when needed and proceeding to cover the slices in butter. The kettle made a high pitch wail indicating that it was ready to make tea.
Harry reached for the kettle but Snape beat him to it, grabbing a cloth to hold the metal handle. "I'll set the table." Harry said. He still wasn't sure where Snape was going to organise everything but for now he managed to find the utensils after opening the second drawer.
It was so different… so different to the Dursleys. He smiled. Well, he would have to get used to it at some point. "So what's the plan today?" Harry asked as he dug into his breakfast. Severus seemed to think about this.
"I will sort out the remainder of my books. Perhaps you would like to unpack too and make a list of anything you may need to buy." Severus said.
"Hmm… sounds good." Harry said as he thought if he needed anything. He didn't think so. He looked outside, the small dining table right next to a window that overlooked the meadow. "It's really peaceful here isn't it." He mumbled. He heard Snape chuckle and turned to look at the vaguely amused potions master.
"I take it peace is not something you are well acquainted with?"
Harry felt a laugh bubble up and escape his lips. "Peace? What's that?" Harry noticed the corner of Snape's lips tilt slightly upward as he turned to the view outside too.
"Well… whatever it is, I hope we both get well acquainted with it soon, Harry." The man patted his hand and continued with his breakfast. Harry could feel the warmth of the touch linger a little longer though and it warmed him inside. He'd called him Harry… and there was nothing wrong happening around them. He tried to ignore the childish desire to hug the man that was now his father by law and finished his breakfast.
Unpacking for him went fairly quickly, even though he couldn't use magic. Or couldn't he? You weren't allowed to cast magic spells but wandless magic was not classified as casting spells.
Harry felt a devilish giddiness and curiosity ignite within him and he sat by the edge of his bed, looking at the box full of school books that he'd left amongst the last things to unpack. He reached out his hand, like he'd seen long ago in those cartoons and fantasy movies that Dudley liked to watch. He tried to will the books to come out. But nothing happened. He felt a little foolish after a while but Snape didn't sound like he was finished just yet so no one could really see him make a fool of himself.
"Come on… there must have been a time wizards didn't use wands…" Harry whispered to himself. He stood up and reached both his hands out. He tried to feel something… anything. And then he felt something, his fingers began to tingle with energy, as they did when he used dark magic, but there was nothing negative about this energy. He grasped onto that feeling and brought his hands up high. There was no force holding his hands down but he did feel the power release all around him. Suddenly everything grew darker but the books didn't move. He looked at the windows and horrified saw that the grass had grown so high that it had obscured the light and it had even grown inward into his room through his opened window.
"Potter!" Snape snapped from one of the other rooms. Harry cringed, knowing that he was in trouble.
"I-I'm here…" he mumbled going slowly to find Snape. Every window was exactly the same. Snape had opened the door and stared at the fully blocked door.
"Explain yourself." He calmly stated.
"Uh… it wasn't me?" Harry asked. Snape turned to him, his cold expression looking into Harry's eyes and he slowly crossed his arms over his chest. "Ok, ok! I guess it was me… I was… trying to do wandless magic." Harry shrugged.
"With what book?"
"Uh… without one?"
"Hmm… Need I remind you how dangerous and volatile wandless magic can be?" Snape asked.
"Well… I didn't think it would be that bad." Harry admitted, looking anywhere but at Severus. He didn't like to be seen as stupid by Severus.
"I believe a punishment is in order, to try and ensure that the severity of your misconception is well absorbed." Severus said and waved his wand. Gardening shears were summoned and placed in Harry's hands. They were heavy. "Clean up your mess. Do not try to get imaginative with magic once more." He warned him and walked off annoyed to finish sorting through the boxes faster.
Harry groaned and made his way to the door, starting to chop a way out of the house. He went straight first, hoping that the overgrowth had only happened within a small radius of the house but it didn't seem that way. He looked back. "Severus! If this is magic shouldn't it just go away after a while?" He called into the house. There was no response and Harry sighed, going back to the edge of the house, starting to snip an area around it. He must have been there for a good couple of hours and as he chopped at the grass he felt more and more frustrated with himself for ruining the meadow.
"Here." Harry turned to Severus' voice, who handed him a cold lemonade from the kitchen window. Harry felt his frustration and annoyance with the punishment vanish and smiled coming over to accept the drink. It was good, sour and sweet in a perfect mix. Unlike Petunia's lemonade which tended to be way too sour. "What were you trying to do?" Severus asked looking at the badly chopped garden.
"I… was trying to levitate my books from the box." He said.
"Hmm…" Severus raised his wand and pointed it at the grass, muttering a spell Harry didn't really remember learning. As the potions master swept his wand across the field, the grass was all trimmed at a perfect height though he left the flowers in their overgrown state. "This is a fairy field so it would be unwise to trim their flowers all in one sweep." Snape said and Harry was just relieved that he didn't have to keep chopping the long grass down.
"I guess… I figured… there must have been a time when wizards didn't use wands, it couldn't possibly have been hard to do wandless magic." Harry said.
"That is true, although there are no texts that go so far back, perhaps lost in the middle ages, it still remains a fact that it must have been dangerous. Wands regulate our power into a controlled spell. Even professor Dumbledore barely uses wandless magic to do regular things." He said.
Harry sipped his drink, thinking about that. "I have so many questions… about all magic…" Harry admitted.
"I have noticed. And I suppose… rather than have you delving in dangerous addictive magic, let me know if you want to try something and I will guide you on whether it is possible or not. It is supposed to be the purpose of Hogwarts but I see that your curiosity has gone into broader regions as your power has grown." He suggested.
Harry took in the words as a nice cool breeze passed by now that the grass was gone. "I'm ok for now." Harry said. Severus nodded.
"Good, then come and freshen up so we can get started on lunch." He said and retreated back into the kitchen. Harry finished his drink and left it by the window sill.
Lunch was delicious, and Harry was rather surprised that Severus was so good at cooking. He guessed that made sense since potions were so much like cooking. Then again that's what Harry thought at the start of first year and he'd been terrible at potions for the longest of time. Surprisingly Severus had also made lemon jelly which he was enjoying while Severus was a little quieter than usual.
"Harry. I received this letter. It is from the Malfoys." Severus said. Harry sat up straighter. Of course. While he was enjoying his holidays, Draco was probably not so relaxed, wondering what would become of his family. He reached for the letter but Severus held it out of his reach.
"What's wrong?"
"I just want to ensure that you know, you do not owe them anything Potter." Harry looked at the sealed letter and thought about it.
"I know… but… I don't know… I've kinda grown to not dislike the blonde prat. As much." He added. Severus sighed and handed him the letter.
Harry opened it. However, it wasn't the prat who had written to him. No doubt the idiot's pride would have been brutally wounded if he had to ask Harry for anything. No, this was written by Narcissa. Very politely, just as he remembered her being. It was written in pretty calligraphy. She wished him well, hoped he was recovering and then went on to summarize why her husband and son were part of the chain in his eventual rescue.
"She's very… eloquent? Is that the word?" Harry asked.
"That is probably correct." Severus said. "Do you agree to help them?"
"Of course I do…" He said softly. "Uh… will you help me write… a polite reply?" He asked. "I feel like just putting a 'sure no problem' would be rather dry."
"Any particular reason why you should be worried with impressing madam Malfoy?" Severus asked.
"Pff. I don't know." He shrugged.
"Hmm… so eloquent. I will help you after we wash the dishes."
Harry nodded and put the letter down, savouring the cold dessert.
