An hour later Harry stepped out of his room once again and turned to the sitting room in search of his…father. Merlin, how odd that sounded! After an hour of deep thought Harry was no closer to resolving his concerns than he was when he started. Should he trust Snape? Snape claimed to want to be a family, but was that something that he wanted himself? He had seen quite enough of how families treated each other in his life at the Dursleys. But no, he thought, families were not all like that. Mr. Weasley never hurt any of his children. Perhaps Snape would be like Mr. Weasley.
Harry snorted at that thought. Snape like Mr. Weasley…he couldn't think of a single man that his father was less like. But perhaps his father would be like some of the other students' fathers. Could he trust him? It seems you already do trust him, at least somewhat he countered to himself. Could that be true? Did he already trust him? He realized to his dismay that Snape had already made it inside his tiny circle of trust…he had to have or else Harry never would have told him even that much. Maybe he did want a father…just a little.
His thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt as he sensed a presence behind him. He quickly turned and pushed himself back against the wall, providing himself with as much protection as he could, eyes instantly searching out an escape route. A look of surprise flashed on Snape's face quickly replaced by sorrow which was just as quickly masked by indifference. Harry's heart rate gradually slowed and he pushed himself back up and quickly stepped out of the hallway and into the sitting room, keeping a cautious eye on Snape at all times.
Snape bit back a sigh. He had thought they were making some headway but evidently it was more of a one step forward three steps back sort of thing. Maybe the presence of Weasley would calm his son. "How are we getting to the manor?" he heard Harry ask hesitantly.
"Portkey." Harry paled instantly and Snape recalled that it had been a portkey that had taken Harry to the graveyard during the Triwizard Tournament. He hurried to explain. "I'm afraid that it is not possible to floo there and you are too young to apparate. The Knight Bus cannot go there either because of the protections on it. Portkeys are the only way. I just made it myself. I can make another one right now in front of you if you wish to make certain that it is safe."
Harry looked as though he wanted to ask him to make another portkey but refrained from actually doing so. He finally shook his head and held out his hand to accept the portkey. Snape held out the empty potion vial and tapped it with his wand. "Snape manor."
The room whirled around them and the world seemed to spin for a few minutes. Finally, the two men were dumped outside of the manor. Harry lost his balance immediately and ended up, once again, on the ground. Snape smirked and offered him a hand up which Harry looked at for a moment and then ignored in favor of finding his own feet. Snape tried to ignore the pang in his heart.
Harry brushed himself off and finally looked up, his jaw dropping. "Merlin. This is your house?" The place was huge! It was a four story stone building that had to have fifteen windows across each floor.
Snape picked up their abandoned bags and turned toward the house. "Our house, yes." Harry gave a crooked smile. Our house. He liked the sound of that. "It is quite small by pureblood standards but I have always preferred it so. Twenty-seven generations of Snapes have resided within these walls. You can learn a bit of our history while you are here and meet some of your ancestors if you wish."
Harry nodded absently and trudged up the path behind Snape. The door was opened by an impeccably dressed house elf who bowed deeply to Snape. "Good morning Master Severus and Little Master. May I take your bags?" Harry instantly noticed the clean clothing, proper speech and refined accent that the house elf had. Evidently the Snape house elves were treated differently from the Malfoy house elves. Hermione would be pleased with that.
Snape handed the bags off to the elf. "Thank you, Artie. Has lunch been prepared yet?"
"Yes, Master Severus. It is being served on the second floor balcony."
"Thank you." Snape proceeded to the stairs, walking slowly enough for Harry to keep up. Harry was still looking around himself in wonder. As incredible as the outside had been it was nothing compared to the interior. The Snapes must be positively made of money. He had never seen anything like it. They bypassed the entire ground level and instead walked up the stairs; Harry staring at the portraits that they passed while Snape ignored them.
They continued down a long hallway. Snape absently pointed out the doors to each of their bedrooms as they went but they did not stop to look at them. Harry would need to go back later on his own to see what his new room looked like. They finally made it outside to the balcony overlooking the back garden which was overrun with wildly blossoming flowers. A small table had been set up on the balcony which was covered in food.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of food prepared for the two of them but quickly sat down. The two served themselves quietly, finding little to talk about after the traumatic events of the morning. Gods, it seemed like it had been days ago that they had learned the truth, not just a handful of hours.
Snape finally cleared his throat. "Do you have much school work to do this summer?" He started to berate himself for asking such a teacherly question. That would hardly help him to get to know his son any more than he already knew him. Harry's answer stopped him short though.
"I've already done a lot of it. I work on half of it the night before I go home for the summer and do the other half the night I get back before classes resume."
"Why on earth do you do that? Why not take your time and do it during vacation?" Evidently there was no such thing as an easy question for his son. Each seemingly casual question seemed to stir up more mysteries.
"The Dursleys locked my trunk up. I wasn't allowed to read my books or do homework. It was the only way to get it done short of copying Hermione's or Ron's. If I copied Hermione's it would be blatantly obvious and I can do better than Ron in the few hours I get to devote to it than he typically does. He doesn't spend much time on his summer work."
Snape suddenly understood why Harry's summer work was always done so poorly. Had his other teachers noticed this? Did they know the truth about why it was done the way it was? Was he the only one who knew nothing about his son's home life? "There are plenty of books in the library here if you wish to work on it some more. Or if you are simply looking for some reading to do in your free time. I'm afraid that there is not much to entertain a young boy around here. It can get a bit lonely out here."
"Could…" Harry began hesitantly. "Could I still ask Bill over for a bit? Or else Hermione?" Clearly Harry was not used to asking for anything, much less having his wishes granted. As much as Severus would love to refuse this request he could not find it in his heart to do so. His father would roll over in his grave at the sheer thought of the number of Gryffindors in Snape manor. It was perhaps fortunate that he was the master of the manor now and not his father.
"Of course. I will make the portkeys and we can send them out after lunch. Who would you like to have come first?" Damn. He couldn't even be snarky about it! His son had turned him into a huge mass of quivering softness. Pretty soon he wouldn't even be able to sneer properly at Gryffindors!
"May I have Bill here first? Maybe Hermione and Ron can come later."
"How do you think your friends react to all of this?"
Harry bit his lip. "I'm not sure. Bill will be fine. Hermione will be surprised but will get over it quickly. Ron will be angry at you for about an hour then, upon further thought, will redirect his anger at Dumbledore. He's not too fond of Dumbledore as it is. He'll be fine once he understands that you were just as fooled by it as I was."
"Really? I would think that Weasley's reaction would be more…volatile, given his past problems and his general dislike of me."
"Not anymore. He got upset during our fourth year with the tournament but then he vowed to never let anything get between us ever again. It was after that that I finally told Ron and Hermione…almost everything."
"But they had been helping you with your project for over a year before that. What did they think they were doing it for?"
"I never told them. I implied that it was to keep me safe from Sirius. I think they both knew that it was more than that. They knew that things weren't great with the Dursleys. They never prodded though. I think they both knew I would tell them what I could when I could."
Snape nodded. Likely Granger had a hand in keeping Weasley calm about the situation. Although Granger had an almost insufferable thirst for knowledge she also seemed to know when to back away, unlike Weasley who wouldn't know subtle if it hit him. "I will go prepare Weasley's portkey. I will have Mindy show you to your room."
"Thank you, sir. You'll need the password for Bill to know that it is safe to come."
"Password?"
"We've had some problems with mail being intercepted. We have a password that changes often and we each know not to open any suspicious mail without it, much less accept a portkey. I sincerely doubt that he would trust a portkey coming from someone who claimed to be his old Potions Professor anyway. No offense or anything. The current password is 'lightning strikes.'"
Snape smirked. "Rather appropriate."
Harry gave him a small smile. "We do try to make it something that relates to recent events. It makes it easier to remember."
"I will go send him the letter. If you have any questions feel free to ring for a house elf and they can help you with whatever you need."
Harry leaned back in his chair, thinking over their last conversation. It seemed that talking to his father was easier than he had expected. He tended to struggle speaking with anyone other than his closest friends, particularly adults. He had expected it to be just as difficult speaking with Snape as it was speaking with any other adult. There was something about Snape that made him feel…safe. How odd.
He stood from the table and called for Mindy. Mindy appeared suddenly in front of him "Would Little Master wish to see his rooms?" Harry thanked her and allowed her to lead him back down the hall to the door that Snape had pointed out earlier. He hesitantly touched the doorknob for a moment, and then slowly opened the door.
Once again, the room was not what he had been expecting. Much of the house that he had seen, although beautiful, was very dark. His room though, was filled with light. One entire wall was filled with large windows looking over the grounds. He looked to the left and saw a large bed covered in an ivory spread. The golden wood of the furniture complimented the general brightness and airiness of the room. To the right he saw a small fireplace, two armchairs and some beautiful built-in bookshelves. He stepped closer to the bookshelves and saw that the titles covered a wide range of topics, many of which he had never seen before. Some shelves were left empty for him to place his own books on or to bring in books from the family library. He couldn't wait to read some of them.
He noticed two doors, one leading to a closet, presumably, and the other to a large bathroom. He wandered into the bathroom and his jaw dropped. This bathroom didn't even deserve the name bathroom. It was pure heaven. There was a large sunken bathtub that was more akin to a small pool than a tub to one side. The entire wall behind the bathtub was an enormous window, presumably charmed to only look out. There was also a glorious shower that exceeded even his dream shower design.
He looked into the large mirror and his jaw dropped. Merlin, that was what he looked like now? He walked slowly toward the mirror trying to get a better look. He rarely looked at himself in the mirror. He usually felt such disgust looking at his own body that he tried to avoid it at all costs. It had not surprised him that he had been able to shower and dry off without noticing his failed glamour. He could often go months without even glancing in a mirror or even really looking down at his own body.
Bill had been working with him to make him more comfortable with himself but it was a slow process. Bill thought he was being sneaky about his attempts but Harry had noticed them. At first he had been upset that he was such a head case that his lover had to "fix" him but he soon realized that it wasn't that he was being "fixed" but that he was simply being helped. He might not have ever asked for the help himself but he was starting to recognize that he did need assistance in some things. He was finally learning that the Dursleys were wrong about a great many things and he needed help recognizing their lies and trying to readjust his world view accordingly.
He stared at his reflection in wonder. He looked so different! He definitely had more of his mum in him now. He was glad to have a few more visual reminders of her than just his eyes. He also recognized quite a few features that were pure Snape. He touched his eyebrows and nose lightly, almost unable to believe what his reflection showed him. Best of all though, he was finally a mixture of two parents, not just a carbon copy of one.
Harry eagerly unbuttoned his shirt and stripped off the T-shirt he had on under it as well. He tossed them on the floor and they were quickly joined by his trousers and boxers. He stared at himself in the mirror, naked, for the first time in his life. Yes, he had changed quite a bit. His muscles were heavier now, giving him a tiny bit of bulk. He was still very small but he looked more powerful than he had before and…Harry squinted into the mirror…was he taller?
He quickly called a house elf to confirm his height, forgetting that he was naked. Evidently the house elf was used to such situations though because he didn't comment on his master's state of undress. The house elf quickly measured him and left.
5'4". He had grown two inches! He finally had a growth spurt! Ron couldn't make fun of him anymore as he was no longer the shortest one in their year. Granted, there were only two girls in the year who were shorter than him now but the only thing that mattered to him was that he was no longer the shortest of all. Too bad Hermione was still 3" taller than he was. It would have been great to be at least as tall as her.
He took one last long look into the mirror, pleased with what he saw for the first time ever. Vernon had never touched this body. Logically, he knew that he had. He was perfectly aware, intellectually, that very little had changed. He had grown a bit and filled out more. But it still felt different, especially now that his tattoos were visible. He felt like he was getting a new lease or something. He reluctantly dressed again, a crooked smile on his face the entire time.
He slowly walked back out into his bedroom. This room was heaven. It was exactly what Harry had always craved after living in a cupboard for so long and then his tiny, dark bedroom. This was the kind of room that would make someone actually want to go to…a concept that was completely foreign to him.
He was used to his rooms feeling like prison cells or torture chambers. Actually, it was just the smallest bedroom that felt like that. He almost missed his cupboard at times. Vernon couldn't fit into it and in recent years, Dudley had even grown too big to squeeze in after him. It had provided him with a bit of sanctuary when he needed it.
But here, he wouldn't need a sanctuary. Here, he could go to his room when he wanted and he could leave when he wanted—no locks on the door. He found himself with a small, crooked smile on his face. His life had changed radically in the last twenty-four hours and he found himself actually feeling…happy.