Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and ideas are the whole intellectual property of Ms. J.K. Rowling and are hers alone to sell. I do not receive, nor would I accept any compensation for any of the owned intellectual property of Ms. Rowling (nor that which she has licensed to WB etc.). What follows is just a wacky little ditty I wanted to get out of my brain. It only got there because I so love that which Ms. Rowling created. No copyright infringement is intended.

Ahhh, real holidays at last

'Dad?' Harry asked quietly. 'Can I ask you something?'

'Obviously you can – you just did…' Severus smirked as he looked up from the letter he'd been reading – a response from Albus regarding an irate letter Severus had sent him about Lockhart using Harry to get more press.

'May I ask you something…?' Harry rolled his eyes at the playful correction. 'Something after this question…' he added quickly before Severus could tease further.

'Certainly…' Severus' playful smile faded a bit seeing Harry looking serious – and slightly uncomfortable. 'What is it?'

'I was wondering… about – well, about Lockhart – er… Professor Lockhart I mean…'

Severus tried to give him as open a look as possible so he'd feel comfortable asking whatever he had to ask about Lockhart. He very carefully kept the scowl off of his face – a scowl that would have been aimed at Lockhart, and not at Harry… Sensing Harry's continued discomfort though, he stood and moved from behind his desk, beckoning Harry to join him on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

'Is this about what happened in Flourish and Blotts?'

'No… not really…' Harry sighed, slumping into his seat. 'It's stupid…'

'I highly doubt that,' Severus encouraged, and then a possible reason for Harry's concern occurred to him. 'Is it about Quirrell? Did that elf say something about Lockhart…?'

Harry had been very surprised when he woke up the morning after they returned from the conference to find a rather shabby looking elf hovering over him. The creature had clamped a hand over Harry's mouth before he could cry out… Harry had panicked, thinking he was back in an old recurring nightmare that he hadn't had in a long time… but the figure was not like the person in his nightmare… and when Harry'd calmed down, all the elf wanted was to warn Harry not to return to Hogwarts that year… Of course it was impossible, but the elf had told him that he had to find a way or terrible things would happen.  Harry had gone straight to his father the moment the elf left and Severus had told him as calmly as he could (though Harry knew that he was furious that anyone had breached their security) that it must just be a prank, and not to worry about it, before he called Albus and the two men recast, and strengthened all of the wards around the house.

'No…' Harry said slowly. 'But how do we know that Lockhart's not…' Harry looked up at his father. 'I mean, last term you suspected about Quirrell, but you didn't know for sure – and Uncle Albus…'

'Harry,' Severus cut him off gently, and meeting his eyes. 'I have no suspicions that Lockhart is secretly working for Voldemort if that helps at all. I do have strong suspicions that he's an arrogant, self-important ignorant a--  er… ahem,' he cleared his throat and smiled encouragingly at Harry. 'I would appreciate it if you really would keep my feelings about your Defence against the Dark Arts professor just between us this time…' Harry blushed at this and started to look away, but Severus caught his chin and held his gaze. 'The man has a great many faults, and though it takes a certain amount of stupidity to follow Voldemort, I honestly believe that Lockhart is actually too stupid, alright?'

'You're sure?' Harry asked, though he sounded less nervous. 'What if…?'

'If,' Severus cut him off and giving him a very serious look. 'If you suspect anything of anyone, at any time…?' The questioning tone was left unanswered for only a moment, but that was long enough for Severus: 'You – will – come – directly – to – me.' He emphasized each word with a light tap on Harry's noggin with an outstretched finger.

'Oh, definitely – most definitely,' Harry assured him quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. 'Straight to you – no question. I don't want a repeat of last term!'

'Good,' Severus smiled. 'You'll be happy to know that I contacted Albus after that fiasco at the bookstore, and it will be made very clear to Lockhart why he will not try to pull another stunt like that again…'

'Oh, no!' Harry groaned. 'Dad! Now he'll hate me even before the first class…'

'No he won't – don't worry. For one, very little fazes that - - man - -,' Severus cleared his throat again, swallowing the word he'd wanted to use to describe the new professor. 'And anyway, Albus will put it in such a way that Lockhart will be flattered into thinking he's doing a favour…' Severus stood, holding out his hand to pull Harry to his feet. 'Now, I was going to work on that cheering potion for a while. You're welcome to help, unless you'd rather head out flying again…?'

'No,' Harry said with a slight grimace. 'I'll help you if I can… I think I overdid the flying the last few days since we've been home – my bum is killing me…'

The two spent an amiable day in Severus' lab brewing cheerfulness potions. Harry would cut and prepare ingredients – sometimes adding them to the cauldron – sometimes stirring the concoction – or even taking notes for Severus as he observed the effects of various new ingredients. They stopped only for lunch, when the conversation turned to Harry's favourite topic: Quidditch.

'I shouldn't be telling you this,' Severus sighed when Harry'd brought up Gryffindor and Slytherin's chances in the new term. 'But Slytherin will be having a new seeker. I've no idea if he'll be any good, but…' he sighed, pushing the rest of his lunch aside, having lost his appetite. 'Unfortunately, it's one of those political things and I have to let him on the team… No,' he shook his head when Harry asked him who it was. 'It wouldn't be fair to ask you to keep the secret, but it also wouldn't be fair to the rest of the Slytherin team if you knew before they did.' Though he was very curious, Harry grudgingly agreed not to press him further on it.

The only other time they stopped their work that afternoon was when Harry accidentally leaned a bit too close to a cauldron full of a particularly strong cheering potion. Merely inhaling the fumes was enough to send him into fits of laughter for nearly an hour. When his father laughed at his predicament, Harry deliberately wafted the fumes in his direction as well. For some time, they were both incapacitated with wave after wave of giggles… by the time it finally wore off, they were both clutching their sides trying to work out laughter induced stitches.

Once he'd fully regained his senses, Harry looked warily at his father… potions, even cheering potions were nothing to play around with, and had something like this happened in one of his classes, Harry knew that his father would have deducted many points, and assigned at least one detention to the student responsible. But here at home, Harry was greatly relieved to find his father could allow himself to see the humour in the situation.

'Har har har…' He ruffled Harry's hair. 'That was sneaky… very interesting effects though don't you think? A large batch of this and a fan, and the next curriculum meeting at school might actually be tolerable…' He handed Harry a quill and some parchment. 'Here, write down your observations on how the fumes affected you.' He took some parchment for himself and started writing. 'Oh, but Harry?' Severus said casually, not looking up from his writing. 'Of course, you know that if you try anything like that in class…'

'I'd be disembowelling frogs and cleaning cauldrons by hand until the wee hours?'

'At the very least…' Severus said, still not looking up, though he didn't bother to hide his smile.

*************************

When Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the Weasley kitchen to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley clearing away the last of the family's breakfast dishes, he stumbled forward slightly, his arms full and his father's admonition to be good still ringing in his ears.

Smiling brightly at his warm welcome, he presented his gifts of a bouquet of flowers and a box of Witch Wonderful's Best Chocolate to Mrs. Weasley,and an odd shaped parcel to Mr. Weasley. 'Ron said you work in the Muggle artefacts office,' he said, nervous that he wouldn't like the object he'd bought for him at the amusement park Remus had taken him to before the conference.

'It's actually a key chain – you put your keys on it – some Muggles have loads of keys, and some have only one or two keys, but they hold them with a bunch of these key chains. See –' He pointed to a button on the odd shaped object. 'You push that little button and it lights up and plays a tune for a minute…'

Mr. Weasley tried the button and nearly dropped the key chain in surprise as the many sided bangle started flashing sparkly lights and beeping an obnoxious tune. 'Wow!' he muttered, turning the thing over and over in his hands. 'But, how does it…?'

'Oh, it's not charmed, or anything…' Harry assured him quickly. 'I swear! It's got a tiny little thingy in it called a battery…'

'Battery?' Mr. Weasley's head shot up at this. 'Oh, I know all about Batteries,' he said knowledgeably. I have a collection… I had no idea that they came small enough to fin in something like…' He frowned when the flashing lights and beeping stopped. 'Oh, has the battery run out? Should I get another…?'

'No,' Harry smiled, reaching over to push the button again. 'It just automatically stops after a bit so it doesn't run out too quick…'

'Thank-you Harry,' Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both beamed at him. 'You didn't have to bring anything at all, but thank-you very much.'

Harry blushed, shrugging self-consciously before responding. 'Thanks for inviting me to stay…'

The week went by in a blur for Harry. He'd never stayed anywhere like the Burrow before – in fact, he'd never stayed over night in a house with other kids before at all…

It was a blast!

He, Ron and the twins played many games of Quidditch, went swimming in a nearby pond, and played chess and exploding snap to all hours – Percy generally avoided the younger kids (which was fine by Harry), and Harry got to meet the youngest Weasley – Ginny.

He wasn't too sure about her… Ron kept saying that she wasn't usually like this, but she was awfully clumsy and shy around him – hardly saying a word. Still, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt – she may be quiet, but at least she never told on them when he, Ron, Fred and George were goofing off, so he figured she couldn't be all bad. And a major plus, was when she yelled at Fred and George for pinning a copy of the cover picture from the Daily Prophet of Harry at the convention up on the back door. He'd ended up laughing with everyone when Fred and George had crawled on their knees, jokingly pleading for Harry and Ginny's forgiveness.

The biggest excitement of the week came when Fred and George were caught coming home in the wee hours of the morning, having taken their father's car. Harry was very glad that he and Ron hadn't been involved, but as the two older boys were sneaking out to meet some friends from their class, the two twelve-year-olds wouldn't have been welcome among a group of fourteen-year-olds.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and (though he pretended he wasn't) Percy, all crouched on the stairs listening to the argument that unfolded – first, Mrs. Weasley yelled at Fred and George for taking the car – then, when she found out that Mr. Weasley had charmed the car to fly and the twins had flown several towns away for the party, she completely lost her temper. In the end, the twins had to degnome the garden, and were banned from flying for the rest of the holiday (which thankfully was only a few more days) and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley locked themselves in the den – throwing up a privacy sound barrier for half an hour to discuss the situation.

'We're very sorry you had to hear us yelling at Fred and George this morning, Harry dear,' Mrs. Weasley said at dinner that night.

'That's alright, Mrs. Weasley,' Harry smiled to put her at ease. 'Honestly, I've really enjoyed being here. The conference was interesting and all, but there were no other kids, and the weather was horrible. And at home, Dad'll fly with me sometimes – but, you know… he's no spring chicken, so he tires out way before me… What?' He broke off talking to Mrs. Weasley when he noticed that four of the five youngest Weasley children were staring at him with looks of shock on their faces.

'Snape?! Flying on a broom?!' George finally said, a look of awe on his face.

'I just can't picture it…' Ron added, grinning slightly.

'Actually,' Harry said to stop them saying anything about his Dad that might make him angry. 'He played on his house team when he was at Hogwarts – he played Seeker. Actually he was the captain of his house team…'

'Wow…' Fred, George and Ron all gaped in unflattering shock.

'Yes,' Mrs. Weasley cut in, dropping Harry a wink. 'Of course, it was after our time, but I've always followed the Quidditch at Hogwarts, and from all accounts, your Professor Snape…' she glared briefly at her sons. 'Was quite a good player and captain. Now, time for bed. Is everyone packed and ready for school tomorrow?' There were many groans and 'Yes, Mum's' as the Weasley children and Harry cleared their dinner dishes and started to make their way upstairs.

'Mrs. Weasley?' Harry approached her quietly before heading upstairs. 'In case I forget tomorrow, I just wanted to thank you and Mr. Weasley again for having me to stay. I've had a really great time, and your home is really wonderful.'

'Oh, Harry dear,' Mrs. Weasley replied mistily, pulling Harry into a motherly embrace. 'Thank-you. You're most welcome to come again anytime. You've been a wonderful guest.'

The next morning was chaos like Harry'd only ever seen when the students at Hogwarts were getting ready for the train home on the last day of school. Harry tried his best to stay out of the way as people ran up and down the stairs, shouted questions about where various books and articles of clothing were and tried to scarf down a little of Mrs. Weasley's delicious breakfast cooking in between. As they loaded the car, Mr. Weasley quietly showed Harry the 'enhancements' he'd made on the boot so that it could fit everything.

'But let's just keep that between you and I eh, Harry? Mrs. Weasley wouldn't approve…' He winked conspiratorially. Harry chuckled along with him, but decided that it would be rude to point out the fact that Mr. Weasley was in charge of the office at the ministry meant to stop people from making these kinds of 'enhancements' to Muggle objects.

Even after the car was finally loaded and everyone inside (Harry was pretty sure that the inside of the car had been 'enhanced' as well), they had to turn back three times for various forgotten articles before they finally made it on to the motorway.  Even though they were running quite late by the time they finally made the final stop back at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley flatly refused to allow Mr. Weasley to fly them to the train station.

'But Molly, dear,' he said. 'This button here is an invisibility booster – no one would see us… we're running quite late…'

'No, Arthur.'

When they finally did make it to the station (the Muggle way – no flying), they had barely five minutes for all of them to get onto the platform. They all ran through the station, pushing their trolleys, hoping they would all be able to make it through the barrier in time without attracting the attention of any Muggles. Percy ran through first, followed by Fred and George. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley each took a side and ushered Ginny through, telling Harry and Ron to follow quickly.

'We'd better both go through at the same time,' said Harry, looking at the time. They only had a minute left. 'On three. One, two, three!' They both broke into a run, heading straight for the barrier between the Muggle platforms 9 and 10, both expecting to sail right through when… BAM!!

Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced back, spilling both of their luggage all over the ground including Harry's snowy owl Ruby who started screeching as her cage clattered to the floor and started to roll. Harry quickly grabbed her and apologized to the guard who started their way 'Sorry – lost control of the trolley…' The guard, and several onlookers gave them dark looks before finally leaving them be. 'Why won't it let us in?' he whispered to Ron, pressing his hand against the inexplicably solid barrier.

'I don't know…' Ron muttered back leaning his trolley right against the brick and pushing with all his might. 'But… oh, no!! Harry, look at the time! We've missed the train! What are we going to do?'

'Calm down, Ron…' Harry whispered urgently – Ron's voice had begun to rise. 'I'm sure your parents…'

'What if it's permanently broken?' Ron cut him off. 'What if they can't get back through to us?'

'I think,' Harry said quickly, turning his trolley and beckoning Ron to follow. 'That we'd better wait by the car…'

'The car!!' Ron cried, catching up. 'That's it, Harry. The car. If we hurry, we can follow the train!'

'I don't know, Ron.' Harry said, slowing down. 'Your parents…'

'Can apparate, Harry,' Ron said, dragging Harry along. 'Trust me, this is the only way. And if we hurry, no one even needs to know that we missed the train at all. I think my Dad installed an auto-return button, so that if the car ever got lost, you could just send it home… or something like that anyway…'

Though, Harry still wasn't sure this was the best idea, the prospect of no one finding out that they'd missed the train, or couldn't get through the barrier was appealing. Also, if he was being honest with himself, the idea of flying in a car was very exciting… so, with a growing sense of excitement, he got in the passenger side of the Weasley's charmed Ford Anglia and watched as Ron (who knew how the flying and invisibility boosters worked) drove them over the top of the train station in search of the Hogwarts Express…

TBC