A year in the life of Harry Potter
Chapter 8: August, 5
In the morning, after Harry had got dressed, he started exploring the huge house. It had a ground floor, first floor, second floor and third floor, on each of them at least six rooms. Some of them were locked, some weren't. He found a library on the top floor, in total four bathrooms (one on every floor), an enormous attic and, next to the three bedrooms on the second floor, five guest bedrooms on the third floor. On his way back to his room (he nearly got lost), he met the child of the Snape family, Quentin.
"Hey, you're Harry, aren't you? I'm Quentin."
Harry jumped at the sudden noise and turned around on his heels. Instead of seeing a boy he saw, to his great surprise, a girl not younger than thirteen.
"Y-You're a girl," he stammered.
"Course I am," she laughed. She looked very similar to her father, with the exception of having her mother's nose: tall, slim, shoulder-long black hair, pale skin, and the same black eyes.
"But why don't you have a more... feminine name?"
Quentin laughed. "It's only a nickname, Harry. Daddy had the weird idea of me Quintella." She shivered. "Mummy says he'd been drunk when he suggested it, but he says he hadn't been. Well, who cares anyway? So, you'll be going to Ho-"
"Quentin," Severus said, suddenly appearing behind his daughter. He gave her a warning look.
"Ho- what?" Harry asked irritated.
"Ho- nothing," Severus said coldly. "Breakfast is ready."
The three of them went to the ground floor where the kitchen, living room and dining room was. Lucy was already waiting at the table. Only now did Harry look thoroughly at her. She looked like one of the models out of a fashion magazine to him: nearly taller than her husband, perfectly slim legs and stomach, wavy red hair, skin as soft as satin. Her eyes were big zircons, and her mouth was not too big but also not too small.
"Good morning, Harry, Quentin," she said, smiling.
"Morning, Mummy," Quentin said, sitting down.
"Morning," Harry muttered, doing so as well.
They started eating in silence. The silence made Harry uncomfortable, but luckily Quentin was a chatterbox.
"... and then Draco let that enormous spider fall onto Audrey's head and she screamed the house down," Quentin said, her mouth full of food.
Severus looked at her, disgustedly. "Quentin, how often do I have to tell you to swallow before you talk?"
She swallowed. "Sorry. Anyway, then Uncle Lucius came in and said that if she wouldn't quiet down they'd soon receive complain letters from Ho-" Quentin looked at Harry before she continued. "From school. But once he was out Draco and I exploded in laughter, and Audrey swore she'd never talk to either of us ever again. However, at dinner, she tried to get revenge on Draco. As we entered the dining room she tripped him, and he fell into one of the hou- - servants. The plate it - he had been carrying was meant to land on top of Draco, but instead it flew across the room right into Uncle Lucius's face!"
Suddenly there was a knock on the window. Harry jumped in fright as he saw an owl flying outside of the window, knocking with its beak on the glass, demanding to enter.
"Old fool Dumbledore," he heard Severus mutter under his breath as he got up. He opened the window and shooed the owl away, but Harry was sure that he'd seen him fiddle around on the owl's foot.
After breakfast Harry went back to his room. There were two big cardboard boxes containing his possessions. He knew that he had to unpack sooner or later, but he wasn't in the mood to. He didn't think he'd ever be in the mood to do so. Instead he decided to stroll around the castle a bit more.
On the second floor he passed a few doors as he suddenly heard noises. He walked a few steps back and noticed that they came out of one of the rooms. He recognised one of the voices as Severus Snape's, though the other one wasn't familiar to him. Harry already wanted to proceed his exploration as he heard his name mentioned.
"Albus, you know I can't take care of Harry! Especially after what his fatehr did to me!"
"Severus, you are the only one who could take care of him," Harry heard the other voice say. "Do it for him. Do it for Lily. Do it for your wife. You know how much she wants another child."
"Fine," Snape snapped after a few moments. "I'll do it."
Harry closed his eyes, his teeth gritted. He started walking away from the door. Why could adults never ask him what he wanted to do? Why did they always make decisions for him? He hadn't been asked if he wanted to take up modeling. He hadn't been asked if he wanted to live with Severus and his family. Harry knew that there was only one escape. The same one that had only been there a few days before.