December 29th - part one

Harry woke up with a nightmare in the wee hours of the morning, as was his sad tradition.

He felt as if the Hogwarts Express had run over him. He hadn't been able to go to sleep early, even thought he had been tired. He had kept waiting for a good moment to cast a Silencing spell on himself. However, Andy kept reading, blissfully ignorant of Harry's wish, and hadn't seemed to be fatigued at all. The amicable teen had been riding on a happy wave all evening, ever since he had got a letter from his girlfriend, Eva, during supper.

They'd just finished with chicken and potatoes, and the three pairs of twins were bringing to the table everything for another ice-cream orgy. An owl landed on the kitchen windowsill, and tapped its beak on the glass in the fair imitation of knocking. Snape whipped out his wand faster than Harry's eyes managed to follow. Everyone – sans McGonagall, who took her dinner in her bed – watched Snape perform an intricate motion of his wand. The words were whispered, so Harry couldn't really hear them. Snape's shoulders visibly relaxed, and with a wave of his wand he let the owl in.

It was a snowy owl. For a second Harry thought it was Hedwig. What's she doing here? He had left her with Hermione, who knew better than to send Hedwig to him.

The owl made a beeline towards Andrei. Harry let out a relieved sigh. It wasn't Hedwig. This owl was remarkably bigger. He should have realised that snowy owls would be more common here than they were in Britain. They were adapted for the severe weather after all.

Andy cooed something at the owl in Russian, and took the letter it was carrying. He more than obviously forgot all about ice-cream.

The rest of the family helped themselves. Harry decided for nut-and-fudge ice-cream and some fresh strawberries and canned pine-apple. Covered in whipped cream it looked heavenly.

"What are you doing with the ice-cream?" Chris' voice broke him from his sweet-tooth reverie. Her words were meant for Sasha, who was shaping something out of the vanilla ice-cream. Currently it was a blob with two biscuits stuck in the representation of arms. The little boy was adding a spoonful of ice-cream on the top. Harry guessed it was meant to be a snowman.

"I'm making a snow owl," Sasha grinned at her, "I just need to add two chocolate stars as eyes."

"Sometimes I really don't know if I should scold you for playing with food or support your artistic imagination," Chris sighed with exasperation.

"Mum, can Eva come over tomorrow?" Andy asked eagerly, looking up from his letter for the first time. "She writes she could spend the morning here if you or Dad are present."

Chris hesitated.

"What about Harry?" Kolya reminded his twin before Chris managed to respond.

"I can hide," Harry offered easily. "Or I can be outside."

"What about the babies?" Pavel argued, "They can't keep a secret if their lives depended on it."

"Can too!" Sasha said peeved at the same time with Mark's indignant, "We're not babies!"

Chris said pensively. "We're going to visit the Derdeskoys the day after tomorrow. I cannot lock their memories two days in a row."

Andy's face fell.

"We will have to take Sasha and Mark out," Snape decided. "I'll take them to a museum, or a theatre."

Harry could see that Snape was mindful of Andy's feelings, which rubbed Harry the wrong way. It was one thing to be tormented by a heartless bastard, and quite another to be tormented by a bastard who had a heart alright, only not for Harry. Why it made such a difference, Harry couldn't tell if his life depended on it. At the same time Harry was pleased for Andy, that he would get to see his girlfriend, but also envious of it. Together it was too weird a mixture of emotions. Harry felt like his head was going to explode, or maybe implode, or maybe both. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself.

"We don't want to go to a museum," Sasha objected, "we wanna see Eva."

"Yeah, we like Eva. She's nice," Mark supported his twin. "Eva's much better than a museum."

Harry found out that he was able to breathe again. To his dismay, he found all his ice-cream was melted. Apparently his magic was acting up again. He felt like a weirdo. Sixteen and half, and he was still doing accidental magic. How pathetic was that? Quickly and discreetly, his eyes checked the bowls of the rest. Ooops, Snape's ice-cream had met the same fate.

"What about a shopping center," Severus, oblivious to his ruined treat, offered. "Pavel and Eduard can join us. At least they will gain knowledge for their homework."

The little boys seemed torn. Snape noticed, of course, that the opposition was weakened.

"We had pizza today," Snape purred, "so it's only fair, that we get pizza tomorrow, and you don't miss anything."

The babies looked at each other for a second and then they grinned, and nodded at the exactly same moment – just the way only twins can. Once again, Harry was reminded of Fred and George.

"Thanks, Dad," Andy looked at his sire gratefully. Then he turned to Sasha and Mark and promised, "I'll tell Eva you're sad to miss her visit, and I'll ask her to make time for you as soon as we get back to school."

The babies beamed at him.

"We like you very much," Sasha smiled sweetly at his eldest brother. "We'll bring you chocolates from the shopping."

"We'll bring chocolates for Eva," Mark added. "Eva is nice."

Harry covertly kept his eye on Snape – safety reasons – and so he witnessed the moment the wizard found out the state of his ice-cream. Snape checked the rest of the family, and his black eyes rested on Harry.

Harry cleared his throat nervously. Should he apologise?

"Well, at least I haven't flown away as a huge balloon," Snape remarked, standing up. He put his ruined dessert into the sink, took a new bowl, and got back to the table, ignoring the questions his family was throwing on him.

Harry stood too, sheepishly, and put away his bowl. He decided against taking another round, and tactically retreated to Andy's room.

Harry sat on his mattress staring into darkness, scratching his head. He wondered why Snape reacted so calmly. The wizard probably hadn't wanted to risk a full-blown argument by the dinner table. Which meant Harry was in for some tongue-lashing when he happened to be alone with the dungeon bat. Oh, joy.

A quick Tempus charm revealed that it was nearly five in the morning. Well, that wasn't so bad, Harry guessed. What should he do? Reading was not one of his options, it would wake up the gently snoring Andy. Going downstairs presented the risk of being ambushed by Snape. Harry didn't feel like waiting for two hours till the rest of the household woke up, though.

He silently sighed, got up, taking his trousers and shoes in his hands, and headed to the kitchen. Once there, he made the dressing a quick business, and put a kettle on. Snape would chew his head off sooner or later, so why not letting it happening sooner. To get it over with, Harry reasoned with himself.

Despite to his expectations, Snape didn't show up. Instead, some not very long time later, Harry could hear the babies' high voices somewhere upstairs. He stood up, and ran upstairs noiselessly – he really liked his new trainers! – to intercept the little boys. Chris didn't deserve to be woken up at this ungodly hour. It was clearly his chance to pay her back for her kindness.

"Pssst, guys," he greeted the small twins silently, his forefinger across his mouth in the universal 'silence, please' gesture.

"Hi, Harry," they whispered, understanding his sign at once.

"Let's go downstairs," Harry whispered back. Then his eyes fell on their bare feet. "Wait here."

He entered their room and quickly grabbed the two pairs of their home shoes, and after a thought also their sweaters. In the hall, he put the sweaters over the obediently waiting babies' heads. The boys pulled on the sleeves. After the kids put on their shoes, the three of them tiptoed to the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Harry asked them.

The boys exchanged a glance. "Chocolate," one of them answered at the same time as the other hopefully said, "Cookies."

"You can have hot chocolate," Harry allowed magnanimously. "To eat, I guess, you can have eggs and toast, or oatmeal."

Another short round of silent twin communication passed.

"What about pancakes?" Countered one of them, Sasha, Harry thought.

Harry hesitated. Would hot chocolate and pancakes sound like too much sugar to Chris? To stay on the safe side, he decided, he needed to bargain in something healthy. His gaze fell on the fruit bowl.

"Gentlemen," he bowed with theatrical formality, "I have a proposition."

Whilst Harry was preparing the dough, and the boys munched on apples, Mark started to regale his odd dream about a dragon and a city of whales.

"Mostly they were arguing, who was bigger," Mark described, "and then the dragon tried to eat the whale, but it was too big, and he fell to the water, and his fire was put off!"

"Did he drown?" Sasha inquired with childish morbidity.

"No, he changed into a whale, and lived with them." Mark announced. "Only the rest of the whales were black and white, cus they were killer whales and he stayed green."

"That's nonsense!"

"It was in the dream," Mark gesticulated wildly with the apple, "they don't have to make sense."

Harry worried that they might start arguing, and made a few hushing sounds. It was still horribly early. To his relief, the babies obliged.

Sasha shrugged, "I bet there was lots of blood."

"Lots," Mark nodded contentedly, and the theme was amicably closed.

Harry shook his head amusedly. All must be well if there's enough blood.

"What about your owlet?" He asked. "Have you got a name for it?"

"Yeah," they smiled at him brightly. "He's Wjeter. It means Wind. He's gonna be fast!"

"I'm sure he will," Harry agreed. "Who's finished with his fruit?"

Over the pancakes, the twins ruefully shared with Harry their unsuccessful try to find their Animagi forms. Once again, the story of the stray dog was repeated.

"Don't worry about accidental magic," Harry soothed. As an afterthought he added, "It's got me in so many troubles…"

As Harry anticipated, the little boys were so curious about his experience with accidental magic that they forgot to worry about their own. They giggled about the teacher with blue hair, oohed over his apparition incident to the school roof. They begged Harry to repeat twice the story of a chocolate bar transfigured into mud in Dudley's fat mouth. Their favourite, though, were the case when four boys chased Harry and suddenly their shoelaces knotted together.

"It serves them right!" Mark exclaimed fiercely. "They shouldn't have chased you."

Harry was touched by Mark's rightful indignation.

"What was the last time you did accidental magic?" Sasha inquired.

"Ugh. You don't want to know," Harry put hand over his face, ashamed.

It was the wrong thing to say, apparently.

"Tell us, tell us," the kids begged, their eyes full of mischief.

Harry laughed. "You remind me of my friends, twins too, who kept pranking the whole school constantly. Their last deed was to turn a corridor into a swamp."

"What's a swamp?"

"Potter," a silky voice behind him made him jump in surprise, "are you corrupting my sons?"

"I- er - , " Harry started badly. Then he blinked. Wait! Something was not right with the voice. He turned around.

"Andy!" He exclaimed. The babies giggled.

"You made such a funny face," Sasha laughed.

"Sorry," Andy apologised, but from his big smile and laughing eyes it was clear he was feeling anything but.

"The official clown of the Snape family says you are welcome," Harry took his invisible clown hat off with a dramatic gesture. Despite his joke, he couldn't help but feel somewhat bitter. He got used to Andy being the buffer between his brothers' jokes and Harry. Now it felt a bit like being bit by your own pet hamster.

"Sorry, man," Andy repeated, more sincerely this time.

"Never mind," Harry shrugged it off. No harm done, he told himself firmly. "There are four pancakes left if you're interested."

"We're not Snape family but the Dworkins," Mark shared with Harry in a conspiratorial whisper, "that's because Dad is our secret."

Harry nodded, he knew that much. "What do you say when people ask you about your, er, Snape?"

Andy made an odd sound behind his pancake. Everything was obviously very funny today. Harry sighed. He supposed if Hermione were coming today to spend the morning, he would be flying on a cloud too.

"We say Dad's doing his research and doesn't like meeting people," Sasha explained. "We say he's an in-tor-vent."

"Introvert," Harry corrected, "and yeah, it's a neat excuse."

"It's 'cause Mum though it up," Mark said proudly. His twin nodded fervently.

"Your Mum is very clever," Harry said honestly. He was rewarded by two beaming little faces. Harry felt the familiar pang of pain, deep down in his soul.

"So, you made up Snape's name, or is Dworkin your Mum's name?" Harry asked, being curious, and also wanting to stop thinking about what-ifs. Spending his holiday here brought more what-ifs than his past stays in the Burrow for some reason.

"Dworkin is an old pureblood name," Andy, who was currently spreading marmalade on his fourth and the last pancake, explained. "Mum is the heir of the family. It's not an uncommon practise for the husband to take his wife's name, if it vastly surpasses the prestige of his own family."

The small boys lost interest in the conversation and ran towards a drawer in the left side cabinet, taking out papers and crayons.

"So, Snape is really Severus Dworkin?" Harry said fascinated. He couldn't imagine changing his name to Granger. He loved Hermione, yes, and a name was after all just a name, but… It somehow rubbed his ego the wrong way. The thought that he was more egoistic than Snape was quite appalling. On the other hand, Snape hardly ever posed under his alias, playing the recluse introvert…

"Andrei Dworkin, actually," Harry heard, and it took him a second to realise what Andy was talking about. Of course, the name Severus would be a give-away.

"Oh," Harry commented eloquently. Well, what one could say to that?

"You haven't left any pancakes for mum," Sasha accused his eldest brother, apparently only now noticing all the food was gone.

To his credit, Andy looked shamed. In comparison, Harry imagined Ron would be defensive and angry to be criticised by a younger brother. He shook his head sadly. At first, Harry had kept waiting when Ron would come around, the nonchalant way Ron always had done – after the Goblet of Fire incident and such. Lately, Harry wasn't sure if he cared anymore. Actually, now that he knew Andy, he wondered why he had been friends with Ron for so long. Maybe if he had met Neville on his first train ride-

No what ifs! Harry admonished himself. What the hell was wrong with him today?

"I can do more," He got up to take more eggs and milk from the fridge.

"A lot more if you will," Andrei asked. "I wouldn't say no to another one. Need some help?"

"Nah, I'm okay," Harry decided it was much more fun to cook for someone who appreciated it, than for Vernon and Dudley. He opened the cabinet where the flour was stored.

Harry mixed the batter whist the small boys were drawing diligently. He decided to fry on two pans, so that he would be done faster. Unusual but content silence spread in the homey kitchen. Harry glanced at Andy. The teenager was lost in his thoughts, small smile curving his lips, probably thinking about Eva. Harry poured the batter into the hot pans, and decided that this was turning into one of his better mornings after all.

"Are you curious to find out about your Animagus form?" one of the babies interrupted the silence. Without the time to let Harry answer, the kid continued, "Look, this is picture of you making pancakes!"

Then he squealed happily when Harry turned the pancake by throwing it off the pan and catching it back, after it turned in the air. The little twins loved it. Previously, they had even briefly considered becoming cooks as a reserve occupation for the case of lack of magic, but they had quickly ruled it boring in comparison to a jet pilot. ("Cause you still can make pancakes sometimes when you land your jet, anyway," Mark had reasoned.)

"Er… I kind of…, I found out last night, guys," Harry admitted sheepishly. He swiftly turned the second pancake, and left the cooker and studied the drawing. There was a vague person-like shape there with big rings instead of eyes, which was all that he recognised. "Er, that's me, right, these are my glasses?"

Andy woke up from his days dream and snickered.

Fortunately, the little boys weren't upset. "What animal do you have then?"

Harry grinned at them, and went back to his cooking. "Why don't you guess? You ask me questions, and I will say 'yes' or 'no'. Like 'does it live in water?'"

"Does it live in water?" Mark asked immediately.

"No," Harry answered, pouring fresh dough on the hot pan. The oil hissed, and sizzled a bit. Harry noticed the cooker was becoming quite oily.

"Is it big?" Came the next try.

"No."

"Is it small, then?"

"Yes."

"How many legs has it?"

"Yes, no," Harry grinned at them. Another pancake flied through the air and was swiftly caught back.

"Two legs?"

"No."

"I guess it's a dog!"

"No," Harry laughed. "Not a dog."

"Cat?"

"Nope."

In a swift order, the kids tried a wolf, a horse, a sheep, a cow, a rabbit and a dragon.

Andy paused in his inhaling of his newest pancake, and helped them. "There are some animals with more than four legs."

"Is it a spider?" Mark guessed. Harry was impressed with his knowledge. He had of course known everything about spiders when he was five, but it was just because they were his best friends back then.

"An octopus?"

"Octopus lives in water, silly," his twin reprimanded.

"A butterfly?"

"No, sorry, guys."

The babies were whispering, conferring about the 'weirdest ever animal'. Harry busied himself with the stove, and realised that the little Snapes probably didn't even know the word 'dragonfly'. He wondered if they even considered English their first language. They were fluent in Russian, after all.

"What language is used at Durmstrang?" Harry asked Andy.

"Russian, mostly," Andy answered between bites. "English, and German, to a point."

"Is it clever?" The babies' brainstorming provided a rather wicked question.

They got him here. The book Harry had consulted yesterday spoke nothing about intelligence of dragonflies.

"Ugh. I guess not particularly," he answered honestly. How intelligent were insects? Harry guessed not much. They were probably only about instincts and surviving.

"You have to say 'yes and no'," Sasha objected primly. He wore the same expression as yesterday, when he had lectured Snape about children and fresh air. Harry grinned at the memory.

"No, then," Harry shared his decision on cleverness of dragonflies.

"No what?" Another voice joined the conversation. Unfortunately this time the newcomer was the true owner of the dreaded silky baritone.

"No that Harry's animagus animal isn't clever," one of the babies explained. Harry groaned.

Snape let him stew in anticipation of the worst, and then with thinly veiled amusement he suggested, "Well, let's not be unkind and comment on that."

Harry sighed. Morning Snape. It was something similar to morning breath, he philosophized. Unpleasant and inevitable. Well, he supposed it could have been worse. He checked the clock, and to his surprise he found it was quarter past seven. The time had been flying. He checked the dough and estimated there would be only two or three more pancakes. Five minutes, he guessed. Then some very fast cleaning, and in ten minutes Harry could be safely hidden in Andy's room.

"Does it live in an anthill?"

"No."

"In a beehive?"

"No."

"Does it have dots on its back?"

"No." Harry admired that in the babies, even so small, they were fiercely persistent. Always up for a challenge.

Harry took the high pile of finished pancakes, and put it onto the kitchen table. Hopefully Snape would eat silently, listen to his smallest sons, and pay no attention to Harry. One could always hope.

"Thank you," Snape acknowledged. "It looks tasty."

A little shocked, Harry offered, "Coffee?"

Snape nodded.

Harry put the kettle on. He should be disgusted by this pretence of civility, but to be honest, he only felt relieved. If only Snape wasn't a bastard. They could have pretended two more weeks, and everything would be alright. Harry wouldn't even mind playing a House-Elf. In reality, Harry knew Snape was only lulling down Harry's attention, waiting for the best moment to strike and make Harry undesirable in the eyes of his precious family. Harry flipped the last pancake, feeling suddenly tired to the marrow of his bones.

"But it's an insect, right?"

"Yes," Harry took a deep breath. He turned, and gave the boys a thumb up. "There's a big section of insects in the encyclopaedia of animals." He suggested. He had checked it yesterday, and it was rather informative.

"Yeah, let's look," the twins scampered off.

The cleaning spells made the few utensils and the cooker shining in no time. Harry made the coffee, remembering to place milk on the table, and swiftly followed the boys out of the kitchen.

He found the children thumbing through the section of insects. He found the right page. "It's a dragonfly," he informed them, grinning.

"Cool!" The twins exclaimed in one breath. "Bestest ever."

"Look, dragonflies cannot walk, they just fly. They are the best fliers, pretty fast, but they can also hover in the air, or fly straight up, or even fly backwards." Harry explained enthusiastically.

"Sounds cool," Mark enthused. "Are you going to train to be an Animagus?"

Harry looked at the picture longingly. Months of intensive training for the most talented at transfiguration. Which Harry was not. And he lacked the time. His training for the war had to come first. And would he be even alive in a year from now? Why did he bother to find out his form at all?

The knowledge was only mocking him.

God, he was tired.

"I guess I will, if I have time," he told the babies what they probably wanted to hear. He decided to retreat to Andy's room. "See you, guys."

He flopped on his mattress and wondered if there was enough time for a short nap before they went to the shopping center. With regret, he decided there wasn't, and pulled the 'Foreign Curses & Hexes Fitting in English Hand' out of his trunk. He felt like he was running out of time.

ssSSss

"Dad wants to talk to you," Andy came into the room some time later.

Harry sat up, and scratched his head. He wondered what Snape wanted, but there was no point in asking Andy. He stood up reluctantly, and put away his book.

"He's waiting in his workroom," the teen said encouragingly.

Harry nodded, and made the few steps across the floor. The door was open, so Harry just stood between the frames, feeling awkward. Knocking felt like a pretentious act, and so he only greeted, "Hello." There was so much hesitancy in the word that it sounded like a question even to his ears.

Snape looked up from the book he was reading and beckoned him inside.

"Er- Sorry about your ice-cream?" Harry offered.

"No matter," Snape waved it off, to Harry's surprise. There went the only reason Harry had been able to think up. For the life of him, he couldn't find anything else he had done wrong. Apart from breathing.

He rubbed his eyes under his glasses, and then looked at Snape resignedly. There was no point in guessing, Snape would inform him readily enough, no doubt.

"When did Mark and Sasha get up?" Snape surprised him once again.

Keeping an enemy of balance?

"Er- about half past five, I guess." There was no point in lying, was there?

"You were already awake?" Snape interrogated.

Harry nodded. He hoped Snape wouldn't ask about his nightmares. He longed to get out of here. Couldn't the wizard cut it short?

Snape opened a drawer and took out an envelope. He stretched his arm towards Harry, who reluctantly shuffled closer and took it. He noticed that the book Snape had been reading was actually the translated transcript of Potion magazines Snape had gotten for Christmas.

"There are about 50 galleons in Roubles, that's the local currency. It's your spending money. You will hand me the rest before leaving here in January; the amount spent you'll pay me back discreetly in Galleons back at Hogwarts."

Harry stared at the money. If Snape was trying to keep him flummoxed, he was decidedly succeeding.

"I'll check anything you will want to take back to England," Snape warned. "Don't forget you are under scrutiny of a very sharp young lady."

"What about my trainers?" Harry has really grown horribly fond of those.

"International brand, untraceable."

Good. "Er- thank you. Sir." Harry looked longingly to the door. He hoped they were done now.

No such luck.

"You are wearing the Portkey, I hope?" Snape inquired.

"No, not here," Harry answered truthfully, not caring if he was about to be reprimanded or not.

"Don't forget to take it to our outing today," Snape emphasized. "Or any other outing outside of the garden."

The man gave Harry a hard look, and quipped. "Better yet, Potter, wear it constantly. You are a magnet for unpredictable danger, after all."

Personally, Harry thought it was rather daft to wear a Portkey in a house, when – if activated - it would move him to the cellar of the very same house. He didn't care enough to argue, though, so he simply nodded.

"I won't insult your intelligence by reminding you the password," Snape continued. Harry wondered if the man was trying to anger him. If so, he was out of luck. Harry was tired, and resigned to be a victim to Snape's Slytherin games. At the moment, he was totally past caring.

He nodded again.

"We don't expect Eva to come to Andrei's room. To be on the save side, though, pack all your possession into your trunk. We will deposit it to the guest room." Snape informed. "You should get to it, as we're leaving at 9 o'clock."

Finally dismissed, Harry hurried from the room. The envelope containing Russian money seemed to be burning his hand.

ssSSss

"Still alive, I see," Andy teased with gentle curve to his lips. He was somewhat overdressed, Harry though. Wearing white shirt, a tie, and dress trousers for the visit of your girlfriend?

Andy noticed his look, and fingered his tie. "For the case Eva's father drops here with her, to check we're not alone in the house. He's capable of it," he explained bitterly.

"Not much trust in his own daughter," Harry criticised. He never met the girl, but judging by Andy, she had to be someone sensible.

"And it's so completely undeserved! She's an angel," Andy complained on behalf of his intended.

"Pity I can't meet her. Oh, we need to move my things," Harry decided to distract the other teen. "Snape said to put my trunk in the guest room. Do you think the Professor is awake?" 'And decent?', he added in his head. Walking on McGonagall in her nightclothes was about the very last thing he desired.

"Yes, she's actually downstairs having breakfast," Andy alleviated his worries. "Mum offered to bring her the food to bed, but Minerva refused."

"Okay," Harry said relieved. Then he looked down at himself. He was wearing his school trousers, as usually, and his new canabis tee-shirt. It made a bit odd combination, and Harry wondered if he could get himself a new pair of jeans. "Maybe I should take something warmer?" He wondered aloud.

"You will take a Portkey to the shopping center," Andy informed him, "You should be alright with a sweater or a light jacket. Everyone will simply think that you came by car."

"Great. How much do you think jeans cost?" Harry asked him.

"Depends heavily on the brand," Andy shrugged, "I guess it must be similar in Britain. I will take the mattress to Mum and Dad's bedroom."

Harry nodded and levitated his trunk. In the door he turned and looked over the room. He didn't think he had forgotten anything. He usually kept everything in his trunk anyway.

ssSSss

Harry grinned. The shopping center was buzzing with life. He guessed he wouldn't want to spend all weekends here, but every now and then…

He couldn't wait to browse all the shops. He wished he could buy something for Hermione, but it would lead to questions he wouldn't be able to answer, and he didn't want to lie to Hermione anyway.

He turned his attention back to Snape. The wizard was disguised by Chris, just as Harry was. A few charms here, and there, and nobody would recognise them. Harry just loved magic.

"Remember the place where we are now, by the Chemist, we will meet here in two hours," Snape instructed. "Sasha, and Mark are going with me; Pavel, Eduard, you may wander around. The same goes for you, Potter."

Harry thought Snape looked pained. He supposed Snape would like to lock him in a restroom and let him out only when they were going back home.

"Behave like Muggles, if you will. Pay attention to what you speak about. Use the emergency Portkey if you must." Snape repeated instructions he had already preached at home.

Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes. Snape was always so big on rules and instructions. Finally, it was over, and Harry was free to roam!