The sun was high in the sky when Harry James Potter Snape finally began to stir from his sleep on Sunday, August 1st.

It was the morning after his thirteenth birthday and he had been up half the night celebrating it with his friends at a Ball his father had thrown in his honour.

He rubbed at his eyes yawning; If it were it not for the pressing need to use the lavatory he most certainly would have gone back to sleep again but as it was he had little choice but to get up.

On his way back to bed he glanced in the mirror and groaned, he looked as bad as he felt, still wearing yesterday's crumpled dress robes, his skin was deathly pale and his eyes were red and itchy, sunken behind dark shadows. He blinked, and then turned his head away scowling until he noticed the table over by the window had been set for breakfast.

He stumbled over, smiling as he poured himself a glass of orange juice and picked up the note which informed him that brunch would be served in the dining room at 12:30.

Finishing the glass of juice, and feeling somewhat more alive after it Harry fished about in his robes looking for his pocket watch before discovering to his shock that it was already after eleven.

He poured himself another glass of juice and lifted the lid of the steaming tureen to inspect the contents. It was porridge, Loxie, Prince Manor's resident elven cook made lovely porridge; dusted with demerara sugar and cinnamon and super creamy, but he didn't feel quite up to eating just yet so he set the lid back on and went back to sit on his bed for about ten minutes staring into space, mentally preparing himself to get up again and start getting washed and dressed.

Finally looking somewhat presentable he then went to rouse Ron whose snores had been audible through the wall, and once he too was ready they made their way downstairs to look for the others.

It seemed they were the last ones up, Brendan had apparently woken the whole Nursery at seven o'clock running up and down the corridor shouting for his mother, Hermione had somewhat predictably spent the last two and a half hours in the library and no matter how tired they were, Fred and George couldn't have passed up the once in a life time opportunity to have a proper look round the Potion Masters home.

His father had risen somewhat late, though it was nowhere near as late as Harry and Ron and though the risk that he might catch them in their explorations had limited the Weasley Twins prowling he had spent much of the morning hidden away in his study but he greeted them all warmly when eventually he swept into the dining room carrying a bottle filled with a sludgy green potion to join them.

He looked tired, even more so than normal but there was something about him that was different, some brightness or ease that hadn't been there before, highlighted by the way he greeted both Morgana and Mrs Weasley with a Kiss.

To each of the adults he then offered some of the mystery potion which they had all happily accepted and drank quickly without question.

Harry and Ron looked at each other in surprise, he trusted his father implicitly but even he wouldn't drink a potion without at least asking what it was but once Snape had seated though the food had appeared and Harry had felt his stomach turn leaving no room for further thoughts about it.

The table was abuzz with talk of the Ball, who had been there, what they were wearing and just how brilliant it had all been but after commending his son on his comportment Severus started to notice that the boy wasn't saying much.

"You did have a good time I hope Harry?" he asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

Harry assured him that he had and thanked him most profusely for organising it but then as the boy retched on a mouthful of sausage he realised what was up.

Glancing around the table at the rest of his students he noticed that none of them were really eating. He turned to Molly and Arthur, raising an eyebrow as though in question before letting his eyes sweep the table again, the younger children didn't seem to be anything other than tired, Percy Weasley and Miss Granger obviously had more sense, but Harry and the three youngest Weasley boys were showing definite signs of a hangover. Miss Weasley too perhaps, but he couldn't quite decide about her.

"What were you drinking?" he asked quietly, eliciting a furious gasp from Mrs Weasley.

"Butterbeer?" Harry answered, lying, before bending to pick up the fork which he had just accidently knocked to the floor.

"And?" Molly asked, hands on hips, eyes firmly fixed on Ron.

"Firewhisky…." The red head answered reluctantly.

"And just how did you get past the age line gentlemen?" Severus asked while glaring at Fred and George, who he clearly suspected were the ringleaders in this.

"Charlie?" Arthur Weasley, turned to his son looking most disappointed.

Charlie held his hands up and shook his head; this was nothing to do with him.

"You bought it off that neanderthal Flint didn't you?" Percy postulated crossly as Severus shot him a glare that he took as a reminder that the Potion Master's loyalties were to Slytherin House.

"Not bought per se." George replied, not having noticed the look.

"More commandeered." Fred elucidated with a grin, surprised that Percy would take more issue with their supporting trade with a Slytherin than the fact that they had been drinking.

Molly and Arthur were furious, as was Severus, but for a very different reason. Almost every year some wayward albeit enterprising young idiots would come up with the idea of attempting to distil alcohol somewhere in the castle. This year it had been down in the dungeons and a particularly poor attempt with no less than fourteen students ending up in the infirmary with vision loss.

"Are you trying to get yourself poisoned Potter?" Snape asked angrily.

Eyes wide, Harry shook his head; the thought of the drink having been spiked hadn't even crossed his mind. The bottle was unopened. "You said the wards would prevent anyone from poisoning me."

"I said the wards would likely prevent anyone from deliberately poisoning you, they recognise intent not ineptitude. No matter how potent it may be, if it was brought here in good faith they leave you to your own judgement. You are familiar with Mr Flint's academic aptitude, you should know that anything he has created carries a risk to those who use."

"It was Ogdens, it wasn't that stuff he made himself." Harry argued weakly, avoiding looking at Fred and George who were seriously struggling not to laugh at Snape, the most loyal Head of Slytherin, basically acknowledge to a table of Gryffindors that one of his House had the IQ of a troll.

Severus felt such a rush of relief at hearing that the boy hadn't been stupid enough to drink that toxic swill that he was almost willing to let the whole thing go, it was usual for children of that age to want to experiment with alcohol after all but he had to set an example and the sound of the Weasley twins barely guarded sniggering was enough to help him maintain his stern glare as he asked each of them how much they had drunk.

It was a question they couldn't answer, apparently they were playing some silly little drinking game, but it must have been very little really - one bottle shared between them, unless of course they lied.

He scoffed as an amused smirk danced across his face. They were incredible lightweights if a glass or two could affect them this much even if they were only children but his expression darkened again when Miss Weasley admitted to playing.

"Lily?" he asked with such a snap that Aurelia jumped in her seat.

The twins weren't even eleven yet, Harry's drinking he could perhaps overlook, but not theirs. His daughter shook her head but something flashed in her eyes to suggest she was hiding something.

He regarded her curiously for a moment, but said nothing, moving on to her brother.

He too shook his head.

"What have I said before about lying?" he demanded angrily.

"I'm not lying." Evan whined.

Severus glowered at him. "You really can't expect me to believe that you didn't have a least a little taste, you were playing the game were you not?" he demanded incredulously.

Off to the side he heard Lily retort that that they had been playing but only with butterbeer, but he kept his focus on the boy, of the two of them he was always far more likely to admit to the truth.

Evan looked up, but on meeting his father's accusing eye looked away again, revealing the truth in a voice so quiet it wouldn't have been heard had the room not been so silent. "We didn't have any of the whisky Father, Harry wouldn't let us, he said we were too young and he absolutely forbade it so Fred and George wouldn't give us any."

Severus blinked at him in surprise, before turning to his elder son and asking him if it were true.

Harry nodded.

"Well at least one of you had a little sense." A furious Molly harrumphed, glaring daggers at her twins before launching into angry tirade about the perils of alcohol.

None of them were paying even the slightest bit of heed to her though; they were all too busy watching the Potions Master to see how he was going to react. For a few tense moments he remained emotionless and silent but then eventually a slow smile stretched across his features and he admitted that he was somewhat impressed.

He then stood from the table and stalked over to his son, poured a measure of the green sludge and told him to drink.

Harry eyed it gingerly. "What is it?" he asked.

"Poison. It will render you unconscious within the hour, allowing me to deliver you to some of the Dark Lords most ardent followers!"

"No really?" Harry asked again, suppressing a laugh.

"Drink it!" he instructed sternly.

Harry lifted the glass to his lips and sniffed. It smelt foul but then again what potion didn't and he trust his father, so to the immense astonishment of all gathered, he held his nose and tipped it down his throat without further question.

Severus smirked and returned to his seat.

Harry waited for a moment to see what would happen, It hadn't tasted as bad as it had smelled, it was quite refreshing actually but when it produced no obvious effects he turned to his father, to find him now happily tucking into his toast and marmalade, and asked again what it was.

"Hangover reliever."

"Oh" Harry said in surprise, and realised that he did actually feel less woolly now than he had a moment ago. "Thank you."

His father frowned slightly, "If I was right I would have left you to suffer as a reminder of the stupidity of your actions."

"So why didn't you?" the boy asked boldly.

"Considering your rather subpar record of self-preservation, you act surprisingly responsible when it comes to the wellbeing of your brother and sister, a behaviour I find myself compelled to try and encourage and besides I spent rather a lot of money on your party. I wouldn't want your memory of it overshadowed by that of a hangover.

"And because you love me and don't want to see me suffer." Harry added with a grin,

"That too!" Snape agreed rolling his eyes, a flush of pink staining his otherwise porcelain skin.

Fred and George grinned at each other, awwing in unison as Ron chanced his arm at asking his usually sterner professor if he could have some of the Potion.

"That is up to your parent's."

"Mum?"

Believing that her children would be better served by learning to accept the consequences of their actions Molly refused but after a brief conversation with her husband she changed her mind, if nothing else they had a lot to do when they got home in preparation for the trip to Egypt, the last thing she needed was them moping about, effectively useless.

The Weasley's left after brunch, and wishing to talk to Morgana alone Severus sent the children outside reminding them to stay out of the now forbidden garden.

Harry found it a lot harder to connect with Brendan and Aurelia than he had Lily and Evan, he didn't know if it was because they were so much younger or what but it was just awkward and there wasn't really anything to do with them either and so he was relieved when Morgana appeared a while later to take them home again.

"It was nice to meet you Miss Granger." She muttered politely before informing Harry and the twins that she would see them next weekend and stalking off.

They wouldn't be staying then, Harry thought happily before the feeling shifted to one of guilt. He shouldn't be happy about a situation that caused his father pain.

Leaving Hermione outside with the twins he ran back to the house, wanting, no needing to check if the man was okay but his father had only sighed and refused to talk about it. It was his mess to sort out; Thirteen or not Harry was still a child and he didn't want him to be worrying himself about it.