Chapter 12 – Harry's New Home

Thanks a lot to my beta-readers, Orodruin and AmyLouise, for correcting my mistakes.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.

Chapter 12 – Harry's New Home

When they emerged from the fireplace, an excited Professor McGonagall came over to them. "It's so nice to see you, Harry. I'm sorry that I couldn't visit you in the hospital wing, but I had to arrange the papers for the guardianship and cover for Albus while he was at the Ministry."

"It's no problem, Professor McGonagall. I had a lot of visitors." Immediately, he had a stabbing feeling in his heart because he remembered the conflict with Ron and Hermione.

Professor McGonagall laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled sympathetically at him. "I'm very glad that you decided to live with us. Maybe..." She couldn't finish her sentence because loud, fast footsteps were coming down the staircase opposite the entrance door and slightly to the right of the fireplace.

"He's here, Ly, come on!" the small, black-haired boy shouted while he bustled down the stairs.

Harry had seen the Snape twins before, but it was still funny to see a miniature copy of Professor Snape running down the stairs. Harry couldn't hide his grin.

"Stop running, Eathan!" Ivy said worriedly. "You'll fall down."

Eathan stopped abruptly and then climbed down the stairs more carefully. "Yes, Mum."

The other twin appeared at the top of the staircase. He came down very carefully and never took his eyes off Harry.

Meanwhile, Eathan had reached Harry and bounced up and down in front of him. "You're here, you're here!"

Harry was a little bewildered because he didn't understand why Eathan was so excited about him being here. He looked helplessly from Professor McGonagall to Ivy, but before either of them could say anything, a deep baritone broke the silence.

"Let him breathe, Eathan!" Professor Snape said, and took his other son in his arms as he passed him on the stairs.

Lysander leaned into his dad's neck while they both came closer to Harry. It was obvious that the twins had totally different characters. Lysander seemed to be a little shy and careful while Eathan seemed to be very open and active.

"You should be in bed, Severus," Professor McGonagall scolded the Potions Master.

Severus just rolled his eyes and said, "I'm fine, and that sneaky Healer better not dare to come near me soon." Before any of the women could say anything, he addressed Harry, "So Madam Pomfrey finally released you?"

"Yes, she had a few rules for me, but I'm allowed to move in now," Harry said, a little unsure whether he had to give a full report about exactly what rules Madam Pomfrey had set.

"Rules?" Severus asked while raising his eyebrow. "What rules, exactly?"

"Rules are stupid!" Eathan stated rebelliously and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Watch your mouth, young man, or you will go to bed," Severus said strictly.

Eathan started to pout and pushed his bottom lip out.

"And pouting won't help either," Severus said while placing Lysander down.

"Maybe we should introduce the kids, Severus, before we ask for rules or start to set rules." Ivy tried to coax her son out of his misery. Eathan often couldn't hold his temper and got into trouble with his father. "This is Eathan," Ivy said while patting Eathan's head and slowly pulling him against her legs.

Eathan was happy that his mother had rescued him. He never knew how to react when he got himself into trouble. Lysander always has it so much easier. I really hope Harry is cooler than Ly. Maybe he'll fly with me and my new broom. He's the best Quidditch player in Hogwarts!

"And this one is Lysander," Severus said as he tried to push the little boy half-hiding behind his left leg in front of him.

Lysander was also very happy about his new brother. Oh, yeah, Mom said we should not call him that because he still might decide not to live with us. I just hope he won't only play with Eathan. Maybe he can teach me to fly better so that Eathan can't beat me every time we fly for a race.

"Hi, you two!" Harry said, a little unsure what to do or say.

"Shall I show you my broom?" Eathan asked. He grabbed Harry's hand and tried to pull him in the direction of the stairs.

Ivy quickly grabbed her over-eager son around his waist and pinned him against her legs again. "Eathan, what did we talk about?"

Eathan sighed and said, "We should let Harry move in in peace, and then Harry can decide if he wants to play with us." He looked sadly at the floor. "But we had to wait so long!"

"Eathan, Harry hasn't even seen his new home or his room. He cannot just start playing with you, and he might not play with you at all, if he doesn't want to," she said to the child, who was now craning his neck to look up at her. When she looked at Harry again, she said, "Don't let them annoy you too much. If you don't want to play with them, just say so and they will have to accept it."

Harry looked at Eathan, who now was looking at him. Eathan's puppy-dog look was perfect, and Harry had to laugh. "You are quite good at pulling that face, aren't you? Can anyone resist it?"

"Oh, yes!" Severus said. "And you should learn to, as well, or you will not have a free minute from now on."

Harry knelt down in front of Lysander. "What's with you? Do you also have a broom?"

Lysander was happy that Harry spoke to him. Maybe he will really play with me and not just with Eathan. He shyly nodded his head. "But I'm not as good as Eathan."

Eathan had moved over to his brother and now stood proudly bedside him.

"Then we have to change that, don't we?" Harry said.

"Yeah!" both boys were shouting because for them it sounded like an invitation to flight training right now. "Brooms out!" They ran, still screaming with excitement, in the direction of the broom cupboard where they ran into their grandfather, who caught both in his arms.

"Not so fast, young men!" Albus said; he'd just come through one of the portraits on the wall when he saw the twins. It was obvious that they shouldn't go flying at this time, so he tried to stop them before their father could lose his patience with them and send them to bed.

"But, Grandpa, Harry wants to fly with us. Ly will learn to fly faster now! Harry is the best!" Eathan was so excited that Albus feared the boys would never get to sleep tonight.

"I'm sure he is the best, but I'm also sure that it is a little late for a fly now," Albus said to calm the twins.

"Oh, it's dark, right?" Eathan asked. He hadn't thought about that.

"Yes, it is! Has Harry already seen his room?" Albus asked, even though he knew the answer. Phineas, the man in the portrait that led to his office and back to the house, had told him just a few minutes ago that Harry had arrived. So he couldn't have seen anything except the big room they were standing in right now.

"No, these two nuisances didn't gave us a chance to show Harry anything because they tried to pester him to play with them," Severus said while Albus came over to the small group.

"Already out of bed, Severus?" Albus cocked his eyebrow and tilted his head.

"These are my quarters, so I want to be present when Harry moves in. There are a few rules to set, and you cannot expect me to believe that my wife is capable of setting any of the rules I think are necessary."

"Already trying to make me look like a soft mother?" Ivy said teasingly. She didn't seem to be hurt. "So you think I'm not able to set rules?"

"Oh, of course you are capable of setting rules, but they sadly don't match my rules very often. So I just have to make sure that Harry will hear my rules as well, my dear," Severus said sweetly to his wife.

Harry was a little confused. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia never spoke like this to one another. Uncle Vernon said something, and Aunt Petunia just did it. They never teased each other, like the two professors were obviously doing right now. Harry would have to get used to Ivy speaking like that to Professor Snape and that he wouldn't get angry with her for talking back. He was also surprised that Ivy wasn't hurt by what Professor Snape said. Their teasing seemed so relaxed that it was enjoyable to watch them.

"Speaking about rules, Harry, what ones has Madam Pomfrey set up?" Severus asked, to divert attention from the fact that he wasn't allowed out of bed right now. He knew Albus wouldn't let the subject drop quickly if he couldn't distract him.

Harry sighed. He had hoped he didn't have to repeat them in front of all the adults, but they would hear about them from Ivy anyway.

"Just about eating regularly and having a check up each evening." He quickly looked at Ivy.

"And?" Ivy said challengingly.

Harry sighed again. She seems to have inherited some of the strictness of her mother. "And an early bed time and naps," he said in a voice that could hardly be heard.

"I can give you Beaver; he can help you sleep," Lysander said sympathetically because he saw that Harry was sad about going to bed early and having to nap.

"And you can have Fox," Eathan said proudly, but then became a little thoughtful and uneasy and quickly added, "for a while ." He was usually the braver one of the twins, but sleeping without his fox plushy scared him.

"Beaver and Fox? Are those your plushies?" Harry asked, happy to divert the attention away from himself.

"Yes, do you want to see them? Do you want to see our room?" Now both boys were bouncing in front of Harry.

"Oh, you two are high on sugar, aren't you? Have you been in Grandpa's office?" Severus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. Most of the symptoms of his bronchitis were repressed by James' potions, but he still had difficulties breathing freely. He also had a headache and felt a little dizzy and exhausted

The twins looked guiltily up at Albus.

"Yes, they were in my office because their father needed his rest. May I add that he still looks as though he needs rest? Shall I ask James to check on you, or will you go back where you belong without him?" Albus said in a tone that made it clear there was an unspoken message to Severus in his words. Obviously, he didn't want to try to order Severus back into bed in front of the children.

Severus looked at Albus and thought hard about whether he could argue with him, but before he could reply, Ivy was linking her arm with his and addressed her father. "Come on, Dad, it's a big day for all of us, and Severus doesn't want to miss Harry's first tour through the quarters. He already agreed to stay in bed tomorrow to get some more rest."

Severus jerked around, or at least he tried to. Ivy had a tight grip on his arm, and so he could only look sideways at her. "I didn't!"

"Of course you did, darling. You did because you knew that otherwise I would call James to check that your little adventure out of bed didn't have a worsening effect on you. Can't you remember?" Ivy asked sweetly.

"Ivy," Severus said, growling.

"Yes, Severus?" she turned to him so that he could see her face.

One look into her face and Severus knew that it was his last chance to come out of this without getting embarrassed in front of his sons. It was something to get used to: that now there was another son in the room who was, unfortunately, old enough to read between the lines and so knew that they were manipulating him right now. He felt uneasy about it, but when he looked at Harry, he could only see him looking sympathetically back at him. Yeah we have something in common right now. That eased his nerves a little, and he said, "Let's have the tour then."