Chapter 16 – Problems Again

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 16 – Problems Again

"Master Harry, Master Harry!"

"Uhhh." Harry turned around. He hadn't slept that well in ages, and he didn't want it to end now. No lying awake for hours, no nightmare, no waking up in the middle of the night with no hope of going to sleep again. That must be heaven.

"Master Harry has to get up!"

Harry groaned and turned, still with closed eyes, in the direction of the annoying voice. When he opened his eyes, he feared his heart would stop beating from shock because only inches from his face were hovering two big eyes. When Harry's eyes focused on the ugly face in front of him, he recognized Paul. Definitely not heaven. There is no chance that creatures like this live in heaven.

"What?" Harry asked, still struggling to fully awaken.

"Master Harry has to get up and eat breakfast. It's 9:45, and Mistress said you should eat by 9:30, Master Harry. That means you are already late!" Paul reprimanded Harry.

"Sorry, Paul, I'll get up now," Harry mumbled and tossed the bed covers back.

"Twinky will serve breakfast in the living room, Master Harry. Come down when you have..."

"Used the toilet, combed your hair and brushed your teeth. Yes, yes, I remember," Harry grumbled, annoyed.

"You forgot 'washed your face,' Master Harry," Paul said dryly, as if he hadn't noticed Harry's rebellious tone. Without another word, he vanished with a pop.

Harry tried to find some casual clothing, but all he had, except for his school robes, were Dudley's old clothes, and he didn't want to wear them here. So he decided to wear his school robes again. With the robes and fresh...as fresh as Dudley's old oversize briefs could be...underwear under his arm, he headed for the bathroom.

I hope Paul hasn't told anyone about the bathroom problems yesterday. Harry had no intention of repeating it, and so he did all that he thought the room wanted him to do, but when he tried to leave, the door was locked again.

"Salve!" The room demanded.

"What?" Harry asked, less annoyed than surprised that he had forgotten something.

"Salve on the top of the cabinet!"

Harry looked for whatever the room was talking about and recognized the salve Madam Pomfrey had given him on the cabinet. "Oh, I forgot, sorry!" Realizing what he was doing, he blushed. Fantastic, now I'm speaking with a room and even apologizing to it.

He removed his robes and the old worn-out shirt under them and applied the salve on the fading wounds on his back, chest and stomach. Relieved that he could leave the room now, he threw the salve on the top of the cabinet again and banged into the door in his attempt to open it. Now he really was annoyed. "What more?" he asked angrily.

"Salve!"

"I have already applied it!" Harry shouted.

A pop was heard, and Harry didn't have to turn to know that Paul had appeared again.

"Problems again, Master Harry?"

Harry closed his eyes and tried to control himself. "Yes!" Harry hissed and turned around to face the annoying house-elf.

Paul was smiling arrogantly at him.

"This damn room is demanding I should apply the salve, but I already did. It's not my problem that it didn't see me applying it."

"Of course the room saw you applying the salve, Master Harry. Maybe you haven't done it correctly?" Paul said dryly.

"Not done it correctly? What the hell can someone do wrong while applying salve?"

"Language, Master Harry. Master Severus sets a high value on language. No cursing and no screaming, Master Harry!"

"I'm no baby. You don't have to tell me this!" Harry said, hot-tempered.

A bang at the door made Harry jump and turn. "Then don't behave like one, and do what he tells you, Harry. Your tea is getting cold. Do you want me to come in and help you?" Harry recognized the voice of Professor Snape even when it was very hoarse, as it was at the moment.

He didn't want to sound like a whining child, but he already felt desperate because he feared he would never be allowed to leave this room. He didn't understand what the room wanted from him. "I'm sorry, sir." He felt stupid speaking with his new guardian through the closed door.

"It's Severus, not sir, and you didn't answer my question. Do you want me to help you with the room?" Severus said calmly. He knew that it would take some time for Harry to adjust to the room. He had had one like this as a child, and he had hated it as well. It was very helpful with the twins but couldn't adjust for age, so Harry would have to learn to accept it.

"Yes, please, sir... Severus," Harry answered in such a small voice that Severus almost didn't catch it.

"You can leave, Paul, thank you," Severus said politely as he entered the room. The elf vanished immediately.

Harry looked at the floor, feeling embarrassed that he couldn't handle the situation on his own.

"So, what is the problem, Harry?" Severus asked patiently.

"I did everything the room said, I swear. I applied the salve and it still didn't let me out," Harry explained. He feared that Severus wouldn't believe him and that he would get into trouble. He shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"If you have done everything the room and Paul said, why are you so nervous?" Severus asked, eying Harry closely.

That made Harry panic. "I swear I did! Please, you must believe me!" he shouted desperately.

"Calm down, Harry. I believe you. I know that it will take you some time to understand what the room wants you to do. Paul can be a little smart-alecky and bossy, but you should try to accept him as a helping hand and not an annoying educator. He would have explained what you have to do, if you had let him. So next time, control your temper and let him explain, okay?"

"Yes, Severus," Harry said and blushed.

Severus had to smirk at Harry's behavior, but was glad that for the first time Harry had remembered to address him as Severus. "Okay...now let's find out what the problem is. So, what exactly did the room say?"

"It just said 'salve,' but I already did that," Harry said while pointing at the squeezed tube of salve on the top of the cabinet.

Severus picked up the tube. "Maybe it wasn't applied correctly. Remove your robes and let me see."

"What?" Harry asked, shocked.

"I have seen you naked in the hospital wing, Harry. Don't tell me you are embarrassed. We are both men, anyway," Severus said dryly and raised an eyebrow.

Harry removed his robes very quickly and pulled off the old shirt so that Severus wouldn't see how damaged it already was.

"Why are you wearing your robes anyway? You won't attend classes, so more casual clothing is fine." Looking questioningly at the disrobing child, Severus saw that Harry tried to hide the shirt from him. "And what is this?" He grabbed for the shirt and was surprised that Harry tried to hide it behind his back.

"Nothing, sir. Just a shirt," Harry said fearfully.

Severus rolled his eyes at the formal address again, but decided to ignore it this time. "Don't be childish, Harry. Give it to me!"

Harry placed the hated shirt in Severus' outstretched hand. His cheeks were burning, and he felt even worse when he saw the disgusted look on Severus' face.

Severus held the shirt away from himself with his fingertips and then tossed it in the dustbin. "Do all your casual clothes look like this?"

"Yes, sir. They are Dudley's old ones." Harry said this more to the floor than to Severus. Fantastic, now they will realize what a burden I am. "I have money, sir, and as soon as James allows me, I will buy new clothes. I promise."

"As your guardians, we are responsible for your financial holdings in Gringotts, and we have sealed your vault until you become of age. You can use your money for your education then. Until you are of age, we will take care of everything you need. We will go shopping as soon as James gives his okay. Until then... Twinky?"

A house-elf, this time one that really looked like the ones Harry was used to, appeared. "Master Severus has called Twinky? What can Twinky do for Master Severus?"

"Bring a shirt..." he eyed Harry head to toe, "...jeans, socks and boxers from my cupboard."

"Yes, Master!" Only seconds after Twinky had vanished, she appeared again, this time loaded with the demanded clothes.

"Thank you, Twinky. Please make sure that the tea downstairs won't get cold."

Again, Harry was taken aback by Severus' politeness to the elf, but he had other things on his mind now.

Severus placed the clothes on the sideboard and came over to Harry again. "So, let's see." He grabbed Harry's arm and turned him sideways.

Harry could feel Severus' hand stroking over his back and the wounds there. It was awkward, but Harry resisted the urge to lean into the touch. Merlin, you are such a baby that you want someone to rub your back, he admonished himself.

While Harry still was fighting with himself, Severus had started to stroke over the wounds on Harry's chest and stomach as well. "It seems you have applied it correctly."

"Like I said," Harry said, happy that Severus believed him.

"Remove your trousers, Harry," Severus said, as if it were the most natural thing to say right now.

"Sir?" Harry said, hoping Severus didn't mean what he had just said.

"Harry, please. I'm tired, and I don't look forward to get caught outside my bedroom by James or whoever is sure to come in soon. As I already said, I saw you naked in the hospital wing, and you had quite some welts on your bum and legs, so I am sure that there must have been a problem applying the salve to them," he said, a little annoyed but trying to stay calm and friendly.

Harry didn't want Severus to get annoyed or mad at him, so he started to fumble nervously with the buttons on his trousers. He was glad when Severus turned away from him and went over to the sideboard.

Oh, Merlin, this will take quite some work if he stays this shy and easy to embarrass, Severus thought. To let Harry have a little more privacy, he decided to look through the clothes Twinky had brought. Yes, they will do for today. A wave of his wand, and the clothes shrank a little. When he turned, he saw that Harry was standing, almost completely naked and barefoot, in the middle of the bathroom. He still had his gray briefs on but nevertheless tried to hide his crotch behind his hands.

"Merlin, Harry, you don't have anything I haven't seen before," he said, rolling his eyes and coming over to Harry again. Without waiting for any reply from Harry, he again tilted him sideways and lowered his briefs. Harry let out a squeak, but didn't try to squirm away. One look at the red welts made it clear that Harry hadn't applied any salve there. "I think we have found the problem, Harry."

"Hmmpf," Harry mumbled.

Severus had to chuckle at this reaction. He took the salve from the sink and applied it to the wounds on Harry's bum and legs. "Okay, done, and you are still living, aren't you?"

"Yes," Harry said shyly. It wasn't so bad to let Severus do this, but it was still awkward. Uncle Vernon wouldn't even think about touching him with his hands and certainly not on his bum. But Severus doesn't seem to have any problem with it; maybe he doesn't think I'm filthy. Harry felt a little bit like one of the twins now.

He had pulled up his worn-out briefs again and, funnily enough, didn't feel awkward standing in front of Severus in his briefs any longer. He didn't even try to cover his crotch again.

Severus had placed the salve on the cabinet again and now had the boxers in his hand. "They are also second hand, but I would say they aren't as worn as yours. It's up to you, Harry. If you prefer to wear the briefs until we get something new for you, it's okay with me."

"No, please, I would like to wear yours." Harry wondered how it would feel to wear boxers like those. They looked cool; black silken boxers.

"Okay." Severus handed Harry the boxers and turned to the sink, as if he was interested in something there, just to give Harry the privacy he so obviously needed.

Harry almost fell while he clumsily tried to change from his briefs into the boxers as fast as possible.

When Severus felt Harry go still again, he turned and offered him the rest of the clothes. "I tried to make them the right size, but I'm not Ivy. I swear she can look at you from head to toe and know all your clothing sizes. But, men as we are, we'll just have to make them fit on your body after you have put them on. Not the best way, but it will suffice for now."

It felt good when Severus spoke with him as if they were both equal even when it was just the gender. It was like yesterday when he had spoken about shaving. To have something in common with Severus made Harry feel normal and special at the same moment.

When Harry was completely dressed, Severus resized the clothes.

"Ehm... can you make it a little more loose?" Harry asked shyly when he felt the jeans cling to him snugly, like a second skin.

"Oh, I forgot about the teenage style." Severus waved his wand and enlarged the jeans so that they started to slip over Harry's hips and reveal his boxers.

"Not that much, Severus!" Harry said, shocked, and grabbed for the waistband to pull it up higher. When he looked at Severus, he saw him grinning.

"No?" Severus asked, playing surprised. "I thought that was the new style."

He is joking. Harry thought with surprise, No Gryffindor will believe me when I tell them about this. "Very funny."

When Severus turned to the door, he could hear Harry taking in a breath, almost stumbling over the oversize jeans when he tried to follow him.

"Severus, please," Harry pleaded, trying not to trip over the too-long legs of the jeans.

Without turning, Severus waved his wand and Harry's jeans were resized again, this time exactly how Harry wanted them to fit. So he really was joking, Harry thought and couldn't suppress a grin. He let his hand wander over his shirt. I feel more like a Snape now than a Potter. He had to smile about that. And it feels good.

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