The three of them tossed the beach ball between them, Sirius getting slowly more aggressive and daring as the game went on. At one point, he launched himself off Remus' shoulders to reach up and spike the ball down towards the water, laughing when it made Harry squawk. Needing a minute to catch his breath, Harry swam over to the edge of the pool, leaning his elbows on the stone tiles.
"Good book, Professor?" he called cheerfully to Snape, who glanced up at him.
"Indeed."
"You should come swim for a bit, y'know," Harry offered. "Maybe you could try and drown Sirius."
"Oi!" came the cry from across the pool. Snape's eyes glittered in amusement.
"Tempting," he mused. Then, to Harry's utter astonishment, Snape put his book down and sat up. Seconds later, Harry was looking at his professor's bare chest as he shed his t-shirt and walked towards the pool. There was a loud wolf-whistle, and when Harry whipped around, the exasperated look on Remus' face confirmed that he had definitely not made that noise. Sirius on the other hand was smirking, beach ball in one hand.
Snape was pale as snow, thin and wiry, with several faint scars across his torso and biceps. Harry tried not to gawk at him. Snape hadn't even taken his shirt off when they went to the beach!
The man stepped up to the edge of the pool, diving smoothly into the deep end and reappearing a few feet from Remus' side. His dark hair stuck down flat, and he glanced askance at Remus. "Am I allowed to drown the mutt?" he asked. Remus sighed, struggling to hold in his amusement.
"I'd rather you didn't," he replied conversationally. "But whatever makes you happy."
"Oi!" Sirius said again, mock-angry. "No drowning the Padfoot! This is a no-drowning pool."
"What a pity," Snape drawled, before launching off into the water again. He ignored the three of them entirely, swimming steady lengths along the edge of the pool, dodging the beach ball when necessary. After about twenty minutes, he hoisted himself out of the water, heading back towards his deck chair. As he walked away, Harry caught sight of a nasty, twisted scar running diagonally across his mid-back. It looked almost like he'd been whipped.
"Don't ask," Remus murmured softly, his honey eyes on his partner as the man cast a Drying charm on himself, then tugged his t-shirt back on. "He's trusting you enormously to even let you see them."
Harry nodded, turning back to the pool. Much to his surpr ise, he was actually starting to like Snape quite a lot. The man's quick wit and dry humour were unexpectedly hilarious, and he was a great teacher now he didn't hate Harry. Harry wasn't looking forward to going back to school in September, when they'd have to pretend to be enemies again.
They stayed in the pool for a while longer, then eventually dried off and dragged themselves back to the house, Sirius playfully wrestling Harry on the way. Snape and Remus disappeared into their room after lunch, Remus claiming to need a nap before their evening plans, so Harry pestered Sirius into helping him practice fourth year Transfiguration spells. Even if he couldn't show it in his classwork without making Dumbledore suspicious, he wanted to prepare himself as much as he could. Even Hermione would be impressed at how much of a bookworm he was becoming; the manor library was one of his favourite places, and the bookshelves in his room were rapidly filling up. He had an entire section for fiction novels now, both wizarding and muggle — Remus insisted there was more to books than just learning, and wanted to make sure Harry started out with the classics. Reading muggle versions of magic in books was wildly entertaining.
Ceri called them down for an early dinner, and Harry was practically vibrating with excitement through the meal, wondering what his godfather had in store for him. He wolfed down his food, looking up at the clock. They still had another twenty minutes. "Do I need to go change?" he asked, looking down at the plain jeans and t-shirt he was wearing, then looking at the adults. "Where are we going, magic or muggle?"
"Muggle. Grab your jacket, we'll be outside," was all Sirius would tell him. Harry nodded, racing up to his bedroom and throwing his wardrobe open, looking at his choices. Sirius had been in jeans and a t-shirt, but he made everything he wore look cool. Snape was wearing black jeans and a dark green button-up, while Remus had on grey trousers, a button-up and a cardigan. Not helpful. Eventually, Harry decided on a nice pair of dark jeans, a blue long-sleeve shirt with a geometric design on it, and his Silverling's jacket and boots. He made an attempt at taming his wild hair, but gave up within a couple minutes, shrugging helplessly at his reflection.
Making sure his wand was in its invisible holster, Harry grabbed his muggle wallet off his desk and hurried back downstairs, where the three adults were waiting in the entrance hall. "You ready, pup?" Sirius asked, excitement lighting up his grey eyes. Harry grinned, nodding, and followed them out into the driveway.
You couldn't apparate or disapparate from inside the house, so they always had to walk about twenty feet away to get past the wards. Before they left, Snape turned to Sirius, casting a few spells to mask his true identity; his hair became short and mid-brown, his jaw narrower, his skin several shades darker. It wasn't entirely necessary — after several weeks of good meals, a shave and a haircut, Sirius was a far cry from the man on the wanted posters, and his face hadn't been on the muggle news in months. But, better safe than sorry.
Harry took Sirius' arm, waiting for the now-familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube. They appeared in an empty alley somewhere, Remus and Snape right behind them. Harry fell into step beside his godfather, bouncing on his toes as they left the alley and emerged on a street right next to what looked like a huge park. It was full of people, blocked in by barriers, and rising over the crowd Harry could see some sort of stage structure. There was loud music coming from the crowd; a kind of gentle, folksy rock music.
Sirius put an arm around his shoulder, keeping him close as they joined a line of people at some sort of entrance gate. "Have you ever been to a concert before, cub?" Remus asked from behind him, his eyes bright. Harry shook his head. "Well, this is a good one for your first time. Just stay close to us, okay?"
Sirius handed over four tickets at the gate, and each of them was given a wristband, Harry's red to show he was underage. The crowd thinned out once they got through the barriers, and Harry saw a line of smaller stalls selling food and merchandise and such. "Open air concerts are always better than something in a venue," Sirius declared, his arm still across Harry's shoulders. "There's more space, it's not as smoky, and the music sounds better too."
•
🚀New updates on my Ko-fi!🚀
Support me and read the novel, now available in PDF, with the advanced chapters.
•
https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling