Snape noticed. Such an annoyingly fragile child, he grumbled to himself. James wouldn't have stopped crowing and congratulating himself on such a stunt for days, yet a few sharp words, and Harry's practically in tears. Really тАУ the boy needs to be more thick skinned, he huffed, feeling uncomfortably guilty. Who would have thought that his simple disapproval could so affect the brat?
"Your behavior was atrocious, Potter," he said gruffly. "If you weren't the most talented flier Hogwarts has seen in several generations, you would surely have killed yourself with that foolishness."
Harry perked up at the praise. His professor couldn't be that angry if he was taking the time to say nice things about Harry. Plus, it hadn't been the violation of the school rules that he objected to, it was Harry's risking injury. That showed he really liked Harry, despite everything. Harry grinned shyly at his guardian.
"Come along, you troublesome brat," Snape scolded. "Do you imagine I will let you skip your dinner? Sit down in the kitchen while I order a plate of liver and brussel sprouts for you."
"Yuck!" Harry protested, knowing his guardian's threat was empty. Even if Snape did order such a disgusting meal, Harry knew the doting house elves would send up something else. "Not liver, Pr'fessor! I'll be good!"
Sure enough, as if to make up for the drama in the Great Hall, the house elves delivered Harry's favorite meal of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and two vegetables. Snape huffed as it appeared on the table and pointedly ignored Harry's delighted exclamation.
The two settled down comfortably to their meal. Harry wiggled on his chair, exulting in the fact that even though he had been absolutely eye-popping furious, Professor Snape had still given him the healing potion to make sure his bum didn't hurt and took the time to show he'd noticed what a good flier Harry was. Harry beamed at his plate. Plenty of other parents weren't nearly as kind. He'd heard his peers complain about their parents enough to know there were parents who, when they got angry, said awful, hurtful things to their kids, or walloped them until they were sore for days, or тАУ worse тАУ didn't care in the least. Harry had experienced all of the above from the Dursleys, but he'd assumed it was because he wasn't really theirs that they were so awful to him. After all, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia never treated Dudley like that.
It had astounded him to learn that some parents did that to their real kids. In the Wizarding world, Remus said there were even parents who hexed their children. Harry shivered at the thought. How could grown ups act that way?
He glanced over to where Professor Snape was sipping his tea. He was so lucky. Professor Snape was one of the nicest people ever. He'd saved Harry from the Dursleys and rescued his godfather for him and he didn't even care that he was defying the Headmaster and breaking the law to do it. He was brave and noble and heroic and he was kind even to people he didn't like тАУ like making that potion for Remus every month. He never lost his temper тАУ though he did put on a terrifyingly good act, Harry admitted silently тАУ and he didn't smack Harry really hard even when he should, like that time at the Weasleys. He also looked after his House better than any of the other faculty did тАУ Professors Flitwick and Sprout and McGonagall might not insist on bedtimes and stuff, but neither did they offer extra tutoring or make sure that the prefects stamped out any internal bullying before it had the chance to begin.
During his week of detention after the Quirrell incident, Harry had had plenty of chances to see his guardian interact with his little snakes тАУ and he and his friends had even gotten into the habit of stopping by the Slytherin Common Room to do their homework. Not only was it a lot quieter and more conducive to studying than was the noisy bonhomie of the Gryffindor Common Room, but also the older Slytherins were actually expected to help the younger ones, rather than the "every wizard for himself" philosophy of Gryffindor. Even better, it gave Hermione and Draco the chance to argue with each other over the assignments' finer points, thus sparing Harry, Ron, Neville, Vince, and Greg.
At first Ron and Harry had worried that without Hermione browbeating them, their schoolwork might suffer, but Professor Snape тАУ and the Slytherin prefects тАУ didn't allow them to get away with turning in sloppy assignments. Ron had discovered this one evening when a prefect demonstrated that: (1) doodling snitches and brooms was an unacceptable use of study time and (2) being seated in no way protected one's backside from a stinging hex. Ron had started to hotly complain to the others about how the prefect was picking on him for being a Gryffindor, but Neville quietly pointed out that the same prefect who had just communicated his displeasure with Ron's study habits was now administering the same correction to two fourth year Slytherins at the next table who'd chosen to discuss the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend rather than work on their Arithmancy homework. Ron had stared, open mouthed, as the two older students yelped and squirmed just as he had, then rather thoughtfully returned to revising his essay. (Like the two Slytherins, he also found it more comfortable to spend the rest of that evening working from a standing position.) The end result was that, while they would never rival Hermione or Draco for top honors, both Harry and Ron's academic efforts dramatically improved - and their grades followed suit. Auntie Molly and Uncle Arthur had been beside themselves with delight when Professor McGonagall contacted them with the news that Ron had earned special praise for his latest Transfiguration essay.
Harry also discovered that helping Vince and Greg with their work was actually kind of fun and helped him understand the material much better. Neville had even stopped being so scared of Potions when he realized that however poor his grasp of the material might be, it was infinitely better than Greg's. Plus, Harry had noticed that his guardian liked it when there were Slytherins in the group of students who showed up with Harry to help Snape prepare ingredients. It was a good mix in other ways too; the purebloods were more familiar with the various magical ingredients, while the muggleborns were often good at preparation tasks, thanks to growing up in families that prepared food the Muggle way. Everyone hated to scrub cauldrons, though, and they quickly realized that any bickering or misbehavior while preparing ingredients in the dungeons led to a lengthy acquaintance with Snape's scrub brush тАУ and the rough edge of his tongue. Even Hermione and Draco learned to avoid arguing about house elves' rights after spending a few evenings up to their elbows in cauldron sploodge.
Harry grinned again. His guardian not only took care of him in his quarters, but also made sure that he and his friends were welcome in his House and were treated there just like the other little snakes. Professor Snape oversaw his schoolwork, and not just in Potions either, and fussed about whether Harry ate his vegetables and got enough sleep. And of course he went spare whenever Harry did something reckless.
Harry knew that there were plenty of other students whose parents were nowhere near as concerned about them. Hadn't Professsor Snape been the only one to stay with him in the Infirmary after the Quirrell incident, just so he would be there when Harry woke up and felt upset?
Snape sipped his tea, hoping that eventually his stomach would calm enough to permit him to eat something. Watching Harry careen around the Great Hall, nearly smashing himself against the unforgiving stone with one ridiculous, dizzying swoop after another, had caused his stomach to churn and roil. Obviously it was nothing more than a touch of motion sickness caused by his trying to track the brat long enough to snag him with a magical rope. What else could it be?