At about two in the morning, he had understood. There was neither rhyme nor reason to the way he went through the book now. He wanted to understand it all. He wanted to learn it all. He wanted to try it all.

So the cup of tea was refreshing and helping him. But he needed a table and a chair. Sitting almost all night in front of the fire wasn't good for his back, quite on the contrary. All the hunching and writing on the floor — he was too old for that. Needed to find that Ikea store. Or ask Eleanor to point it out to him. And it would put another dent into the diminishing bank notes in the mattress. But a table had to be. The rest didn't matter.

In the end, as he sipped his tea, standing in the kitchen, he wasn't surprised that there was another knock on the door. It seemed people didn't grasp that he wanted to be left alone. Only briefly did he wonder who it was — could be anyone from Minerva McGonagall (whom he had no longing to see) to Arthur Weasley or Potter again, Weasley. He took a deep breath just before he opened the door and released it, rather positively surprised, that his godson stood there. At least that was someone who respected his authority still. At least he was someone whom he could stand being around and who knew about Eleanor.

"Good morning, Uncle Severus," he said in an uncharacteristically small voice. "Can I come in?"

"Seeing that I seem to be living in the most visited house in the United Kingdom, please, feel free," he snarled.

"Thank you," whispered his godson and stepped into the house. "Oh, you kept the cupboard."

"I have enough wood left for the time being to burn," he grimaced. "However, your father took my books."

"Erm, yes," Draco nodded and lifted a smallish, old fashioned bag made of leather. It was the type of bag he had seen students carry around, under their arms, or if there were straps, over their shoulders. It looked just as worn but not in any way Wizardy.

"I found this in the Room of Requirement back at school. I didn't steal it, it was just there," the boy said, blushing slightly.

"And what would you do with it?"

"I wanted, erm, you to have it," he smiled a little shyly (another first, probably). "And please, I won't take no for an answer. You've given me so many gifts and I know that you have little but maybe you can use this in any way. To carry things around."

Severus looked bewildered. What would he do with a worn leather bag? But he supposed it would come in handy if he carried only a few things home from the shops.

"Promise you will keep the bag the way it is?" Draco asked and because Severus wasn't thinking clearly, because he was still too startled and trying to work out how a pureblood like Draco Malfoy could have pinched a clearly Mugglish bag from the Room of Requirement, he merely said:

"Yes."

His shy smile turned into a sly smirk and he handed it over. "Promises are not to be broken."

Severus frowned and took the leather bag from the boy. It was heavier than he had suspected — and on instinct, he opened it. It was full with bank notes.

"Draco!" he hissed sharply but the boy only shook his head.

"You promised to keep the bag the way it is," he smiled again. The little boy smile, clearly. "Do you think we can go to that Ikea-thing now? I'm curious."

13. Parts of Speech

Parts of speech

Nouns are words used to refer to people, objects, creatures, places, qualities, phenomena and abstract ideas as if they were all 'things.Adjectives are words used, typically with nouns, to provide more information about the 'things referred to (happy people, large objects, cute creatures, stupid ideas)Verbs are words used to refer to various kinds of actions (run, jump) and states (be, seem) involving the 'things' in eventsAdverbs are words used to provide more information about the actions and events (slowly, suddenly). Some adverbs (really, very) are also used with adjectives to modify the information about 'things' (really large objects, very stupid ideas)Prepositions are words (at, in, on, near, with, without) used with nouns in phrases providing information about time (at five, in the morning), place (on the table, near the window) and other connections (with a knife, without a thought) involving actions and things.Pronounds are words (me, they, he himself, this, it) used in place of noun phrases, typically referring to thinks already known (he likes himself, this is it!)Conjunctions are words (and, but, although, if) used to connect and indicate relationships between, event and things (we swam although it was very cold)

Severus glared as best as he could at his godson. He had been out-Slytherinned by a mere boy. He was stuck with stacks of twenty Pound bills now. It wasn't as much as he had deposited in his mattress but from the looks of it, it was at least five thousand Pounds. But the utter, sheer cheek of Lucius Mslfoy to steal his books and sell them. And to make his son bring him the money. And the utter cheek of Draco — so Slytherin. So...oh it was a reason to be proud of the boy, really. He had learned. He had matured. He had thought about this. And it had, obviously worked.

"Draco," he said threateningly and wanted to hand him back the leather bag.

"You promised. And you can truly use some furniture, Uncle Severus," the boy said. "At least a desk and a chair. Or a table. And somewhere to put your tea."

Severus glared. But he had promised and he had never, in his life, broken a single promise. He nodded solemnly, then put the bag on the floor.

"My parents did not say why they did this," said Draco quietly.

Interesting. So his godson, obviously, thought along the same lines he did. There was nothing Lucius would do without knowing that there was some benefit for him in it. He wondered, and had wondered, though, what it was. He was now a mere Muggle. He was a nobody to the Wizarding World. Just one of those more or less worthless people who were scattered all over Britain and all over the world. Not worth thinking about it. And why would the Malfoys, especially Lucius, be interested in that?

He was nothing. And since he had no plan of procreating, he would never even have a reason for entering the Wizarding World in one way or another. And he had to admit to himself that in the past forty-eight hours, he hadn't missed magic. Or maybe even longer than that. Well, yes, he had wanted to hex first the Granger girl and Potter, then Draco, then of course Lucius and Narcissa but he wouldn't have done it in any case. That much he knew. Even if he had his wand, his full capability, he would have never done it.

And when all was said and done, he had to fists that would work as well. Not against a Killing Curse but in favour of throwing people out of the house. That much, he could do without magic.

Only, no, he did not want to throw Draco out. The boy was more insightful than he had anticipated — and he had shown rather great cunning in having him take the money. There was no other word for it. He had been tricked into taking the money by his godson.

Be that as it may, he let Draco's comment slide. There was no telling what the Malfoys were after. But if his godson was so willing, or eager, rather, to go to Ikea with him, he wouldn't say no to a further pair of hands that could help carry things. Only trouble was...he had no idea where he had to go.

"Draco," he began hesitantly, "please go over to Mrs Callaghan's house and ask her exactly where Ikea is and how we get there. I will get changed in the meantime."

The boy nodded and with a grateful, little boy smile, darted off. Well, if Severus was honest, this was probably not what his parents had expected (not that he had expected it) and if he could bring his godson to lose all his prejudice against Muggles, that could only be a good thing. He had no clue, however, if Ikea was the proper way to go about this.

It took Draco a moment to figure out that there was a doorbell. Knocking on the door hadn't helped. He had stood in the cold for about five minutes and nobody had answered. And that didn't truly come as a surprise since there was no knocker or anything. And banging against doors was rude, he had been told even as a boy.

But after about five minutes, he noticed a little white knob and he pressed, curiously, on it with the tip of his finger. There was a racket going on inside. Loud chiming and ringing or whatnot and a moment later, truly, only a moment, fifteen seconds tops, Mrs Callaghan opened the door.

Her eyes went gleamingly happy after a moment and her mouth fell into a delighted smile, he thought. She was — from what he could tell — happy to see him.

"Oh Draco, you came back," she gushed.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered as politely as he had been taught and bowed a little. "My godfather send me to ask how we could get to Ikea. He doesn't know exactly where it is."

"I wasn't aware that he had a car," she said, only a lilt in her voice, not a strong accent and she slowly reached towards him, touching his cold-bitten cheek with her fingertips. Warm fingertips.

Draco frowned but was, internally, delighted at having that woman touch him. Again. "I don't think he has one," he replied hesitantly.

"Well then tell your godfather that I'll be there in a tic and that I will drive you. The car's old and I'm afraid the heating isn't working properly well but you can't honestly walk all the way to Ikea and back. It's too far. And the stuff will be too heavy to carry home."

Draco had honestly not thought about it. If his godfather bought furniture, at least chairs and a table, how would they get all of that to his house? Mrs Callaghan seemed to think that it fit in her car — but a table and chairs were big. And no matter how big the car was, it seemed unlikely, that the furniture would fit in there. Maybe Muggles had their own sort of Shrinking Charms. Or maybe Extension Charms on cars. He would have to wait and see but for the first time, Draco felt as if a whole new world had opened up to him. There was a life outside Hogwarts and Malfoy Manor and Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley and all the other magical places. There was an entire world to see. A world in which people did not know him and didn't immediately sneer at him, or point at him, or make fun of him. A world in which people didn't know him. A world in which furniture could be transported in a car.

Oh, he knew what a car was. He wasn't that uninformed altogether — but he had never ridden in one. He didn't know what to expect but there was a strange feeling inside of him. A feeling that he hadn't had in a long time. It was a sort of excitement, of looking forward to something. Anticipation.

"Will do," he told Mrs Callaghan and as he hand left his cheek, he left her doorstep and walked briskly back to his godfather's house.

Oh but if his parents knew... Draco Malfoy smirked to himself. He would go where no other Malfoy had gone before him.

The boy smirked. Smirked.

"And?" asked Severus.

"She told me that we should wait outside because she'd drive us with a car. It's too far to walk, she said," he answered, and the smirk was a little boy smile again. Some part of Severus felt even tempted to ruffle his godchild's hair and to tell him to calm down a bit. On the other hand, he was no boy anymore. He was almost grown up, was of age. And the way, he saw it, he was merely excited about all this.

He wasn't. Driving in a car with an old woman? Mrs Callaghan seemed fit but she was over seventy and her eyes couldn't be that good anymore. Her ability to react quickly had probably been lost somewhere in the last seventy years and he had seen cars rushing by as well. He had almost been run over more than once already on his ways to the supermarket.

But on the other hand, it did make sense not to walk around with furniture especially not far. He was still not on top of his physical fitness and he definitely would not let Draco use his wand to make everything smaller and lighter. If Draco wanted to spend time with him (which it almost felt like — strange as it was), he would have to keep his wand to himself. There would be absolutely no magic around him. Not anymore.

Severus Snape was nothing if not consistent. He had received his verdict, someone had put a curse on him — and he would live by it. This was his way of repenting his sins.

And — so far, living as a Muggle had not been so terrible. Quite on the contrary. He had a neighbour who seemed to like him and a godson who came to see him and seemed to have earned his trust again. That was more than he could say about his last days before the Final Battle. And as far as everything apart from driving a car went, he did trust Eleanor. He knew that she would not betray his trust. As long as he survived driving in a car with her.

Severus pulled on his new leather jacket and nodded at Draco. "Let's not keep her waiting," he said gruffly.

"Have you ever..." the boy asked curiously, anxiously.

"Driven in a car?" he asked back and watched how Draco nodded. "Yes. But it has been a while."

Oh, he had. With his father and mother. In another lifetime.

"What's it like?"

"You'll see," he said, barely able to hide his smirk. The boy was in for a ride.

She smiled broadly. Those two looked always so solemn and even cross but she knew that in there were kind, good, brave men in both of them. She had seen scars on both of them. Terrible looking things on Severus's neck (that she had every intention of inquiring after — all in good time) and the boy had a long scar on his lower arm and a little scar that seemed to divide his left eyebrow.

Oh but Severus looked dashing in the leather jacket. Cut quite the figure in the old thing and a pair of jeans. Oh but he needed new shoes. They looked worn and not good anymore. It was Christmas soon and there would be snow, probably. It had been known to happen occasionally.

"Ready?" she asked, smiling at the two of them, then walked forward and grabbed the lapels of the leather jacket. "It suits you," she whispered and winked. The tips of his ears seemed to grow a little pink and she smirked.

The old Fiat would do its job, she hoped and she knew that those smart people at Ikea always had their furniture always packed as small as possible. It would all go in there, even if it would be a little uncomfortable. Better than have them walk in the cold. With a heavy load. They both looked scrawny still. More good meals and she would invite them for Christmas. That was for sure. She wasn't sure about Draco's family but Severus had to come. Even if it meant that he'd have to endure her family. Which wasn't always easy. But he would survive.