Severus woke up with a headache to end all headaches. The night before he had shed all the tears he built up for twenty or so years, on top of which had been the constant tossing and turning of the child. Severus was holding his arms over his head, trying to pop the kinks out when he noticed the lump that had been laying under him was gone.

"Harry!" Severus yelled, jumping from the bed. First, Severus flung every cover off the bed. When he did not find Harry there, he knelt down and looked underneath. Fear griping him, Severus next tore his closet apart, throwing clothes about the room and then went into the bathroom to search. Having not found Harry yet, Severus tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Gathering himself up, Severus opened the door. There sitting on the couch was Harry, looking at some picture book. Berating himself, Severus went and sat down at the table, taking the cup of coffee offered by Lucy, and trying to calm his still shaking hands. "Harry, come to the table to eat."

Severus looked over to where Harry sat and saw that the child could not even see over the top of the table, much less reach the food. With a quick flick of his wand, Harry's seat started to rise until he was able to reach all the food on the table, and reach he did.

Harry's hand first grabbed a sausage off his plate, and when he had finished gnawing on it, he placed the half chewed remains of it back on the plate before reaching and grabbing a small handful of eggs.

Severus was appalled at the toddler's table manners, but he was even more horrified when Harry once again took up the sausage and offered it to him, the child's slobber still dripping off it. Severus pushed the small hand, and its contents away before he spewed what little breakfast he had eaten. Standing up and taking Harry from his seat, Severus noticed the sticky fingers, the egg in his hair, and the crumbs all over his face.

"It is time for another bath I believe," he said, leading Harry into the bedroom. Severus placed him on the bed while he went to run the water, but when he got back, Harry was no where to be found. Deciding he didn't want to search the already destroyed room again, Severus pulled out his wand.

"Point me Harry," he said, and the wand twirled on his palm and pointed right back into the kitchen.

Severus followed the wand, but he did not see Harry anywhere. Glancing back down, he saw the wand was turning again and pointed straight for the door. "The pond!" Severus thought and bolted for the door.

Forgetting that he was still in his pajamas, Severus ran through the door and rounded the corner. The stares from the mailman were not even noticed as Severus spotted Harry near the pond. "Harry!" he screamed, watching as Harry splashed around the edge. Severus knew the boy could fall in and go under, so without thinking, the spell left his wand, freezing the child in place.

Grabbing him up and sighing, Severus started walking back into the house. Though at sight of the mail man, he pulled his robe shut tight.

"Stay right here, Harry," he told him as he went to shut the door, glaring at the still lurking mailman, but when he turned around Harry was gone again.

"Harry! Come out this instant!"

Throwing his hands up in the air when Harry did not appear, Severus placed a spell on the door so it would not open and proceeded to tear the house apart in his search for him. Twenty minutes later, Severus walked back into the kitchen, his hair sticking up, his clothes covered in dust from crawling around on the floor.

"Where in the name of all that is good is that boy!" Severus said, sinking into the chair.

The cabinet door under the sink opened and out popped Harry, giggling. Severus did not know whether he wanted to choke the child or hug him, so he settled for wrapping his arms around the child as he crawled into his lap.

"What am I going to do with you? Already I can see myself having a heart attack before my time."

Harry just sat in Severus' lap and smiled up at him. Even as Severus tried to look stern, his demeanor quickly broke when Harry gave him a kiss on his face, leaving a big glob of slobber. Severus heard the snicker coming from Lucy.

"Do not even think of mentioning this. I see now I have been bested by a child, and I think it is high time I toddler-proofed the house."

The rest of the day was spent placing charms on the cabinets and doors, and he even had to pull Harry from the under the bathroom sink once. This had scared Severus to death, as Harry had emerged holding a vial of one of his potions. At the end of the day, Severus sat down, knowing the house was as secure as it could be and that Harry wouldn't be getting into anything he wasn't supposed to be.

"Well, now that Harry cannot get himself into any mischief, how about dinner," he called to Lucy. "Harry, come and have dinner," Severus called to the child who had gone into the bedroom an hour before. When Harry came out the door, he was wearing a pair of Severus' shoes, two of his shirts, and a pair of his slacks that reached past his ankles. At the sight of him, the weariness washed away, and Severus burst out laughing.

"Well, I guess my son has shown me that I cannot curb his desire to get into things."

Helping Harry out of the slacks, Severus sat him down in his lap and both of them enjoyed a meal of chicken and mashed potatoes. Severus knew he would need yet another bath, but he wouldn't trade this time with his son for anything else in the world.

Severus noticed that it was just past one o'clock and he still had many things to get done. He had only one day, and then would be returning to his position at Hogwarts to teach the potions class. Severus picked up Harry and sat him down in his lap.

"Harry, I need to go to Diagon Alley and pick you up a few things. Will you be a good boy for Lucy?"

Harry just looked at him, no actual way of knowing if he understood or not, as he was too busy tugging on Severus' hair. Deciding that Harry was not going to answer him, Severus stood up to leave. He walked to the door, and was almost out of it when he heard the sound of tiny footsteps.

Glancing down Severus saw something that tugged on even his normally cold heartstrings. Harry stood at his feet, hands held up, pleading not to be left behind. Severus couldn't bring himself to leave the boy, so pulling his wand from his robe, he transfigured Harry's shirt into a set of clothes and placed a glamour over his scar.

"Lucy, my son and I are going shopping. We will return at dinner."

Lucy thought her master odd, for never had he told her of his plans for the day; he had never spoken to her at all, unless it was to demand something. "This child is going to bring about many changes, many changes, indeed," she thought, walking off to busy herself with a few chores.