One month later:

It had been four weeks since Harry had come to stay with Tobias, four long weeks of having to deal with a hyper, too-curious child, one that somehow managed to aggravate Tobias nearly every day. It was a miracle he hadn't yet throttled the child, nor taken his belt to him. But since going sober, Tobias had discovered a bit more restraint, and his temper was not quite as abrasive the way it had been when he'd raised Severus. Back then, his temper had been boiling over uncontrollably, exacerbated by the alcohol he poured down his throat, and any little thing used to set him off. Now that he thought about it, he'd walloped Severus over things that wouldn't even have earned him a beating with his own father, who had been a strict no-nonsense collier.

It was odd, but lately he'd been thinking a lot about his son, who was still lying in that hospital bed, lost to the world, and his initial resentment and anger at the mess Severus had landed him in had begun to fade a bit. The old wizard Dumbledore had come by two weeks ago to check up on Harry and tell Tobias that the boy could visit his father if he wished.

"What good's that gonna do? He's dead to the world."

"No, not precisely, Mr. Snape," Dumbledore corrected. "It is known that patients in comas, while they cannot respond to outside stimulus, nevertheless can hear or even feel it. So it may do the both of them some good if Harry was to visit his father. That way Severus might have something to fight for and to come back to."

Tobias looked skeptical. "Sounds ridiculous."

"I assure you, it isn't. Severus loves Harry, the two are very close, Harry considers him his true father, since he doesn't even remember James. I think it would do them a world of good if Harry were allowed to see and talk to Severus."

"Very well, old man. I'll bring him over an hour before I go to work tonight." Tobias rolled his eyes, anything to get the barmy old coot out of his house.

Perhaps if he took the little brat to see Severus, Harry would shut up about all the things he used to do with his daddy, a list that seemed endless and Tobias was sure was probably made up, because no parent that worked like Severus did had time to spend with a kid at the end of the day. Tobias had never felt like doing anything after he'd come home from work except eating, sleeping, and drinking. The way Harry babbled on about Severus made the elder Snape feel slightly guilty that he had rarely done anything like go to the park or to the movies with his son.

He did recall going fishing once with Severus, but then he'd ended up getting drunk on the boat and nearly drowning, so that wasn't a trip he wanted to remember, it was humiliating having to be rescued by his eleven year old son, and he wondered if Severus ever regretted doing so, for Tobias had not been very grateful afterwards.

"I shall come and pick you both up on Wednesday then," Dumbledore said pleasantly, then bid him good day.

The old man was as good as his word, coming to Apparate both of them to the hospital, where Tobias grudgingly allowed Harry to spend what those stupid psychologists labeled "quality time" with his comatose father.

Harry spent the entire time sitting curled on the bed next to Severus, holding his hand and talking to him nonstop. His chatter would have given Tobias a colossal headache and he counted it lucky that Severus was sleeping. Tobias just leaned back in the chair while Harry chattered away and took a nap, bored out of his mind.

When the nurse came in to perform some freshen-up charms on his son, Tobias decided it was time to leave and bid Harry to say goodbye and come along, Dumbledore was waiting. Harry reluctantly came when called, pouting a little.

"I don't wanna go," he whined. "I wanna talk some more with Daddy."

"Enough!" Tobias ordered sharply, he hated whining. "You had an hour, count yourself lucky you got that long. Don't know how you can stand talking to someone who can't answer you back. It's like talking to yourself."

His grandson shook his head stubbornly. "Isn't. Daddy can hear me, Uncle Al and Uncle Matt said so. He just can't talk ‘cause he's sleeping right now. But maybe he's answering me in dreams."

"You're nuts, kid," muttered Tobias. The things that came out of the boy's mouth sometimes. People talking in dreams, what nonsense! Oh, this was Severus's and Eileen's child all right, full of crazy notions and magical thinking, living half in another world, and sneering at the real one in front of him. The way it seemed all wizards did. They even had a name for normal folks like Tobias, called them Muggles. Tobias hated that name. He was the normal one, not them! God had created men first, not wizards.

Though once Severus had shouted in a temper that God made wizards because He wanted to improve on the human race, resulting in a whipping for his smart mouth. No way was Tobias going to tolerate his own son saying he was inferior because he didn't have magic, like half the freaks Eileen associated with.

"Am not! I'm smart for my age," Harry replied cheekily, though he didn't know it.

"Mind your mouth, young man," Tobias reprimanded sternly. "You don't contradict me. Got a bloody answer for everything, just like your father."

Harry shut up, recognizing the warning tone in Tobias's voice. He had learned the first week in Tobias's care that the man was not one to test, his hand was lightning quick and hard, and though his grandfather never struck him in the face, he had no qualms about smacking Harry's bum good and hard for what he called a disrespectful attitude.

Tobias also had remarkable hearing, and he had once caught Harry muttering to himself after Tobias had smacked him how he was going to tell his dad when he woke up how mean Tobias had been, "He thinks hitting's the answer to everything, and he doesn't know about time-out, guess I'm glad, ‘cause I hate getting sent to time-out, it's so boring. I hate it worse than a smack."

Tobias had cocked his head, wondering what the hell punishment his son had invented that was worse than a smack to a child? But he was resolved to find out, so he asked one of his co-workers that night as they worked.

"Time-out's when you stick the kid's nose in a corner or make ‘em stare at the bloomin' wall for a certain amount of time, like ten or fifteen or twenty minutes. Kids hate it and they behave afterwards, at least my five-year-old does," replied Carl Middleton. "Though if he's been really bad, I combine the time-out with a good bottom-warming, that usually gets it through his little head that he needs to listen when I tell him to do something."

Tobias had nodded sagely, not bothering to tell Carl why he'd asked in the first place.

The next time his grandson acted up, Tobias had given the kid five smacks and then made him stand with his nose to the wall for ten minutes. Harry had sobbed, "No! I hate time-out!" squirming and rubbing his backside until Tobias ordered him to be still, else he'd get an extra five minutes. Harry had halted immediately. Tobias added that to his disciplinary methods, admitting grudgingly that it worked very well. But still, nothing made a kid shape up quite like a good couple whacks with a belt, in Tobias's opinion.

Thus far, however, Harry had managed to avoid that dreaded punishment, for he was trying quite hard to mind his grandfather. Since it was summer, Harry had no schoolwork to do and was basically free to do what he wanted during the day after he'd completed the chores Tobias dictated to him. They usually included picking up his room, dusting, and dishes, occasionally Tobias had him do a load of laundry and sweep out the porch, which was always gathering dirt and leaves on it. There was one chore that Harry detested and that was emptying out the ashtrays and washing them.

He hated the way they smelled and how the smoke clung to his hands even after he'd scrubbed them. He wished he could throw out all Tobias's cigarettes, but didn't dare act upon that impulse for fear his grandfather would whip him senseless. Once he'd asked Tobias what was so great about smoking and the other had answered that it calmed him down, whereupon Harry had said that maybe he should try it and Tobias had glared right in his face and snarled that if Harry laid a finger on his cigarettes or lighter he'd whip him senseless.

That was the last time Harry had asked Tobias about smoking.

But it didn't stop Tobias from telling Harry to empty out the ashtrays every other day and wash them. Harry didn't see the point in it, since they just got dirty again the same day, but he obeyed.

When Tobias was home, Harry did his best to stay out of his way, as his grandfather preferred, playing in his room or out in the yard, or drawing pictures. He'd drawn dozens of pictures for Severus, some of himself, some of other people, like Uncle Al and Matt, and many of himself with Severus. Nearly all of them had the words "I Miss You" or "Get Well Soon" on them and were signed, "Love, Harry". He had read every book he owned dozens of times and wished he dared asked Tobias to take him to the bookshop to get some new ones.

Three nights a week, Tobias worked the night shift on the docks. On Wednesdays, Callie, the teenage daughter of one of Tobias's co-workers, watched Harry, but on Mondays and Tuesdays, Harry was left to fend for himself because Callie had swim practice and band practice and tons of homework.

Most of the time, Harry didn't mind being on his own, because then he could watch TV whenever he wanted, stay up later than nine o'clock, and play loud noisy games with Inky, like Hogwarts Express, where Harry pretended to be the train on its way to Hogwarts with Inky as the first-year wizard. Tobias hated when kids were loud and Harry was glad when he worked, because then he could run and jump down all the stairs without getting screamed at and told to "Freeze, mister! Now quit running about like a demon, brat!"

He'd been scolded by his father for running in the house as well, but Severus had always tempered his scoldings with promises to go for an outing in the park or flying on his broom if Harry quit racing about and settled down. Harry had obeyed quite willingly then, for the few times he hadn't, he'd been punished with a time-out and the loss of a walk or flying.

But Tobias never offered him any rewards for being good, only warned him about what would happen if he were bad. Granted, the consequences for misbehaving were scary enough to keep the child obedient for a long time, but no child is perfect, and Harry was a curious imp who was being given no real outlet for his energy and intelligence, stuck in the house all day with no one to play with and nothing interesting to do.

When Tobias went off to work that evening, he left Harry a tuna hero for dinner along with a glass of iced tea, which the child preferred to milk, and once more admonished him to be good and wash up and go to bed at nine o'clock, keep the door locked and let the machine get the phone. It was the usual litany, and Harry paid it half an ear, while pretending to listen, which was why he missed Tobias's final order to empty out the ashtrays, since the trash pickup was tomorrow.

"Got all that?"

And Harry nodded and said, "Yes sir," just the way Tobias liked.

"Good. You better be asleep when I get home, kid. See ya." Tobias was not a demonstrative man, especially not with children, he did not give hugs the way Severus or Uncle Al did, but something about the way his grandson looked at him that night made him reach out and rest a hand lightly on Harry's head before departing.

It was the first time anything like that had ever happened, and it made Harry think that perhaps Tobias was beginning to like him a little. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about the elder Snape, except that sometimes Tobias scared him with his glares and scoldings and he hated when Tobias smacked him, it really hurt! But to be fair, the man didn't hit him all the time, and he did feed him and make sure he had clothes to wear and didn't leave the house without shoes or a jacket. Harry supposed Oliver had it worse living at the orphanage, dressed in rags, cold and eating buggy porridge and getting beaten with a cane.

Of course, Harry would have rather stayed with Uncle Al or Uncle Matt or even one of the nurses at the hospital, but since that was not an option, he was determined to try and make the best of it. But oh, how he prayed every day for his father to get better! He wished he had magic enough to help Severus, he'd use all of it to make his daddy well again. Someday he was going to be a great wizard, or so Sev was always telling him, but Harry wished he could have his magic now, because now was when he really needed it.

Harry wandered into the kitchen, decided to eat his supper, and when he was done, carefully washed and dried the dish and the glass and left them on the counter. Tobias would put it away when he came home, or else just re-use it the next morning for breakfast.

It was six-thirty, if he was following Tobias's schedule, that meant he had two and a half hours before bedtime. Harry knew how to tell time and add and subtract a little, he was very good with numbers. But since Tobias was out, Harry decided to bend the rules and stay up until ten that night. Tobias worked until midnight usually, so he would never know.

That little detail taken care of, Harry went into the den to watch TV. But there was nothing on he liked, it was all boring grown-up stuff and he turned off the TV after an hour of flipping through channels. Utterly bored, he went upstairs to get Inky and color, but after a few minutes of coloring he threw down his crayons and scowled down at the bare boards of his room. "Why is it so bloody boring around here, Inky?" he asked the stuffed panther moodily. "There's nothing to do!"

Inky stared at him with his green glass eyes and said nothing. Harry huffed a sigh. "I don't feel like playing Hogwarts Express, there're only so many times you can be kidnapped and held for ransom by train robbers, or saved from drowning by the mermaids in the bathtub," Harry said mournfully. "Or eaten by a dragon or get lost in the Forbidden Forest and nearly get eaten by a werewolf. What should we do, Inky? I'm so bored I could die!"

That was an expression the grown-ups used sometimes and Harry had never really understood what it meant until now, when he was so bored that even dying would seem like an interesting thing to be doing.

Sick of looking at the four walls of his bedroom, Harry left, dragging Inky by a paw, and went down the hall to the room Tobias called his study. He'd been in the room before and found it very dull, it contained a small bookshelf with mostly carpentry manuals, Tobias did woodworking on the side sometimes, and a desk and a chair.

Normally Harry wouldn't even have ventured into the room after his initial exploration, but tonight he was so bored even the study looked inviting, and it was better than his bedroom. He climbed up on Tobias's big leather swivel chair and began to try and open the desk drawers.

The first two small drawers opened but only had things in them like blank paper, pencils, and pens that Muggles used to write with. Harry knew of them because his grandparents on his mother's side had been Muggles and they'd taught him how to write with them. Both of them had been killed in a car accident soon after Lily had died, however, which was why the Ministry considered Tobias Harry's closest living relative. His next closest would have been Lily's sister Petunia, but Harry barely knew her, she didn't associate with her sister once she had married Severus.

He shut those drawers, disappointed. Then he tugged on one medium-sized one below the long one and found it wouldn't open. It was locked. "Damn it!" Harry swore, then bit his lip and looked around, even though he knew no one was in the house. A good thing too, else he knew he'd be in for it.

The next drawer held more boring things, a stapler, staples, paper clips, some erasers and envelopes, stamps, and address labels. Harry couldn't figure out who'd be writing to his grandfather, he was such a Grumpy Gus, but then he remembered that grown-ups used letters to pay bills, which was something they all hated but had to do anyway. He had overheard Tobias muttering more than once over "the blasted electric bill" or the "son-of-a-bitching heating bill" and whenever he started on that Harry ran and stayed in his room, because Tobias was always in a foul mood afterwards.

Then he slid off the leather chair and tugged at the bottom drawer and after a sharp pull, the drawer slid open. Inside it were some rather glossy magazines with pictures of naked women on them. Harry wondered what was so great about them, they were kind of pretty, but who cared? He removed the magazines, there were only three of them, and underneath he found a shoebox, which he pulled out and opened.

Inside he found several pictures, pictures of his grandfather with a tall black-haired woman smiling and several of a little black-haired boy that Harry at first didn't recognize as his dad, but then he read the back of one of the photos and on was written Severus, age 3. "So this is what Daddy looked like when he was small, Inky!" he exclaimed in delight. "And then this lady here must be Dad's mum, Eileen. She looks nice. Bet she was a lot nicer than Grandpa."

Also in the box was a heavy certificate that Harry thought said "Marriage" but couldn't understand anything else except the date and the names on it. There was also a birth certificate, it was his dad's, Harry knew what it was since Severus had shown him his own. "When a baby is born, we Healers make a record of it, so everyone knows and no one forgets," Severus had explained.

His dad's birth certificate read, Severus Tobias Snape, 8lbs and 21 inches long was born on January 9th, 1959 to parents Tobias David Snape and Eileen Margaret Snape.

"Huh. Daddy's middle name is Tobias, Inky. I never knew that. I wonder why he has one middle name and so do Grandpa and Grandma, but I've got two? My middle names are James and Severus, like both my daddies." His forehead crinkled in puzzlement. "Maybe it's so I won't forget them."

He continued looking through the box and found several yellowed letters wrapped up in tissue and when he went to read one he discovered it began:

My dearest Toby,

I can't wait to see you again. Meet me by the statue of the bronze bowman in the park, my parents are leaving tomorrow for the seashore and I pretended I was sick, so I'm staying home with Arliss for company, and she won't tell if I slip off to the park for a few hours. You won't be late, will you? Even if you are, I'll wait for you.

Yours forever,

the one and only,

Eileen Prince

Harry frowned, he knew Eileen was the name of his grandmother, who had died long before Harry was born, his dad talked about her sometimes, he had loved her very much and still missed her. Could this be a letter to his grandfather from his grandmother? It seemed so, but it was funny to think of his grandpa and grandma as kids with parents that told them what to do.

There were several more letters like that one, love letters he thought they were called, and he found them hysterically funny and laughed for quite some time over them. But then he grew bored and the box was empty, so he quickly placed all the letters, pictures, and the documents back inside the box.

He'd been sitting there reading for over an hour, though he did not know it. He was just about to put the shoebox back inside the open drawer when he felt an urgent need to go to the bathroom.

He quickly got to his feet and ran down the hallway to the bathroom. He was just washing his hands and drying them when he heard the front door opening. He froze. Who was there? Was it a robber? Scared silly, Harry crept out of the bathroom and tiptoed down the stairs, peering over the banister. He was shivering and expecting to see big men in black mask, but all he saw was his grandfather removing his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack.

Yikes! What's he doing home so early? Harry wasn't exactly sure what time it was, except that it was unusual for Tobias to get home this early, it was probably after nine o'clock. He slipped back upstairs lickety-split and got undressed, into his pajamas, and huddled under the covers, shutting his eyes and trying to fall asleep before Tobias came upstairs.

He heard his grandfather's footsteps coming up the stairs. He remained still, feigning sleep as best as he could. Then a horrible thought struck him. He had left Inky in the study when he'd gone to use the potty. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to put the shoebox back in the drawer too! It was still right out on the floor where Tobias would be sure to see it.

Oh no! No, no. If he goes in there and sees . . .he'll be so mad. Harry felt his stomach clench in dread. Please, please don't go in there, Grandpa. Just go into your room and go to sleep.

Tobias's room was before the study, and if the elder Snape went into there first, it would give Harry time to sneak out and replace the shoebox and get Inky. He knew if Tobias caught him out of bed he'd be in trouble, but not huge trouble the way he would if his grandfather discovered he'd been touching his things.

No such luck. Tobias was careful with leaving lights on and so the first thing he noticed upon coming up the stairs was the sliver of light beneath the study door. "What the hell . . .? Why is that on?" Harry heard him mutter and then he listened to his grandfather walking down the hallway and opening a door.

Harry shut his eyes tightly, knowing it was hopeless.

Five seconds later he felt Tobias's hand on his shoulder, shaking him sharply. "Get up, you little brat! Right now!"

Harry opened his eyes and yawned. "Huh? What?"

The big man flicked on the light, and Harry shrank away, for Tobias's eyes were glittering with anger and disappointment. In one hand he had the stuffed panther. "Care to explain this, boy?"

"Uh . . ." Harry pretended to still be sleepy, though his little act didn't fool his grandfather in the least. Harry's eyes were too clear for him to have been sleeping. "That's my panther Inky, Grandpa."

"And what was Inky doing in my study, young man?" Tobias demanded sternly. "Where no little boys are supposed to be?"

Harry swallowed hard, not sure what to say. His daddy had told him the truth was always better than a lie, but Harry knew the truth was sure to get him in big trouble. So he whispered, "I don't know, sir."

"You don't? Let me tell you what I know then, mister. A certain little brat disobeyed me and went where he shouldn't of with his little toy and touched my things. Did you think I wouldn't know you'd been pawing through my stuff? Do you think I'm stupid, boy?" Tobias growled, lifting Harry up and shaking him hard.

"N-no!" Harry stuttered. "Please, sir, I-I only wanted to look at them."

"Did I give you permission to touch my things, Harry? Did I?"

"No," he answered in a very soft voice.

"Then why the hell did you? Answer me!"

"I-I was bored. I-I didn't mean to, but there was nothing to do, so I just-"

"You just decided it was all right to go through my private things like a little sneak. You're just like your damn father, kid, never know when to mind your business and you've got to touch everything. And then I ask you to empty the ashtrays for me and what do you do? You ignore me! D'you think your better than me because you're a wizard, boy? Is that what Severus taught you, huh?"

"N-no, sir! Daddy says having magic doesn't make me better, only different from Muggles. I-I'm sorry, Grandpa! I won't touch your things ever again. Promise! And I didn't know about the ashtrays." Harry quickly blinked back tears. The last thing he needed was to start crying, Tobias was furious enough as it was.

"Don't lie to me, boy!" roared Tobias, shaking the child again. "I told you just before I left and you shook your head and said yes sir."

Harry gulped, for he recalled not quite paying attention. "I didn't hear you tell me anything about the ashtrays, sir. I must have missed it."

He was telling the truth, but Tobias thought it sounded like a patented falsehood and he was angry all over again that the kid dared to lie to him instead of just admitting his mistake. Well, lies were another thing he wouldn't tolerate.

"Still lying, huh? We'll see about that, mister. Maybe a good licking will teach you to tell me the truth, boy!"

"No! Please, don't! I'm not lying, sir! Honest!" Harry wailed. "I really didn't know!"

"Oh yeah? Well, you deserve one anyhow for disobeying me and touching my things, you sneaking brat! Maybe next time you'll remember not to touch things that aren't yours." Tobias considered removing his belt, if this had been twenty years ago, it wouldn't have even been a question, but tonight he was too tired to tan the brat's arse properly, and so he settled for giving Harry a bare-bottom spanking instead.

Harry was reduced to tears and sobs after five smacks, Tobias's hand was hard and unforgiving, or so it seemed to the child, who had never been punished like that before. He wriggled and kicked to no avail, the older man held him firmly and continued spanking until the child's bottom was quite red and Tobias was sure his lesson had been learned.

By then the child's sobs were getting to him and he couldn't take it any longer, so he stopped after a good dozen smacks. Harry didn't even acknowledge that it was over, he just kept crying. Tobias shook his head and replaced the child's pajamas and turned him around to face him.

"Enough, kid. It's done, now stop bawling, damn it all."

Harry gazed up at him, his green eyes bright with remorse and a flicker of fear that had never been there before. It made the older man uncomfortable, though he didn't know quite why. His son had looked at him more than once with that same expression, though he couldn't recall it bothering him so much then. Then again, the booze had drowned out most of his kinder emotions, leaving behind only anger and resentment.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" the kid was sobbing that over and over.

"Okay. Okay. I forgive you," he coughed, for he'd never said those words to anyone save his wife before, after one of their worst arguments ever. Then he added, lest the kid think he was going soft all of a sudden, "But you deserved it and you know it. Now get in bed."

But Harry made no move to get in bed, and Tobias sighed and picked him up. When he started to set him down, the kid wrapped his arms about him and clung to him for a brief moment, startling the blazes out of him. No one since his wife had ever hugged him, Severus had shied away from him like a wild animal after years of his temper.

He froze, not knowing how to respond. After a moment, however, Harry let go, and allowed Tobias to put him down on his stomach. He was still sniffling and for a moment the older man rested his hand on the child's back, patting him slightly. "Go to sleep and don't make me come in here again." Then he placed the stuffed panther beside Harry and left the room.

Harry seized Inky and hugged the soft toy hard, guilt warring with anger. He knew he deserved to be punished, he had disobeyed his grandfather on purpose, but he hadn't lied to him and why did Tobias have to hit so hard? He was sure he wouldn't be able to sit down for days. If my dad were here, this never would've happened, he thought resentfully, rubbing his bottom gently. Dad would've never left me alone with nothing to do and if I'd touched something of his, he'd of never spanked my bare bottom! Which was true, though the six-year-old knew he might have still gotten spanked or grounded to his room for a day. Yet another part of him whispered, it could've been worse, you could've gotten the belt. The little boy quivered, Tobias's hand hurt plenty, he didn't even want to imagine what the belt would be like. No sir!

All the physical and emotional turmoil had worn him out, and in a matter of minutes, Harry's eyes closed and he was asleep.

Downstairs, Tobias was smoking cigarette after cigarette, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't fathom why his grandson's emerald eyes haunted him, nor why he felt guilty for giving the brat a well-deserved spanking. He never had felt guilty when he'd walloped Severus. Then again, I was mostly drunk at the time, so I'm surprised I remember anything. Back then, he and the bottle had been very good friends, in fact it had been the only friend he had after awhile. Eventually it had replaced everyone and everything, becoming wife, son, and sustenance.

It felt odd now to think back on those years, which were colored a hazy red and black. But it was even odder to realize that however much Harry had deserved that thrashing, he hadn't enjoyed doing it to the child. The boy's cries had touched something he'd thought dead and buried years and years ago-empathy, for he could recall with sudden shocking clarity himself as a boy, whimpering and sobbing as his father laid into him for some transgression, real or imagined, with his belt. In his memory, Harry's sobs and his own mingled, and then combined with Severus's as well, until Tobias thought he would drown.

He jerked up from the couch and went outside for some air, it was suddenly stiflingly hot inside the house. The cool air caressed the back of his neck and he released a quick breath, shaking his head.

God, but I need a drink, he thought longingly, recalling the familiar biting tang of whiskey and gin. Then he lit up another cigarette and stared out across the yard, wondering if the child upstairs had fallen asleep finally and if another one had woken up yet.