Although Severus Snape was considered one of the brightest students to have ever walked the halls of Hogwarts and was considered a rather wise wizard, there were some questions that not even he had the answer for. For instance; he did not know how to accurately describe the distance and expanse the universe, he did not know if there were really aliens out in space, and he sure as hell did not know what a Hufflepuff really was, but at the moment he pushed aside all of these troubling, unanswerable questions in favor of looking carefully at the big question that was staring him in the face. Literally.

Lifting baby Harry up in his arms, Severus looked at the child’s forehead carefully. Where the infamous Potter scare had been, it was no longer there. A thrill of panic surged through the Potions Master as thought after thought bombarded his brain. How could this have happened? What did it mean? What was going to happen to them all? There was really no chosen one? But there had to be a chosen one! There simply had to be one!

“Dear sweet Merlin,” Severus gasped, his eyes wide with horror.

Harry, for his part, was not sure he liked being suspended in the air with his feet dangling. He began to squirm, hoping that his dada would put him back down in his lap again. But when Severus failed to comply, the baby clasped his hands on either side of Severus’s face, hoping to get his father’s attention. After all, Harry was hungry and he did not like the position he found himself in.

As though Harry had hit him instead, Severus jumped feeling the child’s hands on his face. Looking the baby over, the professor suddenly felt two distinct different feelings; one, that a weight had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders, that he realized Dumbledore couldn’t use his son anymore as a living pawn. The second was that half of his brain had been corroded away. For years Dumbledore had been making plans for Harry, had been working everything out so that Harry would be the one to destroy the Dark Lord…but what would happen now?

Snape had never liked the idea of sending a child to destroy the Dark Lord. That was an adult wizard’s job as far as he was concerned, but after a while, Severus was ashamed to admit that he had just accepted Harry’s fate, had just grown use to the idea that someday a child would go up before the most powerful dark wizard of the age, and fight him to the death. Eventually it had all seemed natural.

Setting Harry back down in his lap, Severus stared off into nothingness for a moment or so, wondering why he hadn’t noticed anything different about the baby before now. No wonder no one had really questioned where Harry Potter had really gone to and who the baby really was. They had probably all just looked for the scar, and when they did not find it… It was the perfect disguise for the child without the child actually having to have a disguise! Every last link that had connected this boy to Potter was now gone. Harry Potter was really gone!

Unconsciously, Severus began stroking the top of the baby’s head much like a cat, giving him the appearance of an evil mastermind plotting his revenge…only he had a baby instead of a cat…his thought really did make him feel rather stupid, but he did not much care at the moment. All he could think about was the fact that there was no more chosen one. Harry was free!

“Do you know what’s happened to you, Harry?” Severus turned the baby to face him.

Bright green eyes lit up upon seeing Severus and the child gurgled merrily. “Dada!” Harry cried in delight. “Fo’!” the little Snape demanded.

“Yes, yes, in a minute,” Severus could not even comprehend that his son was on his way to his second word at the moment. “You don’t have the scar anymore, boy! You don’t have to be the chosen one. You’re free you bloody brilliant little imp!”

Sensing his father’s delight, Harry could do nothing else but clap his own hands in excitement. He was happy that his daddy was happy. He could put off eating for another few minutes if it meant that his dada was going to smile more. Even a baby as young as Harry realized that his guardian needed to smile and laugh more, like Harry always laughed and smiled! Harry knew he was very good at doing both of those things.

Standing up, Severus set Harry down on the couch and went into the kitchen, feeling as though he were high on life. This was brilliant! This was perfect! Now Harry didn’t have to face the Dark Lord, now Severus did not have to worry about that! Severus could not wait to rub this in Dumbledore’s face! The old man would likely choke on his lemon drops! Oh the wonderful time Snape would have, proving the entire wizarding world wrong. How he would laugh!

Getting the bottle ready, Severus began to think. This was a cause for celebration, what was he doing? Giving the baby a bottle! Harry always had a bottle. It was time to break out the baby food as far as Severus was concerned. Going to the cabinet, he opened up to find that the house elves had stocked it full of baby food. The Potions Master scowled when he realized that he had not asked for baby food. Albus had probably had the elves come in and stock the cabinets anyway. Meddling old coot!

Changing one of the table chairs into a high chair, Severus got everything ready before walking back into the living room to find baby Harry rolling around on the sofa, looking nothing short of adorable. Smiling, the Potions Master scooped up the little boy and, in a moment of inspiration, began giving the baby zerberts on the child’s stomach. The little one squealed in absolute delight, giggling and laughing, filling the whole room with cheer.

Chuckling, Severus carried the little baby to the high chair and plunked Harry down. “You get a new food today, little monster.” The baby giggled. “We’ve got some mushed up carrots I know you’ll…might like,” he amended.

Placing a bib around the baby, Severus underwent to task of feeding baby Harry. It proved to be more difficult than the professor ever imagined. Half the food didn’t even get into Harry’s mouth at all, but instead ended up all over Severus’s face, arms, chest, and lap. His legs got away scot-free though. (A real blessing indeed.)

After the odious task of feeding Harry was complete- and after taking several vows never to feed the child carrots again- Severus only had enough time to change into fresh clothes before he had to get back to teach as lunch was coming to a close. It was unfortunate, but he knew he had to get back. It came as a shock that Severus found that all he wanted to do was stay here in the dungeons and play with Harry. When had such thoughts entered his head before? Where had the infamous Potions Master really gone to?

Shrugging it off, Snape took Harry and went back to the classroom where he set the baby in his playpen. As he was organizing his lesson plan, and idea struck the professor; a horrible, nasty, mean idea. One that was sure to bring him endless delight while scaring the student’s sensitive minds. “Care to watch something funny, Harry?” Severus asked the baby, who was busy chewing on his teddy bear. But when hearing his father’s voice, little Harry grinned toothlessly around his bear’s ear.

Taking that as a yes, Severus went to his office and grabbed a jar off his shelf and brought it back to his classroom. It was a Christmas present Albus had given to him last year, one that Severus hadn’t even thought about ever using, but couldn’t just throw away. Grinning in happy wickedness, the Potions Master gingerly placed the jar in his bottom drawer before getting the potions supplies out and ready for the next class. It was going to be fifth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs…it was going to be so much fun!

When the students began filing in, Snape made sure to glare at each of them, making his eyes burn with anger. He was pleased to note that most of them looked like they were going to shit their pants. Sometimes it really did work to his advantage to look like a vampire because the whole class, once seated, did not dare look up, let alone speak! Keeping his delight under his false mask of fury, the Potions Master flicked his wand and put up the instructions on the board.

“Today’s potion,” his voice was a dreadful whisper, “is particularly difficult and must be made exactly as the instructions state.” The entire class waited in fear as they watched the professor walk in front of the board. “You will have exactly one hour to complete this potion. Or else…” he trailed off menacingly.

The students all but jumped the moment Snape barked the, “begin!” As the students feverishly began to work, Severus happily stalked about the room, standing behind the students he knew got nervous and glaring at those who were not bothered normally being watched. As the students worked, however, the Potions Master could not really think of anything except the fact that Harry no longer had the scar. What would it be like, he wondered, raising a child, a normal, happy, healthy little boy? Would Lily have wanted him to raise her son? Obviously she had wanted his child, or she would have put the boy up for adoption…but would she approve of this whole situation?

Glad that he had the chance to raise a child of his own, Severus decided that Lily would have liked this situation better than having her child parentless. And what a parent Severus promised to be! More and more that day he found himself think about the best way to raise Harry. Of course he was sure he would have to read tons of parenting books and perhaps have to consult experts from time to time, but Severus vowed to be the best father he knew how to be. Now that Harry Potter was no more, and there was really no use for a disguise or any such nonsense, the Potions Master had nothing really to hide, except the boy’s mother, but he had already created someone else in his mind, and since the boy seemed to take the majority of his looks after him, there really was no reason to worry about.

Five minutes before the class was finished, all of the nervous children placed a sample of their potions on the Potions Master’s desk. Just looking at the vials, Severus could tell that none of them were very good. There was only one that looked to be about the color it was supposed to be, but then again, it was still a shade or two off. A wicked delight surged through the nasty professor, but he showed it with a scowl. While he thought it was funny that the students all failed, at the same time he was exasperated. Could none of the little idiots read? The potion could have been done correctly within the time frame given. Why did they all rush so much?

“Well,” Snape sneered. “It would seem that you’ve all finished. But you will remember what I said before; you all had exactly one hour to complete or else,” he looked about the room with a glare and a dramatic pause. “Or else you don’t get a lemon drop.”

 A grand total of three students fell out of their chairs from shock while one slammed his head onto the table top and several others gave uneasy chuckles before bursting into tears. But the overall atmosphere was simply stunned. Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts School or Witchcraft and Wizardry was handing out lemon drop? For Merlin’s sake, wasn’t that Dumbledore’s bit?

Delighted that the students were at a loss of what to say, Severus took out his lemon drop jar and placed it on his desk. He smiled nastily at the students before him. With a flick of his wand, Severus set a lemon drop before each one of the students before closing up the lid. “While you all finished in the time restraint,” he went on, “I must inform you all that your potions are a disgrace,” he scowled as he looked over the sample on his desk. “So, enjoy your candy while I fail all of you.”

Every child in the room (except baby Harry, of course) stared up at the Potions Master in fear. There had been set up a list of do’s and don’ts with regard to Snape. For instance, you did not ever make the man mad if you could help it; students sometimes came away the worse for wear on that one. You never brought up the time in Professor Lupin’s class when Neville’s boggart turned into a cross-dressed Snape. You never exploded a cauldron when it belonged to Snape or you would feel his wrath and have to buy a new cauldron to replace the other. You absolutely never called him anything but professor or sir, never just his last name and certainly never his Christian name. And last, unless you wanted to die, you never ate or drank anything Snape gave you! The bloody candies were probably poisoned by the deranged professor!

Several more students began to cry as they stared down at the innocent looking yellow candy and then back up at the Potions Master who was staring at them all intensely with a wicked grin. If they did not eat the candy what would Snape do? He would probably give them all a detention and humiliate them in front of the whole school! But if they did eat the candy, they would surely be poisoned and would probably end up in the hospital wing and end up dead. Although detention was bad, none of the students wanted to die.

When it was time for the class to be over, Severus dismissed them and was amused to see that everyone in the room, excluding Harry, jumped to their feet and was out the door in a matter of moments. The trash bin was full of yellow candies. Chuckling, Severus turned back to look at his son, and found the little boy standing on unsteady feet, gripping the bars of the play pen. As usual, the baby was smiling.

“You liked that, did you, Harry?” Severus chuckled again, delighted that he had made his son smile, even though he knew the baby didn’t really understand what had taken place. “I’ll have to remember to do that in a few more year.”

Lifting the bundle of giggles, Severus could not keep the smile off his face. Today had been a relatively good day. His son was free from that infernal curse, and  Severus had had some fun again in class. A nasty grin shadowed on the Potions Master’s lips as he thought about how the rest of the day was going to turn out. He could not wait until after dinner.

“Come on, little one, let’s go ruin Albus’s life.”

Like so many times before, Harry giggled and clapped his hands excitedly, as though he really understood what was going on.

It was unfortunate that Severus did not hear or see someone that had been waiting outside his door.