‘Albus! I told you – I’m not going to get that brat!’
‘Now, now, Severus, my child – I don’t think Harry’s a brat,’ said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. ‘I once held him when he was one, you know. He didn’t do anything at all….only pulled my beard a little. Whereas most children would have cried, he remained totally
fearless of a total stranger.’

‘He pulled your beard?’ said Severus, forgetting to be angry for the moment, amusement flooding him as he imagined the scene. Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the time, feared by Lord Voldemort himself, holding a baby and that too, a baby who was pulling his beard! ‘You deserve to have your beard pulled, old man! You pull our legs often enough!’

Dumbledore chuckled. Then turning grave, he held the younger man’s hands in his old ones and said, ‘Severus, child – please go and get Harry. I’m worried about the child. Reports have come to me from Arabella Figg and the Muggle neighbours that the family’s
abusing the child. Quite disturbing reports, really….’

‘Abusing Harry Potter because you let him be abused by letting him with Petunia Evans Dursley – dear darling Petunia!’ shouted Severus, angrily. ‘Couldn’t bear the fact that her sister was better than her, could she? She never accepted that witches were better…called
her sister and all magical people freaks…she’d do anything to keep Harry as miserable as possible...and her husband too! He’s worse than her. Minerva kept watch on them for a whole day, Albus, told you they were awful…yet you kept Harry James Potter, your Golden Boy” with those horrible people!’

Dumbledore looked weary. ‘Severus, child, please listen to me,’ he said, quietly. ‘I…..There have been…quite some mistakes in my life that I…very much regret. They pain me till this day. Some were unavoidable, however. Lily’s charm worked best while the blood
bond was present; and Harry’s only living blood relative was Petunia Dursley. James was the last in his line, as you know. So Harry was safest there with her….safe in the way that Lord Voldemort or his followers couldn’t harm him there. So –’

‘–So you kept him there!’ said Severus, still angry. ‘The Dark Lord’s more powerful than you think he is! If he can kill thousands of people, if all the distinguished Aurors are afraid to say his very name, you think he won’t be able to penetrate the wards of Privet Drive, and overcome Muggle resistance?’

‘Severus, the wards here are not ordinary ones. They’re protected by the powerful magic of sacrifice…a mother’s ultimate sacrifice for her son…an exquisitely great and unique power, a power too pure for Lord Voldemort, who has performed the most heinous
and terrible deeds possible by wizardkind.’

‘But how does that help?’

‘Don’t you see? Her sacrifice had power too pure, too good for Lord Voldemort, whose soul is too stained, broken for the power of innocence! It is this power that saved Harry a year back!’

‘What? The power of innocence protected –?’

‘Yes, the power of innocence, Severus!’

‘But all babies are innocent!’

‘We are talking of Lily here, Severus. He, Lord Voldemort, tried to kill a baby, a heinous crime. He was filled with loathing, revenge, and all types of evil power possible. And all this because he was afraid that Harry would kill him some day. Lily showed total fearlessness for her own death; she feared her son coming to harm! She was not afraid, or filled with any ill feeling towards anyone when she sacrificed her life, but Voldemort was, when he killed her.’

‘Albus, if I was confused about this before, I’m totally Confunded now!’

Dumbledore sighed. ‘All you need to understand is – Lily’s love for her son protected Harry that night. The power of love is immensely great, so that the people who undervalue it suffer terribly in their lives.’

‘And now, coming back to the present, Severus,’ he said, glancing at Severus’s coal-black eyes once more, ‘I must reinforce my request to you.’

‘Fine,’ huffed Severus, ‘I have to, anyway. The fact that you listened to me is great. If I didn’t obey you, you’d sack me. What am I, more than a mere servant to you?’

‘Severus – you know I don’t even consider the house-elves my servants –’

‘–but you consider me so. What more is a spy to his master, anyway?’

‘A good, trusted friend,’ said Dumbledore, firmly. ‘Severus – please do not say that again.’

‘Why not? It’s the truth, you know. You’re no better than the Dark Lord. He abuses me physically, and you do so mentally. What’s the good of expecting anything from you?’

‘And all this came up over the job of going to collect Harry?’ said Dumbledore, looking quite incredulous, but he stopped when he saw the look on the younger wizard’s face.

‘Severus?’ he said, quietly, in an attempt to soothe his young friend. ‘If it’s bothering you so much – you needn’t go to get Harry. And I’m sorry to hear that you feel I treat you as badly as Voldemort does. If it’s any consolation to you…’

He strode up to a cupboard in his office, opened a drawer and pulled out a sheaf of parchments.

Severus stared at them perplexedly.

‘What’re they, Albus?’

‘Have a look,’ was the reply.

He bent over the parchments, and let out a gasp of surprise.

‘Is that my letter – the one I got inviting me to Hogwarts when I was eleven? Oh, and that’s my essay about Kelpies and Kappas that Professor Lancelot liked. That one’s mine too – about Dementors; the one I got an Outstanding for. And that one….Albus, have you kept all written documents concerning me over here?’

‘All those documents that are witnesses of your moments of joy over the years,’ answered
Dumbledore. ‘I’ve always loved you like a son, Severus. Please forgive me if I haven’t bestowed upon you your deserved honour.’

Severus looked into the lined face.

‘Why, Albus, why?’ he whispered.

Dumbledore moved forwards and grabbing the troubled young man with both his hands,
pulled him in a tight, warm embrace.

Severus stayed in his mentor’s arms for several moments before he freed himself gently.
‘I’ve to go to No. 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey,’ he said, smiling slightly at the look of delighted incredulity on his mentor’s face, ‘I’m already late.’

‘Oh, and Severus?’ said Dumbledore, as his young friend got to his feet.

‘Yes?’ he said, stopping.

‘Be a little merciful on them,’ said Dumbledore, the twinkle back in his eyes. He had quite a good idea of what Severus could do when provoked.

‘You can only hope!’ said Severus, the corners of his mouth twitching.

And he was gone in a swirl of black robes and a blaze of blue.

Smiling happily, Dumbledore popped a lemon drop in his mouth, just as Fawkes gave a low, musical trill.

**************************

Severus Apparated just outside the narrow street. He saw Muggle children walking about with their parents towards a tall, cream-coloured building that had the words “St. Mary’s High School” written in large block letters on a signboard.

He walked past it, and crossed a house where an exasperated mother was shouting at her little son who, as it seemed, was refusing to take a bath.

Suddenly, as he rounded a bend, he heard a man shouting something drunkenly. As he neared the place, he could make out some of the words.

‘……don’t banish the insufferable freak, I don’t understand! Decent people like us don’t even talk to freaks like them….’

Then he heard a woman’s voice.

‘Vernon, he’ll go without meals for a week, and can have water from the barrel outside if he’s thirsty. And he’ll wear those filthy clothes he was wearing when he first came here – so no expenses on his account! No school, either.’

‘Very well! And what about inviting Marge here?’

‘That’d be brilliant.’

‘Fancy beating Dudders at games and studies! Must have cheated, I know….living on our income and turning traitor on us? I won’t have it, Petunia!’

‘Of course, dear….’

Petunia….? So he was at the right place after all.

He quickened his pace towards the house.

Just as he reached, he heard the distinct crack of a whip and a cry of pain. It sounded like a child’s….it couldn’t be..?

He hurried forwards to have a better look.

A huge, burly man was whipping a very small child, who was unbelievably tiny and thin, sitting in rags. A horsy woman and a very round, very fat, too-large-for-his-age child were watching; the child gleeful, and the woman anxious.

The small child was staring all around himself with his large, impossibly green eyes, as if
expecting the walls and the furniture around him to come to his aid.

‘Freak! Freak!’ cried the fat child, happily. ‘Daddy – beat Freak harder!’

To amuse his son, the man now raised a cane, and just as he was about to bring it swishing down on the small child’s back –

It was the second time in Severus’s life that he had performed uncontrolled magic. The man named Vernon was lifted half a feet into the air and hurled at the wall opposite. The scene changed: the woman now looked petrified, and started looking all around her for the source of this disturbance – somehow she looked as thought she’d been dreading something like this; her child seemed greatly surprised, and the man was knocked out.
He lay like a great walrus on the tiled floor. ‘Vernon!’ screamed the woman.

But Severus had eyes for only one person in the room. The small green-eyed child had tottered to his feet, and was standing with his head cocked to one side, puzzled. He was gazing at Severus in awe.

Walking towards the child, Severus carefully knelt before him, looking at the small, scared child and trying to communicate with his eyes, “Trust me – I’m your friend.” The child seemed to understand, and held out his small arms to Severus. Scooping the tiny child in his arms, Severus held the precious bundle close to his heart.

The man named Vernon Dursley had recovered. He slowly got to his feet, walking menacingly towards Severus. But without as much as a backward glance at
the Dursleys, holding Harry tightly with one hand, Severus activated the Portkey to Hogwarts with the other, and they were gone in a swirl of shapes and colour,
leaving the swearing Dursleys behind.

*****************************

‘Poppy! Poppy! POPPY!’ cried Severus, as he landed just outside the Infirmary. ‘POPPY!’

‘Good gracious me, whatever is it, Severus?’ asked Madam Pomfrey, bustling up with a tray in her hands.

‘Look!’ and Severus grabbed her by the arm, still clutching Harry with the other, and deposited Harry on an empty bed in the Infirmary. ‘Look at him, Poppy!’

‘I see him,’ said Poppy, calmly, wondering whether Severus was all right in the head that morning. ‘That’s a child.’

‘Oh, and as if I didn’t know that already!’ said Severus, sarcastically. ‘Look at him closely! That’s not an ordinary child!’

‘Not an ordinary –? Oh!’ she stopped, spotting Harry’s lightning-bolt shaped scar as a gust of wind blew Harry’s fringe away from his forehead. ‘That’s Harry?’

‘Of course it’s Harry James Potter!’ said Severus, ‘Who else would it be?’

‘I don’t know,’ said the matron, a little bewildered by Severus’s mood. Her concern overtaking her, she asked, ‘Severus? Are you – er – quite all right this morning?’

‘Of course I am!’ cried Severus, losing his patience.

Dumbledore chose that moment to enter the room. ‘Ah, Severus, Poppy – there you are,’ he said, genially. ‘And I take it that’s Harry?’ he added, smiling in Harry’s direction. But it did not seem to have any good effect: Severus could see that the tiny child was more frightened
than ever on being spoken to by a stranger in a totally foreign place.

‘Harry – that’s Professor Dumbledore who spoke to you, I’m Severus Snape, and you are in Hogwarts,’ he said, as gently as he could.

The child looked at him; slightly less terrified than he had been, a few moments ago, then after a long while, suddenly whispered, ‘Magic?’

The two wizards and the witch froze.

‘Yes,’ said Severus, finally. ‘Yes, Harry – magic. Did your Aunt tell you then?’

‘Aunt Petunia? She – she said magic was – was bad. That I was not allowed to say the word,’ whispered the child, trembling slightly. ‘Is – is magic good then? Coz you look nice to me. And you know magic.’

‘Yes, Harry, but how did you know we know magic?’ said Severus, gently, gazing at the emerald-green eyes.

Harry looked unsurely back at him, looking as though he thought he was about to be beaten for having spoken, as Poppy tended to his wounds and broken bones and deftly
healed them all. He sat on the starched white Infirmary bed, gazing all around himself.

‘Harry, it’s true that we know magic,’ went on Severus, hastily, on seeing Harry’s attitude, ‘but how did you come to know?’

Harry teetered on the verge of speech for a second, then whispered, ‘’Coz I’m a fweak.’
There was a shocked silence. Fweak? Harry must have meant “freak”, thought Severus. He thought of himself as a freak? Why? Who had –?

Then it all came crashing back to Severus. The Dursleys had convinced Harry that he was a freak. The child did not know anything about the magical world, or most probably, his parents.

‘Harry,’ he said, as gently as he could, trying to keep his anger with the Dursleys in check. ‘Listen to me, child. You’re not a freak. Magic is not a freakish thing. We all know magic here, but we’re wizards and witches, not freaks.’

Harry cocked his little head to the side and gazed up in wonder. ‘Not a fweak?’ he whispered, hopefully, looking so adorably cute that Poppy cooed, ‘Aw, how sweet!’

‘No, of course you aren’t, Harry dear,’ cooed Poppy, tickling the little boy under the chin. ‘We can all do magic. Look.’

She pulled out her own wand and gave it a casual flick in the direction of a chintz armchair. The armchair was instantly replaced by a squawking parrot.

‘Wow!’ gasped Harry, still speaking in whispers, as though he thought he oughtn’t to speak in a normal voice like the others. Cocking his little head to the side, he gazed, awestruck, at the parrot, and then at Poppy’s wand.

Severus muttered something to Poppy. She smiled at him, and then knelt before Harry, gently cupping his face in her hand as she said, ‘Harry dear, you saw me do magic. You can do magic too; you’re a wizard – you know that, don’t you? Now – let’s see what magic you can show us, ok?’ She handed Harry her wand and then said, ‘Be careful, child – don’t break it, ok? Now, look at anything in this room and concentrate on your magic.’

‘But Poppy!’ Minerva was worried, ‘Your wand might ignite – and besides, Harry’s still not well!’

‘No, it won’t, Min,’ smiled Poppy, ‘Mine’s a Mediwitch’s wand. These wands are very, very safe. Do you really think I’d have given it to Harry otherwise? Do you think Severus would have suggested it either? Harry’s healed now – only weak. That’s what I want to see – I want to check his magical levels. I do hope they’re fine.’

‘Right,’ said Severus, ‘Now that that’s settled – Harry, child – give it a try.’

Harry turned his huge emerald-green eyes upon Severus, and pointed Poppy’s wand at him. There was no change visible for quite a few minutes: only the staff exchanged glances with each other every few seconds. Harry was supposed to try his magic on something, not someone. Of course, Harry was still a very small child, but that was the problem – children
couldn’t control their magic at this age. Harry would of course mean no harm; but if anything happened to Severus…? But Severus was quite composedly standing and waving
his hand airily to stop them worrying. He didn’t mind. But the staff did. Severus was the youngest among them: by far a young man and they were all very fond of him. He had become a part and parcel of their lives. They couldn’t think of any harm coming to him in any way.

But then, something did happen. Something which made them gasp out in surprise first, and then smile proudly at each other. Harry had indeed let his magic flow: there was a flash of bright golden light – and then, instead of the usual black robes, they saw Severus wearing a set of brilliant golden and scarlet robes with the Gryffindor crest upon it.

‘See, Severus?’ said Minerva, happily, ‘Even Harry knows it. You’re as brave as a Gryffindor.’

‘Even braver than some,’ smiled Poppy. ‘As well as a model Slytherin.’

Dumbledore beamed. Severus didn’t say anything: he suddenly turned his obsidian eyes to the floor.

‘Look!’ said Poppy, and they all started: Harry was smiling. It was his first smile since he had dome to Hogwarts, and it lit up his entire baby-face and made them want to cuddle him tight. Harry was smiling up at Severus.

Click!

‘Albus!’ said Minerva, looking exasperated,
‘Really. This Muggle mania of yours…….’

‘Sorry Minerva – couldn’t resist,’ said Dumbledore, hastily tucking his pocket-camera into his robes.

‘Why don’t you use a wizarding camera? These Deevio cameras drive me mad with all their buttons and knobs!’

‘Video, Poppy, not deevio,’ Minerva corrected her gently.

‘You see – these cameras have a wonderful zoom-facility. And the Flash –’

‘Albus, really – you’re as bad as Arthur Weasley.’

‘Whoa, look what Harry’s doing!’

They all turned towards him. Severus was still standing with his head bowed, as still as a statue. Harry was extending his little arms to him. ‘Sevvus, hold me?’ he said, standing on tiptoe, looking adorable in the star-spangled flannelled baby-suit Poppy had made him wear.

Severus seemed to come back: he started and looked at Harry. Harry smiled at him trustingly.

Scooping Harry up in his arms, Severus looked at the happy baby solemnly.

There was another click! and a groan of protest from Minerva.

‘Severus, since Harry likes you so much, I think you should be made his guardian,’ said Poppy, as Severus set Harry down.

‘Me? I don’t know how to take care of babies!’ said Severus, flabbergasted.

‘You’ll learn – just listen to your heart, Severus,’ said Dumbledore, gently. ‘Harry – Severus is your new Daddy.’

‘Daddy?’ repeated Harry, wonderingly, and looking at the expression in his green eyes as he looked all around, it could not be clearer that he still remembered James vividly.
But then, seeming to understand that James wasn’t anywhere near, or was ever going to be, he whispered slowly, ‘Daddy Sev?’

Severus nodded, his obsidian eyes warming to grey as he gazed at Harry, and Harry hesitated just the quarter of a second before he ran to Severus, who picked him up and hugged him tightly.

‘Poppy, have you any of that mild soap left?’asked Severus, as he walked towards the door.

‘Yes, just a bar. Why?’

‘Could I have it if you’re not using it right now?’ he said.

‘Yes, of course,’ said Poppy, ‘Here. Accio soap!’ The bar flew into her palms. Taking it, Severus walked towards the dungeons.

‘Aren’t you going to Floo, Severus?’ Poppy called after him.

Turning and smiling slightly with Harry in his arms, he said, ‘Harry hasn’t Flooed yet, you know. I want to keep the experience for a time when he is not so dizzy already.’

‘And the soap? What is that for? You don’t use it – you use your own herbal soap and shampoo, don’t you?’

‘That’s for Harry. I don’t have any soap good enough for him, so I asked you. He’ll definitely feel better after a good hot-water bath, I believe.’

‘And you were just saying you didn’t know how to handle babies!’ said Minerva, shaking her head and smiling after Severus.

‘He’ll make a good father, won’t he, Min?’ said Poppy, happily.

‘Just as good as Harry will be a son to him,’ smiled Minerva, ‘They are perfect together.’

‘Severus deserves to be happy. Harry will be good for our boy.’

‘Yes, of course…Albus, could you do something?’

‘What is it, Minerva?’

‘Can I see those photos you took of those two…?’

2.Lily-bud
The fire in the Headmaster's office blazed emerald green, following the arrival of a short, portly man in a lime-green bowler hat.

'Good afternoon, Minister.'

'Afternoon, Albus.'

'Please have a seat. Would you care for a lemon-drop?'

'No, thank you. I'm here on an important mission today. A glass of oak-matured firewhisky would do for now.'

'Sure. Here you are.'

Dumbldedore waited with a look of pleasant expectancy on his face.

'Well, to say the least, I'm astounded,' said Fudge, heatedly. 'Harry Potter, Albus! How could you do this to the Wizarding World's saviour?'

'Do what, Cornelius?'

'Give him off to a bloody Death Eater! How could you?'

'Give him - ? Oh.' Suddenly Dumbledore's face sharpened, and he said in a calm, but cooler voice, 'And how exactly, may I ask, did you find about this....ah.....new development, Cornelius? It took place, if I recall correctly, just two hours back, during which time, Harry and Severus were left alone in Severus's quarters.'

'I have people! I - '

Fudge faltered at the look on Dumbledore's face.

'Ah,' he said, quietly. 'How clever. How did I forget? So it's even in the Daily Prophet now. Tell me, Cornelius, how many animal reporters have you got working for you as spies?'

'Spies!' spluttered Fudge, 'How dare you make such unfounded accusations - and so what if I have any? I'm the Minister of Magic, if you forget!'

'How can I forget?' said Dumbledore, mildly, extracting a beetle out of one of his silver instruments.'Ah, beetles. Lovely creatures.'

He put the beetle in a glass jar filled with weeds, making it buzz angrily at him.

Fudge suddenly looked bothered. 'Why are you putting it there? It will - it may choke! It - it is not a hospitable place for the beetle!'

Dumbledore looked at him in polite interest. 'Why, that's unexpectedly kind of you, Cornelius. I had no idea you cared for insects so much. But then, this insect is fascinating, truly.' And before Fudge could stop him,, he released the beetle and pointing his wand at it, said, 'Animagus Revelo!'

In the place of the beetle there now stood a scowling witch with an acid-green quill in her hand.

'Next time you want me, Minister, choose me to spy on less intelligent people than him!'

'Why, thank you very much, Rita!' said Dumbledore, gallantly. 'But I'm sure there are more people more intelligent than me than less.'

He saw her off to his fireplace, handing her a pinch of his own Floo Powder, and she disappeared in a swirl of flames.

'Now then,' said Dumbledore, suddenly businesslike, alarming Fudge all the more, 'Let's get to the point. What is your wish from me?'

That you resign this moment, said Fudge in his head, but spoke aloud, 'Well, I want custody of that Potter boy.'

'And you are resorting to wrong methods because you know you can't,' finished Dumbledore, gravely.

'I CAN!'

'Well, before we go to that issue, let us clarify another one. Do you or do you not wish Voldemort vanquished?'

Fudge flinched. 'I - of course I do, but -'

'Are you ready to accept that he wil rise again?'

'WHAT! He -'

'-will certinly rise again in a few years. When he does, will you join us in our fight against him?'

'I - I-'

'Answer me, Cornelius.'

Fudge gulped, mopped his sweaty forehead on his hankerchief and stared at Dumbledore, gaping like a fish out of water.

Taking advantage of his silence, Dumbledore said, 'You hesitate. But even before Voldemort was vanquished by Harry, a young man by the name of Severus Snape came to me and offered to - actually offered to do the thing that you, the honourary Minister of Magic, hesitate to do upon being asked. It was even more difficult for him seeing that he had been in Voldemort's service till then. He did what many among the brave ones do not dare to dream of - he became a spy for the side of the Light.'

Dumbledore paused, piercing Fudge with his brilliant blue eyes.

'Now - tell me Cornelius, whom should I trust more between you and Severus? Whom would you trust - a man who had once been in Voldemort's service, but is now firmly out of it, or one who is undecided as to which side he should take; the Dark or the Light?'

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Dumbledore said, calmly, 'I trust Severus with all my heart, Cornelius. And believe me, it is not for baseless reasons.'

Finding his tongue at last, Fudge said, 'You - you will continue to keep Potter with him?'

'Till he and Harry both refrain from trusting each other.'

'And that will be?'

'Always.'

I am the Minister of Magic, thought Fudge, as he Flooed to his office, but Dumbledore is the bloody Prime Minister of Magic, if such a post were there! Only a Prime Minister can dismiss a Minister as easily as Dumbledore dismissed me.

*****************************************************************************************************

Harry gazed all around himself as his new Daddy carried him to the dungeons. His body didn't hurt so much any more, and even his wounds didn't sting him a bit! The lady in the white dress had made him alright. And he knew that he was a wizard! He could do MAGIC!
The passage that he was being carried through was dark and a bit spooky, and Harry suddenly remembered what Aunt Petunia had said about dark places and what lived there...and his own cupboard. Clinging to his Daddy's shoulder a bit tighter, he wished the cupboard in which they kept him now was less dark and free of spiders.

Severus had been in a rare state of happiness when he walked out of Dumbledore's offfice. He had a child to look after - Lily's child! Lily.....how many memories the name brought..both painful and happy. And speaking of the child...

Severus glanced down at the messy-haired bundle in his arms. Deciding that he'd hold his first conversation with Harry in his quarters, he walked quicker to them. Setting Harry down very gently on his own bed, he summoned a chair, some pillows and called, 'Chloe!' There was a POP! and the House Elf materialised before him.

'Please bring a plate of spaghetti, a bowl of fruit-salad, a bowl of vegetable-stew and a glass of warm milk immediately.'

Chloe bowed and vanished.

Now Severus turned back to his ward, who was currently looking at the ground in rather a frightened manner. Cursing the Dursleys inwardly, he knelt down so that he was eye-level with the child.

'Harry,' he said, as gently as he could. 'Look at me, child.'

The liquid emerald eyes met his black ones, and he suppressed a severe bout of nostalgia.

'I'm not going to let anyone do anything to you,' he began, wondering whether the tiny four year-old would understand his sincerity and desperation. 'Ever. You're safe. You -'

Severus's next words did not enter Harry's ears, for they were already ringing with a single word - 'safe'. Safe......when had he last felt safe? He vaguely remembered a brightly-coloured room, laughter and voices of people...people whose voices seemed oddly familiar....

Severus realised that Harry was out of it. 'Earth to Harry!' he said, softly, as he snapped his fingers before the emerald eyes. Harry started violently, and then remembered that he was not with his Aunt and Uncle. Frowning, Severus tipped the small chin up so that he could have a guess at what, precisely, was upsetting the child at the moment to make him look so miserable. Seeing Severus frown, Harry hastily ducked his head between his knees.

'Sowwwy!' came a muffled whimper.

'Sorry? Harry, what - ?'

But before Severus could complete the sentence, Harry was already surrounded by a fortress of pillows and blankets, sobbing in fright.

'Please don't hurt me! I'll be good, honest! Sorry! Sorry! - '

'Harry -'

'-I didn' mean to ignoww you, it was only 'coz I 'membered something!'

'Harry!..'

'Don't send me back, don't, don't!'

'HARRY!' the shout effectively stunned Harry into silence. 'You do NOT need to apologize for daydreaming. And there's absolutely no QUESTION of sending you back. What did I just say, you silly child?'

'Th-that you won't let anyone do anything to me?'

'Quite. Now, how would I be maintaining that if I sent you back to those horrendous relatives of yours, knowing fully well that they would whip you, starve you, and abuse you brutally?'

'Ohhh........'

Harry was quiet for a while, wherein Chloe arrived with the food.

'Thank you Chloe.'

After she had gone, Severus beckoned to Harry to come near the food. Harry hastened to do so.

'Help yourself,' said Severus, handing the spoon and the bowl of spaghetti towards Harry.
Harry shifted closer uncertainly, picking up the spoon as if it were an inflammable substance.

Sighing, Severus scooped the child up into his lap and lifted a spoonful of spaghetti to his mouth.

'All that - that's for - me?' squeaked Harry.

'No, I brought it to decorate the walls,' said Severus, dryly, and Harry was so surprised that he let himself be fed. The man - his Daddy was joking! With him!

Very soon, the entire food was inside a certain tyke's tummy.

'Daddy?' the timid question startled Severus.

'Yes, son?'

'What's hor-denus?'

'You mean horrendous? It means horrible.'

Nodding, Harry soon felt himself dozing off, and was saved from toppling over by a pair of strong hands.

'Honestly,' grumbled Severus, to himself. Lifting the small frame into bed, he removed the spectacles, tucked Harry into bed and settled down into bed next to Ha-his son.

He was almost falling asleep when he heard a small voice mumble sleepily, 'Love you, Daddy.'

Severus felt as though his heart was roaring with happiness like a Gryffinder lion as he drifted off into sleep too. He was so happy that he temporarily even forgot his planned vengeance to the Dursleys. After all, it was because they had abused Harry that he now had him under his care. That was selfish, Severus knew, but he was far too sated and sleepy to invoke his conscience for the thought.

When he was certain that Harry was fast asleep, he whispered, 'Love you too, little Lily-bud.'