Chapter 4 – Surprising Reactions

"Severus! What on earth—?" Minerva squawked at him in a voice just barely audible over the boy's terrified shrieks.

"Just back off! Both of you!" He said in a commanding voice, shooting each of his colleagues a dirty look as he did. The child in his arms continued to writhe in his arms, clearly trying to get away from the sight of the woman now standing beside Albus, not three feet away.

"You're scaring him!" Minerva admonished, taking another step towards them. "Give him to me before you do him anymore harm!" She said, reaching her arms out for little Harry.

If anything, the little boy's screams only went up in volume, and Severus began to hear panicked words making their way out of the child's mouth as the woman made her way closer.

"No! Please!" Were two of the most frequently cried, making Severus growl warningly towards the other two adults present.

Mother of Merlin! Couldn't the idiot Gryffindor see that the boy clearly preferred him?

Minerva stepped almost directly in front of them and that's when chaos truly erupted. Within his arms, the tiny boy let out a screech that was almost inhuman in its intensity and range. That was followed by a loud boom and a bright flash of light in the space between them and Minerva that caused the older woman to pitch backwards into a conveniently placed Dumbledore.

As she fell, Severus saw that her face had gone chalky gray in shock, and the younger man wasn't at all surprised to see her eyes roll back in her head only moments later. Thankfully, Albus managed to catch before she injured herself.

Unfortunately, his small charge's fears were still not alleviated, even though the woman was now unconscious and sprawled rather indelicately across his couch.

"Don't follow us," he pointed a long accusatory finger at Albus and then moved them into the safe seclusion of his bedroom. He sat down on the bed and cast a silencing bubble around them, hoping to head off any more provocations for the still crying boy in his arms.

"We are alone now. No one is coming in; it's just us now," he spoke, trying to make the child calm down.

He might as well have not said anything. The lad was nearly hyperventilating in fear and was obviously not listening to him.

"Calm yourself!" He said, nearly desperate himself. What did he know about dealing with crying children? He had known that this was a bad idea!

"Lily, please!" He implored to the empty room; hoping against hope that she would respond and intervene in the situation.

But his plea went unanswered as the child continued to cry out his fears onto Severus's increasingly damp shoulder.

"Hush now, hush," he said to the boy, nearly pleading. He rubbed a hand down the back of the child's small soft head and thought for an instant that there was a slight change in volume level. Feeling a touch encouraged, he moved his hand over the boy's head again and then moved it over his back, rubbing the tense muscles in a loose circular motion.

Dimly, his mind fought to pull up a long forgotten memory of his mother doing something similar with him after an upset with one of the neighborhood bullies. She had calmed him with just her touch and he had hung onto her with all of his strength, crying bitterly over the injustices that they heaped against him.

Wait—he hadn't just held onto her alone, had he? There was something else poking in his mind, and he thought hard against the weight of time in order to dredge up the memory.

There! That was it. He remembered it now. He had held onto her, but he had also held on to a stuffed toy of some kind—perhaps a bear. Briefly, he wondered what had happened to that old bear, but no more recollections were forthcoming, and he eventually gave up on it.

Looking around the room, his eyes fell on a smaller pillow that was sitting unobtrusively at very edge of his bed. One of his idiot colleagues had given it to him as Christmas present, clearly not thinking through the repercussions of giving something pink to the dark potions master. Luckily—for the presenter of the gift—the pillow had been charmed against being thrown away, and Severus had been stuck with it.

With a short motion of his wand, he summoned the pillow to him, catching it easily with one hand; as the other was still involved in the very important task of comforting the child.

"I hope you don't tell anyone about this," he said to the boy whose tears were finally letting up, even though his body was still shaking and his chest was still hitching. He didn't get a response from the lad, but he hadn't actually expected one.

He fixed the image in his head of what it was he wanted to create, and then used his wand to make it happen. Moments later, the dour man from the dungeons had a soft plush teddy bear in his hand. He stared at it critically, and then also lengthened its arms with a few well placed pokes of his wand.

It was only a very pale pink now—almost white—but it was still missing something. A second later and a smirk flashed across his face as he realized exactly what that something was. He prodded the bear with his wand once more and then looked at his creation with approval. Where once the pale pink teddy bear had been naked, it was now dressed in solid black teaching robes—not unlike his own.

"Harry," he spoke into the silence that was still being broken by the sound of sniffles from his charge. It was first time that he had called the boy by his name, and the lad seemed to acknowledge its significance, turning red rimmed and puffy eyes up to look at him in surprise.

"Do you feel better now?" He asked, seeing that he had gained the boy's attention for the first time since Minerva had interrupted them.

A lower lip trembled in response, and he gathered the child tighter into his arms to try and head off the impending threat of more tears.

It took him a minute to remember it, but when he did recall his recently made creation, he loosened his grip on the lad and pulled him away just enough to look him in the face.

"I have a present for you," he said softly.

"For m-m-me?" The child stuttered in complete surprise, still sniffling. "Even though I was bad?"

"When were you bad?" Severus prompted.

"When I cried," the boy stated shamefully, casting his eyes down and away from Severus's own.

Severus put a hand under the boy's chin and forced his face upwards.

"You were frightened by the woman, weren't you?" He asked, searching the lad's face carefully.

The boy nodded slowly.

"Are you afraid that she's going to hurt you?"

Almost immediately the child nodded and then pushed himself back into Severus's arms, his small body shuddering forcefully against him.

What on earth has this little boy been put through? He wondered with his own slight touch of fear.

"Do you know who she is?"

"No," the child said, his voice muffled from where his face was pushed against the front of Severus's robes.

"Has she ever hurt you?" Severus's mind was racing as he braced for the possible accusation.

The lad shook his head in the negative and Severus let out a small breath of relief.

"What frightened you about her?" He tried again.

"She's scary like auntie," the boy whispered.

Something clicked in his mind and he went with it.

"Is it because she's a woman?"

"I don't know," the child's voice was very small and weak sounding from where he was curled up against Severus's shoulder.

Severus's hand continued rubbing over the thin back of the boy in his arms as he thought over their conversation. He didn't much care for this version of the lad. He would never admit it—maybe not even to his own mind—but he had liked talking to the child about potions and seeing his green eyes spark with wonder at what he said. No one else ever listened to him like that; no one except for Lily, and she was dead, all thanks to him.

The boy was holding onto him as though Severus were the only thing between him and insanity. Turning his head, he caught sight of the plush bear laid on its back beside them. He wondered if the boy would be put off by its color, but suspected that it didn't matter. If his theory of the lad's previous history was anything to go by, then it was very unlikely that the boy had had much in the way of presents.

Maybe he could put a bit of spark back into those green eyes. Everything would not automatically be all right—especially given that nothing in his life ever had been—but maybe it would make things better for just a little while.

"Oh my, what have we here?" Severus said in a faux surprised voice, hoping that his unusual vocal affection would interest the child enough to look up.

Green eyes flicked uncertainly up at him and then over to where Severus's head was pointed. Watching carefully out of the corner of his eye, Severus watched those same eyes widen in surprise at the sight of the bear sitting beside them. He also noticed that the boy's hands didn't immediately reach out and touch the toy, but they did twitch a bit; providing him with a touch of hope that the lad was not damaged beyond all measures.

"I think he looks rather lonely down there by himself," Severus said, nodding seriously back at the child staring quietly up at him.

For a moment, Severus thought he might have to break out even odder means to get the boy to react, but he was saved by a small question from the child who was still wrapped protectively within his arms.

"Is he all alone?" The voice was mournfully sad, making Severus blink hard at the unexpected well of emotion he felt in reaction to it.

"He certainly looks that way," Severus answered, clearing his throat unobtrusively.

"He don't have no friends?"

"He doesn't seem to, no," Severus said somberly, before allowing a brighter look to come over his features. "But maybe I know of a way to help."

"Yeah?" The child was perking up in his arms, green eyes peering up hopefully.

"Perhaps you could be his friend?" He raised an eyebrow and then turned back to the bear and picked it up by one of its long floppy arms. He brought the bear up to the lad's eye level and then prodded it forwards gently until it was resting in his charge's arms.

"I've never been no one's friend before," the child's voice quivered.

"Your mother was my first friend," he said gently, surprising even himself with the simple admission.

"Really?" The boy looked up, a searching expression evident on his face.

"I was a bit like the bear," he admitted in a low voice to the child giving him his complete attention.

"All alone?" The child looked distressed at the thought.

He nodded seriously.

"And my mummy made friends with you?" The boy's voice was heartbreakingly sweet.

"She did indeed. Do you think you could do that with him?" He pointed his chin at the bear still resting within their conjoined arms.

This time, the child nodded energetically, grabbing the bear and holding him close to his own chest; unconsciously imitating Severus's own hold on him.

"What's his name?" The child whispered solemnly.

Severus thought for a moment before answering.

"Captain," he said, wondering at himself for picking such a random name.

"I like his name," the boy said shyly, smiling up at him; his tears all but completely forgotten.

Perhaps it is a good name after all.

Severus rather liked seeing the lad smile so happily at him.

I caused that look, was his heady thought.

Maybe the boy was a different sort altogether from the other dunderheads he typically found himself surrounded with. Maybe Harry was more like Severus. Why else had he responded so positively to everything Severus had said to him?

He knew all too well what it was like to grow up different from one's peers. It was hard. It was lonely. It was embittering.

The little boy in his arms was talking softly to the bear still resting between them.

Could he stand to let this child grow up so downtrodden and alone?

"And dat's my tall man, Cap'n," the child was whispering to his little stuffed friend. "He keeps us safe," the lad whispered confidently.

And I will too, Severus thought; an unusual feeling of protectiveness for the small boy in his arms suddenly blossoming in his heart.