"Daddy."

"Hm?" Severus asked, looking up from his potions journal.

"So I was thinkin'," Harry said, fitting his eight year-old self easily between the soft arm of the sofa and his daddy's body.

"Heaven forbid," his daddy said with a smirk.

"I was thinking," Harry repeated, purposely ignoring his dad's attempt at humour.

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow's my birthday—."

"Drat, I was hoping you had forgotten," his daddy interrupted with a teasing look.

Harry glared up at him. "Dad," he growled. "I'm tryin' to say something here."

"Oh. Please forgive me. Continue," his dad said, just barely managing to remain serious.

"I think we should go to the pet store tomorrow."

"Harry, we have discussed this already," his daddy answered in a quiet voice, moving his arm around his much smaller shoulders.

"You said that I wasn't mature enough yet. Well, I think a nine year-old is. Besides, this'll be a good chance to show you that I can be trusted. Right, Daddy?"

Serious green eyes stared back at him, and for a moment, Severus found himself lost in their depths.

He regained his focus and noticed his son was still staring sternly up at him. "I suppose," he sighed at last.

"Really?" Harry's face abruptly lightened.

"Yes. However, if we do find a pet, then it will be your sole responsibility. I'll not be cleaning up after some wayward rat or messy cat of yours."

"I'm not stupid, dad," his son answered, sounding affronted.

"No son," he answered, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. "That you certainly are not."

. . .

The next day came around a lot faster than Severus had been expecting, and it wasn't long before he found himself standing in a pet store on Diagon Alley, holding the hand of a nearly bouncing child.

"Dad," his son whispered excitedly. "Isn't it great!"

"Fascinating," he answered with only a tiny bit of sarcasm in his voice. It was rather interesting to behold all of the species that the pet store had shoved into one small space, and his mind speculated on what kind of mess there would should they ever all suddenly get free.

"Well son, which would you like to look at first?"

"The reptiles!"

And subsequently, he found himself being dragged in that direction, his son's mind set on one thing and one thing only.

"Aren't they cute?" Harry cried out happily, dashing around the heated glass enclosures excitedly.

"I wouldn't necessarily use that adjective," Severus answered slowly, with a raised eyebrow at his hyper child.

Was I that overactive as a child when I was his age? It didn't seem possible.

"Ohhh. Dad!" His son said in a voice that was half breath and all awe.

Severus looked into the case and had to admit—at least privately—that the snake his son was currently mesmerized by was extremely pretty. It was less than two feet long, if Severus's eyes were anything to go by, but thinner than his arm. It was some variety of wizarding coral snake, with alternating rings of green and purple up and down its sleek body. The purple seemed to nearly glow with an unearthly radiance, lighting up the space around the snake.

Then it moved and Severus had to bite his lip to prevent himself from exclaiming aloud.

"Daddy!" His son squealed loudly enough for them both, and then turned and grabbed his hand tightly. "It has two heads! Do you see it? Daddy, please, can I have this one? Please please please," he begged, his bright green eyes pleading just as much as the words spilling from his mouth.

"It will be your responsibility, Harry," Severus intoned in a deep voice.

"I know! I'll take really good care of it—just like you take care of me!"

He really couldn't say no to that. Besides, he knew better than most that his son was unusually mature. He liked to think it was because of his influence as a father, but he sometimes felt deep in his heart that it was likely a leftover effect of the abuse he had suffered before coming into his care.

"Fine," he answered with a sigh.

Harry threw his arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you daddy," his son whispered against his chest, making him smile just a bit at the boy's overly exhibitionistic action.

It wasn't until they were home that Severus got his own surprise.

He was setting up the tank on one side of Harry's room, when he heard a strange hissing sound coming from where his son was with the snake. Automatically thinking the worst, he whirled around, his wand already in hand, only to come to a complete and dead halt in the middle of the room.

His son was the one who was hissing.

It seemed that his son was a Parselmouth.

"Child?" He called out, breaking Harry's attention away from the snake still cradled in the boy's arms.

"Oh daddy!" Harry bounced up and raced over to him. "She's so pretty, don't you think Daddy?"

"What—," he started, licking his lips delicately as he tried to calm himself. "What is her name, child?"

"I don't know," Harry answered with a befuddled look. "I'll ask her!"

He watched—and listened—in fascination as his son turned to the snake and let out a series of sibilant hisses before falling silent, his head cocked to the side as he listened to her answer.

"Sssilandra," Harry answered at long last, a wide smile on his face.

"Not merely Silandra, but Sssilandra?" Severus asked, feeling a bit foolish as he tried to imitate his son's pronunciation of the snake's name.

"Well," Harry answered slowly, "It's okay if you have to call her Silandra, but I'll be calling her Sssilandra."

"'If I have to?'" He asked, feeling somewhat insulted.

"Well yeah. Weren't you listening when she explained about how to say her name?" His son looked up at him earnestly.

"Son, I cannot understand snakes. For that matter, I could not understand you when you were conversing with her either," he answered very calmly, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

"But—," Confusion came over his face and he gazed up at Severus with a questioning look.

"You were speaking something called 'Parseltongue,'" Severus explained, pulling his son in next to him and giving his shoulders a squeeze.

"Really?"

"Yes, child," he answered, hesitating as he deliberated whether to tell his son the rest.

"What is it dad?" Trusting green eyes stared up at him and he swallowed around the sudden restriction in his throat.

"The only other known Parselmouth in the past century was the Dark Lord," he answered.

His son shivered against him and he held on just a little tighter.

Silandra weaved herself around Harry's arms and finally up around his neck. Severus watched as Harry's hand came up and he idly stroked her sleek scales gently, his face lost in thought.

"But I like snakes, Dad," his son said, making him shake his head with the randomness of the boy's statement.

"Yes, and so?"

"Well so, I don't care if some stupid ol' Dark Lord could talk to them too. I like 'em, and Silandra likes me, and I think that it's really cool that I can understand her, and she thinks so too!"

Severus found himself smiling his own smile down at his son's indignant response.

"Some people will think you are dark because of it," he warned.

"Some people," his son answered with a growl, "already think so, 'cause you're my dad. That just shows how stupid they are, 'cause you're the best and most honorable person in the whole world!"

Severus blinked. He wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Thank you, son," he finally managed.

"Well, it's true," Harry said defiantly, just as Silandra began hissing again. He stopped speaking and leaned his head over towards her as he listened.

"What did she say?"

"She thinks you smell good and if that's good enough for her, then it ought to be good enough for everyone."

The snake had spoken.

And as a Slytherin, Severus decided to listen to her and let the matter drop. His son was capable enough to handle any difficulties that came up after this on his own.