Nightmares by Jyllian
Summary: *short story* The painful remnants of Little Harry's old life comes to haunt his nightmares.
Categories: Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required)
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Child fic, Snape-meets-Dursleys
Takes Place: 0 - Pre Hogwarts (before Harry is 11)
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Neglect, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 6 Completed: Yes Word count: 17331 Read: 37171 Published: 10 Dec 2010 Updated: 14 Jun 2011
Chapter 3 by Jyllian
Author's Notes:
I've made some really minor grammatical errors now that I've got Microsoft Word working and doing the error correction thingy for me.

One notable difference would be that Harry is nine, not seven. I don't think a seven-year-old can express himself that well, as you will see later.

I swear that'll be the only major change that would be made.

The pair held on to each other for some time, the comfortable silence only broken by the occasional sniffing from Harry.

 

"Da...um, sir?"

 

"Harry, you can call me Dad, or..." Severus coughed a little at this point. "Daddy, if want to."

 

"Really?" Harry pushed himself up from the Potions Master's embrace and gazed at him with wide, tear-stained eyes. Severus looked into the boy's eyes and nodded.

 

"But..." Little Harry looked away from the sincerity he saw in his guardian's eyes, a little unused to this kind of affection. Not that Severus would admit to being affectionate to Harry. He had a reputation to maintain, even though he rarely interacts with anyone, anymore.

 

Still, perhaps he could make an exception for Little Harry.

 

"But what, Harry?"

 

"But I'm not really your son, right?"

 

Severus felt a heart-wrenching feeling in his chest.

 

"I mean..." Harry bit his lower lip, his eyes still downcast, continuing in a mumbled whisper, "you must not have wanted me..."

 

"What?" Severus was confused for a moment, what has Harry being James Potter's son, well, biologically speaking, got to do with Severus wanting Harry or not? Actually, it did matter, but the topic of James Potter was never brought up in time Harry has been here. Severus thought he would explain things to Harry slowly, after he had got used to his surroundings. So, Harry could not have known about Severus' school nemesis."What do you mean, Harry?"

 

Harry sniffed again and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Severus frowned and handed him a handkerchief from his bedside drawer.

 

"You didn't come," Harry explained, after sniffing into the handkerchief. "All those times with my uncle and aunt, you didn't come for me, although I called and called for you, every birthday, every Christmas, Easter, um...Halloween and all the other times. So I figured you must not have wanted me very much.

 

"Not that I'm ungrateful that you've come at last, better late than never... but, um... You must have family, somewhere and, um... someday, you might decide to, um... go away... I mean..."

 

"And what has this got to do with my being your 'real' father?" Severus asked, even more bewildered. Harry's jumbled thoughts did not help him understand the situation better either.

 

"I just thought, if I never had something, maybe when I lost it, I wouldn't feel so sad," Harry said, shrugging. "It's like that time Dudley broke the toy soldier I had in my c-cupboard. I really liked that soldier, but I was really sad that it got broken.

 

"If I called you Da-Daddy, and when you've g-gone back to your real family, then I would be really, really sad that I can't call you Daddy anymore."

 

By the end of Harry's ramble, Severus was being to understand where the fear had come from. It was not because Harry didn't want to call someone other than James Potter 'Dad' that he said that Severus wasn't his 'real' father. How can a small nine-year-old's emotional world be so confusing?

 

"Harry," Severus started, trying to pull his thoughts together, "I think you're mistaken about a few things. First off, I don't have any other living relations. You are my family."

 

Little Harry's head shot up, eyes wide and shinning. There was a mixture of hope, the kind when a distant dream of yours had just made itself known and promised that it would come true, along with a little sadness.

 

"But then, why did you come only now, if you weren't busy with your family?"

 

Severus felt another pang, this time of guilt. He only went to Number 4, Privet Drive at Albus Dumbledore's insistence. Although he had not been a spy for nine years now, he kept in close contact with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, occasionally making a few trips down to his alma mater - although not is he could help it - to deliver potions at the headmaster's request, for some reason or another.

 

That was how Severus fell into Dumbledore's excuse of 'I need someone to make sure the Boy-who-lived is still living well but no one seemed to have time'. Not that the sly Potions Master bought the story. He had fallen into the trap of 'He is Lily Evans' son, your best friend and first love, surely you must be curious on how he is faring'.

 

But he couldn't possibly tell Little Harry that.

 

"Harry... Does it really matter?" Severus skirted around the issue.

 

Harry thought about it for a while and then shook his head slowly. "Nah...you’re right, it doesn't. All that matter now is that I've got my daddy with me here."

 

Severus gave Harry a rare smile. "Yes, I've got you right where you belong, you little twerp."

 

Harry gave a huge grin back, exposing a missing tooth in the front row of his teeth. "Daddy," Harry said, his face turning serious, a little frown beginning to form.

 

"Yes, Harry?"

 

Severus was apprehensive about Harry's questions. They were unpredictable, and usually questions Severus had difficulty answering. The first night Harry spent in the Manor, for example, he had asked where his mummy was and if Severus was his father.

 

This had caught Severus by complete surprise. Apparently, those lying-faced Dursleys had told Harry that his drunken and jobless good-for-nothing father had got himself in a car crash with his mother. While Severus had no love lost whatsoever for James Potter and didn't care if he was personified as such, he was outraged that Lily was also spoken badly of in the Dursleys' household.

 

And since he had told Harry that his relatives were a bunch of liars, it led to Little Harry wondering if the part about his parents being dead were true. Of course, when he asked that, Harry had known what the answer would be. If his parents had survived, they would have come looking for him, and Severus would not have had to save Harry from the Dursleys.

 

He had explained, that very night, how his parents were killed by a mass murderer and no, Severus was not his father, but his guardian. Harry had taken the news quite well, considering how his emotions change as fast as the speed of a broom. Then again, he might have to change his explanation, now that both of them secretly acknowledged being father and son.

 

Harry stared up at his father with angelic eyes and said with a very innocent tone, "I'm hungry."

 

Severus snorted. Just like Harry to sprout some philosophical words of wisdom one moment and worrying about his stomach the next. I suppose I should be thankful that he is asking for food now.

 

"Very well, go wash up and I'll cook some breakfast for you."

 

"Ok, daddy!" Harry heartily agreed and jumped off the bed, running back to his room with his bare feet.

 

"Harry, wear your slippers," Severus called sternly after him.

 

Shaking his head exasperatingly, Severus got off the bed and prepared for the day ahead.

____________________________________________________________________

"Daddy, what are we going to do today?" Little Harry asked as he ate his breakfast.

 

Severus shot him a fierce look. "Do not chew with your mouth open and talk with your mouth full, Harry. Honestly, I do not know how you could accomplish both feats together."

 

"Sorry, Daddy," Harry finished his mouthful of porridge and grinned. "So, Daddy, what are we going to do today?"

 

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time, boy," Severus said. "I'll be going down to Hogwarts to visit the Headmaster, Harry. He requests a meeting in his office."

 

"Oh, I thought we were going to do something together." Harry's face fell a little and then lit up again. "Can I come along with you, then, Daddy?"

 

"I was going to bring you along; you don't imagine I would leave a hazard like yourself in my house?"

 

Harry stuck out his tongue behind his bowl of porridge, knowing that Severus would see anyway. "Careful with that tongue, I might cut it off and use it for my potion ingredients."

 

"You wouldn't, Daddy," Harry said, matter-of-factly.

 

Severus raised his eyebrows at the lack of mortification in Harry's tone. "Why not, may I ask? It would certainly give me some peace and quiet around here."

 

"Because you're my Daddy and you love me," Harry smiled widely, drips of porridge dropping from his chin. "Besides, you like it when I call you Daddy."

 

"And you got that after ten minutes of starting to overcompensate for the lack of opportunity to do so?"

 

"Huh?" Harry gave him a blank look.

 

"Never mind," Severus sighed and rolled his eyes. "I expect you to be on your best behaviour while we’re at Hogwarts, Harry, or there will be consequences when we get home, do I make myself clear?”

 

Harry’s eyes widened for the third time that morning at the word consequences, but nodded obediently.

 

“Yes sir,” Harry replied seriously. “Why are we going Hogwarts, sir, is it for another health chess cups?”

 

“Check-ups, Harry,” Severus corrected. “I would leave you with Madam Pomfrey while I go to the headmaster’s office for a quick meeting he requested a few days ago. He may want to see you after that, is that alright?”

 

Harry nodded distractedly and continued the rest of the meal in silence. Severus became a little worried. The word consequences had obviously scared the boy a little, or he would not have reverted back to calling him ‘sir’.

 

Severus had brought Harry straight to Hogwarts for a visit to Madam Pomfrey's after seeing him being locked out of the Dursleys’ house. Perhaps leaving without giving those vile Muggles a taste of their own medicine was too much a reward for them, but Severus was more concerned about a bleeding, shivering mess in his arms that day, so he had quickly disapparated on the spot. Dumbledore had given his word that he would be visiting Harry’s relatives soon.

 

Still, Severus would have liked to carry out the ‘revenge’ himself. No one hurts his son and got away with it.

 

A little surprised at his own sentiments, Severus thought of the irony of raising his arch enemy and best friend’s son. If he had thought about having a family during the earlier times before he pledged his services to the Dark Lord, Severus certainly would not have imagined raising James Potter’s son. He still had no idea how is he going to manage two more years with Little Harry around the house, especially when his clients start to demand their potions more often or when he gets caught up with his research projects.

 

One day at a time, Severus, one day at a time.

The End.
End Notes:
Remember to review!

This is sort of a transitional chapter. Exciting things coming up at Hogwarts!

If you have any ideas you're dying to suggest, please put them in the review box too, I can't promise they'll be written but I always read every single review made.

Cheers to Butterbeer!


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