The Son Becomes the Father by watercrystals
Summary: Following the death of Sirius, Harry isn't sure what to make of the sudden appearance of a six-year-old boy. The pair form a bond, unaware they're half-brothers, and Harry decides to take the boy to Hogwarts and hide him there. To aide the boy's education, Harry anonymously exchanges letters with Snape.

A story of a how a young boy becomes a father-figure to another while their own father is oblivious of their biological existence. But can sixteen-year-old Harry give what he himself has not gained? Can he go an entire year without being discovered? Just how far will Severus go to find the writer of those letters...Or are some things best left unknown?
Categories: Parental Snape > Biological Father Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Dumbledore, Eileen Prince, Ginny, Hagrid, Hermione, Luna, Narcissa, Neville, Original Character, Other, Pomfrey, Remus, Ron, Tonks, Voldemort
Snape Flavour: Canon Snape
Genres: Angst, Drama, Family, General, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Tragedy
Media Type: None
Tags: Alternate Universe, Child fic, Kidnapped, Runaway, Sibling Addition, Snape-meets-Dursleys
Takes Place: 6th summer, 6th Year, 7th summer, 8 - Pre Epilogue (adult Harry)
Warnings: Alcohol Use, Character Death, Neglect, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 33 Completed: No Word count: 164477 Read: 236931 Published: 04 Mar 2011 Updated: 06 Oct 2013
Approaching Festivity by watercrystals
 

Toby opened his eyes and yawned as he sat upright in the bed he shared with Harry. This was the best he'd felt in days. Rubbing his eyes, the boy turned towards the window and smiled as he saw the icy windowsill and snowy exterior. Throwing off the covers, he rushed to the spot on the floor directly in front of the window and pressed his palms against the cool surface of the glass.
'Toby?' Harry groaned as he had been woken by the boy's sudden movements.

'It's nearly Christmas, Harry!' Toby grinned at him, having lost his paled complexion and generally tired appearance. It had been such a refreshing sight the previous day when Toby had awoken the entire dormitory with his announcement that he could roar like a lion once again. Few had been able to remain annoyed at being woken so early as the joyous, healthy little boy had run around the room with relief and enlightenment.

'Yeah.' Harry nodded at the mentioning of the fast-approaching festive holiday. It had once been a time of longing and loneliness, but since coming to Hogwarts and having received his first real presents as well as having someone to spent the holiday with, his excitement towards the time had increased evidentially. And now he also had Toby to share it with...almost like a real family.

'I bet Hogwarts looks real pretty at Christmas.' Toby mused with a smile as he stared outside the window again, marveling in all the snow that was falling from the sky.

'Come on.' Harry encouraged once he had gotten out of bed and dressed. The boy sighed and turned away from the window with a huff of disappointment.

'Is Ron still kissy-kissy with that annoying girl?' Toby pulled a disgusted face as he thought of Ron and his girlfriend, Lavender. It had only made things harder as the boys could only spend time with Ron during the day whenever Lavender wasn't around and than Hermione at night (due to her busy schedule and the fact that she and Ron weren't exactly speaking).

'Yeah.' Harry sighed as he too agreed that Lavender was rather irritating at times with the way she gushed and giggled. On the upside, it did mean that Harry and Toby had been able to spend more time alone together where it was just them.

'I don't see why Ron has to put up with her.' Toby frowned as he changed into his set of black robes.

'Ron likes her.' Harry returned although the younger boy was still unable to comprehend that fact and Toby remained convinced that Lavender had put a spell on Ron or force-fed him a potion to make the redhead act that way around her.

'Is Ginny still gonna come with me and Dobby outside?' Toby changed the subject and felt a little nervous. 'I know she's Ron's sister but...' He sighed. Toby could never figure out why, but ever since he was born there was a deep sense of caution that reared inside of him every time he had to be near a stranger.

'Yeah, as far as I know.' Harry nodded. He had arranged it the previous day with Ginny, since Hermione had told her about Toby quite some time ago and yet the pair hadn't really spent any time together. Ginny had come by the previous afternoon to see how Toby was doing and they had officially met for the first time then. The small boy had been very shy at first but otherwise he and Ginny got along quite well, hence the effort Ginny was making today when she could easily be spending that time studying.

And so an hour after breakfast, Toby and gone outside with Dobby (once he was warmly dressed for the occasion in the snow, of course), and Ginny would be joining them soon. Harry rally wanted to join them but couldn't as he had to catch up on a bit of his own work and therefore, instead of being outside with the others, he ventured to the library where he came across Hermione.

Once she'd complained about Ron and lied about not caring who he spent is time with, they proceeded to talk about Slughorn's Christmas party that was taking place that night. Harry had been reluctant to join the “Slug Club” at first but had finally given in when Hermione insisted that he should; although it was mostly to keep her from arguing the matter constantly because she hated only having Ginny and Neville for company. That had been part of Harry's motivation though, that Ginny also went to those meetings. And now, as a consequence of his own caving, Harry had to find a date for the party. He knew all too well that any beverages from any female was to be avoided lately because love potions could be just as deadly as poison, he believed.

Harry watched Hermione finish her Arithmancy essay in silence while he wondered how Ginny and Toby were doing outside with Dobby. No doubt they were enjoying themselves while he was stuck in the library searching through numerous books for anything useful in which to add to his own lengthly homework. It was his own fault really, not for leaving it late as he usually did, but for starting it so soon. Sometimes it really sucked to follow the rules and do things properly.

'Did you hear that?' Harry asked her when he'd heard the obvious sounds of someone moving closely behind them in the second row of bookshelves. He rose from his seat and peeked around th books to see Madam Pince sorting through a pile of particularly large books in the otherwise empty and quiet library.

Sighing, he returned to where Hermione was scanning over his work with her undeniable expression of curiosity.

'That's quite good.' She commented. 'Have you been reading your textbooks more? I've noticed the increased effort you've been putting into your studies lately.' Hermione approved.

'I always put in effort.' Harry said defensively as he pulled his parchment closer. 'I just, have a little extra time at night, that's all.'

'Oh, sure.' Hermione smiled as his feeble excuse, knowing that free time rarely existed for her friend ever since Toby had come along. 'It's not a bad thing, Harry.' She rolled her eyes. 'This is good.'

'If you say so.' Harry frowned and glared down at his half-complete assignment. 'At least I don't have to explain why Jobbernell is so bloody rare.' He grumbled.

'The ancient herb in South Africa?' Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise as it was a subject mostly covered in the seventh-year reading list, not a part of their six-year classes, yet. But when she thought of the possibilities, shefrowned and eyed one of the books he had with him. 'It's not from his book, is it?'

Harry glanced at the Prince's book and shook his head. 'No. Actually, I haven't used it in weeks.' He realized. 'I've learned a lot from it and I don't really need those notes anymore.' He reached for the book and flipped it open, staring at the Prince's writing for a moment and than extracted his wand to conceal the extra comments. Now it just looked like any other textbook; unmarked and apparently nothing special.

'Oh really?' Hermione chuckled, thinking he was simply being over-confident. 'Than tell me, how long does the Draught of Inner Prosperity take to make?'

'The Britain one or the German version?' Harry didn't even notice her skepticism as he poured over his work again, thinking of a few choice words for McGonagall as she was the one who had set their assignment to be an extra three inches.

'Because the German one has the Lactus seeds and...' He glanced at his friend. 'What?' Harry was confused by the stunned expression on his friend's face.

'Harry Potter, are you telling me that you could have been really good in Potions all these years if you'd actually bothered to read the books?' She gasped.

'Hey!' He frowned with offense. 'I wasn't bad, Malfoy always messed with my cauldron or Snape was too busy glaring at me that I couldn't concentrate anyway. His teaching methods did rather put me off the subject. I took notes in first year, if you recall.'

'Yes, and Snape thought you weren't paying attention.' Hermione remembered. None of the Gryffindor trio could ever forget that first Potions lesson at Hogwarts.

'Exactly.' Harry frowned angrily. 'But if I want to be an Auror than I have to pass and I'm sick of relying on these hints.' He shrugged towards the half-blood prince's book. 'You always called it cheating anyway, even though I was just following different instructions.' Harry said.

Truthfully, he had noticed that he was using the Prince's words less and less as he'd learned most of them from his constant reading. Harry had also picked up a few tricks of his own, to the point where he wanted to see if he could try and achieve the same level of skill without the book's advice. He hadn't tested it in an actual class yet, in fear that he'd do terrible and Slughorn would realize his real ability and embarrass him further in front of everyone. Although Harry doubt it could be any worst than Snape's usual scolding.

'Well, enough on that,' Hermione huffed. 'Who are you going to take to Slughorn's party?'

'I dunno, I'll find someone today.' Harry replied as he crossed out a line of writing that didn't seem right.

'I hear you're going home for Christmas instead of the burrow?' Harry felt a stab of resentment when he said those words because while everyone was supposed to leave for their holidays (such as Ron and Ginny going to the burrow to join the rest of the Weasleys, Remus, Fleur, and Tonks), Harry would inevitably be stuck at Hogwarts during that time. They would all surely notice Toby and it was too big a risk to try and bring the boy along.

'Yes, my mother insisted upon it.' Hermione nodded and continued talking about her parents plans and reasoning while Harry turned and glanced over his shoulder. He saw Madam Pince watching him again; he had started to get rather curious and annoyed about it. She had been doing it ever since that day when Toby had gotten separated from him. The librarian had turned and seen him with Ginny, as though that had some sort of impact on her. It nagged him to no end, yet Harry knew better than to just go up to her and tell her to either tell him why she was doing it or bloody stop it.

'Harry, are you listening?' Hermione sounded exasperated.

'Only a little bit, sorry.' Harry stood from his chair. 'Hang on a minute, I uh, saw a book I need.' He hurried over to the row of shelves he had seen the librarian disappear around and cautiously perused the line of books pertaining to water creatures, and watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye.

'Do you need something, Mr Potter?' Irma stared at the teenager as his intentions were rather clear. She knew enough to understand that at this given moment, the books he was falsely considering would be of little use to him.

'Erm, not really.' Harry blushed. 'I was just wondering if I did something to offend you.' He said nervously, not even sure how to approach the lady as he knew little about her other than how she considered it a crime to mistreat any book; library property or not.

'And why would you think that?' Irma asked with surprise.

'It's just...you're always watching me and my friends.' Harry stared at the floor and felt stupid for starting such a discussion, but he was unable to contain his irritated curiosity any longer. 'It's as though you're looking or waiting for something.'

'I am.' Irma nodded and the boy stared up at her as though startled. 'You remind me a great deal of my son.' She mused. 'More so than I dare to admit.'

'Oh.' Harry wasn't sure how to react to that. 'I-I didn't know you had a son.'

'No, very few do.' Irma smiled at the boy's obvious discomfort. 'I also see that my observations are bothering you, and I apologize. It is simply because I never got to see my son very often when he had been a child as we led a very difficult life back then. When he graduated, I came here...and by then it was too late as my boy had become a man.' Irma sighed as she thought upon her troubling memories.

'What was his name?' Harry was intrigued and wondered if he knew more about the librarian at that moment than any other student did their entire time at Hogwarts. She did not seem like the type of person who often shared these sort of details. And if that were true, than why was she telling him?

'You hold a certain interest to my story.' Irma noticed. 'And no doubt sympathize too, I heard you were a very kind and caring boy, Harry. But I cannot tell you his name because it will alter the way you have viewed this information. You may even begin to dismiss it. And you will think differently of me.' She nodded. 'No, it's best if you move along now.' Her vulture-like expression returned.

'Yes, ma'am.' Harry turned and headed back to where Hermione was correcting her essay in an almost hurried manner.

'Are you alright?' She asked him worriedly as she had momentarily halted her marking only to catch a glance of his serious face when he returned to her side.

'Yeah, fine.' Harry sighed. 'Did you know that Madam Pince has a son?'

'No, I didn't.' Hermione said dismissively as she's just tracked down a book she had previously been searching for.

'I wonder who he is.' Harry mused aloud, although only to himself as Hermione was no longer listening. 'His life sounded rough, I hope it got better once he finished school.' He returned to his lengthly essay and paused once or twice to imagine a tall wizard with dark hair like his mother and equally dark eyes, living in a fancy house somewhere with a wife and three children. The man in his imagination was very good at magic and smiled a lot, but every time the imagery seemed a little too bright or unrealistically cheerful, the man's face would become paler and his nose longer as he was alternatively tending to a bubbling cauldron, in a dark room in which his only company was himself.

It confused Harry and the teen quickly decided that he was just getting tired and brushed aside the little fantasy as he returned to his work, determined to keep up with his new schedule. Following the rules and setting a good example involved doing all of his homework in good time and while it was clearly an annoying hassle, Harry had to adapt the best he could. Thinking of a man he didn't even know was not going to help Harry at all.

 

When Hermione and Harry packed up their things and headed back to the Gryffindor common room at about seven o'clock that night, they instantly spotted Ron in the arms of Lavender. Hermione made some comment about going to bed and left for her dormitory while Harry followed her thread of thought and headed to his own. There he found Toby sitting on the bed beside Ginny who had just finished reading the boy the last phrase from a book.

'And so he didn't need to feel sad anymore?' Toby asked her as the book closed, having not noticed Harry yet.

'No.' Ginny smiled. 'The magical horse made him very happy.' She turned and spotted Harry; her reaction was to quickly leave his bed and straighten her robes. 'Uh, hello. You weren't back yet so...' Ginny shrugged.

'That's good.' Toby nodded, still thinking about the story. 'I don't like it when the wizard was sad, it made him do mean things to those mice.' The boy turned to see who Ginny was talking to.

'Harry!' He grinned and slid off the bed. His hair moved across his face as he ran forward and flung himself at his brother, to hug him tightly around the middle. 'You're back!'

'Thanks, Ginny.' Harry watched her with a grin, barely noticing the boy pressed against him, even as he responded to the hug.

'It was no problem.' Ginny said. 'Toby's a really smart boy and a delight to be around. We had a lot of fun today.'

'Oh yes, and Ginny's helping me write better with my quill!' Toby told Harry.

'That's nice.'Harry commented although he was staring at her rather than the boy.

'Well, I better go.' Ginny nodded and turned to leave the dormitory with a small smile. 'Goodbye Toby, we should do that again sometime. If that's okay with Harry, of course.'

'Definitely.'Harry nodded quickly.

As Ginny left and the dormitory fell silent, Toby stared up at his guardian and frowned as he noticed the odd expression on the Gryffindor's face.

'Why are you looking at Ginny like that?' Toby wondered.

'What?' Harry snapped back into the present and turned his gaze to Toby. 'Never mind.'

'But-'

'Forget it!' Harry frowned. 'Now come on, it's time for your shower.'

'I don't wanna.' Toby whined even as he went to Harry's trunk and began to gather his pajamas and anything else he made need.

'Too bad.' Harry sighed and yawned occasionally as he went about their usual routine. When the younger boy was clean and dressed, Harry was able to take care of himself as well as Toby also took first priority. Once done, they both got into bed and Harry was able to listen to Toby tell him all about his day, while the theen occasionally mused on the mentioned son of librarian Madam Pince.

The smaller boy fell silent and Harry glanced down at him to see that Toby was fiddling small his fingers over his lap. 'Um, Harry?'

'Yeah?'

'What's Christmas like?' Toby whispered. 'We had it at the orphanage but I was always sick.'

'Every year?' Harry was surprised by this. What were the odds of a single person being ill at Christmas for six years in a row?

And yet, Toby nodded. 'I don't remember when I was a baby, but I was told it started when I was three.' He explained. 'The other kids made fun of me and said I was allergic to Christmas, but the nurse said it was some weird thing about some sort of dried plant they hung around the orphanage that made me sick. I always missed out on the pretty stuff but never had any presents anyway.' He said sadly.

Harry didn't asked why they didn't just take the plant down if one of the boys had such a reaction to it, because instantly he thought of the Dursleys. So what if one member was having trouble with something, because no one there had really cared about that person anyway. Over the past few weeks Harry had heard hints from Toby that his time at the orphanage was spent in solitude. Such as, the young child was always on his own and there was only one lady who saw him just enough that he didn't have to struggle with dressing himself or using any of the facilities until he was old enough to do it himself.

'Toby?' Harry nudged the boy, who instantly turned to look up at him. 'I never really had much of a Christmas either until I came to Hogwarts.' The teen said. 'So I promise, this year will be different for you too.'

'Thanks, Harry!' Toby wrapped his arms around him in a side-hug and grinned. 'You're the best!'

Harry blushed at the praise and remembered when he'd been a bit like that as well; how such a simple thing like being able to enjoy Christmas could have quite a lasting impact on a person. Briefly Harry wondered if Christmas would be such a truly wonderful and happy time for him if the Dursleys had allowed him to celebrate it with them. It didn't do him any good to dwell on that thought, because under no circumstances would his aunt and uncle ever have allowed it; Harry had long ago stopped trying to make them love him.

And the pit in his stomach reminded him that while this Christmas away from the burrow would still be enjoyable with Toby because of the decorations, presents, and scrumptious food...it would never be the same as it would have been to experience it with a real family. Harry sighed as Toby's eyes began to close and the small boy fell into a slumber where he dreamed of decorated trees, presents and cake, while Harry lay down and stared at the canopy of his bed. The teenager was convinced that he was never to know what it would be like to enjoy Christmas in a fully-decorated house, with his parents, and perhaps a sibling or two as well.

Harry was an orphan and the simplest of things gave him such joy because he had lived all through his young life without it. And a small part of him discovered that it was just a little bit less painful when he glanced down at the slumbering little boy beside him. Harry realized that now he had also gained something else he'd never had before...someone who understood exactly what it was like to long for such normal experiences, like Christmas.

 

They had Transfiguration the next day. Harry was reasonably well-rested as he entered he classroom and was already getting used to always being perfectly on time for his classes, working on his homework at the first possible chance, taking detailed notes, and putting in as much effort as possible to the actual lesson material. He had even reduced his night-time wanderings to nearly nothing. It was so strange to Harry, that in the past few weeks he hadn't gotten a single detention from anyone; not even Snape had been able to find a reason to give him one, although the man still deducted house points whenever he could, no doubt to make up for the lack of detentions. Harry also hadn't been caught anywhere he wasn't supposed to be, doing anything he probably shouldn't be doing, and on top of all that, his school grades had noticeably improved.

It was no easy accomplishment though, as it often left Harry feeling utterly exhausted because in addition to his improvements, he was also looking after and hiding a six-year-old boy. He became irritated later at night due to all of the extra stress as well as the fact that he was missing out on several of the things he had always enjoyed wasting time with in the past. Yet Harry refused to stop, because missing a few games of chess, only getting to fly during practices, and limiting the time he spent with his friends to favor homework, was a seemingly small price to pay for Toby's well-being, happiness, and education. Even if it left the Gryffindor feeling utterly drained and moodier than usual.

Sighing, Harry continued with his efforts to change the color of his eyebrows and for a moment he thought they were a little bluer than usual, but it was too faded to tell. He glanced at Ron and laughed along with his house mates when his redheaded friend had only managed to disfigure his own eyebrows rather than to alter their colour. Hermione laughed the loudest and Ron responded by saying a few unkind yet accurate remarks about how Hermione often tried to eagerly get the teacher's attention, complete with a demonstration. Many found it amusing and few even noticed that it had reduced Hermione to tears.

Harry watched sympathetically as she rushed from the classroom the moment the bell rang; she had even left her books behind. Harry decided that her need was greater than Ron's and wasn't too happy with the way the redhead had made fun of her either. Gathering her books along with his own, Harry made a move to search for Hermione but hesitated near the doorway of the classroom when he caught the sound of McGonagall's voice.

'Mr Potter.' She said as he turned and approached her desk, worried that he had done something wrong even in his dire attempts to void any trouble at all. Well, the ones he had some control over, anyway.

'Professor?'

'I have noticed a drastic change in your behaviour during these past couple of weeks.' She stared at him as though looking for signs of falsehood. 'And I must say, I am quite surprised by the lack of detentions and the significant increase in your grades.'

'I haven't been cheating!' Harry insisted, thinking that he was being accused of something as it never crossed his mind that she was complimenting his efforts. 'And I've just had more time to do things. I-I...' He fought for a way to explain his new motivation for becoming a proper student like Hermione but there was no wording that seemed suitable enough.

'Relax, Mr Potter.' McGonagall seemed alarmed by his slight outburst. 'You are not in any trouble. On the contrary, I wish to congratulate you.'

'Con-congratulate me?' Harry frowned. 'For what?'

'For what?' She gasped. 'Mr Potter, you have managed to not only improve your grades during your NEWT year, but you've also become successful in avoiding the large amount of trouble that seemed to follow you and your classmates around like a bad scent!' She chuckled. 'It's very impressive indeed.'

'Oh. Well thanks , Professor.' Harry blushed and let out a sigh of mild relief. Actually, he didn't feel very good about the supposed praise at all. Because it meant that the teachers were so shocked by the fact that he could be just like everyone else when it came to his grades and behaviour.

'May I go now?' He glanced at McGonagall and waited for her silent nod of approval before he abruptly turned and left the Transfiguration classroom in search of Hermione.

Harry ducked his head low as he passed by a group of Slytherins, although he didn't spot anyone he knew enough to actually want to avoid. Once they were gone, he lifted his gaze and looked around the corridor, wondering where he should try first. Harry stared down the corridor and thought back to what McGonagall had told him. So the professors had finally noticed his change enough to make note of it, and for some reason this annoyed Harry rather than pleased him.

Sighing, he walked towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom only to paused as he stared down at his refection in a large puddle of water on the floor. Normally such a thing would have him thinking of second year with the Basilisk, the writing on the walls, and the Chamber of Secrets...instead Harry was stunned by what he saw. Sure, he glanced briefly into the mirror every morning when he got up but this was the first time he'd been able to see his appearance properly since the start of the year because Harry had stopped tending to it so closely. The first thing he noticed was that with less sunlight in which he was exposed to lately, his face was a little paler than usual. Ignoring his facial colouring, Harry gulped as his hair was now long enough to reach his ears (had it really grown that fast?), and almost appeared to be a little darker as well.

Shivering at the similarity between himself and Snape, Harry kicked at the puddle - which splashed water on the hem of his robes but he paid it no attention as long as the startling image was gone. He stood straighter and continued with his quest to find Hermione. He really hoped that chilling image of his own reflection would fade from his mind soon because for a brief moment, Harry had thought he'd been staring at what Snape's son would look like, even with the glasses and green eyes. The part that had spooked Harry the most was that he didn't mind that look as much as he probably should have, considering who he had looked like; his hated Slytherin professor.

And oddly enough, it actually rather suited him.

To be continued...
End Notes:
Some big things are happening next chapter, and more things are being revealed. Please review!


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=2473