The next morning Harry woke up feeling a little disoriented as he opened his bleary eyes not to see his father's face, but Draco's. Draco slipped the child's glasses on his face and Harry yawned.

"Morning, Harry. Your dad's in a staff meeting so I'm taking you to breakfast today."

"Great! Do I get to sit with the big kids, Draco?"

"Sure. Now, you go get washed up and I'll get some clothes out for you."

Harry trotted into his bathroom and shouted through the closed door, "I'm going to the Burrow today so I don't need any robes!"

Draco went to the wardrobe and picked out a pair of trousers, a t-shirt, and a knit jumper. He also picked out some underwear and socks and lastly grabbed a pair of trainers. A few minutes later Harry raced out of his bathroom completely naked.

"Augh!" cried Draco. "Where's your bathrobe, Harry?"

"On the bathrobe hook in the bathroom where I always put it." Harry's tone sounded as though Draco should have known better.

"Well, from now on, if I'm here, wear it. I don't particular want to see you parade around in your starkers, all right?"

"What's starkers?"

"Naked." Draco helped Harry with his undershirt.

"Are you my babysitter?" Harry asked with a moue of disgust.

Draco scoffed sharply. "Heck no! Girls are babysitters! I'm your bodyguard." He grinned smugly. "There's no better student than me in school so the professor trusts me with you."

Harry smiled. "Neat! I like having a bodyguard better. I keep telling daddy I'm not a baby."

"Well, you're obviously right, Harry. Babies can't walk and they wear nappies. They can't really talk either." Harry had buttoned his shirt askew so Draco fixed it with a wave of his wand. "You don't have to wear the jumper, yet, but take it with you."

Draco watched as Harry then wrestled with tying the laces on his trainers. He thought to offer to help, but the little boy was concentrating so firmly, he didn't want to interrupt. A few minutes later, Harry grinned down at the laces, feeling as though he had conquered them very well.

When Harry and Draco walked into the Great Hall Harry, talking animatedly about a visit when he got to see the giant squid before the students arrived, was oblivious as their arrival caused a stir amongst the Gryffindors.

"What's that poncy git doing with Harry?" Ron bit out sharply.

Hermione watched the two and just shrugged. "Does it really matter?  You haven't seemed to care very much about little Harry," she observed sharply.

Ron scowled at Hermione's reminder of his avoidance of the small boy.  "Of course it does!" he snapped imperiously. "What if Malfoy turns Harry into a Slytherin?"

Hermione scowled. "That's ridiculous, Ron. It honestly doesn't matter what House Harry winds up in, he'll still be Harry."

"No he won't, Hermione," asserted Ginny. "He's not even Harry now."

Hermione stared in disbelief at the brother and sister. "What is with the two of you? I thought you both liked him when he came and visited during the summer. Ginny, you thought he was cute and couldn't stop gushing over him. Ron, you played chess with him."

Ron merely sneered at Hermione and then glared once more at Draco and Harry. "He's going to turn into a git!"  Hermione noted quietly that Ron rather seemed to be satisfied with his assessment.  She wondered if there were ever going to be a newly forged friendship between the two.

Draco was aware of Harry's old friends watching him interact with the young Harry and was fascinated to discover that he could care less what they might be saying or thinking. As he half listened to Harry prattle on, he scanned the table of Slytherins looking for possible troublemakers.

Pansy Parkinson was scowling darkly at Harry. Draco already knew she was going to be trouble. Not only had she lost both parents at the battle of Riddle Cemetery, but she despised Harry. Sitting with her was Theodore Nott and seventh year Janus Bole. Those three were definite trouble. Luckily, none of them had any skills in subtlety and it wouldn't be difficult in keeping an eye on them.

There were a couple more Slytherins that he was uncertain about that would bear watching and careful interrogation of.

Lastly, he scanned the table for allies, those students who had been brave enough to follow their own beliefs and not those of their parents. Millicent Bulstrode was at the top of his list. She might be a big girl, but being muscular didn't mean a person lacked intelligence. Milli was not only a great athlete, but she was academically superior as well. She knew the art of subtlety and subterfuge and kept her beliefs carefully to herself. She was going out with Blaise Zabini who would also make a good ally.

Draco was distracted from his thoughts as Harry tugged on the sleeve of his robe. "Daddy's meeting is over. Can I go sit with him, Draco?"

Draco glanced up at Snape seating himself at the staff table and then back to Harry. The child had almost finished breakfast. He frowned, "Did you eat just all the sweet stuff, Harry?"

"Uhm... no?"

"Right, Harry. Don't even try lying. You're terrible at it. Eat a piece of ham and some fruit and then you can bug your dad."

"Okay!" Harry started to pick up a large slice of melon with his hand when Draco caught him by the wrist and placed a fork in his hand. Harry glared, but obediently ate his fruit with the fork.

A few minutes later Draco let Harry run up to the staff table where he hugged his father and was pulled up into the older man's lap as he finished his morning coffee. Harry chattered happily about his morning to Minerva. He knew that his father had to have at least two cups of coffee in the morning before he was good for any sort of conversation. It was enough that Snape had an arm wrapped securely around his waist and was idly bouncing the little boy on his knee.

Breakfast was soon over and that meant Harry would soon be at the Burrow. He hated that he'd be leaving his father behind, but it helped knowing that Snape would be picking him up at five o'clock.

Even though he understood this, he couldn't help the tears that escaped down his cheeks as he watched his father disappear in the green flames of the Floo at the Burrow. Molly didn't let Harry remain sad for long as she took him outside where they worked together on the garden.

As they worked on the garden, Molly taught Harry about the various magical plants she had growing there. Once finished Molly went to prepare lunch while Harry raced around after gnomes and threw them out of the garden. Through her kitchen window, Molly smiled as she watched the little boy happily running around the garden laughing and whooping with joy after the gnomes.

At one o'clock Harry pitched a minor tantrum over having to take a nap, but when Molly agreed to let him colour with his crayons in a Forever Colouring Book on the living room floor, she found him fast asleep a few minutes later. Levitating him to the old, worn couch, she covered him with an afghan and indulged herself in the latest issue of Witch Weekly.

In the afternoon, Harry was ecstatic to discover that he was going to be able to play with some magical learning toys. He wasn't great, but he was happy to learn he truly did have some magic. Molly assured him that as he grew older his magic would mature along with him.

At a half hour before five, Harry planted himself in front of the Floo and waited impatiently for his father to show up. As soon as the clock struck five, Snape stepped through the whooshing green flames, Harry launched himself at the man, almost knocking him back into the lethal orange flames.

"Could you possibly be happy to see me, young man?" asked Snape with a smirk.

"Yes!" Harry kissed Snape's cheek as he wrapped his arms around his father's neck. "We gardened today and I planted Livid Drops, Snow Potatoes, and Pepper Root! I tol' Molly that you use Pepper Root in Sneeze Stop Potion. She said she knew that, but maybe she didn't... and then I threw gnomes out of the garden... and coloured... and..."

Snape smushed Harry's face against his shoulder for a second, then pulled him back, looked sternly at him and ordered, "Take a breath, boy."

"Okay." Exaggeratedly he took a breath and was surprised by a yawn.

"Is it possible you need a nap, my boy?" asked Snape.

"No! I had one, didn't I Molly?"

Molly smiled. "He did. But, he did have a very busy day."

"So he behaved, did he, Molly?" asked Snape seriously.

"He was a very good boy, Severus." Molly leaned over and kissed Harry's forehead.

"We'll see you tomorrow then." Glancing down at the little boy, he wasn't surprised to see that he was sleeping against his shoulder.

Once back at home, Snape put his little boy to bed and went to settle himself from his day with herbal tea and some reading. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep in his chair.

At six o'clock a chime announced the arrival of Hermione Granger. Snape started awake and was caught off guard to find Harry curled up on his lap. He shook his son awake and told him to go get dressed since it was time for his tutoring. As Harry ran off to his room, Snape waved open the portrait door and welcomed the curly-haired Gryffindor.

"Miss Granger, my apologies but both Harry and I are running a bit late," he said resisting the urge to stretch from his sleep.

"That's fine, Professor Snape. Where would you like me to set up?"

"The dining table is fine. I'll be in my office beginning my interviews with my first years." He drew a small bell from his robes pocket. "If you need me, just ring that. I can hear it, but my students can't."

Harry emerged from his bedroom dressed. He smiled shyly at Hermione. "Hi, Harry!" she greeted.

"Hi, He'mione."

"Harry, how did I say you should address Miss Granger as she is here tutoring you?"

"Professor Granger?" Snape nodded and Harry smiled.

"Good luck, Miss Granger. Harry, be a good student." Snape then swept out of his quarters and disappeared down the corridor to his office.

Harry clambered up onto a chair next to Hermione, eager to be a student. "What are you going to teach me, Professor Granger?"

"I'm going to teach you how to use and take care of your quills and then you'll practice your letters."

Hermione found that Harry was an attentive student filled with questions. At one point she felt a small pang in her heart as she recalled all the times she practically nagged Harry and Ron to do their homework and revisions. Harry, bent on learning spells to defeat Voldemort, didn't appreciate most of his classes and, like Ron, sometimes made Hermione want to tear her hair out. She also helped Neville, but he, unlike Harry and Ron, had always wanted to learn and improve.

Young Harry, the son of Professor Snape, was a pleasure to teach and by the time their hour was up, she was pleasantly surprised by how far they'd gotten. Harry had grasped the mechanics of quill usage quickly and had made it through half the alphabet. He needed more practice on his letters, but Hermione was very pleased that her little student concentrated so well upon his work that he had very few ink splotches on his practice pages.

Snape returned just as Harry was helping Hermione pack her bag. He gave her a questioning look. She smiled. "Harry's a quick learner, Professor. He got as far as L in his letters with almost no ink splotches."

Harry beamed and rocked back on his heels. "Very good. You'll practice at least another hour before bedtime, then," ordered Snape.

"Okay. What's tomorrow, Professor Granger?" asked Harry.

"Reading. Be sure to pick out a book that we'll go through together, all right?" she instructed. Harry nodded. "G'night then, Harry. G'night, Professor."

"Night, He'mione!" beamed Harry.

"Miss Granger, thank you." Snape opened the portrait door for Hermione and then closed it behind her. He then turned to his son. "Go and wash your hands, Harry. We're eating dinner in the Great Hall tonight."

"Yippiee!" Harry ran to his room and into his bathroom and quickly washed his hands and dried them off. Running back out to the sitting room he called out to his father.

"Yes, Harry?" He took his son's fingers into his hand as they left and stepped out into the corridor.

"I really like being a student. I think I might be smart."

"I have no doubt you are, child." He ruffled Harry's hair and smiled, just a tiny bit, with pride.