Harry sipped on his nice warm chocolate. It would have been nice had Snape have heated the whole meal instead of just the mug of chocolate but then again that’s Snape isn’t it. Living up to his the strict potions master reputation.

“Can Pawir take your plate sir?” the old house elf asked.

“Yes thank you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to eat it sooner it would have been nice,” Harry said sadly.

“Well, young master must learn to do what the master tells him to,” Pawir scolded as she popped out with Harry’s dinner dishes. Harry threw the serviette onto the table with a huff. That was one thing he was not used to doing. He had to do chores for the Dursleys, so doing some here wasn’t suprising, but all of this..must eat at the right time, must tell Snape what he’d been up to thing...it wasn’t normal or something he was in the slightest bit used to. At Hogwarts he always just went to the great hall when he felt hungry, or even visited the kitchens and there would always be something around. As for at the Dursleys, they couldn’t care less what he was up to as long as their stupid chore list got completed and as for worrying about what time Harry ate at? He was lucky if he ate at ALL there let alone a specific time.

Harry walked up the stairs thinking of how different his life had become in such a short amount of time. He had even noticed physical differences, with the way that his hair was now no longer being such a nuisance, in fact it was sitting flatter and more Snape like than ever. When he reached the top of the stairs Harry noticed a problem...all he could see on both sides of the corridor were closed doors...and he had closed the door to his bedroom on the way out. Harry thought back..that’s right....Lily! Lily would know where his bedroom was!!! After all she was talking to him just outside it when he followed her to that...that strange room that Snape got rather upset about. But he HAD told Harry to not open any doors..and Harry had gone and done it anyway...that’s it he’d call Lily.

“Lily!!!” Harry called out, “LILY!!!!” but there was no response. Harry walked a little bit further, “Lily I need you!” he said upset.

“What’s wrong young sire?” asked a nearby man in a portrait.

“Leave the poor boy alone Trevor, he is obviously upset over something,” said a rather large woman who was holding his arm.

“I can’t remember which one is my bedroom,” Harry said, “and I don’t want to get into trouble again.”

“Oh dear,” the woman said, “my dear child, I’m not too sure as it has been many years since we were first placed here but I believe there is a room over there...one...no, no, two doors to your left.”

“Thank you,” Harry said meekly opening the door.

He walked in and took out his wand to light the room.

“Lumos!” he said waving his wand around the room...but this wasn’t the same room as he was in before...he was sure of it! Oh no!!! He must be in Snape’s room! Harry was about to leave the room when a picture caught the corner of his eye. It was just sitting up in a frame on the dressing table...it was a picture of his mother.

Harry picked up the picture looking at his mother. She looked pretty young, maybe 14 or 15? A couple of years older than Harry was now. The picture showed her laying on the grass looking up at the sky and then..who is that next to her...that boy that...Harry looked down at his own hands...had his hands. The dead straight black hair gave away who it was. But this was the first time that Harry had ever seen a picture of Snape looking this young. His mother looked so happy, just resting in Snape’s arms.

Harry looked around and he noticed a glass box, like a jewellery box, with little windows, it seemed to be showing other pictures of his mother and Harry couldn’t resist but to pick it up. When he picked it up the glass box started to show images, Harry looked into the box as images appeared through the mist. In the pictures she was holding Snape’s hand and even running her fingers through his hair. But then another picture appeared just before Harry and he was amazed at what it showed. It was a picture of Lily with her hands up to her eyes, it looked like she was rather upset. His father...no...no...his father was Snape! James Potter was of no relation to him. Harry watched as the man placed his arms around Lily as if to comfort her and some other man was physically pushing Snape around the picture. Harry felt an instant reaction of hatred and fear for this man who was pushing around Snape....even the mere idea of Snape being pushed around Harry found amazing. Then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder...oh my goodness...he had been caught.

Harry tried to hide the box by putting it into his pocket as fast as he could but unfortunately it slipped from his fingers and crashed on the floor.

“HARRY!!!! What have you done!!!!”  Snape took his hand away from Harry and walked towards the glass shards as if he had just lost his best friend. Snape fell to his knees and looked up at Harry wtih a look of pure hatred and despise “GET OUT!!!!” Harry backed out of the room, unable to get his eyes off this unusual spectacle.

The door closed as if magically behind him and Harry was left once more in darkness wondering where his room was.

Snape was absolutely devastated! This was one of the few things that he had left from the time that Lily had been close to him. Before he had lost her. It contained all of the memories that Lily wanted him to remember after he had been obliviated. Metzel had explained how Lily had wanted him to remember her, even in tiny amounts, had wanted to try to give him her love in any way that she could. The fact that Snape had actually turned dark once in their past had not been the big fiasco that Snape had created for himself. Lily had turned and slapped him straight across the face when he had made those remarks and told him that until he apologised she didn’t want to see him again. That...unfortunately was the last memory she was allowed to give him. Snape had spent a long time thinking that it was because of his pride that he had lost her to James Potter..having no idea as to the truth. Now...what little he had known...lay in pieces on the floor.

“Pawir,” Snape stated gently. The house elf appeared before him. “Help me,”

“young master is in his room with Thistle,” she said gently, “oh and master, allow me to help you with the mess. You should really attend to young master.”

“I can’t Pawir,” Snape stated, “I’m just not ready to face him yet. He saw me get upset over that box...he knows that...he knows what it was...I...I can’t face him..not yet. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Master Severus Snape!” Pawir put her hands on her hips and stared up at him, “I stayed quiet when you lost Mistress Lily, I stayed quiet when you turned towards Voldemort and his ways of life, I have even brought you food in your lab when you have been working until odd hours of the morning. I have watched you grow since you were a child. But I shall not stay quiet now! Master that boy in there needs YOU! You are his father! YOU are the one that needs to act like an adult, take responsibility for your actions and not cower away like some coward. Now get in there and talk to him! I shall not see to this box until you do!”

Snape was shocked, never before had his house elf ever spoken out about anything. Treated him like royalty and stayed with him and his mother even though they were penniless and not able to have a house elf around often because of his abusive father. It was Pawir who helped him learn how to run the manor, by giving him such respect and understanding and ensuring that those other house elves obeyed and saw to their duties as well. It seems that now, just like she gave him guidance as a young lad in learning how to take care of the manor, she was now helping him learn how to take care of his son.

“What do I do Pawir?” he asked.

“Do what I would for Thistle, go in there, listen to him explain what happened and assert your discipline. You are a father now and you need to act like that. Not have him sleep thinking that nobody loves him,” she answered.

Snape took a deep sigh walking into Harry’s room. Harry was sitting on the bed facing Thistle who was talking to him in quite an animated voice. Thistle went quiet staring at Snape and then disappeared.

“Sir...I...”Harry started.

“Harry, explain yourself, why were you even in my room?” Snape asked trying to keep his temper..it wasn’t easy as he was known for his explosive temper especially around Hogwarts but he wouldn’t achieve anything if he started accusing and not listening.

“I’m sorry sir, I got lost,” Harry stated.

“why didn’t you call a house elf?” Snape asked.

“I...I didn’t think of it sir,” Harry said.

“So what did you do instead?” Snape asked.

“well,” replied Harry, “I asked a nearby portrait. The portrait thought that your room was my own,”

“I see,” Snape sneered, “and what about when you realised your mistake why didn’t you leave, why did you touch my things.”

“I saw a picture of my mother,” Harry stated.

“I don’t care what you saw Harry you shouldn’t have,” Snape started, then a thought dawned on him, Harry, his Harry, having never had parents of his own, had never known how to act around them, sees a picture of his mother in his father’s room..of course he had wanted to know more any child would! “Harry, whilst I understand why you may have done what you did if you were interested in something in my room you should have asked me about it.”

“But you wouldn’t have shown me anyway,” Harry said, “you said never to go in your room when the door was closed.”

“I told you never to go ANYWHERE when a door was closed,” Snape stated angrily, “But I believe that we are going to have to find another way to cope with this, a way that might give you some more insight to your behaviour and have you abide by these rules.”

“Are you going to spank me?” Harry asked.

“Well, I had hoped our little discussion would be enough for tonight, but as you did break something very precious to me. Harry...that was one of the last things I owned of your mother. Her memories, are precious to me,” Snape stated.

“And me too!” Harry stated, “that’s why I was so interested!”

“Harry, you have acted irrationally and need to be held to account for your actions. As such, you are going over my knee,” Snape stated seriously, sitting on the bed.

Harry pulled down his pyjama bottoms and underwear as he lay over his fathers knee.

“You shall learn to abide by the rules of this house Harry!” Snape stated as he started spanking Harry’s bare bottom.

Spank! Spank! Whack! Slap! Spank!

“ I put rules in place for your protection and for peace and harmony within the household,”

Harry’s bottom started to turn a light shade of pink as Severus continued spanking his bare bottom. Snape spanked moderately hard. So that Harry could feel it, but not so hard as to mark the skin or hurt him. Snape knew where to draw the line between discipline and abuse and had sworn to himself that he would never cross it. Not like his father had.

Spank! Spank! Whack! Slap! Spank! Spank! Whack! Spank! Spank! Smack!

“You not only broke something very dear to me Harry, but you have also lost a little bit of my trust. I hope you recognise that,”

Spank! Spank! Whack! Slap! Spank! Whack! Smack! Spank! Spank! Whack! Spank! Smack! Spank!

Snape continued to spank Harry’s bare bottom with the palm of his hand. Watching as it slowly turned redder and redder and Harry started to try to move around and sniffle. He wanted his ward to recognise his words as truth and to learn to start becoming a much better behaved boy.

Spank! Spank! Whack! Slap! Spank! Spank! Spank! Smack! Smack! Spank! Spank! Spank!

Harry’s bottom was becoming as red as a watermelon and Snape chose to stop. Rubbing Harry’s bottom with his hand he stated, “you won’t be getting the paddle tonight son, because I want you to realise how much you have hurt me personally, by taking something that I held onto for many years and breaking it you have really hurt me. I hope you know that.”

Harry started crying in earnest and apologising “I’m so sorry...please Snape, please, please, let me make it up to you. I’ll do anything!”

Snape helped Harry off his lap so he could look at him in the face.

“Harry, I don’t know if you can ever make it up to me. I don’t know if you can repair the damage which has been done not only to the glass box, but to our relationship. I don’t know if I can trust you again not to do something like this to me. But if I did start to trust you again you would have to abide by the rules, both here and at school. I expect only the best from a son of mine. You have both Lily’s brains and my own to contend with and between the two of us we should have a highly intelligent son in you.” Harry smiled hearing this. “so show me some of that intelligence son, show me that you can make me proud of you and hopefully we won’t be in this position again for a long time. But you are a child and children make mistakes. What matters is that you learn from them and you do what you can to make up for them.”

Harry merely listened nodding his head and said, “I promise I’ll do my best sir.”

“Harry, outside of school it is alright if you want to call me something more personal, like father...or even dad,” Snape said. He surprised himself by saying those words but he wanted to do something to reach out to his son. To tell him that he still loved him and would not stop.

“Thank you sir I’ll think about it,” Harry said gently, “Can I hug you?”

Only a child would think of something as simple as giving the potions master a hug. But then...Harry was still a child in so many ways. For the second time that night Snape surprised himself by wrapping his arms around his son.

“Goodnight son,” he said, “now let’s get you under these blankets,”

Harry climbed into the bed and Snape tucked him in, much like his mother would have done for him when he was younger. As he left the room he thought he heard a mutter, “good night dad,”

He smiled, at last he had a family who loved him. The first time he had really felt that way since his mother, Eileen, had died.

“You would have made your mother proud tonight master,” Pawir said.

“Thank you Pawir,” Snape stated as he walked past her and got into his bed.

Pawir had finished picking up all the pieces and stated, “sometimes parenting can be the hardest job in the world.” And popped out.