'Oh no I'm too late,' thought Severus as he saw the house in the distance. He sped up as he got closer to the house. The steeled himself for what was to come as he entered the house. First he saw James lying on the ground with his wand a couple feet away. After putting aside their differences for Lily's sake, they had become relatively good friends.

'You died a hero,' he thought to the corps as he closed his eyes and then went up the stairs. As he walk down the hallway he got closer to the nursery where he knew baby Harry slept, as he had been here before just after Harry was born. As he entered the room, his breath caught in his throat. Then on the floor was the woman that he loved like a sister since they first met as children. They had lived in the same town growing up. They lived on the same street in a muggle neighborhood from when she moved there when they were 5 until they were 11, when he moved to another part of town when his parents died, and he was adopted. They still hung out all the time though.

He was brought back to the present when he heard a cry coming from the direction of the crib. He slowly approached the crib, and came face to face with a crying baby Harry, who had changed a lot since he last saw him.

"It will be okay, little one, I got you," Severus said to Harry as he lifted him out of the crib and cuddled him closely to his chest. As Severus slowly rocked Harry in his arms, Harry eventually stopped crying, and fell asleep. It was then that Severus made a promise to himself to make sure the little bundle in his arms was protected and safe, both because he felt a connection with the boy and for his friends, who wouldn't be able to see this precious bundle grow up.

'Now what?' Thought Severus, as he held the sleeping child. He then heard the distinct sound of some one apparating. And decided that it was best to get Harry out of here as soon as he could. Pulling Harry in close, he apparated to just outside the Hogwarts gates. He needed to talk to his parents.

As he walked down the hallways of Hogwarts, he was trying to figure out what to do. He could not even remember getting there, but in front of him was the door to the headmaster's office. He knocked, and waited, but there was no answer. So he knocked again with the same results. He then slowly opened the door and peered inside. There was no one there,  so he went in to wait for his dad to come back, because he knew that this was the first place he would come once he found out. He sat down in the chair accross from the desk, and waited.

As he sat there waiting for his dad he thought about how he had come to rely on both of his parents. At the age of 11 just after his first two months of school, he was called to the headmaster's office. When he got there, he was told his mom and dad had died in a car accident. Severus did not know what to do when he found out, because he had no other family in which to rely on. When the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, saw that the young Slytherin was about to cry he took him in his arms. As Albus held the young boy in his arms, he made a promise to himself that he would protect this child and make sure he had a good home. That was when he decided to talk to his wife, Minerva, about adopting young Severus. They had always wanted children but could never have them. This was the perfect solution. By the time Severus turned 12, he was the Severus Tobias Snape-Dumbledore, the adopted son of Minerva and Albus Dumbledore.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of his mother's voice coming up the stairs from outside the door.

"How can you be so calm when the Potter's are dead, and our son is missing?" Exclaimed a frantic Minerva to her seemingly calm husband, as they walked up the stairs to Albus' office.

"We will find him, my dear. He is always in a place we least expect him to be. And I see this time is no different," Albus said as he opened his office door and found his son sitting in front of the desk hunched over.

"Albus, what are you..." Minerva started to say before catching site of her son, "There you are!" She said as she march over to where her son sat, intending on giving him an earful about scaring her when she saw the baby that he was holding. "Harry," she breathed.

"But how..." Started Albus but upon seeing the anguish on Severus' face decided that now was not the best time for such questions.

"Here Sev, put him here," said Minerva, as she conjured a cradle for Harry. Severus did not respond. So she tried again, "come on sweetheart, give him here." When Severus still did not respond, she gently took Harry from his arms. When he did not resist, she took it as a good sign. She carefully laid Harry in the cradle, he was still sleeping like a rock, poor child must be all tired out.

When that was done, she looked over at her husband. He was looking at Severus with a questionable expression on his face. She then looked at Severus' who had drawn his knees up to his chest and had his chin resting up on them. She sighed and decided that now was not the best time to have the conversation that she knew Albus wanted to have. So when he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, she cut in and said, "Its late, why don`t we go to bed and discuss this in the morning."

At first Albus looked like he was going to argue, but then thought better of it and agreed. Whereas Severus did not respond or act like he heard her at all.

Minerva sighed again, and looked at Albus helplessly. He then nodded and said to her, "you take Harry, and put to bed in our room. I got Sev."

Minerva nodded and gathered Harry in her arms, then left her two boys, after a sad look in Severus' direction.

Once she was gone, Albus turned to his son who was still in the position he was in once Harry was taken from his arms. He walked over and put his hand on his sons shoulder, when Severus still did not move, Albus gently pulled him up.

"Come on son, let's get you to bed" Albus said as he stood the still unresponsive Severus up.

"Come on child, everything's going to be alright" Albus soothed.

At this statement, Severus finally responded, he looked up at his dad  with tears in his eyes, and said in a broken voice, "How can you say that?"

"Come here," Albus said as he drew Severus into a tight embrace, as Severus let the first tear fall. Albus held his son while he cried.

Once he had calmed down, Albus whispered "Okay, let's get you to bed." He then lead him to their quarters, and into Severus' room. Severus had just recently finished becoming a potions master, the youngest ever at just 21 years old. Once he got it, he came back home and moved back in with his parents. It was decided that the safest place for him was at Hogwarts,.He is now the potions professor at the school, with this being his first year teaching. He could have gotten his own quarters, but for now he was comfortable still being at home, it was easiest for him, and his parent didn't mind, they liked having their son close by.

Severus was still in a sort of shock like state, so he didn't protest as his dad changed him into his pajamas or tucked him into bed. He didn't even say anything when his dad gave him a potion to help him sleep. Albus wanted to make sure that his son was sleeping before he left, or else he might not sleep. So he tucked his son in, then sat down beside him on the bed and rubbed Severus back until his breathing evened out, indicating that he was indeed asleep. Albus then stayed there a little longer, just to make sure that his boy would be okay, for now at least. "It will get better, I promise," Albus whispered to his sleeping son, as he slowly left his room.

When Albus got to his room, Minerva was still up.

"Is he okay?" She asked worriedly, as Albus got into bed.

Albus thought about it for a second and pulled her close as he said, "In time he will be."

Minerva relaxed a little, knowing that her baby would be fine. Then asked the next question that was bothering her, "what's going to happen to Harry?"

"I don't know, we shall worry about that in the morning. All that matters now is that he's safe," Albus responded as he kissed her goodnight.

********************

The next morning Severus woke up to the sound of a child crying. At first he had no idea what was going on. Then it all came back to him. One of his best friends was dead and her son was parentless and a hero at just over a year old. He really hopped this was all a nightmare.

He laid there for a bit, but when Harry did not stop crying, he started to panic. Maybe something had happened to his parents or maybe they had forgotten about the child. He jumped out of bed and ran in the direction of the crying. When he got to the kitchen, where the crying was the loudest, he was relieved to find both is parents alive and well and Harry appeared to be physically alright as well, but he had to make sure. So he went over to where his mom was holding him, as soon as Harry saw Severus, he made a motion that he wanted to be held by him. Severus then took Harry from his mother and held him. Harry wrapped his arms around Severus' neck. Severus rubbed Harry's back as he slowly rocked him, then after a minute or so, Harry calmed down and laid his head on Severus' shoulder and started to rub Severus' ear, something they would later realize, Harry does when emotional.

"How did you do that?" Questioned Minerva, who had been trying to calm Harry down for the last while, without any success.

"I have no idea," Severus said, he paused for a second then with a slight smirk, added, "Maybe I'm just better with children."

"Brat," Minerva said fondly as she walked by and kissed Severus cheek. "I'll get us all some breakfast," she said as she left the room.

Severus then went and sat by his dad, who was seated at the table, drinking a cup of tea, looking like he hadn't slept in a while.

"You look like crap," Severus greeted.

"Good morning to you to son," Albus responded, then asked, "You sleep okay?"

Severus gave a short laugh, then answered, "Yeah with that dreamless sleep potion you gave me, I slept like a baby."
Albus laughed and replied, "Well good, that was the plan."

Then Minerva came back with eggs, hash browns and toast for breakfast. She set it all on the table then conjured up a high chair and said, "Harry can eat in here."

Severus nodded, then tried to put Harry in the chair, but he made a winy noise and held on tighter to Severus.

"Or not," said Severus as he sat down, still holding Harry, "I guess we can eat like this then, sound good Harry?" He asked the child in his arms, who responded by nodding his head.

Breakfast was eaten in virtual silence, as everyone was lost in his or her own thoughts. After breakfast was done, Minerva suggested that Severus put Harry down for a little nap, because he had not slept good last night, he kept waking up and crying, all the other times her and Albus could get him back to sleep, except the last time when Severus was needed to calm him down.

Severus agreed and went to go put Harry in his crib. Once again Harry didn't want to be let go of, so Severus rocked him in the rocking chair and rubbed his back, until finally he fell asleep. Severus then put him in the crib and went downstairs. He found his parent in the sitting room.

"Why doesn't he talk?" Severus asked his parents a little concerned, as he went and sat in one of the chairs, "Last time Lily wrote, she said she couldn't get him to be quiet."
After they graduated from Hogwarts, Lily and Severus stayed in touch. Lily got married and Severus was concentrating on getting his potion mastery, but they wrote back and forth a lot. When Harry was first born, Severus was there and was asked to be Harry's godfather along with Sirius Black. Severus accepted, but as the war intensified, Severus was unable to visit or be seen with Lilly and Harry, because it was too dangerous for them all, so the settled on writing each other.

"I'm sure it will all come back in time, he probably is still shocked at what happened," said Albus trying to reassure his son.

Severus just nodded. The three of them sat in silence for a while, until Severus asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "What's going to happen with Harry?"