He ran and ran. His chest was hurting. Not from running, but from the knowledge that he really lost. Everything that he wanted to fight for was now all gone. The look on his dad's face proved it. No more dad. No more grandma. No more magical school.

Harry stopped running, leaning against the wall. He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, his knees tucked against his chest. Harry wrapped his arms around his knees. He buried his head in his arms.

_________0000__________00000_______0000

Severus rushed into the Infirmary with Draco in his arms.

“Poppy,” Severus called out.

Poppy walked out of her office, seeing Severus lowering something on one of the beds.

“What happened?” Poppy asked as she walked over to the bed.

“I'm not sure. I think Harry hexed him,” Severus said.

Poppy did a diagnostic and sighed.

“He'll be fine, Severus,” Poppy said with relief in her tone. “He was just stunned. He should awaken on his own in a little while.”

Severus sighed.

“Alright,” Severus said. “Can you watch over him?”

“Severus,” Poppy said, looking incredulously.

“Forgive me, Poppy,” Severus said, shaking his head. “I need to find my son. He ran off when I got to them.”

Poppy placed her hand on Severus' arm and gave a comforting squeeze. He looked at her for a second and then turned and left the Infirmary. Poppy looked down at the small child on the bed and shook her head as she transfigured his clothes and covered him with a blanket.

______0000_______0000______00000

Lucius was sitting across from Albus, looking grave. Albus was looking no better. Things were not going the way that they wanted.

“Are you sure?” Albus asked.

“Unfortunately,” Lucius said. “Things are getting really bad. I'm not sure we'll be able to survive this.”

“And Dragon?”

Lucius looked at Albus. The thought of something happening to his son broke his heart. Before he could even give it more thought, Fawkes trilled. Albus looked at his familiar and stood up, walking over towards the bird.

“Lucius,” Albus said, not looking at him. “Please forgive me. I have to go. We will continue this later. Someone else is in distress.”

“There's nothing else to be said,” Lucius said, standing up. “I'll be back at the end of the week for Dragon.”

Lucius stepped through the floo before Albus could say anything, not that Albus truly noticed. He walked out of his office and down the spiral stairs. Once out of the stairwell, Albus saw at the end of the hall a small form against the wall. Very slowly, Albus walked over to the form. The closer he got, he began to recognized who it was. The sobbing let him know that the poor child was upset. Wandlessly casting a feather-weight charm on the child, Albus reached down and picked up the distraught child.

When Harry felt hands go under his arms and was lifted from the floor, the first thought that past through his mind was that his dad found him. He was going to squirm, but that instantly left him when his nose was filled with the sent of lemons. Opening his teary eyes, Harry saw that the robe he was laying on was colorful, so he knew that he wasn't with his father.

“It's alright,” Albus soothingly said.

Hearing the Headmaster's voice, Harry knew that it was all over. His dad probably went to the Headmaster and told him that he didn't want to deal with a troublesome brat anymore. The Headmaster never held him like this before and it was really comforting. Harry laid his head on the comforting shoulder, figuring that if he was going to be taken back to his relatives and to all that hate, he might as well soak up as much love as he could.

Albus could feel the small child shaking in his arms. Albus headed back to his office.

____0000______0000________0000_________0000

Severus rushed back towards the stairs. In a slight run, he headed down the hallway that Harry had just went down. When he got to the end, he saw Albus carrying his son up the spiral stairs towards his office. Knowing that Harry was with Albus and not alone, Severus sighed. He knew he was going to have to get to the bottom of why Harry stunned Draco, but right now, seeing the fear in his son's eyes worried Severus more.

He walked down the hallway towards the gargoyle. Saying the password, Severus ascended the stairs. Very quietly he opened up the door to the office to hear his son's despondent weeping.

“He's going to send me back,” sobbed Harry.

“Oh, come now,” Albus soothed, rubbing Harry's back.

Albus was sitting in a large cushioned chair with Harry on his lap.

“He will not send you back,” Albus assured Harry.

“Yes, he will,” Harry nodded on Albus' shoulder. “I didn't mean to. Malfoy's a prat, but I -”

“I think we can dispense of the name calling,” Albus softly chided.

Harry sobbed some more in response. Albus looked up and saw Severus standing at the door. Not wanting to scare Harry, Albus slightly nodded to Severus and he walked closer towards them.

“I ruined everything,” Harry sobbed, his voice partially mumbled from Albus' shoulder.

“You didn't ruin anything,” Severus said, speaking for the first time since walking in the office.

Albus could feel Harry go stiff in his arms when he heard his father's voice.

“Harry,” Severus called.

Not letting go of Albus' robes, Harry turned his head and looked at his dad, standing next to the chair they were sitting.

“We need to have a talk,” Severus said, holding out his hand. “May we use your guest room?”

Albus nodded. Harry turned his head back in to the colorful robes. Albus could feel the child's shoulders shaking again.

“Now, now,” Albus soothed. “You will be just fine. Go speak with you father.”

Harry's teary emerald eyes looked up at his Headmaster and then looked over at his dad. Swallowing, Harry got down from Albus' lap and grabbed hold of his dad's hand.

The Headmaster told him that his dad would not send him back, but he couldn't help that feeling that his dad was going to do just that. Not paying attention to where they were going, Harry was surprised when he stopped walking, looking up he saw that his dad was sitting on the side of the bed and he was positioned in front of him between his spread knees.

“You want to tell me what happened?” Severus asked. His voice was low and soothing. Harry couldn't help the lump in his throat doubling in size.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“Harry, you had your wand out.”

“I didn't do anything,” Harry quickly said.

“I beg to differ, Harry,” Severus said, quirking his eyebrow. “Draco is unconscious in the Infirmary, stunned by a hex.”

“Yeah, I had my wand out, but I didn't cast nothing,” Harry said, adamantly.

“Anything,” Severus absently corrected.

Harry sighed, trying to calm his breathing. He could feel the tears pricking his eyes.

“Now, I know I've told you about lying.” Severus' voice was stern. “I will not be lied to, to my face, by you.”

A betraying tear escaped and slid down Harry's flushed cheek. Severus took a deep breath to calm down his temper.

“Now, I want you to tell me what happened on that stairway.”

Harry looked at his father and then lowered his head. He knew there was no way he was going to get out of the trouble that he was in. Feeling fingers under his chin, Harry felt his head being raised till he was looking at his father. Harry sighed.

“When I saw Malfoy, I asked him why would he try to ruin everything,” Harry started. “Then he said that I was the one ruining everything. He told me to stay away from you. That you were his godfather first. I wasn't allowed to take you away.”

“And then what happened?” Severus asked.

“I got mad,” Harry said, as the tears still streamed down his face. “I got my dad and he said I wasn't suppose to be here. Everybody always hates me. I don't ever do anything for people to hate me, but they do all the time. He was taking you away. I didn't want to go back. I didn't want to be send away.”

As Harry continued, he got louder and louder. Severus could feel the magic coming off of his son and at that moment he realized what happened on the stairs. Harry didn't use his wand. He knew he would have to calm Harry down and deal with what happened on the stairs first.

Gripping Harry's arm and slightly turning him, Severus gave him a firm swat. Harry stopped. His mouth gaped as he was again facing his dad.

“Now,” Severus said. “What did I tell you when I disclosed that Draco was the one that locked you in that cupboard?”

“But, dad - ,” Harry started.

“No,” Severus shook his head. “Didn't I tell you to let me handle this?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry sighed.

“Now, you will be punished for your disobedience.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry sighed again, this time lowering his head.

Guiding the child so that he could be placed over his lap, Severus steeled his heart as he looked down at the upturned bum on his lap. Harry, laying over his dad's lap, gripped the duvet under him, tensing. Raising his hand, Severus landed the first of many swats on his child's awaiting bum.

While the swats continued, Harry buried his face in the duvet as his sobs were muffled by the blanket.

When Severus finished, he began rubbing soothing circles on Harry's back. When Harry's sobbing calmed to sniffles, Severus reached under Harry's arms and lifted the small child on to his lap and wrapped his arms around him.

Harry sat on his father's lap, slightly squirming from his sore bum, in his arms, his head laying on his dad's shoulder and his fingers absently bothering one of the buttons on Severus' frock coat. Even though he was currently sitting on his father's lap, he still couldn't help thinking that he really did ruin everything.

“Are you going to send me away?” Harry's voice was low and a little raw from sobbing earlier.

Severus closed his eyes and sighed. Tightening his hold on his son, he looked down at the child in his arms.

“I will say this again,” Severus said. “You are my son. You will not leave me. I will not allow you to be out there in this world alone. I know you've had a hard beginning, but we are together now. Nothing will change that.”
“But Malfoy said,” Harry said as he could feel the tears burning his throat again.

“Draco is my godson. That will never change. You are my son. That will never change. The only thing that changed is that you and Draco will have to come to terms that you will be seeing more of each other than you would like. Now I would like for you two to start to at least get along.”

“But he's a ferret,” Harry whined, his voice getting louder. “Always telling me that I don't have a family.”

“You will cease the name calling,” Severus said, sternly. Harry squirmed a little more on his lap.

“You don't say nothing when he calls me names,” Harry said, stubbornly. “It's not my fault.”

“Harry, I want you to listen to me very carefully,” Severus said, tightening his arms around his son. Harry automatically snuggled more in his father's arm. A small smirk graced the Potion Master's lips feeling his son so close.

“I want you to learn to control yourself. I want you to not call Draco names. You are old enough to know that the only thing that you can control is you and you alone. You work on that you won't have to worry about getting in trouble.”

“But what if Draco calls me 'Scar head'?” Harry said. Severus noticed that this was the first time that Harry referred to his godson by his name than his surname.

“Then he will be in trouble. But if you retaliate then you will also be in the same trouble. You must learn to control yourself.”

Harry sighed.

“Now I want you to promise me something,” Severus said.

Harry, not lifting his head off the comfortable shoulder, looked up at his dad.

“I want you to promise me that if Draco calls you a name or he's starting something, I want you to come a find me or your Grandma or Albus.”

“You want me to be a tattle tale,” Harry said with resignation.

Severus couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips at his son's dramatics.

“I want you to learn that you don't have to solve everything on your own. You are not alone anymore. I'm here.”

After sitting in silence for a while, Severus shook his arm.

“Get up,” Severus said.

“Huh?”

“Weren't you planning on spending the day with Albus?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, looking down.

“What's wrong, Harry?”

“He's going to know,” Harry said, climbing off of his dad's lap. “That you...”

“Yeah, he knows what happened, but he will not speak on it. You've been punished. It's over.”

Harry could feel his face burning with embarrassment.

“Dad,” Harry said, still standing in front of him.

“Yes, Harry.”

“Are you still mad at me?”

Severus reached out and gripped his son's hands in his own, giving them a comforting squeeze.

“I was never mad at you, Harry. I was disappointed that you didn't keep your promise of letting me handle Draco. I was worried about you when you ran away from me. But I was never mad at you. Never.”

Harry smiled through the tears that shown through his emerald eyes, making them look like jewels sparkling in the sunlight, launching himself into his dad's arms again.

“I'm sorry,” Harry mumbled in his dad's neck.

“You are forgiven, Harry,” Severus said, quietly. “You are always forgiven.”

TBC