The Fawn in Cokeworth by MsHuntergrl
Summary: Entrance into the summer fic fest of 2015. Someone noticed that Harry was being abused and as a result he was removed from the Dursley’s care. Now he lives with his grandfather in Cokeworth. Enter Severus Snape, who’s in town to clean up his childhood home after his father died.
Categories: Fic Fests > #18 Summer 2015 Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required)
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Family, Fluff, Humor
Media Type: None
Tags: Child fic
Takes Place: 0 - Pre Hogwarts (before Harry is 11)
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Physical Punishment Spanking, Neglect, Out of Character
Prompts: Xenopus, Someone noticed, Lost handkerchief, Puddles
Challenges: Xenopus, Someone noticed, Lost handkerchief, Puddles
Series: None
Chapters: 5 Completed: No Word count: 36235 Read: 25629 Published: 30 Aug 2015 Updated: 12 Sep 2015
What Dumbledore had to say by MsHuntergrl

There were many thoughts running through Severus’ mind as he thought back to his conversation with Joseph and the revelation that Harry Potter had been abused. What had gone wrong? How bad had it really been? How big was Severus’ own part in what had happened?

The main thought, however, was along the lines of How had Dumbledore allowed it to happen?! To which Severus had no answer, of course. Harry Potter was Dumbledore’s golden boy, wasn’t he? Famous throughout the magical world and destined to go through life without strife and have everything handed to him on a silver platter, simply because he had somehow survived when he should have died.

Yet, somehow he had ended up in a household with relatives that did not care for him, whilst one of the most powerful wizards alive insisted that he was safe and well. No matter how much he tried Severus could not get the two pictures to fit together.

Which was why he decided to visit the headmaster later that evening.

Dumbledore was a busy man, even during the summer when school was out, so Severus was not very surprised to find the man in his study. Dumbledore’s private study was far smaller than the office he used at Hogwarts, the walls lined with bookcases and shelves with knick-knacks. There was a desk and a few comfortable armchairs around a low table. The whole room went in reds and gold, which was perhaps not a very big surprise.

“Severus,” Dumbledore greeted him. “What a surprise to see you here. You haven’t come to ask me to appoint you the new Defence professor again, have you?” 

That was another matter which Severus wanted to discuss with the headmaster, even if it was not the matter which had brought him here. Severus shook his head and sat down in one of the armchairs opposite of the one Dumbledore was occupying.

“No. In fact, it is a completely different matter I have come to discuss with you, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, Severus, of course not. Would you like some tea?”

There was already a tea pot on the table, on which Dumbledore simply cast a heating charm. Severus wondered how long that tea had been sitting there, and how many heating charms that had been applied to it.

“No thanks,” he replied.

“Suit yourself then, as always. Now, what is the matter you have come to discuss with me?”

How to begin? Severus had not thought things through fully before coming here, which was rather unusual for him. He had come to trust and even look up to Dumbledore, which made it that much harder to believe that the man really could have made such a considerable mistake. Mainly he just wanted an explanation.

“I wanted to speak to you about Potter.”

There, he’d said it.

“What about him?” Dumbledore wondered, sipping his tea, not looking concerned in the least.

“I happened to come across him, just yesterday. Do you know where he lives?”

“With his grandfather, if I’m not mistaken. Why?”

So Dumbledore was aware that the boy’s living arrangements had changed. Severus wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. There was something wrong here; something he didn’t understand.

“And before that he lived with his aunt and uncle,” Severus stated. “Are you aware what kind of guardians they were?”

“Of course I am. I did keep a spy nearby, you know. Just to make sure the boy was safe and sound.”

Again Dumbledore sipped at his tea and then reached for a biscuit.

“A spy?” Severus repeated, uncertain whether he had heard correctly.

“A spy, yes.”

“Might I ask whom this spy was?”

“Naturally. Arabella Figg.”

“The squib?”

“Yes, her exactly. Who better suited to keep an eye on the muggles than someone who lives among them anyway and yet has some knowledge of the magical world?”

While the argument was not completely without merit it obviously hadn’t been enough to prevent what had happened.

“She can’t do magic,” Severus pointed out. “And obviously she wasn’t a very good spy either, from what I’ve heard.”

“She’s so well suited for the task because she cannot do magic, Severus. And Arabella was a perfectly fine spy, I’ll tell you.”

“Obviously not if you are both unaware of what went on in that household! The boy was removed from his relatives because they were abusing him!”

The expected surprise did not show on Dumbledore’s face.

“Ah, you’ve heard of that, have you?” Dumbledore commented.

“Obviously! Though I’m surprised to find that you have!”

“Well, frankly I think that the muggle authorities were being overly sensitive. The boy was perfectly fine where he was, but since Lily’s father could take him in I guess it doesn’t really matter where he lives. The protective wards requires a blood relative of Lily’s, which one is of little importance.”

For a moment Severus was actually stunned, completely unable to come up with an answer. Was this Albus Dumbledore, talking about his golden boy, the hero of the magical Britain? Severus couldn’t believe it.

“Excuse me?” he finally managed to say. “Albus, those people were abusing him!”

“It’s just discipline, Severus. I certainly cannot understand how the muggles can make it a crime for parents to discipline their children as they see fit.”

“They were beating him!” Severus objected. “He had bruises when they removed him from there!”

“A spanking has never killed anyone, nor has some bruises. Mind you, when I was a boy it was not unusual for parents to be a lot harsher than that.”

Hearing this Severus had to take a deep breath, and then another one, and another one, to collect himself. Had the world gone mad? Had he gone mad, hearing things that weren’t real? Was Albus Dumbledore really condoning what the Potter-boy had been through? What Severus had been through as a child?

“So you have no objections to what they did?” Severus clarified.

“No. It is not my place to question their discipline.”

“And what does Arabella has to say in the matter?”

“She agrees with me. It’s a family matter Severus, surely you understand this?”

“No I do not! How could you condone the beating of a child?”

“Sometimes I wonder where the world is going,” Dumbledore muttered. “I certainly agree that it was time we change the old way of disciplining students here at Hogwarts, but discipline within the family is a completely different matter!”

“With all due respect, no it is not! An adult beating a child is barbaric!”

“Now you are being overly dramatic Severus. Parents know what is best for their children and no one should question that.”

“Parents who beat their children have lost sight of what is right and wrong,” Severus argued.

“For Merlin’s sake Severus, it was a round with the belt not a cruciatus curse!”

Despite his talent for hiding his thoughts Severus could feel the blood drain from his face. From what Joseph had told him Severus had assumed Potter had been beaten, which was bad enough, but using an implement was even worse. Suddenly he felt an enormous hatred towards Petunia Dursley and her unknown husband.

At any rate, this latest admission removed any doubt from his mind that the headmaster had been misinformed about what was going on. The man was obviously delusional – that or simply mad – but he had been aware of what happened to Harry Potter and had chosen not to intervene.

The realisation hurt. Severus had placed his trust in Dumbledore to keep Lily safe and the man had failed at doing so, then he had also failed to keep her son safe. Severus could only imagine what Lily would do had she known how her son had been treated. She’d cry for her boy and probably curse the headmaster blind, Supreme mugwump and chief Warlock of the Wizengamot or not

“Surely you can understand Severus? Children need discipline!”

“Discipline, yes! Not a belt to their arse!”

To that the headmaster merely sighed, clearly exasperated that Severus would not understand his point of view. Neither one said anything for a while, trying to get over their irritation.

“Will he be allowed to stay where he is now?” Severus asked at last.

“I don’t see why not. The protection Lily gave her son is dependent on him continuing to reside with a blood-relative of hers; whether it is her sister or her father is of little importance.”

Severus sighed. At least that was something. Not that it seemed Joseph would ever give up his grandson but Severus was certain that the headmaster would find a way to convince him if he wanted to.

“Good,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to do.”

“Just think about what I have said, Severus. I’m sure you’ll understand once you get some perspective on it.”

With a sound that might have been a “yes” but was probably closer to a very rude “no” Severus left Dumbledore’s home and apparated to his own. There he found himself too restless to go to sleep. Instead he paced in his living room, thinking about the conversation he had just had with Dumbledore and what had happened to Harry Potter.

What hurt the most was finding out that Dumbledore, whom Severus had come to look up to so much, held practically Victorian views of “discipline” on children. It was a particularly hard blow to take considering his own childhood. Severus had come to think that had he just put his pride aside and told someone, like Dumbledore, then things would have turned out better. It was a thought he had found some comfort in, strangely enough.

Yet now he had proof that Dumbledore likely would have done nothing even if he had known; would have condoned it even. To Severus that was like being told that he had deserved all of his father’s drunken rants and occasional beatings.

Perhaps even more worrying was imagining what could have happened had the muggle authorities not discovered what was going on in the Dursley household. With Dumbledore’s abhorrent attitude towards it Potter might very well have grown to despise his relatives and muggles in general, and by the time he came to Hogwarts they might have had a new Dark Lord in the making.

Severus would not deny that there were plenty of awful muggles, however there were good ones too, something he had forgotten for a while. That mistake of his had ended up costing Lily her life and Severus had, with the help of Dumbledore, done his best to atone for it ever since. His atonement may not be in the practical way Joseph was atoning for his perceived sins but atonement it was. Or so he had thought. The new revelations about Dumbledore made him question even that. What good had his attempts at atonement done anyway?

In the end his mind was too troubled for him to go to bed, so he decided to go back to cleaning out the house at Spinner’s End. What better way to get his mind off of things than by boring and disgusting work?

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The entryway, the kitchen and the living room was cleaned out, as was most of his father’s old bedroom. Only his own childhood bedroom and the bathroom remained. Severus sighed tiredly to himself and took a look out the window. The sun had risen hours ago and he felt exhausted. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get a couple of hours of sleep?

Four eager knocks sounded on his door. Knock, knock, knock, knock!

“Mr. Snape!” a now almost familiar voice shouted. “Mr. Sna-ape! It’s me, Harry! And Gramps too!”

With a sigh he headed for the door. His head ached from too little sleep and he was in no mood to deal with an energetic little boy at the moment. He would just answer the door and ask them to leave him alone. That was it.

Except that as soon as he opened the door the little cretin attached itself to Severus’ waist in a tight hug, taking Severus completely by surprise.

“Mr. Snape!” he said happily.

Joseph chuckled at his grandson’s antics, and probably a bit at the rather horrified expression on Severus’ face as well.

“Good day Severus. Sorry to bother you but I had forgotten I had an important meeting today and I can’t bring Harry with me. He insisted we’d ask if he could stay with you a couple of hours.”

This was a nightmare. It had to be. What other reason was there that he was being asked to babysit the Boy Who Lived? Sure, Severus felt some pity for what the boy had gone through, which was mostly because Severus himself had suffered similar experiences, but he didn’t like the boy. Far from it! And how was he supposed to untangle the boy from his waist anyway?

“I can help you with your cleaning and everything, Mr. Snape,” the boy announced. “As thanks for helping me with Peanut.”

“I don’t think …” Severus began, but was quickly interrupted.

“It’s only for a couple of hours,” Joseph repeated. “And you did say that it was only to ask if I ever needed help with anything. But of course, if you have something else to do, then we’ll ask someone else.”

“But I want to be with Mr. Snape!” the boy objected. “Can I, can I, can I please! Pretty, pretty please?”

At last he managed to untangle the boy from his person but then Severus was faced with Lily’s green eyes looking up and him pleadingly. Severus glanced at Joseph but he was of no help, sporting the same eyes and serving as yet another reminder of exactly how much Severus owed this family. He sighed, feeling vaguely like he was going to his own execution.

“For how long?”

“Yay!” Potter shouted, jumping and clapping his hands like the idiot he was. A very noisy idiot at that.

“I’ll be back by three o’clock,” Joseph replied with a smile. “And Harry’s already had lunch, so there’s no need to worry about that or anything. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t get in trouble.”

“Alright. Though I’ll have to ask that we do this at your house rather than mine.”

Severus glanced at the darks spots the puddles had left behind in the entryway and thought of the places he had yet to clean out. It was the perfect place for a small, curious boy to get in all kinds of trouble.

“You could go to the park,” Joseph suggested. “Or you could just come over to our house and babysit him there.”

“I’m almost six, so it’s not babysitting!”

Both adults ignored the child. Severus allowed himself to sigh tiredly.

“Your house it is,” he muttered.

“Great! Thank you so much Severus!”

They walked together back to the Evan’s house and had a quick cup of tea before Joseph had to go, leaving Severus alone with the boy. The unlikely couple watched Joseph leave, Harry waving and shouting enthusiastically until the man was out of their sight.

“What do you want to do?” the boy then finally asked, turning on Severus.

Sleep. Severus wanted to sleep. But just one look at the excited little boy told him that it wasn’t going to happen. So instead he asked in return;

“What do you normally do at this time of the day?”

Potter pouted a little, appearing to be thinking.

“Playing in the back yard?”

“Then let’s venture into the back yard,” Severus suggested, gesturing that Potter lead the way.

And so the afternoon of babysitting Harry Potter began. To Severus’ annoyance the boy insisted on trying to involve Severus in his childish games.

“Do you want to be the blue car?” he asked, when playing with a couple of plastic cars on the ground.

“No,” was Severus simple reply.

The boy bit his lip, hesitantly.

“The red one?” he finally asked.

“No.”

For some reason that seemed to make the boy relieved and he happily played on his own with the cars for a while. Severus wondered to himself why the boy would offer him to “be” the red car if he did not want him to. In the end he shrugged it off. The boy was an idiot, like his father, what else could he expect?

“Do you want to play hide and seek?” Potter asked next.

“No.”

“Tag?”

“No.”

“Simon says?”

“No.”

“Kick the can?”

“No.”

“Red light, green light?”

“No.”

“Marbles?”

“Why don’t you play with those yourself?”

And, much to Severus’ surprise, the boy did.

It was strange, sitting on the porch where he and Lily had often sat, watching her son play in the grass. The sun shone from an almost cloudless sky and a warm summer breeze swept through the air. It reminded him of other summer days like this one.

Like the summer when they were nine, when Severus had first noticed that one of the girls playing in the park was a witch. Other children had never been interested in playing with Severus, and so Severus had on principle never been interested in playing with them either, but he had been drawn towards the red haired girl who would jump off of her swing and fly far longer than what was possible for a muggle.

She had been his first real friend. He could still remember long days spent playing in the park, or lying in the grass, talking about magic and Hogwarts or any other topic that crossed their minds. At first he had hated it when she had to go home for lunch, as that meant that she’d leave him alone for a while. But then she’d somehow managed to convince him to join her, perhaps suspecting that Severus was not going home to get his own lunch. The first few times he had met Joseph and Daisy Evans he had secretly been terrified. They were better off than his own parents, their house was bigger, more beautiful, and lighter and over all they just seemed like better people than him and his family. However, they had quickly taken a liking to him, for whatever reason, and after that he had been a frequent visitor in their house.

The summer when they were ten, before they were going to Hogwarts, they had borrowed a tent from Joseph and gone camping in the back yard of the Evans’ house. Lily’s mother had made a whole box of sandwiches for them to “bring” for their adventure, along with plenty of biscuits and cupcakes. Joseph had surprised them by helping them start a small fire, over which they grilled marshmallows. They had stayed up late that night, watching the stars fantasising about all of the adventures they were going to experience together.

When they were eleven, and had returned home after a year at Hogwarts, they had spent many days on a blanket outside in the sun, books and parchment strewn around them as they worked on their summer homework together. They’d gossip about Hogwarts, their teachers and their housemates, think of things they would have to try the next year and fantasise of what they would do when they grew up. Often Daisy would provide them with biscuits or other sweets to snack on while they worked. Then, when they had grown bored of studying and talking, they’d play, pretending to be aurors in search of dark wizards or dragon breeders hunting for an escaped dragon.  

At 12 Lily had decided they had to build a tree house. Joseph had agreed to get them all the material they needed, and then leaned back on the porch to watch the children work. They had quickly discovered that building a tree house was easier said than done, especially as neither of them were used to holding a hammer. After Lily had fallen out of the tree two times, Severus four, and they respectively had hit their fingers with the hammer five times, Joseph had finally relented and helped them build the tree house. They had spent hours playing in that tree house, and even though they had to share it with Petunia it was still one of the happiest memories that Severus had of his childhood.

The tree house was still there, up in the tree, Severus could see. However the rope ladder they had used was gone and the lower branches had been removed, probably wise precautions to take with the Potter boy playing in the yard.

When Severus was thirteen he had stolen a pack of cigarettes from the local shop owner and brought them to Lily, trying to impress her. They’d hidden in the tree house and shared a smoke; coughing and laughing. Lily’s mother Daisy had found them like that and proceeded to scold them both seriously before forcing them to apologize to the shop owner from which Severus had stolen the cigarettes. Joseph had taken Severus aside later and talked to him at length about stealing, smoking and why one shouldn’t do such things. To this day Severus would insist that he had just gotten dust in his eyes.

By fourteen their friendship had started to change. Severus was secretly very much in love with his friend but afraid of admitting so, still harvesting insecurities about her and her family being better than him. Meanwhile Lily had started to realise just how interested Severus were in subjects which she did not condone, such as the dark arts, curses and hexes. She would often try to convince him to stop reading about such subjects, which Severus would firmly refuse. The matter of their different houses were also becoming more and more apparent. Lily disliked the boys Severus had befriended in Slytherin and Severus disliked many of her friends in Gryffindor.

Still, they had spent almost every day together then too. Sometimes they had argued but they had always managed to get past those things, considering all the years of friendships they had behind them. As far as Severus was concerned that was the last good summer he had had. The year after the split between Lily and him had happened, and although Severus had tried to bury himself in the dark arts and his fascination with the Death Eaters he now deeply regretted the years that followed.

“Look what I found!”

His musings were interrupted by a childish voice and suddenly a pair of hands were thrust in his face, covered in spiders and other insects. Severus reacted instinctively, slapping the hands away from him.

What do you think you are doing!” he roared, jumping to his feet.

Potter backed away a few steps, taken by surprise by Severus angry tone and his sudden standing up. Severus only noticed vaguely, too occupied by the fact that a few of the spiders had fallen onto him and were currently crawling around on his person. Disgusted he tried to swipe them away, stomping his feet in an effort to kill them once they hit the ground.

“Freaky, disgusting, little …” he swore to himself.

They wouldn’t come off! Despite his best effort to swipe them off of him they still clung to his clothes like the eight-legged little monsters they were! He felt a shiver run down his spine and resisted the urge to whine like a little girl. Severus’ fear of spiders were one of his closest kept secrets, a result of his father once locking him into a dusty old closet, but he would not allow himself to completely lose his face over it!

Finally the last spider came off, although Severus swore he could still feel them crawling all over him. Forcing himself not to continue swiping his clothes for spiders that were already gone and dead he instead looked towards where the boy had last been. He wasn’t there. Looking around the back yard Severus quickly realised that the boy was nowhere there either.

“Potter?” he called, uncertain of where the boy had disappeared to.

No answer came.

“Potter!” he called again, louder this time.

Still no answer. Severus sighed to himself, annoyed.

“This is no game Potter! Get out here this instant!”

He waited a few moments but no boy appeared. With a few deep breaths to calm his frayed nerves Severus started looking through the back yard, trying to find the boy. He couldn’t have gotten very far. Most likely he was hiding somewhere nearby, probably laughing his little behind off at the entertainment Severus had unwittingly provided. ‘

Annoyance rising steadily as he continued to fail at finding Potter, Severus nevertheless continued to search. Potter was not in the back yard, so Severus moved on to the front yard and then into the house itself, hoping that the little cretin had not been foolish enough to run off on his own while Severus was distracted. Though come to think of it, that was probably something James Potter would have done. Suddenly he could feel a headache coming.

He would not be searching through the entirety of Cokeworth for Potter’s offspring!

“POTTER!” he shouted, hearing his voice echoing in the house. “Come here this instant!”

He was sure there were students at Hogwarts that would have peed themselves with anxiety at his tone and immediately scrambled to obey him. Yet the Potter-boy lived up to his ancestry and remained hidden wherever he was.

Joseph would be home in about half an hour, Severus realised after a glance at the clock. It seemed the boy was determined to stay hidden until then, which would no doubt be embarrassing for Severus. Was this why the boy had insisted that Severus act the part of his babysitter?

Sighing to himself he moved around the bottom floor in search for the boy, looking behind the couch, moving curtains aside, opening cupboards and so on. No Potter. Upstairs it was then. Either that or the boy had left the premises entirely. Severus certainly didn’t hope for the last.

Upstairs he hesitated, almost frightened by how little it had changed since he was a child. By habit he moved at first to the bedroom furthest down the corridor to the right, which had once been Lily’s. Upon opening the door he quickly realised that the room now belonged to her son. It was surprisingly neat, with only a few toys strewn around. Severus quickly checked the wardrobe, finding it neat but without a boy hiding in it, and then beneath the bed. No boy there either.

It felt wrong to then move on to the other bedrooms; those who had once belonged to Lily’s parents and her sister. Potter was in neither of them. The last room to check was the small office, which had very few hiding places.

What now? Severus thought to himself as he stood above the stairs. He had searched both the front and back yard as well as every room of the house, yet no Harry Potter. Where had he gone? Should he move on to searching elsewhere, like the park? Yet, a search like that was likely futile as he had no idea of where the boy would go. Joseph would probably have some idea of where he might hide, but that would also mean that Severus would have to admit his failure to the elder man.

As if summoned by Severus’ thoughts the front door opened right then to reveal Joseph.

“I’m home!” he called.

Silently Severus sighed to himself before making his way downstairs. His were the only steps moving towards Joseph.

“Severus!” Joseph greeted him. “Where’s Harry?”

“He’s hiding,” Severus admitted with a shrug.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. He won’t come when I call and I can’t find him, even though I’ve searched the house for him.”

Joseph wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

“Harry?” he called. “Harry, I’m home! Come to your gramps!”

They waited in silence for a minute to see if the boy would come. He didn’t and finally Joseph turned to Severus again.

“What happened?” he wondered.

“He showed a handful of spiders at me and then disappeared while I was busy trying to rid myself of them.”

“Did you yell at him?” Joseph asked, giving Severus a strange look.

Severus hesitated briefly, not quite recognizing the look but intuitively knowing that it wasn’t necessary a good one.

“A little,” he admitted. “Though I did not have the chance to say more than a few words before he had disappeared.”

“Well, that explains it then,” Joseph muttered, before continuing in a clearer voice; “Thank you Severus. I’ll take care of this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I think I know where he might be hiding.”

Feeling strangely ill at ease Severus nodded and said farewell before he left the house, heading towards Spinner’s End. There was an uncomfortable emotion running through him; one that he could not quite name. He almost felt like he should apologise to Joseph, though on the other hand he wanted to defend himself and explain that it was not his fault things had gone the way they had.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Joseph sighed as the door closed behind Severus and then turned to face the stairs in the hallway. This was not how he had hoped the day would turn out. Perhaps he should have a talk with Severus. That would have to wait though. For now he had something more important to deal with.

“Harry?” he called again, not so loud. “Severus is gone now. You can come out. I’m not angry with you.”

His voice was as calm and reassuring as he could make it. He waited patiently, letting the minutes pass, and finally his patience was rewarded. The door to the cupboard under the stairs slowly swung open with a quiet squeak. No grandson stepped out though, so Joseph chose to take it as an invitation to come closer.

“You alright?” he asked as he reached the door, peering into the dark cupboard.

From behind a few boxes of god knew what he could hear a slight rustling, telling him where his grandson was.

“I cannot see you in this darkness,” Joseph reminded him. “Please answer verbally. Or come out of there.”

Some more rustling was heard and then finally a weak, hesitant; “I’m fine.”

“Did Severus frighten you?” Joseph asked kindly.

A pause, in which he was quite sure that his grandson nodded before remembering the request to answer verbally.

“Yeah.”

“I see. Did he say anything?”

Another pause.

“He yelled at me. Said I was freaky and d-disgusting. An’ then he was waving around and stamping his feet a whole lot.”

“So you thought it was best to get away and hide in here before he could get to you?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“I see,” Joseph repeated, lowering himself to his knees with some effort, wincing a little as a spike of pain went through his bad knee.

“I didn’t mean to be bad,” the boy said.

“I know you didn’t, Harry, and I’m not angry with you. I promise. And Severus wasn’t really angry with you either, I don’t think.”

“But he shouted at me, and called me things.”

“Maybe so, but I think Severus was just startled. Did you know that he’s afraid of spiders?”

“No.”

“Well, he is. He has been since he was just a little older than you are now. So I think he was just frightened by the spiders and said those things because he was really afraid.”

“You think?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

“But spiders aren’t scary.”

“Severus thinks they are.”

“But he’s an adult!”

“Even adults get scared sometimes, you know.”

“They do?”

“Of course. Some are just better at hiding it than others.”

It was silent for a few moments, while the boy seemed to ponder this.

“You know, I think Severus was a bit scared afterwards too, when he couldn’t find you,” Joseph confided. “He probably thought you had run away and was really worried about what could happen to you. I bet he searched the whole house after you.”

“He did.”

“There you have it.”

“He sounded really angry.”

“Sometimes people sound angry when really they are just worried.”

“Oh.”

After another minute there was some rustling and then the little boy was clinging to Joseph, arms wrapped around his neck. Joseph hugged him back, feeling the little body tremble against his chest. Not for the first time he wondered what he had done wrong in order to make his eldest daughter heartless enough to treat her nephew the way she had.

“There, there,” he muttered, trying to comfort his grandson.

Like usual Harry bravely fought the tears, even though Joseph could feel him tremble with the need to cry. A small part of him cried too, seeing the little boy so desperately trying to be brave even as he sought comfort in Joseph’s arms. At least he did seek comfort. That had not been the case when Harry first came to live with him, as he had apparently been so used to being denied comfort from others that he had stopped seeking it entirely.

“Do you want some biscuits?” Joseph finally asked, once he could feel that the boy had calmed down a bit.

“With chocolate?”

“Of course!”

“Then yes.”

With a slightly more chipper Harry in hand Joseph headed for the kitchen, preparing some tea and bringing out the bisquits that Harry liked so much. Perhaps he would talk to Severus later.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Riiinng! Riiinng!

A loud, insistent noise woke him up. Groggily Severus sat up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was and what was happening.

He must somehow have fallen asleep on the couch, he realised, noticing that he had been spread across the old couch at Spinner’s End. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he got up. Clearly he had gone too long without sleeping and was losing his mind as a result of it.

Riiinng!

The noise continued and Severus finally realised that it was coming from the old phone, standing in one corner. Huh, he hadn’t even thought that was working. A bloody miracle that it hadn’t been disconnected due to his father leaving the bills unpaid.

Riiinng!

Awkwardly Severus lifted the receiver, moving it to his ear as he remembered doing as a child.

“Hello?” he could hear a voice.

“Mr. Evans?”

“Severus! I wasn’t sure this old number would still work! So happy it did!”

To that Severus really did not have a reply and he did not think one was needed anyway. Joseph continued.

“I just thought I’d tell you that Harry’s perfectly fine.”

“You found him?” Severus asked, remembering the failed babysitting earlier in the afternoon.

“Yes, yes I did. Do you mind coming over for a bit, so we can discuss it?”

Severus cast a quick glance at the clock. It was half past eight. He should get back to his rooms at Hogwarts and get some sleep.

“Severus?”

“Only a few minutes,” he muttered into the receiver and hung up.

Groaning to himself he stretched and took a quick trip to the bathroom, straightening out his clothes in the process, before he left the house. The brisk walk in the warm summer air helped clear his mind and when he reached the Evan’s house a few minutes later he was fully awake and alert.

Joseph opened the door for him shortly after he had knocked, letting him in and leading him into the living room where tea and biscuits had been set out.

“Thank you for coming Severus. I’ll try not to keep you too long.”

Never having been one to utter any false niceties Severus chose not to answer. Instead he made himself a cup of tea, allowing himself an extra spoonful of sugar.

“You found the boy,” he stated, sipping his tea.

“Yes. He was hiding in the cupboard beneath the stairs.”

“I checked there.”

“I’m sure you did. He was behind a couple of boxes and surely not easily spotted.”

Severus was not sure he liked the thought of Harry Potter being able to hide from him so easily. Especially as this meant that the boy had been in the house and therefore also must have heard Severus calling for him.

“I trust you dealt with him appropriately?” he asked.

“I comforted him and made him tea, yes.”

“Did you punish the boy?”

“No, I saw no need to.”

Sighing Severus briefly closed his eyes. He respected Joseph, he really did, but he had never thought that the man would allow himself to be dictated by a young child. At this pace Potter would be a nightmare by the time he began Hogwarts.

“You are too soft on the boy,” he stated, sipping his tea. “He was being difficult and refused to come out, even though I called on him several times. He should be disciplined.”

“And what do you suggest I do, Severus? Spank the poor boy? Send him to bed without dinner?”

Abruptly Severus lost his appetite and he put his tea down. No, perhaps those were not appropriate ways of dealing with the boy. But it was clear that James Potter’s heritage ran strong in the boy and that needed to be dealt with, regardless of the boy’s background.

“He needs boundaries,” Severus defended himself. “Without those he’ll run wild.”

“I know that Severus, and I’ll be the first to admit that I am sometimes a bit too lenient with him. However this time he was really just acting out of fear.”

“Fear?”

What was there for the boy to be afraid of? Severus didn’t understand it.

“Yes. I know you don’t like spiders Severus, but your reaction to them frightened Harry. He thought you were angry with him and thought it best to hide before you decided to take your anger out on him.”

Feeling vaguely ill Severus pushed the tea further away. He hadn’t considered that the boy might actually be frightened of him. The obvious resemblance to James Potter and the happy, childish behaviour made it easy to ignore the fact that the boy likely had invisible wounds that had yet to be healed. That, in combination with the unsettling spider attack, had been enough for Severus to cling onto his anger rather than the strange compassion he had felt for the boy earlier.

“I don’t know for sure exactly what he has been through,” Joseph admitted. “And Harry is a wonderfully happy and trusting boy. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that he might have reason to distrust adults.”

“I’m sorry,” Severus said, his voice low. “I did not consider that possibility.”

“I don’t think it is me you should be apologising to, Severus. Though I don’t think Harry will hold it against you either. He can be surprisingly fragile sometimes but he also has an enormous ability to forgive and see the best in people. In that respect he’s rather like his mother.”

Again Severus closed his eyes. Like his mother. Why was it that Severus almost exclusively saw the father in the child? One look at the dark hair or that cheeky smile and Severus was reminded of all of his encounters with James Potter. Yet the child was also Lily’s. He had her eyes, and according to Joseph also some of the best traits of her personality. Why hadn’t Severus seen that?

“Whenever I look at him I tend to remember his father,” Severus admitted quietly.

Joseph did not reply immediately. He knew some of the rivalry that had been going on between James Potter and Severus, though Severus had never shared very much with the man. Yet this admission would shed some light onto why Severus was not taking to the boy very well.

“If you don’t want to see him I suggest you say so now, Severus. Harry likes you, quite well actually. The longer you wait to let him down the more hurt he will be.”

This was his door to freedom. He had never intended to get involved with Potter. Their chance encounter was no reason for Severus to continue being in contact with the child, regardless of what he had learned of how the boy had been treated by his relatives. It was true that he pitied the boy for what he had gone through and did not want him to go back there, but now he was well taken care of. Joseph had been a great father to his children, and a second father figure to Severus, and surely he was more than capable of taking care of his grandson.

Besides, what interest did Severus have in the boy? Nothing. In another five years he would be starting Hogwarts, no doubt giving Severus reason for many grey hairs. But right now the boy was not his problem. Severus didn’t like children anyway and especially not this child. Right?

Soft footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Both men looked up and spotted the child standing in the doorway, looking hesitant and sleepy.

“Gramps? Mr. Snape?”

“Harry! What are you doing out of bed?” Joseph wondered, getting up.

“I couldn’t sleep and I heard voices.”

“Well, you should go back to bed. Do you want a glass of milk first?”

The boy shook his head and looked past his grandfather towards Severus. Hesitating briefly he glanced up at his grandfather before moving past him. Severus sat frozen in his chair, not sure what to do. The boy stopped a few steps away and looked up at Severus face, his expression nowhere near the joy there had been earlier that day.

“I’m sorry Mr. Snape,” the boy said, his voice serious. “I didn’t know you were afraid of spiders and I shouldn’t have shown them to you like that.”

He finished his apology off with a little bow before turning and running back to his grandfather, holding his arms out for a hug.

Baffled Severus stared at the little boy, who despite obviously still being uncertain whether Severus was trustworthy or not had forced himself to apologize. Part of him wanted to dismiss it as foolish Gryffindor behaviour. Another part of him wondered if this wasn’t exactly how Lily would have handled the situation, had she and her son changed places.

The difference between the boy’s behaviour earlier in the day and now was striking. Before he had barely been able to free himself as the boy clung to him in a tight hug, now the boy found it safer to hide in his grandfather’s arms. Had he suddenly become his father, frightening little children for the smallest or most imaginary of reasons? The thought made him feel sick.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Potter. I should not have reacted the way I did and I did not realise that I had frightened you.”

Where the words came from he was not sure, and they tasted strange on his tongue. The boy looked at him over his grandfather’s shoulder and then gave a small smile as Joseph carried him away.

That smile would haunt Severus for a long time. 

To be continued...


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