“Julian? Julian, wake up for me.”

Julian squirmed slightly and pulled the small blanket over him tighter. It wasn’t very warm, but at least it covered his feet.

“Julian?”

Blearily, he opened his eyes and met with the rather concerned face of his dad kneeling next to him. He blinked his eyes a few times and allowed reality to come back to the surface. The sun had gone down farther than it had previously, casting shadows across the room and making the room more comfortably dark.

“Dad?” he said, voice scratchy from sleep.

“Good evening, Julian,” Severus smiled slightly at how tired the boy still was. “What are you doing down here?”

“Lookin’ for you.”

“I apologize, I was in my lab. Did you need something?” Severus stood from where he had crouched down and stretched his back.

“Yeah…” Julian paused in thought, what was it he had come downstairs for? Oh, that’s right. “Are we safe here?”

Severus smirked rather evilly at the question. While the bloodwards around the Dursley’s house had been strong, the warding around his personal home was quite strong as well. With a few added curses and spells preventing those who wished him harm from getting away from the house in one piece. All of these were throwbacks to his previous life in the Death Eaters. Whenever he needed a place for quiet contemplation and isolation, this was where he would go. Many of the other Death Eaters knew he had such a place, but it’s location was one he had never given out.

“We couldn’t be much safer, Julian. What are you concerned about?”

Julian flushed a light pink as he stammered out his answer, “Vampire slayers.”

“There are very few people in this world who know of the location of this house. Fewer still know of your condition. And I can guarantee none of them want you dead.”

“Oh. How long are we going to be here?”

“I was actually hoping to speak with you about that. You have been doing very well and, while I know this was a rather unexpected trip, I was wondering if you would like to stay here for a few days. If you do not wish to, that is completely fine.”

Julian looked around at the house. His house. He had his own room here. He had more books than he could ever imagine and a father who cared for him. He felt much better than he had in years. This was a dream come true.

“I’d like to stay, if Madam Pomfrey is ok with it. But what about the potions? Did we bring any of them here? Or the tube feeding sets? Or the lollies?”

Severus looked sadly at the boy’s franticness. He had seen the child’s eyes light up at the prospect of not being in the Hospital Wing any longer, but that light immediately extinguished at the idea of being away from the supplies which had been keeping him alive.

“I am completely capable of brewing your potions here at the house. There is one tube feeding set in your room that was brought over by the house elves, as well as your pump. I can easily go down the street to the grocers and find some muggle lollies for you if you needed them.”

Julian hugged his knees tighter to his chest as he thought about it. It certainly seemed as though everything could be taken care of here, but he was still worried. What if something happened? Would Severus really be able to take care of him here?

Severus could see the wheels in the boy’s head turning. It was true there were some details which would need to be worked out, but it would do the boy well to be out of Hogwarts for a while. It would also give them a chance to check how stable his core was without the castle’s magic interfering.

“Two days,” Severus said. “We stay here two days, then we go back to Hogwarts if you’d rather. There are some tasks we need to do which are much more suited to doing in the muggle world.”

Julian nodded. Two days was doable. He could start perusing the books in his room!

“That sounds good,” Julian said, smiling.

Severus cocked his head slightly. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or was there a tooth missing. He admitted he hadn’t really been paying attention to Julian’s mouth when they were talking. It didn’t help that Julian tended to tuck his head when making decisions.

“Now, I have two questions for you,” Severus said sternly. “How did you get down here?”

Julian immediately shrunk down on the couch. He was in trouble. He shouldn’t have left his room. It was probably the same rules as the cupboard under the stairs. Don’t leave where we put you, don’t make any noise, no whinging. He should have known this.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I shouldn’t have left the room. I was worried about being here and wanted to find you so I went down the stairs on my arse.”

Severus tried in vain to keep a stern face, but he had to admit he was impressed. He did not think Julian would have been able to make it down those stairs on his own. It was no wonder he fell asleep on the couch.

“Did you realize you were missing a tooth?”

“I’m not in trouble for leaving my room?” Julian asked confusedly. He had been certain he was going to be punished. He knew he wasn’t safe to be out on his own, but he hadn’t even been yelled at. Why?

“You are not confined to your room. You are allowed to come and go from there as you please. I was more impressed that you made it down the stairs at all. I was more concerned that you had fallen or been injured on your trek down them.”

“Oh,” Julian said, blushing. “No, my tooth fell out while I was asleep. It’s on the desk.”

Severus nodded, glad the boy hadn’t knocked it out from falling down the stairs. That was his worst nightmare. He would hate to have to explain that to Poppy.

“Is your other tooth loose as well?”

Julian nodded and picked at a loose thread on the blanket. He was starting to get cold again and his stomach ached as though he were hungry. As much as he wanted to dig into the collection of books on the walls, he also just wanted to go back to sleep.

Severus could see Julian’s eyes were beginning to glaze over. It was no wonder either, the last few days had felt like utter pandemonium.

“Come now, child. Let’s get you back to bed,” Severus said, lifting the small boy into his arms. There was no way Julian would have been able to make it back up the stairs.

Once in his arms, Julian fell asleep almost instantaneously. Severus then summoned two of the freshly made nutrient potions and pocketed them as he trekked back up the stairs with the sleeping vampire.

Laying Julian on the bed, Severus hooked the boy up to the nutrient potion with practiced ease. It was strange how quickly one could learn something so foreign from most people's minds so quickly. Soon, hopefully very soon, this would be a skill he no longer had to use.

While making sure his son was properly covered with blankets and that his beloved hat wouldn’t come off while he slept, Severus noticed a small white object sitting on Julian’s desk. The missing tooth. It sat still and silent, glistening slightly in the moonlight.

Severus stared at it for only a minute before grabbing it and wrapping it in a handkerchief. He didn’t know what he was going to do with it, but he certainly knew this bit of his son wasn’t going to be thrown away like a common piece of garbage. It certainly wasn’t every day that a vampire’s teeth grew in. Nor were human teeth readily available as potions ingredients; you’d have to go to Knockturn Alley if you wanted to get those. But would the vampirism have affected the tooth?

‘Or you could keep them like a normal parent would,’ Severus thought to himself as he pulled two knuts from his robe pocket and laid them on the desk where the tooth had been. The tooth was certainly worth more than that, but that was all he had in his pocket at the time. He’d have to pay the child more for the next one.

---

Severus was awoken the next morning by two things: an owl had entered his wards with a letter and Julian had let out some sort of high pitched squeal.

He was barely out of bed when Julian came stumbling into his room holding the knuts in his hand that Severus had left him for the tooth.

“Sir! Is she real?” Julian said, holding out the knuts as though Severus would immediately make the connection.

Severus blinked in confusion trying to make the connection. All he had done was pay the boy for the tooth. He felt it had been a fair trade for a valuable potions ingredient. What could Julian be talking about?

“Who are you talking about?” Severus finally asked, having completely missed the connection Julian seemed so insistent on making.

“The tooth fairy! Is she real?” Julian said, leaning back against the wall and continuing to hold out the knuts as though this would all make sense to Severus.

From somewhere in the depths of his childhood memories, the name sparked a recollection. The tooth fairy was something the other young children in his primary school had talked about coming for their teeth and leaving money. That was not a kind of nonsense the Snapes had the money to do. When he had asked about it, his father had slapped him for asking such asinine questions then slapped him again for asking for money.

Severus blinked at the child standing in front of him before chuckling slightly.

“Julian, the tooth fairy is a muggle creation. I paid you for the tooth as adult teeth are uncommon for potions ingredients. I only had a few knuts on me, however.”

Julian looked at the knuts in his hand and lowered it slowly to his side. He didn’t know how to feel about the revelation that the tooth fairy wasn’t real. Or about the fact that he had hoped she was a real being who had actually come to him for once.

“Julian, come here child,” Severus said, motioning to the bed where he sat. He could see the emotions flitting across the boy’s face.

Julian pushed himself off the wall and walked with halting steps over to the bed looking very much like a fawn taking its first steps. He yelped slightly when Severus lifted him up and sat him on the bed, more out of surprise than out of pain.

“What is wrong?” Severus said, looking the boy in the eyes. He didn’t even need to use Legilimency to see the child was upset and thinking about his own past.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Julian slowly rubbed his fingers over the surface of the knuts. It was the first time he had ever been given money that he wasn’t required to spend on something for the Dursleys.

“I guess I just hoped… just thought that … maybe she had … forgotten about me. Or that she couldn’t get through the door. I dunno.”

Severus gently reached forward and lifted Julian’s chin to look him in the eye. It hurt to see such sadness in the child’s eyes. The bright green marred by years of distrust and neglect at the hands of his relatives. At this distance, Severus could see that, while similar to Lily’s in color, they had flecks of grey hidden amongst the green. These were not his Lily’s eyes, these were Julian’s. His son’s eyes.

“While I do not know everything that happened to you at your aunt and uncle’s house, nor do I truly expect you to tell me everything, I do believe you have been wronged in many ways. You are not a child to be forgotten. You are not a freak. You are not a meal ticket. You are a child, and one who needed and still needs help. Those muggles have done you a grave disservice, one I cannot hope to fully right. However, you shall never need to fear being abandoned, being alone, or being forced to raise yourself.”

Severus had scarcely finished his statement when he found himself with an armful of crying boy. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around the child and rubbed his back. He didn’t think a few knuts would lead to this, but it seemed as though this were a long time coming.

He sat for a few minutes with Julian on his lap before he couldn’t take it any longer. As much as he wanted to allow the boy to feel comfortable in this position, he was still too thin for it to feel comfortable for the other party.

“Come now, Julian,” he said, gently pushing the boy back onto the bed and summoning a handkerchief. “I do believe we have some mail to attend to. There is an owl who has been patiently waiting outside.”

Julian sat back and blew his nose, “an owl?”

“Yes, an owl. Have you not seen any of the owls at Hogwarts?” Severus asked, pulling a simple bathrobe on over his nightclothes before summoning a second for Julian to wear.

Julian shook his head. He couldn’t remember Madam Pomfrey mentioning them either, but then again she had been trying to run a hospital wing in a school, monitor his health, and tutor him somewhat at the same time.

“We use owls to transport our post. Many wizards have their own personal owl to use, but most families just share an owl between all family members. Owls are able to find a wizard anywhere and deliver post to them, so long as they are within a reasonable flight distance.”

“Oh,” Julian nodded. “Do you have an owl?”

Severus paused for a moment in thought as he resized a pair of house shoes for Julian to wear. He really didn’t want to have this conversation. He had only had Hermes for a few short months. The first gift his mother had ever given to him, and the Marauders had murdered him. Severus had caught them trying to catch the owl in the owlery. He had tried to stop them, but apparently Pettigrew had it out for his owl. He hadn’t immediately killed it, but he had hugged the fragile body to him too tightly and Hermes succumbed to the injuries.

“I haven’t had one in a very long time,” he finally said, clearing his throat to try and cover up the emotions. “I tend to use the public post owls available either at the school or in Diagon Alley.”

Julian nodded in understanding. He had lost a pet too and could see those same emotions in Snape’s eyes. Selly had been a good snake and fun to talk to, until Dudley got ahold of her.

“Now come we have some post to retrieve. I doubt the owl has stayed outside unless it needs payment or delivery confirmation. Either way, we don’t want the owl to be waiting too long. They tend to get a bit … cranky.”

Julian snickered quietly at the idea of a cranky owl waiting to be paid and flying after someone screeching at them like Aunt Petunia used to do to him when he didn’t clean the house fast enough.

Finally out of the bedroom, Severus slowed his pace for Julian so he could monitor as Julian maneuvered the stairwell. He found himself watching with bated breath as the boy first tried to go down the stairs on foot, then abandoned that idea a few steps in and went down the stairs the rest of the way sitting on each step until he got to the bottom. By the time he was down, he was rather winded and pink in the face, but triumphant at having managed to do it on his own for a second time.

Severus helped him to his feet, pleasantly surprised at the lack of unsteadiness as he stood.

“There is a jar of owl treats in the cabinet by the door,” he said, pointing at the aforementioned cabinet and watching as Julian opened the door and found the rat shaped treats. “Only one per owl, otherwise they start getting jealous of one another. I don’t need owls fighting on my property.”

Julian smiled as he handed the treat to his dad then went to sit on the stairs. As much as he wanted to see the owl, he knew the sun was starting to rise over the horizon. He would just end up feeling weak and sick and if it were too bright out there was no guarantee he could even see the owl.

Severus opened the door and found three letters sitting on his front stoop. Only one owl had breached the wards, so they must be from the same place. Looking at the names and addresses on the letters, he let out an exasperated sigh. Minerva had come back from holiday.

At least the damn letters were spelled to address themselves.

“Julian, you have mail.”

Julian looked confused. Why would someone be sending him mail? There were only a few people who knew him and would use owls to communicate. Why would they be sending him a letter here?

Severus held out two of the three parchment envelopes for the boy before opening the last which was addressed to him. Upon seeing what it was, he let out a sigh of relief he didn’t even know he had been holding. All of Harry Potter’s school fees had been paid prior to his enrollment and an inheritance vault had been set aside for the boy’s schooling. As guarantor of the account, Albus had begun making small transfers of money into Severus’s personal account from this fund to off-set the cost of the boy’s medical needs.

He hadn’t even thought about the school fees. Or the cost of robes, books, and a wand. Even with the reduced tuition due to him being a professor at the school, Hogwarts was not a cheap school to attend.

Folding his letter up and tucking it back into the envelope for safe keeping, he looked at Julian who hadn’t moved since getting the letters. Julian kept looking from one envelope to the other. Thankfully the room was rather dimly lit by the morning sun, otherwise the thin lettering would have been difficult for him to make out.

One read:
Harry Potter
Smallest Bedroom
Spinner’s End
Cokeworth
Lancashire

The other, while identical in shape, weighed slightly more as though it contained more information. It read:

Julian Snape
Smallest Bedroom
Spinner’s End
Cokeworth
Lancashire

Julian looked at Severus in confusion. Why would both of his names get a letter?

Turning them over, he looked at the seal on the envelope. They had both come from Hogwarts. But who would be sending him letters from there?

Severus sighed, “Just open them. If they aren’t at least opened by the end of the day, we’re going to start getting inundated with them.”

Julian opened both of the letters and pulled them out one at a time. They were identical with the exception of his name and both of them were signed by Minerva McGonagall.

“I got accepted?” he asked, not daring to take his eyes off the letters in case they disappeared. “I got in?”

Severus smirked, “No matter what your name is, you have been on the list to be accepted to Hogwarts since you were an infant.”

“So what do I do? Both of the letters want me to respond by July 31st. I can’t very well go to school as both Julian and Harry.”

“I will discuss with Albus what to do about ‘Harry,’ but you can respond to Minerva. I would recommend reading the entire letter to ‘Julian’ however. I believe Albus slipped something extra into that letter. It seems a bit thicker than your ‘Harry’ letter.”

Julian looked at the letters. So he wasn’t the only one that noticed that. Pulling both letters out in their entirety, he saw that the letter written to Julian did indeed include two additional pages. Both letters included a list of required uniform clothing, book list for first years, and ‘other equipment.’ The letter to Julian, however, contained a slightly different set of information as well.

Dear Mr. Snape,

It has come to our attention that you will be requiring additional services throughout your tenure here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The staff at Hogwarts has had a long history of accommodating the various academic and health related needs of our students. Due to your health status, we are required to inform you that you will be mandated to have daily check-ups with our Mediwitch, Madam Poppy Pomfrey, for the first month. Should your health take a downturn or you are found to be unable to maintain your magical core, Madam Pomfrey may choose to remove you from classes until which point you are deemed safe enough to return.

Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore (Hogwarts Headmaster; Order of Merlin, First Class; Grand Sorc.; Chf. Warlock; Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

The second additional page contained a list of additional rules and regulations for students who were “magical creature.” These rules included notifying staff if a space was needed for transformations, supplying the hospital wing with a list of potions required to maintain humanity (if such a potion existed), and that under no circumstances was attacking another student a forgivable offense.

Severus had sat down on the stairs next to Julian to read these letters with him and scoffed as he read the rules for students of creature heritage and blood, muttering to himself that ‘that must have been added since I was a student.’

“Well, Julian, congratulations are in order. Once you send in your confirmation letter, you are officially a Hogwarts student,” Severus said quietly.