The day after the trial, Severus noted that Harry was withdrawn and quiet. He did as he was asked, took his medication, ate his food, worked on his homework, and during quiet time, he fiddled with his plastic dinosaurs or flipped through books. While his reading was slowly getting better, Harry did not often read by himself just yet, and with the way he turned the pages, Severus knew Harry was just looking at the pictures. When reading time came around, Harry didn’t engage in the book, and Severus decided to just read the book to Harry while pointing at the words as he read them. After what Harry had been through, he could skip a day or two of reading aloud. He needed time to process what had happened, after all.

               However, this subdued behavior did not last long, for the very next day, Harry seemed to have found his voice.

               It started at first thing in the morning, when everyone had finished a simple breakfast of beans on toast and a sunny side up egg (minus the egg for Iris, of course), and Severus had his children take their dishes to the sink. Iris delivered hers first before she ran off, then Harry moved to do the same. Just as he reached up to set the dish in the sink, the plate slipped from his fingers and crashed to the floor, shattering on impact. Severus quickly picked up Harry to keep him from stepping on any of the ceramic.

               “I’m sorry!” Harry cried as he was picked up and carried out of the kitchen. Severus set him on chair at the dining table. Harry continued speaking, looking very contrite. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it. I’ll clean it up. It won’t happen again.”

               “It’s okay,” Severus said as he kneeled in front of Harry to check his legs and feet. “It was an accident. Are you okay? Did you get cut anywhere?”

               “No.”

               “Good. Why don’t you go find something to do while I clean up in here, okay?”

               Harry nodded and quickly shuffled away. With a swish of his wand, Severus was able to clear away the broken pieces of the plate before he scrubbed the few dishes in the sink manually. While he wasn’t fond of performing menial tasks, sometimes the act of doing so helped him clear his mind and think about matters that needed immediate attention, such as how he would proceed with Harry from this point forward.

With Harry’s knowledge regarding the truth about Petunia’s feelings toward him, he worried how it might adversely affect Harry. Surely having his entire world fall apart at the seams warranted more than a withdrawn child. Nightmares? Harry didn’t wake up the last couple of nights, at least not to his knowledge. Performance at school? Well, he was sure he’d hear about it should anything happen tomorrow or in the future. Harry had finished his schoolwork with no problems yesterday; the only thing he really didn’t do was read out loud. Perhaps he should encourage Harry to read with him again tonight, just to make sure he didn’t start falling behind again.  

               After finishing up in the kitchen, Severus graded essays and edited lesson plans for a couple hours, knowing if his children needed anything, they would seek him out. And sure enough, Harry appeared in his doorway, hovering with a guilty look.

               “The toilet upstairs isn’t working,” Harry said.

               “What do you mean it’s not working?” Severus asked with a frown. He stood up and followed Harry upstairs to the bathroom where the toilet was overflowing with water. Severus pulled his wand out to vanish the water and dry the bathroom. “What happened?”

               “My plesiosaur and mosasaurus wanted to go for a swim,” Harry said innocently as he clasped his hands behind his back.

               Severus gave Harry an annoyed look, then, with a jerk of his wand above the toilet bowl, he summoned the toys out of the drain and sent them flying to the sink with a self-washing charm. He allowed the toilet bowl to fill back up with water, making sure it stopped at the appropriate level before grabbing the toys out of the sink and drying them with the hand towel. He paused in front of Harry.

               “Toys do not belong in the toilet, nor is that an area for play,” Severus said. He narrowed his eyes at Harry. “Though I have a feeling you already know that.”

               “I’m sorry,” Harry said, puckering his lower lip out and dropping his head, looking up through his lashes at Severus. “I didn’t mean it; I won’t do it again.”

               “Where have I heard that before?” Severus asked with a sigh. He handed the toys to Harry. As his eyes strayed upward, he spotted a distinct color on the wall across from the bathroom. His eyes widened as he stepped around Harry and toward the wall. Crayons littered the floor and on the wall were cartoonish scribbled of dinosaurs, some roaring, some flying, some swimming in a large blue splatter that covered the lower half of his once clean, Edgecomb Gray wall.

               “Harry,” Severus began to scold.

               “Do you like it?” Harry asked, giving Severus a small, unsure smile. “The wall was boring, so I added color.”

               “I see. Unfortunately, I’m not exactly fond of artwork that isn’t on paper. You’re going to clean this off . . .”

               “No!” Harry said, turning away and crossing his arms.

               “Excuse me?” Severus raised a surprised eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware I was giving you a choice. You made this mess, now you can clean it off. Crayon does not belong on our house walls.”

Severus summoned a washcloth and dish soap. He sprayed water on it from his wand and added a small squirt of the soap before lathering it up. He held out the cloth to Harry.   

“Here, young man,” Severus said. “You’re helping me take the crayon off the wall.”

“I don’t want to,” Harry said.

“If you don’t want to clean the walls, then next time, don’t color on them. Come on, let’s get this over with. You’re doing nothing else until this wall is clean.”

At those words, Harry plopped on to the ground and started crying loudly. Severus sighed and crossed his arms, waiting it out. He saw Iris peek out of her room curiously, but he reassured her Harry was fine and to go back to whatever she was doing. Severus looked back at Harry.

“I colored it for you,” Harry said in between his loud sobs. Severus had heard Harry cry genuinely before, and he was not impressed with the show Harry was putting on for him. But he figured it’d be easier to play along for now. Perhaps this was Harry’s way of testing him, seeing where boundaries really were. Harry hadn’t really gone through that period yet.

“That was very thoughtful of you,” Severus said. “However, I would have liked it more if you colored it on paper for me, that way I could hang it somewhere so everyone can see your hard work. The wall is not a good place for your drawings, it ruins the paint and makes it look messy. So now, you must clean it off. Do you understand?”

“Okay.”

Finally, Harry sniffled and sat up, rubbing his eyes before accepting the washcloth from Severus. He tried scrubbing at the wall, but the crayon only faded some and smeared. After ten minutes of trying really hard to take the crayon off and managing to make at least one dinosaur disappear, Harry turned back to Severus with a defeated look. Severus smiled at Harry and accepted the washcloth back.

“Good job,” Severus said. “Do you see how hard it is to get crayon off the walls? Do not color on them again or you’ll be right back to scrubbing. I’ll take care of the rest. Go to your room for some quiet time, okay?”

Harry nodded and retreated to his room with his toys.

Severus flicked his wand at the wall, clearing away the rest of the crayon. The paint was a bit faded out now where the crayon had been, and unfortunately, Severus had no cans of paint he could use to spell a fresh coat on. He sighed. He knew he wasn’t going to keep his house in the most pristine condition with two kids living in it, but still—he wanted to try. Was that so unrealistic?

Later that same day, long after Iris and Harry had gone to bed, Severus finished his grading in his study while Tums preened his feathers above him. He spent most of the afternoon amusing his children and keeping them busy, so no one had too much free time to cause trouble, and it seemed to work. Which meant he had fallen behind on his grading, but thankfully, he was almost caught up. A few more essays to go and it was only what—a quarter past midnight? Oh well, he’s had later nights before. Maybe this week he’ll give out less homework. Maybe.

A small creak caught his attention and looked up to see Harry pushing the door to his study open, his eyes a bit glazed from sleep.

“Hey buddy,” Severus greeted, motioning Harry to come in. “What are you doing up? It is very late to be wandering. You have school in the morning.”

Harry slowly walked over to Severus, rubbing an eye as a yawn escaped his lips. Once he was in next to Severus, he lifted his arms up expectantly as his lower lip quivered. Severus immediately set his quill down and picked Harry up, settling him in his lap and wrapping his arms around him in a firm hug.

“What’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream?”

Harry rested his head against Severus chest and gave a quick shake of his head.

“No? What is it then? Are you okay?”

Harry nodded against him and continued to stare off at nothing. Severus hummed softly before he picked up his quill to finish grading, checking on Harry every minute or so. Harry fell back to sleep against him, and Severus smiled at his son. He was sure today had just been a fluke. A bad day for Harry.

Boy, he was wrong.

“I don’t want to go to school!” Harry cried as soon as Severus had woken him the next morning. Severus ignored he crocodile tears Harry tried to show off as he encouraged him to get dressed and ready for the day. At least Iris seemed to be in a good mood as she jumped out of bed and did her usual morning duties.

“I don’t want to take my medicine,” Harry said even as Severus grabbed the inhaler and held it up to his mouth. After a few stern words, Harry took his puff, but he refused to drink his nutrition potion or even touch his breakfast.

“I’m not hungry,” was his excuse, but Severus was not accepting that.

“Harry,” Severus warned, “we’re running late as it is, and Addie isn’t feeling well today so I have to drop you kids off at school. At the very least, drink the potion and we’ll head out.”

“I don’t want it. It’s gross.”

“It is not. It tastes like strawberries. You’ve had no problems with it before. Now drink it so we can leave.”

By the time Harry took the potion and Severus was ushering his kids out the door, they were five minutes late. And Harry did not seem finished with his tantrums for the morning.

“I don’t want to sit in the car seat,” Harry grumbled, crossing his arms and refusing to get in the car.

“The car seat is nonnegotiable,” Severus said. “We’re late, so get in.”

“No.”

               They had no time for arguments. Severus picked Harry up and set him in the car seat.

               “No!” Harry cried, kicking and arching his back so Severus couldn’t get the seatbelt on. “I don’t want to sit in the car seat. Joshua doesn’t sit in one.”

               “Joshua is twice your size,” Severus said. “Now, stop that and sit back so I can buckle you in.”

               Harry didn’t make it easy for Severus. He continued to kick and try to wriggle out of the car seat until Severus managed to snap the buckle in. He spelled it lock so Harry couldn’t undo it, which made Harry scream louder. As Severus pulled out of his driveway, Harry began kicking the back of his seat.

               “Harry, please stop,” Severus said in an exhausted voice. “What on earth has gotten into you today?”

               “I don’t want to go to school,” Harry said.

               “But Mrs. Hadewin is taking us outside,” Iris said, smiling at Harry, “to learn about flowers and how they bloom and stuff. It’ll be fun.”

               “It’s boring,” Harry grumbled, crossing his arms, and pouting the rest of the way.

               When the made it to the school, Severus helped Harry out of his car seat.

               “Please behave, Harry,” Severus said. “Try to have a good day, okay?”

               “I am trying,” Harry said, looking down at his shoes.  

               “You’re a good boy,” Severus said. “I know you can try harder.”

               Harry peeked up at Severus and offered a small smile at the praise before he followed Iris into the school, running after her to catch up. There were a couple other stragglers, so Severus felt a little better that he wasn’t the only one dropping his kids off late to school. Honestly, how could any parent get their kids to school on time every day? Anyone who could manage that should share their secret with the world.

               Severus left the school and drove back home, rushing back inside to get to the floo. His first class would be piling into his classroom right now, and he had to get there before they thought to start messing with any ingredients and cauldrons. He hoped Harry settled down at school just enough to have a decent day. He had been a very good student the last couple of weeks and the teachers loved him. And Harry really did enjoy learning, Severus had discovered, so maybe school would offer a nice distraction for him.

               He was starting to question what he knew about the world when Addie floo-called him with startling news halfway through his second morning class. Unfortunately, settling down at school had not happened.

               Severus sat in the principal’s office with a look of disbelief on his face, Harry sitting in the chair next to him with a guilty look on his face.

               “He threw a rock at that Webb kid?” Severus asked for clarification.

               “During the class’s outdoor nature lesson,” Principal Pederson affirmed with a nod. “And he still hasn’t given a reasonable explanation yet.”

               “I would like to know why you felt the need to throw a rock at another kid, Harry,” Severus said, looking over at his son.

               Harry shrugged and muttered, “I don’t know.”

               Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. He just didn’t understand it. Harry had been such a good kid; despite the one outburst he had had when he first began school. Otherwise, he had been well behaved and kept his hands to himself. It seemed that the other kid had been leaving him alone as well, so what changed? What changed with everything? Was all this behavior because of the trial? Was Harry acting out of frustration and anger at Petunia?

               “Mr. Webb,” Principal Pederson spoke, “had to leave in an ambulance to receive stitches at the hospital. Mrs. Webb dared to threaten to sue you for vicarious liability over your son’s actions. This is a very serious, Mr. Potter.”

               “Mr. Snape,” Harry corrected with a small pout.

               “Are you listening to the principal, young man?” Severus asked with a frown. “You are suspended for a week, and you have in school suspension next week when you return. You injured another kid to the point he had to go to the hospital. You hurt him. You are in serious trouble, Harry James.”

               “He made fun of my glasses,” Harry admitted, his lower lip protruding. “He said I have four eyes.”

               “That must have made you angry,” Severus said, “but you cannot hurt others just because they might have hurt you. You should have told a teacher about what he was saying to you. He would have gotten in trouble for name calling. Now you’re the one in trouble for physical assault. Did you want to make him bleed, Harry? Did you want to crack his skull open? You could have seriously injured him, left him unconscious, even.”

               “I didn’t mean to do that,” Harry said softly, looking down. “I was just—I don’t know. I was angry.”

               “When Harry returns to school,” Principal Pederson said, “he will be required to see our counselor twice weekly until further notice. We will make the arrangements here for him, but if he wishes to remain at this school, he will attend these sessions. I understand he’s been through some traumatic times, but his behavior is alarming and escalating, might I add, and I feel counseling will only help.”

               “I understand,” Severus said. He wondered if the school counselor might be enough or if he would need to find someone outside of the school to continue working with Harry on his growing list of troubles. “Thank you for your time, and Harry will return with a letter of apology to Mr. Webb when he comes back next week.”

               “That sounds agreeable,” Principal Pederson said. “And I will have Mr. Webb write an apology letter as well for his name calling. I believe that is only fair.”

               Severus walked Harry out of the school, opening the door and letting out a relieved breath when Harry jumped in his car seat and buckled in. Severus climbed in the front seat and drove back to his house. He would have to take Harry with him to Hogwarts once again for the day. Hopefully, Addie was feeling better the next day and could watch Harry for the rest of the week.

               “I’m sorry, Daddy,” Harry said. “Are you mad at me?”

               “No,” Severus answered honestly. “I am very disappointed in your behavior. I understand it can be hurtful when other kids make fun of you, especially for things you can’t help, but there are right and wrong ways to express your anger. You and I are going to work on a few techniques tonight, okay? Right now, I must get back to work, so you’re stuck with me for a while. I want you to work on your writing, and you can start with that apology letter.”

               It was a long afternoon for Severus and Harry. While Severus taught his classes, Harry struggled with his writing. He gave up at one point and played with Spikes who he had grabbed upon arriving home earlier before flooing to Hogwarts. Severus caught him while students were busy brewing, and he directed him back to the letter, which unfortunately resulted in a tantrum with an audience. Severus nursed a headache for the rest of the class period until he managed to sneak a headache reliever in between a class period.

               Harry finally managed to write a well enough apology letter and Severus accepted it and folded it up neatly into an envelope. He stored it away in his study once they made it home for the night. Tori dropped off Iris and left-over lasagna with bread and butter. Harry picked at his food while Iris happily ate her fill while telling Severus about how her day at school was, though she declared that she missed Harry at recess.

               When the kids were asleep for the night, Severus sat in the living room and reviewed lesson plans that he didn’t get to the night before. The headache came back full force, and he rubbed his temples, leaning his head back against the sofa. Harry was constantly on his mind as of late, and he worried he was doing something wrong, as though he was failing his son somehow. Should he consider a muggle therapist for Harry? Maybe a mind healer? Did Petunia’s reveal actually break Harry?

               There was a scuff on the stairs and Severus snapped his head in the direction of the noise. Harry paused halfway down the stairs, staring down hesitantly at Severus, as if surprised to see him in the living room. Severus crooked a finger at Harry, signaling him to come down.

               “What are you doing out of bed, young man?” Severus asked as Harry paused in front of him. “You’ve had a long day.”

               Harry looked down at his bare feet, rubbing them against each other. He peered up at Severus through his lashes.

               “Is something wrong, honey?” Severus asked, setting his work aside on the cushion next to him and leaning forward slightly. “What’s troubling you? Hmm? What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

               Harry’s only response was to hold his arms out toward Severus. Severus stared at Harry for a moment before he gathered his son in his arms and pulled him into his lap. He leaned back into the cushion with Harry snuggled up under his chin, his stray hairs tickling Severus’s nose. He smoothed Harry’s hair back, then rubbed Harry’s back as he held his son, allowing Harry to steal whatever it was he needed from him. When Harry fell asleep, Severus abandoned his work for the night and carried his son back to his bed before turning in himself.

               The week went on, and Harry’s behavior hardly changed, even without the stressor of school. While Harry was still better behaved for Addie than he was with Severus, twice that week Addie confessed that Harry refused to either do his work or pick up his toys when asked, and at one time, he ripped up his homework in protest. Yet, that was the worst Addie had seen in Harry.

               Harry saved his worst tantrums for Severus, either first thing in the morning or as soon as he returned from work. From refusing to take his inhaler to throwing toys all over his room when asked to pick them up, Harry unleashed every emotion he had to give when Severus was in the house. One minute, he was screaming “no” at the top of his lungs and the next he was a crying mess and spouting out apologies left and right. After Harry threw his inhaler across the room one evening, Severus threatened that Harry would not be attending Joshua’s birthday that Saturday, which resulted in Harry sobbing in a genuine heartbroken manner. Severus was at a complete loss.  

               And yet, every night, Harry would wake up and seek Severus out, whether in the study or even in his own bed. Without a word, he’d crawl into Severus’s embrace and allow himself to be rocked back to sleep. Severus began to expect him the third night, and he welcomed Harry without question, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer even if he asked.

The tension Harry created was felt by everyone, and even Iris had a couple off days. She woke up moody one day and added to the teary drama when Severus told her she couldn’t wear one of her dance outfits to school. Another evening, she got a little too lippy with Severus and earned herself a few minutes in the timeout corner.

                By the time Friday rolled by, everyone had had enough of each other, and Severus came home just in time to see Harry and Iris fighting over one of the toy wands Iris had. They were both tugging on one end, neither giving up on keeping possession of the toy. Addie was coming out of the kitchen scolding the two, but as Severus was closer, he stepped in, using his wand to vanish the toy.

               “What is going on here?” he asked, his hands on his hip as he glared down at the two kids.

               Harry and Iris were surprised at first when the toy vanished between them then realized who was to blame. They both started talking at once, pointing accusingly at each other.

               “She won’t share her toy with me; I even asked nicely, but she . . ..”

               “He did not ask nicely! He didn’t ask at all; he started it . . ..”

               “No one is getting the toy,” Severus said, cutting off the two kids. “Absolutely nothing is worth fighting each other over.”

               “That’s not fair,” Iris said. “He started it.”

               “No, I didn’t, you did.”

               “Did not,” Iris said, shoving Harry slightly.

               “Iris, hands to yourself. You know—Harry, no . . ..”  

               Severus was too slow to stop Harry from forcefully shoving Iris to the ground, and Iris grunted as she stumbled back and landed on her side. Severus was quick to pull Iris to her feet and look her over, making sure she was okay before he turned stern eyes on Harry.

               “Harry James, apologize to your sister!”

               “She pushed me first,” Harry defended, though he clasped his hands behind his back and his head dropped in shame.

               “And I was handling it before you shoved her to the ground. Now apologize.”

               “You like her more than me!” Harry cried, dropping to the floor, and hiding his face behind his hands as he sobbed loudly.

               Severus bit his inner cheek, closing his eyes and taking a couple deep breaths before he picked up Harry and carried him to his study, allowing Addie to tend to Iris. He shut the door behind him and set Harry down. Kneeling in front of Harry, Severus gently took Harry’s chin in his hand and tilted the boy’s head, so he was making eye contact.

               “Do you remember what we talked about?” Severus said. “When we get angry or upset, we need to what?”

               “I don’t know,” Harry said as he tried to pull his head away.

               “Stop and try to remember,” Severus encouraged him.

               “Close my eyes?” Harry said.

               “Yes, and?”

               “Count to ten?” Harry said again.

               “And breathe,” Severus finished. Why don’t you try that now?”

               Harry closed his eyes tightly.

               “Relax,” Severus whispered. He reached up and ran his thumbs along Harry’s brows, smoothing out the frown lines. Harry relaxed his face.

               “Deep breath in.” Severus paused a few seconds before saying, “Now breathe out.”

               After a few more breaths, Severus encouraged Harry to start counting, and Harry slowly counted to ten softly. Finally, Harry opened his eyes and looked at Severus, who gave him a questioning look.

               “Do you feel calmer?” Severus asked.

               “A little,” Harry answered honestly.

               “That’s something. I want you to remember this and try it when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, especially angry. Iris shouldn’t have pushed you as she did, but you used a lot of force to knock her over in retaliation; you could have seriously hurt her, just like you did to that kid at school. What if she fell on her wrist wrong and broke it? Then how would you feel?”

               “Bad,” Harry said softly. “I didn’t want to hurt her.”

               “But you almost did. And I was dealing with Iris for pushing you. You need to learn to allow the adults around you to handle some things, okay?”

               “Okay.”

               “As for liking Iris more, I care for you both equally. I will admit that I’ve known Iris since her birth, raised her, and I understand her a little better than I understand you sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I love you any less. We will come to understand each other well with time, but for now, know that I love you very much, Harry. I always have.”

               “Really?” Harry asked, his eyes glistening in fear of rejection.

               Severus pulled Harry into an embrace. Harry wrapped his arms around Severus’s neck.

               “Truly,” he answered. “No matter what you do, where you go, or how naughty you’ve been, I will always love you. Do not ever fear that.”

               There was a soft knock at the door, and Severus slowly stood up and opened the door. Iris stood there with a guilty look, Addie standing behind her.

               “I’m sorry for pushing you, Harry,” Iris said.

               “Me too,” Harry said.

               Iris rushed into the study and wrapped her arms around Harry, startling her brother before he returned the hug. Addie smiled at Severus, who gave her a half smile and a nod. With the two siblings on good terms once more, the small family managed to get through dinner peacefully before Severus read a chapter from Iris’s Charlotte’s Web book with both kids at his side on the sofa before he sent them off to bed.

               Once again, as Severus was brushing his teeth in his ensuite, Harry appeared in his bedroom with a groggy look. He blinked up at Severus, his eyes squinting slightly in the bathroom light. Severus finished what he was doing and came out of the bathroom, picking up Harry before turning off the light.

               “Tomorrow is Joshua’s party, you know,” Severus said softly as he brought Harry to his bed. “He’ll be turning nine years old. You don’t want to be too tired to celebrate, do you?”

               Harry shook his head against Severus as he snuggled up against his father once they were both under the covers.

               “I thought not. Back to sleep with you. You’ve had an emotional day.”

For the first time, Harry said something to Severus before he closed his eyes.

               “I love you, too, Daddy,” he said.

               Severus felt his heart swell at those words, and he planted a kiss on the top of Harry’s head.