“You were serious,” Harry said, more of a statement than a question.

“I don’t tend to lie about these things.”

“Yeah, but like, I just thought that you were kidding, I guess.”

“I don’t kid, either,” Severus muttered, pushing the stuffed bear closer towards Harry.

“I dunno,” said Harry. “Were you really planning on poisoning Neville’s toad?”

“Is it dead?” Severus asked drily. “And a lesson plan hardly constitutes as a joke.”

“Did you actually plan that?” asked Harry, nose scrunched up. “That’s- I’m sorry, but it just sounds a bit mean.”

“I have been told that I can be a bit mean at times. However, here I am, bearing the gift of an apology bear just for you.”

Harry smiled, finally reaching out to take the teddy bear, much to Severus’ relief. He’d expected a gasp of surprise and a stuffing busting hug at the first sight of the bear, but Harry had been surprisingly melancholy about the whole thing. Severus did not fancy the feeling of being nervous over something so frivolous as giving a stuffed toy to a child.

But considering he had banished Harry’s previous beloved toy, perhaps his nerves over replacing it were justified.

Harry’s fingers grazed over the nose and eyes of the teddy bear. “Are, um. Are you sure that this is okay?” he asked after a minute.

Severus’ eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he remembered their previous conversation in this area. He pulled out a chair to sit beside Harry, preparing for a more serious discussion.

“What do you think about it?”

“Does it matter what I think?” Harry said, rolling his eyes. “My judgment is obviously less than stellar in that department.”

“I’d still like to know where your headspace is, merely out of curiosity.”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, I trust you, but I trusted Gary too so does that really mean anything?”

“Well, can you compare how you felt when he gave you a gift versus how this feels?”

Harry scrunched up his nose, considering. “I guess I thought it was kind of weird when he gave me the teddy bear, as we’d barely known one another at that point, but I just… I liked having it. So I got over it.”

Severus hummed. “And how do you feel now?”

“Honestly?” Harry frowned, looking down at the bear. “I preferred my old one. It was kind of the only toy I ever had. But… I suppose it felt kind of… dirty, sometimes. And this one…” Harry trailed off, running his fingers through the fur before lifting it up to his face and nuzzling his nose into it. “It seems cleaner.”

Severus wondered if Harry was being metaphorical or literal here, as it was highly likely that his precious toy had not once been washed during the entire timeline of his possession of the item, and this particular bear was brand new. Though he was struggling to keep himself from thinking about how many people must have touched the bear in the store before he himself had purchased it. He really should have cast a cleansing charm before the boy went and stuck his nose all over it.

Oh well. Metaphorically speaking, if Harry thought it was clean, then it was clean. And whether or not Severus was somewhat desperate for him to end up liking this bear better than the orginal in an effort to assuage his possible guilty conscience after simply banishing his previous toy, was entirely beside the point. But still…

“Do you like it?” Severus asked, feigning nonchalance. “I know it’s not the same color, but they were all out of brown…”

“Are you sure they were out of brown or are you just incapable of buying something in a color other than black?”

It was still a touchy subject, then.

“They did have white,” Severus admitted.

“Oh. Black is better then, I suppose. The white one would get dirty.”

“What exactly are you planning to do with the bear that would make it so dreadfully dirty?”

“I didn’t say it would be dreadfully dirty, I’m just saying that white is like, a hundred thousand times more likely to get all dirty and stuff than black.”

“A hundred thousand times?”

“My cousin got mustard all over his stuffed doggy, it never came out.”

“Yes, well, I presume that your cousin is a bit of an imbecile.”

“Are you even allowed to call kids imbeciles?”

“I am still employed here, so I assume so.”

Harry hummed, continuing to inspect the bear under close scrutiny. He was still behaving quite out of character and Severus was starting to wonder if he would ever actually forgive him for the banished teddy bear incident or if it would just be one of those things that got swept under the rug for now and that they would argue about in ten years.

Why was he even thinking that he would still speak to the boy ten years from now? He would only be at Hogwarts for seven more, and surely this whole relationship thing wouldn’t last past that point.

Probably.

Especially if he managed to hold long-term resentment over the ridiculous bear.

Granted, Severus still held resentment towards Albus for certain things that occurred ten or eleven years ago, but emotional blackmail most probably was a different ball game entirely.

Lovely. Now Severus was questioning everything just because of that one moment of thoughtlessness.

“I’m sorry,” Severus said, breaking at last.


“For what?” Harry questioned, finally looking up at him.

“For banishing your original bear. It was a moment of irrationality and was extremely insensitive of me. I should have at least discussed it with you before I destroyed it.”

Harry blinked.

“Oh. I’m not mad about that. Not anymore, anyway. I mean it was kind of mean and it really bothered me at first but I understand why you did it and I’m over it now. I’m just trying to decide what I should name the bear.”

Severus blinked.

“You’re just trying to… I see.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Harry asked. “I was thinking maybe Bob, but I don’t know.”

“Bob?”

“Yeah, Bob the bear. Sounds kind of nice, don’t you think?”

Harry was still looking at him, and now Severus wished that he would just focus his attention on the bear again.

“Bob.”

Harry nodded. “Bob.”

Severus shrugged. “Bob works.”