Trying to calm a hysterical toddler was on of the most difficult experiences Severus had ever gone through, well maybe right after being a spy in the Death Eaters. The child had cried himself straight to sleep while Severus had lain in the bed with him wide awake. He was quite angry with himself for not thinking about something like this happening before. After all he may have de-aged the boy but he had not gotten rid of the damn scar that connected the boy to Voldemort.

Currently Harry had awakened due to a nightmare and was crying hysterically into Severus’ chest. It was only three in the morning so Severus had to quickly put up a silencing charm around the room to ensure that Draco would remain undisturbed.

Severus knew that Harry was now likely to be as bad as ever when it came to their separation, he was hoping though that since it was the weekend the amount of time they would be spending with each other will help the boy with his insecurities. Of course this would add to the complications of developing that damn potion for the minister, yes that’s right for the minister, Severus didn’t think it was the right thing to do where Harry was concerned. He thought Harry would be better off left as is and grow up into a healthy child instead of a brooding depressed teen made to grow up much too soon.

Turning his attention back to his charge he grew a bit worried over what this child could have dreamed about that would cause him to cry this hard for such a large amount of time. He knew though that he would never find out, Harry was not in the state of mind to tell him and he wasn’t even sure Harry could tell him since he may not have fully understood what he saw.

Severus lifted Harry higher in his arms pressing the boys head to his shoulder. It took another quarter of an hour until Harry grew quiet, though not due to him falling asleep; he just merely had no more tears left. They sat in silence; Severus hoping the child fell back asleep so he wouldn’t have to deal with a grumpy toddler as well as a clingy one and Harry working hard at not letting his eyes close. Eventually sleep over took the boy and Severus gave a sigh in relief. He may not be getting any sleep that night but at least Harry would get some.

It was only a few hours late, making it seven a.m. when Harry awoke from another nightmare, though Severus supposed it wasn’t as bad as the one a few hours earlier seeing as Harry did not cry as hard nor as long. Once Harry was calm again Severus rubbed his back comfortingly.

“There now Harry, do you feel better now child?” Harry merely snuggled further into his chest. “All right then why don’t we go get some breakfast and while I get it you can wake Draco up.” Severus was hoping to open the child up more by instigating some mischievous behavior but his ever so evil plan backfired when he went to place Harry down on the floor by Draco and Harry cried out before barreling into his legs and holding on as tight as his little arms could.

Draco had shot straight up on the couch at the loud cry looking frantically for the source of the noise. He found Harry at the end of the couch crying and clutching onto Severus. “What’s all the noise?”

Severus ignored Draco hoisting Harry up and onto his hip. “Not quite what I had in mind Harry but it worked none the less.”

Draco scowled at the two of them once his sleep fogged mind caught up with Severus’ words. With a huff he ungracefully plopped back on the couch. “You’re cruel.”

Again not bothering to respond Severus placed Harry into his chair at the table also ignoring his cries and went to the fireplace to order breakfast and retrieve his mail. By the time the breakfast and mail appeared on the table Draco was sitting next to Harry trying to calm him.

Severus rubbed his forehead; a headache was starting to form. “Come now Harry, that’s enough crying. I am right here, I have not left.” Harry reached his arms out to him in hopes of being held. “No Harry you need to be a big boy and eat your breakfast in your own chair.” Severus served both him and Harry some food knowing he was being harsh with the boy but if he gave into the child on everything he will never get better. “Here Harry,” he placed a full plate in front of the child, “eat up child.” He turned his attention to his news paper trying to tune out Harry’s cries and Draco’s hard looks.

It was mere seconds later when his face went white. Shaking his head slightly he reread the front page:

ATTACK IN MANCHESTER! 243 KNOWN DEAD 121 MISSING!

Yesterday evening there was a large scale attack on muggle Manchester leaving only devastation behind. Upon investigation it was found that some of the muggles fought bravely before they were brutally murdered by wizard’s means. Two wizards were found dead on the streets of Manchester with two of the famous white masks that marks them of the Death Eaters! What will this mean for the wizarding community? Is You-Know-Who back? Or is this whole attack a ruse by some rogue wizards and witches? There will be more on this story as soon as this reporter finds out more information.

There were some pictures below the article showing destroyed buildings. If one looked closely they could see some arms or legs in the corner of the pictures where the camera person hadn’t cut them out. He flipped through the newspaper some more finding similar articles on the next couple pages:

MULTIPLE CITIES IN FRANCE ATTACKED!

Late Thursday night multiple large cities in France were attacked, including the most populated city, Paris. It is yet unknown how many are dead and how many are missing. Many lay buried beneath the rubble of buildings in the area. The attack was supposedly aimed at muggles but many wizards were caught in the crossfire as well. It is well known that many wizards live in the major cities in France so it is unknown whether it was only aimed at muggles or not. Since there were wizards and witches in the areas at the time of the attack the attackers were driven off before any more damage could have been done. Again in this attack like many of the others it was supposed Death Eaters that led the attack. The French Ministry is currently working on damage control as well as finding out the culprits who would attack such a large amount of people with out mercy.

WHO HOLDS THE ANSWERS?

This investigator has been writing about multiple attacks on major cities filled with muggles and wizards alike. Who is attacking? What are their reasons? Why is the public not getting any answers? This reporter herself has gone straight to the one man who should have these answers, he Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. However, when I confronted him face-to-face he told me that the attacks were nothing to be alarmed about, as if the killing of hundreds was no big deal. What does this all mean? Is our minister hiding something? Is You-Know-Who back? This reporter will not rest until she has her answers to these many dire questions. When the minister gave no further…

Severus stopped there, he got the information he needed out of the articles. Why was he not informed about these attacks? There had been no Order meetings in the past months, so what was going on? He resolved to find out the next time he saw Albus. For now he would finish his breakfast and get started on that damn potion and place the newspaper in his room to finish later.

Breakfast was over and he was on his way to his labs with Harry on his hip. Draco had gone back to the common room to be with friends and finish homework. Adjusting Harry more comfortably on his hip he opened the door to the lab before charming it locked so no one could disturb him. He sat Harry onto the counter top and stared at him for a second.

“Okay Harry this is how it’s going to work. You,” he pointed at the boy, “are going to sit right there,” here he pointed at a corner about twenty feet from his work station where there was carpeting floor just for Harry, “and play with all your toys that we brought. While you play I am going to be right here. I will not leave this room without you with me.” Harry didn’t look very happy but this had to be done not just because it was unhealthy to be as clingy as Harry was at his age but also because potion fumes were dangerous to a child his age if he came any closer. He had placed a ventilation charm over Harry’s play area so he would be safe there from the fumes.

He set Harry on the carpet and quickly before the child could run back to him placed a charm to keep him in the area. Sure enough as soon as he placed it Harry came running towards hit but was pushed gently back and away. It didn’t take long for tears to spring to his eyes and the wailing noises to emit but they sure did give Severus an instant headache.

“Hush Harry, you’re fine and you can still see me.” He was honestly contemplating putting a silencing spell over the area so he could work in piece but he knew that would be going too far. Instead he took out some ingredients and contemplated how to begin his potion letting Harry cry himself out.

Now how to start this; I don’t want him aged back to a teenager but it has to do more than age him a month or two, enough to show the minister that he did honestly age the boy. But I also want him young, impressionable and still in the basic learning stages so he can enjoy the childhood. Okay so he knew what he wanted and didn’t want but how to make it. Rubbing the bridge of his knows he started measuring out basic ingredients writing how what he was using in this first experiment and how much so he would know what worked and what didn’t.

SSSSSSSS

Well that’s not going to work! For the sixth time in an hour Severus vanished a useless potion. He glanced at Harry who was still weakly trying to push through the barrier to get to Severus.

“Calm down Harry, just play with your toys, I’m not going anywhere.” And that was the tenth time he had said that sentence in the last hour.

He proceeded to clean out the cauldron properly, going over ingredients as he did so. If the dragon scales are what age a person by five year intervals then they can’t be in the potion at all; Harry will not be aged that much. What can take its’ place for an ageing property but as a weak one?

It was well known among potions masters and those striving to become one that Dragon Scales was and is the weakest ageing agent, though there were stronger ones. Experiments had been done with other ingredient mixed in with something like the dragon scales to weaken it but they’d all failed.

How am I to come up with a solution when centuries worth of the best potions masters have been unable to? He knew he may not be able to figure this problem out but he was determined to continue to try for Harry.

He glanced at the boy again, so many troubles even while a toddler, though even the problems he now had were smaller than those of when he was a teenager.

Taking a break from his work, he joined Harry on the floor, where the boy wasted no time in crawling onto his lap. Severus snuggled the boy close to him relishing in the soft hairs poking at his chin from where Harry had his head tucked against his neck and offering the boy the comfort Severus knew he needed.

“We can leave in a little while Harry to go have some lunch and then maybe go outside after a little nap so you can go play in the snow.” He waited for some sort of response, there was none. Severus sighed; he really missed the child’s babble, this quietness was starting to grate on his nerves. He was used to some noise coming out of children, talking that is, but the only noise Harry gave off was to cry for him and frankly it only made him feel an uneasiness that he had only felt while in the Dark Lords presence.

Since there was no luck in the break through of aging properties in the next hour Severus and Harry retired to their rooms for lunch and a nap for Harry.

Settling the young one down was a lot harder than Severus had anticipated, though now looking back on it he shouldn’t have been considering the terrible nightmares he had just that last night.

Severus sat himself on his couch propping his legs up on the coffee table, he was ready to enjoy at least and hour if not more of silence and reading.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

It was two hours later when Severus and Harry made it outside to enjoy the snow. Bundled in multiple layers Harry was stumbling next to Severus clutching his hand tightly trying to stay balanced.

“Alright Harry, what should we do first?” Severus was determined that this little snow adventure would help brighten Harry up. He looked down on the child waiting for a response; he wanted Harry to make the first move. “Well?”

Harry looked up at him with his green almond shaped eyes in confusion, he had

never played in the snow before. He hadn’t a clue what you could do in the snow so he gave the obvious answer, “Play!”

Chuckling at the child’s simplicity he leaned down, “yes I know that part Harry, but what do you want to do?” He smirked when he saw the boy’s confusion. “Have you ever played in the snow Harry?”

“Nuh uh.”

“Well then, this will certainly be a treat for you Harry.” He led Harry further out onto the grounds. “Well then, I suppose the first thing to do is make a snowman. Come, watch and do what I do Harry.” He knelt down into the snow and packed some snow into a small ball.

He waited until Harry clumsily copied him before placing his own mini snowball back into the snow. He started rolling it forward, feeling rather foolish but found it well worth it when he saw Harry smiling while trying to roll his own snowball.

The whole snowman making thing was rather humorous considering Severus himself had only made one in his entire life and that was when Draco was six. Their snowman was rather lopsided when finished but still Harry was smiling and laughing over their creation, quite proud of himself.

Quite happy, though because Harry was having fun and finally letting loose some, saw the boy shiver a little bit. “Maybe we had better go back inside Harry, it’s getting cold out.”

He was rather surprised when he reached down to put the boy on his feet from his sitting and instead of the child jumping into his arms he crawled away from him.

“No, no! Stay an’ play!” Harry looked up at him with pleading eyes just begging him to stay outside a little longer.

Severus knew he couldn’t say no to the boy. Not only was Harry asserting himself in a harmless manner but he was simply happy, smiling and laughing like he hadn’t done in a while.

Nodding to the boy Severus put some extra warming charms on Harry to ensure he wouldn’t get cold.

“Alright Harry, but only for a little longer, we can always come back out another day.”

It wasn’t too much later when Severus put his foot down about going back inside when he heard Harry sneeze. The last thing he needed nor wanted was Harry getting sick, he didn’t think he could take that.

So hoisting the boy up into the air they proceeded back inside with Harry only mildly complaining, though his wriggling was making the process rather difficult.

Once back inside the warm castle he placed Harry down next to him taking a tight hold of his hand before starting the walk back to their rooms.

They passed many curious students which made Harry cower away from them and Severus to glare at them until they turned away.

Upon reaching their rooms Severus stripped the boy and placed him in a warm bath hoping to warm him up quickly and prevent any sickness; happy that his plan had worked and Harry was at least a little bit more back to normal.