Several days after the party at which Alex had met his extended family on Severus’ mothers side, Severus decided to take Alex to Via Luna, the Italian equivalent of Diagon Alley. Before they had left on the Saturday Alex’s cousins Actaeon and Leonidas had been telling him how wonderful the alley was with all of the shops. Despite all of the presents Alex had received on the Saturday Severus wanted to take him as Alex was still in desperate need of clothing and Severus wanted to pay a visit to the apothecary. The villa was no longer fully stocked with potions that were suitable for a child of Alex’s age and size and even though he could easily buy the potions he wanted nothing for the best for his son. And Severus was the best, he had achieved his potions mastery in the shortest time ever and with the highest marks whilst completing his mastery in healing at the same time. He was currently in the process of studying for his Defence Against the Dark Arts mastery and hoped to have it completed before the year was over. It decided in his mind that he was going to take Alex to Via Luna, Severus dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. Having showered and dried his hair with a quick spell he dressed in a loose white shirt, trousers and knee high boots he moved next door into the nursery where Alex was sleeping. The nursery had a monitoring charm placed upon it so that if Alex had a nightmare he could hear him and go to him. Luckily though, up until this point Alex had had no nightmares although this was probably due to the fact that at the end of each day he was exhausted by all of the new things he was experiencing.

The nursery was brightly lit from the warm sunlight streaming in through the windows and so Severus was unsurprised to see Alex wide-awake and waiting for him, sat up in his cot

“Good morning my raven. Shall we go downstairs for some breakfast? Then I thought we might go shopping and buy you some clothes. How does that sound?”

Alex nodded, happy that he was now somewhere that he was loved and wasn’t simply locked in a cupboard all the time. He let Severus pick him up out of the crib but decided he wanted to show his independence and once he had Severus’ attention spoke up

“Wanna walk!”

Severus just chuckled “You want to walk Alex? Ok, I’ll just put you down”. He then proceeded to watch proudly as Alex gripped his fingers and toddled, albeit slightly unsteadily, out of the doorway and along the hall.

Once they reached the stairs Alex faced a dilemma as he was still not steady enough on his feet to manage the stairs himself but he still wanted to walk. Severus solved his problem for him

“Why don’t I carry you down the stairs and then you can walk the rest of the way to the kitchen?”

Alex seemed to think about it for a minute before he decided that he liked the idea and held his arms out in a request to be held. Severus obliged and picked him up and carried him down the stairs before setting him down to allow him to walk to the kitchen, Severus walking at a snails pace beside him.

Once they had both eaten their breakfast Severus took Alex back upstairs to wash and get dressed for the day. Thankfully, the task was achieved with relatively little fuss and the two of them were soon ready for their outing; Severus simply with a set of black robes over what he had been wearing and Alex in black trousers, a green shirt and a miniature set of black robes, almost the same as Severus’. Lucrezia entered the library to see them off and to apparently quiz Severus.

“Are you sure that you need to take Alex with you to the Ministry Sev? It’s going to be horrendously busy now that the summer holidays have started.”

“He has to come with me grandma because we’re going to file all of the necessary documentation. We filed the guardianship and adoption papers as soon as they were signed but we need to file an official birth certificate with the Ministry and establish a medical history – we’re going to have it verified by another wizarding healer that what Alex suffered was child abuse and if necessary we can have the Dursley’s prosecuted. We need to get him a Muggle passport and I need to get mine renewed and then file a birth certificate and medical history with the Muggle authorities.”

“Why go to so much trouble Sev? Why bother to involve the Muggles at all?”

“Because I am determined that no-one ever has a reason to take Alex away from me. Albus, Minerva and Arabella all believe that it was Alex who vanquished Voldemort when he attacked Godric’s Hollow rather than Marcus. That makes Alex, my son, the Boy-who-Lived. Do you honestly think that once the Potters discover the truth that they would leave him at the Dursley’s? No, they will want him back but I’m prepared. We have the documents that the Potters signed giving over any parental rights. Then the Dursley’s signed guardianship over to me. I have photographic and pensieve evidence of the abuse Alex suffered and now he’s taken the Paternitas potion it can’t be reversed.”

“Well, you seem very certain. Just be careful.” With those last words of caution she kissed them both and allowed them to step through and into the floo network.

As soon as they emerged from the floo Severus guided them to the huge white Baroque style building that housed the Italian Ministry of Magick. As they passed another similarly styled building that housed the Italian branch of Gringotts, Severus made a mental note to visit later and set up a trust fund for Alex.

Once inside the Ministry he looked around for the right department and once he had found it he wasted no time in heading straight for it. Upon entering the department he made straight for the middle-aged witch sat at the reception desk. Upon noting their arrival she looked up and smiled as she spoke

“Buongiorno Signor. How can I help you today?”

“Buongiorno Signora. My name is Signor Snape and I’m here to complete and file some paperwork regarding my son.”

“If you’d like to take a seat signor, Signor Buscetta will be with you momentarily. Can I offer you tea or coffee or juice for your son?”

“Coffee would be wonderful thank you and some apple juice for my son please.”

They had barely been sat down when a door opened to reveal a small plump dark-haired gentleman with laughing blue eyes that reminded Severus of Albus

“Signor Snape? My name is Signor Tommaso Buscetta. Please come this way. Bring your coffee – I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” As Severus drew closer he shook hands enthusiastically before he ushered them into his office. Alex was directed to a small plush chair and several childs books whilst Severus took a seat in front of Signor Buscetta’s desk.

“So, Signor Snape, how can I help you today? I’ve been told that it is concerning your son”

“That is correct. How much do you know about my son?” Severus had a feeling that things were not as they seemed with this man.

In fact, Signor Tommaso Buscetta had a mysterious smile playing across his lips “You’d be surprised at how much I know about your case Signor. I trained as a lawyer with a gentleman named Octavian Salieri and although he went into law and I came to work for the Ministry, we both work for the same gentleman – a Don Visconti.”

Severus breathed a sigh of relief, if this gentleman was a friend of Octavian’s and he worked for the Don then he could be trusted to help them “Then you’ll help us?”

“But of course. No child deserves to be treated like that especially by blood relatives. Now, what do you need, a birth certificate that’s been doctored, I’m assuming that the guardianship and adoption papers have been signed, godparents, medical history. Do you need any muggle identification?”

Severus stared in amazement as Tommaso appeared to know everything that he needed automatically.

“Yes he needs a Muggle passport and mine needs renewing. He also needs a Muggle birth certificate and medical history. Is that going to be possible?”

“Not a problem my dear man. We’ll get things sorted as quickly as possible. Now, lets start with the godparent forms – they will probably be processed the quickest. Do you have them?”

Severus nodded in the affirmative and pulled a sheaf of papers out of his breast pocket before rifling through them to find the appropriate papers. When found, he slid them across the desk for Tommaso to check. The papers had been signed by Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black-Malfoy who both swore by their blood and their magick to do everything they could to protect Alex and guide him should anything happen to Severus. Severus himself had signed something similar when he had agreed to be Draco’s godfather when the Malfoy heir was born.

Tommaso checked through the papers, nodding as he verified that everything was in order. Completely satisfied that they were correct, he signed with a flourish and tapped them with his wand, making them glow golden.

“Congratulations Signor Snape. You obviously have powerful friends and allies judging from your witnesses to the adoption and your sons godparents. Now, shall we move onto the birth certificate?” As Severus nodded he continued talking, pausing only for Severus to provide the answers “Childs name please”

“Alexander Lucian Severus Snape”

“Date of birth”

“31st July 1980”

“Fathers name”

“Severus Aurelius Alexander Snape”

“Fathers date of birth and nationality”

“9th January 1958 and I hold dual nationality – Italian and English”

“Fathers profession and place of employment”

“Potions master and I am on temporary leave from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”

“Right, mothers name”

“Ainara Verenus”

“Date of birth and nationality”

“I’m afraid I don’t know her date of birth. However, she died on the 20th July this year and she was half-Spanish and half-Italian.”

“Wonderful,” Tommaso exclaimed as he tapped the parchment twice, once again encompassing it in a golden light. “There we go, a copy has been filed with the appropriate Muggle authorities. Of course, you and I both know that Ainara Verenus doesn’t exist but that knowledge shall remain in this office.”

Severus breathed a sigh of relief and the two men continued with the rest of their business. Just over an hour later Severus and Alex exited the Ministry in possession of 2 valid Muggle passports, 2 birth certificates – one magickal and the other muggle and the knowledge that Alex had godparents.

With the official business taken care of they continued down the street taking a slight diversion to Gringotts in order to set up a vault for Alex that would be used for Alex’s schooling and that could be used when he came of age. Whilst at Gringotts they completed the simple blood ritual that, in the eyes of the goblins, would make Alex the recognised heir of Severus and thus the heir of the Snape family. Severus’ paternal aunt, Georgiana Hyde-Pierce, a witch who had been home-tutored had died in childbirth leaving Severus as the sole surviving magickal member of the Snape family as his father, much to the families horror, had been born a squib. From Gringotts they made their way via the apothecary to the tailor, who looked positively thrilled as Severus announced in no uncertain terms that they required an entire wardrobe for Alex from underclothes through to outer-robes, dress robes and shoes. Severus had to admit that he probably did go slightly overboard when he bought Alex the clothing but the child had lived in rags for nine months and he felt that he would get great use from it. With the Malfoy’s as Alex’s godparents and the position Severus and his family held within Italian wizarding society it was likely that they would be required to attend several functions. To that end Severus bought himself a set of formal dress robes in forest green silk lined with black silk with the Snape coat of arms on the clasp. Seeing that Alex’s energy was flagging, the toddler was nearly asleep on his feet, he paid for the clothing and scooped up the clothing that had already been made, shrinking it in order to place the packages into his pockets. Having arranged for the rest of the clothing to be delivered once it was completed he scooped Alex into his arms and, concentrating on his destination, apparated both Alex and himself back to the estates.

Later that evening they ran into the first problem since Alex had become Severus’ son and he had been rescued from the Dursley’s. Well, it wasn’t a problem per se it was more an unpleasant experience for all four inhabitants of the Villa Principessa. Upon their return from Via Luna Severus and Alex had unpacked the new possessions that they had bought and, whilst Severus unpacked the ingredients he had collected from the apothecary on their way to the tailor. While he arranged the ingredients to his satisfaction and according to their usage, reactivity and properties Alex had been placed in the kitchen with Lucrezia where he was “helping” to cook the dinner. Lucrezia had given him his own miniature saucepan and ingredients that he was happily beating around spreading sauce all over him, his clothing and the surrounding areas. Severus couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread across his face at the sight of Alex sat on the counter-top, wooden spoon stuck in his mouth, sauce spread across his face, hands and clothes and an impish look on his face.

“Well raven, it looks like you’ve been having a fun time with grandma while daddy put away his potions?”

As he spoke he prised the spoon out of Alex’s hands, balanced him on his hip and carried him over to the marble sink where he used a damp cloth to wipe off the sauce “I really don’t see the purpose of this as you’re just going to be filthy by the time we’ve finished eating but at least this way there won’t be two layers of sauce and one of them won’t have dried.”

Once they had eaten their dinner, his grandmother answered her correspondence and his grandfather attended to estate business whilst Severus took Alex upstairs and bathed him before dressing him in his pyjamas and reading him a story before tucking him into bed. Before he doused the candles and left the room he pressed a kiss to Alex’s forehead and checked that the monitoring charm was still working before dousing the candles and pulling the door to as he made his way downstairs. Seeing that his grandparents were still engrossed he poured himself a glass of wine and summoned the latest potions journal that had arrived from England.

Several hours later he was roused from an essay on the latest developments in healing potions by an alarm sounding. He wondered what it was and looked puzzled for several minutes, not knowing where the sound was coming from. It was close on five minutes later when he sat up straight, flinging the potions journal out of his hands and spilling the wine in the process; the alarm was the result of the monitoring charm he had placed on the nursery, it meant that something was wrong with Alex. As soon as he realised he was up and taking the stairs three at a time in an attempt to get to his son as quickly as possible. Once up the stairs he skidded along the hallway and flung open the door to the nursery. Alex lay in the crib, feet entangled in his blankets, tears flowing from under his closed eyelids and his fists flailing as small whimpers escaped him. Not wasting any time Severus was by the crib and scooping Alex into his arms, and starting to walk up and down rocking the toddler soothingly and murmuring in his ear in an attempt to calm him down. Gradually the tension left the tiny body and he curled into Severus, his breath still hitching every so often. Severus stroked several unruly strands of hair out of tearful black eyes.

“Now then my little raven, are you going to tell me what the matter is? Did you have a bad dream?”

Alex nodded and sniffled quite pitifully but didn’t say anything so Severus prodded him a bit further

“Are you going to tell me about it little one?”

“Big dark”

“Big dark?” Severus repeated questioningly “What’s the big dark?”

Alex frowned as if he were trying to think of the word that he wanted “Cupboard. Unc’ Vewnon and Aunty Tunia lock me in. Big dark. No light. Was hungry. Were spiders.”

Severus finally understood what had caused his son to have a nightmare. He had been locked into a cupboard under the stairs with no light and filled with spiders and no food. There was no wonder the child was having nightmares although he did wonder as to why they had just started now. Shaking off his anger he hugged Alex tighter and started talking to his son

“Oh little one, I’m sorry. You’ll never have to go through that again. I promise. They’re not your aunt and uncle anymore. I’ll never lock you in a cupboard or lock you in anywhere. You’ll also never go hungry, that I can promise. Now, are you going to go to sleep or stay up with daddy for a bit?”

“Stay with daddy” was the emphatic answer and then huge black eyes locked onto Severus’ own “Sleep with daddy?” came the hopeful question

Severus was all poised to say no, knowing that the boy had to learn to sleep by himself but one look at the pleading black eyes melted all of his intentions and he found himself agreeing to his sons tearful request.

He silently conjured up a cup of milk and warmed it before wrapping Alex in his Slytherin blanket and carrying him through into Severus’ room. There, he sat on the balcony and fed Alex the milk while he rocked him to sleep, pointing out the stars that were visible from his balcony. Less than forty-five minutes later Lucrezia opened the door to see Severus fast asleep on his bed, Alex cradled in one arm, also fast asleep with one hand clutching Severus’ shirt. Smiling gently, she shut the door and silently slipped away down the corridor to her own room leaving father and son asleep.