Severus didn’t know what else to do. He had tried getting Harry in the water-- he needed a bath more than anyone Severus had seen, sweaty prepubescent boys included-- but the boy was fighting tooth and nails to stay away from the water- literally. Severus’s arms were littered with various abrasions from the boy’s defiance.

If it had been any other child acting in such an unreasonable manner, Severus would have assigned them to disemboweling slugs for a month. As it was…He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he cast yet another warming spell on the water. Really! How difficult could this be?

“What if I get in first?” Severus asked, at his wits end. “Like with the potions.”

Harry cocked his head to the side for a minute as though contemplating, but as Severus had expected, the boy didn’t actually reply. Still, Severus thought wryly, it was worth a try. He set the child on the floor of the bathroom and then, bracing himself - truth be told, he rather hated the water- he stepped into the bath. He allowed himself a little sigh of relief as the warm water untied the knots in his back. He had a lot of those, and somehow, he thought, he’d have a few more before the day was through. Harry was…difficult, to say the least.

He turned around, more confident now that he could convince Harry to get in the tub. Just like the potions… When he looked, however, Harry was gone, and the bathroom door, cracked open, was the only sign of where he’d gone. Severus groaned. Why him?

In a moment, Severus was out of the tub, feeling rather ridiculous as he ran, half naked and soaking wet, through his chambers. He couldn’t believe that he’d been so stupid as to believe that the boy would just stay put. It wasn’t like he was dealing with a normal child, after all, used to rules and discipline. Harry wasn’t used to there being anywhere to run to, but it made sense that he would, given the opportunity.

On the plus side, the boy had to be in his quarters. He had at least been intelligent enough to put wards on his entry door so the child couldn’t leave. He had not, however, bothered to childproof his quarters, not expecting to remain at Hogwarts for long, and his cupboards were full of potentially dangerous potions. Severus could only hope that Harry’s disdain for potions still remained…

“Harry?” he called, his voice hoarse with worry. “Where’d you go off to?”

There was, of course, no reply. If the boy had learned nothing else in his short time on Earth, he knew self preservation, knew it to the very depths of his soul.

Coming to the center of his room, Severus looked around warily for a few minutes before it occurred to him to use his wand. After, he felt like a bit of an idiot, scrambling around like a madman when he could have used a point me from the very beginning… He did so now, and was somehow unsurprised to see it pointing at the cupboard beneath his sink. Of course. He’d have to choose the one with the most potions.

Severus sheathed his wand and strode confidently across the room, crouching down in front of the cupboard and pulling open the door. Harry was crouching in between bottles of potions, blinking up at Severus worriedly.The bottles seemed a little disturbed, pushed aside to make room for the boy, a few turned sideways. On the plus side, none of them were opened, nor any liquid missing. Severus felt his heart rate beginning to return to normal.

“Harry,” he said, taking care to keep his voice even. “What are you doing in a cupboard?”

Harry looked about himself as though he’d just realized where he was. He frowned a little, reaching a tiny hand out towards a bottle of bright pink potion. Severus barely held back from slapping the boy’s hand. Instead, he carefully moved the potion away from Harry, hoping he’d get the idea.

“Although I greatly enjoy playing hide and seek with you, now is most definitely not the time,” Severus muttered, reaching in and lifting the boy carefully out of the cupboard. To his surprise, the child didn’t struggle. Somehow, that wasn’t comforting. It was almost as though Harry was resigning himself to what was coming.

Severus really just wanted to get the blasted bath over with, but he sensed that he would end up doing more harm then good if he didn’t find some way to communicate with Harry…This also seemed like a brilliant time to start disciplining the boy-- he couldn’t have him running around like some hooligan just because Severus feared what raising his voice would do to the child.

Sighing, Severus brought Harry over to the couch, casting a quick drying charm on his shorts and a warming charm on himself before settling down, the boy on his lap. Harry was as immobile as a corpse, dead in his arms. Severus sighed, and turned the boy so that he was sort of facing him.

“Look at me, Harry,” he intoned quietly.

Harry looked up sharply, his bright green eyes locked firmly upon Severus’s. He was shaking slightly in fear, but despite this his gaze didn’t waver. Severus found a little bit of pride swelling in his chest, but it didn’t seem like the time to mention it. Being proud of Harry one minute and then scolding him the next could only confuse the boy.

“Harry, running off today was very b-…naughty,” Severus began, feeling himself flush a little at the childish word. For Harry he reminded himself. You’re doing this for Harry. “You scared me. There are a lot of things that you could have gotten into that would have made you sick. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate you running away from me. If you are upset or have a problem, I’d rather you communicate with me.”

Harry gave Severus an accusing look, pointing mutely towards the bathroom. Severus sighed again, pinching his nose.

“I know you were scared in the bathroom. Sometimes, we have to do things that make us scared, or upset, or very, very tired. That’s just part of life. If you had stuck around, though, you might have realized that I was going to do everything in my power to make things okay for you. I got in the water first- like with the potions.”

Harry stared at Severus for a few minutes, and then he sighed audibly. Leaning forward a little, Harry put his head on Severus’s shoulder in what Severus could only assume was an apology. He patted the child’s back awkwardly.

“Round two?”he asked, looking at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

Harry shivered a little, but this time he didn’t put up a fuss as Severus carried him into the bathroom. Still, not taking any chances,Severus warded the bathroom door before stepping directly into the tub, not releasing Harry for a moment. As the water first lapped the child’s toes, Harry gave a shriek, but as Severus brought the boy further into the water, he seemed to realize it wasn’t really that bad. When the two were about waist deep in water, Harry reached a hand out and tentatively slapped at the surface of the water, giving a tentative smile as Severus tried in vain to dodge the splash.

“That’s how you want to play, is it?”Severus growled, and then, without thinking, he splashed the boy back.

Harry was grinning broadly now, and in the water fight that resulted, Severus almost forgot that he was supposed to be washing the child. Just as he was to tell Harry it was time to settle down and clean up for real, he felt a heaviness on his body.Oh, no…The temporary transfigurations had worn off, and he and Harry were both fully dressed in the tub.

Harry looked down at his raggedy shorts billowing up around him, a confused expression on his face. He took a tentative step forward, and then another… And then he looked up at Severus, and giggled.

Severus smiled warmly at the boy. Maybe things would be okay after all.