Harry blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting in his bedroom. He slept well, so well that mentally he felt rested, but his body felt stiff from sleeping in one position too long. He could either try to fall asleep again and worry about the repercussions later or force his body to move and deal with the pain his brain became more and more aware of as his mind shifted fully to consciousness. Or he could try to call out for Severus and hope it was time for his next dosage of morphine.

The man cared a lot for him, perhaps even loved him if that warm feeling Harry witnessed in Severus' memory was indeed love, but after so long of only being able to rely on himself Harry didn't know if he could put all of his trust behind Severus to care for him. He'd been raised to be self-reliant, had to be in order to survive and it somehow felt wrong to allow someone else to take care of everything for him. Harry wasn't sure he could let that piece of control go, but he had to try since he couldn't imagine getting up without at least the promise of a painkiller to dull the deep pain that settled into his head and bones.

"Severus?" Harry called out, his voice groggy from sleep. He relinquished his hold on his duvet and forced his arm to reach over and grab the glass of water sitting on his nightstand. He took a sip before setting it down, not wishing for his shaky hand to spill the chilled liquid on him. "Professor?" he tried again, his voice louder and clearer.

Harry counted while he waited for the Professor to enter his room. He didn't want to seem like a demanding toddler but he couldn't wait all day or night. Harry had no idea what time it was or how long he slept. It could be the following morning and Severus was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for all he knew. When he reached two hundred, Harry decided it was long enough to try again. "Severus?"

Again Harry waited but the Potions Master never came. Maybe it was the middle of the night and Severus was sleeping? Whatever the reason for his professor's absence, Harry needed to find him before the pain kicked in fully. While the salve kept the nerve pain at bay, Harry was finding it didn't do much to stop the deep bone pain that Miss Adamson told him was a result of the leukemia cells crowding his bone marrow.

"Severus?" Harry tried once more as he rolled onto his back and straightened out his legs to hear and feel a loud crack in each knee. He forced his body to sit up and then stand. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit him, but Harry breathed through it before he stumbled out to the sitting room, his hand sliding along against the wall incase he lost his balance.

The sitting room was lit up, but his professor wasn't anywhere to be found. Had Severus stepped out for a moment or was he sleeping? Maybe he ran upstairs to fetch a book from his library? Harry couldn't check the library. He'd never make it up the steep circular stairs, and he wasn't suicidal enough to see what Severus would do if he left the Professor's quarters so with two options eliminated, that only left seeing if the man was asleep in his bedroom.

Harry gulped. Even though Severus was apparently his father, would Snape, Hogwart's resident dungeon bat that was known to make First Years cry, appreciate Harry knocking on his bedroom door? Would he even be able to knock on the door without some ward zapping him or flinging him down the hall?

As his headache grew stronger, Harry forced himself down the hallway before the bravery brought on by the pounding in his head could wear off. He paused past his bedroom door, leaning against the wall to take a break and regain his balance. The schedule of his treatments was stuck up to his left, but Harry refused to look. He didn't want to think about the chemotherapy he'd receive tomorrow never mind the intrathecal injection the following day or anything past that. Besides, everything was blurry as a side effect from his headache anyway.

Harry pushed off the wall and continued until he reached Severus' open bedroom door. He didn't know what he expected to see, but the modest sized bedroom with a large cherry sleigh bed and white linens trimmed with gold was not it, but Severus and Flurry lying asleep on the bed confirmed it was the right room.  Like his room, Severus' walls were plastered over and painted a pale blue. On the right wall there was a door that Harry assumed led to a bathroom and taking up the small corner was a fountain that started halfway up the wall, the water trickling down and over rocks until it fell into a small pool that was flush with the stone floor. It was all very peaceful and so unlike the Professor who taught him Potions the last five years.

With the Gryffindor courage that led him to attempt all of his end-of-term adventures, Harry jabbed the empty air with his left fist, his hand and arm passing through the threshold of Severus' bedroom as he flinched, waiting for invisible wards to at the very least zap him except nothing happened. Either Severus didn't have wards guarding his bedroom door, which Harry doubted, or the Professor had taken the time in the past week and a half to key him into them.

"Severus?" Harry withdrew his hand and knocked on the doorframe. Still the Professor slept on. He hopped or rather tried to hop over the threshold, his trailing leg remained within three inches of the floor so it was more like an awkward step rather than a hop. Tripped up, Harry stumbled across the floor until he reached the footboard, his hands grasping onto the hard wood before his body could tumble to the ground. Harry kept his hands on the bed for balance, but scooted around to the side closest to Severus.

He was about to shake the man's shoulder when he spotted an official looking parchment lying beside him with what looked like his name on the top.

Even though he knew he shouldn't, Harry picked up the document, squinting to make out the words. Under his name a long list of weird words were listed on the left side in a column with a price in galleons on the right. He scanned the list and upon finding morphine figured out they were the drugs and chemotherapy he was on, but why was there a bill? Sure, the Professor paid for his prescriptions when they went to the pharmacy since the NHS didn't cover the complete costs of prescriptions, but why would St. Mungo's charge three thousand galleons for a week of chemotherapy! At that rate, he'd run out of money before his treatments were complete. Then what would he do? Would he have to sell autographs or interviews as The-Boy-Who-Lived just to have enough money for more chemotherapy?

"Harry," Severus pried the parchment out of his hand, "sit down."

"Severus?" Harry blinked.

"Yes, now sit down," the Potions Master gripped his shoulder, guiding him to sit down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't have enough money," Harry blurted out, his hand flying up to cover his mouth.

"Whom is this addressed to?" Severus pointed to the top of the parchment.

"Severus Prince," Harry read. "But why-"

"In a minute," the Professor cut him off. "You are not responsible for this bill, nor do I want you worrying about the cost of your treatments."

"But sir, that's a lot of money and it's for me. I can pay it, and I'll figure out a way to pay the ones when I run out of money," Harry looked down at the floor. "You shouldn't have to use all of your money on me."

"Harry," Severus sighed as he moved to sit next to him. "I know this is hard for you to accept, but I don't want you worrying about what your chemotherapy costs. It's not your job to pay for your medical expenses."

"Are you just doing it because you're my... you know?"

"Look at me," the Professor cupped Harry's chin and forced him to look up. "This arrangement was made before I found out you were my son. Even so, now that I know you're my child, I am responsible for and will pay any expense that arises until you finish school and likely longer than that. This is not just a duty required of me, child. I want to pay for what you need and for you not to worry about the costs." Severus let go of his chin and ran a hand through his hair. "You don't need to carry the world on your shoulders."

"I..." Harry didn't know what to say. So many times the Headmaster, other professors, or his friends added to the heavy burden he carried around all day, but never did they relieve him of any of it. They just expected him to take on more and somehow keep his sanity. "Thank you," he offered at last, leaning into Severus' side.

"There's nothing to thank me for, but you're welcome anyway," the Potions Master wrapped his arm around Harry. "Did you have a reason for seeking me out?"

"Is it time for my morphine?" Harry closed his eyes, hiding from the light that made the pounding in his head worse.

"What hurts?" Severus lowered his voice.

"Bone pain, but mostly a headache."

"From the Dark Lord?"

"I don't think so," Harry shook his head.

"Lie down," Severus let go of him and helped him get comfortable under the covers. "I'll go get you your meds, and then if you're up to it I'll tell you why the Prince name keeps coming up."

"Okay," Harry smiled as Severus dimmed the lights so it didn't hurt his head as much. "Severus? Why doesn't the system cover my chemotherapy anyway?" he caught the Professor before he exited through the doorway.

Severus turned around with a sigh. "The simple answer, which is all that you're getting, is that the system doesn't cover all Muggle medicines or procedures."

"Oh," he reached out to pet Flurry. "That's stupid."

"Indeed it is."

*~AIE~*

Severus gave Harry his evening meds before placing a cold washcloth across Harry's forehead. "Does that help?" he climbed onto the bed and leaned against the headboard. He hadn't meant to fall asleep especially for as long as he had, but apparently he was more tired than he thought.

"Yeah," his son yawned.

"Tired again already?" Severus pulled out his wand and cast a general monitoring spell over his child.

"Tired, but not sleepy," Harry cracked open an eye. "The hallway is too long."

"And I suppose you wish for me to do some foolish wand waving to shrink the length of the hallway?" he smirked as he read the results of the general monitoring spell. Harry's temperature and stats were normal; a good indicator that his child's increased lethargy wasn't a result of an infection or illness.

"That would be nice."

Rolling his eyes, Severus Accioed the wooden box he brought back from WCS. "Are you going to fall asleep on me if I start telling you about the Prince surname?"

"No," Harry's eyes shot open. "Tell me."

"Have you heard anyone mention the Prince name?" Severus wanted to see what his child had heard if anything throughout the years. Despite attending Hogwarts for five years, Harry was woefully naïve about many things in the wizarding world especially when it came to pureblood society and customs.

"No. Should I have?" Harry rolled onto his side his arm propped up to rest his head on his hand.

"It's not likely these days. Like Potters, there aren't many Princes left," Severus began. "My father, Theodosius Prince-"

"Prince?"

"Let me get there," Severus paused. "Where are your glasses?"

"Huh?" Harry blinked. "I never put them on when I woke up."

"Yet you strained your eyes to read the bill from St. Mungo's without them?" Severus raised an eyebrow even though he doubted Harry could fully see its effects. "And you wonder why you have a headache?"

"I woke up with my headache," his child defended. "I kinda forgot to put them on?"

"Did you really forget or did you just not bother with them?" Severus set aside the box. Was this the first signs of chemo brain? How could Harry forget his glasses when his vision was so poor? Didn't he realize upon waking that everything was out of focus?

"I'm not sure," Harry furrowed his brow. "I woke up in pain and then when you didn't come when I called for you, I got up to come ask about some morphine. I wasn't really thinking about anything else. When I have a bad headache my vision sucks either way so I do sometimes forget my glasses." 

"Please remember to put them on if you're going to be leaving your bedroom. I don't want you stumbling around and falling because you can't see," Severus sighed.

"I'll try."

"Alright. As I was saying, my father was a Ravenclaw. Even though my mother was a Hufflepuff, they started dating Fourth Year and promptly married two days after they finished school much to their parents' dismay. Both of my parents are from old pureblood families, but they didn't exactly act as high society purebloods should," Severus rolled his eyes.

"Like Malfoy does?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, except following stricter etiquette rules as was custom in the late 1950s. Remember that wizards tend to trail behind Muggles in societal changes. Instead of conforming to my grandfather's standards and growing up, my parents ran off to the States where I was born," he ran his finger along the wooden box sitting beside him. Severus hated talking about his childhood and past, but Harry needed to understand. "As you can imagine the gossip and rumors that started circulating about my parents when they were in Hogwarts only grew worse as word came that they were involved in what became known as the hippie movement."

"You grew up as a hippie?" his child's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes and no," Severus explained. "While I lived with my parents up until I was nine, I wasn't a typical hippie child. My innate personality doesn't lend to being free-spirited, and it never has."

"What happened when you were nine?"

"My grandfather got tired of the gossip surrounding the Prince name and so came to the States and took me to my Aunt Eileen's who had married a Muggle, Tobias Snape, where I took on the Snape surname so that when I started Hogwarts I wouldn't be ridiculed for my parents' follies. Of course, they never told me that was the reason and I assumed my parents were tired of toting me along and finding people to watch me while they went wherever the wind steered them that day. Needless to say by the time I entered Hogwarts I was quite a bitter child," Severus frowned, remembering the rejection he felt when his mother wrote to him to tell him he had a new baby sister. "I now believe my grandfather also did it as a way to protect me from the coming war since by then there were the first stirrings of news of a new dark lord."

"I'm sorry," Harry placed his hand atop his. "At least you know your parents."

Severus ignored the slip Harry made by not including him as his father, whether intentional or not. "If not for that arrangement your mother and I would've never become friends."

"So it was a good thing?"

"In some ways, yes. The plan backfired when I was sorted into Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw," he sighed. He missed Lily and wanted his forgotten memories back. Now that he knew they were missing, he felt incomplete without them. What if they contained something important, something that would help defeat the Dark Lord even? But mostly, Severus wanted the memories back to remember his time with his son. Harry deserved to have Severus tell him those memories, too.

"Why didn't you ever retake the Prince name?" Harry curled up on his side with a yawn.

"My grandfather arranged it so that Snape was an alias and after I left Hogwarts... it was easier having a name without connections in the wizarding world," Severus looked down at his left forearm. At one point Harry would ask how he became a Death Eater and he'd have to answer, but not today. It was hard enough talking about his childhood. "Legally my name is still Severus Prince though only the Headmaster knows. When Severus Prince didn't show up at Hogwarts in 1972, everyone thought the Prince heir had disappeared somewhere. My parents never bothered to announce my birth until my grandfather insisted, which made everyone think I'd enter Hogwarts a year later than I did, and no one took notice of the small supposedly half-blood child named Severus that was already attending Hogwarts."

"Aren't purebloods obsessed with their family histories? Wouldn't someone remember your aunt marrying a Muggle named Snape?" Harry removed the washcloth from his face and placed it on the nightstand.

"No, they'd just remember that my Aunt Eileen married a Muggle, the name of the Muggle didn't matter unless it was someone in the Royal Family," Severus laid the back of his hand on his child's forehead. "Has the morphine kicked in?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Though if it gets any more confusing my headache is threatening to come back."

"Brat," he lightly tugged on a lock of Harry's hair.

"Hey!" his son batted his hand away before freezing as if a light bulb turned on inside his head. "That day when you went to the Ministry and wore a blue shirt, you were being Severus Prince!"

"Yes. No one would imagine Professor Snape in anything other than black and white and I wore my glasses and removed my glamours," Severus nodded.

"Glamours? Please don't tell me you look totally different, too?"

"A little, but not too much," Severus waved his hand over his face, letting down the glamours he continuously kept up.

"You look the same," Harry squinted.

"Are you sure you're almost sixteen?" he rolled his eyes and summoned Harry's glasses. He grabbed them out of the air and handed them to his son. "Look again."

"Whoa, you look so much younger," his son blinked as his eyes focused. "Why do you make yourself look older?"

"It helps terrify the First Years and when I first came to teach helped to make me look old enough to be a professor. I've used glamours since I discovered I had enough magical reserves to constantly hold them up summer before Sixth Year," Severus replaced the glamours, uncomfortable with Harry staring at him. Those weren't the only reasons he began using glamours, but the only ones Harry was getting for now.

"Why don't you come out as the Prince heir now that you aren't spying anymore? Wouldn't it be easier?"

"No doubt the Prophet already ran a story saying I was spotted at the Ministry, but I'm hesitant to give up a name that currently has no association with the Dark Lord. There's no telling what the war might bring," Severus avoided looking at Harry's scar. The Prince name could give them some anonymity if they needed to hide or flee the country to keep Harry safe. He added getting Harry a proper Muggle ID and passport with his birth name on it to his mental list.

"Right," Harry rubbed his scar. "Doesn't holding up the glamours drain your magical reserves?"

"I have enough power that I don't even notice it," Severus shrugged and opened the wooden box in an attempt to steer Harry's questioning away from him. "Would you like to see your birth certificate?"

"You have it?" his son sat up.

He nodded.

"I've never seen mine before," Harry watched him unfold the official document. "Aunt Petunia claimed to never have mine."

"Here," Severus handed the official Ministry document over to his child.

"My name's Hadrian?" the child looked up at him in confusion. "Why was my name changed?"

"I don't know for sure, but Lily probably did it to help hide your identity," Severus watched Harry run his fingers over the embossed ink, studying the document as if it were the Rosetta Stone.

"This is...strange," Harry stared at his birth certificate. "It doesn't feel like it's mine... Is that my mum's signature?"

"Yes." He'd always be able to recognize Lily's flowing script even after teaching thousands of children and grading their work.

The shaking of his son's hands grew worse as Harry focused on Lily's signature. "She touched this," Harry breathed, his voice a weird mixture of awe and sadness.

"Are you alright?" Severus laid his hand on his child's shoulder.

"No," Harry whispered, "I'm not alright."