“No! Absolutely not! I will not let have that wolf watch Harry!” Severus stood up, glaring between the Headmaster and Lupin.

“Now come on, Severus,” Albus tried to brush off the anger and annoyance the other wizard felt.

“NO!” Snape growled looking very much like a three year old that was set in his ways.

“Severus-”

“I’d have to agree with Severus,” Remus spoke up, shocking the other two wizards.

“But, Remus,” the Headmaster’s voice sounded suspiciously like a whine.

“Professor,” Remus shook his head, “I’ve never taken care of a baby before. I mean, sure, I held Harry after he was born and lots of times before Lily and James died, but they were always right there when Harry cried or if he needed something. I really have no idea what to do with small children!”

“Well neither did Severus, and he managed fairly well,” Albus’s eyes twinkled. “It can be a learning experience for you too.”

“Except that I don’t want him looking after my son,” Snape hissed. “Get that through your thick skull, old man!”

While the adults were busy being loud again, Harry tried desperately to reach out to Remus again. He did not know what was really going on, but Harry could just tell that the other man was almost as good as his dada and he wanted to find out. But dada was being too protective it seemed. Harry was old enough to help his daddy make his smelly liquid, which meant that he was old enough to be held by someone else too. Harry was no coward, after all!

Looking down at the little child in his lap, Severus watched in horror as his son reached out for the werewolf. A wave of jealously hit him hard, and he suddenly thought all kinds of nasty thoughts about killing the other wizard. Perhaps he could just poison Lupin slowly while hexing or beating him to a bloody pulp. That might work… Either which way, Severus was certain he would make the man regret ever having dared to gain Harry’s affections.

But there was the fact that the wolf had not gone to Black yet. Severus was certain that once the convict got involved things would be much worse. After all, once Sirius Black got wind that Severus Snape was taking care of Harry Potter, the mutt would not rest until his godson was taken out from under the Potions Master’s care. And that was something Severus simply could not handle. As crazy as it seemed, even to Severus, the potions professor loved this cubby little boy that sat happily in his lap. Perhaps Severus could bribe Remus in staying quite?

“Be reasonable now,” the Headmaster went on. “You need to be at that Death Eater meeting and Harry really does seem to like Remus. It’s perfect!”

Slowly, Snape looked over at werewolf with a shielded expression. Remus, likewise, looked at Severus with wide ember eyes. Severus stared at his peer, trying to decide if he could really trust the other wizard. After all, Lupin was in thick with the Headmaster; would he help Albus take Harry away from him? Would Dumbledore manipulate Lupin into some ridiculous plan?

Very slowly, Albus and Remus watched as Severus stood and passed little Harry over to Remus. Nervously, the Gryffindor took his former student and settled the baby in his lap. They all held their breaths, but nothing happened. Harry simply sat in the werewolf’s lap, smiling contently at the others.

“It’s settled then!” Albus cried.

*******

Stalking down into the dungeons, Severus was muttering and growling the whole way, while Harry was babbling nonsense baby talk and behind the two Snape’s was Remus, following nervously. There were a few students that were in the hall that saw their Potions Master and their former DADA teacher together, including Ron, Hermione, and Draco, and they all gawked, getting the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Hermione started to go over to Lupin, but one death glare from Snape stopped her in her tracks and she shrank back to stand next to the guys.

Deep in the dungeons, Severus lead Remus to his personal quarters and let the werewolf in. Tentatively, Lupin stepped in carefully, and looked around the dark abode in awe. He jumped when the door closed with a loud slam and turned around to stare at the livid face of Severus Snape.

“Let’s get a few things straight, Lupin,” the Potions Master’s voice was soft, but deadly. “You are responsible for taking care of Harry; you and you alone. That means you will not give him to anyone else. That includes Black,” his lip pulled back in disgust, “any Order members, or even Dumbledore. You will not ignore any of Harry’s needs. You will make sure that he is taken care of; that means that he is fed properly, changed when he needs to be, bathed, and put to bed after a bedtime story. You will rock him to sleep after the story and make sure that you are always within hearing distance.”

Remus stood stock still as though he was being hunted and the thing chasing him was almost to him. He nodded and listened intently as Severus went through all the rules and all the instructions on how to feed, burp, and bathe the little baby. The werewolf even found himself taking actual notes just to make sure that he did not do anything wrong. This was an amazing opportunity, to have Severus Snape trust him, and Remus did not want to break that trust.

After he got done showing the hated man his chambers, which he did only out of necessity, Severus looked at the other wizard hard in the eyes. “Is everything clear? Do you understand?”

“Yes, I think so,” Remus nodded as he looked through his notes.

“You think so?” Severus sneered.

“Yes, I understand,” Lupin amended and gave an uneasy smile at.

Severus, did not return the smile, but looked at the other man doubtfully. Amazingly, the spy sighed, catching Remus off guard. “You don’t understand how important this is, Lupin,” Snape looked down worriedly at the little boy in his arms. “I…do not want to lose Harry. And I am…concerned that once I am gone...someone will take him. I am trusting you; I am…leaving my son in your care. When I come back, I want to come back to see that Harry is still here.”

The speech utterly amazed Remus; it almost brought tears to the werewolf’s eyes. For Severus Snape to admit to such feelings, to show his fear, to Remus of all people, it touched the other wizard. Suddenly the werewolf’s chest began to burn with protectiveness, and he nodded to the Potions Master, his eyes determined. “He’ll be here for you when you get back,” he said firmly. “I promise.”

Nodding slowly, Severus passed his son over to the other man, and looked down into the sparkling green eyes of Lily. The little boy smiled broadly at the spy. “Dada!” Harry squealed happily.

Getting a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, Severus tried to smile, but managed only to lift the corners of his mouth ever so slightly. “Dada will be back later,” he leaned over and kissed the top of the baby’s soft head. “Be good for Lupin…maybe throw up on him or something.”

Harry giggled and began bouncing in Remus’s arms. Severus was at least pleased to see that the werewolf could hold on while the baby squirmed. Lupin would not be stupid enough to test the bouncing baby boy theory on Harry while Snape was still in the room at least.

Taking a very deep breath, Severus nodded one last time before he turned around dramatically, his robes flapping around him gracefully, before he strode to the fireplace. He threw in the Floo powder and called, “Malfoy Manner,” and was gone.

*******

Upon arrival, Lucius Malfoy was waiting for him, his nose bleeding. The blonde scowled at Severus as he walked in. “What took you so long?” he growled.

“I’m not late,” Snape hissed back, but then smirked. “My my, you’re snippy this evening, Lucius. Is something the matter?”

The other wizard scowled blackly at the Potions Master before he motioned for Snape to follow him. “Do you have the potion for the Dark Lord?” he snapped.

Frowning angrily, Severus took out the vial of the dark brown potion and showed it to the rich man. Lucius snatched the vial away from Snape’s grasp and continued on. It was actually an insult that Lucius took the potion. The blonde was stealing the honor of presenting the potion to the Dark Lord, but at the moment, Severus was a bit too preoccupied with worrying about Harry to really notice.

Walking into the stateroom, Severus beheld the normal ring of Death Eaters standing around a single throne-like chair where sat the Dark Lord. Many of the Death Eaters looked frazzled, indicating to the Potions Master that Voldemort had gotten bored as he waited for Severus to arrive. Fear shot through Snape as he thought of the potion he had brewed for this maniac. Hopefully his and Dumbledore’s plan would work, and the Dark Lord’s new strength could be stopped soon. Severus could only hope.

“Severus!” Voldemort’s red eyes pierced the professor’s heart. “My potion?”

“Here, my lord,” Lucius bowed and handed over the vial, and bowed fancily again.

The snake-man snatched the vial away quickly and took out the stopper. “At last!” he cried. “At last we will be able to attack!”

Severus was not the only one who held his breath as the Dark Lord downed the brown liquid without a second thought. Everyone waited to see what would happen. But after a few second, Severus frowned. The affects were supposed to be almost instant. He secretly looked about the crowed, but no one else seemed to suspect that something was wrong.

“Yes, yesss, I feel it beginning to work,” the Dark Lord said after a minute, pleased, causing Severus’s frown to deepen.

Suddenly, Voldemort leaped to his feet and laughed wickedly. “Let us-!” he stopped, his crimson eyes wide. All at once the dark wizard began coughing and choking, gasping and gagging. The ring of Death Eaters all watched as their leader lay twitching on the floor, foaming at the mouth and having seizures.

After just another moment, the Dark Lord moved no more. It took the others longer than Severus to realize that Voldemort was dead, and just when the other Death Eaters began to grasp what had happened and turned to the Potions Master for answers, Snape quickly gasped loudly. “Lucius!” he cried. “You poisoned the Dark Lord!”

The loyal, enraged Death Eaters all turned to Malfoy, tearing off their masks, glaring and taking out their wands. “What?!” Lucius looked around panicked. “No I didn’t! I didn’t!” he cried when the others began advancing towards him. “I didn’t! It-it wasn’t my fault!”

“You poisoned the Dark Lord!” Nott cried

“No!” Malfoy began to back away. “No, I don’t know…it was Snape! He’s the one that made the potion!”

“But you’re the one that gave it to the Dark Lord!” Zambini hissed. “You must have slipped something into the potion.”

The tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Each Death Eater glared at Lucius. “Yes!” Severus felt obligated to speak up, as he glared over at the blonde as well.

“Why you-!” Lucius started to say before the room erupted into pandemonium. All the Death Eaters went after Malfoy at once, stunning him, tying him up, cursing and hexing him. Just then Narcissa walked in and started screaming, adding to the total chaos.

While the others fought, Severus slipped back to the doorway and simply stared at the mess before him. Taking out his wand, he sent a powerful stunning spell over everyone. The crowd of Death Eaters all fell to the floor with loud thuds. Then, Snape tied them all up as well and looked over his handy work in stunned disbelief. He just stood there a moment, looking at all the frozen Death Eaters and the corpse of the Dark Lord. Merlin, he had killed the Dark Lord!

Suddenly fear over took him and Severus knew he had to leave or he would never be able to. As he turned to go, he heard the strangest sound, one that he knew very well, and yet could not place. He quickened his steps to the Floo, just wanting to get out of Malfoy Manner and tell the Headmaster everything that had happened when a large snake slithered into view. Severus did not have enough time to kill it before it wrapped itself around his legs.

*******

Back at Hogwarts in Snape’s chambers, Remus sat on the couch exhausted. It was nearing midnight and Harry was sleeping peacefully. But while the baby was contently slumbering, the werewolf was so tired he thought he was going to pass out from fatigue. When Severus left, Remus had believed that everything would be okay. But no, Harry was more Slytherin then he had let on. Under that cute, baby exterior, beat the heart of a sly, cunning little monster that liked to wait until there was no one else around so he could attack.

Over the course of the evening, Remus tried to follow Severus’s instructions to the tee. First, he let Harry crawl around the floor to explore the area of the chambers. At first Remus had found it fun to watch the little boy crawl around, but that amusement had disappeared the moment Harry had found a potions vial that had somehow fallen to the carpeted floor and tried to stick it into his mouth. Remus had leaped off the couch to stop the child, and in the process gave himself a heart attack.

Deciding that perhaps it was not safe for Harry to just crawl around on his own freewill, Remus had decided that it would be safe to put Harry in Severus’s bedroom and let him crawl on the bed. But that idea had quickly been banished when Harry tried to tumble off. So the wizard had decided that maybe he should just keep the baby in his crib. That also turned out to be a failure when the child started to cry, not wanting to be put to bed so soon.

After rocking and consoling the child for forty-five minutes or so, Remus decided that it was time to feed the little boy. Some mushed carrots and peas sounded good enough to the babysitter, and he warmed up a bottle of milk for good measure. By the end of the meal, both Harry and Remus were covered in baby food slop of orange and green. When the werewolf began to burp the little boy, Harry had thrown up all over him. While Harry found this all highly amusing, his caretaker did not, and the sitter decided that the next course of action would be to give the little troublemaker a bath.

Filling the sink with warm water, Remus went about finding the baby shampoo and other odd things used to bathe babies that one would not think of to find in Snape’s bathroom. Rolling up his sleeves, the wizard stripped Harry down and set him into the sink. The little boy giggled and began playing with a rubber ducky. It all seemed to be going so well, and Remus found himself smiling. Perhaps babysitting wasn’t so bad? But that’s when the water wars started and Admiral Ducky began a battle with Commodore Froggy. It was a terrible battle, resulting in many casualties, including Remus’s  nerves.

After the baby was all scrubbed and clean, Remus put the squirmy child into his nighty. Of course that was a fight in itself as Harry was still too excited after the fierce war between the sides of water fowl and amphibian. But once the babysitter managed to get the child into a new nappy and into his pajamas, he sat down in the rocking chair in Severus’s bedroom and read Harry a story out of the Beatle Bard. After the story was done, and Harry fought to keep his little eyes open, Remus just hummed an old wizarding lullaby to the child as he rocked. At last the baby was asleep and the werewolf could have cried with joy.

Laying Harry into his crib, Remus snuck out of the room after making sure the nightlight was on and the baby was warm enough and comfortable. Literally collapsing onto the couch in the sitting room, Remus closed his heavy eyelids and wondered how Severus Snape could have put up with the little boy for so long. The wizard would have never pegged Snape as the patient type, let alone the family man.

But just when he had gotten comfortable, Severus burst through the fireplace, hacking and coughing. “Severus!” Remus sat up immediately, startled. “What are you doing back so early?”

Looking around his quarters wildly, the Potions Master staggered to a chair and leaned heavily upon it. “Dear God!” Remus exclaimed. “Severus, you’re bleeding! You look terrible! What-”

“Where’s the Headmaster?” Severus cut the other man off.

“In his office, I supposed. But Severus, you’re bleeding! Sit down and I’ll-”

“It’s not my blood!” the Potions Master spat before he went over to the Floo once more and threw in a handful of powder. “Headmaster Dumbledore’s office!” he cried.

Not liking how any of this was going, Remus tried to think of everything that could have gone wrong at the Death Eater meeting. Had Albus and Severus’s plan for the night not gone well? Had the Dark Lord gotten too powerful? Had he suspected Severus? Not liking any of the ideas that popped into his head, Remus ran into the bedroom, grabbed Harry, threw a blanket over the little boy and went through the Floo to the Headmaster’s office as well.

“Albus!” Severus cried as he came through the fireplace. “Albus, I need to talk with you!”

The Headmaster was quite startled by the sight of his spy coming to him, filthy from the Floo and covered in blood. “Severus! My boy, you’re hurt!”

“No,” the Potions Master shook his head. Just then, Remus and Harry came through. Harry was crying. He did not like going through the Floo. It hurt his ears!

“Severus, sit down, you look a fright!” the Headmaster stood up, as Remus sat down, trying to pacify the baby.

“Albus, I killed the Dark Lord!” Severus blurted out.

Remus and Albus looked at Severus stupidly, both frozen by the simple sentence while Harry cried on. “What?” Dumbledore was able to say after a moment.

“The potion I made, it was wrong! He drank it and it killed him, and Merlin, Albus, I killed the Dark Lord!” Snape’s hands began to tremble as the reality of the situation sank in. And then he began laughing. Nervously at first, before it became a loud, thunderous roar. The other two wizards watch, believing that the Potions Master had finally gone mad.

“How could you have killed him?” Remus was still too shocked to really think about what he was saying.

“The potion I made…it killed him!” Severus laughed. “Stone dead! And then I killed that snake of his!” he indicated the blood covering his cloak.

“The snake?” Dumbledore’s brow creased.

“Yes,” Severus continued to laugh. “I chopped it up into tiny, wriggling pieces!”

“How’d you get away? What about the Death Eaters?” Remus asked, still bouncing Harry on his knee.  It did not pacify Harry’s crying.

“I stunned and tied them up,” Severus smirked.

“What? All of them?” the Headmaster asked, shocked.

“Yes,” Snape smirked. “They’re all just lying on the floor at Malfoy Manner.”

The Headmaster jumped up and ran to the Floo, calling the Order members that were Aurors and telling them to round up the Death Eaters. While the Headmaster did that, Severus cleaned himself off and took Harry up in his arms. Almost instantly, the baby stopped his crying. “Did you miss daddy?” Snape asked, grinning at his child, his heart feeling lighter than it had in years.

“Severus, what you’ve done…well, there’s no real way I can express my thanks,” Albus said sincerely. “But there is a problem here.”

“Oh? What’s that? The Dark Lord is gone!” the Potions Master smiled. He was just so relieved, so happy that he had finally redeemed himself. He had made the world safe for his son to live in. He knew that Lily would be proud of him!

“Well, I have reason to believe that the Dark Lord had several horcrux,” the Headmaster sobered.

“So? We’ll destroy them. They shouldn’t be terrible difficult,” Severus waved off the threat. He felt too good at the moment to want to care about horcruxes.

“But Severus,” Albus pressed. “This past week I learned that Voldemort had several horcruxes. Two, I know have been destroyed. The diary that Harry destroyed his second year, and the snake you just killed tonight. There are seven all together.”

“Then we’ll just find the other five,” Severus said impatiently, bouncing Harry, who giggled. “We have time before he can rise again.”

“My boy,” Dumbledore said seriously, catching both Severus and Remus off guard. “Tom made six horcrux deliberately, but the seventh…the seventh he did not.” The Headmaster paused a long moment, before he looked into Snape’s dark eyes. “Severus…Harry is the seventh. His scar is really a horcrux left by the Dark Lord.”

The room fell into silence. Remus sat dumbfounded, realizing that the only way to truly be free of the Dark Lord would be to kill Harry. Severus’s face, on the other hand, was impassive as he looked at the Headmaster with coal black eyes. “Harry?” he asked, looking down at the child in his arms.

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded sadly.

It was then the Lupin and Dumbledore truly believed Severus lost his mind as the Potions Master began laughing again. “Well then, we have only four more horcrux to find!”

“Severus, I don’t think you understand that-” Dumbledore began.

“No, you don’t!” Snape laughed. “Harry’s not a horcrux anymore, see?” he lifted the baby’s bangs to reveal the smooth, unblemished little forehead. “No scar, no horcrux!”

The Headmaster just could not quite believe what he was seeing. He stared at Harry and then at Severus and then back again several times. Remus, who had been staying quiet, looked between the Headmaster, Severus, and Harry before giving up hope of ever understanding anything anymore. The Headmaster and Potions Master seemed to know just what the other was talking about at all times, and it left the werewolf feeling out of the circle.

“So…What’s going on?” Remus asked after a moment.

“Well,” the Headmaster finally smiled and shook his head. “It seems that the whole prophecy went in completely the other direction then what I had originally thought. Harry, it appears, was not supposed to kill Tom Riddle, but chose the one who was and he chose Severus from the beginning. My congratulations, Severus,” Albus held out his hand to shake. “You are now the most famous wizard in the world.”

Severus had been about to take the Headmaster’s offered hand when he froze. “What?” his eyebrow rose with confusion.

“Yes, since you not only killed Voldemort but also capture almost the entire cult of Death Eaters, I think that that would qualify you as the most famous wizard since…well, since Harry Potter!” the old man smiled. “I’ll go call the papers and make sure everyone knows that it was Severus Snape that saved the entire world!”

Snape did not have time to call the Headmaster back before Albus was gone through the Floo. Standing in the middle of the office, Severus looked back over to Lupin. Remus stood up, smiled lightly at the Potions Master and gave a slight bow. “Congratulations, Severus,” he said kindly.

“I don’t want everyone to know that it was me!” he cried in anger. “I was never supposed to receive the attention, the rewards! I was just supposed to be a foot soldier whose name fades into history unknown.”

Remus stood a moment looking at the desperate wizard. He knew that Severus had never really wanted attention, at least not a lot of it at once. The man had only wanted attention from a select set of people, and only so much at a time. Snape had never been crushed with affection before, and it really did show. But taking pity on the Potions Master, Remus smiled softly. “I did not mean because of your grand victory,” he shook his head. “I meant on your resent family.”

Severus was shocked by the werewolf’s word. He stared at the other wizard for a long moment just mulling over the meaning of the words spoken to him. Did that mean that Lupin knew Harry belonged with him? Did that meant that Severus could trust Lupin? Lupin would help Snape keep Harry, even if Black got involved?

“Thank you,” Severus nodded, a bit unsure, but willing to take a slight chance with the werewolf.

The two wizards stood looking the other over when little Harry tugged hard on Severus’s hair. “Dada!” the baby cried.

“Yes, yes, little monster,” Severus winced slightly. “Let’s get you to bed.”

*******

The next day, news of Snape killing Voldemort spread throughout the school and the whole of the U.K like wild fire. The students were shocked, the teachers stunned, and the Headmaster…well, he was grinning like a fool. The Slytherin students with Death Eater fathers were not all too happy; some of them got Auror inspectors that came to check them out. Several of the older children also got arrested for sporting the Dark Mark.

Reported flooded the school, all of them demanding to see the prestigious Potions Master, Professor Severus T. Snape. They also demanded to see Harry Potter, and talk to him about how his professor seemed to steal his destiny away from him. But thankfully, Dumbledore was able to keep them all out, much to Severus’s relief.

But it was in the afternoon, when Severus had a break, and was hiding in the Headmaster’s office while Hagrid got rid of a reporter that had found a way in, that Albus offered tea. “We must do something about all these rumors of Harry,” the old man said causally, as he sipped his tea.

“Agreed,” Severus nodded. “I don’t want the reporters to start making up rubbish about the boy,” he looked down protectively at the little boy in his lap, who was happily crunching a small biscuit.

“Yes, that would be terrible,” the Headmaster nodded. “That’s why I’ve set up an appointment for Harry to see the healers.”

“What?” Severus frowned. “Why would…” he trailed off, and suddenly understood. “No! You can’t!” he’s eyes reflected horror. “You can’t! We have to let this wear off by itself! You said that!”

“But as you pointed out, Harry may never change back,” Albus said sadly. “And then what will happen to the boy?”

“What do you mean?” Snape growled. “He has a father, doesn’t he? I’ll take care of him.”

“I have no doubt that you will,” Albus smiled a bit forlornly. “But Severus, think about it for a moment. That baby in your lap really is not a baby at all. He’s a fifteen-year-old boy who has friends that love him and have been worried about him for weeks.”

“So?” Severus hissed. “He’s fine. He’s perfectly happy with me.”

“Yes, but Severus,” the Headmaster’s face crumpled into a gloomy expression as well. “Harry had another life before this accident happened. He liked the life he had before. Stop and think about the fifteen-year-old that is no longer here. He meant a great deal to his friends. And now… now that you’ve gotten rid of Voldemort and that scar for him, he can finally live like a normal child; something he’s wanted to do all his life. Would you deny that boy, that one that had already existed, this chance?”

Severus looked down at the smiling baby in his lap, who happened to have one of his fists in his mouth and was drooling all over the place. The saliva managed to get on Severus’s clothes, along with biscuit crumbs, but the father did not much care. Sorrow tugged at the Potions Master’s heart as he knew what he had to do, even if he really did not want to…

*******

Sitting in a private waiting room, Severus held his infant son close to him, as he looked about nervously. Would the aging potion even work? The potion that Harry had been brewing was not known to Severus, and could have just been a total mess, resulting in no cure at all. But then Albus told him that from the sample of potion, the Potions Master at St. Mungo’s had found a cure. But then, the Hogwarts Potions Master was insulted that the Headmaster had looked for help outside of his school. It was a known fact that Snape was the greatest Potions Master in all of the United Kingdom!

“M-Mr. S-S-Snape?” a nurse stepped in, looking very nervous. “Oh my, Merlin!” she exclaimed in an annoying high pitched tone. “I’m sorry, sir, but it’s just that…you’re Severus Snape! The man that killed You-Know-Who and captured all of those Death Eaters!”

“Yes, thank you, I had quite forgotten all about that,” Severus rolled his eyes, his tone sarcastic. He hated all this attention. Why had Harry liked it so much? Unless the boy never really did…? But he stood up and handed the little boy over to the nurse reluctantly.

The instant Harry was out of his father’s grasp, he began to cry. Severus had to fight himself from taking the baby right back and running away with the child and not looking back. But he knew that the fifteen-year-old Harry would want a chance to come back and live the life he had suspended in time for a little over three weeks. Merlin, it had only been three weeks?

Grief pulled at Severus’s heart as he watched the nurse walk through the door to the examining room with the crying baby as she tried to console him. The moment the door was closed, Severus all but ran to the door and pressed his ear against it. He could still hear Harry crying, and it was grating on his nerves and patience. Did none of these people know how to handle children? Harry needed him!

But no, Harry always cried when Severus was away. Harry didn’t like anyone else but Severus and Lupin. So, forcing himself to sit down in the chair, the potion teacher waited miserably as he listened to his child’s cries. But all of a sudden, there was a slight flash, and the crying ceased. It was then that the father knew his little boy was gone, and the boy he had not liked for almost a full five years was back. He went cold inside.

About twenty minutes later, the boy known as Harry Potter came out, looking a bit frazzled. Severus leaped to his feet and was at the boy’s side in an instant, forgetting for a moment that the child before him still looked like James Potter, and was too worried to remember to be angry that the healers had replaced those charms Lily had placed over the boy. “Are you all right?” he asked.

The boy looked at him in confusion, as though he did not know why the Head of Slytherin would be asking him such a thing, when he seemed to remember. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said carefully. But Severus watched worriedly as the boy seemed to summon up his Gryffindor courage. “But I think we need…um…that we need to talk, sir.”

Sir. Not dada or daddy or even dad or father. Just sir. It was all going back to the way it had been before, and Severus could not have hated it more.

“Of course,” he forced his mask of indifference back on, though it hurt to do so. “Come sit,” he lead the boy over to the chairs.

Once he was sitting and so was the older wizard, Harry wasted no time in starting. “Sir, I heard all about what you did… killing Voldemort and all, and capturing the Death Eaters and all that, but I also heard how you took care of me when I…you know,” the boy looked embarrassed. “I just…I just wanted to thank you for looking out for me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Severus waved off the thanks. “I am your father.”

The boy winced at that, and it broke Snape’s fragile heart. “Yeah…so I’ve learned.” The Potions Master stayed quiet, and let the boy go on. “Um, sir? I was wondering…when did you find out about our…relation?”

“Almost a week into my caring for you,” he answered immediately. Was the boy worried that Severus wouldn’t want him? “But it doesn’t really matter,” Severus tried to smile, but could not; he was still too worried and sad. “We can talk about this later. Maybe when we get home during the summer or-”

“Sir,” Harry cut of the other wizard. “This…this is just too strange. I mean…you’ve hated me for like…well, forever!”

“I never hated you!” Severus argued, becoming desperate. He could not lose Harry! But it really came out as an impatient, angry snap.

“But sir, you’ve been mean to me since my first year, and well…I’m not sure I…you know…really want to just strike up a relationship…I mean, not right away…considering our…past,” Harry said awkwardly, afraid of the man before him while he was still weak.

With each word, Severus felt his heart break just a little bit more. His son did not want him. Well, that was not unexpected, considering that they did have a rather nasty history. But it still hurt, even though the Potions Master knew the Gryffindor was only trying to be diplomatic. Perhaps this was why he had been so nervous all along, because deep down he knew his son would not want him if the boy was older.

“I could give you a home, a place to stay during the summers. I could pay for all of your living expenses until you are old enough to move out. I could…I could be the father you’ve never had,” Severus was struggling to keep his emotions in check. “You would have a normal childhood.”

Green eyes looked at the older wizard sadly, and it was then that Severus knew that he was being pitied. He did not want anyone to pity him, least of all his son. With his face blank, Severus stared straight ahead, while Harry looked him over. It was similar to a military inspection. But as the seconds passed, Severus knew what the boy’s answer was going to be.

“I…appreciate that, sir. A lot. But…” he trailed off.

“Of course,” Severus nodded. “Of course, you need time to think about things. It was foolish of me to expect that you comply with my wishes. Of course you need time to adjust.”

“Yeah. Thanks for understanding, sir,” Harry nodded, and gave a shy smile, while he stood up.

Severus stood as well, and looked down at the boy with James Potter’s face, and nodded. He turned around and walked towards the door, knowing that Harry was going to have to stay just a little bit longer for further tests to make sure everything was well. Originally, Severus had planned to stay, but after being so bitterly rejected, he did not feel like being close to the child at the moment.

“Oh, and Harry,” Severus stopped, turning his head ever so slightly, so that he could see the boy’s face out of the corner of his eye. “Detention.”

“What?” Harry gasped. “Why?”

“For brewing illegally out of class while being in the girl’s levorotary. I will see you Friday night for detention.”

As he walked away, Severus felt the corners of his mouth tugging into a smile, even as he tried to banish the tears that misted his eyes.