The next day, things got crazy. With the return of Harry Potter, the paparazzi redoubled their efforts to get interviews with both the Boy Who Lived, and the Mighty Potions Master, as some people started to refer to Snape as. But during that time, the Headmaster made sure to run interference and keep both Snapes out of the public light for a little while, all that time having special Order members run around looking for the lost four horcrux.

Harry sat at the Gryffindor Table with Ron and Hermione thinking over what he had been told the day before. “I can’t believe that Snape’s my father,” he shook his head in disbelief.

“I know!” Ron looked horrified. “It’s weird…”

“But I did tell you I thought the baby was Harry,” Hermione muttered, sending the redhead an exasperated glare.

“But it all really doesn’t make sense,” Harry shook his head. “Why would Snape take care of me? Even if I was his son. He hates me!”

“I don’t know,” Hermione shrugged. “But from how he acted when you were a baby, he did not seem to hate you at all. In fact, he made sure that no one else got near you. Especially Umbridge or the other professors. He gave out detentions if someone looked at you wrong.”

Listening to the very un-Snape like accounts only furthered Harry’s confusion. What was going on here? The evil Potions Master, the dungeon bat, had not only taken care of Harry, the boy he had not hidden his dislike of, but had also protected him and took on his dreaded destiny so that the boy might have a normal childhood! Although he did not know the whole story, and he did not remember anything of the past several weeks, the Gryffindor boy was starting to believe that he had made the wrong decision in telling Snape that he did not want to live with him over the summer. It actually sounded like the man cared for him. Like Snape actually…loved him…

No, no that was too strange. Snape loving anyone was still strange. But then Snape had loved Harry’s mother…The boy shuddered at the thought of anyone being able to love, let alone make love to the Potions Master…and yet there was something about the man that made Harry feel safe…

Shaking his head, Harry decided that he did not want to think about those things at the moment. He was tired and confused. Everyone was telling him all these things about Snape, and he didn’t know whether to believe them or call everyone crazy.

Just then, Draco Malfoy walked into the Great Hall looking rather depressed, showing none of the signs of being a cocky, rich boy like usual.

“What’s up with Malfoy?” Harry asked.

“Well, Snape put his father away in Azkaban, didn’t he,” Ron could not help the small smile that crept onto his lips.

“And he still doesn’t know the verdict on his mother,” Hermione said sympathetically. She felt sorry for the blonde. She had gotten to know him just a little bit better over the last several weeks.

At this, Harry could not help but be a little shocked. The reality of Lucius Malfoy being put away had not sunken in yet, and now that the reality struck, Harry found himself smiling. If Lucius was in prison and had not been able to talk his way out of things, then none of the other Death Eaters could have. It had all really happened. There was no Voldemort, no Death Eaters; Harry was at last free!

But before Harry could voice his newfound elation, the Headmaster came over to him, followed closely by Remus Lupin. “Remus!” Harry jumped up and hugged the werewolf.

“Hello, Harry,” Remus smiled softly. “How are you feeling?”

“Great!” Harry grinned, and it was the truth. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so good in his life.

“Harry, I need to have a word with you,” the Headmaster smiled, and promptly sat down on the bench. Harry and Remus followed suit. “It’s about your living arrangements this summer.”

At this, Harry’s good mood flittered away. “I don’t want to go back to the Dursleys,” he said seriously. “Now that Voldemort’s dead, I think-”

“Harry, Harry, slow down my boy!” Albus chuckled. “You won’t be going back to the Dursleys unless your father consents to it!”

That had not yet occurred to the boy as of yet either. Now that he had a father, that meant Harry never had to set foot in the Dursleys house ever again! But what would be worse, a summer with the Dursleys or a summer with Snape? A month ago Harry thought he would take his chances with his mother’s relation, but after hearing what everyone was saying…

“So…what will happen to me this summer?” Harry asked, ashamed that he had refused Snape’s invitation for the vacation. "I already told Professor Snape that I wouldn’t be comfortable with staying with him…” Why had he done that again?

The Headmaster smiled kindly. “Yes, Severus told me about that,” he nodded a bit sadly. “And I come with a message from him since he cannot wander up here for a bit, not until we get rid of that nasty photographer that’s been camping out all morning in the window trying to get a shot of him,” he pointed up.

The three children and Remus looked up to see a wizard peeking through the window, but then duck back down once he realized that he was seen. “Anyway,” the Headmaster cheerfully went on. “Severus has asked me to tell you that you may either return to the Dursleys for your summer vacation or you may stay a while with the Weasleys. He is writing a request to Arthur and Molly today to obtain their permission.”

“Really?” Ron exclaimed excitedly. “That’s wicked!”

Harry could not keep the smile from splitting his face. “He…really would do that?” he asked, feeling even guiltier than before.

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded. “He said, and I quote, ‘he may stay with his relatives if he likes or his friends. But I absolutely do not want him staying with that mutt!’; that, of course, meaning Sirius.”

With everything else going on, Harry had not had time to think about Sirius and how he was doing. “What’s going on with Sirius?” he asked after a moment, worry laced in his voice.

“He should be at the Ministry as we speak,” Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment. “Remus, Sirius, and I went to the Ministry this morning to speak on Sirius behalf. Your father came later with the hard evidence of your godfather’s innocence, and then he was immediately declared innocent.”

“Then why is he still at the Ministry?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Just to iron out some legal issues,” the Headmaster waved off the subject. But then Remus didn’t look like he liked how the Headmaster was handling that.

“While Sirius is working out some settlements, reclaim money and property and such, he has recently become the guardian of someone else,” the werewolf said.

“What?” the three children exclaimed. “Who?”

“Well you see,” Dumbledore slipped in, looking a bit perturbed that Remus had said anything at all, “over the last few months Lucius Malfoy and Professor Snape have not been…on best terms. And one night Lucius got so angry with our dear Potions Master, he revoked Severus’s rights to Draco as a godfather and passed guardianship over to the nearest living relative that was not in Azkaban.

“Now, in these events, with Lucius sentenced to Azkaban and Narcissa still pending, Draco would have been introduced into Severus’s care, but since that is not the case anymore, and Lucius changed guardianship without reading all the fine print, so to speak, the guardianship fell on Sirius since he was technically not in Azkaban at the time and he is Narcissa’s cousin,” Albus shrugged.

“So Draco has to live with Sirius?” Harry felt a twinge of jealous. Sirius had been his godfather! Sirius didn’t even like Draco! It was so unfair!

…But then Harry still had a father, didn’t he? A famous father that had risked life and limb to protect Harry and destroy the Dark Lord and his followers…

And besides, what did it matter anyway? Snape had said Harry could live with the Weasleys for the summer if he wanted to. And since Snape and Sirius hated each other anyway, it was just better this way, Harry supposed. Now he wouldn’t be tempted to go to Sirius’s too much, and that would keep him in fairly good graces with the Potions Master, right?

Everything was just too confusing anymore…

“Yes, Draco will go live with Sirius,” the Headmaster nodded. “But cheer up, Harry, you’re not losing your godfather, but perhaps gaining a new friend!”

“Yeah…I guess,” the boy muttered.

“Harry,” Remus spoke up, looking the child over thoughtfully. “Maybe you should go down to the dungeons today and talk to your father,” the werewolf’s ember eyes sparkled sadly. If no one else did, Remus did have pity for Severus. He knew how much the man had loved being a father, even if he would not quite admit it to anyone else.

Harry flinched when Remus called Snape his father. “Is there something wrong?” he asked, looking up at his favorite DADA professor.

“No,” Lupin shook his head a bit. “But I think your father would like to see you sometime today. You know he’s had a hard time running from the papers.”

Snape, liking to see him? It was like no one else thought this entire setup was strange! Snape had never been glad to see Harry before, what did a few weeks of being a baby do to change that? Wouldn’t the Potions Master hate him more after being a needy little baby? After all, babies cried, drooled, spit up…they did all manners of disgusting things the fifteen-year-old was certain the strict professor wouldn’t like. Why then did everyone insist that Snape had been, dare he think it, caring?

“Well, I have an appointment at the healers later tonight before dinner, just a check up to make sure everything’s going well,” Harry tried to make up an excuse; he really did have an appointment though too.

“Oh, that’s the other thing Severus wanted me to tell you,” Dumbledore slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead. “Severus wanted me to tell you that he would be there to get you after I drop you off for the appointment.”

“Why?” Harry asked a bit surprised that Snape would be willing to go back to St. Mungo’s for him.

“Well because he’s your father of course!” Dumbledore chuckled. “He has to take care of the bill and he wants to hear what the healers have to say about you, after all. You can talk to him afterwards then.”

Slowly, Harry nodded. Snape really wanted to make sure he was okay? Snape was going to pay for the bill? What had happened to the Potions Master he remembered; the man, nasty, git that made life miserable? It was like Harry had jumped into the future a hundred or so years and now everything was drastically different. Ron and Hermione were getting along with Draco now, Draco was going to live with Sirius, Sirius was a free man, and Snape was nice and Harry’s father! It was all too weird.

“Harry, are you okay?” Hermione asked quietly beside him.

“Huh?” Harry blinked out of his thoughts. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking’s all…Did Professor Snape really do all that stuff…you know, for me?”

Both Lupin and Dumbledore smiled, but it was Remus that spoke first. “Yes he did, Harry…He really does care deeply about you,” his ember eyes showed Harry the sadness in them, making the teenager feel terrible.

What had he done?

*******

The whole day had been a total waste! Severus couldn’t get anything done! No class went by peacefully, no one seemed to know what they were doing, and then there was the constant running from the press. Merlin, why did anyone want to be famous? It was a pain in the ass!

Stalking up into the Great Hall, Severus moodily swept past the student tables to take his seat at the Head Table. Although it was too horrifying to think about, Snape thought he heard several clusters of girls, all in different Houses, sigh dreamily as he walked by. The very thought of him suddenly becoming attractive to his students made the Potions Master feel ill. He was not supposed to make girls swoon out of love; he was supposed to do it out of terror! Had his whole reputation really just been flushed down the loo? Then again, all this had started out in the loo…

Sitting down in his normal place by Minerva, and Filius, Severus looked at the meal options. He was suddenly saddened by the fact that there was no bottle there waiting for him. There was no extra weight in his lap from where a baby sat. There was no little Harry…

Looking up and over to the Gryffindor Table, Severus saw his son sitting with Weasley and Granger, along with Longbottom, Weasley girl and the Weasley twins. Mentally he made note to get the boy away from so many gingers, but then he knew he could not. Severus could not really make Harry get new friends. And there was the fact that Harry seemed to resent him enough to worry about…

Albus looked over and saw the Potions Master’s deject face as he stared off towards the Gryffindor Table. The Headmaster thought it hurt to see the other man so forlorn, and in a spontaneous act to make Severus feel better, Dumbledore randomly stood up. Everyone in the Great Hall quieted and looked up. Realizing that he should have thought of something to say, the Headmaster scrambled his brains to try and think of something to say.

“Well, another year is almost completed,” he decided to improvise it, and where it went, it went. “And what a year! Who knew you all had such a wonderful Potions Master?” The students began to cheer, while Snape glared viciously at Dumbledore.

Albus winced slightly at the glare. That was not right; he had wanted to make Severus happy, not angry. “And as a special treat, and in honor of your Professor Snape I am hereby sacking Miss Dolores Umbridge!”

There was just the briefest moment of silence before the whole Hall erupted in cheers. “What?!” Umbridge stood up, outrage written over every feature. “You…You can’t sack me!” She quickly turned on Snape. “You! You did this to me, didn’t you? You’re the one that turned everyone against me!”

Very slowly a smirk graced Snape’s lips as he looked at the other woman evilly. “Maybe,” he did not deny it, sending the woman into a hysterical crying fit.

Somewhere from the vicinity of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Tables, a chant went up. “Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape!” Surprised by this, the Potions Master looked about the Hall. He had always dreamed that one day the students would be chanting his name…but he had always thought they would also have pitchforks and torches in hand…

 “Three cheers for Professor Snape! For not only destroying You-Know-Who, but also getting rid of the Toad!” the Weasley twins cheered, and the rest of the Hall followed.

Looking over towards Harry, Severus managed to catch the boy’s eye. Shyly, Harry smiled at his father and raised his pumpkin juice to toast the Potions Master.

And although Severus was pleased by his son’s recognition, he could only manage a nod as he was still too disheartened to smile.

*******

That night, while walking to the waiting room of St. Mungo’s, Severus’s mind was all in a wreck. While the afternoon’s events had been amusing and even pleasurable, Snape still found himself depressed. Harry had raised his glass to him, him, as though he realized that Severus had changed, that Severus had done some good things in his life. But then the boy still rejected him. It hurt, it really did hurt.

As he gloomily walked to the private waiting room, he did not notice the nurses running around frantically, each one calling out to the other panicked. He merely sat down in his chair, preoccupied with the thoughts of losing his son. It just wasn’t fair!

More nurses ran in and out of Harry’s room, but still Severus did not notice. How could Harry reject him anyway? He could give Harry everything he ever wanted! He could be a real father to the boy. He could teach him how to do so many things, help him with his homework, or even practice spells and wand work with him. How could Severus be a good father if Harry wouldn’t let him, damnit?!

After only a few minutes of sitting and waiting, a rather frazzled looking nurse came out, her face white and her hands shaking. “M-Mister S-Snape?” she asked softly.

Not bothering to notice that the nurse was terrified about something, Severus stood up and walked over to the door, pushing the nurse out of his way. “Professor S-Snape, something’s…something’s not gone…right…” she tried to say, but Snape was not really listening.

When he opened the door, a loud, familiar sound greeted his ears. Instantly, every instinct flailed to life and he snapped his eyes up to look at the patient’s table to the source of the sound. “DADA!” came a very grumpy wail.

A smile tugged at the Potions Master’s lips.