As soothing as the voice sounded at the moment, the wizard did not want to go into the light. There was something off, something wrong. Besides, he just wanted to keep his eyes closed, and never wake up. He had gotten so little sleep as of late, but why, he could not quite remember.

Suddenly, there was a noise that sounded all too familiar to the Potions Master, something…nightmareish. At first he thought it was the wails of some sort of terrible ghost, or perhaps a wraith, but it was no quite like that at all. In fact, it sounded a lot like… “The baby!” Snape bolted upright, almost smashing his head into the Headmaster’s.

“Whoa!” Dumbledore exclaimed, almost falling backwards. “Easy there, my boy,” he tried to calm.

“Potter’s crying again, and I’ve neglected him!” the younger wizard looked around wildly. “He’s probably hungry and I let the little thing starve! I told you I wasn’t good at this!”

“Severus!” the Headmaster put his arms on the other man’s shoulders. “Severus calm down. Harry’s fine. He’s with Poppy.”

Looking around in a daze, the professor realized that he was in his own chamber, surrounded by the soothing green bed sheets and covering. “What is everyone doing in my chambers?” he snapped, realizing the intrusion.

“He’s okay, Poppy!” Albus called over his shoulder, irritating the professor greatly.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey came rushing in, and in her arms, the wailing little Potter. “Thank goodness!” she cried, and proceeded to shove the child into the Slytherin’s arms.

Scowling, Severus could not get the image of a mother having just delivered a baby out of his head when he accepted the little boy, who stopped his screaming. Looking down into the little face, the Potions Master could not quite help the feeling that something was off. “What happened?” the professor asked tiredly, as the baby cuddled up close to his chest. He was beginning to dread something terribly.

“Do you not remember what happened?” the Headmaster asked lightly, as though he were amused with the whole situation.

“Apparently I don’t or I wouldn’t be asking,” Snape growled.

“Well, do you remember coming into my office?”

Thinking carefully, Severus did remembered walking to the Headmaster’s office, and then sitting down. Some of their conversations flittered into his mind as well, before everything went blank. “You were telling me that you didn’t care for Umbridge,” he nodded carefully.

Smiling, Albus turned to Poppy. “You may go now, my dear. I’ll talk to you later.”

Looking decidedly offended, the Medwitch nodded once, looking between Severus and the baby, before she left. The two wizards waited for the sound of the Floo being used before Dumbledore turned back to the professor.

“Well then, you don’t remember me telling you that Harry is actually, really, biologically you son?” the innocence of the sentence was sickening.

Turning a rather interesting shade of green, Snape thought he was going to be sick. How had he forgotten that part of the conversation? But the answer soon became clear. He’d been trying to repress all information with the words father, Severus, Harry, and yours in them. Everything was just messed up.

Groaning, Snape looked down at the Potter br- the…Harry…brat…? “Tell me you’re joking,” the Potions Master closed his eyes tightly. “Tell me this is one of your sick schemes to make me take caring for the boy seriously?”

Having the audacity to smile, the Headmaster shook his head. “Nope. I’m afraid not, my dear boy.”

“Oh! Well,” Albus shifted uncomfortable. “You see, when you and Lily were…um…taking ‘private’ time and you-”

“Oh, well, that’s a completely different question all together,” the Headmaster sagged in relief. “You see, Lily came to you a while back, and you two apologized for your behavior towards each other at the end of your Hogwarts careers.

“Lily began to fall in love with you, even though she was engaged to James, and I believe that you were quite eager to get her away from him. But when James found out, he found you and wiped your memory and told Lily you were dead so she’d stop fantasizing over you so things would get back to normal between the two of them.”

Severus had two minds about the whole story. The first being that he thought Dumbledore, the crazy coot he was, was making the whole thing up, as Snape did not recall any of these events. The second was that he was angry that he did not remember everything. Why couldn’t he get to keep the memories of his good times with Lily?

But then another thought crept into Slytherin’s mind. He had somehow out-charmed James Potter. He had somehow turned Lily against the Gryffindor, and had made her love him. And in the end, all of Potter’s legacy that was in the child came to not, and it was really Severus that won the day. Oh, it was too delicious for words!And as he thought about that, the Potions Master was suddenly struck with another, not so pleasant thought.

“How long have you known about this?” he demanded.

Looking down guiltily, Albus looked at the floor. “I’m afraid from the very beginning.”

“What!” Severus would have killed the old man right there if there hadn’t been a baby in his arms. Sometimes babies- well all the time really- got in the way. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Looking sort of like a wounded dog, but a lot less cute, Dumbledore met Snape’s eyes. “Well, you see, James was so upset, and Lily too, really, and you were in no position to care for a child at the time, and well, the prophecy had to be-”

“Hang the prophecy!” Snape shouted. “Albus, you’ve hidden this from me, your most loyal member! I…I can’t even begin to…to…!”

“Please calm down, my boy,” the old wizard tried to sooth. “Remember that you still have Harry in your arms.”

“But, why?” the professor could not think of anything else to say.

Sighing, the Headmaster sat on the end of the bed, annoying Severus to no end. “Because everyone expected it to be James Potter that would win the day, not Severus Snape.”

The words stung more than the Slytherin would have liked them to. “And since Lily hid that Harry was really your son, you could not have expected everyone to doubt her, could you?”

“But why didn’t you tell me?” Snape hissed. The old man was just trying to go around in circles.

“Like I said, you were in no condition to care for a child, and Lily held me to the utmost secrecy. I could not tell,” Dumbledore’s eyes looked on sadly.

“But she thought I was dead, thanks to Potter, and she probably would have wanted me to know that I had…that I had a…a…”

“Son?” the Headmaster filled in.

“Yes, yes, one of those,” Snape spat.

“Severus, my dear boy,” Albus smiled sadly. What he always found to smile about, the Slytherin would never know. “It was for Harry’s safety, not because I did not trust you, that I hid all this. If Harry really believed that he was the son of James Potter, then so would everyone else. If he had been left in your care, then questions would have been asked, and things would have been more complicated. You could not hide that he was your son for long, and then the Death Eaters would have come after you and the boy. In the end, it was for the greater good.”

“Noble intentions? That’s what you’re going to blame it on?” Snape growled. “Well, know this, oh might Headmaster, I am insulted, and furious that you’ve kept this from me. You had no right!”

“I know,” the old man looked down. “It was one of my greatest regrets actually. But here you have a change to raise Harry as you could have all those years ago!”

“Your enthusiasm is sickening,” the Potions Master hissed. “An accident doesn’t make up for everything that you’ve done! And what makes you think that we’re both safer now?”

The Headmaster’s eyes twinkled brilliantly. “Because no one will suspect that this is Harry Potter.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t a Potter?” Somehow hearing this baby, the one that he had just recently found out was his, go by the name of his most hated rival, really burned the Slytherin. “And why’s that? People will wonder where…where Harry has gone. He’s already been missing for several day.”

“Poppy, Minerva, and I have already taken care of that,” the old man looked quite confident.

“Oh really?” Snape could not help but get the feeling that the ruse was juvenile and poorly planned.

“Yes!” the Headmaster said proudly. “We even employed Dobby to help.”

“Dobby?”

“That house elf that used to be the Malfoy’s but then became infatuated with Harry?” the old wizard said casually.

“Oh, yes, however could I have forgotten that?” Severus rolled his eyes. “But honestly, Albus, what now?”

The Headmaster took on a solemn look, causing Snape to feel quite uneasy. Unconsciously, he, again, snuggled Harry up closer to his chest, as though the bad news would harm the little creature. Albus looking somber was infinitely more trouble than the Albus with twinkly eyes…in most cases.

“We wait for Harry to change back,” the old wizard stared at the child. “And then we go about as usual.”

“What?” Severus’s mind felt like it was going to implode. “Just like that? But how do I tell the boy that I’m his father?” he asked desperately.

There was a deafening silence that hung in the air. Black eyes met blue as the two wizards just sat staring at each other. At first, Severus found it hard to digest the words, but as they sunk in, he was more horrified about keeping the secret from Harry now that he knew that he was the boy’s father. Even though he did not like the boy when he was a Potter, even Severus knew it was wrong to hide something of this size from the child.

“I…don’t?” the professor asked carefully, his voice scathing.

Again, the old man sighed. “Voldemort can’t find out about this, my boy. You ought to know that! And Harry can’t afford to worry about anything else at the moment. He can’t worry about a long lost father while he’s fighting the great dark wizard of our time.”

Looking down into the emerald eyes of the child in his arms, Severus could not help but feel something for the boy, something…caring. This child was his, whether he wanted the boy or not, Harry was his. And even though he had had murderous thought about the child more than once, it was much different now to learn that he was plotting the death of his own son. It was just too…morbid, even for the Head of Slytherin, to entertain thoughts of killing his own child. It was too old fashion for his tastes.

And when the little boy, who had remained surprisingly quiet throughout the entire exchange, smiled at the adult wizard, Severus found that he did not want to let the boy go. After all, the boy was his. He was entitled to the child. No one should have been able to take Harry away from him. And now that Harry could not talk, and did not understand much, Severus could not help but like the boy a lot better.

“But it’s not your say anymore,” the Potions Master said shortly. “It’s mine. After all, I am the boy’s father, and if that be the case, then I have say over what the boy does, and what he knows.”

“But would you really sacrifice him to satisfy your own ego?” the Headmaster looked at the younger wizard disappointedly. “You’ve admitted that you’re not good with children, Severus, and although I find that you are perfectly capable of caring for them for their immediate well being, I do not think you have the sight to see what’s good for them in the long run.”

“Oh, and you do?” Snape challenged. “You who wants the boy to march over to the Dark Lord and have him say, ‘Hello, I’m Harry Potter, you killed my family, prepare to die?’”

“Severus, please,” Dumbledore actually looked angry. “This is different, and you know it. We need to keep Harry as safe as possible before he faces Voldemort. He is the only one that can defeat him.”

Seeing nothing but red, the Potions Mater thought he might kill his mentor. “Get out,” he hissed. “Just get out of here.”

“Don’t be like this, Severus.”

“And how would you have me be!” Snape’s temper finally got the better of him. “I’ve been extremely patient with you over the years, and you stab me in the back! And when I finally get something out of my life, you want to rob me of it!”

“It’s for Harry’s own good,” the Headmaster looked pleadingly at the younger wizard. “What more can I say? It would be foolish to throw Harry’s safety away so carelessly.”

“I would protect the boy!” Severus growled indignantly.

“You would,” Albus nodded in agreement. “That is why I must ask you to not tell the boy of your relationship when he changes back.”

Looking down at the baby, who again smiled up at him, Severus could not suppress the sigh that came out. Would he do anything to protect the boy? Yes, even before the Potter brat became his brat, Snape knew that he would have done anything for Lily’s son. But it was still hard to let go of something he had just found.

Dejectedly, Snape nodded once. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said softly. “But I am not happy about this arrangement,” he growled. “Nor the previous one.”

“I understand,” the Headmaster looked somewhat relieved. “I hope in time you will forgive me for that.”

“Perhaps,” Snape said coldly. “But not now, nor in the near future.”

“Fair enough,” Dumbledore nodded in acknowledged defeat.

Looking around the room, Severus again found that he had no idea how he had gotten here. But that thought was suddenly pushed aside by the thought of something else. “My class!” he began to untangle himself from the covers, only to realize that he was in his pajamas and that it hard to fight with blankets with a baby in his arms. “I need to get to my class!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Albus came and sat Severus back down on the bed.

“Why? What time is it?” May be he had enough time to actually eat and take his time to get to class?

 “It’s about seven o’clock,” the old wizard smiled.

“I missed all of my afternoon classes?” the professor was appalled with himself. “Why? What happened?”

The Headmaster shrugged. “You fainted.”

As the horror of embarrassment colored itself on his cheeks, Harry laughed merrily. “Dada!”

The Headmaster smiled, and held out a little case to the Potions Master. "Lemon drop?"

Severus groaned loudly.