Chapter Five

  Harry had come back downstairs as soon as he was certain that Severus was in a deep enough sleep for him to leave him. The little boy really had him wrapped around his pinky. Harry had always wanted a sibling; he had thought Dudley would be that for him but Merlin was he wrong! Now he had a chance to have a little brother! If Severus accepted that is, and with how well they got along Harry felt confident that he did. Making his way downstairs to the kitchen, he was able to find Sirius sitting on the steps sulking a bit. Continuing down the stairs he took his place next to him.

“Did you piut Snape to bed?” Sirius sighed, coldly.

Harry cocked his eyebrow at his God-father and nodded.

“Do you have to call him Snape? He really doesn’t like it…it makes him think you don’t like him.”

Sirius smirked and nodded, that was the point. He didn’t like Snape, young or old he would never like Severus Snape.  And if he had to prove that point to all of them then he would. He was only doing this because Albus was making him, not because he wanted to. He had been forced into this charity and he absolutely refused to even act like he enjoyed it.

“I don’t like him Harry, young or old he is still Severus Snape.”

“No, Sirius, he isn’t…he’s Sevvy Snape,” Harry said firmly. “A scared little boy that isn’t aware of what his life had turned him into. Why can’t you just accept that?”

“How can you?!” Sirius snapped. “All the Hell he put your through as a student, and here you are lecturing me about forgiving him!”

“Because it’s the right thing to do Sirius! I hold no grudge against a little boy that hasn’t done anything to me! And whatever Snape did to me during school…it doesn’t matter now!”

“Why?!” Sirius spat, facing him. “How can it all of a sudden not matter? He made you cry your first year, humiliated you in class, and tried to give me to Dementors!”

Harry stood, his green eyes piercing and narrowed into slits. He was so sick of people telling him how he needed to feel that he could just barely stand it! Why couldn’t people just let him believe what he wanted to believe and be happy about it?! Especially his God-father, the one man that he had grown to love and look up to!

“What do you want me to do Sirius? Do you want me to become cold and hold a grudge forever? Do you want me to turn bitter?! Because I’m not doing it! Sevvy is a nice boy and I will not treat him any differently because you have a grudge against how you both behaved in school! You need to let it go! You really do!”

Sirius glared at his God-son and looked away. He wasn’t going to let it go, he had been forced to take care of someone he hated, had been imprisoned a guilty man, while Snape walked free, and had almost been turned over to a Dementor’s Kiss because that madman wanted to hold onto HIS grudge! Why was Sirius expected to be the better person?!

“Dad would not let you act this way,” Harry said standing up. “I may not know him well…but I do know that he saved Snape’s life…he put aside his differences to keep Snape alive…are you even willing to be like your friend to preserve his memory? Don’t you think my dad would look past his past to take care of Sevvy?”

Sirius sighed and looked away. Why was it Harry had to make so many good points? James was probably turning in his grave…but he just wasn’t sure that he would be able to let this grudge go. There had been so many things between him and Snape that Sirius was sure those wounds would never heal. Snape got lucky; he forgot all of his torment…but Sirius? He was forced to remember his day in and day out. He was forced to live in his Hell, Snape? Apparently his was gone and he was getting a second chance. Sirius wouldn’t be surprised if he had planned this entire thing out.

“It’s too hard, Harry…you just don’t understand.”

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t help it, this just seemed so ridiculous! How could someone be so stubborn as to just dismiss another person without even a second glance! Was this how Sirius was in school? Did he judge everyone by appearances…had this been why Snape and him had hated one another back then?

“No…no I don’t,” Harry said sadly. “I don’t understand how you can be so cold as to not even give him a chance. You won’t recognize him Sirius; if you would just let yourself forget the past and heal…you really won’t recognize him.”

Sirius looked away, unable to listen to the sadness in his God-son’s voice. He didn’t want to hurt Harry, he really didn’t…but he could tell that him treating Snape like garbage was not going to help his and Harry’s relationship. And if he wanted the trust back that he had clearly damaged through this ordeal, he was going to have to put his best foot forward and try and at least act civilly around Snape.

“I’m not saying him and I will have the best relationship…” Sirius whispered, dejectedly. “But…I suppose I can be a little more civil to him.”

Harry smiled a small smile; he knew that was about as far as he was going to go at the current moment. And even though that wasn’t where Harry wanted him to be he knew that after a day or two around the cute little toddler upstairs everything would just play out as it should. Harry was a firm believer in that, and if it didn’t happen…he would tell Remus and his past Professor could deal with his stubborn God-father.

“That’s all I ask, Sirius…” he said, wrapping his arms around him. “And that you not call him Snape…he doesn’t like his name.”

Sirius had to refrain from rolling his eyes…he really did…but then again he supposed if his nape was Severus Snape he wouldn’t like it much either. It was a great name to make fun of though, he almost wished Snape had been turned back into a teen…he could relive some of his better pranks. Although he wasn’t sure how much fun they would be in his early thirties.

“So what do I call him? I can’t call him…Sevvy…it makes me want to-

-Sirius…” Harry warned. “Then just call him Severus…Or maybe Sev…but calling him by his last name hurts his feelings.”

“Alright…Severus then…” he pouted. “How long of a nap is he taking?”

Harry shrugged, he wasn’t a parent…he didn’t know how long naps lasted. Maybe an hour or so, he knew that a real long nap so close to the evening wouldn’t be smart. Severus wouldn’t sleep then and when a child didn’t go to bed he was sure they found mischief…at least that was what Harry did at Hogwarts.

“I’m not sure…he looked pretty tired though…we should wake him up when supper is ready.”

Sirius nodded, and watched his God-son…he couldn’t help but feel that he was staring directly at James. His friend also had a gift with children. They all adored him, and he adored them. James had been born to be a father; Sirius more or less didn’t want children of his own. He was much happier borrowing his God-son for a day to spoil and love. And then James and Lily could deal with the repercussions of his coddling later.

“I think Remus is the one making supper…” Sirius said standing as well, and brushing off his pants. “Let’s go see if he needs help.”

“Sounds good to me.” Harry said with a nod.

“Anything with food sounds good.” Sirius winked, draping his arm around his God-son’s shoulder.

“You think Sev will be okay, if he wakes up? Your house can be a bit creepy…” Harry said gently.

Sirius shrugged, if he woke up he was sure the kid would have the common sense to wander downstairs and find someone. After all he could smell Remus’s lamb stew all the way up on the second floor.

“He’ll find his way downstairs, I’m sure.”

OotPOotPOotP

Severus tossed and turned in his new bed, sweaty locks of hair sticking to his pale forehead and his small cries filling the room. He wanted to wake up, he really did! He knew that he was dreaming, his body just kept fighting him and wouldn’t give him the luxury of leaving the horrid depths of his mind. He kept seeing strange things…a man with no nose and slits for eyes…he was pale and looked very slimy looking. He didn’t know what to make of it! And then he saw another man, one with long black hair…and a hooked nose. He looked like Father…a lot like Father. But when he spoke, he didn’t sound like Father at all. He sounded scared, and tired.

Sevvy tried to help him, tried to call his name as the slimy man raised his wand…but no sound left his diaphragm. It was almost like he was frozen, frozen and forced to watch as this Father replica squirmed and begged in pain. Who was he?! Why did he just stand there and let the snake man hurt him?! He had a wand too, he needed to use it! He needed to stop the pain…stop the pain!

“STOP!”

Eyes flying open Severus sat up and began frantically looking around. His chest heaved up and down and his hands clutched the green comforter that he had, somehow, twisted all around his body. His eyes moved from object to object and corner to corner of his room before he dared to try and get out of bed. And with tears in his eyes he began to cry…Harry had left him! That’s why his bad dream had come! If Harry had stayed the dream wouldn’t have been like that, it would have been of him playing with his best friend…or eating chocolate frogs.

What if Harry had left like mummy did? And didn’t want to say goodbye?! He needed to run and try and beat Harry to the door. Pushing the heavy door open he bolted down the steps and stopped after he reached the ground floor…he could hear voices, maybe Mooney was still here and would know where Harry was! Following the voices he tried to wipe his tears away the best he could, before entering the warm kitchen. He could smell food, and although it made his tummy grumble he was far too frantic to ask for any. His eyes scanned and scanned until finally they met up with a pair of emerald orbs.

Tears filling his eyes once more, he raced as fast as he could to Harry and latched around his waist…completely unaware that he had nearly toppled over Sirius and Remus on the way.

“Oi! Watch it Sni-…umm…Sev…”

Severus buried his face in Harry’s stomach and began to cry softly. Harry couldn’t leave him…not without saying goodbye! He needed him to keep his bad dreams away and eat candy with! Harry just could not leave, he was his best and only friend!

“Hey, Sevvy,” Harry cooed, gently. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you have a nice nap?”

“N-No!” the little boy sobbed. “Y-Y-You left me! And…and…I…I had a nightmare!”

Harry immediately felt guilty; he should have stayed upstairs with Sevvy until his nap was over. This house was new to him, and no doubt didn’t help him calm down when he woke scared out of his mind. Pulling Sevvy up onto his lap he held him close to him and shushed him gently. He knew how awful it was to wake up after a bad dream and have no one there to make it better. He didn’t want Severus to feel that way.

“Shh…it’s okay…” Harry cooed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Severus shook his head, his sobs slowly turning into cute hiccups. He really wanted to forget what he had saw, he wanted to forget all of it and just move on with the evening. It would go away and soon the dream would be nothing more than a memory. He didn’t know what the point had been of it to begin with; he had never even seen either of those men before. Surely the dream had to be brought on by something else, maybe when they were walking from Hogwarts he saw a teacher that looked like them…maybe that was it.

Looking up at Harry he sniffled and swiped at his cheeks, hoping to remove any evidence of his tears he had. He really hated crying in front of people, but sometimes it just happened. He couldn’t always help it, but usually he could sense when he was about to cry. His chin would quiver and usually the corners of his eyes would start to burn and itch. And when he was aware that the waterworks were about to begin, he would excuse himself to the bathroom…or his own bedroom…just somewhere no one could see him.

“Are you hungry, Severus?” Albus said from the other end of the table. “I think Remus has supper ready.”

Severus sniffled and glanced up from Harry’s chest. He was hungry, his tummy had been growling all day. And whatever it was Remus had been making smelled absolutely wonderful. He wasn’t sure how much he would get, but even a spoonful would be nice.

“I am…it smells really nice, Mooney.”

Remus smiled and gently ruffled Severus’s hair.

“Why thank you Sev,  we need to get some meat on those bones.”

Severus cocked his head…they wanted to make him bigger? He felt like he was a pretty big boy, compared to some little kids his age. But he supposed compared to Remus and all the other adults that more muscle would be a good idea.

“Okay, Mooney,” he said with a nod. “Can I help?”

“Would you?” he beamed.

Remus smiled and pulled Severus up into his arms. He really was far too light…even at four he felt that Severus should weigh more then what he did. Taking him to the stove, he pulled a wooden spoon from the counter and brought a small amount of the warm liquid up from the pot. He blew gently, sending a small cloud of steam in the opposite direction.

“Severus, would you be my official taste tester?”

Severus smiled.

“It is a job that one cannot take lightly! An important job that I can only entrust you with.”

“I can do it, Mooney!” the little raven hair boy laughed. “See? Ahhh!”

Opening his mouth he waited for Remus to tip the spoon back into his mouth, and when he did he closed his eyes with happiness. It was so good that his tummy growled even louder. If this was how Remus cooked he never wanted to eat anything else again. It was so yummy that Severus even licked the spoon before Remus took it back.

“How is it Sev?”

“Life changing…” the little boy said softly. “Can I have more?”