"What did they say?" McGonagall asked Dumbledore as they sat in his office, sipping tea and looking very grave and worried.

"They acknowledged the fact that they had sent the boy to the orphanage and said that they couldn't deal with him and that they already have a child to care for. Mr Dursley went rather rude once but I suppose what is done is done," Dumbledore sighed. He had been pretty badly shocked when his wonderful plan to leave Harry with his relatives and keep him safe had failed. It had been like a punch on the face.

"I'm worried about Severus and Harry. It doesn't seem right at all. I can't believe you let him adopt the boy. I would never have believed it,"

"I am worried too," Dumbledore admitted. "I suppose we can visit him to check how things are going. I just hope they are fine."

XXXXX

The sun crept up the window and Harry began crying again. He was rather hungry and he hated that he was all alone in a small and scary room. He started whining a little.

In a while, the tall, dark-haired man came in, looking grumpy.

"Stop that racket," he ordered. "I'm here," He picked the boy up and took him out of the room.

"Mmmm, unhh..." Harry wailed, leaning his head on Snape's shoulder. "Gagaga..."

They soon entered a small kitchen, which was dismal too. Dark and old, and awful-looking.

The man sat him on a high chair with a red cover and Harry wiggled his legs. "Oo," he pouted. He wondered why he was here. Where were his parents? Who was this new man?

Snape gave the baby some porridge and an old sippy cup filled with milk. He sat at the table, hiding himself behind the newspaper and pretending to read.

Harry picked up the spoon, warily. "Oogway," he mumbled. "Bilkeb oofff..."

"Do not talk while you're eating,"

Harry looked at the tall, dark-haired man confusedly.

He tried to eat, but his hand was a little wobbly. Snape glared at him. "Are you complaining about the food? Spoilt already, are you?"

"Unnhhh," Harry began crying in frustration. Snape put down the newspaper in a temper and strode to the high-chair.

Harry reached out his little arms.

Snape picked him up impatiently, and Harry buried his face into the shoulder, crying quietly.

Snape groaned. He did not want to comfort the Brat-Who-Lived but he was forced to. He had to sit in his chair and rock him gently.

Harry gave a surprised little squeal at this and Snape felt him resting his head comfortably on his chest. His disgust grew when Harry gripped his robes and murmured. "Ooo gagagaga...Lalala, mama..." Then he fell quiet, rubbing his face on Snape's chest.

His voice was sickeningly sweet and Snape held him back, warily.

"Uhh?" Harry looked disappointed.

"Enough crying. It's time to eat," Snape decided. He put Harry back on the high chair and helped him hold the spoon and watched him sternly as he tried to eat. Harry ate a few spoonfuls and then drank the whole cup of milk. He was full.

"What?" Snape demanded, his voice harsh. "How dare you waste food,"

Harry's lip shook and tears coursed through his cheeks. "Waaaa...Nooo..."

"That's it." Snape growled. "Back to bed with you. If you can't be grateful for food then you don't deserve anything." He carried Harry back to his bedroom and the boy began whining. "Muma...No no no...Gagagaga..."

Snape put him in the crib and Harry curled into a ball. "Mamamamaa," he protested, more tears coming. "Noooo!"

Snape could do nothing but glower and threaten and then go to his own bedroom to rest. Harry sniffed, miserably. Why was this man being so mean?

XXXXX

"WAAAAA!" Harry sobbed and sobbed. He had been sobbing for the better part of ten minutes and his mama was not coming at all. She was not swooping in, with her soft, dark red hair and hugging him or laughing at him sweetly.

The person who did come was the tall, dark-haired man who burst into the room a few moments later, looking so angry that he cried even more.

Snape scooped him up, scolding him. "What do you want? Crying and crying all the time. Spoilt boy, just like his uppity father. I've had enough,"

He held the baby and rocked him fiercely, snarling and growling and Harry felt slightly at ease, even with the scary sounds and aggressive rocking. At least someone was paying attention to him. He once again leaned against the man's chest, loving the little comfort he got. "Ooo...Dada?" He inquired.

Snape froze. "What?"

"Dada? Dadadadada!" Harry murmured, trying to wrap his arms around the neck.

"I am not your father. The mere thought is repulsive," Snape frowned, his face full of hatred. It was so repulsing to him that he put Harry right back in the cot in disgust and saw the boy stare in wonder at him. "Dada? Nooo-sohwwy!"

He held out his hands pleadingly, wanting to be rocked to sleep-rocked to sleep on the rocking chair in the family room. But there was no rocking chair in the house-no family room, and no 'dada.'

Harry cried with all his might but the tall, dark-haired man did not touch him. He backed out of the room, looking angry but guilty, and then disappeared.

Harry didn't even have a toy for comfort.

XXXXX

When the cries grew too loud, Snape was forced to snatch up the baby, seat himself outside the bedroom, in the living room, and rock the boy on the sofa.

His ears were throbbing with the noise and he regretted adopting the baby. The noise had nearly drove him mad. But then Harry began to quieten down, leaning against his shoulder and sniffling.

A while passed. The boy murmured in his own baby language and Snape listened to it quietly. The feel of the warm body in his arms was vaguely comforting and the babble was sweet and innocent. The face of the boy pressed towards him made him feel more mature for a second and the tiny hands that gripped his collar made him want to push them off and let them stay at the same time.

He didn't know when his eyes began to get heavy with tiredness as he felt Harry giving a sigh and snuggling up closer. He didn't know when he fell asleep and Harry fell asleep too, in his arms. And as the tear-stained cheeked boy slumbered, apparently comfy, his adoptive father slumbered too, without realising what he had just done.

XXXXX

Dumbledore and Minerva stood outside the door of the ill-kept, small house. No one seemed to be answering their knocks and they were getting rather concerned.

Minerva sniffed at the house, her eye-brows raised. "It's not in very good shape, is it?"

Dumbledore didn't reply. With a quick Alohomora when he grew impatient of waiting, he entered the dark, gloomy house. He could hear nothing. What could have happened?

"I'm worried, Dumbledore," Minerva stated. "Merlin knows where they are."

"They'll be here somewhere," Dumbledore tried to sound reassuring but doubt hung in his heart.

"Where?" McGonagall asked, anxiously. "For all we know, they might not even be here at all. No one answered the door and we had to come in by ourselves after all. I do wonder-oh!"

They had entered the living room and were staring, their feet frozen to the ground, at the spectacle on the sofa.

Severus Snape was sitting on it-a baby sleeping in his arms-and he was asleep too! Simply astonishing!

Dumbledore couldn't help smiling. "Severus?"

"Unbelievable," McGonagall tutted, shaking her head. "I don't believe it."

Their voices made Snape stir and he shifted a little. The obsidian eyes fluttered open and suddenly Snape sat up rigidly. He watched in horror at the two unexpected guests. "What in the world are you both doing here?" He demanded.

McGonagall folded her arms indignantly, but Dumbledore smiled. "The door would not open so we came in ourselves,"

Snape hurriedly pushed Harry off himself and laid him on the sofa where the boy remained sleeping, a fist in his mouth.

"He was wailing loudly and nothing I could do was stopping him." Snape scowled as if answering a question they asked.

"I understand," Dumbledore smiled. "Please show me Harry, Severus,"

Snape scowled again, looking very bad-tempered.

He pushed Harry to a sitting position roughly and handed him to Dumbledore. McGonagall gave him an outraged look and Snape tried his best not to notice it.

Harry looked sleepily at the old man, confused, awoken by the sudden shoving movement. He rubbed his slightly sore arms which had just been pulled up by Snape. "Nuh nuh nuh," Harry mumbled, yawning.

Snape meanwhile, summoned up some tea for his guests. McGonagall proceeded to interrogate him, after sipping the cup gingerly. "Does Harry have a room or does he sleep in your room?"

"I tried to make a bedroom for him," Snape said carelessly, pointing to a door in the corner with his hand, "He sleeps there,"

"What are you feeding him, then?"

"I don't have a clear idea what children eat. I gave him some porridge this morning. And then I give him milk from time to time,"

McGonagall didn't look very convinced. "He has his own crib, doesn't he? And a few toys incase he gets bored?"

Snape looked annoyed. "Of course he has a crib, Minerva! Where is he supposed to sleep, on the floor? And under no circumstances am I buying toys for him. I won't have him growing up spoilt."

McGonagall looked at him as if he were quite mad and even Dumbledore stopped playing with Harry (who was tugging his beard, curiously and half-sleepily) and looked at Snape with wide eyes.

"Spoilt?" McGonagall demanded. "Severus, are you in your right mind?"

"I don't understand," Snape felt himself flushing. He had never had toys as a child. He would read books or play at the nearby park.

"Children need toys! How will Harry grow up?" McGonagall cried.

"Toys are important for a child's upbringing." Dumbledore cut through Minerva's soon-to-start rant quickly. "You don't need to buy much, though. Maybe a stuffed toy or two. A rattle. That should be enough,"

Snape looked sour, as if he had swallowed a lemon. "Right." he muttered. "And I'm supposed to find stuffed toys and rattles where?"

"A store, obviously," McGonagall said, sharply.

Snape was about to retort rather sarcastically, when Dumbledore cut through. "There may be a nearby department store. You can buy a few clothes for Harry and a few toys."

"I-I-" Snape began in tones of outrage but then Harry cried out, sadly. "Mama!"

"Hush, hush Harry," Minerva cried as she grabbed Harry from Dumbledore and rocked him. "Oh, poor boy!"

"Waaa," Harry sniffed, not stopping at all. The cries increased and grew louder and more insistent.

"Give him to Severus. Perhaps he'll be able to calm him down," Dumbledore suggested.

Snape sneered. "Honestly, Dumbledore, you hope for too much,"

But when Minerva reluctantly gave Harry to Snape, Harry stared up at the slightly familiar face and sniffled.

"Mama..." He cried, burying his head into the robes, hoping this man would take him to her. "Mama..."

Snape glowered down at him, looking repulsed, but the boy had stopped shouting now. He just cried his grief quietly.

Harry grabbed Snape's black robes with both of his fists and pushed it close to his face.

Dumbledore smiled at the two of them. "If I wasn't seeing it I wouldn't have believed it,"

XXXXX

Severus Snape refused to go to any store. He was not a Muggle. Nor was he the servant of the precious Boy-Who-Lived. Plus he didn't care a bit.

Who cared if Harry was bored? The baby did nothing but cry and that should be pastime enough. Snape watched Harry stare at the walls of his room, his lip sticking out, tears in the green eyes. He did nothing. Just stared. And sometimes whined for his mother or father-but that was it. It was getting on Snape's nerves. Snape kept telling himself he didn't need to bother with that brat of a boy. But looking at him so blank and lonely made him feel a little guilty inside.

After hours of the silence (Dumbledore and Minerva had left), Snape went to check on Harry.

He peeped through the door, his eyes narrowed. "Brat," he growled, watching Harry stare down at his little feet, sniffling.

Harry looked up, looking a little hopeful. But when Snape did not move towards him, he stared back down at his feet, looking listless and depressed.

That made Snape's blood boil with irritation. A few minutes later and Severus Snape decided to go to the store.

"I had to go to the store eventually anyway," Snape told himself. "I'm not doing this to cheer the brat up. Of course I'm not,"

As he threw on his long travelling coat, Snape went into Harry's room. "I'll be up at the market, Potter. Go to sleep and don't call for me,"

Harry stared up at him. "Ooo," he raised his arms. "Ooooo..."

"No, you're staying here."

"Ooo," Harry wanted to snuggle again into the robes. Maybe he could convince the man to take him to his family and real home.

"That's enough. Goodbye, Potter,"

"Nuh! Da! Bilekfahsusnom!"

Snape backed away, warily. Babies could be awfully influential. The look Harry was giving was making him rather angry yet making his resolve crumble.

"Disobedient brat! Silence!" Snape ordered.

"Nonono!"

At the end, Harry was shrieking loudly without stopping and Snape was forced to pick him up again. He was certain that Harry did not even know that he was going to the super store, and was just making a fuss to get attention. Snape contemplated on spanking him when he got out of hand but then he realised that the boy was just a baby. And besides, he was Lily's son. He couldn't hurt him physically.

Snape wouldn't have liked to have beaten any child, in truth. But Potter was a special case. He was almost as bad as his father.

Harry clawed at Snape's pale face, looking very angry. "No go! Bad, bad!"

"Excuse me?" Snape looked deadly.

"No, gagoi. No! Wai mama! Hawwy wiv mama!"

Snape was about to say what he had said last night. About how it was the boy's own fault that he had lost his mother. Something about how his birth was a trouble to every one and that it was a mercy that he wasn't slapping him bloody for screaming so loudly.

But he didn't. The boy had suffered through enough. There were darks circles under the eyes and Harry was looking awful and sickly. Snape took him to the store with him and Harry clung on, looking around. Was this man taking him to his mama? He clung on tighter and soon saw some people passing by on the street. Harry felt safe in the man's presence. He squirmed to find the most comfortable spot on Snape's shoulder.

Snape held Harry tighter to himself with one hand.

"Stop squirming. Or I'll take you back home and lock you in your room, you arrogant, incorrigible brat,"

"Mmmmm," Harry responded.

When they approached the store, it was dismal and had very few people in it. It was the only store close to Spinner's End and was of bad quality. But it sold a variety of things. Snape was very happy with this.

His mother used to come shopping here.

He bought a few clothes for Harry; black and grey shirts and tiny trousers. He bought a stuffed serpent (Very Slytherin. Snape approved.) and an ugly-patterned rattle. He also saw lots of blocks and crayons but loathed them on first sight.

Blocks were not for silly babies like Potter and he didn't want Harry crayoning all over the walls. But Snape bought a tiny stuffed owl toy. It would amuse Harry and stop him from shrieking all the time.

Snape also bought some grocery for Harry and for the house and then went back home. That was certainly enough fun for one day.