"Potter."

Snape was desperate. He wanted Harry to talk to him, he wanted the baby to start acting all cute and cuddly again-but Harry wouldn't budge.

Snape attempted to pick him up but Harry squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance.

"I didn't mean to lock you in for so long." Snape wished that Harry could understand what he was saying. It was very annoying talking to a baby. Babies couldn't understand what you meant-heck, they didn't even know what they meant.

"I'm sorry." The minute Snape said these words, he was shocked. Was he actually apologizing to Potter's son?

Harry looked up at him, eye-brows raised. Tears had filled those startlingly green eyes and Snape persisted: "You can't go on a huff with me. I adopted you, I gave you a place to stay. Do Potters have no gratitude at all?"

When Harry did not respond, Snape felt discouraged. And then, Harry suddenly squeaked out: "Play wiv Hawwy?"

Snape flinched. What in the world? He couldn't have heard right.

Harry was looking hopeful, the same look the baby had had before, whenever Snape had entered his room.

"What do you want to play?"

"Play."

"What do you want to play, Potter?"

"Play wiv Hawwy?"

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and set the boy down on the carpet. They had been in Harry's room.

Harry wiggled his legs and pointed at the Lego box lying on the carpet.

"Alright. Let's build, eh Potter?" Snape settled down beside him, careful not to be too friendly with the brat.

Harry nodded quietly. He still looked rather depressed but he reached out for the box and tore off a piece of cardboard.

He giggled and threw the piece into the air. It floated for a while and then fell down on the floor, lying completely still.

"Take the blocks out, then." Snape urged.

Harry took out a single block and smiled to himself as he threw it into the air. The block fell to the ground with a light thump and Harry crawled towards it, giggling.

Dumbledore was an idiot. Harry didn't like building at all. He just wanted to fool around with the blocks. Snape didn't see how playing was constructive to Harry in any way. In fact, the boy was probably going to learn how to throw things around. And it would all be Dumbledore's fault for giving him ridiculous ideas in the first place.

"No, bad boy." Snape chided as Harry threw the block at him and then crawled towards him to get it back. The baby crawled into his lap but Snape snatched the block away. "Let me teach you," the man said, dourly. He emptied the box onto the carpet, blocks flying everywhere.

Harry clapped wildly, looking surprised. "Yay!"

"No, no, stop it. Stay still and watch, Potter." Snape said. He began to put blocks together, until he had made a kind of roof-less house.

Harry watched him work, enchanted.

In spite of himself, Snape build more and more, not very adept, but focused on his task. After a while, he looked with a satisfied expression at what he had made.

"There. Looks like Hogwarts. That is how we play, Potter,"

Harry clapped. "Eee!"

Snape felt proud of himself. "Why don't you try now?"

XxxxX

Snape didn't know what had gotten into him. Maybe he had drunk too much wine-either way, he was telling Harry about his mother, completely aware that the baby couldn't understand a word he was uttering.

But it was friendly, and the air was calm. And as he went on and on, Harry stared up at him in curious interest, and he felt lighter.

"You don't look a bit like her-she had red hair and green eyes. We used to do our Potion assignments together, we used to do everything together. At Hogwarts, we would sit by the lake and we would talk. Everything would be wonderful. We would go to Hogsmeade together, too," here his tone became hard. It was like he had had another sudden mood swing. Snape was very unpredictable in this way, and Harry was startled by the way the man could get angry in seconds. One second he would be all kind and soft and the next he would be shouting and hissing. "And then your dear father came along, hexing me out of the way and flirting with her. She always defended me, until I lashed out at her and everything was over. I know she would have forgiven me if your father wouldn't have convinced her and said false things to her about me behind my back-I know she would have forgiven me. She would have married me and I would have kept her happy and safe. You wouldn't have been here, you wouldn't have existed."

Harry whimpered and reached out a hand to Snape. The child was sitting on the sofa and Snape was sitting a little far apart from him.

"What do you want, brat?" Snape eyed the chubby hand.

"Evvu," Harry said.

Ah. Time to change that nickname. "Professor Snape," Snape pointed at himself. "Say it, Potter. Professor Snape,"

Harry stared at him, not saying a word. Then, after a few seconds, he blurted: "fflrrbtt!"

"No!" Snape said, sharply. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Say 'Snape', then," he amended. That was easier to pronounce, wasn't it?

"Ssss!"

"Snape,"

"Lalala!"

"No, Potter. Snape,"

"Nape!"

"Close enough,"

"Evvu!" Harry laughed and clapped his hands. "Play wiv Evvu!"

Snape's temper was rising rapidly by this point.

"Severus," he tried again, reluctantly. "My name is Severus,"

XxxxX

Snape was christened "Evrus" that day. And it sounded quite a lot like his name, so Snape did not mind.

It had taken a lot of time making Harry stick to it and then Harry had cuddled up in his lap and fallen asleep.

Snape despised the boy even more when he slept. The green eyes were shut and Snape couldn't see any trace of Lily anymore. He just looked like a mini-James, eyes shut and mouth open as he breathed...

XxxxX

Severus and Dumbledore were talking through the fire in Snape's study.

"...he is fine," Snape was saying.

"If there are any problems concerning Harry, please notify me Severus," Dumbledore said, urgently.

"Do not worry, Headmaster," Snape said. "He is fine,"

"Severus...you are coping, aren't you? I don't want Harry hurt."

A crease appeared between Snape's dark eyes. Dumbledore felt suddenly disturbed.

Severus was in a nearly psychotic state these days-so blinded was he by hatred and love and confusion, that he had grown unpredictable and dangerous. His emotions were running wild and the man was barely able to keep a civil conversation without lashing out or breaking down. Dumbledore wanted the calm, quiet and controlled Snape back. It hurt him to see the man like this.

"Hurt?" Snape's voice was soft, challenging. "You think I will hurt the boy, Dumbledore?"

"That was not my meaning."

Snape looked furious and a little mad. "I could hurt him, however, take my revenge, but I'm not going to! Can't you see? I'm trying, Dumbledore, I really am-I would never hit him, but as he screams and disobeys, the temptation grows-" here Snape stopped and smirked slightly. "But I stop myself. You may think that I am an abusive man like Potter, but I am not. I am...n..." Snape stopped talking and breathed out heavily, trying to calm himself.

"Severus?" Dumbledore looked frightened. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, I'm fine,"

"You need rest, you need to calm down. Don't over-work yourself, please. Harry is just a baby, he needs our help. Don't harbor such feelings towards-"

"I can hear him cry," Snape said. He was not lying, but he also wanted to end the conversation.

Dumbledore could also hear the baby's cries at his end. "We will talk later," the old man said.

"As you wish," Snape replied, in a low voice. He felt dizzy.

As Snape walked to Harry's room, the walls began to swirl around him. Maybe he had drunk too much...That was most peculiar for him...he never got drunk...

Snape panted for breath and suddenly stopped, groping at the wall. He took out a vial of potion from his robes. He drank it in one gulp and things began to get steadily clearer. It was an anti-migraine draught.

"Evrus!"

"I'm...coming..." Snape staggered to Harry's room. He saw the boy staring at him through the crib railings. Harry raised his arms. The baby seemed to be defocusing...seemed to be tilting left, then right...

Snape shook his head and went to Harry and picked him up. "What is it now?" The man slurred slightly, his drawl getting even more intense.

"Goooiii," Harry buried his head into Snape's shoulder.

Snape felt weak at his knees. What was wrong with him? He went to the living room and collapsed on the sofa, barely conscious. Why wasn't the potion working? He could have sworn he had only drunk two glasses of wine...

Hopefully the wine had not been too old...

Snape began to droop on the sofa, looking tired and unresponsive.

Harry began crying in sympathy and as a teardrop hit his palm, Snape suddenly came back to reality.

"Hush, I'm fine. Why are you crying?" he said. He cradled the boy, unsure of what he was doing. Was he really cradling Potter's son?

"Mama!"

"I'll tell you more about her," Snape blinked. He shouldn't be chatting with babies. It wasn't normal.

But it soothed Harry to hear him talk in those calm tones, so he went on. "Well...She...she was...very good at Charms..." Snape closed his eyes and then opened them. He saw Harry staring up at him with interest. Harry reached out for his mouth, fascinated by the way his lips worked.

"Evrus," Harry said, feeling cosy.

"Your-your father once cursed my broomstick. I was going to ride it. But I fell off, and he laughed and it was only until later did I find out that he was the one who had jinxed it. It was my first-year and I hated him ever since. Your mother hated him too. But he hoodwinked her, stole her away...And she fell for him, and...and she left me..." Snape sighed. "But you...you have her eyes," he looked down at Harry again.

"Mama!" Harry nodded, grinning. "Lovey mama!"

"Yes," Snape felt so sleepy that he wanted to skip dinner and fall on his bed. Fall on his bed, all alone. Sometimes he felt frustrated by his loneliness. Maybe it was a good thing that he sometimes had Harry for company.

He wasn't very hungry, anyway. So he fed Harry a bottle, and tucked him in bed. When he went to his own bedroom, he fell asleep fairly quickly. He quite liked talking to Harry if Lily was the subject. That was the only time when the boy seemed only half as bad. The only time he felt calmer...Snape fell asleep at once, and as he slept, a storm started outside and the rain pattered down on the window.

The thunder crackled and Harry jumped, crying quietly.

It was a depressing night for both of them. Plenty depressing nights would surely follow.