Dumbledore visited them again, and this time he brought quite a different type of present.

When Snape brought Harry to Dumbledore, the old man made the baby sit on his lap as he opened up a brown leather-bound book. It was evidently an album.

Snape went to the kitchen to get some tea made. When he came back, he saw Dumbledore and Harry laughing down at the album, Harry very enthusiastic.

Snape assumed that the album was a picture book of some sort. It was only when he had sat down on the sofa, did he see what they were looking at:

James and Lily were smiling happily at the camera. Lily was leaning against James' chest and Harry was in her arms, smiling cutely. The present Harry's eyes were filled with tears as he stared down at the photo. He kept fingering it, mumbling "Mama, dada..." under his breath.

Snape felt as if he had been hit with a club. It was like an electric shock seeing Lily and Potter so happy together. He wanted to grab the album and throw it away, but he was frozen stiff. His eyes were glued to the beautiful woman laughing at her son and the man he hated holding her close.

"Mama!" Harry squealed again. He oohed at the picture some more before Dumbledore turned the page and showed him a picture of his parent's wedding. This was enough to wound Snape up. He got off the sofa and stormed into the kitchen, heart thumping. When he reached the sink, he took deep breaths to calm down.

It was all a mistake, Lily couldn't have been happy with Potter, she couldn't.

Snape hated Dumbledore for bringing the album. He hated Harry for being Potter's son. He hated Potter for existing. Maybe he even hated Lily for doing this to him.

Snape return to the living room until Dumbledore came up to him, a worried expression on his face.

"What happened to you yesterday?" Dumbledore asked.

"I wasn't drunk," Snape snapped defensively.

"I find that easy to believe as you hardly drink. But something did happen, didn't it?"

"I'm not sure what," Snape said.

"It was a spell, Severus. A dizzy spell," Dumbledore said. "I remembered the symptoms and realised later,"

"What are you talking about?"

Dumbledore waved his wand in a few complicated movements and then stopped. "Yes, it is a dizzy spell. Cast on you by an adult..."

No wonder the anti-migraine potion hadn't helped!

"There is no one in the house but Potter and me," Snape was getting anxious.

"Maybe there was somebody outside?" Dumbledore knitted his brows.

"I thought this was a Muggle neighbourhood," Snape said. "Why would anyone cast a dizzying spell on me anyway?"

"That is curious...Did you go outside before you came to the fire to talk to me?"

"Yes, to bring Potter's rattle which he had left outside. I thought I heard some scuffling, but it was obviously just a stray cat...or so I thought."

"The question still remains as to why did that person-if there even was one-cast a spell on you-" Dumbledore mused.

He was interrupted by Harry crawling into the room, holding a torn page in his hand. A picture of him playing with his parents was visible, but Snape wasn't thinking much about the Lily-Potter business anymore. He was thinking about who (if there even was a who) had cast that spell on him-making him so dizzy that even the potion hadn't helped...

XXXXX

Snape was still wondering about it when he fed Harry his supper. When he took the boy to his room, after eating, Harry suddenly cried out: "Evrus! Mama!"

The baby waved his arms about in a gesturing fashion, looking dreamy, "Mama!"

Snape put Harry down in his cot, still wondering about who had sent that dizzy spell his way.

Harry suddenly cried out: "MAMA!", jarring through Snape's thoughts. From somewhere, sudden anger burst out from Snape.

"Will you just shut up! Everything is all your fault and you never cease to be a bother!"

There was a shocked silence. Harry stared at him silently. Tears smarted in his eyes but the baby simply curled himself into a ball and sniffled. Then he began whimpering and hiding himself from view.

Snape felt hollow. "I hate you," he said hoarsely. He did, he did. He hated Harry more than anything-the cause of his troubles, the root of all the perils in his life.

He left the room and went to his own, sitting down on his bed and holding his head. After a while, he calmed down. Oh, why had he said it to Potter? Harry was just a baby. Why couldn't he control his anger?

He felt so unstable these days, a mechanical circuit programmed to explode every few seconds. He felt nearly insane. He needed to make amends. He couldn't do this anymore.

Snape went back to Harry's room and wordlessly picked up the baby from the cot. He conjured up a chair and sat down, pulling Harry close. Harry whimpered and struggled in his hold.

"I didn't mean that. I don't hate you. Not as much as I did," Snape said, softly. "You're just a child."

Just admitting that he did not hate Potter as much as he used to before, calmed Snape down. A lot of problems were arising, including the dizzy spell one, but he would face them all. He just had to stay calm and stable and not pop.

"Evrus!" Harry squeaked, now burrowing closer. He forgave so readily that it hurt Severus's heart.

Snape let him do all the burrowing he wanted.