“How is he doing, Severus?” Albus asked, removing another lemon drop from one of his many candy jars on his desk.
“He is not well, Albus. You know this,” Severus sighed, rubbing his hand over his mouth.
It had been a horrendously long night; neither he nor Poppy had gotten any sleep until Julian’s nausea had finally subsided. Unfortunately, the boy’s magical reserves had also dropped significantly as his body attempted to repair the damage done by the prolonged episode and the stomach acid racing up and down his esophagus. Once Julian was asleep, they had run a new formulation of nutrient potion through his tube which contained a much higher sugar content in hopes of helping his core recover faster. By the time the nutrient potion had finished running and they were starting to see improvements in his magical levels, the sun had already risen.
Severus was on the verge of falling asleep when a note from Albus appeared in his lap stating they needed to speak. The only reason he made it to the headmaster’s office was the four cups of strong coffee he had asked the house elves for.
Albus nodded, “I understand. But there is a problem. A wellness check was performed by the muggle police on the Dursley’s house. Apparently Julian’s physicians are concerned about his wear-abouts.”
Severus sighed. This was problematic. Muggles didn’t like magical healing practices. In the past they had been seen as devil-worship. Now, however, they were seen as pseudoscience. The few muggle doctors who had seen magical healing had believed they were witnessing either a religious act or that potions were simply herbal supplements.
Complicating Julian’s case was the fact he was no longer human. Getting him healthy was requiring knowledge of magical creatures, magical anatomy and physiology, and magical core creation and interactions.
“Petunia told them she had sent him away to live with another guardian. She mentioned your name. The Cokeworth Police Department was notified and will be doing their own wellness check. They also notified the doctor in question and he stated he was highly concerned for the child’s welfare.”
Shit. That house was in no way fit for a child to live there, let alone one as ill as Julian. Muggle police didn’t bother him, but if any news of Harry Potter being abducted or living with him reached the muggle news it was only a matter of time for magical news sources to pick up on the story. And Julian wasn’t ready for the fall out of that.
This had to be nipped in the bud immediately.
“How long do we have?” Severus asked tiredly. “That house is in no shape to keep a child in at the moment, let alone a sickly one.”
“The police should be arriving within the next two hours. I’ve already sent several house-elves, including the one assigned to your personal quarters and the hospital wing room, to make it presentable but also look lived in and suiting your needs.”
Severus sighed. It would have to do. The police would undoubtedly want to see the boy, which unfortunately would mean moving him. Which presented a problem: Spinner’s End was not attached to the floo network. At least he was now stable enough for apparation, which would hopefully not upset his stomach as much as other forms of transport. Hopefully.
Two hours. Probably less.
He was going to need more coffee.
“Julian, I’m sorry to wake you up, but we need leave. Immediately.”
Julian blearily blinked his eyes and grabbed his glasses off the bookshelf. As he was putting them on, he suddenly found himself wearing a jumper and long trousers as opposed to his nightclothes and was being handed a pair of thick socks. Clumsily he pulled them on trying to wrap his brain around what was happening.
“Where?” he tried to say, though it came out as more of a whisper. His throat was still raw from all the vomiting the night before. At least the burning in his chest had subsided to a low flame.
“We have to go to my house in Cokeworth. Apparently one of your physicians called for a wellness check on you and your aunt thought it prudent to tell the police my name and address,” Severus sneered before handing Julian a small tin of cream. “Rub this on any exposed skin, it’s just a simple suncream.”
Julian took the cream and rubbed it everywhere he could think would be exposed.
“Why? Couldn’t you just make them forget about seeing me or make them lie and say I was fine?”
Severus shuddered slightly at the implications of both. He needed to have a talk with Julian about the Unforgivables and Dark Magic soon. As a dark creature, Julian would be more prone to the addiction to Dark Magic Severus himself had suffered from. It was a terrible addiction, leaving you wanting more and more of the feelings of power but requiring you to commit terrible acts to achieve it.
But that was a conversation for another day. Right now, they had to get to Spinner’s End.
“Two reasons. One, we need Harry Potter to be alive and well in the Muggle world at least until school starts. The students have already seen you with me and have likely told their families that I had a child with me. We need Julian Snape and Harry Potter to exist in their minds at the same time in order for you to continue to hide safely. Two, we may need access to your muggle physicians in the future to help maintain your feeding tube.”
Severus handed the boy his cloak before quickly picking him up sans shoes and quickly walking towards the hospital wing exit. He never thought he’d be thankful Julian hadn’t gained much weight.
“Hey! I can walk now, you know!” Julian protested, squirming slightly. “Dad! Stop! Put me down!”
Severus stopped quickly and almost dropped the boy.
“What did you call me?” he asked, trying to make sure he heard him correctly. Had Potter’s son just called him that? Lily’s son?
“Sorry, sir,” Julian said, bowing his head. “Can you put me down?”
“Julian, I’m not angry. Just surprised,” Severus said gently before continuing to quickly stride towards the exit. “But no, we have to leave the castle grounds in order to apparate. It is quite a ways from the castle and while I do know you are able to walk, this would be pushing the limits of your current endurance even if you had gotten a full night’s rest and we need to move quickly.”
Julian blushed a light pink before relaxing slightly into the potion’s master’s arms. His father’s arms. That felt strange to think.
As soon as they reached the nearest door to the outside, Severus reached down and threw the hood of Julian’s cloak over the boy’s… his son’s… head and spelled a sun resistance charm on to the cloak before striding into the sunlight. Instantly, he felt Julian grab him tighten.
He strode quickly towards the edge of the wards, trying to ignore the boneyness of the child he was carrying. Finally reaching the edge of the wards, he went to set the boy down, only to find Julian was latched onto him and was now refusing to let go.
“Julian, I cannot apparate while holding you. I need you to stand next to me.”
Julian only tightened his grip and buried his head in his robes mumbling something.
“Julian, I can’t hear you when you do that. Now please, I need you standing next to me.”
As Severus tried to extricate himself from Julian’s grasp, he noticed something. The boy was shaking. It was minute, but it was definitely there. One look under the hood at the boy’s face and Severus knew why. Julian was terrified.
“What’s wrong, child?” he asked quietly.
“I can’t see. It’s too bright out, I can’t see!”
“What do you mean?” Severus asked, trying to look at the child’s eyes. He knew Julian was wearing his glasses, but why couldn’t he see?
“It’s really hard to see in bright lights. Don’t put me down, sir. Please. I can’t follow you!”
Severus sighed. Of course. Vampires are nocturnal. He was fairly certain if he checked the boy’s eyes, they would have the same reflectiveness to them that a cat’s eye or a dog’s eye would have. The vampiric distaste for the day was making much more sense now.
“Julian, I need you on the ground holding my hand. I will not let go of you. You will not get lost.”
Slowly, the boy extricated himself from Severus’s robes and allowed himself to be lowered to the ground while making sure to keep his hands on his father’s robes. Severus gently detached a hand from his sleeve and took it in his left hand.
“Alright, Julian. On the count of three I need you to take a step back with your left foot. Just one step, ok?”
Julian nodded shakily, swallowing his nerves and the bile threatening to rise up once more. One step, that’s all it was. Left foot.
“One.”
Left foot. Or was it right?
“Two.”
Definitely left.
“Three.”
Julian closed his eyes, stepped backwards, and immediately felt a slight spin and felt as though he were being sucked through a straw. It pushed all of the air out of his lungs and it felt as though his bones were going to snap. The sensation lasted only a fraction of a second, thankfully.
Opening his eyes, he found the sky to be much more overcast and he was able to see slightly better, though things were still quite washed out and muddled at a distance.
“Welcome to Cokeworth. More specifically, Spinner’s End.”
Julian would have said something about how the house looked nice or how he rather liked the old terrace houses, however as soon as he opened his mouth to say anything he immediately vomited.
Severus wasn’t surprised by this. Apparation was hard on the stomach for most inexperienced wizards, but it was much quicker to recover from than the dizzying effects of the floo or the pulling and spinning sensations of a Portkey.
“Sorry, sir,” Julian said, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Didn’t expect that.”
Severus flicked his wand and spelled the sleeve clean, “Come, let’s go inside. I need to see what Dumbledore has done to my house.”
Slowly, they made their way inside with Julian struggling only with the stairs to the front door. Upon opening said door, Severus was surprised to find his belongings had been left mostly intact with only a few obvious additions such as an extra muggle coat by the door and a pair of child’s size shoes by the door.
Julian was surprised at how quaint the house was. It wasn’t large by any stretch of the imagination and the wallpaper was peeling in places, but it was easy to see himself growing up and living in a house such as this.
As Severus led him through the house, he found it more and more to his liking. The living room was more of a library or study and had no TV. The kitchen was small with poorly hung cabinets and had a dining table shoved against one wall and partially covered with more books with two chairs arranged rather haphazardly against it. There was also a door to a back garden, however he couldn’t see out of the window to actually view the garden due to a window shade.
“Where would you like to wait?” Severus asked. “I’m sure the Headmaster has arranged for you to have a bedroom upstairs if you would rather wait there.”
A bedroom. He had a bedroom? It had never even occurred to him that he might have one. What did it look like? Did it have a bed? Did the door have locks on it?
“I have a bedroom?” Julian whispered almost pleadingly. “May I see it?”
Severus smirked slightly and led the boy to the stairs. Undoubtedly Dumbledore had asked the house-elves to remove all the storage from the small bedroom upstairs. The bedroom that had been his when he was a child which he had turned into a room to keep additional boxes of books and various potion making equipment.
It took them several minutes to make their way up the stairs as Julian wanted to go up them on his own with no assistance. The staircase itself was a beast built prior to modern muggle housing codes. While sturdy, they were extremely steep with quite narrow steps. Severus himself had nearly fallen down these stairs on many occasions and tripped going up them more times than he cared to admit. The fact Julian was able to climb them at all was surprising though quite promising.
Julian paused for a minute at the top of the stairs. He didn’t like those at all. The urge to go up them on all fours to make sure he didn’t fall was strong, but he didn’t think he would have been able to stand back up at the top if he had. He was definitely starting to see why Severus hadn’t wanted to take him here yet.
“Are you alright, Julian?” Severus asked as the boy leaned against the wall.
Julian nodded before pushing himself off the wall and wobbling slightly. Getting around the house was more difficult than he thought. But he had made it up the stairs!
Severus didn’t believe he was fine for a second, but they were close to the bedroom now. At least it was only a few more steps to get in there. Surely Julian could manage that. He hoped anyways.
Opening the door to his childhood bedroom, he was pleasantly unsurprised to find the clutter had been removed and the bed replaced with one not dissimilar to the bed Julian had at Hogwarts. The walls had remained the same dingy tan they had always been, but he books he had previously been keeping in boxes were now placed on newly made shelves which lined one wall. At the foot of the bed was a rather small trunk on which clothes were piled. A desk was shoved between the bookshelves and the head of the bed and had several open books laid on it as well as a mug full of various muggle writing utensils.
There were also signs that the child who lived in the room was ill. The curtains were pulled with only the barest amount of sunlight making its way in. A heavy, navy blue blanket lay across the bed; a bucket placed on the floor at the head of the bed. Most telling, however, was the presence of an IV pole awkwardly placed at the foot of the bed with the tube feeding pump attached to it.
Julian took one look at the room and his mouth dropped open. It was perfect. It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t gaudy, nor was it completely sterile. He could easily picture himself living in this room, waking up to the sounds of birds outside, and reading the books on the shelves.
He had a bedroom. With a bed. And a desk. And books!
He walked into the room weak-legged and sat on the bed. He knew it was a stupid thought, Julian Snape wasn’t a real person, but it felt almost as if he were stealing someone else’s life.
A sharp rap on the door downstairs shook him back to reality.
“I know it’s small, but make yourself comfortable,” Severus said quickly. “Toilet is the next room over, my bedroom is across the hall, and, if they ask, you aren’t allowed in the basement.”
He quickly closed the door, leaving it cracked open ever so slightly. Julian could hear his feet pounding down the stairs as another set of knocks occurred.
He wanted to explore the room, but thought better of it. He was still quite tired from the night before, being outside in the sun, and climbing the stairs. He had a feeling they would be spending more time here eventually and he would have plenty of time to explore. Right now, a nap sounded better.
Kicking his shoes off, Julian snuggled himself under the covers. They weren’t as soft or as warm as the sheets he had become accustomed to in the Hospital Wing, but the bed was far better than his mattress in the cupboard under the stairs.
Julian took off his glasses and placed them on the desk by the bed. He could hear the murmurs of his father speaking to several men downstairs. He knew Severus could convince them he was safe. He actually felt safe around the man. Sleep was closing in on him when he heard several pairs of footsteps coming up the stairs. He tried in vain to stay awake until the footsteps made it to the room but lost the battle with sleep almost as soon as he heard the footsteps on the stairs.
Welfare Check