Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

My Little Boy

It had been a bright, sunny August afternoon six years’ earlier. The new house was having its last coat of light turquoise paint applied while other workers continued unloading the new furniture off the moving truck, as well as the few straggling boxes that remained. Severus moved between helping to relocate several boxes as well as manage where the workers put down his furniture all the while trying to stay out of the way of the ongoing remodeling in the bathrooms, kitchen, and master bedroom. The crew had just taken down a wall that hid the kitchen from the living room and dining room, and the open concept he had envisioned was coming together nicely.

               He had managed to snag this beauty off the market a few days earlier, and with the raise he had recently earned at Hogwarts, his budget for turning the old country home into a modern, functional living space had nearly doubled, and he took advantage of it to add in a few personal touches—such as his en-suite and a place he could turn into a study.

               As he spoke with his contractor on updating the central heating system in the house and the costs it would entail, his front doorbell rang. Surprised it even worked, Severus excused himself and opened the door.

               “Hi, Severus!” Lily greeted with a huge smile. She held a green bundle in her arms. James stood behind her and eyed the mess in the house. Severus welcomed them in, and Lily wowed at everything. “It’s really coming together, don’t you think so, James?”

               “I think it’s perfect just the way it is,” James smirked.

               “You two shouldn’t be here,” Severus said. “Remember, you’re being hunted.”

               “Sirius is outside with the bike,” James said. “We’ll be quick so you can get back to turning this place into your batcave.”

               Severus rolled his eyes before he stared at the bundle Lily was carrying. Lily noticed, and she walked over to Severus and held out the bundle to him.

               “Meet Harry James Potter,” Lily said.

               Severus cautiously accepted the baby swaddled in a blanket. As he stared down at the angelic face, Harry’s eyes blinked open, revealing a splash of green. An enormous warmth of affection swelled in his chest and he felt an instinctive urge to protect and love this little bundle.

               “He has your eyes,” Severus remarked.

               “Yes,” Lily agreed, “and your everything else.”

               “Don’t worry,” James said as he stepped closer and smiled at the baby. “We’ll fix all that with the blood adoption.”

               Severus scoffed at that.

               “You’ll ruin his good looks,” he said, holding the baby up more and smiling as Harry continued to blink up at him. “You’ll give him your awful eyesight.”

               “I will not! He’ll have my amazing quidditch talents.”

               “That’s not even a gene.”

               “Boys,” Lily scolded playfully.

“He’s beautiful, Lily.” Severus carefully kissed the baby on the top of his head.

               “I’m sorry you couldn’t be there for his birth,” Lily said.

               “Dahlia was having complications,” Severus said, rocking slightly as Harry slowly grew fussier in his blanket. “Tachycardic, short of breath, but her anxiety has been through the roof lately. Doctors have a feeling that may have something to do with it.”

               “I know that feeling,” Lily said. “She’s due this month now, isn’t she?”

               “August twenty-fifth is the date.” Severus handed Harry back to Lily when the baby began crying.

               “He’s probably hungry,” Lily said as she grabbed a blanket out of her bag and walked over to an armchair. As she settled down with Harry, she looked at Severus and asked, “Do you know if it’s a girl or boy?”

               “It’s a girl,” Severus answered, crossing his arms. “We wanted it to be a surprise, but little missy had other ideas during her ultrasound visits.”

               “Same here.” Lily grinned at Harry.

               “He was showing everything off,” James said, standing behind Lily’s chair and leaning over it. “Weren’t you, buddy?”

               “We get to be her aunt and uncle, right?” Lily asked. “I would love a niece to spoil.”

               “I’m sure she’ll be spoiled enough between the two of us,” Severus said. “But seeing how I’m Harry’s godfather, I suppose it would be fair to make you both godparents.”

               “That would be great,” James said, and Lily nodded.

               Severus was lost in his reverie as he stared at the picture of a baby Harry on Lily’s chest. He stared off at a random spot on the wall in his study. How he missed her and her vibrant smiles and caring nature.  And then came the awful news that James and Lily had been murdered. Prior to Harry’s birth, a spy in the Order had overheard a prophesy and reported it to Voldemort. Severus had been acquainted with a few members of the Dark Lord’s followers and had managed to get Voldemort’s next plan of action out of them and he quickly reported to Albus Dumbledore what he had learned.

               For the next several months, the Order worked to keep the Potters hidden from public eye and Voldemort. Alas, it wasn’t enough, and Severus had been devastated to hear of their murders. Just prior, Dahlia had vanished on him and Iris for several days without a word before reappearing and wanting to go out as a family to some formal party. It had been the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he ended their relationship then and there. And then Albus had inquired about him taking in Harry, and he knew he just couldn’t.

               Or at least, he thought he wouldn’t have been able to. Why Albus hadn’t pushed for him to take Harry baffled him. Yes, he had quickly agreed to send Harry away to relatives, but clearly, he had not been in a good state of mind. Albus should have tried again a few days later or . . . something.

               Severus closed his eyes with a sigh. He should have done something. He should have gone after Harry when he came to his senses. Instead, he believed Harry was in a better place and left it at that, accepting a life where his son knew nothing about him. What had he been thinking?

               Severus was pulled from his thoughts when a hand touched his arm.

               “Mister,” Harry said to him, staring up at him with half awake eyes. The child yawned and rubbed his eyes under his glasses as he gently tapped Severus’s arm again. “Mister.”

               Severus set the picture down and turned toward Harry, leaning in his chair slightly.

               “Mister, hmm?” Severus asked.

               “I forgot your name,” Harry said honestly.

               “I’m your father, you can’t think of a name yourself?”

               “You didn’t tell me I could call you Daddy,” Harry stated with a yawn.

               Severus felt the same warmth of affection swell in his chest that he felt when he first saw Harry all those years ago. He brushed a lock of hair behind Harry’s ear.

               “I didn’t realize you needed permission for that,” Severus said. “You may call me whatever you feel comfortable with. My name is Severus.”

               “That’s a strange name,” Harry said.

               “So, I’ve been told.”

               “Daddy is easier.”

               “I suppose it is.” Severus chuckled. He picked Harry up and settled him on his lap. “What did you need, Harry?”

               Harry rested his head against Severus’s chest comfortably, his eyes blinking blearily as he said, “I’m supposed to help make dinner soon.”

               “I think that would be acceptable. Did you have something in mind?”

               Harry shook his head.

               “No? Well tomorrow, we’re going to have Sunday roast, so I was thinking something easy for tonight, like carbonara.”

               “How do I make that?”

               “How do you make it? Do you even know what it is?”

               Harry shook his head.

               “I will show you when we make dinner. Iris likes it with a little butternut squash and pancetta. Do you know if Iris is awake?”

               “No, she’s still sleeping on the couch,” Harry said. His lower lip quivered. “Aunt Petunia will be mad that I feel asleep.”

               “You were tired. She’ll understand.”

               “I never sleep during the day before. She’ll be mad and I’ll have to go in my cupboard.”

               “She’s not here,” Severus reiterated, shushing Harry. “You’re with me now; no one is mad, and there’s no cupboard to lock you in. Iris slept, too. You were both tired, it’s to be expected.” Severus rubbed Harry’s back comfortingly while Harry yawned again. He figured this was Harry’s first nap in quite a long time, so the child was still feeling the grogginess of having slept during the day. Severus rocked Harry for a moment, feeling the child’s breathing even out, and he was sure Harry was falling back to sleep. However, the nap had lasted two hours, and he wanted to get both kids up or they would never go to sleep at a decent hour that night.

               “Okay, honey,” Severus said as he patted Harry’s back. He pulled the boy away from him and set him back down on his feet. “Let’s get moving so we wake up more, hmm?”

               Severus stood up and ushered Harry out of his study. He was glad to have gotten a third of his work down with the two down for a nap. He had allowed himself to get distracted by Harry’s situation again, but there was so much he still needed to talk to Harry about. And the upcoming trial was one of them. He wished they could just get it over with now and be done with it. There was nothing he could do now but wait and prepare Harry as much as he could.

He led Harry back to the living room. He gently woke Iris and took both kids upstairs to the small library and playroom between Harry’s and Iris’s rooms. Iris jumped in the large armchair and waited patiently while Severus scanned the bookshelf. He grabbed a Dr. Suess book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and walked over to the armchair. He lifted Iris and set her on his lap when he sat down in the armchair. Harry lingered at the side, watching his fingers as he intertwined them together.

“Come on, Harry,” Severus encouraged, waving to Harry to come closer. When Harry did so, Severus pulled him on his other lap. “On the weekends, Iris and I try to read together to practice her words. You’re welcome to join in if you recognize any of the words.”

Harry shrugged as he looked down at the book.

“Iris, would you like to start?”

               Iris pulled the book closer to her side of the chair and read the first couple pages proudly.

               “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish . . .” she began.

               Severus watched closely, but this was one of the easier books he knew Iris could read most of the book with few stumbles. He glanced at Harry, who seemed interested in the pictures, but he stayed quiet while Iris continued flipping the pages.

               “Harry,” Severus interrupted. “Do you want to read any pages?”

               Harry shrugged.

               “Do you want to try a page or so?” Severus said, adjusting the book so Harry could see both pages clearly. When all Harry did was stare at the page for a minute, Severus tried to engage with him a bit more. He pointed at the sentence that read, “Some are fast. Some are slow.”

“Let start here,” Severus said. “Do you know what this says?”

Harry stretched his arms up then shook his head.

“No? Can you sound it out? What letter is this?”

Harry shrugged, turning his head away from the pages and looking around the room instead.

“Harry, you have to look at the words. Can you at least try? Can you tell me what letters these are?”

“No.” Harry finally said.

“No, you don’t want to try? Or no, you don’t know?”

“No.” Harry repeated.

Severus tried not to grow frustrated. While he raised Iris with a love of reading, he knew not all children cared to read, or read at the same level as the next child. But Harry’s lack of attempt, especially for someone who was so eager to please and obey, was concerning for Severus. Harry had seemed interested in the book before he pushed him to try to read it. A thought struck him: did Harry even know how to read?

“Some are fast,” Iris read, breaking the silence. “Some are slow.”

“Iris,” Severus scolded lightly.
               “What?” she asked. “He wasn’t reading it.”

Harry said nothing, only stared at the pages once more.

“Okay,” Severus said, patting Harry’s back reassuringly. “Go on, Iris.”

Iris kept reading the rest of the book without interruption, only stumbling, and needing help twice. Harry remained quiet, though he watched the pages turn and smiled at the silly pictures. Iris finished the book, then smiled up at her father as she closed the book.

“Very good, Iris,” he praised, running a hand through her hair. “Would you like to read another one?”

“No. Can we go to the park?” Iris asked.

“That sounds like a nice idea. Go get your shoes on and wait for me downstairs.”

Iris slid off her father’s lap and ran for her room. Harry copied her, but before he could run off as well, Severus gently grabbed his upper arm.

“Hold up, son,” Severus said. He pulled Harry back to him, standing him in between his knees. “I think you and I are overdue for a talk.”

“About what?” Harry asked.

“A couple things,” Severus said. “First, I’d like you to be honest with me. Do you know your alphabet?”

“Abcdefg,” Harry started.

“Good, good,” Severus said. He summoned a pack of old cards he had used with Iris when she was a toddler. He held up a card that had a large letter R on it. “Do you know what letter this is?”

“R?” Harry asked.

“Yes, good.” Severus flipped through the cards. He held up a J. “How about this one?”

Harry shrugged. Severus shuffled through them again until he landed on S. Harry shrugged again. Severus set the cards aside and summoned a quill and parchment. He scribbled something down before showing Harry.

“Do you know what this says?”

“That’s my name!” Harry said. “Harry.”

“How about this?” Severus wrote next to the name before showing it to Harry again. Harry stared at it before shrugging. Severus had written on the parchment: Harry is a good boy. After a moment, Severus wrote a few more words down in a random order.

“Do you know any of these words?”

“Harry.” Harry pointed at his first name again.

“That is your first name, yes. Do you know the other words?”

Harry stared at the parchment.

“School,” he pointed out. “Hello.”

“Good. Any others?”

“That one looks like . . .” Harry trailed off, his finger pointing at the word he was staring at.

“What’s it look like?” Severus encouraged. “Can you sound it out? The first letter is a d.”

“Daddy?” Harry tried.

“It is. Good job. Any others?”

Harry stared at the words on the parchment for a few long seconds before shrugging.

“Are you sure?” Severus looked down at the parchment. He had written: Harry James Potter, mummy, daddy, aunt, uncle, Petunia Dursley, hello, goodbye, school, chimney, garden, cook, dog, cat, and house. What really saddened him was Harry did not recognize his full name.

“No.” Harry decided. He shuffled his feet. “Is that all you want to talk about?”

               “Don’t take off on me yet.” Severus put everything aside, then gave all his attention to Harry. “One thing we need to talk about is magic.”

               “What about it?”

               “You know that magic is real, correct?”

               Harry nodded.

               “But some people do not, and those people do not have magic. They are called muggles, and we cannot tell muggles about magic or that it exists.”

               “Why?”

               “Well . . .” Severus paused, wondering how he could explain this in the simplest terms. With Iris growing up around it and in its secrecy, it was easy for her to accept that magic was something not to be talked abut with other people unless she was at Hogwarts. “For most muggles, it is a scary idea that we could have magic and they do not. They do not understand it, and it makes them . . . afraid of us. And then they don’t want to be near us. Do you understand?”

Harry nodded. “So I can’t tell anyone?”

“Not unless you have my permission,” Severus said. “But those will be rare times. Otherwise, if I’m not around to ask, assume the answer is no.”

“Like with Mr. Wallace?” Harry asked.

“Yes. Like with Mr. Wallace.”

“But not the doctor.”

“Doctor Villin is a wizard, so he knows about magic and uses it all the time just like we do.”

“I don’t use it.”

“That’s because you’re a kid with an underdeveloped core. When you turn eleven, you will attend a magic school that will teach you how to control your magic.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And it’s a school I happen to teach at.”

“You’ll be my daddy and my teacher?”

“I’ll be everything you need me to be,” Severus said, pulling his son into a quick hug, giving him a kiss on his temple. Severus had wanted to also bring up the trial and how he would go up on stand to talk about how he lived at his relatives, but right now, he just didn’t feel up to that conversation. Maybe it would be best to not mention Petunia or Vernon right now, not that he heard Harry talk much about his uncle. Severus sighed into Harry’s hair. He would have to bring it up sooner rather than later. Especially with the trial just ten days away, and Harry’s visit with Petunia lingering in the upcoming week. He dreaded how it would turn out. Whether she disowned him or not, either way, Harry would be an emotional wreck.

“Daddy,” Harry said.

“What is it, honey?”

“You’re crushing me,” Harry said.

Severus chuckled and released his son.

“Go find your shoes and put them on. We’ll go to the park for an hour or two.”

When both kids were ready to head to the park, Severus drove them down toward the city and to the schoolgrounds, where a public park also existed. He freed his kids from their car seats, but before they ran off, he reminded them of the rules he had at the park: to stay within his sight, no talking to strangers, and of course, no leaving the park. The two kids chased each other to the playground.

He sat down at a park bench and watched his kids. His brain struggled with the fact that Harry could not read. He recognized a few words he had most likely seen enough, and he probably learned his name from teachers at school, but that was as far as that went. He would have to get his son’s previous school records and grades. It would be a lot of work teaching Harry to read at a level appropriate for his age, and he wondered if a tutor wouldn’t be a bad idea. Or if Addie had a few tricks up her sleeve.

               Iris and Harry ran over to the swing sets and Severus stood up to go push them both on the swings. He was surprised when Iris sat, and Harry gave her a push on the swing. He smiled as he watched the two for a minute, taking his time to stroll over to his kids.  

               “Would you like a turn, Harry?” he asked.

               “I don’t know how to swing,” Harry answered.

               “It’s easy,” Severus said, setting Harry down on the seat next to Iris. “Copy your sister.”

               Iris smiled at Harry as she kicked back and forth, making the swing go higher and higher. Severus gave Harry a small push, and Harry tried to do what Iris was doing. It didn’t take Harry long to find a rhythm and soon, Severus was pushing both kids on the swings. In that moment, Severus felt that no matter what, they would pull through all right.

               Later that evening, Severus helped Harry make a carbonara. Iris opted out of helping with dinner, choosing her dolls over helping to cook. Severus did not mind having Harry in the kitchen with him, though he did hope that Harry found an activity or hobby he enjoyed more than housework and cooking. Still, he was impressed with Harry’s ability to prepare ingredients and his accuracy at measuring, even when he cut some of the ingredients in half. So, what he lacked in reading skills he made up for in math and homelife skills. When the food was ready, he sent Harry off to set the table.

               “All done, Daddy,” Harry said, smiling up at him.

               “Thank you,” Severus said. “Go let Iris know dinner is ready.”

               Harry took off and Severus plated the food for everyone, giving Harry a small amount, and poured drinks. He pushed Harry’s drink back and set his nutrition potion closer to his plate so Harry would take it first. And Harry did so with no problems.

               Dinner was a quiet affair as the two kids ate their food hungrily. Harry had managed to eat half of the food on his plate, and even though Severus didn’t give him much to begin with, it was the most he had seen Harry eat since the child had arrived. Severus allowed his kids to play or do something quiet after dinner while he finished up grading. That ended up with Harry seeking him out in search of something to do.

               “What’s Iris doing?” Severus asked.

               “She just wants to color and listen to the radio.”

               “I see. You don’t like what she’s listening to?”

               Harry shrugged. “I don’t want to color.”

               “We need to get you some toys to play with,” Severus said, more to himself than to Harry. “What would you like to do?”

               “Can you read to me?”

               Severus was very surprised with Harry’s request. After their reading lesson earlier, he was sure Harry had no interest in going through another session like that again. However, it opened a book of opportunity. Severus had read all the time to Iris growing up until she took it upon herself to read the words. He wondered if the same technique might help Harry. If anything, it wouldn’t hurt. Still, he had to finish grading.

               “I need to finish these essays, Harry,” Severus said. “I can read to you after. Why don’t you go pick out a book?”

               Harry shrugged. He lingered in the doorway of the study.

               Severus realized Harry would have no idea what the books were about unless he flipped through them and judged them by the pictures. He sighed and stared down at his essays. His eyes flickered from the essay he was grading to Harry and he opened his arms to the boy.

               “Come here,” Severus said.

               Harry did so, and Severus pulled him up in his lap.

               “How about I read as I grade, hmm?” Severus asked.

               Harry nodded.

               “Aconite, a member of the buttercup family, is a highly toxic plat despite its use in potions for pain relief, sedation, and diuretics. The plant is known by many names, including monkshood and wolfsbane. It was once widespread, but due to advancements in agriculture, it can now only be found in wild, secluded places.”

               Severus continued reading the essay aloud, pausing only now and then to mark a correction while explaining to Harry why the remark in the essay was wrong. He was surprised that Harry stayed with him until he finished the essay and moved on to the next. He was sure the topic would bore the child. He grabbed the next essay, and thankfully, it was a different year’s homework. The fifth years. This was the last group he had to grade, and he figured he could do so tomorrow. He sat back instead and focused on Harry.

               “So, what did you think?”

               “It was cool,” Harry said.

               “Did you learn anything?”

               “Aconite is a bad plant.”

               “Toxic, not bad. It needs to be handles correctly and then it can be used for very good things. Like for pain relief.”

               “Like your healing salve thing?”

               “Exactly. There’s aconite in the salve that I used on you and Iris. It helped, didn’t it?”

               “Yeah. My shoulder didn’t hurt anymore.”

               Severus stared at Harry for a moment, his mind straying off the topic of what they had read.

               “I want to show you something.”

               Severus picked up his quill and pulled a scrap of parchment closer. He scribbled on it.

               “Why do you write with feathers?” Harry asked as he reached for the feather.

               “It’s called a quill,” Severus said. “Here, look at this.”

               “That’s my name. Harry.”

               “It is. But this says James. And this is Potter.”

               “Potter is my last name,” Harry said.

               “I know.” Severus tapped the page. “And James is your middle name. And this is what your name looks like.”

               “Really? James like my other daddy?”

               “Exactly. You’re named after him. Harry James Potter.”

               Harry stared at the name written on the page.

               “That’s what my name looks like?”

               “Mmhmm.”

               Harry stared some more.

               “What does your name look like?”

               Severus smiled, then wrote down his name under Harry’s.

               “Severus Tobias Snape,” Severus read.

               Harry stared at Severus’s name, looking back and forth between Severus’s and his names.

               “What about Iris?”

               “Iris Eileen-Louise Snape,” Severus read as he wrote Iris’s name on the parchment.

               Harry frowned at that. He touched the ink, accidentally smearing “Snape.” Severus picked up a cloth on his desk and cleaned the small amount of ink off his finger.

               “Careful,” he said. “It doesn’t dry like a pen does.”

               “Why isn’t my last name Snape?” Harry pouted.

               “James was your adopted father, remember? So you have his last name.”

               Harry was quiet as he stared at the page.

               “But I’m with you now. I want your last name too.”

               “I think we can make that happen. Maybe we can hyphen your last name. Potter-Snape? Does that sound okay.”

               Harry nodded as he rested his head on Severus’s shoulder.

               “Do you think Aunt Petunia would like it?”

               And there it was. The name he had been hoping to avoid all day. Severus sighed as he tightened his arms around Harry, resting his chin on top of Harry’s head. He still didn’t want to ruin this day by opening up that topic. So, knowing it would keep the peace between himself and Harry for now, Severus agreed.

               “I think she would love it.”

               Even if he knew she wouldn’t care either way.   

    

 


You must login (register) to review.
[Report This]


Disclaimer Charm: Harry Potter and all related works including movie stills belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Bros, and Bloomsbury. Used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made off of this site. All fanfiction and fanart are the property of the individual writers and artists represented on this site and do not represent the views and opinions of the Webmistress.

Powered by eFiction 3.5