October 8, 1991
It was now nearing a month after the event that took place in Dumbledore’s office. After one more meeting with the headmaster with Harry present, Severus and Harry agreed to keep their relationship hidden from everyone. Well hidden from everyone aside from the Weasleys, but after talking to the family, each member agreed to never speak of it to anyone to protect the two of them.
Severus needed to start slow. He still has not viewed the memories or the photo album inside the chest. He just couldn’t put himself through the pain of seeing those memories with Lily. He still had a deep wound that needed healing, but he realized that after each day he and Harry spent in his office getting to know each other, that wound was slowly closing. He had started simple when he and Harry had their first meeting.
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It was the Friday afternoon after their first meeting with the headmaster. Severus had his first-year potions with Harry; it was the last class of the day for both of them. He had told Harry to stay after class to go over the essay he had turned in. After everyone had cleared out of the room, Severus led him into his office and sat down behind his desk. Harry stood there shifting from foot to foot before Severus motioned for him to sit down.
“Harry,” he began but Harry cut him off. “I’m sorry Professor Snape, I know my essay wasn’t the best. I had rushed to finish it the night before it was due. I had Quidditch practice that ran extremely late,” he started to explain but Severus held his hand up to stop him. “Please do refrain from cutting me off,” he said sternly. Harry bit his lip and nodded. “Now, I called you in here because I was hoping we would be able to talk a bit, get to know each other. And yes actually, I do have some comments about your essay to give back to you, but for now, let’s not worry about that.”
Harry nodded and let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “O-okay sir,” he responded. “What would you like to know?” he asked. Severus remained quiet for a few seconds. “Let’s start with the basics, what is your favorite color?” “Blue. Yours?” “Green,” Severus responded. “Then why do you always wear black, sir?” Severus smirked “I have an appearance to keep up. What is it they call me? Ahh… ‘the greasy bat of the dungeons,’ I simply cannot let the students think I am not as cold-hearted as they believe.”
Harry smiled at this. “What’s your favorite food?” Harry decided to ask. “Shepard’s pie, yours?” Harry stayed quiet for a moment thinking. “Treacle tart,” he answered with a shy smile. Snape nodded his head “Ah yes, a young boy who loves sweets,” Snape responded. “The first time I’ve ever had it was here during the welcoming feast,” Harry began, “it was actually the first time I’ve ever had dessert,” he added without even thinking.
Snape leaned forward and watched the boy in front of him for a moment. “Harry,” he began “we need to discuss your time at the Dursleys.” Harry’s eyes widened and he immediately shook his head “no!” he shouted. “Please… I-I can’t…” Severus sighed “Harry it is not healthy to keep it bottled up,” he began before Harry cut him off again with a sharp “no!” Severus sighed once more and decided to let the subject drop for now. “Well, if you change your mind, I will always be here to listen,” he told the boy. Harry nodded and changed the topic again.
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It was Friday afternoon again and Harry would be staying after class. This seemed to become their new routine. Harry would stay Friday afternoons, and they would discuss the previous week and a few other things, getting to know each other. Severus and Harry started to feel more comfortable around each other and for that, they were both happy. Harry waited until everyone in the classroom left and then followed Severus into his office and sat in his normal chair.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Severus asked as he sat down behind his desk. Tomorrow was the first quidditch game of the year; it was Slytherin vs Gryffindor. “Kinda,” Harry began, “Wood had us practicing two times a day this past week. I have to say, I am truly exhausted,” he laughed a little. Severus nodded “well maybe if you didn’t stay up with Weasley playing exploding snap or wizard’s chest until an ungodly hour every night, you would feel a bit more rested.” Harry blushed ‘how did he know that!’ he thought to himself. Severus regarded the boy in front of him and smirked when he blushed. He had his ways of knowing things.
“Anyways,” Harry began again, “you’re coming to the game tomorrow, right?” Harry asked. “Of course, I am. I have to be there to show my own house support, right?” he asked Harry. Harry felt disappointment course through him “oh right,” he replied sounding upset. “Harry,” Severus began and stood up to stand in front of him and place a hand on his shoulder. “Even though I am very loyal to my own house, that does not mean I won’t be secretly cheering for my son.”
Harry looked up at the man. This had been the first time he had called him his son since the meeting with Dumbledore a month ago. The corners of his lips twitched up and Severus felt him mirroring Harry’s reaction. “You just have to promise to not blow them out of the water, alright?” Harry let his smile grow and he let out a small chuckle “alright, I guess that’s agreeable.”
Harry looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. He had Quidditch practice in 30 minutes and had to get his stuff before heading down to the pitch. “I need to head out,” he told Severus. Severus straightened up “give me one minute and then you can leave,” he told Harry. Severus disappeared behind a door and walked out with a long, rectangular box in his hands. “This is for you,” he said handing the box to Harry. Harry’s eyes went wide, and he took the box with shaky hands. No one’s ever given him a gift before. He looked back up at Severus who motioned for him to open it. Harry gently lifted the lid on the box and could have sworn he was going to pass out.
“Y-you… you got me a broom?” he asked pulling the Nimbus 2000 out of the box and running his hands over the handle. “No Harry, I got you a dog,” Severus replied sarcastically. Harry smiled and placed the broom back down. He ran over to Severus and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. Severus, taken aback by the sudden hug took a few seconds to respond to the child’s hug. He heard a mumbled “thank you” come from Harry and gave him a pat on the back before stepping out of the contact. “You are welcome, now get out of here before you’re late,” Severus told him. Harry nodded and grabbed the broom and dashed out of the office. Severus shook his head and allowed himself a small smile at seeing the look on his son’s face.
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October 9, 1991
The Quidditch match had just started, and Harry was hovering over the top of the pitch watching the game down below. He looked around the crowd of Gryffindors and saw Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean holding up a ‘Go Harry Go!’ sign. He smiled and then turned his attention to the teacher's stand. He made eye contact with Severus and smiled.
His attention was then diverted when he caught a glimpse of gold flash by him. He started to make a dive for the snitch, with the Slytherin chaser following him. The snitched immediately flew in the other direction and Harry skillfully turned to follow it. He was just about to grab it when suddenly he felt like he was about to be thrown off his broom. ‘This is weird,’ he thought to himself while grabbing onto the broom handle as tight as he could. The next thing he knew was that the shaking started to become more violent, and he was now dangling off his broom!
From the stands, Ron shouted, “bloody hell, Harry! Hold on!” to his friend. Hermione looked around trying to think of something to do to help her friend when she saw Professor Snape quickly moving his mouth and staring at Harry. She ran from the Gryffindor stand and up the stairs to the teacher's stand and climbed through the bleachers. She whispered “incendio,” and Snape’s cloak caught fire. Snape looked down and jumped up, but immediately fell backward onto the teachers behind him, knocking down a few of them. After the fire on his cloak was put out, he snapped his head back up and was frantically scanning the pitch for Harry. He let out a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding when he saw Harry back on his broom and chasing after the snitch.
Harry was just a few centimeters away from grabbing the snitch when a bludger suddenly slammed into his shoulder. He let out a cry and started to tumble out of the sky on his broom. He let go of his broom and then fell onto the ground. Oddly enough, the ground felt like it was cushioned, he had expected it to hurt when he hit the ground. He saw everyone in the stands looking down at him and he realized he had the snitch in his left hand. He shot his arm up in the sky showing the snitch to everyone but quickly realized that was a mistake as pain shot through his arm and back. The last thing he remembered was hearing Lee Jordan shouting through the speaker “Potter caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins 190-60!”
Chapter 10