"Dada!" Harry squealed the moment he saw the door opening and before he'd even seen who was entering. He hobbled over to the door as fast as his little legs could carry him, only to be scooped up into a big hug, with his head being buried against a big chest.
"Hello, Harry!" Severus beamed down at his two-year-old adopted son. He then turned and nodded to Dobby in dismissal, thanking him for his help. Severus's full days of teaching had resulted in Dumbledore setting up a rota of House elves who would look after Harry. Harry, however, being a two-year-old little boy, was not overly fond of being left alone without his Dada for such extended periods of time. Although Severus was thankful that Harry had gotten used to it enough not to cry for hours on end every time he left, breaking Severus's heart and distressing the house elves, Harry still seemed overly anxious by the end of the day, often sitting and watching the door while waiting for him.
"Dada, Harry miss you! Harry soooo hungry, want chips!" Harry shouted while thumping Severus on the chest.
"Dada missed you too, Harry! I've been teaching Dunderheads all day, when I much rather would have been here with my clever little man. And there's no need to shout, remember what I've told you about using an indoor voice?" Severus replied, trying to mask the slight twitching of his lips that this evoked. Harry was turning into a boisterous little boy who didn't like to be ignored even for a minute. Severus, who was trying to break Harry of this habit, didn't think it was helping that he seemed to find Harry's outbursts so endearing and cute.
Severus carried out his daily ritual of preparing the evening meal with Harry watching eagerly, waiting for a moment where he could get his grubby little hands involved in 'helping' to make food. This normally involved Severus giving Harry a bowl with some dough in it and Harry seeing how many corners of the kitchen he could paste it in without his Dad telling him off.
When they finally sat down to eat, Harry in his high chair, and Severus sitting next to him getting ready to feed him, Harry looked into the bowl with disgust. He seemed to have an aversion to anything that wasn't chips and nuggets.
"Open up Harry, if you eat all your food you'll become big and strong like those Weasley twins you seem to love so much!" Severus coaxed, shaking his head at the amount of mischief Harry always seemed to get into everytime they visited the Weasley home. More than once, Severus had to threaten to ban Harry from visiting them, due to the amount of trouble he was able to get into with them – not that it had the slightest effect. Severus was under the impression that his little Harry had a chronic case of selective hearing.
"Noooooo Dada" Harry wailed, shaking his head from side to side. "Veggies naughty" he pouted, pursing his lips in protest.
Severus glared at Harry. Not a single day went by where Harry ate his food without protest, it had almost become a daily ritual for them! He was determined that Harry would not grow up to be a spoiled child who grew up getting his way all the time – this, however was proving to be more difficult than he thought, especially with such a small little boy who he didn't want growing up scared of him like the Dunderheads that he taught. Terrible twos, indeed!
"Harry I'm going to count to ten and this food will be in your mouth or you'll be sitting at this table and eating your food by yourself – You won't be getting any treats until this bowl is spotless!" Severus warned Harry.
"No no no no no no, NO DADA!" Harry's voice rose with each word until he'd worked himself up into a temper.
"Lower your voice this instant; you do not shout at me, Harry James!" Severus scolded with a fearsome scowl on his face. Harry's lower lip started to make it's way out and his eyes began to fill with tears at the harsh tone, it was all Severus could do not to hug him! "Right, you're going to sit here for however long it takes you to finish your food," Severus said as he rose from the table, turning to the counter to serve his own food, hoping that leaving Harry to his own devices might do the trick.
Severus, however, had underestimated the stubbornness of his two-year-old little boy. Harry, seeming to have forgotten the harsh rebuke from a moment earlier and seeing an opportunity for some fun, picked up his bowl just as Severus was sitting down, looked contemplatively at his Father as though weighing up if it was worth it, before dumping the entire contents of the bowl on Severus's head and bursting into peels of laughter.
Severus, not believing the audacity of his child, shot up from his stool and towered over Harry in his temper, bellowing "HARRY JAMES, did you just throw food at me? I have had just about enough of this!"
Harry's expression immediately sobered as he took in just how angry Severus was. It was a rare occurrence that Severus lost his patience with Harry so completely and yelled at him. "Harry sorry, Dada" he responded with tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.
Severus lifted him out of his high chair before carrying him out and depositing him on a stool in the corner of the living room. "5 minute time out, Harry, do not move from this stool!"
Harry finally seemed to have learnt his lesson about staying put for the entire duration of his time outs. More often than not, his 'mean Dada' had to drag him back there by his ear, which Harry did not like at all! Finally, he felt Severus lifting him up and carrying him over to sit on his lap on the couch. Harry weeped for a while longer, while Severus murmured assurances that he was no longer angry. In fact, Severus was grudgingly beginning to see the hilarity of Harry's escapade a few moments earlier, although he would never show as much to his already fearless two-year-old!
Just then, they heard the sound of the Floo and looked up in curiosity to see who was calling on them. Severus rolled his eyes heavenward as Harry ran over shouting "FRED AND GEORGEEEEE" in greeting to the two miscreants who, along with his own son, were going to ensure that he got no peace that evening!