DISCLAIMER; I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER…

A Loving Promise

Waiting in his bed trying not to fall asleep was a young boy with a large nose and dark hair. He had a mother and a father, though his mother hadn't been part of the picture until the year before. She had been his art teacher at the school he went to and always thought of her as his honorary mother. Helping him and staying with him when his father was late or taking him home when his father didn't come for him. The boy didn't blame him father, he worked very hard for them to have a house and food. But he always felt a little guilty when he saw that his father was too tired to do much.

"Hey little monster," the boys father playfully said when he entered the room and tickled him.

"Harry please, Severus needs to get some rest for tomorrow." The woman that had become Severus' mother was a tall woman with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes.

"Yes Adena," Harry grumbled. She smirked at him and went off to get herself ready for bed. She'd accepted that Harry and Severus were different from her, magical, but she'd never known that what she thought was true until she first kissed her student's father.

"What story do you want to hear tonight," Harry asked his son with a smile.

"When your potion master went to Hogwarts." Harry smiled at Severus. He began the story, hoping that the boy would and wouldn't remember his past. Adena stood by the door near the end of the story and smiled at the two, wondering if she should tell them both about her little secret now or later. She'd kept this from them for the last few months and didn't want to any longer. She knew that Harry suspected her of being unfaithful because of it even if he hadn't directly asked her.

But she wasn't unfaithful. She loved her wizard husband with all her heart and her student turned son with her whole being. Adena had promised Harry when they wanted to marry that if she were ever to be in a situation where there was a choice between him and Severus, she would choose the boy.

And even though he was turning 11 she still adored how he called her mummy and allowed her to baby him the Harry did. Of course the two fought over whether Severus was too old to be babied of not, that was perfectly natural considering that they'd only had each other before she came along. But Severus allowed her to do it any time she wanted, mostly because he didn't remember having a mother at any stage of his life.

"Mummy, can I have a kiss?" Adena smiled at her son. She adopted him immediately after the ceremony in the 30 minutes before the reception. Severus was her son and she was his mother. And she would give her life to protect her baby boy.

"You never have to ask my baby," she said before planting a kiss on his forehead. "You will always get a kiss from me." He giggled when she lightly pecked his large nose. Goodnights were given before the ceiling light was turned off and the owl nightlight came to life.

"Harry," Adena whispered to her husband when they settled for sleep. "I have a surprise for you and Severus tomorrow." Her husband's green eyes looked at her inquisitively.

"Why don't you tell me now?" Harry asked as he ground against Adena. She gasped and told him that it would ruin Severus' joy if he were the last to know. Silencing spells were put up on their door for several hours before sleep removed them.

Severus didn't seem bothered by their lack of clothes or the smell of them and the room when he ran in after having a nightmare. It was only in the morning did he ask why they didn't sleep in pajamas after he remembered what he saw when he ran in. Immediately after asking the question did he remember being given 'the talk' a week before and blushed a brighter shade of red than his parents. The young boy abandoned his breakfast right then to get in the shower, unaware of the activities that had gone on in it before he awoke that morning.

"Will you tell me your big surprise now?" Harry asked Adena. She shook her head with a smile and went about making their son some snacks for the train. A sad sigh ran past her lips when she placed some choc-chip biscuits in a zip lock bag. Severus was going to Hogwarts for several months of the year. He had said that he'd come back for the holidays and write to them constantly, but she'd still miss him even when her surprise arrived.

"Mummy what's our surprise?" She glared at Harry who was standing behind Severus with an innocent smile and his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"Wait here," she said trying to hide her smile. She ran up the stairs and took some clothes out from under her side of the bed. They were far too small for Harry and her and there was no way that Severus would fit them. There was only one conclusion that could be drawn upon when anyone would see the tiny 0000 clothes that she had in her hands. And that was the very same conclusion that her husband and son came to when she showed them the two lime green onesies when she came back to the kitchen.

"There is no doubt that you will make a fine brother to those babies your mother will birth." Severus smiled at the horrid hat that was on his head.

"Dad said that I could be in Slytherin if I want," he told the hat.

"That you can and it has been your home before, but not now my Half-Blood Prince." Severus was aware of certain memories that he had once thought were dreams. One stood out as a singular memory though, and held a promise.

"I'll always love you." He remembered a woman with black hair and a girl with red hair saying that to him.

"Do it," Severus said to the hat. And it did so with a shout, several of the current teachers holding back tears as they remembered teaching him and being taught by him as they clapped at the house the hat shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This is just something that I thought up when I started to think 'What if Snape became a baby somehow in the boat house and Harry found him?'. This is what I came up with. There was another version but I forgot to save it before I restarted my computer.

Please R&R!

Live long and prosper.