"No!" Severus Snape said loudly. "No bloody way am I adopting some snot nosed little brat!"
"Come now, Severus," the aged headmaster said. "If you don't, you will be heavily fined and forced into whatever child the ministry decides. If you come now, with all of the other teachers, at least you can pick a child the age and demeanor you want."
Severus grudgingly agreed and followed the headmaster, muttering what sounded suspiciously like swear words the entire way to the orphanage.
As soon as the group of professors entered the building, a young woman flew up and began talking to them.
"Oh, thanks goodness! More angels come to adopt!" she exclaimed. "I'm April. If you have any questions, please, ask me. Babies and toddlers are in the room to your right, primary school age children to the left, and Hogwarts age down the hall."
Immediately 24 year old Harry Potter, the new Defense professor, turned to his wife and said, "I want to adopt a Hogwarts age kid, Ginny."
"But Harry," Ginny said, "I thought that we wanted to adopt a baby and a toddler so that they would be close to our kids' ages."
"We can still do that but, Gin, I had to go throughout my entire life without parents. It was almost unbearable during school. Everything was so confusing and I had no one to turn to. If I can help another child from suffering the way I did, I have to do it," he said thickly. "We can afford to take care of another child. Please, Gin, I have to do this."
"Alright, darling," Mrs. Potter said, her eyes suspiciously shiny.
Severus was almost overcome with annoyance and disgust at this sickeningly soppy moment between the two. He quickly exited the scene to the first door he saw, to his right.
When he entered the room, he was immediately assaulted by a plethora of stimuli. There were screaming babies, yelling toddlers, and a smell that's source he really didn't want to think about.
How had he managed to choose this room as an escape? He wanted to adopt an older child; the older the better. That way, he would be rid of them in just a few years. He had no desire to adopt a small child. He was 45 years old, for crying out loud, not to mention that he detested children in any and all forms. He was not at all fit to raise a baby.
He was getting ready to leave when he saw a very small boy sitting by the window reading a book that looked much too large for him. The child looked to be maybe two or three years old. He shouldn't even be able to read yet. Intrigued, Severus approached the boy, careful to avoid the baby vomit and flying toys.
The boy looked rather startled when Severus crouched down in front of him. Severus saw that the boy had intensely blue eyes, darker than any he had ever seen before. The child also had reddish blonde curls and a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose.
"Hello," Severus said cautiously, "I'm Severus Snape. What's your name?"
The boy responded by pointing to a name tag on his shirt that the Potions master hadn't noticed. It read Conner O'Malley.
"Ah, I see," the older man said. "Hello, Conner. What are you reading?"
The boy again didn't speak. Instead, he turned the book around so that Severus could see the cover.
"An Encyclopedia of Magic and Non-Magic Beasts," Severus read. "You can read a book this large?" Conner nodded. "How old are you?"
Conner held up four fingers. Severus was surprised. The child looked to be the size of one of the few two year olds that he had ever come into contact with. What's more, a four year old shouldn't be able to read a book like the one he was.
Perhaps this child was simply a very intelligent one. And he seemed to be very quiet and well behaved. Overall, Conner seemed like just the kind of child Severus could live with. The only drawback was that Conner was only four. That meant the Severus had 13 more years until Conner was legally an adult.
He was so sorely tempted to leave the room and forget about the little boy, to find an older child with the same traits, but something in the boy's eyes made him stop. There was a longing in those blue orbs that pulled at Severus's deeply buried heart strings. The child wanted him. The little boy wanted the Potions master, the greasy dungeon bat, Snivellous, to take him home, to be his family. No one had ever looked at Severus that way. No one had ever looked at him with so desperate a want. No one had ever wanted him, except for Dumbledore, and most of the time, it seemed like that was only because Severus could give him information about Voldemort, not because the old coot cared about him.
Before he could stop himself, or even decide completely, he heard himself saying, "Would you like to come home with me, Conner?"
Those dark, deep blue eyes got round and wide with disbelief. Conner searched the older man's face for something. Whatever it was the child was looking for, he must have decided it was the answer he hoped for because the little boy slipped off the chair and slid his impossibly tiny hand into Severus's large one. Severus stiffened slightly at the unusual sensation of physical contact with another person but hid it well.
The two left the noisy, smelly room and almost immediately, April was upon them.
"You've decided to take Conner, then?" she asked brightly. Severus scowled at her, trying to scare her into being less chipper but it failed. Defeated, he nodded.
"Excellent," she smiled. "Conner, why don't you go and get your things while I talk to Professor Snape?"
The little child nodded and headed up the stairs. Once she was sure he was gone, April turned to Severus.
"Do you really, seriously want to take Conner?" she asked, her bright smile now gone.
"Yes, you irritating woman, why else would I tell you I wished to adopt the boy?" Severus, rather rudely, replied.
"Well," she huffed, "if you are completely sure…Sometimes Conner seems a bit…off. He doesn't always listen and he never speaks. The children's mind healer thinks he suffered some kind of great trauma and this is his way of coping. None of us is really sure what happened to him. He just showed up in the Ministry atrium one day and he hasn't ever said a word about what happened to him. The only reason we knew his name was because he already knew how to write and wrote it down for us. That's all he's told us about himself."
Severus began to rethink his decision about adopting Conner as soon as he heard the words "a bit off." He could barely tolerate normal children, how could he handle one that is traumatize to such an extent that he didn't speak.
"Ms. April," he began, "I think, perhaps, it would be best to-" He stopped abruptly when he saw Conner appear at the top of the stairs. He watched the little child hurry down the stairs carrying a bag that was nearly as big as him. When Conner reached the tall professor, he looked up and smiled a small, but happy smile.
"-to start the proceedings," he finished. It wasn't what he had planned to say, but when he saw that boy smile, he couldn't bring himself to change his mind. "I have things to do and I want to get Conner settled as soon as possible."
"Alright," she said happily. That damned smile was back. "First, you need to show me your left forearm."
Severus hesitated. "Er, Ms. April, I know why you are checking that and I do have it. But," he cut her off, "I was not a loyal Death Eater. I was a spy for the Light. You can ask Headmaster Dumbledore if you wish, or check with the Ministry. Either will verify what I am saying."
"Are you the man they wrote the article in the Prophet about?" she asked. "About six months ago?"
"Yes," he replied. "It was about me."
"We can just move on then, shall we?" she said. "Now, I need you to read these papers and sign them. They basically say that you will take care of Conner and treat him as you would a biological child of yours and that he has the same rights as any biological child."
Severus skimmed the pages and signed at the bottom. April took the papers and checked to make sure everything was filled out. When she was sure, she banished the scroll to a drawer and handed Severus a book. She informed him that it was a parenting book that every new parent was given. She also told him that the Ministry would contact him to inform him of the formal adoption hearing.
After a nod to the perky orphanage worker, Severus took Conner's hand in his own, again surprised at how small it felt, and led the boy from the wretched building.