"You're lying."
"It's the truth Harry, my dear boy."
"No. He can't be my father."
"Why would he have any reason to lie to you Pott- Har- boy? It's not like this is something I thought I would be told today either."
"But how?"
"Surely you do NOT expect me to tell you the facts of the birds and the bees, I may be your father but you are a 16-year-old male, you must know the facts by now."
"No. I mean, yes, I do know them, but how are YOU my father?"
"Really? I'd think it would be quite clear. Your mother and I were together until she found out about my being forced to take the dark mark, so she married Potter to protect you both and then cast the spell to make you look like him."
"I've got to go. Lessons and all that." With these words Harry ran out of Dumbledore's office and ran straight to the seventh corridor, pacing back and forth thrice over until the door to the room of requirement appeared. Wasting no time he walked into the room of glass, took off his shoes and robes before falling to the floor. The room would not provide him with alcohol because he was under age however it did not prevent him from summoning a bottle of firewhiskey. A bottle which he did not hesitate to empty, not even bothering to pour it into a glass but rather drinking straight from the bottle.
Why did the room provide the glass if he were not going to use it you may ask, but during his emptying of the bottle he would occasion fire a spell at it making it explode, or he would pick it up and throw it against the wall making the glass shatter and the shards rain down over his body. By the time he had finished the bottle there were no whole items remaining in the room, the shards spread around him with no clear spot while small red nicks covered his exposed skin. The final drink marked that he should leave the room and go back to the tower, standing caused even more shards to embed themselves within his feet, not that he noticed them. What he did notice, however, was the dizziness that overcame him as he took his first step causing him to fall down amoung the clear shards, his hands and forearms bracing his fall and therefore takng the most of the damage, along with his calves and knees.
He was still oblivious to the pain but he registered the sight of blood on the floor and as it ran down his body and he knew that he would need help so he went to the only person he could, he new-found father. Careful to avoid anyone on patrol, while taking the shortest route possible, Harry slowly made his way down to the dungeons. He had replaced his shoes to prevent leaving footprints of blood in his wake however that also meant that the glass in his feet was trapped within the confines.
Eventually he made it to the potion master's office and knocked on the door, knowing that the man would hear it within his chambers if he were not in the office. A minute or so later the door was pulled open to reveal a stone-faced man, clearly annoyed at being disturbed yet shocked at the sight of Harry at his door. Keeping his face closed off Harry simply lifted his arms so that the man was able to see the bloodied hands as a silent explanation of why he came to see him.
"What happened?" Snape asked as he carefully pulled the child through his office and into his private rooms.
"Glass."
"I can see that, but what happened?"
"Broke."
"Are you not going to talk to me?"
"I am."
"Properly."
"Fine then Sir. What do you want to know?" Harry had been able to control his voice previously by only speaking one or two words, however those nine words proved to be too difficult a challenge and it was hard to miss how his words were slurred as he said them.
"Are you drunk Potter‽"
"Not Potter, it's Snape. So what if I am?"
"Okay then, that we will talk about once I have seen to your wounds and given you some potions. If you are, I want to know what happened."
"I summoned a bottle of firewhiskey and drank it while smashing loads of glass things, stood up, got dizzy, fell over, landed on the glass, cut arms and legs, walked here, knocked on door, came into chambers, having this conversation."
"Thank you child, now I'm going to have to get rid of all the glass by hand before I can give you any potions so it doesn't get sealed in the cuts. Well you can have a pain relieving potion beforehand."
"Don't bother. It doesn't hurt, the firewhiskey made sure of that, besides, I've been through worse whenever I go back to my 'loving family'."
"Our list of things to talk about appears to be getting longer child." With this the two men went silent as Snape began slowly clearing his wounds of glass, a slow task but a necessary one all the same. Once his arms and hands were done Snape healed them with some Murtlap Essence before moving onto the boy's calves and feet and repeating the act. As soon as all of the glass had been carefully removed Snape retrieved a blood replenishing potion, a sobering potion and a pepper-up potion and handed them each to the child in that order. The effect of the sobering potion was instant and embarrassment coursed through his body when he realised that he was sat on his father's couch, hours after finding out that's who he was, drunk and bloodied.
"I'm sorry Sir."
"For which part? Running away when the headmaster told us of our relationship? Not going to the rest of today's classes? Getting drunk when underage? Slicing up your arms and legs because you were too drunk to stand properly? Denying the name Potter and taking Snape? Or for coming to me for help?" Severus snapped at the boy but felt it was deserved.
"All of them I guess. Well, most of them."
"Pray tell, which don't you regret doing?"
"I don't regret saying that I'm a Snape, not a Potter, since that's the truth. Although if you don't want me, I won't be. I don't regret coming to you for help, I regret the fact that I needed to, but not that I did."
"It's okay to need help you realise? No one will think any less of you for it, you're only 16. I will always want you Harry but we need to discuss some things first."
"No it isn't. I'm the great Harry 'Potter', I defeated the most powerful dark wizard when I was 1, I shouldn't need to ask for help," said Harry but his following words were barely a whisper and filled with insecurity, "I don't deserve anyone's help."
"Of course you do. Of course you deserve help when you need it."
"You're my father, you have to say that."
"No, I don't. I'm saying it because it is true and as your father I shouldn't lie to you."
"Do you really want me?"
"Harry, don't be so stupid, of course I want you. You are my son and I refuse to be like my own father so there is nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure that you never want for anything, including parents."
"Oh, so it is just duty, not because of me. I get it now, that makes more sense anyway. Don't worry about it Sir, I'll be just fine." With these words Harry stood and turned to leave until he felt a hand on his wrist, holding him where he was.
"That came out wrong. I'm not saying that I would be a good father, I'm used to being on my own so I may hide in my lab for hours because that is what I am used to doing. Or sit and read a book in silence because I am not used to having company. It is not duty that makes me want you. My father hated magic so my mother and I took his hatred through his fists and whatever else he could hit us with, I didn't have a great childhood, and if I understood an earlier comment correctly, neither did you, I want to start making it up to you. I'm 16 years too late but you are still my child. Where's all this come from anyway?"
"It's just, well, never mind, it's nothing really."
"Tell me please."
"I've never had anyone that actually cared for or about me before, never had anyone who wanted me. It's just odd to think that someone would, and that it would be you, the person who hated and tormented me since I started at Hogwarts."
"Well that is all different now, however what can't be different is the way that I treat you in public, you understand that right?"
"I kinda guessed that would be the case."
"I wish it could be different but while I am still a spy we need to continue to hate each other in public. We will need to come up with a story though for when you turn 17."
"What do you mean?"
"The spell that Lily out on you to make you look like Potter will break on your 17th birthday, you will look more like me, and your mum, than you do him. We need to be able to explain where Harry Potter has disappeared off to, and where my son has been all these years."
"What will I look like?"
"I didn't know about you until today so I will be just as surprised as you to find out I'm afraid." The two men sat in a comfortable silence while they both thought over that fact and what Harry might look like without the charm.
"What will my name be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well if we are claiming that I am not Harry Potter, it would be a bit suspicious to be called Harry Snape, so what would my name be?"
"What would you like it to be?"
"You're my father, you should get to choose. Unless you don't want to of course, you don't have to, it was just a thought, never mind."
"You don't have to keep doing that, you shouldn't doubt in yourself so much Harry. I don't know what you have been told in the past that made you feel unwanted and that you don't deserve help, but it isn't true. It would be an absolute honour but it needs to be something that we both like, don't you agree?" Harry merely nodded, not wishing to speak and risk his voice breaking and showing just how much those simple words meant after all he'd heard in his past. However he couldn't contain it, though he tried, he did not say a word but threw himself towards the man, who had ended up sitting next to Harry back on the sofa at some point, and wrapped his arms tightly around him, resting his head on the man's shoulders as he began to shake with tears. Snape's arms had automatically found themselves returning the hug but when he felt the boy begin to cry the hold tightened and he started to stroke the unruly raven hair.
"Oh, what did they do to you child?" It was rhetorical but nonetheless Harry shook his head. "You don't have to tell me now Harry but you need to at some point, otherwise your dear old dad will go mad with worry and he's only just found out you're his. You know, you shouldn't be around the muggles on your birthday when the charm breaks do perhaps we could arrange it so you spend the holidays with me?"
"Thank you. I don't mind you knowing, I just don't want you hating me when you find out, or thinking that I'm a freak, or disgusting or something and I know you will, who wouldn't."
"Harry, I could never think anything of the sort about you, don't be so absurd."
"But it's true. I am just a disgusting freak. It's not your fault, it's just who I am."
"Harry James Potter you are not a freak, nor are you disgusting!"
"Whatever, I'm still not a Potter though."
"Until the charm breaks, yes, you are."
"But I'm not."
"Well for all appearances, you are. How about when it is just us, you are a Snape then?"
"Really? You don't mind-"
"No child, I don't mind calling you mine, but only in private until you turn 17. It is imperative that you continue to hate me in public." Once again the room lapsed into silence and Harry put his head back down on Severus' shoulder, eyes fluttering closed even as the boy tried to fight it and keep them open.
Before long Severus realised Harry had fallen asleep using his shoulder as his pillow. Carefully, and slowly, Severus moved Harry's head and placed it on the sofa before standing and moving the boy's legs so that he was led out comfortably. The potions master smiled softly at the thought of his son being so relaxed around him, especially because of their relationship in the past, stood there looking at the sleeping boy for a couple of minutes before going to his own bedroom