"NO!" Severus woke with a start when he heard the scream ring out through his chambers and it took him a moment to register that Harry was asleep on his sofa. As soon as he realised this fact he grabbed his wand and ran towards his son only to find him in the throes of a nightmare. Lowering his wand the potions master made his way towards the boy slowly, so as to not startle the teenager if he suddenly woke up.
When he got to the sofa, a hand was tentatively placed on to Harry's shoulder and the man began quietly talking to him, easing him out of the nightmare until he woke himself up fully.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up? I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."
"Hush child, it is of no consequence. Do you often have nightmares?"
"Every night, I normally put up a silencing charm around my bed and pull the curtains so I don't wake the rest of the dorm but I forgot last night as I wasn't planning on falling asleep. I'm sorry."
"Stop apologising Harry, it is perfectly fine for you to wake me. What do you dream about?"
"Voldemort. My family. Cedric. The ministry last year with Sirius. My parents' deaths, well, my mum and James' death. Detention with Umbridge. My cupboard. The usual I suppose."
"Okay, some of those I understood, some I'm confused by. What do you mean by detentions with Umbridge and your cupboard? And you can refer to James as your dad Harry, I'm not trying to take him away from you, he was the only father that you knew, whether it was by blood or marriage."
"I know you aren't planning on taking him away but still, you are my dad and you aren't dead, therefore I was right to clarify what I meant. Well Umbridge made me use a black quill in every detention so I relive my weeks with her. As for my cupboard, well, up until I got my Hogwarts letter, and again this Summer when my uncle found out Sirius had died, I lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Hell, even my first Hogwarts letter was addressed to 'Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs' so I figured that you all knew what I lived like at home. I could never understand why you thought I was pampered when I slept in a room I barely fit into." Severus was outraged when Harry had mentioned the use of the black quill but held his silence until the boy had finished speaking.
"SHE WAS USING A BLACK QUILL ON STUDENTS‽ ON YOU‽ Harry, don't you know that's illegal, don't you know that is a dark artefact used for torture and contracts, what the hell did she make you write? Why didn't you tell the staff about it? She could have been using it on other students, it's not just yourself that was suffering through your silence."
"Of course I know it's illegal, Sir. She was quite clear on telling me what it was used for but I didn't have much choice, it was that or the cruciatus curse. Plus, for your information, Sir, I told McGonagall but I was told to keep my head down and ignore it so I did. Other students saw that 'The Boy-Who-Lived' wasn't getting any help from the teachers so they all kept quiet about it as well, so don't assume that I am so selfish I would continue to let others suffer Sir." Harry was relatively calm while he spoke, only spitting out the word 'Sir' in disgust at the man's opinion of him leaving Snape feeling thoroughly chastised by the 16-year-old.
"She told you to ignore it while you were being subjected to repeated torture? I'm sorry, I know that you wouldn't put yourself before others, you have proved that many times in your years at Hogwarts, I was just shocked. I had thought that ANY teacher would have put a stop to such treatment of students so you couldn't have said anything, evidently I was wrong about the some of the teachers. What did she get you to write Harry, was it always the same thing or did it vary?"
"It was always the same Sev. I always had to keep writing 'I must not tell lies' over and over again for 'as long as it took for the message to sink in'. You get used to it after a while and it is just the blood loss that it an issue rather than the pain."
"You shouldn't have had to have gotten used to the pain child, each repetition is written deeper into your skin, can I see?" Harry showed Severus the back of his hand and the pink scars that took residence there and the man visibly flinched when he took notice of just how deep the words were scrawled into his son's flesh. "Do you know what this means Harry?"
"That I won't be able to lie in the future? Yeah, I managed to figure that out. Got in a lot of trouble this last Summer because of that."
"Your life depends on your ability to lie though, especially after your mother's spell breaks, you have to assume a whole other identity until Voldemort is dead."
"Do you think I don't know that fact? I'm able to tell half lies, as long as there is a solid base of the truth in there. Otherwise I am only able to avoid answering a question or answer it with the truth."
"So what you said about your cupboard?"
"100% true I'm afraid."
"Oh my child, I really did fail you badly, didn't I?"
"No you didn't."
"You can't lie to me."
"I'm not. You didn't fail me, you didn't know that I was your child so how would you have helped?"
"I'm still your teacher, I should have seen the signs, I should've helped you."
"It's okay Sev." Once again the two men were sat next to one another on the sofa, and once again Harry rested his head on Severus' shoulder as he stifled a yawn unsuccessfully.
"Go back to sleep child." Severus was about to stand and leave when Harry led back down with his head on Severus' lap causing said man to chuckle silently. Resting his own head against the back of the sofa and closing his eyes Severus began the easy repetitive motion of running his fingers through the teenager's hair, the steady rhythm sending them both back to sleep.
