Severus' and Harry's Family Experience
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! sick!Harry, sick!Severus
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you so much for your kind reviews!
When Harry put Albus into bed in the evening, he gave Harry a pleading look. "Hawwy, can I get a baboo to cuddle wif, please?"
"You want a plush baboon?" Harry asked in surprise. Seeing the child nod eagerly, he quickly conjured a stuffed monkey, handing it to the toddler.
Albus held the monkey with one hand, waving the other hand at the toy. In the blink of an eye, the baboon was turned into a grey cat, looking like Minerva's Animagus form. Harry let out a gasp, which Albus ignored completely. He lay down contentedly, cuddling the cat close, and whispered, "Lov you, Baboo and Hawwy," before he put a thumb into his mouth and closed his eyes.
'Cat?' Harry wondered in surprise.
HP
When Minerva entered the Snape quarters very early on Monday morning, the newest issue of the Daily Prophet in her hands and an expression of anger on her face, she found Severus sitting in front of the fireplace looking extremely tired.
"What's wrong, Severus?" she asked in concern. "Are you feeling ill as well?"
"No Minerva, but I spent most of the night sitting with Harry. He was delirious with dreams about baboons turned into cats all night long."
Minerva's mouth changed to a thin line. "I'm going to kill Albus," she said angrily. "Here, look at this." She tossed the newspaper at Severus, sitting down on the sofa.
The front page of the Daily Prophet held a huge photo of a Muggle newspaper.
'Theft or A Bad Joke at the London Zoo?' was the headline.
Underneath was a photo of hundreds of grey cats similar to Minerva's Animagus form, running around on a huge rock.
'Yesterday, all the animals have been stolen from the zoo in London, and grey cats have been placed in their position. How could that happen on a Sunday afternoon, while many people were visiting the zoo? Scotland Yard is enquiring,' the text continued.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
Minerva sighed. "Harry and I noticed that Albus waved all the animals good-bye whenever we left a spot. But we never looked back at the animals. However, apparently Harry looked back when we left the baboons, seeing them turned into cats. I didn't see the cats, but I noticed that Harry suddenly looked extremely ill, and that made me take the kids home so early."
"You mean...?"
"Yes. Albus has done a similar stunt in my class on Friday," Minerva explained the happenings in the Transfiguration class to Severus. "Well, I have to go and undo his spell. I had hoped Harry could accompany me, so that we could throw a strong 'Finite Incantatem' at the zoo together, hoping that it should be enough to revoke all of Albus' magic, but if Harry's condition is so bad, I'll just have to go alone. I just hope Scotland Yard won't catch me."
"That's indeed dangerous, Minerva. Let me go. I haven't been a spy over all these years for nothing. I will take Harry's invisibility cloak with me in any case though," Severus replied determined. "Could you perhaps stay here and watch over Harry and Albus until I'm back?"
"Of course, Severus. Thanks a lot," Minerva replied relieved, knowing that Severus was the much better choice for the task ahead.
Thirty minutes later, the Potions Master was back. "It's all right, Minerva. Nobody saw me, and I turned into my snake form and quickly explored the zoo to check if everything was all right. I only had to cast the spell once to turn all the animals back."
"Thank you so much, Severus," Minerva replied gratefully. She hesitated a moment, before she asked, "Will Harry be well enough to keep Albus with him?"
Severus sighed. "He will probably take him to Poppy for his shot first, and then Albus will be four and able to play in his playpen for a few hours, while Harry is asleep. I will come and look after them during the break between classes."
"We will have to speak with Harry about what Albus did, so that he can punish him as he sees fit. I still have to tell him what Albus did in the Transfiguration class, because Harry was so ill on Friday and Saturday that I didn't want him to worry about Albus' behaviour."
"Why don't you speak with him, while I check on him? I want to wake him up before I leave for class anyway, so that he can get Albus ready and put him into the playpen, throwing a stunning spell on him if necessary."
Severus strode into Harry's room and sat down on the edge of his bed. "Harry, wake up, son. It's time to wake up and get Albus ready." When Harry lazily opened his eyes, yawning, Severus carefully reached under the covers and stuck the thermometer under Harry's armpit, causing the boy to frown at the cold touch. "Harry, Professor McGonagall wants to speak with you for a moment. All right?"
"All right," Harry mumbled hoarsely, only to add, "Good morning, Professor," when he noticed that Minerva took his father's place.
Minerva quickly told Harry what Albus had done at the zoo and also in the Transfiguration class on Friday. "Oh, that's why my wand was on the night table on Saturday morning. I wondered, because normally I put it under my pillow," Harry replied thoughtfully. "I thought I was delirious when I saw all the cats instead of the baboons."
"Well, your fever was high enough to be delirious... And it still is," Minerva replied, frowning, taking the thermometer back.
"Well, Albus will be grounded today. He will spend the day in the playpen, which he absolutely hates," Harry replied, feeling extremely miserable.
"And you will remain in bed," Minerva told him sternly. "I'm going to dress Albus, and I don't care if he likes it or not."
"But Professor," Harry said calmingly, "it's all right; let me dress Albus. I think that he feels totally embarrassed even towards me, but it must be much worse when you change his nappy."
"Harry, you have nearly forty degrees of fever, and you're going to stay in bed," Minerva replied determined and pulled the green jumpsuit that Albus didn't like and a matching dark blue body out of the wardrobe.
"Oh, you're really going to anger him, aren't you?" Harry chuckled until he ended up in a coughing fit.
"Well, that's all part of his punishment," Minerva replied, smirking, and leaned down to take the child out of his crib. "Hello sweetie," she cooed, while she carried him over to the changing table. "How are you on this fine morning?"
"Hawwy?" Albus asked in a very sleepy, whiny voice.
"Harry is ill and has to stay in bed today," Minerva explained quietly and began to undress the child. "Moreover, you were very naughty at the zoo yesterday, and therefore, you're grounded today. You may not choose your clothes or your books to read, and you will spend the day in your playpen."
"Tay wif Hawwy?" Albus asked softly, giving Minerva a pleading glance.
"You may stay with Harry here in his room; however, if Harry tells Severus that you were naughty, he will take you with him into the Potions classroom."
The instant, in which Minerva opened his nappy, Albus blushed deeply and feverishly tried to get away from her touch. "Hawwy! Hawwy, pwease!" he shouted panicking.
Afraid that the toddler might fall down and hurt himself, Harry quickly got up and stepped over to the changing table, when Minerva suddenly felt something warm and wet on her arm. "Albus!" she said horrified, giving Harry a helpless look.
Harry quickly returned to his bed and retrieved his wand from under his pillow, pointed it at his Head of House, casting a Scourgify spell at her arm. When they both turned back to Albus, the small boy was sitting on the changing table, his face a bright red, and tears were running down his cheeks.
"It's all right, sweetie. That can happen, and it's not your fault," Harry tried to calm the toddler, while he motioned Minerva to step aside and took a new nappy from the pile. "Come on, Albus, lie down and let me dress you. Afterwards we will go to Madam Pomfrey, so that you can get your shot and will be aged to a big four-year-old, who won't need nappies anymore."
Glad that his adored Harry was there now, Albus complied immediately, even if he frowned when Harry put the green jumpsuit on him. "Abu no wike," he informed Harry curtly.
"I know that, sweetie, but Professor McGonagall chose your clothes, and since you were very naughty yesterday, you have no choice today."
In the meantime, Minerva had used the time to call Poppy and ask her to come down to Harry's room in order to give Albus his shot there, and the instant Harry put Albus down onto the floor, Minerva and Poppy entered the room.
"Harry, go back to bed immediately," Poppy instructed the boy determined and turned to the toddler. "Now Albus, shall we make you a big boy of four? Do you need to lie down next to Harry, or are you already big enough to get the shot on your own bed?" she asked gently.
Just like the last time, Albus was very anxious and only agreed to get his shot when Harry cuddled him close and was allowed to lie down next to Harry.
"It's all right, sweetie," Harry cooed, cuddling the child close.
Albus grew a few centimetres, and was very proud when Poppy stated that he was now four years and six months old. "I believe you don't need a crib anymore," she said gently and transfigured his crib into a normal bed.
"Like Harry's," Albus said amazed. "Thank you, Poppy."
"You're welcome, sweetie. However, I was told that you're grounded today and have to play in your playpen." She picked him up and put him into the playpen, ignoring his protests. "I'll come back to look after you tonight, Harry. Please stay in bed. Has your father given you your potions, Harry?"
"No, Professor McGonagall said he had to go to his classroom earlier today."
Poppy handed him two phials, which Harry gulped down greedily, before he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off into a light slumber. He barely noticed that his father entered his room a few times to check on him; however, he did not notice Albus vanish from the sight. When he woke up late in the morning, the playpen was empty. Throwing a helpless glance at Fawkes' perch, Harry saw that the phoenix wasn't there either.
'Oh no, not again,' Harry thought horrified and quickly got up, throwing his robes over his pyjamas. 'The Marauders Map,' he remembered just in time and quickly took the map out of his drawer. However, Albus was nowhere on the map. Harry sighed in frustration and wearily sat down on the edge of his bed.
"Dobby!" Harry called, hoping that his friend would be able to help him. "Dobby, I'm sorry to disturb you. Albus has vanished together with Fawkes. Do you think you can find them and bring them back here, please?"
"Yes of course, Master Harry. Dobby wills goes and sees where they are," Dobby promised and popped away.
A few minutes later, Dobby arrived back together with Albus, holding him in a fierce grip on his ear.
"Owwie," the four-year-old whimpered. "I'm good now."
"Please release him, Dobby," Harry demanded gently. "Where did you find him?"
"Master Albus was in the zoo, Master Harry, watching the baboons," Dobby explained excitedly.
Harry gave Albus a very disappointed look, noticing that the child squirmed under his glare. "You were very naughty, Albus," he said hoarsely. "One should assume that you'd behave today after the stunt yesterday." He sighed and thought feverishly what to do. 'I'd like to give him a light spanking, but I don't feel well enough to fight him. He seems to be quite strong with his four years,' he mused. "Well, you'll be grounded for the whole week, which means that you stay in your playpen, no choosing of books or clothes, and no flying. And I will speak to Fawkes and ask him to go back to Professor McGonagall's office and to not take you anywhere until you'll be back to your normal age. I'm very disappointed," he finished, coughing.
Albus ran over to Harry and climbed onto his lap. "I'm sorry Harry," he just managed to say, before he burst into tears. "But I wanted to play with the grey kitty like Minnie. Minnie won't play wif me," he sobbed into Harry's pyjamas.
Before Harry could reply, Severus entered the room, watching the scene in clear amusement, until Harry told him," Don't laugh, Dad. It's not funny."
"What happened?" the Potions Master asked in his soft, silky voice, raising an eyebrow at his adoptive son.
"Our little ward saw fit to order his familiar to take him to the zoo, so that he could play with the grey cats, which happen to look like Professor McGonagall," Harry explained hoarsely. "And when I told him that he was grounded for a week and that Fawkes would have to go back to Professor McGonagall's office, he began to cry."
Severus took the toddler off Harry and put him into his playpen, giving him a menacing glare. "Albus, you're very naughty. You will stay in here until I'll tell you otherwise."
HP
Severus strode up the stairs to the Great Hall relatively slowly, but still so fast that the toddler had to run in order to keep up with him. He was very angry, knowing that it was at least partly the child's fault that Harry's condition was worse than in the morning in spite of all the potions Poppy had administered.
Albus seemed to sense the Potions Master's mood and tried his best not to anger the man any further. To his great chagrin, the tall man told his Minnie at lunchtime what he had done in the morning. 'I just wanted to play with your feline form,' Albus thought in exasperation, knowing that nobody was likely to understand, except from Harry... maybe.
"Can I go back to Harry?" he asked, giving the two teachers a pleading glance.
"No Albus, you will stay with Severus for the afternoon, and in the evening, I will come and help Harry to look after you," Minerva told him in her strictest voice, which she normally used for students in detention.
Horrified, Albus noticed that Minerva used that voice for him and that her mouth was stretched to a thin line, which meant that she was also angry at him. He pushed his plate away and stuck a thumb into his mouth, wondering if his baboo was in the shrunken playpen, or if someone had taken it away to punish him for being naughty.
HP
Back in the Potions classroom, Severus enlarged the playpen and put it next to his own desk, placing the child into it. Albus looked around for the grey cat and happily pulled her close. "Love you, Baboo," he whispered softly. He sat down in the farthest corner of the playpen, his Baboo safely tucked under his left arm and his right thumb in his mouth. 'I'd so much like a lemon drop,' he thought sadly, knowing that the Potions professor wouldn't give him anything today, because he was still angry at him.
In the first afternoon class, the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years had to brew a flu potion. Seeing that Harry's best friends were in the class, Albus pulled his thumb out of his mouth and placed a very pitiful expression on his face, making his lower lip quiver as if he was going to cry any minute.
Surely, Hermione was the first to notice. "Professor?" she asked softly, raising her hand. "Can we take Albus and sit him between Ron and me, sir? He seems to be very unhappy in his playpen."
'Very good, Hermione; a hundred points to Gryffindor,' Albus thought, not knowing if he was able to give House points to anyone at the moment.
"No, Ms. Granger. Albus was very naughty yesterday and today, and he is grounded for the whole week. I'm afraid that he has to stay where he is," Severus replied in a stern voice, throwing a menacing glare at the four-year-old.
Albus remained quiet during the whole time; however, he was thinking intensely. Against the end of the lesson, Severus stood up to walk through the classroom in order to examine his students' work. As soon as the professor turned his back to the toddler, Albus waved his hand at the cauldrons of the Slytherin students, who were occupying the left half of the classroom.
"What do you think that is?" Severus sneered, pointing at the yellowish liquid in Draco's cauldron.
"The flu potion, sir," Draco replied astonished, before he looked into his cauldron and jumped up startled. "Sir, I'm sure that it was light green two minutes ago."
Severus sighed and peered into the next cauldrons, noticing that all his little snakes seemed to have brewed a different potion from the assigned flu potion. Walking over to the Gryffindors, he saw that their potions, except from those of Ron and Neville that he banished immediately, were brewed correctly. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind and he turned his eyes to the headmaster-turned-toddler, who was sitting in his playpen, watching the class with an extremely innocent expression on his face.
Throwing the toddler another menacing glare that told him that he was going to kill him at the next opportunity, Severus stepped back to Draco's cauldron and took a spoon full of the yellow liquid, sniffled at it and thoughtfully put it into his mouth. 'Just as I expected,' he thought and turned back to the class. "Ms. Granger and Mr. Dean, please bottle your potions into small phials. I will check them out later, and if they are properly brewed as I believe they are, Madam Pomfrey will be able to use them in the hospital wing. Everyone else, please bottle one phial and put it on my desk."
Turning to the Slytherin side of the classroom, he said, "You efficiently managed to brew the lemon drop potion. Congratulations. Since it wasn't your fault, you will still receive full points for your potions, if they are brewed correctly. Bottle a phial of your potion each and put it onto my desk."
With that, he dismissed the students and hissed at Albus, "You will stay where you are; I'll be back in five minutes. I have to check on Harry."
"Kay," Albus mumbled with a bored expression on his face. As soon as Severus was through the door, he straightened his position and waved his hand at the teacher's desk, looking mischievously at the nearest phial on the desk. "Accio phial," he incanted in a small voice, observing contentedly as the small phial containing a yellow liquid hovered over in his direction.
'Pity that I cannot make drops out of this, but well, the liquid will taste well too,' he mused and hurried to gulp down the yellow liquid, craving the lemon flavour.
When Severus entered the room five minutes later, the toddler was lying on the floor of his playpen, grabbing his stomach with both hands as if he was in utmost pain, whimpering miserably.
"Albus, what's wrong?" Severus asked in concern and picked the toddler up on his arms.
Unfortunately, the movement caused the child to empty his stomach's contents all over Severus and the Potions classroom's floor.
"Hurts," the child sobbed, sounding terrified.
Severus didn't have time to think. "Harry!" he shouted, glad that he had left all the doors open, so that his son would definitely hear him and abandon all the instructions to stay in bed.
A minute later, Harry appeared in the door frame. "What's wrong?" he asked hoarsely.
"Harry, Albus fell sick and threw up all over himself and me. Can you help please?"
"Need my wand," Harry croaked and quickly retrieved his wand, throwing a strong Scourgify spell at his father and his ward as well as the floor.
"Here, hold him for a minute," Severus instructed Harry, handing the still sobbing toddler over, before he leaned over the playpen, retrieving a small phial. 'V. Crabbe, Lemon Drop potion,' the phial was labelled. "He really is a dunderhead; he should have taken Draco's potion and not Crabbe's," Severus mused aloud and hurried to the fireplace to call Poppy.
"I'll take him with me to my room," Harry said quickly, seeing that the next students began to file in the classroom.
"Thanks a lot, son," Severus replied gratefully. "Poppy said she'd be there in two minutes."
Harry went back to bed, cuddling the still crying toddler close.
HP
A few minutes later, Poppy entered the room and waved her wand at Albus, sighing before she turned to Harry. "I have to get something from your father's lab; I'll be back in a minute."
When she came back, she held a phial with a lime green potion in her hand. "I'm afraid this will not be pleasant," she said gravely, conjuring a small bucket at the same time. She helped Harry position the child on his lap so that he could easily empty his stomach into the bucket. "Albus, I'm now going to spell a potion into your belly that will make the bad liquid you drank come out. You can just spit everything into the bucket, so that you'll feel better afterwards. All right, Albus?"
"All right," Albus replied, strengthening his grip on Harry's arms.
"It'll be all right, sweetie; I'm here with you," Harry whispered, gently kissing the child's neck.
Neither of the two boys noticed that Poppy spelled the potion into the toddler's stomach, but all of a sudden Albus began to throw up, emptying his stomach from everything that had been inside. Harry held him close with his left arm and used his right hand to gently rub circles on the boy's back.
"You do that really well, Albus, and it'll be over soon," Poppy told him in a soft voice, while she used the time to wave her wand at Harry a few times.
Finally, Albus relaxed and leaned back into Harry's arms. "Better now?" the older boy asked, while Poppy threw a cleaning spell on the child.
"Yes, much better. Thank you Poppy," Albus replied, giving the Healer a grateful look.
"Nevertheless, you're running a slight temperature, and I want you to lie down either in your own bed, which would be preferable, or next to Harry for a while," the healer told him, while she spelled a stomach calming potion into his belly.
HP
When Poppy tried to give him his aging potion in his playpen the next morning, Albus made such a fuss and screamed so loud that Harry woke up in spite of the sleeping potion he had been given.
"It's all right, Albus, you can lie in my arm for your shot," he sleepily told the child, slurring the words, which caused him to receive a strange look from Albus, whose expression quickly turned into a relieved smile.
"Fank you Harry," he whispered, when Poppy placed him next to Harry.
"Now, you're six years and eighteen days; congratulation Albus," Poppy stated and put him back into the playpen when she was done with his shot and check-up.
"Don't you think I'm too old to sit in a playpen?" Albus complained in clear annoyance.
"Yes, you are," Poppy returned angrily. "But Harry is very ill, and that's your fault because you come up with strange things and don't let him rest. I can't take you anywhere to play, and moreover, you are grounded because of what you did in the zoo on Sunday. So don't complain and occupy yourself. You have enough books in there to last for a week."
Albus sat down pouting, cuddling his baboo close. "What's your kitty's name?" Poppy asked in a gentler voice, clearly expecting it to be something like 'Minnie.'
"Baboo," Albus mumbled indignantly.
'Well, he has enough to do in there for a while, but Albus is much too energetic to spend the whole day reading,' Harry mused worriedly. 'I don't think that he'll stay in there.' He wanted to ask Poppy to use a strong charm to keep Albus in the playpen, but the effects of the sleeping potion were too strong, and he drifted off into dreamland, before he could voice his thoughts.
HP
Albus only waited for his chance, which came when a few first years managed to hex themselves and Poppy was called into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Seeing that Harry was fast asleep, Albus waved his hand to cancel any possible spells that had been cast to keep him inside the playpen, climbed out and ran all the way down to the dungeons, silently entering the Snape quarters. Back in Harry's room, he grabbed the Firebolt, and a huge smile spread over his face. 'I always wanted to try Harry's broom,' he mused, while he climbed back the stairs to the entrance hall and left the castle.
'Oh, is that cold!' he mused when he mounted the broom and took off into the air. 'Well, it's still winter,' his older mind told him. 'Maybe it'll get warmer if I fly faster,' the child thought, trying hard to handle the Firebolt.
A short while later, Harry woke up, feeling very thirsty. He lazily put his glasses on and reached for the glass on his night table, when he suddenly noticed that Albus wasn't there. 'Well, maybe Madam Pomfrey took pity on him and took him with her, wherever she has gone,' he mused, knowing that the little mischief-maker wouldn't be able to get around the stern Medi-witch.
In the meantime, Albus noticed that it wasn't easy at all to fly Harry's broom. When he was older, he had been a good flyer, but he had never tried to fly on such a fast broom, and his six year old body wasn't able to handle it, especially since it was so cold that his teeth kept chattering making it nearly impossible to concentrate on flying. He tried to convince the broom to land on the ground, but instead of going down, it went up further and further, until Albus could see the heavy snow clouds in a very close distance.