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"Snape-sensei!"
Severus felt his eye give an involuntary twitch as he laid eyes on Harry, clad once again in a green jumpsuit. He frowned as the child stepped in front of him and gave an odd type of salute.
"Good morning, Snape-sensei!" the boy said loudly. "What you teach me today?"
Severus ground his teeth at the butchered grammar but didn't comment on it. It was going to be difficult working with a child as young as Harry, he knew. He had to lower his expectations, though he wasn't thrilled about having to do so.
"English," he replied gruffly when he realized the boy was beaming up at him, waiting for an answer. "It is another language that ill most likely be very convenient to you later on in life. The earlier you learn it and have the ability to practice it, the more beneficial it will be. Once I am satisfied with your progress, all our lessons will be in English."
"Yes, Snape-Sensei!" Harry gave his odd salute again. Severus inwardly sighed. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with that much energy. He was quite surprised the boy wasn't walking up and down the walls in his excitement. It was probably only due to his lack of chakra that he hadn't learned how to do so already.
"Mornings will be for English and theory, afternoons for practicals and any physical training your…father wants you to accomplish. Understood?"
Harry jerked his head up and down in an eager nod. "Understood, Snape-sensei!"
"Let's begin," Severus said reluctantly.
It was already clear to the wizard that the next few years would be something completely new for him. Even his prior experience teaching would be completely useless, as he was no longer teaching a classroom of preteens and teens. Instead, he had one pupil who was several years younger than the first years.
And somehow, Severus didn't think that scare tactics would work with Harry. He had a feeling that the boy would see it as some sort of game.
As the morning passed, Severus Snape realized that while Harry still looked like something out of his nightmares (and most likely always would unless he was successful in getting the boy out of that blasted jumpsuit), Gai had actually done a decent job in raising the child and passing on his work ethic to Harry. It may have been a little extreme but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
In his few years of teaching, something that had driven the dark-haired wizard mad was the lack of work ethic in his students. Even the muggleborn first years, who had just learned about magic, were always looking for an easier way to do something or for shortcuts that didn't exist.
Not Harry Potter, though. If anything, the boy was determined to do things the hard way and make them even harder. As much as Severus hated to admit it, that little fact made him slightly more fond of Harry.
However, the same could not be said about the boy's constant need to move. Severus ground his teeth together when he saw Harry actually vibrating in his seat as he practiced writing the Roman alphabet and numbers.
"For every error you make, I expect three laps around the building," the wizard snapped, deciding to take a leaf out of Gai's book to see if it actually worked. Harry's head jerked up at the suddenness of the comment and Severus was slightly horrified to see a starry look enter the boy's eyes.
"Yes, Snape-sensei!"
"As much as everyone hates to admit it, that's the way to get through to him," a feminine voice murmured in Severus's year. The dark-haired man's wand was in his hand before he recognized the voice as Shizune's. Shizune eyed the wand with an approving look in her eye. "We really tried to get Harry around others so that wouldn't be the case but he idolizes his father and brother."
"I hadn't noticed," Severus drawled. "At least he's not an exact copy of those two…" The wizard struggled to find a fitting word.
"Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey and Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast are sometimes what they're called, especially by each other," Shizune said with a smirk. Just hearing the nicknames made Severus grit his teeth and cringe.
"It's amusing to you," he accused the kunoichi, who merely nodded.
"Some of the things that happen around here are utterly ridiculous," she said. "You can either find it amusing or despair. I find that the ones who despair are often driven to add to the madness."
Severus glared at the woman, who merely turned her eyes to watch Harry, who was finishing the task Severus had assigned.
"I was just checking in to see how the first day was going," Shizune said. "It seems to be going well, so I'll leave you to it. It looks like you'll be needed soon and I have my own duties to fulfill."
"Don't tell me your Hokage is drunk already," Severus sneered. It had only been a day but he had heard nearly all the stories.
"Not if I can help it," Shizune replied with a disapproving frown. She glanced between Harry and Severus again and a small smile graced her lips for a brief second. Then she was gone in a flurry of leaves.
Severus glared at the spot she had been standing at before a waving hand caught his attention.
"Bring it here," he ordered the boy. Harry grabbed his scroll and nearly thrust it into the wizard's hands when he reached his teacher. He bounced on the balls of his feet while he waited for the verdict as the stern man looked over the scroll.
After a few minutes, Severus glanced down at Harry, who was beaming up at him.
"Eight wrong," he announced. "That's twenty-four laps."
"Eight?" Harry asked. "More wrong than I wanted. As punishment, I will run forty laps because I fail you and me!"
Severus Snape sighed as the boy burst out of the room to begin his laps.
"Twenty-four laps would have been fine," he murmured as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.
Crossing his arms, Severus stepped into the doorframe and watched Harry run around the building. Running forty laps around the building was nothing for the four-year-old, who had spent the past few months running around the entire village multiple times, but the older man was surprised by the determined glint in the boy's eyes.
"Harry Potter, there's hope for you yet," the Potions master muttered under his breath as he watched the boy. "I think one day Voldemort might fear you more than Albus Dumbledore."
And that was certainly saying something.
At the end of the afternoon, the pair had made considerable progress. Harry was able to recognize all of the letters and their sounds, as well as simple numbers. When Gai arrived to pick up Harry, the boy was shouting off basic phrases and common English words while doing a routine of push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks.
"Papa!" Harry yelled when he spotted the shinobi. He ran up to the man and threw himself into his father's arms. Gai didn't even blink as he caught the boy and hoisted him over his shoulder.
"Did you learn much today, my youthful son?" Gai asked.
"Of course!" Harry replied, equally as loud. "And I vow to learn more tomorrow and then more the day after!"
Severus sighed.
"Better review your lesson plan," Shizune said with a laugh as she appeared from behind Gai.
"Shizune-san!" Harry greeted the woman, waving at her despite having seen her a few hours earlier. Shizune chuckled but waved back.
Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes and turned away but before he could gather his things and return to the small apartment that had been set up for him yesterday, Gai's voice stopped him.
"Snape-san, I must ask you a question!"
"The answer is no," Severus replied without turning around.
"But it is an urgent matter, one which regards a matter of life and death!" Gai protested. "And it is something that only you would have an expert opinion on!"
The wizard grimaced but turned around, raising an eyebrow as he glared at Gai.
Severus glanced behind the man to Shizune, who was holding back an amused smile. His stomach sank, remembering their conversation from earlier in the day.
"What do you need my expertise on?" he growled.
"Back in your country, Shizune and I ended up collecting a creature that we've now identified from your books as being a dragon. Now we need some information about its dietary habits so we can feed it."
Severus was speechless as he stared at Gai in disbelief. Unfortunately, he didn't doubt that him being speechless would become a regular occurrence over the next few years.
"We would also like methods on how to control and train this magnificent and beautiful creature!" Gai declared.
Severus was quiet for a few minutes before he finally spoke in a low voice that most Hogwarts students would have recognized as extremely dangerous. "You want to train a dragon?"
Apologies on the long delay between updates. Unfortunately, after NaNo and the busy holidays, I had to give writing a hiatus while I studied for my GMAT, which I took yesterday. However, I'm back now and starting in February, I should be back on my normal updating schedule. I do have a Facebook page that I use to give updates about what I'm working on or if something's happened that prevents me from writing, so if you're interested, check it out. I would love to interact with my readers so feel free to post on the page. Search Cheyla in the Facebook search bar and you should be able to find it. The page's profile picture is a black and white baby dragon so you know you've found the right page.
I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always greatly appreciated!