A/N: I'm hoooooome! Thanks for all the reviews while I was away! And now back to my favorite little pair. :)
Snape had been dreading this, and fretting about it, and worrying. He was, in fact, acting rather undignified about the whole situation. He was the teacher. He wasn't supposed to feel jittery about going back to school. That was just silly, and he knew it. Moving had been less of a pain than he had anticipated. He had simply shrunken down all of Harry's furniture, using a shrinking potion which was quite simple to make, provided you were a potions master. Snape had shrunk the dresser with the clothes still in it, and the toybox with the toys still inside as well. They had all just shrunken along with the furniture and would be easy to restore once the potion wore off, which would be sometime late that evening. He would have the antidote on hand just in case, should he need to restore the objects before the potion wore off. Harry had been fascinated with the tiny furniture, he thought they were toys and tried to put them in his mouth.
"No, don't eat those," Snape instructed, saving Harry's crib and scooping up the rest of the furniture, placing them all in a small box. "When you eat your crib it makes Professor Snape very irate."
"No, Pot!" Harry agreed.
"Harry. Your name is Harry." Snape said, matter-of-factly. Then he put the box with Harry's things in it into his Essentials Kit, which he slung over his shoulder, and hoisted Harry onto his hip. He apparated to the King's Cross Station and took a deep breath. He was really not looking forward to this. He couldn't apparate to the grounds of Hogwarts and because he had another person with him he couldn't even apparate close. No, he was going to have to take the train, just as the students would be doing the next day. As he walked into the station he felt positively hypocritical. Snape had never liked trains to begin with, and he always had very short patience with babies or little ones on trains. And now, here he was. Taking the train with a one year old in tow. He feared it was going to be a long ride.
Snape walked through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 and sighed again. His usual strategy for trains was to take a sleeping draught and sleep the whole way. He knew that he couldn't be asleep with Harry though, Harry would crawl away or fall off the seat or some such ridiculous thing. Oh the ways babies could get into trouble. Severus had considered giving Harry some sleeping potion as well but he felt very uncomfortable about drugging such a little boy. Snape scowled. Who would have guessed that caring for Harry would have reawakened his moral conscious? To be truthful, Snape hadn't even missed it in the first place. The station master recognized Snape immediately and nodded to him.
"It's been quite some time, Severus, since I've seen you,"
"Quite," Snape agreed, without even a hint of remorse in his voice for that fact.
"Well, enjoy your trip." he said, giving the potions master a nod.
Snape nodded back and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry was oohing and pointing to different things, reveling in the different sights and the sounds he was hearing.
"Do you know what we are on Harry?" Snape asked, flatly. "It's called a locomotive." Snape was not about to teach him "Choo-choo train". He had his limits, after all.
Harry tilted his head and oohed some more.
"Yes it's all very interesting," Snape replied.
He walked to the back of the train and seated himself in an empty compartment, then slid the door shut. He knew there would only be a few others on this train today and therefore he would not tolerate anyone disturbing his solitude...Harry excepted of course. Snape placed Harry on his lap and glanced out the window. In a few moments the train whistle blew, which excited Harry greatly, and the train lurched into motion.
"Ugh..." Snape moaned, as his stomach jolted along with the train. He did not enjoy this form of travel at all. Harry on the other hand was completely fascinated. When the whistle blew again Harry gleefully clapped his hands and looked at Snape, who was leaning his head again the back of the seat with his eyes closed.
"'Nape?" Harry asked, concerned. He would be very distraught if Snape didn't pay him any attention, not when there were all these new things happening. "'Napey."
Snape's eyes snapped open. "Professor Snape. Not Snapey. Do you understand?"
Harry giggled and put a finger in his mouth. Then he took that finger out and pointed it at Severus. "'Napey!" he cried.
"Professor Snape." Snape corrected adamantly.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "No, 'Nape."
"We don't talk back, Harry. That is disrespectful. I don't want to lecture you about respect again."
Harry's response was to cuddle his head against Snape's chest and mutter, "'Nape, 'Nape," happily.
Severus got Harry's blanket out of the Essentials Kit and placed it over him. As the train rumbled along, Snape tightened his arms around Harry. He didn't want him to fall off his lap. Before long Snape was asleep too, and he stayed that way until the somewhat portly woman came along, pushing her trolley laden with sweets.
"Sir? Would you like anything?" she asked, in a very chipper voice.
Snape wearily blinked his eyes at her. She'd interrupted his sleep to try and sell him treats? "I'd like to continue napping." he said honestly.
"But would you like anything off the trolley?" she asked.
Snape couldn't believe this. "No," he stated.
"Well what about that big guy?" she said, smiling broadly and pointing at Harry.
"He wants to nap too," Snape answered.
"So would you like me to leave?"
Snape stared her right in the face. "About five minutes ago, yes,"
"Alright! Well I'll be back later in case you change your mind," she said, still smiling, then she continued down the corridor, whistling merrily.
Happy people. Ew. Snape shook his head and was thankful Harry hadn't been awakened by the encounter and within a few moments he was back asleep.
Once he had reached Hogwarts, Snape just wanted to feed Harry and himself and then turn in for the night. That wasn't going to work though, Dumbledore was insisting upon a teacher's meeting and "Welcome Back" party. Snape was beyond not in the mood. All he knew was that if Professor Trewlawny followed him around the way she had last year, begging him to dance, and predicting that if they did not fall in love then terrible, terrible things would happen, he was just going to lose it. He would hex them all and probably eat one of Dumbledore's lemon drops, just for spite. Nevertheless, Snape knew if he didn't attend of his own free will Dumbledore would just come down and get him, all twinkly eyed and happy. So, Snape changed into some of his nicer robes, and dressed Harry quickly in a clean green outfit. Then, grabbing the bag with Harry's things they went upstairs to the Great Hall.
A/N: The welcome back party will be next chapter. Hope you enjoyed. :)