Author's Note: Okay, technically this is a day late but I did actually finish it on time...and it's the longest chapter yet. Thanks to everyone who reads this story of mine, I really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy chapter eleven!
(Le classic disclamer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other copywritten thing that might appear in this work...)
Review Responses:
mizzrazz72: Haha, yeah, just a bit. XD
MirrorFlower and DarkWind: Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
silentmayhem: You're right, he was definitely lonely. Verus will fix that and Draco wil help Verus too :) That meeting is coming up soon, should be interesting. Thanks for the review!
CGFlare: Well, attempted a bit of a tantrum in this chapter so we'll have to see how that goes. I'm glad you like Draco though, he's turned out far cuter than I orginally expected. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, thanks again for reviewing!
Wingdings13: I'm glad! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Guest 1: eh...most fanfics are a bit of a parody, aren't they? However, no, I am certainly not writing this for comedic purposes.
Gurgaraneth: Glad you like it! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
Guest 2: I'll take an "interesting" over a "boring" any day, thanks! :)
TatsuyaShiva4: Thanks for the review! Harry is currently only three and still healing, one day he will certainly be a strong young man but for now he's allowed a bit of a break. I'm sorry you feel that way about how my version of Harry is written but I will keep writing him the way I feel currently suits him the best. You do not have to read it. :) Nice avatar, by the way.
geekymom: Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Aria Dragoncrest: Thank you!
Enjali: Ha, his face will be very amusing I'm sure. It didn't end up being in this chapter unfortunately, but next chapter hopefully. I didn't find the vampire glasses funny until you pointed it out and then I laughed for a while soooo that's fun. Thanks so much for the review!
ThatRandomTurtle: Thank you!
: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Draco has turned out far cuter than I originally expected him to be but I'm not complaining :) Thanks for the review!
minimonstr9: Thank you for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Tom, or Pom as Verus calls him, isTom Riddle's horcrux left in Verus' head.
atymer: Thanks so much! Yes, expect more snuggles and interesting bits of confrontation, though major things with Dumbles won't really happen for a while. Ah, yeah, a slow painful end is my vote as well. The background...I actually can't wait to reveal some of that but I, unfortunately, must or it will spoil things ;) Thanks for the feedback, hope you continue to enjoy!
marleemiller5769: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story :)
A/N: Can I just say...dang, that was a lot of comments! Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to read this! Now, on to what you really came for
Verus found that he liked the shopping place much more now that he could see everything. That didn't mean he liked it all that much though, there were sooo many other people around, many of them with little kids that screeched and pointed at the different stores. Verus was glad his da was so tall and the people didn't get too close to them. His da was so cool.
"Clothes first, I think." he heard the man say,
"Da?"
"Yes?"
"Have clothes, don't I?" he asked, confused.
"Yes, but I thought you might enjoy having a few shirts and things that you picked out for yourself," Da answered easily,
"Oh, I need to choose?" Verus asked, "Alone?" He was excited to choose but he
wasn't so sure about doing it by himself. What if his da had to leave him there while he chose?
"I will help if you'd like," his da assured him as he opened the door to a shop. Verus nodded happily and looked around the place. He...didn't like it.
"Welcome in," a woman said, bustling towards them from among the rows of clothing and fabrics, "Nice to see you again, Master Snape. Are we looking for anything specific today?"
"Good morning, Madam," Da answered, "We need to look at your selection of toddler clothing,"
"Oh what a handsome little man!" the woman gushed, staring at the uncomfortable Verus, "Our selection of toddler clothes is right over here," she said, leading them over to rows of much smaller clothing.
"Thank you," Da said and the lady smiled,
"My pleasure. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need any help."
Verus watched the lady until she was far enough away for him to feel comfortable turning his attention to the clothes.
"Alright, Verus, let's look at the shirts and see what you might like," Da said.
"Okay, Da," Verus answered.
One by one the pair of them pulled out shirts to study them, Verus' Da occasionally providing the name of the color, creature, or object in question.
Verus decided, by the time they were finished picking out shirts, that the color purple was his most favorite one, followed closely by black, like his and his da's hair. They eventually left the store with five new shirts; a black one with a few purple fish that swam around the front, a purple one with dark blue stars, another black one with a pale green snake slithering around, a dark blue one with a big grey shark on it, and a light blue one with a flying horse that Da said was called an abraxan.
"Do you need trousers, pants, shoes, socks...anything to go with the shirts?" the lady asked as Da paid for the shirts.
"No, I believe we are fine for now," Da replied politely, though in a tone that Verus knew he wouldn't question if it was directed at him.
"Very well then, you two have a pleasant day." the lady said and off they went.
Severus did not miss how relieved Verus was by the space people gave them as they walked down the crowded street, heading for a store that supplied home goods. He mentally made a note to one day teach Verus how to hold himself and walk just right so that people would move out of the way for him as well.
"Alright, this is our next stop," he said to the child, gesturing to the tiny shop front in front of them,
"What will we get here, Da?" Verus asked,
"You'll see," Severus replied and opened the door.
Thanks to multiple expansion charms, the store was much larger on the inside than it was on the outside and Severus enjoyed the little gasp of wonder that came from the child in his arms.
"House things?" he asked,
"We're getting things for your room," Severus corrected, "Draco insisted that you need your own comfortable blankets and such, did he not?"
"Yes, Da," Verus replied happily, "Dragon said it's 'mportant."
"Would you like to walk and hold my hand in this store, Verus? You may lead the way so that you can see everything."
"Okay, Da!"
Severus set Verus on the ground and held his hand, allowing the small child to tug him towards the rows of blankets and bedding they had seen upon entering the shop. The boy seemed to naturally gravitate towards the things marketed for his age group, leaving Severus wondering if he would need to buy a new, smaller bed for the child or if he could either shrink the preexisting bed or expand the new bedding.
Verus had them pause for a moment in front of some bright red, quidditch themed bedding, likely because the balls printed on the comforter zoomed around randomly. Severus hoped that the child wouldn't choose those, he didn't know how anyone could sleep under something so...distracting.
The next set that caught the child's eye was much tamer. A forest was depicted at the bottom with the occasional owl swooping into the trees from the darkening sky above, one that went from a lighter purple to almost black at the top. Severus allowed himself a bit of a smile when Verus giggled quietly as he spotted a bright orange fox peeking out from behind a tree.
The third set that caught the child's eye seemed more childish than the previous one, with pale blue as the main color, depicting an ocean for cartoon pirate ships to sail upon.
"Boats?" Verus asked, looking to Severus for confirmation.
"Yes, specifically pirate ships," he replied easily. Verus nodded and continued on.
The final bed set that caught the child's attention was cream for the most part with two cartoon trees in the middle growing from a hill of pale green towards the bottom half of the comforter. On the hill, under the trees, a group of characters sat piled up on one another on top of what had been a pile of leaves.
"Da, why is the bear wearing a shirt?" Verus asked, pointing at the yellow bear on the bedding.
"I'm not entirely certain, Verus." Severus admitted, "I do know that all of these animals are characters from Winnie the Pooh, which is a book."
"A magic book?"
"Well the author, A.A. Milne was a squib but I'm not sure if there are any magical versions of his books. We will have to see if we can find them later, now won't we?"
"Yes!" Verus exclaimed but frowned a moment later, "What's a squib?"
"Ah, that would be a person born into a magical family without any magic," Severus replied easily and Verus dropped the subject, more interested in watching the leaves from the trees on the blanket drift slowly down to the ground.
The two of them looked through all of the other bed sets and, eventually, Verus had to make a decision. He liked the nighttime one with trees and the pirates were cool but so was the one with the bear...he scowled at the three. Why couldn't it be as easy as picking shirts?
Da put all three in a row and crouched down next to him.
"Having trouble?"
"Da I don't know which is the bestest one for my new room," he admitted, "Help?" His da nodded seriously and looked at all three of the sets.
"Well, if I were to take the pirate one and say you cannot have it, would you be sad?" Da asked. Verus studied the thing for a moment and shook his head,
"No, Da, not sad." he said, the pirate ships were really really cool but blue wasn't his favorite color...he should have known that this one wasn't as nice as the others.
"Alright, what about the dark forest one?" Da asked again and this time Verus frowned. He thought that he might be sad to not be allowed to have that one...maybe.
"Don't know, Da," he admitted. Da nodded and placed a hand on the Winnie the Pooh set,
"And this one?" Verus' frown deepened, he liked the bear and all of his friends on that one, they were all so happy...would he make them sad if he didn't choose them?
"You'll have to choose one, Verus. You can get another one when you are older and have perhaps grown tired of your first choice."
Verus' eyes widened. He would one day get a new one?
"Go with the one that makes you feel happy inside whenever you see it," Tom whispered in his mind, "That'll make everything easier for you."
"Did that make anything easier?"
"Yes, Da, want Winnie the Pooh." he answered, smiling up at the man.
"Alright, Winnie the Pooh it is." Da said, "Now what I will do is put this back, tap it with my wand, and it will tell the worker up front what exactly we want so that it's there when we leave."
"Magic, Da?" Verus asked,
"Indeed."
Verus and his Da continued on their way through the store, nothing too interesting catching Verus' eye, though they paused a few times so that the man could tap random things with his wand. Verus wasn't sure what all they needed but he didn't question it, he mainly focused on following along and trying not to bump in to anyone they happened upon.
"Pom?" he asked in his head,
"Yes?"
"I've got new things!"
"I see that, Little One," came the response and he knew without a doubt that the man was smiling.
"Winnie the Pooh!"
"I quite like those stories myself, not that I ever told anyone. Owl, I believe was my favorite character,"
"Ooh, he looks cool on my new bed things!" Verus exclaimed happily.
If Tom answered, Verus didn't hear it because, at that exact moment he caught sight of a row of fluffy blankets and gasped,
"Da! Blankets!" he exclaimed and tugged on the man's hand.
"Would you like to go see them then?" his Da asked, a small smile on his face,
"Yes please!"
Severus allowed the little boy to bounce towards the blankets, the little hand that was free immediately going out to touch the soft fabrics.
"Da this one!" Verus exclaimed. Apparently blankets were much easier to choose than bed sets.
"Oh that one's very nice," he told the child seriously,
"It's purple! My favorite! And, and it has um...stars!"
"It will go very well with your new bed set," Severus said, "How about we pay for this and go have lunch?"
"Okay, Da!" Verus agreed happily, allowing the man to tap the blanket with his wand and lead them back to the front of the store.
Severus paid and shrunk their packages, putting them in his pocket before they left the shop. After a moment of them walking along the bustling street, he felt a tug on his hand and looked down into Verus' big green eyes.
"Yes, Verus?" he asked, wondering if the child would actually speak to him with this many people around.
Verus, for his part, kept his mouth shut but lifted his arms in the universal request to be held. Severus quickly complied and felt the child nuzzle into his neck, the cold frames of the new glasses pressing into his skin.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned, and sighed in relief when he felt the child nod.
Severus quickly made his way to the Leaky Cauldron as quickly as he could and claimed a table in the back corner of the busy pub where it was not as loud and they were afforded a small amount of privacy.
The whole ordeal was over with little fuss, Verus not protesting anything on his plate and the both of them eating in silence. Severus knew that Verus was not comfortable enough in the restaurant to speak and he didn't mind the silence himself, though he did hope that the child would one day relax enough to be himself anywhere they went.
Back in Malfoy manor, Lucius was wondering just where the adorable child he'd seen that morning had disappeared to. The little boy that had braved the manor and given up his prized plushie to help a friend certainly did not exist in the red-faced, screaming toddler before him. He was thankful that this was a very mild tantrum for Draco but he just could not understand where it had come from.
Everything had been completely calm and normal when they sat down for lunch, Lucius and Narcissa talking as their son happily ate his own food between them. The next thing either of them knew, Draco's cup had gone flying and he pitched a fit for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Narcissa had immediately cast a diagnosis charm to see if something was wrong with him physically but the results showed that he was still a very healthy little boy and they were stumped.
"Honestly, Draco, I can't help you if you won't calm down long enough to tell me what's wrong," he said calmly when the child paused for air, "Why don't you talk to Papa?"
Draco's only answer was a louder scream.
"Any ideas, Cissa?" Lucius asked.
"We could consider ignoring him and continuing with our meal?" she replied uncertainly,
"We could," Lucius agreed, "I would like to know what set him off, however."
"What were we talking about before he started screaming?" Lucius thought for a moment before slowly answering,
"Sev...oh...we were talking about what Severus and Verus are doing right now, how they were probably going for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron instead of coming all the way back here."
Neither of them had thought that Draco was listening to a word they said...obviously they were wrong.
"Dragon, Love, talk to Mummy please, is this about Verus and Uncle Sev?"
Draco, for his part, nodded as his screams became loud sobs,
"Dr-Dra-a-agon wants them home n-now! Uncle Se-e-ev promised Dragon!"
Lucius sighed and mentally cursed Severus for not specifying exactly when he and Verus would next see Draco.
"Dragon, you need to breathe," he said firmly, "Screaming and crying will not bring your godfather or your friend here for lunch."
Apparently, that was not the thing to say as Draco just kept crying. Lucius was very glad that they were in the privacy of their own home and not out in public.
"Draco, you will see them both at supper," he tried again, "eat your lunch and the day will go by faster. You don't want to have to tell Verus that all you did today was cry and get in trouble for misbehaving at lunch, do you?"
The child seemed to consider this as his sobs quieted a bit, though they still shook his body with every breath,
"N-n-no-o..." he admitted,
"Well then, let's breathe, finish the meal, and move on with our day," Lucius said decisively, then went back to his own food.
"Well I am impressed, Lucius, have you been reading the books Severus bought about childcare?" Narcissa asked teasingly. Lucius flushed slightly,
"After the last tantrum our son threw...and with Verus here...I had to do something..." he explained haltingly.
Dragon, for his part, was merely confused by all of this and he sat there sniffling pitifully as his parents went back to eating their food. His Papa had never spoken to him that way before. Usually, once Dragon started screaming and crying, Papa would do anything and everything Dragon demanded...either that or he'd shout back and then Mummy would do it instead.
Dragon didn't think he liked the way this fit had turned out. He did not have Uncle Sev or Verus with him...but his Papa had said he would see them at supper which, even though that was forever away, was a time and gave him something to look forward to.
Dragon now had a new problem though. He was thirsty and his throat was scratchy from all of his screaming but he had started off showing his Papa and Mummy that he was angry by throwing his cup.
"Mummy?" he asked quietly, once his sniffles had completely died down.
"Yes, Love?"
"Dragon has drink again?"
"Of course,"
Dragon watched happily as his Mummy refilled his sippy cup but frowned when she paused while it was just far enough away that he couldn't grab it. Didn't Mummy understand how much he needed that right now?
"Are you going to throw your cup again, Draco?" she asked seriously,
"No, Mummy, Dragon is thirsty." Dragon informed her, still frowning. He wanted that cup back!
"Very well," she said and finally handed the thing over.
Dragon snatched it up and began drinking very quickly, watching warily in case she decided to take it back before he was done.
He would have the bestest adventure with Red so that he could tell Verus all about his cool day...and not about crying at lunch.
After lunch, Severus carried Verus back out into Diagon Alley and down to the two shops he'd purposefully left for last.
"Alright Verus, the store over here sells books and the one across from it sells toys, which one would you like to visit first?" he asked, "Don't worry, you may just point to whichever one you choose,"
Severus watched the child look back and forth between the two shops, serious eyes taking in every aspect of each one before he pointed to the less busy bookshop.
"Very well, books first." he said and in they went.
"Children's books are in the back," the worker informed him the moment they stepped inside, "just past the history section."
Severus nodded his thanks and headed to the area the man had specified after picking up one of the baskets kept at the front. He didn't question how the man knew what he was looking for, he was eerily similar to Ollivander sometimes which was why Severus preferred to order his books rather than visit the shop.
"Da, look!" Verus exclaimed quietly the moment they reached the children's books, "Pooh bear!"
"Well that answers that question," Severus murmured, setting the child down so that he could run over to the row of books featuring the bright yellow bear and his friends. These were shorter adaptations for a younger age group of course, however, Severus made sure to pick up the original as well.
He watched Verus carefully pick up on of the books and open it, gasping in wonder at the moving illustrations, as he always did when he saw something magical happen. Severus privately thought that that sense of wonder was the most adorable thing about his child.
"Pick out as many books as you'd like, Verus, but don't wander off," he told the boy, "I will be right here looking at these books on the top shelf."
"Okay, Da!" Verus replied happily, not even looking up from the book he held.
Severus nodded and began scanning the educational children's books with a critical eye. He needed to get Verus up to par with the rest of his age group and he had no idea where to start. Verus actually did a lot of the things the books he'd read on child development said he should be doing at this age but the basic things he should know, such as his colors and at least the first few numbers still needed to be learned along with what basic magical knowledge he could start on.
"I suppose I should start there then," Severus muttered, "Numbers, alphabet, colors, beginning potions kit..."
Verus stared at all of the amazing books in front of him, trying to decide which one he should choose. Da had said to get whatever he wanted but...surely he didn't mean that?
He wanted the Winnie the Pooh book he had first picked up and maybe one more but there were just too many! He wanted to know what every single one of the books had inside. Were all the stories as amazing as the one Lucius had told him?
"If you don't know what to choose, ask your Da for help," Tom said, "he won't mind"
"But Da's looking too." Verus pointed out, "You help?"
"If you allow yourself to pick out more than two books, I will assist you," Tom replied.
Verus thought about that for a moment but it didn't take him long to agree. His Winnie the Pooh book was quickly joined by one that Tom told him was about animals from all around the world and one about a dog named Kipper.
"How about that one there, it's got quite a few stories inside," Tom suggested,
"I picked more than two," Verus told his friend even though he was very curious about the book in question.
"But your Da told you to pick any book you want," Tom protested. Verus didn't answer, merely looked through the animal book he'd picked out until his Da's voice startled him,
"Only three books, Verus? Are you certain?"
Was he certain that these were all he wanted? No, of course not, there were lots of other books about Winnie the Pooh and Kipper and things he couldn't understand but thought looked cool anyway. He glanced over at them then looked up at his Da,
"...yes..." he replied,
Severus saw the glance towards the other books and cursed the Dursleys, this was really not something a child this young should be doing when told he could have anything he wanted.
"Well, I believe I will pick some more books then, if you don't mind." he told the child.
"Books for Dragon?" Verus asked,
"No, Draco has more than enough books already. These will be books for me to read to you," Severus corrected him, "You might be fine with the same three books over and over again but I would like to know more of the stories. Would you like to help me choose?"
Severus held in a sigh of relief when the little boy accepted his story and moved to "help" him pick out more books. Everything that looked so much as a tiny bit interesting made its way into their basket after that and Severus was thankful for the feather-light charm on it by the time they made it back up to the front of the shop.
Their shrunken purchases made their way into Severus' pocket along with all the other purchases they'd made that day before the two of them faced their second to last stop, the toy store.
Verus did not want to be let down from his perch in Severus' arms this time, staring with wide eyes at the many colorful toys the crowd of loud children of all ages. Severus didn't mind, merely tightening his hold on the boy reassuringly and making his way over to what seemed to be an entire wall of plushies.
He already knew that decisions would be very difficult in this store and immediately decided not to do as he had done in the bookstore. Limits seemed to help Verus when there were far too many choices.
"Alright Verus, you may choose three stuffed animals," Severus said and the child nodded before pointing at a white snake the size of his arm.
Severus retrieved the toy and handed it over, watching with interest as Verus cuddled it close and went back to studying the wall. The man wondered briefly if the boy would one day be able to speak with snakes as his grandfather had. He might be very jealous if the child was a parselmouth.
Verus pointed again, this time at a large, smiling yellow cat that was round and lacked any distinguishable limbs except for a very short tail and large ears, almost like a pillow with a face. Severus refrained from commenting on the size of the thing, wondering if Verus planned to sleep on top of it more than anything else. He certainly couldn't carry the cat around with him all the time.
Verus was very happy with his first two choices, immediately taking Tom's suggestion to call the snake 'Zar' and naming the cat 'Sunny' while he looked at all of the other toys. He had to be very very careful choosing the last one. He didn't want to choose the wrong one and end up making a plushie sad when he put it back.
A small, purple creature caught his eye and he frowned. He had absolutely no idea what the thing was with it's small ears and large head.
"Pom, what's that?" he asked.
"A hippopotamus, hippo for short," Tom answered.
"He looks lonely," Verus thought and that was all it took for him to make up his mind. He pointed and a moment later the small hippo joined his other new friends.
"Your name is...um...Poe." he decided, hugging all three of the plushies close, though he had to squeeze Sunny nearly in half to do so.
"Alright, on to the other things," Da said, "Do you want to get down and lead the way?" Verus immediately shook his head. There were so many people in the shop, he just knew he would lose his Da if he got down.
"Very well, you continue pointing at what you would like to see then, alright?"
Verus nodded and smiled at the man. His Da was the very bestest.
He pointed and off they went to look at building blocks and coloring books and what his Da said were called figurines of animals and all sorts of other cool things to play with. He just knew that he would never be tired of playing with all of his new things.
Severus made his way to the front of the toy store to pay and immediately knew he would have to set Verus down. He sighed, he really didn't want to upset the child but there was no other way.
"Verus, I need to set you down for a moment," he said quietly, "Hold on to my robe so that we don't get separated."
Verus looked up at him with wide eyes but nodded and allowed Severus to put him on the ground, taking the purple hippo with him. The man made sure that one of the little hands was firmly attached to his robe before turning his attention back to the cashier.
Severus was just pocketing the last of their purchases when he heard an unfortunately familiar voice say,
"Hello there Sweetie! What's your name?" and Verus pressed even closer to his leg.
He turned and picked up his son before glaring at the woman in front of him,
"Molly," he said as a greeting, moving past her and out of the shop. He'd seen her following them since lunch but he had also hoped that she would leave them be...
"Severus, how lovely to see you!" Molly Weasley said, following them closely, "Who's this little one?"
"My son," Severus answered shortly, coming to a halt once he was certain he was out of everyone's way.
"I wasn't aware you had a son!" Molly exclaimed, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Multiple reasons, the foremost being that it was nobody else's business." Severus replied acerbically.
"Now Severus, don't be like that," Molly chided, "such attitudes are not suitable to have around small children. Now, this youngster looks like he's around the same age as my Ronnie! We must get them together sometime, perhaps you could come to supper tonight?"
"We are having supper with the Malfoys, Molly, so I will have to decline," Severus said, inwardly smirking at the look on the woman's face at that. Why couldn't she just take a hint and leave them alone?
"Are you certain that such company is healthy?" Molly asked, wringing her hands anxiously, "We wouldn't want them infecting the child with their dark ideals! Why don't you send him with me if you're obligated to go, I will watch him and he can get to know my Ronnie,"
"Who my son and I associate with is my choice and mine alone," Severus stated, annoyance finally making its way to his face as he felt Verus' grip tighten in fear, "your opinions are of little importance to me."
"Yes, but the boy needs proper friends and I'm sure you would enjoy a night to yourself? Take a break from childcare for a night?" Molly tried,
"My son and my godson get along very well actually," Severus informed her shortly, glaring down at the woman for daring to suggest that he might need a break from his son, "We must be off,"
"But Severus…"
"Good day, ," Severus interrupted and stalked away as quickly as the crowds allowed. He quickly threw up a muffliato around himself and Verus and said,
"We'll have to ask the house elves if we might have ice cream for dessert tonight, Verus, I believe it's time we returned to Malfoy Manor." Verus nodded and Severus paused briefly, bringing one hand up to gently guide the little boy's face up from his shoulder. Green eyes met black and Severus offered the boy a reassuring smile,
"For the record, she was wrong. I could never need a break from you, promise."
Verus' response was a bright smile and a tight hug. He was cute enough that Severus didn't bother mentioning that the child was cutting off his airway. It was worth it.
Molly watched Severus go with a frown on her face. She was certain that the Headmaster would want to hear about this. He would be able to get the young man back on the right path.
A/N: Soooo yeah, that was fun. I should add that I have nothing against Molly Weasley but her personality and nosiness tend to get on my nerves...plus her trust in Dumbles is automatically putting her on the opposing side...oh well