AN: Sorry for the delay, I was on vacation and I always overestimate the amount of writing I can do while I am on vacation. :) Hope you enjoy. I feel like Ron might be a tad too insightful in this chapter, but I sort of needed him to be. What do you think, too out of character?
"Why didn't you just say so?" Hermione asked in exasperation as Severus tried to apologize to her. "That's an easy fix!"
"It is?" Severus asked, his eyes wary.
"Well, how do you think you learned the first time?" she asked.
"We suspect he may have asked Lily to help him," Harry interceded. "He remembers trying to work up his courage to discuss it with her."
"Well, if a fellow child could teach you to read with you meeting her in the park, don't you think we can do it here?" Hermione asked him incredulously. "Where you have actual adults and curriculum to help?"
"You'd . . . you'd teach me?" Severus asked, still wary.
"Of course I will!" Hermione laughed. "We all will. I'll bet you that you'll be reading before the month's out."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley . . ." he began, suddenly seeming more hopeful.
"And that's the other thing," Hermione levelled at him. "I can't stand being called Mrs. Weasley in my own home. I know that I have to be at work, but here I want it to be more like family. Do you think you could call me Hermione?"
Severus blanched, shaking his head in fear. Having the cheek to call an adult by their first name would have resulted in horrendous outcomes in his previous life, he just couldn't do it. He hoped this didn't mean that she wouldn't teach him now.
"Auntie it is then," Ron surmised. "Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron. Has a nice ring to it, it does."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Severus nodded. "Auntie Hermione," he said, seeing how it felt to say it. Hermione was right, it did feel more like family.
"Much better," Hermione nodded, satisfied. "Have you and Harry figured out what you're calling each other?"
"Mr. Potter?" Severus asked hopefully.
"You can call me whatever you want," Harry told him. "Uncle Harry, Mr. Potter, Harry, even Dad if you wanted. I'll let you pick."
Severus wrinkled his brow in concentration, not wanting to look up at his guardian. "I don't know, sir," he answered quietly.
Harry tried to sound reassuring, saying, "It doesn't matter now, Severus. You'll figure it out in time."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Severus breathed, feeling more relaxed. He didn't have to figure it out now, and he certainly didn't have to either risk rejection or think about the implications. Hermione was easy – she felt like what he would think an aunt would feel like, and Ron was, well, definitely uncle-like. But Harry . . . was different.
"So let's get started then," Hermione told him, beckoning him to sit beside her at the table. "Do you know your letters?"
"I know the song," Snape confessed, sitting down beside her. "My mum sang it to me when I was small, and I heard kids singing it in the park too. But I haven't really, well, I don't really know the letters."
"We'll start there then," Hermione decided. "Most kids learn this over several years, however, so don't feel discouraged if it takes you longer than you want it to."
"Okay," Severus nodded, still suspicious but willing to try what she suggested if it meant curing the shame of not being able to read.
"This is the letter A," Hermione explained, drawing it on some paper. "It's the first letter in apple . . ."
Ron gave Harry a chin nod and motioned him out of the kitchen. Harry followed, knowing that this was more Hermione's realm than his.
"You alright?" Ron asked him once they were out of earshot.
"Okay," Harry answered, rubbing his hair a bit. "Not what I was expecting to do with my day."
"I can't imagine how hard that must have been, mate," Ron told him. "Need a firewhiskey?"
"Actually, yes," Harry laughed. "It's a date as soon as the little Potions Master goes to bed."
"Did it go . . . okay?" Ron pressed, smiling a bit too.
"As good as it should have, I guess," Harry admitted. "It stung my hand more than I realized it would, I'm not sure his backside was any worse off than my hand. Do you know if that's how it's supposed to be or if I'm doing it wrong?"
"No," Ron admitted. "But maybe that's why mum always used the spoon."
"He's a tough one, Ron," Harry admitted. "He's mean and snarky when I would have been worried and sorry. But he definitely has a lot of feelings, I think it will be a matter of him feeling them. You know, he even teared up and cried a little bit."
"He did?" Ron asked in surprise. "That has to be a good sign."
"I think it is," Harry agreed. "At least I hope. I remember after the Professor spanked me for the first time I just felt incredible relief – if that was the worst it was going to be, then I knew I didn't have anything to worry about."
"Then let's hope little Sev feels the same way," Ron nodded. "He seems a bit better, at least with Hermione. And you know about the mean and snarky stuff being just his cover, right?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"It's like with my brothers," Ron explained. "We all had the same need – we were trying to get our parents' attention. The twins used their pranks, Percy used succeeding at school, and I, well, I was the the little one."
"You grew out of that one," Harry guffawed.
"Your strategy as a kid was to be really sorry and to make yourself really small," Ron shot back, undeterred. "You came out of it as you grew up at Hogwarts and such, but it took a while. Severus has the same issues but his strategy is to be mean to everyone; the core issues are the same."
"I wasn't always making myself seem small!" Harry protested.
"Why did you let Umbridge do that to you?" Ron asked pointedly. "Or the host of other people that were less then consistent. Even Dumbledore you completely let off, even though he's the one that put you with the Dursleys in the first place."
"He apologized . . ." Harry began, and then stopped, realizing he was confirming Ron's point.
"Exactly," Ron answered. "What do you think ickle little Severus would do if some pink toad tried to get him to write lines with a bloody black quill?"
Harry smirked, seeing what Ron was trying to say. "He'd probably stab her with it," he laughed.
"Exactly," Ron nodded. "You have your work cut out for you."
The two friends looked at each other then, and Ron began snickering. "It's crazy, mate," he snickered.
"What?" Harry demanded, finding himself snickering too.
"You bloody spanked Severus Snape," Ron snickered. "The bane of Gryffindor, the man who took down bloody Lord Voldemort himself."
"And my father!" Harry added, snickering himself.
"The scariest professor in the history of Hogwarts," Ron laughed, trying to stifle it and nearly strangling. "Or at least since Salazar Slytherin. And you bent him over your lap and smacked his bottom!"
"I don't know how I'm going to face him if he gets restored," Harry laughed.
Suddenly, the absurdity of it all struck them and they began laughing with abandon. Harry felt highly irreverent laughing at his father like this, but in some ways it just felt so good to abandon propriety and just let out the laughter bubbling up.
"What is going on?" Harry heard Ginny ask, but at this point the laughter was almost uncontainable.
"He spanked Snape!" Ron declared, and then completely dissolved into laughter himself.
Ginny, rolling her eyes good naturedly at the boys' antics, laughed a bit herself. "I suppose picturing an adult Professor Snape in that position is rather funny . . ."
The boys responded with peals of laughter, and Ginny found herself laughing with them just because of their mirth.
"What is going on?" they heard Hermione demand. "I had to leave Severus with writing some letters."
"They're hysterical," Ginny explained, giggling herself. "I think something hit their funny bone."
"You two are supposed to be functional adults," Hermione scolded, but finding their laughter infectious.
"He, he . . ." Ron started, but was unable to finish due to his uncontrollable laughter.
"Ah, Severus," Hermione greeted the young boy as he entered the room to see what the laughter was about.
Harry, seeing his ward, tried to stop the laughing with large gasps.
"Are you mocking me?" Severus hissed in quiet anger.
"No, no they're not," Hermione rushed to assure him. "I'm not sure what's gotten into them."
"Look, mate, you have to understand," Ron tried to explain, gasping and trying to stifle his laughter. "You have to understand just how badass your adult self was."
"Ron!" Ginny corrected, shocked at his language.
"He was!" Ron insisted. "And then just the thought of the little pipsqueak he raised over here actually spanking him . . ."
"Hey!" Harry objected, and then laughed some more. "I'm sorry, Severus, I think we're more laughing at me."
"You?" Severus asked, still suspicious.
"Think of it like this," Harry tried to explain, getting control of his laughing. "If you were a young adult and suddenly were raising the child version of your father, and you had a situation arise that you had to spank him, how would you feel?"
"Gratified," Severus replied, his eyes glittering thinking of that particular revenge. "I would have made it painful indeed."
"Pretend you liked the bloke," Ron tried. "Feared him a bit yes, but also liked him. But always respected him for being a true b– ouch! Oh fine, Ginny – a truly strong and intimidating wizard."
"I see," Severus replied, feeling somewhat mollified at Ron's obvious fear and respect for his adult self. "Then why is my punishment funny?"
"It's funny because Harry can't believe he actually did it," Hermione tried to explain. "Ron's right, you were very intimidating. I believe Harry is also suffering a bit from hysteria. He's had a very strange few days."
"Far too strange," Harry agreed, and then met Severus' eyes. "I'm sorry if you felt mocked, Severus. Really, it was just Ron and I feeling silly and stupid."
"Do you have a picture of myself as an adult?" Severus asked, looking away but suddenly far more curious. "It would help me to know."
"Of course," Harry nodded. "Of course. I have one over here, this was taken when I graduated from Hogwarts."
Harry quickly located a smallish picture in a black leather frame, showing a slightly younger version of his guardian beside a tall, sallow-skinned man. The figures were moving as he had seen some of the photos him mom had had, and Severus could not help but be impressed by what he found. Severus looked at the man he had become, seeing the bones and skin of his mother and the height of his father. The man was exactly what Ron had described – he was a badass. Severus could see just from the way the man held himself that he was in command of everything around him – he had no fears. Even though the man had a – well, not happy, maybe more pleased – look on his face and his hand on Harry's shoulder, it was clear that he was a formidable person. His posture was straight and sure, and he looked between his obviously loved son to the camera with calm confidence.
"Is that really me?" Severus asked, believing but also finding it hard to believe.
"It was," Harry explained. "But something that McGonagall said I think is really true. That is who you were – a man hardened by an abusive childhood, a terrible time at school and then unthinkable things in the service of a madman. You were a good man and I loved you as a father very much. But McGonagall said this accident gives you a new chance at a different sort of a life. So yes, that's who you were. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's who you will become this time."
"He looks pretty great to me," Severus admitted.
"He was," Harry agreed. "But also so tragic. Maybe this time you could survive your childhood intact enough to have a girlfriend?"
"I didn't marry?" Severus asked, surprised.
"Never even dated," Harry told him. "You never really talked about it, but I think you were just a bit too hurt to trust a woman that much. You had a hard time having any friendships to be honest, I think it was a big deal that you even attached to me."
"But you were my son," Severus protested, confused. The man in the picture had obvious affection and pride in the young mean who was graduating.
"You chose that," Harry explained. "I could have stayed your ward and I would have been protected and you would have done your duty. You adopted me because you loved me; but that was hard, it was a process."
"When did I adopt you?"
"I became your ward at nine," Harry explained. "And you adopted me at eleven, just before Hogwarts."
Severus felt a small glimmer of something at that – somewhere beneath his inherent suspicion and distrust he felt something. Looking up into Harry's earnest face, his dark eyes locked with Harry's surprisingly green ones.
Green like Lily's, Snape realized with surprise.
"And I hope to do the same for you," Harry told his ward firmly, his gaze not wavering.
Snape wanted to run, to yell, to hit someone, or to cower. But he did none of those things as he took a true and appraising look at his guardian. He didn't usually look people full in the face; he could find enough information just watching their body language and take glimpses of their faces. But this look by his young guardian arrested him in his place.
"Let's visit George this afternoon," Hermione suggested, intentionally interrupting the moment when she saw Severus' legs begin to flinch like he was going to run. "In order to do that, I'd like a bit more time with Severus and his schoolwork. How does five sound to everyone?"
"Good," Harry agreed, watching Severus drop his gaze. Something had happened in that moment, and Harry couldn't help but think he was going to pay for whatever that was. "Sounds good. I'll attempt going to the office again then, I think. I'll be back soon."
Harry didn't miss the glare he got from Severus, but sighed. He had known this wasn't going to be easy.
