The school year had started several weeks ago, and Dumbledore still hadn't found a more permanent home for Harry. Harry had now lived with Severus for almost three months. He didn't know what was taking Dumbledore so long. Harry didn't seem bothered by the wait, but Severus guessed anything was better than the boy's last residence. Severus had found that the boy wasn't as much trouble as he'd expected. Sure he needed help with lots of minor things and still ate sloppy. But at the same time, the boy didn't complain often and rarely opposed Severus.
They'd bought new clothes and a few toys for Harry. He'd been mesmerised by Diagon Alley. Snape had seen how he'd been especially entranced by the broom store. Having seen the boy's big eyes staring trough the store displaywindow, Severus had reluctantly asked if the boy wanted to take a quick look around inside. The boy had looked at him as if he hung the moon. For only a moment, Severus couldn't help but see the irony in James Potter's child looking at him that way. The next second those green eyes reminded him that maybe it wasn't too odd after all. Not when you put the Harry's mother into the equation. While the boy seemed enthralled by brooms, just like his father used to be, he definitely had a sort of timidness that Severus never could envision James Potter having. It reminded him of Lily a lot. Sometimes a bit too much.
Severus had been silently fuming inside the broom store. It had been filled with children running around his legs, loudly shouting this and that as they pointed towards different brooms and broom gadgets. He'd tried to keep his silent suffering hidden from Harry as he looked at brooms and the moving pictures on the front of broom magazines. At least the boy was quieter and more civilised than the other children. He also didn't stray far from Severus, which he appreciated.
A thing that did put a smirk on his face had been a couple of students that spotted him in the store. Their terrified expressions when they saw their potions professor in a store they thought where a 'safe place' had been amusing, to say the least.
They didn't spend a lot of time in the store—only a few minutes—but it had been enough to put a big smile on Harry's face.
The rest of the day they'd spent buying things that any typical four-year-old boy needed. Not that Severus had much knowledge when it came to that, but he thinks he did a decent job (which consisted of mostly asking Harry what he wanted).
But this particular day, a Tuesday, Severus' last class was the sixth years. They weren't as dumb as most other students. Since only those that wanted—and had the ability—to achieve a newt grade in the class were there. At the same time, they could be a bit too confident in their skills at times. Resulting in some accidents from time to time. And unlike the first years many, many accidents, a sixth-year potion accident could have dangerous side effects worst-case scenario.
Sadly, no other teachers had been free to look after Harry, and he was only four and lived in a gigantic castle. A castle he'd only been in for about three months. He didn't want the boy to go wandering and get lost. Especially since you never knew what Dumbledore had hidden in some old classroom somewhere. Or what a previous principal, teacher or student had hidden. So no, he didn't exactly like the thought of a four-year-old under his care being left without supervision for too long.
So since no one could look after the child during most of Severus' classes, the boy had to spend the time in the classroom with Severus and the students he was teaching. He'd given Harry firm orders to not go wandering and just sit silent during class to not distract any students. Harry didn't usually disobey him, but he was only a four-year-old boy. Sooner or later, he started poking around, wandering around to see what the students were up to. It didn't go long until Severus realised he needed something to distract the boy.
Therefore, said boy now spent most of the time drawing with crayons at Severus' desk. The desk was a bit too high for him, even when he sat with his legs tucked under his body to gain some height. His short arms reached just over the desk so he could see and paint on the paper. Harry looked very concentrated as he drew. His tongue poked out between his lips as he tried to get a particular line right. Not that Severus was watching him draw or anything. No, he couldn't be less interested in what the boy was doing. Some of the students seemed partially distracted by the boy. A pair of Ravenclaw students softly cooed whenever Harry smiled proudly as he finished a particular piece of his drawing. In most classes he had with Harry in the room at least a few students got distracted by the boy. Even the first years, who were also tiny underdeveloped humans, thought Harry was adorable. He had to take off several house points these last few weeks because of students being too unfocused. Even some accidents happened due to students awing over Harry.
Severus had put a lot of effort into still being the intimidating Hogwarts professor he'd been previous years. He wasn't going to lose the student's respect just because he had to take care of little mini Potter for a while. Though the small boy made the job harder, Severus was determined to succeed. So far, the students seemed to be only marginally less intimidated by him. Of course, it was a bit of a challenge when you needed to hold hands with a four-year-old while walking through the castle, so he wouldn't run off. A few times, he even had to carry the boy. After all, Hogwarts had a lot of stairs, some of them moving—which was definitely not fit for a child—and after a long day, if he needed to get across the castle, sometimes it just went faster if he picked the boy up. He tried to send particularly nasty looks towards those who starred on those days, hoping that it would cancel out him acting remotely affectionate.
The child seemed to sometimes work against him though. Like when he cuddled into the embrace, and all Severus could do was sigh loudly. Or when he started calling him 'Sevy' after hearing Minerva call him 'Sev' just once or twice in private. Severus was still trying to teach him not to use that nickname, but the boy seemed to be determined to continue using that name for him. He would prefer if the boy called him Professor Snape like most did or just Snape. Hell, he'd even settle for 'Severus' worst-case scenario. There seemed to be no changing the boy's mind though. He still blamed Minerva for calling him Sev in the first place. It was only slightly better than 'Sevy'.
Then he felt a tugging in his cloak. First, he thought he'd gotten stuck in something. When he looked down, he realised a small hand clutching the lower part of the fabric of his cloak. Big green eyes stared up at him with a timid smile. Then the boy tugged again, even though he could clearly see that he already had Severus' attention.
"Sevy," the boy said.
"Yes, yes, what do you want Harry?" Severus asked, somewhat annoyed.
Harry finally let go of Severus' cloak before lifting up the piece of paper he'd been holding with his other hand towards Severus. Severus just stared back at it.
"It's for you," Harry said clearly, as if he was uncertain if Severus had understood what his gesture meant.
Severus took the paper seeing some odd shapes on it. As he examined it, he realised it vaguely resembled two people. One slightly taller, with a large dark body and a shorter figure with some more colours added. The two subjects even seemed to be holding hands.
"That's you, and that's me," Harry said, pointing at the two people on the paper.
Severus could hear a student giggle somewhere, and his head snapped up but found all student's seemingly very focused on their work. One of the Ravenclaws looked up for a second, and Snape sent a particularly nasty snare their way.
Now, obviously no matter how much Severus loathed the fact that his students saw something as domestic as a four-year-old Harry Potter giving him a drawing, he realised he couldn't just crumple up the paper and throw it away. Or burn it. That was the side of himself he'd prefer his students to see. Sadly it was not the side Harry deserved. His short life had been hard enough already. Besides, Severus couldn't stare into a copy carbon of Lily's eyes as he destroyed something that held great value to her son.
"I guess it's not an entirely inept image," he instead said. He meant it as a compliment. Thankfully the boy seemed to understand that, as his smile grew a little. Severus folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Then he turned back to the class. "Five minutes left of class. I want you all to be done with the draft in time to bottle it, leave it at the front and clean up your desks. If you miss so much as a crumb of dried frog eyes, then be prepared to spend tomorrow night scrubbing every inch of this room during detention."
That seemed to get the student's going. They started hastily finishing the last steps for their drafts and cleaning up their desks. Thankfully everyone managed to finish and clean up in time. Severus didn't exactly look forward to potentially babysitting students during detention. Needless to say, he'd never leave empty threats, or pass on a opportunity to teach sloppy students a leasson. Of course, sixth-year students had learned by now what level of perfection he expected of them.
Once he and Harry got back to their quarters, Harry was unusually quiet. He usually acted that way when he had something on his mind but was unsure if he should say it. Severus had come to learn that coaxing the boy to say what was on his mind was far less bothersome in the long run.
"What's on your mind child," Severus said as the boys stood shuffling slightly in the kitchen.
"I was wondering if we could put up the drawing on the fridge. Aunt Petunia used to do it with Dudley's drawings," Harry said slowly, as if he was unsure even as he said it, but he seemed slightly hopeful. It was clear his drawings had never been put on the fridge.
"Wizards don't have refrigerators," Severus said. It was true that his quarters did not have a refrigerator.
"Oh," Harry answered, then fidgeted a bit more.
Severus sighed, "I guess we could perhaps put it on the cupboard instead."
"Could we?" Harry's face shone up again.
Severus picked the drawing out of his pocket and unfolded it. Well. No one would ever see if they put it up on his kitchen cupboards. And it clearly meant a lot to the little boy. Severus stuck the paper to one of the cupboard doors with a simple sticking charm. He saw Harry stare up at the picture with joy. Snape still didn't think it resembled them too much. Sure, it was a children's scribble of two people. But Snape really didn't have that thin arms, and his face had an odd shape, like a wobbly circle. And the nose was way too overly proportioned. But he guessed it was good enough. At least it didn't physically hurt to look at.
The way Harry continued viewing the picture with pride for the next few days was worth some of the trouble. That was until he managed to persuade Severus to put up another one of a dog next to the first one. Severus promised himself he wouldn't be convinced to put up more than three drawings. The future would prove him differently.
Authors note:
Thank you for reading! Don't feel shy telling me what you think of the story :)
Can be read as a stand-alone! This is part of a Snape slowly adopting Harry one-shot series. This is the second part of the series. First part is called 'The Beginning of Something (called family)'
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