A/N: I wrote this story for my English class. It only asked for one paragragh and my friends kept telling me to keep it short. Well...I didn't. And here's the end result. This has absolutely nothing to do with my story Gold and Silver, Fire and Ice. This stands alone by itself.





Disclaimer: I don't own Harry or Sev or Albus or Ron or Hermione or....*author rambles on for about an hour* ....I own none of them.



A Pleasant Surprise

by: Ankha



Harry Potter sighed in pure misery as yet another group of wizards entered the Hogwart's hospital wing. It had barely been a week since he had destroyed Voldemort, the most feared and evil dark wizard in the world who had been trying to kill him since the day he had been born, and no one would leave him alone! The first night he'd been allowed to see anyone, three nights ago, the door had almost been knocked to the floor with the flood of well-wishers and grateful people. It hadn't stopped there; people just kept coming. Once the initial rush had been over the Ministry of Magic officials had come, questioning him vigorously, making sure he left out not even the smallest detail. After them had come the reporters, Rita Skeeter in the lead, to find out the "real story" behind the battle between their dauntless hero and the greatest evil being of all time. When they kept coming back he'd finally lost his temper and cursed them all, turning them into beetles. Seri and Kit had found it quite amusing and collected all of the scuttling creatures in jars, sending them back to their respected newspapers. None had been back since.



All Harry sought now was solitude among his friends. They were helping him as much as possible but they could not replace the support one man could give Harry. He, however, had not been seen since the final battle. He was missing and presumed dead. This only added to Harry's ever-present misery that had become a constant dull ache in his heart.



The group of people would not take the hint and leave and Harry was rapidly losing his thinning patience. Just before he totally lost his temper and cursed them all on the spot, a loud familiar voice cut over the din.



"I must ask you to leave him be, or I may be inclined to dispose of you myself." Harry's head snapped up to stare at the figure in astonishment and disbelief. There, leaning in a seemingly causal manner against the doorframe, was his adopted father Severus Snape. The group, afraid of the new arrival, obeyed him and left quickly. Severus eyed them all as they left, closing the door sharply after them. He turned and walked over to the bed. He stopped beside it and looked down with a mixture of amusement and affection at the boy's wide-eyed expression.



"Child." That simple word crumbled all of Harry's fragile defenses and he launched himself into awaiting arms, sobbing into the man's robes.



"I thought you were dead," he choked out between sobs.



"And leave you alone? Never my little one, never," the man murmured softly in his ear, running a hand through the messy black hair. Once Harry had cried himself out he laid comfortably in the man's arms. Suddenly Severus swept Harry off of the bed and full into his arms.



"Where are we going?" Harry sniffed.



"Home little one, home."





A/N: *author takes out a tissue and blows her nose loudly into it* Wasn't that just, sappy? I loved it!



*rattles collection tin* Please review! If you liked it, I might do another emotional one.