Thankyou again Sinner's Angel for reviewing and also Crabbe!
A Different Life
Chapter 6 - Magic
A few hours later Severus woke up, still feeling sleepy, but knowing he wasn't going to be able to get anymore sleep. He got up and changed into some clothes, and then proceeded down the stairs to start breakfast.
Once everything was set, he headed back to get Harry, knowing he was going to have a talk to him about not wondering off. He walked up the stairs and pushed open the door. Harry was still asleep. Severus looked at the time on his watch and saw that it read 10:37am. He really should wake Harry up. He couldn't let him sleep the day away, but he couldn't find it in himself to wake him, he looked so much more peaceful while sleeping.
So he walked back out, and decided to eat alone and then maybe make a potion. He hadn't done that for a while, well not since school ended, which was about a week and a half ago. Normally he would be into his third potion about now, which would be the hardest ones that he wouldn't normally get much practice in.
After finishing breakfast he made his way downstairs to his dungeon that he had.
Once in the dungeon he walked over to his storeroom to evaluate what ingredients would be needed for him to buy.
Just as he was opening another door to another storage room he heard a yell that sounded like Harry's voice, completely forgetting about what he was doing, Severus ran upstairs to make sure Harry was okay. But what he saw made his eyes almost pop out in shock.
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10 minutes before
Harry woke up feeling a lot more rested. His arm didn't hurt and it didn't nearly look as bad as it did the night before. Getting up he walked over to Severus' room to find it empty. Heading downstairs he clumsily ran down the stairs, tripping on one of the steps.
As he was slipping he could feel himself falling, but it never happened, he didn't hit the ground, in fact, he seemed to have stopped moving altogether, but he wasn't touching anything either. What was going on? Harry looked over his side and what he saw made him yell. He was floating!
He heard some running and just put his head right back so he was looking at an upside down Severus.
"Help" Harry said, not knowing how to get down.
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Severus, after getting over his initial shock, ran over to Harry, being careful to take him, and lowering him to the ground. Harry was obviously in shock, his eyes were wide, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything, just staring. Severus bent down beside Harry and looked him in the eye.
"Harry, what did you just do?" Severus asked, trying to get the boys attention.
"I-I don't...I don't know..." Harry said, now looking into Severus' eyes.
"Can you tell me what happened before you found yourself floating in mid air?" Severus asked, trying to understand what had just happened.
"I was running down the stairs and I tripped. But then all of a sudden I...I was floating." Harry said, clearly confused at what had just happened.
It was then that Severus understood what had happened. Harry had just showed his first signs of magic. He wasn't a squib, not that the thought had ever entered his mind.
"I think what happened Harry, was that you have just shown your first signs of magic." Severus said, smiling at the look of wonderment that shown through Harry's face.
"I-I did magic?" Harry said, the smile getting wider on his face by the second, clearly excited that he had done magic.
"Yes, I believe you did. Now come on, you must be starving." Severus said, once again standing up, and leading Harry into the kitchen.
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A few weeks later it was the night before Harry's birthday. Severus had no doubt that Harry would love his present, he was assured of that. He couldn't believe that he was actually excited for Harry. He never thought he could care about someone so much in such a short time, though around other people he tried his hardest to not seem like that was the truth. He was still hard on Harry, not letting him get away with much, but Harry didn't even seem to notice. He too was growing more and more used to Severus' moods, and didn't seem to take any of his glares or sneers too seriously. He had also come quite accustomed to his sarcasm. They seemed to have worked out a routine that seemed to fit quite well.
Harry had also gotten used to being around other strangers, he still liked to be able to see Severus whenever he was with someone, but with the constant visits from Dumbledore and Remus, Harry had gotten used to them, and was able to be around them when Severus was out without feeling nervous.
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Severus was awakened by movement on his bed.
He opened his eyes to see Harry jumping on the other end of his double bed. He looked to his other side to see his clock read 5:41am. It was way too early to get up. He groaned, looking back over to Harry who was still happily jumping up and down.
"Harry" Severus said warningly. "Go back to sleep!" Rolling over onto his back he propped up onto his elbows.
"Severus! You're awake!" Harry said who then stopped jumping and crawled over to where he was laying, sitting in front of him and crossing his legs.
"Yes, well it's a bit hard to sleep when someone is constantly jumping on your bed!" Severus said, trying to sound angry, but was far too tired to put in the effort.
Harry looked slightly guilty for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by excitement. "Guess what!" He said happily.
"What?" Severus asked, sitting up more, trying to sound as though he was interested.
"I'm 6 today!" Harry said bouncing around again.
Severus rolled his eyes. Knowing he was just woken up to be told something he clearly already knew.
"Was that all you wanted to tell me, because if it was I would like to get some more sleep." Severus said, laying back down, and pre-paring to go back to sleep again, knowing full well Harry wouldn't allow that, and as if on cue, he felt his arm being pulled, in an effort to pull him out of bed.
"Come on Severus, I'm hungry." Harry said, trying with all his might to get Severus up.
Severus let out an exasperated yell and sat up fully on his bed. He quickly swung his legs over the side and looked evilly at Harry, still looking directly at Harry, who was now looking cautiously at him, he took his wand from behind his pillow. He smiled and pointed it at Harry, who in turn looked on in horror, and in a split second Harry was out of there.
Severus smiled at the effect that it had had on Harry, he placed his wand back where it had been before and looked longingly at his bed. But he knew it would be only a matter of time before Harry was back up here again. He slowly got changed and headed down to the kitchen.
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Breakfast had gone uneventfully, with Severus glaring down at the extremely happy boy eating in front of him. As soon as they had finished, Severus told Harry to sit in the living room and to not move out of there until Severus came back. Severus knew he didn't have long, as Harry was a curious boy and would soon be walking around the house, looking for Severus, so Severus rushed into the basement, and into a back storage room, where he picked up Harry's present and then preceded to go back towards the living room, where he found Harry sitting anxiously on the couch.
He walked over to Harry and bent down in front of him, his hands with the present behind him. He smiled as Harry curiously looked at Severus to see what he was hiding. He waited until he could tell Harry was about to burst, and then spoke.
"Happy Birthday Harry" he then produced the present, which was not wrapped, but had a light blanket covering it.
Harry carefully removed the blanket and gasped in shock. Right in front of him was the owl he had spent all day at Diagon Alley patting in a beautiful silver cage. It was the baby snowy white owl.
"Is this for me?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
"Yep, sure is. When I went back to Diagon Alley to get my potion supplies, I happened to speak to the owner of the shop that you had gone into before, and he mentioned your interest in this particular owl, and since the only two times I have lost you, it has been to find you with owls, this will hopefully minimise the chance of any more wondering-" Severus said with a pointed look, but was cut off as Harry had jumped to his feet and hugged Severus around the neck, as he was still bent down in front of him.
"Thankyou so much! This is the best present I've ever had!" Harry said, knowing that this was the only present that he could remember ever receiving.
Severus chuckled lightly and hugged him back, but was quick to pull away.
"So what are you going to name her?" Severus asked.
"I'm not sure" Harry said, looking back to the owl and taking her out of her cage. Sitting back down he placed her on his lap, and patted her on the head, she cooed in response.
"I'll go get some owl treats." Severus said walking out of the living room and up the stairs to get to his room. He walked over to a draw by his bed and pulled it open. He grabbed a bag, which was full of owl food, which he had gotten in preparation for this, and walked back down to the living room, taking a second to watch Harry and his owl together. They really got along.
He placed the owl treats beside Harry, telling him not to feed her too much, then ruffled his hair and walked back out into the kitchen. He needed some caffeine.
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About 5 hours later Remus popped by, using the fireplace, only to find Severus asleep in a chair, which was facing Harry and his owl, whom were still together playing, but now they were on the ground of the living room.
Remus laughed to himself, and walked over to Harry. He sat beside him and smiled at the look of pure happiness on the boys face.
"Hi Harry. Happy Birthday!" Remus said, patting the boy on the shoulder.
Harry looked away from the bird and smiled at Remus.
"Look what Severus brought me!" Harry said indicating to the owl. "Isn't she beautiful?" Harry said with lots of enthusiasm.
"Yes she is, have you decided on a name yet?" Remus said, looking at the uniquely beautiful snowy owl in front of him.
"No, not yet" Harry said, looking as though he was trying to think of what he was going to call her.
"Well, I hope you like my present that I got for you." Remus replied, smiling at Harry while he pulled what looked like a book out of what nowhere.
Harry smiled at Remus and opened the book, only to reveal a whole lot of moving photos. He looked curiously at them and then back to Remus.
Remus pointed to one picture in particular, which was of a man, and a woman who was holding a baby. They looked really happy.
"That's James, your father" He said while pointing to the man in the photo. "That's Lily, you mother" He said while pointing to the woman in the photo. "And that adorable little baby-" He said while pointing to the baby. "-is you."
Harry looked in wonderment. He had never seen his parents before, well not that he could remember. He only knew that they died when he was one, and the Dursleys had said it had been in a car accident, he wasn't sure if he should believe them. He made a mental note to ask Severus about that later.
He took his finger and lightly touched his parent's faces. He briefly wondered what they were like. He flipped through the album and when he reached the last page he looked back up at Remus.
"If you ever want to hear about what they were like Harry, I'll be happy to tell you, they were great people, you parent's." Remus said with a sad smile on his face.
"Thankyou" Harry whispered.
"Now, what do you say we go wake up Severus!" Remus said, his face lighting up more now they were onto a different subject.
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After having Harry climb onto the edge of the chair and then jump onto Severus, jolting him awake, Harry had then been chased around the house, until Severus gave up, unable to find him. He walked back into the living room to see a very amused Remus sitting on the couch.
Severus just rolled his eyes at him and kept walking into the kitchen.
As soon as Severus finished pouring himself some coffee, Remus entered the room, with Harry hiding behind him. Severus looked at Remus, then down to Harry, where he narrowed his eyes, and then he went and sat down on the kitchen table, without saying a word.
Harry slowly stepped away from Remus, and very slowly made his way towards Severus, who was silently drinking his coffee.
Only when Harry was standing directly in front of him did Severus actually acknowledge him, he glared into Harry's seemingly innocent eyes.
Remus watched leaning on the doorframe, amused. He hadn't seen Harry and Severus together much, Albus had said they were perfect for each other, and at the time Remus couldn't think that was correct, James Potter's son, getting along with Severus Snape! But now he really got to see how they got along. When he first saw Harry and Severus together, he didn't really take notice of how they acted with each other, but now he could see Albus was right. Severus may have helped Harry a lot, but Harry had helped Severus just as much as well.
"I'm sorry Severus, I didn't mean to wake you, I was just trying to show Remus how to...umm..." Harry was quickly trying to think of an excuse that would get him out of this.
Severus waited, still feeling the effects of being jumped on, not that Harry weighed much of course, 4 years of that abuse, and barely feeding him would take a long time to even out, plus he was very short for his age, which it probably didn't help that he was stuck in a cupboard for 4 years!
"Yes..." Severus said, prompting him to continue.
"I was just trying to show Remus...how to...how to not try and wake you!" Harry said, finally thinking of something "Now you can be sure that if Remus wanted to wake you up, he wouldn't do it by jumping on you, because he now knows you don't like that!" Harry seemed quite pleased with himself, not realising that what he just said sounded more made up then fairytales.
Remus couldn't keep the smile that was on his face off after hearing Harry's explanation even if he wanted to. He could tell Severus was trying not to smile to.
"Right...well maybe next time you can just tell Remus how not to wake me, instead of showing him. Okay?" Severus said, shaking his head at his weakness of punishing Harry.
Harry nodded eagerly, obviously happy he was getting off without a punishment.
"Okay, now off you go, I'll fix you up some lunch." Severus said, shooing him away.
Harry smiled and ran out of the kitchen to go find his owl.
Remus smiled after him, and then headed over to the table Severus was sitting at, and he too sat down.
"Amazing, truly amazing!" Remus said, looking directly at Severus who was taking a long sip of coffee.
"What?" Severus said, looking confused at Remus.
"Nothing" Remus smiled to himself. "So, you seem a bit tired there."
"Yes well you try going to sleep at two in the morning, only to be woken up just before six by a very energetic kid who so far has shown no sign of letting up." Severus said looking more exhausted by the minute. He looked again at his coffee and made an annoyed face. Then got up and went down to his storage room.
Remus' smiled even wider.
Once Severus re-entered he sat back down and slipped something in his drink and then went back to sipping it.
He looked up when Albus Dumbledore entered, they must have not heard him come in.
"Good afternoon. I can't stay long. I just dropped by to give Harry his present." Albus said, giving an envelope to Harry who was now standing next to him. "Happy Birthday Harry."
Harry opened it to find a piece of parchment, with something written on it. Since he couldn't read yet he handed it to Severus who read it out loud.
To Mr. Harry Potter, This voucher gives you an unlimited supply of candy from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade for one hundred years. Use it well.
Signed: Albus Dumbledore
"Albus, I don't think-" Severus started but was cut off by an extremely happy Harry.
"Thankyou so much" Harry said, smiling brightly.
"You're very welcome Harry." Dumbledore said, smiling warmly at Harry. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to have a quick word with you Severus, then I must be off." Dumbledore said, edging towards the door.
"Of course" Severus said, getting up and following him.
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"Now I hate to bring this up now, but I know you would hate me to not keep you informed. Lucius Malfoy has made a formal complaint against your custody of Harry, now it seems he has been able to bribe or scare a lot of the committee to vote against you, but since holidays are almost nearly up, and soon Harry and yourself will be returning to Hogwarts, I have been able to hold them off for now, knowing that the safest place for anyone is at Hogwarts. But I can't promise you anything for the next holidays, now we will all be working throughout the year to fight this, but just be prepared." Albus said, looking grave.
Severus felt a lot of things go through him at that moment, surprise, sadness, anger, hopelessness and determination were a few of them.
"Now I must be off, I'll see you soon." Albus said, while turning around and heading towards the fire.
Severus just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
He walked back into the kitchen where Harry was laughing about something with Remus. It was hard to believe that not long ago that same little boy wouldn't let anyone near him except Severus, that same boy who was beaten and left in a cupboard. He looked so happy and healthy now. Severus just prayed that everything would work out okay.
*******************************************************
Remus left around 7 and Severus didn't know if he could last much longer. Having had a late night before and a very early wake up call, he was exhausted. He collapsed into a chair in the living room and closed his eyes. Just as he was dozing off he felt something climbing up onto his lap. He opened his eyes to see a sleepy looking Harry making himself comfortable in his lap. Severus smiled slightly as Harry leaned his head against his chest and dozed off, having not said a word.
After a few minutes, Severus too fell asleep.
A Different Life
Chapter 6 - Magic
A few hours later Severus woke up, still feeling sleepy, but knowing he wasn't going to be able to get anymore sleep. He got up and changed into some clothes, and then proceeded down the stairs to start breakfast.
Once everything was set, he headed back to get Harry, knowing he was going to have a talk to him about not wondering off. He walked up the stairs and pushed open the door. Harry was still asleep. Severus looked at the time on his watch and saw that it read 10:37am. He really should wake Harry up. He couldn't let him sleep the day away, but he couldn't find it in himself to wake him, he looked so much more peaceful while sleeping.
So he walked back out, and decided to eat alone and then maybe make a potion. He hadn't done that for a while, well not since school ended, which was about a week and a half ago. Normally he would be into his third potion about now, which would be the hardest ones that he wouldn't normally get much practice in.
After finishing breakfast he made his way downstairs to his dungeon that he had.
Once in the dungeon he walked over to his storeroom to evaluate what ingredients would be needed for him to buy.
Just as he was opening another door to another storage room he heard a yell that sounded like Harry's voice, completely forgetting about what he was doing, Severus ran upstairs to make sure Harry was okay. But what he saw made his eyes almost pop out in shock.
*****************************************************
10 minutes before
Harry woke up feeling a lot more rested. His arm didn't hurt and it didn't nearly look as bad as it did the night before. Getting up he walked over to Severus' room to find it empty. Heading downstairs he clumsily ran down the stairs, tripping on one of the steps.
As he was slipping he could feel himself falling, but it never happened, he didn't hit the ground, in fact, he seemed to have stopped moving altogether, but he wasn't touching anything either. What was going on? Harry looked over his side and what he saw made him yell. He was floating!
He heard some running and just put his head right back so he was looking at an upside down Severus.
"Help" Harry said, not knowing how to get down.
*****************************************************
Severus, after getting over his initial shock, ran over to Harry, being careful to take him, and lowering him to the ground. Harry was obviously in shock, his eyes were wide, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything, just staring. Severus bent down beside Harry and looked him in the eye.
"Harry, what did you just do?" Severus asked, trying to get the boys attention.
"I-I don't...I don't know..." Harry said, now looking into Severus' eyes.
"Can you tell me what happened before you found yourself floating in mid air?" Severus asked, trying to understand what had just happened.
"I was running down the stairs and I tripped. But then all of a sudden I...I was floating." Harry said, clearly confused at what had just happened.
It was then that Severus understood what had happened. Harry had just showed his first signs of magic. He wasn't a squib, not that the thought had ever entered his mind.
"I think what happened Harry, was that you have just shown your first signs of magic." Severus said, smiling at the look of wonderment that shown through Harry's face.
"I-I did magic?" Harry said, the smile getting wider on his face by the second, clearly excited that he had done magic.
"Yes, I believe you did. Now come on, you must be starving." Severus said, once again standing up, and leading Harry into the kitchen.
***********************************************
A few weeks later it was the night before Harry's birthday. Severus had no doubt that Harry would love his present, he was assured of that. He couldn't believe that he was actually excited for Harry. He never thought he could care about someone so much in such a short time, though around other people he tried his hardest to not seem like that was the truth. He was still hard on Harry, not letting him get away with much, but Harry didn't even seem to notice. He too was growing more and more used to Severus' moods, and didn't seem to take any of his glares or sneers too seriously. He had also come quite accustomed to his sarcasm. They seemed to have worked out a routine that seemed to fit quite well.
Harry had also gotten used to being around other strangers, he still liked to be able to see Severus whenever he was with someone, but with the constant visits from Dumbledore and Remus, Harry had gotten used to them, and was able to be around them when Severus was out without feeling nervous.
***************************************
Severus was awakened by movement on his bed.
He opened his eyes to see Harry jumping on the other end of his double bed. He looked to his other side to see his clock read 5:41am. It was way too early to get up. He groaned, looking back over to Harry who was still happily jumping up and down.
"Harry" Severus said warningly. "Go back to sleep!" Rolling over onto his back he propped up onto his elbows.
"Severus! You're awake!" Harry said who then stopped jumping and crawled over to where he was laying, sitting in front of him and crossing his legs.
"Yes, well it's a bit hard to sleep when someone is constantly jumping on your bed!" Severus said, trying to sound angry, but was far too tired to put in the effort.
Harry looked slightly guilty for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by excitement. "Guess what!" He said happily.
"What?" Severus asked, sitting up more, trying to sound as though he was interested.
"I'm 6 today!" Harry said bouncing around again.
Severus rolled his eyes. Knowing he was just woken up to be told something he clearly already knew.
"Was that all you wanted to tell me, because if it was I would like to get some more sleep." Severus said, laying back down, and pre-paring to go back to sleep again, knowing full well Harry wouldn't allow that, and as if on cue, he felt his arm being pulled, in an effort to pull him out of bed.
"Come on Severus, I'm hungry." Harry said, trying with all his might to get Severus up.
Severus let out an exasperated yell and sat up fully on his bed. He quickly swung his legs over the side and looked evilly at Harry, still looking directly at Harry, who was now looking cautiously at him, he took his wand from behind his pillow. He smiled and pointed it at Harry, who in turn looked on in horror, and in a split second Harry was out of there.
Severus smiled at the effect that it had had on Harry, he placed his wand back where it had been before and looked longingly at his bed. But he knew it would be only a matter of time before Harry was back up here again. He slowly got changed and headed down to the kitchen.
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Breakfast had gone uneventfully, with Severus glaring down at the extremely happy boy eating in front of him. As soon as they had finished, Severus told Harry to sit in the living room and to not move out of there until Severus came back. Severus knew he didn't have long, as Harry was a curious boy and would soon be walking around the house, looking for Severus, so Severus rushed into the basement, and into a back storage room, where he picked up Harry's present and then preceded to go back towards the living room, where he found Harry sitting anxiously on the couch.
He walked over to Harry and bent down in front of him, his hands with the present behind him. He smiled as Harry curiously looked at Severus to see what he was hiding. He waited until he could tell Harry was about to burst, and then spoke.
"Happy Birthday Harry" he then produced the present, which was not wrapped, but had a light blanket covering it.
Harry carefully removed the blanket and gasped in shock. Right in front of him was the owl he had spent all day at Diagon Alley patting in a beautiful silver cage. It was the baby snowy white owl.
"Is this for me?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
"Yep, sure is. When I went back to Diagon Alley to get my potion supplies, I happened to speak to the owner of the shop that you had gone into before, and he mentioned your interest in this particular owl, and since the only two times I have lost you, it has been to find you with owls, this will hopefully minimise the chance of any more wondering-" Severus said with a pointed look, but was cut off as Harry had jumped to his feet and hugged Severus around the neck, as he was still bent down in front of him.
"Thankyou so much! This is the best present I've ever had!" Harry said, knowing that this was the only present that he could remember ever receiving.
Severus chuckled lightly and hugged him back, but was quick to pull away.
"So what are you going to name her?" Severus asked.
"I'm not sure" Harry said, looking back to the owl and taking her out of her cage. Sitting back down he placed her on his lap, and patted her on the head, she cooed in response.
"I'll go get some owl treats." Severus said walking out of the living room and up the stairs to get to his room. He walked over to a draw by his bed and pulled it open. He grabbed a bag, which was full of owl food, which he had gotten in preparation for this, and walked back down to the living room, taking a second to watch Harry and his owl together. They really got along.
He placed the owl treats beside Harry, telling him not to feed her too much, then ruffled his hair and walked back out into the kitchen. He needed some caffeine.
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About 5 hours later Remus popped by, using the fireplace, only to find Severus asleep in a chair, which was facing Harry and his owl, whom were still together playing, but now they were on the ground of the living room.
Remus laughed to himself, and walked over to Harry. He sat beside him and smiled at the look of pure happiness on the boys face.
"Hi Harry. Happy Birthday!" Remus said, patting the boy on the shoulder.
Harry looked away from the bird and smiled at Remus.
"Look what Severus brought me!" Harry said indicating to the owl. "Isn't she beautiful?" Harry said with lots of enthusiasm.
"Yes she is, have you decided on a name yet?" Remus said, looking at the uniquely beautiful snowy owl in front of him.
"No, not yet" Harry said, looking as though he was trying to think of what he was going to call her.
"Well, I hope you like my present that I got for you." Remus replied, smiling at Harry while he pulled what looked like a book out of what nowhere.
Harry smiled at Remus and opened the book, only to reveal a whole lot of moving photos. He looked curiously at them and then back to Remus.
Remus pointed to one picture in particular, which was of a man, and a woman who was holding a baby. They looked really happy.
"That's James, your father" He said while pointing to the man in the photo. "That's Lily, you mother" He said while pointing to the woman in the photo. "And that adorable little baby-" He said while pointing to the baby. "-is you."
Harry looked in wonderment. He had never seen his parents before, well not that he could remember. He only knew that they died when he was one, and the Dursleys had said it had been in a car accident, he wasn't sure if he should believe them. He made a mental note to ask Severus about that later.
He took his finger and lightly touched his parent's faces. He briefly wondered what they were like. He flipped through the album and when he reached the last page he looked back up at Remus.
"If you ever want to hear about what they were like Harry, I'll be happy to tell you, they were great people, you parent's." Remus said with a sad smile on his face.
"Thankyou" Harry whispered.
"Now, what do you say we go wake up Severus!" Remus said, his face lighting up more now they were onto a different subject.
*******************************************
After having Harry climb onto the edge of the chair and then jump onto Severus, jolting him awake, Harry had then been chased around the house, until Severus gave up, unable to find him. He walked back into the living room to see a very amused Remus sitting on the couch.
Severus just rolled his eyes at him and kept walking into the kitchen.
As soon as Severus finished pouring himself some coffee, Remus entered the room, with Harry hiding behind him. Severus looked at Remus, then down to Harry, where he narrowed his eyes, and then he went and sat down on the kitchen table, without saying a word.
Harry slowly stepped away from Remus, and very slowly made his way towards Severus, who was silently drinking his coffee.
Only when Harry was standing directly in front of him did Severus actually acknowledge him, he glared into Harry's seemingly innocent eyes.
Remus watched leaning on the doorframe, amused. He hadn't seen Harry and Severus together much, Albus had said they were perfect for each other, and at the time Remus couldn't think that was correct, James Potter's son, getting along with Severus Snape! But now he really got to see how they got along. When he first saw Harry and Severus together, he didn't really take notice of how they acted with each other, but now he could see Albus was right. Severus may have helped Harry a lot, but Harry had helped Severus just as much as well.
"I'm sorry Severus, I didn't mean to wake you, I was just trying to show Remus how to...umm..." Harry was quickly trying to think of an excuse that would get him out of this.
Severus waited, still feeling the effects of being jumped on, not that Harry weighed much of course, 4 years of that abuse, and barely feeding him would take a long time to even out, plus he was very short for his age, which it probably didn't help that he was stuck in a cupboard for 4 years!
"Yes..." Severus said, prompting him to continue.
"I was just trying to show Remus...how to...how to not try and wake you!" Harry said, finally thinking of something "Now you can be sure that if Remus wanted to wake you up, he wouldn't do it by jumping on you, because he now knows you don't like that!" Harry seemed quite pleased with himself, not realising that what he just said sounded more made up then fairytales.
Remus couldn't keep the smile that was on his face off after hearing Harry's explanation even if he wanted to. He could tell Severus was trying not to smile to.
"Right...well maybe next time you can just tell Remus how not to wake me, instead of showing him. Okay?" Severus said, shaking his head at his weakness of punishing Harry.
Harry nodded eagerly, obviously happy he was getting off without a punishment.
"Okay, now off you go, I'll fix you up some lunch." Severus said, shooing him away.
Harry smiled and ran out of the kitchen to go find his owl.
Remus smiled after him, and then headed over to the table Severus was sitting at, and he too sat down.
"Amazing, truly amazing!" Remus said, looking directly at Severus who was taking a long sip of coffee.
"What?" Severus said, looking confused at Remus.
"Nothing" Remus smiled to himself. "So, you seem a bit tired there."
"Yes well you try going to sleep at two in the morning, only to be woken up just before six by a very energetic kid who so far has shown no sign of letting up." Severus said looking more exhausted by the minute. He looked again at his coffee and made an annoyed face. Then got up and went down to his storage room.
Remus' smiled even wider.
Once Severus re-entered he sat back down and slipped something in his drink and then went back to sipping it.
He looked up when Albus Dumbledore entered, they must have not heard him come in.
"Good afternoon. I can't stay long. I just dropped by to give Harry his present." Albus said, giving an envelope to Harry who was now standing next to him. "Happy Birthday Harry."
Harry opened it to find a piece of parchment, with something written on it. Since he couldn't read yet he handed it to Severus who read it out loud.
To Mr. Harry Potter, This voucher gives you an unlimited supply of candy from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade for one hundred years. Use it well.
Signed: Albus Dumbledore
"Albus, I don't think-" Severus started but was cut off by an extremely happy Harry.
"Thankyou so much" Harry said, smiling brightly.
"You're very welcome Harry." Dumbledore said, smiling warmly at Harry. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to have a quick word with you Severus, then I must be off." Dumbledore said, edging towards the door.
"Of course" Severus said, getting up and following him.
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"Now I hate to bring this up now, but I know you would hate me to not keep you informed. Lucius Malfoy has made a formal complaint against your custody of Harry, now it seems he has been able to bribe or scare a lot of the committee to vote against you, but since holidays are almost nearly up, and soon Harry and yourself will be returning to Hogwarts, I have been able to hold them off for now, knowing that the safest place for anyone is at Hogwarts. But I can't promise you anything for the next holidays, now we will all be working throughout the year to fight this, but just be prepared." Albus said, looking grave.
Severus felt a lot of things go through him at that moment, surprise, sadness, anger, hopelessness and determination were a few of them.
"Now I must be off, I'll see you soon." Albus said, while turning around and heading towards the fire.
Severus just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
He walked back into the kitchen where Harry was laughing about something with Remus. It was hard to believe that not long ago that same little boy wouldn't let anyone near him except Severus, that same boy who was beaten and left in a cupboard. He looked so happy and healthy now. Severus just prayed that everything would work out okay.
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Remus left around 7 and Severus didn't know if he could last much longer. Having had a late night before and a very early wake up call, he was exhausted. He collapsed into a chair in the living room and closed his eyes. Just as he was dozing off he felt something climbing up onto his lap. He opened his eyes to see a sleepy looking Harry making himself comfortable in his lap. Severus smiled slightly as Harry leaned his head against his chest and dozed off, having not said a word.
After a few minutes, Severus too fell asleep.