"Uncle Sev! Come on Sev, wake up!" Harry raced through the hallway of Hogwarts to his 'Uncle' Sev's room.

"Must you call me that ridiculous name?" came the sleepy reply. Harry climbed up on Severus' bed and was bouncing happily about.

"Well if you don't want me to call you Sev, then why can't I call you Daddy?" Harry stopped bouncing and looked Sev straight in the eyes. The latter shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he always did when the topic came up.

"Because I am not your father," he said.

"I know that, my dad's name is James Potter, but you're my daddy in every other way. You never did tell me where James went anyhow," the last sentence was almost pleading.

No, he's too young, I'll tell him when he is ready.

Sure you will Sev.

I will. When the time is right. I will.

"I will tell you when you're older Harry, now go and play, I want to sleep," Severus replied gruffly.

"But you promised that before. Besides, you can't sleep it's my birthday. You promised to take me to Diagon Alley, and I can chose four presents there, and then Fred and George get to come over. You said they could, remember?"

Yes, I remember. Every time those two come over, it's chaos in the castle. Ever since that forest escapade, the three have been nothing but trouble. Good thing that the other, Ron I believe, is not like that. I don't think that this castle could stand a fourth one.

"I did promise you that Harry. So you go and send Eli to get you breakfast, then change and be ready to go in twenty minutes."

"Ok!"

Sev watched as Harry bounced out of his chambers, and sat up in his bed. He decided to do everything the easy way that morning, and with a wave of his wand was clean, dressed, and with twenty minutes to spare. There was a crash. Knowing that with the charms on the door nothing had happened to his potions, Sev did not move a muscle. Tobble gave a yell, followed closely by Eli, and Harry's laughing then drowned both house-elves' voices out.

Severus now only vaguely remembered when Tobble was assigned to watch over Harry. Dumbledore had learned, from Peeves to doubt, about Harry's adventure in the Forest. Unlike Hagrid, he did not find it amusing one bit. Though after one of Harry's destructive modes clicked on in the Headmaster's office he had lifted the rule about being outside, Harry still remembered it to this day, and never once in the past three years had forgiven him. Neither one of the twins were ever nice to the old man as well, since in their mind, taking away the right to play outside, was a crime beyond all others. Three toddlers, and Peeves from that day forward disliked Albus. Severus really had no idea why, but Peeves had decided to team up with Harry and the twins. Not that Sev was complaining: thanks to Harry, Peeves never played pranks or bugged him in any way what so ever. The polgerist was a very powerful ally to have.

"Sev, I'm done! Let's go to Diagon Alley!" yelled Harry.

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Harry, now as Nigel with longer hair, onyx eyes, and higher cheekbones, walked out of the fireplace, soon followed by Sev. Both were wearing jeans, a t-shirt (Sev's was black and Harry's Ravenclaw blue), and their hair was tied back in a low lose ponytail. Severus got away with simply enlarging Harry's old clothes for the last three years, but now, there was no doubt about it. He would have to make another trip to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. He shuddered at the thought of ever going there with Harry again.

"Come on Sev, look let's go there first. I want to go before we go to Diagon Alley. Please?" Harry was tugging on Severus' sleeve and pointing outside in the Muggle world. Across the street there was a sign:

NEW LONDON PET SHOP GRAND OPENING!!

"But Ni, there's a pet shop in the Alley as well. Why make the side trip?"

"Because I've never been to a muggle one, that's why Sev. We don't have to stay long, please can we go?" Harry looked up, but eyes wide, and looked up at his 'father'.

"Fine, but remember-"

"I know," Harry cut him off. "I can't talk about magic, muggles, and all that other stuffs. I can't do anything magical, and we can't stay for long," he recited and started to run out the door before he even got to 'muggles'.

Snape rolled his eyes and followed.

Inside the pet shop it was madness. There were cats, dogs, fish, rabbits, gerbils, mice, hamsters, and who knows what else barking, hissing, banging things together, and making other noise. Harry was already by all the animals, looking curiously at all the ones that he had never seen before. While passing the snakes, he covered his ears, and ran quickly out of their corner. Sev wondered the reason for that; snakes and fish were probably the quietest animals in the place. Severus touched the small emerald snake suspended from a chair around his neck, and concentrated on the boy. He had given Harry an identical one, and its purpose was to create a telepathic link between the two, so that they could talk. Unfortunately, it only worked in places of low magical levels, so it was useless at Hogwarts, but here it was perfect.

*Harry? *

*What's up Sev? *

*I see no need to go in the pandemonium of this store, so I will wait for you in the Leaky Cauldron. *

*Ok, I won't be too long, * Harry assured him.

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True to his word, Harry did not spend too much time in the store, and was out in less than fifteen minutes, grinning from ear to ear.

This cannot be good.

"Hey Sev, guess what?"

Nope, definitely not good.

"What is it?"

"I found myself three of my birthday presents."

"Oh really, what are they?"

"Not telling. It's a surprise. I asked the lady there to not sell them to any one else, and she says that she won't sell them. So we can get other stuff for now in Diagon Alley, and then come back."

"Nigel, I need to know what it is, I can't just say yes without knowing what you want," Severus directed a mild glare at the kid.

"You said that I could get anything that I wanted, besides, I know that you'll like what I picked. Now come on!"

Dreading the end of the shopping trip, Sev opened the way to Diagon Alley and followed Harry to Gringotts. Upon entering the marble building, Harry fell silent. Snape was grateful for the fact that Harry was nervous around goblins. True, he wasn't down right terrified like most kids his age were, but he was not about to play around in their presence either.

"I would like to make a withdrawal from the Snape family vault," Severus told one of the goblins. The creature immediately took the extended key, and hurried through a set of doors.

A cart was waiting for them, and took off at break neck speed the moment everyone was inside. Harry could be heard chanting the directions that the cart took; trying to predict what would come next. Surprisingly, he was correct almost all the time. Though he had been to the vault four times before, he knew most of the turns by heart. Everyone marveled at his memory constantly. The four-year-old knew the first year speech by heart, and a lot of spells were already imprinted in his mind. All he needed now was a wand. Not that he was allowed one until Hogwarts.

The ministry should make taking other people's wand illegal for young witches and wizards. I lost count of how many times he has stolen mine and done damage.

The cart finally slowed to a stop at one of the vaults. Sev let Harry out before him, and gave the goblin a nod, urging him to do his part. When the key was turned, Sev put his hand on the door.

"Severus Nigel Snape," he said aloud. As he did, a glow spread from his hand, to the door, and with in moments it swung open.

On the other side, there were three doors. The first was the one that Severus walked through. Behind it, there was a chamber roughly the size of the Great Hall, and it was filled to the top with gold and silver, heaps of bronze were here and there as well. The Snapes made a point of having no more than two offspring, so that the family inheritance grew to huge amounts. They owned a total of one tenth of all the gold in Britain. Severus knew that he was a lot better off that the Malfoys, but never showed it. To others, he, and the rest of his family were average, nothing to brag about kind of people. Unless you counted skill of course. All Snapes had a skill in Potions, the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration. Sev supposed that Harry would excel in those areas as well, since a Snape brought him up.

After the necessary amount was taken, Severus took Harry's arm, and had to literarily drag the boy away from the other two doors. Once they were in the main part of Gringotts, he exchanged some Galleons for muggle money, and walked outside.

"Why couldn't we go into the other rooms Sev?" Harry whined.

"Because I don't want to waste time. We will go in there next time," Severus said sternly.

"But that's what you said last time." Together, they walked to Madam Malkin's, and all other thoughts were wiped from Harry's mind.

Two assistants took hold of Harry and stood him on one of the measuring blocks, talking about what would go good with his eyes, and other such nonsense. At the same time, another went up to Severus.

"Welcome to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions," her smile faltered a bit when she caught sight of Sev's expression but she caught herself. "How can I help you this morning sir?"

"I would like a full wardrobe for the boy done. Consider everything he may need for the year. Do try to hurry." Without waiting for an answer, he settled down in a chair and started to read a copy of the Daily Prophet.

SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN PRISON

Sirius Black was arrested almost three years ago with Remus Lupin for being possibly involved with the death of Lily, James, Harry, and Faylese Potter. The two have been under mild guarding from the Dementors since they have arrived there. Last visit confirmed that Mr. Lupin was still very sane, as was Mr. Black. We do not believe that either is or was a Death Eater. However, this break out is suspicious. No one has ever attempted such a thing. Not to mention succeeding in it. The Ministry has absolutely no clue as to what happened, as always. 'How true,' thought Sev. But we are all working very hard to catch him. We are not positive as to whether or not he possesses a wand, but he may have stolen one by now. Mr. Lupin has been questioned about the escape, but there is no way that he could have helped, seeing as he is a werewolf, and that night there was a full moon. The Ministry of Magic urges everyone to take extra precautions; no one knows the reason for Black's escape. If caught or sighted, please contact the Ministry at once. When Black is found, he is facing three additional years in prison, more if he does not cooperate.

Severus sighed. Great, now that mad godfather of his is out and about. At that moment, Harry came bouncing up to Sev, ready to go.

"Come on, Sev, they said that they are going to send my new things over to Hogwarts later. How did they know that they had to send it over to Hogwarts anyway?"

"I don't know Har-Nigel. I think that it's just one of those things. Like Mr. Ollivander always knowing your name," said Severus. "Since you already picked out three of your presents, what would you like for the last?"

"I think that maybe the three should turn into four, since what I want is a really really big thing. So we can say that my four choices are gone for this year. I'll have to wait for Christmas."

Now this is good. I guess I am raising him right. Another four year old would have said that since we're buying the present in one store, or if all of them are the same, then it'll count as only one, but Harry is modest and not greedy at all. Good, and here I was thinking that I'm completely hopeless at this parenting thing.

It was getting close to eleven o'clock, and since the Weasleys would come at eleven thirty, Severus announced that it was time to go to the pet store, and be on their way back. There was going to be a small party in the castle. (Severus didn't believe in big ones)

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As soon as they went inside the pet store, Harry led Sev to the checkout.

"Hello, I'm Nigel. A lady named Susie said that I have to come here when I'm ready," he told the cashier.

"Oh course dear. Susie is right this way." The woman walked through a door behind the counters. Harry and Severus followed her to find themselves in a room that was filled top to bottom with many cages, tanks, and other places in which animals were kept. An African American girl was standing by a cage with two small white ferrets, giving them food.

"Susie? This is Nigel. He's come back with his father," the first woman said, and walked out of the room.

"Hey there Ni, ready to get your new friends?" said Susie in a mock baby voice.

"Yup, but don't tell my dad yet, he doesn't know what it is. I want it to be a surprise!" Harry jogged to the back of the room, looking around at all the cages, looking.

"Oh it'll be a surprise alright," muttered Susie darkly.

"Here they are!" Harry yelled about half way down the row. He was bouncing up and down and pointing with his finger to a cage above his head, waiting for Sev to come and look. Severus cast a questioning look at the young woman, and walked over to his 'son'. He stared at the cage Harry was pointing to, and gave a small gasp.

"These are the ones? Right here? Not the ones right next to it?" Severus looked at Harry with a note of panic in his voice.

"Yep, those are the ones!"

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This is one long chapter. Not counting the A/Ns, it's exactly 2,500 words long. Easily the longest so far. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I'm really trying to make up for your wait.

~Miki

Preview of next chapter:

"Lils? Come on! Fay and I are waiting...