Summary: Can one person and fate make the difference in Severus' life?
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, sue me and become poor.
A/N: This fic is AU, not canon. and thanks! to my beta Karri
Now to my reviewers!
DebzThePadFootmoonyPron: O.o now that is one long and quite strange review
AccioSeverus: The ending? and yes, he is slowly starting to trust
mb: The wards keep out all who are not directly related to Severus.
sparkling silver angel wings: LOL!
Eagle-Eyes: Yes, family does wonderous things
Ruse: Losing his son would scare Severus
Ceyxa: thankies! here is more
Arica Princess of Rivendell: I did!
athenakitty: You shall see
Lady Lily3: Thanks! I am glad you like it
juliedecarson: I am trying to make them believeable, thanks!
Your reviews make my day! Now on with the fic!
Chapter 15
The next several weeks were occupied with Harry and Severus spending as much time together as they could, before Severus had to return to Hogwarts. Harry enjoyed his time with his father, as they had studied making potions, and Severus had even let him stir some, and add in the not so gross things.
Harry had even managed to convince his father to let Ron spend the night again, but this time the boys spent the whole day outside playing, and avoided another food fight. Now, it was the night before Severus was to go back, and Harry was becoming leery about not seeing his father during the day.
"Can I come to class with you? I promise to be very quiet Dad," Harry begged.
"Harry, we have discussed this. Even though I wish for nothing more than you to be there with me, I do not trust a class full of first years, which blow up cauldrons every few minutes. You will have fun with Lotty, and I will come home every weekend and be with you, also if you need me I am but a floo away from you."
Harry's eyes filled with tears, but he nodded his head. "I understand," he said, but he then announced he was tired and went to bed without any of the usual protesting that he was not sleepy. Once inside the room, Harry didn't even bother to slip off his clothes, or put on his pyjamas, he simply laid down on the bed. He didn't want his father to leave him here alone. Lotty would play with him, but it was not the same. He wanted his Dad.
Morning came, and when Severus opened Harry's door to tell him good-bye Harry was still asleep. Severus noticed the boy was still in his clothes from the night before, and he could see the wrinkled up brow as if the boy were having some bad dream. He wanted to stay here with him, but he had a class of first year students to contend with, and the Weasley twins were sure to be a handful. Placing a kiss on Harry's head, he tucked him in and left.
When Harry awoke he had forgotten that his father was gone, and ran into his room to wake him. When he got inside the room, the memory came back as Harry stared at the already made bed, and his shoulders slumped walked to the table and sat down.
Lotty saw the disappointed boy, and tried to offer some help. "Does Master Harry wish to play a game after breakfast?"
"Thank you Lotty, but I think I'll just go out and play in the meadow." Harry finished up his breakfast rather quickly, and went outside. It was a beautiful autumn day, and the leaves surrounding the meadow were filled with the brilliant hues of gold and red. Harry revelled in the colors for a few minutes before deciding he really wasn't in the mood to play. He wanted someone to play with. Plopping himself down in the meadow, he picked some of the flowers and began tying them together to make a chain. He did this for so long that the chain grew from a few inches to over three feet long. This only amused the boy for a while, and then Harry became bored again.
Harry heard Lotty calling him for lunch, and decided he really was hungry so he went back inside. After eating a ham sandwich, Harry got up and walked over to the bookshelf. There all lined up were the many books Severus had bought him over the past few weeks. All of them were children's books about various wizards and dragons. Harry had read them many times over, and he was becoming bored with them. Besides, it wasn't as fun if his Dad wasn't there to make the noises of the animals as he read it.
Harry looked up at the top shelf and saw his father's dusty old books. Harry had never read any of those, and wondered if he could reach them. Placing one foot on the bottom shelf, Harry looked to see where Lotty had gone. When he heard her in his room, he knew she would be busy for a few minutes and decided to climb up and get a book down. Placing his foot back on the bottom shelf he pulled himself up and then scaled the other shelves until he was hanging on by one. Reaching out he grabbed the first book he could reach, and almost lost his balance doing it. Carefully Harry climbed down and sat down on the couch.
The book was huge, and covered in dust, and when Harry opened it the dust from the pages had him sneezing.
"Is Master Harry alright?" Lotty asked poking her head out the door.
"Yes, I'm fine Lotty." Harry answered back wiping he dust off the cover with his sleeve. "Standard Book of Spells 4" was the title of the book, and on the inside cover was his father's name. Harry smiled, as this book had been his Dad's, and now he got to see some of the things his Dad learned in school. For the next two hours Harry sat on the couch pouring over the book, and skipping the words he could not sound out. Finally, when his eyes began to blur he sat the book down. This was an interesting book, but it said you needed a wand for these things. Harry sighed, as he did not have a wand yet, and his father said he wouldn't get one till he was eleven.
It didn't take long for Harry to do what most boy's do and he ran into the meadow and found a stick, pretending it was a wand and playing wizards and dragons. He had placed the book in his desk drawer in his room, to read more of it tonight. He was so busy killing the imaginary dragons he did not see his father come up behind him. Startled when he was grabbed, Harry yelled out, but soon his yells turned to shrieks of laughter when Severus began to tickle him.
"Dad, I thought you weren't coming home till the weekend," Harry said looking puzzled yet relieved.
"I just wanted to see my son. If you did not miss me I will go now," Severus said feigning being hurt.
"No," Harry cried. "Can you stay and have dinner with us?"
"I suppose I could fit in dinner and perhaps a bedtime story as well," Severus smiled.
Harry wrapped his arms around his father's neck, and both walked into the kitchen to a nice warm dinner, and to their amazement two plates were set as if Lotty knew her master could not stay away long. After dinner Severus played a game of chess with Harry. Harry was a poor player, but Severus had to admit he was getting better than when he only lasted three minutes into the game before checkmate. Not long after the third game Harry started yawning, and Severus announced it was time for bed for little wizards. Harry went to change and came flying into the bed with a book in hand. Snuggling down in the covers he fell asleep listening about some wizard, with his father making dragon noises.
Severus stood up and even though his heart was breaking he returned to Hogwarts leaving Harry to his dreams.