Snape's Invisible Friend
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, I am not a multinational bookselling company, nor am I a multi-million dollar movie company, so I don't own anything that you recognize. I am a retired former teacher with a bizarre sense of humor, who likes to twist plots and play with characters' minds, so enjoy.
AN: To the several reviewers who have commented that Snape is really OOC in this fic; as my 14 year old grandsons' would say "Well, duh!" I like to start with a single incident and then have my characters grow and mature from that starting point! If you want pure canon, go read the original books, or don't read AU!
From Chapter 7:
No one got detention for the rest of the week, and no one even lost many points in potions classes. But even more worrying to everyone, Snape could be seen at odd moments with the strangest expression …he was SMILING!
Chapter 8: The Terrible Twos…uh…Fives?
Unfortunately for the students and staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Shaun chose the very next week to finally discover the independence that is normally associated with the age of two. He found the joy and power of the word, NO!
It started innocently enough one Saturday morning when in the total bliss of ignorance, Severus went to dress Shaun in an outfit that he had not chosen.
"No, I want my blue robes, not those green ones."
"Shaun, you wore the blue ones yesterday, they haven't been returned by the house elves yet." No one had explained to the 'new' father one of the basic rules of parenting, reasoning and logic has no place in the conversation between parent and small obstinate child.
"No, blue ones, not green ones!" At least Shaun was more verbal than the usual age of a child just discovering their power to torment any adult around them through the use of a very small two letter word.
"Shaun, that's enough, you will get dressed right this instant, we will be late for breakfast in the Great Hall, and I have an early morning appointment about a new potion. Now put these robes on!" The old snarky Snape was beginning to break through the cool reasoning of the new Snape.
"No, and you can't make me!" Shaun ran for the door to the corridors and escaped, still in his footed pajamas. He grabbed his toy broom as he ran past it and swooped out the door and down the corridor and around the corner before his father could reopen the door.
Neither of them noticed that Shaun had not said the password aloud and that he had managed to over ride his father's safety ward on the door that was there to prevent Shaun from leaving without his father with him.
Luckily Severus was already dressed, as he grabbed his outer robes to throw on as he rushed out the door after his escaping son. He ran down the corridor, hoping he had chosen the correct direction away from the Great Hall. He called as loud as he dared, "Shaun, where are you, Shaun come back here!" Now he was getting angrier by the minute.
Several Ravenclaw students watched with astonishment as he swept up to them, rage apparent upon his face and snarled at them, "Have you seen…Blast, no you wouldn't have, would you! Well, have you…heard…anything, perhaps, go past you?" By the bewildered and blank expressions upon their faces, he knew it was a lost cause; he would just have to keep looking on his own.
Shaun was enjoying his flight down the corridor, even if he was still in his pajamas. But his broom only flew a few feet off of the ground and it was way too slow. He was afraid he would hit a student or a suit of armor at this height, so he screwed up his face, concentrated on the magic spells he could 'feel' on the broom and forcing his own magic to 'twist' just so, he squealed in excitement as he felt the broom leap upward and increase greatly in speed. Soaring up near the high ceiling of the castle, he revealed in the feeling of speed and freedom. He shot through the Great Hall, enjoying the close up look at the rain and wind visible on the enchanted ceiling. A huge grin split his face in two as an involuntary squeal of joy left his lips, luckily it was silent to everyone but two very special people in the castle, but was it?
He could see a stranger in a faded robe, dripping with rain, soft brown hair windswept and drenched look up, momentarily stopping the drying spell he was casting on his own cloak. Shaun searched his memory, trying to place a name to the vaguely familiar man who was just entering the Great Hall. Recognition flared and the boy cried out something he hadn't yelled in over three years. "Uncle Moony, Uncle Moony!"
Remus Lupin's heart stopped and he stood stock still, blocking the entrance of the Great Hall, until with a deep shudder and a sigh he realized he couldn't have heard what he thought he heard, could he? The sound of a name that brought up terrible memories and heartache, it filled him with a resounding loneliness that he had been denying since that horrible Halloween three years ago. The press of the children behind him brought him back to his location and he resolutely pushed down the indescribable surge of love and hope that threatened to overwhelm him and moved determinedly toward the staff table.
Shaun was upset when the man appeared to ignore him, he knew, he knew that was his Uncle Moony, why wasn't the man looking up at him? Uh oh, right, he had to think really hard and allow the man to see him, hmm, he felt the familiar 'twist' of his magic and called out to the familiar man again, "Uncle Moony, Uncle Moony, here I am!" there was that voice again, this time Remus could tell it was coming from up by the ceiling. Up by the ceiling? He looked up and his heart squeezed tight, it was, his cub, his 'nephew' Harry was flying on a toy broom at the top of the Great Hall and no one seemed to be paying him the slightest attention! Why was everyone ignoring the danger to the small child that was now zooming quickly out the entrance doors and down the corridor?
Remus pushed his way back out though the students, feeling remarkably like he was swimming against the tide and followed the small figure out and around a corner; letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding when the child landed safely. He snatched the boy up in a breath stealing hug and held the small black haired head tightly into his shoulder, tears running unnoticed down his flushed cheeks. "Harry, you could have been killed, why were you flying so high and so fast and what are you doing here anyway?"
Shaun was just trying to catch his breath from the wonderful squeeze when it dawned on him what his Uncle Moony was saying, "My name is Shaun, not Harry, who's Harry?"
Moony pulled back until he was looking at the small quizzical expression on the child he was holding. He took his hand off the back of his head and swept the black hair off of his forehead. He had to search; it seemed the boy had a new deeply puckered scar on his forehead but he could feel the faint trace of his lightning bolt underneath it.
"Oh, don't worry; I just called you the wrong name, its Shaun right? Now, why were you flying clear up at the ceiling, and who is watching you. Did you escape someone you weren't supposed to?" He would ask someone else about the name, perhaps it was part of keeping the child safe, but who would have thought they would hide the child in Hogwarts, surely he wouldn't be the only one who recognized the boy?
Shaun looked down ashamedly, "I ran away from my daddy, I'm not supposed to be out here without him."
Remus froze, his emotions roiling before he was able to say softly, "Your daddy?"
At that moment, a disheveled and obviously flustered Severus Snape swooped down on the two and grabbed Shaun out of Remus' arms. "Shaun where have you been, don't you ever make Daddy worry like that, I couldn't find you. What were you thinking, running off like that?"
Shaun had his head buried in his father's shoulder and Severus was too busy trying to decide if he should kill the child for running away and scaring him; or if he should hug him so tight and never let him go again to notice that someone other than he could obviously see the boy.
Remus was luckily able to overcome the grief, shock and bewilderment on his face before the other two again noticed that he was standing there beside them.
Severus looked over at the werewolf, puzzled and curious, "How did you find him, Lupin? And I assume that you can hear and see him, am I right?"
"Of course I can see him; he was flying a bloody broom right across the ceiling of the Great Hall! How could I not see him? And he recognized me and called Uncle Moony so I followed, Shaun is it, out of the hall and down the hall. There's his broom." With that he pointed over towards the wall where the broom was still laying, unnoticed until now.
"Come with me, we need to talk alone where no one else can overhear us." Severus put the boy down. Lupin was surprised to see Shaun grab hold of a strap on the back of Severus' belt and duck completely under the man's billowing robes before Snape led them into the now crowded Great Hall and up to the staff table. Snape leaned over and whispered something to Dumbledore, who looked startled and stood up to follow them through a door at the side of the room. They were all silent as they walked down a short passageway and then through a portrait guarding the door to a set of warm and pleasant chambers.
Severus called Nippy and had him take the boy into the bedroom to give him a bath and then finish dressing him, and to have another elf bring them all breakfast while they talked. Severus explained the temper tantrum in the bedroom that morning and finished his part of the tale with the disappearance of Shaun down a corridor.
Remus was looking more bewildered than ever as he continued the tale and explained to Albus how he had spotted the child flying up by the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall and how no one had appeared in the least concerned for the safety of the boy. He then told the two of following the child until he landed safely, and the discovery of his new name and checking his forehead for the scar.
Severus didn't look happy about the revelation that the only other individual they had found who could both hear and see his son was the werewolf, Remus Lupin, but Albus had a merry twinkle in his eyes.
"Remus, I assume you are here to work on the Wolfsbane Potion with Severus, and that you are currently unemployed, is that correct?"
Remus looked down, he was ashamed that he had been unable to keep any job for very long, it was just too hard to keep his condition a secret, and no employer was willing to put up with the chronic absences that the injuries from transforming each full moon caused. "Yes, Severus asked me to come and help test the potion, and I am looking for a position, but I had to recover from my latest set of injuries before I could look once more."
Albus nodded his head and proclaimed, "That's perfect then! You can live here in the castle, Severus will have access to you to test the potion, and you can watch Shaun and tutor him during the day while Severus teaches. Shaun is very bright and inquisitive and it would be much better to channel all that energy into something useful instead of mischievous and destructive."
Severus dropped his head into his hands and moaned, "I agree that I need somewhere safer for Shaun while I teach, especially if he is no longer going to stay quietly where I put him, but why Lupin?"
Albus patted the man on the shoulder and exclaimed, "Well, that's obvious, Shaun has chosen him himself! Now, Remus, if you would come to my office when you have done making arrangements with Severus we can discuss your payment and living arrangements. As per James and Lily's will, all educational expenses are funded from the Potter Family vault and will be covered, just as the fees from Hogwarts will be later."
That said, he patted the two men and called for Shaun to come give him a hug good bye. Remus noticed that he just stood there with his arms outstretched and didn't respond to the small boy leaping at him until he could feel him. Severus just met his questioning look and shook his head mouthing, 'later' before taking the boy from Albus and handing him to Remus as their breakfast appeared on the dining room table.
Remus thought back over the strange circumstances of his morning as he climbed the changing staircases up to the Headmaster's office. He had thought he would have to endure a couple of hours of sniping and snide remarks from his old nemesis and then would be leaving once again to return to his dingy room, looking again for employment in the muggle world once more. Instead he had spent a surprisingly pleasant morning, reuniting with his long lost cub, having a stilted and somewhat cool breakfast conversation with a man he hardly recognized any more, a man he would have bet would have killed Harry before ever even considering caring for him, let alone adopting him!
Now, he had a place to live, a place he had always loved his time at, the promise of a potion that would allow him to keep his humanity and dignity when he transformed, and a job that would be a joy. To be paid to care for his best friends' orphaned son and the delight of tutoring a very bright child. If he didn't know better he would think he was dreaming, but no dream would ever include a polite conversation with Severus Snape, ever!
He rapped sharply on the Headmaster's door and entered when he heard a gentle acknowledgement of his presence. Albus motioned him to a comfortable chair and came to sit beside him, bringing his pensieve to place on a small conjured table between them. "Severus has given me permission to share his memories of the arrival of his son with you, and I have also added some of my own to better explain the situation. It will make much more sense than if I simply try to explain the unusual circumstances that surround the child." He gestured for Remus to join him, and they both touched the tips of their wands into the silvery substance and were sucked into Severus' memories of that fateful June afternoon.
Albus had to hold the sobbing shoulders of Remus as they viewed the battered baby that Severus was so gently caring for. Albus had viewed these memories before, but they still brought him to anger, frustration and tears each time he witnessed them. Remus was speechless as he watched Albus' memories of his first introduction to the boy, unbelieving the child's invisibility.
Remus had to sit down on a hospital bed as he watched the heartrending vigil Albus had made, clutching the small, frail child, gasping for breath as the clock ran out for Severus to brew the cure. He watched, astonished as Severus broke down and nearly passed out when he thought he had been too late with the cure.
By the end of the memories that included the adoption and finally telling the idiot Minister of Magic, Remus was ready to accept the relationship between his best friends' son and worst enemy. The two wizards tumbled out of the pensieve and gasped as they worked to get their emotions under control once again.
"So you understand now, Remus, why you are the only one young Shaun can have looking after him and tutoring him, now that he needs someone other than Severus." At the understanding nod from Remus, Albus asked a favor, "Would you share your memory of this morning of Shaun with me? I would like to watch him fly and be happy. Then we can discuss where you will live and what your duties and pay shall be."
Remus readily granted his old Headmaster the view of the boy's skillful flying and the indescribable joy on his face at finding his old Uncle once again. The two settled back, drinking tea and quietly sharing memories interspersed with business.
With only two weeks left before the Christmas holidays, it was decided that Remus would leave and get all of his affairs in order and move all of his belongings into a set of single quarters next to the family quarters that Severus and Shaun shared. The House Elves had no problem creating a connecting door between them and turning one of the rooms in Remus' quarters into a classroom for a primary child.
Severus was slowly reconciling himself to having Shaun away from him for a portion of each day, he wasn't happy about it, but he knew they had to do something, Shaun hadn't thrown quite such a big temper tantrum again after having to sit for thirty minutes with his nose in a corner and losing his broom for a whole month. And Severus had Professor Flitwick put all the charms back on it with a special alarm one that would make the broom stop operating if the other charms were removed. Severus had been both upset and secretly proud that Shaun had figured out how to remove the protective charms. Mercy, he was either going to have grey hair in a month, or no hair because he had pulled it all out!
Severus had discreetly owl ordered a couple of parenting books from Flourish & Blott's and had carefully read them and even taken notes on the most important items. He was now careful to give Shaun choices when it was possible and even asked his opinion if the answer really didn't matter. He had also let Shaun pick out all of his new robes out of the owl catalog since he had already outgrown the ones from last summer.
The students noticed the new man eating at the staff table each breakfast and dinner, but no one had explained exactly who he was, so the rumor mill was rampant once again. Because he always seemed to be speaking with Professor Snape and the evil man seemed to be calmer with him there, the current number one explanation is that he must be a healer from St. Mungo's; there to watch Professor Snape and make sure he didn't go any more insane than he obviously was.
The secret watchers had to be much more sneaky since the Professor wasn't spending any time outside in this nasty weather, but his very odd behavior right around Halloween had been noticed, and why was he so angry and upset about his Slytherins' bullying of Mr. Collins, he had even forced Ames and McKnight to publicly apologize to the third year at breakfast towards the end of November.
And no one could ever remember someone being expelled like that without seriously injuring another student! The rumor had it that Mr. Rockwood was spending the next three months in a ministry holding cell, before returning to his mother's house without a wand for the next year!
The last Saturday was a Hogsmeade weekend and almost everyone noticed something odd about Professor Snape, no he wasn't pretending to carry anyone or talking to himself again, but he was spotting in a toy store, buying toys! Lots of toys!
The students buying presents in Flourish & Blott's couldn't help noticing the large number of primary school books in Professor Snape's arms, and the two girls ordering dress robes for their little sisters' Christmas presents giggled at the sight of the small robes the Professor was picking up, and the footed pajamas with broomsticks and snitches were just adorable.
Severus had solved the bed problem by having two beds brought to their quarters when Shaun could no longer stuff himself into his beloved box. It hadn't occurred to Severus that what Shaun loved was the sheepskin and not the actual box, so when he figured that out; he had simply switched the soft bedcovering to the new small bed he had the elves put into his room and ordered another sheepskin for the bigger bed in the boy's room.
Each night he let Shaun pick which bed he wanted to go to sleep in and explained to him that no matter which bed he went to sleep in, he would wake up in his own room. The first couple of nights he had wound up with a small crying boy in his bed with him, but he would simply cuddle him and calm him down and get him back to sleep before carrying him back to his own room.
He had stopped having nightmares, though they had returned for a time after the poisoning, but that was understandable. Hopefully with his Christmas present, Shaun would want to sleep in his own bed every night. Now Severus had to stop at the mercantile and pick up the moving Quidditch sheets he had ordered for the boy's bed for Christmas, nodding happily as the clerk showed them to him before wrapping them up and shrinking them, oblivious to the group of students trying to find kitchen gifts for their mothers, who were watching him.
His last stop of the day was Honeyduke's candy store where even more students stopped in shock as he filled a bag with candies, and not just the type of chocolates that adults liked. Who would guess that the snarky professor wanted fizzing whizzbees or drooble's, as well as a whole box of chocolate frogs?
The staff didn't notice anything unusual about the hastily changed conversations when they were noticed, it was after all just before Christmas and the students were always excited and full of secret plans about the holidays, weren't they?
The groups meeting to visit were growing even larger than they had at the beginning of the school term, but the four houses still appeared to be cooperating amongst themselves, perhaps even more so since the punishment of the three, and then the eventual expulsion of the worst bully in Slytherin house. His two companions were still much subdued and had seemed to learn their lesson. Their housemates had eventually stopped pranking them, the lost house points were slowly being made up and life was once again normal, well as normal as it gets.
The students had left for the Christmas holidays two days before and the castle was mostly silent. There were only four students staying for the three week break, and since all of them were in Ravenclaw they were mostly quietly studying. The two older ones were seventh year twins that were revising for their N.E.W.T.'s and the others were their fourth year brother and first year cousin.
So Severus had taken advantage of the unusual sunny afternoon to take Shaun for a walk in the snow and to build a snowman, the first one he had ever built. Remus would be moving in finally that afternoon, he had had to get special permission from the Ministry to live near the children, and they had to show the special cell they had reinforced in the dungeons for his transformations before the ministry would even considered allowing a werewolf to live within the castle. They had explained that Severus was working on a potion to help control the transformation, and therefore Remus had to be at the castle for Severus to witness his transformations and to test his various potion varieties. The bureaucrats had finally granted permission and everything was set. Of course they had not said a word about his other duties; Shaun remained invisible and unknown to the rest of the Ministry.
Shaun was standing in front of his daddy; his small hands pushing on the ball for the snowman's middle when a flash of red caught Severus' eye. He stood up, grabbing for his wand as the stunner hit his son directly in the chest. He shot a stunner back towards the trees the spell had come from but was quickly overpowered by the three stunners coming his way, his last conscious thought before the black swallowed him up was about his son, crumpled and motionless in the freezing snow.
The three dark robed wizards crept cautiously towards the stunned figure lying in the slushy snow, careful to approach, since the first stunner had apparently had no effect on him. They checked to be sure he was truly stunned, bound him in conjured ropes, grabbed onto his arms and swiftly apperated away, leaving a small crumpled form, unmoving and unseen in the afternoon sunset, as the snow started to gently fall, covering any tracks.