Life out of Balance
Harry held out his right hand with a grin on his face, "You've got yourself a deal, Professor Snape." Snape shook said hand and then he felt a twinge of fear at what he was getting into, but pushed it down because how much harder could his life be than it already was?
Chapter 4
"YOU WHAT?!" At times like these, Ron Weasley really proved why red heads were famous for their tempers.
"I agreed to look after Julian and Evan when he's unavailable," Harry repeated for the third time that morning. He was a little exasperated with the way Ron was taking this. It wasn't as if he'd agreed to move in with the man...
"You do realize, Harry, that you're talking about Snape here, right?"
"Yes."
"The greasy git?"
"Yes."
"The man who hates you just a little bit less than You-Know-Who?"
"Yes. Ron, yes, I know, and I'm not doing this for him but for Julian. Can you imagine if he had gone anywhere else last night? He could have been kidnapped or murdered! And he might be the son of Snape but he's also a very sweet kid and I don't want to see him suffer just because his father doesn't properly know how to be a father."
"Let him be Ron, he's right." Hermione had that sympathetic-bordering-on- pitying look that Harry hated so much on her face.
"Very well, it is after all your hide we're talking about here, not mine."
"Yes it is, now, can we change the subject?"
"Umm Harry, you might not want to look now but Colin's with the first years again." At Ron's statement Harry let out a long-suffering groan. Ever since the return of Voldemort, he had become more of a public figure, the epitome of hope and all that was light and pure for the wizarding world. He had been having problems with Colin Creevy selling pictures of the Boy Who Lived to the first year girls. It really got on his nerves.
"COLIN CREEVY, YOU BETTER NOT BE SELLING PICTURES OF ME IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!" Harry stomped towards the small teen but Colin scurried away before he got there. Stomped was too strong a word when he had Hermione and Ron clinging one on each arm, trying to prevent their best friend for committing murder.
Harry had tried being patient, he really had. But Colin with his pictures and the younger years with their following him all over the castle was driving him insane--and the giggling, dear Merlin, the giggling...
Harry wrenched his mind back to more important topics. Like... "You know we'll have to reschedule our training," Hermione commented.
"I was thinking about that Hermione and we really don't have to, we can work around it. The fact is, we don't even know when he's going to call me, so let's keep going as usual and if we miss one we train double the next day."
"Harry, we now have to think about the most important training of all-- Quidditch. You're not quitting are you?" Ron had that lost puppy look full of despair. It made Harry and Hermione work hard to try to keep straight faces.
"Because you know," he continued "it's all about rearranging your priorities and Quidditch must be as high on the list as they come."
That completely broke the pair of friends and they fell crashing to the floor, holding their bellies which hurt from laughing so hard.
Meanwhile, in the lower part of the castle, Professor Severus Snape was having an abysmally bad day. He had gotten two hours of sleep before his hyperactive youngest child woke up and started the day. Minutes later Evan was also up and ready for the day. The battle started as always with, "I don't want a bath, Papa, noooo," and it carried on with breakfast, "Evan, keep the food off the book and into your mouth; Julian, keep the food in your mouth and off of your clothes," followed by a double chorus of "Yes, Papa." At which point, every female in the Great Hall would aww and make goo goo eyes at the pair of them.
Next the children would spend the morning with Madam Pomfrey or Madam Hooch. They would teach them the basics, math, reading, biology and such. The afternoons varied from day to day: Mondays Minerva had them, Tuesdays, Hagrid, although Severus really didn't want them near the half giant and his monsters that often. Wednesdays saw them with Professor Flitwick, Thursdays with himself and Fridays with Sinistra. He refused to let Trelawney help.
As today was a Thursday, the children walked with their father towards the infirmary where Poppy was waiting to start their morning lessons. The problem always came when Snape tried to leave them. Julian would pout and start to cry while Evan stared at him with a lost look on his face. It was moments like this that he missed his departed wife the most. He just didn't know what to do, and always left the infirmary with a heavy heart.
Three days later, Harry and his friends were having a quiet evening outside, under a tree in front of the lake. It was getting cold as the year grew closer to December but it was still bearable. Surprisingly, well, at least surprisingly for Ron, they were all quietly reading and taking notes. It was nearing dusk and they had to strain their eyes but they were so comfortable they didn't mind. This comfort was broken when out of nowhere came Draco Malfoy, and to their surprise, he was alone.
Instantly, Ron was on the offensive as always, "What do you want, Malfoy?"
A sneer graced the pointy face of the other teen as he answered in his usual drawl, "Not that it's any of your business, Weasel, but Professor Snape asked me to come fetch Potter, he said something about an agreement..."
Harry took a deep breath. Of course he had to be called on a perfect Sunday afternoon, Merlin forbid he have some time to himself. He picked up his books and waved goodbye to his friends. He followed behind Malfoy without uttering a word. He really couldn't waste energy fighting with Draco when he had to spend who knew how long with a hyperactive toddler.
Apparently Malfoy didn't appreciate his efforts "So, Potter, taking care of the kids, what a perfect little house wife." He didn't respond to that, as he hadn't responded to any of the insults and jibes thrown his way this year by the Slytherin. He just didn't see the point on losing his temper when that was exactly what Malfoy wanted.
But it was more than not wanting to give Malfoy the satisfaction of seeing him upset. It was more because of something he had seen before boarding the train at the beginning of the year. When Uncle Vernon had left him at the front steps of Kings Cross, it had been too early to go anywhere, so he had stayed on the front steps of the station for a while, his trunk and his owl beside him.
Around nine am he saw the Knight Bus appear from nowhere and park near him. He was very surprised to see Draco Malfoy getting out, dragging his trunk and an animal cage. He had a lost look in his eyes, like he didn't know what to do. There was neither smirk, nor sneer on his face and he just looked like a normal teenager. At that moment, Harry saw a boy he could have been friends with and that really hit his mind hard. He realized he didn't truly hate the other boy; he didn't really know him enough to hate him. Harry didn't want to hate more people than he had to; hatred wasn't a positive feeling and with Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange he had enough people he hated.
So he just ignored Draco.
Draco Malfoy was no longer pissed. It didn't matter how many times Draco tried to bait Potter, he wouldn't give in. It was as if he just didn't care. And while if this had happened before, it would have killed him, it didn't upset him anymore. Nowadays Draco just did it to see if something had changed, but it didn't give him the perverse happiness it used to.
Things had changed since the elder Malfoy had gone to Azkaban. Draco felt as if a great weight had fallen off his shoulders. He was no longer expected to be the perfect Malfoy; his mother didn't really care, she had spent the summer trying to keep the family money from being taken by the Ministry. Who, since the money came from a long line of Malfoys and various legitimate Malfoy businesses and therefore had nothing to do with his father being a Death Eater, but that didn't stop them from trying to make mother and son's lives a living hell.
He was left to his own devices in Malfoy Manor that summer. It gave him time to think. He truly believed in his father's ideals. In Purity of blood over Mudbloods and Muggles. His father had told him many times, "You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different," but if that was true, and Draco genuinely believed it was, then why was his father bowing down to and kissing the hem of You-Know-Who's robes and even more, why was his father now in prison?
The two teens continued the journey to their Professor's quarters in silence. Each was lost in his own thoughts. They parted without a word as Snape opened the door to his chambers. He raised an eyebrow in question at the picture they made: no screaming, no insults and best of all, no hexes. Maybe there was hope for the two of them after all.
"Well, are you coming in?"
Harry woke from his stupor abruptly, "Oh, yes Professor, good evening." He entered the room and found Julian jumping on the couch while Evan was nowhere to be seen.
"I think Dobby gave Julian some chocolate, I'm going to have to talk to the Headmaster about this. I'll never get him to sleep if he keeps eating sugar."
Harry rushed to protect his house-elf friend, "No, Professor, I'll talk to him, he won't do it again."
Snape gave him an unbelieving look but finally gave a nod in agreement. "I have called you here, Mister Potter, because I have not been able to work in the last three days and the piles of parchment just keep growing. Therefore, I give you my littlest bundle of joy to care for while I get some work done. Evan is in his room doing Merlin knows what, probably reading another book; honestly I don't know where he gets it from."
Harry tried not to laugh. Of course Evan got it from Snape, all Harry had to do was just look at the millions of books that lined the walls of Snape's rooms to see that.
Julian noticed Harry immediately, and bounced off the couch to run to the teen. "HAWWYY! Papa, you brought Hawwy to me! I love you, Papa, I love you Hawwy and I love chocolate!" At this point, with Julian stuck to his leg and a sneer that looked very much like a smile coming from Snape's mouth, Harry was afraid, very afraid. What have I gotten myself into this time...
A/N: find the quote and you get a special gift! You also have to say who said it, and where. Clue: it's a movie quote.
Thanks to: Amanda Saitou, Debby, Abinikai, whisper, abraxis, slytherinsela, Nicole, anonny mouse, fantasy's afterdark, Wolflady, Lee Lee Potter, !!, SailorBaby16, Slytherinkid07, Winnie2, Spite x, Kaaera, Drusilla, enahma, idril.tinuviel, ataraxis, fantasy's afterdark, Baroness Jumping Rain, Sidda and Sky. Your reviews are very valuable to me.
By the way, I just read "Blind as a Bat" by Spinner. Excellent. Please go read it; it's funny and messed up and not really slash but something like it, something excellent.
Last thing: my beta has chps 5 and 6 so they should be coming out as late as next week. Don't expect too much from chp 5 but Eire said that chp 6 is great so review and you'll get it sooner!
Harry held out his right hand with a grin on his face, "You've got yourself a deal, Professor Snape." Snape shook said hand and then he felt a twinge of fear at what he was getting into, but pushed it down because how much harder could his life be than it already was?
Chapter 4
"YOU WHAT?!" At times like these, Ron Weasley really proved why red heads were famous for their tempers.
"I agreed to look after Julian and Evan when he's unavailable," Harry repeated for the third time that morning. He was a little exasperated with the way Ron was taking this. It wasn't as if he'd agreed to move in with the man...
"You do realize, Harry, that you're talking about Snape here, right?"
"Yes."
"The greasy git?"
"Yes."
"The man who hates you just a little bit less than You-Know-Who?"
"Yes. Ron, yes, I know, and I'm not doing this for him but for Julian. Can you imagine if he had gone anywhere else last night? He could have been kidnapped or murdered! And he might be the son of Snape but he's also a very sweet kid and I don't want to see him suffer just because his father doesn't properly know how to be a father."
"Let him be Ron, he's right." Hermione had that sympathetic-bordering-on- pitying look that Harry hated so much on her face.
"Very well, it is after all your hide we're talking about here, not mine."
"Yes it is, now, can we change the subject?"
"Umm Harry, you might not want to look now but Colin's with the first years again." At Ron's statement Harry let out a long-suffering groan. Ever since the return of Voldemort, he had become more of a public figure, the epitome of hope and all that was light and pure for the wizarding world. He had been having problems with Colin Creevy selling pictures of the Boy Who Lived to the first year girls. It really got on his nerves.
"COLIN CREEVY, YOU BETTER NOT BE SELLING PICTURES OF ME IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!" Harry stomped towards the small teen but Colin scurried away before he got there. Stomped was too strong a word when he had Hermione and Ron clinging one on each arm, trying to prevent their best friend for committing murder.
Harry had tried being patient, he really had. But Colin with his pictures and the younger years with their following him all over the castle was driving him insane--and the giggling, dear Merlin, the giggling...
Harry wrenched his mind back to more important topics. Like... "You know we'll have to reschedule our training," Hermione commented.
"I was thinking about that Hermione and we really don't have to, we can work around it. The fact is, we don't even know when he's going to call me, so let's keep going as usual and if we miss one we train double the next day."
"Harry, we now have to think about the most important training of all-- Quidditch. You're not quitting are you?" Ron had that lost puppy look full of despair. It made Harry and Hermione work hard to try to keep straight faces.
"Because you know," he continued "it's all about rearranging your priorities and Quidditch must be as high on the list as they come."
That completely broke the pair of friends and they fell crashing to the floor, holding their bellies which hurt from laughing so hard.
Meanwhile, in the lower part of the castle, Professor Severus Snape was having an abysmally bad day. He had gotten two hours of sleep before his hyperactive youngest child woke up and started the day. Minutes later Evan was also up and ready for the day. The battle started as always with, "I don't want a bath, Papa, noooo," and it carried on with breakfast, "Evan, keep the food off the book and into your mouth; Julian, keep the food in your mouth and off of your clothes," followed by a double chorus of "Yes, Papa." At which point, every female in the Great Hall would aww and make goo goo eyes at the pair of them.
Next the children would spend the morning with Madam Pomfrey or Madam Hooch. They would teach them the basics, math, reading, biology and such. The afternoons varied from day to day: Mondays Minerva had them, Tuesdays, Hagrid, although Severus really didn't want them near the half giant and his monsters that often. Wednesdays saw them with Professor Flitwick, Thursdays with himself and Fridays with Sinistra. He refused to let Trelawney help.
As today was a Thursday, the children walked with their father towards the infirmary where Poppy was waiting to start their morning lessons. The problem always came when Snape tried to leave them. Julian would pout and start to cry while Evan stared at him with a lost look on his face. It was moments like this that he missed his departed wife the most. He just didn't know what to do, and always left the infirmary with a heavy heart.
Three days later, Harry and his friends were having a quiet evening outside, under a tree in front of the lake. It was getting cold as the year grew closer to December but it was still bearable. Surprisingly, well, at least surprisingly for Ron, they were all quietly reading and taking notes. It was nearing dusk and they had to strain their eyes but they were so comfortable they didn't mind. This comfort was broken when out of nowhere came Draco Malfoy, and to their surprise, he was alone.
Instantly, Ron was on the offensive as always, "What do you want, Malfoy?"
A sneer graced the pointy face of the other teen as he answered in his usual drawl, "Not that it's any of your business, Weasel, but Professor Snape asked me to come fetch Potter, he said something about an agreement..."
Harry took a deep breath. Of course he had to be called on a perfect Sunday afternoon, Merlin forbid he have some time to himself. He picked up his books and waved goodbye to his friends. He followed behind Malfoy without uttering a word. He really couldn't waste energy fighting with Draco when he had to spend who knew how long with a hyperactive toddler.
Apparently Malfoy didn't appreciate his efforts "So, Potter, taking care of the kids, what a perfect little house wife." He didn't respond to that, as he hadn't responded to any of the insults and jibes thrown his way this year by the Slytherin. He just didn't see the point on losing his temper when that was exactly what Malfoy wanted.
But it was more than not wanting to give Malfoy the satisfaction of seeing him upset. It was more because of something he had seen before boarding the train at the beginning of the year. When Uncle Vernon had left him at the front steps of Kings Cross, it had been too early to go anywhere, so he had stayed on the front steps of the station for a while, his trunk and his owl beside him.
Around nine am he saw the Knight Bus appear from nowhere and park near him. He was very surprised to see Draco Malfoy getting out, dragging his trunk and an animal cage. He had a lost look in his eyes, like he didn't know what to do. There was neither smirk, nor sneer on his face and he just looked like a normal teenager. At that moment, Harry saw a boy he could have been friends with and that really hit his mind hard. He realized he didn't truly hate the other boy; he didn't really know him enough to hate him. Harry didn't want to hate more people than he had to; hatred wasn't a positive feeling and with Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange he had enough people he hated.
So he just ignored Draco.
Draco Malfoy was no longer pissed. It didn't matter how many times Draco tried to bait Potter, he wouldn't give in. It was as if he just didn't care. And while if this had happened before, it would have killed him, it didn't upset him anymore. Nowadays Draco just did it to see if something had changed, but it didn't give him the perverse happiness it used to.
Things had changed since the elder Malfoy had gone to Azkaban. Draco felt as if a great weight had fallen off his shoulders. He was no longer expected to be the perfect Malfoy; his mother didn't really care, she had spent the summer trying to keep the family money from being taken by the Ministry. Who, since the money came from a long line of Malfoys and various legitimate Malfoy businesses and therefore had nothing to do with his father being a Death Eater, but that didn't stop them from trying to make mother and son's lives a living hell.
He was left to his own devices in Malfoy Manor that summer. It gave him time to think. He truly believed in his father's ideals. In Purity of blood over Mudbloods and Muggles. His father had told him many times, "You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different," but if that was true, and Draco genuinely believed it was, then why was his father bowing down to and kissing the hem of You-Know-Who's robes and even more, why was his father now in prison?
The two teens continued the journey to their Professor's quarters in silence. Each was lost in his own thoughts. They parted without a word as Snape opened the door to his chambers. He raised an eyebrow in question at the picture they made: no screaming, no insults and best of all, no hexes. Maybe there was hope for the two of them after all.
"Well, are you coming in?"
Harry woke from his stupor abruptly, "Oh, yes Professor, good evening." He entered the room and found Julian jumping on the couch while Evan was nowhere to be seen.
"I think Dobby gave Julian some chocolate, I'm going to have to talk to the Headmaster about this. I'll never get him to sleep if he keeps eating sugar."
Harry rushed to protect his house-elf friend, "No, Professor, I'll talk to him, he won't do it again."
Snape gave him an unbelieving look but finally gave a nod in agreement. "I have called you here, Mister Potter, because I have not been able to work in the last three days and the piles of parchment just keep growing. Therefore, I give you my littlest bundle of joy to care for while I get some work done. Evan is in his room doing Merlin knows what, probably reading another book; honestly I don't know where he gets it from."
Harry tried not to laugh. Of course Evan got it from Snape, all Harry had to do was just look at the millions of books that lined the walls of Snape's rooms to see that.
Julian noticed Harry immediately, and bounced off the couch to run to the teen. "HAWWYY! Papa, you brought Hawwy to me! I love you, Papa, I love you Hawwy and I love chocolate!" At this point, with Julian stuck to his leg and a sneer that looked very much like a smile coming from Snape's mouth, Harry was afraid, very afraid. What have I gotten myself into this time...
A/N: find the quote and you get a special gift! You also have to say who said it, and where. Clue: it's a movie quote.
Thanks to: Amanda Saitou, Debby, Abinikai, whisper, abraxis, slytherinsela, Nicole, anonny mouse, fantasy's afterdark, Wolflady, Lee Lee Potter, !!, SailorBaby16, Slytherinkid07, Winnie2, Spite x, Kaaera, Drusilla, enahma, idril.tinuviel, ataraxis, fantasy's afterdark, Baroness Jumping Rain, Sidda and Sky. Your reviews are very valuable to me.
By the way, I just read "Blind as a Bat" by Spinner. Excellent. Please go read it; it's funny and messed up and not really slash but something like it, something excellent.
Last thing: my beta has chps 5 and 6 so they should be coming out as late as next week. Don't expect too much from chp 5 but Eire said that chp 6 is great so review and you'll get it sooner!