Author Notes: Oh my God, I finally finished this chapter. I'm SOOO sorry it took me so long. *bows in apology*. I promise I've been trying to get back on track recently. I've been really down and out… but you guys are amazing. I've never seen… or had such a response like that. Thank you so much for your encouraging words and your reassurances. You have NO idea how much a big part that played in my realizing that I had a sort of duty to you guys. ^_^ Writing Stories. And hopefully I'll do a good job at it.
Hugs to you all, those who reviewed your kind words to me, those who emailed me to make sure I was alright, I only hope that someday I'll be able to be worth such kind regards. Please enjoy the story and Reviewing is always nice. *Smiles*
PS: This is a ROUGH DRAFT I'm not going to be able to get this home to the beta reader (mom) for a while, I'll put up the final one later, so expect mistakes.
BY THE WAY: A warning to you all, if you don't agree with a child receiving a spanking, or if the thought that Harry could ever be a hellion is inconceivable to you, don't bother reading this. You won't like it, you won't agree with it, and you'll be wanting to smack me for it. This is not detrimental to the story, waiting for chapter 15 would be the best thing for you instead of reading something that will miff you off. I'm sorry if this will upset anyone. Sorry I didn't put this warning up the first time.
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Child of Mine
Chapter 13
Testing the Boundries
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"So how far are you from finding Harry's cure?" Sirius asked with mild irritation in his voice, after the story of what had happened to Harry had been completely told to him. Sirius had learned quite well his lesson of never losing his temper in front of Harry. Simply because Harry would become hysterical whenever anyone got snarly or snappy, and worse was Snape's reaction to the person who made Harry angry or cry. Which sent Harry into more tears. Sirius had tried apologizing to Harry but the child, out of anger pulled away flailing his arms in rage.
Snape had been the one to finally stop the boys tantrum by firmly getting him in a hold where he could not be hit, and reasoned the boy down by threat of going to bed and informing Harry he was being irrational.
"With taking care of your godson I'm grateful to finish teaching my normal classes, Black. Let alone find a cure for him. Harry would have driven Lily and James up a wall with only one of them working, never mind being a single person trying to work and take care of the boy." Snape said quietly, looking over to where Krr'Shar was playing with Harry, licking the boy's hair in the way that cats groomed their young.
"Harry's a good kid, Snape-" Sirius fought needlessly for Harry's sake.
"I never said he wasn't, Black. I merely was saying that he was a troublemaker." Snape's mouth was twisted into a smirk, his black eyes dancing in amusement.
Albus and Remus listened quietly to the two bicker and Albus gave in. Two hours of them not having killed each other was a big enough stretch for one night. And Harry was falling asleep in his watchers (Krr'Shar's) arms.
"Sirius, I am sure Severus is doing his best to find a way to counteract the potion. But as far as we can tell, his memories will come back as he ages and it seems to be the safest way to fix the problem if we just out wait the potion I'm sure all will be fine. Harry can stay here through the summer so that he can make up the classes he's going to miss and I'm sure in the end it will all be for the best." Albus stood up, placing an old hand on the arm of the chair to balance himself. "But Harry's fallen asleep and I think it is best if we all take our leave now. Remus, would you be so kind as to let Sirius stay in your rooms for the night?"
Remus looked up to the headmaster and nodded, "Of course Albus, Sirius you can visit Harry again later, why don't you change back now and we can go off to bed?"
Sirius looked as if he were to put up an argument but the sight of a peaceful Harry halted that thought. "Alright." with a small 'pop' he changed into a large black dog and followed the two men out after they said their goodbyes to Severus.
When the door closed Snape sighed and went over to where Harry was, picked him up, and went into his room to get them ready for bed.
~*~
Two days later was when the peaceful existence that was known as Hogwarts, began getting turned upside down once again.
"Harry for the last time you will keep your shoes on! I am not going to allow people to think I'm raising a heathen!" Snape said with a slightly raised voice. He was almost glaring at one Mr. Harry Potter who had aged a bit more and looked to be around five years old or so.
"NO!" Harry yelled and ran for the open bedroom door only to be stopped by a pair of arms that belonged to Sirius Black who had come in with Remus.
"What in God's name were you two shouting for?" he asked with a dark frown. "What are you doing to Harry?"
Snape glared at the older man. It seemed that Harry had begun taking to Sirius as well when Harry began to slowly become a bit more obstinate then usual. Sirius would automatically think Harry innocent of any wrong doings. And Harry knew it. Moments like these were when Snape really wanted to throttle that child.
"You're godson refuses to keep his shoes on! And this castle is freezing cold, he could get sick you accusing flea bag." Snape snarled going over and taking Harry from him. Harry began squirming and fighting his father but eventually lost the fight when Severus charmed the shoes to stay.
Severus gathered a few of his supplies and Harry, after futilely trying to tug them off in a fit of a tantrum finally realized the shoes were going nowhere and began to cry. Sirius sighed, confused on what to do while Remus shook her head. "Sirius, Severus, this is just a stage... It's just that normally it happens earlier.... Harry, stop crying or you won't be able to eat."
Snape grabbed Harry's hand and tugged him to his feet, which Harry in response fought to stay seated, refusing to stand. Thrusting his things to Remus, Snape angrily picked the child up and seated him in his arms, balancing Harry on one hip.
"Stop crying or you'll go down for a nap alone." Snape threatened stalking out of the room. Sirius stayed inside, his breakfast already there, and Remus left, locking the door behind them both.
Harry stopped crying a few minutes later, but was pouting and sulking for all his worth. They were going to eat breakfast in the teachers lounge. Severus refused to deal with a spoiled Harry in front of the students.
It had started the night before. 'No' he didn't want any peas. 'No' he didn't want to go to bed. 'No' he didn't want a bath. 'No' he didn't want his hair brushed. 'No' he didn't want a spanking. But it hadn't been said in the gratingly defiant voice he was managing now.
"Harry eat your breakfast, alright?" Remus said gently.
"No! I'm not hungry." Harry crossed his little arms and sank into his child seat.
Sprout raised an eyebrow at this and watched on with curiosity.
"You have to eat." Severus tried reasoning with him, having regained a little of his temper back.
"No!" Harry's mouth squeezed shut tightly and Sprout chuckled gently. Sinistra buried her head into her paper that was upside down.
"Fine." The minute Severus began taking the plate away Harry began screaming and tried pulling it back.
"Noo! It's MINE! Not yours!" he whined out loudly.
"Harry James Potter you will stop acting in such a horrible manner or you won't be able to sit down for the next three days!" Snape snarled viciously. The threat didn't work and Harry continued the tug of war with his father.
"MINE! MINE! MINE!" Harry wailed.
Sprout couldn't take it. She purposely dropped her fork so that she could have a good laugh beneath the table. About then McGonagall walked in on this chaos. "What on Earth is going on in here, Severus?" she asked in bewilderment.
"Your grandchild is being an ever loving pain in the ar-"
"Severus!" Minerva growled ominously favoring him with a warning glare, "There's a child present and you should watch what you say, unless you want him repeating those words to you later on."
Snape glared and Minerva sighed. "So what is the problem?"
"He is refusing to eat anything!" Snape snapped.
She considered this, "Might I have a go at it?"
"Be my guest." Snape smirked viciously expecting the same downfall as he for her.
She went over and made Snape move down so she could sit with Harry. Who was protectively holding his bowl. "Now Harry, you don't want to continue this do you? You'll never be able to eat if you do. And what fun is it starving to death?" the child seemed to be calming down and listening to her. "Would you like me to feed you, Harry?"
After a moments consideration he lowered the bowl and held out the spoon to her. She took it and scooped up some of the oatmeal and he suddenly smiled giggling out the word, "Fly!"
"Fly?" she asked curiously, an eyebrow raising in confusion.
"Make food fly like a broomstick!" he begged happily.
After a moment of thinking about HER childhood she smiled and complied making it look as if the food were flying to him right into his little mouth. He swallowed and this game continued… While Snape glared with absolute loathing in his eyes. How dare the child behave for her and not him!
After breakfast he took Harry by the hand and escorted the child down to the dungeons so that they would not be late for Snape's first class.
"You are absolutely unbelievable, Harry!" he muttered beneath his breath as they entered the empty cold classroom. He cast a warmth charm around the room so Harry wouldn't become sick and set him over in his little area where there was a blue blanket laid out with quiet toys, books and crayons.
Harry sat down and began coloring immediately. No more then five minutes later the class began filling up with sixth years who pulled out their cauldrons and began setting their things up immediately, opening their books to the pages given to them on the chalk board. It seemed that the boy had decided to behave for the time being and Snape mentally sighed in relief.
~ * ~
Four days later after continuous fighting with Harry (and his accursed 'No's', 'Don't want's', and 'Mine's!'), Snape introduced him to the concept of Time – Outs. Which Harry seemed to find himself in more and more, the more he fought and tested his boundries. This time he was there because he'd been playing with Mrs. Norris… and Mrs. Norris hadn't wanted to play….
Harry picked up the bright-eyed cat before him and hugged it to him so that it's paws stuck outwards away from him. Howling pitifully.
"Mrs. Norris?" an oily voice called out. Harry turned around just in time to see a breathless man come around the corner. "You! You brat! Put down Mrs. Norris right now or I'll give you a thrashing like you've never known in your life!"
"NO!" Harry snapped back insolently.
"Yes!" he shouted back.
"NO!" and with that Harry began running with a hissing and yowling cat, he didn't get far simply because he'd run smack dab into Fred Weasley.
"What the dev-" he stopped dead at the sight of the cat, and Filch. Grabbing Norris out of his arms he tossed the cat towards Filch, picked up Harry, and ran back in the direction he came.
"KITTY!" Harry cried out.
"Nooo!!! Bad kitty!" Fred said while running, "You'll never get out of detention if you mess with THAT kitty!" Harry went quiet, and amazingly, Fred was successful in outrunning and maneuvering the older man. Secret passages were such wonderful things. By the time he stopped he was in Gryffindor tower, panting and exhausted.
"Fred, what are you- - Harry? What happened Fred?" George asked coming over to the two who had just entered the room.
"He decided to try and fight with Filch…" Fred said breathlessly. "He was holding a pissed off Mrs. Norris and everything… and I'm talking about Harry!" he slid to the floor beside the couch, boy in arms.
George looked a bit surprised. "You were playing with Mrs. Norris?!" he asked Harry. Harry shrugged in response. "You really have a death wish don't you?"
A few hours, when they thought it was safe, they decided to send Harry with Hermione and Ron to take Harry back to Snape's. Their explanation being simple, "Both of us will get in trouble cause we're not about to give away WHICH one of us helped Harry. Chances are Snape knows by now. You two do it."
So Hermione and Ron took Harry down to the dungeons searching for their professor, who they found in his office after they knocked on the door. When he opened it they were a bit surprised to see Filch off near Snape's desk, holding a furious Mrs. Norris, and glaring balefully at them.
"Uh-oh…" Harry murmured.
Snape's mouth was twisted downwards. "Indeed."
Which brought him back to now. Staring at the boring corner of the stone dungeon wall. "Can I come out now?" he whined.
Snape decided to use Harry's favorite word against him, "No."
Harry went quiet. He could cry and maybe that would work, or he could just stick through it in silence. He decided silence would be the most dignified route and so remained quiet. Finally he was allowed out of his time out.
"No more irritating Mr. Filch. I hate having to deal with his complaints." Snape explained to the young boy. "Now will you start behaving?"
Harry nodded, "Promise."
~ * ~
Another few days later, said promise was broken. Harry had gotten into such a fight with Snape that he actually BROKE one of daddy's things. In front of Remus, Sirius, Albus, and Krr'Shar.
They had been eating down in Severus' chambers discussing how far Severus had gotten with Remus' cure when Severus tried to send Harry to bed. And Harry had flat out refused. Things had quickly escalated from there into shouting from the child and Snape. And all the adults, Albus included, looked flabbergasted as Harry retaliated by breaking one of Snape's potion bottles that had been on his desk just because Snape had threatened to spank him if he didn't go to bed.
Silence resounded in the room after the glass had been shattered. Snape unable to believe that his 'son' had done that closed his mouth and glared down at his son. Harry, glared at him, and then ran into the bedroom slamming the door behind him.
"Well, aren't you going to spank him?" Remus' feminine voice asked firmly.
"He- he- - I can't believe he did that!" Severus finally said, disbelief ringing in his voice.
"He's testing how far your boundries can be pushed Severus, and if you don't punish him, he will get worse and will become the brat you so often accused him of being when he was eleven." Remus warned.
"B-but I can't do that to him!" he said in defense sitting down beside Albus who looked a bit amused. Sirius looked absolutely stunned by Severus' confession of being unable to punish Harry.
"Then I will." Remus said firmly. She stood up and walked over to the bedroom door and went to open it, only to find it was locked. "Young man open this door."
"No! Go away!" Harry shouted back.
"You have till the count of three, Harry." She warned. "One." Nothing. "Two…" Still more silence. "THREE. Alohomora!" The door swung open and she stalked in. There was movement and then several firm swatting noises were heard as well as the wail that followed. On each swat both Sirius AND Severus cringed.
Meanwhile Harry cried; his mommy had actually hit him! And unlike the time when daddy had hit him, this one hurt. It wasn't a light swat, it was meant to hurt. She'd turned him over her knee and hit him three times. Then she pulled him back into a standing position. Once he was done sobbing loudly she looked him in the eyes, "Now Harry, I know you're upset at me but we're going to talk about how you've been acting."
Harry wiped at his reddened eyes and sniffled but he listened.
"You have been acting very badly, Harry. Appallingly in fact, and your father had been handling it very well all things considering how he might have acted had he been the way he used to be. You were spanked because you were misbehaving. You are supposed to listen to adults, Harry. Especially the ones you know. You can't keep misbehaving, because all you're doing is HURTING us. You broke you're daddy's potion bottle because you were angry, but would you want something of yours that you like, broken?" she asked calmly. Harry shook his head. "Stop saying 'No' all the time just because you want to make your own decisions or because you want to just go against what your daddy wants. If you want to choose something, TELL your daddy, you won't get what you want all the time, but when there is something that we feel you are able to handle by yourself, we'll let you choose. Now you are going to go out there and apologize to them for how you were acting and especially say sorry to your father."
Harry, tears streaming down his face for a different reason, nodded and trudged out of the room, head hanging, looking absolutely pathetic. Once he was near where the three adults (two of which were still stunned by what they had heard Remus say. Albus had been smiling happily knowing that Remus was doing rather well, but put back on a neutral mask when Harry came out.) he said, "I'm sorry for being bad… and for causing you trouble…" he then went over to his father and sniffled. "I'm sorry for breaking your bottle and I'll try and be good this time…"
Severus frowned and after a few seconds said, "I forgive you Harry."
"D-does…." Harry stopped.
"Yes?" he asked a bit impatiently.
"Do you still love me?" he whispered so quietly Severus almost missed it.
When he realized what had been said his eyebrows raised and he sighed and drew the boy into his arms and lap hugging the now sobbing boy. "Of course I do, I only was mad and hurt by what you were doing because I love you."
Harry clung to Severus' robes tightly shaking, glad that his daddy didn't hate him for being bad. And now that he thought about it… doing all those bad things… what if daddy had stopped loving him? What if he might have locked him in a cupboard? Harry hugged his father burying his face into his daddy's robes.
"Don't lock me up… I'll be good." He choked out.
Severus' arms tightened around Harry and he kissed the mop of black hair before him. "Never, Harry."
~ * ~