Title: Daddy, look what I found!
Author: SyberSnake
Beta: Shamenka
Fandom: Harry Potter
Warnings: mentioned MPREG
A/N: I don't own anything, I don't make money of this.
Chapter 3
Severus stood in the doorway to his children's bedroom if he wanted to be totally honest it was the only bedroom in the small flat. He sighed as he watched his children sleep. Children, no longer just his child, but now his children, he was amazed with the turn of events, even now, weeks after it had all happened. He wasn't sure if he had done the right thing, for a time, but, with each day that Harry had spent with them the young boy had started to open up more and more. At first, he wouldn't leave their sides. Harry was their little shadow, but even with just a little love and care, he began to open up, began to trust in them to never be left behind, to be fed, and cared for. It had taken them two weeks to begin to encourage Harry to not to flinch away if Severus raised his voice or made a sudden move.
But Severus was determined to be there for him and calm his fears every time the small boy woke from his nightmares. These nightmares were not a new experience for him, when he was a child he experienced them several time and still remembered how he wished being held.
Severus' nights were disturbed by his own memories as they resurfaced after he watched the boy fight against his own demons which were so similar to his own. In Severus' nightmare, he was yet again a small defenseless child, who couldn't save himself, or his mother, from his drunken father - if you could call that man at a father; after all a father cares for his child, nurtures and protects his child, none of which that man had done! When one of this dreams woke him up, he found that watching the calm, still, night sky... or his boys, as they slept peacefully, would calm him enough so he could rest once more.
Most nights, as they slept, Harry managed to snuggle closer his new brother as if trying to find the protection what he missed so much in his short life. Even in his sleep... Severus sighed at the directions his thoughts were taking.
To Severus, both boys looked so innocent and defenseless, and he had sworn, before Merlin and the calm night sky that he will do everything in his power to protect them from the life which their fates had laid before them; sadly, mostly Harry's.
Looking at the clock Severus realized that it was getting quite late, and knew that he needed as much rest as he could get. Tomorrow would be important, and not just for him, for all of them, him and both his boys. From the corner of his left eye he caught one of the animal's eyes flashing with reflected light, hiding on the bookshelf, beckoning his eyes to roam. His gaze traveled around the small room, taking in every piece of furniture in the place and spotted the other cats on the window sill. His eyes wandered toward the dog's bed which to his surprise was empty. He wondered where the missing familiar had gone when a quill moved slightly at the lower part of the bed. He almost instantly pulled out his wand and carefully held up the quill; a faint growling could be heard. Severus smirked at it and muttered in a quiet voice, "Silencio!" Severus didn't know if dogs could look surprised and indignant, but their dog surely looked as if he could. The animal tried to bark and growl, without much success, and stayed where he was, just snaring at him, silently.
"Now, now, Cosmo. Get out under the bed. You should know you are not allowed up there" The dog somewhat reluctantly dragged himself out from under the bed and with one silent growl he went to lie down in his bed.
Severus had shaken his head as he left the bedroom, he rubbed his tiered eyes, he really needed to lie down and sleep. He dragged his wandering thoughts in an attempt to organize them, as tomorrow would be so very important, he should make that today to be more accurate. If everything went right they will have enough money for a year, hopefully more. His gaze settled on a leather covered book, it was his, his creation. He had written it, well, most of it was his own research and hard work. He stepped closer to caress the leather surface; his finger traced the silver writing on its cover:
Velas: Myths. Legends and Reality
By
Severus Seth Snape
With a flick of his wand he erased the Snape part. He after all wanted them to buy the rights to the book, and to publish it, of course. This piece of work could grant them a better life. In the Wizarding Word nobody wanted to employ a Slytherin, least of all one who was an ex-Death Eater as well. In spite of Dumbledor's statement regarding his spying for side of light. He only managed to escape Azkaban by sheer dumb luck. Even in the Muggle World the situation almost the same, only the reasons different with him being a young, uneducated (in muggle professions) single father of two small, not even school-aged children he was doomed to fail.
So like the clever Slytherin he was, he had started to work on this book, he worked on it constantly, writing everything he knew and could discover about Velas; be it facts, legends, myths, the curses they could or couldn't use, or were possible to use on a Vela, and the same with potions and charms and so on. Lucius Malfoy was a great help in this, as being a half Vela, and good friend of his, dear old Lucius, he always moaned about him living in such a small place that he even offered him money. Severus knew himself to be far too stubborn to give in before he had played out every card in his hand, and no one could ever doubt his poker face, but, if the book failed to gain enough support he would be forced to give in to Lucius´s nagging and accept his assistance.
He closed his eyes and turned away from his desk, he walked toward his sleeping couch and lay down on it. Today would decide what their fates would be. With that last thought, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.