"How's the new Nanny?" Ginny asked Severus at dinner that night. Severus had been quiet and watchful during dinner, making her worry a bit. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to meet her this morning.

"Fine," he answered with a shrug. "And she prefers to be called a governess."

"Old-fashioned," Hermione smirked. "But probably more accurate. It makes me feel like I'm in a Bronte novel."

"What's a governess?" Ron asked, confused. "Aren't they, like, from a long time ago?"

"A governess is more of a teacher," Hermione explained. "A nanny is more of a caregiver."

"Doesn't Severus need a caregiver?" Ron asked, confused.

"I don't need a Nanny!" Severus replied darkly.

"Actually, Grettie the house elf does a lot of that part of it," Hermione explained. "I mean, laundry and bathing and stuff like that. Severus mostly needs a minder and a teacher."

"Why does everyone act like I didn't take care of myself for nine years?" Severus grumbled, but didn't explode. It actually felt good in a way to have people wanting him well-cared for instead of just leaving him alone. Good, but also a little irritating. He also found himself feeling a little bit nervous about exploding as well, perhaps the smacks he'd received from Miss Stradling had had some of the desired effect.

"At nine you shouldn't have to raise yourself," Harry tried to explain. "And Professor Snape said a Nanny or Governess would be good. Miss Stradling was on his short list, but is she working out?"

"She's strict," Severus hedged. He knew he could tell his dad about the spell – and about how she told him he would be shipped off to Yorkshire. But he couldn't bring himself to do so, it would be humiliating. And, though he didn't want to admit it, it also felt risky. What if Miss Stradling had been telling the truth? What if there were no other Nannies and he was a burden? "Not as nice as Broomie."

"Well, look where Broomie got us then," Harry smirked, drinking his water. "I don't know, but I have to think that Professor Snape knew you better than I do, and that Miss Stradling is more of what you need."

"I guess," Severus answered, feeling even more dejected. Either his older self had been completely snowed by Miss Stradling's character or the if potion was right – Professor Snape was only interested in punishing his younger self for being an embarrassment. Severus wasn't sure which was worse.

"Is there anything we need to know about her?" Ginny asked, watching the boy carefully. She had seen him in many moods before – but never this sort of wary dejection, even when he first came.

Severus shrugged, looking away from his Dad's fiancée. He never knew quite what to think about her – she seemed timid at times, as if she was expecting him to do something. But she also seemed interested as well. Even though he shrugged an answer, it made him wonder – is this what it would be like to really have a mother? Would Ginny ever want him in that way? Would she farm him out somewhere when she'd given birth to a child of her own?

"Keep us informed," Hermione told him curtly. "She has given me a copy of her lesson plans as I requested, and they are really quite ambitious. You'll need every brain cell you have to keep up with her plans, Severus. Are you up for a challenge?"

"I guess so," Severus answered, looking at his food. He knew what that meant – he had received a third stroke that afternoon from his Governess when he had failed to read a word correctly the second time he had come to it when reading aloud. The academics were a power struggle that Miss Stradling wanted to win. The problem was that Severus wanted to win as well – he hungered for the knowledge that reading could unlock, and he longed for the learning he knew lay ahead. Could he win the war and still get the prize he wanted?

"You look a little calculating, mate," Ron observed Severus, tearing open a soft roll. "Keep your head, buddy. This is no time to run off another one."

"I think Miss Stradling is made of sterner stuff," Hermione argued. "I don't think she's the type to be run off."

"I know Slytherins have different traditions, and pureblooded families tend to raise children differently," Harry observed. "And she did warn me not to interfere with her methods. But there are limits into how she teaches you, Severus. You'll tell me if there's something I need to know, right?"

"I will," Severus told him, vowing to himself at that moment that indeed he would not. He found the previous vulnerability in him hardening. He, Severus Snape, did not need the simpering protection of these sappy teenagers masquerading as adults. If he had a problem with Miss Stradling, he would solve it himself. No need to worry about things like Yorkshire boarding schools.

"Good," Harry smiled at him. "I thought maybe this evening after dinner we would introduce you to a broom. If you can stay on your seat, Uncle George has asked us for a picnic on Saturday, and I thought going by broom might be fun."

"That sounds good," Severus replied, experimenting a bit by shifting in his seat. Would he be able to sit on a broom without wincing? He realized that the punishment had been brutal but not lasting – he only felt the merest twinges from the three strokes he had received that day.

"Good," Harry smiled. "Ron, can we borrow your old broom?"

"Not Nessie!" Ron smirked. "Shouldn't we get him started on a proper broom? Nessie is slower than a school broom."

"Nessie should be fine," Harry smirked at him. "He can always get a nicer broom for his birthday if he wants. You know, that was the first present Professor Snape ever gave me."

"That's months away!" Hermione protested. "Really, that seems unfair."

"My birthday?" Severus echoed, confused.

"Of course, are you daft?" Ron laughed. "It's months away!"

"It is the beginning of May," Harry explained, seeing the confusion that could turn to rage so quickly for Severus. "Your birthday isn't until January."

"When is my birthday?" Severus asked quietly. He looked down, knowing how much he admitted to with this question. However, he realized that the vulnerability of the question wasn't as bad as it would have been

"January ninth," Harry answered quietly. "Originally 1960. Of course, now it has altered a bit. You know, you were the first person to ever celebrate my birthday. I'll tell you about it at bedtime."

"Are brooms hard?" Severus asked, suddenly a bit nervous. "Will I fall off?"

"That's why I wanted you to start on Nessie," Harry assured him. "She's easy and slow, the perfect beginner broom. If you like flying and want to go faster once you build some skill, then we can get you a faster broom then."

"I'd love to see you the first time on a broom!" Ron laughed. "Epic!"

"It's a father son thing," Ginny gently cuffed his arm. "The poor boy will be nervous enough without you taking the Mickey out of him."

"I had some trouble when we first learned to fly," Hermione confessed. "Though Harry was a natural from the start. Although, it probably didn't help that I had been raised in a muggle house and had never even seen a flying broom, where as these lot all practiced before they were at Hogwarts."

"You're not really supposed to, you see," Ron explained with a grin. "It's technically magic, but it's one of those things that everyone does. You can always tell the muggle-raised at the beginning of class because they don't know what they're doing on brooms."

"That doesn't explain Neville!" Hermione protested. "He had trouble too!"

"Can you imagine his grandma on a broom?" Ron snorted. "And like that starched britches woman would actually deign to break a rule!"

"Don't laugh at her," Ginny laughed. "She gave them a run for her money when they tried to arrest her during the war, remember? She put an Auror in the hospital."

"Britches aside," Harry interrupted with a laugh. "Severus needs a break from all this work and drama. We're off!"

Harry gathered up two brooms and held Severus by the hand. "Ready to apparate?" he asked.

Severus nodded, holding tight as he felt the tugging jerk as Harry whipped him away. Though he had gotten somewhat used to apparition, it still was unsettling and nauseating.

"Do you need a stomach soother?" Harry asked as they landed in deep, soft grass.

"I'm fine," Severus told him, trying to breathe through the nausea. "Just give me a moment."

"This clearing is a good place to practice because of the soft grass," Harry explained. "Even if you fall off it shouldn't be too bad."

"I hope not to fall," Severus told him, eyeing the broom with trepidation.

"You don't fall a lot except sometimes if you're doing something crazy," Harry explained. "Don't worry about it too much. Now, the first thing you learn at Hogwarts is how to call the broom up in your hand, but that's harder for a wizard that isn't eleven yet. So I'm going to show you how to mount the broom first."

"Okay," Severus answered, accepting the broom as Harry passed it to him.

"Now do what I do here. Stand astride the broom like this, and hold it firmly like this."

Severus followed as Harry showed him through how to hold onto the broom, and was actually able to push himself off the ground without too much trouble. His new Dad's obvious enjoyment of flying was beginning to be infectious, as well as Harry's encouragement and approval.

"Good work, Severus!" Harry called as Severus was able to make the broom move forward a bit. "Just like that, lean forward just a bit more and see if you can get it to go a little bit more."

Severus did lean forward, and soon found himself making a lopsided circle around the clearing. He sat up more as he approached Harry, slowing the broom.

"You've done really well," Harry approved.

"I like it," Severus told him nervously. It still felt strange to voice enjoyment of things and trust Harry not to use that to torture him later with it.

"Good, we'll come again," Harry told him. "But for today, I think the lesson is done."

"Home?" Severus sighed.

"You have lessons tomorrow," Severus reminded him. "Bright and early."

"What happens of Miss Stradling doesn't work out?" Severus asked him suddenly. "Will Broomie tell other nannies not to come?"

"She might," Harry admitted. "But don't worry too much about that, just do your best to get along with the one you have. If she doesn't work we'll think of something."

"I'll try," Severus sighed, feeling his fears confirmed by Harry. Of course he wouldn't come out and say that Severus was a burden.

"Are you giving her a bad time?" Harry asked, looking closely at his son. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"I'm fine," Severus answered. "You didn't ask me this many questions with Broomie."

"Well, I think that's because Broomie looked pretty harmless," Harry admitted. "I think something about Miss Stradling strikes a very different chord."

"She's just a Slytherin," Severus sighed. "Like me."

"There are Slytherin that are good people," Harry told him. "Yes, like you, as well as others. People say that Merlin himself was a Slytherin."

"He was?" Severus looked up with some hope.

"Apparently," Harry laughed. "Makes sense, doesn't it? And while the Slytherin tend to have some bad apples in the group – so does Gryffindor. There were death eaters from every house."

"If Miss Stradling's methods work on you because they cause you to respect her, then it is fine," Harry told him. "But if her methods make you feel, I don't know, like worried or scared then I need to know."

"And you think you putting me in the corner and spanking me is better?" Severus asked, arching one eyebrow in the perfect miniaturization of his older self.

"Has anything I've done to discipline you really make you scared?" Harry asked curiously. "I mean, beyond you worrying that I'll do something worse."

"No," Severus admitted.

"If it ever does, I want to know that too," Harry told him firmly. "You deserve to feel loved and safe, not scared and worried. Even if you're naughty."

"You have some very strange ideas," Severus told him with a sniff. "I would think naughty children deserve a bit of fear."

"I don't think fear really teaches anything," Harry reflected. "Maybe how to be sneakier more than anything."

"Isn't that what Slytherins do?" he asked. "Get sneakier?"

"Only if they first feel loved and safe," Harry nodded. "Sneakier comes later."

"Strange ideas," Severus shook his head.

"Taught by you," Harry laughed. "I think it really helped me when I realized that you were wanting me to feel safe and loved, I'd never had that before. You never came out and said it that clearly, but I figured it out."

"How?" Severus asked, trying to cover the hunger in his voice. Harry believed and trusted Professor Snape, could he do the same?

"It wasn't one thing," Harry admitted. "It was more of a constant care in the same direction. You always made sure I was fed, clothed, and happy. You gave me gifts, provided me with friends, and worried when I got sick. You were, well, you were a father to me. I mean, you weren't perfect – but I came to realize that you always meant well. And I gradually grew to trust that."

"Soppy Gryffindor," Severus chided, though tried to stave off the jealousy. Could he ever trust Harry like that?

"I own it," Harry laughed. "Let's get home before Ginny begins to worry."