Lost and Found
Disclaimer: Canan is all I own. Every other wonderful character is property of JK Rowling.
IMPORTANT: So I've been considering something important and I would like the input of my readers. I'm considering having Sirius released based on new evidence and possibly having some Sirius x Severus. If you could leave a review letting me know what you think it would be insanely helpful. I can't decide if I want it in this story or maybe a sequel. And of course there's the possibility of a sibling for Canan. I'm also not sure how Harry would play into this if Sirius was released, being his godfather and all.
Chapter Five: Laying Plans
Several hours later Canan was still in the hospital ward because school policy mandated that he had to remain there for 48 hours because of the nature of his injury and the evidence that it was an ongoing problem that remained on his arms. This gave Severus time to look into policy with regard to what he could do about the situation to prevent him from continuing to harm himself. He had Poppy bring several tomes to his room, insisting on staying with his son because he was both paranoid to leave him after having finally found him and someone had to be with him during the 48 hour monitoring period. Terrance had been notified, as his room mate, that he was in the hospital ward and had brought him pajamas, his bear, collected his homework from the first years in his class, needing only to acquire the out of class assignments since potions had been his last class, and selected several horror novels from Canan's selection to make sure his stay was at least bearable. At this moment, his child had his arms wrapped around his bear and was sleeping soundly with Evan curled up on his stomach, keeping a watchful eye on him.
Severus on the other hand was pouring through the books so that he could find a way to keep his son near to him to make sure the child was safe and he could work on breaking his habit. Normal school policy stated that a child had to stay in the dorms, but Severus was worried and had no intention of letting him out of his sight. The policies he had been looking through were of no help. All of them kept the child in either the dorms while on academic probation, or had him returning to the hospital ward after classes were over and being escorted everywhere. But these policies were when the student was a danger to themselves. Perhaps a different route was the best one to take in this situation. He tosses the volume he had been reading onto a chair that had been near the table he was seated at and opens a volume with a very different set of policy. Professional conduct between staff and students.
He opens to the index in the back and flips to the P's section of the index and scans the entry list while muttering to himself. "P A... P A L... P A R ... Parent." He says, finding the key word he was looking for. He takes a parchment and quill and writing down the page numbers where the key word was listed, leaving him with a total of 22 entries all allocated within the same general area. He surmised that there was a whole section with regard to dealing with parents and parent student relations where the parent was an employee of the school. So with hopes that exploring this venue may prove fruitful, he opens to the first entry and starts skimming the subtitles. It wasn't for another two hours that he found the section he was looking for.
Child Policy for Teachers while their Child is Attending Hogwarts: Policy #6574B
In the event that a teacher at Hogwarts has a dependent child attending the school for their magical education, several policies are in place to allow for the parent to make decisions that pertain to the welfare of their child, but care must be taken to remain professional during teaching hours. Policies that pertain to the parent child relationship between a teacher and a student are as follows.
1. The teacher will not interact with a student any differently because of their relation. This includes grading, discipline, and any interaction inside the classroom and in public areas of the school. While the teacher and student are in a private environment, normal parent child dynamics may resume.
2. While decisions regarding a student's welfare during the school year are usually left to the headmaster or head of house, any decision making regarding the care of the student is left to the digression of the parent, as unlike the parents of students who are not staff at Hogwarts, a teacher who is a parent of a student is near enough to make timely decisions regarding the walfare of their child that are normally left up to staff.
3. The housing of the student will be in the dorms unless the teacher who is the parent of the student has a reasonable and necessary reason to believe that places their child at risk. In the event of a child being at risk within the dorms, the child can reside with his or her parent in their private quarters while still attending class. This assessment of the student's safety is left to the discretion of the parent, but must be validated by another member of staff.
Severus marks the number of the policy on a sheet of parchment, the volume it was found in, and the page number with a sigh of relief and reads the procedure for removing his son from the dorms. After he understood the steps to be taken he retrieves his quill and a clean sheet of parchment to begin a letter to Albus.
Albus,
It has come to my attention that a policy is in place that will allow me to use my parental digression to make the decision to remove my son, Canan Drazin Snape, from the dormitories and care for him in my private quarters. Policy number 6574B in the book of Hogwarts procedures and policies volume 11, page number 487, allows for me to make this decision when I determine its for the safety of my child to remain with me. According to procedure, I'm writing you a letter to inform you of my decision and my reason for it. This being that Canan has displayed self destructive behavior that required hospitalization and there is evidence that this problem is ongoing. As his parent, it would be irresponsible of me to act otherwise when this problem has to be resolved by means other than ignoring it. In light of this fact, this policy allows me to act as a parent and make the decision to remove my son so that I can work on correcting this behavior for his own safety.
Sincerely,
Severus Tobias Snape
Potions Professor
Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry
After composing his letter he calls Poppy over and has her write a letter to validate his reason for choosing to act on his policy and when she returns he places both letters in a file so that he could send them to the head master as soon as the modification that Canan's birth certificate had been filed, thus granting him his parental rights. Lucius had gone to the muggle court of law after the meeting they had in this very room and filed the petition to reverse the adoption therefore giving him custody in the muggle world. The judge had ruled in his favor, allowing Lucius to stand on his behalf while he remained with Canan in the hospital, and the paperwork only had to be filed, which was expected to happen the next morning. After that the birth certificate with the ministry would be filed and upon receiving confirmation, probably around lunch, he would send the letters to Albus before Canan was released from the hospital. Sometimes a parent just had to use Slytherin tactics to ensure their child was safe.
Canan's class was the last class of the day, and the accident that led to him being reunited with his son, though the circumstances horrified him, had occurred around three in the afternoon. As fate would have it it had been within the hour of things ending between him and James. It was some now ironic and fitting at the same time. With a glance at the clock, he discovers it had been nearly eight hours since then. It was eleven at night and his eyes were beginning to grow heavy when Minerva walked in. "Its getting late Severus. I'll take watch. You try and get some sleep. Poppy has just gone to bed and you should too." She says gently.
Severus knew word would get out and spread among the staff rather quickly. It annoyed him to no end to be the subject of gossip, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, so summoning his best glare, he turns to her and says, "I'm not leaving." She merely smiles and says, "It was worth trying. If I can't get you to leave may I offer to transfigure your chair into a bed at least?" She says. "Your not going to let up are you?" He asks. "When have you ever known me to?" She asks him in return with a grin. "Never. Hell hath no scorn like a Scottish women." He retorts, earning him a cuff to the back of the head before transfiguring his chair into a bed. "Thank you Minerva." He says, getting up to check on Canan real quick.
He runs a hand through his hair and strokes his cheek affectionately, pausing to just to feel the tangible form in front of him as if to reassure that the child in the bed was real. After he seemed satisfied he pulled the blankets up a little and ruffled his hair before returning to his bed and lying down and closing his eyes. Thankfully the next day was Saturday and he wouldn't have to teach or attend meals in the great hall. He could sleep and spend the day with his baby boy, and make plans to go about solving his problem. What he didn't notice, when tucking into bed, was the smile on the transfigurations professor's face as she watched. She had been teaching transfiguration since 1957, and as such, had been Severus' teacher when he was in school. She knew not of the father. No more than the general public did any way. Only that he had been a wicked boy and had somehow managed to abduct the child after his birth. She had seen Severus more happy than he had ever been while with child. Not that it was obvious mind you. The potions master had always been prone to melancholy. He was a bright boy though and excelled in all his subjects. Though withdrawn, he had always been studious and asked questions in class. After returning to Hogwarts though, he was more withdrawn than ever, and his scathing wit bordered on being cruel. Not that one could blame him. The year he became pregnant, around 20 weeks in actually, he lost both his parents. A murder suicide as it happened. It was 18 weeks later the last of his family was taken from him. His son. But Severus was no longer alone. A thought that made her smile as she watched over the boys.
The next mornirng Severus awoke at nine o'clock sharp and sat up, finding that Minerva had traded her post with Flitwick at some point during the night and he offers the potions master a smile. "I took the liberty of retrieving clean robes for you before taking my shift. You had best freshen up before he wakes. I'm sure he'll have questions." Says the head of Ravenclaw. "Thank you." He mutters, casting a ward over Canan to alert him if he woke or moved from the bed before taking a quick shower, spelling himself dry, dressing for the day and banishing the robes he had been wearing to his quarters before returning and transfiguring his bed back to its original form as a chair, hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with the small statured teacher's brilliant displays of emotion. But yet Severus knew that he had a way with children, and perhaps it would be best to seek his advice.
"Flitwick, do refrain from having an outburst when I speak you with regard to this situation. I haven't dealt with these circumstances before as a head of house, let alone a parent. You have been a professor a lot longer than I, and the eccentric do tend to end up in your house." Says the younger teacher. "Ahh. You want to know if I've encountered this situation before and how to best deal with it." He says, knowing Severus wouldn't ask him directly. A question meant being vulnerable, and this past day had proven to place him in such a state more so than he was comfortable with. Not even just this past day. "I have had students who have struggled with a such a habit. A sad thing it is really. The worst thing you can do is admonish him or shame him in any way, though I doubt that's what you were planning. Earning his trust will be imperative to his recovery. He needs to know he can talk to you and that you won't judge him. You must be prepared to offer him a lot of emotional support and in this case, I suspect affection and reassurance. This would mean exposing a side of yourself you don't show Severus. Don't give him ultimatums. That will just add pressure and he's already distressed. As such forcing him to talk before he's ready won't help. It could only make things worse. Once he's prepared to talk you help him to understand that it's more harmful than a few cuts."
Severus nods and takes some notes on his parchment, intent on helping Canan. He knew that his son wouldn't open up overnight, but he wanted to be prepared for when he did. "Identifying triggers is also important. Both of you need to know what these are. That way you can help him if he has the need. You can't always be there by any means, but in the beginning it may be easier for him to stop with your help. Once these are identified you find alternative coping mechanisms. But Severus, you need to be patient. He won't stop until he's ready. For now it's about damage control. This will be hard for the both of you." He finishes, decoding to hold off on the discussion when the Canan begins to stir. Severus checks the clock and finds that the child had a good lie in. It was quarter ten. "I had best be off. Good day Severus." Says the Ravenclaw and makes his exit. A moment later Canan enters the land of the wake.
"Good morning Canan." Severus greets as the child wipes the remnants of sleep from his eyes. "G'morning." He returns sleepily as the events of the previous day catch up with him. He begins his morning routine with the required monitoring and when he finishes Severus redresses his wounds. "Canan, I would like to discuss something of importance with you." He starts, wrapping the bandage around his arm for the last time. "Am I in trouble sir?" Canan asks tentatively. "No. I was only going to discuss housing arrangements with you. Once I have custody of you, I'm able to have you housed with me due to the circumstances. When you leave tomorrow you will be returning to my quarters. It would be beneficial to both of us as well to get to know each other better, but I'm not going to attempt to force any parental relations on you until your ready. Only parental guidance. And when your ready to talk to me about anything I'll always be here to listen." He assures him.
"What will the students have to say when they find out?" Asks Canan. "I'm sure there will be some buzz about the hall ways for a few weeks and there are those who may be of a negative opinion, but they would know better than to start anything where I'm involved, fearing corrective action. They don't need to know the circumstances. Only that you were hospitalized and that because of this you'll be staying with me until your able to manage your condition. If they ask questions about it you can tell them that you prefer not to discuss your health, as every little detail of your life is nobody's business but your own and you would prefer that some matters be kept privet." He says. "All right. I guess." He says tentatively, still unsure about the changes, but it was reassuring to know that Severus cared about him.
After that discussion Canan began his astrology homework. His assignment was to calculate his birth chart, something he was having trouble with. "What seems to be the issue?" Severus asks, taking in his expression. "My rising sign sir. It doesn't suit me at all." He says, handing him his calculations. "I see. Your math is correct but your location is not. You were found in wick but you were actually born in London. The degree is also wrong because the estimated time you were born is off. You weren't born at eleven pm in Wick. You were born at quarter till twelve in London." He says. "So that would mean you would have to adjust your Equatorial degree, your local time, and your elliptical geocentric longitude." He says. "No you defiantly don't strike me as a sagittarius rising." He chuckles. Canan consults the charts in his book and fills in the numbers and calculated the answer. "28° Capricorn." He says. "That's more like it." Says the processor with a smile on the corner of his mouth, impressed with Canan's precise calculations. By lunch time, with minimal help, Canan managed to calculate the first three signs of his birth chart. A Capricorn ascendant, Gemini sun, and an Aquarius moon. Truly fitting. Practical and reserved but very ambitious. Very Slytherin there. A quick minded Gemini, though he wasn't as outgoing as most of them, he certainly was very much the scholar. And his moon was Aquarius. In this house Aquarius influenced a person to prefer their freedom and to become emotionally detached at times. It was no wonder he had difficulty in expressing his emotions at times. After putting the homework aside, the two of them tucked into their lunch. Grilled cheese and tomato soup with warm cider that was fitting for the cool day. And as they were eating an owl came to Severus to deliver word that Canan's birth certificate had been filed. Severus gives the bird a piece of his sandwich and has him take the letters to the headmaster. His son was officially in his care.
A smile graced Severus' face. For the first time in a long time, it met his eyes.
