Strength of a Child's Mind
Summary: Disaster and Harry Potter does not bode well… at all. And this particular disaster is determined to change both Harry's and the greasy potions master's lives!
Pairing/s: None.
Warnings: Severus!Father, Child!Harry. Spoilers up to the fifth book? Sirius not dead. Maybe something else but you'll see that.
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter.
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UPDATED: 6 January 2011
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Chapter Five
"Do I really have to?" Severus asked.
Albus looked mock-stern and replied:
"Of course. Young Weasley and Miss Granger want to see their friend."
"He's supposedly family with me. How in the name of Merlin will you manage with that?"
"Oh, you are in a meeting with me when they come up to me for news about Harry which of course I must kindly refuse them."
The potions master stared at him.
"You are a manipulate old man, did you know that?"
"Now, that was a bit too much," Albus said with a laugh. "I'm just telling you what the all the others will think."
Severus sighed; this was going to be a long day.
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Harry looked up from his place in Albus' lap as Ron and Hermione entered. Severus glanced over at them before resuming his tea with a small scowl.
"Harry," the old man said and the child look up at him. "Why don't you go and say hi to those two youngsters while I and Severus finish our talk?"
"Who are they?" Harry asked.
"Oh, the girl is Hermione and the boy Ron. They are both very nice youngsters and wouldn't mind playing with you."
"Ronnie looks like Fred and George."
"That's because Ron is their younger brother," Albus said and let the child slid off from him. "Now run along."
Harry cautiously walked over to the two as Albus focused on the potions master. Hermione kneeled down and said:
"Hi, as you know I'm Hermione. You're Harry right?"
"How do you know that?" Harry asked suspiciously. All other students except for Fred and George knew him as Coran.
"Severus, Fred and George told us," the girl said. "Do you like playing with Fred and George?"
Slightly more comfortable with the situation, Harry nodded and said:
"They speak funny."
"Oh, don't I know that," the girl said with a smile as Ron kneeled down next to her. "And poor Ron has heard them for fifteen years."
"They like to blow things up. Sev'rus keeps mutterin' he will soon blow them up."
"Harry! No need to repeat what I say!" the potions master exclaimed as Albus laughed.
"But you said I should tell the truth!" Harry insisted.
"Well, some things you should keep to yourself," Severus groaned and the aged man grinned.
"Really now," Hermione said and smiled at Harry. "So what does Fred and George blow up?"
"Sev'rus' cauldrons," Harry said innocently.
"Those evil creatures," the potions master muttered. "They have destroyed more cauldrons than that Longbottom boy."
"Maybe we shouldn't play in the lab anymore," Harry whispered to the two. "But Sev'rus looks so funny when he chases Fred and George aroun' with a spoon."
"Harry!" Severus shrieked. Albus laughed heartily at that.
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Hermione held Harry gently as she read the titles of the books on a row in the headmaster's small library. The boy had fallen asleep, choosing to do it in the girl's arms but she had not complained. Ron was nursing his sore head after a hit Hermione had delivered to him (he had said 'bloody hell' in front of the boy and the punishment was Hermione's wrath) with a cup of tea while Albus and Severus were talking about a particular potion the potions master was currently working on.
As the man prepared to leave, Hermione carefully handed her friend over to Severus who took great care in not waking the boy. The two Gryffindors looked at the potions master in faint shock as he gently shushed Harry, the boy groaning a bit.
"Go back to sleep," the man said to the child.
"Sev'rus?"
"Yes, it's me child. It's alright. It's late, you should be asleep already."
Harry opened heavy eyes for a moment before yawning and closing them again.
"It seems like Harry needs his beauty sleep," Albus said with a smile.
"Speak for yourself, old man," Severus said. "He wakes up four each morning and demands me to come and play with him."
"And what are your actions then?"
"Most of the time I do have to get up, but lately I have managed to convince him to continue sleeping," the man said. "And as he has been up around one hour more than he usually is he's going to be asleep for a little longer."
"Aah, the life of parenthood. Isn't it lovely, Severus?"
The man's eyebrow twitched, and the two teens snorted, grins hidden with the help of their hands.
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"Drake!"
"Oh, when will you stop with that name you little monster?"
Draco swung Harry up, making the child laugh. Pansy commanded the blonde to get him down to a more manageable level before taking the boy in her arms.
"Pansy!" Harry exclaimed and placed a kiss on her cheek.
"Why does he say your name like normal?" Draco demanded to know.
"Because we have an agreement, little Coran and I," Pansy said. "I am to call you Dragon, and he will call you Drake."
"… What?"
Pansy laughed and put Harry down on the ground. She took his hand and they ran down the hell. After the shock had worn off, Draco followed with a shriek.
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"Was that-?"
"Yes."
"You really sure it was-?"
"Yes."
Ron gaped and Hermione stared after the raging blonde. After a while the redhead said:
"Bloody hell…"
"Ronald…"
"Yes?"
"I think I will agree with you on that point."
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"Shouldn't we talk to Sev'rus?"
"No, we don't need to," Draco said and hoisted Harry up on the broom. "Besides, I will fly low and slow as long as you want to."
"Really?"
"Yes, and I will hold onto you. Okay?"
Harry nodded and Draco mounted the broom. He wrapped an arm around the boy tightly and started off two metres from the ground.
"Too high?" he asked Harry who shook his head. "Alright, then we'll stay here for a while."
He guided the broom skilfully around the Quidditch stand, not going too fast. Harry looked around with wide eyes, clearly enjoying the ride.
"A little higher?" Draco asked and Harry nodded excitedly.
Fifteen minutes later
"Draco Malfoy, you come down this very instant!"
"Wow," Draco said and looked down. "I don't think I have ever heard Severus shriek."
"I have," Harry said and peered up at Draco. "I was about to put my hand in a cauldron."
"Oh… never do that, it's like you want to give the man a heart attack."
"DRACO!"
"Coming!" he shouted back. "Alright, let's hope I survive the wrath of potions master Severus Snape, okay?"
Harry nodded and Draco went down. Severus' wide eyes got wider as the broom plunged towards the ground. Draco straightened up several metres up in the air and came to a gentle stop in front of the man.
"What were you thinking?" Severus hissed over Harry's head at the blonde teen.
"That Coran should have some fresh air," the teen replied. "Right, Coran?"
"Right!"
The potions master was prepared to shout, curse, act like a brat and have a huge temper tantrum when Harry wrapped his thin arms around the man's neck and hugged him.
"'M okay," he said quietly to Severus. "Drake just wanted to show me. I wasn't scared."
Severus lifted the boy over into his arms and stood silent for a while.
"I apologize for overreacting," he finally said to Draco.
"It's okay," Draco said and got off the broom. "Mother and father were also a bit paranoid when I was little."
"I am not paranoid."
"Rather want me to call you a mother-hen?"
"Draco…" Severus said warningly. Draco smiled cheekily and said to Harry:
"Coran, next time let's see if we can make Sev'rus grow a grey hair!"
"DRACO!"
A shrieking Draco could be seen moments later, chased by the potions master. Harry blinked where he stood. Pansy came up to him and lifted him up. She sighed as she shrunk and pocketed the blonde's broom.
"How about we got and see that those two don't get into trouble?" she cooed.
"'Kay."
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"Seeing Parkinson carrying around on Harry was freaky," Ron said to Hermione while they were in the tucked away area in the library.
"Seeing Draco coming screaming and professor Snape running after is not going to leave my mind for a while," she said, having opened no book but instead staring right in front of her like she could still see the two running.
"… True."
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"Are you going away on a meeting, sir?" Fred asked as Severus pulled on the Death Eater robes in a hurry.
"Yes, I am," he replied. "I will be gone most of the night; I do hope you two don't mind."
"No, it's okay," the twins replied. "It's Saturday tomorrow anyway."
"Great. If I appear in bad shape, please contact madam Pomfrey."
"Will do, sir," they said with a mock-salute to which Severus snorted at before moving out of the room. The door shut with a soft click. The two turned to Harry who yawned and looked up at them from his book. "Are you tired, Harry?"
"A little bit," he replied, not even surprised at their way of talking. He had gotten used to that fairly quickly.
"All right, let's read a story?"
"I wanna hear about Gilgrad."
"You've heard that one before," the two said.
"Yeah? I like it."
"It's about potion-making."
"I like it," Harry said. "Reminds me off Sev'rus."
The two looked at each other and then George shrugged. Fred nodded and lifted the boy up.
"Alright, then about Gilgrad it will be!"
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"Harry, stop it!"
The boy giggled and went underneath the table. Fred groaned and went under as well. Before he managed to catch the child, Harry had moved a chair in the way. He got up and ran off, George taking up the chase.
"Harry, you need to get into bed!"
"Don't wanna!" Harry shot back.
George caught the boy around the waist and Harry focused. The redhead gave out an 'Ow!' when a book collided with his leg and he dropped the boy that run off again. "Harry!"
"The boy is a bloody devil!" Fred panted as he caught up.
"Don't mention it," George muttered, hopping around on his good leg. "Harry, you're getting it!"
The child gave out a shriek as both of them dove after him. After a few minutes Fred had Harry in his arms and the boy squirmed uncomfortably.
"You need your sleep."
"I wanna wait up for Sev'rus!"
"Severus is not coming for a while," George said. "He told us to not wait up for him."
"But I wanna!"
"But you will not," Fred said. "Severus will not be happy if he found out you didn't sleep."
Harry bit his lip at that and looked at the two.
"Really?" he asked.
"Really," they both chorused, hoping a bit of threatening would get the boy to bed.
Harry looked down for a bit and then whispered:
"Okay."
"What's wrong?" Fred asked.
"I wanna make sure Sev'rus is okay."
"He will be, don't worry. Severus is a strong man," George said. "Come on, we'll stay with you until you've fallen asleep."
"Really?" Harry perked up at this.
"Yeah, really," George said. "Might as well take a nap; you wore me out you brat!"
Fred and Harry laughed.
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When Severus came back his rooms were quiet. A small spell told him the twins were still there. He walked into Harry's bedroom and had to smile at the sight.
Fred and George had fallen asleep on either side of Harry, the boy safely cocooned between them. Fred had an arm wrapped around George, George's head in the crook of Fred's neck. Harry was lying on his side, his head resting in the crook of George's neck and curled up against the redhead's chest.
The man covered them all with the blankets pooled at the end of the bed and quietly slipped out.
Tbc…
Hiya, liked it?
Chapter six: Another meeting between Voldemort and Harry, some secrets revealed to the child by the Dark Lord and Bellatrix tries something very stupid…
Until later,
Ja,
Tiro