Chapter Four; The Long Goodbye

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Snape rushed back into the parking lot with Harry in his arms. A bunch of ghosts, ghouls, and zombies were chasing the rest of the crowd as they continued running around and screaming on the top of their lungs. "Where's Ron and the rest of his family?" Harry asked while looking back at them over his shoulder.

"Hopefully those meatheads are intelligent enough to save themselves, but I wouldn't count on it." Snape told him.

"Why not?" Harry wondered.

"Enough questions, remember, you're being punished so I want complete and utter silence from you starting now and lasting all the way until we get home. If you hadn't been so foolish and ignorant we wouldn't be in this situation." His father reminded him as Harry took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "And if you're wondering whether or not that this unfortunate circumstance will cause me to love you any less, that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm just very disappointed in you, that's all." He said before he set him down next to the car.

"Now get in, and just know that when we get home, your mother will hear of this." He told his son who remained silent (knowing better not to disobey his father again and say anything) and opened the backdoor after Snape unlocked it and got inside.

….

"Harry," Lily began as she saw her husband carrying him through the door. "Severus, what are you doing back so early? You weren't even gone for an hour. Is everything alright?" she asked him out of concern.

"As a matter of fact it isn't. Harry ran off by himself when he specifically knew that that was against the rules. Of course, I guess that it's partly my own fault in thinking that he could be trusted alone with that Weasley boy." He spat.

"Oh come on Harry, you know better than that!" his mother exclaimed.

"I know Mummy, I'm sorry." Harry apologized with a sniff before he wiped away his tears.

"There, there calm down. You've already been punished so there's no reason to get cry about it anymore." Snape began before he set him back down on the ground. "Now I want you to get into your pajamas and brush your teeth. Be quiet about it so that you won't accidentally wake your brother up." He told him.

"Yes Father." Harry replied before he ran away and Snape simply just heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head.

"So much for spending some good quality father and son time together." He began. "I'm leaving tomorrow." He finished when suddenly a thought occurred to him. This would be the first time that he would be going back to teach since Tobey had been born. He hadn't realized before now how much this would affect Harry as much it would affect him. Although Tobey might miss him a little bit, he wasn't old enough to really understand what it meant and be affected by it as much as Harry would.

"Are you alright Severus?" Lily asked him.

"Huh?" he replied with a shake of his head not realizing that he had sank deep inside a trance. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." He lied. "I just have to go start packing that's all." He told her before he walked away hurriedly.

"Well aren't you going to say goodnight to Harry first?" Lily asked him as she watched Harry come out of his bedroom and escape into the bathroom quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, tell him that I'll be there in a minute." He said while stepping inside his own bedroom and glancing up at the picture on the wall that was of Harry holding Tobey and feeding him when he was only a few days old and breathed a deep and intense sigh.

…

The next morning after breakfast Lily got Harry ready for his first day of charms school, while she got Tobey ready for daycare, and Snape got ready to leave for Hogwarts. Cowboy and Cosmo seemed that something was wrong when they watched him hauling his suitcases down the hall and then finally into the trunk of his car.

"Well," he began as he came through the front door and made sure that the trunk was locked. "that's that, I'm finished. I guess I have to say goodbye now." He said to his wife when suddenly Harry finished getting dressed and raced down the hall towards him.

"Please Daddy don't go!" he pleaded while grabbing ahold of one of his legs and hugging it tightly. "I'm sorry that I was a bad little boy, but I promise I won't be any more if you promise to stay." He assured him before his father took a deep breath and bent down to lift him up inside his arms.

"Oh Harry, this doesn't have anything to do with you. It's just that I have to go to work, but you'll be seeing me again next month for the Halloween celebration at Hogwarts. You, your mother, and Tobey will be able to come, and maybe I can even convince Dumbledore to allow Cowboy and Cosmo just this once as an exception." He told him with a grin.

"But that'll seem like forever to me!" Harry exclaimed but his father continued grinning down at him and slowly shook his head.

"No it won't, you'll be so busy playing with your mother and baby brother and the animals, and not to mention being busy at charms school that time will pass by before you know it." He told him before he planted a kiss on his cheek and then set him back down on the ground while he hugged and kissed his wife goodbye and then picked baby Tobey out of his highchair and planted a kiss on his cheek as well.

"Alright Tobey, Daddy's got to go bye-bye's. I love you and I'll see you soon." He told him before he handed him over to Lily and waved as he watched him walk out the door.

"Bye, bye Daddy." He said sadly before he started sucking on his fingers. Harry quickly hopped up on the couch and watched his father as he pulled out of the driveway and drove away. Harry took a deep breath and sighed heavily knowing that he was off to Kings Cross station, and it would be an entire month before he got to see him again.