Harry was thrashing violently in his bed when Severus burst into the room with his wands out and ready to fend off whatever was hurting his new son. But Harry was thrashing and screaming in his sleep. Severus rushed to Harry's side and woke him up. The child thrashed a little harder, sweat pouring down his face and his breath quickened. After a few moments of shaking and tossing, Harry finally awakened and stared around the room with a wild expression.
"Harry, are you okay," Severus asked as he helped the panicked child into a seated position. Harry's flushed face began looking around the room nervously as he tried to work on controlling his breath. Harry finally locked eyes with Severus before throwing his arms around the man. The child's breaths began to slow down; by the time Remus came into the room with a glass of water, Harry was mostly calm and sitting on Severus' lap.
"Here, sip this," Remus said, handing Harry the cup. The full moon was tomorrow, so intense nightmares could happen with the transformation being so near.
"I'm sorry I woke you guys up. Am I in trouble?" Harry asked, burying his head into Severus' chest. Severus took a minute to notice the child's warm frame was cooling down drastically since the rush of nightmare began to wear off. It was enough to assure him that the child wasn't feverish due to any kind of illness.
"No, you're not in trouble. Kids have nightmares sometimes and sometimes they can get scary. It's important that kids be able to go to their parents when they are scared or in trouble. So we are glad we were able to help you," Remus said, running his hands through Harry's hair in a gesture of assurance and affection.
"But, you have to work tomorr..." But Harry didn't get the chance to finish his thought because he had already fallen back asleep. Harry's soft snores were muffled by Severus' robes, who was thinking about how his own life had drastically changed in ways he would have never imagined. He was engaged to Remus Lupin, was in frequent contact with Sirius Black and had adopted James Potter's son. Remus walked over and wrapped his arms around Severus, who nestled himself into the older werewolf's arms and they remained that way until morning.
Severus and Harry met the first-year Slytherins in the common room where Harrison was handing out slips of paper to each student. Upon seeing Severus, several of the first-year students smiled and awed as they remembered last night's proposal to Harry.
"Good morning, first-years. I am Severus Snape; I am your potions professor and your head of Slytherin house. This means I am in charge of your well-being, your discipline and accommodations. If you should have any concerns, require new uniforms or supplies; you are to find me. I expect my snakes to act with a certain amount of decorum and that is why I will match any punishments distributed to you by any other professors. If you earn a day's detention in transfiguration, you will serve an addition day with me and write lines on what you did," Severus explained, giving the students a look that would make any student cry.
"This is my son, Harry. After last year, I am extending a warning; should anyone attempt to harm Harry, I will show no mercy and will react swiftly and without hesitation. If you should see anyone harming Harry and do nothing to intervene or inform someone who can, there will be consequences," Severus informed the first years who nodded quickly, already looking nervous.
Good. The last thing Severus needed was the first years getting the impression that he had gone soft. He was going to have to work hard to make sure he doesn't get that reputation from any of his students. The last thing he needed was his students slacking in class because they thought Severus would be too preoccupied reflecting his new responsibility as a father.
"That being said, show up to class on time and prepared or don't show up at all. If you are going to show up late, I will only permit you to participate with a note from a staff member. If your homework is not written neatly enough to be read, I won't read it and you'll receive a failing mark. Your robes are to be presentable at all times; if your robes are in deplorable condition, you will receive detention until they appear up to code. I will see you in class," Severus said, his voice was firm and serious. Harry watched and bit back a smirk as the first-years paled and nodded nervously as Severus spoke.
"Come on, Harry. Let's go and get the lab ready for class."
Harry gripped Severus' hand and the pair left the common room; leaving the first years to scramble frantically for their belongings. Harry smiled as he looked down on his own robes. Of course, his robes were up to Severus' standards; Severus was the one who'd helped him dress earlier and would have never let Harry leave his bedroom if his robes were in proper condition.
The potions lab was the same as last year and Harry absolutely loved that. He made his way to his usual spot and helped Severus prepare for class.
"Aren't we going to set up ingredients?" Harry asked as Severus passed his ingredients cabinet and went to the chalkboard instead. Severus always prepared his ingredients before doing anything else and Harry found himself wondering why today was different.
"Not until the second half of class. Today I will be introducing the class and seeing that everyone knows what their tools are and what they do. I need to make sure that they know lab safety before I can even think about setting them to brew potions," Severus informed Harry who was giving him a brief nod.
"So they don't set fire to the classroom or get hurt?"
"They'll probably still do that but hopefully, they won't run around screaming like idiots when it does happen," Severus said to Harry who nodded once again. Last year Harry had seen some of the more interesting lab accidents; this included fires, explosions, injuries and melted cauldrons. Harry found it interesting how quickly a quiet classroom could turn to chaos upon a cauldron exploding or a student catching fire.
When the first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors filed into the room, they were all talking. When Severus slammed his hands down on the front desk, the room went dead-quiet and the students stared up at Severus with expressions that varied from horror to apprehension.
"Turn to page 12 and write a list of ingredients on that page that will cause bodily harm if you are too stupid to handle them correctly," Severus said causing the first-years to pale even more and begin shakily scribbling things onto paper. Severus smirked at Harry who was smiling widely as he slowly wrote down harmful potion ingredients. But Harry was the only one excited by Severus' assignment. The rest of the class looked ready to wet themselves; at least none of them would look at Severus as being soft.
But Severus made a point to prove to the Gryffindors how he would not tolerate trouble of any kind from them. One student in particular, was Jace Smith
One Gryffindor in particular, was Jace Smith, Paul's younger brother who was currently glaring at Harry.