DISCLAIMERS: I don't own anthing other than the plot. J.K. owns the characters and I just borrowed them to play with.

A/n: Re-posted 08/17/2013

italics = Thoughts

Chapter 10 – Learning to be a father

Harry stood still for several minutes, looking at the shelf trough which Snape had gone. Sighing tiredly, Harry went for the book that would let him go back to the upstairs floor. Slowly he went back to the bedroom Snape had let him stay, and lay in the bed, looking at the ceiling. Long minutes passed, and Harry didn't move a muscle. When almost an hour had passed, and Harry still couldn't figure out what he could do that wouldn't irritate Snape, he went for his trunk. He took out parchment, ink and his books. Homework... the last thing I thought I'd be doing in the first day of vacation.

And that is how Harry spent his morning, trying to write a decent essay about the hows e whys the transfiguration of a cold blooded being to a hot blooded being was easier than the other way around. When lunch time came, Harry arrived with five minutes to spare and watched as Krunch made the final touches to the meal. Harry sat at his chair and waited for Snape, but when he didn't showed up, Harry eat a few bits, but Snape's empty chair kept glaring at him. It's even lonelier here than at the Dursleys… at least there I could go for a walk, or to the park… Snape hadn't shown Harry the way to the outside door, and there wasn't much the boy could do.

The Afternoon was as boring as the morning, so when it was time to dinner, Harry decided he didn't want to eat alone, again, so he stayed in his room and try to go to sleep early, maybe then, he would actually be able to rest. It would be an improvement from what his summer's nights normally were at his relatives.

WHOSSON###WHOSSON

Severus Snape was irritated. No. that wasn't right. Severus Snape was beyond that, he was mad, he was extremely mad. Mad enough to hex the cause of his madness. And what else could make him this mad, other than the bane of his existence for the last three years? Only Harry Potter was capable of making his that mad.

Seven o'clock came and went and there wasn't even a noise from upstairs. Half an hour passed and the boy still didn't show up for dinner. Alright, so I told him that if he was late he shouldn't bother to come down, but it's his first day here! What's he been up to that made him this late? And he didn't even thought to call for Krunch? What does he think he's doing? That boy needs to take better care of himself!

Severus was only getting madder, so he got out of the table, his plate still more than half full, and he went to get his wayward son. He stomped up the stair, and not even thinking about knocking he opened Harry's door, ready to lecture the boy, but he stopped, mouth hanging at what he saw.

The floor was a mess. Parchment all over the place as well as books. Transfiguration, Severus mind informed him. And the boy, his son, was lying on the bed, asleep. The sheets were keeping him in place, warped around his legs. The scene could be sweet – even if Severus would never admit that he thought of something as sweet – if Harry seemed to be resting. But that wasn't the case, the boy's eyes rocketed under his eyelids, his brows furrowed, spasms shocking his body as if he was trying to get away from something. Not even in his dreams he can find peace. And then Severus was startled. Harry jumped in bed, sitting upright and his screams echoed in the room. He was desperate, frightened. Severus had never heard anything like that, not even when he had been made to watch Voldemort torture someone.

In an instant Severus managed to get a grip on himself and went closer to the bed. He didn't know what to do to help the boy, he was just a boy, his son, who seemed lost in his nightmares even after waking. In an impulse Severus sat on the bed, trying to shake the boy awake, but his touch only made Harry more agitated, murmuring again and again 'sorry, so sorry, I'm sorry!'.

When Harry finally calmed down, fat tears were streaming down Severus face. He carefully laid his son in bed, and then he got up. Severus went to the door, but when he got there, he looked back at his sleeping son, and he just couldn't leave Harry there to fight his nightmares alone. In the end he decided to stay with his son, so he transfigured the chair in an armchair, so he could watch his boy's sleep. My boy. My son. What happened to you, that not even in your dreams you can feel safe? Am I a part of your nightmares? At some point Severus fell asleep too and Krunch, like a good house elf, covered him with a light blanket. For the rest of the night father and son slept in peace. The presence of the other chasing away all the nightmares. At least for that night.

A/n: Reviews?