November 1994

"It's dragons," Harry said, throwing himself onto the stool at the bench top where Severus was brewing; he was working on the antidotes for the next week's classes. No one seemed to recognize that the antidotes had to be brewed prior to the classes they would be needed for and they always ended up being something most students took for granted until their eventual use.

Much to Severus's displeasure, no matter how many loopholes he had searched for, he had not yet gotten Harry out of the Triwizard Tournament. He was still working towards that as their ultimate goal, but with the first task practically upon them, he had changed tactics and decided to help Harry expand his spell knowledge to prepare. However, if Dragons were the first task, he wasn't exactly sure if he'd been focusing on the right spells this whole time.

"Are you certain it's dragons?" The Potions Master asked his 14-year old son trying to stay calm even though he was having a small panic attack inside. Who decided bloody dragons would be perfect for three 17 or 18 year olds and a 14 year old to battle?

"I'm pretty sure on this one Severus," Harry replied sarcastically, "even I can identify a dragon."

"I was merely checking," the professor placed a stasis over the cauldrons he was working on to give his full attention back to Harry. "Do you know what you'll be doing in the task?"

"I love how you don't even care how I found this out," the young wizard commented nonchalantly, giving a small chuckle.

"As the head of Slytherin, this should not surprise you in the slightest. It works in your benefit, so I hardly care how you went about getting the information; only that you now have it," it was absolutely true, though he guessed Hagrid had something to do with it only because Ron and Harry were still not speaking - especially after their muggle fight - so he doubted Charlie was involved.

Harry rolled his eyes pulling a mortar and pestle that his guardian had set out in front of him to help with the antidotes. Now that Severus was spending his evenings training Harry, then his son had to help with his "office work".

"They're nesting mothers and we need to steal an egg from them," Harry shivered at the thought, and Severus questioned to himself if the Gryffindor was thinking about what his own mother did when her child's life was threatened. This would not be an easy task in the slightest.

"Perhaps you can simply refuse to show up to the task," the professor said, already knowing Harry would refuse; he was a Gryffindor after all.

"Absolutely not!" Harry expectantly replied fiercely, "and let the rest of the school think I'm a coward? They already think I cheated to get into the tournament in the first place!"

"I'd rather them think you a coward than you getting yourself killed. You were aware that students have died in this tournament, correct?"

Meeting Severus's eyes, Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, I've heard that a couple of times actually."

Changing tactics, the professor started to think about all the different ways Harry could go about getting an egg from an angry mother dragon. He landed on only one that was both easy enough for a fourth year and played directly into Harry's strength - flying.

"Alright," he said, picking up the mortar from in front of Harry, "tonight you start mastering accio."

Severus was sitting in the stands of the converted Quidditch pitch waiting for Harry's turn to battle his dragon. He'd barely been able to eat all day with the nerves building up in his stomach and everyone had intelligently stayed out of his way - students and professors alike. Against all luck, his child ended up being the last to go and would be up against the fiercest dragon of the lot.

When Harry walked out, Severus wanted to do nothing else besides jump onto the pitch and help him, but he was stuck here... watching... waiting... hoping the teenager would come out of this alive and unharmed; his stoic exterior was firmly in place to hide his nerves. Severus watched with the other spectators as Harry called for his Firebolt, something they'd planned the other day, and once it arrived Harry appeared much more comfortable with the task at hand. It was obvious when Harry quickly realized that the mother dragon was not going to simply leave her nest unprotected, so he adjusted his tactics and coaxed her away from the nest, then he swooped in to grab the egg. Unfortunately, Harry didn't make it out completely unharmed as his shoulder took a bad cut from the tail of the dragon early on in the battle.

The crowd erupted in cheers once he finally landed safely on the ground. Severus stood and exited the stands making his way to meet Harry who was already surrounded by Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, and Sirius Black.

"That was some great flying Kid," Sirius called out running - like a child - up to his Godson, ruffling Harry's always messy black hair, "Your dad would have been so proud of those maneuvers!"

"And Lily would have had a heart attack," Severus interrupted, approaching the group surrounding his son, "as I almost did."

Harry smiled, "Sorry Severus. I promise you that once I had my broom, I was in complete control at all times."

"Contrary to your belief, that does not make me feel much better," he replied examining Harry's injured shoulder as the Gryffindor winced in pain, "You'll have plenty of time to celebrate, but first you need Madam Pomfrey to have a look at this shoulder."

Harry turned towards Severus as if he were about to complain, but surprisingly Black interrupted him, "He's right Kid. Go get that cleaned up and then we'll get your score and celebrate. I bet you creamed the others!"

That made Harry smile even more and the Potions Master shook his head in defeat as he led the Gryffindor champion over to the first aid tent.

"Were you really that scared watching me out there?" Harry asked once the medi-witch had gotten his shoulder mostly healed and they were getting ready to head back out to the stands.

"Of course I was," Severus replied, only half paying attention as there was some kind of commotion coming from outside of the tent, "I love you."

Time seemed to stand still between the father and son. While Severus had no doubt that Harry knew how he felt about him, it was the first time he had said those words out loud. There had been plenty of times he'd wanted to - like after the Basilisk in second year or the dementors last year - but never in his life had those words come naturally to him and given everything that Harry grew up with, the young wizard understood that. He was amazed now just how easily they were said in that moment; he hadn't even been thinking... simply reacting.

Even more surprising than the words he said, was when Harry stood up before him, gave Severus a hug and just as naturally replied, "I love you too."

Before either could make another move Hermoine and Ron came running into the tent surrounding Harry with details on how he had done as well as the other three champions. In that moment, Severus realized two things - the row between Harry and Ron had officially ended, and he was going to work twice as hard to get Harry out of this tournament before the second task.