Short, but sooner.

Wonderful chapter18

Northward

As they walked back to the place where they could aparate from, the little boy looked at the two wizards with awe and admiration, even though they did not hex the Snapeivitskys. He was trying to remember their names. 'The fat one is Snugglehorn, the old one is Dumbdoors.' Their muggle disguises weren't all that convincing. The suit that Dumbledore wore was three different shades of blue, and Slughorn had a mechanic's overall with gold buttons. The little wizard was astonished to find that the older wizard seemed to know some of the people they walked passed. "Hello Michel," he greeted one.

The muggle greeted back, "Fine Albus, how bout yourself?"

"Fine." There were a few more. A woman waved. Dumbledore nodded and gave a polite, "good to see you're doing better Jane." There were quite a few of these muggles who knew him. One of them even asked about why they were there.

"Hello there Albus," the man greeted. "Having trouble with Flynn again?"

"No, not this time."

"Is this wee one, one of yours?"

"Indeed."

"Needed a bit of rescuing then did he?"

"I'm Afraid so."

"Sorry about that."

"It's taken care of, thank you, Danny."

When they reached a place away from the encampment little Snape looked at Dumbledore with suspicion. That suspicion showed in his voice, "Muggles aren't supposed to know."

"What was that?" The old wizard knew what he heard but wanted to hear the boy's meaning.

"How do those muggles know you're a wizard? They aren't supposed to know." The way he had emphasized the word 'they' made Dumbledore realize even at his young age, the child had a grudge against muggles. If he had known the boy's father, he would understand why. "They scared me; they're bad."

"Not all muggles are bad," Dumbledore explained. "Some of them have witches and wizards in their families as well."

"Muggles can be wizards?" The boy was confused.

"Certain ones, who are born with the gift. Then they are not really muggles, they are called muggle-born, but they are still wizards, and witches." By the time he had finished clarifying to the boy, they had reached the alley. Dumbledore turned to Eileen and asked, "Should we make a stop at your home first? The boy's father might be worried."

Eileen's face scrunched up. "That won't be a problem." Mrs. Snape did not expand on why her statement was true. It still bothered the two professors. If Severus had been one of theirs, and he'd gone missing, they'd be worried. Then again, Toby Snape they were not. For a while Severus had been squirming in Eileen's arms. "Sev what is wrong?" The little boy whispered something into his mother's ear. "Oh."

Sounding a little bit embarrassed Ele spoke up, "Excuse me for a moment Professors." She dragged her son to the shadowy end of the alley. The two wizards had a chuckle when they could hear the little boy protesting from the dark, "Muuuuum, I'm not going to pee in an alley."

"You're going to have to."

"Wizards don't wiz in alleys."

"We are about to apparate, and I'm not about to find out how that effects a full bladder."

"Oh, all right." As much as he may have wanted to, the boy couldn't have held it longer anyway.

The Headmaster joked to the other Professor, "This is why we wait till they're eleven."

When this group reapparated outside the gates of Hogwarts the charm that changed the men's clothes stopped working. Dumbledore was back in his wizard's robes and Slughorn was back in his nightclothes. A slightly green colored Severus laughed and pointed. "Fessor Snuggle is in his pajamas."

If some little snot nose had done that to him when he was older, he would have said, 'and you just peed in an alley.' Luckily for him, Slughorn was not like that. "That is why I must part with you now, I am off to change." He bowed to everyone and proudly walked into the school.

"See you later Professor Snuggle," Dumbledore couldn't resist teasing.

Having been put on the ground and now facing the school, Severus couldn't believe his eyes. There it was Hogwarts castle. The place he had fantasized about since he had first been told such a place existed. "Wow - - " The boy's eyes widened. "Are we going in there?"

"Indeed we are," Dumbledore informed. They walked through the gate and the old wizard spoke again. "Though you are not due here for another four years, welcome to Hogwarts young Mister Snape."

tbc

I was going to make this chapter longer, but want to think about it a little more.