A scream tore apart the silent atmosphere in Spinner's End, and Severus drew his wand automatically, looking around him. He put the piece of wood back as he noticed the source of the sound. Young Harry was flailing hysterically beside him, trapped in some kind of nightmare with the blankets wrapped tightly around his body, probably from struggling. The moment Severus drew the boy to him, Harry woke up and immediately snuggled into the comforting warmth of Severus' nightshirt, the boy's fist curled tightly around the fabric. At the heavy sobs that escaped the boy, the man could hardly make out the spoken words.
"Harry, son, shush... What's wrong?" he asked in a worried tone, his voice washing over the child like honey.
"Don't take me back." Hiccup. "Please don't, sir!" Harry pleaded, tear-filled eyes gazing up at him imploringly. Lily's eyes. Sighing quietly, the Potions Master stepped out of the bed, the little boy still clinging to him. "I will never take you there again, young one." Sniffling, but nonetheless reassured of his fate, the boy stopped sobbing and rested his head on Severus' shoulder, a few hiccups escaping him.
"Would you like some hot chocolate to help you get back to sleep?" Severus asked, making his way to the kitchen, the boy propped on his hip as he summoned a house-elf quietly as to not draw the child's attention to it, gesturing for the drink to be made, expecting an affirmative answer from Harry.
"Yes, please." Harry answered with a yawn as Severus pulled out a chair and sat on it with him on the man's lap. The drink appeared before them, and the boy's eyes grew wide, staring at it in awe. "Where did it come from?"
Severus chuckled and cast a mild cooling charm on the drink so it wouldn't burn the boy's tongue. "It's magic." "B-b-but there's no such thing as magic!" the boy answered, turning to face the Potions Master. Severus' face held an undecipherable expression before he answered in a soothing tone. "There is, Harry. I'm a wizard, and so are you. We can perform magic, contrary to what your relatives have drilled in you." Understanding dawned on the boy's face and his expression lit up like one of those colorful Christmas lights. "Wicked!"
Smirking, Severus motioned to the rapidly cooling drink. "Go on, have some chocolate. It's still too late in the night and too early in the morning for you to be up and about." His sadness vanishing, Harry turned back to face the table, beginning to drink the tasty concoction the house-elves had provided for him - though he didn't know that - while Severus stroked his hair and back in the sort of way a father might've done to his son. So caught up was he by his thinking that he almost didn't notice that the boy had fallen asleep in his arms.
xxx
"Daaaaddy!"
Severus woke up to a small body hurling itself against his own, and for a moment, he frowned, confused at who would wake him up that way, but when the human ball sat on his chest and grinned triumphantly at its obvious success, realization kicked in. He shook his head and tweaked the little boy's nose, rolling his eyes and drawling a lazy "Good morning." Harry began bouncing on his chest, answering him with a wide grin. "Good Morning, Daddy." 'Woah, wait. Hold up.', he thought. 'Daddy?' His thoughts were left unanswered, though, as the boy slid off him and onto the floor, pulling his hand rather insistently. "Let's go. I'll make breakfast and be a good boy."
At the phrase 'make breakfast', Severus pushed himself up and looked down on the boy, raising a brow. "No. If you were the one who did the chores and cooked food in your Aunt's house, you won't be doing it here. We have certain... servants... who do them. However, you will keep this room clean and will pick up your own mess. Understood?" The child's eyes grew as wide as plates, and after a moment, he threw them around Severus' stomach. "Thank you,", was all he said, arms tightly wound around the other man's.
"Let's go down now, I'm sure the elv—breakfast is ready." Severus said gruffly, planting a kiss on the boy's hair before he unlatched the two skinny arms and held out a hand. Grinning up at him, Harry tugged him downstairs, stomach grumbling in hunger. Surprised even at himself, the Potions Master let out a chuckle, smirking at his newfound spawn. He could get used to days like this.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked. "Pancakes, Daddy." the little boy answered. Knowing the elves could hear, he just nodded and allowed himself to be dragged toward the table. Harry sat across from him, clambering to reach his seat, his chest barely over the top of the table. Amused, but at the same time feeling a pang at the boy's obvious malnourishment, Severus spelled the table to lower itself in order to accommodate the child. Harry shot him a look of pure astonishment, and he brandished his wand before the food appeared on the table. "Will I have one, too?" the child asked, fixing his eyes on the wand. "Of course. When you're big enough, I will buy you one of these to use in school."
Obviously satisfied, Harry started to work on wolfing down his pancakes as Severus just looked at him with a mixture of fondness and sorrow. The boy was a daily reminder of Lily Evans, the girl he never stopped loving, even after 5 years of her death. He couldn't let her go, and deep inside, a part of him still believed she was alive. If only belief could turn into facts. "Is something wrong, Daddy?" a soft voice asked, and he turned toward it, surprised as he saw Harry standing beside him with worry in his eyes. "Did I do something bad?" "No, Harry, you didn't. I was just… revisiting a few memories, is all." he answered, smiling reassuringly at the boy. "Why are you calling me 'Daddy', by the way?" he continued, regretting his question as the words were out of his mouth. "Because you said I was your son last night," the boy answered, looking confused. The events of the previous night flooded Severus' mind and he remembered the words he spoke. He had called Harry 'son', and the boy had thought he was now his father. He was about to tell Harry that he wasn't the boy's father, but looking down at the child, his felt a prick in his heart and decided against it. "Ah… yes." he supplied, flashing Harry a small smile. "Would you like to play ball?" he asked, noting the way the boy's face flushed with happiness. "Yes!" came the jubilant answer, and he led the little one into the backyard, not noticing a woman observing them across the street. As they began playing, the woman smiled to herself, before turning her back and vanishing from sight.