Harry wasn't going to playgroup today, Toby, Lily and Charlie weren't going to school and Severus wasn't going to work, he had been shown something last night that had disturbed him, his three year old was drawing dark and upsetting images and seemed to know what they all were when asked. Someone had told him these horrible things, but whom. He was sat at the table with Toby, Charlie and Lily while Cassie took Harry to the park.
"Who has been telling Harry scary stories, you have all studied history at school and I have told you a couple of stories but who was it?" Severus was using his classroom voice with them and they were all looking uncomfortable.
"Look Dad, it wasn't me, can I go back to class now?" Toby asked moodily, as he was a teenager he was always full of attitude now.
"No, you cannot Toby, you will stay until we find out what has happened." Severus declared and the family sat around the table no one talking and no one knowing what to say. As the door went Severus sent them all to their rooms.
"How was the park?" Severus asked as Cassie hung up their coats and helped Harry off with his shoes.
"It was fine, Harry, toilet, now" Cassie ordered as Harry was wiggling towards the playroom, he ran off to the bathroom as Cassie sighed.
"I tried talking to him but all he said was 'I'm Harry Potter' I don't know if someone has put him up to this or whether we've been comparing the two, or whether someone's shown him a book about Harry Potter and because they have the same first name he thinks that's his surname too but it's not good is it?" Cassie told her husband who was desperately trying to rub away an oncoming migraine.
"I need to talk to him" Severus whispered.
"Mummy, I need help" Harry's voice shouted from upstairs.
"I'll bring him down she told her husband" with a rub of his arm she left to help her youngest.
"Harry, Daddy's going to ask you one more time and I want an answer, how do you know so much about Harry Potter?" Severus sighed frustrated, they had been going at it for fifteen minutes and with Harry being distracted and claiming he was Harry Potter he felt his headache slowly tipping forward into a migraine.
"I Harry Potter, I saw it, I was there" Harry insisted, why would no one believe him.
"Ask Dumbled.d., he know and Poppy know too, ask me question Harry Potter would know" Harry tried he was becoming frustrated at trying to tell the truth and failing.
"OK, what memory did Harry Potter see when he snuck a look inside Daddy's pensive" Daddy asked confidently, his little liar would soon be revealed and Harry would surely crumble after that.
"James Potter, Moony, Padfoot, you hung upside down in tree not for fun, they meanies" Harry told him seriously.
"How do you know this" Severus shouted as he stormed out of the apartment, he was going to search out Poppy and Dumbledore.
Harry was at the table stunned, he wasn't being believed and Daddy was mad at him, this was so unfair, Mummy was out and Daddy had left him home alone. He had to find Daddy so left in pursuit of him in his jeans, slytherin t-shirt and socks. Harry scampered off through the teacher's room, several teachers spotted him all alone and exchanged worried glances but by the time they could question Harry he had shot out into the schools main corridor. Harry had been wandering the halls for roughly ten minutes when he was grabbed from behind and a hand held over his mouth, this was not good.
"Awwwww, ickle Snape, all alone" a voice taunted, he recognised that the uniform was Gryffindor but did not recognise the boy himself.
"Let's take a walk around the forest" the other boy, a hufflepuff suggested carrying Harry bodily from the corridor outside and around the side of the castle towards the forbidden forest, Harry was crying heavily by this point and feared for his life, he couldn't use any real magic yet and in this tiny body he was defenceless, he would simply have to keep willing his accidental magic to kick in. The movement stopped and Harry was flung to the ground landing awkwardly on his wrist and hearing a crack his world was now clouded with strong pain.
"I Sorry" cried Harry desperately, "I sorry, I want my mummy, I want daddy" Harry cried heartbroken and in pain.
"I don't know if we should do this anymore" the hufflepuff boy told his friend remorsefully watching the toddler crying for his parents.
"Quit being such a girl about it and help me carry him to the forest will ya?" the Gryffindor asked.
"NO" shouted the hufflepuff angrily "I am playing no further part in this, you're crazy Bellinger" the hufflepuff accused and ran off towards the castle.
At reaching the castle he found that everything was still and clam, no one knew Harry was missing, if they did the castle would be frantic, he needed to fix what he had done and ran off in search of a professor.
"It's just you and me now Snape" Bellinger told the still crying boy, picking him up and carrying him deeper inside the forest, Harry could no longer see the entrance to the forest and had no idea which way they had travelled from but soon that didn't matter as they heard a large voice booming over them, it was Grandma Minerva.
"Students you are to head to your common rooms and remain there, all professors you are required at Hagrids hut immediately." Minervas voice called, obviously increased with a sonorous spell.
"Oh, that snivelling moron, he's turned me in" Belinger let out a string of curse words before setting Harry down and proceeded to beat the small boy up, punches and kicks and whips rained down on the three year old which was littered with Bellinger telling him what an evil person his father was and how his mother had been raped by him. Harry tried to remain calm and occlude from everything going on around him but found himself thinking of how normal this used to be in his old world when he was three years old. Ruffling of leaves underfoot nearby was enough to make the beating stop and as he heard people faintly calling his name and Bellinger's name, Bellinger grabbed his bag and after one final kick he took off at a run going further into the forest, why had his magic let him down so badly Harry wondered before realising that the voices were getting nearer and he was getting sleepier, "DADDY" he shouted as loud as he could "DADDY" he shouted as his vision started darkening "DADDY" he shouted once more after hearing Daddy's voice calling for him, after that he knew no more.
"I've found him," Severus shouted as he found his son and lifted the broken body into his arms, Madam Pomfrey ran over and started sending spells in Harry's direction, "He has a bad concussion and a broken wrist, the rest is just cuts and bruises, some worse than others, I've stabilised his wrist and his head but we need to get him to the hospital wing now" Pomfrey informed the crying father who gently cradled his sons body to him.
"I'll meet you there, I must inform Cassie of what has happened" Severus sounded disconnected as he spoke as if his mind was a million miles away.
"I will take good care of your boy Severus, you can trust me" Poppy told him before port keying back to the hospital wing.
Cassie was pacing in the quarters when Severus arrived back.
"Where is he? What happened?" Cassie asked before flying into a rage "I asked you to do ONE thing while I went food shopping, ONE thing Severus, I asked you to watch your kids, and you couldn't do it could you, I thought you realised a couple of years ago that this family should be the most important thing to you, I thought the message had sunk in but instead you left your three children in their rooms, your three year old son wandering the castle alone, without even so much as a pair of shoes and a jumper and you were having a meeting with the headmaster. What could have been so important that you would leave your family like that Severus, do enlighten me?" Cassie asked sarcastically.
"Harry is really Harry Potter" Severus whispered.
"Run that by me again Severus?" Cassie asked confused and angry that Severus might lie to get himself out of trouble.
"I asked Dumbledore and Poppy, he really is Harry Potter, he is from another world where I died and he lived and he was unable to cope with the guilt of all those who died fighting for him. Dumbledore brought him here to show him another world." Severus sighed. "Now Harry is in the hospital ward and right now he is a frightened three year old boy, who is unable to find his magic, who has been badly beaten up and all he kept asking for was his Mummy and Daddy so I am going to go and comfort him, I was hoping you would want to come too but if not I can understand" Severus told her quietly and feeling very guilty as he turned and shuffled out of their quarters to the hospital wing.
Cassie sunk down into the sofa, thinking about what had happened, her son wasn't who she thought he was but he had watched him grow from that tiny baby to the trouble making toddler who was in to everything and always ready with a smile and a cuddle. With a quick explanation to her children she left Toby in charge until the arrival of their Grandmother and Aunt and went to see her son.
Arriving in the hospital wing she soon found her sons bed and her weeping husband, he turned when he heard her approach,
"Poppy says he will be fine, but won't know for sure until he wakes up…..I let him down Cas, I let him down again, I have let him down since he was born Harry Potter and I have let him down when he was born Harry Snape." Snape finished when tears choked him silent.
"You have not let him down Sev" Cassie drew her husband into her arms, "who is the one he calls for in the night when he has scary dreams? Who is the one he wants to play with? Who is the person who Harry asks for when he struggles to communicate? Who is the one Harry gives the most hugs to Sev?" she sighed "Harry has always been a Daddy's boy, I hate to admit it, but he has, he listens to you, he constantly asks for you when you're at work and he always smiles for you. Do not say you have let him down because that is not true, now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and be Harry Potter and Harry Snape's strong and reliable Daddy that you have always been, not this crying mess." Cassie scolded with a smile, it was hard seeing her son like this but knowing that he was really Harry Potter and everything Harry Potter was capable of she knew he would be ok, he had to be.