Harry awoke in a confused state, his eye sight was obscured with a bandage and it was very unclear what he was seeing. He could make out a blurry face in front of him with lots of black hair.
"Harry" the voice whispered, the voice sounded like it was travelling through water and he went to grab his ears to try and clear them, he felt his arms being held still.
"No, you need to leave your bandages alone Harry, you are rather unwell at the moment, you have sustained a concussion, a broken wrist, dislocated ankle and some scrapes which if irritated may become infected." Severus spoke lowly and without emotion, Harry remembered he had told Severus who he really was. Harry started sobbing, Severus didn't like him anymore, he was back to being Harry Potter who Severus picked on and felt nothing for.
"Calm down Harry, you'll make your head feel worse, shhhhh, baby boy…" Severus picked up the tiny boy and hugged him carefully in his lap whispering nonsense into his hair and the occasional soft kiss. Harry felt and heard Severus behind him.
"Daddy" Harry whimpered, looking hopefully towards Severus, with his arms stretched out towards his father figure.
"Oh Harry, I will always be here for you, as will the rest of this family, Mummy has just gone to get everyone else because the doctors said you would be waking up today. Just rest baby boy, we will accept you into our family always." Severus told him and with that Harry drifted off into a settled sleep on his father's lap.
The rest of the Snape family walked into Harry's ward shortly after lunch, Harry had been napping on Severus' lap for two hours and Severus was enjoying spending time with his son and feeling so lucky to still have him after all that had happened to this one little boy. Severus looked up with a smile when the rest of his family came over.
"He woke up a couple of hours ago, he's a little bit scared but everything seems fine now, hopefully he will be okay and there shouldn't be any lasting damage, the doctors are going to come around in ten minutes and check him but if you want we can wake him up now so you can all say hello" Severus told his family with a smile. After receiving several excited nods off all the family Severus nudged his son awake and started calling his name, within a couple of moments Harry's eyes cleared and he could see his family smiling at him, he gave a yawn and smiled back at them, he was glad that he was still being treated the same in this family, it made him feel safe and loved.
"Hello Harry" cooed Cassie "how are you feeling baby?" Cassie asked the battered boy.
"Ouch" Harry croaked out before letting out a couple of coughs and leaning back onto his father looking tired. The doctor came up the ward and grinned at seeing Harry awake.
"I'm Healer Gannon, I'm glad to see young Harry awake" Healer Gannon pulled a chair up between Severus and Cassandra, the children had been sent to get a drink from the downstairs canteen while Harry was being examined.
"Harry I'm just going to look at all your boo boos, you can stay on your Daddy's lap if you want and if anything I do hurts just let me know, a couple of quick questions Harry, how old are you?" Harry held up three fingers. "Who are you sat with?"
"Mummy an' Daddy" Harry croaked.
"Excellent, young man, I'm just going to examine him now, don't become distressed but this may become a little uncomfortable for him." Healer Gannon warned the nervous looking parents.
The examination was uncomfortable and many tears were shed and after the examination the older children arrived back with their drinks and an ice cream for Harry to sooth his sore throat. Harry fell asleep as soon as the examination was over hugging Severus tightly slightly dribbling ice cream on Severus' shoulder from his open mouth. Severus was left with Cassie now that the other children had been picked up again.
"I told you, he worships you Sev" Cassie chuckled watching the two boys cuddling,
"I just can't get over what Albus explained, he said that at any time Harry could choose to go back to his other world, he could leave us Cassie, our little boy would no longer be here." Severus told her sadly.
"Sev, we have to respect any decision that Harry makes, we cannot live in fear that this might happen, we need to keep treating him like we always have done, as a three year old boy who is exceptionally bright, happy and is as stubborn as you are. He needs you Severus, he gets released in two days and he will be back to normal within a week, can you seriously look at him and not remember him growing up, family holidays, sick bugs, night feeds, temper tantrums, cuddles, the times he's fallen asleep on your lap. Severus we cannot treat him any differently." Cassie begged him.
"When he first woke up I treated him like I used to, I was cold, I spoke to him in adult words, and I just stared at him, he was scared of me." Severus looked at her ashamed. "Then I looked at him, I really looked at him and I remembered that holiday that we took in Spain when he was a baby, I remembered him splashing in the pool, just me, you and him with a massive smile on his face and I couldn't do it, I couldn't treat him like I would treat Harry Potter, I treated him like Harry Snape, and he stopped and he looked into my eyes with all that trust and just like that he fell asleep on me. He knew who I really was and he fell asleep on me with all that trust." Severus laid the child in his bed and pulled the covers over him, kissing the boys temple before sitting next to his wife.
"He is Harry Snape, there is no Harry Potter anymore, not in the past, not in the present and not in the future, there is only Harry Snape." Severus sighed and kissed his wife gently on the lips, you should stay tonight, I'm going to put Lily and Charlie to bed and then Toby and I are going to sort out his homework." Severus stood and walked out of the hospital ward with a quick wave to his wife he left for home.
It was two weeks later before everything was back to normal in the Snape household, Harry was trying to avoid a bath and avoid bed with every excuse under the sun, Charlie was trying to convince his mother that his bed time was a n hour later and Lily was in the kitchen trying to charm Toby into getting her some chocolate ice cream from the house elves. Yes it was good to be back to normal but deep down Severus was nervous, Harry had asked to speak to Dumbledores portrait and they had arranged for Minerva to babysit in the afternoons so he would have his chance. Just as Severus wrestled his three year old terror into his pyjamas, Harry stilled and turned to him.
"No worry Daddy, I be ok" Harry the continued to struggle against his father, not wanting to go to bed just yet, everyone else was staying up and he wanted to as well. It was only eight o clock, Charlie got to go to bed at 8:30, Lily at 9pm and Toby at 10pm, it just wasn't fair. Severus however was confused and as Harry fell asleep that night listening to his father's smooth voice, he wondered what Harry had meant and whether the boy had picked up on his nervous disposition.
"Severus" Minerva called as she pushed Harry, pushchair and all through the door to the family's quarters. "Severus, I have brought your son back" Minerva shouted after gaining no response, "DADDY" Harry shouted, wondering where his father was, they were an hour late but that was only because he was cranky and then he had had an accident and was too embarrassed to come out from under Minervas's shelves. "DADDY" he tried again, from his seat in his pushchair, he was pushed into the main living room which is where he was released from his prison and ran off to his father's office in search of the elusive man. "DADDY" Harry squealed upon sight of his father sat at his desk.
"Harry" the man whispered, opening his arms for the boy to run into,
"He's only been gone five hours Severus it would have been four but someone was a little cranky after their nap and after time out he had a little accident, I don't know why he was so cranky though all he's done all morning is chat with Albus in my office, the two were as thick as thieves I popped out for just a moment and neither will tell me what they were talking about." Minerva sighed. "Here's his wet clothes and all his other stuff is on the back of his pushchair, I need to be off, please don't get too drunk Severus I know it's been a long day but you have children to look after." Minerva scolded before snatching the half-finished bottle of fire whisky off the table and marching back to the office.
"I told him no, I told him I no go back to other place, I stay here, I Harry Snape, I HARRY SNAPE" Harry told his father grinning at him. Severus grinned back, the biggest grin he had ever worn across his face.
"When you were late I thought I would never see you again, you're staying, and you're staying forever! Harry Snape I love you" Severus told him squeezing his son hard and kissing him all over.
"First though, what did you do to earn time out and why the accident? Were they linked?"
Harry went quiet it was great being a Snape but he was still a child who had two very thorough parents.