Two weeks went by. Harry settled in, helped by Winky. Now that he had a normal routine, and got enough rest, his legs didn't trouble him much. No doubt that would change when teaching began.
He had taken to relaxing on a lounge in front of his windows in the late afternoon, gathering his strength and quietly sketching or planning his lessons. Hermione had been by a couple of times, as well as some other staff members, but they had their own lessons to prepare, and he still tended to avoid people.
That afternoon, though, a knock on his door heralded a visitor. Winky opened the door to the headmaster.
Putting down his pencil, Harry made to get up, but Dumbledore quickly motioned for him to remain seated.
"Don't bother, my boy. How are you?"
"Fine," Harry responded, "it's been rather quiet. I suppose that will change once the students arrive."
"No doubt, no doubt," the old wizard nodded as he took a sip from the tea Winky had thoughtfully provided. Harry smiled gratefully at her.
"I haven't seen you much," Dumbledore continued, "so I figured it was about time I'd come have tea." He peeked at the sketches.
"I never knew you enjoyed that particular activity, Harry."
"I didn't," Harry bluntly closed the book, "but the healers thought it would be beneficial for me to try. It was this, or journalling. I chose the lesser of the two evils."
Dumbledore's twinkle and eccentric behavior completely disappeared as he leaned forward ever so slightly.
"What happened, my boy?"
Harry's eyes became distant. "I lost," he whispered.
"But…" Dumbledore started in confusion.
"Oh, I won the battle. But I lost my war. I thought, foolish me, that once Voldemort was gone, I could live happily ever after, forever free. Instead, I woke up in a hospital bed, unable to move, unable to take care of myself."
"Harry…"
Ignoring the interruption, Harry went on. "Dark and difficult years, you once said, when you spoke about leaving me at the Dursleys. That was quite the understatement. Did you know they came to taunt me, shortly after I'd been admitted? They said no one cared, and they were right; I'd been there for a week and no one had come to see me."
Dumbledore closed his eyes. It was true. There had been so many wounded. Including four of the Weasleys and Remus Lupin. Everyone wanted to be with their family, and so Harry had been alone. The young man who had given everything had woken up alone in a strange room. In the confused chaos, it had been a while before they had realized that.
"I understand it now," Harry whispered, "but it hurt. And when they did come to see me, I was angry, and afraid. Angry because they left me for so long, and afraid they would say the same thing as my relatives did. After the first weeks, when the healers repaired enough of the damage for me to go to therapy, I didn't want anything to do with anybody."
He sighed. "It's only a minor handicap, all considered, headmaster. If I take proper care of myself, it is now just a major inconvenience, not a handicap. But to me, it represents all I've had to give up. My parents, my childhood, schooling, a career of my own choice."
It was silent for a long time.
"Do you know what the worst part is?" the young man finally asked.
"It was waking up every morning knowing Voldemort is dead. Waking up knowing I had done everything I was supposed to do – born to do – and now I have no purpose. Heroes aren't supposed to survive their destiny. They either die or go on to new heroic adventures. They don't end up a useless cripple at the age of twenty."
Dumbledore felt a tear run down his face, into his beard. "I'm sorry, Harry. I know it's too little, too late, but I am sorry."
Harry nodded, but it was clear he hadn't accepted the apology. "I guess Snape and I aren't so different," he mused, "we both suddenly lacked purpose. He has chosen his way out. I'm still searching for mine."
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Dumbledore left Dobby to babysit Severus and went to the staff dinner table for the first time in two weeks.
"Headmaster," his staff greeted enthusiastically, "good to see you."
He smiled, patted shoulders, and they chatted idly while they ate.
"I suppose Sinistra will be the new Head of Slytherin," Clemens Vector boomed in his deep voice.
"I've offered, but she refused," Dumbledore said, smiling at the witch in question.
"That leaves us with a problem then," McGonagall commented.
"Bloody selfish thing to do," Flitwick squeeked, "leave us with a Head short this close to the school year."
Dumbledore froze.
"I really prefer you didn't speak of Severus in this manner," his voice was soft and polite, but deadly none the less.
"I really couldn't bear that," he continued, staring his staff down, "because that baby upstairs, is not Severus Snape. They share genes, they share magic, but in all other ways, they are two seperate persons. Severus Snape, your colleague, our Potions Master, my son, is dead. He isn't coming back. So speak of him with a little respect!"
He ran from the room, not ready to have his staff see his tears.
Once in his office, he sat at his desk, buried his head in his arms and cried.
"Severus, my son, my dear child," he sobbed, clutching the photo album to his chest.
Finally, Dobby put a sleep spell on him and levitated him to bed, photo album and all.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Hermione looked up in surprise the next day, when Harry appeared in the doorway to the lab.
"Hi, 'Mi. Can I come in?"
She smiled. "Of course. Though I remember a time you wouldn't be caught dead voluntarily entering these rooms."
Harry grinned. "Times change. Seventh year wasn't so bad. Occlumency was going alright by then. Snape…"
He stopped. Hermione, too, looked away.
"Snape is dead, Harry," she softly said, "you should have heard Albus last night. He called him 'my son'. I think…I think he was crying when he ran out of the room."
Harry nodded in recognition.
"He had a hard life," he finally admitted, "I can't blame him for wanting out."
The witch looked at him. "Neither can I," she said, her eyes betraying that she understood HIS attempt to get out just as well.
Blushing, he left as quickly as he could.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Dobby had his day off. Both Dumbledore and Harry had insisted he kept it.
That same day, Dumbledore received a summons to the Ministry to finalize the adoption papers.
"That does present a problem," he told the child as he changed the nappy, "because Dobby is out too. You like Dobby, don't you?"
He tickled the baby's tummy with his long fingers.
"I will take you to Aunt Minerva. When she sees how adorable you are, she'll spoil you rotten."
Quickly replacing the clothes, he put the infant in the pram, and covered him securely. A diaper bag was filled with a bottle, nappy's and wipes.
They proceeded quickly, due to the fact that the pram was magical; it floated through the air, making it very easy to go down the stairs. Best of all, it came with an Anti-Poltergeist charm.
"Oooooh, ickle baby," Peeves cackled as he threw a waterballoon at the pram. He flew away cursing when balloon bounced off an invisible shield and hit him instead.
Dumbledore smiled and knocked on the Deputy's door.
"Minerva, would you mind looking after Severus for the afternoon? Dobby is unavailable, and I need to go to the Ministry."
The witch stepped aside to allow them to enter.
"Everything you need is in the bag," Dumbledore said, "he'll need a bottle in about an hour, but the house elves know the formula; they'll fill it for you."
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Late in the afternoon, Harry dropped by his old Head of House on his way back to his rooms. He had a sudden appetite for ginger newts, and a few questions he wanted to ask her. She was, after all, an experienced teacher.
As he entered, he noticed the pram in a corner of the office. His magic sense also noticed the Silencing Charm on it.
"Babysitting?" he asked.
The witch snorted. "First he insists on being kiddified, and then Albus insists on inflicting him on all of us."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "It was Dumbledore's choice to adopt him."
The Transfigurations teacher shrugged. "The war was over, and he could have found something else to give his life purpose, like we've all had to. Instead, he took the easy way out, and insisted on becoming a burden."
She didn't notice Harry pale at her words.
"And the Silencing Charm?" the young man almost whispered.
"He kept wailing," McGonagall explained, "I say they botched the spell. He's as vocal and insistant as ever."
Harry nodded, and left the office to get his afternoon rest. He had walked exactly three corridors before the harsh words almost choked him. He turned around.
"No. You don't care," he muttered, and took three hesitating steps in the direction of his rooms again.
"Oh bloody hell." Making up his mind, he walked back into the office.
"Yes, Mr Potter…Harry?"
Harry walked over to the pram, and saw the red face, the desperate tears of the inconsolable child.
"A burden," he mumbled, as he lifted the baby from the blankets awkwardly.
He turned to the witch, his nose a bit wrinkled. "You haven't changed him," he concluded, "did you feed him? Never mind," he put the baby back in the pram, cast a Finite – causing the noise level to rise drastically – "I'm taking him. I wouldn't want you to be burdened by him."
The last words were very close to a sneer.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Back in his rooms, Harry called for Winky.
"Winky, dear sweet Winky," he said helplessly, "I need help. This one needs a clean diaper and a bottle. But before that, I need my braces, or I won't be standing long enough to do it."
When the braces were on, Harry put the blankets on the table, and the baby on top of those. Then he studied the contents of the diaper bag.
"Winky?" his helpless look made the house elf smile.
"You's be taking the dirty nappy off," she instructed, "and yous be needing the wipes to clean."
Harry nearly gagged, but followed instructions. Which wasn't easy. Harry hadn't any experience with children. Failing to hold Severus by his ankles while he cleaned his bottom, Harry had to remove and clean a little foot several times before he discovered the right method. At last, Severus was clean.
"Now yous be taking the nappy, the clean one…and yous put it on."
That part, at least, was relatively simple. Soon a clean, nice smelling baby looked up at Harry.
"How…how do I hold him?"
"Yous must be supporting its head always," Winky explained, "yous hold it like this."
She had found Severus's teddy bear and demonstrated the most common way to hold a baby.
Harry obeyed, and blushed a little as Severus turned his head, searching frantically for a nipple.
"Erm…"
"Here, Master Harry," Winky said, handing him the full bottle.
"Yous just sit on the lounge and feed baby, Winky will take care of dirty nappy."
Harry relaxed into the lounge, focusing on the hungry infant. The contents of the bottle were rapidly disappearing.
That is how a frantic Dumbledore found them not ten minutes later when he stormed into Harry's rooms.
"Severus!"
"Over here, Albus," Harry called, "in the lounge."
Severus drank the last miligrams of formula when the headmaster sat down next to them.
"Now what?" Harry asked, holding up the empty bottle.
"You burp him," Dumbledore explained, "you put a cloth over your shoulder, and then you hold him up against you, his head on your shoulder. Pat his back softly until he burps."
Harry obeyed. "What's the cloth for?" he asked.
The answer came instantly as a small fountain of milk returned along with the air.
"Oh…gross," Harry moaned. He took the baby in his arms and removed the cloth.
"Thanks for the warning," he glared at the headmaster.
"You're welcome," the old man said, "could you now perhaps explain why Severus is here, and not with Minerva where I left him?"
Harry sighed, and related the events of the past hour.
"I never thought," Dumbledore muttered, shaking his head, "I believed so easily that everyone would overcome their aversion to Severus as soon as they saw him. I guess I was wrong."
He reached out and stroked a soft cheek.
"I couldn't leave him with anyone who considered him a burden," Harry reluctantly explained, "how can a baby be a burden to anyone? Oh, Albus, look!"
He needn't have warned. Dumbledore practically beamed with happiness as the baby's mouth curled into his first, hesitant smile.