Waiting for another chapter is not happening in this one! Enjoy!
All night, Harry held Elario in his arms and made sure to drink his tea every three hours. He did not dare to sit down, but he kept busy by working on two spells. The designs would come out through his mind like a muggle projection. It sort of looked like a computer and Egyptian writing, only it was all in Latin and roman numeral numbers. He would mentally send a message and rearrange a few things here and there. Other times, tugging a magical web line to influence the amount of power, time, and purposes in order to make a spell he has in mind. When he first created a spell, it took several days to understand and work it out. After few more months learning, it became easier to the point he would do it for two to six hours in a day.
The emerald eyes glanced down to the boy, seeing how he trusted him…it ached his heart. He had nearly killed the boy and he called him da da. Severus wanted him. Albus naturally adored the child. Hermione saw the child nowhere near a threat. It was startling TO HIM that this once was Voldemort. A man who killed his family from another universe and it changed everything. The sleeping Elario in his arms, curled up against his chest, and clung onto his clothes.
"Do you think you could explain?" A soft voice caught his attention.
Harry turned to see the witch at her bedroom door way, "I supposed…your room?" Glanced over to his sleeping submissive in the room.
Hermione accepted it and let him join in her room, but easily taken the child out of Harry's arms.
"I don't know how you're doing it without your arms dropping him." Seeing the boy snuggled up on her.
The emerald eyes rolled, "The same way you do it for hours, holding your heavy books."
Her cheeks turned red, "Right." Clearing her throat, "What happened?"
Harry leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, "As I have mentioned before, several mixed spells…one of the caused me never to sleep."
Her brown eyes widen, "Oh…you weren't aware and did the spells in twenty-four hours?"
He nodded, "If I do not drink tea,"
"You would go in the state." Hermione sighed, "I hope your Hermione yelled at you…or at least Severus."
Harry chuckled darkly, "Both have," Shaking his head, "For someone who went through war, you're quite brave to say that."
Her eyes narrowed, "When the dark side trying to do something with muggleborns, it's terrifying to face. To go into hiding and trying not to get caught? Petrified for my life."
Harry blinked and understood exactly what she was saying. He moved himself away from the wall and wrapped his arms around her.
"You are safe. You will never have to worry such fear," Softly kissing the crown of her head, "I will never let them hurt you or do anything."
The tears trickled down her cheeks, "Thank you," she whispered.
The dark savior wiped the tears, "Now, I have completed new spells for you. It will come with a key word to undo it all when you are ready and no limits to how many times you would like to shift to your original self."
Hermione nodded and glanced down at the baby, "…he will never remember, will he?"
Harry shook his head, "No. It's permanent. He will only see himself as Severus and my child, but will be aware he is adopted."
She sat down while Harry hugged him and have the baby on her lap, "He's beautiful. Nothing like I knew or thought of," Softly smiling, "Perhaps…going back home won't be so scary."
Somehow, the dark savior understood and felt the need to be extremely protective of his mate wasn't necessary anymore. The need to continue to do so was transforming to making the man happy.
"I think…today you can help him teach his class. I will look after Elario for the day." Sighing, he was relieved from his darkness somehow.
The witch glanced up, "I think it would be a wonderful idea. Severus will be happy to get out of the quarter for today."
A smirk grew on the man, "Of course, but you will make sure he comes back here. Fail to do so, you will be trapped in here all day with a spell of mine."
She sighed, "Why are you trying to be so dark?"
"Because I'm dark with light. It is a consequence to the Forever Awake spell."
The young witch understood and assumed her 'bravery' would get her through until she could leave. She was already missing her home, her universe, and more. Her Harry died because of Professor Snape's death and it did not justify the war.
"Shouldn't you wake him up? Professors have to be in the great hall around seven, don't they?"
Harry nodded, "Yes." Glanced down to see Elario yawning and opening his little eyes, "We have an hour to use the spells on you."
The witch accepted that and prepared herself to think of a few keywords for the new spells. Elario noticed he wasn't in the dark savior's arms and frowned at him.
His arms reached out, "Dada," Grunted to move of the witch's arms.
Harry scooped him up and allowed him to sit on his arm while the child clung onto his neck. It was strange to the young man, but left him uncertainty on looking after Elario while awake. If anything, Severus wanted him and protected him and that's what would be provided. He walked out to see his submissive mate still sleeping soundly. He sat down on the bed and let his softly touched the man's long hair. Stroking repeatedly until a stirred movement from Severus and the groaning alerted the dominant of his awakeness.
"Stop touching me," He muttered miserably.
Harry hummed to his amusement, "You will eventually get used to it." He leaned and kissed the man's head of a crown, while preventing the child from falling onto him, "Besides, you are going to be teaching today and you will have an assistance with you for the entire day."
Severus quickly pulled himself up and stared at Potter with sudden surprised. This was not the sort of morning to expect and feared it would be a falsed alarmed.
"Do not lie to me, Potter…" Eyeing his dominant, trying to spot the obvious sign.
The savior shook his head, "I am not. I no longer feel the need to be possessively protective of you. You still need to remember you live here," His brow raised, "Any attempt to live at your old quarter will result in…" Harry found it difficult to find a newer approach, but he decided to test this one, "Albus involved helping you with something."
Severus thought he would be threatened with magic taken away, but with the old coot? That was punishment enough to have the old man placing his nose where it wasn't wanted.
"Fair enough," Glanced down and placed his hand on the child's head, "I take he slept well?"
Harry nodded, "All night in my arms. He's difficult to get his grip off my robe," Grimaced.
The potion professor rose from the bed, "Serves you right, Potter."
"Obviously. Now, get ready for the day before I change my mind." Harry smirked, "As it is, I would have prefer to try relax you." Stroking his chin, "But, I believe I have an idea for later."
Severus was about to ask for the plans, but he didn't want to ruin a chance to escape the quarter for few hours. He hurried to the loo and took care of himself. Hermione came out with her head shaking and her arms crossed. Elario blinked and looked at Harry curiously for the behavior. He saw Severus not replying and pondered what he missed in their conversation.
"Don't need to be dark, Harry," The witch pointed out, "You are doing that too much."
The emerald eyes- "Don't you roll your eyes at me."
Harry stared at her…giving her credit to go this far with him. No one has dared to try, not even Severus. His submissive hasn't tested the boundary limit, but Hermione was here for a reason.
"I'm still allowing him to teach his classes, before anyone of the dunderheads decide to explode the labs." He grimaced, "There is no substitute and no one successful as him to teach."
She sighed, "I don't know what names I'd go with for public wise."
Harry hummed, "Severus might have better names to suggest otherwise."
"What do you have in mind?" Hermione curled her hair behind her ear, "I need names that your Hermione would not suspect easily."
Elario glanced over to the witch and tried to understand their language. The witch smiled at the child and coo'ed to greet a morning.
"Hello Elario, how are you doing, sweetie?" A soft and sweet tone made Harry cringed, he was not used to this parenting business at all, "Did you sleep well in daddy's arms?"
His head tilted and glanced up at Harry as if she said something in another language. Harry felt stuck in the situation and preferred the child to be sleeping instead!
"Dada?"
His brow raised, "Yes, Elario?" Decided to go along.
The boy patted his stomach and led the dark savior to his confusion. Hermione shook her head and sighed.
"He's hungry. He might not know a lot of words if his memories are completely gone." She stated, "He should be able to pick up vocabularies are long you speak to him clearly and simple."
A sigh escaped the dark savior's lips and sat down on the bed. He glanced up the young witch.
"What do I feed him with?"
The door clicked open, "That…is my job, Potter." Severus collected the child out of his dominant's arms, "I'm afraid you'll give him something isn't age appropriate."
Elario noticed the changed and tried to whimper for the separation. Severus noticed, but suspected last night was a little traumatizing to witness. He went over to the notepad and requested specific food for the boy.
Hermione glanced over to the potion masters, "Do you have any names I could go by, Severus?"
The man nodded, "I do have some names. I always found Atropos Anita such a beautiful name."
The young witch smiled, "Perfect!" She turned to Harry, "Now cast your spells!"
Harry drew his wand out, "Now think of a keyword you will depend on." He reminded her.
She nodded and closed her eyes with a word she held in mind. Harry produced the spell and focused. Not a single word to announce its name, but he preferred to keep it unknown. Slowly, the witch's body transformed into different person. She grew a few inches taller, her hair becoming straighter and into light reddish blonde hair, and a couple years younger looking. Her face was no longer familiar as presenting to have a pair of high cheek bones with narrow and slender nose. Her eyes were transitioning over from brown eyes to dark blue eyes. There was a glow to sense that she's younger than her true age.
Harry began onto another spell to focus on her vocal sounding to be completely different, much more gentle and stricter as a professional kind.
"All complete. Welcome Atropos Anita Potter-Snape." A smirk grew upon the Gryffindor and produced a mirror readily for her.
She opened her fresh pair of blue eyes and gasped as she saw herself through the mirror, "Oh…my. I certainly will not recognize myself now." Covering her hands, much to her awing.
Severus was quite impressed, especially for two newly designed spells in one night. Harry nodded once and tucked away his wand for later timing.
"How's…Professor Prisca?" He hummed, "An old name I read a few years ago."
The witch smiled, "Perfect. Atropos Anita Prisca!" Hermione, now Atropos, clapped her hands in such joy, "Severus, what are the lessons today?"
Severus glanced up while feeding the child, "They will be brewing draught of living dead."
She squealed, "My favorite! I will find something in my pouch to present myself professionally-"
Harry gripped her wrist and grinned, "Oh, none of those clothes. I have plenty of clothes to explore through there," Pointed to the closet next to the fireplace.
Severus never noticed it before and wondered why he hasn't bothered exploring their quarter? Atropos grinned and hurried herself to explore the options for the day. Harry watched her and hummed darkly. He glanced over to his submissive, who was unaware of feeding Elario and stared at the closet with lost in his eyes.
A cough, "It has been there. You never noticed due to the fact you are too busy with everything else."
Severus blinked and looked up, "Right. How come you never mentioned the closet before?" Tilting his head, handing the food into the boy's hand to allow him to feed himself.
A brief nod, "You never seemed to be the type to explore other clothing and the bathroom provides exactly what you'd like to wear. As for her, she has no clothes beside what she wearing the other night. She needs it." He hummed, "You are free to help yourself in there, if you need different attire."
"…anything else I hadn't noticed?" He scowled, "I supposed there is something under the bathtub?"
Harry scrunched his lips into obvious point that he knew about, "Technically, not the tub, but your bed. Under bed held galleons, knuts, and sickles for emergency purposes." He pointed at the man's feet.
Severus found himself shock, unable to breathe from what he was hearing, and unable to move. Harry didn't think he'd be this shock and pondered more of the reasons to be shock.
Gently rested his hand onto his submissive mate's shoulder, "Is there something about the money?" He hummed.
The potion master didn't move, or registered the fact he was being touched, "You don't trust Gringotts to store your money?"
Now the dark savior understood, which he didn't blame the man. He gently pressed his lips on the man's head of the crown and stood closely to him.
"I believe we have a different definition…of emergency." Harry stroked his hair, "I still have money stored in the valuts, there would have been no way to have every single knut here. It is impossible at that rate," He snorted, "Believe me, I have five lordship titles and more money than anyone could have imagined otherwise."
"…then you could have taken me out of here. You could have kept in a large estate and order me around and more…" His breathing grew shaky.
The Gryffindor didn't like this side of his Slytherin was acting and pulled his mate into a hug as he sat down. Harry's hand held's Severus and slowly have his mate's motion the child's back and arm. It was a strange situation, but the instinct took over Harry immediately to protect Severus emotionally.
"Inhale, Severus," He whispered, "Exhale. Repeat."
Severus heard his voice and did as he was instructed. His thoughts was scattered on different things at once and unaware the fact he was soothing the boy. The more he breathed, the easier his thoughts came altogether to realize none of that happened. Harry did not do such thing around him or to him. With the little weight on his lap, Elario was looking at him curiously.
"Why would I take you away from somewhere that makes you happy?" Squeezing his arms around the man, "Potions, Dark Arts, children…why would I wish to steal that happiness away from you, Severus? That isn't my job as a dominant." He softly smiled.
The submissive memorized the smile on his dominant, "You have so much control over everything, as well as myself."
A finger lifted Severus' chin, "You have the same control as well over to me. We are equal, Severus. Now, finish feed Elario and I will watch him."
Severus nodded, finding himself again, and realizing how foolish he was. He shrugged Harry off and returned to handing the food to the small child. The dominant felt slightly disappointed when he was forced to get away from his mate. Oh, tonight would be interesting night for them and intended to make it happen!
The witch finally escaped the closet and wore a dark emerald dress with asymmetrical on the bottom as the top straight cross. With a black robe with sleeves hanging passed her fingers a little to compliment her look.
"Exquisite, Professor Prisca, I'd make sure those are tucked in before assisting the students to brew." Severus pointed the hanging sleeves.
Atropos blushed, "Of course, Professor Snape, let's begin the day and surprise everyone." She smirked, recovering the compliment the man had given her.
Severus rose from the bed and handed the child to Harry. Harry prepared to hold the boy and watched them leave the quarter. There was an urge to keep his mate within the quarter and to keep him safe forever. Despite the misery his mate would present for a while until he had gotten Severus to understand, but Hermione managed to lower that bar for them. Perhaps, her dead boyfriend sent her here for a purpose and sought it out for the next ten years.
"Dada?"
Harry looked down and realized he has to look after a child, considering he does not know how to raise one! Where was an emergency babysitter when he desperately needed?
"Erm…" Thinking back what his cousin did and thought it would be suggestive fun, "…how about painting?"
That was what three year old like to do…right? Harry set him down on the floor and did some spells to bring some painting tools to begin.
… … …
Bing! Bang! Bang!
Harry shook his head as the purple and green gooey fell from his head and chin, "Elario! You're not supposed to hit the food paint!" Harry chuckled, "Come on, you need to learn to walk one of these days." Collecting the boy's hands while the boy held spatula and cooking spoon and struggling to hit the pots and pans.
"Dada!" Grunted, trying to battle against daddy, "Da!" Seeing that he was in colorful goo in everything and a mess.
Harry managed to get him to stand and grinned goofly. Perhaps he wasn't so bad at raising the boy so far. He shifted the boy's arm side to side and swinging their hips.
"Come on, dance those feet! You'll get it in no times to start walking!" Harry chuckling.
When Elario heard him laughing, realizing how fun it was to stand and move his body this way. He imitated the same sound and smiled away. Which his little excitement caused some paint and food flying around and hitting them into more mess.
Harry noticed and did not think it would happen so suddenly.
"Merlin, your mother is going to have my head for this."
Elario smiled, "Mama!"
Harry glanced down and picked up the kid into his arm, "He'll be happy to hear you call him-"
"-And I did. Just what were you doing in the kitchen for, Potter?" His head tilted.
"Mama!" Elario waved his arms and stretched himself out to Severus, who walked up closed.
Harry blinked. He didn't expect his mate to be back so soon nor Atropos as well. Severus' fingers soothed the child's cheek and shook his head.
"Now he needs a bath, Potter. I was foolish to leave you in charge, but this is a first time he is being quite expressive with us all." He smiled and scooped Elario out of his arms to head over to the bathroom.
"Mama!" Elario squealed and hugged his mother.
Harry remained silent and saw how things went. Atropos giggled and headed into the bedroom of hers'. Somehow, this was lost on the Gryffindor on everything today. What the bloody Voldemort happen here?
Review? A knut for thoughts?