Chapter Seven – The Whomping Willow

Severus Snape stood in the shadow of a nook just off the Great Hall, watching (waiting) for the two missing students. He was very annoyed, boarding on angry. He could have been sitting at the staff table watching the sorting and making sure that Harry was all right. However, he had been ordered by Albus Dumbledore to keep watch for Haiden Potter and his sidekick, Ronald Weasley who had decided that they were too good to travel by train. Severus couldn't help the sneer that appeared on his face when the two missing boys stumbled through the main door, dirty and bruised, their trunks dragging behind them.

It still surprised Severus at how much Haiden Potter looked just like his father, James Potter. It was also most definitely the reason he was that much harder on the boy. Not out of the fact that he knew Haiden could be better, no, it was out of pure hate for James Potter. Severus couldn't do anything to James when he was alive for everything that man had done to him, and all because James believed that Severus had wanted Lily as more than a friend. When in truth, Lily had been his sister in everything but blood.

Lily had been Severus's first friend that also happened to be different like him. She was his saving grace when things got too bad at his home, though at the time she didn't know how horrible his home life had been. Lily was also there to help him accept the fact that he was gay. Lily helped Severus see that just because he liked men didn't make Severus any different from guys that liked girls. Lily, though hurt, understood his decision to join the ranks of Death Eaters.

Severus was brought back to the present when Haiden and Ronald jogged passed him (neither one seeing him) to peek into the Great Hall. "Hang on." Severus heard Haiden mutter to Ronald as he made his way behind the two boys, crossing his arms and glaring at them. "There's an empty chair at the staff table… Where's Snape?"

"Maybe he's ill!" Ronald whispered hopefully.

"Maybe he left," Haiden whispered just as hopefully, "because he missed out on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job again!"

"Or he might have been sacked!" Ronald whispered enthusiastically and Severus's glare darkened as he heard the whispers from their minds. "I mean, everyone hates him–"

"Or maybe," Severus drawled out, a dark smile on his face, causing the two boys to spin around and look at him in shocked fear, "he's waiting to hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train." He watched as the boys glanced at each other with a gulp and caught bits of excuses (and a few insults) from their minds. "Follow me." He whipped around and, without a glance behind him, began walking towards his office, knowing that the two boys would follow him. Making sure that they didn't hear his password, he unlocked his office door and opened it.

"In!" He said pointing into the room. Severus held back a smirk as he watched them enter the room while shivering in fear. He followed them in, observing them while hearing all that he could from their minds as the two of them looked around at the walls that were lined with shelves of large glass jars that held his more disturbing potion ingredients (ones that would never be used in the potions he taught in school as they were far too unpredictable and dangerous if used wrong).

"So," he began softly, the same way he did when lecturing, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Haiden Potter and his faithful sidekick Ronald Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, boys?"

"No, sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it–" Haiden started to explain; however, his tone of voice sounded just as cocky and condescending to Severus as James's voice used to be. At hearing that tone, Severus was bombarded with images of James using that same tone of voice to a teacher to get out of a punishment whenever he got caught tormenting Severus.

"Silence!" Severus snapped out; the way he wish he had been able to back then. After taking a few calming breaths to keep a panic attack at bay, he would not allow students (especially these two students) to see him have a panic attack. "What have you done with the car?" His observant eyes watched Ronald gulp as him and Haiden shared a confused and bewildered look, obviously wondering how he had known about the car. Knowing that it was best to not allow his secret out, Severus pulled out the Evening Prophet that he had grabbed from Dumbledore's office. "You were seen," he hissed at them, showing them the headline: Flying Ford Anglia Mystifies Muggles. He began to read it out to them.

"Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old flying car over the Post Office tower… at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing… Mr. Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police… Six or seven Muggles in all." He looked over the paper to Ronald, and gave him a dark smile, "I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office? Dear, dear… his own son…" He let his eyes roam over the two boys who were terrified, and he enjoyed it. It wasn't until one of the boys thought about the Whomping Willow and the car crashing into it that his enjoyment faded.

"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage seemed to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow." Severus drawled out, hiding the fear he felt. Had they found the secret tunnel to the Shrieking Shack? Had they found the evidence of the werewolf that used to go to school here and used that shack to hide away during the full moon?

"That tree did more damage to us than we–" Ronald blurted out.

"Silence!" Severus ordered. Thankfully Ronald was not nearly as bad as Sirius; however, the potential was still there. "Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here." He ordered the ashen faced boys. Severus stood up and left his office, he made his way to the Great Hall, and though he knew that Albus Dumbledore would not let either him or Minerva expel the Great Haiden Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World, he still felt the satisfaction of holding it over the boy's head. As he made his way through the Great Hall and towards the staff table, he let his eyes land on Haiden's twin brother, Harry. He was laughing with his friends from his house and leaning towards the Slytherin table to whisper to Draco.

The first time that Severus had seen Harry huddled up in front of Madam Malkin's, he had been drawn to the boy. And though he had tried to ignore the pull towards the tiny boy in the obviously too big clothes (something Severus was all too used to). And at first he thought the boy was just an illusion. However, when he saw the boy still sitting in front of Madam Malkin's three hours later, Severus walked over to him. And, as he hesitated in front of the small boy, he heard the loving voices of Lily and his life partner berating him for being stupid and to go help that poor boy, to be the help he whished he had gotten when he was a boy.

The shock of suddenly looking into the Emerald Green eyes so much like Lily's had him almost stumbling backwards to try and get away from the pain that had come from the reminder of the loss of his dear friend and sister. The sudden parental need to take care of Harry when he found out that he had Lily's blood running through him had Severus almost running away. Severus had never once felt the parental urge or need for anything before, and it scared him. How was Severus supposed to be a father when he, himself, never truly had one.

All Severus had was a sperm donor that stayed around only to beat him and his mother, berate him by telling Severus he would never amount to anything and that the only thing Severus was good for was to be a punching bag. Severus had never once thought of being a father, just the mention of possibly fathering a child sent him running away from his life partner. And yet, here was this obviously abused child that, with one look, made Severus want to take care of him like a proper father should. If his life partner had been with him, Severus knew that his life partner would have smiled that loving smile and gently pat his head in that special way he always did.

At first, Severus had been afraid that Harry's brother would pulled the same parental urge out of him. However, all Haiden pulled out of Severus was loathing. He was still trying to figure out why one twin made him want to protect the boy, while the other twin made him want to strangle the boy.

"Yes, Severus?" Minerva asked snapping him back to the task at hand. He took note of Dumbledore watching them from the corner of his light blue eyes, an obvious ear in their conversation. That was good, he wouldn't have to repeat himself, that was a pet peeve of his.

"Potter and Weasley are waiting in my office." Severus informed them. Minerva let out a soft sigh.

"I see." She turned to the new Defense teacher with an obvious fake apologetic look. "I apologize; however, I have an important matter to take care of." And with that she stood up and followed Severus back to his office, both of them knowing that Dumbledore would make his way there whenever he could slip away from the feast. Severus allowed Minerva to enter first and fought very hard not to smirk when the two boys jumped out of their seats in fright when she used her wand to light his fireplace.

"Sit." Minerva ordered the boys as Severus shut his office door and stood in front of it, as if to guard it, with his arms crossed. As he looked at Minerva's tight-lipped angered and slightly disappointed look, he was very thankful that he was not on the receiving end of it. Severus had seen that look plenty of times when he was a student, however, thankfully most of the time he had seen this look, it had been aimed at either James, Sirius, or occasionally Remus. Though, the few times it had been aimed at him, he had been scared shitless. And if he were truly honest, that look still scared him and made him feel like he was a student once more. "Explain." She ordered and instantly Ronald launched into the story of what happened.

"–so we had no choice, Professor, we couldn't get on the train." Haiden finished.

"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe at least one of you has an owl?" Minerva asked, giving Haiden a hard look causing the boy to sink into his chair and gap at her. Severus didn't need to listen to Haiden's mind to tell that sending an owl, explaining the situation, had never even crossed his mind.

"I-I didn't think–" Haiden stumbled, and Severus had to cough to cover up a snort at how obvious that had been, he turned his head away when Minerva shot him a look. He was no longer her student, and therefor she had no right to treat him as a student.

"That is obvious." Minerva told Haiden just before there was a light knock on the door. Forcing himself to look happier than he was (though it was hard, knowing that neither boy was getting expelled today), he was putting on a show to make them think that he knew that they would be getting expelled, and opened his office door to show Dumbledore there with a grave look.

Everything was silent as Dumbledore made his way into the office, barely looking at the two boys as he walked over to the desk and took the seat as Minerva stood from it. It was only then that he actually looked at the boys, a long silence followed, and Severus fought the urge to shift on his feet.

"Please explain why you did this." Dumbledore said calmly and Haiden began the story this time with Dumbledore staring at them both through the spectacles. When Haiden had finished retelling the story, Dumbledore stayed silent and continued to peer at them through his spectacles. And had Severus not been used to this guilt trip treatment, he would have thought that he old man had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

"We'll go and get our stuff." Ronald said hopelessly.

"What are you talking about, Weasley?" Minerva barked.

"Well, you're expelling us, aren't you?" Ronald asked.

"Not today, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said. "But I must impress upon both of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to both your families tonight. I must also warn you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you." Dumbledore's voice and his words brought him back to the multiple times him, James, and Sirius had been drug to the old man's office where he would always believe James's and Sirius's lies and excuses. Anger and resentment began to fill Severus.

"Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree – surely acts of this nature–" Severus argued the way he wished he could have back then.

"It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys' punishment, Severus.." Dumbledore said with that annoying twinkle in his eyes, and the only thing Severus could do was bite his tongue hard enough to make it bleed, and ball his hands up tight enough to make them white as snow just to keep him from doing or saying something stupid. "They are in her House, and they are therefore her responsibility." Dumbledore turned and looked at Minerva, who was silently staring at Severus in concern, knowing everything that Severus had gone through. "I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I've got to give out a few notices. Come, Severus, there's a delicious-looking custard tart I want to sample." Severus shot Dumbledore a look that could only be described as pure venom before he forced his body to follow Dumbledore.

Severus really needed his life partner. He needed to hold his life partner as tight to him as he could. Severus needed his life partner there to keep him from reaching for his knife. He needed his life partner's comforting scent to wash over him to keep the urge to see his own life blood dripping from his arm at bay. He needed to hear his life partner's voice to silence the screaming need to have some sort of control of his life, even if that meant hurting himself to do so.

Severus followed Dumbledore into the Great Hall. The second his eyes locked onto Harry's wide, doe like eyes, the urges left him. And in their place was guilt. Somewhere in the back of Severus's mind, he knew that if Harry (the boy he was fighting Dumbledore for custody over, to be his father) ever found out about his urges to cut himself, he would cry.

And nobody was allowed to make his son cry. Not even him.