"You said as many as I like" the child accused with a frown, hands on hips, as he stood surveying the game of exploding snap. He began reaching for the cards, ready to shuffle them for the next game when the Potion's master beat him to it; a flurry of his wand and the cards were neatly stacked in the centre of the coffee table.
"Within reason, Harry" the man pleaded, standing to stretch his legs which were dead from having been sat cross-legged on the floor for the best part of the morning. "We must've played thirty rounds by now" the man added, stretching slightly before taking a seat in his armchair.
"32 actually" the child smiled proudly, hopping over to the armchair "what are we gonna do now?"
Snape frowned ever so slightly "going to", he corrected, the child's butchering of the English tongue bothering him. Though when Harry gave his apologetic half smile in response, Snape couldn't help but offer the child a small smile of acknowledgement in return. Lest the child's sensitivities cause another bout of crying of course, he thought to himself. "We need to purchase you some new clothing" the man began, "you have outgrown much of your attire already" he added.
"I don't need new clothes" the child offered uncertainly, worried about the costs it was likely to bring. When his aunt had been forced to buy him a new pair of trainers because the others were painfully squeezing his toes, she had been most displeased.
"You most certainly do" the man disagreed, "put your shoes on and we'll walk down to Hogsmeade" he stood, moving over to the hallway to collect his overcoat from the closet.
Snape watched the child as he shuffled over to the front closet to retrieve his shoes, his lips slightly turned down. The man, at first, presumed the boy may just be feeling tired after their morning of exploding snap. "Remember through the loop and pull" the man advised as Harry struggled to tie the laces on his shoes. After a few tries, the child had managed to tie and tighten them "well done" Snape approved, offering a handout to the boy who took it and stood again.
The pair walked through the castle in silence, Harry contemplating what he might be able to do to pay Snape back for the new clothing he was about to receive. The boy chewed nervously on his bottom lip as he glanced up at the professor. "Snape?" he asked tentatively.
"Yes Harry?" the man asked in response, glancing down at the child as they ambled down the path.
"Is it gonna be aspensive to get my clothes?" he asked softly.
Professor Snapes eyebrows rose in surprise at this, "expensive?" he asked the child. At Harry's nod he shook his head, "why would you be worried that they are expensive?
Harry shrugged in response, shuffling along next to the professor as they continued down the path towards Hogsmeade.
"Did your aunt complain about buying you new clothes?" the man asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Uh huh" Harry confirmed, glancing back from his place just ahead of the professor. "Because Dudley needs new things" he added.
"So, if Dudley needs something, Harry doesn't?" the man asked again, trying to keep his questions simple for the small child.
Harry frowned at this, "Aunt Petunia wants Dudley though" he explained, "she's his mummy".
"And what if I want to buy Harry new clothes?" Snape asked, taking hold of the child's hand as they approached the streets of Hogsmeade.
Harry smiled up at the man, "you don't haveta do that" he answered.
"I suppose I don't" the professor confirmed, leading Harry to Madame Malkins where he could be fitted for some more befitting clothes. "However, now that you are living amongst Wizards, you ought to reflect their attire" he added.
"What does that mean?" Harry asked, smiling at the professor as he was led up the steps and into the first shop.
"It means, that you need to be fitted for some robes".
"And Snape even got me ice cream!" Harry enthused as he bounced in the chair in the headmasters' office. After they had returned from Hogsmeade, Snape had dropped Harry off at the headmasters' office so that he could make a dent in the essays he had to mark.
"Wow" Dumbledore enthused back, his eyes twinkling, "you must have been very well behaved to convince him to do that".
Harry nodded eagerly, "can I put my new robes on please?" Harry asked, glancing at the bag that Snape had forgotten to take with him when he left.
"Oh, I would be most appreciative if you could give me a small show of your new robes" Albus advised, "I have been thinking about purchasing some new ones for myself, and I am sure you can give me some inspiration". Waving the child over as he spoke, he removed a set of emerald-green robes from the bag and helped the child dress.
"I look like Snape!" Harry shouted in excitement as he looked at himself in the mirror Dumbledore had transfigured. He began walking back and forth in front of it, turning sharply every now and again so that his robes swooshed out behind him, just like Snape's did.
"My, the resemblance is uncanny" Professor Dumbledore responded, summoning himself a cup of tea and at the same time, a glass of pumpkin juice for Harry. As he did, a knock sounded at the door to his office, and he called out "come in".
Minerva McGonagall entered the headmasters' office and smiled in greeting at the young boy who continued to walk up and down, turning sharply so that his robes swooshed out in the same way Snape's robes did. "Good afternoon, Harry" she said, moving over to the headmaster, "and to you of course Albus".
"Minerva" the man greeted in return, "will you join me for a cup of tea?" he asked, summoning one before she could answer as he knew what her answer would be.
Taking a seat and lifting the cup of tea to her lips she asked, "babysitting this afternoon?" with a teasing smile.
"Severus was anxious that he wouldn't finish his marking in time for the students return" Albus explained, jumping up to take a particularly fragile object out of the child's hands and instead handing him a valuable but very durable stone with which to play.
"Have we any news from Arthur about the raid?" Minerva asked, with a brief glance at the child to ensure he was occupied and not listening to their conversation.
Albus had received news about the raid they had recently conducted. While the war was now over, there remained many an artifact and persons of interest to round up in the aftermath. Shaking his head sadly, he confirmed "unfortunately the Malfoy residence did not produce anything of note" he answered.
"Presumably because they were tipped off ahead of time" Minerva answered angrily, "Albus, surely there is a case for removing Lucius from the panel" she spoke, "he cannot be trusted to conduct a fair investigation into his own wrongdoing!".
"I completely agree" the old man answered her sadly, "unfortunately our sway in the ministry can only take us so far and – " he paused, with a glance over at the small child, "alas it has reached its limits".
"Snape reached his limits too" Harry chimed in upon hearing the familiar phrase, causing the two adults to laugh lightly.
"Did he now?" Minerva asked softly, smiling at the child.
"Uh huh" Harry confirmed, pulling himself up into the armchair next to Minerva, "cos the dunnerhead Gryffindor's don't listen" he continued with a nod.
Both adults laughed loudly at this, trust Snape to have soured Harry's views against the Gryffindors already. "I think what he meant to say was that being Head of Slytherin house has him at his limits" Minerva corrected encouragingly.
"D'you like being head of slyverin?" Harry asked as he and Snape made their way, hand in hand, back to their quarters from the headmaster's office.
"It is SlyTHerin" Snape corrected with emphasis, frowning at the ease at which the boy learnt the word Gryffindor and the subsequent difficulty he was having with the word Slytherin. "Yes, I suppose it has its enjoyments".
"Cos Minnie said they have you at your limits" he added by way of explanation.
"Minnie?" Snape asked with disgust.
"Yep, that's what Professor Madonadall said I can call her", he answered with confidence.
"And did Professor McGonagall tell you that the Slytherin's had me at my limits?" he asked wryly.
"Uh huh" the boy nodded, "but only cos I said the dunnerhead Gryffindors did" he added.
Snape let out a bark of laughter at this, trust the boy to be so directly truthful. "It is dunderheaded Gryffindors" the man corrected, "if we are to insult the house, we must ensure our insults are well understood".
"Am I a dunderhead?" Harry asked in interest.
Snape was taken aback by this, "of course not" he answered, "no child of mine is a dunderhead".
"But my mummy and daddy were both Gryffindors, and you said that Gryffindors are dunderheads" Harry patiently explained.
"Well, you are only half dunderhead then" Snape conceded, "your mother certainly wasn't a dunderhead".
Being too young to really understand the implications of the man's words, Harry simply laughed at the man before proudly declaring "hey I'm half dunderhead!" to the first student they happened to walk past.
"Snape?" Harry asked softly, hesitant to interrupt the mans reading.
Severus glanced up over his book at the child, who was curled up on the sofa opposite him browsing through a quidditch magazine he'd got off one of the students before Christmas break.
"Yes, Harry?" the man asked.
"Today's Christmas Eve, right?"
Severus nodded slowly, for this was the first time Harry had willingly bought up the topic of Christmas without being encouraged to do so by someone else.
"Which means tomorrow is Christmas?" he asked at the nod.
"Yes, and the day after is boxing day" Severus teased.
Harry's eyes widened at that. He'd been told about Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and New Years, but nobody had mentioned a boxing day yet, "what's that?".
"Simply the day after Christmas" Severus replied, "a chance for children to play with the toy's they've received".
Harry nodded at this, smiling, as he returned to flicking through the quidditch magazine. Snape had told him that this year he would be getting presents, because this year Aunt Petunia couldn't give them to Dudley.
"Are you looking forward to tomorrow?" Severus asked the child.
Harry simply smiled back with a small nod. He did not want Snape to think that he was greedy for presents, but truth be told he was very excited to see what Santa Clause might leave for him.
Harry crept carefully along the hallway to the parlour. The house was quiet, which meant Snape was still asleep. He sucked in a breath when he stepped into the parlour. Presents everywhere, all wrapped in shiny wrapping paper and littered about the room. He had never seen so many presents in his life! Creeping over to the tree on his tippy toes, so as to avoid the floorboards creaking, Harry bent down to place his present to Snape under the sparkly lights of the Christmas Tree.
"Ah someone must have been good this year" the deep voice caused him to spin around suddenly, spotting Snape stood in the doorway.
Overwhelmed, Harry shuffled over to Snape and asked softly, "does Santa think another little boy lives here?"
"Why would he think that?" Snape asked in genuine surprise, his eyebrows raising.
"He can't have meant to give me all of these" Harry answered wistfully, glancing around at all the gifts.
Snape bent down, reaching for one of the gifts and turning it over to view the name tag. "Well, this one's addressed to you" he said, holding the gift out to the child who hesitantly took it.
Harry plopped himself down on the carpet, running his hands along the shiny wrapping paper. He turned the plump package over in his hands, noticing that it was something squishy inside, something soft.
"It won't open itself" Snape told him, sitting down on the couch and summoning himself a pot of coffee.
Smiling briefly at the man, Harry turned his attention back to his first present. He carefully removed the tape, careful not to rip the wrapping paper. "A kitty!" he shouted, hugging the plush toy to his chest. Harry savoured the moment, the plethora of other toys forgotten as he held tightly to the soft toy.
Watching the child, it became clear to Snape that he was not going to go and grab any other presents from under the tree. Setting his coffee aside, the man stood again and retrieved another gift from the pile. He made a show of turning it over, and checking the label, before holding it out to the child with another "it looks like this one might be for you as well".
And so, the present unwrapping proceeded, Snape standing up every now and again to retrieve a new present for the child; the child just as surprised when, each time, the present was for him.
"Oh. My. Goodness!" Harry breathed out, turning around towards Snape and positively squealing in delight. "Look Snape!" he shouted, rushing over to the man, his present clutched tightly in his right hand. "Santa got me a broom!".
"My my" the man commented dryly, "you must have been very well behaved to get such a nice gift" he added. Truth be told, Snape was chuffed that his present had elicited such a response from the child. In fact, he thought, if the child had shown any less enthusiasm, he'd have been straight back to France to return the blasted broom he'd fought so hard to get.
Harry did not know how to ask the man if he could take him out flying later. He didn't want to be a bother, and Snape might have other plans. "Perhaps we can go outside this afternoon so that you might try it out?" the man asked after a moment.
"Up" Harry said, glancing up at Snape to ensure he'd done it correctly, and feeling the broom immediately jump up into his outstretched hand.
Snape fought the urge to roll his eyes at the ease with which the broom responded to the child. "Very good" the man commented, "now put your right leg over the broom" he instructed, watching as the child did so.
Harry stood, excitedly awaiting his next instructions as the pair stood on the frosted grass of the quidditch pitch. The castle was largely deserted, and neither Harry nor Snape noticed the Headmaster watching them both from a window high up in the castle.
"Now, when you're ready, I want you to use this foot" the man said, tapping the childs left foot, "and kick up off the ground".
Snape had hardly issued the instruction before Harry did so, drifting upwards before he tilt forwards slightly and balanced himself out. The boy was evidently a natural, Snape thought, as he watched the child complete small circles on the broom.
"Am I doing it right?" Harry asked the man.
Nodding, Snape stood watching the boy, the bitter bite of the December cold barely registering. Truly his father's son, Snape thought as he watched, though surprising even himself, the thought passed by with very little malice.