Severus Snape's Cub - ON HIATUS

Chapter 1 - Halloween 1981

October 31st, 1981

Snape's POV

Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin, Potions Master, Greasy Bat of the Dungeons...etc was sitting at his desk at the front of the potions classroom, grading the 4th year's homework. Honestly, they're fourteen but they write like they're eleven. Throughout his mere one month of teaching, he learned to not expect much from the Hufflepuff's, keep a close eye on the copy-cat Gryffindor's,  make a grand entrance into every lesson to emerge the Ravenclaw's from their daydreaming, and to always ignore the Slytherin's snide remarks towards the opposing houses. This never stopped him from handing out 'Troll's' to any house beside his own though. Just as Severus was engraving a large, black, swoopy 'D' on a boy named Calvin's essay on Acromantula Venom, he looked up and noticed a large blue light soaring towards him.  Snape carefully laid the quill down next to the parchment he was grading and froze, eyes not leaving the strange light. As it approached his desk, he could make out the shape and realized that it was the familiar transparent Pheonix he had come to recognize over the years. "It's worse than we thought Severus. Please join me in my office as soon as your able. Oh, and, I simply adore chocolate cauldron's," spoke the worried voice of none other than Albus Dumbledore through his Patronus. 

Severus didn't need to be told twice, he jumped out of his desk- knocking his chair over in the process- and hurried to the back of the classroom and through the portrait hole.  "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" exclaimed Mariabella Slynt, the rather slim woman who wore only black--like Snape--and was the witch portrait guarding the entrance to his chambers. Now that he thought about it, he could have just gone through the exit/entrance that his students would use when he taught, but no, of course, he had to go all the way through his chambers and awaken 'The Wandy Blondie' as he liked to call her, for most of her time was spent doing Flexies-although he has told her several times that the proper name is gymnastics, she just doesn't want to be caught doing anything 'muggle-like'. Sometimes she was a little too Slytherin for Snape to handle- so, therefore, she earned herself the nickname. Ignoring her reoccurring questions, he set off for Dumbledore's office. "30 points from Ravenclaw Mr. Lockhart," said Snape to a certain stuck-up blonde. "You would think," he continued, crossing his arms and glaring into his eyes, "that six previous years of education at Hogwarts, would cause you to know better than to be out after curfew," finished the clearly annoyed Professor. The boy's face turned from one of a shock to his natural stuck up expression. "Not to worry Professor," he exclaimed dismissing it with a wave of his hand, "I was just..." he started. "I have more important things to attend to at the moment Lockhart. However, I do agree that a discussion is in order. Wait in the potions classroom at your usual desk and kindly refrain from touching anything," interrupted the Potions Master, turning away from the slightly nervous boy and heading for the headmaster's office. Did he really care why the boy was wandering the corridor's at...11 o'clock at night?! No. He didn't in any way. The reason behind making him go to his classroom was so people wouldn't start thinking that mean old professor Snape has gone soft. He didn't even have to think as his feet carried him towards the old man's quarters. Severus was still thinking of what to do with Lockhart when he was face to face with the Griffin entrance. Swiftly, he stepped inside and turned so that he faced the empty corridor. "Chocolate cauldron," he mumbled, rolling his eyes as he felt the ground below him move. 'Couldn't the crackpot old fool stick to one password?' Severus thought to himself. But no. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his ride stopping. In the office was Andromeda sitting in a chair with her head in her hands, silently crying; An eight-year-old Nymphadora who was pestering her father with questions while he was talking to Dumbledore; Remus Lupin who was pacing the room and mumbling to himself; a squat Professor Sprout constantly blowing her nose with a dirt-covered handkerchief; a small feebly trembling Arabella Figg; Arthur Weasley, who was kneeling next to the fireplace, on a floo call with someone from the ministry, with an arm around his eldest son, Bill who would be starting Hogwarts in a year; and a bug-eyed Trelawny who was doing merlin knows what. The crowded office also consisted of many sad witches, wizards, and squibs that Severus didn't recognize. It was also quite noisy between the sniffles, whispers, or anxious conversations. Dumbledore was the first to notice Severus was present in the room. As Snape was looking around the office for a certain old man, he met his gaze. Dumbledore motioned him towards him at his desk. He approached cautiously giving Ted Tonks a curt nod as he went over to where his wife and daughter were. "Severus. Tom killed James," he started, pausing. "and Lily," he finished. The Potion Professor's face turned to a ghostly pale. Lily. His Lily...gone. A single tear escaped the corner of his eye and rolled down his face. "And the baby?" he questioned. "Alive. Merlin knows how. Rumor has it, he defeated Tom. Just a baby, and escaped with nothing but a scar," Albus answered, though a tad bit happier tone. Severus let out a sigh of relief, although he didn't know why he cared about the child. Suddenly, a question hit him. "Headmaster, who will raise him?" Snape questioned, curiously. "That, I have not decided yet. I assure you he will not be raise by Petunia and her family. Sirius being the godfather would have custody of Harry, but being in Azkaban, It might be awhile. Remus with his 'furry little problem' can't have full custody without Sirius. However, Scrimgeour, Alastor, and other Aurors have been searching both the Potter Vaults, safe houses, and Godrics Hollow for anything that they might have left explaining who Harry will be raised by," explained Dumbledore, collapsing into the chair of his desk. Severus sat down in the chair across from him, raking his fingers through his hair. 'This is going to be a long night' he thought to himself. As the minutes passed by, Minerva joined them in the office fully dressed although looking highly exhausted, and provided quite a few chairs for everyone in the crowded room, making it feel cozier and the air, less tensed. To Severus' shock, not one person who was in the room when he entered, left. At one point, little Flitwick joined the office with a tray of tea, gilly water, pumpkin juice, and chocolate. He wobbled over to Severus and slipped him a small piece of parchment before leaving the office with a slight bang on the door. Luckily for him, no one seemed to notice the small exchange. Severus peered around quickly to make sure no one was watching before reading the note. 'Professor-borrowed two Invigoration potions from your private stores. Incredibly sorry and will replace as soon as able. Thought it would help-Fillius Flitwick' he read in his head. Severus couldn't help but smirk and chuckle to himself at the politeness of the Head of Ravenclaw. It was quite a brilliant idea though, he had to agree. He watched with amusement as one by one, the adults chose a beverage and slowly seemed more awake. They returned to conversing, whispering, or reading the Daily Prophet. Severus cared for all his colleagues immensely although he rarely showed it to anyone other than Dumbledore or Minerva. When he felt himself becoming a tad bit drowsy, he helped himself to a cup of tea and felt a rush of energy hit him. Severus also grabbed one for Dumbledore, who smiled appreciatively in return before drowning the contents of the cup in one gulp. The old man flinched when the surge hit him and him mumbled-more to himself, but being him, Severus heard him-'I'm too old for this' causing Snape to crack a half-smile. He looked around the room at all the people and felt a burst of pride hit him when he saw how devoted all of them were towards the Potter's and making sure the baby was safe. "Albus. Please excuse me while I take him back to Molly," stated Arthur, gesturing to the sleeping child on the sofa beside him. Dumbledore's eyes lingered on the boy and smiled in response to Arthur. he nodded and carefully picked up the boy before flooring to the burrow. "Andromeda, Ted, I suspect you hope to get your little one to bed as well?" asked Dumbledore. Severus looked over to Andromeda's lap to find one exhausted eight-year-old with orange hair. Andromeda sighed. "I truly hoped she was going to stay awake to meet little Harry but...obviously that didn't happen," she said, not taking her eyes off of her child. Severus smiled in amusement and got up from his seat. Some eyes followed him when he rummaged through his inner pockets and pulled out a thin long vile tube. Carefully, he poured the contents of one of the teacups into the vile and corked it. Looking up from it to meet Andromeda's curious eyes, he said "Would it be ok with you if I had her consume a partial dose of an Invigoration potion through a decaffeinated tea?".  "Yes! Of course," she nodded eagerly and adjusted her daughter to a sitting-up position although her head was tilted backward and her mouth was open slightly. He cautiously walked over and tilted the liquid into the little girl's mouth.  As soon as it went down her throat, she bolted upwards. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" She rushed on clearly frightened she was about to be kicked out of the office. "Quiet down child, we're not taking you anywhere," confirmed Severus, returning back to his seat. Nymphadora got up and ran over to Dumbledore's desk and turned to face a confused Severus. "Sooooo...Ireallywanttodosomeone'shairbutmyfatherdoesn'thaveenoughtoplaywithandmymomsaysIcan'tmessher'supbut..." she rambled on. "Nymphadora I am not able to comprehend what you are trying to tell me if you ramble, please repeat yourself slowly," interrupted Snape. The little girl took a big breath. "Well...As my father's a muggle, he knows a lot about them and some people like to play with other people's hair. He doesn't have enough hair to play with though and my mother says she 'doesn't want her hair looking like a hippogriffs nest'. Can I please play with your hair?" She repeated, looking into his black cold eyes the whole time. Severus was shocked, to say the very least. That takes some serious courage to look him in the eyes the whole time. "Fine," he grumbled causing the old man sitting across from him to chuckle at Nymphadora rushing behind Severus. He had to admit, it felt pretty good having her small hands rummaging through his greasy hair. The best thing about it all was how confident she was, unlike most people, she wasn't scared of him. Although, It probably helps to get to know him before having him as a professor. "Have you heard of shampoo?" Nymphadora asked, randomly. "N-no," answered Severus, caught off guard. 'Honestly, the names muggles use' Severus thought. "It's kinda like a potion. Although you don't drink it, it doesn't taste good. It's thick and you put it in your hair when you take a shower," she explained, grabbing another strand of hair to braid. Well, he's always used a scorgify to clean himself in the shower. He learned early on that scorgify on his hair makes it look 'too girly'. "I see," he replied. "Did you always want to be in Slytherin?" she asked, curious. "Yes. I suppose you want to be in Gryffindor?" said the Potions Master. His reply was partly true. He did want to be in Slytherin other than the fact that he would lose Lily. "Nope. I wanna be in Hufflepuff because I'm nowhere near being ambitious enough for Slytherin. Ravenclaw's are too boring, but in Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout teaches Herbology. I could learn to harvest plants and ingredients to use in potions!" Nymphadora confessed, beaming. This shocked Severus to hear, someone actually wanted to learn about ingredients for potions. "So Nymphadora..." he began. "Please call me Tonks," she abruptly interrupted. "Tonks? What's wrong with Nymphadora?" he asked wondering why she would prefer to be called by her surname. She looked around the room and saw her parents were both reading the Daily Prophet, and not paying attention. Carefully, her hands tucked his hair behind his ear and leaned forward. "I'm tired of hearing 'Nymphadora, stop falling out of your chair' 'Nymphadora, pay attention going down the stairs' 'Nymphadora, don't come in the kitchen I'm busy baking', and it gets really annoying so I decided, my name is Tonks" whispered Tonks, resuming styling the older man's hair. Severus had to do everything to prevent himself from laughing. "Are you married?" Tonks blurted. "No," Severus said gently, he didn't want her to think that was wrong to ask. After a few moments of silence, Tonks spoke up. "I would marry you," she said, barely above a whisper. She wasn't embarrassed by it, or scared. She was just admitting the truth. Tonks kept fiddling with his hair until it was back to the way it was when she started. She gave him a sweet hug and thanked him for letting her play with his hair, before returning back to her parents. Severus Snape was very touched by that. Once again, a silvery transparent substance graced the members of the room with its presence. It took the shape of a large black bear Patronus and directed everyone's attention. "Headmaster Dumbledore, we found a few documents concerning Harry written by his parents I suspect," spoke the deep voice of the Auror, Rufus Scrimgeour.