Dawn

Pushing Boundaries

When Harry hit three he seemed to instantly become an absolute nightmare, testing Severus' patience left and right. There was no longer even a moment's rest. He found himself chasing and cleaning up after the boy almost non-stop. It felt like there were three of them. Harry was constantly rummaging through his toys and Severus' belongings, leaving things strewn about the place and getting beyond frustrated when Severus tried to make him clean up his mess. Severus was forced to remember to send the house elves away before Harry had a chance to sneak around and ask them to do it. Often, he would end up stripping down and throwing his clothes off before running about like a madman, naked and screaming at the top of his lungs.

While he was quick to reprimand the child and Harry seemed to learn not to do that exact particular thing again, Harry always managed to come up with new and creative ways to break the rules. He was starting to seem more and more like a Gryffindor through and through. Not because he was constantly breaking rules but because he was so open about the way he did it, so carefree and reckless. Severus knew Harry was testing his boundaries, feeling out how far he could push before Severus pushed back.

Harry finally seemed to learn he meant business with boundaries when Harry, at first teasingly, reached out for one of the cabinets in his study where he kept all his dangerous ingredients. While the cabinet was locked tight and there was no real threat if Harry reached out for it, Severus didn't feel it was right to allow this kind of disobedience or encourage bad habits. Something had to be done. Severus reached out and lightly slapped Harry's wrist. Harry looked up at him in confusion, as Severus firmly stated, "No," with a stern expression on his face.

Harry continued to stare at him, his little chubby hands reaching out for the cabinet once more. Again Severus slapped his wrist, this time a little harder while chiding, "No," with a bit more force. It was then that he realized the boy would continue this until Severus made it crystal clear that what he was trying to do was completely unacceptable and that he would not stand for it. The boy reached out one last time, so slowly it seemed as if he thought that Severus might not see him if he did it this way. Severus glared, eyes piercing and sharp as he brought down his hand, landing with a loud thwap.

Harry looked absolutely scandalized, eyes and mouth wide open as he cradled his hand against his chest. He wasn't hurt, not physically, he was just shocked Severus had gone that far.

"I told you not to do that," Severus voice was frosty, still glaring down at the boy. It took a whole minute before Harry fully reacted, eyes starting to water before he finally launched himself at Severus' leg, squeezing it tightly and pleading over and over for Severus to forgive him.

Of course Severus did, but he still put on a front of subtle disappointment, not wanting Harry to take this lightly. Discipline was something many of the students Severus taught were missing. He wasn't willing to slack when it came to this, he wanted the boy to grow up happy, healthy and ready for the real world along with all its challenges.

Nevertheless, it was awfully difficult to be the bad parent who sat his child in a corner and ignored him (even if he was bawling his eyes out) until the boy realized what he had done wrong and fully accepted it. After Harry had learned his lessons, he would always be right back in Severus' arms, getting the affection he needed to make his short isolation better. It was quite insane to be honest, but he wouldn't trade this insanity for the world.

And even though all the spilled potions (luckily nothing dangerous), thrown food, tantrums, and fits of creativity (usually in the form of art on the walls) were a hassle at times, Severus always found himself smiling about it later. He also made sure he took pictures of almost everything afterwards to embarrass Harry later on in life. What kind of parent would Severus be if he didn't at least do this? He even had an embarrassing naked baby picture to someday show Harry's future girlfriends.

The newest one Severus had added to his album was a picture of Harry, stuck in a cauldron, eyes barely above the rim, looking as if he was on the cusp of tears. It had been terrifying in the moment, Severus automatically worrying that there might be something in the pot, residue left on it that might hurt Harry. But after he realized it was clean Severus couldn't help but laugh and whip out the camera he now kept at all times in his cloak, before going over to pull out the pouting child.

Severus was pretty sure Harry had knocked over the self-righting pot, climbed into it, and then the cauldron did what it was charmed to do. It had probably thrown Harry off guard and that was the reason for the almost tears and the massive cuddles Severus got afterwards for being the boy's savior.

Three, Severus decided, wasn't actually such a bad age.

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If there was one thing Severus hated most about having a three year old it was how curious and blunt they could be. They ask whatever was on their mind and they held back no punches. While Severus had seen this a few times in action he had yet to be on the receiving end of it.

Harry had not held back when he asked why Hagrid was so " monsterly big ", or why Dumbledore was so wrinkly, and where Minerva's clothes went when she transformed into a cat. He had been careful in his explanation to the boy on why his questions were inappropriate, but Harry never seemed to understand, he always gave Severus a look of utter befuddlement before going off to play again.

Now though, he was privileged to feel the embarrassment everyone else must have felt. He could feel the skin over his cheekbones tingeing red. Harry was sitting at his side, chunky children's book in his hands though he wasn't reading it, just copying what Severus did. The boy looked up at him with wide innocent eyes and asked, " Dad, why is your hair so shiny?"

Severus didn't know how to answer that, and instead quickly distracted the boy by asking if he wanted some pineapple. The boy jumped up in excitement, completely forgetting about his earlier question as a house-elf popped into the chambers setting a plate of pineapple wheels on the coffee table along with a sippy cup of water and a cup of tea for Severus.

That night, when Severus got into the bath, he scrubbed at his hair for a good twenty minutes, getting all the Sleekeazy out of his hair. It clinged to his scalp and to each strand, built up over the years. One of the warnings on the potion was that it needed to be washed out within twenty four hours because it would bind.

Unfortunately, Severus had never been that good about keeping track of time when it came to taking care of himself. The only reason he had gotten better was because now he had a child who needed to eat and sleep at regular intervals. There were still some days that Severus would neglect to take care of himself, would forget to bathe or forget to sleep, but it was less frequent now than it had ever been.

Still, because of his forgetfulness or neglectfulness, his hair had over the years taken on an extremely shiny quality, weighted down by his hair potion, making it seem like it was drenched in grease. Severus was pretty sure he had in fact never properly or completely cleaned his hair, always trying to get out of the shower as fast as possible so he could get back to work.

There was a strange lightness to his hair when he got out of the shower even though it was still dripping wet. He pulled a towel around himself, rubbing down his skin until he was at least mostly dry, then wrapping it around his hair and pulling on his nightgown.

Severus went to bed, after reading from one of his potion texts, hair still slightly damp.

When Severus woke up the next morning, going to the toilet to start his day he remembered suddenly after seeing his reflection in the mirror why he had started using the Sleekeazy in the first place. His hair was a big frizzy mess.

He sighed, pulling out the bottle of potion and splashing it onto his hands before running it through his hair.