Severus pulled Harry close to him as he apparated them to the cottage where they had once lived as a family. He could have used the floo but wanted to check on the condition of the cottage first as no one had been in there in ten years.
Harry opened his eyes once the wave of nausea passed. "Ugh, does that get any better?"
Severus suppressed a chuckle. "It can take time to get used to it. Next time we will be able to floo here instead."
They both stood on the path, facing the two story cottage. Harry had wondered if it would look abandoned as no one had been here in so long but what he saw was a delightful white two story cottage surrounded by trees and a garden blooming with flowers. The cottage had green rolling hills behind it and Harry could hear the sounds of a stream nearby. He glanced up at his Dad who had a slightly sad smile as he stared at the front door.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked softly.
Severus looked down at his son and squeezed his shoulder. "Sorry Harry. I got lost in some memories. Are you ready to go in? From the looks of the outside our home has remained in good shape due to the protection spell Lily and I placed on it."
Harry nodded eagerly and Severus opened the door and they stepped inside. The place looked as if no one had ever left it, clean and bright as ever. The living room looked cozy and Harry couldn't help but smile as he saw the kitchen he had seen from his dad's memories. Severus also showed his son the dining room and study and a small lab.
"Upstairs there are three bedrooms and two lavatories." Severus informed Harry as he led him up the stairs. He stopped suddenly as he viewed Harry's old room, still set up for a toddler. He was quiet for a moment as memories flooded his mind of playing with Harry, putting him to bed, watching Lily sing to him in the rocking chair that sat in the corner. He cleared his throat. "Obviously we will need to redecorate your room. I doubt you would want to sleep in a crib."
Harry laughed as he walked around the room, looking at the toys, crib and rocking chair. He wished he could remember living here. He picked up a framed photo of him as a baby being held by his parents. His Mum was beaming in the picture and while his dad wasn't exactly smiling he looked very proud.
"That was taken when we brought you home from the hospital." Severus said, looking over Harry's shoulder and gazing at the picture.
Harry stared at it for a moment. "Can-may I keep it here? In my room?"
Severus nodded and gave him a brief smile. "Of course you may." He left Harry to explore his old room while he made his way across the hall to the bedroom he and his wife had shared. It was exactly how he remembered it, the décor done in pale peach and blues, pictures set around and still some of Lily's things left that she hadn't had moved to Godric's Hollow before the charm was cast. The grief Severus felt was almost staggering and he had to take several deep breaths to calm down. He could still smell the perfume she would wear and he was certain he could still feel her. He would give anything to have her in his arms again. At least he was not alone anymore. He had their son. He could see Lily in Harry, more than just the fact they had the same eyes. Harry also had her smile and many characteristics were similar to hers. He was also kind and compassionate just like she had been.
After a few more minutes Severus went back into Harry's room and saw him looking through the clothes he had worn as a baby. Harry noticed him and grinned. "Look how small I was! It's hard to believe."
Severus's lips quirked with amusement as he inclined his head in response. "Yes, you were. I remember being afraid I would drop you, you were so little and fragile." Actually, Harry was still small compared to the other children his age. The muggles malnourishment had stunted his growth which was why he was having him take nourishment potions.
They spent the next hour looking through the cottage and then Harry wanted to go outside and explore the garden. Severus went with him and took him down to the stream which Harry was thrilled with.
"Will we be able to come here again this summer?" Harry asked as he watched the sparkling steam.
"Yes, we will. As I said, we need to redecorate your room. We can also come here for Christmas, if you would like." Severus said as he threw a stone into the stream, watching it bounce.
Harry brightened as he also threw a stone, trying to copy his Dad. "That would be brilliant!"
Severus smirked as he taught Harry how to throw the stone so that it would bounce on the water. He remembered fondly of teaching Lily when they were children.
"Are you looking forward to the party?" Harry asked after a few minutes.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, truthfully I am not much of a party person but I look forward to seeing you enjoying yourself with your friends."
Harry looked a little apprehensive and Severus noticed. "What is wrong? Are you looking forward to the party?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah, I am. I guess I'm just a little nervous. It's one thing to read in a letter about my new appearance and everything and another to see it. It makes it more real, at least it did for me. In a good way." Harry offered his dad a grin. "I just want them to see I'm still the same Harry they knew."
"Ahh." Severus nodded. "I am sure once you start talking with your friends they will see you are still you. There will be those who will only ever see you as Harry Potter or will think you are different because you are my son."
Harry tilted his head to the side. "Did you get a lot of howlers this morning?"
Severus put a hand gently on the back of Harry's neck to guide him back up the path to the cottage. "There were a few. Most who think I am lying and those who do not believe I deserve to be Harry Potters father."
Harry frowned. "But I'm not Harry Potter. I never really was."
"True, but as I said there will be people who only ever see you as Harry Potter. They have heard stories about you for ten years." Severus explained patiently.
"Right, the hero thing." Harry muttered.
"Your actions this past school year only enhanced that opinion." Severus said, careful to keep his voice light.
Harry flopped onto the comfy sofa. "You mean because of the stone? Ron and Hermione helped me with that though."
"In the end it was you that faced Quirrell and Voldemort." Severus reminded him, flinching slightly at the thought of how close he came to losing Harry for good before he would have even known he was his son. "You rushed into a situation that you were not prepared for. Actually, you rushed into a situation that you should not have been in at all."
Harry flushed. "I had to! I had to save the stone, I thought you-"He stopped, embarrassed.
Severus gave him a knowing look. "You thought it was me. Professor Dumbledore told me." He didn't mention how angry he had been, that while he had tried to protect the boy, Harry and his friends thought he was the one after the stone! Of course, he had played his part well so he could see why they would think the worst of him. "You three should have gone to a professor instead of going after the stone yourself. It was brave and noble yes, but also foolish. You could have been seriously hurt or worse."
"We did go to a professor!" Harry defended himself. "Professor McGonagall didn't believe us."
Severus scowled. He had not known that. Minerva should have relieved them of their concerns and told them that she would have the stone checked on. "Well, now you have me and I will believe you. If anything happens that concerns you like that you come to me. Understood? I'm serious about this; I don't want you rushing into any dangerous situations. I won't lose you Harry."
Instead of feeling anger or humiliations at being scolded, Harry actually felt better. It made him feel safe to know that he had a parent now that he could go to with concerns and who would be watching out for him. It made him feel cared for and loved. "Yes sir."
Severus gazed at him for a moment and then nodded. "Are you ready to return to Hogwarts? It is almost time for lunch and I believe you have one more assignment to do."
Harry made a face. "Yeah, yours. You gave us a long essay to write!"
Severus rolled his eyes. "It's only three feet, you'll survive." He summoned the floo powder and grabbed a handful. "I can make yours longer, if you would like." He offered.
Harry's green eyes widened. "Um, no thanks. You're right, three feet is not that bad." He gave his Dad an innocent look.
Severus snorted and brought him into the fireplace with him. "You probably have not used a floo before correct?"
"No I haven't." Harry looked curiously at the glittery powder in his dad's hand.
"You must pronounce your destination very clearly and then throw down the powder and it is best to keep your elbows close to your body." Severus said. "Snape's quarters, Hogwarts!"
The floo spat them out and Harry almost tripped though his dad, who strode out with no difficulty, quickly grabbed his arm and steadied him. "Better than apparition, but not better than flying." Harry decided, dusting soot off his arm.
Severus shook his head in amusement as he hung up his cloak. He was positive that if his son could, he would travel everywhere by broom. "Why don't you get started on your essay while I start on lunch?"
Harry fidgeted. "I could help you make lunch. Or I could make you lunch on my own!" He looked hopefully at his dad.
Severus eyed him suspiciously and then shook his head. "You can put off your essay until after lunch but you will have a good portion of it done by tonight either way. But if you don't have a good start on it by this evening, we will not be able to play a game of chess."
Harry's eyes lit up. He had wanted to play with his dad so that he could practice and get better for when he played against Ron. "That's very Slytherin of you." He informed his dad as he made his way to his room to begin his last summer assignment.
"Why, thank you son." Severus said in amusement as he went into the kitchen to make some soup and sandwiches.
Harry worked on his essay but kept losing his train of thought. He enjoyed making the potions but not writing about them. He eagerly jumped up from his desk when he heard his dad calling him for lunch.
"Did you make any progress?" Severus asked as they ate.
"Some." Harry said vaguely, putting all his attention into eating his sandwich.
"You have done well on your other homework so you shouldn't have much trouble with this one." Severus encouraged, thinking that maybe Harry needed some positive reinforcement.
"I know." Harry said. "I just can't seem to focus on it today."
"We had an eventful morning." Severus replied, taking a sip of water. "I would like you to finish the essay by tomorrow at the latest as the next day is our party and then I was hoping to go back to the cottage and redo your room. I need to restock my lab there as well." He mused.
Harry perked up. He couldn't wait to go back to the cottage and getting to redo his room would be fun! "It's so crazy that once I had just a cupboard and now I have two bedrooms!" Harry didn't even realize he had said it out loud until he saw a look of anger followed by sadness cross his dad's face. "I'm sorry." He said quickly. He had not meant to bring up anything about living at the Dursley's as he knew how much that upset his dad.
Severus struggled to control his emotions, quickly occluding so he could hide his anger at the fact that his son grew up in a cupboard. A cupboard! "You have nothing to be sorry for." He fixed his dark eyes on Harry. "You do realize that right? That how the Dursley's treated you was wrong and that it was not your fault?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah, I realize that." He said slowly. "I mean, I realize that now. I didn't until I got my Hogwarts letter and finally understood why they hated me. I couldn't figure it out before. I tried to be normal but weird stuff would happen around me and I didn't know why..." He trailed off and shrugged. He met his dad's gaze.
"Accidental magic starts when a child is young. They have no control over it." Severus said. "Your Aunt and Uncle knew what was happening and instead of explaining it to you like they should have, they punished you for it."
Harry nodded. His worst punishments happened when he did strange things like turn his teacher's hair blue or when he ended up on the roof of the school. "Why did they? I mean, since they knew what was happening to me why did they get so angry?"
"Petunia had always been jealous of Lily." Severus answered; inwardly scowling as he thought of how mean Petunia had been to Lily as a child. "She was jealous that Lily had magic and let that jealousy turn to hate."
"Oh." Harry said, fiddling with his spoon. "I can understand being a bit jealous, I mean magic is amazing but to hate Mum and me for it? That's not fair. We were born with magic, we couldn't help that."
Severus felt a soft smile grace his features as Harry talked. Lily would say almost the exact same thing. Harry was so much like her, they both were so kind and innocent they couldn't understand someone being ignorant and cruel like Petunia and her husband. Lily had wanted to try and reconnect with her sister, hoping they could be close again especially as they had sons around the same age. Of course, if Lily were here right now she would probably hex her sister for how she treated Harry. I really do need to make a special little visit to Petunia and her husband, he thought.
"They should have never treated you the way they did. They should have loved you and cared for you." Severus said seriously. "It truly is their loss Harry. Unfortunately, I was no better than your Aunt and Uncle. I treated you badly because I thought James was your father. And even if it had been true, it was something you could not have helped. Just like with your relatives, how I treated you was not your fault. I've said it before, but I am truly sorry for how I treated you son."
Harry could hear the sincerity in his dad's voice. "It's okay. I'm okay. I mean, I forgive you. It was because of the memory charm anyway."
"Yes, but how I acted, well, that is who I would have become without your mother." Severus said honestly. "Her love and compassion kept me from becoming a bitter and angry man. You saw how I was when I didn't remember that she loved me. She was an incredible woman and saved me in so many ways."
Harry smiled at the mention of his mother. He really did love hearing about her. "I wish..." He trailed off. He wished she was with them right now.
Severus knew what his son was thinking. "So do I." He said in a low voice. He cleared his throat. "Now, I believe you have an essay to be getting on with."
Harry made a face. "All right, but don't forget that we are playing chess this evening." He reminded his dad.
"As soon as you have a good start on your homework, we will play." Severus promised as he cleared the table. "Off with you now." He pretended to shoo Harry away.
Harry snickered and made way for his room. "I'm going, I'm going."
This time Harry was able to concentrate and finished most of his essay, which his dad said he would look over tomorrow. They played two games of chess where Severus trounced Harry spectacularly but Harry didn't care. He enjoyed the time spent together and talking about his Mum and their plans for the rest of summer. When Harry fell asleep that night, he had a smile on his face and felt the most content he had ever felt before. Home was feeling more real every day.