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English
Series:
Part 1 of The adventures of Snape slowly adopting Harry Potter
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Published:
2022-04-17
Words:
1,274
Chapters:
1/1
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The Beginning of Something (called family)

Summary:

It's Snape's first evening with four year old Harry Potter. Hopefully, the boy will get a new home soon, but until then, Snape will have to be... civil. Maybe even something close to kind.

Notes:

This work has now been translated to Russian by lovely Jamie_25

You can find the translated work on ficbook Here!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

If he could strangle the old coot he would have. Sadly he couldn’t and wasn’t allowed to do so. So now he was stuck with a four-year-old for who knows how long. There was no one else to take care of him. 

Evidently, the boy's family was unfit to do so. Snape didn't deny that. But surely someone more suitable than him existed? According to Dumbledore, apparently not. He needed ‘someone he could trust’. Why the old wizard thought Snape would be more fitting than just about anyone, he didn’t know. Snape was loyal to Dumbledore, yes. But was he good with kids? God no. 

Nevertheless, here he was, with a timid but curious child as company. He guessed he should give the kid some slack. He did, after all, not know about magic until a few hours ago. So far, the boy had taken it well. But he guessed kids were more accepting of things like magic. Adults always seemed to come with ‘facts’ and ‘logic’. Honestly, the worst thing about introducing muggle-borns where mostly not the child, but the parents. They could be sure it was all a trick even if you showed them evidence right under their noses. Children were easy. Well, easier. They asked questions, idiotic ones, yes, but not as idiotic as the ones parents asked. Snape was glad he didn’t have to come in contact with them too often. Only when McGonagall needed ‘assistance’. Even then Filius was often her first choice.

Once they got to his quarters, Snape told the Potter child very clearly that he was not allowed to touch anything. Well, except for the floor and furniture he could sit on. Which had led to the boy asking if he could touch the carpets, or the table, or the toilet not stopping until Snape got enough and said the boy could touch anything that he absolutely needed to touch. Like the carpets, the toilet or the table. But no poking around or touching magical artefacts in the living room. Basically avoiding doing anything that could make him hurt himself. Snape had never before been so thankful that his private potions lab had a separate entrance with a different password. 

He also told the boy that his bedroom was off-limits unless Snape was in there. He was only allowed to disturb Snape if he absolutely needed to talk to him right that second. Then he was to knock on the door and wait for an answer.

The spare room—that Snape never used—had been tidied up by the house elves. Hopefully, the boy wouldn’t be stuck there for too long. It was just a bit smaller than Snape's own bedroom. The bed now had an enchantment to make sure Harry wouldn’t fall out of the bed at night. There was also a small dresser for clothes, a chair and a bedside table. It'd be enough for now. Though they would need to get the boy more fitting clothes in the coming days. Maybe some toys too. Harry only had some stuffed tiger with him. It looked old, scuffed and dirty. Snape reminded himself that he had to cast some sort of cleaning charm on it later.

"Now, do you have any more questions child?” Snape asked after he'd explained the rules to the boy.

Harry stood for a while, looking like he was thinking over the question thoroughly. He was fiddling with a thread on his shirt while doing so.

“Do you have a puppy?” he finally asked.

“A puppy?”

“Yeah! Like a dog. A big or small one,” Harry said. 

“Yes, yes, I know what a dog is,” Snape said. “What makes you think I have a dog?”

“I don’t know. Dudley wanted one. Aunt Petunia said house wasn’t big enough," Harry paused, looking around the rooms. When Severus didn't answer he continued. "But you live in a castle. So do you have a dog?”

“No, I do not have a dog,” Snape answered. “They’re dirty, loud and need daily walks outside no matter what weather it is.”

Harry was quiet for a while thinking over Snape's answer. He hoped the boy wouldn't have any more questions. 

“So… If it was clean and quiet? Would you have one then?” he asked.

Snape sighed. “No, I would not. I do not like dogs. I do not want a dog. Now, if you want to see a cat, I could perhaps have a talk with Minerva, but I’ll never get a dog or pet of some sort.”

The boy looked a bit sad when Snape said he didn’t want a dog, but he seemed to cheer up when he mentioned ‘cat’. Before the boy could ask more annoying questions—about dogs and cats and probably all other animals in a zoo—Snape redirected his attention by suggesting they’d get something to eat.

Not long after, they sat around the dark oak table in Snape's kitchen, eating a rather bland soup with bread. He’d asked the elves for something easy on the stomach for Harry and him. Harry didn’t seem bothered by the taste, instead, he seemed rather eager to eat the soup. He ate a bit sloppy, though Snape could see the boy trying to spill as little as possible. The spoon seemed to be a bit too big for his grip. At least Snape appreciated the boy trying to not make the table a puddle of soup. 

“Do you enjoy the soup?” Snape asked, half expecting the boy to say he’d prefer candy or something overly sweet. 

“It’s good,” Harry said sincerely. He moved a bit in his seat as he ate. During the later half of dinner, Harry had been rubbing his eyes every other minute between the spoonfuls.

“I’m glad it lives up to your expectations,” Snape said.

Some of the time the child seemed confused about what Snape said. Snape guessed it wasn’t too surprising. Even some of the first years didn’t understand him fully. He’d tried to speak to the boy with simpler words. He didn’t always manage to do so, but the Potter boy didn’t seem too bothered by it. He asked what different words meant sometimes. This often lead to Snape somehow explaining it in an even more complicated way, but Harry only nodded as if he understood while scrunching his forehead a bit. 

“I think that’s enough for dinner,” Snape said as he saw the boy force another spoonful into his mouth, while blinking his eyes a few times too many. “Time for bed.”

The boy had had a long tiring day. Harry didn’t seem too happy to leave while he still had some of his bread left and a bit of soup. When Snape explained how he could eat more the next day at breakfast, Harry settled down. 

Snape refused to read some sort of story or anything to the boy. He wasn’t a father. He made the boy brush his teeth and go to the loo before getting into bed. Thankfully Harry didn’t complain. If he’d done so, Snape might just have spelled the boy into bed. 

He left the door to the boy's room slightly ajar so that some light from the living room shone into the bedroom. He also left the door to the bathroom open if the boy needed to use it during the night and didn’t remember where it was. Then he sat reading the newest number of Potions Weekly. 

Hopefully, the boy would get a more permanent home soon. Until then, Snape was forced to care for the boy to the best of his abilities. 

One day down, hopefully-not-too-may to go.

 

Notes:

Thank you for reading!

I've been planning on writing a one-shot series with Snape adopting Harry. If you have any ideas or prompts feel free to comment here or send an ask or DM on Tumblr. Please leave kudos if you liked the story and want to. It makes me very happy!

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