Chapter Text
Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, lost in thought, as most renowned headmasters do. In his tired state, he reached across his desk, opening a small jar and taking out a lemon drop, popping it in his mouth. It was nearing midnight. Most everyone would be asleep at this time, aside from the random professor, busy grading papers into the night.
He sighed around the candy in his mouth, and was about to stand up and call it quits for the night when he felt it. He instantly looked out, all senses on alert, then looked down at his desk as everything around him began to shift. There was a change in the magical energy around him, with enough of an effect on the physical plane that it shook his desk, shifting trinkets left and right and leaving the portraits of former headmasters tilting from side to side, the painted professors swearing and yelling in fright. After a few seconds everything steadied, but Albus could not ignore the change in the magical atmosphere that he had felt. He needed to learn the cause.
While he was pondering the magical blast that had just occurred, outside his office, another muttered the password, frantic and out of breath, and entered.
Albus looked up at the guest. “Minerva. Good of you to come. I assume you are here to discuss the very same thing I felt?”
Minerva McGonagall stood by the entrance to the office, the stoic professor a mess, normally styled flat hair sticking out of her tight bun. She was breathing deeply, as if she had run all the way there. “You felt it too, Albus?”
At Albus’ nod she continued. “We must-”
“Please take a seat, Minerva. No use hovering over by the doorway,” Albus interrupted, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. Minerva paused, yet slowly found herself moving towards the closest chair and taking a seat.
“We must find the source of this as quickly as possible,” she started once again, repeating her previous thoughts. “We are both aware of how difficult it is to affect the magical energy in the air. It only occurs-”
“When something has taken place that affects time or space, right you are, Minerva.” Minerva, miffed at the second interruption, pursed her lips together as Albus smiled innocently at her, but his expression became serious as he began speaking again, quietly. “And you and I are aware of how terrible the effects can be to the present if the disturbance is not mended.”
Minerva clenched her jaw, nodding with determination as she straightened. “I assume I should alert the rest of the faculty? Ask them to keep an eye out?”
“No,” Albus answered. At Minerva’s questioning glare, he explained. “The ones that are awake currently will be alert and watching for the source. That should be plenty. The others we can inform once we figure out what the issue is. No need to cause panic so suddenly.” Albus waved Minerva out of his office, dismissing her with finality. “You know what you must do.”
“Personally, I believe this is important enough to need to inform everyone of this,” Minerva muttered as she rose, leaving the office while straightening out her hair, pressing it into her bun. Albus watched her exit.
“And that is precisely why I wish to let them be ignorant a little while longer,” Albus confided quietly, the room frozen and empty around him.
A week later, Severus found himself in the Great Hall, finishing up his small dinner as the other Slytherins ignored him, the spots surrounding him empty. He scraped his plate clean, and after debating whether to take more food or not, decided against, standing up and heading towards the doors, ready to head to the dungeons for the night. He stopped in his tracks, however, when he heard a familiar, unmistakable voice calling his name.
“Severus! Wait for me!” Lily called as she stepped over the bench of the Gryffindor table, bounding over to Severus. She smiled at him, grabbing the bag of books in her hand and swinging it over her shoulder. “We should go to the astronomy tower. I want to go over the potions essay with you, make sure that it’s acceptable enough to turn in.” She groaned as she remembered the painstaking memory of poring over book after book to write the damn essay.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Severus stated. “Slughorn likes you.”
“Yeah, but-” Lily continued, ranting about the impossible essay as Severus smiled sweetly at her. He still felt undeserving of her friendship, after what he said at the lake in fifth year, but he’s grateful for her company, despite the guilt he felt occasionally. After spending the rest of fifth year alone and miserable, along the summer with his alcoholic b*stard of a father, on the second day of sixth year the fiery redhead approached him after his charms class, dragging him off to the Great Lake, where she lectured him on his Slytherin friendships and how they were negatively affecting the person he is and could be, eventually ending with her hugging him, admitting softly to missing him as she then declared that she forgave him.
From that moment on they were best friends again, Lily constantly hanging out with Severus despite the opinions of her Gryffindor friends. The Slytherins Severus had been hanging out with had begun to shun him once he befriended the muggleborn again, which didn’t bother Severus in the slightest. To him, the friendship of Lily was much more valuable than the company of those leeches, who only wanted him around to do their assignments, as he was a filthy half-blood.
He knew many of them believed him to be courting Lily, but this was blatantly untrue. While when he was younger he believed that he had felt romantic love for his friend, even resenting Potter since he started pursuing her, being away from Lily for so long enlightened him to the pure platonic feelings he felt towards her, and after they were able to spend time together once again, he was aware that he merely wished to keep the close friendship he had with the girl next to him. He still despised James though, since the Gryffindor’s bullying had not ceased at all, despite the maturity that should have taken place throughout the years at Hogwarts.
Severus broke out of his stupor, on alert, when he realized that he felt glaring at the back of his head. He sighed. “Lily, we should probably get going. I can feel someone angrily staring at me.” Lily squinted her eyes, turning and directing her gaze to the Gryffindor table, where she saw Sirius Black turning away abruptly and joining the conversation next to him, and James Potter smiling at her, ready to sit up and approach her. She broke eye contact and turned around before he’d think she wanted to speak to him.
“Those barmy arses,” she muttered under her breath, glaring back at the table. “Let’s go, Sev.” The two walked out of the Great Hall, heading up towards the astronomy tower.
“Hey, Sev,” Lily asked, clutching his arm. “Did you hear the rumors?”
Severus looked over at her, curious. “No, what rumors?”
Lily grinned, biting her lip, clearly thrilled at sharing the rumor with her friend. She leaned in close, as if sharing a secret.
“Apparently, ever since last week, people have been catching glimpses of a child at Hogwarts!” Her excitement betrayed herself as she concluded, her bright green eyes sparkling as she looked at Severus, waiting for a reaction.
Severus looked at her, raising his eyebrows, then just looked around in disbelief. “Lily,” he started, highly exaggerated. “I don’t know if you realize , but we are at a school . There are first years everywhere!”
Lily hit his shoulder. “Not first years! People said the child was like three or four. Definitely not an eleven year old!”
“So one of the teachers brought their spawn to Hogwarts, not a big enough deal to gossip about.”
“But that’s just it!” Lily exclaimed, eyes wide. “No one knows who this kid is!”
Severus sighed. “Lily, someone is clearly playing a prank on the school. Or some seventh year got knocked up a while back. The point is, someone must know the kid, if the kid really exists and isn’t the product of some nitwit that wants some short-lived publicity. ”
“But-!” Lily started, then stopped herself, huffing. “Alright, fine. We’ll drop it for now.”
“How about forever?” Lily smiled, crinkling her nose in contempt and nudging him.
After the topic was dropped the two chatted about classes, Lily rambling on about everything while Severus listened and interjected with disbelieving comments and witty remarks. It was when they were nearing the tower, in a hallway of tapestries, when something Lily mentioned made him pause.
“What did you say?” he exclaimed, eyes blown wide. Lily paused, confusion evident on her face.
“You mean… the test in transfiguration?”
“No, not that! You said you were studying in the common room, and Lupin was with you. What the hell were you doing with that tosser?”
“Oh,” Lily uttered, brows furrowed. “He asked to study together. We were studying the same thing, so I thought ‘Why not?’”
“Why not?!” Severus exclaimed, in disbelief. “I don’t know, maybe the fact that his group of friends have been tormenting me since first year because they’re immature little halfwit children that can’t handle a filthy half-blood slytherin being your friend-”
“You know just as much as I do that those four could care less about blood status!” Lily countered, hands on her hips defiantly. “And only Potter and Black torment you, Lupin has never joined in-”
“He didn’t bloody stop them either, even when he became a prefect,” Snape argued, disgusted sneer evident on his face. The two glared at each other in a silent battle.
Lily sighed, breaking eye contact and schooling her expression. “Look, I’m sorry. I know that you have bad memories with them, and it’s unfair to me to rag on your friends for hating ‘my type’, while I hang out with people that bully you for ‘your type’. I don’t want to break our friendship over this,” she expressed, bringing her hands up and using finger quotes at the appropriate times.
Snape’s features softened as he took in Lily’s words. “Alright, I agree. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just-” Lily gasped, cutting herself off, eyes widening as she looked down at the floor. Severus raised his eyebrow, but at her lack of willingness to continue, he grabbed her arm gently, urging her to continue with a pointed look when she turned towards him. She steeled herself, taking a deep breath, and then looked up to look at Severus in the eye.
“They’re not as bad as they used to be, right?” Severus just stared at her, shocked.
“What, so now you actually like Potter? After years of stalking you, he succeeded!?” he blurted out, half-serious.
“Of course not!” the redhead proclaimed. Severus raised his eyebrows, expression of doubt on his face. Lily rolled her eyes and lightly shoved him. “I’m aware that he’s still an arrogant toerag, and I’d rather not see that mug of his for a long, long time!”
“Even though you think he’s attractive?” Severus prompted, smirking as he saw Lily sputtering, cheeks glowing red. He could see her attempting to deny, trying to formulate the words, but he was well aware of Lily’s physical types, which unfortunately Potter, the git, would be proud to know he was a part of.
But unbeknownst to both, at this moment, something in the room shifted, as one of the tapestries was gently lifted and then replaced.
“Fine!” Lily admitted. “I consider him attractive. But that doesn’t change the fact that his personality is atrocious. I’d rather date the giant squid than that arsehole!”
Severus, satisfied at the reaction his teasing got from his best friend, let the smile drop off his face. “I know I’m teasing you now, but I truthfully don’t want you to get hurt.”
Lily smiled at him sincerely, the two starting to walk forward on their path again. “Yeah, I feel like Potter and I are not a good match,” she stated, shaking her head. “I have no clue why he’s after me so desperately. If he took a moment to stop and evaluate, he’d see that we’d be terrible together. We’re both way too headstrong.”
“You think of him too highly to think that he’d be capable of self-reflection,” Severus divulged, years of resentment fueling him as he rambled on about his oppressor. “Otherwise he wouldn’t have stalked you all this time and maybe he would have realized that he should befriend the best friend of his crush instead of bullying them. Face it, you’re a challenge to him. His ego’s so big that any possible love interest daft enough to want him would have to fall at his feet and worship him in order to deal with him.”
Lily hummed, looking away. "Who knows, maybe one day someone will come along and Potter will become a better person for them."
Severus snorted. "Just as long as that person isn't you,” he urged, completely doubtful. “If that idiot were to actually change for someone, then I look forward to witnessing the pigs flying around that day." He replied with the muggle phrase, to which Lily chuckled, hiding her laughter behind a dainty hand.
Just then, as the two walked, Severus once again felt a similar sensation to what he had felt previously in the day. He stopped, sighed deeply, then, raising his head, he turned around sharply.
“Sev?” Lily questioned, looking at the raven curiously. Severus didn’t acknowledge her, instead opting to take a deep breath in.
“Potter! Black! I know you’re there! If you’re going to hex me, just come out and do it, I don’t have all day to deal with your childish antics, and I just want to spend some time with my best friend, so come out and face me!” Severus panted after the outburst, breath heaving, hand clutching at his wand, waiting for the two Gryffindors to reveal themselves.
For a moment, there was only silence. But then, Severus heard shuffling, and then a tapestry at the end of the hall moved, pushing forward as someone made their way around it from where they had been hiding behind it.
Lily’s jaw drop and her eyes widened, while Severus just stayed still, eyes wide and eyebrows high, frozen and unmoving, as they both stared at the person.
It was a child. Roughly toddler age, the child seemed to be male, from the male muggle cargo pants and faded large t-shirt with a tiger on it the child was wearing. The child had tanned skin, but not as tanned as Severus had seen people get after a day in the sun. They had messy, untameable hair that seemed as though it hadn’t been brushed in a while, in probably the darkest raven black shade possible. And then when the child looked up at the two frozen sixth years, he revealed the dark, near black eyes that sat hugely on the child’s anxious face, as the two watched him put his index and middle fingers into his mouth and began to suck them.
Lily broke out of her frozen state first, smiling gently at the boy and moving closer. Severus, who was still shell-shocked, glanced at her worriedly before fixing his gaze back at the child.
“Hi there!” Lily said gently, “I’m Lily, and this is Severus,” she introduced themselves, pointing to herself and then to Severus. “Can you tell us your name?”
The child didn’t say anything. He had looked over to Lily when she spoke and introduced herself, her bright nature drawing his attention, but once she introduced Severus, the child looked over and paused, eyes widening.
Severus was scared. He didn’t know why the child was so fixated on him. The child was even ignoring Lily’s attempts to grab his attention and get his name, instead focusing on staring at Severus. As Severus watched with rising uneasiness, the child broke out into a wide, face splitting grin, saliva covered fingers falling out of his mouth as he moved past Lily's outreaching arms and started sprinting towards Severus at top speed.
Severus had no time to react before the child collided with him, latching onto his right leg. “What the- Hey!?” Severus exclaimed, no longer frozen, as he looked down at the boy adamantly hugging his leg, the slytherin confused and shocked. The boy snuggled into the leg, hugging it tightly before looking up at Severus, smiling, and yelling something that left both Severus and Lily stunned, unable to comprehend anything.
“Papa!” the child yelled, looking up with an adorable smile at the Slytherin who had an expression of growing shock and horror displayed on his face.