The day went on quite pleasantly, Severus didn’t actually say much as Lily and James had done most of the talking. They talked about nothing major, just casually going from topic to topic. 

Apparently Sirius and Remus had a falling out lately which made things “awkward” for James, he didn’t mention anything about Pettigrew and seemed dismissive when Snape tried asking about him. Lily then told him about her newfound fascination in clay statues and potentially making some herself.

Evening was beginning to approach and just as Severus prepared to leave the Potter abode. Lily and James saw him off, James no longer looking so sour. Severus looked back one last time, his nerves steeled-ish. “This was nice, I’d love to come by again.”

Lily nodded. “You’re always welcome in our home!” James didn’t say anything at all, although his brows raised and under his breath he whispered the word “always” with confusion.

Behind them was also the boy from before, looking from behind the wall. Harry quickly hid when Severus saw him. Severus waved to the young child again, who shyly mimicked the action.

With that Severus headed off, soon back at his own home.

It felt weird seeing her again, she felt like a completely new person. James also seemed kind of…odd. They all were much older so of course there’s gonna be internal changes, but the two really felt like strangers he was meeting for the first time.

…Just what was Lily going to say? What was…Does Severus even want to know? What if she didn’t accept his apology, what if she’s actually just pretending to have forgiven him as some sort of prank?

He felt exhausted, unsure…also his feet were aching from the walk, he should take this as a sign to go out more often perhaps.

The moon stood high in the sky, and Severus wanted nothing more than to just sleep the night away.

A week had passed and eventually he came to London once more, this time Lily had invited him for lunch. She made sure James also knew about the visit so hopefully there won’t be any immediate push back like last time from the short haired man.

As he approached the garden once more he saw a little bundle of dark hair among the grass and clay. He approached it and saw Harry, who was observing a snail trailing along the dirt. Harry hadn’t noticed Severus yet, fully focused on the slimy creature. Harry reached out and poked one of the eye stem. The Snail’s eye went down before slowly poking back out only for Harry to poke it once more. This time the stem wasn’t coming up so Harry was about to reach for the other eye of the snail.

“It’s gonna go blind if you keep doing that.”

Harry startled and quickly jumped up. When he saw Severus staring down at him, the boy made an indiscernible high pitched noise before running towards the door. He rang the bell several times and once again James was the one to open it. “Wow, wow.” James picked the boy up who immediately buried his face into his father’s neck. “Daww, did the greasy old bat scare you? Don’t worry, daddy’s here for you.”

“Old? We’re the same age!” Severus argued.

“Tell that to a mirror, sag face.” James mocked.

Severus grumbled, heading inside along with James and Harry. “Lily, he’s here!” James yelled towards the kitchen. Once the door was closed Harry had pushed himself away from his father and struggled in his grasp. James let the boy go who immediately rushed towards a box. James sighed deeply, he looked at the box his boy went in with worry and exhaustion.

“He still likes his boxes, hm…” Severus commented.

“.…Yeah…” James responded after a pause. He shook his head and headed towards the kitchen. 

Severus stood in the hallway for a while longer, staring at the box which held the boy. Harry poked his head out a bit after a while, his eyeballs still seeming way too large compared to the size of his head. Severus didn’t say anything, simply waving before following James to the kitchen. He didn’t see it, but Harry waved back.

Snape sat down at the kitchen table. There was a basket of bread on the table but Lilly was still busy decorating something in the cooking area. “Hi, Sev! How was the ride?”

“Oh, uhm, it was nice.” Severus said. “Since it was earlier in the day there weren’t many people riding.” So he didn’t have to hear as many muggles murmuring about him. Perhaps he should buy some clothes in this world to mix in more naturally among the people. After all, it seemed like these visits were gonna happen more often.

James sat across from him, chewing on one of the breads with a despondent expression. “Is something the matter?” Severus asked. James continued chewing, his eyes wandering.

“It’s nothing just…It’s nothing.”

Severus was not convinced that it was truly nothing.

Before he could inquire further Lily had begun bringing over the meal. Some fried salmon alongside sweet potato mash and asparagus. “Harry! Lunch time!” She yelled through the house. She waited for a while but the boy didn’t come, she sighed and left towards the hallway. Her sigh seemed similar to that of James’ before.

“So whatever is going on, it seems to be affecting Lily as well, yes?” Severus said to the bespectacled man. James slammed his fist down on the table, startling Snape. 

“Would you keep your oversized nose out of this?! It’s private family matters.”

“...So it’s because of the boy.”

James snarled at him and it almost seemed like he was about to get physical, but Severus could tell that the man was currently all bark no bite. “He just likes sitting in boxes, it’s no big deal. A bit strange but…he’ll grow out of it.”

“It is a big deal, Pri-...Snape.” James responded clearly with the most serious expression Severus has ever seen him with. The short haired man rubbed at his temples for a while with his eyes closed, when he opened them back up it almost seemed like he was about to weep. “He keeps getting into these phases and we just don’t…we don’t know what to do.”

Severus’ mouth went agape, completely confused at just how serious James was being. Was Harry sick? Or…

“Found the little rascal!” Lily said as she brought the young child in. She sat him down on a high chair next to her seat and gave him a small bowl of sweet potato mash. As soon as she came back the mood shifted and James wore a faux smile on his face. “You two didn’t have to wait for us. Go on, Sev, dig in.”

“Ah, right.” Severus grabbed one of the fish and a decent amount of the mash and veggie. James mostly continued eating the bread but he also grabbed himself one of the Salmon. 

Lily chewed slowly, her attention more focused on Harry who didn’t appear to be touching his food at all. The boy just…stared at the bowl in front of him, seemingly lost on what to do with it. Lily eventually grabbed his spoon and fed the boy herself instead.

Once more Severus hears a sigh coming from James. “He’s old enough to eat himself, dear.” He mumbled. To which Lily looked back at him with furrowed brows before focusing back on Harry. “If you would just let him try instead of doing everything-”

“Do you want him to starve, is that it?” Lily suddenly said. “I know he can do it but he- He just…he needs some help with it first.” Lily continued spoon feeding for a while before handing the spoon to the boy. Harry looked at the object, tilting it left and right before hesitantly dipping it into the mash and beginning to eat himself. “See?”

James shook his head. “Lily, he's almost three years old and he can’t even use a spoon right without you having to show him every single meal. Doesn’t that worry you at all?” James said with a half broken voice.

Lily turned to her husband with anger. “No, I am not worried about Harry. Wanna know what I am worried about? You, because you keep asking that question over and over again.” She bit into her meal firmly, her fork hitting the plate hard enough each time to make a noise. “Stop looking at me like that, James, you know I despise it when you do that.”

“Only if you look me in the eyes and say that again.” James said in an almost challenging manner. “Look at me and say that you don’t worry for our child.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know that.”

“Then what the hell did you mean, Lily?”

This was incredibly awkward.

Severus took another look at the high seat only to see…nothing. Harry had seemingly left while the pair were talking. He was about to notify the two when suddenly Lily stood up and began yelling. “How could you be so cruel towards your own son?!” James stood as well, “Oh yeah, I’m the one being cruel. You don’t even realize that your constant babying is only making things worse!”

Severus ultimately decided against speaking to either of them right now and instead excused himself, very quietly so they wouldn’t notice.

He walked through the halls to look for the boy, it didn’t take long as this time he wasn’t hiding in any of the boxes and instead sat at the top of the stairs while squeezing something in his hands.

Severus walked up and sat next to the boy. Harry was playing with a sort of plush that had a zipper on its back, pulling it open and closed repeatedly. The boy looked at Severus for a while before going back to his toy. He didn’t say anything so Severus didn’t feel the need to say anything. He just continued playing with the zipper of the snake plush as the argument continued downstairs.

A growling noise came from the boy’s stomach, and he stopped zipping the toy to hold his tummy instead. “Are you still hungry?” Snape asked. The boy gave a slight nod Severus began heading down but not before grabbing one of the boy’s hands. The two made their way back to the kitchen where Lily and James were no longer yelling but instead just silently glaring at each other.

When Severus sat back down the two snapped back. They quickly went back to eating while glancing at the long haired man with a sense of embarrassment.

…It seems they didn’t even notice that Harry had left.