Harry bundled himself under the covers and turned sideways, everytime Severus turned the pages he would make a new excited noise and look at the pretty picture while the older man read the page.

 “Despite their rat-like appearance, bats are not related to rats or any other type of rodent. In some places they are referred to as flying foxes, but they are not canines either. The only thing that a bat, a rat and a fox have in common is that they are all mammals.” Severus read.  Some pages of the book were damaged so they hadn’t been able to read them all, but so far he read about flamingos, several big cats, elephants…the muggle world may not have as many creatures as the magical world, but there was still a rather large and varied amount.

Harry pointed at the drawing of the bat provided with the page and then pointed at Severus, repeating the movement several times. “Ah…Yes, your father tends to call me an old bat often, doesn’t he? Ahaha…” He faked a laugh. Part of him misses the old nicknames, well, no, he disliked those too. “They look creepy, don’t they?” A trait that Severus likely shares with the creature.

“...Cute.”…Hm. Hm? Huh?!

Harry pointed at the bat one more time, letting his tiny finger rest on the page. “Cute.” He repeated. Severus nearly felt his breath stop, did he actually hear that right? Harry had moved his lips and words were coming out of it…HUH?!?

The boy shrunk back and his lips tightened at Severus’ reaction. “Harry…could you say that again?” Severus asked. However, Harry shook his head, hiding his face under the covers. “...I like hearing your voice.” the older man praised, hoping it might change the young one’s mind. Harry moved the covers up a tiny bit, just enough to reveal his eyes but he still seemed to shy away from speaking any further.

Snape let out a short laugh, a genuine one this time. He pet Harry’s head which was still hidden deep under the covers.

Forest green met the dark abyss. It is said that the eyes were the window to the soul, an old muggle writer said so anyway. Supposedly there is a part that humans just cannot hide, something that is only shown when you truly look at them with no thoughts enforced by your mind.

“Would you like me to continue reading?” Severus eventually asked. Harry stuck out more of his face and nodded. “Alright then, next we have…turtles.” Severus read the first few lines before speaking the words for the boy. “The most iconic part of a turtle would be its shell, a sort of body armor that it uses as it’s defense mechanism.”

Harry’s finger traced the image, the land turtle shown on the page had a lot of scratchy lines on its face to show off how dry they look in real life. The boy liked moving his nails across the lineart, making vague automobile noises, perhaps he was pretending the lines were like roads and his finger was a car.

“Its shell is actually a bunch of bones bundled closely together, a layer of keratin coats the top which protects the still fragile bones from breaking. Predator animals who try to chew on the shell quickly tend to give up. Their fangs are sharp but their jaw strength just isn’t enough to penetrate the layer most of the time.” The rest of the page was much more gruesome than expected, explaining all the ways a turtle can be crushed such as applying heavy weight on it.

Snape decided he didn’t want to give the kid night terrors about poor, defenseless turtles, so he turned the page once more…

Brightness suddenly hit his eyes and caused Severus’ to cringe away, awakening with a sting. 

He rubbed the tiredness away and took a look around, it seemed he’d fallen asleep at the Potter household as he found himself lying down on their couch with a blanket over him.

He took a look at the clock just above the kitchen entrance, he’d awoken at 5AM. That’s weird, there is no way the sun would be coming up this early in winter. Severus took a look outside and saw that the bright light from before was just the lamp of a mail man’s bike.

Severus still wore the muggle clothes from yesterday and as such didn’t have the most comfortable sleep, he can’t even remember how or when he dozed off, the last thing he can recall is reading about some sort of common bird found near ireland…anyhow, it’s about time he returns to his own home.

Quietly the long haired man headed towards the door and put his shoes back on, hoping not to wake anyone. Someone had carried him all the way downstairs, so that meant James and Lily had gotten back safely yesterday, right? Right.

…Unless Severus actually walked down himself and fell asleep on his own, just unable to remember doing it.

…

He took his shoes off and decided to check after all.

The stairs of the home weren’t debilitated but for some reason they creaked much louder than Snape wanted them to, the quiet halls made any noise so much louder. As he came close to the master bedroom, he pushed the door just a tiny bit to check in.

Nothing to worry about, Lily and James were deeply asleep.

Severus sighed and was about to turn back when he noticed Harry’s door had been ajar. The boy must be fine too, right? James would slap him awake had anything happened to Harry after Severus dozed off. The boy was fine…but maybe just one quick check.

A quick peek inside revealed that everything was fine and Harry was-...Harry was not in bed. Severus opened the door wide and headed in to take a closer look at the bed. It was completely empty and he wasn’t hiding anywhere else either.

Snape was in panic, where the hell was he?

“Hmn…Severus?” James said tiredly from the doorway. “What’re you doing…?” He let out a loud yawn while stretching his arms. “Ah…right, you fell asleep in Harry’s room…Wait, didn’t I carry you down though?”

“You carried me…? Nevermind that now, do you know where the boy is?” Severus closed in on James and shook him by the upper arms until he seemed to fully regain consciousness. “He was in here yesterday but now-”

“Calm down, jeez.” James spoke while pushing Severus’ hands away. “We accidentally woke him up yesterday and he wanted to sleep in our bed for the rest of the night.”

The long haired man heaved, relaxation washing over him. He was worried Harry might’ve levitated in his sleep and flew out an open window onto the road. Or maybe someone came in and hexed Severus to sleep to steal the boy, all kinds of horrible scenarios played in his head for the past five or so minutes.

Harry was fine. “Good…I, uh, suppose I should be heading off then.” With his anxieties relieved, Severus was about to make his way out, only to be stopped as James grabbed Severus’s wrist and pulled him back. “W- What are you doing?”

Despite the frown James’ face looked completely neutral and his exact expression was hard to read. Severus attempted to pull away again but James wouldn’t let go. “James, let me go. Now.” He was more than angered by this random antagonism James was attempting first thing in the morning.

“Why?” James suddenly asked. “Why is it that you…didn’t do anything?”

“...You’re hurting my wrist, moron.”

“How come we came back and Harry was fine? Why is it that you cared for him when-...”

James’ grip finally loosened and Snape finally managed to break free from his grasp. “Look, I have no idea what you are on about but if you’re complaining about me doing the exact thing you asked perfectly, then I am oh so sorry.” The long haired man grunted and headed down, not considering that he might wake up Lily or Harry with his loud steps.

As he headed out the door, the man with oval glasses slumped to the ground and held his face in his hands. By the time Lily did awake, she found her husband weeping for so long that his fingers had become pruney.