Harry wouldn’t let go of the older man for several hours. Part of Severus was worried as he had several pages to write, but another much larger part felt a sense of peace simply lying on the boy’s bed and having him cuddled up against his chest. He petted the boys’ fluffy locks and whispered something in his ear. “May I sit up? My legs are starting to ache.” The bed wasn’t exactly fit for him after all.

“Sure.” Harry responded, his face still rubbed up against the man’s chest. “...I don’t know why I…I promise I wasn’t scared, honest! Something just…it felt like something bit at me the longer you were gone, Snape…”

Severus let out a short chuckle. “These days you’ve been getting so rebellious, always wanting to do things yourself…Sometimes I forget that you are still just a child, leaving you here all alone in an unknown home must’ve been too much for you.”

“You think so…?” Harry questioned, finally revealing his face again. His cheeks were a bit crusty from the tears but the pink tint on his eyes was fading. “It’s not gonna be like this when I go to Hogwarts, right?” Getting a massive panic attack like today while surrounded by his peers would be beyond embarrassing for Harry.

The older man shrugged. “I can’t speak for the future, but a lot can change in two years. James will likely send you on more trips for you to really be prepared.”

Harry thought back to his very first overnight school trip, he started wailing in the middle of the night due to missing his parents and for months the other boys in his class would poke fun at him for being a “widdle cwybaby”. Those days were a terror. Magic world kids are probably much more mature, if he started crying while in the dorms because of another incident just like this…

“Se- Snape, I want you to leave me all alone again tomorrow!”

“Huh?” Severus didn’t understand the sudden moodswing. “What are you on about, Potter? After today it seems unwise to have an immediate repeat.”

Harry removed himself from Severus and stood firm. “Maybe for not as long as today, but I don’t wanna be a little boy anymore! If I can’t get through something as basic as this, I’ll never survive Hogwarts!” The boy puffed up his cheeks, there is no way he’s gonna ruin his chance at attending and graduating from a school of magic. The school his mother and father went to, the school uncle Remus and uncle Sirius went to, the school Severus went to…It’s been his dream to swing a wand there just like them.

Snape scratched at his neck. He could see the boy was determined, but the Potter household was trusting him big time. Two weeks alone with him, on top of that in a far away small town without the parents nearby. Snape may have seemed nonchalant when accepting the task, but the truth is his nerves have been going into overdrive ever since.

How sweet should he be to the boy? How strict should he be? Harry was here to grow more independent. 

The very first town’s person he trusted robbed him and on his first time alone he started sobbing from loneliness…

Childcare is so damn difficult!

Anytime Severus thinks he has the kid figured out and knows exactly what to do, it seemed like the exact opposite had been the case. The older Harry gets the more he changes, it’s just no longer as simple as sitting next to the child while he weeps. Someday Harry will have even deeper worries…Not everything can be fixed with a hug.

Ever since he began to distance himself from the boy, no longer using his first name…it had hurt him when Harry started calling him “Snape”. However it was necessary, Lily had been venting about how Harry’s social life at school had been near dead and Severus didn’t want the child to grow up as a loner only to then be surrounded by a bunch of fake “friends”. Severus felt like Harry’s antisocial attitude towards his peers was somehow his influence.

Inside him there was this inkling, this desire to perhaps get a bit closer to the boy again, but he shouldn’t give into this temptation. They were not friends, he was one of Harry’s trusted guardians and right now he had a sort of mentor role.

Severus coughed into his fist and put on a neutral face. “Alright then. Tomorrow I’ll have to pick up some bread in the morning, at most that’ll take about an hour…do you think you could handle that?” He unconsciously spoke the last part with worry.

“Absolutely!” Harry pumped up his fists.

Severus nodded, he got off the bed and prepared to head for his room. He actually wanted to take Harry along tomorrow, it was a cute little shop and during the summer they had a tropical cupcake selection…but he can always just pick those up alone.

Just as Severus was about to leave, he felt the boy grab at his robe. “Hm?”

“Ah- Uhm…” Harry muffled something between his lips, his cheeks reddened and he lowered his face once more. “I do wanna be alone more but- Uh…for today, can we stay together for just a bit longer?”

Severus seemed conflicted, giving the boy a carrot this early seems counteractive…but he couldn’t resist the puppy dog eyes. Harry has even more pitiful ones than his mother, it made Severus’ heart ache. “Ok! Ok…I really have to work now though, if you can promise to stay quiet you could sit with me in my office.”

“Yes!...” Harry nearly cheered, but he tried to play it off more casual-like.

The long haired man took one of the chairs in the kitchen and put them in his tiny, tiny cube for Harry to sit in. It felt a bit awkward having the boy stare at him while he was writing, but it somehow also felt…nice. During Severus’ small thinking breaks he no longer had to stare off into nothingness and instead could look at all the weird faces and smiles Harry would give. Sometimes Severus got a bit too distracted and had to actively slap himself back to focus.

Writing this rubbish may bring him plenty of funds but good god what a chore certain chapters were, especially all the stupid romance ones. This was an adventure novel, why does Lockhart keep insisting that his random flings are absolutely necessary for the story?! It was difficult due to how boring and unnecessary, as well as likely fake the notes were…but there was another reason Severus had trouble writing the romantic scenes.

Aside from Gilderoy’s notes about how much he desired the women, he had little to no clue what to put in to actually fresh the romance out within the tale. A lot of the extra details in these books were completely fake, 100% fictional, just parts of Severus’ imagination. The relationship between characters were those extra details because Lockhart would write very little about the people he would meet during his journey.

He’d describe how they look, short fun facts that seemed kind of condescending and…that’s it. It was fine, he wasn’t writing an epic tale of friendship and most of the readers seemed to only care about the titular man anyhow…but sometimes Severus would at least try to put more depth in.

What should he use for this lady…making her another sweet yet sensible damsel in distress seemed lackluster, especially since he used that type of character in the last two stories. Perhaps a more ice queen type? No…Lockhart would complain because an attractive female character didn’t instantly grovel at his feet with lust. Severus sighed and pushed that part away from now, he could fill the blank later. He had already decided that after this work his deal with Lockhart would be over, so no need to try and make this a masterpiece or anything.

The young boy looked on as Severus grumbled and fumbled with the feather, scritching words onto the paper that Harry couldn’t quite make out from the other side of the table. Harry lay his head into his arms. Another few hours went by and yet he never left, feeling content just sitting here in the cube with the older man.