Harry Potter's Real Dad

Severus continued reading the essay aloud, pausing only now and then to mark a correction while explaining to Harry why the remark in the essay was wrong. He was surprised that Harry stayed with him until he finished the essay and moved on to the next. He was sure the topic would bore the child. He grabbed the next essay, and thankfully, it was a different year's homework. The fifth years. This was the last group he had to grade, and he figured he could do so tomorrow. He sat back instead and focused on Harry.

"So, what did you think?"

"It was cool," Harry said.

"Did you learn anything?"

"Aconite is a bad plant."

"Toxic, not bad. It needs to be handles correctly and then it can be used for very good things. Like for pain relief."

"Like your healing salve thing?"

"Exactly. There's aconite in the salve that I used on you and Iris. It helped, didn't it?"

"Yeah. My shoulder didn't hurt anymore."

Severus stared at Harry for a moment, his mind straying off the topic of what they had read.

"I want to show you something."

Severus picked up his quill and pulled a scrap of parchment closer. He scribbled on it.

"Why do you write with feathers?" Harry asked, reaching out to touch the feather.

"It's called a quill," Severus said. "Here, look at this."

"That's my name. Harry."

"It is. But this says James. And this is Potter."

"Potter is my last name," Harry said.

"I know." Severus tapped the page. "And James is your middle name. And this is what your name looks like."

"Really? James like my other daddy?"

"Exactly. You're named after him. Harry James Potter."

Harry stared at the name written on the page.

"That's what my name looks like?"

"Mmhmm."

Harry stared some more.

"What does your name look like?"

Severus smiled, then wrote down his name under Harry's.

"Severus Tobias Snape," Severus read.

Harry stared at Severus's name, looking back and forth between Severus's and his names.

"What about Iris?"

"Iris Eileen-Louise Snape," Severus read as he wrote Iris's name on the parchment.

Harry frowned at that. He touched the ink, accidentally smearing "Snape." Severus picked up a cloth on his desk and cleaned the small amount of ink off his finger.

"Careful," he said. "It doesn't dry like a pen does."

"Why isn't my last name Snape?" Harry pouted.

"James was your adopted father, remember? So you have his last name."

Harry was quiet as he stared at the page.

"But I'm with you now. I want your last name too."

"I think we can make that happen. Maybe we can hyphen your last name. Potter-Snape? Does that sound okay."

Harry nodded as he rested his head on Severus's shoulder.

"Do you think Aunt Petunia would like it?"

And there it was. The name he had been hoping to avoid all day. Severus sighed as he tightened his arms around Harry, resting his chin on top of Harry's head. He still didn't want to ruin this day by opening up that topic. So, knowing it would keep the peace between himself and Harry for now, Severus agreed.

"I think she would love it."

Even if he knew she wouldn't care either way.

....

Do you want to read ahead by more than 60 exciting premium chapters?

Then join my p*atreon right now.

Link: p*atreon.com/Sonic_Spectre (Remove the *)

Free members can unlock upto 2 chapters.