Harry Potter's Real Dad

Severus had his fifth years begin brewing an invigoration draught, a potion they had reviewed and studied all last week. While Harry fiddled with his dinosaurs, he couldn't help but watch the bubbling cauldrons as well. Severus walked between rows, aiding students where needed as questions popped up when something about the brewing process seemed awry.

Halfway through class, the classroom door opened, and all heads glanced to see who it was.

"Severus," Albus greeted warmly, "may I speak with you outside?"

Severus frowned. He really didn't want to have this conversation now, but he couldn't possibly avoid it when Albus was standing directly in front of him requesting a word. Severus looked around his classroom.

"Continue brewing your potions," he told the students, "you should all be near finished with two or three steps left."

Everyone gave a quiet "Yes, sir," and Severus walked over to his desk, where Harry was sitting with his dinosaurs all lined up in three neat rows.

"I'm going to be right outside those doors, okay, Harry? If you need me, come get me."

"Okay, Daddy," Harry said, earning some awes from the students.

Severus joined albus in the hallway, and he shut his classroom door firmly and put up a muffling charm around them.

"Severus, I wanted . . ." Albus began.

"May I just say," Severus interrupted, "that I am very furious with you right now, Albus. I trusted you to put Harry in good hands, and you told me repeatedly for years that he was fine. Not once did you suspect Harry was being mistreated and now look where we are. He's so confused right now, and what's worse—he wants to go back."

"Severus," Albus tried to interlude.

"Did you ever actually check up on him? Or did you just take Petunia's word that he was safe and healthy. And the damn pictures? Please tell me you were not the one who manipulated them."

"I am but probably not in the way you think."

"Do tell." Severus crossed his arms as he waited for Albus to explain.

"I admit I was lax in actually confirming that Harry was healthy and safe in Petunia's care," Albus said, ignoring Severus's annoyed grunt. "In my few visits there, I never saw a single picture of Harry up on the walls. Petunia simply told me Harry was camera shy and handed me the pictures I requested that she had managed to take of him. He did look thin in some of them, dirty too, but smiling, nonetheless. I only brightened some of the pictures and cleaned up Harry's looks so you would at least have a decent picture. I never questioned the circumstances under which Petunia took the pictures, or what else she may have done to them."

Severus felt slightly relieved that Albus had been only trying to preserve the quality of some of the pictures he had been given, but he was still annoyed that Albus admitted to not checking in on Harry in the way he should have been.

"Did you ever actually see Harry?" Severus asked.

"No. There was always a reason why Harry wasn't available. School, at a friend's house, extracurricular activities. I see now that none of it was ever true. I truly am sorry this has happened to him, Severus. Could you forgive an old man for his role in bringing this disaster about?"

Severus wanted so much not too, but he knew he was as much at fault as Albus was for his son's state of being. He should have checked on Harry himself. He shouldn't have abandoned his kid. With a heavy sigh, he nodded his head.

"I should have been there for him," Severus said. "I shouldn't have sent him away so easily."

"I should have encouraged you to take him," Albus said. "I didn't want to seem pushy at the time, as you already had so much on your plate. How is Harry, by the way? He seems to be settling in nicely."

"If you could call it that. He has so many health problems we're working through, physically and mentally. We're getting his asthma under control, he's eating habits need improvement, and Petunia is . . . I have no kind words for that woman. But Harry is completely devoted to her. He wants to go back to her. I don't know what "love" or "affection" she gave him, but he craves it. He climbed up my chimney the second day I had him and tried to run away. He's been settling in more, but only because he's been told he has a visit with his aunt this week."

"And you are taking him?" Albus questioned, his brows raising.

"I don't want to," Severus said, "but I already gave him my word. I will not go back on that, he's had too many people who've betrayed him already. I will not be one of them any longer."

"I understand," Albus said. "He'll need that from you. From me as well. I owe him that much. When can I meet the lad?"

"Well, I have an hour break once this class if over. You're more than welcomed to stick around."

"Perhaps for a few minutes."

Severus cancelled the muffling charm and led the way back into the classroom. He halted at the sight and Albus paused next to him with a big grin.

The cauldrons were all simmering, the final step in the brewing process, and all the students were circling his desk, and Harry was showing off each dinosaur individually to the students.

"And this is ankylosaurus," Harry said, holding up the dinosaur in question. "See how he's protected by armor and he's got a big club for a tail that he can swing and protect himself."

"Wow," some students said, while others said, "that's brilliant."

"And this one is pachycephalosaurs," Harry said, grabbing another one. "He's got armor, too—on his head. He smacks into other dinosaurs with it. Pow!" Harry demonstrated by ramming the pachy into the ankylosaurus.

"Does he eat the other dinosaurs he smacks?" a student kneeling closer to Harry asked, watching with an amused look as Harry made a face.

"No, he only eats greens. But Tyrannosaurus Rex eats both of them!" Harry grabbed his T-rex and pretended it was gnawing on the pachy. The students laughed.

Albus chuckled.

"Looks like you've got a little teacher in that one," Albus said.

"My answer key to their next test is on my desk," Severus growled, then whistled loudly, making everyone jump and look his way.

"These potions better all be worth an O if we can find the time to learn about dinosaurs," Severus said, and everyone ran back to their table to look at the color of their potion.

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