Hidden in Black Robes

Interactions

Getting Harry to take a bath was much harder than Severus had anticipated. Harry was now throwing a tantrum about a simple bath,

"No baf! N-no baf! No baf p-pwease no!" could be heard protested throughout his quarters.

"It's merely a bath Harry. Stop your tantrum right now." Severus ordered.

"No! No! No! Baf huwt w-wots! No wike!" Desperate tears flooded big green eyes.

"It's not supposed to Harry." Severus's tone softened, moving to kneel on the floor on one leg in front of him.

"No w-wike! Baf hot! Baf b-bad!" tears were falling down his pink cheeks and onto the carpet.

"I'll make the bath a suitable temperature Harry. You can even test the water before you get in."

"N-no hot? No h-huwt?"

"Harry, look at me." Severus waited for his command to be followed before realising that Harry was not going to comply. Severus sighed as he lifted Harry's chin slightly before continuing,

"I won't ever hurt you. Your relatives were not acceptable people, do you understand?" His free hand gently wiped the tears still streaming down Harry's face.

"Auntie Unco bad?"

"Yes. They are the worst kind of people Harry. Let's go take a nice bath shall we?" Severus changed the subject. Time was slowly ticking during Harry's little objection. They had to speed up if they were going to make it to dinner in time.

"O-ok. Up p-pwease?" voice barely audible, raising his hands up towards Severus.

Severus should prevent his habit of wanting to be carried everywhere soon. Walking would be beneficial for the both of them. Severus gave in to the toddler in the end. Those eyes were hard to resist.

Severus had not carried any child before this but he was already getting used to the motion. That was just a little concerning. Severus picked him up, arms supporting his back and legs as he stood up himself, swiftly grabbing a few items from the box before heading for the bathroom. He could feel Harry resuming his previous position in his arms as Harry hid in the crook of his neck. Both arms around his neck yet again.

Letting Harry back on the floor upon entering the bathroom, he dragged a small wooden stool in the corner to the side of the bathtub and sat down. Turning on the tap and filling the rarely used bathtub to a reasonable height for Harry.

Harry tried to climb onto Severus's lap as soon as he was set down. He was lacking physical touch and Severus's had been the only one he was comfortable with. Holding Severus's robes, he attempted to pull himself up with all the strength he had. It did not work. He then resorted to giving Severus the puppy eyes.

Severus did notice the puppy eyes that Harry was giving him but did not give in this time. The tub was almost done filling anyways. He guided Harry's hand towards the water and gestured for him to feel it. Small hands touched the water surface, still disappointed by the fact that Severus did not accept his silent request.

A wave of his wand and Harry's clothes were spelled off of him. He quickly put Harry into the bathtub. Opening the bottle of chidren's shampoo that he found in the box, he squeezed some of the oddly vibrant blue liquid onto his palms and lathered it on Harry's unruly hair. Harry melted into the contact.

"Lean your head back. I'm going to rinse your hair."

Pouring scoops of water from a cup over the mop of hair, making sure that no soapy water went into Harry's eyes. He proceeded to wash Harry's body as well.

Severus finished bathing Harry and took Harry out of the bathtub, immediately wrapping a fluffy towel around him to prevent him from getting cold. After Harry was dry, he Accioed one of his own black shirts and pants, transfiguring it into Harry's size and spelled it on him.

"We're going to have dinner in the Great Hall. There will be many people present, will you be fine?" Severus asked as he ushered Harry back to the living room.

"Sev'us stay?"

"You will be sitting beside me." Severus clarified.

"Mhm"

~==+<>+==~

There were not a lot of people there when Severus stepped in to the Great Hall carrying Harry. Severus had wanted to be a little early so that Harry could get familiar with the place before the hordes of students rushed in.

Severus could felt that Harry tensed right after he saw the amount of people in the Great Hall. Although there were only teachers occupying the room at the moment, Harry was still nervous. Harry had moved one of his arms to grip Severus's robes instead.

Severus went to the teacher's table, detached Harry's grip on his robes and placed him on a chair beside him, sitting down himself. Most of the staff stopped their conversations midway and stared bewildered at him, shocked at the sight of a child accompanying him. They didn't even know that he was the Boy-Who-Lived yet. Severus smirked. Minerva and Dumbledore both gave him a knowing look however.

There was loads of food on the table. Plates of roast beef, chicken and ham sandwiches, shepard's pie were visible on the large table. Harry was looking at all the mouth watering dishes, excitement filling his eyes despite the nervousness. He still had a grip on Severus's robes after he was sat on the chair though.

Severus picked up a fork on the table and stabbed a fairly big chunk of roast beef and set it on Harry's plate, cutting it up into bite size pieces. He then took the fork that was beside Harry's plate and gave it to him. He needed to learn how to use cutlery sooner or later.

Harry stared at the fork in confusion. Several seconds later, Severus had thought that maybe Harry would get the idea of how to use the utensil after seeing him do it first but that did not happen, he decided to help.

Severus reached his empty hand out and wrapped it around Harry's smaller one, holding the fork, he led Harry's hand to the plate and picked up a piece of roast beef before letting go of Harry's hand.

Harry got the hint and put the roast beef in his mouth, eyes sparkling slightly when he realised how delicious it was. He turned to face Severus in hopes of getting more.

The professors were watching this happen with their own eyes. They couldn't believe it. The scary potion master was firstly, accompanied by a child, secondly, he was feeding said child. How did this happen? Also, why does the boy seem weirdly familiar?

Severus glanced at the astounded faces of his colleagues and barely held back a smug look. Not long after, the shock gradually disappeared and morphed into looks of fondness.

"Who's this little one you got there Severus?" Flitwick asked.

Severus was interested in how they would react when they found out his identity. After catching Harry's attention he asked,

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Severus prompted. Harry moved a little closer to Severus and gripped Severus's robes slightly tighter.

"H-hewwo. M'Hawwy." Harry's social skills need some work.

Practically all the professor's gaped at the same time. Perhaps this Great Hall experience would not be that dreadful. The shock lasted longer than before. Soon, they noticed that two of the staff there were not surprised, Minerva and Dumbledore.

"Well h-hello there Harry, I'm Professor Flitwick." He stuttered out, not quite over the shock yet.

"H-hewwo 'fessor Fitwit" Flitwick let out a soft chuckle at Harry's pronunciation of his name.

All the professors introduced themselves one at a time, each followed by Harry saying "Hewwo 'fessor" and a horrible pronunciation of their name. It was quite endearing. The real chaos has yet to come. One by one, students flooded the Great Hall.

A/N: I finally finished the chapter after having it in my drafts unfinished for a while so that's cool. My sunburn is getting better so I might be getting a new chapter done faster. Not very sure tho.