In Need

CHAPTER 22

Notes:

Helloo dear reader!
First of all, I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter. The holiday season has left my brain with no energy and it's taken me longer than usual to get this chapter to a place it can be posted. BUT, since today is Severus's 62nd birthday, we'll pretend this was all planned.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEVERUS!

I would recommend going to Tumblr and searching for the tag "snirthday", which is full of art and fics snape-centred. And I'd also recommend looking into the Snape Chat Podcast (linked here: https://snapechat.podbean.com/e/11-i-snappy-snirthday/) in which they discuss some meta about Severus, and read some fics as well.

So, here we go with chapter 22, the first one of 2022! Can you believe it?
This chapter is shorter than usual, but I didn't want to leave you without one for this week. So here it is.
ENJOY!

------------------------------------

Severus took a deep breath as he opened the door to his living quarters and let the warm comfort and smell of his rooms relax him. He took off his teaching robes as he crossed the threshold, and hung them on the coatrack. Then he walked straight to the armchair in front of the fireplace, the familiar space bringing him instant comfort. The fire was already lit and despite the cold of the dungeons, a sense of warmth and comfort settled in Severus's stomach. He kicked off his boots and stretched his legs, the fabric of his socks warming up by the fire as his lips curled into a satisfied smile. He then settled his feet on the ottoman Harry had taken down to the dungeons from his quarters, and sighed.

It wasn't strange that Harry wasn't there yet, he must've been caught up by something or someone. Severus had seen it before. His students usually scrambled to get out of his sight as soon as the bell rang, except perhaps for his NEWT students. With Harry, on the other hand, it happened the other way around. It took him ages to go from one side to the castle to the other; he'd always be stopped by students, either wanting to chat for a bit or having doubts or questions. Severus knew why that happened, Harry was kind and open with people by nature. How, after so much suffering, Harry's outlook in life was always positive and optimistic, he couldn't say. But it was an aspect of him that Severus considered it ought to be commended and admired.

Severus shook his head slightly, amused, and using his wand he summoned his teapot and a cup. After such a long day, now it would be a great time for a nice glass of firewhisky. But ever since that night he'd drunk himself to exhaustion and had been found by Albus and Minerva in a Little state, he'd decided not to consume alcohol for a time. The last thing he wanted was to become his poor excuse of a father. So, he poured himself a cup of tea, enjoying the silence of the evening except for the crackling of the fire, and took a sip.

His mind took him to the night before. After an exhausting week, Severus had finally let himself go and regressed all evening. It had taken a bit of effort on Harry's part, somehow Severus didn't feel entirely comfortable, but the damn Gryffindor was cunning.

Normally, once he'd gone back to his adult self, he had bits and pieces of his memory when he was a child. He couldn't remember things with exact detail, not in the same way he could when he was in an adult mindset. And that meant he often remembered snippets, flashes of images or feelings, but not entire conversations.

But this time, he had a very distinct memory of the night before.

FLASHBACK

He was having so much fun!

He was sitting on the floor, one train in each hand, and he had all sorts of toys around him: fire trucks, police cars, tractors, carriages with a couple of horses, planes... as always, Harry had gone all the way and when he'd seen he enjoyed transport toys, he'd bought the entire lot.