𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹 || 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟎𝟐.

Snape arrived at his home on Spinner's End and removed Harry from the car seat. Harry just looked at him, his eyes wild and darting. He breathed in and out in shallow, quick breaths and leaned away slightly from Snape. While Snape didn't necessarily know an uncommon amount of knowledge about babies, he knew this was abnormal. Snape unlocked his front door with a small flick of his wand and entered his front room. He turned the light on and looked around. Dumbledore had provided Snape with a small brown crib for Harry but other than that Snape was on his own. He had no idea where to begin. Probably food? What did he have that a malnourished little boy would want to eat? With Harry still on hip, Snape walked into his kitchen. Harry seemed fascinated by the lights and stared at them, pointing up at them. His mouth opened and shut but he didn't make any sound.

"Yes Potter. Those are lights," Snape said flatly. He went through his well-organized cupboards but wasn't sure what the small boy would want to eat. "Why did I agree to this?" Snape muttered to himself. With no other idea of what to feed him, Snape grabbed a piece of bread.

"Will this do, Potter?" Snape asked trying to hand Harry the piece of bread. Harry's eyes grew even wider and he turned his head away, as if afraid of being struck.

"I'm not going to hit you," Snape said dryly. With bread in hand he returned to his living room. Experimentally he sat Harry down on the floor. Snape wondered if the frail little boy would be able to sit up on his own, but Harry did so. He burrowed the fingers of his right hand into the thick, dark green carpet and sucked on his lower lip. Snape ripped a little piece of bread off and offered it to Harry. Harry just squeezed his eyes shut.

"You can eat can't you?" Snape muttered. He picked Harry up and after some hesitation set him on his knee. Using one finger Snape pulled Harry's lip down. He saw four little teeth emerging from the baby's gums. "Here." Snape poked the piece of bread into Harry's mouth. After a little time Harry began to eat the little piece and after swallowing continued to sit quietly. Snape fed Harry another little piece. The baby's mouth was warm and wet, and Severus felt his fingers getting all slimy. This was not something he was accustomed to. After five minutes of slow bites, Harry began to take the pieces from Severus' fingers, and was doing his best to feed himself, ending up with some partially chomped on bread dribbling down his chin and shirt.

"Charming," Snape said. He set Harry back down on the floor with a few more ripped up pieces of bread and went to the kitchen to get a cloth to wipe his face. When Snape returned Harry had his hand inside his shirt, by his tummy. As Snape took the boy's wrist and removed it from his shirt he saw Harry's hand was clenched into a fist.

"What do you have?" Snape asked, worried about what Harry might have grabbed. He pried Harry's fingers open and saw it was only bread, which Harry had been trying to hide. When Snape took the bread out of his hand, Harry's eyes filled with tears which spilled quietly down his face. He hiccuped softly, but did not cry loudly. Severus was surprised when he felt a touch of sadness inside him.

"You don't need to hide your food, Potter. I'm going to feed you," he said. Then he returned Harry to his lap and wiped the tears and slobber from his face.

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It was nighttime and Harry was in his crib which Snape had set up in the small guest bedroom right next to his room. Snape could not relax. He kept waiting for a sound from the room next door. Weren't babies supposed to cry? Didn't they wake up and need changing? Snape could not help but feeling uneasy and stressed. At one am he gave up trying to sleep. He went into the next room and checked on his young charge. Harry had his hand around one of the bars of the crib and was sitting up, wide awake. When he saw Snape enter he hurriedly laid down, squeezing his eyes closed. Snape sighed and went back to his room. By two, still sleepless, Snape was up again and checking on Harry. Snape rationalized with himself that he wasn't acting soft, he was just following Dumbledore's instructions and making sure Harry was alright. When Snape looked in again Harry was sitting up again and was looking out the window. He laid down again once he noticed Snape's presence in the room. Snape gave a resigned sigh and went to the kitchen. He carried one of the hard, black chairs in and set it close to Harry's crib. With Snape in the room Harry remained lying down and finally fell asleep, and eventually, Snape did too.

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The next morning Snape woke up as soon as the sun started peering through the window. He could not sleep in lit rooms. As he stood up his back protested angrily.

"Never again," Snape vowed. "Will I sleep in that chair."

He walked to his bedroom and did something he very frequently cared to do- glanced in the mirror. He looked even paler and more exhausted than usual. "And this after only one night. Albus had better be grateful," Snape muttered. Then he drew the dark curtains firmly over his window and fell onto his bed, sleeping immediately.

Snape woke up again almost an hour later and heard a soft thumping coming from the next room. Snape looked in on Harry and saw him softly hitting his hand against his crib.

"Morning, Potter," Snape said, and lifted Harry from the crib. Harry again looked uncertain and frightened, and Snape set him down in the living room, bringing him more bread to munch on. Harry only ate a couple small pieces and finally Severus took the rest of the bread and set it on the counter. He changed Harry into one of the shirts and the pair of pants, which were dry by now, but which did not fit Harry at all.

"You require a lot of equipment," Snape told Harry seriously. "Which I do not have."

Snape wasn't excited but he knew what he needed to do. If he was going to care for Harry for the next few years he was going to need to go shopping.