𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹 || 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟎𝟔.

Waking up by being patted in the face was a new experience for Severus.

"That's enough of that," Snape said, catching Harry's hand before it could push his cheek again.

Harry pointed to the window, it was a pretty, fall day.

"Do you want to go out?" Snape asked. He found a green and gray sweater and pulled it over Harry's head, then making sure he had a change of diaper, bottle, and even the stuffed owl in tow, not to mention a small container of cheerios and two packs of fruit snacks, Snape left the house. Oh how prepared and on top of things he felt. Take that Minerva, he thought. I can parent. This was an achievement he had never desired before, but he actually felt quite proud of himself for remembering everything. He even had a black bag to everything in. And it wasn't a diaper bag, no matter what anyone said. It was in fact, an essentials kit and Snape would never let anyone tell him otherwise.

There was a park not far away from Snape's home on Spinner's End and that's where they were headed. When they arrived there were several other children playing there and Harry seemed excited to see other little boys and girls.

"Oo! oo!" he cried, making a face which looked a little bit like a monkey, and pointing at the swings.

Snape nodded and carried Harry over to the swing set. He set Harry into one of the baby swings and began to push him.

Harry was fearless. He didn't squeal or fuss as Snape pushed him higher, but instead with each push his smile got bigger.

"Mister?" a little voice from the next swing over said. "Mister?"

Snape turned to look at a little girl with enormous amounts of curly blonde hair and raised one eyebrow.

"Mister, you're supposed to say 'whee'." she instructed.

"Is that so?" Snape asked, but he did not say 'whee'. He was tired of receiving instruction on how to parent from everyone he came in contact with. He was doing a splendid job of it on his own, thank you very much. Plus, he'd already vroomed that day and he thought that would be quite sufficient in the making sounds department.

"Mister. Sir. Sir. I'm serious," the little girl said.

"Wonderful," Snape replied, not looking at her. Harry, he vowed, would never pester strangers at the park. He would be much more polite. This thought caused him to smirk a little, oh what a good parent he was turning into, and in such little time.

"Sir! If you don't whee he will get confused!"

"Dirna!" a woman, sitting on a bench nearby called. "Are you bugging that man?"

"No!" the little girl called back.

"Yes." Snape said under his breath.

He continued to push Harry in the swing. Every now and then Harry would "Oo!" excitedly.

"Mister," the little girl whispered. "Please say wheeeeeeee. Please say it."

Snape had to count to seven to control his temper. He wanted to tell this girl something and "whee" wasn't it.

"Dirna!" the woman shouted. "Leave that man alone."

"I'm not bugging him mom!"

"Whee." Snape said.

The little girl clapped and ran away to go on the slide.

Harry giggled tremendously and clapped his hands too.

"Whee." Snape said again, experimentally.

"EE!" Harry giggled as Snape pushed him again.

Snape smiled wryly, he thought it was funny, the way Harry reacted to the sounds he made. He was going to save "quack" for a time Harry was grumpy in the tub and see what his reaction he was. It scared Snape a little that he was excited for that, but he was excited anyway. Of course, if asked, he would never admit to saying quack at all, premeditated or not.

After a little white Harry seemed tired of the swing. Snape took him out and asked, "Where next, Potter?"

Harry pointed at the sandbox. Snape had to debate whether he wanted to put Harry in the sandbox or not. He had already cleaned him up after all. Well, Snape thought. When we get home I can just change him into his pajamas after dinner and it won't be a problem. So Snape set Harry in the sandbox, and took a seat on the bench, watching him.

Harry grabbed fistfulls of sand and laughed as the sand fell through his fingers, back into the box. Then the mischievous smile returned. Harry threw a handful of sand and then looked at Snape, expecting praise. Snape shook his head no, and Harry stuck his lip out but returned to his play. Two more little boys, both older than Harry, came to play in the sandbox. Snape guessed they were about three or four years old.

"My name is Jerry," one little boy with red hair said, tapping Harry. "What's your name baby?" He pronounced all of his 'r's like 'w's.

Harry just looked confused.

"Who are you?" asked the other little boy.

"Pa." Harry said.

Snape was about to tell Harry not to talk to strangers but he figured the little boys weren't going to do anything to Harry and he stopped himself at the last second.

The little boys sat down and began to build a sandcastle.

"Oo," Harry said, crawling towards it.

"No! You're too small to play!" said one of the boys.

"No!" Harry repeated, but he still wanted to join in. He slapped his hand down on the sandcastle, ruining it.

"Bad!" cried the red haired little boy, and he hit Harry on the head. Harry fell and his face got covered in sand. Snape rushed forward and collected Harry in his arms. Harry was rubbing at his eyes and he was crying. His nose was running and sand was sticking to his entire face, matted on his tongue. Harry took a deep gulping breath and he let them all have it. He was crying the way normal babies did. Snape wiped sand from his face as best as he could. Then he turned to the little boys in the sandbox. Words could not express Snape's feeling. He simply fixed them with a glare and then turned and swept away.

"Don't worry, Potter, we're going to get all of that sand off you and then we're going to eat dinner and play without mean, little boys."

Harry kept crying but he buried his face in Snape's shoulder and began rubbing his head back and forth on it, trying to rid his eyes of the sand.

------------------------ ~♥~ ------------------------

That night, after cleaning up and feeding Harry, Snape thought it would be good to look at picture books. He was all over what was good for a child's development. He sat down on the couch with Harry on his lap and read him several stories. He stopped on each page and pointed at the pictures, telling Harry what each thing was. Unfortunately, Snape didn't really have many books for children. So after reading "Goodnight, Moon" and "The Wee Little Mouse who was Afraid of the Dark" (which had in fact been Snape's favorite story as a child) Snape was forced to resign to the books he already owned. And so he and Harry spent almost half an over perusing Snape's "Index of Potions Ingredients: Volume I".

"Cow tongue," Snape said, pointing to the illustration. "And this is a whole newt,"

"Oo!" Harry responded pointing. "Oo" seemed to be the sound with which Harry chose to communicate the bulk of his thoughts at this point, but at least it was sound.

"You're a very smart little boy...Potter," Snape said. He had almost called him Harry.