𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹 || 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟎.

For a couple days everything was back to routine. Snape taught his classes, graded papers, "grudgingly" played with Harry, and in the nights worked on the mystery of the LeStrange journal. He'd had little time to truly delve into the matter, but was working on a new potion which he hoped would allow him to handle the book, breaking down more of the courses laid on it.

One afternoon between teaching third year Hufflepuffs –never a very pleasant experience, it seemed as though very few Hufflepuffs were actually adept at making potions, or anything really other than charms- and a double potions session with Gryffindor and Slytherin - much more entertaining- Snape laid Harry down for a nap and retreated to his office to work on the potion at hand.

He shook his head, noticing that in the time he'd spent away with the potion unattended the brew had started to settle, becoming viscous and slimy. The color had darkened as well. Dumbledore really did expect too much of him. A full class schedule, double agent, and babysitter. He had very little time to focus on these Death Eater matters, but he knew if he didn't get something figured out soon, he would land himself in trouble. Snape poured some powdered Florian leaf into the mixture and began stirring, three turns clockwise, two counter clockwise, when he heard Harry fussing.

Naturally.

Snape couldn't say he was surprised. Despite whatever soft spot he was developing for the Potter child, there was no denying the truth. He was terribly inconvenient. Casting a quick spell on the cauldron to keep it at a consistent temperature, and hoping the elongated heating wouldn't cause further problems to the brew, Snape stalked down the hall to check on Harry.

He was irritated. This was not the way Snape liked to work. Potions were his delight, and normally once he had devoted his attentions to a potion, he would continue to work on it until it was complete. Of course, there were times he would have to brew a potion multiple times, making minor revisions at each step to get it just right, but he never just left it sitting in the office, half done, let alone for three days.

"Harry, I hope you are pleased with the fact that my life is hardly anything I'd be willing to claim at this point," Snape said, lifting Harry from the crib.

"Doo dah, doo dah," Harry replied, wiggling his head all around.

"Fantastic. A silly mood." Snape said.

Harry had been getting these quite a bit lately. Ever since Snape had seemingly made amends a few nights before, Harry had overcompensated for the period of sadness and quiet by acting utterly...insane. Snape hardly knew how to react to these moods.

Setting Harry in a playpen in his office, Snape threw a desperate prayer towards the ceiling that Harry would entertain himself while he got some work done. This was a matter of importance, which grew more urgent every day and since arriving home Snape had accomplished next to nothing in deciphering it.

While Snape stirred and measured and made notes in the black bound leather notebook he kept on his desk, Harry played with chunky plastic animals, a gift that Professor Sprout had brought over a couple days before. He held in his right hand a smiling, almost painfully orange tiger and in his right he held a fangy, but of course also grinning, bat, wings spread out.

The tiger and the bat seemed to be killing one another as Harry hit them repeatedly together, and made little screaming noises in between giggling to himself. Snape, much to his credit, did not let this distract him from his work. A lesser man would've been compelled to watch the animated child, but Snape had a potion to complete and no amount of play shrieking and satisfied laughter would turn him from his task.

It wasn't until the bat and the tiger began having a heartfelt conversation that Snape looked up from his potion, wondering what on earth was going on in the little boy's head.