Little Harry

Late night chat's

As Snape walked back into the main room, Autumn followed closely. 

Harry slumped into the far corner of the couch, Snape sat opposite in an armchair and Autumn sat beside Harry. 

"Harry, don't worry, your not in any trouble. Before we begin, how has your day been?" 

"Umm... it was good, I guess." After a moment of silence Harry spoke up again. "Professor, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, its quite normal for me to check in on my snakes, I visit the little dorms several times a week, if not everyday. But I have to say I'm particularly concerned about you Harry."

Harrys face paled at that. What has Snape seen, what have I done, what happened when I slipped into headspace yesterday. He thought. No, no no. This is bad. A hand on his shoulder brought him back from his spiralling thoughts and he took in a deep breath as subtly as possible and straightened up in his seat, he looked over to Autumn who dropped her hand back down and gave him a warm smile. He turned back to Snape. 

"What do you mean sir, I'm fine, really." He wished that was convincing enough.

Snape looked the boy up and down in curiosity, unsure whether to believe him or not. Harry's small frame practically sank back into the large couch's cushions and his skinny legs were swinging back and forth like a small child. His headspace must be trying to surface.

Harry looked up at his professor after an awkward silence and noticed him watching him closely, he quickly froze still and looked away. 

"Last night, you had a nightmare. Do you have those often?" Autumn spoke up. 

"Uhh... well, I guess you could say that, but its okay, really, I'm used to them now." 

"That may be true Harry, but nightmares are much worse for littles, just because you were used to it, doesn't mean your used to it when your little. It can affect your sleep and seem a lot more scary."

"I agree with Autumn, Harry. What are your dreams about?" Snape questioned with a concerned look on his face. 

Harry felt the pressure of this conversation getting to him. He couldn't tell them, if people found out he knew his uncle would go mental. His head started to feel fuzzy but he refused to drop into headspace now, in little space he could let anything slip and he couldn't have that. He pinched himself repetitively. 

Snape realised what Harry was doing before Autumn and knelt down in front of the boy taking both his hands in his to stop him from hurting himself. "Harry, listen child, whatever it is your afraid of, your safe here, okay? You have Autumn, myself and many others looking out for you. You can tell us, its okay."

Harry felt tears stinging his eyes, Snape's hands holding his grounded him and Autumn rubbed soothing circles on his back. "M- my relatives, they h- hurt me. C- cause 'm a freak, and freaks deserve to be punished. F- freaks don' deserve nice things." He spoke through hiccupped, shaky breaths. 

Autumn pulled Harry into a tight hug and Harry buried his face into her robes, tears turning the fabric a darker shade of burgundy. Snape gave his hands a squeeze before standing. 

"I'm going to speak with the headmaster. Harry, I want you to rest before tomorrow and I will be back here in the morning so we can continue this conversation." He used a finger to brush Harry's hair from his eyes as the little looked up to meet his professors gaze. "Be good." He spoke, and with that he turned and left. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later, Autumn carried a very little Harry to take a bath, letting him cuddle up with monkey before to calm himself down. Afterwards she wrapped him in a warm fuzzy hooded towel and  dried him off, changing him into a diaper and soft yellow footed pyjamas. She snapped the poppers down his leg and scooped him up. By then, thankfully, his sobbing had turned into small sniffles. Autumn wiped his nose and cleaned his face with a damp cloth and made her way to a rocking chair besides his bed, summoning a warm bottle of milk for him to suck on as he drifted off to sleep. 

After a couple of minutes his eyes closed, he felt so safe in Autumns arms as she rocked him ever so gently to sleep.

Autumn looked at the little boy in her arms adoringly, the only thought she had was how'd she get so lucky to be looking after this adorable baby little. She laid him in his bed, placed monkey in his arms which he instinctively latched onto, placed a light duvet over him and dimmed the lights so only a faint glow came from the enchanted starry ceiling above. 

"Goodnight little one." she whispered stepping out of the room.