The Harry Potter Parent Alternative

Chapter 4 - part 4

Just after Severus had finished his second lot of dreamless sleep, a knock at the door caused him to abandon his third lot and rush to answer it. To his surprise, there stood none other than Albus Dumbledore, wearing an extravagant deep purple robe with silver stars all over it, and carrying an absurd amount of shopping bags in each hand, goofy grin spread across his face. He held out his arms and embraced Severus in a hug, which Severus, albeit reluctantly, returned.

"Severus, my boy. I've brought some more things for Harry and Dudley, I hope you don't mind me stopping by. How are you, anyway?" Albus said, walking into Severus' living room and putting the bags down.

"Albus, if you don't mind, could we have this conversation in my potions laboratory instead? I've left Harry and Dudley in there in their playpen, and I'd rather not leave them in there unattended any longer than necessary".

"Why, yes, of course, my boy. Lead the way".

And so, they went down to Severus' basement where his potions lab was, and were greeted by the sight of Harry crying, blood streaming from his nose, and Dudley smiling and laughing at him, making obvious the cause of the injury. Severus, upon seeing this, went over to them, took all the toys out of the playpen, and scooped Harry up to give him some comfort and a hug.

"Now, Dudley, we don't hit people. You can sit in there for a moment and think about that" Severus said, firmly. This caused Dudley to cry in outrage, and Harry to stop crying in shock. Albus then watched as Severus set him down on a nearby table, summoned a tissue and a ball, and gently and expertly wiped the blood from his nose and the tears from his cheeks, all the while rolling the ball back and forth with him using one hand to distract him. He continued to play with the ball with him even after he'd finished, levitating the tissue into the bin so he wouldn't have to move away from Harry.

"You have a knack with them, Severus" Albus chimed in softly. "Harry's lucky to have someone so caring to look after him".

Feeling defensive, Severus said "I just have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Besides, you'd kill me if I didn't look after him properly". Feeling that now was the right time to put the toys back in the playpen, he did, before setting Harry down on the side furthest from Dudley.

"I've got some work to do. If you insist upon staying, you can make yourself useful and watch them". Severus demanded of Albus. Albus, seeing how important this was, happily agreed. Besides, he wanted to spend some time with Harry and Dudley anyway, particularly Harry, to see how he was doing. Albus crouched down besides the playpen, where Dudley was noisily playing, and Harry was sat pointing at Severus.