Cared For

Chapter 10: Pomona Sprout

Updated: 27th March 2019
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26th October finally arrived, and Minerva was petrified. She thought that Harry's settlement was already decided. What would happen if they sent her to Azkaban? This question raced through her head as she got ready for her trial. She turned around and walked towards the sleeping boy on her bed and planted a kiss on his forehead before turning to leave.

She planned on leaving him here with Severus, with whom Harry seemed to have bonded with quite recently. Severus would come to her quarters on a regular basis, just for work, but it was enough time for Harry's lovingness to reach him. Every time they passed him, Harry would run and hug him from behind. He was never hugged back, but Severus always passed him what could be considered a warm smile in his case.

"Mimmie?" a sleepy voice called out. He got out of bed and went towards her. "Where chu goin'?" he asked. Minerva was now quite worried, she knew that Harry would be devastated if she left him alone and was planning on leaving while he was still asleep. She glanced at the clock, it was 9:30 am, too early for Harry to be awake.

"Um.. I was going to the kitchen." she lied. She took him in her arms and tried to get him to sleep, but he wasn't willing to lay down. Eventually, she gave up and decided to give him some breakfast.

Just as he was finishing the last spoonfuls of food, they heard a knock on the door. Minerva opened the door to find a grumpy Severus with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Morning, Severus." she greets and he says nothing, just nods. Harry's head whipped in the direction of the door. " 'EV'US!" he shouts and runs towards him. Snape can't help but let a small smile cross his lips.

"You told me he would be asleep." he commented. He would rather die than have to run after a child again. He only agreed to making sure he was asleep while she was gone.

"Yeah.... well you can't easily control a child." she merely stated. "I have to get going. If you need help with anything, or if Harry has an accident, Pomona is always available to help. Bye Severus, bye Harry." she called out to the boy as she walked out the door.

Harry realised where she was going, let go of Snape and tried to run after her. But Severus had already closed the door as she left. He started crying and banging on the door, but was immediately carried away from the door.

"Wan' Mimmie." he cried, his arms flailing around wildly threatening to hit him. Severus put him down and firmly grasped him.

"She will be back soon. Stop crying now." he said. He said nothing, he just wrapped his arms around him and sobbed into his chest for a while before calming down. Severus carried him to the main bedroom and took out some toys.

"You will stay here and play while I get some work done." he said and left him, and accidentally dropped his wand. Harry didn't notice the wand until around fifteen minutes later. He waved it around and a spark of light shot out of it.

"Ooohh." he gasped, and made his way to Severus to show him his new discovery.

Severus was in the living room, casually sipping his coffee. He didn't notice Harry until he heard him call out to him. He turned around and just missed the spell Harry cast, which hit his cup, causing it to explode and shower him with scalding hot coffee.

"Boom!" he exclaimed. He tilted his head back and laughed, Lily's eyes now closed, so he looked like a mini replica of his father.

Flashback

"Hey Snivellus!" he heard the familiar, taunting voice behind him. He turned around to see the iconic quartet standing behind him, James leading the rest.

"Looking for a tissue to wipe your snivelling nose with!" Sirius cried out and the rest, excluding Lupin, laughed aloud.

"Leave me alone." he mumbled, making them laugh even harder.

"Let us help you." James cried out before sending a spark of magic towards his bag, which exploded in flames. Snape threw his bag across the room.

"Boom!" he exclaimed, tilted his head back and laughed as Snape tried to extinguish the flames. His laugh ringed through his head as he ran back to the Common Room, hating James Potter and his damned friends for all of eternity.

End of Flashback

Snape was furious, with Harry and himself. How dare he take care of this Potter spawn? How dare he run after this spoilt brat? He now didn't care if this was Lily's son, she didn't even love him anyways, no way in hell was he doing this anymore. He stood up and grasped his hand.

"Come with me, Potter." he spat, and dragged him out of the quarters. Harry was now scared. He was acting so scary, was he going to hit him? He started to cry.

"Quiet!" he hissed as he dragged him down the stairs towards the kitchens. He stopped in front of a door and practically banged on the door, which was opened by a sleepy Pomona Sprout.

"Morning, Seve-" she started, but Severus just handed Harry and a bag of supplies to her before she could finish. "I can't do this shit anymore." he muttered and left.

"SEVERUS! WAIT!" she called out to him, but he was already gone. She shut the door and turned around, only to see Harry was trembling slightly and trying to hold back his eyes. She sighed and made her way to him, but he took a step back.

"No hu't. Sowwy." he mumbled. She try to coerce him to come to her, but he still stayed away from.

"What's wrong? I'm not scary looking, am I?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. Harry slightly shook his head, still not looking up.

"Aun' 'Tun'ia always sen' me to Unclwe Ve'non to ge' beating." he explained. He burst into a loud cry. "So you think that I will beat you for misbehaving with Severus?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." she reassured, holding out her hand again and Harry this time went to her. He continued to cry into her neck.

"Mimmie." He mumbled. Sprout had taken care of a fair amount of kids but no amount of shushing, lulling, or singing would get him to stop crying. Eventually, she decided to get Flitwick to help her, as he was quite good at getting people to laugh. She called him through the Floo.

Eventually, he came. But nothing could get the young boy to smile. Filius soon gave up and decided to leave. But before he left, he said something to Pomona.

"Why don't you take him to the Ministry? You would be near Minerva and normally all hearings at 10 am have a break around this time." he suggested and closed the door. She decided to go with this suggestion and made her way to Albus's personal Floo.

When they arrived at the Ministry, they found a place near the court room and sat there. But all of a sudden, an outburst happened and a faint voice shouted.

"Minerva!" Harry froze. He had heard Ev'us and the big man call Mimmie that. What if it was her. He wasted no time in sprinting down the corridor.

"HARRY!" Sprout called out, but was stopped by two Ministry guards. She helplessly watched as he burst through the doors.
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Thank you for waiting during my break. This really helped me get some ideas for the oncoming chapters.