Caspar - The Half Blood Princess

Chapter Four - Wolfsbane for the Werewolf

The next couple of days were difficult as Severus tried to set up a routine that worked for both him and Caspar. He struggled with everything from nappy changes to working out her different cries; eventually, when he thought that he was at his wits end and was about to call for help, he suddenly he remembered something about skin to skin bonding from one of the many parenting books he'd read. He put Caspar, who was screaming at the top of her lungs, down on his bed and quickly whipped off his shirt before he undressed her down to her nappy. He then picked her up, settled down on his bed, cradled her against his naked chest and stared down at her; within moments, she settled and he breathed a sigh of relief. From then on things seemed to just fall into place; it was still difficult but it was workable.

"Are you sure that you don't need help?" Lily asked as she hovered beside Severus, watching him change Caspar's nappy. She'd not seen her best friend for almost two weeks; if it had been up to her, she'd have come back within two days but James had made her wait, telling her that Severus needed time to figure things out himself and reminding her that he would call if he needed them. It had been a painful two weeks.

Severus, who'd been watching her from the corner of her eye, just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Lily, I've been changing Cassie's nappy multiple times a day for the past two weeks; I thank you for your concern but I think I've got it." He then peers down at his daughter who was happily gurgling away on her changing table "isn't that right, Cass?" He coos at her as he finished putting the clean nappy on her and dresses her again. When he picks her up, carefully supporting her head, he catches sight of Lily's face. "What?" He asks.

"It's nothing bad, Sev" she smiles "I just never expected you to adapt to fatherhood so quickly, let alone act like a human." Lily, being his oldest friend, was the only one who'd ever seen the soft side of Severus Snape but it had been a long time since she'd seen it. He started changing at school, it seemed that the closer she got to James, the colder he'd become and, by their seventh year, they were barely talking.

"Neither did I" Severus admits, placing Caspar down in her cot and staring down at her for a moment before turning back to Lily "I can't even begin to explain how much I love her."

Rubbing his arm, Lily says "that's good, I'm happy for you."

Over the next few weeks, Lily and James came round as often as they could and it wasn't until Caspar was almost eight weeks old did Severus realise that he now felt just as at ease around James as he did with Lily; something that he never thought would ever be possible. They'd been around as much as he needed them and celebrated Caspar's milestones with him; James had even managed to catch her very first smile on camera and, since her first smile, Caspar seemed to do nothing but.

On the evening of the 30th of July, Severus was sat on the floor, dangling his house keys over Caspar's face and watched as she kicked her feet and waved her hands, trying to catch them. He'd invited Lily and James over for dinner, hoping to have one last meal with them before they were thrown into parenthood and became too busy to visit, but they were late which was very unlike them. "Where are your godparents?" He cooed at Caspar just as someone knocked loudly and urgently on his front door. He leapt up, picking Caspar up with him, and made for the front door, opening it immediately and saying "I was expecting you to use the floo-" he trailed off when he realised that the person on his doorstep wasn't who he'd been expecting.

Instead of Lily and James, Severus was staring at a young, rather haggard looking man. "Severus" the man spoke, sounding a little nervous. "James sent me." He looks anxiously around before asking "please can I come in?"

Not wanting to stand there with his front door open whilst he had Caspar in his arms, Severus nodded and allowed the man to enter, shutting the door behind him and leading the way back into the living room where he placed Caspar back down on her mat and gave her one of her teething toys to suck on.