Potions and revelations
Why did I have to bring them?
Snape just couldn’t resist their cute little faces begging him to let them come along to his potions shop.
On the weekends Snape runs a potions shop in Hogsmeade (Students are forbidden to go to until they graduated) for a little extra money because Merlin knows he is not paid enough for all the shit he puts up with at Hogwarts. He has a strict schedule posted outside for all those who want to buy. Schedules and strict times were things that Severus liked. He also liked order in his shop. Not whatever foolishness the boys were mucking about.
There were a lot of..
“Severus can I touch this?”
“Can I brew a potion?”
“Why does everything look so gross?”
“Severus can I eat this?”
“Who is that?” (When a buyer walked in)
To everyone who wasn’t Severus the boys were endearing but if you were Severus you were ready to rip your hair out. A lot of the questions were answered with a dry ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know’
It was not even noon yet when Snape had to give the first time out.
A woman who had long red hair entered. “Excuse me I believe ordered 3 shrinking solutions a few days ago do you happen to have them ready?” She asked kindly. Snape nodded and went to the back to retrieve them.
Draco then swaggered over to her.
“What’s your name?” He asked looking up at her.
“Adelaide, what is yours?” She asked looking down at the boy who now looked proud.
“Draco, Draco Malfoy.” He said grinning and Harry rolled his eyes. He did this with about everybody he met. But the woman was the first to look impressed.
“Well Mr Malfoy, you have quite a lovely name. Is Snape your Godfather?” She smiled and he looked pleased.
“No, he’s our friend.” Draco said and Snape groaned.
“Godfather.” He corrected
Snape returned with three bottles of the shrinking solution it was odd as to why she had ordered these since it wasn’t the most common potion that was ordered. He was mostly commissioned for Felix Felicis or Liquid Luck.
As she was paying for the potions she started to make some conversation. “I noticed on the bulletin you said you don’t brew a few potions I was curious as to which ones?” Snape shrugged. “Oh don’t worry it’s just the more..morally questionable elixir, such as Amortentia.
Snape might have been a right prick but he had morals. He hated artificial love and Amortentia was just that. Forcing someone to love you through potion making was just wrong he was grateful the potion was being banned in a few spots in England. It his opinion it is long over due. Unfortunately he still had to teach his advanced students to brew it. He had tried to get rid of it in the schools curriculum multiple times but the Hogwarts governor board always overruled him. They were all corrupt idiots who wanted more money in their pockets.
She nodded. “Makes sense.” Then that was when the problem came as Severus started to hand her the potions Draco wanted to help the woman. He took one of the potions to help her but he dropped it instead. The glass shattered and the contents of the potions spilled out onto the floor.
Snape stared and he tried to suppress his rage. Draco blushed and immediately back away.
“I’m so sorry.” Snape muttered as he used his wand to clean up the mess. She shook her head. “Truly it’s fine, I only need the two right now anyway, if you can get me the the last next time your shop is open it’ll be appreciated.” She smiled as Snape refunded her for the last potion and she walked out of the shop.
Snape then rounded onto the blonde boy who was already coming to tears. “Go to time out. Don’t leave till I tell you to.” Draco did so and Snape looked up. Panic then swelled inside of himself. Where the hell was Harry?
He took a deep breath and started to call out the boys name. “Harry? Harry where are you?” He scoured his shop and went he opened his potions store room he saw the little boy. Crouched and hiding next to the shelves. He sighed of relief and looked at the boy.
“Why are you hiding?” Did the glass scare him? Snape knew glass shattering scared him a lot when he was younger.
“Did you hurt him..?” Harry asked and Snape looked confused. He understood after a second.
“Draco?”
The little boy nodded and Snape looked worried. Did the boy think he’d hurt Draco for breaking something? Yes it was very annoying but he’d never hurt him over it. He’s a child, children make mistakes.
“No, no. Harry I would never hurt him or you if you broke something.” He said softly looking at the boy. He spoke softly now. “Did the Dursley’s make you believe that?” And to his dismay the boy nodded again.
“Well I’m not the Dursley’s and there is absolutely no way I would ever do that. Do you understand?” He asked and the boy looked up it seemed the gears in his head started to turn and he looked to Severus before nodding for the last time. Once he nodded Snape picked him up and took him back to the stool. It was five minutes and he let Draco out of time out. The little boys eyes were red and Snape sighed.
“You need to be more careful. I spend a lot of time on these potions (well not the shrinking solution he could brew that in his sleep but he still needed the boy to be safe.) and I don’t want them to be wasted. What if it was something dangerous that broke? You need to be careful. Ok?” And Draco nodded giving Snape a hug and the man sighed hugging him back. He needed this nanny to get here quick whoever they were.
It was only half an hour later when he bought the boys lunch from across the street. Fish and chips. That was when they were finally quiet. Just sitting on the stools eating the chips as Snape drank a coffee which the boys asked to try. He obviously said no. The two were too rowdy for their own good.
“Why?” Draco whined and Snape arched a brow.
“You just broke a glass bottle you don’t need more energy.” The little boy blushed and just ate his chips quietly.
The bell on the door rang again and a tall man entered. He was older and had shaggy brown hair that was starting to grey. His name was Tom Murphy.
“Why hello, Severus!” Mr Murphy smiled as he went over to the counter he then looked at the two smaller boys and looked bemused then chortled.
“I didn’t know you had kids.” He teased as Severus tried to suppress an eye roll. Mr Murphy liked to joke around and was always too chipper for his own good. Snape hated him but he did pay well so he’d play along.
“Just babysitting.” He lied. He wasn’t too inclined to tell anyone that he was the new caregiver to Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.
Draco was obvious as to why he shouldn’t say. Almost everyone hated Lucius, including his wife. The man was a real piece of work. He was a coward who paraded himself as a man who was better then everyone else. He had connections and threatened everyone on a daily basis to gain more power and control. It was no surprise that everyone started to come out and say how horrible he was once he was put into Azkaban.
Unfortunately the disdain for Lucius fell inline with Draco none of these people met the boy and saw how sometimes he could be kind they just saw him as a Malfoy who was just as vile as his father. Many people had stated what they’d do to a Malfoy’s spawn. Such disgusting people who would want to hurt a little boy. Severus made sure to keep that boy safe as much as possible.
Harry on the other hand. Everyone loved Harry he was the boy who lived, ‘Savior of the Wizarding world’ everyone wanted to care for him. People would practically be throwing themselves at the ministry to give Harry to them. Which is why this needed to be kept under wraps. As well as the threat of death eaters who wanted to avenge their master. Snape couldn’t imagine what they’d do to the boy if they got to him. He pushed those thoughts away.
They were safe because he was their guardian. He was a powerful wizard, potions master, ex- death eater, spy, he knew he would protect these boys with his whole life. Nothing was going to stop him from that.
He gave Tom a calming draught which Severus knew the man needed as he was far too chipper for a man his age. He paid and left. It was 20 minutes later when both boys started to complain.
“Severus I’m bored..” Harry groaned and Snape sighed.
“You both chose to come, entertain yourselves.” That was just talk Snape knew the boys were going to be bored so he brought along a few books. If they were bored they could read. They didn’t like that very much.
Draco read about dinosaurs and was shocked to see that they were actually pretty cool. He was giggling as a lot of the pictures of them looked silly. Snape much preferred the boy to laugh then cry.
Harry was reading about Dragons and looked excited as he saw them breath fire. He kept showing Snape. Snape knew all about dragons as he had a fascination about them for a very, very long time. Before deciding to be a potions professor he wanted to work with dragons and care for them. He was embarrassed to admit that though so he pretended to know nothing and let Harry tell him about their different wingspans.
As the two boys read Snape started to work on a few potions in the back. Various antidotes for poisons, and tonics. He only stopped his brewing process when someone would enter.
Brewing potions reminded Snape of his mother and oh how he loved his mother. He knew she wasn’t all that well because of his father but some times she’d make time for him and teach him how to brew potions.
“You’re doing well.” She would whisper and run a hand through his black hair. She liked his hair a bit longer and so did he. She thought it looked pretty and he found it easier to tug that way. He liked tugging his hair. Even as a child.
“It’s fun..” he would whisper back even more quietly then she had. She just smile, he would focus on that smile and not all the bruises that covered her face.
He was pulled out of his memory when someone entered.
“Apologies! Just a minute.”
He walked over to the counter a wistful expression still on his face if only slightly. He gave the old woman her tonic and she left quickly as well. After a few hours of brewing and selling the end of the day approached. He packed up and put the closed sign on outside before he took the boys across the street. It was night now and Snape didn’t feel like cooking. He never really did.
They sat down at the restaurant and Draco ordered some obscure wizarding food that Snape knew he’d hate due to how many ingredients were on it. He ordered a cottage pie and Harry look confused.
He whispered “Uncle Vernon never let me eat out with them..I don’t..”
Snape sighed. Poor boy. Oh how he hated the Dursley’s. “The cottage pies good, or you could get a Sunday roast?”
The boy settled on the cottage pie, he wanted to be like Severus.
They all ate quietly for the most part, after Severus paid and they apparated home. Both boys looked dizzy. They weren’t used to apparating. He chuckled. He gave them a bath mostly using magic as he didn’t want to touch all the dirt that they some how got into their hair.
He got them dressed and was in the middle of their bedtime routine when there was a knock on the door and he sighed standing up. He told them he’d be right back taking his wand out just in case.
Thankfully it was just the headmaster.
“Hello Severus.”
“Hello, Headmaster.” He murmured trying to keep his voice down as to not wake the boys.
“I found you your nanny, he has agreed to be a live in nanny. You did say you were repurposing the attic correct?” Snape nodded. Who was he? It felt like the Headmaster was tiptoeing around the subject and it was getting rather infuriating.
“He’ll come tomorrow in the evening. You can fill him in on all the rules and everything that needs to be done for the boys. Trust me Severus he is very dedicated.” Dumbledore added and Snape finally asked.
“Headmaster, who is he?” He inquired and what Albus said made him want to dig his own grave and not get up.
“Remus Lupin.”
“Lupin! Oh you can not be serious, Albus!”
He tried to keep his voice down as much as possible as to not wake the boys but for Merlin’s sake this was the worst idea Dumbledore had ever had! He assumed the man was trying to kill two birds with one stone.
“He’s a werewolf for anyone’s sake! He’s dangerous!” He whispered shouted and Dumbledore looked slightly irritated.
“Severus, Remus takes extra precautions to make sure he does not hurt anyone. You already know that. He is not a danger.” The headmaster began slowly with a no nonsense sort of tone.
“Do I? Because let me remind you I nearly died because of him one night. That mind you, you did nothing to rectify what happened to me!” He gave up on trying to be quiet.
He remembered like it was yesterday when he was nearly mauled to death by Lupin. It was a terrifying experience. He would have let it go if they were properly punished. They broke over 50 school rules and were only given detentions. They were Albus’ golden boys who could do no harm whatsoever.
“That was not Lupin’s fault, Severus. That was Sirius Black’s, Lupin was just as much a victim as you were.”
Snape scoffed. He knew Albus was right but he hated Lupin to his very core he was the only marauder who pretended to be kind and acted like he cared. At least Potter and Black didn’t pretend to be kind. Snape knew having to live with the man might actually make the vein in his head burst. He huffed.
“He wants to help you because you need it. Yesterday you looked at yours wits end with these boys. He is a highly capable wizard not to mention he is very good with household charms. Let him help you Severus!” Dumbledore said firmly.
Snape scowled and rolled his eyes. “Fine..but if he shows me one time that he is not capable for this he is out. And I will find someone else to help me.” He finally relented. Albus sighed.
“It’s a deal then. But do not let this school boy grudge get in the way of the boys care.” Albus said heading back for the door.
“Of course not.” He sighed as the door shut softly. How was he going to do this? Severus was a lot of things but someone who doesn’t keep grudges was not one of them. One thing he hated most about the marauders was how often they broke rules. He was strict with rules. He liked order and he felt that they were not punished at all for all the rule they broke. They walked the school grounds like kings. Feeling they could own everything they wanted and treat everyone as inferior.
He ran a hand through his hair until he felt a little hand tug on his nightshirt. It was Harry.
“Where’s Draco?” Snape asked softly picking the small boy up.
“Sleeping. He fell asleep a long time ago.” Harry explained
“And why aren’t you?” He asked looking into the soft green eyes of the boy. All the anger he had dissipated.
“I heard you yelling at the man with the long beard.” He said as Snape started up the stairs.
“Oh..I’m sorry.” He whispered softly. He hated apologizing but he knew the yelling probably scared the boy so he felt rather guilty because of it.
“It’s ok..but why were you two fighting?” He asked curiously. The boy had wide doe like eyes and Snape felt his heart start to sting.
“It’s nothing. We just had a difference of opinion. You don’t have to worry. Nothing bad will happen.” Snape muttered quietly as he tucked the little boy back into bed pulling up the duvet that had little golden snitches embroidered onto it.
“Goodnight, Harry.” He whispered.
“Night.” The little boy whispered as he fell asleep quickly. Snape closed the door and groaned. Tugging his hair as he did so. He walked to his room and flopped onto the bed. This was all going to turn out horribly. He knew it. He just knew. Some how in some way this was going to turn out horribly.
He looked up at his ceiling and just thought of all the possibilities as to how this would go wrong. He knew it was an awful thing of him to think but he hoped the boys would hate Lupin so that the man would have to be sacked and he’d be rid of him. But he knew Lupin was a good wizard and he really did excel in household charms.
He knew it didn’t matter what he thought it was going to happen. The man was going to be in his house tomorrow. He told himself it was alright as he went to sleep, this sleep was infested with nightmares of werewolves and howling.
Oh Merlin’s beard this was going to be miserable.