How A Bat Can Love

Severus Snape was many things, a spy, a heartless bastard, a complicated man. But a heavy sleeper was not something that was easily applied to him. No, he slept incredibly lightly. Years of espionage, war and teaching insufferable fools have ruined his ability to enter a deep sleep too many energetic and overly cheerful people had bragged about.  

So when he nearly fell off his bed from being jolted awake at two in the morning, he was definitely not happy at the pint sized terror he had given his home and money. But nevertheless, he got up and picked Killian up. It was dark and Severus could barely see anything aside from the clock on his nightstand that glowed an ominous 2:30 in green. 

 The boy was screaming his head off. Severus felt very uncomfortable, he had no clue what the baby needed or how one would even determine that sort of thing. He awkwardly cradled the infant close to his chest and shushed him, hoping that the monster would just quiet down. Alas, that only seemed to incentivize him to scream more, which caused Severus to hold him out, hoping to lessen the inevitable hearing damage. 

After pacing around, it was clearly evident that Killian needed more than just unsure soothing. Hesitantly, Severus brought the baby close to his nose so he could smell if he had soiled his nappy. Nothing, absolutely nothing and he didn’t feel wet, so nappy change was off of the table. 

“What is so terrible you must scream at this hour hm?” Snape whispered, a slightly grumpy tone as he glared at the child. Severus definitely did not have enough patience to deal with the baby. 

Killian of course wailed more, letting out a series of disgruntled and upset babbles, his arms waving and reaching for something. And that’s when Severus noticed the baby’s watery gaze fixed on the half empty bottle sitting on the dresser behind him. Severus frowned in realization, of course that should have been something he thought of instantly. 

Grumbling, the man grabbed his wand off of the night stand and cast a warming spell on the bottle. He grabbed it along with the burp cloth next to it and went to the creaky armchair in the corner and sat down with a great huff. 

“I can’t see why you can’t just start speaking already, don’t you know how exhausting guessing what you need is?” Severus asked with a tiny smirk as Killian latched onto the bottle, drinking hungrily as his tears started to slowly dry and his breathing evened out. Severus allowed himself a tiny smile before he schooled his brooding features back into the unamused and bored mask. 

“Merlin you’re turning me soft” He grumbled quietly. Killian ignored him in favour of downing the two ounces of the bottle. With a quiet grunt Killian turned his head and started to push the bottle away. Severus’ eyebrows furrowed as he pulled the bottle away and looked at three ounces that were left. 

“Are you sure? Because I am not getting up again until at least seven” The Potions Master muttered as he pushed the bottle back towards the little baby. Killian gave a grumpy whine and pushed the bottle away again. Severus sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the scent of baby powder and milk lingering for just a moment. 

“Okay message received brat” Severus muttered with a small smile that looked entirely out of place on his face as he shifted Killian onto his shoulder and lightly tapped the boy’s back until he heard a tiny gurgle noise and felt the spit up. He grumbled and vanished it with a flick of his wrist. 

Killian was already drifting back to sleep so Severus carefully stood up and walked back to the bed, gently rocking and shushing him. 

“That’s it, just like that, nice and sleepy” He whispered as he placed Killian into the little well of pillows and blankets, making sure he didn’t jostle the baby too much. 

And thankfully Killian stayed asleep, little snores escaping his mouth. Satisfied, Severus once again flopped onto the bed and fell back asleep. 

The next time Severus was woken up was to a tiny hand slapping his ribcage and a tiny giggle. He groaned, rolled over onto his side and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Child, what exactly are you doing?” He asked, his voice laced with exasperation. He opened his eyes to see Killian rolled over onto his tummy, supporting himself with one shaky arm while the other continued to lightly hit Severus in the side, and his head kept bobbing up and down as he giggled. The man rolled his eyes and pushed himself up before grabbing the baby and pulling him into his lap. Killian looked thoroughly displeased at this. 

“Ba!” He babbled indignantly and glared at him. Severus quirked an eyebrow up and gave him a bored look, which made little Killian grunt a little as he tried to roll around in Snape’s lap. Severus gave a triumphant smirk, the baby may think he has attitude and will win but Severus was petty and more than willing to argue with him. 

Finally after several more sarcastic quips to the baby, Severus got up from the bed, adjusting his hold on the boy and went downstairs. 

Severus strapped Killian into the bouncer chair as he went into the kitchen to make himself food before making Killian’s bottle. It lasted for about ten minutes before Killian started crying, it wasn’t loud, more a pitiful whine begging for attention. 

Severus grumbled but went into the sitting room to check on him. Killian was holding his arms out for attention and food. Severus rolled his eyes but obliged in picking the baby up and carrying him into the kitchen, where with a flick of his want a bottle was ready. Severus gently sat in a chair at the small table and shifted Killian into the proper feeding position. The infant immediately latched on and happily started drinking. 

It took a little over twenty minutes for Killian to down three and a half ounces. Once he started refusing Severus gently pulled the bottle away and burped him. Once satisfied, Severus pulled the bouncer into the kitchen and attached a small bar with various toys before setting Killian into it. 

Finally, with the baby taken care of and happily playing, Severus made himself a simple meal of plain oatmeal and black coffee. A nutritional, albeit underwhelming breakfast. 

Once he finished and cleaned up, he grabbed Killian from the bouncer and brought him into the sitting room. Killian was more lively and looking around, smiling and laughing. He was also trying to pull Severus’ hair, much to the Potion Master’s annoyance. He pulled ankle biter’s hand away and put him down on a small blanket laid out with toys. Killian pouted for a moment before he busied himself with a rattle Severus regretted giving him. But Severus sat down beside the blanket and shook it a little in an attempt to play. Killian loved this and gave an enthusiastic squeal, shaking his hands in excitement. 

Severus couldn’t help but smile as his other hand lightly tickled the baby’s side for a moment. He let out a small sigh, finding it odd how contented he was. 

“You are a little worm” He mumbled as the baby wiggled again and flipped himself onto his stomach, trying to push himself up. Severus gave an encouraging nod. 

“You can do it, I know you have the strength in those arms” He teased with a smirk. Killian grunted and whined as he wobbled, clearly not happy about his inability to push himself up. Finally after five minutes Killian flopped dramatically onto his belly and gave Severus the most pitiful look. 

“Drama queen” The man muttered as he stood up and grabbed the baby, placing him on his hip. He went into the junk drawer in his kitchen and found a notepad and a pen. He went to the table and started scribbling down a few things he needed, a parenting book, baby soap, rubber ducks for bath time, a few fitted sheets and some nail care for him. Once again he would be spending an obscene amount of money on a child unrelated to him. Killian looked entirely too pleased. Then again he could just be soiling his nappy. 

Which was of course exactly what he was doing. Of course he was. 

Severus brought out the changing mat once he was sure the baby was done and went into the sitting room to change him. It was much worse this time. Killian wouldn’t stop squirming and trying to move away and it smelled even worse. But Severus survived although he was already devising a way to toilet train an infant. 

Severus carried on however and went into the makeshift nursery to find some day clothes for Killian. He didn’t exactly care what he grabbed a blue and white checkered jumpsuit, a blue jacket, booties and a matching hat. Killian was no help, he kept trying to kick the booties off and put his hat in his mouth. And of course Killian was giggling about everything. 

The Potions Master grumbled and placed the hat back on as he prepped the nappy bag and got the pram up and ready.  It was definitely going to be a long day. 

Finally after twenty minutes of arguing and fighting with the baby over socks and hats, Severus got the baby into the damn pram and they were out the door. 

Severus simply decided to go to a local shop, he didn’t feel like going all the way out to Morrison’s. Severus was thankful he brought multiple toys as Killian was bubbly and active. This got attention from other shoppers who happily cooed and tried to fawn over him. Severus promptly ignored them with a sneer as he grabbed a basket and headed for the book aisle. 

The aisle was cramped and contained mostly low shelf romance novels Severus sneered at. But eventually he found the subpar psychology section. He grabbed the first greatly reviewed one and placed it into the basket. 

Next came the baby soap. He had no clue what to get, or why it mattered. So he grabbed a bottle of Johnson And Johnson’s. He also threw in a few towels for good measure. Killian then spotted a pack of various rubber ducks shaped like different animals and squealed very loudly. Severus obliged and put them in. 

He then moved to the bedding aisle for babies and found some sheets patterned with cars, it seemed okay. Severus then grabbed a few swaddling blankets, he didn’t know much about infants but he did know they shouldn’t have much in a crib. 

After another hour of wandering about and grabbing things he really didn’t need, Severus steered them towards the tills. Killian was getting fussy at this time, likely hungry or demanding attention, so Severus was a little bossy with the till boy, who looked vaguely panicked. Thankfully it didn’t come out too much. 

The walk back was as uneventful as most things in Cokeworth were, Killian seemed to soothe himself once Severus guided the dummy clipped to his clothes towards his mouth, so nothing of pressing concern. He was so ready for Killian’s midmorning nap. 

They got in, Severus put the shopping on the counter and turned to the pram. Killian was once again all smiles and kicking his feet in apparent glee. Severus rolled his eyes but allowed a small smile to grace his features. He bent down and undid the safety straps and lifted Killian up. 

The baby gave a big giggle and stretched his legs fully before looking at Severus with wide trusting eyes and a gummy smile. It was almost enough to melt Severus. 

He sighed to himself. “Merlin, I’m going soft,” he mumbled, placing Killian securely on his hip as he walked to the bouncer. The baby didn’t care about his caretaker’s plight, he was too fascinated by the toys. 

Severus got to work putting things away, mainly just floating them to their proper place with magic, but it still counted. After a while, Killian started to get fussy, which meant bottle time. 

He grabbed one of the clean bottles on the counter and filled it with warm tap water to the fourth line, Killian never drank a full bottle in the morning anyways. He put two scoops of formula in and shook vigorously. And then a nice warm bottle was there. Just in time too as Killian was getting impatient. 

Killian happily drank, of course he started refusing after three and a half ounces, but a full baby was better than a hungry one. Once done, he gave the baby a small burp, with a minimal amount of spit up. Severus rocked him gently as he walked towards the sitting room, and more importantly the sofa piled with blankets and pillows. 

Severus gently lowered Killian into a little cocoon of blankets, charmed to ensure his safety and comfort. The boy was out in an instant, and Severus had an hour to fill. So, he lazily stretched out and flicked on a beat up radio he had on the mantle. He set it on a low volume, partly for Killian’s comfort and because nothing interesting was on, only some charity work Princess Diana was doing. Severus couldn’t care less. 

Thirty minutes into the boy’s nap at ten, a knock came from the front door. Severus raised an eyebrow in confusion and pushed himself up. 

He got to the door and opened it to find his crib, rocking chair and changing table, they arrived earlier than expected. The Potion’s Master poked his head out and looked up and down the dilapidated street, and seeing no one, he shrunk them down and put them into his pocket. He stepped back in and went back to the sofa. He really didn’t want to leave Killian downstairs while he set the nursery up and he didn’t want to bring the boy up into the nursery and risk waking him. But ultimately, he didn’t have much choice. 

Very carefully, he pushed his arm under the baby’s torso while his other hand went to support his head and very carefully lifted the babe up, being extra careful not to jostle him too much. He floated the bassinet to them and made his way up to the nursery. 

Inside, he set the bassinet down near the wall closest to the door, he gently set Killian down and placed a hand on his stomach when the baby stirred for a moment. He let out a quiet sigh. 

“There we are, no fussing now” He murmured, still watching Killian for a moment before he pulled the miniature changing table and crib out. He stepped back for a moment, taking in the nursery, trying to figure out where to arrange the furniture. 

Finally, he put the crib against the wall that held a small, rather pathetic looking window and the rocking chair went into the corner next to it. And the changing table went to the left wall, where the wardrobe sat as well. Once he was satisfied with how the room was set up, he reversed his shrinking charm, returning every shrunken item to its original size. Severus then flicked his wand and in seconds the bedding, swaddling blankets, nappies, changing pad and wipes came zooming into the room, floating in the air waiting for Severus to select one. 

He started with the nappy change supplies, first the pad went onto the top level of the table and was secured with a few sticking charms and a few rattles and toys were placed near it. Then he opened the drawers. In the first draw went all of the nappies and in the second went all the packs of wipes, nappy rash cream and baby powder, all meticulously organized. Next to the table went a small bin for dirty nappies. 

Once that was dealt with, Severus turned towards the crib and grabbed the sheet. He glared at the mattress, he definitely wasn’t going to wrestle it himself, so he tapped his wand against the crib and the sheet sorted itself out. Then he grabbed the swaddling blanket and carefully laid it on the crib’s guard rail, and after much internal debate, he summoned a plush quilt and draped it on the back of the rocking chair before sinking down into it. He casted a quick Tempus spell, it was only 10:30. Severus let out a low sigh and ran a hand through his sleek black hair. 

After twenty more minutes, Killian squirmed and started to fuss. Severus grumbled under his breath but pushed himself up and made his way to the bassinet where he then scooped Killian into his arms. 

“Hush now little one, I’m here” He murmured softly, bouncing the baby as he made his way to the changing table and gently laid the child onto the pad. Severus smiled and shook a small green rattle above Killian, who immediately reached for it. Severus smirked, his idea had worked, so he flicked his wand and made the rattle float and shake just a little out of reach, enough to keep him entertained. The nappy change wasn’t bad, at least not as bad as earlier. Severus worried he was becoming desensitized to his new life. 

But he pushed those thoughts aside and picked the babe up, placing him on his hip, bouncing lightly. He walked around the small nursery, pointing out the new furniture. Killian seemed incredibly engrossed in the walkabout. 

They turned to the crib, Severus smirked and pointed to it. “That is where you’ll be sleeping for now on, so I can get a peaceful sleep without worrying about crushing you,” he teased lightly, tickling the boy, smiling at the small giggle that followed. 

Severus then brought Killian to the toy corner in the left-hand corner. He laid out a blanket and laid him down on the blanket on his back and started to play with him.