The Professional Baby Whisperer
“Mr. Snape, the doctor will see you now.”
It had been about a month since Severus had Harry. He had gotten the nursery set up with the bare minimum and called it good enough, but he knew that if he was going to be raising Harry, he was going to make sure he was intelligent; he would be damned if he would have a dumb charge under his care and his name.
Severus, who was bouncing his leg out of restlessness, snapped his head in the direction of the nurse’s voice. He stood from his chair and ran his hands down the front of his robes to brush away any invisible wrinkles, (because let's be honest, Severus would never have wrinkly clothes, nor would he be caught dead in wrinkly clothes) before bending down to pick up Harry’s carrier. He followed the med-nurse down the hall and into a small private room.
“Dr. McArthur will be in to see you shortly,” the nurse replied before shutting the door behind her.
Severus sat down in one of the chairs and placed the carrier on the other next to him. He leaned back into the chair, arms crossed as his leg started to bounce again. His mind began to wander as he went through what all he was going to ask and what all he was actually going to tell. He didn’t get long to think about any of it because, within a couple of minutes, there was a knock at the door before it opened to reveal Dr. McArthur.
Dr. McArthur was on the younger side, possibly in his thirties, if Severus had to guess. He had short brown hair brushed to one side with blue eyes. He was very fit and his skin was tan, showing that he spends most of his time in the sun.
“Mr. Snape, it is a pleasure to meet you, and this is your son, Harry, correct?” Dr. McArthur asked, extending his hand out to Severus.
“Obviously,” Severus replied dryly, not taking the hand.
“I do apologize for the silly questions, we only ask to make sure we have the correct patient and to make sure their file matches. Sometimes mistakes do happen,” Dr. McArthur responded as he drew his hand back before sitting on the stool, slipping on a pair of reading glasses, and looking down at the file.
“Understandable,” Severus replied, but still not relaxing.
“Well,” Dr. McArthur replied, crossing one leg over the other knee and lacing his fingers together over the top of the file folder, “to introduce myself, I am Dr. McArthur, but you can call me Andrew.”
“Alright, Andrew,” Severus tried the name on his tongue.
“Right, so it seems that young Harry is here for a check-up, correct?” Andrew asked, flipping back through the file.
“Yes,” Severus replied, “he was born a couple of weeks ago, July 31.”
“Yes, so, what of young Harry’s mother?” Dr. McArthur asked.
“She had her husband leave him on my doorstep,” Severus replied before slapping his hand over his mouth.
Andrew looked up at Severus over top of his glasses, “I should have told you, our rooms are charmed where you cannot lie to us, we do this as a way to protect the children if they are in danger.”
Severus lowered his shaky hand slowly and looked at the man with fear in his eyes. How did he not know? How did he not feel the charm?
“I think I need to leave,” Severus went to stand, but Andrew pulled out his wand and waved it in the air, locking the door of the room.
“I do apologize, Mr. Snape, but I cannot let you leave. If there is any chance that Little Harry could be in danger, I have to do everything in my power to protect him.”
Severus sat back down slowly. There was nothing he could do, he had to surrender his wand to the front desk when he checked in as a safety precaution.
“You don’t understand,” Severus replied, “Harry is not the only one in danger, I am as well if people find out who he is and why I have him.”
“Mr. Snape, if the both of you are in danger, we have resources to protect you,” Andrew replied sitting forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“No, it’s not anything like that or even so much there is anything you can do,” Severus replied.
“Severus, you can trust me.”
“No, no one else can find out,” Severus shook his head.
“As a doctor, it is my duty to keep patient confidentiality, but if it would make you feel more comfortable, I am willing to make an Unbreakable Vow if that would make you more comfortable.”
Severus sat there for a while thinking about the offer before replying, “I think that will be best.”
The two men stood and Andrew initiated the spell. Thin silvery ribbons of magic swirled around their arms, “I, Andrew James McArthur, promise…”
“Severus Tobias Snape,” Severus replied.
“Severus Tobias Snape that any information he is to tell me will not leave this room unless absolutely necessary for the protection of Harry and/or himself, Severus, unless he gives me permission to tell them.”
The bands shone brighter before fading into the both of them. There was nothing Severus could do now, but at least there were some protections. Andrew won’t be able to go to the Dark Lord or any of his allies and he won’t be able to go to Dumbledore or any of his allies without his permission.
“Why don’t we start from the beginning,” Andrew replied, “who are Harry’s birth parents, and how did you come to be a part of this situation?”
Severus noticed how Andrew called Lily and James Harry’s “birth parents” and not his actual parents.
“His parents are Lily and James Potter. Lily was my best friend since before Hogwarts. She felt that I would be the best to protect Harry.”
Andrew’s eyes widened, “This is the Potter’s missing baby?”
Andrew knew about the missing family and had been following the news since the beginning. This was a lot bigger than he thought it was going to be.
“Yes,” Severus answered, being forced to answer due to the spell.
“Why did they feel the need to give up their child?”
“Albus Dumbledore came to them and told them he would be taking their child after he was born since he was recently in a prophecy that he was to defeat the Dark Lord, that he was some Chosen One. He wanted to give Harry to Lily’s sister, Petunia, to raise. Petunia is a Muggle who hates anything magical. I know she recently married and had a child and I would feel they would also hate Harry for being magical. Lily had James bring him to my home early in the morning, somehow bypassing my wards to alert me.”
Andrew looked even more shocked, “So Dumbledore and his allies are out of the question for help, I see. What is he even thinking, wanting to take the child away from them?”
“I honestly never know what is going through that old man’s head.”
“Now, no offense, but why out of everyone they could have turned to, why did they choose you?”
“Lily thought that it would be easier to hide him with me,” Severus answered trying to avoid the Dark Lord topic as much as possible.
However, Andrew knew there was more Severus was avoiding answering, “You’re leaving things out, what is it?”
Severus tried to fight against answering, but it became overwhelming, “I am a member of the Dark Lord and Lily knew this.”
Andrew sat there shocked. He had heard about the Dark Lord and how he is such a dark wizard who wanted to take over the wizarding world, however, he heard most of this from Dumbledore himself.
“Tell me more about the Dark Lord,” Andrew asked, wanting more answers before making his decision.
Severus relaxed, at least the man wasn’t going to jump to conclusions like most of the wizarding world, “He’s not completely like Dumbledore says. For start, he does want to change the wizarding world, but not through war, he wants to do it through politics. Dumbledore makes it harder for him so he hides away and sends us out to do what we can to help.”
“What are his goals and what pushed him to take up this task?”
“I don’t fully know all, the Dark Lord is very secretive, however, he wants all magical children to be accepted. He wants to also protect any magical child born into the Muggle world with checks and a registry to make sure none are being abused. I don’t know him very well, even being part of his top group of people. He’s a very private man.”
“Wait, if he wants to protect children then, why is Dumbledore so against him?”
“I honestly don’t know. Dumbledore doesn’t make a lot of sense most of the time, however, with as big of a following that he has, people believe him, especially after Grindelwald.”
“I can understand the following. What is your role in all of it?”
“I am a potion master and a spy to the Dark Lord. I spy on Dumbledore and teach potions starting this year.”
“And now you are taking care of Harry,” Andrew replied.
“Yes,” Severus answered, even though he knew it wasn’t a question.
“So, who is helping you with all of this?” Andrew asked.
“Honestly, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are said to help me, according to Lily’s letter, however, I have not seen nor heard from them since I have had Harry. I do not know if they know I have him or what the full story is, but I have not reached out. We are not exactly friends and I do not know how well the interaction will go.”
“What about any of your friends?”
“They are all followers of the Dark Lord, just like I am,” Severus answered, starting to look exhausted.
“Hmmm,” Andrew replied, “so you really have no one to help you.”
Severus shook his head no.
“Alright, Mr. Snape-”
“You can call me Severus.”
“Alright, Severus,” Andrew replied with a soft smile, “where would you like to begin?”