Severus had been brewing for most of the day, feeling happy to do so as he knew his ward was reading in the library. He had just finished his last potion when he realised it was one in the afternoon.
An hour late for lunch. Not too bad considering he had finished four potions in only five hours. He cleaned up his station and returned everything to its rightful place with just a flick of his ebony wand.
As Severus stalked up the steep,stone steps of his private lab, he wondered if his adopted son had gone into his room, as he often did when Severus was brewing for anything more than a couple of hours.
Making the decision to check the library first, the potions master made his way down the green painted hall and towards the comforting library that seemed to be his sons favourite place.
He couldn’t hear any sounds as he walked up to the closed door. No pages flipping, no confused muttering that came with doing homework and certainly no suspicious signs.
His son was a good kid. Hardly ever getting into trouble and when he did it was almost never his fault, like the time he had been chased by his cousin and ended up on the school roof.
But it was well known, especially by Severus ,who had years of proof to go with the saying, that a quiet child is often a mischievous child. He pushed open the door and immediately spotted the back of a messy head of hair peeking over the top of the childs most used armchair.
The chair was positioned so its back was facing the door, it’s seat facing the bookcase-covered wall infront of it.
The older wizard could see multiple books resting on the coffee table and the arm of the chair that his ward was reading in, or so he thought.
He called out to the boy to let him know it was time for lunch but he received no response, not even a nod of the head.
He tried calling the boy’s name again. Still nothing. Concern beginning to overpower all other emotions, even his strong temper that he was massively known for at hogwarts, by teachers and students alike.
The professor walked around the chair, standing infront of it and immediately felt relieved. His son wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t scared or petrified and he was very much alive.
He was simply asleep. Hair strewn across his face, the back of the chair and itself. Small near-silent, almost purr-like snores were being emitted as he dreamed of hopefully pleasant things.
He looked so innocent, so at peace. Severus cursed the abominations that were supposedly called the boys relatives. How dare they put such a pure, helpless and innocent child through utter hell for 6 years!
It was times like this that his heart swelled with love for such a small, loving thing. He allowed himself to think about all the wonderful times he had spent with such a beautiful, gifted boy.
Severus gave a small smile before kneeling down and gently pressing his lips to the boy’s forehead, before giving a slight shake to his much too thin shoulder.
“Harry? It’s time for lunch now, my boy.”