A Motherly Intervention.

Title: Baby Steps.
Author: pekeleke
Rating: T
Pairing(s): Severus Snape/Harry Potter.
Challenge: Prompt 15 (Picked from an online seasonal prompt list): The weather outside is frightful
Word Count: 1774
Content: Chapter 15 of my Christmas Series: A Motherly Intervention.
Warnings: Getting Together. Enemies to friends to lovers. Mild Angst. Romance.
Disclaimer: The characters, setting, and the HP franchise are owned by JKR and not me. I make no profit from writing this piece of fanfiction.
A/N: Unbeated. Posting one chapter a day from December 1st to the 25th.
Summary: "Stop teasing him, Harry," Molly raps her son warningly across the knuckles of his free hand, coming to Severus's rescue when it becomes clear the man is too overwhelmed to come up with a response.”

Baby Steps.

Shortly after Molly arrives home from Scotland, it starts snowing. The forecast had been clear until tomorrow, but the storm seems to have arrived earlier than expected. She worries about Severus canceling their plans for dinner. Some people like to hide under a warm blanket with the company of a good book in weather like this. She doesn't know if Severus is one of them, although he looks the type. He's such a scholarly soul. It will be fun to watch him interact with Percy and Hermione the next time a post-dinner discussion at the Burrow turns bookish.

Harry arrives directly from work and is visibly delighted to hear that Severus is coming. He eyes the family clock with unbridled joy when Molly points Severus's name out to him. There is a soft and grateful wonder in his expression as he stands there and stares at the magical timepiece. Molly decides then and there to gift him his own for Christmas. He'll need one, anyway, now that he's finally decided to stop partying.

Molly doesn't have the heart to insist they move to the kitchen, so she brings their tea out to the living room. They settle by the fire, chatting casually about Harry's latest case and the arrangements Molly has made so far in preparation for Charley's imminent arrival. Harry is distracted throughout, though. Gaze flitting up to the clock every few minutes and instantly zeroing on Severus's hand, which, like Arthur's, still points to 'at work.'

They head up to Charley's room after finishing their tea and start shrinking the various packing boxes that have accumulated inside. Most of them belong to George, who is still in the process of moving from his older flat to the bigger one he bought after marrying Angelina. Molly should probably insist he takes them, but he's so busy these days, and she's got the space to keep them for most of the year.

They've finished enlarging the bed to accommodate Charley's husband, and are in the process of rearranging the furniture to fit a small crib for their two-year-old toddler when they hear the Floo activating downstairs. Arthur is finally home. Molly heads down to the kitchen, leaving Harry to finish rearranging the room on his own. It's time to put supper in the oven. Severus should be here in a tick.

Outside the kitchen's window, fluffy curtains of snow swirl left and right. Loud wind rustles through the eaves, making Molly feel glad for the toasty warmth within. It's a perfect night for hot cocoa, she decides, and turns her wand to the task of preparing a small cauldron of it from scratch. Powdered mixtures aren't the same, no matter how passionately Hermione claims they are.

The Floo activates once again, just as she's extinguishing the flame under her pot, and the Tempus she'd cast on the oven tells her it'd be another ten minutes before supper is ready. Severus has impeccable timing.

She steps into the living room and catches him still vanishing shoot from his dark robes, "Ah, Severus, I was worried you'd feel tempted to cancel on us. The weather outside is frightful."

"I Flooed in directly from the shop. I haven't set foot outside yet, but yes, I managed more sales than usual after the storm started. Customers walked in to avoid the worst of it and felt too embarrassed to walk out again without spending a few knuts."

"Thank Merlin for cold weather, then," Molly laughs, motioning for him to follow her back to the kitchen, "I've just finished brewing a pot of hot cocoa. Fancy some?"

"Yes, please."

"Did I hear hot cocoa?" Harry questions cheerfully as he comes down the stairs, "That's my favorite kind of potion."

"Hot cocoa isn't technically a potion. It doesn't have magical properties," Severus points out.

Molly chuckles and ruffles Harry's hair when he steps within arm's reach. Harry's green gaze zeroes on Severus, who stands a couple of steps behind her, watching their playful interaction with an intensely amused expression on his face, "Hot cocoa must be a variation of Felix Felicis, Severus. How else do you explain the happy feeling people get every time they drink it?"

Severus rolls his eyes, "That's called a sweet tooth, Potter."

"Harry. I thought we agreed you would call me Harry. I don't like the bad connotations my last name has for you, Severus. I want us to start afresh. We can't do that if you keep bringing the shadow of my father between us."

Severus stills on the doorway to the kitchen, and Molly groans inwardly. Harry has managed to kill the man's playful mood stone-dead within five minutes of joining them. This is no way to woo anyone. They'll never move on to more romantic things if they constantly bring up the past.

"That's not what I was doing," Severus explains tightly, "This might be news to you, Harry, but I've known you far longer than I ever knew your father and have interacted with you a lot more too. These days, when I hear the word Potter, there is only one man that comes to mind. I was trying to be polite. We've been on a first-name basis for so short a time that I haven't yet grown used to thinking of you so casually."

Harry has the good sense to look abashed, "I'm sorry I overreacted, then. Sometimes I feel I'm more eager to be your friend than you are to be mine."

Severus blinks, as if caught totally off guard by such a direct admission. Molly swallows a hysterical giggle. Severus's Slytherin sensibilities will struggle to adapt to Harry's forward ways. Her son knows no subtlety whatsoever, as is the case with most of the family.

Severus is clearly at a loss for words, so Molly sends Harry her most stern warning look and pats the back of the nearest chair, indicating that Severus should sit on it. She leaves Harry to his own devices. Already aware that he'll seat himself next to the potioneer, anyway.

"Do you have a sweet tooth, Severus?" Molly asks, skillfully redirecting the conversation back to a safer topic, "Sometimes I think Harry can't possibly have blood inside his veins with the amount of sugar he inhales. His heart must be pumping out syrup."

"Hey! I'm not that bad," Harry mock-pouts, "Ron is worse than me. Everyone says so."

Molly hums in acknowledgment of Harry's point. She Accios the cauldron full of cocoa and fills three mugs with a wave of her wand, passing them along before turning her attention back to Severus, patiently prompting him to answer.

"I prefer savory things," Severus explains, smiling in amusement when Harry groans loudly, "But I enjoy chocolates from time to time."

"Let me guess," Harry says, clearly attempting to tease him, "You're a fan of Honeyduke's dark chocolate selection."

"I am," Severus admits so cautiously that Molly swallows a sigh of despair. Severus must have spent a veritable lifetime solely engaging in business-like interactions to react so warily to the type of friendly ribbing Harry is aiming for, "I assume you prefer milk chocolate. Or those overly sugary horrors filled with fruit-flavored creams."

Harry laughs delightedly at his pointed barb, and Severus's shoulders lose a tad of their rigidity, "I like the caramel-filled ones best."

Molly chuckles in amusement when Severus fakes a shudder. It's slow work, but they've come a long way indeed since their first encounter. Harry rolls his eyes in response, and they smile smugly at each other. Molly takes a small sip from her drink, watching Severus eye Harry with bemused curiosity while Harry does his best to look casual.

"Your name. It's on the clock," Harry blurts out suddenly, fiddling rather nervously with the handle of his mug, "Have you seen it yet?"

Severus stares at Harry's restless fingers, and that suspicious wariness he wears around him like armor makes an unwanted return, "Does it bother you?"

Harry looks up, confused, "Why would it bother me?"

Severus shrugs. The blank expression on his face about a thousand miles away from the overwhelmed look it was displaying when Molly first told him about the clock, "I appear to have hijacked your adoptive family. It's only reasonable to assume you resent the intrusion."

Harry's shoulders straighten as if he's readying for a fight, but he doesn't say a single word straight away. He leans casually against the backrest of his chair and stares thoughtfully at Severus for so long that Molly's heart drops to her toes. He's about to say something either incredibly insightful or hopelessly misguided. There's no way to predict which with Harry, "Why would I resent it? Draco loves you. I'm sure Scorpius will grow up to do the same. George literally worships the ground you walk on. He's convinced you're a potion genius to rival the likes of Nicholas Flamel. And most importantly, Molly, who is the best judge of character I know, has opened her heart to you. I've no quarrel with any of that. I told you this already, but I'll say it again: you deserve the love you're shown."

Molly hides her pleased smile behind her mug. Severus looks so stunned you could probably knock him over with a feather. There is a faint blush high on his painfully sharp cheekbones. He is too thin by far for Molly's liking. She Accios a small plate of leftover sausage rolls and places it delicately right in front of him. Severus's gaze flicks down to it, and his blush becomes just a tad darker.

Harry chuckles, "See? She's trying to feed you already."

"Stop teasing him, Harry," Molly raps her son warningly across the knuckles of his free hand, coming to Severus's rescue when it becomes clear the man is too overwhelmed to come up with a response.

"I'm sorry if that embarrassed you," Harry says oh-so-softly to Severus, "But I think you needed to hear it."

Severus's pale neck contracts as he swallows. He is reacting so emotionally to Harry's earnest reassurance that Molly worries he'll clam up any moment now.

"I think I needed to hear it too," Severus acknowledges, and Molly's gaze tears up with pride at his courage. He is so brave, her painfully brittle Severus. Molly can only hope that he has it in him to accept Harry's affection. There's no one out there who deserves her Harry more. And there's no one on earth who'd benefit more selflessly from Harry's ridiculous fame, protective nature, and generous heart than Severus.