Severus Snape was not happy.
He was not pleased. He was not delighted. There were no synonyms in any thesaurus to exist that Severus would dare identify with.
Severus had planned on spending the last month of his summer holiday away from irksome and overtly friendly co-workers, away from meddling and foolish Headmasters, and especially away from thick-headed and unintelligent children.
Yet there he was, on a mission from a meddling Headmaster, alongside an overtly friendly co-worker, set off on a hunt for what he presumed would be a particularly pigheaded and unintelligent child.
Severus sneered at the laughing children running amok on the playground while ignoring Minerva's passive smile.
This is a mission she could have undertaken alone… Severus thought to himself sourly, recalling how he had argued that exact point to the headmaster earlier that morning.
"Severus, my boy, come in, come in! Would you care for a lemon drop?" Albus was beaming with his damned ever-twinkling eyes, casually dressed down in a plain robe, seated behind his desk.
"No, thank you, Albus. I admit to being in something of a hurry as
I have a potion on stasis in my lab," Severus said, attempting to remain civil while internally resenting the request for his 'immediate presence'.
"Of course, of course," Albus agreed easily. "You are a busy man,
Severus. I would not take you away from your experiments without justifiable cause."Severus began to sense the feeling of dread pooling in his gut at
what the 'justifiable cause' may have been.
He asked his oldest living friend just that, "And what exactly is
this 'justifiable cause'?"
"Well, dear boy, it seems that we have run into an issue delivering a Hogwarts letter to one of the incoming first-year students."
"Oh?" Severus said, genuine surprise coloring his tone and lifting his eyebrows, "And what issue is that?"
"After the first letter that was sent came back undelivered, I had Minerva issue more and she noticed that the address on each subsequent letter had changed. Even when she sent multiple letters in the same day, the locations would be different. And, without fail, every letter has so far been returned undelivered."
Albus appeared to be truly mystified as the location charm on the letters had been foolproof for as long as the castle had been open to invited students. Severus furrowed his brows in thought as to why a charm, designed to identify the home address of a student, would change multiple times in a single day.
"Is the student a muggleborn?" Severus asked, not expecting a wizarding family to be experiencing that type of problem.
"The student is muggle-raised…" Albus said slowly, his eyes moving evasively to stare at a silver sphere-shaped instrument spinning around silently on his desk.
"I am afraid I do not understand how I can help, Albus. If the problem is with the charm, then surely Flitwick is the better consultant. And if the issue is talking to the student, then Minerva is typically the representative for the school. Why have you sent for me?" Severus asked carefully, feeling the tendrils of dread spreading through his body, especially when he considered Albus' previous and perfectly evasive answer.
Albus kept his eyes on his desk in a nonchalant manner, too nonchalantly, in Severus' opinion as he answered thoughtfully.
"I believe it may be best to send someone to track down this particular child to ensure that they receive their letter," he said. "Minerva is apprehensive to track them alone, as she is unfamiliar with traveling and interacting within the muggle world. I had hoped that you may accompany her to ensure that the child is found, and the letter is delivered?"
Severus scowled heavily as he imagined having to go searching for a snot-nosed child who was most likely traveling on vacation or one who may even be a foster child who frequently shifted homes.
"Who exactly is this child and what was their last location?" Severus asked wearily. He had accepted to himself that Albus would continue finding reasons, even if they were moderately logical, until he simply accepted. It was typically quicker to accept the task set to him and finish it so he could return to his blessed solitude and his experimental potioneering before returning to teaching on the first of September.
"Ahh, I'm glad you asked, my boy," Albus finally brought his eyes back to Severus's.
Suddenly, seeing the twinkle in those blue eyes at full force, the dread in Severus grew until he could no longer pretend to himself that it would be a quick or easy job.
"The last location of the child, listed less than one hour ago, was 'Kramer's Play Ground, The Red Bench, in Dungeness, Kent'. The child you will accompany Minerva in seeking is Harry Potter."
That was when Severus knew that his instinctive feelings, those that had saved his life multiple times during his years as a double spy in the war, were actually underestimating his rightful feeling of dread.
And yet there he was, in a blasted playground, searching out the spawn of his childhood nemesis.
Severus had been certain that the boy would be positively preening with the knowledge that he had forced Hogwarts staff members to make a special trip just to find him. Special Potter, blessed hero of the wizarding world.
I certainly will not be treating the brat special, Severus thought with a rush of bitter rage. He will understand that to the world he may be the Boy-Who-Lived, but to me he is only a particularly arrogant and ignorant brat.
Minerva interrupted Severus's internal complaints with her murmured spell, done so discreetly he doubted any of the multiple families enjoying the sunny weather would even notice, "Point me Harry Potter".
Severus watched as her wand gave a small tug toward the edge of the park where a cluster of benches were all lined up.
As the pair neared the bench, Severus subtly searched for the boy in question and his eyes passed over him twice before receiving a nudge and a point from Minerva.
"Severus, is that him?" Minerva whispered. Severus looked where she pointed and saw a small, really too small for his age, dark-haired, boy sitting on the bench watching almost hungrily as other children were being pampered and played with by their parents.
"Mister Potter?" Severus drawled as carelessly as he could to the child.
As careless as his tone may have been, Severus could not pretend he had not momentarily lost his breath when Lily Evans' eyes, in a perfect replica, flew to him when Potter's head swiveled around.
The boy jumped off the bench to his feet and his right hand flew to his pocket before Severus could recover from the shock.
"'M leavin, okay? I wasn't doin' nothin," he said. "I was just sittin' here for a few, ya can't arrest me for that."
Potter's voice was soft, childish, but he spoke in a way that was clearly meant to sound self-assured. Though, Severus could sense the underlying tremble that gave away a very real sense of fear.
"Arrest you?" Minerva sounded shocked. "Why on Earth would we arrest you for sitting in a park?"
The boy glanced at Minerva and his face went from defensive to carefully blank. It was nearly masterful.
It was manipulative, the boy was already trying to manipulate them.
"'M sorry, ma'am," the boy said politely, if with a horrendous manner of speech. "I thought you were one of the bloody cops always hangin' around here."
"Mr. Potter", Severus interrupted before pureblooded Minerva could question what a 'bloody cop' was. "My name is Professor Severus Snape, and this is Professor Minerva McGonagall. We are professors at Hogwarts."
"Professors, eh? 'M not fallin for it. I'm not mad and I'm not goin' to your Hogwarts." The boy eyed them distrustfully then. "Go. Away."
At those last two words Severus felt a wash of blissful magic overcome him…
I should just leave, this is hardly my problem anyway. It is foolish of me to be here.
No, I told Albus I would deliver the damned brat's letter and that is what I shall do.
The boy turned it away, he said go away.
I will hardly bend to the will of James Potter's son.
Unbeknownst to Severus, it had taken his mind more than a moment to come up with the reminder that he had an errand to complete, and in that time Minerva had simply turned around, walked to the edge of the park, and apparated back to Hogwarts.
Severus opened his eyes to snap them back at the defiant green ones glowering at him and returned the glare with gusto built from years of rage.
"Mr. Potter, enough of these games. We are not here because we believe you have a mental deficiency, although judging from your lackluster appearance and less than stellar manners, that is debatable," Severus sneered as he looked the filthy child over from head to toe.
"Rather, we are here to deliver your Hogwarts acceptance letter as you have deemed yourself too important to return from your little friends' homes to receive it from your relatives. Minerva," Severus snapped his fingers, "give the boy his letter so we can be finished with this tedious task."
Severus broke eye contact with the boy when he looked to the right of himself and realized that Minerva was no longer with him.
What in the blazes? Where the hell did she go?
Severus turned back to the boy and saw a smirk worthy of the late James Potter spread across his face.
"Guess she decided I didn't need no letter," Potter said, smug as anything. "I'll be seein' ya, 'Professor'".
As the brat-who-lived started to walk away, Severus grabbed his arm, none too gently, feeling vexed at the entire confrontation.
"Where do you think you're going?" Severus asked in a frustrated growl.
The previously confident and defiant boy turned a sickly shade of pale and attempted to twist out of Severus' grasp.
"Please, sir, let's just walk away," Potter pleaded. "I don't wanna hurt you, but I will."
Severus wanted to laugh at the thought of the short, frail, newly fairy-like boy being able to injure him, a fully-grown wizard.
Truly, Potter's Spawn has continued the legacy of Potter arrogance, he thought unkindly.
"I assure you, Potter, that I have every intention of leaving you once I have concluded my business here." Severus pulled the boy by the arm to the edge of the park so he could send his patronus to Minerva and have her bring back the boy's letter.
It was because his focus was on the mystery of why Minerva would leave him behind without the letter they were supposed to deliver that he missed the boy placing his small hand on his arm and whispering, "Go to sleep".
Then, on the edge of Kramer's Playground in Kent, Severus passed out on the lawn and Harry Potter slipped away as quickly and quietly as he could.