Dawn

All You Need is Love

A few months after Harry's fourth birthday the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse. It had been raining non-stop. The ceiling of the great hall had been almost pitch black for a week, interrupted by the odd bolt of lightning (which never failed to remind Severus of Harry every time it happened). While normally storms weren't audible down in the dungeon, typically drowned out by the non-stop waves hitting the stone walls from the lake, now, hours after Severus had put Harry down for the night, the thunder was deafening.

Severus turned onto his other side, pulling the dark green quilt farther up his body. The thunder clapped again, rumbling for a full minute before finally settling back down. He turned again, unable to get comfortable. All he wanted at this point was to fall asleep, a good night's rest being something he already gave up on.

Suddenly, his wards went off; a tinkling of bells within his mind, to let him know Harry was out of bed. He was surprised the thunder hadn't woken the boy up sooner. He waited for the door to be pushed open with an extremely drawn out squeak as if the boy was trying not to wake Severus.

Severus kept his eyes closed as Harry snuck into his bed, crawling up against Severus' chest, Teddy, the bear, tucked between them. After Harry gave his teddy bear a goodnight kiss, Severus was shocked to he received one as well. It was tooth-rottingly-sweet and sealed with a sleepy, "Love you, dad."

Severus couldn't help replying, "Love you too." Smiling before pecking Harry on the forehead and ordering him to go to sleep. They laughed for a few seconds before falling fast asleep. The thunder outside completely forgotten.

<<<<<    >>>>>

"Get in the bath you dirty little monster," Severus sneered, pushing Harry towards the edge of the tub. The boy was already naked, soil covering almost every inch of his skin as if he had rolled around in it. When the boy finally got in, the shallow water that lapped at his skin left the water dirty and Harry only half clean. Severus sighed, pulling the stopper and grabbing the shower head to rinse the boy off properly.

If there was one thing Harry hated most in the world it was probably showers. He was quick to rinse the boy, Harry giving him the most hateful frown as the water poured down his body but at least he was no longer sitting in his own filth.

Once the last of the dirt swirled down the drain he put up the shower head and started to fill the tub again. The boy still had a dirty look on his face, brows furrowed. "If you don't stop that your face will get stuck that way," Severus said as he grabbed the bath toy basket from under the sink. Harry looked shocked, pulling at his cheeks to make sure everything was okay.

Severus couldn't help the little chuckle that left his mouth. Harry forgot his anger about the shower the moment that Severus set the basket on the edge of the tub. He immediately started picking out all his favorites, the tiny dragons that would blow bubbles at you or squirt water and the bath crayons. As soon as he got his hands on them the boy started coloring on the edge of the tub and playing with his Welsh Green, who was squirting water at Harry's back. Severus dumped bubble bath into the warm water, swishing it around with his hand to make the bubbles form.

Harry giggled, kicking his chubby legs through the bubbles, making them pop and ruining his work. Severus continued to flick his hand around, making his wrist ache, until the bubbles were high and stiff. He pulled back watching as the tiny dragons flew and dived through the bubbles and shot water at each other and the boy. Harry had taken to drawing different creatures Hagrid had showed him, on the tub, wiping them away if he wasn't happy with the picture or he needed more room.

While the dragons were charmed not to splash or squirt anyone outside of the bath, Harry was not. The boy was splashing water at the Chinese Fireball who flew in front of Severus' face, the water missing the dragon as it flew on and hit Severus. His hair stuck to his face and water dripped down his nose.