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Severus Snape was furious.
He truly hadn’t meant to be angry at all. He’d planned on being cool, aloof, and level-headed when Potter’s spawn, Lily’s son, came to Hogwarts. However, the second Severus saw James Potter’s messy hair, James Potter’s brown skin, James Potter’s glasses, James Potter’s eyebrows, James Potter's mouth, he found himself fuming with barely enough control not to snarl right there in the Great Hall. Then the little Potter turned and had Lily’s green eyes. Severus felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest, seeing those eyes again like that. Worse, in James Potter’s face!
Dumbledore insisted that Severus give the Potter spawn a chance, so Severus did so in his first Potions class with the boy.
“Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”
Truthfully, this was a Sixth Year level question. Severus didn’t believe for a moment that the frizzy-haired girl raising her hand actually knew the answer. Perhaps it was unfair to set Potter up to fail. However, that wasn’t the true purpose of the question.
Asphodel was a type of lily, and it specifically meant ‘remembered beyond the tomb’ or ‘my regrets follow you to the grave.’ Wormwood, naturally, was often associated with regret or bitterness. Severus was saying, “I bitterly regret Lily’s death.”
Disappointingly, but not altogether surprisingly, Potter showed no sign of understanding Severus’ message. “I don’t know, sir.”
Typical. Next, Severus snapped out a question about where he could find a bezoar. This actually was a First Year Potions question, but the little idiot still couldn't answer it.
Finally, Severus asked the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane. This was technically a Third Year question, but it could be found in the First Year text. All right, the First Year Herbology text, not the Potions text, but still. Potter, of course, still couldn’t answer the question. He just said, “I don't know. I think Hermione does, though. Why don't you try her?”
Obviously, the child was a small copy of James Potter, with his arrogant smirk. Never mind that the cheeky answer wasn’t James Potter’s style at all and sounded suspiciously like something Lily might say. Severus took points and stormed into the next part of the lesson.
Despite this interaction setting his expectations, he still couldn’t help but be disappointed at Potter’s arrogance in letting Longbottom fail like that. Lily would have helped. She would have stopped Longbottom from adding the porcupine quills and walked him through the potion, but Potter just let Longbottom melt his cauldron. It was disgraceful. Lily would be ashamed of the boy, and Severus made sure Potter knew his attitude was unacceptable.
None of the other teachers saw what Severus saw. They were all blinded by Potter’s charm, just as they’d been blinded by his bullying father, and insisted that the boy was shy, polite, and bright, if not as academically gifted as his parents. Severus was severely tempted to punch the headmaster from all the times he’d patronizingly started a sentence with, “Now, Severus…”
Surely Lily would want her son set on the right path. Surely, given that no one else would discipline the boy and give him a healthy dose of reality, she would want Severus to do so. The fact that it felt viciously satisfying to make the miniature James Potter miserable was just a bonus and not the entire reason for Severus’ actions.
Of course, Severus didn’t want to actually hurt the boy. He was Lily’s son, after all, and Severus was determined to protect him for her sake. Besides, he would never harm a child, no matter whose child it was. He just wanted to humiliate him and wipe that self-satisfied expression off his face.
XXX
Severus’ perspective of Harry Potter changed forever sometime in late October of Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. He happened to be passing by with Septima Vector in the second-floor corridor when the Weasley twins rode by on – was that a Zamboni? Severus opened his mouth to reprimand the little terrors when Lily laughed. No, Lily was dead. It was HARRY laughing. Harry, who had Lily’s laugh, and whose smile, in that moment, didn’t look at all like James Potter’s.
Severus had thought he’d lost Lily’s laughter years before she’d died, but he hadn’t. He could still steal small, precious moments of her laughter from afar in the Great Hall, in the corridors, and in shared classes. He thought he’d never hear Lily’s laughter again after Halloween of 1981, but here it was again.
Professor Vector had to step in to discipline the Weasley twins as Severus stood, dazed. Harry wasn’t laughing Lily’s laugh anymore, and Severus found himself bereft. He wanted to hear that laugh again.
Severus watched the boy closely after that. Every soft huff of amusement, every snort, every quiet giggle was exactly like Lily’s. It was almost like having part of her back. The only thing that ruined it was it coming from James Potter’s face.
However, Harry Potter was not a happy child. He did not truly laugh very often. In any other child, this might have concerned Severus, but his ire at the boy for daring to be Potter’s son and Lily’s son at the same time kept him from examining that thought too closely. For now, Severus’ main concern was that this meant he was deprived of Lily’s laughter.
How could he make the boy laugh more, though? There were spells that induced laughter, of course, like Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, but those were unnatural laughs and were never like the victim’s regular laugh. It would defeat Severus’ goal. Besides, it might also harm the boy if Severus wasn’t careful. The boy might be more inclined to laugh while under a Cheering Charm, but that did not guarantee laughter, and Severus shuddered to think of the damage Potter could perpetrate while drunk on Cheering magic.
On a particularly bad day, Severus tried to amuse Potter himself. He dropped into the middle of a Potions lecture, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unless it's poisoned. Then the antidote becomes the most important.”
Potter did not laugh Lily’s laughter. He didn’t laugh at all. In fact, none of his students laughed, not even the Slytherins. Potter and the other children looked faintly disturbed. Longbottom looked like he was trying not to vomit. Severus quickly moved on with the lesson.
Severus cursed his foolishness. The little brat wasn’t worth Severus losing his dignity. In fact, he didn’t deserve to be made to laugh through pleasure at all, Lily’s laughter or not.
Severus had nearly given up and resigned himself to the small amounts of laughter he could glean in passing when inspiration struck. He was working on his Potions curriculum, the same as he did every year, when he noticed the materials for a rudimentary, topical tickle potion. This potion was very simple, but it hadn’t been taught since James Potter’s first year when he and his “Marauders” caused havoc with it. Since then, the potion was skipped. It could still be found in beginner texts, but there was less opportunity for the younger years to use it for their mischief when the potion wasn’t taught in class.
Oddly enough, the Marauders’ hijinks with the tickle potion were rare in that Severus wasn’t the target of their pranks. Mostly they’d seemed intent on using the potion on each other. James Potter had been quite ticklish, hadn’t he? Severus had had the displeasure more than once of watching Potter’s friends attack and tickle him over the years.
Lily had been extremely ticklish too. Tickling wasn’t a part of Severus’ friendship with her, but he’d seen other people tickle her. Also, she’d confided to him all of her most ticklish spots and how much she couldn’t stand to be tickled.
Traits like ticklishness were genetic, weren’t they?
For Potter’s next class, Severus put the recipe for the tickle potion on the board and labeled it as the Manegro Potion. It was not his best moment, but Severus had no qualms about using less than moral means to achieve his ends. The Manegro Potion had similar ingredients to the tickle potion, so even the students who studied ahead were unlikely to notice that something was wrong.
Severus did his best to avoid the Potter spawn for most of the class. He’d planned on using Granger’s potion, as Granger was sitting right next to Potter, but Potter surprised him by producing a perfectly adequate potion. Severus did not allow himself to speculate on why Potter was capable in Potions today as opposed to other days. He simply appreciated that it made his plan easier.
Discreetly, Severus shot a small, non-verbal explosion charm at Potter’s potion. It wouldn’t hurt anyone, but it would make it look like Potter’s potion exploded on its own. This was, of course, highly unethical behavior for a teacher, but Severus felt compelled. He had to hear that laughter again.
The tickle potion exploded out of the cauldron. Granger rubbed her arms and shook her hands from discomfort. The potion had landed on them when she’d instinctively raised her arms to protect herself. The newest Weasley -- Severus forgot which he was -- also had a small amount of potion splashed on him, and he was giggling and fidgeting.
Most gloriously, however, Potter was drenched in the potion. It soaked through his robes all over his torso. As such, Potter had his arms around his middle, he had fallen to his knees, and he was laughing. It wasn’t a huff or a snort or a giggle. It was Lily’s full, free, bright, loud laughter. Severus blinked the sudden stinging sensation from his eyes.
“Prohohohofehehessohohor!! It tihihihihickles! Ihihihit – aaaahahahaha!”
“Professor!”
Severus blinked at Granger’s exclamation. He had fulfilled his goal. He knew Potter was ticklish, and he had heard Lily’s laughter. He didn’t want to do this in public.
“Scourgify!”
The spell cleaned the potion from all three children, and they all exhaled in relief.
“Pathetic, Potter. Your lack of competence is truly astounding. Detention in my office at 7 o’clock.” Severus’ robes billowed as he whirled around and stalked away.
He generously pretended not to hear Granger as they left class and she said, “I don’t understand. You didn’t make any mistakes. I don’t know why – ”
He also ignored the little Weasley’s, “That was so unfair!”
Severus had to plan for Potter’s detention.
XXX
Potter arrived three minutes after seven.
“You are late.”
“Sorry, Professor.” Severus did not believe for a moment that Potter was sorry.
“I should take a point for each minute you are late, but I think instead I will simply add an additional three minutes to your detention.”
“Yes, Professor,” Potter visibly fumed. He would be more upset when he understood how long those extra three minutes would seem.
“You may have noticed, Potter, that many things in the magical world are different from the Muggle world.”
This was the part where Severus needed to bullshit through something that would be hard to believe. He was in trouble if Potter immediately ran to complain about this to McGonagall. Severus hoped that tickling would seem out-of-character enough for him that no one would believe Potter as long as Severus denied it.
“Any physical harm is prohibited, despite what Mr. Filch may tell you,” Severus continued, “but the punishment I have in mind may seem unconventional. Through your incompetence, you created a tickle potion in class today rather than a Manegro Potion. In order to stop you from repeating this mistake, I believe you should be exposed to, shall we say, the consequences of your actions.”
Potter’s eyes grew round and wary. “What exactly do you mean? Sir?” He added the sir like an afterthought.
“I mean that I shall be tickling you for your detention this evening.”
Potter panicked. “That’s not – you can’t – ”
“If you do not comply with the rules and instructions at this school, you will be expelled,” Severus doubled down.
Potter blanched. “Yes, Professor.”
That had been easier than Severus expected. In another child, he might see that as a warning sign that something was wrong, but this was Potter. Severus didn’t worry about him.
“Remove your robe, shirt, shoes, and socks and sit here.”
Potter clenched his jaw and did as he was told, too proud to complain or show fear. Just like his father. Severus did not imagine what Lily’s reaction would be in a similar situation. That wasn’t relevant.
Severus told Potter to cross his arms behind his head. Then he bound them together and to the head of the chair where Potter was sitting. This left his elbows at an angle and exposed his entire upper body. He then told Potter to put his feet on Severus’ desk where he tied the ankles together and used a sticking charm on the bindings to attach them to the desk. Potter should be grateful for how little Severus was restraining him.
Severus never saw anyone tickle James Potter’s feet, but he’d heard stories from Lily and other Gryffindors about how Black or Lupin would tickle Potter’s feet in the Gryffindor common room. By all accounts, his feet were extremely ticklish. Severus himself had witnessed Black tickle Potter’s neck and how that would drive Potter crazy and how Pettigrew could win a tickle fight by attacking Potter’s knees.
Slowly and with relish, Severus picked up a quill off his desk, brought it to Harry Potter’s right foot, and dragged the feather up the arch.
Potter stiffened and tried to draw back. He seemed to be trying not to laugh.
Severus switched to the quill end and slowly drew around the sole of the foot. Potter giggled in a stop and start fashion, quivered, and involuntarily moved his feet. He was obviously ticklish here, but it wasn’t the reaction he’d expected from James Potter’s son.
Frowning, he put the quill down and squeezed the top of Potter’s left knee. Potter jumped and squawked before letting out a steady stream of giggles. Again, he was plainly ticklish, but it wasn’t the reaction Severus had hoped for. Was Severus just not good at tickling?
Severus walked closer to Potter’s upper body and attacked his neck, just as he’d seen Black do a million times. Potter hunched his neck as much as he could to protect it and giggled, but it still wasn’t the reaction Severus wanted.
No. Could it be?
Lily had once described how one of her roommates had gently, relentlessly scratched her sides, right above her hips. She’d told it like a horror story, shuddering at the memory.
As if watching himself in a Pensieve, Severus saw his hands approach the boy’s waist. Potter flinched as much as he could, but his pride stopped him from saying anything. Severus scratched the boy’s lower sides, just as Lily had described.
Potter bucked forward as much as his bindings would allow. “AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Severus easily followed the boy’s movements. That was more like it.
Potter moved backwards and forwards, side to side, and in a circular motion, more and more frantically trying to avoid the tickling. Severus remained patient and consistent in his technique, and it was obviously driving the brat insane.
“AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NAAAAAAAAAAAA! PL – HAHAHAHA – ST – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Severus basked in the glut of Lily’s laughter. He let it wash over and through him. He could listen to this forever. Peripherally, he was aware that the boy multiple times seemed to begin to say “please” or “stop” but cut himself off every time. So he refused to beg, did he?
As Potter seemed to have a hard time breathing, Severus forced himself to stop. He should feel better now that he’d heard so much of Lily’s laughter, but instead, he greedily wanted more, much more, right away.
Potter gasped and wheezed. He eyed Severus warily. That was good. Potter wasn’t talking back or being disrespectful. This meant the punishment was producing results. Perhaps he could be taught.
Severus had the vague feeling he should say something, but he did not know what one was supposed to say to a child while tickling them, so he remained silent. When Potter caught his breath, he began to scratch Potter’s sides above his hips again.
“NOOOOHOHOHOHOHO! AAAAAAAAA! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Success! A “no” was close to pleading. And there was more of Lily’s pure laughter.
Allowing Lily’s confidences from long ago to guide him, Severus slowly and lightly moved his fingers up Potter’s sides. Potter’s face screwed into something like agony, his eyes clenched shut. He began to thrash his head around.
“PROHOHOHOHOFEHEHEHESSOHOHOR!!! OOOHOHOHOHO! N -- AAAAAAAAAA! SS – SS – SS – EEEEEEEEEEE!”
Severus allowed his mind to drift to summer days spent with Lily, laughing in their childhood neighborhood. He thought about sitting next to the Black Lake with Lily while she laughed at something he’d said. He remembered watching from afar while she laughed with Potter in their seventh year.
He watched James Potter’s face, obviously suffering, and felt warm satisfaction fill his chest.
“I’m doing this for your own good. Maybe now you will learn to be respectful in my classroom.”
“AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PROFAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Severus remembered Lily telling him about the games her parents used to play while tickling her ribs. Severus could not make himself play any sort of games with Potter, but he did try to knead the boy's ribs the way she’d described. Potter lurched forward again, Lily’s laughter flowing from his lips.
“EEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEE! EHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!”
Then, of course, there was Lily’s worst spot. The place she couldn’t stand to have touched, let alone tickled, for any length of time.
The world a little too bright, his mind a little too hazy, Severus clawed into Potter’s underarms.
“NOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! STAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAP! NOT THERE NOT THERE!”
Severus shifted positions. He wanted to stay here for a while.
“PLEEEEHEEHEEHEASE! IHIHIHIHIHI’LL BE GOOHOOHOOD! NOOOOOOOOO!”
Severus drew ancient runes into the boy’s skin with his fingernails.
“OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! STAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!”
Tears poured down Potter’s cheeks.
“NO MORE! NO MORE! NOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! PLEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEASE!”
It was the ideal mixture. Lily’s laughter. James Potter’s tears. Lily’s joy. James Potter’s suffering. The tickling created the perfect balance to soothe the conflict inside of Severus towards Harry Potter.
Severus pressed a single finger into the very center of both hollows and wiggled deeply. The Potter boy went ballistic. He was really just screaming now.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
A clock chimed. Severus started. Had he really been tickling the boy for the entirety of the detention? Slowly, Severus forced himself to stop. He didn’t want to. He wanted to tickle the Potter brat for hours.
Potter whimpered, still crying from the tickling. His chest heaved hungrily for breath. However, Potter was young and caught his breath quickly.
“The time for your detention to end has come. I will now tickle you for the three minutes that you were late.”
Potter’s eyes bugged out. “No, please don’t! I’m sorry, Professor! I won’t be late again!”
Severus moved back to his desk and picked up two quills.
“Please, Professor! I’ve learned my lesson! Just this once!”
It was everything he’d ever wanted to hear James Potter say to him. Severus used one of his specialized hourglasses that he normally used for potion making to set a timer for three minutes.
“Professor!”
Severus took the feathers and began to saw them back and forth under Potter’s arms.
“AAAIIIIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI! EEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!”
Potter bounced, desperately trying to bring his arms down to protect himself.
Severus twirled the feathers in the boy’s underarms, letting the barbs flutter against his skin.
“MEHEHEHEHEHERCY! MERHERHERHERHERCYYYY!”
Potter tried to bury his face into his bicep, as if he could hide from the tickling.
One minute. Severus let all his frustrating at Potter from the last several months out.
“I CAHAHAHAHAHAHAN'T! OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! NOOOHOHOHOHO!”
Severus hadn’t lost the laughter of the woman he loved.
“STAAAAAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAAPP! I’LL BE GOOHOOHOOHOOHOOOHOOD! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Two minutes. Severus dropped the quills. He squeezed Potter’s lower sides, jumped and squeezed his middle rib area, then dug into Potter’s underarms with everything he had.
“AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NAAAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAA! AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
All too soon, the hourglass ran out. Severus reluctantly took his hands away. A swish of his wand removed all Potter’s bindings.
“The detention is over. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
Potter blinked the remaining tears out of his eyes. He immediately snapped his arms down, despite the fact that the tickling was over. Shakily, he stood and put his clothing back on. He kept his eyes lowered and didn’t make any smart remarks. Surely Lily would be proud of Severus for helping her son.
Just before leaving, Potter shot Severus a glare of pure, unadulterated hatred. Severus almost staggered seeing that look in Lily’s eyes. Then Potter left.
XXX
Severus kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. Potter, apparently, didn’t say a word about the detention to anyone. It seemed like he bought Severus’ flimsy explanation.
Severus wondered how soon he could assign Potter another detention.